Chapter Summaries

Lu Changfeng treated Princess Taiping’s gu poison and deduced that three Li Tang princes were behind the plot. He and Taiping realized the poison might be a diversion targeting Wu Sansi, just as an imperial edict arrived.

• Lu Changfeng purged more of Taiping’s gu poison and estimated that another half month of treatment would remove the rest.
• Lu Changfeng identified Li Jingheng, Li Xiaoyi, and Li Qianli as the likeliest suspects behind the plot.
• Taiping explained the three men’s influence and noted that the Miao Borderlands investigation had produced no definitive lead.
• Lu Changfeng proposed that the poison was meant to restrain Taiping and the Plum Blossom Guards while the conspirators pursued another target.
• Lu Changfeng and Taiping concluded that the Li Tang imperial family’s likely target was Wu Sansi, then a eunuch announced an imperial edict.

Princess Taiping received an imperial order to oversee the Buddha-Bathing Festival and suspected it would be used to target her and Wu Sansi. Meanwhile, Lu Changfeng sought Lan Die'er's help restoring the speech of the silenced children, and agreed to accompany her into Li Mountain to gather poisonous insects for her weakened Bloodweaving Spider.

• Princess Taiping received the imperial decree appointing her to oversee the welcoming and enshrinement of the Buddha's bones at the Buddha-Bathing Festival.
• Princess Taiping and Lu Changfeng privately concluded that their enemies planned to strike during the festival, and she considered turning the scheme against Wu Sansi and the hidden masterminds.
• Lu Changfeng went to the guest courtyard to ask Lan Die'er for twelve Voice-Transmitting Gu to help the children regain their voices.
• Lan Die'er agreed to refine the gu in exchange for Lu Changfeng accompanying her into Li Mountain to find poisonous insects that could restore her Bloodweaving Spider.
• Lan Die'er explained that Lu Changfeng's medicinal aura could attract rare spiritual venomous creatures if she used a Miao Borderlands technique to draw it out.

Lu Changfeng, Qing Dai, and Lan Die'er secretly traveled to Li Mountain, where Lan Die'er used Lu Changfeng’s blood to lure venomous creatures and restore her Bloodweaving Spider. After making Voice-Transmitting Gu for the ape-transformed children, they encountered a Crimson Flame Wyrm that fixed its hungry gaze on Lu Changfeng.

• Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai joined Lan Die'er in disguises and slipped out of the Princess's Residence to visit a secluded valley on Li Mountain.
• Lan Die'er used a Gu-Refining Spirit Altar and Lu Changfeng’s blood to attract venomous creatures, which the Bloodweaving Spider devoured to regain its vitality.
• Lu Changfeng helped Lan Die'er capture rare venomous creatures, including a Nether-Eyed Snake and a Hidden-Wing Centipede.
• Lan Die'er refined twelve Voice-Transmitting Gu for the children and invited Lu Changfeng to visit the Five Immortals Cult, but he politely declined.
• As the three prepared to return, a Crimson Flame Wyrm emerged from the woods and fixed its attention on Lu Changfeng’s medicinal aura.

Lu Changfeng fought and subdued a deadly Crimson Flame Wyrm, sharpening his swordsmanship under pressure. Lan Die'er sealed the creature and revealed that it could be used to refine a Blazing Wind Gu.

• The Crimson Flame Wyrm attacked Lu Changfeng, whose Huayang Needles could not pierce its scales, while Qing Dai and Lan Die'er were unable to help.
• Lu Changfeng revealed the Wind-Raising Sword and used A-Fei's Swift Sword to counter the wyrm and land a powerful thrust.
• Lu Changfeng pinned the wyrm's tail to the ground, allowing Lan Die'er's Bloodweaving Spider to poison and subdue it.
• Qing Dai helped Lu Changfeng recover, and he told her the fight had improved his understanding of swordsmanship.
• Lan Die'er sealed the wyrm in a bamboo basket and told Lu Changfeng it could be used to refine a Blazing Wind Gu.

