Chapter Summaries

Xiao Qinghe’s Ghost King Spirit Pill reacted to Xie Jun’s proximity, while his attempts to check on Xie Jun’s injuries turned intimate and earned reader tips. Xie Jun returned the warmth Xiao Qinghe had once given him, leaving Xiao Qinghe overwhelmed by the emotions he sensed through their bond.

• Ouyang Susu told Xiao Qinghe that Bai Yuqing was angry with him and that Xie Jun had been forbidden from returning to the Sect until he gained experience.
• Xiao Qinghe’s chest pain flared when he thought of Xie Jun, and he blamed the Ghost King Spirit Pill and its connection to Xie Jun.
• Ouyang Susu declared that the Demon Clan deserved to die, and Xiao Qinghe fled when his bloodlust surged as he smelled her blood.
• Xiao Qinghe returned to his courtyard and found Xie Jun waiting there; after learning Xie Jun had recovered, Xiao Qinghe opened his robe to check his injuries and triggered a stream of reader tips.
• Xiao Qinghe sensed Xie Jun’s shyness and disappointment through their bond, then Xie Jun removed Xiao Qinghe’s outer robe and held him to warm him.

Xiao Qinghe gave in to the Ghost King Spirit Pill’s craving and drank Xie Jun’s blood, then arranged for Ouyang Susu to join Xie Jun on his travels. As the full moon approached, Xiao Qinghe sensed Xie Jun’s growing irritation from afar, while Bai Yuqing noticed Xiao Qinghe’s daily peach blossom pastries.

• Xiao Qinghe drank Xie Jun’s blood, and the readers’ tips quickly earned him more than 500 points.
• Xiao Qinghe realized he needed to meet Xie Jun each full moon to keep earning tips and reduce his points debt.
• Xiao Qinghe decided to rescue Xie Jun and Ouyang Susu’s romance by sending Ouyang Susu to travel with Xie Jun.
• Ouyang Susu took Xiao Qinghe’s advice, packed her things, and descended the mountain to find Xie Jun.
• Xiao Qinghe sensed an increasingly intense wave of irritation from Xie Jun as evening fell.
• Bai Yuqing noticed the fresh peach blossom pastries Xiao Qinghe had brought him each day for a month, on the night of the full moon.

Xiao Qinghe tried to earn reader donations by tending to Xie Jun during the full moon, discovering that getting close to him—and licking his neck—brought in points. Xie Jun reacted intensely to the attention as Xiao Qinghe remained focused on clearing his installment debt.

• Xiao Qinghe spilled Osmanthus Wine on Bai Yuqing's robe, worsening his master's mood.
• Xie Jun returned on the full moon and complained that Ouyang Susu's reckless behavior had caused him trouble during their travels.
• Xiao Qinghe bit Xie Jun's neck to drink blood, but the reader donations left him 224 points short of his installment payment.
• Xiao Qinghe noticed donations increased as he moved closer to Xie Jun and leaned against him.
• Xiao Qinghe licked the bite marks on Xie Jun's neck, earning more than a hundred points and prompting Xie Jun to grip his shoulders and stare at him with burning intensity.

Xiao Qinghe hid the wounded Xie Jun in his bed while Bai Yuqing came to check on him during the full moon. A system mission forced Xiao Qinghe to persuade Bai Yuqing to stay the night, and the chapter ended with Xie Jun secretly restraining him as Bai Yuqing tried to help.

• Xiao Qinghe told Xie Jun he was disinfecting his wound, while Xie Jun concealed his feelings and asked him to continue.
• Bai Yuqing arrived, and Xiao Qinghe hid Xie Jun beneath the blanket before greeting his master.
• Bai Yuqing offered Xiao Qinghe his wrist to ease the Ghost King Spirit Pill's effects, but Xiao Qinghe struggled to hide that Xie Jun had already given him blood.
• The system ordered Xiao Qinghe to invite Bai Yuqing to share his bed, threatening to deduct his points if he refused.
• Xie Jun urged Xiao Qinghe to send Bai Yuqing away, but Bai Yuqing took Xiao Qinghe's hand to examine him as Xie Jun held him down.

