Chapter Summaries

Li Yan and his allies fought to hold off the attackers at Loushan Pass while Ren Ye’s group tried to escape, but Old Daoist Banshan arrived and crushed the western city beneath a mountain phantom. Ai Fei and Xu Bangzi reached the northern gate, while news from Wuyao City revealed that someone had visited the Witch God Altar on Immortality Peak.

• Li Yan and the four wealth-bestowing boys fought off the growing crowd of attackers as Mo Youqian warned that they risked being surrounded.
• Li Baishou and Old Daoist Banshan returned to reinforce Wei Xing, but Xu Ersan told Banshan that capturing Little Prince Huai could save Lanyue, prompting Banshan to pursue Ren Ye.
• Ren Ye, Ai Fei, and Xu Bangzi fled through the pass city while wounded and pursued, and Ren Ye asked whether Ai Fei could control three weapons at once.
• Old Daoist Banshan attacked Ai Fei with his Mountain-Moving Talisman, and Ren Ye used the Night Walker and the Human Emperor Sword to try to hold back the descending mountain.
• The mountain phantom pulverized the western side of the pass city, and Ai Fei and Xu Bangzi escaped toward the northern gate while Banshan assumed Ren Ye had been crushed.
• In Wuyao City, Big Fat Dragon received word that someone had visited the Witch God Altar on Immortality Peak and urgently summoned Rat Lord.

Ren Ye survived Banshan’s mountain talismans and, with the help of three Fourth Grade Corpse Puppets and his allies, killed the Daoist at Loushan Pass. As the group fled, Ba Wu arrived with an army and arrows to cover their retreat, and Ren Ye finally passed out.

• Ren Ye escaped the mountain phantom, but Banshan struck him with three flying swords as he reached Loushan’s northern gate.
• Banshan collapsed the gate and attacked Ren Ye again, but three Night Walkers burst from the rubble and overwhelmed him.
• Ren Ye, Xu Bangzi, and Ai Fei joined the Night Walkers in killing Banshan, and Ren Ye taunted the remaining Supernatural Ability Users with the Daoist’s severed head.
• Li Yan rescued Wei Xing’s true soul, and the Four Child Attendants, Fenglin, and the others helped Ren Ye retreat from Loushan Pass.
• Ba Wu arrived with troops and a barrage of arrows to protect the fleeing group, and Ren Ye said he was alive before fainting.

Ren Ye woke in Lingnan Prefecture and learned that his companions had survived the battle at Loushan Pass, while Wu Pangzi reported that Ba Wu had changed his attitude toward their land purchase. Elsewhere, Guan Feng chose to remain in the Southern Border for one last plan, and Ba Wu learned that Han Chan had orchestrated the Great Qian operation.

• Ren Ye woke from a nightmare, confirmed that Ai Fei, Xu Bangzi, Fenglin, and his other companions were safe, and heard Wu Pangzi recount how their victory had made them famous.
• Wu Pangzi told Ren Ye that Ba Wu had stopped demanding six million Star Source and would speak on their behalf, so Ren Ye promised Wu Pangzi the sole official merchant position if the land purchase succeeded.
• Guan Feng refused Xu Ersan's suggestion to flee to Great Qian and pointed to a place on a map as their remaining chance.
• Xu Ersan agreed to stay beside Guan Feng, who told him to wait for Monk to arrive.
• At Loushan Pass, an officer told Ba Wu that the captured Supernatural Ability Users had identified Han Chan, a descendant of the Han Family of Shangyu County and a leading figure in the Celestial Surveillance Bureau's Yulin Faction, as the operation's true organizer.

Ba Wu learned that Han Chan of the Yulin Faction was plotting against the Southern Border and sent the intelligence to Prince Huai, who recognized Han Chan as Poison Wine Flask. After the group considered returning to Qingliang Prefecture, an Imperial Edict summoned Prince Huai to the capital in two days, leaving him unsure whether to go.

