Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan realized his family was likely to be targeted by approaching bandits, then refused Chen Zhiyuan’s offer to guard the Chen household because he would not leave Wanwan and Douding unprotected. Chen Zhiyuan accepted the refusal without anger, leaving their conversation unresolved.

• Fang Yuan spotted Chen Zhiyuan watching his courtyard and approached him cautiously.
• Chen Zhiyuan introduced himself and expressed regret that Fang Yuan had lost his scholarly title.
• Chen Zhiyuan asked Fang Yuan to help guard the wealthy Chen Family from bandits, offering five qian of silver for seven days and an additional reward if trouble arose.
• Fang Yuan considered the danger to Wanwan and Douding if he left home and firmly declined the offer.
• Chen Zhiyuan reacted with surprise but showed no anger at Fang Yuan’s refusal.

After refusing Chen Zhiyuan’s request to guard his family, Fang Yuan prepared his household to flee and strengthened himself by practicing saber techniques and testing his growing strength. As he went out to inspect the village and settle an old score, Liu Wanwan guessed he was heading to Village Chief Li’s family.

• Chen Zhiyuan accepted Fang Yuan’s refusal and warned him to stay especially careful as danger approached.
• Fang Yuan told Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout to pack and keep valuables close, then practiced his saber technique after eating Snow Ginseng.
• Fang Yuan checked his System Panel, found his saber proficiency had passed halfway, and lifted a heavy stone mill with one hand.
• The village fell into unnatural silence, and Little Bean Sprout played with the Purple Sable after dinner.
• Fang Yuan picked up his chopping knife and said he was going outside to look around, and Liu Wanwan asked if he was going to Village Chief Li’s family.

Fang Yuan left home after Liu Wanwan understood his plan to deal with Village Chief Li’s family, but the bandits Village Chief Li had summoned instead robbed and assaulted his own household. Fang Yuan appeared at the ruined courtyard and challenged Village Chief Li for blaming him.

• Liu Wanwan recognized why Fang Yuan feared Village Chief Li’s family and told him to be careful as he left with a chopping knife.
• Village Chief Li secretly led bandits into the village and directed them toward Fang Yuan’s house.
• The bandits accused Village Chief Li of trying to use them, then robbed his home, kicked his wife, and struck Er Gouzi.
• Skinny Monkey left to report to the bandits’ boss while the others departed with stolen food.
• Village Chief Li and his family cursed Fang Yuan, who emerged from the shadows and asked what kind of logic blamed him for the bandits they had invited.

Fang Yuan killed Village Chief Li, the woman, and Er Gouzi, then returned home and killed two deserters who had come to rob him. He secured Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout before sneaking toward the burning Chen Family estate, where he found Steward Chen facing off against the bandits.

• Fang Yuan killed Village Chief Li, the woman, and Er Gouzi, then arranged the scene to look like a bandit robbery.
• Fang Yuan saw the Chen Family estate burning and heard fighting there, but continued toward his own home because he knew bandits had targeted it.
• Fang Yuan killed two deserters sneaking toward his courtyard, then entered the house and told Liu Wanwan to keep the door locked with Little Bean Sprout inside.
• Fang Yuan waited until the area around his home was quiet, then crept toward the Chen Family estate to assess the battle and look for an opportunity.
• Fang Yuan reached the estate and saw the bandit leader facing Steward Chen and the battered household guards across the dead.

Chen Mingyuan drove off the bandits by trading them grain and pork, then managed the aftermath with promises to his guards and food for the villagers. As Fang Yuan slipped away, Chen Mingyuan took his shaken son Chen Zhiyuan to the study.

• Chen Mingyuan negotiated with the bandit leader, offering five sacks of grain and a side of pork, and the bandits withdrew.
• Villagers arrived after the fighting and gathered for porridge, while Chen Mingyuan promised rewards and support to the guards who had fought.
• Fang Yuan watched Chen Mingyuan manage the crowd and guards, admired his shrewdness, and returned home in the shadows.
• Chen Mingyuan led Chen Zhiyuan to the study, where his son struggled with the horror of the bloodshed.

After a bandit attack exposed the dangers of the countryside, Chen Mingyuan decided to move his family to the county town and urged Chen Zhiyuan to use his connections there. Fang Yuan also prepared to leave with Liu Wanwan, leaving them ready to flee once he found a way into the town.