Xiao Qinghe tried to get Bai Yuqing to stay the night while keeping Xie Jun hidden, but an emergency at the Demon-Suppressing Tower drew his master away. After learning that a dangerous Demon Clan member had escaped, Xiao Qinghe discovered the fugitive was tied to Bai Yuqing’s old grudge, though the demon’s identity remained unknown.

• Xiao Qinghe persuaded Bai Yuqing to share his bed while Xie Jun held him in place and grew increasingly furious.
• Two senior disciples summoned Bai Yuqing after a Demon Clan member escaped from the Demon-Suppressing Tower and injured more than ten Tower Guards.
• Bai Yuqing learned which prisoner had escaped, summoned Wind-Piercing, and flew to the tower with a murderous aura.
• Xiao Qinghe asked the senior disciples who the escaped demon was, and they explained that the prisoner had killed someone important to Bai Yuqing before being imprisoned.
• Xiao Qinghe recalled that the original novel had never revealed the demon’s identity or the details of Bai Yuqing’s past.

Xiao Qinghe stayed with Xie Jun instead of investigating the escaped demon, then found Bai Yuqing grieving over someone who had died after becoming entangled with a demon. Bai Yuqing got drunk and confessed that he feared losing Xiao Qinghe too before passing out, while Ouyang Chong arrived and found them together.

• Xie Jun persuaded Xiao Qinghe to stay in bed with him through the night, warning that fighting during the full moon might expose Xiao Qinghe's Ghost King Spirit Pill.
• The Sect searched for the escaped demon without success, and the Sect Leader sent a Demon-Hunting Team down the mountain to capture it.
• Xiao Qinghe tried to ask Bai Yuqing about the disturbance but found him shut inside the Small Ancestral Hall for three days.
• Bai Yuqing emerged exhausted, drank Osmanthus Wine with Xiao Qinghe, and revealed that someone he loved had died after falling under a demon's spell.
• Bai Yuqing told Xiao Qinghe he feared losing him too, then collapsed unconscious onto him.
• Ouyang Chong arrived and saw Bai Yuqing and Xiao Qinghe tangled together, while Xiao Qinghe worried the Sect Leader might discover Xie Jun's identity.

Xiao Qinghe learned why Bai Yuqing despised the Demon Clan: a demon had killed Bai Yuqing’s sworn younger brother, Bai Yulou, and escaped after their later battle. Xiao Qinghe realized Bai Yulou might still be alive, then stayed with his drunken, unusually clingy master as the night wore on.

• Bai Yuqing dodged Ouyang Chong, then fell against Xiao Qinghe and clung to him while drunk.
• Ouyang Chong told Xiao Qinghe that a demon had killed Bai Yuqing’s sworn younger brother, Bai Yulou, and that Bai Yuqing had imprisoned the demon to learn where the boy’s remains were.
• Ouyang Chong explained that Bai Yuqing defeated the demon years later, but the demon had apparently lost his Spirit Pill, and warned that his escape could become dangerous if he regained it.
• Ouyang Chong revealed that Bai Yulou’s childhood nickname was Xiao Lou, prompting Xiao Qinghe to recognize him as a character who appeared later in the story.
• Xiao Qinghe insisted that Bai Yulou was still alive, but could not explain how he knew when Ouyang Chong questioned him.
• After Ouyang Chong left, Bai Yuqing cupped Xiao Qinghe’s face and smiled when Xiao Qinghe identified himself.

After an accidental kiss while Bai Yuqing was drunk, Xiao Qinghe woke to find his master sober and unable to remember the night. A system quest then forced Xiao Qinghe to seek Bai Yulou and resolve Bai Yuqing’s hatred of demons, but Bai Yuqing remained convinced that Bai Yulou had died.

