Recaps

Jun Jingyi’s restaurant drew Tianfu City’s elite with discounted Dukang Liquor and a poetry contest offering prizes and fame. After the contest ended, Liu Xuan challenged Jun Jingyi to come out and compose a poem.

• A middle-aged man announced discounted Dukang Liquor and a poetry contest at the Journey to the West Restaurant.
• The crowd grew excited when the restaurant offered wine prizes and promised to display the top three poems across its Tianfu City locations.
• The restaurant became a popular topic throughout Tianfu City, and the county magistrate, a Jin Family member, and the eighth prince judged the contest.
• Liu Xuan of the Liu Family took first place and called on Jun Jingyi to compose a poem himself.

When scholars challenged Jun Jingyi to write a poem at the Journey to the West Restaurant, he answered with “Immortal at the Magpie Bridge,” stunning the crowd and silencing his critics. Jun Yixue proudly delivered the poem, while Bai Ruoli wondered who had inspired it.

• Tianfu scholars, resentful of Jun Jingyi’s fame, urged him to prove his talent at the restaurant.
• Jun Jingyi stopped the angry Jun Yixue and began writing a poem for the gathering.
• Jun Jingyi wrote “Immortal at the Magpie Bridge” without hesitation, impressing Sikong Ye and Jun Yixue.
• Jun Jingyi asked Jun Yixue to take the poem downstairs, and she happily delivered it to the scholars.
• The poem left the scholars and guests stunned, while Bai Ruoli wondered who Jun Jingyi had written it for.

As the protagonists’ meeting approached, Jun Jingyi worried that the main plot would put his life in danger and decided to focus on gaining the strength to protect himself. He asked Sikong Ye about the Yan Kingdom’s jianghu, whose grim reality was far removed from his romantic idea of it.

• Jun Jingyi’s Qixi poems spread across Great Yan, and Jiangnan’s scholars recognized him as their leading poet.
• Jun Jingyi learned that the eighth prince had invited Bai Ruoli to treat his illness, meaning she was about to meet the male lead and begin the main plot.
• Jun Jingyi decided he could not stop the protagonists’ meeting and resolved to accelerate his plans and build up his martial strength.
• Jun Jingyi asked Sikong Ye to explain the Yan Kingdom’s jianghu, and Sikong Ye described it as a world of slaughter, feuds, and massacres.

Jun Jingyi learned that Tianfu City's jianghu was controlled by gangs and that its righteous and demonic factions were driven largely by money and survival. He decided to use his wealth to gather beggars into the Beggar Sect, and the young man in black agreed to help him.

• The young man in black explained that the Golden Dragon Gang, the Earth Tiger Gang, and the Heaven and Earth Gang controlled Tianfu City's underworld.
• He told Jun Jingyi that jianghu people struggled to survive, and that many so-called righteous and demonic groups served wealth or desperation.
• Jun Jingyi asked the young man in black to help him establish a sect and recruit beggars.
• Jun Jingyi named the group the Beggar Sect and insisted that beggars were people worth helping.
• The young man in black agreed to let Jun Jingyi proceed, and Jun Jingyi declared that establishing the Beggar Sect was the first step.

Jun Jingyi used charitable porridge to establish a Beggar Sect, intending to build an intelligence network against Great Yan. As he wandered the streets without Sikong Ye, he encountered Li Young Master abducting a girl and ordered his guards to intervene.

• Jun Jingyi’s porridge stalls drew public praise, and Bai Ruoli and Lian'er began to doubt that he was entirely bad.
• Jun Jingyi told Sikong Ye to establish the Beggar Sect, hoping to use beggars as spies because their backgrounds were difficult for the imperial court to investigate.
• Sikong Ye agreed to get results and left, while Jun Jingyi felt uneasy about losing his protection.
• Jun Jingyi encountered Li Young Master pursuing a terrified girl in green while Li Family guards dragged away her parents’ bodies.
• Jun Jingyi sent the Jun Family guards to attack Li Young Master and his men.

Jun Jingyi learned that the woman he had directed to the county yamen was falsely accused and handed over to the Li Family, likely through the Eighth Prince’s influence. He grew cold toward the men behind it, while the Eighth Prince dismissed Jun Jingyi’s response and ordered the woman’s family buried in a mass grave.

