Recaps

Gu Sheng discovered that a small stone concealed a mechanism that opened a passage through the mountain, where Hong Mei sensed the Peerless Hermit's aura. The group entered the cave, and Shi Lou and Er Gou defeated two demon beasts while Bai Yu watched Luo Chuan for signs that he was hiding something.

• After Hong Mei failed to find the Peerless Hermit's aura outside, Gu Sheng sensed traces of the Black and White Ghosts near a massive boulder and insisted there was a hidden way inside.
• Gu Sheng found a small stone that turned beneath his hand, and twisting it caused the boulder to slide aside and reveal a dark passage.
• Hong Mei sensed the Peerless Hermit's aura and two demon beasts inside, so Gu Sheng sent Shi Lou and Er Gou ahead with Luo Chuan accompanying them.
• As Shi Lou and Er Gou fought the demon beasts, Gu Sheng asked Bai Yu to watch Luo Chuan's aura and see whether he was concealing anything.
• After Shi Lou and Er Gou defeated the beasts, Luo Chuan revealed he had injured himself by charging into a rock, and Gu Sheng told the group to prepare to continue deeper into the cave.

Gu Sheng and Hong Mei discovered that the Peerless Hermit had escaped her captors and followed clues she left on the cage to Cloud Sea, where the Mirror Sect had been founded. They found the wounded Peerless Hermit alive, reunited her with Hong Mei, and the Peerless Hermit examined Gu Sheng with a smile.

• Gu Sheng and Hong Mei found an open iron cage marked with the Peerless Hermit's blood, and Hong Mei confirmed that the hermit had been held there.
• Luo Chuan revealed his history with his father and swore to help kill him if he had colluded with Saintly Hermit to harm the Peerless Hermit.
• Gu Sheng found symbols scratched into the cage chains, and Hong Mei recognized them as the Peerless Hermit's message directing her back to Cloud Sea.
• The group traveled for a week to Cloud Sea, where Gu Sheng noticed carefully tended herbs and concluded that the Peerless Hermit was nearby.
• Hong Mei opened the hidden room and found the wounded Peerless Hermit, then reunited with her as the Mirror Sect disciples greeted their master.
• The Peerless Hermit comforted Hong Mei and then examined Gu Sheng, finally smiling at him.

Peerless Hermit revealed that she led the Heavenly Cang Sect and offered Gu Sheng a place in the sect in exchange for helping revive it, with Stone Village brought under its protection. Gu Sheng set out to seek the village elders’ approval and returned to Stone Village after three days of travel.

• Peerless Hermit confirmed that her dantian was damaged and her meridians sealed, then told Gu Sheng that Saintly Hermit had attacked her over the Heavenly Cang Sect’s leadership token.
• Gu Sheng revealed his origins and spiritual pearl blessing, and Peerless Hermit offered to make him an envoy and bring Stone Village into the Heavenly Cang Sect if he helped revive it.
• Gu Sheng refused to decide for Stone Village without its elders’ approval, while Peerless Hermit gave his companions a week to return and offered cultivation techniques to those who stayed behind.
• Gu Sheng explained the offer to his companions, then left the Cloud Sea with Shi Lou and the Stone Village group while Bai Yu and Lan Yao stayed to cultivate.
• Hong Mei gave Gu Sheng the pills she had promised and said she would wait for him; Shi Lou and Huang Shan teased Gu Sheng that she liked him.
• Gu Sheng and his companions traveled for three days and arrived at Stone Village.

Gu Sheng returned to Stone Village with Peerless Hermit's pills and an offer to incorporate the village into Heavenly Cang Sect if he became its envoy. The elders accepted, and Gu Sheng brought them to Cloud Sea, where Peerless Hermit welcomed Stone Village as family.

• Gu Sheng showed the elders pills refined by Peerless Hermit and told them about Heavenly Cang Sect's offer to incorporate Stone Village if he served as its envoy.
• After deliberating through the night, the elders agreed to join Heavenly Cang Sect and affirmed that Gu Sheng had already been their village chief in their hearts.
• Third Elder asked whether Stone Village would have to leave its homeland, but Gu Sheng said they would need to discuss it with Heavenly Cang Sect.
• Gu Sheng and the elders traveled back to Cloud Sea, where Hong Mei greeted them and led them to Peerless Hermit.
• Peerless Hermit welcomed Stone Village and declared that it and Heavenly Cang Sect would be one family.

