Chapter Summaries

After Si Jingyu promised to celebrate Si Huaruo’s birthday, she returned to find her grandmother Si Jingzhi punishing the people who had failed to stop her from sneaking out. Si Jingzhi restrained Si Jingyu and told her that, as the next Lineage head, her actions affected many others.

• Si Jingyu promised Si Huaruo that she would celebrate her birthday and told her she was her friend.
• Si Jingyu returned to her courtyard and found her teachers, servants, and guards being flogged for failing to keep watch.
• Si Jingyu tried to stop the flogging and offered to take the punishment herself.
• Si Jingzhi restrained Si Jingyu and said the staff deserved punishment, while Si Jingyu had to remember her responsibilities as the next Lineage head.

Si Jingyu watched Si Jingzhi kill Yutao and Siyan after using the punishment to teach her about power and status. She accepted her grandmother’s lesson outwardly, while Si Jingzhi began to fear what her granddaughter might become; the next day, Si Jingyu sent a letter to Si Huaruo to explain that she could not keep their appointment.

• Si Jingyu threatened the martial masters with her future authority as young clan head and persuaded them to stop beating Yutao, Siyan, and the others.
• Si Jingzhi praised Si Jingyu’s use of her position, then killed Yutao and Siyan with two lashes and told Si Jingyu their deaths were because of her.
• Si Jingyu tried to revive the maids with True Qi, then vowed to change the clan’s rules when she became clan head.
• Si Jingzhi advised Si Jingyu to keep her ambitions secret and warned that losing her position would put many people in danger.
• The next day, Si Jingyu sent her wet nurse to deliver a letter to Si Huaruo explaining that she could not go out for their appointment.

Si Jingyu’s letter to Si Huaruo was intercepted, leaving Si Huaruo waiting alone and unaware of the trouble Si Jingyu faced. An elder showed Si Huaruo how demanding Si Jingyu’s daily life was, and Si Huaruo realized she had never understood or helped her friend.

• Si Jingzhi received Si Jingyu’s letter but kept it from reaching Si Huaruo, then told Si Jingyu it had been delivered.
• Si Jingyu realized the letter had been intercepted and decided to build her own support while training to surpass her grandmother within three years.
• Si Huaruo waited through the night for Si Jingyu, then met an elder who offered to show her why Si Jingyu had not come.
• The elder carried Si Huaruo to the school, where she watched Si Jingyu spend the day attending tightly scheduled lessons and taking brief rests.
• Si Huaruo understood Si Jingyu’s hardships and regretted that she had complained to her without ever helping her.

Si Huaruo prepared to challenge Si Jingyu after years of repeated defeats, hoping to free her from the lessons and obligations keeping her confined. After seven days of special training with Si Ming, she went to the ancestral hall determined to fight for victory at the grand ancestral worship ceremony.

• Si Huaruo repeatedly challenged Si Jingyu, losing more than a hundred times but refusing to give up.
• Si Huaruo trained with Si Ming for seven days before the ancestral worship ceremony.
• Si Ming urged Si Huaruo to abandon her resigned attitude and fight with all her resolve.
• Si Huaruo regained her confidence and headed with Si Ming to the ancestral hall, where the clanspeople had gathered according to their standing.

Si Ming accompanied Si Huaruo into the Si Clan’s ancestral courtyard, where Si Jingyu defended him against the elders’ complaints before Si Huaruo challenged her. After the lengthy ancestor worship ceremony, Si Jingyu was appointed next clan leader, but Si Huaruo publicly objected.

• Si Ming swaggered into the inner clan grounds and knocked out an elderly woman who tried to stop him, while Si Jingyu dismissed the elders’ complaints and defended him.
• Si Jingzhi and other elders criticized Si Jingyu’s reforms and discussed reminding her to slow down.
• Si Huaruo and Si Jingyu exchanged barbed remarks ahead of their anticipated duel, then paused their confrontation for the ceremony.
• Si Ming respectfully followed the ancestor worship rites, which lasted from morning until afternoon.
• Si Jingzhi handed the jade staff to Si Jingyu and formally announced her as the next clan leader.
• Si Huaruo stepped forward and objected to Si Jingyu’s appointment.

