Recaps

Qi Shan proposed that Shen Tang help him seize Sibao Prefecture’s three years of Tax Silver, which he hoped to use to undermine his enemy and aid suffering commoners. Shen Tang remained wary but was tempted, leaving her undecided about joining the dangerous plan.

• Shen Tang questioned Qi Shan’s promise of enormous riches and asked him to explain the opportunity.
• Qi Shan revealed that he planned to take the Tax Silver stored in Xiaocheng, and Shen Tang was shocked by the criminal scheme.
• Qi Shan explained that he wanted to ruin his enemy, the prefect of Sibao, and said Gongshu Wu’s strength would make the operation more feasible.
• Qi Shan said the money could help them find a place to settle and support commoners burdened by heavy taxes.
• Shen Tang worried that their small group could not pull off the plan, while Qi Shan reassured her that they were all elites.

Qi Shan pushed Shen Tang toward robbing Sibao Prefecture’s tax silver to strengthen her position, while Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu joined the planning. The group studied Xiaocheng’s defenses and the convoy route, but Gongshu Wu questioned how they could distinguish the real tax silver from a decoy.

• Shen Tang told Chu Yao that Qi Shan wanted to rob Sibao Prefecture’s tax silver, and Chu Yao agreed it was a good idea.
• Qi Shan privately told Chu Yao that the robbery would test and cultivate Shen Tang’s ambition, and Chu Yao accepted his plan.
• Chu Yao agreed to persuade Gongshu Wu to join them, and Gongshu Wu later arrived injured for the meeting.
• Chu Yao presented Xiaocheng’s defense map, while Qi Shan shared troop numbers and the likely tax-silver route.
• Gongshu Wu noted that the defenses were tight and asked how they could identify the real tax-silver convoy rather than a decoy.

Shen Tang helped Qi Shan and the others devise a way to identify the real Tax Silver convoy and plan their ambush. After Qi Shan received a letter by arrow, Shen Tang went out to sell wine near the Prefectural Government, where she waited for customers.

• Shen Tang suggested estimating the Tax Silver’s weight from records and comparing it with the carts’ wheel tracks and the horses’ pace.
• Chu Yao and Qi Shan calculated that the convoy carried an unusually large amount of Tax Silver, which Qi Shan attributed to the Prefect’s added taxes.
• Qi Shan, Chu Yao, Gongshu Wu, and Shen Tang planned their ambush and decided not to recruit more helpers to protect their secret.
• An arrow carrying a letter struck a wooden pillar as Qi Shan sensed danger and dodged.
• After her nap, Shen Tang found Su Shang alone, returned her to Qi Shan’s room, and set up a wine stall near the Prefectural Government.

Shen Tang sold wine to a Prefectural Government servant while Gu Chi and Qi Shan met in private and agreed to exchange questions. At the Prefectural Government, the prefect received a shabby but honored guest and his young companion, whose violence had already injured the gatekeeper.

• Shen Tang refused to discount her wine for a Prefectural Government servant, who bought her stock and said the prefect might order more.
• Gu Chi watched Shen Tang from a window, and Qi Shan closed it after she noticed their gaze.
• Gu Chi and Qi Shan revealed themselves to each other and agreed to ask one question each.
• The prefect respectfully received a weathered guest and a six-year-old boy who had broken the gatekeeper’s leg with his spear.

The prefect reunited with his former Seat Master, who introduced A Yan as his junior brother and explained that the boy had a brain disorder despite his exceptional martial talent. The old man revealed that an unknown force had driven them to Sibao Prefecture, and the chapter ended with the prefect sending them two hundred taels of gold.

• The old man introduced A Yan to the prefect as his junior brother and let the boy keep the filled pastries.
• The prefect questioned A Yan’s intelligence, and the old man insisted that A Yan had a brain disorder but could learn and understand normally.
• The prefect praised A Yan and cautiously probed why his former Seat Master had come to Sibao Prefecture.
• The old man explained that an unknown force had pursued him, so he had come to find safety for A Yan.
• The prefect recalled the old man’s history of defying Zheng Qiao and worried that Zheng Qiao’s lackeys might still seek revenge.
• The prefect treated the old man and A Yan to a meal, then sent two hundred taels of gold to their guest compound.

