Chapter Summaries

Xu Bai took over the Yunlai Prefecture Shadow Courier Station, exposed and confronted its former Courier Chief, and reported the failed handover to Yun Zihai. That night, he fought a mysterious opera singer who revealed she was a scout sent by the Rising Dusk King to deliver a secret order.

• Yun Zihai asked Xu Bai to help investigate Yunlai Prefecture’s hostile forces, and Xu Bai lent him Liu Er before heading to the Shadow Courier Station.
• Ou Courier Chief tried to poison Xu Bai with a book, then attacked him and threatened to accuse him of murder; Xu Bai defeated and dismembered him, but Ou Courier Chief turned into blood with Corpse Rotting Poison before he could be questioned.
• Xu Bai sent Yun Zihai a report by carrier pigeon, followed it to confirm it reached the Prefectural Office, and returned to the station to study its rules and cultivate.
• After nightfall, Xu Bai followed an eerie opera voice into the woods and attacked the Opera Costume Woman when she would not explain herself.
• The Opera Costume Woman showed Xu Bai a matching jade token and revealed that she was a scout under the Rising Dusk King, sent to deliver a secret order.

Xu Bai learned that the Emperor and Rising Dusk King had wagered on whether he could restore order to Yunlai Prefecture, and he reluctantly accepted Rising Dusk King’s daughter, Chu Yu, as his maidservant in exchange for a Nameless Saber Scripture. As Xu Bai trained and taught Chu Yu, he completed the Purple Firmament Control Art, fused it with another technique, and broke through to fifth rank before hearing a fluttering sound beside him.

• Opera Costume Woman revealed that the Emperor and Rising Dusk King had bet on Xu Bai’s ability to govern Yunlai Prefecture, with the Emperor planning to compete with Rising Dusk King over Xu Bai if he lost.
• Xu Bai discovered that Opera Costume Woman was Chu Yu, Rising Dusk King’s daughter, and agreed to take her along as his maidservant after she offered him a Nameless Saber Scripture.
• Back at the Shadow Courier Station, Xu Bai began teaching Chu Yu about martial-world rules while grinding through his progress bars.
• Yun Zihai visited, reported that his investigation had produced some signs but that it was too early to act, and learned nothing of Chu Yu’s identity.
• Xu Bai completed the Purple Firmament Control Art and fused it with Inverted Yin and Yang Chaos in All Directions, creating Inverted Purple Firmament Chaos Yin Yang.
• The fusion raised Xu Bai to fifth rank and granted him the Borrowing Force ability, while Chu Yu watched in astonishment and a fluttering sound came from beside Xu Bai.

Xu Bai and Chu Yu traveled to Yunlai Prefecture after receiving news of a job, fighting off a large masked group on the way. There, Yun Bai revealed that a suspicious coroner named Zheng Jin had implicated the Ye Family, but Xu Bai discovered Zheng Jin was a Corpse Stitcher and decided to investigate the Ye Family openly.

• Chu Yu received news that the Emperor had lifted restrictions on the Imperial Family, while Xu Bai received a message from Yun Zihai calling him to Yunlai Prefecture.
• Xu Bai and Chu Yu killed more than a hundred masked attackers on the road, and a blindfolded young man later appeared to assess their abilities.
• Yun Zihai showed Xu Bai Zheng Jin's testimony accusing the Ye Family and explained that the family head, Ye Men, was a powerful sixth-rank expert.
• Xu Bai ordered Chu Yu to sever Zheng Jin's limbs, and Chu Yu recognized that he was a Corpse Stitcher who could not feel pain.
• Xu Bai concluded Zheng Jin had tried to mislead them, killed him, and decided to visit the Ye Family openly with Yun Zihai and Chu Yu.

Xu Bai and Yun Zihai investigated the Ye Family, where they found the Ye Family Head dead and uncovered a letter linking a white-robed Corpse Eater to the Mass Burial Grounds. They arrived there at night and realized a crow had noticed them, just as it began speaking in a human voice.

• Xu Bai persuaded Yun Zihai to investigate the Ye Family openly by using his authority as Prefect, and they entered the estate with Chu Yu.
• The First Madam found the Ye Family Head dead beside a letter claiming he had arranged the attack on the Prefect, but Xu Bai and Yun Zihai recognized the note as a provocation.
• Xu Bai stopped the First Madam from wailing by promising that her cooperation would help her inherit the Ye Family’s property, and they brought her to the Prefectural Office for questioning.
• The First Madam revealed that a powerful white-robed man had threatened the Ye Family Head and that his tattoo identified him as a Corpse Eater who might be hiding in the Mass Burial Grounds.
• Xu Bai and Yun Zihai took Chu Yu to the Mass Burial Grounds at night, where they spotted a crow watching them and heard it speak in a human voice.

