Chapter Summaries

Jia Huan promised to intervene after Xue Baochai begged to escape her forced marriage to Jia Baoyu, provoking Baoyu’s growing hatred. He then devised a trap to expose someone close to the White Lotus Cult’s backer, Partridge Sky.

• Concubine Zhao told Jia Huan that Xue Baochai had tried to hang herself rather than marry Jia Baoyu.
• Xue Baochai begged Jia Huan for help as Aunt Xue, Xue Pan, Jia Baoyu, and Madam Wang defended the marriage.
• Jia Huan said he would appeal to the Xue family elders, giving Baochai hope that her family could refuse the match.
• Madam Wang stormed away, while Jia Baoyu resolved to take revenge on Jia Huan.
• Jia Huan planned to use the Misty Rain Tower to offer a demonic cultivation art as bait for someone close to Partridge Sky.

Jia Huan arranged to obtain demonic cultivation manuals through the Misty Rain Tower, then confronted Wang Ziteng over Xue Baochai’s marriage and forced the Xue Family to suspend the contract. Wang Ziteng left humiliated, while Jia Huan resolved to bring him down.

• Jia Huan told the Hunchbacked Old Man to exchange martial arts manuals for demonic cultivation arts and quietly circulate them for sale in the Capital Region.
• Jia Huan and An Xuan'er gathered herbs at Mang Mountain before returning to the mansion the next day.
• Jia Huan asked Xue Baochai whether she wanted to marry Jia Baoyu, and she firmly refused.
• Wang Ziteng threatened Jia Huan, but Jia Huan shattered his teacup and ordered him to speak respectfully or leave.
• The Xue clan head suspended Xue Baochai’s marriage contract, and Wang Ziteng left Rongxi Hall furious and humiliated.
• Madam Wang ordered Xue Baochai to move out of the Grand View Garden, while Jia Baoyu vowed to remember the humiliation.

Jia Huan traced the purchase of demonic arts manuals to the Guangling Sect on Ze Mountain and learned that a Jiaofang Office musician named Mr. Gu had commissioned the deal. The lead raised suspicion of the Second Prince, but Jia Huan still needed to locate and arrest Mr. Gu.

• The Hunchbacked Old Man told Jia Huan that the Guangling Sect had bought two demonic arts manuals, prompting Jia Huan to investigate Ze Mountain.
• Jia Huan led his trusted men to the Guangling Sect, where Sect Master Qin recognized him after he removed his disguise.
• Jia Huan overpowered Sect Master Qin and demanded to know who had commissioned the manuals.
• Sect Master Qin named Mr. Gu, a musician at Heaven on Earth in the Jiaofang Office, and explained that he had sent her to buy the manuals seven days earlier.
• Scholar warned that the Jiaofang Office's hidden proprietor was rumored to be the Second Prince, but Jia Huan questioned whether the prince could be Partridge Sky.
• Sect Master Qin said she could not contact Mr. Gu directly and had received his later messages by carrier pigeon.

Jia Huan suspected the Second Prince was the White Lotus Cult’s hidden financier, Partridge Sky, and ordered Musician Gu arrested for questioning. The Second Prince intervened at Heaven on Earth and took Gu upstairs, while Jia Huan’s men prepared to respond.

• Jia Huan questioned Sect Master Qin and learned that Gu had repeatedly sought demonic cultivation arts and that the former qin player Jiu Li had also made such requests.
• Jia Huan and his subordinates concluded that the Second Prince might be Partridge Sky and agreed to arrest him if the suspicion proved true.
• When Gu ignored Sect Master Qin’s letter, Jia Huan sent Scholar and Twin Whips to arrest Gu at Heaven on Earth while he waited by the floating bridge.
• Scholar and Twin Whips found Gu in the qin room and seized him after he struck an alarm bell.
• The Second Prince confronted the Embroidered Uniform Guard, demanded Gu’s release, and took Gu upstairs despite their refusal to hand him over.
• Twin Whips signaled a guard to leave as the Second Prince led Gu to the thirteenth floor.

Jia Huan confronted the Second Prince at the Jiaofang Office to take Musician Gu into custody, but Gu killed himself with poison. Jia Huan ordered the Second Prince’s retainers questioned and threatened to raze the Jiaofang Office, leaving the furious prince vowing to kill him if he carried out the order.

