Recaps

Yue Ling watched Black Sha’s stray saber strike split Meng Er’s coffin and body during the Meng Lineage funeral, sparking a bloody battle. Black Sha escaped, but the Meng Lineage suffered heavy losses and vowed to hunt him down, while Yue Ling wondered if this was what the jianghu was really like.

• Black Sha’s saber light veered off course and struck Meng Er’s coffin, splitting it and his body in two.
• A worker recognized Black Sha, and Meng San led the furious Meng Lineage in attacking him and his men.
• Black Sha’s henchmen were killed as the outnumbered Meng Lineage fought with overwhelming force.
• Black Sha carved his way through the attackers and escaped, and Meng San ordered the Meng Lineage to hunt him and placed a bounty on his head.
• The Meng Lineage gathered the dead for burial, and Yue Ling watched the bloodied funeral procession leave while questioning the cruelty of the jianghu.

Black Sha survived the Meng Lineage’s attack and was ordered by his lord to complete his mission or face the sect leader’s punishment. Meanwhile, Yue Ling and her companions reached Tuyang Town, where Chu Xinghe impersonators critiqued the group’s Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe disguises.

• Black Sha’s lord accused him of betraying them after receiving a memory crystal showing Black Sha slashing Meng Er’s coffin and corpse.
• Black Sha promised to personally kill his targets, avoided summoning subordinates because the Meng Lineage had placed a bounty on him, and began healing.
• Yue Ling concluded that the assassins had stopped pursuing them because Ma Liang’s convincing disguise scared them off.
• Two Chu Xinghe impersonators praised Ma Liang’s appearance and answer about his home, then criticized Chu Xinghe’s appearance, manner, and outfit.
• Yue Ling and Ma Liang agreed with the impersonators’ advice while Chu Xinghe suppressed Thunder Shadow.

Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling arrived in Gathering Fire City during the Chu Xinghe Impersonation Competition and found the city packed with people impersonating them and others. As Chu Xinghe searched for an inn, Black Sha appeared at the city gate and challenged him, drawing the attention of more than two hundred Chu Xinghe impersonators.

• Chu Xinghe and his companions entered Gathering Fire City, where Chu Xinghe impersonators criticized and tidied his appearance, then warned him he had no chance in the auditions.
• Ma Liang declined offers to partner with other Chu Xinghe impersonators, and the group saw impersonators of Ma Liang, Zheng Yu, Hua Xichen, Tantai Jing, and even the Beast God.
• The three searched for an inn, but every place they tried was full; Yue Ling said she would stay with Ma Liang because she doubted Chu Xinghe could protect her.
• Chu Xinghe continued searching alone near the city gate, where another impersonator asked where he had found work for five spirit stones.
• Black Sha arrived at the gate and vowed to kill Chu Xinghe, prompting more than two hundred Chu Xinghe impersonators to turn toward him.

Black Sha pursued Yue Ling and her companions to Gathering Fire City, where he mistook one of the many Chu Xinghe impersonators for his target. His insult about the impersonators not looking like Chu Xinghe provoked them into driving him out of the city.

• Black Sha decided to hunt Yue Ling and her companions alone before reporting his suspicions about the Meng Lineage to his lord.
• Black Sha caught up with the trio in Gathering Fire City and spotted Chu Xinghe near the gate.
• Black Sha shouted a challenge at Chu Xinghe, drawing more than two hundred Chu Xinghe impersonators to the scene.
• Black Sha explained that the impersonators did not look like the Chu Xinghe he sought, and they attacked him in fury.
• Black Sha fled Gathering Fire City under the impersonators' barrage, while they vowed to fight him someday.

Black Sha convinced his lord that his disastrous actions in Gathering Fire City had been an accident, and the lord assigned Night Owl to support his hunt for Yue Ling. Meanwhile, Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang settled into the Gathering Fire Sect’s outer area, where Chu Xinghe was rejected from the impersonation competition because the registrars and contestants thought he looked too unlike himself.

