Chapter Summaries

Huranlang, Yujingzi, Wangsun, Shejun, Ganglie, and Chou Ox revealed their identities and confessed their betrayal of Su Hang, while proposing ways to punish Nurarihyon. Su Hang refused to forgive them immediately but agreed to decide their punishments after Nurarihyon was dealt with.

• Huranlang admitted that he had voted to banish Su Hang after Nurarihyon threatened him, and vowed to kill Nurarihyon after Crowned and Proclaimed Emperor ended.
• Yujingzi proposed using cobra venom to cripple Nurarihyon, while Wangsun revealed he had sabotaged Nurarihyon's van to cause a fatal crash.
• Shejun opposed murder and argued that Nurarihyon could face life imprisonment for suspected contract fraud and forced transactions.
• Su Hang called the Imperial Crown members traitors and said he would gouge out their eyes, smash their teeth, and drain their blood.
• Huranlang, Yujingzi, Wangsun, Shejun, Ganglie, and Chou Ox each offered to die or risk their lives to atone, and Su Hang deferred their punishments until after Nurarihyon was dealt with.

Imperial Crown’s eight core members publicly quit Lin Ying’s team and declared their loyalty to Imperial Emperor, while Yuejing urged the fans to join Sovereign Dominion. Lin Ying insisted the fans still supported him, but a flagpole snapped in the Imperial Crown section.

• Imperial Crown’s core members removed their masks, and the Wolves recognized Baili as Brother Niu.
• Lin Ying accused the alliance leaders of betraying Imperial Crown, but Yuejing and the other seven leaders each announced they were quitting the team.
• Yuejing said the core members had always supported Imperial Emperor and urged fans to choose between Lin Ying’s Imperial Crown and Imperial Emperor’s Sovereign Dominion.
• The west-side fans stayed silent as Lin Ying claimed their support and vowed to rebuild Imperial Crown and put Imperial Emperor and the core members on trial.
• A flagpole snapped in the Imperial Crown fans’ section as Lin Ying continued mocking Imperial Emperor’s supporters.

Lin Ying watched his friends, esports teams, and Imperial Crown fans reject Nurarihyon and rally behind Su Hang in the Sovereign Dominion fan section. As the venue filled with lights, Su Hang vowed to change a world driven by profit into one built on loyalty, declaring himself Imperial Emperor.

• White Fatty and Wanzi denounced Lin Ying’s tyrannical rule and said their loyalty belonged to the righteous President Lin Ying, not Nurarihyon.
• Huahai led eStar, Yinuo led AG, and Fly led Wolves into the Sovereign Dominion fan section to support Imperial Emperor.
• Imperial Crown fans abandoned the western section and joined the Sovereign Dominion crowd, filling it with the lights of their phones.
• Lin Ying demanded to know why his fans had turned against him, and Su Hang said they rejected an evil Imperial Crown built on profit for a righteous Sovereign Dominion built on loyalty.
• Lin Ying warned that Sovereign Dominion would eventually become corrupt, but Su Hang vowed to change the world and declared, “I’m Imperial Emperor!”

Su Hang took control of the Imperial Crown after testing its core members’ loyalty and stripping Lin Ying of his position and membership. Lin Ying, fearing for his safety, pleaded with Su Hang to let him remain in the team.

• Sovereign Dominion fans rallied behind Su Hang’s plan to change the world, and Su Hang told Lin Ying that he had lost.
• Lin Ying pretended to repent and offered to surrender his authority, so Su Hang gave him a can of sugar-free cola as a loyalty test.
• Lin Ying suspected the cola was poisoned and refused to drink it, while Phoenix, Silver Dragon, Mountain Lord, and the other Imperial Crown core members drank from it.
• Su Hang drank the final mouthful and revealed that the cola was not poisoned, then announced that the Imperial Crown would come under Sovereign Dominion.
• Su Hang stripped Jueying of the Imperial Crown captaincy, expelled him, sealed his honorary title, and said other offenses would be referred to the authorities.
• Afraid of retaliation, Lin Ying fell to his knees and begged Su Hang not to banish him from the team.

After the tournament ended, Su Hang vanished before he could be crowned and went to Tiananmen Square, where he reflected on his impending death and his hopes of changing the world. There, he met a 101-year-old woman in a white coat who said she was a scientist, and a sudden sound left him stunned.

• Security removed Lin Ying from the stage, ending the conflict between Sovereign Dominion and the Imperial Crown.
• Ying Kai and Ling'er announced that Imperial Emperor had won the title, but he had disappeared before the ceremony could crown him.
• Su Hang realized he had only an hour left to live and went to Tiananmen Square rather than risk dying in front of others.
• Su Hang reflected on his wish to change the world and met a kindly old woman in a white coat who said she was a scientist.
• A crisp pfft sounded, and Su Hang turned his head and froze.

