Chapter Summaries

Lin Ruoshui deduced that Yin Cunli was likely Torch Dragon, while the Unborn Venerable Mother chose to watch rather than confront him. As Yin Cunli pursued influence in the Dragon Subjugation Lineage and Qi Shiyun, Lianshan Xin learned of Torch Dragon’s presence, and Torch Dragon recalled Mao Fulong’s confidence in the lineage’s future.

• The Unborn Venerable Mother recognized Torch Dragon’s strategy and decided to watch rather than intervene, while Lin Ruoshui suspected Yin Cunli was Torch Dragon.
• Qi Shiyun encouraged Yin Cunli to inherit the Dragon Subjugation Lineage, and he privately planned to seize the lineage and later control Great Yu.
• Yin Cunli offered to support the Heavenly Queen’s unborn child, then accepted Qi Shiyun’s revelation that she was pregnant with Lianshan Xin’s child.
• Qi Shiyun became wary of Yin Cunli’s sincere-seeming affection, suspecting he might possess a powerful inheritance or hidden motives.
• Lianshan Xin entered Tian Ji’s dream, reassured him about Shakyamuni Buddha’s protection, and heard that Tian Ji had encountered Torch Dragon.
• Torch Dragon dreamed of Mao Fulong, who had predicted that the Dragon Subjugation Lineage’s successors would carry on his legacy and defeat Torch Dragon.

Lianshan Xin reassured Tian Ji that Torch Dragon could be opposed, then revealed his plan to weaken the emperor system and discovered that Torch Dragon had made Tian Ji an aided dragon. After promising to kill Torch Dragon, Lianshan Xin sought allies among Jiang Buping and Jiang Bufan, but found that Jiang Bufan had already learned the Dragon Subduers Immortal Art through the Extraordinary Way.

• Lianshan Xin told Tian Ji that Xia Xunyang’s powerful fathers had influenced his choice to support him, then offered to help Tian Ji become emperor as part of a plan to dismantle the emperor system.
• Tian Ji revealed that he still wanted the power and pleasures of an emperor, and Lianshan Xin refused to support that kind of ruler.
• Lianshan Xin sensed Dragon Subjugation Lineage aura on Tian Ji and concluded that Torch Dragon had made him an aided dragon, then told Tian Ji to accept Torch Dragon’s benefits while he fought Him.
• Lianshan Xin asked Jiang Buping to become his disciple and learn the Dragon Subduers Immortal Art, but Jiang Buping refused and suggested teaching it to Jiang Bufan instead.
• Jiang Bufan revealed that he already knew the Dragon Subduers Immortal Art because the Extraordinary Way had acquired it from Lianshan Xin, Qi Shiyun, and Xie Tianxia.

Lianshan Xin persuaded Jiang Bufan to ally with him against the power behind Yin Cunli, then proposed using the Extraordinary Way to help Maitreya Bodhisattva become Spirit Mountain’s next Buddha Head. Jiang Bufan agreed, beginning the first Buddhist-Daoist collaboration as the Millennial Catastrophe intensified.

• Lianshan Xin flattered Jiang Bufan and explained that the Dragon Subjugation Lineage had abandoned its founding patriarch’s public-minded teachings for the benefits of serving the Imperial Family.
• Jiang Bufan revealed that Yin Cunli had given him greater returns than Xie Tianxia, leading Lianshan Xin to suspect a dangerous power had infiltrated the Dragon Subjugation Lineage.
• Lianshan Xin asked Jiang Bufan to ally with him against the power behind Yin Cunli, but Jiang Bufan challenged whether Yin Cunli might restore the lineage instead.
• Lianshan Xin warned that Yin Cunli would be dead before he could revive the lineage and urged Jiang Bufan to retrieve his investment in him.
• Lianshan Xin offered Jiang Bufan the chance to use the Extraordinary Way on Maitreya Bodhisattva and help him become Spirit Mountain’s next Buddha Head.
• Jiang Bufan accepted, launching the first Buddhist-Daoist collaboration and escalating the Millennial Catastrophe.