• Jun Jingyi asked Steward Wang about the county yamen and learned that the woman’s complaint had already been dismissed as false, with her sent to the Li Family.
• Jun Jingyi suspected the Li Family and the county yamen had acted to provoke him, and he grew increasingly troubled and angry.
• At the Eighth Prince’s residence, a guard reported that the woman had been delivered to the Li Family and that the Jun Residence had made no further move.
• The Eighth Prince mocked Jun Jingyi and ordered the woman’s family placed in a mass grave.

Jun Jingyi questioned whether the Eighth Prince was truly the protagonist and asked Bai Ruoli how she felt about him. Bai Ruoli warned that the Eighth Prince was a bad person, while Jun Jingyi’s blunt question about whether she would marry him left her wondering if he was jealous.

• Jun Jingyi spent the day brooding over the Eighth Prince’s actions and whether confronting him was worth the risk.
• Bai Ruoli visited the Jun Residence after Jun Yixue encouraged her, though she regretted agreeing to come.
• Jun Jingyi asked Bai Ruoli what she thought of the Eighth Prince, and she warned him to stay away from the man.
• Jun Jingyi asked whether Bai Ruoli would be willing to marry the Eighth Prince, making Lian'er amused and Bai Ruoli wonder if he was jealous.

Jun Jingyi was relieved when Bai Ruoli assured him she would not marry the Eighth Prince, and he began plotting against the Li Family’s Second Young Master. After sharing a meal with Bai Ruoli and Lian'er, he returned to the Jun Residence and started writing a story.

• Bai Ruoli told Jun Jingyi that she would not marry the Eighth Prince, easing his jealousy and suspicion.
• Jun Jingyi decided the Eighth Prince was not the protagonist and chose the Li Family’s Second Young Master as his first target.
• Jun Jingyi went to prepare food, and Bai Ruoli and Lian'er eagerly ate the dishes he served.
• At the Jun Residence that night, Jun Jingyi wrote a story about a chivalrous jianghu, spirited horses, and wine.

A tale about the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and the Heaven-Reliant Divine Sword reignited interest in two destroyed families and sent the martial world into turmoil. At the Eighth Prince’s residence, the prince saw the weapons as a chance to gain power, while his guard suspected a trap and wondered whether its author knew the weapons were real.

• Stories about the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and Heaven-Reliant Sword spread through Tianfu City, stirring up the commoners and martial factions.
• The martial world learned that the Li Family and Zhang Family had once wielded the weapons, risen to power, and been destroyed after their conflict brought catastrophe.
• The Eighth Prince recalled that Great Yan’s founding ancestor and empress had possessed a divine saber and sword, and wondered whether they had been the legendary weapons.
• A guard reported that the Heavenly Constabulary records said the emperor had secretly supported the Li Family and Zhang Family to divide the martial world.
• The Eighth Prince dismissed his guard’s warning that the revelation might be a trap, arguing that the chance to obtain two weapons and divine arts was worth the risk.
• The Eighth Prince revealed that Great Yan’s founding weapons had indeed been an exceptionally sharp saber and sword, leaving the guard to wonder whether the schemer had anticipated that fact.

Jun Jingyi learned that Sikong Ye belonged to Northern Wei’s imperial clan and weighed whether he could pursue his plans beyond Great Yan. He agreed to take Sikong Ye to see the weapons, while considering how to prevent Northern Wei and Eastern Chu from joining forces with Great Yan.

• Sikong Ye told Jun Jingyi that he was not from Yan Kingdom but Northern Wei, though he refused to reveal his full identity.
• Jun Jingyi recalled Great Yan’s unrest and decline, including the eldest prince’s brutal suppression of a major rebellion five years earlier.
• Jun Jingyi connected Sikong Ye to the escaped child of Sikong Baixing, whose family had been executed for treason in Northern Wei.
• Sikong Ye assured Jun Jingyi that he would not inform Great Yan’s court about the divine weapons.
• Jun Jingyi agreed to take Sikong Ye to see the weapons and considered making arrangements in Northern Wei and Eastern Chu, even replacing their rulers if necessary.

Jun Jingyi showed Sikong Ye the mass-produced Dragon Slaying Sabers and Heaven Reliant Swords, and Sikong Ye discovered that one saber could break his treasured sword. Sikong Ye suspected Jun Jingyi was preparing to rebel against Great Yan but chose to support him, while Jun Jingyi secretly dismissed the hidden figures watching them.

