Recaps

Su Fei annihilated the Shadow Kill Tower’s ambush while crossing the river, then continued his journey unharmed. The Tower’s leaders later debated how an eighteen-year-old could have defeated their killers so decisively.

• Su Fei killed most of the attackers with his first blade slash, then slew Spear Demon and Blade Ghost and gravely wounded Whip Girl with his second.
• Su Fei killed the fleeing assassins with Dragon Ascending to Heaven, then ignored Whip Girl’s pleas and killed her when she reached for poison.
• Su Fei searched the bodies for money, crossed the river aboard the black-canopied boat, and continued on horseback after abandoning it.
• The Shadow Kill Tower received news of the failed assassination and speculated that Su Fei might be a Great Grandmaster or have a powerful guardian.

Su Fei arrived in the Great Xuan Imperial City and reported for duty at the Imperial Guard Southern Commandery Investigation Department. After meeting Lei Chongxiao, he began learning about his new post as a Vice Thousand Households Commander.

• The White Lotus Sect leader angrily ordered his disciples to kill any Shadow Kill Tower assassin they encountered after the assassins demanded more money to target Su Fei.
• Su Fei entered the Great Xuan Imperial City and made his way to the Imperial Guard Southern Commandery Investigation Department.
• The system rewarded Su Fei with an Iron Cloth Shirt and one hundred and twenty years of cultivation power for completing his arrival mission, which he chose not to claim immediately.
• Lei Chongxiao welcomed Su Fei, praised his work in Qingzhou, and warned him to act cautiously in the imperial city.
• Lei Chongxiao appointed Su Fei a Vice Thousand Households Commander, and a clerk showed him around and explained how the department was organized.

Su Fei took charge of his new office and learned about the unsolved Vajra Temple massacre, where more than a hundred monks and the imperial Gilded Sarira had vanished or been killed. He decided to investigate the case, which had to be solved within a month.

• Su Fei arrived at his office, met chief Hundred Households Commander Zhang Lie and the other officers, and asked about the office's duties.
• Zhang Lie briefed Su Fei on minor cases involving stolen medicinal herbs and a suspicious merchant at Myriad Blessings Tower, which Su Fei set aside.
• Zhang Lie described how Vajra Temple had been wiped out more than ten days earlier, with monks and the Gilded Sarira missing and no signs of a struggle or forced entry.
• Su Fei learned that the vanished monks included Abbot Master Xuankong and his senior disciple Zhen Ding, both Grandmaster Realm martial artists.
• Zhang Lie explained that the emperor had ordered the Imperial Guard to solve the massacre within a month, while Li Shan said the killer was likely a peak Grandmaster Realm expert.

Su Fei accepted the Vajra Temple massacre case and used his stored cultivation to perfect Iron Cloth Shirt and advance to the grandmaster realm eighth layer. After the system assigned him a mission to solve the massacre, recover the Gilded Sarira, and capture the culprit, he prepared to investigate the temple with Zhang Lie.

• Su Fei took charge of investigating the Vajra Temple massacre and told Zhang Lie to accompany him the next morning.
• Su Fei spent twenty years of cultivation to perfect Iron Cloth Shirt, making his body exceptionally durable.
• Su Fei devoted his remaining one hundred years of cultivation to the Nine Yang Divine Art and broke through to the grandmaster realm eighth layer.
• The system issued Su Fei a mission to solve the massacre, recover the Gilded Sarira, and capture the culprit, with the Muscle Tendon Changing Scripture and one hundred and fifty years of cultivation as rewards.
• Su Fei ate at the department dining hall, returned to his quarters, and set out the next morning with Zhang Lie toward the Vajra Temple.

Su Fei and Zhang Lie investigated the Vajra Temple massacre at Emerald Screen Mountain, where Su Fei uncovered an unusual scent and a crescent-shaped weapon mark. They returned to the Southern Commandery Investigation Department with Su Fei intending to trace the mark, and Lei Chongxiao questioned them about their trip.

• Su Fei and Zhang Lie questioned a villager near Vajra Temple, who recalled hearing no sounds on the night of the massacre.
• Su Fei examined the temple and learned that the Gilded Sarira, several monks, and Zhen Ding were missing from the scripture repository.
• Su Fei detected a strange scent and discovered a shallow crescent-shaped cut on a pillar, but found no other clues.
• Su Fei concluded that the killer had used powerful concealment methods and decided to investigate unfamiliar factions or martial artists who had recently entered the capital.
• Su Fei and Zhang Lie returned to the Southern Commandery Investigation Department, where Lei Chongxiao asked where they had gone.

