Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke continued his daily study and training while pondering whether Great Wei should restore mutilating punishments. After Wang Lin drove off an intrusive visitor, Lin Ke returned to his chores, still weighing the laws and lessons of history.

• Lin Ke finished sketching the street outside the Immortal Realm Painting Studio after twelve days of steady practice.
• A handsome man in white mistook Lin Ke for Wang Lin's romantic interest, and Wang Lin invited him into the studio to view her new work.
• The man flew out of the studio and was left stuck against a wall, while Wang Lin shut the door and Lin Ke hurried to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant.
• Lin Ke reflected on reading law books at Li Chungang's tofu shop and considered Li Chungang's question about restoring mutilating punishments in Great Wei.
• Lin Ke recalled how the Han Sage Emperor abolished mutilating punishments after a young girl pleaded to redeem her father, who was then sentenced to death.

Lin Ke reflected on the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty’s laws before meeting Ye Jun, who introduced himself as the capital’s most handsome young man. Later, Lin Ke visited the Song-Listening Entertainment House to meet its best dancer, Bingbing, and waited as Xiao Shang went to speak with her.

• Lin Ke reconsidered whether corporal punishment should be restored and decided he needed to understand Great Wei society before judging its laws.
• Ye Jun entered Tongfu Grand Restaurant, questioned Lin Ke about studying under Wang Lin, and declared himself the capital’s most handsome young man.
• Ye Jun boasted about the women he had charmed, then left the restaurant after noticing a woman at the entrance.
• Lin Ke went to the Song-Listening Entertainment House and asked to meet its best dancer to practice a move.
• Xiao Shang identified Bingbing as the best dancer and led Lin Ke upstairs, but told him he could not stay alone in Bingbing’s room to discuss things.

Lin Ke traded dance movements with Bingbing and reflected on the differences between their worlds. That night, Qi Tianxia brought him a plum tree and reminded him that the courtyard belonged to him.

• Lin Ke demonstrated difficult coordination movements to Bingbing and offered to teach them in exchange for her own dances.
• Bingbing and Lin Ke practiced together until Bingbing called a rest, and she agreed to let Lin Ke return the next day.
• Lin Ke recalled Bingbing warning him that several hand gestures were indecent or insulting in their world.
• Qi Tianxia arrived at night carrying a plum tree and planted it in Lin Ke's courtyard.
• Lin Ke offered Qi Tianxia water and suggested he need not come again, but Qi Tianxia pointed out that the courtyard belonged to him.

Lin Ke watched over the plum tree Qi Tianxia had planted, then went to work at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, where Shopkeeper Tong sent him to buy meat on credit for three suspicious customers. He reached Butcher Zhang’s shop and recognized the boisterous butcher as the man who had cheered for his dancing.

• Qi Tianxia left Lin Ke after promising to return when his three-month stay was over, and Lin Ke worried through the night about the plum tree.
• Lin Ke checked that the plum tree had survived the wind, then chopped wood before going to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant at dusk.
• Three unfamiliar men questioned Shopkeeper Tong, and the tall one watched Lin Ke warily when he appeared with a bucket.
• Shopkeeper Tong asked Lin Ke to fetch meat from Butcher Zhang and put it on the restaurant’s tab.
• Lin Ke found Butcher Zhang outside his shop, recognized him from earlier encounters, and asked to buy meat.

Lin Ke went to Butcher Zhang’s shop to collect meat on Shopkeeper Tong’s tab, but when Zhang failed to return, a strange woman urged him into the cellar. There, Lin Ke found Zhang chopping up a human leg and realized he was trapped with a monster and a ghost.

• Lin Ke asked Butcher Zhang for a larger cut of meat for Tongfu Grand Restaurant and confirmed it would go on Shopkeeper Tong’s tab.
• Butcher Zhang went into the courtyard to fetch meat, leaving Lin Ke waiting while Shopkeeper Tong urged him from across the street to investigate.
• Lin Ke entered the courtyard and approached the cellar after hearing chopping sounds and seeing a pale woman in white appear beside him.
• The woman told Lin Ke that Butcher Zhang was below and gently pressured him to descend into the cellar.
• Lin Ke found Butcher Zhang chopping a human leg, while the woman’s eerie laughter followed him in the darkness.

Lin Ke returned to Tongfu Grand Restaurant after an unsettling encounter with a mysterious woman and learned that Shopkeeper Tong was a pardoned lowborn. As he served milk and food to unusually well-dressed customers, the restaurant prepared for an evening whose significance remained unclear.

