Chapter Summaries

Lin Su discussed arithmetic and the coming Azure Lotus Dao Discussion with Li Guihan, then returned home and discovered that her Jade Cicada had secretly watched an intimate moment with Qiu Shui Hua Ping. He used the Spirit Splitting Technique to speak with the Flower Demon, who explained that her cultivation recovered through the cycles of flowers blooming and falling and depended greatly on opportunity.

• Li Guihan used her Jade Cicada to ask Lin Su about arithmetic, learned his leg-raising method, and struggled to follow his explanation of quadratic equations.
• Li Guihan told Lin Su that she would discuss the Dao only after she fully understood a crucial step, and invited him to travel with her on her favorable-wind boat on the tenth day of the second month.
• Li Guihan discussed the expected literary exchange with Southern Chu Hermit, and Lin Su reflected that the man had protected him by bearing the reputation of Ci Poetry Grandmaster.
• Lin Su realized Li Guihan's Jade Cicada had spied on his intimate moment with Qiu Shui Hua Ping, then returned to the Lin Family to celebrate with Sister Chen, Luyi, Cui Ying, and Qiu Shui Hua Ping.
• Lin Su entered the peach tree's Inner Space using the Spirit Splitting Technique and learned from the Flower Demon that her cultivation advanced through cycles of flowering and withering, with opportunity speeding her recovery.

Lin Su discovered that the Primordial Spirit Grass of No Way had hidden a tower containing a dangerous river of Spacetime Law, then spent several carefree days while its separated Primordial Spirit studied the river. Meanwhile, the capital’s noble families and scholars gathered at Cuiyu Pavilion for the Four Great Talented Ladies’ performance of Tale of the White Snake, as Feng Wu watched from above and took interest in Lu Youwei.

• The Flower Demon explained that Lin Su’s spiritual energy benefited her and described the Primordial Spirit Grass of No Way as a treasure-hoarding plant hunted in both worlds.
• Lin Su found a small tower inside his Root of the Un-Dao and discovered that its river contained countless Spacetime Law Rule Seeds.
• Lin Su split his Primordial Spirit, sent one strand into the River of Time to study the law, and left his other strand outside as its guide.
• Lin Su spent the next three days relaxing and taking Xiao Yao shopping instead of preparing for the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion.
• The capital’s noblewomen and scholars filled Cuiyu Pavilion for the Four Great Talented Ladies’ Tale of the White Snake performance, and Princess Yuping arrived to meet Princess Yufeng.
• Feng Wu and Qin Xin watched the gathering from a jade cauldron, and Feng Wu explained how Lin Su had saved Lu Youwei from her fate.

Feng Wu and Qin Xin watched Tale of the White Snake triumph in the capital, where its songs captivated audiences and even reached the imperial harem. As Great Cang’s masters departed for the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion, news confirmed that Lin Su would join them later from the south.

• Feng Wu recognized the song she had searched for in Tale of the White Snake, and the audience rose in tears when the performance ended.
• Cuiyu Pavilion scheduled nightly performances, while wealthy patrons booked private rooms and recording stones and ticket resellers began scalping tickets.
• Tale of the White Snake swept through the capital, drawing in court officials’ families and the imperial harem; the Emperor heard the palace performance and ordered it repeated.
• The Ten Thousand Mile Cloud Piercer carried Great Cang’s seven masters toward the Ancient Nanyang Kingdom, while officials confirmed that Lin Su would travel there separately to join them.
• Several women watched the Cloud Piercer disappear from the western mountains before Lingyin Temple.

Lin Su left Haining for the Azure Lotus Gathering after searching for Yingying’s mother yielded only uncertain clues. Before departing, he wrote a World-Passing Azure Poem for Madam Lin, and he traveled with Li Guihan toward the gathering while learning about the power of the Literary Way’s Sage Treasures.

• Ding Hai told Lin Su that Hundred Fragrances Tower had searched for Yingying’s mother across Great Cang and neighboring nations but had found no definitive answer.
• Lin Su said farewell to his family in Haining and presented Madam Lin with a poem titled Wanderer's Song.
• Wanderer's Song became a World-Passing Azure Poem, and Lin Su and Madam Lin received the Literary Treasure Wanderer's Call, allowing each to sense the other's location.
• Li Guihan met Lin Su aboard the Dao Seal, and they traveled slowly toward the Azure Lotus Gathering along the Pearl River.
• Li Guihan explained how the Sage Paper and Sage Inkstone had destroyed Blood Valley and Wuding Mountain, then described the Sage Brush and Sage Ink's legendary power.

