Chapter Summaries

Ding Songyan discovered that the Emissary was hiding in the Netherworld Grounds and struck her with Unity Sword Qi, forcing her to flee. Liu Cheng realized Ding Songyan had chosen to protect him rather than risk using him to capture the assassin.

• Ding Songyan searched for the Emissary around the Liu Family compound but found no trace of her in the ordinary world.
• Ding Songyan used his Yin Eye and spotted the Emissary fleeing through the Netherworld Grounds.
• Ding Songyan sent Unity Sword Qi into the Netherworld, where it grew immensely powerful and shattered the Emissary’s weapon, wounding her.
• The Emissary escaped the Netherworld as nearby ghosts stirred, and Ding Songyan closed his Yin Eye to avoid drawing their attention.
• Liu Cheng arrived and recognized that Ding Songyan had given up the chance to capture the Emissary to keep him safe.

Ding Songyan investigated the Emissary’s escape and identified her as Fei Biru, an Accumulated Evil Path Martial Grandmaster, before meeting Xie Fengchao at Golden Pool Lake. Fei Biru recovered from her injuries and reported that the assassination had failed because a Great Grandmaster was guarding Liu Cheng.

• Liu Cheng explained his past in the Treading the Sea Gang and promised to repay Ding Songyan for saving his life.
• Ding Songyan traced the Emissary’s escape and reasoned that sandalwood and jasmine scents guided her out of the Netherworld Grounds.
• Director Huang identified the Emissary as Evil Spirit Fei Biru, chief of the Accumulated Evil Path’s Evil-Intent Envoys.
• Ding Songyan met Xie Fengchao at Golden Pool Lake, where Xie bragged about defeating two challengers and questioned Ding’s claim that he could win in ten breaths.
• Fei Biru recovered from her wounds and told a hoarse-voiced figure that their assassination had failed because a Great Grandmaster was guarding Liu Cheng.

Ding Songyan defeated Xie Fengchao in under ten breaths by anticipating his attempt to exploit a sword technique, then went with him to the Colorful Thread House, where they learned Li Linquan was resting nearby. In the privy, Ding Songyan briefly transformed his appearance before reverting.

• Ding Songyan challenged Xie Fengchao to a fight and defeated him by turning his hidden weapons back on him with a combination of sword techniques.
• Ding Songyan explained that he had predicted Xie Fengchao’s pride and impulsiveness, and Xie Fengchao reflected on his rashness and collected his Iron Lotus Seeds.
• Xie Fengchao invited Ding Songyan to the Colorful Thread House, where they learned that Young Master Li Linquan was resting in the next room.
• Ding Songyan heard about Li Linquan’s past challenge to Xie Fengchao’s friend and his rise to Martial Grandmaster after the New Year.
• Ding Songyan went to the privy and briefly changed his face and body before returning to his usual appearance.

Li Linquan woke from a dream in which an unnamed swordsman overwhelmed him with ordinary-looking sword strokes, and he wondered whether an immortal had bestowed swordsmanship on him. Meanwhile, Ding Songyan reflected on the dream fight before leaving the Colorful Thread House and walking through the Flame Capital, thinking of his Senior Sister.

• Li Linquan fought a broad-sleeved swordsman in a dream, but the man disarmed him and nearly struck his throat.
• Li Linquan woke sweating, practiced the few sword strokes he remembered, and questioned the maid about the guests in the house.
• Li Linquan found no guest who matched his dream opponent and wondered whether an immortal had bestowed swordsmanship on him.
• Ding Songyan discussed divine herbs and the Celestial-Human Realm with Xie Fengchao, then explained that he was keeping Yang Shiduo away from his current affairs until after the Jade Orchid Grace Examination.
• Ding Songyan and Xie Fengchao left the Colorful Thread House, and Ding Songyan walked through the Flame Capital while memorizing its streets and wondering whether his Senior Sister had received his letter.

