Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingtang returned to Wangheya with Hua Qingzhi, where he learned that the convoy carrying Dongfang Liren and the others was close behind. Niao Niao found the party, and Dongfang Liren rode ahead toward Ye Jingtang while the rest hurried after her.

• Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi reached Wangheya, where locals told stories about Ye Jingtang and Zhang Rat recognized him as Night Great Yama.
• Ye Jingtang learned that a convoy of more than thirty people was expected to arrive soon and sent Niao Niao to find it.
• Ye Jingtang told Hua Qingzhi about his childhood encounter with Chief Zou Manzi and reassured her when she became frightened by their inn room.
• Ye Jingtang helped Hua Qingzhi wash up while Dongfang Liren and the Empress Dowager traveled back from Crescent Bay with the convoy.
• Niao Niao reached the convoy, and Dongfang Liren rode toward Wangheya after learning Ye Jingtang was nearby.

Dongfang Liren reunited with Ye Jingtang at the inn, where she found Hua Qingzhi staying with him and received the Son of Heaven Sword as a gift. After the rest of the party arrived, Ye Jingtang discussed the danger of confronting Shenchen Monk with Luo Ning and Pei Xiangjun, then went to summon Dongfang Liren.

• Dongfang Liren arrived at the inn and found Hua Qingzhi in Ye Jingtang's room, where Hua explained why she had not returned home.
• Ye Jingtang gave Dongfang Liren the Son of Heaven Sword, delighting her and briefly overcoming her jealousy of Hua Qingzhi.
• She Long, Pei Xiangjun, Luo Ning, and the Empress Dowager arrived at the inn, and Ye Jingtang welcomed them before discussing his plans to visit Crescent Bay.
• Luo Ning urged Ye Jingtang to delay confronting Shenchen Monk if the fight might leave him injured, while Pei Xiangjun warned him against risking his life with the Dragon-Mingling Diagram.
• Ye Jingtang joined Pei Xiangjun and Luo Ning in their room, then left to fetch Dongfang Liren when he realized she had not come.

Ye Jingtang left the inn after spending the night with Dongfang Liren, Ning'er, and Third Madam, then teased the Empress Dowager with a massage before the party set out. At Thousand Buddha Temple, Zen Master Shenchen agreed to take Wunian and Bian Yuanlie out, with Bian Yuanlie set to face the unfamiliar nineteen-year-old Ye Jingtang.

• Ye Jingtang left the exhausted women to rest and found She Long and Niao Niao discussing the story of his encounter with a divine hound.
• Ye Jingtang visited the Empress Dowager, teased her about reading in secret, and gave her a massage until dawn.
• Dongfang Liren tricked Hua Qingzhi into revealing that she had breathed air into Ye Jingtang at Panlong Cave, then promised to help her confront Xue Baijin.
• At Thousand Buddha Temple, Wunian asked Zen Master Shenchen to let him leave and settle an old grievance, and Shenchen agreed to accompany him.
• Bian Yuanlie asked to leave the temple and die fighting for Great Yan, so Shenchen arranged for him to face Ye Jingtang.
• Bian Yuanlie protested when he learned Ye Jingtang was only nineteen, but he agreed to go with Zen Master Shenchen.

Ye Jingtang’s party reached Crescent Bay and discovered that another group from the Northern Liang Imperial Court was searching for the First Emperor’s stone stele. He found their underground chamber, but the chapter left him back at camp while the people studying the stele heard someone digging above them.

• Ye Jingtang’s party found a freshly dug pit in a poplar grove, and scouts reported that more than ten people had recently passed through the area.
• At Crescent Bay, Ye Jingtang sent Niao Niao to scout and learned that two people and sixteen horses were southeast of the lake.
• Ye Jingtang knocked out two eunuchs guarding a pit, entered an underground tomb, and discovered a stone stele covered in Ancient Liang Script and a passage leading deeper underground.
• Eunuch Ziliang, Li Si, Hua Junchen, and the others studied a damaged stele depicting a three-headed, six-armed Buddha and discussed its inscriptions and missing upper portion.
• As the group studied the stele, Eunuch Ziliang sensed someone digging through the sand above the underground hall.

Ye Jingtang brought Hua Qingzhi to the underground mausoleum, where they found a Black Stone Stele and encountered a group of Northern Liang fighters. After defeating Eunuch Ziliang and letting the others escape, Ye Jingtang discovered more experts nearby and rushed after them.

