Chapter Summaries

Emperor Qing betrothed Zhou Cheng to Ye Linger after his public assault on Li Chengze, prompting Zhou Cheng to see the match as a chance to leave the Capital and pursue his plans. Li Chengze turned to courting Fan Xian for support, while Fan Xian arrived at One Stone Residence expecting trouble from Zhou Cheng and found no apparent setup.

• Emperor Qing scolded Zhou Cheng for striking Li Chengze and ordered him to marry Ye Linger.
• Zhou Cheng accepted the match and considered using it as a plausible reason to travel beyond the Capital and seek martial challenges and allies.
• Zhou Cheng visited Li Yunrui and gave her Fan Xian's Engagement Cancellation Letter before Emperor Qing's marriage decree arrived at Prince Cheng's Residence.
• Li Chengze learned of Zhou Cheng's betrothal, grew furious, and decided to pursue an alliance with Fan Xian.
• Fan Xian went to One Stone Residence early in the morning and found no visible traps or preparations.

Fan Xian met Lin Wan'er at the One Stone Residence, only to discover that she was the fiancée he had tried to break off his engagement with. The pair recognized each other after a tearful misunderstanding, and Fan Xian blamed Prince Cheng for tricking him into writing the cancellation letter.

• Fan Xian leaped from the private room to greet Lin Wan'er, startling her so badly that she began coughing.
• Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er spoke privately, and he told her how much he had wanted to see her.
• Lin Wan'er revealed that she was Chancellor Lin's daughter and that her engagement to Fan Xian was about to be dissolved.
• Fan Xian revealed his name, and Lin Wan'er thought he was mocking her before asking him to prove his identity by writing his poem from the Poetry Gathering.
• Lin Wan'er recognized Fan Xian as her fiancé and asked why he had written an Engagement Cancellation Letter.
• Fan Xian blamed Prince Cheng for claiming he would arrange the meeting only if Fan Xian ended his engagement.

After Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er reunited, they remained baffled by Zhou Cheng's scheme and rushed to stop the Engagement Cancellation Letter from reaching the palace. Zhou Cheng collected Fan Xian's negative emotions, used ten system draws, and discovered several objects from his former life, including an iPhone that still worked.

• Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er pieced over Zhou Cheng's actions but could not understand why he had arranged their meeting after making Fan Xian write an Engagement Cancellation Letter.
• Lin Wan'er realized Zhou Cheng planned to deliver the letter to her mother, so she hurried to the palace while Fan Xian watched her carriage leave.
• Zhou Cheng received 666 negative emotion points from Fan Xian and spent enough points on ten system draws.
• Zhou Cheng found ordinary personal items in storage, including a childhood Monkey King mask and a working rose-gold iPhone 6.
• Zhou Cheng listened to songs on the iPhone and told Sang Wen he could teach her the song "Forget Time."

Li Yunrui tried to persuade Emperor Qing to rescind Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er’s marriage decree, but he rejected her request and ordered her to leave. Back at Guangxin Palace, Lin Wan'er revealed that she had heard about Fan Xian’s Engagement Cancellation Letter and admitted she did not want to be too willful.

• Li Yunrui presented Fan Xian’s Engagement Cancellation Letter to Emperor Qing and asked him to rescind the marriage decree for Lin Wan’er’s sake.
• Emperor Qing asked who had delivered the letter, and Li Yunrui said Zhou Cheng had obtained it for her.
• Emperor Qing crumpled the letter, dismissed Li Yunrui’s plea, and ordered her to leave.
• Li Yunrui returned to Guangxin Palace and found Lin Wan'er waiting for her.
• Lin Wan'er told Li Yunrui she had heard Zhou Cheng gave her the letter and said she did not want to be too willful about the imperial decree.

Li Yunrui learned that Lin Wan'er had reconciled with Fan Xian and pretended to support their engagement while privately blaming Li Chengcheng for arranging their meeting. At the Imperial Villa, Ye Linger confided in Lin Wan'er that she dreaded her decreed marriage to Zhou Cheng and wished for a love like Lin Wan'er and Fan Xian's.

• Lin Wan'er told Li Yunrui that she no longer wanted to cancel her engagement after Fan Xian cleared up their misunderstanding, and that Li Chengcheng had arranged their meeting.
• Li Yunrui concealed her anger, claimed she had forgotten the Engagement Cancellation Letter at the palace, and promised to burn it.
• After Lin Wan'er left, Li Yunrui cursed Li Chengcheng, while Zhou Cheng received a large negative-emotion notification from her.
• At the Imperial Villa, Ye Linger complained to Lin Wan'er that she did not want to marry Zhou Cheng, whom she barely knew.
• Ye Linger contrasted her unwanted marriage with Lin Wan'er and Fan Xian's romance, admitting she would accept even a fraction of Fan Xian's devotion from Li Chengcheng.

Ye Linger met Zhou Cheng to judge her betrothed and ask him to end their engagement, while Zhou Cheng learned Fan Xian was headed to the Drunken Immortal Residence. Their meeting on Ox Pen Street ended with Zhou Cheng challenging Ye Linger to break off the marriage herself.

