Chapter Summaries

Su Yao spoke with Ren Han about grief, companionship, and the coming turmoil in Nanzhao, while quietly assessing the disciples at Qixia Temple. After questioning them, he decided Ren Han was not to be trusted lightly, Zichuan needed watching, and Lu Yuan was worth nurturing.

• Ren Han worried that Su Yao had discovered his rebirth, then explained his withdrawn nature by referring to his parents' recent deaths.
• Su Yao urged Ren Han to accept support from fellow disciples and turn his feelings into a foundation for cultivation.
• Su Yao mentioned the turmoil outside the mountain, asked which Dao Ren Han favored, and said he would choose methods for the disciples after they reached Mystery Opening Perfection.
• Su Yao summoned Zichuan, used the Prism to check the sealed High Witch metal nature within him, and asked about his scripture lessons.
• Su Yao questioned Lu Yuan, Yang Zhao, Li Xu, Lin Shuang, and Xu Qingluo about their lives and studies, then resolved to watch Ren Han and Zichuan and nurture Lu Yuan.

Su Yao proposed that he, Zilin, and Yang Xiu take turns watching over the mountain so their cultivation could continue. After their wooden boxes revealed a poem that eased their worries about Proclaiming Earth, they agreed to rotate three-month shifts, with Su Yao taking the first watch.

• Su Yao sent Little Red to White Sand Mountain with a token and directions to summon Ziyan.
• Su Yao found Zilin practicing swordplay and asked her and Yang Xiu to discuss sharing watch duties on the mountain.
• Yang Xiu agreed to take turns standing watch, while Zilin worried that the uncertain situation with Proclaiming Earth could disrupt their plans.
• The three wooden boxes emitted white light and revealed a poem, easing their concerns about Proclaiming Earth.
• Su Yao, Zilin, and Yang Xiu agreed to rotate three-month shifts, with Su Yao taking the first watch.

Su Yao gathered Zhang Ziyan and the others to review the mountains’ resources, finances, and their progress cultivating Secret Methods. He assigned them to arrange alternating seclusion while the group’s operations recovered, then watched the lights come on across the Pear Garden.

• Su Yao summoned Li Siyi, Liu Yunhe, Han Ziyi, Zhu Xuejie, and Zhang Ziyan to Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall, where Little Red, Little Orange, and Xiao Huang also gathered.
• Zhang Ziyan reported that Golden Ao Mountain’s damaged cinnabar mines needed three to five years to recover, while White Sand Mountain’s established enterprises currently generated most of their income.
• Zhang Ziyan estimated annual income at about sixteen hundred cinnabar pieces against expenses of twenty-two hundred, with Su Yao’s reserve of five thousand pieces covering the shortfall during recovery.
• Su Yao said he, Zilin, and Yang Xiu would take turns keeping watch, and told the others to seek Zilin or Yang Xiu if an important matter arose during his seclusion.
• Zhang Ziyan, Liu Yunhe, Han Ziyi, Li Siyi, and Zhu Xuejie reported their Secret Method progress, and Su Yao gave each a jade bottle of suitable pills.
• Su Yao asked the five to arrange alternating periods of seclusion, then went outside and watched the Pear Garden’s lights appear among the mountains.

After four years in seclusion, Su Yao returned to find Lu Yuan worried about Zichuan’s growing resentment over being kept on the mountain. Su Yao reaffirmed that Zichuan could not leave before establishing his Immortal Foundation, then a brilliant omen appeared in the wooden boxes, revealing a poem that foretold upheaval and a final gathering of immortals.

• Su Yao emerged from four years of seclusion having cultivated the Secret Method to its eighth stage.
• Lu Yuan reported the disciples’ cultivation progress and said Zichuan had repeatedly tried to leave the mountain, but Zilin, Yang Xiu, and the instructors had stopped him.
• Su Yao told Lu Yuan he would handle Zichuan, while deciding Zichuan must remain on the mountain until he formed his Immortal Foundation and reached Foundation Establishment.
• Su Yao met Yang Xiu as he emerged from seclusion, and both found their wooden boxes shining with unusually bright white light.
• The light revealed a poem foretelling political turmoil, conflict across the region, and a final gathering of immortals.

