Chapter Summaries

Su Yao examined the sleeping birds and the Prism’s mysteries, then tested the Jia Wood talisman he had recently refined. He discovered that it made his Dharma Body extraordinarily tough and self-healing, and named it “Raise Wood to Reach the Heavens.”

• Su Yao realized the Prism had put Little Red, Little Orange, and Xiao Huang into a deep sleep to protect their unusual ability to borrow his Divine Abilities.
• Su Yao studied the four talismans in his sea of Qi and focused on the new Jia Wood talisman.
• Su Yao activated the talisman and felt Jia Wood Qi strengthen and fill his Dharma Body.
• Su Yao cracked a Spirit Artifact longsword with a light press, then sensed that the talisman granted his body exceptional toughness and rapid recovery.
• Su Yao named the talisman “Raise Wood to Reach the Heavens” and concluded that his Dharma Body was difficult to break through.

Su Yao and the gathered cultivators witnessed the Lu brothers perish in their failed Purple Mansion breakthroughs, transforming into divination objects that revealed the unstable Purple-Blue Secret Realm. Ao Xiao sacrificed himself to open the realm, leaving its entrance fully revealed in the Great Void.

• Su Yao received word that the secret realm was about to open and joined Zilin, Yang Xiu, Zhang Ziyan, Han Ziyi, Meng Shixi, and the others in the Great Void.
• Lu Ming and Lu Chang failed to break through to the Purple Mansion and died, their bodies becoming a tortoise-shell Omen Shell and a beast-bone Divination Bone.
• The two divination objects summoned the Purple-Blue Secret Realm, but its doorway flickered and could not fully open.
• Ao Xiao emerged from Cibi Lake bearing the Dusk Snow Flute and Morning Mist Drum, then used his Fu Water Qi to dissolve the divination objects and stabilize the doorway.
• Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu joined Meng Shixi’s group as Ao Xiao vanished, and the Purple-Blue Secret Realm opened completely.

Su Yao oversaw the group as they entered the secret realm and claimed its treasures. The realm was left stripped of its valuables, like an empty old residence.

• Ao Yuan arrived on behalf of the Dragon Palace of the South Sea and promised its gratitude if the group retrieved the Fu Water Flood Dragon Essence.
• The Witch Hall envoy entered the secret realm and suppressed the Witch Talisman Metal Nature, then emerged exhausted with it secured.
• Meng Shixi retrieved an ancient book written by the Spirit Witch Dao Lord and told the Witch Hall envoy that the debt between the Witch Hall and the Nanzhao Royal Family was settled.
• Ao Yuan retrieved the Fu Water Flood Dragon Essence, sealed it in a jade box, and thanked Su Yao.
• Ying Qi, Zilin, Xuan Yan, Mo Li, and the others took Spirit Treasures, spiritual objects, and other valuables, leaving the secret realm largely empty.

Nuoli revealed that he planned to use the Purple-Blue Secret Realm as a marsh to cultivate his fifth Divine Ability, “Nurture the Marsh Embryo.” He transformed into a White Chi and merged with the secret realm as it closed, while the gathered cultivators departed.

• Nuoli explained that the True Lord had devised a method for him to become the Purple-Blue Secret Realm and nurture the origin of Fu Water.
• Nuoli transformed into his White Chi true form and entered the secret realm, expanding until his body became one with it.
• Su Yao explained that Nuoli was taking the secret realm as his marsh and his true body as the embryo, while Meng Shixi’s Witch Hall companion departed with the metal nature.
• Ao Yuan left for the South Sea, and the other cultivators paid their respects and withdrew as the secret realm closed around Nuoli.
• Meng Shixi returned toward the royal city, Yang Nan departed for the water domain, and Su Yao and Zilin headed for Golden Ao Mountain.

Yang Xiu confessed to Su Yao that he had cultivated True Martial Mountain’s Dharma Body method after receiving a suspicious immortal decree, and explained why he had hidden it. Su Yao reassured him that his actions, not his cultivation method or Dao lineage, defined him, leaving Yang Xiu beginning to accept that judgment.

