Chapter Summaries

Yang Qing accused Chancellor Wei Sizhong before Chu Jinghui and endured thirty strokes of the cane so his memorial could be heard. Chu Jinghui ordered a search that uncovered a wooden box, which Wei Sizhong denied owning.

• Yang Qing told Chu Jinghui he would serve diligently, then submitted charges against Wei Sizhong.
• Chu Jinghui warned Yang Qing that accusing a superior required thirty strokes, and Yang Qing accepted the punishment.
• After the caning left Yang Qing badly injured, Eunuch Zhang presented his bloodstained memorial to Chu Jinghui.
• Chu Jinghui read the memorial and ordered Suotu to search beside the well in Wei Sizhong's rear garden for a wooden box.
• Suotu returned with the box, and Wei Sizhong told Chu Jinghui that it did not belong to him.

Chu Jinghui confronted Wei Sizhong with an imperial seal found in Wei Sizhong's residence, trapping the chancellor between admitting the box was his and explaining why he had denied it. Yang Qing then accused Wei Sizhong of trying to harm the emperor and urged Suotu to search him, leaving the court in uproar.

• Chu Jinghui examined the birthday seal found in Wei Sizhong's residence and demanded an explanation.
• Wei Sizhong realized that either denying ownership or admitting it would incriminate him, and he suspected Yang Qing had set the trap.
• Yang Qing suddenly warned Suotu that Wei Sizhong meant to harm Chu Jinghui, and Suotu restrained the chancellor.
• Yang Qing accused Wei Sizhong of treason and asked Chu Jinghui to have Suotu search him.
• Wei Sizhong protested his loyalty as the ministers wondered whether he had truly attempted to harm the emperor.

Chu Jinghui’s search of Wei Sizhong uncovered a concealed Ribbon Blade, and Wei was taken to the Celestial Prison after Chu read the letters in the wooden box. Yang Qing admitted he had used Chu as a chess piece to expose his suspicions about Wei, leaving Chu to order Yang confined and Wei’s residence searched.

• Chu Jinghui ordered Suotu to search Wei Sizhong, and Suotu found a Ribbon Blade hidden in Wei’s specially made boot.
• Suotu demonstrated that the Ribbon Blade could cut through the boot, and Wei Sizhong fell silent and prostrated himself before Chu Jinghui.
• Chu Jinghui read the letters from the wooden box and ordered Wei Sizhong taken to the Celestial Prison pending judgment.
• Chu Jinghui questioned Yang Qing, who admitted he had acted on suspicions and used Chu as a chess piece to protect the emperor and the realm.
• Chu Jinghui ordered Yang Chengming escorted home and confined, then sent men to surround and search the Chancellor’s Residence.

Yang Qing recovered from the wounds he suffered while forcing Chancellor Wei into prison, as Gu Chengtian and Bu Er helped secure his position. When Jiang Zhizhou returned and confronted him about risking his life, Yang Qing faced pressure to reveal his next move.

• Bu Er brought the gravely injured Yang Qing home, where Gu Chengtian arrived, arranged for his wounds to be treated, and offered to handle matters outside.
• Yang Qing warned Gu Chengtian that Wei Sizhong had only been imprisoned and urged him to proceed cautiously while pressing their advantage.
• Yang Qing learned that Bu Er and Phantom Shadow had set a fire in the Prime Minister's Residence study and ordered Bu Er to watch developments in the Imperial City.
• Yang Qing developed a fever overnight, and Jiang Zhizhou stayed beside him until morning.
• Jiang Zhizhou confronted Yang Qing for choosing a dangerous plan without him and demanded to know what would happen next, offering to carry it out himself.

Chu Jinghui learned that rare North Mountain Tea from Northern Liang had been delivered to Wei Sizhong, then ordered Suotu to search the chancellor’s ancestral hall. The search uncovered a hidden chamber full of treasure and another concealed compartment, whose contents remained unknown.

• Yang Qing entrusted Jiang Zhizhou with carrying out their plan and told him there was no turning back.
• Suotu showed Chu Jinghui charred fragments of a letter revealing that a Northern Liang merchant had repeatedly supplied North Mountain Tea to Wei Sizhong.
• Chu Jinghui ordered Suotu to return to Wei Sizhong’s residence and search the ancestral hall despite the Imperial Silk Cloak enshrined there.
• Suotu led the Imperial Guards into the ancestral hall, where they found a hidden chamber behind a wall.
• Suotu’s men broke open the chamber’s locked chests and discovered gold, silver, and jewels, then reported another concealed compartment.

