Recaps

Chen Qing fought White Phoenix in the poison domain, where White Phoenix unleashed a lethal poison technique and Chen Qing broke through it with his Divine Wind Technique. Quefeng activated Dark Shadow to stop Chen Qing from killing White Phoenix, while White Phoenix remained trapped in the hurricane and stunned by Chen Qing’s power.

• Chen Qing entered the poison domain and attacked White Phoenix, who released the Poison of Corrupting Light from a poison sac.
• Chen Qing charged through the poison with his Divine Wind Technique, and the wind began turning black as the poison infected it.
• Chen Qing’s hurricane surged back to azure, cleared the poison, and swept White Phoenix into the storm.
• Quefeng realized Chen Qing might kill White Phoenix and activated Dark Shadow to intervene.
• White Phoenix stared at Chen Qing in disbelief after Chen broke his poison technique.

Chen Qing countered White Phoenix’s corrupting light and tried to kill Quefeng as he emerged through Dark Shadow, but Quefeng halted his teleportation just in time. Heavenly Secrets recalled that their escape through the Heavenly Secrets Cave was disrupted by someone who had already marked Chen Qing with a seed.

• Chen Qing absorbed White Phoenix’s corrupting light with white jade, then demanded poison and used White Phoenix’s help to strike at Quefeng’s predicted Dark Shadow arrival.
• Quefeng sensed the danger and stopped his teleportation, avoiding Chen Qing’s attack; Chen Qing called for Heavenly Secrets to open the Heavenly Secrets Cave so they could escape.
• In Jiangnan, Ziyue and the others found the wounded Heavenly Secrets after discovering sixteen spatial distortions, and he recounted the encounter to them.
• Heavenly Secrets revealed that someone damaged the Heavenly Secrets Cave at the critical moment, and Ziyue learned that the culprit had long since marked Chen Qing with a seed.

Chen Qing encountered King Chujiang on the Yin-Yang Road and learned that the old man was a player who had taken King Chujiang’s identity. The figure revealed his true power as Ksitigarbha Future Buddha and urged Chen Qing to join the pioneers.

• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets entered the Yin-Yang Road, where the evil ghosts resented Chen Qing for blocking their access to Jiangnan’s souls.
• King Chujiang revealed that he was a modern-world player who had chosen King Chujiang’s identity and awakened early to compete for the mortal world’s fortune.
• King Chujiang explained that he had recognized Chen Qing as a later player and valued his Divine Path Style and control over reincarnation.
• King Chujiang offered Chen Qing a place among the pioneers, arguing that they could use Chen Qing’s methods to unite and control those at the bottom.
• King Chujiang manifested the power of Ksitigarbha Future Buddha, leaving Chen Qing alarmed by the identity behind the demon body.

Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets tried to escape King Chujiang by using Quefeng’s hunger for the Future Buddha’s power to draw him into a fight. They opened a Heavenly Secrets Cave toward Jiangnan, but King Chujiang pulled it toward himself before they could escape.

• Chen Qing realized the old man was King Chujiang carrying the Future Buddha’s Dharma manifestation and considered fleeing the Heavenly Secrets Cave.
• Chen Qing deduced that King Chujiang feared Quefeng might plunder his abilities, and Quefeng burst into the cave and agreed to attack him.
• King Chujiang tried to disconnect the Yin-Yang Road, but Heavenly Secrets opened another Heavenly Secrets Cave to hold it open for Quefeng.
• Quefeng charged King Chujiang, who summoned the Future Buddha’s enormous palm to crush him.
• Heavenly Secrets opened a cave toward Jiangnan, but King Chujiang clenched his palm and dragged the cave toward himself.

Ziyue learned that a later-version monster had accidentally warped the Heavenly Secrets Caves, leaving Chen Qing stranded on the Yin-Yang Road and unable to return to Jiangnan safely. Meanwhile, Xiao Mingxue received an imperial decree arranging her marriage to Wutu Gu, and collapsed in despair.

• Heavenly Secrets told Ziyue and Seventh Master Shen that Chen Qing had entered the warped space with him and might have been transported to the Southern Barbarians, Jiangnan, or the Yin-Yang Road.
• Ziyue feared Chen Qing had landed on the Yin-Yang Road, where the Ghost Domain's malicious ghosts would hunt him.
• Chen Qing and White Phoenix escaped their pursuers after three days, but Chen Qing concluded that traveling to Jiangnan was too dangerous because the route crossed ghost king territories and might draw King Chujiang's attention.
• Chen Qing said he would need to gamble on another way out of the Yin-Yang Road rather than return to Jiangnan by the original route.
• Xiao Mingxue received the Empress Dowager's decree arranging her marriage to Wutu Gu, second prince of the Wutu Kingdom, and collapsed to the floor.

