Chapter Summaries

Wuyue Yao and her companions weighed the risks of reaching the princess at her guarded villa, but Tsi Hong returned with evidence that a Bureau of Military Affairs official had fought Mu Ninja and suggested luring him to them instead. Wuyue Yao agreed to wait a few more days and prepared the century-old alliance pact as proof of their cause.

• Shanhui warned that the princess’s villa was heavily guarded, while Tsi Qing offered to clear a path; Wuyue Yao decided they would go that night rather than wait.
• Tsi Hong returned after three days and told Wuyue Yao that a high-ranking official who had rescued the Qi State princess was recovering at the villa.
• Tsi Hong explained that she had investigated rumors about a disturbance at the Magistrate’s Residence and found a broken Mu Ninja dagger, evidence that the official had fought the enemy.
• Tsi Hong proposed leaving traces so the official would seek them out, and asked Wuyue Yao to wait while they prepared.
• Wuyue Yao agreed and brought out the century-old alliance pact to use as proof.

Luo Qingqing arrived in Shangyuan City to begin her Inner Bureau appointment and met Consort Luo, who arranged for her to serve as the Fourth Prince’s Imperial Sorcery Internal Guard. The position offered rapid promotion and unusual privileges, but Luo Qingqing felt pressured to accept it.

• Luo Qingqing traveled to Shangyuan City with Luo Tang, Luo Changtian, and the other newly appointed sorcery practitioners, and they wondered how Luo You'er was faring.
• Luo Qingqing parted from her companions and went to Huayang Hall with Luo Fengqing to pay respects to Luo Yufei.
• Luo Yufei praised Luo Qingqing and said she had rejected other Bureau of Military Affairs departments that wanted to recruit her.
• Luo Yufei offered Luo Qingqing the Imperial Sorcery Internal Guard post, assigning her to watch over the Fourth Prince for two years in exchange for a direct promotion to fifth-rank Shifeng.
• Luo Qingqing tried to suggest that Luo Fengqing take the position, but Luo Yufei insisted that the post suited her and implied that refusing would disrupt the Bureau of Military Affairs' arrangements.

After recovering, Xia Fan returned to Jinxia City to take up his post as Lingbu Official, but found the Command Department emptied and its staff transferred or kept from joining him. He realized the Bureau of Military Affairs was already working against his plan to eradicate Evil Spirits, and then spotted Wei Wushuang and Luo You'er.

• Xia Fan said farewell to Ning Wanjun, who offered her support and asked him to visit regularly to discuss government and other affairs.
• Xia Fan returned to Jinxia City, dropped off the Fox Demon, and went to the Bureau of Military Affairs.
• Xia Fan learned that the Command Department had been emptied: non-Fangshi staff were dismissed, Fangshi were transferred or reported ill, and the six new Fangshi could be withheld by the Ministry of Education.
• Xia Fan concluded that the other Lingbu Officials and departments were obstructing him because his plan to eradicate Evil Spirits threatened their interests.
• Xia Fan left the front hall and saw Wei Wushuang and Luo You'er.

After taking charge of the Command Department, Xia Fan planned to expand its ranks so it could handle future Evil Spirit incidents despite opposition from other officials. He proposed recruiting failed Scholar Examination candidates as paid reserves and sought help from skilled acquaintances, leaving their response uncertain.

• Wei Wushuang and Luo You'er told Xia Fan that colleagues had warned them not to work with him, but they remained by his side.
• Xia Fan turned the Command Department Hall into an office and explained that a small, understaffed department risked failing its duties during an Evil Spirit incident.
• Xia Fan rejected recruiting or buying off Bureau Fangshi and proposed hiring failed Scholar Examination candidates as temporary workers who could train and earn merit before the next exam.
• Xia Fan asked Luo You'er to write to her senior sister and planned to contact her, Fei Nian, Fang Xiandao, and his master, Zhao Dahai, for help.

Xia Fan planned to build an investigation team to fight both Evil Spirits and human evildoers, then visited Jinxia City's dock district with Li. They found a message inviting them to Seaport Pier at midnight to learn the truth about Gaoshan County.

• Xia Fan proposed recruiting ordinary constables, including Li Xing, to investigate cases alongside cultivators and declared that cultivators should also fight human evildoers.
• Xia Fan planned to travel to Fenghua County to find his master and recruit Li Xing.
• Xia Fan took Li to the dock district, where she sensed the smell of old and fresh blood in the ground.
• Li stopped Xia Fan as a dagger flew toward them, and Xia Fan found a concealed note in its handle.
• Xia Fan read the note inviting him to Seaport Pier at midnight to learn the truth about Gaoshan County.

