Chapter Summaries

Zeng Anmin received Bai Ziqing’s report that the fugitive had traveled directly to Dongshan Prefecture, then spent two carefree days at the Imperial Academy. On his way home, a concealed-weapon expert ambushed him and cornered him against the capital’s wall; the attacker identified him as Zeng Shilin’s son.

• Zeng Anmin praised Huzi’s good behavior to Concubine Lin, but warned Huzi not to play with Liu Hao at the Academy.
• Zeng Anmin received a message from Bai Ziqing, who reported that the fugitive had reached Dongshan Prefecture after heading straight south; Zeng Anmin suspected the man was racing toward a goal.
• Zeng Anmin spent two days dealing with scholars drawn by his reputation for calligraphy, with Liu Xian acting as his spokesperson.
• A concealed weapon nearly struck Zeng Anmin’s neck as he rode home, and he fled into an alley while recognizing the attacker’s style from the mysterious man who had killed Prince Qi’s family.
• The conical-hatted man pursued Zeng Anmin to the capital’s wall and asked whether he was Zeng Shilin’s son, Zeng Anmin.

Zeng Anmin discovered that the Hat Guest had come to kill him and fought back, using his Protective Jade to survive the assassin’s powerful strike. He shot the fleeing Hat Guest through the heart and found a familiar face beneath his bamboo hat.

• Zeng Anmin realized that the mastermind behind the collusion with Ren Weizhi had targeted his father after Father rescued Lou Yingqi.
• Zeng Anmin pretended to be Liu Datou, but the Hat Guest recognized him as a martial artist and attacked with three hidden weapons.
• Zeng Anmin struck the Hat Guest with his short axe, wounding his shoulder, but the Hat Guest retaliated with a palm strike that the Protective Jade absorbed.
• Zeng Anmin pursued the fleeing Hat Guest from the rooftops and shot him through the heart with his Dark Gold Longbow.
• Zeng Anmin removed the bamboo hat from the corpse and recognized the Hat Guest’s face.

Zeng Anmin connected Ren Weizhi’s plot with an Eastern Cult conspiracy involving three thousand jin of Thunder Powder and realized the Jishui Weir was likely the target. He warned Bai Ziqing, who was already pursuing an Eastern Cult spy toward Fengqi Road, and sent him racing to protect the weir.

• Zeng Anmin recognized the assassin as the cripple from Fa’an Temple and concluded Ren Weizhi had sent him to kill Prince Qi and then Zeng Anmin; the assassin’s corpse crumbled into ash.
• Nan told Zeng Anmin that an Eastern Cult traitor had stolen nearly three thousand jin of Thunder Powder and was fleeing toward the south, while another cult member had disappeared seven years earlier.
• Zeng Anmin connected the seven-year-old defection to Xiangchun and the poisoning case, then deduced that the conspirators planned to blow open the Jishui Weir and flood Fengqi Road, framing his father for the disaster.
• Zeng Anmin contacted Bai Ziqing with the Communication Talisman and warned him that an Eastern Cult spy carrying Thunder Powder might attack the Jishui Weir.
• Bai Ziqing rushed toward the weir after Zeng Anmin promised the mission could secure him the position of Imperial City Department Northern Commander.

Bai Ziqing tracked two Eastern Cult agents to Jishui Weir, where they planned to plant Thunder Powder and destroy the weir. He killed them and stopped the explosives, but his actions further convinced Empress Gu Xiangnan that Bei was the Black Cat Martial Artist.

• Zeng Anmin warned Bai Ziqing to wear a Black Cat Hood while stopping the suspects, and Bai Ziqing donned a black hood and followed his Tracking Bamboo south.
• At Jishui Weir, the Undying Old Man reunited with his junior brother and used the Void Necklace to reveal bundles of Thunder Powder for their plan against the Empress.
• Bai Ziqing arrived and killed the child-like junior brother with a single sword strike as the Undying Old Man continued moving the explosives.
• The Undying Old Man tried to ignite the Thunder Powder, but Bai Ziqing froze the river and extinguished his Fire Seed before killing him.
• Bai Ziqing left with the Void Necklace after delivering a dramatic line, and the patrol guards reported the incident.
• Empress Gu Xiangnan read the report and became certain that Bei was the Black Cat Martial Artist.

After learning that the assassin who attacked him had ties to Fa'an Temple and Yellow Sparrow Nunnery, Zeng Anmin told his father, Zeng Shilin, and investigated the temple himself. Zeng Shilin planned to use the affair against Ren Weizhi, while Zeng Anmin sought to uncover the assassin’s identity, and the chapter ended with him questioning Little Monk Yingchen.

