Recaps

Ning Chen, a poor young man facing castration in the Great Xia palace, seized a chance to help a wounded assassin escape after a failed attempt on the Emperor’s life. The chapter ended with him disguising the assassin as a eunuch and smearing blood and dirt over her face.

• An assassin shot at the Great Xia Emperor during a court debate, but an old eunuch blocked the arrow, and the Emperor ordered a thorough investigation.
• The palace was sealed and surrounded by Imperial Guards while Ning Chen waited in the Eunuch’s Quarters to be castrated.
• A thunderstorm darkened the palace, allowing the wounded assassin to slip into the quarters and kill the old eunuch.
• Ning Chen offered to help the assassin escape, then told her to change into the dead eunuch’s clothes.
• Ning Chen darkened the room and smeared blood and dirt across the assassin’s face to conceal her identity.

Ning Chen survived the Imperial Guards’ search by disguising an assassination suspect as a eunuch, though the woman’s blade nearly castrated him. After being taken to the palace’s eunuch quarters, he was assigned to Eunuch Zhao and then caught the attention of Consort Wan Yunshang, leaving his future in the palace uncertain.

• Ning Chen hid the assassin beneath the bed, and she used a bloody knife stroke to convince the Imperial Guards that he had been castrated.
• After the guards left, Ning Chen learned that the woman had tried and failed to assassinate the Xia Emperor, then told her to stay hidden while the palace remained under lockdown.
• Two little eunuchs carried Ning Chen to the temporary quarters for newly castrated men, where he worried that his secret as a Fake Eunuch would be discovered.
• The next morning, Ning Chen impressed Zhao Jin with an unusual greeting and was taken on as his attendant, though Zhao Jin named him Little Ning.
• Consort Wan Yunshang stopped Ning Chen for failing to kneel, and he claimed his recent castration left him unable to kneel; she let him go.

Ning Chen worried about the injured woman and flipped a copper coin to decide whether to visit her, but chasing it led him to collide with Empress Dowager Zhangsun Wuyou. After taking his coin, Zhangsun assigned him to Weiyang Palace, where he arrived the next day and faced an angry Qing Ling.

• Ning Chen debated visiting the Eunuch's Quarters, flipped his only copper coin, and chased it into Zhangsun Wuyou's embrace.
• Zhangsun picked up Ning Chen's coin, then ordered that he be transferred to duty at Weiyang Palace.
• Ning Chen spent the night sleeping and was led to Weiyang Palace the next morning by Qing Ling, whom he repeatedly called “Big sister.”
• Zhangsun welcomed Ning Chen to Weiyang Palace and told him to ask Qing Ling for help with anything he did not understand.
• After Zhangsun left, Qing Ling grabbed at Ning Chen, who tried to surrender before she could catch him.

Ning Chen settled into Weiyang Palace and learned Mu Chengxue’s name and reason for assassinating the Xia Emperor. After spotting Yinghuo and Xingxiu Er nearing an alignment, he warned Qing Ling, who rushed to Changsun’s residence.

• Qing Ling dragged Ning Chen to the rear garden, then told him to recover for two days and avoid wandering because the palace was unsettled.
• Ning Chen spoke with Mu Chengxue, who said she had assassinated the Xia Emperor to repay love, and offered to help her leave the palace.
• Ning Chen climbed onto a roof to count stars, disturbing Qing Ling, whose room was beneath him.
• Ning Chen identified the approaching meeting of Yinghuo and Xingxiu Er and predicted it would happen within two days, possibly the next day.
• Qing Ling realized the stars’ meeting was bad news and hurried to Changsun’s residence.

Changsun summoned Ning Chen after Qing Ling reported his prediction that Mars and the Heart Constellation Emperor Star would meet, a sign of disaster. Changsun accepted his certainty and left for Heavenly Edict Hall, while Ning Chen returned to his room and argued with Mu Chengxue about his weakness and desire to learn martial arts.

