Chapter Summaries

Captain Yang learned that Lingzhou was in turmoil and feared the uprising might be connected to the siege of Xiaocheng, while Zhai Huan and Zhai Le suspected Qi Shan had arranged the Tax Silver robbery. Shen Tang woke after blacking out, learned the silver had been buried, and prepared to return with her companions.

• Zhai Le told Captain Yang about the unrest in Lingzhou, but concealed that Shen Tang and her group had provided the information.
• Zhai Huan argued that if Lingzhou's rebels were besieging Xiaocheng, they were likely an undisciplined and weak force; Captain Yang remained furious that Sibao Prefecture's governor had sent the Tax Silver despite the unrest.
• Zhai Huan guessed Qi Yuanliang was behind the previous night's bandit attack, and Zhai Le said he recognized Shen Tang's sword.
• Shen Tang woke with no memory of the night and learned from Chu Yao that the robbery had succeeded and the Tax Silver was buried.
• Chu Yao scolded Shen Tang for fighting recklessly while drunk, and Qi Shan defended her courage.
• Shen Tang used Lin Feng as an excuse to end the argument and set out with the others, but her good mood ended when they reached a teahouse beside the official road.

Shen Tang and her companions stopped at a roadside inn, where they learned that fighting had broken out near Xiaocheng, the provincial capital of Sibao Prefecture. Chu Yao questioned a fleeing schoolmaster and learned that his private school had closed, leaving the group to face the possibility that Xiaocheng was in danger.

• Shen Tang’s group reached a busy roadside inn, and she ordered food and asked a servant about the unusual number of travelers.
• A family arrived with their children and belongings, and the servant told Shen Tang that fighting had started and refugees were fleeing.
• Shen Tang and her companions realized the fighting might be near Xiaocheng, the provincial capital of Sibao Prefecture.
• Chu Yao recognized the head of the household as a former private schoolmaster from Xiaocheng and spoke with him.
• The schoolmaster told Chu Yao that his private school had closed and his students had scattered.

Chu Yao learned that Geng Country was engulfed in civil war, making the road to Xiaocheng dangerous. A host explained how Zheng Qiao’s rise to the throne and brutal treatment of his brothers led to a sudden coup that put Sibao Prefecture under attack.

• Chu Yao asked the host why he could not travel to Xiaocheng, and the host warned him that Geng Country was in the middle of a civil war.
• The host explained that Geng Country’s Queen and court officials had backed Zheng Qiao as an easily controlled successor after the aging Sovereign suffered a stroke.
• Zheng Qiao returned from hostagehood, took the throne, and had rival brothers killed or driven insane, sparing two only after the Queen Mother intervened.
• After Zheng Qiao invaded Xin Country, two surviving brothers exploited a trusted aide’s fear of Zheng Qiao and persuaded him to betray the king.
• The brothers launched a coup in one night, and the Rebel Army attacked Sibao Prefecture, sending residents fleeing without their belongings.

Chu Yao reported that Xiaocheng was descending into chaos under Zheng Qiao’s rule, prompting Shen Tang and her companions to turn back to rescue their people. As they approached, they learned the prefect had vanished after trying to negotiate with the Rebel Army, leaving Xiaocheng leaderless and in danger.

• Chu Yao relayed a prominent Xiaocheng resident’s account of the Geng princes’ abuse and the atrocities committed under Zheng Qiao’s rule in Sibao Prefecture.
• Shen Tang decided to return to Xiaocheng immediately because Lin Feng, Tu Rong, and more than a hundred of their people were still there.
• Shen Tang, Qi Shan, Wu Lang, and Yuan Liang rode against the flow of refugees fleeing Xiaocheng, despite warnings from townsfolk.
• Qi Shan suspected Xiaocheng had already fallen because the prefect had withdrawn five thousand garrison troops and was unlikely to resist Zheng Qiao’s punishment.
• Refugees told Shen Tang that the prefect had secretly sent an envoy to negotiate with the Rebel Army, then disappeared, leaving Xiaocheng without a leader.

