Chapter Summaries

Summary: “Three Halls Taken, Yet No Word”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian and Song Baige’s squad rejoin the main force after completing repairs, passing through Prison Passage Hall under rear-guard protection.
• Li observes two groups of prisoners, including severely diseased captives covered in demonic poison. Song Baige explains that many Ministry of Justice prisoners are framed or exploited, while those afflicted by demonic poison are effectively abandoned because almost no one dares help them.
• Li recognizes Wang Buwu among the prisoners. Wang, previously an upright Black Lantern Bureau official who had helped Li, has been imprisoned, shackled, and badly wounded.
• Li arranges for Wang to be taken to the Divine Capital Prefecture for trial. Song Baige supports the decision, partly because sending Wang there will create trouble for the Ministry of Justice. Wang is freed from his shackles and escorted away by Han Anbo.
• The attacking forces reach the Prison Administration. Rather than directly assaulting the bureau, Zhou Chunfeng orders its plaque removed and sent to the Patrol Bureau, technically avoiding a forbidden attack while humiliating the Ministry of Justice.
• The forces then attack the Finance Section, destroying its buildings and plaque while leaving the main hall intact. This completes the conquest of three halls.
• The victory fulfills the rules of the Little Conquest: after three halls are taken, the Ministry of Justice must provide an explanation. The crowd celebrates, expecting the Ministry to offer a scapegoat or apology.
• Li, however, suspects the ease of the victory is unnatural. He questions what will happen if the Ministry refuses or is unable to explain itself, suggesting that the conflict may concern Mr. Gangfeng—or a much larger hidden matter.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian shows increasing compassion and moral awareness. His reaction to the poisoned prisoners reveals his discomfort with the injustice surrounding him, and he actively risks inconvenience to rescue Wang Buwu.
• He also becomes more politically perceptive, recognizing that the conquest may be a deliberate maneuver within a deeper power struggle rather than a straightforward victory.
• Song Baige remains practical, politically confident, and willing to exploit the Ministry’s embarrassment, but he is visibly affected by the prisoners’ suffering. His view shifts when Li suggests the campaign may have a hidden purpose.
• Wang Buwu appears physically broken and humiliated but retains his dignity and gratitude. His promise to repay Li establishes a continuing bond and possible future alliance.
• Fu Mingcheng gains greater respect for Li after learning of his connection to Song Baige and helps facilitate Wang’s transfer.
• Zhou Chunfeng demonstrates strategic precision by removing the Prison Administration’s plaque without technically violating the agreement against attacking a bureau.

Significant Themes

• Institutional injustice and abandonment: The prisoners, especially those poisoned by demonic arts, represent people trapped by corrupt systems that offer no meaningful protection or remedy.
• Compassion versus political calculation: Li helps Wang out of personal concern, while Song Baige also recognizes the political advantage of embarrassing the Ministry.
• Technical legality versus true intent: The attackers avoid formally assaulting the Prison Administration while effectively humiliating and dismantling parts of it, exposing how rules can be manipulated.
• The appearance of victory versus hidden danger: The effortless conquest seems successful, but Li senses that the Ministry’s passivity may conceal a larger scheme.
• Silence as a warning: The expected explanation has not yet come. The Ministry’s lack of response becomes more ominous than an ordinary defeat.

Character Interactions

• Li and Song Baige share a moment of silent horror over the poisoned prisoners, revealing their common recognition of the Ministry’s cruelty.
• Li reunites with Wang Buwu and uses his influence to secure Wang’s release and transfer, deepening their relationship.
• Song Baige approves the plan because it will trouble his father and the Ministry of Justice, blending friendship with political opportunism.
• Li’s doubts about the easy victory challenge Song Baige and Fu Mingcheng’s confidence. By the end, Song begins to understand that the conquest may not truly be about Li, but about a broader conflict involving Mr. Gangfeng or another hidden force.

Chapter Summary: “Meeting an Evil Devil Child at the Prison Administration”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Assault Squad waits outside the Ministry of Justice, expecting an explanation for its surveillance of Li Qingxian’s uncle-in-law. When no officials appear, the squad becomes uncertain and demoralized.
• Through a communication talisman, Li Qingxian consults Zhou Chunfeng. They conclude that the Ministry’s actions may not have targeted Li directly, but instead involve a powerful figure or major matter connected to his family. The Ministry’s internal hesitation suggests that even its factions are divided or afraid to take responsibility.
• Zhou Chunfeng orders most Patrol Bureau members to withdraw from the Assault Squad, confusing the remaining forces and weakening morale. Rumors then spread that the Patrol Bureau has begun arresting Ministry of Justice officials.
• Zhou reveals that hundreds of suspects have been detained, including dozens of Lower- and Middle-Rank officials and a Third Rank Deputy Vice Minister. The Patrol Bureau also surrounds Fu Jianqi, the Ministry’s Devil-Transforming Mountain Vice Minister, forcing him to submit.
• News of the arrests reignites the squad’s excitement. Many view Zhou Chunfeng’s actions as a bold retaliation against the Ministry of Justice and praise the Patrol Bureau for acting more decisively than the Night Guard.
• Li Qingxian’s squad leader, Lu Yunyan, asks what they should do next. Li suggests adding a glorious line to history proclaiming that the Ministry’s Nine Halls were crushed, though Lu does not immediately respond.
• A strange young official emerges from the Prison Administration. His mutilated appearance reveals him to be an “Evil Devil Child,” specifically the notorious “Bone Filth Child,” an exceptionally dangerous hybrid cultivator of Devil Sect and Evil Sect powers.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian becomes more cautious and politically perceptive. He recognizes that the surveillance operation may involve forces far more powerful than the Ministry itself and worries that even if he is not the immediate target, he may become one later.
• Zhou Chunfeng demonstrates his ruthless authority and willingness to escalate matters. Rather than merely defend Li, he launches a sweeping arrest operation against the Ministry of Justice, showing both strategic boldness and confidence in his position.
• Song Baige reveals knowledge of the Evil Sects and their brutal initiation rituals. His admiration for Zhou’s resolve also exposes his awareness of the difference between ordinary officials and hardened veterans of the River Guard Army.
• Lu Yunyan is placed in a difficult leadership position. The squad’s next move could determine whether the confrontation becomes a historic victory or an uncontrolled escalation.
• The Bone Filth Child is introduced as a powerful and highly accomplished figure. His survival of multiple self-mutilation trials and mastery of both evil and demonic cultivation mark him as a major threat and possible rival.

Significant Themes

• Political conflict and hidden power struggles: The Ministry’s inability to respond suggests that unseen factions and high-level figures are manipulating events behind the scenes.
• Authority versus accountability: Zhou Chunfeng’s arrests show how official power can be used to force an explanation when institutions refuse to provide one.
• Reputation and historical legacy: The squad’s excitement centers not only on military success but on how the event will be remembered and recorded.
• Loyalty and protection: Zhou’s promise that no one can harm Li while he is present reinforces the importance of personal alliances amid institutional conflict.
• Fanatical devotion and self-destruction: The Evil Sect’s rituals portray faith as a process of extreme bodily suffering, while the Evil Devil Child embodies the dangerous fusion of competing systems of power.

Character Interactions

• Li and Zhou exchange strategic assessments, with Zhou reassuring Li while secretly preparing a larger counterattack.
• The squad members react collectively to the Patrol Bureau’s withdrawal, then regain confidence when they learn of the arrests.
• Li and Song Baige discuss Song’s father and the hardened character of people who have fought on the frontier.
• Li communicates with Lu Yunyan about whether the squad should continue its assault, framing the decision in terms of historical glory.
• Song Baige and Fu Mingcheng explain the identity and origins of the mutilated official to Li, establishing the Bone Filth Child as a notorious Evil Devil Child and a significant new presence.

Chapter Summary: Imperial Hometown Finger Divine Light Whitens a Realm

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian asks Song Baige whether he could defeat Bone Filth Child, a terrifying Seventh Rank Grand Cultivator and Utmost Devotee Evil Devil Child.
• Song Baige explains the enormous gap between Lower Rank Literary Cultivators and powerful Grand Cultivators, warning that Bone Filth Child could destroy thousands of Lower Rank cultivators if he fought without restraint.
• Bone Filth Child publicly demands to know who is responsible for challenging the Devil Sect. When the crowd points toward Li Qingxian, Li jokingly pretends not to be present.
• Bone Filth Child challenges Li to settle the conflict with the Ministry of Justice. Rather than fight directly, Li proposes a contest: Bone Filth Child must endure one of Li’s Thunder Arts using only his physical body, without spells, True Essence, Divine Gifts, or external power.
• Li performs a brief Daoist ritual honoring the Jade Clarity True King. His recitation unexpectedly invokes the phrase “Imperial Homeland,” causing enormous thunderclouds to gather over the Divine Capital.
• Li unleashes the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation, concentrating a realm-shaking mass of lightning into two fingers. The spell creates a dazzling field of white divine light.
• Bone Filth Child counters with overwhelming evil and demonic techniques: a black mire, bone-spur weaponry, sludge-like humanoids, and countless tentacles.
• Their attacks collide, producing a massive explosion that throws both combatants backward and sends the surrounding crowd scrambling.
• Bone Filth Child rises badly burned, with the green halos in his eyes cracked. He acknowledges the attack’s power without comment, then leaves.
• Li, severely exhausted, declares that he has challenged an Utmost Devotee Evil Devil Child. His announcement inspires the gathered forces to continue attacking the Ministry of Justice and attempt to break through all Nine Halls.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates exceptional courage, cleverness, and confidence despite being only Eighth Rank. He uses a loophole in Bone Filth Child’s challenge and turns a seemingly impossible confrontation into a test of his opponent’s endurance.
• Li’s mastery of the Imperial Homeland spell reveals that his power greatly exceeds what his rank suggests. However, the technique nearly empties both his mana and mental energy, emphasizing the danger of relying on it.
• Bone Filth Child is established as an extraordinarily powerful and grotesque Grand Cultivator. Though he withstands Li’s devastating attack, he is visibly injured and chooses to withdraw rather than continue.
• Song Baige serves as Li’s realistic adviser and comic foil. He recognizes the danger of the confrontation, suspects Li has a hidden plan, and mocks Li’s recklessness after the battle.
• The surrounding cultivators shift from doubting Li to treating his clash with Bone Filth Child as a morale-boosting victory.

