Recaps

Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai faced the anger of Cangxuan Academy’s inner court students after Xu Yeming answered their insults with sharp arguments. The First Elder intervened and sent the Fourth Elder to arrange their accommodations, while the Fourth Elder watched Xu Yeming with hostility.

• Yang Huan emerged from seclusion and claimed Cangxuan Academy would have won if she had taken part, but Xu Yeming challenged her reasoning and questioned her claims about the God Ascension Ruins.
• Yang Huan proposed a spar, but Xu Yeming refused and warned her that attacking exchange guests would damage Cangxuan Academy’s reputation.
• The Fourth Elder rebuked Yang Huan while implying that Azure Firmament Academy was weak and should accept Cangxuan Academy’s tolerance.
• Xu Yeming turned the Fourth Elder’s remarks against him by saying Azure Firmament Academy had shown the tolerance of an ocean that embraces a hundred rivers.
• The First Elder dismissed the angry students and ordered the Fourth Elder to take Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai to their accommodations; the Fourth Elder watched Xu Yeming with a venomous stare.

Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming investigated Cangxuan Academy’s possible connection to Xu Canghai’s past while the Fourth Elder arranged to test Xu Yeming and alert the Xuanyuan Clan. After three days of being ignored, the pair were approached by Xuanyuan Che, who offered to show them around.

• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming suspected the Fourth Elder had recognized Xu Yeming’s connection to Xu Canghai and decided to wait rather than investigate him openly.
• Rumors that Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming had insulted Cangxuan Academy spread, prompting students to condemn them and discuss challenging them.
• Ding Xuan recognized Ye Qiubai’s name but chose not to intervene, believing someone else would act.
• The Fourth Elder told Yang Huan to spar with Xu Yeming and make him reveal his full strength, then arranged for the Xuanyuan Clan to learn of Ye Qiubai’s arrival.
• The First Elder recalled Xu Canghai’s return and resolved to protect Xu Yeming if his identity was confirmed.
• After three days without a guide, Xuanyuan Che arrived and offered to show Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming around Cangxuan Academy.

Xuanyuan Che, ranked fourth on the Cangxuan Ranking, led Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming on a tour of Cangxuan Academy while warning Ye Qiubai that the Xuanyuan Clan planned to seize him. The three visited an inner court sword lesson, where Ye Qiubai and Xuanyuan Che dismissed the instructor’s technique.

• Xuanyuan Che confronted Ye Qiubai at the courtyard gate and said the Xuanyuan Clan was searching for him.
• Xuanyuan Che admitted that the Xuanyuan Clan wanted Ye Qiubai gone and said it might demand that Cangxuan Academy hand him over.
• Xuanyuan Che proposed a spar, but Ye Qiubai refused because winning or losing would not change the Xuanyuan Clan’s intentions.
• Xuanyuan Che led Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming around Cangxuan Academy, where they observed its cultivation grounds and frequent sparring.
• Xuanyuan Che and Ye Qiubai entered an inner court sword lesson and watched the instructor demonstrate the first form of Cangxuan Swordsmanship.
• Xuanyuan Che and Ye Qiubai said the demonstrated technique was unimpressive, offending the instructor and students.

Ye Qiubai faced Yao Zhun’s challenge after criticizing the Cangxuan Sword Technique, then quickly reproduced and improved the technique before the Cangxuan Academy students. He left Yao Zhun and the onlookers stunned by piercing the boulder with his revised strike.

• The students blamed Ye Qiubai for insulting Yao Zhun’s sword technique while Xuanyuan Che watched to see how he would respond.
• Yao Zhun challenged Ye Qiubai to demonstrate the Cangxuan Sword Technique and questioned whether Azure Firmament Academy deserved its first-place reputation.
• Ye Qiubai accepted the challenge, studied Yao Zhun’s first form, and drew mockery as he stood motionless for half a cup of tea.
• Ye Qiubai performed the first form, striking the boulder with ten thousand points of cold light and silencing the students.
• Ye Qiubai called the technique flashy, adjusted his strike so the cold light gathered back into his sword, and pierced the boulder.

