Chapter Summaries

After Qu Zhongheng’s Wooden Beast experiment wrecked his courtyard, Ding Songyan helped settle the matter and arranged for Qu to employ his five servants. Back at Ding’s home, Zheng Zhuxi drank too much and pressed Ding about how he had found the Wooden Beast’s weakness, suspecting he had a heavenly mind.

• Xue Zhangjian questioned Qu Zhongheng about the failed experiment, ordered him to report future trials for approval, and told him to prepare a fine.
• Qu Zhongheng offered Zheng Zhuxi three hundred taels, but Ding Songyan declined the money and asked Qu to employ Ding’s five servants for three years instead.
• Ding Songyan invited Zheng Zhuxi and other Xiaoming Sect members to stay at his courtyard, and Qu Zhongheng agreed to the arrangement.
• Ding Songyan, Zheng Zhuxi, and Xu Chang'an returned to Ding’s home and drank together until Xu Chang'an left and Zheng Zhuxi became drunk.
• Zheng Zhuxi complained that Ding Songyan kept letting others credit her for his deeds, then questioned how he had sensed the Wooden Beast’s weakness.
• Zheng Zhuxi accused Ding Songyan of having a heavenly mind after he claimed to sense the flow of the Qi of heaven and earth.

Ding Songyan revealed the remaining heavenly heart imprint to Zheng Zhuxi, then watched her practice swordsmanship after she drank too much. Later, Qu Zhongheng’s account of restless spirits near Fengshui Bridge gave Ding Songyan a new lead, and Zheng Zhuxi ended the night admitting that she missed her father.

• Ding Songyan told Zheng Zhuxi that Yan Yong’s heavenly heart imprint remained in his sea of consciousness and could be used once more.
• Zheng Zhuxi worried that Ding Songyan’s future exploits would bring challengers to her, then practiced the Dawn-Breaking Sword Art and Seven Night-Illuminating Swords before going to sleep.
• Ding Songyan visited Qu Zhongheng to have the Cold Shadow Sword engraved, and Qu Zhongheng recalled that Netherworld spirits had been restless and gathered near Fengshui Bridge.
• Ding Songyan connected the spirits’ gathering near Fengshui Bridge to the unusually cool road and decided to investigate the area the following night.
• Ding Songyan found Zheng Zhuxi sitting on the roof, and she quietly told him that she missed her father.

Ding Songyan delivered a letter to Su Qingli through Tianyang Guildhall, where he watched Yang Shiduo lose a sparring match. After learning that Yang’s martial hall had closed, Ding offered to teach him how to defeat his opponent and left the story poised for a lesson in new fighting methods.

• Ding Songyan learned that Zheng Zhuxi had left early for the County Yamen, then practiced his martial arts and set out with letters and the Cold Shadow Sword.
• Ding Songyan left a letter for Su Qingli at Tianyang Guildhall and watched Yang Shiduo lose to a mobile swordsman.
• Yang Shiduo told Ding Songyan that the Stone Pool Martial Hall had closed after his master became entangled in the Small Boat Gang affair, so he was seeking work as a caravan guard leader.
• Ding Songyan asked Yang Shiduo why he had lost, then said he could help him defeat the swordsman within ten moves by abandoning established rules and old methods.

Ding Songyan coached Yang Shiduo on how to counter Chen Chuan, and Yang Shiduo returned to the Tianyang Guildhall for another bout. Yang Shiduo defeated Chen Chuan in fewer than ten moves and realized Ding Songyan’s advice had worked.

• Ding Songyan explained that Yang Shiduo could focus on Chen Chuan’s sword and exploit the openings created when Chen Chuan changed attacks.
• Ding Songyan persuaded Yang Shiduo to challenge Chen Chuan again, while telling him not to reveal who had taught him.
• Yang Shiduo returned to the Tianyang Guildhall and began a second spar with Chen Chuan, striking at the swordsman’s blade instead of avoiding it.
• Chen Chuan attacked Yang Shiduo’s exposed lower back, but Yang Shiduo dropped low, caught Chen Chuan’s leg, and threw him across the courtyard.
• Chen Chuan recognized his defeat, and Yang Shiduo looked toward Ding Songyan in astonishment at winning in fewer than ten moves.

