Chapter Summaries

Six months later, Sheng Yun struggled to understand why her talismans could not match the ones Sheng Nian had given her and hoped to visit Ghost Valley to study the Lingzhen Seal. Meanwhile, Song Yan worried about his upcoming Dao lecture until Yangsu Divine Lord summoned him to Xuanyuan, where he met Prince Ning Li Xian.

• Sheng Yun finished making a Blackwater Spirit-Protecting Talisman and wondered why it seemed inferior to Sheng Nian's talismans despite her excellent training and materials.
• Sheng Yun decided to ask her sworn brother for help visiting Ghost Valley and learning about the Lingzhen Seal, but Fang Cunsheng told her Song Yan was troubled over his upcoming Dao lecture.
• Song Yan fretted that his unconventional cultivation experience would not help Jun Mountain's disciples, then received a summons from Yangsu Divine Lord to go to Xuanyuan.
• Song Yan arrived at Xuanyuan and found Yangsu Divine Lord, Elder Wu Guan, Divine Lord Xiaoxiang, and the honored guest Prince Ning waiting in the Returning Hall.
• Chu Xiao introduced Song Yan to Prince Ning Li Xian, who praised him and teased him about his popularity among Chang'an's princesses and commandery princesses.

Song Yan learned that the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum had emerged at Mount Li and agreed to enter it when an opportunity opened in two years. As the Immortal Dao Alliance prepared its roster, he studied the other candidates and discovered that the Mohist School and Gongsu Clan had a long-standing rivalry that could complicate the expedition.

• Elder Wu Guan and Prince Ning Li Xian told Song Yan that the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum had appeared beneath Mount Li and that cultivators would be allowed to explore it.
• Prince Ning warned Song Yan that the mausoleum did not restrict entry by cultivation realm, and Song Yan agreed to go after learning that Xu Zhiye was unavailable.
• News of the mausoleum spread, and Gu Qingqing brought Song Yan a roster of likely entrants, including Su Xueming, Yun Wu, Tang Hulu, and Gongsu Mi.
• Song Yan visited the Langhuan Jade Cavern to research Immortal Qin and read that the Mohist School and Gongsu Clan had been bitter rivals since that era.
• Song Yan concluded that the Mohist and Gongsu cultivators might struggle to cooperate inside the mausoleum.

As the Immortal Dao Alliance finalized its candidates for the Qin Emperor's mausoleum, Song Yan considered the expedition while the young cultivators gathered at the Heavenly Feast Tower. The chapter ended with Wang Ke asking the Nuo Realm group to search the mausoleum for clues to the Lingzhen Seal.

• The Immortal Dao Alliance announced that twenty-eight cultivators would enter the burial mound, and the Mohist School gave its place to Jiang Gudong, giving the Northern Capital Jiang Clan two candidates.
• True Person Xuanguang hosted a banquet at the Heavenly Feast Tower for young cultivators set to enter the mausoleum.
• Gongsu Mi questioned Jiang Ding about Jiang Gudong's place, and Jiang Ding loudly disparaged his kinsman and the Mohist School.
• Cui Mi judged Jiang Ding and the other guests harshly, then left the banquet to patrol Luoyang.
• In the Nuo Realm, Wang Ke speculated that mausoleum treasures might relate to the Eastern Dark Sea and described the First Emperor's connection to Tianhai City.
• Wang Ke asked the group to search for the Lingzhen Seal or clues to it and promised a generous reward.

Song Yan arrived at Qingxu Plateau to join the cultivators chosen to enter the Qin Emperor’s Mausoleum and learned they would have only twelve double hours inside. As the group waited for the breach to open, Idle-Fishing Boy asked to follow him, then fled after seeing Snake Treasure.

• Jun Mountain and Taiyi Sect’s cultivators gathered at Peony Gully and set out for the meeting point.
• Song Yan arrived at Qingxu Plateau, where twenty-seven other cultivators had gathered, and greeted Li Yi and the others.
• An Imperial Astronomical Bureau cultivator explained that the mausoleum breach would remain open for entry briefly and could be reopened within twelve double hours for their return.
• Song Yan observed the gathered cultivators, including Great Tang’s Sixteenth Prince Li Lin and two nearly identical Nascent Soul rogue cultivators.
• Idle-Fishing Boy introduced themself to Song Yan and asked to travel with him inside the mausoleum; Song Yan agreed to help if danger arose.
• Idle-Fishing Boy saw Snake Treasure emerge from Song Yan’s collar, cried out, and fled.