Suotu uncovered embroidered young dragons among the garments confiscated from Wei Sizhong’s residence, and Chu Jinghui took this as evidence of treason and stripped Wei of his office. In the Celestial Prison, Yang Qing delivered the imperial decree and ordered Wei placed in heavy restraints, while Wei continued to accuse Yang of plotting against him.

• Suotu found a hidden compartment containing garments and presented them to Chu Jinghui along with the valuables taken from Wei Sizhong’s residence.
• Chu Jinghui identified a robe embroidered with young dragons and ordered Wei stripped of his chancellorship, his residence reclaimed, and his household punished with military service or exile.
• Yang Qing visited Wei Sizhong in the Celestial Prison and told him that what came next would satisfy him even more.
• Yang Qing read Chu Jinghui’s decree, prompting Wei to protest that he had been wronged and demand an audience with the emperor.
• Wei accused Yang Qing of engineering his downfall, but Yang ordered the jailers to put Wei in heavy restraints before departing.

Wei Sizhong learned that an imperial brocade robe found at his residence had triggered his condemnation, and he planned to plead his case by showing weakness. Several days later, the jailers found him gravely ill in his cell and decided to report his condition to the emperor.

• Wei Sizhong asked a jailer to bring his household steward to the Celestial Prison.
• The steward told Wei Sizhong that an eight-clawed imperial brocade robe had been found at the residence and had enraged the emperor.
• Wei Sizhong realized someone had framed him and decided to seek a chance to plead his case by appearing weak.
• Wei Sizhong secretly took something from the steward's sleeve and sent him away with instructions not to provoke further disputes over the household's affairs.
• Several days later, the jailers found Wei Sizhong gravely ill and chose to report his condition to the emperor.

Wei Sizhong recovered after receiving a secret visit from Duan Nazhen, who promised that Northern Liang was preparing to free him. Yang Qing learned of Wei Sizhong’s renewed spirits and watched the Northern Liang delegation closely, then Jiang Zhizhou arrived with news of another move concerning Wei Sizhong.

• The jailers decided to summon the Prison Doctor rather than report Wei Sizhong’s sudden illness to the emperor, and his condition stabilized after several days of medicine.
• Wei Sizhong’s steward bribed the jailers and brought the disguised Duan Nazhen to visit him in prison.
• Duan Nazhen told Wei Sizhong that her royal uncle was planning to free him and urged him to endure a little longer.
• Wei Sizhong’s spirits improved, while Yang Qing learned that the steward had continued visiting the prison and ordered Bu Er to watch the Northern Liang delegation.
• Jiang Zhizhou arrived at Yang Qing’s residence and reported news of another move from the north concerning Wei Sizhong.

Yang Qing prompted Chu Jinghui to inspect Wei Sizhong’s treatment in the Celestial Prison, where the emperor found the guards neglecting their duties. Enraged, Chu Jinghui ordered the jailers executed and Wei Sizhong beheaded the following day as a storm broke over the prison.

• Yang Qing went to the palace and subtly told Chu Jinghui that Wei Sizhong was gravely ill and unattended in prison.
• Chu Jinghui summoned Suotu and went to the Celestial Prison after Yang Qing left.
• Chu Jinghui found the jailers drinking and gambling while someone served food to Wei Sizhong in his open cell.
• Chu Jinghui ordered every jailer on duty to be beaten to death and Wei Sizhong to be placed in heavy shackles and beheaded at noon the next day.
• Chu Jinghui left the prison as a torrential downpour began and the jailers’ wails rose behind him.

Chu Jinghui decided to question Yang Chengming after a storm delayed his summons, while Yang Qing prepared for the possibility that the emperor might punish him. In the Imperial Study, Chu Jinghui accused Yang Qing of being so clever that he had even used the emperor as a pawn, and Yang Qing asked to explain.

• Chu Jinghui ordered Eunuch Zhang to summon Yang Chengming at night, but Eunuch Zhang and Suotu persuaded him to wait until after morning court.
• Yang Qing worried that he had acted rashly and told Bu Er to continue their matter with Young Master Jiang if he did not return after morning court.
• Yang Qing rebuked Bu Er for speaking disrespectfully about Chu Jinghui and ordered him to submit to household punishment.
• Suotu brought Yang Qing to the Imperial Study before court, where he waited alone until Chu Jinghui arrived.
• Chu Jinghui accused Yang Qing of using him as a pawn, and Yang Qing asked the emperor to hear him out.

Yang Qing persuaded Chu Jinghui to let him leave after explaining his plea for Wei Sizhong, then ordered Bu Er to continue investigating Princess Nazhen’s letter. Back at the Yang Residence, Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou planned to turn Wei Sizhong’s apparent execution into a real crisis that would thwart the northern faction.

