Chapter Summaries

At a dinner, Li Feng rejected Shen Xiuying’s advances, prompting Lin Yanqiu to become jealous and question him about the girl he claimed to like. After he revealed it was only an excuse, Lin Yanqiu felt relieved but began to suspect she had improper feelings for him.

• Li Feng told Shen Xiuying that he already liked someone, leaving her embarrassed and Lin Yanqiu jealous.
• Lin Yanqiu drank Li Feng’s wine and snubbed him, while Zhang Qiang watched Shen Xiuying’s rejection and felt humiliated.
• Zhang Qiang helped Zhang Maochun and Chen Yulian leave, and Shen Xiuying departed disappointed after Li Feng ignored her.
• Lin Yanqiu confronted Li Feng about the girl he liked, and he explained that he had invented her as an excuse to reject Shen Xiuying.
• Lin Yanqiu felt relieved by Li Feng’s explanation, then wondered whether she had developed feelings for him and tried to deny it.

Li Feng learned that the Black Lotus Cult was suspected of hiding near the Green Bamboo Gambling House, and he joined Jiang Yue and the constables in a cautious inspection. The group approached the gambling house under orders to act as though they were conducting a routine check and report suspicious people rather than confronting them.

• Li Feng arrived at the City Guard Office and learned from Zhang San that the Black Lotus Cult had slaughtered several households, prompting a bounty of three hundred taels for capturing its members and fifty taels for verified information.
• Jiang Yue led the chief constables and other officers out of the office toward the Green Bamboo Gambling House, leaving Li Feng and Zhang San to wonder why such a large force had been assembled.
• As they neared the gambling house, Jiang Yue told the constables that Black Lotus Cult members might be hiding nearby and ordered them to conduct a routine inspection without alerting anyone.
• Jiang Yue instructed the constables to report suspicious people to a chief constable and not act alone, since the cultists were martial artists and civilians might be hurt by mistake.

Jiang Yue led the City Guard Office in a search of the Green Bamboo Gambling House for members of the Black Lotus Cult, refusing Steward Zhang’s attempt to bribe her. The inspection began with Li Feng confronting Green Bamboo Gang guards, and the search continued amid growing tension.

• Jiang Yue and dozens of constables entered the Green Bamboo Gambling House and ordered the crowd to submit to an inspection.
• Li Feng identified Jiang Yue as the newly appointed Constable, prompting Steward Zhang to offer her a silver ingot.
• Jiang Yue refused Steward Zhang’s money and warned him against obstructing the investigation.
• Jiang Yue assigned Li Feng, Zhang Hong, and Xu Yang to search different sections for Black Lotus Cult tattoos.
• Li Feng heard a Green Bamboo Gang member curse him, kicked him down, inspected his arms, and knocked him away again after finding no tattoo.

During a City Guard Office inspection of a Gambling House, Li Feng was ambushed by Black Lotus Cult members Wang Xiao and Zhang Ming. He survived their sneak attack and killed both men, leaving the inspection’s smoke-filled chaos behind him.

• Li Feng asserted his authority during the inspection, while Wang Xiao and Zhang Ming hid in the chip exchange room and realized the exits were sealed.
• Wang Xiao and Zhang Ming decided to use poison smoke to create chaos and attack Li Feng so they could escape through a secret passage.
• Li Feng sensed the danger as the smoke spread and evaded Zhang Ming’s claw strike and Wang Xiao’s saber attack.
• Li Feng used the Water-Cutting Saber Art’s Wavebreaker form to stab Wang Xiao through the heart.
• Li Feng followed with Current-Cutting and slashed Zhang Ming’s throat; Zhang Ming recognized Li Feng as a qi-blood third stage expert before dying.

Li Feng killed two Black Lotus Cult members who ambushed him in the smoke, then concealed his strength by crediting Jiang Yue. Zhang Hong and Xu Yang arrived, identified the dead cultists, and joined in the pretense that Jiang Yue had killed them.

