Chapter Summaries

Xia Yi intervened after Chen Guang’s failed attack on Feng Shuhu, but Feng Shuhu turned his army against Xia Yi and Song Qu. Xia Yi prepared to face the Containment Formation and teach Lü Ying the highest realm of the Deception Scripture, with the injured Ma Chen arriving as his example.

• Chen Guang charged Feng Shuhu, but Feng Shuhu broke his spear, survived with only two drops of blood, and left Chen Guang gravely wounded.
• Xia Yi caught Feng Shuhu’s halberd, then helped carry Chen Guang away while Feng Shuhu declared that neither of them would escape.
• Feng Shuhu summoned Xu Zhou and formed the Containment Formation with nearly a thousand soldiers, threatening Song Qu when he tried to intervene.
• Xia Yi sent Shi Lai to protect Chen Guang and explained that formations were vulnerable to disruption from within.
• Xia Yi praised Lü Ying’s use of the Deception Scripture and described its highest realm as making an enemy recognize a deception before accomplishing what the enemy dismissed as a lie.
• Ma Chen arrived in his green robes, and Xia Yi told Lü Ying to move away before the coming fight splashed her with blood.

Ma Chen challenged Feng Shuhu’s unauthorized mobilization and urged the Zhi Prefecture Cultivator Battalion to stand down, while Xia Yi fought Feng Shuhu. Feng Shuhu’s Personal Guard bolstered him with a five-star Saint Soul, but Xia Yi trapped him in a sphere of rubble as the drumming faltered.

• Ma Chen warned Feng Shuhu that they could not defeat Xia Yi and ordered the Zhi Prefecture Cultivator Battalion to return to camp.
• Feng Shuhu attacked Ma Chen, but Xia Yi caught his halberd and then blasted him away with Saint Soul power.
• Feng Shuhu charged Xia Yi again, but Xia Yi knocked him into a distant restaurant with a barrage of pebbles.
• Xu Zhou appeared with Feng Shuhu’s Personal Guard, whose drumming revealed the five-star Saint Soul Drumming to Battle at Golden Mountain.
• Feng Shuhu used the drumming to withstand Xia Yi’s attacks and nearly struck him with his halberd.
• Xia Yi connected the surrounding rubble to Feng Shuhu and sealed him inside a huge sphere, causing the drumming to falter.

Xia Yi used his ability to rewind the battle and exposed Feng Shuhu’s attempt to kill Chen Guang, then defeated Feng Shuhu and Xu Zhou. Feng Shuhu died after realizing Xia Yi had deliberately staged events to protect Chen Guang and evade blame.

• Xia Yi rewound the fight after Feng Shuhu threatened Song Qu, then repeated their earlier exchange to trigger Feng Shuhu’s declaration that Chen Guang was dead.
• Xia Yi unleashed Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats and attacked Feng Shuhu, overpowering him and the soldiers who intervened.
• Xu Zhou charged to help Feng Shuhu, but Xia Yi knocked him aside and continued fighting both men.
• Song Qu searched Wangjiang Tower for Chen Guang, Shi Lai, and Zhou Xiaoxian, then returned to find Xu Zhou dead and Feng Shuhu mortally wounded.
• Song Qu revealed that Chen Guang was alive and had been moved in advance, and Feng Shuhu realized Xia Yi had staged the confrontation before dying in fury.

Xia Yi killed Feng Shuhu and Xu Zhou, then reunited with his disciples and learned Chen Guang was recovering. Song Qu accepted responsibility for reporting the deaths, while Luo Ti chose not to attack Xia Yi, and Song Qu began to suspect Xia Yi had deliberately spared the soldiers.

• Ma Chen quelled the soldiers after Feng Shuhu’s death and declared that Feng Shuhu had rebelled and deserved to die; Song Qu promised to report the events and seek justice for Xia Yi.
• Xia Yi left with Ma Chen and reunited with Shi Lai, who had moved the others to safety, then found Lü Ying guarding a restaurant and Chen Guang recovering under Zhou Xiaoxian’s care.
• Chen Guang asked about Feng Shuhu, and Xia Yi told him that Feng Shuhu was dead.
• Luo Ti arrived and considered attacking the exhausted Xia Yi, but held back because Song Qu was present; Xia Yi asked Song Qu to let Chen Guang see Feng Shuhu’s body.
• The prison warden reported that only Feng Shuhu and Xu Zhou had died, and Song Qu suspected Xia Yi had shown deliberate restraint but decided not to investigate.

After Feng Shuhu's death, Xia Yi took Chen Guang and the others home while Shi Lai left to settle his Novice Trial. Shi Lai received an SS rating, but the settlement revealed penalties, worldlines, and the possibility that players could die.

• Chen Guang said his debts with Feng Shuhu were settled, and Xia Yi invited him to bring his wife and child to stay at his home.
• Lü Ying tagged along with Xia Yi's group, and Xia Yi offered to teach Shi Lai the Three-Star Saint Soul Man Tian Guo Hai.
• Shi Lai received a notice that his Novice Trial was ending, left the group, and waited in a deserted corner for settlement.
• The system rated Shi Lai SS after recording his level, skills, quests, and save reloads, and scheduled his Advanced Trial for three months of game time.
• The settlement announcement listed player rewards and penalties, warned that low-rated players could face a Nightmare Trial, and reported one dead player.