• Ba Wu ordered a secret letter about Han Chan to be sent to Prince Huai and dispatched Wangcai to find the merchant Zou Qing.
• Prince Huai and the injured members of the Disabled Association discussed returning to Qingliang Prefecture to deal with the plague.
• Ba Wu's steward delivered a letter reporting that captured Supernatural Ability Users had named Han Chan of the Yulin Faction as the plotter against the Southern Border.
• Fenglin revealed that Han Chan was Poison Wine Flask, the Great Qian figure working with Guan Feng.
• Ba Wu's steward delivered an Imperial Edict summoning Prince Huai to the capital, and Prince Huai accepted it while wondering whether he would ever get home.

Ren Ye agreed to travel to the Southern Border Capital after Fenglin advised him to avoid promises, traps, taking charge, or making judgments, and he questioned whether the Yulin Faction could have orchestrated the turmoil. After learning the plague antidote had been prepared, Ren Ye prepared to leave, but the chapter ended with the arrival of an imperial commissioner whose appearance seemed familiar to him.

• Ren Ye decided to go to the Capital with Fenglin's advice to keep quiet about expanding his territory and avoid making commitments or taking sides.
• Ren Ye recruited Li Yan and assembled a ten-person traveling party, then sent a secret letter asking Yan Bo to send Hundred-Flower Immortal.
• Ren Ye, Fenglin, and Li Yan discussed whether the Yulin Faction had enough power and time to set up the crisis across the Southern Border, and Ren Ye remained convinced that something was missing.
• Ren Ye received Brother Liu's letter confirming that Er Leng and Old Liu had made the plague antidote and would join him after Qingliang Prefecture stabilized.
• Ba Wu arrived at the Prefectural Yamen alongside a very short, black-robed imperial commissioner, whose familiar appearance startled Ren Ye.

Ren Ye met Rat Lord, who delivered the emperor’s order for them to inspect Immortality Peak before traveling to the Capital. After the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion sent Wu Pangzi in place of Hundred-Flower Immortal, Ren Ye and his party set off with Rat Lord and Ba Wu.

• Ren Ye recognized Chief Eunuch Wei Tingfang as Rat Lord and agreed to inspect Immortality Peak before entering the Capital.
• Rat Lord told Ba Wu that the emperor wanted him to escort Ren Ye, and Ba Wu agreed after learning the emperor wished to see familiar faces.
• Ren Ye and his companions discussed how the black qi and the emperor’s summons might relate to the ambush and Great Qian’s schemes.
• Yan Bo wrote that an imperial edict required the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion’s leaders to accompany an envoy, so Wu Pangzi would represent the battalion on Ren Ye’s journey.
• Fenglin explained why the ruler had summoned the battalion, and Ren Ye let him count the won bet as an investment.
• Ren Ye, Rat Lord, Ba Wu, and their companions departed for the Capital, while Ba Wu asked his wife to question Wangcai about Zhou Qing if he returned.

Ren Ye learned rumors about the Witch God and reached Immortality Peak, where the imperial decree required him to enter alone because he bore Destiny. Inside the black energy, he saw the mountain move as if alive, then froze when the mist parted.

• Rat Lord revealed that the second prince had shaved off all his fur and told Ren Ye the prince had been waiting for him in the Capital.
• Rat Lord told Ren Ye that the Witch God returned to Immortality Peak to atone after losing to an opponent who supposedly did not exist.
• Ren Ye and his party reached Immortality Mountain, where Rat Lord said only someone bearing Destiny could approach Immortality Peak and sent Ren Ye in alone.
• Ren Ye entered the black energy with the Human Emperor Seal and Human Emperor Sword beside him, but the peak seemed no closer despite his long walk.
• Ren Ye saw Immortality Peak seeming to breathe in rhythm with the world, then froze as the mist parted.

Ren Ye discovered a dry well spewing black fog before Immortality Peak’s sealed stone gate and glimpsed countless stone embryos beneath the earth. After he reported the well to Rat Lord, Rat Lord revealed that the Southern Border’s Destiny-Sealing Stone Slab had been stolen.

• Ren Ye found a dry well near the stone gate and briefly saw masses of humanoid stone embryos buried beneath Immortality Peak.
• Ren Ye could not approach the gate, then connected the site’s warnings about calamity to a prophecy in his father Ren Daguo’s letter.
• Ren Ye returned to Rat Lord and his teammates, bargaining for a Capital residence before describing the well and its black fog.
• Rat Lord asked about the stone slab covering the well, and Ren Ye said he had seen no cover.
• Rat Lord panicked and declared that the Southern Border’s Destiny-Sealing Stone Slab had been stolen.