• Ye Jingtang fetched Hua Qingzhi from camp and brought her through the First Emperor’s Mausoleum to the Black Stone Stele, where she read its inscription and he studied its martial method.
• Ye Jingtang found Cao Aning, Hua Junchen, Xu Tianying, Eunuch Ziliang, and other fighters contemplating the stele, but sounds of digging above alerted them to someone on the surface.
• Eunuch Ziliang fought Ye Jingtang in the passage while Hua Junchen and the others broke through the ceiling and escaped into the desert.
• Ye Jingtang repelled Eunuch Ziliang’s attack and killed him with a slap, then left with Hua Qingzhi as the remaining fighters fled.
• Dongfang Liren and the others reached the underground hall, where Ye Jingtang reported that the stele had been damaged and Eunuch Ziliang had been dealt with.
• After sensing more experts near the fleeing group, Ye Jingtang flew out of the underground opening and pursued them.

Bian Yuanlie, a Great Yan loyalist released after more than fifty years of imprisonment, sought a final duel with Ye Jingtang but discovered that Ye shared his ties to the Former Dynasty. The chapter left Bian Yuanlie bewildered as he departed, unable to ask Ye about the secret in front of the others.

• Bian Yuanlie heard a storyteller recount Ye Jingtang’s remarkable victories and arrived at Crescent Bay intending to challenge him.
• Bian Yuanlie mistook Hua Junchen for a peer of Ye Jingtang, defeated him with a single kick, and then waited for Ye to arrive.
• Bian Yuanlie introduced himself to Ye Jingtang and explained that he had come to fight for Great Yan, but Ye urged him to return home instead.
• Bian Yuanlie and Ye Jingtang exchanged a blade strike and a spear technique, and Bian Yuanlie accepted that he could not match Ye.
• Ye Jingtang discreetly showed Bian Yuanlie a Great Yan loyalist token, revealing their shared allegiance, and told him to seek Lü Taiqing instead of dying there.
• Bian Yuanlie left in confusion, unable to question Ye Jingtang while the others were present.

Ye Jingtang confronted Zou Quanming over Luo Ning’s family’s murder, but Zen Master Shenchen intervened and fought him with power gained from decades of studying the stone stele. Zou Quanming died by Pei Xiangjun’s spear, and Jiang Zhawu stopped the escalating duel before Ye Jingtang and Shenchen agreed to end the matter.

• Bian Yuanlie recognized the difficulty of fighting Ye Jingtang and withdrew, but Zou Quanming arrived and admitted he had brought ruin upon Luo Ning’s family.
• Luo Ning demanded vengeance, while Zen Master Shenchen asked Ye Jingtang to spare his repentant disciple and offered to take responsibility in his place.
• Ye Jingtang attacked Shenchen, who stopped his spear and defeated his first assault; Shenchen revealed that he had studied the stone stele for sixty years.
• Ye Jingtang fought Shenchen again, and Zou Quanming charged Luo Ning before Pei Xiangjun killed him with her spear.
• Enraged by Zou Quanming’s death, Shenchen unleashed his full strength, but Ye Jingtang disrupted his blood and qi and wounded him before Jiang Zhawu arrived and stopped the fight.
• Ye Jingtang and Shenchen recognized the danger of continuing, and Shenchen left after declaring the matter ended.

After Luo Ning grieved over her parents, Ye Jingtang defeated Shenchen Monk and received a warning from Lü Taiqing about the dangers of mastering the Dragon-Mingling Diagram without understanding its foundations. The group returned to the underground palace, where Dongfang Liren and the others discovered a furnished room containing yellowed papers.

• Luo Ning remained bewildered after Shenchen Monk left, while Ye Jingtang's injuries rapidly healed after he used a green white lotus seed.
• Lü Taiqing appeared and attacked Bian Yuanlie, then tested Ye Jingtang with his sword; Ye Jingtang stopped and returned the blade using his own understanding of the Dragon-Mingling Diagram.
• Lü Taiqing warned Ye Jingtang that the Dragon-Mingling Diagram could be deadly without its full foundation, and described the strength of Xiang Hanshi, Zhongsun Jin, and Bei Yunbian.
• Lü Taiqing left, and Jiang Zhawu followed him to ask about Daoist arts while the others returned to camp.
• Ye Jingtang comforted Luo Ning about her parents, and she tried to repay him by becoming intimate with him.
• Dongfang Liren, the Empress Dowager, Hua Qingzhi, Niao Niao, and She Long explored the underground palace and found a furnished room with yellowed papers on its desk.