• Qing Ling woke Changsun and showed her the two stars, then explained that Ning Chen had predicted they would meet the next day.
• Changsun ordered Qing Ling to bring Ning Chen to her and questioned him about his prediction.
• Ning Chen claimed he had learned about Yinghuo Shouxin from an expert and insisted the meeting would happen with complete certainty.
• Changsun set out with Qing Ling for Heavenly Edict Hall, leaving Ning Chen to find his way back through Weiyang Palace.
• Ning Chen found Mu Chengxue asleep in his bed, made a makeshift bed from stools, and asked whether she or Qing Ling was stronger.
• After Mu Chengxue told him he was not suited to martial arts, Ning Chen insisted he was a genius before eventually falling asleep.

The Xia Emperor learned that the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had concealed the omen of Yinghuo Shouxin and abandoned his plan to dispatch troops, though the decision left him physically and emotionally broken. Meanwhile, Ning Chen brought food back to Mu Chengxue, who asked if he truly wanted to learn martial arts.

• Changsun confirmed the celestial omen, and the Xia Emperor summoned Shangguan Yuanming to answer for concealing it.
• The Xia Emperor had Shangguan Yuanming imprisoned and his residence surrounded, then vomited blood as he lamented that he could not become Great Xia's sinner.
• At morning court, the Xia Emperor issued no order to dispatch troops, and Grand Tutor promised to intervene if the emperor took the wrong path.
• Ning Chen rigged the doorway at Weiyang Palace, then gathered food from the dining hall by carrying plates in his hands and mouth and stuffing buns into his clothes.
• Ning Chen returned to Mu Chengxue with the food, and she asked whether he truly wanted to learn martial arts.

Ning Chen accompanied Changsun and Qing Ling out of the palace, where assassins attacked their party. Qing Ling was gravely wounded protecting Changsun and held off the attackers while Ning Chen fled with Changsun, leaving Qing Ling alone.

• Mu Chengxue offered to teach Ning Chen a rare cultivation technique, but he learned it was in the Xia Emperor's Imperial Study and refused to pursue it.
• Qing Ling ordered Ning Chen to accompany Changsun out of the palace, and Ning Chen reluctantly followed them.
• Three arrows attacked Changsun's sedan chair, and Qing Ling took one through her body while shielding Changsun.
• Twelve black-clad men and four green-clad swordsmen attacked the party, and Qing Ling fought them with a Silver Spear despite her wound.
• Qing Ling drove the four swordsmen back as Ning Chen led Changsun away, and Changsun pleaded with him to save Qing Ling.

Qing Ling held off four assassins to protect Changsun, and Ning Chen rescued her after she was mortally wounded. At Du'an Pharmacy, Ning Chen attempted to save her with a precious pill and a blood transfusion, while Changsun suspected Consort Wan and considered the secret mission that had brought her out of the palace.

• Qing Ling used her final attack to wound the four blue-clad assassins, then collapsed as Ning Chen arrived and caught her.
• Ning Chen detonated a bronze furnace to drive off the wounded assassins and carried Qing Ling to Du'an Pharmacy, where Changsun and the shopkeeper treated her.
• After the shopkeeper said Qing Ling could not be saved, Ning Chen gave her Mu Chengxue's pill and attempted a blood transfusion using a gold thread between their wrists.
• Ning Chen fainted from the blood loss, and Changsun ordered another bed and medicine for both him and Qing Ling.
• Changsun suspected Consort Wan of arranging the attack and recalled that she had left the palace to deliver the Xia Emperor's secret decree to Marquis Qinghe, asking him to reinforce the north discreetly.

After the assassination attempt, Changsun hid with the unconscious Ning Chen and Qing Ling while Yinghuo brightened beside the Heart Constellation, signaling Great Xia’s weakening fortune. Ning Chen woke and asked to leave the palace, but Changsun refused, leaving him sulking under his blanket.

