Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingtang’s caravan reached Wuguan Town on its journey toward Liangzhou, where the Empress Dowager woke after secretly starving herself for days. Meanwhile, Cao Aning and Xu Tianying sought refuge in Liangzhou, but Hu Yanjing rejected them and sent them toward a contact beyond the frontier.

• Ye Jingtang checked the caravan’s preparations at Wuguan Town while Dongfang Liren and Fan Qinghe discussed Northern Liang’s martial-world masters with him.
• The Empress Dowager woke when the smell of roast lamb reached the carriage, but Fan Qinghe restricted her to congee as Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren tended to her.
• Cao Aning led Xu Tianying, Tang Yudan, and three retainers across Liangzhou’s Gobi while explaining how local horse gangs maintained order.
• Hu Yanjing accused Cao Aning of manipulating princes into rebellion and refused to let his group join Prince Liang.
• Hu Yanjing gave Cao Aning a letter directing the group to a contact beyond the frontier, and Cao Aning set off with the others.

Ye Jingtang's convoy crossed the wasteland toward Liangzhou, where the Empress Dowager began studying the Flame-Rebirth Diagram and the travelers settled into the journey. At Suyuan Town, they discovered that Fourth Master Ma had seized control and left the local Escort Chief Hong's corpse displayed at the entrance.

• Fan Qinghe said the Empress Dowager's condition was stable but that she still needed treatment, so Dongfang Liren gave her the Flame-Rebirth Diagram to study.
• Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren passed the journey with stories and music as the convoy traveled northwest without incident.
• Ye Jingtang sent Yang Chao to Suyuan Town to ask Escort Chief Hong about the mounted bandits operating in the Desolate Bone Shoals.
• Ye Jingtang, Dongfang Liren, and Yang Chao found Escort Chief Hong's decomposed body hanging at the town entrance.
• A shepherd told Yang Chao that Fourth Master Ma had killed several of Hong's men, burned down the escort agency, and taken over Suyuan Town.
• Yang Chao suspected Fourth Master Ma was Ma Rulong of the Flowery Horse Gang, and Dongfang Liren proposed asking who backed him.

Ye Jingtang confronted Ma Rulong over the Red River Escort Agency and discovered that Ma had stolen forbidden scale-pattern steel from a Black Banner Gang caravan. The steel pointed to possible enemy collusion involving the Yazhou army, so Dongfang Liren ordered everyone to keep the matter secret while they investigated.

• Ma Rulong recognized Ye Jingtang as the escort captain whose shipment he had robbed three years earlier, and Ye seized him and demanded answers.
• Ma Rulong revealed that he had joined the Black Banner Gang and described how the gang guarded the route through the Desolate Bone Shoals.
• Ma Rulong offered Ye Jingtang stolen scale-pattern steel, which Dongfang Liren identified as material reserved for the Imperial Court's armor and weapons.
• Ma Rulong said he had taken the steel from beneath a Black Banner Gang caravan's wagon, and Ye handed him over to She Long and Shang Jianli.
• Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren considered whether the steel implicated Prince Liang or the Yazhou army, whose supplies were controlled by the Wang family.
• Dongfang Liren left town and ordered the group to keep the discovery secret until they had investigated it thoroughly.

Dongfang Shangqing led Prince Liang’s caravan toward Langxuan Ancient City and warned Hu Yanjing and Zhang Xuanye against smuggling after the crowfeather grass scandal. Meanwhile, Ye Jingtang’s convoy continued west, leaving the Empress Dowager eager to visit Maple Leaf Lake and Dongfang Liren sharing her illustrated album with him.

• Dongfang Shangqing questioned Hu Yanjing about how the Heir of Prince Yan obtained crowfeather grass and warned him and Zhang Xuanye that the smuggling could implicate Prince Liang.
• At the camp, Ye Jingtang found Niao Niao watching Fan Qinghe feed a camel, then accidentally let the Empress Dowager take the roast rabbit he had made for Silly.
• The Empress Dowager asked Ye Jingtang about Maple Leaf Lake, and he promised to take her there because it lay near their route.
• Dongfang Liren and Meng Jiao suspected that a traitor in Yazhou’s army was working with the Black Banner Gang to smuggle scale-pattern steel into Northern Liang.
• Ye Jingtang brought Dongfang Liren a roast rabbit, and she eventually ate after he teased her.
• Dongfang Liren showed Ye Jingtang the illustrated album she had prepared, explained her drawing techniques, and continued discussing the pictures while he held her close.

