Chapter Summaries

Neither Human Nor Ghost Yin Xiaoxiao and Mad Demon Dou Sha slaughtered Lord Li’s guards and cornered his family, but their attack was interrupted by arriving riders. Dou Sha recognized Gao Wan, Jin Daya, and Hao Bobo among them and realized their martial arts had been sealed by Huang Shaojie, who was riding behind them.

• Yin Xiaoxiao killed guards while the Manor Guard Captain tried to defend Lord Li’s party.
• Mad Demon Dou Sha joined Yin Xiaoxiao and killed the Manor Guard Captain and the remaining guards.
• Yin Xiaoxiao and Dou Sha confronted Lord Li and his family, and Dou Sha refused to spare them despite Lord Li’s warning about the Imperial Guard.
• Four riders arrived, and Dou Sha recognized Gao Wan, Jin Daya, and Hao Bobo, then noticed Huang Shaojie behind them and realized the three villains’ martial arts had been sealed.

Huang Shaojie defeated and killed Yin Xiaoxiao and Dou Sha, then learned that the Seven Great Villains’ leader Zeng Kuang and Third Brother Tong Yidao remained at large. After rescuing Li Gui’s family, he heard the new prefect worry that he might not reach Nanyue City safely.

• Huang Shaojie incapacitated Gao Wan, Jin Daya, and Hao Bobo before fighting Dou Sha and Yin Xiaoxiao.
• Huang Shaojie broke Yin Xiaoxiao’s fingers, defeated her, and tortured her with the Bone Dislocation and Muscle Severing Technique.
• Dou Sha endured Huang Shaojie’s torture briefly before offering to reveal Zeng Kuang and Tong Yidao’s whereabouts in exchange for a quick death; Huang Shaojie killed him and Yin Xiaoxiao.
• Li Gui and his family thanked Huang Shaojie for saving them, and Li Gui worried that his party could not safely reach Nanyue City without guards.
• Huang Shaojie told Li Gui he had come to hunt the Seven Great Villains, while Li Gui hinted that he wanted an escort to Nanyue City.

Huang Shaojie escorted Li Gui and his family to Nanyue City, then told the local officials he had come alone to arrest the Seven Great Villains. The officials doubted he could survive the assignment and suspected his commander had sent him there to die.

• Huang Shaojie agreed to escort Li Gui's family to Nanyue City, accepted ten thousand taels in silver notes, and freed Gao Wan and the other two villains to drive the carriages.
• Huang Shaojie carried Yin Xiaoxiao's and Dou Sha's heads with him and continued toward Nanyue with Li Gui's family.
• Huang Shaojie and the others reached Nanyue City, where Li Gui's steward announced the new prefect's arrival at the Prefectural Office.
• He Tongpan and the other officials welcomed Li Gui and showed Huang Shaojie respect after learning he was an Imperial Guard Hundred Commander.
• Huang Shaojie said he had come alone to apprehend the Seven Great Villains, leaving the officials astonished and worried that he had been sent to his death.

Huang Shaojie captured three of the Seven Great Villains and forced them to lead him to their mountain hideout. There, Smiling Tiger Tong Yidao and their leader Zeng Kuang attacked him together, but Huang Shaojie anticipated their ambush and countered.

• Prefect Li told He Tongpan that Huang Shaojie had killed Mad Demon Dou Sha and Neither Human Nor Ghost Yin Xiaoxiao and captured Gao Wan, Jin Daya, and Hao Bobo.
• Huang Shaojie questioned Gao Wan and forced him to reveal that the villains' lair was a Daoist temple on Green Peak Ridge.
• Gao Wan, Jin Daya, and Hao Bobo led Huang Shaojie to the temple, where he immobilized them and encountered Smiling Tiger Tong Yidao.
• Tong Yidao pretended to beg for mercy, then stabbed at Huang Shaojie's groin as Black Hand Zeng Kuang attacked him from behind with a poisonous palm.
• Huang Shaojie leaped to kick Tong Yidao beneath the chin and swung his palm at Zeng Kuang's attack.

Huang Shaojie killed the remaining Seven Great Villains of Lingnan and found their hoard in a hidden chamber. The system rewarded him with seventy years of inner strength and a Cubic Storage Spatial Ring, which he used to store the treasure.

