Chapter Summaries

Xu Qi'an revealed the Earth Sect’s corruption and its connection to Daoist Jinlian to Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen, while Wei Yuan’s army faced the Yan Capital without supplies and under orders to advance. Xu Xinnian gathered scattered soldiers, but their commander Zhao Panyi accused his father, Xu Pingzhi, of abandoning a fallen comrade’s family.

• Xu Qi'an told Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen that Daoist Jinlian was the Earth Sect’s Dao Chief, whose corruption had influenced Emperor Yuanjing and the Prince of Huai.
• Huaiqing agreed to review the clues, and Xu Qi'an planned to investigate the dragon vein again in half a month.
• At Xu City, Wei Yuan ordered his divided commanders to advance toward the Yan Capital despite their dwindling troops and supplies.
• Wei Yuan told Nangong Qianrou that Great Feng would send no more provisions, then gave him two brocade pouches and ordered him to leave with ten thousand cavalry after three days.
• Xu Xinnian and Chu Yuanzhen welcomed thirty scattered soldiers led by Zhao Panyi, who refused their food and accused Xu Pingzhi of abandoning Zhou Biao’s family after the Battle of Shanhai Pass.

Xu Qi'an confirmed that Zhao Panyi’s accusations against Second Uncle Xu were true, while Xu Xinnian offered to answer for his father and helped Zhao Panyi’s wounded soldiers. The chapter ended with Chu Yuanzhen realizing Xu Xinnian was not Number Three after he failed to recognize the Earth Book Fragment.

• Xu Xinnian detained Zhao Panyi after he accused Second Uncle Xu of breaking a promise to Zhou Biao, and asked Chu Yuanzhen to contact Xu Qi'an.
• Xu Qi'an questioned Second Uncle Xu, who said Zhou Biao had died in battle but denied that Zhou had taken a blade for him; Auntie recalled a letter saying Second Uncle Xu had survived thanks to Zhou.
• Xu Qi'an told Chu Yuanzhen that Zhou Biao had existed and Second Uncle Xu had let him down, then sat alone with the revelation.
• After Chu Yuanzhen relayed the truth, Xu Xinnian freed Zhao Panyi, apologized on his father’s behalf, and persuaded him to let his wounded men eat and receive treatment.
• Xu Xinnian asked about Chu Yuanzhen’s Earth Book Fragment but did not recognize it, and Chu Yuanzhen realized he was not Number Three.

Xu Qi'an learned Chu Yuanzhen had discovered his identity as Number Three, then accompanied Luo Yuheng to investigate the hidden tunnel and its Earth Book mechanism. Meanwhile, Huaiqing’s investigation into the Soul Pill led her to suspect it could repair incomplete souls, and she reacted sharply to that possibility.

• Xu Xinnian warmed the sleeping soldiers with spells while Chu Yuanzhen confessed his embarrassment over having mistaken Xu Qi'an’s identity and recalled how Xu Erlang had revealed the truth.
• Xu Qi'an admitted to Chu Yuanzhen that he was Number Three, learned that Chu Yuanzhen had questioned Xu Erlang about their second uncle’s comrades, and shared information about Xu Xinnian to ease their awkwardness.
• Xu Qi'an concluded that the Heaven and Earth Society members’ efforts to conceal his identity meant he had avoided social death, then met Luo Yuheng and led her to the hidden tunnel beneath Earl Pingyuan's residence.
• Luo Yuheng examined the stone disc and recognized its Earth Escape Technique as likely the work of Senior Brother Jinlian, while Xu Qi'an placed his Earth Book Fragment on it.
• Huaiqing reviewed evidence linking the Earth Sect Daoist leader to the Chu Prefecture City Massacre and the Soul Pill, then asked Chu Caiwei about Soul Pills.
• Chu Caiwei explained that Soul Pills could repair incomplete souls, and Huaiqing’s breathing quickened as she knocked over her teacup.

Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng found Hengyuan alive in a hidden chamber, where he revealed that an evil creature had held him captive. They discovered a vast underground mass of bones and found the Earth Sect's Daoist Leader had fled; after Luo Yuheng returned from investigating the teleportation formation, Huaiqing summoned Xu Qi'an to the Xu Residence over concerns about the case.

• Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng followed the passage to a secret chamber, where they found Hengyuan in suspended death and revived him with the Sarira.
• Hengyuan told Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng that an evil creature had tried to consume him, and that the Sarira had helped him resist.
• Xu Qi'an and Hengyuan descended into an abyss and found countless bones belonging to commoners abducted and killed over nearly forty years.
• Luo Yuheng used the teleportation formation to investigate its other end, then reported that it led to an unoccupied residence in the inner city.
• Xu Qi'an told Hengyuan about the Earth Sect's Daoist Leader and Daoist Jinlian, then decided to seek the Director's help with the bones.
• Huaiqing contacted Xu Qi'an through the Earth Book Fragment and summoned him to the Xu Residence, saying there was something wrong with the case.

Huaiqing exposed flaws in Xu Qi'an’s theory that the being beneath the Dragon Vein was the Earth Sect’s Daoist Leader, and Hengyuan identified the figure as the late emperor. Xu Qi'an pieced together how the late emperor, Yuanjing, and the Prince of Huai might be linked, but the chapter left the case only partly solved.

• Huaiqing challenged Xu Qi'an’s assumptions about One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones, the Soul Pill, and Earl Pingyuan’s long-standing lack of advancement.
• Xu Qi'an and Li Miaozhen described the being beneath the Dragon Vein so Huaiqing could draw portraits for Hengyuan to identify.
• Hengyuan prepared to leave the Nourishing Life Hall and stay at the Xu Residence, while the elderly residents and children saw him off.
• Xu Qi'an showed Hengyuan portraits of Heilian and another man; Hengyuan rejected Heilian and identified the second portrait as the being he had seen underground.
• Xu Qi'an recognized the second portrait as the late emperor and reasoned that the emperor, Yuanjing, and the Prince of Huai could be manifestations of one person, while the abducted people supplied pills to repair the emperor’s damaged Primordial Spirit.

Xu Qi'an and his companions investigated the late emperor’s tomb, confirmed that the buried skeleton was a eunuch’s and not the emperor’s, and concluded that Emperor Yuanjing was behind the being beneath the Dragon Vein. The chapter ended with Nangong Qianrou facing the sixth-day deadline outside Yan Capital.

• Xu Qi'an brought Hengyuan to stay at the Xu Residence, where Xu Lingyin asked him to take the blame for knocking over her mother’s flower and tried to reclaim a pastry she had hidden in her shoe for three days.
• Xu Qi'an told Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen that the being beneath the Dragon Vein was the late emperor, and Li Miaozhen warned that the Prince Who Guards the North might have survived through the technique One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones.
• Emperor Yuanjing declared before the founding emperor’s statue that he would become Great Feng’s first immortal emperor.
• Xu Qi'an, Huaiqing, Li Miaozhen, and Zhong Li infiltrated the late emperor’s tomb and reached its main burial chamber by avoiding its traps and formations.
• Huaiqing identified the skeleton in the coffin as a eunuch rather than the late emperor, strengthening their conclusion that Emperor Yuanjing was the mastermind.
• Outside Yan Capital, Nangong Qianrou recalled Wei Yuan’s order to retreat by the sixth day as the battlefield lay strewn with corpses.

Great Feng’s army endured a costly stalemate outside Yan Capital, while Wei Yuan sent Nangong Qianrou and ten thousand heavy cavalry to meet the Overseer’s second disciple. The chapter ended with twenty warships approaching Jing Mountain as a blue-robed figure stood at the lead ship’s bow.

