Recaps

Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng attacked Desolation in the seabed rift, and Xu Qi'an forced Desolation to sacrifice Xu Pingfeng rather than fight him to the death. With the war over and the great tribulation approaching, Xu Qi'an reunited with the resurrected Wei Yuan at Righteous Qi Tower.

• Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng struck Desolation in the seabed rift, but Desolation launched a horn that devoured everything in its path.
• Xu Qi'an broke the horn through sheer strength, convincing Desolation to abandon Xu Pingfeng as an ally and devour him instead.
• Xu Qi'an killed Xu Pingfeng with a spear of Qi, while Desolation took the Superintendent overseas to prepare for the great tribulation.
• Nalan Tianlu learned that the Shaman God had summoned shamans back to Jingshan City, while Jialuoshu warned that Aranda would face a calamity of war.
• The empress began rebuilding Great Feng as notices promised refugees new registers, farmland, and food relief.
• Xu Qi'an climbed Righteous Qi Tower and greeted the resurrected Wei Yuan.

The author reported Nightwatchers' subscription growth and reflected on the Contending for the Central Plains volume before announcing the final Martial God volume. The author requested a day and a half of leave to review the book's unresolved threads before continuing.

• The author said average chapter subscriptions had reached 118,000, while latest-chapter subscriptions remained between 63,000 and 67,000.
• The author acknowledged that an experiment featuring supporting characters in a war had dissatisfied readers, then said they had pulled the story back on course.
• The author announced that the final volume would be titled Martial God and that the book would end at around four million Chinese characters.
• The author requested a day and a half off to review and resolve the book's remaining foreshadowing.
• The author said Nightwatchers had reached lv6 on the breakout index and thanked readers for their support.

Xu Qi'an met Wei Yuan and learned that reviving him had weakened the Shaman God's seal, part of a larger struggle among the sealed Transcendent Ranks. After discussing the coming calamity and their plans to resist it, Wei Yuan sent Xu Qi'an to meet the woman Nangong Qianrou had brought back from Yunzhou, leaving him hesitant outside her courtyard.

• Wei Yuan asked about Xu Qi'an's marriages and Great Feng's response to Yunzhou, then praised Xu Qi'an's role in holding off the Shaman God Cult's army.
• Wei Yuan explained that the Shaman God had seized his souls and that reviving him had loosened the seal restraining the Shaman God.
• Wei Yuan revealed that the Confucian Sage had sealed the Shaman God, Gu God, and Buddha to avert a calamity, and explained how the Shaman God Cult sought Fate to break its master's seal.
• Xu Qi'an and Wei Yuan discussed the ancient Gods and Devils, the Gatekeeper, and the threat posed by the Transcendent Ranks; Xu Qi'an planned to ally with Shenshu and seek advancement toward Half-Step Martial God.
• Wei Yuan told Xu Qi'an that Nangong Qianrou had brought a woman back from Yunzhou, and Xu Qi'an went to her courtyard but hesitated at the gate.

Xu Qi'an reunited with Ji Baiqing, then went to Jingshan City and challenged Salun Agu to learn about the great calamity and the Gatekeeper. After clashing with the Great Shaman and learning that the White Emperor was the ancient god-devil Great Desolation, he returned to the capital and found Ji Baiqing ready to meet Xiaoru again.

• Xu Qi'an visited Ji Baiqing, who asked whether he hated her; he said he did not, told her he had killed Xu Pingfeng and Hidden Dragon City's lord, and promised to take her to the capital.
• Xu Qi'an told Nangong Qianrou to watch over Ji Baiqing, then spent time with Li Yuchun, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao.
• Nalan Tianlu returned to Jingshan City with Dongfang Wanrong, where Salun Agu discussed Xu Qi'an's rise to First Rank and his destiny.
• Xu Qi'an arrived at Jingshan City and fought Salun Agu, breaking through the city's defenses and collapsing part of Jing Mountain before asking about the great calamity and the Gatekeeper.
• Salun Agu revealed that the White Emperor was Great Desolation, an ancient god-devil who had survived the great upheaval, then prepared to fight Xu Qi'an with the Shaman God's crown and God-Striking Whip.
• The next morning, Xu Qi'an returned to the Nightwatchers' office after spending the night with Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao, and Ji Baiqing said she wondered whether Xiaoru would still acknowledge her as a sister-in-law.

