Recaps

Dugu Bo deliberately left fresh carriage tracks to draw pursuers south as he led the group out of Suotuo City. Ma Ding sent Ma Ang, two Soul Grandmasters, and armed men after them, and the tracks appeared to confirm the carriage’s route.

• Dugu Bo drove the carriage back and forth at a fork to leave clear tracks, then led it south out of Suotuo City.
• Ma Ang told Ma Ding that three outsiders had beaten his men, and Ma Ding decided to pursue them without sealing the city gates.
• Ma Ding summoned Commander He and Qian Qi, gathered more than twenty men in plain clothes, and searched the Chen Family Tailor before discovering it was empty.
• The south gate captain reported that a carriage carrying two old men and several youths had left south, so Ma Ding’s group rode after it.
• After riding more than ten li, Qian Qi spotted fresh carriage ruts and hoofprints heading south, and Commander He judged them less than an hour old.

Dugu Bo and the others escaped Ma Ding’s pursuit by drugging the road, then traveled through the night to Dexius Town. They arrived and sampled the town’s local food, while Lin Chen noticed a metallic smell growing stronger as they headed south.

• Dugu Bo’s medicine put Commander He, Ma Ding, Ma Ang, and their men to sleep, allowing the carriage to escape.
• After waking, Ma Ding refused to pursue the travelers and decided to claim the abandoned tailor shop for the Prison Administration.
• Dugu Bo drove the carriage through the night without lighting torches, while Xiao Wu and Dugu Yan slept and Lin Chen noticed a growing metallic tang in the mountain wind.
• The travelers reached the unwalled Dexius Town, where Dugu Bo explained its customs and the group saw its crowded street and abandoned mines.
• The group ate red pot stew and rock flatbread at a local eatery, and Xiao Wu found the stew painfully spicy but kept eating.

Lin Chen and the others learned that Dexius had a secret underground market where people and goods were auctioned, and Lin Chen paid the Iron Tooth Inn’s landlady to ask how it worked. The landlady accepted his coins, but the chapter ended before she answered.

• Dugu Bo explained that Iron Tooth, the one-armed landlady, had built the inn after surviving an ambush that killed her husband.
• Dugu Bo told Xiao Wu, Dugu Yan, and Lin Chen to stay at the inn while he went to ask about the road.
• Lin Chen and the others overheard travelers describe an underground market that sold ores, information, and slaves, guarded by mysterious Shadow Hunters.
• After the inn emptied, Lin Chen offered Iron Tooth three Gold Soul Coins in exchange for information about the market and its entrance.
• Iron Tooth collected the coins and looked at Lin Chen, leaving his questions unanswered.