Recaps

Xu Chuo brought Pei Ye to the secluded place where she and Sister Sisi had spent their childhood, and they burned Li Du’s head there while remembering their shared hopes and Sisi’s death. As they talked about their past and the wishes that remained, Xu Chuo revealed that she was an orphan before coming to the chancellor’s residence.

• Xu Chuo led Pei Ye through the woods at Leyouyuan to the hidden place she and Sister Sisi had named their secret home.
• Pei Ye burned Li Du’s head and Xu Chuo poured wine beneath the cypress marking Sister Sisi’s grave.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye about her childhood with Sister Sisi and the political ideals they shared with Chancellor Xu.
• Xu Chuo recalled that the first of November was Sister Sisi’s birthday and said she had been happy when Pei Ye killed Qiu Tianyu.
• Xu Chuo said she still had a personal wish but refused to reveal it, then explained that writing “Swinging Rope” had been her first goal.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that she had been an orphan before coming to the chancellor’s residence.

Xu Chuo told Pei Ye about the childhood companion she had lost and explained that she planned to involve him in a larger struggle tied to the King of Yan’s Residence and the Divine Capital’s distant past. She revealed that Her Highness Jinyang, Li Xizhou, backed their side and planned to send Pei Ye into the palace after the New Year.

• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that her lost childhood companion had inspired the story she wanted to write, “Swinging Rope.”
• Xu Chuo and Pei Ye argued with three children over who had first claimed a snowy woodland hideaway, then let the children keep using it.
• Xu Chuo explained that the King of Yan’s Residence was a dangerous force and that she planned to involve Pei Ye in a matter reaching back through the Divine Capital’s and the Sage’s histories.
• Xu Chuo revealed that Her Highness Jinyang, Li Xizhou, was their backer and planned for Pei Ye to enter the palace to assist her.
• Pei Ye asked whether entering the palace meant becoming a eunuch and whether he could ask the emperor to repay him for his broken sword.
• Xu Chuo and Pei Ye returned to their carriage, agreeing to celebrate the New Year before she assigned him to his new duties.

Pei Ye and Xu Chuo prepared for the New Year while the Tang court ordered a joint investigation into former Chancellor Li’s murder. Pei Ye returned to the decorated old residence and reunited with his friends, where Qu Xin revealed that Li Piaoqing had sent him a private letter.

• The Tang Emperor ordered Jingzhao Prefecture, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice to investigate former Chancellor Li’s murder, with the Immortal Platform assisting and Ji Zheng overseeing the inquiry.
• Pei Ye bought Spring Couplets and assorted New Year goods while wandering the capital with Xu Chuo.
• Cui Zhaoye, Jiang Yiner, Changsun Jue, and Qu Xin decorated the old residence and waited for Pei Ye to return.
• Qu Xin told Cui Zhaoye and the others that Li Piaoqing had sent Pei Ye a letter and disclosed that she and Pei Ye had once kissed.
• Pei Ye and Xu Chuo arrived at the residence, where Pei Ye greeted his friends and Qu Xin remarked that he seemed to have grown up.

On New Year's Eve, Pei Ye and Jiang Yiner talked about snow, swordsmanship, and the opera masks she liked. Pei Ye gave her a mask he had painted as a New Year's gift, and she gratefully accepted it.

• Pei Ye and Jiang Yiner watched the snowfall and discussed her first New Year away from her sect and her sword training.
• Jiang Yiner praised Pei Ye's unusual path in the Sword Dao, and he recalled how he had discovered his talent after leaving Bowang.
• Pei Ye invited Jiang Yiner to see new operas in the Divine Capital and asked about the play mask she had made herself.
• Pei Ye gave Jiang Yiner a pale blue-green mask inspired by the opera White Snake Romance, and she thanked him.

On New Year’s Eve, Pei Ye read letters from home and from Li Piaoqing, then learned she had paid Qu Xin’s medical fees and advanced her more money. The next morning, Pei Ye confronted Qu Xin at the Chancellor’s Residence, accusing her of collecting fees he had already settled.