After Ye Qiubai demonstrated an improved Cangxuan Sword Technique, Xuanyuan Che challenged him to spar without suppressing his cultivation. Ye Qiubai revealed Sword Dao Rules, leaving the onlookers stunned, while Xuanyuan Che admitted his fear and discussed the inheritance and the Xuanyuan Clan before insisting on the fight.

• Ye Qiubai improved the Cangxuan Sword Technique and pierced a boulder, silencing the people who had mocked him.
• Xuanyuan Che approached Ye Qiubai and challenged him to a spar, saying he would use his fifth-level lightning tribulation cultivation.
• Ye Qiubai agreed and revealed that he had reached the Sword Dao Rules Realm, shocking the students and Xuanyuan Che.
• Xuanyuan Che admitted he feared Ye Qiubai's talent and said he would not fight him for the Azure Cloud Sword Master's inheritance if Ye Qiubai obtained it.
• Ye Qiubai said he would not pursue matters with the Xuanyuan Clan if Xuanyuan Che persuaded them, though he would only befriend Xuanyuan Che personally.
• Xuanyuan Che said he would try to persuade his clan but still wanted to fight Ye Qiubai to experience the Sword Dao Rules Realm.

Ye Qiubai and Xuanyuan Che fought to a draw, each suffering a grave wound after trading their strongest sword strikes. The spectators were left wondering how the fight might have ended if their cultivation realms had been equal.

• Xuanyuan Che and Ye Qiubai acknowledged each other's swordsmanship before releasing their full presences, which clashed evenly despite their difference in cultivation.
• Xuanyuan Che attacked with a sword strike that sealed off Ye Qiubai's escape routes, while Ye Qiubai spread his Sword Domain and prepared to meet him head-on.
• Ye Qiubai unleashed the sixth sword of the Primordial Sword Scripture, Ashen Fire, Three Origins Transforming into Purity Sword, sending three slashes toward Xuanyuan Che.
• Neither fighter backed down, and their attacks passed through each other as they exchanged positions.
• Xuanyuan Che and Ye Qiubai both collapsed with severe wounds, leaving the students to suspect Ye Qiubai was the stronger fighter.

Xuanyuan Che urged the Xuanyuan Clan to befriend Ye Qiubai, but its grand elder insisted they needed the Azure Cloud Sword Master's inheritance and Ye Qiubai’s Sword Bone, making him an enemy to eliminate. After news of Ye Qiubai’s victory spread through the academy, Cangxuan Academy’s grand elder visited Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming and warned them to beware of the third elder.

• Xuanyuan Che told the Xuanyuan Clan’s grand elder that he had met Ye Qiubai and argued that the clan should befriend him instead of making an enemy of his talent.
• The grand elder rejected Xuanyuan Che’s proposal, saying the Xuanyuan Clan needed the Azure Cloud Sword Master’s inheritance and Ye Qiubai’s Sword Bone, and ordered that Ye Qiubai be killed before he grew stronger.
• News spread through the academy that Ye Qiubai had defeated Xuanyuan Che and entered the Sword Dao Rules Realm, prompting the students who had challenged him to leave him alone.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming sensed someone inside their courtyard and prepared for a possible fight before Cangxuan Academy’s grand elder invited them in.
• Cangxuan Academy’s grand elder told Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming to conceal their identities and avoid showing too much of their strength, offered to protect them, and warned them to beware of the third elder.

Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming suspected the Xu Clan might be closing in on Xu Yeming’s identity, but the clan had shown no unusual activity. The Fourth Elder invited them to the Blood Assessment Hall to test Xu Yeming’s bloodline, and Xu Yeming agreed, trusting that his preparations would hide his identity.

• Ye Qiubai contacted Liu Ziru, who reported that Mu Fusheng and Jiu Bailu had planted informants in the Xu Clan but found no unusual activity.
• Ye Qiubai warned Xu Yeming to create a false identity, and Xu Yeming took out a voice transmission jade pendant.
• The Fourth Elder summoned Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming to his residence and asked about their plans at Cangxuan Academy.
• The Fourth Elder invited them to the Blood Assessment Hall, explaining that it tested students’ bloodlines and guided their cultivation.
• Xu Yeming readily agreed to the test, and he told Ye Qiubai that the Great Wilderness Scripture and his master's alterations should conceal his bloodline.