• Huang Shaojie killed Tong Yidao and defeated Zeng Kuang, whose Poison Sand Palm had no effect on him.
• Huang Shaojie beheaded Zeng Kuang as he tried to flee.
• Huang Shaojie mutilated Gao Wan and Jin Daya, killed Hao Bobo, and searched the Taoist temple for treasure.
• Huang Shaojie found more than a dozen chests of plundered treasure in a hidden chamber.
• The system awarded Huang Shaojie seventy years of inner strength and a Cubic Storage Spatial Ring, and the added strength advanced him to the Second Rank Grandmaster realm.
• Huang Shaojie tested the ring and stored all the treasure chests inside its ten-thousand-cubic-meter space.

Huang Shaojie returned to Suzhou with the heads of the Seven Great Villains after killing them and rescuing Li Gui’s family. Niu Ren verified the heads against the villains’ portraits and asked Huang Shaojie how he had completed the mission so quickly.

• Huang Shaojie stored his valuables and the heads of Tong Yidao, Gao Wan, Jin Daya, Hao Bobo, and Zeng Kuang in the Spatial Storage Ring before riding back to Suzhou.
• At Suzhou’s city gate, Huang Shaojie showed his Imperial Guard badge after the guards found heads in his blood-soaked sack, and they let him enter.
• Huang Shaojie brought the sack to the Imperial Guard office, where Niu Ren ordered the heads compared with the Seven Great Villains’ portraits.
• Niu Ren confirmed that the heads matched the Seven Great Villains and asked Huang Shaojie how he had killed them in half a month.
• Huang Shaojie began recounting how he had followed the trail, captured Hao Bobo, and rescued Li Gui’s family in Lingnan.

Huang Shaojie returned to Suzhou after killing the Seven Great Villains, received his reward and three days of leave, then visited Xiao Qiuyue before setting off to see his parents. The chapter ended with Xiao Qiuyue declining to join him and saying she would visit Huang Manor another day.

• Niu Ren ordered the Seven Great Villains' heads displayed publicly and awarded Huang Shaojie 30,000 taels for killing them.
• Niu Ren granted Huang Shaojie three days off, and Huang Shaojie went to Xiao Qiuyue's office instead of heading straight home.
• Huang Shaojie told Xiao Qiuyue he had killed all seven villains, and she was astonished by his feat.
• Huang Shaojie explained that he had pursued the villains alone because Xiao Qiuyue would have been in danger and might have distracted him.
• Huang Shaojie said he was going home to visit his parents, while Xiao Qiuyue declined to join him and planned to visit Huang Manor another day.

Huang Shaojie returned to Huang Manor after eliminating the Seven Great Villains and reunited with his worried family. He gave his father the thirty thousand taels he received as a reward, while Huang Baiwan and the servants speculated about his relationship with Battalion Commander Xiao.

• Huang Shaojie returned to Huang Manor, where Xiao Wu welcomed him and took his horse to the stables.
• Madam Huang and Xiao He rejoiced when Huang Shaojie entered the hall, and he reassured his mother that he was safe.
• Huang Shaojie told Xiao He that he had killed the fiends and their heads were displayed at Vegetable Market Gate.
• Huang Baiwan arrived with Wu Zhen and learned that Huang Shaojie had eliminated the Seven Great Villains.
• Huang Shaojie gave Huang Baiwan three banknotes worth thirty thousand taels, and his father said he would save them as a betrothal gift for Battalion Commander Xiao.
• Xiao He and Wu Zhen agreed that Battalion Commander Xiao and Huang Shaojie made a fine match.

Huang Shaojie returned to Huang Manor and spent the evening teasing Eight Lord and Xiao He. He gave Xiao He a precious hairpin and promised to take her out on her day off, leaving her excited and bashful.

• Huang Shaojie gave Madam Huang jewelry, claiming the prefect had given it to him, and she saved it for his future wife.
• Huang Shaojie found that Eight Lord had attracted many birds to Huang Manor and joked that they should leave droppings on other people's homes.
• Huang Shaojie teased Xiao He in the courtyard and later embraced and kissed her while she prepared his bedroom.
• Huang Shaojie gave Xiao He a Coral Bead String Hairpin, and she accepted it after he insisted.
• Huang Shaojie promised to take Xiao He out the next day, and she kissed his cheek before running back to her room.

After Huang Shaojie killed the Seven Great Villains, Ling Xiaotian transferred him from Suzhou to the Capital City and promoted him to Commander of a Hundred. Huang Shaojie received the order from Niu Ren, surprised by the promotion and transfer.

