Chapter Summaries

Hu Xiaotian confronted the Beggar Gang over Tong Tiejin’s attack and demanded proof that his grandfather, Xu Lingkong, was safe. As he sought help from the Xu Family and Prince Fu, the Beggar Gang held back from retaliation, but Hu Xiaotian was unexpectedly removed from the prince-consort examination list.

• Hu Xiaotian released Xie Tianqiong, kept Tong Tiejin alive, and worried that the Beggar Gang had Xu Lingkong in danger.
• Zhu Ba demanded that Hu Xiaotian heal Tong Tiejin and surrender the God-Demon World-Ending Fist, but Hu Xiaotian refused and threatened the Beggar Gang unless he saw his grandfather.
• Hu Xiaotian sent word to Xu Mucheng, and Xu Mubai promised to investigate Xu Lingkong’s whereabouts and offered Hu Xiaotian protection.
• Prince Fu, Yang Longyue, began a sweeping inspection of beggars and vagrants in Fragrant City, directing the operation against the Beggar Gang.
• The Beggar Gang denied knowing where Xu Lingkong was, and Yang Longyue told Hu Xiaotian that the Empress Dowager had removed him from the prince-consort examination list.

After the Empress Dowager removed Hu Xiaotian from the prince consort candidates, he visited Hu Buwei at the Quiet Mountain Retreat and asked him to intervene. Their tense reunion left Hu Buwei promising that arranging Hu Xiaotian’s marriage to Princess Yingyue would be easy.

• Yang Longyue told Hu Xiaotian that the Empress Dowager had crossed his name off the candidate list because of his ties to Great Kang and Princess Yongyang.
• Yang Longyue said Hu Buwei might persuade the Empress Dowager, so Hu Xiaotian went alone to the Quiet Mountain Retreat to meet him.
• Hu Xiaotian and Hu Buwei exchanged restrained remarks about Xu Fengyi, their strained relationship, and Hu Xiaotian’s arrival in the Fragrant Kingdom.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Hu Buwei to intervene after the Empress Dowager removed him from the prince consort candidates.
• Hu Buwei agreed, saying he could even arrange Hu Xiaotian’s marriage to Princess Yingyue.

Hu Xiaotian agreed to seek a blue crystal skull at the Clear Mystery Monastery in exchange for Hu Buwei’s help becoming Princess Yingyue’s consort and reuniting with Murong Feiyan. After Hu Xiaotian was eliminated from consideration, he relaxed on Fairy Lake, where a woman in red approached him.

• Hu Buwei offered to help Hu Xiaotian become prince consort and take Murong Feiyan away if Hu Xiaotian found a blue crystal skull.
• Hu Buwei identified the Clear Mystery Monastery as the likely hiding place and gave Hu Xiaotian a map and notes about its residents.
• Hu Xiaotian raised the possibility that Xu Lingkong was controlled by the Beggar Gang, but Hu Buwei dismissed the connection and warned him to keep the skull quest secret.
• Hu Xiaotian rejected Hu Buwei as his father and suspected that Hu Buwei’s interest in the skull revealed a hidden identity and knowledge of the world.
• After Hu Xiaotian was eliminated from the prince-consort selection, he stayed in Fragrant City and relaxed on Fairy Lake.
• A woman dressed in red crossed the lake and greeted Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua investigated Hu Buwei’s claim that a skull connected to the War Between Heaven and Man was hidden at the Clear Mystery Monastery. They crossed the gorge at dusk and began climbing toward the monastery at night, planning to search separate locations before reuniting.