After waking from his injuries, Yang Gong learned that the Yunzhou rebellion had been crushed and Xu Qi'an had reached the first rank. Xu Qi'an returned to the capital with his birth mother, Ji Baiqing, and reunited her with Auntie, while Mu Nanzhi was introduced as Auntie’s sworn elder sister.

• Yang Gong woke after half a month unconscious and learned from Li Mubai, Chen Tai, and Xu Erlang that Xu Pingfeng was dead, the rebellion was quelled, and Xu Qi'an had reached the first rank.
• Chen Tai told Yang Gong that the court intended to make him Prefect of the Capital Prefecture, while Xu Xinnian reached the sixth rank and recorded practical spells during the Great Confucians’ fight.
• Xu Lingyue reminded Auntie to bring Lingyin back from the Southern Frontier, and Baiji reacted warily when they discussed the child who had wanted to eat her.
• Xu Qi'an returned to the Xu Residence with Ji Baiqing, who reunited with Auntie after twenty-two years and met Xu Lingyue.
• Auntie asked Xu Qi'an about Ji Baiqing, and he reassured her that his mother had secretly returned to the capital to give birth to him and save his life.
• Auntie introduced Mu Nanzhi as her sworn elder sister, and Xu Qi'an reacted with surprise.

Xu Qi'an settled his birth mother and younger relatives into the Xu Residence, while the empress dowager reunited with a long-awaited man. At dinner, Xu Pingzhi learned Xu Pingfeng was dead, and Xu Lingyue stunned the family by revealing her exceptional cultivation talent; meanwhile, Desolation encountered a huge creature in the deep sea.

• Auntie invented a story to explain Mu Nanzhi’s stay and insisted Xu Qi'an call her Aunt Mu.
• Xu Qi'an arranged for Ji Baiqing to live in the Xu Residence and for Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai to stay next door.
• The empress dowager heard a visitor enter Phoenix Resting Palace and wept when he told her he had come back.
• Xu Qi'an told Xu Pingzhi that he had killed Xu Pingfeng, and Xu Pingzhi left the dining hall to sob in private.
• Xu Xinnian announced his advancement to Sixth-Rank Confucian Scholar, but Xu Lingyue revealed she had self-taught her way to Seventh-Rank Qi Consuming in about four months.
• Desolation encountered five or six thick tentacles blocking his path at an abyss on the seabed.

Desolation and the Superintendent encountered the tentacles of an ancient deep-sea monster, while Xu Lingyin revealed that the Gu God had promised to teach her to fight. Xu Qi'an considered ways to break through his First Rank bottleneck and, with the Shaman God’s seal weakening, went to Mu Nanzhi’s room to pursue dual cultivation.

• Desolation dodged the ancient monster’s tentacles as the Superintendent explained its power and Desolation recalled its battle with Dragon.
• Xu Lingyin admitted to Lina that she was hiding food for Xu Ningyan and said she would not leave the Southern Frontier until the Gu God taught her to fight.
• Xu Qi'an realized his cultivation had stalled at First Rank and planned to visit Shenshu, while considering the Flower God and Luo Yuheng as possible paths forward.
• Xu Qi'an assessed the Shaman God’s weakening seal and decided that reaching Half-Step Martial God was his priority because summoning the Confucian Sage’s heroic spirit could cost him his life.
• Xu Qi'an entered Mu Nanzhi’s room at night and told her he had come to serve her in bed.

Xu Qi'an spent the night with Mu Nanzhi, then nearly exposed their relationship to Auntie before secretly restoring the room and helping Mu Nanzhi conceal what had happened. At the Directorate of Astronomy, Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai were brought out of their cells to meet him, and Xu Yuanhuai feared the Yunzhou Army had reached the capital.

