Recaps

Ren Ye realized that his reconstruction of Tang Feng’s clues had been wrong, but a supreme treasure trapped him and his companions before he could investigate. Meanwhile, Old Liu’s wedding revealed that his bride Gao Mingyue was a paper effigy, and the banquet served West Lake Vinegar Fish with its tail cut off.

• At the Desire Restraint Center, the elite doctor told Ren Ye that Tang Feng’s cooking contest had required contestants to make West Lake Vinegar Fish without a tail and that Tang Feng might leave his job in two days.
• Ren Ye spent the night searching for the flaw in his deductions while Old Liu prepared for his wedding to Gao Mingyue.
• Master Gao showed Old Liu the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo, then enveloped him in purple light with the treasure.
• Ren Ye realized the clues about a masked man traveling between Lust Village and Rage Village did not fit his assumption that Zhou Bo was the one who imprisoned Yin Wan’er.
• A clear barrier blocked Ren Ye, Apu, and Xu Qingzhao from leaving their room, and Ren Ye feared for Old Liu.
• At the wedding, Gao Jiansheng unveiled Gao Mingyue as a paper effigy, and the guests were served West Lake Vinegar Fish with its tail severed.

Master Gao arranged a ghost marriage for his deceased daughter Ming Yue, while Old Liu was prepared to sacrifice his life to restore her appearance. As the other captives sought a way to intervene and the five families gathered outside the village, Ren Ye heard a mysterious visitor challenge him from outside the side room.

• Master Gao married Old Liu to a paper figure representing Ming Yue, and Butler Liu used a Daoist Talisman to transform Old Liu into a young man.
• Ren Ye, Xu Qingzhao, and Apu discussed their confinement, and Xu Qingzhao sent a wisp of consciousness beyond the barrier to summon a soul near the Ancestral Hall.
• Master Gao ordered preparations to transfer Old Liu's life force to Ming Yue and said that the young master's three close friends could not be left alive.
• A beautiful figure entered the bridal chamber after the wedding, while Butler Liu prepared a grave and funeral offerings on the back mountain.
• Ren Ye sensed someone outside the side room transmitting a challenge about whether he would rescue them.

Ren Ye kept Xu Bangzi from pressuring them for the antidote while Old Liu’s Life Stone freed him from an illusion and sent him and Gao Mingyue into memories of her past with Shen Yuan. As Gao Jiansheng went to face the five family heads, Xu Bangzi returned to the imprisoned group, leaving their escape unresolved.

• Ren Ye warned Xu Bangzi that he would expose his betrayal to Master Gao, and Xu Bangzi left without getting the antidote.
• Ren Ye told Apu and Xu Qingzhao that they had triggered a hard rule of the Star Gate and urged them to prepare for a fight that night.
• Gao Mingyue mistook Old Liu for Shen Yuan in the illusion, then attacked him after realizing he was not Yuan; the Life Stone broke Old Liu free.
• Old Liu and Gao Mingyue’s consciousnesses traveled into the past, where Old Liu witnessed Shen Yuan resist his arranged marriage and secretly visit Gao Mingyue.
• Gao Jiansheng learned that Wang Shoucai, Zhang Lu, Zhou Bo, Pang An, and Guo Litao threatened to attack the Gao Family, then set out to meet them.
• Xu Bangzi returned to Ren Ye’s cell and taunted him, but Ren Ye insisted he no longer needed Xu Bangzi’s help to escape.

Old Liu relived Shen Yuan’s past, learning that the Shen Family helped destroy Xiao Ke’s family and that Guo Ying murdered Gao Mingyue after she and Shen Yuan fell in love. Back in the bridal chamber, Gao Mingyue’s remnant soul dispersed, and Granny Yan confronted Old Liu as Apu arrived to challenge her.

• Shen Yuan argued with Yin Wan'er about the Shen Family’s role in the deaths of Xiao Ke’s family, and she revealed her own helplessness in her marriage to Shen Jishi.
• Shen Yuan learned to cook West Lake Vinegar Fish, discovered his engagement to Guo Ying, and tormented her before admitting to Gao Mingyue that he loved her.
• Guo Ying ambushed Gao Mingyue, tortured her, and beat her to death; Gao Jiansheng rushed toward the Shen Family afterward.
• Gao Mingyue’s remnant soul tasted the fish in the bridal chamber, recognized that Shen Yuan had not made it, and willingly dispersed.
• Old Liu learned he had uncovered the main storyline clue “Seven Sins in One,” while Granny Yan blamed him for Gao Mingyue’s disappearance and Apu entered to confront her.