Xia Fan answered a mysterious message about Gaoshan County by arranging a public meeting at Wanfu Restaurant. Two impoverished strangers arrived, and the woman revealed that she was Yamato Kingdom’s Great Miko, Wuyue Yao, seeking an introduction to Princess Guangping.

• Xia Fan rejected the midnight seaside meeting and sent back an invitation to Wanfu Restaurant at the hour of the Dog.
• Xia Fan chose a booth overlooking the restaurant entrance and waited there with Li.
• Two shabby-robed strangers arrived, and Xia Fan had the attendant bring them to his booth.
• Xia Fan let the hungry strangers eat and challenged them to reveal their identities before discussing cooperation.
• Wuyue Yao identified herself as Yamato’s one hundred and forty-fourth Great Miko and asked Xia Fan to introduce her to Princess Guangping, bearing the Centennial Pact.

Xia Fan learned that Wuyue Yao had come from Yamato to seek help against Dong Sheng and discovered that salt smuggling might connect the Wang family to the Gaoshan County crimes. After agreeing to verify her ancient alliance document before arranging a meeting with Princess Guangping, he found that Wuyue Yao was dangerously ill and had pointed ears.

• Wuyue Yao denied directing events in Gaoshan County and explained that Dong Sheng had enslaved and attacked her people in Yamato.
• Wuyue Yao asked Xia Fan to help Yamato, first by stopping the Mainland Nation's illicit salt trade with Dong Sheng.
• Xia Fan connected the salt trade to the Wang family, the Qi Awakening cultivator in Gaoshan County, and the deaths in the Stone Grotto.
• Xia Fan accepted Wuyue Yao's ancient alliance document but said it needed verification before he could arrange a meeting with Princess Guangping.
• Wuyue Yao collapsed with a high fever, and her companion said she had been ill since crossing the sea.
• Xia Fan lifted Wuyue Yao's hood and saw that she had small, pointed ears.

Ning Wanjun received Xia Fan and three Yao, then discussed how their information could help Jinxia City. After learning that war and the need to preserve salt production prevented her from moving against the Wang family, Xia Fan proposed producing salt themselves, and Ning Wanjun agreed they could replace the family if he succeeded.

• Ning Wanjun met Xia Fan and the three Yao he had brought to her villa, and ordered Doctor Xie to examine the injured woman while the others were watched.
• Xia Fan explained that the Yao were regarded as protectors in Yamato, and Ning Wanjun arranged to send their parchment to the Capital Region for translation.
• Ning Wanjun planned to use the illegal-salt affair and the Yao's demands as leverage against the Wang family and foreign forces.
• Ning Wanjun told Xia Fan that she could not uproot the Wang family because Jinxia depended on its salt production and war with Feng State might soon break out.
• Xia Fan proposed producing salt with fewer workers and greater output, and Ning Wanjun said they could replace the Wang family if he could do it.

Qiuyue challenged Ning Wanjun’s trust in Xia Fan, and the princess revealed her suspicion that he was a Listener, a rare Qi Sense User linked by legend to the fall of kingdoms. After explaining why she valued what Xia Fan might accomplish, Ning Wanjun sent letters to the Capital Region, including one for Young Master Yun, whom Qiuyue hoped could judge the princess’s theory.

• Qiuyue accused Xia Fan of acting strangely and questioned both Ning Wanjun’s judgment and her attention to him.
• Ning Wanjun told Qiuyue about Listeners, said she suspected Xia Fan was one, and revealed the legend that Yong State’s last emperor had been a Listener.
• Ning Wanjun ordered Qiuyue to prepare a letter for the Capital Bureau of Military Affairs and its Record Department official, Luo Shiqi.
• Qiuyue gave a messenger a second letter for Young Master Yun of the Ministry of Works and asked him to bring back Luo Shiqi’s reply.
• After the messenger left, Qiuyue decided to seek Young Master Yun’s judgment on Ning Wanjun’s speculation.

Xia Fan questioned Wuyue Yao’s guards about their abilities and learned that Yao were born from humans and could have ordinary-looking children. The revelation left Li dazed as she confronted the possibility that her human birth mother had abandoned her in the wilderness.

• Xia Fan asked Shanhui, Tsi Hong, and Tsi Qing to demonstrate their abilities, and Shanhui revealed that he could transform into a fast-running dog.
• Tsi Qing explained that she could gain strength and resist pain through Mad Ghost Transformation, while Tsi Hong could transfer blood to help someone heal.
• Tsi Qing and Tsi Hong told Xia Fan that Yao were born from humans as rare mutations.
• Shanhui recalled a Yao who had a child with a human family on Mount Chicheng, and said the child looked ordinary.
• Xia Fan realized what the story meant for Li, who had been born to someone and abandoned in the wilderness.

