Chapter Summaries

After helping Xue Baijin recover from working out the Dragon-Mingling Diagram, Ye Jingtang and Yu Hu bickered with her before she departed for Jingjie City. Yu Hu then warned Ye Jingtang about choosing between palace consorts and took him away into the rain, leaving their reunion dinner and his promised poetry unresolved.

• Yu Hu teased Ye Jingtang while he held Xue Baijin, but Xue Baijin woke and rebuked them before sitting up.
• Xue Baijin compared her work on the Dragon-Mingling Diagram with the original, discussed its dangers with Ye Jingtang and Yu Hu, and examined Ye Jingtang's reopened shoulder wounds.
• Yu Hu bandaged Ye Jingtang using strips torn from Xue Baijin's skirt, then kissed him while Xue Baijin studied the diagram and scolded them.
• Xue Baijin said she would leave the next day and suggested Ye Jingtang take her disciple Yunli on his travels, then departed toward Jingjie City.
• Yu Hu told Ye Jingtang he would have to choose between the noble consort and the princess consort unless he gained supreme power, then kissed him and led him down the mountain.
• When Ye Jingtang failed to recite a poem for Yu Hu, she interrogated him as they plunged into the river and drifted away through the rain.

After returning to Jingjie City, Ye Jingtang visited the women staying at the carriage firm and brought Dongfang Liren to join a late-night gathering. The gathering ended with the women ganging up on Perfected Person Xuanji in a risqué drinking game.

• Ye Jingtang said goodbye to Yu Hu at the palace, then returned to the carriage firm and learned that a wine gourd had inspired Niao Niao's new hat.
• Ye Jingtang reassured Luo Ning that Xue Baijin was safe, then went to the eastern residence to visit the Empress Dowager and Dongfang Liren.
• Ye Jingtang carried Dongfang Liren to the rear courtyard, where Luo Ning and Pei Xiangjun waited, and Dongfang Liren went to fetch Perfected Person Xuanji and Fan Qinghe.
• Fan Qinghe tended Ye Jingtang's reopened shoulder wounds while the women gathered for a drinking game and discovered Dongfang Liren's indecent wooden lots.
• Luo Ning, Pei Xiangjun, Fan Qinghe, and Ye Jingtang overwhelmed Perfected Person Xuanji and began teasing her as rain fell outside.

Ye Jingtang, Yunli, and Fan Qinghe entered Northern Liang and sought help from Situ Yanfeng in Chengtian Prefecture. As Hua Qingzhi prepared to return to Yanjing amid her family’s fears of the Wang Family, Ye Jingtang learned that Situ could connect him to the Imperial Guards or the Azure Dragon Society.

• Ye Jingtang reached Northern Liang with Yunli and Fan Qinghe, and the group heard local gossip about the Night Great Fiend and Fire Phoenix Studio.
• Fan Qinghe explained that Situ Yanfeng could arrange identity papers for newcomers, so Ye Jingtang decided to visit him after buying supplies.
• Grand Preceptor Hua warned Hua Qingzhi that the Wang Family might act to prevent her from becoming the Crown Prince’s bride, while Hua Junchen planned to escort her to Yanjing with guards.
• In Huangmei County, Fan Qinghe advised Yunli to act less like a newcomer to the martial world, and Yunli changed her posture to blend in with the local crowd.
• Ye Jingtang paid Situ Yanfeng to arrange his travel papers and asked about work in Yanjing; Situ offered him a government connection and said he would ask the Azure Dragon Society about recruitment.

Ye Jingtang secured forged identities for himself, Fan Qinghe, and Zhe Yunli, then sought a path into the Azure Dragon Society to help him reach Yanjing. He accepted a dangerous job involving Thunderhawk Gang leader Zhao Dong for thirty taels and left to carry it out.

• Ye Jingtang returned to the inn with Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli, while he considered ways to steal the Bright Deity Diagram from the Imperial City and enter Yanjing safely.
• Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli bathed together and discussed marriage before Fan Qinghe secretly visited Ye Jingtang for a massage.
• Situ Yanfeng discussed the Azure Dragon Society and a suspicious bounty on Thunderhawk Gang leader Zhao Dong with his members.
• The next morning, Ye Jingtang collected forged registry tokens naming him Zhao Si, Fan Qinghe Wang Cui, and Zhe Yunli Wu Niuniu.
• Situ Yanfeng offered Ye Jingtang a guard position with the Hua Family and a chance to prove himself to the Azure Dragon Society by taking a job against Zhao Dong.
• Ye Jingtang accepted the thirty-tael job and left the Fire Phoenix Studio with directions to the Yuelai Bookshop as well.

Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli went to White River Wharf to investigate a hired killing, where they discovered that their target was the wanted criminal Shao Dating. Zhe Yunli fought him, but Ye Jingtang killed him when he tried to escape, and the pair left after concealing their identities.

• Ye Jingtang, Zhe Yunli, and Fan Qinghe rode toward White River Wharf, where Ye Jingtang planned to investigate a job and find a way into the Azure Dragon Society.
• Hua Junchen praised Prefect Liu for stopping violence at the wharves, but he passed by a fight at the Thunderhawk Gang residence without intervening.
• Zhe Yunli accidentally shot an arrow at Zhao Dong, and Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli entered the courtyard to confront him.
• Ye Jingtang recognized Zhao Dong as Shao Dating, a wanted murderer from the Southern Dynasty, and identified him as a Black Bureau target.
• Zhe Yunli fought Shao Dating, but he blinded her with lime powder and tried to flee; Ye Jingtang killed him with a spinning porcelain teapot lid.
• Ye Jingtang warned Zhe Yunli to watch for dirty tricks, cleaned up the scene, and left with her.

Ye Jingtang disguised himself as a wandering knight and applied to serve as a study attendant with the Hua Family, hoping to find a way toward Yanjing and the Imperial City. Hua Qingzhi recognized him but concealed his identity, arranged for him to join her household as a guard, and sent him to prepare for their departure in a few days.

• Zhe Yunli recovered from her fight with Zhao Dong as Fan Qinghe tended her injuries, while Ye Jingtang discussed the danger of underhanded martial tactics.
• Ye Jingtang disguised himself as a rough wandering knight and went to Yuelai Bookshop to apply for a study-attendant position.
• Ye Jingtang passed the Hua Family's strength test and joined the guard selection under the alias Zhao Si.
• Hua Qingzhi recognized Ye Jingtang but pretended not to know him, and she persuaded Hua Junchen to hire him as her guard.
• Hua Qingzhi called Ye Jingtang Silang and arranged for him to meet her after changing clothes, before the household departed for Yanjing in a few days.

Ye Jingtang joined the Hua estate as a Grade B guard and persuaded Hua Qingzhi to help him travel to Yanjing while keeping his identity secret. After killing Zhao Dong, he met an Azure Dragon Society contact and accepted a bounty on the fugitive Skin-Peeling Scholar.

• Steward Wang registered Ye Jingtang as a probationary Grade B guard assigned to Hua Qingzhi, and Hua Ning recognized him as the King of Hell and dropped to his knees.
• Hua Qingzhi agreed to help Ye Jingtang reach Yanjing and conceal his presence, believing he had come to recover the Snow Lake Flowers and protect his household.
• Ye Jingtang told Hua Qingzhi that he had killed Zhao Dong, then left to meet Situ Yanfeng, who offered to connect him with the Azure Dragon Society.
• Situ Yanfeng introduced Ye Jingtang to Hall Master Chen, who explained that the Red Fox sabre was kept in the Imperial City and that arranging a theft would cost a fortune.
• Hall Master Chen gave Ye Jingtang a bounty on Deng Shu'an, whom Ye Jingtang recognized as the Skin-Peeling Scholar, and directed him to collect more intelligence in Yanjing.

Ye Jingtang joined Hua Qingzhi’s household as a guard and prepared to travel with her to Yanjing, bringing Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli along in disguised roles. As the convoy departed, Situ Yanfeng agreed to help Wang Jiwen arrange a bandit ambush so Ye Jingtang could rescue Hua Qingzhi and gain credit.

• Ye Jingtang told Zhe Yunli he had taken a guard position with the Hua Family and arranged for her to pose as a maid while Fan Qinghe traveled as a cook.
• Situ Yanfeng reported to Wang Jiwen that Ye Jingtang had been selected as Hua Qingzhi’s guard, and Wang Jiwen paid him to arrange a bandit ambush that would let Ye Jingtang play the hero.
• Ye Jingtang reported to the Hua Residence, where Hua Junchen tried to demonstrate swordplay and offer him pointers until Hua Qingzhi interrupted and sent her father away.
• Hua Qingzhi arranged for Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli to join the journey in disguise, and the Hua party departed for Yanjing with Ye Jingtang as one of her guards.
• Hua Junchen noticed Niao Niao in Hua Qingzhi’s carriage and asked to see the bird, but Hua Qingzhi said it was shy and refused.

Ye Jingtang traveled with the Hua family convoy, while Zhe Yunli entertained Hua Qingzhi with a fabricated story about how she and Ye Jingtang had met. When Miao Dingrong and his bandits attacked the convoy, Ye Jingtang secretly killed all seven, leaving Hua Junchen convinced that an unseen master had saved them.

