Chapter Summaries

As the capital grew colder and more sinister, Xiao Mingxue mourned Little Seven and feared that she would be forced to marry the second prince of the Wutu Kingdom instead of the King of Qin. Far away, Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets struggled through a strange forest and discovered they might be trapped in the Sealed Land, where players were sealed.

• Xiao Mingxue remembered how Little Seven had died in her bed despite the warm room, and feared she might meet the same fate amid the palace’s growing deaths.
• Du Niang brought Xiao Mingxue soup and reassured her about the marriage proposal from the Wutu Kingdom, while Xiao Mingxue doubted the imperial family would protect her.
• Du Niang urged Xiao Mingxue to trust the King of Qin, prompting her to wonder whether he still remembered her and would come to marry her.
• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets discussed their half-year journey through the forest, and Heavenly Secrets said they might be in the Sealed Land, where players were sealed.

Chen Qing learned from Heavenly Secrets that rival player guilds fought over limited resources after replacing ancient beings, leading victors to seal defeated players to prevent their reincarnation and revenge. They suspected their location was a missing part of the Southern Barbarians, possibly the sealing ground of the Sparrow Wasp Queen.

• Heavenly Secrets explained that the first players to arrive were closed-beta guild members who had united to replace ancient beings, but later split into factions.
• Chen Qing learned that guild players used closed-beta information to exploit loopholes and seize the power of sealed players.
• Heavenly Secrets said that players fought over limited resources and power, then sealed defeated rivals because demons could reincarnate and seek revenge.
• Heavenly Secrets identified their location as a likely missing part of the Southern Barbarians, where one of three sealing grounds might be nearby.
• Heavenly Secrets warned Chen Qing that they might be in the Sparrow Wasp Queen's sealing ground.

Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets discussed the sealed monster Quefeng before she appeared beside them without warning. In the West Sea, Ziyue persuaded Ao Zhen to escort the West Sea Dragon Palace’s matriarch to Jiangnan, offering her political allies and a share of the Power of Faith.

• Heavenly Secrets explained that players had sealed Quefeng because her talent let her steal abilities and grow dangerously powerful.
• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets worried Quefeng might be nearby, and she suddenly spoke beside them despite neither sensing her approach.
• Ziyue explained that the West Sea still faced threats from the sealed Heavenly Ghost Octopus, the Dragon King, and the living corpses.
• Ziyue showed Ao Zhen the dragon woman’s eyeballs and asked her to escort the woman, whom she identified as the West Sea Dragon Palace’s matriarch, to the capital.
• Ziyue proposed that Ao Zhen build a matriarch faction and promised her Dragon Palace guard a role protecting Jiangnan’s leaders and an equal share of the West Sea God’s Power of Faith.

Ziyue explained the mission lineup for welcoming Chen Qing’s principal wife back to Jiangnan, then told Chen Ying that Chen Qing was trapped in the Southern Barbarians and in danger. She revealed that he had escaped a sealed realm, but the player imprisoned there had escaped with him.

• Wei Gongcheng introduced the mission team, including Ao Zhen, Feiyi, Nuyi, Chen Ying, Mr. Yang, and Eighth Master Shen.
• Ziyue explained why Ao Zhen would deter the capital, Mr. Yang would handle court protocol, and Chen Ying would deal with sorcerer households.
• Eighth Master Shen complained about being assigned to the mission, but Ziyue said he was Jiangnan’s strongest available sorcerer.
• Chen Ying stayed behind and asked Ziyue whether she had news of Chen Qing.
• Ziyue told Chen Ying that Chen Qing was in the Southern Barbarians, could not return, and was in danger.
• Ziyue revealed that Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets had escaped a player’s sealed grounds, but the player had escaped with them.

Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets confronted a stealthy cross-dressing youth sealed in the land, who revealed that the Four Great Guilds had monopolized power for three cycles. The youth deduced that the Earth Spirit Revival had been delayed and suspected Chen Qing was involved, while Chen Qing realized the youth was lying about how he identified the Dragon Palace.

• Chen Qing invited the youth to speak and deduced that his stealth and tracking skills outweighed his direct combat strength, while the youth confirmed he had been watching them.
• The youth asked whether the Four Great Guilds still held a monopoly, then revealed that someone inspected the sealed land on a regular schedule and that the monopoly had lasted three cycles.
• Heavenly Secrets acknowledged that he was a first-version demon, and the youth remarked on how weak their auras were compared with those of past cycles.
• The youth reasoned that the Earth Spirit Revival had been delayed and wondered whether a newbie like Chen Qing had changed the situation.
• Chen Qing asked how the youth recognized his Dragon Palace origin, and the youth claimed he had smelled Chen Qing's fishy scent through his Howling Heaven Nose.
• Chen Qing recognized that the youth was lying about how he had identified the Dragon Palace.

Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets questioned a hidden entity about Earth Spirit Revival and the ancient seal, while learning that it could detect lies and had been divided into four counterparts. The entity urged them to confront the two counterparts waiting near the eastern barrier, and Chen Qing ended the chapter wondering whether the Ghost Domain’s involvement in the seal was connected to his fiancée’s impending abduction.

• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets discussed how the King of Qin’s plan to preserve the first-version world had failed when human clans and reincarnating demons betrayed him.
• The entity recognized that Chen Qing was lying about how they had entered and revealed it had watched them for half a year.
• The entity explained that it had been split into four, that two barriers had already been destroyed, and that the eastern barrier was the only one still intact.
• The entity proposed that Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets help destroy the eastern barrier, warning that its two counterparts were likely waiting there and that Earth Spirit had already revived.
• Chen Qing learned that the entity’s captors were from the Ghost Domain and wondered whether their presence was connected to his fiancée’s impending abduction by the Southern Barbarians.

Ma Yunchang led starving refugees from the Wutuo Kingdom through the Southern Barbarian mountains, fleeing ghost temples and human sacrifices. They found a fertile, sheltered mountain settlement and learned from its guards that they had somehow arrived in Jiangnan.

• Ma Yunchang refused to turn back, leading nearly a thousand refugees deeper into the mountains despite their hunger and thirst.
• The refugees recalled how the Wutuo Kingdom’s Ghost General Temples demanded children for cruel sacrifices, driving villagers to flee.
• A forest filled with fruit trees and clear water appeared as the miasma parted, and the desperate refugees rushed toward it.
• Ma Yunchang followed the refugees into the settlement and found the water, fruit, and fresh air were real.
• Two armored soldiers and a young woman confronted the refugees, and Ma Yunchang identified them as people from the Wutuo Kingdom.
• A soldier said they were in Jiangnan, leaving Ma Yunchang bewildered about how the refugees had crossed from the Southern Barbarians.

Ma Changyun and a group of Southern Barbarian refugees appeared on Great Azure Mountain, where Lady Xiaomu arranged food and reported their arrival. Ziyue suspected that Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets had been forced to open Heavenly Secrets Cave, and warned that someone was plotting against Jiangnan.

• Ma Changyun told Lady Xiaomu that his group came from the Southern Barbarians, and she warned them not to eat too many medicinal fruits.
• Ma Changyun pointed toward the route his group had taken, but found only a cliff, leaving the soldiers suspicious of their origins.
• Lady Xiaomu reasoned that the refugees had appeared through spatial fluctuations and sent a spirit bird to report them, while arranging meat porridge for the children.
• Ziyue told Seventh Master Shen that this was the fourth group of Southern Barbarian civilians to arrive and suspected Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets were trying to escape a sealed place.
• Ziyue concluded that someone had tracked Chen Qing and forced the opening of Heavenly Secrets Cave, causing people to be transported indiscriminately and suggesting a plot against Jiangnan.

Three days earlier, Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets traveled with Quefeng toward the eastern barrier, where Quefeng’s two counterparts were preparing to escape. After learning how dangerous Quefeng’s divided powers were, Chen Qing suspected Quefeng was lying about the illusion barrier ahead.

• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets questioned Quefeng about his identity and traveled east with him across the vast sealed space.
• Quefeng pointed out the unstable eastern barrier and explained that his counterparts might be cooperating to escape.
• Quefeng revealed that his powers came from four demon bloodlines: Howling Heaven, Dark Shadow, Heavenly Wildcat, and White Phoenix.
• Quefeng said the Heavenly Wildcat counterpart had swallowed the other, combining illusion powers with an assassin’s abilities.
• Quefeng claimed the illusion barrier ahead was limited and posed little danger, but Chen Qing privately suspected he was lying.

Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets discovered that Quefeng had deceived them and poisoned them to force them toward White Phoenix, the last avatar of a powerful being. As they headed into the black forest, White Phoenix sensed the newcomers and feared the attacker would reclaim his final avatar before the barrier fell.

• Chen Qing and Heavenly Secrets agreed to wait near the barrier while Chen Qing suspected Quefeng was withholding information.
• The sky shattered, and Chen Qing rushed at Quefeng, only to find that he was an illusion in a dead, poisonous forest.
• Chen Qing realized Quefeng had already gathered three avatars and had lured them into the poison domain to make them probe White Phoenix.
• Chen Qing saw black lines spreading through his blood vessels and concluded that they had been poisoned, so he and Heavenly Secrets headed toward White Phoenix.
• White Phoenix sensed the two outsiders and realized that his fellow had brought them in, leaving him to decide how to survive until the barrier broke.

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.