Significant Themes

• Courage versus overwhelming power: Li confronts an enemy vastly superior in rank, relying on nerve and technique rather than conventional strength.
• Cleverness and strategic deception: Li’s ritual and carefully worded challenge allow him to exploit Bone Filth Child’s confidence and the restrictions of their agreement.
• The dangers of ambition: Although Li’s attack is immensely powerful, it nearly destroys his own reserves, showing that extraordinary strength comes at a severe cost.
• Reputation and morale: The spectacle transforms Li’s personal challenge into a symbol for the larger struggle against the Ministry of Justice and the Devil Sect.
• Conflict between divine and demonic forces: The imagery of white imperial lightning confronting black mire and tentacles presents the battle as a clash between heavenly order and corrupting evil.

Important Character Interactions

• Li and Song Baige discuss Bone Filth Child’s strength, with Song warning Li not to underestimate him.
• Bone Filth Child directly confronts Li and challenges him to fight.
• Li counters the challenge with a formal wager based on enduring his Thunder Art without supernatural assistance.
• Song attempts to criticize the hypocrisy of Evil Sect cultivators who claim to value martial fairness while killing freely.
• After the clash, Song supports the weakened Li and teases him for nearly exhausting his life and intellect.
• Li’s declaration after the battle rallies Zheng Gaojue and the crowd, turning the encounter into a call to assault the Ministry of Justice’s Nine Halls.

Chapter Summary: The Assault on the Nine Halls, Gossip Fills the City

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Evil Devil Child is effortlessly defeated by an Eighth Rank cultivator, the Assault Squad launches into a chaotic, furious attack on the Ministry of Justice.
• The squad destroys courtyards, buildings, doors, walls, and eventually the Nine Halls themselves. The Devil Cultivators lose morale and are unable to mount an effective defense.
• The commander formally declares the operation a limited but unprecedented victory: the “small assault” has shattered the Ministry of Justice’s Nine Halls.
• Li Qingxian takes a broken hall plaque as a symbol of the victory. Other participants loot plaques, doors, bricks, tiles, and other fragments, treating them as valuable family heirlooms.
• More than ten thousand people take part. Once dispersed, they spread the story throughout Divine Capital, turning the assault into the city’s dominant rumor.
• Public reaction is overwhelmingly positive. Shops waive payment for Assault Squad members, and Li Qingxian’s reputation begins to rise rapidly.
• Li Qingxian returns to the Patrol Bureau and sleeps for an entire day and night after exhausting himself using the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation.
• Han Anbo reports that the Ministry of Justice is furious and that Bone Filth Child suffered injuries serious enough to possibly affect his participation in the Azure Cloud Examination.
• Li Qingxian worries that his reputation is growing faster than his strength and considers temporarily hiding in Azure Firmament Abbey to cultivate.
• At Chunfeng Residence, Li Qingxian receives an offer from the Mountain Fate Sect: they want to trade the Method of Fate-Ground-Opening for his Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation.
• After consulting Jiang Youfei, Li Qingxian realizes the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation is extraordinarily valuable. He demands the complete set of Mountain Fate Arts in addition to the Fate-Ground-Opening Method, beginning a difficult negotiation with Guo Xiang.

Character Development

• Li Qingxian: Gains major public recognition after becoming associated with the destruction of the Nine Halls. Despite the victory, he remains cautious, recognizing that fame may attract danger if his cultivation cannot support it. He also demonstrates growing confidence and sophistication in negotiating for rare cultivation methods.
• Evil Devil Child: His defeat establishes the overwhelming power of the allied assault’s strongest figures and destroys the Devil Cultivators’ confidence.
• Bone Filth Child: Suffers injuries during the confrontation, potentially jeopardizing his future performance in the Azure Cloud Examination.
• Han Anbo: Acts as Li Qingxian’s source of political and street-level information, explaining the Ministry of Justice’s reaction and Li Qingxian’s rising reputation.
• Jiang Youfei: Provides crucial strategic guidance, clarifying the extraordinary value of Li Qingxian’s divine incantation and advising him not to accept an insufficient trade.
• Guo Xiang: Represents the Mountain Fate Sect in a tense bargaining exchange, attempting to acquire Li Qingxian’s technique while minimizing what his sect must offer.

Significant Themes

• Collective anger and revenge: The Assault Squad’s destruction of the Ministry of Justice becomes an outlet for long-standing fear and hatred of the Devil Sect.
• Public opinion and reputation: The battle’s political importance expands through gossip. The victory changes how Divine Capital views Li Qingxian and publicly vindicates his connection to his father, Mr. Gangfeng.
• Power versus fame: Li Qingxian understands that excessive renown can become dangerous if his actual strength lags behind his reputation.
• The value of knowledge and techniques: The trade negotiations emphasize that rare divine arts can be more valuable than physical treasures or ordinary cultivation resources.
• Symbolic destruction: Broken plaques, bricks, and door panels become trophies, showing how the fall of the Nine Halls has acquired both political and emotional significance.
• Information networks: Rumors, street gossip, talismans, and personal contacts all influence political understanding and strategic decisions.

Character Interactions

• The Assault Squad acts as a unified force during the attack, while the Devil Cultivators collapse into disorder.
• Li Qingxian and Song Baige share a humorous moment as Song helps collect Li’s artifacts while coveting the treasures being stored in the Heaven-and-Earth Bracelet.
• Li Qingxian discusses the Ministry of Justice’s response and his growing reputation with Han Anbo, Zheng Gaojue, and Yu Ping.
• Jiang Youfei advises Li Qingxian about the true worth of the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation and helps him set a stronger negotiating position.
• Li Qingxian and Guo Xiang engage in increasingly aggressive bargaining, with Li deliberately inflating his demands and refusing to be deceived.

Chapter Summary: “Both Look Toward Jiangnan”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian negotiates with Guo Xiang of the Mountain Fate Sect, offering his Thunder Arts—or more precisely, the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation—in exchange for the Mountain Fate Sect’s Land-Opening Method.
• He successfully bargains for the Land-Opening Method and the arts of Mountain Opening, Vein-Harvesting, and Mountain-Building, though he can currently cultivate only the lowest-level Mountain-Opening Method.
• The exchange will allow Li Qingxian to establish a Young Adult Fate Ground and advance toward becoming a Youth Fate Arts Master. He plans to seek Han Anbo’s assistance in finding people with exceptional Fate Molds.
• Zhou Chunfeng visits Li Qingxian and checks on his recovery after using the Divine Firmament Thunder Seed.
• Li expresses his desire to leave the Divine Capital, believing the political situation is dangerous and that someone may eventually arrange his death.
• The two discuss moving to Jiangnan after the Patrol Bureau’s affairs stabilize. Zhou Chunfeng agrees to seek a post there, possibly as a prefect or another provincial official.
• Zhou Chunfeng reveals that the Ministry of Justice is preparing a Great Investigation. Although publicly aimed at reviewing cases and suppressing crime, he suspects it is intended to target the Night Guard and the newly established Patrol Bureau.
• Zhou Hen is instructed to remain with Li Qingxian and protect him. Li is ordered not to leave the residence without Zhou Hen, even if summoned by imperial decree.
• Zhou Chunfeng advises Li to prepare more talismans and replenish his supply of mana-restoring pills.
• Li reports his agreement with the Mountain Fate Sect. Zhou Chunfeng approves of the mutually beneficial exchange but warns him against greed and overreaching.
• The chapter ends with Zhou Chunfeng emphasizing that repeated memorization is the foundation of true learning, particularly in studying the Fate-Seeking Arts.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian becomes more strategically mature and assertive. He skillfully negotiates from his advantageous position, recognizing the Mountain Fate Sect’s need for Daoist arts and securing a valuable exchange.
• He also displays growing awareness of political danger. Rather than recklessly remaining in the Divine Capital, he begins planning for withdrawal and long-term safety.
• Zhou Chunfeng is shown as protective and politically experienced. Although he initially advises caution regarding the Thunder Seed, he supports Li’s development and takes concrete steps to protect him from the Ministry of Justice.
• Zhou Chunfeng’s longing for Jiangnan reveals a softer, more personal side beneath his usual composure. His eventual agreement to leave the capital suggests that Li’s proposal has revived a suppressed desire for peace and family life.
• Zhou Hen remains quiet and stoic but accepts the responsibility of protecting Li. His silence also hints at emotional burdens and past suffering.
• Li’s plans increasingly involve not only his own advancement but also reuniting his extended family and creating a safer, happier life for them.

Significant Themes

• Political danger and survival: The Divine Capital is portrayed as a place of hidden schemes, where institutions such as the Ministry of Justice retaliate against rivals through investigations and political pressure.
• Exchange and strategic value: Li’s negotiation demonstrates that knowledge, Daoist arts, and Fate Arts have different values depending on who possesses them. Mutual weakness creates opportunities for cooperation.
• The desire for retreat and peace: Jiangnan symbolizes beauty, safety, family, and freedom from the capital’s sinister political struggles.
• Family and belonging: Li imagines bringing Zhou Chunfeng’s family and Sister You Fei together in Jiangnan, emphasizing his wish for harmony and a shared future.
• Learning through discipline: The discussion of memorization stresses that genuine mastery requires patient, repeated study rather than superficial understanding.
• Ambition versus restraint: Li is encouraged to pursue growth but warned not to become greedy or overextend himself.

Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and Guo Xiang: Their negotiation is playful but competitive. Li uses patience and calculated reluctance to secure more favorable terms from the Mountain Fate Sect.
• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng: Their conversation mixes affection, teasing, political discussion, and mutual concern. Zhou acts as a mentor and guardian, while Li encourages Zhou to imagine a different life in Jiangnan.
• Zhou Chunfeng and Zhou Hen: Zhou Chunfeng entrusts Zhou Hen with Li’s protection, showing confidence in Zhou Hen’s abilities and concern for both younger men.
• Li Qingxian and Zhou Hen: Their interaction is brief but establishes Zhou Hen’s role as Li’s assigned protector.
• Li Qingxian and the Mountain Fate Sect: Their relationship becomes a practical alliance, with both sides exchanging resources they urgently need.