• Pei Ye celebrated New Year’s Eve with Jiang Yiner and their guests before retreating to the Old Book Tower to read his letters.
• Jiang Yiner joined Pei Ye and learned that he had received many letters from friends and family, while she had received only three.
• Pei Ye read Li Piaoqing’s letter about Jadeite Mountain’s revival, her hopes of meeting him in spring, and her payment of his supposed medical debt to Qu Xin.
• Pei Ye went outside after discovering Li Piaoqing had advanced Qu Xin another seventy taels, joking that it was Qu Xin’s death date.
• On New Year’s Day, Pei Ye accused Qu Xin of collecting medical fees he had already paid with Qilin Blood Wine, while Cui Zhaoye and Jiang Yiner tried to mediate.

Pei Ye recovered money from Qu Xin and repaid Qi Zhaohua, then arranged for Shang Lang to collect compensation for his damaged sword from the emperor. After Zhang Piaoxu helped settle Pei Ye’s debt to Shang Lang, Pei Ye asked about Zhang Piaoxu’s reluctance to attend school.

• Pei Ye confronted Qu Xin about the money she had taken, and she returned thirty-one taels to him.
• Pei Ye used his money to repay Qi Zhaohua’s fifty-tael loan, then offered Shang Lang compensation for his twenty-tael loan by transferring the debt for his damaged sword to him.
• Shang Lang declined to pursue the sword compensation, explaining that he had fallen out with his father and was short of money.
• Zhang Piaoxu gave Pei Ye twenty-three taels from selling his house and pawning belongings, allowing Pei Ye to repay Shang Lang.
• Pei Ye asked Zhang Piaoxu about school, and Zhang Piaoxu admitted he disliked talking with the people there.

Pei Ye took Jiang Yiner to hear opera in the Divine Capital, where a stranger connected the song they heard to Yue Muzhou and other figures from the past. The man left Pei Ye with questions about those connections, while Jiang Yiner returned home delighted by the performance.

• Pei Ye took Zhang Piaoxu to visit Xiye, and Zhang Piaoxu worried that the mermaid might shorten her life to become human for him.
• Pei Ye and Jiang Yiner found an old opera house and settled in to watch its traditional performances.
• A cloaked man named Li arrived for the Qilin-Child Opera, and the opening melody stirred Pei Ye's memories of Yue Muzhou singing at home.
• Li told Pei Ye and Jiang Yiner that Yue Muzhou, Ying Suyu, and others had heard the opera at different times, and asked whether Yue Muzhou had taught it to Pei Ye.
• Li parted from Pei Ye and Jiang Yiner after remarking that their return to the Divine Capital, following Yue Muzhou and Ying Suyu's departure, seemed like fate.
• Jiang Yiner thanked Pei Ye for the outing, and they returned to Xu Chuo's residence for dinner.

During the New Year festivities, Pei Ye played in the snow with Jiang Yiner and the others, then spoke with Xu Chuo about the dangers awaiting him in the Imperial City and exchanged gifts with her. As the night ended, a letter from Miss Ming arrived, leaving Pei Ye eager to read it.

• Pei Ye surprised Jiang Yiner with snow down her collar, and their snowball fight drew the others into the courtyard.
• Pei Ye threw snow at Xu Chuo and charged her with a snowman’s head, then later apologized and explained that he had hoped she would join the fun.
• Xu Chuo warned Pei Ye that Great Tang’s Imperial City was dangerous and said she would send him into the palace the next morning.
• Pei Ye gave Xu Chuo two handmade pig clay figurines, and she told him she had a gift for him that he would receive in a few months.
• Pei Ye reflected on his cultivation and the Heart of the Western Court before a Small Jade Sword carrying a letter from Miss Ming landed in his hand.

Pei Ye replied to Miss Ming, then entered the palace to investigate the old assassination attempt against Empress Scale-Locking. He met Sixth Princess Li Youlong on the way and reached Huiying Pavilion, where he came face-to-face with Jinyang.

