Chapter Summaries

Meng Yuan transmigrated into a peasant reaper and became the lover of Pan Shi, a widowed daughter-in-law in the Cheng Household. Master Cheng caught them and killed Pan Shi before attacking Meng Yuan, whose mysterious stone disc activated as he faced death.

• Meng Yuan recovered his predecessor’s memories and learned he had been secretly sleeping with Pan Shi while working as a hired reaper.
• Meng Yuan went to Pan Shi’s room intending to end their affair, but he pretended to want to elope so she would give him her savings.
• Pan Shi offered Meng Yuan eight silver ingots and two gold hairpins, then asked him to spend one last night with her.
• Master Cheng stormed in, struck Pan Shi dead, and turned on Meng Yuan after she blamed him for seducing her.
• Meng Yuan taunted Master Cheng and was attacked with a saber as the revolving stone disc revealed the Hundred-Life Reincarnation inscription and recorded his first life.

After his first death and reincarnation, Meng Yuan left the Cheng estate, explored Qingping County and Huai'an Prefecture, and spent a year learning martial arts while supporting himself through affairs with women. Convinced rebellion would soon engulf the Yu Kingdom and that his martial progress was limited, he decided to leave Qingping and seek a larger opportunity.

• Meng Yuan took Madam Pan’s wooden box, left the Cheng estate, and returned home after collecting his wages.
• Meng Yuan explored Qingping County and Huai'an Prefecture, judged the kingdom close to upheaval, and joined the Huo Family Martial Arts School to gain strength.
• Meng Yuan trained for a year, learned to read and write, and received support from Madam Cao while building connections in town.
• Meng Yuan read a recruitment notice at the town gate and decided to seek a path beyond martial arts and his modest life in Qingping County.
• Meng Yuan resolved to venture out and become a granary rat, treating the whole realm as his granary.

After eight years traveling through a realm torn apart by rebellion, Meng Yuan returned to Qingping County and chose to offer his strategy to Lü Yinglong. Lü and his wife Chen welcomed him after hearing his plan to establish a base in Shu and use the rival powers’ conflicts to contend for the realm.

• Widow Cao urged Meng Yuan to stay, but he left and spent eight years traveling amid the Yu Kingdom’s upheavals.
• Meng Yuan returned to Qingping County, reunited with his family, and invited Old Yang and Yang Dayong to join him in seeking a place in Lü Yinglong’s army.
• At Lü Yinglong’s camp, Meng Yuan explained that the general needed a secure base and proposed conquering Shu in the southwest.
• Chen challenged the plan, and Meng Yuan predicted that King Zhang and Commander Li would face trouble before describing how Lü could exploit the conflicts to pacify the realm.
• Lü Yinglong and Chen welcomed Meng Yuan, discussed his knowledge and strategy through the night, and provided him with a tent.

After Lü Yinglong conquered Shu, Meng Yuan assessed his ruler’s strengths and weaknesses and advised him to consolidate his power before making another move. At a private dinner, Lü Yinglong revealed that a purple fruit had granted him extraordinary internal power, and Meng Yuan resolved to remember where he might find it.

• Lü Yinglong appointed Meng Yuan as a military counselor, then followed Meng Yuan’s advice to spare Huai’an’s grain and lead the army southwest into Shu.
• After the army seized Jing City and subdued Shu, Meng Yuan reflected on Lü Yinglong’s martial strength and shortcomings, as well as Madam Chen’s influence over the army and its administration.
• Madam Chen sent a young woman to serve Meng Yuan, and she later invited him to a private dinner with Lü Yinglong.
• At dinner, Meng Yuan advised Lü Yinglong to let the troops and people recover their strength until upheaval offered a chance to contend for the realm.
• Lü Yinglong told Meng Yuan that he had gained decades of internal power by killing a serpent and eating a purple fruit in the mountains eight years earlier.
• Meng Yuan committed the story to memory and flattered Lü Yinglong by claiming that purple Qi above his camp had foretold Heaven’s favor.