• Lin Ke left Butcher Zhang's cellar with meat, saw a mysterious woman beside the butcher, and later found both of them gone.
• Shopkeeper Tong took the meat to cook, and Bai Zhantang told Lin Ke that Tong was a pardoned lowborn who had once been imprisoned.
• Lin Ke noticed that the two tables of customers were unusually well dressed for Chaoyang Street, including an elegant young gentleman and three minor officials.
• The young gentleman asked Lin Ke to bring milk, and Lin Ke served him and the other customers.
• Lin Ke and Bai Zhantang served the customers their dishes, then joked about Shopkeeper Tong's cooking and Lin Ke's father, the Minister of Rites.

Lin Ke and the others discovered a dead customer and a headless corpse outside the Tongfu Grand Restaurant after a firebird flew east. The Golden Crow Matriarch demanded justice for her dead son at the Imperial Capital, while a middle-aged man ordered an investigation into the killings.

• A firebird rose from the young gentleman’s head and flew east, and the Golden Crow Matriarch followed its trail toward the Imperial Capital.
• The Golden Crow Matriarch tried to force her way past the capital’s defenses, but Xu Ba'an stopped her and reminded her of the entry requirements.
• The Golden Crow Matriarch halted near the capital and cried out for justice for her youngest son.
• Lin Ke, Shopkeeper Tong, and Bai Zhantang found a bloodied, headless corpse outside the restaurant after hearing a scream from the neighboring Song-Listening Entertainment House.
• Lin Ke noticed a black bear with a missing forepaw and a white leather belt, and deduced that it was the missing fat man.
• A middle-aged man ordered his subordinates to find the killer within five days.

After a headless corpse with its heart removed was found outside Tongfu Grand Restaurant, Li Hanlin learned that the authorities had five days to catch the culprit. Lin Ke discovered that the young gentleman’s death had extinguished the golden crow flame, and a system choice warned that he could become the case’s scapegoat.

• Constable Xing covered the headless corpse and suggested arresting the spectators, but they quickly dispersed.
• A man in black told Li Hanlin that the Golden Crow Clan’s patriarch had spoken and that he had five days to apprehend the culprit.
• Shopkeeper Tong revealed two more bodies inside Tongfu Grand Restaurant, both with their hearts removed.
• Constable Xing found the young gentleman dead, and Lin Ke noticed Li Hanlin’s amusement as he examined the corpse.
• Lin Ke received a system choice between staying silent and revealing Butcher Zhang’s identity, with a warning that he would be made the scapegoat unless he cleared himself within five days.

Lin Ke intervened when Constable Xing tried to arrest Butcher Zhang over demon meat and revealed that Zhang was a Demon Slayer, but the investigation left Lin Ke among the prime suspects. Deputy Prefect Li Hanlin gave Lin Ke five days to find the murderer or face execution, and the system rewarded his choice to defend Zhang.

• Shopkeeper Tong told Constable Xing that four men had visited the restaurant before three bodies were found, and Butcher Zhang confirmed that Lin Ke had bought demon meat from him.
• Constable Xing found that the meat was demon meat and ordered Butcher Zhang and Lin Ke arrested, but Lin Ke argued that demon meat could not kill people and identified Zhang as a Demon Slayer.
• Butcher Zhang confirmed his identity and denied killing anyone, while Deputy Prefect Li Hanlin named Lin Ke, Shopkeeper Tong, and Bai Zhantang as prime suspects.
• Lin Ke volunteered to find the murderer, and Li Hanlin gave him five days to solve the case before he would face execution.
• The system marked Lin Ke's choice complete and awarded him High-Rank Recognition for his justice and fearlessness.

Lin Ke questioned witnesses about the two victims and used his memory to direct Wang Lin in drawing a portrait of the fat man. The portrait looked accurate, but Lin Ke wondered why the bear had no paws if the man still had hands.

• Lin Ke asked Li Hanlin for help and warned the crowd that anyone who refused to identify the bodies would be treated as a suspect.
• Wang Lin recognized the young gentleman as someone who had visited her painting studio, while the matchmaker said he had watched dancing at the Song-Listening Entertainment House.
• A young storyteller said the gentleman had spent the afternoon at his teashop, arriving flushed and excited after noon.
• After the remaining witnesses failed to recognize either man, Lin Ke had Wang Lin draw the fat man's portrait from his spoken description.
• Shopkeeper Tong and Bai Zhantang examined the portrait and agreed it looked accurate, leaving Lin Ke puzzled that the bear had no paws despite the man having hands.

Lin Ke questioned the people who had encountered the dead young gentleman, but their accounts offered few clues until Wang Lin recalled that his face had grown intensely red while viewing paintings in her Exclusive Black Room. The storyteller and his son also reported nothing unusual, leaving Lin Ke unsure who he had overlooked or how the young gentleman had died.

