Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yuan refined a Buddhist relic that increased his physical strength and revealed that it could serve as a Heavenly Dao Opportunity for entering the Grandmaster Realm through Buddhist cultivation. After returning from a successful campaign against water bandits, he learned the Martial Guard Bureau would expand and that Sergeant Qian Mu expected to be transferred soon.

• Zhang Yuan refined the relic with Buddha Origin power, adding two thousand jin to his physical strength and learning it could transform his Iron Body Skill into the Buddhist Golden Body Skill.
• The Chaos Screen revealed that a relic could serve as a Heavenly Dao Opportunity for a Buddhist Grandmaster tribulation, but Zhang Yuan rejected switching cultivation paths because of his loyalty to Great Qin.
• Two days later, Qian Mu and Xu Xianzhong returned with the Martial Guards after they destroyed three water forts, captured or killed over thirty water bandits, and seized valuable goods.
• Zhang Yuan placed first in the mission's head-count Military Merits and shared some of his kill credit with his squad.
• On the journey back, Qian Mu told Zhang Yuan that the Martial Guard Bureau would expand and that he should accept a promotion, then warned that he would soon be transferred elsewhere.

After returning from the bandit suppression, Zhang Yuan and the Martial Guard Bureau honored their fallen comrades and settled their Military Merit, while Qian Mu prepared to leave and entrusted Zhang Yuan with the bureau’s future. Young Master Tao investigated the mission’s hidden motives and the relic, then gave Zhang Yuan papers that revealed they had underestimated Magistrate Sun.

• Qian Mu told Zhang Yuan he would promote him to acting captain before leaving, and Zhang Yuan agreed to take responsibility for the bureau.
• The Martial Guards mourned three fallen comrades, paid their families’ pensions, and completed the mission’s records and Military Merit exchanges.
• Zhang Yuan gave Feng Cheng silver to deliver to the fallen soldiers’ families and urged him to bring Chen Wu along when he returned home.
• Zhang Yuan told Young Master Tao about the bandit suppression, while Tao planned further inquiries into the relic and suspected someone had engineered the mission.
• The next day, Young Master Tao handed Zhang Yuan a roll of papers, prompting Zhang Yuan to say they had underestimated Magistrate Sun.

Zhang Yuan learned that the Kong Family was backed by Xiao Renguang of Yan State and accepted Kong Baitang’s banquet invitation to investigate. At the prefectural office, he discovered that Chen Wu had been jailed after a tavern brawl with members of the Tang Family.

• Zhang Yuan and Young Master Tao discussed how Magistrate Sun’s bandit-suppression success had thwarted a planned transfer, then identified Xiao Renguang as the force behind the Kong Family.
• Zhang Yuan agreed to attend Kong Baitang’s banquet and see the Buddhist Flying Apsaras Dance.
• At the Martial Guard Bureau, Zhang Yuan learned Chen Wu had fought men who insulted the Black Robe Guards, while Feng Cheng and the others had left at Chen Wu’s urging.
• Zhang Yuan went to the prefectural office to arrange Chen Wu’s release, and Qian Mu told him Chen Wu had beaten members of the Tang Family of Anle District.

After the Tang Family demanded that Chen Wu apologize, Zhang Yuan arranged for him to leave the Martial Guard Bureau and pursue cultivation with the border army. He Jin offered Zhang Yuan the acting commandant post, and Zhang Yuan accepted on the condition that he confront the Tang Family over its insult to the Black Robe Guards.

• Military clerk Qian Mu told Zhang Yuan that the Tang Family had demanded Chen Wu apologize or remain in prison, and Zhang Yuan asked Qian Mu to write Chen Wu a Dismissal Letter so he could train in the border army.
• Qian Mu brought Zhang Yuan to meet He Jin, who reviewed Zhang Yuan's military merit and offered him the position of acting commandant of the expanding Martial Guard Bureau.
• Zhang Yuan agreed to serve as acting commandant but objected to the Tang Family's treatment of Black Robe Guards and argued that the insult threatened the Bureau's prestige.
• Zhang Yuan told He Jin that the Tang Family should see what true hounds of the imperial court were, signaling his intent to confront them.

Zhang Yuan had Chen Wu released from prison and brought him toward the Tang Family, saying he had promised the military clerk that Chen Wu would apologize. As they entered Anle District, Zhang Yuan prepared to teach Chen Wu a final lesson about the Martial Guard Bureau’s lost authority.

• He Jin ordered Zhang Yuan to take Chen Wu to the Tang Family, while he went to see the Prefect and Qian Mu prepared the Martial Guard Bureau and City Patrol Guards.
• Zhang Yuan secured Chen Wu’s release from the prefectural yamen prison, and the constable told the yamen runners that Zhang Yuan’s fearsome reputation came from the many people he had killed.
• Zhang Yuan led Chen Wu toward the Tang Family in Anle District and said he had promised the military clerk to bring him to apologize.
• Chen Wu protested that the Tang Family had insulted the Black Robe Guards, but Zhang Yuan asked how much strength he had used in the fight.
• Zhang Yuan told Chen Wu he would teach him one final lesson, while concealing his killing intent and reflecting that the Tang Family had dared to treat the Martial Guard Bureau with contempt.

