Chapter Summaries

Baozhu forced Prefect Dou Jing to endorse an impeachment accusing Li Yu and his household of treason, using evidence from the prince’s residence and threats against Dou’s family. After Dou Jing collapsed, Wei Xun and Tuoba Sanniang arranged to return him to his residence while Baozhu prepared to purge Luoyang.

• Baozhu confronted Dou Jing in a secret chamber and admitted that she had killed Li Yu herself.
• Baozhu presented evidence of Li Yu’s treason and threatened Dou Jing until he agreed to impeach the prince and surround his residence.
• Dou Jing copied and sealed the impeachment letter, which Baozhu planned to send to Daming Palace with Mi Moyan’s hair.
• Baozhu gave the agreed signal, and Dou Jing lost consciousness as Wei Xun gathered his seals.
• Wei Xun told Tuoba Sanniang that Baozhu intended to avenge herself and purge Luoyang, and Tuoba carried Dou Jing away.

Baozhu recovered physically while waiting for the ruling from Chang'an, but she remained determined to die after taking revenge. When Wei Xun discovered she had kept a porcelain shard to kill herself, she entrusted him with her final wishes, and Yang Xingjian responded by deciding to accompany her and compose a final poem.

• Wei Xun cared for Baozhu's injured face and hands as she admitted she could not continue traveling much farther.
• Yang Xingjian reported that Dou Jing had effectively confined the Prince of Qi's household while awaiting Chang'an's ruling, and the escaped slave women were no longer being pursued.
• Wei Xun discovered a missing piece from Baozhu's shattered teacup and took the porcelain shard from her before she could use it to harm herself.
• Baozhu told Wei Xun that she intended to die after her revenge and asked him to ensure she was truly dead before burial, bury her on North Mang Mountain, and remove her nails.
• Wei Xun told Yang Xingjian that Baozhu planned to take her own life, and Yang Xingjian resolved to accompany her and write a final poem.

The court destroyed Li Yu’s household after uncovering his theft of palace timber, completing Baozhu’s revenge. When she asked Wei Xun for the Fish-Intestine Sword, she ultimately put it aside, danced for him, and wept in his embrace as she began to face a future beyond her suffering.

• The emperor sent Wei Changfu and the Forbidden Army to Luoyang, where Dou Jing’s soldiers surrounded Li Yu’s residence and investigators uncovered Li Yu’s theft of timber from the Purple Enclosure Palace.
• The court executed Li Yu’s male descendants, enslaved his female relatives, confiscated the family’s wealth, and publicly displayed Li Yu’s corpse while his associates faced questioning.
• Baozhu and Wei Xun watched the Prince of Qi’s Residence burn, and Baozhu asked Wei Xun to give her the Fish-Intestine Sword so she could end her life.
• After reflecting on her mother’s words about dancing for someone worthy, Baozhu returned the sword and told Wei Xun she would dance to cleanse her shame.
• Baozhu danced before Wei Xun, forgot the steps, and broke down crying as he held and comforted her.

Baozhu mourned Mi Moyan, reunited with Wei Xun, and resumed her journey with his companions. As the group left Luoyang, Wei Xun’s illness worsened, while Baozhu accepted her reputation and the violence in her past; Wei Xun assured her that she remained his Guanyin.

• Baozhu wept in Wei Xun’s arms and told him about Mi Moyan, whose death they had discovered too late to prevent.
• Yang Xingjian abandoned his plans to die after Baozhu and Wei Xun returned, and Baozhu arranged new clothes and a proper burial for Mi Moyan.
• Before the party departed, Thirteenth Son saw that Wei Xun’s illness had spread across his chest, and Wei Xun urged him to keep quiet and continue the journey discreetly.
• Wei Xun helped Baozhu arrange her hair, and the party left Luoyang as rumors spread that she was the Donkey-Riding Lady and the Setting Sun Courtyard’s leader.
• Baozhu yielded the road to a red-robed official without protest, then told Wei Xun she could no longer portray Guanyin because she had taken lives.
• Wei Xun clasped Baozhu’s hands and told her that she was the only Guanyin in his heart.

