Chapter Summaries

Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge returned to Yang Xuan’s tomb after suspecting its mural hid a barrier or treasure, but they found signs that others had already entered. They suspected the Great Vehicle Sect and prepared to investigate cautiously.

• Luo Qingge told Lu Changfeng about the Azure Luan mural in Yang Xuan’s burial chamber, and he suspected it concealed a barrier and treasure.
• Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge shared an intimate moment before dressing and setting out on Lingbo for Mount Yangluo.
• Luo Qingge led Lu Changfeng along the hidden path to Yang Xuan’s tomb, where they found the entrance steps covered in fresh footprints.
• Lu Changfeng reasoned that the intruders had forced their way through the front entrance rather than being ordinary tomb robbers.
• Luo Qingge and Lu Changfeng suspected the Great Vehicle Sect had found the tomb while seeking treasures, and Lu Changfeng prepared to lead the way inside.

Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge discovered that the Azure Luan mural had been replaced by a Bashé and entered the hidden domain behind it. They found an orchard of Jade Flat Peaches and reached the Azure Luan fighting the giant snake.

• Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge found Great Vehicle Sect followers dead in the tomb, along with black scales and scrape marks that suggested a Bashé had passed through.
• They saw that the mural had changed: the Azure Luan was gone and a black snake had taken its place, revealing a barrier behind the painting.
• Luo Qingge blamed herself for the Azure Luan’s possible fate, but Lu Changfeng reassured her that the Great Vehicle Sect and the Bashé were responsible.
• Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge entered the hidden domain and found an orchard filled with Jade Flat Peaches.
• They followed the sounds of battle and found the Azure Luan fighting the Bashé.

Lu Changfeng and Luo Qingge defeated the Bashé and saved the poisoned Azure Luan. The bird shared its memories with Luo Qingge, who learned it had waited years for her and finally welcomed her arrival.

• The wounded Azure Luan battled the Bashé until Luo Qingge’s zither attack loosened the serpent’s coils.
• The Bashé attacked Luo Qingge, and Lu Changfeng killed it with the Eight Formations Diagram’s Wind-Raising Formation.
• Lu Changfeng used the Shennong Ruler and Shennong Glazed Glass Art to drive the poison from the Azure Luan and heal its wounds.
• The Azure Luan shared memories revealing Yang Xuan had entrusted it to wait for a worthy visitor, and that it had endured the Bashé’s poison while waiting for Luo Qingge.
• Luo Qingge embraced the Azure Luan and apologized for arriving late, and the bird comforted her with a gentle cry.

Lu Changfeng cured the Azure Luan of Bashé venom and received the Five-Thunder Dissolution Hand, while Luo Qingge searched the peach orchard for Yang Xuan’s legacy. She found the blank third volume of the Wordless Heavenly Tome and a letter addressed to whoever came after.

• Lu Changfeng spent nearly six hours removing the Bashé venom from the Azure Luan and received the max-level Five-Thunder Dissolution Hand as a reward.
• The Azure Luan recovered with its innate azure fire and gave Lu Changfeng a jade peach to restore his strength.
• Luo Qingge asked the Azure Luan whether Yang Xuan had left a blank sheepskin scroll, and it led her deeper into the peach orchard.
• Luo Qingge found Yang Xuan’s books and a rosewood box beneath an ancient peach tree.
• Luo Qingge opened the box and found the blank third volume of the Wordless Heavenly Tome and a letter addressed “To whoever comes after.”

Luo Qingge learned that Yang Xuan had safeguarded the Heavenly Book scroll, entrusted to him by a Li Clan branch that Zhao Gao’s surviving followers wiped out. Lu Changfeng mastered the Five-Thunder Dissolution Hand, and Luo Qingge gave him the scroll and explained its history.

