Chapter Summaries

At court, Liu Yu reported the demonic infiltration of Liuzhou, and the emperor approved Duke of Qin Lu Ming’s plan to purge the region’s officials and send investigators. Lu Ming proposed appointing Chen Qing to lead Liuzhou, linking the promotion to the search for Thousand-Faced Fox, and the emperor agreed.

• Liu Yu recounted how Thousand-Faced Fox and Painted Skin Mister had infiltrated and controlled officials in Liuzhou.
• The minister of personnel called for Yuchi Peng to be punished, but military commanders defended the Yuchi Household and argued with the civil officials.
• Lu Ming proposed recalling Liuzhou’s officials for investigation and replacing them with examination graduates and spellcasters, and the emperor approved the plan.
• The emperor asked for a candidate to lead Liuzhou, and Lu Ming recommended Chen Qing based on his service and resistance to Thousand-Faced Fox’s influence.
• Lu Ming connected Chen Qing’s promotion to the crown prince’s consort selection and the search for Thousand-Faced Fox, and the emperor agreed to promote him to the fifth rank.

Chen Qing learned that the Duke of Qin had recommended him to investigate the Thousand-Faced Fox, a case that could make him prefect of Liuzhou but put him amid dangerous political intrigue. While visiting the mourning Yuchi estate to look for clues, he invited the injured Wei Gongcheng to join him in Liuzhou, and Wei asked whether Chen Qing was recruiting him.

• Wang Ye explained that the Duke of Qin had recommended Chen Qing, who would investigate the Thousand-Faced Fox alongside Pei Jun while Yuchi Peng protected him.
• Chen Qing learned that Lu Hongqing, Jiangnan's education commissioner, was the Duke of Qin's estranged fourth son and suspected the family might be connected to the case.
• Chen Qing went to the Yuchi estate, where Wei Gongcheng told him that using the Feigning Death Secret Technique had badly injured his spine and left him unable to serve Yuchi Peng.
• Wei Gongcheng introduced his elder brother Wei Gongyan, who had taken his place beside Yuchi Peng while Yuchi Peng observed mourning for the murdered matriarch.
• Chen Qing invited Wei Gongcheng to accompany him to Liuzhou, and Wei asked if Chen Qing was recruiting him.

Chen Qing recruited Wei Gongcheng while investigating the Thousand-Faced Fox’s plan to disrupt the crown prince’s consort selection. Yuchi Peng offered to help Chen Qing recruit Wei if he solved the case, which could make Chen Qing prefect of Liuzhou, though failure could cost him his life.

• An imperial recorder wrote that Chen Qing had recruited Wei Gongcheng, and the report flew away as a paper crane.
• Chen Qing asked Wei Gongcheng to join him and revealed that Wei’s birth and crippled condition could leave him without a secure place in either household.
• After Chen Qing patted Wei’s shoulder, Wei felt a prick in his numb lower body and was left wondering whether his condition might improve.
• Chen Qing discovered that the black-armored guard accompanying him was a paper-drawn figure and began investigating the consort candidates for the Thousand-Faced Fox.
• Wei Gongcheng sent Chen Qing the selection list, while Vice Minister Pei arrived to meet him.
• Yuchi Peng told Chen Qing that solving the case could make him prefect of Liuzhou and promised to help recruit Wei Gongcheng if Chen succeeded.

Chen Qing and Fei Jun investigated the crown prince’s consort candidates and narrowed the possible leak to powerful figures who knew the real list. Chen Qing’s questions about the crown prince’s private meetings with Yang Lin’s second daughter left him suspecting a serious scandal, possibly involving a threat as dangerous as a nine-tailed fox.

• Fei Jun dismissed the Ministry of Rites’ broad candidate list and gave Chen Qing a shorter confidential list of fewer than thirty names.
• Fei Jun said all eight dukes residing in the capital knew the real list, prompting Chen Qing and Yuchi Peng to consider who could have helped Thousand-Faced Fox.
• Yuchi Peng and Fei Jun clashed over the tensions between bloodline families and sorcerers, then stopped before their power overwhelmed Chen Qing.
• Chen Qing warned that someone could replace a candidate if the list had leaked, and asked whether the crown prince favored anyone.
• Fei Jun admitted the crown prince had privately met Yang Lin’s second daughter, and Chen Qing pressed him on whether they had illicit relations.
• Fei Jun’s evasions convinced Chen Qing that the crown prince might have crossed the bounds of propriety, leaving him fearing a major threat.