• Yang Qing claimed he had spoken for Wei Sizhong out of pity and remorse, and Chu Jinghui relented after noticing his wounds had reopened.
• Yang Qing told Bu Er that Chu Jinghui’s execution order was likely an angry outburst and ordered him to keep monitoring Princess Nazhen for the letter concerning Wei Sizhong.
• Jiang Zhizhou reported that the north was preparing a second plan, possibly for Duan Hongzhuo to seize control by holding the emperor hostage.
• Yang Qing said they must make Wei Sizhong’s execution real to extinguish Chu Jinghui’s hopes and block the north’s plan.
• Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou discussed using Princess Nazhen’s upcoming marriage to the Dingguo Marquis’s heir as the setting for their plan.

After Yang Qing left, Chu Jinghui considered Wei Sizhong’s delayed execution and asked Eunuch Zhang to assess Yang Qing. The emperor suspected a connection between Yang Chengming and Wei Sizhong, then ordered that he would attend Princess Nazhen’s wedding in two days.

• Suotu planned to ask Chu Jinghui for an edict to execute Wei Sizhong, but Eunuch Zhang warned him that the emperor had deliberately set the matter aside.
• Eunuch Zhang told Suotu to pretend Chu Jinghui had only punished the jailers for abandoning their posts, and Suotu realized Wei Sizhong mattered greatly to the emperor.
• Chu Jinghui asked Eunuch Zhang what he thought of Yang Qing, and Eunuch Zhang praised Yang as a worthy minister who understood the limits of his authority.
• Chu Jinghui suspected Yang Chengming had an irreconcilable entanglement with Wei Sizhong.
• Chu Jinghui ordered Eunuch Zhang to announce that he would attend Princess Nazhen’s wedding to the Dingguo Marquis’s son in two days.

Eunuch Zhang apologized to Chu Jinghui for defending Yang Qing, while Yang Qing learned that Princess Nazhen had recruited men from Wei Sizhong's household for the wedding procession. On the day of the wedding, a stray cat triggered a chain of disorder among the bridal escorts, and guards were ordered to seize two men who started fighting.

• Eunuch Zhang knelt before Chu Jinghui and begged forgiveness for speaking in Yang Qing's favor, and Chu Jinghui warned him not to act without judgment again.
• Jiang Zhizhou told Yang Qing that some of the bridal escorts came from Wei Sizhong's residence, and Yang Qing asked him to expose them while he attended the wedding.
• Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou discussed retreating to the mountains if they both survived, while Yang Qing secretly swallowed blood and warned Jiang to be careful.
• Several days later, a stray cat rushed into Princess Nazhen's bridal procession and threw it into disarray.
• Two bridal escorts argued over a cracked chest, then began fighting after one kicked the other, and a stern voice ordered the guards to take them away.

Suotu took two guards who had disrupted Princess Nazhen’s bridal procession to the Imperial Punishment Bureau and discovered that they shared an unusual identifying mark. The guards claimed they had only been assigned to escort the princess safely to the Dingguo Marquis's residence, leaving Suotu to press them about who had sent them.

• Suotu took the two detained guards from the bridal procession and questioned them after securing the route for Chu Jinghui’s carriage.
• The guards pleaded ignorance, but Suotu ordered them taken to the Imperial Punishment Bureau when they could not explain why they had fought.
• At the bureau, Suotu stopped one guard from biting off his tongue and ordered his men to search both men for identifying marks.
• Suotu’s men found matching three-pored black moles behind both guards’ ears, suggesting the men belonged to the same sect.
• The guards said they had only come to escort Princess Nazhen safely to the Dingguo Marquis's residence, and Suotu demanded to know who they meant by “we.”

Suotu uncovered that Wei Sizhong had a hidden force of three thousand Shadow Guards, most of them concealed in a Taoist temple outside the capital. He ordered the surviving guard taken to the Secret Prison and hurried to warn Emperor Chu Jinghui, but someone stopped him as he was about to leave.

• Suotu discovered the character Wei branded beneath the guards' black moles, and one guard killed himself rather than explain it.
• Suotu threatened the captured guard with sugar water until he agreed to talk.
• The guard revealed he was a Shadow Guard from Wei Sizhong's residence and said three thousand Shadow Guards existed, with most hidden in a Taoist temple on the Capital Outskirts.
• Suotu ordered the surviving guard imprisoned and prepared to report the discovery to Emperor Chu Jinghui.
• As Suotu was about to mount his horse, someone called out to him and told him to wait.