• Zeng Anmin told Zeng Shilin that an injured assassin had attacked him and that he recognized the man from Fa'an Temple, where he had seen him heading toward Yellow Sparrow Nunnery.
• Zeng Shilin vowed to punish anyone who harmed his son and planned to help Lou Yingqi eliminate rivals for the Minister's position.
• Ren Xueliang knelt outside the Eastern Palace to apologize to the Crown Prince, but the Crown Prince did not see him, and Ren Weizhi treated the rejection as part of his plan to raise doubts about Zeng Shilin.
• Zeng Anmin took leave from the Imperial Academy and went to Fa'an Temple to investigate the assassin and Yellow Sparrow Nunnery.
• Zeng Anmin met Little Monk Yingchen, received permission from the old sweeping monk to speak with him, and began asking about his life at the temple.

Zeng Anmin befriended Yingchen, learned more about the mysterious Mr. Huang and Consort Xi, then secretly searched Yellow Sparrow Nunnery. He found evidence that Mr. Huang still lived there and cared for Consort Xi’s former room, leaving him convinced the two had known each other.

• Zeng Anmin tapped Yingchen on the head with candy and gave it to him, then shared his sorrow over the death of Ren Weizhi and his resolve to make those responsible for human suffering pay.
• Zeng Anmin questioned Yingchen about Mr. Huang and learned that the man had been associated with Yellow Sparrow Nunnery for at least thirteen years, while Yingchen had never visited the Back Mountain.
• Yingchen explained that Consort Xi had miscarried after being driven from the imperial palace, and Zeng Anmin teased him until he seemed to gain a new measure of insight.
• Zeng Anmin secretly entered Yellow Sparrow Nunnery and found a plainly furnished room that appeared to be Mr. Huang’s, alongside a lavish, carefully maintained room that had belonged to Consort Xi.
• Zeng Anmin found women's clothes and signs of someone living in Consort Xi’s room, as well as a small grave marked “Tomb of the Abandoned Child.”
• Zeng Anmin left the nunnery suspecting that Mr. Huang and Consort Xi had known each other, and recalled that Mr. Huang had also known Ren Weizhi.

Zeng Anmin investigated Consort Xi’s suspected connections to recent crimes and went to the Princess for information, offering what he knew about her possible interest in the Xi Huang Diagram. Their private meeting ended abruptly when the Crown Prince arrived and found them together.

• Zeng Anmin linked Consort Xi, Mr. Huang, and Ren Weizhi to the recent cases and decided to seek information from the Princess.
• The Princess read a secret report about Zeng Anmin and his father, then summoned him to Yongning Palace.
• Zeng Anmin showed the Princess his cracked jade pendant and told her that a cripple at Yellow Sparrow Nunnery had tried to assassinate him.
• Zeng Anmin disclosed Prince Qi’s suspected connection to Ren Weizhi and suggested that Consort Xi might be pursuing the Xi Huang Diagram.
• The Princess agreed to have clues about Consort Xi delivered to Zeng Anmin’s residence, and he promised to help find the Xi Huang Diagram.
• The Crown Prince arrived at Yongning Palace, saw Zeng Anmin bowing to the Princess, and reacted with disbelief.

Ren Weizhi impeached Zeng Shilin for embezzling flood-relief funds and expected an urgent report from Two Rivers Prefecture to prove Jishui Weir had failed. Instead, the injured Bai Ziqing appeared in court, accused Ren Weizhi of treason, and struck him, leaving the court stunned.

• At court, Ren Weizhi presented evidence accusing Zeng Shilin of stealing disaster-relief funds and using inferior materials to build Jishui Weir.
• Zeng Shilin denied the charges and vowed that if Jishui Weir failed within thirty years, the Emperor could execute his entire clan.
• An urgent dispatch arrived from Two Rivers Prefecture, and a bloodied Bai Ziqing entered the hall and collapsed before Emperor Jianhong.
• As Bai Ziqing coughed blood, Zeng Shilin used Righteous Qi to help him while Ren Weizhi grew uneasy.
• Bai Ziqing recovered enough to walk up to Ren Weizhi, call him a traitor, and slap him.