Ren Ye and his companions escaped the Gao Residence after injuring Granny Yan, then followed Xu Bangzi to a hidden path from Rage Village to Lust Village. Xu Bangzi revealed that another outsider in Seven Families Town had inherited Old Man Xunzhu’s legacy, and Ren Ye began to suspect the path was tied to the mystery.

• Apu restrained Granny Yan with Thousand-Mechanism Fluid, Xu Qingzhao trapped her in an illusion formation, and Ren Ye wounded her with the Human Emperor Sword before the team fled the Gao Residence.
• Ren Ye, Old Liu, Apu, and Ai Fei met Xu Bangzi in the mountains, where he told them Master Gao had sealed the Dock.
• Xu Bangzi led the group to a hidden path connecting Rage Village and Lust Village, and Xu Qingzhao gave him the antidote.
• Xu Bangzi revealed that someone besides him, likely an outsider, had inherited Old Man Xunzhu’s legacy.
• Ren Ye asked whether Xu Bangzi always used the hidden path when returning to Lust Village, then looked around as he considered what that meant.

Ren Ye and his companions discovered that two Night Walkers were pursuing them, suspected Old Qu of directing them, and continued toward Lust Village to investigate the events of twenty years ago. Meanwhile, Gao Jiansheng faced the five family heads’ demands and revealed that he had wanted the Shen Family dead during the Bloody Night.

• Xu Bangzi left after warning Ren Ye that his enemies would not tolerate him, and Ren Ye hid his companions in the woods near the mountain path.
• Two Night Walkers appeared and searched for Ren Ye’s group; Ren Ye suspected Mad Dog had been framed and Old Qu was conspiring against them, then waited until the Night Walkers left before leading his companions onward.
• Ren Ye told Apu that Old Liu’s account of the past had revealed why he had misunderstood the story, and that he would investigate a clue in Lust Village to identify Shen Yuan’s true statement.
• At the Dock, Wang Shoucai demanded that Gao Jiansheng surrender Shen Yuan and kill himself, while the other family heads pressured Gao over his connection to Yin Wan’er.
• Gao Jiansheng challenged the family heads’ assumptions about the Bloody Night and declared that he had wanted the Shen Family dead; Guo Litao confirmed that Gao had sought to kill every member of the family.

Ren Ye and his teammates gathered and counted Lust Village’s Remnant Souls, then went to No. 1 Old House to question Yin Wan’er about the Bloody Night. Ren Ye identified Shen Yuan as the person who embodied all seven sins and concluded that Shen Yuan’s appearance must have changed, prompting Yin Wan’er to reveal that Shen Jishi had disfigured him with boiling water.

• Ren Ye split the team into four areas to count Remnant Souls and search for information about the village register.
• Xu Qingzhao set up a Soul-Gathering Altar that summoned and lined up the village’s Remnant Souls, allowing the team to count them.
• Ren Ye determined that the count was complete except for the soul trapped in the basement, and the team headed to No. 1 Old House.
• Ren Ye told Yin Wan’er that Shen Yuan embodied all seven sins and had caused the Bloody Night twenty years earlier.
• Ren Ye deduced that Shen Yuan had once been handsome but was later disfigured, and Yin Wan’er cried out that Shen Jishi had ruined him with boiling water.

Ren Ye witnessed Yin Wan'er's memories and concluded that Gao Jiansheng had kidnapped her, framed Zhou Bo, and secretly helped incite Bloody Night. The group reached Seven Families Town with Ren Ye identifying Shen Yuan as the original cause of the town's tragedy, while Gao Jiansheng's recollection revealed that Guo Litao had shared the accusation with the other families.

• Shen Jishi agreed to protect Guo Ying after Guo Litao pleaded with him, then struck Shen Yuan with a kettle during their furious argument and disfigured him.
• Ren Ye returned from Yin Wan'er's memories and told Old Liu, Xu Qingzhao, and Apu that Gao Jiansheng had likely kidnapped Yin Wan'er and framed Zhou Bo, citing the secret route and Gao's concealed left-handedness.
• Ren Ye argued that Gao Jiansheng had fueled the rivalry between Shen Jishi, Zhou Bo, and Wang Shoucai, and had helped bring about the massacre in Lust Village.
• Ren Ye said Shen Yuan, whose affair with Gao Mingyue began the chain of events, was the original cause of Seven Families Town's tragedy, and the group arrived at the town's Desire Restraint Center.
• Earlier, Guo Litao told the other families that Gao Jiansheng had secretly incited Bloody Night and eliminated Wang Shoucai's men, as Gao recalled visiting Shen Jishi on the day Gao Mingyue died.

