Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou freed Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying, examined the Yin-Yang School’s legacy, and learned more about Jin Chang’s breakthrough. He then intercepted Dong Zhongshu after Ren Anran’s debate and tried to persuade him to come along, leaving Dong Zhongshu wary of being forced into it.

• Zhang Xuezhou released Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying from the Puppet Technique, while Zou Bugui explained how Jin Chang had threatened them and been beaten.
• Zou Bugui showed Zhang Xuezhou the Yin-Yang School’s jade legacies, and they discussed the Human Pills used by the school’s ancestral masters and the Yin-Yang Secret Pill that had helped Jin Chang reach the True Self Realm.
• Zhang Xuezhou said he would seek pills from the King of Huainan himself if Jin Chang could not obtain them.
• At the Temple of Confucius, Zhang Xuezhou overheard Ren Anran debate Dong Zhongshu about the dangers of unchecked imperial power, but Dong Zhongshu ended the discussion without agreeing to her proposal.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding intercepted Dong Zhongshu as he left the temple, and Dong Zhongshu retreated when Zhang Xuezhou suggested that beating him would be easy.

Zhang Xuezhou enlisted Dong Zhongshu to help push Huo Qubing from the Divine Ability Realm toward the Sole Self Realm, explaining that Huo’s potential made him worth the vast investment. They then searched for Huo, who had left the palace to amuse himself, and learned he might be at Chang’an’s largest underground gambling house.

• Dong Zhongshu readily agreed to accompany Zhang Xuezhou after suspecting Zhang and the New Emperor had defeated the Dao Lord and Zhu Jiuyin.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Dong Zhongshu he wanted to help Huo Qubing advance to the Sole Self Realm, and Dong warned that the rapid cultivation push would be difficult and costly.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Huo’s value justified investing resources that could otherwise raise another cultivator to the True Self Realm.
• Zhang Xuezhou, Ren Anran, and Dong Zhongshu went to Wei Qing’s residence, but Huo was not there.
• Ren Anran said Huo had left the Palace of Eternal Faith to have fun, and Zhang asked Liu Xuan where Chang’an’s biggest gambling house was.
• Liu Xuan named the Crowing Hen Gambling House and warned that its owners used hidden-object games to lure gamblers into losing their money.

Zhang Xuezhou entered the Crowing Hen Gambling House with Liu Xuan and Rong Tianding, intending to win the ever-burning lamp Liu Xuan needed. He exposed the game expert’s sleight of hand, took the lamp, and recognized Huo Qubing and Lei Bei among the gambling house’s patrons and guards.

• Zhang Xuezhou and his companions entered the Crowing Hen Gambling House, where Liu Xuan explained its hidden-object games and his repeated failures to win a treasured lamp.
• Zhang Xuezhou offered a Life-Creating Fortune Pill to enter the high-stakes games and asked the gambling experts to wager a lamp against his bets.
• Zhang Xuezhou recognized Tian Tian, warned him to go to Weiyang Palace in his current clothes, and saw him leave for the New Emperor.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw through the game expert’s sleight of hand, called Huo Qubing over, and identified him as the friend who had lost money at the gambling house.
• Zhang Xuezhou guessed correctly, claimed the ever-burning lamp, and recognized Lei Bei as one of the guards, who said he worked there while visiting Chang'an City on official business.

Zhang Xuezhou demonstrated his cup-and-cover trick and gathered help for Huo Qubing to reach the Sole Self Realm. At Weiyang Palace, he witnessed Tian Tian lose his marquis title, then entered to meet the New Emperor, who asked why Huo Qubing would curse him.

• Zhang Xuezhou showed Huo Qubing and Lei Bei how his control over Fast and Slow let him make objects vanish, and Lei Bei asked to learn the trick.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to let Lei Bei watch if Huo Qubing trained, while Lei Bei boasted that he could have reached the Sole Self Realm at thirteen with proper guidance.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Anran he planned to enlist Yi Shuo and two powerful figures to help Huo Qubing, then headed to Weiyang Palace.
• The New Emperor stripped Tian Tian of his marquis title and ordered Xue Ze to investigate the theft of Tian Fen's estate.
• Zhang Xuezhou passed Tian Tian at the palace entrance without revealing his identity, entered Weiyang Palace, and told the New Emperor that Huo Qubing would soon curse him.