Zheng Zhuxi wondered whether she had fallen for her junior brother Ding Songyan, while Ding Songyan received a reward and was assigned to investigate a burial-artifact peddler. At a medicinal herb shop in the Treasure Market, his Demon-Subduing and Evil-Repelling ability reacted to something yin-evil beneath him.

• Zheng Zhuxi read Ding Songyan's letter and began to suspect that her feelings for him were romantic after hearing her cousins describe the signs of love.
• Ding Songyan practiced sword moves and considered using dream-entry to observe martial arts, resolving not to steal cultivation methods except from evil practitioners.
• Steward Peng Jushan awarded Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin a thousand taels of silver and a Life-Prolonging Pill each for their work on the Silver Hook Gambling House affair.
• Peng Jushan assigned Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin to investigate a burial-artifact peddler spotted at the Treasure Market, and they searched nearby businesses.
• At a medicinal herb shop, Ding Songyan sensed that something yin-evil beneath him had triggered his Demon-Subduing and Evil-Repelling ability.

Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin pursued a yin-evil presence in the Treasure Market, where Sun Feiyang escaped after clashing with Yi Beiwang. They later found a Mothman selling burial artifacts, and Ding Songyan returned to the Prince's Residence to discover a beautiful woman waiting in his room.

• Ding Songyan detected a yin-evil presence beneath a medicinal herb shop and sent Fan Chunlin to seize the shop's occupants while he pursued the fugitive toward the Xiaming River.
• Yi Beiwang struck the fleeing figure with a golden arrow, but Sun Feiyang blocked it and escaped into the river despite being wounded.
• Ding Songyan failed to trace Sun Feiyang with the blood he recovered, and Director Hong identified the fugitive as the Accumulated Evil Path's Sun Feiyang.
• Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin recognized the burial artifact vendor in the Treasure Market as a Mothman, but the vendor suddenly died and a moth fled his body.
• Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin heard a musician playing by the Night Market before returning to the Prince's Residence, where a beautiful woman was waiting on Ding Songyan's bed.

Ji Hanyi visited Ding Songyan in the Flame Capital and revealed that she had reached the Celestial-Human Realm, while teasing him about their shared Hundun power and his feelings for Senior Sister Zheng. She also disclosed Sun Feiyang’s likely hiding place and asked whether Ding Songyan wanted revenge.

• Ding Songyan discovered Ji Hanyi in his room and realized she had reached the Celestial-Human Realm.
• Ji Hanyi explained her theory that Hundun’s power should be borne by a man and a woman together, then teased Ding Songyan about uniting Yin and Yang with her.
• Ji Hanyi said she had watched for Ding Songyan’s arrival and warned him not to fall in love with Senior Sister Zheng.
• Ji Hanyi admitted she had sent the Mothman to warn Ding Songyan and disrupt the Accumulated Evil Path.
• Ji Hanyi revealed that Sun Feiyang was likely hiding alone in a subordinate’s house to recover, then asked Ding Songyan if he wanted revenge.

Ji Hanyi told Ding Songyan where Sun Feiyang was hiding and left him to decide whether to seek revenge, while demonstrating her Celestial-Human abilities. Ding Songyan chose to prepare to kill Sun Feiyang, then identified the sinister moth from the burial goods vendor as a technique of the Moth God Sect.

• Ji Hanyi explained that Sun Feiyang was recovering at Qian Shulong's old residence in Feng Family Lane and warned Ding Songyan that he would move within two days.
• Ji Hanyi left through what Ding Songyan suspected was an application of Establishing the Six Harmonies, and he found no trace of her passage.
• Ding Songyan discovered that Ji Hanyi had read her handwritten copy of Legend of the White Snake and her letter, then decided to hunt down and kill Sun Feiyang after making preparations.
• Ding Songyan told Fan Chunlin, Li Baima, and Wu Mo that the red moth came from the Moth Scripture of the Moth God Sect and that the vendor had been a controlled Mothman.
• Ding Songyan said he had once lived with a Moth Father for more than half a year before he began practicing martial arts, startling the others.

