Chapter Summaries

Hou Niao chose sword manuals focused on subtle, restrained techniques and discovered an old manuscript hidden beneath a table in the Hidden Sword Tower, which he bought for ten spirit stones. He then joined his junior brothers and their companions at a banquet, where Jiang Nanying revealed that he and Yu Xinglie were leaving for their outside postings before Wang Mian had broken through.

• Hou Niao selected a dozen sword manuals on slow, soft, light, insubstantial, and still swordplay, then registered them with the old man in the Hidden Sword Tower.
• Hou Niao noticed that a bamboo manuscript was propping up the old man's table and persuaded him to sell it for ten spirit stones.
• Hou Niao left the tower and accepted an invitation from Jiang Nanying to attend a welcome-back banquet at Lianheng Tower.
• Hou Niao met Jiang Nanying's sister Nan Zhi, Yu Xinglie's niece Baozhu, and Ma Rujun's older cousin, Second Sister Ma, along with the junior brothers.
• Jiang Nanying explained that he and Yu Xinglie had settled their outside postings and would leave soon, while Wang Mian was still in seclusion.

Hou Niao learned about his companions’ territorial assignments and discussed cultivation with them over a meal. When the group discovered that Elder Eightfold Perfection had swindled him with a fake cultivation manual, Hou Niao accepted the loss and raised a toast to the lesson.

• Yu Xinglie explained that Wang's slow cultivation came from the demanding Sword Dantian method, while Jiang Nanying and Yu Xinglie shared their territorial assignments.
• Hou Niao considered the risks of different postings and declined to seek help from Commandant Li for his assignment.
• Ma Rujun asked whether Hou Niao had sought assistance, and Ma Erjie urged the group to pursue danger rather than safe postings.
• Yu Xinglie recounted how Elder Eightfold Perfection had tried to swindle him, and Hou Niao revealed that he had bought the elder's table-leg prop for ten Spirit Stones.
• Hou Niao opened the bamboo slip and found a nonsensical instruction, then accepted responsibility for falling for the scam.
• Zong Qian suggested the sect tolerated the scam to discourage disciples from hoping for easy advancement, and Hou Niao toasted the group.

Hou Niao suspected the Heavenly Fragrance Tower incident would lead to a dangerous assignment, but he avoided seeking help and devoted himself to preparing. Li Chuping refused to intervene, leaving Hou Niao unaware that the next batch of Foundation Cultivation cultivators would be sent out the following day.

• Jiang Nanying, Yu Xinglie, Baozhu, and Nan Zhi discussed Hou Niao's audacity and swordsmanship after the banquet.
• Hou Niao left the gathering believing his assignment might be fast-tracked to a dangerous post because he had upset the balance at the Heavenly Fragrance Tower.
• The Pastoral Marshal Prefecture registered Hou Niao's advancement but kept his six-month punishment in place, strengthening his suspicion that his assignment was imminent.
• Hou Niao checked his supplies and began an intensive daily regimen of cultivation, Soul Realm combat, sword practice, and escape techniques.
• Daoist Wang told Li Chuping that the Pastoral Marshal Prefecture would send out the next batch of Foundation Cultivation cultivators the following day, but Li Chuping refused to put in a word for Hou Niao.

Hou Niao was ordered to reinforce the Quanzhen presence in Yinling, a poor and dangerous territory overrun by ghosts, and left Jincheng at once. After a ten-day journey, he reached the Ancient Stone Wall bordering Yinling and reflected on the region’s history.

• The Pastoral Marshal Prefecture ordered Hou Niao to leave for Yinling, and he departed Jincheng immediately.
• Ma Rujun and Zong Qian found Hou Niao’s courtyard empty, while Wang Mian emerged from seclusion and decided to seek a post at Yinling.
• Zong Qian revealed that he had arranged a posting at Black Marsh, and Wang Mian set off to apply for Bimu Hill.
• Hou Niao traveled west through Qixia Town and Dingyuan City, passed through Miaogao Town, and reached the Ancient Stone Wall.
• Hou Niao looked out over Yinling and recalled how the Quanzhen Sect had built the wall and formations to contain the ghosts.

Hou Niao reached the Ancient Stone Wall and found refugees barred from entering Miaogao Town without a Yinling Patrol’s written order. He vouched for them and exposed a Soul Ghost hiding inside a child, leaving the gatekeeper to reconsider his decision.

