Chapter Summaries

Su Fei interrogated Qian Kun and learned that his uncle Qian Tong operated a White Lotus Sect hub in Cloud Map Commandery City and was planning a major operation in a month. After sending Li Si to investigate, Su Fei accepted Fang Pengfei and the officers’ invitation to the Drunken Spring Pavilion.

• Su Fei ordered Zhang San and Li Si to take Qian Kun into custody and seal the Wealth Gathering Casino while leaving the White Lotus Sect’s other contact points undisturbed.
• Qian Kun told Su Fei that his uncle Qian Tong ran the Universal Passage Escort Agency, whose staff were White Lotus Sect members, and secretly operated at Martial Saint Realm Seventh Level Peak.
• Qian Kun revealed that Qian Tong had mentioned a major operation in a month and told him to watch the Cloud Province Imperial Guard, but he did not know the target.
• Su Fei sent Zhang San to guard Qian Kun in the Heavenly Prison and dispatched Li Si to investigate the escort agency in Cloud Map Commandery City.
• Fang Pengfei, Officer Zhang, Officer Ding, and Officer Xiang invited Su Fei to the Drunken Spring Pavilion, and Su Fei accepted after hearing that the agency work was arranged.

Su Fei spent several days visiting pleasure houses with officers from the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office before Li Si returned with a report on the suspicious Universal Passage Escort Agency in Cloud Map Commandery City. Li Si described its strict security, secret deliveries, and isolated new recruits, leaving Su Fei to consider the agency’s unusual operations.

• Fang Pengfei and the officers took Su Fei to the Drunken Spring Pavilion, where Yan Xiaoxiao performed the Rainbow Raiment Melody.
• Su Fei visited a different pleasure house with the officers over the next three days, then refused Fang Pengfei’s invitation and offered to treat them himself.
• Li Si returned to the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office and reported that the Universal Passage Escort Agency was heavily guarded despite its successful public business.
• Li Si said Qian Tong rarely appeared in public and described masked men delivering heavy crates to the agency’s rear courtyard at night.
• Li Si reported that the agency was recruiting unattached Houtian Realm martial artists, who rarely left after joining and were kept under close supervision.

Su Fei assembled more than seventy Imperial Guards and set out to raid the Universal Passage Escort Agency, which he suspected was a White Lotus Sect stronghold. He surrounded the agency in Cloud Map Commandery City and demanded entry, while Fang Pengfei prepared to seize two other hidden sect locations.

• Li Si showed Su Fei his layout of the Universal Passage Escort Agency, and Su Fei ordered an immediate expedition to capture Qian Tong.
• Su Fei briefed more than seventy Imperial Guards on the agency and its chief escort, then led them toward Cloud Map Commandery City.
• Su Fei told a clerk to have Fang Pengfei seize the Joyful Arrival Inn and World Relief Hall Pharmacy, and Fang dispatched three officers to raid them.
• Su Fei and his force reached Cloud Map Commandery City after riding most of the day and surrounded the Universal Passage Escort Agency.
• Su Fei ordered the agency's two Xiantian Realm guards to move aside so the Imperial Guards could investigate, leaving them hesitant to comply.

Su Fei led the Imperial Guards in an assault on the Universal Passage Escort Agency, which he identified as a White Lotus Sect stronghold. After killing its Grandmaster defenders, he continued slaughtering the escorts and runners who resisted, leaving the training ground drenched in blood.

• Su Fei struck down the two guards at the entrance and blasted open the escort agency's gates with Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.
• Zhang San ordered the agency's martial artists to submit, while Li Si stopped a lean escort from slipping away to warn Qian Tong.
• Su Fei recognized the escorts as White Lotus Sect members and ordered the Imperial Guards to take them down, killing anyone who resisted.
• Four Grandmaster escorts attacked Zhang San and Li Si, but Su Fei drove them back and killed all four with Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Source.
• Su Fei drew the Crimson Firmament Sword and cut down the resisting escorts and runners with crimson Sword Qi.