• Xu Qi'an teased Mu Nanzhi and spent the night with her, while she said she wanted to cultivate the Dao and become a Land Immortal.
• Auntie saw Xu Qi'an leaving Mu Nanzhi's room in the morning and went to question her.
• Xu Qi'an tidied the room with Qi and disappeared before Auntie entered; Mu Nanzhi claimed he had only treated her illness.
• Auntie believed Mu Nanzhi's explanation and left, while Lü'e joked that Dalang could not have taken a fancy to Auntie Mu.
• Two white-robed arcanists told Zhong Li that Xu Qi'an wanted her back at his residence, then led Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai out of their cells to meet him.
• Xu Yuanhuai asked whether the Yunzhou Army had reached the capital.

Xu Qi'an freed Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai after telling them the Yunzhou rebellion had been defeated, then brought them to the Xu Residence in the capital. He also heard the Directorate of Astronomy disciples argue over who should succeed the Superintendent and agreed to report their contest to the Empress.

• Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai learned from the white-robed arcanists that Xu Qi'an had defeated the Yunzhou rebels and reached First Rank, leaving them stunned by their father's failed plans.
• Xu Qi'an told the siblings they were free and promised to take them to their birth mother, while they mistakenly assumed he meant to ransom them to their father.
• Yang Qianhuan, Song Qing, Chu Caiwei, and Sun Xuanji each revealed their reasons for competing to become the new Superintendent, and Xu Qi'an agreed to report the matter to the Empress.
• Xu Qi'an used a Shadow Jump to take Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai to the Xu Residence, where Xu Yuanshuang realized he had brought their mother back to the capital and felt ashamed of their hostility toward him.

Xu Qi'an brought Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai to live at the Xu Residence, where they learned that Xu Pingfeng, Ji Xuan, and their Yunzhou relatives were dead. As Xu Qi'an discussed his first-rank cultivation with Luo Yuheng, Lina sent word that Xu Lingyin had dreamed of the Gu God.

• Xu Qi'an reunited Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai with Ji Baiqing and brought them to the Xu Residence, where Xu Lingyue and Xu Xinnian reminded them of their past opposition to him.
• Xu Qi'an and Xu Xinnian discussed asking the Directorate of Astronomy to pay compensation for the Gu Race's fallen soldiers and speculated that Xu Pingfeng had sent the siblings to the capital as a contingency.
• Ji Baiqing warned Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai to avoid conflict with Xu Lingyue, then told them Xu Qi'an had killed Xu Pingfeng, Ji Xuan, their uncle, and their clanspeople.
• Xu Qi'an asked Luo Yuheng how a first-rank martial warrior could advance, and she said essence, Qi, and spirit had to improve together and suggested cultivating with her.
• Lina messaged Xu Qi'an that Xu Lingyin had dreamed of the Gu God, prompting him to react with surprise.

Xu Qi'an learned that the sealed Gu God had been teaching Xu Lingyin in dreams while its power in the Extreme Abyss grew stronger, and he prepared to investigate the Southern Frontier. The Gu Race chiefs feared the worsening seal and rising danger, while Xu Qi'an planned to test Lingyin before confronting the threat.

• Lina told the Heaven and Earth Society that the Gu God had appeared in Xu Lingyin's dreams, and Long Tu confirmed that the crack in the Confucian Sage's seal had spread to its chest.
• Xu Qi'an learned that Gu God's power in the Extreme Abyss had grown several times denser and said he would visit the Southern Frontier; Luo Yuheng declined to join him because she needed to stabilize her new Land Immortal realm.
• Xu Qi'an visited Huaiqing, who approved Erlang's plan to use the Directorate of Astronomy's wealth for the Gu Race warriors' death benefits and gave Xu Qi'an a letter for the Superintendent.
• Wei Yuan advised Xu Qi'an to borrow the Sub-Sage's Confucian Crown and records of Divination and Words Become Law from Cloud Deer Academy to test Xu Lingyin for concealed corruption.
• Heaven Gu Granny and the other chiefs discussed the loosening seal, the growing danger of Transcendent Gu beasts, and the difficulty of absorbing the Gu God's power safely.

Xu Qi'an discovered that the Gu God was reshaping Xu Lingyin’s Original Life Gu into the foundation of a true Seven Absolutes Gu and decided to take her back to the capital. He then told Heaven Gu Granny that he had come to advance his own Seven Absolutes Gu to the Transcendent Realm.

