Chapter Summaries

Fu Fei secretly resolved to pursue his plan to control Meng Zhao’s women despite Chen Siyuan’s objections, while Chen Siyuan sought Ding Zhanyun’s help by dangling the prospect of a Ding Family daughter entering Prince Fu’s harem. Ding Zhanyun returned to her family home and heard her father urge her to assist Chen, leaving her to decide whether to comply.

• Fu Fei told Chen Siyuan he possessed a secret drug to control Meng Zhao’s women, but Chen warned him the plan was dangerous and refused to help.
• Chen Siyuan secretly visited the Ding Family and proposed that one of its daughters might become Prince Fu’s concubine.
• The Ding Family Patriarch welcomed the prospect and summoned Ding Zhanyun from the Meng Family, hoping to gain favor with Prince Fu.
• Chen Siyuan met Ding Zhanyun and judged her strong-willed and ambitious, making him hopeful she would help.
• The Ding Family Patriarch urged Ding Zhanyun to assist Chen Siyuan with his small requests.

Ding Zhanyun rejected Chen Siyuan’s attempt to recruit her into opposing Liang Muqiu, explaining that Meng Zhao’s wishes governed the Meng Family. She and the other women remained committed to Meng Zhao, whose growing power and ambition gave them reason to unite behind him.

• Ding Zhanyun warned her father that helping Chen Siyuan could offend Liang Muqiu and Meng Lang, then agreed to hear Chen’s proposal.
• Chen Siyuan asked why Liang Muqiu resisted Prince Fu’s plan to have Fu Fei train in the Yangwu Army, and Ding Zhanyun said Meng Lang alone had final authority.
• Chen Siyuan tried to provoke Ding Zhanyun by contrasting her noble family origins with Liang Muqiu’s martial-world background, but she told him not to sow discord.
• Ding Zhanyun explained that Liang Muqiu, Han Lu, and Zhu'er were closely tied to Meng Lang, while he guarded against the women of Lingwu City.
• Ding Zhanyun recognized that Meng Zhao’s strength and political alliances could let him contend for supremacy, and she and the other women planned to remain united behind him.

Chen Siyuan tried to recruit Ding Zhanyun to Prince Fu's Mansion after she refused to help undermine Liang Muqiu, but she rejected his offer. He left disappointed and planned to seek allies among Meng Zhao's other women.

• Chen Siyuan learned that Meng Zhao was discussing marriage to a principal wife and noted the news as potentially important to Prince Fu's Mansion.
• Chen Siyuan abandoned his attempt to provoke hostility between Ding Zhanyun and Liang Muqiu and offered Ding Zhanyun support from Prince Fu's Mansion instead.
• Ding Zhanyun refused, fearing Meng Zhao would discover any connection and recognizing that Prince Fu's Mansion would eventually demand a price for its help.
• Chen Siyuan left disappointed and resolved to approach other women in Meng Zhao's household.
• The Ding Family Patriarch watched Chen Siyuan depart and postponed asking him about offering his other daughters to Beitang Shu.

Ding Zhanyun persuaded the Ding Family Patriarch that pursuing an alliance with Beitang Shu was riskier than strengthening ties with Meng Zhao in Lingwu City. She then revealed that Ding Yuqin had already followed Meng and warned her father not to arrange the young woman's marriage without considering Meng's wishes.

• The Ding Family Patriarch reproached Ding Zhanyun for opposing a marriage alliance with Prince Fu's Mansion, arguing that it could raise the family's status and influence.
• Ding Zhanyun argued that the Ding Family depended on Lingwu City and Meng Zhao's protection, while relying on Beitang Shu could leave them vulnerable if the alliance failed.
• She warned that the Ding Family lacked high-realm martial artists and questioned whether Chen Siyuan could truly secure a match with Beitang Shu.
• The Ding Family Patriarch agreed to stay away from Beitang Shu and asked whether the Xun and Zhuo families would also refuse.
• Ding Zhanyun said Xun Wenjun and Zhuo Muling were devoted to Meng Zhao, then learned her father had considered sending Ding Yuqin to Prince Fu's Mansion.
• Ding Zhanyun revealed that Ding Yuqin had already followed Meng Zhao and warned her father that Meng might object if the family tried to send her away.