Su Fei investigated the massacre at Vajra Temple, traced a crescent mark to Moon Wheel Temple in the Western Regions, and set out to investigate the sect before the deadline.

• Lei Chongxiao promised Su Fei the Southern Commandery Investigation Department’s full support and a reward if he solved the case and recovered the Gilded Sarira.
• Su Fei drew the crescent mark and ordered Zhang Lie to investigate it and search Bore Temple’s records.
• Zhang Lie found no connection to Bore Temple but identified the nearly identical mark as one used by Moon Wheel Temple, whose disciples had once visited Vajra Temple.
• Su Fei suspected Moon Wheel Temple might have targeted the Gilded Sarira and decided to investigate the sect himself.
• Su Fei disguised himself in plain clothes, took his Spring Embroidered Saber, and rode toward the Western Regions.

Su Fei reached Wheel Moon Town and learned that Moon Wheel Temple barred outsiders, so he found a way in by signing up as a kitchen helper. He passed the temple guards and entered the grounds, where he would have to find an opportunity to proceed further.

• Su Fei arrived in Wheel Moon Town, where an inn waiter told him Moon Wheel Temple admitted only ordained monks and important dignitaries.
• Su Fei decided to investigate the town before attempting to enter the heavily guarded temple.
• At the labor market, Su Fei volunteered for a kitchen-helper job after the gray-robed outer sect steward raised the pay to thirty copper coins.
• Su Fei and four other recruits followed the steward up Moon Disc Mountain and passed the mountain gate after the warrior monks confirmed they had been checked.
• Su Fei entered Moon Wheel Temple with the other kitchen helpers and saw its grounds lined with desert poplars.

Su Fei infiltrated Moon Wheel Temple as a kitchen worker, discovered its blood-grown poisonous red lotuses, and continued into the rear mountain. He ended the chapter spying on a pavilion where the emperor’s Gilded Sarira stood beside a monk and a woman from the Western Regions.

• Su Fei joined the kitchen workers, learned he was forbidden to enter the rear mountain, and waited until midnight to slip away.
• Su Fei found a fenced garden of red lotuses whose fragrance numbed his true essence, then recognized that the plants were cultivated in blood-soaked soil.
• Su Fei suspected the red lotuses had been used to poison the monks of Vajra Temple, but chose to continue investigating the massacre before reporting Moon Wheel Temple.
• Su Fei reached a pavilion on the rear mountain and saw the Gilded Sarira inside, along with a sorrowful monk and a woman dressed in the style of the Western Regions.

Su Fei uncovered Jia Lun and Zhen Ding’s roles in Vajra Temple’s massacre and confronted them in the Moon Wheel Temple’s forbidden loft. Zhen Ding still defended Jia Lun and attacked Su Fei, who prepared to meet him with his perfected Iron Cloth Shirt.

• Zhen Ding told Jia Lun that she had deceived him into poisoning Vajra Temple so the Moon Wheel Temple could seize the Gilded Sarira and slaughter more than a hundred monks.
• Jia Lun dismissed Zhen Ding’s remorse, blamed him for the deaths, and threatened to expose him unless he submitted to the Moon Wheel Temple.
• Su Fei heard their confession from the roof, then burst into the loft and identified himself as an Imperial Guard who had come to reclaim the sarira and arrest them.
• Su Fei accused Jia Lun and Zhen Ding of their crimes, but Jia Lun ordered Zhen Ding to kill him.
• Zhen Ding activated his Major Accomplishment Vajra Body to protect Jia Lun, and Su Fei answered by activating his Perfection Realm Iron Cloth Shirt.

Su Fei defeated Zhen Ding and Jia Lun after confronting them over the poisoning and slaughter at Vajra Temple, then took the Gilded Sarira. Jia Lun summoned her master, Kong Hai, who arrived as Su Fei prepared to face him.

• Zhen Ding activated Vajra's Furious Gaze and attacked Su Fei, but Su Fei shattered his fist with his Perfection Realm Iron Cloth Shirt and left him incapacitated.
• Jia Lun attacked Su Fei with her chained moon wheel, but his Dragon Ascending to Heaven destroyed it and injured her meridians.
• Su Fei accused Jia Lun of poisoning Zhen Ding and helping Moon Wheel Temple slaughter Vajra Temple, then threatened to send her to the Imperial Guard's Heavenly Prison.
• Jia Lun crushed a jade pendant to summon help, alerting Kong Hai in a secluded chamber beneath Moon Wheel Temple.
• Su Fei took the Gilded Sarira as Kong Hai arrived in the loft, and Jia Lun called out to her master.