Song Yan and the other cultivators entered the Imperial Mausoleum, where its restrictions suppressed everyone’s cultivation to Qi Refining, Third Layer. After splitting into two groups to explore the Nine-Tier Tower’s burial passages, Song Yan’s party was sealed inside the western passage and confronted by an attacking Immortal Qin General Terracotta Warrior.

• The Imperial Mausoleum’s restrictions opened, and the twenty-eight cultivators entered before the formation closed behind them.
• The restrictions suppressed every entrant’s cultivation to Qi Refining, Third Layer, while Gongsu Mi explained that the First Emperor had imposed the limits to protect the tomb.
• A scout’s spirit ants found eastern and western passages through the Nine-Tier Tower, and Li Lin proposed splitting into two groups to explore them.
• Li Lin assigned Li Yi to accompany Song Yan’s group through the western passage, and the party set off while Li Lin led the others east.
• Song Yan’s group entered the western passage, where mechanisms sealed the entrance and ghostly lamps revealed rows of terracotta soldiers.
• An Immortal Qin General Terracotta Warrior approached and charged at Song Yan’s group with its bronze halberd.

Song Yan, Li Yi, and the other cultivators joined forces to defeat the Immortal Qin terracotta warrior guarding the tomb passage, though the fight killed one cultivator and gravely injured another. They recovered the jade talisman that had powered it, and the passage opened as Su Xueming wondered what was happening on the Sixteenth Prince’s side.

• The terracotta warrior killed the Mechanism Dao rogue cultivator and badly injured a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator before Song Yan, Li Yi, Su Xueming, and the others fought back.
• Li Yi endured the warrior’s assault with bloodflame-enhanced strength, while Song Yan and Su Xueming targeted its chest and Tang Hulu prepared her Suspended Blade.
• Song Yan shattered the warrior’s chest with Stacked Blade, and Tang Hulu’s Life-Seeker pierced it and pinned its ancient talisman to the ground, extinguishing its power.
• Yun Wu identified the terracotta warrior as likely modeled after Wang Jian, and Tang Hulu gave the recovered jade talisman to Li Yi.
• Li Yi took custody of the dead Mechanism Dao cultivator’s remains and left the unusable puppet beside the tomb passage after Tang Hulu explained that it had been protected from capture.
• With the barrier reopened, the cultivators considered whether to turn back, while Su Xueming wondered about the Sixteenth Prince’s situation.

Li Lin’s group opened an outer treasure storehouse, where Gongsu Mi secretly recovered a Formation Disk, while Li Yi’s group found an armory and continued toward the true underground palace. Song Yan was separated from the others upon entering its gate, and Green Sparrow followed in disguise as an Immortal Qin Terracotta Warrior.

• Li Lin led his group through a stone door with the Ancient Talisman and let the cultivators search the outer treasure storehouse before proceeding deeper.
• Gongsu Mi secretly opened a hidden compartment, took a bronze Formation Disk, and went on; an unseen observer noted that the Gongsu Clan knew about the Secret Hall.
• Li Yi chose the Eight-Treasure Crocodile Dragon Halberd from an armory, while Song Yan selected three Qin swords and the group continued onward.
• Li Yi and Song Yan entered a colossal stone gate, where Song Yan was suddenly separated from Li Yi and the other cultivators.
• Green Sparrow emerged from hiding, followed the group’s path, and transformed himself into an Immortal Qin Terracotta Warrior.

Song Yan’s Ancient Jade awakened an amnesiac boy who joined him as they explored the Imperial Mausoleum’s vast Outer City. After vengeful spirits attacked them, Song Yan fled into an artifact workshop in search of Thunder-Inlaid Feldspar, only to fall through a trapdoor.

• Song Yan’s Ancient Jade gathered spiritual energy and manifested a boy who could not remember his identity or past.
• Song Yan introduced himself as Song Yesheng, let the boy follow him, and continued searching the city for Thunder-Inlaid Feldspar.
• The boy spoke of wanting to cross the Dark Sea and find the legendary Immortal Mountain, while Song Yan found the surrounding workshops mostly empty and their contents corroded.
• Song Yan climbed a pavilion and saw another city wall in the distance, realizing the Imperial Mausoleum was larger than he had imagined.
• Vengeful spirits condemned Song Yan for looking into the distance and swarmed him, so he fled toward the city wall with the boy.
• Song Yan sensed a trace of Thunder-Inlaid Feldspar in an artifact workshop, rushed inside, and fell when the floor opened beneath him.

