Chapter Summaries

Quan Dean defeated Zhan Peng and Murong Feiyan after they tried to rescue Hu Xiaotian, then brought Hu Xiaotian to the Cleansing Chamber to force him into castration. Hu Xiaotian agreed to comply if Quan Dean released the two rescuers and helped his parents, but after Hu Xiaotian challenged Quan Dean about his life and loyalty to the emperor, Quan Dean knocked him unconscious; Hu Xiaotian woke fearing the operation had already happened.

• Quan Dean defeated Zhan Peng and Murong Feiyan, sealed their mute acupoints, and ordered them taken to the Chengen Residence.
• Hu Xiaotian pleaded for Quan Dean to release Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng, promising to enter the palace and serve His Majesty.
• Quan Dean pressed a knife to Hu Xiaotian and demanded to know whether he truly agreed to be castrated, and Hu Xiaotian nodded to save his friends and parents.
• Hu Xiaotian questioned whether Quan Dean would choose the same life again and said the emperor saw him only as a servant.
• Quan Dean struck Hu Xiaotian unconscious, and Hu Xiaotian woke fearing that Quan Dean had castrated him while he was out.

Quan Dean spared Hu Xiaotian and his family from castration and execution in exchange for Hu Xiaotian entering the palace to serve him, while Hu Buwei remained imprisoned and expected to die. The chapter left Quan Dean facing Hu Buwei with a cup of wine and questioning whether the emperor would read his letter.

• Quan Dean offered to spare Hu Xiaotian, his companions, and the Hu Family if Hu Xiaotian entered the palace and served him, and Hu Xiaotian agreed.
• Quan Dean explained how Hu Xiaotian could conceal his manhood and staged bloodstains so others would believe he had been castrated.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to the Chengen Residence on a stretcher and pretended to be mute and injured while Fu Gui tended to him.
• Quan Dean went to the Ministry of Justice prison, where Hu Buwei feared for his son and expected execution.
• Quan Dean brought Hu Buwei wine, and Hu Buwei asked for writing materials to send a letter to the emperor.

Hu Buwei learned that his son Hu Xiaotian had surrendered the Iron Deed of Redemption and agreed to enter the palace as a eunuch to save the Hu Family, while Quan Dean promised to intercede for them. Hu Xiaotian then pressed Quan Dean about his father and friends, but Quan Dean warned him to abandon personal attachments and prepare for palace service.

• Quan Dean questioned Hu Buwei about his political crimes and revealed that Hu Xiaotian had handed him the Hu Family’s Iron Deed of Redemption.
• Quan Dean told Hu Buwei that Hu Xiaotian had saved the Little Princess and volunteered to enter the palace to atone for the family’s sins.
• Hu Buwei grieved over his son’s sacrifice as Quan Dean promised to intercede and warned that exile to the Western Frontier might be the family’s best outcome.
• After three days in Chengen Residence, Hu Xiaotian asked Quan Dean about his father and learned that Hu Buwei remained in the Ministry of Justice’s prison.
• Quan Dean said Murong Feiyan could face execution for attempting to assassinate him, then warned Hu Xiaotian that his status as a eunuch forbade romantic attachments.
• Quan Dean told Hu Xiaotian to set aside his personal concerns and learn skills before entering the palace in a month.

Hu Xiaotian survived Quan Dean's transfer of ten years of internal power and learned that he could begin training in three days, while Quan Dean was summoned to the palace. In the imperial garden, Long Yelin considered Zhou Ruiyuan's counsel to spare Hu Buwei and reassure the court as his enthronement approached.

• Quan Dean explained why Hu Xiaotian needed to learn palace skills and his Avici Art, then struck him and transferred ten years of internal power into him.
• Hu Xiaotian awoke in pain, and Quan Dean told him he had survived and could begin training in three days.
• A palace messenger summoned Quan Dean, and Hu Xiaotian pleaded with him to spare his two friends; Quan Dean told him not to worry about them.
• Zhou Ruiyuan urged Long Yelin to spare Hu Buwei and other ministers, warning that a purge would frighten the court.
• Zhou Ruiyuan argued that Li Tianheng had rebelled to protect his own power and that Hu Buwei probably had not colluded with him.