• Heaven Gu Granny called for eligible elders to attempt the Transcendent Realm, and the Strength Gu Tribe’s fifth elder and elders from other tribes volunteered.
• Xu Qi'an arrived at the Strength Gu Tribe and found Xu Lingyin and Lina carrying stones to help build a dam.
• Xu Qi'an suppressed the power of “Shift Stars and Swap Constellations” and saw that Xu Lingyin’s Original Life Gu had become a blood-red, seven-segmented insect.
• Heaven Gu Granny confirmed that the Gu God was laying the foundation for Xu Lingyin’s Strength Gu to become a true Seven Absolutes Gu, with Strength Gu as its foundation.
• Heaven Gu Granny advised Xu Qi'an to take Xu Lingyin out of the Southern Frontier, and Xu Qi'an said he had come to advance his Seven Absolutes Gu.

Xu Qi'an entered the Extreme Abyss to advance the Seven Absolutes Gu and learn about the great tribulation, while the Heaven Sect prepared to erase Li Miaozhen and Li Lingsu’s mortal memories. After the Seven Absolutes Gu reached the Transcendent Realm, the Gu God tried to possess Xu Qi'an but failed and demanded to know who he was.

• Heaven Gu Granny warned Xu Qi'an that advancing the Seven Absolutes Gu could let the Gu God invade him, but Xu Qi'an decided the risk was worth the increase in strength and left Xu Lingyin in her care.
• At the Heaven Sect, Primordial Lady Bingyi and Daoist Master Xuancheng told Li Miaozhen and Li Lingsu that the Heavenly Venerable wanted them to undergo a ritual that would erase their memories and sever their mortal ties.
• Xu Qi'an descended into the Extreme Abyss and absorbed the Gu God’s power through the Seven Absolutes Gu, causing the power around the abyss to gather into a vast vortex.
• Long Tu and the leaders of the Gu tribes sensed the disturbance and hurried toward the Extreme Abyss as their people prepared to evacuate.
• The Seven Absolutes Gu completed its advancement, then the Gu God’s will tried to possess Xu Qi'an but could not penetrate his sea of consciousness.
• The Gu God stopped its failed assault and asked Xu Qi'an who he was, saying it had never seen him while peering into the future.

Xu Qi'an questioned the Gu God about the changing futures, learning how the Superintendent’s choices had made him a key figure and how Transcendent Ranks had prevented martial warriors from becoming Martial Gods. After the Gu God withdrew from the Seven Absolutes Gu, Xu Qi'an examined the changes caused by its advancement.

• Xu Qi'an learned that the Gu God had seen the future change three times, including after the Superintendent appeared and after Xu Qi'an entered the picture.
• The Gu God revealed that Wei Yuan had originally been destined to become an important First Rank martial warrior, but the Superintendent’s choices shifted that role to Xu Qi'an.
• The Gu God explained that Transcendent Ranks had kept First Rank martial warriors from reaching Martial God because a Martial God could kill beings of their rank.
• Xu Qi'an questioned the Gu God about Lingyin, the ancient Gods and Devils’ slaughter, and the Transcendent Ranks’ plans, but the Gu God gave few direct answers.
• The Gu God withdrew from the Seven Absolutes Gu, and Xu Qi'an began examining the changes from its advancement to Transcendent.

Xu Qi'an stabilized the Seven Absolutes Gu after its advancement and assessed the new abilities of his Gu Arts. The Gu Race leaders realized he had caused the disturbance in the Extreme Abyss and found him there, relieved that he could handle the threat of Transcendent Gu beasts.

• Xu Qi'an reviewed the strengthened abilities of his Gu Arts and concluded that his overall strength was now the greatest among the First Ranks.
• The Strength Gu Tribe prepared to flee north after learning a Transcendent Gu beast might have emerged, but Lina told them Xu Qi'an was nearby and the elders decided to wait.
• The Gu Race leaders found that all seven kinds of the Gu God's power had weakened by about fifty percent and suspected multiple Transcendent Gu beasts had been born.
• Chun Yan learned from nearby birds that someone inside the Extreme Abyss had inspired utter fear in the Gu beasts, leading the leaders to identify Xu Qi'an as the likely cause.
• The leaders descended into the Extreme Abyss and greeted Xu Qi'an after he stabilized the Seven Absolutes Gu.