Ding Songyan warned his fellow disciples about the Sage-Slaying Path, then learned concealment techniques from Fan Chunlin and borrowed a secret manual from Liu Cheng. He prepared to use what he had learned for a dangerous mission against Sun Feiyang, but the chapter ended as the manual began changing his appearance.

• Ding Songyan told Li Baima, Fan Chunlin, and Wu Mo that the Moth Father had served the Sage-Slaying Path and warned them to distrust suspicious good fortune.
• Ding Songyan admitted he had met Ji Hanyi and said the Rivers and Lakes Beauty Register portrait captured only part of her beauty.
• Ding Songyan asked Fan Chunlin to demonstrate concealment, studied his techniques, and practiced until he could partly blend into the darkness.
• Ding Songyan left Prince Kang's Residence and asked Liu Cheng to obtain a secret manual from a Treading the Sea Gang member skilled at concealment.
• Liu Cheng brought Ding Songyan the Treatise on Sharing a Shadow Beyond the World, and Ding Songyan began cultivating from it until his eyes and face started changing.

Ding Songyan prepared to assassinate Sun Feiyang by learning a concealment art, gathering information about Feng Family Lane, and lowering his apparent realm with Luo Twelfth Madam’s help. He infiltrated Sun Feiyang’s residence and entered the dream of one of his disciples.

• Ding Songyan mastered the Treatise on Sharing a Shadow Beyond the World and used its plant-based concealment to vanish from sight.
• Ding Songyan asked Luo Twelfth Madam to lower his name and substance to the early Dayan realm so he could approach Sun Feiyang without being detected too soon.
• Luo Twelfth Madam agreed to help him reach Feng Family Lane and arranged for Shi Wuyan to map its terrain, while Ding Songyan discussed the Accumulated Evil Path’s martial arts with her.
• Ding Songyan accompanied Luo Twelfth Madam to Dangkang Temple’s market, received the transformation, and infiltrated Qian Shulong’s former residence through the rear garden.
• Ding Songyan knocked out one of Sun Feiyang’s direct disciples and entered the man’s dream.

Ding Songyan found Sun Feiyang’s underground hideout and launched a surprise attack while Sun was recovering from his injuries. Sun survived the first strike, sacrificed his Demon-Swallowing Evil-Eating Art to escape Ding’s suppression, and countered Ding’s next attack.

• Ding Songyan learned the underground chamber’s entrances from a sleeping Accumulated Evil Path Disciple and silently subdued the guards at the Main Room.
• Ding Songyan opened the concealed entrance and descended into the chamber, where Sun Feiyang was healing from Yi Beiwang’s arrow wound.
• Ding Songyan revealed his near-perfected Law Realm cultivation and used Demon-Subduing and Evil-Repelling to disrupt the evil objects inside Sun Feiyang, then pierced Sun’s forehead with Cold Shadow.
• Sun Feiyang used an assimilated evil object to survive the sword strike and recognized Ding Songyan as the person who had affected the yin evil in the Herbal Medicine Shop.
• Sun Feiyang destroyed his Demon-Swallowing Evil-Eating Art to expel the remaining evil objects, then used the Eight Winds Art and Betrayal-Trust Sword to disrupt Ding Songyan’s next attack.

Ding Songyan fought Sun Feiyang, the Accumulated Evil Path’s leader, after the Evil Words Thorn drew him into nightmares of Sun Feiyang’s atrocities. He exploited Sun Feiyang’s injuries and the lingering Sun-Shooting Arrow qi to overcome his defenses and kill him.