• Jun Jingyi showed Sikong Ye the sabers and swords the blacksmiths had forged using his iron-smelting method.
• Sikong Ye tested a Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber against his longsword, and the saber broke the sword without suffering damage.
• Sikong Ye saw the large stockpile of divine weapons and suspected Jun Jingyi was preparing a rebellion.
• Jun Jingyi said he only wanted to protect himself, and Sikong Ye decided he would follow him despite his suspicions.
• Jun Jingyi discreetly signaled for the figures around the courtyard to vanish.

The Eighth Prince prompted Magistrate Jia Dayan to crack down on the unrest in Tianfu City and search for the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber. Jun Jingyi waited for more powerful forces to arrive, and the Snow Mountain Sect’s arrival left him smiling.

• Magistrate Jia Dayan sought the Eighth Prince’s help as fighting spread through Tianfu City over rumors of the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber.
• The Eighth Prince lent Jia Dayan his guards and urged him to search for the saber, prompting the county yamen to suppress open fighting and investigate.
• Sikong Ye reported that major jianghu forces, including the Water God Gang, had entered the city, while Jun Jingyi insisted they needed to wait for a heavyweight force.
• The Snow Mountain Sect, one of the jianghu’s seven great sects, arrived in Tianfu City, and Jun Jingyi smiled at the news.

Sikong Ye delivered a saber to the Li Family gates on Jun Jingyi’s instructions, and its ability to break ordinary weapons convinced the gathered martial artists that the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber was real. As factions rushed to seize it and the Eighth Prince ordered his guards to retrieve it and the Heaven Reliant Sword, Bai Ruoli feared an unseen force was directing events in Tianfu City.

• Sikong Ye used a megaphone to announce that he had delivered a saber, then vanished into the night.
• Three burly men recognized the saber as the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and saw it break their weapons, while hidden onlookers confirmed its power.
• Armed figures killed the three men as people converged on the Li Family gates.
• The Eighth Prince ordered his guards to retrieve the Dragon-Slaying Saber and the Heaven Reliant Sword at any cost.
• Members of jianghu sects and independent cultivators rushed into the blood-soaked western city, while Bai Ruoli feared the Li Family was doomed and sensed someone was orchestrating events.

Bai Ruoli realized that a powerful figure was likely behind the scheme involving the Li Family, the Eighth Prince, and the jianghu, and decided to help him pursue the throne as repayment for an old debt. Jun Jingyi found the surviving Li Family head and ordered him killed, leaving the man to confront the cruelty he had once inflicted on the weak.

• Bai Ruoli considered whether Jun Jingyi or a powerful figure from her previous life had orchestrated the scheme and decided to help that figure fight for the throne.
• The Li Family head emerged from hiding and found his family and household devastated, with only his nineteenth concubine among his wives still alive.
• Jun Jingyi arrived with Sikong Ye, and the Li Family head tried to flee before Sikong Ye seized him.
• The Li Family head pleaded that Jun Jingyi had no reason to kill him, but Jun Jingyi said that being weaker than him was reason enough and ordered his execution.
• The Li Family head remembered how he had denied justice to a young woman and went mad.

Jun Jingyi reflected on embracing the strong preying on the weak after destroying the Li Family, while the Eighth Prince received the Heaven Reliant Sword and decided to pursue the Dragon Slaying Saber despite suspecting a scheme. At the Jun Residence, Jun Jingyi declared that greed had made the Eighth Prince take the bait.

• Jun Jingyi accepted that he was acting like a villain and walked away with Sikong Ye as the Li Family residence burned behind them.
• The next day, the county magistrate let the army restore order, disposed of the bodies, and sealed Tianfu City’s gates to jianghu people.
• The Eighth Prince learned that the Azure Dragon Hall had obtained the Dragon Slaying Saber, then received the Heaven Reliant Sword from a messenger who escaped.
• The Eighth Prince suspected the sword’s delivery was part of a scheme but decided to pursue the Dragon Slaying Saber, hoping to claim both divine weapons.
• Jun Jingyi told those at the Jun Residence that the Eighth Prince’s greed and gambler’s mentality had made him take the bait.

Jun Jingyi used a transparent crystal and bronze mirrors to create a false heavenly omen over the Dragon Slaying Saber and Heaven Reliant Sword, convincing both sides that the weapons bore divine authority. The Eighth Prince and the jianghu fighters launched a bloody battle, while Sikong Ye realized Jun Jingyi had manufactured the omen.