• Pei Ye wrote Miss Ming a reply about events in the Divine Capital and sent it with a clump of Chang'an snow.
• Xu Chuo appointed Pei Ye to investigate the assassination attempt against Empress Scale-Locking and warned him that the Phantom Tower investigation had uncovered little.
• Pei Ye entered the Imperial City and discovered that his true qi abilities no longer worked inside the Palace City, where Qilin's power held sway.
• An attendant led Pei Ye through the rear palace, where he heard a woman reciting poetry and playing a flute among the plum trees.
• Pei Ye met Sixth Princess Li Youlong and her injured maid in a pavilion, then continued toward Taiye Pool.
• Pei Ye arrived at Huiying Pavilion and paid his respects to Jinyang, whose face was hidden behind a pale-gold mask.

Li Xizhou explained the ancient legends surrounding Haojing and the history of Empress Wei Qingju’s death, then gave Pei Ye the original case file from the night she was attacked. Pei Ye entered the abandoned Bright Moon Palace to investigate the place where Yue Muzhou had guarded her.

• Li Xizhou connected the records of King Mu of Zhou, Jiang Yan, and Lord Liu to the Spirit Realm and suggested that people once saw two Haojings.
• Li Xizhou told Pei Ye that Wei Qingju had been accused of usurping Qilin Blood after an assassin’s weapon blazed with Qilin Flame, and that she later died in Bright Moon Palace.
• Li Xizhou asked Pei Ye to investigate the unresolved assassination attempt and handed him the original case file written by Yue Muzhou.
• Li Xizhou revealed that Yue Muzhou had guarded Wei Qingju outside Bright Moon Palace on the night of the attack.
• Pei Ye went to the sealed, abandoned Bright Moon Palace and entered its courtyard, where he stood before the steps beneath the eaves.

Pei Ye reconstructed the Empress’s assassination by studying Yue Muzhou’s case file and the movements of Yue Muzhou and He Wujian, while Zhu Gaoyang and He Changge neared the end of the Jing River in search of He Wujian. In Bright Moon Palace, Pei Ye and Black Cat discussed the Phantom Tower before strange footsteps approached the hall.

• Pei Ye read Yue Muzhou’s case file, which described He Wujian’s failed assassination attempt against Empress Wei Qingju and Yue’s decision to leave the Crane Seal.
• Pei Ye connected He Wujian’s sword wound and sudden departure to the assassination, realizing how both men had moved with sealed True Qi.
• Zhu Gaoyang and He Changge traveled through the northern mountains toward the source of the Jing River while discussing supernatural power and the possibility of finding He Wujian.
• Pei Ye retraced the distances and movements inside Bright Moon Palace and considered how the assassin had entered and escaped.
• Pei Ye and Black Cat concluded that the Phantom Tower was a genuine Spirit Realm, then heard strange, stumbling footsteps approaching the hall from the woods.

Pei Ye caught Meng'er sneaking into the palace to search for a way out of the Divine Capital, and learned that she hoped to escape with the Sixth Princess, who was forbidden to leave the capital. After their search found nothing, Meng'er revealed that a previous attempt to investigate the rumor had cost her a leg.

• Meng'er climbed over a wall into the palace, fell into the snow, and told Pei Ye she had come alone without the Sixth Princess's knowledge.
• Pei Ye told Meng'er he was investigating the late Empress's assassination, and she explained she was searching for a route from the palace to Deep Lake City based on an old rumor.
• Pei Ye searched the palace with Meng'er but found no passage, then learned she wanted to leave the Divine Capital because the Sixth Princess could never leave it.
• Meng'er said she would return after the snow melted to search again, and told Pei Ye that palace officials had caught her investigating the rumor four years earlier and her leg had been amputated after the punishment.

Pei Ye learned from Meng'er about the palace's succession rules and the rumors surrounding Jinyang before escorting her out. He then met the young Li Wuyan near Vermilion Mirror Hall and helped her catch a fish, leaving her asking him to find a red carp.

