Chapter Summaries

Lan Yan explained why he was backing Le Yu’s effort against the Silver Blood Society and how the Coastal Army might benefit from it. After their discussion turned to Le Yu’s character and ambitions, Lan Yan asked how they should deal with the Silver Blood successors waiting outside.

• Le Yu reasoned that Lan Yan’s support was an investment that could bring the Coastal Army money, territory, and influence if Le Yu succeeded.
• Lan Yan praised Le Yu’s conscience and political skill, then said he thought Le Yu would make a qualified emperor.
• Le Yu asked about Lan Yan’s old acquaintance, and Lan Yan said he would introduce them another time.
• Lan Yan ended their conversation and asked Le Yu how they should handle the Silver Blood successors waiting outside.

Le Yu rescued the Silver Blood Society heirs from Lan Yan’s camp and escorted them toward the Profound Candle Prefecture, securing their gratitude and promises of repayment. He privately revealed that he intended to use them as weapons against the Silver Blood Society.

• Qin Leyin warned the captive heirs that Jing Zhengwei might let them die to gain control of the Silver Blood Society, leaving them convinced they were doomed.
• Yin Guyue escorted the heirs to Lan Yan and Jing Zhengwei, where Le Yu thanked Lan Yan and led the heirs away with several hundred Coastal Army soldiers.
• At the camp gate, Yin Guyue explained that he had recognized Chen Chenchen as an assassin and gave Le Yu the Veil of Discord.
• The heirs thanked Le Yu for saving their lives and promised their families would repay him as the convoy headed toward the Profound Candle Prefecture.
• Le Yu told Qin Leyin that he had saved the heirs because he intended to turn them into blades against the Silver Blood Society.

Mu Qingmei worked at the Youth Newspaper, where she reviewed letters responding to Echoes of the Future and noticed that the debate was drawing the attention of powerful people. She realized the newspaper’s stance seemed to favor one side, leaving her increasingly uneasy.

• Mu Qingmei signaled to Rongyao as he sold skewers, and he escaped the Patrol Guards by slipping into a nearby tailor shop.
• Mu Qingmei returned to work and read readers’ letters for the newspaper’s next Discussion Board.
• Mu Qingmei noticed that letters had shifted from criticizing other newspaper sections to debating Echoes of the Future.
• Mu Qingmei recognized that the letters’ arguments reflected the influence of powerful figures and worried that the Youth Newspaper was leaning toward one side.

Mu Qingmei hoped Jing Zhengwei would return safely because the Youth Newspaper and its growing labor movement depended on him, and the news soon confirmed his safe return. Meanwhile, Lan Yan’s Coastal Army reached Wolf Prison Shipyard, where Xia Lingo promised to defeat the Heyang Army and kill its governor within five days.

• Mu Qingmei reflected on how the Youth Newspaper had stirred discontent among workers and feared that Jing Zhengwei’s death would destroy the paper and Yin Minghong’s plan.
• A Jing family guard announced that Jing Zhengwei and the negotiation delegation had returned safely and that he would reach Profound Candle Prefecture before evening.
• Qing Lan acted calm when Mu Qingmei told her the news, then locked her door and excitedly prepared for Jing Zhengwei’s return.
• Lan Yan explained to Yin Guyue that he planned to attack Wolf Prison Shipyard as part of his agreement with Jing Zhengwei, but wanted to avoid heavy losses for the Coastal Army.
• Xia Lingo accepted command of the operation and promised to use one-tenth of the Coastal Army to kill Gai Shiwen and defeat the Heyang Army within five days.

After returning to Profound Candle Prefecture, Le Yu tried to resume his work while Qing Lan kept him at home, and the Silver Blood Council gathered amid a dispute over Ting family succession. Ting Wanjian took Ting Gu’s presidential seat just as Jing Zhengwei arrived.

• Le Yu woke beside Qing Lan and tried to persuade her to return to work at the Youth Newspaper, but she kept him with her until he left for the afternoon council.
• Quan Xin recommended Sea Wave Powder to Luo Zhen at the council chamber, and Luo rejected the drug.
• Ting Wanjian arrived with Ting Chaozao and defended the Ting family’s right to change its promises as circumstances changed.
• Ting Wanjian sat in Ting Gu’s former presidential seat, silencing the council chamber.
• The chamber’s steward announced that Jing Family Merchant Association’s Jing Zhengwei had arrived.

Le Yu confronted Ting Wanjian’s challenge to Jing Zhengwei’s chairmanship by demonstrating that he commanded five hundred Coastal Army soldiers. He ordered Ting Wanjian to vacate the chairman’s seat, leaving the council to face the strength behind his claim.

