Chapter Summaries

Meng Zhao and San Gouzi broke into Crippled Li’s home, killed him, framed Wen San, and stole his hidden wealth. They returned to their hut with the loot, wary of the gold bead’s mysterious origin and determined to keep the crime secret.

• Meng Zhao and San Gouzi quietly entered Crippled Li’s home and found him asleep.
• Meng Zhao strangled Crippled Li while San Gouzi crushed his arms with a pebble, killing him.
• They staged the scene to implicate Wen San and searched the house for valuables, finding silver, copper, and a gold bead.
• Meng Zhao and San Gouzi carried off the valuables, rice, vegetables, and three hens, then split the money and hid the gold bead.
• Meng Zhao warned San Gouzi to conceal the crime and avoid spending the stolen wealth conspicuously before they prepared a celebratory meal.

As Meng Zhao secretly advanced his martial arts, Crippled Li’s murder was discovered, and Little Cold Village’s leaders gathered to investigate. A ring identified as Wen San’s turned up at the scene, making him the chief suspect.

• Meng Zhao developed the Twelve Grappling Hands into the Thirty-Six-Form Grand Grappling Hand and transformed the Life-Stealing Thorn into the Eight-Part Killing Art, gaining a basic ability to protect himself.
• After Crippled Li went unnoticed for two days, villagers found his body and discovered that his home had been stripped clean.
• Han Dali, Zhang Shitóu, Grandpa Sun, Old Blade Wu, and Gao Da Xian examined the scene and discussed the possibility that Wen San had killed Crippled Li.
• Gao Da Xian described signs that Crippled Li had been strangled and beaten, while Zhang Shitóu argued that the killer was likely from the village.
• Grandpa Sun suggested summoning Wen San to explain himself, and Old Blade Wu found a ring that Gao Da Xian identified as Wen San’s.

Zhang Shitóu and Grandpa Sun questioned whether Wen San’s ring had been deliberately planted to frame him for Crippled Li’s murder, and the village elders concluded that he was probably not the killer. Wen San arrived and confirmed the ring was his but had gone missing long before, leaving the real murderer unidentified while suspicion among the villagers remained.

• Zhang Shitóu pointed out that Wen San’s ring had been left behind despite the house being thoroughly robbed, and that Crippled Li’s neck bore no mark from it.
• Grandpa Sun recalled that Wen San had lost the ring earlier, and Zhang Shitóu reasoned that the murderer might have planted it to frame him.
• The villagers concluded that Wen San was likely being framed, though they could not identify the killer and some people might still suspect him.
• Wen San and Yang Xiaoshu arrived at the house, where Wen San calmly greeted the elders while Yang Xiaoshu trembled with fear.
• Wen San confirmed the ring was his, explained that it had disappeared, and recalled asking Little Six and others to help search for it.
• Zhang Shitóu told Wen San that finding the ring in Crippled Li’s bedding reduced suspicion of him, though it did not eliminate it.

Wen San defended himself against the murder accusation and named Gu Xiaoqing and Li Zheng as possible killers, while the village leaders weighed whether either accusation was credible. The meeting ended with Old Blade Wu denying that he had trained Li Zheng and revealing that Li Zheng had exceptional martial talent.

• Wen San suspected Gu Xiaoqing of killing Crippled Li because of their feud, then also considered Li Zheng, whom he had bullied for years.
• Zhang Shitóu warned Wen San that blaming Li Zheng would not be believed, while Grandpa Sun agreed that Gu Xiaoqing was a more plausible suspect.
• Wen San and Yang Xiaoshu described how Li Zheng had defeated and humiliated Yang Xiaoshu and Ma Feng, making the villagers reconsider Li Zheng’s abilities and recent transformation.
• Han Dali and Grandpa Sun asked Old Blade Wu whether he had trained Li Zheng and pressed him to teach their own descendants.
• Old Blade Wu said he had not taught Li Zheng and declared that Li Zheng was a genuine martial arts prodigy with exceptional bone structure.