A Yan and his teacher received gold and wine from the prefect of Xiaocheng, while the old man reflected on his former students and warned A Yan about the world. Meanwhile, Qi Shan and Gu Chi reconciled, and Qi Shan hinted that he had faced something more frightening than Gu Chi’s Way of the Scholar.

• A Yan praised the prefect as a good senior brother for sending food and gold, and his teacher explained that the money was meant to send them away.
• A Yan comforted his teacher, who told him to fight back if anyone tried to harm him.
• A Yan mistook the wine sent by the prefect for sugar, tasted a little, and recoiled at its bitterness.
• The old man decided that he and A Yan would leave after finishing the wine and warned him to keep his distance from his senior brothers, including Qi Shan.
• Qi Shan and Gu Chi settled their differences, and Qi Shan told Gu Chi that he had seen something far more terrifying than the Way of the Scholar.

Qi Shan told Gu Chi about a retired strategist's hidden Way of the Scholar and suggested destroying Gu Chi's Dantian to silence his own. Meanwhile, Shen Tang served wine to Zhai Le, whose presence drew a group of men that ordered her stall smashed.

• Gu Chi asked Qi Shan about the strategist whose Way of the Scholar he dreaded, and Qi Shan explained that the man could sense nearby people and distinguish friend from foe.
• Qi Shan suggested that Gu Chi destroy his Dantian to make his Way of the Scholar disappear, and Gu Chi silently rejected the idea.
• Shen Tang sold wine at her stall when Zhai Le arrived and explained that he was waiting for his elder brother to finish a visit to the Prefectural Government.
• A group of burly men surrounded Shen Tang's stall, asked whether she knew Zhai Le, and ordered their men to smash the stall after she said she did.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le fought off the men who smashed her wine stall, then Shen Tang learned Zhai Le had provoked them by stopping their extortion. After ordering him to investigate their crimes and make them pay, Shen Tang headed back toward the men while Qi Shan and Gu Chi watched from a private room.

• A group of burly men attacked Shen Tang’s wine stall, and Zhai Le fought them while Shen Tang dodged their blows.
• Shen Tang pretended to be a frail woman to avoid hurting the ordinary attackers, while Qi Shan and Gu Chi argued about her actions from a second-floor room.
• Shen Tang pulled Zhai Le onto a rooftop and learned he had beaten the men for extorting vendors and returned their stolen money.
• Zhai Le promised to pay double for the damaged stall, and Shen Tang ordered him to find out whether the men had committed other crimes.
• Shen Tang told Zhai Le to break the men’s legs and punish them further if they had done worse, then started back toward the street.
• A dusty gray carriage passed the wine-soaked street, and the old man inside glanced at the private room where Qi Shan and Gu Chi had been watching.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le confronted the thugs who had overturned Shen Tang’s stall and fought them inside a tavern. The townspeople gathered to cheer as the thugs were thrown outside.

• The thugs failed to find Shen Tang and Zhai Le, then took the wine jars they had stolen from Shen Tang’s stall to their usual tavern.
• The leader praised the stolen wine, and Shen Tang kicked a man into the tavern before confronting the gang with Zhai Le.
• Zhai Le paid the tavern keeper to leave, and Shen Tang challenged the thugs to fight her.
• The thugs attacked Shen Tang and Zhai Le, who fought back while smashing the tavern’s furnishings.
• Townspeople gathered to watch and cheer as the thugs flew out of the tavern one by one.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le exposed the crimes of Snakehead and his gang after Shen Tang captured them in Xiaocheng. Shen Tang decided to deal with the gang and their bandit backers, while Zhai Le urged her to seek help first.

• Shen Tang captured the thugs, but Zhai Le questioned whether they had committed crimes serious enough to deserve death.
• Shen Tang threatened and hurt Snakehead until an old peddler warned them that he had a bandit brother and powerful connections.
• The old peddler revealed that Snakehead's gang extorted merchants, forced women into prostitution, trafficked people, and abused debtors.
• Zhai Le admitted he had wrongly judged the gang, and Shen Tang decided to take the thugs outside the city and raid the bandit den.
• Zhai Le urged Shen Tang to find Mister Qi or get his older brother's help before confronting the bandits.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le set out to raid a bandit hideout, with Shen Tang towing captured ruffians behind her summoned Motorcycle. At a secluded grove, they found three mutilated corpses Shen Tang had buried earlier, now dug up and hacked apart by someone unknown.

