Recaps

Ci Mang realized Wan Qu and Qian Ye had lured him away from Yan Xiurong’s courtyard and ordered his death warriors to return and seize them for a fatal mission against Lord Gu. Back at the courtyard, Uncle Qi sensed an attack and shoved Liu Zi Xing away as a blade aura cut through the drying rack.

• Ci Mang recognized the Old Forest where he had once abandoned Wan Qu and Qian Ye and realized they had drawn him away from Yan Xiurong’s room.
• Ci Mang ordered his men to return to camp, seize Wan Qu and Qian Ye, and send them to assassinate Lord Gu with orders that they not return alive.
• Ci Mang took two death warriors back to Yan Xiurong’s courtyard and prepared to force her to hand over the people hiding there.
• Xia Wanwan, Yan Xiurong, Liu Zi Xing, and Uncle Qi hung washed clothes and embroidery out to dry in the courtyard.
• Uncle Qi sensed danger, shoved the child beside him away, and a blade aura slashed through the drying rack.

Xia Wanwan watched Ci Mang destroy the clothes she and Yan Xiurong had washed, including an embroidered koi garment meant for her mother. Enraged, she summoned lightning with her pink shovel and struck at Ci Mang.

• Ci Mang found Yan Xiurong hiding two bound children, and Uncle Qi claimed he had restrained them to make them clean the room.
• Ci Mang tore Yan Xiurong’s clothes and trampled the laundry, dismissing Xia Wanwan’s threats.
• Ci Mang tore apart the koi embroidery Xia Wanwan had planned to give her mother.
• Xia Wanwan drew her pink shovel and summoned white lightning that struck toward Ci Mang.

Xia Wanwan used heavenly lightning to stop Ci Mang from taking Yan Xiurong and Liu Zi Xing, while Daoist Qianyun emerged from the house and began stabbing the helpless Ci Mang. The chapter left Ci Mang alive and suffering as the others watched in shock.

• Xia Wanwan scolded the Heavenly Dao after it withdrew its lightning, and Ci Mang ordered Uncle Qi to search the house for another Demonic Daoist.
• Ci Mang tried to seize Xia Wanwan and Liu Zi Xing, but Xia Wanwan struck him with lightning from her shovel.
• Xia Wanwan urged Liu Zi Xing to avenge his parents by killing Ci Mang, but Daoist Qianyun and Xia Qianhui emerged from the house and stopped him.
• Daoist Qianyun healed Ci Mang enough to keep him alive, then stabbed him repeatedly in revenge for being stabbed himself.
• Liu Zi Xing watched in disbelief as Daoist Qianyun continued stabbing Ci Mang, while Uncle Qi hid behind Yan Xiurong.

Xia Wanwan and her companions confronted Uncle Qi’s death warriors after Ci Mang was left near death, but Duke Yan arrived and revealed Xia Wanwan was Princess Ximing and Xia Qianhui was the First Prince. The chapter ended with Duke Yan ordering Ci Mang killed in a way that would keep Xia Wanwan from seeing an intact corpse.

• Daoist Qianyun tortured Ci Mang, and Liu Zi Xing stabbed him until he passed out while Xia Wanwan waited for him to die from blood loss.
• Yan Xiurong persuaded Xia Wanwan to spare Ci Mang for the moment because his death could expose her father’s revenge plan, but Uncle Qi ordered his men to seize the group.
• Duke Yan arrived just as the death warriors raised their blades, slapped Uncle Qi, and demanded that he apologize to Sister Wan.
• Duke Yan identified Xia Wanwan as Princess Ximing and Xia Qianhui as the First Prince, prompting Uncle Qi and Yan Xiurong to kneel and apologize.
• Duke Yan agreed that Ci Mang should die and ordered Uncle Qi to dispose of him without leaving an intact corpse for Xia Wanwan to see.

Duke Yan arranged for Uncle Qi to impersonate Ci Mang and take control of the Death Warrior Camp while concealing the Deputy Leader’s death. After Duke Yan left with Xia Wanwan and Xia Qianhui, Yan Xiurong was left longing for her father and blushing when Xia Qianhui tried to help wash her clothes.