After the villagers suspected Li Zheng of killing Crippled Li and framing Wen San, Meng Zhao went to face their elders and denied the charge. His solemn oath unsettled the gathering, leaving Wen San uncertain and the investigation unresolved.

• Wen San suggested Widow Zhou had taught Li Zheng martial arts, but Han Dali warned the villagers that touching her would bring enormous trouble.
• Han Dali decided to summon Li Zheng, and San Gouzi hurried to tell Meng Zhao that the villagers suspected him of killing Crippled Li.
• San Gouzi urged Meng Zhao to flee, but Meng Zhao told him to stay silent and said he would handle the confrontation himself.
• Meng Zhao arrived at Crippled Li's home, where Wen San accused him of murder and framing him, but Meng Zhao rebuked Wen San for disrespecting the village elders.
• Meng Zhao acknowledged Little Cold Village's kindness, swore that Crippled Li's death had nothing to do with him, and left Wen San shaken.

Meng Zhao defended himself against suspicion in Crippled Li’s murder by pointing out the lack of evidence and proposing that Wen San might have staged the clues to clear himself. The elders were left wavering between the two accusations, with no clear answer about who killed Crippled Li.

• Wen San challenged Meng Zhao’s oath, but Grandpa Sun silenced Wen San and let Meng Zhao answer the elders’ questions.
• Meng Zhao argued that he had no motive or evidence-based connection to Crippled Li’s death, while Han Dali explained why Meng Zhao’s recent transformation made him a suspect.
• Meng Zhao suggested that someone else in the village might have killed Crippled Li and framed Wen San, and the elders struggled to dismiss the possibility.
• Meng Zhao pointed out that Wen San’s lost ring was central to the case and proposed that Wen San might have planted it as part of a scheme to divert suspicion.
• Wen San grew furious and uneasy as Meng Zhao’s theory persuaded the elders and even left San Gouzi questioning who had committed the murder.

Meng Zhao deflected questions about his martial arts by claiming an unknown old man had treated him and taught him, prompting the villagers to speculate that his relatives had found him and that he came from an important family. As the villagers accepted that Little Cold Village would always be his home, Wen San was given three days to prove he had nothing to do with Crippled Li’s death.

• Wen San and Meng Zhao argued over whether Wen San had framed himself with his lost ring, while Grandpa Sun and Han Dali concluded that Wen San remained suspect and Li Zheng had no proven connection to Crippled Li’s death.
• Han Dali asked Meng Zhao where he had learned martial arts, and Meng Zhao claimed an unknown elderly outsider had treated his injuries and taught him.
• Gao Da Xian suggested Meng Zhao’s relatives had found him, leading the villagers to imagine that Li Zheng might come from a powerful family and making Wen San fear retaliation.
• Han Dali reminded Meng Zhao that Little Cold Village had raised him, and Meng Zhao promised that it would always be his home.
• Han Dali gave Wen San three days to produce evidence that he was innocent of Crippled Li’s death, and Wen San accepted the deadline.

Meng Zhao gained Crippled Li’s house, permission to hunt, and supplies after the village settled the murder inquiry, while Wen San decided he had to flee. After moving into the house with San Gouzi, Meng Zhao wondered what memory of his arrival in this world had been erased, and San Gouzi asked what they should do about Wen San.

• Wen San considered leaving Little Cold Village to escape being blamed for Crippled Li’s death, while the village elders reclaimed Crippled Li’s property.
• Meng Zhao asked to live in Crippled Li’s house, and the village leaders agreed to let him stay and offered supplies.
• Meng Zhao gained permission to hunt and a bow with twenty arrows, prompting Wen San to realize his position was precarious and decide to leave immediately.
• The villagers buried Crippled Li, and Gao Da Xian performed rites before Meng Zhao and San Gouzi moved the household belongings into the house.
• San Gouzi worried that Crippled Li might return as a ghost, but Meng Zhao dismissed the fear and wondered how he had arrived in the unfamiliar world.
• San Gouzi asked Meng Zhao what they should do about Wen San.

