Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen agreed to meet Ye Dai, the illegitimate daughter of Qing'an County Assistant Magistrate Ye Xiangming, after the innkeeper arranged a match between them. At the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, Wang Chen and Ye Dai met for the first time beside Xinhe Bridge.

• The innkeeper told Wang Chen about Ye Dai and arranged for them to meet at the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival.
• Chen Yijian offered to investigate Ye Dai, but Wang Chen told him to focus on his studies and not meddle.
• Wang Chen dressed for the festival, carried a lantern to Xinhe Bridge, and spotted Ye Dai and her maid by their agreed lantern designs.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai introduced themselves beside the bridge as fireworks burst overhead.

Wang Chen and Ye Dai enjoyed a successful Mid-Autumn blind date, and Ye Xiangming approved of their match. Their correspondence grew closer until unwelcome visitors suddenly arrived at the school in Tongluo Alley.

• Wang Chen and Ye Dai met beside the Fangxia River, where Wang Chen recited the opening lines of a poem during the fireworks display and promised to send Ye Dai the complete piece.
• Ye Dai told her father, Ye Xiangming, that she liked Wang Chen, and he agreed to arrange their marriage while warning her about the Cao Family and unsettled streets.
• Wang Chen sent Ye Dai the complete poem two days later, and she treasured its words and thought of their meeting.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai exchanged increasingly frequent letters, and Ye Dai grew deeply attached to him.
• A group of unwelcome guests arrived at the school in Tongluo Alley.

Cao Jin'an threatened Wang Chen and ordered him to leave Qing'an County because he coveted Ye Dai, then died suddenly while drinking at Wangchun Tower. The gang leaders’ sons with him also died in bizarre ways, leaving the tower in chaos.

• Cao Jin'an and two Cangshui Gang fighters barged into Wang Chen’s courtyard, struck Chen Yijian, and threatened Wang Chen over Ye Dai.
• Wang Chen told Chen Yijian to treat his injuries, then repaired the damaged gate as he coldly watched the courtyard.
• At Wangchun Tower, Cao Jin'an complained about Ye Xiangming refusing his marriage proposal and raged over Ye Dai’s match with Wang Chen.
• Cao Jin'an attacked a courtesan, but a sudden piercing pain struck his head and killed him.
• The gang leaders’ sons at the gathering began screaming and dying in bizarre ways, while the courtesans fled and Wangchun Tower descended into chaos.

After Cao Jin'an and twelve others were mysteriously killed at Wangchun Tower, Qing'an County's officials and Cao Xiong struggled to investigate a possible cultivator's involvement, but the killer was never found. Months later, Wang Chen formally proposed to Ye Dai, and the two awaited their wedding.

• Sun Huai'an sealed off Wangchun Tower while County Magistrate Yu Heqian and County Assistant Magistrate Ye Xiangming arrived to investigate the thirteen deaths.
• The coroner found no external wounds or detectable poison and suggested the victims might have been killed by a cultivator's method.
• Yu Heqian ordered the investigation to continue, but Cao Xiong accepted that the bodies would be held at the yamen and the inquiry would proceed cautiously.
• The killer remained unidentified, the Cangshui Gang kept a low profile, and county residents celebrated Cao Jin'an's death as retribution.
• Before the New Year, Wang Chen sent a matchmaker to propose to Ye Dai, and the couple became engaged while awaiting their wedding.

On New Year's Eve, Wang Chen met his future father-in-law Ye Xiangming, who approved of him and urged him to treat Ye Dai well. Later, Wang Chen married Ye Dai in a lively neighborhood wedding and entered the bridal chamber with her.

• Wang Chen sent Chen Yijian home and celebrated New Year's Eve alone before Ye Xiangming arrived unannounced.
• Ye Xiangming spoke with Wang Chen, offered him a chance to seek help in the yamen, and asked him to cherish Ye Dai; Wang Chen said he preferred teaching and promised not to disappoint her.
• Wang Chen's neighbors helped arrange his wedding, and he led the procession to the Ye Clan to bring Ye Dai home.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai completed their wedding rites before the neighbors, while Ye Xiangming did not attend.
• After the feast, Wang Chen dismissed Xiao Yu, lifted Ye Dai's veil, and shared nuptial wine with her before carrying her to the bed.