Chen Qing and Fei Jun hurried to the vice minister of rites' residence after suspecting the Thousand-Faced Fox had infiltrated the Yang Household, but they found the entire household slaughtered and the prospective crown princess dead. As Chen Qing investigated how the enemy learned of their suspicions, he realized its plan might not depend on winning the crown prince's favor at all.

• Chen Qing challenged Fei Jun's assumption that the Yang Household's daughter could not have been replaced, and Fei Jun sent a Vermilion Bird spell to consult the crown prince.
• The emperor ordered Liu Yu to stop the fox demon from escaping, while Chen Qing, Fei Jun, and Yuchi Peng rode to the vice minister of rites' residence.
• They met Liu Yu outside, learned he had arrived earlier, and entered to find every member of the Yang Household hanging dead, including the prospective crown princess.
• Liu Yu revealed that the crown prince's trusted guard had vanished, and Chen Qing suspected the enemy had learned of their investigation and staged the killings as a provocation.
• Chen Qing questioned whether Fei Jun's spell or the paper guard had leaked information, but neither appeared likely to have done so.
• Considering the upcoming consort selection, Chen Qing realized the fox might not need to become the crown prince's consort and formed a frightening new hypothesis.

The empress persuaded the emperor to eat and to go to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, while Liu Yu and Chen Qing hurried into the palace over the missing crown prince’s deputy commanders. Chen Qing warned that the Thousand-Faced Fox might be targeting the emperor, leaving Liu Yu and Fei Jun to face the possibility of an attack on the dynasty’s ruler.

• The empress brought the emperor a meal, and he complained that the crown prince had secretly met a minister’s daughter.
• The empress reminded the emperor of his own youthful courtship, and he agreed that the crown prince would be disciplined but not severely punished.
• The empress invited the emperor to spend the night at the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, and he eagerly accepted.
• Liu Yu and Chen Qing gained entry through Vermilion Bird Gate after Chen Qing suggested that the crown prince might have been replaced.
• Liu Yu reasoned that the fox demon had trapped the crown prince and would soon need to act, while Chen Qing proposed that its next target was the emperor.
• Chen Qing privately considered that the Thousand-Faced Fox could use the emperor’s fortune to reach its final form and threaten the Great Jin dynasty.

Chen Qing warned Liu Yu that the Thousand-Faced Fox might be deceiving the emperor through the empress, and they rushed to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Liu Yu shattered its protective formations, and the emperor appeared furious as he demanded to know whether the empress was an impostor.

• Liu Yu learned that the emperor and empress had gone to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility and that the crown prince had visited them.
• Chen Qing explained that the fox demon could become far more dangerous by feeding on the fortune of a founding emperor, then vowed to risk his life to protect the sovereign.
• Liu Yu sent Yuchi Peng and Fei Jun outside the palace and took Chen Qing to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
• Liu Yu dispelled the palace's spell barriers, provoking the emperor to descend in golden flames.
• Liu Yu explained the danger to the emperor, who turned on Chen Qing and demanded to know whether the empress was an impostor.

The emperor discovered Empress Luo’s gruesome death and ordered Chen Qing to find the Thousand-Faced Fox before dawn or face the extermination of his family. Meanwhile, Lu Ming’s fellow dukes pressed him to consider a rebellion, but he feared the Golden Crow’s power and the consequences of upheaval.

• Chen Qing told the emperor that Empress Luo had likely met with misfortune, and the emperor realized her silence confirmed his fear.
• The emperor found Empress Luo’s corpse hanging at the hall entrance, wrapped her in his robe, and carried her inside.
• The emperor ordered Chen Qing to find the Thousand-Faced Fox before dawn, promising him a title and governorship if he succeeded and threatening his family if he failed.
• At the Drunken Immortal Tower, Lu Ming questioned four fellow dukes about the incident while golden flames blazed above the imperial palace.
• A duke urged Lu Ming to lead their brothers in a gamble for power, but Lu Ming warned that the Golden Crow’s world-destroying legend was no mere tale.

