Chapter Summaries

Yang Qing and his companions discovered that the ruins they had explored were tied to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom and vanished overnight, possibly because a Stillness Spell had ended. He worried that the strange events were aimed at him and asked whether Pei Buji, the Holy Maiden, and Ouyang Lin should continue with him.

• Yang Qing showed the Bone Jade Thumb Ring to his companions, and the Holy Maiden explained that its Imperial Scepter emblem connected it to Eastern Splendor but did not prove Emperor Zetian had owned it.
• The group camped away from the ruins, endured a bitterly cold night, and took turns watching over one another.
• At dawn, Bu Er discovered that the ruins had vanished, leaving only faint traces on the ground.
• Yang Qing proposed that a Stillness Spell had preserved the ruins and that the portrait's destruction might have ended the spell.
• Yang Qing asked Pei Buji, the Holy Maiden, and Ouyang Lin what they intended to do, explaining that he feared the dangers along the journey were directed at him.

Yang Qing’s group reunited with the recovering Ouyang Lin, who described being trapped in an Underground City beneath the forest. After crossing the desert and reaching a village, they were attacked by villagers who hurled flaming sticks at them.

• Pei Buji and Mo Beixing affirmed that they would stay with Yang Qing, and Ouyang Lin woke up.
• Ouyang Lin told Yang Qing and the others that he had found an Underground City, seen paintings inside, and been captured by the Tree Serpent.
• Yang Qing explained what had happened after rescuing Ouyang Lin, and Ouyang Lin continued the journey with the group.
• After two days crossing the desert, Yang Qing and his companions emerged near a village and were confronted by its hostile residents.
• When Jiang Zhizhou addressed the villagers’ leader as “Brother,” the man ordered the villagers to throw flaming sticks at Yang Qing’s group.

Yang Qing and his companions were branded harbingers of disaster by villagers who refused to let them pass through their village. After Jiang Zhizhou found a strange shrine that repelled him, the villagers revealed that it had warned them of the group’s arrival.

• The villagers attacked Yang Qing’s group with Fire Starters, but Bu Er and the others extinguished them and disarmed the attackers.
• Yang Qing asked why the villagers feared the road behind them, and they claimed anyone who emerged from it was a ghost and could not enter the village.
• Yang Qing demanded food, water, clean clothes, and another route, while Bu Er pressed the villagers for an explanation and punched their leader when they stayed silent.
• Yang Qing sent Jiang Zhizhou into the village, where he found a stone shrine compound and was thrown back by an unseen force at its gate.
• The villagers told Jiang Zhizhou that the shrine protected the village and warned them of disasters, including the arrival of Yang Qing’s group.

Jiang Zhizhou learned that the villagers feared him and his companions because they had emerged from the Demon Domain, where hundreds of villagers had disappeared. Yang Qing questioned the village chief about the Hard Tribe and the village’s history, then asked about the Sacrificial Temple.

• Jiang Zhizhou learned that a courtyard had caught fire two days earlier and that the villagers blamed the newcomers for emerging alive from the Demon Domain.
• Jiang Zhizhou returned to Yang Qing and told him that the courtyard might be the source of the trouble.
• Yang Qing asked the village chief about the Hard Tribe, and the chief called them a clan of fiends who drank human blood, performed rituals, and returned from the dead.
• The village chief explained that the Hard Tribe had once lived beside the village, but crop failures and a river changing course forced the villagers to migrate until a desert separated them.
• Yang Qing asked the village chief to tell them about the Sacrificial Temple.

Yang Qing and his companions learned that the village’s mysterious Sacrificial Temple had appeared during a rainstorm and that no villager had ever been able to enter it. Believing it was an illusion connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom, Yang Qing approached the temple and watched its door begin to open.

• The village chief told Yang Qing and the others that the Sacrificial Temple had appeared after a sudden darkness and rain, though no one knew its true origin.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Yang Qing suspected the courtyard was an illusion preserved by a Stillness Spell, and they discussed how their journey seemed to be arranged around Yang Qing.
• The village chief revealed a tradition that the temple would open for the Fated One, and Yang Qing asked him to lead them there.
• Jiang Zhizhou gave the village chief silver, while the chief hoped Yang Qing and his companions might help the village escape its decline and lack of births.
• Jiang Zhizhou said he could not approach the temple, but Yang Qing walked toward it without obstruction, and the door began to open with a sliver of light inside.