Luo Ning worried about Baijin’s impending arrival while Pei Xiangjun organized a journey beyond the pass to establish Red Flower House business. As Ye Jingtang’s party reached Red Maple Lake, Niao Niao attracted the attention of Dongfang Shangqing, whose companions plotted to abduct the bird and use the incident to compromise him.

• Luo Ning read Baijin’s message telling her to wait and told Zhe Yunli to keep practicing while she checked Pei Xiangjun’s preparations.
• Pei Xiangjun gathered Red Flower House leaders and arranged for Song Chi and Chen Yuanqing to accompany Ye Jingtang beyond the pass while exploring a possible branch there.
• Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren spotted Red Maple Lake, then Ye Jingtang brought the Empress Dowager toward a quieter part of the forest.
• Fan Qinghe took Niao Niao to Red Maple Town, where Dongfang Shangqing asked to buy the eagle and left after she refused.
• Hu Yanjing and Zhang Xuanye decided to seize Niao Niao and conceal the abduction as a purchase so they could pressure Dongfang Shangqing.

Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren investigated the Black Banner Gang’s caravan at night, hoping to find evidence of smuggling. Their infiltration was exposed when they discovered Dongfang Shangqing in a carriage, and Ye Jingtang fought off the monk Zhang Xuanye before leaving with Dongfang Liren.

• The Empress Dowager’s makeshift swing broke, and Ye Jingtang caught her before she fell into the lake.
• Fan Qinghe told Ye Jingtang that a Black Banner Gang member had tried to buy Niao Niao, and Ye Jingtang decided to investigate the gang’s caravan after dark.
• Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren followed the caravan across the desert and found its camp arranged with careful defenses.
• They slipped into the camp and searched beneath the wagons, then overheard that Dongfang Shangqing was inside a carriage.
• Zhang Xuanye discovered Ye Jingtang and attacked, but Ye Jingtang overwhelmed him with a barrage of strikes.
• Ye Jingtang left the camp with Dongfang Liren after Zhang Xuanye told him to go, while the Black Banner Gang’s members stood down.

A Black Banner Gang ambush at the convoy was foiled when She Long survived an attempted throat-slitting and the escorts drove off the attackers. Ye Jingtang intercepted the fleeing Hu Yanjing, wounded him, and used a fabricated tribal identity to press him into arranging a meeting with the seller of scale-pattern steel.

• Hu Yanjing and three subordinates hid near the convoy and planned to attack, but She Long's hardened neck stopped an assassin's blade and alerted the camp.
• The convoy's experts rushed after the ambushers, and Hu Yanjing escaped while his three subordinates were killed.
• Hu Yanjing tried to steal Ye Jingtang's horse, but Ye Jingtang intercepted him and wounded him with a swift saber strike.
• Ye Jingtang showed Hu Yanjing the Tribe Pearls and falsely claimed to be an heir of the Yeheng Tribe to conceal his real purpose.
• Ye Jingtang demanded that Hu Yanjing bring someone connected to the scale-pattern steel seller to Langxuan City before the end of the month, and Hu Yanjing agreed.

Ye Jingtang returned to camp with Dongfang Liren after fighting Hu Yanjing, and she treated his injury while keeping him from traveling onward too soon. Meanwhile, Perfected Person Xuanji reached Red River Town searching for Ye Jingtang, missed the convoy, and began to suspect the town’s old escort agency was familiar.

• Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren returned to camp, where he told She Long and the others what had happened with Hu Yanjing.
• Dongfang Liren ordered Ye Jingtang into her carriage and treated his shoulder while warning him not to take liberties.
• A schoolteacher in Red River Town remembered Ye Jingtang’s childhood and how Pei Yuanfeng had helped establish the Red River Gang and its school.
• Perfected Person Xuanji arrived in Red River Town looking for the Yunzhou caravan and learned that Ye Jingtang had not returned home.
• After realizing she had missed the convoy, Perfected Person Xuanji examined the old escort agency and the nearby mound, sensing that they were familiar.

Ye Jingtang returned to Red River Town with Dongfang Liren and their companions, where he reunited with Perfected Person Xuanji and learned she had bought the old escort agency. He paid his respects at Pei Yuanfeng’s grave and left the riverside resolved to keep living along his own path.

• Ye Jingtang returned to Red River Town and greeted familiar townspeople before giving the local teacher a complete collection of books.
• Ye Jingtang learned that a young woman had moved into his old house and hurried to the escort agency with his companions.
• Ye Jingtang found Perfected Person Xuanji at the agency, where she revealed she had bought the property and that His Majesty was out of immediate danger.
• Perfected Person Xuanji warned Fan Qinghe not to lure Ye Jingtang to the Dongming Tribe.
• Ye Jingtang visited Pei Yuanfeng’s grave with Niao Niao, reflected on his adoptive father, and then returned toward town.