Ren Ye learned that the stolen destiny-sealing stone slab had supposedly caused Southern Border’s destiny to leak away, while he suspected it was connected to the ominous stone embryos beneath Immortality Peak. In the capital, Emperor Wanwu summoned officials over the secret letter, ordered Netherworld Envoy Xu Liang executed for failing to find Guan Feng and track Han Chan, and received the eldest prince as the third prince speculated about the court’s coming purge.

• Rat Lord sent an urgent memorial to the capital and explained to Ren Ye that the stolen slab anchored Southern Border’s destiny and that its loss could bring ill omens.
• Ren Ye doubted Rat Lord’s explanation and wondered whether the slab had sealed the anomalous stone embryos beneath Immortality Peak.
• Emperor Wanwu read Rat Lord’s secret letter and summoned the Imperial Surveillance Office’s Netherworld Envoy and the eldest prince.
• Xu Liang reported that he could not locate Guan Feng and only surmised that Han Chan had returned to Great Qian, so Emperor Wanwu ordered him beheaded.
• The eldest prince arrived at Taiji Hall as the third prince discussed Xu Liang’s fate and wondered how many officials Emperor Wanwu would kill.

The Third Prince and First Prince discussed Little Prince Huai’s approach to the Capital and the possibility of trouble in Lingnan, while Guan Feng received a secret message urging him to wait for Little Prince Huai’s arrival. At a relay station, Ren Ye learned that the plague had been resolved and prepared to submit his findings about the five people from the Immortality Mountain secret realm to the Heavenly Dao.

• The Third Prince learned that Xu Liang had been executed and speculated that the First Prince might use the Immortality Mountain case to expand his influence in the Imperial Surveillance Office.
• The First Prince told his adviser that the emperor expected a major event in the Three Lands of Lingnan and believed Little Prince Huai’s arrival in the Capital might clarify the situation.
• Monk Peng told Guan Feng that a contact in the Capital was dissatisfied with their Immortality Mountain plans but thought matters could still turn around after Little Prince Huai entered the Capital.
• Ren Ye read Lord Huang’s letter, learning that the Qingliang Prefecture plague had been resolved and that Tang Feng had gone with Apu to take high-rank missions in the Migration Land.
• Ren Ye prepared to report his identifications of five Immortality Mountain secret-realm participants to the Heavenly Dao, naming the Second Prince, Han Chan, Young Master Guanfeng, and Daoist Fenglin among them.

Ren Ye learned that his guesses about the five people accompanying him into Immortality Mountain were wrong, but he could not find the mistake and questioned Rat Lord about the Second Prince instead. Meanwhile, Han Chan continued his alliance with Guan Feng despite the Southern Border’s coming counterattack, determined to preserve a path for the Feather-Scale Party’s successors.

• The Heavenly Dao told Ren Ye that all five of his identity guesses were wrong, leaving him unable to identify which clues he had misunderstood.
• Ren Ye asked Xu Qingzhao to help review his deductions, but she found no flaw in them and instead admitted she had been thinking about what color bra would look best.
• As the convoy traveled toward the Capital, Ren Ye questioned Rat Lord about the Second Prince, learning that he was the leading contender for the throne and had once been unconscious for over a year after a grave illness.
• Rat Lord told Ren Ye that the Second Prince’s mother died soon after her son recovered.
• On a carriage in Lingnan, Han Chan rejected his subordinate’s suggestion to abandon Guan Feng and return to Great Qian, saying he intended to honor their alliance and protect the Feather-Scale Party’s successors.

On the way to the Southern Border capital, Ren Ye learned the palace rumors surrounding the Second Prince’s illness and Consort Jing’s death, then began investigating the mystery. After arriving in Wuyao City, he waited to meet the Second Prince, while the Third Prince confronted Rat Lord outside Huitong Hall.

