Chapter Summaries

Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan watched as Qi Wuwang defeated a group of Cangwu Sword Sect disciples who had come to kill him. Qi Wuwang then revealed that he had been waiting for Lu Guiyan, connecting himself to the Lu'an Escort Agency's escort mission.

• A Cangwu Sword Sect disciple accused Qi Wuwang of poisoning them, but Qi Wuwang said he had not poisoned their tea and revealed that he had known they were following him.
• The Cangwu Sword Sect leader accused Qi Wuwang of murdering the Chen Family, killing sect disciples, and abducting Jade Clarity Pavilion disciples, then ordered his group to attack.
• The Cangwu Sword Sect disciples used the Eight Directions Wind and Rain Sword Formation to surround Qi Wuwang while Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan watched.
• Qi Wuwang broke the formation with a palm strike that sent the disciples tumbling into one another, leaving them unable to rise.
• Lu Guiyan reached for his goose-quill saber, and Qi Wuwang addressed him as the young chief escort of the Lu'an Escort Agency and said he had kept him waiting.

Fang Shuwen defeated Qi Wuwang with a single palm strike after Qi Wuwang threatened the Lu'an Escort Agency and tried to seize the two mysterious travelers. Qi Wuwang revealed that the Golden Bell Tower had arranged the job and that the travelers were to be taken to Autumn Moon Convent.

• Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan questioned Qi Wuwang about why he was targeting the Lu'an Escort Agency and the two travelers.
• Qi Wuwang said someone had hired him to take the travelers, then threatened Lu Guiyan when she refused to hand them over.
• Fang Shuwen used [Level Steps to Azure Cloud] and struck Qi Wuwang with [Vajra Tower-Throwing], shattering his meridians and burying him in the mud.
• Lu Guiyan questioned Qi Wuwang, who said the commission had come through the Golden Bell Tower.
• Fang Shuwen asked where Qi Wuwang had planned to take the travelers, and Qi Wuwang answered, "Autumn Moon Convent!"

Fang Shuwen killed Qi Wuwang and traveled north with Lu Guiyan while the Fierce Tiger Gang remained a threat. The group took shelter from the rain in a ruined kiln, where someone greeted Fang as an old acquaintance.

• Fang Shuwen drained Qi Wuwang's internal force and killed him after Qi asked who he was.
• A hidden waiter attacked Fang and his companions, but Chen Qi killed the assassin with a swift sword strike and introduced himself as the Heavenly Kirin Sword before leaving.
• Fang searched Qi Wuwang's body and found silver notes and a golden bell that Lu Guiyan identified as a possible Golden Bell Tower token.
• Fang and Lu Guiyan's group continued north, wary that the Fierce Tiger Gang might ambush them at Looking North Pass.
• During an autumn rain, the group found shelter in a ruined kiln in an abandoned village, where someone called out to Fang as Brother Fang.

Fang Shuwen reunited with Zuo Qingshuang and Zhou Qingmei at a ruined kiln, where they explained that they were traveling to investigate the sinister events at Autumn Moon Convent. Their destination was also the place Qi Wuwang had planned to take his master and servant, though he had hidden its identity by calling it Concealing Moon Mountain.

• Fang Shuwen met Zuo Qingshuang and Zhou Qingmei again at a ruined kiln and introduced them to Lu Guiyan and Mo Beidou.
• Zuo Qingshuang told Fang Shuwen that she and Zhou Qingmei were heading to Autumn Moon Convent after Nianhua Zen Monastery called on the seven great sects to investigate it.
• Zuo Qingshuang explained that young people had vanished near the convent, a wandering swordsman had disappeared while investigating, and Master Liaowu had gone missing after Master Liaokong returned gravely wounded.
• Zuo Qingshuang said Li Nanchen had hidden Nianhua Zen Monastery's invitation, but she and Zhou Qingmei were still able to go before the appointed date.
• Fang Shuwen realized that Autumn Moon Convent lay at Looking North Pass, the place locals called Concealing Moon Mountain, and understood that Qi Wuwang had concealed the destination from them.

Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan agreed to travel with Zuo Qingshuang toward the Autumn Moon Convent, where the seven great sects were gathering, while seeking answers about the Fierce Tiger Gang’s attack. As the group prepared to continue their journey, Fang gave Zhou Qingmei the fine Wind-Shocking Sword he had taken from Xu Yuqing.

• Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan discussed how they could not avoid the Autumn Moon Convent, and Zuo Qingshuang suggested they join the gathering of the seven great sects.
• Zuo Qingshuang offered the Pearl Pavilion Token as a way to gain an audience with the Fierce Tiger Gang, and Fang Shuwen revealed that he had it.
• Zuo Qingshuang joined Fang Shuwen and Lu Guiyan’s group, and Lu Guiyan set a watch while the others prepared food in the ruined kiln.
• Zhou Qingmei told Fang Shuwen that her family was safe and that she had prepared the silver she owed him.
• Fang Shuwen showed Zhou Qingmei the Wind-Shocking Sword he had taken from Xu Yuqing, and gave it to her when he learned she had no sword to use.

The group reached Concealing Moon Mountain, where the seven great sects and nearly a hundred righteous-path masters prepared to confront the unknown forces inside the Autumn Moon Convent. Zuo Qingshuang proposed a night raid to test the enemy, but Fang Shuwen whispered something that sharply changed her expression.

• The Flying Star Hall disciple told the group that notorious Eastern Region fiends had gathered inside the Autumn Moon Convent under an unidentified leader.
• Fang Shuwen warned Zuo Qingshuang that the convent's silence and the large gathering of martial artists could conceal danger and ill intentions.
• Zuo Qingshuang rebuked a Questioning Heaven Manor man who demanded to know why she had brought Fang Shuwen and the others.
• Zuo Qingshuang proposed a night raid on the Autumn Moon Convent as a feint to test its strength, and the assembled masters agreed to discuss it.
• Fang Shuwen whispered to Zuo Qingshuang, whose calm expression changed drastically.

Fang Shuwen killed Shi Meng after Shi Meng attacked him, then argued that the killing was justified because he had acted in self-defense. Zuo Qingshuang and the Jade Clarity Pavilion’s representative supported his account, while the other sect members looked on uneasily.

• Shi Meng accused Fang Shuwen of having an improper relationship with Zuo Qingshuang, and Zuo Qingshuang drew her sword in anger.
• After the others urged Shi Meng to apologize, Shi Meng charged Fang Shuwen with his Purple-Gold Hammer.
• Fang Shuwen caught the hammer, crushed it in his hand, and lifted Shi Meng by the throat.
• Shi Meng threatened Fang Shuwen with Questioning Heaven Manor, and Fang Shuwen snapped his neck and threw his body outside the temple.
• Fang Shuwen told the gathered sect members that Shi Meng had attacked him without cause and asked them to bear witness.
• Zuo Qingshuang and a representative of the Jade Clarity Pavilion affirmed Fang Shuwen’s account.

Fang Shuwen let Shi Meng’s disciples return to the Questioning Heaven Manor with a challenge, then learned that someone had overheard the alliance’s plan and helped prepare a new strategy. After the Chivalrous Way Alliance departed for the Autumn Moon Convent, Fang Shuwen waited at the mountain god’s temple as Chen Qi and a group of suspicious strangers arrived.

• Fang Shuwen told Shi Meng’s disciple to take his master’s body to the Questioning Heaven Manor and deliver a message that he would demand an explanation from its sect leader.
• Fang Shuwen noticed Chen Qi watching the dispute, then returned to the mountain god’s temple as the factions resumed planning their operation.
• Zuo Qingshuang told the leaders of the seven sects that someone had been hiding on the temple roof and overheard their plan, prompting them to devise a new strategy.
• Fang Shuwen spoke briefly with Zuo Qingshuang, while Zhou Qingmei stayed beside him as night fell.
• The Chivalrous Way Alliance left for the Autumn Moon Convent, while Fang Shuwen, Lu Guiyan, and their companions remained at the temple.
• Chen Qi arrived at the temple and asked Fang Shuwen why he had stayed; then several strange-looking men and women appeared, asking where everyone was.

