Recaps

Gu Mochen ordered Anyang’s defenses and warned that Wa and Silla were preparing to establish a foothold, even as the sinister drug drove him toward losing control. After receiving Gu Mochen’s blood-written appeal, Gu Moran moved to investigate the drug’s spread and prepare for a campaign against the Wa people.

• Gu Mochen ordered Zhou Huaili to seal Anyang, mobilize its commandant, and have the Qi and Lu navy watch the sea and treat resisting overseas fleets as pirates.
• As the drug’s effects overwhelmed him, Gu Mochen told Zhou Huaili to kill him if he lost control, but Zhou Huaili restrained him and left to carry out his orders.
• Zhou Huaili forced the Anyang commandant to seal the water gates and detain merchants from Wa and Silla for questioning.
• A messenger delivered Gu Moran Gu Mochen’s bloodied jade pendant and letter, which warned that Wa’s sinister drug must not enter the sea and asked Gu Moran to set aside their rivalry.
• Gu Moran ordered an investigation of outside merchant caravans in Yi Prefecture, placed the region on high alert, and summoned Pu Yunshan to help prepare for war against the Wa people.

Gu Moran prepared for war while Shen Ling'er identified the poison afflicting his imperial brother, and Meng Jiuning offered a dangerous cure. After the medicine was sent with Gu Moran’s ultimatum, Meng Jiuning stumbled into his arms in the study.

• Gu Moran sealed a petition to go to war and ordered Tuoba Mang to produce two thousand Subduing Fire Thunders within ten days.
• Shen Ling'er determined that the poison would kill Gu Moran’s imperial brother within seven days if he stopped taking it, and that curing it required Elder Shen’s needle technique.
• Meng Jiuning offered the Dali royal formula Withered Wood Meets Spring Powder, warning that it would end the patient’s martial abilities and shorten his life by at least ten years.
• Gu Moran had Meng Jiuning brew the antidote and wrote his imperial brother a note presenting it as a choice between death and ruin.
• Meng Jiuning delivered the wax-sealed pill and tea to Gu Moran, then fell into his arms and explained that her legs had weakened after tending the medicine.

Zhen Meili secretly inspected Prince Yi Gu Moran’s bed, while the court later debated his plan to cross jurisdictions and subdue the Wa raiders. Chancellor Su and Grand Commandant Lin Zhenshan defended the campaign, and the Empress Dowager arrived as the argument continued.

• Gu Moran carried Meng Jiuning to the canopy bed, while Zhen Meili overheard them and recommended adding two heavy mattresses after recording her inspection.
• Three days later, the court resumed assemblies, and the Censor-in-Chief accused Gu Moran of illegally seeking military authority under the pretext of fighting Wa raiders.
• Chancellor Su defended Gu Moran and Prince An, citing the threat of Wa and Silla spies using poison to force Prince An to surrender two seaports.
• A vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue objected that the depleted treasury could not afford a war against Wa, but Lin Zhenshan threatened anyone who withheld supplies or obstructed Gu Moran.
• A palace attendant announced the arrival of the Empress Dowager.

The empress dowager authorized Prince Yi, Gu Moran, to command the response to the Wokou invasion, while Gu Moli planned to leave the capital and join him in Dengzhou. In Anyang, the tortured Gu Mochen blamed his own ambition and began explaining the childhood isolation that shaped him.

• The empress dowager united the phoenix seal, Central Secretariat seal, and Ministry of War tiger tally to issue a directive against the Wokou and grant Gu Moran broad authority in Anyang and Qi and Lu.
• Gu Moli watched the sealed directive leave the palace and ordered Qingwu to prepare horses and clothes so they could travel to Dengzhou while a double pretended to be ill.
• Gu Mochen told Zhou Huaili that haste and his attempts to outdo Gu Moran had led him to take dangerous medicines and become gravely ill.
• Gu Mochen rejected Zhou Huaili's claim that Chen Qing alone was to blame and began recounting how his motherless status left him isolated and abused in the Hall of Literary Learning.