Si Huaruo rejected her mother's scheme before facing Si Jingyu in a duel, determined to win fairly and prove herself. Si Huamu was shaken by her daughter's words and confronted the obsession behind her desire to reclaim the clan leader's position.

• Si Ming noticed that Si Shuiyun was organizing a counteroffensive against his efforts to shape opinion about the duel, and they discussed preparing to suppress resistance.
• Si Jingyu accepted Si Huaruo's challenge, and the crowd followed them to a lotus platform on the island's western shore.
• Si Jingyue urged Si Jingyu to protect herself and not worry about winning, while Si Jingyu stepped onto the platform.
• Si Huaruo returned a porcelain bottle to Si Huamu without using its contents and said she would win fairly.
• Si Huaruo told Si Huamu that the clan leader's position was not what her mother truly wanted to reclaim, leaving Si Huamu speechless and stirring her to question her own obsession.

Si Huaruo and Si Jingyu's duel reached a stalemate after Si Huaruo revealed a martial art designed to counter Si Jingyu's Countercurrent Divine Gang. As Si Jingyu prepared to fight on, an attacker stabbed Si Jingyue in the crowd.

• Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo exchanged powerful divine arts before Si Jingyu closed the distance and forced a palm-to-palm clash.
• Si Huaruo was injured by the clash, but Si Jingyu was frozen by Si Huaruo's Counter-Wave Ice Firmament.
• Si Huaruo revealed she had developed the counter because she believed Si Jingyu would master Countercurrent Divine Gang.
• Si Jingyu suppressed most of the cold Qi and prepared to use Marrow-Extracting Spirit-Tormenting Claw against Si Huaruo.
• A thin figure rushed from the crowd and stabbed Si Jingyue in the lower abdomen as she watched the duel.

During the ancestral worship ceremony, an assassin attacked Si Jingyue, and the discovery of a forged clan head token sparked accusations against Si Huamu and Si Shuiyun. Si Shuiyun revealed that the fake token’s scratches proved it had been made before Lord Yue took office, leaving the crowd to reconsider who had arranged the attack.

• Si Shuiyun subdued the assassin after she attacked Si Jingyue, but the assassin died from poison after calling Si Huamu her aunt.
• Si Yuewen argued that Si Huamu had no reason to arrange the attack, and the clanspeople agreed to search the assassin’s body in public.
• The search uncovered a crescent-shaped white jade token, prompting Si Huamu and Si Yuewen to accuse Si Shuiyun of staging the attack.
• Si Shuiyun produced Lord Yue’s genuine token, and elders confirmed that it was authentic.
• Si Shuiyun showed that the genuine token bore thirty-five scratches while the fake bore thirty-four, proving the forgery predated Lord Yue’s tenure and stirring an uproar.

Si Shuiyun confronted Si Jingzhi over evidence that she had plotted against the Si Clan, while Si Ming defeated the elder generation who backed her. Si Jingzhi was captured, and Si Shuiyun explained that Si Ming had subdued the remaining opponents as the clan’s resistance collapsed.

• Guan Chong said that someone had shown him Si Jingzhi's token and promised to help destroy the Si Clan from within, but that ally never appeared.
• Si Shuiyun asked to search Si Jingzhi's residence, and Si Jingzhi's former followers gathered to protect her.
• Si Ming charged into the crowd, broke Si Jingzhi's arm, scattered her supporters, and let Si Shuiyun pin her down.
• Si Shuiyun told Si Jingzhi that the eldest miss considered her a burden and explained that the clan's men had been given equal opportunities to learn martial arts to win Guan Chong's trust.
• Si Jingzhi warned that empowering the men would bring disorder, while Si Shuiyun said the dissenters were the elders Si Ming was fighting.
• Si Ming defeated more than twenty elderly martial artists, then asked Si Shuiyun why she was still standing.

