Chapter Summaries

Faxian sent Yangcuo ahead with the unconscious Yushu and set out alone to recover the Lankavatara Sutra from Emperor Chen. In Luoyang, Ding Wenruo returned to the Chancellor's Residence after failing to find help for her imprisoned father, where Gu Qingzhou offered his support and she explained that her grandfather's former associates had abandoned her.

• Yushu woke briefly on Yangcuo's back and told Faxian that Emperor Chen had seized his ordination items and the monastery's copy of the Lankavatara Sutra.
• Faxian told Yangcuo to take Yushu back to Drepung Monastery and left alone to retrieve the scripture.
• Ding Wenruo returned to the Chancellor's Residence in Luoyang after visiting her grandfather's former students and associates, who had refused to help her father.
• Gu Qingzhou waited outside the residence in the snow and promised to protect Ding Wenruo's father from mistreatment in the Heavenly Prison and help save him.
• Ding Wenruo told Gu Qingzhou that influential officials had been transferred or demoted, while the others she approached had refused to see her.

In the snow, Gu Qingzhou vowed to do everything in his power to save Ding Wenruo’s father and rejected her offer to repay him with her life. Meanwhile, the monk Faxian entered the Imperial City and encountered Zhantai Ming and a formation of Imperial Guards.

• Gu Qingzhou explained that he planned to rally scholars and public opinion to protect Ding Wenruo’s father, and promised to risk his title to save him.
• Gu Qingzhou told Ding Wenruo that he wanted her to be well, and she offered to serve him for the rest of her life if he saved her father.
• Gu Qingzhou refused Ding Wenruo’s offer and said he wanted her to be happy, even though her heart belonged to He An.
• Faxian used Shrinking Earth to Inches to reach the Imperial City and sensed that the Son of Heaven’s presence had vanished.
• Zhantai Ming confronted Faxian in the palace plaza as Imperial Guards emerged and aimed their weapons at the monk.

Faxian entered the Imperial Palace and defeated its guards without slowing, reaching Purple Dawn Hall. As Lu Aping attacked him from behind, the confrontation remained unresolved.

• Zhantai Ming ordered three thousand Imperial Guards to shoot Faxian, but Faxian froze their arrows with a single invocation and continued through the palace.
• Zhantai Ming pursued Faxian and found him walking along the western corridor of Taihe Palace.
• Fifty Dragon Hidden Guards attacked Faxian, but their blades passed through him without causing injury.
• Zhantai Ming struck at Faxian from above, but Faxian's glance incapacitated him, and Zhantai Ming ordered the guards to retreat.
• Faxian reached Purple Dawn Hall and caught the silver needles Lu Aping had fired at him.
• Lu Aping emerged from the shadows and launched a powerful palm strike at Faxian's back.

Faxian entered Purple Dawn Hall and confronted Emperor Chen, who used the Human Emperor Talisman to demand that he acknowledge his crime. Faxian rejected the emperor’s authority, and Emperor Chen rose in anger as their confrontation escalated.

• Lu Aping struck Faxian but was hurled into a pillar when the blow rebounded, while Benefactor Xue attacked with ice swords and scorching true qi from the shadows.
• Faxian rebuked Xue for his past killings, but Xue dismissed him and withdrew from Purple Dawn Hall.
• Faxian entered the hall and found himself facing a colossal manifestation of Emperor Chen, who demanded that he kneel and acknowledge his crime.
• Faxian recognized the Human Emperor Talisman and warned Emperor Chen that his virtue could not bear the power he wielded.
• Emperor Chen ordered Faxian to take his own life, but Faxian declared that the dharma realm and the ascetic’s path lay beyond royal dominion.
• Emperor Chen rose from his throne in shock and fury.

Faxian defeated Emperor Chen in Purple Dawn Hall, took the Lankavatara Sutra, and left after warning the emperor to rule wisely. During a record snowfall in Luoyang, Wei Zhilin walked toward the palace and recalled signs of Zhao Chang’s troubling nature from his youth.

• Emperor Chen struck at Faxian with his sword, but Faxian stopped the attack and the vision of their clash dissolved.
• Faxian placed the Human Emperor Talisman on the desk, took the Lankavatara Sutra, and warned Emperor Chen about karma before leaving Purple Dawn Hall.
• The Imperial Guards let Faxian pass without pursuing him, and Emperor Chen ordered Zhao Delu to clean the hall.
• As snow buried Luoyang, Wei Zhilin walked alone toward the Imperial Palace in his crimson court robes.
• Wei Zhilin recalled Zhao Chang strangling a sparrow as a youth and later showing both battlefield courage and a chilling disregard for life.

