Chapter Summaries

Hu Xiaotian escaped the frozen lake after fighting Gangbala, then decided to secretly escort Yuchi Chong to Yong Capital. In the capital, Li Chenzhou discussed the political dangers with Xue Lingjun, who agreed to speak with Xue Daoming about his resistance to Li’s policies.

• Hu Xiaotian struck Gangbala underwater, escaped through the ice, and flew away with the Flying Owl while Gangbala later crawled out of the lake alive.
• Hu Xiaotian thanked the Flying Owl and decided to protect Yuchi Chong on the journey to Yong Capital because he feared Black Hu might attack him.
• After the royal funeral, Li Chenzhou visited Xue Lingjun, and they discussed the rumors about their relationship and the unsettled political situation.
• Li Chenzhou told Xue Lingjun he feared Xue Shengjing was hiding in Yong Capital and preparing a counterattack.
• Li Chenzhou said Xue Daoming was delaying his proposal to reduce taxes and levies, and Xue Lingjun offered to reason with the emperor.

Xue Lingjun met with Yuchi Chong after his return to the Yong Capital, while Li Chenzhou listened from hiding. Yuchi Chong revealed he planned to resign from the Northern Frontier command and asked to bury Liu Changsheng, leaving the court facing the loss of its most important frontier commander.

• Li Chenzhou reacted strongly when Xue Lingjun asked whether he had news of Jian Rongxin, then hid in the inner room before Yuchi Chong arrived.
• Xue Lingjun welcomed Yuchi Chong, who said he had nearly lost his life on the journey back from the Northern Frontier.
• Yuchi Chong blamed the Black Hu people for the assassination attempt and announced that he intended to resign as commander of the Northern Frontier.
• Xue Lingjun told Yuchi Chong that Dao Hong had murdered Empress Dowager Jiang and explained Liu Changsheng's alleged role in the affair.
• Yuchi Chong asked Xue Lingjun to entrust Liu Changsheng's remains to him for burial, and she agreed before he departed.

Xue Lingjun and Li Chenzhou discussed Yuchi Chong’s intentions, while Hu Xiaotian returned to the Yong Capital and urged the Beggar Gang to prepare for revenge. In the palace, Xue Daoming failed to secure Yuchi Chong’s support against Li Chenzhou, and Yuchi Chong realized that the capital’s power struggle was eclipsing the threat at the Northern Frontier.

• Xue Lingjun asked Li Chenzhou how he would handle Yuchi Chong, and Li Chenzhou suspected Yuchi Chong had used her to signal that he intended to retire.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to the Yong Capital with a battered face, told Qin Yutong to watch Jian Rongxin closely, and comforted An Zhai over Xue Zhenhai’s death.
• An Zhai told Hu Xiaotian that the Yong Capital branch of Treasure Abundance Hall had been sold and closed, and Hu Xiaotian ordered him to buy it back.
• Xue Daoming summoned Yuchi Chong and angrily rejected his offer to resign from military command to guard Empress Dowager Jiang’s tomb.
• Yuchi Chong agreed to remain in command but avoided committing himself to Xue Daoming’s effort to oppose Li Chenzhou.
• Xue Daoming questioned Yuchi Chong about his visit to Xue Lingjun, and Yuchi Chong realized someone had leaked the meeting to stir suspicion.

Xue Daoming confronted Yuchi Chong’s request to resign and allowed him to guard Empress Dowager Jiang’s tomb, provoking concern from Dong Bingtai. Dong Bingtai urged the emperor to endure Li Chenzhou’s control and protect Great Yong’s future, while Xue Daoming remained furious at being treated like a puppet.

• Yuchi Chong explained that he had returned to mourn Empress Dowager Jiang and would resume service on the Northern Frontier, and Xue Daoming granted him permission to guard her tomb.
• Dong Bingtai visited Xue Daoming and warned that the Northern Frontier could not spare Yuchi Chong while the Black Hu prepared to renew the fighting in spring.
• Xue Daoming rebuked Dong Bingtai for questioning his judgment and revealed that Yuchi Chong’s visit to Xue Lingjun had angered him.
• Dong Bingtai urged Xue Daoming to plan carefully, explaining that acting too soon could ruin their chance to reclaim power from Li Chenzhou and Xue Lingjun.
• Xue Daoming refused to accept being controlled by Li Chenzhou, and Dong Bingtai pleaded with him to consider who would protect Great Yong if he died.