Su Fei killed the escorts and porters at the Universal Passage Escort Agency, then faced Qian Tong, who attacked to capture him and exchange him for his nephew. Su Fei repelled Qian Tong’s Heaven-Shattering Fist without budging, but Qian Tong unleashed Mount Tai Fist, leaving the Imperial Guards pinned beneath its crushing pressure as the phantom mountain descended.

• Su Fei slaughtered the escorts and porters on the training ground while the Imperial Guards watched.
• Qian Tong arrived, saw the bodies, and confronted Su Fei after learning he had captured Qian Tong’s nephew.
• Qian Tong attacked Su Fei with Heaven-Shattering Fist, but Su Fei blocked the blow with his perfected Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt and forced Qian Tong back.
• Qian Tong summoned a towering Mount Tai phantom with Mount Tai Fist, pinning the Imperial Guards beneath its pressure as it descended toward Su Fei.
• Su Fei grew more serious as the phantom mountain bore down on him.

Su Fei defeated Qian Tong and uncovered illegal weapons and armor at the Universal Passage Escort Agency, confirming the evidence against him. After completing his mission, Su Fei took Qian Tong back to the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office for interrogation.

• Su Fei used the Heaven-Slaying Sword-Drawing Art to cleave Qian Tong’s Mount Tai phantom and grievously wound him.
• Su Fei ordered Zhang San and Li Si to search the Universal Passage Escort Agency, where they found armor, weapons, and crossbows hidden in a storeroom.
• Zhang San and Li Si questioned the newly recruited young warriors and learned they knew nothing about the agency’s affairs.
• Su Fei confronted Qian Tong with the evidence, then had the Imperial Guards bind him in dark iron chains.
• Su Fei completed the mission to uncover the murder of the Cloud Province Imperial Guard Hundred Households Officer and received a reward offer.
• Su Fei left guards and the innocent recruits for the Cloud Map Commandery authorities, then returned to Cloud Province with Qian Tong the following evening.

Su Fei brought Qian Kun to face his uncle Qian Tong and learned that the White Lotus Sect planned to sacrifice martial artists to help Murong Chong break through to the ninth level of the martial saint realm. Qian Tong gave Su Fei information about the ritual and Dark Seclusion Valley, while Su Fei spared Qian Kun from execution and prepared to disrupt the breakthrough.

• Su Fei had Qian Kun brought from the Heavenly Prison, and he and Qian Tong wept as they reunited in chains.
• Qian Tong offered to confess the White Lotus Sect’s plans if Su Fei spared Qian Kun’s life, and Su Fei agreed to life imprisonment if the information proved accurate.
• Qian Tong revealed that Murong Chong planned to use a blood pool and a pill made from sacrificed martial artists to force a breakthrough to the ninth level of the martial saint realm.
• Qian Tong explained that the victims were recruited Houtian Realm martial artists and that the ritual would take place in the concealed Dark Seclusion Valley, guarded by the External Affairs Hall’s martial saint experts.
• Su Fei decided to go to Dark Seclusion Valley and ordered Qian Tong to write down its route, the blood pool’s location, and Murong Chong’s habits.

Su Fei planned to infiltrate Dark Seclusion Valley with Qian Tong and sabotage Murong Chong’s pill-refining ceremony, then used three hundred years of cultivation to master Threefold Origin-Returning Energy. After testing its power by destroying the Thousand Households Office’s iron training dummies, he declared he could kill Murong Chong, just as Fang Pengfei arrived to investigate the crash.

• Su Fei ordered Zhang San and Li Si to escort Qian Tong and Qian Kun away and prepare to infiltrate Dark Seclusion Valley in a month.
• Su Fei claimed his rewards and received Threefold Origin-Returning Energy and three hundred years of cultivation.
• Su Fei used the cultivation to raise Threefold Origin-Returning Energy to perfection and master Three Origins Unify.
• Su Fei tested the martial art in the training ground, blasting the iron training dummies and damaging the grounds and walls.
• Su Fei concluded that he could kill Murong Chong with the perfected martial art, and Fang Pengfei arrived with Imperial Guards to ask what had happened.