Su Hang confided in an old physicist that his system’s bargain would soon kill him, though he no longer wanted to die because of his loved ones and the future they could build. As his countdown reached zero, he vanished before he could say who should receive the Imperial Ring, and the old woman picked it up.

• The old woman gave Su Hang sugar-free cola and listened as he described his arrival in this world, his system, and the death bargain he had fulfilled by saving Yugong Liuli.
• Su Hang told the old woman that he no longer wanted to die because he believed Huyan Lan and others were loyal to him, and he remained committed to his wife, Yugong Liuli.
• The old woman told Su Hang that the future would be a beautiful world built on loyalty, without betrayal or self-interest.
• As his death countdown reached zero, Su Hang removed the Imperial Ring and began asking the old woman to pass it on, but he vanished before finishing.
• The old woman picked up the Imperial Ring and gradually disappeared into the darkness.

After completing her month of fasting and purification, Liuli learned from a video that Senior had survived Imperial Crown's betrayal and reclaimed the team, but she became jealous and anxious after seeing Huyan Lan kiss him. A notice about an unclaimed package from Huaxia left her wondering what it contained.

• Liuli became head of Yugong Shrine and checked her messages, finding none from Senior.
• She watched a video recounting Senior's expulsion from Imperial Crown, the Three Champion Emperors' apparent betrayal, and his eventual victory and return to the team.
• Liuli saw footage of Huyan Lan passionately kissing Senior and worried that their childhood bond could threaten her marriage.
• Liuli received a notification that a package from Huaxia had remained unclaimed for a month.

Liuli received the Imperial Ring from Senior and mistook it for a marriage proposal, then accepted Jiang Sui’s invitation to attend the Imperial Crown tenth anniversary gathering with Senior. She booked a flight to Jiangcheng and began preparing to see him that night.

• Liuli met Yugong Youjing and Xue Ji, learned they were married and expecting a child, and heard they planned to settle in the Netherlands.
• Yugong Youjing told Liuli that Nishang had gone to Imperial Crown Island for the Imperial Crown Team’s tenth anniversary gathering and said she would likely attend as Sovereign Dominion’s vice captain.
• Liuli opened the package from Huaxia and found the Imperial Ring, which she put on and interpreted as Senior’s declaration of love and intent to marry her.
• Jiang Sui invited Liuli to come to her house before the anniversary gathering, and Liuli eagerly agreed to go with Senior.
• Liuli booked a flight from Kyoto to Jiangcheng and decided to choose clothes and prepare a gift before seeing Senior.

Yugong Liuli visited Jiang Sui and offered her a million-yuan gift, but Jiang Sui refused it before Hu Xiao and Yin Long arrived broke and asked for money. Jiang Sui revealed that Sovereign Dominion was about to enter the King of Glory Professional League, leaving Liuli stunned.

• Yugong Liuli arrived at Jiang Sui's home and met Huyan Ya before Jiang Sui welcomed her inside.
• Liuli offered Jiang Sui a supplementary gold card loaded with a million yuan, but Jiang Sui refused to accept it as an unearned gift.
• Hu Xiao and Yin Long returned home and revealed that they were short of money, prompting Jiang Sui to scold them for their debts and spending.
• Jiang Sui said Sovereign Dominion was about to enter the King of Glory Professional League, and Liuli asked what she meant.

Jiang Sui explained Sovereign Dominion’s origins and warned Liuli that its players were not ready for the KPL, while Liuli insisted they were better than professionals. Liuli then questioned why nobody recognized her account of Chou Ox being Fly and froze when Jiang Sui’s brother returned and she saw his face.

• Jiang Sui told Liuli that her brother had founded Imperial Crown as a child and later created Sovereign Dominion to pursue professional competition.
• Jiang Sui warned that Sovereign Dominion could reach the secondary league but had little chance of entering the KPL, prompting Yin Long and Hu Xiao to defend their skills.
• Liuli claimed Chou Ox was Fly, but Jiang Sui, Yin Long, and Hu Xiao did not recognize her references to the Crowned and Proclaimed Emperor tournament.
• Liuli searched Douyin for the tournament videos she remembered seeing, but found none and wondered whether her network was malfunctioning.
• When Jiang Sui’s brother came home, Liuli blushed, tried to greet him, and froze after seeing the newcomer’s face.

Liuli arrived expecting to reunite with the Imperial Crown and Sovereign Dominion leaders, but found that Jiang Sui and the others remembered entirely different lives and identities. She confronted Zhou Keyu, insisting he was not Jiang Sui’s brother or either team’s captain, and the gathering ended in tense silence as Huyan Ya announced dinner was ready.