• Black Sha assured his lord that he had not defected and that he had deliberately held back from attacking the Chu Xinghe impersonators; the lord believed him and sent Night Owl to assist him.
• Ma Liang obtained three superior rooms at the Gathering Fire Tower by sneaking into the Gathering Fire Sect and forging their registration information.
• Yue Ling brought Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang to a Chu Xinghe Impersonation Competition registration point and urged Chu Xinghe to enter.
• The older woman at the registration point returned Chu Xinghe’s spirit stone, saying he had no chance, and the other contestants joined her in discouraging him.
• Chu Xinghe insisted on registering, but the assembled contestants argued that accepting his fee would be ripping him off.

Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were mistaken for poor impersonators at the competition, while Yue Ling wondered why her pursuers had stopped attacking. Night Owl arrived to help Black Sha hunt her, convinced she was traveling with fake Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe, unaware that they were the real people.

• Chu Xinghe was barred from entering the Chu Xinghe Impersonation Competition because the veteran contestants thought he looked too unlike Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang was mocked for resembling a donkey.
• Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling spent the day in Gathering Fire City before returning to Gathering Fire Tower, while Yue Ling wondered why the attacks on her had ceased.
• Night Owl teleported to a courtyard outside Gathering Fire City, where Black Sha welcomed him and warned him that Yue Ling was difficult to kill.
• Night Owl recalled that the cult leader had ordered him to eliminate Black Sha after the mission, since Black Sha had repeatedly failed and recklessly provoked the Chu Xinghe impersonators.
• Night Owl dismissed Black Sha's account and concluded that Yue Ling had hired fake Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe impersonators, believing the real pair would never work for her few hundred spirit stones.

Night Owl and Black Sha planned to locate Yue Ling in Gathering Fire Tower and kill her without alerting its Ninth Rank sect master, Zhao Qi. Black Sha’s idea let Night Owl send a concealed ghost envoy inside with a Haotian Mirror Sub-Mirror livestream, and it began searching the tower for Yue Ling.

• Night Owl criticized Black Sha for causing trouble and learned that Yue Ling was staying somewhere in Gathering Fire Tower.
• Night Owl ruled out forcing his way into the tower because Zhao Qi and its other guests could make the mission dangerous.
• Black Sha suggested that Night Owl’s less detectable ghost envoy carry a Haotian Mirror Sub-Mirror to livestream its search.
• Night Owl sent the concealed ghost envoy into Gathering Fire Tower while keeping another ghost envoy ready to attack once Yue Ling’s location was found.

Night Owl sent a ghost emissary through Gathering Fire Tower to find Yue Ling, while Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang secretly restrained the ghosts guarding them. The emissary entered a teleportation array and appeared before Zhao Qi and Wan Fang as they were embracing, with the Haotian Mirror Sub-Mirror broadcasting them live.

• Night Owl searched the first three floors of Gathering Fire Tower but found neither Yue Ling nor the fake Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang.
• Night Owl found Chu Xinghe asleep, dismissed Black Sha’s suggestion to kill him, and left after people outside nearly exposed the ghost emissary.
• Chu Xinghe revealed that Ma Liang had noticed the ghost and asked him to suppress Evil Repeller so Ma Liang could surprise their pursuers.
• Night Owl mistook Ma Liang for an impostor, searched his room, and then sent the ghost emissary through a door he believed led to Yue Ling.
• The ghost emissary passed through a teleportation array and appeared in Zhao Qi and Wan Fang’s room, where Zhao Qi spotted it broadcasting them live.

Night Owl’s ghost emissary accidentally livestreamed Zhao Qi and Wan Fang in their bedroom, provoking the Gathering Fire Sect couple’s fury. Night Owl and Black Sha escaped by blood escape, while Zhao Qi identified Black Sha and threatened the Moon Shadow Cult unless it handed over the ghost cultivator and the object he carried.