Fang Shuwen questioned the attackers about the Cao King and killed a lecherous monk when he refused to answer. As the others rushed toward the mountain god’s temple, Lu Guiyan left to fight while the defenders guarded the entrance.

• Fang Shuwen learned that the attackers had split their forces to raid the Autumn Moon Convent and asked Hua Meiniang who the Cao King was, but she refused to reveal his identity.
• The old woman ordered Hua Meiniang to capture Fang Shuwen, while the old man recognized Lu Guiyan and guessed that the person inside the temple was the Cao King’s target.
• Bai Liuxian, Hua Meiniang, and the monk charged toward the temple, but Chen Qi blocked Hua Meiniang and fought her.
• The monk attacked Fang Shuwen, who seized his wrist and demanded to know who the Cao King was and why he wanted the two people protected by the Lu'an Escort Agency.
• When the monk refused to answer, Fang Shuwen killed him and sent his corpse flying toward Bai Liuxian.
• Lu Guiyan told the others to guard the temple and left to kill.

Fang Shuwen defeated Bai Liuxian and the black-robed woman, then revealed that Flying Star Hall disciples were waiting in ambush. As he confronted the remaining elders, their Thousand Illusions attack seemed to feed its force into him.

• Bai Liuxian sent his venomous snake at Fang Shuwen, but Fang Shuwen seized him and made the snake bite him before crushing it.
• The black-robed woman attacked Fang Shuwen from behind, but his Protective True Qi repelled her, and he killed her with [Vajra Tower-Throwing].
• The old couple’s hidden followers rushed the mountain god temple, where Lu Guiyan and Zhou Qingmei fought them as Flying Star Darts struck from the darkness.
• Fang Shuwen revealed that Zuo Qingshuang had arranged for Flying Star Hall disciples to hide nearby and help him.
• Fang Shuwen struck at the old man, then the old couple attacked his back with their Thousand Illusions technique, only to feel their internal force flow into him.

Fang Shuwen defeated the attackers at the mountain god temple and questioned Bai Liuxian, learning that the two people under escort were physicians sent to save Wu Lingxiao. Bai Liuxian also revealed that the Cao King belonged to the Hundred Ghost Hall and had been injured by someone from the Startling Flower Pavilion, leaving Fang Shuwen to untangle the factions’ motives.

• Fang Shuwen absorbed the internal force of the Thousand Illusions couple and killed them, while Lu Guiyan, Zhou Qingmei, and the Flying Star Hall members finished off most of the other attackers.
• Fang Shuwen’s offer to help distracted Hua Meiniang, who looked around and realized her companions had been killed.
• Fang Shuwen questioned Bai Liuxian and learned that the Cao King was one of the Hundred Ghost Hall’s four ghost kings.
• Bai Liuxian revealed that the two people in the temple were physicians sent by the Startling Flower Pavilion to save Wu Lingxiao, lord of Flying Snow City.
• Bai Liuxian told Fang Shuwen that the Cao King had learned about the physicians through the Startling Flower Pavilion and had been injured by someone from the pavilion.
• Fang Shuwen suspected that the Fierce Tiger Gang had been used as a weapon by someone seeking Wu Lingxiao’s death and pondered the complicated ties among the factions.

Fang Shuwen killed Hua Meiniang and Bai Liuxian after learning that the Cao King threatened the forces gathered at Autumn Moon Convent. He left Zhou Qingmei with Lu Guiyan and Chen Qi, then seized the two passengers and hurried ahead to the convent.

• Hua Meiniang used her bewitching martial arts to stagger Chen Qi, but Fang Shuwen caught her as she tried to flee, drained her internal cultivation, and killed her.
• Fang Shuwen questioned Bai Liuxian, who revealed that the Cao King's martial arts surpassed those of the fighters gathered at Autumn Moon Convent and that victory could bring heavy casualties.
• Fang Shuwen killed Bai Liuxian despite having said he might consider letting him go.
• Fang Shuwen told Zhou Qingmei to go with Lu Guiyan, Chen Qi, and the others while he took the two passengers ahead to Autumn Moon Convent.
• Fang Shuwen seized the two passengers and used Azure Cloud Step to hurry toward the mountain god temple, declaring that evil had to be rooted out completely.