Baozhu and her companions traveled through Weibo toward Youzhou, where she tried to care for Wei Xun’s worsening cold ailment with an oversized dose of ginseng. The potent soup left Wei Xun feverish and overwhelmed by desire, and he fled Baozhu’s room after nearly hurting her.

• Baozhu reflected on Weibo’s fertile farmland and military strength as the party ran short of provisions on the road.
• At an inn in Dangyin County, Baozhu confronted Wei Xun about hiding his poor appetite and gave him ginseng soup she had prepared.
• Wei Xun learned Baozhu had paid fifty taels of gold for the ginseng, but drank the soup after she told him he was worth spending money on.
• The entire ginseng root had been boiled into the soup, and its powerful effects made Wei Xun tremble and struggle to control himself as Baozhu embraced him.
• Wei Xun kissed Baozhu’s ear and held her too tightly, then tore the inn-room door off its hinges while escaping from her.
• Baozhu wondered why Wei Xun had acted strangely, remembered her silk stockings were at the washerwoman’s, and went to sleep.

Wei Xun’s illness worsened as he escorted Baozhu toward Youzhou, but Baozhu persuaded him to seek help from his senior martial aunt, Zhou Qingyang. After examining him, Zhou Qingyang gave him a phoenix embryo that could keep him alive for another year.

• Thirteenth Son saw Wei Xun training through the night while hiding his worsening illness and the effects of Baozhu’s ginseng soup.
• Baozhu urged the exhausted Wei Xun to rest and drink warm water, and he told her about his senior martial aunt near Ye County.
• Wei Xun, Baozhu, Thirteenth Son, and Yang Xingjian found Zhou Qingyang at Four Heroes Inn and followed her to her home.
• Zhou Qingyang diagnosed Wei Xun as near death and warned that the potent medicine he had taken only stirred up restless heat.
• Wei Xun asked Zhou Qingyang to help him survive long enough to escort Baozhu safely, and she gave him a phoenix embryo said to buy him another year.

Zhou Qingyang gave Wei Xun the Phoenix Embryo, which eased his symptoms and revealed that years of drinking ancient wine had poisoned him. She then took Wei Xun and his companions to the abandoned Four Heroes Temple and asked him to tear it down, explaining that it had honored her and Chen Shigu’s fellow disciples when they were young.

• Zhou Qingyang explained that Chen Shigu had left the Phoenix Embryo for Wei Xun and that Huo Qilang had told her about his condition.
• Zhou Qingyang swallowed half the medicine to prove it was safe, and Wei Xun took the remainder after weighing his doubts.
• Zhou Qingyang told Wei Xun that lead-tainted ancient wine had contributed to Chen Shigu’s death and Wei Xun’s illness, while the Phoenix Embryo temporarily eased his symptoms.
• Wei Xun agreed to help Zhou Qingyang repay her, and she led him, Baozhu, Thirteenth Son, and Yang Xingjian to the ruined Four Heroes Temple.
• Zhou Qingyang identified the temple’s statues as herself and her fellow disciples, including Chen Shigu, and asked Wei Xun to tear the abandoned shrine down.

Baozhu and her companions demolished the Four Heroes Temple and continued north with Zhou Qingyang, who warned Wei Xun against entangling himself with the powerful. Baozhu identified the temple’s former figures and learned that Zhou Qingyang was withholding the formula for the Phoenix Embryo, the medicine that had saved Wei Xun’s life.

• Wei Xun, Baozhu, and Thirteenth Son brought down the Four Heroes Temple, and Baozhu found a half Fish Tally inscribed with the title “Guerrilla General” inside a statue.
• Wei Xun explained that Zhou Qingyang wanted to travel north with them, and Baozhu agreed that the renowned physician could make their journey safer, though Wei Xun revealed she knew no martial arts.
• As the group traveled, Zhou Qingyang mocked Wei Xun and rejected Yang Xingjian’s offer to recommend her for a position, then warned Wei Xun not to get mixed up with the powerful.
• Baozhu used the Fish Tally and the statues’ order to identify the former disciples as Qingyang, Zhu Ming, White Treasury, and Xuanying, then asked whether Zhu Ming had died because she was discarded after serving her purpose.
• Zhou Qingyang reacted sharply to Baozhu’s question, then revealed that she would give Wei Xun the Phoenix Embryo formula only after he completed two tasks for her, leaving Baozhu to realize that Wei Xun and Thirteenth Son had concealed the medicine’s name.

