Chapter Summaries

The Snow Empress and Yin Wujou decided to rebuild the Spirit Vein Bureau and prepared to move into its old offices. The next morning, they learned Meng Qi had died by suicide in prison, then set out to begin repairs.

• Yin Wujou chose to stay with the Snow Empress and help rebuild the Spirit Vein Bureau, and she agreed to go with him.
• The Snow Empress hung a bronze bell at the safe house as a contact point for Mu Canglan and began listing former Bureau personnel.
• The Snow Empress and Yin Wujou spent the night at the safe house, and Yin Wujou fell asleep while she wrote the list.
• A Court of Judicial Review bailiff told the Snow Empress that Meng Qi had taken his own life and left a letter claiming sole responsibility for the crimes.
• The Snow Empress and Yin Wujou packed up and left for the Spirit Vein Bureau's old offices to begin repairs.

The Snow Empress and Yin Wujou began restoring the abandoned Spirit Vein Bureau headquarters and planning to bring its former staff back. After repairing the main hall’s roof, they continued working together in the courtyard.

• The Snow Empress and Yin Wujou inspected the ruined Spirit Vein Bureau headquarters and assessed what repairs it needed.
• The Snow Empress gave Yin Wujou a list of former bureau members, and they identified more than twenty people they could contact first, including Zhou Yan.
• The Snow Empress decided to seek tools and tiles from the Ministry of Works while Yin Wujou found a ladder and began clearing the roof.
• The Snow Empress returned with laborers and roofing materials, then helped Yin Wujou replace a rafter and repair the leaking section of roof.
• Yin Wujou finished the roof repairs while the Snow Empress boiled water and pulled weeds from the courtyard.

Yin Wujou brought Zhou Yan back to the reopened Spirit Vein Bureau, where he resumed responsibility for the storeroom. The Snow Empress began planning repairs and assigned Yin Wujou to investigate the bureau’s estate in Huainan once the main hall was repaired.

• Yin Wujou found Zhou Yan at his medicine shop and asked him to return to the Spirit Vein Bureau.
• Zhou Yan immediately agreed, locked up his shop, and went with Yin Wujou to the old offices.
• The Snow Empress welcomed Zhou Yan back and gave him a list of supplies to acquire for the bureau.
• Yin Wujou, the Snow Empress, and Zhou Yan tidied the main hall and shared wontons while catching up.
• The Snow Empress told Yin Wujou to go to Huainan after the main hall was repaired and sell the bureau’s estate there if it still existed.

The Snow Empress rebuilt the Spirit Vein Bureau’s old office and welcomed A Yao, who brought her late father’s Earth Vein Token and years of detailed maps. With the bureau’s work and staff returning, Yin Wujou felt that its revival had truly begun.

• Yin Wujou prepared a room at the old office, and Zhou Yan arrived the next morning with account books and brushes.
• The Snow Empress obtained funds and craftsmen to repair the office buildings and courtyard over the following days.
• A Yao arrived and returned her late father Deacon Lu’s Earth Vein Token, along with twelve years of maps of Hetao’s earth veins.
• The Snow Empress asked A Yao to take over her father’s duties, and A Yao agreed to update and recopy the maps.
• The Snow Empress reopened the main hall with a new Spirit Vein Bureau plaque, then gave Yin Wujou a new robe.
• Yin Wujou reflected on the bureau’s return and joined the Snow Empress as she examined Deacon Lu’s token by lamplight.

Yin Wujou accepted his place in the Spirit Vein Bureau and prepared to resume its work with the Snow Empress and the others. When A Yao found records of three possibly reviving springs east of Hetao, the Snow Empress sent Yin Wujou and A Yao to investigate them, leaving the Huainan estate matter for someone else.

• The Snow Empress explained that the Bureau's earth-vein records had to continue, and Yin Wujou said his purpose depended on who he was with and what he was doing.
• The Snow Empress gave Yin Wujou instructions for handling the Bureau's Huainan estate, and he planned to leave for Huainan.
• A Yao found her father's atlas records of three springs east of Hetao that might be reviving.
• The Snow Empress postponed the Huainan matter and assigned Yin Wujou and A Yao to investigate the three springs in Hetao.
• The Snow Empress arranged for Yin Wujou and A Yao to leave in three days while Zhou Yan organized the compound and she handled court correspondence and former members.
• Yin Wujou packed his belongings at the Bureau compound, keeping the unused Huainan estate paper in his bundle.

Yin Wujou, the Snow Empress, A Yao, and Zhou Yan prepared the Spirit Vein Bureau’s records and supplies before leaving for Hetao. As they set out to investigate three old springs, A Yao showed Yin Wujou the atlas entries, and he said they would examine the terrain in person.