• Ling Xiaotian read the report that Huang Shaojie had killed all Seven Great Villains and ordered Jiang Han to take a Commander of a Hundred post in Suzhou while Huang Shaojie transferred to the Capital City for promotion.
• Jiang Han arrived at the Suzhou Imperial Guard office ten days later and presented Ling Xiaotian's orders to Niu Ren.
• Niu Ren summoned Huang Shaojie, who mistakenly thought Jiang Han's arrival had ended his chances of promotion.
• Niu Ren told Huang Shaojie that Ling Xiaotian had promoted him to Commander of a Hundred and handed him the transfer order.

Huang Shaojie learned that Commander Ling had transferred him to the Capital City and promoted him to Commander of a Hundred, though he worried about the dangers of the capital. He prepared to leave Suzhou in five days after saying goodbye to Xiao Qiuyue and telling his parents, who celebrated his promotion.

• Niu Ren congratulated Huang Shaojie on his promotion and transfer, and quoted a saying Huang Shaojie associated with a poem by Zhu Xi, making him suspect Xiang Yu was a transmigrator.
• Huang Shaojie told Xiao Qiuyue he would leave for the Capital City in five days, and she promised to see him off.
• Huang Shaojie said goodbye to his colleagues at the Imperial Guard headquarters and returned home.
• Huang Shaojie told Huang Baiwan and Madam Huang about his transfer and promotion; Huang Baiwan celebrated, while Madam Huang lamented that they would see their son less often.
• Huang Shaojie promised to buy a residence in the Capital City and bring his parents there once he was settled.

Huang Shaojie prepared to leave for the Capital City, entrusted Huang Manor’s safety to Wu Zhen, and taught him the fourth form of the Wind God Leg. He then said goodbye to his family and departed to assume his post.

• Huang Shaojie told Xiao He to stay behind and care for Madam, then chased Eight Lord around the courtyard and plucked several of his feathers.
• Huang Shaojie entrusted Huang Manor’s safety to Wu Zhen and demonstrated the fourth form of the Wind God Leg, Swift as Thunder and Wind.
• Over five days, Huang Shaojie taught Wu Zhen the fourth form’s movements and principles until Wu Zhen mastered them.
• On the eighteenth day of the third month, Huang Shaojie said goodbye to his parents, Wu Zhen, Xiao He, and the servants, then rode toward the Capital City.

Huang Shaojie and Xiao Qiuyue left Suzhou together for Chang'an, but their first night on the road brought trouble at a crowded inn. Xiao Qiuyue struck an Iron Fork Society steward after he propositioned her, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Huang Shaojie departed Suzhou after Niu Ren and the Imperial Guard officers bid him farewell.
• Xiao Qiuyue met Huang Shaojie outside the city and said she would accompany him to Chang'an to visit her adoptive father.
• Huang Shaojie and Xiao Qiuyue raced each other along the road and reached an inn by evening.
• The innkeeper said only one room remained, and Huang Shaojie agreed to rent it while sleeping on the floor.
• Two Iron Fork Society stewards leered at Xiao Qiuyue and invited her to share their rooms, so she approached them.
• Scarface began propositioning Xiao Qiuyue, but she slapped him across the face and sent him crashing into a table.

Xiao Qiuyue defeated two Iron Fork Society stewards who had harassed her and Huang Shaojie, forcing them to destroy their martial arts. After traveling for ten more days, the pair reached Chang'an, where Xiao Qiuyue left Huang Shaojie at Cloud Inn and rode to Prince Pacifying the West's Estate.

• Xiao Qiuyue beat the two Iron Fork Society stewards and made them destroy their own martial arts before ordering them out of the inn.
• Xiao Qiuyue paid the innkeeper for the damage, and she and Huang Shaojie spent the night in separate rooms.
• Huang Shaojie and Xiao Qiuyue continued their journey and arrived in Chang'an ten days later.
• Xiao Qiuyue directed Huang Shaojie to stay at Cloud Inn while she went to Prince Pacifying the West's Estate.

The chapter introduced Prince Ning Xiang Chen’s military achievements and cautious life in the Capital City before his daughter Xiao Qiuyue returned to visit him. It ended with Xiang Chen revealing that he already knew the name of the colleague who had accompanied her.

• Prince Ning Xiang Chen had conquered Northern Meng and Shu Kingdom, then spent nearly twenty years avoiding court politics in the Capital City.
• Xiang Chen defeated Princess Pingyang Xiang Qingyang in a game of chess at his estate.
• A guard announced that Xiang Chen’s eldest daughter had returned, and Xiang Qingyang left the pavilion.
• Xiao Qiuyue greeted Xiang Chen and said she had returned with a colleague transferred to the Capital City.
• Xiang Chen asked whether the colleague was Huang Shaojie, astonishing Xiao Qiuyue.