Lu Changfeng and his companions left Li Mountain with a blazing wind gu, but Wu Lingyun pursued them, furious that they had taken the crimson flame wyrm. After discovering her victims at Zhaoying Post Station and recognizing her plague-poison true qi, Lu Changfeng prepared for her attack as she arrived with the Dragon Gate Seven Swords.

• Lan Die'er explained the blazing wind gu's power, and Lu Changfeng accepted it before the group descended from Li Mountain.
• Wu Lingyun found traces of the battle at the crimson flame wyrm's valley and ordered the Dragon Gate Seven Swords to track down its captors.
• At Zhaoying Post Station, Lu Changfeng treated Zhang Five and Old Cripple Li, who said Wu Lingyun had blinded one and shattered the other's knee.
• Lu Changfeng recognized the poison in Old Cripple Li's wound as a sign of Wu Lingyun's Hundred Calamities Plague Emperor Curse, and he urged Qing Dai and Lan Die'er to leave.
• Wu Lingyun and the Dragon Gate Seven Swords caught up with them and ordered them seized, so Lu Changfeng lit a stick of purple incense.

Lu Changfeng faced Wu Lingyun and the Dragon Gate Seven Swords after she demanded the Crimson Flame Wyrm and ordered him killed. He used his heightened battle comprehension to break their sword formation and slay all seven swordsmen, leaving Wu Lingyun confronting him.

• Lu Changfeng warned Lan Die'er and Qing Dai to hold their breath as the Dragon Gate Seven Swords surrounded them with poisoned blades.
• Wu Lingyun demanded the Crimson Flame Wyrm, rejected Lu Changfeng's threat to destroy it, and ordered the Seven Swords to kill him.
• Lu Changfeng drew the attackers' attention while Lan Die'er and Qing Dai escorted the woodcutters and proprietor to safety.
• Lu Changfeng evaded the Poison Dragon Sword Formation and used his Dao body's heightened perception to identify its weaknesses.
• Lu Changfeng drew the Wind-Raising Sword, snapped all seven poisoned longswords, and beheaded the Seven Swords in a single strike.

Lu Changfeng killed the Dragon Gate Seven Swords, but Wu Lingyun exposed him and Shang Poyue attacked. Lan Die'er’s Bloodweaving Spider interrupted the strike, while Wu Lingyun secretly stabbed Shang Poyue with a poisoned shortsword.

• Lu Changfeng swiftly beheaded all seven members of the Dragon Gate Seven Swords as Wu Lingyun watched in shock.
• Shang Poyue emerged from the woods, and Wu Lingyun recognized the Wind-Raising Sword and suspected Lu Changfeng’s identity.
• Lu Changfeng tried to delay Shang Poyue, but Wu Lingyun warned the elder about his poison techniques and provoked him to attack.
• Shang Poyue launched a lethal finger-sword strike at Lu Changfeng, and Lan Die’er summoned the Bloodweaving Spider to block him.
• Wu Lingyun silently stabbed Shang Poyue in the lower back and flooded him with the poison from her Hundred Calamities Plague Emperor Curse.

Lu Changfeng used Wu Lingyun’s hypnotic state and Shang Poyue’s fear of harming her to escape with Lan Die’er and Qing Dai. After Wu Lingyun recovered and vowed revenge, Lu Changfeng returned to the Princess’s Residence, where Jinghong told him Taiping was waiting in Yao Light Hall.

• Lu Changfeng revealed that Dream-Sinking Heart-Locking Incense had enabled him to control Wu Lingyun, forcing Shang Poyue to hold still while he and his companions escaped on horseback.
• After Lu Changfeng and his companions left, Shang Poyue suppressed the poison, and Wu Lingyun recovered, discovered the incense, and swore to kill Lu Changfeng.
• Lu Changfeng, Lan Die’er, and Qing Dai returned safely to the Princess’s Residence, where Lu Changfeng explained how the incense worked.
• Jinghong told Lu Changfeng that Taiping was waiting for him in Yao Light Hall, and he asked Jinghong to lead him there.