Su Yao and Yang Xiu dealt with a fire in Zilin’s Alchemy Chamber after she was startled by the immortal box. In Jiankang, the ailing emperor ordered officials and troops to escort Crown Prince Ji back from North of the Desert, while Xu Xianzong suspected the journey was meant to smooth Ji’s path to the throne.

• Su Yao and Yang Xiu hurried to Zilin’s Alchemy Chamber after an explosion, where Su Yao used radiant light to help suppress the flames.
• Zilin explained that she had made a mistake while refining a pill after noticing movement from the immortal box, and Su Yao sent Xu Qingluo and Yang Zhao away.
• Outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Yang Dongli asked Eunuch Dai about the emperor’s condition and whether he had summoned Crown Prince Ji home.
• The emperor summoned senior officials and nobles and ordered Prince Xiang of Liao, Huang Huai, Zhang Fu, and Shi Zhao to arrange and protect Ji’s return to Jiankang.
• Xu Xianzong concluded that the emperor’s escort order was intended to pave the way for Ji to take the throne.

As the emperor’s health failed, he issued orders for ministers and military commanders to secure the court and capital until the crown prince returned. He then ordered the posthumous investiture of Empress Lady Zhang’s father and the elevation of her brother.

• The emperor ordered Prince of Qin Liang and Prince of Jin Zi to visit the Princes of Han and Zhao, accompanied by Jin Youzi and Quan Jin.
• The emperor assigned Yang Dongli and Yang Rong to manage court affairs, ordered Xu Jingchang and Xu Xianzong to guard the palace, and placed Zhu Yong and four commanders in charge of the capital’s defenses.
• The emperor declared that the senior grand secretary would take precedence in government and Zhu Yong in military affairs until the crown prince returned to act as regent, then dismissed the ministers.
• The empress mourned beside the emperor and questioned whether the struggle over the Human Dao Attainment Position would repeat itself; the emperor recalled how Father Emperor had once encouraged Second Brother to replace him as heir.
• The empress comforted the emperor and reaffirmed her devotion to him despite their hardships.
• The emperor ordered Dai Quan to draft an edict posthumously investing Empress Lady Zhang’s father, Lord Zhang Qi, as Duke of Xuancheng and raising Zhang Quan to Marquis of Xuancheng.

As he lay dying, the emperor denounced his father for years of suspicion, control, and pressure to surrender the throne, before his father arrived and killed him through the Human Dao radiance. The court mourned the emperor, whose posthumous record praised his merciful rule while preserving the hidden resentment behind his decision to elevate his father’s temple name.

• The empress objected that a marquisate was too generous a reward, but the emperor insisted and ordered a decree drafted.
• The emperor reproached his father for ruling through fear and for burdening him with the Human Dao Attainment Position and the struggle over succession.
• The emperor explained that the Mysterious Gate’s Five Qi Essence-Suppressing Curtain had prolonged his life, but his father appeared and the Human Dao radiance struck him.
• The emperor died as his body dispersed, and his father briefly held him in place before vanishing after accusing the Mysterious Gate of using underhanded tricks.
• The Forbidden City announced the emperor’s death, and Purple T Star appeared by day as blood rained across the realm.
• The Veritable Records praised the emperor’s benevolent reign and revealed that he had raised his father’s temple name to Chengzu out of resentment; the court later honored him as Renzong Emperor Zhao.

As blood rain continued over Golden Ao Mountain, seven wooden boxes joined together and revealed that Proclaiming Earth’s True Lord was about to reincarnate. Su Yao took charge of the immortal casket, and the group began preparing to travel to Longchuan and gather protectors.

• After eight days of waiting, Zilin and Xuan Yan reasoned that the blood rain marked the end of the Human Dao Attainment Position’s mourning.
• The seven wooden boxes flew together and drew Su Yao, Zilin, Yang Xiu, Mo Li, Ying Qi, Xuan Yan, and Youning into an immortal realm.
• A ten-thousand-zhang Dharma form told them to take the casket to the confluence of the Longchuan River and the Luchuan River, where Proclaiming Earth’s True Lord would reincarnate.
• The Dharma form warned that many Outer Dao forces would oppose them and promised that their journey’s fate could aid their cultivation.
• Su Yao caught the merged casket, while Mo Li, Xuan Yan, Ying Qi, and Yang Xiu left to summon or meet their protectors; Su Yao then went to arrange for his own protectors and disciples.