Xu Yeming underwent a bloodline assessment at Cangxuan Academy, revealing a pure Qilin Bloodline and shocking the Fourth Elder. As the Fourth Elder questioned how Xu Yeming had joined an academy from the Mortal Realm, the Qilin Clan arrived.

• The First Elder tried to stop Xu Yeming from using the Blood Assessment Hall, but Xu Yeming insisted and the Fourth Elder allowed the assessment.
• Xu Yeming smeared a drop of essence blood on the stone pillar, and its fierce roar caused several students to spit blood.
• The pillar revealed a pure Qilin Bloodline, leaving the First Elder relieved and the Fourth Elder shouting in disbelief.
• The Fourth Elder demanded to know how Xu Yeming had joined Azure Firmament Academy and whether the Qilin Clan had allowed it.
• Xu Yeming said the Qilin Clan should have arrived, and a voice outside announced the clan's visit.

After Xu Yeming’s blood assessment revealed his Qilin Bloodline, Qi Wu arrived at Cangxuan Academy and declared him the Qilin Clan’s Qilin Son. Xu Yeming refused to return with the clan, and the headmaster summoned him and Ye Qiubai the next day.

• Xu Yeming’s many absorbed bloodlines explained how he could reveal the Qilin Bloodline during the assessment.
• Qi Wu arrived at Cangxuan Academy with Prince Scarlet Flame and Prince Yang Flame shortly after Xu Yeming’s assessment.
• Qi Wu identified Xu Yeming as the Qilin Clan’s Qilin Son and warned that the clan would support him if anyone bullied him.
• Xu Yeming declined to return to the Qilin Clan, and Qi Wu arranged for the group to stay near Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai’s courtyard.
• The headmaster summoned Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming the following day.

Xu Yeming’s identity as the Qilin Son spread through Cangxuan Academy and beyond, while he and Qi Wu prepared for further trouble and arranged to watch two elders. Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai then answered the reclusive headmaster’s invitation and found him brewing tea at a humble cabin atop Cangxuan Peak.

• Qi Wu and the two Qilin princes vouched for Xu Yeming, convincing Cangxuan Academy’s elders of his identity as the Qilin Son.
• Qi Wu told Xu Yeming that the Four Great Beast Clans had expanded his influence across the Devil Beast Continent, earning him the name Emperor Xu.
• Xu Yeming asked Qi Wu to remain nearby and ordered Prince Scarlet Flame and Prince Yang Flame to watch the Third Elder and Fourth Elder.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming climbed Cangxuan Peak to meet the headmaster, who was the only person in the Chaos Realm able to contact the Cangxuan Guardian Beast.
• The two found the white-haired headmaster outside a small wooden cabin, where he invited them to sit and drink tea.

Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming met Dean Cangxuan, who tested whether they would sacrifice anything for a way to pass the ninth-level lightning tribulation. They refused to act against their Dao hearts, and Dean Cangxuan revealed a teleportation formation beneath his cabin.

• Dean Cangxuan invited Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming to drink tea, then accepted Ye Qiubai’s explanation that their formal bow came from sincere respect.
• Dean Cangxuan praised Ye Qiubai’s cultivation and composure, recognized Xu Yeming as Xu Canghai’s son, and hinted that he knew about Xu Yeming’s abilities.
• Dean Cangxuan asked whether they would pay any price for a method to safely pass the ninth-level lightning tribulation.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming both refused because the cost might violate their Dao hearts, even after Dean Cangxuan offered them another chance.
• Dean Cangxuan led them toward his cabin and destroyed it, revealing a spatial teleportation formation underneath.

Dean Cangxuan secretly brought Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming to meet the dying Cangxuan Guardian Beast. The Black Lord chose Xu Yeming as the only possible successor to inherit his bloodline and become the new guardian.