Ye Jingtang returned to Red River Town with Perfected Person Xuanji and reunited with the group sheltering at the escort agency. He and Xuanji planned to travel with Fan Qinghe to Langxuan Ancient City the next day to investigate the poison master, while the Empress Dowager and the others waited in town.

• Perfected Person Xuanji and Ye Jingtang realized they had met ten years earlier, when he was a boy fishing near town.
• Ye Jingtang and Xuanji returned to the escort agency, which Xuanji had bought and cleaned, and found the guards celebrating their arrival.
• Fan Qinghe urged the group to investigate the Dragon-Prison Miasma poison and proposed returning to Langxuan Ancient City to contact her people.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to accompany Fan Qinghe beyond the pass, and Xuanji insisted on joining them for protection.
• Ye Jingtang helped the Empress Dowager and Hongyu prepare a bath, then kissed Dongfang Liren before leaving her to bathe.

Hu Yanjing met with Du Tanqing and Cao Aning to arrange a staged attack on Dongfang Shangqing, hoping to restore his standing with Prince Liang’s son. Meanwhile, Ye Jingtang, Fan Qinghe, Perfected Person Xuanji, and Niao Niao reached Langxuan City, where Fan Qinghe revealed her authority as the Dongming Tribe’s ruler and welcomed Ye Jingtang as an honored guest.

• Hu Yanjing told Du Tanqing and Cao Aning that Dongfang Shangqing suspected him over the tribute porcelain and asked them to stage an assassination attempt so he could save him.
• Hu Yanjing warned Du Tanqing that a powerful leader claiming descent from the Yechi Tribe had appeared, and Du Tanqing recalled that the tribe’s children might have escaped eighteen years earlier.
• Du Tanqing agreed to disguise the staged attack as an attempt by rival tribes to kill Dongfang Shangqing over a failed business deal.
• Ye Jingtang, Fan Qinghe, Perfected Person Xuanji, and Niao Niao arrived at Langxuan Ancient City and passed through its vast marketplace.
• Fan Qinghe brought Ye Jingtang to the Dongming Tribe’s compound, where the tribespeople greeted her as Lady Zhu Zong and she ordered a feast for her honored guest.

At the Dongming Tribe encampment, Granny Gui told Ye Jingtang how the Yechi Tribe and Northwestern Royal Court fell, while Fan Qinghe sought her advice on whether he could become Tianlang King. Ye Jingtang then explored Langxuan City with Perfected Person Xuanji and Niao Niao, learning about the Gouchen Tribe and trading teasing remarks with Xuanji.

• Granny Gui recognized Perfected Person Xuanji as the woman who had tried to steal Snow Lake Flowers from Dongming Mountain ten years earlier.
• Granny Gui explained that Ye Jingtang was likely descended from the Yechi Tribe and recounted how Northern Liang destroyed the Yechi Tribe's power and seized the means to make the Heavenly Lang Pearl.
• Ye Jingtang asked Granny Gui about the Dragon-Prison Miasma, and she said he would have to inquire among the other tribes; Fan Qinghe promised to investigate.
• After Ye Jingtang left, Granny Gui warned Fan Qinghe that Ye Jingtang's ancestry alone would not make the tribes accept him as Tianlang King, and advised her to test his abilities and ambitions.
• Ye Jingtang explored Langxuan City's night market with Perfected Person Xuanji and Niao Niao, and Xuanji explained the Gouchen Tribe's role in the city and its rivalry with the Wuma Tribe.
• Perfected Person Xuanji teased Ye Jingtang about testing her depths, then joked that he was a wanderer at heart.

Sima Yue prepared for Ye Jingtang’s arrival while Ye Jingtang explored Langxuan City with Perfected Person Xuanji and settled into the Dongming Tribe’s camp. Perfected Person Xuanji then joined Fan Qinghe in her bedchamber and grew curious about a powder that revealed people’s hearts.