Su Fei advanced to the eighth level of the Martial Saint realm and prepared to face Murong Chong at Dark Seclusion Valley. While waiting for the mission, he spent more than twenty days training and enjoying outings with Fang Pengfei and the Imperial Guards.

• Su Fei’s test of his martial arts left the training grounds and its bronze dummies shattered, and he told Fang Pengfei he would pay for repairs.
• Su Fei asked Fang Pengfei to maintain security in Cloud Province while he went to Dark Seclusion Valley in a month to deal with White Lotus Sect remnants.
• Su Fei used all his cultivation to advance the Sacred Heart Formula to its fourth layer and reach the Martial Saint realm eighth level, increasing his lifespan to twelve hundred years.
• Fang Pengfei and Officers Zhang, Ding, and Xiang thanked Su Fei for helping them capture White Lotus Sect spies and invited him to a brothel.
• Su Fei accepted their invitation and spent the next twenty-odd days training, listening to songs, and visiting pleasure houses around Cloud Province City.

Su Fei revealed that he had reached the martial saint realm eighth level and warned Qian Tong to remain loyal as they traveled to Dark Seclusion Valley. The group arrived at the White Lotus Sect's External Affairs Hall stronghold, where Qian Tong asked whether its other commissioners had arrived.

• At a farewell banquet, Su Fei told Fang Pengfei and the officers that he would leave to deal with the White Lotus Sect's External Affairs Hall.
• Su Fei stopped Qian Tong, Zhang San, and Li Si on the road and revealed his breakthrough to the martial saint realm eighth level, threatening Qian Tong against betrayal and invoking Qian Kun's imprisonment.
• Qian Tong swore to obey Su Fei, while Zhang San and Li Si marveled at Su Fei's cultivation; Su Fei concealed his strength and continued toward Dark Seclusion Valley.
• After three days of travel, Su Fei and his companions reached Dark Seclusion Valley and encountered the guards at its entrance.
• Qian Tong presented himself as the Punishment Commissioner and asked whether the Rewards and Punishments Commissioner and the Internal Affairs Commissioner had arrived.

Qian Tong brought Su Fei, Zhang San, and Li Si into Dark Seclusion Valley under the pretense that they would provide blood essence for the White Lotus Sect’s pill-refining ritual. When Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu arrived to question him, Su Fei’s aura made Zhang Manyu halt her attempt to touch him, and Qian Tong warned her to treat his guest with respect.

• Qian Tong convinced the valley guard that his three Grandmaster Realm companions could provide as much blood essence as dozens of lesser martial artists.
• Qian Tong led Su Fei, Zhang San, and Li Si through the well-guarded valley to his residence, where he explained that life in the sect was dangerous despite his outward comforts.
• A servant told Qian Tong that Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu had come to see him, and Qian Tong worried they might discover the deception.
• Su Fei learned that Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu were both seventh-level Martial Saints and said he could kill them if they uncovered the imposture.
• Gao Xuan questioned how Qian Tong had recruited three Grandmaster Realm martial artists, while Zhang Manyu tried to claim Su Fei for herself.
• Su Fei avoided Zhang Manyu’s touch and released a trace of his aura, prompting Qian Tong to warn her to respect his guest.

Su Fei and the other two posed as Grandmaster Realm martial artists to help Qian Tong gain Murong Chong’s favor. They reached the Blood Pool Platform for the pill-refining ceremony, where Murong Chong prepared to use the gathered martial artists’ blood essence to refine a White Lotus Blood Pill and advance his cultivation.