Meng Zhao ordered San Gouzi to watch Wen San and began preparing for a possible confrontation, while Wen San’s friends discussed whether he should leave Little Cold Village. The chapter left Wen San increasingly wary of Li Zheng and aware that the village was beginning to favor him.

• Meng Zhao told San Gouzi to recruit watchers and alert him if Wen San tried to leave Little Cold Village.
• Meng Zhao asked San Gouzi to find him a sword or saber, moved into Crippled Li’s house, and received a bow and arrows from Han Dali.
• Meng Zhao hunted two rabbits and a pheasant near Little Cold Mountain, then returned home to prepare them.
• Wen San gathered Yang Xiaoshu, Ma Feng, Sun Lao Liu, and four other friends for a feast and asked what he should do about Han Dali’s ultimatum.
• Sun Lao Liu advised Wen San to leave temporarily and warned that Li Zheng might have killed Crippled Li and could target Wen San next.
• Wen San recognized that Han Dali was supporting Li Zheng and that remaining in the village could put him in danger.

Wen San tried to recruit companions to leave Little Cold Village, but the men feared the fate that had befallen Chen Xian. He claimed he had a connection to the Three Lions Merchant Guild, capturing their interest and leaving them weighing the risks of joining him.

• Sun Lao Liu revealed that Grandpa Sun hoped to arrange a marriage between Li Zheng and Sun Xiaohua, deepening the village elders’ investment in Li Zheng’s future.
• Wen San warned Sun Lao Liu that Li Zheng might control Sun Xiaohua and deny the Sun Family its goals, but Sun Lao Liu dismissed his concerns.
• Wen San asked six men to leave Little Cold Village with him; Yang Xiaoshu and Ma Feng refused, while Kong Scarface agreed to go.
• Kong Scarface berated the others for abandoning Wen San, but one man cited Chen Xian’s fatal attempt to make a name for himself in the county seat as a warning.
• Wen San said he had investigated the county seat and could connect them with the Three Lions Merchant Guild, prompting Sun Lao Liu and the others to take interest in his plan.

Wen San prepared to leave Little Cold Village for the county seat with four followers, giving them silver and weapons while keeping his ancestral treasure armor. He and Kong Scarface discussed their plans and decided against attacking Li Zheng before departing because his martial-arts teacher remained an unknown threat.

• Sun Lao Liu gave up joining Wen San, while three other villagers agreed to leave with him alongside Kong Scarface.
• Wen San distributed four ten-tael silver ingots to his four followers as settlement allowances, and Sun Lao Liu offered to support him with more silver if needed.
• Wen San warned Yang Xiaoshu and Ma Feng to stay close to Sun Lao Liu and seek help in the county seat if Li Zheng retaliated against them.
• Wen San handed out short blades and a crude sword, kept the hand crossbow, and revealed his ancestral scale armor made from a Hundred-Year Old Python's scales and pig iron.
• Wen San explained that he hoped to keep Yang Xiaoshu and Ma Feng as connections in Little Cold Village, while Kong Scarface urged him to kill Li Zheng before leaving.
• Wen San refused to attack Li Zheng because he did not know how powerful the mysterious person who taught him martial arts might be.

Meng Zhao prepared to ambush Wen San’s group as they fled Little Cold Village, waiting through a snowstorm along their only exit route. When Wen San and four men set out for the county seat, a black figure suddenly leapt from the snowy hillside in front of them.

• San Gouzi told Meng Zhao that Wen San’s group appeared to be preparing to leave, and Meng Zhao sent him home while planning an ambush.
• Meng Zhao dressed for the cold, armed himself, and hid in a hillside pit overlooking the road out of Little Cold Village.
• Snow fell heavily as Meng Zhao waited, confident that Wen San would leave during the second night.
• Wen San and four men departed the village under cover of darkness, despite Kong Scarface’s concern about the weather.
• As the group approached a ruined temple, a black shadow sprang from the snowy slope and startled them.

