Chapter Summaries

Ding Songyan dined with Li Baima and Wu Mo, heard rumors about rising martial artists, and returned with them to Prince Kang’s Residence. After falling asleep, he woke to find that someone had thrown a stone at Wu Mo inside the residence.

• At Luo Twelfth Madam’s tavern, Wu Mo teased her and Zhu nearly attacked her before Li Baima stepped between them and stopped the fight.
• Ding Songyan listened with Li Baima and Wu Mo to rumors of martial artists gaining fame, then revealed that he was twenty-two and had reached the perfected Dayan Realm.
• The three men finished dinner, returned to Prince Kang’s Residence, and chatted about Zhang Yingbo and the women in the Rivers and Lakes Beauty Register.
• Ding Songyan went to sleep in his room, then woke when a cry came from next door.
• Wu Mo rushed out clutching his forehead and told Ding Songyan that someone had thrown a stone at him.

After a mysterious attacker struck Wu Mo and Fan Chunlin inside Prince Kang's Residence, Ding Songyan helped keep the incident quiet and continued refining his void apertures. The next day, he explored the streets around the residence, discovered that the man surnamed Zhu had also been attacked, and returned to the Cheap Wine Shop.

• Ding Songyan assessed the intruder's skill while Wu Mo asked Li Baima and Fan Chunlin to conceal the attack from the residence's officials.
• Li Baima agreed to keep the incident quiet after Wu Mo and Fan Chunlin said they could not identify anyone they had offended.
• Ding Songyan secretly listened to Wu Mo and Fan Chunlin's thoughts, then refined two more void apertures and noted that five remained.
• Ding Songyan, Li Baima, and Fan Chunlin stood guard at the North Side Gate, and Ding later went out alone to survey the surrounding streets.
• Ding Songyan encountered the man surnamed Zhu, who said someone had struck him on the head the previous night, then returned to the Cheap Wine Shop and ordered Jade Spring wine.

Ding Songyan followed Luo Twelfth Madam after discovering she had secretly struck the drunken men who harassed her, then confronted her at her home. Luo Twelfth Madam revealed she could recognize his perfected Law Realm strength and disclosed her name and ties to the Emperor Terrace, leaving Ding Songyan to reconsider who she was.

• Ding Songyan learned that guards could live outside Prince Kang's Residence if they stayed nearby and reported their address, then left that night under the excuse of visiting a friend.
• Luo Twelfth Madam returned to her courtyard after secretly pelting the men who had harassed her with stones, and found Ding Songyan waiting by her side door.
• Ding Songyan asked why she concealed her unusual physical traits and opened a Wine Shop, and Luo Twelfth Madam recognized that he possessed perfected Law Realm strength.
• Luo Twelfth Madam explained that she had opened the Wine Shop to enjoy ordinary life and gather martial-world news, and said she meant Prince Kang's Residence no harm.
• When Ding Songyan asked about her school or sect, Luo Twelfth Madam identified herself as Luo Mingyin and admitted she had ties to the Emperor Terrace.

Ding Songyan learned that Luo Twelfth Madam practiced two chapters of the Celestial Emperor’s Nine Canons and helped her plan how to deter harassers. After leaving her courtyard, he wandered through the Night Market, bought a bamboo flute, and began playing for passersby.

• Luo Twelfth Madam demonstrated a Nine Canons strike, and Ding Songyan survived it by retreating and precisely deflecting her hatchet with his sword.
• Luo Twelfth Madam confirmed she could discern Ding Songyan’s perfected Law Realm through a subtle art, then explained that she wanted to stay in the Flame Capital for the Jade Orchid Grace Examination and the Consort Selection.
• Ding Songyan offered to help Luo Twelfth Madam stop men from harassing her by publicly humiliating the worst offenders, and she agreed to try being more ruthless.
• Ding Songyan left the courtyard and headed through the Night Market, reflecting on Luo Twelfth Madam’s claims and deciding to stay at an inn before reporting for duty.
• Ding Songyan bought a bamboo flute and played in the street until passersby stopped and one person tossed him two copper coins.

Ding Songyan encountered Zhang Yingbo and Yan Qing at the Night Market, then learned that a Treading the Sea Gang elder had been assassinated by someone from the Ghost-Wyrm Path. After reporting the killing to Prince Kang's Residence, Ding Songyan was asked to investigate the crime at Fortune's Arrival Inn.