• Yin Wujou studied A Yao’s father’s atlases and realized he could now understand the earth-vein maps the Snow Empress had taught him to read years earlier.
• Yin Wujou organized the atlases while Zhou Yan sorted the storeroom ledgers and the Snow Empress marked people in the capital to seek out.
• Yin Wujou and the Snow Empress rested at the former Spirit Vein Bureau headquarters as Vice Minister Pei recorded that Meng Qi had died by suicide and that his family should not be investigated.
• Three days later, Zhou Yan brewed medicine for A Yao, who had caught a chill while sorting the atlases; he also told Yin Wujou that his family’s medicine shop remained open but that he had not gone inside.
• A Yao showed Yin Wujou records of three old springs east of Hetao, and Yin Wujou noted their close triangular arrangement and decided they would investigate the area on arrival.

Yin Wujou and A Yao set out from the capital for Hetao to investigate earth veins, carrying the Snow Empress’s token and official dispatch. Along the road, A Yao spotted a possible old riverbed, and a roadside tea-stall owner recalled seeing the Spirit Vein Bureau decades earlier.

• Zhou Yan gave A Yao ginger medicine and prepared breakfast and dry rations for the journey.
• The Snow Empress assigned Old Zheng to handle the Huainan matter and gave Yin Wujou a bronze token and A Yao an official dispatch for Hetao.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao left the capital on horseback after the Snow Empress urged them to travel carefully and not rush up the mountain.
• A Yao noticed an unmarked gully that might be an old riverbed and wondered why the watercourse had changed.
• At a roadside tea stall, the owner recognized the Spirit Vein Bureau token and recalled seeing its earth-vein stewards pass by about forty years earlier.

Yin Wujou and A Yao traveled east of Hetao to investigate changes in the earth veins, finding clues that an ancient spring might lie beneath an abandoned canal. They left the chapter preparing to examine the site and determine why the waterway had been abandoned.

• Yin Wujou questioned an old man, who recalled a stream appearing on the eastern slope after a storm when he was a child.
• Yin Wujou heard rumors at a relay station of nighttime water sounds, winter-green grass, and a salt merchant who claimed something beneath the land was not water.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao traveled for several days to the Hetao Military Command, where Assistant Prefect Zhao gave them a travel permit and a map.
• A Yao compared her father's atlas with Zhao's map and noticed the third spring overlapped with a place marked as an abandoned canal.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao considered whether people had diverted and later blocked the ancient spring when they abandoned the canal.

Yin Wujou and A Yao found a deliberately sealed spring beneath a stone slab at the third spring marked in her father's atlas. They suspected someone had blocked it to hide its revival, raising the possibility that the Spirit Vein Bureau's disbandment involved more than court politics.

• Yin Wujou and A Yao followed the atlas to an abandoned channel and found bluish-gray clay showing that it had once carried spring water uphill.
• Yin Wujou spotted unusually green grass in the hollow, and A Yao confirmed that the third spring was beneath it.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao uncovered a purposefully placed stone slab with a water-scoured hole that sealed the spring.
• Yin Wujou concluded that someone had discovered and hastily blocked the spring, likely knowing the significance of its revival to the Spirit Vein Bureau.
• A Yao wondered whether the Bureau's disbandment had involved more than court matters, and Yin Wujou planned to pry open the slab the next day.

Yin Wujou and A Yao discovered that the first ancient spring had been deliberately sealed with a Spirit Vein Bureau slab, while the second spring was recovering naturally. They traveled north toward the third spring, reaching a difficult gully where the chapter left them searching for it.

• Yin Wujou dreamed of glowing earth veins and a gray-robed person covering one of their nodes, then woke at dawn.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao uncovered the first spring, confirmed its water carried Earth Qi, and found droplets condensing on nearby grass.
• Yin Wujou recognized old Spirit Vein Bureau symbols on the slab, and A Yao connected them to a former bureau chief who had sealed the spring.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao partly replaced the slab, marked the site for investigation, and recorded their findings.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao examined the second spring and found it was recovering naturally, then decided to check it again the following spring.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao traveled for three days to the third spring's location, a thorn-covered deep gully.

Yin Wujou and A Yao discovered that three earth vein springs near Hetao were reviving as broken earth veins reconnected. After monitoring the first spring’s steady growth, they handed their findings to Deacon Sun, who confirmed the revival and predicted it might gush within a year or two.

• A Yao found the third spring beneath natural silt and concluded that all three nearby springs produced earth vein water.
• Yin Wujou recalled that the Spirit Vein Bureau’s old map marked the area as an earth vein blind spot, and he and A Yao inferred that the veins were reconnecting.
• Yin Wujou and A Yao sent their report to the Snow Empress, who ordered them to keep observing the first spring and reported that Meng Qi’s family had been released.
• A Yao measured the first spring while Yin Wujou documented the surrounding land, and they found that its water level, temperature, Earth Qi, and vegetation were increasing.
• Deacon Sun arrived as their replacement, examined the spring, confirmed it was an earth vein revival, and predicted it might gush within a year or two.