• Dean Cangxuan revealed a teleportation array beneath his residence and warned Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming to keep their meeting secret.
• Dean Cangxuan led Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming through the array to a peaceful landscape filled with death Qi.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming found the Black Lord, a dragon-headed, Black Tortoise-bodied beast buried beneath a moss-covered mountain.
• The Black Lord recognized Xu Yeming's constitution as one capable of absorbing and fusing the bloodlines of every beast race.
• The Black Lord revealed that his life was nearing its end and asked Xu Yeming to inherit his mantle as the new guardian.

Xu Yeming questioned whether he should accept the Black Lord’s inheritance, arguing that becoming a guardian would bind him to responsibilities that conflicted with his own goals. He left the Black Lord intrigued by his master’s knowledge and the possibility that his master could restore the Black Lord’s vitality.

• The Black Lord offered Xu Yeming his inheritance, but Xu Yeming hesitated because he did not want to take on the duty of protecting the Chaos Realm.
• Xu Yeming argued that he could protect the people he cared about by taking them away, then accused the Black Lord of trying to brainwash him.
• Xu Yeming called the Black Lord a glutton for punishment for offering his mantle to someone who did not want it, and the Black Lord explained that ambition was incompatible with guardianship.
• Xu Yeming argued that the guardian’s responsibilities had prevented the Black Lord from pursuing cultivation and extending his lifespan, and Dean Cangxuan agreed that his reasoning made sense.
• Xu Yeming said his master knew how to cultivate his unusual physique and might be able to resolve the Black Lord’s loss of vitality.

Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai asked Lu Changsheng to help the dying Black Lord, but Lu Changsheng initially refused to get involved. After the Black Lord recognized the name Nüwa, Lu Changsheng appeared outside the hidden space and demanded that the Cangxuan Guardian Beast open the door.

• Xu Yeming said Lu Changsheng might be able to restore the Black Lord's vitality, and Ye Qiubai agreed that his master could do it.
• The dean of Cangxuan Academy worried about Lu Changsheng's intentions, but the Black Lord invited him to come and said he wanted to see the person who had devised Xu Yeming's cultivation method.
• Xu Yeming contacted Lu Changsheng, who initially refused to help because the Black Lord's history could entangle them in major karma.
• Lu Changsheng told Xu Yeming to watch for the name Nüwa, and the Black Lord immediately asked whether Lu Changsheng knew of it.
• After the transmission went silent, Lu Changsheng reappeared outside the hidden space and demanded that the Cangxuan Guardian Beast open the door or he would break through the barrier.

Lu Changsheng arrived at the Cangxuan Guardian Beast’s barrier and agreed to attempt to extend its life in exchange for everything it knew about Nüwa. He began preparing pills, claiming only seventy percent confidence, as Dean Cangxuan watched in disbelief.

• Lu Changsheng cut through the Realm God-level barrier with his wooden sword and entered, startling Dean Cangxuan and the Cangxuan Guardian Beast.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming greeted their master, while Dean Cangxuan mistakenly assumed Lu Changsheng was the dean of Azure Firmament Academy.
• Lu Changsheng learned that the Cangxuan Guardian Beast had reached the end of its lifespan and asked whether it knew of Nüwa.
• The Cangxuan Guardian Beast agreed to share what it knew about Nüwa if Lu Changsheng tried to save it.
• Lu Changsheng brought out his alchemy furnace to refine pills and said he had a seventy percent chance of succeeding, leaving Dean Cangxuan stunned.

Lu Changsheng brewed pills to cure the Cangxuan Guardian Beast’s accumulated hidden ailments, despite their severe side effects. He forced the Black Lord to swallow them, and the tortoise began twisting as the effects took hold.

• Lu Changsheng explained that the Cangxuan Guardian Beast’s hidden ailments had to be cured before its lifespan could be extended.
• Lu Changsheng sent Dean Cangxuan away from his work area and combined dozens of priceless ingredients in his Pill Furnace.
• Lu Changsheng used a massive lightning bolt to refine the pills, then dumped the finished pills onto the ground.
• Dean Cangxuan asked whether the pills had side effects, and Lu Changsheng admitted they could make the eater bleed from all seven orifices and writhe for three days.
• Lu Changsheng pried open the Black Lord’s mouth and forced him to swallow a handful of pills, causing his legs to twist and his tongue to loll out.

