Chapter Summaries

Baozhu portrayed Guanyin in Luoyang’s Mid-Autumn City Procession, using the ceremony to comfort the crowds and show special concern for Wei Xun. After the procession, the pair agreed to stay for the fireworks before traveling on, while Luo Toutuo watched Wei Xun’s growing attachment and a fireworks accident delayed the display.

• Shen Dexian urged Baozhu to behave solemnly as Guanyin, but Wei Xun leaped onto the Treasure Carriage and she drenched him with sweet dew, asking whether his illness felt better.
• Baozhu, Wei Xun, and Thirteenth Son coordinated to refill the vase as Baozhu blessed the crowds, while Yang Xingjian joined the procession’s dancers.
• Baozhu and Wei Xun secretly agreed to watch the postponed fireworks together before setting off, and Wei Xun reassured her that they could hold a City Procession in Youzhou.
• Luo Toutuo watched Wei Xun’s infatuation with Baozhu, then demanded the balance owed by Jia Liang, who had postponed the fireworks after an explosion killed two craftsmen.
• After the procession, Baozhu kept the Brocade Kasaya as a memento, and Wei Xun kept her in the courtyard the next day while curious onlookers gathered outside.

Wei Xun kept watch through the night and learned that Qiu Ren had come to ask about the gang of kidnappers Wei Xun had killed. After Wei Xun left to buy Baozhu and Thirteenth Son cherry bilo, he returned to find the courtyard attacked, Baozhu missing, Yang Xingjian injured, and Thirteenth Son dead.

• Wei Xun heard a lone watchman pass his courtyard and later received a bent coffin nail from Qiu Ren, who asked whether Wei Xun had killed the kidnappers.
• Wei Xun admitted to killing the gang and told Qiu Ren to blame the Green-Robed Wanderer if anyone came after him.
• In the morning, Baozhu said she was going to collect medicinal ingredients, but she and Thirteenth Son rushed to buy cherry bilo when a vendor called out nearby.
• Wei Xun followed the vendor's cries through the streets, then turned back when he could not find him and grew uneasy.
• Wei Xun returned to find Yang Xingjian injured in the well, Baozhu missing, and Thirteenth Son dead after a fight in the wrecked main hall.

Wei Xun saved Thirteenth Son after Baozhu was abducted, then followed a series of false leads and tracked her kidnappers to a donkey-rental shop in Luoyang. Finding Baozhu’s discarded clothes but no sign of her, he collapsed under the weight of his failure and heard Chen Shigu’s despairing howl in his mind.

• Wei Xun revived Thirteenth Son with two palm strikes and carried him while channeling qi into him.
• Wei Xun followed a peach peddler’s false lead, then learned from Yang Xingjian that the kidnapper had fled along the left-hand road.
• Wei Xun questioned vendors and beggars, confirmed that a gray-clad man carrying a large roll of felt had gone south, and pursued him to a donkey-rental shop.
• Wei Xun found the shop owner dead and Baozhu’s clothes and sachet abandoned beside a window leading into the South Market.
• Wei Xun sank to his knees with Thirteenth Son on his back and heard Chen Shigu’s despairing howl in his mind.

After Ninth Lady was abducted through a carefully planned ambush, Thirteenth Son summoned Wei Xun’s fellow disciples and asked them to help search Luoyang. They resisted until Thirteenth Son revealed that Wei Xun had found the living pearl that could cure his illness, then warned that his worsening madness might make their refusal dangerous.

• Thirteenth Son explained that two masked men abducted Ninth Lady after luring Wei Xun away, and that Wei Xun returned too late to catch them.
• Tuoba Sanniang and Qiu Ren discovered that Thirteenth Son had suffered severe chest injuries while trying to stop the kidnappers.
• Thirteenth Son asked the Seven Supremes to help find Ninth Lady, but they initially refused to assist Wei Xun.
• Thirteenth Son revealed that Wei Xun had found the phoenix embryo, the living pearl, and swore that he had seen it himself.
• Thirteenth Son warned the Seven Supremes that Wei Xun’s madness could worsen and that he might remember their refusal to help.