Chapter Summary: Ye Han Goes Out and Delivers Treasures Again

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian discusses fate stars and fate patterns with Zhou Chunfeng. He explains that he now values Fate Stars connected to Diligent Study, Advancement, and Stability, believing their benefits accumulate gradually like a snowball and may eventually produce overwhelming momentum.
• Zhou Chunfeng praises Li Qingxian’s growing maturity but warns him that fate stars can influence conduct without correcting the heart. Li agrees, recognizing that powerful but dangerous fate stars—such as “Sound of Etching Bone”—may bring calamity if used carelessly.
• Li resolves to seek peaceful, stable fate stars and eventually cultivate a Diligent Study Grand Fate Pattern.
• After leaving, Li is summoned by Han Anbo, who reports that Ye Han, while briefly returning to the Marquis Manor, discovered an old and damaged fate boat supposedly containing a fate mold.
• Ye Han wanted to buy the artifact but had no money because the money pouch he previously owned had been given to Li Qingxian at Li’s birthday banquet. The seller first demanded ten thousand taels, later lowering the price to eight thousand.
• Li suspects that anything Ye Han takes interest in is likely valuable because of Ye Han’s repeated fortuitous encounters. He and Han Anbo hurry to locate the seller, bringing along Li San.
• They arrive in Bright Orchid Street, a wealthy but declining district, and discuss the market for fate artifacts. Such items are highly prized, especially if associated with famous fate arts masters, but are difficult to authenticate and therefore risky investments.
• Li also asks Han Anbo to find demoted scholars and disabled veteran martial cultivators willing to sell their fate stars, particularly those related to diligence, study, advancement, and stability.
• The group reaches a large but deteriorating manor bearing a “Jinshi” plaque, suggesting that the seller may come from a once-prestigious scholar’s family. The chapter ends as Li and Han Anbo recognize the significance of the household.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian shows increased strategic awareness and maturity. He has moved away from seeking immediately powerful fate stars and now values gradual, sustainable growth.
• He demonstrates caution regarding the moral and practical dangers of fate stars, understanding that external fate cannot replace personal judgment or control.
• Li also reveals his opportunistic and perceptive side by monitoring Ye Han and recognizing that Ye Han’s unusual luck may lead him to valuable treasures.
• Zhou Chunfeng acts as Li’s mentor, encouraging his progress while emphasizing self-discipline and the distinction between changing behavior and changing one’s heart.
• Han Anbo remains loyal and efficient, closely monitoring Ye Han and quickly reporting the opportunity to Li.
• Ye Han continues to function as an accidental source of valuable opportunities. His lack of money, caused by his earlier generosity to Li, ironically leads Li to another potentially profitable discovery.

Significant Themes

• Gradual accumulation versus immediate power: Li realizes that seemingly modest fate stars can build long-term strength when combined properly.
• The limits of fate: Fate stars may influence behavior, but they cannot substitute for character, judgment, or inner discipline.
• Opportunity arising from misfortune: Ye Han’s poverty and the declining Jinshi household both create unexpected chances for Li.
• Value and authenticity: Fate artifacts possess immense potential value, yet their uncertain origins and difficult appraisal make them risky.
• Reputation and humility: Despite being praised as exceptionally brave and righteous, Li wants to avoid attention and keep a low profile.
• Scholarship and social decline: The dilapidated Jinshi residence hints at the decline of formerly prestigious scholarly families and foreshadows the fate-related circumstances surrounding the seller.

Character Interactions

• Li and Zhou Chunfeng engage in a mentor-student discussion about fate stars, personal cultivation, and responsible use of power.
• Han Anbo informs Li about Ye Han’s discovery and accompanies him in investigating the seller.
• Li, Han Anbo, and Li San travel together, exchanging observations about fate artifacts, wealthy collectors, and potential sellers of useful fate stars.
• Han Anbo and Li San humorously praise Li’s reputation, while Li repeatedly urges them to keep him out of the spotlight.
• The group’s arrival at the decayed Jinshi household sets up the next stage of the investigation.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian, accompanied by Li San and Han Anbo, visits He Shouwang’s declining family estate to purchase a Fate Boat.
• The once-grand residence has fallen into disrepair, though its remaining furnishings and architecture reveal the household’s former wealth. The air is filled with the smell of medicinal herbs.
• He Shouwang presents the Fate Boat: a small tower ship containing the Fate Star “Dripping Water Forms a Lake.”
• Li Qingxian recognizes its value as a powerful Fate Star associated with diligent study and a tranquil mind. Its power can grow over time, eventually transforming from a lake into a sea.
• He Shouwang asks for 7,800 taels, and Li Qingxian immediately purchases it.
• He explains that the Fate Boat was given to his father by a Fate Arts Master as repayment for assistance. Because it was damaged and difficult to value, it had been preserved as an emergency asset.
• He Shouwang admits that his family was ruined by his obsession with “Birth”—the pursuit of immortality through expensive medicines and alchemical pills.
• Before Li Qingxian can leave, seven men from the Far-Reaching Martial Academy force their way into the residence, threatening He Shouwang and attempting to pressure him into selling something.
• Their leader, Jiao Tieshou, initially acts aggressively but becomes fearful after realizing that Li Qingxian is a Patrol Bureau official.
• Li Qingxian reprimands the group for breaking into a former jinshi household and orders Jiao Tieshou to send two men to surrender at the Divine Capital Yamen.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian: Demonstrates sharp judgment and restraint. He immediately recognizes the Fate Star’s long-term potential, conceals his excitement while negotiating, and uses his official authority decisively when confronted by intruders.
• He Shouwang: Appears humble and impoverished but is revealed to be an obsessive seeker of immortality. His panic and faint ruthlessness when the martial artists arrive suggest that he may be hiding additional circumstances surrounding the conflict.
• Han Anbo: Provides practical information about the local jurisdiction, supporting Li Qingxian’s authority and decision-making.
• Li San: Serves as the intermediary who arranged the purchase and introduces Li Qingxian to He Shouwang.
• Jiao Tieshou: Initially threatens He Shouwang with confidence, but quickly becomes deferential once he learns the visitors are government officials.

Significant Themes

• Obsession and ruin: He Shouwang’s pursuit of immortality consumes his fortune and destroys his household, showing how an apparently noble goal can become as destructive as gambling or drug addiction.
• The passage of time and accumulated power: “Dripping Water Forms a Lake” reflects the idea that steady accumulation can produce immense strength over long periods.
• Decline of former glory: The dilapidated jinshi residence contrasts with the family’s prestigious past, emphasizing how wealth, reputation, and status can fade.
• Official authority versus coercion: The martial academy relies on intimidation, but Li Qingxian restores order through lawful authority rather than violence.
• Hidden motives: He Shouwang’s evasive response about the Fate Arts Master and his reaction to the intruders hint at secrets beyond the apparent sale.

Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and He Shouwang interact formally, with He Shouwang showing extreme respect toward the official.
• Li Qingxian questions He Shouwang about his family, financial collapse, and the origin of the Fate Boat, gradually uncovering his obsession with immortality.
• Han Anbo quietly informs Li Qingxian of the proper governing office, enabling him to respond within the law.
• When Jiao Tieshou and his men invade, Li Qingxian confronts them directly, transforming the balance of power and forcing them to acknowledge official authority.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Li Qingxian intervenes in the He family’s dispute, the offending group agrees to send two representatives to the Divine Capital Yamen to surrender. Li warns He Shouwang to contact him directly if the family acquires more Fate Arts-related items.
• Han Anbo decides to investigate the He family and the Far-Reaching Martial Academy, suspecting deeper connections. Li San, who has ties to the academy, is assigned to gather information and is placed under Han’s employment with a monthly stipend.
• Li notices a carriage marked with Prince Yuan’s insignia. At Prince Yuan’s Residence, the prince and his steward discuss arranging an operation against Li around the Azure Cloud Examination. Prince Yuan believes Li is protected by powerful literary cultivators and therefore cannot be killed openly; instead, he plans to have a Grand Fate Arts Master damage Li’s Fate Mold.
• Guo Xiang, deputy director of the Black Lantern Bureau and a Fifth Rank Fate Cultivator, arrives to complete an exchange with Li. They swear an oath and trade:
  • Guo gives Li the methods for opening land, mountains, gathering veins, and building mountains.
  • Li gives Guo the Imperial Realm Finger Divine Incantation.
• Guo warns Li that Fate cultivation is difficult for a rogue cultivator and urges him to establish a proper sectarian foundation. He recommends the River Fate Sect or another major Fate sect, but strongly advises Li to avoid the Heaven’s Mandate Sect, which is hated for trying to dominate all Fate sects and ultimately the entire world.
• Guo reveals that Wang Buwu benefited greatly from his imprisonment. He discovered the hidden inheritance of a crippled Upper Rank martial cultivator and has risen to Seventh Rank, making him eligible for the Azure Cloud Examination. Fate deductions also show that an excellent Fate Star has entered Wang Buwu’s Fate Mansion, confirming that he possesses extraordinary Fortune.
• Li begins studying the newly acquired Fate-Ground-Opening Method. With help from notes left by Ye Han and Wang Buwu, he gradually understands its principles and identifies the particularly difficult but safest technique: the Fate-Filling Fortune-Repairing Method.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian becomes more deeply involved in political and Fate Arts conflicts. He expands his network through Han Anbo and Li San while continuing to conceal the full nature of his inheritance and the Heaven’s Mandate Instrument.
• Han Anbo takes responsibility for investigating the He family and the Far-Reaching Martial Academy, showing increasing trust and cooperation with Li.
• Li San is formally brought into Li’s circle and gains stable employment, transforming from a casual informant into a useful subordinate.
• Prince Yuan is revealed as an active hidden enemy. He is cautious and politically calculating, choosing to undermine Li’s Fate Mold rather than risk provoking Li’s powerful allies through direct assassination.
• Guo Xiang acts as both a trading partner and mentor. He respects Li but worries about his lack of a formal Fate cultivation foundation.
• Wang Buwu experiences a major rise in Fortune and cultivation after surviving imprisonment, gaining a powerful martial inheritance and advancing to Seventh Rank.

Significant Themes

• Political and supernatural maneuvering: Li’s enemies must account for the powerful forces protecting him, turning direct conflict into indirect attacks and schemes.
• Fortune and Fate: Wang Buwu’s escape and inheritance demonstrate how disaster can become a source of Fortune. Fate cultivation is presented as the art of influencing and stabilizing one’s predetermined path.
• The danger of power without foundation: Li possesses valuable Fate Arts but lacks a secure sectarian base, leaving him vulnerable and forcing him to rely on exchanges, the court, the Night Guard, and literary cultivation.
• Ambition and factional conflict: The Heaven’s Mandate Sect’s desire to unify all Fate sects creates widespread hostility and suggests larger ideological struggles within the cultivation world.
• Stability versus forced growth: Opening a Fate Ground can accelerate cultivation, but doing so prematurely risks severe consequences. The safest method requires repairing and filling one’s Fortune rather than merely forcing advancement.