Ding Zhanyun explained to the Ding Family Head that she had willingly arranged for Ding Yuqin to become Meng Zhao’s woman, hoping to strengthen her own standing with him. Her father reluctantly accepted her reasoning, though he worried the Ding Family would be ridiculed.

• The Ding Family Head erupted in anger after learning that Ding Yuqin had become involved with Meng Zhao and threatened to demand justice.
• Ding Zhanyun told her father that Ding Yuqin had pursued Meng Zhao herself and that she had helped bring them together.
• Ding Zhanyun explained that Ding Yuqin’s connection to Dragon City could benefit Meng Zhao, while having two sisters in his favor could improve Ding Zhanyun’s own position.
• The Ding Family Head worried that outsiders and rival families would mock the Ding Family for giving Meng Zhao two daughters.
• Ding Zhanyun argued that the rebellion had brought worse fates to many women and that Meng Zhao’s strength could protect them.

Chen Siyuan reconsidered Fu Fei’s plan to plant a spy in Meng Zhao’s household after failing to win the Xun and Zhuo Families over to Prince Fu’s side. He agreed to proceed cautiously, while Fu Fei revealed a drug that he claimed could overpower a woman’s spirit and soul.

• Ding Family Patriarch accepted the outcome of Chen Siyuan’s visit and cursed Meng Zhao in his heart.
• Chen Siyuan reported his failure to Fu Fei, who urged him to use coercion, but Chen Siyuan refused and instead visited the Xun and Zhuo Families.
• Chen Siyuan found that neither the Xun nor Zhuo Families were willing to draw closer to Prince Fu’s Mansion, and he concluded that Meng Zhao posed a major threat to the Prince.
• Fu Fei persuaded Chen Siyuan to reconsider planting a spy, and Chen Siyuan agreed on the condition that their scheme remain undiscovered until they left Lingwu City.
• Fu Fei offered Chen Siyuan a drug he claimed affected a person’s spirit and soul, but Chen Siyuan warned that using it on Meng Zhao’s woman could bring deadly consequences.

Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei advanced Beitang Shu’s plan by approaching Ding Zhanyun with the Body Purifying Incantation as bait. Ding Zhanyun agreed to meet Fu Fei privately, despite her father’s warnings, and insisted she could protect herself.

• Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei tried to persuade Liang Muqiu to carry out Beitang Shu’s plan, but Liang Muqiu stalled them again.
• Chen Siyuan withdrew to his room while Fu Fei went to the Ding Family to seek out Ding Zhanyun.
• Fu Fei offered Ding Zhanyun the Body Purifying Incantation, a secret method that could refine a woman’s appearance and physique.
• Ding Zhanyun agreed to meet Fu Fei privately and learned some information about the incantation.
• The Ding Family Head warned Ding Zhanyun that Fu Fei was dangerous, but Ding Zhanyun said she could handle him herself.

Ding Zhanyun followed Fu Fei to a secluded courtyard, where he tried to drug and assault her to obtain leverage. She resisted with a treasure from Meng Zhao, defeated him, and revealed that his plans had been monitored; Fu Fei then questioned how Chen Siyuan’s surveillance technique had failed.

• Ding Zhanyun told Fu Fei she would not send him into the Yangwu Army but would trade for the Body Purifying Incantation.
• Fu Fei revealed his scheme, using a drug dispersed through heated tea to overwhelm Ding Zhanyun with desire.
• Ding Zhanyun resisted the drug and struck Fu Fei, injuring him and leaving him desperate to survive.
• Ding Zhanyun explained that Meng Zhao’s Heartlink Stone bracelet had protected her from the secret medicine.
• Ding Zhanyun said she had known Fu Fei’s intentions because his and Chen Siyuan’s movements and conversations had been monitored.
• Fu Fei was stunned and asked how Chen Siyuan’s Heaven’s Gaze, Earth’s Listen Technique had failed to detect the surveillance.

