Chapter Summaries

Su Qiao brought Gu Han, Chu Hui, Gu Ling, Professor Tang, and Old He to the hidden cave where she and Jiang Han had been staying. She defended Jiang Han when Gu Ling tried to order him to work, and Chu Hui stepped in to help Gu Ling.

• Su Qiao agreed to continue with the group after asking Jiang Han what he thought.
• Su Qiao led everyone to the cave and explained that she had found it by following a stream.
• Old He asked how Su Qiao had discovered the well-hidden shelter, and she casually said she had been looking for water.
• Gu Ling called for Jiang Han to help, but Su Qiao angrily told her that Jiang Han was her man and Gu Ling had no right to order him around.
• Professor Tang reminded Gu Ling that Jiang Han was still recovering, and Chu Hui volunteered to help her instead.

Su Qiao defended Jiang Han from Gu Ling and took responsibility for his care, then bluntly rejected Gu Han. The group prepared to spend the night in the cave, with Su Qiao keeping control of the food she and Jiang Han would eat.

• Gu Han entered the cave, and Professor Tang asked Chu Hui and Gu Han to keep a closer eye on Gu Ling.
• Gu Ling insulted Jiang Han, so Su Qiao threatened her; Professor Tang and Gu Han urged Gu Ling to stop provoking Su Qiao.
• Su Qiao said she would handle Jiang Han’s needs, while Gu Han offered to help and Su Qiao told him she was not interested in him.
• Gu Han blamed Jiang Han for Su Qiao’s rejection, and Jiang Han silently vowed not to let Gu Han or the others get away.
• Professor Tang steered the group toward roasting the rabbit and resting, but Jiang Han took the food into the cave, and Su Qiao explained she was used to eating what he cooked.

Su Qiao noticed Old He and Professor Tang watching her closely and began to suspect Old He might be connected to her family. After seeing an old photograph that seemed to show someone with eyes and brows like hers, she wondered whether Old He could be her biological father.

• Su Qiao reasoned that Old He and Professor Tang were cooperating, though they might not both belong to the Shang Family.
• While the group traveled, Su Qiao noticed Professor Tang and Old He monitoring her more closely.
• Su Qiao spotted Old He hiding a worn black-and-white photograph and remarked that the person in it resembled her around the eyes and brows.
• Old He recalled that his wife had been bought from human traffickers and had lost her memory, but he doubted she could be connected to the Su Family.
• Su Qiao cleaned herbs by the river and told 444 she had a bold guess about her connection to Old He.

Su Qiao and Jiang Han continued toward their destination while keeping her medical skills and their knowledge of the expedition’s target secret. Gu Han blamed Ah Gou for Su Qiao’s rejection and raged at his subordinates for failing to find them.

• Jiang Han warned Su Qiao to be careful because they expected to reach their destination the next day, then told her he had prepared food for her.
• Su Qiao reminded Jiang Han not to reveal that she knew their target was her, and he stood guard while she went into her tent.
• Jiang Han ignored the hostile and probing looks around him as he sharpened his knife.
• Gu Han stormed into the woods, where he berated his subordinates for failing to find Su Qiao and Ah Gou.
• Gu Han cursed his men for not dealing with Ah Gou earlier and insisted Su Qiao had rejected him for a lowly servant.

Gu Han ordered his subordinates to kill Jiang Han, believing he was Su Qiao’s romantic rival. Su Qiao told Jiang Han who was behind the threat and pressed him about his feelings, leaving him admitting that he had not liked her before.

• Gu Han learned that his men had failed to find Jiang Han and ordered them to enter the Dense Forest and look for a chance to kill him.
• 444 reported Gu Han’s plot to Su Qiao, who asked it to find out how many people from the Four Great Families were following them.
• Su Qiao told Jiang Han by the stream that Gu Han had sent people to kill him because he thought Jiang Han liked her.
• Su Qiao questioned Jiang Han about whether he liked her and when his feelings had begun, and Jiang Han said he had not liked her before.

Jiang Han struggled with his feelings for Su Qiao after she returned to him, while Gu Han insisted that he was the proper match for her. The two men clashed over who Su Qiao should marry, and Jiang Han vowed that no one could force her into a marriage she did not want.