• Meng'er told Pei Ye that Li Youlong had once searched the palace for her after she was punished, and explained that Meng'er risked sneaking out to pursue her and Jinyang's childhood wish to see beyond the city.
• Meng'er described Jinyang as isolated and the subject of palace rumors, and said her qilin blood ranked low among the succession candidates.
• Pei Ye promised Meng'er he would help her enter the palace next time, then cut the lock on the gate so she could leave safely.
• Pei Ye and Meng'er encountered the young Eleventh Highness, Li Wuyan, running toward Vermilion Mirror Hall, and Meng'er identified her.
• Pei Ye helped Li Wuyan catch a small fish in an icy stream, and she asked him to catch her a red carp, insisting she had seen one.

Pei Ye accompanied Li Wuyan to look for red carp, then learned how isolated she felt in the palace and promised to make her a fishing rod. Li Xizhou asked him to stay at Vermilion Mirror Hall while investigating the Empress’s death, and the chapter ended with her explaining why that death mattered.

• Pei Ye and Li Wuyan searched frozen ponds for red carp, but the thick ice kept them from fishing.
• Li Xizhou found them at Vermilion Pond and teased Pei Ye into promising to teach Li Wuyan how to fish after her lessons.
• Li Wuyan told Pei Ye that no one in the palace truly played or talked with her, and he promised to visit her the next day.
• Li Xizhou told Pei Ye to stay at Vermilion Mirror Hall and remain by her side except when investigating the case.
• Li Xizhou explained that the Empress’s death and the hidden plot behind it were the main questions she had been pursuing.

Li Xizhou prepared and swallowed a pill to suppress the Qilin Blood, then endured the memories of her isolated childhood and her father's rejection. The chapter ended with a warm woman inviting young Xixi to play on a swing for the first time.

• Li Xizhou told Pei Ye that she suspected the King of Yan was behind the plot involving her mother and the smuggling of Scale Clan members.
• Li Xizhou checked the recipe for the Four Spirits Blood-Sealing Gen Snow Pill, mixed the three kinds of blood with her own, and swallowed the pill to seal her Qilin Blood.
• The pill's pain brought back memories of young Xixi enduring painful Qilin Blood tests and being rejected by her father.
• After Xixi's father stopped letting her visit him, she withdrew from everyone and spent her days alone in Vermilion Mirror Hall.
• A gentle woman came to Xixi and offered to take her to play on a swing.

Pei Ye investigated the Spirit Realm in Bright Moon Palace and used the Azure Phoenix Jade to contact Li Xizhou, who had awakened from a dream about her childhood. They discussed grief and the paired Luan Pendants, then Li Xizhou asked how Pei Ye was adjusting to the palace.

• Li Xizhou woke from a dream of a woman who had taught her to play and weave flowers, and remembered their promise to meet again in ten days.
• Pei Ye considered the Spirit Realm and He Wujian’s assassination, wondering how people had entered and exited it twenty years earlier.
• The Azure Phoenix Jade awakened, and Pei Ye exchanged messages with Li Xizhou through it.
• Pei Ye advised Li Xizhou to seek support in other people and promised to help her find a way through her troubles.
• Li Xizhou explained that the paired Luan Pendants let their owners communicate and asked Pei Ye how his first day in Ming Palace had gone.
• Pei Ye said the palace was quiet but that he had not received enough food that evening.

Pei Ye received Yue Muzhou’s old account of the Empress’s assassination, while Zhu Gaoyang and He Changge found He Wujian’s underwater hiding place and discovered his ties to the Azure Wind Envoys. The chapter ended with a little girl in a red jacket waiting for Pei Ye outside the palace hall.

• Pei Ye read a letter from Yue Muzhou explaining why he left the Divine Capital and identifying He Wujian as the assassin who killed Bright Moon.
• Zhu Gaoyang and He Changge followed a blood thread through an underwater passage to He Wujian’s cavern at the tail of the Jing River.
• Zhu Gaoyang found He Wujian’s skeleton pinned to a wall and recorded the wounds and the inscription naming Yue Muzhou as his killer.
• Zhu Gaoyang identified an Azure Fan mark on He Wujian’s wrist bone and told He Changge that his father had been an Azure Wind Envoy.
• Zhu Gaoyang wrote down their findings and sent them onward in a Letter Tube.
• Pei Ye left the side hall and found the little girl in a red padded jacket waiting beneath a tree.

