Chapter Summaries

Pu Yunshan volunteered to lead Mount Qingcheng’s three hundred elite disciples on a dangerous cliffside assault at Bronze Gorge, asking for Qin Hongxiu’s freedom in return. His forces destroyed the Tubo defenders and freed the trapped Yi Prefecture soldiers, who prepared to counterattack.

• Pu Yunshan asked Gu Moran to free Qin Hongxiu in exchange for leading the attack, and Gu Moran granted his request and gave him a command arrow.
• Pu Yunshan gathered three hundred Mount Qingcheng disciples and set out for Bronze Gorge with a hundred Subduing Fire Thunders and Tuoba Mang.
• Tubo troops besieged nearly a thousand Yi Prefecture soldiers inside an abandoned copper mine, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
• Pu Yunshan and the disciples descended the cliffs, killed the Tubo sentries, and annihilated the defenders at the gorge mouth.
• Pu Yunshan broke open the mine entrance and rallied the freed Yi Prefecture soldiers to fight their way out.

In Anyang City, Wa and Silla spies planned to exploit Prince An’s illness by selling him addictive Bliss Pills. At Bronze Gorge, Pu Yunshan’s reinforcements prepared to confront approaching Tubo cavalry with a hundred Subduing Fire Thunders.

• Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang discussed Great Yan’s political crisis and Prince An’s weakened condition in Anyang City.
• Park Roejang revealed the Bliss Pills, and the spies planned to pose as divine physicians and win control over Prince An’s resources.
• Inukami Jusaburo sent sealed letters by carrier pigeon to summon a delegation from overseas.
• In Bronze Gorge, Pu Yunshan stopped Yi Prefecture soldiers from charging when he heard at least a thousand Tubo cavalry approaching.
• Tuoba Mang unpacked a hundred Subduing Fire Thunders, and Pu Yunshan nocked a signal arrow.

Pu Yunshan's forces destroyed the Tubo cavalry at Bronze Gorge and seized a secret letter bearing a mark linked to Anyang and Prince An's Residence. In Anyang, amid unrest over Prince An's failing policies, Zhou Huaili rejected the disguised spies Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang, who had brought a supposed life-prolonging medicine.

• Pu Yunshan's Green City swordsmen bombarded the Tubo cavalry in Bronze Gorge with Subduing Fire Thunder, scattering and killing the riders.
• Pu Yunshan killed Chile, and Tuoba Mang and the Green City disciples routed the surviving Tubo troops.
• Pu Yunshan found an unopened secret letter hidden in Chile's armor and recognized its mark as shared by the Anyang Provincial Surveillance Commission and Prince An's advisers.
• Pu Yunshan ordered the garrison to gather provisions, load the wounded, and escort the military grain to Yi Prefecture before the Tubo main camp could respond.
• Zhou Huaili reviewed reports of rejected exchange notes, unrest over granaries, and spoiled relief rice in Anyang City.
• Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang arrived disguised as Daoist occult practitioners and offered medicine, but Zhou Huaili ordered guards to beat them out.

Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang persuaded Gu Mochen to take their Bliss Pill by demonstrating its effects on a dying dog. The pill restored Gu Mochen’s strength but left him acting violently, and he ordered Anyang sealed and thirty thousand troops mustered before confronting Zhou Huaili about trying to stop him.

• Park Roejang gave the Bliss Pill mixture to a dying dog, which quickly revived and became violently aggressive.
• Gu Mochen emerged from the rear hall and swallowed the entire Bliss Pill despite Zhou Huaili’s warning.
• Gu Mochen regained his strength, cut a heavy table in half with the Baipi Sword, and declared that he was no longer ill.
• Gu Mochen ordered Anyang’s gates sealed, private grain stores confiscated, and thirty thousand troops readied.
• Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang left the hall with concealed smiles of triumph.
• An hour later, Gu Mochen pointed out that the dog was still alive and demanded that Zhou Huaili explain why he had tried to stop him.

