Chapter Summaries

Wang Xian cooked and drank in a tavern while the blind man offered him a dangerous story, and a wounded man arrived to deliver a message to Miss Feng. After the man died, Wang Xian shot down the carriage driver fleeing town, and the chapter ended with the driver brought back to face Miss Feng.

• Wang Xian cooked meat and served blood-red wine to Hu Keke and the crow, drawing the tavern's attention and angering the proprietress.
• The woman in red arrived, and the blind man identified her as Miss Feng from Moon City.
• A badly wounded, tongueless man rushed to Miss Feng, wrote her a message, and died after she promised to avenge him.
• Miss Feng sent Xiao Qing after the carriage that had apparently thrown the man from it, while Wang Xian shot the driver and horse from the tavern.
• Xiao Qing dragged the injured driver back, and Wang Xian asked Miss Feng her surname and suggested the dead man might have been delivering a warning.

Wang Xian and Hu Keke listened to a blind man tell the legend of Moon City’s lotus and a woman who ascended after surviving tribulation. After hearing that the lotus might reappear this summer, Wang Xian decided to open a bun shop in Moon City.

• Feng Yanran introduced herself and warned Wang Xian not to meddle in her affairs, while he ignored her and shared bear paws with Hu Keke and the blind man.
• The blind man told how a lotus seed once protected Moon City from wasteland miasma and helped a woman recover from failed tribulation before she ascended.
• Wang Xian, Hu Keke, and the crow wondered whether the legendary lotus could help them escape pursuit or advance their cultivation.
• Feng Yanran and the tavern patrons discussed rumors that the lotus might appear again during the coming century’s end.
• When the tavern’s proprietress and others asked how he planned to make a living, Wang Xian said he would open a bun shop.

After a man was killed in the tavern, Wang Xian shared spirit tea with Feng Yanran while several dangerous men gathered around her. A black-clad man demanded his brother’s life, and Feng Yanran accused the middle-aged man, Little Mo, of betraying her just before the newcomer threatened her.

• Wang Xian considered his need to reach the imperial capital, then offered Feng Yanran spirit tea as Hu Keke warned her that Wang Xian was trying to woo her.
• Little Mo confronted Feng Yanran, claimed he had not killed the dead man, and accused her of using another man to risk his life.
• Old Chen arrived with companions, and Little Mo stood to explain that he only wanted to watch what happened.
• Wang Xian ordered peanuts for himself, the blind man, and the crow, which ate while the tension in the tavern grew.
• A black-clad man entered with a curved saber and demanded that Feng Yanran repay his brother’s life, while Old Chen told him not to frighten her.
• Feng Yanran asked Little Mo whether he had betrayed her, and the black-clad man shouted at her to shut up.

A poisoned tavern erupted into violence as Feng Yanran and the travelers faced killers disguised as merchants, servants, and an innkeeper. Wang Xian remained calm amid the deaths, and the chapter ended with the hawk-eyed old man suddenly spitting blood.

• A black blade killed one of the hawk-eyed old man's men, and the old man accused the middle-aged man near Feng Yanran of killing him before that man also collapsed.
• Wang Xian, the crow, and Hu Keke drank their own wine while the blind man discovered that the tavern's wine was poisoned.
• The hawk-eyed old man threatened Feng Yanran, but a fat merchant who took her hostage collapsed before he could finish his demand.
• The proprietress revealed her plan to kill Feng Yanran, and the tavern's cooks, waiters, and armed guests attacked as Wang Xian and Hu Keke defended themselves.
• Nearly everyone in the tavern collapsed from poison, and the hawk-eyed old man killed the dying proprietress with his sword.
• As the hawk-eyed old man declared that the snowstorm would trap them, he suddenly spat blood.

Feng Yanran killed the hawk-eyed old man and had his men’s bodies burned, while Wang Xian and his companions drank together in the tavern. Just as Wang Xian toasted to drinking themselves to death, a deep roar sounded outside.

• The hawk-eyed old man’s men collapsed from poison, and Feng Yanran killed the old man with a strike to the throat.
• Feng Yanran ordered the maids to remove and burn the bodies, and they cleaned the tavern.
• The blind man joined Wang Xian’s table, and Feng Yanran questioned him about why he had saved her.
• Wang Xian poured wine for himself, Hu Keke, the Crow, and the blind man, then drank despite warnings that it was poisoned.
• Wang Xian and the Crow toasted to drinking themselves to death, but a deep roar sounded outside the tavern.

A giant black serpent attacked the tavern, and the blind man, Feng Yanran, Hu Keke, the maids, and the crow fought to survive while Wang Xian stayed inside. The serpent froze briefly, then lunged at one of the maids.

