Chapter Summaries

Pei Ye uncovered how Lü Dingwu had helped cover up Zhang Mingqin’s murder and learned that constable Xie Chuantang had pursued the case before being imprisoned. He arranged for her release, while Guan Zhiyi overturned her death sentence at the Ministry of Justice despite Zheng Yufeng’s objections.

• Pei Ye confronted Lü Dingwu, who admitted tipping off the Taiping Transport Gang and covering up the investigation into Zhang Mingqin’s murder.
• Lü Dingwu revealed that Xie Chuantang had been imprisoned after investigating the case and being accused of attempting to assassinate a noble.
• Pei Ye asked Xu Chuo to get Xie Chuantang out of the Southern Office’s High-Security Prison, and Xu Chuo promised to transfer her before dawn.
• Pei Ye remembered meeting Xie Chuantang in prison, where she vowed to investigate the case to the end.
• Zheng Yufeng learned Xie Chuantang had been transferred and hurried to the Ministry of Justice to stop her release.
• Guan Zhiyi argued that the trafficking evidence overturned Xie Chuantang’s assassination charge and ordered her returned to Jingzhao Prefecture.

Xie Chuantang recounted how she had been sold as a child, rescued by a Chang'an constable, and later pursued justice for a murdered fourteen-year-old girl. After her release from prison, Linghu Qu followed her to kill her, but a mysterious middle-aged man stopped him and invited her to eat noodles.

• Xie Chuantang remembered being sold, rescued by a Chang'an constable, and raised with his guidance before corruption drove him to retire from field work.
• Xie Chuantang befriended a fourteen-year-old neighbor, who later left the capital and was found murdered beside the Yinma River.
• Xie Chuantang investigated the girl's murder, traced the order to the Phantom Tower, and was imprisoned after entering it; she later learned that the constable who had raised her had died.
• Officials released Xie Chuantang, but a crimson-robed man warned her that she had only half a street left to live, while Linghu Qu followed her with his sword ready.
• A middle-aged man at a noodle stall invited Xie Chuantang to eat, and she sat down as Linghu Qu stood frozen behind her.

After Xie Chuantang was freed, she joined Pei Ye and Di Jiu in connecting the Taiping Transport Gang’s trafficking operation to the seizure of victims’ property and the Golden Guards’ authority. The investigation pointed toward a hidden prison called the Winter Prison, which they needed to find as evidence against the gang and its protectors.

• Xie Chuantang told Pei Ye that Zhang Mengyuan and his wife had been killed after Zhang Mingqin’s body was found, suggesting they had been held rather than killed during the original abduction.
• Di Jiu compared the victims’ cases and concluded that Carp Hall’s people might have been gathered through a broader scheme rather than ordinary trafficking.
• Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang investigated the victims’ former homes and businesses, finding that the Taiping Transport Gang had taken their property.
• Di Jiu concluded that the Golden Guards backed the Taiping Transport Gang as it framed and dispossessed households and isolated residents.
• Di Jiu identified a nine-year-old record authorizing the Golden Guards to establish a secret Winter Prison outside the Southern Office, which could hold evidence of the crimes.

Pei Ye returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy after helping Xie Chuantang and Di Jiu investigate the Taiping Transport Gang, then spent the day practicing sword forms with Yang Zhenbing. As rumors about the case spread, Wang Shousi asked whether Pei Ye was prepared for the upcoming Sword Competition Trial.

• Xie Chuantang returned to Jingzhao Prefecture for treatment while Pei Ye went back to the Sword Cultivation Academy, trusting Di Jiu to find the gang’s private prison.
• Pei Ye discussed their Sword Ladder progress with Yang Zhenbing and asked him to help refine a Jadeite sword form.
• Pei Ye combined [Clear Cry] and [Broken Leaf Returning Tide] against Yang Zhenbing’s defense, but failed to break through and kept practicing.
• Pei Ye sparred with Yang Zhenbing until Sword Theory class, then ran into Wang Shousi, Ning Shuhong, and Zhu Shishi.
• Wang Shousi told Pei Ye that the Taiping Transport Gang case had become widely known and asked whether he was ready for the Sword Competition Trial.

