Chapter Summaries

Yu Shuying joined Si Ming’s class as a strikingly beautiful but aloof transfer student, then announced that only people with extraordinary identities should approach her. After she silenced Chen Shimi, Si Ming noticed that her repeated glances at him seemed deliberate.

• Murong Qing complained that Ying Zhou had led her younger brother astray and vowed to demand an explanation from him.
• The homeroom teacher introduced Yu Shuying, who wrote her name on the blackboard and took the seat beside Chen Shimi.
• When classmates discussed how to welcome Yu Shuying, she declared that she had no interest in ordinary people and listed four exceptional conditions for anyone who approached her.
• Chen Shimi tried to connect with Yu Shuying through his fantasies about fate, but she threatened him with two fingers near his eye until he stopped talking.
• Si Ming noticed Yu Shuying glance at him again and realized her attention was not an illusion.

Si Ming learned that Xiao Xuan had nominated him as a Grandmaster Candidate, but he declined to pursue the position for himself and agreed to protect Yu Shuying during her trial. Yan Jinghong prepared him for the journey with new equipment and the Juntian Sword Art, whose full power depended on Li State’s lost imperial weapon.

• Yan Jinghong asked Si Ming whether he wanted to become Grandmaster, and Si Ming said he had no interest in politics or leading the Mohists.
• Yan Jinghong told Si Ming that Xiao Xuan had nominated him as a Grandmaster Candidate and explained that candidates had to leave verifiable achievements in various countries.
• Yan Jinghong revealed that Yu Shuying was also a candidate and asked Si Ming to protect her while they took part in the trial together under the guise that she was his assistant.
• Si Ming accepted the request and asked for help improving his combat ability before the journey.
• Yan Jinghong promised Si Ming custom Profound Armor and gave him the incomplete Juntian Sword Art, explaining that its divine weapon had once let Li State’s founding emperor challenge a Void Returning grandmaster.

Si Ming observed Yu Shuying at school and agreed to test their martial skills, with Murong Qing joining them. At Weiyang Hall, Yu Shuying revealed her mastery of the whip and began fighting Murong Qing, whose spear swept toward her after she deflected the opening attack.

• Si Ming condensed the Cauldron Armor Seal and Light Lotus Seal, but could not yet master the Earth-Splitting Seal.
• Si Ming watched Yu Shuying at school as she defended her choice to sleep through lessons and study at her own pace.
• Yu Shuying recognized Si Ming's plan to understand her through a fight and agreed to exchange blows; Murong Qing joined them.
• A crowd gathered at Weiyang Hall, where Murong Qing and Yu Shuying took up a spear and whip, respectively.
• Murong Qing attacked first, but Yu Shuying wrapped her whip around the spear and deflected its point before Murong Qing countered with Snow Swallow Returns to the Sky.

Yu Shuying defeated Murong Qing in a platform match by anticipating her tactics and using Frost-Defying Plum Fist to send her off the edge. She then challenged Si Ming, who insisted on waiting until she had rested before they fought.

• Murong Qing used Glacier True Qi to pressure Yu Shuying and gradually freeze her whip until she broke it with a spear strike.
• Yu Shuying hurled the broken whip at Murong Qing and struck her shoulder with Frost-Defying Plum Fist, overcoming her rushed counterattack.
• Murong Qing staggered off the platform, and the referee declared Yu Shuying the winner.
• Murong Qing asked whether Yu Shuying had anticipated all her tactics, but Yu Shuying turned to Si Ming and challenged him.
• Si Ming refused to fight while Yu Shuying was tired and said they should wait until she had rested.

Si Ming reluctantly began his match with Yu Shuying after spectators favored him to win, then discovered her palm technique could push him toward the edge despite his Jade-Clad Dharma Body. He countered her snow-like force with Drought God Palm, but Yu Shuying circled around to attack again.

• Si Ming delayed the match, but Yu Shuying rested and returned to the stage to fight him.
• Ke Chajing, Hu Jixian, and Tao Chengsi judged Si Ming the favorite, prompting him to worry that their confidence would jinx him.
• Yu Shuying opened with a feint and a knee strike, then used Heaven and Earth Spin to unleash the Auspicious Snow Abundant Spirit Palm.
• Yu Shuying's palm force steadily pushed Si Ming toward the edge, so he rooted himself in place and countered with Drought God Palm.
• Si Ming's fiery palm broke through Yu Shuying's force, but she dodged and circled to his left for another attack.