Ding Zhanyun explained that the Meng Family had ways to evade the Heaven's Gaze, Earth's Listen Technique and had used Fu Fei's misconduct as a reason to reject Prince Fu's Mansion. Fu Fei feared the consequences of returning home, but Ding said Liang Muqiu wanted him alive for now.

• Ding Zhanyun described the Half-human, Half-corpse scouts and Mysterious Cloak that could evade the Heaven's Gaze, Earth's Listen Technique.
• Fu Fei asked why the Meng Family had gone along with his and Chen Siyuan's scheme, and Ding explained they needed a defensible reason to reject Prince Fu's Mansion.
• Fu Fei realized his actions had given the Meng Family grounds to sever ties with Beitang Shu and became angry at Ding and the Meng Family.
• Ding Zhanyun told Fu Fei that he had brought the situation upon himself and that Liang Muqiu's intervention had spared his life.
• Fu Fei asked whether the Meng Family would kill him, and Ding said Liang Muqiu wanted him alive for now; Fu Fei visibly relaxed.

Liang Muqiu confronted Chen Siyuan with evidence that he and Fu Fei had plotted against the women in Meng Zhao’s household, then threatened to expose his memories through Meng Zhao’s Great Grandmaster abilities. Chen Siyuan realized he was trapped and concluded that Meng Zhao’s ambitions would make him a formidable enemy of Beitang Shu.

• Liang Muqiu visited Chen Siyuan and offered him a chance to join Meng Zhao, warning that Prince Fu would punish him for conspiring with Fu Fei.
• Chen Siyuan denied involvement and planned to blame Fu Fei, believing there was no evidence against him.
• Liang Muqiu said Meng Zhao could seize Chen Siyuan’s memories and prove his participation, leaving Chen drenched in sweat.
• Liang Muqiu explained that the Meng Family had monitored both men and had known about their conversations and scheme.
• Chen Siyuan realized Meng Zhao was ambitious enough to challenge Beitang Shu, the Ninth Prince.

Chen Siyuan weighed whether to defect to Meng Zhao but feared the curse Beitang Shu had placed on him would expose him and endanger his family. Liang Muqiu identified the curse as a transformed ancient surveillance technique, leaving Chen Siyuan's recruitment dependent on whether the hidden power could be removed.

• Chen Siyuan considered joining Meng Zhao but doubted he could overcome Beitang Sheng and the Great Yong Dynasty.
• Liang Muqiu asked Chen Siyuan to join the Meng Family, and he explained that Beitang Shu's curse would expose him and threaten his family if he returned.
• Liang Muqiu examined Chen Siyuan and saw mysterious power branded near his right arm, recording his actions and movements.
• Chen Siyuan identified the power as the Flesh and Blood Auditory and Visual Technique, adapted from the Wood Spirit Clan's ancient Plant Auditory and Visual Technique.
• Liang Muqiu realized Chen Siyuan would be useless as a concealed informant unless the curse was removed.

Chen Siyuan explained why he could not defect to Meng Zhao and revealed a dangerous power embedded in his arm, asking for Meng Zhao’s help. Liang Muqiu used the divine essence Meng Zhao had left behind to suppress the mark, and Chen Siyuan fell into a vivid dream that rewrote his recent choices.

• Chen Siyuan told Liang Muqiu that only he bore the Flesh and Blood Auditory and Visual Technique, which Beitang Shu had placed on him because of his interest in Meng Zhao.
• Chen Siyuan said Fu Fei had little value as a spy because he was excluded from Prince Fu’s Mansion’s core affairs, while Chen Siyuan could potentially reach its upper ranks.
• Chen Siyuan revealed a shifting green mark on his right arm and asked Meng Zhao to remove the power within it so he could safely defect.
• Liang Muqiu summoned the violet spiritual radiance Meng Zhao had left in her and applied it to the mark, which began to change color as Chen Siyuan grew drowsy.
• Chen Siyuan fell asleep and dreamed that he had refused Fu Fei’s proposal and left the Meng Family without pursuing an alliance.

Liang Muqiu told Chen Siyuan that Meng Zhao had used a dream to prevent the Flesh and Blood Auditory and Visual Technique from recording reality, allowing him to deceive Beitang Shu. Chen Siyuan agreed to defect to the Meng Family, but then discovered a mysterious Dragon Seal on his chest.

