Chapter Summaries

Qi Yueli discovered Gu Yuan’s diary and learned that it foretold her assassination, Great Qi’s downfall, and a prison break tied to the King of Qingzhou’s rebellion. In prison, Gu Yuan gained the Martial God Physique, reached ninth grade, and prepared to escape so he could pursue immortality and seize the empress’s opportunities.

• Qi Yueli read Gu Yuan’s diary, which predicted that an assassin would target her that night and that she would eventually fall to demonic corruption as Great Qi collapsed.
• Gu Yuan’s diary revealed that the King of Qingzhou’s men would stage a prison break, prompting Qi Yueli to order an investigation for a prisoner named Gu Yuan.
• Gu Yuan received the Martial God Physique for writing his diary for seven consecutive days and quickly mastered his family’s martial arts, reaching ninth grade.
• Gu Yuan decided to pursue immortality by changing the game’s course, taking opportunities before the protagonist, and eventually rebelling against Qi Yueli.
• Gu Yuan wrote down immortality as his ultimate goal and rebellion as his short-term goal, then prepared for the prison break.

Qi Yueli recognized the diary’s prediction when Bu Liuhen attacked her, then hurried to the imperial prison to see Gu Yuan. As intruders broke into the prison and threatened Gu Yuan, he activated the Martial God Physique’s latent power and vanished from their attacks.

• Qi Yueli learned that Gu Yuan was the Marquis of Pingxiang’s mentally afflicted heir and ordered the guard to bring him to her.
• Bu Liuhen assassinated the guard and attacked Qi Yueli, who stopped his flying sword and recognized him as the thief king from Gu Yuan’s diary.
• Bu Liuhen revealed his grudge against Qi Yueli and escaped after she ordered the Mystic Shadow Guard to seize him.
• Gu Yuan advanced to eighth rank in the imperial prison, just as four black-clad intruders broke in and killed the jailer and guards.
• After the intruders began killing prisoners who had seen their faces, Gu Yuan bit his tongue to unleash his Martial God Physique and vanished from their attacks.

Gu Yuan escaped the imperial prison during a failed attempt to free Zhang Qiandao, and Qi Yueli secretly took the former Imperial Preceptor into custody. After Gu Yuan woke at the Marquis of Pingxiang’s residence and learned the Prince of Qingzhou’s heir would soon arrive in the capital, the empress appointed him an imperial saber guard, disrupting his plan to flee to Qingzhou with his family.

• Gu Yuan fought the prison-break intruders, shouted for help, and passed out when Qi Yueli arrived with the Mystic Shadow Guards.
• Qi Yueli ordered the intruders killed, offered Zhang Qiandao a chance to serve her, then had him secretly detained and issued a public wanted notice to lure someone out.
• Gu Yuan woke at the Marquis of Pingxiang’s residence, where Gu Shu realized he was no longer stupid and welcomed him home.
• Gu Yuan wrote in his diary that the prison break had failed and planned to take his family to Qingzhou before the Prince of Qingzhou’s heir reached the capital.
• Gu Shu told Gu Yuan that Qi Yueli had appointed him an imperial saber guard and sent rewards, leaving him unsure how he could still leave for Qingzhou.

Gu Yuan received an appointment as an imperial bodyguard bearing arms before the throne, while Qi Yueli learned from his diary that he had the Martial God Physique and considered using his advice about Zhang Qiandao. The chapter ended with Qi Yueli deciding she might take Gu Yuan to meet Zhang Qiandao.

• Qi Yueli appointed Gu Yuan an imperial bodyguard bearing arms before the throne, and he rewarded Zhao Sheng for delivering the decree.
• Gu Yuan's family celebrated his appointment, while he privately worried that it would delay his plans to go to Qingzhou.
• Qi Yueli read Gu Yuan's diary and discovered he had the Martial God Physique, though Gu Yuan wrongly assumed she had recognized his potential.
• Gu Yuan's diary suggested Qi Yueli release Zhang Qiandao to win support at court, and Qi Yueli considered the advice.
• Qi Yueli pondered Gu Yuan's advice and thought about taking him to meet Zhang Qiandao.