Zhang Yuan brought Chen Wu to the Tang Family to apologize for beating its disciples, but rejected their demand that Chen Wu kneel. When Tang Wenbo demanded Chen Wu be stripped of his uniform and pay one hundred taels, Zhang Yuan revealed the Martial Guard Bureau had already dismissed him, leaving the Tang Family’s next demand unresolved.

• Zhang Yuan brought Chen Wu to the Tang Residence and announced they had come to apologize.
• Tang Wenbo confronted Zhang Yuan and Chen Wu, and Chen Wu admitted that he had beaten the Tang Family Disciples.
• Tang Wenbo demanded that Chen Wu kneel outside the gates for a day, but Zhang Yuan refused and defended Chen Wu’s late father’s honor.
• Tang Wenbo demanded Chen Wu be stripped of his Black Robe Guard uniform and pay one hundred taels in medical fees, threatening to send him to prison if they refused.
• Zhang Yuan agreed, then produced a Dismissal Letter showing that the Martial Guard Bureau had already dismissed Chen Wu and ordered him to complete his handover within three days.

Zhang Yuan took Chen Wu to the Tang Family after Chen Wu was dismissed from the Martial Guard Bureau, then drew his blade and challenged the family’s demand for a hundred silver ingots. Tang Wenbo called in the guards and ordered Zhang Yuan and Chen Wu’s legs broken so they could be sent back to the Bureau and charged for damages.

• Zhang Yuan explained that Chen Wu had been expelled from the Martial Guard Bureau after offending the Tang Family, leaving Chen Wu to question what lesson he was meant to learn.
• Tang Wenbo demanded the hundred silver ingots for the medicine, and Zhang Yuan drew his blade, saying it was worth that amount as collateral.
• Zhang Yuan flung the blade into the Tang Family’s screen wall with enough force to pierce through it, alarming the disciples and making Tang Wenbo realize Zhang Yuan was a formidable fighter.
• Tang Wenbo summoned the Tang Family guards, who blocked Zhang Yuan and Chen Wu inside the courtyard.
• Tang Wenbo accused Zhang Yuan of threatening the Tang Family and ordered the guards to break both men’s legs and send them to the Martial Guard Bureau with a bill for the damage.

Zhang Yuan killed Tang Family members and called in the Black Robe Guards, who stormed the residence and began seizing evidence and arresting survivors. Chen Wu watched as the Tang Family faced extermination for treason, while Zhang Yuan's comrades moved to capture the family head.

• Chen Wu broke the gatekeepers' clubs and threw them aside, but Zhang Yuan stopped him from fighting the guards.
• Zhang Yuan drew his saber, killed five guards with one slash, and then split the Tang Family Disciple who had urged the attack in two.
• Zhang Yuan accused the Tang Family of treason, fired a Black Robe Guard distress signal, and pulled Chen Wu back toward the wall.
• Black Robe Guards breached the gates and walls, overwhelmed the courtyard with arrows and heavy weapons, and killed Third Master Tang with a crossbow bolt.
• Zhang Yuan's forces ordered the rear courtyard sealed, instructed the troops to preserve witnesses and search for deeds and wealth, and sent the Black Ice Platform to seize the Tang Family head in Jiulin County.

Zhang Yuan used the slaughter of the Tang Family to demonstrate the Martial Guard Bureau’s strength and intimidate its rivals. He sent Chen Wu to the border army with a famed battle blade, then left the yamen runners to search the estate and deal with any survivors.

• Zhang Yuan told Chen Wu that he would go to the border army and taught the gathered Martial Guards that fear and respect came from strength and killing.
• Zhang Yuan pulled his embedded blade from the screen wall with one arm, revealing strength that astonished the Martial Guards.
• Zhang Yuan gave Chen Wu the battle blade once wielded by Crimson Scale Army Commander Lord Yu Lin, and Chen Wu promised to prove himself on the battlefield.
• At the Tang Family gates, Zhang Yuan warned Captain Zheng and the yamen runners that the estate had no survivors and ordered them to search thoroughly.
• Yamen runners entered the bloodied estate to remove and identify the dead, while an old man recalled an earlier purge and said the Black Robe Killing God had returned.

The Martial Guard Bureau destroyed the Tang Family of Anle District after uncovering its crimes, while Tang Wenshang escaped before the Black Ice Platform could capture him. Wang Qinian admitted his failure had cost him his post and took Zhang Yuan to meet the Black Cavalry.

• The Black Armored Martial Guards marched out of the Tang Family compound, and Chen Wu reassured a worried youth that the blood on him belonged to rebels.
• News of the Tang Family's destruction spread through Luyang Prefecture, and the Martial Guard Bureau spent two days confiscating its property and sealing its businesses.
• He Jin and Qian Mu reviewed evidence of the Tang Family's crimes and discussed returning seized property to wronged commoners.
• Qian Mu warned Zhang Yuan that Tang Wenshang had escaped after receiving an early warning and could pose a threat.
• Wang Qinian told Zhang Yuan that his failed operation had ruined his prospects and that he would likely be sent back undercover.
• Wang Qinian took Zhang Yuan to meet the Black Cavalry, whose members had refused to take him seriously.