• Ding Songyan played his bamboo flute at the Night Market, where Zhang Yingbo and Yan Qing stopped to listen and left him copper coins.
• Ding Songyan learned that Qi Lingyi of the Treading the Sea Gang had been assassinated at Fortune's Arrival Inn, with yu poison pointing to the Ghost-Wyrm Path.
• Ding Songyan reported the murder to Peng Jushan, who hurried to inform the inner study.
• Ding Songyan returned to the courtyard and heard Li Baima, Wu Mo, and Fan Chunlin gossip about Yan Qing escorting Zhang Yingbo home.
• Ding Songyan learned the next morning that the Silver Hook Gambling House belonged to the Treading the Sea Gang.
• Peng Jushan asked Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin to search Fortune's Arrival Inn for evidence that could help track down the Ghost-Wyrm Path assassin.

Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin investigated Qi Lingyi’s assassination and found no clear motive or clues at the inn. Examining Qi Lingyi’s body, Ding Songyan discovered his yin soul was missing, raising the possibility that the killing involved more than the Ghost-Wyrm Path’s shadow-striking technique.

• Fan Chunlin concluded that a Ghost-Wyrm Path assassin had killed Qi Lingyi with one decisive strike, and Ding Songyan encouraged him to keep faith in his chances of reaching the Law Realm.
• Officer Cai told Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin that Qi Lingyi had been meeting a male lover, who left fifteen minutes before the killing, and that Qi Lingyi had offended many people through his gang’s dirty work.
• Ding Songyan struck the wall with his sheathed sword and exposed a Treading the Sea Gang spy hiding inside it; Officer Cai ordered the spy’s leader to report to the Martial Prohibition Bureau.
• At the County Yamen, Ding Songyan examined Qi Lingyi’s body and learned from Officer Cai that the Martial Prohibition Bureau had found his yin soul missing and believed it had been scattered.
• Ding Songyan questioned whether Qi Lingyi’s soul had been scattered or taken, and noted that the Ghost-Wyrm Path’s martial arts did not seem connected to the Netherworld.

Ding Songyan sought information about the martial artist who destroyed Qi Lingyi’s soul and learned that Shi Wuyan, the Cheap Wine Shop’s cook, could help. Following Shi Wuyan’s lead to the Zhang Residence, he found Zhang Qiang, a practitioner of the Body-Splitting Path, and identified his arts as they began to talk.

• Ding Songyan asked Luo Twelfth Madam about martial artists who practiced Netherworld arts, and she referred him to her cook, Shi Wuyan.
• Luo Twelfth Madam told Ding Songyan that Shi Wuyan was a Perfected Dayan Realm martial artist from an evil, unorthodox sect who sold martial-world information.
• Shi Wuyan said he could not gather information because his junior fellow disciple had been missing for three or four days, then directed Ding Songyan to the Zhang Residence in Yellow Gate Alley.
• Ding Songyan entered the quiet residence and watched a huge wildcat bring a human thigh to a pile of dismembered body parts, which reassembled into a young man.
• The young man introduced himself as Zhang Qiang, and Ding Songyan identified his connection to Jubi Corpse and the Body-Splitting Path; Zhang Qiang asked whether Ding Songyan was threatening him.

Ding Songyan met Lay Buddhist Little Zhang, learned about the demon threatening him over unfinished stories, and agreed to help negotiate. Little Zhang offered to gather information on netherworld practitioners and the Ghost-Wyrm Path, while Ding Songyan left with a lead on the demon, Ou Luwen.

• Ding Songyan deduced that Lay Buddhist Little Zhang belonged to the Great Joy Sect and asked whether grinding his bones and scattering his ashes could kill him.
• Ding Songyan asked how to contact the Ghost-Wyrm Path, and Lay Buddhist Little Zhang agreed to gather information without charging him.
• Lay Buddhist Little Zhang explained that the book-loving demon Ou Luwen was threatening him over unfinished stories and asked Ding Songyan to persuade the demon to lower his demands.
• Lay Buddhist Little Zhang said Ou Luwen frequented Warrior Mansion Ward and promised to pass along information through Shi Wuyan.
• Ding Songyan took copies of the Rivers and Lakes Beauty Register and the jade tree martial arts rankings, then told Ou Luwen's followers that Lay Buddhist Little Zhang had vanished.