• Wang Xian spotted a huge black serpent coiled in a tree across the street and watched as the blind man went out to confront it.
• The crow flew onto the blind man's shoulder, and Feng Yanran, Hu Keke, and the maids joined them outside the tavern.
• The blind man's sword wounded the serpent only slightly, and the serpent swept down in black mist and attacked with its body and shattered tree branches.
• Hu Keke pulled the blind man away from the serpent's snapping jaws, and the group retreated toward the tavern while Wang Xian remained inside.
• The serpent suddenly went still a short distance from Hu Keke and Feng Yanran, then lunged at a frightened maid.

Wang Xian used restraining arrays and a mysterious yellow paper to help the blind man kill a black snake demon, whose meat and core became their spoils. As the group prepared to travel to Moonlight City, Hu Keke began showing signs of a breakthrough, while the blind man agreed to seek an opportunity with Feng Yanran.

• Wang Xian trapped the black snake in restraining arrays, allowing the blind man and Feng Yanran’s party to attack it.
• When the snake nearly swallowed the blind man, a yellow paper exploded its head, and Wang Xian dismissed the remaining arrays.
• The blind man claimed the demon core and snake meat, while Wang Xian warned Hu Keke not to act like a hero while they were being hunted.
• Wang Xian suspected someone had deliberately brought the snake to Phoenix Town, and the group discussed traveling to Moonlight City as Feng Yanran invited the blind man to pursue an opportunity.
• After eating snake meat, Hu Keke showed signs of a breakthrough, and Wang Xian asked the blind man to help him while insisting he was an ordinary nobody.

Wang Xian repelled a supernatural attacker at the tavern and survived the night while the others slept. After Feng Yanran and the others awoke, he left for Brightmoon City with Hu Keke, the Blind Man, and the crow.

• Wang Xian woke while black mist and a shadow carrying a white spirit banner entered the tavern, then drove the attacker away with an embroidery needle and a paper sword.
• Outside, the trapped attacker encountered the watchman, who was killed by a talisman formation and engulfed in golden flames.
• Feng Yanran awoke and asked Wang Xian how he had killed the coachman, but he said he did not know and she remembered her dead companion.
• Hu Keke learned that he had reached the second layer of the Golden Core realm, and Wang Xian announced that he was leaving for Brightmoon City to eat noodles.
• Wang Xian departed in the assassins' carriage with Hu Keke, the Blind Man, and the crow, telling Feng Yanran that it was best if they did not meet again.

Wang Xian explained how his poisoned food, tea, and candle had killed the attackers in Phoenix Town, then settled with Hu Keke and the crow in Brightmoon City. In the Imperial City, a mysterious old man confronted Yu Henshui at the Gold Hook Gambling House and offered to stake a hundred thousand gold notes, leaving Yu to accept the bet.

• Wang Xian told Hu Keke and the crow that his food, spirit tea, and candle had poisoned the people at the tavern in Phoenix Town, and warned them not to cause trouble.
• Hu Keke planned to buy new clothes for the Winter Solstice, while the crow planned to buy something tasty.
• The Imperial City celebrated the marriages of the First Prince and the eldest son of the Prince of the West, while the nobles wondered where Wang Xian had gone.
• Yu Henshui gambled at the Gold Hook Gambling House with court officials and Imperial Guard commanders, losing repeatedly to the female dealer.
• A towering old man appeared beside Yu Henshui, unnerved him, and offered a hundred thousand gold notes for a single bet.
• Yu Henshui asked how the old man wanted to bet after the female dealer confirmed the gold note was genuine.

An old man used a five-hundred-thousand-gold wager and Wang Xian’s debt IOU to force Yu Henshui into a life-or-death dice game at the Golden Hook Gambling House. After triples made the old man win, he immobilized Yu and revealed that his master had ordered Yu’s death for colluding with barbarian demons.

• The old man bet five hundred thousand gold notes on triples and challenged Yu Henshui to stake his life, while the gambling house sat out the wager.
• The old man presented Meng Wuchang with the IOU for three million gold coins owed to Wang Xian, and Meng agreed to referee the game.
• The old man invoked Wang Xian’s connection to Wu Xin, and Yu Henshui accepted the wager as the gamblers urged Meng to open the dice cup.
• Meng opened the cup and found triple sixes, giving the old man the win; he paid the female dealer three hundred thousand gold coins and offered the old man another hundred thousand.
• The old man stopped Yu Henshui from leaving and said his master wanted him dead, then accused him of colluding with barbarian demons and harming countless people.