Character Interactions

• Li deals mercifully but firmly with the He family’s opponents, establishing his authority while gaining a possible source of Fate Arts.
• Li, Han Anbo, and Li San form a cooperative investigative group, with Li assigning responsibilities and Han approving Li San’s involvement.
• Prince Yuan and his steward reveal the hostile plan against Li, emphasizing the contrast between Li’s growing influence and the court’s hidden schemes.
• Li and Guo Xiang conduct a formal, oath-bound exchange while also discussing Fate sect politics and cultivation foundations.
• Guo thanks Li for helping Wang Buwu and reports Buwu’s extraordinary advancement, strengthening Li’s connections with the Black Lantern Bureau.
• Li studies the Fate-Ground-Opening Method by combining Guo’s newly traded techniques with the scholarly notes of Ye Han and Wang Buwu, culminating in his discovery of the Fate-Filling Fortune-Repairing Method.

Chapter Summary: A New Fate Ground Gains a Young Adult

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian determines that the Fate-Filling Fortune-Repairing Method is the only viable Lower Rank method for opening a new Fate Ground. Opening it early will give him access to additional Fate Stars and accelerate his cultivation.
• He explains his decision to Zhou Chunfeng, who approves and allows Li Qingxian and Team Jia-Nine to remain in the capital to cultivate rather than undertake further missions.
• With Han Anbo’s help, Li Qingxian searches for suitable Diligent Study, Advancement, and Stability-type Fate Stars. They encounter sellers demanding excessive prices, creating financial strain because Li Qingxian is also funding the Arts Guild, intelligence network, and Fate Materials.
• After considerable preparation, Li Qingxian gathers forty-nine Fate Stars and forty-nine Fortune Fish and begins the process of opening his Young Adult Fate Ground.
• He performs the seven stages of the method:
  1. Mansion Fortification
  2. Evil-Expelling
  3. Fate Strengthening
  4. Ground Opening
  5. Form Stabilization
  6. Earth Nourishment
  7. Pattern Stabilization
• The Young Adult Fate Ground initially causes violent tremors because Li Qingxian’s Fate Mansion is too weak to support it. He stabilizes it by sacrificing additional Fortune Fish and less useful Fate Stars.
• Afterward, he rearranges his Fate Stars between the Youth and Young Adult Fate Grounds. He plans to acquire three suitable Diligent Study, Advancement, and Stability-type Fate Stars to form a complete pattern and eventually create a Fate Spirit.
• Li Qingxian emerges from the process feeling physically stronger and more perceptive.
• Zhou Chunfeng informs him that the Ministry of Justice, aided by a Middle Rank Fate Arts Master, has arrested several lower-ranking Patrol Bureau officials and is holding them without judgment, weakening the Patrol Bureau. Li Qingxian agrees to intervene after resting and adapting to his new power.
• The chapter closes with the arrival of autumn, symbolizing a shift from the vitality of summer toward a more bleak and uncertain period.

Character Development

• Li Qingxian becomes more strategic and mature in his cultivation. Rather than pursuing flashy or dangerous Fate Stars, he prioritizes stable, long-term growth through Diligent Study, Advancement, and Stability-type powers.
• He demonstrates increasing mastery of Fate Cultivation by carefully calculating Fate Star interactions and reorganizing his Fate Mansion according to principles of generation, restraint, and compatibility.
• His successful creation of the Young Adult Fate Ground marks a major advancement in both power and cultivation potential, though the process reveals that his Fate Mansion still has structural limits.
• Li Qingxian also shows greater willingness to participate in political and institutional conflicts, preparing to support the weakened Patrol Bureau.
• Zhou Chunfeng continues acting as a mentor and protector, encouraging Li Qingxian’s cultivation while keeping him informed about the broader political situation.
• Han Anbo remains a reliable assistant, helping Li Qingxian acquire Fate Stars despite financial and logistical difficulties.

Significant Themes

• Steady growth versus dangerous shortcuts: Li Qingxian rejects extreme wealth-oriented Fate Stars in favor of stable abilities that can develop continuously and avoid destructive side effects.
• Preparation and sacrifice: Establishing the Young Adult Fate Ground requires massive resources, careful planning, and the sacrifice of many Fate Stars and Fortune Fish.
• Strength and instability: Increased power brings new burdens. Li Qingxian’s Fate Mansion nearly collapses under the strain, showing that advancement must be matched by a strong foundation.
• Fate as structure and balance: The arrangement of Fate Stars is treated like a complex system of mutual generation, restraint, depletion, and leakage. Success depends on maintaining harmony rather than simply accumulating power.
• Political conflict beneath official legality: The Ministry of Justice uses technically lawful arrests to weaken the Patrol Bureau while avoiding direct confrontation with the Inner Factory, illustrating how institutions can manipulate rules for political advantage.
• Seasonal change: The transition from summer to autumn reflects the chapter’s movement from achievement and vitality toward political tension and impending conflict.

Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng: Li Qingxian reports his cultivation plan, receives permission to remain and cultivate, and later discusses the Ministry of Justice’s actions with Zhou Chunfeng. Zhou encourages him to rest before using his Fate Arts.
• Li Qingxian and Han Anbo: Han helps locate Fate Stars and negotiate with potential sellers, though the effort is largely unsuccessful because of high prices.
• Li Qingxian and his Fate Mansion: The cultivation sequence functions as an internal confrontation between his ambitions and the limitations of his current foundation. He must actively stabilize and reorganize the Fate Mansion to prevent collapse.
• Zhou Chunfeng and the wider political factions: Zhou explains how the Ministry of Justice is exploiting legal procedures to detain Patrol Bureau officials while avoiding a response from the Inner Factory, setting up the next conflict.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian promises Zhou Chunfeng that they will travel to Jiangnan the following spring, then returns to studying Fate Arts Masters’ notes for information about Fate Grounds.
• Fan Xing informs Li that Zhou Furui, an elderly prisoner in Cell B-Three, is now willing to sell his life in exchange for financial support for his granddaughter and her admission into the Night Guard.
• Zhou Furui reveals that he was once a renowned imperial goldsmith. After his hands were deliberately ruined, his employer, Treasure Abundance Firm, framed him for stealing imperial gold. His children were later killed, leaving only his granddaughter.
• The plot was orchestrated by Jia Da, a Middle Rank Fate Arts Master who coveted Zhou Furui’s Fate Mold. Jia Da’s associates are now attempting to lure Zhou’s granddaughter into the criminal Heavenly Hand Gang.
• Li investigates Zhou’s Fate Mold and discovers that Jia Da has placed a Fate Sealing Art on it, warning other Fate Arts Masters not to interfere.
• Li contacts Guo Xiang, who identifies Jia Da as a notorious, unscrupulous Fate Arts Master and Nine Lives Pavilion as a disreputable sect involved in abducting and exploiting children.
• With Guo Xiang’s backing, Li breaks Jia Da’s Fate Sealing Art and declares Zhou Furui under the protection of the Black Lantern Bureau.
• Inside Zhou’s Fate Mansion, Li discovers an exceptional Human Fate Star: Cleaving Hairs and Splitting Fibers, suggesting extraordinary precision and skill.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian continues developing his Fate Arts knowledge and becomes increasingly confident in challenging stronger or more established practitioners. Rather than cautiously negotiating with Jia Da, he decisively protects Zhou Furui after learning of the injustice.
• Zhou Furui is presented as proud, resilient, and deeply vengeful. Despite imprisonment, physical mutilation, and the loss of his children, he refuses to surrender his Fate Mold to Jia Da. His priority is securing a respectable future for his granddaughter.
• Fan Xing acts as an intermediary and provides important background information, while also warning Li about the dangers of provoking Jia Da.
• Guo Xiang demonstrates his loyalty to Li and his willingness to confront corrupt Fate Arts Masters on Li’s behalf. His knowledge reveals the extent of Jia Da’s criminal reputation.
• Jia Da emerges as a hidden antagonist: a predatory Fate Arts Master who destroys families and manipulates others to obtain valuable Fate Molds.
• Zhou Chunfeng appears briefly but meaningfully through her promise to accompany Li to Jiangnan, reinforcing their growing closeness.

Significant Themes

• Exploitation and predation: Powerful Fate Arts Masters manipulate ordinary people, destroy families, and treat human destiny as property.
• Justice versus institutional corruption: Zhou Furui was framed through the cooperation of his employer and corrupt practitioners, while official authorities failed to uncover the truth.
• Protection and loyalty: Li’s decision to shelter Zhou and his granddaughter reflects his growing willingness to use his influence to defend the vulnerable.
• Fate and ability: Zhou’s exceptional Fate Star suggests that hidden talent can survive even after a person’s life has been ruined by others.
• Revenge and old grudges: The chapter emphasizes how long-suppressed resentment can shape a person’s choices, while also hinting that confronting powerful enemies carries risks.
• Moral distinctions among Fate practitioners: Guo Xiang’s contempt for Nine Lives Pavilion highlights the difference between legitimate Fate Arts practitioners and those who use the discipline for trafficking, coercion, and murder.

Important Character Interactions

• Li and Zhou Chunfeng: Their brief exchange establishes a mutual promise and hints at an increasingly intimate relationship.
• Li and Fan Xing: Fan brings Zhou Furui’s case to Li, trusting him to judge whether the old man’s Fate Mold is worth protecting.
• Li and Zhou Furui: Their meeting reveals Zhou’s tragic history and gives him an opportunity to seek protection without submitting to Jia Da.
• Li and Guo Xiang: Guo provides crucial intelligence about Jia Da and Nine Lives Pavilion, then authorizes Li to act under his protection.
• Li and Jia Da: Though they do not meet directly, Li breaks Jia Da’s warning seal, imitates Guo Xiang’s voice, and openly claims Zhou Furui, turning their conflict into a direct challenge.