Xiao Mingxue overheard that Jiangnan might intervene against the empress dowager’s marriage decree, but doubted Chen Qing would risk coming to fetch her. Meanwhile, capital youths learned that Chen Qing was heading there in person, raising hopes amid the court’s worsening crisis.

• Xiao Mingxue’s maid told the cook that Jiangnan had sent someone to the capital and that the King of Qin might come to escort Xiao Mingxue.
• Xiao Mingxue overheard them and wondered whether Chen Qing would come for her, since she believed she had little to offer him beyond her status as a princess.
• Young men from wealthy families criticized the decree marrying Xiao Mingxue to a Southern Barbarian and discussed the capital’s ghost temples and their families’ plans to flee.
• A young clansman said Jiangnan Academy had stopped admitting students from the capital after the court’s decree disrupted relations with Jiangnan.
• A young man surnamed Du revealed that Chen Qing was coming to the capital in person.

As Chen Qing’s expected arrival stirred the capital, Wutu Gu and his men discussed killing him, while Ao Zhen’s party crossed into the Central Plains with A Li disguised as Chen Qing. Shen Qi warned A Li that the court and Wutu Gu both posed threats, since Wutu Gu had likely gained Transcendent power.

• Spellcaster families and capital scions debated whether Chen Qing would come to the capital and what his arrival would mean for Jiangnan.
• Wutu Gu mocked the Central Plains and said he intended to add Chen Qing’s head to his collection of trophies.
• Ao Zhen led her Transcendent party across the Central Plains border, making the receiving court guards fear Jiangnan’s strength.
• A Li, disguised as Chen Qing inside a palanquin, struggled under the pressure of her companions’ auras as Shen Qi told her to endure it.
• Shen Qi told A Li that Wutu Gu had killed the former Spirit Snake Goddess and likely possessed Transcendent power.

Ao Zhen led the Jiangnan delegation to the capital, where her overwhelming presence and power shocked the imperial army. As she opened a path across the Heavenly Dragon Great River and headed toward the Central Plains, Shen Qi feared the capital held dangers beyond their imagination and worried that Chen Qing might not arrive in time.

• Chu Tianhe and his troops met the Jiangnan delegation, but Ao Zhen’s arrival made their horses and soldiers tremble with fear.
• Ao Zhen recognized Chu Tianhe’s ancestor Chu Yuan in his features and passed the officers without waiting for permission or boats.
• Ao Zhen parted the Heavenly Dragon Great River with her trident, and a black-robed spellcaster sensed that the river and everything in it feared her.
• A Li praised Ao Zhen’s strength, while Shen Qi warned that people in the capital had uprooted all his Thousand Eyes Spells and might pose a grave threat.
• Shen Qi feared the journey would become more dangerous than their last trip to Great Azure Mountain if Chen Qing did not return.

The emperor welcomed Wutu Gu at court and revealed that both he and Chen Qing had been promised Princess Mingxue. Wutu Gu accepted the conflict as a contest over his prospective bride, and the emperor summoned Mingxue to decide what would happen.

• Chen Baiye reported that Jiangnan's delegation would arrive with Chen Qing in person.
• The emperor summoned Wutu Gu and praised him before offering him Jiangnan Blood Ginseng Wine.
• Wutu Gu asked to see Princess Mingxue and have her dance, provoking Duke of Ning, Chu Xingba.
• The emperor explained that Chen Qing had been betrothed to Mingxue before he chose Wutu Gu as her new match.
• Wutu Gu asked whether Chen Qing wanted to steal his woman, and the emperor summoned Mingxue to the hall.

Xiao Mingxue decided to challenge the marriage alliance with Wutu Gu and demanded the Hundred Birds Phoenix Robe before going to court. As Chen Qing arrived to meet the emperor, the court waited to see how he and Wutu Gu would respond to each other.

• Xiao Mingxue’s maid urged her to argue against being sent to the Southern Barbarians, and Xiao Mingxue agreed to stand her ground before the emperor.
• Xiao Mingxue ordered her maid to obtain Xiao Mingyue’s Hundred Birds Phoenix Robe, and the Empress Dowager granted the request while warning that Xiao Mingxue might not be able to carry it off.
• A guard reported that Chen Qing, the King of Qin, had arrived at the Vermilion Bird Gate and requested an audience, and the emperor summoned him into the hall.
• Chen Qing entered the hall dressed in white with a female general beside him, while Wutu Gu took interest in him as a potential prize.

