Chapter Summaries

After learning that the Xiao Household was forcing a vast winter migration, Chen Qing chose to send grain from Jiangnan despite the cost to his coming war preparations. The court doubted his intentions, but the emperor wondered whether Chen Qing really meant to help.

• Chen Qing's council discussed the scale of the migration, the suffering of the refugees, and the likelihood that many would die from hunger and cold.
• Xu Hu asked how Jiangnan could help, and Chen Qing ordered a message sent offering grain to support the migrants through winter.
• Chen Ying and Shen San warned that Jiangnan needed its grain for the Southeast, West Sea, and spring campaign, but Chen Qing stood by his decision.
• The capital's officials dismissed the offer as a ploy and urged the emperor not to let the grain convoy through.
• The old patriarch of the Yuchi Household asked whether Chen Qing might truly be delivering grain, and the emperor fell silent, suspecting that he might.

The emperor and King Xiang discussed the major forces gathering strength and wondered why Chen Qing was offering grain to ordinary people. King Xiang revealed that Cloud Capital was choosing a new Celestial Master and that Ziyue, the Great Jin court's chief warlock, was one of the candidates.

• The emperor considered the threats posed by the ancient forces, the Dragon Palace, the King of Qin, and Cloud Capital.
• King Xiang suggested Chen Qing might be helping ordinary people, but the emperor doubted his motives and invited him to come so he could learn what he intended.
• King Xiang told the emperor that Cloud Capital was preparing to choose a new Celestial Master and that one candidate was especially interesting.
• Cloud Capital announced a selection among four successors chosen by the previous Celestial Master Zhang, including Zhang Zhiyun and Mu Ziyunyi.
• People were surprised to learn that Ziyue, the Great Jin court's chief warlock, was also a candidate.

Chen Qing learned that the Celestial Master Mansion had invited Ziyue to become one of four candidates in its first celestial master selection in centuries. Ziyue returned from the Northern Wasteland and warned Chen Qing that there was trouble.

• Chen Qing received an invitation for Ziyue while he and his allies were preparing for the great battle in early spring.
• Shen Lao'er and Shen Laosan explained that the Celestial Master Mansion had once commanded warlock families, protected Heavenly Capital, and remained silent for centuries.
• Shen Laoqi said the Zhang Family had held the celestial master title by default, making the renewed selection unusual and significant.
• Shen Lao'er explained that the Celestial Master Mansion could directly invite at least four candidates, and the invitation named Ziyue as one of them.
• Chen Qing wondered why the mansion had chosen Ziyue, who had been hunted for a thousand years after being used in the Warlock Dynasty's experiments.
• Ziyue returned from the Northern Wasteland and told Chen Qing that there was trouble.

Ziyue told Chen Qing that the Celestial Master Mansion was tied to a mysterious Warlock Dynasty that had captured transmigrators to experiment on them with Outer Heaven Forbidden Arts. She revealed that the dynasty’s rise and collapse aligned with the guild players’ absence and return, and that she had inexplicably survived repeated deaths; the chapter left Chen Qing facing the mystery of her survival and the faction now seeking her.

• Ziyue told Chen Qing that she had been captured and experimented on by warlocks who could detect transmigrators and had developed Outer Heaven Forbidden Arts.
• Ziyue explained that a mysterious Warlock Dynasty rose during a gap when the older guild players were unaware, then collapsed just as they awakened.
• Ziyue said the Zhang Family of the Heavenly Capital was the only group with clues about the dynasty, and guild players had lost people and Transcendent artifacts trying to confront them.
• Chen Qing and Ziyue realized that the Celestial Master selection might signal the dynasty’s forces preparing to act, possibly with Ziyue as their target.
• Ziyue told Chen Qing that she had once died under an ancient-level power but appeared alive again the next day, with no memory of how she survived.