Meng Zhao confronted Wen San and four companions in the snowy night, admitted to killing Crippled Li and framing Wen San, and revealed that he had learned martial arts in a dream. As the group drew their weapons, Meng Zhao prepared to settle their old grudges in a fight.

• Meng Zhao approached Wen San and four armed companions, and Wen San questioned whether he was truly Li Zheng.
• Wen San accused Meng Zhao of killing Crippled Li and framing him, and Meng Zhao admitted both acts.
• Meng Zhao said he had learned martial arts from a divine being in a dream and demonstrated his Spirit Snake Hand, also called Wandering Dragon Palm.
• Wen San suggested Meng Zhao might be a divine being reincarnated from beyond the heavens, and Meng Zhao briefly felt that a memory was about to return before it vanished.
• Wen San and the others drew their weapons, and Meng Zhao drew his sword and declared that they would settle their grudges that night.

Meng Zhao defeated Wen San and his four companions, killing two before forcing the survivors to surrender. He interrogated them about Little Cold Village and learned of a rumored Dragon Pearl hidden in Little Cold Mountain, leaving him uncertain whether the treasure was real.

• Meng Zhao used the Snake-Form Sword to break Wen San's formation, killing two attackers and dodging Wen San's hand-crossbow bolt.
• Wen San and the two surviving men surrendered after Meng Zhao overwhelmed them.
• Meng Zhao pretended to dismiss the survivors as weak and questioned them about a secret in Little Cold Village that could strengthen martial artists.
• Kong Scarface argued that the village had no such treasure, but Wen San recalled his grandfather's claim that a Dragon Pearl lay within Little Cold Mountain.
• Meng Zhao considered whether the Dragon Pearl was genuine and what it might mean for his efforts to rebuild his martial path.

Meng Zhao questioned Wen San, Kong Scarface, and their companion about the Dragon Pearl legend and Little Cold Village’s past, then investigated what they knew about Chen Xian’s death. He left suspecting Chen Xian had once obtained a martial arts manual, a lead that might offer Meng Zhao a way to acquire genuine martial arts.

• Kong Scarface said an ancient creature might live in Mysterious Abyss on Little Cold Mountain and that its body could contain the Dragon Pearl.
• Wen San considered offering the Dragon Pearl clue and his python-scale armor to the Su Family of the Three Lions Merchant Guild, while privately speculating that Li Zheng had been brought to Little Cold Village to find the treasure.
• Meng Zhao refused to release Wen San, Kong Scarface, and the other man, and questioned them about village families and Chen Xian.
• Wen San, Kong Scarface, and the other man gave differing accounts of Chen Xian’s downfall, but all said he had offended someone and been set up.
• Meng Zhao recalled Li Zheng’s visit to the dying Chen Xian and inferred from Chen Xian’s final words that he might have obtained a martial arts secret manual.

Meng Zhao killed Wen San and his two companions after extracting information from them, but nearly fell to Wen San’s hidden needle weapon before defeating him. Examining Wen San’s treasure armor, Meng Zhao recognized scales from an Old Python and suspected a connection to the powerful creature in Mysterious Abyss; he buried the bodies and returned to Little Cold Village with his spoils.

• Meng Zhao learned that the Zhang Family had a branch in the county town and could help Wen San’s group find opportunities there.
• Meng Zhao killed Kong Scarface and the other man, then told Wen San to kill himself rather than be killed by him.
• Wen San attacked Meng Zhao, but his treasure armor protected him from a sword thrust and let him unleash a hidden volley of silver needles.
• Meng Zhao deflected the needles and killed Wen San with a strike to the forehead.
• Meng Zhao looted the men, found substantial money and valuables, and identified Wen San’s armor as being made with Old Python scales.
• Meng Zhao speculated that the Old Python was related to the creature in Mysterious Abyss, buried the bodies, and returned to Little Cold Village.

Meng Zhao returned to Little Cold Village after killing Wen San and his four companions, and San Gouzi helped him hide the deed. San Gouzi shared what he knew about Little Cold Mountain’s treasures and the Dragon Pearl, leaving Meng Zhao convinced that a legendary ancestral python might still live there.

