Chapter Summaries

At Governor Zhang’s banquet, Xu Qi'an exposed Administration Commissioner Song’s loquat trick, while Zhang read the political rivalry between Song and Yang Chuannan. Back at the courier station, Xu Qi'an studied Zhou Min’s codes and received a message from Number Two asking him questions.

• Xu Qi'an revealed how seedless loquats were produced, embarrassing Administration Commissioner Song and drawing Governor Zhang’s praise.
• Governor Zhang explained that Song and Yang Chuannan were rivals and interpreted the loquats as Song’s veiled suggestion to remove Yang.
• Li Miaozhen asked Yang Chuannan about Governor Zhang, and Yang warned that Xu Qi'an’s unusual saber and bearing made him worth watching.
• Xu Qi'an copied Zhou Min’s codes and reflected on martial cultivation while trying to solve the case.
• Number Two messaged Xu Qi'an to ask him questions in exchange for a condition, and he asked her to state them first.

Xu Qi'an watched Number One reveal his many accomplishments to Number Two, who had been seeking information about him and Jiang Lyuzhong. As the Heaven and Earth Society pieced together Xu Qi'an’s connections, Number Four deduced that Number Three was Xu Qi'an’s younger cousin.

• Number Two asked Number Three for information about Jiang Lyuzhong, and Xu Qi'an refused to disclose anything about the governor’s party.
• Number Four and Number Five challenged Number Two’s readiness to fight the governor’s party, and Xu Qi'an offered only superficial details about Jiang Lyuzhong.
• Number Two asked about Xu Qi'an, and Number One traded an account of his tax-silver case for a favor owed.
• Number One described Xu Qi'an’s role in the Mulberry Lake investigation, his clash with a Silver Gong, and his discoveries about the Qi Faction and Yunzhou’s bandits.
• Number One revealed that Xu Qi'an’s younger cousin studied at Cloud Deer Academy and had passed the provincial examination.
• Number Four connected Number Three’s knowledge of the Mulberry Lake case and Cloud Deer Academy to Xu Qi'an’s cousin, and concluded that Number Three was that cousin.

Xu Qi'an learned how the Heaven and Earth Society viewed his reputation and discovered that Li Miaozhen planned to use a charm spirit to approach him in Yunzhou. The chapter left him strolling through town with Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao, unaware that the seduction was about to begin.

• Number One told the Heaven and Earth Society that Xu Qi'an enjoyed Wei Yuan's trust, while Number Four interpreted his career as evidence of far-reaching ambition.
• Number Six explained that Xu Qi'an had generously lent him silver and promised to protect him, prompting Number Two to vow to keep Xu Qi'an safe in Yunzhou.
• Number Five asked whether Xu Qi'an would still provide Great Feng's princesses and State Preceptor as a package, and the group discussed Luo Yuheng's beauty and the Human Sect's cultivation.
• Xu Qi'an put away the Earth Book mirror and rested at the post station while Governor Zhang and the other Nightwatchers went to investigate Yunzhou.
• Xu Qi'an, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao left the post station in casual clothes, and Song Tingfeng suggested visiting the Imperial Music Bureau.
• Li Miaozhen instructed a charm spirit to seduce Xu Qi'an, observe him, and find out what he had discovered.

Li Miaozhen sent the charm spirit Susu to seduce Xu Qi'an and his colleagues and uncover their investigation's findings. Protected by Layman Ziyang's jade thumb ring, Xu Qi'an saw through Susu's disguise and trapped her in a flask while his colleagues remained under her illusions.

• Xu Qi'an, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao encountered Susu in White Emperor City, and Layman Ziyang's jade thumb ring helped Xu Qi'an recognize her paper-doll disguise.
• Li Miaozhen watched Susu join the three Nightwatchers and planned to use her charms to gather information while Jiang Lyuzhong and the arcanists were away.
• Susu questioned the men about their mission in a teahouse, but Xu Qi'an stopped Song Tingfeng from revealing confidential information.
• Xu Qi'an left to prepare a Spirit-Sealing Talisman in a wine flask, and Susu trapped Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao in sexual illusions.
• Xu Qi'an returned and pretended to succumb to Susu's spell, then captured her spirit in the flask when she demanded the investigation's findings.