Thirteenth Son persuaded the Setting Sun Courtyard disciples to search for the people who had abducted a girl, and Wei Xun returned and ordered them to investigate. As Wei Xun set out to find the kidnappers himself, Tuoba Sanniang and Xu Baozhen began searching separate leads, while an ominous comet appeared overhead.

• Qiu Ren, Xu Baozhen, Luo Toutuo, and Tuoba Sanniang agreed to help search for the abducted girl and investigate the local underworld.
• Wei Xun returned carrying a bloodied bag, ordered his disciples to investigate several groups, and said he would find the kidnappers’ lair himself.
• Wei Xun watched the fireworks without the missing girl and left, saying, “She is my Guanyin.”
• Tuoba Sanniang entered the Fragrant Blossoms House, wounded its attendant, and demanded that the madam produce the newly arrived girls being held in the cellar.
• Xu Baozhen searched a branch of the One God Zoroastrian Sect but did not find his target, then saw a comet pass across the Moon Palace.

Yang Xingjian sought help from Luoyang officials after his daughter Fang Xie was abducted, but they initially dismissed her disappearance as a supernatural ascension. After learning she was betrothed to Prince Shao, they promised an investigation, while County Commandant Geng Changren arranged to watch the city gates. Yang returned home to find Wei Xun’s allies still searching, and Qiu Ren reset his broken leg.

• Yang Xingjian struck the Dengwen Drum and demanded that the authorities investigate Fang Xie's abduction.
• Prefect Dou Jing refused to meet Yang, and Yu Xun and Geng Changren suggested that Fang Xie had ascended to immortality after serving as the Guanyin Attendant.
• Yang revealed that Fang Xie was betrothed to Prince Shao, prompting Yu Xun and Geng Changren to promise a thorough investigation.
• Yang spent the night in the prefectural hall, but Geng Changren later took him home and promised to watch Luoyang's eight city gates.
• Qiu Ren reported that no one had seen a man carrying felt leave the donkey rental shop, and Yang said the authorities were only going through the motions.
• Qiu Ren accepted Yang's gold and reset his broken leg on a stone drum.

Wei Xun and his companions searched Luoyang’s human-trafficking dens for Baozhu, but found no trace of her and uncovered clues suggesting the abduction might be connected to the Guanyin Attendants. Wei Xun investigated Changqiu Temple and realized its figurines were funerary pottery, leaving him with a new reason to suspect the temple’s strange selection ritual.

• Tuoba Sanniang told Wei Xun that brokers were holding captives in an eastern cellar, and he rushed there with her.
• Wei Xun found more than twenty imprisoned children and a long-haired girl who resembled Baozhu from behind, but discovered she was someone else.
• Xu Baozhen reasoned that Baozhu’s abductors were skilled and might have targeted her because of the rumor about a secret capable of overthrowing the Great Tang.
• Yang Xingjian told Wei Xun that every young woman chosen as a Guanyin Attendant had disappeared, prompting Wei Xun to hurry to Changqiu Temple.
• Wei Xun secretly watched Abbess Duanchen, Yao Jiangzhen, and Cao Hong discuss the latest figurine on Guanyin’s pedestal and realized the figurines were funerary pottery.

Baozhu was abducted and taken to the Rainbow Garment Courtyard, where Aunt Zhao prepared her to serve an unknown master. She learned from her roommate Mi Moyan that he had been a Guanyin Attendant three years earlier, but he would not tell her what had happened to the other captives.

• Aunt Zhao’s servants scrubbed Baozhu, reset her dislocated shoulders, and took her to the Rainbow Garment Courtyard after the abductors collected their reward.
• Aunt Zhao told Baozhu she would wait for the master’s summons, and Baozhu realized she had been kidnapped and could not escape alone.
• Baozhu met Mi Moyan, who shared her room and revealed that he was Mi Falan’s twin brother and had been a Guanyin Attendant three years earlier.
• Mi Moyan said the former Guanyin Attendants had lived in the courtyard but gave no answer when Baozhu asked where they had gone.
• Mi Moyan revealed his scarred back and said he was a castrated slave kept for amusement, while Baozhu concealed her identity by calling herself Dan Niao, courtesy name Dragon Maiden.