Chapter Summary: “South Xue, North Xue—Cutting South and North”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian examines Zhou Furui’s Human Fate Star, Cleaving Hairs and Splitting Fibers, which Jia Da had been pursuing.
• He recognizes that the Fate Star is a Diligent Study, Advancement, and Stability-type Human Fate Star, perfectly complementing his existing Fate Star, Dripping Water Forms a Lake. One emphasizes precision, while the other emphasizes long-term accumulation.
• Li negotiates with Zhou Furui, offering protection for Zhou’s granddaughter in exchange for the Fate Star. He arranges for her to enter the Women’s Division of the Patrol Bureau, ensuring her safety from Jia Da.
• To acquire the Fate Star, Li first purchases an ordinary Fate Mold from Han Anbo and uses it as bait, successfully fishing away Cleaving Hairs and Splitting Fibers.
• Li learns that Human Fate Stars do not produce immediate results. They function like gifted teachers, gradually improving their owner through continued effort; neglecting them can damage the Fate Star.
• Han Anbo reports that the Heavenly Hand Gang refuses to release the girl. The gang is deeply connected to influential financial and political forces and is backed by White Sword Mountain, which is affiliated with the North Xue Family.
• Li seeks help from Zhou Chunfeng, who quickly arranges the girl’s release and placement in the Patrol Bureau.
• Zhou warns Li to treat the South Xue Family cautiously but to seek his help whenever dealing with the far more powerful and politically entrenched North Xue Family.
• Their conversation broadens into a discussion of the Dynastic Cycle Law and the causes of a nation’s rise and fall.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates growing strategic judgment. He protects Zhou Furui without acting recklessly, uses political connections carefully, and secures the Fate Star through negotiation rather than force.
• He also reveals a strong moral opposition to political corruption and refuses to accept the idea that one should simply “get used to” powerful families abusing their influence.
• Li displays unusual intellectual insight when explaining his father’s theory that nations are destroyed primarily by internal decay, not external enemies.
• Zhou Furui shifts from fear and helplessness to relief after Li guarantees his granddaughter’s safety. His tears reflect both gratitude and the release of long-held anxiety.
• Han Anbo provides important information about the Heavenly Hand Gang and the North Xue Family, showing his role as a reliable source of institutional and political knowledge.
• Zhou Chunfeng acts as Li’s protector and mentor. He intervenes efficiently but also teaches Li the practical limits imposed by powerful political families.
• Zhou becomes deeply interested in Li’s ideas about dynastic collapse, revealing his respect for Li’s analytical ability and his desire to understand the theory further.

Significant Themes

• Accumulation and disciplined improvement: The two Human Fate Stars symbolize different forms of diligence—steady accumulation and exacting precision. Together they emphasize that meaningful growth requires sustained effort.
• Justice versus entrenched power: Li’s attempt to rescue Zhou Furui’s granddaughter exposes how criminal organizations survive through connections to sects, businesses, officials, and aristocratic families.
• Political pragmatism versus moral resistance: Zhou advises Li to accommodate the North Xue Family, while Li resists accepting such inequality as normal.
• Internal corruption as the cause of collapse: Li argues that nations fall when internal conflict, selfishness, and poor governance weaken them from within. Foreign enemies merely exploit an already-rotten foundation.
• Responsibility of the powerful: The chapter stresses that those with the most authority and wealth bear the greatest responsibility for national decline. Ordinary people are presented as the least culpable.
• Cycles of power: Zhou’s description of the North Xue Family reflects a recurring historical pattern: powerful forces are temporarily restrained, then gradually grow too influential and cause new crises.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and Zhou Furui: Their contract is both a transaction and an act of protection. Li gains the Fate Star while freeing Zhou’s family from Jia Da’s threat.
• Li Qingxian and Han Anbo: Han provides crucial intelligence about the Heavenly Hand Gang and the Xue families, helping Li understand the danger of acting independently.
• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng: Their mentor-student relationship deepens. Zhou protects Li politically, while Li challenges Zhou’s acceptance of unavoidable hierarchy.
• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng on dynasties: Their discussion shifts from immediate political danger to broad historical philosophy. Li presents his father’s theory that national destruction is caused by the collective failures of rulers, elites, scholars, military leaders, and other powerful groups. The chapter ends with Zhou asking whether “not a single snowflake is innocent” applies to national collapse.

Chapter Summary: “The Finite and the Infinite Entrap the Human Race”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng discuss the saying that people who cause disasters often evade responsibility by blaming others.
• Li explains that such rhetoric also erases the guilt of powerful figures: when catastrophe strikes, everyone is portrayed as an insignificant “snowflake,” allowing the true instigators to escape accountability.
• Li recalls his grandfather’s theory that nations collapse when their leaders place excessive faith in “the finite”—their own strength, authority, traditions, or established systems—and eventually face challenges beyond those limits.
• He contrasts this with pursuing “the infinite,” represented by the Great Dao, continued learning, humanity’s future, and the race’s ongoing development.
• Li argues that nearly everyone believes in some form of finiteness, including those who worship gods, since the power and protection they receive remain limited. Resistance to new ideas and excessive nostalgia for the past are also examples of clinging to the finite.
• Zhou raises a counterargument from Li’s father, Gang Feng: pursuing idealistic notions of infinity without practical foundations can destroy a nation.
• Li concludes that both his grandfather and father may be partly correct. Human survival may depend on balancing finite stability with infinite ambition rather than choosing one absolutely.
• He suggests that society should permit people to pursue different lives: some may seek family, work, and security, while others pursue knowledge, danger, transformation, and the future. Individuals should also be free to combine both paths.
• The discussion ends when Zhou asks where such safety can be found. Li realizes that no truly secure place exists and stares out at the autumn landscape in uncertainty.

Character Development

• Li Qingxian demonstrates intellectual and philosophical growth. He has spent years reconsidering his grandfather’s ideas and now develops his own synthesis of his grandfather’s pursuit of infinity and his father’s emphasis on practicality.
• He moves away from simplistic judgments about who is right or wrong and embraces complexity, balance, and the possibility that opposing perspectives may each contain part of the truth.
• Li also reveals a personal desire for an ordinary, peaceful life with a family, despite recognizing that the world may make such security impossible.
• Zhou Chunfeng begins as an interested questioner but gradually becomes deeply absorbed in Li’s reasoning. His surprise at Li’s ideas shows that he now sees Li as more mature and profound than before.
• Li’s grandfather is portrayed as a visionary thinker who valued continual advancement and the pursuit of the infinite.
• Gang Feng, Li’s father, represents grounded realism and warns against pursuing ideals detached from practical reality.
• Zhou Hen remains silent, serving as a quiet observer of the philosophical exchange.

Significant Themes

• Finite versus infinite: Finite power, tradition, authority, and knowledge are useful but dangerous when treated as absolute. Infinity represents continued growth, discovery, the Great Dao, and humanity’s future.
• Balance between ideals and practicality: Societies need both stability and ambition; pursuing either one exclusively can lead to stagnation or destruction.
• Responsibility and scapegoating: Those responsible for disasters often obscure their role by portraying everyone as equally helpless and blaming innocent victims.
• Human limitations: Individuals, rulers, nations, martial power, and even divine assistance are ultimately limited compared with the challenges of a changing world.
• Tolerance of differing paths: Conflict arises when people insist that only one way of living or thinking is correct. The chapter advocates allowing practical and idealistic people to coexist.
• Uncertainty and insecurity: Even the desire for a peaceful, ordinary life cannot guarantee safety in a dangerous and changing world.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng: Their conversation is respectful and exploratory. Zhou repeatedly prompts Li to explain his ideas, while Li gradually reveals his philosophy and personal doubts.
• Li Qingxian and his grandfather: Although the grandfather is absent, his teachings shape Li’s understanding of history, politics, and human progress.
• Li Qingxian and Gang Feng: Their opposing perspectives—idealistic infinity versus practical stability—form the central intellectual conflict of the chapter.
• Li Qingxian and Zhou Hen: Zhou Hen’s silence contrasts with Zhou Chunfeng’s questioning and emphasizes the weight of Li’s reflections.
• The chapter concludes with Zhou Chunfeng’s challenge about safety forcing Li to confront the gap between his philosophical ideals and the harsh reality of the world.

Chapter Summary: “Sweetness and Bitterness at the Dinner Table”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian becomes consumed by the question, “Where is there peace?” After witnessing the constant threats posed by war, demonic forces, Devilish Poison, and political conflict, he falls into a period of despair and lethargy.
• He struggles to eat, study, and cultivate, feeling that life in Qi Kingdom offers no safe or peaceful place.
• During a meal with Han Anbo, Yu Ping, and Zheng Gaojue, Li asks Han about Qi Kingdom’s decline.
• Han explains that Great Qi’s earlier prosperity was built by exploiting and draining neighboring small nations. Once that source of wealth dried up, the ruling class began exploiting its own people, causing the nation’s continuing disorder.
• Han argues that all forms of suffering are fundamentally the same: the suffering of people beneath others in the social hierarchy. Those at the top may experience dissatisfaction, but they can still choose comfort and sweetness; those below have no such choice.
• Li asks whether anything can be done. Han admits that survival is the first priority, but believes that continued thought and perseverance may eventually reveal a solution.
• Li resumes cultivation. His Young Adult Fate Ground fully forms, his Eighth Rank cultivation stabilizes, and his mana becomes vastly greater than that of ordinary cultivators at the same level.
• His extraordinary Fortune, Divine Firmament Thunder Seed, Thunder Dragon Fire Seal, and the four cultivating boys within his Spirit Platform suggest that he is ready to advance to Seventh Rank. However, he decides not to rush.
• The chapter ends with alarming news: He Lei has been taken by the Ministry of Justice, and his entire household has disappeared. The Patrol Bureau fears that the Ministry is systematically targeting its office heads. The Inner Factory’s officials are divided between retaliation and waiting to see how events unfold.

Character Development

• Li Qingxian: Moves from despair toward renewed determination. Though still troubled by the lack of peace, he accepts that continuing to think, survive, and grow stronger is preferable to surrendering to hopelessness. His cultivation develops dramatically, and he becomes increasingly powerful and politically significant.
• Han Anbo: Reveals a mature and deeply pessimistic understanding of Qi Kingdom’s social structure. He identifies hierarchical oppression—not merely war or demonic threats—as the fundamental source of suffering. Despite his cynicism, he encourages Li to keep living and searching for answers.
• Yu Ping: Represents a survival-focused outlook. He cares less about political causes than staying alive and enjoying whatever food and comfort he can find.
• Zheng Gaojue: Offers a naïve challenge to Han’s argument by suggesting that wealthy families suffer too, prompting Han to clarify the difference between unavoidable bitterness and suffering that can be escaped through privilege.
• He Lei: Though absent from the chapter, his previous support of Li is emphasized, making his arrest personally significant to Li.