• Yang Xiu asked Su Yao to speak privately in his cave abode and revealed that he had cultivated the Mysterious Heaven True Martial Divine Sha Dharma Body from True Martial Mountain.
• Yang Xiu explained that he had avoided Su Yao and the others because his True Qi could expose the method, and that he had concealed it during their past battles.
• Su Yao inferred that Yang Xiu had held back in combat to keep his True Martial Dharma Body from being revealed.
• Su Yao asked whether Yang Xiu had chosen the method and concluded that he had cultivated it to survive and protect others amid chaos.
• Su Yao told Yang Xiu that his actions showed whom he served, regardless of his cultivation lineage, and Yang Xiu admitted that he still struggled to tell himself that.

Su Yao reassured Yang Xiu that their friendship did not depend on which arts he cultivated, and the two old friends drank together on Golden Ao Mountain. As they shared memories and toasted Zilin through the snow, Yang Xiu's loneliness eased, though the night ended with his longing for the friends who were absent.

• Su Yao told Yang Xiu he feared rejection because he had cultivated True Martial Mountain's arts, and Yang Xiu affirmed that he valued Yang Xiu himself, not his Dharma Body.
• Su Yao poured wine for them, and Yang Xiu agreed to stay on the mountain overnight before leaving in the morning.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu played a drinking game reciting Daoist classics, and Yang Xiu used a passage about water to urge Su Yao not to meddle too much in Nanzhao.
• Yang Xiu recalled missing Golden Ao Mountain and its friends during his years in Green Nuo, then lamented that he could not share a night of drinking and music with Su Yao and Mo Li.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu raised their cups toward Zilin, who played her flute from a distant summit in the falling snow.

Yang Xiu left after urging Su Yao to stop hesitating about Zilin, and Su Yao and Zilin spoke privately about the previous night. Zilin offered him the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, and the chapter ended with Su Yao recalling Yang Xiu’s hint about pruning the osmanthus trees.

• Yang Xiu told Su Yao that Zilin had waited for him in the snow, then returned to Green Nuo.
• Zilin met Su Yao beneath the osmanthus trees and discussed Yang Xiu’s verse and her flute music from the night before.
• Su Yao admitted he had heard that Zilin did not want to play alone, and Zilin asked why he had not come to her.
• Zilin offered Su Yao the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, a method for sharing Law Power and spiritual vitality.
• Su Yao recalled Yang Xiu’s words about pruning the osmanthus trees, leaving Zilin momentarily taken aback.

Su Yao invited Zilin to join him in his cave abode, and the two practiced the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, blending their spiritual essences. Afterward, they stood together in the snow and agreed to prune the osmanthus trees tomorrow.

• Su Yao offered to set out a meditation cushion for Zilin, and she followed him into the cave abode.
• Su Yao and Zilin sat opposite each other and cultivated the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, allowing their rosy light and Purple Qi to mingle.
• Their joined spiritual essences formed a cocoon of light, and they saw each other's Rising Yang Mansions before drawing the power into their bodies.
• Su Yao praised the covenant, and Zilin reminded him that he had said he would not ask about tomorrow.
• Zilin said the osmanthus trees needed pruning, and Su Yao agreed they would do it tomorrow.

On Qingnuo Mountain, Yang Xiu and the others examined two Great Qing edicts of self-reproach that blamed Emperor Renzong’s policies for Nanzhao’s suffering and the Proclaiming Earth rebellion. They questioned whether the newly issued edict admitted genuine fault or merely shifted blame, and the chapter ended with Su Yao reading the older edict’s warning to future generations.

