Chapter Summaries

After transmigrating into the body of a young girl named Shen Tang, an artist with no memories found herself shackled among the exiled Gong family. She learned that the women were being sent to Xiaocheng’s Entertainment Quarter and discovered she had already been branded as a prisoner.

• Shen Tang woke among chained prisoners and realized she had transmigrated, then lost her flatbread to a starving woman beside her.
• Shen Tang watched guards leave a choking prisoner to die before cutting off his marked ear as proof.
• Shen Tang traveled under guard with the prisoners and searched unsuccessfully for the body’s memories.
• Shen Tang overheard that the prisoners belonged to the Gong family and that the women were being sent to the Entertainment Quarter in Xiaocheng.
• Shen Tang learned that women were tattooed behind the ear and found scabbed blood behind her left ear.

Shen Tang learned about the world’s literary and martial cultivation systems and discovered that, as a woman, she could not cultivate either one. As she resigned herself to her situation among the Gong Clan prisoners, a woman who had stolen her bun asked a constable for meat broth.

• Constables mocked and threatened the female prisoners, while the lead constable warned them to keep watch because the Gong Clan had not been completely captured.
• Shen Tang’s mind erupted in pain when she heard terms such as Literary Heart and Martial Spirit, and she recovered memories explaining how a meteor shower had transformed the world.
• Shen Tang learned that women could perceive Heaven and Earth Qi but could not gather it in their Dantian, leaving her unable to cultivate a Literary Heart or Martial Spirit.
• The constables grew cautious after discussing the possibility that a powerful Wudafu might come to rescue the prisoners.
• Shen Tang noticed someone move the rope around her waist and heard a stone roll away; the woman who had taken her bun asked a constable whether he had any meat broth.

A woman tried to appease an official by offering Shen Tang, whom she falsely claimed was her daughter. Shen Tang killed the official and fled, but the convoy leader soon caught up on horseback and shot an arrow at her.

• The woman pretended to be Shen Tang’s mother and persuaded an official to take Shen Tang instead of her.
• Shen Tang played the part of a dull-witted prisoner while the official led her away from the others.
• Shen Tang ambushed the official, killed him, searched his belongings, and ran in the opposite direction.
• The convoy leader pursued Shen Tang on horseback and fired an arrow that she narrowly dodged.

Shen Tang killed Old Zhou while escaping, but the official leader caught up and attacked her with a summoned halberd. As she faced death, a passage of text appeared in her mind, beginning with “[Sword in a loving mother's hand...]”.

• The official leader found Old Zhou dead and realized a female prisoner was missing.
• The official leader followed Shen Tang’s tracks, shot at her, and accused her of being a male Gong Clan prisoner in disguise.
• Shen Tang denied the accusation and refused to return with the official leader.
• The official leader invoked a Martial Spirit and transformed his bow into a halberd, then attacked Shen Tang.
• As the halberd threatened her, Shen Tang grabbed its tip and felt a passage of text emerge in her mind.

Shen Tang fought the head bailiff with a conjured sword until a mysterious young man restored her strength and forced the official to retreat. After thanking her rescuer, she learned he might have killed her for being a Gong Clan heir, leaving her facing a new threat.

• Shen Tang summoned a sword and used her ability to unleash eighteen critical strikes, but the head bailiff blocked them with his bracers and counterattacked.
• The head bailiff pressed Shen Tang with a broadsword, and she struggled to withstand his strength.
• A hidden man spoke and sent a calligraphic painting beneath Shen Tang, restoring her strength and empowering her further.
• The man challenged the head bailiff, who warned that obstructing official business was a crime, then retreated and rode away.
• Shen Tang thanked the lean young man who emerged from behind a tree, but he admitted he might have killed her if her pursuer had not exposed his presence.

Shen Tang learned from the youth that she possessed a Literary Heart and that Word Spirits came from fragments of the Calamity Star used in national seals. The youth explained the Gong Clan’s connection to the lost national seal of the fallen Xin Country, and he suggested testing Shen Tang’s Literary Heart rank.