Si Jingyu’s faction attacked Si Jingzhi’s elders while Si Huamu chose to remain neutral, sealing the old clan head’s political decline. Meanwhile, Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo reached the climax of their duel on the lake, where Huaruo used the Yinkang Great Dance and then invoked the Nine Luminaries Sacred Radiance.

• Si Jingzhi revealed that she had placed the Withered Meridian Needle in Si Ming’s body, leaving him unable to cultivate Internal Cultivation, and Si Ming reacted with shock.
• Si Huamu accepted Si Yuewen’s advice to stay out of the conflict, while Si Yuewen completed her undercover mission and considered the coming contest between Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo.
• Si Huamu and Si Yuewen sensed Spiritual Qi changing around the lotus arena and realized Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo were using their ultimate moves.
• Si Jingyu struck Si Huaruo with the Meridian-Shattering Goosefoot Heart Palm, and both women suffered injuries when their techniques met.
• Si Jingyu pursued Si Huaruo with the Marrow-Extracting Spirit-Tormenting Claw, but Huaruo drew her off the lotus platform and countered with the Yinkang Great Dance across the lake.
• Si Jingyu recognized that the dance could be countered with a forceful attack, and Si Huaruo answered by invoking the Nine Luminaries Sacred Radiance.

Si Huaruo and Si Jingyu’s sparring match escalated into a desperate fight, with both unleashing ultimate moves. As they prepared to clash, Si Ming attacked the fleeing Si Jingzhi and demanded an explanation.

• Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo traded accusations about their friendship and fought until they abandoned their techniques and fell into the lake, both injured.
• Si Jingyu unleashed Ten Thousand Souls' Deep Grievances, Fate Follows Evil, while Si Huaruo drew on the Water Moon Precious Mirror and used Dusk Snow and Sunken Shadows Seal Heaven's Gate.
• Si Shuiyun and Si Ming realized they could not reach the fighters in time to stop their ultimate moves from colliding.
• Si Ming spotted Si Jingzhi trying to flee, lunged at her, and demanded an explanation.
• Si Jingzhi invoked Hundred Gods Sacrifice Five, Tiger God, and Si Ming called her a kitty.

Si Ming defeated and disabled Si Jingzhi while Si Huaruo turned the tide of her duel with Si Jingyu by using the lake’s moisture to empower her ice technique. Si Jingyu conceded, and the two women reconciled after recognizing how they had helped each other.

• Si Ming struck Si Jingzhi with his fists and Blood-Burning Finger, knocking out her teeth and disabling her legs.
• Si Huaruo used the lake’s moisture to create five ice tornadoes that overwhelmed Si Jingyu’s ghostly attack and formed a colossal ice tower.
• Si Jingyu admitted defeat, and Si Huamu wept with joy as her daughter won.
• Si Shuiyun defended Si Jingyu’s motives when Si Jingzhi mocked the result, and Si Ming silenced Si Jingzhi.
• Si Huaruo collapsed from exhaustion, and Si Jingyu caught her and praised her as the victor.
• Si Huaruo apologized for challenging Si Jingyu, and Si Jingyu said those challenges had helped keep her from falling into darkness.

Si Jingyu consolidated her power after defeating Si Jingzhi and sentenced her former clan head grandmother to lifelong confinement. Si Jingzhi rejected the charges, but Si Jingyu presented a factual diary of her life that left her trembling over the secrets it contained.