Gu Mochen ordered his troops to seize grain and violently suppress Anyang’s starving refugees as he pursued the throne, while Zhou Huaili realized the Bliss Pill had made him dangerously irrational. Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang revealed their plan to use the drug and smuggle three thousand guards into Anyang.

• Gu Mochen dismissed Zhou Huaili’s warnings and declared that he would seize the grain merchants’ stores and behead anyone who resisted.
• Gu Mochen threatened to replace Zhou Huaili, then ordered him to house the two foreign physicians and obtain more Bliss Elixir.
• Zhou Huaili confronted Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang in the corridor and warned them not to plunge Anyang into chaos.
• Park Roejang told Inukami that the Bliss Pill contained datura and the marrow of the dead and would soon make Gu Mochen dependent on them.
• Inukami and Park revealed that they planned to bring three thousand guards into Anyang’s harbor under the guise of tribute envoys.

Gu Mochen seized grain across Anyang City and, intoxicated by the Bliss Pills’ effects, demanded more of the drug as its poison began to take hold. Zhou Huaili then learned that Prince Yi’s forces had captured secret letters exposing Prince An’s dealings with Tubo.

• Gu Mochen’s guards raided Jufenglong and other granaries, seizing their grain for the northern camp’s depot.
• Gu Mochen showed alarming signs of the Bliss Pills’ effects while boasting of his strength and threatening merchants who might appeal to the emperor.
• Gu Mochen demanded that Zhou Huaili summon the overseas alchemists and make them surrender their remaining Bliss Elixir.
• A messenger delivered a report that Pu Yunshan led three hundred swordsmen in a successful assault on the Tubo garrison at Bronze Gorge, rescuing one thousand soldiers from Yi Prefecture.
• Zhou Huaili read that Prince Yi’s forces had seized secret documents implicating Prince An in collusion with Tubo and an attempt to cut off Jiannan’s grain routes.

Pu Yunshan returned victorious with the grain after defeating the Tubo forces at Bronze Gorge, and Gu Moran rewarded him by freeing Qin Hongxiu from her debased register. Pu Yunshan swore his loyalty to Gu Moran, who gained a sword-intent reward and rose to Fourth Rank Peak.

• Zhou Huaili hid a secret report about Prince An’s crisis and resolved to eliminate the two foreign schemers in the guest quarters.
• Qin Hongxiu waited anxiously outside Foot Care Hall until Pu Yunshan returned with the grain convoy, then reunited with him.
• Pu Yunshan reported that his forces had routed two thousand Tubo troops, killed their commander Chile, and escorted the soldiers and grain safely to Yi Prefecture.
• Gu Moran gave Pu Yunshan the document freeing Qin Hongxiu and registering her as a commoner, along with a house in the south of the city.
• Pu Yunshan pledged his life and the three hundred Mount Qingcheng disciples to Gu Moran, whose loyalty reward granted him Pure Yang Limitless Sword Intent and raised his cultivation to Fourth Rank Peak.

Gu Moran learned that Gu Mochen had colluded with Tubo and was preparing to march on the capital, so he put his forces on alert while keeping the incriminating letter for a better moment. In Anyang, merchants confronted Prefect Cui and Commander Wei over the prince’s seizure of forty thousand shi of grain, and Commander Wei challenged them about their claims and accounts.

• Pu Yunshan presented Gu Moran with a secret letter bearing Gu Mochen’s seal, promising Tubo territory and trade taxes in exchange for trapping Gu Moran’s army.
• Gu Moran decided to keep the letter as leverage, judging that the capital would not move decisively against Gu Mochen during the political crisis.
• Uncle Fu reported that Gu Mochen had sealed Anyang, seized more than forty thousand shi of merchants’ grain, and gathered thirty thousand troops for a post-New Year march on the capital.
• Gu Moran canceled leave for Yi Prefecture’s twenty thousand troops, ordered them armed and ready, and directed Si Renyou to send captured military grain to the frontline fortresses.
• Anyang’s merchants demanded answers from Prefect Cui about their seized grain, while Boss Sun accused his wife of profiting from the requisition.
• Commander Wei told the merchants that forty thousand shi had been recorded in Northern Camp’s accounts and challenged them to clarify whether they sought their grain or acknowledgment of their claims.