Dong Bingtai advised Xue Daoming to bide his time and gather allies while Li Chenzhou and Xue Lingjun controlled the court. He warned that Yuchi Chong’s assassination could destabilize Great Yong, and said Xue Daoming’s enemy might be a friend—but not the Prince of Yan.

• Dong Bingtai told Xue Daoming that Xue Daohong’s ambition and the Grand Empress Dowager’s influence had helped bring about the palace coup.
• Dong Bingtai explained that Xue Shengjing had secretly built wealth and influence, and that the Late Emperor had been wary of him.
• Xue Daoming revealed that he believed the testamentary edict held by the Eldest Princess was false, while Dong Bingtai urged him to accept the legitimacy it gave his claim.
• Dong Bingtai advised Xue Daoming to wait, gather strength, and seek allies rather than challenge Li Chenzhou and Xue Lingjun immediately.
• Dong Bingtai told Xue Daoming that Yuchi Chong had survived an attack involving members of the Beggar Gang and warned that his death could throw Great Yong into chaos.
• Dong Bingtai told Xue Daoming that his enemies’ enemy could be an ally, but that the Prince of Yan was not one.

Li Chenzhou investigated why Prince of Yan Xue Shengjing and Shangguan Yunchong had targeted Yuchi Chong, while Xue Shengjing met with Blade Demon Feng Xingyun after the failed assassination. The chapter ended with Feng Xingyun asking whether Li Chenzhou also wanted Yuchi Chong dead, as Xue Shengjing rose without answering.

• Tie Zheng told Li Chenzhou that Feng Xingyun owed Xue Shengjing a great debt, but knew nothing of the Prince of Yan's ties to Black Hu or the Beggar Gang.
• Li Chenzhou questioned Tang Jingyu about the Shangguan father and son, and Tang Jingyu denied knowing of any connection to Black Hu.
• Li Chenzhou suspected that Shangguan Yunchong and Xue Shengjing had ties to Black Hu, and said desperation could drive a man to anything.
• At Wild Goose Tower, Feng Xingyun challenged Xue Shengjing for having someone else interfere in the attempt on Yuchi Chong.
• Feng Xingyun said he could not defeat Yuchi Chong within three hundred moves, and Xue Shengjing claimed the Beggar Gang's involvement had nothing to do with him.
• Feng Xingyun asked whether Li Chenzhou also wanted Yuchi Chong assassinated, and Xue Shengjing rose without answering.

Xue Shengjing and Feng Xingyun discussed Hu Xiaotian’s role in Yuchi Chong’s survival and questioned whether Li Chenzhou was hiding ties to Great Kang. At Treasure Abundance Hall, Hu Xiaotian planned to rescue Liu Yucheng but learned that Qiu Mubai had been freed, leaving the rescuer’s identity unknown.

• Xue Shengjing told Feng Xingyun that Hu Xiaotian had turned the battle against Yuchi Chong and suggested Huo Shengnan was the reason.
• Feng Xingyun refused to help Xue Shengjing further, but Xue urged him to investigate Li Chenzhou’s connections to the Wen Family in Great Kang and the saber Tiger Soul.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to Treasure Abundance Hall and told Xia Changming they would leave after rescuing Liu Yucheng for Qin Yutong.
• Hu Xiaotian warned Xia Changming that Xue Shengjing might be conspiring with Black Hu and wondered how Shangguan Yunchong had allied with them.
• An Zhai reported that someone had rescued Qiu Mubai from the secret place where Hu Xiaotian had confined him.

Hu Xiaotian took Jian Rongxin to visit the East Grove Academy, where she mourned her father and their old life. As they left, Jian Rongxin saw Li Chenzhou in a passing procession and struggled to contain her anger while Hu Xiaotian warned her not to act rashly.

• After learning that Yuchi Chong's guards had been killed with the Northern Nether Esoteric Sect's Great Hand Seal, Hu Xiaotian and Xia Changming split up with An Zhai and returned to their hideout.
• Hu Xiaotian found Jian Rongxin safe, learned Qin Yutong had left on urgent business, and agreed to take Jian Rongxin to visit the East Grove Academy.
• Hu Xiaotian disguised himself and Jian Rongxin, bribed the gatekeeper, and brought her into the academy, where she wept beside the tree she had planted with her father.
• Hu Xiaotian and Jian Rongxin left the academy on foot and encountered a procession carrying Li Chenzhou.
• Jian Rongxin trembled with anger at the sight of Li Chenzhou, and Hu Xiaotian used Secret Voice Transmission to warn her that impatience could ruin their plan.