Meng Yuan watched Lü Yinglong turn from Shu’s lord into an indulgent ruler, then urged him to seize the chance to conquer the Yu Kingdom. Lü Yinglong became emperor and, after a prolonged campaign against King Zhang, unified the realm, while Meng Yuan reflected on how others had driven an ordinary, flawed man to the throne.

• Lü Yinglong celebrated the birth of his son Chan, then sank further into luxury and hunting as Meng Yuan and Yang Dayong followed his example.
• After King Zhang proclaimed himself emperor, Meng Yuan urged Lü Yinglong to march north, and Lü Yinglong finally led an expedition while Madam Chen managed Shu.
• Lü Yinglong defeated Commander Li’s forces, then followed Meng Yuan’s strategy to besiege the Yu Kingdom’s capital and force its ruler to surrender.
• Meng Yuan and the other officers dressed Lü Yinglong in a dragon robe and pressed him onto the throne, making him emperor of the Lü realm.
• Madam Chen pushed Lü Yinglong to campaign against King Zhang, whose forces were defeated after three years, bringing the realm under Lü Yinglong’s rule.
• At thirty-six, Meng Yuan considered Lü Yinglong’s weaknesses and concluded that his wife, clansmen, and subordinates had helped propel him to the throne.

Meng Yuan accepted the title of Marquis of Qu but refused a fief and tried to retire from court, wary of the coming struggle between Lü Yinglong and Empress Chen. After Empress Chen gave him medicinal herbs, he departed for Qu County with his household, seeing signs that the people were beginning to recover from years of war.

• Lü Yinglong bestowed honors on Meng Yuan, who accepted the title of Marquis of Qu but refused a fief after an emotional exchange with the emperor.
• Three months later, Meng Yuan requested permission to return home, but Lü Yinglong urged him to remain and offered him former-dynasty consorts.
• Lü Yinglong eventually allowed Meng Yuan to visit home for a year and granted him wealth and a residence in Qu County.
• Empress Chen summoned Meng Yuan and asked for his counsel; he advised her not to worry over matters before her and accepted her gift of sleep-soothing herbs.
• Meng Yuan left the capital for Qu County with Old Yang, Yang Dayong, five concubines, and three children, and observed people returning to their homes and markets reappearing.

After returning to his hometown, Meng Yuan settled his family and old acquaintances, then returned to the capital and devoted himself to compiling the history of the Yu Kingdom while managing his household. Ten years later, Yang Dayong fled after Meng Yuan exposed his embezzlement, but Meng Yuan relented when his niece and children begged him to spare Yang.

• Meng Yuan returned to Qingping County, rewarded his family and former benefactors, and arranged Yang Dayong's marriage to his eldest niece before bringing them to his fief.
• Back in the capital, Meng Yuan declined an official post and began compiling the history of the Yu Kingdom while seeking clues about immortals and secret manuals.
• Meng Yuan put his eldest niece in charge of his concubines and Yang Dayong in charge of the household, despite gossip that the arrangement would end badly.
• Ten years later, Meng Yuan punished Yang Dayong for embezzlement and illegal dealings, threatened to hand him over to authorities, and Yang fled that night.
• Meng Yuan's niece and her sons pleaded for Yang, so Meng Yuan stopped the pursuit, abandoned his historical work, and took three more concubines.

After Yang Dayong returned with evidence of Lü Yinglong’s Giant Serpent Purple Fruit discovery, Meng Yuan was summoned to the palace while Lü Yinglong was gravely ill and the court was in turmoil. Meng Yuan and Yang Dayong suspected danger but went to see him anyway, prepared for the possibility of death.

• Over ten years, Meng Yuan investigated the ancient clans and Lü Yinglong’s past, concluding that the Giant Serpent Purple Fruit was the likeliest explanation for Lü Yinglong’s rise.
• Meng Yuan sent Yang Dayong to search the mountains near Lü Yinglong’s hometown, and Yang Dayong failed to return by their three-year deadline.
• Lü Yinglong began purging officials and veterans, then imprisoned Chen Huaixian and killed Chen Huaiyuan and other members of the Chen clan.
• After five years away, Yang Dayong returned with snake scales, a fang, and broken sections of backbone that he had found during his search.
• When Lü Yinglong summoned Meng Yuan to the palace, Meng Yuan and Yang Dayong recognized the danger but decided to go together.