Bai Ziqing accused Ren Weizhi and the Ministry of Revenue of aiding the Demon Race and Eastern Cult spies in a plot to destroy Jishui Weir, prompting Emperor Jianhong to order an investigation. Zeng Shilin then impeached Lou Yingqi over disaster relief funds, and Lou’s testimony further implicated Ren Weizhi, leaving the emperor convinced that Ren was behind the crimes.

• Bai Ziqing accused Ren Weizhi of colluding with the Demon Race and Eastern Cult spies to plant Thunder Powder at Jishui Weir, and said the Ministry of Revenue had enabled the spy’s travel.
• Emperor Jianhong ordered Jingzhao Prefecture, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Imperial City Department to investigate Ren Weizhi and the Ministry of Revenue.
• Zeng Shilin impeached Lou Yingqi for embezzling disaster relief funds, then accused him of hiding the Ministry of Revenue’s deficit and forming a corrupt faction.
• Lou Yingqi claimed Ren Weizhi and Prince Qi had embezzled relief funds and threatened his family, prompting Emperor Jianhong to suspect Ren had also plotted against Jishui Weir.
• Emperor Jianhong dismissed court and deferred judgment until the Imperial City Department’s investigation, while Zeng Shilin told Lou Yingqi to prepare for promotion.

Bai Ziqing arrested Ren Weizhi with planted evidence, allowing Zeng Shilin’s faction to gain influence in the Ministry of Revenue. While investigating Consort Xi’s past, Zeng Anmin received a strange necklace from Bai Ziqing and suddenly grasped a possible motive behind Consort Xi’s schemes.

• Bai Ziqing searched the Ministry of Revenue and Ren Weizhi’s residence, where he found evidence linking Ren Weizhi to embezzlement, Prince Qi, and a woman in the harem.
• Emperor Jianhong imprisoned Ren Weizhi, and the ensuing purge brought down several Ministry of Revenue officials while Lou Yingqi became the new minister.
• Zeng Shilin selected Jiangnan and Feng Prefecture youths for advancement and secured several Ministry of Revenue posts for his allies and Princess’s choice.
• Zeng Anmin studied Princess’s intelligence about Consort Xi’s rise and fall, then wondered whether Consort Xi’s child had survived and what she hoped to achieve.
• Bai Ziqing visited Zeng Anmin, gave him a bone-like necklace taken from an Eastern Cult member, and complained that the Crown Prince was jealous of their closeness.
• After Bai Ziqing explained that the Crown Prince had disguised himself as a student to study with Zeng Anmin, Zeng Anmin suddenly realized a possible motive behind Consort Xi’s plans.

Zeng Anmin investigated a thirteen-year-old assassination attempt in the inner palace and connected it to Consort Xi, Duke Ning, Ren Weizhi, and a plot against the Crown Prince. He concluded that Consort Xi’s child had secretly been switched with the Fourth Prince, Wang Yuanhao, though he admitted the theory was only a guess.

• Zeng Anmin asked Bai Ziqing to retrieve records of assassins entering the inner palace thirteen years earlier and arranged to meet him at Yellow Sparrow Nunnery.
• Zeng Anmin waited beside a child’s grave at the nunnery, and Bai Ziqing brought records showing that an assassin had entered the Empress’s bedchamber in Jianhong 4.
• Zeng Anmin linked the recorded Fourth Rank assassin to the concealed-weapons expert who had attacked him and reasoned that the assassin’s concern for someone had prevented his escape.
• Zeng Anmin told Bai Ziqing that the attacks and political schemes were intended to make the Crown Prince lose power by provoking him to plead for Zeng Anmin and his father.
• Zeng Anmin proposed that Consort Xi’s child had survived and been switched with the Empress’s child, making the Fourth Prince, Wang Yuanhao, Consort Xi’s biological son and the beneficiary of her plots.

Zeng Anmin and Bai Ziqing discovered that the bones in the grave were not human, leading Zeng Anmin to suspect the real Fourth Prince had survived. The next day, Zeng Anmin arrived for the Illusion Array Imperial Examination, where Dachun’s unexpected explanation of having slept with his mother and grandmother left him speechless.

• Zeng Anmin and Bai Ziqing dug up the grave and found animal bones, confirming that the real Fourth Prince might still be alive.
• Zeng Anmin warned Bai Ziqing not to reveal the suspected switch until it became useful, and Ren Weizhi later died by hanging in prison.
• At the Imperial Academy’s oath-taking rally, Zeng Anmin spoke to the students and shared food with Qin Wanyue and Liu Xian.
• Qin Wanyue gave Zeng Anmin another fish pastry, which he passed along to her father, Qin Shouchang.
• At the Examination Courtyard, Zeng Anmin recognized Sai Chuxue as the Illusion Array examiner and joked that he would take Dachun out for wine and women after passing.
• Dachun said he had slept with his mother and grandmother, leaving Zeng Anmin stunned before he entered the examination grounds.