Ding Songyan shared information about the Cheap Wine Shop, wrote letters to his senior sister and Xiaoqing, and learned about Ou Luwen before beginning a night patrol at Prince Kang's Residence. Meanwhile, Lu Boxiu infiltrated the residence on the emperor's orders to test its defenses, and Ding Songyan noticed something during his patrol.

• Ding Songyan told Luo Twelfth Madam that Chef Shi likely possessed the Weapon-Bearing Calamity trait and advised her about hiring staff in the future.
• Ding Songyan wrote letters to his senior sister and Xiaoqing, then asked Li Baima about Ou Luwen and learned of the martial grandmaster's reputation.
• Ding Songyan showed Wu Mo, Li Baima, and Fan Chunlin the latest martial arts registers and said he had seen Zhang Yingbo and Yan Qing.
• Hong Wansheng sent Lu Boxiu to sneak into Prince Kang's Residence and test whether its defenses would detect him.
• Ding Songyan patrolled the residence with Wu Mo, Li Baima, and Fan Chunlin, then briefly paused as they walked beneath a covered corridor.

Ding Songyan knocked Lu Boxiu unconscious during his covert inspection of Prince Kang's Residence, leaving Lu Boxiu unable to identify his attacker. After Lu Boxiu returned to Hong Wansheng, Ding Songyan reflected on the residence’s defenses and the martial rankings before heading toward Warrior Mansion Ward.

• Ding Songyan used Cold Shadow’s scabbard to knock Lu Boxiu unconscious as he hid behind a hollow brick wall, then resumed the patrol with Li Baima and Wu Mo.
• Hong Wansheng waited outside Prince Kang's Residence and questioned Niao Jingbai, but Lu Boxiu did not emerge until near dawn.
• Lu Boxiu told Hong Wansheng that he had been knocked unconscious and answered “I don't know” when asked who did it, how it happened, or what the person looked like.
• Ding Songyan returned to his room and realized Emperor Jianwu had sent Lu Boxiu to inspect the residence’s defenses, then read the Rivers and Lakes Beauty Register and the Jade Tree Martial Arts Rankings.
• Ding Songyan left the residence near noon with Cold Shadow Sword and headed toward Warrior Mansion Ward south of Golden Pool Lake.

Ding Songyan found Ou Luwen’s challenge arena, broke through its hidden truth immortal realm, and negotiated a year of monthly stories for Lay Buddhist Little Zhang. After discussing Ou Luwen’s cultivation method with him, Ding Songyan left, and Ou Luwen closed the arena.

• Ding Songyan learned that challengers who failed to escape Ou Luwen’s illusion had to provide stories or serve him for three years, so he bought masks and returned wearing the Golden Boy Mask.
• Ding Songyan entered the hidden truth immortal realm and used Falsehood-Piercing power and Cold Shadow to uncover its reality and destroy the giant crab illusion.
• Ou Luwen recognized Ding Songyan’s strength, and Ding Songyan introduced himself as someone sent by Lay Buddhist Little Zhang.
• Ding Songyan learned that Ou Luwen’s story-based cultivation method was his Celestial Person method and asked him to give Lay Buddhist Little Zhang a year to write one installment each month.
• Ou Luwen agreed, discussed his method with Ding Songyan, and closed the arena after Ding Songyan left.

Ding Songyan settled a problem for Shi Wuyan’s junior brother, practiced swordsmanship and music, and continued his night patrol at Prince Kang’s Residence. There, he sensed a weak evil spirit that had emerged from a broken jade pendant and ordered Fan Chunlin to report the incident.

• Ding Songyan told Shi Wuyan that he had settled his junior brother’s problem and asked that his identity be kept secret.
• Ding Songyan practiced an unconventional sword style and played the bamboo flute, impressing Li Baima.
• During the night patrol, Fang Nuo’s murky-green jade pendant shattered and released a monstrous shadow that fled toward the rear of the servants’ quarters.
• Ding Songyan sensed the evil spirit as it dissipated and asked Fan Chunlin to notify the area steward and investigate the servants in the room.

Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin investigated the Silver Hook Gambling House for yin-evil traces, but found none. Ding Songyan shifted the inspection to the gambling house’s accounts, provoking young proprietor Liu Cheng and leaving him to decide whether to report the guards.