Significant Themes

• The absence of peace: Li’s crisis reflects a world where political, supernatural, and social dangers overlap, leaving ordinary people with no truly secure refuge.
• Class and hierarchy: Han argues that suffering is fundamentally caused by being placed beneath others. Differences of gender, age, region, or occupation are secondary to the power relationship between rulers and the ruled.
• Exploitation and political decay: Great Qi’s decline is presented as the consequence of predatory prosperity. A state that survives by consuming others eventually turns its exploitation inward.
• Survival and perseverance: The characters cannot immediately change the world, so survival becomes the necessary first step toward any future reform.
• Power and responsibility: Li’s rapidly increasing cultivation gives him greater ability to act, but the chapter suggests that strength alone will not solve the deeper social and political problems.
• Sweetness and bitterness: The title reflects Han’s distinction between those who can choose comfort and those forced to endure hardship. The privileged may complain of insufficient sweetness, while the powerless experience only varying degrees of bitterness.

Character Interactions

• Li’s discussion with Han forms the emotional and philosophical center of the chapter. Li asks about the nation’s history and the possibility of peace, while Han responds with an analysis of systemic exploitation and inequality.
• Yu Ping’s desire to stay alive and eat well contrasts with Li’s broader search for meaning and safety.
• Zheng Gaojue’s objection that wealthy families suffer allows Han to sharpen his argument about privilege: the powerful may suffer, but they can still choose relief.
• Han and Li reach a tentative shared conclusion that continued survival and thought may eventually produce a path forward.
• The final news about He Lei shifts the group from philosophical reflection to immediate political danger, showing that their abstract concerns are directly connected to events threatening their own lives and organization.

Chapter Summary: “Five Soils Lead Down the Wrong Path”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After stabilizing his cultivation, Li Qingxian visits Chunfeng Residence and consults Zhou Chunfeng. They agree to retaliate against the Devil Sect using the same “eye for an eye” approach as before.
• With Yang Fatty’s help, Li enters He Lei’s work courtyard and uses He Lei’s personal belongings—shoes, clothing, hair, and other objects—as anchors for a fate-tracing ritual.
• Li sets up two layers of arrays, including ritual artifacts, genuine magical treasures, Spirit-Awakening Talismans, and eight directional talismans. He activates the technique “Mirror Heaven, Illuminate Fate.”
• The bronze mirror cracks and summons a grotesque entity called the Back-Eyed Man, or “Fate Maggot,” created through an evil destiny art. It attempts to locate and attack Li.
• Li avoids looking directly at the creature’s horrifying eye and restrains it with twelve rings of fate-script. He then uses several Fate Measuring Sect techniques:
  • One distances the creature by making it appear to cross a thousand li.
  • Another weighs it down with an invisible mountain.
• The Fate Maggot repeatedly breaks through Li’s restraints, but each escape weakens it, causing its body to split, bleed, and decay. Li deliberately prolongs the fight to test his destiny arts and gain experience in his first Fate Duel.
• Before using his strongest technique, the Great Principle-Slaying Sword, Li instead employs the Five Soils Guiding the Way, using soil from important Night Guard locations to create a symbolic gate, road, courtyard, and house.
• With Zhou Chunfeng’s waist token and his own side-room token, Li invokes the authority of his superiors and the Night Guard. A golden official seal emerges and crushes the Back-Eyed Man, causing it to explode into black blood and filth.
• Li collects the remains in a talisman-formed cup, transforming them into black ink for later examination.
• He concludes that the Devil Sect’s Fate Arts Master was probably not directly attacking him. Instead, the Fate Maggot may have been using Li as a medium or “springboard” to attach itself to another person’s Fate Mansion. This explains why the Five Soils technique worked so easily.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates increased confidence and preparation after stabilizing his cultivation. He anticipates that the enemy’s Fate Arts Master may have prepared against him and therefore creates layered defenses.
• He remains calm despite encountering a terrifying and unfamiliar evil destiny art, showing discipline by refusing to look directly at the Back-Eyed Man’s eye.
• Li uses the confrontation as practical training, experimenting with several techniques rather than immediately relying on his strongest attack.
• His understanding of Fate Arts deepens. By analyzing the Fate Maggot’s strength and behavior, he recognizes that the enemy likely lacks a major lineage and may have a different target.
• Li also learns to draw on institutional authority, using Zhou Chunfeng’s token and his own position within the Night Guard to amplify his techniques.

Significant Themes

• Preparation versus hidden threats: Li understands that the enemy will anticipate the Patrol Bureau’s Fate Arts Master, so he prepares multiple layers of arrays and magical defenses.
• Authority as power: The Night Guard’s hierarchy and official symbols become literal sources of magical strength. Li’s low rank is offset by borrowing the authority of his superiors and institution.
• Knowledge through combat: The Fate Duel serves not only as a battle but also as a learning opportunity, allowing Li to test and refine his techniques.
• Appearance and hidden purpose: The grotesque Fate Maggot appears to attack Li directly, but its true purpose may have been to use him as a conduit for attacking someone else.
• Control over evil: Rather than allowing the enemy’s terrifying technique to dictate the encounter, Li methodically confines, measures, redirects, and ultimately destroys it.

Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian and Zhou Chunfeng: They cooperate closely, agreeing on retaliation and later combining their authority through Zhou’s waist token.
• Li Qingxian and Yang Fatty: Yang helps Li gain access to He Lei’s private courtyard, enabling the fate-tracing ritual.
• Li Qingxian and He Lei: Though He Lei is absent, his personal belongings become essential ritual links for locating or probing his fate.
• Li Qingxian and the Back-Eyed Man: Their interaction is a direct Fate Duel. The creature repeatedly announces that it has “found” Li and advances toward him, while Li counters it with restraint, spatial distortion, weight, and official Night Guard authority.
• Li Qingxian and the Night Guard hierarchy: Li invokes the power of Zhou Chunfeng, the official road, the main hall, and the superior’s seal, turning institutional relationships into a decisive weapon.

Chapter Summary: “Cutting Shadows at Chunfeng Residence”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian explains to Zhou Chunfeng that the enemy used a Fate Maggot, an evil Fate Arts technique designed to weaken or corrupt a person’s Fate Mold and Fortune. The technique was disguised as Li Qingxian’s power so that people connected to him would not reject it.
• Li determines that the enemy Fate Arts Master was no higher than Sixth Rank and has suffered severe backlash after opposing the Coward King, a genuine Third Rank expert. The enemy will likely need at least a month to recover.
• Suspecting that Zhou Chunfeng may also have been targeted, Li offers to create a Fake-Life Man, a substitute body capable of absorbing or blocking a fatal attack. Though weaker than a true Half-Life Man, it requires only one Fate Star.
• To create it, Li gathers Zhou’s hair, blood, fingernails, clothing, personal belongings, and a portion of his shadow. He cuts away a corner of Zhou’s shadow using a talisman transformed into scissors.
• The shadow-cutting leaves Zhou briefly dizzy and ill, and the missing portion cannot naturally regrow. Zhou must later ask Guo Xiang to perform a Shadow-Replenishing Art to protect the gap from enemy Fate Arts.
• With the enemy weakened, Zhou and Li discuss retaliation. Zhou chooses to fight rather than seek peace, accepting the risk of provoking the Devil Sect’s Ministry of Justice.
• Li proposes using powerful and normally taboo Fate Arts to harass the Ministry of Justice by borrowing Fortune from various government offices. To do this safely, he wants Eunuch Lu’s seal token and cooperation from officials across the government.
• The plan will also require imperial edicts and calligraphic works bearing the Jade Imperial Seal, which contain powerful imperial Fortune. Zhou reveals that he has collected many such items and gives them to Li.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates increasingly sophisticated knowledge of Fate Arts, accurately identifying the enemy’s method and devising both defensive and retaliatory measures.
• He also shows greater confidence and boldness. Although he remains playful with Zhou, he is now willing to use dangerous, morally questionable techniques because the enemy has already employed Evil Fate Arts.
• Zhou Chunfeng becomes an active participant in the coming conflict rather than merely a target. He accepts the risks of creating the Fake-Life Man and chooses retaliation despite the danger of confronting the Ministry of Justice.
• Zhou’s trust in Li deepens. He readily provides personal materials, valuable Fate-related objects, and his collection of imperial items.
• Zhou Hen serves as a curious observer of the shadow-cutting ritual, emphasizing the strange and tangible nature of Fate Arts.

Significant Themes

• Fate, Fortune, and vulnerability: The chapter presents Fortune as something that can be weakened, concealed, transferred, or weaponized.
• Protection through sacrifice: Zhou must surrender part of his shadow and endure illness to gain protection from future attacks.
• Escalation and retaliation: Once one side violates moral limits by using Evil Fate Arts, the opposing side feels justified in employing dangerous or forbidden methods.
• Trust and cooperation: Li and Zhou’s relationship is based on mutual confidence, with both willing to share secrets, resources, and risks.
• Bureaucratic power as mystical power: Government offices, official seals, imperial edicts, and the Jade Imperial Seal are not merely administrative symbols; they embody enormous Fortune that can be mobilized through Fate Arts.
• The danger of forbidden knowledge: Techniques dismissed as too dangerous or improper for ordinary Fate Arts Masters may become decisive weapons in the hands of someone with Li’s unusual status and abilities.

Character Interactions

• Li and Zhou have a close, teasing relationship. Zhou worries about the cost of the Fake-Life Man, while Li jokes that Zhou can repay him by praising him to You Fei.
• Zhou initially questions the value and expense of the technique but ultimately trusts Li’s judgment and supplies everything required.
• Their conversation shifts from personal defense to strategic warfare, with Zhou asking Li how best to strike back and Li outlining a broad political and mystical operation.
• Zhou Hen silently watches the ritual, while Zhou experiences firsthand the unsettling reality of having part of his shadow removed.
• By the end, Zhou formally supports Li’s plan by handing over his collection of imperial edicts and Jade Imperial Seal calligraphy, marking their transition from defense to preparation for a major counterattack.