The seven righteous sects fought their way into Autumn Moon Convent, where Flesh King Cao Jiuyin turned the battle against them. After Cao Jiuyin badly injured Zuo Qingshuang, Fang Shuwen protected her and fought him while treating her wounds.

• Zuo Qingshuang cut off one of Feng Lixiao's legs after the seven righteous sects' real attack caught the fiends off guard.
• Flesh King Cao Jiuyin appeared and joined the remaining fiends in fighting the experts of the seven sects.
• Zuo Qingshuang intercepted Cao Jiuyin's attack on the beautiful woman from the Jade Clarity Pavilion, but his palm strike sent her flying and badly injured her.
• Fang Shuwen caught Zuo Qingshuang, channeled the [Muscle Tendon Change] into her, and blocked Cao Jiuyin's attacks while supporting her.
• Two great monks from Nianhua Zen Monastery engaged Cao Jiuyin, giving Fang Shuwen time to treat Zuo Qingshuang as he warned the two people on the wall that they needed her alive.

Fang Shuwen watched Cao Jiuyin regenerate from the attacks of the Eastern Region sects and learned that he had eaten Liaokong. When Cao Jiuyin threatened to eat the wounded monk, Fang Shuwen stepped in and met his fist with a Demon-Subduing Dharma Seal.

• Two doctors treated Zuo Qingshuang after Fang Shuwen threatened them into helping.
• The Nianhua Zen Monastery monk and experts from Flying Star Hall, Supreme Void Dao, and Cangwu Sword Sect attacked Cao Jiuyin, but his flesh healed their wounds.
• Cao Jiuyin unleashed True Qi that blasted the attackers away and revealed he had eaten Liaokong.
• Cao Jiuyin advanced on the wounded monk, while Fang Shuwen told the beautiful woman from Jade Clarity Pavilion to protect Zuo Qingshuang.
• Fang Shuwen stepped in and struck Cao Jiuyin with a Demon-Subduing Dharma Seal as Cao Jiuyin swung at him.

Fang Shuwen defeated Cao Jiuyin and discovered that the man had cultivated the Flesh Nether Art by consuming people. He killed Cao Jiuyin with a devastating palm strike and caught his head as it fell.

• Fang Shuwen questioned Cao Jiuyin about his unusual flesh-based martial art while their attacks were locked in a stalemate.
• Fang Shuwen unleashed a powerful palm strike that sent Cao Jiuyin crashing through Autumn Moon Convent's temple.
• Fang Shuwen found the rear courtyard filled with bones and confronted Cao Jiuyin about the victims' missing flesh.
• Cao Jiuyin revealed that he cultivated the Flesh Nether Art by nourishing himself with flesh, and Fang Shuwen attacked him again.
• Fang Shuwen's final palm shattered Cao Jiuyin's flesh and bones, and he caught Cao Jiuyin's head as it fell.

Fang Shuwen killed Cao Jiuyin and helped the seven righteous sects secure the Autumn Moon Convent. After they searched for survivors and burned the site, the danger was settled for now, and the other sects owed Fang Shuwen a debt.

• Fang Shuwen showed the seven sects Cao Jiuyin's head and said the chief villain had been slain.
• Fang Shuwen urged everyone to search the Autumn Moon Convent and burn it, and the sects agreed.
• Fang Shuwen returned to the front courtyard, where Mo Beidou checked on him and Zuo Qingshuang recovered enough to speak.
• The Jade Clarity Pavilion and Cangwu Sword Sect offered to escort Zuo Qingshuang back to the Pearl Pavilion, while the others searched the convent.
• The seven sects left the suspicious bones untouched and burned the Autumn Moon Convent, then the Supreme Void Dao thanked Fang Shuwen for killing Qingyangzi.