• Hou Niao rode to the stone gate and saw soldiers refusing entry to villagers fleeing a Soul Ghost attack.
• The gatekeeper rejected the villagers’ plea because they lacked a Yinling Patrol’s written order and warned Hou Niao that he could not guarantee their safety.
• Hou Niao showed his Pastoral Marshal Prefecture proclamation and Sword Talisman, identifying himself as a newly assigned Patrol.
• Hou Niao offered to examine the villagers and gently approached a hungry child with a flatbread.
• A vicious ghost emerged from the child’s head, and Hou Niao struck it down with a flash of sword light.

Hou Niao passed through Yinling’s gate after revealing his ability to detect and kill soul ghosts, then traveled toward Fang Household Fort. At night, demons and soul ghosts gathered around him, but a young monk’s arrival disrupted the standoff.

• Hou Niao killed soul ghosts hiding among vulnerable travelers and persuaded the gatekeeper to let the commoners pass.
• Hou Niao concealed the Purple Mansion Vortex behind a claim that he had an innate Dao body, then left the gate and rode toward Fang Household Fort.
• As dusk fell, Hou Niao tethered his restless horse beneath an old locust tree and noticed a weasel spirit watching him.
• Hou Niao cooked calmly as demonic creatures gathered around him, followed by a crowd of soul ghosts drawn by the scent of a human.
• A young monk appeared and chanted, stirring the soul ghosts and demonic creatures into an uproar.

Hou Niao and the young monk Tiding fought off a gathering of ghosts and demon creatures after Hou Niao provoked them, then parted over their different beliefs about killing and compassion. At dawn, Hou Niao warned a hidden rat spirit that survival depended on choosing sides and rode away, leaving it pondering his advice.

• Tiding arrived with a lantern to protect Hou Niao, but Hou Niao provoked the nearby ghosts by throwing a torch at them.
• Hou Niao and Tiding fought together, killing the ghosts and demon creatures that swarmed them.
• Tiding introduced himself as Tiding and left after Hou Niao praised his saber work, while Hou Niao's attempt to draw souls into his Purple Mansion Vortex had failed.
• At dawn, Hou Niao addressed a hidden creature in the grass, advised it to choose sides to survive, and rode away.
• A rat spirit emerged from another patch of grass and regretted not trying to eat Hou Niao.

Hou Niao reached Fang Clan Fort after narrowly avoiding a confrontation with a powerful Yellow Weasel Spirit. At the fort gate, its guards treated him with open disdain despite his Quanzhen affiliation, leaving him to enter under their watch.

• Hou Niao reflected that the Yellow Weasel Spirit was a Great Demon whose caution had kept their encounter from turning into a fight.
• Two days later, Hou Niao arrived at Fang Clan Fort, a heavily defended settlement ruled by the Fang Clan.
• Hou Niao told the fort guards that he was from Quanzhen and had come to see the Yamen Envoy.
• A red-scarved guard inspected Hou Niao's Sword Talisman and insisted that the guards search him for anything unclean.
• The guards scanned Hou Niao with an ancient mirror, then mocked him and prepared to show him through the fort.

Hou Niao arrived at the Yinling Town Office to report for duty and found its cultivators recovering from bee stings. After Qian Chong insulted him while he applied medicine, Hou Niao knocked him unconscious and continued treating his wounds.

• A Red Scarf returned Hou Niao’s Sword Talisman and mocked him as Hou Niao entered Fang Family Fort.
• Hou Niao walked through the fort and reached the Yinling Town Office, where a strong medicinal smell and an empty hall greeted him.
• Yao He mistook Hou Niao’s arrival as an opportunity to get help treating injured cultivators and led him to Qian Chong.
• Qian Chong complained and threatened Hou Niao while Hou Niao spread Ice Lip Balm over his bee-stung back.
• Hou Niao slapped Qian Chong unconscious, finished applying the balm, and followed Yao He to treat six more injured cultivators.

Hou Niao learned from Yao He how the Quanzhen Sect’s factions and failing defenses shaped life in Yinling. Yao He explained why Fang Family Fort had grown dissatisfied with the sect, leaving Hou Niao aware of Qian Chong’s scandal and the patrols’ return to defend the fort.

• Yao He told Hou Niao that Yinling’s Quanzhen forces were limited and that the sect had effectively given up trying to control the dangerous jurisdiction.
• Yao He explained that the Town Office faction stayed in Fang Family Fort while the patrol faction hunted demons and protected settlements, and that the factions no longer worked together.
• Yao He said the Town Office Commissioner had called the patrols back after his faction was badly wounded and Fang Family Fort was left vulnerable.
• Hou Niao asked why Fang Family Fort’s residents resented the Quanzhen Sect, and Yao He explained that Qian Chong had been caught exploiting young women there.
• Yao He praised Hou Niao for slapping Qian Chong and said the act had earned his brotherhood.