• Shen Tang teased Zhai Le, summoned her Motorcycle, and dragged the captured ruffians along as she rode toward the bandit hideout.
• Zhai Le summoned an armored warhorse with his Martial Spirit and caught up to Shen Tang, but she refused to race so the ruffians could keep up.
• Shen Tang and Zhai Le passed through the city gate and reached a secluded grove where three mutilated corpses lay exposed.
• Shen Tang recognized the corpses as the three people she had killed and buried, then noticed their limbs had been hacked apart after she left them intact.
• Zhai Le identified the cuts as the work of a blunt weapon, while Shen Tang wondered if an enemy had disturbed the graves; the ruffians vomited.

Shen Tang learned that starving villagers had exhumed corpses for food, and Zhai Le explained why he had come to understand their desperation. After deciding the captured thugs should not simply be killed, Shen Tang considered what to do with them, but the chapter ended as their leader threatened them.

• Zhai Le told Shen Tang that villagers had dug up the bodies she buried because they were starving, and recalled how he learned that desperate people sometimes ate the dead.
• Shen Tang agreed that it was unfair to judge starving people by standards of etiquette and morality when they lacked food and clothing.
• Zhai Le suggested killing the captured thugs, while Shen Tang said they might still be useful alive and asked how they could take them along.
• Zhai Le thought Shen Tang meant to recruit the thugs and worried about the cost of feeding them and whether they would pledge loyalty.
• The burly leader refused to serve them and threatened that his older brother would come after them.

Shen Tang killed the bandits’ leader and two of his men, then ordered the remaining thugs to bury the bodies. She set off with Zhai Le and the thugs toward the bandits’ den, leaving the group to face whatever awaited them there.

• Shen Tang beheaded the bandits’ leader despite his pleas, and Zhai Le kicked the head toward the body so they could bury him intact.
• Shen Tang killed two more thugs who had been planning to attack her, then spared the rest and ordered them to bury the bodies.
• Zhai Le used his martial energy to carve a large pit in the ground, and the thugs buried the dead in it.
• Shen Tang asked the thugs where the bandits’ den was, chose one to lead them, and warned the others not to run.
• Shen Tang and Zhai Le rode toward the bandits’ den with the thugs following, while Shen Tang told them they would not need to fight.

Gongshu Wu cared for his warhorse while Qi Shan and Gu Chi returned to the courtyard and learned Shen Tang had not come home. After hearing Shen Tang and another wandering knight planned to wipe out the bandits' den, Qi Shan and Chu Yao grew worried.

• Gongshu Wu washed and groomed his warhorse, then sent it back into the tiger tally.
• Qi Shan returned with Gu Chi and introduced him to Gongshu Wu, while they discussed Shen Tang's Word Spirit mule, Motorcycle.
• Qi Shan cared for Su Shang as Chu Yao returned, but Shen Tang still had not come home.
• Qi Shan and Chu Yao learned that two wandering knights had defeated Xiaocheng's ruffians and planned to attack the bandits' den.
• Gongshu Wu praised Shen Tang's boldness, while Qi Shan and Chu Yao worried about what he would do next.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le searched the mountain for the bandit den but instead encountered an injured group of guards from the Lingzhou Lin Family. The chapter ended with Shen Tang posing as a lost young master and asking the guards for supplies.

• Shen Tang and Zhai Le abandoned their attempt to find the hidden bandit den directly and began searching the mountain as night fell.
• Shen Tang shared flatbread and wine with Zhai Le and gave flatbreads to the hungry thugs accompanying them.
• Zhai Le spotted a distant fire, and Shen Tang led the group toward it with weapons ready.
• The people at the fire identified themselves as guards of the Lingzhou Lin Family escorting relatives south, and explained that bandits had recently attacked them.
• Shen Tang claimed she and Zhai Le were brothers who had gotten lost and asked the injured guards for food, water, and a firestarter.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le won the Lin Family guards’ trust by acting like harmless, frightened boys and stayed with them for the night. As Shen Tang pretended to sleep, she heard movement from inside one of the guarded chests, confirming her suspicions that something was wrong.

