Chapter Summaries

Su Mo used the Memory-River Spirit Jade before the emperor to reveal an underground cavern where thousands of people had been killed for a blood pill, accusing Liu Feng of deception. The vision faded, leaving the emperor watching and the dispirited man staring at the corpse of a girl he recognized.

• Liu Feng told the Sage that he studied to relieve the people's suffering and strengthen the nation, earning the officials' admiration.
• When the emperor asked Su Mo for his answer, Su Mo mocked Liu Feng's claims and spoke of the dead beneath West City.
• Su Mo activated the Memory-River Spirit Jade, projecting a blood-filled underground cavern before the court.
• Su Mo explained that the corpses had been used to refine a blood pill as officials and examinees watched.
• The vision faded, and the dispirited man stared blankly at the corpse of a little girl he recognized.

At the Palace Examination, Su Mo exposed Liu Feng and Liu Cheng’s role in refining Blood Pills from thousands of people, but the officials dismissed the revelation as lies. Su Mo gave up his chance to enter the Academy, while his companions sensed his heartbreak and his teacher learned of his choice.

• After Su Mo’s illusion revealed the Blood Pill atrocity, the officials fell silent, and Liu Feng accused Su Mo of spreading lies.
• Su Mo condemned the officials’ indifference, then removed his Tribute Graduate’s ceremonial cap and renounced both the Academy and public office.
• The little girl sensed Su Mo’s heartbreak through Little Stone and wanted to find him, but Luo Yin persuaded her to wait.
• On a desolate mountain, the blue-robed old man told the red-robed woman that his seventh disciple had chosen not to enter the Academy.

Before the emperor and assembled officials, Su Mo recited his answer about establishing a heart for heaven and earth, serving the people, carrying on the sages’ teachings, and bringing peace to future generations. He rejected becoming an official and entered the Dao through writing, while a mysterious Book of Life and Death took shape in his spirit sea.

• Su Mo removed his tribute scholar’s clothes and recited his answer to the examination question, awakening a powerful cultivator’s aura.
• Su Mo proclaimed that he would establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the people, carry on the lost teachings of past sages, and usher in peace for ten thousand generations.
• Thunder and dark clouds swept across the sky as the old man in green sensed the Heaven and Earth Consciousness beginning to awaken and realized the seventh was close to entering the Dao.
• Liu Feng was shaken by Su Mo’s words, and Liu Cheng used his spiritual power to calm him.
• Su Mo declared that he would no longer become an official and would instead sing to voice his aspirations and write to carry the Dao.
• A pitch-black Book of Life and Death formed within Su Mo’s spirit sea, stunning the uncanny, seductive woman who watched it.

Su Mo entered the Dao through the written word, manifesting an eerie Book of Life and Death, and declared his answer before the emperor. When Liu Cheng tried to kill him, Prince Ying intervened and revealed that Su Mo carried the presence of his missing daughter.

• Su Mo's innate spiritual manifestation took the form of the eerie Book of Life and Death as he entered the Dao.
• The little maid sensed that Su Mo had entered the Dao, and Luo Yin comforted her when she worried that he seemed unhappy.
• Su Mo gave his answer to the emperor, inspiring the assembled officials, but Liu Cheng accused him of treason and launched a fatal attack.
• The Book of Life and Death formed a black barrier before Su Mo, and Prince Ying appeared to block Liu Cheng's strike.
• Prince Ying told Su Mo that he carried her presence, then warned Liu Cheng that he was too loud.

Prince Ying asked Su Mo to show him the memories of his dead daughter, Tongtong, through the Memory-River Spirit Jade. He relived her final moments and watched her fade away, while Liu Cheng secretly crushed a jade slip nearby.

• Prince Ying pleaded with Su Mo to tell him what he had seen and revealed that his lost daughter was named Tongtong.
• Su Mo used the Memory-River Spirit Jade to share his memories of meeting Tongtong’s departed soul with Prince Ying.
• Prince Ying watched Tongtong cling to Su Mo in the darkness and follow him toward home, while Liu Cheng secretly crushed a jade slip.
• Prince Ying followed Su Mo and Tongtong through the rainy night, watching Su Mo defeat the cultivators who blocked their way.
• Tongtong told Su Mo she was afraid of dying and being alone, and Prince Ying tried in vain to shield her from the cold.
• Su Mo comforted Tongtong, held her, and sang to her until she faded from the memory.