Lianshan Xin secured Jiang Bufan’s cooperation and learned that he had obtained the Time Dao Lineage from Yin Cunli, then joined Qi Shiyun and Lin Ruoshui in concluding that Torch Dragon was connected to Yin Cunli. Lianshan Xin killed Yin Cunli while disguised as Princess Yongxing, prompting Nine Heavens to arrest the princess, and he and Qi Shiyun prepared to step into the spotlight.

• Lianshan Xin used the Little Black Box to confine and release Maitreya Baby, impressing Jiang Bufan and securing his agreement to negotiate Buddhist-Daoist cooperation.
• Jiang Bufan revealed that he had obtained time-related power from Yin Cunli, and Lianshan Xin asked whether the Spirit Invitation Technique could summon Jiang Bufan to act.
• Qi Shiyun and Lin Ruoshui told Lianshan Xin that they had also suspected Yin Cunli was linked to Torch Dragon, and the three agreed to strike before Torch Dragon could act.
• Lianshan Xin transformed into Princess Yongxing and killed Yin Cunli at Nine Heavens headquarters.
• Nine Heavens accused Princess Yongxing of the murder and moved to arrest her, while Lianshan Xin and Qi Shiyun watched her residence and prepared to step into the spotlight.

Lianshan Xin exposed Princess Yongxing’s memories, then used her arrest over Yin Cunli’s death to challenge the Imperial Family. When her Great-Grandaunt intervened and unmasked his disguise, Lianshan Xin revealed himself, summoned a heavenly sword, and killed her, leaving the Divine Capital stunned by the Nine Heavens’ counterattack.

• Lianshan Xin used Unboxing on Princess Yongxing and saw the Empress’s past advice to Emperor Yongchang, along with Princess Yongxing’s meeting with her Great-Grandaunt.
• Lianshan Xin accused Princess Yongxing of leaking Nine Heavens secrets and ordered her arrested over Yin Cunli’s death, rallying the Nine Heavens against the Imperial Family.
• Princess Yongxing’s Great-Grandaunt appeared, recognized Lianshan Xin’s disguise, and threatened him with punishment for colluding with Thousand Faces and the Demon Cult.
• Lianshan Xin accused Great-Grandaunt of being Blood Guanyin, revealed his identity, and summoned a heavenly sword as powerful figures watched from across the Divine Capital.
• Lianshan Xin invited Zhang A-Niu and Xie Tianxia’s strength, killed Great-Grandaunt with one sword strike, and called for the Nine Heavens to continue its arrests.

After consolidating Nine Heavens’ support, Lianshan Xin decided the Divine Capital’s young leaders should openly claim a place in the coming struggle. The chapter ended with him planning a banquet to make their ambitions—and the deadly stakes of opposing them—clear to the capital’s powers.

• Lianshan Xin and Qi Shiyun learned that no one dared challenge them and agreed to make a conspicuous show of strength after the night’s events.
• Lianshan Xin ordered Nine Heavens to interrogate Princess Yongxing, while Qi Shiyun assured its members that her Master and the Heavenly Queen remained in control.
• Lianshan Xin and Qi Shiyun returned safely to the General’s Residence, where Qi Shiyun joked that they should have staged an assassination attempt to justify arrests.
• Lianshan Jingcheng advised Lianshan Xin to determine whether Emperor Yongchang supported the Empress or the Heavenly Queen, and encouraged him to use his strength to rise during the crisis.
• After consulting his parents, Lianshan Xin resolved to plant his flag in the Divine Capital and announced plans for a Hongmen Banquet to challenge its powerful figures to a life-or-death Succession Struggle.

Lianshan Xin hosted a Tail-Burning Banquet at Star-Plucking Tower to gather the Divine Capital’s powerful figures and announce that Princess Yongxing had confessed. The guests arrived amid growing political tensions, and his declaration set the banquet on the verge of open conflict.

• The Left and Right Chancellors discussed the Imperial Court’s crisis and received invitations to Lianshan Xin’s banquet, while Nine Heavens demonstrated its reach inside Golden Throne Hall.
• Emperor Yongchang rebuked Eunuch Wang for delivering the invitations but allowed him to attend and support Lianshan Xin and Xia Xunyang.
• Lianshan Xin, Xia Xunyang, Qi Shiyun, and Lin Ruoshui welcomed Eunuch Wang, whose attendance encouraged the invited officials to come.
• The Left and Right Chancellors, Jixia Academy’s Master Song, and other powerful guests arrived, while delegations from the Dragon Palace and Spirit Mountain joined uninvited.
• Lianshan Xin welcomed the gathered guests and announced that Princess Yongxing had confessed, stirring the banquet into uproar.