Wang Chen learned that rice prices were rising sharply and suspected the hot, dry weather might signal a drought. He reassured Ye Yu and Ye Dai that he had enough money to cover the school’s expenses, then carried Ye Dai to the bedroom.

• Ye Yu told Wang Chen that rice prices had climbed from three coppers to five per jin and worried about the school’s rising grain costs.
• Wang Chen noticed the prolonged hot, rainless weather and connected it to the surge in rice prices.
• Ye Yu went to Ye Dai to complain about Wang Chen’s spending, and Ye Dai offered to use her untouched dowry to help.
• Wang Chen refused Ye Dai’s offer, relying on the silver he had secretly obtained from the Cangshui Gang’s treasury.
• Wang Chen carried Ye Dai into the bedroom despite her protests.

Wang Chen reassured Ye Dai that his cultivation prevented them from having children and promised to break through within three years. After discovering a worsening drought outside Qing'an County, he brought his father-in-law Ye Xiangming a design for a self-flowing waterwheel to help save the rice fields.

• Ye Dai worried that she could not bear children, and Wang Chen told her that his cultivation was the cause and promised it would be resolved within three years.
• Wang Chen went fishing at the Clear Water River and found that low water levels had left nearby rice fields dry and withering.
• Farmers told Wang Chen that newly built waterwheels could no longer reach the river and that drought and rising rice prices were worsening across the region.
• Wang Chen went to the county yamen and asked Ye Xiangming to organize craftsmen to build self-flowing waterwheels from his design.

Wang Chen persuaded Qing'an County's officials to fund and build a Self-Flowing Waterwheel, then supervised its construction and installation. The wheel successfully lifted water from the Clear Water River, bringing relief to drought-stricken farmers.

• Wang Chen offered to pay for the first Self-Flowing Waterwheel, easing Ye Xiangming's concerns about the county yamen's responsibility.
• Ye Xiangming consulted County Magistrate Yu Heqian, who approved building one waterwheel and promised more if it worked.
• Wang Chen supplied the design and funds and supervised the Official Workshop's craftsmen as they built the wheel.
• Wang Chen and the county officials watched as the waterwheel was assembled beside the Clear Water River amid a crowd of anxious farmers.
• Yu Heqian started the waterwheel, and it carried river water into the dry channel, prompting villagers to cheer as their crops were saved.

As the drought drove nearly ten thousand refugees to Qing'an County, Wang Chen advised Ye Xiangming on relief measures and then joined Ye Dai in distributing food outside the city. When hungry refugees surrounded them and attackers threatened violence, Wang Chen killed two men with his sword.

• The drought worsened, refugees flooded toward Qing'an County, and the county yamen shut the gates while arranging porridge relief.
• Ye Xiangming asked Wang Chen for advice, and Wang Chen proposed work-for-relief, gathering food, and seeking aid from higher authorities.
• Ye Dai asked to help the refugees, so Wang Chen's household made flatbreads and took them outside the city to distribute.
• The food ran out, and desperate refugees surrounded Wang Chen, Ye Dai, and their companions as some threatened violence.
• Wang Chen beheaded a man who incited the crowd, then killed another attacker who tried to ambush him.

After Ye Dai witnessed soldiers massacre refugees, Ye Xiangming warned Wang Chen that drought, a drought demon, and political turmoil threatened Qing'an County. The Santai refugees formed a vast bandit army, which eventually surrounded Qing'an County Town and forced its leaders to assemble a desperate defense.

• Wang Chen took Ye Dai and his household home after Ye Xiangming's soldiers killed refugees to suppress a disturbance.
• Ye Xiangming scolded Ye Dai and Wang Chen, then told Wang Chen that disaster and unrest across Changyi Prefecture required them to plan an escape.
• Santai County refugees captured their county town, formed a roving bandit army, and spread across Changyi Prefecture.
• The bandits breached Yongping County Town, prompting panic, flight, and worsening disorder in neighboring Qing'an County.
• The bandit army surrounded Qing'an County Town with fifty or sixty thousand fighters, and Yu Heqian and Ye Xiangming organized a force of about three thousand five hundred defenders.

Wang Chen joined Ye Xiangming on Qing'an County Town's walls as a huge bandit army launched its first assault. Wang Chen killed the attackers' elite fighters and survived an expert's ambush, while the bandits eventually withdrew, leaving the defenders wary that worse attacks would follow.