Xu Qi'an interrogated the ghost Susu and learned that Li Miaozhen, the Heaven Sect’s Holy Maiden, sent her to investigate Zhou Min’s case and Yang Chuannan. In the capital, Wei Yuan read Jiang Lyuzhong’s report about Xu Qi'an’s unusual cultivation progress and marveled that it had taken him less than two months.

• Xu Qi'an woke Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao, then let them believe Susu had left after intimate encounters, leaving both men remorseful and longing to find her.
• Xu Qi'an released Susu from the wine pot’s seal and forced her to reveal that Li Miaozhen had sent her to seduce him and learn whether Zhou Min’s case threatened Yang Chuannan.
• Susu explained that Li Miaozhen was the Heaven Sect’s Holy Maiden, had not been involved in Zhou Min’s death, and had cultivated a close relationship with Yang Chuannan while suppressing bandits.
• Xu Qi'an asked Susu to follow him and resealed her inside the wine pot, keeping her possession ability at his disposal.
• Wei Yuan received Jiang Lyuzhong’s secret report that Xu Qi'an was nearing the Spirit Refining Realm while visualizing two diagrams, and reacted with astonishment at his rapid progress.

Wei Yuan learned that Xu Qi'an had reached the Spirit Refining Realm in less than two months, then attended a court assembly where officials approved admonition steles bearing a poem Xu Qi'an had written but credited to Yang Gong. The chapter left Wei Yuan preparing to speak up before Emperor Yuanjing about the poem’s authorship.

• Wei Yuan privately recognized Xu Qi'an’s extraordinary cultivation speed and dual visualization, but told the Gold Gongs only that Xu Qi'an had advanced to the Spirit Refining Realm.
• Wei Yuan and Nangong Qianrou went to the palace for the small court assembly, where officials agreed to investigate grain transport only in Yuzhou.
• Emperor Yuanjing proposed erecting admonition steles across Great Feng using a poem credited to Yang Gong, and the officials supported the plan.
• Wei Yuan realized the inscription was Xu Qi'an’s poem from the Heart-Questioning Trial and suspected the Qingzhou Provincial Administration Commission had omitted his name.
• Wei Yuan stepped forward to address Emperor Yuanjing about the poem.

Wei Yuan revealed that Xu Qi'an had written the poem credited to Yang Gong, while Yang Gong's boast about Xu's talent enraged Li Mubai, Zhang Shen, and Chen Tai. At the relay station, Xu Qi'an recruited Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao to investigate Zhou Min's cipher, and their first attempts to decode it from common books produced nonsense.

• Wei Yuan told Emperor Yuanjing that Xu Qi'an had composed the poem engraved on Qingzhou's admonition steles, and Emperor Yuanjing let the matter drop.
• Li Mubai read Yang Gong's letter praising Xu Qi'an and signing the poem as his teacher, prompting Li Mubai, Zhang Shen, and Chen Tai to erupt in anger.
• Xu Qi'an questioned Susu about her past before sealing her back inside the flask.
• Xu Qi'an asked Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao to help decipher Zhou Min's coded numbers and reasoned that the code referred to a book and its character counts.
• Song Tingfeng, Zhu Guangxiao, and Xu Qi'an tested the Three Character Classic, the Collected Statutes of Great Feng, and the Yunzhou Gazetteer, but their decoded phrases made no sense.

Xu Qi'an and his companions deciphered Zhou Min’s code and discovered it pointed to a black-market shop on Huangbo Street. After preparing to investigate that evening, Xu Qi'an meditated and thought about the flirtatious letters he had sent to Huaiqing and Lin'an.

• Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao failed to decode Zhou Min’s message from the books they searched, and Xu Qi'an realized they should look for something other than a book.
• Xu Qi'an identified Zhou Min’s almanac as the likely clue and interpreted the character “silent” as “black dog,” linking it to Huangbo Street’s black market.
• A relay-station attendant explained that the black market’s shops used heavenly stems and earthly branches, and Xu Qi'an learned that the code’s “black dog” pointed to the market.
• Xu Qi'an reasoned that the code used an almanac from fourteen years earlier, when Zhou Min had first been assigned to Yunzhou.
• Xu Qi'an and his companions decoded the old almanac’s entries as instructions to visit the black market after it opened and find shop Ding 15.
• Xu Qi'an returned to his room to meditate before the evening investigation and thought about how Huaiqing and Lin'an would react to his letters.

