Chapter Summaries

Hu Xiaotian uncovered the Wan Family’s connection to Heavenly Wolf Mountain, helped Liu Kuohai kill Wan Tingchang, and returned to the Kang Capital. He learned that his mother was dying and rushed to her side.

• Hu Xiaotian overheard Wan Tingsheng tell Li Xiangzhi that the Wan Family had fallen out with Yan Kui and was taking a new route to Southern Yue.
• Five masked assassins attacked and set fire to the Wan Residence, while Hu Xiaotian and his companions withdrew and learned that Wan Tingchang was at the Orchid Fragrance Courtyard.
• Hu Xiaotian, Xiong Tianba, and Liu Kuohai ambushed Wan Tingchang on his way back, and Liu Kuohai killed him to avenge his family.
• Hu Xiaotian’s party traveled to the Kang Capital through Great Kang, where they saw displaced people and abandoned fields.
• Liang Dazhuang met Hu Xiaotian outside the capital and told him his mother was dying, so Hu Xiaotian raced to the Minister’s Residence and called out to her.

Hu Xiaotian returned to find his mother, Xu Fengyi, gravely ill and learned that despair over a bitter quarrel with his father had driven her to refuse food and treatment. As Xu Fengyi warned him to stay away from his father and the Xu Family, Hu Xiaotian stayed by her side while Wang Zhenglun said her survival depended on regaining the will to live.

• Huo Shengnan told Hu Xiaotian that Xu Fengyi had wasted away after arguing with his father, refusing food and physicians, and attempting to hang herself.
• Xu Fengyi woke to see Hu Xiaotian, then panicked at the mention of his father and urged her son never to see him or the Xu Family again.
• Huo Shengnan withdrew with the maidservants, and Hu Xiaotian thanked her for caring for his mother.
• Qiqi arrived with Quan Dean and Wang Zhenglun, who examined Xu Fengyi and said her condition left only a thread of hope if Hu Xiaotian could restore her will to live.
• Hu Xiaotian learned from Qiqi that his father had left after him and that messages from Luosong had stopped; Qiqi promised to shoulder the consequences of his absence from court.

Hu Xiaotian used Visa’s Soul-Seizing Art to uncover the secret behind his mother’s despair. Xu Fengyi revealed that Hu Buwei and Old Madam Xu had conspired against Great Kang, that Hu Buwei was Old Madam Xu’s biological son, and that Xu Fengyi had been adopted by the Xu Family; she began recounting how Old Madam Xu killed her father’s pregnant lover.

• Hu Xiaotian found Xu Fengyi refusing medicine and warning him to flee the Kang Capital because his father and the Xu Family wanted to hurt him.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Visa to use her Soul-Seizing Art to learn what had happened between Xu Fengyi and Hu Buwei.
• Under Visa’s influence, Xu Fengyi revealed that Hu Buwei had conspired with the Xu Family against Great Kang and had long sought its throne.
• Xu Fengyi disclosed that Hu Buwei was Old Madam Xu’s biological son and that the Xu Family had taken Xu Fengyi in when she was young.
• Xu Fengyi began explaining that Old Madam Xu had killed her father’s pregnant lover after discovering their affair.

Xu Fengyi revealed that Old Madam Xu had arranged a child-stealing scheme to avenge herself on Xu Lingkong, leaving Hu Xiaotian shaken by the possibility that his family was bound by incest and revenge. Before he could recover, Emperor Long Xuan'en summoned him to the palace and accused him of defying the emperor’s orders in Western Sichuan.

• Xu Fengyi told Hu Xiaotian that Old Madam Xu had a pregnant woman killed, took her child, and passed the child off as her own daughter to punish Xu Lingkong.
• Xu Fengyi said an unknown person had told her the truth and suspected Old Madam Xu had sent that person; Hu Xiaotian had Visa control her with the Soul-Seizing Art so she would take her medicine and rest.
• Murong Zhan arrived with an imperial summons, and Hu Xiaotian agreed to go to the palace after arranging for Huo Shengnan to care for his mother and Zhou Mo to contact Qiqi.
• At Xuanwei Palace, Long Xuan'en demanded to know whether Hu Xiaotian admitted his guilt, then angrily challenged his claim that he had carried out the emperor’s wishes in Western Sichuan.