• Nangong Qianrou led Great Feng’s heavy cavalry through the Kang army’s modao troops, while shamans raised the dead and Yan forces attacked from the capital; Chen Ying led the defense until both enemy armies withdrew.
• Chen Ying told the generals that their supplies were nearly gone and that they had to hold for four more days; Nangong Qianrou departed with ten thousand heavy cavalry on Wei Yuan’s orders.
• In Yan Capital, Nurhejia and his ministers celebrated the severed supply line, but Yierbu received a summons from the Shaman God and rushed out after hearing Wei Yuan’s name.
• Nangong Qianrou reached the valley Wei Yuan had designated and met the Overseer’s second disciple, who said he did not know Wei Yuan’s arrangements before making the cavalry disappear.
• At Jing Mountain, sentries spotted twenty warships approaching, with a blue-robed figure standing at the bow of the leading ship, and sounded the alarm.

Wei Yuan led Great Feng’s fleet to attack Jingshan City, where Salun Agu summoned a storm to destroy the warships. The Flood Dragon Tribe intervened, and after the fleet began bombarding the shore, Yierbu charged Wei Yuan, who seized him by the throat and shattered the phantom above his head.

• Nalan Yan led Jingshan City’s shamans and garrison to the coast as Wei Yuan’s twenty warships approached.
• Salun Agu unleashed a storm and towering waves against Great Feng’s fleet, but a hundred Flood Dragons arrived and brought the waters under control.
• Nalan Yan ordered the troops to withdraw and intercept Great Feng’s landing force as cannons and siege crossbows bombarded the shore.
• Yierbu arrived, ordered the Shaman God Cult’s forces to regroup inland, and transformed into a giant before charging Wei Yuan.
• Wei Yuan seized Yierbu by the throat and shattered the phantom above his head, declaring, “Commendable courage!”

Wei Yuan led Great Feng’s army against Jingshan City and fought Salun Agu, revealing his Dao Integration realm and Formation Breaking intent. Salun Agu grievously wounded him, but Wei Yuan stabbed the Great Shaman with an ancient carving knife, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Yierbu used a blood-price Curse Killing Technique to stall Wei Yuan long enough to escape, while Great Feng’s soldiers learned that Wei Yuan had regained his martial power.
• Wei Yuan ordered the army to slaughter Jingshan City, and Great Feng’s troops landed under attack from archers in the mountain forest.
• Salun Agu sent Yierbu and Wuda Baota to test Wei Yuan, but Wei Yuan knocked both shamans back and explained that he had concealed his cultivation from Yuanjing.
• Wei Yuan tried to reach the altar to seal the Shaman God, but Salun Agu used the power of heaven and earth to stop him; Wei Yuan broke free of the confinement with his Formation Breaking intent.
• Salun Agu summoned the heroic soul of a Great Zhou imperial prince and badly wounded Wei Yuan, while he and the two shamans attacked him with Curse Killing Techniques.
• As Salun Agu prepared to kill Wei Yuan, his power abruptly drained away, and Wei Yuan revealed an ancient carving knife embedded in the Great Shaman’s chest.

Wei Yuan confronted Emperor Zhende after discovering that Zhende had corrupted Yuanjing and manipulated events for decades. As Zhende and the shamans unleashed a devastating five-element sword strike, Wei Yuan invoked the Confucian Sage with the academy’s treasures and a heroic-soul summoning spell.

• Wei Yuan ambushed Salun Agu with the Confucian Sage's Carving Knife, but Emperor Zhende emerged from Salun Agu and severed Wei Yuan’s arm before corrupting the knife.
• Emperor Zhende confessed that the Earth Sect's Daoist Leader had corrupted him, that he had assimilated the Prince of Huai and later replaced Yuanjing, and that Noble Consort Chen had exposed Wei Yuan’s relationship with the empress.
• Emperor Zhende and Wei Yuan fought across the mountains and sea while Yierbu, Wuda Baota, and Salun Agu supported Zhende with curses and spiritual power.
• Salun Agu lent Emperor Zhende the power of the surrounding land, plants, ocean, and flames, enabling him to forge a five-element sword strike aimed at Wei Yuan.
• Wei Yuan put on the Sub-Sage's Confucian Crown, summoned the Confucian Sage's Carving Knife and Zhao Shou’s blessing, then invoked the Confucian Sage.

