Chapter Summaries

Lin Su met the Demon Race merchant behind the wine-cup business, then spent ten days visiting Yao Gu in her vegetable garden while Nanshan Prefecture pushed ahead with its prosperity reforms. He confirmed that Yao Gu belonged to the Agricultural Sage Sacred Family and possessed an extraordinary literary realm, and he told Sister Chen that he would return home for the New Year the next day.

• Lin Su recognized the crystal cup from the Demon Race Store and asked to meet the young lady who had made it, but learned she could not leave Dream Soul Abyss.
• As Nanshan Prefecture’s transformation gathered momentum, Lin Su visited Yao Gu’s vegetable garden each day, helping with chores and sharing meals and tea.
• When Sister Chen came to collect him, Lin Su left Yao Gu a Storage Bag containing wine and other drinks before walking back to the city with her.
• Lin Su told Sister Chen that Yao Gu belonged to the Agricultural Sage Sacred Family and had a literary realm capable of absorbing real places and taking them away.
• Sister Chen wondered whether Yao Gu might eventually take South Mountain City, and Lin Su said it was possible before announcing that he would go home for the New Year tomorrow.

Lin Su returned to Lin Manor for the New Year after handing Nanshan Prefecture’s authority to He Xingong, while Sister Chen recounted his triumphs to Luyi and Cui Ying. She realized Lin Su was also Su Lin, the Lingyun First Seat, and feared that his fame in the Cultivation Way would bring new danger to the Lin Family.

• Lin Su transferred the Prefect’s authority to He Xingong, gave Cao Li one hundred jars of Baiyunbian, and left Nanshan with Sister Chen for the New Year.
• He Xingong and Cao Li divided the wine among Nanshan’s officials, then ordered them to finish their assigned work before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
• Lin Su reunited with his family at Lin Manor, greeting Madam Lin, the children, Hong Ying, and Xiao Yao.
• Sister Chen told Luyi and Cui Ying how Lin Su removed forty-eight officials, bought farmland amid the water crisis, won the Yanghu Waterway from Prince Luyang, and killed a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation expert in two sword strikes.
• Sister Chen connected Lin Su’s swordsmanship and background to the Lingyun First Seat Su Lin and resolved to protect the household and gather intelligence as danger grew.

During a snowy morning, Lin Su took Luyi out to play and visited Haining Academy, where the Great Confucians welcomed his return and learned how he had handled his new prefecture. He later met Mo Qing and Feng Wu at Zhehua Peak, where Feng Wu invited Luyi to try a Seven-tone Zither she had made.

• Lin Su spent the night with Luyi and Cui Ying, then took the excited Luyi out to enjoy the snow while Cui Ying slept.
• Luyi pointed out Sun Zhen's home, and she and Lin Su joked about whether he missed Sun Zhen before continuing toward Haining Academy.
• Bao Shan and the other Great Confucians asked Lin Su for aged Baiyunbian, and he promised each of them twenty jars.
• Ren Taiyan questioned Lin Su about his conduct as a prefect, and Luyi listed his dismissals, fights, and seizure of Prince Luyang's Yanghu Waterway, prompting Deng Taiyan to leave.
• Lin Su and Luyi flew to Zhehua Peak, where they found Mo Qing and Feng Wu admiring the snow.
• Feng Wu showed Luyi the Seven-tone Zither she had made and led her into another room to try it.

Lin Su discussed recruiting Mo Qing to Haining Academy and explained how steam power could advance the Mohist Way. After Luyi accepted Feng Wu’s precious Seven Sound Qin, Feng Wu invited Lin Su to Yanqing Lake on Qixi to meet an elder of the Feng Sacred Family.

• Mo Qing confronted Lin Su about trying to recruit her, and he admitted that he wanted her at Haining Academy for its lack of teachers and because she was beautiful.
• Lin Su explained that steam engines could provide continuous power for a steel ship, leaving Mo Qing eager to study his physics theories in Haining.
• Feng Wu gave Luyi the Seven Sound Qin, whose strings could help protect her from an Unforeseen Calamity.
• Feng Wu invited Lin Su to Yanqing Lake on the seventh day of the seventh month to meet an elder of the Feng Sacred Family, and Lin Su agreed.
• After Feng Wu and Mo Qing departed, Luyi worried that Feng Wu’s invitation was a scheme to seduce Lin Su but accepted his explanation that the meeting could help win over the Feng Sacred Family.

