Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou told Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying that the Water Gourd was lost, then gave them Yi Shuo’s Purple-Gold Red Gourd to study the harmful effects of its pills. As their research began, Zhang Xuezhou suspected Fortune Techniques were linking several unresolved matters and decided to visit the imperial palace to investigate his condition.

• Zheng Wukong urged Chunyu Tiying to accept that she could no longer return to the imperial court, but she remained frustrated by her condition.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that the Water Gourd had broken on Fangzhang Island and that Li Shaojun had turned its vine into a Law Artifact.
• Zhang Xuezhou offered Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying Yi Shuo’s Purple-Gold Red Gourd, warning them to keep it hidden because the gourd case could still be reopened.
• Zhang Xuezhou said the Life-Creating Fortune Pill had cleared the Gourd Pill’s harmful effects from his stomach and intestines, giving the group a possible direction for research.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered how Fortune Techniques might connect his unresolved circumstances and decided to visit the imperial palace to examine his condition.

Zhang Xuezhou visited Wei Qing’s household and learned that Wei Shao’er was earning money by singing fu songs. Huo Qubing pressed Zhang to teach him a powerful skill he could master quickly, and Zhang mentioned Kong Anguo’s mind-opening tea as a possible shortcut.

• Zhang Xuezhou visited Wei Qing and heard that three-year-old Huo Qubing had learned to sing a fu song.
• Wei Qing told Zhang Xuezhou that Wei Shao’er was earning more than ten thousand banliang coins per performance in the Silan Quarter.
• Huo Qubing rushed in and asked Zhang Xuezhou to teach him a powerful skill that could be mastered quickly.
• Zhang Xuezhou said he had no such skills and mentioned Kong Anguo’s tea, which could sharpen the mind and help with understanding.
• Wei Qing reacted with surprise, and Huo Qubing perked up at the prospect of making rapid progress with the tea.

Zhang Xuezhou visited Wei Shao'er, learned that her illness was less severe than other sufferers’, and told her a renowned physician was studying it. At the Marquis of Pingyang's Household, he discovered that his written advice had caused a commotion at court and turmoil in the new emperor’s rear palace.

• Zhang Xuezhou met Wei Shao'er and saw that she was in good health after taking Qi and Blood medicine and nourishing tonics.
• Wei Shao'er thanked Zhang Xuezhou for helping her and Huo Qubing gain access to the Shu Chamber, while Zhang told her that a renowned physician was studying her illness.
• Zhang Xuezhou stayed overnight at the Marquis of Pingyang's Household and joked with Wei Shao'er about the wife and child he had received during treatment at the King of Huainan's Household.
• The new emperor arrived with Li Guang, Sang Hongyang, and Han Yan, then relaxed when Wei Qing brought Huo Qubing to him.
• Sang Hongyang and Han Yan told Zhang Xuezhou that his tens of thousands of characters of advice had stirred up the court and caused trouble in the rear palace.

Zhang Xuezhou learned that his proposals had caused controversy at court and that the empress favored his ideas about equality between men and women. The new emperor summoned him, while Huo Qubing’s strange perception of halos left him wondering whether they reflected age or strength.

• Sang Hongyang and Han Yan told Zhang Xuezhou that his proposals had stirred debate, especially his yin-yang theory, which had won the empress’s favor and put the new emperor in a difficult position.
• Zhang Xuezhou insisted that he had never met the empress and had not written his proposal to curry favor with her.
• The new emperor explained to Huo Qubing that Zhang Xuezhou was skilled at hiding, while Huo Qubing argued that Zhang was stronger because he was bigger.
• Huo Qubing compared their sizes with circles, and Zhang Xuezhou clarified that he was older than the new emperor.
• The new emperor accepted that Zhang Xuezhou was older and therefore could not be beaten by him, while Huo Qubing questioned whether the halos he saw measured age or strength.