Pei Ye practiced with Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong, then learned the Spring Sword technique First-Month Northern Rain and broadened his understanding of swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Di Jiu and Li Zhao traced the Taiping Transport Gang’s rise to Golden Guards official Yang Juhu but could not yet uncover his connection to the gang.

• Wang Shousi told Pei Ye that famed Sword Reviewer Cui Zhaoye would attend the Sword Talents’ first match, but Pei Ye said he probably would not be there.
• Pei Ye sparred with Wang Shousi after Ning Shuhong took Zhu Shishi away, and learned that Shishi had recently reached Sixth Growth.
• Wang Shousi told Pei Ye about the upcoming Chang'an Jade Winter Sword Gathering, where Ning Shuhong planned to make his mark.
• Pei Ye practiced the Spring Sword move Cloud Chill and learned three moves from the First-Month Northern Rain Sword Manual.
• Li Zhao found Yang Juhu’s old appointment records, and Di Jiu linked his return from the Northern Frontier to the period when the Taiping Transport Gang rose.

Di Jiu linked Qiu Tianyu to the Northern Frontier Army through the identity Wang Biehe and began searching for the location of the Winter Prison. At the Imperial College, Pei Ye discovered that he had misunderstood Xu Chuo’s essay assignment, and Changsun explained the question’s intended meaning.

• Di Jiu noticed a three-year gap in Qiu Tianyu’s history that matched the rotation between the Imperial Guard and the Frontier Army.
• Di Jiu and Li Zhao searched the Ministry of War archives and found that Wang Biehe had left the Northern Frontier Army under suspicious circumstances.
• Di Jiu concluded that Qiu Tianyu and the Golden Guards had been comrades-in-arms and proposed guessing where the Winter Prison was located.
• Yan Feiqing questioned Pei Ye about his writing and sleep habits before Pei Ye left for Xu Chuo’s lecture at the Imperial College.
• Pei Ye heard students praise Qiu Tianyu and mock Di Jiu’s investigation, then learned from Changsun that the stack of essays already submitted answered Xu Chuo’s assignment.
• Changsun explained that Confucius’s phrases about ministerial loyalty and serving a ruler according to the Way expressed the same principle.

Pei Ye struggled with an essay on Confucius’s Way of serving a sovereign, and Xu Chuo briefly praised his writing before deciding to assign him copies as punishment. Later, Pei Ye helped his classmates plan a poetry-and-sword gathering and offered to invite another swordsman, while news of the Carp Hall case continued to spread.

• Pei Ye handed in his incomplete essay to Changsun Jue and admitted to Xu Chuo that he found the classics difficult.
• Xu Chuo read Pei Ye’s essay, praised its opening and closing lines, then noticed his signature addressed the paper to her as his teacher and ordered him to make ten copies as punishment.
• Pei Ye advised Tinghua, Fu Zhiyun, Lin Yuxian, and their classmates to invite several swordsmen to their poetry gathering instead of relying on a single performer.
• Pei Ye agreed to introduce a swordsman who had mentioned wanting to attend, but said he could not promise to come himself.
• Pei Ye heard that discussion of the Carp Hall case was spreading, while Changsun Jue gave Fu Zhiyun a folded sheet of paper and pointed toward the back of the classroom.

Pei Ye defended Fang Jidao and declared that the Taiping Transport Gang would not survive the tenth day. Di Jiu and Li Zhao identified the gang’s wharf as the likely site of its private prison and prepared a search, but a powerful dignitary arrived at the Prefectural Office to meet Di Jiu.

• Changsun Jue sent Pei Ye a note praising his essay and instructing him to copy the Biography of Xu Chu ten times, while apologizing for reminding him to add his name.
• Fang Jidao argued with Zheng Zhiyi over the Carp Hall case and the Taiping Transport Gang, and Pei Ye publicly vowed to bring the gang down before the tenth day.
• Di Jiu and Li Zhao marked the Taiping Transport Gang’s wharf as the likely location of Winter Prison and arranged for the Gate Guard and Court of Judicial Review to assist with a search.
• A procession of carriages and palace soldiers arrived at the Prefectural Office, and Di Jiu went alone to meet the unidentified dignitary seated in the main hall.

