Chapter Summaries

Ye Wushuang set out for the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty with Xie Qianli, hoping to obtain treasures for his Grotto-Heavens and investigate the dynasty’s powers. After arriving, he received the Seven Stars Heavenly Secrets Brush, while a woman in the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion wondered why the person her divination had detected could no longer be traced.

• Ye Wushuang decided to visit the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty and planned to nurture star and heavenly-secrets treasures in the Grotto-Heavens of his different physiques.
• Ye Wushuang persuaded Xie Qianli to travel with him by promising to sample the dynasty’s delicacies, then received the Ninth Ancestor’s permission and an escort arrangement.
• The Nine Nether Imperial Dynasty, Ancient Qilin Cave, Immortal Feather Mountain, and Immortal Ancient Ji Clan each discussed moves involving the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty and Ye Wushuang.
• Ye Wushuang and Xie Qianli arrived in the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty, where the system rewarded Ye Wushuang with the Seven Stars Heavenly Secrets Brush.
• The Seven Stars Heavenly Secrets Brush concealed Ye Wushuang’s Qi signature, and a white-haired woman in the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion wondered why her divination could no longer detect him.

Ye Wushuang helped refugees in the imperial capital and took in An Xuchen as his servant, while Xie Qianli fought the dynasty’s patrol soldiers. An old man intervened, but a mysterious woman arrived to defend Ye Wushuang’s group.

• Ye Wushuang used a spell to give food to refugees and said he would help those he encountered.
• Ye Wushuang stopped soldiers from trampling An Xuchen, offered her food and work, and she agreed to become his servant.
• When the patrol soldiers threatened them, Ye Wushuang killed them, prompting officers and troops to arrive.
• Xie Qianli fought the patrol officers and soldiers, but an old man struck him down and warned Ye Wushuang to back off.
• A graceful woman descended on vermilion gauze and challenged the old man for threatening her people.

Ye Wanwan arrived in the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty and rescued Ye Wushuang from an imperial elder by defeating him with the Mortal Dust Zither. She invited Ye Wushuang and his companions to her restaurant, then greeted Xu Anchen and a valiant woman arriving on a white horse.

• Ye Wanwan appeared before Ye Wushuang, and he recognized her as the Ye Lineage’s ninth Throne of Order, bearer of the Heavenly Fragrance Alluring Physique.
• Ye Wanwan confronted the imperial elder for threatening Ye Wushuang and used the Mortal Dust Zither to control the patrol soldiers and injure the elder.
• The imperial elder withdrew with the fallen soldiers, while Ye Wanwan invited the onlookers to patronize her businesses.
• Ye Wushuang joked that he could repay Ye Wanwan by marrying her, and she invited him and his companions to her restaurant.
• Xie Qianli eagerly introduced himself to Ye Wanwan, who teased Ye Wushuang about his unusual friends.
• Ye Wanwan comforted Xu Anchen and offered to get her pretty clothes and food, as a woman on a white horse arrived and asked why Wanwan had not welcomed her.

Ye Wushuang and his companions met Shen Lingyue at the Ten Thousand Fragrances Pavilion, where An Xuchen shared how imperial soldiers killed her family. She revealed that she had survived to avenge them, despite her mother’s final plea to live on.

• Shen Lingyue arrived on her white horse, greeted Ye Wanwan, and joined Ye Wushuang and his companions at the Ten Thousand Fragrances Pavilion.
• Ye Wanwan brought An Xuchen back in a fitted black outfit, and An Xuchen vowed to live as Ye Wushuang’s blade; Ye Wushuang told her she did not need to make her life so hard.
• Taiyi broke the solemn mood with a joke, and the group began eating and talking.
• An Xuchen recounted how soldiers of the sixth prince killed her father, mother, and baby brother while seizing her family’s property.
• An Xuchen described hiding under a bed for three days, burying her family herself, and traveling to the imperial capital with the resolve to kill the sixth prince, even though her mother had urged her to live on.

After hearing An Xuchen's account of the sixth prince's cruelty, Ye Wushuang and his companions went to watch the fifth and sixth princes' forces face off on Star River Bridge. Ye Wushuang planned to exploit the clash between their outside allies, the Nine Nether Imperial Dynasty and the Ancient Qilin Cave.

• An Xuchen vowed that her life belonged to Ye Wushuang after he saved her and gave her a chance to kill the sixth prince.
• Shen Lingyue condemned the princes for exploiting the people, and Ye Wushuang resolved to kill the sixth prince.
• A maid told Ye Wanwan that the fifth and sixth princes' men were about to clash on Star River Bridge, so Ye Wanwan took Ye Wushuang and the others to watch.
• Ming Ji attacked the fifth prince's men with Nether Qi, and Lin Chen dispersed it with heavenly thunder.
• Ye Wushuang and Xie Qianli recognized their old opponents and agreed to let the factions fight while they plotted to make the sides turn against each other.