Xu Qi'an secured the Gu Race’s alliance and arranged compensation and schooling for the families of fallen soldiers. At the Heavenly Venerable’s Hall, Li Lingsu was sentenced to have his memories severed, while Li Miaozhen refused the same punishment and asked the Heavenly Venerable to grant her wish.

• Xu Qi'an promised the Gu Race an enduring alliance and offered compensation for its fallen soldiers, including free schooling for their descendants.
• Long Tu and the other chiefs welcomed the school plan, while Xu Qi'an clarified that places were limited and Strength Gu children would need to bring their own rice.
• The Heavenly Venerable and the elders judged Li Lingsu unable to attain Supreme Forgetfulness of Emotion and granted the order to sever his memories.
• The Heavenly Venerable recounted Li Miaozhen’s deeds and asked whether she would accept having her memories severed.
• Li Miaozhen refused, defended her choices and memories, and asked the Heavenly Venerable to grant her wish; he replied, “As you wish!”

Li Lingsu secured one day to try to save Li Miaozhen, while Xu Qi'an celebrated with the Gu Race and then visited the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox to discuss reaching Half-Step Martial God and attacking Aranda. As Xu Qi'an left the Southern Frontier, he received Li Lingsu's urgent message that the Heaven Sect was going to kill Li Miaozhen.

• Li Lingsu and Primordial Lady Bingyi persuaded the Heavenly Venerable to give them one day to counsel Li Miaozhen.
• Xu Qi'an attended the Gu Race's victory feast, where he learned Xu Lingyin had buried a chest of meat for him that had rotted.
• Xu Qi'an fulfilled his promise to You Shi by giving him the ancient corpse's remains, then spent the night with Luan Yu.
• Xu Qi'an visited the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, who explained that absorbing power from a compatible high-ranking being might help him advance to Half-Step Martial God.
• Xu Qi'an proposed attacking Aranda with the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons and Great Feng, and the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox agreed to try.
• As Xu Qi'an left the Hundred Thousand Mountains, he received Li Lingsu's message asking for help because the Heaven Sect was going to beat Li Miaozhen to death.

Xu Qi'an and other Heaven and Earth Society members rushed to the Heaven Sect to save Li Miaozhen from execution for refusing to have her memories cut away. The Heavenly Venerable asked what they wanted done, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Li Lingsu told the Heaven and Earth Society that the Heavenly Venerable planned to cut away his and Li Miaozhen's memories, and that Li Miaozhen had refused.
• Xu Qi'an, Daoist Jinlian, Luo Yuheng, and Asuro set out for the Heaven Sect after Li Lingsu pleaded for help.
• The Heaven Sect began flogging Li Miaozhen with a lightning scourge, and she refused Primordial Lady Bingyi's offer to spare her if she surrendered her memories.
• Xu Qi'an and the others broke through the mountain-protecting formation and confronted the Heaven Sect as Primordial Lady Bingyi prepared to strike Li Miaozhen again.
• Xu Qi'an invoked Li Miaozhen's Great Feng appointment, while Daoist Jinlian appealed to the Heaven Sect on behalf of the Heaven and Earth Society.
• The elders asked the Heavenly Venerable to decide, and he asked Xu Qi'an and his companions what they wanted done.

Xu Qi'an negotiated with the Heavenly Venerable and secured Li Miaozhen’s release from the Heaven Sect, then left with her and the other Transcendents. Li Lingsu followed after realizing he had been left behind, while the Heavenly Venerable ordered Primordial Lady Bingyi to prepare to advance to the second rank.