At the Tail-Burning Banquet, Lianshan Xin used his power and the Dragon Subjugation Lineage’s inheritance to challenge the Imperial Family and Dragon Clan, then backed Xia Xunyang as Great Yu’s Heir Apparent. The chapter ended with Lianshan Xin, Xia Xunyang, Lin Ruoshui, and Qi Shiyun combining their Dharma Forms and making flowers bloom throughout the Divine Capital as they demanded everyone choose whether to be their friend or enemy.

• Lianshan Xin humiliated an Imperial Family descendant and revealed that his Dragon Subduers Immortal Art could subjugate true dragons.
• Lianshan Xin struck the South Sea Dragon King’s Seventh Son and taunted the South Sea Dragon King, who recognized Lianshan Xin’s use of the Spirit Invitation Technique and did not dare attack.
• Lianshan Xin declared that the Dragon Subjugation Lineage would no longer submit to dragons and announced his support for Xia Xunyang as Great Yu’s Heir Apparent.
• Xia Xunyang released his Human Emperor Dharma Form, and Lianshan Xin and Lin Ruoshui also revealed their Dharma Forms in support of him.
• Qi Shiyun joined their four Dharma Forms, drawing forth celestial phenomena that made flowers bloom throughout the Divine Capital as the four young people challenged those present to choose sides.

At Lianshan Xin’s Tail-Burning Banquet, guests weighed the Dragon Clan’s threat and the succession struggle as Xia Xunyang’s supporters discussed securing him an inheritance from Jixia Academy. The feast ended in an uproar when a Spirit Mountain Female Bodhisattva publicly challenged whether the son of the Bone-Scraping Blade was fit to rule the world.

• Lianshan Xin served an extravagant All-Dragon Feast, and the South Sea Dragon King stormed out after Lianshan Xin taunted him.
• Qi Shiyun explained that Zhuo Biyu had returned, and Xia Xunyang offered to help her advance by seeking saber arts in Jixia Academy’s Primordial Era ruins.
• Lianshan Xin and his companions discussed whether the Libationer and Jixia Academy supported Xia Xunyang’s claim to become Heir Apparent.
• Vice Minister Xiao and other guests privately considered backing Xia Xunyang, while the Left and Right Chancellors debated the risks of supporting him.
• A Female Bodhisattva from Spirit Mountain declared that she did not support Xia Xunyang and asked whether the son of the Bone-Scraping Blade was fit to rule the world.

Spirit Mountain's Female Bodhisattva revealed that Xia Xunyang was the Bone-Scraping Blade's son and challenged his Imperial Family bloodline and right to join the Succession Struggle. Instead of isolating him, the revelation prompted officials and powerful figures to support his claim, while Lianshan Xin saw the growing support as a boon to Great Yu.

• The Female Bodhisattva claimed Xia Xunyang was the Bone-Scraping Blade's son, questioned whether he had Imperial Family blood, and said Spirit Mountain would expose his origins to the world.
• Lianshan Xin vouched that Xia Xunyang's bloodline verification had confirmed his Imperial Family blood, and he rejected the Female Bodhisattva's attempt to bar Xia Xunyang from the Succession Struggle.
• Vice Minister Xiao defended Xia Xunyang, questioned Spirit Mountain's accusations, and openly declared his support for Xia Xunyang's bid for the throne.
• General Zou and other influential figures followed Vice Minister Xiao's lead and publicly praised or supported Xia Xunyang, leaving the Female Bodhisattva and Spirit Mountain's delegation bewildered.
• The Left Chancellor learned that several officials were enjoying the chance to claim they had once been Retired Emperor, while Lianshan Xin observed that Xia Xunyang's many prospective fathers were strengthening his Dragon Subjugation Way.