Chapter Summary: “Dragon-Inviting the Imperial Prison Bureau”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian examines Zhou Chunfeng’s collection of imperial edicts and seal impressions, noting that Zhou possesses many varieties of Jade Imperial Seal inscriptions.
• He expresses interest in obtaining rarer imperial seals—especially those connected to Great Qi’s legitimacy, the emperor’s mandate, and the former crown princes—because imperial seals contain powerful Fortune that can be converted into Fate Arts power.
• Zhou explains that such items may circulate through officials, eunuchs, antique dealers, and private collectors, sometimes entering the common market after palace or princely-estate fires. He advises Li to consult Jing Guan or Eunuch Fei and possibly enlist Han Anbo’s connections.
• Zhou promises to obtain Eunuch Lu’s seal credential, which Li needs for his planned Fate Art against the Ministry of Justice. He also assures Li that He Lei’s allies will hesitate to act while their own Fate Arts Master is threatened; if necessary, Zhou’s faction may attack the Ministry of Justice to rescue Chief He.
• Li secretly prepares a complete Half-Life Man for Zhou, despite claiming that he would make only a counterfeit version. He also gathers Fate materials, Fortune Fish, and Fate Molds.
• After obtaining Eunuch Lu’s credential, Li visits several government offices and, with Zhou Chunfeng and Song Yunjing, seeks cooperation from the Ministry of Rites, the Dao Records Office, and the Court of Judicial Review—three offices hostile to the Ministry of Justice.
• Li explains that his strategy is based on the “Five Dragons Subduing the Sea Grand Fate Art,” adapted from the Five Soils Guiding the Way Art. Though he cannot perform a Grand Destiny Art alone, he intends to use imperial edicts, official seal credentials, and five Principal Fifth Rank officials to channel and redirect Fortune against the Ministry of Justice.
• In a concealed cell of the Imperial Prison Bureau, Li begins setting up the ritual. He transforms the cell with an altar, ritual objects, the Night Guard Command Guard Envoy’s seal credential, a basin of water, and 999 prepared yellow talismans.
• The chapter ends as Li begins chanting the Dragon-Inviting Litany, apparently calling upon a powerful dragon-like force to initiate the Fate Art.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates growing ambition, ingenuity, and mastery of Fate Arts. He understands that imperial relics can serve as sources of Fortune and actively seeks increasingly powerful seals.
• His willingness to obtain illicit or dangerous imperial treasures highlights both his boldness and his tendency to flirt with political and supernatural taboos.
• Li also shows secrecy and strategic caution: he deceives Zhou about the Half-Life Man’s quality and carefully arranges cooperation among multiple government offices.
• Zhou Chunfeng continues acting as Li’s political protector and ally. He is amused and exasperated by Li’s recklessness but trusts his abilities enough to support the plan.
• Zhou’s acceptance of the complete Half-Life Man reveals his dependence on Li and the seriousness of the danger surrounding the conflict with the Ministry of Justice.
• Han Anbo is characterized as a reliable but potentially ambitious underworld-connected figure whose broad network may help Li acquire imperial artifacts.
• The unnamed Patrol Bureau assistant bureau chief becomes the first official participant in Li’s ritual, showing that the operation relies on institutional cooperation rather than Li’s power alone.

Significant Themes

• Power through imperial legitimacy: Imperial seals are not merely bureaucratic tools; they embody the dynasty’s orthodox authority and Fortune.
• Political power and Fate Arts: Government offices, official credentials, and ritual authority are combined to manipulate the flow of national Fortune.
• Risk and taboo: Li’s pursuit of forbidden seals and his willingness to exploit illicit channels reflects the dangers of challenging imperial and supernatural boundaries.
• Collective strength versus individual power: Li cannot perform the Grand Destiny Art by himself, so he uses officials, institutions, imperial documents, and accumulated Fortune to amplify his influence.
• Hidden warfare: The conflict with the Ministry of Justice is fought through rituals, political alliances, credentials, and control over Fortune rather than open battle.
• Trust and deception: Zhou trusts Li but remains uneasy, while Li withholds the true extent of his preparations, suggesting that even close alliances contain concealed motives and risks.

Character Interactions

• Li and Zhou engage in a teasing but serious discussion about imperial seals, with Zhou repeatedly warning Li against courting disaster.
• Zhou offers practical guidance and political support while Li explains the metaphysical value of imperial credentials.
• Zhou evaluates Han Anbo’s trustworthiness and cautions Li not to delegate everything to him.
• Li reassures Zhou about the Fate Art, emphasizing that the participating officials and their credentials will provide the necessary power.
• Their interaction shows mutual dependence: Zhou supplies political access and protection, while Li provides supernatural tools such as the Half-Life Man and the Fate Art.
• Li works with Zhou Chunfeng and Song Yunjing to recruit hostile government offices, then begins the ritual alongside the Patrol Bureau official, marking the transition from preparation to execution.

Chapter Summary: Five Dragons Subduing the Sea and Disordering the Heavenly Prison

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qingxian performs the Five Dragons Subduing the Sea Grand Fate Art, using an imperial edict, talisman papers, and ritual altars to summon divine dragons from the five directions.
• He demonstrates the technique before officials from the Divine Capital Prefecture, Ministry of Rites, Court of Judicial Review, Dao Records Office, and the Night Guard. The summoned dragons weaken the protective fog surrounding the Ministry of Justice.
• After five days of accumulated fortune, Zhou Chunfeng orders Li Qingxian to target the Heavenly Prison, seeking to throw it into chaos.
• Using a seven-star steel sword wrapped in talismans, Li Qingxian performs a powerful fate-altering ritual. His successive strikes:
  • Create cracks in the prison’s destiny,
  • Sever its flow of fortune,
  • Disorder its fate,
  • Bring about “death fortune.”
• The sword shatters completely, injuring Li Qingxian’s hand, but the ritual succeeds: the Heavenly Prison’s destiny is split apart, leaving it vulnerable to disorder and escape attempts.
• That night, flames and supernatural phenomena erupt across the Ministry of Justice. Much of the complex collapses, and numerous powerful cultivators rush to contain the crisis.
• A warning that the Ten-Poison Old Man may escape draws even more high-ranking experts to the prison. The resulting battle is so powerful that the Ministry of Justice eventually conceals the entire scene with a Dharma artifact.
• Li Qingxian and the Night Guards observe the chaos from afar. He tells them to rest, predicting they will be extremely busy the next day.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates increasingly advanced mastery of Fate Arts, successfully controlling a large-scale ritual involving five divine dragons and several government offices.
• He remains calm despite the dangerous backlash of the ritual and his severe injuries, treating his wounds methodically and continuing to analyze the spell’s strengths and flaws.
• His reflections reveal growing confidence and strategic awareness. He recognizes that greater ruthlessness would have caused more destruction but also a stronger backlash.
• Li Qingxian also shows practical ingenuity, realizing that using an ordinary steel sword rather than a valuable Dharma artifact reduced the damage to himself.
• Zhou Chunfeng becomes more openly aggressive toward the Ministry of Justice, deliberately requesting that the Heavenly Prison be thrown into chaos. His attitude reflects his belief that the Ministry has already gone too far.
• The Night Guards increasingly trust Li Qingxian’s abilities, though they remain wary and astonished by the scale of his magic.

Significant Themes

• Power and political conflict: The ritual is not merely magical; it is a weapon in the escalating struggle between the Night Guard and the Ministry of Justice.
• Strategic restraint: Li Qingxian deliberately limits the ritual’s power to avoid even greater backlash, showing that controlled strength can be more effective than maximum force.
• Destiny as something manipulable: The chapter portrays fate as a structure that can be cracked, severed, disordered, and destroyed through ritual action.
• Chaos and hidden consequences: The ritual’s effects are initially invisible but later erupt into widespread destruction, emphasizing how unseen changes in fortune can produce dramatic physical consequences.
• Political opportunism: Many powerful figures arrive ostensibly to rescue the Ministry of Justice, but their eagerness suggests they are also interested in exploiting the prison crisis and its prisoners.

Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian repeatedly reports to Zhou Chunfeng and the other officials, explaining the completion and timing of the Grand Fate Art.
• Zhou Chunfeng gives Li Qingxian his target and encourages the attack on the Heavenly Prison despite possible objections from higher authorities.
• The assembled Night Guards watch anxiously as Li Qingxian destroys the sword and injures himself, but they do not interrupt the ritual.
• After the crisis begins, Li Qingxian advises Zhou Chunfeng to station people outside the prison to capture escaping prisoners while keeping the operation secret.
• He dismisses any connection between himself and possible involvement by the Mud Society, Nether Mountain, or the Devil Sect, presenting himself as merely a minor Fate Arts Master.
• At the end, Li Qingxian and the Night Guards observe the battle from a distance before he orders everyone to return and prepare for the aftermath.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Major Events

• Before dawn, Zhou Chunfeng informs Li Qingxian that the latest Heavenly Prison break has caused a major political crisis. Unlike the previous rescue of the Mud Hermit, this escape involved numerous powerful prisoners aided by forces within and outside the prison.
• The most shocking escapee is Jiangcheng Prince, who was believed to have died three years earlier after massacring a city, fleeing toward the Demon Race, and being killed near the Great River.
• The truth is revealed: the “Jiangcheng Prince” who died was a Devil Sect puppet. The real prince had been captured, tortured, and imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison for three years because his Daoist cultivation produced a Martial Dao Golden Core capable of neutralizing poison and devilish toxins.
• The Ministry of Justice and Devil-Transforming Mountain are implicated in the conspiracy. Their actions outrage the military, since Jiangcheng Prince was a legitimate Third Rank military-merit prince.
• Because of the crisis, the court holds only a restricted Upper Rank assembly. The Martial King personally appears, raising the possibility that he will once again violently intimidate officials, recalling the famous “whack-a-mole” incident in which he drove a Third Rank master into the Golden Throne Hall floor.
• Strange tremors shake the Imperial Palace five times, suggesting that the court conflict is even more serious than publicly acknowledged.
• Zhou Chunfeng reveals that the Patrol Bureau captured many escaped prisoners. Several claim they were unjustly imprisoned, especially because some had never received the required joint trial by the Ministry of Justice, Court of Judicial Review, and Censorate.
• The Devil-Slaying Society, an alliance of forces whose masters were captured by the Devil Sect, has rescued several prisoners and is expected to retaliate against Devil Sect branches throughout the realm.
• Zhou Chunfeng decides to exploit the Devil Sect’s weakened position. He orders the Patrol Bureau to arrest lower-ranking Ministry of Justice officials and confiscate their properties until the Ministry releases the unlawfully held prisoners.
• Li Qingxian is assigned seven wealthy Seventh Rank Ministry of Justice officials to investigate. He immediately leads A Division, accompanied by Eunuch Jing Guan, to raid Xin Guizhi’s residence.
• Zhou Hen detects devilish poison inside the residence. Li Qingxian uses the Fortune Measuring Ruler to confirm the danger, equips the Literary Cultivators with additional Literary Treasures, and orders the Night Guard to attack without following normal procedures.
• The Night Guard storms the estate. When a steward tries to invoke Xin Guizhi’s Ministry of Justice connections, a guard kills him immediately, establishing the raid’s ruthless tone.