Hu Xiaotian defended himself before Long Xuan'en, who accused him and his father of conspiring against Great Kang, but Qiqi intervened and secured his release. On the journey home, Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi discussed the missing fleet, the emperor’s trap in Western Sichuan, and Qiqi’s decision not to warn him; he told her he believed her.

• Hu Xiaotian denied disobeying Long Xuan'en’s orders and challenged the accusations that he had helped Li Tianheng and concealed his father’s plans.
• Long Xuan'en accused Hu Buwei of taking the fleet somewhere other than Luosong and suspected father and son of plotting against Great Kang.
• Qiqi rushed into Xuanwei Palace, defended Hu Xiaotian, and knelt beside him, prompting Long Xuan'en to let them leave.
• Hu Xiaotian told Qiqi that his mother’s illness might be connected to his father and admitted he did not know where the fleet had gone.
• Hu Xiaotian revealed that sending him to Western Sichuan to invest Li Tianheng had been a trap, and Qiqi confessed she had suspected it but had not warned him.
• Qiqi said she had wanted Hu Xiaotian to return safely, and he told her he believed her.

Hu Xiaotian learned that the emperor had plotted against Li Tianheng and the Prince of Zhou, then returned home to find his mother Xu Fengyi dead. As Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi began mourning her, Long Xuan'en learned that Hu Buwei's fleet had vanished and suspected it had sailed into Fragrant Kingdom waters.

• Hu Xiaotian told Qiqi that the emperor had planned to move against Li Tianheng and assassinate the Prince of Zhou, while Qiqi vowed not to give up on Great Kang.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to the Minister's Residence, tried to revive Xu Fengyi, and collapsed after Zhou Mo told him she was dead.
• Hu Xiaotian awoke, put on mourning clothes, and began funeral rites for his mother as Qiqi chose to keep vigil beside him.
• Long Xuan'en learned that Xu Fengyi had died and angrily objected to Qiqi wearing mourning clothes before marrying into the Hu Family.
• Hong Beimo reported that Hu Buwei's fleet had disappeared, and he and Long Xuan'en concluded it might have turned west into Fragrant Kingdom waters.

After Xu Fengyi’s death, Hu Xiaotian resigned to observe mourning and established Fengyi Manor near her grave while planning his next move against those who had schemed against him. On her fifth seventh-day memorial, he discussed the missing fleet and Great Kang’s growing unrest with Huo Shengnan, just as Qiqi arrived to pay her respects and urge him back to the capital.

• Long Xuan'en ordered an investigation into the Fragrant Kingdom after learning that Great Kang’s envoys had vanished there.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Qiqi to let him resign and observe mourning, but promised to remain near the Kang Capital and keep helping her through his associates.
• Hu Xiaotian bought an estate at Falling Cloud Mountain, named it Fengyi Manor, and had tunnels excavated beneath it.
• Hu Xiaotian resolved to take revenge on those who had plotted against him while searching for answers about his missing father and the fleet.
• At Xu Fengyi’s fifth seventh-day memorial, Hu Xiaotian told Huo Shengnan that the fleet might have turned toward the Fragrant Kingdom, and she reported unrest in Haizhou.
• Qiqi arrived at Xu Fengyi’s grave to pay her respects and persuade Hu Xiaotian to return to the capital.

Hu Xiaotian told Qiqi that Great Kang’s collapse seemed inevitable and urged her to preserve its people by breaking the realm into smaller fiefs. Qiqi understood the plan but worried that the regional lords might later rebel or defect.

• Huo Shengnan and Visa left, and Qiqi questioned Hu Xiaotian about his new manor and whether he intended to withdraw from public life.
• Qiqi described Great Kang’s famine, unrest, and mounting external threats, while Hu Xiaotian argued that the country was already beyond saving.
• Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi discussed the laborers who had fled to Xingzhou and how Guo Guangbi’s forces had seized Great Yong’s military grain.
• Hu Xiaotian proposed that Great Kang relinquish some borderlands and divide its territory into fiefs to preserve its people and rebuild after collapse.
• Qiqi asked whether the regional lords might establish independent domains or defect to another country.

Hu Xiaotian urged Qiqi to consider dividing Great Kang into fiefs so its regions could find food and survive, then agreed to return to the capital in three days. Meanwhile, Long Xuan'en took a life-prolonging pill from Hong Beimo, and Hu Xiaotian returned to Fengyi Manor, where he learned Huo Shengnan had gone back to the Divine Strategy Office.