At the crown prince’s banquet, Huaiqing and Lin'an competed over Xu Qi'an before Huaiqing received his letter from Qingzhou and found a lotus poem tucked inside. Lin'an also received an unidentified letter from Qingzhou, leaving its sender and contents unknown.

• Lin'an bragged that Xu Qi'an had become her subordinate, but Huaiqing arrived and made her share the claim to him.
• At the banquet, the siblings praised Xu Qi'an’s poem about the admonition stele, and Huaiqing described his integrity and his visits to the Imperial Music Bureau.
• Huaiqing mentioned Xu Qi'an’s relationship with Fuxiang, angering Lin'an enough to leave the banquet.
• Huaiqing read Xu Qi'an’s long letter about the corruption case in Yu Province and discovered a lotus petal and an eloquent passage that she thought might express his feelings for her.
• Lin'an complained that Xu Qi'an had upset her, then learned that an unidentified letter from Qingzhou had arrived for her.

Xu Qi'an’s letters delighted Princess Lin'an, Fuxiang, Chu Caiwei, and his family, each reacting in their own way. Meanwhile, Xu Qi'an, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao entered a black-market dog meat shop on Huangbo Street, where they heard women talking inside.

• Princess Lin'an read Xu Qi'an’s letter, hid it with a dried petal, and ordered her maids to dress her in red; she also insisted they call him Sir Xu.
• Fuxiang received Xu Qi'an’s letter and joyfully read his teasing reminder to trim her nails when she missed him.
• Chu Caiwei read Xu Qi'an’s descriptions of Qingzhou’s food and left the Directorate of Astronomy to find a restaurant.
• Xu Lingyue read Xu Qi'an’s letters to the family, while Auntie was annoyed that her own message only asked her to care for Lingyin.
• Xu Qi'an, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao entered Huangbo Street in disguise and found Shop D-15, a dog meat shop with women’s voices inside.

Xu Qi'an recovered Zhou Min’s military-supply ledger from the lame shopkeeper in White Emperor City and prepared to deliver it to Governor Zhang. Meanwhile, Li Miaozhen discovered that her charm spirit had vanished, and Song Tingfeng announced that Xu Qi'an had a visitor.

• Xu Qi'an used Zhou Min’s jade pendant to obtain the ledger from the shopkeeper, who explained that Zhou Min had saved his life and entrusted the evidence to him.
• Xu Qi'an confirmed that the ledger documented military supplies missing from the Regional Military Commission, while Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao rejoiced that they had found evidence for Governor Zhang.
• Li Miaozhen realized her charm spirit had not returned and used a formation to discover that the spirit was missing, sealed, or outside the city.
• Xu Qi'an examined the ledger while Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao waited for Governor Zhang, then urged Zhu Guangxiao to seek Miss Susu.
• Song Tingfeng called from downstairs to tell Xu Qi'an that he had a visitor.

Xu Qi'an returned Susu to Li Miaozhen and gained her promise of a favor, then used her suspicions about Number Three to build her trust by implying that his cousin Cijiu was the person behind the identity. After Li Miaozhen left with Susu, Xu Qi'an revealed to Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao what they had done under Susu's illusion, leaving both men mortified.

• Li Miaozhen asked Xu Qi'an to return Susu, and he handed her over after she explained that the charm spirit needed her guidance to remain sane.
• Xu Qi'an walked with Li Miaozhen, discussed Yunzhou's weak military forces and bandit problem, and warned her not to assume Regional Military Commissioner Yang Chuannan was colluding with bandits.
• Li Miaozhen questioned Xu Qi'an about his cousin Cijiu, and Xu Qi'an encouraged her mistaken belief that Cijiu was Number Three, gaining her goodwill.
• Li Miaozhen released Susu and learned that Susu had told Xu Qi'an nearly everything about her identity and background.
• Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao asked Xu Qi'an what had happened under Susu's illusion, and he demonstrated their embarrassing actions until they hid under a table.

Xu Qi'an reconciled with Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao while Li Miaozhen learned that he had not investigated Zhou Min’s case and sent Yang Chuannan a letter. After the governor’s party returned to White Emperor City, Xu Qi'an revealed that he had obtained Zhou Min’s ledger.