• Liang Muqiu reflected on how Meng Zhao's growing power had strengthened the martial power he left within her.
• Chen Siyuan woke from a dream and feared that Meng Zhao had failed to protect him from the Flesh and Blood Auditory and Visual Technique.
• Liang Muqiu explained that the technique would record the dream as reality and ignore what had actually happened, concealing Chen Siyuan's actions from Beitang Shu.
• Liang Muqiu described how Meng Zhao exploited flaws in the secret art by using a dream to deceive it through Chen Siyuan's spirit and body.
• Chen Siyuan agreed to defect to the Meng Family after the danger was removed and he witnessed Meng Zhao's power.
• Liang Muqiu warned Chen Siyuan to inspect his chest, where he found a black snake-like Dragon Seal.

Liang Muqiu forced Chen Siyuan to accept the Meng Family’s Dragon Seal and his role as an undercover agent, then confronted Fu Fei when he begged to join them. Fu Fei revealed secrets about Prince Fu’s crimes and powerful allies, leaving Liang Muqiu interested in keeping him alive.

• Liang Muqiu warned Chen Siyuan that the Dragon Seal could endanger his family if he betrayed the Meng Family, and Chen Siyuan accepted that he had no choice but to comply.
• Ding Zhanyun arrived and left after greeting Liang Muqiu, while Fu Fei collapsed and begged her to spare him in exchange for serving Dragon King Meng.
• Liang Muqiu condemned Fu Fei for plotting against the Meng Family and told him that self-abasement would not save him unless he had useful information.
• Fu Fei revealed that Prince Fu had embezzled disaster-relief funds, raised deathsworn forces, captured unborn infants to make Purple Infant Pills, and employed two powerful experts who might target Meng Zhao.
• Liang Muqiu asked Chen Siyuan whether he knew the secrets Fu Fei had revealed, while Chen Siyuan realized that the Meng Family needed Fu Fei alive to protect his undercover role.

Chen Siyuan denied knowing that Beitang Shu refined Purple Infant Pills, while Fu Fei revealed that Prince Fu's steward Lan Chunyi was a Heavenly Infant Sect expert. Liang Muqiu learned that the pills were meant to awaken Primordial Bloodlines and saw the secret as a way to undermine Beitang Shu.

• Chen Siyuan admitted that Beitang Shu had taken about fifteen percent of the Northern Lands disaster relief funds but denied knowing about the Purple Infant Pills or top-tier experts.
• Fu Fei said his sister had shared Beitang Shu's private secrets and identified Lan Chunyi, Prince Fu's seventh steward, as a Demonic Path expert.
• Chen Siyuan described Lan Chunyi as a capable, kind old retainer, but Fu Fei claimed Lan Chunyi came from the Heavenly Infant Sect and accused Chen Siyuan of obstructing the Meng Family.
• Liang Muqiu recalled that the Heavenly Infant Sect had refined pills from infants and had been destroyed by orthodox sects, though some of its secrets might have survived.
• Fu Fei explained that Purple Infant Pills could awaken dormant Primordial Bloodlines, and Liang Muqiu concluded that Beitang Shu had used them to pursue greater cultivation talent.

Liang Muqiu questioned Fu Fei about Beitang Shu’s crimes and the two Grandmasters in his service, then bound Fu Fei with Meng Zhao’s divine essence to secure his loyalty. Fu Fei agreed to serve the Meng Family, while Liang Muqiu left open the possibility that his sister might become Meng Zhao’s concubine.

• Liang Muqiu asked Fu Fei whether evidence could prove Beitang Shu’s atrocities, but Fu Fei said Beitang Shu had destroyed the clues and Lan Chunyi might be their only lead.
• Fu Fei described Beitang Shu’s two Grandmaster subordinates: one was covered in deadly poison, and the other had refined himself into a Gu Worm.
• Chen Siyuan recalled a Maidservant’s unexplained death and suspected she had been poisoned by one of the Grandmasters.
• Liang Muqiu sent Meng Zhao’s divine essence into Fu Fei’s Sea of Consciousness, warning that betrayal would make it kill him.
• Fu Fei pledged loyalty to the Meng Family, and Liang Muqiu suggested his sister might one day enter Meng Zhao’s chambers.