• Zhou Keyu welcomed Liuli and the group discovered that the ring on her hand was the 120-million-yuan Imperial Ring, a gift from the Imperial Crown’s twelve original members.
• Liuli explained that Imperial Emperor had created the Imperial Crown Team, but Jiang Sui and the others did not recognize the name and said Zhou Keyu was her brother and captain of both teams.
• Jiang Sui introduced Hu Xiao, Yin Long, and Zhou Keyu as ordinary players with modest real-life circumstances, contradicting Liuli’s memories of their titles and fortunes.
• Liuli insisted Hu Xiao was the Tiger Emperor and Yin Long was the Dragon Emperor, while Jiang Sui was a Diamond player with a devoted brother.
• Liuli told Zhou Keyu he was not Jiang Sui’s brother or captain of either team, then shouted for him not to approach as Huyan Ya announced dinner was ready.

Zhou Keyu and Jiang Sui discussed Grandpa Zhou’s death and the strange medals and family genealogy he had left behind. The conversation reminded Huyan Ya of her sister Huyan Lan’s mental illness, and Jiang Sui and Huyan Ya planned to visit her on Imperial Crown Island before the storage room door suddenly opened.

• Jiang Sui scolded Zhou Keyu and the others for complaining about their meager dinner, explaining that she and Huyan Ya had supported the household for years.
• Zhou Keyu recalled that Grandpa Zhou had adopted him, then told Jiang Sui about the fake medals found among Grandpa Zhou’s belongings after his death in Kyoto.
• Jiang Sui said Grandpa Zhou had kept a family genealogy in a locked room that had since become the storage room.
• Huyan Ya recalled that Huyan Lan had entered the storage room in a confused state ten years earlier and said Huyan Lan was now recuperating on Imperial Crown Island.
• Jiang Sui and Huyan Ya decided to visit Huyan Lan at Imperial Crown Island’s tenth-anniversary gathering the next day.
• The storage room door suddenly opened.

Liuli discovered that her marriage certificate now identified her as Yugong Hu and her husband as Yousu Fox God, while everyone around her had forgotten Senpai. After learning that her family remembered a different version of events, she left the storeroom that had been Senpai’s bedroom determined to find him.

• Liuli opened her marriage certificate and found that Senpai had vanished from its photo and the names had changed to Yugong Hu and Yousu Fox God.
• Liuli asked Nishang about her marriage, and he described her wedding to Yousu Fox God and confirmed that he did not remember Imperial Emperor.
• Liuli compared Nishang’s account with her own memories of Senpai Su Hang rescuing her and realized that others’ lives had changed because they remembered him as never having existed.
• Liuli examined the room that had once been Senpai’s bedroom, then vowed to find him and save him as he had saved her.

Liuli reunited with Jiang Sui and tried to help her remember her missing older brother, Su Hang, before questioning Zhou Keyu about their history in Honor of Kings. While checking Zhou Keyu’s account, she found a settlement ranking notice for the Imperial Crown Team.

• Jiang Sui apologized to Liuli for hiding, and Liuli said Jiang Sui had once been a skilled cook who made food for her brother, Su Hang.
• Jiang Sui said she could not remember Su Hang and would be afraid of a strict older brother, so Liuli resolved to keep her from dating until he was found.
• Liuli questioned Zhou Keyu about meeting her in Honor of Kings and joining the Sovereign Dominion Team, and his account matched her memories of Su Hang’s past.
• Liuli checked Zhou Keyu’s Honor of Kings profile, criticized his record, and insisted that Su Hang really existed despite everyone losing their memories of him.
• Liuli opened the team section of Zhou Keyu’s account and found a settlement ranking notice for the Imperial Crown Team.

Liuli insisted that Su Hang, known as Senior Imperial Emperor, had founded a once-dominant Imperial Crown, though the others had no memory or evidence of him. She found hope in the Imperial Ring’s gemstones, which she said held the blood of Imperial Crown’s twelve core members, and agreed to arrange DNA testing to prove Senior existed.

• Liuli described how Senior Imperial Emperor had founded Imperial Crown and built it into a vast, wealthy team, while Zhou Keyu, Jiang Sui, Yin Long, and Hu Xiao were stunned.
• Liuli recounted how Yin Long and Hu Xiao had been expelled from Imperial Crown and formed rival teams, but they could not remember Senior Imperial Emperor.
• Zhou Keyu suggested that Liuli might be delusional because nobody could find evidence that Su Hang or Imperial Emperor had ever existed, but Liuli pointed to the Imperial Ring as proof.
• Liuli said the ring’s twelve gemstones contained the blood of Imperial Crown’s core members, including Yin Long and Hu Xiao, and proposed matching the samples against the veterans’ DNA.
• Liuli learned that Huyan Lan was hospitalized with a mental illness and that Lin Ying had never joined Imperial Crown, then promised to help Huyan Ya find treatment for her sister.
• Jiang Sui offered to arrange blood tests at the hospital on Imperial Crown Island, and Liuli agreed to use the results to prove Senior existed and find him.