Shen Tang and her companions detoured through a village, where Rebel Army soldiers were forcibly recruiting people and abducting women. After the four killed the soldiers and urged the villagers to flee, Shen Tang threatened villagers who blamed them for the violence, leaving them terrified and compliant.

• Shen Tang and her companions changed course because refugees had blocked the roads, then encountered Rebel Army soldiers rounding up villagers.
• The soldiers tried to seize Shen Tang and her companions, while two others dragged a farmer's wife from hiding and kicked her husband when he intervened.
• Shen Tang cut off one soldier's lower leg, and Gongshu Wu, Qi Shan, and Chu Yao helped her kill the remaining soldiers.
• Shen Tang told the rescued villagers to gather their belongings and flee before the Rebel Army investigated the missing soldiers.
• Several villagers cursed Shen Tang and blamed her for making them flee, so she held her sword to one man's neck and threatened them until they begged for mercy.

After Shen Tang spared the villagers who had insulted her, she and her companions set out for Xiaocheng by a local mountain path. They found fresh footprints and signs of someone nearby just as Shen Tang joked that trouble always found her.

• Shen Tang threatened the villagers but refused to kill them, and Chu Yao teased her about using a Word Spirit to silence people instead of ripping out their tongues.
• A rescued man offered to guide Shen Tang and her companions toward Xiaocheng, but Shen Tang clarified that she only needed directions and the group left without the villagers.
• The four followed the narrow mountain trail on foot while evading Rebel Army patrols, and Shen Tang wondered whom the soldiers were searching for.
• Shen Tang speculated that the Rebel Army might be hunting the governor of Sibao Prefecture, while Qi Shan hoped they were searching for his old enemy.
• Gongshu Wu found a fresh scrap of cloth and several footprints in the grass, and Shen Tang joked that her transmigrator's halo had led them into trouble.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan split from Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu to pursue the Sibao Prefecture prefect, whom they found hiding in a cave with two injured Martial Gall Warriors. Qi Shan confronted the prefect over his connection to Qi Yuanliang, while Shen Tang fought the guards and challenged Qi Shan for merely trading insults.

• Shen Tang silenced Qi Shan to stop him from refusing her help, then accompanied him to search for the fugitive while Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu headed toward Xiaocheng.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan found the Sibao Prefecture prefect hiding in a cave with two retainers, and Shen Tang attacked the Martial Gall Warriors as Qi Shan targeted the prefect.
• Qi Shan revealed himself and taunted the prefect by invoking the name Qi Yuanliang, frightening him into believing he had encountered an old enemy.
• The prefect realized Qi Shan might be impersonating Qi Yuanliang and demanded to know who he was, while Shen Tang complained that Qi Shan was only trading insults instead of fighting.

Shen Tang defeated Yan Cheng’s two retainers while Qi Shan confronted the prefect and crippled his literary energy. Qi Shan then beat and bound Yan Cheng, leaving their old grudge unresolved.

• Qi Shan taunted Yan Cheng while Shen Tang fought the prefect’s two retainers.
• Yan Cheng recognized Qi Shan and tried to claim he had not harmed Qi Yuanliang, but Qi Shan rejected his excuse and stopped his literary energy.
• Shen Tang killed the Fourth-Class Bugeng and defeated the Fifth-Rank Grand Master.
• Shen Tang questioned Qi Shan about his confrontation with Yan Cheng, and the prefect accused him of seeking revenge for Qi Shan.
• Qi Shan punched and kicked Yan Cheng, then bound him with literary energy.

Qi Shan revealed to Shen Tang that his real name was Qi Yuanliang and explained how the real Qi Shan had once been his teacher, friend, and benefactor. He began recounting the events that separated them, ending as Yan Cheng recognized the student who had died during the special examination.