Li accepted that her birth parents had abandoned her, while Xia Fan struggled to comfort her and then agreed to continue training with her that night. Wang Yi'an decided to send Wang Renzhi away and secretly hired the Donghai Gang to eliminate Xia Fan, leaving the new deal in motion.

• Li told Xia Fan she had learned to forget pain and no longer hated the parent who abandoned her as much as she once had.
• Li said she had no interest in finding her blood relatives and urged Xia Fan to continue training with her that night.
• Wang Yi'an ordered Wang Renzhi sent back to their hometown and had guards drag him away when he refused.
• Wang Yi'an weighed Yuan Official's offer to support Wang Renzhi's advancement if Xia Fan was eliminated.
• Wang Yi'an ordered Qingzhi to notify the Donghai Gang that he had a task for them.

Xia Fan joined Ning Wanjun and Wuyue Yao for talks about the Yamato Kingdom, the sea route controlled through Evil Spirits, and an old alliance document. The discussion ended when Xia Fan urged Ning Wanjun to accept the document’s tributary relationship as the highest form of alliance.

• Ning Wanjun introduced Xia Fan to her three retainers, Xu Sanchong, Li Duojin, and He Guicai, and asked him to help resolve the Yamato envoys’ affairs.
• Ning Wanjun asked Wuyue Yao how the Dong Sheng Kingdom had opened a sea route, and Wuyue Yao explained that the An Clan’s Onmyoji used Evil Spirits to control the passage.
• Xia Fan suggested that the An Clan might have originated in Yong State, while Ning Wanjun recognized that reopening the route would require eliminating the sea Evil Spirits at their source.
• Wuyue Yao explained that Yamato’s language and knowledge came partly from Yong State and described an old document requiring annual tribute in exchange for protection and trading rights.
• When Wuyue Yao revealed that the document also included marriage alliances, Ning Wanjun proposed a more ordinary alliance, but Xia Fan insisted that tributary relations were the highest form of alliance.

Xia Fan persuaded Ning Wanjun to preserve the tributary relationship with Yamato by offering salt made through his vastly more productive solar method. After the first bilateral meeting, he explained the method to the princess in a secret chamber, while the discussion also revealed that Yao and Jing could arise from humans and beasts.

• Xia Fan urged Ning Wanjun to maintain the tributary relationship and proposed salt as a valuable return gift for Yamato.
• Xia Fan claimed his solar salt-making method could produce salt a hundred times faster, and Ning Wanjun agreed to continue discussing the alliance while keeping the method secret.
• Xia Fan raised the possibility that Yao were born from humans, and Wuyue Yao explained that Jing were beast-born aberrations with Qi Awakening abilities.
• Ning Wanjun recalled that the Second Prince had boiled a two-headed parrot presented to the emperor by Western merchants.
• After the meeting, Ning Wanjun took Xia Fan to a secret chamber, where he explained that his method used sunlight instead of firewood or charcoal to evaporate seawater.

Xia Fan explained his saltworks experiment to Ning Wanjun and argued that broad education and relief from poverty would help new ideas take root. Convinced of his ability and ready to strengthen her hold on Jinxia City, Ning Wanjun ordered her loyal veterans to assemble.

• Ning Wanjun understood Xia Fan’s saltworks plan and asked why no one had proposed it before; he explained that capable thinkers often lacked the means or incentive to pursue it.
• Xia Fan said that reducing poverty and expanding education would let more people develop useful ideas, then requested workers, carpenters, and masons for his experiment.
• Xia Fan urged Ning Wanjun to summon her own people, warning that she needed enough strength to hold Jinxia City.
• After Xia Fan left, Ning Wanjun told Qiuyue that he had deduced her preparations without being told about them.
• Ning Wanjun revealed that more than three thousand battle-hardened former soldiers had pledged loyalty to her and ordered Qiuyue to recall them to Jinxia City.

A guard delivered Qiuyue’s letter to Mo Yun at the Ministry of Works and discovered that the famed Young Master Yun was a woman overseeing the Mechanical Bureau’s inventions. The guard learned that Mo Yun belonged to the renowned Mo Clan, while she began preparing a reply to Qiuyue.

• A guard brought Qiuyue’s letter to the Ministry of Works and toured its hall of experimental inventions.
• An official explained that Mo Yun’s practice of preserving failed creations had helped the Ministry produce more successful devices.
• Mo Yun appeared and demanded the letter, startling the guard when he realized Young Master Yun was a woman.
• Mo Yun said Qiuyue’s message must also reflect Princess Guangping Wanjun’s wishes and told the guard to wait for her reply.
• Lord Xiao identified Mo Yun as a member of the famous Mo Clan, known for crafting weapons bearing its family mark.