• Li Feng killed Zhang Ming with a saber thrust and reflected that he needed to finish enemies quickly while another cultist might still be hiding nearby.
• Jiang Yue reached Li Feng, questioned his claim that the attackers were only at the qi-blood first stage, and chose not to expose his concealment.
• Zhang Hong and Xu Yang arrived and found Black Lotus Cult tattoos on the two bodies.
• Li Feng credited Jiang Yue with the victory, and Zhang Hong and Xu Yang went along with his explanation and praised her martial skill.

Jiang Yue’s constables searched the Gambling House for the last Black Lotus Cult member and found him hiding in a cesspit. She ordered the steward to clean the prisoner before the City Guard Office took him away, while warning the steward about harboring wanted criminals.

• Jiang Yue ordered the constables to search the Gambling House in pairs for the remaining Black Lotus Cult member.
• Two constables found a scrawny man hiding in the cesspit and brought him into the front hall, where Xu Yang and Li Feng identified his lotus tattoo and mocked his hiding place.
• Jiang Yue questioned Steward Zhang about the three cult members, then warned him the Gambling House could be charged with harboring wanted criminals.
• Jiang Yue ordered Steward Zhang to wash the prisoner and remove the stench before the City Guard Office took him for questioning.
• Steward Zhang agreed and ordered Green Bamboo Gang members to clean the hall, wash the prisoner, and burn agarwood incense.

Jiang Yue identified the two dead attackers as wanted murderers and confirmed their combined bounty with the Black Lotus Cult reward totaled four hundred taels. She awarded Li Feng two hundred taels from the five-hundred-tael total and proposed dividing the remaining three hundred among the constables present.

• Jiang Yue ordered Xu Yang to search the bodies for identifying items and Black Lotus Cult tokens.
• Xu Yang found silver and wanted portraits showing that the two dead men had murdered a merchant household and each carried a hundred-tael bounty.
• Jiang Yue questioned Li Feng about the attackers’ strength, but let his awkward explanation pass.
• Jiang Yue ordered Xu Yang to give the silver pouch from the bodies to Li Feng as his share of the spoils.
• Jiang Yue announced that the total bounty was five hundred taels and proposed giving Li Feng two hundred, with the rest divided among the constables present.

Li Feng received a large share of the reward for helping capture the wanted criminals and considered buying a better house. When he returned home, he killed a huge, aggressive rat that had terrified Lin Yanqiu, then wondered what had made it abnormal.

• Jiang Yue ordered Xu Yang to bring the corpses and the surviving criminal to the City Guard Office and organize the case files.
• Li Feng pocketed the silver reward and considered moving to a larger home after repaying his debt.
• Zhang San envied Li Feng's reward, while Li Feng claimed his perfected saber technique had made the two martial artists no threat.
• Li Feng rushed into the house after hearing Lin Yanqiu scream and found her clinging to him in terror of a giant gray rat.
• The rat lunged at Li Feng, who killed it with a single strike of the Water-Cutting Saber Art and suspected it had somehow mutated.

After Li Feng saved Lin Yanqiu from a giant rat, she fled in embarrassment, while the Black Lotus Cult learned that two members had died and another had been captured. The deputy cult master dismissed the prisoner as a minor concern and ordered the cult’s preparations to continue.

• Lin Yanqiu realized Li Feng was holding her after the danger passed, blushed, and hurried back to her room.
• Li Feng burned the strange rat’s corpse in the kitchen stove.
• A Black Lotus Cult subordinate reported that Zhang Ming and Wang Xiao had been killed at the Green Bamboo Gambling House and another member had been taken alive.
• The deputy cult master learned that the survivor was likely in the City Guard Office’s High-Security Prison and decided against a rescue or assassination.
• The deputy cult master ordered the cult to accelerate its preparations and keep the prisoner’s capture from disrupting their plan.

Li Feng cleared his Skin-Grinding Method debt, then killed three giant rats that deepened his suspicions about strange activity in the Outer City. Meanwhile, Jiang Yue struggled with her new administrative duties as Deputy Constable Director and received files concerning the Green Bamboo Gambling House.