• Hu Xiaotian told Ji Feihua about his meeting with Hu Buwei, and they concluded that the other skull might have been passed to Su Yujin through Long Xuanjiao.
• Ji Feihua agreed to investigate the Clear Mystery Monastery with Hu Xiaotian, and they used Hu Buwei’s map to plan their approach to the cliffside monastery.
• At Tanqing Mountain, Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian glided across the gorge to a pine tree on the opposite cliff, where Hu Xiaotian startled Ji Feihua by pretending to fall.
• Ji Feihua planned for them to reach the Empty Seal Pavilion before splitting up to search Orchid Hall and Flowing Moon Pavilion for the skull.
• After night fell, Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua climbed the cliff toward the monastery, agreeing to leave within two hours and avoid using the Lightsaber.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua parted ways after Ji accepted the Lightsaber, while Hu Buwei and Xiao Tianmu discussed their scheme and a plan involving Shangguan Tianhuo. Hu Xiaotian then infiltrated Flowing Moon Pavilion in search of Clear Mystery Monastery’s scriptures and overheard that Master might soon leave seclusion to help select the Prince Consort.

• Hu Xiaotian gave Ji Feihua the Lightsaber, and Ji Feihua left wearing his silver mask.
• Hu Buwei met Xiao Tianmu at Yuqing Treasure House and explained why the Empress Dowager had removed Hu Xiaotian from the Prince Consort candidates.
• Hu Buwei ordered Xiao Tianmu to leak news to Hu Xiaotian so he could deal with the Beggar Gang and Shangguan Tianhuo.
• Hu Xiaotian crossed Three-Foot Beam and reached Flowing Moon Pavilion by following the mountain stream to its cave entrance.
• Hu Xiaotian overheard two Taoist nuns say their Master might emerge from seclusion soon to help choose the Prince Consort, then continued toward the candlelit pavilion.

Hu Xiaotian infiltrated the Clear Mystery Monastery and found the Blue Skull hidden beneath the Flowing Moon Pavilion, where he confronted Su Yujin. Su Yujin attacked him with ice needles as he struggled to clear the illusions from her blue gaze.

• Hu Xiaotian knocked out a nun in the Flowing Moon Pavilion and found a hidden mechanism that opened a passage underground.
• Hu Xiaotian descended into the Cold Jade Cave and discovered Su Yujin meditating with the Blue Skull on her head.
• Hu Xiaotian tried to seize the Blue Skull, but Su Yujin floated into the air and struck back with a blue gaze that filled his vision with phantoms.
• A snow eagle caught the drifting Blue Skull, and Su Yujin demanded to know who had sent Hu Xiaotian.
• Hu Xiaotian accused Su Yujin of taking what was not hers, while she unleashed a storm of ice needles at him.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua fought Su Yujin in the Cold Jade Cave over the Blue Skull, facing her martial arts and swarms of bats and rats. Ji Feihua’s palm strike shattered Su Yujin’s ice armor, leaving their clash unresolved.

• Su Yujin attacked Hu Xiaotian, who recovered behind the cold jade pillar and countered with the Spirit Snake Nine Swords.
• Su Yujin summoned swarms of white rats and bats, while the Black-Clad Man seized the Blue Skull and passed it to Hu Xiaotian through Ji Feihua.
• Hu Xiaotian struck Su Yujin with the God-Demon World-Ending Fist, and Ji Feihua caught him before they landed atop the cold jade pillar.
• Hu Xiaotian threatened to smash the Blue Skull, forcing Su Yujin to hesitate as Ji Feihua attacked her with the Sevenfold Palm.
• Su Yujin met Ji Feihua’s palm with an ice-armored fist, and their collision shattered her armor.

Su Yujin escaped with the passage sealed behind her, then flooded the Cold Jade Cave and began freezing the rising water to trap Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian. Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian took refuge in a narrow shaft, with water still seeping in as the ice continued to rise.

• Su Yujin used ice needles to distract Ji Feihua, escaped through the passage, and triggered a mechanism that sealed it with ice boulders.
• Ji Feihua returned to Hu Xiaotian and told him that Su Yujin had sealed their way out; Hu Xiaotian confirmed that the Blue Skull was unharmed.
• The white-furred rats and bats fled as tremors shook the cave, and water burst through the walls, rapidly flooding the cavern.
• Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian searched the walls for an escape route but found none as the water rose over the Cold Jade pillar.
• A blue stream froze the floodwater into rapidly rising ice, so Ji Feihua carved a shaft with the Lightsaber and both men squeezed inside.
• The Lightsaber ran low on energy, and water seeped into the shaft as Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian waited for the entrance to freeze shut.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua became trapped in a tiny cavity beneath rising water and waited for Su Yujin to return for the skull. As the water froze, Ji Feihua taught Hu Xiaotian a breath-holding method, while Hu Xiaotian’s subordinates at the Emerald Garden began searching for him after he failed to return.

