Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan watched Ma Ben use the White Lotus Sect’s God Summoning ritual to briefly rouse Zhao Tianci, then learned that the ritual drained the practitioner’s life force. The chapter left Zhao Tianci asleep again and Li Suxin warning Fang Yuan to be careful.

• Qian Duoduo told Fang Yuan that sects secretly took private jobs resolving Black Calamities and explained the White Lotus Sect’s ranks.
• Ma Ben’s Jade Buddha glimmered, and Zhao Tianci briefly awakened before sinking back into sleep.
• Ma Ben said his God Summoning ritual had only awakened a sliver of Zhao Tianci and left him too weakened to try again.
• Fang Yuan sensed that a powerful presence had looked into the room and noticed that Ma Ben seemed to have lost something fundamental.
• Li Suxin identified the ritual as God Summoning, argued with Ma Ben about the Black Hall, and warned Fang Yuan that the method consumed life force.

Fang Yuan considered the White Lotus Sect’s mysterious power while the group investigated Zhao Tianci’s continued unconsciousness. A burly man accused the maid Cuier, but Li Suxin explained her bashfulness and cleared her of suspicion.

• Fang Yuan suspected the White Lotus Sect had a shared method or resource that let its Guardians use their strange power, and judged it a dangerous price rather than an ordinary talent.
• A burly man arrived claiming he had found the cause of Zhao Tianci’s condition and led everyone into the courtyard to confront Cuier.
• The burly man accused Cuier of giving Zhao Tianci something harmful because she had acted bashfully when questioned about the young master’s bedtime habits.
• Steward Fu identified Cuier as Zhao Tianci’s longtime personal maid, while Fang Yuan noted that Zhao Tianci showed no sign of poisoning.
• Li Suxin learned that Cuier was embarrassed because Zhao Tianci was shirtless when she brought him water at night, and she declared Cuier innocent.

Fang Yuan questioned Cuier about Zhao Tianci’s behavior and learned that Zhao Tianci had repeatedly reported an unseen guest moving closer through the residence. The group began to suspect a story-type Black Calamity, though the burly man remained unconvinced.

• The burly man inspected Zhao Tianci and continued to suspect an undetected poison or sleep-inducing incense.
• Fang Yuan stopped Cuier and asked whether Zhao Tianci had behaved unusually; she said he often spoke of a guest in the residence.
• Steward Fu explained that Zhao Tianci first saw a robed guest at the gate, and that guards found no visitor or evidence of trouble outside the residence.
• Cuier recounted how Zhao Tianci later said the guest had entered the courtyard, then his room, and finally stood beside his bed.
• Fang Yuan considered the unseen guest a possible story-type Black Calamity and dismissed Cuier before the burly man could press her further.
• The burly man rejected the idea of an invisible guest and began to argue that even bizarre stories came from the human heart.

Fang Yuan warned that the invisible guest might still be inside the Prefecture Governor's Mansion, while the others reacted to the danger in different ways. After the group dispersed, he took Qian Duoduo toward the backyard to investigate further.

• A burly man dismissed the Black Calamity as a hoax and went to stay in Zhao Tianci's courtyard for the reward.
• Fang Yuan said the invisible guest might still be in the mansion, prompting Ma Ben to leave and Li Suxin to warn Fang Yuan to be careful of Ma Ben.
• Fang Yuan noted the Prefecture Governor's family had behaved strangely, while Qian Duoduo said his compass had failed to react inside the mansion.
• Fang Yuan suggested that he and Qian Duoduo inspect the backyard, then left the courtyard without explaining his plan.

Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo discovered that something was wrong inside the Prefecture Governor's Mansion and escaped after Cuier secretly gave Fang Yuan a blue booklet linked to Zhao Tianci's abnormal behavior. Outside the mansion, Qian Duoduo urged Fang Yuan to abandon the job.

• Steward Fu blocked Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo from entering Old Madam's courtyard, and Qian Duoduo's compass pointed at him.
• Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo returned to Zhao Tianci's courtyard, where the burly man decided to stay for the reward despite their warning that the mansion was dangerous.
• As Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo left, Cuier warned them to flee and gave Fang Yuan a booklet she said Zhao Tianci, Madam, and Old Madam had read before the trouble began.
• Fang Yuan put away the blue booklet, and he and Qian Duoduo left the mansion without further incident.
• Qian Duoduo told Fang Yuan that he wanted to call off the job because he had a bad feeling about it.

