Chapter Summaries

Pei Ye and Cui Zhaoye tested ways to reach a new Sword State, then agreed to attend a Phantom Tower banquet together. After Cui Zhaoye gave him a precious pill and accepted his Dao Student Sword in return for his refusal to part with Mountain Feather, Pei Ye rested and read Azure Luan in the Mirror’s new story.

• Pei Ye tried to enter the Sword State by imagining cicadas and birds in the wind, but Cui Zhaoye’s experiments left him exhausted without finding a clear path.
• Cui Zhaoye invited Pei Ye to the Phantom Tower banquet in four days, and he agreed to attend under his own name.
• Cui Zhaoye offered Pei Ye an upper-two-realm Meridian-Pulling Pill in exchange for Mountain Feather, but he refused and gave her his Dao Student Sword instead.
• Pei Ye returned to the courtyard with Yang Zhenbing, rested through the next day, and considered his unfinished Swords of Spring and the unresolved leads in the capital.
• Pei Ye read Azure Luan in the Mirror’s new story in the Great Tang National Gazette.

At the residence of the Supreme Pillar of the State and Great General, young Li Yao met the household and received a book of military teachings. His cousins Li Heng and Lian Lin lured him into a secluded garden and threw him into a freezing pool, where he began to drown.

• Li Yao traveled with his aunt to the great general's residence, expecting to be tested on military strategy.
• The general's wife learned Li Yao was reading Wu Zi's Art of War and gave him the general's annotated copy of the Six Secret Teachings.
• Li Heng and Lian Lin mocked Li Yao and led him away to the rear garden with the other children following.
• Li Heng slapped and punched Li Yao while demanding that he answer questions about his mother.
• Lian Lin suggested that Li Yao be thrown into the pool, and Li Heng hurled him into the freezing water, leaving him unable to swim or breathe.

Li Yao was rescued from a pool by Zhao Baibi, who punished the people bullying him and urged him not to blame himself for being attacked. Later, Pei Ye finished the story and studied Xu Chuo’s annotations on Li Mingqiu’s essay about virtue, leaving him to consider her argument that virtue should return to nature.

• Zhao Baibi saved Li Yao from drowning and used unseen force to throw Lian Lin, Li Heng, and the other bullies into the pool.
• Zhao Baibi introduced herself to Li Yao and told him that the injuries were the bullies’ fault, not his.
• Pei Ye finished reading the first installment of “October Weaves the Cord” and wondered about Zhao Baibi and Li Yao’s story.
• Pei Ye read Xu Chuo’s annotations on Li Mingqiu’s “Discourse on Virtue” and considered whether virtue came from social standards or Heaven.
• Pei Ye noticed Xu Chuo’s later note that the argument should return to “nature” and wondered what she had hoped to prove.

Pei Ye learned Peach Blossoms from Qiu Jizi before Xie Chuantang brought him the findings from the Fengshui Dock investigation. The evidence suggested He Changge received an anonymous note urging him to kill someone, and the scent on its paper pointed toward an exceptionally high-ranking user.

• Pei Ye visited Qiu Jizi to ask him to explain the Peach Blossoms sword art, then returned to find Yan Feiqing keeping Yang Zhenbing awake because someone had sat in his reclining chair.
• Xie Chuantang gave Pei Ye the Fengshui Dock case files, including He Changge's statement submitted to Jingzhao Prefecture by [Tongjun].
• Pei Ye learned how He Changge rebuilt Fengshui Dock after his father, He Wujian, disappeared, and how the dock later became a major power on the Eight Waters.
• Xie Chuantang revealed that an unsigned note had reached Fengshui Dock more than ten days earlier, telling He Changge to turn back and kill someone who had seen him.
• Pei Ye read the note and examined its lingering fragrance as Xie Chuantang identified rare ingredients, including tribute-grade borneol and other costly aromatics restricted to imperial relatives or officials of the third rank and above.

Pei Ye accompanied Cui Zhaoye to Xunfang Garden on their way to the Phantom Tower, where he hoped to learn more about its guests and the hidden figure behind it. As they approached the banquet, his black cat spoke his name.