Gu Yuan began his first day as a Mystic Shadow Guard and tried to provoke the empress into dismissing him, but Qi Yueli calmly accepted his greeting. While guarding the Heaven-Praying Hall, he learned of Great Qi’s disasters and planned to seek the former dynasty’s dragon seal; Qi Yueli then appointed him to assist with receiving the princes’ heirs.

• Zhao Sheng welcomed Gu Yuan to the palace, gave him the Imperial Palace Rules, and warned him to behave properly around Qi Yueli.
• Gu Yuan loudly greeted Qi Yueli outside her bedchamber, hoping she would dismiss him, but she only told him to keep his voice down.
• Gu Yuan and Zhao Sheng took up guard at the Heaven-Praying Hall while ministers reported disasters and unrest across Great Qi.
• Gu Yuan recalled that the heir to the Prince of Qingzhou would find the former dynasty’s dragon seal and decided to seek the ancient tomb himself.
• Qi Yueli named Ning Yan to receive the princes’ heirs and ordered the heir to the Marquis of Pingxiang to assist, leaving Gu Yuan puzzled.

Gu Yuan wrote in his diary, revealing his plans to seek the Great Li Dragon Seal, then demonstrated his martial talent by defeating Shangguan Weiming in a spar. Princess Huai'an, Qi Lingyuan, arrived and asked Gu Yuan his name.

• Gu Yuan wrote about reaching seventh rank, meeting the heirs, and planning to rob a tomb for the Great Li Dragon Seal, while Qi Yueli read his diary and became interested in the dynasty's fortune.
• Zhao Sheng brought Gu Yuan to meet Shangguan Weiming, who praised his earlier fight and challenged him to spar using seventh-rank cultivation.
• Gu Yuan fought Shangguan Weiming and won by placing his hand at the commander's neck before he could react.
• Princess Huai'an, Qi Lingyuan, arrived with Xiaoyun, cheered for the fight, and asked Gu Yuan who he was.

Gu Yuan avoided punishment after kicking Princess Huai'an, then followed Qi Yueli to the Great Qi Martial Repository. He declined her offer to become her disciple but was allowed to choose a martial art, and began studying two techniques suited to his planned tomb raid.

• Princess Huai'an attacked Gu Yuan, and he kicked her before claiming he had accidentally lost control of his move.
• Huai'an spared Gu Yuan from death but demanded that he serve as her daily punching bag; Qi Yueli arrived and ordered Huai'an escorted home.
• Shangguan Weiming revealed that Gu Yuan had risen from outside the martial path to the seventh rank in only a few days.
• Qi Yueli took Gu Yuan to the Great Qi Martial Repository, offered to make him her disciple, and let him choose a martial art after he refused.
• Gu Yuan chose the True Yang Art and the Six Yang Finger, while Qi Yueli revealed that she had arranged for him to find the techniques.

Gu Yuan cultivated the True Yang Art, then used a system reward to locate a tomb near Mount Mangdang, where he discovered that the heir of the Prince of Shuzhou had arranged for a passage to be dug. He left the workers unconscious and continued into the tomb to find the Dragon Seal, unaware that Qi Yueli had followed him.

• Gu Yuan tested his newly cultivated True Yang Art, and Qi Yueli told him to rest while he regulated his true qi.
• Qi Yueli read Gu Yuan's diary and learned that he believed she would sacrifice the Mystic Shadow Guard and that Huai'an would be the female lead who helped kill her.
• Gu Yuan spent time with Gu Shu, then secretly left the city at night to find a tomb near Mount Mangdang.
• Gu Yuan redeemed the Art of Gold Divination and Tomb Location, used it to find the tomb entrance, and waited after noticing it was already open.
• Two gray-clothed workers emerged from the tomb and confessed that they served the heir of the Prince of Shuzhou, who had ordered them to dig a passage for the heir of the Prince of Qingzhou.
• Gu Yuan knocked one worker unconscious and went into the tomb to search for the Dragon Seal, while Qi Yueli continued following him.