• Jia Huan arrived at the Jiaofang Office and learned that the Second Prince had taken Musician Gu.
• Jia Huan demanded Musician Gu, but the Second Prince’s retainers blocked him and Gu swallowed poison, dying in the corridor.
• Jia Huan ordered everyone except the Second Prince to come to the Imperial Prison for questioning and struck down a retainer who resisted.
• Jia Huan ordered ten thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards to raze the Jiaofang Office.
• The Second Prince dismissed the threat as a bluff, then vowed to cut Jia Huan into ten thousand pieces if he sent the guards.

Jia Huan mobilized the Embroidered Uniform Guard to raid the Jiaofang Office, while continuing to search for Madam Jiuli and the White Lotus Cult’s hidden financier. Although the Second Prince tried to stop him, Jia Huan ordered the office demolished, leaving its powerful guests and the prince stunned.

• Jia Huan ordered the Kirin Office to mobilize and tasked Scholar with finding Madam Jiuli, sending Water Skimmer to investigate her as well.
• Jia Huan addressed more than eight thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards and led them to surround the Jiaofang Office.
• Jia Huan declared that the Jiaofang Office sheltered fugitives and treasonous criminals, and announced that it would be torn down.
• The Second Prince confronted Jia Huan and threatened him with charges of rebellious defiance, but Jia Huan appeared to leave without backing down.
• Jia Huan shattered the Jiaofang Office’s signboard with a palm strike and ordered the guards to demolish the building, beginning with Heaven on Earth.

Jia Huan demolished the Jiaofang Office after the second prince obstructed his arrest, then uncovered numerous criminals and spies. The second prince left in disgrace, while the Retired Emperor heard the account and found that he disliked Jia Huan less.

• Jia Huan killed three men who resisted arrest, ordered the guests out, and forced the second prince to leave the ruined Jiaofang Office in humiliation.
• At dawn, Twin Whips reported that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had caught thirteen wanted criminals and found murderers, smugglers, intelligence brokers, and foreign spies at the Jiaofang Office.
• Wang Ziteng heard that Jia Huan had destroyed the second prince’s source of wealth and delighted in the prince’s humiliation.
• The Retired Emperor learned that Jia Huan had acted after the second prince obstructed an arrest and drove the musician to suicide.
• The Retired Emperor said Jia Huan’s forceful conduct had made him dislike the commissioner less.

After demolishing the Jiaofang Office and clashing with the Second Prince, Jia Huan received three years without pay from Emperor Jingde. He arranged a search for Madam Jiuli while the humiliated prince threatened him and ordered the Jia Family’s men imprisoned.

• The Second Prince accused Jia Huan before Emperor Jingde, while Empress Yin defended her son and blamed Jia Huan for humiliating him.
• Jia Huan presented evidence that the Jiaofang Office sheltered criminals and enemy spies, but Emperor Jingde punished him with three years without pay for disrespecting the Second Prince.
• Jia Huan returned to the Northern Commandant Office and ordered Twin Whips to seek Madam Jiuli through Misty Rain Tower.
• The Second Prince arrived at the office, slapped an Embroidered Uniform Guard Small Banner, and demanded Jia Huan come to him.
• The Second Prince threatened to imprison Jia Huan in chains and force him to kneel, while Jia Huan silently resolved not to submit and thought of exposing Partridge Sky.
• As his carriage departed, the Second Prince ordered his men to find an excuse to put the Jia Family’s men in the Ministry of Justice’s prison.

After Jia Huan humiliated Jiang Qi, the Second Prince retaliated by having Jia Baoyu and other Jia family members arrested, while Jia Huan kept Jia Zheng under the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s protection. Jiang Qi arranged to torture the prisoners and hoped Jia Huan would storm the prison, but Jia Huan did not come, leaving Jiang Qi furious and Wang Ziteng rushing to the jail.