Zhang Xuezhou stayed close to the new emperor, hoping to inspect his Fortune Technique condition and prepare for another clash with Huang Daoxian. While sharing the Marquis of Pingyang’s tortoiseshell bed with the emperor and his attendants, he discovered Han Yan secretly using the emperor to cultivate a Fortune Technique.

• Zhang Xuezhou admitted to the new emperor that his claims about equality between men and women had been nonsense, and the emperor dismissed him until the next day.
• The new emperor took Zhang Xuezhou, Li Guang, Sang Hongyang, and Han Yan to sleep at the Marquis of Pingyang’s residence after visiting Wei Shao'er and seeing Huo Qubing fall asleep.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the others that he had obtained a woman at the King of Huainan’s Household banquet and expected a child within a few months.
• After everyone settled onto the tortoiseshell bed, Zhang Xuezhou waited for Li Guang to leave before attempting to activate his Fortune Technique through the new emperor.
• Han Yan suddenly rose and prayed to the True Lord, then moved toward the new emperor while cultivating a Fortune Technique through his body.

Zhang Xuezhou watched Han Yan secretly siphon the new emperor’s Karmic Fortune, then used the golden light to examine his own condition. He realized his damaged Fortune Body was remolding itself by absorbing nearby resources, including Han Yan’s fragile Fortune Body.

• Zhang Xuezhou observed Han Yan draw the new emperor’s Karmic Fortune while hiding his cultivation from view.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Karmic Fortune’s golden light to inspect his own damaged Fortune Body and saw the battle’s remains gathered around him.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed a golden tether pulling at Han Yan’s Fortune Body, though he had not deliberately attacked him.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled the circumstances of his birth and his earlier exchange about the Fortune Technique, and concluded that his Fortune Body was remolding itself.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the remolding was consuming the remains of the nine-petaled flower, the black dragon, his old Fortune Body, and Han Yan’s Fortune Body.

Zhang Xuezhou observed that Han Yan’s weakness came from the cold and advised him to eat, restoring his strength. The new emperor then sent Zhang Xuezhou to the Pepper Chamber Hall to settle the empress’s anger over his earlier claims about men and women.

• The new emperor found Han Yan cold and weak after the night, and Zhang Xuezhou and Sang Hongyang helped assess him.
• Zhang Xuezhou diagnosed Han Yan by observation and said he should eat more; Li Guang independently gave the same advice.
• The new emperor brought Han Yan to breakfast, and Han Yan regained his strength after eating millet rice and pork.
• The new emperor urged Zhang Xuezhou to visit the Pepper Chamber Hall and explain his earlier claims to the empress so she would stop quarrelling with him.

Zhang Xuezhou visited the Pepper Chamber Hall and tried to win the empress over while discussing her views on marriage. He realized her anger centered on the new emperor’s affection for Wei Zifu, leaving him wondering how the imperial couple had become estranged.

• Zhang Xuezhou met Chancellor Xu Chang, who hinted that the grand empress dowager had died and warned him to take care of himself.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the Pepper Chamber Hall after hearing the empress and Shaman Chu Fu debate marriage and relations between men and women.
• Zhang Xuezhou praised the empress’s pale complexion, easing the tension and earning a seat and refreshments.
• The empress asked Zhang Xuezhou why people rejected his advice about husbands and wives remaining together for life.
• The empress complained that the new emperor preferred Wei Zifu to her, and Zhang Xuezhou recognized that jealousy and marital estrangement lay behind her indignation.

Zhang Xuezhou soothed the empress’s jealousy over Wei Zifu, then used his freedom to search Weiyang Palace for the Karmic Fortune Dragon Lair. There, he absorbed Great Han’s Karmic Fortune and realized his reconstructed Fortune Body might lose the dark coloring that concealed him in Fortune Wars.

