Chapter Summaries

Li Yunxin learned that Meng E had been wronged by the Qiao women and set out to investigate the prefectural yamen. He discovered the street before it was filled with Faceless Ghosts and turned back rather than risk revealing himself.

• Li Yunxin told Liu Laodao that Meng E had killed someone but that the Qiao women had murdered Qiao Duanhong and plotted to seize the family property.
• Li Yunxin said he would visit the prefectural magistrate, then asked Liu Laodao for directions and left to investigate.
• Li Yunxin crossed Weicheng at night and noticed the city was more open and lively than he had expected.
• Near the yamen, Li Yunxin saw Faceless Ghosts surround and inspect a servant without the servant noticing them.
• Li Yunxin sensed a Yin Spirit Grand Formation around the yamen, decided not to enter, and watched the servant return without the ghosts following him.

Li Yunxin investigated why Prefect Li and the Qiao Household wanted Liu Laodao’s courtyard and learned that Prefect Li was seeking protection from a powerful enemy. He returned to the temple and proposed killing Prefect Li to save Liu Laodao’s old companion.

• Li Yunxin questioned servant Aze near the prefectural residence and learned about the newly established Yin Spirit Array and the residence’s strange chill.
• Li Yunxin deduced that the Qiao Household and Prefect Li wanted Liu Laodao’s property for money, while Prefect Li had angered a powerful person and feared for his life.
• Li Yunxin returned to the temple, ate the meal Liu Laodao had prepared, and told him what he had learned.
• Liu Laodao worried about his old companion, and Li Yunxin suggested that killing Prefect Li would resolve the threat to it.

Li Yunxin decided that killing Prefect Li was the best way to prevent trouble for himself and Liu Laodao, and he began investigating the prefect’s habits and history. As rumors of arrests and inconclusive evidence spread, Li Yunxin reconsidered how the authorities handled accusations.

• Li Yunxin told Liu Laodao that they should kill Prefect Li before the prefect’s actions forced them to flee or reveal themselves.
• Li Yunxin declared that his divine art was called Heartslaying, leaving Liu Laodao frightened by the malice he sensed in him.
• Li Yunxin gathered details about Prefect Li’s health, family history, habits, and recent behavior from Aze.
• Li Yunxin examined the information, took down the sword Bai Yunxin had given him, and said he hated the feeling he was experiencing.
• Over the next few days, fewer people visited the temple, and Li Yunxin heard rumors that arrests were coming but the evidence against an old servant remained inconclusive.

Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao investigated Qiao Jiaming’s past while Prefect Li delayed their case, and Li Yunxin grew intrigued by the unfamiliar idea of “procedural justice.” At the yamen, Prefect Li’s unexplained unease grew as he decided it was time to conclude the case.

• Qiao Jiaming threatened Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao at the temple, but Li Yunxin traded insults with him until he left in frustration.
• Liu Laodao was surprised by Li Yunxin’s behavior, while Li Yunxin wondered how the predecessor had introduced “procedural justice” into this world.
• Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao roamed the streets asking about Qiao Jiaming’s past, and Qiao Jiaming took pleasure in watching them search for help.
• After three more days, Prefect Li Yaosi brooded over the stubborn old servant and his own mounting unease.
• Prefect Li Yaosi set down his teacup and decided it was time to bring the case to an end.

Aze’s daily meetings with Li Yunxin allowed Li Yunxin to manipulate him into carrying a message to Prefect Li, whose strange behavior after a lightning-struck hall revealed what he was guarding against. Li Yunxin then met Miss Yin at a tailor’s shop, where she brought him the ash-blue, fish-scale-patterned inner robe he had requested.

• Aze confided his troubles to Li Yunxin, who told him to ask his master, while dining, whether he was satisfied with the taste.
• Li Yunxin watched Aze leave in a daze and reflected on how he had used the servant to investigate Prefect Li.
• Li Yunxin learned from Aze that voices, blood, and dying embers had been found in the lightning-struck main hall, after which Prefect Li sought help from the Pure High Alchemy Sect and the Voidsoar Sword Sect.
• Li Yunxin went to the tailor’s shop, where Miss Yin waited with the ash-blue, fish-scale-patterned inner robe she had found for him.

Li Yunxin learned that he would be questioned over the case and rejected Yin Pingzhi’s offer to blame Liu Laodao, while Yin Pingzhi revealed that his investigation had given Li Yunxin a false identity. Li Yunxin entered the prefectural yamen, where he sensed powerful restrictions but prepared to rely on his skills rather than spells.