Pei Ye took Li Wuyan fishing while mapping Daming Palace’s pools and waterways, then studied records linking He Wujian’s altered body to Chen Renzhong. After mapping the rear palace, he entered the snow-covered Jade Hail Garden to investigate its old layout.

• Pei Ye made fishing rods with Black Cat, took Li Wuyan to several pools, caught fish, and mapped the pools and their connecting waterways.
• Pei Ye warned Li Wuyan not to enter Scenic Pool, and she said her Qilin Blood meant no one could punish her; he told her everyone deserved equal treatment.
• Pei Ye examined a report on He Wujian’s remains and connected the growths in He Wujian’s body to Chen Renzhong’s unusual underwater abilities.
• Pei Ye saw Li Youlong leave the main hall after visiting Li Xizhou, then learned Li Wuyan had to attend her studies the next day.
• Pei Ye spent several days mapping the rear palace and entered the snowbound Jade Hail Garden, searching for its old stone paths while Li Wuyan followed.

Pei Ye investigated a long-abandoned watercourse linking Scenic Pool, Jade Hail Garden, and Taiye Pool, suspecting it was connected to the preparations for Empress Wei’s death. He found records implicating the powerful eunuch Qu Chang and unsettled He Xu by suggesting Empress Li may also have been involved.

• Pei Ye and Li Wuyan discovered that a buried channel once connected Scenic Pool to the other palace pools through Jade Hail Garden.
• Pei Ye visited the Directorate of Palace Service and asked He Xu for construction records from Scale-Locking Year One through Year Four.
• Pei Ye and He Xu found a Scale-Locking Year Three authorization for the channel, issued under the Directorate of Palace Attendants’ seal.
• He Xu read a report naming Deputy Eunuch Qu Chang as a supervisor who personally oversaw construction of Jade Hail Garden.
• Pei Ye told He Xu he suspected the channel was connected to Empress Wei’s death, then asked whether Empress Li could have played a part.

Pei Ye learned that Qu Chang, the former overseer of Jade Hail Garden, had been killed by Yu Sicheng, and sought advice on investigating the powerful eunuch. He followed a clue to the Embroidered Garments Workshop, where he helped unload cloth and asked the workers about former palace servants.

• He Xuduobu told Pei Ye that Qu Chang had been Yu Sicheng’s trusted deputy and was suddenly killed after overseeing Jade Hail Garden’s construction.
• Pei Ye asked Xu Chuo how to investigate Yu Sicheng, and Xu Chuo described the eunuch’s power and suggested using his adopted son Yu Ziliang as a lead.
• Pei Ye found a late-added reinspection record naming Guo You, Chief Secretary of the Divine Martial Army.
• Pei Ye visited the Embroidered Garments Workshop and helped the palace maids unload ten oxcarts of cloth.
• The embroideresses told Pei Ye that they were preparing ceremonial garments for a palace wedding after the New Year, and he asked whether they knew Zhao Wuliang, Xu Si, and Wei Qi.

Pei Ye found Guo You, a former Chief Secretary of the Divine Martial Army whose mind had become clouded, and learned that he might know about the abandoned Jade Hail Garden and Empress Wei Qingju’s assassination. Unable to question him normally, Pei Ye began learning how to use the Immortal Edict to enter and influence Guo You’s Mindscape Realm.

• The embroideresses could not identify the people Pei Ye sought, but one recognized Guo You and directed Pei Ye to the Music Bureau.
• Pei Ye found Guo You wandering near the Music Bureau, grieving for the Goddess of the Luo River, and followed him back to his ruined courtyard.
• Pei Ye asked Guo You about Jade Hail Garden, the people involved in its construction, and the assassination of Wei Qingju; Guo You reacted to the names but could not answer clearly.
• Pei Ye discovered that Guo You possessed a Spirit Body and had reached at least the Body Recasting stage, while Black Cat confirmed that no mind-spirit power was interfering with him.
• Black Cat proposed that Pei Ye use the Immortal Edict to break through Guo You’s mental barriers and taught him the first steps of a method called Lesser Edict Usurpation.
• Pei Ye learned that [Heart Slips] let him control engraved purple bamboo in his Mindscape Realm and successfully plucked a bamboo leaf.