Zhang Xuezhou brought the New Emperor a Life-Creating Fortune Pill for the gravely ill Empress Dowager, whose condition stabilized after she took it. He then gathered allies to help Huo Qubing develop a Realm Technique and advance toward the Sole Self Realm, asking the Empress Dowager to guide the effort.

• The New Emperor asked Zhang Xuezhou whether the Immortal Court could cure the Empress Dowager, and Zhang offered its Life-Creating Fortune Pill as a safer option than Three Lights Divine Water.
• The Empress Dowager swallowed the pill, coughed up bloody fragments, and said her condition had stabilized, though she feared the Dao Lord's flying dagger would still kill her.
• The Empress Dowager welcomed Zhang Xuezhou and recognized that he had come with a purpose.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the Empress Dowager that he had made progress on the Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation Technique and asked her to identify Huo Qubing's shortcomings.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Dong Zhongshu, Ren Anran, Liu Xuan, Lei Bei, and the New Emperor had gathered to help Huo Qubing develop a Realm Technique and pursue the Sole Self Realm.

At the ruins of Xianyang, Zhang Xuezhou and Liu Xuan used a Great Qin sacrifice to push Huo Qubing toward the Sole Self Realm, despite the pain and danger. Huo Qubing broke free and fought through the ritual, while Zhang Xuezhou relied on healing pills and sparring to keep him alive as his cultivation developed.

• Liu Xuan began the sacrifice at Floating Slaughter, using a flaming sword and the souls of the dead to stimulate Huo Qubing’s cultivation.
• Wei Shao'er worried that the sacrifice would leave Huo Qubing with lasting problems, while Zhang Xuezhou reassured her and the New Emperor questioned how Huo Qubing could reach the Sole Self Realm.
• Huo Qubing broke his scorched ropes, seized a sword, and defeated Liu Xuan in a few exchanges.
• Zhang Xuezhou called on Lei Bei to take over the sparring, and Lei Bei quickly drove Huo Qubing back with his swordsmanship.
• Zhang Xuezhou prepared a Life-Creating Fortune Pill and explained that Huo Qubing’s healing, sparring, and guidance from the empress dowager would help him fuse his techniques and pursue the breakthrough.

Zhang Xuezhou joined Huo Qubing’s sword training and used his power of control to match Huo’s bizarre swordsmanship. After trading blows, Huo regained his senses and began mirroring Zhang’s style.

• Huo Qubing continued fighting rotating opponents while the empress dowager judged that he lacked the strength to advance toward the Sole Self Realm.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the empress dowager he intended to reach the True Self Realm, and she considered the risks of Huo’s training.
• The empress dowager explained that Huo needed an opponent who could withstand his swordsmanship and help him break through his confusion.
• Zhang Xuezhou took an iron sword and replaced the New Emperor in the sparring match with Huo Qubing.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s strange swordplay matched Huo’s, and after more than ten exchanges Huo regained his senses and began using the same style.

Zhang Xuezhou discovered that Huo Qubing could imitate special abilities and swordsmanship conceptions, learning most of his control over Fast and Slow before copying the New Emperor’s and Dong Zhongshu’s techniques. Huo Qubing’s growing skill suggested a path toward another swordsmanship Divine Ability, though sustaining it required large quantities of medicinal pills.

• Zhang Xuezhou taught Huo Qubing sword moves, and Huo Qubing learned roughly seventy to eighty percent of Zhang Xuezhou’s control over Fast and Slow.
• Zhang Xuezhou had the New Emperor use Defend the Borders against Huo Qubing, and Huo Qubing imitated the sword momentum.
• The empress dowager recognized Huo Qubing’s potential for a second swordsmanship Divine Ability and adjusted his Zhongni Qiguan Discourse.
• Dong Zhongshu took the New Emperor’s place, and Huo Qubing began imitating Dong Zhongshu’s unending, rain-like swordsmanship.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Huo Qubing’s endurance depended on medicinal pills, and Huo Qubing had already consumed more than twenty top-grade pills.