Yang Shiduo thanked Ding Songyan for helping him defeat Chen Chuan, then received a detailed critique of his martial arts and was asked to supervise Xu Chang'an's training. At Ding Songyan's residence, he revised the Nine Primal Arts for beginners and demonstrated a radically expanded Iron Injury Fist, leaving Yang Shiduo bewildered by his instruction to forget what he knew.

• Yang Shiduo told Chen Chuan that a senior had taught him the tactics, then thanked Ding Songyan for his guidance outside the Tianyang Guildhall.
• Ding Songyan explained Yang Shiduo's weaknesses, praised his adaptability, and offered to correct flaws in his Iron Injury Fist in exchange for supervising Xu Chang'an's daily practice.
• Ding Songyan returned to find Xu Chang'an practicing, and he asked Yang Shiduo to help oversee him.
• Ding Songyan revised the Yin-Yang Transformation illustrations and adapted the Nine Primal Arts so beginners could perform the movements.
• Ding Songyan identified flaws in Yang Shiduo's Iron Injury Fist, demonstrated a version with many variations, and told him he needed to forget everything he knew.

Ding Songyan advised Yang Shiduo on the Iron Injury Fist, then searched the Netherworld Grounds for clues about the people behind Yan Changqing’s death. He found nothing, but Zheng Zhuxi proposed checking local case files for reports of unusual events along the route.

• Ding Songyan explained how Yang Shiduo should adapt the Iron Injury Fist, leaving Yang encouraged as he headed toward Dangkang Temple.
• Ding Songyan practiced the Seven Night-Illuminating Swords, and Zheng Zhuxi noticed that some of his sword strokes gave her new ideas.
• Ding Songyan teased Zheng Zhuxi as they walked through Chengyu Lane, then told her he suspected the people behind Yan Changqing’s death had used the Netherworld.
• Ding Songyan used his Yin Eye and Heavenly Mind to search the route from Chengyu Lane to Fengshui Bridge, but found no useful traces.
• Zheng Zhuxi suggested searching County Yamen and Prefectural Yamen case files for reports of unusual events along the route.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated a case of a reanimated corpse near Fengshui Bridge and traced a possible lead to Xie Zi'an. When Ding Songyan bluffed that witnesses had seen people entering the Netherworld and visiting Xie Zi'an, Xie Zi'an attacked him with a concealed dart.

• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi searched County Yamen case files and found a report about Old Madam Wang rising from her coffin and walking toward Fengshui Bridge.
• Xue Xian identified Xie Zi'an, a retired escort guard living at the lane's mouth, as a possible person to investigate.
• Ding Songyan, Zheng Zhuxi, and Xue Xian visited Xie Zi'an's home under the pretext of patrol work and searched the courtyard and rooms without finding anything suspicious.
• Ding Songyan falsely claimed that witnesses had seen people entering the Netherworld and coming to Xie Zi'an's courtyard in June.
• Xie Zi'an's expression changed, and he fired a green-glinting concealed dart at Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan killed Xie Zi'an and questioned his ghost about the hidden visitor in his courtyard. Xie Zi'an revealed the Renewal Path’s involvement and described a strange birdcall, leaving Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi to investigate its meaning.

• Xie Zi'an attacked Zheng Zhuxi with burning table fragments and tried to escape, but Ding Songyan killed him with the Cold Shadow Sword.
• Ding Songyan urged Zheng Zhuxi to use Spirit Walking to reach the Netherworld, then questioned Xie Zi'an’s ghost while Xue Xian guarded the courtyard gate.
• Xie Zi'an said an unseen visitor had stayed in the West Side Room and entered and left through the Netherworld, and that Jing Fei, the Renewal Path’s World-Burning Envoy, had ordered him to provide food and lodging.
• Ding Songyan connected the visitor’s Netherworld travel to the disappearance of Demoness Ji and wondered whether she had discovered the hidden person and escaped Dingjiang through the Netherworld Grounds.
• Xie Zi'an recalled repeatedly dreaming of a strange sound and imitated it as a birdcall: “Kree!”

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated Xie Zi'an’s connection to Jing Fei and the mysterious birdcall, considering whether separate groups had been involved in the Netherworld events. After reporting the case to the authorities, they returned home, where Zheng Zhuxi praised Ding Songyan as an honorable gentleman.

