Chapter Summaries

Jing Jiu survived the palace confrontation after Lord Mo, Tong Yan, and Liu S sui died, then gave the Grand Academician a cover story and accepted confinement in the cold palace. The Azure Bird asked why Lord Mo could see reality, and Jing Jiu hinted that changes within the illusion were connected to her before she asked what he was.

• Lord Mo died after regretting that he had not drawn his sword, and Tong Yan died after Jing Jiu refused to answer what he had guessed.
• Liu S sui killed himself after Jing Jiu told him they would meet outside, while Zhuo Rusui asked about Jing Jiu's sword and heard that it was poisonous.
• The Grand Academician entered the palace, and Jing Jiu claimed the Heir of Prince Jing and Liu S sui had killed each other after the heir conspired with Lord Mo.
• Jing Jiu told the Grand Academician that Chu could not rely on its people alone to contend for dominion, and agreed to write an edict of self-reproach and confine himself to the cold palace.
• The Azure Bird asked why Lord Mo had seen reality, and Jing Jiu suggested that she examine her own changes before she asked what he was.

Jing Jiu’s plan to kill the Dao-Seekers and break the Azure Sky Mirror’s limits alarmed Tong Yan, who told White True Person what he suspected. Meanwhile, the Azure Bird discovered that Zhao’s emperor had awakened inside the illusion.

• Jing Jiu told the Azure Bird he would handle the matter himself and urged her to seek out people who had seen through heaven’s secrets.
• The Dao-Seekers outside Echo Valley saw Tong Yan’s death in the illusion and wondered why Jing Jiu had made such a costly move.
• Tong Yan woke beside the Azure Sky Mirror, recognized Liu S sui, and went to Yunmeng Mountain to report his suspicions to White True Person.
• Tong Yan told White True Person that Jing Jiu intended to kill the Dao-Seekers and might be trying to break the illusion’s cultivation limit, but she dismissed the idea as impossible.
• The Azure Bird told Jing Jiu that Zhao’s emperor seemed to have awakened inside the illusion.

He Zhan and the Zhao Emperor discussed Zhao’s plans and confronted their history of using one another, their friendship, and He Zhan’s ambition to rule. After the emperor questioned whether He Zhan came from another world, He Zhan left and went to stand beneath the chestnut tree in the Imperial Garden.

• Azure Bird visited Zhao’s Imperial Palace after searching the world for people who could see through the Heavenly Mechanism.
• He Zhan brought the Zhao Emperor his medicine, and they discussed Zhao’s plans, including the canal in Xiao Commandery and the succession.
• The Zhao Emperor asked He Zhan to help carry out his plans and watch over his adopted heir, but He Zhan called the child a wolf cub and admitted he wanted to become the true emperor.
• He Zhan and the Zhao Emperor argued about their friendship and acknowledged that they had used each other from the beginning; the emperor also asked whether He Zhan had tampered with the chestnut tree.
• The Zhao Emperor asked if He Zhan was from another world, and He Zhan promised to serve him until the end before leaving the palace and going to the chestnut tree.

He Zhan directed the Secret Service Bureau to suppress dissent, obtain information about the Treasure Ship, and investigate Censor Chen without sparing even the Hejian Prince’s residence. In the Chu palace, Jing Jiu explained that Qing’er had become a complete Heavenly Treasure True Spirit and that her awakening had made the Azure Sky Mirror’s world real, leaving her to wait in secrecy.

• He Zhan ordered his officials to fabricate charges against Wansong Academy’s student leaders rather than kill them.
• He Zhan allowed his subordinates to take Qi merchants’ money but demanded the Treasure Ship information, threatening to let Lanyu come ashore if they refused.
• He Zhan ordered Censor Chen’s interrogation to continue and told his officials that only His Majesty mattered, even if the investigation reached the Hejian Prince’s residence.
• Jing Jiu told Qing’er that her first lie had completed her transformation into a Heavenly Treasure True Spirit, placing her in the Concealing Heaven and Earth realm.
• Jing Jiu explained that Qing’er’s world and its inhabitants had become real through her transformation, but warned her to wait, keep the truth secret, and beware of the Immortal Register.