Gu Mochen revealed how the empress had orchestrated his childhood torment and explained why he remained loyal to Chen Qing. An eight-hundred-li delivery brought a brutal antidote that would cure his poison at the cost of his martial abilities and ten years of life, and Gu Mochen rejected Zhou Huaili’s fear that the Third Prince meant to kill him.

• Gu Mochen recalled how Chen Qing had protected him from abuse and said he would never betray the man who had treated him like a brother.
• Gu Mochen accused the empress of arranging his torment and the false pursuit of a Longevity Pill to clear the way for her son.
• Gu Mochen coughed up black blood and feared he was dying as a bloodied deathsworn guard delivered a medicine from Yi Prefecture.
• Zhou Huaili read the letter explaining that the pill would purge the Bliss Pills’ poison but shatter Gu Mochen’s meridians and shorten his life by ten years.
• Zhou Huaili begged Gu Mochen not to take the pill, but Gu Mochen argued that the Third Prince would have let him die or poisoned him outright if he truly wanted him dead.

Gu Mochen took the medicine Gu Moran had provided, which cured his Bliss Pills addiction by destroying his meridians and leaving him severely weakened. He sent Zhou Huaili to give Gu Moran his sword and entrust him with the fight against the Japanese at sea.

• Gu Mochen insisted on taking the pill despite its cost, and Zhou Huaili fed it to him.
• The medicine clashed with the Bliss Pills poison, shattered Gu Mochen's meridians, and drove black blood from his body.
• Zhou Huaili cut Gu Mochen free and held him until he regained consciousness.
• Gu Mochen confirmed that the poison was cured, though he had lost his strength and become half crippled.
• Gu Mochen ordered Zhou Huaili to retrieve Sea-Calming and tell Gu Moran to take it to Dengzhou and fight the Japanese.

Gu Moran ordered Zhen Meili to design a deep-sea warship and comforted Su Yao, who worried she could not support his campaign to Dengzhou. Their private moment ended behind closed curtains, while Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang waited in hiding by the coast.

• Gu Moran asked Zhen Meili to design a stable deep-sea warship equipped to carry Subduing Fire Thunder, and she hurried off to work on the plans.
• Su Yao worried that she and the other women staying in Yi Prefecture could not help Gu Moran at the front, but he reassured her that guarding the city's finances was vital to his army.
• Gu Moran told Su Yao that her fertile days had arrived, and she embraced him as they retired behind the bed curtains.
• Inukami Jusaburo hid in the reeds as searchers called from the shore, while Park Roejang waited beside an old mooring post for a response from the waterway.

Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang planned to flee to Tsukushi and use rumors of a Great Yan campaign to recruit warriors, but a sailor revealed that a tsunami had devastated the ports and supply bases there. With their route home cut off and supplies dwindling, Park Roejang urged Inukami Jusaburo to return with him to Goryeo.

• Park Roejang and Inukami Jusaburo discussed escaping by sea, while Inukami proposed stirring up the island lords by claiming Great Yan was preparing to campaign east.
• The two boarded a small boat after a sailor arrived carrying charred timber from their ship and reported that a great earthquake and tsunami had struck the Hizen coast.
• The sailor told Inukami Jusaburo that the family granary, shipyards, harbors, and navigation markers had been destroyed or damaged, leaving no known port where they could safely resupply.
• Park Roejang warned that returning to Tsukushi would leave Inukami's men without food or ship repairs and urged him to come to Goryeo instead.

Noble Consort Chen discovered that Gu Moli had secretly left the capital for Dengzhou, where Gu Moran faced danger, and sought the empress dowager’s counsel. The empress dowager allowed Gu Moli to go, while Noble Consort Chen warned that the deposed empress might be plotting to leave the temple.