• Zhang Xuezhou flattered the empress and eased her conflict with the new emperor by assuring her that his bitterness explained his distant words.
• After leaving the Pepper Chamber Hall, Zhang Xuezhou heard the empress ask Chu Fu why her recent spending had not helped her conceive the emperor’s child.
• With the palace unusually quiet, Zhang Xuezhou searched Weiyang Palace for the Karmic Fortune Dragon Lair.
• Zhang Xuezhou found the lair at the Heavenly Emolument Qilin Pavilion and entered the Fortune Technique state, where he saw Karmic Fortune linked to Han Yan and the new emperor.
• Zhang Xuezhou compared the Karmic Fortune of Great Han, Luofu, and Han Yan, then suspected his own black-and-white Fortune Body came from Emperor Jing’s dying Fortune Form and the King of Liang’s white dragon power.
• Zhang Xuezhou worried that reconstructing his Fortune Form would change its coloring and remove the concealment that helped him in Fortune Wars.

Zhang Xuezhou drew heavily on the Great Han Dynasty’s Karmic Fortune to remold his Fortune Body, but the empress dowager detected him practicing a Fortune Technique. After a remnant of her fire pill expanded into a powerful firebird and distracted her, Zhang Xuezhou withdrew his Fortune Body and tried to conceal what he had done from Xu Chang.

• Zhang Xuezhou chose to accelerate the remolding of his Fortune Body, drawing a great deal of Karmic Fortune despite risking the loss of his ability to hide from Huang Daoxian.
• The empress dowager detected Zhang Xuezhou’s activity in the Fortune Technique state, and he sent out the tiny flame remaining from her fire pill.
• The flame blossomed into a gigantic firebird, startling the empress dowager and breaking her lock on Zhang Xuezhou.
• Zhang Xuezhou withdrew his Fortune Body and returned to ordinary awareness, believing the empress dowager could no longer trace him.
• Xu Chang found Zhang Xuezhou near the imperial library, and Zhang Xuezhou pretended he had come there to relieve himself.
• Xu Chang scolded Zhang Xuezhou for his behavior and suspected he was trying to provoke an impeachment.

Xu Chang condemned Zhang Xuezhou for urinating in the Tianlu Qilin Pavilion and threatened to have him removed as Grand Middle Counselor. Zhang Xuezhou realized Xu Chang was watching to see whether he could leave office safely, and that Zhang himself had become a test case for the old officials’ retreat.

• Xu Chang denounced Zhang Xuezhou’s conduct and argued that his example would undermine court decorum.
• Zhang Xuezhou challenged Xu Chang to impeach him and said he would give up the post of Grand Middle Counselor.
• Xu Chang decided to ask the Palace of Peace and Happiness to remove Zhang Xuezhou from his position.
• Xu Chang ordered the imperial guards to detain Zhang Xuezhou, but they hesitated because Xu Chang lacked authority to enforce the law in the palace.
• Zhang Xuezhou inferred that Xu Chang was planning his own departure and intended to use Zhang’s fate as a model.

The new emperor rushed to Weiyang Palace after learning Xu Chang had seized Zhang Xuezhou and called an emergency session to impeach him. Xu Chang finally revealed that Zhang Xuezhou’s alleged rebellion was urinating outside the Heavenly Emolument Qilin Pavilion, leaving the court stunned.

• The new emperor learned from Sang Hongyang that Xu Chang had summoned officials to impeach Zhang Xuezhou and remove him from office.
• The new emperor brought Li Guang and Wei Qing to Weiyang Palace, where he found Zhang Xuezhou bound and Xu Chang demanding his punishment.
• The new emperor repeatedly pressed Xu Chang to explain Zhang Xuezhou’s crime and ordered that he be allowed to speak.
• Xu Chang accused Zhang Xuezhou of urinating outside the Heavenly Emolument Qilin Pavilion, shocking the emperor and the assembled officials.