After Spirit Mountain identified Xia Xunyang’s mother as the Bone-Scraping Blade, Emperor Yongchang decided to let the rumor spread and exploit its benefits for Xia Xunyang. As Xia Xunyang’s strength surged along the Son of Heaven Dao, Qi Shiyun and Lianshan Xin arranged an Immortal-Saving Elixir for Zhuo Biyu, while Thousand Faces unexpectedly felt his cultivation rise too.

• Emperor Yongchang dismissed Spirit Mountain’s claim about the Bone-Scraping Blade and refused to suppress the rumor, deciding Xia Xunyang could benefit from it and later revise the histories.
• Emperor Yongchang sent Eunuch Wang to find Nie Hongxiu and help spread the story, envisioning Xia Xunyang as the Son of Heaven.
• Xia Xunyang’s power advanced toward the middle stage of Dharma Form, and Lin Ruoshui reassured him that his many fathers might lead to a Father Dao.
• Zhuo Biyu asked how she could reach the Dharma Form Realm, and Qi Shiyun and Lianshan Xin agreed to seek an Immortal-Saving Elixir from the Heavenly Queen for her.
• Xia Xunyang reached the middle Dharma Form Realm, Lianshan Xin felt a surge of fullness, and Thousand Faces sensed his cultivation soaring while disguised as the Princess Consort of the King of Jiujiang.

Thousand Faces unexpectedly advanced to the late Dharma Form Realm after the chaos at the Star-Plucking Tower, while Torch Dragon and the Pavilion Master plotted against Lianshan Xin. Nie Hongxiu told Emperor Yongchang that Torch Dragon had awakened and repeated claims about Lianshan Xin and Xia Xunyang’s parentage; meanwhile, rumors identifying Thousand Faces as the Bone-Scraping Blade spread, leaving her bewildered by her household servants’ advances.

• Thousand Faces consolidated the sudden cultivation surge that had raised him to the late Dharma Form Realm, giving Lianshan Xin and Qi Shiyun feedback as well.
• Lianshan Xin and the others realized Thousand Faces had gained strength while playing the Princess Consort of the King of Jiujiang, and Xia Xunyang resented missing out on the benefit.
• Torch Dragon and the Pavilion Master agreed to enlist Xie Guanhai and use Nie Hongxiu to turn Emperor Yongchang against Lianshan Xin.
• Nie Hongxiu told Emperor Yongchang that Torch Dragon had awakened and that Lianshan Xin and Xia Xunyang might not be his sons, but Emperor Yongchang dismissed the claims and agreed to bring Youzhu to the Divine Capital.
• After Thousand Faces emerged from seclusion, she found that rumors calling the Princess Consort the Bone-Scraping Blade had spread and a Shen Clan servant asked her for a favor.

Thousand Faces learned that the Shen Clan and the world believed he was the Bone-Scraping Blade, then chose to keep the princess-consort identity and use it to secure influence. Lianshan Xin arranged for Thousand Faces to join the Nine Heavens’ inner circle, received four Immortal-Saving Elixirs from the Heavenly Queen, and exposed the Empress’s threat to Emperor Yongchang; the chapter ended with Emperor Yongchang confronting his master in the Imperial Palace.

• The Shen Clan’s servants hailed Thousand Faces as the Bone-Scraping Blade and demanded his generosity, while Si De interpreted Thousand Faces’s kick as an invitation to visit him privately.
• Thousand Faces contacted Lianshan Xin, learned how he had become entangled in the Bone-Scraping Blade’s identity, and chose to retain the princess-consort role and the Shen Clan’s allegiance.
• Lianshan Xin advised Thousand Faces to abandon the Bone-Scraping Blade’s reputation for compassion, assigned him to assess visitors seeking Dragon Blood, and promised him a place as Heavenly Transformation when Xia Xunyang took the Eastern Palace.
• The Heavenly Queen agreed to support Thousand Faces and gave Lianshan Xin four Immortal-Saving Elixirs, then warned that the Empress might be targeting Emperor Yongchang after possessing Princess Yongxing.
• Lianshan Xin and Zhuo Biyu used the Myriad Forms True Scripture to fabricate Princess Yongxing’s confession and evidence, while Lianshan Xin asked where the Empress had gone.
• Emperor Yongchang pushed Nie Hongxiu’s arm aside, rose from the Dragon Bed, and asked his master why he had come to the Imperial Palace.