Su Yao and his companions traveled to Longchuan, where Lu Yu of Yuanfu and Xuan Yang of True Martial Mountain confronted them over their plans for the Witch Departments. Lu Yu challenged the Jade Void lineage’s role in mortal wars, and Su Yao answered by accusing Yuanfu of enabling bloodshed; the two sides prepared to fight.

• Su Yao left his disciples to guard Golden Ao Mountain and White Sand Mountain, then traveled north with Liu Yunhe and others to join Zilin and Youning.
• Xuan Yan, Ying Qi, Mo Li, and Yang Xiu arrived with their protectors, and the group set out for Longchuan after discussing their plans.
• At the confluence of the Longchuan and Luchuan rivers, Shen Yuxiao, Lu Yu, and Xuan Yang confronted Su Yao’s party and demanded that they withdraw.
• Lu Yu accused the Jade Void lineage of treating mortal kingdoms as pieces in a bloody game, citing dynastic disasters and asking how many more lives they would sacrifice.
• Su Yao countered that Yuanfu had also profited from and encouraged political turmoil, and asked Lu Yu whether Yuanfu’s hands were clean.
• Lu Yu accepted that they would have to fight, and the two groups faced off.

Su Yao activated the immortal casket at the gorge, unleashing a vision of land reform as the True Lord’s reincarnation began. In the mine below, a youth named Xiao Haizi awoke beneath the rubble, his eyes faintly glowing.

• Lu Yu and the others attacked Mo Li’s group, then fled after Su Yao stopped Mo Li from pursuing them.
• Su Yao identified the gorge as the chosen site for the True Lord’s reincarnation and chanted the mnemonic to activate the immortal casket.
• The casket released immortal light and a vision of farmers reclaiming their fields as land deeds dissolved into the soil.
• Su Yao tipped the casket downward and waited until its tempting influence faded, while the others guarded him.
• Two miners discussed the battle and worried that Xiao Haizi had died beneath the rubble; after they left, Xiao Haizi rose from the wreckage with three faint lights in his eyes.

Su Yao’s confrontation with Shen Yuxiao’s group escalated into a battle as Princess Ziheng and fighters from the Witch and God Clans revealed themselves. With more allies arriving, Su Yao prepared to take on several opponents and singled out Xuan Yang.

• Su Yao mocked Shen Yuxiao and He Chen, then displayed Autumn Steed and attacked the group with his Morning Clouds Golden Palace technique.
• Lu Yu shielded his companions and summoned Princess Ziheng and her people from his jade pendant; Ziheng declared she would fight to protect Nanzhao.
• Mo Li and a witch-marked fighter began battling, while Zilin fought Ziheng, Youning attacked He Chen, and Yang Xiu faced a Golden Crow.
• Su Yao detected hidden members of the God and Witch Clans, and Lu Yu revealed them as Great Yang Mysterious Light and Vast Righteousness Qi appeared in the distance.
• When a second Golden Crow emerged from the first one’s gourd, Su Yao called on Xuan Yan and Ying Qi to fight the remaining enemies and pointed Autumn Steed at Xuan Yang.

Su Yao fought Shen Yuxiao, Xuan Yang, and Lu Yu at once while Xuan Yan and Ying Qi were pinned down by their own opponents. Though Su Yao countered the trio’s attacks with his techniques and sword, they overwhelmed him from every direction, and the chapter ended with him unleashing Golden Palace Morning Clouds as a rain of rosy light.

• Su Yao launched Sword Essence at Shen Yuxiao, Xuan Yang, and Lu Yu, then recognized Xuan Yang’s Ancient True Qi Immortal Foundation.
• Shen Yuxiao and Lu Yu attacked Su Yao alongside Xuan Yang, but Su Yao used fire sparrows, rosy light, and Morning Clouds Crossing to drive them back.
• Lu Yu blocked Su Yao’s Sword Essence with the Greater Yin technique Knock on the Azure Heavens, and Xuan Yang renewed his assault with a crane silhouette.
• Shen Yuxiao, Xuan Yang, and Lu Yu coordinated attacks from the side, front, and above, while Xuan Yan, Ying Qi, Yang Xiu, Zilin, and Ziheng remained occupied elsewhere.
• Su Yao used Drinking from the Marsh and Bearing the Abyss to resist the encircling attacks, then cast Golden Palace Morning Clouds as rosy rain over the three opponents.