• Xie Chuantang identified the offering formula Hidden Fragrance and connected it to the Phantom Tower messages and the black carriage Pei Ye had seen.
• Pei Ye brought his belongings, cat, and Jade Tiger before Cui Zhaoye arrived to escort him to the Phantom Tower banquet.
• Cui Zhaoye explained that the Phantom Tower’s host was not entirely concealed and that the banquet drew influential guests and suppliers from across the capital.
• Pei Ye and Cui Zhaoye entered Xunfang Garden, whose flowers and springlike weather contrasted with the winter outside, and walked toward the Phantom Tower.
• Cui Zhaoye shared poems about a moonlit spring night as Pei Ye reflected on how rarely he gathered with friends, and the black cat called his name.

Pei Ye and Cui Zhaoye entered the Phantom Tower gathering by taking Jiaozhu powder and wearing Illusory Silk, which let them perceive a shared mental realm depicting the Great Tang’s Yufeng Era. After learning how the vision might work, Pei Ye continued into the tower with his aim of finding the person responsible for the attacks on his allies.

• Cui Zhaoye explained that the ruined garden was part of the old Qujiang Pool grounds and gave Pei Ye Jiaozhu powder and Illusory Silk.
• Pei Ye took the powder, entered the ruined garden, and used Illusory Silk to see an illusion of the Yufeng Era’s grand towers, gardens, and revelers.
• Pei Ye and the black cat reasoned that an outside force of the mind linked the guests to the same vision, while the powder served as a medium.
• Pei Ye disguised himself as the Shaolong Playmaster and followed Cui Zhaoye across the bridge toward the tower.
• Cui Zhaoye borrowed a dancer’s pipa and asked her name, learning that she was Xiao Zhang from Chang’an County’s Xiuye Ward.

Pei Ye and Cui Zhaoye explored the Phantom Tower, where they met renowned swordsmen, cultivators, and other guests gathered for a Buddhist ceremony. Pei Ye befriended the exhausted scholar Xu Menglang, who admired Cui Zhaoye’s kindness toward him.

• Cui Zhaoye played pipa while a dancer changed styles with the music, and Pei Ye realized the dancer had taken medicine to enter the garden.
• Cui Zhaoye led Pei Ye through the garden and into the Vermilion Tower, where they joined guests gathering for a Buddhist ceremony.
• Pei Ye learned that the masked woman was He Hongzhu, White Deer Palace’s current Blade Ghost, and met the drunken swordsman Zhou Shise.
• Cui Zhaoye explained that the Pleasure Pavilion belonged to people from Carp Hall, and Pei Ye reassured her that he did not blame her for it.
• Pei Ye observed several masked guests, including a Quanzhen cultivator who ate gold and jade, while the Buddhist gathering began.
• Pei Ye introduced himself to the tired scholar Xu Menglang and shared a pastry with him; Xu Menglang praised Cui Zhaoye for befriending Pei Ye.

Pei Ye learned how public recommendation disadvantaged scholars like Xu Menglang, then confronted the power of the Five Surnames and the Qilin that sustained the Great Tang. The chapter left him considering how the dynasty’s fortune and survival were bound to the Qilin and its aristocratic families.

• Pei Ye told Xu Menglang that everyone possessed self-respect, and Xu explained that public recommendation allowed aristocratic families to control who entered government.
• Xu Menglang admitted that he had to flatter Lu Xiu to preserve his chances in the examinations, while Pei Ye watched the white snake ascend with a scripture in its mouth.
• A monkey-masked man mocked scholars and described the Pleasure Pavilion, leaving Xu Menglang shaken as he went ahead without Pei Ye.
• The young master in Black Garment described the Five Surnames’ control over the court, military, and commerce, and questioned Pei Ye about the power behind the Great Tang.
• The young master in Black Garment revealed that the Qilin had lived in Daming Palace for eight hundred years, commanded the immortal authority of Fortune, and bound its bloodline to the five great families.

