Chapter Summaries

Wang Anquan’s history of loyalty and political survival led him to become North Wind Town’s surrendered garrison commander, where he now depended on the incoming officials and Niu Dali. At their welcoming banquet, Niu Dali staged a murderous extortion scheme against prisoners and falsely credited Wang Anquan with devising it, while Ren Ye watched in anger.

• Wang Anquan defied the First Prince to defend his disgraced master, lost his office, and later accepted an appointment as North Wind Town’s garrison commander.
• Wang Anquan surrendered North Wind Town to the Heavenly Radiance Temple, and Niu Dali took control of the town’s monk soldiers while Wang Anquan became a powerless figurehead.
• Niu Dali proposed exploiting unidentified prisoners for Star Source and told Wang Anquan to take credit for the scheme.
• Ren Ye, Wang Tudou, Mora, and the other officials arrived in North Wind Town and attended a banquet hosted by Niu Dali and Wang Anquan.
• Wang Anquan hinted that Ren Ye should overlook irregularities in the town’s accounts, and Ren Ye agreed to visit his residence.
• Niu Dali brought prisoners before the banquet guests and threatened to kill them unless they paid for their lives, then claimed Wang Anquan had devised the plan.

At a banquet in the Garrison Prefecture, Niu Dali’s men extorted Star Source from condemned prisoners and executed those who could not pay, while Ren Ye struggled to protect them without exposing himself. The Little Marquis then escaped execution by claiming he knew the Human Emperor Successor’s whereabouts, leaving Ren Ye and Daoist Chu stunned as he began describing their supposed feud.

• Niu Dali and the new officials watched as prisoners were ordered to pay one million Star Source for another day of life.
• Six prisoners who failed to pay were beheaded, and the young bald leader killed a scholar who had borrowed Star Source to meet the price.
• Ren Ye silently reconsidered his mission and resolved to help the Divine Court retake North Wind Town, while the Little Marquis was brought forward with the next group of prisoners.
• The Little Marquis insulted the bald leader, then offered to defect to the Heavenly Radiance Divine Temple in exchange for his life.
• The Little Marquis claimed the Human Emperor Successor had entered the Year 251 Migration Land and said he knew his exact whereabouts.
• The Little Marquis called himself the Human Emperor Successor’s archenemy and invented a story about stolen opportunities and an abducted wife, while Ren Ye told Daoist Chu he was making it up.

At the welcoming banquet, the Little Marquis revealed that he knew where the Human Emperor Successor was, drawing attention to him and prompting Niu Dali to order him held separately for interrogation. Ren Ye and Daoist Chu decided to leave him under observation while investigating North Wind Town’s factions, and Ren Ye’s first review of the town’s plunder records led him toward Wang Anquan.

• The Little Marquis announced that the Human Emperor Successor was in the Year 251 Migration Land, but a warning from Heavenly Radiance Temple ordered Niu Dali not to handle the prisoners rashly and said temple interrogators would be sent.
• Niu Dali ended the banquet, ordered the Little Marquis held separately, and sent the other prisoners back to their cells pending the temple’s interrogators.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu discussed using the Little Marquis as bait to learn about North Wind Town’s factions, and Ren Ye concluded that Niu Dali’s banquet scheme and Wang Anquan’s secret report had shaped the evening’s events.
• Ren Ye took up his post at the Inner Manor Logistics Office and found that its ledgers recorded only a little over twenty million star source, with many entries marked “suspected” or “unknown.”
• After an official said Wang Anquan had provided the ledgers, Ren Ye left the office, joking that he was suspected of heading to a whorehouse and that the opponents he might meet were unknown.

Ren Ye confronted Wang Anquan about North Wind Town’s missing Star Source, then accepted the commander’s promise to conceal the suspicious accounts after Wang offered him several treasures. As Ren Ye left to investigate the missing fortune with Daoist Chu, Wang Anquan’s furious wife demanded her stolen hairpin, and Wang Tudou arrived insisting on seeing Jiu Zhi.

