Chapter Summaries

Su Mo used the Power of Reincarnation to leave warnings for the White-Clad One on the Immortal Path, but the youth ignored them. After a dream revealed a forgotten encounter between a transcendent woman and another consciousness, Su Mo emerged from reincarnation and learned he had reached the Third Heaven, the Battlefield.

• Su Mo carved warnings onto three stone steles, urging the White-Clad One to reject Immortal Yao, the Dao of Alchemy, and the pursuit of Heavenly Secrets, but the youth walked past them.
• Su Mo fell deeper into reincarnation and dreamed of his past lives and a transcendent woman's account of finding another bewildered consciousness in the Star Sea.
• Su Mo awoke with the suspicion that something had happened during the long period he had forgotten, and reincarnation shattered around him.
• A hand pulled Su Mo from the water and brought him to a dilapidated hut, where six detached figures examined him.
• A man told Su Mo that he was in the Third Heaven, the Battlefield.

Su Mo arrived at the world's Third Heaven, where six beings told him they were gods known to the world as Immortal Emperors. They said he was one of them and would gradually forget his past, leaving him with three things to remember, but Su Mo remained confused about who he was and what the gods were meant to do.

• Su Mo found himself on the bank of the Long River with six people who described the place as the Third Heaven and the Battlefield.
• A woman gave Su Mo a candle lamp, and he watched the six people gaze across the river at countless flames until night fell.
• Su Mo asked who the six people were, and the woman said they were gods whom people called Immortal Emperors.
• One of the men explained that the gods had forgotten who they were, and two others said they needed to remember three things.
• A petite woman told Su Mo that he was one of them and would forget his origins and identity, remembering only three things and carrying on the gods' work.

Su Mo learned that the six Immortal Emperors had forgotten their original names and preserved three things through reminders: their names, their traits, and the need to return. After Chang Ling returned from battle unable to recognize his companions until his candle was relit, Long Robe took Su Mo with her into the mist so he could witness the battle and find answers.

• Chang Ling explained that the six Immortal Emperors chose names beginning with “Chang” to help them remember one another and described the second thing they had to remember.
• Chang Ling crossed the Long River alone to face the unknown enemy while Su Mo waited with the others.
• Chang Ling returned confused and unable to recognize the group until Chang Ding relit his extinguished candle lamp.
• Long Robe told Su Mo that forgetting everything meant becoming lost in the eternal Dark Night, and that they must remember to come back.
• Long Robe invited Su Mo to join her in the next battle, and they walked across the river toward the mist.

Su Mo learned that the Divine Race kept Annihilation from crossing the Long River by relighting its extinguished Floating Life Lamps, at the cost of bearing its karmic backlash. As Long Robe’s memories faded with each lamp she lit, Su Mo suspected that time was the force eroding the world.

• Su Mo followed Long Robe across the Piaomiao Long River and learned that even touching its waters could stir up Karma.
• Long Robe showed Su Mo an extinguished Floating Life Lamp and relit it, suffering a burden of Karma as her own lamp dimmed.
• Long Robe explained that Annihilation came from the Long River’s Other Shore and that the Divine Race had to keep it at bay by maintaining the Floating Life Lamps.
• Long Robe continued relighting the lamps, growing exhausted and losing memories as Annihilation’s backlash struck her.
• Su Mo suspected that time was their enemy, eroding the world and causing the lamps to go out.

Su Mo watched Long Robe relight every extinguished lantern on the Long River and realized the Divine Race’s first two rules were to remember who they were and what they must do. After Long Robe remembered the third rule, she began walking back toward the riverbank alone.

• Long Robe told Su Mo to watch from a distance and remember the three things, then continued lighting lanterns as the night fell.
• Su Mo realized that Long Robe’s duty to light the lanterns persisted even after the backlash of Annihilation had erased her memories, and he inferred how the Divine Maiden had created the Nine Heavens’ Divine Race.
• Su Mo wondered whether Xiaoyueyue had also lost her way on the Long River and been sealed on Mount Sumeru by the first person to attain Buddhahood.
• Long Robe spent another day lighting lanterns while Su Mo stayed back, understanding that one person had to complete the task alone and return alone.
• After Long Robe relit every lantern, she became bewildered, then remembered the third rule and began walking toward the riverbank, murmuring, “Go home.”