• Sun Feiyang stabbed at Ding Songyan with the Evil Words Thorn as his Betrayal-Trust Sword deflected Cold Shadow, and the thorn’s malicious words triggered a vision of Sun Feiyang’s past crimes.
• Ding Songyan’s Dream Sword gave Sun Feiyang nightmares of a masked Great Grandmaster killing him, planting fear that persisted when the vision ended.
• Sun Feiyang rallied and attacked with the Betrayal-Trust Sword and Evil Words Thorn, but Ding Songyan used relentless sword strikes to drive him into a corner of the chamber.
• Ding Songyan manifested his Hundun State to dissolve Sun Feiyang’s illusory wings, then used the Dream Sword to make him believe a freezing attack was approaching.
• Ding Songyan changed from Winter Sword Intent to summer’s blazing heat, stirred the lingering Sun-Shooting Arrow qi in Sun Feiyang’s wounds, and struck through his defenses with Cold Shadow.
• Sun Feiyang fell dead after Cold Shadow pierced between his brows, and Ding Songyan explained how he had used the Dream Sword and Sun-Shooting Arrow qi against him.

Ding Songyan killed Sun Feiyang and questioned his ghost about the Accumulated Evil Path’s plans in the Flame Capital. He learned which factions and agents were involved, but Sun Feiyang did not recognize Fu Yangquan, leaving Ding Songyan’s question unanswered.

• Ding Songyan reflected on how he had defeated Sun Feiyang, then killed two unconscious Accumulated Evil Path Disciples and concealed evidence of the battle.
• Ding Songyan questioned Sun Feiyang’s ghost and learned that the Accumulated Evil Path planned to exploit the consort selection with the Returning Ruins Sect and the Shamanic Religion.
• Sun Feiyang revealed that Kong Wanzhen was in the Flame Capital and that Qin Guanchan stood at the pinnacle of the Celestial Person level.
• Sun Feiyang admitted that he had given Bai Zhaolin Disaster Upon the World and identified Jiao Li, Kunpeng in the Palm, as the Zhourao Tribe member who infiltrated the Xiaoming Sect.
• Sun Feiyang said the Devil Lord planned to deal with the Gan Kingdom by hiding demon-seed carriers among its upper three tribes, but he did not know which Ghost-Wyrm Path assassin had been assigned to kill Tao Wenshu.
• When Ding Songyan asked why Sun Feiyang had sent Fu Yangquan to Dingjiang Prefecture, Sun Feiyang asked who Fu Yangquan was.

Ding Songyan questioned Sun Feiyang’s ghost and learned about Wei Wuji, a hidden Two-Faced Clan leader whose suspicious instructions suggested another expert had intervened. After extracting what knowledge he could, Ding Songyan killed Sun Feiyang and left his head as a warning; later, he encountered Luo Twelfth Madam at a market.

• Ding Songyan questioned Sun Feiyang’s ghost about Wei Wuji, the Two-Faced Clan, and the Accumulated Evil Path, then suspected Wei’s instructions had been meant as a warning to someone.
• Ding Songyan learned the Betrayal-Trust Sword and memorized useful passages from Sun Feiyang’s cultivation notes before the ghost dispersed.
• Ding Songyan searched Sun Feiyang’s corpse, took his banknotes for the Rescue Association, and left the weapons and other incriminating items behind.
• Ding Songyan beheaded Sun Feiyang and staged the discovery by throwing his marked head into the courtyard, where the servants found it.
• Constables recognized Sun Feiyang’s head at Qian Shulong’s former residence, while Ding Songyan later met Luo Twelfth Madam at a market outside Dangkang Temple.

After Ding Songyan killed Sun Feiyang while wearing a Golden Boy Mask, the Martial Prohibition Bureau investigated the mysterious killer and reports of the death reached several people connected to him. Ding Songyan returned to the Prince's Residence, believing the mask and other clues would let allies recognize his attempt to ask for help against Demoness Ji while preserving his cover.