Emperor Yongchang resisted the Empress’s attempt to possess him with Lianshan Xin’s help, believing he had destroyed her. The Empress secretly survived as a remnant soul, while the Unborn Venerable Mother sensed a sign of twins in the Imperial Palace.

• Emperor Yongchang told the Empress that Lianshan Xin was his son, and she warned him to beware of being deceived.
• The Empress offered to pass her cultivation and memories to Emperor Yongchang, then launched a possession attempt.
• Emperor Yongchang reversed the attack with the Heaven-Seizing Fist, but the Empress countered it and weakened him.
• Emperor Yongchang used Lianshan Xin’s communication method to bring him into the dream, where Lianshan Xin’s Netherworld Ghostfire and Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist struck the Empress.
• Emperor Yongchang thought the Empress had been defeated, while the Bone-Scraping Blade saw her remnant soul flee into him.
• The Unborn Venerable Mother looked toward the Imperial Palace and celebrated the omen of a dragon and phoenix heralding good fortune.

The Empress tried to possess the Bone-Scraping Blade after her defeat by Emperor Yongchang, but their struggle ended when Lianshan Xin arrived. Emperor Yongchang recovered from his injuries with the Empress’s remaining cultivation and memories, then urgently sent Lianshan Xin away after he noticed something alarming.

• The Bone-Scraping Blade revealed that he was the Empress’s older brother, and she realized he was a Heavenly Ear linked to Maitreya Bodhisattva.
• The Empress attacked the Bone-Scraping Blade to possess him, but he resisted until she used the World-Devouring Spirit-Swallowing Great Method and gained the advantage.
• The Empress stopped when Dao Lord Xin arrived, fearing his Netherworld Ghostfire and Dragon Subduers Immortal Art.
• Lianshan Xin found Emperor Yongchang injured, but Emperor Yongchang said the Empress’s cultivation and memories could help him reach the mid Celestial Phenomena Realm.
• Emperor Yongchang told Lianshan Xin to leave the Imperial Palace on an urgent task, and Lianshan Xin reacted in shock while examining him.

Lianshan Xin discovered that Emperor Yongchang’s body held an astonishing secret, while the Unborn Venerable Mother took an interest in the Empress and Bone-Scraping Blade’s entanglement. Reviewing the Empress’s memories, Emperor Yongchang learned that Red Bull had once tried to kill her—and heard Xia Yu’s voice intervene from five hundred years in the past.

• Lianshan Xin and Maitreya were baffled by what they saw in Emperor Yongchang, and Emperor Yongchang forced Lianshan Xin to leave the Imperial Palace.
• The Unborn Venerable Mother decided to manipulate Bone-Scraping Blade and the Empress, hoping their two souls in one body could help her claim the Great Dao of Yin-Yang.
• Emperor Yongchang felt his injuries ease and believed the Empress’s cultivation had improved his prospects of advancing in the Celestial Phenomena Realm.
• Emperor Yongchang reviewed the Empress’s memories, learned she had once possessed Princess Yongxing, and decided to reward Madam Zhang for Zhang A-Niu’s deeds.
• Emperor Yongchang saw a memory of Red Bull confronting the Empress five hundred years earlier, then heard Xia Yu ask Red Bull to spare her.

Emperor Yongchang witnessed Xia Yu’s conversation with the Red Bull and learned that the Great Ancestor had preserved himself as an incense avatar. Xia Yu spared the Empress and revealed that he expected Yongchang to face the Flame Emperor five hundred years later, while He Miaojun read in the Nine Cauldrons.

• Emperor Yongchang watched Xia Yu appear before the Red Bull, who recognized him as a dead Great Ancestor sustained by an incense avatar of the Divine Dao.
• The Red Bull confronted Xia Yu over the Empress’s attack on the Nine Heavens, and Xia Yu persuaded him to spare her while leaving her true spirit intact.
• After the Red Bull vanished, Xia Yu rebuked the Empress for losing and told her to wait five hundred years before trying again.
• Xia Yu realized that Emperor Yongchang had taken the Empress’s place as his descendant from five hundred years in the future and praised Yongchang’s talent.
• Xia Yu told Yongchang that the Red Bull was the Flame Emperor and urged him to kill the aging Human Emperor five hundred years later to preserve Great Yu.
• At Kuang Mountain, He Miaojun read as three incense sticks burned in the Nine Cauldrons.