Meng Yuan entered the palace to meet the dying Lü Yinglong and discovered that Empress Chen had seized control while the emperor was isolated. After Lü Yinglong died accusing Chen of treachery, Empress Chen appointed Meng Yuan chancellor under the inexperienced crown prince, and Meng Yuan accepted her rule.

• Meng Yuan met Empress Chen outside the hall, where she warned that Lü Yinglong intended to kill him and the Chen clan.
• Meng Yuan found Lü Yinglong gravely ill, dismissed his dream of two horses and a great snake, and learned the emperor had ordered the empress imprisoned and the Chen clan exterminated.
• Meng Yuan told Lü Yinglong that Empress Chen was acting as regent, and Lü Yinglong begged him to help kill her in exchange for a kingship.
• Empress Chen entered the hall, and Lü Yinglong accused her of plotting against him before dying.
• Empress Chen offered Meng Yuan the chancellorship, and Meng Yuan pledged himself to serve her.

After nearly twenty years as chancellor, Meng Yuan retired and spent his later years surrounded by his large family and growing influence, while the Chen clan took control of the court. At eighty-one, he was summoned to the palace after learning that Empress Dowager Chen was gravely ill, and Yang Dayong suspected trouble.

• After Lü Yinglong died, Lü Chan became emperor, honored Empress Dowager Chen, and appointed Meng Yuan chancellor.
• Meng Yuan and Chen Huaixian helped restore stability, and the realm enjoyed years of abundant harvests as the Chen clan gained influence.
• Meng Yuan spent years searching for ancient texts and martial arts manuals, eventually rewarding a man who presented him with the Purple Cloud Technique.
• After eighteen years as chancellor, Meng Yuan stepped down but remained in the capital, where he built a broad network through his children and marriage ties.
• On Meng Yuan's eighty-first birthday, an oral decree summoned him to the palace because Empress Dowager Chen was gravely ill.
• Yang Dayong warned Meng Yuan that something seemed amiss and insisted on accompanying him to the palace.

Meng Yuan visited Empress Dowager Chen and learned that she had long planned to replace the Lü dynasty with the Chen family. As she prepared to have him killed, she answered his questions about the late emperor’s illness and the great snake.

• Meng Yuan entered the Palace of Eternal Joy and realized Empress Dowager Chen had summoned him to die.
• Empress Dowager Chen explained that she had admired Meng Yuan’s political judgment but feared his influence and descendants.
• Meng Yuan asked how she planned to handle the weak emperor, powerful Chen family, and fierce crown prince, and Empress Dowager Chen revealed her plan to make the Chen family take the throne.
• Empress Dowager Chen admitted that she had never wanted Lü Yinglong’s children and had used him to advance her family’s ambitions.
• Empress Dowager Chen told Meng Yuan that she had withheld medicine during Lü Yinglong’s campaign against King Zhang and said the great snake’s gallbladder could have cured his condition.
• Empress Dowager Chen confirmed that the Chen family had raised the great snake.

Meng Yuan learned that Empress Dowager Chen’s clan descended from immortals and persuaded her to let him read the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art before his execution. After insulting Empress Dowager Chen and her clan, he was taken to the market to face the Tiger-Head Guillotine alongside Yang Dayong and many others.

• Meng Yuan questioned Empress Dowager Chen about the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and learned that the Chen, Pei, and Bai clans descended from immortals.
• Empress Dowager Chen refused to reveal the immortals’ secrets but let Meng Yuan read a booklet containing the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art.
• Meng Yuan failed to cultivate the art, then denounced the Chen Clan’s plans and mocked Empress Dowager Chen before she had him taken away.
• Meng Yuan was brought to the market, where commoners pleaded for his life, and he joked with Yang Dayong as they lay before the Tiger-Head Guillotine.
• Meng Yuan and Yang Dayong reflected on their happier days in Shu as groups of their associates and relatives were brought to the execution site.