After Long Robe returned from lighting the lamps, Su Mo joined the Lantern Lighters on the riverbank and offered to take her place next time. They decided he first needed a name, and Chang Ding proposed “Eternal Life,” which the others accepted.

• Su Mo followed Long Robe back across the Long River as her memories faded, watching her struggle to hold on to the command to go home.
• The five Divine Race Lantern Lighters relit Long Robe’s candle when she reached the riverbank, restoring her three memories, and she reunited with Su Mo.
• Su Mo joined the Lantern Lighters in their hut and said he wanted to light the lamps next time, but Long Robe told him to wait until his memories were secure.
• Chang Ling said Su Mo needed a name before he could strengthen his memories, so the Lantern Lighters spent the night suggesting names.
• At dawn, Chang Ding proposed “Eternal Life,” and the others agreed to give Su Mo that name.

Su Mo learned to use the Divine Race’s power of all spirits and spent ages living with the six figures on the Long River, while they continued to keep him from entering it. When Chang Ding went into the river to light the lamps, he failed to return for half a month, leaving the others uneasy.

• Long Robe taught Su Mo to control the world with the Divine Race’s power of all spirits, and Su Mo used it to engrave memories and names into his divine soul.
• Su Mo lived with Long Robe, Chang Ding, Chang Feng, Chang Shui, Chang Zhi, and the white-clad figure for hundreds or thousands of years, learning the Divine Race’s abilities as they took turns entering the Long River.
• Su Mo repeatedly asked to enter the Long River and light the lamps, but the others refused because his memory of returning was not strong enough.
• Chang Ding entered the Long River to light the lamps after the others again refused Su Mo’s request.
• The six waited as two days, five days, and then half a month passed without Chang Ding returning, and unease spread among them.

After Chang Ding lost his memories on the Long River, Su Mo struggled to accept that the person they knew was dead and carved his name into a stone stele. Long Robe showed him a hillside covered in similar steles, revealing that many of their companions had been forgotten before.

• Long Robe and the others told Su Mo that searching for Chang Ding was forbidden and that losing all his memories meant the Chang Ding they knew had died.
• Long Robe explained that memories defined a person, prompting Su Mo to confront his own uncertainty over whether he was Su Jingyan or Su Mo.
• After the others left, Su Mo sat by the Long River and asked Long Robe whether they would search for Chang Ding and whether they would eventually forget him.
• Su Mo raised a stone stele engraved with Chang Ding’s name on the hillside by the river.
• Long Robe led Su Mo over the hill, where he saw the ground covered with stone steles, suggesting many others had been lost and forgotten.

Su Mo lived for ages in the Third Heaven as members of the Divine Race vanished while lighting lamps along the Long River, and the survivors kept him from entering it. After Long Robe also disappeared, Su Mo was left alone beside the river, still seeking a way to reach the Other Shore and help the Divine Race.

• Su Mo saw countless steles commemorating Divine Race members lost in the Long River, then settled into the others’ quiet routine of waiting for Chang Ling to return.
• After Chang Feng became lost, Chang Shui went into the river to finish lighting his lamps and then searched for him despite Long Robe’s warning, leaving only four at the bank.
• Chang Ling later became lost, leaving Su Mo, Eternal Life, Long Robe, and Chang Zhi; Su Mo continued asking to enter the river and tended a Strange Flower meant to help create a being like the Divine Race.
• Chang Zhi became lost, and Long Robe continued refusing to let Su Mo enter the river until she too failed to return, leaving Su Mo alone.

Alone on the Battlefield, White-Clad One entered the Long River to relight its extinguished lamps, bearing the erosion and karma each lamp carried. After lighting every lamp, he returned to an empty riverbank and continued the lonely cycle of lighting and returning.

• White-Clad One lit a spare candle lamp at the riverbank, then entered the Long River carrying another lamp.
• White-Clad One discovered that relighting each extinguished lamp transferred its power of annihilation and karma to him, eroding his consciousness.
• White-Clad One lit lamp after lamp until he forgot who he was and remembered only to keep lighting them.
• After finding every lamp lit, White-Clad One remembered Long Robe's instruction to go home and returned to the riverbank alone.
• White-Clad One relit his own extinguished lamp, then went back to the Long River as the lamps continued to go out and be relit.

