Chapter Summaries

Lin Su killed Qu Feiyan by using hidden Space Inscriptions to bypass her literary realm, then vanished after exposing the political scandal behind her assassinations. Meanwhile, the Third Prince learned that Medicine King Mountain was poisoning his allies and finally ordered an attack.

• Lin Su used thirty-six Space Inscriptions to pierce Qu Feiyan's literary realm and slay her with Silver Moon, then disappeared into the firmament.
• Lu Tiancong realized Lin Su had publicly exposed Qu Feiyan's orders and set in motion a challenge to the Emperor's rule.
• At West Mountain Villa, Luyi sang “Blue and White Porcelain,” learned about Lin Su's “West Sea Love Song,” and agreed to demand that he sing his songs for her.
• Du Qing told the Third Prince that Dark Fragrance had severed ties with the palace, but that Medicine King Mountain's people had entered the capital.
• After Medicine King Mountain's secret poison killed dozens of the Third Prince's followers across several locations, the Third Prince finally ordered his forces to kill them.

Lin Su hid on Lone Peak after killing Qu Feiyan, where Dugu Xing witnessed his rapid Sword Dao growth. After Lin Su returned to the capital, he and Li Qingqiu investigated the slaughter of six Medicine King Mountain members and uncovered a mysterious killer known as Lord Liu; Li Qingqiu also warned that Grand Scholar Chen Geng might seek Lin Su out.

• Lin Su manifested a Sword Fruit, astonishing Dugu Xing, then explained that he had come to hide after killing Qu Feiyan.
• Seven days after the White Deer Battle, a mysterious person killed six Medicine King Mountain members, and the palace ruled out Lin Su and Dugu Xing as suspects.
• Lin Su left Lone Peak for the capital after Dugu Xing asked when he would attend the Jade Pool Gathering.
• Lin Su met Li Qingqiu at the Li Family shop, where they watched a recording showing a willow leaf kill the six victims at once.
• Li Qingqiu told Lin Su about two earlier willow-leaf killings and the killer's nickname, Lord Liu, and Lin Su ordered him to investigate the cases.
• Li Qingqiu advised Lin Su to win over Hanlin Academy Grand Scholar Chen Geng, who might come looking for him.

Lin Su navigated the Capital City's shifting alliances as the Third Prince was driven from the capital, then learned that Kongye had attained the Dao and that Master Yiyao had given his father a prophetic verse. The chapter ended with news that Li Xiaotian and his army had died defending Helan City, while Great Corner reclaimed the four garrisons.

• Lin Su rejected rushing to win over the Hanlin Academy and told Li Qingqiu that Hidden Fragrance should lie low while Wujianmen fought its enemies.
• Lord Liu's attack on Medicine King Mountain drew His Majesty's anger, and the Third Prince requested permission to return to Ruyang City before sailing away from the Capital City.
• Du Qing told the Third Prince that Lin Su might have taken control of Hidden Fragrance and argued that leaving the capital would let him watch events from the sidelines.
• At Lingyin Temple, Kongye attained the Dao after interpreting Lin Su's arithmetic answer as a reason to fast, and Abbot Master revealed that Master Yiyao had given Lin Su's father a prophetic verse.
• Zhang Haoran, Huo Qi, Li Yangxin, and Qiu Mochi told Lin Su that Great Corner had retaken the four garrisons and that Li Xiaotian and his thirty thousand soldiers had fallen at Helan City.

Lin Su and his companions traveled north to Dragon City to honor Li Xiaotian, while Zhang Haoran opened a Literary Path by creating a new ci tune in Li’s memory. They arrived at the border city and found its commanders and officials feasting with women, leaving Lin Su and his companions furious.

• Lin Su grieved for Li Xiaotian and set out for Dragon City with Zhang Haoran, Huo Qi, Qiu Mochi, and Li Yangxin.
• On the Cloud-Breaking Shuttle, the group condemned the court for rewarding Zhou Ze while ignoring Li Xiaotian and the soldiers who died at Helan City.
• Zhang Haoran created the ci tune “Yi Tian Lang” in Li Xiaotian’s honor and broke into the Literary Path Realm.
• The five men traveled through desolate northern lands and reached Dragon City after two days and nights.
• Lin Su’s group went to the Commander's Prefecture to pay their respects to Right Vice Minister He Shun and found officials and generals drinking with half-undressed women.

Lin Su arrived in Dragon City to pay respects to Li Xiaotian and discovered that the celebrated defense battle had been fabricated while wounded soldiers and fallen soldiers’ families were neglected. He promised the survivors he would secure the compensation owed to their dead comrades and began treating the wounded, leaving the men gathered around Du Yuting.