Xia Yi explained that he had used Chen Guang’s conflict with Feng Shuhu as cover to weaken Chancellor Han Chuanzhong’s faction and protect Xiao Xian’s inheritance. In Nanji, Han moved to investigate Xia Yi, but Duan He escaped an attempt to bring him to the palace and left the capital to investigate the frenzied villagers.

• Xia Yi told Chen Guang that Feng Shuhu had coveted Xiao Xian’s inheritance and that he had planned to use the feud as a pretext to kill him and gradually uproot Han Chuanzhong’s power.
• Han Chuanzhong learned that Ma Chen and Marquis Song Qu had supported charges against Feng Shuhu, then suspected Xia Yi and the Xia Family were pursuing the clan’s inheritance.
• Han Chuanzhong asked adviser Duan He to invite Yue Ming to discuss the possible inheritance hunt.
• Duan He was confronted by two imperial guard commanders in Nanji, who said they were taking him to the palace, and he suspected King Zheng was moving against Han Chuanzhong.
• Duan He killed both commanders, revealed himself as a humanoid rat, and decided to leave Nanji to investigate the report about the frenzied villagers.

Xia Yi visited the Pitying Lord Pavilion and discovered that its star courtesan, Zhang Duo'er, was another player who could accept quests. After Xia Yi canceled a quest that offered her a special Saint Soul, he began bestowing flower names on the pavilion's girls.

• Master Dong visited Xia Yi, admitted she had forgotten the pavilion's star courtesan during his last visit, and persuaded him to come to the Pitying Lord Pavilion.
• Xia Yi saw the girls perform a catwalk and recognized Zhang Duo'er as a player after his system identified her as a Three-Star Saint Soul: First Model.
• Zhang Duo'er recalled earning an S rating and suspected Xia Yi was connected to the game's main quest after learning he had bestowed flower names on the pavilion's girls.
• Xia Yi offered Zhang Duo'er a special Saint Soul for spending a night with him, triggering a quest that left her bewildered.
• Xia Yi joked that he was only teasing, canceled the quest, and called the girls over to receive flower names.

After a week away, Shi Lai returned to the Saint Soul Continent and was caught in an assassination attempt targeting a young gentleman. He survived by reloading his save, and Tian Qi revealed he had noticed Shi Lai’s Detection Art before Shi Lai tried to bargain for a powerful Saint Soul.

• Zhang Duo'er’s charm increased, her Woman of the World Saint Soul advanced to Two-Star, and she received a quest to learn about Needle God Song Sage from Master Dong.
• Shi Lai returned after a week away and headed out to find Grandpa and learn a Saint Soul.
• Hu Si knocked Shi Lai down and held a saber to his neck, but the young gentleman intervened and recognized Shi Lai as a Holy Academy student.
• A poisoned arrow killed Shi Lai and threatened the young gentleman, so Shi Lai reloaded his save and dodged the next arrow.
• Tian Qi killed the masked assassin and questioned Shi Lai about the Detection Art he had used on Hu Si.
• Shi Lai asked Tian Qi if he would teach him a powerful Saint Soul in exchange for being scanned a thousand times.

Xia Yi investigated a killing in Lieyang City and followed Shi Lai and a young gentleman to the Xiyuan Marquis Residence, where Yang Xi’s Stone Man’s Single Eye trapped them. After Xia Yi drove Yang Xi off, he freed Shi Lai with a flick, astonishing Tian Qi.

• Xia Yi learned from Cui Prison Warden that a swordsman had killed someone and that Shi Lai had left with a young gentleman.
• The young gentleman and Shi Lai became trapped by the Stone Man's Single Eye Saint Soul of the damaged stone guards outside the Xiyuan Marquis Residence.
• Yang Xi attacked Tian Qi with her bow while Tian Qi tried to protect the young gentleman, and Xia Yi redirected her arrow before she escaped.
• Tian Qi woke the young gentleman, who thanked Xia Yi for distracting Yang Xi.
• Xia Yi flicked Shi Lai's head and broke the Stone Man's Single Eye effect, leaving Tian Qi surprised by his skill.

Xia Yi and Shi Lai met Zhao Yu, the Second Prince of Great Zheng, after foiling an assassination attempt at the Xiyuan Marquis Residence. Zhao Yu asked Xia Yi to protect him from his many hostile siblings, while Shi Lai agreed to meet Xia Yi that night for Saint Soul training and a mysterious outing.

• Xia Yi explored the Stone Man's Single Eye Saint Soul until Hu Si destroyed the stone guards, and Zhao Yu revealed he was the Second Prince of Great Zheng.
• Zhao Yu visited the Xiyuan Marquis Residence and explained that his Seventh Brother had arranged the assassination attempt.
• Zhao Yu described the deadly rivalry among King Zheng's hundreds of children and asked Xia Yi to keep him alive without helping him seize the throne.
• Xia Yi said he would consider Zhao Yu's offer after learning that the court would not pursue him over Feng Shuhu's death, though Chancellor Han Chuanzhong might act privately.
• Shi Lai, eager to grow stronger, reminded Xia Yi to teach him a Saint Soul, and Xia Yi invited him to a mysterious place that night.