• Ding Songyan questioned Xie Zi'an’s remnant soul, learning that Jing Fei had last visited on June twenty-seventh and that the mysterious lodger had left the previous night.
• Zheng Zhuxi concluded that the Renewal Path could not communicate with the Netherworld, and Ding Songyan suggested the lodger and the person who summoned Netherworld Lightning might have been different people.
• Zheng Zhuxi named three possible bird-related inheritances connected to the Netherworld: the Owl Bird, the Three Azure Birds, and Nine-Phoenix.
• Zheng Zhuxi asked whether they should report the affair to the yamen, and Ding Songyan agreed; he then prompted her to take responsibility for killing Xie Zi'an.
• Zheng Zhuxi reported the events to Senior Sister Xue Xian and the County Yamen, then accompanied Ding Songyan back to the Ding Family residence.
• Zheng Zhuxi asked how strong Ding Songyan had become, and he replied that he was stronger than her before she called him an honorable gentleman and entered the East Wing Room.

Ding Songyan guided Zheng Zhuxi, Xu Chang'an, and Yang Shiduo in their martial arts before returning to Flat Lake Mountain, where Zheng Zhuxi and Wan Guhong began training harder than usual. After studying the sect's aperture-creation records, Ding Songyan confirmed how Mythical Beast flesh enabled new methods and requested two rare yin-yang items to continue his research.

• Ding Songyan taught Zheng Zhuxi the Nine Primal Arts and the Positive and Reverse Circulation Chapter, and guided Yang Shiduo as he corrected Xu Chang'an's training.
• Ding Songyan advised Xu Chang'an to sell parts of the Blameless Profound Art to fund his cultivation, and then rode back to Flat Lake Mountain with Zheng Zhuxi.
• Zheng Zhuxi told Tao Wenshu about Ding Songyan's strength and the Zhen Estate incident, then went to the Dipper Martial Training Ground to practice swordsmanship.
• Wan Guhong arrived to practice at night, surprising Zheng Zhuxi, and the two trained separately.
• Ding Songyan studied the aperture-creation chapters of the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture, then requested an item embodying yin at its extremity giving birth to yang and one embodying extreme yang containing yin.

Ding Songyan created the Darkness and Light unusual aperture and opened his first artificial qi channel, then joined Tao Wenshu and his fellow disciples for a Mid-Autumn Festival gathering. The chapter left him preparing to create more apertures while Pan Yunzhou watched him with curiosity.

• Hu Chengzong helped Ding Songyan use ghost king grass and blood sand to create the Darkness and Light unusual aperture.
• Ding Songyan opened an artificial qi channel from Darkness and Light to Shanzhong and decided to create further apertures at a measured pace.
• Hu Chengzong was astonished when Ding Songyan said he might return to create another aperture the day after tomorrow.
• Ding Songyan watched birds in the woods, and Pan Yunzhou studied the same scene after Ding Songyan left.
• Zheng Zhuxi invited Ding Songyan to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival with Tao Wenshu and their fellow disciples at the Ten-Thousand Valleys Courtyard.
• Tao Wenshu and her disciples raised osmanthus wine and wished to share a gathering like this every year.

During the Mid-Autumn gathering, Tao Wenshu shared a story from her youth, and Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi toasted the moon together. The next morning, after advancing his sword skills, Ding Songyan learned that he and Zheng Zhuxi would leave that afternoon to help patrol Prefecture City.

• Tao Wenshu recalled how she, Yan Jingxian, and Senior Brother Jin stormed seven lake-bandit strongholds and recovered the Hongxin Trading Company's goods, then revealed that she had avenged Jin's death.
• After Tao Wenshu left to write a letter, Xue Xian started a Madiao game, and Zheng Zhuxi told Ding Songyan that Xu Julong hoped to marry Lin Shuyue after she reached perfection in the Dayan Realm.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi sat beneath the Mid-Autumn moon, discussed Zhuhuai and the life Ding Songyan had always dreamed of, and raised a distant toast to their loved ones and friends.
• The next morning, Ding Songyan mastered Candlelight Sword Intent and reached minor completion in the Seven Night-Illuminating Swords after making progress on fifteen unusual aperture openings.
• Zheng Zhuxi told Ding Songyan that they were assigned to patrol Prefecture City and had to leave that afternoon.