Eternal Life created a second self from life, death, and his own memories, then sent him into the Long River to find the lost Divine Race members. After Su Mo learned that he was not simply Eternal Life’s incarnation, he told the dying Eternal Life that he had found them, bringing him comfort.

• The White-Clad One forged a seven-volume book from life, death, and other powers, then transformed the Strange Flower into a second self.
• The incarnation agreed to search for Chang Ding, Chang Ling, Long Robe, Chang Feng, Chang Shui, and Chang Zhi, despite the risk of losing his way and dying.
• The incarnation took a lamp into the Long River, lit the extinguished floating lanterns, and followed the lost Divine Race members.
• After a long wait, Eternal Life saw Su Mo emerge in the Third Heaven and explained that the incarnation had died, while Su Mo was now himself.
• Su Mo told Eternal Life that he had found the others, and Eternal Life wept with relief.

Su Mo learned that he was Eternal Life’s Incarnation and that their memories connected them to the Divine Race and the Yanhuang Clan. Eternal Life pointed out that Su Mo’s Spirit Sea might hold the missing key to Reincarnation, and they entered it to investigate.

• Su Mo realized he was the Incarnation Eternal Life had created and understood how the lost Divine Race members had reached the Nine Heavens.
• Su Mo asked why they remembered their previous lives and belonged to the Divine Race, and Eternal Life suggested they were Yanhuang descendants born with divinity.
• Su Mo urged Eternal Life to see the Mortal Realm, but Eternal Life said he could no longer light lamps and explained that Reincarnation might deliver the world.
• Eternal Life told Su Mo that he had overlooked his Spirit Sea and asked why it had appeared.
• Su Mo opened his Spirit Sea Gate, and Eternal Life followed him inside, where they saw the Book of Life and Death, the River of Forgetfulness, and a stone bridge that Eternal Life said seemed like a product of the world's consciousness.

Eternal Life revealed that Su Mo was the means to deliver the world and urged him to unlock the Book of Life and Death’s final volumes. After Eternal Life transferred his power and life force to Su Mo, he dispersed, leaving Su Mo grieving beside the Long River as a person and a beast arrived.

• Eternal Life told Su Mo that the world’s fate might have been ordained and that Su Mo could deliver it by opening the Book of Life and Death’s final volumes.
• Su Mo found the sixth volume, the Rebirth Scroll, blank, and discovered that the seventh volume was blank as well.
• Su Mo offered to let Eternal Life enter reincarnation and seek a way home, but Eternal Life said he could not return and chose to give Su Mo his accumulated cultivation and remaining life force.
• Eternal Life transferred his power to Su Mo, then spoke of his longing for his parents before dispersing into the wind.
• Su Mo mourned Eternal Life beside the Long River until a person and a beast emerged from the void and embraced him.

Su Mo reunited with the Divine Maiden at the Long River after learning that Eternal Life had only been a dream and that he was born in Jiangnan. He offered to tell her the truth of her origins, but she said it no longer mattered, and Su Mo realized that perhaps she had never truly wanted to know.

• Su Mo grieved over the revelation that Eternal Life had been his dream, while the Divine Maiden and the Void Beast stayed beside him.
• Su Mo reflected that he and the Divine Maiden had both become people distinct from who they had been before losing their memories.
• Su Mo told the Divine Maiden that he had discovered where he came from and learned her origins, leaving her to decide whether she wanted to know.
• The Divine Maiden said the answer no longer mattered and explained that pursuing a truth could matter more than obtaining it.
• Su Mo realized that the Divine Maiden might never have truly wanted to learn the reason for her existence.

Su Mo learned that his past-life memories belonged to Eternal Life and created an incarnation so he could return to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. As Su Jingyan and Big Strong set off for home, Su Mo left with the Divine Maiden to begin a plan aimed at destroying and reincarnating the world.

• Su Mo mourned the loss of his connection to Eternal Life’s memories as Big Strong tried to comfort him.
• Su Mo created Su Jingyan from a Flower of the Other Shore, linking their Divine Senses so they shared one consciousness.
• Su Jingyan asked Big Strong to take him home, and the Void Beast carried him through the void toward the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
• Su Mo prepared to carry out a scheme across the Immortal Domain and Mortal Realm to bring destruction before the world’s reincarnation.
• The Divine Maiden opened a rift, and she and Su Mo left the desolate Third Heaven.