After Ming Yue’s death, Gao Jiansheng’s demand for justice was rejected by Yin Wan'er, driving him to join forces with the other families against Shen Yuan. Meanwhile, Tang Feng identified a truthful patient at the Desire Restraint Center, triggering the Star Gate’s hidden seventh faction.

• Gao Jiansheng confronted Yin Wan'er and demanded that she hand over Guo Ying, but she defended Shen Yuan and refused to take his side.
• Gao Jiansheng left the Shen Family furious and swore that Yin Wan'er would pay for what she owed him.
• At the Rage Village Dock, Guo Litao revealed that Shen Yuan had murdered Ying, and Gao Jiansheng persuaded the six families to join him in going to Seven Families Town to kill Shen Yuan.
• At the Desire Restraint Center, Tang Feng used the number 1163 to find a burned middle-aged patient who admitted the claim about killing 1163 people was true.
• Tang Feng confirmed that he knew what had happened in Seven Families Town, and the Star Gate announced the Desire Restraint Center’s Psychologist as the seventh hidden faction.

After reuniting with Tang Feng at the Desire Restraint Center, Ren Ye and the others learned they had to protect Shen Yuan and recover the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo from the six families. As Tang Feng began recruiting players, a black-robed man arrived at the gate asking for Li.

• Yu Weifeng and the other leaders in Gao Residence chose to remain with the six families and began recruiting players for their faction.
• Ren Ye, Old Liu, Apu, and Xu Qingzhao reunited with Tang Feng at the Desire Restraint Center, where he explained that Shen Yuan's survival was essential to his inheritance.
• Tang Feng revealed that Shen Yuan could not fight and that the group had to protect him from the six families while recovering the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo.
• More than thirty players arrived to ask about joining the Desire Restraint Center faction, and Tang Feng made them wait while he planned his approach.
• A black-robed man reached the Center's gate and asked Huanglong River whether the man named Li was there.

Tang Feng and Old Liu used bluffs and the threat of thousands of patients to recruit more than a hundred Players into the Desire Restraint Center faction. Ren Ye hoped to avoid another bloody battle by resolving the conflict through the top fighters, and the faction awaited the six families’ response.

• Tang Feng told the Players outside that the Desire Restraint Center was full, while Old Liu hinted at hidden strength and convinced the Intelligence Peak Squad to join.
• Old Liu revealed that the faction had only six Players before the squad joined, but when its captain tried to defect, Huanglong River summoned hundreds of patients to surround them.
• The captain returned outside claiming the faction was on solid ground, prompting more than fifty Players to rush in and join.
• By night, the Desire Restraint Center faction had 112 Players, backed by thousands of fellow patients who deterred defections.
• Ren Ye told Tang Feng that he wanted to keep the conflict under control and settle it through the top fighters if possible.

The night before the battle, the Six Family Forces prepared to attack while Ren Ye’s side gathered strength and faced the coming conflict. At dawn, more than four thousand people landed, and Gao Jiansheng called on Shen Yuan as the Desire Restraint Center’s gates opened.

• Gao Jiansheng learned that his daughter’s remains had been buried and resolved to build a great Gao Family with the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo as his companion.
• Wang Shoucai mourned Lili and vowed to avenge her, while Xu Bangzi reflected on his decades-long wait to escape Seven Families Town.
• Old Liu turned a prebattle gathering at the Desire Restraint Center into a huge party, while Ren Ye discussed his responsibility to the 112 players and began nurturing Sword Intent.
• Tang Feng told Shen Yuan he was willing to fight for his chance to atone, then left the basement room.
• At seven thirty, the Six Family Forces landed, and Gao Jiansheng challenged Shen Yuan as the Desire Restraint Center’s gates slowly opened.

Ren Ye stalled the Six Villages’ attack by proposing a duel and letting Mad Dog accuse Old Qu of controlling the Night Walker and betraying the players. Yu Weifeng believed Mad Dog and pulled his people out of the attacking force, leaving Old Qu’s side divided as battle loomed.