Di Jiu defied Yu Sicheng’s warning and ordered Jingzhao Prefecture to hear public cases against the Taiping Transport Gang. Meanwhile, Changsun Jue visited the Sword Cultivation Academy with Cui Zhaoye to watch the Sword Talents compete, where he saw Zhang Chao and Wen Li duel.

• Yu Sicheng pressured Di Jiu to leave the Taiping Transport Gang alone, promising to imprison Qiu Tianyu instead.
• Di Jiu deliberately dropped Yu Sicheng’s offered tea, then ordered an open court hearing for anyone abused by the Taiping Transport Gang.
• Changsun Jue joined Cui Zhaoye at the Sword Cultivation Academy and studied the list of Sword Talents.
• Zhang Chao and Wen Li fought a sword bout that ended with Wen Li’s blade at Zhang Chao’s neck.
• Cui Zhaoye explained the swordsmen’s backgrounds and techniques to Changsun Jue as they watched the academy’s trials.

Cui Zhaoye watched the Sword Cultivation Academy bouts and judged the competitors, while Changsun Jue asked about the absent Pei Ye. Pei Ye spent the night studying a new sword art before riding with Xie Chuantang to West Pool to observe Qiu Tianyu’s banquet ahead of a planned search.

• Cui Zhaoye assessed the sword bouts, praising Ning Shuhong’s union with his sword and criticizing other competitors for lacking spirit.
• Zuo Qiu Longhua defeated the black-clad Yang Zhenbing, and Cui Zhaoye lamented that White Deer Palace had directed him toward the Six Bans instead of the Dao Sword.
• Changsun Jue told Cui Zhaoye that Pei Ye had not attended the Academy, and Cui prepared to leave without pursuing the matter.
• Pei Ye practiced the First-Month Northern Rain sword art at the Yi Four Sword Field and briefly touched the true intent of the Jadeite Sword’s third move.
• Xie Chuantang told Pei Ye that Di had located Winter Prison near Taiping Wharf and that a garrison would search the area later that morning.
• Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang rode to West Pool to watch Qiu Tianyu’s banquet at Flying Mirror Tower as an advance party.

Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang investigated the Taiping Transport Gang and prepared for the Gate Guards to raid its hidden Winter Prison. The chapter left Di Jiu openly inviting complaints against the gang while Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang watched Qiu Tianyu’s stronghold for signs of the coming confrontation.

• Xie Chuantang told Pei Ye that the Winter Prison was likely underground at Taiping Wharf and that the gang’s leaders had gathered in Flying Mirror Tower.
• Xie Chuantang explained Qiu Tianyu’s battlefield record and the power of the gang’s senior cultivators, as well as the Divine Capital’s restrictions on Profound Qi.
• Xie Chuantang said the Gate Guards were ready to move with Profound Gate cultivators and five hundred armored soldiers, but Grand Eunuch Yu Sicheng had pressured Di Jiu to end the investigation.
• Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang watched the tower and waited for the hour of the Snake, when Di Jiu had promised to hold out.
• Di Jiu sat outside Jingzhao Prefecture in vermilion robes and invited anyone wronged by the Taiping Transport Gang to bring him a complaint, drawing attention across the Divine Capital.
• Obstruction arose after Di Jiu had been receiving complaints for just over half an hour.

Di Jiu exposed the Taiping Transport Gang’s crimes in public despite political retaliation, then collapsed after an apparent poisoning. Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang learned that Di Jiu had been attacked and rode to find the Gate Guard, while Hong Xingping considered joining Li Zhao’s effort against the powerful families.

• Di Jiu and Li Zhao publicly exposed suppressed cases and arrested twenty-seven Taiping Transport Gang members, drawing a large crowd and warnings from Jingzhao Prefecture and the Southern Office.
• Di Jiu continued hearing victims’ accounts despite an edict ordering him to stop, then collapsed after becoming dizzy and losing consciousness.
• A clerk told Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang that Di Jiu had been poisoned and that Li Zhao had ordered the Gate Guard to make arrests.
• Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang rode toward the imperial city, but found no Gate Guard troops on the avenue.
• Hong Xingping recalled how connections and political favors had carried him to the rank of General of the Household, and how Li Zhao had offered him a chance to act independently.