Xiao Qiuyue returned to the Capital City and asked Prince Ning to let her stay, while Prince Ning invited Huang Shaojie to a banquet to thank him for saving her. Huang Shaojie reported to Ling Xiaotian at Imperial Guard Headquarters, then went with Xiao Qiuyue to Prince Ning’s estate.

• Prince Ning recognized Xiao Qiuyue’s affection for Huang Shaojie and invited him to a banquet the following evening.
• Xiao Qiuyue told her second elder brother, Xiang You, that she wanted to remain in the Capital City, and he offered to persuade Prince Ning.
• Huang Shaojie reported for duty at Imperial Guard Headquarters, where Ling Xiaotian ordered him to study records before being assigned to a Town Suppression Office.
• Xiao Qiuyue met Huang Shaojie outside Cloud Inn after work and took him to Prince Ning’s estate for the banquet.

Huang Shaojie attended a banquet at Prince Ning’s estate, where he cautiously refused Prince Ning’s offers of a residence and money and discussed Xiao Qiuyue with him. After Huang Shaojie left, a Black-Robed Masked Man met with an azure-robed master, who ordered him to handle Ling Xiaotian’s newly transferred young talent and arrange for Qiuyue to remain in the Capital City.

• Prince Ning thanked Huang Shaojie for saving Xiao Qiuyue and offered him a residence and one hundred thousand taels, but Huang Shaojie refused both gifts.
• Prince Ning asked whether Huang Shaojie was married or loved someone, and Huang Shaojie declined to answer directly.
• Xiao Qiuyue escorted Huang Shaojie from the estate, and they teased each other about Prince Ning possibly arranging a marriage.
• After the third watch, a Black-Robed Masked Man entered Prince Pacifying the West's Estate and showed its guards a token.
• The Black-Robed Masked Man reported to an azure-robed master, who ordered him to deal with Ling Xiaotian’s talented young transfer and arrange for Qiuyue to stay in the Capital City.

The Four Heavenly Kings of the Imperial Guard competed to recruit Huang Shaojie, each arguing that his or her Pacification Office needed the talented Centurion. Ling Xiaotian stopped their quarrel, and Azure Dragon proposed a martial arts contest to decide who would get him.

• Azure Dragon asked Ling Xiaotian to assign Huang Shaojie to the Eastern Pacification Office.
• White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise arrived and demanded Huang Shaojie for their own offices.
• The Four Heavenly Kings bickered over who deserved Huang Shaojie until Ling Xiaotian ordered them to stop.
• Azure Dragon proposed that the Four Heavenly Kings compete in martial arts, with the winner receiving Huang Shaojie.

Azure Dragon recruited Huang Shaojie into the Eastern Pacification Office by promising to place Xiao Qiuyue under him. Huang was appointed to lead the Tenth Guard Post and welcomed his new colleagues with an offer of a feast.

• Ling Xiaotian summoned Huang Shaojie and let him choose which Pacification Commissioner to follow.
• Huang Shaojie nearly chose Vermilion Bird, but Azure Dragon secretly promised that Xiao Qiuyue would join his office, so Huang chose Azure Dragon.
• Azure Dragon brought Huang Shaojie to the Eighth Guard Post, where Xiao Qiuyue had been promoted to Probationary Commander of a Hundred.
• Azure Dragon announced that Huang Shaojie would lead the Tenth Guard Post and ordered its officials to obey him.
• Huang Shaojie invited the Guard Post officials to a feast at Juxian Tower, and Azure Dragon declined to join them.

After a wealthy young woman and her maid disappeared from an embroidery shop, Squad Leader Zhang asked Huang Shaojie to help find his missing cousin. Huang learned that the Taiyuan Quarter authorities had done little to investigate, and his subordinates reported that many girls and handsome young boys had vanished across the Capital City.

• A shopkeeper lured a young woman and her maid into a back room and knocked them unconscious.
• Huang Shaojie arrived at the Eastern Pacification Office and heard Squad Leader Zhang report that his fifteen-year-old cousin had been missing for two days.
• Zhang said Taiyuan Quarter's constables had not seriously searched for his cousin or posted her portrait, and Huang spared him punishment for missing duty to search.
• Several Squad Leaders and Banner Leaders told Huang that girls and handsome young boys had been disappearing across the Capital City while authorities appeared to suppress the cases.