Si Ming and Yu Shuying countered each other until neither dared attack, while Si Ming’s durability kept him in the fight. He announced he was charging up an ultimate move, and Ke Chajing told the spectators to move back.

• Si Ming saw through Yu Shuying’s Auspicious Snow Abundant Spirit Palm and Frost-Defying Plum Fist, but Yu Shuying used traps and strikes to counter his attacks.
• Yu Shuying swept Si Ming’s ankle and struck his elbow, sending him face-first across the arena before he caught the edge and got back up.
• Si Ming and Yu Shuying circled without attacking, each wary that the other would counter the first move.
• Si Ming declared that he was charging up his ultimate move and told everyone to move back.
• Ke Chajing believed Si Ming might mean it and urged the spectators to retreat.

Si Ming unleashed Blazing Sun Light Burst against Yu Shuying, but she struck him with cold, yin True Qi after his power was spent and won the sparring match. Si Ming and Murong Qing questioned how Yu Shuying could wield both yin and yang cultivation, while their classmates comforted him over the loss.

• Si Ming charged up Blazing Sun Light Burst, intending to lure Yu Shuying close or overwhelm her with the blast.
• Yu Shuying recognized Si Ming's trap and waited as he fired the particle streams across the arena.
• The blast filled Weiyang Hall with smoke and knocked Si Ming out of the arena, while Yu Shuying announced her victory and ran to the women's changing room.
• Si Ming told Murong Qing that Yu Shuying's cold, yin True Qi had struck him when his dantian was empty.
• Murong Qing recalled sensing yang-aligned True Qi from Yu Shuying and speculated that she had learned an art in which yin and yang coexisted.
• Si Ming's classmates comforted him, saying the arena rules had limited the advantages of his body-hardening martial arts.

Si Ming received the Vermilion Bird Machine, a prototype Profound Armor equipped for flight, speed, and combat, and learned about its weapons and limitations. He tested the armor at the training ground but found its powerful functions consumed more True Qi than his level-five cultivation could sustain.

• Si Ming learned that the Mohist Academy of Science had issued him the Vermilion Bird Machine as a Grandmaster candidate.
• The doctor explained the armor’s flight systems, vector thruster, heat sink, and weapon capabilities to Si Ming.
• Si Ming tested the Vermilion Flame Sword and found that it could reach three thousand degrees while rapidly draining his True Qi.
• The doctor told Si Ming that several advanced weapons and abilities required Spirit Transformation-level Internal Cultivation.
• Si Ming ran, jumped, flew, and fired a True Qi beam cannon during a test run at the training ground.

Si Ming became fascinated with the Vermilion Bird Machine and spent the day eager to return to it. His quiet routine ended when Yu Shuying arrived with a suitcase and announced she was moving into the orphanage.

• Si Ming mastered the Vermilion Bird Machine, and the doctor explained its weaknesses and the roles of the other divine machines.
• Si Ming stayed up playing with the machine, woke late, and saw Murong Qing practicing swordsmanship while Yao Bilian and Hongdou caused trouble during their morning routines.
• Si Ming stopped trying to improve his relationship with Yu Shuying and hurried home after school to admire the Vermilion Bird Machine.
• Yu Shuying arrived carrying a suitcase, declared that she was moving in, claimed an empty room, and hung a warning sign on its door.
• Yao Bilian asked Si Ming why his classmate was another problem child.

Si Ming and the others discussed how to welcome Yu Shuying, who continued to keep her distance from the household. They decided to hold a dinner party and planned to make her attend if she refused.

• Si Ming found that Yu Shuying had left her room before the others and worried that she would not build rapport with the household.
• Murong Qing reprimanded Murong Wu for eating noisily and continued enforcing strict manners on the younger residents.
• Yao Bilian proposed a welcome party for Yu Shuying, and Si Ming suggested asking Lu Mao to prepare dinner when he returned on Friday.
• Murong Qing warned that Yu Shuying might refuse the invitation, while Si Ming argued that the group should still enjoy a dinner together if she declined.
• Si Ming decided to force Yu Shuying to attend if necessary, and Murong Qing agreed to help him.