• Jiang Han tried to leave to gather firewood, but Su Qiao stopped him because his leg had not healed.
• Jiang Han admitted that he only wanted to be Su Qiao's bodyguard, then regretted saying so when she returned to the tent.
• Gu Han told Jiang Han that he would not give up on Su Qiao and called Jiang Han unworthy of her.
• Gu Han claimed his family ties made him the destined husband for Su Qiao and revealed that she had rejected him for Jiang Han.
• Jiang Han told Gu Han that Su Qiao would marry only the person she loved and vowed to stop anyone who tried to force her.

Jiang Han warned Gu Han that Su Qiao’s wishes mattered more than Gu Han’s feelings, and threatened anyone who mistreated her. The group then found the ruins of the Mysterious Tribe, though Su Qiao and Gu Han thought the remains looked like a small village.

• Gu Han asked Jiang Han whether he had done enough for Su Qiao, but Jiang Han said she had to like the man she married.
• Jiang Han said he would force Su Qiao’s chosen man to obey her and would kill him if he mistreated her.
• The group found a ruined settlement surrounded by crumbling stone walls and overgrown with vines.
• Professor Tang believed the ruins belonged to a once-thriving Mysterious Tribe, while Su Qiao and Gu Han thought they had found a small village.

Su Qiao and the others searched the ruined tribal settlement and discovered a tomb entrance. The group prepared to descend, while Su Qiao anticipated poisonous insects inside.

• Gu Ling argued with Gu Han, then explored the ruins and found the buildings' layout strangely familiar to 444.
• Su Qiao dismissed the buildings' design and focused on Professor Tang and Old He, while Jiang Han approached her and she told him to stay behind her.
• Gu Ling called the group over after finding a large hole in the ruins, and Su Qiao suspected she already knew about the tomb.
• Professor Tang identified the hole as a possible tomb robber's tunnel, and the group agreed to investigate the tomb below.
• Su Qiao prepared insect-repelling powder and noted that poisonous plants surrounded the ruins.

Su Qiao persuaded the expedition to prepare supplies before entering the dark cave, despite Gu Ling's objections. While the group made camp, Su Qiao and Jiang Han gathered herbs and poisonous sap and brought back a wild boar to provision the expedition.

• Su Qiao warned against entering the cave without preparations and left with Jiang Han after arguing with Gu Ling.
• Professor Tang supported delaying the descent, and Old He and Chu Hui stressed the need for torches alongside flashlights.
• Gu Ling accepted the delay and prepared to set up camp.
• Su Qiao collected medicinal herbs and poisonous plant sap while Jiang Han guarded the area from atop a wall.
• Su Qiao and Jiang Han processed the herbs and brought back a large wild boar, which the group butchered and roasted into dried meat.
• The group filled their canteens and empty mineral-water bottles with water, limited by the containers they had.

Su Qiao and the others explored a tomb passage, where they found old corpses and damaged traps. The mechanisms matched ones Su Qiao had designed in a past life, so she ordered 444 to check whether the history of this plane mentioned the Matriarchal Kingdom of Great Su.

• The group gathered pine resin, tied a rope to a boulder outside the cave, and entered the passage the next morning.
• Gu Ling stumbled over a corpse and screamed, while Professor Tang and Chu Hui warned everyone to watch for hidden mechanisms.
• Su Qiao and Jiang Han followed at the rear as she examined the passage and recognized that several traps resembled mechanisms she had researched before.
• Su Qiao realized the tomb’s mechanisms might be her own designs from a previous life and asked 444 to look for historical records of Great Su.

Su Qiao learned that the tomb lay in the former home of Peach Blossom Valley, where she had once founded Shuiyue Kingdom, and that Ye Jinghua had arranged for her tomb to be built there after her death. As Professor Tang warned the group about a partly breached mechanism, Jiang Han quietly pulled Su Qiao back into the passage.