In Anyang, Commander Wei and Prefect Cui discussed delaying Prince An’s march to prevent his starving army from being sent to its deaths, while risking mutiny. In Silver City, Chisang confronted the captured Yang Tie about his supposed immortal pills and gave him three sentences to answer.

• Commander Wei exposed the shortage of fit soldiers in Anyang and warned Prefect Cui that Prince An’s planned march would send them to their deaths.
• Commander Wei proposed delaying the army by restricting access to the armory, hoping Prince An’s personal soldiers would clash with the northern camp before the troops could leave Anyang.
• Commander Wei told Prefect Cui that he wanted the soldiers to live, even if their resistance made them rebels.
• In Silver City, Chisang confronted the wounded Yang Tie and accused him of falsely calling poisonous pills immortal medicine.
• Chisang pressed his scimitar to Yang Tie’s throat and gave him three sentences.

Yang Tie convinced Chisang that his counterfeit pills were a secret imperial method that could harden the body and suppress pain, earning access to a pharmacy and medicinal ingredients. After secretly adding Soul-Severing Agent to the medicine, he watched Chisang accept the first test as proof of divine power and began plotting revenge on Silver City.

• Yang Tie shattered his porcelain bottle of red pills in the brazier, using the smoke’s effects to persuade Chisang that the pills held dangerous power.
• Yang Tie claimed a secret method could be refined from medicinal ingredients and demanded a quiet chamber, supplies, and ten untouched women.
• Chisang gave Yang Tie access to a guarded pharmacy and half the requested ingredients, while archers watched him work.
• Yang Tie secretly added Soul-Severing Agent to the medicine, intending to make Silver City’s people lose their judgment over time.
• Three days later, Gehale took a pill and endured a saber strike without reacting to pain, though Yang Tie saw that the blow had drawn blood.
• Chisang hailed the medicine as divine, appointed Yang Tie his trusted right-hand man, and gave him further access to supplies and women.

Meng Jiuning persuaded Yun Shuyue to put a mild truth-telling powder in ginseng soup so they could find out whether Gu Moran was hiding an illness. Gu Moran revealed he had overheard their plan, and Yun Shuyue confessed before he could be made to drink the soup.

• Meng Jiuning gave Yun Shuyue the powder and persuaded her that a tiny dose would help reveal whether Gu Moran had a hidden ailment.
• Yun Shuyue brought the ginseng and deer velvet soup to Gu Moran while Meng Jiuning watched from behind a corridor pillar.
• Gu Moran questioned Yun Shuyue about who had ordered the soup and summoned Meng Jiuning into the study.
• Gu Moran pushed the soup toward Meng Jiuning and challenged the two women over whether it had been tampered with.
• Yun Shuyue broke down and admitted that Meng Jiuning had said the powder would make Gu Moran tell the truth.

Gu Moran punished Meng Jiuning and Yun Shuyue by making them work through the night after discovering their scheme, while Meng Jiuning uncovered real corruption in Dali’s accounts. At Anyang Northern Grand Camp, Gu Mochen ordered an advance and a purge, but his soldiers stayed silent and Wei Yong pointed to the sealed armory.

• Meng Jiuning took responsibility for the plot and asked Gu Moran to punish her instead of Yun Shuyue.
• Gu Moran assigned Meng Jiuning to audit Dali’s tax records and ordered Yun Shuyue to copy and memorize texts through the night.
• Meng Jiuning found evidence of altered military grain fees, while Yun Shuyue and Meng Jiuning completed their assignments by dawn.
• Gu Moran dismissed both exhausted women and warned them not to tamper with his soup again.
• Gu Mochen ordered three thousand soldiers to break through the four gates and purge the ruler’s side, but they gave no response.
• Wei Yong asked Gu Mochen to quell his anger and pointed out that the armory had been sealed with iron bars and official seals.