• Wang Chen refused to flee Qing'an County with his family, and Ye Xiangming accepted that they would have to fight.
• Ye Xiangming directed the defenders as the bandits charged the walls, and the county soldiers used arrows, stones, and logs to repel them.
• Wang Chen used his powerful bow to kill more than thirty elite bandits hidden among the attackers.
• A bandit expert scaled the wall and attacked Wang Chen, but Wang Chen struck him dead before he could land a blow.
• The bandits sounded their retreat and fled, prompting cheers from the defenders while Qing'an County's leaders recognized that the siege had only begun.

Wang Chen and Ye Xiangming helped Qing'an County Town withstand five days of attacks by the Ping Tian Army, whose leader, Li Zili, tried to secure peace by demanding Wang Chen's head. The defenders rejected the scheme, but the next assault caused heavy casualties and left the town nearly out of supplies.

• Wang Chen shot a bandit who was about to stab the exhausted Ye Xiangming, helping the defenders repel another attack after five days of siege.
• The Ping Tian Army sent a letter offering to withdraw if Qing'an County delivered Wang Chen's head, and Yu Heqian recognized it as an attempt to sow discord.
• Yu Heqian reassured Wang Chen, while Ye Xiangming shot the messenger through the ear to reject the demand.
• The Ping Tian Army launched its fiercest assault the next morning, and Wang Chen and Ye Xiangming rushed between threatened sections of the walls to help hold them.
• Qing'an County suffered more than a thousand casualties, its supplies and arrows dwindled, and the Ping Tian Army moved closer without showing signs of retreat.

As Qing'an County Town’s defenses faltered, County Magistrate Yu Heqian and local elites betrayed Wang Chen, hoping to save the town by handing him over to King Ping Tian’s forces. Wang Chen killed the conspirators, leaving Ye Xiangming to arrive in the bloodied hall.

• After three days of relentless attacks, Qing'an County’s exhausted defenders struggled to hold the walls, and Yu Heqian summoned Wang Chen to the county office.
• Yu Heqian revealed that he had conspired with the town’s elites and King Ping Tian’s army, bringing Xiao Zhan and two other experts into the city to kill Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen exposed the poisoned tea as harmless to him and killed a gentryman with the tea he spat out.
• Xiao Zhan attacked Wang Chen, but Wang Chen broke his saber with a punch and killed him with the broken blade.
• Wang Chen struck down the remaining conspirators with porcelain shards and killed Yu Heqian before Ye Xiangming rushed into the hall.

Wang Chen survived a plot by County Magistrate Yu Heqian and Qing'an County’s gentry, while Ye Xiangming covered up their deaths and took control of the city. The bandit army withdrew after suffering heavy losses, and Wang Chen returned home to his family.

• Ye Xiangming found Yu Heqian and more than a dozen local figures dead in the county office, and Wang Chen claimed bandit experts had killed them.
• Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen agreed to blame the massacre on the bandits, and Wang Chen returned to the city wall while Ye Xiangming handled the aftermath.
• Ye Xiangming purged Yu Heqian’s confidants, seized provisions by raiding several wealthy households, and took control of Qing'an County Town.
• Li Zili withdrew the bandit army after its assaults caused heavy losses, and the defenders celebrated Qing'an County’s survival.
• Wang Chen returned home and spent three days and nights with Ye Dai and Xiao Yu.

After the drought and bandit attacks left Qing'an County facing a severe grain shortage, Ye Xiangming asked Wang Chen to lead a caravan south to buy food. Wang Chen’s large caravan reached Yunze Prefecture after a difficult detour, where it encountered a new and unspecified danger.

• Ye Xiangming was appointed County Magistrate of Qing'an County and took charge of both military and civil affairs as the drought and damage to irrigation threatened the harvest.
• Ye Xiangming told Wang Chen that the county’s grain stores were inadequate and asked him to lead a caravan south to purchase grain.
• Wang Chen agreed, and Ye Xiangming assembled a caravan of more than eight hundred people, including three hundred Garrison Army soldiers.
• Three days later, Wang Chen led the caravan out of Qing'an County Town, while Ye Dai and the others moved into the county yamen.
• After detouring west to avoid the bandits, the caravan reached Yunze Prefecture, where the situation changed.