• Drunk Bai Yuqing held Xiao Qinghe through the night after they accidentally kissed, and Xiao Qinghe could not escape until morning.
• Bai Yuqing woke sober and asked Xiao Qinghe whether he had done anything improper, while Xiao Qinghe hid the kiss.
• The system assigned Xiao Qinghe a quest to find Bai Yulou and resolve Bai Yuqing’s hatred of the Demon Clan, threatening to advance a plot in which Bai Yuqing killed Xiao Qinghe if he refused.
• The system revealed that someone who had met Bai Yulou was nearby, so Xiao Qinghe asked Bai Yuqing about him.
• Bai Yuqing reacted with murderous intent to Bai Yulou’s name, then said he had witnessed Xiao Lou die and could only honor him by slaying demons.

Xiao Qinghe left the mountain to search for Bai Yulou and encountered Yan Yunhe, who insisted they travel south together while an unseen swordsman attacked him. They rescued A Zhen from hanging herself, then discovered a hillside covered with paired graves linked by red cloth.

• Bai Yuqing gave Xiao Qinghe the sword Soaring Heavens and let him leave the mountain to seek experience.
• Xiao Qinghe asked the System for directions to Bai Yulou and received the hint to head south.
• Yan Yunhe met Xiao Qinghe and proposed traveling south together while an unseen swordsman repeatedly attacked him.
• Yan Yunhe cut A Zhen down from a rope, and she told A Qiang she wanted to marry him openly.
• Xiao Qinghe and Yan Yunhe spotted nearly a thousand paired graves connected by red cloth.

Yan Yunhe and Xiao Qinghe learned that a Female Demon had supposedly killed newlyweds for ten years, then watched a boy in red challenge the town’s certainty that the killer belonged to the Demon Clan. When the townspeople attacked the boy, Yan Yunhe questioned Xiao Qinghe’s indifference, and the boy turned his gaze on him.

• Yan Yunhe read the inscriptions on the red-cloth-covered graves, and Xiao Qinghe noticed that the dead were young people who had died within the past decade.
• A Zhen fled when Xiao Qinghe asked about marriage, while A Qiang warned them not to ask and ran away.
• At a teahouse, the waiter told Yan Yunhe and Xiao Qinghe that a Female Demon killed newlyweds on full-moon nights and marked her chosen couples with silver bells.
• A boy in red questioned why everyone blamed the Demon Clan without having seen the killer, provoking the customers to condemn him.
• The customers drew their sabers and charged at the boy in red, and Yan Yunhe asked Xiao Qinghe why he did not intervene.
• The boy in red turned toward Xiao Qinghe as Yan Yunhe mentioned his master, Bai Yuqing.

Xiao Qinghe and Yan Yunhe entered a tense city preparing for a martial contest to find the city lord’s daughter a husband. The veiled beauty chose Xiao Qinghe, who recognized her as Xie Jun and wondered why she was posing as the city lord’s daughter.

• A red-clad demon youth attacked men at a teahouse, recognized Xiao Qinghe as a member of the Demon-Slaying Sect, and flew away.
• Xiao Qinghe discovered that the system was unavailable, then continued south with Yan Yunhe.
• Xiao Qinghe and Yan Yunhe found a city where residents avoided red decorations while a marriage contest platform stood in the center.
• The city lord announced a contest to find his daughter a husband despite residents’ fears that it would attract the demoness Silver Bell on the full moon.
• The veiled woman on the platform pointed at Xiao Qinghe, who recognized her as Xie Jun and realized she was not the city lord’s daughter.

Yan Yunhe defeated Wen Changgeng in a public duel and revealed that their rivalry stemmed from a master-slave wager. When falling eaves threatened Xiao Qinghe and a child, Xie Jun shielded them and was injured, leaving Xiao Qinghe to examine her wound amid the crowd’s scandalized misunderstanding.