• Ren Ye visited Wang Anquan and warned that the suspicious treasury accounts could bring trouble to the Garrison Prefecture and the Martial Monk Supervisory Office.
• Wang Anquan explained that the city’s treasuries had been looted during the fall of North Wind Town and said the treasury had once held over two hundred million Star Source.
• Wang Anquan offered Ren Ye a jade hairpin, a Jade-Seated Golden Buddha, and a Puppet-Slaying Blade to persuade him not to investigate the accounts; Ren Ye agreed to report that the books matched the cash on hand.
• Ren Ye left the Garrison Prefecture planning to investigate the missing Star Source with Daoist Chu, while Wang Anquan’s wife stormed in and slapped him over her missing hairpin.
• Wang Tudou arrived at the Garrison Prefecture and told Wang Anquan that the Divine Monk Manor had sent him to see Jiu Zhi that day.

Wang Tudou found the captured Jiu Zhi too badly poisoned and cursed to escort, so he decided to wait while secretly planning for trouble. Meanwhile, Ren Ye and Daoist Chu traced a missing fortune in star source to the town treasury, and Mora prepared to use a prisoner to help Prince Gu Huang locate the Human Emperor Successor.

• Wang Tudou examined Jiu Zhi in the underground chamber and learned that he needed seven or eight days to recover before he could be moved.
• Wang Tudou ordered Wang Anquan to keep Jiu Zhi hidden from everyone, then returned to his inn and planned the escort with his seven companions.
• Ren Ye told Daoist Chu that more than two hundred million in star source had gone missing from North Wind Town, and they devised ways to investigate the funds and test Wang Anquan.
• Ren Ye realized that the town's records could identify the treasury that had held the missing star source and turned to the ledger for clues.
• Mora sent a subordinate to visit Niu Dali's prisoner, improve the prisoner's conditions, and prepare to use him to find the Human Emperor Successor for Prince Gu Huang.

Ren Ye and Daoist Chu investigated the Ministry of Revenue treasury as the likely source of North Wind Town’s missing star source, triggering a hidden assignment and uncovering signs of a massacre. They summoned a victim’s soul, which named Liu Wei as the only survivor, while an unrelated team decided to act within two days without seeking the other Divine Court agent.

• Ren Ye reasoned from the general ledger that the Ministry of Revenue treasury was the likeliest source of the missing star source, and he and Daoist Chu went to inspect it.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu forced the guards to let them into the ruins and found a bloodstained, sinister treasury below ground.
• Ren Ye triggered the hidden assignment, “The Unlocated Massive Star Source,” and Daoist Chu determined that the many victims’ souls had been shattered.
• Daoist Chu performed a soul-summoning ritual, and a slain monk identified Liu Wei from the Mess Hall Army as the only person who escaped.
• At an inn, a handsome young man decided his team would act within two days and rejected the suggestion that they find and work with the other Divine Court agent.

Ren Ye learned that Liu Wei of the Mess Hall Army might know what happened during the Treasury massacre and planned to approach him, while persuading Daoist Chu to fund their expenses. At the Garrison Prefecture, Wang Anquan’s son described seeing the supposedly dead Spirit Cat before a mysterious woman named Bai Zhenzhen arrived and showed Wang a token that shocked him.

• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu questioned the Monk Soldier Yin Soul and learned that Liu Wei of the Mess Hall Army had escaped the slaughter in the Ministry of Revenue's Treasury.
• Ren Ye learned from Old Zhang that Liu Wei was greedy and lustful, had been punished with the Soul Shatter Whip, and belonged to the Mess Hall Army rather than Niu Dali's forces.
• Ren Ye decided to threaten and win over Liu Wei, then convinced Daoist Chu to cover their expenses in exchange for an equal share of any opportunity they found.
• Wang Anquan beat his son Wang Wenping for leaving the compound, but Wang Wenping insisted he had chased the Spirit Cat to protect his younger brother.
• Wang Anquan encountered Bai Zhenzhen, a mysterious Fourth Grade cultivator with an Otherworlder's aura, in the rear courtyard and was stunned by the token she showed him.