Xiao Mingxue awakened the Golden Crow Bloodline, but chose to enter the hall despite the Empress Dowager’s attempt to protect her. Chen Qing arrived to claim her, and the emperor turned the dispute over her betrothal toward a duel with Wutu Gu, who insisted it would be fought to the death.

• The palace matrons recognized Xiao Mingxue’s Golden Crow Bloodline and reported it to the Empress Dowager.
• The Empress Dowager rushed to stop Xiao Mingxue from being taken away and vowed to protect her.
• Xiao Mingxue persuaded the matron not to stop her and entered the hall, declaring that she would choose her own path.
• Chen Qing told the emperor he had come to take Xiao Mingxue back to Jiangnan and marry her.
• Wutu Gu proposed settling the competing marriage claims through combat and explained that Southern Barbarian duels ended only with a death.
• The emperor asked Chen Qing, as King of Qin, what he would do.

A Li, posing as Chen Qing, faced a challenge from Wutu Gu’s men while Ao Zhen acted as her guard. After Ao Zhen killed the attacker and unleashed her power in the Golden Dragon Hall, an ink-black force appeared behind the emperor and Ao Zhen vanished, leaving A Li standing alone.

• A Li dismissed Wutu Gu’s challenge and asked why he thought he had the right to demand a princess’s hand or challenge the King of Qin.
• A burly Southern Barbarian rushed at A Li, but Ao Zhen struck him into the golden dragon pillar and killed him instantly.
• Ao Zhen unleashed her aura and summoned a trident, forcing the officials and Wutu Gu to their knees as she demanded to know who stood behind the emperor.
• Ink-like darkness spread behind the emperor, and Ao Zhen suddenly vanished while A Li remained standing and grinning.

After Ao Zhen vanished in the palace, A Li kept her composure and talked with the emperor about his betrayal of the King of Qin and the failure of humans and demons to coexist. She challenged Wutu Gu to a future contest and left with her companions, while Xiao Mingxue realized the person posing as Chen Qing was not him.

• Ao Zhen vanished, leaving A Li and the assembled officials stunned, while the emperor remained calm.
• A Li inferred that the palace was using schemes because its power had limits, then held her composure as the emperor questioned her.
• The emperor explained why he had betrayed the King of Qin, and A Li agreed that humans and demons could not coexist.
• A Li challenged Wutu Gu to set a date for a contest and promised to fight for her wife herself.
• A Li left the hall with her subordinate after the emperor accepted the challenge, and Xiao Mingxue realized the person was not Chen Qing.

After Princess Ao Zhen vanished, Shen Qi tried to keep the Dragon Palace delegation from exposing its weakness and chose to approach the Chen Household for information and support. The Chen Household received Jiangnan's request to meet, and Chen Baiye summoned his children to decide their future.

• A Li reported that Princess Ao Zhen had disappeared, and Shen Qi persuaded the furious yaksha generals that she was probably still alive and their enemies had paid a heavy price to take her.
• Shen Qi learned that A Li's arranged duel with Second Prince Wutu Gu was the day after tomorrow and decided to meet the spellcaster families who had contacted Jiangnan.
• Shen Qi chose the Chen Household as the first family to approach, reasoning that its capital-based third branch might seek partners after being excluded from the South Sea gains.
• Chen Qingshan told Chen Baiye that Jiangnan had sent a letter requesting a meeting.
• Chen Baiye brought Chen Qingshan inside, sealed the area, and summoned his younger children to decide their future paths.

Chen Baiye told his third-branch descendants that the Chen Household had served the Dragon Palace and left their branch on the margins, then revealed that both Jiangnan and the emperor had contacted him. The family debated which side to support, with Chen Baiye leaving the choice unresolved as his second son argued for Jiangnan and the third son defended the capital.

• Chen Baiye explained that the Chen Household had served the Dragon Palace and that his third branch had been excluded from the family's plans.
• Chen Baiye told his descendants that the family had offered a limited number of places for their children to travel to the South Sea.
• Chen Baiye revealed that a Jiangnan delegation had asked to speak with the branch and that the emperor had sent a letter anticipating Jiangnan's request for intelligence.
• Chen Baiye said the branch had to choose between the capital and Jiangnan, prompting his sons to argue over which side had more to offer.
• Chen Baiye's second son defended relocating to Jiangnan, while his third son insisted the family should remain loyal to the capital.

Chen Baiye’s family debated whether to align with Jiangnan or remain with the court, and Laoda called for meeting Jiangnan’s representatives before deciding. Meanwhile, Chen Qing brought White Phoenix to the ruins beneath the capital, where he said the Tomb of King Xiang held their only hope of escape.