• Tang Feng revealed that the Desire Restraint Center had over three thousand patients ready to defend it, matching the Six Villages’ numbers.
• Ren Ye proposed that each side choose its strongest fighters to settle the conflict in a fight to the death.
• Mad Dog confronted Old Qu and accused him of controlling the Night Walker and using it to pursue the Supreme Treasure while killing players.
• Gao Jiansheng rejected Mad Dog’s accusations and ordered the Six Villages to prepare to attack.
• Yu Weifeng withdrew his people from the attacking force because Mad Dog had saved him in the Dragon Vault while Old Qu had abandoned him.

Yu Weifeng’s defection weakened the six families’ ranks, and Ren Ye challenged their leaders to a fight between six champions on each side. Tang Feng stripped Gao Jiansheng of his fighting intent and transferred his fury to Wang Shoucai, opening the way for the others to unleash their attacks on Gao.

• Yu Weifeng withdrew his followers, and Ren Ye urged the six families’ players not to let Old Qu use them as weapons.
• Ren Ye challenged Gao Jiansheng and the other family heads to send six fighters from each side into a fight to the death, and Gao accepted.
• Ren Ye chose Apu, Old Liu, Tang Feng, Ai Fei, and Mad Dog to join him, while Gao’s side revealed the power of the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo.
• Tang Feng used Desire Portrait-Extraction on Gao Jiansheng, then transferred Gao’s extracted rage and desire for revenge to Wang Shoucai, who charged out of formation.
• Mad Dog, Apu, Xu Qingzhao, Old Liu, and Ren Ye attacked Gao Jiansheng together, and Ren Ye invoked the wronged Night Watchman and 1,163 souls as he demanded that Gao kneel.

Ren Ye and his five companions fought Gao Jiansheng and the Five Family Heads, but their small team could not withstand the power meant for a much larger battlefield. With Ren Ye pinned down and his allies in danger, he summoned Zhao Baicheng’s True-Form Talisman, bringing the Sage of Law face-to-face with the Gate Eye.

• Tang Feng’s attack briefly left Gao Jiansheng vulnerable, but Gao summoned the Nether River and Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo to withstand the group’s assault.
• The Five Family Heads overwhelmed Xu Qingzhao with their desires while Tang Feng fought to restrain them, and Gao Jiansheng defeated Mad Dog and wounded Apu.
• Ren Ye struck Gao Jiansheng with the Human Emperor Sword, but Gao unleashed the Bamboo’s power and hurled Ren Ye aside.
• Tang Feng realized the six fighters were facing enemies meant for a battle involving hundreds, and Gao pinned Ren Ye down and ordered the Six Families to storm the Desire Restraint Center.
• After Wang Shoucai threatened Ai Fei and demanded Ren Ye kill himself, Ren Ye invoked his master, Zhao Baicheng, who appeared and defied the Gate Eye’s demand that he leave.

Zhao Baicheng's summoned phantom confronted the Heavenly Dao and executed the six family heads to protect Ren Ye. His intervention left the families leaderless and the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo available for the players to contest before his phantom dispersed.

• Zhao Baicheng received reports of the New Year's Watchers' progress, including Fan Ming's victories in the fourth-tier Eternal Ruins, before sensing Ren Ye's summons.
• Ren Ye sustained Zhao Baicheng's phantom with his own power and explained that he had fought to protect those who wished to live.
• Zhao Baicheng used his Legalist Sage inheritance to alter the rules and evade the Heavenly Dao's punitive lightning.
• Zhao Baicheng sentenced the six family heads to dismemberment by chariots and killed them, advancing the Sin Star Gate's final storyline.
• Zhao Baicheng praised Ren Ye before his phantom dispersed, leaving the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo for the players to contest.
• Zhao Baicheng told Lin Xiang and the Academy's leaders that Ren Ye's Star Gate contained two Supreme Treasures and that Ren Ye had been fighting the Heavenly Dao.

After Ren Ye defeated the Heads of the Six Families, the Star Gate opened Seven Families Town and turned the ownerless Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo into the focus of a deadly scramble. As Ren Ye and the others fought for the treasure, Jiang Qin summoned figures with five ancient bells and Xu Bangzi confronted him.

• Ren Ye and Zhao Baicheng's phantom killed the Heads of the Six Families, but Gao Jiansheng survived briefly as a Remnant Soul protected by the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo.
• The Star Gate began the final contest, and Old Qu, the Four Tigers of Minnan, Granny Yan, and other Players fought over the treasure as the Six Families' forces fell apart.
• Gao Jiansheng's Remnant Soul was destroyed, leaving the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo ownerless, and Players repeatedly seized and lost it in violent battles across Seven Families Town.
• Ren Ye and his companions joined the contest, while Jiang Qin entered a secluded house and used five ancient bells and black threads to summon figures.
• Two Night Walkers appeared during the struggle, one taking the bamboo, while Ren Ye withdrew to recover and his allies continued fighting.
• Xu Bangzi found Jiang Qin in the house and attacked him with Ten Steps, All Slain, but Jiang Qin said he had been waiting for him.

