Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou confirmed that Luo Zhong’s head showed no signs of life, leaving everyone unsure whether Luo Zhong was dead or had escaped. He returned the specimen to Zhou Yueyan and agreed to supply her with medicinal liquid, while she urged him to develop stronger vomiting medicine.

• Zhang Xuezhou tested Luo Zhong’s head and reported that it showed no signs of life, and Ren Yisheng and the others accepted that Luo Zhong’s fate remained uncertain.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned the boxed head to Zhou Yueyan, explaining that he had only wanted to take photos.
• Zhou Yueyan agreed to the arrangement and invited Zhang Xuezhou to brew and collect ten liters of medicinal liquid with her.
• Zhou Yueyan urged Zhang Xuezhou to make stronger vomiting medicine and offered to fund his work.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that he needed a natural plant ten times stronger than bitter lotus, and Zhou Yueyan remained determined to concentrate the medicine herself.

Zhang Xuezhou helped Zhou Yueyan improve her vomiting medicine and learned that she hoped to use it to incapacitate Ferocious Beasts for hunting. Zhou Yueyan also explained that Ferocious Beasts were necessary for reaching the Seventh Sequence and that their extracts could cause powerful mutations, leaving Zhang Xuezhou interested in the path to advancement.

• Zhou Yueyan tasted Zhang Xuezhou's freshly made medicine and found it more effective than the batches she had prepared herself.
• Zhou Yueyan revealed that she wanted to use the medicine to make Ferocious Beasts vomit so hunters could capture them, while Zhang Xuezhou pointed out how difficult it would be to administer it.
• Zhou Yueyan explained that strong acid and injected anesthetics failed against berserk Ferocious Beasts, and said her father would enter the Twilight Years Mansion in a week as the Zhou Household faced an unknown threat.
• Zhou Yueyan told Zhang Xuezhou that compatibility with Ferocious Beasts was required to reach the Seventh Sequence and that extracts could induce mutations in Sixth Sequence Holders.
• Zhang Xuezhou became interested in mutation as a way for himself and his companions to advance through the Sequences.

Zhang Xuezhou suggested sending Zhou Xin to Qinmeng so he could avoid confinement in the Twilight Years Mansion and hunt Ferocious Beasts for the Zhou Household. Zhou Xin agreed to the dangerous plan, but the proposed vomiting drug remained untested on Ferocious Beasts.

• Zhang Xuezhou proposed that Zhou Xin leave Western Capital City and live in Qinmeng to avoid harming the Lineages while hunting Ferocious Beasts.
• Zhou Yueyan realized Qinmeng was the only viable destination and admitted her family had not considered the plan.
• Zhou Yueyan called Zhou Xin, who accepted the plan because he preferred using his remaining years in Qinmeng to spending them confined in the Twilight Years Mansion.
• Zhou Xin asked whether the vomiting drug would work on Ferocious Beasts without damaging their quality, but Zhang Xuezhou and Zhou Yueyan could not guarantee it.

Zhang Xuezhou chatted with Luo Gaogao and Zuo Teng about their victories in the Sequencing contests and guessed that Zuo Jin had lost. As the world transition drew near, Ning Que contacted him to reveal that he had won the Sequencing championship through a grueling series of fights.

• Zhang Xuezhou exchanged messages with Luo Gaogao, who said he was unhappy despite winning because he would soon part from his father.
• Zhang Xuezhou invited Zuo Teng over after Zuo Teng offered two high-grade blood serums for Zhang Xuezhou's sister.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian concluded that Zuo Jin had probably lost the Third Sequence contest after fighting Zuo Quan and Professor Luo Hui.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed Ning Que flooding his messages and learned that Ning Que had won the Sequencing championship after fighting forty-three matches in eleven days.

Ning Que won the Sequencing stage contest but feared that powerful people would target him for its valuable rewards, so he asked Zhang Xuezhou for help. Zhang Xuezhou agreed to bring him along and arranged for the Zhou Household to protect him, leaving Ning Que with a path toward the Third Sequence.

• Ning Que told Zhang Xuezhou how his martial arts background and grueling run of forty-three fights had helped him win the contest and earn valuable prizes.
• Ning Que explained that people were watching him and that he feared danger if he left the venue alone.
• Zhang Manqian admired Ning Que's achievement and asked whether they could protect him.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to give Ning Que a chance, provided he did not bring trouble down on them.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Sister Zhou to take Ning Que to Western Capital City and arrange for him to serve as Tianhao's bodyguard for a while.
• Zhou Yueyan accepted the arrangement after Zhang Xuezhou promised a guarantee and offered her emetics.