Wei Zhilin stood outside Xuande Gate for three days, seeking an audience with Emperor Chen to plead for Ding Feiyong, but the emperor refused to see him. After the snow stopped, Wei Zhilin tore off his court robe’s sleeve and left it on the palace steps, severing his bond with the emperor.

• Wei Zhilin recalled how Emperor Chen had become a ruthless ruler and how their bond had faded after Li Xingzhi left the capital.
• Wei Zhilin requested an audience at Xuande Gate, but Zhao Qin told him the emperor would see no one for three days.
• Emperor Chen said Wei Zhilin had come to plead for Ding Feiyong and ordered that he be left standing outside.
• Wei Zhilin endured the snow outside the palace gates for three consecutive days, returning each evening and appearing again before dawn.
• After the snow stopped, Wei Zhilin tore off his crimson sleeve and cast it onto the palace steps.

After Wei Zhilin severed his bond with Emperor Chen to plead for Ding Feiyong, he prepared for the possibility that the Knowledge and Practice Institute would have to defy the court. As court resumed, Gu Qingzhou stepped forward to report on the Huai River Flooding.

• Wei Zhilin tore a sleeve from his robe at the palace gates and declared that he was severing the bond between sovereign and minister after Emperor Chen refused to see him.
• Emperor Chen ordered Zhao Delu to put away Wei Zhilin’s severed sleeve, while a censor recorded the confrontation for posterity.
• Wei Zhilin sent Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong away to pursue Jiu Shan, hoping the journey would ease Fan Dazhi’s obsession and temper both disciples.
• Wei Zhilin told Chen Sangyu that the Knowledge and Practice Institute would oppose Ding Feiyong’s execution and protect its young disciples, while warning that hidden enemies might remain within the institute.
• At court in Purple Dawn Hall, Emperor Chen heard reports from the ministries and Deputy Commander Wei Cong before Gu Qingzhou presented an update on the Huai River Flooding.

Gu Qingzhou won Emperor Chen’s praise by detailing his Huai River flood-control and relief efforts, then used the reward he was offered to beg for Ding Feiyong’s pardon. Emperor Chen resisted the plea and offered Gu Qingzhou other women—including a consort from his own harem—leaving the court stunned.

• Gu Qingzhou reported the repaired embankments, relief for displaced people, restored waterways, and his plans for lasting river defenses.
• Emperor Chen praised Gu Qingzhou’s achievements and invited him to request a reward.
• Gu Qingzhou asked Emperor Chen to pardon Ding Feiyong, citing the Ding Family’s generations of service and Ding Fengyuan’s loyalty.
• Emperor Chen refused to promise a pardon and offered instead to let Gu Qingzhou redeem Ding Feiyong’s daughter from the Music and Dance Bureau as a concubine.
• Gu Qingzhou rejected that offer, explaining that he would not let the young lady of the Ding family suffer humiliation or bear a tainted name.
• Emperor Chen urged Gu Qingzhou to choose another bride and even offered to bestow one of his consorts upon him, shocking the court.

Gu Qingzhou relinquished his title and official status to secure Ding Feiyong’s life, and Emperor Chen reduced both men to commoners. In Taixing County, Yun Ying killed Jia Dewang and ambushed the Unknown Island men who came to meet him, ending the chapter in a fight with their leader.

• Gu Qingzhou refused the imperial marriage and asked Emperor Chen to pardon Ding Feiyong, offering to give up his dukedom.
• Emperor Chen stripped Gu Qingzhou of his title and office, confiscated his family property, and spared Ding Feiyong from execution while reducing both men to commoners.
• Jia Dewang met a veiled Unknown Island agent on Red Maple Ridge and handed over a bundle of gold and silver.
• The agent revealed herself as Yun Ying and killed Jia Dewang, then hid his body and waited for others to arrive.
• Yun Ying killed one of the arriving youths and attacked the hook-nosed old man, whose concealed weapons clashed with hers before she lunged at his throat.

Yun Ying killed the men who had captured her and wondered whether her original name had been Miao Feifei, while Ding Feiyong prepared to leave his confiscated residence with Ding Wenruo and Gu Qingzhou. The party departed Luoyang together, but the story left them at a lonely pavilion with no officials to see them off.

• Yun Ying killed the old man and a youth who recognized her as Senior Sister Yun, then searched their bodies for documents and tokens.
• Yun Ying recalled visiting Watermill Head Village and began to believe she might once have been Miao Feifei, before continuing toward an unknown destination.
• Ding Feiyong prepared to leave his residence with Ding Wenruo after his release from the Heavenly Prison, and Gu Qingzhou arrived to bid him farewell.
• Gu Qingzhou accompanied Ding Feiyong and Ding Wenruo out of Luoyang as Ding Feiyong condemned the ruler who had seized the realm.
• The party reached a deserted pavilion beyond the city, where no court officials had come to see Ding Feiyong and Gu Qingzhou off.