Zhang Xuezhou healed Huo Qubing and Lei Bei after their dangerous sword fight, then prepared Huo Qubing for a realm breakthrough to help refine the Yin-Yang School's Realm Technique. He told the New Emperor that Houtu had planted something in his head and accepted the emperor's offer of help; Huo Qubing's Qi and Blood then surged toward the heavens.

• Huo Qubing and Lei Bei nearly killed each other with their counterattacking sword techniques, and Zhang Xuezhou stopped their bleeding with the Supreme Purity True Technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou exposed Lei Bei's pretense of being injured and gave him a pill, then arranged pills and silver-needle treatment to help Huo Qubing attempt a breakthrough.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the New Emperor that he wanted to reach the True Self Realm to remove what Houtu had planted in his head, and the New Emperor offered his help.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that combining Huo Qubing's method with the Yin-Yang School's Realm Technique could help him reach the True Self Realm and aid the empress dowager's goals.
• Huo Qubing's Qi and Blood surged toward the heavens and gradually turned deep crimson, prompting Zhang Xuezhou to approach Dong Zhongshu.

After Huo Qubing reached the Sole Self Realm, the New Emperor discovered that Ren Anran was a Yang Corporeal Soul Body sustained by Spirit Jade, and the empress dowager became interested in learning her method. As the group prepared to return to Chang'an City, Zhang Xuezhou revealed that Zhu Jiuyin could also help the empress dowager, leaving the New Emperor worried about how she would react.

• The empress dowager questioned Yi Shuo about Zhang Xuezhou's new wife, while the New Emperor tried to redirect her attention.
• The New Emperor realized Ren Anran was using Spiritual Qi from Spirit Jade to sustain a Yang Corporeal Soul Body.
• Zhang Xuezhou announced that he had found a glimmer of hope for fusing his cultivation methods, and the imperial guards prepared the return to Chang'an City.
• The New Emperor told the empress dowager about Ren Anran's condition, prompting her to ask about Ren Anran's method.
• Zhang Xuezhou said he would introduce the empress dowager to someone who could help, then revealed that the person was Zhu Jiuyin's Yang Corporeal Soul Body.
• The New Emperor realized Zhu Jiuyin had been guarding Zhang Xuezhou's residence and worried about the empress dowager learning his identity.

Zhang Xuezhou practiced controlling the Yin-Yang Two-Qi Bottle while preparing for a True Self Realm breakthrough, and Jin Chang returned with pills after being pursued by the King of Huainan’s Household. News that Zhang Qian had returned from the Western Regions prompted Zhang Xuezhou to leave his residence to investigate, possibly hoping to find Wu Chao.

• Zhang Xuezhou continued practicing with the Yin-Yang Two-Qi Bottle and said he needed half a month to treat his remaining Cynomorium effects before attempting a breakthrough.
• Jin Chang arrived injured and admitted that Wu Bei, Li Shang, and Mao Bei had exposed and attacked him while he gathered pills.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Jin Chang to listen to Zhu Jiuyin and the others discussing a Technique, and said he was ready to meet the King of Huainan.
• Zhang Xuezhou examined the Yin-Yang Secret Pills Jin Chang brought and took one to test its effects.
• A messenger announced that Zhang Qian had returned, and Zhang Xuezhou wondered whether Wu Chao had come to Chang'an City as well.
• Zhang Xuezhou stored the pills and left his residence to see what was happening, while Liu Xuan questioned his priorities.

Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an after years in the Xiong State, while Wu Chao revealed that his family had been overthrown and sought Zhang Xuezhou’s help. After Wu Chao entered the palace, the New Emperor summoned Zhang Xuezhou, leaving him to discover why he was wanted.

• Zhang Xuezhou saw the gaunt Zhang Qian return to Chang'an carrying his damaged envoy's staff.
• Wu Chao told Zhang Xuezhou that his uncle had defeated his father and that his Lineage had fallen, with Kunlun, the Western Sect, and the Fire Worship Sect backing his uncle.
• Wu Chao explained that he had met Zhang Qian while escorting him back from the Western Aparagodaniya Continent, and that they had fled pursuing cultivators together for over two months.
• Wu Chao told Zhang Xuezhou that he wanted revenge, and Zhang Xuezhou advised him to stay with Zhang Qian and find a place in the Great Han Dynasty.
• An imperial eunuch summoned Wu Chao to the palace, and later another eunuch summoned Zhang Xuezhou to meet the New Emperor.