Yang Qing entered the Sacrificial Temple and saw a portrait connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom, but left without learning the man’s identity or intentions. After the village chief welcomed Yang Qing and his companions to a feast, they pretended to drink the poisoned wine and waited to see what would happen.

• The villagers celebrated when the Sacrificial Temple opened, and Yang Qing entered alone as its doors shut behind him.
• Yang Qing recognized the temple’s portrait as the same figure he had seen in the Ruins, questioned him, and watched blood drip from the painting before the doors reopened.
• Yang Qing told the village chief he had seen only a painting, then accepted the villagers’ invitation to a meal with Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and the others.
• The village chief served heartbreak grass in the wine and escorted the apparently drunken guests to their rooms.
• Bu Er and the others revealed they had faked being drunk, and Yang Qing told them to wait as footsteps approached outside.

Yang Qing and his companions escaped the village chief’s attempt to burn them alive, then left the village as its people faced despair. At an inn, Yang Qing decided to abandon the planned route to Haiyan City and investigate the portraits that had repeatedly appeared to them.

• The village chief and his men set fire to the house, but Yang Qing, Bu Er, Jiang Zhizhou, and the others escaped as it collapsed.
• Yang Qing reminded the village chief that the villagers needed him alive to open the Sacrificial Temple, then led his companions out of the village.
• After leaving the village, Yang Qing and his companions found the surrounding scenery ordinary and continued their journey toward Haiyan City.
• At the inn, Bu Er told Yang Qing that towns along the western route could help them reach Haiyan City quickly.
• Yang Qing told his companions that the portrait in the Sacrificial Temple depicted the person he had seen in the Ruins and that they should stop letting others control their journey.
• Yang Qing took out the Bone Jade Thumb Ring and decided that they would go wherever they found portraits to discover why they kept appearing.

Mo Beixing was abducted from a clothing shop, and Yang Qing’s group discovered the shop was a den of thieves that had been abandoned. They suspected the abductors were still nearby and preparing to strike again, just as a fierce gust burst through their window.

• Mo Beixing went to a dressmaker’s shop, but Pei Buji learned she had left and found faint footprints by the rear window.
• Pei Buji reported the abduction to Yang Qing and the others, who worried about Mo Beixing’s identity and safety.
• Yang Qing suspected the clothing shop was involved, and Pei Buji and Jiang Zhizhou found it deserted when they returned.
• Yang Qing reasoned that the abductors were still in the city and might target the group again.
• A fierce gust burst through the window, and Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er moved to protect Yang Qing.

Yang Qing and his companions followed an unexplained invitation to the Spring Breeze House, only to find a martial contest for the Lin Family daughter blocking their way. As the contest continued, Jiang Zhizhou spotted someone who looked like Mo Beixing sitting by a window in the Spring Breeze House.

• A golden silk message invited Yang Qing and his companions to meet at the Spring Breeze House, and Yang Qing decided they should go despite the lack of a specified time.
• Yang Qing and his companions found a martial contest for a bride outside the Spring Breeze House and watched from a restaurant across the road.
• The spectators explained that the Lin Family daughter had been abducted years earlier and that the contest victor would marry her and inherit the family fortune.
• Jiang Zhizhou pointed out a woman at the Spring Breeze House who looked like the Holy Maiden, and Yang Qing recognized her as Mo Beixing.

Yang Qing and his companions investigated whether the Lin Family was connected to Mo Beixing’s disappearance after seeing the family’s daughter, who closely resembled the missing Holy Maiden. When the Lin Family left Nameless City early, Yang Qing’s group followed them toward Mountain City to continue the investigation.

• Yang Qing and his companions suspected that the message and the Lin Family Daughter’s appearance were meant to point them toward the Lin Family, so they decided to investigate in person.
• Yang Qing and Bu Er watched the Lin Family’s marriage tournament while Jiang Zhizhou, Pei Buji, and Ouyang Lin searched Nameless City for clues to Mo Beixing’s whereabouts.
• On the tournament’s final day, Yang Qing saw the Lin Family Daughter dressed plainly and concluded that the Lin Family must be connected to Mo Beixing’s disappearance.
• After the Lin Family chose a son-in-law and planned to return to Mountain City, Yang Qing’s group prepared to follow and investigate the Lin Residence.
• When the Lin Family left Nameless City ahead of schedule, Yang Qing and his companions packed quickly and followed their carriage.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered that the Lin Family had likely taken Mo Beixing and prepared to attend the family’s wedding banquet to find her. Meanwhile, rumors that Master Lin had gained an adopted daughter who resembled his own daughter stirred new ambitions in Mountain City.

• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Bu Er followed the Lin Family to Mountain City and watched their residence for several days.
• The Lin Family announced a grand wedding banquet, and Yang Qing noted it would give them a chance to enter the residence openly.
• An invitation appeared in Yang Qing’s locked room, and Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er caught a poisoned intruder hiding inside.
• Yang Qing concluded that the Lin Family knew Mo Beixing’s origins and had likely taken her during the martial contest in Nameless City.
• Yang Qing decided to attend the banquet to find the Holy Maiden, while rumors spread that Master Lin had taken in an adopted daughter who resembled the Lin Family Daughter.

Yang Qing and his companions entered the Lin Residence, where a woman tried to ensnare him with the Sound Enchantment Art before leading them into a confinement formation. Yang Qing and his companions broke the formation’s concealment and waited to see what the Lin Family would do next.

• Yang Qing and his companions learned that the Lin Family intended to keep Mo Beixing at the Lin Residence and set out to attend.
• A woman in a luxurious carriage invited them aboard and used the Sound Enchantment Art on Yang Qing, but he neutralized it.
• The woman brought Yang Qing and the others through the Lin Residence’s gates and into a confinement formation that kept them apart from the other guests.
• Yang Qing recognized the formation as the Lin Family’s warning not to interfere in the Holy Maiden’s affairs, and he chose to wait and observe.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er moved quickly to take care of something, and the formation’s scenery vanished as someone approached.

Yang Qing suspected Master Lin planned to substitute Lin Family Daughter for Mo Beixing and send the Holy Maiden to the palace, while the Lin Family used the scheme to gain influence. At the banquet, Lin Family Daughter switched places with Mo Beixing, and Master Lin announced that his adopted daughter would enter the palace for an imperial audience.

• Yang Qing recognized Master Lin and the two identically dressed women accompanying him, and suspected the Lin Family intended to send Mo Beixing to the emperor.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and their companions resolved to wait for proof before intervening to rescue Mo Beixing.
• Master Lin celebrated the return of his daughter and the arrival of his adopted daughter and son-in-law, then ordered the women to toast the guests.
• Master Lin threatened Mo Beixing by invoking Yang Qing and the others, so she went among the guests to offer toasts.
• Mo Beixing collided with Lin Family Daughter, lost her voice, and realized the other woman had taken her place.
• Master Lin announced that his adopted daughter had won the emperor's favor and would enter the palace the next day.

Yang Qing and his companions escaped the Lin Family’s trapping formation and pieced together Master Lin’s hidden purpose behind the Plum for Peach scheme. They decided to play along with his plans while investigating the portrait, and Master Lin arrived at their inn to meet them.

• The Lin Family lifted the trapping formation, allowing Yang Qing and his companions to return to the inn.
• Yang Qing revealed a map marking a place where someone had seen a portrait resembling the anonymous portraits tied to their investigation.
• Yang Qing explained that the Lin Family might be using the false Holy Maiden’s journey to bring the Lin Family Daughter along with his group and gain access to their investigation.
• Bu Er suggested that Master Lin might have been waiting for Yang Qing and his companions to appear, raising suspicions that he knew their origins and purpose.
• Yang Qing decided they should play along with Master Lin’s scheme and see what resources he had, just as Master Lin arrived at the inn.

Master Lin visited Yang Qing and his companions, offering information about the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom in exchange for their help. He revealed that he wanted them to take him to its ruins to find a Longevity Formula for his hidden, ailing son, and insisted that the formula existed.

• Master Lin arrived at the inn and met Yang Qing, while Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou kept curious onlookers away.
• Master Lin proposed cooperation and revealed that he knew Yang Qing’s group was interested in the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom.
• Yang Qing refused to trade for information about the kingdom until Master Lin said their missing friend was safe at his residence.
• Master Lin asked to accompany the group to the ruins in return for rescuing their friend, explaining that he sought a Longevity Formula for his son.
• Yang Qing doubted the formula existed, but Master Lin insisted it was hidden in one of the ruins.