Gu Sheng became Heavenly Cang Sect’s envoy and prepared to travel to Eastern Mountain to find the Saintly Hermit and destroy Fan Sect. Before setting out, he developed a medicine that eased the Peerless Hermit’s suffering, and Bai Yu and Lan Yao emerged from seclusion.

• The Peerless Hermit recruited Stone Village into Heavenly Cang Sect, let the village remain in its homeland, and sent its elders back with a sect token; Third Elder gave Gu Sheng the village chief’s token.
• The Peerless Hermit assigned Gu Sheng to seek the Saintly Hermit in Eastern Mountain and destroy Fan Sect, giving him identifying items and placing Hong Mei and Mirror Sect under his command.
• Gu Sheng and Hong Mei agreed to travel to Eastern Mountain after Shi Lou and the others emerged from seclusion, while Gu Sheng continued trying to find medicine for the Peerless Hermit.
• After working through the night, Gu Sheng prepared a new prescription that eased the Peerless Hermit’s symptoms and restored some of her divine power.
• Bai Yu and Lan Yao emerged from seclusion, and Gu Sheng went to meet them.

Gu Sheng led the group from Cloud Sea toward East Mountain to find Saintly Hermit, defeating a powerful demon beast along the way. After a week of travel, they reached the mountain, where Gu Sheng sensed that people from the Fan Sect might be nearby.

• Gu Sheng told the group they would leave for East Mountain the next day, and Hong Mei reluctantly said goodbye to Peerless Hermit.
• Gu Sheng followed Saintly Hermit's aura through a dense forest, then joined Bai Yu in killing a horned demon beast that had lured them toward it.
• Gu Sheng and Bai Yu returned safely, and the group escaped the forest and rested for the night.
• Hong Mei asked to fight a powerful demon beast next time, and Gu Sheng promised to take her along while keeping her safe.
• After a week of travel, Gu Sheng sensed a possible Fan Sect presence at the foot of East Mountain and stopped the group.

Gu Sheng’s group discovered that the Fan Sect planned to attack the Seven Aperture Gate in three days, so they traveled there to warn its leader and prepare to resist. After entering under the Mirror Sect’s identity, Gu Sheng mentioned the Fan Sect, and the leader’s expression changed with suspicion.

• Gu Sheng’s group investigated the Fan Sect’s camp and learned that its injured leader planned to massacre the Seven Aperture Gate in three days.
• Gu Sheng sent Bai Yu and Lan Yao to remain at East Mountain and destroy the deadly herbs after the Fan Sect left, while he led Hong Mei and Stone Village toward the Seven Aperture Gate.
• Gu Sheng used the Mirror Sect’s token to gain entry to the Seven Aperture Gate and meet its leader.
• Gu Sheng told the Seven Aperture Gate’s leader that they had come because of the Fan Sect, and the leader reacted with suspicion.

Gu Sheng warned the Seven Aperture Gate that the Fan Sect would attack again and helped them prepare a poison-based ambush. The Fan Sect arrived under cover of night, and Gu Sheng scattered the poison and drove it into their nostrils as the ambush began.

• Gu Sheng convinced the Seven Aperture Gate leader to accept the Mirror Sect’s help against the returning Fan Sect and advised him on the gate’s defenses.
• Gu Sheng showed Hong Mei a poison made by mixing medicinal herbs with alum, then planned with the Seven Aperture Gate leader to use it against the Fan Sect.
• Lan Yao and the others arrived with herbs taken from the Fan Sect, and Gu Sheng decided to send them to Cloud Sea for study after the battle.
• Gu Sheng rejected the Seven Aperture Gate’s banquet and ordered everyone to prepare for a nighttime surprise attack.
• Gu Sheng’s group waited in darkness until more than a dozen Fan Sect members approached, then Gu Sheng scattered the poison and used Spiritual Power to drive it into their nostrils.

Gu Sheng helped the Seven Aperture Gate defeat the Fan Sect, but the Saintly Hermit injured him during the battle. He hid the extent of his injuries from his companions, recovered overnight, and accepted the Seven Aperture Gate’s gifts before escorting Hong Mei back to her room.