In Anyang, Gu Mochen failed to force the Northern Camp to obey him, while Lady Lü moved charitable funds out of the city and Zhou Huaili discovered that Prince An’s foreign allies had survived an assassination attempt. In Yi Prefecture, Gu Moran’s companions ate breakfast and teased Meng Jiuning and Yun Shuyue over the previous night’s mishaps.

• Wei Yong invoked military law and the sealed arsenal to refuse Gu Mochen’s order to march, and his guards formed a shield wall that forced Gu Mochen to retreat into the mud.
• Lady Lü prepared to send the charitable funds and gold away, telling Zhou Huaili that she would protect her unborn child rather than share Prince An’s fate.
• Zhou Huaili left the heated chamber after Lady Lü warned him to protect his own family, while secretly noticing the accountant’s key tag.
• Inukami Jusaburo and Park Roejang killed ten guards sent to silence them and decided to visit Prince An, who had taken three Bliss Elixirs.
• In Yi Prefecture, Yun Shuyue and Meng Jiuning argued over the last fried cake as Gu Moran, Su Yao, Xie Wanqing, and Murong Xue teased them about their recent troubles.

Yun Shuyue complained about being deceived while Gu Moran’s companions teased and cared for him in their snowy courtyard. In the capital, the empress dowager told Noble Consort Chen how Chengqian survived Gu Chengshi’s attempt to kill him, then died after secretly marrying Liu Sushang, who returned to the capital pregnant.

• Yun Shuyue complained to Murong Xue and Xie Wanqing that she had been swindled, and Murong Xue mocked her for believing the deception.
• Shen Ling'er made Gu Moran drink bitter medicine for staying awake and falling ill, while Xie Wanqing poured him tea.
• Liu Ruyan gave Gu Moran a newly sewn padded robe and told him she had identified three covert operatives with unaccounted-for whereabouts.
• The empress dowager met Noble Consort Chen in the locked Buddhist hall and recalled how Gu Chengshi speared Chengqian and had him thrown into a mass grave.
• The empress dowager explained that a dismissed divine physician rescued Chengqian, who survived with severe injuries, later married Liu Sushang, and fathered a child before dying.
• The empress dowager said Liu Sushang returned to the capital pregnant and entered the Liu residence in disguise.

Noble Consort Chen and the Empress Dowager concealed a bloodstained dagger and warned that their secret must stay hidden until Jiannan Circuit's troops arrived. In Southern Yi Prefecture, Qin Hongxiu opened the Yi Prefecture Foot Care Hall with strict rules and an annual membership system, then appealed to a skeptical merchant by pointing out his leg pain.

• The Empress Dowager hid a bloodstained dagger beneath a floor tile and ordered Noble Consort Chen to keep their secret and watch over the emperor.
• Qin Hongxiu opened the Yi Prefecture Foot Care Hall, where former courtesans welcomed guests into a warm, herb-scented building fitted with concealed-channel heating.
• Qin Hongxiu announced that the hall offered medicinal baths and massage, warned guests against lewd behavior, and set prices and membership requirements for its floors.
• Merchants protested the high membership fees, and Qin Hongxiu told a grain merchant that his years hauling carts on the Shu Road had likely left him with painful knees and ankles.

Qin Hongxiu’s Foot Care Hall won over skeptical merchants with its medicinal soaks and massages, while Pu Yunshan stopped two armed intruders in the rear corridor. As the merchants discussed unrest and troop movements, Qin Hongxiu secretly recorded their information.