• Green Pearl invited Ye Jingtang to play a board game with Hua Qingzhi, and he sent Zhe Yunli to join her instead.
• Zhe Yunli charmed Hua Qingzhi by inventing a long, wistful account of her early life with Ye Jingtang.
• Ye Jingtang warned Hua Junchen that traveling through Wayaogou after dark was risky, but the convoy continued until they spotted Miao Dingrong and his riders.
• Miao Dingrong recognized the Hua family convoy and turned back with his men to rob it, while Hua Junchen prepared to pay them ten thousand taels.
• Ye Jingtang killed Miao Dingrong and all six of his men in a flash, then pretended he had not seen who struck.
• Hua Junchen searched for the unknown master who had saved them, and Ye Jingtang returned to the convoy as Hua Qingzhi gave him a handkerchief.

Ye Jingtang arrived in Yanjing with the Hua family and met Great Wei’s undercover agent to learn how he might enter the Imperial City and steal the Dragon-Mingling Diagram. He left with a lead on the Marquis of Jingyang, his assassination target, and planned to take Yunli to kill him for experience.

• Ye Jingtang escorted Hua Qingzhi and the Hua family’s wagons into Yanjing, while Hua Junchen left to visit old friends.
• At Myriad Treasures Tower, Hua Qingzhi misunderstood Ye Jingtang’s question about Spring Fullness House, and he later left for Golden Willow Alley with Fan Qinghe.
• Ye Jingtang used the countersign at a tea stall and met undercover agent Zhou Mu, who outlined two possible routes into the Imperial City.
• Zhou Mu told Ye Jingtang that the Marquis of Jingyang was meeting friends at Spring Fullness House that day, and Ye Jingtang recognized an opportunity to reach his assassination target.
• Ye Jingtang left with Fan Qinghe and said he would get Yunli so she could help kill someone and gain experience.

Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli tracked the Skin-Peeling Scholar, Deng Shu'an, to Spring Fullness House, where they discovered Hua Junchen socializing with Yanjing’s martial artists. After confirming Deng Shu'an’s identity, Ye Jingtang killed him and staged the scene to implicate the Azure Dragon Society, leaving Hua Junchen blamed for the death.

• Cao Aning learned that a death had been reported on Suijin Street and hurried to investigate.
• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli spotted Hua Junchen at Spring Fullness House, and Hua Junchen bribed Yunli to keep his visit secret before bringing Ye inside.
• Ye Jingtang recognized Deng Shu'an as the Skin-Peeling Scholar after Deng reacted to the Phoenix Nods sword move.
• Ye Jingtang killed Deng Shu'an in the courtyard and carved an inscription suggesting the Azure Dragon Society was responsible.
• Hua Junchen discovered Deng Shu'an's body after lightly patting him, and the other martial artists suspected a hidden expert had struck.

Cao Aning helped explain the death of Deng Shu'an as the killing of a notorious fugitive, while privately warning Ye Jingtang that Xiang Hanshi's elixir might already be complete. Ye Jingtang then met Liu of the Azure Dragon Society, sought a way into the Imperial Palace, and accepted a new bounty that required him to track down five criminals.

• Cao Aning identified the dead retainer as the Skin-Peeling Scholar and explained his criminal past, allowing the Marquis of Jingyang and the other nobles to contain the scandal discreetly.
• Ye Jingtang spoke with Cao Aning in the privy, learned that Xiang Hanshi was supposedly refining an elixir at Immortal Seclusion Peak, and heard Cao Aning's suspicions about Jade Water Forest.
• Ye Jingtang met Liu in the rear alley and asked the Azure Dragon Society for a way into the Imperial Palace to obtain the Treasure Saber.
• Liu said the Society could arrange palace entry for enough silver, then offered Ye Jingtang a bounty to find and kill five poison specialists wanted by Juntian Prefecture.

Ye Jingtang returned to the Hua Residence, where Hua Qingzhi confronted her father about his visit to a brothel and worried over Ye Jingtang’s deadly work. As Ye Jingtang and his companions planned to hunt the Five Snake Peak Fiends, the Third Imperial Prince and Wang Jiwen plotted to use the bandits to help a handsome guard approach Hua Qingzhi.