• The middle-aged guard agreed to lend Shen Tang and Zhai Le fire, water, and provisions after consulting his companions.
• Shen Tang charmed the wounded guards with stories and praise while she and Zhai Le learned that the party belonged to the wealthy Lingzhou Lin Family.
• Shen Tang noticed that no members of the Lin Family household had appeared, though the party’s arrival should have drawn their attention.
• Shen Tang feigned fear of bandits, and Zhai Le asked the guards to let them stay nearby for safety; the guards agreed.
• After the two pretended to fall asleep, Shen Tang heard a thump and fabric rustling from inside one of the guarded wooden chests and realized someone was inside.

The Lingzhou Lin Family guards argued over stealing the treasure and how to divide it, while Shen Tang and Zhai Le pretended to sleep nearby. When a noise from a wooden chest exposed them, the guards moved to kill them, and the two youths struck first.

• The guards revealed that they planned to steal the Lin Family's treasure after killing their vulnerable charges, partly out of greed and resentment over the poor compensation for fallen comrades.
• Mao Da proposed dividing the treasure into one hundred and fifty shares so the dead guards' families could receive portions, but others disputed how the spoils should be allocated.
• The guards split into three factions, and their argument grew close to violence as Shen Tang and Zhai Le listened with their eyes closed.
• A thud from the large wooden chest drew the guards' attention to Shen Tang and Zhai Le, and Mao Da ordered them killed.
• Zhai Le extinguished the campfire with arrows as Shen Tang drew her sword and attacked the guards in the darkness.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le killed the guards who had attacked the Lin Family caravan and made the surviving thugs help dispose of the bodies. They discovered a young Lin Family dependent hiding in a chest, while Zhai Le accused Shen Tang of favoring her beauty; the girl’s fate remained unresolved.

• The thugs considered fleeing while Shen Tang slept, but stayed put because the dark mountain paths were too dangerous.
• The thugs woke to find the fire extinguished and heard screams, then Shen Tang emerged with a bloodied sword and ordered them to follow her.
• Shen Tang showed the thugs the dead guards and ordered them to dig a pit and move the bodies.
• Zhai Le returned and confirmed that he had killed every guard, while the thugs mistook him and Shen Tang for bandits.
• Shen Tang opened a chest and found a frightened young Lin Family dependent inside.
• Zhai Le praised the girl’s beauty, and Shen Tang warned him away before he complained that she was favoring her pretty new acquaintance.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le rescued A Nan, the sole survivor of the Lin family’s massacre, and offered her shelter. A Nan accepted Shen Tang’s proposed name, Lin Feng, and planned to bury her family after dawn.

• Shen Tang pulled the terrified A Nan from a chest while Zhai Le tried to reassure her.
• A Nan recognized one of the dead men as a member of the treacherous servants and stabbed his corpse repeatedly in revenge.
• A Nan told Shen Tang and Zhai Le that servants had slaughtered all twenty-four of her family and companions while she hid in the chest.
• With no other family nearby to rely on, A Nan agreed to go home with Shen Tang and wait until dawn to gather her relatives’ remains.
• Shen Tang offered to rename A Nan Lin Feng, and A Nan accepted the name.

Shen Tang named the rescued girl Lin Feng and let her sort through her family’s belongings, while Zhai Le mistook Shen Tang’s kindness for romantic intentions. After preparing to camp for the night, Shen Tang warned Lin Feng that the mountain bandits would likely attack before dawn.

• Shen Tang named the girl Lin Feng despite Zhai Le’s concern that the name was too grand, and she said they could choose a courtesy name later.
• Shen Tang had the thugs search the bodies and inspect the Lin Family’s twenty-seven chests, then told Lin Feng to sort the women’s belongings and keep her own things and a few mementos.
• Lin Feng thanked Shen Tang through tears, and Zhai Le praised Shen Tang as a gentleman, leaving Shen Tang embarrassed.
• Shen Tang packed the chests into the carriage, let the thugs eat the guards’ provisions, and told Lin Feng to stay inside the carriage.
• Shen Tang explained that bandits in the mountains had likely noticed their camp and would probably attack by the latter half of the night.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le waited in the trees for the bandits to return, while Lin Feng urged them to flee. When more than a hundred bandits crept toward the sleeping group, Shen Tang and Zhai Le prepared to strike first.