Mo Qing returned to Moxin Pavilion with the solution to the Circle-Square Problem, freeing her father Mo Chao from thirteen years of self-imposed confinement. Meanwhile, Saintess Su Rong began her breakthrough into the Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation Realm, and Lin Su used literary treasures to protect Lin Manor as the family prepared for the New Year.

• Mo Qing returned to Moxin Pavilion and told Little Ruler she would see her father before visiting her mother.
• Mo Qing gave Mo Chao the method for solving the Circle-Square Problem, and he eagerly opened Wenxin Pavilion’s door to her.
• Saintess Su Rong emerged from seclusion and faced the heavenly tribulation as she began breaking through to the Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation Realm.
• Lin Zheng and Lin Jialiang returned to Lin Manor for the New Year, where Madam Lin scolded Lin Jialiang for arriving late.
• Lin Su wrote Spring Couplets with his Precious Brush, and they fused into Lin Manor’s gate as literary treasures.
• Hong Ying realized Lin Su’s Spring Couplets might form a protective circle around Lin Manor, and Lin Zheng agreed that the coming year might bring trouble.

On New Year's Eve, Lin Su told his family the tragic love story of Liang Zhu and sang “Butterfly Transformation,” moving the women and prompting Luyi to recognize his effort to advance women's education. The women decided to help spread the story and song, while Cui Ying, Luyi, and Sister Chen reacted to Lin Su returning to his room alone.

• Lin Su returned to the western courtyard after the New Year's Eve dinner and agreed to tell Xiao Yao and the others a story.
• Lin Su told the women the story of Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo, ending with the lovers transforming into butterflies.
• Lin Su sang “Butterfly Transformation,” and the women were deeply moved by the song.
• Luyi argued that the story and song could challenge the conventions barring women from education, and the women agreed to help spread them.
• Xiao Yao and Xiao Tao ran off to share the story, while Cui Ying, Luyi, and Sister Chen noticed Lin Su had gone back to his room alone.

On New Year’s Day, Lin Su received King Chen’s unusually significant New Year greeting and visited the prince with Sister Chen. King Chen revealed that an incident had occurred at the northern frontier on New Year’s Eve, leaving Lin Su worried about what had happened.

• Lin Su celebrated the new year with his family and welcomed callers, including Prefect Yang and Yang Chun.
• Lin Su advised Prefect Yang to delay Yang Chun’s imperial examinations so he could develop his knowledge and experience before attempting the full examination course.
• Gexin arrived from King Chen’s Mansion with a substantial New Year gift, prompting Lin Su to visit King Chen and return the courtesy.
• Lin Su and Sister Chen reached King Chen’s Mansion, where they found King Chen contemplating the snow in a lakeside pavilion.
• King Chen told Lin Su that something had happened at the northern frontier the previous night, and Lin Su wondered whether it was another major move like the events of the previous New Year’s Eve.

Lin Su explained to King Chen why Li Xiaotian might defy an imperial order to leave Dragon City and why the court could not safely punish him. Reassured that the Four Garrisons of the North could be protected, King Chen took Lin Su to Snow Plum Garden and demanded a poem.

• King Chen told Lin Su that Li Xiaotian had crushed Great Corner's hundred-thousand-strong Wilderness Army in a New Year's Eve raid, but feared Great Corner would persuade the Current Majesty to remove him from Dragon City.
• Lin Su revealed that he had told Li Xiaotian to refuse any transfer order and remain at Dragon City, even if the court branded him a rebel.
• King Chen warned that rebellion by Dragon City's army would ordinarily mean its destruction, but Lin Su argued that the Current Majesty lacked the means and political freedom to defeat it.
• King Chen accepted Lin Su's reasoning, invited him to admire the plum blossoms, and threatened to hold him accountable for sneaking into his imperial sister's bedchamber unless he wrote poetry.
• King Chen and Lin Su entered Snow Plum Garden, where Lin Su asked whether he should write about the plums or the snow.