• Li Feng completed his final Skin-Grinding Method repayment and found that he had one advance available, while considering how to obtain a Flesh Training method.
• Three giant rats attacked Li Feng in his courtyard, and he killed them with his saber before examining their corpses.
• Li Feng burned the rats and warned Lin Yanqiu to tell him immediately if anything strange happened, suspecting the rats might be connected to the Black Lotus Cult.
• Jiang Yue struggled to manage the complicated administrative work that came with her promotion to Deputy Constable Director.
• Jiang Wan delivered the sorted Green Bamboo Gambling House files to Jiang Yue and prepared to assist her with administration and intelligence analysis.

Jiang Yue assigned Li Feng to investigate disappearances, giant rat attacks, and the Black Lotus Cult after clues suggested the cases were connected. Li Feng accepted the covert investigation and began asking Jiang Wan for details.

• Jiang Wan told Jiang Yue that an interrogated Black Lotus Cult member knew little beyond monthly dues and worship of the Black Lotus Protector.
• Jiang Wan presented files about missing civilians and giant rat attacks whose locations and dates showed signs of overlap.
• Jiang Yue agreed that Li Feng should investigate the cases and ordered him to report leads directly to Jiang Wan.
• Jiang Wan visited Li Feng at home, explained the assignment, and warned him that the City Guard Office might contain cult insiders.
• Li Feng accepted the covert investigation and questioned Jiang Wan about details in the files.

Li Feng began investigating strange nighttime activity linked to the Black Lotus Cult by questioning residents and checking a grain shop for clues. At the Zhang Family Grain Shop, Shen Xiuying flirted with him as his colleagues watched.

• Jiang Wan finished briefing Li Feng on his assignment, and he decided to begin investigating the next day.
• Li Feng sent Zhang San, Chen Song, and Cheng Hu to make inquiries near Everjoy Lane and the Green Bamboo Gang.
• Li Feng questioned Uncle Li, who described seeing unusually large gray rats and reported that Wang Er had vanished at night.
• At the Zhang Family Grain Shop, Chen Yulian told Li Feng that grain had been disappearing and that enormous rat paw prints had appeared inside.
• Shen Xiuying served Li Feng tea, pressed herself against his arm, and drew teasing grins from Zhang San and Chen Song.

Li Feng questioned Chen Yulian about strange nighttime events at the Grain Shop and learned that grain had been disappearing, apparently taken by oversized rats. He warned the family to secure the shop as he pursued the cause of the rat infestation and recent disappearances.

• Shen Xiuying pretended to stumble into Li Feng's arms, and Zhang Qiang saw them together before running from the courtyard in despair.
• Li Feng told Chen Yulian that he and his men had come on an assignment from the City Guard Office and asked about strange events at the Grain Shop.
• Chen Yulian said grain had gone missing for two weeks and that the flour sacks bore claw marks larger than those of ordinary rats.
• Zhang Maochun thanked Li Feng for making the Green Bamboo Gang stop demanding extra payments from the family.
• Li Feng suspected the Mutant Giant Rats were linked to the Black Lotus Cult and warned Chen Yulian and Zhang Maochun to close the shop at dusk and keep the doors shut.
• Li Feng finished giving instructions and left with Zhang San and the others.

Li Feng questioned Scarface about the rat plague and the people disappearing at night, and Scarface pointed him toward an Abandoned Old Mansion in Westside. Li Feng left to investigate the lead while Scarface's gang mistakenly believed he was as strong as Incense Master Lei.

• Li Feng led Zhang San and the other two into Green Bamboo Gang territory, where Cheng Hu ordered a lackey to fetch the boss.
• Scarface ignored the lackey until Li Feng entered and called him by name, then recognized Li Feng and hurried to appease him.
• Li Feng asked Scarface about the rat plague and missing civilians, and Scarface said the rumors might connect them to the Black Lotus Cult at an Abandoned Old Mansion in Westside.
• Li Feng left with Zhang San and the others after hearing Scarface's lead.
• Scarface told his brothers that Li Feng had reached qi-blood second level perfection, exaggerating his strength to make his own deference seem prudent.