• Fan Chunlin reported that a servant named Fang Nuo had been possessed by an evil thing hidden inside a jade pendant, and that a vanished merchant had sold suspected burial artifacts at the Night Market on South-Pacifying Street.
• Shi Wuyan secretly gave Ding Songyan a note saying the nearest Ghost-Wyrm Path shopkeeper was Black Sanlang in New Talisman City and that powerful members of the Ghost-Wyrm Path had recently appeared in the Flame Capital.
• Ding Songyan connected the note’s mention of evil things to the Accumulated Evil Path and went with Fan Chunlin to inspect the Silver Hook Gambling House.
• Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin searched the gambling house with Candle Eyes and Star Pupils but found no traces of yin-evil things.
• Ding Songyan demanded the gambling house’s account books and ordered Fan Chunlin to bring accountants from the prince’s residence to audit them.
• Liu Cheng objected that the prince’s residence had no authority to inspect the accounts, and Ding Songyan calmly told him to report them to the authorities.

Ding Songyan kept Liu Cheng and Accountant Ma in the Silver Hook Gambling House while Prince Kang's Residence sent accountants to audit its books. By listening to their thoughts, he uncovered the gang's schemes and Accountant Ma's involvement, and the accountant begged him to save his child in exchange for a confession.

• Liu Cheng tried to defuse the confrontation with threats and offers, but Fan Chunlin chose to return to Prince Kang's Residence for accountants.
• Ding Songyan blocked Accountant Ma from leaving or sending messages and used precise swordsmanship to stop Liu Cheng from forcing his way out.
• Ding Songyan heard Liu Cheng's thoughts about rigged gambling and corrupt schemes, while Liu Cheng hoped others would notice the delay and destroy the real ledgers.
• Accountant Ma hinted that a palace eunuch could intervene, and Ding Songyan accused him of acting on his own.
• Ding Songyan revealed that Spirit Walking Through the Netherworld would let him pursue the investigation even if someone died, and Accountant Ma confessed and begged him to save his child.

Ding Songyan uncovered that the Emissary had coerced officials and servants through Accountant Ma, then found and destroyed an evil entity sealed inside Ma’s child. He and Wang Yue waited to catch the Emissary, but she never appeared, leading Ding Songyan to suspect someone had warned her.

• Accountant Ma confessed that the Emissary had used his poisoned child to force him to recruit and direct officials, and he wrote down the names he remembered.
• Ding Songyan examined the account book with Wang Yue, confirmed it was genuine, and agreed to watch for the Emissary while first checking Ma’s child.
• Ding Songyan discovered an evil entity sealed inside the child and destroyed it with his Candlelight Sword Intent, restoring some color to the boy’s face.
• Ding Songyan and Wang Yue waited for the Emissary until sunset, but she did not arrive.
• Ding Songyan suggested that someone might have passed the Emissary a warning.

Ding Songyan secured Ma Accountant’s child’s safety, handed the Accumulated Evil Path threat over to the Martial Prohibition Bureau, and befriended Liu Cheng. He later visited Luo Twelfth Madam, revealed his name, and returned to the Prince’s Residence as Fan Chunlin praised his composure.

• Wang Yue and Ding Songyan discussed how the Emissary might have learned of the rescue, and Wang Yue arranged for the Martial Prohibition Bureau to guard Ma Accountant’s family and watch for the Accumulated Evil Path.
• Ding Songyan told Ma Accountant that his child was safe, and Ma Accountant thanked him and recalled that the Emissary smelled of jasmine and sandalwood.
• Liu Cheng offered Ding Songyan a Treading the Sea Gang token, but Ding Songyan declined it and asked to be his friend; Liu Cheng agreed and confirmed Ding Songyan’s guess about his inheritance.
• Ding Songyan visited Luo Twelfth Madam to borrow writing supplies, wrote a request for further investigations, and learned that she had not intended to conceal her identity from him.
• Ding Songyan gave Luo Twelfth Madam his name and asked her to look for a nearby courtyard to rent, then returned to the Prince’s Residence and heard Fan Chunlin praising his courage.

Ding Songyan sparred with the guards, confirmed his overwhelming advantage, and discussed the suspicions surrounding Prince Kang’s Residence. After advancing his cultivation and writing a story for Ou Luwen, he joined his companions for a visit to Twelfth Madam’s shop, where they found Zhang Yingbo dining with Yan Qing and other wandering heroes.