• Hu Xiaotian proposed that Qiqi let Great Kang's provinces become independent or join other countries so they could secure food, and Qiqi said she needed time to consider it.
• Hu Xiaotian told Qiqi that Great Kang's crisis could only be resolved if she became its true ruler, then suggested she claim a fief and become her own master.
• Qiqi had her guards dismantle Hu Xiaotian's shelter and ordered him to return to the Kang Capital within seven days; Hu Xiaotian promised to return in three.
• Hong Beimo presented Long Xuan'en with a life-prolonging pill and promised the Reincarnation Tower might be completed within a year, while Long Xuan'en feared Great Kang would not survive three years.
• Long Xuan'en took the golden pill, and Hu Xiaotian returned to Fengyi Manor, where Visa told him Huo Shengnan had gone back to the Divine Strategy Office.

Hu Xiaotian discussed Yang Lingqi’s map and the political danger posed by Long Xuan'en and Hong Beimo, concluding that the emperor’s obsession with the Imperial Mausoleum and immortality explained his disregard for Great Kang and Princess Yongyang. Hu Xiaotian remained unwilling to flee or marry the princess for protection, and the chapter left the secret of the mausoleum unresolved.

• Hu Xiaotian offered to operate on Yang Lingqi’s injured hand, and Yang Lingqi agreed to the surgery.
• Yang Lingqi showed Hu Xiaotian a map of the territories Great Kang must retain, and they considered how Long Xuan'en might react to Princess Yongyang’s proposal to enfeoff regional lords.
• Hu Xiaotian explained that Long Xuan'en had sent more laborers and money to the Imperial Mausoleum, which Hong Beimo guarded closely, and suspected they shared a secret tied to immortality.
• Hu Xiaotian concluded that Long Xuan'en might sacrifice anyone, including Princess Yongyang, to pursue eternal life, while Yang Lingqi warned that the princess’s proposal could endanger her.
• Yang Lingqi urged Hu Xiaotian to leave the capital or marry Princess Yongyang, but Hu Xiaotian refused to back down and remained intent on discovering what the Imperial Mausoleum concealed.

Hu Xiaotian learned that a tunnel to the Imperial Mausoleum was impractical, then kept his final night vigil at his mother's grave. Xu Lingkong visited and revealed that Hu Xiaotian's father was in the Fragrant Kingdom, leaving Hu Xiaotian confronting his family's losses and Xu Lingkong's guilt.

• Liang Yinghao showed Hu Xiaotian the secret tunnels beneath Fengyi Manor, and Hu Xiaotian ordered him to seal their entrances when the work was finished.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Liang Yinghao whether a hundred-li tunnel to the Imperial Mausoleum could be dug, and Liang Yinghao explained that the terrain and defenses made it impractical.
• Hu Xiaotian went to keep his final night vigil at his mother's grave, while Visa brought him a cloak and then returned to the manor.
• Xu Lingkong appeared at Xu Fengyi's grave, and Hu Xiaotian told him that his mother had wanted to see her parents before she died.
• Xu Lingkong told Hu Xiaotian that his father was in the Fragrant Kingdom, and Hu Xiaotian challenged Xu Lingkong over his inability to save Xu Fengyi.

Hu Xiaotian confronted Xu Lingkong at his mother's grave about the people he blamed for her suffering, then learned more about Xu Lingkong's past with Long Xuan'en and Chu Fufeng. Xu Lingkong urged him to abandon revenge and leave, but Hu Xiaotian challenged him about whether he had been happy after walking away from his family.

• Hu Xiaotian said he wanted justice from his father, Old Madam Xu, and Long Xuan'en, while Xu Lingkong accepted blame for his own past failures.
• Xu Lingkong recounted how he, Long Xuan'en, and Chu Fufeng became sworn brothers, and how Chu Fufeng helped Long Xuan'en secure the throne.
• Xu Lingkong explained that Long Xuan'en's conflict with Chu Fufeng arose from the growing cost and power of the Heavenly Secrets Bureau, and said Chu Fufeng's wife entrusted their son to him before taking her own life.
• Xu Lingkong revealed that he secretly placed Chu Yuanhai with Old Madam Xu, and Hu Xiaotian inferred that she later told Chu Yuanhai about his origins.
• Xu Lingkong questioned Hu Xiaotian's sudden transformation and mentioned the myriad poison spirit body, but Hu Xiaotian insisted he was Hu Xiaotian.
• Xu Lingkong urged Hu Xiaotian to leave vengeance behind, and Hu Xiaotian asked whether Xu Lingkong had been happy after walking away forty years earlier.