• Rat Lord told Ren Ye that Consort Jing had been suspected of using Witchcraft and Gu Arts to cause the Second Prince’s illness, but Ren Ye questioned her motive and suspected she had been sacrificed to conceal something else.
• Ren Ye wrote down the timeline of Consort Jing’s pregnancy, the Second Prince’s illness, her confinement and death, and the prince’s recovery, believing the case might connect to the Southern Border turmoil.
• The convoy arrived in Wuyao City, and Ren Ye and his party settled at Huitong Hall while Rat Lord went to report to the emperor and notify the Second Prince.
• The Third Prince arrived outside Huitong Hall, teased Rat Lord about having been shaved by the Second Prince, and left Rat Lord speechless.

Ren Ye met Third Prince Shuo, accepted an invitation to dine at his mansion, and traveled through the magnificent Wuyao City with his companions. Meanwhile, Big Fat Dragon arranged to provide Ren Ye with a residence in the Capital, though he ordered Rat Lord to pay for it himself.

• Third Prince Shuo invited Ren Ye to a banquet, and Rat Lord reminded Ren Ye that the Emperor had summoned him at the Second Prince’s advice.
• Ren Ye met Third Prince Shuo at Huitong Lodge, accepted the invitation, and gathered Fenglin, Li Yan, Xu Bangzi, and the Four Child Attendants to accompany him.
• Ba Wu prepared gifts to visit Third Master at the minister of personnel’s mansion.
• Ren Ye and his companions traveled by carriage to Prince Shuo’s mansion, and Ren Ye admired Wuyao City’s grandeur.
• Rat Lord reported to Big Fat Dragon that he had promised Ren Ye a residence, and Big Fat Dragon ordered him to buy a three-courtyard house at his own expense.

Ren Ye attended a private banquet hosted by the Third Prince, who offered him a fortune in future northern profits and gave him five chests of valuable gifts. Ren Ye accepted the gifts while remaining unsure of the Third Prince’s motives, and Ba Wu left the Ministry of Personnel Minister’s residence after learning his host would not return that night.

• The Third Prince dismissed the dancing girls and told Ren Ye he had invited him because he wanted to meet someone reputed to be vulgar, greedy, and lustful.
• Ren Ye and the Third Prince discovered they considered themselves kindred spirits and drank together.
• The Third Prince offered to fund Qingliang Prefecture with thirty million star source after making money in the North, where he believed war might break out.
• The Third Prince presented Ren Ye with five chests of valuables, and Ren Ye accepted them into his consciousness space despite protesting.
• Ba Wu waited nearly four hours for the Third Master at the Ministry of Personnel Minister’s residence, then left after a servant said the master might not return that day.

Ren Ye learned that Emperor Wanwu had summoned him to investigate the forces behind the border crisis, and the Second Prince revealed that the emperor needed him to act as a sharp blade. The chapter ended with Ren Ye asking what he would gain from the dangerous assignment.

• Ren Ye left the Third Prince’s banquet after allowing his companions to stay and enjoy themselves, then discussed the Third Prince’s intentions with Li Yan and Fenglin.
• Emperor Wanwu received Yin Guang’s report that Monk Peng was gathering men and might be returning to meet Guan Feng, then ordered the Second Prince to bring Ren Ye to the palace.
• The Second Prince arrived at Huitong Hall, reunited with Ren Ye from the Immortality Mountain Secret Realm, and escorted him to meet the emperor.
• On the carriage ride, the Second Prince said the emperor wanted the loss of the sealing stone slab and the Qingliang Prefecture plague investigated, including who supported Guan Feng and Han Chan.
• The Second Prince told Ren Ye that the emperor needed an exceptionally sharp blade, and Ren Ye asked what he would get in return.

Ren Ye bargained with Big Fat Dragon over whether to investigate the Border Case, securing the First Prince’s protection and the right to stop if the danger became too great. He then met Emperor Wanwu at the Witch God Palace, where the emperor questioned whether Ren Ye was still the wastrel he had once been, while Ba Wu continued waiting at the Minister of Personnel’s residence.

• Ren Ye resisted Big Fat Dragon’s offers of Qingliang Prefecture tax revenue and demanded protection and the option to end the investigation when he judged it too dangerous.
• Big Fat Dragon warned Ren Ye to speak honestly about his ambitions to Emperor Wanwu, since the emperor’s judgment could determine whether Ren Ye survived the Court’s scrutiny.
• Ren Ye entered the Witch God Palace and formally greeted Emperor Wanwu at Moon-Reflecting Lake.
• Emperor Wanwu recalled his past with Ren Ye’s father, then observed that Ren Ye had several powerful experts accompanying him and asked whether he was still the wastrel Zhu Zigui of old.
• Ba Wu waited at the Minister of Personnel’s residence, irritated by the dark, muggy weather.