Baozhu resisted Zhao Shi’s attempts to discipline her in the Rainbow Garment Courtyard, then attacked her with a pipa and fled through locked courtyards. She discovered the compound held many captive performers and was cornered by guards in the Pure Song Courtyard.

• Zhao Shi renamed Baozhu Green Pearl and ordered her to practice dancing despite her objections.
• Zhao Shi and the serving women forced Baozhu into painful splits until she admitted she could play the pipa.
• Baozhu struck Zhao Shi twice with the red sandalwood pipa, leaving her unconscious and possibly dying.
• Baozhu broke open the Rainbow Garment Courtyard gate and ran through the Metal and Stone Courtyard into the Pure Song Courtyard.
• Baozhu realized the courtyards were part of a vast compound holding performers and household courtesans, then found herself surrounded by pursuing guards.

Baozhu endured punishment and began shackled dance lessons in the Rainbow Garment Courtyard while learning more about the courtyards’ cruel master. The chapter ended with Jade Ewer warning her never to use words associated with sunset because the master had made them taboo.

• Baozhu and Mi Moyan were shackled in the courtyard and forced to kneel all night after Baozhu attacked Zhao Shi and tried to escape; Mi Moyan explained that he had been beaten as her roommate.
• Mi Moyan told Baozhu that the courtyards belonged to a ruler known only as Sun, and Jade Ewer later brought them leftover pastries before taking over as their instructor.
• Jade Ewer made Baozhu practice the Zhezhi Dance in ankle shackles with Mi Moyan, who described how years of dancing had made him a plaything for powerful people.
• Baozhu praised Mi Moyan’s dancing but grew resentful of having to perform for the master, while Jade Ewer and Mi Moyan kept their concerns about her fate to themselves.
• Jade Ewer warned Baozhu never to mention the setting sun or dusk because the master forbade those expressions, and Baozhu wondered who ruled the residence.

Wei Xun learned that Shen Dexian had rigged the Guanyin Attendant selections, but Baozhu’s disappearance remained unexplained. At Shen Dexian’s residence, Wei Xun and his companions found evidence that Baozhu’s divination had been genuine, and Wei Xun prepared to interrogate their captive further.

• Wei Xun confronted Abbess Duanchen, Cao Hong, and Yao Jiangzhen at Changqiu Temple and learned that previous Guanyin Attendants had vanished after the City Procession.
• Yao Jiangzhen revealed that she had supported Mi Falan’s repeated selections because she knew he would not be chosen, and Wei Xun forced her to identify Shen Dexian’s residence.
• Abbess Duanchen and Cao Hong discussed rumors that the Seven Sunset Techniques had gathered in the city and were attacking Underworld figures.
• Wei Xun, Tuoba Sanniang, and Qiu Ren found Shen Dexian’s household incapacitated and recovered rare Double-Backed Coins that revealed how Shen had rigged divinations.
• Tuoba Sanniang and Qiu Ren explained that Shen had tampered with Mi Falan’s coins for money but had no knowledge of where the selected attendants went.
• Wei Xun realized Baozhu had used her own gold coins and that Shen could not have altered her divination, then asked Tuoba Sanniang how many times he had broken her pipa before promising to repay her with four strings.

The Setting Sun Courtyard received invitations from Luoyang’s factions and agreed to attend a gathering at the Golden Wave Pavilion, where more than three hundred martial artists assembled to negotiate a truce. At noon, the scattered members of the Courtyard entered the tense gathering, leaving the confrontation about to begin.

• Thirteenth Son read an invitation from Beggar Gang headman Gao Tai, and representatives of the White Camel Temple, Ziyang School, and Mount Song Academy arrived with further invitations.
• Wei Xun returned exhausted from searching for the missing Donkey-Riding Lady, took the invitations, and said the Courtyard would attend despite being outnumbered.
• On the twenty-second day of the eighth month, Luoyang’s factions and religious schools gathered at the Golden Wave Pavilion, where they found a blood-red lynx drawn over a treasured poem.
• The gathered leaders discussed the Courtyard’s killings, the missing Donkey-Riding Lady, and the rumored divine artifact left by Chen Shigu while tension mounted.
• At noon, members of the Setting Sun Courtyard arrived separately and took scattered seats among the assembled factions.