After Zhou Qingyang revealed that Baozhu might be connected to the Phoenix Embryo, Wei Xun met Baozhu to explain why he had kept his life-threatening need for it secret. Baozhu declared them lovers and, convinced their fates were linked, insisted that Wei Xun stay with her so they could try to cure his illness.

• Before meeting Baozhu, Wei Xun fretted over the Phoenix Embryo secret while Thirteenth Son suggested he prove his loyalty by disemboweling himself.
• Baozhu used a poem to suggest she understood why Wei Xun had hidden the Phoenix Embryo, then asked why he had not trusted her with the truth.
• Wei Xun explained that he had kept silent because he did not want his promise to take her to Youzhou to seem conditional or coercive.
• Baozhu insisted that she and Wei Xun were lovers, citing their time together in Luoyang and the Silk Socks she had worn to prevent pregnancy.
• After Wei Xun denied that they had shared a bed, Baozhu said she would become a Daoist Priestess but could still have Bedchamber Companions.
• Baozhu declared their connection a matter of destiny and ordered Wei Xun to stay the night so they could try to cure his illness by sharing a pillow.

Baozhu insisted Wei Xun share her bed, while he hid his terminal illness and struggled with his feelings for her. After comforting her through a nightmare, he secretly left before dawn, then convinced Zhou Qingyang to tell Baozhu that passion would worsen his condition and that she should treat him gently.

• Baozhu ordered Wei Xun into her bed, and he reluctantly agreed after claiming he could not think of a matching poem.
• Baozhu promised to secure Wei Xun a respectable family adoption in Youzhou, then fell asleep while he stayed awake worrying about his illness and their future.
• Wei Xun soothed Baozhu through a nightmare about battle, and his desire gave way to tenderness as he wondered whether he could leave her.
• Wei Xun slipped out at dawn and encountered Yang Xingjian, who saw him leaving Baozhu's room and hurried away in embarrassment.
• After Wei Xun returned to bed, Baozhu noticed his apparent decline and fetched Zhou Qingyang to examine him.
• Wei Xun secretly asked Zhou Qingyang for help, and she told Baozhu that indulging his passions would worsen his health and advised her to treat him gently and give him hot water.

Baozhu’s party became trapped in Zhongqiu by a military standoff, where Baozhu heard a popular play falsely pairing the late Princess Wanhua with Han Zhu. She ordered an investigation and learned the tale had been inspired by real rumors about Han Yun, who was stationed nearby.

• Wei Xun recovered quickly under Zhou Qingyang’s care, and the party traveled into Zhaoyi Circuit, where heightened border defenses trapped them in Zhongqiu.
• At a tea stall, Baozhu heard performers stage a romance between Princess Wanhua and Han Zhu and angrily demanded that they continue.
• Yang Xingjian explained that the story borrowed from a real proposal involving Han Yun, which Han Ren had refused amid political danger surrounding the succession.
• Baozhu ordered Yang Xingjian and Thirteenth Son to investigate how the play reached Zhaoyi, while Wei Xun comforted her over its distortions of her life.
• Yang Xingjian discovered that a local scholar had written the play using information from a servant at the county office, and Han Yun was stationed with troops in Zhongqiu.

Yang Xingjian learned from Han Yun’s old servant that Han Yun had loved Baozhu from afar and mourned her presumed death. Wei Xun visited Han Yun but spared him, and Baozhu decided she would meet Han Yun to secure passage north.

• Yang Xingjian got the old servant drunk and heard how Han Yun fell in love with Baozhu, lost hope when his father rejected the emperor’s proposed marriage, and mourned at her tomb after believing she had died.
• Baozhu angrily told Wei Xun to bring Han Yun’s head, and Wei Xun entered the County Yamen to find him.
• Han Yun refused to seal off plague-stricken Dunye Ward and instead arranged for medical workers and army medicine to treat its residents.
• Wei Xun returned with Han Yun’s armor instead of his head and told Baozhu that she would have to take a life herself if she wanted Han Yun dead.
• Baozhu accepted that she would need Han Yun’s permission to travel north and said she would meet him.