Ren Ye met with the old emperor, professed loyalty to the Wuyao Kingdom, and was later appointed Imperial Commissioner to investigate the conspiracy involving Guan Feng and Han Chan. The Third Prince stunned the court by demanding Ren Ye’s immediate execution.

• Ren Ye told the old emperor that he would never reconcile with Great Qian and offered to submit Qingliang Prefecture to the Wuyao Kingdom.
• Ren Ye claimed Earth Dragon Six Jia was safely back in Qingliang Prefecture, and the old emperor laughed at his evasive answer.
• At the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the old emperor appointed Ren Ye Imperial Commissioner to investigate Guan Feng and Han Chan.
• After the ministers stayed silent, the Third Prince called for Ren Ye to be beheaded and his head displayed at the northern city gate.

The Third Prince accused Ren Ye of conspiring to annex Southern Border territory and urged Emperor Wanwu to have him beheaded, while ministers split over the charges. Emperor Wanwu ordered Ren Ye taken into custody and confined in the Dungeon.

• The Third Prince presented three charges against Ren Ye, including evidence that he had tried to secure Thousand-Mile Green Battalion territory through Ba Wu.
• Ren Ye denied seeking to expand his territory and asked Emperor Wanwu to investigate, while the Second Prince remained silent.
• Jin Guoting and Wu Zhengying backed the accusations, and other ministers joined them in demanding Ren Ye's execution.
• The First Prince argued that the evidence was insufficient and warned that executing Ren Ye without proof could harm Southern Border's relations with other states; Yao Qingshan seconded his motion.
• The Third Prince proposed arresting Ba Wu to obtain proof and renewed his plea for Ren Ye's execution.
• Emperor Wanwu ordered Ren Ye taken into custody and confined in the Dungeon.

After the Third Prince accused Little Prince Huai of conspiring to seize Southern Border territory, Ba Wu was arrested and tortured until Jin Guoting arrived and urged him to confess in exchange for a chance to live. The Ministry of Justice then moved against Little Prince Huai’s retinue, ordering them seized while Huai remained away.

• The old emperor ordered Ren Ye confined and tasked Song Wenzhang with investigating the accusations against Little Prince Huai.
• Ba Wu was turned away after three days seeking Jin Guoting’s advice, and he resolved to leave the Capital and abandon the Golden Wolf Tribe.
• A Ministry of Justice officer arrested Ba Wu, who was tortured but denied taking money or conspiring with Little Prince Huai.
• Jin Guoting arrived, explained why he had avoided Ba Wu, and urged him to confess so he might survive with his life spared.
• Soldiers burst into Huitong Hall and announced that Little Prince Huai’s retinue would be imprisoned as accomplices and executed after autumn.

Ren Ye tried to understand why the Third Prince had denounced him, then learned the prince had used the Court’s accusations to distinguish genuine threats from political opportunists and gave him protective armor. The emperor sentenced Ren Ye to exile and forced labor in the Nether River Realm, where the journey would take him through Zhangzhou as Monk Peng was expected to arrive there.

• Ren Ye weighed his leverage and his chances in prison before the Third Prince secretly visited his cell.
• The Third Prince admitted he had attacked Ren Ye to profit with the emperor’s favor, while arguing that the Court’s collective accusations exposed who truly wanted Ren Ye dead.
• The Third Prince gave Ren Ye Exquisite Armor, which could withstand three full-force blows from a fourth-grade peak supernatural ability user, and left the jailers to deny that he had visited.
• The minister of justice presented Ba Wu’s testimony that Ren Ye had tried to bribe him, and the emperor sentenced Ren Ye to exile in the Nether River Realm to work as a laborer until his destiny dissipated.
• The emperor learned Monk Peng was heading to Zhangzhou, a route Ren Ye would have to pass through, then asked for an Imperial Commissioner to investigate the Destiny-Sealing Stone Slab theft and Guan Feng’s case; Yao Qingshan recommended the First Prince.