Chapter Summaries

In Jiangnan, Jia Huan found a possible way to locate Jiang Wuji by seeking a feng shui master who could identify places rich in yin energy, while Empress Yin visited the Rongguo Mansion and mocked Jia Huan’s apparent lack of progress. The chapter left Jia Huan pursuing his plan and Empress Yin confident that his deadline would end in failure.

• Jia Huan ordered his subordinates to search for young twins and find a feng shui master who could locate places where yin energy gathered.
• Water Skimmer found information on Cui Heyun, and Jia Huan ordered a message sent to Xu Jingchun asking him to recruit the elder for the Jiangnan mission.
• Empress Yin arrived at the Rongguo Mansion and told Jia Mu and the Jia Family that she had come to show the imperial family's concern.
• Empress Yin praised Jia Huan's supposed deterrence of the White Lotus Cult, while Scholar and Twin Whips watched the procession.
• Empress Yin privately believed Jia Huan would fail to capture the hidden White Lotus Cult Leader before his military pledge deadline.

Empress Yin sent wedding gifts for Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun that were meant for a ghost marriage to the dead Jiang Qi, while Jia Huan awaited news of the White Lotus Cult. Feng Shui Master Cui Heyun returned with a map identifying the Yinyu River Grand Canyon as the cult’s likely hideout, leaving Jia Huan certain he had found their base.

• Empress Yin sent wedding gifts for Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun, and her maid revealed they were to be burned for a ghost marriage to Jiang Qi.
• Jia Mu hid the Empress’s threat from the young women, while Twin Whips reassured her that no one would dare harm Rongguo Mansion.
• Jia Huan spent New Year’s Eve at the Kang'an Ward Guard Station awaiting Cui Heyun’s survey of Jiangnan.
• Cui Heyun returned and showed Jia Huan a map of the Yinyu River Grand Canyon, surrounded by places where White Lotus Cult members could pose as fishermen, herb gatherers, and miners.
• Jia Huan concluded that the Yinyu River Grand Canyon was the White Lotus Cult’s hideout.

Jia Huan devised a deceptive mobilization to secretly converge on the White Lotus Cult's stronghold in Jiangnan before its leaders could flee. In the capital, Emperor Jingde prepared to strip Jia Huan of command and crush his family after the deadline, while Empress Yin offered to find a charge against him.

• Jia Huan identified the Yinyu River Grand Canyon as the White Lotus Cult's nest and ordered a public dispatch calling guards to search Jiangnan while secretly sending two thousand Kirin Office elites to converge on the target.
• The dispatch spread through Jiangnan, making Jia Huan appear desperate as the five-day deadline approached.
• Emperor Jingde told Qin Zhong to prepare to take over the Embroidered Uniform Guard after Jia Huan's expected failure.
• Emperor Jingde and Empress Yin planned to establish an Eastern Depot to counter the Embroidered Uniform Guard and discussed stripping Jia Huan of authority, accusing him of a crime, and punishing his family.
• Empress Yin promised to find a charge against Jia Huan, and Emperor Jingde anticipated acting against him once the deadline passed.

Empress Yin recruited Madam Wang and Jia Baoyu to help carry out a ghost wedding and stage a coffin-bearing remonstrance, promising them titles and posts in return. In the Eastern Palace, the Retired Emperor and the Prince of Zhennan prepared to support Jia Huan at the court audience five days later, while trusting he would survive the White Lotus Cult’s threat.

• Empress Yin summoned Madam Wang and Jia Baoyu and ordered them to escort Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun as ghost brides to the Second Prince’s imperial mausoleum.
• Empress Yin granted Madam Wang a third-rank imperial mandate and arranged a ninth-rank Five City Troops Command post for Jia Baoyu, promising them greater rewards for their cooperation.
• Empress Yin ordered Madam Wang and Jia Baoyu to carry coffins into the Imperial City and stage a life-risking remonstrance to draw senior ministers into the dispute.
• The Retired Emperor told the Prince of Zhennan to propose that Jia Huan command military affairs in the Southern Borderlands after his pledge expired.
• The Retired Emperor and the Prince of Zhennan agreed to oppose the emperor at the court audience five days later and trusted Jia Huan would return safely despite the White Lotus Cult’s threat.

