Recaps

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding waited for Wang Fugui, hoping their talk about a cheaper house affected by demonic evil would make him lower his asking price. When Wang Fugui asked Zhang Xuezhou to read his face, Zhang used the Person-Reading Technique and saw fragments of his life.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Rong Tianding they had to wait for Wang Fugui to reconsider his price for the residence.
• Zhang Xuezhou discussed the broad uses of Rong Tianding's Southern Brightness Fire Technique and urged him to test it on strange phenomena.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding loudly discussed buying a house affected by demonic evil as Wang Fugui left the Office of the Jingzhao Intendant.
• Wang Fugui heard them describe the house's low price and worried that his own asking price of eighty taels was too high.
• Wang Fugui asked Zhang Xuezhou to read his face, and Zhang used the Person-Reading Technique to view memories of Wang Fugui's life.

After Zhang Xuezhou’s ominous fortune reading frightened Wang Fugui, Wang and his wife decided to sell their inauspicious residence to the Gongche Sima Commandant. Wang planned to find Clerk Li, who could locate the commandant and help arrange the sale so they could leave that night.

• Zhang Xuezhou hinted that Wang Fugui’s troubled past and misdeeds could bring him misfortune, then refused to read any further.
• Wang Fugui returned home, saw a frightening face appear on a pine tree, and told his wife that a demonic evil might be after him.
• Wang Fugui’s wife concluded that the commandant who had read his past might be able to suppress the evil and suggested selling him the residence cheaply.
• Wang Fugui realized Clerk Li had the commandant’s address and decided to find him so he could sell the house and leave that night.

Zhang Xuezhou explained to Rong Tianding how he had misled Wang Fugui with carefully chosen words, then negotiated to buy Wang Fugui’s supposedly haunted house. Wang Fugui offered to contribute half the reduced price, and Zhang accepted the deal as the group began recording the sale.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Rong Tianding that he had used the Person-Reading Technique and ambiguous wording to make Wang Fugui think he could predict his death.
• Clerk Li arrived at the inn with Wang Fugui, Madam Wang, Di Rang, and Zheng Wukong to discuss selling the house.
• Zhang Xuezhou said he could not afford the house at its stated price, and Wang Fugui’s neighbors agreed to help reduce it to sixty taels of silver.
• Wang Fugui offered to pay thirty taels himself if Zhang Xuezhou paid the other thirty, and Zhang accepted the bargain.
• Clerk Li began recording the sale as Di Rang and Zheng Wukong congratulated Zhang Xuezhou and got acquainted with him.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding moved into Wang Fugui’s strange house in Old Tree Alley, where Zhang used a staged threat of a high-level investigation to draw out the presence he suspected was responsible. The chapter ended with an old man appearing in the courtyard and asking whether Zhang meant Dou Ying.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the medical compensation from Chen Zhang, Zhou Jiande, and Tian Tian to buy a house, and planned to report for his new post in three days.
• Clerk Li informed Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding that Wang Fugui had moved out, but refused their offer of wine and meat because the damaged stone lion and withering pine unnerved him.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding moved into the house at the eighteenth stone lion in Old Tree Alley, where Rong Tianding secretly began forming an incantation with Southern Brightness Fire.
• After finding nothing unusual, Zhang Xuezhou displayed the bottle of Spirit Jade Essence and loudly claimed he would take it to the Office of the Jingzhao Intendant and escalate the investigation to the chancellor.
• An old man revealed himself in the courtyard and asked whether Zhang Xuezhou meant Dou Ying.

Lu Baibai visited Zhang Xuezhou after his divine sense was destroyed, but Zhang redirected their conversation toward the feng shui damage caused by hiding Spirit Jade Essence. Lu Baibai chose to act like another victim and left the matter with Dou Ying unresolved.

• Lu Baibai explained that someone had destroyed the divine sense he attached to a stone lion after he spoke to Zhang Xuezhou.
• Zhang Xuezhou claimed the hidden Spirit Jade Essence and damage to the guardian beast had ruined his residence’s feng shui, while Rong Tianding backed him up.
• Lu Baibai stopped trying to discuss the Spirit Jade Essence after Zhang threatened whoever had disturbed the residence.
• Lu Baibai pretended that he too had been wronged in Chang'an City and decided to treat the Spirit Jade Essence as lost for now.

Zhang Xuezhou let Lu Baibai hide in the newly acquired residence while he waited for Demon King Feiyu to return. Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding decided to keep out of the demon’s affairs and began settling into their new home.