• Hu Xiaotian apologized for bringing Ji Feihua into danger, but Ji Feihua said he had chosen to come and helped retrieve the glowing skull for light.
• The water stopped rising and froze beneath them, leaving Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua trapped in the cavity with no way out.
• Hu Xiaotian reasoned that Su Yujin would eventually return for the skull, and Ji Feihua urged him to hold on for Long Xiyue’s sake.
• Ji Feihua moved the skull onto Hu Xiaotian’s head to free space, then taught him a breath-holding method that Hu Xiaotian mastered within an hour.
• Hu Xiaotian’s subordinates at the Emerald Garden waited a day and night before realizing he was missing and beginning to search for him.

Hu Xiaotian’s disappearance stirred political turmoil in Fragrant City while Hu Buwei and Long Xuanjiao responded in their own ways. Trapped in an ice cave with Ji Feihua and near death, Hu Xiaotian revealed his past life on Earth, and Ji Feihua offered to consider marrying him if they met again in another life.

• After Hu Xiaotian vanished, Zhao Wusheng and Zhan Peng sought help from Xu Mubai and Yang Longyue, while Hu Buwei urged Xu Mubai to involve the Imperial Court and spread rumors implicating Su Yujin.
• Yang Longyue warned Long Xuanjiao that Hu Xiaotian’s disappearance could threaten the Fragrant Kingdom, but she dismissed his concerns and ordered the Phoenix Feather Guard to investigate.
• Long Xuanjiao sent Rong Feiyan to the Clear Mystery Monastery, where Rong Feiyan searched for Hu Xiaotian while concealing that she was actually Murong Feiyan and had never lost consciousness.
• After nearly three days trapped in the ice cave, Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua accepted that they might die and began sharing their final thoughts.
• Hu Xiaotian told Ji Feihua that he had been a surgeon on Earth before waking in this world, and Ji Feihua said he might consider marrying him if they met again in another life.

Hu Xiaotian recovered from oxygen deprivation as Ji Feihua experienced a vision after putting on the Blue Skull. Hu Xiaotian realized Ji Feihua was a woman, then pretended to be dying so he could ask for a kiss, leaving Ji Feihua choking him.

• As Hu Xiaotian weakened from oxygen deprivation, Ji Feihua urged him to stay awake and kissed him when he went limp.
• Ji Feihua put on the Blue Skull, saw a blue apparition and unfamiliar characters, and entered a vast vision.
• Hu Xiaotian recovered when a clear current swept through his meridians and saw Ji Feihua's body glowing with a woman's contours.
• Hu Xiaotian embraced Ji Feihua, realized he was a woman, and pretended he was still near death.
• After Hu Xiaotian asked to kiss him, Ji Feihua felt his strong pulse and seized him by the throat.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua escaped the flooded ice cavity and prepared to face Su Yujin, with Ji Feihua planning to draw her away so Hu could flee with the Blue Skull. When Su Yujin arrived, Hu and Ji launched a coordinated ambush, but Ji quickly retreated and left Hu to face her alone.

• Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua realized the ice around them was melting, and Su Yujin returned to the Cold Jade Cave on the fourth day.
• The meltwater submerged them before receding, and Hu Xiaotian advanced his breath-holding technique while Ji Feihua gave him the Blue Skull to carry out.
• As the water drained, Ji Feihua proposed luring Su Yujin away, but Hu Xiaotian insisted on staying to fight her and gave Ji the skull pouch to protect.
• Su Yujin entered the cave, and Hu Xiaotian disguised himself as a corpse on the cold jade pillar while Ji Feihua hid inside the rock above her.
• Hu Xiaotian struck Su Yujin with Heaven-Destroying Earth-Annihilating as Ji Feihua attacked from above, but she countered their assault, and Ji escaped toward the exit, leaving Hu to face her.