After Chen Qing and Liu Yu deduced that the fox demon had likely used a Ghost Horse and the Yin-Yang Road to escape the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Chen Qing identified Mr. Bai as the remaining clue. The emperor brought Chen Qing to the Thousand-Crane Palace, where Chen Qing called Mr. Bai “Mr. Origami,” and Mr. Bai revealed that he had served the Xiao Household for three hundred years.

• Chen Qing and Liu Yu reasoned that the fox demon could have hidden and retrieved the empress’s corpse through the Yin-Yang Road using a disguised Ghost Horse.
• Liu Yu explained that the palace’s shifting spell formations and the Heart-Questioning Mirror made it unlikely that a compromised spellcaster had enabled the escape.
• Chen Qing concluded that there was only one possibility left and identified Mr. Bai’s Thousand-Crane Palace as the place to investigate.
• Mr. Bai continued sending paper creatures around the palace while an old eunuch warned new servants not to follow or damage them.
• The emperor flew to the Thousand-Crane Palace in Golden Crow flames with Chen Qing, who identified Mr. Bai as Mr. Origami.
• Mr. Bai smiled and said that in his three hundred years serving the Xiao Household, this was the first time anyone had called him by that name.

Chen Qing exposed Mr. Bai as the palace insider who helped the Thousand-Faced Fox, and the emperor confronted him but could not attack while pregnant consorts were held hostage. The emperor agreed to Chen Qing’s demands for his family’s titles and ordered him to identify the fox among the consorts before dawn.

• Chen Qing deduced that Mr. Bai had supplied the Thousand-Faced Fox with the palace’s spell formation map, but the emperor demanded proof before acting against his longtime servant.
• Chen Qing revealed that the last Black Tortoise sorcerer had imprisoned Mr. Origami until the previous generation’s Thousand-Faced Fox helped him, shocking Mr. Bai and confirming the emperor’s suspicions.
• Mr. Bai admitted that A Li had the Ghost Horse and his spell map, while Chen Qing reasoned that A Li would leave the dangerous Yin Road and hide at Mr. Bai’s home.
• The emperor’s golden flames exposed pregnant imperial consorts held hostage in the rear hall, forcing him to stop his attack; Mr. Bai warned that the crown prince might have died on the Yin Road.
• The emperor ordered Chen Qing to find the Thousand-Faced Fox before dawn, and Chen Qing negotiated a hereditary marquisate and a fourth-rank title for his mother in exchange.
• Chen Qing approached the consorts and asked them to stand apart so he could identify the fox.

Chen Qing identified A Li among the imperial consorts by the fox scent hidden beneath her medicinal fragrance, but the emperor’s pursuit was disrupted when Mountain Ghost rescued her and Liu Yu escaped with the crown prince. Mr. Origami then confronted Chen Qing about how he knew the secret of reincarnation, also asking how the King of Qin had learned it.

• Chen Qing sniffed the abducted consorts and recognized Noble Consort Feng as A Li, calling her Sister-in-law Cui.
• A Li asked how Chen Qing had found her, and Chen Qing explained the Thousand-Faced Fox’s hidden fox fragrance and medicinal cover scent.
• A Li reached for Chen Qing while asking about reincarnation, but the emperor severed her arm; her face changed, briefly stunning him.
• Mountain Ghost arrived on a Ghost Horse and carried A Li through the Yin-Yang Road, while Liu Yu and the emperor followed after forcing the road open.
• Mr. Origami approached Chen Qing and asked how he knew about reincarnation, then wondered how Chen Qing and the King of Qin had discovered the secret.

Chen Qing learned that Mr. Bai believed the King of Qin was an uncanny being like him before Mr. Bai burned himself to escape imprisonment. After the emperor returned without the crown prince, he ordered Chen Qing to find him, and Chen Qing agreed in exchange for the Ghost Horse and Wang Ye's help.