• Qin Hongxiu challenged Old Zhao to try a free medicinal soak, and he entered the private room with several curious merchants.
• Old Zhao emerged walking steadily without using his crutch, and two silk-shop proprietors reported that their aching limbs had improved.
• The merchants crowded the counter to buy treatment cards, filling the hall with business.
• Pu Yunshan confronted two disguised intruders and subdued them before dragging them to the cellar.
• Qin Hongxiu questioned Old Zhao and a salt merchant about unrest in Anyang and troop movements near Bronze Gorge, secretly recording their information.

Gu Moran learned that Dali’s marquises had colluded with Yong Prefecture and Tubo to divide Dali’s resources, while Meng Jiuning offered secret banking-house records in exchange for help. Rather than risk troops, Gu Moran planned to profit from both sides by raising medicinal prices and spreading rumors of military requisitions.

• Liu Ruyan presented a report that Yong Prefecture’s governor had sent three thousand cavalry toward Bronze Gorge, and Gu Moran revealed records showing Dali’s marquises had paid him with medicinal goods and pig iron.
• Gu Moran explained that the marquises and Yong Prefecture intended to divide Dali’s territory and resources after Tubo weakened the kingdom.
• Meng Jiuning offered the accounts and seals of three banking houses holding silver and silk if Gu Moran sent troops against Yong Prefecture’s cavalry.
• Gu Moran refused to risk Yi Prefecture’s soldiers and instead identified medicines and refined iron as leverage over Yong Prefecture and Dali’s marquises.
• Gu Moran ordered Liu Ruyan to raise prices on medicinal ingredients and Foot Care Hall’s decoction packets, while spreading rumors that Prince An was requisitioning supplies and the chamber of commerce would buy medicine for ready silver.

Gu Moran arranged to drain Yong Prefecture’s military medicine stores and send a sham convoy of heavy equipment toward Dali to provoke suspicion between their forces. The chapter ended with spies mistaking the bluestone-filled wagons for real weapons and sending a warning to retreat.

• Meng Jiuning deduced that Yi Prefecture’s soaring medicine prices would tempt corrupt Yong Prefecture officials to sell their military supplies.
• Gu Moran ordered Xue Huan to disguise a convoy of stone-filled wagons as a shipment of heavy armor and make sure spies saw it heading south.
• Merchants from Liangguang bought large quantities of medicine at sharply increased prices in Yi Prefecture.
• Xue Huan led the conspicuous convoy past spies, who mistook its heavy cargo for military equipment bound for Dali.
• A spy reported that Prince Yi was arming Dali and stockpiling medicine, and urged his forces to retreat.

Gu Moran used a scheme involving medicine merchants and military rumors to pressure Yong Prefecture’s army, while the women in his household argued over who would attend him after Shen Ling'er brewed a potent tonic. Xie Wanqing proposed drawing lots to decide who would take the medicine inside.

• Gu Moran ordered the Bronze Gorge garrison to open its gates and raise smoke from three hundred cooking fires to deter Yong Prefecture’s troops.
• Su Yao and Murong Xue traded accusations outside Gu Moran’s chamber, each refusing to go in first.
• Shen Ling'er brought a potent deer-antler tonic and warned that Gu Moran would become hot and restless after drinking it.
• Shen Ling'er explained that someone could ease Gu Moran’s discomfort by massaging his acupoints, prompting Su Yao and Murong Xue to deflect the duty onto each other.
• Xie Wanqing arrived and proposed that the women draw lots to determine who would deliver the tonic.

The women at Prince Yi’s Residence drew lots to decide who would deliver the prince’s medicine, and Yun Shuyue drew Lin Qingdai’s name. Embarrassed, Lin Qingdai fled toward the roof as Su Yao called after her.

• Su Yao recruited Yun Shuyue to draw a lot, while Murong Xue stopped Meng Jiuning from slipping away and made her witness the draw.
• Yun Shuyue reached into the bamboo cylinder and drew Lin Qingdai’s name.
• Lin Qingdai blushed crimson, called the draw nonsense, and leaped toward the roof to escape.
• Su Yao shouted after Lin Qingdai as she tried to flee.