After reflecting on the martial principles he had learned from the battle, Ye Jingtang comforted the Empress Dowager when a memoir revealed that the lovers in Secret History of the Seductress had died. He agreed to take her to visit the woman’s grave, while he also arranged to secure the stone stele and set out toward Hong Mountain with the Empress Dowager.

• Ye Jingtang reviewed the battle and concluded that martial arts could reach the same heights through different paths, while practitioners needed to adapt their techniques to themselves.
• Ye Jingtang woke Pei Xiangjun and Luo Ning, then found the Empress Dowager crying over a memoir that revealed the heroine had died at seventy and her lover had later become a monk.
• Ye Jingtang comforted the Empress Dowager and promised to take her to Wife's Peak on Hong Mountain to offer incense.
• Ye Jingtang left half the Black Bureau personnel to guard the stone stele and led the rest to Shazhou City to seek troops and arrange its transport.
• In Shazhou City, Dongfang Liren took Fat Consort out to explore while Niao Niao ordered a whole roast camel.
• Ye Jingtang brought the Charcoal-Red Steed and galloped toward Hong Mountain with the Empress Dowager under the pretext of taking her to offer incense.

The Empress Dowager and Ye Jingtang visited Empress Dowager Yan’s grave on Wife’s Peak, where Huaiyan paid her respects and found closure with the story of Secret History of the Seductress. They continued to Hong Mountain’s summit, where Huaiyan recalled her past and grew intimate with Ye Jingtang, leaving their relationship newly consummated beneath the stars.

• Ye Jingtang led the Empress Dowager to Lin Yunzhi’s grave beneath the ginkgo tree on Wife’s Peak.
• The Empress Dowager burned incense and paper offerings, prayed for Lin Yunzhi’s reunion with her lover, and said the story of Secret History of the Seductress had reached its end.
• Ye Jingtang carried the Empress Dowager to Hong Mountain’s snowy summit, where they pitched a tent and talked beneath the stars.
• The Empress Dowager recalled her unruly childhood, her years in the palace, and how Yu Hu’s coup had changed her life.
• Ye Jingtang set the Empress Dowager a goal of learning Yan Mountain Cloud-Cutting Vertical Movement within a month and teased her about household discipline.
• The Empress Dowager gave Ye Jingtang a white handkerchief, and the two became intimate in the tent.

Ye Jingtang returned to the army after securing the stone stele and led the Western Sea troops in an assault on Pingyi City. He broke onto the battlements and helped capture the city, while the Empress and her companions considered Northern Liang’s next move.

• Ye Jingtang and Huaiyan descended from the mountain, and Ye later escorted the massive stele from Crescent Bay toward the capital before riding north to Liaoyuan.
• The Empress played chess with Hua Qingzhi and teased her about joining Ye Jingtang’s household, while Luo Ning and Pei Xiangjun argued about romance with Fan Qinghe.
• Dongfang Liren and Xuanji trained Huaiyan in Cloud-Cutting Vertical Movement until Ye Jingtang returned to camp and reunited with the women.
• The Empress promised the women would serve Ye Jingtang wine mouth-to-mouth if he reached Pingyi City’s battlements within fifteen minutes, and Dongfang Liren went to beat the war drum.
• Ye Jingtang charged through the defenders and reached Pingyi City’s battlements, allowing the Western Sea troops to climb the walls and breach the city gate.
• The Empress and Xuanji discussed Northern Liang’s withdrawal toward Eastern Lake as its defenders began fleeing Pingyi City.

After Great Wei captured Pingyi City, Ye Jingtang celebrated with his companions before learning that Bei Yunbian was gathering Northern Liang martial experts in Shuofeng City and that Hua Qingzhi’s grandfather was gravely ill. He chose to set out for the Northern Wasteland, beginning another journey away from the Golden Tent.

• Ye Jingtang returned to the Golden Tent, where Hua Qingzhi and the women toasted him for Great Wei’s victory, and Perfected Person Xuanji danced after the others teased her.
• The next morning, Ye Jingtang helped Hua Qingzhi take her medicine and walk before meeting Wang Chihu, who told him that a visitor named Liu had waited for him.
• Old Liu gave Ye Jingtang intelligence that Bei Yunbian was recruiting martial experts and had invited northern sect leaders to Shuofeng City, including the Sky-Pacifying Sect Master.
• Old Liu asked Ye Jingtang to free Twelve Towers and Liang Shangyan and offered him the Azure Dragon Society’s Hero Invitation to Shuofeng City.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to release the assassins, considered the news about the Sky-Pacifying Sect Master and Grand Preceptor Hua, and decided to head north with Niao Niao.