Ding Songyan and Pan Yunzhou guarded the Lingjiang County Yamen when Xie Fengchao arrived with the head of the notorious Ghost Blade Lin Yu to claim a bounty. After hearing about Zheng Zhuxi’s recent feats, Xie Fengchao froze upon realizing how far beyond his expectations she had advanced.

• Ding Songyan and Pan Yunzhou chatted while guarding the yamen, and Zheng Zhuxi escorted two bickering stallholders inside to settle their dispute.
• Xie Fengchao arrived carrying a mangled head and announced that he had come to collect a bounty.
• Pan Yunzhou identified Xie Fengchao as a sixth-rank Strange Being from the Flame Capital’s Xie family and recognized the head as Ghost Blade Lin Yu.
• Yi Qincang paid Xie Fengchao the one-thousand-tael bounty, and Xie Fengchao said he planned to challenge young martial artists in Dingjiang Prefecture.
• Xie Fengchao asked to spar with Zheng Zhuxi, and Yi Qincang told him she had created nine unusual apertures and defeated several formidable enemies.
• Xie Fengchao slowly froze as he heard about Zheng Zhuxi’s achievements.

Xie Fengchao learned about Zheng Zhuxi’s exceptional cultivation and agreed to spar with ordinary Xiaoming Sect disciples before facing her. After Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan finished guarding the County Yamen, Xie Fengchao asked Ding Songyan to spar with him.

• Yi Qincang praised Zheng Zhuxi’s rapid progress and explained that her swordsmanship had transformed, while Xie Fengchao wondered when she would pursue the Unwavering state.
• Xie Fengchao disclosed his five unique hidden weapons, including Love’s Separation, which he had used to kill Ghost Blade, Lin Yu.
• Yi Qincang advised Xie Fengchao to practice against ordinary Xiaoming Sect disciples before challenging Zheng Zhuxi, and Xie Fengchao agreed.
• Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan ate outside the County Yamen, discussed roaming the martial world, and agreed to explore the surrounding area for opportunities to fight.
• After their guard shift ended, Xie Fengchao asked Ding Songyan’s realm and invited him to spar below the Dayan Realm.

Ding Songyan defeated Xie Fengchao in a friendly spar by reading his movement habits, then pointed out flaws that earned Xie’s respect. After meeting Zheng Zhuxi and planning to visit the guildhall for letters, Ding Songyan stopped at Dangkang Temple to fulfill an old vow.

• Xie Fengchao challenged Ding Songyan to a spar using only palm and movement techniques, and Ding agreed to fight outside the County Yamen.
• Ding Songyan used his observations of Xie Fengchao’s shoulder and gaze to anticipate his movements and win the spar with his sheathed sword.
• Ding Songyan identified two flaws in Xie Fengchao’s habits, and Xie thanked him and became impressed by his insight.
• Ding Songyan introduced Xie Fengchao to Zheng Zhuxi, while Xie privately reconsidered the danger of challenging her.
• Zheng Zhuxi said she wanted to spar with Xie Fengchao, and Ding Songyan suggested she had a good chance if Xie avoided his signature hidden weapons.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi headed toward the Tianyang Guildhall and Debao Tower to check for letters, but Ding Songyan paused at Dangkang Temple to fulfill a vow.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi visited Dangkang Temple, where Temple Host Zhu asked them to recover a stolen flower needed to make a Rejuvenation Pill. After agreeing to investigate, they returned in secret and watched Zhu approach Light Cavalry Commandant Xing Chang with the same request for help.

• Ding Songyan explained to Zheng Zhuxi why he had prayed at Dangkang Temple while under Yan Changqing's control, then fulfilled his vow by offering incense.
• Temple Host Zhu told Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi that a flower from the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden-Rain Tree had been stolen from his secret chamber.
• Zhu explained that he needed the flower to make a Rejuvenation Pill, which could restore youth but reset the taker's lifespan.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi agreed to find the flower, and Ding proposed observing Zhu before reviewing the authorities' case files.
• The pair secretly returned to Dangkang Temple and saw Zhu approach Xing Chang, a nine-foot-tall member of the Headless People, and tell him he could help.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated Temple Host Zhu’s search for helpers, collected letters from Su Qingli and Ren Youyang, and considered how to identify the thief who stole the temple’s treasure. The chapter ended with Ding Songyan reading Su Qingli’s affectionate letter from afar.

• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi saw Temple Host Zhu enlist Xie Fengchao after approaching Xing Chang of the Headless People, and Ding Songyan concluded that Zhu was choosing capable helpers.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi visited the Tianyang Guildhall and Debao Tower, where Ding Songyan collected letters from Su Qingli and Ren Youyang.
• Ding Songyan laughed at Ren Youyang’s blunt reply and sent back a teasing letter, explaining to Zheng Zhuxi that their insults showed their friendship.
• Xu Chang'an told Ding Songyan that the Great Change Has the Dao Diagram would take too long for his Aperture Refinement, and Ding Songyan told him to practice the Blameless Profound Art for now.
• Ding Songyan asked Xu Chang'an to find out who controlled the thieves around Dangkang Temple and the Prefecture City.
• Ding Songyan opened Su Qingli’s letter, which described her strength after eating the Huai Fruit, her cultivation, and her wish to visit him in Zhao.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi visited Liang Gan to ask about the theft from Dangkang Temple. Ding Songyan discovered that Liang could hear thoughts, and Liang suggested the thief might have come from inside the temple.

• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi went with Xu Chang'an to meet Liang Gan, the chief thief of Prefecture City.
• Zheng Zhuxi asked Liang about the stolen Small Iron Box, and Liang denied that his people had taken it.
• Ding Songyan tested his suspicion that Liang could hear thoughts, and Liang reacted to his imagined plans to kill him.
• Ding Songyan told Zheng Zhuxi that Liang could hear thoughts, and Liang admitted he could hear a little.
• Liang explained that his subordinates could not have bypassed Temple Host Zhu's spell and suggested the thief was either watching the item before it was hidden or came from Dangkang Temple itself.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated the theft of Temple Host Zhu’s flower, using Liang Gan’s mind-reading technique to question Dangkang Temple’s experts. They uncovered evidence that Temple Host Zhu may have sleepwalked through the theft under the influence of his adopted son He Luo, and went to confront him.

• Ding Songyan persuaded Liang Gan to secretly listen to suspects’ thoughts while they questioned the experts at Dangkang Temple.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi learned that several temple disciples had been away and that Temple Host Zhu’s warning spell had never been triggered.
• Zheng Zhuxi suspected that someone had entered Temple Host Zhu’s dream, and Temple Host Zhu recalled dreaming that he handed the Small Iron Box to someone he trusted.
• Ding Songyan identified He Luo, Temple Host Zhu’s adopted son, as a possible suspect because he practiced the dream-entering technique Three Thousand Years of Great Dreaming.
• Steward Hu reported that He Luo had returned to the temple, and Zheng Zhuxi ordered everyone kept away from his quarters as they went to see him.

Zheng Zhuxi and the others confronted He Luo, whose calamity-warding power made him difficult to capture until Zheng Zhuxi broke through it with her sword. After He Luo died by poison, Ding Songyan questioned his ghost and learned that the Sage Lord had given him an immortal seed, linking the plot to Qin Guanchan.

• Zheng Zhuxi confronted He Luo while Liang Gan revealed He Luo's guilty thoughts, and He Luo tried to flee when she mentioned the Three Fiends of Xiao City.
• He Luo used his dream powers to trap Xing Chang and Xie Fengchao in nightmares, but Zheng Zhuxi dispelled them with her Candlelight Sword Intent and drove He Luo into a corner.
• Zheng Zhuxi pierced He Luo with Autumn Water, and Xie Fengchao and Xing Chang tried to subdue him, but He Luo died after taking poison from a face hidden on the back of his head.
• Temple Host Zhu recognized the hidden face as a sign of the Two-Faced Clan, and Zheng Zhuxi explained how He Luo could have acquired it.
• Ding Songyan questioned He Luo's ghost, who denied meeting the Two-Faced Clan and said the Sage Lord had bestowed an immortal seed upon him.
• He Luo named the Sage Lord as Qin Guanchan, whom the righteous sects called the Devil Lord.