• Jun Jingyi and Sikong Ye watched the Eighth Prince confront the jianghu group led by a young man in white over the Dragon Slaying Saber.
• Jun Jingyi prepared the transparent crystal and bronze mirrors as the young man in white hesitated over whether to surrender the saber.
• Jun Jingyi created beams of light that converged on the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and Heaven Reliant Sword beneath a seven-colored glow in the sky.
• The young man in white and the Eighth Prince interpreted the omen as proof that the weapons carried heaven’s will, and both urged their followers to fight.
• The Eighth Prince ordered his soldiers to kill everyone, the jianghu fighters charged, and a massacre erupted.
• Sikong Ye watched from the shadows and realized Jun Jingyi had created the supposed Immortal Bridge himself.

As Tianfu City’s people believed the Heaven Reliant Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber had been sent by immortals to choose a new ruler, Jun Jingyi ignored the turmoil and made soap a booming business. Bai Ruoli warned him that he might be a scapegoat in a plot against the Eighth Prince, while Jun Jingyi privately revealed that his own plan was already underway.

• A rumor spread that immortals had placed the Heaven Reliant Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber in the mortal world to choose a new Son of Heaven, and the story shook the Yan Kingdom and the jianghu.
• Jun Jingyi launched a soap campaign in Tianfu City, drawing crowds with free trials and a twelve-percent discount as soap sales took off.
• Sikong Ye marveled at Jun Jingyi’s business sense and realized that the beggars Jun Jingyi had recruited had helped him run his soap factory cheaply.
• Bai Ruoli used Jun Jingyi’s soap and concluded that he was merely a merchant who had become a scapegoat in the turmoil.
• Bai Ruoli visited Jun Jingyi and warned that a hidden faction was targeting the Eighth Prince and that Jun Jingyi could be killed as a result; she offered to help resolve the danger.
• Jun Jingyi agreed to accept Bai Ruoli’s help, then privately dismissed concern for the Eighth Prince and resolved to carry out his plan.

Jun Jingyi learned that two Upright Heart School disciples had blinded and killed a beggar in Tianfu City, then arranged for the inn where they stayed to catch fire. The deaths exposed the Beggar Sect’s hidden reach, and the major factions grew wary of causing trouble in the city.

• Two Upright Heart School disciples tortured a beggar in the west of Tianfu City, gouging out his eyes and leaving him to die.
• Sikong Ye reported the arrival of martial experts from several directions and told Jun Jingyi that the beggar was one of their people.
• Jun Jingyi sent Sikong Ye to buy the Four Seas Inn and hinted that it could catch fire; that night, the two disciples died in a fire there.
• A witness told the authorities that the disciples had tortured a beggar, while the major factions investigated the suspicious fire.
• The factions learned that the Beggar Sect had secretly taken control of the inn and became cautious about stirring up trouble in Tianfu City.

Jun Jingyi used falling Kongming lanterns bearing an ominous prophecy to make the Eighth Prince believe heaven had chosen him to claim the throne. The prince chose ambition over safety and prepared to flee Tianfu City, while Jun Jingyi began writing a story about Zhu Di.

• Jun Jingyi watched the lanterns drift toward Tianfu City and planned to drive the Eighth Prince out without killing him.
• A young man in the city read the prophecy on a falling lantern, and its words stirred fear and speculation throughout Tianfu City.
• The Eighth Prince interpreted the prophecy as heavenly recognition, decided to face the coming tribulation, and ordered his guards to prepare to leave.
• As fighting broke out in Tianfu City, Sikong Ye asked Jun Jingyi what they should do, and Jun Jingyi told him to do nothing.
• Jun Jingyi went to his study and began writing a story about the Ming Dynasty prince Zhu Di.

The Yan emperor ordered the eighth prince brought back to the capital after a hidden faction’s scheme disrupted his ambitions. The fourth prince investigated the events in Tianfu City and began to suspect his eldest brother, whose claim to the throne he could never accept because of his mother’s death.

• The Yan emperor learned that the eighth prince was nearing the northern border and ordered the Li Family Army to bring him back to the capital.
• The officials reacted to the eighth prince’s removal, while the fourth prince’s faction worried that the eldest prince would grow stronger.
• The fourth prince’s guard reported that Bai Ruoli, a physician in Tianfu City, had changed after recovering from a serious illness and had connections to the eighth prince.
• The guard identified Jun Jingyi as a young marquis aligned with the eldest prince, prompting the fourth prince to suspect his eldest brother had orchestrated the scheme.
• The fourth prince recalled how Noble Consort Xiao had poisoned him and how his mother had died in the cold palace, resolving that the eldest prince must not take the throne.