• Gu Sheng’s poison weakened the Fan Sect, and he led his allies in helping the Seven Aperture Gate fight them.
• Gu Sheng fought the Fan Sect leader, but the Saintly Hermit intervened, injured him, and carried the surviving Fan Sect members away in black mist.
• Hong Mei and the others helped Gu Sheng force the chill from his body, but he secretly shut himself in his room to recover further.
• Gu Sheng’s companions guarded his door for a day and night while he meditated, and the master of the Seven Aperture Gate supplied pills and herbs.
• Gu Sheng fully recovered, accepted a box of medicinal pills from the master of the Seven Aperture Gate, and escorted Hong Mei to her room.

Gu Sheng returned to the Cloud Sea with the medicinal herbs and discovered that the Azure Cloud Sect had laid an ambush, led by survivors of the sect seeking revenge. After delivering the herbs to the Peerless Hermit, Gu Sheng and Huang Shan returned to confront the trapped ambushers, and the fight began with the Azure Cloud Sect members already being overwhelmed.

• Gu Sheng detected an unfamiliar ambush near the Cloud Sea, identified its members as the Azure Cloud Sect, and learned that True Man Lingxiao had survived with several subordinates.
• Gu Sheng told the group that Huang Shan had been rescued from the Azure Cloud Sect's Soul Refining Cave, where captives had sacrificed themselves to help others escape.
• The Peerless Hermit confirmed that the herbs Gu Sheng brought were connected to her poison, rewarded the group with secret manuals, and revealed that she had trapped the Azure Cloud Sect's array within her own.
• Gu Sheng gave Huang Shan the ruby that would trigger the Peerless Hermit's array, and the two led the others to confront the ambushers while Hong Mei stayed behind.
• Gu Sheng suppressed the Azure Cloud Sect's cultivation with his small cauldron, then sent Huang Shan, Shi Lou, Er Gou, Lan Yao, and Bai Yu into battle as the sect's members were killed or driven back.

Gu Sheng and Huang Shan destroyed the Azure Cloud Sect forces and returned to Cloud Sea, where Gu Sheng helped the Peerless Hermit investigate poisonous herbs and begin sorting seeds for an antidote. After working through the night, Gu Sheng had sorted half the seeds, and the group gathered to finish the task so they could prepare the antidote and later confront the Fan Sect.

• Gu Sheng withdrew his allies, and Huang Shan activated the Peerless Hermit's formation, killing every remaining Azure Cloud Sect disciple.
• Huang Shan told Gu Sheng that he still wanted to kill True Man Lingxiao himself, and Gu Sheng promised to give him the chance.
• Back in Cloud Sea, Gu Sheng, Lan Yao, and Bai Yu identified the Peerless Hermit's herbs as highly poisonous, and Gu Sheng gave her two spirit stones to help cultivate antidotes.
• The group began sorting the Peerless Hermit's seeds, while the Peerless Hermit and the others teased Hong Mei and Gu Sheng about their closeness.
• After meditating and recovering his strength, Gu Sheng sorted half the seeds overnight, and Hong Mei and the others joined him to finish sorting them.

Gu Sheng and his companions traveled toward Eastern Mountain to investigate rumors that the Fan Sect possessed a spirit pearl, suspecting Saintly Hermit had spread the story to lure martial artists into danger. After joining forces with the leader of the Seven Aperture Gate, they reached the mountain ahead of the other groups, where only a few martial artists had gathered.

• Gu Sheng noticed an unusual crowd heading toward Eastern Mountain and suspected Saintly Hermit was behind the activity.
• A black-robed man told Gu Sheng he had come for the Fan Sect’s spirit pearl, but Gu Sheng warned him that the rumor might be a trap and that the Fan Sect was tied to Demon.
• Gu Sheng explained why he would not publicly spread the warning, believing Saintly Hermit’s followers might be among the travelers.
• Gu Sheng discovered the leader of the Seven Aperture Gate hiding along the road and learned he had warned many sects about the danger.
• Gu Sheng’s group and the leader of the Seven Aperture Gate hurried to Eastern Mountain and arrived before most of the martial artists, finding only a few people setting up camp.

Gu Sheng suspected the Fan Sect had lured the sects to East Mountain to use their lives to recover, and he and Bai Yu stopped a demonic group from attacking a camp. After the attackers were captured, the camp's leader accused the North Wind Sect of supporting the Fan Sect and called the spirit pearl invitation a trap.