• Lin Su refused to join the victory banquet at the Commander's Prefecture and asked Zhou Ze to arrange lodging for his party.
• Bi Xuanji told Lin Su that Great Corner had never attacked Dragon City, the defense battle was fabricated, and fallen soldiers’ families had received little support.
• Lin Su met wounded survivors from Li Xiaotian’s forces, heard their plea for justice, and promised ten taels of silver in compensation for every fallen soldier.
• Lin Su and his companions found Du Yuting chopping boulders in the back mountain; Lin Su shattered a boulder with his fist, introduced himself as Li Xiaotian’s brother, and healed Du Yuting’s injuries.
• Zhang Haoran proposed that Lin Su and the others treat the wounded as military physicians, and they agreed.

Lin Su healed the wounded soldiers in Dragon City and learned from Du Yuting that Zhou Ze may have sabotaged Helan City and colluded with the enemy. He demanded pensions for Helan’s fallen soldiers, then offered three hundred thousand taels of his own money and gave the officials half an hour to decide whether the state would pay.

• Lin Su used Spring Return to heal the most gravely wounded soldiers, including restoring severed limbs, while the other Jinshi Great Confucians treated the rest.
• Du Yuting told Lin Su about Li Xiaotian’s final campaign and revealed his suspicion that Zhou Ze had passed military intelligence to the enemy and sabotaged Helan City.
• Lin Su asked Du Yuting whether the surviving Helan soldiers would fight again for their fallen comrades, and Du Yuting pledged that all 3,017 survivors were willing.
• Lin Su led Du Yuting, Zhang Haoran, and several hundred soldiers to the Commander's Prefecture to demand pensions for Helan’s thirty thousand martyrs.
• He Shun claimed the treasury could not pay until after the autumn harvest, so Lin Su offered three hundred thousand taels from his own pocket and accused the officials of forcing his hand.
• He Shun accused Lin Su of trying to buy the army’s loyalty and rebel, but Lin Su lit an incense stick and gave the officials half an hour to change their decision.

Lin Su explained to Bi Xuanji that he was drawing His Majesty’s attention away from King Chen by making himself the apparent threat, and revealed the ruler’s crimes to her. Their conversation ended with Bi Xuanji recounting the tragic origin of the poem, song, and sword formula called “Ballad of the Sword.”

• His Majesty ordered the Imperial Court to pay compensation to the families of Helan Border City’s thirty thousand martyrs, while Ding Jiye sought a way to force Lin Su out of Dragon City.
• Lin Su told Zhou Ze and He Shun that he would make up any compensation officials deducted, and He Shun warned Zhou Ze that embezzling the funds would aid Lin Su’s efforts.
• Bi Xuanji asked Lin Su why he provoked His Majesty, and Lin Su revealed the ruler’s crimes and said he supported King Chen rather than seeking the throne himself.
• Lin Su explained that he had made himself the target to divert His Majesty from King Chen, and Bi Xuanji learned why he believed he could withstand the danger.
• Bi Xuanji described the extraordinary swordsman who wrote “Ballad of the Sword” at his senior sister’s grave after returning from the Heartless Sea.

Lin Su led 3,000 Helan Remnants out of Dragon City to attack Qiyang Pass, where he used military illusions, stratagems, and powerful poetry to overwhelm the defenders. The pass fell, and Lin Su’s Silver Moon annihilated Lu Ye’s forces on the eastern peak.

• Lin Su reassured Bi Xuanji that he would not abandon her for cultivation, then told Du Yuting to request permission to take the Helan Remnants out of Dragon City.
• Zhou Ze approved Du Yuting’s request, and Lin Su marched with 3,000 soldiers toward Qiyang Pass while Zhou Ze and He Shun discussed their pensions.
• Lin Su used a military illusion to draw Qiyang’s defenders toward the eastern peak, then led his troops through the city wall and into the pass.
• Huo Qi and Zhang Haoran used Man Jiang Hong to slaughter defenders, while Bi Xuanji’s Dark Fragrance agents hunted down enemy standard-bearers before they could form Military Formations.
• Lu Ye returned from the eastern peak to find Qiyang Pass occupied by Great Cang, but Lin Su’s Silver Moon destroyed his formation and killed him and more than 2,000 soldiers.

Lin Su led three thousand soldiers to capture Qiyang Pass and Liehuo City with few losses, using military stratagems to overcome much larger forces. As the army celebrated its victories, Wu Xinyue arrived at Liehuo City and confronted Lin Su.