Hu Xiaotian returned to the Kang Capital and began investigating his father's disappearance while reconsidering whether Zhou Mo and others had concealed their backgrounds. Suspecting Zhou Mo, he asked Visa to use her mind-controlling flute on him, and she began playing the Great Desert Autumn Longing Melody at their feast.

• Xu Lingkong warned Hu Xiaotian to stay away from Hong Beimo before leaving him.
• Hu Xiaotian told Yang Lingqi he planned to visit home, not take charge of the Divine Strategy Office or join palace disputes.
• At the Minister's Residence, Hu Xiaotian searched Boxuan Tower for traces left by Hu Buwei and questioned the circumstances around Long Xiyue's departure and his sworn brothers' pasts.
• Hu Xiaotian instructed Visa to use her strongest abilities to control Zhou Mo's mind and help prove whether he was hiding something.
• Hu Xiaotian welcomed Zhou Mo to a feast, and they discussed the missing fleet and Zhou Mo's plan to investigate the Fragrant Kingdom.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Visa to play for them, and she began the Great Desert Autumn Longing Melody.

Hu Xiaotian used Visa’s Soul-Seizing Art to question Zhou Mo about Long Xiyue, but a firework interrupted the attempt before Zhou Mo could reveal his secret. Zhou Mo tried to leave the Kang Capital, and Hu Xiaotian confronted him, accusing him of betraying their sworn brotherhood and plotting against the Minister of Revenue.

• Visa played the Great Desert Autumn Longing Melody and hypnotized Zhou Mo, who began to confess that he had wronged Third Brother.
• A firework startled Zhou Mo awake before he could explain what he had done, and he claimed his guilt concerned Princess Anping’s departure.
• Hu Xiaotian grew convinced that Zhou Mo had deceived him about Long Xiyue, while Zhou Mo returned to his quarters and began packing to leave.
• Hu Xiaotian arrived as Zhou Mo prepared to depart, and the two sent Xiong Tianba away so they could speak privately.
• Zhou Mo realized Visa had used the Soul-Seizing Art on him, and Hu Xiaotian explained how the Horse Bandits’ weakness and the suspicious timing of their meeting had led him to suspect Zhou Mo.
• Hu Xiaotian accused Zhou Mo of harming Long Xiyue and revealed that he believed Zhou Mo and Xiao Tianmu had targeted the Minister of Revenue.

Hu Xiaotian confronted Zhou Mo over Long Xiyue and Murong Feiyan, but let his former sworn brother leave when Zhou refused to explain himself. Meanwhile, Qiqi clashed with Long Xuan'en over how to save Great Kang, until news of Great Yong’s emperor’s death gave the court hope.

• Hu Xiaotian challenged Zhou Mo, then punched him and let him go after Zhou refused to give a reason for his betrayal.
• Xiong Tianba chose to stay with Hu Xiaotian, while Zhou Mo ended their master-disciple bond and rode away.
• Huo Shengnan discussed Zhou Mo’s betrayal with Hu Xiaotian, who said killing him would not recover Long Xiyue and Murong Feiyan and might provoke Xiao Tianmu.
• Qiqi argued that Great Kang should surrender some territories to preserve its core, but Long Xuan'en angrily rejected her proposal and threatened her.
• Wang Qian and Hong Beimo reported that Xue Shengkang had died without naming a Crown Prince, leaving Great Yong in turmoil and giving Long Xuan'en hope that Great Kang could recover.

After Xue Shengkang’s death, Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi discussed Great Kang’s internal crisis and the need to leave the capital. Long Xuan'en assigned Hu Xiaotian to govern Eastern Liang Commandery as a trial of Qiqi’s enfeoffment proposal, while keeping Qiqi in the capital.

• Hu Xiaotian visited Qiqi after learning of Xue Shengkang’s death, and they discussed Great Kang’s troubles and Long Xuan'en’s opposition to enfeoffment.
• Quan Dean summoned Qiqi and Hu Xiaotian to the palace, where Long Xuan'en said he had reconsidered Qiqi’s proposal and would test it in one place.
• Long Xuan'en appointed Hu Xiaotian to manage Eastern Liang Commandery, which he granted to Qiqi as her fief, and ordered him to gather intelligence and win over the people.
• Qiqi realized Long Xuan'en was sending Hu Xiaotian away while keeping her in the capital, and she asked to go with him.
• Long Xuan'en refused to let Qiqi leave and promised to treat her more gently.