Jing Jiu told Qing'er that he had come to the Azure Sky Mirror for the Longevity Immortal Register, while Qin and Zhao underwent successive changes of ruler. The chapter ended with He Zhan refusing to let Zhao's incoming heir enter the palace through the gate reserved for an emperor.

• Jing Jiu told Qing'er that he sought the Immortal Register and considered those destined to leave the illusion false.
• Bai Qianjun prepared to become Qin's White Emperor and learned from Bai Zao that the missing Dao-Seeker Xi Yiyun was living as Yunqi, unaware of his identity.
• Bai Zao urged Bai Qianjun to kill Xi Yiyun, while Bai Qianjun admitted he wanted to forget more things.
• Five years later, Zhao's emperor died after asking He Zhan to deal with the White Emperor, and He Zhan arranged the succession.
• The Prince of Hejian's heir refused to enter through Zhengming Gate and demanded to use Xihua Gate.
• He Zhan told the court that if the heir would not use Zhengming Gate, they should ask him to go back.

He Zhan consolidated his control over Zhao while the young emperor and Empress Dowager were forced to accept his terms. In Chu, Grand Academician Zhang went to the long-secluded emperor and announced that he was about to die.

• He Zhan told Zhao's young emperor that Hejian Prefecture's agents had been eliminated and demanded that he sever his ties to Hejian, while allowing him to say "Uncle" in private.
• He Zhan and the Empress Dowager agreed that she would rule from behind the curtain as he stayed out of sight, and they acknowledged their mutual dependence.
• When scholars and officials attacked He Zhan, he presented the Empress Dowager with Archives showing her family's abuses and ties to Qi, prompting her to purge the Censorate and close Wansong Academy.
• Grand Academician Zhang realized how long he had governed while the Chu Emperor remained confined, then went to the emperor's abandoned palace and asked to enter.
• After the emperor granted him an audience, Grand Academician Zhang said that he was old and going to die.

After Grand Academician Zhang died, court officials moved to destroy his legacy and prosecute his family, while Jing Jiu remained secluded in the palace. The officials suspected the Imperial Seal was with Jing Jiu and began considering using fire to force the issue.

• Grand Academician Zhang urged Jing Jiu to return to rule Chu, then learned that Jing Jiu had not yet achieved ascension and confirmed that he was an immortal descended to the mortal world.
• After Grand Academician Zhang died, court officials impeached his allies, imprisoned General Pei, spread accusations against the deceased Grand Academician, and brought Eldest Young Master Zhang back to the capital as a prisoner.
• The old madam visited Eldest Young Master Zhang in prison and told him that Grand Academician Zhang had trusted Jing Jiu and believed the Imperial Seal would protect the Zhang Household.
• Grand Academician Chen and Jin Cheng waited in vain for an audience with Jing Jiu and concluded that the Imperial Seal might be inside the hall.
• Jin Cheng suggested that they should be careful with flames, and Grand Academician Chen silently agreed.

Jing Jiu’s absence let Jin Cheng and Grand Academician Chen move against the Zhang Household, but Zhuo Rusui secretly rescued Eldest Young Master Zhang from the Imperial Prison. When Jin Cheng’s search of the Scholar’s Residence turned up an imperial robe, the emperor appeared wearing it and revealed himself to the court.

• Jin Cheng waited for an attempted fire at the Imperial Palace, but the palace remained untouched as autumn rain began to fall.
• Grand Academician Chen urged Jin Cheng to act before public resentment toward Grand Academician Zhang faded, and Eldest Young Master Zhang was pressured in prison to confess to the arms case.
• Zhuo Rusui rescued Eldest Young Master Zhang from the Imperial Prison after preventing him from drinking poison.
• Jin Cheng led soldiers in searching and confiscating the Scholar’s Residence, where officials planted an imperial robe to implicate the Zhang Household.
• A man wearing the imperial robe emerged from the old madam’s room and declared that he was the emperor.