Long Yelin considered Zhou Ruiyuan’s advice on the fate of Hu Buwei and Shi Buchui, then learned that Hu Xiaotian had castrated himself to plead for his family. The emperor spared the two ministers for now but ordered their sons into palace service, while Zhou Ruiyuan warned him against eunuchs interfering in state affairs.

• Zhou Ruiyuan argued that Li Tianheng had implicated Hu Buwei deliberately and that Great Kang needed Hu Buwei’s administrative skills.
• Quan Dean told Long Yelin that Hu Xiaotian was recovering at his residence and had delivered an Iron Deed of Redemption for the emperor.
• Quan Dean explained that Hu Xiaotian had helped save the Little Princess and had castrated himself to atone for his father’s offenses.
• Long Yelin ordered Hu Buwei and Shi Buchui stripped of office and property but retained in their ministries, and decreed that their sons enter the palace as eunuchs.
• Zhou Ruiyuan quoted Emperor Taizong’s prohibition against eunuchs interfering in state affairs, darkening Long Yelin’s expression.

After Long Yelin took the throne, he pardoned Hu Xiaotian’s parents while Zhou Ruiyuan helped him preserve stability. As Quan Dean prepared to send Hu Xiaotian into the palace before he had mastered his martial art, Hu Xiaotian visited Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng, leaving him to reassure Murong Feiyan that he was safe.

• Long Yelin restrained his anger at Zhou Ruiyuan’s counsel, and Zhou Ruiyuan pledged to serve him.
• Hu Xiaotian continued practicing Yin-Lifting Yang-Shrinking, while Long Yelin pardoned Hu Buwei, Shi Buchui, and other disgraced officials and focused on stabilizing Great Kang.
• Quan Dean told Hu Xiaotian he would enter the palace within days despite not mastering the technique, and Hu Xiaotian asked to visit Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng.
• Quan Dean agreed to let Hu Xiaotian see and release Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng if they believed he had willingly chosen castration and palace service.
• Hu Xiaotian met Murong Feiyan in confinement, comforted her, and she asked whether he was all right.

Hu Xiaotian told Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng that he had entered the palace to save the Hu Family, and asked Zhan Peng to protect his parents. As Hu Xiaotian prepared to enter the Imperial City, Quan Dean warned him that he would have to survive without the eunuch's protection.

• Murong Feiyan coughed up blood, and Hu Xiaotian told her Quan Dean would release her and Zhan Peng before he went to see Zhan Peng.
• Zhan Peng learned from Hu Xiaotian's palace uniform that he had entered the palace, and Hu Xiaotian explained that His Majesty had spared the Hu Family on that condition.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Zhan Peng to guard his parents and tell his father that there was hope as long as the family endured.
• Quan Dean and Hu Xiaotian watched a carriage leave the Chengen Residence, and Quan Dean told Hu Xiaotian to forget his past once he entered the palace.
• Quan Dean refused to protect Hu Xiaotian and explained the many offices and bureaus inside the Imperial City.

Hu Xiaotian entered the palace with a large group of new eunuchs, fearing that the mandatory physical examination would expose his secret. He was unexpectedly pulled from the line by Zhang Fuquan and assigned to work in the Directorate of Imperial Cuisine before being examined.

• Quan Dean warned Hu Xiaotian about the dangers of palace life and told him to enter with Fu Gui, while Hu Xiaotian remained unable to master Yin-Lifting Yang-Shrinking.
• Hu Xiaotian joined the new eunuchs entering the Heavenly Harmony Palace through Virtue and Blessing Gate and saw the physical examination station.
• Hu Xiaotian watched an already-castrated eunuch get dragged away for a second cut because his examination was judged incomplete.
• Hu Xiaotian feared his secret would be discovered when a plump eunuch called him out of the line.
• Zhang Fuquan took Hu Xiaotian to work at the Cattle and Sheep Office in the Directorate of Imperial Cuisine, letting him skip the examination line.