Fang Yuan learned that a powerful Black Calamity threatened Wushui Commandery and heard rumors that the Imperial Court had abandoned the city. Zhao Si also warned him that other forces were approaching and invited him to meet the Carefree Sect's leader, who would teach him a treasured movement Cultivation Method if Fang Yuan proved his technique was superior.

• Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo judged that the Black Calamity was powerful enough to disrupt the Compass, and Fang Yuan refused to open the yellowed booklet.
• Fang Yuan decided the threat could endanger the entire city, and Qian Duoduo went to report it to Old Hei.
• Fang Yuan confronted Zhao Si, who warned him that forces beyond the White Lotus Sect were approaching the commandery city.
• Zhao Si told Fang Yuan that rumors claimed the Imperial Court had abandoned Wushui Commandery, and Fang Yuan suspected someone in the city's upper ranks was leaking secrets.
• Zhao Si invited Fang Yuan to meet the Carefree Sect's leader, who had offered to pass on the sect's treasured movement Cultivation Method if Fang Yuan proved his movement technique surpassed Zhao Si's.

Fang Yuan went with Zhao Si to meet the Carefree Sect's Sect Master and claim the promised lightness technique. He easily won their courtyard race, leaving Zhao Si stunned.

• Fang Yuan agreed to visit the Carefree Sect's Sect Master immediately to obtain a Cultivation Method.
• Zhao Si led Fang Yuan through a guarded side entrance to the sect's discreet city residence.
• The Sect Master challenged Fang Yuan to beat Zhao Si in a hundred-pace race before he would hand over the technique.
• Zhao Si sprinted ahead, but Fang Yuan crossed the courtyard in three steps and stopped at the far end.
• Zhao Si raced past Fang Yuan and stared back in disbelief.

Fang Yuan defeated the Carefree Sect sect master after he tried to withdraw their wager, then forced Zhao Si to hand over the promised cultivation method. Fang Yuan remained in the courtyard and asked whether the sect master’s followers would seek revenge.

• Fang Yuan demonstrated his superior speed, and the sect master admitted that he could not simply give away the Carefree Sect’s treasured cultivation method.
• The sect master offered compensation instead of honoring the wager, so Fang Yuan killed him with a swift saber strike.
• Fang Yuan told Zhao Si that the sect master had chosen to attack him by reneging after losing, and Zhao Si insisted he had never intended to break the agreement.
• Zhao Si searched the sect master’s room and gave Fang Yuan a jade stone containing the cultivation method.
• Fang Yuan stayed in the courtyard and asked whether the sect master’s men would come looking for revenge.

Fang Yuan accepted Zhao Si’s offer to follow him and learned that the Carefree Sect had fled to Wushui Commandery after the Rebel Army took a county in Hanshan Commandery. Zhao Si began explaining how a low-paying escort mission for refugees went wrong, leaving the sect’s elders stranded at an abandoned post station.

• Zhao Si explained that the Carefree Sect’s elders would not avenge the dead Sect Master and offered to follow Fang Yuan.
• Zhao Si gathered the sect’s cultivation records for Fang Yuan, who agreed to take him along.
• Zhao Si revealed that the Carefree Sect had relocated to Wushui Commandery to flee trouble after the Rebel Army captured a county in Hanshan Commandery.
• Zhao Si said the sect accepted a fifty-point mission to escort influential families fleeing Hanshan Commandery.
• Zhao Si recounted that two elders waited a day and night at an abandoned post station near Cangwu County but saw no refugees or signs of life.

Fang Yuan heard how the Carefree Sect’s failed search for the escaped families was followed by disciples claiming that the guests had arrived. The sightings spread through the sect, and people began behaving violently and unnaturally despite the Sect Master’s attempts to contain them.

• Zhao Si told Fang Yuan that the Carefree Sect had searched the area around Cangwu County but found no families, then reported its failure to the Mission Hall.
• Zhao Si revealed that two nights later, a disciple woke and said the guests had arrived at the sect gate.
• More disciples and the elder who had led the mission began repeating that the guests had reached the main hall.
• Some disciples displayed uncanny movement skills, while one kind-hearted disciple attacked his roommate and laughed over his martial arts.
• Reports of guests and abnormal behavior spread to disciples who had never joined the mission, and the Sect Master failed to silence or contain them.