Yin Wujou and A Yao returned from Hetao as the earth veins began to flow again, but a Demonic Beast attacked the Spirit Vein Bureau's old headquarters. The Snow Empress identified it as resentment formed by the severed earth veins, and the group set out for Hetao to protect the springs.

• Deacon Sun gave A Yao a copy of an old Spirit Vein Bureau file about Hetao's earth veins before Yin Wujou and A Yao left for the capital.
• A black-scaled Demonic Beast broke into the old headquarters, injured Zhou Yan, and fought the Snow Empress, Yin Wujou, and A Yao before fleeing north.
• A Yao found a fragment of the Bureau's founding earth vein map showing a beast matching the attacker, and the Snow Empress explained that resentment from the severed veins had taken form to keep them cut off.
• The Snow Empress concluded that the beast had attacked the Bureau's hub to prevent its revival and said it was already heading for Hetao's three springs.
• The Snow Empress ordered Yin Wujou, A Yao, and Zhou Yan to leave immediately because Deacon Sun could not defend the springs alone.

The Snow Empress and her companions reached Hetao and found the Earth Vein Beast had consumed the second spring’s water and spawned six smaller beasts. She began a plan to flood it with earth vein water, leaving the outcome of her fight against the pack unresolved.

• The Snow Empress explained that the Earth Vein Beast had to be suppressed rather than killed, and she, A Yao, and Yin Wujou rode north while Zhou Yan stayed behind to summon help.
• A Yao discovered in her father’s notes that earth vein water could dissolve a Resentment Beast if delivered in the right quantity.
• Deacon Sun reported that the second spring had collapsed after the beast swallowed its water, while the third spring was under attack.
• The Snow Empress identified six smaller beasts born from the second spring’s water and warned that losing the third spring would give them control of Hetao’s earth veins.
• The Snow Empress assigned Yin Wujou and Deacon Sun to divert water from the first spring, sent A Yao to prepare a water-dividing formation, and descended alone to face the beasts.
• The Snow Empress used her saber to draw water toward the second spring; when the Earth Vein Beast attacked, she knocked its tail aside as all six smaller beasts pounced.

The Snow Empress destroyed the Earth Vein Beast, restoring the earth veins and the Spirit Vein Bureau’s work in Hetao. She returned to the capital with A Yao and Yin Wujou, where Zhou Yan welcomed them at the bureau’s newly restored office.

• The Snow Empress pierced the Earth Vein Beast’s forehead mark while it swallowed earth vein water, and the beast and its resentment Qi dissolved as the three springs reopened.
• The Snow Empress declared the earth veins and Spirit Vein Bureau were flowing freely, and she marked Hetao’s blind zone as cleared on the bureau’s map.
• Zhou Yan’s letter reported that the bureau’s main hall had been repaired, former members had been assigned to springs, and Meng Qi’s family had been settled.
• A Yao packed her father’s atlas with Deacon Sun’s files, Yin Wujou completed a terrain sketch, and Deacon Sun stayed in Hetao to monitor the springs.
• The Snow Empress, Yin Wujou, and A Yao rode back to the capital, where they saw Zhou Yan’s inscription about Hetao’s cleared veins on the city wall.
• Zhou Yan opened the restored Spirit Vein Bureau’s doors to the returning Snow Empress, Yin Wujou, and A Yao.

The Snow Empress learned that new springs and surviving Earth Vein Resentment Beast brood threatened to expand the blind zone, so she rode toward Hetao with Yin Wujou and A Yao. On the way, Meng Qi revealed that the blind zone had formed after someone severed a circuit linking three Vein Eyes.

• Zhou Yan reported that three new springs had appeared near Hetao’s blind zone, and the Snow Empress warned that blockages could cause resentment Qi to gather again.
• Deacon Sun’s urgent report revealed that the springs were flowing red and bore tracks from a suspected surviving brood of Earth Vein Resentment Beasts.
• The Snow Empress set out for Hetao with Yin Wujou and A Yao, realizing the beasts’ surviving brood was racing the repairing earth veins.
• Meng Qi intercepted them and gave the Snow Empress an old bamboo staff marked with earth vein symbols and the words “Vein Eye.”
• Meng Qi explained that the Spirit Vein Bureau’s first chief had connected three Vein Eyes in Hetao, but someone later severed their circuit, sealing the springs and creating the blind zone.

The Snow Empress and her companions learned that Meng Qi had helped divert Hetao’s earth vein power and that his bamboo staff held a method for restoring the vein-node circuit. A Yao agreed to enter the blind zone using her father’s technique, and the group headed back to Hetao to study the notes and terrain.