• The Silver Blood merchants assessed Jing Zhengwei as a ruthless, talented schemer and agreed that he should become their new chairman.
• Le Yu arrived at the council meeting, where Ting Wanjian announced that he had taken over as head of the Ting family instead of Ting Chaozao.
• Ting Wanjian fired a hand cannon and revealed that elite Heyang Army soldiers had entered the city, using the display to assert the Ting family’s power.
• Le Yu launched a blue signal above Profound Candle Prefecture, prompting distant cannon and gunfire from five hundred Coastal Army soldiers under his command.
• Le Yu told Ting Wanjian that his fireworks were louder and ordered him to move aside and yield the chairman’s seat.

Le Yu took control of the Silver Blood Society council and secured approval to fund the Coastal Army’s provisions while steering trade toward Morning Wind. He then proposed that every merchant guild surrender eighty percent of its liquid assets to meet Lan Yan’s demands.

• Le Yu assumed the president’s seat and opened the council by explaining that the Silver Blood Society had to placate the five hundred Coastal Army soldiers outside the prefecture.
• Le Yu offered to guarantee the soldiers’ provisions, then told the merchant guilds to pay their shares, threatening consequences for those who refused and promising potential business opportunities in Morning Wind.
• Seventy members approved Le Yu’s proposal to fund the Coastal Army’s provisions and avoid sealing the city.
• Le Yu introduced Lan Yan’s request for military aid as war reparations, noting that the demand had increased after the Silver Blood Society’s assassination attempt.
• Le Yu proposed that every merchant guild hand over eighty percent of its liquid assets.

Jing Zhengwei pushed the Silver Blood merchants to accept Lan Yan’s enormous military-fund demand, then offered a scheme that seemed to reduce their payment by temporarily handing their businesses to the Coastal Army. The merchants were tempted by the compromise, unaware that Jing Zhengwei intended to seize control of their lives and property.

• Jing Zhengwei faced the Silver Blood merchants’ furious rejection of Lan Yan’s demand for eighty percent of their liquid assets and warned that the Coastal Army could leave if they refused.
• The merchants proposed ways to delay or reduce payment, but Jing Zhengwei insisted Lan Yan was issuing an order and urged them to treat the payment as an investment in the future.
• Jing Zhengwei argued that Lan Yan could protect Morning Wind and East Sun for ten years, making the Silver Blood Society indispensable to the local military and government.
• When the merchants still balked at the cost, Jing Zhengwei proposed handing their fixed assets to the Coastal Army temporarily in exchange for reducing reparations to half or two-fifths.
• Jing Zhengwei offered to oversee the businesses with his own people while the soldiers took control, and the merchants began to consider the deal.
• Qin Leyin recognized Jing Zhengwei’s proposal as a skylight trick: Lan Yan wanted their money, but Jing Zhengwei wanted their lives.

Le Yu secured the Silver Blood Society’s agreement on a four-part plan to counter Lan Yan, while arranging for the Jing family to cover the Coastal Army’s food and lodging. After the meeting, Fish told Le Yu the assassins would end their commission against Lan Yan because their leader believed Lan Yan was more valuable alive.

• Le Yu’s proposal to surrender to the Coastal Army was denied, but he urged the Silver Blood Society to settle on a response rather than delay.
• The merchants agreed to contact Governor Lu Zhong, supply the Coastal Army, enlist their protectors against Lan Yan, and contribute money while negotiating installment payments.
• Le Yu directed the Silver Blood Society to give the Jing family the Coastal Army’s meal expenses for its five hundred soldiers.
• Fish emerged after the meeting and said the assassins would keep Ting Gu’s deposit but end their commission because Chen and Black were dead.
• Fish refused future assassination work against Lan Yan, explaining that the leader considered Lan Yan more valuable alive.

Le Yu and the Silver Blood Society learned that the Ting family had the resources and allies to withstand their planned retaliation. Ting Wanjian departed after hinting that his “friend” was connected to Jing Zhengwu, leaving Le Yu unsettled about his position as chairman and head of the Jing family.

• Le Yu offered the Veil of Discord for sale on Yin Guyue’s behalf, and Assassin Fish took it to ask the leader.
• Ting Wanjian tried to reassure the Silver Blood Society, but its members distrusted the Ting family after Lan Yan’s accusations.
• Ting Wanjian warned that the Ting family had merchant, noble, and official support and could turn the Society’s hostility to its advantage.
• Ting Wanjian reminded Le Yu that he had risen to power during the Coastal Army’s invasion and the Heyang Army’s defeat, then challenged him to prove himself after the Coastal Army left.
• Ting Wanjian explained that a polite, nonsmoking friend had urged him to blow smoke at Le Yu, prompting Le Yu to suspect Jing Zhengwu.
• Ting Wanjian left with Ting Chaozao, saying Le Yu could not securely hold a position that did not belong to him.