Two scholars discussed the Riverboat Pavilion and the Music Immortal’s devotion to the legendary scholar who died a thousand years earlier, while an unseen observer watched from the crowd. At court, Emperor Ying faced renewed demands to name an heir, and Minister Xu urged him to summon the missing princess.

• A scholar from Capital City explained that the Riverboat Pavilion honored the dead scholar and had been established by the Music Immortal, who never played her life-bound zither again after his death.
• The two scholars left to attend to the approaching Spring Examination as an unidentified person watched the pleasure boat and disappeared into the crowd.
• At court, Emperor Ying let the Ministry of Rites decide the Spring Examination questions instead of changing them himself.
• Minister Xu and the other ministers petitioned Emperor Ying to designate an heir, and Emperor Ying challenged them to say whom he should choose.
• Minister Xu suggested that Emperor Ying summon his missing daughter, the princess, and designate her as heir.

Emperor Ying’s ministers urged him to name Princess Shitong heir, but Elder Xu reminded him that Emperor Jing Yan had been dead for over a thousand years. As Emperor Ying and his wife mourned Mo’er beside the lotus pond, the long-lost wanderer returned.

• Emperor Ying refused to discuss naming Princess Shitong heir, then erupted when Xu Xixi pressed him and declared that Emperor Jing Yan was dead.
• Xu Xixi explained that he had urged Emperor Ying to name an heir because the emperor was still grieving his son and waiting for his return.
• Emperor Ying left court and went to the Imperial Garden, where his wife was sewing another dragon robe for Mo’er.
• Emperor Ying and his wife spoke of how much they missed Mo’er and feared he might return only after they were gone.
• Emperor Ying sensed a familiar presence and saw Mo’er standing beside the lotus pond in white, weeping as he looked at them.

Su Mo returned to the Imperial Garden after a thousand years and reunited with his parents, Emperor Ying and Prince Ying's Princess Consort. As they welcomed him home, Elder Xu arrived and knelt before him, addressing him as his emperor.

• Su Mo knelt before his parents, and Prince Ying's Princess Consort rushed across the pond to embrace him.
• Su Mo assured his mother that he had not suffered and told her he had traveled until he found a way to return.
• Emperor Ying joined Su Mo and, after struggling to show his feelings, embraced his son.
• A guard announced Elder Xu's arrival, and Emperor Ying ordered that he be summoned.
• Elder Xu saw Su Mo, knelt before him, and paid his respects as his emperor.

Su Jingyan reunited with Emperor Ying, his consort, and Xu Xixi after returning in secret, and he asked Xu Xixi to rest while he quietly resumed his place among them. The chapter ended with Su Jingyan asleep peacefully beside his parents in the pavilion as the lights of the Capital City shone outside.

• Xu Xixi knelt before Su Jingyan and revealed his enduring loyalty to the White-Clad One, whom he recognized as Su Mo.
• Su Jingyan thanked Xu Xixi for serving Emperor Ying, told him to rest, and asked him not to reveal his return.
• Su Jingyan reassured Emperor Ying and his consort that he knew where Girl was and asked them to keep his return secret.
• Su Mo changed into the white robe Emperor Ying's consort had sewn for him and reunited with his parents in the little pavilion.
• Su Jingyan fell asleep peacefully with his head on his mother's lap while Emperor Ying reviewed memorials beside them.

Su Jingyan reunited with his parents, then studied the Longevity Stele and discovered that the Nine Heavens’ calamity stemmed from a failed attempt at eternal life. He concluded that saving everyone required gathering their life souls and beginning the world’s true reincarnation, a power he had not yet mastered.

• Su Jingyan woke beside his parents, promised he would not leave again, and departed to prepare before visiting Little Girl and his old acquaintances.
• Emperor Ying Consort told Emperor Ying that Xu Xixi seemed to be missing part of his life soul after Su Jingyan had asked him to resign and wait at home.
• Su Jingyan went to the Longevity Stele and read how alchemy cultivators had used strands of people’s life souls in a failed attempt to grant eternal life.
• Su Jingyan realized that the missing life souls had been taken to sustain the Eternal Life Elixir Art, which left people trapped between life and death and could not stop the world’s destruction.
• Su Jingyan concluded that he needed everyone’s life souls and the true reincarnation of the world before he could send all living beings across the River of Forgetfulness.