• Jia Huan warned Scholar to protect the Kirin Office’s officers from possible retaliation by Jiang Qi.
• Jia Baoyu and Madam Wang celebrated Jia Huan’s clash with the Second Prince, but the Prince of Jin’s men arrested Baoyu and other Jia family members on suspicion of theft and murder.
• Jia Zheng resisted the Ministry of Justice’s attempt to arrest him, and Jia Huan took him into the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s custody.
• Jia Huan refused to storm the Ministry of Justice prison after Scholar reported the arrests, while Jiang Qi ordered the jailed Jia family members tortured to provoke him.
• The chief administrator had Jia Baoyu, Jia Zhen, and Jia Rong brutally beaten, but Jia Huan still did not appear at the prison.
• Jiang Qi grew enraged as the night passed without Jia Huan’s intervention, and Wang Ziteng arrived outside the prison with several hundred men.

The Second Prince’s plan to blame Jia Huan collapsed when Wang Ziteng arrived with the Retired Emperor’s decree and rescued the Jia Family’s prisoners. Jia Huan refused to go to the prison, and the chapter ended with the badly injured men returning to Rongguo Mansion, where the family mourned and Jia Baoyu wept over his supposed mistreatment.

• The Second Prince wounded himself to make it appear that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had injured him, then confronted Wang Ziteng when he arrived at the Ministry of Justice prison.
• Wang Ziteng produced the Retired Emperor’s decree and sent his attendants into the prison to retrieve the Jia Family’s men, despite the Second Prince’s protests.
• The Capital Camp Elite Troops found Jia Baoyu and the other prisoners in the torture chamber and carried them out, leaving Wang Ziteng furious at the Second Prince and Jia Huan.
• At Rongguo Mansion, Jia Huan declined to go to the prison, saying he expected a trap, and went to sleep while Jia Mu and the others anxiously awaited news.
• The injured Jia Family men returned to the mansion, where Jia Mu and Madam Wang grieved over their wounds and Jia Baoyu cried that he had been wronged.

After learning that Madam Jiu Li was hiding on Mount Laojun, Jia Huan left the Capital with the Kirin Office, but secretly returned when the Second Prince sent officials to arrest his mother and household. He killed the arresting party’s chief administrator and reported the Second Prince’s actions to Emperor Jingde, who summoned Jiang Qi.

• Jia Huan obtained the location of Madam Jiu Li from the Misty Rain Tower and ordered his trusted men to travel with him to Luoyang, while planning to return to the Capital in secret.
• The Second Prince ordered his chief administrator to use Ministry of Justice officials to arrest Jia Huan’s mother and household on fabricated charges.
• Jia Baoyu and Madam Wang went to watch the arrests, but Jia Huan arrived with Embroidered Uniform Guards as the officials entered his residence.
• Jia Huan issued an arrest summons, killed the chief administrator when he resisted, and ordered the guards to kill the officials and remove their bodies.
• Jia Huan went to the Imperial Study and told Emperor Jingde that the Second Prince had again targeted his family.
• Emperor Jingde promised to deal with the Second Prince and ordered that Jiang Qi be summoned.

After Emperor Jingde ordered the Second Prince to apologize to the Jia Family, Jia Huan exposed the prince’s insincere apology and prepared defenses against retaliation. Jia Huan then left the Capital with his trusted men and reached Mount Laojun, where the story left them arriving on the fourth day.

• Emperor Jingde slapped the Second Prince and ordered him to apologize to the Jia Family, warning that he would confine him if he caused trouble again.
• The First Prince and Princess Ping'an discussed Jia Huan’s strength and worried that the Second Prince might still seek revenge.
• The Second Prince went to Rongguo Mansion and apologized to the injured Jia Family members, but Jia Huan challenged him to show genuine sincerity.
• Jia Huan instructed six Martial Arts Eminences to protect his loved ones and follow An Xuan'er's orders if imperial troops came.
• Jia Huan gathered his trusted men, left the Capital, and rode to Mount Laojun, arriving on the morning of the fourth day.

Jia Huan questioned Madam Jiuli on Mount Laojun and learned that Minister Yang Fuqi had ordered her to obtain demonic cultivation arts, while she also implicated the Second Prince in pursuing her. After returning to the capital, Jia Huan confronted Yang Fuqi, received an imperial decree ordering him to drop the matter, and decided to keep up the appearance of targeting the Second Prince while he investigated Partridge Sky.