Ye Jingtang rushed Hua Qingzhi back to the Hua Residence after learning her grandfather was gravely ill, while Zhe Yunli and Xue Baijin reached the Snowfield and heard of Bei Yunbian’s heroes’ banquet. Ye Jingtang arrived in time to see Grand Preceptor Hua alive, then secretly contacted Xu Tianying and Cao Aning.

• Ye Jingtang sailed across Tianlang Lake with Hua Qingzhi and Niao Niao, explaining that he was taking Hua Qingzhi home because Grand Preceptor Hua was seriously ill.
• Zhe Yunli and Xue Baijin arrived at Cangdong Town, heard that Shuofeng City was hosting a heroes’ banquet for Bei Yunbian, and decided to investigate.
• Hua Junchen and Li Si waited at the Hua Residence while Grand Preceptor Hua lay gravely ill, and Li Si suspected Ye Jingtang’s abduction of Hua Qingzhi was a political scheme.
• Ye Jingtang carried Hua Qingzhi at high speed to the Hua Residence, where they saw Grand Preceptor Hua speaking calmly with an old imperial physician.
• Ye Jingtang spotted Xu Tianying and Cao Aning at the residence and secretly beckoned them over.

Xu Tianying helped Hua Qingzhi reunite with her dying grandfather, while Ye Jingtang used the Flame-Rebirth Diagram to give Grand Preceptor Hua a chance to recover. After Hua Qingzhi persuaded her grandfather to accept the treatment by claiming she was pregnant, she left with Ye Jingtang, troubled by the need to make that lie come true.

• Xu Tianying brought Hua Qingzhi into Grand Preceptor Hua’s room, where Ye Jingtang revealed the Flame-Rebirth Diagram and offered it as a cure.
• Grand Preceptor Hua recognized Ye Jingtang and asked Hua Qingzhi to speak with him alone, refusing at first to accept help from the Southern Dynasty.
• Hua Qingzhi argued that her grandfather should live to meet his great-grandchild and claimed she was already pregnant, persuading him to study the Flame-Rebirth Diagram.
• Grand Preceptor Hua learned the diagram and began practicing, while Hua Qingzhi worried that she would have to fulfill her false pregnancy claim.
• Hua Qingzhi left the Hua Residence with Ye Jingtang, who teased her about repaying him and kissed and touched her as they rode north together.

At the Yangchen Inn, Ye Jingtang disguised himself as the Azure Dragon Society’s Dragon King and killed Yao Shangqing in a single strike before revealing himself to Tian Wuliang. He learned that Yin Shicheng and Huo Zhiyun had reached Shuofeng City and asked Tian Wuliang to quietly search for a distinctive older traveler and a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl carrying a five-foot saber.

• Seven regional leaders gathered at the Yangchen Inn ahead of Shuofeng City's Heroes' Banquet, where Lu Wuniang and Shi Boyi nearly came to blows.
• Ye Jingtang arrived disguised in a blue cloak with Qingzhi, presented Yao Shangqing's assassination brief, and identified himself as the Azure Dragon Society's Dragon King.
• Yao Shangqing drew his sword, but Ye Jingtang cut down his attack and killed him with one strike; he then killed two disciples who charged at him.
• Ye Jingtang let the other leaders leave and showed Tian Wuliang information about Yin Shicheng, then revealed his identity and asked whether Yin Shicheng and Huo Zhiyun had reached Shuofeng City.
• Tian Wuliang confirmed both men were in Shuofeng City, asked for a chance to avenge Thunder God Island, and agreed to quietly seek a distinctive older traveler and a young girl carrying a five-foot saber.

Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi stayed at Yangchen Inn, where their growing intimacy was complicated by Qingzhi’s worry about fulfilling her promise to her grandfather. Meanwhile, news of the Dragon King’s killing of Yao Shangqing spread, and Xue Baijin and Zhe Yunli tracked him to Cangdong Town, arriving just as Ye Jingtang was close to Hua Qingzhi.

• Ye Jingtang brought Hua Qingzhi to their room, explained the Fate Sundial’s timer, and prepared bathwater while Niao Niao searched for Yunli and the others.
• Hua Qingzhi wondered whether she had fallen for Ye Jingtang and asked if he liked her; Ye Jingtang admitted he did, then told her to relax and bathe.
• At another inn, Xue Baijin and Zhe Yunli heard a traveler describe the Dragon King killing Yao Shangqing with a single strike, and they set out for Cangdong Town.
• That night, Hua Qingzhi worried about returning home without a child, while Ye Jingtang entered her room to guide her through meditation and adjusted her posture.
• Xue Baijin flew into the room and found Ye Jingtang holding Hua Qingzhi; the three stared at one another in awkward silence.