Xu Bai, Yun Zihai, and Chu Yu traced a mysterious crow to Ghost Seven, who tried to persuade Yun Zihai to destroy the Ye Family and join his hidden faction. After Chu Yu identified the crow as a Beast Language Master’s familiar and Xu Bai followed its spiritual trace, the group confronted Ghost Seven and began battling him in the wilderness.

• A crow recited Xu Bai’s history, rebuked him, and demanded that Yun Zihai exterminate the Ye Family in exchange for revealing its masters.
• The crow died, and Chu Yu explained that it was controlled by a Beast Language Master connected to Great Yue Kingdom, though she initially lacked the spiritual power needed to track its master.
• Xu Bai used his True Yuan Power to follow the spiritual trace and led Yun Zihai and Chu Yu to Ghost Seven, who stood among a pack of wolves with Red Dust.
• Ghost Seven revealed that he had combined the Beast Language Master and Corpse Eater paths, then consumed a wolf’s flesh and blood while Red Dust left.
• Xu Bai and his companions attacked Ghost Seven and his empowered wolves, and Ghost Seven transformed into a towering wolf-like beast and charged at Xu Bai.

Xu Bai defeated and tortured Ghost Seven, then learned that the Great Yue Kingdom’s Dark Building had infiltrated Yunlai Prefecture and that the Chen Family was involved. As the group planned to watch the Chen Family for signs of action, Chu Yu broke through to Rank Five, while Red Dust learned that Ghost Seven had died.

• Xu Bai easily overpowered Ghost Seven, repeatedly cut him apart, and forced him to reveal that he served the Dark Building and had recruited the Chen Family.
• Ghost Seven named Red Dust as the woman managing the Chen Family, and Xu Bai had Chu Yu kill him after his recovery finally failed.
• At the Prefectural Office, Yun Zihai proposed watching the Chen Family, whose business was making paper funeral figures, and the group agreed to wait for its next move.
• Chu Yu realized that she had broken through to Rank Five after the events of the night, surprising Xu Bai and Yun Zihai.
• At the Chen Family residence, Red Dust watched Ghost Seven’s identification plaque turn to ash and called for someone.

Red Dust kept the Chen Family head under her control and decided to stay hidden while Yunlai Prefecture remained unsettled. Xu Bai refused to meet the Seventh Prince’s envoy, Zhang Wang, who was beaten on Yun Zihai’s orders; Xu Bai then signaled that Zhang Wang should be killed.

• Red Dust told the Chen Family head to act normally, then resolved to keep a low profile until the danger in Yunlai Prefecture passed.
• While waiting for the Chen Family to make a move, Xu Bai studied the Gale Wind Art and continued his daily lessons with Chu Yu.
• After learning that the Seventh Prince’s subordinate wanted to meet him, Xu Bai sent back a message claiming he was unwell and telling the man to come to Yunlai Prefecture.
• Zhang Wang went to the Prefectural Office, where Yun Zihai ordered the Yamen Runners to give him thirty strokes for his insolence.
• After Zhang Wang was thrown out of the office, Xu Bai signaled to Yun Zihai that Zhang Wang should be killed.

Xu Bai killed Zhang Wang after refusing the Seventh Prince’s demand that he submit, then continued investigating the Dark Building while completing and fusing the Gale Wind Art. As Chu Yu’s mother arranged for her cousin to visit Yunlai Prefecture, Yun Zihai brought Xu Bai new, unexplained news.

• Xu Bai killed Zhang Wang outside Yunlai Prefecture after Zhang Wang demanded that he submit to the Seventh Prince and threatened him.
• Xu Bai reassured Yun Zihai that they could continue their normal duties while waiting for the Dark Building to act, and he learned that Yun Zihai’s worsening health was caused by a condition the Body-Strengthening Method could not remedy.
• Xu Bai completed the Gale Wind Art and fused it with the Inverted Purple Firmament Chaos Yin Yang, gaining the ability to turn True Yuan Power into gale wind.
• Chu Yu spoke with her mother through a jade plaque, learned that her cousin would come to Yunlai Prefecture, and then attended Xu Bai’s morning lesson.
• Yun Zihai hurried into Xu Bai’s room with news.