• Xu Qi'an ended Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao’s silent treatment by promising to treat them to the Imperial Music Bureau, and they made him pledge not to reveal or mock what happened with Susu.
• Susu reported to Li Miaozhen that Xu Qi'an had spent his days visiting entertainment houses rather than investigating Zhou Min’s case, and Li Miaozhen sent a letter to Yang Chuannan.
• Yang Chuannan received the letter during a gathering with Governor Zhang and Yunzhou officials, then voiced support for a thorough investigation with newfound confidence.
• Governor Zhang worried that Yang Chuannan’s change in attitude signaled trouble, while Jiang Lyuzhong urged him to rely on Xu Qi'an to solve the case.
• When Governor Zhang returned to White Emperor City, he found Xu Qi'an exhausted from fifteen days of work and asked about Zhou Min’s code.
• Xu Qi'an told Governor Zhang that he had already obtained Zhou Min’s ledger, leaving the governor staring at him in surprise.

Xu Qi'an cracked Zhou Min's code and handed Governor Zhang the ledger, prompting a nighttime raid that ended with Yang Chuannan in custody. Li Miaozhen, unaware that the evidence had been found, ordered troops into the city and planned to visit Governor Zhang.

• Xu Qi'an gave Governor Zhang Zhou Min's ledger and explained how he had cracked the code, crediting Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao as well.
• Governor Zhang praised Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao for their supposed sacrifice against a vengeful spirit, while they tried to deny remembering it.
• Governor Zhang and Jiang Lyuzhong led Tiger Guards and Nightwatchers to Yang Chuannan's residence and fought their way inside.
• Jiang Lyuzhong defeated Yang Chuannan, and Governor Zhang announced that Zhou Min's ledger had been found before ordering Yang's arrest.
• Li Miaozhen learned that Yang Chuannan had been taken, questioned Susu about Xu Qi'an's investigation, and ordered troops to enter White Emperor City at dawn while planning to visit Governor Zhang.

Xu Qi'an questioned Yang Chuannan after uncovering a ledger implicating him in supplying mountain bandits, but Yang claimed the Qi Faction had made him a scapegoat and that another official was responsible. Li Miaozhen arrived at the relay station to ask whether the arrest had evidence, and Xu Qi'an admitted he had found the ledger while denying that he had done it.

• Governor Zhang confronted Yang Chuannan with the ledger, and Xu Qi'an took over questioning after Yang acknowledged his ties to the Qi Faction.
• Yang Chuannan denied colluding with the Shaman God Cult and claimed someone else had supplied the bandits, while the arcanists cautioned that memory-altering spells could make their Qi-Observing Technique unreliable.
• Xu Qi'an refused to help Yang Chuannan and said he could simply take him back to the capital; the relay station then began rotating guards and restricting entry and exit.
• Li Miaozhen arrived with Susu and asked to see Governor Zhang, while Tiger Guards on watch praised Xu Qi'an's case-solving ability.
• Li Miaozhen asked whether the governor had evidence against Yang Chuannan, and Xu Qi'an denied doing the deed before admitting he had only found the ledger.

Xu Qi'an questioned Li Miaozhen about her confidence in Yang Chuannan and learned that she had helped him investigate the Regional Military Commission. Li Miaozhen identified a missing Qi Faction official and drew his portrait, which Xu Qi'an recognized as the owner of a dog meat shop on Huangbo Street.

• Governor Zhang tried to dismiss Li Miaozhen's account, but Xu Qi'an asked him to hear her out.
• Li Miaozhen explained that she had secretly watched Yang Chuannan and trusted her Heaven Sect intuition about his character.
• Xu Qi'an argued that Li Miaozhen's intuition could not serve as evidence and said Yang Chuannan still bore responsibility as regional military commissioner.
• Li Miaozhen said she and Yang Chuannan had identified a Qi Faction official in the Regional Military Commission's Administration Office, but he had disappeared before they could arrest him.
• At Xu Qi'an's request, Li Miaozhen drew the missing official, and Xu Qi'an recognized him as the owner of the dog meat shop at Ding-15, Huangbo Street.