Zhang Xuezhou visited Weiyang Palace, where the New Emperor showed him seeds brought back by Zhang Qian and a map of the Western Regions. The New Emperor also revealed that Hu Nugan had translated the Prajna Heart Sutra, leaving Zhang Xuezhou considering how he could benefit from cultivating it.

• The New Emperor showed Zhang Xuezhou the seeds Zhang Qian had collected abroad, and Zhang Xuezhou urged him to have Xu Yuan breed them into improved varieties.
• The New Emperor summoned Xu Yuan and led Zhang Xuezhou to see Zhang Qian drawing a map of the Western Regions.
• Zhang Xuezhou praised the map's usefulness but cautioned that it needed verification, while the New Emperor described Wei Qing, Li Xi, and Han Anguo's victory in Henan and plans to build Wuyuan Commandery and Shuofang Commandery.
• The New Emperor told Zhang Xuezhou that Zhang Qian's guide Hu Nugan understood scriptures and had translated the Prajna Heart Sutra.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized Wu Chao had likely translated the sutra and considered cultivating it to improve his mental strength while he waited for the Cynomorium power to dissipate.

Zhang Xuezhou used the Prajna Heart Sutra and Nine Treasures Wine to test whether he could pass the Western Sect’s cultivation trial, while Wu Chao and the New Emperor watched. Jieyin exposed Zhang Xuezhou’s deception and attacked him through the Thought Power radiance, leaving the palace in danger as Zhang Xuezhou fought back.

• Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an City and began recording what he had learned during his years in Xiong State and his travels.
• Wu Chao translated the Prajna Heart Sutra and explained that its cultivation relied on painful movements and required special resources.
• Zhang Xuezhou drank Nine Treasures Wine and practiced the sutra, causing his Thought Power radiance to grow brighter as he spoke to Jieyin while pretending to be Wu Chao.
• Jieyin recognized that Zhang Xuezhou was not Wu Chao and accused him of stealing the Western Sect’s secret art.
• Jieyin sent blood-red light to attack Zhang Xuezhou, who drank more Nine Treasures Wine and intensified his Thought Power radiance.
• The New Emperor stumbled from the danger, while Wu Chao suffered bleeding from his eyes and nostrils and fled the palace chamber.

Zhang Xuezhou used his abundant mental strength to advance the Mental Strengthening Chapter while Sect Master Jieyin’s hidden control in the Prajna Heart Sutra ravaged his consciousness. He broke the bloody control and severed their mental connection, leaving Sect Master Jieyin in pain.

• Zhang Xuezhou endured Sect Master Jieyin’s repeated attacks while using the Nine Treasures Wine and his mental reserves to advance the Mental Strengthening Chapter.
• Zhang Xuezhou taunted Sect Master Jieyin and concealed his identity behind the blinding light of his Thought Power.
• Sect Master Jieyin questioned Zhang Xuezhou about his cultivation and offered to teach him further, but Zhang Xuezhou refused to trust him.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s mental strength reached a new level, and galaxies appeared in his eyes as he turned his power against Jieyin’s control.
• Zhang Xuezhou wrapped the bloody red light in his mental sea with the galaxy, breaking the control and severing the connection between their minds.

Zhang Xuezhou’s progress in the Prajna Heart Sutra stalled, and after drinking heavily he appeared to walk bent over, alarming the New Emperor. The New Emperor ordered him escorted home and postponed further plans until he sobered up, while Wu Chao recognized that Zhang Xuezhou held an unusually important place in the Great Han Dynasty.

• Zhang Xuezhou abandoned further progress in the Prajna Heart Sutra for now and reflected on strengthening his mental power and survival abilities.
• The New Emperor found Zhang Xuezhou dizzy after he drank more than a hundred jin of Nine Treasures Wine, and Zhang Xuezhou left the palace in a bent posture.
• The New Emperor confirmed with Hu Nugan and the guards that Zhang Xuezhou really was walking bent over, then ordered Chief Guard Mao to escort him out and keep people away.
• The New Emperor questioned Wu Chao about his translation of the Prajna Heart Sutra and arranged for him to recuperate with a medical officer.
• Wu Chao saw the New Emperor’s true self realm strength and concluded that Zhang Xuezhou was far more than an ordinary official in the Great Han Dynasty.