Wang Anquan rejected Ren Ye’s attempt to recruit him through a Fulong Pavilion disguise, explaining that he only wanted to survive and protect his family. Ren Ye concluded that Wang Anquan was unlikely to help him recover Jiu Zhi and the Ginseng Fruit, then learned that Mora wanted to meet him.

• A gray-robed woman bearing a Fulong Token told Wang Anquan that the Pavilion Master offered him a chance to change sides, then asked him to bring Jiu Zhi back to the Heavenly Capital.
• Wang Anquan refused to hand over Jiu Zhi, described why he had surrendered North Wind Town, and warned the woman to leave with her people.
• Wang Anquan told He Zhu Zhu that he had spared the visitor because killing her could provoke Fulong Pavilion, and explained why Heavenly Radiance Temple would tolerate his decision.
• Ren Ye revealed that he had controlled the female corpse to test Wang Anquan and concluded that Wang Anquan would not risk changing sides again.
• Ren Ye decided to seek leverage by investigating the missing Star Source and planned to question Liu Wei.
• Old Zhang told Ren Ye that Mora, the chief official of the Inner Manor, wanted to meet him.

Ren Ye secured Mora’s warrant to investigate the missing Star Source, then pressured Liu Wei into revealing that the underground Treasury had held far more Star Source than the official accounts recorded. The chapter ended with Wang Anquan learning that his eldest son, Wenping, had disappeared again.

• Mora probed Ren Ye about the Star Source accounts, and Ren Ye described the suspiciously flawless ledger while leaving the decision to investigate to Mora.
• Mora ordered Ren Ye to investigate the missing Star Source discreetly and gave him a sealed warrant after Ren Ye pledged to follow the Inner Manor’s direction.
• Mora and a fellow monk decided to treat Ren Ye as a possible Traveler and let him investigate ahead as their pawn rather than keep him under surveillance.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu confronted Liu Wei at the Embroidered Silk Courtyard, and the yin soul identified Liu Wei as the sole survivor of the underground Treasury massacre.
• Ren Ye threatened to send the yin soul and his findings to the temple, prompting Liu Wei to admit that witnesses had seen vastly different amounts of Star Source in the Treasury, ranging from over two hundred million to more than a billion.
• The Steward told Wang Anquan that Wenping had vanished from the Garrison Prefecture, and Wang Anquan rose with a foreboding feeling.

Ren Ye questioned Liu Wei about the Treasury massacre and concluded that someone had engineered the killings to conceal a theft, with Niu Dali as a likely suspect. Meanwhile, Yu Tiange revealed that Wang Anquan’s missing son was with his friend and demanded that Wang obey him while he stayed at the residence.

• Liu Wei described how greed and chaos in the Ministry of Revenue Treasury led the Monk Soldiers to fight, and said a strange burning smell filled the underground corridors.
• Ren Ye promised to lay the Yin Soul to rest and gained Liu Wei’s loyalty, then reasoned with Daoist Chu that the Treasury massacre was a setup and Niu Dali may have planned it.
• The Heavenly Dao announced that Liu Wei’s intimacy with Ren Ye had risen to ninety percent.
• Wang Anquan feared that his missing son Wang Wenping had been abducted and secretly agreed to meet an unfamiliar young man.
• Yu Tiange showed Wang Anquan his son’s Soul-Nourishing Jade, said his friend had taken Wang Wenping as a disciple, and ordered Wang to obey him during his stay.

Yu Tiange threatened Wang Anquan into helping him obtain intelligence on North Wind Town’s teleportation formations, while He Zhu Zhu demonstrated her fierce resolve to protect her son. The chapter revealed Yu Tiange’s Yu Ancient Clan background and ended with Ren Ye preparing to use the gray-robed female corpse to steal files and case records.