Su Yao fought Lu Yu, Xuan Yang, and Shen Yuxiao, who combined their Law Techniques and attacks to trap him. After Su Yao used the Spring and Autumn Concealed Sundial Feather Robe to evade a Purple Mansion-level strike, the three surrounded him, and he prepared to unleash the Sword Intent hidden in his Qi Sea.

• Lu Yu urged Xuan Yang and Shen Yuxiao to stop holding back, and both revealed their stronger techniques.
• Lu Yu, Xuan Yang, and Shen Yuxiao coordinated attacks that broke through Su Yao's defenses and forced him to rely on the Great Yin Feather Robe.
• Su Yao used Mysterious Floating Body to escape the coordinated assault and attacked Lu Yu, but Xuan Yang and Shen Yuxiao closed in again.
• Xuan Yang's longsword unleashed a concentrated crane shadow, and Su Yao used the Spring and Autumn Concealed Sundial Feather Robe to evade it.
• Lu Yu offered Su Yao a chance to withdraw, but Xuan Yang refused to let him leave, and Su Yao warned the three to retreat as his hidden Sword Intent stirred.

Su Yao revealed the Sword Intent he had concealed for decades and turned the battle around, killing Shen Yuxiao, Xuan Yang, two Golden Crows, a God Clan fighter, and a Witch Clan elder. The enemy survivors fled, and Su Yao recovered Shen Yuxiao’s and Xuan Yang’s belongings after forces from the Great Void contested them.

• As the feathered garment’s protection faded, Su Yao unleashed his Luminous Sword Heart Sword Intent, cutting through the attacks of Shen Yuxiao, Xuan Yang, and Lu Yu.
• Su Yao killed Shen Yuxiao and Xuan Yang, while sparing Lu Yu because he came from Yuanfu and bore the surname Lu.
• Su Yao joined Yang Xiu’s fight and killed both Golden Crows, then slew the God Clan fighter and the Witch-robed elder battling Xuan Yan and Ying Qi.
• Su Yao killed five Witch Department cultivators fighting Liu Yunhe and four others, earning cheers as Sword Immortal Su; the remaining enemies fled, and he chose not to pursue them.
• A moonlight hand from the Great Void seized Shen Yuxiao’s belongings, but Fu Water and Wu Earth struck it until it dropped them, and Su Yao collected those items along with Xuan Yang’s belongings.

The Sword Pavilion’s Sword Book recorded Su Yao’s long-hidden Sword Intent, prompting its golden-robed keeper to fear that chaos would soon reach Shu. In Nanzhao, a mysterious Fate Divine Ability restrained both the survivors and Su Yao’s group, and an unknown voice spoke to them before vanishing.

• The gray-robed elder saw the Sword Book shine, and the golden-robed man identified the recorded Sword Intent as Su Yao’s Crimson Dawn Unstained Night-Illuminating Clear Light Sword.
• The golden-robed man concluded that Su Yao had probably comprehended Sword Intent decades earlier and warned that chaos would strike Shu first.
• Lu Yu gave He Chen a Moonlight Water-Bathing Elixir and discussed how Su Yao might have concealed his Sword Intent through connections to the Jade Pillar Grotto-Heaven and the Laurel-Breaking Household.
• Ziheng appeared, but she, Lu Yu, and He Chen suddenly lost control of their bodies as more survivors arrived.
• Su Yao and his companions were brought to the same place under the same restraint, and a mysterious voice spoke into everyone’s minds before disappearing a quarter of an hour later.

Chen Hai rallied the miners after killing a corrupt official, then welcomed Su Yao’s troupe to perform for them. Su Yao’s first performance stirred the miners with a call challenging the right of rulers to their rank.

• Chen Hai killed the corrupt official, promised to take responsibility, and rallied the miners to leave Nanzhao in three days.
• A minor official reported that an opera troupe had arrived to comfort the miners, and Chen Hai ordered them welcomed.
• Su Yao and his companions arrived under the troupe’s guise, though their bodies remained under another’s control.
• Chen Hai asked for three lively pieces, and Su Yao’s troupe began performing on a makeshift platform.
• Su Yao sang of rebellion and asked whether kings, nobles, generals, and ministers were born to their rank, prompting the miners to erupt in cheers.