• 444 told Su Qiao that she had visited this plane before as the Saintess and leader of Peach Blossom Valley, where she established Shuiyue Kingdom.
• 444 explained that after Su Qiao died, Ye Jinghua brought her remains to Peach Blossom Valley and built a tomb, hoping Taoist priests could summon her soul for a pact and reunion in another life.
• Su Qiao learned that the Shang, Gu, Su, and Chu Families descended from people connected to her and Ye Jinghua, including Qing Feng and two war orphans she had adopted.
• Professor Tang stopped the group at a Stone Chamber and warned that its partly breached mechanism was dangerous.
• As the others examined the mechanism, Jiang Han pulled Su Qiao back into the passage and she asked what was wrong.

Su Qiao warned Jiang Han that the Gu and Chu families would target him for his blood, then shared her suspicion that they had been switched at birth and that Jiang Han might be Old Master Su’s true grandson. Jiang Han struggled to accept the possibility, and Su Qiao left him with a warning that even Old Master Su might covet his blood.

• Jiang Han worried Su Qiao might hesitate to strike Gu Han and said they would act at the main stone door.
• Su Qiao told Jiang Han to watch Professor Tang and Fourth He, explaining that Fourth He was Uncle He.
• Su Qiao asked Jiang Han whether he still wanted to find his father, and he said he did because only his father knew the truth about the past.
• Su Qiao proposed that Jiang Han and she might have been switched at birth, making Jiang Han the true heir of the Su family.
• Su Qiao explained that Old Master Su’s harsh treatment might have protected and trained Jiang Han while she drew danger away from him.
• Jiang Han asked when Su Qiao began to suspect the truth, and she warned him that the families—including Old Man Su—might target the blood in his body.

Su Qiao explained that Old Man He was likely Jiang Han’s long-lost father and that he was searching for the Bamboo Slips because he was gravely ill and hoped they held a way to live forever. She also revealed that the tomb belonged to the Empress of Shuiyue Kingdom, a matriarchal country, and asked Jiang Han whether he planned to acknowledge Old Man He.

• Su Qiao told Jiang Han that Old Man He had secretly sought treatment after vomiting blood and suspected he was incurably ill and seeking the Bamboo Slips for a way to prolong his life.
• Su Qiao warned Jiang Han that Old Man He should be the father he had been searching for, then explained that the Four Great Families had entered the tomb seventeen years earlier and suffered heavy casualties.
• Jiang Han recalled that his mother had been silenced not long after the expedition and asked who was buried in the tomb.
• Su Qiao said the tomb held the Empress of Shuiyue Kingdom, an unrecorded matriarchal country where women held power and could have multiple husbands.
• Su Qiao asked Jiang Han whether he intended to acknowledge Old Man He.

Su Qiao questioned Professor Tang’s plan to explore the tomb and learned that five of Gu Han’s men were approaching to target Jiang Han. After an arrow was fired at them, she knocked Jiang Han aside and dragged him into a small Stone Chamber as he threw a knife toward Gu Han.

• Jiang Han said he would consider his absent father dead, and Su Qiao agreed that he had grown up without him.
• Professor Tang and the others broke through the mechanism, and Gu Han noticed that Su Qiao and Jiang Han had moved to the passage entrance.
• Su Qiao challenged Professor Tang’s reasons for entering the tomb and warned that the group should prioritize their safety.
• 444 told Su Qiao that five of Gu Han’s men were approaching and targeting Jiang Han.
• Someone shot an arrow at Su Qiao and Jiang Han, so Su Qiao knocked Jiang Han aside while he threw a Small Flying Knife toward Gu Han.
• Su Qiao pulled Jiang Han along as she rolled past the others and into the small Stone Chamber.

After a closing-wall trap sealed the route behind them, the group continued deeper into the tomb, where Gu Han collapsed with a poisoned shoulder wound. During a rest, Su Qiao confronted Jiang Han for risking exposure, and he admitted he had tried to kill Gu Han.

• The passage walls began closing, and the group escaped into a small Stone Chamber while people behind them were crushed.
• Professor Tang said they had to move forward and warned everyone to follow the route ahead without touching anything.
• Gu Han collapsed with a bleeding, poisoned shoulder, and Chu Hui treated the wound.
• Professor Tang called for a rest, and Su Qiao sat apart while Jiang Han asked whether she was angry.
• Su Qiao scolded Jiang Han for risking himself, and he admitted he had wanted to kill Gu Han because Gu Han's people were behind them.