• Gu Sheng learned the sects had to wait until everyone arrived before entering East Mountain and warned a spiritually powerful group that the Fan Sect might be plotting to sacrifice them.
• Luo Chuan sensed that King Luo and Saintly Hermit had left, while Gu Sheng and the others remained at the foot of the mountain.
• Gu Sheng and Bai Yu caught demonic figures preparing to attack the group Gu Sheng had warned, then Gu Sheng woke the camp while Bai Yu distracted the attackers.
• The camp fought back with help from other sects, and Gu Sheng and Bai Yu returned to join the crowd after the attackers were captured.
• The camp's leader accused the North Wind Sect of supporting the Fan Sect and claimed the spirit pearl news had lured everyone into a trap.

Gu Sheng uncovered an attempt to poison sect members and led the gathered martial sects in defeating the attackers. After saving the victims, he persuaded everyone that the Fan Sect was behind the nightly attacks, and the assembled sects agreed to strike back.

• Gu Sheng suspected another attack and kept watch through the night while the other sects rested.
• Gu Sheng detected evil aura as attackers approached a camp, alerted another team, and followed them with his companions.
• The attackers blew poison into a tent, but Gu Sheng and the other sects surrounded and killed them before they could escape.
• Gu Sheng treated the poisoned sect members with pills, silver needles, and spiritual energy until they recovered.
• Gu Sheng told the gathered sects that the Fan Sect was linked to the attacks, and they agreed to destroy it.
• Someone asked Gu Sheng which sect he belonged to, leaving him rubbing his brow in discomfort.

Gu Sheng led the martial sects in a night assault on Fan Sect, where he provoked the poisoned leader until she died and helped defeat her followers. After uncovering Fan Sect members hiding among the martial artists, he learned they had been acting on Saintly Hermit's orders, and the surviving infiltrators were killed.

• Gu Sheng refused offers to leave Stone Village and persuaded the gathered sects to withdraw their camps and attack Fan Sect on Eastern Mountain.
• Gu Sheng confronted the Fan Sect leader, realized she was still suffering from poison, and angered her into spitting blood and dying.
• Lan Yao confirmed the leader was dead and used her corpse to frighten Fan Sect's fighters, helping the allied sects wipe them out.
• Gu Sheng warned everyone that Fan Sect's members had poisonous blood, then detected and killed a hidden Fan Sect infiltrator among the martial artists.
• The infiltrators confessed that Saintly Hermit had ordered them to select spiritually powerful victims as nourishment, and Bai Yu and the others killed them when they attacked Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng and the others agreed to burn East Mountain to prevent Saintly Hermit’s venomous parasites from being used again, then prepared to seek out King Luo and Saintly Hermit. They reached a town, where Hong Mei began gathering herbs to disguise Luo Chuan before their journey to King Luo’s residence.

• Gu Sheng convinced the gathered sects to wait until Saintly Hermit revealed herself, and the Seven Aperture Gate’s sect master stayed behind to help him burn East Mountain.
• Gu Sheng carried Hong Mei away from the fire while Bai Yu and the others set the mountain ablaze, then kept the group nearby for three days to watch the flames.
• After extinguishing the remaining fires, Gu Sheng decided to visit King Luo with Luo Chuan, who agreed to guide them but asked to conceal his identity.
• Hong Mei offered to disguise Luo Chuan as an ordinary person and said she needed herbs from a shop in town to do it.
• Gu Sheng treated the group to a meal and rented rooms at an inn before they went to the herbal medicine shop, where Hong Mei insisted the assistant prepare her list exactly as written.

Hong Mei disguised Luo Chuan so he could meet his father and the Saintly Hermit without revealing his true face, then went shopping with Gu Sheng. True Man Lingxiao ambushed and wounded her, but escaped in a crowd, and Gu Sheng began treating her injuries back at the inn.

• Hong Mei prepared a Disguise Technique that transformed Luo Chuan’s appearance into that of a stranger and assured him the disguise could be reversed.
• Gu Sheng accompanied Hong Mei shopping and bought the items she admired.
• True Man Lingxiao stabbed Hong Mei in the waist, and Gu Sheng wounded him before ordinary people obstructed the pursuit and he escaped.
• Gu Sheng carried Hong Mei back to the inn, where his companions gave him their medicines and waited outside as he began treating her wound.

Gu Sheng healed Hong Mei’s wound and nearly kissed her before Lan Yao interrupted them, then sent Lan Yao away while he bought Hong Mei new clothes. After the group spent the night drinking, they left town and headed south, with Gu Sheng checking that Hong Mei had fully recovered.