Pei Ye used a False Edict to draw out Guo You’s memories of the attack on Bright Moon Palace and the events at Jade Hail Garden. Guo You recalled that the conspirators meant to kill Her Majesty, but gaps in his memories remained as Pei Ye searched the long-abandoned room.

• Pei Ye used a Purple Bamboo Leaf to ask Guo You what happened to the Goddess of the Luo River and Jade Hail Garden.
• Guo You’s memories surfaced, and he recalled rushing to investigate Jade Hail Garden after learning Her Majesty’s safety was at stake.
• Guo You remembered finding Ziliang fighting intruders and realizing that they intended to kill Her Majesty.
• Pei Ye told Guo You that Wei Qingju was already dead, then noticed that important details had been erased from Guo You’s memories.
• Guo You repeatedly pleaded with Yu Sicheng to let him go, while Pei Ye searched the vacant room and reconsidered the Bright Moon Palace assassination.

Pei Ye discovered a thirty-seven-year-old letter and records in Guo You’s residence that linked Wei Qingju to the palace when she first entered as a prince’s consort, while the Immortal Platform traced Yu Ziliang’s movements for Pei Ye. In a separate past scene, Zhao Baibi took an interest in the injured Li Yao and invited him to become her follower.

• Pei Ye found records about palace halls and a letter written in Wei Qingju’s hand among Guo You’s papers.
• Pei Ye and Black Cat concluded that others were searching for something the empress had left behind, and Pei Ye decided he needed to meet Yu Sicheng.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that Yu Ziliang had vanished inside Xunfang Garden with an official’s daughter and would enter the palace the next day.
• Xu Chuo identified the records as dating to thirty-seven years earlier, when the current emperor entered the Divine Capital with Wei Qingju at his side.
• Li Yao watched Zhao Baibi’s elders scold his siblings at the general’s residence, and Zhao Baibi asked to keep him with her for a few days.
• Zhao Baibi invited Li Yao to become her future Jianghu follower, and he offered to do her schoolwork.

Li Yao survived the purge that destroyed his home and the Great General’s Residence with Zhao Baibi, then chose to answer the palace’s summons and try to change things. In the later events, Pei Ye learned about Great Edict Usurpation, while Li Xianfang watched Yu Ziliang select a frightened newcomer at the Jiaofang Office.

• A rider announced that the Great General had been executed, and Li Yao saw flames rising from the Great General’s Residence.
• Li Yao found his aunt and the household servants dead, then searched the ruined residence and reunited with the wounded Zhao Baibi.
• After hiding together for a month, Li Yao decided to answer the palace’s summons, and Zhao Baibi agreed to remain his companion.
• Pei Ye learned that felling a Purple Bamboo stalk could strengthen Edict Usurpation and discussed naming the resulting art with Black Cat.
• Li Xianfang noticed Yu Ziliang arrive at the Jiaofang Office seeking two obedient girls to feed his snake.
• Yu Ziliang pointed to a newcomer, who turned pale and collapsed.

Pei Ye ambushed Yu Ziliang in the palace and tortured him for information about Jiaozhu powder and the Phantom Tower. After learning that Yu Sicheng kept powder in his study at the Directorate of Palace Attendants, Pei Ye incapacitated Li Xianfang and left to investigate.

• The Senior Matron offered Li Xianfang to Yu Ziliang, who took her to a room with two guards.
• A black-robed man killed the guards and subdued Yu Ziliang, then demanded to know how he entered the Phantom Tower.
• Yu Ziliang confessed that Jiaozhu powder let him enter the Phantom Tower and that he had stolen his supply from Yu Sicheng's study.
• Yu Ziliang said Yu Sicheng used Jiaozhu powder to send other people somewhere, but he claimed he had none left.
• Li Xianfang told Pei Ye that Yu Sicheng's residence had few guards and that cleaning eunuchs could enter it.
• Pei Ye knocked Li Xianfang unconscious, concealed the bodies and Yu Ziliang, then slipped out through a window.