• Luo Qingge read Yang Xuan’s letter, which explained that the Heavenly Book and Imperial Seal were keys to the First Emperor’s Mausoleum and warned against opening it lightly.
• Luo Qingge took the Heavenly Book scroll and asked the Azure Luan to accompany her; it agreed.
• Lu Changfeng accepted the Five-Thunder Dissolution Hand and endured a painful transformation as five-element power reshaped his body and meridians.
• Lu Changfeng reached full mastery and disintegrated a dead peach tree into fine dust with the technique.
• Luo Qingge and the Azure Luan returned, sensed Lu Changfeng’s new aura, and asked what had changed; he said he had gained insight.
• Luo Qingge handed Lu Changfeng the scroll and told him that Zhao Gao’s surviving followers had wiped out the Li Clan branch that entrusted it to Yang Xuan.

Lu Changfeng, Li Lingyue, and Li Longji used the Heavenly Scripture and Imperial Seal to reveal the First Emperor’s Mausoleum and its nine levels of defenses. With Dragon-Slaying City closing in, they agreed to lure its fighters into the tomb using a map altered to trigger the Twelve Golden Giants, leaving them trapped if the Ancestral Dragon awakened.

• Lu Changfeng warned Luo Qingge that Dragon-Slaying City might target her, and she said she would use her birds and the Azure Luan to stay alert.
• Lu Changfeng returned to Chang’an and joined Li Lingyue and Li Longji, who had brought the Azure Volume, Mystic Volume, and Imperial Seal.
• The three combined the Imperial Seal with all three volumes of the Heavenly Scripture, revealing the mausoleum’s nine levels, its defenses, and the unexplained words “The Ancestral Dragon slumbers.”
• Li Lingyue and Li Longji discussed the danger of entering the mausoleum without two Sixth Realm cultivators as Dragon-Slaying City approached.
• Lu Changfeng proposed giving Dragon-Slaying City a mostly accurate map with a false route on the seventh level, where a misstep would activate the Twelve Golden Giants.
• Li Lingyue assigned Lu Changfeng to alter the map, herself to contact Celestial Master Ye Fashan and Elder Yuan, and Li Longji to watch Dragon-Slaying City’s movements.

Lu Changfeng absorbed the Eastern Sea Blood-Jade Coral and broke through to the mid fifth realm, then reassured Li Lingyue that he would stand by her as a comrade-in-arms. After Li Lingkui and Liu Jin collected the unconscious Hei Chijun, Li Lingyue ordered the Plum Blossom Guards to begin their plan.

• Lu Changfeng finished refining the Blood-Jade Coral, solidified his Mysterious Crane Dharma Form, and advanced to the mid fifth realm.
• Li Lingyue feared Lu Changfeng would abandon her as he grew stronger, so he promised to advance and retreat alongside her as long as she did not betray him.
• Li Lingyue and Lu Changfeng began to kiss, but sensed intruders and went outside to find Li Lingkui and Liu Jin waiting with a severed Dragon-Slaying City man's head.
• Li Lingyue had Jinghong remove the Origin-Sealing Needle from the unconscious Hei Chijun and handed him over to Li Lingkui and Liu Jin.
• After Li Lingkui, Liu Jin, and Hei Chijun left, Lu Changfeng told Li Lingyue the time had come, and she ordered the Plum Blossom Guards to proceed according to plan.

Lu Changfeng and Li Lingyue staged a battle at the Princess's Residence to make it appear that the Azure Volume had been stolen. When Dragon-Slaying City heard the report, Liu Xuance ordered his forces to pursue it, while Xu Lou remained uneasy about the news.

• Plum Blossom Guards and black-clad Inner Guards staged a fight that wrecked the Golden Scale Pool Pavilion, and Li Lingyue promised Lu Changfeng they would rebuild it to his liking.
• At a massacred village, Liu Xuance and Xu Lou discussed the killing of Feng Qianjue and suspected Prince of Lu Li Lingkui was behind it.
• A scout reported that attackers had used the Twelve Mountains and Rivers Seal, wounded Princess Taiping, and fled with the Azure Volume of the Heavenly Book.
• Liu Xuance ordered the Dragon-Slaying Guards to track the Dragon-Falling Dust and retrieve the Heavenly Book, despite Xu Lou's doubts about the report.