• Shen Tang told the youth she was neither a descendant of the Gong Clan nor a male heir, but he continued to call her Young Master.
• Shen Tang learned that the strange phrase she had spoken during the fight was her Literary Heart’s Word Spirit.
• The youth explained how Calamity Star fragments became national seals and how their Word Spirits could influence a nation’s strength.
• The youth said the Gong Clan was blamed for hiding Xin Country’s lost national seal, and that the country had been renamed Chong Tai to humiliate its people.
• The youth suggested testing Shen Tang’s Literary Heart so she could discover its rank.

Shen Tang learned to form a Literary Heart Sigil with Qi Shan and discovered that her sigil had no rank until he helped disguise it. She left with a Ninth Rank Lower-Lower sigil that could help conceal her status as an escaped prisoner.

• Qi Shan taught Shen Tang to gather qi and demonstrated how to condense it into a Literary Heart Sigil.
• Shen Tang formed a transparent sigil engraved with the name Shen Clan You Li but no rank.
• Qi Shan explained the nine Literary Heart ranks and warned Shen Tang that revealing a rare rank could bring danger.
• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan to disguise her rank as Ninth Rank Lower-Lower, and he engraved that rank on her sigil.
• Qi Shan explained that the sigil could prove Shen Tang's identity and protect her from ordinary constables.

Shen Tang asked to travel with Qi Shan and used their night by the campfire to learn about Word Spirits. She ended by asking him to explain the difference between a Literary Heart and a Martial Spirit.

• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan to let her follow him for a few days, and he agreed on the condition that they part at the next town.
• Qi Shan warned Shen Tang that he carried dangerous trouble and gave her food when her stomach rumbled.
• Shen Tang borrowed Qi Shan’s scroll and learned that Word Spirits could influence armies and shape battles.
• Qi Shan explained several Word Spirits, including “Quench Thirst by Thinking of Plums,” “Scattered Like Stars and Chess Pieces,” “Cut the Grass and Remove the Roots,” and “Self-Entrapment.”
• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan what distinguished a Literary Heart from a Martial Spirit, and he was again surprised by her question.

Shen Tang learned how Martial Spirits and Literary Hearts differed, then discovered she could use the Word Spirit “Quench Thirst by Thinking of Plums” to create real green plums. Qi Shan watched her demonstrate the ability and was left astonished.

• Qi Shan explained that Martial Spirits usually strengthened their users, while Literary Hearts focused on schemes and control, and said that trying to cultivate both paths usually ended badly.
• Shen Tang questioned why Word Spirits could create weapons but not food, and Qi Shan said she would understand the obstacles to her ideas with more experience.
• Shen Tang kept trying “Quench Thirst by Thinking of Plums” while hungry and eventually produced a green plum from nothing.
• Qi Shan saw Shen Tang eating more than ten plums, and she demonstrated the Word Spirit by creating another plum in her palm.

Shen Tang discovered that her Literary Heart could produce green plums, while Qi Shan suspected she had awakened a farming-related Way of the Feudal Lord through the National Seal. He warned her that her ability might be fixed and cautioned her against trying powerful Word Spirits beyond her limits.

• Shen Tang offered Qi Shan a sour green plum and imagined making plum preserves and wine from the fruit her Word Spirit produced.
• Qi Shan warned that Shen Tang's Literary Heart was connected to her ability, but withheld his suspicions about the National Seal and the Way of the Feudal Lord.
• Shen Tang feared something was wrong with her Literary Heart, and Qi Shan told her the ability could not be changed while she remained alive.
• Shen Tang tried to use the Word Spirit 'Draw a Cake on the Ground, Cannot Eat,' but nothing happened.
• Shen Tang proposed trying 'Turn Stone into Gold' and 'Golden House Hiding a Beauty,' so Qi Shan warned that exceeding her Literary Heart's limits could cause severe backlash or death.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan shared breakfast before setting out, and Qi Shan realized her unusual word spirit had enriched the soil beneath them. When Qi Shan explained that only people with Martial Spirits could summon horses, Shen Tang tried to invent a motorcycle word spirit instead.