An old man revealed that Yu Henshui had colluded with the barbarians and killed him at Golden Hook Gambling House after winning a wager on his life. He said Wang Jinming would also die before midnight, while Wang Xian's whereabouts remained unknown.

• The old man told Meng Wuchang that his young master had nearly died fighting the barbarians and that evidence against Yu Henshui and Wang Jinming would arrive with the Great General.
• The old man explained that Yu Henshui had lost a wager staking his life, then declared that Yu and Wang Jinming would die that night.
• The old man drained Yu Henshui's life essence, turning him into a dried corpse that crumbled to dust.
• The old man gave Yu Henshui's gold notes to Meng Wuchang as compensation and said he did not know whether Wang Xian would return with the general.
• The old man declared that no one could keep Wang Jinming alive past midnight.

Bai Youyue met Hua Mantian in the snow and persuaded her to help confront the guests at Hundred Flowers Tower. Bai Youyue revealed she had come to settle the score with Wang Jinming, and her cold voice interrupted his gathering.

• Hua Mantian wandered through the snowy alley, lamenting her loneliness and wondering whether the fat monk and the mustached man were still alive.
• Bai Youyue met Hua Mantian, identified her past and urged her to become stronger so she could overcome her tribulation.
• Hua Mantian agreed to take Bai Youyue inside Hundred Flowers Tower and call her people out, asking for a drink once the affair was over.
• Bai Youyue revealed that Wang Xian was her disciple and that she had come to claim the head of Tiger Gate Pass's city lord, Wang Jinming.
• As Wang Jinming spoke with officials and military figures upstairs, Bai Youyue's voice cut into the gathering and warned that they would not get the chance to go to war.

Bai Youyue confronted Wang Jinming at the Hundred Blossoms Tower and accused him of conspiring with the southern barbarians and attacking Netherworld Valley. After Wang Jinming admitted he had ordered the attack and sent the guards, Bai Youyue declared that he would die, and he prepared to fight.

• Hua Mantian evacuated the guests and watched as Bai Youyue climbed upstairs, while Old Yuan guarded the street outside.
• Bai Youyue entered Wang Jinming’s private room and told him that his advisor Yu Henshui had died at the Golden Hook Gambling Den.
• Bai Youyue accused Wang Jinming of betraying the empire and warned that Great General Qin Wentian would soon return with the young prodigies of Netherworld Valley.
• Wang Jinming insisted Bai Youyue had come to the wrong place, but she blamed his collusion with barbarian cultivators for bringing her there.
• Bai Youyue questioned Wang Jinming about the attack on Netherworld Valley, and he admitted that he had ordered it and sent nearly five hundred guards.
• Bai Youyue told Wang Jinming to die as he silently gathered strength for a lethal attack.

Bai Youyue confronted Wang Jinming at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and killed him after he tried to ambush and attack her. The officials and nobles watched in shock as she revealed she knew about his backer and the beheadings at Tiger Gate Pass.

• Bai Youyue accused Wang Jinming of treason and declared she would kill him for targeting her disciple.
• Wang Jinming’s hidden guards were cut down by iron arrows as Bai Youyue calmly watched from upstairs.
• Bai Youyue told Wang Jinming she knew who backed him and warned she would confront that person after killing him.
• Wang Jinming attacked Bai Youyue, but she slapped aside his strike and wounded him before he charged again with a concealed dagger.
• Bai Youyue ran her spirit sword through Wang Jinming, and it drained his spiritual energy and life force as she revealed his trusted men at Tiger Gate Pass had already been beheaded.

Bai Youyue killed Wang Jinming after draining his cultivation, then announced that she would go to the palace the next morning. Her killing threw the imperial city into turmoil, leaving court factions to decide how to respond as the chapter ended with Wang Donglai reassuring Martai Xilan that the upheaval would not involve him.

• Bai Youyue drained Wang Jinming's cultivation and killed him before he could self-destruct, then warned the assembled officials and generals that she would go to the palace the next day.
• Bai Youyue left Hundred Flowers Tower with an old man, while Hua Mantian ordered the bodies taken outside the city yamen and the nobles fled without paying their bill.
• Meng Wuchang and officials across the imperial city learned of Wang Jinming's death, and the Prince of the West decided to avoid court while sending Donglai in his place.
• Wu Xin ordered his subordinates to follow procedure at the palace and let Bai Youyue make trouble unless someone died.
• Martai Xilan warned Wang Donglai to stay calm, and he assured her that the turmoil was someone else's problem.

Bai Youyue told the teacher that she would soon leave the world and planned to protect Wang Xian from trouble before she went. The next morning, she left Uncle Fu behind and entered the imperial palace to meet with the officials, where the Right Chancellor recognized that her arrival could cause trouble.