• Lin Ke gathered the people from Chaoyang Street at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant and questioned Bingbing about the young gentleman's visit to the Song-Listening Entertainment House; she recalled no change in his behavior or appearance.
• Wang Lin said the young gentleman had spent an hour examining paintings in her Exclusive Black Room, and Constable Xing and Li Hanlin went inside to inspect it, returning half an hour later.
• Wang Lin recalled that the young gentleman's face had gradually reddened while he viewed her paintings until it looked as if it were on fire, and said he left around noon.
• Lin Ke questioned the storyteller and his son, who said the young gentleman had listened to a stretch of storytelling without doing anything unusual.
• Lin Ke struggled to identify a missing lead and concluded that the case might be difficult to solve through mortal means alone.

Lin Ke screened Chaoyang Street visitors and identified fifteen murder suspects by tracking who had visited multiple shops. His investigation was interrupted when the Golden Crow Prince arrived and Butcher Zhang attacked him with a table.

• Lin Ke returned to Chaoyang Street the next morning and told Constable Xing that they should have leads that day.
• Lin Ke and the locals compared their shop records with Wang Lin's portraits and identified fifteen people who had visited at least two shops.
• Lin Ke explained that repeated appearances at different locations made those people suspects, giving the investigation its first clear direction.
• The Golden Crow Prince entered, praised Lin Ke's method, and asked what he would investigate next.
• Lin Ke shouted that the criminal had arrived, prompting the locals to raise weapons and Butcher Zhang to hurl a table at the prince, whose wound healed instantly.
• Li Hanlin arrived, recognized the Golden Crow Prince, and demanded to know why the others were armed and attacking him.

Lin Ke continued investigating the Golden Crow Prince’s youngest brother’s death after the prince asked him to uncover the truth and promised a reward. Lin Ke identified the suspects and asked Li Hanlin for a way to make them tell the truth, learning that Li was a middle-stage Scholar.

• Constable Xing scolded Lin Ke for causing trouble, but the Golden Crow Prince stopped him and praised Lin Ke’s sensitivity.
• The Golden Crow Prince described his youngest brother’s sheltered upbringing and asked Lin Ke to solve the case, promising a generous reward.
• Lin Ke reviewed the backgrounds of the suspects, including Wu Dalang, Pan Jinlian, Liu Laoye, and Sun Wujing, then announced that they needed to be screened.
• Lin Ke asked Li Hanlin whether he could use a method to make suspects tell the truth, and Li initially mistook the request for unauthorized torture.
• Li Hanlin revealed that he was a middle-stage Scholar and explained the first two realms of Confucian cultivation before rebuking Lin Ke for asking about the third realm.

Lin Ke began questioning Wu Dalang as the suspected killer of the young Golden Crow Prince, and Wu Dalang confessed that he killed him over a stolen lover. The Golden Crow Prince lost points and received a warning that his license could be revoked, while Lin Ke asked Wu Dalang to explain how their feud began.

• Lin Ke assembled a group of powerful experts and held an interrogation at Wang Lin's Immortal Realm Painting Studio.
• Lin Ke accused Wu Dalang of being the killer, and Li Hanlin used his power to pressure Wu Dalang into answering.
• Wu Dalang confessed that he killed the young Golden Crow Prince because the prince had stolen his beloved.
• The Golden Crow Prince broke through Li Hanlin's interrogation and erupted in flames, triggering a Demon Bureau warning and a fine for his outburst.
• Lin Ke asked Wu Dalang how his grudge with the young Golden Crow Prince had begun.

Lin Ke and Li Hanlin interrogated fifteen suspects, uncovering numerous unrelated crimes but finding no link to the little Golden Crow Prince’s murder. After the daylong questioning, Lin Ke was left wondering how to continue the investigation.

• Wu Dalang confessed under Li Hanlin’s interrogation to murdering Xi Menqing sixteen years earlier after his brother Wu Song became Xi Menqing’s lover, and constables took him away.
• Pan Jinlian claimed she had killed a large golden crow that fell into her cesspit, but Lin Ke stopped questioning her when it became clear she meant a bird stained by the pit.
• Jingang told Lin Ke that his dead younger brother was named Jinganglang, and Lin Ke continued questioning the remaining suspects.
• Lin Ke and Li Hanlin interrogated fifteen people, uncovering six murders, three rapes, eight attempted rapes, five thefts, and one case of tax evasion.
• Lin Ke realized none of the suspects had any connection to Jinganglang’s death and wondered what to do next.