Fu Fei warned Liang Muqiu and Chen Siyuan that Beitang Shu had secretly sent another group to Lingwu City, putting their plans to serve Meng Zhao at risk. Liang Muqiu ordered the Meng Family to search for the hidden agent, then gave the two men a large collection of dossiers to examine.

• Fu Fei revealed that Beitang Shu had sent a hidden group to Lingwu City alongside Chen Siyuan and him.
• Chen Siyuan demanded to know whether the hidden agent truly existed, while Liang Muqiu decided the Meng Family had to find them.
• Liang Muqiu ordered her steward to investigate people who had recently arrived in Lingwu City, and Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei set aside their grudges.
• Half a day later, Liang Muqiu presented Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei with hundreds of dossiers on suspicious newcomers.
• Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei began comparing the dossiers with their knowledge of Beitang Shu's people, hoping to identify the hidden agent.

Fu Fei identified Bian Lao Er in the case files, revealing that Beitang Shu’s trusted servant might be in Lingwu City with a hidden Vulture Eagle Team. Liang Muqiu planned to capture Bian Lao Er and extract the team’s whereabouts before they could flee or expose Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei.

• Fu Fei recognized Bian Lao Er in a dossier, and Chen Siyuan confirmed the identification by his eyes.
• Fu Fei told Liang Muqiu that Bian Lao Er was Beitang Shu’s trusted servant, a powerful martial artist whose elder brother commanded five thousand guards.
• Fu Fei revealed that Bian Lao Er might have brought the secretive Vulture Eagle Team, whose members and numbers were unknown.
• Chen Siyuan advised capturing Bian Lao Er to learn how many people Beitang Shu had sent and where the Vulture Eagle Team was hiding.
• Liang Muqiu proposed using a staged incident involving the Demonic Path as a pretext to isolate and capture Bian Lao Er.
• Fu Fei urged Liang Muqiu to capture Bian Lao Er quickly and keep the operation secret so the Vulture Eagle Team would not escape to Prince Fu’s Mansion.

Liang Muqiu had the Meng Family spread a rumor about a Demonic Path expert to conceal a trap for Bian Lao Er. The Meng Family captured Bian Lao Er without a fight and prepared to use his hideout to lure in members of the Vulture Eagle Team.

• Liang Muqiu secretly consulted a Meng Family steward, and the Meng Family spread a rumor about a Demonic Path expert hunting martial artists in Lingwu City.
• Local forces urged the Meng Family to investigate, and the family sent warriors to patrol the city, reassuring residents while Bian Lao Er stayed hidden.
• The Meng Family secretly evacuated residents around Bian Lao Er's hideout and kept his movements under surveillance.
• Meng Family retainers used Serpentine Licorice smoke to render Bian Lao Er unconscious, then captured him and disabled his cultivation with a Golden Essence Lock.
• The Meng Family secured Bian Lao Er's hideout as an ambush site to catch members of the Vulture Eagle Team who came looking for him.

Liang Muqiu interrogated the captured Bian Lao Er about his secret mission in Lingwu City and revealed that she knew he had been recruiting local factions for Beitang Shu. Bian Lao Er remained defiant, unaware that Meng Zhao’s intelligence network—not a betrayal by Chen Siyuan or Fu Fei—had uncovered his activities.

• Bian Lao Er woke chained and in pain, recognized Liang Muqiu, and realized the Meng Family had targeted him rather than a supposed Demonic Path expert.
• Liang Muqiu asked why Bian Lao Er had come to Lingwu City and why Beitang Shu had sent him secretly after Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei.
• Bian Lao Er denounced the Meng Family as rebellious and refused to cooperate, while Liang Muqiu offered to let him return safely to Ji Prefecture if he spoke honestly.
• Liang Muqiu confronted Bian Lao Er about contacting the Han, Liu, and Zheng Families and several sects to win their support for Beitang Shu.
• Bian Lao Er was shocked that Liang Muqiu knew of his recruitment efforts, while she silently used the revelation to pressure him and seek a weakness in his resolve.