• Miss Yin gave Li Yunxin the scale-patterned undershirt and warned him that a hearing could lead to detention and prison.
• Yin Pingzhi escorted Li Yunxin toward the yamen and advised him to confess while blaming Liu Laodao, promising to help him avoid punishment.
• Li Yunxin refused to betray Liu Laodao or accept Yin Pingzhi’s plan, explaining that he did not want to become Miss Yin’s live-in son-in-law.
• Yin Pingzhi claimed his investigation showed that Li Yunxin was really Li Xiao, a youth from the Ye Kingdom, and warned that the yamen’s restrictions would prevent him from using magic.
• Li Yunxin entered the yamen without drawing a reaction from the Faceless Ghosts and sensed the restrictions, but intended to rely on his skills.

Li Yunxin entered Prefect Li’s court and killed Li Yaosi in front of the assembled witnesses, though the two cultivators guarding him sensed no spiritual power. He threatened the Qiao Household, and Yin Pingzhi realized that speaking against Li Yunxin could cost him his life.

• Li Yunxin arrived at the prefectural yamen with Liu Laodao and saw Prefect Li, the two cultivators Congyunzi and Punanzi, and the Qiao Household gathered for the hearing.
• Prefect Li grew increasingly agitated, shouted at Li Yunxin, and threw a container of tally sticks at him.
• Li Yunxin told Qiao Jiaming he would kill him, then knelt before Prefect Li and recalled an encounter with the Qiao escort agency.
• Prefect Li collapsed and died while Congyunzi and Punanzi detected no demon or spiritual power.
• Li Yunxin announced that he had killed Prefect Li and threatened the three members of the Qiao Household.
• Punanzi killed Qiao Liushi when she accused Li Yunxin of using demon arts, and Yin Pingzhi recognized the danger of speaking against him.

After Li Yunxin killed Qiao Liushi, the two cultivators failed to detect his action and drove everyone from the yamen. Li Yunxin admitted the murder to Yin Pingzhi and challenged him to watch what happened next as proof of his abilities.

• Punanzi and Congyunzi ordered Yin Pingzhi to clear the yamen and threatened anyone who continued to raise the case.
• Yin Pingzhi escorted Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao out of the yamen while Qiao Jiaming and Qiao Wangshi were driven away by bailiffs.
• Li Yunxin told Yin Pingzhi that he had killed Qiao Liushi and explained that the cultivators would not believe an accusation against him.
• Li Yunxin warned Yin Pingzhi that Qiao Jiaming and Qiao Wangshi were as good as dead and asked him to keep them from approaching or pleading for mercy.

Li Yunxin threatened Yin Pingzhi into protecting Meng E, then explained to Liu Laodao that killing the prefectural governor had been an experiment involving consciousness and the subconscious. He began describing how suggestions could bring hidden memories into awareness.

• Li Yunxin warned Yin Pingzhi to keep Meng E alive and clear his name, then Yin ordered the Qiao Household prisoners taken away and ran to the prison.
• Li Yunxin invited Liu Laodao to Munan Residence, where Liu asked whether Li Yunxin had killed the prefectural governor and how he had done it.
• Li Yunxin said the killing had been an experiment and explained consciousness and the subconscious through everyday examples.
• Li Yunxin compared the subconscious to the submerged bulk of an iceberg and said suggestions could bring forgotten memories back into awareness.

Li Yunxin explained to Liu Laodao how he used suggestion and hallucination to manipulate Li Yaosi’s hidden memories and cause his death. He left Liu understanding that knowledge of someone’s mind could place their life and death in his hands.

• Li Yunxin described how prompts could draw forgotten memories and feelings out of the subconscious, and Liu Laodao listened closely.
• Li Yunxin revealed that Ninth Young Master had visited Li Yaosi during a thunderstorm and eaten his two concubines, then explained how Aze helped him uncover the details.
• Li Yunxin used a tabletop knock and his story about a crossbowman to make Liu hallucinate an attack, then explained how he had guided Liu into that vision.
• Li Yunxin said he had spent days reinforcing Li Yaosi’s buried fear through Aze, then triggered the memory in court with references to a campfire and the taste of food.
• Li Yunxin explained that Li Yaosi’s intense fear had caused his hereditary heart condition to kill him, making the death appear natural.