Lin Su wrote a Seven-Colored Poem about plum blossoms and snow for King Chen, then returned home and spent the New Year with Sister Chen, Luyi, and Cui Ying. The chapter ended when Elder Jia arrived at the Lin Manor to meet Lin Su.

• King Chen struggled to choose between plum blossoms and snow, so Lin Su wrote a poem praising both and gave the manuscript to Sister Chen.
• Lin Su and King Chen drank together; King Chen warned Lin Su not to pursue his imperial sister yet, then passed out drunk.
• Sister Chen brought Lin Su home, where Luyi and Cui Ying speculated that the poem's plum blossoms and snow might symbolize King Chen and the Current Majesty.
• Lin Su's wives developed running jokes around bringing him tea or clothes, while Lin Jialiang made official New Year's calls and the Lin Family welcomed visitors.
• Madam Lin received an old visitor who had an appointment with Third Young Master, and Lin Su recognized him as Elder Jia when he entered the western courtyard.

Lin Su wrote the agricultural monograph “Qi Min Yao Shu,” and the Sacred Hall recognized it as a Treasure Codex. The Sacred Hall Envoy named Lin Su a Sacred Hall Constant Walker and awarded him a token.

• Elder Jia visited Lin Su on the fifth day of the first month, and Lin Su led him to his study to give him a promised gift.
• Lin Su began writing “Qi Min Yao Shu,” an agricultural monograph, while Elder Jia watched and marveled at the depth of its knowledge.
• Golden light filled the study as Lin Su’s writing displayed the signs of a Sacred Hall Treasure Codex, and his wives decided not to interrupt.
• A black-clad Sacred Hall Envoy appeared and accepted “Qi Min Yao Shu” as a Sacred Hall Treasure Codex.
• The Envoy honored Lin Su as a Sacred Hall Constant Walker and gave him a silver token.

Lin Su gained the Sacred Hall’s Constant Walker status by writing a canon, and Black Elder secretly delivered the certification. He stayed out of the Sacred Hall for now, then planned a trip to the capital while dodging his mother’s talk of marriage.

• Black Elder visited Lin Su privately, confirmed his Constant Walker status through the canon Qi Min Yao Shu, and invited him to visit the Ink Pavilion someday.
• Elder Jia recognized Black Elder, took the canon back to the Agricultural Sage’s Sacred Family, and left before Lin Su could ask about a Village Girl.
• Lin Su wrote Luyi a Seven-Colored Poem after she teased him, and she and Cui Ying playfully tussled over it.
• Lin Su suspected Black Elder, the Confucian Temple Night Watchman, and possibly Zhang Weikong were protecting him while the Sacred Hall concealed his achievement.
• Lin Su decided to enter the capital on the fifth day of the first lunar month, then hurried away when Madam Lin suggested arranging his marriage.

Lin Su gave Lin Zheng funds to support soldiers’ families, then visited Zhang Juzheng in the capital and learned that the Grand Scholar praised his Nanshan waterway repairs. Lin Su admitted to Zhang Haoran that the repairs also served the Lin Family’s flower-growing business, while Zhang Juzheng’s shadow prepared to reveal Lin Su’s true motives.

• Lin Su gave Lin Zheng three hundred thousand taels to compensate the families of soldiers killed in battle, explaining that the Lin Family had plenty of money and that spending it well was the real challenge.
• Lin Su flew to Green Willow Villa, gave gatekeeper Old Xu a New Year’s gift, and paid New Year’s respects to Zhang Juzheng.
• Zhang Juzheng praised Lin Su for paying to restore Nanshan’s waterways, believing that he had benefited the region’s five million residents.
• Lin Su told Zhang Haoran that the waterway repairs would help the Lin Family grow flowers across Nanshan’s seven counties for its perfume business.
• Zhang Haoran called Lin Su a profiteer and warned that he should never become a Provincial Governor.
• Zhang Juzheng’s shadow returned with doubts about Lin Su’s character and began to explain them.