Jia Huan secretly dispatched eight hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards and traveled alone to confront White Lotus Cult Leader Jiang Wuji at the Yinyu River Grand Canyon. After Jiang Wuji ordered an attack on the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the two enemies met face-to-face, with Jia Huan taunting him about his elder brother.

• Jia Huan distributed different maps to eight hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards, ordered them to travel in disguise, and instructed them to gather when they saw Water Skimmer's Gu Insects.
• Jia Huan had the Skin-Painting Master and his disciples give the guards convincing White Lotus Cult tattoos, then sent them along their assigned routes.
• Jia Huan left his trusted followers with official letters and his waist token, telling them to follow the original plan and reach the Yinyu River Grand Canyon after dark.
• A sacred cleric delivered five fresh organs to Jiang Wuji, who ordered the White Lotus Cult cells to surround the Embroidered Uniform Guard and kill as many men as possible three days later.
• Jiang Wuji found the sacred cleric dead and confronted Jia Huan at the canyon; Jia Huan removed his disguise and taunted Jiang Wuji about his brother Jiang Wuyuan.

Jia Huan confronted Jiang Wuji at the White Lotus Cult’s stronghold, where Jiang Wuji threatened revenge and challenged him to fight. Jia Huan summoned Qiongqi and crippled Jiang Wuji with one palm, leaving the old White Lotus Cult Leader rushing toward them.

• Jiang Wuji threatened to destroy Jia Huan’s reputation, family, and subordinates, while vowing to move the White Lotus Cult to Northern Mang.
• The old White Lotus Cult Leader and fifty-nine White Lotus Cult elites gathered as Jia Huan waited at the canyon.
• Jiang Wuji attacked Jia Huan with a mist-formed moon and spectral palm, while the old cult leader let him fight alone.
• Jia Huan summoned a Qiongqi phantom, shattered the mist-formed moon, and struck Jiang Wuji down with one palm.
• Jiang Wuji collapsed with his dantian destroyed and his meridians sealed as Jia Huan taunted him, and the old cult leader rushed to intervene.

Jia Huan revealed his Martial Venerable strength and fought the White Lotus Cult Leader in Yinyu River Grand Canyon. He severed the old man's arm with the Fuxi Rain Curtain Saint Fist, leaving the battle unresolved as he mocked the cult leader's golden jade.

• Jia Huan defeated Jiang Wuji with one palm strike, destroying his Dantian and prompting the White Lotus Cult Leader to identify him as a Martial Venerable.
• The White Lotus Cult Leader vowed to kill Jia Huan, while fifty-nine black-robed figures sent Exquisite Pigeon Gu to summon reinforcements.
• The old cult leader attacked Jia Huan with a palm strike that shattered his golden-jade defense and left blood at his mouth.
• Jia Huan unleashed the Fuxi Rain Curtain Saint Fist and smashed off the old cult leader's right arm.
• Jia Huan cut the severed arm into pieces and asked the injured old cult leader, "Is that all your golden jade can do?"

Jia Huan defeated the White Lotus Cult’s old leader and his forces in Yinyu Gorge, then ended the suffering of the prisoners they had tortured. He left the old leader alive but crippled, while resolving to grow strong enough to face the Ancestral Hall Guardians.

• Jia Huan used his phantom beasts to kill many of the fifty-nine Holy Church Priests and Grand Priests, then overpowered the old cult leader and shattered his dantian and meridians.
• Jia Huan killed or crippled the remaining black-robed figures and spent an hour and a half recovering from the battle.
• The dying old cult leader revealed that he had sent 120,000 believers after Jia Huan and warned that the Ancestral Hall Guardians would eventually erase him.
• Jia Huan released the Butterfly Gu Insects, then saw the tortured Red Dust Couple and Misty Rain Tower masters beside the narrow building.
• Jia Huan granted the Red Dust Couple a peaceful death, then killed the other prisoners who pleaded for release.

Jia Huan and the Embroidered Uniform Guards fought a massive battle against the White Lotus Cult at Yinyu River Grand Canyon, slaughtering its fanatical forces and capturing its leader. The chapter ended with the guards wondering how the emperor would react to Jia Huan’s unauthorized campaign in Jiangnan.