• Lin Su gave Du Yuting the tactical essentials of three stratagems and announced that the army would march on Liehuo Valley.
• Lu Binwang and Wu Xinyue learned that Lin Su had left Dragon City, but a report soon revealed that Qiyang Pass had fallen and Lu Ye's eight thousand soldiers had been wiped out.
• At Liehuo City, Lin Su used Feint to the East, Attack to the West to evade Deng Juyang's attack, then killed Deng Juyang and the enemy banner bearers, breaking the city's formations.
• The three thousand soldiers took Liehuo City, while Lu Binwang learned that its thirty thousand defenders had been defeated and Wu Xinyue set out to investigate Lin Su.
• Wu Xinyue arrived at Liehuo City atop a flying snowy mountain and greeted Lin Su, prompting Zhang Haoran and the others to recognize the holy son of the Painting Sage Sacred Family.

Wu Xinyue escaped after reviewing Lin Su’s military tactics, but Lin Su led the Flying Dragon Legion across the Dadu River and captured Doufang City’s walls. Thousands of Wasteland Abandoned Beasts then suppressed the army’s Literary Way power and trapped them, leaving Lin Su to counterattack with the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

• Wu Xinyue reviewed the battle with the Snowy Mountain Night Moon Painting, evaded attacks from Zhang Haoran and three other Great Confucians, and departed.
• Lin Su treated Bi Xuanji after Wu Xinyue’s sacred treasure rebounded her shadow assassination, and the army marched to the Dadu River.
• Zhang Haoran transformed a World-Passing Azure Ci Poetry into a giant war chariot, carrying three thousand soldiers across the river as Lin Su defended them from Doufang City’s attack.
• Lin Su’s War Poem formed a Great Wall that cleared Doufang City’s walls, and Du Yuting led the soldiers into the city before Lin Su halted their pursuit.
• Thousands of Wasteland Abandoned Beasts surrounded the Flying Dragon Legion and suppressed its Literary Way power, while the defenders of Doufang City prepared to attack.
• Bi Xuanji ordered more than twenty experts to fight the Abandoned Beasts, and Lin Su answered the enemy general’s taunt with the Thirty-Six Stratagems: Substitute a Peach for a Plum.

Lin Su used a holy military art to turn the abandoned beasts against the Great Corner army and led Great Cang to victory at Doufang City. With Helan City warned of his tactics and preparing a powerful response, Lin Su gathered his commanders to plan an unconventional assault.

• Lin Su swapped the positions of the armies with his military art, trapping the Great Corner defenders among the abandoned beasts.
• Lin Su killed the hidden beast tamer and urged the Great Corner soldiers to fight the beasts, while Great Cang waited outside.
• After the beasts were killed, Du Yuting led Great Cang's charge and crushed the exhausted Great Corner survivors.
• Wu Xinyue arrived with his holy treasure, admitted he had gathered intelligence for the enemy, and departed after Lin Su warned him to stay away from Helan City.
• Lin Su warned his commanders that Helan City could bring in Great Corner's strongest forces and ordered them to prepare a demanding, unconventional strategy.
• Lu Binwang and the commanders at Helan City watched the vision of Lin Su's Substitute a Peach for a Plum military art breaking their Ruthless Strategy.

Lin Su led his three thousand troops to Helan City, where Lu Binwang and an assembly of Great Yu’s experts prepared to kill him. Lin Su activated a Peerless Killing Formation that devastated the city and trapped its defenders, while Wu Xinyue claimed he could still escape.

• Lu Binwang gathered experts in Helan City, and North Venerable arrived to help take Lin Su’s head.
• Lin Su approached Helan City with three thousand troops, and Lu Binwang revealed that a formation had blocked their retreat.
• Lin Su activated the Peerless Killing Formation through ten Military Formations and twenty-six experts, trapping Helan City between golden lights.
• The formation killed the city’s Formation Master and defeated a cultivation grandmaster, a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation Realm expert, and Lan Yuan Yilao’s Literary Realm.
• As the golden lights nearly closed around more than thirty thousand people, Wu Xinyue declared that he could escape Lin Su’s formation.

Lin Su used the Weiyang Brush to destroy the Snowy Mountain Night Moon Painting and kill Wu Xinyue, helping secure the recapture of the Four Garrisons of the North. The victory made Lin Su a threat to the imperial court, while the Painting Sage Sacred Family recognized the brush and reconsidered its response; Lin Su awoke in Helan City with his cultivation changed.