Wei Yuan summoned the Confucian Sage’s heroic soul, defeated the Shaman God Cult’s strongest fighters, and reached the altar despite the Shaman God’s barrier. After the shamans sacrificed themselves to empower their god, Wei Yuan joined the Confucian Sage in striking the Shaman God and sealing it again, but died in the process.

• Wei Yuan summoned the Confucian Sage’s heroic soul, whose single step shattered the combined attack of Emperor Zhende, Salun Agu, Yierbu, and Wuda Baota.
• Nangong Qianrou led Great Feng cavalry into Jingshan City to attack the Shaman God Cult, weakening the Shaman God’s Fate as its people died.
• Wei Yuan broke through the Shaman God’s barrier and climbed all ninety-nine altar steps, enduring the pressure with his own strength rather than relying on the Confucian Sage to carry him.
• Salun Agu, Yierbu, Wuda Baota, and hundreds of shamans performed the Great Blood Sacrifice Technique, causing the Shaman God to emerge from its statue and attack Wei Yuan.
• Wei Yuan stood against the Shaman God’s wrath and thrust the Confucian Sage’s Carving Knife forward with the Sage’s phantom, destroying the god’s manifestation and sealing it once more.
• Wei Yuan died on the altar after giving his reason for fighting, and Jingshan City was left in ruins as his name entered the annals of history.

Wei Yuan died sealing the Shaman God, devastating the northeastern army and leaving Great Feng without its god of war. As word of his death reached the capital, Xu Qi'an learned the grievous news from an envoy sent by Grand Secretary Wang.

• Salun Agu surveyed the ruined Jingshan City as Emperor Zhende demanded that the Shaman God Cult honor its promise, while Yierbu raged over Wei Yuan's victory.
• Nangong Qianrou mourned Wei Yuan and vowed to finish his foster father's campaign against the Shaman God Cult; Sun Xuanji erased the heavy cavalry's existence from memory.
• The Confucian cap and carving knife returned to Zhao Shou, Emperor Yuanjing celebrated his arrival to power, and Xu Qi'an felt an unexplained pain in his chest.
• Xu Xinnian learned from Chu Yuanzhen that the Jing Kingdom had withdrawn its troops, while Xu Qi'an and the Earth Book group discussed the former emperor's disappearance and search for immortality.
• An urgent military dispatch informed Grand Secretary Wang that Wei Yuan had fallen and only a little over sixteen thousand of his hundred-thousand-strong army had withdrawn.
• Grand Secretary Wang sent an official to tell Xu Qi'an that Duke Wei had fallen in the northeast.

After learning that Wei Yuan had died at Jingshan City, Xu Qi'an remained in shock as the court debated the campaign's aftermath. Unable to accept the news, he asked Li Miaozhen to take him to the northeastern border so he could see Wei Yuan off if he was truly dead.

• A middle-aged official told Xu Qi'an that Wei Yuan had died in battle at Jingshan City and that only a fraction of his hundred thousand troops had returned.
• At court, Grand Secretary Wang urged Emperor Yuanjing to continue the war against the weakened Shaman God Cult, but the emperor rejected the proposal and turned to border defenses and peace negotiations.
• The ministers hesitated over compensation for the fallen soldiers because the payments depended on whether the campaign was classified as a victory or defeat; Grand Secretary Wang called it a resounding victory, and Emperor Yuanjing postponed the decision.
• Xu Qi'an told Second Uncle Xu to seek shelter at Cloud Deer Academy, then told Li Miaozhen that he wanted to go to the northeastern border.
• Xu Qi'an said he did not believe Wei Yuan was dead, but that if he was, he had to go because Wei Yuan had no children to see him off; Li Miaozhen agreed to take him.