Song Yan survived a deadly mechanism trap and recognized the tunnels from a Mechanism Diagram, while Dugu Wu summoned Jing Ke as his successor and revealed that Ying Zheng had killed him. Zha Hong emerged from a massacre in the outer city, still hunting Song Yan.

• Song Yan used Soaring Cloud Intent to land safely in a hidden tunnel, then avoided a barrage of poisoned crossbow bolts by retreating with the boy.
• Song Yan sent the boy ahead to scout the tunnel and realized its junctions matched the Mechanism Diagram he had obtained from the Mohist School.
• Song Yan suspected that Wu Mengliu had known about the Imperial Mausoleum and may have been among the group of twenty-eight because of his Three Swords of the Celestial Lodge.
• Dugu Wu summoned Jing Ke from an ancient scroll, told him he had been dead for tens of thousands of years, and identified Ying Zheng as his killer.
• Zha Hong emerged bloodied from the ruined outer city with two heads impaled on his Bronze Chain Blade and continued searching for Song Yan.

Master Huitu killed Zha Hong by enduring the backlash of his wound-transferring Divine Ability, then left the Imperial Mausoleum after mourning Zheng Guan and Wang Junmao. Meanwhile, Song Yan followed Zhou Zhu’s mechanism diagram into an underground cavern, found an intact ancient teleportation array, and considered its possible connection to the Eastern Sea.

• Zha Hong mocked Master Huitu for mourning Zheng Guan and Wang Junmao, then attacked him and revealed his Divine Ability, Transferring Wounds and Exchanging Fate.
• Huitu fought Zha Hong despite suffering the backlash of his own attacks, destabilized the Divine Ability, struck Zha Hong’s Dantian, and killed him.
• Huitu gathered the remains of Zheng Guan and Wang Junmao, recited the Rebirth Mantra, and left the Imperial Mausoleum rather than continue deeper inside.
• Song Yan used Zhou Zhu’s mechanism diagram to navigate the underground passages, carefully testing traps along the way.
• Song Yan discovered an ancient teleportation array among Eastern Sea records, recognized that it was intact, and speculated that it might lead to the Eastern Sea.
• The boy eagerly asked Song Yan to take him to the Eastern Sea, but Song Yan refused to activate the array for now.

Song Yan and Zhao Zheng emerged from the Imperial Mausoleum’s underground passage into Zhao Capital Handan, where the restrictions on cultivation faded and Song Yan realized the city’s inhabitants were clay figurines inhabited by trapped souls. After searching for Thunder-Charged Fushi Stone, Song Yan and Zhao Zheng headed toward a disturbance and found Jiang Ding confronting Fairy Yunwu.

• Song Yan declined to use the ancient teleportation array and led Zhao Zheng through a passage toward the Imperial Mausoleum’s inner city.
• Song Yan and Zhao Zheng emerged in Zhao Capital Handan, and the mausoleum’s restrictions faded as Song Yan’s cultivation recovered to the Golden Core Realm.
• The youth remembered that his name was Zhao Zheng and that he had grown up in Handan; he could not identify Song Yan’s Thunder-Charged Fushi Stone.
• At Yan’s Record Weaponsmith Workshop, the shopkeeper recognized the stone as a rare Thunder-Charged Fushi Stone but said he had none, while Song Yan observed that Handan’s inhabitants were clay figurines.
• After soldiers hurried east toward a reported fight, Song Yan and Zhao Zheng followed them and found Jiang Ding facing the injured Fairy Yunwu in a plaza surrounded by soldier figurines.

Song Yan interrupted Jiang Ding and Yun Wu’s fight while searching for a thunder-charged fushi stone, then exposed Jiang Ding’s attempt to drug Yun Wu and struck him down as he fled. Song Yan confronted the wounded Jiang Ding and asked once more whether he had seen the stone.