Zilin, Xuan Yan, Yang Xiu, and Youning’s performance of the Daze Township uprising stirred the miners, and Chen Hai praised the troupe before calling for the next play. In “Bronze Horse Holding a Ring in Its Mouth,” the Bronze Horse Army surrendered its weapons after receiving an amnesty, but the attendant returned with a new edict and a larger force of soldiers.

• Zilin portrayed a Daze Township peasant and declared that the Qin realm had rebelled against its people first.
• Xuan Yan revealed a message from a fish, Yang Xiu delivered a prophecy, and Youning’s fox cry helped the performers rally the miners against Qin.
• Chen Hai praised the lead, supporting performers, and musicians, then ordered the troupe to continue.
• Yang Xiu, Ying Qi, Mo Li, and the soldiers portrayed the Bronze Horse Army laying down its weapons in exchange for an amnesty and promised homes and fields.
• After Ying Qi questioned where the promised land and homes were, Yang Xiu wondered what the court feared now that it had their swords.
• The attendant returned with another imperial edict, backed by several times as many armored soldiers, and called the Bronze Horse Army to hear it.

During a staged reenactment, the court betrayed the Bronze Horse Army after it accepted amnesty, and Yang Xiu, Ying Qi, Mo Li, and the other soldiers were killed. Chen Hai used their deaths to warn the miners never to surrender their weapons, then the performance began a third play in which Ziheng proposed sacrificing the gathered miners.

• A second imperial edict ordered the execution of Yang Xiu and the Bronze Horse Army after they had surrendered their weapons.
• Mo Li condemned the court’s false amnesty, and Yang Xiu warned the miners that accepting amnesty meant death.
• Ying Qi shielded Yang Xiu and died from the soldiers’ blades; Yang Xiu and the other Bronze Horse Army soldiers were then killed.
• Zilin set a lamp among the surrendered weapons and asked the miners whether they still believed the amnesty edict.
• Chen Hai declared that the miners would never become a second Bronze Horse Army and ordered the third play, “Burning Talismans at the Shaman Shrine.”
• Ziheng appeared in royal robes and told Lu Yu that the gathered miners would make suitable sacrificial offerings.

Su Yao challenged Lu Yu and Ziheng’s plan to sacrifice the miners by invoking the Qing Dynasty’s Great Proclamation, which forbade human sacrifice. After the crowd rallied behind the proclamation, Lu Yu read its twelfth article and saw that it threatened severe punishment for the Witch Department.

• Lu Yu and Ziheng announced that the miners would be sacrificed in three stages, and Lu Yu offered exemptions to families who volunteered while threatening to draw lots for the rest.
• A woman refused to let her husband be sacrificed, prompting the miners to erupt in anger and surge toward the platform.
• Ziheng used her purple light to force the miners back, and Lu Yu threatened them with punishment under shaman law.
• Su Yao confronted Lu Yu with Taizu Emperor Gao’s Great Proclamation and told the miners that it outlawed human sacrifice.
• The miners began chanting that the Great Proclamation was greater than shaman law, while Lu Yu argued that human sacrifice had ancient authority.
• Su Yao handed Lu Yu a rubbing of the Great Proclamation, and Lu Yu read its article banning human sacrifice and ordering punishment for violators.

Su Yao and his companions helped Chen Hai lead the miners in overthrowing the Shaman Shrine’s authority and proclaiming a new order. As they were swept away by the vision, Chen Hai entered Wuxian Longchuan and sealed the miners inside the canyon.

• Su Yao used the treasured mirror’s Great Yang Mysterious Light to destroy the shamanic patterns on Lu Yu’s bone staff, while Zilin tore up the Shaman Shrine’s talismans and declared that miners could appeal to the imperial court.
• Chen Hai proclaimed the mines free of the royal court of Nanzhao, abolished the old contracts, and called for shared land and resources; the miners roared their support.
• Chen Hai offered silver ingots to Su Yao’s troupe and the others, but Su Yao asked him to give the remaining silver to the miners, so Chen Hai tossed the ingots into the crowd.
• Chen Hai recited a poem about the uprising and promised to make Su Yao a marquis if he became emperor, then unleashed the three-colored light of Proclaiming Earth.
• Su Yao and his companions were carried upward as the vision showed the uprising and the land renewed; Chen Hai enclosed the miners in a bowl-shaped curtain of brown light and entered the gate marked Wuxian Longchuan.