• Meng Qi confessed that he had tampered with one vein node more than twenty years earlier and gave the Snow Empress his bamboo staff, which held symbols for restoring the circuit.
• A Yao recognized a formation diagram in the symbols and explained that reconnecting the three nodes required channelwood, pottery shards, earth vein water, and simultaneous opening of the sluices.
• Meng Qi revealed that the final vein node lay in the resentment beasts’ lair at the center of the blind zone, and Zhou Yan proposed turning the old drainage outlets into diversion inlets.
• Meng Qi explained that compasses failed inside the blind zone, so A Yao realized she could use channelwood and pottery shards to sense the earth vein water without one.
• A Yao found her father’s notes about the blind zone’s changing paths, including the clues “Water recedes” and “three entries, three exits,” and agreed to try entering it.
• The Snow Empress kept Meng Qi in Hetao to help Zhou Yan check old records, while she, Yin Wujou, and A Yao rode north by a country road.

A Yao used her father's notes and Meng Qi's bamboo staff to begin restoring the Three Eyes Return to One formation and learned how earth vein water could clear the blind zone of Resentment Beasts. The Snow Empress agreed to enter the blind zone with A Yao to find its vein eye, while Yin Wujou stayed behind to guard the diversion channels.

• Deacon Sun showed A Yao, Yin Wujou, and the Snow Empress that all three springs had stopped flowing and were marked by signs of Scarlet Qi.
• A Yao used the bamboo staff and her father's notes to locate the diversion routes, while Yin Wujou and Deacon Sun began digging the first channel.
• A Yao completed the first spring's water-dividing formation, and clear water appeared beneath the red film.
• The Snow Empress realized the third vein eye lay in the blind zone and asked A Yao how earth vein water could affect its Resentment Beasts.
• A Yao explained that the water could dissolve the beasts if they could find the vein eye and reconnect the earth-vein circuit, then revealed the note, “When the water recedes, the path appears.”
• The Snow Empress decided to enter the blind zone with A Yao, leaving Yin Wujou outside to guard the diversion channels.

The Snow Empress and A Yao entered the blind zone to reconnect the earth vein’s blocked vein eyes. After opening the first, they found the second had been recently sabotaged and were attacked by three strange humanlike figures.

• The Snow Empress sent Yin Wujou outside with an earth vein compass and told Deacon Sun to flood the blind zone if they did not return within three days.
• A Yao followed the earth vein water through a narrow crack and found the first vein eye blocked by rotten channel wood.
• A Yao restored the first vein eye with new channel wood and pottery shards, releasing clear earth vein water and driving back the dark-red mist.
• The Snow Empress and A Yao reached the second vein eye, where they found freshly cut channel wood and human footprints.
• Three small, hairless figures attacked the Snow Empress with channel-wood spears, but she knocked them back and they escaped into cracks.

A Yao and the Snow Empress reached the third Vein Eye, where a vein keeper and a nest of Resentment Beasts guarded the blocked pillar. A Yao explained that opening all three Vein Eyes together could contain the resentment Qi, and the old man agreed to examine Meng Qi’s notes.

• A Yao and the Snow Empress cleared the second stone chamber and followed the earth vein water to a vast underground chamber.
• They found a vein keeper guarding the third Vein Eye with a nest of Resentment Beasts, and he identified himself as the last vein keeper.
• The old man argued that opening the Vein Eyes could unleash resentment Qi, while A Yao said Three Eyes Return to One would make the water circulate and dilute it.
• The Snow Empress explained that Meng Qi’s formation required opening all three Vein Eyes together, and A Yao confirmed that her master had left her his notes.
• The vein keeper questioned whether A Yao could be trusted, so she handed him Meng Qi’s notes to inspect.

A Yao opened the third Vein Eye, joining the three eyes and restarting the flow of earth vein water through the blind zone. The old man led A Yao and the Snow Empress toward a shortcut out, as they needed to reach the diversion channels before the blind zone flooded.

• The old man confirmed Meng Qi's handwriting and agreed to watch A Yao open the third Vein Eye, ready to seal it if danger arose.
• A Yao cleared the rotten channelwood and gravel, then fitted the main-vein channelwood and pottery shards into the third Vein Eye.
• Dark red water surged from the pillar before clear earth vein water flowed, illuminating all three Vein Eyes and causing water to circulate through the blind zone.
• The earth vein water weakened the little beasts' resentment and began reversing changes in the old man's body.
• The Snow Empress explained that Yin Wujou was overseeing diversion channels outside and that they had three days to escape before the blind zone flooded.
• The old man offered to lead A Yao and the Snow Empress through an old riverbed, and they headed toward its entrance.