• Jiang Ding pursued the injured Yun Wu, who kept her attention on the Bronze Soldier Statues and waited for him to reveal his trump card.
• Song Yan arrived and showed Yun Wu and Jiang Ding a thunder-charged fushi stone, asking whether they had seen one or knew where to search.
• Jiang Ding accused Yun Wu of attacking him for his treasures, while Yun Wu said he had tried to defile her with Yin-Yang Great Pleasure Powder.
• Xiao He smelled the Hehuan Sect poison on Yun Wu’s blood, and Song Yan challenged Jiang Ding about possessing the demonic substance.
• Jiang Ding tried to flee, but Song Yan struck him from the sky with Sword Intent and wounded him severely.
• Song Yan appeared beside Jiang Ding with the Leiying Que Stone and asked whether Jiang Ding had seen it before.

Song Yan fought Jiang Ding, but the Jiang Family heir’s Blood Talisman Seed summoned the shadow of the ascended Martial God Jiang Jin. Jiang Jin overwhelmed Song Yan in their first exchange, though Song Yan managed to cut him, and the fight remained unresolved.

• Song Yan struck down Jiang Ding, but strange runes in the blood blocked his follow-up attack.
• Tang Hulu watched from the academy, and Su Xueming arrived as the crimson runes gathered into a human figure.
• Jiang Ding identified the figure as his ancestor Jiang Jin, who seized him, rebuked him, and ordered him to remain still until the Blood Talisman Seed finished forming.
• Jiang Jin challenged Song Yan, then evaded his attacks with overwhelming physical speed and knocked him into the ground with a single punch.
• Song Yan rose with his injuries already healing and told Jiang Jin that he would have fled if Jiang Ding were not holding him back.
• Jiang Jin noticed blood welling from the cut Song Yan had left on his hand and laughed.

Song Yan fought Jiang Jin’s shadow in the Imperial Mausoleum, using his sword techniques to expose the limits of Jiang Jin’s borrowed body but failing to defeat him. After Jiang Jin struck Song Yan down and overpowered Su Xueming, Song Yan awoke in his cave abode on Chiyu Peak, where Chen Linyuan was tending the Bamboo Grove.

• Jiang Jin attacked Song Yan at extreme speed, and Song Yan used Void-Viewing to discern the cracks forming in Jiang Jin’s weakened body.
• Song Yan used an illusion and the Traveling Heavenly Dao Sword Domain to launch a surprise attack, but Jiang Jin read his move and forced him out of the illusion with a punch.
• Xiao He shielded Song Yan from Jiang Jin’s follow-up strike, then Jiang Jin pinned her down and hit Song Yan with a full-force punch that sent him crashing through the ruins.
• Su Xueming intervened with his Walking Through Snow Divine Ability, but Jiang Jin caught his Flying Sword, injured him through their connection, and blasted him into the ruins.
• Song Yan awoke in his cave abode on Jun Mountain’s Chiyu Peak and saw Chen Linyuan tending the Bamboo Grove.

Song Yan used his Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water Sword Intent to turn Jiang Jin’s shadow’s wounds from illusion into reality and defeat him. As Jiang Jin faded, he asked the others to kill Jiang Ding, who had been using his name.

• Song Yan awoke in a world shaped by Chen Linyuan’s Void-Reality Sword Intent, and Chen warned him that his scattered Sword Intent and poor use of his abilities were leaving him near death.
• Song Yan realized he might alter the boundary between illusion and reality, while Yun Wu’s conflicting inner voices debated whether to help him and Xiao He stood against Jiang Jin.
• Jiang Jin blasted Xiao He and Yun Wu aside, but Song Yan’s apparent corpse became crows and he began fighting Jiang Jin through shifting illusions.
• Song Yan asked Jiang Jin whether Battle Intent counted as a Divine Ability, then used Mirror Flower Shadow to make Jiang Jin’s sword wounds real and destroyed him with Stacked Blade.
• As Jiang Jin’s shadow faded, he asked everyone to kill Jiang Ding once the teleportation array’s protection ended, revealing that Jiang Ding had been disgracing him by using his name.

Song Yan recovered from his battle with Jiang Jin, gained insight into the Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water Sword Intent, and explored the palaces surrounding Qin Capital Xianyang. At the Chu King's Palace, Wu Mengliu offered to help him enter the palace and Qin capital in exchange for borrowing the Three Swords of the Celestial Lodge.