• Night Owl sent a ghost emissary into Zhao Qi and Wan Fang’s bedroom, where it exposed their intimate moment on a live broadcast.
• Night Owl had the emissary apologize and flee, but Zhao Qi destroyed the door and failed to catch it before it escaped through a teleportation array.
• Night Owl recalled his emissaries and fled with Black Sha using the Blood Escape Art as Zhao Qi ordered the Gathering Fire Sect to hunt ghost cultivators throughout Gathering Fire City.
• Gathering Fire Sect disciples found traces of Black Sha at his abandoned courtyard, and Zhao Qi identified him as a member of the Moon Shadow Cult.
• Zhao Qi demanded that the Moon Shadow Cult’s leader hand over Black Sha and the object he carried, threatening endless retaliation otherwise.

The Gathering Fire Sect searched the Gathering Fire Tower after a disturbance, while Yue Ling wondered why her pursuers had disappeared. Ma Liang revealed how he had tricked the ghost emissary into Zhao Qi’s room, and Black Sha’s lord mistook the disaster for Night Owl switching sides.

• The Gathering Fire Sect searched the Gathering Fire Tower but found nothing, while the innkeeper dismissed suspicious register entries as the sect master's business.
• Yue Ling returned to her room after the inspection and wondered why the assassins pursuing her had vanished.
• Ma Liang told Chu Xinghe that he had lured the ghost emissary into Zhao Qi’s room and recorded Zhao Qi and his wife; Chu Xinghe punched him for it.
• Black Sha and Night Owl escaped to Huiming Mountain, bewildered by the events in Gathering Fire City.
• Black Sha received a communication from his lord, who asked Night Owl whether he had switched sides.

Night Owl’s lord learned that Night Owl’s ghost servant accidentally discovered Zhao Qi and his wife, then livestreamed and recorded them with a Haotian Mirror Sub-Mirror. Black Sha admitted the livestream idea had been his, and Night Owl was left to recover and wait while his lord promised to report the incident to the cult master.

• Night Owl’s lord demanded an explanation for the Gathering Fire Sect’s challenge and Zhao Qi’s demand that Night Owl return what he had taken.
• Black Sha explained that Night Owl’s ghost servant entered Zhao Qi’s room while Zhao Qi and his wife were together, and escaped because they were caught off guard.
• Black Sha revealed that the ghost servant had carried a Haotian Mirror Sub-Mirror and livestreamed the encounter, which also left a recording.
• Black Sha admitted that the livestream plan had been his idea, enraging his lord, who regretted defending him and wanted Night Owl to kill him.
• Night Owl’s lord said he would report the incident to the cult master and hold Zhao Qi off, then asked Night Owl to send him the recording.
• After the communication ended, Night Owl tended to his injuries and told Black Sha to wait, privately swearing never to follow his advice again.

Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling traveled north from Gathering Fire City toward Huiming Mountain, where Yue Ling suggested they attend the Huiming Sect’s wedding celebration. They continued toward the sect while joking about Chu Xinghe’s identity, Ma Liang’s admirers, and the cost of hiring Chu Xinghe.

• Night Owl waited on Huiming Mountain, planning to ambush Yue Ling, while Black Sha misunderstood his intentions.
• Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling left Gathering Fire City after Chu Xinghe was rejected at another registration point.
• Yue Ling revealed her face and praised Ma Liang as her ideal, leaving Ma Liang pleased and Chu Xinghe speechless.
• Yue Ling explained that the Huiming Sect was Great Liang Kingdom’s leading sect and that its master’s son was about to marry the Falling Wind Sect master’s daughter.
• Ma Liang told Chu Xinghe that his policy of sending lavish gifts to subordinate sects had earned their gratitude and increased their tributes.
• Yue Ling proposed attending the Huiming Sect’s free banquet, then joked that she had paid five spirit stones to hire Chu Xinghe as they traveled toward Huiming Mountain.

Night Owl and Black Sha followed Yue Ling to the Huiming Sect and planned to assassinate her while she felt safe among the guests. Ma Liang smuggled the trio into the honored guests’ accommodations with stolen invitations, and they declined the evening activities in favor of the feast.