Mo Yun left for Jinxia City to respond to a threat to the Third Princess, while Luo Qingqing read letters from Luo You'er and Xia Fan describing their perilous work and asking for help. Luo Qingqing wished she could answer Xia Fan's plea, but her post in the Imperial Sorcery Internal Guard kept her from returning.

• An official explained that Mo Yun had left the Mo Clan after its men-only traditions barred her from learning its secret arts, and that she had built her reputation as Young Master Yun.
• Mo Yun announced she would travel to Jinxia City because the Third Princess's fate mattered more than her work on a device for the Curio Appreciation Fair.
• Luo Qingqing read Luo You'er's letter, which described fighting an Evil Spirit with Xia Fan, Sister Li, and Princess Guangping, and reported that Xia Fan and Luo You'er had been promoted.
• Luo Qingqing read Xia Fan's letter asking for help with the understaffed Bureau of Military Affairs in Jinxia City.
• Luo Qingqing regretted that she could not answer Xia Fan's request before leaving her Imperial Sorcery Internal Guard post, then looked toward the palace's enclosing white walls.

Xia Fan visited Zhao Dahai at Ruanxiang Pavilion and asked his former master to lead a new team handling Evil Spirits. Zhao Dahai refused until Xia Fan revealed that the Jinxia Bureau of Military Affairs was their enemy.

• Zhao Dahai considered leaving Fenghua County as Ruanxiang Pavilion prospered and its rival neared closure.
• Xia Fan arrived at Ruanxiang Pavilion, and Zhao Dahai tried to escape before his disciple broke into the room.
• Xia Fan asked whether Zhao Dahai had once practiced Sorcery Art, and Zhao Dahai explained that he had been expelled from the Bureau of Military Affairs after opposing its rules and its use of Evil Spirits for profit.
• Xia Fan thanked Zhao Dahai and asked him to lead a new team of Sorcery Art practitioners in the Command Department Hall, but Zhao Dahai refused.
• Xia Fan said the Gaoshan County rumors were wrong and revealed that the Jinxia Bureau of Military Affairs was the enemy.

Xia Fan recruited Zhao Dahai and Li Xing into his new force and prepared to return to Jinxia City. On the way out of Fenghua County, he and Li discovered that more than fifty armed people had surrounded them.

• Xia Fan persuaded Zhao Dahai to try working with his new force, while allowing him to leave whenever he wished and avoid dangerous Evil Spirits.
• Li Xing accepted Xia Fan’s offer and asked to bring several trusted subordinates with him.
• Xia Fan decided to leave Fenghua County for Jinxia City that night after beginning to assemble the new Command Department.
• Li detected people following Xia Fan and him, and they headed toward a secluded hill to confirm their suspicions.
• More than fifty armed figures appeared under the moonlight, surrounding Xia Fan and Li.

Xia Fan and Li confronted Ueno Kyuchi and the Donghai Gang, while Shanhui and Tsi Qing joined the battle from behind. Xia Fan defeated Ueno with a powerful Zhen Technique attack, and Li finished him off before he could strike back.

• Ueno Kyuchi challenged Xia Fan to a duel over Qingzi's death, and Xia Fan told Li to fight at full strength.
• Shanhui charged into the Donghai Gang's rear, breaking their encirclement, while Tsi Qing attacked the gang members with twin swords.
• Xia Fan and Li attacked Ueno as the battle around them turned the gang's encirclement into a trap.
• Ueno's blade vanished from sight as he attacked, but Xia Fan used Flowing Light with the Copper Wire Pendant to send electricity through the weapon and blast him away.
• Ueno survived the attack and tried to aim a hidden weapon at Xia Fan, but Li pierced his chest with her claws.

Xia Fan defeated an ambush sent by the Wang family and discovered a foreign-made hand cannon. After discussing gunpowder weapons and their weaknesses with Ning Wanjun, he resolved to prepare for their future development.

• Xia Fan and his allies killed or captured the ambush force, and Tsi Qing identified the survivors as Donghai Gang thugs hired by the Wang family.
• Xia Fan ordered the survivors sent to Jinxia City and arranged for the prefectural office to remove the dead.
• Xia Fan presented Ueno Kyuchi's hand cannon to Ning Wanjun, who identified it as a Sleeve Cannon and said Qi State did not produce it.
• Ning Wanjun explained that Qi State had Iron Cannons but used them sparingly because Sorcery Arts could counter them and the weapons were heavy and impractical.
• Xia Fan considered how firearms might improve over time and decided to prepare for their development.