Hou Niao weighed the dangers of Fang Family Fort and chose patrol duty, while continuing to train and investigate how to use his two Dantians to produce Sword Qi. He left the question unresolved, hoping patrol battles across Yinling would provide the experiments he needed.

• Hou Niao and Yao He discussed Qian Chong’s behavior and the unanswered questions surrounding Town Officer Guo and the cultivators who had left the fort.
• Hou Niao told Yao He he preferred patrol duty to staying in Fang Family Fort, and Yao He warned him that patrol work required strength as well as courage.
• Hou Niao practiced on the Town Office roof, fighting wandering souls in the Soul Realm and trying to slow his fierce swordplay.
• Hou Niao assessed his progress filling his two Dantians and noted that the Purple Mansion Vortex had helped his fighting strength more than his cultivation speed.
• Hou Niao considered whether to produce Sword Qi using gang, qi, or a combination of both, and resolved to seek answers through combat on patrol.

Hou Niao joined Yinling’s Patrol team and learned about the Patrols’ harsh, battle-focused way of life. Xiang Zhiwen then explained how the Town Office’s pursuit of Horned Beasts led its cultivators into an attack by a Wax Hive and its bees.

• Li Jingxi returned to Yinling but joined Yao He in drinking instead of helping the injured disciples.
• Xiang Zhiwen returned, welcomed Hou Niao into the Patrols, and gave him a Blue Bird Message for communicating within Yinling.
• Xiang Zhiwen told the Patrols that the Town Office had fallen into a trap, though the culprits and their motives were unknown.
• Xiang Zhiwen recounted how the Town Office went to aid a Salt Transport Caravan, then pursued Horned Beasts for their valuable horns.
• A Wax Hive appeared during the pursuit, and White-Footed Slender-Waisted Bees stung the Town Office cultivators into disarray.

The Patrol cultivators discussed whether the salt caravan attack and the beeswax creature’s appearance had been orchestrated, then considered how the incident might undermine Quanzhen Sect’s standing in Yinling. Hou Niao proposed investigating Fang Family Fort and suggested that someone there could have engineered the affair, possibly including the accusation against Senior Brother Qian Chong.

• Yao He explained how White-Footed Slender-Waisted Bees could poison cultivators and leave them unable to fight effectively.
• Feng Yaochen and Xiang Zhiwen questioned whether the salt shipment, beeswax creature, and Horned Beasts had appeared through mere coincidence.
• The Patrol cultivators suggested investigating the salt merchant, tracking the beeswax creature, and searching for Horned Beasts.
• Xiang Zhiwen urged Hou Niao to share his thoughts, and Hou Niao suggested investigating Fang Family Fort for a hidden human planner.
• Hou Niao argued that Fang Family Fort’s resentment toward Quanzhen Sect could motivate an effort to damage its prestige, and he raised the possibility that someone had stirred up the affair involving Senior Brother Qian Chong.

Xiang Zhiwen organized an investigation into threats around Fang Family Fort, assigning the Town Office to discreetly probe the Fang clan while the patrol tracked dangerous creatures. Hou Niao joined Xiang Zhiwen and Dou Gong to investigate the rare Beeswax, and they examined the battle site without identifying its tracks.

• Hou Niao suggested that Fang Family Fort might be conspiring with outside powers, prompting Xiang Zhiwen to arrange a discreet investigation of the fort’s internal problems.
• Xiang Zhiwen decided the Town Office would gather information while the patrol pretended to leave in anger and split up to track the Beeswax, Horned Beast, and Salt Merchant.
• The eight members of the Yinling Patrol left the fort, and Li Jingxi whipped a guard who grumbled at them.
• Hou Niao insisted on accompanying Xiang Zhiwen to track the Beeswax, and Xiang Zhiwen accepted after warning him he could be sent away from the mission.
• Xiang Zhiwen, Dou Gong, and Hou Niao reached the Beeswax attack site, where Dou Gong found confused tracks and explained that the rare Slender-waisted Bee could use almost any creature as a host.

Hou Niao and his senior brothers tracked the Wax Hive by searching dung beetle burrows for Slender-waisted Bee corpses, then used the scent to set a Scent Hound on the trail. As night fell, they camped after following it less than twenty li, and Xiang Zhiwen and Dou Gong prepared spicy dung beetles for dinner.

• Xiang Zhiwen and Dou Gong examined the site and reasoned that the Wax Hive might have been carried by a large, upright creature.
• Xiang Zhiwen sent Hou Niao and Dou Gong to dig up dung beetles, which Hou Niao realized could have collected Slender-waisted Bee corpses in their burrows.
• The three men found twelve Slender-waisted Bee corpses and collected three bags of dung beetles.
• Xiang Zhiwen mixed the bee corpses with cultivation materials to create a scent, then used a Scent Hound to track the Wax Hive.
• The Scent Hound led them less than twenty li before Xiang Zhiwen made camp at dusk.
• Xiang Zhiwen and Dou Gong began preparing spicy dung beetles while Hou Niao offered to eat his cooked food instead.