• Qi Shan beat the governor, then took him into a cave and told Shen Tang that he was really Qi Yuanliang.
• Qi Yuanliang explained that the real Qi Shan had taught and befriended him after helping him find a teacher.
• Qi Yuanliang recounted how the real Qi Shan had helped him study and supported him while he was poor.
• Qi Yuanliang said he had returned home for a relative's funeral while the real Qi Shan traveled alone to the special examination.
• Qi Yuanliang explained that he arrived at the examination shortly before it began, where a student died, and Yan Cheng began to recognize who it was.

Qi Shan confronted the governor over the death of the original Qi Shan, then explained Xin Country’s recruitment examinations to Shen Tang. The chapter ended as Qi Shan began describing the unusual assessment of candidates’ conduct and ability.

• Qi Shan accused the governor of causing the death of the sixteen-year-old Qi Shan and beat him again when he refused to admit wrongdoing.
• Shen Tang asked whether the special examination was an imperial examination, and the governor mocked her for not knowing.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that Tan Lezheng was his discarded name and insisted that she call him Qi Yuanliang.
• Qi Shan explained the regular and special recruitment examinations, including the recommendations granted by regional examiners and local notables.
• Qi Shan said the examination assessed candidates’ family background, conduct and ability, and Literary Heart rank, and identified conduct and ability as the source of the problem.

Shen Tang learned that recommendations granted scholars entry to the Mountain Sea Sacred Land, whose Book Mountain and Learning Sea offered different trials and great rewards. Qi Shan revealed that he and Yuan Liang had once been betrayed inside Book Mountain, and he accused Governor Yan Cheng of knowing the truth about Yuan Liang’s death.

• Shen Tang questioned how examiners could fairly judge a candidate’s character, and Qi Shan explained that recommendations also enabled scholars to enter the Mountain Sea Sacred Land.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that entering the sacred land required National Fortune and that Chu Wu Hui could enter again because his Literary Heart Sigil had been renewed.
• Qi Shan described Book Mountain’s many peaks and Learning Sea’s Word Spirit waves, including the record-setter who survived sixty-six waves with the help of a newly discovered Literary Heart Word Spirit.
• Qi Shan recounted how a man lured him and Yuan Liang into an unexplored place in Book Mountain, used them as sacrifices at the death gate, and escaped through the life gate.
• Qi Shan accused Governor Yan Cheng of knowing that Yuan Liang had died saving him in the snowstorm and challenged him to call it an accident.

Qi Shan confronted the governor over betraying Xin Country and his friend, while the governor accused Qi Shan of being no better than himself. Shen Tang rejected the governor’s unsupported accusations against Qi Shan, and killed him after Qi Shan gave his approval.

• Qi Shan seized the governor and accused him of helping Ten Crows unify its tribes with a hidden formation.
• The governor defended his betrayal, and Qi Shan repeatedly choked him before releasing him and taunting him.
• The governor claimed Qi Yuanliang had given him a chance to escape, while Qi Shan accused him of killing his friend and stealing his identity.
• Shen Tang stopped Qi Shan from taking the governor’s accusations to heart and argued that Qi Shan was innocent without proof.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang to kill the governor, and she crushed his skull beneath her foot.

Qi Shan told Shen Tang about his beloved friend, whose kindness and stubborn generosity had shaped his life. He revealed that his friend sacrificed himself in Book Mountain so Qi Shan could survive, and that the secret realm’s closure—not Qi Shan’s skill—saved him from the formation.

• Qi Shan described his friend as a kindhearted, easily swayed boy who helped others despite his own poverty.
• Qi Shan explained that he and his friend had secretly made and sold illustrated bedroom-education booklets to support the family.
• Qi Shan admitted that he had survived by taking advantage of his friend’s sacrifice in the stone formation.
• Qi Shan recounted how the formation’s illusions and hunger drove them toward death, though his friend’s Way of the Scholar shielded him more than Qi Shan.
• Qi Shan woke in his friend’s clothes and arms beside a blood-written half-farewell, realizing his friend had died to keep him warm.
• Qi Shan explained that he escaped only when the blizzard stopped and Book Mountain closed, leaving his friend’s body behind.