Jian Rongxin saw Li Chenzhou publicly show affection for Xue Lingjun and realized he had betrayed her. At the South Wind Inn, she drank with Hu Xiaotian, learned he had refused Xue Lingjun’s demand to trade her for Liu Changsheng and his son, and resolved to avenge her father.

• Xue Lingjun handed Li Chenzhou a Black Mink Cloak, and Jian Rongxin fainted after witnessing their closeness.
• Hu Xiaotian caught Jian Rongxin and later accompanied her back to the South Wind Inn, where she struggled with the shock of Li Chenzhou’s betrayal.
• Hu Xiaotian brought Jian Rongxin wine and food, and she spoke about her father and the coldness of her marriage.
• Jian Rongxin asked whether Hu Xiaotian had saved her by chance, and he revealed that Xue Lingjun had demanded he trade Jian Rongxin for Liu Changsheng and his son.
• Hu Xiaotian assured Jian Rongxin he had never intended to kill her, and she declared that she had to live to avenge her father.
• Jian Rongxin became drunk as she continued drinking with Hu Xiaotian and began recognizing his reputation.

Hu Xiaotian visited Zong Tang at the Ironworks, paid his respects at Zong Yuan’s grave, and discussed rescuing Liu Yucheng. After learning Yuchi Chong had been sent to the Imperial Mausoleum, Hu Xiaotian agreed to accompany Zong Tang there.

• Drunk Jian Rongxin mistook Hu Xiaotian for Li Chenzhou, slapped him, accused him of murdering her father, and vomited on him.
• Xia Changming told Hu Xiaotian that the Black-beaked Sparrow had located Qiu Mubai on Doghead Mountain, and Hu Xiaotian concluded the Black Hu people were targeting the Sword Palace.
• Hu Xiaotian asked Xia Changming to keep Jian Rongxin safe while he went to visit Zong Tang at the Ironworks.
• Hu Xiaotian revealed his identity to Zong Tang, who welcomed him and led him to pay respects at Zong Yuan’s grave.
• Hu Xiaotian explained his efforts to rescue Liu Yucheng, and Zong Tang said he planned to visit Yuchi Chong for help.
• After Zong Tang learned Yuchi Chong was at the Imperial Mausoleum, he offered to take Hu Xiaotian with him.

Hu Xiaotian accompanied Zong Tang to Empress Dowager Jiang’s mausoleum, where they saw the harsh conditions facing the laborers and met Yuchi Chong and Yuchi Pingting. Zong Tang visited Yuchi Chong to ask for help fulfilling his late father’s wish, but the chapter ended before he revealed what it was.

• Hu Xiaotian and Zong Tang rode through the imperial mausoleum grounds, where Zong Tang described Xue Daohong’s burial and warned that finishing Empress Dowager Jiang’s tomb could bring disaster.
• Yuchi Chong watched the mausoleum laborers suffer and die, while Yuchi Pingting refused to leave him and suggested they abandon Great Yong.
• Zong Tang and Hu Xiaotian arrived at Yuchi Chong’s work shed, where Hu Xiaotian greeted him as his father-in-law and Yuchi Chong introduced him to Yuchi Pingting as her brother-in-law.
• Yuchi Chong asked Zong Tang why he had come, and Zong Tang said he hoped Yuchi Chong would help fulfill his late father’s unfulfilled wish.

Li Chenzhou visited Yuchi Chong and persuaded him to resume command of the Northern Frontier while remaining neutral in the court struggle. Yuchi Chong agreed to seek Liu Yucheng’s pardon in exchange, leaving Li Chenzhou to decide whether to spare his future son-in-law.

• Yuchi Chong learned that Li Chenzhou had arrived and sent Zong Tang, Liu Changsheng, and Liu Yucheng away before receiving him.
• Li Chenzhou discussed the Black Hu threat and claimed that Feng Xingyun and Shangguan Yunchong had been involved in the attempt on Yuchi Chong’s life.
• Li Chenzhou explained his account of the imperial succession crisis and urged Yuchi Chong to return to the Northern Frontier.
• Yuchi Chong declared that he would stay out of the court’s power struggle and focus on defending Great Yong, and Li Chenzhou agreed to explain his return to Xue Daoming.
• Yuchi Chong asked Li Chenzhou to spare Liu Yucheng, whom he named as his future son-in-law.

Li Chenzhou secured Yuchi Chong’s return to the Northern Frontier by promising to spare Liu Yucheng, while Yuchi Chong entrusted Hu Xiaotian with plans for Yuchi Pingting. Afterward, Zong Tang took Hu Xiaotian to Black Camel Mountain, where he hinted at showing him something connected to the Winged Armor Warriors’ attack.