• More than a hundred thousand White Lotus Cult followers gathered at Yinyu River Grand Canyon and charged Jia Huan and the guards.
• Jia Huan and the Eight Hundred Vajras unleashed their Embroidered Spring Sabers, cutting down thousands of followers in repeated strikes.
• Jia Huan commanded nearly two thousand sabers to sweep across the battlefield, while he fought elite cultists and deflected their crossbow bolts.
• Water Skimmer, Iron Palm, and other reinforcements arrived with more than five thousand guards and joined the attack.
• By nightfall, the guards had overwhelmed the cult forces, bound the Old White Lotus Cult Leader, and pursued survivors near Nine Dragons Mountain and the Heaven-Given River.
• Wounded guards praised Jia Huan’s victories and worried about the emperor’s response to his decision to lead seven thousand guards into battle without prior approval.

Jia Huan’s one-month pledge to defeat the White Lotus Cult came due at the Grand Court Audience, while Wang Ziteng, Madam Wang, and Jia Baoyu prepared to carry out the Empress’s plans against the Jia Family. Emperor Jingde ordered Jia Huan stripped of his post as Commanding Commissioner, leaving the court to witness his fall.

• Madam Wang and Jia Baoyu prepared to stage a fatal remonstrance and deliver Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Jia Tanchun as living brides for the Ghost Marriage, following the Empress’s orders relayed by Wang Ziteng.
• Wang Ziteng assured Madam Wang that the Empress would arrange the removal of the three women and boasted that Jia Huan had been trapped by the White Lotus Cult in Shouzhou.
• Wang Ziteng, Jia Baoyu, and thousands of officials prepared for the Grand Court Audience as ministers gathered at the Forbidden City.
• Chief Grand Secretary Yang read Jia Huan’s pledge that he would resign if he failed to kill the White Lotus Cult Leader and secure peace in Jiangnan within one month.
• Emperor Jingde ordered Jia Huan immediately stripped of his post as Commanding Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Emperor Jingde used the court’s support for prioritizing Jiangnan to block Jia Huan’s proposed appointment to the Southern Borderlands and pressed the Retired Emperor to issue an edict stripping him of command. As Ouyang Jin arrived with a battle report, he insisted Jia Huan’s pledge deadline had not yet passed, leaving the court waiting to hear the news from Jiangnan.

• Chief Grand Secretary Yang and the ministers agreed that Jia Huan’s military pledge should be enforced, and Emperor Jingde ordered an edict drafted.
• The Prince of Zhennan and other officials proposed appointing Jia Huan to command in the Southern Borderlands, and the Retired Emperor supported them.
• Emperor Jingde argued that Jiangnan and the White Lotus Cult demanded immediate attention, prompting the ministers to agree that Jiangnan must come first.
• The Retired Emperor prepared to affix his seal to the edict, while Emperor Jingde expected Jia Huan’s removal to clear the way for a purge.
• Ouyang Jin entered with a battle report from Jiangnan, and Emperor Jingde challenged his use of Jia Huan’s title before Ouyang Jin pointed out that the pledge deadline had not passed.
• The Retired Emperor told Ouyang Jin to read the report.

At court, Ouyang Jin accused Empress Yin of arranging an evil ghost marriage, then announced that Jia Huan had captured both White Lotus Cult leaders alive before the Military Pledge deadline. Emperor Jingde dismissed the victory report as a lie and ordered the court assembly to continue, leaving Jia Huan’s fate and the court’s response unresolved.

• Ouyang Jin publicly accused Empress Yin of arranging a ghost marriage at Rongguo Mansion, and Qin Zhong denied the charge and called it treason.
• Empress Yin ordered a mother and son to carry out the Coffin-Bearing Remonstrance and insisted that the wedding proceed that night.
• Emperor Jingde ordered the Imperial Edict proclaimed and announced plans to discuss a campaign against the White Lotus Cult, then asked whether Jia Huan had died for his country.
• Ouyang Jin declared that Jia Huan had captured Jiang Wuji and the Old White Lotus Cult Leader alive within the Military Pledge deadline.
• Ouyang Jin said Jia Huan would bring the two captives’ heads to the Capital within seven days and that confirmation would reach court by the Hour of the Monkey.
• Emperor Jingde accused Ouyang Jin of deceiving the sovereign and ordered the court assembly to continue.