Gu Yuan crossed the hidden tomb, defeated its ancient corpses, and stole the Dragon Seal from the red-robed ancient corpse. Qi Yueli confronted the awakened creature, whose fury at hearing she was empress of Great Qi caused the tomb to collapse with all three inside.

• Gu Yuan used a canvas and true qi to cross the chasm and continued deeper into the enormous tomb as Qi Yueli followed.
• Gu Yuan destroyed six ancient corpses with his peachwood sword and talismans before reaching the innermost chamber.
• The red-robed ancient corpse attacked Gu Yuan, who distracted it with yang-flame attacks and seized the Dragon Seal.
• The red-robed ancient corpse tried to pursue Gu Yuan, but Qi Yueli struck it back and identified herself as empress of Great Qi.
• The red-robed ancient corpse erupted in rage at the mention of Great Qi, and the tomb collapsed, burying Gu Yuan, Qi Yueli, and the corpse.

After the ancient tomb collapsed, Gu Yuan survived because the disguised Qi Yueli took a boulder’s blow for him, and he healed her with the Imperial Deliverance Unceasing Scripture. Trapped together at the bottom of a rocky ravine, they began searching for a way out when a chilling howl sounded in the darkness.

• Gu Yuan woke beneath the ruins and found an unfamiliar woman gravely wounded after shielding him from a falling boulder.
• Gu Yuan used the Dragon Seal to cultivate the Imperial Deliverance Unceasing Scripture and healed the woman, who regained consciousness as Qi Yueli.
• Qi Yueli panicked when she found herself pressed against Gu Yuan, but accepted his explanation that he had been treating her injuries.
• Qi Yueli introduced herself under the name Lin Yao, and Gu Yuan promised to repay her for saving his life.
• After Qi Yueli recovered, she and Gu Yuan discovered they were trapped in a rocky ravine; she stopped trying to blast through the wall after Gu Yuan warned it could cause a collapse.
• Gu Yuan suggested they search for another passage, but a chilling howl suddenly sounded in the darkness.

Gu Yuan and Qi Yueli escaped the tomb after Qi Yueli accepted him into the Heaven and Earth Sect as her master’s disciple. They discovered murals describing the Three Bodies of the Heavenly Man, a lost method for breaking through the Grandmaster Realm, before opening a path to an underground river.

• Qi Yueli saved Gu Yuan from the ancient corpse in red, and he asked her to take him as her disciple.
• Qi Yueli accepted Gu Yuan into the Heaven and Earth Sect as her deceased master’s disciple, calling herself his senior sister.
• Gu Yuan used his knowledge of the tomb to find a route toward an underground river.
• Gu Yuan and Qi Yueli found murals depicting a Daoist splitting into three, and Qi Yueli identified them as the Three Bodies of the Heavenly Man, a breakthrough method whose inscription had been destroyed.
• Qi Yueli shattered a damp rock wall, revealing the sound of a swift underground current.

Gu Yuan returned from the Qi River after Qi Yueli promised to teach him cultivation, while she secretly used the Dragon Seal to revive Great Li’s dragon vein. The next day, Qi Yueli treated Gu Yuan unusually kindly, and he was left bewildered when Princess Qi invited him to a banquet.

• Gu Yuan emerged from the Qi River with Qi Yueli, who promised to teach him cultivation at the Marquis of Pingxiang's residence the next night.
• Qi Yueli read Gu Yuan's diary, became irritated by his comments about her figure and the empress, and took the Dragon Seal to restore Great Li's dragon vein.
• Gu Yuan stared at Qi Yueli during his palace duty, but she let him do so without reacting, leaving him confused.
• Qi Yueli used the revived dragon vein to steady her mind, then waited for Gu Yuan to write in his diary, but no new words appeared.
• Xiaoyun told Gu Yuan that Princess Qi had invited him to a palace banquet, surprising him and the Shadow Guards.