Wang Chen’s merchant team was harassed by unseen enemies as it traveled through Yunze Prefecture, and the repeated attacks wore down the guards and travelers. After flaming arrows struck the camp, Wang Chen prepared to face the attackers himself from a lookout tower.

• Wang Chen ordered the merchant team to stay alert as it approached Sanhe County, while groups of watchers followed them through the marshes.
• Enemies repeatedly used owl cries and other eerie sounds to keep the team awake, but Wang Chen refused to send men searching for them in the dark.
• On the third night, attackers fired flaming arrows at the camp, and the guards stopped the cargo wagons and animals from suffering major losses.
• Head Escort Master Chen warned Wang Chen that the team could not endure the nightly harassment, but Wang Chen said he would deal with the attackers himself.
• Wang Chen had the guards build a lookout tower and stood atop it with a longbow as veteran soldiers recalled his past deeds.

Wang Chen repelled a bandit attack with his archery and swordsmanship, then led the Qing'an Merchant Team through Yunze Prefecture to buy grain. As the team began its return journey, more than a thousand bandits gathered behind them, and Wang Chen ordered a defensive formation.

• Wang Chen shot the bandits hiding in the woods, pursued them into the forest, and killed or scattered them.
• Wang Chen returned to camp, and the merchant team continued its journey without further bandit attacks until reaching Sanhe County.
• Wang Chen bought available grain in Sanhe County, then led the team onward to Shangze County and other towns to gather more supplies.
• After collecting nearly enough grain and starting back toward Qing'an County, the merchant team was followed by a growing force of bandits.
• Wang Chen chose a defensible location and ordered the merchant team to form a defensive formation.

Wang Chen led the Qing'an Merchant Team in a charge against the bandits surrounding them on Nameless Mountain. He broke through the enemy ranks with a Mo Dao, and the bandits began to flee.

• Wang Chen showed the merchant team a chest of silver and asked for volunteers to fight the bandits.
• Dozens of veteran guards and other team members volunteered, and Wang Chen paid them silver before selecting three hundred elite soldiers.
• Wang Chen armed himself with a Mo Dao and led the three hundred soldiers in a charge down the hill.
• A bandit leader ordered archers to shoot Wang Chen, but Wang Chen used an invisible shockwave to knock aside the arrows.
• Wang Chen cut through the bandits with his Mo Dao, killing their leader and causing the enemy formation to collapse.
• Terrified by the slaughter, many bandits fled and threw away their weapons.

Wang Chen led the Qing'an Merchant Team to defeat the bandits, bring grain back to Qing'an County, and steady the county during a severe food shortage. Ye Xiangming recommended Wang Chen for county deputy magistrate, and the appointment arrived half a month later.

• Wang Chen killed the burly bandit leader as his warriors routed the remaining bandits and cleared the battlefield.
• Wang Chen rewarded the fighters, arranged compensation for the dead and wounded, and led the merchant team back to Qing'an County with grain.
• Ye Xiangming welcomed the team, and Wang Chen reunited with Ye Dai and Xiao Yu before meeting privately with his father-in-law.
• Ye Xiangming explained that banditry and drought had left Changyi Prefecture short of grain, and asked Wang Chen to help govern Qing'an as county deputy magistrate.
• The prefectural city appointed Wang Chen county deputy magistrate for his merit in suppressing bandits.

A prolonged drought drove Qing'an County into famine, and Wang Chen convinced Ye Xiangming to seize grain from wealthy households to feed the refugees. After an inspection envoy was killed on the way to investigate, the county yamen raided several households for alleged collusion with bandits, leaving Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen dominant in the county by autumn.

• Drought dried up the Clear Water River and ruined farming, while refugees crowded into Qing'an County seeking food.
• Wang Chen urged Ye Xiangming to force wealthy households to provide grain, threatening to plant armor as evidence and, if necessary, raid Yunze or rebel.
• Ye Xiangming agreed, and the wealthy households surrendered large amounts of grain, easing the famine and saving disaster victims.
• Wealthy households secretly petitioned the prefectural city, which sent an inspection envoy to investigate Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen.
• Bandits attacked and killed the inspection envoy and his party before they entered Qing'an County.
• The county yamen raided several wealthy households and arrested them for alleged collusion with bandits, strengthening Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen's control through the end of summer and into autumn.