Jiang Zhizhou told Suotu that Yang Qing suspected a Daoist temple outside the Capital of harboring people with unknown origins, and Suotu set out to investigate. At the Dingguo Marquis Residence during the wedding celebration, Suotu smelled something suspicious and shouted a warning as an assassin struck.

• Jiang Zhizhou approached Suotu and explained that Yang Qing had noticed suspicious people at a Daoist temple in the Capital Outskirts.
• Suotu agreed to act on the suspicion, while Jiang Zhizhou secretly ordered his people to watch the temple and prevent anyone from escaping.
• Suotu rode to the Dingguo Marquis Residence as the bridal sedan chair entered and went inside to report to Chu Jinghui.
• Suotu detected an unusual odor, heard a weapon whistle through the air, and shouted for the guards to protect His Majesty from assassins.

An assassin attacked Chu Jinghui during Princess Nazhen’s wedding feast, while fires and a citywide lockdown diverted attention from the Capital Outskirts. Yang Qing suspected the attack was a distraction from Wei Sizhong’s hidden troops at a Taoist Temple, and news of a fierce mountain fire left Suotu alarmed.

• Suotu pulled Chu Jinghui away from a poisoned dart, and Chu Jinghui ordered the city gates closed and suspicious people seized.
• Several guests’ clothes caught fire, prompting Suotu to escort Chu Jinghui back to the palace.
• Yang Qing feared the attack had distracted officials from the Taoist Temple and ordered Phantom Shadow’s men to watch the mountain’s foot for an escape route.
• Suotu began to suspect the attack had a hidden purpose, but a report arrived that a fierce fire had broken out on a mountain in the Capital Outskirts.

Suotu informed Chu Jinghui that Wei Sizhong had secretly maintained thousands of Shadow Guards in a Taoist temple, which was now burning. As Suotu’s troops searched the mountain, Wei Sizhong learned of the fire in the Celestial Prison and urged his hidden subordinate to escape before an Imperial Edict arrived.

• Suotu told Chu Jinghui that Wei Sizhong had hidden three thousand Shadow Guards in a Taoist temple in the Capital Outskirts.
• Chu Jinghui ordered Suotu to lead troops to extinguish the fire and seal the routes off the mountain.
• Suotu received a message saying no one had been seen leaving the mountain, then rode to the fire as Bu Er and the Dark Alliance brothers departed.
• A newly imprisoned official secretly told Wei Sizhong that the temple was burning and that their brothers were safe.
• Wei Sizhong urged the official to find a way to escape, but an Imperial Edict was announced outside the cell.

Wei Sizhong was summoned from prison and confronted by Chu Jinghui over Shadow Guards who infiltrated Princess Nazhen’s bridal escort. He admitted they were his men and began explaining his motives, but Princess Nazhen arrived before he could finish.

• Suotu delivered an imperial edict ordering Wei Sizhong to meet Chu Jinghui at the Heavenly Wave Pavilion.
• Chu Jinghui accused Wei Sizhong of sending men into Princess Nazhen’s bridal escort, and Wei Sizhong denied that they belonged to his household.
• Chu Jinghui ordered Suotu to execute Wei Sizhong, but Wei Sizhong asked to speak with Chu Jinghui alone.
• Wei Sizhong admitted the men were Shadow Guards from his household and said he had raised them out of concern for Chu Jinghui.
• Wei Sizhong began recounting Chu Jinghui’s past attack in Yan Prefecture and insisted his arrangements were not for himself.
• A palace attendant announced that the princess of Northern Liang had arrived to request an audience with Chu Jinghui.

Princess Nazhen explained that Wei Sizhong’s Shadow Guards had secretly monitored her delegation, while Wei defended creating the force to protect Chu Jinghui from another betrayal. Chu Jinghui softened toward Wei, but revealed that a fire had destroyed the mountain where the guards were trained, and Lord Suo arrived seeking an audience.

• Chu Jinghui ordered Wei Sizhong held under guard and met Princess Nazhen, who admitted that she had disrupted the Shadow Guards on her wedding day.
• Princess Nazhen said Wei’s guards had watched her delegation and asked Chu Jinghui to consider Wei’s motives, but Chu Jinghui dismissed her from the palace.
• Chu Jinghui summoned Wei Sizhong, who confessed to secretly building the Shadow Guards to protect the emperor from another conspiracy like the one in Yan Prefecture.
• Wei Sizhong explained that he had established a training site on a mountain outside the Capital City and had intended to tell Chu Jinghui about the force.
• Chu Jinghui told Wei that a great fire had broken out on the mountain, and Wei realized the Shadow Guards’ site had been destroyed.
• Eunuch Zhang announced that Lord Suo was outside the hall requesting an audience.