• Ye Linger decided to meet Zhou Cheng after learning that he had forced Teng Zijing to spy on Fan Xian by holding Teng's family at Prince Cheng's Residence.
• Zhou Cheng agreed to meet Ye Linger, learned that Fan Xian would visit the Drunken Immortal Residence, and moved their meeting to Ox Pen Street.
• Zhou Cheng and Ye Linger met in a restaurant overlooking Ox Pen Street and discussed whether they felt affection for each other.
• Ye Linger asked Zhou Cheng to break off their engagement, and he asked why she could not do it herself.

Zhou Cheng challenged Ye Linger to settle their unwanted engagement through a three-move sparring test, while Fan Xian and Teng Zijing rode through South City toward a meeting with the Second Prince. The chapter ended as a crash and commotion erupted outside Zhou Cheng’s window, while Teng Zijing began telling Fan Xian what his son had called him.

• Zhou Cheng compared marrying Ye Linger to accepting free silver and joked that she would fetch thousands of taels at the Drunken Immortal Residence, enraging her.
• Ye Linger admitted she did not dare ask His Majesty to cancel their engagement and demanded that Zhou Cheng withstand three of her moves before she would accept him.
• Zhou Cheng agreed to the test, and Ye Linger eagerly proposed they spar immediately.
• A quarter of an hour earlier, Fan Xian and Teng Zijing rode through South City on their way to meet the Second Prince and recognized the street where they had beaten Guo Baokun.
• Teng Zijing told Fan Xian that his son had called him something, but Fan Xian asked what it was before he could explain.

Fan Xian and Teng Zijing were ambushed in the Capital, and Fan Xian was left battered after fighting Cheng Jushu. Zhou Cheng and Ye Linger arrived at the ruined street and found Fan Xian kneeling beside an unconscious figure.

• Fan Xian and Teng Zijing discussed returning to Danzhou and agreed that protecting their families mattered most.
• Two assassins attacked Fan Xian and Teng Zijing with arrows, but the pair took them down and chased the runaway carriage.
• A hidden crossbow killed the carriage horses, and Cheng Jushu burst through a wall and attacked Fan Xian.
• Zhou Cheng led Ye Linger to the battlefield, where they found Cheng Jushu and another figure lying amid the wreckage.
• Zhou Cheng recognized the bloodied, kneeling Fan Xian, and Ye Linger realized the assassination had targeted him.

Fan Xian confronted Prince Cheng Zhou Cheng after Teng Zijing died protecting him, and suspected Zhou Cheng had arranged the ambush. Zhou Cheng taunted Fan Xian and desecrated Teng Zijing’s body, while Wang Qinian restrained Fan Xian from attacking him.

• Fan Xian accused Zhou Cheng of arranging the assassins, but Zhou Cheng denied it and Ye Linger kept her suspicions to herself.
• Wang Qinian arrived, confirmed that Teng Zijing was dead, and found Cheng Jushu dead as well.
• Fan Xian blamed himself for failing to save Teng Zijing and shouted that Teng had been his friend and brother, not anyone’s property.
• Zhou Cheng claimed Teng had belonged to him because he had paid for his life, then kicked Teng’s corpse.
• Fan Xian grabbed Teng’s dagger and lunged at Zhou Cheng, but Wang Qinian restrained him as Ye Linger frowned at Zhou Cheng’s cruelty.

Zhou Cheng revealed how his true qi had kept Teng Zijing alive and demonstrated his overwhelming cultivation to Ye Linger. He lured her back to Prince Cheng's Residence by promising to help her break through, and she left having reached the seventh rank.

• Zhou Cheng explained that the strand of true qi he had left in Teng Zijing had protected him from Cheng Jushu's attack, and that he had reclaimed it to wake him.
• When Ye Linger doubted his explanation, Zhou Cheng planted a strand of true qi in her wrist, leaving her unable to move her hand and convinced he was at least at the peak of the ninth rank.
• Ye Linger tried to flee rather than honor their three-move match, but Zhou Cheng stopped her by offering to help her overcome her sixth-rank bottleneck.
• Ye Linger agreed to accompany Zhou Cheng to Prince Cheng's Residence so they could exchange martial arts techniques.
• Zhou Cheng instructed Ye Linger throughout the day and used his true qi to help her break through to the seventh rank, while she demonstrated Great Coffin Splitter.

Fan Xian investigated the assassination and dismissed Teng Zijing’s report that Zhou Cheng believed he was connected to Emperor Qing, unwilling to risk the family bonds he cherished. He focused on finding the attackers, and Wang Qinian arrived with a lead identifying the token as belonging to a Northern Qi undercover agent.