Meng Yuan began his second lifetime with the Martial Arts Prodigy talent and set out to pursue the immortals’ secrets and Lü Yinglong’s fated opportunity. After investigating Chen Yuyin’s family and finding no answers, he entered the mountains and reached the hidden fissure where the opportunity lay.

• Meng Yuan chose Martial Arts Prodigy, then began cultivating the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and formed a thread of internal power.
• Meng Yuan left Niujia Village and traveled to Spring Radiance Prefecture to investigate Chen Yuyin and her family.
• Meng Yuan learned that Chen was a wealthy, influential clan and that Chen Yuyin’s father and brother seemed to be preparing for a possible change in the realm.
• After his inquiries about Chen Yuyin went nowhere, Meng Yuan disguised himself as an herb gatherer and headed into the mountains.
• Meng Yuan found the remote mountain fissure that had taken Dayong four or five years to discover.

Meng Yuan waited for the purple fruit to ripen while investigating the Chen family and training in the mountains. After Chen Qingyuan died, Lü Yinglong discovered the hidden valley and began descending, unaware that the Black Serpent guarded the fruit.

• Meng Yuan found the Black Serpent and the fruitless plant in the valley, then withdrew rather than risk confronting the snake.
• Meng Yuan visited Chen Qingyuan with an ill woman, learned that the old physician was gravely weakened, and declined his attempt to recruit him.
• Meng Yuan spent two years training and watching the plant until it flowered and produced a purple fruit, while Chen Qingyuan died and Lü Yinglong remained away.
• Lü Yinglong arrived at the fissure, gloated over Chen Qingyuan's death, and climbed into the valley without knowing about the Black Serpent.
• The Black Serpent opened its eyes, its green eyes glowing in the darkness as Lü Yinglong descended.

Meng Yuan arrived at the valley and helped defeat Lü Yinglong after the Black Serpent trapped him, then questioned him about Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin. After learning about the Red Flame Fruit and Chen Qingyuan’s plans, Meng Yuan killed Lü Yinglong, leaving Chen Yuyin a widow.

• Meng Yuan descended into the valley and saw Lü Yinglong fighting the wounded Black Serpent.
• Meng Yuan shot at the serpent while Lü Yinglong was caught in its coils, then fought Lü Yinglong with the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art.
• Lü Yinglong said he did not know where Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin had gone, and explained that Chen Qingyuan had taught him the martial art to help his son conquer the realm.
• Lü Yinglong identified the plant as a Red Flame Fruit and said Chen Qingyuan’s notes described its benefits.
• Meng Yuan removed his bamboo hat, drew his sword, and killed Lü Yinglong, then drank from his wine gourd and left it beside him.

Meng Yuan gained decades of cultivation by consuming the Red Flame Fruit and the Black Serpent's gallbladder, then went to Spring Radiance Prefecture seeking the Chen family's secret about immortals. Unable to find it in the family residence, he settled in and began positioning himself to earn Chen Yuyin's trust.

• Meng Yuan absorbed the Red Flame Fruit's scorching Qi with the Black Serpent's gallbladder, gained forty or fifty years of cultivation, and recovered Lü Yinglong's belongings before leaving the mountain.
• Meng Yuan went to Spring Radiance Prefecture and searched the Chen residence for half a month, but found no written records or hidden chamber containing the secret.
• Meng Yuan decided to win Chen Yuyin's trust by becoming indispensable to her, rather than threatening her with her young nephews.
• Meng Yuan visited the Chen residence and told Wang that Lü Yinglong had died, but that he would share Lü's final words only with Chen Yuyin.
• Wang explained that Chen Yuyin and Chen Yucheng had both been away for a long time, and Meng Yuan offered to help before taking up residence at the Chen home.

Chen Yuyin returned to the Chen Household after her father, brother, and husband had died, and she met Meng Yuan, whose martial strength and knowledge made him valuable to the family. As they discussed preparing for turmoil in the realm, both considered how they might use the other, though they appeared to be kindred spirits.