Ren Ye and his allies defeated Jiang Qin after revealing that they had lured him into a trap, while Jiang Qin died reflecting on the decades he spent bound to his mission. The group captured the Night Walkers and brought Xu Bangzi’s soul to Qingliang Prefecture, where the chapter left him facing Huang Batian in the dungeon.

• Jiang Qin pursued Xu Bangzi and Ren Ye with his Night Walkers, but Xu Qingzhao’s illusion and Apu and Tang Feng’s abilities let Ren Ye strike Jiang Qin down.
• Jiang Qin explained how his mission to reclaim the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo had trapped him for over thirty years, then died in the warehouse.
• Yu Weifeng’s group killed Old Qu and Xiaomai after Old Qu confessed to helping Jiang Qin.
• Xu Qingzhao broke the restrictions on the five bells, and Ren Ye took control of the Night Walkers while the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo remained missing.
• Ren Ye decapitated Xu Bangzi and used the Human Emperor Seal to summon his soul.
• In Qingliang Prefecture’s dungeon, Huang Batian questioned Xu Bangzi about his strongest ability.

After the Star Gate declared the Desire Restraint Center faction victorious, Shen Yuan brought Ren Ye and the others to Lust Village and revealed that his obsession was to lay its dead to rest. He freed the village’s 1,163 souls and began to disappear, leaving the others with news of his death seventy-two years in the future.

• The Star Gate announced the Desire Restraint Center faction’s victory, and Yu Weifeng stopped angry players from confronting Ren Ye’s group by showing them Old Qu’s corpse.
• Ren Ye, Xu Qingzhao, Old Liu, Apu, Mad Dog, and Tang Feng accompanied Shen Yuan to Lust Village, where he confessed that his own desires had made him responsible for the village’s destruction.
• Shen Yuan bowed to his family and fellow villagers, then summoned the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo and used it to guide all 1,163 wronged souls into the Nether River.
• As Shen Yuan’s phantom began to dissolve, he praised Tang Feng’s approach to desire and revealed that he had died in battle seventy-two years in the future.
• Ren Ye asked who Shen Yuan had fought, and Shen Yuan answered: the Demon Monk.

Shen Yuan explained that he had died fighting in the Land of Fallen Gods and believed the Demon Monk Mumu had died there too, before leaving Tang Feng his inheritance and a warning to preserve his pure heart. As the team departed Seven Families Town, Ren Ye used the Nether River Treasure Vase to claim the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo, and the Star Gate rewarded the team before sending them onward.

• Ren Ye questioned Shen Yuan about the Demon Monk and the Land of Fallen Gods, and Shen Yuan said he had died there alongside other supreme experts and that Mumu could not have survived until the present.
• Shen Yuan told Tang Feng that his inheritance was meant to be a god system inheritance, urged him to preserve his pure heart, and then dispersed; Tang Feng received a rare-spell type class inheritance and the title Psychologist.
• As the team prepared to leave Seven Families Town, Mad Dog, Old Liu, Tang Feng, Apu, and the others agreed to compete for the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo, then rushed to seize it.
• Ren Ye summoned the bamboo with the Nether River Treasure Vase, provoking the other five to attack him as the Star Gate pulled the team away.
• The Star Gate awarded Ren Ye experience and star source, advanced him to second tier, level seven, and gave the Qingliang Prefecture Park Team 5,000 glory points and rank 19.

After returning from the Migration Land, Ren Ye strengthened ties with Apu and reconciled with Yu Weifeng’s group before reporting his Sin Star Gate experience to Lin Xiang and Zhao Baicheng. As Vermilion Bird City shook again, Lin Xiang went to investigate the Rebirth Forest, and Ren Ye asked Zhao Baicheng what was inside it.