The fourth prince traveled to Tianfu City to investigate the first prince’s suspected influence and meet Young Marquis Jun, then visited Bai Ruoli’s clinic under a false name to seek treatment. Bai Ruoli recognized him from her previous life and realized his supposed illness was a deadly poison she still could not cure.

• The fourth prince decided to travel to Jiangnan and investigate Tianfu City and Young Marquis Jun.
• The eighth prince continued fleeing toward the northern border as Heavenly Secret Pavilion repeatedly revealed his location to martial experts.
• The fourth prince arrived in Tianfu City and noticed signs of Young Marquis Jun’s charitable work and innovations throughout the city.
• At Bai Ruoli’s clinic, Bai Ruoli recognized the fourth prince, who introduced himself as Haoran and asked her to treat an illness.
• Bai Ruoli understood that the fourth prince was suffering from a deadly poison, but she remained unable to cure him.

Bai Ruoli failed to cure the Fourth Prince’s venomous dragon herb poison and asked Jun Jingyi to help instead. Jun Jingyi agreed to visit, both to aid Bai Ruoli and to assess the prince he suspected was the story’s protagonist and his love rival.

• Bai Ruoli examined the Fourth Prince and said his poison had reached his bloodstream and heart, beyond her ability to treat.
• Lian'er suggested asking Young Master Jun for help, and Bai Ruoli sent her to invite him.
• The Fourth Prince reacted with surprise and unease at hearing about Jun Jingyi’s many reported talents.
• Jun Jingyi learned the Fourth Prince had entered Tianfu City and realized he had already met Bai Ruoli.
• After Lian'er asked him to treat the Fourth Prince, Jun Jingyi decided to go and meet his suspected rival in person.

Jun Jingyi failed to explain how to cure the Fourth Prince’s poison, asking him instead to find poison dragon grass. After the prince left their cryptic conversation, Jun Jingyi was relieved and avoided Bai Ruoli’s questions about what they had discussed.

• Jun Jingyi advised the Fourth Prince to rest and eat well to ease his poison’s effects, and asked him to find poison dragon grass so he could investigate a cure.
• The Fourth Prince asked why Jun Jingyi had stayed in Tianfu City, but Jun Jingyi could not explain because he did not know.
• Jun Jingyi directly asked whether the Fourth Prince had come for the Eighth Prince, and the Fourth Prince denied it, saying he had come to travel and seek treatment.
• The Fourth Prince left the clinic and told his guard that he could not understand Jun Jingyi’s intentions or tell whether he was involved in the move against the Eighth Prince.
• Jun Jingyi breathed a sigh of relief after the Fourth Prince departed, then left without answering Bai Ruoli’s questions about their conversation.

Jun Jingyi introduced mooncakes and the story of Chang'e and Da Yi to turn them into a Mid-Autumn Festival delicacy, then began promoting them through Sikong Ye. After tasting the mooncakes, the fourth prince sent the rest to the Capital for Imperial Father, hoping to gain favor in his struggle for power.

• Jun Jingyi told Sikong Ye and Jun Yixue the invented story of Chang'e and Da Yi to explain mooncakes and their connection to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
• Jun Jingyi gave Jun Yixue packaged mooncakes as gifts for her girlfriends and instructed Sikong Ye to hire workers, promote the story, and offer a hundred samples a day.
• The fourth prince received mooncakes from the Jun Residence and heard the story of the Moon Palace, Chang'e, and Da Yi.
• The fourth prince tasted the mooncakes, enjoyed them, and ordered his guard to send the remaining ones to Imperial Father in the Capital.

Jun Jingyi’s mooncake campaign spread across Tianfu City and Jiangnan, bringing him enormous profits and leaving him concerned about how to use his growing wealth. He decided to expand his restaurants across the Yan Kingdom and the three kingdoms, using them to build an intelligence network while also preparing to strengthen his military power.

• Jun Jingyi gave mooncakes to Lady Wang, Bai Ruoxin, and Bai Ruoli, who recognized how he used influential recipients and scarcity to make them seem prestigious.
• Two days later, mooncakes had become a sensation across Tianfu City, and merchants throughout Jiangnan helped spread their popularity.
• Jun Jingyi earned most of the mooncake profits and worried that his wealth was piling up unused, while Sikong Ye offered to spend it for him.
• Jun Jingyi decided to build a chain of restaurants across the Yan Kingdom and the three kingdoms to earn money and establish a stronger intelligence organization.
• Jun Jingyi concluded that he needed to strengthen his military power to protect his wealth and looked toward Sikong Ye with a faint smile.