• Si Jingyu announced that Si Jingzhi would have her cultivation sealed and be confined to the Retirement Pavilion for life, while Si Huamu gained influence by claiming positions vacated by Si Jingzhi's followers.
• Si Jingyu stripped Si Jingzhi's elderly followers of their posts and sent them into retirement after they accepted responsibility for neglecting their duties.
• Si Jingzhi refused to admit guilt, so Si Jingyu condemned her as incompetent and presumptuous and gave her that posthumous title.
• Si Jingyu handed Si Jingzhi a diary documenting her life, insisting that every entry was verified truth, and Si Jingzhi trembled as she realized the book exposed secrets that should not reach outsiders.

Si Ming learned that Si Jingzhi had ordered his removal as a child because she feared his potential, and suspected he was the son she had sent away. He chose not to acknowledge the Si Clan, though he planned to repay the debt of being given life from behind the scenes.

• Si Jingzhi tore up Si Jingyu's book, collapsed, and woke in Water Mirror Manor's retirement pavilion, where Si Ming challenged her to understand the servants' perspective.
• Si Jingzhi admitted that she had sent Si Jingyue's infant son away after having him struck with the Withered Meridian Needle, and said her maid Huiyan had carried out the order.
• Si Ming revealed that he had suffered from Withered Meridian Syndrome as a child, grown up in an orphanage, and learned an Internal Cultivation method powered by solar energy.
• Si Ming told Si Jingzhi that the twins whose lives she had manipulated had joined forces to take revenge on her.
• After leaving the retirement pavilion, Si Ming considered whether Si Jingzhi was his mother and Si Jingyu his twin sister, but decided not to acknowledge the clan and to repay his debt from behind the scenes.

Si Huaruo learned that Si Ming was supposedly an outsider and brought him snacks, but her visit turned into a quarrel with Si Jingyu over her cooking and Si Jingyu’s plans to marry. The sisters’ argument was interrupted by a visitor claiming to be Si Ming’s friend.

• Si Huaruo asked Si Ming whether Si Jingyu had revealed that he was an invited Mohist Knight Guard, and he confirmed the story while concealing his doubts about his true identity.
• Si Huaruo joked that Si Ming might descend from a branch of the Si Clan and offered him homemade lotus root rolls, which he enjoyed.
• Si Jingyu arrived, criticized Si Huaruo’s cooking, and provoked her by suggesting that she and Si Ming could have an intimate relationship now that they were not siblings.
• Si Jingyu said she could change the clan rules so that the young clan head could marry an outsider, and Si Huaruo vowed to oppose her.
• A maid reported that a guest claiming to be Si Ming’s friend had arrived specifically to see him.

Si Ming reunited with Hongdou, who agreed to paint Soul Intent Diagrams for Water Mirror Manor, while Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo competed for her favor. The next morning, Si Ming and Hongdou learned that someone had already collected Hongdou’s mother’s consignment, though Hongdou said the signature was not hers and she had been elsewhere.

• Si Ming met Hongdou at Water Mirror Manor and learned Auntie Liu had brought her to the lakeside before leaving.
• Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo saw Si Ming picking petals from Hongdou’s hair and briefly agreed to unite against a potential romantic rival.
• Si Jingyu recognized Hongdou as a renowned painter and asked her to create Soul Intent Diagrams for Water Mirror Manor; Hongdou accepted.
• Si Jingyu told Hongdou that someone had publicly confessed to Si Ming, and Hongdou teased him about his popularity.
• Si Ming and Hongdou visited the Divine Might Escort Agency to retrieve Hongdou’s mother’s consignment, but an employee said it had been collected twenty days earlier.
• Hongdou examined the collection record and said the signature was not hers and she had not been in the Nation of Beauty at the time.

Si Ming and Hongdou challenged the Divine Might Escort Agency after it claimed Hongdou had collected her deposited belongings. Their investigation revealed that the impostor had matched Hongdou’s appearance and fingerprints but left one item behind, and Hongdou recognized the likely password.