• Hua Qingzhi questioned Hua Junchen about the brothel and a retainer’s death, while Ye Jingtang confirmed that Hua Junchen had only been socializing.
• Hua Qingzhi warned Ye Jingtang about the danger of his frequent killings, and he reassured her before returning to his companions.
• Ye Jingtang told Zhe Yunli and Fan Qinghe about his contract to kill five bandits, and Fan Qinghe identified them as the Five Snake Peak Fiends.
• Ye Jingtang visited Fan Qinghe’s room, discussed the Northern Liang court’s Husband Lang Pearl, and spent the night with her.
• Li Chong and Wang Jiwen discussed their scheme to make a handsome guard approach Hua Qingzhi and decided to lure the Five Snake Peak Fiends toward her with news of Snow Lake Flower.

Ye Jingtang escorted Hua Qingzhi to the Imperial Academy, where Wang Jiwen asked her to paint a spring scene for Consort Wang. As the Five Snake Peak Fiends planned to rob Hua Qingzhi for Snow Lake Flower plants, Hua Junchen welcomed Ye Jingtang as family and offered to teach him, while Qingzhi reflected on the conflict their true identities would bring.

• Ye Jingtang escorted Hua Qingzhi to the Imperial Academy, where crowds of students greeted her and Wang Jiwen showed her a poor painting he wanted to send to Consort Wang.
• Hua Qingzhi agreed to paint a replacement and planned to visit Evening Rosy Clouds Temple with Ye Jingtang at noon.
• Huang Ru and the Five Snake Peak Fiends learned that Hua Qingzhi would carry Snow Lake Flower plants to the temple and decided to rob her.
• Hua Qingzhi shared stories of her travels with her classmates, then left the academy with Ye Jingtang to return home and tell Hua Junchen of their outing.
• Hua Junchen joined the trip to burn incense, told Ye Jingtang to call him Uncle, and offered to teach him martial arts and literature.
• Hua Qingzhi listened as Hua Junchen warmly accepted Ye Jingtang, then worried that their closeness would make the eventual revelation of his identity more painful.

Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli tracked the Five Snake Peak Fiends to Ten-Mile Slope while Ye Jingtang accompanied Hua Qingzhi to Evening Rosy Clouds Temple. Zhe Yunli killed the Fiends after Little Chicken lured them into the woods, but Fan Qinghe hurried her away when someone approached.

• Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli searched Yanjing for the Five Snake Peak Fiends and spotted them hiding near Ten-Mile Slope Town as Ye Jingtang's convoy passed.
• Ye Jingtang helped Hua Qingzhi set up to paint at Evening Rosy Clouds Temple while the Five Snake Peak Fiends found her unattended carriage and prepared a poison trap.
• Huang Ru's black snake encountered Little Chicken in the carriage, and the eagle lured Huang Ru and his four companions into the woods, where Zhe Yunli identified herself as Two of Bamboo of the Azure Dragon Society.
• Zhe Yunli used an Empty City Stratagem to break the Five Snake Peak Fiends' coordination and killed the four companions before Huang Ru's hidden arrow struck her abdomen without penetrating her flesh.
• Zhe Yunli killed Huang Ru after he tried to flee, and Fan Qinghe carried her away when Niao Niao warned that someone was approaching.

Hua Junchen investigated a disturbance behind Evening Rosy Clouds Temple and stumbled into a gruesome scene, where his attempt to defend himself from a corpse made him look like the killer. Ye Jingtang evaded recognition by Eunuch Xu and left with Hua Qingzhi, while the authorities settled on crediting Hua Junchen with helping defeat the Azure Dragon Society’s supposed attackers.

• Hua Junchen heard fighting in the woods, left the temple to investigate, and found five corpses amid a ravaged battlefield.
• Hua Junchen struck a half-dead corpse that grabbed his ankle, covering himself in blood and alarming Hua Qingzhi and her guards when they arrived.
• Ye Jingtang secretly carved an Azure Dragon Society inscription into a tree, and Hua Junchen briefly accused him before Hua Qingzhi and Hua Ning confirmed he had stayed with them.
• Commander Xue identified the dead as wanted criminals, while Eunuch Xu arrived and judged that Hua Junchen had killed one of them; Hua Junchen insisted he had only struck a corpse.
• Ye Jingtang recognized Eunuch Xu from Tianlang Lake, hid himself, and left with Hua Qingzhi, whose cheek had accidentally touched his lips when she turned toward him.
• Eunuch Xu agreed to treat the deaths as the Azure Dragon Society’s work and let Hua Junchen receive credit for finishing off a survivor.

Ye Jingtang checked on the injured Zhe Yunli, delivered Hua Qingzhi’s painting, and met with the Azure Dragon Society, whose Liu warned him to slow down after his assassin identity became obvious. Meanwhile, Wang Jiwen and the Third Imperial Prince planned another scheme involving Hua Junchen and Hua Qingzhi.