After parting ways with Ding Feiyong and Ding Wenruo, Gu Qingzhou struggled to answer Wenruo’s feelings. In the Eastern Yang Kingdom, Lu Xuanji cured the empress and gained Liu Jingtian’s trust, then warned the ruler against pursuing immortality.

• Ding Feiyong invited Gu Qingzhou to return to Langzhong and marry Ding Wenruo, but Gu Qingzhou hesitated because he thought she loved He An.
• Ding Wenruo told Gu Qingzhou that He An regarded her as a younger sister and asked where his refusal left her, then wept.
• Lu Xuanji took the Eastern Yang Kingdom’s proclamation and cured the empress by diagnosing her soul as unmoored and giving her water mixed with burned hair.
• Liu Jingtian grew close to Lu Xuanji after witnessing his supernatural feats and appointed him to lecture at the imperial study sessions.
• Liu Jingtian neglected state affairs to discuss the Dao with Lu Xuanji and began practicing the Breath-Nourishing Method.
• Liu Jingtian asked whether immortality was real, and Lu Xuanji cautioned him against seeking it by citing the fallen Great Liang dynasty.

Lu Xuanji persuaded Liu Jingtian that spiritual objects could aid his cultivation, then used access to the imperial treasury to retrieve an ancient fabric fragment. After secretly handing it to his allies, he removed his disguise, revealing that the Daoist was an impostor.

• Lu Xuanji encouraged Liu Jingtian to seek cultivation through spiritual objects rather than relying on pills, and Liu opened the imperial treasury for him to choose from.
• Lu Xuanji ignored the treasury’s riches and took an ancient, patterned fabric fragment and a mutton-fat Jade Pendant.
• Lu Xuanji told Liu Jingtian he would return to Rosy Cloud Mountain to prepare the Five Elements Art and departed on a flying sword.
• Lu Xuanji met black-clothed followers on a reef by the Eastern Sea and ordered their leader to deliver the fabric fragment to their lord.
• After the followers withdrew, Lu Xuanji peeled off a human-skin mask, revealing another face beneath it.

The Thousand-Faced Illusionist confirmed that he had obtained the Immortal Map and ordered Lu Xuanji’s cultivation destroyed as he prepared for the game’s final moves. In Wuwei City, Han Chanjuan awoke healed, remembered He An, and left the palace to pursue her own path after Han Zongwang gave her permission.

• The Thousand-Faced Illusionist learned that Lu Xuanji still refused to surrender his cultivation manuals and ordered his dan foundation shattered.
• The Thousand-Faced Illusionist declared that the Immortal Map was in hand and all the pieces had been gathered.
• Han Chanjuan awoke beneath the Han palace, found her wound healed, and remembered the name He An.
• Han Zhan tried to keep Han Chanjuan in the palace, but she insisted on leaving to seek peace and see distant mountains.
• Han Zongwang told Han Chanjuan that her awakened bloodline freed her to go wherever she wished, and she left without looking back.

Han Chanjuan returned to Fan Youfu’s wine shop, revealed that her Heavenly Phoenix bloodline had awakened, and chose to remain in the mortal world rather than return to heaven. Meanwhile, Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong searched for Unknown Island, uncovering hidden operatives and confronting the cost of killing as they traveled.

• Han Chanjuan visited Fan Youfu, who tested her with killing intent before recognizing that her Heavenly Phoenix bloodline had awakened.
• Fan Youfu asked Han Chanjuan when she would return to heaven, and she said she was tired of its schemes and preferred to stay in the mortal world as a teacher.
• Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong traveled south along the Luo River, hearing rumors about Unknown Island but finding no clear trace of Jiu Shan or its members.
• Fan Dazhi used his divine sense to locate hidden Unknown Island spies, and he and Qu Yong captured operatives and destroyed a concealed outpost.
• Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong raided a quarry hideout, but three captured assassins killed themselves with poison sacs before they could reveal more.
• Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong killed a group of murderous bandits, leaving Fan Dazhi troubled by how thin the line between punishing evil and killing had become.

Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi raided an Unknown Island outpost and fought off a mysterious assassin who attacked from beneath the earth. The assassin killed himself with poison rather than return after failing, while the larger Unknown Island conspiracy remained hidden.

• Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi pursued Unknown Island across several regions, destroying its outposts and killing its members.
• Fan Dazhi endured a saber strike without injury, and Qu Yong protected him as a wave of killing intent and mist engulfed the island.
• A masked assassin attacked Qu Yong from underground, from above, and with Bone-Piercing Nails, but Qu Yong countered each move and severed his right arm.
• The wounded assassin swallowed poison and died before Fan Dazhi could stop him.
• Qu Yong concluded the assassin had expected death either way, and he and Fan Dazhi took his narrow saber before leaving the burning island.

