Chapter Summaries

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.

Xia Wanwan comforted Liu Qingqing after Zi Xing left, then revealed that Liu Wan would have a younger brother and that Auntie was expecting another child. Lady Liu arrived and confirmed she was pregnant, leaving Liu Wan stunned and uncertain about what to do.

• Xia Wanwan retrieved Zi Xing’s belongings from Daoist Qianyun, and Daoist Qianyun flew away with Zi Xing before he could finish saying goodbye.
• Xia Zhao arrived with Liu Qingqing, who stopped crying after Xia Wanwan promised that Zi Xing would marry her someday.
• Liu Wan asked Xia Wanwan how she had calmed Liu Qingqing, and Xia Wanwan revealed that Liu Wan would have a younger brother and Auntie was expecting a baby.
• Lady Liu arrived and told Liu Wan that Imperial Physician Huang had confirmed she was pregnant again.
• Liu Wan worried over what her mother would do, while Xia Wanwan watched Lady Liu’s belly expectantly.

Jiyan confronted the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect at his Divine Temple, accusing him and the Heavenly Dao of condemning Jiyan for taking revenge. The Patriarch defended his past actions, and Jiyan ended their exchange by showing him a skeleton.

• Jiyan reached the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect's Divine Temple and drove away the worshippers with demonic wind and dark clouds.
• Jiyan faced the Patriarch's divine soul and mocked him for receiving worship while Jiyan had been imprisoned for a thousand years.
• The Patriarch called Jiyan Shen Chuanlian and argued that becoming the Demon God and slaughtering innocents had violated the Heavenly Dao.
• Jiyan insisted that the people he killed were not innocent and said someone else should take over as the Heavenly Dao.
• Jiyan enlarged the skeleton he had been holding and asked the Patriarch whether he recognized it.

Jiyan used the skeleton in the Gold-and-Jade Glazed Cup to shape a new body, intending to resurrect himself and spite the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect. He sent his divine soul into the finished body, while the Patriarch tried and failed to hide his amusement.

• Jiyan claimed the skeleton had been made from the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect's ashes and began shaping a body around it with black mist.
• The Patriarch warned that the skeleton lacked spiritual power and that Jiyan would waste most of his strength, but his warnings only encouraged Jiyan.
• Jiyan finished recreating his former body and taunted the Patriarch, declaring that he would use the ashes as his fleshly body.
• The Patriarch insisted he was furious and urged Jiyan not to enter the body, while struggling to suppress a smile.
• Jiyan turned his divine soul into black mist and drifted into the body.

Jiyan’s attempt to resurrect himself ended when his brittle, lime-filled body collapsed, and the Heavenly Dao struck him with lightning as he attacked the Patriarch of the Mystic Sect. The Patriarch survived, while Gu Ming, Xia Wanwan, and Yuanbao arrived at the mountain and headed toward the Divine Temple.

• Jiyan reunited with his ashes in a reconstructed body, but his brittle bones began breaking and his body quickly collapsed.
• The Patriarch of the Mystic Sect explained that Jiyan’s ashes may have been replaced with lime, and Jiyan blamed the King of Nanmei.
• Jiyan attacked the Patriarch with baleful aura, but the Heavenly Dao’s lightning shattered his body and scattered the black aura.
• The Heavenly Dao told the Patriarch that she had acted to protect him but could not interfere further in mortal grudges, then vanished.
• Gu Ming, Xia Wanwan, and Yuanbao saw the explosion from the mountain; Gu Ming rushed to the Divine Temple while Xia Wanwan guessed Jiyan had died.

Xia Wanwan found the badly injured Jiyan after learning that Grandmaster and the Demon God had survived, and brought the boy home while arranging a truce with Gu Ming. After Jiyan recovered enough to wake, he ignored Xia Wanwan and Gu Ming forced him to answer for his disrespect.

• Xia Wanwan stopped Yuanbao from healing the unconscious boy when she could not see his karmic ties, then learned from Gu Ming that the Divine Statue was unharmed and Grandmaster was likely safe.
• Xia Wanwan promised to protect Jiyan if Gu Ming stopped threatening the Divine Temple, and Gu Ming agreed to guard it and offer incense each month.
• Xia Wanwan ordered Jing Wu to bring the injured boy home, planning to keep him close until she confirmed his identity.
• Several days later, Imperial Physician Huang told the newly awakened Jiyan that his bones had been broken and that Yuanbao's spiritual power had helped revive him.
• Jiyan ignored Xia Wanwan's question about his name, so Gu Ming dragged him from the bed, slapped his forehead, and demanded that he kneel and apologize.

Jiyan’s divine soul ended up trapped in a child’s body, and Xia Wanwan tried to find out who he was by knocking him unconscious and tickling his feet. When Liu Wan arrived, Xia Wanwan claimed the boy was an orphan while secretly planning to seal him in the World-Suppressing Tower if he proved to be Jiyan.