Hu Xiaotian gathered support among palace contacts before leaving for Eastern Liang Commandery, where he hoped to secure a refuge as Great Kang weakened. Li Yuncong warned him that the emperor had sent him away to isolate Princess Yongyang and revealed that the emperor sought immortality.

• Hu Xiaotian met Yin Zheng, learned that the emperor had recently grown more sexually active, and asked him to pass along palace news.
• Hu Xiaotian visited Shi Xuedong, confirmed their loyalty to each other, and told him he planned to establish himself in Eastern Liang Commandery before Great Kang fell.
• Shi Xuedong promised to watch events in the palace and help Hu Xiaotian while he was away.
• Yuan Fu brought Hu Xiaotian to meet Li Yuncong, who warned that the emperor could accuse him of rebellion and destroy him.
• Li Yuncong said the emperor wanted eternal youth and immortality, and Hu Xiaotian questioned whether immortality existed.

Li Yuncong proposed joining forces with Hu Xiaotian to seize Great Kang, in exchange for the Imperial Mausoleum Underground Palace. He then revealed evidence suggesting Hu Xiaotian's father had fathered a child with Eldest Princess Long Xuanjiao, leaving Hu Xiaotian to suspect that the child was him.

• Li Yuncong argued that Hong Beimo was secretly refining Immortality Pills for the emperor and that the Imperial Mausoleum Underground Palace concealed a major secret.
• Li Yuncong warned Hu Xiaotian that the emperor distrusted him and that his interests were bound to Princess Yongyang's.
• Li Yuncong offered to help Hu Xiaotian take Great Kang if Hu Xiaotian gave him the Imperial Mausoleum Underground Palace, and Hu Xiaotian agreed to the alliance with a wine-bowl toast.
• Li Yuncong said Hu Xiaotian's father had likely gone to the Fragrant Kingdom and recounted how he had taught Eldest Princess Long Xuanjiao to play the zither before her marriage.
• Li Yuncong revealed that Long Xuanjiao had vomited on the eve of her wedding and that he had secretly checked her pulse; Hu Xiaotian concluded she had been pregnant.

Hu Xiaotian learned from Li Yuncong that Hu Buwei had fathered a son with Long Xuanjiao, who now ruled the Fragrant Kingdom, and resolved to frustrate his father’s plans. Before leaving the palace, Hu Xiaotian met Qiqi, who ordered him to join her at midnight for another trip beneath Misty Mountain.

• Li Yuncong told Hu Xiaotian that Long Xuanjiao’s son Yang Longjing was Hu Buwei’s child and that she had ruled the Fragrant Kingdom as regent before making her son emperor.
• Hu Xiaotian realized Hu Buwei had prioritized his other family and vowed not to let him reunite with Long Xuanjiao and Yang Longjing in peace.
• Hu Xiaotian left the Library Pavilion with Quan Dean, who told him that Mr. Hong had given him a lighter prosthetic leg and asked whether he would return.
• Hu Xiaotian found Qiqi playing the zither at the Purple Orchid Palace, where she accused him of making the emperor suspicious of her and had him shave his beard.
• Qiqi told Hu Xiaotian to meet her at midnight inside a dry well so they could venture beneath Misty Mountain again.

Hu Xiaotian learned that Li Yuncong suspected Liu Yuzhang of stealing the Heart Sutra and the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram, and that Liu may have faked his death to escape the palace. He retrieved a cryptic note Liu had left him, then met Qiqi in the passage beneath the Purple Orchid Palace to prepare for their next venture.

• Hu Xiaotian asked Li Yuncong about the missing books and learned that they had disappeared together two years earlier through a passage behind the Literary Sage Statue.
• Li Yuncong revealed that he suspected Liu Yuzhang had stolen the books and claimed Liu had faked his death and escaped after Li found his grave empty.
• Hu Xiaotian opened the hidden passage, returned to the Wine Cellar, and retrieved the unreadable paper Liu had secretly left him.
• Hu Xiaotian met Qiqi in the passage to the Water Well, where she gave him a Water Suit before changing into one herself.