• Chen Mingyuan explained to Chen Zhiyuan that the countryside was becoming too dangerous and announced that the family would move to the county town.
• Chen Zhiyuan recalled classmates with connections to the County yamen and city guards, while Chen Mingyuan planned to rely on his elder son and pay the costs of relocating.
• Fang Yuan returned home and told Liu Wanwan that routed deserters had clashed with the Chen Family, who had paid them off with rice and a pig.
• Liu Wanwan showed Fang Yuan the packed valuables, and he told her to keep the household ready to leave for the county town.
• Fang Yuan reassured Liu Wanwan that the county town’s walls would offer greater safety, and she agreed to leave whenever necessary.

San Zhuang watched Fang Yuan’s household with jealousy and resentment, while Fang Yuan set out to seek the Third Master’s steward and secure a way to the county town. At Hu Lao San’s tent, armed guards stopped Fang Yuan and demanded to know who he was.

• San Zhuang watched Fang Yuan return home and resented Liu Wanwan’s devotion to him, remembering that he had once hoped Fang Yuan would freeze to death in the snow.
• Before dawn, San Zhuang secretly watched Fang Yuan leave and saw Liu Wanwan worry over him, which intensified his jealousy.
• Fang Yuan headed to the market, hoping to win the Third Master’s steward’s approval and leave Fang Family Village for the county town.
• Fang Yuan approached Hu Lao San’s tent and noticed more than a dozen hardened guards, including several martial artists.
• Two guards blocked Fang Yuan within ten paces of the tent and demanded to know who he was.

Fang Yuan asked to bring his family along with a trading caravan to the county town, but its shrewd female manager questioned what he could offer in return. He demonstrated his strength by lifting a heavy cargo chest, leaving Hu Lao San stunned.

• Fang Yuan told the caravan guards he wanted to join the trading firm, and they brought him to meet the Miss.
• Fang Yuan explained that he wanted his family to travel safely to the county town and offered to work as a guard or laborer.
• The Miss challenged Fang Yuan to prove that taking him and his family would be worth the caravan's added risk.
• Fang Yuan lifted a heavy wooden cargo chest over his head, and Hu Lao San stared at him in disbelief.

Fang Yuan impressed Qin Yue with his extraordinary strength and seemed to win a chance to join Third Miss’s household. But after learning he had practiced both saber technique and footwork, Qin Yue declared that he had ruined his cultivation prospects and dismissed him as unable to gather qi.

• Fang Yuan lifted and replaced a crate weighing nearly a thousand jin, astonishing Qin Yue and revealing his exceptional natural strength.
• Qin Yue introduced herself and offered to bring Fang Yuan and his family to the county seat, where Third Miss might employ him and help him find a Qi Gathering Method.
• Qin Yue asked whether Fang Yuan had practiced body-tempering methods or inherited martial arts, and Fang Yuan vaguely admitted to practicing saber technique and footwork on his own.
• Qin Yue reacted with shock and accused Fang Yuan of wasting his gifts by practicing two methods instead of concentrating his blood, qi, and intent on one.
• Qin Yue warned that Fang Yuan’s scattered blood and qi could make gathering qi fail and cause a dangerous backlash, then declared him useless to Third Miss.

Qin Yue told Fang Yuan that his chaotic qi and blood made drawing Qi deadly unless he obtained a rare Bone Marrow Cleansing medicine, which he could not afford. Fang Yuan left the tent resolved to rely on his system and improve his existing techniques, while Qin Yue warned Hu Lao San not to recommend people on his own again.

• Qin Yue explained that Fang Yuan could only start over with a costly Precious Medicine and warned him never to draw Qi again.
• Fang Yuan thanked Qin Yue and left, accepting her warning but resolving to improve the movement and blade techniques refined by his system.
• Qin Yue questioned Hu Lao San about bringing Fang Yuan to her, and Hu Lao San admitted he had hoped to recommend him to Third Miss.
• Qin Yue warned Hu Lao San not to make such decisions again, and he promised to obey.
• Outside the tent, Fang Yuan ignored the guards’ curious looks and focused on raising his two system-recognized techniques to their limits.