• Yu Tiange threatened to mutilate Wang Anquan’s kidnapped son unless Wang helped him, and He Zhu Zhu attacked Yu Tiange before Wang stopped her from striking.
• He Zhu Zhu warned Yu Tiange not to harm her son and told Wang Anquan they would face the consequences together.
• Yu Tiange ordered Wang Anquan to provide detailed information on North Wind Town’s seven teleportation Grand Formations before noon the next day.
• Wang Anquan agreed to try and escorted Yu Tiange to a secluded building, where Yu settled in for the night.
• Yu Tiange recalled the Yu Ancient Clan’s history, his potential inheritance from Heavenly Venerable Yingyuan, and how he had obtained a Heaven’s Grace Token.
• Ren Ye brought out the gray-robed female corpse and told Daoist Chu he planned to use her to steal a group’s files and case records.

Ren Ye investigated Niu Dali’s role in the Treasury massacre, identified Niu Dali’s brother-in-law Lu Zhao as a likely accomplice, and planned to watch him. Meanwhile, Yu Tiange pressured Wang Anquan to collect materials to repair North Wind Town’s teleportation formations, and Wang secretly signaled for help; the chapter ended with Daoist Chu reporting that someone had put something up.

• Ren Ye possessed the Otherworlder woman’s corpse to search the Military Records Office, but found no personnel files on Niu Dali’s officers.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu met Liu Wei at the Embroidered Silk Courtyard, where Liu Wei named Lu Zhao as Niu Dali’s closest officer and identified him as Niu Dali’s younger brother-in-law.
• Ren Ye resolved to have Daoist Chu watch Lu Zhao while he sought a way to make him reveal whether Niu Dali had taken the missing star source.
• Wang Anquan gave Yu Tiange details about North Wind Town’s teleportation formations and defenses, but resisted Yu’s demand that he gather repair materials within two days.
• Yu Tiange threatened Wang Anquan’s son unless Wang cooperated, and Wang later decided to seek help by hanging an extra lantern outside the Prefectural Yamen.
• Daoist Chu rushed in to tell Ren Ye that someone had put something up, and Ren Ye mistakenly feared Liu Wei had died.

Ren Ye and Wang Anquan struck a tentative deal to cooperate on recovering North Wind Town and rescuing their respective targets, while Ren Ye planned to observe Yu Tiange before deciding whether to meet him. As Ren Ye and Daoist Chu investigated Lu Zhao’s missing lover, Ren Ye detected a faint smell of blood in her bedroom.

• Daoist Chu told Ren Ye that Wang Anquan had hung a lantern to summon him, and Ren Ye secretly went to meet Wang Anquan at the Garrison Prefecture.
• Wang Anquan questioned Ren Ye about other Divine Court agents in North Wind Town, and Ren Ye revealed that another group of eight people carrying Conscription Tokens was present.
• Wang Anquan explained that Yu Tiange had kidnapped his son Wenping and demanded information about the Grand Formations and rare repair materials; Ren Ye agreed to observe their next meeting from hiding.
• Wang Anquan offered to help Ren Ye retrieve Jiu Zhi and cooperate in retaking North Wind Town, while Ren Ye advised him to wait until Yu Tiange’s two-day deadline before responding.
• Daoist Chu reported that Lu Zhao had failed to leave his lover’s house or report for work, and Ren Ye went with him to investigate the apparently empty residence.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu searched the house and found it tidy, but Ren Ye detected a faint smell of blood coming from the cabinet beside the bed.

Ren Ye and Daoist Chu investigated Lu Zhao’s disappearance and suspected that Niu Dali or another conspirator had silenced him. Ren Ye then secretly observed Yu Tiange threaten Wang Anquan into gathering intelligence for an attack, but refused to reveal his identity when Wang Anquan asked him to intervene.