Lin Su arrived at Azure Lotus Mountain for the Dao Discussion and faced accusations from Great Cang’s delegation over missing the imperial send-off, but he turned their criticism back on them. After Wei Xinyu explained the competition and its stakes, the delegation began choosing its representatives for the first round.

• Lin Su and Li Guihan crossed Dream-Leaving Bridge and were escorted to their separate courtyards at the Azure Lotus Sacred Land.
• Lin Su met Great Cang’s delegation, where Wang Chengnian, Xie Yun, and others accused him of disrespecting the sovereign and tarnishing Great Cang’s reputation.
• Lin Su ignored the accusations until challenged, then argued that internal strife would damage Great Cang’s reputation more than his absence from the send-off.
• Wei Xinyu explained the three stages of the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion, the distribution of Literary Way Azure Lotuses, and the Jinshi quotas tied to each nation’s standing.
• Wei Xinyu opened discussion of Great Cang’s three first-round representatives, and Xiang Yeqiu recommended Wang Chengnian for his skill in poetry and ci.

Lin Su learned that the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Estate planned to arrange a marriage between Hong Ying and the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Hejian, and resolved to secure Hong Ying for his elder brother. After composing a valuable ci poem for Xing’er, he crossed paths with Qin Xin and Feng Wu, who recognized him.

• Wang Chengnian and Wang Junyu were selected to discuss poetry and history at the First Round Dao Discussion, while Xie Yun was chosen to discuss calculation instead of Lin Su.
• Xing’er told Lin Su that her young lady Hong Ye came from the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Estate, and Lin Su wrote Tian Jing Sha: Autumn after hearing the name.
• Lin Su gave Xing’er the first-composition Seven-Colored Ci Poetry manuscript, which included the names Hong Ye and Hong Ying.
• Xing’er revealed that Hong Ying had been confined after losing her deputy commander position and that her family planned to marry her to the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Hejian.
• Lin Su decided to disrupt the proposed marriage and arrange an engagement between Hong Ying and his elder brother.
• Qin Xin recognized Lin Su as he walked through Bluestone Alley, and Feng Wu teased her about their fateful encounter.

Lin Su explored Azure Lotus Lake with Li Guihan, learned how the Dao Seeking and Dao Contention stages worked, and encountered representatives of Chi Kingdom and the Painting Sage Sacred Family. The chapter left Lin Su facing the warning that Painting Sage Sacred Son Wu Xinyue might trap him in his Painting Realm, while Lin Su refused to be intimidated.

• Feng Wu and Qin Xin went for a walk and recognized Lin Su as the author of Red Chamber, while Qin Xin became stunned by his appearance.
• Lin Su watched Chu Feng produce a Five-Colored Poem and refrained from challenging the Poet Sage Sacred Family on its home ground.
• Li Guihan explained that participants gathered Literary Way Azure Lotuses in Dao Seeking Garden and used them as boats in the Sea of Learning during Dao Contention.
• Li Guihan lamented that Lin Su had been denied the chance to join the first Dao Discussion stage, where his knowledge of novels and poetry could have benefited Great Cang.
• Lin Su identified a Chi Kingdom scholar named Du Song, then learned that the white-robed Wu Xinyue was the Painting Sage Sacred Family's current Sacred Son and had threatened to keep him from returning to Great Cang.
• Lin Su rejected Li Guihan's warning to watch his tongue around Wu Xinyue, irritating her with a jab about her own reputation.

Lin Su gathered information about the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion while the Sage Families prepared to field unusually powerful competitors. On the morning the discussion began, he left with Great Cang’s team and promised Xing'er he would visit Marquis of Zhenbei's Estate afterward.

• Lin Su spent the day with Li Guihan, learned the Dao Discussion rules, and noticed the Sage Families’ close ties and the arrival of participants from several kingdoms.
• Lin Su spotted a mechanical dog belonging to the Mohist Sage Sacred Family, while Xing'er worried that his teammates had excluded him from their preparations.
• Wei Xinyu explained that the Sage Families had sent many Literary Realm experts, linked the shift to the Edict of Spreading Favor, and ordered Great Cang’s team to stay in the courtyard and prepare for its target of one hundred Azure Lotuses.
• Lin Su exchanged teasing messages with Li Guihan and Feng Wu by butterfly, then remained in confinement rather than going out.
• On February thirteenth, Lin Su told Xing'er he would visit Marquis of Zhenbei's Estate to exchange Literary Way insights with her Young Lady, then departed with Great Cang’s other seven participants.