• Gu Sheng healed Hong Mei’s wound with spiritual power and a spirit stone, and the two nearly kissed before Lan Yao called from outside.
• Gu Sheng sent Lan Yao to search for Thousand-year Ginseng, then bought Hong Mei several outfits and admitted to his companions that he liked her.
• Hong Mei tried on the red dress and thanked Gu Sheng, while the others teased them about their closeness and Lan Yao’s ill-timed interruption.
• Lan Yao returned without finding Thousand-year Ginseng, and Gu Sheng told him Hong Mei was already better; the group ate, drank, and went to bed.
• Gu Sheng woke everyone at daylight, and they traveled south until evening, when he checked Hong Mei’s pulse and confirmed she had recovered.

Gu Sheng and his companions killed True Man Lingxiao, then traveled to Ping City to investigate King Luo and prepare to approach him. Their attempt to buy new clothes ended with a shop assistant insulting Lan Yao, and Gu Sheng stepped in to confront him.

• Gu Sheng and Hong Mei collapsed the cave with True Man Lingxiao inside, then sent poisonous mist into the rubble and had the others uncover him.
• Huang Shan killed True Man Lingxiao and hacked apart his body, finally avenging the brothers who had died.
• Gu Sheng asked Luo Chuan about King Luo's territory and learned they were about two days from King Luo's Manor, though Luo Chuan knew little about its allies.
• The group traveled to Ping City, where Lan Yao led them to a clothing shop to buy new clothes and gather information.
• A shop assistant refused to let Lan Yao inspect a robe and mocked his ability to pay, so Gu Sheng restrained Lan Yao and confronted the assistant.

Gu Sheng and his companions exposed and punished a shop assistant before discovering the shopkeeper, Orchid, was an ally of Peerless Hermit. Orchid shared intelligence that Saintly Hermit and King Luo were raising dead soldiers together and revealed that King Luo’s power ran through the Qingcheng Sect, led publicly by his son Luo Qin.

• Gu Sheng restrained the shop assistant with divine power, and the shopkeeper later threw him out for mistreating customers.
• Luo Chuan sensed Saintly Hermit’s and King Luo’s auras in the shop; Gu Sheng then used their auras to test the shopkeeper, who led the group to a private courtyard.
• Gu Sheng identified the group as members of the Mirror Sect, and Orchid confirmed her ties to Peerless Hermit through her master Wufang and Gu Sheng’s token.
• Orchid revealed that Saintly Hermit had met King Luo and that they were training another force of dead soldiers.
• Gu Sheng told Orchid that his group had killed Demon and the Two White Ghosts and destroyed the Fan Sect; Orchid said King Luo had to be eliminated alongside Saintly Hermit.
• Orchid named the Qingcheng Sect as King Luo’s organization and Luo Qin as its public leader, prompting Luo Chuan to explain King Luo’s favoritism toward his youngest son.

Orchid told Gu Sheng and the others that Luo Qin planned to recruit martial artists at the upcoming Recruitment Convention, and they agreed to undermine his efforts by using Orchid’s intelligence and preparing a better welcome gift. After disguising themselves in wealthy attire, they encountered Luo Qin in a shop and learned he had ordered a Purple Jade Dagger, so Gu Sheng led the group toward the back entrance to investigate.

• Orchid explained that the Qingcheng Sect would attend the Recruitment Convention in three days to recruit martial artists for Luo Qin, and Gu Sheng offered the group’s help in stopping him.
• Gu Sheng arranged for Lan Yao to fund a welcome gift that could outdo Luo Qin’s, while Orchid agreed to watch Luo Qin and report what she learned.
• The group changed into wealthy-looking clothes, bought accessories, and accepted Orchid’s offer to stay at her home.
• At a shop, Gu Sheng and the others encountered Luo Qin, who rebuked the shopkeeper over his Purple Jade Dagger and entered with his guards.
• After leaving the guarded shop, Gu Sheng told Bai Yu that they would investigate the dagger through the back entrance.

Gu Sheng learned that Luo Qin was abusing a jeweler over the Purple Jade Dagger and arranged for Orchid to set up a private meeting with the shopkeeper, Wang. Wang arrived at Orchid's shop and made advances toward her, but she revealed that Gu Sheng and others had been waiting nearby and surrounded him.