Yun Zihai recruited Chen Yan to watch for trouble inside the Chen Family, while Xu Bai completed the Nameless Saber Scripture and gained the Severing Break Three Styles. Xu Bai then accompanied Chu Yu to rescue her cousin at a nameless lake, where he discovered why the young man was stuck on the water.

• Yun Zihai brought Xu Bai and Chu Yu to meet Chen Yan, a newly acknowledged Chen Family member who gave supplies to the poor, and persuaded him to report suspicious activity.
• Chen Yan said the Chen Family head seemed increasingly unwell, so Yun Zihai asked him to keep watch and report anything he learned.
• Xu Bai perfected the Nameless Saber Scripture and fused its result with Severing and Rupturing Two Styles to obtain the Severing Break Three Styles.
• Chu Yu told Xu Bai that her cousin was trapped at a nearby lake, and Xu Bai agreed to accompany her while leaving Yun Zihai to oversee the prefecture.
• Xu Bai and Chu Yu reached the lake and found Chu Yu's cousin standing on a leaf in the water; Xu Bai recognized that the young man's hands explained why he was stuck.

Xu Bai rescued Chu Yu’s cousin Qin Feng, fought him after a misunderstanding, and learned that Qin Feng had brought Chu Yu a flying-sword manual and sword. Back in Yunlai Prefecture, Xu Bai planned to study the manual while teaching Chu Yu, as Qin Feng went fishing again and finally felt a tug on his line.

• Xu Bai found Qin Feng fishing by a lake and attacked his rod, but Qin Feng’s flying sword stopped the strike; Qin Feng then attacked Xu Bai after hearing Chu Yu call him “Young Master.”
• Xu Bai fought Qin Feng, wounded him with the Severing Break Three Styles, and broke his fishing rod before Chu Yu explained the misunderstanding; Qin Feng admitted his mistake.
• Qin Feng gave Chu Yu an iron pellet that became a flying sword and the Ancient Moon Flying Sword Art manual, which Xu Bai noticed had a progress bar.
• Xu Bai returned to Yunlai Prefecture with Chu Yu and persuaded her to carry the manual so he could study its progress during their lessons.
• Qin Feng bought a new fishing rod and went to a remote lake, where his line finally moved as night fell.

Qin Feng discovered that a lake held a hidden anomaly and reported it to Xu Bai, who brought Yun Zihai and Chu Yu to investigate. After they emptied the lake, they found a passage at its bottom, while Red Dust received orders to stop them and sent the Chen Family Head through a hidden route.

• Qin Feng reeled in a skeleton at the lake, destroyed it when it attacked with a palm of mist, then watched more skeletons rise across the water.
• Qin Feng told Xu Bai what he had seen, and Xu Bai persuaded him to join the investigation before bringing the news to Yun Zihai.
• Xu Bai, Yun Zihai, Qin Feng, and Chu Yu decided to act quickly and set out for the lake rather than wait for their enemy to make a move.
• Red Dust read a letter ordering her to stop the group from entering the lake and sent the Chen Family Head through a hidden passage toward its bottom.
• Xu Bai and the others used their abilities to empty the lake, exposing a dark passage wide enough for one person to enter.

Xu Bai and his companions followed the tunnels beneath the drained lake, finding fresh relief maps and evidence that the Chen Family had tried to obstruct them. They emerged into a cavern filled with coffins, where Yun Zihai’s aura sharpened and Chu Yu’s disgust intensified, and Xu Bai prepared to open one.

• Chu Yu warned Xu Bai that the black hole repulsed her, but the group entered the underground passage anyway.
• Xu Bai and the others found detailed reliefs of Yunlai Prefecture’s streets and realized the newest carvings had been made recently.
• At a four-way junction, Xu Bai kept the group together and sent Chu Yu and Qin Feng’s flying swords to scout while they took one passage.
• The group found the passage blocked by fresh earth and dug through it, discovering a paper effigy linked to the Chen Family.
• Xu Bai concluded that the reliefs mapped a network of tunnels, then led the group onward to pursue the Chen Family and Red Dust.
• The group reached a cavern packed with coffins, where Yun Zihai’s aura turned sharply swordlike and Chu Yu’s disgust grew; Xu Bai drew his saber to open a coffin.

Xu Bai and his companions uncovered corpses linked to Great Feng Kingdom, but Red Dust killed the Chen Family before they could reach it. Xu Bai took a Chen Family manual to learn Seeking Traces, while Red Dust hid the jade and confronted a masked Manager, demanding terms.