• Yi Beiwang learned that Sun Feiyang had been killed by a swordsman wearing a Golden Boy Mask and ordered the Martial Prohibition Bureau to investigate.
• Ou Luwen told bureau members about the Golden Boy Mask wearer who had broken his hidden truth immortal realm, then learned that the same kind of masked swordsman might have killed Sun Feiyang.
• Lay Buddhist Little Zhang connected the Golden Boy Mask and a map request to Senior Brother and realized the man's earlier words had not been an empty threat.
• Liu Cheng heard of Sun Feiyang's death and suspected it might be connected to Brother Ding's recent request for a concealment art.
• Ding Songyan told Fan Chunlin and Li Baima that the Martial Prohibition Bureau already knew about the Moth Scripture and Sage-Slaying Path, then reasoned that his clues could help allies understand he was being coerced by Demoness Ji.

After killing Sun Feiyang, Ding Songyan heard the Martial Prohibition Bureau had classified the death as murder for money and hid the Golden Boy and Jade Maiden Masks with Twelfth Madam Luo. Fei Biru learned that Sun Feiyang’s soul had been destroyed and feared a powerful outsider had come to oppose the Accumulated Evil Path.

• Li Baima and Fan Chunlin told Ding Songyan and Wu Mo that Sun Feiyang had been killed by someone wearing a Golden Boy Mask.
• The group speculated about the killer’s motives, and Li Baima said the Martial Prohibition Bureau had provisionally called the death murder for money because only Sun Feiyang’s banknotes were missing.
• Ding Songyan moved the Golden Boy and Jade Maiden Masks to Twelfth Madam Luo’s empty chest, then spoke with her about killing Sun Feiyang before leaving.
• Fei Biru learned that Sun Feiyang’s head had been left in a courtyard and his yin soul had vanished, leading her to suspect the killer was a powerful outsider who had wounded her in the Netherworld Grounds.

Ding Songyan admitted to Wang Zhou that he had killed Sun Feiyang and explained that he had received the target’s location from someone exploiting rivalries among the evil sects. The next day, after visiting Twelfth Madam Luo, he accepted a task from her, while Zheng Zhuxi learned that Sun Feiyang’s masked killer had worn a Golden Boy Mask.

• Ding Songyan confessed to Wang Zhou that he had killed Sun Feiyang, and Wang Zhou agreed to wait before reporting what he had learned.
• Ding Songyan told Wang Zhou about the Accumulated Evil Path’s cooperation with the Returning Ruins Sect and the Shamanic Religion, then asked him not to report it yet.
• Ding Songyan reassured Fan Chunlin that his outings with Twelfth Madam Luo were an act, then spent the evening writing a story for his sister.
• At the Cheap Wine Shop, Ding Songyan visited Twelfth Madam Luo, who gave him a task after he offered to help her.
• Zheng Ziming received news that Sun Feiyang had been killed by someone wearing a Golden Boy Mask, and Zheng Zhuxi suspected the killer might be connected to Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan accompanied Twelfth Madam Luo up Purple Cloud Mountain, where they shared tea and a roasted pheasant as she reflected on her past. Twelfth Madam Luo offered to guide him in the Nine Canons, but withdrew the offer when he teased her, leaving him to follow her down the mountain while she decided to watch his behavior longer.

• Ding Songyan carried Twelfth Madam Luo's supplies up Purple Cloud Mountain and shared tea with her as they watched the sunset.
• Ding Songyan returned from the woods with a pheasant, prepared it over the tea stove, and shared the meal with Twelfth Madam Luo.
• Twelfth Madam Luo recounted how Elder Di had taught her the 'Names' and 'Reality' sections of the Nine Canons, then offered Ding Songyan some guidance while saying she could not teach him directly without Di's permission.
• Ding Songyan teased Twelfth Madam Luo about her offer, so she took it back and said she would watch his behavior longer before offering guidance.
• Twelfth Madam Luo headed down the mountain, and Ding Songyan packed the basket and followed her, protesting while privately believing she would eventually guide him.