• Xu Qi'an found Li Miaozhen’s Primordial Spirit gravely weakened but sustained by a potent medicine, covered her with his robe, and entered the Heavenly Venerable Hall.
• Xu Qi'an learned that the Heaven and Human Contest let the Heaven and Human Sects plunder each other’s fundamental spiritual power, and that the Dao Venerable’s Human Sect avatar was still alive.
• Xu Qi'an threatened to begin the contest immediately unless the Heavenly Venerable released Li Miaozhen, then secured her release and set conditions for the future contest against Luo Yuheng.
• The Heavenly Venerable declared that Li Miaozhen had no further connection to the Heaven Sect, and Primordial Lady Bingyi returned Li Miaozhen’s Earth Book Fragment before Li Miaozhen left with Xu Qi'an and the others.
• Li Lingsu realized Xu Qi'an had not taken him along, then chased after the group when Daoist Master Xuancheng told him to leave.
• The Heavenly Venerable summoned Primordial Lady Bingyi and told her to settle her mortal attachments and prepare to advance to the second rank.

Daoist Jinlian and Xu Qi'an returned toward the capital while the Heaven and Earth Society discussed why the Heavenly Venerable had punished Li Miaozhen and what her future cultivation might be. As Xu Qi'an prepared for his wedding to Lin'an in ten days, the group planned to attend, Lina struggled with her Earth Book Fragment, and Li Lingsu tried to recruit Yang Qianhuan into a revenge scheme.

• Xu Qi'an told Luo Yuheng that the Heaven and Human Contest would temper her, while Huaiqing and Wei Yuan discussed state policies and the question of an heir.
• Xu Qi'an explained that the lightning-whip punishment had released the medicinal power inside Li Miaozhen, and Li Lingsu revealed that the Heavenly Venerable had been helping Primordial Lady Bingyi sever her attachment and advance.
• Daoist Jinlian proposed that Li Miaozhen join the Earth Sect, and the Heaven and Earth Society agreed she was suited to its cultivation methods.
• Huaiqing invited the Heaven and Earth Society to Xu Qi'an and Lin'an's wedding in ten days, while Xu Qi'an imagined the chaos his other romantic entanglements could cause.
• Lina struggled to receive messages through her Earth Book Fragment, and Xu Lingyin nearly ran into her mother before Lina pinned her down.
• Li Lingsu told Yang Qianhuan that Xu Qi'an's wedding offered a chance for revenge, but Yang refused to attend because he would have to bring a wedding gift.

Li Lingsu and Yang Qianhuan plotted to embarrass Xu Qi'an at his wedding, while the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox sent Yeji to congratulate him and cultivate by his side. At the Xu Residence, Xu Yuanhuai and Xu Yuanshuang discussed the supposedly dull-witted Xu Lingyin, then joined the family as Xu Qi'an tried to recruit help writing wedding invitations.

• Li Lingsu persuaded Yang Qianhuan to help make Xu Qi'an's wedding day embarrassing, and Yang eagerly agreed.
• Yeji reported what she had learned about Shenshu and the Mahavairocana Tathagata Dharma Idol to the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, who ordered her to bring wedding gifts to Xu Qi'an and stay with him to cultivate.
• Xu Yuanhuai and Xu Yuanshuang discussed their own talents and heard that Xu Lingyin had struggled to learn, so Ji Baiqing suggested they teach the child.
• Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai joined the family after Xu Lingyin returned to the Xu Residence.
• Xu Qi'an asked Xu Yuanshuang to help write wedding invitations, and she agreed before noticing that Xu Lingyue and Mu Nanzhi had refused to help.

Xu Qi'an and his family prepared for his wedding while Xu Yuanshuang learned that Xu Lingyin was an exceptionally talented Gu practitioner. After Xu Qi'an finished planning the invitations, Mu Nanzhi confronted him in private, while Xu Lingyin and Lina waited for meat in the courtyard.

• Xu Lingyue challenged Xu Yuanshuang over the wedding invitations, and Xu Qi'an stepped in to ease the embarrassment.
• Ji Baiqing suggested Xu Yuanshuang teach Xu Lingyin, then proposed that Xu Yuanhuai teach her martial arts, but Lina objected and revealed that she and her Third Rank father were already training Xu Lingyin in Gu Arts.
• Lina said Xu Lingyin had the strength of an Eighth Rank martial artist and could fight at Seventh Rank by the end of the year, astonishing Xu Yuanshuang, Xu Yuanhuai, and Ji Baiqing.
• Xu Qi'an reviewed his wedding guest list and considered how to manage the many potential guests and complications.
• Mu Nanzhi threatened to expose her relationship with Xu Qi'an, and he restrained her as they tussled over the desk.
• Xu Lingyin asked Lina to find meat, and a fox cub emerged from the flowerbed as they sat sharing pastries.