• Li Chenzhou agreed to spare Liu Yucheng if Yuchi Chong ensured Liu left Great Yong permanently, and he warned that the Prince of Yan might be colluding with the Black Hu People.
• Yuchi Chong confirmed he would return to the Northern Frontier, and he told Yuchi Pingting that Li Chenzhou had promised to release Liu Yucheng.
• Yuchi Chong explained to Hu Xiaotian why he had chosen to return north and asked him to take Yuchi Pingting to reunite with Liu Yucheng in Eastern Liang Commandery.
• Hu Xiaotian agreed to protect Yuchi Pingting, and Yuchi Chong entrusted her arrangements to him.
• Zong Tang led Hu Xiaotian west from the Imperial Mausoleum to Black Camel Mountain, recalling the Winged Armor Warriors’ attack on the Blacksmith Shop.

Hu Xiaotian followed Zong Tang through a hidden passage beneath Black Camel Mountain, where Zong Tang revealed that his father had uncovered a tunnel linking Ghost Physician Fu Wan’s grave to Emperor Jingde’s Imperial Mausoleum. Zong Tang agreed to join Hu Xiaotian in Eastern Liang Commandery, and they entered the mausoleum’s underground passages to investigate the secrets his father had left behind.

• Zong Tang opened a concealed entrance beneath the abandoned Medicine God Temple and led Hu Xiaotian into a secret passage.
• Zong Tang explained that his father, Master Craftsman Zong Yuan, had found a grave robbers’ tunnel during work on the Imperial Mausoleum and built another escape route after Empress Dowager Jiang poisoned him.
• Zong Tang told Hu Xiaotian that Ghost Physician Fu Wan’s grave connected to the Imperial Mausoleum, and that Fu Wan’s coffin had been empty when they discovered the tunnel.
• Zong Tang accepted Hu Xiaotian’s invitation to seek refuge in Eastern Liang Commandery and work with him.
• Zong Tang led Hu Xiaotian through a hidden entrance into the Imperial Mausoleum’s underground passages.

Zong Tang and Hu Xiaotian searched Emperor Jingde and Empress Dowager Jiang’s coffins for clues about the stolen skin on their backs. Hu Xiaotian found a Lightsaber and suspected Xue Shengjing had stolen Emperor Jingde’s body, leaving only his head in the tomb.

• Zong Tang opened Empress Dowager Jiang’s coffin and confirmed that a large patch of skin was missing from her back.
• Zong Tang told Hu Xiaotian that Emperor Jingde’s corpse had also been skinned in the same place after his burial.
• Hu Xiaotian and Zong Tang opened Emperor Jingde’s coffin, where the corpse’s head fell off and revealed a clean cut at the neck.
• Hu Xiaotian found a second Lightsaber in the coffin, but its blade would not activate.
• Hu Xiaotian noticed that the head’s severed bones did not match the neck and suggested that Emperor Jingde’s body had been stolen and replaced.
• Hu Xiaotian suspected Xue Shengjing had stolen Emperor Jingde’s body and skinned Empress Dowager Jiang, leaving Zong Tang stunned by the possibility.

Hu Xiaotian met Ghost Physician Fu Wan in the Imperial Mausoleum Underground Palace and learned that they came from the same world. Fu Wan revealed that he had arrived through a failed government Time-Space Leap Project, while Hu Xiaotian did not know how he had reached this world.

• A masked attacker ambushed Hu Xiaotian as he climbed out of the tunnel, while an old man held the unconscious Zong Tang hostage.
• Hu Xiaotian recognized the old man as Ghost Physician Fu Wan and revealed his identity, and Fu Wan admitted they came from the same world.
• Hu Xiaotian led Fu Wan to inspect Empress Dowager Jiang's body, where Fu Wan realized someone had removed the skin before he arrived.
• Hu Xiaotian told Fu Wan that Emperor Jingde's head and body belonged to different people, leaving Fu Wan dismayed that his investigation had missed the truth.
• Fu Wan explained that he had been the doctor on a five-person government Time-Space Leap Project team, and that a failed test stranded them in this world, where his four teammates were killed by arrows.
• Hu Xiaotian asked whether there was any way to return home.

Ghost Physician Fu Wan told Hu Xiaotian about the one-way Time-Space Leap Project and revealed that he had entered the Imperial Mausoleum Underground Palace seeking maps to Wuji Cave. He connected Ling Jiazi’s unusual anatomy and a celestial event at Qixia Lake to the mysteries surrounding outsiders in this world.