Qin Leyin explained how Ting Wanjian and Jing Zhengwu’s friendship had shaped their families’ ambitions, and why Ting Wanjian might blame Le Yu for his friend’s death. After Le Yu left to pick up Qing Lan, Qin Leyin was summoned to a secret gathering of Silver Blood Society leaders who planned to target Jing and Ting.

• Qin Leyin told Le Yu that Ting Wanjian and Jing Zhengwu had once been close confidants whose alliance could have changed the balance of power.
• Qin Leyin reasoned that Ting Wanjian likely blamed Le Yu for ruining his chance to save Jing Zhengwu and realize their shared plans.
• Le Yu told Qin Leyin that he intended to put his will above the Silver Blood Society’s by making the Society invite him to do so.
• Qin Leyin left Le Yu’s car and went to a concealed restaurant after receiving an address from a servant.
• Luo Zhen, Quan Xin, Lan Jianbo, and other Silver Blood Society leaders told Qin Leyin to slay Jing and destroy Ting.

Qin Leyin pretended to join a merchant alliance plotting against the Jing and Ting Families, then realized Jing Zhengwei was waiting for the Coastal Army to win. After the Coastal Army routed the Heyang Army and approached Profound Candle, Jing Zhengwei secured unanimous approval for temporary military administration of Silver Blood businesses.

• Qin Leyin negotiated with the merchant families and agreed to support their plan in exchange for a fifty-five percent share, while concealing his true intentions.
• The merchant leaders explained that they planned to destroy the Jing and Ting Families once the Coastal Army withdrew, fearing both families would dominate the Silver Blood Society.
• Qin Leyin understood that Jing Zhengwei had been waiting for the Coastal Army's military victory and arrival near Profound Candle.
• Three days later, the Coastal Army routed the Heyang Army, Governor Gai Shiwen died in battle, and the Coastal Army reached the vicinity of Red Moon Fortress.
• At an emergency Silver Blood Society meeting, Jing Zhengwei offered two ways to meet the Coastal Army's demands, and the members unanimously approved temporarily handing their businesses to the Coastal Army and Jing Family under military administration.

Yin Minghong led Wan Xisha and the Coastal Army to seize the Li Family’s hidden wealth for the military fund, while the Li Family resisted and suffered gunshot wounds. The chapter ended with Yin Minghong sharing a meal with Wan Xisha and reflecting that their opposing loyalties had brought them together at the right time.

• Yin Minghong used a firecracker to wake Mu Qingmei and urged her to practice before heading to the Half-City District.
• Yin Minghong met Rongyao and Wan Xisha at the Coastal Army camp, then led Wan Xisha and his soldiers toward the harbor as onlookers spread the news.
• Yin Minghong’s forces found Warehouse C-9 empty, captured the Li Family, and demanded to know where the family had hidden its assets.
• Yin Minghong ordered the Li Family men shot in the limbs until one revealed that their wealth was hidden in crates underwater, where Rongyao found it.
• Yin Minghong realized the Li Family’s resistance could make it easier for Jing Zhengwei to replace the factories, then accepted Wan Xisha’s invitation to eat chicken legs.

Le Yu realized the Silver Blood merchants were delaying payments because they believed he would keep Lan Yan from invading Profound Candle Prefecture. After learning that Duke Wanghai and other officials had contributed almost nothing to the Military Fund Pool, Le Yu set out to target Duke Wanghai, Huyan Xiu.

• Le Yu left Jing Garden with Qing Lan, Jing Shou, and Coastal Army soldiers after assassins had recently tried to attack him.
• Jing Shou told Le Yu that most large merchant associations were withholding their Tripartite Contracts, and Le Yu concluded they were stalling until Lan Yan withdrew and the Jing family lost power.
• Yin Minghong reported that the large associations had paid, but the Military Fund Pool remained sixty percent short, while Duke Wanghai and several government offices had contributed very little.
• Le Yu ordered Wan Xisha to assemble the soldiers and told Jing Shou to bring Patrol Team Three along as witnesses.
• Le Yu announced that they were going to confront Duke Wanghai, Huyan Xiu.

Le Yu used his position as Silver Blood Society Chairman and a show of force to demand that Duke Wanghai’s family increase its military donation a hundredfold. When Huyan Jue said his father could not come out, Le Yu insisted that Duke Wanghai meet him outside.

• Le Yu arrived with soldiers at Duke Wanghai’s residence and admired its size.
• Huyan Jue offered the visitors food and invited Le Yu inside, but Le Yu said he wanted a larger military donation.
• After Huyan Jue proposed an amount, Le Yu demanded that the Huyan Family multiply it by a hundred.
• Huyan Jue said only his father could authorize such a payment and offered to take Le Yu to him.
• Le Yu refused to enter with his guards and demanded that Duke Wanghai come out to meet him.