• Ren Ye found a bloody, unfinished mark behind a cabinet in Lu Zhao’s room, and he and Daoist Chu reasoned that Lu Zhao’s mortal lover had been killed and Lu Zhao was likely taken or killed.
• Daoist Chu suspected the mark pointed to Niu Dali, while Ren Ye considered that it might have been planted to frame him; they decided to watch how the authorities responded to Lu Zhao’s disappearance.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu secretly entered the Garrison Prefecture, where Ren Ye overheard Yu Tiange confront Wang Anquan about failing to obtain materials for repairing the Teleportation Grand Formations.
• Yu Tiange demanded that Wang Anquan gather detailed intelligence on the South Mountain Illusion Realm’s guards and Niu Dali, and arrange a meeting with Jiu Zhi within three days, threatening Wang Anquan’s family if he refused.
• Yu Tiange revealed a genuine token bearing the First Prince’s Dao Rhyme, confirming his connection to the Divine Court; afterward, Wang Anquan begged Ren Ye to use his Fulong Pavilion identity to stop Yu Tiange.
• Ren Ye refused to reveal his identity, saying he did not think Yu Tiange was someone he could work with.

Ren Ye advised Wang Anquan to cooperate with Yu Tiange while keeping Jiu Zhi in custody, then investigated the hidden clue in Lu Zhao’s disappearance. Yu Tiange agreed to leave Jiu Zhi in place for now, while Wang Tudou reacted to a change in a mysterious crimson sphere.

• Ren Ye promised to help Wang Anquan rescue his son secretly and told him to meet Yu Tiange’s demands while refusing to hand over Jiu Zhi until it was safe.
• Ren Ye learned that Lu Zhao had disappeared and, through Liu Wei, discovered that the Martial Monk Supervisory Office had found no clues despite the investigators searching Lu Zhao’s lover’s residence.
• Ren Ye concluded that Niu Dali might either be hiding his own involvement or concealing evidence while pursuing whoever had targeted him, and he asked Daoist Chu to watch Niu Dali.
• Wang Anquan let Yu Tiange visit Jiu Zhi in disguise but refused to release him before the North Wind Town situation was settled; Yu Tiange accepted the delay and demanded that Wang make no further requests during the plan.
• Wang Tudou noticed the crimson sphere’s light dim and sent a pawn to stay while ordering a general to investigate.

Wang Tudou’s history revealed how he survived his weak Sufferer inheritance by carefully ambushing vulnerable travelers and building strength through their blood essence. In North Wind Town, Yang Sanhai returned from checking a monitored location, and Wang Tudou ordered the team to continue watching Wang Anquan without warning him.

• Yang Sanhai abandoned a winning Pai Gow hand after receiving the team’s signal and hurried to his assigned position.
• Wang Tudou’s first-grade inheritance gave him no treasure or spells, only a painful method of strengthening his body with others’ blood essence.
• After leaving Black Cage Fortress nearly penniless, Wang Tudou ambushed and killed an injured third-tier traveler, taking Star Source and a magic treasure before returning for medicine.
• Wang Tudou explained that he had prepared the ambush by absorbing blood energy from stolen corpses, and said his ruthless methods came from learning the Chaos Faction’s rules of survival.
• Yang Sanhai reported that the target location showed no illusion realm or unusual aura after Wang Anquan visited with a medical practitioner.
• Wang Tudou rejected warning Wang Anquan and told Yang Sanhai to continue monitoring him routinely.

Wang Tudou and Yang Sanhai discussed the dangers of their assignment and their squad’s arrangements, while Ren Ye helped Wang Anquan find a way to undermine Yu Tiange’s risky plan by getting Niu Dali recalled. The chapter ended with Niu Dali asking to speak with a prisoner who claimed to know the Human Emperor Successor.