At the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion, Xie Yun publicly explained Thousand Machine Arithmetic and earned three Azure Lotuses, while speakers from rival nations discussed their own doctrines and earned varying numbers. As the first day’s discussions neared their end, Great Cang’s Wang Chengnian was called to speak last.

• Lin Su recognized Feng Wu of the Sage Family of Music Saints and noticed Xie Yun’s deep hatred toward him.
• The gathered delegations reached Azure Lotus Lake, where host Li Tiren welcomed them and the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion began.
• Xie Yun discussed Thousand Machine Arithmetic, earning three Azure Lotuses as the audience praised his explanation.
• Li Guihan told Lin Su she had memorized the calculation method, but Lin Su discouraged her from using it.
• Speakers from the Red Kingdom, Yelang Kingdom, Great Yu Kingdom, and other regions discussed their doctrines; the Great Yu speaker on warfare earned nine Azure Lotuses.
• Wang Chengnian of Great Cang was announced as the final speaker of the day.

Wang Chengnian’s discourse won Great Cang first place on the opening day, but a banquet confrontation between Lin Su and Wei Xinyu drove Lin Su to break openly with his team. Li Guihan urged him to save his strength for the later contests, and the next day’s discussions began with her sitting beside him again.

• Wang Chengnian quoted the Poet Sage while discussing the Changeable Dao of poetry and ci, earning eighteen azure lotuses and raising Great Cang to first place with twenty-one.
• At Wei Xinyu’s banquet, Xie Yun accused Lin Su of disrespecting the Dao discussions, and Wang Junyu and Wei Xinyu rebuked him.
• Lin Su challenged Wei Xinyu’s authority to expel him, then left the banquet after telling the others to stop meddling in his conduct.
• On the viewing platform, Li Guihan explained that the later Dao Seeking and Azure Lotus Dao Contention segments offered Lin Su chances to earn many azure lotuses, and they wagered on their results.
• The next day, Li Guihan sat beside Lin Su again, declaring that a distance of five inches counted as far.

Lin Su suspected that Wang Junyu’s sudden destruction on the Dao Discussion Stage was an attack disguised as Sacred Punishment, possibly carried out by a Wenxin Pavilion expert from Chi Kingdom. He began considering how to draw the culprit out, and asked Li Guihan about a chance to take the stage.

• Lin Su watched the Upper Three Kingdoms surge ahead in azure lotuses as Du Song of Chi Kingdom presented a legal theory that Lin Su privately rejected.
• Wang Junyu began a strong historical discussion, but abruptly collapsed before dozens of azure lotuses could be counted; Li Tiren found that his Literary Mountain, Literary Heart, and Literary Altar had been destroyed.
• Lie Qiuyang invoked an earlier case of Sacred Punishment, leading the organizers to end the incident and continue the Dao discussion.
• Lin Su concluded that Wang Junyu had likely been struck by the Soul Annihilation Strike and suspected a nearby Wenxin Pavilion member, possibly acting for Chi Kingdom.
• Lin Su asked Li Guihan whether he could take the stage; she explained that the theoretical opportunity was the Peak Azure Lotus Dao Discussion after the third segment.

Xing'er brought Hong Ye an original seven-colored Ci poem by Lin Su, while the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion shifted into its third day and the Sacred Families began dominating the rankings. After Mo Qing demonstrated the Mohist bamboo dragonfly, Wu Xinyue prepared to confront Lin Su, whom he had been ordered to kill.

• Xing'er returned to Hong Ye with Lin Su's new-pattern Ci poem, "Tian Jing Sha: Autumn," which included Hong Ye's name and left her flustered by his wish to discuss the Literary Way with her.
• Great Cang finished the second day near the bottom of the rankings after winning no Azure Lotuses, and Wei Xinyu brooded over the team's losses and Wang Junyu's Living Dead state.
• On the third day, the Poet Sage, Law Sage, and Dao Saint Sacred Families took the stage and earned large scores, changing the rankings.
• Mo Qing demonstrated a bamboo dragonfly powered by a simple mechanism and raised the question of the hidden principle that let it fly; Lin Su recognized its spring mechanism and discussed the missing principle with Li Guihan.
• Wu Xinyue, acting on orders from the Painting Sage Sacred Family and the Great Yu Emperor as well as his own family grievance, prepared to kill Lin Su at the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion.