Chen Qing decided to accompany Ziyue to the Celestial Master selection, suspecting the invitation had been timed to keep him away from the approaching war. In the South Sea, Chen Baifeng and the warlock families learned that the Celestial Master Mansion had delivered invitations through a display of mysterious power, leaving them to weigh the selection against their preparations for war.

• Chen Qing recognized that Ziyue's ability to respawn and the Celestial Master's invitation might be connected, but chose to go with her despite the approaching battle.
• Chen Baifeng and the warlock family heads discussed the invitation to observe the Celestial Master selection and the families' forgotten ties to the Celestial Master Mansion.
• Chen Baifeng revealed that the invitation had appeared beside his bed without warning, and an image crystal showed it materializing in a flash of white light.
• Chen Baifeng concluded that the invitation was also a show of force because the Celestial Master Mansion had delivered it without leaving a trace.
• The warlock families debated whether to attend the selection while the Xiao Household prepared for war and the South Sea forces planned to gather resources from the conflict.

The emperor and King Xiang discussed the mysterious invitations from the Celestial Master Mansion, which had appeared inside both their secured studies. The Heavenly Python Palace decided to send representatives to the ceremony, where they might meet the human emperor and gather intelligence.

• The emperor told King Xiang that the invitation had appeared without warning and explained that Cloud Capital had long seemed protected by an unknown power.
• King Xiang and the emperor concluded that the Celestial Master Mansion invited rulers recognized as kings, and that the Zhang Family of Cloud Capital had sent invitations broadly.
• The nine serpent kings of the Heavenly Python Palace debated whether to attend the ceremony and considered using the emperor's possible absence to strike first.
• The white python volunteered to attend with Lie, and Lie asked the guild players how many they would send.
• A woman in red announced that she would attend to meet the human emperor who had forced them into their current situation.

Chen Qing and his companions entered Cloud Capital after a soldier identified them through a self-moving paper crane sent by Celestial Master Zhang. As they investigated Cloud Capital’s peaceful, demon-free countryside and questioned the Warlock Dynasty’s origins, they encountered Kagura waiting at the city entrance.

• A soldier guided Chen Qing and his companions through the checkpoint after explaining that Celestial Master Zhang had predicted their arrival with a paper crane.
• Chen Qing grew suspicious of the crane’s unexplained power and wondered whether it was connected to Mr. Origami.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi noticed that Cloud Capital’s fertile countryside showed no signs of demons or public fear despite the Earth Spirit Revival.
• Ziyue told Chen Qing that demons had once been rare under the Warlock Dynasty and suspected its founders were outsiders who could track reincarnated players.
• After traveling for a day and a night, Chen Qing reached Cloud Capital and recognized Kagura, the guild master of the Divine Martial Guild, waiting at the entrance.

Chen Qing and his companions met Kagura’s delegation and were escorted toward the Heavenly Capital by Zhang Xiaoyun, a frail representative of the Celestial Master Mansion. Ziyue reacted violently when Zhang Xiaoyun mentioned the Fledgling Phoenix Project, and Chen Qing grew wary upon learning that the emperor and King Xiang had also arrived.

• Kagura greeted Chen Qing, who recognized Abe Ayaka and sensed that the old man and Bai Ying were exceptionally dangerous Heavenly Pythons.
• Zhang Xiaoyun arrived to escort the visitors into the city, and Ziyue questioned him with an unexpectedly chilly voice.
• Zhang Xiaoyun excitedly praised Ziyue and began mentioning the Fledgling Phoenix Project, prompting her aura to blast him several meters away.
• Zhang Xiaoyun ordered the soldiers to stand down, apologized for his forebears’ role in the project, and introduced himself as the Celestial Master Zhang’s grandson.
• Zhang Xiaoyun said the emperor and King Xiang had arrived, making Chen Qing suspect the Celestial Master Mansion’s invitation had reached King Xiang Palace and involved a means of transporting objects across any distance.