• Gu Sheng secretly watched Luo Qin whip the jewelry shopkeeper and threaten him with death unless the Purple Jade Dagger met his demands within three days.
• Back at Orchid's shop, Gu Sheng revealed that Luo Chuan was King Luo's son, and Bai Yu and Gu Sheng promised to help him avenge his mother.
• Orchid's subordinate reported that Shopkeeper Wang was hiding valuables and preparing to flee, so Gu Sheng asked Orchid to arrange a private meeting with him.
• Orchid arranged for Shopkeeper Wang to meet them at dusk, and Gu Sheng offered to pay the expenses involved.
• Shopkeeper Wang arrived and insulted Orchid's shop before grabbing her hand and demanding that she sleep with him.
• Orchid clapped her hands, and several figures emerged from hiding to surround Shopkeeper Wang.

Gu Sheng struck a deal with Shopkeeper Wang to obtain the Purple Jade Dagger, delay Luo Qin’s preparations for the Recruitment Convention, and escape safely. After arranging Shopkeeper Wang’s departure and learning more about Luo Qin’s forces, Gu Sheng left Orchid with Hong Mei to discuss the Heavenly Cang Sect, and Orchid learned that Hong Mei was the Peerless Hermit’s disciple.

• Orchid lured Shopkeeper Wang into a room where Gu Sheng offered to protect him in exchange for the Purple Jade Dagger and help hindering Luo Qin before the Recruitment Convention.
• Shopkeeper Wang revealed details about the Qingcheng Sect, its forces, and a powerful hidden group that included Demon, then agreed to deliver the dagger and help delay Luo Qin.
• Gu Sheng paid Shopkeeper Wang and arranged for Bai Yu and Shi Lou to disguise and escort him toward Stone Village, where the Heavenly Cang Sect could protect him.
• After the others prepared to leave, Orchid stayed behind to ask about the Heavenly Cang Sect, and Gu Sheng asked Hong Mei to answer her questions.
• Hong Mei explained that the Mirror Sect was affiliated with the Heavenly Cang Sect and revealed that she was the Peerless Hermit’s disciple, surprising Orchid.

Gu Sheng secured the Purple Jade Dagger and saved Shopkeeper Wang, then began plotting to undermine Luo Qin, King Luo, and Saintly Hermit. The group reached Luo Qin’s territory to investigate the Qingcheng Sect and settled at an inn connected to Orchid, while Hong Mei’s jealousy of Orchid became apparent.

• Gu Sheng took the Purple Jade Dagger from Shopkeeper Wang, honored his promise to protect him, and sent him away under a new identity with Bai Yu and Shi Lou’s help.
• Gu Sheng planned to spread rumors about Luo Qin’s greed and mistreatment of shopkeepers, then investigate the Qingcheng Sect and Saintly Hermit’s ties to King Luo.
• After Luo Qin’s men searched for Shopkeeper Wang, Gu Sheng told Orchid to release limited gossip about Luo Qin and led the group south.
• Gu Sheng sensed Saintly Hermit’s sinister aura in Luo Qin’s territory, and Luo Chuan said he had encountered it in the royal residence.
• Gu Sheng proposed targeting Luo Qin to draw King Luo and Saintly Hermit into conflict, then entered the south disguised as a merchant.
• Orchid brought the group to an inn run by an intelligence contact, while Hong Mei grew jealous of Orchid’s closeness to Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng rejected Orchid’s friend’s insinuations, openly affirmed his feelings for Hong Mei, and left the inn with his companions. Their attempt to meet Orchid and investigate the Qingcheng Sect revealed powerful hidden forces, and Gu Sheng requested Hong Mei’s deadly Ink Fragrance as they considered how to respond.

• Orchid’s friend teased Orchid about Gu Sheng, but Gu Sheng said Hong Mei was the woman in his heart and defended his friendship with Orchid.
• Orchid’s friend drove Gu Sheng and his companions from the inn, and Orchid was held back while they left for another inn.
• Gu Sheng held Hong Mei’s hand and explained why he had openly declared his feelings before taking the group to the Qingcheng Sect that night.
• Lan Yao reported that Orchid’s friend’s people had intercepted him, so Gu Sheng led the group into the Qingcheng Sect through an unguarded back gate.
• Gu Sheng sensed powerful demonic energy inside the sect, and the group narrowly avoided discovery before returning to their inn.
• After Hong Mei warned that Luo Qin’s forces were stronger than they had expected, Gu Sheng asked her for the poisonous Ink Fragrance.