Gu Yuan joined Princess Huai'an for a meal, where their bold, playful behavior surprised her palace maids. After dismissing the servants, Huai'an asked Gu Yuan to help her castrate the Prince of Qingzhou's heir while he received the provincial princes' heirs.

• Xiaoyun told Gu Yuan that the Empress Dowager wanted to meet him and explained how the empress had destroyed Shuming Palace after dismissing the late emperor's consorts.
• Gu Yuan arrived at Princess Huai'an's residence and praised her swordsmanship before she invited him to lunch.
• Gu Yuan and Huai'an exchanged food with their chopsticks and finished the meal, shocking the attending palace maids.
• Huai'an dismissed the palace maids and asked Gu Yuan to castrate the Prince of Qingzhou's heir during his reception of the provincial princes' heirs.

Qi Yueli suspected the empress dowager was plotting with Qingzhou to force Huai'an into marrying Xiao Chen, while Gu Yuan urged Huai'an to appeal to the empress. After reading Gu Yuan’s diary, Qi Yueli prepared to receive Huai'an and planned to make Gu Yuan pay for his thoughts about black stockings.

• Qi Yueli learned that the empress dowager wanted her to arrange Huai'an’s marriage to Xiao Chen and ordered the Mystic Shadow Guard to keep the princess’s interactions with Gu Yuan secret.
• Huai'an asked Gu Yuan to help her avoid the marriage by castrating Xiao Chen, but Gu Yuan refused and advised her to plead with Qi Yueli instead.
• Gu Yuan’s diary revealed that he believed the empress dowager and the Qingzhou Prince had arranged the match as a pretext for Qingzhou to raise an army against Qi Yueli.
• Qi Yueli read Gu Yuan’s plans to give his senior sister black stockings and decided to put him through his paces that night.
• Huai'an requested an audience with Qi Yueli, who composed herself and ordered that the princess be admitted.

Huai'an asked Qi Yueli to cancel her marriage to the Prince of Qingzhou’s heir, claiming she loved Gu Yuan, and Qi Yueli agreed. Gu Yuan then received a yearlong salary penalty and was assigned to bring food to Zhang Qiandao, whom he asked whether he wanted freedom.

• Huai'an told Qi Yueli she did not want to marry the Prince of Qingzhou’s heir because she loved Gu Yuan.
• Qi Yueli agreed to speak to the empress dowager and cancel Huai'an’s marriage.
• Gu Yuan entered the hall, jokingly claimed his good looks were his crime, and received a one-year salary penalty.
• Qi Yueli assigned Gu Yuan to deliver meals and talk with a prisoner at Cloud-Soaring Pavilion.
• Gu Yuan recognized the prisoner as Zhang Qiandao and asked whether he wanted freedom.

Gu Yuan persuaded Zhang Qiandao to escape to Qingzhou by reciting poems and asked his Senior Sister to help break him out. His Senior Sister, secretly Qi Yueli, tested his body with repeated blows, and Gu Yuan broke through a cultivation bottleneck.

• Gu Yuan offered to help Zhang Qiandao escape to Qingzhou, but Zhang refused until Gu Yuan recited poems that left him eager to meet Green Lotus Layman.
• Qi Yueli ordered Jin Yan to let Zhang Qiandao leave and learned from Gu Yuan's thoughts that Green Lotus Layman was fictional and Gu Yuan had composed the poems.
• Gu Yuan decided to arrange Zhang Qiandao's escape with help from his Senior Sister, while Qi Yueli reacted to his thoughts about her and black silk stockings.
• That night, Qi Yueli met Gu Yuan in the courtyard, and he complained about serving the empress before she struck him to test his body.
• As Qi Yueli's blows strengthened Gu Yuan's true essence, he broke through his cultivation bottleneck.