Chen Qing and his companions arrived in Cloud Capital, where the emperor and northern demons had also been invited. As they discovered that Cloud Capital’s customs and cuisine could not be remembered or carried beyond the city, Kagura revealed that nothing from the city could be taken out.

• Chen Qing learned that the emperor was staying in Cloud Capital’s imperial palace while he had been lodged at the Court of State Ceremonial.
• Chen Baifeng visited Chen Qing and invited him to share a meal, but Kagura appeared unexpectedly and joined them.
• At a restaurant, Chen Qing, Shen Qi, and Ziyue noticed that Cloud Capital’s distinctive cuisine seemed unfamiliar or impossible to recall outside the city.
• Chen Baifeng realized he could not remember maintaining contact with the Chen Household branch in Cloud Capital after leaving.
• Chen Qing pointed out that Cloud Capital’s customs and arts had never spread elsewhere, and Kagura confirmed that things from the city could not be taken out.

Kagura revealed that she and others had forgotten a person she sent to Cloud Capital a century earlier, raising fears about the city’s influence over memory. At a meal with Zhang Xiaoyun, the group learned he was one of the four candidates for Celestial Master, and he told Ziyue that she did not remember him.

• Kagura said everyone on her side had forgotten the person she sent to Cloud Capital, and she suspected the missing woman had been restricted there.
• Chen Qing and Chen Baifeng considered how Cloud Capital might make outsiders forget their experiences and connections.
• Chen Baifeng confirmed that Ziyue was a candidate designated by the Celestial Master Mansion and said the South Sea families had brought promising young warlocks, including dragon-blood warlocks.
• Zhang Xiaoyun joined Chen Qing, Ziyue, Kagura, and Chen Baifeng at the restaurant and said he had taken the job of receiving them because he wanted to meet Ziyue.
• Zhang Xiaoyun told Ziyue that she did not remember him.

Ziyue and the others learned how the Celestial Master contest’s Four Symbols Gate trial tested both the contestants and its four candidate gatekeepers. Zhang Xiaoyun revealed that Ziyue had once guarded the White Tiger Gate as a spell weapon, while Chen Qing began to suspect the seemingly unassuming Xiaoyun was more important than he appeared.

• Chen Baifeng praised Zhang Xiaoyun as a young Celestial Master successor, while Chen Qing and the others remained wary of him.
• Zhang Xiaoyun explained that he expected to guard a gate in the contest, and Ziyue described the Four Symbols Gate’s rules and its mechanisms.
• Ziyue recalled that she had guarded the White Tiger Gate in a past contest and had defeated every candidate who tried to pass.
• Zhang Xiaoyun said Ziyue had been a spell weapon whose actions once prompted the Celestial Master and an emperor to consider destroying her.
• Chen Qing noticed that Zhang Xiaoyun had secretly read the Zhang Family’s ancient histories and suspected he might be the family’s true heir.

The emperor and King Xiang discussed the Celestial Master Mansion’s invitation and Ziyue’s influence on powerful figures throughout history. As Ziyue and Chen Qing approached the mansion, Ziyue admitted she was beginning to recover her memories and warned Chen Qing that remembering everything might put her against him.

• The emperor sensed that sitting on the Dragon Throne had completed something missing from Cloud Capital, while King Xiang wondered why the Celestial Master Mansion had invited them to the palace.
• The emperor told King Xiang that Ziyue had appeared in the stories of several influential figures, including the Zhang Family’s ancestor, the Spell Formation Clan’s founder, Liu Yu, and Chen Qing.
• The emperor and King Xiang discussed the Four Symbols Gate trials and suspected that Ziyue’s gate and Zhang Xiaoyun’s apparently powerless gate concealed surprises.
• Chen Qing accompanied Ziyue to the Celestial Master Mansion, explaining that he feared its ancient power might come from advanced technology rather than a single powerful being.
• Ziyue said she had recovered some memories and warned Chen Qing that, once she remembered everything, she might no longer be on his side.