• Su Yao laid the old and new Great Qing edicts before Yang Xiu and the others at Qingnuo Mountain.
• Yang Xiu read the older edict and noted that it claimed Emperor Renzong had reigned for eight thousand years.
• Ying Qi read the newer edict, which blamed Renzong for indulging immortal sects, failing to govern ministers, and imposing appointed rule on Nanzhao’s Witch Department.
• Xuan Yan condemned the edict for making the immortal sects responsible for the rebellion, while Mo Li argued that its claims mixed true admissions with false ones to shift blame.
• Zilin pointed out how the new edict altered the old one, and Su Yao read its final warning that future generations should cast out rulers who repeated Renzong’s mistakes.

Su Yao and the others analyzed the new edict of self-reproach, concluding that it blamed the immortal sects for Nanzhao’s fall and could serve as a pretext for the court to move against them. They suspected the Crown Prince would soon return to Jiankang to ascend the throne, and the chapter left them waiting to see what he would do.

• Su Yao compared the old and new edicts and argued that the court had abandoned Nanzhao while its troops guarded against the immortal sects.
• Yang Xiu pointed out that the edict framed the court’s policies as the late emperor’s personal faults while shifting blame onto the immortal sects.
• Su Yao concluded that the new edict both prepared the way for the Crown Prince’s ascension and branded the sects’ presence in Nanzhao as overstepping.
• Su Yao warned that the court could use the charge that the immortal sects had become a hidden kingdom as a pretext to move against them.
• Su Yao told Zilin and the others to continue doing what they ought to do and wait for the Crown Prince’s ascension to reveal the court’s intentions.

Zhu Ji met with his mother, the empress, after returning too late to see his father before his death, and learned that Taizong had appeared on the night the emperor died. As Zhu Ji prepared to ascend the throne, the empress advised him on court affairs and his maternal family’s titles, while her white hair revealed the depth of her grief.

• Zhu Ji entered the Palace of Earthly Tranquility in mourning and saw that his mother's hair had turned entirely white.
• Zhu Ji apologized for failing to return in time to see his father, and the empress reminded him that his father had waited sixty years while he was in Qingzhou.
• The empress told Zhu Ji that Taizong had appeared on the night the emperor died, and Zhu Ji described seeing Taizong's Human Dao radiance preserving his father's body.
• Zhu Ji reported that the Prince of Han secretly harbored ambition but had made no substantial move, while he knew little about the Prince of Zhao.
• The empress approved the proposed enthronement date and rejected Zhu Ji's plan to elevate his maternal uncle to a dukedom, warning that excessive honors could bring disaster.
• The empress urged Zhu Ji to stabilize the court and avoid war until the matter of Nanzhao was settled, then sent him away to prepare for the enthronement.

Zhu Ji completed his accession rites, became emperor, and honored his mother as Empress Dowager. He ordered envoys to appease the princes of Han and Zhao while preparing the Capital Garrison for a campaign against Nanzhao, where the court and the Mysterious Gate were pursuing rival plans.

• At the Circular Mound, Zhu Ji performed the imperial rites, and the twelve symbols on his robes shone as Human Dao Qi raised him to the standing of a True Lord.
• Zhu Ji ascended the throne, granted an amnesty, and changed the reign title to Xuande.
• Zhu Ji honored Empress Dowager Lady Zhang with jade and gold seals and installed her in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
• Yang Dongli, Xu Jingchang, Zhang Fu, and Zhu Yong advised Zhu Ji on the princes of Han and Zhao and the conflict in Nanzhao.
• Zhu Ji ordered Yang Dongli to send envoys bearing gifts to the princes of Han and Zhao, and directed the three dukes to ready the Capital Garrison for a southern march.
• Zhu Ji declared that he would settle accounts with Nanzhao as the court and the Mysterious Gate maneuvered against each other.

Su Yao learned that Xuan Yan had sent an urgent plea from the Red Rock Zhao Household and hurried there, leaving Zilin and two Purple Mansion cultivators to guard Golden Ao Mountain. The chapter ended with Zilin watching the new Human Dao presence over Jiankang as Su Yao raced northeast.