• Zhang Xuezhou convinced Lu Baibai that he had ruined the residence’s feng shui and asked why he had come to Chang'an City.
• Lu Baibai explained that he was waiting for Demon King Feiyu and hiding from someone who had been tailing him.
• Lu Baibai asked to stay in a water-filled wooden barrel so he could conceal his demonic scent, and Zhang Xuezhou agreed.
• Lu Baibai settled into the barrel and asked Zhang Xuezhou to bring him mallow greens.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding took possession of the house and agreed to pretend they knew nothing about Lu Baibai while he waited for Feiyu.

Zhang Xuezhou began his new post guarding Yang Mausoleum’s East Sima Gate and discovered that tomb robbers had left its small guard force badly injured and without commanders. He resolved to catch the robbers for merit, while realizing the court had sent him there as one of its supposedly capable officials.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding visited their neighbors Di Rang and Zheng Wukong, then returned home for dinner.
• The next morning, Zhang Xuezhou took a carriage to Yang Mausoleum and identified himself at the East Sima Gate as Dongfang Shuo, the newly appointed Gongche Sima Commandant.
• Zhang Xuezhou found only five injured soldiers at the gate and learned that the other two commandants had not yet taken up their posts.
• The soldiers told Zhang Xuezhou that tomb robbers had killed or wounded previous officers and guards, leaving the Sima Gates largely closed.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to catch tomb robbers and earn enough merit to secure a transfer from the dangerous post.
• Zhang Xuezhou learned that higher officials had promised to send capable officials, and recognized that the court had counted him among them.

Zhang Xuezhou enforced tally checks at the East Sima Gate, then used the Person-Fixing Technique to uncover an old craftsman's secret connection to Jin Chang and a map of the Yang Mausoleum. He told Zhang Laogao to summon the middle-aged man to the gate that night, leaving the terrified craftsman wondering whether Zhang Xuezhou belonged to their group.

• Zhang Xuezhou refused entry to craftsmen without tallies, then let them pass after warning them to bring their documents the next day and examining their memories.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw scenes of the Yang Mausoleum through the craftsmen's memories and found little treasure inside it.
• Zhang Xuezhou discovered that Zhang Laogao had drawn a detailed map of the mausoleum and had met Jin Chang, who had pressured him to cooperate.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Zhang Laogao to have the fair-faced, wealthy-looking middle-aged man come to the East Sima Gate that night and ask for Dongfang Shuo.
• Zhang Laogao collapsed in fear and wondered whether the newly appointed Commandant of the Carriage Office was one of their own.

On his first night as Gongche Sima Commandant at the Yang Mausoleum, Zhang Xuezhou realized that tomb robbers and imperial forces made the post dangerous. He struck a three-month deal with Jin Chang, who agreed to drive away the intruders while Zhang searched for Emperor Jing’s coffin.

• Zhang Xuezhou noticed that the craftsmen had returned from work with Zhang Laogao injured, and wondered why his predecessors had died despite cooperating with or resisting the tomb robbers.
• Jin Chang appeared from Zhang Xuezhou’s shadow and explained that the King of Huainan had sent him to investigate the Yang Mausoleum.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Jin Chang to persuade the intruders to leave, but Jin Chang demanded that Zhang find Emperor Jing’s coffin in return.
• Jin Chang agreed to clear out the named intruders for three months, while Zhang promised to pursue Jin Chang’s business and provide precise information when he was transferred.

Zhang Xuezhou entered Emperor Jing’s imperial mausoleum in his Yang Corporeal Soul and discovered its miniature imitation of Chang’an, protected by animated terracotta figures. After evading their spiritual defenses and surviving a poisoned crossbow bolt, he reached the mausoleum’s Weiyang Palace.

• Zhang Xuezhou overheard court officials discussing Emperor Jing’s possible return and learned why the King of Huainan had sent Jin Chang to investigate.
• Zhang Xuezhou followed a map through a crack in a stone gate and entered the mausoleum, where thousands of terracotta dogs barked at his Yang Corporeal Soul.
• Zhang Xuezhou solidified his Yang Corporeal Soul to resist the dogs’ spiritual disturbance and passed through the outer burial grounds.
• Zhang Xuezhou encountered terracotta figures resembling Li Guang, Cheng Bushi, and Grand Commandant Zhou, then was struck by a poisoned bolt fired from the Li Guang figure.
• Zhang Xuezhou passed through the Sima Gate and arrived at the miniature Weiyang Palace at the mausoleum’s center.

Zhang Xuezhou explored Emperor Jing’s mausoleum and found Spirit Jade beneath the imperial coffin, but decided not to take it while he held his official post. The grand empress dowager detected the intruder and ordered the new emperor to investigate.

