Recaps

Fang Yuan strengthened himself as war approached Wushui Commandery, then joined Qian Duoduo to investigate Zhao Tianci’s mysterious affliction. They left the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion with a suspicious booklet from Cuier, while Qian Duoduo urged them to abandon the dangerous job.

• Fang Yuan refused Su Wan’s invitation to join the White Lotus Sect and focused on cultivation, while Su Wan met Li Suxin and told her that Fang Yuan had rescued her from Zhao Tianci.
• Su Wan warned Li Suxin that Black Hall planned to target Fang Yuan, and Li Suxin agreed to approach him about joining White Hall.
• Fang Yuan encountered White Lotus Sect members demanding grain, learned the Rebel Army was advancing south, and reported the danger to Eunuch Cao, who warned him to prepare to leave Wushui Commandery.
• Zhao Si gave Fang Yuan the Carefree Sect’s Dust-Transcending Shadow-Stepping manual, but Fang Yuan found that his perfected Treading Snow Without Trace already matched it.
• As war threatened Wushui Commandery, Qian Duoduo brought Fang Yuan to the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion to investigate Zhao Tianci’s nightmare affliction.
• Ma Ben’s God Summoning ritual briefly awakened Zhao Tianci, while Fang Yuan learned the boy had repeatedly seen an unexplained robed guest inside the residence.
• Fang Yuan suspected an invisible guest might be behind the affliction, but the burly investigator dismissed the idea and chose to remain in Zhao Tianci’s courtyard for the reward.
• Steward Fu blocked Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo from Old Madam’s courtyard, and Cuier warned them to flee before giving Fang Yuan a booklet that the family had read before the trouble began.

Fang Yuan traced the Black Calamity through the Carefree Sect and the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion while testing a strange new power linked to people’s belief in him. The booklet revealed how a city had been subverted from within, and the arc ended with Wushui Commandery under attack and Fang Yuan surrounded in the fog.

• Fang Yuan killed the Carefree Sect Master after he reneged on their wager, then took Zhao Si and the sect’s movement manuals after learning of the sect’s Black Calamity outbreak.
• Fang Yuan discovered he could control Foolish Egg and Third Brother through the lights in his mind, and he sent them to spread stories of his exploits as their belief strengthened his talent.
• White Lotus Sect elders plotted to eliminate Fang Yuan and harvest his vitality, while Ma Ben and Li Suxin recognized the growing threat of people falling into unnatural sleep.
• Fang Yuan entered the fog-shrouded Prefecture Governor’s Mansion with Qian Duoduo and Li Suxin, where they found Zhao Tianci barely breathing and heard strange voices along the Covered Corridor.
• Fang Yuan opened Cuier’s changing booklet and read how shopkeepers in Hanshan Commandery gained strength, killed a gate captain, and opened the city gates to the Rebel Army.
• Fireworks signaled an attack on Wushui Commandery as Fang Yuan read the booklet’s final message, then drew his sword and prepared to fight through the figures surrounding him with Qian Duoduo.