Su Fei confronted Kong Hai over the Moon Wheel Temple’s crimes and demanded that he surrender Jia Lun and Zhen Ding and face trial. Kong Hai attacked, but Su Fei broke two of his techniques and wounded him, leaving the Grandmaster astonished.

• Jia Lun blamed Su Fei for injuring her and Zhen Ding and taking the Gilded Sarira, but Kong Hai rebuked her for disturbing his seclusion.
• Kong Hai demanded that Su Fei return the sarira and cripple his martial arts, while Su Fei accused the Moon Wheel Temple of massacring the Vajra Temple and stealing the relic.
• Su Fei refused to back down and demanded that Kong Hai surrender Jia Lun and Zhen Ding and return to the imperial capital to stand trial.
• Kong Hai unleashed the Great Hand Seal, but Su Fei used the moon wheel fragments as a saber and shattered the attack with his God of Slaughter's Blade Slash.
• Kong Hai attacked with the Moon Wheel Seal, but Su Fei broke it with his Thunderous Saber and wounded Kong Hai.

Su Fei defeated Kong Hai and incapacitated Jia Lun, Zhen Ding, and the three monks who had destroyed Vajra Temple. As he tried to leave Moon Wheel Temple with the Gilded Sarira and his captives, dozens of monks surrounded his carriage, and he cut through their ranks.

• Kong Hai unleashed his Buddha Net Finger Technique, but Su Fei shattered it with the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and injured him.
• Kong Hai admitted defeat and fled Moon Wheel Temple, leaving Jia Lun and Zhen Ding behind.
• Jia Lun's three senior brothers attacked Su Fei, who destroyed the dantians of all three monks, Jia Lun, and Zhen Ding.
• Su Fei put the five captives in a carriage, secured the Gilded Sarira, and prepared to leave Moon Wheel Temple.
• Seventy or eighty monks surrounded Su Fei's carriage, and he killed nearly thirty with a single God of Slaughter's Blade Slash.

Su Fei returned to the Southern Commandery Investigation Department with the Gilded Sarira and five captured suspects, having uncovered and avenged the Vajra Temple massacre. Lei Chongxiao confirmed the treasure and suspects, ordered their interrogation, and was astonished by Su Fei’s account of defeating Kong Hai and escaping the Moon Wheel Temple.

• Su Fei killed the Moon Wheel Temple monks who tried to stop him, then left with the five captured suspects and the Gilded Sarira.
• After six days of travel, Su Fei brought the suspects and treasure to Lei Chongxiao at the Southern Commandery Investigation Department.
• Su Fei identified Zhen Ding, Jia Lun, and her three senior brothers as the masterminds behind the Vajra Temple massacre, and Lei Chongxiao confirmed the Gilded Sarira was genuine.
• Lei Chongxiao ordered the five suspects taken to the Imperial Guard’s Heavenly Prison for interrogation.
• Su Fei recounted how he traced the clues to the Moon Wheel Temple, discovered its poisonous red lotuses, and learned how Jia Lun and Zhen Ding had enabled the massacre.
• Lei Chongxiao praised Su Fei for wounding Kong Hai and returning with the treasure and suspects.

After Su Fei helped expose the Vajra Temple massacre, Lei Chongxiao praised him and promised a first-class merit. Su Fei claimed his system rewards, advanced to grandmaster realm third layer, and was summoned by Lei the next morning for the interrogation results.

• Lei Chongxiao praised Su Fei for defeating a grandmaster and promised to report his accomplishments to His Majesty.
• Su Fei returned to his quarters and claimed the Muscle Tendon Changing Scripture and one hundred and fifty years of cultivation from the system.
• Su Fei broke through to grandmaster realm third layer, stabilized his new strength, and assessed how much more powerful he had become.
• Su Fei waited for evidence from the interrogation of Jia Lun and the other prisoners, then went to a brothel before returning to work the next morning.
• A clerk told Su Fei that Lei Chongxiao wanted to see him immediately.

After the Moon Wheel Temple confessed to its crimes, Su Fei received imperial recognition for solving the Vajra Temple case and clearing numerous old cases. He was promoted to full Thousand Households Commander and left with substantial rewards and a new honorary office.

• Lei Chongxiao told Su Fei that Jia Lun and the monks had confessed to the Moon Wheel Temple's crimes, including massacres of more than a dozen sects and Lineages.
• Lei Chongxiao left for the palace with the confessions and recovered sarira, promising to request the foremost credit for Su Fei.
• The emperor's decree promoted Su Fei to fifth rank full Thousand Households Commander, awarded him ten thousand taels of gold and a fifth rank Flying Fish Robe, and named him Silver-and-Azure Grand Master of Splendid Happiness.
• Su Fei accepted the decree and rewards, vowed to serve Great Xuan, and received congratulations from Zhang Lie and the others.