Hong Xingping abandoned the planned attack on the Taiping Transport Gang when Yu Sicheng confronted him, leaving Xie Chuantang and Pei Ye without troops while Di Jiu lay poisoned. Pei Ye resolved to solve the case within three days, then returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy and tested a new strike against Yang Zhenbing.

• Hong Xingping prepared five hundred guards to attack the Taiping Transport Gang but faltered after receiving an order from Qi Wen and then faced Yu Sicheng at the garrison.
• Hong Xingping surrendered his command token, and Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang left without the troops they had hoped to bring.
• Pei Ye promised Xie Chuantang he would solve the case within three days despite their lack of soldiers.
• Xing Zhi stabilized Di Jiu and said the Mount Tai Medicine Lodge could wake him, while suggesting that appointing him Jingzhao Prefect might eliminate the threat completely.
• Pei Ye returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy, asked Yang Zhenbing to test another strike, and realized he had strayed by focusing only on defeating the Sealing Sword.

Pei Ye prepared to confront the Taiping Transport Gang, while his classmate’s poetry gathering welcomed the renowned swordsman Wang Shousi. In the rain, Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing arrived at the gang’s West Hall, where its guards recognized that the pair were no ordinary visitors.

• Pei Ye defeated Yang Zhenbing’s sword strike with the third form of Flying Feather Immortal, White Dew, and asked Yan Feiqing to help him fight someone in three days.
• At Green Splendor Terrace, Tinghua and Fu Zhiyun worried that the swordsman Pei Ye had promised to send might not arrive for their poetry and sword gathering.
• Wang Shousi arrived, and Bian Weiji gave up his seat and introduced him as a celebrated senior brother from the southern Golden Crow.
• After three days in the Sword Field, Pei Ye took down his door plaque and left in the winter rain with Yan Feiqing.
• Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing reached the Taiping Transport Gang’s West Hall, where two guards challenged them and realized their clothes remained untouched by the rain.

Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing attacked the Taiping Transport Gang during its public celebration at West Pool. After Yan Feiqing defeated Si Lianwen, Pei Ye killed him with Sword Washes Water and faced Qiu Tianyu atop Flying Mirror Tower.

• Pei Ye fought through the Taiping Transport Gang's street forces and stopped Zhao Qianqu from escaping to warn the Grand Dragon Head.
• Pei Ye ordered Little Cat to search for registers connected to Taiping Wharf while the Ten-Day Feast continued at West Pool.
• Qiu Tianyu announced the Taiping Transport Gang's celebration, and Si Lianwen flew toward the Blessing Ship to set it alight.
• Yan Feiqing emerged from the rain and broke Si Lianwen's attack with a sword strike and a sea of fire.
• Pei Ye used Sword Washes Water to pierce Si Lianwen's throat, then advanced across the lake toward Qiu Tianyu.

Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing attacked the Taiping Transport Gang on West Pool, where Pei Ye stunned the onlookers by killing two of its fighters with his sword. The gang’s forces closed in, and Qiu Tianyu engaged Yan Feiqing as Pei Ye struggled to survive against Ji Xionghu and the other attackers.

• Yan Feiqing appeared with Pei Ye, and the crowd recognized Yan Feiqing while Imperial College students identified Pei Ye.
• Ji Xionghu charged Pei Ye, who used Snow-Collapsing and a rain-forged sword to break past him, then killed Cao Yu with Mountain Feather and Newly-Hatched Corpse.
• Pei Ye used Cloud Chill and Water Ripple to counter Xie Yunxing, but Ji Xionghu’s punch wounded him as other Taiping Transport Gang fighters surrounded him.
• Qiu Tianyu joined the battle and traded halberd blows with Yan Feiqing, knocking him into the lake before Yan Feiqing rose and attacked again.
• Pei Ye continued fighting the gang’s cultivators, sustaining more wounds while killing another branch master.