Jia Huan’s victory over the White Lotus Cult stunned the court after dispatches confirmed he had captured its two successive leaders and destroyed its forces. Emperor Jingde resisted celebrating Jia Huan’s achievement and called for an investigation, just as more urgent reports arrived.

• A dispatch from Jinling announced that Jia Huan had captured both White Lotus Cult Leaders alive and eradicated the cult on the final day of his military pledge.
• Wang Ziteng claimed the leaders might have faked their deaths and warned the court not to trust Jia Huan’s report.
• Yang Taiyue read a joint dispatch reporting 113,000 White Lotus Cult corpses at Beiyin Mountain, vast seized supplies, and celebrations across Jiangnan.
• The Retired Emperor praised Jia Huan, and the ministers cheered his victory.
• Emperor Jingde called for imperial commissioners to investigate the reports, but the ministers stayed silent.
• Several Secretariat Drafters entered carrying stacks of urgent dispatches.

After Jia Huan’s victory over the White Lotus Cult, the court debated how to reward him, and the Retired Emperor pushed through his ennoblement as the Dingguo Duke despite Emperor Jingde’s resistance. The edict was issued, leaving the ministers anticipating Jia Huan’s return and a confrontation with the emperor.

• Ouyang Jin proposed ennobling Jia Huan as a duke, and Emperor Jingde objected to granting him further honors.
• The Prince of Zhennan argued that Jia Huan’s victory in Jiangnan deserved a major reward, and the Retired Emperor ordered Yang Taiyue to state his position.
• Yang Taiyue and the gathered officials supported making Jia Huan the Dingguo Duke.
• The Retired Emperor had the promotion recommendation approved and the edict drafted, then gave it to Emperor Jingde to seal.
• Emperor Jingde delayed before finally stamping the edict and dismissing court, while Jia Zheng wept with excitement.

Jia Baoyu tried to impeach Jia Huan with a coffin-bearing remonstrance but was arrested after Chief Grand Secretary Yang condemned him, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard recovered the Brocade Pouch. At Rongguo Mansion, Jia Zheng announced that Jia Huan had defeated the White Lotus Cult and been named Dingguo Duke, leaving the household stunned.

• Jia Baoyu brought a coffin to the Imperial City and loudly impeached Jia Huan, but Chief Grand Secretary Yang ordered him jailed and beaten for his shameless conduct.
• Twin Whips struck Jia Baoyu and recovered the Brocade Pouch, discovering an accusation that Jia Huan had raped his father's principal wife.
• Imperial Palace Experts searched Jia Baoyu for the missing Brocade Pouch, and Madam Wang told them the Embroidered Uniform Guard had taken it.
• At Rongguo Mansion, Wang Xifeng tried to reassure Lin Daiyu and the others as they waited anxiously for news from court.
• Jia Zheng returned and announced that Jia Huan had led the Embroidered Uniform Guard to destroy the White Lotus Cult and had been granted the title of Dingguo Duke.

Empress Yin tried to cover up her role in the ghost-marriage threat against the Jia Family, but Wang Xifeng insisted that Jia Huan would judge the matter when he returned. Meanwhile, Emperor Jingde learned Jia Huan had defeated a Legendary Martial Venerable and fumed at the Ancestral Hall guardians, who said they could cripple Jia Huan only with the Retired Emperor’s approval.

• Empress Yin arrived at Rongguo Mansion, blamed her wounded palace maid for the threat to burn the young women, and ordered the maid beaten to death.
• Empress Yin asked the Jia Family to deny that she had intended a ghost marriage, and Jia Zheng and Jia Mu agreed to her account.
• Wang Xifeng said Jia Huan would decide the truth when he returned, prompting Empress Yin to denounce anyone who accused her as a traitor before departing.
• Emperor Jingde confronted the eight Ancestral Hall guardians over Jia Huan’s capture of a Legendary Martial Venerable, and Jiang Yi said Jia Huan must be one himself.
• Jiang Yi told Emperor Jingde that the guardians could cripple Jia Huan if the Retired Emperor agreed, and the other guardians supported him.