• Changsun decided not to reveal Ning Chen’s role in saving her and Qing Ling, and waited at Du'an Pharmacy as night fell.
• The Xia Emperor watched Yinghuo draw closer to the Heart Constellation, while the Eternal Night Divine Son emerged from the cult’s hidden First Hall and its prophecy spread across the continent.
• Yinghuo suddenly blazed red beside the Heart, and the Imperial Tutor and Duke Xiyu discussed the threat as Great Xia’s True Dragon fortune weakened.
• Ning Chen woke, drank water from Changsun’s hand, and later watched the scarlet stars from the pharmacy window.
• Changsun questioned Ning Chen about his age, home, and supposed expert, then offered him requests in gratitude for saving her and Qing Ling.
• Ning Chen asked to leave the palace and avoid becoming a eunuch, but Changsun refused, so he returned to bed in a sulk.

Fan Lingyue predicted that Great Xia would send reinforcements toward the northwest, while Changsun sent Ning Chen to find her brother, Marquis Taiping. Ning Chen found Changsun Yunxuan at Lingyan Pavilion and beat him for disgracing the Changsun name.

• Fan Lingyue told a young general to ask the king to intercept Marquis Qinghe’s northwestern reinforcements.
• Ning Chen woke at Du'an Pharmacy, learned Changsun had not yet awoken, and later received her order to deliver a message to Marquis Taiping.
• Changsun gave Ning Chen her jade pendant and told him to find Marquis Taiping; Ning Chen promised to deliver the message and left.
• Ning Chen wandered through the imperial city without money, then entered Lingyan Pavilion to ask for directions and drink tea.
• Ning Chen recognized Changsun Yunxuan as Marquis Taiping’s son and kicked him repeatedly for being heartless and disgracing the Changsun name.
• Ning Chen borrowed brush and ink from the frightened women at Lingyan Pavilion after beating Changsun Yunxuan.

Ning Chen was imprisoned after beating Changsun Yunxuan, and he deduced that a hidden plot tied to Yinghuo Shouxin was meant to obstruct the Xia Emperor’s deployment of Changsun troops. Marquis Taiping met Ning Chen at the prison and asked him to lead the way to the Empress Dowager, while Changsun Yunxuan displayed a mysterious crescent-shaped mark.

• Ning Chen stamped Changsun Yunxuan’s face with ink and Changsun’s jade pendant, then waited for the authorities to arrive.
• The constables arrested Ning Chen, and Changsun Manor took the unconscious Changsun Yunxuan away.
• In his cell, Ning Chen reasoned that Changsun’s assassination attempt was intended to drive a wedge between the Changsun Lineage and the Xia Emperor and delay a troop deployment.
• Marquis Taiping punished Changsun Yunxuan for knowing his aunt was missing, then ordered him confined to the study.
• Marquis Taiping met Ning Chen in prison, praised him, and asked him to take him to the safe Empress Dowager.
• Changsun Yunxuan coughed violently in the study as a crescent-shaped black mark appeared and vanished on his body.

Changsun reunited with Marquis Taiping and explained the northern crisis facing Great Xia, while Ning Chen discovered the wounded Mu Chengxue and decided to smuggle her out of the palace. Qing Ling confronted him but let herself be caught in his trap, and Ning Chen left with Mu Chengxue as Qing Ling silently accepted his choice.

• Changsun reunited with Marquis Taiping, who praised Ning Chen and heard her explain that the Northern Mongol Royal Court threatened the northern border while the Eternal Night Divine Cult constrained Great Xia.
• Changsun returned to the palace with Ning Chen and Qing Ling, where they learned that an intruder had entered the Imperial Study and the palace was being searched.
• Ning Chen found Mu Chengxue unconscious and bleeding in his room, then decided to take her out of the palace for help.
• Qing Ling confronted Ning Chen after discovering Mu Chengxue, but Ning Chen caught and bound her with a rope net before explaining why he had to save Mu Chengxue.
• Ning Chen carried Mu Chengxue away, leaving Qing Ling behind; Qing Ling revealed through her thoughts that she had allowed herself to be caught and did not regret it.