Jing Jiu revealed himself as emperor, killed Minister Jin Cheng after the raid on the Scholar's Residence, and faced the officials at a grand court assembly. When the ministers rejected his authority, he killed them inside the sealed hall and emerged covered in blood.

• Jing Jiu appeared at the Scholar's Residence and promised the old madam that her family would remain wealthy and honored; the officials knelt before him.
• Minister Jin Cheng tried to denounce Jing Jiu as an impostor but could not speak, coughed up blood, and died after the old madam spat at him.
• Officials gathered at the palace for a grand court assembly, where Grand Academician Chen questioned Jing Jiu about the raid and Minister Jin Cheng's death.
• Jing Jiu declared that attacking Grand Academician Zhang meant death for the attackers' families, and the young eunuch named a few officials as innocent and the rest as guilty.
• Grand Academician Chen and the other ministers challenged Jing Jiu's power, so Jing Jiu had the hall doors closed and the innocent officials moved behind the throne.
• Zhuo Rusui and Eldest Young Master Zhang waited outside as screams sounded from the hall; Jing Jiu eventually emerged covered in blood, holding a sword, and told Eldest Young Master Zhang to tell his mother the hair tie was not sturdy.

Jing Jiu crushed the court’s opposition, restored order in the capital, and returned to the cold palace, where Qing'er questioned why he had acted for Grand Academician Zhang. Outside Echo Valley, the observers reflected on Jing Jiu’s words that many things had nothing to do with truth or falsehood, and Tong Yan questioned Liu S sui about them.

• Jing Jiu killed the officials who opposed him, then sent General Pei to suppress unrest and left the remaining affairs to the officials chosen by Grand Academician Zhang.
• Jing Jiu returned to the cold palace with Zhuo Rusui, who said he would go to Zhao to kill an eunuch; Jing Jiu warned him to be careful of He Zhan.
• Qing'er reported that Pei Siming had put down the rebellions and secured the capital, then asked Jing Jiu whether his actions had been motivated by Grand Academician Zhang.
• Jing Jiu said that many things in the world had nothing to do with truth or falsehood.
• Outside Echo Valley, Se Se and other cultivators watched the scene, while Tong Yan asked Liu S sui what he thought of Jing Jiu’s words.

Liu S sui reassured Tong Yan that he would not expose his identity, while Se Se returned to watching the Azure Sky Mirror and saw He Zhan threaten Chu. Years later, Qin’s invasion stalled under Bai Zao’s strategy, but Great General Pei’s death unleashed Qin and Zhao’s forces against Chu, leaving its capital and Western Camp under attack.

• Liu S sui told Tong Yan he would use Bai Zao’s favor from the Zhongzhou Sect rather than let him expose his identity.
• After five days away, Se Se returned to the mountain valley and saw He Zhan declare that Chu could last only five more years.
• Zhuo Rusui attacked He Zhan in the Secret Service Bureau, severely wounding them both before Zhuo escaped to Qi.
• Jing Jiu inferred that Bai Zao was directing Qin’s measured invasion of Chu.
• Great General Pei died in the fourth year of the war, prompting Qin’s cavalry to charge toward the Chu Capital and Zhao’s cavalry to encircle the Western Camp.

With Chu’s defeat certain, Jing Jiu approved surrender to Qin and convened secret negotiations, while preparing to abdicate. When he met the Qin delegation, a disguised visitor revealed herself, and Zhuo Rusui urged Jing Jiu to leave with her.

• Qin and Zhao forces overwhelmed Chu after General Pei’s death, driving the capital toward despair and surrender.
• Jing Jiu attended court and ordered the ministers to negotiate with Qin, not Cangzhou, while Grand Academician Zhou secretly moved the Imperial Guard toward the Western Camp.
• A Qin delegation entered the capital, and Zhou executed three ministers to contain unrest as negotiations stalled over Jing Jiu’s abdication.
• Jing Jiu issued an edict to meet the Qin delegation privately, and an ordinary-looking Qin official revealed herself as a woman he recognized.
• Zhuo Rusui emerged from behind a pillar and told Jing Jiu to pack and leave with her.