Wu Xinyue and Feng Wu delivered standout Dao discussions, and the First Round rankings ended with Great Cang far behind the Sacred Families. As the Dao Seeking segment approached, Lin Su faced pressure to earn azure lotuses and protect himself from blame, but he chose to sleep instead of preparing poems.

• Wu Xinyue discussed the use of ink in painting, gained 360 azure lotuses, and briefly lifted the Painting Sage Sacred Family to first place.
• Feng Wu used the piece “Below Qingcheng Mountain” to support her theory that the Dao of music could go beyond the Five Tones, earning 361 azure lotuses and taking first place.
• The First Round rankings settled with the Poet Sage Sacred Family first and Great Cang eighth with 21 azure lotuses, leaving Wei Xinyu distressed.
• Li Guihan warned Lin Su to perform well in the Dao Seeking segment because Great Cang's officials might blame him for the team's poor results.
• Lin Su returned to his room and chose to sleep rather than prepare poems for the next day's Dao Seeking segment.

Wu Xinyue trapped Lin Su in a lethal Painting Realm before the Azure Lotus Dao Discussion began, leaving Lin Su fighting to survive and find a way out. Meanwhile, the other discussants sought Azure Lotuses in the Dao Seeking Garden, where Fourth Prince Chu Feng earned ten with a poem and Li Guihan kept wondering where Lin Su had gone.

• Wu Xinyue drew Lin Su into an ancient painting that severed his connection to the Saints and made his Literary Way abilities unusable.
• Lin Su fought the painting’s ghost creatures, snakes, crows, and wolves with his sword techniques, then confronted a giant wolf without finding the Painting Realm’s boundary.
• Li Tiren opened the Dao Seeking Garden, and the discussants entered to compete for Dao opportunities while Li Guihan failed to find Lin Su.
• Zhou Hongyu, Yang Haisu, Xie Yun, and Wang Chengnian each earned Azure Lotuses through poems, annotations, or arithmetic, while Xiang Yeqiu’s annotation failed.
• Fourth Prince Chu Feng continued a poem with “Facing my shadow, a pair of men” and received ten Azure Lotuses, bringing his total to forty.
• Li Guihan, already holding a hundred Azure Lotuses, searched for Lin Su and wondered how many rewards he had earned.

Trapped in the Painting Realm, Lin Su advanced his Sword Intent while fighting endless waves of monsters and desperately searched for a way out. On the third day, he began using his knowledge of spacetime to form a rift, but renewed attacks kept destroying his progress.

• Lin Su broke through to Sword Merged Azure Flower, killed the giant demon wolf, and cleared the remaining wolves and crows.
• Lin Su realized the Painting Realm offered no safe food or water and cursed Wu Xinyue before fighting increasingly powerful monsters.
• Outside Dao Seeking Garden, Li Tiren predicted Chu Feng could obtain over a hundred Azure Lotuses, while Wei Xinyu and Lie Qiuyang discussed the legendary Top Scholar.
• On the third day, Lin Su's swordsmanship and Nine Steps of the Heavenly Cycle improved, but he remained trapped as Dao Seeking neared its end.
• Lin Su merged his two Primordial Spirits and used his spacetime insights to draw inscriptions for a passage through the Painting Realm.
• Lin Su fought off the Flying Eagle Army while forming the rift, but the attacks repeatedly erased his inscriptions before he could complete the passage.

Li Guihan completed Dao Seeking Garden with 333 Azure Lotuses, but Lin Su was missing when the stage ended. He emerged from Wu Xinyue’s ancient painting after the garden had closed, accused Wu of trapping him, and challenged Dean Li’s ruling that his Azure Lotus Dao Discussion was over.

• Li Guihan earned 333 Azure Lotuses and noticed that Lin Su was absent when Dao Seeking Garden closed.
• The Grandmasters counted their teams’ results, while Li Guihan and Feng Wu searched the crowd for Lin Su without finding him.
• Wu Xinyue’s scroll burst apart, and Lin Su emerged from it before the gathered Grandmasters.
• Lin Su asked Dean Li whether someone could use a Literary Realm treasure to secretly prevent another person from seeking Dao.
• Wu Xinyue claimed Lin Su had insulted his Sacred Family, and Dean Li ruled that using the Painting Realm as a wager was an acceptable contest of the Literary Way.
• Dean Li declared Lin Su’s participation finished and offered him a farewell gift, but Lin Su asked whether that ruling was premature.

Lin Su invoked Dao Garden Gleaning and solved a supposedly unsolvable Circle-Square Problem closely enough to earn an Azure Lotus and qualify for the Dao Contention stage. After the crowd dismissed his result as luck and a memorized fact, he returned to his room and collapsed from exhaustion after three days without food.