Ning Chen used Changsun’s token and a staged accident to escape the Imperial Palace with the critically wounded Mu Chengxue hidden in his carriage. He brought her to Du'an Pharmacy, where the shopkeeper began treating her and ordered Ning Chen to bathe her.

• Ning Chen persuaded Ling Xiao to escort him out of Weiyang Palace with Changsun’s Moon-shaped Jade Pendant.
• Zhao Jin stopped them and prompted Ling Xiao to inspect the carriage, but Ning Chen concealed Mu Chengxue and faked a box breaking to end the search.
• Ling Xiao let Ning Chen leave the palace, and Ning Chen drove the carriage to Du'an Pharmacy.
• Ning Chen carried Mu Chengxue inside, fetched silver needles and hot water, and helped the shopkeeper treat her.
• After applying needles, the shopkeeper ordered Ning Chen to undress Mu Chengxue and bathe her in slightly warm water for no more than an hour.

Ning Chen cared for the badly injured Mu Chengxue at Du'an Pharmacy, where her recovery blast injured him as well. After she woke, she gave him a Golden Page cultivation technique and left, leaving Ning Chen heartbroken and still ignorant of her true identity.

• Ning Chen blindfolded himself to undress Mu Chengxue and lowered her into a hot bath, but her surging true qi blasted him into a wall when she groaned in pain.
• Ning Chen found that Mu Chengxue had improved, then had the shopkeeper check his injuries and learned he could stay at the pharmacy while she recovered.
• Ning Chen worried about where he would go and fell asleep beside Mu Chengxue, who woke at dawn and asked him to leave while she changed.
• Mu Chengxue thanked Ning Chen, told him she was leaving that day, and gave him a Golden Page containing a body-strengthening cultivation technique.
• Ning Chen embraced Mu Chengxue before she departed, then realized the Golden Page came from the Xia Emperor's Imperial Study and nearly collapsed from grief.

Ning Chen went to Lingyan Pavilion to repay his tea debt, but Yue Hanyi charged him for the furniture he had broken and made him work off what he owed. After befriending Li'er and finishing the laundry, he studied the Golden Pages in his room and discovered he could not understand the Scroll of Life.

• Ning Chen left the inn with travel money, saw the envoys from Zhenji Kingdom parade through the streets, and continued to Lingyan Pavilion.
• Yue Hanyi told Ning Chen he owed one hundred taels for the damaged furniture and ordered Li'er to take him to wash laundry.
• Li'er made Ning Chen wash a mountain of clothes, and he finished just before sunset despite his aching body.
• Ning Chen asked Li'er whether she wanted to leave Lingyan Pavilion, but she refused because she had grown up there and was registered as a slave.
• Ning Chen ate dinner, went to his room, and tried to read the Scroll of Life on the Golden Pages, but shouted that he could not understand it.

Ning Chen struggled to understand the Golden Pages technique, then made soap from lard and plant ash. He gave the finished soap to Li'er and resolved to keep his invention quiet to avoid drawing Changsun's attention.

• Ning Chen spent the night repeatedly practicing the technique from the Golden Pages but felt no change by dawn.
• Ning Chen borrowed lard and plant ash from the kitchen and began making soap in the courtyard.
• Li'er joined Ning Chen to stir the mixture while he ate, then returned to see the soap solidify.
• Ning Chen used soap to clean the grease from Li'er's hands, and she asked him to give her the whole batch.
• Ning Chen gave all the soap to Li'er and decided to keep a low profile so Changsun would not hear about it.

Ning Chen spent nearly half a month working at Lingyan Pavilion and cultivating, then ventured out with Li'er to buy shoes. He tried to hide from Qing Ling, but she found him and ordered him to return to the palace and face the Empress Dowager.