Fang Yuan was rejected by Qin Yue’s caravan because she considered him too weak to justify the cost of securing county registration. After Wang Laowu suggested grave robbing as a way to earn money and gain entry to the county town, Fang Yuan refused and headed home to seek another path.

• Qin Yue told Hu Lao San that she would not spend resources bringing Fang Yuan along because he lacked the strength to survive the troubled times.
• Wang Laowu met Fang Yuan and explained how difficult county registration had become, then suggested grave robbing as a way to raise money.
• Fang Yuan declined to commit to Wang Laowu’s proposal and left, while Wang Laowu watched him with a calculating expression.
• On the road home, Fang Yuan recalled a tale of a grave robber who died after being haunted and decided that disturbing the dead was too dangerous.
• Fang Yuan resolved to find a way for the living and return home to reassure Wanwan.

Government constables rode toward Fang Family Village to conduct conscription, while Wang San bribed their captain into agreeing to arrest Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan returned home to find Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout bundled up with their belongings and the Purple Sable, ready to leave.

• Wang San asked the constable captain to help him punish Fang Yuan, claiming Fang Yuan had crippled Wang Meng's legs.
• Wang San slipped the captain a money pouch, and the captain ordered the constables to handle conscription before arresting Fang Yuan.
• Fang Yuan returned to the village and noticed San Zhuang watching his courtyard before the man hurried away with a small bundle of firewood.
• Fang Yuan entered his courtyard and found Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout dressed in their warmest clothes, with a packed bundle and the Purple Sable ready to go.

Fang Yuan calmed Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout after learning they had prepared to flee, then went to investigate the constables who unexpectedly arrived in Fang Family Village. The officers gathered beneath the Old Scholar Tree without explaining their purpose, and Old Master Fang came forward to greet their captain.

• Fang Yuan reassured Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout, helped them remove the meat stuffed into their padded clothes, and explained that the caravan had refused to take them.
• Liu Wanwan said she had not seen San Zhuang visit or knock, making Fang Yuan suspicious of his behavior outside the courtyard.
• Villagers heard that constables had entered the village, and Fang Yuan wondered whether the Chen Family had summoned them after the bandit robbery.
• Fang Yuan left Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout at home and joined the villagers gathered around the constables beneath the Old Scholar Tree.
• Old Master Fang hurried to the village entrance and bowed to the constable captain, apologizing for his late arrival.

The county constables came to the village to conscript able-bodied men rather than suppress the bandits, and threatened the villagers into compliance. As the captain called names from the register, Wang San accused Fang Yuan of being an unregistered fugitive and demanded his arrest.

• The constable captain announced that the officers had come under the County Magistrate's orders to conscript men, provoking panic among the villagers.
• The village elder pleaded for the men to remain so they could protect their families from bandits, but the captain threatened anyone who obstructed the order.
• The captain ordered the village register brought out, and the elder reluctantly sent a young man to fetch it.
• The constable captain called names from the register while the selected men's families cried and pleaded.
• Wang San interrupted the selection and accused Fang Yuan of being an unregistered fugitive who had broken Wang Meng's legs, urging the captain to arrest him.

As the constable captain began enforcing conscription, a villager reported that Village Chief Li’s family had been murdered, sending Wang San rushing to the scene. The captain continued the house-to-house search and confronted Fang Yuan, who claimed his absence from the register came from his former student status.

• The constable captain ordered villagers to return home and warned that anyone hiding an eligible man would be punished.
• A villager reported that Village Chief Li and his family had been killed, and Wang San hurried to their home after crying out for his little sister.
• The constable captain dismissed the murder report as secondary to conscription and ordered his men to search every household and block the roads.
• Fang Yuan returned to his courtyard, bolted the gate, and prepared for the search, while Wang San’s grief and hatred made him fear a setup.
• The constables entered Fang Yuan’s courtyard, and the captain questioned why his name was missing from the conscription register.
• Fang Yuan explained that he had studied at a county school and had not yet registered his household in the village, surprising the captain.

Fang Yuan paid constable captain Wang substitute service silver to avoid conscription, but Wang San then accused him of murdering Village Chief Li's family. When the constables moved to arrest him, Fang Yuan fought back and took the constable captain hostage.