After Su Mo revealed that Liu Feng carried the blood-pill aura made from thousands of lives, Liu Cheng admitted the Liu Household’s crimes and invoked his son’s ties to the Holy Sect. Prince Ying summoned the Holy King Spear and prepared to avenge Princess Tong, leaving the confrontation poised to turn violent.

• Prince Ying returned from the Memory-River Spirit Jade in grief and accused Liu Cheng and his son of knowing what happened to Princess Tong.
• Su Mo pointed out that Liu Feng still carried the aura of the blood pill, allowing Prince Ying to sense the evidence.
• Liu Cheng admitted that his household had used the victims as stepping stones for Liu Feng’s rise and dismissed them as lowborn vermin.
• Prince Ying summoned the Holy King Spear as Liu Cheng revealed Liu Feng was set to become a disciple of the Holy Sect’s Third Elder.
• Prince Ying rejected Liu Cheng’s offer of compensation, demanded the heads of the entire Liu Household, and raised the spear against him and Liu Feng.

Prince Ying attacked Liu Cheng and Liu Feng over the harm they had done to his daughter, but the Holy Sect’s Holy Maiden, Ning Baixue, intervened to save them. As the emperor of Great Hua joined Prince Ying in defying the sect, the nation’s power awakened.

• Prince Ying wounded Liu Cheng and drove him back, then prepared to kill him while condemning him for harming his daughter and preventing two children from going home.
• A sheet of white paper blocked Prince Ying’s spear, and Ning Baixue arrived on a white crane with a Spirit Transformation elder.
• Ning Baixue declared that Liu Cheng and Liu Feng could not die because Liu Feng was about to enter the Holy Sect, and the elder drew Liu Feng to his side.
• Prince Ying challenged Ning Baixue for saving the men despite knowing their crimes, while the emperor came to stand beside him.
• The emperor recalled Su Mo’s words about shattering like jade, then raised his hand as Great Hua’s imperial power awakened.

The emperor used national fortune power and the Academy Dean’s Deity-Sealing Edict to help Prince Ying kill Liu Cheng and confront the Holy Sect over Liu Feng. Su Mo unleashed the resentment of the blood-pill victims, and Liu Feng died from their backlash as Ning Baixue watched in shock.

• The emperor lent Prince Ying national fortune power, while the Deity-Sealing Edict suppressed the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder’s cultivation.
• Prince Ying pierced Liu Cheng with the Holy King Spear, killing him despite Liu Feng’s and Ning Baixue’s protests.
• Prince Ying demanded that Liu Feng remain behind, but the white-haired elder insisted he could still lead the Holy Sect party away.
• Su Mo confronted Liu Feng and invoked the resentment of the thousands of souls killed to make blood pills.
• Black mist and ghostly hands engulfed Liu Feng, whose screams faded before he died from the blood pill’s backlash.

After Liu Cheng’s body burned in karma fire, the resentful spirits he had wronged appeared above the Imperial Palace and found peace. They reunited with loved ones and received farewells from the people below, while Su Mo and Prince Ying witnessed the spirits’ final goodbyes.

• Liu Cheng’s corpse burned in karma fire, and the ashes became specks of light from which resentful spirits appeared.
• The spirits recognized Su Mo as the one who had avenged them, and they bowed or gestured their thanks before fading.
• Tongtong appeared above the forecourt, reunited with Prince Ying and her mother, and smiled as she said she had come home.
• A woman and her child recognized the butcher’s spirit, and the child bowed to bid his father farewell.
• Students recited the Rules for Disciples to their teacher’s spirit and bowed to bid him farewell.
• A scholar prepared to take a black pill as he addressed the spirit of the woman he loved, and she told him they would meet again in the next life.

Su Mo bid farewell to the departed souls, who gave him a protective scholar’s robe before vanishing. When the Holy Sect demanded that he accompany them, Prince Ying and his wife stood against them, but Su Mo stepped forward to go willingly rather than endanger them, just as two figures appeared.

• Su Mo recited a farewell poem as the spectral souls departed, and they bowed to him before fading away.
• The souls’ white light formed a scholar’s robe for Su Mo, a parting gift that would protect him from evil.
• Ning Baixue and the white-haired elder demanded that Su Mo join the Holy Sect, and Ning Baixue said he could not refuse.
• Prince Ying claimed Su Mo as Tongtong’s big brother and his son, while the princess consort revealed her Spirit Transformation cultivation and joined him in refusing to let Su Mo be taken.
• Su Mo offered to go with the Holy Sect to spare Prince Ying and his wife from its wrath, but two figures in blue and red robes appeared.