• Chen Baiye explained the risks and prospects of joining Jiangnan or relying on the court and left the choice to his six children.
• Lao'er, Laosan, Laosi, and Laowu cast opposing votes, leaving the decision tied at two votes each.
• Laoda asked to meet Jiangnan’s people before choosing, and Chen Baiye agreed.
• Chen Qing led White Phoenix to the ruins beneath the capital, near the Tomb of King Xiang.
• Chen Qing told White Phoenix that the Tomb of King Xiang held their only hope of escaping.

At the Tomb of King Xiang, Chen Qing learned that the Ghost King’s birth seemed impossible to prevent, no matter how players tried to alter events. He showed White Phoenix the Flying Star mark and wondered whether Wang Ye would still come to save him, while elsewhere A Li, posing as Chen Qing, met with the Chen Household about serving the King of Qin.

• Chen Qing and White Phoenix discussed the Ghost Domain’s history and the guilds’ attempts to control reincarnation.
• White Phoenix said that efforts to stop King Xiang’s birth had failed, as the Heavenly Python Palace and its events returned each cycle.
• Chen Qing led White Phoenix to the place where he had created the Yin-Yang Road, and White Phoenix recognized the Flying Star mark as connected to an Evening Elephant sorcerer.
• Chen Qing admitted he could not control the sorcerers and wondered whether Wang Ye, who had followed Liu Yu and was the Ancient Insect, would still rescue him.
• A Li, pretending to be Chen Qing, welcomed Chen Baiye and his family and discussed the King of Qin’s offer with them.
• Chen Baiye asked Shen Qi what terms the King of Qin would offer and whether he could defeat Wutu Gu in a duel.

Shen Qi negotiated with Chen Baiye for intelligence on the Xiao Household, while A Li secretly read Chen Baiye’s memories. The revelations led Shen Qi to suspect the emperor had used past crises to conceal the growth of his power, and he asked how many ghost temples had been built in the capital.

• Shen Qi assured Chen Baiye that his lord could defeat Wutu Gu and offered to protect the Chen family and grant ten descendants places in the West Sea Dragon Palace in exchange for information.
• Chen Baiye asked for two hours to discuss the offer with his son, and Shen Qi agreed.
• After Chen Baiye left, A Li revealed that she had read key details from his memories but knew no definitive faction behind the Xiao Household.
• A Li reported that Chen Baiye suspected the emperor had engineered the Duke of Wei’s rebellion to distract the great families while secretly establishing ghost temples.
• Shen Qi reasoned that the emperor began acting openly half a year ago because he had gained enough power to withstand the great families, then asked A Li how many ghost temples existed in the capital.

Shen Qi connected the ghost temples in the capital and the Southern Barbarians to the emperor’s growing power and the Xiao family’s ability to control Ao Zhen. He planned to identify and destroy the most important temples, leaving the group to seek their locations’ significance through Chen Baiye’s memories.

• A Li told Shen Qi that the Wutu Kingdom had built many ghost temples and recalled that Chen Baiye had suspected the temples would change the emperor’s power and attitude toward the clans.
• Shen Qi reasoned that the temples might grant unusual abilities, and A Li said the emperor’s aura still did not feel Transcendent to her.
• Shen Qi proposed that destroying enough ghost temples could weaken the force holding Ao Zhen and allow them to rescue her.
• Chen Ying marked the temples’ locations on Shen Qi’s map, but the group could not tell which sites mattered most because each had replaced a once-popular place of worship.
• Shen Qi decided they would have to learn more through Chen Baiye, and A Li objected that he knew nothing about the temples’ importance.

Chen Baiye concluded that Chen Qing was an impostor, while Xiao Mingxue doubted the King of Qin was the scholar she once knew. The empress dowager revealed the origins of the martial families and said she would entrust Xiao Mingxue’s fate to someone, who then appeared in her bedchamber.

• Chen Baiye told Chen Dalang that Chen Qing was likely a fake after noticing the spiritual energy around him had behaved strangely.
• Xiao Mingxue doubted that awakening the Golden Crow Bloodline would change her fate and suspected the King of Qin was not the real Chen Qing.
• Nanny He summoned Xiao Mingxue to the empress dowager, who welcomed her warmly and explained that the emperor’s power was tied to ancient forces.
• The empress dowager told Xiao Mingxue that martial families had gained demonic power through human-demon offspring and had later driven demons from the Central Plains.
• The empress dowager said she would entrust Xiao Mingxue’s fate to someone, and an unexpected visitor appeared in her bedchamber.

Shen Qi analyzed the emperor’s intelligence about the four major temples and concluded that the group should attack all of them at once rather than risk choosing the emperor’s trap. He suspected that destroying any one temple could weaken the force imprisoning Her Highness Ao Zhen, but the group realized one of the four locations would be a dead end.