Hu Xiaotian fought his way out of the Clear Mystery Monastery while Su Yujin pursued him. Murong Feiyan revealed she remembered him and helped him escape, but Su Yujin’s trap forced him to leave her behind as he plunged from the cliff.

• Hu Xiaotian cut through the bats, rats, and Daoist nuns guarding his route, then broke the Three-Foot Beam to slow Su Yujin’s pursuit.
• Hu Xiaotian reached the iron-chain suspension bridge, where Murong Feiyan charged him and secretly told him to take her hostage.
• Hu Xiaotian held Murong Feiyan at swordpoint, but Su Yujin ordered the bridge dismantled and attacked them with ice needles.
• Hu Xiaotian caught a crack in the cliff while holding Murong Feiyan, then told her he would return for her and leaped into the night mist.

Hu Xiaotian escaped Su Yujin and reunited with Ji Feihua, who nearly lost control while handling the glowing Skull. Ji Feihua concluded that Su Yujin was Murong Feiyan’s mother, and Hu Xiaotian suggested that Ji Feihua was the one destined to unlock the Skull’s power.

• Su Yujin confronted Murong Feiyan, revealed that she knew Murong Feiyan had come searching for someone, and let her choose whether to leave.
• Hu Xiaotian escaped across the gorge and met Ji Feihua at their agreed camp, where the two ate and talked.
• Ji Feihua touched the Skull, which glowed and nearly drew him in, until Hu Xiaotian called him back to himself.
• Ji Feihua deduced that Su Yujin was Murong Feiyan’s mother, easing Hu Xiaotian’s worry about her.
• Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua discussed what to do with the Skull, and Hu Xiaotian said Ji Feihua was the one destined for it.

Hu Xiaotian handed the Blue Skull to Hu Buwei in exchange for a place among the prince consort candidates, then learned that his maternal grandfather was imprisoned at Sword-Washing Manor. When Hu Xiaotian returned to Emerald Garden, Ying Tianhong arrived with Phoenix Feather Guards to escort him to the palace for an audience with the Empress Dowager.

• Ji Feihua advised Hu Xiaotian to give the Blue Skull to Hu Buwei and kept the Lightsaber for a few days.
• Hu Xiaotian gave Hu Buwei the Blue Skull, and Hu Buwei promised to put him on the prince consort candidate list by the next day.
• Hu Buwei told Hu Xiaotian that his maternal grandfather was imprisoned at Sword-Washing Manor and suggested capturing Shangguan Yunchong to arrange an exchange.
• Hu Xiaotian suspected Hu Buwei wanted to provoke a war with the Beggar Gang and returned to Emerald Garden.
• Ying Tianhong surrounded Emerald Garden with Phoenix Feather Guards and said the Empress Dowager had ordered Hu Xiaotian to come to the palace.
• Zhao Wusheng urged Hu Xiaotian to leave Fragrant Kingdom rather than accept its treatment.

Hu Xiaotian was summoned to the palace, where Su Yujin confronted him over the object she believed he had taken from the Clear Mystery Monastery and threatened Murong Feiyan. After Su Yujin left, he was brought to meet Empress Dowager Long Xuanjiao, while Hu Buwei persuaded her to restore Hu Xiaotian’s name to the prince consort candidate list.

• Hu Xiaotian stalled Ying Tianhong by bathing, changing, and eating before finally riding toward the palace.
• Hu Buwei convinced Long Xuanjiao that Hu Xiaotian was the best potential ally and asked her to put his name back on the prince consort list.
• At Daoyuan Palace, Hu Xiaotian realized Su Yujin had lured him there and met her alone after Ying Tianhong withdrew.
• Su Yujin demanded the object from the Clear Mystery Monastery and threatened Murong Feiyan, but Hu Xiaotian denied taking it and challenged her for forging an imperial decree.
• After Ying Tianhong brought Su Yujin a message, she left, and Hu Xiaotian followed him to Dexin Palace to greet Long Xuanjiao.