• Jiyan realized his body had reverted to a child, and Gu Ming picked him up before Imperial Physician Huang took him back to bed and treated him.
• Xia Wanwan asked Jiyan who he was, knocked him unconscious, and searched his divine consciousness but found only darkness.
• Xia Wanwan tied Jiyan to a stool and tickled his bare feet until he laughed and cried, but he claimed he could not remember where he came from.
• Liu Wan arrived with Wang Xia and Qing Sheng, and Xia Wanwan told her that Jiyan was an orphan while planning to seal him away if he was the Demon God.

Xia Wanwan and Jiyan competed to win Liu Wan’s sympathy, and Xia Wan later gave her mother a magical hairpin to protect her from the suspected evil spirit. Liu Wan used the hairpin to keep Xia Siheng from touching her, leaving him shocked and hurt.

• Xia Wanwan freed Jiyan, but he hid behind Liu Wan and accused her of bullying him.
• Xia Wanwan and Jiyan both cried until Liu Wan had Jiyan taken outside, then Xia Wanwan explained that she suspected he was an evil spirit.
• Liu Wan agreed to question Jiyan and accepted Xia Wanwan’s Stabby Sword, which stabbed anyone who touched her unless she touched them first.
• Liu Wan wore the hairpin to bed, and Xia Siheng was stabbed when he tried to embrace her.
• Liu Wan told Xia Siheng that their daughter’s protective charm prevented them from sharing a bed for three days, and he could not get around it.

Liu Wan persuaded the exhausted Xia Siheng to rest, while Jiyan struggled to maintain his pride as a hungry child in Xia Wanwan’s courtyard. Liu Zimu arrived to take Jiyan for new clothes, but the boy grew dizzy before he could even stand steadily.

• Liu Wan urged Xia Siheng to sleep, and he rested until dawn after she promised they would spend time with their daughter once his work eased.
• Jing Wu, Yuanbao, and Gu Ming tried to get Jiyan to reveal his name by offering him food, but he refused until Gu Ming provoked him into speaking.
• Gu Ming recognized similarities between Jiyan’s manner and his former master, the Demon God, and lifted the boy while joking about him.
• Liu Zimu arrived, helped the dizzy Jiyan sit down, and explained that he had come to get the boy new clothes because he was wearing Zi Xing’s outfit.
• Jiyan nearly fell when he tried to stand, and Jing Wu discovered Xia Wanwan had clamped her mouth onto the roasted chicken drumstick he was bringing over.

Xia Wanwan bullied the hungry Jiyan over breakfast until Zi Mu coaxed him into eating and agreeing to share his name. Liu Wan welcomed him as a good child and brought him along to stay with her family, leaving him unsettled by her kindness as she asked his name again.

• Xia Wanwan took Jiyan’s chicken drumstick and teased him until he cried, while Zi Mu brought out the meal Liu Wan had prepared for him.
• Zi Mu comforted Jiyan, served him food, and got him to agree to tell his name so they could arrange new clothes.
• After the children ate, Xia Wanwan returned to her room and secretly began cultivating.
• On the carriage ride, Zi Mu asked Liu Wan to let Jiyan stay in their courtyard, and she agreed.
• Liu Wan called Jiyan a good child, stirring memories of his mother and his past, then asked him to tell them his name.

Liu Wan took Liu Zimu and Shen Chuanlian to Jingxu Pavilion to order clothes, where she publicly called Shen Chuanlian her child. After noticing a vagrant peeping outside, she examined rare Fragrant Consort Satin and encountered Li Duoduo, who wanted the same bolt.

• Liu Wan brought Liu Zimu and Shen Chuanlian to Jingxu Pavilion and ordered new outfits for both boys.
• Liu Wan introduced Shen Chuanlian as her child, stirring warmth and surprise in him before he dismissed it as mere pretense.
• Wang Xia warned Liu Wan that a drunken vagrant had been lurking outside and peeping at them.
• Liu Wan examined Fragrant Consort Satin and learned it was made from silk spun by flower-fed silkworms.
• Li Duoduo arrived and asked Liu Wan to let her have the bolt of satin.

Li Duoduo asked Liu Wan for guidance about her loveless marriage and uncertain future, and Liu Wan's words gave her a new resolve. As Liu Wan and the children prepared to leave, Zi Mu came face to face with the stepfather who had raised him and now demanded money.

• Liu Wan let Li Duoduo have the costly fabric and learned that she was still recovering from a dangerous childbirth with Xie Jinzhao's child.
• Liu Wan ordered clothes for Shen Chuanlian and Liu Zimu, while Li Duoduo wondered whether Liu Wan's simple dress meant she was unhappy too.
• Li Duoduo asked Liu Wan to show her a path forward for her child's sake, and the two women went to speak privately.
• Afterward, Li Duoduo told her maid she no longer wanted the Fragrant Consort Satin, then ordered it sent to the Ninth Prince's Residence.
• Wang Xia shielded Liu Wan from a drunken vagrant, who recognized Zi Mu and demanded money, threatening to report him and claim him as his son again.