• Su Yao and Zilin sensed the powerful Human Dao presence in Jiankang and bowed in respect after the new ruler ascended the throne.
• Zilin reported that Yang Xiu, Mo Li, Ying Qi, and Xuan Yan had been guarding key locations, and that Xuan Yan had killed Zhao Household defectors who sought to join Proclaiming Earth.
• Su Yao received Xuan Yan's urgent message requesting aid at the Zhao Household and ordered Han Ziyi, Zhang Ziyan, Zhu Xuejie, and Yang Nan to hold their posts.
• Su Yao summoned Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi, told them to help Zilin defend Golden Ao Mountain, and left for the Zhao Household using Golden Light Across the Land.
• Zilin assigned Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to guard the eastern and western gates, then watched the Human Dao presence in Jiankang and noted the date of the new reign.

Su Yao fought Lu Yu, who tried to block his involvement in Proclaiming Earth with seven Spirit Treasures and three Technique Swords. Su Yao defeated him and sent a warning to Yuanfu before continuing northeast to deal with the Zhao Household’s matter.

• Lu Yu confronted Su Yao in the Great Void and challenged his Intent Sword with three Technique Swords.
• Lu Yu attacked with his Technique Swords and four other Spirit Treasures, but Su Yao countered them with his banner and swords.
• Su Yao struck back, shattered Lu Yu’s defenses, and wounded him by exploiting the limits of his single Divine Ability.
• Lu Yu unleashed Cannot Bear the Cold, but Su Yao dispelled its attack and caused Lu Yu’s Spirit Treasures and Technique Swords to fall.
• Su Yao told Lu Yu that Qixia Temple would pursue the Zhao Household and Nanzhao matter, and warned Yuanfu not to interfere.
• Lu Yu withdrew, and Su Yao hurried northeast because the Zhao Household’s matter could not wait.

Su Yao arrived at Red Rock Mountain and joined Xuan Yan against the Li Fire Demon King and his two allies. Su Yao wounded the demon king and turned toward the other enemies, while Xuan Yan and the white-robed cultivator were both badly injured.

• Xuan Yan held the Zhao Household's formation against the Li Fire Demon King, the white-robed Dui Metal cultivator, and the old Bamboo-Bookcase Wood woman until the barrier began to crack.
• Su Yao arrived and pierced the old woman's left shoulder with the Autumn Steed Sword.
• Su Yao blocked the Li Fire Demon King's flame attack and wounded him in the right shoulder with Crimson Dawn Unstained Night-Illuminating Clear Light Sword.
• Xuan Yan held off the white-robed cultivator with Falling Star Rain, then pierced his ribs with a comet-patterned ruler and disrupted his Dui Metal Qi.
• Su Yao turned from the wounded Li Fire Demon King and attacked the white-robed cultivator and the old woman as Xuan Yan's comet light spread through the cultivator's wound.

Su Yao killed the Bamboo-Bookcase Wood old woman and the Dui Metal man in white, while the Li Fire Demon King escaped, then entered Red Rock Mountain with the wounded Xuan Yan. A mysterious decree ordered Su Yao to make Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation undergo Liberation by Violence within one year, and the two set out for Golden Ao.

• Su Yao cut down the old woman’s Scripture Pavilion domain and killed her with the Autumn Steed Sword.
• Su Yao pursued and killed the fleeing man in white, while the Li Fire Demon King escaped with the Crimson Sun Pendant.
• Su Yao gave Xuan Yan a pill for his wound, and they entered Red Rock Mountain, where they found the Zhao Household’s surviving children and young people.
• Xuan Yan said his True Lord had ordered him to guard the Zhao Household, kill defectors, and destroy texts, but had given no explanation for the surviving children.
• A mysterious voice ordered Su Yao to make Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation undergo Liberation by Violence within one year.
• Su Yao told Xuan Yan to return with him to Golden Ao, and they left the children in the cavern hall.

Su Yao returned to Golden Ao Mountain and urged the group to wait for guidance from their superiors rather than attack the Proclaiming Earth barrier recklessly. As they went to meet a mysterious white-robed messenger arriving with a decree, the group still had no solution to Liberation by Violence.