Lu Changfeng reported his encounter with Wu Lingyun and Shang Poyue to Princess Taiping, then proposed a way to protect the Buddha-Bone Relic during its public journey to Chang’an while letting the plot against Wu Sansi proceed. The chapter ended with Taiping considering Lu’s plan to turn a staged theft into a public miracle.

• Lu Changfeng told Princess Taiping how he defeated the Dragon Gate Seven Swords and escaped Wu Lingyun and Shang Poyue at Li Mountain.
• Princess Taiping worried about Lu Changfeng’s recklessness and asked whether they had anything to discuss beyond martial cultivation and politics, but he stayed silent.
• Princess Taiping explained that she and Wu Sansi would oversee the Buddha-Bone Relic’s reception and that enemies might target Wu Sansi during the ceremony.
• Lu Changfeng proposed using convincing replicas to draw attackers away while Master Sengjia secretly carried the genuine relic to Chang’an.
• When Princess Taiping objected that even a replica being stolen would damage the imperial family’s prestige, Lu Changfeng suggested revealing the true relic afterward with staged signs of a miracle.

Princess Taiping considered Lu Changfeng’s plan to turn the Buddha-Bone Relic crisis into a miracle, then asked him to treat Crown Prince Li Chongjun. Lu Changfeng readily agreed and learned that Li Chongjun was waiting at the residence.

• Princess Taiping admired Lu Changfeng’s plan but privately regretted that her past reputation had made him difficult to win over.
• Lu Changfeng proposed staging a public miracle around the Buddha-Bone Relic to restore the imperial family’s authority.
• Princess Taiping told Lu Changfeng that Crown Prince Li Chongjun suffered from anxiety and palpitations amid threats from Princess Anle and other political rivals.
• Lu Changfeng declared that he would treat Li Chongjun despite the danger of angering Princess Anle.
• Princess Taiping told Lu Changfeng that Li Chongjun was waiting in the Quiet Chamber of the Spirit Pivot Institute.

Lu Changfeng accepted Taiping’s Plum Blossom Guards token and went to the Spirit Pivot Institute to examine Crown Prince Li Chongjun. After sending his companions away, Li Chongjun confided that he had not expected Lu Changfeng to come, since everyone was avoiding him.

• Taiping warned Lu Changfeng that Wu Lingyun, Princess Anle, and other forces might target him, but he stood by his decision to treat Li Chongjun.
• Taiping gave Lu Changfeng a token granting authority over Plum Blossom Guards below the fourth rank, then secretly ordered Jinghong to assign the Three Baleful Skeletons to protect him.
• Lu Changfeng arrived at the Spirit Pivot Institute, where Shen Jingwan and Chen Jing'an waited outside the Quiet Chamber.
• Lu Changfeng met Li Chongjun, Xue Chongyin, and Li Xi as they emerged from the Quiet Chamber, and exchanged formal greetings with them.
• Li Chongjun sent Xue Chongyin and Li Xi away and entered the Quiet Chamber with Lu Changfeng for a private consultation.
• Li Chongjun admitted that he was surprised Lu Changfeng had come, and Lu Changfeng asked him to extend his hand for an examination.

Lu Changfeng treated Li Chongjun’s illness and received the Nine Dragon Stone, but he rushed away when Jinghong reported that Princess Taiping was gravely ill. Left alone with Li Xi, Li Chongjun suspected that Lu Changfeng’s abilities could weaken their leverage over Taiping and erupted in anger.

• Lu Changfeng diagnosed Li Chongjun with stagnant fire tormenting the liver and fright qi invading the heart, then used acupuncture to ease his symptoms.
• Li Chongjun offered Lu Changfeng a post in the Eastern Palace, but Lu Changfeng declined and prescribed medicine for him.
• The Medical Canon rewarded Lu Changfeng with the Nine Dragon Stone after he successfully treated Li Chongjun.
• Jinghong summoned Lu Changfeng to Yao Light Hall, reporting that Princess Taiping’s old illness had flared up, and Xue Chongyin followed him there.
• Li Xi revealed that the Golden Silkworm Mother Gu had reacted, confirming that Taiping had been afflicted with Golden Silkworm Gu.
• Li Chongjun suspected Lu Changfeng could suppress the gu poison and angrily declared that he was ruining his grand design.