Lu Changsheng tried to extend the Black Lord’s lifespan by using the intent of unending life to restore his failing organs. After two days of precisely directing it to each cell, he revived the cells and began repairing the organs, leaving the Black Lord astonished.

• The Black Lord recovered from the pill’s side effects, confirmed his hidden ailments were healed, and praised Lu Changsheng’s pill-refining skill.
• Lu Changsheng explained that he had devised a way to extend the Black Lord’s lifespan and examined the aged organs in his body.
• Lu Changsheng infused the Black Lord’s organs with the intent of unending life, but the effect faded when the power was consumed.
• Lu Changsheng reasoned that the organs needed their cells restored, then spent two days dividing the power into tiny spheres that covered every cell.
• The Black Lord’s cells began dividing and his organs started recovering, astonishing him with Lu Changsheng’s apparent ability to alter an irreversible rule of heaven and earth.

Lu Changsheng saved the Black Lord, who revealed that Lady Nüwa was defending the Six Realms from invaders from other worlds. The Black Lord gave Lu Changsheng the World Tree, which Nüwa had left for someone who would come at the right time.

• Lu Changsheng warned that the Black Lord had only gained another hundred years of life and still needed to break through to the next realm.
• After Dean Cangxuan, Ye Qiubai, and Xu Yeming left, Lu Changsheng asked the Black Lord about Lady Nüwa.
• The Black Lord explained that the Six Realms formed a Middle Thousand World and that Lady Nüwa was resisting invaders from beyond it.
• The Black Lord said he maintained the Chaos Realm’s balance to help keep the Six Realms stable, but he knew neither Nüwa’s whereabouts nor the full details of the conflict.
• The Black Lord gave Lu Changsheng the World Tree, which Nüwa had left for the person who came at the right time.

Lu Changsheng returned to the Changsheng Realm with the wooden stick called the World Tree and learned from the Willow Tree that it contained the origins of the Three Thousand Great Daos. After deciding to forge it into a weapon, he considered what form could accommodate its power and settled on firearms.

• Lu Changsheng left the Black Lord after the Black Lord promised to help his disciples, then used a spatial node at Cangxuan Academy to return to the Changsheng Realm.
• Lu Changsheng asked the Willow Tree about the wooden stick, and it identified it as a section of the World Tree whose destruction meant the connected worlds had been destroyed.
• The Willow Tree explained that the World Tree contained the Power of Origin of the Three Thousand Great Daos and that Lu Changsheng's Grand Primordium made him uniquely suited to wield it.
• The Willow Tree suggested that Lu Changsheng forge the World Tree into a weapon and advised him to leave room to reshape it if he found another section.
• Lu Changsheng considered several weapon types and decided that firearms might best accommodate the World Tree's power and future reshaping.

Lu Changsheng conceived handheld cannons and began testing their construction, while Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai investigated the Third and Fourth Elders’ activities at Cangxuan Academy. The chapter ended with the Fourth Elder proposing that Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai be sent back to Azure Firmament Academy.

• Lu Changsheng decided to build handheld cannons and first tested the design using materials other than the World Tree.
• Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai reviewed reports on the Third and Fourth Elders, noticing that the Fourth Elder had stayed in his residence while the Third Elder carried out ordinary duties.
• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming suspected the Fourth Elder was plotting something, so Qi Wu warned Prince Yang Flame to watch him more closely.
• Dean Cangxuan summoned Xu Yeming, Ye Qiubai, and Qi Wu to a hall where the four elders were waiting.
• The Fourth Elder proposed sending Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai back to Azure Firmament Academy.

Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai decided to leave Cangxuan Academy, while the Fourth Elder planned to target them outside its grounds. Xu Yeming told Dean Cangxuan about the Fourth Elder and his search for answers about Xu Canghai, and the dean agreed to protect him as he pursued the plan.