After leaving Autumn Moon Convent, Fang Shuwen helped Lu Guiyan reconsider the mystery surrounding Wu Lingxiao’s injury and suspected someone inside Flying Snow City had betrayed the secret. Near Zhaobei City, Tang Linfeng of the Fierce Tiger Gang’s West Hall appeared and invited the Lu'an Escort Agency to meet the gang leader.

• Zhou Qingmei bid farewell to Fang Shuwen, and Mo Beidou teased him about her feelings for him.
• Lu Guiyan resumed the escort north with Fang Shuwen’s encouragement, and they passed Looking North Pass.
• Fang Shuwen questioned Lu Guiyan about Flying Snow City and reasoned that an insider might have revealed Wu Lingxiao’s injury and the doctors’ mission.
• Lu Guiyan regretted not agreeing earlier to visit the Fierce Tiger Gang’s headquarters, but Fang Shuwen said they did not need to turn back.
• Fang Shuwen noticed the unnaturally quiet surroundings, and Tang Linfeng appeared with an invitation from the Fierce Tiger Gang’s leader.

Fang Shuwen confronted Qin Hu, who admitted that the Fierce Tiger Gang had arranged a failed assassination and was now seeking peace. Qin Hu began to reveal who had ordered him to kill, leaving the identity undisclosed.

• Tang Linfeng led Lu Guiyan, Fang Shuwen, and their companions to meet Qin Hu and Chen Qi at a tea shelter.
• Qin Hu praised Lu Guiyan as her father's heir, but Fang Shuwen challenged him, then knocked aside two Fierce Tiger Gang hall masters without seriously injuring them.
• Qin Hu explained that the teahouse assassination attempt had been a scheme to make Chen Qi appear trustworthy, and Fang Shuwen realized Qin Hu was seeking peace.
• Fang Shuwen asked whether the Autumn Moon Convent incident had prompted Qin Hu to surrender, but Qin Hu called it only the last straw and asked whether Fang Shuwen knew who had ordered the killing.

Fang Shuwen learned that Qin Hu had attacked Lu Guiyan and Mo Beidou under orders from a man claiming to serve Wu Lingxiao, then accepted compensation to end the Fierce Tiger Gang's feud. As the Lu'an Escort Agency continued north, Qin Hu ordered his gang to leave without revealing what Tang Linfeng had begun to ask.

• Fang Shuwen pressed Qin Hu for details and learned that a man named Liu Qi had used the Lingxiao Token to order the killings.
• Qin Hu described Liu Qi's black birthmark, prompting Lu Guiyan to glance at Fang Shuwen.
• Qin Hu offered Fang Shuwen the Fierce Tiger Gang's Tiger Seal, but Fang Shuwen refused it and demanded compensation instead.
• Qin Hu paid the group banknotes worth about three thousand taels of gold, and Fang Shuwen declared their dispute settled.
• Fang Shuwen and the Lu'an Escort Agency continued north while Qin Hu watched them leave, then ordered his men to withdraw.

Fang Shuwen and the Lu'an Escort Agency divided the gold they had taken from the Fierce Tiger Gang and continued their journey to Flying Snow City. They arrived safely after more than half a month, while an unknown black-clad fighter attacked and slaughtered the Fierce Tiger Gang behind them.

• A black-clad man with fiery-cloud patterns ambushed the Fierce Tiger Gang, defeating two hall masters and overpowering Qin Hu.
• The black-clad man killed Qin Hu with flames and charged into the Fierce Tiger Gang, slaughtering its members.
• Fang Shuwen, Lu Guiyan, and Mo Beidou divided three thousand five hundred taels of gold, setting aside the remaining share for the escort agency's brothers and the families of those who had died.
• Lu Guiyan worried about what would happen to the two people they were escorting once they reached Flying Snow City, but she and Fang Shuwen agreed the agency's responsibility ended with their delivery.
• The escort party traveled for more than half a month without further danger and reached Flying Snow City.