• Lin Feng warned Shen Tang that the bandits were numerous and dangerous, but Shen Tang resolved to face them and take their spoils.
• Shen Tang and Zhai Le hid in the trees to watch for the bandits while the thugs slept below.
• Zhai Le detected at least a hundred approaching bandits, and Shen Tang decided they should attack before the enemy got close.
• Zhai Le readied his bow, and Shen Tang left the bandits' fate to their luck.
• The head constable led the bandits toward the camp, where his scout reported that everyone seemed asleep and no one was keeping watch.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le ambushed the bandits, turning the battle against their leader with swordsmanship, arrows, and Shen Tang’s literary qi. As the surviving bandits fled and the leader surrendered, screams rang out from the direction of their escape.

• The bandit leader split his men into groups to surround Shen Tang’s camp, unaware that its occupants were genuinely asleep and only Shen Tang and Zhai Le lay in wait.
• Shen Tang launched a surprise attack, splitting the ground with Sword Qi and confronting the bandit leader, whom she recognized from an earlier encounter.
• Zhai Le fired accurate arrows from the darkness while Shen Tang fought the leader and cut down the bandits.
• The leader’s Saber Qi shattered against Shen Tang’s literary qi, and he was thrown to the ground as the bandits suffered heavy losses.
• The leader admitted defeat, and the surviving bandits fled before screams sounded from the direction they had run.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le defeated a group of bandits, then reunited with Gongshu Wu, Qi Shan, and Chu Yao, who had searched for them through the night. Shen Tang decided to take in Lin Feng and recruit the surviving bandits, while Qi Shan recognized the wounded leader as an official who had escorted the Gong Clan.

• Shen Tang and Zhai Le confronted the bandits, and Shen Tang threw them down near the leader.
• Gongshu Wu arrived in martial armor with Qi Yuanliang and Chu Wu Hui, and Zhai Le realized the newcomer was the thief they had been pursuing.
• Shen Tang told Qi Shan she would bring him along next time, and Zhai Le explained that she had been drunk and had consumed at least three jin of wine on the mountain.
• Lin Feng emerged from the woods, and Shen Tang said Lin Feng would stay with her after losing her family to villains.
• Shen Tang said she would recruit any bandits who survived, and Qi Shan recognized their wounded leader as an official who had escorted the Gong Clan.

Shen Tang defeated a bandit gang and recruited the surviving captives, then questioned their chief about why he had turned to banditry. Qi Shan and Chu Yao learned that a deliberate massacre of villages near the temporary imperial palace had helped ignite rebellion against Zheng Qiao.

• Shen Tang ordered the camp’s riffraff to bury the dead, guard the wounded bandits, and bind the captives, then told Qi Shan she had recruited them after Xiao Fang left her no graceful way to refuse.
• The bandit chief explained that he had found an urgent letter describing Zheng Qiao’s order to suppress suspected rebels, which had led a trusted subordinate to massacre villagers and falsely claim success.
• The bandit chief revealed that his hometown was among the massacred villages, and that his family had been killed, prompting him and several constables to become bandits.
• Qi Shan and Chu Yao concluded that the massacre and rumors of rebellion had likely been deliberately engineered to destabilize Zheng Qiao’s rule.

Shen Tang and her companions discussed Zheng Qiao’s growing instability as rumors of rebellion spread through Lingzhou, then Gongshu Wu confronted captured bandits about their role in persecuting the Gong Clan. The chapter left the surviving constables terrified as they realized Gongshu Wu was a member of the clan they had harmed.

• Shen Tang, Qi Shan, and Chu Yao discussed Zheng Qiao’s arrogance and why his cruelty had left him with no path back.
• Lin Feng recalled a folk song blaming the false Nü Jiao for disorder in Beichen and predicting twenty forces would attack the imperial palace precincts.
• Lin Feng said she had heard that fighting had resumed near her hometown, and Qi Shan and Chu Yao recognized that Zheng Qiao’s rule was unraveling sooner than expected.
• Shen Tang gave Lin Feng malt candy, while Zhai Le lamented how war repeatedly harmed ordinary people.
• Gongshu Wu asked Shen Tang for permission to question the captured bandits, then demanded to know which had served as constables or escorted the Gong Clan.
• Gongshu Wu revealed his name as Gong Wen, Gong Yili, and the surviving constables trembled when they recognized his surname.