• The Fourth Elder invited Xu Yeming to join Cangxuan Academy, but Xu Yeming refused and said he and Ye Qiubai would leave the next day.
• Dean Cangxuan nearly asked them to stay so Xu Yeming could receive the Cangxuan Guardian Beast's inheritance, but he accepted their decision after Xu Yeming gave him a meaningful look.
• The Fourth Elder told the First Elder that he expected something to happen to Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai once they left the academy, and the First Elder suspected the Fourth Elder's true intentions would soon be exposed.
• Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai went to Cangxuan Peak, where Xu Yeming asked Dean Cangxuan about the Fourth Elder's actions and explained his suspicions about others in the academy.
• Xu Yeming revealed that he was Xu Canghai's son and explained that he wanted to draw information from the Fourth Elder; Dean Cangxuan said he knew little about Xu Canghai but promised to protect Xu Yeming.
• Xu Yeming asked whether Dean Cangxuan could protect him if the Xu Clan and Xuanyuan Clan attacked, leaving the dean exasperated.

Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai followed Mu Fusheng’s plan to draw out those involved in the incident, then prepared to leave Cangxuan Academy. As they departed, the Third Elder’s warning about flaunting their wealth made them suspect danger still awaited them.

• Xu Yeming recalled Dean Cangxuan’s regret over Xu Canghai’s departure, and Qi Wu praised Xu Canghai’s strength and reputation.
• Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai received Mu Fusheng’s advice: use the plan to expose instigators and accomplices, but escape immediately if events became uncontrollable.
• Mu Fusheng warned Xu Yeming that Ye Qiubai himself counted as an uncontrollable factor, provoking banter before the transmission ended.
• The next day, students and elders saw Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming off from Cangxuan Academy, while Yang Huan challenged Xu Yeming’s boastful reputation.
• The Third Elder warned Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming not to flaunt their wealth in the chaotic realm; the two exchanged sharpened looks before departing with Qi Wu and the two princes.

Ye Qiubai, Xu Yeming, and their companions were intercepted on their journey back to the Mortal Realm by the Fourth Elder and forces from the Xu and Xuanyuan Clans. After the clans argued over Xu Yeming, he used a Heavenly Lightning Escape Talisman to flee, but their pursuers had already locked onto them.

• Ye Qiubai and Xu Yeming discussed the danger of their journey and chose to follow their opponents’ intentions to uncover the secrets surrounding Xu Yeming.
• After traveling for days along the mountain ranges, the group was confronted by the Fourth Elder and eight others.
• Prince Scarlet Flame and Prince Yang Flame identified the Xu and Xuanyuan Clan elders among the pursuers, including the Mid Stage Domain Divine Realm Purple Fire Domain God.
• Xu Yeming acknowledged the Fourth Elder’s suspicions about his identity, and the Xu Clan elders threatened him while the two clans argued over who would take him.
• Xu Yeming condemned the pursuers’ arrogance and escaped with the others using a Heavenly Lightning Escape Talisman, but the Fourth Elder ordered everyone to pursue them.

Xu Yeming and his companions fled toward Cangxuan Continent’s border while the Xu Clan and Xuanyuan Clan pursued them. Cangxuan Academy’s Grand Elder joined them and led Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai away in disguise, but Xu Yeming questioned whether the Grand Elder could truly be trusted.

• Ye Qiubai suggested using more Heavenly Lightning Escape Talismans to keep the pursuers behind them, while the Xu Clan and Xuanyuan Clan planned to counter the talismans’ lightning escape.
• Prince Scarlet Flame and the others warned that their pursuers would likely catch them before they reached the coast or a teleportation array, but Xu Yeming said he had a plan.
• Cangxuan Academy’s Grand Elder caught up with the group and offered to lead them out of Cangxuan Continent, saying he was helping for Xu Canghai’s sake.
• The Grand Elder gave Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai black robes and jade pendants to conceal their presence, then split them from the Qilin Clan members to divide the pursuers’ attention.
• Purple Fire Domain God noticed the group’s presence had vanished but continued tracking them from where their presence had last lingered.
• As the Grand Elder led Xu Yeming and Ye Qiubai westward along a little-known route, Xu Yeming asked for a convincing reason to trust him.