Su Sui recovered memories of her future as Jiang Sui and pieced together how Liuli sent her consciousness twenty years into the past to protect the Imperial Crown time machine. She resolved to guard Liuli and identify Nurarihyon among Imperial Crown’s veteran members at the gathering on Imperial Crown Island.

• Su Sui reviewed a recording describing how Liuli built the Imperial Crown time machine and sent Jiang Sui’s consciousness from 2035 back twenty years.
• Su Sui concluded that her future consciousness had entered another person’s past life and that she had lost her memories from 2015 to 2025.
• Su Sui remembered Su Hang’s affection for her and decided that she had to protect Liuli so Liuli could bring him back.
• Su Sui reasoned that Nurarihyon had likely recovered his future memories and would target Liuli to prevent the Imperial Crown time machine from existing.
• Su Sui ruled out Jueying and suspected that Nurarihyon was hiding among Imperial Crown’s nine veteran members.
• Su Sui put on the Imperial Emperor Mask and vowed to defeat Nurarihyon at the Imperial Crown Island gathering.

On the cruise ship bound for Imperial Crown Island, Su Sui knocked Yin Long unconscious to stop his seasickness, triggering a strange memory of a past life. Hu Xiao experienced a similar memory and realized that people recalled past lives when they were on the brink of death.

• Yin Long vomited from seasickness while Hu Xiao tried to get him to take medicine.
• Su Sui offered to knock Yin Long out, then punched him after he eagerly turned toward the mention of a dropped coin.
• As Yin Long lost consciousness, he remembered being banished from the Imperial Crown Team after a failed attempt to seize power.
• Hu Xiao carried Yin Long to a cabin and recalled a similar false memory about being banished from the team.
• Hu Xiao connected the memories to near-death experiences and realized that life flashing before one’s eyes meant recalling a past life.

Su Sui secretly listened to Liuli, Jiang Sui, Zhou Keyu, and Huyan Ya discuss their futures as the group arrived at Imperial Crown Island. Remembering Liuli’s interrupted attempt to travel back in time and the coming terrorist attack, Su Sui prepared to protect her from an assassin.

• Su Sui listened to the group eating aboard the ship and revealed that she had arranged Zhou Keyu’s winning the Imperial Crown Island tour tickets.
• Su Sui recalled taking gold from Yugong Shrine’s vault to fund her missions and described Jiang Sui’s, Huyan Ya’s, and Zhou Keyu’s futures.
• Liuli said she might keep searching for Senior, and Su Sui remembered that Liuli would later develop a time machine before terrorists attacked her research institute.
• The ship docked at Imperial Crown Island, and Su Sui vowed to stay close to Liuli and stop Nurarihyon from assassinating her.

At Imperial Crown’s tenth-anniversary gathering, Liuli asked the veteran members to provide blood samples so she could test whether they were connected to Imperial Emperor, the person she remembered as the team’s founder. While the others went to the hospital, Fly, Yinuo, and Huahai discussed Ghost Matches and the mysterious player whose account ID was Imperial Emperor.

• Imperial Crown members welcomed Liuli and learned that she was Nishang’s sister and might sponsor their entry into the secondary professional league.
• Zhou Keyu explained that Liuli was searching for Imperial Emperor and that the Imperial Ring contained blood from Imperial Crown’s twelve core members.
• Liuli showed the ring and asked the veterans to help compare their DNA with the sealed blood, and they agreed to have their blood drawn.
• Zhou Keyu asked Yinuo, Huahai, and Fly to wait at the Imperial Fortress while the others went to the hospital.
• Fly connected Imperial Emperor to the Ghost Matches, where players encountered a hidden account in games resembling Honor of Kings’ 2015 season-one version.

Fly, Yinuo, and Huahai followed an online ritual and successfully entered a Ghost Match, where they encountered the mysterious Imperial Emperor. As the ancient S1 hero selection approached its end, Fly locked in an unexpected hero.

• Fly used Imperial Crown's Chou Ox · Babaili account to start a ranked match at midnight after offering sugar-free cola and praising Imperial Emperor.
• Fly, Yinuo, and Huahai were matched into a Ghost Match with an S1-era hero selection screen and found Imperial Emperor on their team.
• Fly asked Imperial Emperor whether he was human or a ghost, and Imperial Emperor replied that he was Chinese.
• Fly realized he could not use his familiar heroes because they were unavailable or different in S1, then locked in an unexpected hero as the selection countdown ended.