• Xiao Qinghe pushed Yan Yunhe onto the stage to avoid Xie Jun’s marriage challenge, and Wen Changgeng challenged Yan Yunhe to settle their score.
• Yan Yunhe dodged Wen Changgeng’s attacks and taunted him about his injury before overpowering him with a blast from his folding fan.
• Yan Yunhe revealed that Wen Changgeng had lost a wager and mocked him by demanding he call him master.
• Wen Changgeng attacked again, and his sword energy sent part of a nearby building’s eaves crashing toward Xiao Qinghe and a child.
• Xiao Qinghe rushed to protect the child, but Xie Jun shielded them both and took the blow on her shoulder.
• Xiao Qinghe exposed Xie Jun’s injured shoulder to check the wound, while the townspeople mistook the scene for an indecent encounter.

Yan Yunhe carried off Wen Changgeng after the tournament, while Xiao Qinghe and Xie Jun were brought to the city lord’s residence. Xiao Qinghe learned that Xie Jun had impersonated the city lord’s daughter to lure out the Female Demon, and reconsidered their plan when he heard the promised reward was ten thousand taels of gold.

• Yan Yunhe bound Wen Changgeng with an Immortal-Binding Rope, teased him, and carried him away from the arena.
• Xie Jun pretended to collapse into Xiao Qinghe’s arms, prompting him to accompany her to the city lord’s residence for treatment.
• Xiao Qinghe treated Xie Jun’s wound after she refused to let the resident physician touch her.
• The city lord revealed that Xie Jun had impersonated his daughter in a marriage tournament to lure out the Female Demon before the fifteenth.
• Xiao Qinghe objected to pretending to marry Xie Jun until she reminded him that the city lord had promised ten thousand taels of gold.

Xiao Qinghe and Xie Jun prepared to pose as a couple to lure the demoness, but Xie Jun’s attraction to him nearly surfaced. Xiao Qinghe then discovered that the female lead had left, while the system began a reader-driven upgrade that could let paying readers influence the plot.

• Xiao Qinghe agreed to the plan, and Xie Jun thanked him for taking the role of her pretend partner.
• At dinner, Xie Jun’s desire to kiss Xiao Qinghe stirred, and he sensed it through the Ghost King Spirit Pill before pulling away.
• Xie Jun told Xiao Qinghe that the female lead had left with several handsome men, prompting him to worry that she had abandoned the original plot.
• The system said its plot lookup was unavailable during an upgrade and revealed a coming custom plot service for readers who paid enough.
• A reader tipped 100000 gold coins and demanded that Xiao Qinghe feed and bathe Xie Jun, leaving him alarmed by the system’s new feature.

After a reader’s donation cleared Xiao Qinghe’s system debt, he personally fed the injured Xie Jun, whose long-held longing for his affection intensified. When Xiao Qinghe tried to change chopsticks after she had used them, Xie Jun took it as disgust toward her and portrayed herself as accustomed to being shunned.

• Xiao Qinghe negotiated with the system to erase his 8,733-point debt in exchange for fulfilling a reader’s request.
• Xiao Qinghe fed meat to the injured Xie Jun, who was overwhelmed that he was treating her with the same tenderness she had long wanted.
• Xie Jun told Xiao Qinghe she would eat anything he fed her, even deadly poison, unsettling him with the intensity of her response.
• Xie Jun asked why Xiao Qinghe was changing chopsticks and whether he found her repulsive.
• Xie Jun described herself as a Demon Clan harbinger of misfortune whom others avoided, saying she was used to being treated as unclean.

Xiao Qinghe tried to fulfill a system mission by bathing with Xie Jun, while misunderstanding her desire to be close to him. The servants left them alone in a double tub, and Xie Jun’s feelings remained hidden from him.

• Xie Jun panicked when Xiao Qinghe offered to scrub her back, then agreed to bathe after he arranged for a tub.
• The system gave Xiao Qinghe a mission to bathe with Xie Jun for at least 30 minutes, and he decided the double tub would satisfy it.
• Xie Jun stopped Xiao Qinghe from backing away and told him she wanted him to continue, though he did not understand her meaning.
• Xie Jun slowly undressed and asked Xiao Qinghe to scrub her back harder as the manor servants filled the tub and scattered petals.
• The steward ordered the servants to leave Xiao Qinghe and Xie Jun alone, closed the door, and wished them an unforgettable night.