As Xu Qi'an prepared to marry Princess Lin'an, he dealt with Xu Lingyin’s attempt to eat Baiji and with the wedding arrangements, including a dispute over who would sit in the place of honor. Ji Baiqing quietly accepted that she might not be included in the ceremony, while Li Miaozhen woke at the Directorate of Astronomy and learned Xu Qi'an was marrying Lin'an; the chapter ended as the Empress Dowager went to check on the bride.

• Xu Lingyin and Lina tried to take Baiji to the kitchen to eat her, but Mu Nanzhi rescued the fox, and Xu Qi'an punished Xu Lingyin by making her balance a flowerpot on her head.
• A eunuch delivered imperial wedding gifts to Xu Qi'an, and the Xu family prepared for the final wedding rite of fetching the bride.
• Second Uncle Xu raised the question of whether Ji Baiqing or Auntie should sit in the place of honor, and Xu Qi'an reassured Auntie that she would retain the seat because she had raised him.
• Ji Baiqing told Xu Yuanshuang she had no regrets about missing Xu Qi'an’s wedding, though Xu Yuanshuang understood her mother still wished to attend as his mother.
• Li Miaozhen woke after five days at the Directorate of Astronomy and learned from Susu that Xu Qi'an was marrying Princess Lin'an the next day.
• On the morning of the wedding, crowds gathered along the route to the imperial city as the Empress Dowager inspected Lin'an’s lavish dowry and went to her bedchamber.

Lin'an and Xu Qi'an completed their elaborate wedding rites, then Xu Qi'an honored his birth mother Ji Baiqing with a private bow in the bridal chamber. As Lin'an worried that the State Preceptor might interrupt them, Xu Qi'an prepared to leave the chamber and greet the guests, confident he had a plan for the day's complications.

• The Empress Dowager oversaw Lin'an's bridal preparations and advised her to restrain her temper and manage her marriage to Xu Qi'an.
• Xu Qi'an led his bridal procession to Shaoyin Palace, where Lin'an left in a pheasant carriage and joined him on the journey back to the Xu Residence.
• Xu Qi'an and Lin'an performed their wedding bows before the Xu clan and retired to the bridal chamber.
• Xu Qi'an and Lin'an privately bowed to Ji Baiqing, and Xu Qi'an called her “Mother,” moving her to tears.
• Lin'an worried that the State Preceptor would attack her, and Xu Qi'an reassured her before leaving to greet the wedding guests.

Xu Qi'an welcomed guests to his wedding to Lin'an, including old friends, officials, and several women with complicated ties to him. As the banquet began, Li Lingsu and Yang Qianhuan started provoking the women seated together, setting the stage for a scene.

• Xu Qi'an welcomed County Magistrate Zhu and the Changle County officials, then Wang Simu and the Wang family's two young masters.
• Xu Qi'an received the Martial Arts Alliance leaders, Song Qing, Chu Caiwei, Yang Qianhuan, Li Miaozhen, and Li Lingsu, while trading jokes and bracing for their plans to tease the newlyweds.
• Wei Yuan arrived with Huaiqing, who attended the wedding for Lin'an, and Wei Yuan asked to sit near her so he could watch the drama.
• Daoist Jinlian and the Heaven and Earth Society members arrived, followed by Zhao Shou and Cloud Deer Academy's Great Confucians, including the newly Transcendent Yang Gong.
• Xu Qi'an's guests took their seats, with Huaiqing, Luo Yuheng, Li Miaozhen, Mu Nanzhi, Zhong Li, Lina, Chu Caiwei, and Wang Simu at one table as Li Lingsu and others watched for trouble.
• Yang Qianhuan lamented the women who would weep over Xu Qi'an's marriage, and Li Lingsu declared that Xu Qi'an was devoted only to Lin'an.