• Inukami Jusaburo asked Park Roejang whether Great Yan would pursue them, and Park said the people ashore would return that night.
• Noble Consort Chen discovered that the sick girl posing as Gu Moli was a double and learned that Gu Moli had fled toward Dengzhou with Qingwu to protect Gu Moran.
• Noble Consort Chen ordered the double confined and guarded, then disguised herself and went to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
• Noble Consort Chen told the empress dowager that Gu Moli had gone to Dengzhou, and the empress dowager said to let her go and watch Gu Moran’s back.
• Noble Consort Chen warned that the deposed empress’s personal eunuch had passed something outside and feared the empress would leave the temple.

The Empress Dowager ordered Gu Moyuan deposed and confined while plotting to restore the throne to Chengqian’s bloodline through Ran'er. In Yi Prefecture, Su Yao and the others prepared Gu Moran’s supplies and intelligence before his departure for Qi and Lu.

• Noble Consort Chen warned the Empress Dowager that powerful clans were joining forces to oppose Gu Moyuan’s deposition.
• The Empress Dowager ordered Gu Moyuan stripped of his titles and imprisoned, and commanded the grand commandant to surround the clans’ estates and prevent messages from getting out.
• The Empress Dowager revealed her plan to restore Chengqian’s bloodline, relying on Ran'er to return from the front with command of a hundred thousand troops before she killed Gu Chengshi.
• In Yi Prefecture, Su Yao arranged grain and silver shipments for Gu Moran’s campaign, while Xie Wanqing packed dispatches and Liu Ruyan prepared warm clothing.
• Su Yao gave Gu Moran the private seal controlling the residence’s reserves, and he assured her that his granary was in her hands.

As Gu Moran prepared to march against the Japanese pirates, his allies presented their military, medical, scouting, and shipbuilding preparations. Meng Jiuning, fearing she would be left behind without a place at Prince Yi Prefecture’s Residence, offered intelligence and an antidote formula from Dali.

• Shen Ling'er loaded medicine and gave Gu Moran pills for his cough, while Lin Qingdai promised to guard the central army and Murong Xue claimed command of the vanguard cavalry.
• Yun Shuyue reported that her couriers had turned ten covert posts into route sentry stations and would scout ahead of the government relay horses.
• Zhen Meili presented ship plans with reinforced hull wings and warned that the wrought-iron nails had to be heated thoroughly before installation.
• Meng Jiuning knelt before Gu Moran and offered a Dali scroll describing East Sea reefs and Japanese ship signals, along with knowledge of a formula to counter poison used on their blades.

Gu Moran ordered Meng Jiuning to join the march against the wokou and accepted Pu Yunshan’s request to accompany the army after he secured the supply route. Pu Yunshan reunited with Qin Hongxiu, who treated his wounds and confessed that she only wanted him to stay alive, while a strange garlic-and-braised-meat smell filled the stables.

• Meng Jiuning offered to accompany the army and interpret for the troops, and Gu Moran told her to prepare to leave the next day.
• Pu Yunshan reported that the remaining Tubo forces in Bronze Gorge had been eliminated and asked Gu Moran for half a day’s leave to visit Qin Hongxiu.
• Gu Moran granted Pu Yunshan leave, and Pu Yunshan rushed to the Foot Care Hall to see Qin Hongxiu.
• Qin Hongxiu dragged Pu Yunshan inside, treated his wounds, and kissed him after he said he would seek an imperial title for her through military merit.
• Qin Hongxiu told Pu Yunshan that she only wanted him alive as the scarlet curtains fell around them.
• A strange smell of garlic and braised meat filled the stable area as someone called for the horses to move aside.

Tuoba Mang departed for the war amid farewell gifts and encouragement from neighborhood women. In Luoyang, Gu Moli waited for her brother while keeping watch for threats, but Mei Zhongjun arrived with armed guards and accused her of harboring stolen horses.