Hu Xiaotian and Shi Xuedong began hard labor in the Directorate of Imperial Cuisine, where Hu’s extraordinary strength won the veterans’ wary respect. After Zhang Fuquan offered to look after him, Hu suspected Quan Dean had arranged his placement, and the chapter ended with Hu and Shi noticing eunuchs plotting against them.

• Hu Xiaotian recognized his sworn brother Shi Xuedong among the newcomers assigned to the Cattle and Sheep Office.
• Zhang Fuquan ordered the eight newcomers to carry slaughtered livestock, while a pockmarked eunuch whipped Shi Xuedong and threatened the others.
• Hu Xiaotian carried a half-ox weighing about five hundred jin with ease, astonishing the eunuchs and avoiding the pockmarked eunuch’s next lash.
• Zhang Fuquan thanked Hu Xiaotian and promised to look after him, leading Hu to suspect Quan Dean had arranged his assignment.
• Hu Xiaotian and Shi Xuedong returned to their shared sleeping quarters and noticed nearby eunuchs whispering and watching them with hostility.

Hu Xiaotian and Shi Xuedong confronted Lin Bingqing and the other eunuchs in Room Two, where Hu Xiaotian used a brick to overpower them and establish his authority. They gained followers and an easier life in the Cattle and Sheep Office, while Shi Xuedong reminisced about his past exploits with women.

• Hu Xiaotian and Shi Xuedong entered Room Two with bricks hidden in their sleeves and found Lin Bingqing waiting with more than a dozen eunuchs.
• After Lin Bingqing's men seized Shi Xuedong and discovered his half brick, Hu Xiaotian struck Lin Bingqing and another eunuch with bricks, then threatened the others into silence.
• Shi Xuedong raised his half brick to hit Lin Bingqing, but Hu Xiaotian stopped him from going too far, and Lin Bingqing passed out.
• Hu Xiaotian warned the eunuchs to keep quiet, and Xiao Zhuozi and others joined his circle, bringing him and Shi Xuedong foot-washing water and tea while they avoided much of the labor.
• Shi Xuedong told Hu Xiaotian stories about his former sexual exploits, and Hu Xiaotian listened while privately judging him.

Hu Xiaotian learned that Quan Dean planned to transfer him to the Palace Gardens Bureau so he could leave the palace to buy produce, but Quan Dean warned that escaping would leave his dangerous internal power unchecked and endanger his family. Hu Xiaotian remained bound to Quan Dean’s plans as he prepared to learn how to control the power within him.

• Shi Xuedong continued to bully Lin Bingqing, while Hu Xiaotian warned him that repeated beatings could provoke retaliation.
• Zhang Fuquan brought Hu Xiaotian to meet Quan Dean, who asked about his adjustment to palace life and his practice of Yin-Lifting Yang-Shrinking.
• Quan Dean taught Hu Xiaotian a qi-circulation formula to help him control the ten years of internal power transferred into his body.
• Quan Dean said he had arranged for Hu Xiaotian to transfer to the Palace Gardens Bureau and purchase vegetables and fruit outside the palace.
• Quan Dean warned Hu Xiaotian not to escape or approach anyone without permission, threatening that uncontrolled qi could kill him and that his family could be ruined again.

Hu Xiaotian settled into the Palace Gardens Bureau and accompanied Liu Yuzhang on his first purchasing trip outside the palace, where he learned that Liu had transferred him there to repay a kindness from Hu Xiaotian’s father. Liu promised to protect him, while Hu Xiaotian’s plan to contact Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng remained ahead.