Lu Changfeng used his Shennong qi and Huayang Needles to suppress Princess Taiping’s erupting Golden Silkworm Gu, then brought out the Nine Dragon Stone to drive the poison back. With the stone strengthening his treatment, he began expelling the gu poison and hoped to eradicate it completely.

• Lu Changfeng and Xue Chongyin returned to Yao Light Hall, where they found Princess Taiping suffering a violent Golden Silkworm Gu backlash.
• Lu Changfeng warned Xue Chongyin to stay back, then used his Shennong qi and Huayang Needles to protect Princess Taiping and restrain the poison.
• Wu Youji arrived demanding to see the princess, but Zhao Lanjun went outside and quieted him.
• Lu Changfeng remembered the Nine Dragon Stone, activated it with Shennong qi, and used its warm energy to drive the gu poison out of Princess Taiping’s meridians.

Lu Changfeng purged the Gu Poison from Princess Taiping and received the Threefold Origin-Returning Qi reward. After he left, Taiping dismissed Wu Youji, while Xue Chongyin remained suspicious of the closeness he had witnessed.

• Lu Changfeng used the Nine Dragon Stone and Shennong Qi to remove the Gu Poison from Princess Taiping as Jinghong, Fu Rong, and Xue Chongyin watched.
• Princess Taiping briefly leaned against Lu Changfeng, and Xue Chongyin was unsettled by their intimate-looking position.
• Lu Changfeng received the Threefold Origin-Returning Qi reward, confirmed the poison was gone, and advised that Taiping rest and avoid strain.
• Princess Taiping and Xue Chongyin thanked Lu Changfeng, who left to prepare a recovery prescription.
• Wu Youji rushed in to see Taiping, but she ordered him to withdraw and then told him to get out.

After Taiping recovered from the Gu Poison, she ordered an investigation and reflected on her lonely marriages and Lu Changfeng’s protection. Lu Changfeng then accepted his reward, mastered Threefold Origin-Returning Qi, and broke through to the Xiantian peak with a far greater range of divine sense than others at his realm.

• Taiping told Xue Chongyin to conceal her recovery, explain the situation to the emperor, and deliver medicinal herbs to Lu Changfeng as thanks.
• Taiping ordered Zhao Lanjun, Mu Qinghong, Jinghong, and Fu Rong to investigate the Gu Poison plot and watch everyone who knew about her recovery, including the Crown Prince and Li Xi.
• Taiping thought of Lu Changfeng’s protection and lamented that their bond had come too late.
• Lu Changfeng sent Qing Dai to the Ten Directions Secret Prison with twelve Voice-Transmitting Gu, then began receiving his max-level Threefold Origin-Returning Qi reward.
• Threefold Origin-Returning Qi broke Lu Changfeng’s cultivation barrier, raised him to the Xiantian peak, and expanded his divine sense to four hundred feet.

Lu Changfeng practiced the Three Supreme Arts, astonishing the Three Baleful Skeletons and Qing Dai with his sudden strength. At supper, he offered to teach Qing Dai an unusual cultivation method and hinted that his own rapid progress came from “Opening the Heavenly Eye.”

• Lu Changfeng practiced the Wind God Leg, palm arts, and Heavenly Frost Fist, blending their techniques freely.
• The Three Baleful Skeletons watched from the shadows and were alarmed by Lu Changfeng’s transformation.
• Qing Dai returned and watched Lu Changfeng practice, worrying that she could no longer keep pace with him.
• Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai discussed the children’s recovery and Su Bonian’s patient teaching.
• Lu Changfeng offered Qing Dai a suitable cultivation method, then hinted that his progress came from “Opening the Heavenly Eye.”