The Setting Sun Courtyard’s four members defended their search for the missing Donkey-Riding Lady against the assembled Luoyang martial leaders, who accused them of disrupting the city and seeking power. After Tuoba Sanniang humiliated Yin Shu in a brief confrontation, a ragged young beggar arrived and was greeted as someone important by the four.

• Huijue asked the Setting Sun Courtyard to stop its bloody search and offered the White Camel Temple’s help, but Tuoba Sanniang and Xu Baozhen challenged the other leaders’ motives and hypocrisy.
• Qiu Ren criticized the righteous sects for failing to investigate the City Procession’s disappearances, while Wei Xiangrong accused the Setting Sun Courtyard of using the missing woman as a pretext for attacks.
• Yin Shu tried to provoke a fight, then hurled steel darts at Tuoba Sanniang; she evaded them behind Luo Toutuo, whose body stopped the darts without injury.
• Tuoba Sanniang used two throwing knives to make Yin Shu dodge, then cut down an oil lamp with a third and scalded him with its hot oil.
• A ragged young beggar entered the hall and sat among the honored guests, and Xu Baozhen, Tuoba Sanniang, Qiu Ren, and Luo Toutuo rose to greet him.

Wei Xun confronted Luoyang’s faction leaders with stolen treasures and incriminating evidence while searching for Baozhu. After humiliating several leaders, he revealed Chen Shigu’s ornate Lacquer Box, drawing every gaze in the Golden Wave Pavilion.

• Wei Xun presented the White Camel Temple elders with the Palm-Leaf Sutra, which he had taken from a statue in their Chan Martial Courtyard.
• Wei Xun warned Master Ziyang that Xu Two would visit Mount Laojun, then exposed Wei Xiangrong’s poisoning plot against Zhou Shuying and prompted Zhou Zian to take his daughter and her child home.
• Wei Xun revealed that he had stolen Gao Tai’s Blackwood Signal Staff, cut it shorter, and returned a piece to the Beggar Gang chief.
• Wei Xun said he had searched Luoyang’s major factions for the Donkey-Riding Lady and brought out Chen Shigu’s Lacquer Box, making the assembled leaders focus on it.

Wei Xun used Chen Shigu’s relic to enlist Luoyang’s heroes in the search for the kidnapped Donkey-Riding Lady, then continued searching despite his worsening illness. A fortune-teller suggested Baozhu was imprisoned but had not given up, giving Wei Xun resolve to keep looking.

• Wei Xun displayed Chen Shigu’s lacquer box and promised it to anyone who found the Donkey-Riding Lady or provided a useful lead.
• Elder Huijue warned Wei Xun against becoming trapped by attachment, but Wei Xun vowed to search heaven and earth to bring her back.
• Qiu Ren visited Rongqing Pharmacy, took Xu Shan’s shangdang ginseng, and left without promising to prepare the Great Bliss Powder soon.
• Wei Xun collapsed in the street and vomited black blood, but continued searching for the child who sold peaches.
• Wei Xun asked the diviner Qian Zhiwei to read the character “cage”; Qian said Baozhu was in danger but had not yielded.
• Wei Xun walked away in tears, telling himself that because Baozhu had not given up, he would not give up either.

Baozhu served guests at the banquet while learning that dirty ice might explain the illness that preceded her apparent death, raising doubts about whether she had been poisoned. As she was led out of the hall, she recognized the pattern on the master’s hidden lamp stands, but the doors closed before she could see them again.

• Baozhu swallowed her anger at being made a serving maid and followed Mi Moyan to the kitchens to carry food and drinks.
• After a cook berated Baozhu for placing fruit directly on dirty ice, Mi Moyan explained the danger, and Baozhu recalled the chilled food she had eaten before her death.
• Baozhu and the other dancers served the guests in Auspicious Cloud Hall, where the master’s honored seat remained empty behind a gauze curtain.
• A guest summoned Mi Moyan to stay and attend him, and Mi Moyan reassured Baozhu before she left with the other dancers.
• A breeze lifted the pavilion curtain, and Baozhu recognized the distinctive pattern on the gilded lamp stands before the hall doors closed.