The Dean revealed that Su Mo could return to the Academy as his newly accepted seventh disciple, then explained that the Divine Realm made everyone mortal except Confucian cultivators. Ning Baixue left to seek another Confucian cultivator after Liu Feng’s death, while Su Mo remained with the Academy.

• Gu Yu rebuked Su Mo for addressing her as Immortal Gu, and the Dean arrived and welcomed Su Mo back to the Academy.
• The Dean introduced Su Mo as his seventh disciple and warned Ning Baixue and her companion against entering the Divine Realm, where even powerful cultivators became mortal.
• Ning Baixue explained that Confucian cultivators were exempt from the Divine Realm’s mortal restriction, and Su Mo inferred that the Liu Household had arranged for Liu Feng to enter the Confucian Dao to help the Holy Sect.
• Ning Baixue revealed that the Holy Sect had accepted Liu Feng in exchange for his help entering the Divine Realm, but his death left them without a Confucian guide.
• The Dean refused to let Su Mo accompany Ning Baixue, who departed on the white crane with the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder.

After the Dean declared Su Mo worthy of first place in the Palace Examination, Su Mo worried that people would think the emperor had awarded it under pressure. He left the Imperial Palace with Gu Yu and headed back to the Academy after collecting the little girl and waiting for Luo Yin to fetch the Ink Zither.

• The Dean explained that Su Mo had to take first place to become his seventh disciple, then advised him to add a little black to his overly white image before vanishing.
• Prince Ying and his wife invited Su Mo to visit their home, and Prince Ying said he would handle matters involving West City and the Liu Household.
• Gu Yu and Su Mo left the palace in a carriage driven by the same black horse that had taken Su Mo to the Spring Examination.
• At the Riverboat Pavilion, the little girl ran into Su Mo's arms, and Gu Yu told her that Su Mo had taken first place in the Palace Examination.
• Su Mo asked to return to the Academy, and Luo Yin went to get the Ink Zither while Gu Yu gave Su Mo a suspicious look.

Su Mo climbed the mountain to reach the Academy, where he met his senior brothers and learned that the so-called blessed lands were tombs and ancestral graves. The Dean sent Fourth and Fifth away and promised to teach Su Mo Confucian Dao Arts the next day.

• Gu Yu led Su Mo, Luo Yin, and the little maid up the mountain on foot and explained how the Dean had taken over an abandoned academy.
• Su Mo pushed himself up the steps, collapsed to his knees before the Dean, and disguised his exhaustion as a respectful bow.
• The Dean summoned Fourth and Fifth, introduced Su Mo as Great Hua's top scholar, and watched them celebrate the Academy's new Confucian cultivator.
• Fourth and Fifth invited Su Mo to join them exploring blessed lands, but the Dean sent them flying down the mountain to face the wall.
• Luo Yin told Su Mo that blessed lands meant great tombs and ancestral graves, prompting the Dean to leave and promise to teach him Confucian Dao Arts the next day.

After settling into the Academy, Su Mo reviewed the mysteries of the West City incident and realized the emperor had used national fortune power to orchestrate events that pushed him onto the Confucian path. The revelation left him horrified that the lives and deaths of the Liu Household and thousands of others had been arranged as part of a game targeting him.

• Gu Yu showed Su Mo and Luo Yin to empty houses at the Academy, where Su Mo and the little girl settled by the lake.
• Su Mo considered the unanswered questions surrounding the Spring Examination and the West City incident, then recalled the emperor's words about the sovereign's domain.
• Su Mo entered his Spirit Sea and asked the Great Calamity about national fortune power and Confucian cultivators.
• The Great Calamity explained that an emperor could use national fortune power to travel, conceal unusual auras, and monitor people throughout the nation, and that Confucian cultivators could not break through Spirit Transformation.
• The Great Calamity suggested that someone who guided a person onto the Confucian path either wanted that person's Confucian Dao foundation or was their father.
• Su Mo concluded that the emperor's game had targeted him, using the blank-paper examination and the West City deaths to make him choose the Confucian path.

Su Mo realized that the Emperor had orchestrated the West City events to make him enter the Confucian Dao, and he grieved over the deaths caused by the scheme. Great Calamity comforted him and promised to protect him, while warning that a far greater game still threatened him.

• Su Mo connected the West City events and realized the Emperor had arranged them to advance his Confucian Dao Foundation, leaving him horrified that people had died because of him.
• Great Calamity comforted Su Mo, telling him the wandering souls had been freed and that the Emperor's plan would have claimed victims even without him.
• Great Calamity warned Su Mo that players could become pieces in larger games, and Su Mo asked what would happen if the Emperor took his Confucian Dao Foundation.
• Great Calamity promised to keep Su Mo safe and explained that the Academy could not interfere in state affairs because national fortune carried immense karmic consequences.
• Su Mo learned that the Academy was playing its own game, while Great Calamity privately feared the greater game above it and its immense karma.