• Quan Dean assigned Hu Xiaotian to contact Murong Feiyan and Zhan Peng about joining the Divine Strategy Office and warned him never to contact the Hu Family.
• Hu Xiaotian and Shi Xuedong transferred to the Palace Gardens Bureau, where Hu Xiaotian took Xiao Zhuozi, Xiao Dengzi, and several others under his leadership.
• Liu Yuzhang made Hu Xiaotian responsible for accompanying him on purchasing trips, and Shi Xuedong asked Hu to tell his father he was safe if he got the chance.
• Wang Desheng warned Hu Xiaotian to watch Liu Yuzhang carefully after Liu told Wang to stay behind and manage the accounts.
• On the carriage ride, Liu Yuzhang revealed that Hu Xiaotian’s father had once helped him and that he had arranged Hu’s transfer to protect him.

Hu Xiaotian left the palace with Liu Yuzhang, visited Murong Feiyan, and asked her to join the Divine Strategy Office. At the Jade Abyss Pavilion, Liu handed Hu responsibility for palace procurement, and Hu began negotiating with the suppliers.

• Liu Yuzhang took Hu Xiaotian out of the palace and warned him that visiting his father would attract the court's attention.
• Hu Xiaotian visited Murong Feiyan, who had recovered from her injuries, and asked her to contact Zhan Peng and join the Divine Strategy Office.
• Hu Xiaotian told Murong Feiyan he could not flee because his parents might be endangered, and they arranged to meet at the Jade Abyss Pavilion in half a month.
• Liu Yuzhang introduced Hu Xiaotian to the palace's vegetable and fruit suppliers and left him to handle the procurement orders.
• Cao Qianshan told Hu Xiaotian that the customary monthly token of respect was two fingers' worth.

Hu Xiaotian established control over Palace Gardens Bureau procurement by outmaneuvering Cao Qianshan and earning Liu Yuzhang’s trust. After preparing for his arranged meeting with Murong Feiyan, he left the palace with two trusted eunuchs and heard that Wang Desheng was threatening him.

• Hu Xiaotian rejected Cao Qianshan’s offer of silver and placed the palace’s vegetable and fruit orders in his hands, telling him to serve His Majesty properly.
• Liu Yuzhang praised Hu Xiaotian for refusing risky bribes, warned him about Wang Desheng, and entrusted him with procurement.
• Hu Xiaotian organized procurement efficiently, learned Wang Desheng was protected by his brother Wang Decai, and refused Shi Xuedong’s requests to leave the palace with him.
• Hu Xiaotian avoided contacting his family and arranged a procurement trip for the day he was due to meet Murong Feiyan.
• Hu Xiaotian left with Xiao Zhuozi and Xiao Dengzi, who warned him that Wang Desheng had threatened to teach him a lesson and suggested striking first.

Hu Xiaotian met Murong Feiyan privately and heard her confess that she loved him and would follow him even if he had been castrated. He revealed that he was a fake eunuch, leaving Murong Feiyan shocked and embarrassed before he promised to explain what had happened.

• Hu Xiaotian continued handling palace procurement through Cao Qianshan and arranged a private meeting with Murong Feiyan.
• Murong Feiyan told Hu Xiaotian that she had fallen in love with him and would stay by his side even if he was a eunuch.
• Hu Xiaotian embraced Murong Feiyan and revealed that he still had his manhood and had never been castrated.
• Murong Feiyan realized Hu Xiaotian had deceived her, but let him explain and clung to him, asking him to stay safe.

Hu Xiaotian told Murong Feiyan that he was still a whole man and learned that she and Zhan Peng had passed the Divine Strategy Office’s preliminary selection. After He Yuexi lured him to a courtyard, five armed men attacked him, and Hu Xiaotian killed one with a gate bar.

• Hu Xiaotian explained his recent experiences to Murong Feiyan, who worried that Quan Dean was using him in a larger scheme.
• Murong Feiyan told Hu Xiaotian that she and Zhan Peng had passed the Divine Strategy Office’s preliminary selection and that Gao Yuan had come to Capital City to rescue him.
• Hu Xiaotian agreed to meet Murong Feiyan again, then sent Xiao Zhuozi and Xiao Dengzi to the market while he went with He Yuexi to meet Zhang Defu.
• He Yuexi led Hu Xiaotian into a courtyard in Osmanthus Alley, where five burly men trapped him and drew their sabers.
• Hu Xiaotian leaped above the attackers and smashed one man’s head with a gate bar as he fell.