• Jia Huan revealed his identity to Madam Jiuli and persuaded her to cooperate by drawing his Embroidered Spring Saber, whose sound enthralled her.
• Madam Jiuli identified Yang Fuqi as the source of orders to buy demonic cultivation arts and said Yang Fuqi and the Second Prince had tried to violate her.
• Jia Huan ordered his followers not to alert their suspects and suspected that someone stood behind Yang Fuqi, while considering whether Yang and the Second Prince were both involved with Partridge Sky.
• Three days later, Jia Huan visited the Ministry of Justice and asked Yang Fuqi who had drafted the Second Prince's arrest warrant.
• Yang Fuqi showed Jia Huan an imperial decree ordering him to pursue the matter no further, and Jia Huan left while concealing his suspicions and keeping the Second Prince as a decoy target.

Jia Huan learned that the Second Prince had secured an imperial decree to take Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun as concubines, and he vowed to stop the marriage and kill the prince. He began targeting Minister of Justice Yang Fuqi, whose ties to the plot remained unclear, and ended the chapter confronting him at Red Sleeve House with Yang Fuqi’s sons bound across the street.

• Jia Huan ordered Scholar to watch Yang Fuqi’s sons and the Skin-Painting Master to disguise two criminals as them, while he investigated Yang Fuqi’s nightly visits to Red Sleeve House.
• The Second Prince persuaded Empress Yin to decree that Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun would become Ladies of Virtue in his household, with the marriage set for ten days later.
• After the decree devastated the women of Rongguo Mansion, Jia Huan tore it up and promised them that no wedding procession would arrive.
• The Second Prince boasted to the First Prince that he would force Jia Huan to kneel, while the First Prince and Princess Ping'an worried about the women’s fate.
• Jia Huan attacked Yang Fuqi’s retainer at Red Sleeve House, revealed his identity, and showed Yang Fuqi his two sons bound across the street before demanding that he not test his patience.

Jia Huan uncovered Prince Zhongshun’s role in funding the White Lotus Cult and learned that an arsenal was hidden in Jiang Qi’s fief, while the Retired Emperor and Jiang Qi mistakenly believed Jia Huan had fled the Capital. The chapter ended with Jia Huan preparing to pursue the arsenal as Jiang Qi celebrated his apparent victory and threatened the women of the Rongguo Mansion.

• Jia Huan forced Yang Fuqi to reveal that Prince Zhongshun had commissioned the Princess Consort’s demonic cultivation art and financed the White Lotus Cult through theatrical taxes and illicit salt.
• Yang Fuqi identified Eight-Faced Genealogy as Prince Zhongshun’s secret lieutenant, and Jia Huan ordered Twin Whips to watch Yang Fuqi while protecting his family.
• Jia Huan arrested Eight-Faced Genealogy in Tianjin and made him reveal that Prince Zhongshun’s arsenal was hidden in a mountain range in Jinzhou, within Jiang Qi’s fief.
• Jia Huan rejected Eight-Faced Genealogy’s claim that Jiang Qi knew nothing and vowed to expose the Second Prince’s involvement.
• Wang Ziteng told the Retired Emperor that Jia Huan had left the Capital, and they assumed he had fled because of Jiang Qi’s marriage scheme.
• Jiang Qi boasted to Wang Ziteng that the three women of the Rongguo Mansion would soon become his concubines, then credited Prince Zhongshun with helping him regain his standing.

Jia Huan destroyed Prince of Zhongshun’s secret weapons fort and uncovered evidence linking the prince to the White Lotus Cult’s armor production. After the Second Prince escalated his humiliation of the Jia Family, Jia Huan returned to the Capital and rode directly toward the Forbidden City, leaving everyone to wonder how he would respond.

• Jia Huan led an attack on Prince of Zhongshun’s hidden fort, killing its defenders and capturing the steward, White Lotus Cult branch leaders, armor, materials, letters, and account books.
• Jia Huan ordered Scholar and Iron Palm to bring Jinzhou officials to the fort and continued the interrogations while securing evidence against Prince of Zhongshun.
• The Second Prince visited Rongguo Mansion, ordered the women’s maids to accompany them as bridal attendants, and demanded that the Jia Family’s injured men attend his banquet in wooden chairs.
• Jia Mu tried to comfort Lin Daiyu, Jia Tanchun, and Xue Baochai as the women faced forced marriages, while Wang Xifeng believed Jia Huan was planning a dramatic move.
• Embroidered Uniform Guards debated whether Jia Huan had deserted the Capital, then learned he had returned with his men and was heading straight for the Imperial City.