Baozhu and Wei Xun secretly entered the County Yamen, where Baozhu confronted Han Yun over her calligraphy and obtained travel permits for their party. Han Yun realized Baozhu was alive, while Wei Xun carried her away with growing jealousy and wished their journey would never end.

• Baozhu and Wei Xun hid in Han Yun's room until he was alone, where Baozhu recognized her old calligraphy in his possession and angrily confronted him.
• Han Yun explained that he had bought the poem to preserve it and had been inspired by it to fight for the country, then confessed his long-standing love for Baozhu.
• Wei Xun's killing intent alerted Han Yun to another presence, and Baozhu claimed she had brought him before threatening Han Yun and demanding a travel permit.
• Han Yun suspected Baozhu was alive, and Baozhu wrote the party's assumed identities and travel details so he could authorize and stamp their permit.
• Baozhu left the County Yamen, answering Han Yun's request for her name with a poem, and vanished from his sight after passing a corridor pillar.
• Wei Xun carried Baozhu slowly back to the inn, refusing to let her down as she explained that she and Han Yun would part ways; he privately wished their road would never end.

After learning that an epidemic had begun in Zhongqiu, Zhou Qingyang entered Dunye Ward to find its source while Baozhu stayed at the inn. Han Yun joined her investigation and helped contain the outbreak after she traced it to a contaminated well.

• Zhou Qingyang warned that an epidemic threatened Zhongqiu, and Baozhu persuaded her to try to stop it before it weakened the border defenses.
• Zhou Qingyang entered Dunye Ward disguised as a shaman and examined the sick while Wei Xun returned to guard Baozhu.
• Princess Wanshou sent Han Yun an order bearing her seal to assist Zhou Qingyang, and he hurried to Dunye Ward.
• Zhou Qingyang traced the illness to fecal runoff contaminating a communal well and ordered the well sealed and the surrounding ground treated with lime.
• Han Yun arranged for Zhongqiu's drains and sewers to be cleared, and Zhou Qingyang recommended that residents drink more hot water.

Zhou Qingyang helped stop the plague in Zhongqiu County before traveling with Baozhu’s party toward Youzhou. At Jingxing Pass, the party discovered a mound of enemy heads, and Zhou Qingyang agreed to take Wei Xun farther into the mountains to teach him the gunpowder formula.

• Zhou Qingyang used gunpowder and sulfur to purge infected homes, then refused Han Yun’s invitation to join the Zhaoyi army as a physician.
• Baozhu’s party left Zhongqiu County after deaths stopped increasing, and Han Yun distributed relief supplies and publicized remedies.
• Zhou Qingyang told Baozhu that she had accidentally invented gunpowder while developing medicine and lost a foot in the explosion.
• In Chengde, Zhou Qingyang explained that a son’s public act of cutting thigh flesh for his mother could win exemptions from taxes, labor, and military service.
• At Jingxing Pass, the party found a mound of hundreds or thousands of rotting heads, which Yang Xingjian identified as a jingguan built by the Chengde army.
• Wei Xun asked Zhou Qingyang for the elixir recipe, and she agreed to explain it farther inside the mountains.

Zhou Qingyang recounted how her fellow disciples’ attempts to find a happy land ended in tragedy, then revealed that Chen Shigu’s Phoenix Embryo was made from a living member of the Li Tang imperial family. She told Wei Xun that the medicine required him to keep killing imperial relatives and that Chen Shigu had intended him to destroy the Tang dynasty.

• Zhou Qingyang told Wei Xun how she, Zhu Ming, White Treasury, and Xuanying each pursued their own idea of a happy land after leaving their master.
• Zhou Qingyang recounted Zhu Ming’s death fighting Uyghur cavalry and White Treasury’s disappearance after government troops buried her alive.
• Zhou Qingyang explained that Xuanying’s friend Yuan Xu died after being cast aside by the court, leaving three of the four disciples’ paths in failure.
• Wei Xun demanded to know how the old history related to the Phoenix Embryo, and Zhou Qingyang revealed that Chen Shigu had devised the Path of Rat Extermination.
• Zhou Qingyang disclosed that the Phoenix Embryo was made using a living imperial clansman and that Wei Xun would need to kill an imperial family member each year to prolong his life.
• Zhou Qingyang told Wei Xun that Chen Shigu had named him Lynx and intended him to overthrow the Great Tang and plunge the realm into chaos.