• Wang San revealed that Fang Yuan had lost his scholarly title, but Fang Yuan claimed illness and offered silver to pay for substitute service.
• Constable captain Wang accepted Fang Yuan's silver and dismissed Wang San's objection.
• A constable reported that a villager had seen someone resembling Fang Yuan near Village Chief Li's home on the night of the murders.
• Wang San accused Fang Yuan of killing Village Chief Li's family, and constable captain Wang ordered the constables to arrest him.
• Fang Yuan disarmed two constables with his footwork and seized an official saber, then pressed its point against constable captain Wang's throat.

Fang Yuan forced the constable captain to abandon Wang San’s false accusation and leave his courtyard, then learned that San Zhuang had reported him. Convinced San Zhuang meant to have him killed and threatened his family, Fang Yuan decided San Zhuang could not be allowed to live.

• Fang Yuan held the constable captain at blade point and warned him that resisting would cost him his life and his squad’s lives.
• The captain ordered his constables to lower their weapons, dismissed Wang San’s accusation, and called off the arrest.
• Before leaving, the captain quietly told Fang Yuan that San Zhuang had reported seeing someone like him near the headman’s house.
• Fang Yuan recalled San Zhuang spying outside his courtyard and concluded he had deliberately tried to get him killed, so he resolved to kill San Zhuang.
• After the constables withdrew, an injured constable questioned why they had feared Fang Yuan, and the captain warned him that Fang Yuan was no ordinary peasant.

The constable captain recognized Fang Yuan as a formidable martial artist and withdrew rather than pursue the suspected killer of Village Chief Li's family. Fang Yuan realized his optimized cultivation might give him the strength of a First-grade Martial Artist, while the village learned it had seven days to send its conscripts to the military camp.

• The constable captain warned his men that Fang Yuan had shown mercy and ended the investigation into Village Chief Li's family's murder, then led the constables away.
• Fang Yuan reflected on his effortless combat against the constable captain and suspected his optimized cultivation had made him as strong as an ordinary First-grade Martial Artist.
• Fang Yuan's confidence grew, and he resolved to reach the county town as soon as possible, hoping to uncover clues about his Cultivation Method.
• Old Master Fang announced that the officials had ordered every person on the register to report to the military camp within seven days or their families would face punishment.
• The villagers panicked over the conscription order, arguing about fleeing into the mountains or going to the front lines against the Rebel Army.

After absorbing the last of the Snow Ginseng, Fang Yuan sneaked out and killed San Zhuang, then judged that the collapsing authorities were unlikely to investigate ordinary deaths. The next morning, as conscription weighed on Fang Family Village, Fang Yuan practiced and considered getting a proper steel blade before traveling to the county seat.

• Fang Yuan absorbed the last Snow Ginseng rootlet, gaining a surge of strength, and slipped out of his house while Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout slept.
• San Zhuang brooded over Fang Yuan’s survival and cursed him, and Fang Yuan silently entered through the window and cut San Zhuang’s throat.
• Fang Yuan reasoned that the authorities cared more about conscription than investigating village deaths and concluded that public order was collapsing.
• The next morning, Fang Yuan practiced with his worn chopping knife and decided to acquire a proper steel blade when he reached the county seat.
• Fang Yuan went out to get some fresh air and gather information as conscription despair gripped Fang Family Village.

Fang Yuan decided to shadow Steward Chen's convoy to protect Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout on the journey to the county seat, then went to apply as a guard. After hearing that San Zhuang was missing and the Heizi Hunting Team had not returned, Fang Yuan suspected someone had removed San Zhuang's corpse but chose not to investigate, leaving the mystery unresolved as he arrived at Chen Manor.

• Fang Yuan overheard villagers say Steward Chen's family was hiring guards for its trip to the county seat and decided to follow the convoy from a distance.
• Fang Yuan asked San Zhuang's fellow hunters about him and learned they had not seen him, though his bed was cold and he had apparently not slept at home.
• The hunters realized the Heizi Hunting Team had been missing for an unusually long time and grew uneasy as they watched Fang Yuan walk away.
• Fang Yuan remembered leaving San Zhuang's corpse in his house and suspected it had been removed, but restrained himself from returning to investigate.
• Fang Yuan applied to guard Steward Chen's convoy, and Chen Zhiyuan greeted him with surprise and courtesy.