Hu Xiaotian persuaded Long Xuanjiao to restore him to the prince-consort contest, while Su Yujin warned her that Hu Buwei and the Blue Skull posed dangers to the Fragrant Kingdom. Hu Xiaotian returned to the Emerald Garden and gathered with several rivals, leaving the remaining candidates together over drinks.

• Long Xuanjiao told Hu Xiaotian she had restored him to the prince-consort contest, and he asked her to withdraw the Phoenix Feather Guard from his residence.
• Su Yujin suspected Hu Buwei had orchestrated the Clear Mystery Monastery theft and warned Long Xuanjiao about his ambitions and the risks surrounding the Blue Skull.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to the Emerald Garden, where Heldan and Mengya congratulated him and Xu Mubai came to learn what had happened.
• Yang Longyue arrived and remarked that the gathered candidates had become private drinking companions despite being rivals.

Hu Xiaotian returned to the prince-consort candidates and worked with Yang Longyue on a scheme against Mr. Lan, while Mengya showed growing affection for Zhao Wusheng. Long Xiyue learned Hu Xiaotian had arrived and insisted she would wait for him or die, leaving Long Xuanjiao shaken by the strength of her niece’s devotion.

• Mengya challenged Zhao Wusheng to a sparring match, then rushed to comfort him after he deliberately fell, revealing her feelings for him.
• Hu Xiaotian told Yang Longyue that Mr. Lan wanted to work with him and asked him to find a map of Green Shadow Pavilion and investigate the Sword-Washing Manor and the Beggar Gang’s ties to the Xu Family of Jinling.
• Hu Xiaotian proposed using evidence of Mr. Lan’s ambitions to undermine the Empress Dowager and said he had a plan to implicate the Beggar Gang and the Xu Family.
• Long Xuanjiao told Long Xiyue that Hu Xiaotian had arrived, but Long Xiyue calmly said she had expected him to come and would wait for him until death.
• Long Xiyue said she would choose death rather than accept another husband, and Long Xuanjiao was shaken as she recalled her own past devotion.

As the prince consort selection approached, Hu Xiaotian arranged with Ji Feihua to abduct Yang Longjing and disrupt the proceedings. At the palace, Hu Xiaotian attacked a candidate who mocked his late addition to the selection list, turning the waiting hall into a confrontation.

• Long Xuanjiao confided her fear that Hu Buwei had changed, while Long Xiyue insisted that his feelings for her would not change.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Ji Feihua to help capture Yang Longjing, explaining that the abduction would postpone the selection and further his plans against the Beggar Gang.
• Ji Feihua agreed to help because he found Hu Xiaotian's plan interesting.
• Murong Feiyan guided the hundred candidates into a palace side hall, where Hu Xiaotian told her through Secret Voice Transmission that he would take her away.
• After Wanyan Tianyue and other candidates mocked his late addition to the list, Hu Xiaotian slapped one man, threw him down, and challenged the others to face him.

Hu Xiaotian provoked unrest in the Fragrant Kingdom Palace while the candidates waited to see the King and Princess Yingyue. After the palace presented a portrait of the Princess, Hu Xiaotian attacked Shangguan Yunchong, and Wanyan Tianyue joined the fight.

• Shangguan Yunchong saved a man Hu Xiaotian had thrown, then exchanged insults with Hu Xiaotian before Murong Feiyan restored order.
• Hu Xiaotian stirred up complaints about the delay, while he, Xu Mubai, and Heldan waited for the King to receive them.
• Murong Feiyan presented an embroidered portrait of Princess Yingyue, and Xue Daoming realized it did not resemble Long Xiyue.
• Hu Xiaotian suspected his plan had succeeded after a flustered Phoenix Feather Guard summoned Murong Feiyan away.
• Hu Xiaotian provoked Shangguan Yunchong and struck him with the God-Demon World-Ending Fist, but Shangguan Yunchong met the blow head-on.
• Wanyan Tianyue swung a chair at Hu Xiaotian as the fight began.