Zhang Xuezhou reflected on how he used connections and resources to advance, then traveled to the other world. At the Song Household venue, Zhou Yueyan collected Ning Que, but a strange injury caused him to see a gray-white dragon.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke from his dream and went to the other world.
• Zhou Yueyan arrived at the Song Household venue and drove off people hoping to claim Sequence Contest rewards without approval.
• Zhou Yueyan found Ning Que, who confirmed her identity using Zhang Xuezhou's crude drawing.
• Zhou Yueyan warned Ning Que that the committee would track and reclaim rewards obtained illegally, then handed him a gift box containing a human head.
• The container shattered in the car, and a sharp fragment injured Ning Que's hand as he saw a gray-white, five-clawed dragon.
• Ning Que used the Nine Swords of Dugu to heal the injury, but a gray, corroded-looking patch remained on his palm.

Zhang Xuezhou searched Chang’an for Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo after learning they had left together with a shovel. He gathered information from passersby and used a memory technique on an old woodcutter, ending with the old man’s recollection of where they had gone.

• Zhang Xuezhou discovered Rong Tianding was missing and learned from Di Rang that Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo had taken a shovel toward Old Tree Alley.
• Zhang Xuezhou searched the alley and nearby streets, considering whether the pair had gone to Holy Mother Wudang’s territory, Yang Mausoleum, or some other underground site.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed red lanterns across Chang’an and heard that a powerful Buddha was conducting a calamity-dispelling ritual at Yang Mausoleum.
• Zhang Xuezhou displayed portraits of Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo and offered a reward, dismissing several people who tried to deceive him.
• An old woodcutter recalled seeing the pair, and Zhang Xuezhou used an incantation and finger technique to bring the relevant memory to the surface.

Zhang Xuezhou followed Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo’s trail toward the Yang Mausoleum, where crowds had gathered to see a monk’s ritual. From a nearby mountain, he spotted Rong Tianding in a village below and discovered that Yi Shuo and Kong Anguo were with him.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned that Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo had left Chang'an the previous morning and hired a carriage to search along the road to the Yang Mausoleum.
• The carriage driver told Zhang Xuezhou about the lanterns and wondrous sights at the mausoleum, then took him to a nearby mountain for a distant view.
• Zhang Xuezhou climbed the mountain and surveyed the sea of red lanterns covering the Yang Mausoleum.
• From the mountain, Zhang Xuezhou spotted a burly figure carrying food into a village hut and suspected it was Rong Tianding.
• Zhang Xuezhou sent out his Yang Corporeal Soul and confirmed that Rong Tianding was cooking while Yi Shuo and Kong Anguo spoke inside the hut.

Zhang Xuezhou found Rong Tianding among Shen Peigong’s group at the Yang Mausoleum and secretly gave him a bottle to add to the evening meal. As Shen Peigong’s followers continued digging a tunnel toward the mausoleum, Shen defended his cause to Kong Anguo by arguing that justice was defined by those who won.

• Zhang Xuezhou followed Rong Tianding to the kitchen and learned that Shen Peigong’s group had captured him and put him to work cooking.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Rong Tianding he would seek a chance to free him after dark, then secretly passed him a porcelain bottle to add to the group’s meal.
• Ye Siqian and the others complained about digging through frozen ground as they worked to complete a tunnel toward the Yang Mausoleum.
• Shen Peigong explained that the tunnel would let him strike the new emperor, the grand empress dowager, and the King of Huainan during the ritual.
• Kong Anguo challenged Shen Peigong over whether his actions amounted to rebellion, and Shen argued that victory determined who was called a rebel and what counted as justice.

Zhang Xuezhou tried to rescue Rong Tianding from Shen Peigong’s guarded mountain village but failed to carry him far, so Rong Tianding secretly followed his instructions and poisoned the group’s food with Water of Eternity. Shen Peigong prepared his Sword-Drawing Life-Slaying Technique and sensed that the grand empress dowager had left Chang’an City.

• Zhang Xuezhou swooped down to carry Rong Tianding away, but dropped him after less than a hundred meters because he was too heavy.
• Zhou Ba searched for the attacker with his Law Treasure, while Rong Tianding pretended he had not seen what had taken him.
• Rong Tianding added two drops from Zhang Xuezhou’s porcelain bottle to the meat broth before serving the meal.
• Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo bickered as Shen Peigong sent them back to their rooms.
• Shen Peigong explained that he was weakening himself to prepare the Sword-Drawing Life-Slaying Technique and sensed that the grand empress dowager had left Chang’an City.

Zhang Xuezhou restrained Shen Peigong’s Yang Corporeal Soul during an encounter near Yang Mausoleum, then let him go and fled with Yi Shuo and Rong Tianding. As the group rode toward Wei Shao'er’s thatched hut, they spotted the grand empress dowager’s torchlit procession approaching the mausoleum.