• Tuoba Mang promised the neighborhood women he would smash island-devil ships and bring them coral and pearls.
• Gu Moli told Qingwu they would wait in Luoyang for Brother Ran and protect her imperial brother from hidden attackers.
• Mei Zhongjun entered the inn in a fortified wheelchair with four armed guards, who blocked its exits.
• Mei Zhongjun claimed he was hunting White Lotus Sect rebels and accused Gu Moli's horses of being stolen from a government storehouse.

Gu Moli discovered that Mei Zhongjun was faking paralysis and used his interest in her to secure an invitation to the Marquis of Luoyang's Residence. The chapter ended with Qingwu secretly breaking his leg while he tried to hide his pain and protect his deception.

• Mei Zhongjun stopped threatening Gu Moli and Qingwu after seeing Gu Moli's face, then invited them to the marquis's residence.
• Gu Moli noticed that Mei Zhongjun's legs were muscular and recognized his guards as palace-trained men, while Mei Zhongjun boasted about his father's power over Luoyang's gates.
• Gu Moli decided that gaining leverage over the residence could help her brother Gu Moran, and pretended to be frightened and interested in Mei Zhongjun's offer.
• Mei Zhongjun reached for Gu Moli, and Qingwu struck his shin beneath the cloak, breaking the leg he had been pretending was paralyzed.
• Mei Zhongjun suppressed his scream and insisted that he was fine, trying to keep his false disability secret.

Gu Moli posed as a helpless orphan to gain Mei Zhongjun’s trust and enter the Marquis of Luoyang’s Residence, intending to take control of its wealth. A maid hurried out to greet Mei Zhongjun and objected to his bringing home an outsider.

• Qingwu struck Mei Zhongjun’s leg, but he secretly used his internal qi to withstand the blow while pretending to be crippled.
• Mei Zhongjun invited Gu Moli into his carriage, and she claimed that bandits had killed her father and robbed her and Qingwu.
• Mei Zhongjun promised to shelter Gu Moli at his residence and revealed that Prince Yi had requested troops to fight Japanese pirates in Dengzhou.
• Mei Zhongjun brought Gu Moli to the Marquis of Luoyang’s Residence, where she resolved to swallow the estate’s riches.
• A maid rushed out to meet Mei Zhongjun and worriedly questioned why he had brought home an outsider of unknown origins.

Gu Moli entered the marquis’s manor and was sent to the dilapidated Fallen Plum Studio after Lu Xuerou intervened. There, Gu Moli and Qingwu discovered poison hidden in a fur shawl and planned to use it against Lu Xuerou before dawn.

• Caicui tried to stop Mei Zhongjun from bringing Gu Moli inside, but Lu Xuerou arrived and persuaded him to lodge Gu Moli in Fallen Plum Studio.
• Gu Moli accepted the cold, ruined courtyard without complaint and told Qingwu to call her mistress rather than Princess.
• Caicui delivered Lu Xuerou’s white fox-fur shawl, and Qingwu found Touch-Me-Not Frost concealed in its lining.
• Gu Moli ordered Qingwu to collect the poison and put it into the soft cloth Lu Xuerou used to wash her face before dawn.

At the marquis's estate, Gu Moli watched Lu Xuerou suffer a sudden facial outbreak and offered a remedy while asking the old matriarch for refuge in Falling Plum Studio. The old matriarch granted her request, though Gu Moli's resemblance to Noble Consort Chen continued to trouble her.

• The old matriarch examined Gu Moli's impeccable manners and thought she resembled Noble Consort Chen.
• Lu Xuerou burst into the hall with a blistering rash, and Mei Zhongjun recoiled as she blamed Gu Moli.
• The old matriarch ordered Lu Xuerou restrained and sent for a physician.
• Gu Moli suggested a soothing herbal remedy and asked to stay in Falling Plum Studio to pray and avoid the household's troublemakers.
• The old matriarch silenced Mei Zhongjun and accepted Gu Moli's request, while remaining unsettled by her resemblance to Noble Consort Chen.