Lu Changfeng gave Qing Dai the Ice Skin, Jade Bones Art and treated Taiping’s heart-meridian injury through a prescription delivered to Xue Chongyin. The next day, he resumed his work at the Spirit Pivot Institute and received Rong’er’s Culinary Skill as a reward.

• Qing Dai speculated that Lu Changfeng had wisdom from a past life, and he promised to practice with her after dinner.
• Lu Changfeng sensed Xue Chongyin’s arrival, prepared a prescription for Taiping, and warned that only a trusted attendant should brew it.
• Xue Chongyin delivered spiritual medicines from his mother, accepted the prescription, and left while suppressing questions about Lu Changfeng and Taiping.
• Lu Changfeng gave Qing Dai the Ice Skin, Jade Bones Art, which she eagerly resolved to master.
• The next day, Lu Changfeng resumed treating patients and received the two-star Rong’er’s Culinary Skill for healing a guard officer’s injuries.

Lu Changfeng completed the initial refinement of his blazing wind gu and went to Yao Light Hall to treat Princess Taiping, whose attendants had grown increasingly deferential to him. Meanwhile, the sidelined Gao Jian learned that Yin Xuanhe, the Netherworld Doctor of the Great Vehicle Sect, could help him kill Lu Changfeng.

• Lan Die'er finished teaching Lu Changfeng to refine the Crimson Flame Wyrm into a blazing wind gu, while showing him how she and her Bloodweaving Spider had become one.
• Jinghong summoned Lu Changfeng to Yao Light Hall to treat Princess Taiping, and Lan Die'er and Qing Dai remarked on how often Taiping had been calling for him.
• Lu Changfeng reflected that Taiping's attendants now treated him with more deference than Wu Youji, while he worried about being mistaken for her new favored man.
• At the Gao residence, Gao Jian brooded over his lost standing and blamed Lu Changfeng for taking his place in Princess Taiping's favor.
• Yin Xuanhe emerged from the shadows and offered to help Gao Jian kill Lu Changfeng.

Lu Changfeng and Su Bonian helped the transformed children recover through medicine, acupuncture, and the Five-Animal Exercise. Su Bonian then revealed that the Great Vehicle Sect's Serpent Bone Arcane Art was a form-refinement method that might offer a way to address the children's altered bodies.

• Lu Changfeng treated Longhand with golden needles and gave him the Heart-Clearing Meridian-Nourishing Decoction.
• Qing Dai helped Longhand drink, and Lu Changfeng gave medicine to A Mao and the other children.
• Su Bonian praised the children's recovery, while Lu Changfeng credited Su Bonian's Five-Animal Exercise with helping stabilize them.
• Su Bonian proposed the Great Vehicle Sect's Serpent Bone Arcane Art as a possible cultivation method for the children and explained that it was an assassination art and a method of form refinement.
• Qing Dai described ordinary form refinement, and Su Bonian introduced a more extreme kind based on becoming a beast in combat.

Lu Changfeng and Su Bonian realized the transformed children could use a modified Serpent Bone Arcane Art to control their ape-like bodies and perhaps regain human forms. Su Bonian identified Yin Xuanhe as the art’s current practitioner and warned that Lu Changfeng had made the dangerous Netherworld Doctor his enemy.

• Su Bonian explained how Nangong Yi transformed the Serpent Bone Arcane Art by refining Bashé blood essence, but died after the art drove him mad.
• Lu Changfeng reasoned that the children’s forced mutations had already laid a foundation for an Ape Bone Art that could help them master their ape forms and gradually restore their human features.
• Su Bonian said the Serpent Bone Arcane Art was a Great Vehicle Sect secret and named Yin Xuanhe, one of the Eight-Leaf Protectors, as a practitioner who had studied it deeply.
• Su Bonian recounted how Yin Xuanhe killed Mu Xuanqing with a combination of the Serpent Bone Arcane Art and hidden poison, warning Lu Changfeng about his many sinister skills.
• Su Bonian warned that Yin Xuanhe would seek revenge because Lu Changfeng had countered his Rebirth in Ultimate Bliss Powder, and Lu Changfeng decided he would need more Pufferfish Venom.