• Shen Peigong sent his Yang Corporeal Soul to investigate and Zhang Xuezhou trapped it, forcing Shen to plead for release.
• Zhang Xuezhou let Shen Peigong go, and the two returned to their bodies and fled in opposite directions.
• Zhang Xuezhou caught up with Yi Shuo and Rong Tianding, who had fled less than twenty meters, and admitted he could not deal with Shen.
• Zhang Xuezhou took Yi Shuo and Rong Tianding on the black and white demon horses toward Wei Shao'er's thatched hut.
• Zhang Xuezhou spotted the grand empress dowager’s procession heading toward Yang Mausoleum and turned the group toward the mountains.

Zhang Xuezhou reflected on the dangers of clashing with imperial Fortune, then sent his Yang Corporeal Soul to the Yang Mausoleum to observe the Grand Empress Dowager. There, he discovered her meeting Daoist Master Randeng, who was searching for Rulai and the Sea-Calming Treasure Pearls.

• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that cultivating Fortune might bring him into conflict with the emperor, but his fear of death drove him to keep pursuing power.
• Zhang Xuezhou took Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo to Wei Shao'er's empty hut outside Chang'an, where they warmed themselves while he projected his Yang Corporeal Soul toward the Yang Mausoleum.
• Zhang Xuezhou mingled with the Grand Empress Dowager's cavalry convoy and followed it to Emperor Jing's mausoleum.
• The Grand Empress Dowager told Daoist Master Randeng that she had not found Rulai and that she was still searching for the Sea-Calming Treasure Pearls.
• Daoist Master Randeng said Zhu Jiuyin would not surrender his Grotto-Heaven Treasure Pearl, so he planned to search for other pearls instead.

Daoist Randeng began a ritual at the imperial mausoleum to guide the dead and disperse the Yin Sha Qi afflicting the grand empress dowager. As he explained that the painful extraction from her body would not begin until the third watch, she realized she had already been enduring the ritual’s other effects.

• Daoist Randeng warned the grand empress dowager that the mausoleum’s formation could turn the dead into mindless creatures and that removing the Yin Sha Qi from her would be difficult.
• The grand empress dowager agreed to help Daoist Randeng search for the Buddha’s son and his lost treasures in exchange for his aid.
• Daoist Randeng used the grand empress dowager’s blood to create a lotus and began guiding the dead with the Netherworld Fire in the Coffin Lamp.
• White lotuses spread across the mausoleum as Daoist Randeng explained that they represented the dead and that their resentment had to dissipate for the Sha Qi to dissolve.
• The grand empress dowager endured sharp pain and asked Daoist Randeng to draw out her Sha Qi more slowly.
• Daoist Randeng said he would begin drawing the Sha Qi from her body at the third watch, and the grand empress dowager realized that he had not started doing so yet.

The Grand Empress Dowager was struck by a powerful killing curse and suspected someone was draining her vitality from nearby. After taking a Life-Creating Fortune Pill, she enlisted Daoist Randeng to search for the hidden caster, refusing to flee the Yang Mausoleum.

• The Grand Empress Dowager recognized that someone was using a strand of her hair to guide a killing curse, while Daoist Randeng realized she was under attack.
• Cheng Bushi ordered the imperial guards to search the Yang Mausoleum, exposing traps but finding no caster.
• The Grand Empress Dowager considered the King of Huainan and Shen Pei as suspects, then ordered a thorough search within five li.
• The Grand Empress Dowager took a Life-Creating Fortune Pill to slow the curse's damage to her vitality.
• Daoist Randeng drew the Sha Qi away with the Coffin Lamp and urged the Grand Empress Dowager to leave, but she insisted on finding and killing the caster, whom she believed was within a few li.

As Shen Peigong’s hidden curse weakened the Grand Empress Dowager, she and Daoist Randeng tried to find a way to survive until his ritual could purge the Sha Qi. Randeng burned the Yin beings and Sha Qi with the Coffin Lamp, but the Grand Empress Dowager realized his promised reincarnation was a deception, leaving her uneasy about what remained.

• Zhang Xuezhou watched the search of the Yang Mausoleum and looked for the hidden passage Shen Peigong might be using to curse the Grand Empress Dowager.
• Cavalry guards reported two newly dug passages leading to Emperor Jing’s burial chamber, and the Grand Empress Dowager suspected tomb robbers had made them.
• The Grand Empress Dowager asked Daoist Randeng to draw the Sha Qi out early because her last Life-Creating Fortune Pill would sustain her for only two hours.
• Daoist Randeng recited the Rebirth Sutra and used the Coffin Lamp to ignite the red lanterns, burning the Yin beings and their Sha Qi to ash.
• The Grand Empress Dowager recognized that the convicts had not been reincarnated and grew uneasy that Randeng still needed the Netherworld Fire to burn away the Sha Qi inside her.