• Fan Xian returned to the assassination site and investigated for more than half a day.
• Teng Zijing repeated Zhou Cheng’s theory that he had been placed beside Fan Xian to keep him in the Capital and that Fan Xian resembled the royal princes.
• Fan Xian rejected the claim that Emperor Qing was his father and urged Teng Zijing to help trace a cipher found near the assassin’s position.
• Fan Xian reflected on his fears of losing his family and resolved to focus on uncovering the assassination plot and returning to Danzhou.
• Wang Qinian arrived and told Fan Xian that the token belonged to a Northern Qi undercover agent.

Fan Xian traced the assassination attempt to a murdered household and suspected Si Lili was a Northern Qi spy who had helped expose his route. He and Wang Qinian caught up with her during her escape, but she lured them into a mountain ambush and rode away.

• Fan Xian and Wang Qinian found the assistant general's household murdered, cutting off their lead to the weapons used in the assassination.
• Fan Xian recalled Prince Cheng's knowledge of the culprit and reasoned that the assassination details might have leaked from the Drunken Immortal Residence.
• Fan Xian suspected Si Lili because of her secretive behavior and connection to the Northern Qi spy token, but discovered that she had disappeared.
• Wang Qinian tracked Si Lili as she fled toward the sea, and Fan Xian joined him in pursuing her.
• Si Lili led Fan Xian and Wang Qinian onto a mountain road where her covert operatives surrounded them, then escaped.

Fan Xian captured Si Lili and tried to learn who had ordered his assassination, but she demanded to meet Prince Cheng first. Yan Ruohai revealed that Fan Xian had full authority over her fate and warned that Prince Cheng could not enter the Overwatch Council.

• The Black Cavalry, led by Shadow, routed the Northern Qi operatives, and Shadow told Fan Xian that Chen Pingping had ordered him to proceed without restraint.
• Fan Xian secretly visited Si Lili in the Overwatch Council dungeon and offered to free her if she named the person who wanted him dead.
• Si Lili said she would reveal the culprit only after she saw Prince Cheng, and Fan Xian agreed to pass on her request.
• After Fan Xian left, Yan Ruohai told Si Lili that Fan Xian had been appointed chief interrogator and could decide her fate.
• Yan Ruohai warned Si Lili that Prince Cheng could not enter the Overwatch Council because of the Emperor's decree.

Zhou Cheng went to the Overwatch Council with Fan Xian to question Si Lili, but Yan Ruohai and Zhu Ge barred him from entering as a prince. Zhou Cheng used Fan Xian’s role as chief investigator to gain entry, leaving Yan Ruohai to step aside.

• Fan Xian told Zhou Cheng that Si Lili had asked to see him, and Zhou Cheng decided to go to the Overwatch Council.
• Zhu Ge and Yan Ruohai refused to let Zhou Cheng enter or bring Si Lili to the gate, citing the emperor’s decree and the Council’s authority over the suspect.
• Zhou Cheng called Fan Xian out of the carriage and claimed he was accompanying the chief investigator to question Si Lili.
• Yan Ruohai questioned how Zhou Cheng knew Fan Xian was the chief investigator, then stepped aside and let Zhou Cheng and Fan Xian enter.

Zhou Cheng secured Si Lili’s allegiance and freed her from the Overwatch Council dungeon after she revealed that Lin Gong had masterminded the Ox Pen Street Assassination Case. The group left the Council with Fan Xian asking them to keep Lin Gong’s identity secret, and Zhou Cheng disclosed the truth to Yan Ruohai and Zhu Ge.

• Yan Ruohai declared that Fan Xian was presiding over the Ox Pen Street case, allowing him and Zhou Cheng to enter the Overwatch Council without hindrance.
• Zhou Cheng visited Si Lili in the dungeon, and she agreed to serve him and the Northern Qi Spy Network in exchange for his protection.
• Si Lili told Fan Xian that Lin Gong had used the Northern Qi token to command Cheng Jushu in the assassination attempt.
• Zhou Cheng broke Si Lili’s cell lock with his true qi and led her out of the dungeon.
• Fan Xian asked Zhou Cheng and Si Lili to conceal the culprit’s identity, and Zhou Cheng said he would stay silent unless asked.
• Zhou Cheng told Yan Ruohai and Zhu Ge that Lin Gong was the mastermind, leaving both men stunned.

After Zhou Cheng publicly blamed Lin Gong for the Ox Pen Street assassination, Fan Xian realized his hopes of privately clearing things up were gone. At the Imperial Villa, Ye Linger confided in Lin Wan'er about her relationship with Zhou Cheng, then grew furious that he had brought Si Lili to his residence.

• Zhou Cheng publicly named Lin Gong as the mastermind behind the Ox Pen Street assassination, and the news spread through the Capital.
• Fan Xian realized he could no longer quietly resolve the matter with Lin Gong, then left to visit Lin Wan'er.
• Ye Linger told Lin Wan'er that Zhou Cheng had tricked her into coming to Prince Cheng's Residence and forced himself on her.
• Ye Linger admitted that Zhou Cheng later treated her well and that she had stayed at his residence to recover and learn about him.
• Ye Linger complained that Zhou Cheng had brought Si Lili, a Northern Qi spy, back to his residence.