After the Phantom Tower’s Buddhist rite, Pei Ye learned that the masked man Black Garment was Yong Ji, Prince Yan’s heir, and that one of them might kill the other within six months. Pei Ye then went to the Pleasure Pavilion, identified the people held there, and began gathering pills that could free them from the Phantom Drug.

• White Snake presented a scripture to the Buddha-masked master of the Phantom Tower, who burned it as part of a Buddhist rite.
• Pei Ye caught a burning scripture page and recognized the costly paper, ink, and incense used to produce it.
• Black Garment revealed his identity as Yong Ji, Prince Yan’s heir, and predicted that he and Pei Ye would try to kill each other within six months.
• Pei Ye declined Cui Zhaoye’s invitation to attend the banquet and went to the Pleasure Pavilion instead.
• Pei Ye questioned the attendants about the twenty-nine people held there and matched many of them to names on his records.
• Pei Ye obtained a Truth-Revealing Pill and asked the attendant for twenty-nine more.

Pei Ye freed the twenty-nine people held in the Phantom Tower and sent the black cat to escort them out while he pursued the tower’s master another way. At the banquet, guests challenged He Jiu, and Ning Chaolie stepped forward after Yu Ziliang was swiftly defeated.

• Pei Ye took twenty-nine pills from the attendant, distributed them to the captives, and asked the black cat to lead them outside.
• Pei Ye told the black cat that freeing the captives was official business and that he would investigate the Phantom Tower’s master by other means.
• The Buddha-masked host welcomed the guests and announced that the Fourth Highness would soon convey Heaven’s will and that four ancient worthies awaited challenges.
• Scholar Shangguan composed a poem, and Lu Lin removed his mask to reveal himself as the young scholar who answered it.
• Jiang Yiner asked Cui Zhaoye where she could find Pei Ye, while Yu Ziliang challenged He Jiu and was knocked back before reaching him.
• Ning Chaolie removed his crane mask, was introduced as Red Snow Flowing Vermilion, and saluted He Jiu for a challenge.

At the Divine Capital sword gathering, He Jiu defeated Ning Chaolie and halted Chu Shuiting’s perilous advance, while Jiang Yiner considered the Carp Hall victims’ case. In the Pleasure Pavilion, Pei Ye sent the victims out of the realm and met He Hongzhu, who questioned him about Ming Qitian and his swordsmanship.

• He Jiu used Seven-Step Sword Control and the Three Trees technique to defeat Ning Chaolie, then advised him to keep refining his swordsmanship.
• Jiang Yiner told Cui Zhaoye that she wanted to act against the concealed chief culprit behind the Carp Hall case.
• Chu Shuiting challenged He Jiu with perilous swordsmanship, but He Jiu stopped him at the fourth step and warned him about the Heavenly Wall.
• Xu Menglang heard footsteps on the stairs after noticing the missing boy had not appeared.
• Pei Ye watched Black Cat and the others vanish after taking pills, then explained to He Hongzhu that he had sent the Carp Hall victims out to Jingzhao Prefecture’s Xie Chuantang and Li Zhao.
• He Hongzhu questioned Pei Ye about Ming Qitian and his swordsmanship before he said he needed to go upstairs.

At the Phantom Tower banquet, He Jiu tested several swordsmen with his Seven-Step Sword Control, while Jiang Yiner mistook Ninth Prince Li Chen for the Dragon of the Hidden Abyss. Pei Ye reunited with Xu Menglang, whose polished poem left him astonished, as the banquet’s sword contests continued.

• Chu Shuiting and Ning Chaolie discussed how their different approaches to He Jiu’s Seven-Step Sword Control had both tested their own swordsmanship.
• A chubby youth fought He Jiu to the fourth step before losing, then joined Cui Zhaoye and was introduced to Jiang Yiner as Ninth Prince Li Chen.
• Jiang Yiner realized she had mistaken Li Chen for the Dragon of the Hidden Abyss and greeted him as her senior brother.
• Pei Ye arrived and learned that Xu Menglang had removed his mask before reciting his poem, leaving him unable to present it during the banquet.
• Xu Menglang gave Pei Ye his poem, “Chrysanthemums,” and Pei Ye was stunned by its quality as another sword bout drew the crowd’s attention.