• Mr. Bai gathered Golden Crow flames, set himself on fire, and suggested that Chen Qing and the King of Qin were the same kind of existence.
• Chen Qing left Thousand Cranes Hall and told Yuchi Peng and Fei Jun that Mr. Bai was dead.
• The emperor returned with Mountain Ghost's severed head, but the crown prince was still missing; Liu Yu arrived with the captured Ghost Horse.
• The emperor demanded that Chen Qing find the crown prince, promising not to kill or investigate him if he succeeded.
• Chen Qing asked for the Ghost Horse and Wang Ye, vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, to help rescue the crown prince.

Chen Qing and Wang Ye enlisted Ghost Child to locate the missing crown prince and learned that he was trapped in the Tomb of King Xiang. As the crown prince's defenders neared collapse against endless ghosts, a mysterious figure appeared and made the ghosts prostrate themselves.

• Chen Qing confirmed that Wang Ye had kept Ghost Child secret from Liu Yu and persuaded him to help question the Ghost Horse.
• Wang Ye used Flying Star to transport Chen Qing and the Ghost Horse to Ghost Child, while Liu Yu secured the emperor's promise to trust Wang Ye.
• Ghost Child subdued the Ghost Horse and learned that the crown prince was in the dangerous Tomb of King Xiang.
• The gravely weakened crown prince urged his defenders to escape and warn the palace that a fox demon had assumed his appearance.
• The crown prince's attendant proposed borrowing General Hong's heart for a secret art that could help the crown prince escape.
• A mysterious frail figure appeared behind the ghost army, mocked the exchange, and caused the ghosts to prostrate themselves in fear.

A powerful old man confronted the crown prince and exposed his feigned weakness and cruelty toward his guards. Just as the prince prepared to flee with help from Chen Qing, Wang Ye, and Ghost Child, Chen Qing identified the old man as Senior King Chujiang.

• The old man stopped Hong Wu’s mighty saber strike between two fingers and mocked the crown prince for abandoning his subordinates.
• The old man killed Xun Ruo with a glob of phlegm, and the crown prince revealed that he still had strength and Golden Crow flames.
• The crown prince ordered Hong Wu to hold off the old man, but Hong Wu chose to stand his ground despite the danger.
• Chen Qing, Wang Ye, and Ghost Child arrived, and Wang Ye explained their agreement to repay Ghost Child with the flesh and blood of ten thousand cattle and horses.
• Chen Qing warned the crown prince that fleeing would mean death, then bowed to the old man and addressed him as Senior King Chujiang.

Chen Qing and the others escaped Yin-Yang Road after discovering the old man and his ghosts could not enter the Tomb of King Xiang, but the old man warned he would seek Chen Qing out once King Xiang was reborn. Back in the capital, Chen Qing was summoned to the palace while Wang Ye learned that Thousand-Faced Fox was alive and had been spared by the emperor.

• Chen Qing revealed that his ancestor had known Mister Donghua, causing the old man to recoil from the barrier around the Tomb of King Xiang and ask whether Donghua was still alive.
• Wang Ye used the Evening Elephant to stabilize Ghost Horse’s passage, and the crown prince, Hong Wu, and the others escaped Yin-Yang Road.
• The old man warned Chen Qing that King Xiang was about to be reborn and promised to come looking for him; Chen Qing admitted he did not know whether Donghua was alive.
• After reaching the capital, Chen Qing was taken to the palace by guards, while the crown prince had already flown back to the royal capital and Hong Wu thanked Chen Qing for saving them.
• At the Duke of Song’s residence, Liu Yu told Wang Ye that Thousand-Faced Fox had survived and that the emperor had spared her after she revealed an important secret.

The emperor ordered Chen Qing to take up his post in Liuzhou, betrothed him to Princess Yong'an, and prepared a beautiful concubine for him. Meanwhile, Wang Ye and Liu Yu deduced that the Thousand-Faced Fox was carrying the crown prince’s child, revealing the emperor’s desperate gamble to preserve the Xiao Household.