• Bai Youyue learned from the teacher that Wang Xian had gone to Brightmoon City after breaking both legs in the wasteland, and she explained that she could now see the Longevity Scripture.
• Bai Youyue told the teacher she intended to go to Broken Dragon Mountain if she could no longer stay at the Academy, and asked him to tell Wang Xian that she would wait for him in another world.
• Bai Youyue told Uncle Fu that he would remain at the residence and that Wang Xian could find the teacher at the Academy if he needed answers.
• Old Yuan drove Bai Youyue to the imperial palace, where she showed Wu Xin her jade pendant and asked for half an hour to speak with the emperor.
• Bai Youyue entered the hall of officials, and the Right Chancellor recognized that she had come to the palace uninvited.

Bai Youyue waited in the ministers’ hall to confront the First Prince, Yuwen, about the deaths of Wang Jinming and Yu Henshui. After the generals identified her as Wang Jinming’s killer, she revealed that Yu Henshui had also died, leaving the court in uproar.

• Bai Youyue entered the ministers’ hall with Wu Xin’s escort and said she was waiting for someone.
• The chancellors questioned Bai Youyue about her presence and her connection to Wang Jinming’s death, while she hinted that the Great General’s return would not be needed to resolve the matter.
• The First Prince arrived, and Bai Youyue addressed him as Yuwen and said she had come to ask him several things.
• Wang Donglai challenged Bai Youyue, but the First Prince stopped him and asked Bai Youyue which Household she belonged to.
• Two generals revealed that Bai Youyue had killed Wang Jinming at the Hundred Flowers Tower, and the First Prince asked whether she had an imperial decree.
• Bai Youyue denied having a decree and said Yu Henshui had died at the Golden Hook Gambling House before Wang Jinming’s death.

Bai Youyue confronted the First Prince over his alleged collusion with the barbarians and the deaths at Tiger Gate Pass, then crippled him when he attacked her. After the emperor canceled court until the Great General returned, Bai Youyue accepted an invitation to the imperial study.

• Bai Youyue told the First Prince that Wang Jinming and the others involved in the Tiger Gate Pass crimes had died, while an unseen archer wounded the prince’s guards outside the hall.
• The First Prince attacked Bai Youyue, but she sent him flying and caused him to lose his Nascent Soul.
• Bai Youyue accused the First Prince of colluding with the barbarians and said she had spared his life only because she had promised someone to do so.
• Wu Xin arrived with the emperor’s decree canceling court until the Great General returned, and the old eunuch carried the First Prince away alive.
• Bai Youyue sent Old Yuan to wait at a teahouse, then left the hall to meet the emperor in the imperial study.

After the First Prince was wounded, Bai Youyue met the emperor and warned him that the First Prince’s crimes at Tiger Gate Pass could implicate the imperial family. She left the emperor facing the possibility that the returning Great General would expose his son and force him to choose between justice and family.

• The Left and Right Chancellors discussed the First Prince’s injury and feared the Great General’s return, while Wang Donglai rushed to enlist his father’s help.
• Bai Youyue told the emperor that Wang Xian had passed Ghosts' Bane and entered the Southern Frontier, and that his legs had been shattered.
• Bai Youyue explained that Wang Xian was her sole disciple and that he would be among the barbarians for at least two years.
• Bai Youyue condemned the First Prince for his role in the deaths and abuse of young talents at Tiger Gate Pass, while the emperor confirmed Wang Jinming was dead.
• Bai Youyue warned that the returning Great General could expose Wang Yuwen as the First Prince’s master and asked whether the emperor would execute his own son.

Bai Youyue confronted the emperor over the crimes at Humen Pass and warned that the returning sect prodigies would bring undeniable testimony against the court. Meanwhile, Wang Xian’s companions reached the capital and learned of his identity and his master’s actions, while the emperor was left reeling from the implications.

• Bai Youyue rejected the emperor’s accusations, defended her actions against the Humen Pass traitors, and warned that the Four Great Sects could turn against the dynasty.
• Qin Wentian and the returning prodigies reached the imperial capital, and the great general hurried to the palace while the others went to the Hundred Blossoms Tower.
• Hua Mantian recognized that the newcomers had returned from the Heavenly Road and learned that Wang Xian had rescued them and was the second young master of the Zhenxi Prince’s Household.
• Hua Mantian told the group that Bai Youyue had beheaded the lord of Humen Pass and planned to demand an explanation from the emperor.
• Bai Youyue warned the emperor that the prodigies’ experiences and the deaths at Humen Pass were proof enough for the Four Great Sects to seek justice.
• The emperor recalled Wang Xian’s deeds and the court’s failures, then spat out blood as his anger surged.