Si Ming returned home for Yu Shuying’s welcome barbecue and watched Lu Mao prepare a roast pig, learning the first level of Butcher Ding’s Ox-Carving as he observed. The feast drew everyone’s attention, and after Lu Mao revealed his Cooking Power had surged through special training, he noticed Si Ming’s own Cooking Power had risen to twenty thousand.

• Si Ming hurried home after school, hoping to arrive before Yu Shuying, and found Lu Mao roasting a piglet for the welcome party.
• Lu Mao explained his roast-pig technique and Butcher Ding’s Ox-Carving, and Si Ming comprehended its first level while watching him cook.
• Yao Bilian kicked Si Ming aside to grab roast pork, and the group eagerly devoured the meal before Yu Shuying arrived.
• Yu Shuying claimed the last pork leg as part of her welcome feast, and Si Ming let her take it after she explained why she had attended.
• Lu Mao said his Cooking Power had risen from thirty thousand to a hundred and eighty thousand after special training, then observed Si Ming’s Cooking Power spike from five thousand to twenty thousand.

Si Ming woke to find Yu Shuying beside his bed and traded insults with her after she caught him staring at her legs. She ordered him to get dressed for a mission requested by an elder, leaving him irritated and eager to defend his dignity.

• Si Ming woke and stared at Yu Shuying's legs while his thoughts wandered into a joke about physics and the universe.
• Yu Shuying mocked Si Ming's train of thought and struck him with an elbow infused with Supreme Yin True Qi.
• Si Ming challenged Yu Shuying for attacking him and asked why she had come to his room.
• Yu Shuying told Si Ming to get up because they were going on a mission, explaining that an elder had asked her to bring him.
• Si Ming tried to make Yu Shuying leave while he got dressed, but she looked at his lower abdomen and sneered.

After trading barbs with Yu Shuying over breakfast, Si Ming accepted a difficult task involving a drug-addicted ex-husband who repeatedly escaped rehabilitation and terrorized his former wife. The task had resisted the Mohist Knight Guards because he could not be dealt with through violence without breaking the law.

• Yu Shuying and Si Ming argued over breakfast, while Yao Bilian told Murong Qing that their bickering showed they were communicating.
• Si Ming reviewed a long-standing task from a woman whose drug-addicted ex-husband beat her, stole from her, and returned whenever he escaped rehabilitation.
• Si Ming learned the man belonged to the Liu School and was skilled at stealth and lockpicking, making his repeated escapes difficult to prevent.
• Si Ming concluded that killing the man was not an option and that the law prevented the Mohist Knight Guards from taking justice into their own hands.
• Si Ming reflected that the people willing to risk prison for justice were already serving sentences, leaving the woman without their help.

Si Ming and Yu Shuying visited a woman who had commissioned the Mohist Knight Guard to stop her drug-addicted husband from harassing her and her child. Yu Shuying challenged the woman to divorce him and began asking about her son, leaving their plan unresolved.

• Si Ming considered how the government might control drug use, while Yu Shuying said she would handle the commission herself.
• Si Ming and Yu Shuying arrived at the woman’s impoverished home and saw a torn family photograph.
• The woman explained that her drug-addicted husband harassed her and her child, and that she feared divorce would not stop him.
• Yu Shuying urged the woman to divorce her husband and dismissed the police’s advice to preserve the marriage.
• The woman said her husband had threatened to keep pursuing them after a divorce and that his reputation made others unwilling to marry her.
• Yu Shuying asked whether the woman’s son attended school and how well he did.

Yu Shuying pressured an abused mother to kill the drug-addicted man who tormented her, arguing that prison and an orphanage would benefit her child. Si Ming objected to her attacks on the woman's love for her child, and the two clashed over Yu Shuying's methods.

• A man pounded on the woman's door and threatened her, so Si Ming opened it and grabbed him by the throat.
• Yu Shuying handed the woman scissors and urged her to kill the man, promising that her circumstances could lead to a reduced sentence.
• Yu Shuying argued that the woman's child would be better off in an orphanage, where he could have a stable home and escape his father's abuse.
• Yu Shuying accused the woman of selfishly keeping her child close for her own emotional support and challenged her to prove her love by killing the man.
• Si Ming stopped Yu Shuying and rebuked her for insulting the woman's love, but Yu Shuying defended her harsh words.