The Black Lotus Cult planned to use a blood-fed Black Lotus Rat King to control the Outer City, while Li Feng investigated the abandoned residence where the cult was hiding. After overhearing cultists confirm the rat king’s purpose and the existence of a deeper concealed headquarters, Li Feng left to report what he had learned to Jiang Wan.

• The Black Lotus Cult Leader revealed that the Black Lotus Rat King would mature in about half a month and could command a tide of mind-controlling demonic rats.
• Li Feng dressed in black and went alone to investigate the abandoned residence in the west of the city.
• Li Feng found a dusty stone slab with signs of movement and hid on a roof beam when he heard footsteps below.
• Two cultists emerged from an underground passage and discussed the concealed headquarters, the rat king, and the cult’s plans to control the Outer City.
• Li Feng chose not to enter the passage and quietly left the residence with enough information to report to Jiang Wan.

Li Feng reported that the Black Lotus Cult was behind the disappearances and giant rats, and warned Jiang Yue that a Rat King could threaten the Outer City. Jiang Yue decided to report the discovery to the Constable Commander before authorizing an operation.

• Li Feng arrived early at the City Guard Office and asked to see Jiang Yue, while Jiang Wan doubted he could have found reliable leads so quickly.
• Li Feng told Jiang Yue that he had traced the missing people and giant rats to the Black Lotus Cult.
• Li Feng described investigating the abandoned house, finding a secret passage, and overhearing the cult's plan involving a Black Lotus Rat King.
• Jiang Yue realized the threat could endanger the Outer City and decided to report Li Feng's information to the Constable Commander.
• Jiang Yue hurried to the Constable Commander's office to seek approval and protect herself from accusations if an operation caused casualties.

Li Feng’s intelligence about the Black Lotus Cult prompted the Constable Commander to order an investigation, and Jiang Yue later received approval to raid the cult’s Westside base. The City Guard Office assembled its forces for the nighttime assault, with Jiang Yue leading the attack underground.

• Jiang Yue told Li Feng that the Constable Commander would investigate the Black Lotus Cult while keeping the matter under covert watch.
• Jiang Wan reassured Li Feng that the City Guard Office could eliminate the cult, but Li Feng remained cautious about the danger to low-ranking constables.
• Li Feng practiced Black Tiger Fist and used the Heavenly Dao Advance Panel to track his progress toward perfecting it.
• Three days later, Jiang Yue received approval to lead five Chief Constables and over a hundred Regular Constables against the Black Lotus Cult’s base.
• Jiang Yue briefed the assembled constables on the disappearances and Gray Giant Rats, then ordered one group to surround the mansion while the other followed her into its underground passages.

Jiang Yue led more than a hundred City Guard Office constables to raid the Black Lotus Cult’s hideout, using Li Feng’s intelligence to find its underground chambers. They swiftly overwhelmed the cultists on the first level and suspected the real threat was waiting below.

• Jiang Yue credited Li Feng with uncovering the cult’s underground hideout, drawing the constables’ attention to him.
• Zhou Tong chose not to join the operation, hoping Jiang Yue’s force would suffer casualties so he could accuse her of reckless command.
• Jiang Yue led the constables to the Abandoned Mansion in Westside, where they found the hidden passage and descended underground.
• The constables killed or captured the weak cultists gathered on the first underground level while Li Feng stayed at the rear.
• Jiang Wan warned Jiang Yue that the first level’s cultists were likely expendable outer members meant to mislead them.

Li Feng proposed using captured Black Lotus Cultists to test the traps beyond the passage after Jiang Yue broke through the wall to the second level. Jiang Yue hesitated at the idea, while Li Feng defended it as a way to protect the City Guard Office from casualties.

• Li Feng failed to find a mechanism in the lotus statue and uprooted it, creating an awkward scene.
• Jiang Yue cut through the stone wall and revealed a passage to the second level.
• Jiang Wan suggested interrogating the captured cultists before entering, and the constables agreed.
• Li Feng argued that delay would give the cultists time to prepare and suggested tying prisoners to ropes so they could trigger traps ahead.
• Jiang Yue questioned whether using prisoners as trap scouts was inhumane, and Li Feng defended the plan by calling the cultivators guilty cultists who deserved to atone.