Recaps

Zhang Xing carried Du Meng’s body to Red Mountain, joined Bai Yousi’s bureau, and became entangled in a crackdown on the Green Fish Gang that ended with Xiao Zhao’s death. After uncovering Commander Feng’s betrayal and killing Feng Yong and Madam Feng, Zhang Xing faced Bai Yousi’s suspicions as the capital’s unrest deepened.

• Zhang Xing survived the mountain disaster with Du Meng, then traveled through the war-torn countryside, where Du Meng died after helping him defeat Han.
• Zhang Xing carried Du Meng’s body toward Red Mountain, killed Yuan Da and his men when they ambushed him, and received help from Bai Yousi after she investigated the killings.
• Zhang Xing buried Du Meng in his destroyed homeland, learned about cultivation and the wider turmoil, and accepted a position under Bai Yousi.
• In Xiūyè Ward, Zhang Xing joined Commander Feng and Xiao Zhao in cracking down on illicit businesses, but he clashed with Xiao Zhao over how Wei Liouzi’s brothel girls should be treated.
• When Xiao Zhao disappeared after visiting the Green Fish Gang, Zhang Xing and Feng Yong led an armed raid, where they learned Xiao Zhao had died from his injuries.
• Zhang Xing helped Feng Yong punish the gang, then used the Compass and learned Feng Yong’s tavern was connected to the plot against Xiao Zhao.
• Zhang Xing overheard Feng Yong and Madam Feng admit they had framed him and planned to kill Xiao Yu, so he killed them and left a false signature blaming Li Taibai.
• Bai Yousi questioned Zhang Xing about the Feng murders, and he denied responsibility while arguing that the case might be tied to the Green Fish Gang and the capital’s unrest.

Zhang Xing joined Bai Yousi’s patrol team through prison escapes, a bloody uprising, and the pursuit of Han Shixiong. After the Compass pointed toward Mount Funiu, Bai Yousi led a search into the mountains, where the patrol found signs of a hidden bandit stronghold and displaced villagers.

• Zhang Xing joined Bai Yousi’s patrol unit, earned Cao Lin’s acceptance, and began working alongside Qin Bao as the Directorate faced political scrutiny and a mass prison break.
• Zhang Xing helped Bai Yousi’s team purge gangs during the hunt for escaped prisoners, then fought through the uprising in Zhengping Ward, where Niu He killed Heluo Huaibao and Zhang Wenda was assassinated.
• Zhang Xing questioned Gao Changye about the revenge plot, accepted Fenniang into his home under the name Yue Niang, and opened his Sixth Orthodox Meridian before Bai Yousi’s patrol set out to capture Han Shixiong.
• At Taolin Post Station, Zhang Xing investigated Han Shixiong’s escape, questioned Li Ding, and learned that Li had once fled Yang Shen’s planned rebellion and suspected a relative’s role in the escape.
• Zhang Xing released Li Ding, who fled into the mountains, then used the Compass to find that he had gone toward Mount Funiu rather than Tong Pass or the great river.
• Bai Yousi took Zhang Xing into the mountains to search for Li Ding, found a bandit stronghold matching the Compass, and went to investigate it alone.
• Zhang Xing and Qin Bao found an abandoned village near clean houses and tended crops, and they suspected the villagers had joined the bandits or been driven away by corvée labor before Qian Tang arrived with the main force.

Zhang Xing rose through clerical work and survived political pressure over the Bright Hall laborers, while Bai Yousi and the Patrol Group left the Eastern Capital for Jiangdong. The arc ended with an attack at a Jiangdu banquet that killed Liu Jing and brought Bai Yousi into a serious investigation.

• Bai Yousi captured Han Shixiong and brought him back toward the Eastern Capital, while Zhang Xing and Li Ding became lost on Mount Funiu and found the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic in a ruined temple.
• Zhang Xing earned a White Sash, took up clerical work, and proposed rankings for criminals and martial artists that drew attention to the coming recruitment of an elite army.
• When the Seven Saints attacked the Black Tower, Zhang Xing joined its defensive formation, helped defeat the attackers, and later arranged Hong Changya’s release.
• Zhang Xing criticized the Bright Hall construction and its treatment of laborers to Bai Hengqiu, then investigated corruption and secretly killed Banner Officer Wang.
• As laborers fled across the Yi River, Zhang Xing used the Compass to locate them and helped one cross, but Luo Fang later accused him of aiding the fugitives.
• The Black Tower sent Bai Yousi’s Patrol Group to Jiangdong, where they traveled by ship and Zhang Xing broke through his eighth Orthodox Meridian before reaching Yangzi Ford.
• At a Jiangdu banquet, disguised attackers assaulted the guests, Bai Yousi fought them off, and Liu Jing was found stabbed through the heart.

Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi exposed Jiangdong’s grain shortages, confiscated supplies from the great families, and set out with a grain convoy threatened by bandits. As local commanders withheld support and the convoy’s danger grew, Zhang Xing infiltrated Mount Dang and seized control of Immortal Cave.

• Zhang Xing helped Bai Yousi investigate the Temporary Palace assassination, then uncovered that officials had diverted its grain to cover Jiangdong’s tax shortfall.
• Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi persuaded Zhou Xiaoming to authorize grain confiscations from Jiangdong’s great families, and the Patrol Cavalry seized their supplies.
• Zhang Xing and Xie Minghe resolved their conflict through a sworn-brotherhood pact, and Zhang Xing’s convoy left Jiangdu with grain and gifts.
• When bandits threatened the fleet along the Huan River, Zhang Xing suspected local interests and went to Longgang Stockade to ask Chen Ling for troops.
• Zhang Xing pressured Chen Ling by destroying businesses he controlled, then learned that thirteen Mount Dang leaders were preparing to attack the convoy and that Du Pozhen was among them.
• Chen Ling provided three hundred armored troops but withheld a larger force, so Zhang Xing proposed provoking the bandits to compel Chen Ling to act under Sima Zheng’s watch.
• Zhang Xing and Qin Bao entered Mount Dang, questioned Fan Laoliu about its factions, and went to meet Boss Zhang at Immortal Cave.
• After Boss Zhang rejected his proposal about the convoy’s hidden riches, Zhang Xing defeated and killed him, then declared himself chief with Qin Bao and Fan Laoliu as his deputies.