Arc 9Chapters 201–225
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Du Yu investigated the disappearance of Fan Wujiao and found that Xie Bi'an felt an unexplained loneliness but could not remember his old companion. The Legend Management Bureau identified a change in the legend involving a third beggar, Xiao Nian, and prepared to investigate the pair’s childhood.
Du Yu prepared to enter the mist-level Black and White Impermanence legend, fearing that the future assassins would strike, and agreed to bring the injured Shame and Guilt Brothers as protection. He told Qu Xi he could erase her painful past by changing it, but that doing so would make her and everyone else forget their time together, leaving her to decide whether to go.
Du Yu and A Can, A Kui, and A Yu arrived at a ruined City God Temple in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, where they met young Bi'an, Wu Jiu, and Xiao Nian. As they settled in, Du Yu learned that Bi'an and Wu Jiu had grown up as abandoned children and discovered the unexpected origins of their names.
Du Yu shared a meager meal with Fan Wujiao, Xie Bi'an, Xiao Nian, and the Shame and Guilt Brothers before resting in the City God Temple. During the night, Zhongli Chun revealed she had taken control of Du Yu to stop Xiao Nian, whose faint killing intent left Du Yu suspecting she might be targeting him.
Du Yu used Chada’s advice to devise a probability-based street game, hoping to earn money for medicine and food without resorting to a large-scale scam. After Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao repeatedly drew the one losing combination, the group suspected Du Yu had cheated.
Du Yu organized a stone-drawing game that used probability to earn money from townspeople, and he and his companions made thousands of copper coins. The chapter ended when an angry gambler grabbed Xiao Nian, while Du Yu held the Shame and Guilt Brothers back to see how she would respond.
Du Yu watched Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao defend Xiao Nian and learned they had trained in basic martial arts, while their street game had made them popular with locals. At dinner, Du Yu asked Xiao Nian about her phone, and her startled reaction deepened his suspicion that she was out of place.
Du Yu realized Xiao Nian was a time traveler and confronted her about being one of the Sage’s Seven Outstanding Disciples. Xiao Nian revealed the Sage had sent her a year early to gain Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao’s trust, then staged an apparent attack to turn them against Du Yu.
Du Yu stopped Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao from falling out over Xiao Nian by persuading them that she had tried to manipulate both brothers, then urged them to swear brotherhood. The three men became sworn brothers, and the next morning Du Yu changed their work teams before they arrived at a marketplace crowded with townspeople.
Du Yu’s market stalls drew a huge crowd with discount vouchers, but the celebration ended when Red Turban Ming Cult soldiers surrounded the market to seize money and grain. Du Yu surrendered his money to Chang Yuchun, then learned the soldier confronting him was Xiao Nian, who revealed she had come a year early to maintain multiple identities and kill him.
Du Yu escaped the Red Turban Army and uncovered that the Fan Wujiao who had come to help him was an impostor. The disguised woman revealed her true face and called Du Yu her only audience.
Du Yu learned that the Sage wanted to kill him because of what his future self had already done, then found the City God Temple burning and the others fighting the Red Turban Army. Xiao Nian was dead, and after Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao blamed each other while ignoring A Can's wounds, Du Yu attacked them to stop their bickering.
Du Yu stopped Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao from turning against each other, forced them to apologize to A Can, and helped end the Red Turban soldiers’ raid on Pu County. At Xiao Nian’s body, he saw through the staged death and warned the brothers that the dead girl was not Xiao Nian.
Du Yu and the two underworld enforcers discovered that the dead girl was not Xiao Nian, then returned to the burned City God Temple and encountered Lady Houtu. Lady Houtu mistook the group for the final two people she needed and threatened to kill Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao before noticing A Can and A Kui.
Du Yu guided Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao toward becoming street patrolmen after Lady Houtu agreed to wait until the two beggars died before recruiting them as Underworld Enforcers. The next day, the brothers dressed for their new work, and a tailor gave them tall hats in gratitude for their promise to protect the townspeople.
Du Yu helped Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao become beloved protectors of Pu County, but the county still lacked officials to appoint them. A new Ming magistrate arrived on the thirteenth day, asking to meet the two men.
Lord Lang publicly invited Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao to become government officers, prompting a dispute over whether they should serve Great Ming. Du Yu warned that the offer might conceal danger, but Fan Wujiao ultimately agreed to join Xie Bi'an, leaving the group facing an uncertain future.
Du Yu discovered that Lord Lang and Xiao Nian planned to kill Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao after lunch, while he was unable to return to the Legend because the descent equipment had overheated. As the assistant summoned the two brothers for their first assignment and thunder signaled approaching rain, Du Yu faced a race against time to save them.
Du Yu failed to reach Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao before Lord Lang sent them on a dangerous errand, and he watched helplessly as Fan Wujiao was ambushed in the rain. The chapter ended with Fan Wujiao weakened and wounded, surrounded by armed officers.
Fan Wujiao and Xie Bi'an were ambushed by Lord Lang’s forces, and Fan Wujiao discovered that the letter he had trusted was blank. After he fell mortally wounded, Xie Bi'an tried in vain to light a fire to warm him.
Du Yu interrupted Xie Bi'an’s attempted suicide by exposing Xiao Nian’s disguise and inventing a story that they were lovers who had conspired against him. Xie Bi'an accepted the explanation and died by hanging himself, while Xiao Nian blamed Du Yu for ruining her year-long attempt to make the false Legend come true.
Du Yu watched the legend reveal how Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiao became the Underworld Enforcers he remembered. After Lady Houtu granted their wishes, she left with her memory of Du Yu apparently fading again.
After strange episodes in which his hands passed through people and objects, Du Yu suspected that he was nearing a terrible fate. He chose not to change Qu Xi’s past after she decided to stay, then warned her, Yingning, and Zhan Qisheng never to challenge Sage, leaving Qu Xi and Yingning confused.
Qu Xi discovered that Du Yu had vanished from the world’s memories and sought help from Dong Qianqiu and Zhan Qisheng. She suspected Sage was responsible, but Zhan Qisheng refused to help save Du Yu.
After Du Yu disappeared, Qu Xi insisted on rescuing him even though Zhan Qisheng and Yingning initially chose to respect his wishes. Weaver Girl warned that the Sage had likely prepared an ambush in Du Yu’s past, and Shiranui Asuka hinted she had a way to investigate without alerting the Sage’s disciples.