Lin'an and the Crown Prince learned that Wei Yuan had died, while Huaiqing delivered his final letter to the Empress and heard her break down in grief. Xu Qi'an reached the demoralized survivors at Yuyang Pass, became their rallying point, learned how Wei Yuan’s campaign ended, and concluded that Zhende had helped kill him.

• The Crown Prince told Consort Chen and Lin'an that Wei Yuan had died in battle, and Consort Chen celebrated his death while Lin'an felt estranged from her family.
• Huaiqing learned of Wei Yuan’s death, brought his letter to the Empress, and heard her sob after she read it.
• Zhao Shou gave Xu Qi'an a letter from Wei Yuan, and Xu Qi'an and Li Miaozhen flew to Yuyang Pass.
• Xu Qi'an’s arrival sparked cheers among the sixteen thousand surviving soldiers, who looked to him for leadership.
• Zhang Kaitai told Xu Qi'an that the army had marched without provisions and recounted Wei Yuan’s campaign and death.
• Xu Qi'an concluded that Zhende was the mysterious expert who had joined the Shaman God Cult in killing Wei Yuan.

Xu Qi'an learned that Wei Yuan had hidden his Martial Dao cultivation and died fighting the Shaman God, then joined Zhang Kaitai and the surviving generals as Yan and Kang assembled an army to besiege Yuyang Pass. As the defenders fought to hold the walls, Xu Qi'an destroyed a siege tower with the Peace Saber, drawing Nurhejia's attention.

• Xu Qi'an questioned Zhang Kaitai about Wei Yuan's hidden cultivation and learned that Wei Yuan had crippled his own cultivation after the Battle of Shanhai Pass before secretly cultivating the Martial Dao anew.
• A deputy general reported that eighty thousand troops from Yan and Kang, led by Nurhejia, were approaching Yuyang Pass, and Zhang Kaitai ordered the defenders to prepare.
• Zhang Kaitai and the generals discussed their shortages of troops and provisions and learned that Nurhejia was a peak fourth-rank expert in both the Martial Dao and the Shaman System.
• Nurhejia rallied the Yan and Kang armies by invoking their blood feud with Great Feng and ordering them to storm Yuyang Pass.
• Xu Qi'an used the Peace Saber to cut down an approaching siege tower, and Nurhejia asked who he was.

Xu Qi'an helped Great Feng repel the first assault on Yuyang Pass by killing Sugudu Hongxiong, but he admitted to Li Miaozhen that he had run out of trump cards and feared he could not defeat Nurhejia. After reading Wei Yuan’s final letter and learning the truth of his past, Xu Qi'an reached the Fourth Rank overnight and leaped from the wall to challenge the enemy formation.

• Nurhejia and Sugudu Hongxiong led Yan and Kang forces in an assault on Yuyang Pass, while Xu Qi'an and Li Miaozhen helped defend the walls.
• Xu Qi'an used Luo Yuheng's talisman sword to kill Sugudu Hongxiong, breaking the attackers' morale and forcing Nurhejia to withdraw with the army.
• After the battle, Xu Qi'an told Li Miaozhen that he had no trump cards left and revealed that he felt lost without Wei Yuan's support.
• Xu Qi'an read Wei Yuan's final letter, which recounted his family’s massacre, his love for Shangguan Xixue, and his reasons for serving Great Feng.
• As the enemy attacked again at dawn, Xu Qi'an declared that he would break their formation and revealed that he had reached the Fourth Rank.
• Li Miaozhen lent Xu Qi'an her Golden Core, and he swallowed it before leaping from the wall toward the enemy army.

Xu Qi'an broke through the enemy army alone, then used the defenders’ fighting spirit to unleash Heaven and Earth One-Saber Slash against twenty thousand elites. After restoring his strength, he killed Nurhejia with his self-wounding Jade Shatters slash, routing the Yan and Kang armies before collapsing in Zhang Kaitai’s arms.