• Night Owl and Black Sha waited at Huiming Mountain for Yue Ling, then followed her trio toward the Huiming Sect when they changed course to visit it.
• Night Owl decided they should attack Yue Ling inside the sect, reasoning that she would lower her guard, and he and Black Sha disguised themselves and slipped in.
• At the mountain gate, Ma Liang claimed the trio had invitations and explained that he had entered through the latrine and taken unused invitations to prevent waste.
• The Huiming Sect disciple accepted the honored-guest invitations and escorted Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang to luxurious guest rooms.
• When a disciple described the evening activities and asked how they wished to attend, all three said they had come mainly for the feast.

Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang avoided the Huiming Sect’s evening activities to keep their identities hidden, while Night Owl and Black Sha sneaked in to assassinate Yue Ling. Night Owl’s Ghost Envoy entered room nine and found Zhao Qi embracing and kissing his wife, Wan Fang, instead of Yue Ling.

• Chu Xinghe refused to attend the activities, and Ma Liang took Yue Ling to watch the feast while keeping their identities concealed.
• Night Owl and Black Sha infiltrated the Huiming Sect and learned that Yue Ling was staying in room nine.
• Night Owl ignored Black Sha’s advice to send an investigative Ghost Envoy and dispatched his Ghost Envoy to kill Yue Ling.
• The Ghost Envoy entered room nine and found Zhao Qi and Wan Fang together on the bed, leaving Night Owl, the Ghost Envoy, and the couple frozen in shock.

Zhao Qi and Wan Fang attended a wedding at the Huiming Sect, where Zhao Qi tried to spare his wife the bad memories of their room number. Their room swap led Night Owl’s ghost envoy to interrupt them again, and Zhao Qi and Wan Fang destroyed it as Night Owl and Black Sha fled Huiming Mountain.

• Zhao Qi brought Wan Fang to the Huiming Sect wedding, where other sect leaders sympathized with them over the Moon Shadow Cult’s supposed ambush.
• Wan Fang refused to enter room eight, so Zhao Qi asked the guest in room nine, Yue Ling, to exchange rooms with them.
• Zhao Qi and Wan Fang settled into room nine and resumed trying to conceive a second child.
• Night Owl’s ghost envoy entered the room to attack, then froze when it recognized Zhao Qi and Wan Fang.
• Zhao Qi and Wan Fang destroyed the ghost envoy with a furious joint attack, while Night Owl and Black Sha escaped in a blood flight.

Zhao Qi and Wan Fang survived a second Moon Shadow Cult attack at the Huiming Sect, leaving Zhao Qi and High Person Huiming demanding answers while Zhao Qi remained baffled about the cult’s motive. As guests and disciples spread rumors about an old grudge, Chu Xinghe eagerly asked for more gossip about the Moon Shadow Cult leader and Wan Fang.

• Zhao Qi and Wan Fang destroyed Night Owl’s ghost envoy, and Night Owl escaped using the Blood Escape Art.
• High Person Huiming grew furious that Moon Shadow Cult attackers had entered his sect, punished the guards and patrol elders, and arranged protection for Zhao Qi and Wan Fang.
• Zhao Qi told High Person Huiming that he did not know why the Moon Shadow Cult kept targeting him, and High Person Huiming promised to demand an explanation.
• Yue Ling told guests about the earlier attack in Gathering Fire City, leading them to speculate that the Moon Shadow Cult and Gathering Fire Sect had an old grudge.
• Chu Xinghe listened to the gossip while claiming he was only protecting Yue Ling, then asked to hear more when someone mentioned the Moon Shadow Cult leader had known Wan Fang when he was young.

Ma Liang, Yue Ling, and Chu Xinghe left the Huiming Sect as news spread that the Moon Shadow Cult had twice ambushed Zhao Qi and his wife by mistake. Their lord confronted the battered Black Sha and Night Owl, then revealed that the cult leader had hired Soul-Returning One Blade to kill the target.

• Ma Liang, Yue Ling, and Chu Xinghe ate breakfast at the Huiming Sect and continued north toward the Great Liang Kingdom’s capital.
• Word spread that the Moon Shadow Cult had ambushed Zhao Qi and his wife twice, leaving the cult’s members baffled about Night Owl’s apparent fixation on them.
• Black Sha and Night Owl argued over their failed attacks, and Night Owl’s lord accused him of defecting after hearing what had happened.
• Their lord ordered Night Owl to explain himself to the furious cult leader, then said the leader had hired Soul-Returning One Blade to take the target’s life.