• Uncle Qi ordered Ci Mang taken away to be tortured and left for wild beasts, and found the jade pendant he had used to contact East Lin.
• Duke Yan told Uncle Qi to pose as Ci Mang, manage the Death Warrior Camp, and report the Deputy Leader as killed by beasts; Xia Wanwan questioned why she should help him.
• Duke Yan ordered his men to leave the First Prince’s agents in the Mess Hall undisturbed so their plan could continue.
• Yan Xiurong asked Duke Yan to visit again, and he promised to return in a few days before leaving with Xia Wanwan and Xia Qianhui.
• Yan Xiurong found Xia Qianhui drawing water and gathering her soiled clothes, then snatched up her undergarment; he realized his mistake and blushed.

Xia Qianhui helped Yan Xiurong with chores and cooked dinner, giving her a brief moment of warmth and the resolve to keep living. Meanwhile, Xia Wanwan realized Liu Zi Xing’s parents might be in danger and hurried toward Duke Yan’s Residence aboard her Little Bronze Boat.

• Xia Qianhui rebuilt Yan Xiurong’s drying rack and made her dinner from vegetables she had grown.
• Yan Xiurong enjoyed Xia Qianhui’s cooking and felt renewed resolve to keep living.
• Liu Zi Xing’s Red Ribbons grew hot, and Xia Wanwan deduced that Ci Mang had been lured away, likely by Liu Zi Xing’s parents, and might have sent people after them.
• Liu Zi Xing tried to rush back to protect his parents, but Daoist Qianyun stopped him, and Xia Wanwan advised him to go to Duke Yan’s Residence.
• Xia Wanwan enlarged her Little Bronze Boat, and Daoist Qianyun repeatedly called her Master in hopes she would give it to him.

Xia Wanwan reassured Liu Zi Xing and urged him to learn martial arts at Azure Cloud Temple, then discovered that crows watching their flying boat carried the Demon God Jiyan’s baleful aura. She crashed the boat onto them after leaving the mountains, and called the flattened birds “flat magpies.”

• Liu Zi Xing asked Xia Wanwan if he was useless, and she comforted him and encouraged him to study at Azure Cloud Temple.
• Daoist Qianyun recognized baleful aura on the crows and warned that the Demon God Jiyan could see them through the birds.
• Xia Wanwan dismissed the warning, then used a Teleportation talisman to send the bronze boat above the crows and plunge it toward the ground.
• Daoist Qianyun shrank the boat after it crushed the crows, and Xia Wanwan said they were flat magpies.

Xia Siheng welcomed Liu Zi Xing as his son and sent him with Daoist Qianyun to the Duke's Residence to pursue his mission. In the Imperial Study, Duke Yan confessed his crimes and revealed that his wife and children had been murdered, leaving the Empress Dowager to suspect who was responsible.

• Xia Siheng asked Liu Zi Xing to call him Father, and Liu Zi Xing tearfully accepted him and his family.
• Duke Yan gave Liu Zi Xing the Duke's Residence entry token and warned him that Yu was there, then went to the palace.
• Xia Siheng entrusted Liu Zi Xing to Daoist Qianyun, who flew him toward the Duke's Residence.
• Duke Yan confessed to aiding the East Lin People and revealed that his wife, children, and guards had been killed on the road home from worshipping Buddha.
• The Empress Dowager showed Duke Yan new laws protecting women and evidence about the death warriors, then asked whether she had guessed the identity of his family's murderer.

Duke Yan revealed that the Ruler of Eastern Lin had ordered the attack that killed his wife and nearly killed his son, Zhishu. He recounted how he hid Zhishu, raised a girl as his daughter, and became an East Lin spy to seek revenge, but he still had no way to reach East Lin’s highest ranks.