An Xuchen awakened the slaughter Dao physique after seeing the sixth prince, but Ye Wushuang’s Chaos Physique and words helped her retain control and devote her strength to protecting him. As Ye Wanwan and Ye Wushuang played along with the princes’ rivalry, Xie Qianli pretended to defect to the sixth prince, while Ye Wanwan hinted that their scheme was not over.

• Ming Ji and Lin Chen fought until heavenly lightning began to suppress Ming Ji’s nether annihilation, and both sides’ groups clashed before the fighters withdrew.
• The fifth and sixth princes arrived, and seeing the sixth prince triggered An Xuchen’s violent physique awakening and plunged her into an illusion of her family’s murder.
• Ye Wushuang suppressed An Xuchen’s awakening with his Chaos Physique and reached her through the illusion, helping her regain control and awaken the slaughter Dao physique.
• Ye Wanwan recognized An Xuchen’s physique and explained its immense power and danger as both groups turned their attention to the newcomers.
• Ye Wushuang pretended to send Xie Qianli away in anger, and Xie Qianli claimed he would join the sixth prince, who recruited him after learning he was from the Xie Family.
• Ye Wanwan asked Shen Lingyue whether she thought their scheme had ended there.

Ye Wushuang and Ye Wanwan manipulated a clash between the Fifth and Sixth Princes, using it to position their allies and sow distrust among the Sixth Prince’s supporters. Back at the Ten Thousand Fragrances Pavilion, Ye Wushuang revealed his plan to intervene in the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty’s succession struggle and discipline its princes.

• Ye Wanwan feigned anger at Xie Qianli and Ming Ji, prompting the Fifth Prince to believe she and Ye Wushuang would support him.
• Ye Wushuang used Netherdark Dragon Claw against Xie Qianli and Ming Ji, then withdrew it as Xie Qianli counterattacked, making Xie Qianli appear to protect the Sixth Prince’s group.
• The Fifth Prince mocked the Sixth Prince, while the Sixth Prince grew suspicious of Ming Ji and left after his side suffered a setback.
• Ye Wanwan declined the Fifth Prince’s invitation and left with Ye Wushuang, who promised to explain their actions at the Ten Thousand Fragrances Pavilion.
• A woman with the Heavenly Secrets Divine Eyes noticed that the princes’ clash had shaken the dynasty’s fortune and wondered who had entered the game.
• Ye Wanwan explained that she had planned to target the Sixth Prince, while Ye Wushuang declared he would clear the board and discipline the princes.

Ye Wushuang explained how he would use the princes’ rivalry to make them target the fifth and sixth princes, while reserving the sixth prince’s fate for An Xuchen. An Xuchen was moved by Ye Wushuang’s concern, and he promised that she alone would kill the sixth prince.

• Ye Wanwan told Shen Lingyue that the fifth prince had merely become a convenient excuse and that they had never promised to support him.
• Ye Wushuang explained that the other princes would have to take the apparent support of the fifth and sixth princes seriously, even if they suspected a scheme.
• Ye Wushuang revealed that he intended to use the other princes to pressure the fifth and sixth princes and push them out of the succession contest.
• An Xuchen said Ye Wushuang was building the scheme to take revenge without provoking the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty’s sovereign, but Ye Wushuang said the Ye Lineage could face the sovereign directly.
• Ye Wushuang said he wanted the sixth prince to gain hope before losing it, then promised An Xuchen that she alone would end the sixth prince’s life.

Ye Wushuang learned that several princes would hold a gathering in three days, and he planned to see what the second prince was like. As outside factions converged on the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion foresaw that strife was about to begin.

• Ye Wanwan told Ye Wushuang that the fifth prince had invited them to a gathering, and Ye Wushuang recognized it as another step in a plan to recruit talent and clear the board.
• The sixth prince thanked Xie Qianli for his support and invited him and Ming Ji to attend the gathering and display their strength.
• The second prince admitted to Li Shubai that he wanted the crown prince position, and Li Shubai said Immortal Feather Mountain had sent him to help before agreeing to attend the gathering.
• The Ji Clan siblings received the first prince's banquet invitations from his steward after learning that the martial-obsessed prince would not attend.
• The woman with the Heavenly Secrets Divine Eyes saw outside factions disrupting the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty's divinations and warned that strife was about to begin.

The princes and their allies arrived at the Ten Thousand Fragrances Pavilion for a banquet tied to the Heavenly Star Imperial Dynasty’s succession contest. Just as the gathered crowd waited to see what would come next, an enormous white dragon tore through the void with a rider aboard.

• The sixth prince arrived with Ming Ji of the Nine Nether Imperial Dynasty and Xie Qianli.
• The fifth prince arrived in a war chariot drawn by Golden-Armored War Tigers, accompanied by Lin Chen of the Ancient Qilin Cave.
• The second prince made a flamboyant entrance alongside Li Shubai of Immortal Feather Mountain.
• The fourth prince arrived alone and joined the other princes at the entrance.
• A white dragon tore open the void, and the crowd saw a man riding it.