Li Lingkui's group discovered that the Imperial Seal and all three volumes of the Heavenly Book had been planted on Hei Chijun to lure Dragon-Slaying City to them. Liu Xuance surrounded their cave and demanded the treasures, leaving both sides on the brink of battle.

• Li Lingkui sent Liu Jin and Dou Yanshan outside to investigate the Golden-Winged Owls circling above the cave.
• Liu Jin recognized the owls as Dragon-Slaying City's dragon-tracking birds, and Li Lingkui's group searched Hei Chijun for a tracking clue.
• Li Lingkui found a pouch on Hei Chijun containing the Imperial Seal and all three volumes of the Heavenly Book, which exposed Li Lingyue and Lu Changfeng's trap.
• Yuchi Zheng asked whether they should surrender the treasures, but Li Lingkui realized Dragon-Slaying City would attack them regardless.
• Liu Xuance and his men surrounded the cave, and Liu Xuance demanded the Heavenly Book as Li Lingkui and his companions drew their weapons.

Luo Qingge reported that the battle at Zhongnan Mountain had begun, and Lu Changfeng predicted that Prince of Lu would preserve the Heavenly Book and Imperial Seal to turn Dragon-Slaying City against their enemies. As the Princess's party waited to surround the Underground Palace only after Dragon-Slaying City entered, Li Lingkui unleashed his full power at the cave, prompting Liu Xuance to send Xu Lou forward with the Heaven's Punishment Sword.

• Luo Qingge reported that Dragon-Slaying City had found Hei Chijun's hiding place and that its battle with the Prince of Lu's forces had begun.
• Lu Changfeng reasoned that Prince of Lu would not destroy the Heavenly Book or Imperial Seal, and warned Li Lingyue and Li Longji to wait until their enemies entered the tomb before acting.
• At Zhongnan Mountain, the eleven Dragon-Slaying Guards overwhelmed Hei Chijun's defenders while Li Lingkui transferred his true qi to Hei Chijun inside the cave.
• After Hei Chijun awoke, Li Lingkui advanced to the cave entrance and struck two Dragon-Slaying Guards with his Towering Mount Song palm.
• Liu Xuance sent Xu Lou into the fight, and Xu Lou drew Dragon-Slaying City's Divine Artifact, the Heaven's Punishment Sword.

Xu Lou and Li Lingkui fought to a devastating standstill before Li Lingkui used the Imperial Seal and Heavenly Book to force Liu Xuance to negotiate. Liu Xuance secretly struck Li Lingkui from underground, seized the treasures, and let the wounded Li escape into the forest with his companions.

• Xu Lou unleashed Earthfire City Incinerator, and Li Lingkui countered by pouring his remaining cultivation into a clash that left both men gravely wounded.
• Li Lingkui threatened to destroy the Imperial Seal and Heavenly Book unless Liu Xuance let his companions withdraw, and Liu Xuance agreed.
• After the others escaped, Liu Xuance pretended to offer an alliance while secretly sending his qi underground toward Li Lingkui.
• Liu Xuance's hidden attack blasted Li Lingkui into the air, allowing him to catch the Imperial Seal and all three Heavenly Book scrolls.
• Li Lingkui used the blast's force to flee into the forest, where Liu Jin, Hei Chijun, and the others found him and helped him leave.

Liu Xuance and Xu Lou led Dragon-Slaying City into the First Emperor's Mausoleum using the Imperial Seal and a map that accurately revealed its traps. They reached the seventh level and found twelve golden giants standing in the brightly lit chamber beyond its stone door.

• Liu Xuance placed the Imperial Seal in the stone platform, opening the stairs to the mausoleum, and led the party inside.
• Xu Lou checked the plans with the Truth-Illuminating Mirror, confirmed they appeared genuine, and left four guards at the entrance with orders to raise a warning beacon if the group did not return within six hours.
• Liu Xuance used the map to navigate the first six levels and verified that its directions accurately described the traps and safe routes.
• Liu Xuance urged the group onward despite Xu Lou's unease, and they reached the seventh level's stone door.
• Liu Xuance and the others entered a vast, pearl-lit hall and saw twelve golden giants standing at its center.