Zhao Si told Fang Yuan that the Carefree Sect had been driven from its main hall by a Black Calamity, while the Imperial City Security Department ignored their pleas for help. He then revealed that some Carefree Sect members had ties to the White Lotus Sect, leaving Fang Yuan to silently consider the disclosure.

• Zhao Si described how Carefree Sect disciples changed, saw nonexistent people, and were driven from their main hall by invisible guests.
• Zhao Si said the Mission Hall had dismissed the sect’s reports and sent its people away without help.
• Fang Yuan recognized the signs of a Black Calamity and concluded that capable investigators were overwhelmed by the growing number of outbreaks.
• Zhao Si hesitated before telling Fang Yuan that some Carefree Sect members had formed ties with the White Lotus Sect.
• Fang Yuan listened without reacting, while Zhao Si grew nervous about how his disclosure would be received.

Fang Yuan learned that the Carefree Sect’s Black Calamity made its first victims act violently and later victims fall into an unawakable sleep, leading him to suspect the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion had an earlier hidden victim. He took Zhao Si with him and realized the White Lotus Sect’s promised God Summoning purification might cost the lives of its assistants.

• Zhao Si explained that the Carefree Sect’s first disciples exposed to the Black Calamity went mad, while later victims became impossible to wake.
• Fang Yuan connected the sleepiness to Zhao Tianci and suspected Old Madam may have been the first victim at the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion.
• Fang Yuan told Zhao Si to come back with him, and Zhao Si accepted the offer and followed him.
• Zhao Si said a White Lotus Sect elder had offered a God Summoning purification that required a price in lives.
• Fang Yuan connected the ritual’s cost to Li Suxin’s warning about Ma Ben and suspected the assistants would be sacrificed.

Fang Yuan kept Zhao Si away from Cao Mansion while investigating how the Black Calamity spread, and found that the Carefree Sect’s low-grade movement manuals could not improve his Treading Snow Without Trace. He returned to Cao Mansion and discovered that Foolish Egg and Third Brother had come back early from intensive training, then asked why.

• Fang Yuan arranged for Zhao Si to stay at an inn and review the Carefree Sect’s files and Cultivation Methods until he could confirm Zhao Si was safe to bring into Cao Mansion.
• Fang Yuan concluded that the Carefree Sect’s low-grade movement manuals could not advance his Treading Snow Without Trace and hoped the sect founder’s premium movement technique would help.
• Fang Yuan recalled that the Carefree Sect Master had given Zhao Si the manuals because he considered them of little value, and noted that the master had later died beneath a single blade.
• Fang Yuan reached Cao Mansion and found Foolish Egg and Third Brother standing guard at the gate after returning from intensive training.
• Fang Yuan noticed that both men had become more composed, though they eagerly sought his praise, and asked why they had returned early.

After the Imperial City Security Department sent its trainees home because instructors were needed at the dire front lines, Fang Yuan discovered that he could make Foolish Egg and Third Brother squeak with a mental command. He realized the two men had become points of light within his Iron-Thread Willow, but he could not explain why.

• Foolish Egg told Fang Yuan that the Imperial City Security Department had sent everyone home as its instructors headed to the front lines.
• Foolish Egg and Third Brother hesitated to tell Fang Yuan that they had boasted about him during training.
• Fang Yuan sensed two lights in his mind and found that both men squeaked when he silently commanded them to do so.
• Fang Yuan confirmed that the two lights represented Foolish Egg and Third Brother and asked what trouble they had caused during training.
• Foolish Egg admitted that he and Third Brother had invoked Fang Yuan's name to impress their fellow trainees, leaving Fang Yuan wondering whether their boasting had somehow caused the lights to appear.

Fang Yuan discovered that Foolish Egg and Third Brother acted as persistent mediums for his talent, which let him implant thoughts and control their actions. He suspected the key difference between them and the vanished lights was how strongly they believed in him.

• Fang Yuan wondered whether Foolish Egg and Third Brother had spread his name and deeds, causing his talent to grow through them as mediums.
• Fang Yuan mentally commanded the two men to walk left, and they obeyed without realizing they had been controlled.
• Fang Yuan ordered Foolish Egg and Third Brother to kill themselves, and they began reaching for their swords before he withdrew the command.
• Fang Yuan concluded that he had absolute control over his mediums and considered why their lights endured while other lights vanished.
• Fang Yuan guessed that the difference lay in the degree of belief, identifying the vanished lights as passersby who had only encountered him by chance.