• Sima Yue told Sima Long to withdraw patrols near Ye Jingtang’s quarters when Prince Liang’s son arrived, and dismissed reports of the Dongming Tribe investigating the Dragon-Prison Miasma.
• Ye Jingtang bought an ingenious brass sundial, browsed books, and returned to the Dongming Tribe’s camp with Perfected Person Xuanji and Niao Niao.
• Ye Jingtang took the floor bed in his tent while Perfected Person Xuanji went to Fan Qinghe’s bedchamber, then secretly read the sequel to "Secret History of the Seductress."
• Perfected Person Xuanji pinned Fan Qinghe down, teased her, and rummaged through her medicines before asking about Dreamlike Illusion Powder.
• Fan Qinghe explained the powder’s effects, and Perfected Person Xuanji demanded its antidote before trying it.

Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji took Dreamlike Illusion Powder and saw vivid hallucinations that led to an embarrassing encounter. In Red River Town, Xue Baijin reunited with Luo Ning and asked her to join a search for the Jade Seal and Son of Heaven Sword, while proposing that Yunli stay with Ye Jingtang.

• Perfected Person Xuanji returned to Ye Jingtang's tent under the influence of Dreamlike Illusion Powder and saw Niao Niao and Ye Jingtang transformed by colorful hallucinations.
• Perfected Person Xuanji gave Ye Jingtang the powder, and they both saw suggestive illusions before trying to calm themselves and meditate.
• Niao Niao woke and watched Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji wave their arms and act strangely on the bedding.
• Pei Xiangjun and her companions arrived in Red River Town and paid their respects at Pei Yuanfeng's grave.
• Luo Ning heard Xue Baijin's signal, met her secretly, and warned that her presence near the Empress Dowager and Prince Jing could endanger the Sky-Pacifying Sect.
• Xue Baijin said she would search for the Jade Seal and Son of Heaven Sword herself and suggested Yunli stay with Ye Jingtang; Luo Ning agreed to leave with her the next day.

Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji woke after accidentally sharing a bed, then spent the day surveying Langxuan City and its factions. That night, as Ye Jingtang followed Dongfang Shangqing’s convoy to question Hu Yanjing, he spotted a mysterious watcher near the warehouses and went to investigate.

• Ye Jingtang woke beside Perfected Person Xuanji, and they agreed that nothing had happened while they slept.
• Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji explored Langxuan City, identified its major factions, and gathered information about smuggling.
• The Black Banner Gang arrived in Langxuan City, while Cao Aning and Xu Tianying planned an operation to frighten Dongfang Shangqing and wound Zhang Xuanye.
• Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji listened as Dongfang Shangqing discussed buying white-maned horses, and Ye Jingtang suspected Hu Yanjing was secretly smuggling Scale-Pattern Steel.
• Ye Jingtang spotted a figure watching Dongfang Shangqing’s convoy from a warehouse and headed toward the Porcelain Quarter with Perfected Person Xuanji to investigate.

Ye Jingtang uncovered Cao Aning and Xu Tianying preparing a staged assassination, then recruited them to supply intelligence while learning about the Green Bandits and a surviving Yechi Tribe descendant. He took over the staged attack on Dongfang Shangqing, but beat Hu Yanjing far more severely than planned, leaving him bloodied and unable to speak.

• Ye Jingtang and Perfected Person Xuanji spotted Cao Aning, Xu Tianying, and their team preparing an ambush, and Ye recognized Cao Aning as the Black-Clad Saber Wielder from the Capital City.
• Ye Jingtang subdued Cao Aning and Xu Tianying, while Perfected Person Xuanji knocked out the other attackers; Cao explained that the ambush was meant to help Hu Yanjing win Dongfang Shangqing's trust.
• Cao Aning revealed that Hu Yanjing served the Left Xian King and shared leads about the Green Bandits near the Cangsha River and a formidable surviving descendant of the Yechi Tribe.
• Perfected Person Xuanji recruited Cao Aning and Xu Tianying to infiltrate the Left Xian King's Manor and send intelligence to the Imperial Court, and Ye Jingtang agreed to handle the staged attack.
• Ye Jingtang disguised himself as a tribesman, smashed through a warehouse wall, and struck Hu Yanjing so hard that he crashed through Dongfang Shangqing's carriage.
• Ye Jingtang battered Hu Yanjing through the street before escaping, leaving Hu Yanjing bloodied and unable to deliver his planned line to Dongfang Shangqing.

After staging the attack on Dongfang Shangqing, Ye Jingtang checked in with Hu Yanjing and learned that a lead on scale-pattern steel was still pending. Fan Qinghe uncovered a possible source of Dragon-Prison Miasma in Dolan Valley, and Ye Jingtang decided to investigate with her while Perfected Person Xuanji returned to meet the Empress Dowager; Luo Ning and Xue Baijin were also heading toward Dolan Valley.