Baozhu learned the full cost of Mi Moyan’s captivity and tried to protect him while preparing for the Golden Osmanthus Banquet. At the banquet’s summons, she discovered the mansion’s master was Li Yu, Prince of Qi, and answered his question under the name Dan Niao, courtesy name Dragon Maiden.

• Baozhu waited for Mi Moyan to return from serving wine and saw that he was injured and humiliated.
• Mi Moyan told Baozhu how his eldest sister, Yao Jiangzhen, had discovered his captivity and failed to secure his release, leaving him convinced he could never return home.
• Baozhu promised to find Mi Moyan a safe home after they escaped, and Mi Moyan tricked her into believing socks would prevent pregnancy.
• Jade Ewer warned that Baozhu had to attend the Golden Osmanthus Banquet, so Mi Moyan proposed dancing beside her to help her remember the choreography.
• Baozhu and the dancers were summoned to the Auspicious Cloud Hall, where Baozhu recognized the master as Li Yu, Prince of Qi.
• Li Yu asked Baozhu's name, and she introduced herself as Dan Niao, courtesy name Dragon Maiden.

Baozhu was brought before the Prince of Qi, who became convinced that her supposed destiny and a lynx she described might help him reclaim the throne. When he ordered her to dance wearing a jade armlet, Baozhu connected his fixation to her mother’s death and the mysteries surrounding the Great Chan'guang Temple.

• Li Yu had Baozhu chained beside his couch and inspected her, nearly ordering Xu Shiyi to cut off her ears before deciding to have her cover them with hanging side buns.
• Baozhu gave the name Dan Niao and claimed that a Barefoot Daoist had named her and that a ferocious lynx obeyed her, feeding Li Yu’s belief that heaven might favor him.
• Li Yu questioned Dong Shiguang about medicine being prepared for him, then ordered Baozhu to dance and had a jade armlet brought for her.
• Seeing the armlet, Baozhu recalled the verse on the Nine Contemplations mural and realized the clues pointed to her mother’s Zhezhi Dance, the altered Guanyin statue, and the vanished Guanyin Attendants.

Baozhu recreated the ending of her mother’s Zhezhi Dance to win Li Yu’s favor and was sent back to the Rainbow Garment Courtyard. Mi Moyan revealed that the Prince of Qi had killed the previous Guanyin Attendants after using them, leaving Baozhu to face the danger with only a slim chance of survival.

• Baozhu deliberately danced her mother’s choreography and stopped at the moment Princess Wanshou had been injured during the original performance.
• Li Yu recognized the dance’s ending as a heavenly portent and ordered Baozhu back to the Rainbow Garment Courtyard instead of keeping her for the night.
• Baozhu returned to her room and angrily rejected Mi Moyan’s advice to please Li Yu in order to gain favor.
• Mi Moyan revealed that Li Yu’s previous Guanyin Attendants had been abducted, forced to dance, and killed at banquets, while Mi Moyan had been castrated and kept as a dance instructor.
• Baozhu understood that Li Yu’s favor offered her only a sliver of hope of surviving.

Baozhu endured captivity and humiliation in the Prince of Qi's household while fearing she shared the blood of men like him. After Li Yu's consort challenged his Golden Osmanthus Banquet plans, Baozhu returned to practice and heard that Jade Ewer had been summoned under unusual circumstances.

• Li Yu kept Baozhu chained beside his throne and made her dance while his guests treated her as a prized possession.
• Baozhu realized the Guanyin Attendants' exploitation was an open secret among Luoyang's elite and wondered whether Wei Xun would rescue her before the Golden Osmanthus Banquet.
• The Prince of Qi's consort confronted Li Yu over his banquet, his use of the osmanthus name, and his sons' indulgence in wine and women.
• Li Yu dismissed his consort and sent Baozhu back to the Rainbow Garment Courtyard, where her humiliation left her contemplating suicide.
• Mi Moyan urged Baozhu to practice before eating, and they heard that Jade Ewer had been summoned by a maid from the consort's rooms, possibly to receive free-person status.