Ziyue and Chen Qing visited the Celestial Master Mansion, where the old Celestial Master greeted Ziyue with striking familiarity. He explained that he had chosen her as a candidate for the succession assembly because her experience could lend the event prestige.

• Zhang Xiaoyun rushed to tell the old Celestial Master that Ziyue had arrived, while Zhang Hongsheng remained aloof.
• Zhang Zhiyun escorted Ziyue and Chen Qing through the mansion and said that his grandfather and Ziyue had once been close friends.
• The old Celestial Master greeted Ziyue warmly, and she recognized him but could not recall how they had met.
• Chen Qing asked why the old Celestial Master had invited Ziyue to become a candidate, and Ziyue asked why he had personally chosen her as his successor.
• The old Celestial Master said he needed an experienced veteran like Ziyue to give the first succession assembly in ten thousand years greater prestige.

Chen Qing and Ziyue entered the Treasure Artifact Palace, where Ziyue recovered memories of her former role as its foremost artifact mage. Chen Qing recognized the palace’s artifacts as powers from the unreleased fourth version and wondered how the Warlock Dynasty had obtained them.

• Chen Qing questioned Ziyue about her past connection to the old Celestial Master, while she sensed that he regarded her like a treasure.
• Celestial Master Zhang led Chen Qing and Ziyue through a gate that opened into a sealed space filled with extraordinarily dense spiritual energy.
• Chen Qing found the palace packed with powerful conscious artifacts and recognized many as creations he had designed.
• Ziyue recalled that she had been a test subject who excelled at controlling artifacts, becoming the palace’s foremost artifact mage and mastering more than a thousand items.
• Celestial Master Zhang showed Ziyue the Heavenly Evil Armor, and Chen Qing recognized it as an artifact from the unreleased fourth version.

At the Celestial Master Assembly, Chen Qing and the assembled families saw the imperial palace’s vast spatial arrays and the powerful Four Saints Guard. Old Celestial Master Zhang revealed that the ten thousand guards would recognize whoever held the title of Celestial Master, turning the election into a far more consequential contest.

• Chen Baifeng and the South Sea families entered the imperial palace with confidence, but its immense scale and spatial portals left them awestruck.
• Chen Qing and the others reached the Hall of Rectitude and Harmony and saw guards whose energy rivaled the Dragon Palace’s Yaksha.
• Old Celestial Master Zhang announced that the Four Saints Guard numbered ten thousand and protected the Celestial Master.
• Chen Qing asked whether the guards served Zhang personally or whoever became Celestial Master.
• Old Celestial Master Zhang said the guards would recognize the new Celestial Master, startling the assembled families and stirring their interest in the election.

The old Celestial Master announced that the new Celestial Master would command the Four Saints Guard, prompting the emperor, Chen Qing, and the great families to consider the stakes and the coming trial. As the families debated which gate to challenge, Chen Ye chose Zhang Zhiyun’s gate, while others asked about Ziyue’s Vermilion Bird Gate.

• The emperor asked King Xiang why the Zhang Family would offer the Four Saints Guard, and King Xiang suspected the old Celestial Master would kill any successor from outside the family.
• Chen Qing told Shen Qi he had summoned Chen Ying to broaden her horizons and planned to send a junior to compete, while Shen Qi admitted he had neglected the Dragon Palace Academy.
• Chen Baifeng warned the South Sea families that the first trial’s reward was tempting but that Zhang Zhiyun and the other candidates could not be underestimated.
• Chen Ye chose to challenge Zhang Zhiyun, and Chen Baifeng approved his open and honorable approach.
• A member of another family asked Chen Baifeng what he thought of Ziyue’s Vermilion Bird Gate, and he reacted with surprise at their apparent underestimation of her.

Cloud Capital’s people gathered to watch the Celestial Master selection as the four gates’ registration totals were revealed. Perfected Ziyue’s gate drew by far the most challengers, and a storyteller began explaining why she had attracted such resentment.