The cult leader hired Soul-Returning One Blade to kill Yue Ling, committing all the Moon Shadow Cult’s resources in the Number One Treasury as payment. Night Owl and Black Sha retrieved the treasure and encountered the assassin outside, where his lightning-fast strike left Night Owl convinced Yue Ling could not survive.

• Night Owl learned that Soul-Returning One Blade had accepted the contract to kill Yue Ling because she could not be allowed to return to the capital.
• His lord ordered Night Owl to retrieve the Number One Treasury’s resources and give them to Soul-Returning One Blade, warning him not to fail.
• Night Owl and Black Sha traveled to the treasury’s hidden location in the Great Liang Kingdom and opened it.
• Black Sha suggested splitting the treasure, but Night Owl stopped him, and they packed away all the resources for the assassin.
• Soul-Returning One Blade appeared outside the treasury and demanded the resources, then unleashed a blade strike that Night Owl could not resist before it vanished.

Night Owl and Black Sha brought Soul-Returning One Blade to Luofeng City to kill Yue Ling, confident that his skill would overcome any hidden protection. Soul-Returning One Blade revealed his Eye of Divine Sense and began searching for Yue Ling, while she remained unaware of the danger at the inn.

• Night Owl recalled that the Moon Shadow Cult had hired Soul-Returning One Blade with the No. 1 treasury’s resources because Yue Ling’s recent escapes suggested someone was secretly helping her.
• Soul-Returning One Blade demonstrated his terrifying control over his blade strike, then ordered Night Owl to take him to Yue Ling.
• Black Sha used the Tracking Spirit Orb and found Yue Ling and her companions in Luofeng City; Soul-Returning One Blade insisted they strike there rather than wait for them to leave.
• Yue Ling toured Luofeng City with Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe, while Ma Liang followed Chu Xinghe’s instruction to protect her without attacking the Moon Shadow Cult proactively.
• At night, Night Owl, Black Sha, and Soul-Returning One Blade entered the city and located Yue Ling’s general area with the Tracking Spirit Orb.
• Soul-Returning One Blade used his Eye of Divine Sense to spread his powerful divine sense through the city, astonishing Night Owl as he began searching for the target.

Night Owl learned that Soul-Returning One Blade’s Eye of Divine Sense let him locate and suppress targets, and he expected to witness the assassin kill Yue Ling. Instead, Soul-Returning One Blade flew away, leaving Night Owl and Black Sha baffled and wondering whether their master had been scammed.

• Night Owl realized Soul-Returning One Blade had used his Eye of Divine Sense to locate Ma Chengkun and kill him by briefly suppressing the people guarding him.
• Soul-Returning One Blade found Yue Ling, told Night Owl to record the assassination, and flew toward her inn.
• Soul-Returning One Blade paused above the inn, then abruptly flew away while Night Owl and Black Sha waited for him to strike.
• At dawn, Night Owl and Black Sha were still waiting outside the inn when a waiter came out and startled them.
• Night Owl tried to contact Soul-Returning One Blade, but the communication token said the target was more than a thousand li away.
• Black Sha suggested their master might have been scammed, leaving Night Owl stunned.

Black Sha and Night Owl realized Soul-Returning One Blade had fled without attacking, while the assassin hid underground after sensing that his targets were the real Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe. They showed their master the memory crystal, leaving him speechless and suspecting he had been scammed.

• Black Sha and Night Owl reviewed the memory crystal and concluded Soul-Returning One Blade had flown away without making an attack.
• Soul-Returning One Blade revealed that sensing the real Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe had terrified him, so he fled and hid underground for five years.
• The master contacted Black Sha and Night Owl, assuming Soul-Returning One Blade had completed the assassination and left as usual.
• Black Sha and Night Owl played the memory crystal for their master, which showed Soul-Returning One Blade disappearing without striking.
• Black Sha told the speechless master that he had probably been scammed.