Liu Xuance’s group triggered the Twelve Golden Giants while navigating the tomb, awakening the deadly puppet armor. At the entrance, Lu Changfeng killed the four Dragon-Slaying Guards, and Li Lingyue’s forces prepared to wait for Dragon-Slaying City’s people to emerge.

• Liu Xuance led seven experts across the marked tiles, but a tile sank and awakened all twelve golden giants.
• At the tomb entrance, Qin Zhenyue complained about guarding while Tie Mole warned that Princess Taiping’s forces might arrive.
• Lu Changfeng ambushed the four Dragon-Slaying Guards with the Purple Tenuity Scroll and killed them using five-colored lightning.
• Li Lingyue arrived with hundreds of Plum Blossom Guards, Li Longji, and Chen Xuanli as Lu Changfeng said they would wait for the tomb’s occupants to come out.

Liu Xuance led Dragon-Slaying City's forces through the seventh level, where twelve golden figures wielding pre-Qin martial arts slaughtered most of them before he broke through with the Black Armor of the Warrior Troops and its ge. He and six others reached the eighth level, while the Ancestral Dragon’s finger twitched in his tomb on the ninth.

• The twelve golden figures awakened and attacked Liu Xuance’s group with sword styles from the pre-Qin schools, killing several fighters.
• Liu Xuance summoned the Black Armor of the Warrior Troops and the Warrior Troops’ Ge, then destroyed one golden figure by piercing its chest formation.
• Liu Xuance led the survivors toward the eighth-level entrance as the golden figures pursued them, killing seven more in ten breaths.
• Xu Lou and six Dragon-Slaying Guards crossed the entrance behind Liu Xuance, but a flying sword killed the last guard, leaving seven survivors from the original group of more than thirty.
• Liu Xuance vowed to settle the score with Li Lingyue and Lu Changfeng after obtaining the Black Dragon Banner.
• On the ninth level, the finger of the sleeping figure in black dragon robes twitched.

Liu Xuance tried to claim the Black Dragon Banner, but it drained his vitality while trapping him in an illusion, leaving him aged after only three breaths. He swallowed the Barrier-Breaking Pill to gain Sixth Realm power and prepared to try again.

• Liu Xuance entered the Eighth Level with Xu Lou and five Dragon-Slaying Guards, where they found the Black Dragon Banner among a hall of treasures.
• Xu Lou warned Liu Xuance of the banner’s baleful history, and Liu Xuance explained that it controlled the Underground Palace’s mechanical forces.
• Liu Xuance seized the Black Dragon Banner and was trapped in an illusion of the massacre at Changping while the banner drained his blood vitality.
• Xu Lou struck Liu Xuance to free him, and Liu Xuance discovered that three breaths with the banner had left him gray-haired and withered.
• Liu Xuance swallowed the Barrier-Breaking Pill, broke through to the Sixth Realm, and manifested a physical golden dragon incarnation.

Liu Xuance pulled the Black Dragon Banner free as the Ancestral Dragon awakened beneath the Imperial Mausoleum and began drawing power from the dragon veins. Ye Fashan and Yuan Tiangang interrupted that flow, but the Ancestral Dragon still awoke and declared his return.

• Liu Xuance used a pill to force his strength to the Sixth Realm and struggled to pull the Black Dragon Banner from the eighth level.
• The Ancestral Dragon awakened on the ninth level, and the Great Array of the Celestial Stars poured the Imperial Mausoleum’s earth qi into him.
• Ye Fashan froze part of Li Mountain’s earth qi while Yuan Tiangang summoned starlight to suppress the dragon veins.
• Liu Xuance pulled the Black Dragon Banner free, causing the mausoleum’s terracotta soldiers, exotic-beast skeletons, and Twelve Golden Giants to cry out.
• The Ancestral Dragon sat up, realized the earth qi had been cut off, and announced that he had finally awakened.