Si Ming and Yu Shuying helped a woman resolve to defend herself against the man tormenting her, then argued about Yu Shuying’s methods and suitability to become Grandmaster. Yu Shuying explained that success and the Grandmaster’s role as a guardian and judge mattered more to the public than personal virtue.

• After the woman failed to kill the man, Yu Shuying suggested crippling his legs, and the woman took a knife and chased him as he fled.
• Si Ming questioned whether Yu Shuying had used a mental martial art, and she said she had only pushed the woman toward making her own decision.
• On the walk home, Si Ming challenged Yu Shuying’s practice of manipulating people’s hearts, but she dismissed his criticism and anticipated his objections.
• Si Ming asked why the seniors thought Yu Shuying would make a good Grandmaster, and she argued that many people could admire her, the public valued repeated success, and the role required a forceful guardian and judge.

Si Ming lost a clash of words with Yu Shuying, who explained why mind reading gave her an advantage and revealed Mindless Shot as a counter. After recovering his confidence, he went to Murong Qing for advice and decided to challenge Yu Shuying’s claim to becoming Grandmaster.

• Yu Shuying dismissed Si Ming’s objections and explained how mind reading helped her prepare for fights, then told him Mindless Shot could counter her ability.
• Si Ming was left speechless as Yu Shuying left, but he rallied and planned to use his friends to overwhelm her.
• Si Ming returned to the orphanage and told Murong Qing what had happened; she criticized Yu Shuying’s willingness to prioritize results over principles.
• Si Ming decided to strike at Yu Shuying’s ambition to become Grandmaster by telling her she was not qualified, while resolving to show some restraint because he suspected her mind-reading had made her life difficult.
• Murong Qing laughed at Si Ming’s plan for revenge, and he insisted he would still retaliate, though less severely than he first intended.

Si Ming studied accounts of Mozi and concluded that Yu Shuying should not become Grandmaster while she relied on clever plans instead of practical action. He decided she needed to experience failure before taking on the role, and compared her shortcomings with the demanding qualities Mozi required of a leader.

• Murong Qing brought Si Ming books about Mozi, and he chose Anecdotes of Mozi to learn about the original Grandmaster.
• Si Ming read about Mozi’s hardship, determination, practical deeds, and willingness to risk everything to save the people.
• After reading, Si Ming told Murong Qing that Yu Shuying was too confident in her intelligence and needed to become more grounded before becoming Grandmaster.
• Si Ming reviewed Mozi’s logic and explained that Grandmasters needed eloquence, practical experience, moral character, endurance, and a willingness to share and serve others.
• Si Ming argued that Yu Shuying had to fail before becoming Grandmaster so that her mistakes would not endanger countless people, and he cited Xiao Xuan as someone willing to act and bear the consequences.

Si Ming accepted becoming Grandmaster as a dream and set thwarting Yu Shuying as his goal, then continued reading about Mozi's achievements in philosophy, logic, science, mathematics, mechanics, and craftsmanship. The chapter ended with Si Ming still studying the books Murong Qing had left him.

• Si Ming hesitated to pursue the Grandmaster position and spent the night considering Murong Qing's suggestion.
• Si Ming decided to treat becoming Grandmaster as a dream and defeating Yu Shuying as his goal.
• Si Ming wrote down ideas and countermeasures, then resumed reading about Mozi.
• Si Ming learned about Mozi's theories of knowledge, logic, space, time, mathematics, and motion.
• Si Ming read about Mozi's work on mechanics, optics, and defensive equipment.

After a dream about becoming Mozi and losing his republic to political rivals, Si Ming decided that strength would help him claim the Grandmaster title. At breakfast, Yao Bilian announced that an ambitious former lover was visiting that evening, prompting the household to prepare to receive her.

• Si Ming dreamed he became Mozi, unified the seven states, rejected the throne in favor of a republic, and was overthrown by his former allies.
• Si Ming woke up convinced that he could secure recognition as Grandmaster by becoming the strongest person in the world.
• Si Ming told Murong Qing that Mozi's achievements had inspired him, while Yu Shuying wondered at his sudden cheerfulness.
• Yao Bilian announced that an old classmate would visit that evening and told everyone to look presentable.
• Si Ming guessed that Yao Bilian wanted to show her successful former lover she was doing well, and Yao Bilian admitted she did not want the visitor to pity her.