• Wu Xinyue broke out of Lin Su's Peerless Killing Formation with the Snowy Mountain Night Moon Painting, but Lin Su used the Weiyang Brush to destroy the Sacred Treasure and kill him.
• Bi Xuanji caught Lin Su as he fell, and the soldiers celebrated the retaking of Helan City and the Four Garrisons of the North.
• Zhou Ze, He Shun, Ding Jiye, His Majesty, Zhang Juzheng, and Qu Wendong learned that three thousand troops had defeated an army of one hundred and twenty thousand.
• Zhang Juzheng warned Qu Wendong that Lin Su's military strategy and Peerless Killing Formation could make him a threat to the emperor, and Qu Wendong proposed speaking with him when he returned to the capital.
• The Painting Sage Sacred Family Patriarch witnessed Wu Xinyue's death and recognized the Weiyang Brush, then suggested its return could signal that a legendary figure had survived tribulation.
• Lin Su awakened beside Bi Xuanji and discovered that the Weiyang Brush had restored and transformed his qi while lowering his cultivation level and strengthening his foundation.

Lin Su commemorated Li Xiaotian’s death and used a poem to reveal that Lu Binwang’s lion-wolf mount had killed him, while Bi Xuanji recognized the trace of an Earth-Covering Butterfly. Lin Su and Bi Xuanji traveled to Sky Lake to seek the ancient butterfly, and as the waning moon rose, Lin Su began playing his flute.

• Bi Xuanji told Lin Su that she had concealed her identity on the border mission by leaving an impostor at West Mountain Banshanju.
• Lin Su joined Zhang Haoran, Du Yuting, and three thousand Helan Remnants to honor Li Xiaotian at an altar on Yan Hui Peak.
• Lin Su’s poem recreated Li Xiaotian’s death, and Bi Xuanji spotted an Earth-Covering Butterfly’s trace in the lion-wolf king’s attack.
• Bi Xuanji explained the Earth-Covering Butterfly’s powers and habits, and Lin Su decided to search for it at Sky Lake during the waning moon.
• Lin Su and Bi Xuanji traveled alone to Sky Lake, waited for the moon to rise, and Lin Su began playing “Night on the Prairie” when the butterfly did not appear.

Lin Su and Bi Xuanji encountered the Earth-Covering Butterfly, which had saved Li Xiaotian because his poem captured its beloved waning moon; Lin Su healed Li Xiaotian, who then revealed that Helan City fell when its military flags were disabled. Lin Su suspected Zhou Ze and the Ministry of War were helping Great Corner enforce the Pact of Luocheng, while Bi Xuanji departed for the capital.

• Lin Su played the flute to summon the Earth-Covering Butterfly, which brought Li Xiaotian out in a cocoon and Lin Su healed him with the Spring Revival Seed.
• The butterfly revealed Li Xiaotian's Seven-Colored Poem, "Moon Over the Frontier," and insisted Lin Su play music throughout the night before shrinking at dawn.
• Li Xiaotian awoke, learned his brothers had retaken the Four Garrisons of the North, and offered his poem manuscript to the butterfly, which entered its artistic conception.
• Lin Su asked about Helan City's fall, and Li Xiaotian explained that its military flags failed at the start of battle, disabling the formation.
• Lin Su concluded that Zhou Ze had colluded with Great Corner and suspected the Ministry of War was involved in upholding the Pact of Luocheng.
• Lin Su and the others returned toward Helan City, while Bi Xuanji said she was going to the capital and disappeared into a valley.

After Li Xiaotian returned alive, Lin Su gave him the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and the group exposed Commander Zhou Ze’s role in the fall of Helan City. Their open report implicated Minister of War Ding Jiye, and a petition from one hundred thousand troops forced the emperor to confront the risk of the army laying down its armor.

• Li Xiaotian reunited with his brothers, learned of the victory at Helan City, and received Lin Su’s gift of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.
• After studying the stratagems overnight, Li Xiaotian joined Lin Su and the others in confronting Zhou Ze at the Commander’s Prefecture.
• Lin Su used Literary Way Cleansing of the Heart on Zhou Ze, who confessed that Ding Jiye had ordered him to lower Helan City’s banners and aid Great Corner.
• Lin Su, Zhang Haoran, Huo Qi, Li Yangxin, Qiu Mochi, and Li Xiaotian openly reported Zhou Ze and Ding Jiye to the emperor, while officials across Great Cang reacted to the accusation.
• At court, Zhang Juzheng called for the punishment of Ding Jiye and Zhou Ze, while Lu Tiancong urged a trial by the Three Judicial Offices.
• Li Xiaotian reported that one hundred thousand Dragon City troops demanded the execution of Ding Jiye and Zhou Ze and threatened to lay down their armor, prompting the emperor to rise in alarm.