Su Fei celebrated his promotion to Fifth Rank Thousand Households Commander while Thousand Households Commander Li led the destruction of the Moon Wheel Temple. Although the temple was burned and its monks captured, its escaped abbot Kong Hai swore revenge on Su Fei, who spent his days off attending banquets.

• Lei Chongxiao promoted Su Fei to the Southern Commandery Investigation Department's youngest Thousand Households Commander and gave him several days off.
• Su Fei invited his subordinates to drink at Emerald Embrace Pavilion, then led them to the brothel that evening.
• Thousand Households Commander Li's force arrested the Moon Wheel Temple's monks, confiscated its valuables, and burned the temple.
• Kong Hai watched the temple burn from afar, blamed Su Fei, and escaped after vowing to repay the blood debt.
• The Investigation Department's other eight Thousand Households Commanders and two Vice Thousand Households Commanders took turns hosting Su Fei at brothel banquets during his days off.

Su Fei accepted the Imperial Guard’s investigation into the disappearance of more than five million taels in South of the River tax silver after his system offered a powerful martial art and cultivation as a reward. Lei Chongxiao approved his request for records, water-skilled guards, a warship, and support from canal naval forces as Su Fei prepared to pursue the case.

• After days of entertaining his colleagues, Su Fei returned to presiding over his Thousand Households Office.
• Lei Chongxiao announced that three government ships carrying over five million taels in tax silver had vanished while traveling through Guangling Commandery, along with their Palace Guard escorts.
• Ouyang, Hong, and the other Thousand Households Commanders declined to take the investigation, citing its difficulty and their existing duties.
• Su Fei volunteered for the case after receiving a system mission to recover the tax silver, identify the robbers, and arrest them in exchange for the Six Proud Frost Arts and 180 years of cultivation.
• Su Fei requested the escort roster, a route map, water-skilled Imperial Guards, and naval assistance, and Lei Chongxiao promised him fifty guards and a warship.

Su Fei accepted Lei Chongxiao’s order to investigate the missing tax silver and traveled to Guangling Commandery after the navy’s search of the Grand Canal found nothing. He arrived at the landing and faced an arrogant demand for mooring fees from the Raft Gang.

• Lei Chongxiao gave Su Fei his personal token and ordered him to recover the tax silver as soon as possible.
• Su Fei reviewed the case files and concluded that ordinary bandits could not have stolen more than five million taels and killed an imperial army Grandmaster Attendant.
• Su Fei met Miao Tianqi, who said the navy had searched the Grand Canal’s main channel twice without finding clues, and decided to investigate Guangling Commandery.
• Su Fei’s warship reached Guangling Commandery after two days and two nights of travel, and he disembarked with several Imperial Guards.
• A scar-faced Raft Gang member demanded a mooring fee and threatened Su Fei and his men when they identified themselves as Imperial Guards.

Su Fei investigated the disappearance of the official vessel carrying tax silver in Guangling Commandery, but the records showed no signs of tampering. He accepted Ren Daowei’s invitation to attend a salt merchant’s birthday banquet, where his arrival drew everyone’s attention.

• Su Fei defeated five Raft Gang men at the dock and ordered an Imperial Guard to request the vessel records and dock registers.
• Ren Daowei welcomed Su Fei at the commandery government office and provided the requested records, which Su Fei examined without finding evidence of forgery.
• Ren Daowei described Guangling Commandery’s powerful gangs and salt merchants, then asked Su Fei to attend Salt Merchant Liang’s birthday banquet in his place.
• Su Fei arrived at Liang Garden with two Imperial Guards, and the doorman announced his name and rank, silencing the entrance.

Su Fei attended Liang Yuanzhi’s lavish birthday banquet, where the salt merchant offered to help with the tax silver case and invited him to talk privately. After the guests departed, Liang Zhong came to escort Su Fei to Liang Yuanzhi in the inner hall.

• Liang Zhong welcomed Su Fei and escorted him to a reserved seat at Liang Garden’s birthday banquet.
• Su Fei noticed Canal Transport Gang members among the guests and wondered why no one from the Salt Gang had attended.
• Liang Yuanzhi began the banquet, gave each guest a gold bar, and hosted an extravagant feast with music and dancing.
• Liang Yuanzhi praised Su Fei’s work at Vajra Temple and invited him to discuss the tax silver case privately; Su Fei agreed.
• After the banquet ended and most guests had left, Liang Zhong came to lead Su Fei to Liang Yuanzhi in the inner hall.