• Jiang Ding teleported away after an unseen archer struck him, and Song Yan reunited with the injured Xiao He.
• Song Yan thanked Su Xueming and Yun Wu for helping him; both left, while the hidden Wu Mengliu watched him depart.
• Song Yan returned to the underground passage, healed his injuries, and reflected on his breakthrough in understanding the Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water Sword Intent.
• Song Yan and Zhao Zheng traveled west and saw Qin Capital Xianyang surrounded by six royal cities and a barrier of Restrictions.
• Song Yan searched the Chu King's Palace for traces of thunder-charged fushi stone, then met Wu Mengliu, who offered to help him enter the palace and Qin capital.
• Song Yan guessed that Wu Mengliu wanted to borrow the Three Swords of the Celestial Lodge, shocking her.

Song Yan and Wu Mengliu cooperated to pass through the Imperial Mausoleum’s restriction, then searched the Chu King’s Palace, where Song Yan found Marquis Sui’s Pearl. In Xianyang, Zhao Zheng remembered that he was King of Qin Zheng, ruler of the Qin Kingdom.

• Song Yan agreed to let Wu Mengliu borrow the Three Swords of the Celestial Lodge after they left the Imperial Mausoleum, and she used an insect-corpse treasure to breach the restriction.
• Song Yan and Wu Mengliu entered the royal palace, exchanged a token and separated to search for treasures.
• Song Yan found Marquis Sui’s Pearl in a stone chamber and learned its name from Zhao Zheng.
• Song Yan entered Xianyang and headed toward the King of Qin’s Palace, where Zhao Zheng revealed that he remembered being King of Qin Zheng.

Song Yan discovered that the twelve statues outside Epang Palace concealed the Twelve Bells, all carved from thunder-charged fushi stone, and brought them with him before heading toward the Qin royal palace. Elsewhere in the Imperial Mausoleum, Tang Hulu and Yun Wu found the Ghost Valley Secret Record, while Su Xueming examined a rare pill formula as Xianyang Palace came into view.

• King of Qin Zheng remembered Xianyang, learned he had been dead for over thirty thousand years, and asked Song Yan to teach him immortal arts if he survived beyond the mausoleum.
• Song Yan found Epang Palace empty, then sensed leiying que stone inside its twelve statues and uncovered the thunder-charged fushi stone beneath their dushi stone shells.
• Song Yan read the inscriptions identifying the statues as the Twelve Bells, stored them in his Water Jade Ring, and asked Zhao Zheng to take him to the Qin royal palace.
• Tang Hulu read the Ghost Valley Secret Record while Yun Wu decided to bring it back to Daoist Wang for an exchange.
• Su Xueming studied the Longevity Cave-Ming Pill formula, noted its rare ingredients and dangerous drawbacks, then left the Pill Hall and saw Xianyang Palace before him.

Song Yan was caught in Idle-Fishing Boy’s escape from Left Daoist and mediated a trade for a supposed palace relic. After the others parted, Idle-Fishing Boy revealed he had kept a valuable Bronze Cauldron and slipped away from the Imperial Mausoleum.

• Song Yan and King of Qin Zheng approached Xianyang Palace and encountered Idle-Fishing Boy fleeing Left Daoist.
• Idle-Fishing Boy’s Guiding Law Artifact led him toward Song Yan’s hiding place, and Left Daoist’s attack forced Song Yan to reveal himself.
• Song Yan negotiated a truce, and Idle-Fishing Boy traded Left Daoist a Qinian Palace Pawn for Spirit Stones and pills.
• Left Daoist departed with the pawn, while Idle-Fishing Boy released the spirit weighing him down and thanked Song Yan.
• Idle-Fishing Boy secretly revealed that he had kept a Bronze Cauldron and left the Imperial Mausoleum unnoticed.

Song Yan’s jade fragment opened the restriction protecting Xianyang Palace, allowing the cultivators to enter and encounter the awakened First Emperor, Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng held them captive at a banquet and forced their treasures into the open, demanding they explain what they had brought.

• Li Lin and the other cultivators failed to break the palace barrier, which Daoist Right identified as the Ten Thousand Dragons Paying Homage Formation.
• Song Yan arrived, and his jade fragment fitted into the barrier and opened a passage into the main hall.
• Ying Zheng appeared, revealed himself as the First Emperor, and asked Song Yan about the dynasty ruling outside.
• Ying Zheng used his power to force the cultivators into seats at a banquet, while Song Yan alone remained free to move.
• Ying Zheng summoned the cultivators’ stored treasures and demanded that each person explain their offerings, threatening to kill anyone who displeased him.