• Shen Tang roasted buns sweetened with word spirits and explained that she had used the rarely seen phrase about the fertile plains of Zhou to make malt sugar.
• Qi Shan explained that the phrase came from the Calamity Star’s recorded word spirits, then wondered whether Shen Tang’s version produced malt sugar or fertile land.
• Qi Shan tested the nearby soil and found it soft and fertile beneath the surface, then hid the mark before Shen Tang returned in his old clothes.
• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan to summon a horse for their journey, but he told her she could not do so without a Martial Spirit.
• Shen Tang muttered “Swift as Wind, Fast as Lightning” and then proposed “Grand Transport Motorcycle,” leaving Qi Shan bewildered.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan arrived at Qian Family Village and stayed at the village chief’s home, where Shen Tang befriended a sickly child from a nearby estate. A storm broke as someone pounded on the gate, leaving their visitor unknown.

• Qi Shan paid the village chief for lodging, travel rations, and hot water, then explained that Shen Tang’s snow-white mule was a Word Spirit creation.
• Shen Tang played a mock battle with village children and befriended a child from a nearby estate who was said to have an illness of the mind.
• After Shen Tang shared malt candies with the children, the child fed one to her and kept another in his pouch beside an engraved Tiger Head Jade Bi.
• The village chief led the child to wait in the main hall, and heavy rain began after nightfall.
• As Shen Tang studied Word Spirits by lamplight, someone pounded on the front gate.

After A Yan disappeared in a violent storm, Shen Tang and Qi Shan joined the search and went to his estate to check whether he had returned. The estate’s steward claimed A Yan was safely home, but the patched child’s clothes in the courtyard left Shen Tang with reason to doubt the story.

• The village chief told Shen Tang and Qi Shan that A Yan had vanished and feared a Great Insect had taken him.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan searched the village in the rain, while the villagers searched toward the mountains.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan went to A Yan’s estate to ask whether he had been taken back.
• A middle-aged man at the estate said A Yan had returned and let them shelter from the storm.
• Shen Tang noticed a child’s patched, faded clothes hanging in the courtyard.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan took shelter at an estate, where they suspected the man hosting them had murdered the household and was lying about A Yan. When he brought them poisoned or otherwise dangerous ginger soup, they attacked him first.

• Shen Tang and Qi Shan entered the estate and met a middle-aged man who claimed to be A Yan’s father.
• After the man left to fetch ginger soup, Shen Tang and Qi Shan noted signs that he was lying and suspected the estate’s residents had been killed by bandits or thieves.
• Shen Tang drew her hidden woodcutter’s blade and joked about preserving her life as a fugitive while she and Qi Shan waited for the man to return.
• When the middle-aged man brought them ginger soup, Qi Shan splashed a bowl into his face and Shen Tang hurled the low table at him.
• Qi Shan retreated behind Shen Tang and called his retreat the way of Self-Preservation.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan fought two attackers, but Qi Shan identified the stronger one as a Fourth-Class Bugeng who could use military-strategy Word Spirits and create a clone. The chapter ended with Qi Shan restraining him with a chessboard-like Word Spirit and ordering Shen Tang to capture him alive.

• Shen Tang kicked and fought the middle-aged Second-Class Shangzao attacker while Qi Shan stayed back and used Word Spirits to shield himself.
• A hidden accomplice attacked Shen Tang with a spear, and Qi Shan used “Share the same boat, save together in danger!” to transfer danger to her.
• The black-clad spear wielder targeted Qi Shan, but Shen Tang intercepted him as Qi Shan used another Word Spirit to make her share his danger.
• Qi Shan recognized the spear wielder’s technique and warned Shen Tang that he was a Fourth-Class Bugeng who could create a clone.
• Qi Shan trapped the black-clad attacker with “Scattered Like Stars and Chess Pieces!” and told Shen Tang to take him alive.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan defeated a black-clad assassin, who died after his attack failed, and found eleven bodies in the house. As Shen Tang examined the corpses, she realized someone besides A Yan was missing.