• Zhang Xuezhou examined Weiyang Palace’s traps and found five pieces of Spirit Jade beneath the imperial coffin.
• Zhang Xuezhou resisted taking the Spirit Jade, fearing the consequences of stealing it as Gongche Sima Commandant, and left the mausoleum without disturbing its defenses.
• The grand empress dowager watched Zhang Xuezhou’s blurred figure appear in a basin after he triggered a pottery dog, but her spell lost track of him when he left its area.
• The grand empress dowager ordered the old palace maid to take Li Guang’s Heaven-Shaking Arrow to the Court of the Imperial Clan.
• The grand empress dowager ordered a drawing of the intruder and summoned the new emperor to handle the investigation.

The new emperor learned that an intruder had entered Liu Qi’s imperial mausoleum and discussed the threat with the grand empress dowager. Unable to identify a reliable response, he decided to have Zhang Xuezhou inspect the mausoleum and report what he found.

• The new emperor listened to Han Yan read Zixu’s biography until a young eunuch summoned him to the Palace of Peace and Happiness.
• The grand empress dowager showed the new emperor a picture revealing that someone had infiltrated Liu Qi’s mausoleum and demanded to know how he would respond.
• The new emperor proposed that Wei Wan and Zhi Buyi kill the intruder, but the grand empress dowager warned that they might not have detected the intruder at all.
• The new emperor considered whether Shi Wudao had returned, then agreed to bring the matter before the ministers at morning court.
• The new emperor reflected that his trusted supporters were few and decided that Zhang Xuezhou should inspect the mausoleum regularly and report back.

Zhang Xuezhou received an order to patrol the imperial mausoleum, giving him more freedom to move around while raising concerns about the risks and the court’s intentions. He began a patrol with his injured subordinates and suggested catching rabbits to help them recover.

• Ma Yuan brought Zhang Xuezhou an order from Du Rui requiring the East Sima Gate commandant to patrol the imperial mausoleum.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the order let him move throughout the mausoleum and could help him complete Jin Chang’s task without revealing his Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to patrol after admitting the morning workers, and Song Dongjia and Zhu Yuncheng joined him despite their injuries.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed catching gray-furred rabbits for meat to help Song Dongjia and Zhu Yuncheng recover.
• Song Dongjia recognized Zhang Xuezhou as the Divine Physician Dongfang he had heard about from Northern Army squad leaders and explained how losing his already-broken arm had helped him survive.

The new emperor discussed the Yang Mausoleum’s defenses with the grand empress dowager, then asked Zhao Wan to help resolve the danger. Zhao Wan persuaded him to spread Confucian learning and unify the Great Han Dynasty under one school, and the emperor agreed to have Shen Peigong revise the laws of the Hall of Light and root out the school’s remnants.

• The new emperor told the grand empress dowager that he had strengthened patrols at the Yang Mausoleum, while she worried about Lu Baibai and other threats in Chang'an City.
• After the grand empress dowager dismissed him, the new emperor summoned Zhao Wan and sought help handling the Yang Mausoleum crisis.
• Zhao Wan argued that the Great Han Dynasty should unify cultivation and guiding principles by spreading Confucian learning and suppressing other schools.
• The new emperor agreed to have Shen Peigong revise the laws of the Hall of Light and proposed changing the calendar and official colors before announcing the unification with feng and shan ceremonies on Mount Tai.
• The new emperor said the Confucian School must first root out the remnants of rival schools, and Zhao Wan agreed to handle the matter at the Yang Mausoleum.

The new emperor used his support for Confucianism to recruit the Confucian School as a shield against rival schools and threats to imperial authority. He sent Shen Peigong to revise the Hall of Light regulations and gave him a writ to resolve the troubles at the Yang Mausoleum.

• The new emperor reflected that Emperor Jing’s long-standing strategy had allowed Confucianism to grow into a force he could direct, while most promised reforms remained only words on paper.
• After Zhao Wan proposed giving precedence to Confucian teachings, the new emperor agreed, intending to use the Confucian School to counter the Hundred Schools, the Palace of Peace and Happiness, and Xiong State.
• Shen Peigong hurried to Weiyang Palace to confirm that the emperor wanted him to revise the Hall of Light regulations.
• The new emperor told Shen Peigong that Great Han could be founded on Confucianism and urged him to complete the revisions properly.
• Shen Peigong volunteered to deal with the remaining trouble at the Yang Mausoleum, and the new emperor handed him a secret imperial edict granting passage.