Zhe Yunli reunited with Ye Jingtang and found him with Hua Qingzhi, while Xue Baijin and Hua Qingzhi argued over the circumstances that brought Hua to him. After Xue Baijin hallucinated under the effects of Dreamlike Illusion Powder, Hua Qingzhi decided she would compete to be Ye Jingtang’s senior wife.

• Zhe Yunli arrived at the inn and caught Ye Jingtang holding Hua Qingzhi, who claimed she wanted to speak privately with Xue Baijin.
• Hua Qingzhi challenged Xue Baijin to try Dreamlike Illusion Powder, but Xue Baijin initially showed no reaction and dismissed her complaint.
• While cooking with Ye Jingtang, Xue Baijin hallucinated that he had stripped and was leering at her, then pinned him against a cupboard with a knife.
• Xue Baijin realized Ye Jingtang was fully dressed and left without explaining her mistake, while Hua Qingzhi overheard their exchange.
• Hua Qingzhi concluded that the medicine had caused her behavior too and resolved to claim senior-wife status before Xue Baijin could take precedence.

At Yangchen Inn, Hua Qingzhi tried to secure a child for her grandfather after claiming she was already pregnant, and she and Ye Jingtang agreed to begin that night. Xue Baijin overheard them, then slipped out of the inn after Yunli woke at the sound of Qingzhi’s cry.

• Zhe Yunli returned to Yangchen Inn with Niao Niao and found Xue Baijin standing on a table with a feather duster after inhaling Dreamlike Illusion Powder.
• Hua Qingzhi dressed up and told Ye Jingtang she had claimed to her grandfather that she was pregnant, then persuaded him to help make the claim true.
• Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi waited until the others had gone to bed before becoming intimate, while Xue Baijin listened from the next room.
• Xue Baijin heard Qingzhi cry out, and the sound roused Zhe Yunli, who soon fell back asleep.
• Xue Baijin left through the window and went into the backyard, where Niao Niao was near the chicken coop.

Ye Jingtang cared for Hua Qingzhi and prepared to take Zhe Yunli to Shuofeng City, while Xue Baijin returned from gathering information. In Shuofeng City, Bei Yunbian revealed how Ye Jingtang had upended his plans and demonstrated his power to Sect Leader Yin, leaving Yin terrified.

• Ye Jingtang woke beside Hua Qingzhi, reassured her about the possibility of pregnancy, and went to prepare food while she blushed over the night before.
• Ye Jingtang found Zhe Yunli awake and told her they would go to Shuofeng City after breakfast; Xue Baijin returned with Niao Niao and checked Ye Jingtang's condition after he used the seventh diagram.
• Zhe Yunli spoke with Hua Qingzhi about her connection to Ye Jingtang and offered to look after her if she ever married him.
• Bei Yunbian reflected on his master's plan to cultivate a future immortal, his work stirring conflict through the Green Bandits, and how Ye Jingtang's rise had turned him from the favored disciple into a threatened contender.
• Sect Leader Yin worried that Bei Yunbian could not stop Ye Jingtang, so Bei Yunbian seized control of Yin's qi and blood and forced him to kneel before ordering him out.

Ye Jingtang and his companions reached Shuofeng City, where he gathered intelligence for the Azure Dragon Society and set out with Zhe Yunli to confront Huo Zhiyun. Meanwhile, Huo Zhiyun waited anxiously in a trapped room for someone from the City Lord's Residence as footsteps approached his door.

• Ye Jingtang traveled to Shuofeng City with Xue Baijin, Zhe Yunli, and Hua Qingzhi, and Zhe Yunli bought a guidebook to the city.
• Ye Jingtang received intelligence that Huo Zhiyun was staying at Wind and Dust Tower, then went there with Zhe Yunli to target him.
• Hua Qingzhi tried to establish seniority over Xue Baijin, but Xue Baijin paralyzed her with a pressure-point strike and left her on the bed.
• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli located Huo Zhiyun in a guarded courtyard at Wind and Dust Tower.
• Huo Zhiyun recalled his past conflict with the Azure Dragon Society and waited for a City Lord's Residence steward as footsteps approached his door.