Bai Zao negotiated Chu’s surrender to Qin while Jing Jiu prepared to pursue an impossible breakthrough and Zhuo Rusui set off to act on his own. As Qin’s army arrived to take over the Chu Capital, a fire finally erupted in the Imperial Palace.

• Bai Zao revealed her importance to Qin, and Jing Jiu said he had expected the emperor to come admire his surrender.
• Zhuo Rusui left after criticizing Jing Jiu’s approach, while Jing Jiu gave Bai Zao his conditions for surrender.
• Qin accepted most of Chu’s terms, though Chu fell and Jing Jiu was widely condemned as the ruler who lost his country.
• Miss Ye Yun murdered Commandery Prince Cheng’s heir, wrote a poem condemning Chu’s court, and was taken from prison to the Zhao Army by Eunuch He Zhan.
• Prince Jing led Qin’s army to the Chu Capital, where a fire broke out in the Imperial Palace as the army prepared to take control.

After the Chu Emperor’s apparent death, Bai Qianjun tried to uncover whether he had escaped, but Zhuo Rusui infiltrated the Qin palace and launched a deadly attack. Zhuo Rusui eventually died in the Azure Sky Mirror illusion and awoke outside it, exhausted and complaining about his back.

• The Chu Emperor’s palace burned for three days, leaving no body to find, and the White Emperor ordered a sovereign’s funeral as people mourned and speculated that the emperor had escaped.
• Bai Zao urged Bai Qianjun not to stir up trouble by pursuing the Chu Emperor, but Bai Qianjun ordered Eunuch Gao to question the Qin delegation.
• Disguised as a trading house manager, Zhuo Rusui attacked Bai Qianjun, killed Eunuch Gao and many Qin soldiers, and broke through the hall’s iron door.
• Zhuo Rusui fought off the Qin forces for half a day, killed more than a hundred experts, and died after Bai Qianjun demanded to know where Jing Jiu was.
• Zhuo Rusui awoke beside the Azure Sky Mirror and left the cave, grumbling about sitting too long and having two hands.

Thirty-seven years after the Dao-Seekers entered the Azure Sky Mirror, He Zhan helped Zhao seize the Western Camp and prepared the emperor for future struggles. As the young emperor neared adulthood, a dispute over honoring his biological father reached the streets, and Master Yunqi was asked to judge the debate.

• He Zhan learned of the Chu emperor’s apparent death and arranged for the eunuch and prostitute Jing Jiu had sent him to be taken to safety.
• He Zhan returned to Zhao’s capital after Zhao captured the Western Camp, then warned the young emperor to plan carefully and observed that the Chu emperor could no longer threaten anyone in Chu.
• Thirty-seven years after the Dao-Seekers entered the Azure Sky Mirror, a newly appointed official proposed honoring the Hejian Prince as emperor and placing his spirit tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
• A scholar challenged He Zhan about the proposal, but He Zhan dismissed the Hejian Prince’s claim and ignored the scholar’s insult.
• Master Yunqi’s students debated the dispute at an academy and asked him for his judgment, which Zhao’s young emperor also wanted to hear.

Yunqi supported He Zhan’s position in Zhao’s succession dispute, but a scholar who had spoken with He Zhan was tortured to death, sparking unrest and a brutal crackdown. After Yunqi helped resolve the standoff, He Zhan poisoned the young emperor and revealed that he had decided to remove him from the throne.

• Yunqi told his students that the young emperor could not claim the Prince of Hejian as his father while keeping the throne, then left Zhao for Chu.
• After Yunqi departed, the scholar who had spoken with He Zhan was found tortured to death, and an angry crowd ransacked the Secret Service Bureau.
• He Zhan arrested officers and students, punished protesting officials, and demanded that the young emperor publicly acknowledge the Prince of Hejian as his father.
• The Empress Dowager urged He Zhan to spare the young emperor and the officials, while He Zhan asked her to expel the disobedient ministers.
• Yunqi returned and met He Zhan, who accepted his intervention as a way to end the crisis; the arrested students and ministers were released.
• He Zhan poisoned the young emperor and told him he no longer wanted him on the throne, admitting that the scholar’s murder had served as a pretext.