Su Mo examined the eerie Book of Life and Death in his Spirit Sea, and the Great Calamity offered to teach him the Confucian Dao so she could learn what the book could do. As he grasped the nature of Heaven and Earth's Laws, Su Mo manifested an ink-black flame that the Great Calamity recognized as Netherfire.

• Su Mo noticed that the enormous Book of Life and Death resembled two tomb doors, and the Great Calamity urged him to test it.
• When Su Mo admitted he knew no spells, the Great Calamity decided to teach him the Confucian Dao herself.
• The Great Calamity explained that Confucian Cultivators advanced by understanding and controlling Heaven and Earth's Laws.
• Su Mo understood the idea of immutable laws and declared that there should be fire in the empty space between them.
• The Book of Life and Death trembled as spiritual energy gathered, and its eerie power helped Su Mo create an ink-black flame.
• The Great Calamity identified the flame as Netherfire.

Su Mo learned that the Book of Life and Death carried dangerous karma, so the Great Calamity urged him to avoid using it and promised to teach him killing arts. He experimented with Confucian Dao spells by the lake, then used one to appear before Third Senior Sister Gu Yu, who silently drew her sword.

• Su Mo severed his mental connection to the Book of Life and Death and cast a harmless fire spell, prompting the Great Calamity to warn him about the book's karma.
• The Great Calamity told Su Mo to abandon the book if possible and promised to teach him killing arts the next night.
• Su Mo tested Confucian Dao spells that created light, stars, and wind, and realized they drew on the Spiritual Power between heaven and earth.
• Su Mo used a Confucian Dao spell to cross the lake and concluded that the spells seemed more suited to support than killing.
• Su Mo cast a spell to appear before Third Senior Sister Gu Yu, and Gu Yu silently drew her longsword.

Su Mo began learning Confucian Dao Arts and revealed his remarkable command of them, but the Dean told him that the little girl could not cultivate because her soul was damaged and she would not live past twelve. Su Mo refused to accept the news, and the little girl emerged from hiding in tears.

• The Dean taught Su Mo the basics of Confucian Dao Arts, and Su Mo demonstrated that he could conjure fire with ease.
• The Dean gave Su Mo a book of elementary Confucian Dao Arts and a Heart Flute, then warned him that the little girl could not cultivate because her soul was incomplete.
• The Dean explained that the girl's damaged soul prevented her from retaining memories and that she would not live past twelve.
• Su Mo broke down and insisted that there must be a way to mend the girl's soul, while Gu Yu tried to comfort him.
• The little girl stepped out from a nearby corner, crying, and called Su Mo her young master.

Su Mo carried the little girl down from the Academy and spent the day indulging her with food as they wandered through the city. Recognized and honored as Top Scholar Su, they returned to find their Little Painted Pleasure Boat waiting for them by the riverbank.

• Su Mo carried the little girl down the mountain after she asked for a chicken drumstick, and promised he would carry her for the rest of his life.
• Su Mo bought the little girl two candied hawthorns, and the vendor recognized him as Top Scholar Su and bowed in gratitude.
• Su Mo carried the little girl through the city, buying her favorite foods as passersby looked at them with respect and affection.
• The little girl asked to return to their Little Painted Pleasure Boat, and Su Mo took her to the riverbank.
• Su Mo found the boat still moored and a swept path leading to it, while kind people in the crowd smiled at them.

For three months, Su Mo searched the Academy's Book Tower for a way to save the little girl, while his hair turned gray and his cultivation advanced. The little girl comforted him and recorded his whitening hair in her journal, as Su Mo continued reading without telling her why.

• Luo Yin and Gu Yu discussed Su Mo's three-month search in the Book Tower and the Academy's sorrow over the little girl.
• Second, Sixth, Fourth, and Fifth returned or visited the Academy, while the Dean repeatedly went out seeking help.
• Su Mo read books day and night, reaching the perfection of Qi Refining as he searched for a way to save the little girl.
• The little girl brought Su Mo water, moved aside the books he had read, and combed his increasingly white hair.
• The little girl asked Su Mo to rest, but he smiled and urged her to write her journal entry.
• The little girl wrote that summer insects sang while she saw Su Mo's hair had turned white.