Gu Moli secured the Old Matriarch’s order to seal Fallen Plum Studio, while Gu Moran’s fleet struggled through a storm on its way to Jiangling. A system message revealed that Gu Moli had disrupted Mei Zhongjun’s original storyline, leaving Gu Moran alarmed that his little sister was in Luoyang and might be in danger.

• The Old Matriarch ordered Fallen Plum Studio closed for secluded cultivation and threatened anyone who trespassed, while Gu Moli thanked her for the protection.
• During a storm on the river, Gu Moran caught Shen Ling’er and Zhen Meili as the ship lurched, while Lin Qingdai stopped Meng Jiuning from falling into his lap.
• Murong Xue mocked Meng Jiuning and Zhen Meili for failing to keep their footing on the rocking ship.
• The system told Gu Moran that Gu Moli had disrupted Mei Zhongjun’s romantic storyline and awarded him fifty thousand taels.
• Gu Moran realized Gu Moli was in Luoyang and worried that she had gone there without protection.

Gu Moran ordered the women to travel with him from Jiangling to Luoyang while the main army continued downstream as a decoy. That night, he kissed Meng Jiuning and went to her cabin after she said she would wait for him.

• Gu Moran told Pu Yunshan and Xue Huan that he would take three hundred elite soldiers from Jiangling to Luoyang ahead of the main army, which would follow the planned route with flags and drums to disguise his absence.
• Gu Moran informed Shen Ling'er, Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Zhen Meili, Yun Shuyue, and Meng Jiuning that they would travel with him to Luoyang using light carriages and swift horses.
• Gu Moran checked the affection list and noted Yun Shuyue, Meng Jiuning, and Zhen Meili's affection values.
• Meng Jiuning joined Gu Moran on deck at night and asked for an explanation; he kissed her and promised that she would receive what she was due.
• Meng Jiuning told Gu Moran she would wait for him in her cabin, and he later joined her there.

Gu Moran received a map of Dali, royal medicinal formulas, and a permanent increase to his martial perception after Meng Jiuning’s affection reached the required threshold. Three days later, he and the women disembarked at a remote shoal and met Tuoba Mang, who had prepared horses and a reinforced carriage for their journey.

• Meng Jiuning’s affection reached 75, severing her original fate line, and Gu Moran received the map, three medicinal formulas, and improved martial perception.
• Gu Moran found Zhen Meili asleep over her mechanism blueprints, but an accidental fall and kiss led Shen Ling'er to mistake the situation for an affair.
• Three days later, Gu Moran and the women disembarked on a desolate shoal north of the river.
• Yun Shuyue led the group through the reeds, where Tuoba Mang arrived with horses and a prepared carriage.
• Zhen Meili examined the carriage’s iron-reinforced mechanisms with interest.

Gu Moran traveled toward Luoyang in a crowded carriage while the women around him competed for his attention. Meanwhile, Mei Zhongjun suspected the woman who had stayed at Fallen Plum Studio had deceived him and ordered his men to surround the courtyard.

• Zhen Meili inspected the carriage axle, argued with Murong Xue, and sat beside Gu Moran after he told her to rest.
• Shen Ling'er massaged Gu Moran's wrist, while Lin Qingdai repeatedly blocked Meng Jiuning from approaching him with her sachet.
• The carriage lurched, and Gu Moran steadied Shen Ling'er as she fell into his arms, intensifying the women’s silent rivalry.
• Dingzi told Mei Zhongjun that his men had found no record of Gu Li'er and described the suspiciously neat room she had occupied.
• Mei Zhongjun ordered Dingzi to deploy ten men around Fallen Plum Studio and watch the courtyard from its surrounding walls and a woodshed roof.

Mei Zhongjun ordered crossbowmen to watch Fallen Plum Studio while he investigated Gu Moli and her maid, Qingwu. Gu Moli discovered the ambush and chose to leave the men in place as she judged Mei Zhongjun’s intentions.