Hu Xiaotian killed He Yuexi after learning Wang Desheng had arranged the ambush, while Quan Dean secretly eliminated the remaining attackers and warned him to erase all traces. Quan Dean then questioned Hu Xiaotian’s lack of progress with Yin-Lifting Yang-Shrinking, leaving Hu Xiaotian insisting he had never been with a woman.

• Hu Xiaotian drove off the attackers, chased down He Yuexi, and killed him after He Yuexi confessed that Wang Desheng had paid him to arrange the ambush.
• Hu Xiaotian found five corpses in the courtyard and realized Quan Dean had killed the three attackers who fled.
• Quan Dean warned Hu Xiaotian that his strength and identity would make the killings dangerous if they came to light, and advised him to destroy the bodies and erase the evidence.
• Hu Xiaotian worried Quan Dean might know about his intimacy with Murong Feiyan, while Quan Dean told him that Liu Yuzhang knew nothing of their relationship.
• Quan Dean criticized Hu Xiaotian’s lack of progress in Yin-Lifting Yang-Shrinking, and Hu Xiaotian swore he had never been intimate with a woman.

Hu Xiaotian learned the Dark Nether Yin Wind Claw from Quan Dean and decided to eliminate Wang Desheng before he could try to kill him again. Back at the Palace Gardens Bureau, he met Baobao, who sought fruit for Consort Lin, and took her to inspect tribute produce.

• Quan Dean demonstrated the Dark Nether Yin Wind Claw, and Hu Xiaotian quickly memorized and copied its moves.
• Hu Xiaotian suspected Wang Desheng had hired the killers who attacked him and resolved to strike first.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to the Palace Gardens Bureau, changed clothes, and met Baobao, who requested Chinese bayberries for Consort Lin.
• Shi Xuedong mentioned the Black Shen Fruit and nearly exposed that he had tasted tribute; Hu Xiaotian sent him away to shield him.
• Hu Xiaotian took Baobao to the underground storeroom to inspect the tribute fruit.

Hu Xiaotian gained charge of the Palace Gardens Bureau’s wine cellar and used its secluded lower level to practice martial arts. When Baobao returned for more Chinese bayberry wine and persuaded him to show her the cellar, she attacked him in the darkness, leaving him injured and hiding beside a barrel as she searched for him.

• Hu Xiaotian gave Baobao fruit and Chinese bayberry wine, then arranged for Shi Xuedong to escort her back to Lingyu Hall.
• Liu Yuzhang entrusted Hu Xiaotian with the wine cellar key, and Hu began practicing the Dark Nether Yin Wind Claw on its lowest level.
• Baobao returned for more wine and persuaded Hu Xiaotian to take her down to the cellar’s third level.
• Baobao startled Hu Xiaotian by pretending to see a rat, causing him to drop the lantern and plunge the cellar into darkness.
• Baobao struck Hu Xiaotian in the back, but he rolled behind a wine barrel and stayed silent while she searched for him and lit a fire tube.

Hu Xiaotian and Baobao were caught in a deadly fight when Wang Desheng ambushed her in the wine cellar. Hu Xiaotian killed the assassin by accident, and he and Baobao agreed to hide the corpse and keep the incident secret, leaving Baobao wary as Hu Xiaotian offered her a pill.

• Baobao searched for Hu Xiaotian in the cellar, but a hidden assassin attacked her with a dagger.
• Baobao fought back with sleeve arrows and a palm strike, but the assassin wounded her and began choking her.
• Hu Xiaotian struck the assassin with a wine barrel, and the man fell onto his own dagger and died.
• Hu Xiaotian recognized the dead assassin as Wang Desheng, younger brother of Empress Jian's trusted confidant Wang Decai.
• Hu Xiaotian and Baobao agreed to conceal Wang Desheng's death and keep the cellar incident secret.
• Hu Xiaotian offered Baobao a pill, but she hesitated, unsure whether it was poison.