• Ren Ye gave Apu the Blazing Sun Palm manual and invited him to travel the Migration Land with the squad, and Apu accepted.
• Ren Ye urged Apu to use a safe Star Gate to reach the second tier’s maximum level, while Apu joked about seeking advancement funding.
• Ren Ye revealed to Yu Weifeng that he was a New Year's Watcher and the sixth God System player, and the two shook hands and settled their grievances.
• Ren Ye invited Mad Dog to join his squad, but Mad Dog chose to stay with Yu Weifeng while exchanging contact details with Ren Ye and Old Liu.
• Ren Ye told Lin Xiang and Zhao Baicheng about the Sin Star Gate, and they discussed the Demon Monk and a larger plan unfolding in the Migration Land.
• Vermilion Bird City shook as something struck the Star Gate barrier near the Rebirth Forest, so Lin Xiang went to investigate and Ren Ye asked Zhao Baicheng what was inside.

After returning from the Sin Star Gate, Ren Ye secured rewards from his masters, then rested at Qingliang Prefecture before questioning Wang Lili and Xu Bangzi about their hatred of Li Yan. The chapter ended with both prisoners cursing Li Yan while Ren Ye watched.

• Lin Xiang praised Ren Ye's performance and granted his request to transfer Tang Feng to Number Six Institute, promised reasonable help with a future mission, and let him postpone his third request.
• Zhao Baicheng promised to protect Ren Ye from the Central Plains Alliance, while Lin Xiang worried that Ren Ye's path toward the Ninety-Nine Human Emperor would be difficult.
• Ren Ye returned to Qingliang Prefecture, slept for more than twenty hours, and then met Brother Huang, who demanded to know what he had gained in the Star Gate.
• Ren Ye revealed that he had earned about 260,000 Star Source and acquired two Divine Artifacts, prompting Brother Huang to order a lavish meal.
• Ren Ye recognized Wang Lili, disguised himself as Li Yan, and provoked her into cursing him; Xu Bangzi also shouted curses against Li Yan from outside the hall.

Ren Ye recruited Xu Bangzi as his first attendant by demonstrating his power over the weather, then brought the Zhou Family’s strongest agent into his service as well. After settling the three outsiders, he asked Susu about his Second-to-Third Tier Advancement Task.

• Ren Ye and Brother Huang intimidated Wang Lili and sent her to a brothel, hoping hardship would make her join Qingliang Prefecture.
• Ren Ye told Xu Bangzi that he had brought him into his Divine Kingdom and offered him a place in the growing Empire, but Xu Bangzi initially refused.
• Ren Ye summoned wind, clouds, lightning, thunder, and rain over Qingliang Prefecture, convincing Xu Bangzi to become his attendant.
• Ren Ye recruited the Zhou Family’s strongest agent and assigned him to the Spy Battalion at Prince Huai’s Residence.
• Ren Ye found Susu and asked what his Second-to-Third Tier Advancement Task was.

Ren Ye learned that he had to expand Qingliang Prefecture into a commandery of at least eight counties and towns to advance, so he gathered his officials to consider how to gain territory. The group settled on diplomacy with the Southern Border, and Wu Pangzi rode to Qingliang Prefecture after receiving Ren Ye’s letter.

• Susu told Ren Ye that expanding Qingliang Prefecture into a commandery governing at least eight counties and towns would let him break through.
• Ren Ye met with Xu Qingzhao, Master Huang, Old Liu, and Tang Feng, who discussed the dangers of expanding into neighboring territories.
• Tang Feng and Ren Ye agreed that the Southern Border was their only possible direction for expansion, and Ren Ye proposed diplomacy.
• Ren Ye asked Lian'er for writing supplies and said he wanted to contact Wu Pangzi.
• Wu Pangzi received Ren Ye’s letter, canceled his plans for the night, and set out for Qingliang Prefecture with four men.

Ren Ye hosted Wu Pangzi at Joyful Music Palace and sought his help expanding Qingliang Prefecture southward through payments and political connections. Wu Pangzi devised a plan to secure the territory, but Ren Ye asked him to advance the money until after the autumn harvest.

• Ren Ye welcomed Wu Pangzi with music, dancers, wine, and an emotional reunion, while both men concealed their real intentions.
• Old Liu’s sighing gave Ren Ye an opening to tell Wu Pangzi that he wanted to expand Qingliang Prefecture southward without starting a war.
• Wu Pangzi calculated that the deal would require bribing Southern Border leaders and Golden Wolf General-Ba Wu, as well as cultivating support at Court.
• Wu Pangzi offered to pull strings, and Ren Ye proposed giving him one and a half million Star Source, counting five hundred thousand as compensation.
• Ren Ye admitted he did not have the money yet and asked Wu Pangzi to advance it until Qingliang Prefecture collected its autumn taxes, leaving Wu Pangzi stunned.