• Hongdou showed that the signature in the agency’s register did not match her own, and Si Ming warned the attendant about their influence before an adviser came out.
• Si Ming and the adviser compared the handprints and found they were identical, while the attendant insisted the collector had looked and been built exactly like Hongdou.
• The adviser confirmed the agency had checked a password and photograph, but the attendant revealed that the impostor had left one item behind.
• Hongdou asked to see the remaining item, and when the adviser required the password, she said it was, “I’m sorry for bringing you into this world.”

Hongdou found a note from her parents asking her not to look for them, and Si Jingyu concluded they had likely been abducted. Si Ming decided to hunt down their presumed killers instead and learned from Si Jingyu that the Lu Lineage's Tea-Tasting Manor was their likely hiding place, where the clan appeared to be preparing a large formation.

• Hongdou retrieved a picture book containing a note from her parents saying they were happy and telling her not to look for them.
• Si Jingyu concluded that Hongdou's parents had been abducted, while Si Huaruo urged Hongdou to rescue them; Hongdou refused, and Si Ming defended her choice.
• Si Ming said they would search for the presumed killers rather than attempt a hostage rescue, and Si Jingyu revealed that she knew where they were hiding.
• Si Jingyu explained that her investigation of the Lu Lineage and help from Si Ming's unnamed friend had uncovered unusual purchases of formation materials and preparations at the Tea-Tasting Manor.
• Si Jingyu said Lu Ling had claimed the preparations were needed to guard against the Crimson Eye Society, while the Lu Lineage's Spirit Transformation powerhouse claimed to have been badly injured by one of its experts.

Si Ming and Si Jingyu linked the Lu Lineage’s young patriarch’s strange behavior to Hongdou’s parents’ disappearance and suspected a blood sacrifice planned for the tea-tasting finals. They decided to investigate the Tea-Tasting Manor that night, while the Crimson Eye Society’s leaders revealed that their secret treasure was changing their behavior as well as boosting their cultivation.

• Si Jingyu told Si Ming that the Lu Lineage’s young patriarch had changed after an assassination attempt, and they suspected his replacement was connected to the person who impersonated Hongdou.
• Si Ming and Si Jingyu deduced that the Crimson Eye Society might be gathering materials and clansmen for a blood sacrifice during the finals, but they lacked evidence and time to summon reinforcements.
• Si Ming proposed investigating the Tea-Tasting Manor that night, and Si Jingyu agreed to plan the operation; Si Huaruo and Hongdou joined them, with Hongdou hoping to ask her mother a question if she was alive.
• Disguised Crimson Eye Society leaders complained that the Mohist Knight Guard was destroying their branches and discussed how the secret treasure had altered Blood-Handed Butcher and Yama Blood Child.
• Crimson Shadow King offered Netherworld Blood Slave an emerald pill that could rapidly increase his cultivation, but Netherworld Blood Slave hesitated to take it.

The Crimson Shadow King’s disguised group captured the Netherworld Blood Slave and transformed her into Wood Spirit General Tong Hua, revealing their plan to open the Flesh and Blood Wormhole for the Monster Race. He tried to recruit the imprisoned Illusion Ji by threatening her daughter, but an explosion interrupted their conversation.

• The Crimson Shadow King had the Blood-Handed Butcher and Yama Blood Child capture the Netherworld Blood Slave after she exposed them as impostors.
• The three forced a green pill down the Netherworld Blood Slave’s throat, transforming her into Wood Spirit General Tong Hua and assigning her to guard the forest territory.
• The Crimson Shadow King told Tong Hua that the Flesh and Blood Wormhole would open in two days and that she would need to work with the group’s other members.
• The Crimson Shadow King visited Illusion Ji and tried to persuade her to help the Monster Race, warning that her daughter would be endangered if the invasion began.
• Illusion Ji refused to cooperate, insisting that her daughter would be accepted and protected by her companions.
• An explosion shook the secret chamber as the Crimson Shadow King threatened to draw Illusion Ji’s daughter into a trap.