Le Yu confronted Duke Wanghai at his residence, using the Coastal Army’s firearms to keep the duke’s Pinnacle Realm retainers at bay. He accused Duke Wanghai of underpaying Lan Yan and the soldiers, then left their response to them as a gunshot rang out.

• Le Yu met Mr. Tong and Mr. Tie at Duke Wanghai’s residence and had the Coastal Army aim their firearms at the two Pinnacle Realm martial artists.
• Le Yu forced Mr. Tong and Mr. Tie to keep their distance by warning that the Coastal Army would shoot if they advanced.
• Duke Wanghai came out to greet Le Yu, while the Coastal Army kept its firearms aimed at the entrance and the walls.
• Le Yu told the Coastal Army to shoot anyone who tried to approach, then accused Duke Wanghai’s household of exploiting Dongyang’s people and giving Lan Yan and the soldiers too little money.
• Le Yu told the Coastal Army that Duke Wanghai was in front of them and left what happened next to them; a gunshot rang out.

Le Yu pressured Duke Wanghai to surrender military funds, but Duke Wanghai recognized that Le Yu was using Lan Yan’s campaign to weaken the Silver Blood Society for his own purposes. He offered his daughter and a hundred times the funds in exchange for a promise that Le Yu would spare the Huyan Family when he made his move.

• Le Yu rejected Duke Wanghai’s escalating offers and threatened to bring the Coastal Army into the residence unless the family paid.
• Duke Wanghai recalled how a previous prefect had collected unpopular taxes and warned Le Yu that the Jing Family would become a target for everyone’s anger.
• Duke Wanghai speculated that Le Yu’s efforts for Lan Yan were a way to weaken the Silver Blood Society, and Le Yu said he did not care whom he offended.
• Duke Wanghai questioned Le Yu about marriage and suggested his youngest daughter, but Le Yu repeatedly refused her.
• Duke Wanghai privately offered Le Yu his daughter and a hundred times the military funds, asking him to spare the Huyan Family when he raised his butcher’s knife.

After Duke Wanghai paid the Coastal Army and sent Huyan Siluo to Jing Zhengwei, Le Yu realized the duke had outmaneuvered his plan to provoke a massacre and weaken the Silver Blood Society. Huyan Siluo refused to return home and declared she would become Le Yu’s good wife, just as Qing Lan arrived.

• Zao Yu surrounded Duke Wanghai’s residence, and Duke Wanghai paid the Coastal Army and sent Huyan Siluo to Jing Zhengwei as a marriage relation.
• Other powerful families and merchant guilds followed Duke Wanghai’s example and sent money, bringing the military fund to about seventy percent of its target.
• Le Yu realized Duke Wanghai had softened his killing intent and exposed his plan to destroy Profound Candle Prefecture’s ruling class, making his strategy harder to carry out.
• Le Yu taunted Huyan Siluo while they played cards, and she explained that she would stay near the Jing Family to help her father if trouble came.
• Huyan Siluo declared she would become Le Yu’s good wife, and Qing Lan opened the door and asked whether she had come at a bad time.

Le Yu reassured Qing Lan that he would not share his affection with Huyan Siluo and urged her to build power and value rather than rely on promises. The chapter ended with Qing Lan asking him to stay in the bath with her while he tried to escape to a supposed meeting with Yin Minghong.

• Qing Lan told Le Yu that Huyan Siluo still wanted to stay because she believed Duke Wanghai had acted for her own good.
• Le Yu rejected the idea of Qing Lan and Huyan Siluo becoming sisters and friends, insisting that he wanted to be with Qing Lan alone.
• Le Yu told Qing Lan that promises could fail and urged her to seize power and protect her independence through work and influence.
• Qing Lan thanked Le Yu, then asked him to stay and bathe with her, while Le Yu claimed Yin Minghong was waiting for him in the study.

Le Yu set boundaries with Huyan Siluo, reassured Qing Lan that she was his only partner, and learned that his secret support for Qian Yuya had been exposed. In Yan Jing, a cloaked figure confronted Qian Yuya and asked about her relationship with the Xuanzhu Jing Family.

• Le Yu told Huyan Siluo she could stay at Jing Garden as a guest but should not expect him to help Duke Wanghai unless he chose to.
• Le Yu explained that he opposed the Silver Blood elites because he had never witnessed their cruelty or suffered over the people they harmed, and Qing Lan dragged the bewildered Huyan Siluo away.
• Le Yu promised Qing Lan she would remain his only partner, then explained that he sent money to Qian Yuya because she was his deceased friend's younger sister.
• Qing Lan revealed that a post office employee had uncovered Le Yu's support for Qian Yuya, and Le Yu worried that powerful people might use her to control him.
• In Yan Jing, a cloaked figure approached Qian Yuya after following her and asked about her connection to the Xuanzhu Jing Family.