• A sorcerer told the emperor that the crown prince’s vitality had been depleted and his foundation damaged, leaving him unable to have children.
• The emperor ordered Chen Qing to depart for Liuzhou and said he would bring Chen Qing’s family there from Qi County.
• The emperor betrothed Chen Qing to Princess Yong'an and offered him a concubine so he could have children before the wedding.
• A familiar woman emerged as Chen Qing’s intended concubine, leaving him stunned.
• Wang Ye deduced that the Thousand-Faced Fox was carrying the crown prince’s child, and Liu Yu confirmed that the emperor had spared her for that reason.
• Liu Yu explained that the emperor was gambling on the child inheriting both bloodlines to save the Xiao Household from political collapse and possible extermination.

Princess Yong'an learned that Chen Qing was intended to be her husband and grew shy about meeting him, while Noble Consort Dong worried over the match and the emperor’s motives. On the road, Chen Qing confronted the fox demon about her pregnancy and revealed that he suspected she had convinced the emperor the child belonged to the crown prince.

• Noble Consort Dong told Princess Yong'an that Chen Qing was to marry her and described him as brave, refined, and handsome enough to suit her tastes.
• Noble Consort Dong said Chen Qing would meet Yong'an before leaving the capital, then privately worried about his distant posting and the emperor granting him a concubine before the wedding.
• Chen Qing recoiled from the fox demon, who had taken the appearance of Cui Yan’s wife and teased him as she followed him.
• Chen Qing deduced that the emperor was protecting the fox demon because she carried a child of the Xiao Household, and she remarked that he seemed like a reincarnated demon.
• Chen Qing asked how the fox demon had made the emperor believe her unborn child belonged to the crown prince, and her reaction confirmed his suspicion.

Chen Qing questioned the Thousand-Faced Fox about Cui Yan’s child and learned she had used the crown prince’s Golden Crow power to conceal the child’s true parentage. He then met Noble Consort Dong at the palace, where she mentioned that the Duke of Song had died suddenly.

• Chen Qing asked the Thousand-Faced Fox why she bore Cui Yan’s child, and she said she had loved him despite his fear when he learned she was a demon.
• The fox explained that she had wrapped Golden Crow power from the crown prince’s primal yang around the embryo to fool the emperor.
• Chen Qing learned the fox could not reincarnate yet because she was waiting for something, though she did not reveal what it was.
• Xiao Mingxue’s matron urged her to prepare to meet Chen Qing and learn how to manage a household after marriage.
• Noble Consort Dong met Chen Qing in the reception hall and teased him about the concubine the emperor had bestowed on him.
• Noble Consort Dong told Chen Qing that the Duke of Song had died suddenly the previous day.

Chen Qing learned that Duke of Song Liu Yu had died and attended his funeral, where officials mourned the powerful sorcerer and speculated about his fate. After Chen Qing paid his respects, several prominent men called him over, leaving him surprised by the attention.

• Noble Consort Dong told Chen Qing that Duke of Song Liu Yu had suddenly died, then left him to speak with Princess Xiao Mingxue.
• Officials from across the capital gathered at Liu Yu's funeral, where the crown prince presided and Wang Ye arrived as a guest.
• Chen Qing arrived to offer incense, exchanged tense words with the crown prince, and mourned Liu Yu's sacrifice.
• Fei Jun and Yuchi Peng both invited Chen Qing to sit with them, and an unfamiliar thin man in black also called him over.

At a banquet, Chen Qing met the Duke of Qin and learned that the court was divided among three powerful factions. As Wang Ye explained the political stakes and delivered a mysterious book from the Duke of Song, Chen Qing opened it with him, revealing spatial runes and leaving them poised to discover its contents.

• Chen Qing accepted the Duke of Qin’s invitation at the banquet, learned his identity, and thanked him for recommending him to become prefect.
• After the banquet, Wang Ye told Chen Qing that his master, the Duke of Song, had left something for him.
• The Duke of Qin and Minister Chen discussed Chen Qing while the crown prince worried about shifting alliances after Liu Yu’s death.
• Wang Ye explained the court’s three factions and how Chen Qing’s choice of whom to sit with could affect how others perceived his loyalties.
• Wang Ye gave Chen Qing a spell-bound black book, and Chen Qing opened it beside him as spatial runes flashed across its pages.