At the Feather and Scale banquet, Pei Ye encouraged Xu Menglang to share the poems he truly wanted to write, while He Jiu faced Chen Quan in a dramatic sword trial. Chen Quan reached the seventh step but lost after He Jiu turned Spring Serpent’s own Sword Realm against him, leaving Xu Menglang marveling at the lives of swordsmen.

• Pei Ye praised Xu Menglang’s poems and urged him to write and share the verses he truly wanted to create.
• He Hongzhu won her sword trial, took a Truth-Revealing Pill, and left after saying she would return with a disciple next year.
• Chen Quan removed his Snake Mask and used Spring Serpent to press He Jiu through six steps of Seven-Step Sword Control.
• He Jiu used Chen Quan’s sword and the Yellow Bird to challenge Spring Serpent within its own Sword Realm.
• After the Lineage Master gave Chen Quan a hint, Chen Quan unleashed Black Serpent Swallows the Yellow Bird and briefly reached the seventh step before He Jiu shattered the Sword Realm and defeated him.
• Xu Menglang softly applauded He Jiu and Chen Quan, saying that those who cultivated and wielded swords must lead more splendid lives.

At the Phantom Tower, the Fourth Prince conveyed Heaven’s decree, giving its master a prophecy that stirred the gathered dignitaries. Jiang Yiner then challenged He Jiu, wagering that if she won, the master would remove his Buddha mask; as she advanced with startling sword strikes, Wen Qi also won praise in the poetry contest.

• Pei Ye asked Xu Menglang about Xin Dongxue and Wen Qi, then learned that the gathering’s main purpose was for the Fourth Prince to convey Heaven’s will.
• The Fourth Prince revealed the decree, “A great star lies west; fit to aid the center. The Li line endures; a pillar for a century,” and the Phantom Tower’s master drank to it.
• Jiang Yiner asked Senior Gu whether defeating He Jiu would let her request that the host remove his Buddha mask, and the host told her to win first.
• Jiang Yiner drew Spirit Illumination and pressed He Jiu with three linked strikes, shocking the spectators as she reached within four paces.
• Wen Qi removed his rooster mask, presented a poem, and won enthusiastic cheers from the poetry arena.

At the banquet, Pei Ye defended Xu Menglang when Lu Xiu demanded a poem and threatened him over an insult. Meanwhile, Jiang Yiner broke through He Jiu’s sword and reached the sixth step, as Xu Menglang tried to shield Pei Ye from Lu Xiu’s retaliation.

• Wen Qi’s poem impressed the banquet guests, and Xu Menglang told Pei Ye that he wrote historical poetry even better.
• Lu Xiu handed Xu Menglang a sheet and ordered him to write a seven-character poem about the sword bout within a quarter of an hour.
• Pei Ye stopped Xu Menglang from taking the paper and rebuked Lu Xiu for interrupting their conversation.
• Jiang Yiner countered He Jiu’s Heavenly View with her own swordsmanship and advanced two steps to the sixth.
• Lu Xiu threatened Pei Ye with lifelong ruin after he offended her, and Xu Menglang tried to take responsibility for Pei Ye’s words.

Pei Ye interrupted He Jiu after He Jiu defeated Jiang Yiner by stepping outside the Seven-Step Sword Control contest. The chapter ended with Pei Ye and He Jiu clashing swords in front of the banquet hall.

• Pei Ye encouraged Xu Menglang to recite his poem and went to submit it for him.
• Jiang Yiner completed a Six-Step Sword Control and forced He Jiu’s contest back to its opening strike.
• He Jiu defeated Jiang Yiner with Folded Wings, an unexpected eighth move that fell outside Seven-Step Sword Control.
• Cui Zhaoye told Pei Ye that Jiang Yiner had asked where her Brother Pei Ye was, and Pei Ye turned toward the Sword Field.
• Pei Ye removed his mask, challenged He Jiu, and struck at him; He Jiu blocked, and the two swords clashed.