Gu Yuan reached the sixth-grade martial realm, learned the Vajra Indestructible Body, and asked Qi Yueli to rescue Zhang Qiandao. Qi Yueli freed him and let him leave for Qingzhou, while Gu Yuan waited at home, confident in the mysterious gift he planned to give her.

• Gu Yuan broke through to sixth grade and learned the Vajra Indestructible Body under Qi Yueli's guidance.
• Gu Yuan asked Qi Yueli to rescue Zhang Qiandao from the Cloud-Soaring Pavilion, and she agreed.
• Qi Yueli disguised herself as Lin Yao, knocked out the prison guards, and freed Zhang Qiandao.
• Qi Yueli revealed her identity to Zhang Qiandao, warned him that Qingzhou was about to rebel, and let him go when he said he was seeking the Green Lotus Layman.
• Qi Yueli returned to Gu Yuan, who thanked her and hinted at a unique gift before wondering whether he should ask for the next day off.

Qi Yueli sent Jin Yan undercover to investigate matters in Qingzhou while Gu Yuan visited the Bureau of Music to look for clues about mysterious illnesses. When Gu Yuan heard that Prince Duan’s heir was assaulting Meixiang, he stormed upstairs to stop him.

• Qi Yueli learned that Zhang Qiandao had escaped with help from an unknown first-rank expert, then dismissed Jin Yan as Mystic Shadow Guard commander and secretly sent her to Qingzhou.
• Gu Yuan visited the Bureau of Music, where Ciyue told him that someone had fallen ill almost every day for the past few months.
• Ciyue revealed that the capital’s powerful young heirs had requested Meixiang, and Gu Yuan heard Prince Duan’s heir forcing her to submit.
• Gu Yuan ignored Ciyue’s warning about offending Prince Duan’s heir, kicked open the private hall door, and ordered him to let Meixiang go.

Gu Yuan killed the Heir of Prince Duan and two powerful officials’ sons after rescuing Meixiang from them, then turned himself in and was sent to the imperial prison. As Shangguan Weiming hurried to inform the empress, Gu Yuan considered escaping and protecting his family and Meixiang.

• Gu Yuan saw Meixiang being attacked and killed the sons of the Jingzhao prefect and the Minister of Revenue, then fatally wounded the Heir of Prince Duan.
• Gu Yuan told Meixiang to claim she knew nothing about the incident, then left the Imperial Entertainment Bureau carrying the three corpses.
• Gu Yuan surrendered to Shangguan Weiming and asked him to tell the Gu residence to stay home; Zhao Sheng and Lin Yu took him to the imperial prison.
• Shangguan Weiming hurried into the palace to report what had happened.
• Qi Yueli finished reading Gu Yuan’s diary, which revealed his plans to escape and protect his family and Meixiang.

Gu Yuan was imprisoned after killing Prince Duan’s heir and two powerful officials’ sons, while Princess Huai'an and Qi Yueli each tried to protect him. With his family now at the princess’s residence, Gu Yuan abandoned his escape plan and decided to strike back at those plotting against him.

• Gu Ming, Gu Shu, and Mother Gu feared for Gu Yuan after he was imprisoned again.
• Huai'an learned that Gu Yuan had killed three men and rushed to seek her imperial sister’s help, considering asking for a marriage decree to save him.
• Shangguan Weiming advised Huai'an to reassure the Gu family that the empress would handle the matter impartially, while he suspected Gu Yuan remained in danger from Prince Duan.
• Qi Yueli visited Gu Yuan in prison and questioned him about risking his life to defend a girl of low status; Gu Yuan said he believed all people were equal.
• Qi Yueli told Gu Yuan that Huai'an had moved his parents and sister into the princess’s residence, ruining his plan to escape the capital with them.
• Gu Yuan refused to flee alone and told Qi Yueli he would kill the people behind any hidden attacks, then asked her to help him.