• Ning Chen sensed a tiny current of true essence in his channels and continued cultivating while working at Lingyan Pavilion.
• After his shoes fell apart, Ning Chen asked Li'er for a loan and went with her to buy a new pair.
• Ning Chen spotted a graceful palace woman and hid with Li'er beside a fortune-telling stall, where the fortune-teller guessed he was hiding from a woman from the palace.
• Ning Chen fled back to Lingyan Pavilion without buying shoes, but Qing Ling was waiting there and offered him tea.
• Qing Ling told Ning Chen that the Empress Dowager had suppressed his crimes and ordered him to return, apologize, and accept whatever punishment she chose.

Ning Chen traded a solution to the Zhenji Kingdom envoy’s challenge for permission to leave the palace, then explained his situation to Li'er and gave Yue Hanyi the true soap-making method on one condition. Qing Ling returned with Changsun’s order to bring him back, and Qing Ling seized Ning Chen and carried him away.

• Ning Chen told Qing Ling that he could solve the envoy’s challenge in exchange for the Empress Dowager’s favor, and Qing Ling returned to report his offer.
• Ning Chen told Li'er a partial account of his palace life and explained that Great Xia had until the next day to solve the envoy’s boiling-oil needle challenge.
• Qing Ling relayed Ning Chen’s offer to Changsun, who ordered her to bring him back by force if necessary.
• Yue Hanyi asked Ning Chen for the soap-making method, and he refused until he learned that she had given Li'er a place to stay and work.
• Ning Chen gave Yue Hanyi the true soap-making instructions in writing, then Qing Ling arrived and carried him back toward the palace.

Ning Chen was brought back to Weiyang Palace, where Changsun punished him for fleeing but spared him after Qing Ling pleaded for leniency. He then solved the Zhenji Kingdom envoys’ boiling-oil challenge, leaving Xia Xinyu curious about his past and planning to tell her imperial brother about him.

• Qing Ling brought Ning Chen before Changsun, who questioned him about his escape and sentenced him to six months confined to Weiyang Palace.
• Qing Ling asked Changsun to let Ning Chen redeem himself by helping with the urgent problem posed by Zhenji Kingdom's envoys.
• Ning Chen used kettle limescale and vinegar in the heated oil, making it safe for Changsun to put her hand into the wok.
• Changsun ordered Ning Chen back to confinement and warned Qing Ling to prevent him from escaping again.
• Xia Xinyu asked Qing Ling why Changsun was lenient toward Ning Chen, then decided to tell her imperial brother about him.

Ning Chen discovered his true qi had vanished and asked Qing Ling about cultivation, learning that only five people in the world had reached the Xiantian Realm. After Qing Ling grew suspicious of his unusual progress, she accompanied Changsun to a tense audience with Zhenji Kingdom’s envoy, where she recognized that the envoy’s party were martial artists and Changsun sent for Ning Chen.

• Ning Chen found his meridians empty of true qi and went to Qing Ling for an explanation.
• Qing Ling explained that cultivation required persistence and told Ning Chen about the Acquired and Xiantian realms and the five Xiantian experts in the world.
• Qing Ling agreed to answer Ning Chen’s cultivation questions, while privately wondering how he had gained true qi so quickly.
• Qing Ling accompanied Changsun to the Heavenly Edict Hall, where the Xia Emperor received Zhenji Kingdom’s envoy on the envoy’s final deadline.
• Qing Ling sensed that the envoy and his four companions were martial artists, and Changsun ordered her to bring Ning Chen to the hall.

Ning Chen was chosen to retrieve a needle from boiling oil during Great Xia’s contest with the Zhenji Kingdom, and he succeeded despite appearing to suffer severe burns. Qing Ling then challenged the five Zhenji Kingdom envoys to a test of martial prowess.

• Qing Ling rushed Ning Chen to Heavenly Edict Hall, where he told Changsun how to prepare for the needle-from-the-oil-cauldron challenge.
• The Zhenji Kingdom envoy selected Ning Chen, and Changsun urged him to proceed while promising to protect him.
• Ning Chen plunged his hand into the boiling oil and retrieved the needle, prompting cheers from the Great Xia court.
• Changsun ordered Qing Ling to return the needle to the cauldron, and Qing Ling challenged the Zhenji Kingdom envoys to step forward.