The Moon Shadow Cult declared Soul-Returning One Blade a scammer and issued a kill order after learning he had fled without attempting to assassinate Yue Ling. At an inn in Wei City, Yue Ling, Ma Liang, and Chu Xinghe encountered Tantai Jing, who had come to enforce the Demonic Sect’s claim that its couriers must not be harmed.

• Black Sha convinced the master that Soul-Returning One Blade had built a false reputation and fled the assassination attempt, then reminded him that the masked assassin’s identity was unknown.
• The master lost his temper and the Moon Shadow Cult issued a kill order for Soul-Returning One Blade.
• At an inn in Wei City, Yue Ling asked Ma Liang whether the reports about Soul-Returning One Blade being a scammer were true, and Ma Liang recalled how swiftly the assassin had escaped.
• Tantai Jing arrived in Wei City with Demonic Sect underlings after retaliating against people who had killed Demon Demon Express couriers during the war between the Great Liang Kingdom and the Great Chang Kingdom.
• When an elder reported that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were nearby, Tantai Jing dismissed the claim until he saw them himself.

Tantai Jing discovered Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang in a small city, only for Yue Ling to mistake him for an impersonator because he seemed too polite to be the Demonic Sect's ruler. He left the encounter baffled, while Yue Ling accepted his threat to his subordinates as a convincing display of Tantai Jing's nature.

• After hearing that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were nearby, Tantai Jing went to confirm their identities and found them with Yue Ling.
• Tantai Jing greeted Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang and asked who Yue Ling was after learning she was their employer.
• Yue Ling mistook Tantai Jing for an impersonator and criticized his performance as too polite to resemble the Demonic Sect's ruler.
• When Yue Ling asked for his old name, Tantai Jing feared she knew he was reborn, but Ma Liang explained that his real name was Ma Jing.
• Yue Ling advised Ma Jing to choose another impersonation, and Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang laughed at Tantai Jing's confusion.
• After Tantai Jing threatened his laughing subordinates and they fell to their knees, Yue Ling said his behavior finally resembled Tantai Jing.

Tantai Jing met Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling in Wei City and suspected their unusual escort job concealed a secret plan. He decided the Demonic Sect would track them openly by arranging Demon Demon Express deliveries along their routes.

• Chu Xinghe explained to the bewildered Tantai Jing that Yue Ling had hired him and Ma Liang to escort her to the Great Liang Kingdom's capital for three hundred spirit stones.
• Tantai Jing left Wei City with the Demonic Sect disciples, then secretly returned instead of departing for the Spirit Beast Continent.
• Tantai Jing reasoned that Chu Xinghe's fee of two hundred and ninety-five spirit stones was suspicious and persuaded the elders that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang might be pursuing a secret opportunity.
• Tantai Jing warned the elders against secretly following Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, since doing so could provoke them and the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Tantai Jing proposed using Demon Demon Express deliveries to monitor Chu Xinghe openly, and the elders praised his plan.

Tantai Jing explained how Demon Demon Express’s ordinary delivery routes could gather intelligence on Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang without exposing the Demonic Sect. He arranged for couriers to keep a casual eye on them under the pretense that Chu Xinghe was Tantai Jing’s troublesome relative, while the elders reflected on how Chu Xinghe stood in the way of Tantai Jing’s rise.

• Tantai Jing proposed using Demon Demon Express couriers’ routine routes to learn about Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and their companion without openly tracking them.
• Tantai Jing explained that everyday workers made better observers than spies because their familiar presence would not arouse suspicion.
• A Demonic Sect elder eagerly offered to have couriers closely watch Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, but Tantai Jing warned that the couriers would be too nervous and draw attention.
• Tantai Jing told the elders to describe Chu Xinghe as his good-for-nothing relative who merely pretended to be Chu Xinghe, so couriers would casually check that he was safe.
• Tantai Jing sent his subordinates to carry out the plan, and the Demonic Sect elders lamented that Chu Xinghe’s presence kept the sect from enjoying an era led by Tantai Jing.