• Zhang Manyu and Gao Xuan accepted the three men’s apparent Grandmaster auras and warned Qian Tong to keep them from disrupting Murong Chong’s plan.
• Su Fei stayed at Qian Tong’s residence for three days while Qian Tong secretly investigated the blood pool, Murong Chong, and Dark Seclusion Valley.
• A disciple summoned Qian Tong and the three martial artists to the Blood Pool Platform after the pill-refining ceremony preparations were completed.
• Su Fei and the others saw the foul, blood-marked platform, its enormous Alchemy Furnace, and the boiling pool, along with dozens of frightened martial artists brought by Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu.
• Murong Chong praised the three apparent Grandmasters, promised Qian Tong the deputy hall master position if he advanced to the ninth level of the Martial Saint Realm, and turned to address Su Fei and the others.

Su Fei and the other supposed Grandmasters were brought to Murong Chong’s blood-pool ceremony, where the White Lotus Sect used captive martial artists’ blood to refine a pill. When Murong Chong demanded Su Fei’s blood, Su Fei revealed his true rank and identity and declared that he had come to destroy the stronghold.

• Murong Chong began refining the White Lotus Blood Pill with blood drained from captive martial artists.
• Murong Chong asked Su Fei, Zhang San, and Li Si to give up thirty percent of their blood essence.
• Su Fei cursed Murong Chong, and Gao Xuan demanded that Su Fei kneel, apologize, and offer half his blood essence.
• Su Fei unleashed the aura of an eighth-level Martial Saint, stunning Murong Chong, Gao Xuan, and Zhang Manyu.
• Su Fei summoned the Crimson Firmament Sword, identified himself as Marquis Su Fei of Great Xuan’s Southern Commandery Investigation Department, and vowed to destroy the White Lotus Sect stronghold.
• Murong Chong accused Qian Tong of having deceived him.

Murong Chong attacked Su Fei to protect his White Lotus Blood Pill ritual, but Su Fei shattered his ultimate move and destroyed the pill-refining furnace. Enraged, Murong Chong began absorbing the blood pool’s essence to strengthen himself, and Qian Tong urged Su Fei to stop him.

• Murong Chong accused Su Fei of ruining his plan to refine the White Lotus Blood Pill and unleashed his peak eighth-level strength.
• Murong Chong attacked Su Fei with Twin Dragons Emerging from Water, sending two enormous dragons of true essence toward him.
• Su Fei used Threefold Origin-Returning Energy to destroy both dragons and shatter Murong Chong’s pill-refining furnace.
• Murong Chong raged over the ruined furnace and his lost chance to advance to the ninth level of the Martial Saint Realm.
• Murong Chong absorbed blood essence and medicinal essences from the pool, causing his aura to surge, and Qian Tong warned Su Fei to stop him.

Su Fei defeated Murong Chong after he burned his blood essence and unleashed the White Lotus Rebirth Art, while Qian Tong blocked Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu from escaping. With Murong Chong at his mercy, Su Fei showed him an ancient bronze key, hoping the White Lotus Sect hall master would recognize it.

• Murong Chong burned his blood essence to raise his power and attacked Su Fei with the White Lotus Rebirth Art’s giant lotus domain.
• Su Fei shattered the lotus with Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Source, and Murong Chong collapsed from the backlash, aged and gravely weakened.
• Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu tried to flee, but Qian Tong blocked them and declared that he served Marquis Su.
• Su Fei pointed the Crimson Firmament Sword at Murong Chong and asked whether he recognized an ancient bronze key.

Su Fei learned that the bronze key opened the White Lotus Sect’s hidden small world, but chose not to enter it yet. After saving Qian Tong from Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu, he faced their pleas for mercy.

• Murong Chong recognized Su Fei’s bronze key as the White Lotus Sect’s treasury key and explained that it could open the sect’s small world.
• Su Fei decided to postpone entering the dangerous small world and prepared to kill Murong Chong.
• Su Fei heard Qian Tong fighting Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu, then rushed to help him.
• Su Fei wounded Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu with two strikes of Sword Qi, leaving both unable to resist.
• Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu begged Su Fei to spare their lives and offered to serve him, while Su Fei remained unmoved.