Su Qiao learned that Jiang Han had poisoned Gu Han’s throwing knife and explained Jiang Han’s name and family history to Old He. The group continued toward their destination, with Jiang Han searching for a way to retreat and Su Qiao expecting a fight ahead.

• Jiang Han told Su Qiao he had dipped his knife in poison after seeing her collect poisonous plant sap.
• Gu Han suspected Jiang Han had thrown the poisoned knife, while Jiang Han searched the stone walls for a hidden passage.
• Old He asked Su Qiao about Jiang Han’s name and learned that Jiang Han’s father had disappeared near Huilong Mountain seventeen years earlier.
• Su Qiao found Jiang Han had discovered no other hidden passage and urged the group to keep moving forward.

Su Qiao and Jiang Han led the group through the underground passage while Su Qiao warned that the route might still contain dangers. They reached a vast Stone Chamber and found a huge carved Large Stone Gate, but Professor Tang cautioned them not to touch it.

• Su Qiao told the group to stay behind her, but Jiang Han remained determined to protect her as they set off again.
• Jiang Han asked Su Qiao what she had told Old He, and she denied telling him anything outright before giving Jiang Han a Medicine Packet to keep.
• Professor Tang said the mechanisms ahead should have been destroyed, but Su Qiao questioned his assurance and warned that more traps might remain.
• The exhausted group reached a vast Stone Chamber and gathered around a huge Large Stone Gate carved with dragon and phoenix patterns.
• Professor Tang stopped Gu Ling from touching the carved Dragon Scales, and Chu Hui pulled her away from the gate.

At the Large Stone Gate, Professor Tang tried to attack Jiang Han, but Old He stopped him and revealed that Jiang Han was his son. Professor Tang then admitted that he needed Su Qiao’s blood to open the Main Tomb Chamber, leaving the group to confront the secret behind his decades of research.

• Professor Tang lunged at Jiang Han, but Su Qiao carried Jiang Han away and Old He blocked the attack.
• Old He turned against Professor Tang, revealing that Jiang Han was his son and demanding to know why Professor Tang had urged him to kill him.
• Gu Ling and Gu Han reacted with confusion, while Chu Hui questioned Professor Tang about his hidden motives.
• Professor Tang declared that Su Qiao’s blood could open the Main Tomb Chamber’s stone gate and admitted he had spent more than thirty years studying the tomb.

Professor Tang urged the group to use Su Qiao’s blood to open the stone gate, promising treasures and immortality. Su Qiao stopped Jiang Han from attacking them and remained alert to Chu Hui as the main threat.

• Professor Tang claimed Su Qiao’s blood would open the gate to the Main Tomb Chamber and urged the group with promises of treasure and immortality.
• Gu Han rejected Professor Tang’s claims, while Chu Hui and Gu Ling argued that trying the method was worthwhile.
• Gu Ling suggested Su Qiao give a little blood, but Su Qiao ignored her.
• Jiang Han drew his Black Scimitar and threatened Gu Ling when she pressed the issue.
• Su Qiao examined the gate, pulled Jiang Han back, and watched Chu Hui as the most dangerous person present.

Su Qiao exposed Professor Tang as Shang Yu, the Shang Family’s long-missing second master, and refused to give him her blood to open the Large Stone Gate. As Jiang Han stood ready to protect her, Su Qiao rebuked Gu Han for his cowardice and indecision.

• Su Qiao identified Professor Tang as Shang Yu, who admitted his identity and revealed that he had spent seventeen years researching how to open the Large Stone Gate.
• Shang Yu demanded that Su Qiao cooperate, while Jiang Han threatened to kill anyone who tried to harm her.
• Shang Yu urged Old Man He to control Jiang Han, but Su Qiao warned Old Man He that Shang Yu had likely deceived him and might kill him after claiming the treasure.
• Su Qiao drew her steel knife and challenged the group to take her blood themselves if they could survive it.
• Gu Han questioned why Su Qiao was escalating the situation, and she called him stupid, cowardly, and indecisive before turning to look at Jiang Han.