• Mo Li, Ying Qi, Xuan Yan, Yang Xiu, and Zilin argued over their lack of progress against the True Lord's reincarnation and the danger of attacking his Proclaiming Earth barrier directly.
• Yang Xiu revealed that Monks Mao had appeared near the Nanzhao-Tubo border and might be seeking Proclaiming Earth or the witches.
• Su Yao returned from seclusion, said the superiors had given directions without methods before, and urged the group to wait for their next move.
• Liu Yunhe reported that a mysterious boy in white robes with surging Ancient True Qi had arrived at the mountain gate to summon Su Yao and the Dao Children to receive a decree.
• Su Yao led Yang Xiu, Xuan Yan, Zilin, Ying Qi, and Mo Li toward the mountain gate to welcome the messenger.

A white-robed Jade Void envoy met Su Yao and five companions at Golden Ao Mountain, gave Su Yao and Yang Xiu treasures for confronting the reincarnated Proclaiming Earth True Lord, and revealed that powerful elders would secretly help them. Su Yao accepted the mission and arranged for their forces to gather at Golden Ao Mountain in seven days before setting out together.

• The white-robed envoy recognized Su Yao, Yang Xiu, Xuan Yan, Zilin, Ying Qi, and Mo Li, and remarked on their lineages and standing.
• The envoy warned that Tubo’s Esoteric School was seeking to spread its influence through Nanzhao and gave Su Yao the Dawn Calamity-Breaking Talisman Tablet and Yang Xiu the Pure Leaf Calamity-Resolving Silk.
• The envoy explained that the two Law Treasures only qualified the group to confront the reincarnated True Lord, while others would break the Proclaiming Earth barrier and assist in secret.
• Su Yao understood that their elders wanted them to take part so the accomplishment would count as their own, and he agreed to proceed with Yang Xiu.
• Su Yao ordered the group to summon their protectors and allies to gather at Golden Ao Mountain in seven days.

Chen Hai watched two plays about the rise and fall of Chen Sheng and worldly glory before learning that Great Qing forces were approaching the Miao Frontier. He flew to face them, reflecting that overturning the old order was not enough without establishing a new one, while the mysterious farmer revealed himself as the Jade Pure One and vanished.

• Chen Hai watched a play depicting Chen Sheng's rebellion, kingship, and death by a wooden dagger-axe, then declared that he would never become King Chen She.
• Chen Hai watched a second play contrasting a minister's family wealth with immortal cultivation and rewarded the performers with silver.
• A messenger warned Chen Hai that several dukes of Great Qing had brought tens of thousands of Capital Garrison elites into the Miao Frontier, and Chen Hai flew toward the confluence of the two rivers.
• Chen Hai told the Li Fire Demon King that Chen Sheng had failed because he had sought kingship without planning how to establish and maintain a new realm.
• The middle-aged farmer revealed his true form as the white-haired Jade Pure One and vanished in immortal light.

Chen Hai withdrew from the confluence of the two rivers, explaining that his new territories were not ready for war and revealing that Zang Pu had been a Mysterious Gate pawn. Su Yao and his allies killed the Li Fire Demon King and the other demon kings, then watched as the Five Villages Temple’s Earth Master Dao collided with the Geomancy Dao.

• Chen Hai said Great Qing was not yet his enemy and refused to risk a decisive battle before securing Nanzhao and the Southern Frontier.
• Chen Hai revealed that Zang Pu served the Mysterious Gate and that he had endured the play to avoid showing them his anger.
• Su Yao arrived with Zilin, Yang Xiu, Ying Qi, Xuan Yan, Mo Li, Liu Yunhe, and the others, and killed the Li Fire Demon King with his swords.
• Su Yao’s allies surrounded and killed the demon kings who had followed Chen Hai, preventing their escape.
• Five rays representing the Earth Master’s five earths converged at the confluence of the two rivers, where they clashed with the Geomancy Dao’s feng shui Qi.