• Xu Qi'an fought through the enemy ranks, killed Alibai, and forced the surviving soldiers to flee as the Great Feng defenders cheered him on.
• Nurhejia offered rewards for Xu Qi'an's head, and twenty thousand elite troops charged him while Zhang Kaitai prepared to go to his aid.
• Xu Qi'an released his Fate and channeled the defenders’ will into Heaven and Earth One-Saber Slash, killing thousands and breaking the charge.
• Nurhejia attacked Xu Qi'an from the air, but Xu Qi'an restored his strength and used Jade Shatters to cleave Nurhejia in two.
• The Yan and Kang armies fled, and Zhang Kaitai caught the badly wounded Xu Qi'an, who asked whether he had disgraced Duke Wei.

Xu Qi'an lay gravely wounded at Yuyang Pass after defeating the Yan and Kang armies, while Li Miaozhen sought help from the Heaven and Earth Society and the Directorate of Astronomy. Yang Qianhuan arrived before dawn and confirmed Xu Qi'an could still be saved.

• Li Miaozhen treated Xu Qi'an, whose wounds kept bleeding, while Zhang Kaitai and the soldiers feared he would die before reaching the capital.
• Li Miaozhen contacted the Heaven and Earth Society, and Chu Yuanzhen suggested summoning Yang Qianhuan to transport Xu Qi'an to the capital.
• Li Miaozhen told the group that Xu Qi'an had broken through the enemy formation, killed at least nine thousand soldiers and two peak Fourth-Rank fighters, and advanced to the Fourth Rank.
• Li Miaozhen assured Zhang Kaitai that Yang Qianhuan would arrive before dawn, but the soldiers stayed gathered outside Xu Qi'an's room.
• Yang Qianhuan teleported to Yuyang Pass, examined Xu Qi'an, and told Li Miaozhen that he could still be saved.

Li Miaozhen and Yang Qianhuan treated Xu Qi'an at Yuyang Pass, where Yang learned of Xu's extraordinary feats and accompanied Li back to the capital. There, Zhang Kaitai's deputy revealed to the Grand Secretariat that eighty thousand allied troops had attacked Yuyang Pass, shocking the grand scholars.

• Yang Qianhuan stabilized Xu Qi'an's wounds and concluded that only the Supervisor could save him.
• Yang Qianhuan learned that Xu Qi'an had routed the enemy twice, killed nearly ten thousand soldiers, and slain Nurhejia, and he was overwhelmed by envy.
• Li Miaozhen agreed to return to the capital with Yang Qianhuan, while Zhang Kaitai arranged for his deputy to report the battle and casualties to the court.
• Grand Secretary Wang Zhenwen decided to visit the Supervisor as the grand scholars debated Emperor Yuanjing's response to the campaign.
• Li Yi arrived at the Grand Secretariat with Yang Qianhuan and confirmed that eighty thousand allied troops from Yan and Kang had attacked Yuyang Pass.

After Xu Qi'an routed the Yan and Kang armies at Yuyang Pass, officials and residents in the capital spread increasingly exaggerated stories of his victory. Wang Zhenwen investigated the army’s missing provisions and sought the Supervisor’s insight, while Lin'an learned Xu Qi'an had gone to the northeastern border.

• Li Yi told the grand scholars that Xu Qi'an had killed over ten thousand enemies, slain Nurhejia, ruler of Yan, and helped hold Yuyang Pass against the allied armies.
• Li Yi revealed that the army’s provisions had vanished and that Chen Ying had killed Ministry of Revenue officials who refused to explain their disappearance.
• The Minister of War ordered Xu Qi'an’s victory publicized while keeping the missing provisions secret, and exaggerated reports spread through the capital.
• The crown prince told Lin'an about Xu Qi'an’s victory, and Lin'an worried that grief over Wei Yuan’s death had driven him to the border.
• Wang Zhenwen went to the Star Observation Tower and asked the Supervisor who could have cut off provisions and fodder for an army of a hundred thousand.