Lin Ke mapped out and eliminated possible motives for the Little Golden Crow Prince’s murder but reached another dead end. After learning the black bear had died from an unidentified poison, he arranged for Prince Jingang to examine his younger brother’s remains.

• Lin Ke questioned Prince Jingang and the onlookers while drawing a diagram of possible motives, then crossed out each possibility without finding an answer.
• The onlookers praised Lin Ke’s investigative method, and the nickname Young Master Lin, Divine Detective spread.
• A constable reported that the black bear had died from a potent unidentified poison, while the short, thin man and the headless corpse showed no signs of poisoning.
• Lin Ke asked whether the Little Golden Crow Prince could have died naturally, and Jingang said he must have been killed by a powerful attack, likely involving something he ate.
• Lin Ke obtained Li Hanlin’s permission for Jingang to examine his younger brother’s remains, and Jingang went to inspect the corpse.

Lin Ke investigated the deaths linked to the young Golden Crow prince and learned that the poisoned black bear was likely the missing Lu Renjia. The identities of the other two victims gave him a lead to pursue, but the mystery of why they called Lu Renjia “Lord Yang” remained unresolved.

• Jingang reported that his younger brother’s body contained no poison or demon meat, and Shopkeeper Tong explained that his cooking made the meat melt immediately.
• Lin Ke connected the poison on the chopsticks to the black bear and concluded that the bear was the missing fat man, whom the others had called Lord Yang.
• A constable identified the three men as Lu Renjia, Mei Mingzi, and Zhang San, revealing that all three had ties to the Revenue Department and its grain supplies.
• Shopkeeper Tong confirmed that the men had called Lu Renjia Lord Yang, and Lin Ke asked Li Hanlin to investigate the name and the men’s connections.
• After Li Hanlin left to investigate, Lin Ke promised Jingang he would keep seeking the truth, while privately wondering what clue he had overlooked.

Lin Ke waited with the Chaoyang Street crowd for news from Li Hanlin, then helped Wang Lin and Butcher Zhang prepare and roast a bear paw. While they ate, Lin Ke learned that Butcher Zhang was a retired Demon Slayer who sold fake pork.

• Constable Xing told the crowd that Li Hanlin had no results yet and might arrive that afternoon, so the crowd dispersed.
• Wang Lin showed Lin Ke a bear paw and said she had cut it from a poisoned bear after it died, then sent him to fetch Butcher Zhang.
• Butcher Zhang examined the paw and suggested braising it, but the three roasted it because none of them knew how to braise it.
• Lin Ke, Wang Lin, and Butcher Zhang ate the roasted bear paw, and Lin Ke learned that Butcher Zhang was a retired Demon Slayer.

Lin Ke realized his investigation had assumed the young Golden Crow Prince, Jinganglang, was murdered and expanded his tree diagram to include non-homicide causes of death. He ruled out natural decline and considered suicide unlikely, leaving accidental death as the possibility he presented to Jingang and the others.

• Li Hanlin reported that Mei Mingzi and Zhang San had conspired to steal grain, while Lu Renjia discovered them and was killed after Mei Mingzi arranged for poison.
• Lin Ke concluded that the Revenue Department case was separate from Jinganglang's death and asked everyone to check his tree diagram for overlooked clues.
• Lin Ke asked Wang Lin whether she had sensed any other experts near the Tongfu Grand Restaurant when the young Golden Crow Prince died, and she said she had sensed none besides the powerful aura from the flash of fire.
• Lin Ke recognized that he had assumed Jinganglang's death was homicide, added non-homicide causes to his diagram, and narrowed them to suicide or accidental death.
• Lin Ke ruled out natural decline and judged suicide unlikely, then raised accidental death as a possibility before Jingang and the others.

Lin Ke led Jingang and the others through the Little Golden Crow Prince’s activities on Chaoyang Street to test his theory about the prince’s death. After Jingang retraced the day without incident at the Song-Listening Entertainment House and Hanging Mountain Tea Shop, the group headed to the final crime scene, Tongfu Grand Restaurant.

• Lin Ke asked Jingang and the others to help reenact the Little Golden Crow Prince’s final day, and arranged for Butcher Zhang and Wang Lin to watch over Jingang.
• The next morning, Jingang retraced his younger brother’s visit to the Song-Listening Entertainment House, eating all the foods the prince had eaten without showing any symptoms.
• At the Immortal Realm Painting Studio, Jingang examined the paintings in the Exclusive Black Room and grew red-faced, matching Wang Lin’s account of the Little Golden Crow Prince.
• At the Hanging Mountain Tea Shop, Jingang ate and drank while the old man retold his story; the group listened until evening.
• Lin Ke and the others left the Tea Shop and headed to Tongfu Grand Restaurant, the final crime scene.