Yang Qing refused Master Lin’s offer to join their search for the Longevity Formula and realized the visit had distracted them from Mo Beixing. After learning that Mo Beixing’s whereabouts were unknown, Yang Qing uncovered evidence of Master Lin’s ambitions and suspected she had been taken to the Lin Family Ancestral Grounds.

• Master Lin urged Yang Qing to take him to the ruins of the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom, but Yang Qing refused because they followed different paths.
• Yang Qing concluded that Master Lin had brought up the Longevity Formula to distract them from asking about the Holy Maiden.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou found that Mo Beixing’s whereabouts were unknown, so Yang Qing ordered Bu Er to investigate the Lin Family again.
• Yang Qing and the others planned to travel to the City of Eternal Night and evade the Lin Family’s surveillance.
• Bu Er reported finding a private brothel, forbidden objects, and Shadow Guards in the Lin Residence, leading Yang Qing to suspect Master Lin wanted to proclaim himself king and had taken Mo Beixing to the Lin Family Ancestral Grounds.

Yang Qing’s group tampered with the Lin Family’s tribute to delay their rise, then went to the Lin Family Ancestral Grounds to find Mo Beixing. They watched as Master Lin brought Mo Beixing there early and asked her to divine the family’s fortunes.

• Yang Qing guessed that Master Lin planned to have Mo Beixing divine the Lin Family’s fortunes at their Ancestral Grounds, and learned that the family had publicly announced a visit in three days.
• Yang Qing decided to plant forbidden objects in the Lin Family’s tribute to provoke scrutiny from the emperor while the group pursued its other plans.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou slipped the forbidden objects into the tribute chests, and Yang Qing’s group left the inn in disguise for the Ancestral Grounds.
• Yang Qing’s group arrived before the Lin Family and hid, but Master Lin soon appeared with Mo Beixing, three days ahead of the announced visit.
• Mo Beixing told Master Lin that prophecy revealed only fragments and instructed him to prepare an incense altar and place something he treasured on it as an offering.

Yang Qing and his companions rescued Mo Beixing from Master Lin and traveled to the City of Eternal Night, where Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou found the Auction House burned down and everyone inside dead. The chapter left the fate of the portrait unknown and hinted that someone had watched the two men investigate.

• Master Lin rejected Mo Beixing's warning and insisted on pursuing the Longevity Formula and his ambitions, so Yang Qing and his companions rescued her from the Lin Family.
• Mo Beixing fainted from exhaustion, then woke after a day and night of rest and told Yang Qing's group that Master Lin was the reincarnation of the Northern Wealth Star, but his greed would bring ruin to his family.
• Yang Qing told Mo Beixing to recover while the group continued toward the City of Eternal Night, where they arrived three days later than planned.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou went to the Auction House to trace the portrait, but found its building burned to ashes and learned that everyone inside had died.
• A figure hidden in darkness watched Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou leave the ruins, then turned and went away.

After someone burned down the auction house, Yang Qing realized they likely had the portrait and would use it to draw him into a trap. At Wangjiang Pavilion, a mysterious man revealed the portrait and claimed that two legendary treasures were hidden in the City of Eternal Night, but Yang Qing refused to retrieve them.

• Yang Qing concluded that the person behind the auction-house fire knew his plans and probably possessed the portrait.
• A letter directed Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou to meet outside the city at Wangjiang Pavilion, a place associated with exiles’ final farewells.
• At the pavilion, a mysterious man appeared and showed Yang Qing a portrait of the armored figure riding Chasing Wind.
• The man claimed that Chasing Wind and the Inkcloud Armor were hidden in the City of Eternal Night and urged Yang Qing to seek them.
• Yang Qing declined, and the man mocked him as a coward before warning that a calamity might follow.

Yang Qing and his companions were driven from their inn by a suspicious fire and found themselves funneled into an eerie inn connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom. The chapter ended with Bu Er discovering that a Wind-Chasing Horse was inside.

• Yang Qing returned to the City of Eternal Night with Bu Er and the others after the mysterious man left, and they waited several days at an inn.
• A fast-spreading fire forced Yang Qing and his companions to evacuate the inn, and they rescued guests who could not get out on their own.
• Yang Qing suspected the fire was connected to the mysterious man and led the group away to search for another inn.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou realized that every road led to a strange inn, so the group entered it despite Yang Qing's suspicions.
• The inn door shut behind them, and Bu Er called out that he had found a Wind-Chasing Horse.