After the young emperor died, He Zhan confronted the Empress Dowager, then drank heavily while reflecting on the meaninglessness of the Real World. He summoned Jiang Rui, revealed their shared past and identities as immortals, and ended by asking Jiang Rui how he wanted to die.

• He Zhan told the young emperor he would kill him for refusing to accept the Late Emperor as his father, and the emperor died peacefully in his sleep.
• He Zhan told the Empress Dowager to choose a very young successor, exposed her plots and poisoning attempt, and assured her that the medicine he had given the Late Emperor had contained no poison.
• He Zhan left the palace and concluded that even the Real World held no truth or meaning, then went to a restaurant and drank heavily.
• He Zhan ordered his followers to bring Jiang Rui from Lushan Commandery to the capital.
• He Zhan told Jiang Rui about their past as Rogue Cultivators and their time in the Azure Sky Mirror, and Jiang Rui learned that he was an immortal and that He Zhan was Eunuch He.
• After Jiang Rui remembered his painful mortal life, He Zhan asked him how he wanted to die.

He Zhan tortured Jiang Rui to death, then withdrew from court and eventually vanished with the Secret Service Bureau and a fleet of ships bound for the East Sea. The empress dowager learned of his departure, stabilized Zhao’s court, and later regretted approving charges that tarnished his name.

• He Zhan sealed Jiang Rui’s meridians, sentenced him to death by a thousand cuts, and left the restaurant as Jiang Rui’s screams continued behind him.
• He Zhan spent months in seclusion, recovering memories of the sea and recalling the silver-haired old man’s words: “From here, I shall depart in a little boat.”
• He Zhan disappeared with the Secret Service Bureau’s officials and soldiers, and the empress dowager learned that they had sailed from Ping Lake into the East Sea.
• The people first petitioned for He Zhan’s return, then condemned him as a traitor after he failed to come back, while officials fought over who had served him.
• The empress dowager approved only a few of the seventy-four charges against He Zhan, then visited the chestnut tree and wept beneath it.

After years of searching for Eunuch He, the Qin Emperor summoned Mister Yunqi to Xianyang to persuade him to support Qin’s unification or face the consequences. Their meeting ended in a deadly clash: Yunqi’s concealed talismans wounded the Qin Emperor, and Yunqi realized he had once known how to write talismans.

• Eunuch He remained missing as Qin grew stronger and Zhao’s power declined.
• The Qin Emperor told Bai Zao he planned to persuade Yunqi to stop opposing war and invited the scholar to Xianyang.
• Mister Yunqi arrived in Xianyang with more than a hundred disciples and rejected the Qin Emperor’s offer to cooperate, citing their opposing paths of domination and benevolence.
• The Qin Emperor revealed that Yunqi’s visit was his only chance to persuade or kill him, and Yunqi drew his sword as crossbows fired.
• Yunqi’s scroll of seven questions exploded, damaging the Qin Emperor and his escape mechanism; the wounded Yunqi then identified the scroll’s contents as talismans.
• When the Qin Emperor asked how Yunqi could write talismans despite having forgotten everything, Yunqi realized he had known how to do so before.

Xi Yiyun confronted the Qin Emperor, remembered his identity and past, and rejected the Emperor’s threats before the Qin Army attacked him. The Qin Army massacred the scholars of Xianyang Academy and burned their bodies and books, while Jing Jiu watched Xianyang from a distant cliff.

• The Qin Emperor told Xi Yiyun that he sought the Immortal Register and threatened to kill his followers and erase his teachings.
• Xi Yiyun remembered that he was not from this world and recalled Jing Jiu, but insisted that his principles and identity remained unchanged.
• The Qin Emperor left the hall as the Qin Army surged in and attacked Xi Yiyun while his books burned.
• The Qin Army stormed Xianyang Academy, killed the scholars, and burned their bodies alongside the academy’s books.
• Jing Jiu stood on a cliff nine hundred li southeast of Xianyang and silently watched the distant city.