Xu Chang accused Zhang Xuezhou of urinating outside the Heavenly Emolument Qilin Pavilion and demanded his death, while the new emperor ordered Zhuang Qingdi to investigate. Zhuang Qingdi found urine that was not Xu Chang’s and took Zhang Xuezhou back to the pavilion to recreate the scene, leaving him preparing to urinate under imperial orders.

• Xu Chang accused Zhang Xuezhou of disrespecting the ancestors by urinating near the Heavenly Emolument Qilin Pavilion and demanded that he be beaten to death.
• The new emperor stopped Xu Chang from punishing Zhang Xuezhou immediately and authorized Zhuang Qingdi to examine the evidence.
• Zhuang Qingdi inspected the damp ground and both officials, finding that the urine did not belong to Xu Chang but could not yet prove it was Zhang Xuezhou’s.
• Zhuang Qingdi obtained permission to have Zhang Xuezhou urinate again at the pavilion, and the court followed them there.
• After Xu Chang removed the Gold-Binding Rope, Zhuang Qingdi privately told Zhang Xuezhou the test would reduce his charge, and Zhang began to urinate.

Zhang Xuezhou was impeached after urinating outside the Qilin Pavilion, and Xu Chang demanded that he be castrated. Zhang Xuezhou secured a three-year suspended sentence, but lost his post as Grand Palace Grandee and was ordered to await orders at the Eunuch Office.

• Zhuang Qingdi and the assembled officials accused Zhang Xuezhou of violating court rites after he urinated outside the Qilin Pavilion.
• The new emperor agreed that Zhang Xuezhou was unfit to serve as Grand Palace Grandee and ordered him stripped of the post.
• Xu Chang demanded that Zhang Xuezhou be castrated as punishment, and Zhuang Qingdi asked Zhang whether he objected.
• Zhang Xuezhou promised not to urinate there again and requested a three-year suspended sentence in place of castration.
• The new emperor accepted the suspended sentence, removed Zhang Xuezhou from office, and ordered him to await orders at the Eunuch Office.

The new emperor sought the Empress Dowager’s support for appointing Tian Fen and Han Anguo, and learned how deeply her people were embedded in the court. After he left, the Empress Dowager feared the Grand Empress Dowager’s failing Fortune Body but worried that Li Shaojun guarded the Palace of Peace and Happiness, leading her to consider asking Dongfang Shuo to deal with him.

• The new emperor complained that his court appointee had been squeezed out and proposed giving Tian Fen and Han Anguo important roles.
• The Empress Dowager approved Han Anguo as a candidate for grand censor and assured the new emperor that her officials could keep the government running even if the court was replaced.
• The Empress Dowager warned the new emperor to forget about Dongfang Shuo, whom she considered deserving of being squeezed out.
• After the new emperor departed, the Empress Dowager recalled the Grand Empress Dowager’s terrifying flames and concluded that her shattered Fortune Body left her failing.
• The Empress Dowager suspected Li Shaojun was guarding the Palace of Peace and Happiness and considered seeking Dongfang Shuo’s help to keep him from interfering.

After losing his post as Grand Palace Counselor, Zhang Xuezhou settled into the Eunuch Office and investigated Han Yan’s symptoms to infer Huang Daoxian’s condition. He concluded Huang Daoxian was likely weakened by losing the Fortune War and felt safe focusing on this world for now.

• Zhang Xuezhou accepted his reassignment to the Eunuch Office, where the eunuchs treated him deferentially in case he regained power.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Han Yan about his weakness after noticing that Han Yan’s Fortune Body had shrunk.
• Han Yan said he felt weak and cold and had an uncontrollable desire for women, so Sang Hongyang urged him to visit the Silan Quarter.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized Han Yan’s symptoms could help explain Huang Daoxian’s condition after losing the Fortune War.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded Huang Daoxian was likely too weakened to pursue him soon and turned his attention fully to this world.

Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingdi discussed how to escape the dangers of court politics, and Zhuang Qingdi sought a way to secure Li Shaojun’s help in protecting the grand empress dowager’s funeral. He concluded that Zhang Xuezhou was his only useful connection to Li Shaojun.