• Ding Songyan sparred with Fan Chunlin, Li Baima, and Wu Mo, studying their techniques and defeating all three without using half his strength.
• Fan Chunlin told Ding Songyan that their patrol was canceled for the night, and Wang Zhou later confirmed that Ding had knocked Lu Zhizhai unconscious during the secret inspection.
• Ding Songyan learned that Prince Kang had known about Emperor Jianwu’s inspection but doubted the loyalty or defenses of people in his residence.
• Ding Songyan sensed and condensed another external acupoint, then began writing a tale to use as a bargaining chip with Ou Luwen.
• Ding Songyan, Wu Mo, Fan Chunlin, and Li Baima went to Twelfth Madam’s shop and found Zhang Yingbo dining with Yan Qing and five other wandering heroes.

Ding Songyan asked Luo Twelfth Madam to disguise his cultivation with her method of changing name and reality, then avoided Zhang Yingbo until she left the wine shop. When Zhang Yingbo recognized him and asked about the yin evil disturbance, she revealed that she and Yan Qing had encountered a burial-artifact seller at the night market.

• Ding Songyan learned that Zhang Yingbo was visiting the Cheap Wine Shop after a female guard from Prince Kang's Residence recommended Chef Shi's cooking.
• Luo Twelfth Madam used her method of changing name and reality to make Ding Songyan appear to be at the perfected Dayan Realm for up to an hour, and he studied the technique's resemblance to Hundun.
• Ding Songyan left the crowded wine shop, bought steamed buns after trying several scented powders, and returned to find his companions still waiting for a table.
• After Zhang Yingbo left with Yan Qing and the others, she recognized Ding Songyan and asked why he had been at the South-Pacifying Street Night Market.
• Ding Songyan said he had been investigating the yin evil disturbance, and Zhang Yingbo revealed that she and Yan Qing had encountered a stallholder selling burial artifacts there.

Ding Songyan obtained Zhang Yingbo’s clearer portrait of the burial-artifact vendor, then spent the evening helping Luo Twelfth Madam before resuming his patrols. The next day, he learned that Liu Cheng had been badly wounded by an assassin from the Accumulated Evil Path, and suspected the attack was retaliation connected to Accountant Ma.

• Zhang Yingbo drew a lifelike portrait of the burial-artifact vendor, and Fan Chunlin confirmed it resembled the Night Market proprietor’s description.
• Zhang Yingbo and Yan Qing offered to help the prince’s residence search for the vendor before leaving for the Phoenix Terrace Studio.
• Ding Songyan searched nearby streets for the vendor but found neither him nor the jasmine-and-sandalwood-scented woman.
• Ding Songyan split Luo Twelfth Madam’s firewood and cleaned her courtyard while she went to sell her woven trinkets.
• Fan Chunlin told Ding Songyan that Liu Cheng had been badly wounded by an assassin said to be a martial grandmaster from the Accumulated Evil Path.
• Ding Songyan suspected the Accumulated Evil Path had attacked Liu Cheng in retaliation for Accountant Ma’s imprisonment and the bureau’s watch over Ma’s family.

Ding Songyan visited the injured Liu Cheng, who explained how he had used an assassination attempt by the Accumulated Evil Path to help clear the Treading the Sea Gang of suspicion. As Ding Songyan left, he recognized the emissary’s scent in the residence and turned back, suspecting another attack was underway.

• Liu Cheng told Ding Songyan that he had deliberately made himself a target so the Accumulated Evil Path’s retaliation would help defend the Treading the Sea Gang against accusations of collusion.
• Liu Cheng revealed that an Accumulated Evil Path Martial Grandmaster had attacked him with the Evil Words Thorn aboard a pleasure boat, then escaped into the river.
• Liu Cheng said his reports had concealed Ding Songyan’s and Guard Fan’s involvement to reduce the risk of them being targeted.
• Ding Songyan asked about the attacker’s methods and warned Liu Cheng to remain on guard against other enemies while he recovered.
• On his way out, Ding Songyan smelled sandalwood and jasmine, recognized the emissary’s scent, and suspected she had infiltrated the residence.
• Ding Songyan stopped the servant and asked to return to Liu Cheng immediately.