Zhang Xuezhou confronted five short-statured Confucian School experts who arrived at the Yang Mausoleum under the guise of tending horses, and secured their apology after Kong Zhong tried to intimidate him. The group explained they would use Earth Escape techniques to trap tomb robbers, while Zhang suspected the court’s sudden preparations were connected to a major expert or Jin Chang.

• Kong Zhong and four companions introduced themselves as horse handlers, but Zhang Xuezhou recognized their secret orders showed they had come to inspect the Yang Mausoleum.
• Kong Zhong used his presence to intimidate Zhang Xuezhou’s companions, but Zhang accused him of treason and threatened to report him for attacking an imperial official.
• Kong Zhong apologized and gave Zhang Xuezhou a Horse Pill, which Zhang accepted while forgiving him only for the time being.
• Kong Zhong explained that his group would dig tunnels with Earth Escape techniques to restrain anyone entering the mausoleum, and asked Zhang to keep craftsmen from wandering.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to cooperate and realized the school experts they had hoped to catch had already been warned by Jin Chang, leaving Kong Zhong’s group unlikely to earn merit soon.

Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Chang agreed to work together at Yang Mausoleum after Zhang secured permission to patrol it, while Jin arranged to use Ma Yuan as his temporary cover. Zhang then planned to investigate more of Emperor Jing’s tomb during a nighttime soul excursion, alerting the grand empress dowager to the mysterious visitor’s return.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Jin Chang that a secret court order had given him permission to patrol Yang Mausoleum.
• Jin Chang agreed to follow Zhang on patrol and said he would put Ma Yuan in a trance after helping him recover.
• Zhang wondered who the court and the Confucian cultivators were targeting and worried Jin Chang might cause trouble while using his identity.
• Zhang decided to investigate Changle Palace and the other burial chambers before later pursuing the Spirit Jade beneath Emperor Jing’s outer coffin.
• Zhang used his Yang Corporeal Soul to enter the mausoleum, and the pottery dogs and grand empress dowager sensed the mysterious visitor’s return.

The grand empress dowager tried to lure the mausoleum intruder into a deadly contingency, while Zhang Xuezhou explored the Palace of Peace and Happiness and unknowingly suppressed her trap. The chapter ended with Sha Qi reaching the grand empress dowager before she withdrew her spell in terror.

• The grand empress dowager watched Zhang Xuezhou through the Water Mirror Technique and planned to expose him to the Sha Qi of the convict graveyard.
• Zhang Xuezhou studied the imperial mausoleum’s formations and cautiously examined the Palace of Peace and Happiness.
• Zhang Xuezhou reasoned that Yin Souls from the convict graveyard guarded the palace and used the Acupoint-Fixing Technique to locate the formation’s core.
• Zhang Xuezhou threw a stone onto the core, suppressing the grand empress dowager’s contingency before her spell could take effect.
• The grand empress dowager felt the Sha Qi’s chill and strange stench reach her, then hurriedly withdrew her spell.

The new emperor learned that the grand empress dowager had fallen gravely ill and worried that he would lose her protection before he was strong enough to secure his throne. Unable to master the Horizontal Sword Technique or find a shortcut to power, he took Wei Qing to drink at Cao Shou’s residence and pressed him for advice.

• The new emperor heard that the grand empress dowager had fallen ill, leaving him torn between relief at the prospect of freedom and fear for the dynasty and his throne.
• He practiced defensive swordplay and worried that he could not master the Horizontal Sword Technique because of the swordsmanship in his mind.
• The new emperor summoned Wei Qing and asked him to find a shortcut to help him grow powerful quickly, but Wei Qing said he knew none.
• After refusing to return to the empress’s chambers, the new emperor ordered Wei Qing to drink with him at Cao Shou’s residence and keep thinking of a solution.

After drinking with Wei Qing, the new emperor woke in disarray and feared what he might have done, then wandered the streets, troubled by the grand empress dowager’s illness and the threat to his throne. Hearing townspeople praise Dongfang Shuo’s face-reading, he decided to seek out Zhang Xuezhou and find out whether he could offer genuine guidance.

• The new emperor and Wei Qing drank until both passed out, and the emperor awoke at dawn worried that he might have undressed the unconscious Wei Qing.
• The new emperor wandered the streets and concluded that he needed to use the Confucian School against the grand empress dowager to buy time and secure his throne.
• The new emperor resented the grand empress dowager’s influence over the Liu dynasty and feared that her illness would accelerate her efforts to replace him.
• The new emperor overheard a couple credit Dongfang Shuo with reading faces and helping them profit from selling a haunted house.
• The new emperor wondered whether Dongfang Shuo had real physiognomic skill and hoped Zhang Xuezhou could read his face and advise him.