Jia Huan celebrated the victory over the White Lotus Cult, arranged generous support for fallen Embroidered Uniform Guard families, and burned the cult’s dangerous manuals. He tortured and killed Jiang Wuji and the old cult leader without learning the identity of Jiang Wuji’s powerful mistress, leaving the foreign conspiracy and threat of the Ancestral Hall Guardian unresolved.

• Jia Huan burned most of the confiscated martial arts manuals and ordered death benefits and honors for the fallen guards and Kirin Office brothers.
• Water Skimmer told Jia Huan that Jiang Wuji had an unnamed mistress and that accomplices bearing a Three-Legged Crow emblem had supplied the cult; Jia Huan ordered the evidence stored.
• Jia Huan confronted Jiang Wuji in prison, learned the mistress might seek revenge, and tortured him for her identity before killing him.
• Jia Huan questioned the old White Lotus Cult Leader about his rapid recovery of true essence, but the old man warned him about the Ancestral Hall Guardian and a dragon vein.
• Jia Huan tortured and killed the old cult leader, ordering his remains destroyed.

After slaughtering the White Lotus Cult’s imprisoned leaders, Jia Huan gained powerful martial arts but remained nearly thirteen thousand sin value short of becoming a land immortal. He sent Water Skimmer to investigate a collaborator in Goryeo and equipped his eight hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards with two powerful body-tempering manuals.

• Jia Huan absorbed the rewards from the White Lotus Cult executions, mastered new techniques, and realized he still needed nearly thirteen thousand sin value to advance.
• Jia Huan resolved to seek more high-sin-value enemies, become a land immortal, and launch a coup against the emperor.
• Jia Huan ordered Water Skimmer to take twenty Liaodong elites to Goryeo and locate the collaborator so he could capture the vicious fiends there.
• Jia Huan gave the eight hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards the Indestructible Diamond Body and Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill manuals, instructing them to train and keep the techniques secret.

Jia Huan returned to the Capital to a grand welcome, accepted the Retired Emperor’s request to send captured weapons to the Southern Borderlands, and learned that the Empress had sent a secret letter connected to Ghost Marriage. Though he vowed to handle the matter and secured Crane Daoist’s help in protecting his family, Jia Huan remained publicly silent, leaving the court officials baffled.

• The Retired Emperor welcomed Jia Huan outside the Divine Capital, praised his campaign against the White Lotus Cult, and asked him to allocate half the captured weapons to the Southern Borderlands; Jia Huan agreed.
• Ouyang Jin and Twin Whips greeted Jia Huan in the Capital, and Twin Whips gave him the Brocade Pouch containing the Empress’s secret letter; Jia Huan condemned her and said he would handle the matter.
• Jia Huan returned to Ningrong Street, saw the new Dingguo Duke Mansion being built, and reunited with Concubine Zhao and the Rongguo Mansion family.
• Jia Huan and An Xuan'er visited Crane Daoist in a hidden chamber; Jia Huan thanked him for staying to protect the family, promised him a favor, and left him three manuals of Supreme Martial Arts.
• Three days after Jia Huan’s return, Secretariat Drafters wondered why he had not publicly confronted the Empress over the suspected Ghost Marriage and the evidence in the Brocade Pouch.

Jia Huan refused to impeach Empress Yin despite public pressure, while Emperor Jingde and the Prince of Zhennan each assumed he was choosing compromise. Jia Huan revealed to Scholar that he intended a far more extreme outcome: to imprison and humiliate the Empress, hinting at a coup.

• The Prince of Zhennan rejected calls to depose Empress Yin and concluded that Jia Huan had chosen compromise after learning the Ancestral Hall's strength.
• Wang Ziteng raged that Jia Huan had failed to provoke the emperor into destroying him and feared the Retired Emperor was obstructing his plans.
• Emperor Jingde reassured Empress Yin that he did not blame her for the Ghost Marriage and declared that Jia Huan would die if he impeached her.
• Jia Huan learned that Water Skimmer's party had reached Goryeo to investigate the Secret Letters and identify the Vicious Fiends.
• Scholar questioned why Jia Huan had not impeached Empress Yin, and Jia Huan said he wanted her imprisoned, tortured, and humiliated until she died.