Jia Huan raided Prince Zhongshun's Mansion and killed the Princess Consort after she attacked him, then caught the fleeing Prince Zhongshun in a secret tunnel. He left with the prince as his captive, while Imperial Palace Experts arrived and found them.

• Prince Zhongshun predicted Jia Huan would pressure the emperor over the wedding and planned to humiliate him while concealing his own involvement with the White Lotus Cult.
• The mansion's Chief Secretary reported that Jia Huan had surrounded the estate with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Prince Zhongshun escaped through a hidden tunnel toward the Imperial City.
• The Princess Consort challenged Jia Huan without an Imperial Edict and attacked him with her demonic cultivation, but Jia revealed his ninth-level Profound Insight Realm strength and killed her.
• Jia Huan followed the tunnel, caught Prince Zhongshun near the Imperial City, and accused him of planning a Xuanwu Gate Incident.
• Jia Huan searched and seized Prince Zhongshun, then changed course toward the Imperial City as Imperial Palace Experts arrived.

Jia Huan accused Prince Zhongshun and the Second Prince of treason, presenting evidence that they had funded the White Lotus Cult and prepared weapons for rebellion. When the Second Prince broke down and apologized, Jia Huan refused to accept his bow, while news reaching Rongguo Mansion left Wang Xifeng and Lin Daiyu believing Jia Huan had knelt.

• Empress Yin learned that Jia Huan was taking Prince Zhongshun hostage to the Imperial City Yamen, and the Second Prince went to watch.
• Jia Huan arrived at the Grand Secretariat and declared that Prince Zhongshun and the Second Prince had committed treason.
• Jia Huan accused Prince Zhongshun of secretly financing the White Lotus Cult and accused the Second Prince of aiding it and supporting its rebellion with weapons from his Jinzhou fief.
• The Second Prince denied the charges, pleaded with Jia Huan to clear his name, and tried to kneel before him.
• Jia Huan caught the Second Prince and refused his apology, then moved away and asked officials to stop the prince from bowing.
• Xue Pan rushed to Rongguo Mansion and reported that the Second Prince had knelt, leaving Wang Xifeng and Lin Daiyu distraught as they mistakenly thought Jia Huan had knelt.

Jia Huan faced Empress Yin and the court over his investigation into the rebellion, refusing to excuse the Second Prince despite her demand. He defended his conduct as loyal service and left the officials confronted with his public challenge.

• At the Rongguo Mansion, Xue Pan reported that the Second Prince had knelt before Jia Huan, shocking Wang Xifeng, Lin Daiyu, Concubine Zhao, and the others.
• Officials waited nearly two hours for the emperor to appear as the Second Prince wept and pleaded for help.
• Empress Yin arrived by Phoenix Carriage and urged Jia Huan to investigate the rebellion while implying that the Second Prince had been misled by Prince Zhongshun.
• Jia Huan publicly declared that the Second Prince was a principal conspirator, contradicting Empress Yin.
• Empress Yin accused Jia Huan of pursuing private vengeance and questioned his loyalty to the state.
• Jia Huan recounted the Second Prince’s abuse of his family and challenged the court and the people to name anyone more loyal than him.

Jia Huan refused to soften his verdict against the Second Prince, and the court prepared to deliberate over the rebellion evidence. At Rongguo Mansion, Jia Zheng announced that the Second Prince was doomed and ordered the family to replace its wedding decorations with mourning cloth.

• Empress Yin appeared to plead for the Second Prince, but Jia Huan ignored him and assembled the Kirin Office Embroidered Uniform Guard.
• The emperor ordered the court ministers and senior Embroidered Uniform Guard officers to deliberate, and summoned Jia Huan to bring the evidence.
• Prison carts carrying weapons and military equipment entered the Imperial City as the Retired Emperor set out for the Court Deliberation Hall.
• The Retired Emperor acknowledged that Jia Huan had acted for the realm and concluded that rebellion was a crime no one could excuse.
• Jia Zheng returned to Rongguo Mansion and told Jia Mu and the family that the Second Prince had committed rebellion and they should prepare for a funeral.
• Jia Zheng ordered the family to remove the red wedding decorations and prepare white mourning cloth and spirit money.