• After the clash, Ye Jingtang watched Dongfang Shangqing handle the tribal chiefs and later visited the injured Hu Yanjing, who reported that he was waiting for a contact about buying scale-pattern steel.
• Ye Jingtang warned Hu Yanjing to signal him with yellow cloth when the seller arrived, while Hu Yanjing cautioned him that the Left Xian King's household might seek to kill the Tianlang King's heir.
• Sima Yue told Fan Qinghe that a batch of Rotbone Crow from the Xuanhao Tribe had been sent toward Dolan Valley, giving her a lead in her search for Dragon-Prison Miasma.
• Fan Qinghe proposed investigating Dolan Valley with Ye Jingtang, and Perfected Person Xuanji agreed to return and meet the Empress Dowager and Prince Jing instead.
• Luo Ning and Xue Baijin traveled by carriage toward Dolan Valley, where they planned to search for the Rotbone Crow lead and an ancient city buried in the desert.

Cao Aning and Xu Tianying joined Du Tanqing’s party as they pursued a descendant of the Yechi Tribe, while Ye Jingtang and Fan Qinghe searched near Huanglao Pass for the caravan tied to the Dragon-Prison Miasma. The caravan appeared to have vanished into the mountains, where Jiang Zhawu lived in a secluded village with his family.

• Cao Aning and Xu Tianying met Du Tanqing, who recruited them to help investigate the Yechi Tribe’s descendant.
• Du Tanqing said the Left Xian King’s forces would use another group to fight the Northwestern Royal Court’s remnants and intervene only if needed.
• Ye Jingtang and Fan Qinghe learned that no caravan carrying two wagons of herbs had passed through Gukou Town, and Ye proposed searching the surrounding mountains with Niao Niao.
• Fan Qinghe urged Ye Jingtang to consider his possible Yechi heritage and claim to the Tianlang King’s line, but he said he would settle any inherited grudges and repay any debts without seeking royal power.
• Jiang Zhawu spoke with his wife in their remote mountain village, recalling how she had helped him recover and how he had remained loyal to her and their home.

Ye Jingtang and Fan Qinghe searched a remote mountain basin for the maker of Dragon-Prison Miasma, while Cao Aning’s group watched the same village from afar. Ye Jingtang encountered Jiang Zhawu there, and their fight ended with both men recognizing each other.

• Ye Jingtang and Fan Qinghe left Gukou Town with Niao Niao and searched a secluded basin that might shelter the Medicine Master who made Dragon-Prison Miasma.
• Luo Ning tried to persuade Xue Baijin to consider marriage, but Xue Baijin sensed powerful martial artists in the mountains and went to investigate with her.
• Cao Aning and Xu Tianying learned from Du Tanqing that Jiang Zhawu, the Southern Dynasty’s foremost unarmed combat master, lived in the basin and that they were using the Yechi Tribe to test him.
• An eagle cried above the basin, and Jiang Zhawu burst through the grass to attack Ye Jingtang while Fan Qinghe evaded the assault and struck back with needles.
• Jiang Zhawu deflected Ye Jingtang’s saber and hit him with a powerful kick, then returned Fan Qinghe’s needles; the two men recognized each other by name.

Ye Jingtang fought Jiang Zhawu with saber, fists, and spear while seeking the Golden Scale Diagram or a cure for the Dragon-Prison Miasma. The duel ended when Han Ting identified Ye Jingtang as the surviving son of the Tianlang King, while conspirators watched from the mountains and Luo Ning and Xue Baijin stayed hidden nearby.

• Ye Jingtang and Jiang Zhawu traded saber blows before Jiang Zhawu's unarmed techniques drove Ye Jingtang back.
• Ye Jingtang summoned Big Black Horse, took the Dragon-Mingling Spear from Fan Qinghe, and gained the advantage over Jiang Zhawu with his spear arts.
• Jiang Zhawu retrieved a concealed horse spear and countered with the Liangzhou Fu Family's Storm Staff, but Ye Jingtang continued to press him.
• Han Ting ran from the village and called Ye Jingtang the Tianlang King's surviving son, prompting Jiang Zhawu to stop fighting and explain how Han Ting had sheltered with the Yechi Tribe.
• Ye Jingtang asked Han Ting about the Dragon-Prison Miasma, and Jiang Zhawu brought him and Fan Qinghe into the village to talk.
• Du Tanqing's group watched from a mountaintop as Cao Aning recognized Ye Jingtang, while Luo Ning and Xue Baijin observed from another ridge and suspected a setup.