Zeng Anmin waited comfortably as candidates faced different trials in the Illusion Array Imperial Examination, where fear, greed, and abuse of power led many to fail. When his turn came, he entered the array and his own trial began.

• Zeng Anmin passed Huang Shi's inspection and set up a reclining chair, parasol, table, and wine in the candidates' rest area.
• Wang Langlang fled from a demon attack in the illusion and was eliminated for failing to resist, despite being strong enough to defeat the demon.
• Liu Xiu was eliminated after embezzling disaster-relief silver in his illusion, while only two of the eleven candidates examined over three hours passed.
• The candidates recognized Zeng Anmin for his recent achievements in poetry, archery, and calligraphy as he rose from his makeshift resting spot.
• Zeng Anmin presented his examination token and entered the array, where an azure scroll began to unfurl above him.

Zeng Anmin entered an illusion-array examination as a military inspector trapped on a mountain with demoralized soldiers, then rallied them to attempt a breakout against the Demon Race. After learning how badly outnumbered and outmatched they were, he spotted the bamboo groves and began considering a formation that might let them escape.

• Zeng Anmin assessed the battlefield illusion and realized he was a military inspector with nearly forty defeated soldiers stranded on a mountain.
• He confronted the soldiers’ despair, urged them to fight their way out, and promised rewards while declaring that he would lead the charge.
• A burly soldier joined Zeng Anmin, and his crude taunts persuaded more men, including Wang Erma, to rally behind the inspector.
• The soldiers asked Zeng Anmin how they could break out, and he learned that the Demon Race had a major advantage in mountain combat.
• Zeng Anmin noticed the bamboo groves and considered using a sharp formation to exploit the soldiers’ armor and weapons against the poorly equipped demons.

Zeng Anmin organized his soldiers into four Mandarin Duck Formations and led them toward a perilous mountain path, claiming the formation came from Master Xu to restore their morale. When a troop of wolf-headed demons charged them, he took the front position, recited a battle poem, and prepared to meet them in combat.

• Zeng Anmin chose to build wolf spears from moso bamboo and asked the soldiers for a more dangerous mountain path suited to his formation.
• He fashioned wolf spears, divided the soldiers into eleven-man squads, and taught them the Mandarin Duck Formation while falsely crediting Master Xu and Sai Chuxue.
• The soldiers formed four units and followed Zeng Anmin toward the narrow southern mountain path, while Sai Chuxue watched in confusion from outside the illusion formation.
• At the perilous path, Zeng Anmin took the front position and explained that his righteous qi made him best suited to lead against demons.
• A troop of about thirty wolf-headed demons charged toward the soldiers, and Zeng Anmin rallied them with a battle poem as the enemies reached their formation.

Inside an illusion array, Zeng Anmin led the Mandarin Duck Formation through a perilous mountain route, destroying demon forces and killing a Sixth Rank Blood Condensation Realm Demon General. The soldiers escaped into the forest, and the witnesses outside the array watched Zeng Anmin declare that mountain warfare would no longer favor the demons.

• Zeng Anmin and the Mandarin Duck Formation killed forty-three Wolf Demons without losing a soldier, then advanced before reinforcements could arrive.
• The formation defeated three more demon groups, losing only three soldiers across the battles.
• A bull-headed Sixth Rank Blood Condensation Realm Demon General blocked the route and killed three soldiers with a boulder, but Zeng Anmin used Heart Inquiry to distract it and killed it with a Righteous Qi arrow.
• Zeng Anmin led forty-six surviving soldiers off the mountain and into the forest, where they celebrated their escape and praised the formation.
• Zeng Anmin told the soldiers that he had devised an ordinary military formation and proclaimed that the Great Sage Dynasty could now challenge the demons on mountain roads.
• Sai Chuxue blushed at the soldiers' wedding jokes, and Zeng Anmin emerged from the illusion array to the awe of the onlookers.

Zeng Anmin passed the imperial examination and became the first person in the Great Sage Dynasty to have a great achievement from the illusion array recorded on the Examination Courtyard’s stone wall. Sai Chuxue told Emperor Jianhong that Zeng Anmin had devised the Mandarin Duck Formation and defeated four demon armies, leaving the emperor stunned.

