Chapter Summaries

Xia Wanwan and her companions fled Ci Mang’s death warriors and hid in Yan Xiurong’s courtyard, where Yan Xiurong concealed them beneath a floor tile. Ci Mang searched her room, but the fugitives remained hidden as he questioned her about where they might be.

• Xia Qianhui, Xia Wanwan, Liu Zi Xing, and Daoist Qianyun escaped from Ci Mang and the pursuing death warriors.
• Xia Qianhui recognized Yan Xiurong’s courtyard and led the group inside to seek her help.
• Xia Wanwan mentioned Qiao Zhishu, prompting Yan Xiurong to realize they knew a secret linking him to her family.
• Yan Xiurong hid the group beneath a floor tile and pretended to rest when Ci Mang’s death warriors entered her room.
• Yan Xiurong claimed that other men had searched her room earlier, while Ci Mang’s men found no one and he suspiciously inspected her bathwater.

Yan Xiurong used the chaos after Ci Mang chased two masked intruders to open her secret passage and question them. Daoist Qianyun was stabbed by Uncle Qi as he emerged, and Uncle Qi recognized Xia Qianhui as someone who had once entered the camp disguised as a mess hall worker.

• Ci Mang searched Yan Xiurong’s bath, but two masked men shattered the tub with a hidden weapon and fled, so he pursued them.
• Yan Xiurong asked Uncle Qi to open the secret passage because she wanted to learn more about news the little baby had mentioned.
• As Daoist Qianyun leaped out, Uncle Qi thrust a sword through his chest, and Qianyun cursed him for stabbing him yet again.
• Xia Qianhui and the children emerged from the passage, while Xia Wanwan and Liu Zi Xing said Qianyun would survive.
• Uncle Qi recognized Xia Qianhui as a former mess hall worker who had entered the camp in disguise and demanded to know his purpose.

Xia Wanwan questioned Uncle Qi and revealed her deductions about Yan Xiurong’s father, Lord Qiao, and his revenge against the Ruler of Eastern Lin. Uncle Qi confirmed her suspicions, then attacked her, but Xia Wanwan escaped the sword with Teleportation.

• Xia Wanwan fed Daoist Qianyun a pain-relieving elixir while Liu Zi Xing stood guard over him.
• Uncle Qi explained that he had exposed the impostor in the Mess Hall and questioned Xia Qianhui about why he and the children had come.
• Xia Wanwan said they were searching for Liu Zi Xing’s birth parents, and Uncle Qi warned that the parents had gone on a mission and might never return.
• Xia Wanwan told Yan Xiurong that an Old Immortal had divined secrets about her father, Lord Qiao, and the danger facing them.
• Xia Wanwan guessed that Yan Xiurong’s father sought revenge for the deaths of Lord Qiao’s mother and Lord Qiao, and that the target was the Ruler of Eastern Lin.
• Uncle Qi confirmed Xia Wanwan’s deductions and thrust his sword at her, but she used Teleportation to dodge behind Daoist Qianyun.

Xia Wanwan persuaded Yan Xiurong and Uncle Qi to spare the children and let the captives live, while insisting on remaining in the Death Warrior Camp to uncover the truth. Xia Qianhui and Liu Zi Xing agreed to be tied up, leaving the group in Uncle Qi’s custody.

• Yan Xiurong stepped in front of Daoist Qianyun to stop Uncle Qi from killing him and asked Uncle Qi to spare the two children.
• Uncle Qi agreed to spare the children but insisted the two adults had to die, while Yan Xiurong worried that Xia Qianhui had brought his daughter into danger.
• Xia Wanwan told Yan Xiurong they were old acquaintances of her father and offered to be tied up, saying they could kill her if no one came to save her within two hours.
• Xia Wanwan refused Xia Qianhui’s offer to escape because she wanted the truth to emerge and the Imperial Princes and Princesses rescued.
• Liu Zi Xing asked to be tied up in Xia Wanwan’s place, and Xia Qianhui removed his face covering and surrendered to Uncle Qi.
• Uncle Qi and Yan Xiurong agreed to tie up Xia Wanwan, Liu Zi Xing, Xia Qianhui, and the injured Daoist Qianyun remained free.

Xia Qianhui regretted barging into Yan Xiurong’s room and causing her belongings to be ruined, while Yan Xiurong comforted Xia Wanwan by promising her an embroidered koi. Xia Qianhui remained bound and gagged, hoping his little imperial sister would come rescue him.

• Yan Xiurong tied Xia Wanwan and Liu Zi Xing with cloth strips, while Uncle Qi bound Xia Qianhui with hemp rope and gagged him after he complained.
• Xia Qianhui realized he had caused Yan Xiurong’s humiliation and regretted bringing people into her room.
• Xia Wanwan and Liu Zi Xing helped Yan Xiurong gather her scattered clothes and embroidery, while Uncle Qi and Liu Zi Xing washed the soaked pieces.
• Yan Xiurong gave Xia Wanwan a fine fabric piece embroidered with a koi and promised she could take it after it was washed and dried.
• Xia Qianhui tried to apologize through his gag and silently hoped his little imperial sister would come save him.

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.