• Seventh Master Shen showed Shen Qi, A Li, and Chen Ying intelligence from the Chen father and son pointing to the Three Stars Temple as a possible target.
• Shen Qi warned that the emperor might have deliberately supplied false intelligence, knowing A Li could read the Chen father and son’s memories.
• Shen Qi compared the faith and worshippers at the Three Stars, Guanyin, Confucius, and Martial Temples to assess their importance.
• Shen Qi decided they should split up and destroy all four temples, reasoning that the emperor’s forces would be concentrated at the location they had chosen to defend.
• Shen Qi suggested that destroying any one temple might weaken the power trapping Her Highness Ao Zhen, and the group recognized that one temple would be a dead end.

Chen Ying and Shen Qi’s teams faced powerful enemies at separate temples, and both encounters ended in disaster. Shen Qi received reports that every group had been wiped out, leaving the mission in ruins.

• Chen Ying recognized Wutu Gu at Guanyin Temple, and A Da sensed danger and threw her away with instructions to flee with the little fox.
• Wutu Gu revealed the Dragon Transformation Method and overwhelmed A Da with a strange, crushing aura.
• Shen Qi and A Er found the empress waiting alone at Three Stars Temple, where her supernatural allure affected A Er but left him clearheaded enough to attack.
• A Er charged the empress with Xu Hu’s Heavenly Spear, but she caught his trident between two fingers and twisted him to death.
• Shen Qi’s Thousand Eyes Spell relayed the outcomes from the other locations, and he learned that every group had been annihilated.

A Li’s instinct warned her that danger had returned, and she discovered that Chen Ying was a Spirit Devouring Demon acting for the empress. The empress forced A Li into a spell pact to impersonate Chen Qing and die publicly, then revealed that the scholar A Li had eaten was someone she knew.

• A Li decided to flee but found Chen Ying waiting at the door and learned that the other groups had destroyed three temples while Shen Qi’s group faced an ambush.
• Chen Ying told A Li to stall for time until Ao Zhen broke the seal, and A Li realized Chen Ying was likely a Spirit Devouring Demon who needed her to impersonate Chen Qing.
• A Li argued that the empress needed a convincing fake Chen Qing to win the aristocratic families’ allegiance, and the empress entered and questioned her about her past.
• The empress identified A Li as Lu Xiaoshuang, a top artist from the Development Team, and offered to explain why A Li had softened toward a human.
• A Li agreed to a spell pact requiring her to become Chen Qing and be beaten to death in public in exchange for the truth.
• The empress revealed that Cui Yan, the scholar A Li had eaten, was someone A Li knew.

A Li confronted the painful memories of Pan Kai and Cui Yan as the empress tried to break her will and make her forget her past. The next morning, the capital gathered to watch Chen Qing face a Southern Barbarian prince in a deadly duel that could decide Xiao Mingxue’s future.

• A Li vomited as memories surfaced of rejecting Pan Kai and later eating his heart and liver.
• The empress told A Li that Cui Yan’s reincarnation had not been arranged and urged her to keep her promise as A Li’s eyes lost their color.
• The empress left A Li staring lifelessly at the ground and apologizing.
• Thousands gathered at the capital’s martial arena to watch Chen Qing duel a Southern Barbarian prince over Xiao Mingxue.
• Xiao Mingxuan greeted the empress dowager and Xiao Mingxue, hoping Jiangnan would win so his sister could remain in the capital and help cure his impotence.
• Xiao Mingxuan sensed that the Southern Barbarian contender was even more dangerous than his father as the duel approached.

As the duel between Chen Qing and Wutu Gu approached, princes, merchants, nobles, and Yuchi Peng judged the fighters’ chances and weighed what Chen Qing’s defeat would mean for Jiangnan. The chapter left Yuchi Peng fearing that Wutu Gu was so powerful that Chen Qing might be in serious danger.

• Xiao Mingxuan worried that Wutu Gu was more dangerous than any opponent he had seen and feared losing the chance to benefit if Chen Qing fell.
• The princes mocked Xiao Mingxuan and argued over whether Chen Qing’s victory over Lu Ming proved he could defeat Wutu Gu.
• Commoners and merchants debated the fighters, with many merchants hoping Chen Qing would win so Jiangnan’s fair marketplace would survive.
• The great clans anticipated reclaiming Jiangnan and imposing controls if Chen Qing were killed.
• Yuchi Peng arrived, recalled Wutu Gu’s overwhelming presence, and concluded that Chen Qing was probably in serious trouble.