Zhang Juzheng questioned whether Lin Su’s wealth from employing the people could still serve the public, while Lin Su arranged to visit Tian Yin Fang with Zhang Haoran. Zhang Yiyu reunited with Lin Su, learned that he had entered the Cultivation Way, and questioned how he had killed a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation expert without using Literary Way Power.

• Zhang Juzheng struggled to reconcile his judgment of corrupt officials with the prosperity the Soap Factory and Lin Family had brought to refugees and Haining’s people.
• Zhang Haoran discreetly invited Lin Su to visit Tian Yin Fang with Li Yangxin and Huo Qi the next day, and Lin Su agreed.
• Lin Su considered why the Crown Prince and Third Prince frequented Tian Yin Fang and concluded that a powerful force stood behind the music house.
• Zhang Yiyu visited Lin Su, and he explained that he had been inside the ancient bronze mirror in the Merfolk Holy Land comprehending the Dao and had already plucked a Dao Fruit.
• Zhang Yiyu asked how Lin Su had slain the expert from Prince Luyang's Mansion, and he confirmed that he had done so without Literary Way Power under their contract.

Lin Su learned that Su Rong had become a Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation cultivator with an exceptionally powerful initial Dharma body, and Zhang Yiyu warned him that Medicine King Mountain might be sent against him. The next day, Lin Su and his companions went to investigate Tian Yin Fang, whose refined entrance and mysterious music heightened their curiosity.

• Zhang Yiyu told Lin Su that Su Rong had reached Heavenly Phenomenon Manifestation with an initial Dharma body of one hundred and thirty zhang, and warned him that Medicine King Mountain stood behind the Crown Prince and possibly the Emperor.
• Zhang Yiyu questioned Lin Su about his breakthrough and his plans with Zhang Haoran before leaving after he teased her.
• Lin Su and Zhang Haoran set out to pay New Year respects at Qu Mansion, and they discussed rumors that Tian Yin Fang's music affected listeners in different ways but could not be remembered or hummed.
• Huo Qi, Li Yangxin, and Qiu Mochi joined Lin Su and Zhang Haoran on their way to Tian Yin Fang, where they joked about a courtesan's promise to grow thin for Lin Su.
• The group reached Tian Yin Fang beside the Liuxiang River, and Lin Su admired the precise, harmonious arrangement of its entrance.

Lin Su entered Tian Yin Fang and noticed that its vast grounds were partly created by a hidden array. When the Crown Prince and Third Prince arrived, Lin Su’s refusal to rise or bow prompted a confrontation over royal etiquette.

• Lin Su and his companions paid five taels each and entered Tian Yin Fang, where Lin Su detected an array that magnified real scenery and created illusory gardens.
• Zhao Ji saw Lin Su, left in anger, and several people vacated the seats beside Lin Su after he sat down.
• The Crown Prince and Third Prince arrived together, and the gathered scholars bowed while Lin Su remained seated and examined the river.
• After the Third Prince raised Prince Luyang’s arrival, Qiu Zixiu challenged Lin Su for not paying respects to the Crown Prince.
• Lin Su casually greeted the Crown Prince without standing, then cited Article 327, Clause 2 of the Great Cang Rites when accused of defying royal law.

Lin Su resisted Liu Tianyin’s illusion and entered her hidden pavilion, where she played a song that conjured an apocalyptic scene. The chapter ended with Lin Su opening his eyes after hearing her mournful song.

• Lin Su invoked the Great Cang Rites to refuse to kneel before the Crown Prince, leaving the Crown Prince and Qiu Zixiu speechless.
• Liu Tianyin played from a boat on the Liuxiang River, drawing the crowd into an illusion shaped by their deepest memories.
• Lin Su recognized the music as an illusion and saw that the boat was empty while the others remained entranced.
• A voice invited Lin Su into a secret passage through the bamboo grove, where he met Liu Tianyin in her pavilion.
• Liu Tianyin told Lin Su she had invited him to hear a piece, then played and sang a mournful song that transformed the surroundings into an apocalyptic vision.
• Lin Su opened his eyes after Liu Tianyin’s song ended.