Daoist Randeng’s Coffin Lamp failed to contain the surging Sha Qi from a supreme treasure inside the Yang Mausoleum, forcing him to abandon his attempt to cleanse the Grand Empress Dowager. The treasure began emerging from the tomb as the Grand Empress Dowager tried to organize a response.

• Daoist Randeng activated the Coffin Lamp, but its Netherworld Fire caused nearby guards and eunuchs to suffer spirit-burning pain.
• Daoist Randeng traced the endless Sha Qi to a supreme treasure inside the tomb and warned the Grand Empress Dowager that he could not hold out against it.
• The Grand Empress Dowager realized the Heaven-Shaking Arrow was still inside and suspected Zhu Jiuyin had tampered with the tomb.
• Daoist Randeng refused to remove the Sha Qi from the Grand Empress Dowager and told her the treasure would turn anyone who touched it into a mindless zombie.
• The Grand Empress Dowager ordered people to dig into the tomb and seal the treasure, but Daoist Randeng shouted that the treasure was coming out.

The Grand Empress Dowager fled the Yang Mausoleum after sensing danger, and the backlash of a hidden curse injured its caster as well. She realized the curse was a Fate Technique that had cut into her lifespan, while Daoist Randeng admitted the Sha Qi source remained unresolved and claimed a treasure had escaped.

• The Grand Empress Dowager sensed Sha Qi near the imperial mausoleum and ordered Cheng Bushi to evacuate her and withdraw the troops.
• As they fled, the Grand Empress Dowager felt the Incantation Technique reverse and concluded that its caster had suffered the backlash.
• The Grand Empress Dowager realized the curse was a Fate Technique that had attacked her lifespan, which the Life-Creating Fortune Pill could not restore.
• Daoist Randeng said a treasure had fled from the Coffin Lamp and speculated that it escaped through a yin creature or another means.
• The Grand Empress Dowager doubted Daoist Randeng's explanation as the Sha Qi remained in the mausoleum and in her body.

During the chaos at Yang Mausoleum, Daoist Randeng followed Zhang Xuezhou’s Yang Corporeal Soul to a village and discovered a hidden tunnel linked to the mausoleum. He entered to find its builders, but an icy, foul stench struck him before he could defend himself.

• Zhang Xuezhou fled the turmoil at Yang Mausoleum as a Yang Corporeal Soul, and Daoist Randeng spotted and pursued him.
• Daoist Randeng called out to Zhang Xuezhou, who led him over the mausoleum wall to a village.
• Following the Yang Corporeal Soul into a thatched hut, Daoist Randeng found a passage underground and realized it could lead toward the person who had attacked the grand empress dowager.
• Daoist Randeng entered the tunnel and encountered five short, sturdy dwarfs who appeared to have dug it, then retreated to avoid triggering a collapse.
• As the dwarfs urged him onward, an icy, fishy stench surged through the tunnel and hurt Daoist Randeng when he breathed it in.

Zhang Xuezhou escaped Daoist Randeng’s flames, reflected on how fortune shaped the night’s outcome, and returned to Chang’an with Yi Shuo and Rong Tianding. At the city gate, they encountered Kong Zhong and the others, who had fled on foot.

• Zhang Xuezhou led Daoist Randeng toward the tunnel, then withdrew as blue flames erupted from the mountain village.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw the Grand Empress Dowager returning from the Yang Mausoleum alive and concluded that her fortune had protected her and brought trouble upon Shen Peigong.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to his body and waited out the night with Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo before setting off for Chang'an at daybreak.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding told Yi Shuo that they had run back on foot, leaving her confused about the horses she remembered riding.
• Zhang Xuezhou, Yi Shuo, and Rong Tianding reached the city gate and spotted Kong Zhong and the others waiting to enter.

After surviving the mountain disaster, Zhang Xuezhou and his companions returned to Chang'an with Kong Anguo and Kong Zhong, who thanked him for lending them the Sage Token. Kong Anguo identified the subdued black pearl as possibly the Marquis of Sui's Pearl, and Zhang Xuezhou realized the King of Huainan might intend to use it to control Emperor Jing's corpse and seize the throne.

• Zhang Xuezhou and the Kong family entered Chang'an City through the gate, where they met and exchanged greetings.
• Zhang Xuezhou invited Kong Anguo, Kong Zhong, and their companions to breakfast, and Kong Anguo thanked him for lending the Sage Token that had protected them.
• Kong Zhong offered Zhang Xuezhou a black pearl as repayment for the Sage Token, explaining that Sage Kong had subdued the fierce creature it contained.
• Kong Anguo said the pearl might be an Enlightenment Pearl, a demon's inner core, or the Marquis of Sui's Pearl, a treasure reputed to control yin entities.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled Jin Chang's visit to the Yang Mausoleum and suspected that the King of Huainan wanted to control Emperor Jing's corpse to force the new emperor to abdicate.