The Li Dragon and Qin Shi Huang emerged on the Eighth Level, where they confronted Liu Xuance, Xu Lou, and the Dragon-Slaying Guards. Liu Xuance used the Black Dragon Banner to command the Imperial Mausoleum’s formations and unleash its forces against them.

• The Li Dragon broke through to the Eighth Level, and Qin Shi Huang followed, terrifying Liu Xuance, Xu Lou, and the five Dragon-Slaying Guards with their power.
• The Li Dragon attacked with Mysterious Water, crushing two Dragon-Slaying Guards into bloody pulp as Liu Xuance and Xu Lou dodged.
• Liu Xuance realized Lu Changfeng had lured them into a trap and decided to use the Black Dragon Banner to fight back.
• Liu Xuance activated the Imperial Mausoleum’s formations, commanding eleven Golden Giants, eighteen thousand Terracotta Warriors, and the Exotic Beast skeletons to attack the Li Dragon.
• Qin Shi Huang watched the Golden Giants charge and sneered that they were like grains of rice daring to shine.

Lu Changfeng played and sang “Recalling Qin E” to reveal that Great Qin had fallen, shaking Qin Shi Huang’s thousand-year hope as Liu Xuance and Xu Lou prepared to strike. The chapter ended with the two men attacking while Qin Shi Huang was reeling from the truth.

• The Li Dragon overwhelmed Liu Xuance’s Golden Men, but Xu Lou used his Sixth Realm sword domain and Liu Xuance’s Black Dragon Banner to wound it.
• Aboveground, Lu Changfeng argued that Dragon-Slaying City could exploit Qin Shi Huang’s vulnerability and decided to reveal Great Qin’s fall through music.
• Lu Changfeng played the Soul-Stealing Melody and sang “Recalling Qin E,” stirring memories of Qin’s past among those listening.
• Qin Shi Huang realized from the song that Great Qin had fallen and recalled Xianyang Palace burning and the empire collapsing under its second emperor.
• As Qin Shi Huang stood stunned by the truth, Liu Xuance and Xu Lou launched their attack.

Qin Shi Huang overcame Xu Lou and Liu Xuance’s ambush, but Dragon-Falling Dust began eroding his dragon essence. After Xu Lou died and Liu Xuance unleashed his puppets, Qin Shi Huang used the Abyss-Covering Palm to destroy their advance and struck Liu Xuance through several walls.

• Xu Lou and Liu Xuance attacked Qin Shi Huang together while the Golden Men restrained the Li Dragon.
• Xu Lou hit Qin Shi Huang with Dragon-Falling Dust, but Qin Shi Huang shattered Heaven’s Punishment Sword and killed Xu Lou with a palm strike.
• Grieving for Xu Lou, Liu Xuance summoned eighteen thousand Terracotta Warriors and a horde of Exotic Beast skeletons to attack Qin Shi Huang.
• Qin Shi Huang used the Abyss-Covering Palm to create a vast abyss that swallowed more than half the Terracotta Warriors.
• Liu Xuance redirected the remaining warriors to flank Qin Shi Huang, but Qin Shi Huang appeared beside him and blasted him through walls with a palm strike.

Lu Changfeng and the other experts attacked Qin Shi Huang together, but the Li Dragon took the brunt of their assault and Qin Shi Huang remained unharmed. Lu Changfeng began a forbidden Ghost Valley art while Ye Fashan and four others moved to hold Qin Shi Huang off.

• Liu Xuance rallied the remaining puppets and skeletons in a final charge against Qin Shi Huang and the Li Dragon.
• Lu Changfeng arrived with his companions and unleashed eight talismans, while the others attacked Qin Shi Huang with their strongest techniques.
• The Li Dragon shielded Qin Shi Huang from the combined assault, leaving it gravely wounded while Qin Shi Huang emerged nearly unscathed.
• Lu Changfeng began the forbidden Six Qi Returning to the Origin technique, and Qin Shi Huang recognized the Ghost Valley art and tried to interrupt him.
• Ye Fashan blocked Qin Shi Huang while Li Lingyue, Zhao Lanjun, Mu Qinghong, Li Longji, and Chen Xuanli attacked from five directions.