After the Emperor stripped Zhou Ze and Ding Jiye of their posts and ordered them tried, Lin Su revealed the truth behind the Pact of Luocheng to Li Xiaotian and secured his vow to defend the northern border. Lin Su and the other officials then prepared to return to the capital, leaving Li Xiaotian in command of Dragon City.

• The Emperor removed Zhou Ze and Ding Jiye from office, ordered their cases sent to the Trial by the Three Judicial Offices, and promoted Li Xiaotian to Commander of Dragon City.
• At Li Xiaotian’s celebratory banquet, Lin Su suggested Zhou Ze might never reach the capital and warned that Ding Jiye could try to have him killed.
• Lin Su told Li Xiaotian that the Pact of Luocheng had been a transaction: the Emperor had invited Great Corner to invade in exchange for help seizing the throne, then ceded the Four Garrisons of the North.
• Li Xiaotian swore that Dragon City’s hundred thousand troops would guard the northern border even if an imperial decree ordered them to withdraw, and Lin Su gave him ten war stratagems and the Immortal-Trapping Array.
• On the sixth day of the seventh month, Lin Su and four other capital officials departed Dragon City as Li Xiaotian and the troops saw them off.

After returning from the northern campaign, Lin Su learned that Zhou Ze had been killed and discussed the emperor’s growing fear of him with Zhang Juzheng and Qu Wendong. He agreed to publicize his intention to enter the Holy Hall through a Sacred Family’s Heaven-Reaching Dao, setting the families against one another as he headed for West Mountain Villa.

• On the journey back, Qiu Mochi persuaded Lin Su and the others to escort his bride, and Zhang Haoran received a summons to Green Willow Villa.
• Zhang Juzheng told Lin Su that Zhou Ze had been killed beneath Luoxia Slope, and Lin Su explained that Zhou Ze’s testimony could not have brought down Ding Jiye.
• Qu Wendong and Zhang Juzheng proposed that Lin Su announce plans to enter the Holy Hall to reduce the emperor’s apprehension and deter his enemies.
• Lin Su agreed to announce that he would choose a Sacred Family and enter through its Heaven-Reaching Dao, prompting Qu Wendong to realize the families would compete for him.
• At West Mountain Villa, Luyi teased Xie Xiaoyan about the houses and white-porcelain fittings Lin Su had prepared for the women.

Luyi and the other women prepared to travel to Haining, while Lin Su reunited with them and sang “Night on the Prairie.” After the women departed by ship, Lin Su left the Little Demoness with a mysterious assignment, and the travelers sailed south protected by three Void-Peering Realm experts.

• Luyi persuaded the women, including Bi Xuanji and Princess Yufeng, to travel to Haining and see the osmanthus flowers at Yishui North Bank.
• Lin Su arrived at West Mountain Villa, fulfilled Xie Xiaoyan’s request, and sang “Night on the Prairie” for the women.
• Lin Su told Lu Youwei that the house he had built for her was ready for inspection, and Xie Xiaoyan teased Luyi about her relationship with him.
• At the foot of West Mountain, Lin Su reproached the Little Demoness for missing his northern campaign, then praised her into accepting a difficult assignment.
• The next morning, Princess Yufeng, Lu Youwei, Xie Xiaoyan, Luyi, and Bi Xuanji departed for Haining by ship, accompanied by Youying, Luo Tianyao, and Bi Xuanji as three Void-Peering Realm experts.

Lin Su’s plan to enter the Holy Hall spread through the capital, stirring reactions from officials, White Deer Academy, the Emperor, and hidden Holy Hall figures. As Zhang Haoran and the others traveled aboard Huo Qi’s ship, the maid collecting poems quietly signaled toward a nearby room.

• Huo Qi brought Zhang Haoran, Li Yangxin, and the other talents aboard his family’s ship and admitted he expected them to leave poems as payment for the voyage.
• News spread that Lin Su intended to enter the Holy Hall through a Sacred Family’s Heaven-Reaching Road, prompting excitement among commoners and relief among officials.
• Moyuan and Mo Wen discussed Lin Su’s prospects, and Moyuan revealed that she was a Holy Hall Execution Envoy who still resented losing to him despite receiving the Wind-Calming Disc.
• The Emperor heard that Lin Su planned to leave the mortal world for the Holy Hall and reconsidered his fears, though he wondered which Sacred Family would sponsor him.
• Zhang Haoran wrote a Golden Light Poem aboard Huo Qi’s ship, while Li Yangxin tried to compose one and the maid gestured toward a nearby room.