Zhang Xuezhou arranged to hide for twelve days while Jin Chang took his place, and Lu Baibai decided to flee Chang'an after the Grand Empress Dowager stopped patrolling. When the new emperor came to Zhang Xuezhou's home at dawn, Zhang chose not to meet him.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Rong Tianding to conceal him and direct Wei Shao'er to the East Sima Gate if he came looking.
• Lu Baibai told Zhang Xuezhou that the Grand Empress Dowager had stopped patrolling Chang'an and planned to leave for the Sacred Land that night.
• At the third watch, Lu Baibai transformed into a white deer and slipped out of the house into Old Tree Alley.
• The new emperor arrived at Zhang Xuezhou's home looking for Dongfang Shuo, but Rong Tianding told him Zhang had gone out on official business.
• Zhang Xuezhou suspected the emperor's visit might bring trouble and stayed bound in bed rather than reveal himself.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others hid in a dead-end cave while a giant Ferocious Beast bird hunted them during a beast tide. The bird repeatedly targeted Zhang Xuezhou, and the group remained trapped underground as their belongings and Spirit Jade were lost with their abandoned truck.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke to find the group digging a tunnel through a cave while a Ferocious Beast bird searched outside.
• Zhang Manqian, Ren Anran, Zuo Teng, and Zhou Tianhao explained how the group had fled the beast tide and become trapped in the dead-end cave.
• The bird pecked through the packed earth barrier, and Zhang Xuezhou dodged as its beak punched a hole where he had been.
• Ren Anran said the bird seemed to target Zhang Xuezhou, and he suspected it was drawn to the Spirit Jade he carried.
• Zhang Manqian said their recovered Spirit Jade was locked in the truck, which the group had abandoned after the beast tide forced them to flee.
• Zuo Teng explained how the animals had gathered and chased the truck, while the group incorrectly believed they were guarding treasure buried in the mud.

As the group dug an earthen tunnel to escape the giant Ferocious Beast bird, Zhang Xuezhou suspected the Spirit Jade was attracting the beast and tried to limit its Spiritual Qi leakage. The bird kept attacking, and the group was left with one fewer shovel as Wang Haoran's tool broke.

• Wang Haoran urged everyone to keep digging while the giant Ferocious Beast bird tore at the tunnel behind them.
• Ren Anran reported that the bird paused to spit after shoveling dirt away, giving the group time to refill the gaps.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Anran and Zhang Manqian to wrap their Spirit Jade in loess and said he would try another method.
• Ren Yisheng appeared briefly as mist beside Ren Anran, startling Wang Haoran, before shrinking and burrowing into the soil.
• Wang Haoran kept digging despite Zuo Teng offering to take his place, then broke his entrenching shovel and froze until Zhang Xuezhou shouted and the bird cried outside.

Zhang Xuezhou trapped the giant Ferocious Beast bird’s beak in stone, giving Wang Haoran a chance to wound its tongue and drive it away. The group escaped their cave and fled to find safer shelter beyond the beast tide’s range.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the Stone Transformation Technique to trap the giant bird’s beak in the earth.
• Ren Anran told Wang Haoran to attack the bird while it was stuck, and Wang Haoran launched Martial Cry toward its tongue.
• Wang Haoran’s attack broke Zhang Xuezhou’s technique, but Martial Cry cut the bird’s tongue and made it retreat in pain.
• Wang Haoran urged everyone to abandon the destroyed truck and dig out of the cave.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the others escaped the cave and fled with Wang Haoran through the devastated area.

After fleeing a giant Ferocious Beast bird, Zhang Xuezhou’s group took refuge in an underground water channel and assessed their losses. Zhang Manqian revealed that they had found a second piece of Spirit Jade, but its enormous stone casing made it difficult to retrieve, while the group waited for the beast tide to pass and braced for an approaching threat.

• Wang Haoran confirmed that his Martial Cry was gone, and the group discussed their depleted weapons and the difficulty of capturing and studying the giant bird.
• Changkong Weiguang identified the bird as likely belonging to the stork family, and the group lost interest in pursuing it.
• Zhang Manqian told Zhang Xuezhou that her second piece of Spirit Jade was sealed inside a huge rough stone found among four abandoned trucks.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian wondered how Qinmeng’s creatures recognized outsiders and why they had also wiped out the people who had lived there for generations.
• Heavy footsteps sounded in the underground water channel, and Zhang Xuezhou and the others took defensive positions.