• Zeng Anmin learned that he had passed, and the illusion array painted his likeness and the words “The enemy may go; so may I!” on the Examination Courtyard’s stone wall.
• Zeng Anmin packed his belongings, left the examination grounds, and told Dachun they were going home.
• Stories of Zeng Anmin’s achievements and the Mandarin Duck Formation spread throughout the capital.
• Emperor Jianhong reviewed the Ren Weizhi case and worried that the Empress, Consort Li, or the Imperial Consort might have been involved in harem interference in politics.
• Sai Chuxue reported that Zeng Anmin had led fifty soldiers through the mountains and used the Mandarin Duck Formation to defeat four demon armies, leaving Emperor Jianhong speechless.

Sai Chuxue reported that Zeng Anmin’s Mandarin Duck Formation had devastated demon troops in a mountain pass, prompting Emperor Jianhong to consult Duke Wei Tian Ji about its military value. After Tian Ji questioned whether it could work on broader mountain roads, Emperor Jianhong summoned Zeng Anmin to ask if he had created the formation.

• Sai Chuxue gave Emperor Jianhong the Mandarin Duck Formation diagram and reported that forty-nine soldiers had fought successive waves of demon troops, with forty-three surviving.
• Emperor Jianhong summoned Duke Wei Tian Ji, who studied the diagram and recognized its potential against poorly equipped demon troops in narrow mountain passes.
• Emperor Jianhong told Tian Ji that Zeng Anmin had used forty soldiers to annihilate forty demon soldiers in the illusion array, but Tian Ji warned that the formation might fail on broad mountain roads.
• Tian Ji suggested summoning Zeng Anmin to ask about countering demon troops on wider routes, and Emperor Jianhong ordered the young eunuch to bring him in.
• Zeng Anmin arrived at the Imperial Study, received a seat, and was asked by Tian Ji whether he had created the Mandarin Duck Formation.

Zeng Anmin explained how the Variable Mandarin Duck Formation could adapt to mountain terrain and use Righteous Qi-enhanced Wolf Spears to counter the Demon Race. Emperor Jianhong ordered the northern border to test the formation, and Tian Ji confirmed it could be used across a wide range of difficult terrain.

• Duke Wei, Tian Ji, asked how the Mandarin Duck Formation would work on broader mountain roads, and Zeng Anmin said it could change formations to suit the terrain.
• Zeng Anmin explained that each hundred soldiers required one seventh-rank Confucian Path cultivator to imbue their bamboo Wolf Spears with Righteous Qi.
• Zeng Anmin described how the formation's soldiers coordinated their weapons and shifted into the Two Talents Formation or the Three Talents Formation.
• Tian Ji praised the formation and told Emperor Jianhong it could suppress the Demon Race on broader mountain roads.
• Emperor Jianhong ordered the formation diagrams sent to the northern border so Minister Ji and Minister Shi could train a Mandarin Duck Army and test its effectiveness.
• After Zeng Anmin left, Tian Ji told Emperor Jianhong the formation could be used wherever hills, ravines, waterways, or narrow roads shaped the terrain.

Emperor Jianhong ordered Ji Qing and Shi Fucheng to train three thousand soldiers in Zeng Anmin’s Mandarin Duck Formation, while Ji Qing and Shi Bailin examined the formation’s secret letter at the northern border. At the Imperial Academy, Zeng Anmin gained a new insight through Li Lianting’s zither lesson, transforming his Righteous Qi and triggering a rank-up with three Martial Arts Entries to choose from.

• Emperor Jianhong ordered Ji Qing and Shi Fucheng to select three thousand soldiers and begin training the Mandarin Duck Formation, hoping for a victory that might earn Zeng Anmin the title of Demon Subduing General.
• Ji Qing read Tian Ji’s secret diagrams for the Mandarin Duck Formation and questioned its claim that equal forces could wipe out the demons.
• Shi Bailin examined the letter, warned Ji Qing not to use Martial Arts Aura against him again, and left after restoring the burned letter from ash.
• Li Lianting taught the students about Confucian heart scrutiny and played Border Pass Moon, prompting Zeng Anmin to recall his battle in the illusion array.
• Zeng Anmin struck and plucked his Ten-string Zither in a rough battle rhythm, gaining a zither in his Sea of Consciousness Space as his Vast Righteous Qi turned pale purple.
• Zeng Anmin broke through in rank and received a choice between Silver Adventure, Silver Slow Enlightenment, and Silver Poison Resistance.