• Ye Jingtang apologized to Hua Qingzhi for accidentally touching her, then learned that Zhe Yunli had been poisoned while defeating the Five Snake Peak Fiends; Fan Qinghe treated her as Ye Jingtang urged her to rest.
• Ye Jingtang left the temple to investigate Jade Water Forest, but first found Niao Niao carrying a snake and promised to buy the bird rabbit heads.
• Hua Qingzhi finished Wang Jiwen’s painting, which Ye Jingtang agreed to deliver, then added longing verses to her private portrait of him.
• Ye Jingtang met Liu of the Azure Dragon Society, accepted his share of the reward, and agreed to pause his killings while gathering information about the Imperial Court’s immortality pills.
• Wang Jiwen and the Third Imperial Prince discussed luring Hua Junchen to a banquet so their arranged guard could get a chance to rescue Hua Qingzhi, then received the painting Ye Jingtang had delivered.

Ye Jingtang secretly investigated Jade Water Forest, where he learned Northern Liang was refining pills and heard that seven people had been considered to receive them. Zhongsun Jin discovered him and wounded his shoulder, but Ye escaped and returned to Evening Rosy Clouds Temple with Fan Qinghe and Zhe Yunli.

• Ye Jingtang returned to Evening Rosy Clouds Temple with rabbit heads, checked on the sleeping Zhe Yunli, and shared a kiss with Fan Qinghe before leaving to investigate Jade Water Forest.
• Ye Jingtang infiltrated the construction site and overheard Zhongsun Jin and Eunuch Xu discuss reducing seven provisional pill recipients to six.
• Zhongsun Jin explained that a batch of pills had been lost and debated with Eunuch Xu which candidate should be removed from the list.
• Zhongsun Jin sensed Ye Jingtang, fired a tea knife that grazed his shoulder, and searched the grounds after Ye escaped.
• Constables found a cryptic line outside the wall, prompting Eunuch Xu to suspect the Azure Dragon Society while Zhongsun Jin warned that the clue might be a diversion.
• Ye Jingtang returned to Evening Rosy Clouds Temple, reassured Fan Qinghe that his wound was superficial, woke Zhe Yunli, and carried her away with them.

Hua Junchen returned to the Capital City and was questioned by Eunuch Xu about the Jade Water Forest intruder, while Ye Jingtang secretly told the Azure Dragon Society about the Imperial Court’s powerful pills. The chapter ended with Ye Jingtang startling Hua Qingzhi at her window and leaving her flustered.

• Hua Junchen returned to the Myriad Treasures Tower with Hua Qingzhi and planned to leave the Capital City, but Eunuch Xu arrived and investigated him as a suspect in the Jade Water Forest infiltration.
• Hua Junchen showed Eunuch Xu that he had no wound, clearing himself of suspicion, and later dismissed a brick left at his courtyard as something Yunli had used while cleaning.
• Ye Jingtang met Liu in an alley and revealed that the Imperial Court was refining at least seven pills that could greatly raise the strength of martial artists, with Zhongsun Jin guarding them.
• Liu agreed that the Azure Dragon Society would buy the information and arrange Ye Jingtang’s way into the palace, while warning him not to sell the same information to another buyer.
• Hua Qingzhi discussed her marriage worries with Green Pearl while taking her medicine, and Ye Jingtang startled her by landing outside her window, causing her to spray medicine on him.

Luo Ning and Xue Baijin encountered Qiu Tianhe and Xuanyuan Tiangang in Northern Liang and learned that the Northern Liang court might be refining a medicine based on the Heavenly Lang Pearls. In Yanjing, Ye Jingtang continued his quiet days at Myriad Treasures Tower and accompanied Hua Qingzhi to the Imperial Academy, where she mentioned an afternoon chess match.

• Luo Ning and Xue Baijin heard a storyteller discuss Hua Junchen and the Five Immortals of the Eastern Sea while traveling through Drum-Beating Platform.
• Qiu Tianhe and Xuanyuan Tiangang met Luo Ning and Xue Baijin, and Xue Baijin introduced herself as the Sky-Pacifying Sect Master.
• Qiu Tianhe told Xue Baijin and Luo Ning that Northern Liang might be developing a divine medicine from its imitation of the Heavenly Lang Pearls, and Xue Baijin offered to investigate.
• Ye Jingtang woke beside Fan Qinghe after spending the night with her, then told Zhe Yunli to wait until the citywide searches eased before they went out.
• Hua Qingzhi invited Ye Jingtang to accompany her to a chess match after her morning lessons, while Hua Junchen discussed an invitation to a banquet at Duke Li's Manor.