• Xu Bai opened the coffins and found boneless corpses in Great Feng Kingdom clothing; Qin Feng explained the kingdom’s history and its enmity with Great Chu and Azure Cloud Academy.
• A giant paper figure attacked the group at the exit, but Xu Bai, Chu Yu, Qin Feng, and Yun Zihai quickly destroyed it and hurried toward the Chen Family.
• Red Dust used a jade stone to negotiate for leverage, then killed the Chen Family head and covered the estate in red mist that killed the rest of the family.
• Xu Bai and the others arrived to find Chen Yan alive beside the family head’s corpse; Chu Yu suggested using Seeking Traces, and Xu Bai took the Paper Art Essence manual to learn it.
• Xu Bai began studying Paper Art Essence while Yun Zihai investigated Chen Yan, and Red Dust buried the jade before meeting a masked Manager by a river.
• The Masked Man confronted Red Dust over the jade, but she challenged him to kill her, and he asked what conditions she wanted.

Red Dust tried to recruit the Masked Man into escaping the Dark Building, but he revealed himself as the Manager and killed her while seeking the rest of the antidote. After mastering Paper Art Essence, Xu Bai used Seeking Traces to find a jade hidden in the forest, where masked fifth-rank fighters ambushed his group; his new paper figure broke their formation, and Xu Bai began turning the fight around.

• Red Dust offered the Masked Man an alliance and part of her antidote, but he disclosed that Xu Bai was preparing Seeking Traces and crushed her heart before she could reveal the rest.
• Xu Bai completed Paper Art Essence, crafted a genuine fifth-rank paper figure, and demonstrated a paper crane's Seeking Traces ability to Yun Zihai, Chu Yu, Qin Feng, and Chen Yan.
• The paper crane led Xu Bai and the others to a forest, where they dug up a jade from a wooden box and were ambushed by more than twenty masked fifth-rank fighters.
• The masked attackers used tactics tailored to restrain Xu Bai, Yun Zihai, Chu Yu, and Qin Feng, while Xu Bai called on Yun Zihai to promise him a fifth-rank book if he broke the deadlock.
• Xu Bai released his paper figure, disrupting the attackers' formation, then used Cosmic Shift to overcome the lead Masked Man's force-redirection technique and killed him.

Xu Bai and his allies defeated the Masked Men, learned that Yun Zihai was central to Dark Building’s feng shui plot, and set a trap while guarding him. As the enemy prepared to test whether they had uncovered the plan, Xu Bai completed the Ancient Moon Flying Sword Art and saw that it could fuse with another ability.

• Xu Bai and the fifth-rank paper effigy killed the Masked Men, while Yun Zihai and the others finished off the remaining attackers.
• Xu Bai forced the surviving leader to reveal that Dark Building’s tunnels extended across Great Chu and that Yun Zihai’s position was crucial to their feng shui plan, then killed him.
• Xu Bai and his allies returned to the Prefectural Office, decided to use Yun Zihai as bait, and stationed twenty ninth-grade paper effigies around the courtyard.
• The Masked Man ordered the Black Robed Man to spread a false warning at the Shadow Courier Station to test whether Xu Bai would leave Yun Zihai, then examined the jade stones he had collected.
• Xu Bai completed the Ancient Moon Flying Sword Art after a lesson with Chu Yu and discovered that it could fuse with an existing ability.

Xu Bai fused Ancient Moon Flying Sword Art and Maple Leaves Like Rain into the Rank Five Returning Wind Flowing Snow, then learned that the Dark Building planned to threaten Yun Zihai with captured civilians. After a Great Chu spy warned him, Xu Bai proposed a banquet at the Ye Family to identify the infiltrators, and he and Yun Zihai prepared to refine the plan together.

• Xu Bai fused Ancient Moon Flying Sword Art and Maple Leaves Like Rain into Returning Wind Flowing Snow and tested its ability to control copper coins that unleashed gale winds.
• After receiving Liu Er's warning that the Shadow Courier Station was targeted, Xu Bai ordered it closed and called Liu Er back, signaling that he knew the enemy's movements.
• The Masked Man ordered the Black Robed Man to help capture civilians and threaten Yun Zihai, while the Black Robed Man secretly decided to warn Xu Bai's side.
• The Black Robed Man entered the Prefectural Office grounds but was discovered by Xu Bai and his companions, then proved his identity as a Great Chu spy and handed over intelligence about the hostage plan.
• Xu Bai proposed that the Ye Family host a banquet for Yunlai Prefecture's families, using paper effigies to monitor those who stayed home and narrowing the search if any refused to attend.
• Yun Zihai agreed with Xu Bai's plan and suggested refining it further, and the two prepared to state their ideas together.