• Lin Su invoked the Holy Hall rule of Dao Garden Gleaning, and Li Tiren agreed to give him a randomly selected question under a half-hour time limit.
• Lin Su selected the Circle-Square Problem, which asked how many square crystal bricks would cover a circular platform, and the gathered arithmetic experts believed it was unsolvable.
• Lin Su announced a theoretical answer of 1,472,285 bricks, then challenged Wu Xinyue after Wu mocked his result.
• Li Tiren revealed the answer as 1,472,290, and Dao Garden Gleaning awarded Lin Su an Azure Lotus for being only five bricks off.
• Xie Yun and Yang Haisu suggested Lin Su had memorized the number from Miscellaneous Records of Jiuzhou, and the crowd accepted that explanation while Lin Su kept his qualification.
• Lin Su sealed his room door and fell asleep, exhausted after struggling for three days and nights without food.

After surviving three days of danger, Lin Su rested and joined the Great Cang team for the final Azure Lotus Dao Contention. As the competitors entered the Sea of Learning, Lin Su advanced surprisingly fast with only one Azure Lotus, leaving Xie Yun and Zhou Hongyu wondering how he would fare in the deep-water region.

• Li Guihan secretly watched Lin Su sleep through a Jade Cicada, then Lin Su woke refreshed and put on the Scholar's Robe his mother had made for him.
• The competitors gathered beneath their Azure Lotuses, and Li Tiren explained the Sea of Learning's levels, rewards, and rules for the final contest.
• Wei Xinyu assigned the Great Cang competitors to the Outer Sea or Inner Sea and urged them to earn enough Azure Lotuses to improve the kingdom's standing.
• The competitors entered the Sea of Learning, where many with fewer than three Azure Lotuses immediately fell in, while the strongest participants sped ahead on larger boats.
• Xie Yun and Zhou Hongyu adapted to the Outer Sea as Lin Su kept pace with them on a one-lotus boat and then accelerated past them.
• Xie Yun suspected Lin Su had an exceptional literary heart, while Zhou Hongyu worried that Lin Su was spending too much literary qi before reaching the deep-water region.

Lin Su raced through the Outer Sea on a single Azure Lotus and entered the Inner Sea, where the first trial trapped Wang Chengnian in a literary swamp. His lotus transformed into a seven-colored flying boat and carried him across, astonishing the gathered leaders and leaving Great Cang’s fate uncertain.

• Lin Su used the Spring Revival Seed to replenish his literary aura as he sped through the deep sea on one Azure Lotus, startling Du Song and other scholars along the way.
• Lin Su met Wang Chengnian at the Outer Sea boundary, warned him against entering the Inner Sea, and watched him proceed anyway.
• Wu Xinyue, Feng Wu, Mo Qing, Li Guihan, and other grandmasters escaped the Inner Sea swamp by displaying their Literary Way achievements.
• Wei Xinyu realized Wang Chengnian lacked strong literary attainments, and Wang Chengnian became trapped as his thirty Azure Lotuses sank into the swamp.
• Lin Su entered the Inner Sea on his single Azure Lotus, which transformed into a seven-colored flying boat and skimmed across the swamp.

Lin Su broke through the Literary Way vortex by rejecting the established schools and choosing a Dao of his own. As the other participants struggled through Reverse Flow Pass and Xie Yun's failure left Great Cang facing a crushing defeat, Lin Su emerged from the vortex with his path clear.

• Lin Su recited a Seven-Colored Poem to overtake Fourth Prince Chu Feng, leaving Chu Feng shaken by the gulf between their poetic ability.
• Lin Su escaped the mire and entered the Literary Way vortex, where he spent hours considering which Dao to follow while the first-echelon contestants chose their paths and departed.
• Wu Xinyue, Mo Qing, Li Xiangran, Feng Wu, and Li Guihan advanced onto Reverse Flow Pass, while leaders from several nations objected that its high threshold favored cultivators of higher Literary Ranks.
• Twelve participants from the six great Sacred Families eventually gathered on Reverse Flow Pass as they struggled against its current, while the leaders' objections went unanswered.
• Xie Yun entered the inner sea, failed to escape the mire, and was teleported back after losing all seven of his azure lotuses, reducing Great Cang's best possible total to sixty-eight.
• Lin Su broke off half a lotus leaf and split the vortex with it, declaring that he would follow his own Dao and emerging with his path clear.