Xu Qi'an discovered that the dog-meat shopkeeper who had given him Zhou Min’s ledger was Liang Youping in disguise, but the ledger handoff made little sense and suggested someone had deliberately exposed a flaw. As the group debated who was behind the scheme, Zhu Guangxiao encountered Susu in the courier station’s hall.

• Xu Qi'an recognized Liang Youping in Li Miaozhen’s portrait as the lame shopkeeper who had given him the ledger, and learned that the real owner of Shop D-15 had disappeared after Liang took over.
• Xu Qi'an and his companions found Shop D-15 empty, then learned from nearby shopkeepers that Liang had closed it three days earlier and taken over about ten days before.
• Xu Qi'an told Governor Zhang and Jiang Lyuzhong how he had obtained the ledger and reasoned that someone in Yunzhou had found Zhou Min’s evidence before the governor’s party arrived.
• Li Miaozhen, Jiang Lyuzhong, and Governor Zhang examined why Liang had handed over the ledger, while Xu Qi'an questioned why Liang had exposed his identity when the scheme could have used someone else.
• Zhu Guangxiao woke to use the privy and saw Susu sitting in the courier station’s hall, mistaking her for a ghost.

Xu Qi'an took on the task of uncovering the truth behind Zhou Min’s murder and Yang Chuannan’s case, while Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao dealt with the unsettling arrival of Susu. The chapter ended with the two Nightwatchers realizing they had both dreamed of being interrogated about Liang Youping.

• Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng spotted Susu at the relay station and panicked, then Xu Qi'an explained that she had come with Li Miaozhen to discuss the case.
• Governor Zhang proposed checking the Regional Military Commission’s accounts and issuing a province-wide wanted notice for Liang Youping, while Jiang Lyuzhong suggested turning in Yang Chuannan if Liang could not be found.
• Xu Qi'an argued that they needed to uncover who had silenced Zhou Min and framed Yang Chuannan, and Governor Zhang assigned him to investigate further.
• Xu Qi'an told Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao that the dog-meat shop owner had been a registrar at the Regional Military Commission who was using a false identity.
• Zhu Guangxiao recalled dreaming that he had been locked up and questioned about Liang Youping, and Song Tingfeng revealed that he had dreamed the same thing.

Xu Qi'an learned that the Shaman God Cult had questioned Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao in their dreams about Liang Youping, complicating the Yunzhou case. After Susu revealed her past and asked him to investigate her family's deaths, Xu Qi'an received a late-night request for help from Number Two through the Earth Book.

• Xu Qi'an discovered that only Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao had been interrogated in their dreams about Liang Youping, and Jiang Lyuzhong confirmed the method belonged to the Shaman God Cult.
• Xu Qi'an told Governor Zhang, Li Miaozhen, and Jiang Lyuzhong about the dream interrogations, but they could not explain why the Shaman God Cult was seeking Liang Youping.
• Susu told Xu Qi'an that her family had died after her father was executed, and that a Diviner had said her family's case was connected to the Directorate of Astronomy.
• Xu Qi'an promised to investigate Susu's family's deaths and sent her away, then received a message from Number Two asking the Earth Book group for help in Yunzhou.

Li Miaozhen used the Earth Book chat group to analyze the Yunzhou case, and its members suspected Liang Youping had gone missing and might be connected to an arcanist from the Directorate of Astronomy. The next morning, she presented the deductions to Governor Zhang, then Yunzhou officials arrived to discuss Yang Chuannan’s arrest, raising suspicion that they were probing the investigation.

• Li Miaozhen described the Yunzhou case to the Earth Book group, and Number One proposed that Liang Youping was either not a Qi Faction member or had gone missing.
• Xu Qi'an and the others reasoned that the Shaman God Cult’s dream interrogation might mean it believed Liang Youping had fallen into the Nightwatchers’ or an arcanist’s hands, and warned Governor Zhang to prepare for further probes.
• The group discussed Xu Qi'an’s rapid progress toward the Spirit Refining Realm, while Number Five revealed that she had advanced two ranks in just over four months.
• Li Miaozhen told Governor Zhang, Jiang Lyuzhong, and Xu Qi'an that she had solved the case, then pretended to have made the deductions herself and enjoyed Xu Qi'an’s praise.
• A Tiger Guard reported that Administration Commissioner Song and other officials had come to visit, and Governor Zhang and the others suspected the visit might be another probe from the hidden mastermind.