• Xu Chang told Zhuang Qingdi that he hoped to imitate Zhang Xuezhou’s resignation, but he worried that Dongfang Shuo’s punishment had been too light to serve as a precedent.
• Zhuang Qingdi warned Xu Chang that castrating Dongfang Shuo would be excessive and could invite the same fate upon them.
• Xu Chang reminded Zhuang Qingdi that their roles in Zhao Wan and Wang Zang’s deaths could make them vulnerable when the political situation changed.
• Zhuang Qingdi worried that guarding the grand empress dowager’s funeral could expose them to danger from Zhu Jiuyin.
• After purple qi appeared above the Palace of Peace and Happiness, Zhuang Qingdi guessed Li Shaojun had restored his cultivation and considered asking for his help.
• Zhuang Qingdi realized Zhang Xuezhou was his only remaining connection to Li Shaojun and was relieved he had not completely alienated Zhang.

After losing his court appointment, Zhang Xuezhou accepted his new role as a reserve eunuch and examined the restored Boshan incense burner with Rong Tianding. Their discussion was interrupted when Zhuang Qingdi arrived at night to meet Zhang Xuezhou.

• Zhang Xuezhou returned home in the Eunuch Office's gray robes, and Rong Tianding and A Qiao reacted to his dismissal from court.
• Rong Tianding sensed A Qiao releasing a messenger crow, but Zhang Xuezhou dismissed her actions and focused on the Boshan incense burner.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding suspected the burner had belonged to Shi Wudao and discussed how Rong could experiment with it to strengthen his Yin creatures.
• Rong Tianding detected a carriage at the Zhang residence, and Zhuang Qingdi knocked and asked Zhang Xuezhou to meet him.
• Zhang Xuezhou wondered why Zhuang Qingdi had come and recalled how the imperial censor had misled him before.

After losing his court position, Zhang Xuezhou was visited by Zhuang Qingdi, who feared the weakening Palace of Peace and Happiness would leave him and his allies vulnerable. Zhuang Qingdi offered Zhang a property deed to contact Li Shaojun for protection, but Zhang realized he was really hoping to enlist Divine Lord Zhenyuan.

• Liu Ling reconsidered her doubts about Zhang Xuezhou and decided he might still be valuable because of his good fortune and powerful backing.
• Zhuang Qingdi visited Zhang Xuezhou and asked for help protecting his allies as the Grand Empress Dowager's influence faded.
• Zhang Xuezhou reassured Zhuang Qingdi that his hereditary marquis title would help keep him safe, then refused to join a dangerous confrontation.
• Zhuang Qingdi offered Zhang a property deed in exchange for contacting Li Shaojun to help defend them.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized Zhuang Qingdi was counting on Divine Lord Zhenyuan, who had been practicing Technique Methods at the Palace of Peace and Happiness.

Zhuang Qingdi sought Zhang Xuezhou’s help in recruiting Li Shaojun and Divine Lord Zhenyuan as protection against powerful enemies. Zhang explained the costly requirements for their cooperation, and Zhuang Qingdi agreed to search his household stores for suitable Law Treasure cloth.

• Zhuang Qingdi asked Zhang Xuezhou to introduce him to Li Shaojun, and Zhang agreed.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Li Shaojun would offer limited help for fine alchemical materials, but would need top-grade Law Treasure cloth to fight at full strength alongside Divine Lord Zhenyuan.
• Zhang Xuezhou showed Zhuang Qingdi his Heavenly Silkworm cloth, which Divine Lord Zhenyuan considered too light and fragile for reforging his shattered Law Treasure.
• Zhuang Qingdi asked Zhang Xuezhou to have Li Shaojun inspect his household’s Law Treasure cloth, and Zhang said he could send it over for Li Shaojun to review.
• Zhuang Qingdi decided to search his household stores that night and send the cloth the next day.