• Duke Yan identified the Ruler of Eastern Lin as the man behind the deaths of his wife and children, motivated by revenge for Wushuang.
• Duke Yan recalled finding his wife and son at the foot of a cliff, where his wife had shielded the still-breathing Zhishu with her body.
• Duke Yan carried Zhishu to Hezhou and entrusted him to the Qiao family, secretly providing them with wealth while arranging for Zhishu to be their only publicly acknowledged son.
• Duke Yan bought a girl he found about to be drowned and presented her as his daughter, concealing Zhishu’s survival and the girl’s true origins.
• After the Eastern Lin Death Warriors abducted the girl, Duke Yan agreed to spy for East Lin in hopes of reaching the Ruler of Eastern Lin and killing him.
• Duke Yan gave East Lin access to Phoenix Mountain and the Phoenix Feather Plume and planted his own subordinates among the death warriors, but still failed to approach East Lin’s upper ranks.

Duke Yan confessed that he had sought revenge on East Lin for his murdered wife and daughter, and Xia Wanwan proposed a plan to turn East Lin’s scheme against it by making Duke Yan appear to be a wronged patriot. Meanwhile, death warriors searching Duke Yan’s Residence mistook Gu Ming, disguised as a servant, for someone who could lead them to Lord Gu.

• Duke Yan told the Empress Dowager that he had raised death warriors to kill the Ruler of Eastern Lin, whose people had murdered his wife and child.
• The Empress Dowager refused to let Duke Yan kill the ruler within Great Xia, and Xia Wanwan hinted that he could die outside its borders.
• Xia Wanwan reframed Duke Yan’s actions as raising death warriors for Great Xia, and the emperor arranged for him to be imprisoned for a month before a planned release.
• Wan Qu and Qian Ye searched Gu Ming’s courtyard for Lord Gu, then approached Gu Ming while he scrubbed Night Soil Buckets.
• Wan Qu asked Gu Ming where Lord Gu was, and Gu Ming wondered why they wanted to find Sister Wan.

Gu Ming attacked Wan Qu and Qian Ye after sensing phoenix energy in them, then tried to extract their souls to uncover the phoenix’s whereabouts. Liu Zi Xing intervened to protect his parents, and Gu Ming realized the boy was one of the Five Elements Spirit Pearl children.

• Gu Ming recognized Wan Qu and Qian Ye as opponents and fought them, sensing a phoenix’s presence in their internal energy.
• Gu Ming discovered that Wan Qu and Qian Ye were not alive and attempted to turn them into evil spirits by extracting their souls.
• Liu Zi Xing arrived and struck Gu Ming, breaking his hold on Wan Qu and Qian Ye before standing in front of his parents.
• Daoist Qianyun arrived and identified Gu Ming as the Demon God’s Left Guardian.
• Liu Zi Xing confronted Gu Ming over the harm he had caused, and Gu Ming realized that Zi Xing was one of the Five Elements Spirit Pearl children.

Liu Zi Xing and Daoist Qianyun fought Gu Ming after learning of his past attempts to harm Zi Xing and his parents. Yuanbao discovered that Zi Xing’s birth parents were already dead and stopped the fight to reveal the truth.

• Liu Zi Xing confronted Gu Ming over his past attacks on Zi Xing and his parents, while Gu Ming insisted that they now stood on opposing sides.
• Daoist Qianyun attacked Gu Ming, and Liu Zi Xing joined the fight while his birth parents stayed behind.
• Jing Wu and Yuanbao chose not to take sides, but went to help Wan Qu and Qian Ye leave the courtyard.
• Yuanbao realized that Wan Qu and Qian Ye were dead and that their lingering obsessions kept them in their bodies.
• Yuanbao separated Gu Ming and Liu Zi Xing, then told Zi Xing that his parents had died long ago.

Liu Zi Xing reunited with Wan Qu and Qian Ye, only to learn that they had died six years earlier and stayed as living dead to see him live freely. Their souls faded after their final farewell, leaving him grieving as Gu Ming and Yuanbao tried to comfort him.