Xu Bai and Yun Zihai used the Ye Family Banquet to lure the Masked Man’s forces into an ambush, where Xu Bai revealed he had never left and wiped them out. The Masked Man retreated with only one final method remaining, while the Black Robed Man stayed undercover.

• Xu Bai and Yun Zihai planned to use the banquet to draw out their enemies, with Xu Bai secretly remaining at the Prefectural Office behind a paper effigy.
• Xu Bai comprehended the incomplete Undying Body, gaining rapid recovery and poison resistance, then prepared the black-clothed paper effigy as bait.
• The Masked Man suspected the banquet was a trap but sent his followers to watch the Prefectural Office; the Black Robed Man withheld intelligence that might expose him.
• More than thirty infiltrators left the Ye Family Banquet and attacked Yun Zihai at the Prefectural Office, where Yun Zihai trapped them with Talent Qi Transformation Curtain and Chu Yu and Qin Feng fought them.
• Xu Bai emerged from the Prefectural Office and killed the attackers with copper coins and Returning Wind Flowing Snow; he then searched their corpses while Yun Zihai handled the aftermath.
• The Masked Man learned that his followers had been wiped out and retreated with the Black Robed Man, deciding to use his final method.

After the Black Robed Man stole the tunnel map and jade stones from the Masked Man, Xu Bai and his allies split up to stop the Feng Shui Master’s plan to destroy half of Yunlai Prefecture. The Masked Man began a ritual in an underground chamber and, sensing Xu Bai nearby, decided to borrow his fate as Xu Bai entered a dark passage without a torch.

• Yun Zihai used the failed attack on him to bring Yunlai Prefecture’s great families under his control and gave Xu Bai an explicit Confucian book as promised.
• Chu Yu told Xu Bai that the Undying Body came from a long-dead Daoist genius whose attempt to perfect it had ended with his divine soul extinguished.
• The Black Robed Man struck the Masked Man, stole the maps and jade stones, and escaped to the Prefectural Office, where he revealed the plan to ruin half of Yunlai Prefecture’s Feng Shui.
• Chu Yu recognized the second marked location from a map she had seen in her uncle’s study, and Xu Bai’s group split from Yun Zihai’s to search both sites.
• The Masked Man reached a chamber full of coffins, began the Hundred Corpses Rise formation, and vanished after sensing Xu Bai and deciding to borrow his fate.
• Xu Bai arrived at a passageway and realized he had forgotten to bring a torch.

Xu Bai defeated You Mu, a Great Feng Kingdom criminal minister who had merged with a Feng Shui formation to steal Xu Bai’s fate, and learned that his fate was the legendary Fate Without Fate. After reuniting with Chu Yu and the others, Xu Bai discovered that the unsettling aura remained, and footsteps sounded from deeper in the passage.

• Chu Yu was repeatedly expelled from the cave by You Mu’s Feng Shui formation while Xu Bai confronted him alone.
• You Mu attacked Xu Bai through the formation, but Xu Bai feigned defeat, recovered with his Undying Body, and struck back.
• You Mu tried to steal Xu Bai’s fate and glimpsed the legendary Fate Without Fate before Xu Bai killed him.
• Chu Yu, Yun Zihai, Qin Feng, and the Black Robed Man arrived, and Xu Bai told them You Mu was dead.
• Chu Yu and Yun Zihai still sensed the unsettling aura, and footsteps began echoing from deeper in the passage.

Xu Bai and his companions discovered that Great Chu's providence had appeared and bowed to him, while the Chu Emperor arranged rewards and prepared to draw Xu Bai to the capital. Days later, Eunuch Wei arrived in Yunlai Prefecture with an imperial decree, and he immediately judged Xu Bai to be no ordinary man.

• A golden figure identified as Great Chu's providence appeared, bowed to Xu Bai, and vanished as the darkness receded.
• Xu Bai and the others found no remaining evidence in the underground passages and returned to the Prefectural Office.
• The Chu Emperor learned that the plan had succeeded, ordered Director Zhang to act, and awarded Yun Zihai and Xu Bai for their service.
• Chu Yu told Xu Bai she would soon return to the army with Eunuch Wei, while Xu Bai gained the Strengthening Kidney Gathering Art by merging two skills.
• Yun Zihai summoned Xu Bai to the Prefectural Office after Eunuch Wei arrived with an imperial decree, and Eunuch Wei judged Xu Bai to be no ordinary person.