Su Fei killed Murong Chong and the White Lotus Sect's two envoys, then ordered Qian Tong, Zhang San, and Li Si to clear Dark Seclusion Valley. They captured the remaining followers and returned with them and the seized valuables to the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office, where Fang Pengfei and the officers welcomed Su Fei.

• Su Fei killed Gao Xuan and Zhang Manyu, then executed Murong Chong on the Blood Pool Platform.
• Su Fei ordered Qian Tong, Zhang San, and Li Si to capture resisting followers only if they surrendered, kill those who fought back, and search the valley for valuables.
• The three returned with thirty-six White Lotus Sect followers, valuables, and correspondence from Dark Seclusion Valley.
• Su Fei stored the seized valuables and led the captives back toward Cloud Province.
• Su Fei's group arrived at the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office, where Fang Pengfei and other officers welcomed him and admired his capture of the White Lotus Sect followers.

Su Fei returned to the Cloud Province Thousand Households Office with more than thirty White Lotus Sect prisoners after destroying its External Affairs Hall in Dark Seclusion Valley. News of his victory spread across Cloud Province, leaving martial factions fearful and on guard, while the Azure Cloud School convened an emergency assembly.

• Su Fei told Fang Pengfei that he had killed the White Lotus Sect hall master, Murong Chong, and two Seventh-Level Martial Saints, and that the prisoners included ten Xiantian and five Grandmaster martial artists.
• Fang Pengfei ordered the prisoners escorted to the Heavenly Prison and said he would report Su Fei's achievement to the court.
• The Thousand Households Office's report and travelers' stories spread news of Su Fei's victory throughout Cloud Province.
• Martial faction leaders who had dealings with the White Lotus Sect met, feared Su Fei would uncover their connections, and ordered their groups to lie low.
• A gang that had supplied the White Lotus Sect disbanded, while the Azure Cloud School called an emergency assembly.

After suppressing the White Lotus Sect External Affairs Hall in Cloud Province, Su Fei found no trace of the sect’s remaining forces and returned to the imperial city to report. He was welcomed by Lei Chongxiao and his colleagues with a victory banquet.

• The Azure Cloud School ordered its disciples to avoid martial-world conflicts, while Cloud Province’s other powers kept quiet and the people praised Su Fei.
• Su Fei ordered Fang Pengfei to keep searching for White Lotus Sect remnants, but repeated searches found no clues.
• Su Fei decided to return to the imperial city and left Cloud Province with Zhang San, Li Si, and more than seventy Imperial Guards.
• After arriving at the imperial city, Su Fei was welcomed by Lei Chongxiao and the thousand households commanders, who praised his achievements.
• Lei Chongxiao led Su Fei and his party into the Southern Commandery Investigation Department for a victory banquet.

Su Fei celebrated his victories in Cloud Province while Crown Prince Zhao Yan resolved to retaliate against him. The next morning, an urgent report revealed that the rapidly expanding Heavenly Dao Alliance had ignored Imperial Guard warnings in Cool Province.

• Lei Chongxiao and the Imperial Guard officers toasted Su Fei for defeating the White Lotus Sect and solving the Cloud Province murder case.
• Zhao Yan learned that Su Fei had killed three Martial Saint Realm experts and destroyed the White Lotus Sect External Affairs Hall, then flew into a rage and drove his concubine from his bedchamber.
• Zhao Yan brooded in his study and vowed to find a way to make Su Fei pay for his repeated setbacks.
• The next morning, Grand Secretary Li presented an urgent dispatch reporting that the Heavenly Dao Alliance was annexing forces and recruiting martial artists across Cool Province and Yong Province.
• The grand secretaries learned that the Heavenly Dao Alliance had ignored the warning sent by Imperial Guard Thousand Households Officer Zhang Jing.