• Liu Zi Xing dropped his sword and rushed to embrace Wan Qu and Qian Ye when he saw them.
• Wan Qu and Qian Ye explained that they had sent Liu Zi Xing away from Phoenix Mountain so he could escape the life of a Death Warrior and live freely.
• Wan Qu and Qian Ye revealed that Ci Mang had killed them six years earlier and that their souls had endured only through their obsession with seeing Liu Zi Xing again.
• Wan Qu and Qian Ye's souls began to fade, and they told Liu Zi Xing to live well and experience the life they had wanted for him.
• Liu Zi Xing reached for his parents as they disappeared, while Gu Ming and Yuanbao exchanged tearful remarks.

Gu Ming sheltered Zi Xing’s parents’ souls in his hair ribbon so they could remain with him, but Yu arrived with guards and accused Gu Ming and his companions of theft and murder. Liu Zi Xing fought Yu’s death warriors after cutting off her hand, while Daoist Qianyun prepared to take revenge on her.

• Gu Ming refined Zi Xing’s hair ribbon into a vessel that could shelter his parents’ souls, and explained that good deeds could cleanse their baleful aura before reincarnation.
• Yu surrounded Gu Ming, Yuanbao, Zi Xing, and their companions with death warriors and household guards, then accused them of stealing and killing the hidden guards.
• Yu insulted Zi Xing’s parents, and Zi Xing cut off the hand she had pointed at the bodies.
• Liu Zi Xing fought Yu’s death warriors with the Meteor Sword Technique, while Jing Wu joined the battle and Gu Ming watched to test Zi Xing’s skill.
• Daoist Qianyun offered to reattach Yu’s hand, then drew a dagger and stabbed toward her chest as repayment for her earlier attack on him.

Yuanbao and his companions attacked Yu at the Duke's Residence, and Yu mistook them for Shu'er's vengeful ghost. When government soldiers arrived, Yu expected them to rescue her, but they instead attacked her death warriors.

• Daoist Qianyun stabbed Yu repeatedly while avoiding her vital points and sealed her acupoints to stop the bleeding.
• Yuanbao sent Yu's servants flying into night soil buckets with a wave of spiritual power.
• Yuanbao appeared to Yu as Shu'er, and Yu panicked as memories of her role in Shu'er's death resurfaced.
• Yu clung to Liu Shi and begged him to save her, claiming that Yuanbao and the others had broken into the residence.
• Liu Shi ordered the soldiers to seize everyone, then had them kill Yu's Eastern Lin death warriors instead of Yuanbao's group.
• Yu realized the soldiers were attacking her own people and desperately urged Liu Shi to kill Yuanbao and his companions.

Liu Zi Xing reunited with his family and buried the couple who had protected him, while the Eldest Princess returned to Nanmei and discovered the King’s alliance with Demon God Jiyan. Jiyan planned to use the ashes in the Gold-and-Jade Glazed Cup to rebuild his body and return to life.

• Liu Shi ordered Duke Yan’s household arrested, and Yu was taken to prison as Liu Zi Xing reunited with Liu Zimu, Liu Wan, Xia Siheng, and his little sister.
• Xia Siheng took Liu Zi Xing to bury the two people who had died protecting him, and Zi Xing erected their gravestones and kowtowed before them.
• The Eldest Princess returned to Nanmei with the Gold-and-Jade Glazed Cup, and the King welcomed her while claiming he had found a powerful ally.
• The King of Nanmei summoned Demon God Jiyan, who inspected the ashes inside the cup and ordered that they be shaped into a skeleton so he could return to life.

Jiyan demanded the ashes of the Mystic Sect elder to rebuild his body and planned to resurrect in Great Xia before the elder’s divine soul. The King of Nanmei revealed he had promised Jiyan a city’s resentment through a massacre, then ordered the Eldest Princess to oversee the slaughter of Qiu City or threatened to do it himself.