Liu Tianyin warned Lin Su that he would be at the source of Great Cang’s future calamity, but he rejected her prophecy and went to West Mountain Villa to visit the women. After taking Lu Youwei back to the temple, he grew concerned that Bi Xuanji’s unusually long meditation meant something had happened to her.

• Liu Tianyin played a song depicting Great Cang’s future ruin and identified Lin Su as the calamity’s source, but he denounced fate and left without drinking her tea.
• Lin Su went to West Mountain Villa, where Xie Xiaoyan played “Transformation into Butterflies” and the women discussed the song’s spread to the capital.
• Lin Su joked with Xie Xiaoyan, Princess Yufeng, and Lu Youwei, then gave Lu Youwei pastries and spent time with the women.
• Lu Youwei told Lin Su that Bi Xuanji had been meditating behind closed doors for more than ten days, and Xie Xiaoyan suggested he draw her back into worldly life.
• After taking Lu Youwei back to the temple, Lin Su realized Bi Xuanji’s meditation was out of character and suspected something had happened to her.

Lin Su discovered that Bi Xuanji’s grave, lingering injuries came from powerful Dragon aura and used the Spring Revival Seed to heal her. After she awoke the next morning, she found him cooking in her kitchen, leaving them together in the quiet of Banshanju.

• Lin Su entered Banshanju and found Bi Xuanji seriously injured, then put her to sleep with the Spring Revival Seed.
• Lin Su identified the hostile aura in Bi Xuanji’s body as Dragon aura and spent an hour drawing it out while she slept.
• Zhang Haoran returned to Green Willow Villa, where Zhang Yiyu questioned him about Lin Su’s disappearance after Tian Yin Fang.
• Zhang Yiyu used the Autumn Wind Fan to search for Lin Su, confirmed he was not at Tian Yin Fang or the Princess’s Mansion, and decided not to check Lingyin Temple.
• Bi Xuanji woke the next morning with the Dragon aura gone and found Lin Su cooking a meal in her kitchen.

Bi Xuanji told Lin Su how Lord Liu nearly killed her before the Nu River’s ancient dragon remains unleashed a killing intent that saved her. Lin Su decided to draw the King of Assassins into attacking him, then learned from Zhou Zhang that Commander He Yuanqing was King Chen’s traitor.

• Bi Xuanji explained that Lord Liu had ambushed her after she investigated him, gravely wounded her, and chased her into the Nu River.
• The dragon remains beneath the river released a thousand years of killing intent, driving Lord Liu away and leaving Bi Xuanji with dragon energy that her brother could not heal.
• Lin Su realized the source of Bi Xuanji’s dragon energy and resolved to lure Lord Liu out by giving him a reason to attempt an assassination.
• Lin Su visited Zhou Zhang and played chess with him while they discussed the political consequences of his actions at South Mountain.
• Zhou Mei secretly removed a black stone from the board, exposing a weakness in Zhou Zhang’s northwest position as he warned Lin Su about betrayal.
• Zhou Zhang identified Commander He Yuanqing as King Chen’s traitor.

Lin Su considered Lei Zheng’s bid to become Minister of War and planned how to deal with him without provoking an attack from Lord Liu. The next morning, Lin Su visited the Inspectorate Department, where Lei Zheng saw him arrive and his New Year cheer vanished.

• Zhou Zhang revealed that He Yuanqing had secretly served the Emperor and was likely to become Commander of Dragon City, while Li Xiaotian would take over as Commander of Xiliang.
• Lin Su explained how Lei Zheng’s plan to appoint He Yuanqing could shift blame for Dragon City’s loss onto King Chen and concluded that Lei Zheng was aiming for the vacant Minister of War post.
• Lin Su spent the day at Zhou Mansion weighing his enemies and told Zhou Mei that confronting Lei Zheng openly could prompt him to send Lord Liu to kill Lin Su.
• The next morning, Lin Su went to the Inspectorate Department with Zhu Shiyun to pay New Year greetings, and Lei Zheng recognized his voice as they approached.