• Ghost Physician Fu Wan told Hu Xiaotian that his team’s mission had stranded him in this world, where he had built a family, and revealed that he was dying of advanced lung cancer.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan explained that maps on the two bodies in the coffins could be combined to locate Wuji Cave, then described how time-space fluctuations might damage connected realms.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan recounted saving Ling Jiazi and discovering that her internal organs were blue, transparent, and unlike those of ordinary humans.
• Hu Xiaotian told Ghost Physician Fu Wan about the Blue Transparent Skull and sword hilt he had found in Dragon Spirit Wonderland, but withheld the skull’s location.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan said someone had threatened his family to force him to steal a copy of the Heart Sutra, and that he had uncovered a record of a fireball striking Qixia Lake 150 years earlier and causing thousands of casualties.

Ghost Physician Fu Wan explained to Hu Xiaotian that extraterrestrial visitors and their Fated Ones had shaped Great Kang and Great Yong while secretly trying to repair a crashed spacecraft. He warned that repairing it could bring more visitors and endanger both worlds, but Hu Xiaotian still wanted to know what Emperor Jingde and Empress Dowager Jiang’s tattoos meant.

• Hu Xiaotian told Ghost Physician Fu Wan how he had discovered the Blue Skull and theorized that visitors from beyond the heavens had crashed at Qixia Lake.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan explained that only pure-blooded descendants called Fated Ones could inherit the visitors’ memories and abilities, and said Ling Jiazi was the only true Fated One he knew.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan connected the visitors’ secret history to Hong Beimo’s spacecraft repairs, the Xue Family’s rise, and the long conflict between Great Kang and Great Yong.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan revealed that he and his team had been sent through a time-space leap to stop the danger, but the mission had gone wrong and the visitors had kept the two kingdoms evenly matched.
• Ghost Physician Fu Wan warned that the visitors intended to repair their spacecraft and summon more of their kind, while Hu Xiaotian asked what Emperor Jingde and Empress Dowager Jiang’s tattoos represented.

Ghost Physician Fu Wan explained that a surviving Fated One at Wuji Cave might stop Hong Beimo’s group from repairing their spaceship and endangering multiple worlds. As Fu Wan’s illness worsened, he tried to enlist Hu Xiaotian by revealing that the spaceship might take him home and that Mute could help him seize it.

• Ghost Physician Fu Wan told Hu Xiaotian that the tattoo could lead them to a surviving Fated One at Wuji Cave, but Hu Xiaotian suggested destroying the stranded spaceship instead.
• Fu Wan explained that Hong Beimo needed a Fated One to repair the spaceship, and Hu Xiaotian suspected that Qiqi might be one because she was inheriting Ling Jiazi’s memories.
• Fu Wan’s cancer pain flared as he warned that the repaired spaceship could devastate this world and the world they had come from; Hu Xiaotian asked whether Ren Tianqing and Heavenly Mystery Hall could help treat him.
• Fu Wan realized that the tattoo information had been lost and that he might have only three months to live, then urged Hu Xiaotian to take up his mission and asked whether he wanted to return home.
• Fu Wan said the spaceship might return them to their own time and space, and revealed that Mute, whom he had raised and trained, could help Hu Xiaotian seize it.

Hu Xiaotian learned that Ghost Physician Fu Wan wanted him to stop Hong Beimo from repairing the spaceship, but he remained wary of Fu Wan’s claims and promised nothing. After returning to the Medicine God Temple, Hu Xiaotian reunited with Zong Tang, then went back to Jian Rongxin and learned Qin Yutong had safely relocated.

• Ghost Physician Fu Wan urged Hu Xiaotian to seize the spaceship and offered him a Treasure Map, but Hu Xiaotian questioned what Fu Wan was hiding and left without agreeing to help.
• After Hu Xiaotian left, Ghost Physician Fu Wan watched the Medicine God Temple and coughed violently while telling the Mute Servant that he had little time left to save everything.
• Zong Tang woke in the Medicine God Temple, and Hu Xiaotian told him that tomb robbers had ambushed him and that the place was no longer secret.
• Jian Rongxin worried about Hu Xiaotian’s absence and asked Xia Changming where he had gone, but Hu Xiaotian returned before Xia Changming could answer.
• Hu Xiaotian learned that Qin Yutong had safely moved to the Elegant Inn, then told Xia Changming to investigate Doghead Mountain and the Sword Palace without acting rashly.