• Jiyan told the King of Nanmei that he would use the Mystic Sect elder’s ashes to rebuild his body and threatened to hold the king responsible if the new form looked ugly.
• The Eldest Princess questioned the King of Nanmei’s alliance with Jiyan, and the king explained that Jiyan had sought a city massacre to increase his cultivation.
• The King of Nanmei said he had agreed to sacrifice one city in exchange for power and dominion, and the Eldest Princess condemned him for trading his people’s lives.
• The King of Nanmei revealed he had twice plotted to have the Eldest Princess killed and planned to make her the scapegoat for the massacre.
• The King of Nanmei ordered the Eldest Princess to go to Qiu City and warned that he would slaughter everyone there himself if she refused.

The Eldest Princess rejected Tuo Ba Hong’s plan to massacre Qiu City and, pushed to the brink by his betrayal, decided to rebel. She asked A Shu to carry her offer of cooperation to Xia Siheng, whose plans A Shu remained loyal to.

• Tuo Ba Hong left after demanding that the Eldest Princess accept the slaughter of Qiu City’s people, and she wept over his betrayal.
• The Eldest Princess recalled her years of loyalty to her brother and resolved that she would no longer accept being made responsible for his crimes.
• The Eldest Princess asked A Shu why they should not rebel, and A Shu affirmed her loyalty to the princess.
• The Eldest Princess revealed that she knew A Shu was not the original A Shu and suspected she served Xia Siheng.
• The Eldest Princess asked A Shu to convey her offer of cooperation to Xia Siheng without betraying him, and A Shu remained silent.

The Eldest Princess lost faith in the emperor and had A Shu send word to the Prince, while Jiyan prepared to resurrect himself using the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect’s ashes. After rejecting Tuo Ba Hong’s plan to massacre a city for him, Jiyan left for Great Xia with a skeleton and A Shu’s letter.

• The Eldest Princess declared through her ambition that she deserved to be empress, and A Shu agreed to send word to the Prince.
• Jiyan told Tuo Ba Hong that his scouting crows had died in Great Xia and said he would investigate the person responsible.
• Tuo Ba Hong offered to massacre a city, but Jiyan revealed that he wanted the Qilin in East Lin and refused to prioritize the massacre before his resurrection.
• Jiyan ordered the craftsmen to finish his skeleton, then rejected it as imperfect when it was ready three days later.
• Jiyan stored the skeleton and flew from Southern Mei to Great Xia, where A Shu’s letter also arrived.

Xia Siheng learned that the Eldest Princess of Southern Mei planned to rebel and considered whether Great Xia should ally with her. Meanwhile, Xia Qianhui visited Yan Xiurong and began to wipe a feather from her eyebrow, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Xia Siheng read a letter about the Eldest Princess of Southern Mei seeking Great Xia's help to oppose the King of Nanmei.
• Xia Wanwan asked whether Great Xia should cooperate, and Xia Siheng said he needed to consult the Empress Dowager and his Imperial Elder Brother.
• Xia Wanwan reminded Xia Siheng that Yan Xiurong was waiting for Duke Yan to visit, but he said they could not risk arousing East Lin's suspicions by taking Duke Yan from jail.
• Yan Xiurong struggled to prepare a meal for her father, and Xia Qianhui arrived to return a handkerchief and showed her how to pluck the pheasant.
• Xia Qianhui raised his hand to wipe a feather from Yan Xiurong's eyebrow instead of returning the handkerchief.

Yan Xiurong waited in vain for Duke Yan, and Xia Qianhui comforted her by taking her to see the fireflies on the mountaintop. Their quiet evening was interrupted when Jiyan appeared on Phoenix Mountain.

• Xia Qianhui returned Yan Xiurong’s handkerchief and helped her prepare a meal for Duke Yan.
• Yan Xiurong waited all evening for Duke Yan, but he did not come, and she cried alone by the stove.
• Xia Qianhui shared how he had overcome loneliness in the mountains and offered to show Yan Xiurong the night scenery.
• Xia Qianhui led Yan Xiurong to the mountaintop, where fireflies eased her loneliness.
• Xia Qianhui pulled Yan Xiurong behind him as black mist gathered and transformed into Jiyan, who asked if he was on Phoenix Mountain.