Pei Ye fought He Jiu through the Phantom Tower’s seven-step sword challenge, revealing extraordinary skill and countering He Jiu’s powerful techniques. After breaking He Jiu’s Heavenly View and reaching the sixth step, Pei Ye took the initiative, leaving He Jiu to recognize Jiang Yiner’s opening strike in Pei Ye’s stance.

• Pei Ye shattered He Jiu’s concealed sword and met his opening attack, astonishing the gathered swordsmen.
• He Jiu unleashed a succession of varied sword arts, but Pei Ye read their essence and advanced to the fifth step.
• He Jiu trapped Pei Ye with Drifting Returning Wind, but Pei Ye answered with Poplar Blossoms and Peach Blossoms to hold his ground.
• He Jiu pressed Pei Ye with the Intent Sword Heavenly View, but Pei Ye used Clouded Sky Obscures Eyes, Lost Feathers to break the intent and reach the sixth step.
• Pei Ye assumed a strange sword stance, and He Jiu recognized it as Jiang Yiner’s first strike only after instinctively responding with Broken Feathers.

Pei Ye exposed Li Du as the Phantom Tower’s master and publicly threatened him, leaving the banquet hall stunned. As the guests tried to restore order, a poet named Yuxi realized he had been invited to recite and faced a choice between seeking Li Du’s patronage and writing the poetry he wanted.

• Pei Ye used He Jiu’s sword to break Li Du’s Buddha Mask, revealed the chancellor’s face, and vowed to cut off his head.
• Pei Ye identified his Wild Goose Character Token and declared he would investigate the Phantom Tower and the Carp Hall case.
• Li Du demanded to know whose disciple Pei Ye was, and Pei Ye told him to arrange a private meeting if he had questions.
• The banquet’s organizers invited Yuxi to compete in poetry, and he recognized that the long-sought opportunity to present his patron-seeking poem had arrived.
• Yuxi recalled Pei Ye’s encouragement to write the poems he wanted rather than please his audience as he approached the poetry field.

Pei Ye returned from the Phantom Tower to the Desolate Garden, where he reunited with Cui Zhaoye and met the poet Li Yuxi. He then encountered Jiang Yiner, his family friend, and realized that their bond meant someone in the world cared about what happened to him.

• Pei Ye found himself in a pavilion in the Desolate Garden after leaving the Phantom Tower, with no trace of the sword strike or footprints from the banquet.
• Pei Ye apologized to Cui Zhaoye for using her standing and disrupting the banquet, and she said she would accompany him the next time he drew his sword.
• Pei Ye praised Li Yuxi's poem, and Li Yuxi introduced himself and offered to ghostwrite poems for him.
• Jiang Yiner emerged with her Play Mask and jade pendants packed away, then greeted Pei Ye beneath the pavilion.
• Pei Ye reflected that Jiang Yiner's concern for him as her family friend gave him a rare sense of security, and Cui Zhaoye suggested he take Jiang Yiner to the Sword Cultivation Academy at daybreak.

Pei Ye brought Jiang Yiner to the Sword Cultivation Academy and helped her enroll and settle into her new lodgings. As he showed her around, she revealed her admiration for Yan Feiqing, leaving Pei Ye visibly unsettled.

• Pei Ye learned that Jiang Yiner could hear unshielded thoughts with her [Mind's Eye], and he told her she could simply pretend not to hear them.
• Pei Ye submitted Jiang Yiner's enrollment documents, showed her around the Academy, and arranged for her to stay in Ning Shuhong's courtyard.
• Jiang Yiner settled into the western room while Pei Ye waited outside with Zhu Shishi and greeted Zuo Qiu Longhua.
• Pei Ye showed Jiang Yiner around the Sword Cultivation Academy and explained life in the Divine Capital.
• Jiang Yiner asked where Yan Feiqing lived and recalled practicing swordsmanship with him when she was younger, while Pei Ye claimed he was quite close to Yan Feiqing.