Su Fei met Liang Yuanzhi and Guo Tianlong in Liang Garden, where they tried to bribe him into easing his investigation of the tax silver case. He rejected their silver, women, and promised profits, leaving Liang Yuanzhi stunned.

• Liang Zhong escorted Su Fei to the Pavilion of Distant Longing, where Su Fei sensed a Grandmaster inside and entered alone.
• Liang Yuanzhi introduced Su Fei to Guo Tianlong, who looked down on the young Imperial Guard commander.
• Liang Yuanzhi offered Su Fei silver notes and two Guangling slender horses as a welcoming gift.
• Liang Yuanzhi asked Su Fei to handle the tax silver investigation lightly and promised annual salt-business dividends.
• Su Fei realized Liang Yuanzhi wanted him to abandon the investigation, but refused the offer and said solving the case mattered most.

Su Fei defeated Guo Tianlong with one palm and learned that the Canal Transport Gang had bribed Liang Yuanzhi to stop the tax silver investigation. As Su Fei left Liang Garden, a Salt Gang steward invited him to a banquet on the gang leader’s orders.

• Guo Tianlong attacked Su Fei, but Su Fei shattered his palm strike and knocked him unconscious with Twin Dragons Draw Water.
• Su Fei questioned Liang Yuanzhi about the tax silver case, and Liang admitted the Canal Transport Gang had offered him three hundred thousand taels to persuade Su Fei to abandon the investigation.
• After confirming Liang Yuanzhi was telling the truth, Su Fei let him go and accepted three hundred thousand taels in silver notes as an apology.
• Su Fei left Liang Garden with two Imperial Guards, and Zhen Zuojia of the Salt Gang stopped him with an invitation to a banquet.

Su Fei accepted an invitation to the Literary Flourishing Pavilion, where Jing Chucai of the Canal Transport Gang tried to bribe him into dropping the tax silver case. After Su Fei refused, Jing revealed he had poisoned the incense, but Su Fei began countering the poison with the Nine Yang Divine Art.

• Su Fei followed Zhen Zuojia to the Literary Flourishing Pavilion while using the God-tier Insight Technique to watch for hidden sentries.
• Su Fei found Jing Chucai waiting at the pavilion and realized he was not the Salt Gang's leader.
• Jing Chucai offered Su Fei three hundred thousand taels and stakes in two transport ships if he stopped pursuing the tax silver case.
• Su Fei asked whether the Canal Transport Gang was involved and refused Jing Chucai's offer.
• Jing Chucai revealed that the incense contained poison that slowed Grandmasters' true essence, and Su Fei found his own true essence had slowed before activating the Nine Yang Divine Art.

Su Fei resisted Jing Chucai’s poison, but the Canal Transport Gang trapped him in the Literary Flourishing Pavilion with Li Changfeng, Kong Hai, and over a hundred elites. The three grandmasters launched a combined assault, which Su Fei blocked with an unbroken wall of true essence.

• Su Fei burned away Jing Chucai’s poison and challenged him to use any other tricks.
• Jing Chucai signaled for help, and the walkway to the Literary Flourishing Pavilion was destroyed as five boats surrounded it.
• Li Changfeng and Kong Hai revealed their grudges against Su Fei, while Jing Chucai threatened him with the Canal Transport Gang’s forces.
• Jing Chucai, Li Changfeng, and Kong Hai attacked Su Fei together with a spear thrust, Flowing Cloud Kick, and Moon Wheel Great Hand Seal.
• Su Fei formed a five-foot-thick wall of true essence that stopped all three attacks without cracking and sent Li Changfeng stumbling back.

Su Fei repelled three Canal Transport Gang Grandmasters, killed them, and began destroying the gang’s boats when its members tried to flee. The battle remained underway as he unleashed another palm strike.

• Su Fei blocked the three Grandmasters’ attacks with his true essence and then counterattacked with three saber strikes.
• Su Fei killed Jing Chucai and Kong Hai, while Li Changfeng survived with severe injuries and pleaded for his life.
• Li Changfeng offered to lead Su Fei to the Heavenly Mystery Sect, but Su Fei rejected the offer and killed him with Finger Flicking Divine Ability.
• Su Fei demanded that the Canal Transport Gang’s core members explain the tax silver case, but they tried to flee in their boats.
• Su Fei destroyed the leftmost fast boat with Dragon Fights in the Wild and followed with Dragon Appears in the Field.