Qing Ling defeated Jin Yi in the first contest, and Ning Chen used a rigged boiling-oil challenge to force the Zhenji Kingdom envoy to concede the round. Later, Ning Chen’s cultivation surged into Martial Arts First Rank, but his unstable qi alarmed Qing Ling.

• Qing Ling challenged the Zhenji Kingdom envoy, then overwhelmed the Eighth-Rank Jin Yi despite her injuries.
• Changsun let Ning Chen choose the next contestant, and he selected the injured Jin Yi for the boiling-oil needle test.
• Jin Yi failed to find the needle and conceded the first round after scalding his arm; the envoy threatened to announce the second round the next day.
• Ning Chen explained that he had replaced the oil with soybean oil and made the needle from tin so it would melt, then Changsun sent him back to confinement.
• Ning Chen’s true qi surged into a silver vortex as he broke through to Martial Arts First Rank, but Qing Ling rushed in when his qi became chaotic and tried to stabilize it.

Ning Chen recovered from a dangerous qi deviation, then escaped Weiyang Palace despite Changsun’s order and reached Heavenly Edict Hall as Great Xia struggled with the Zhenji Kingdom’s literary contest. With Changsun’s approval, he answered two of the envoy’s couplets, winning praise from the court, while the final couplet remained.

• Qing Ling stabilized Ning Chen’s raging qi sea, then left him to rest after he refused to let her examine his injuries.
• Ning Chen woke after dawn, slipped past the palace guard by knocking him unconscious, and reached Heavenly Edict Hall with Ling Xiao’s help.
• Ning Chen saw that Great Xia’s ministers had answered the contest questions except for three couplets, while the Zhenji Kingdom envoy arrogantly claimed The Master as his countryman.
• Ning Chen asked Changsun to let him answer, and she recommended him to the Xia Emperor with a warning not to disgrace Great Xia.
• Ning Chen wrote matching couplets for the temple and trigram questions, earning the ministers’ praise and a faint smile from the Xia Emperor.

Ning Chen mocked the Zhenji Kingdom envoy after losing the second contest, then learned that the missing old eunuch’s corpse had been found and began planning his escape from Weiyang Palace. He asked Xia Xinyu to help him join the marriage procession in exchange for securing Great Xia’s victory, and then went to see Qing Ling about the Golden Pages.

• The Zhenji Kingdom envoy secretly extinguished the incense, forcing Ning Chen to lose the second contest, but Ning Chen mocked him with a couplet and a sharp retort.
• The Xia Emperor admitted Great Xia’s defeat in the round, and Changsun confiscated the one hundred taels of gold he awarded Ning Chen.
• Ning Chen learned that the missing old eunuch’s corpse had been recovered from Qingyuan Lake and resolved to escape before an investigation exposed him.
• Ning Chen asked Xia Xinyu to help him join the marriage procession, promising to help Great Xia win the final contest; she said she would consider it.
• Ning Chen remembered Qing Ling had saved him and went to her residence to ask about the Golden Pages.

As Great Xia faced the Zhenji Kingdom’s third challenge, a maze race, Changsun asked Ning Chen for a solution. Ning Chen won her approval and left to prepare a plan with a general.

• Fan Lingyue learned that Ning Chen had left the palace with Zhangsun Wuyou and ordered a general to force him out of the imperial palace.
• Qing Ling concealed her returning injury after Ning Chen failed to reach her, and reflected on how Changsun hoped to keep him in the palace.
• Changsun brought a sleepy Ning Chen to court, where the Zhenji Kingdom envoy proposed that one person from each side race through a maze in the imperial palace.
• The ministers hesitated to volunteer, and Ning Chen told Changsun he had a solution if she and the Xia Emperor were willing to part with something.
• Changsun approved Ning Chen’s plan, and he left court to confer with a general before they headed to the Imperial Medical Institute.