• Meng Yuan recovered from the Red Flame Fruit’s heat, taught Chen Huaixian and Chen Huaiyuan, and offered free medical consultations outside the city.
• Chen Yuyin returned and tested Meng Yuan with a palm strike, discovering that he had mastered the Chen clan’s Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and possessed formidable internal power.
• Meng Yuan told Chen Yuyin that Lü Yinglong had taught him the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art before dying, and he promised to devote himself to repaying the Chen clan.
• Chen Yuyin mourned her father, brother, and husband, then organized the household’s medicine shops and medicinal estates.
• Chen Yuyin took Meng Yuan to see the giant serpent’s remains, and he urged her to prepare for unrest across the realm.
• Chen Yuyin considered recruiting Meng Yuan as both a general and strategist, while Meng Yuan sought to learn the secrets behind the immortals; they discussed history while concealing their intentions from each other.

Meng Yuan and Chen Yuyin married despite clan resistance, and their new life together mixed his relentless advances with her growing concern about unrest. When Chen Yuyin urged him to rise amid the chaos, Meng Yuan asked whether someone like him could accomplish great things and agreed to rely on her help.

• Chen Yuyin proposed that Meng Yuan meet her cousin, but Meng Yuan confessed that he admired Chen Yuyin instead.
• After months of hesitation and opposition from her clansmen, Chen Yuyin married Meng Yuan, and they began sharing a bed.
• Two months into their marriage, Chen Yuyin warned Meng Yuan that rebel forces were approaching Spring Radiance Prefecture and urged him to lead her clan’s followers.
• Meng Yuan proposed taking refuge in the mountains, but Chen Yuyin argued that he should rise to power amid the Yu Kingdom’s turmoil.
• Meng Yuan asked whether someone like him could accomplish great things, and Chen Yuyin assured him of his potential.
• Meng Yuan embraced Chen Yuyin, agreed that he would need her help, and carried her off to try a move he had learned.

Meng Yuan built a powerful force by defending Spring Radiance Prefecture, conquering Shu, and following the route he remembered from his previous life. As King Zhang and the Yu Kingdom’s court fought, Meng Yuan refused to march, leaving Chen Yuyin increasingly desperate to push him toward contending for the realm.

• During the drought and rebellions, Meng Yuan helped the Chen clan defend Spring Radiance Prefecture, then led its people and soldiers away when the city could no longer be held.
• Meng Yuan won battles, gathered followers, returned to Huai'an Prefecture, and recruited his family and fellow townsmen before conquering and pacifying Shu.
• After King Zhang proclaimed himself emperor, Meng Yuan agreed with his generals to wait, since he had secretly arranged for both himself and King Zhang to claim the title.
• When Chen Yuyin and his subordinates urged him to exploit the fighting between King Zhang and the court, Meng Yuan refused to send out troops and grew distant from his wife.
• Wang urged Meng Yuan to take concubines, while Chen clansmen blamed Chen Yuyin for their childlessness and offered him women from the Chen Household.
• Meng Yuan spent the day with Yang Dayong and returned to find Chen Yuyin smiling, though she was growing more determined to make him conquer the realm.

Chen Yuyin tried to urge Meng Yuan to keep pursuing their campaign, but he questioned her about the Chen Household’s secrets and exposed how much he knew. She realized she could neither leave him nor control him, and prepared to negotiate with him.

• Chen Yuyin saw Meng Yuan’s growing disinterest in their campaign as a threat to the undertaking and tried to persuade him to have children and continue leading the army.
• Meng Yuan told Chen Yuyin that he felt distant from her and asked about the Black Serpent and the purple fruit on Twin Dragon Mountain.
• Chen Yuyin explained that her ancestors raised the Black Serpent and that the Red Flame Fruit required its gallbladder to counter its potent effects.
• Meng Yuan asked how the Chen ancestors obtained the serpent and fruit, then raised the Chen family’s dealings with the Pei Clan and Bai Clan.
• Chen Yuyin realized Meng Yuan had seen through her and held the stronger position, so she resolved to negotiate rather than risk losing him.