Fang Yuan discovered that Foolish Egg and Third Brother’s emotional reactions synchronized with the lights in his mind, suggesting that spreading belief in him could grow his talent, and ordered them to boast even more. Meanwhile, Li Suxin and Ma Ben argued over White Hall and Black Hall’s unequal treatment as Black Hall prepared to take the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion case.

• Fang Yuan praised Foolish Egg and Third Brother, then noticed the lights in his mind brighten and tremble with their emotions.
• Fang Yuan concluded that his ability might grow through other people’s belief and assigned Foolish Egg and Third Brother to continue spreading his reputation.
• Fang Yuan told them to boast bigger and began planning ways to measure how widely and deeply people believed the rumors.
• Foolish Egg drew on his knowledge of where rumors spread fastest and prepared to carry out Fang Yuan’s order.
• In a hidden courtyard, Li Suxin told Ma Ben that White Hall would not interfere if Black Hall took the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion case.
• Ma Ben accused White Hall of neglecting Black Hall, whose members handled dangerous work for meager rewards while White Hall received the sect leader’s favor.

The White Lotus Sect’s Seventh Elder ordered Ma Ben to target Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo during the Black Calamity, while Ma Ben concealed the damage God Summoning had caused him. The chapter leaves Li Suxin planning to warn Fang Yuan as Ma Ben waits for the Carefree Sect’s representatives.

• Li Suxin warned Ma Ben that the force in the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion was beyond the White Lotus Sect’s reach, but Ma Ben insisted he was confident.
• The Seventh Elder questioned Ma Ben and Li Suxin about the two Investigative Captains who had visited the Prefecture Governor’s Mansion.
• Ma Ben identified Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo, explaining that their connections made them difficult to recruit.
• The Seventh Elder ordered that Fang Yuan and Qian Duoduo be eliminated during the Black Calamity, and Li Suxin decided to seek a chance to warn Fang Yuan.
• Ma Ben supported the order, hoping to harvest an Investigative Captain’s vitality, then waited for the Carefree Sect representatives and their prized movement technique.

Seventh Elder learned that Fang Yuan was the escaped seed in Qinghe County and decided to retrieve him personally. Ma Ben and Li Suxin left, with Li Suxin considering secretly warning Fang Yuan.

• Seventh Elder asked Ma Ben how the White Lotus Sect’s seeds had been collected, and Ma Ben reported that only Qinghe County remained.
• Ma Ben revealed that the escaped seed was Fang Yuan, whom the Black Hall had struggled to retrieve.
• Seventh Elder was pleased to learn Fang Yuan was a Fourth Rank seed and said he would retrieve him himself.
• Ma Ben bowed and left, while Li Suxin considered warning Fang Yuan before leaving the hall.

Seventh Elder plotted to exploit Fang Yuan’s fourth-rank seed to pursue seventh rank, while Ma Ben showed Li Suxin signs that Wushui Commandery faced an unexplained danger. The chapter ended as Ma Ben led her to another residence to listen for further evidence.

• Seventh Elder coveted Fang Yuan’s talent and planned to use his fourth-rank seed to seek a path to seventh rank.
• Ma Ben stopped Li Suxin outside the courtyard and persuaded her to speak with him away from Seventh Elder.
• Ma Ben pointed out that a household they had entered at random was sleeping unnaturally deeply, with its occupants’ breathing growing faint.
• Ma Ben warned Li Suxin that Wushui Commandery was about to face a huge problem.
• Ma Ben led Li Suxin to a second residence and signaled her to listen.

Li Suxin and Ma Ben discovered that people across Wushui Commandery were falling into a state like Zhao Tianci’s and considered joining forces, while Fang Yuan tested whether his talent could be strengthened through spreading stories. The chapter ended with Eunuch Cao giving Fang Yuan two opposing bottles, one warm and one cold.

• Li Suxin realized the unconscious people Ma Ben had found resembled Zhao Tianci, and Ma Ben proposed that they join forces rather than trust the Seventh Elder.
• Li Suxin suggested leaving Wushui Commandery, but Ma Ben shook his head.
• Fang Yuan sent Foolish Egg and Third Brother to tell a hundred people stories about his exploits to test whether their boasting could expand his talent.
• Eunuch Cao offered to transfer Han Bao to protect the two men, but Fang Yuan insisted that only they could perform the task.
• Eunuch Cao gave Fang Yuan two porcelain bottles, one warm and one cold, whose opposing sensations flowed through his meridians.