Pei Ye used an Intent Sword to evade Qiu Tianyu’s halberd and behead Ji Xionghu, then vanished after turning the battle against the Meridian Tree Cultivators. As Qiu Tianyu attacked Yan Feiqing, Pei Ye reappeared at his neck with another strike.

• Pei Ye endured Ji Xionghu’s attacks and broke his sword arm while attempting to cut the man’s neck.
• Yan Feiqing used Wuji Self and Other to exchange places with Pei Ye, leaving Yan surrounded and Pei Ye exposed to Qiu Tianyu.
• Qiu Tianyu impaled what appeared to be Pei Ye, but the body dissolved into feathers as Pei Ye’s Intent Sword took shape beside Ji Xionghu.
• Pei Ye beheaded Ji Xionghu, then vanished into white feathers while Yan Feiqing fought Qiu Tianyu.
• Pei Ye’s appearance scattered Wu Zhao and several Seventh Growth cultivators, while Xie Yunxing and two branch chiefs died from his strikes.
• As Qiu Tianyu swung his halberd at Yan Feiqing, Pei Ye reappeared and slashed at Qiu Tianyu’s neck.

Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing attacked Qiu Tianyu, but Qiu Tianyu revealed that Coexistence Law did not bind him and badly wounded them both. As Qiu Tianyu cornered Pei Ye aboard the burning Blessing Ship, Pei Ye invoked Shenxing · Mysterious Fire Spirit Son Venerable Position and turned the flames against him.

• Pei Ye used Wuji Self and Other to exchange places with Yan Feiqing, letting Yan Feiqing land a sword strike on Qiu Tianyu.
• Qiu Tianyu blocked Yan Feiqing's attack, then struck him down and pierced him with his own sword.
• Qiu Tianyu revealed his Lüshou Order and pursued Pei Ye into the burning Blessing Ship, where he broke through the floors to corner him.
• Xu Chuo descended into a hidden chamber beneath the imperial city and stood before a pair of enormous tiger's eyes.
• Pei Ye invoked Shenxing · Mysterious Fire Spirit Son Venerable Position, causing the flames to trap and burn Qiu Tianyu.
• Golden Guards and other armored troops arrived at the shores as the battle continued.

Pei Ye and Yan Feiqing destroyed the Taiping Transport Gang after Pei Ye killed its last five senior members, and the authorities uncovered the gang’s underground prison and rescued its captives. By dawn, Di Jiu was reviewing the evidence while Pei Ye recovered from his wounds.

• Yan Feiqing used the Qingwei Divine Fierce Secret Art to freeze Qiu Tianyu’s defenders, and Pei Ye killed the five men with his sword technique.
• Pei Ye confronted Yang Juhu, then crossed West Pool with Yan Feiqing and entered Taiping Wharf as Xie Chuantang led constables inside.
• Pei Ye and the constables uncovered the gang’s underground prison and freed hundreds of innocent captives.
• Pei Ye told Cheng Xiaozhu’s parents that their daughter had been rescued and was waiting at the Jingzhao Yamen.
• At dawn, Di Jiu inspected the evidence with Pei Ye, who joked that the physician from Mount Tai Medicine Lodge charged too much.

Pei Ye recovered from his injuries under Qu Xin’s care, then returned to the Imperial College, where the students’ attention showed how widely news of his defeat of the Taiping Transport Gang had spread. The chapter left him seated beside Changsun Jue as she asked whether his injuries had healed.

• Pei Ye went to the Mount Tai Medicine Lodge for treatment and discovered that Qu Xin had followed him to the Divine Capital and waited for him there.
• Qu Xin treated Pei Ye’s wounds, and he asked her to take a letter and some purchases back to Shaolong.
• After a day of rest, Pei Ye left the Medical Tower and learned from Qi Zhaohua that leads on the case had emerged and he was expected to attend class.
• Pei Ye arrived at the Imperial College and heard scholars discussing his role in the fall of the Taiping Transport Gang.
• Pei Ye entered a lecture hall full of classmates watching him and took the remaining seat beside Changsun Jue, who asked about his injuries.