• Wang Tudou explained that he was waiting for their enemies to reveal themselves, then lent Yang Sanhai two hundred thousand star source and warned him to avoid Mora and the Inner Manor officials.
• Ren Ye learned that Yu Tiange planned to drug and kidnap Niu Dali, free captive generals, and repair three teleportation formations so Divine Court reinforcements could retake North Wind Town.
• Wang Anquan explained why Yu Tiange’s plan was dangerously flawed, and Ren Ye advised him to anonymously report Niu Dali so the Heavenly Radiance Temple might recall him.
• Ren Ye pointed to the disappearance of Lu Zhao as a possible basis for the report, and Wang Anquan considered how to stir up the factions in North Wind Town.
• Niu Dali asked his guard to bring him the prisoner who claimed to know where the Human Emperor Successor was.

Wang Anquan’s anonymous report prompted Heavenly Radiance Temple to investigate Niu Dali, and Mora and Ren Ye both helped strengthen the suspicions against him. Ordered back to the temple for questioning, Niu Dali prepared to leave with his guards and chose to take the Little Marquis along, leaving Ren Ye alarmed.

• Wang Anquan persuaded Yu Tiange to abandon kidnapping Niu Dali, then sent Heavenly Radiance Temple a damaging report about him.
• Bodhisattva Zhuyuan questioned Mora about missing star source and Niu Dali’s conduct, and Mora replied that the accounts were questionable and Niu Dali was under suspicion.
• Ren Ye told Yuyang that Niu Dali was implicated, encouraged his master to act against him, and promised to obtain the Dao-Comprehending Ginseng Fruit.
• The Deathless Tower ordered Mora to temporarily assist with military affairs and summoned Niu Dali to return for questioning with twenty Personal Guards.
• Niu Dali handed Mora his command token and seal, then told a trusted guard to bring one more person with them when they departed.
• Daoist Chu returned to Ren Ye with news that Niu Dali planned to take the Little Marquis to Heavenly Radiance Temple.

Ren Ye and Daoist Chu planned to rescue the Little Marquis after Niu Dali took him from North Wind Town, while Wang Anquan and Yu Tiange prepared to launch their rebellion that evening. Yu Tiange sent Wang Anquan his son Wenping’s severed finger as a warning, and Ren Ye set out to search for Wenping.

• Daoist Chu told Ren Ye that Niu Dali was taking the Little Marquis to Heavenly Radiance Temple, so Ren Ye arranged for Daoist Chu to follow them and attempt a rescue.
• Ren Ye and Daoist Chu agreed to use Tian Beads to signal danger or success, and Daoist Chu gave Ren Ye ten Ground-Shrinking Talismans for a quick pursuit.
• Niu Dali left North Wind Town at noon with twenty attendants and the Little Marquis, while Wang Anquan invited Warrior Monk Prefecture officers to a dinner before the rebellion planned for that evening.
• Wang Anquan demanded proof that his son Wenping was alive, but Yu Tiange sent him Wenping’s severed little finger and bone-mending salve as a threat.
• Wang Anquan told Ren Ye about the delivery and asked him to find Wenping; he also gave Ren Ye two young relatives to assist and a bottle of Soul-Confusing Immortal Incense.

Ren Ye used the clues surrounding Wang Wenping’s kidnapping to search the western district with Tu Yishan and Tu Ershui, while Wang Anquan and Yu Tiange prepared to seize control of the Garrison Prefecture. The chapter ended with Niu Dali choosing to wait at a post station and mentioning the Spirit Cat.

• Ren Ye recognized that the Soul-Confusing Immortal Incense could explain the slaughter in the underground treasury and reconsidered Wang Anquan’s hidden motives.
• Ren Ye met Tu Yishan and Tu Ershui, learned their father had died defending Kunwu City, and followed the pockmarked courier to a Curio and Antique Shop without confronting him.
• Ren Ye deduced that Wang Wenping’s captors were likely hiding somewhere in West City Six Streets and sought information from refugees and beggars.
• A young beggar directed Ren Ye and the Tu brothers toward the Corpse-Mourning Red Pavilion, where they suspected the captors might be hiding.
• Wang Anquan drugged the invited officers’ food and wine, then joined Yu Tiange in launching an uprising with the Wang Family cultivators.
• Niu Dali refused to leave the post station as ordered and said he would wait because of the Spirit Cat.