• Chen Qing joined Chen Baifeng above Vermilion Bird Gate, where they discussed the competition and Chen Baifeng’s son, Chen Ye.
• The crystal displayed the registration totals: thirty-two at Black Tortoise Gate, twenty-one at Northern Tiger Gate, ninety-one at Azure Dragon Gate, and three hundred and ten at Vermilion Bird Gate.
• The crowd wondered who Perfected Ziyue was, and storytellers described her as a mysterious former court sorcerer who led the West Sea True Dragon Academy in Jiangnan.
• A storyteller praised Zhang Zhiyun’s defense of Cloud Capital and Murong Ziyi’s talent, while portraying Zhang Xiaoyun as a less popular choice among challengers.
• When someone asked why so many people had chosen Ziyue’s gate, a storyteller said she was the one who drew the most resentment.

Chen Baifeng and Chen Qing watched the gate rosters reveal who had entered the Celestial Master competition, including Chen Baifeng’s son Chen Long and the talented Chen Ying. Chen Qing admitted he had placed many Jiangnan students at Ziyue’s Vermilion Bird Gate, where challengers could replace her by defeating her.

• Chen Qing agreed with the storyteller that Ziyue’s fame and lack of recorded achievements made her a tempting target for ambitious competitors.
• The Azure Dragon Gate roster revealed that Chen Long had signed up, prompting Chen Baifeng to worry that his son had led other family scions into a poor choice.
• The White Tiger Gate roster showed Chen Ye among the confident competitors and Chen Ying representing Jiangnan Academy.
• Chen Qing told Chen Baifeng that Chen Ying had insisted on competing, then admitted he had let her and the other Jiangnan students enter through Ziyue’s gate.
• The crowd booed as the Vermilion Bird Gate roster displayed many Jiangnan names, and a black-robed sorcerer warned that challengers could replace Ziyue by defeating her.
• Chen Qing confidently said few people were capable of defeating Ziyue.

At White Tiger Gate, Chen Ye sized up fellow contestants Su Changqing and Nie Youyun and learned that Chen Ying, the headmistress of Jiangnan Academy, was also competing. When the gate opened, a blade-like gale struck the crowd, killing dozens and revealing a deadly trial whose true nature Su Changqing suspected was an illusion.

• Chen Ye arrived at White Tiger Gate and greeted Su Changqing, who warned him that Nie Youyun was among the contestants and could attack others during the trial.
• Chen Ye and Su Changqing discussed why few South Sea scions had chosen the western gate and spotted Chen Ying, the headmistress of Jiangnan Academy.
• A bell ordered the contestants to enter within a quarter of an hour, and White Tiger Gate slowly opened.
• A blade-like wind swept through the entrance, killing dozens and driving many contestants back in terror.
• Su Changqing watched the carnage and realized the attack was an illusion.

Su Changqing overcame Zhang Zhiyun’s wind-and-illusion trial and entered the White Tiger palace gate, where Chen Ye and Chen Ying were already waiting. The next trial revealed forbidden Flying Jiangshi Guards, prompting several candidates to withdraw and shocking the family elders, who spotted the Duke of Qin, Lu Ming.

• Su Changqing recognized Zhang Zhiyun’s blades and hurricane as an illusion combined with a wind technique, then blended into the wind and passed the first trial.
• Su Changqing entered the palace and found Chen Ye, a Nie Family member, and Chen Ying already inside; Chen Ying explained that she had entered early by exploiting a loophole.
• Chen Ye challenged Chen Ying over her past judgment of him, but Su Changqing stopped him and reminded him that the test was still underway.
• Only seven of the twenty-one candidates registered at the west gate entered, and they found towering Flying Jiangshi Guards waiting beyond the cleared mist.
• Zhang Zhiyun warned that the unstable Flying Jiangshi Technique might be uncontrollable, and three candidates withdrew in fear.
• The family elders saw the forbidden Flying Jiangshi Guards and noticed that the Duke of Qin, Lu Ming, was present.