He Miaojun and Lianshan Xin examined Great Yu’s founding histories and concluded that the Nine Heavens’ role had been concealed, while the Great Ancestor and Imperial Family might have a complicated relationship with it. Lianshan Xin suspected the Great Ancestor might still be alive and that Great Yu could target the Flame Emperor to survive the Millennial Catastrophe, leaving him eager to confront Xia Yu and wary of the Imperial Family.

• He Miaojun showed Lianshan Xin how the official history of Great Yu obscured the Nine Heavens’ role in the dynasty’s founding and hinted that its members had been killed through qi deviation.
• He Miaojun questioned whether Xia Yu had truly died, and Lianshan Xin considered how the Great Ancestor might have intervened to save the Empress and the Flame Emperor.
• Lianshan Xin reasoned that Great Yu might try to seize the Flame Emperor’s immortal dynasty fortune to endure the Millennial Catastrophe, then said he wanted to kill Xia Yu to advance to Celestial Phenomena.
• He Miaojun warned Lianshan Xin not to trust the Imperial Family as an ally and said the Dragon Subjugation Lineage could not restore its former status without the Imperial Family yielding.
• Lianshan Xin returned to the Divine Capital, looked at the Imperial Palace, and decided it was time to renovate and rebuild it.

Lianshan Xin learned that the Torchlight for a Thousand Autumns Pavilion had warned Emperor Yongchang about his secrets and the awakened Torch Dragon. After Lady Consort Shu returned to the palace, Lianshan Xin decided to test the Emperor’s loyalty by targeting her and preparing to kill people named in Princess Yongxing’s testimony.

• Eunuch Wang told Lianshan Xin that Nie Hongxiu had accused him of killing imperial princes and revealed that the Torch Dragon had awakened, while Emperor Yongchang had not believed her claims about Lianshan Xin’s parentage.
• He Miaojun asked Lianshan Xin to obtain the complete Eight Great Divine Incantations from the Dao Court to strengthen Kuang Mountain, and Xia Xunyang agreed to have them delivered because his godfather had already taught them to him.
• Madam Qi received Lady Consort Shu’s invitation to a Flower-Viewing Banquet, and General Qi warned her to consult Qi Shiyun because the invitation might be aimed at the Heavenly Queen’s faction.
• Lianshan Xin revealed that he had killed the Second Prince and ordered Zhuo Biyu to add Lady Consort Shu to Princess Yongxing’s testimony.
• Lianshan Xin said he planned to kill people according to the testimony’s list to test whether Emperor Yongchang would stand with them, and Xia Xunyang agreed to bear the burden even if it meant killing members of the Xia Clan.

Qi Shiyun and Zhuo Biyu agreed to challenge the Imperial Family, while Lianshan Xin and Qi Shiyun uncovered a plot to use Consort Shu’s death to turn Emperor Yongchang against them. Lianshan Xin decided to attend the Flower-Viewing Banquet anyway, hoping to test whether the emperor would stand by his word and support them.

• Qi Shiyun assured Zhuo Biyu that Nine Heavens would receive help from its hidden seniors if the Imperial Family bullied them, and Zhuo Biyu agreed to act with her.
• Lin Ruoshui teased Zhuo Biyu by claiming that she and Qi Shiyun had a child, and Lianshan Xin confirmed that he had helped them.
• Lianshan Xin and Lin Ruoshui accompanied Qi Shiyun to her parents’ home, where they learned that Consort Shu had arranged a Flower-Viewing Banquet for the next day after meeting a Female Bodhisattva from Spirit Mountain.
• Torch Dragon revealed that he intended Consort Shu to die at Lianshan Xin’s hands, using her death to worsen the conflict between Nine Heavens, the Imperial Family, and Emperor Yongchang.
• Qi Shiyun warned Lianshan Xin that Consort Shu was likely carrying out a death spy plan, but Lianshan Xin chose to attend the banquet to see whether Emperor Yongchang would support them and honor his promise.