Zhou Qingyang revealed that Xuanying had planned to use the Phoenix Embryo and Wei Xun to revive a rebellion against the Great Tang, and explained that her own resolve had broken after her family was punished. Wei Xun accepted the recipe and continued toward Youzhou with Baozhu, leaving the story with their party traveling through the Taihang Mountains.

• Zhou Qingyang told Wei Xun that Xuanying had gathered disciples and spread rumors of overthrowing the Great Tang, but his scheme had failed after they went their separate ways.
• Zhou Qingyang explained that her descendant Zhou Mingzhi had been executed after treating a princess, and that the Zhou Family had been exiled to Qianzhong.
• Zhou Qingyang gave Wei Xun a prescription and urged him to capture a prince bound for Youzhou and have him made into a human elixir if he wanted to survive.
• Wei Xun returned to Baozhu with the prescription, then told her he would gather the rare Phoenix Embryo after escorting her to Youzhou.
• As they traveled, Baozhu reflected that the four heroes' goals had been right but required harmony, and promised to help restore the exiled Imperial Physicians' families.
• Wei Xun and Baozhu continued their journey with the party through the Taihang Mountains.

Baozhu tried to buy a horse for Wei Xun in Chengde, but she could not afford the one she wanted and refused to trade away her beloved donkey. Yang Xingjian warned Wei Xun about his relationship with the Princess, and Wei Xun resolved not to linger after they reached Youzhou; after refusing a horse dealer’s gift, the group decided to take a longer route.

• Baozhu admired Chengde’s horses and searched the market for a fine mount for Wei Xun, but she lacked the money to buy one.
• A dealer offered to trade a middling horse for Baozhu’s donkey, but she refused because she had grown attached to it.
• Yang Xingjian told Wei Xun that Baozhu’s accomplishments and status were inseparable, and urged him to protect her reputation; Wei Xun said he would not linger in Youzhou.
• Yang Xingjian returned with travel permits and learned that Chengde horses could not be taken into other military domains.
• Ma Zaiyuan sent Baozhu the fine horse she had admired, but she declined the gift.
• Wei Xun grew suspicious of how the locals recognized Baozhu and suggested the group take a longer detour by another road.

Baozhu, Wei Xun, Yang Xingjian, and Thirteenth Son were ambushed by Chengde troops seeking the treasure that could overturn the world. The soldiers killed Yang Xingjian, struck down Thirteenth Son, and captured Baozhu, while a disguised siege crossbow pierced Wei Xun and the false commander.

• Baozhu spotted a heavily armed Chengde supply escort, and the soldiers suddenly surrounded the party and attacked.
• A cavalryman killed Yang Xingjian, while Wei Xun fought the troops and Baozhu fled with Thirteenth Son.
• The cavalry struck down Thirteenth Son and captured Baozhu after chevaux-de-frise blocked her escape.
• Wei Xun captured an officer, realized he was a decoy, and saw the soldiers threaten to drag Baozhu to death unless he surrendered the treasure.
• Baozhu urged Wei Xun to run, but the disguised siege crossbow fired a massive bolt through Wei Xun and the false commander.

Imprisoned after their capture, Baozhu watched the jailers torment her and the dying Wei Xun while demanding the whereabouts of a mysterious treasure. Wei Xun died in her arms, and Baozhu turned her grief into a chilling threat against the jailers.

• Jailers discussed the treasure, Wei Xun’s torture, and the prisoners’ planned transfer to Zhengding while eating donkey meat outside Baozhu’s cell.
• The jailers returned the mutilated Wei Xun to the cell, and Baozhu held him as he struggled to speak and asked for water.
• Baozhu traded her long hair for water, but after learning plain water could hasten Wei Xun’s death, she refused the jailers’ offer of broth in exchange for the treasure’s location.
• Baozhu fed Wei Xun her tears and blood as he urged her to go to Youzhou, then died in her arms.
• Baozhu recalled an ancestor’s story, looked at the Buddha statue, and warned the jailers that they would find out what happened next.