Jiyan attacked Yan Xiurong and Xia Qianhui on Phoenix Mountain, then left after Yan Xiurong tricked him with directions to the Heavenly Pool. Xia Qianhui stayed in Yan Xiurong’s warded courtyard, where her poisonous mushroom soup left him hallucinating as an unexpected visitor arrived.

• Jiyan lifted Yan Xiurong with black mist and demanded that she lead him to the phoenix whose aura he sensed on her.
• Yan Xiurong directed Jiyan toward the Heavenly Pool, then told Xia Qianhui she had deceived him and hurried back with him to her courtyard.
• Xia Qianhui decided to stay the night with Yan Xiurong and send a carrier pigeon to alert the imperial family about the Demon God.
• Yan Xiurong served Xia Qianhui her cooking, and the poisonous mushrooms in the soup made him hallucinate.
• Yan Xiurong heard someone enter the courtyard, rushed outside hoping her father had arrived, and froze when she saw the visitor.

Yan Xiurong learned that her father had been imprisoned and understood he was changing his revenge plans to protect her. After Steward Qian saved Xia Qianhui from poisonous mushrooms, Xia woke and hurried to report that Demon God Jiyan had come to Great Xia.

• Steward Qian delivered Yan Xiurong a letter explaining that her father had been imprisoned for allegedly kidnapping the Princess, and Yan understood his plans had changed to protect her.
• Yan Xiurong asked Steward Qian to treat the poisoned Xia Qianhui, who had eaten the mushrooms she picked.
• Steward Qian induced Xia to vomit and gave him an antidote, then stayed overnight to watch over him.
• Xia woke holding Steward Qian's hand, thanked him and Yan Xiurong, and said he needed to report Demon God Jiyan's arrival in Great Xia.
• Yan Xiurong offered Steward Qian her poisonous mushroom porridge, and he stepped away; she then asked whether Xia had called her name while dreaming.

Yan Xiurong revealed her plan to make Xia Qianhui fall in love with her so he would sacrifice himself and help her escape. In the palace, the Empress Dowager decided Great Xia would help Southern Mei’s princess seize power and attack East Lin, giving Xia Siheng and Liu Wan freedom to have children.

• Yan Xiurong told Steward Qian she intended to make Xia Qianhui love her so he would willingly let East Lin capture him while she escaped to reunite with her father.
• The Empress Dowager read Xia Qianhui’s letter and learned that East Lin had planted forces near Great Xia’s Capital.
• Xia Siheng proposed helping the Princess of Southern Mei seize power, hoping she would aid Great Xia against East Lin.
• Xia Wanwan asked whether East Lin planned to use her, and Xia Siheng explained that outsiders did not know she was his biological daughter.
• The Empress Dowager told Xia Siheng and Liu Wan they could have children, then declared that she intended to attack East Lin.

Xia Wanwan volunteered to confront the Demon God and received Xia Siheng’s support, while she also worried about Liu Wan’s health. At the Ninth Prince’s Residence, Liu Zi Xing prepared to leave for Azure Cloud Temple, and Xia Wanwan gave him elixirs and talismans for the journey.

• The emperor and Empress Dowager chose Zhong Youyan to secretly lead their forces in Southern Mei while the Eldest Princess acted against the Demon God.
• Xia Wanwan insisted on facing the Demon God to protect Grandmaster, and Xia Siheng agreed to let her go with Yuanbao and Jing Wu.
• Xia Wanwan asked Xia Siheng to give her a younger sibling and searched her Cosmic Bag for elixirs to help Liu Wan’s health.
• Liu Wan gave Liu Zi Xing bracers decorated with his parents’ red ribbons as he prepared to leave for Azure Cloud Temple with Daoist Qianyun.
• Xia Wanwan gave Liu Zi Xing elixirs and talismans, and Daoist Qianyun took them, claiming he would handle the rubbish.