• Mei Zhongjun told Dingzi to ready ten crossbowmen with drug-coated bolts and forbid them to fire without written orders.
• Mei Zhongjun and Dingzi examined two worn characters copied from Gu Moli’s saddlebag and questioned whether she was really Gu Li'er.
• Dingzi reported that Qingwu had displayed enough hidden strength to suggest she was trained for close-quarters killing.
• Mei Zhongjun returned to Pine and Crane Hall, concealing his supposedly paralyzed legs beneath a blanket.
• Qingwu told Gu Moli that crossbowmen with almond-scented bolts were positioned around the courtyard, and Gu Moli ordered her not to attack them.
• Gu Moli concluded that Mei Zhongjun suspected she was more than she appeared but had not yet decided how to act.

Gu Moli learned that Mei Zhongjun had secretly traded repeating crossbows with Princess Consort An for more than three months, giving her evidence of a grave crime. With Mei Zhongjun’s crossbowmen surrounding her, she ordered Qingwu to prepare a disturbance and obtain an item linked to Princess Consort An, intending to lure him into acting recklessly.

• Qingwu told Gu Moli that Shiqing and Huayi, her mother's agents, had confirmed her identity and brought word that her mother knew she was in Luoyang.
• Gu Moli refused Qingwu's suggestion to leave the marquis's residence, saying she would not let Mei Zhongjun get away with cursing her imperial brother.
• After three days under watch by Mei Zhongjun's crossbowmen, Gu Moli received a secret message that he had traded repeating crossbows with Princess Consort An for over three months.
• Gu Moli ordered Qingwu to learn when the marquis's heir would return, cause a major disturbance when he arrived, and obtain something bearing the pattern of Princess Consort An's sleeping quarters.
• Gu Moli explained that she planned to feed the hungry wolf by tempting Mei Zhongjun with bloody bait.

Gu Moran’s party traveled toward Luoyang, where a carriage jolt left Shen Ling'er on his lap and Zhen Meili called out from beneath the carriage. At Fallen Plum Studio, Qingwu staged the discovery and burning of silk bearing Prince An’s python insignia, but a hidden watcher hooked the half-burned cloth away; Mei Zhongjun recognized its pattern.

• Gu Moran’s party continued toward Luoyang as Shen Ling'er gave him Heart-Clearing Powder and explained how she had adjusted its formula.
• A sudden carriage jolt tipped Gu Moran onto Shen Ling'er, and he lifted her onto his lap while the others reacted and Zhen Meili asked who was bouncing above.
• Two days later at Fallen Plum Studio, Qingwu retrieved a mud-wrapped bamboo tube containing silk embroidered with half of Prince An’s five-clawed golden python motif.
• Qingwu pretended to panic and burn the silk, then let the half-burned cloth fall within reach of a hidden watcher’s flying claw.
• Mei Zhongjun examined the stolen silk and recognized the python motif.

Mei Zhongjun recognized the python seal as evidence of his household’s dealings and ordered an attack on Gu Moli and Qingwu to destroy the remaining proof. After Qingwu held off the first volley of poisoned bolts, a fire and the arrival of Mei Boqian’s guards disrupted the assault, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Mei Zhongjun recognized the seal on Gu Moli’s silk as the mark tied to his secret crossbow shipments and feared she had uncovered his crimes.
• Mei Zhongjun ordered Dingzi to send ten crossbowmen to kill Gu Moli and Qingwu, burn their papers, and blame Lu Xuerou.
• Gu Moli identified the attackers’ repeating crossbows and told Qingwu to survive the first volley while she waited for another intervention.
• Qingwu blocked the volley with a table and her twin blades, but a poisoned bolt wounded her shoulder.
• A fire broke out in the front courtyard as the crossbowmen prepared to reload, and Mei Boqian arrived with more than thirty guards and rushed toward the rear courtyard.