After cultivating the Prajna Heart Sutra, Zhang Xuezhou discovered that his transformed spiritual power was distorting others’ perception of space. He suppressed the effect and identified an Incantation Technique tied to the empress dowager’s hairpin as the obstacle to her cultivation.

• Zhang Xuezhou rested after his cultivation and woke at night with his senses sharpened.
• He joined the others and learned that the empress dowager’s injured spirit and soul were preventing her from escaping her body.
• Zhu Jiuyin and the others saw multiple afterimages of Zhang Xuezhou, and Zhu Jiuyin recognized that Zhang Xuezhou’s spiritual power had distorted their perception of space.
• Zhang Xuezhou confirmed that the effect was a domain created by his transformed spirit, then used the Prajna Heart Sutra to draw in its radiance and control the power leaking out.
• Zhang Xuezhou pulled the empress dowager’s ebony hairpin into his hand and identified it as the medium for an Incantation Technique disrupting her cultivation.

Zhang Xuezhou prepared for his next traversal and tried to take Ren Anran with him, but learned that crossing between worlds required balanced exchanges. Hongjun offered to send Ren Anran back if Zhang Xuezhou helped him obtain the Void Heaven Hall.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Yi Shuo that killing the Great Chanyu would not end the war and asked her to give Wu Chao some pills when he visited.
• Zhang Xuezhou prepared to return to the real world and agreed that Yi Shuo could someday travel with Ren Anran.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the giant tree's flower chamber with Ren Anran's divine soul, but they did not begin traversing.
• Hongjun explained that carrying another person between worlds required a counterpart of similar power to preserve balance.
• Hongjun offered to help send Ren Anran back if Zhang Xuezhou helped him obtain the Void Heaven Hall.

After returning from the other world, Zhang Xuezhou helped Ren Anran verify a path to the True Self Realm while learning of Zhang Manqian’s progress and a vision of him being struck by endless lightning. He began adapting the Twelve-Zhang Golden Body Instruction to prepare for that possible future.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Anran that his fusion method had brought her close to the True Self Realm, and Ren Anran began testing the method at Sinkhole No. 2.
• Zhang Manqian told Zhang Xuezhou that she had entered the Divine Ability Realm and turned the Supreme Purity True Technique into a healing Divine Ability.
• Zhang Manqian foresaw Zhang Xuezhou wailing as endless lightning struck him, and Zhang Xuezhou considered how to survive the attack.
• Zhang Xuezhou studied the Jade Emperor’s Twelve-Zhang Golden Body Instruction and incorporated the Heavenly Form Technique into three versions of it.

As reports of evolving Ferocious Beasts spread, Zhang Xuezhou prepared for future threats and went to the B13 Research Institute to collect a specially designed gun. There, he joined a crowd watching Luo Burang demonstrate his breakthrough to the Eighth Sequence, while Ren Yisheng warned that others could not easily replicate it.

• Zhang Xuezhou refined the Yin-Yang School Realm Technique and devised ways to combine it with the Twelve-Zhang Golden Body Instruction as preparation for facing the Half-Step Dimensional Ascension Holder in Qinmeng.
• After leaving Sinkhole No. 2, Zhang Xuezhou received reports of aggressive evolving Ferocious Beasts appearing across several regions and learned that an Aberrant Beast chicken had appeared at the B13 Research Institute.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Mengtesi Badun for information about the Half-Step Dimensional Ascension Holder in Qinmeng and the Fire Meteor creatures, then learned from Li Yingbo that Song Bu'er had made him a twenty-four-round gun with specially designed bullets.
• At the institute, Zhen Mei told Zhang Xuezhou that people had gathered to watch Luo Burang demonstrate how he used the Innate One Qi Technique to reach the Eighth Sequence.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng cautioned the crowd that Luo Burang's inherited mental power gave him an advantage others were unlikely to share, then Zhang Xuezhou saw Ren Yisheng preparing to demonstrate.