Xiao Qinghe and Xie Jun bathed together while strange incense made Xiao Qinghe dizzy and the system pressured him to complete its mission. Xie Jun extinguished the incense, then faced the painful uncertainty of whether Xiao Qinghe had feelings for her.

• Xiao Qinghe stripped down and joined Xie Jun in the bathtub after the system warned him of punishment.
• Xiao Qinghe noticed Xie Jun's nosebleed and leaned close to check on her, making her blush and turn away.
• Xiao Qinghe brushed Xie Jun's shoulder wound, and reader comments accused him of ravishing her.
• Xiao Qinghe grew dizzy and slumped onto Xie Jun's shoulder, prompting her to pin him down when he did not respond.
• Xiao Qinghe sniffed Xie Jun and said she smelled good, so Xie Jun recognized the incense's effects and covered the burner with a washcloth.
• Xie Jun looked at the dazed Xiao Qinghe and struggled with whether his behavior meant he had feelings for her.

Xie Jun restrained herself from taking advantage of the unconscious Xiao Qinghe, but a Sound Transmission Talisman brought Bai Yuqing into the room and exposed her feelings. She openly claimed that it was her turn to have Xiao Qinghe, while Bai Yuqing furiously condemned her.

• Xie Jun tried to determine whether Xiao Qinghe understood her advances, but he mistook them for ordinary behavior and fell asleep after she carried him to bed.
• Xie Jun cared for the sleeping Xiao Qinghe and began to loosen his collar, though she hesitated to go further.
• A Sound Transmission Talisman projected Bai Yuqing, who saw Xiao Qinghe unconscious and demanded that Xie Jun let him go.
• Xie Jun covered Xiao Qinghe and his ears, then told Bai Yuqing that he had kept Xiao Qinghe for years and it was her turn now.
• Bai Yuqing angrily rebuked Xie Jun for desiring Xiao Qinghe.

Bai Yuqing confronted Xie Jun over her plans to marry the sleeping Xiao Qinghe, and the two wagered on whether Xiao Qinghe would choose her or return to his master. After changing Xiao Qinghe’s clothes and settling him to sleep, Xie Jun was visited by Yan Yunhe, who asked to borrow medicine for his injured slave.

• Bai Yuqing smashed his White Jade Cup and White Jade Kitten, then accused Xie Jun of taking advantage of Xiao Qinghe and ordered her to leave him alone.
• Xie Jun told Bai Yuqing she would marry Xiao Qinghe in seven days, while Bai Yuqing vowed to summon his disciple back the next morning.
• Xie Jun wagered that Xiao Qinghe would choose to stay with her, then ended the transmission and asked the sleeping man to choose her.
• Xie Jun changed Xiao Qinghe’s wet clothes and settled into a cold bath, where Yan Yunhe appeared at the window and teased her about scheming to marry him.
• Yan Yunhe explained his determination to pursue his own desire, then asked Xie Jun for medicine because his slave had been hurt.

Xie Jun planned to make her relationship with Xiao Qinghe seem convincing to lure out the Female Demon, while Yan Yunhe left her with medicine. At the Demon-Slaying Sect, Ouyang Chong found Junior Brother Bai unleashing terrifying power beneath the Icefall and demanded to know what had happened.

• Xie Jun threatened Yan Yunhe after realizing he knew she belonged to the Demon Clan, but they reached an understanding and she asked him to leave medicine behind.
• Xie Jun told the City Lord she needed his people to help make her and Xiao Qinghe appear more like lovers so the Female Demon would not suspect their plan.
• Yan Yunhe left five porcelain bottles and departed, while Xie Jun decided to give Xiao Qinghe a stronger dose before the full moon.
• At the Cold Pool, Ouyang Chong learned that Junior Brother Bai had driven the other disciples away and was unleashing sword energy beneath the Icefall.
• Ouyang Chong watched Junior Brother Bai withstand the crashing Icefall and asked what had happened to make him lose control.