Mu Shu remembered how she had rescued the nameless, amnesiac He An and how he had become part of her tribe. After He An killed two tigers and saved the hunters, he continued his quiet life helping Mu Shu’s family prepare for winter.

• Mu Shu washed clothes by the stream while watching He An gather fodder, recalling how she had rescued him from the river and nursed him through a fever.
• He An recovered enough to work around the tribe, though he remained silent, lost his memories, and sometimes practiced martial forms alone.
• During the tribe’s last hunt before winter, two tigers attacked the hunters, and He An killed them bare-handed, saving the survivors.
• Uncle Tangwu urged the chief to drive He An away, but Mu Shu’s father defended him and insisted the tribe had to care for him.
• He An carried a bundle of grass back toward the tribe as Mu Shu watched him with a smile.

In Pine Crane Tower, martial artists praised the Twenty-Seventh Sword for striking at Unknown Island, while the veiled woman listening below asked where he was. Upstairs, Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi discussed their search for Jiu Shan and drank over the women they still loved, ending with Fan Dazhi asleep and Qu Yong murmuring the name in his heart.

• Martial artists in the hall described Unknown Island’s atrocities and celebrated the Twenty-Seventh Sword’s attacks on its forces.
• A veiled woman asked where the Twenty-Seventh Sword was, but the curly-bearded man admitted he did not know.
• Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi spoke privately about failing to find Jiu Shan, and Qu Yong offered to teach Fan Dazhi sword control.
• Fan Dazhi lamented his unreturned love, while Qu Yong reflected on Yun Ying and the difficulties of love in the martial world.
• The two men drank together until Fan Dazhi fell asleep and Qu Yong softly murmured his beloved’s name.

Yun Ying overheard Qu Yong’s drunken words, then killed two men plotting against Twenty-Seventh Sword and burned their documents. The next morning, Qu Yong received a tear-scented note naming two locations linked to Unknown Island, and he set out with Fan Dazhi to investigate.

• Yun Ying listened to Qu Yong speaking upstairs at the Pine Crane Tower, wept, and slipped away.
• An old man warned Hall Master Sishui that Twenty-Seventh Sword had arrived and that Mist Concealment and Ghost Sword Sorrow had been sent to kill him.
• Yun Ying killed the two conspirators, searched their bodies for tokens and letters, and set fire to the room before escaping.
• Fan Dazhi and Qu Yong discussed their drunken night and denied remembering what they had said.
• A child gave Qu Yong a crumpled note naming Spirit Cave Mountain, Taicang, and Azure Dragon Town; Qu Yong recognized the locations as a lead and went with Fan Dazhi to investigate.

Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi attacked Spirit Cave Mountain and uncovered a hidden Unknown Island stronghold stocked with enough weapons and supplies for an army. After Qu Yong defeated the defenders, Fan Dazhi found a chest of treasure, while Qu Yong decided the authorities should handle the stronghold’s resources.

• Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi reached Spirit Cave Mountain and discovered that its mist concealed restrictions blocking divine sense.
• Fan Dazhi used the Five Elements Separation Technique to set the mountain ablaze, drawing out armed men who attacked them with hidden weapons and heavy crossbows.
• Qu Yong unleashed the Cangwu Sword and slaughtered the defenders until the surviving black-clothed men fled in terror.
• Fan Dazhi summoned rain to extinguish the fires, and Qu Yong led him into a hidden cave behind a rock wall.
• Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi found stores of provisions, weapons, armor, and cannons that suggested Unknown Island had amassed considerable military strength.
• Fan Dazhi opened a chest of jewels and began taking gold and silver, while Qu Yong said the authorities should deal with the stronghold’s remaining supplies.

Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi raided an underground stronghold beneath Azure Dragon Town and discovered Daoist Lu Xuanji imprisoned in a water prison. They freed him, but found that his legs had rotted away and his wrists were badly mutilated.

• Qu Yong gave Fan Dazhi a Spatial Treasure and Fan Dazhi stored the heavenly meteoric iron inside it.
• Qu Yong descended into the underground stronghold and killed the black-clad guards while Fan Dazhi blocked their escape.
• Fan Dazhi sensed another level beneath the chambers, found a hidden mechanism, and opened a staircase.
• Qu Yong and Fan Dazhi reached the water prison and found the imprisoned Daoist identifying himself as Lu Xuanji of Rosy Cloud Mountain.
• Fan Dazhi froze the seawater and the sea snakes, and Qu Yong cut through the cage and shackles to free Lu Xuanji.
• Fan Dazhi caught Lu Xuanji and discovered that his legs had rotted and his wrists were worn down to the bone.