Character Development

• Li Qingxian becomes increasingly confident and politically assertive. He recognizes the opportunity created by the Heavenly Prison crisis and eagerly volunteers to participate in the confiscations.
• He also demonstrates practical leadership by detecting the devilish poison, arming his subordinates, warning them of the danger, and authorizing decisive action.
• Zhou Chunfeng reveals himself as a calculating political strategist. Rather than merely reacting to the crisis, he plans to pressure the Ministry of Justice through arrests and property seizures.
• Zhou Hen continues to serve as a careful and perceptive protector, identifying the hidden danger in Xin Residence before the assault begins.
• Jiangcheng Prince is recontextualized from a disgraced traitor into a surviving military hero and victim of a long-running Devil Sect conspiracy.
• The Martial King is presented as a legendary, intimidating force whose presence can silence the court through sheer physical dominance.

Significant Themes

• Corruption and institutional abuse: The imprisonment and torture of Jiangcheng Prince, along with the denial of proper trials, reveal deep corruption within the Ministry of Justice.
• Political opportunism: Zhou Chunfeng uses the Devil Sect scandal to weaken a rival institution and recover prisoners while strengthening the Patrol Bureau.
• Truth versus fabricated identity: The puppet impersonation of Jiangcheng Prince highlights the Devil Sect’s ability to manipulate public perception and rewrite political reality.
• Law versus power: Although the chapter discusses legal procedures and joint trials, the Patrol Bureau ultimately resorts to force, showing that justice in this world depends heavily on political and martial strength.
• The Devil Sect’s pervasive threat: Their schemes extend into the Heavenly Prison, government institutions, and the cultivation world, prompting former victims to unite against them.
• Hidden consequences and Fortune: Li Qingxian recognizes that even his limited involvement in the broader struggle for Fortune has helped trigger unexpectedly large political upheavals.

Character Interactions

• Zhou Chunfeng explains the Heavenly Prison crisis to Li Qingxian and shares sensitive political information.
• Li Qingxian and the others joke about the Martial King’s past courtroom violence, using humor to ease the tension surrounding the crisis.
• Zhou Chunfeng and Li Qingxian agree that the Ministry of Justice should be attacked while it is vulnerable, with Li Qingxian enthusiastically accepting responsibility for the confiscations.
• Zhou Hen warns Li Qingxian about the devilish poison, prompting him to alter the raid strategy.
• Li Qingxian commands the Night Guard to abandon ordinary restraint and attack Xin Residence directly.
• The final confrontation between the Night Guard and Xin Guizhi’s steward demonstrates the widening gap between official authority and those who rely on bureaucratic connections for protection.

Chapter Summary: “Found the Hidden Place”

Key Plot Points and Events

• During a raid on the Xin Residence, Li Qingxian notices that the household members behave unusually—arrogantly, defiantly, and with suspiciously tight lips.
• The Night Guard searches the estate thoroughly. Although they find evidence of Devilish Poison cultivation in the training room, the residence otherwise appears ordinary.
• Suspecting a hidden location, Li releases Seeking Immortal Bees and combines them with Fate-Seeking Arts. He discovers unusual wear on seven lotus patterns decorating a porcelain vase in the study.
• Jing Guan identifies the vase as a Formation Bottle, which can open a secret passage when its seven marked points are touched in the correct order.
• Li uses Fate-Seeking Arts, sacrificing a Fortune Fish to determine the correct sequence. Activating the vase creates a mist-filled formation gate leading to a dark staircase.
• Zhou Hen explains that the passage leads to a Devil Chamber, a forbidden place where the Devil Sect cultivates Devilish Poison using living people. If such a chamber has been established inside the Divine Capital, it represents a major threat and scandal.
• Li immediately tries to shift the credit to Zhou Hen, allowing Zhou Hen to claim the discovery and avoid exposing Li to danger or retaliation from the Devil Sect.
• Zhou Chunfeng, Yan Shixiao, Yu Qingchen, and a group of red-robed eunuchs arrive to investigate. The group enters the passage and eventually reaches a large underground hall with three arched doorways on each of three sides.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian demonstrates growing skill in investigation, Fate Arts, and deduction. He recognizes that the ordinary appearance of the residence hides something significant and successfully uncovers the secret entrance.
• He also shows political awareness and self-preservation by repeatedly insisting that Zhou Hen discovered the Devil Chamber. His playful behavior masks a careful attempt to avoid dangerous credit.
• Zhou Hen acts cautiously and pragmatically. He understands the importance of the discovery and accepts responsibility for the merit, while warning Li that the Devil Sect could kill him if his involvement became known.
• Jing Guan reveals extensive knowledge of formations and the imperial court’s history. His anger at the Devil Sect highlights his loyalty to Great Qi and his hatred of their forbidden practices.
• Zhou Chunfeng, Yan Shixiao, and Yu Qingchen arrive as higher-ranking authorities, signaling that the discovery has become a matter of national importance. Yu Qingchen’s calm, understated presence contrasts with his hidden power as a Third Rank Grand Cultivator.

Significant Themes

• Hidden danger beneath normal appearances: The Xin Residence looks wealthy but ordinary, yet conceals a forbidden Devil Chamber.
• Political maneuvering and credit: Discovering the chamber brings enormous merit but also severe danger. Li’s effort to pass credit to Zhou Hen shows how survival depends on controlling recognition.
• The Devil Sect’s threat: The existence of a Devil Chamber inside the Divine Capital demonstrates the sect’s audacity and the depth of its infiltration.
• Knowledge and specialized skill: The mystery is solved through the combined use of Fate Arts, spirit insects, formation knowledge, and experience rather than brute force.
• Atmosphere of corruption and horror: The foul smells, distorted impressions, and resemblance to the Eerie Village suggest that the underground area is connected to unnatural and traumatic forces.

Character Interactions

• Li and Jing Guan work together to identify the vase and understand the mechanism behind the hidden passage.
• Li relies on Zhou Hen’s authority, then jokingly flatters him while trying to secure protection and avoid responsibility.
• Jing Guan supports Li’s claim that Zhou Hen made the discovery, recognizing the political necessity of doing so.
• Zhou Hen and Li exchange teasing remarks, but their conversation reflects genuine trust and mutual protection.
• When the senior officials arrive, Li quickly points to Zhou Hen as the discoverer. Yan Shixiao accepts this explanation, while the others proceed into the Devil Chamber.
• The chapter ends with the group entering a mysterious underground hall, setting up an exploration of the chamber’s three sets of arched doors.

Chapter Summary: “First Encounter with the Devil Chamber”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yu Qingchen leads Li Qingxian and the others into a hidden underground prison known as a Devil Chamber, where Devil Cult guards and puppets have already been subdued.
• The group discovers horrifying chambers containing victims subjected to grotesque rituals:
  • People nailed to walls and drained into a blood pool containing a hidden figure.
  • Prisoners infested with snakes, rats, and insects.
  • Pregnant women whose unnaturally moving bellies and eerie nursery rhyme suggest demonic experimentation.
• Zhou Chunfeng and Yan Shixiao order Li Qingxian to leave before seeing more. They later remain inside for hours, emerging visibly traumatized.
• Li Qingxian struggles to understand why the court and major factions knowingly tolerate the Devil Sect’s atrocities, despite the danger they pose to humanity.
• The Devil Chamber is quietly suppressed. Officials prepare a memorial to the emperor, but public attention shifts almost entirely to the supposedly resurrected Jiangcheng Prince.
• The Left Vice Minister of Justice is executed for colluding with demons and poisoning the Jiangcheng Prince. Though the Night Guards celebrate, no one provides Li Qingxian with information about the Devil Chamber.
• Concluding that the matter is being deliberately covered up, Li Qingxian decides to leave the Divine Capital for Jiangnan. Han Anbo warns him that the capital is dangerous, while Yu Ping eagerly agrees to accompany him and Zheng Gaojue considers joining.

Character Developments

• Li Qingxian is deeply shaken by the Devil Chamber but responds with moral clarity rather than resignation. He begins questioning the political forces that allow such evil to continue and becomes more determined to uncover the truth.
• Yu Qingchen demonstrates his strength and composure by subduing the chamber’s guards, puppets, and devil spawn, though even he is affected by the chamber’s nature.
• Zhou Chunfeng and Yan Shixiao are visibly horrified by what they witness. Their usual authority gives way to exhaustion and helplessness, though they still urge Li Qingxian to proceed cautiously.
• Jing Guan admits that seeing the chamber has changed his understanding of the Devil Sect and why people hate it so intensely.
• Han Anbo reveals that he already knew of the Devil Chamber but has no explanation for why the court ignores it, emphasizing the limits of even his knowledge.
• Yu Ping and Zheng Gaojue strengthen their connection with Li Qingxian by considering—or choosing—to accompany him to Jiangnan.

Significant Themes

• Institutional corruption and deliberate silence: The chamber’s existence is known to powerful officials, yet they refuse to expose or destroy it.
• Moral outrage versus political pragmatism: Li Qingxian believes the issue should be confronted directly, while older officials insist that matters are complicated and must be handled gradually.
• The loss of innocence: Li Qingxian and Jing Guan confront the reality that some people commit atrocities so extreme that they seem no longer human.
• Hidden dangers beneath public affairs: The horrific Devil Chamber is ignored while the court focuses on the politically prominent Jiangcheng Prince.
• Youthful idealism and experience: Li Qingxian’s straightforward desire to “lift the lid” contrasts with the older generation’s caution, fear, and resignation.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Qingxian’s conversations with Jing Guan and Han Anbo expose the widespread knowledge of the Devil Chamber and the inability—or unwillingness—of officials to act.
• His questioning of Zhou Chunfeng and Yan Shixiao highlights the conflict between his direct morality and their cautious political judgment.
• His decision to leave the capital brings Yu Ping and Zheng Gaojue closer to him, while Han Anbo offers protective advice about the dangers surrounding him.