• Shen Tang fought the black-clad man while Qi Shan used his military formation Word Spirit, “Steal the Peach,” to move him and keep the attack from reaching him.
• The black-clad man forced out his Martial Spirit’s potential, but Shen Tang held on until his strength waned and she pinned him to the wall with her sword.
• Qi Shan revealed that the man had died by suicide because he was an assassin whose mission had failed, and he speculated that A Yan might have been his target.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan gathered eleven bodies in the house, and Shen Tang noticed that one person besides A Yan was missing.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan realized A Yan’s teacher was missing, but the village head later said the teacher had taken A Yan north. The teacher and A Yan escaped through the rain while the teacher was wounded, and the next morning Shen Tang and Qi Shan encountered a column of Geng Country soldiers escorting prisoners.

• Qi Shan deduced that A Yan’s missing teacher might have survived, but warned Shen Tang not to interfere in the investigation.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan returned to Qian Family Village, where the village head said A Yan had left with his teacher to seek relatives in the north.
• A Yan and his wounded teacher rode through the rain and stopped to shelter before continuing toward Xiaocheng.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan set out the next morning and stopped at a roadside teahouse when a column of Geng Country soldiers approached with prison carts.

Shen Tang questioned Qi Shan about Geng Country and learned how Zheng Qiao had helped destroy Xin Country before ruling Geng Country as a tyrant. The chapter left her with a clearer picture of the brutal political world and the Gong Clan’s connection to Zheng Qiao’s rise.

• Shen Tang asked why Geng Country’s soldiers were present and admitted she knew little about Xin Country’s destruction.
• Qi Shan criticized both Xin Country’s former ruler and Zheng Qiao, then explained how Zheng Qiao persecuted and destroyed his enemies.
• A prisoner cursed Zheng Qiao from a cart, and Geng Country’s soldiers whipped him until he was near death.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that Zheng Qiao had returned to Geng Country with the Gong Clan’s support, then helped conquer Xin Country and ordered the clan’s men exiled and its women sent to Xiaocheng’s Entertainment Quarter.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan discussed Zheng Qiao’s revenge against those who had opposed or helped him, then learned of the degrading surrender ritual he had imposed on Xin Country’s royal family and officials. The chapter left them reacting to Zheng Qiao’s latest humiliation of the defeated country.

• Shen Tang questioned why the Gong Clan had released Zheng Qiao despite knowing he was treacherous, and Qi Shan explained that he did not know their reasons.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan learned that the prisoner in the cart was the Censor-in-Chief, who had repeatedly impeached Zheng Qiao and urged the Xin Country Lord to execute him.
• Qi Shan recounted how the Censor-in-Chief had rallied his allies to seek Zheng Qiao’s execution, nearly prompting the Xin Country Lord to issue an edict before Zheng Qiao fled to Geng Country.
• After hearing a prisoner’s anguished cries, Qi Shan learned that Zheng Qiao had demanded a formal surrender ceremony from Xin Country’s former officials.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that, after the National Seal could not be found, Zheng Qiao forced the Xin Country Lord to abdicate in favor of his Princess and ordered her to surrender in a humiliating ritual.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan discussed Zheng Qiao’s humiliating terms for Xin’s surrender and the abuses Geng soldiers committed against civilians. When Shen Tang asked Qi Shan who he really was, he mistook her for Gong Cheng, believing she was Xin’s Sovereign’s hidden child.

• Shen Tang condemned Zheng Qiao for forcing Xin’s Sovereign and Princess to surrender in a degrading ceremony and surrender the state’s records, seals, and treasury.
• Qi Shan said Zheng Qiao’s cruelty and the loss of Xin’s National Seal threatened his rule and could bring about Geng’s downfall.
• Geng soldiers harassed the teahouse proprietress and struck her husband when he tried to intervene; Shen Tang crushed her teacup but stayed inside.
• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan who he really was, and he challenged her to reveal her own identity first.
• Qi Shan guessed that Shen Tang was Gong Cheng, whom rumors claimed was Xin’s Sovereign’s child, and told her the Xin Royal Family’s surname was Shen.