• San Gouzi waited outside Crippled Li’s house until Meng Zhao returned with a heavy bundle, then helped him warm the house and prepare food.
• Meng Zhao told San Gouzi that he had killed Wen San and the other four men, and reassured him that Village Chief Han’s suspicions would not matter without evidence.
• Meng Zhao gave San Gouzi a gold bar and instructed him to divide a silver ingot among the people who had helped keep watch.
• San Gouzi told Meng Zhao that Little Cold Mountain was said to have a dragon vein and had yielded treasures such as a Cold Toad’s shed skin and a Thirty-Segment Snow Silkworm.
• San Gouzi recounted stories of giant pythons that once plagued the mountain and speculated that rumors of a Dragon Pearl had arisen from them.
• Meng Zhao concluded that an immensely powerful ancestral python might still be hidden in Little Cold Mountain and could itself be the fabled Dragon Pearl.

Meng Zhao decided to stay in Little Cold Village while seeking Chen Xian’s hidden Internal Martial Arts method, which could help him grow strong enough to claim the Dragon Pearl. He and San Gouzi concluded that Chen Xian might have left the method to a secret child, and narrowed their search to women and children in the village or nearby.

• Meng Zhao weighed his options and chose to remain in Little Cold Village, develop his strength, and eventually kill the fiendish creature on Little Cold Mountain for its Dragon Pearl.
• Meng Zhao considered possible sources of Internal Martial Arts and decided to investigate whether Chen Xian had left behind a hidden method.
• San Gouzi recalled that Chen Xian had been ambitious and had pursued martial arts as a means to rise above his circumstances.
• Meng Zhao suggested Chen Xian might have hidden the method for a son, and San Gouzi agreed that Chen Xian could have had secret descendants.
• Meng Zhao ruled out the county town as a likely place to search, and San Gouzi began recalling Chen Xian’s regular lovers.

Meng Zhao and San Gouzi deduced that Chen Xian may have left his martial arts manual to Chen Xiaotao and her son, and they planned to visit them and offer help. Meanwhile, Wen San fled after the village blamed him for Crippled Li’s death, while Meng Zhao continued developing his own horizontal-training technique.

• Meng Zhao proposed that Chen Xian had arranged for a man unable to father children to raise his son, and San Gouzi identified Chen Xiaotao as a likely mother of Chen Xian’s heir.
• San Gouzi explained that Chen Xiaotao had married a sickly man from another village, later became a widow, and was raising a son with a substantial estate.
• Meng Zhao decided to visit Chen Xiaotao in a few days, promising to help her and her son and suggesting they copy the manual while leaving the original with them.
• After heavy snow, the village elders found Wen San had fled with his family property and thugs, and they blamed him for Crippled Li’s death.
• Meng Zhao practiced a horizontal-training art that hardened his body when activated, using breathing techniques and Qi and Blood Power alongside nourishing herbs.

Meng Zhao and San Gouzi visited Chen Xiaotao in Snow Bamboo Village, suspecting that her young son was Chen Xian’s child and that Chen Xian had left him a martial arts manual. Chen Xiaotao reacted with killing intent, and Meng Zhao realized she might already know martial arts as he explained how they had reached their conclusions.

• Meng Zhao and San Gouzi brought gifts to Chen Xiaotao’s home and waited for her return.
• While they waited, they learned more about Chen Xiaotao’s household and noted that her son’s birth and Chen Xian’s death had occurred around the same time.
• After Chen Xiaotao returned, San Gouzi asked whether her son was Chen Xian’s child, provoking her to rise with killing intent.
• Meng Zhao noticed Chen Xiaotao’s unusual aura and suspected she had learned martial arts.
• Meng Zhao explained how he and San Gouzi had deduced Chen Xian’s connection to the child and the likely existence of a martial arts manual.
• Chen Xiaotao considered their reasoning and concluded that, without evidence, the two youths posed no immediate danger to her and her son.