Hou Niao adapted to life in the Yinling Patrol as he endured Xiang Zhiwen’s notorious dung beetle meal and learned to handle the scent hound. As Xiang and Dou discussed leadership changes and scarce cultivation resources, Dou warned that a reckless new Patrol Envoy could meet a violent end in Yinling.

• Hou Niao ate Xiang Zhiwen’s spicy dung beetles to fit in with the patrol, while Xiang and Dou Gong teased him with advice on savoring them.
• Xiang Zhiwen took the first night watch, and the next morning he handed Hou Niao the scent hound and tracking bottle to practice with.
• Dou Gong asked Xiang Zhiwen whether he would return to Jincheng after his term, and Xiang said the Central Army Prefecture had approached him.
• Xiang and Dou discussed who might become the next Patrol Envoy and how cultivation rank, sect positions, connections, and limited resources shaped their prospects.
• Dou Gong said he would cooperate with a new Patrol Envoy, but warned that reckless orders could get the envoy killed in Yinling.

Hou Niao and the Yinling Patrol encountered demons gathered to trade in Grass Dragon Gully, where the demons challenged the humans’ right to pass. After Xiang Zhiwen was recognized, Hou Niao faced a white-browed wolf demon and split its skull with one sword strike.

• Hou Niao recalled his nose-hound after sensing demons in Grass Dragon Gully, and Dou Gong explained that the gully hosted a demon trading gathering.
• Dou Gong asked the demons to let the patrol pass, but Ox Second Brother insisted that all three humans prove themselves.
• Xiang Zhiwen stepped forward to fight, then gained permission to pass after the demons recognized him.
• Hou Niao volunteered to make a friend, and the demons sent a white-browed wolf demon to challenge him.
• The wolf demon pounced, and Hou Niao split its skull with a downward sword strike.

Hou Niao killed a demon wolf and secured the demons’ retreat, then learned from Dou Gong about demon customs and trading. The three Patrols headed toward a gathering where demons were bartering treasures.

• Hou Niao asked Niu Er whether he was fit to be his friend, and the demons accepted his dominance after he killed the wolf.
• Xiang Zhiwen declared that the group would stay the night in Grass Dragon Gully, and the demons withdrew into the grass.
• Dou Gong warned Hou Niao not to claim the wolf’s corpse because the demons considered it their communal sky burial.
• Xiang Zhiwen praised Hou Niao’s sword stroke and suspected he had begun to comprehend sword intent.
• Dou Gong judged that the Wax Hive had only passed through the area and explained the rules of trading with demons.
• Hou Niao, Dou Gong, and Xiang Zhiwen went to observe the demons bartering treasures.

Zhang Yuanqing woke after a troubled night and spent the morning at home with his grandmother and aunt, Jiang Yu'er, who was heading to a blind date. After his grandmother stopped him from accompanying her, a parcel arrived containing a mysterious black card and a letter from Lei Yibing.

• Zhang Yuanqing worried that his medication was losing effectiveness, then got up when his grandmother threatened to splash him awake.
• At breakfast, Jiang Yu'er tried to recruit Zhang Yuanqing to help her derail her blind date, but their grandmother ordered her to go alone and forbade him from following.
• Jiang Yu'er left for her blind date, while Zhang Yuanqing stayed home after his grandmother threatened to break his legs.
• Zhang Yuanqing received a parcel from Hangcheng containing a metal black card and a letter in which Lei Yibing called it an interesting gift he could not control.

Zhang Yuanqing woke after a troubled night, spent breakfast dodging his grandmother’s attempts to keep him from joining Jiang Yu'er’s blind date, and received a mysterious package from Lei Yibing. The package contained a strange black card and a letter saying Lei Yibing believed Zhang Yuanqing could control it.

• Zhang Yuanqing worried that his special medicine was losing its effectiveness after another unexplained episode.
• Zhang Yuanqing ate breakfast with his grandmother and Jiang Yu'er, who tried to recruit him to accompany her on a blind date.
• Zhang Yuanqing’s grandmother stopped him from leaving to join Jiang Yu'er, so Jiang Yu'er went on the date alone.
• A deliveryman brought Zhang Yuanqing a package from Hangcheng, and Zhang Yuanqing opened it to find a black card and a letter from Lei Yibing.
• Lei Yibing’s letter said he could not control the card and had sent it to Zhang Yuanqing as a gift between brothers.