Qi Shan explained how he took Qi Yuanliang’s identity after the scholar died in Book Mountain, using his unusual second Literary Way to keep Yuanliang’s name alive. He recounted how his hatred of Yan Cheng erupted into a street brawl, bringing his natural enemy and Seat Master into the investigation.

• Qi Shan said he had assumed Qi Yuanliang’s identity after Yuanliang died, and revealed that his obsession had given him the second Literary Way, Masterful Painting and Calligraphy.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that Yan Cheng was his natural enemy and that the man had once brought him close to death.
• After recovering from his injuries, Qi Shan saw Yan Cheng among Book Mountain’s top-ranked scholars and attacked him in the street.
• Yan Cheng fought back, and nearby scholars joined the brawl as they tried and failed to stop it.
• The Xin Country examiners questioned Qi Shan and Yan Cheng after Qi Shan accused Yan Cheng of killing Tan Qu, but Yan Cheng denied it.
• The dispute reached Qi Shan’s Seat Master, who saw through his disguise and recognized that he was no longer the original Qi Shan.

Qi Shan told Shen Tang how Yan Cheng framed him for impersonating Qi Shan and how he escaped execution by proving his cat allergy. As Qi Shan prepared for exile, Yan Cheng gave him a jar of ashes and claimed he had killed Huai Xu, the old cat who had belonged to Tan Lezheng.

• Qi Shan explained that people believed Yan Cheng over him because Yan Cheng was noble-born and had excelled in the examination, while Qi Shan was a lowborn scholar who had turned in a blank paper.
• Qi Shan said a classmate’s mention of Huai Xu inspired him to prove he was the real Qi Shan by demonstrating his severe allergy to cats, overturning the charges that depended on his being Tan Qu.
• The Sovereign sentenced Qi Shan to caning and exile, and friends gathered to see him off and help him prepare for the journey.
• Yan Cheng arrived with a small jar of ashes and claimed they were Huai Xu’s remains, saying he had put the sick old cat out of its misery.

Shen Tang condemned Yan Cheng for his cruelty to Qi Shan and discarded his body in a creek after Qi Shan settled his old score. Meanwhile, Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu infiltrated besieged Xiaocheng under cover of darkness.

• Shen Tang cursed Yan Cheng for killing Tan Qu’s cat and sending its ashes to Qi Shan, while Qi Shan explained why he had chosen to kill Yan Cheng outright.
• Qi Shan scolded Shen Tang for her language and exposed legs, then blamed Chu Wuhui for indulging her.
• Shen Tang left Yan Cheng’s body in the creek and prepared to meet Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu.
• Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu reached Xiaocheng and observed its battered walls, fallen soldiers, and heavy siege by the Rebel Army.
• After nightfall, Chu Yao used his Word Spirit to help Gongshu Wu sneak past the exhausted guards and into Xiaocheng unnoticed.

Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu searched Xiaocheng for the butcher’s family, only to find the house ransacked and its residents missing. They found Su Shang alive, but their search was cut short by signs of a fire at the Rebel Army’s camp, caused by Shen Tang and her companion.

• Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu crossed the desolate city and found two corpses near the butcher’s house.
• They discovered the butcher’s home had been broken into, with blood inside and no sign of the family or Chu Yao’s students.
• Chu Yao found Su Shang hiding in the woodshed and gave the cat water and softened rations.
• The pair searched nearby homes and questioned two criminal thugs, but found no clues; Gongshu Wu killed one of the thugs.
• Gongshu Wu spotted an orange-red glow and heard distant battle cries, while Chu Yao guessed something had happened at the Rebel Army’s camp.
• The chapter revealed that Shen Tang and her companion had encountered Rebel Army soldiers escorting provisions and attacked them.

Shen Tang and Qi Shan were stopped by a Rebel Army supply convoy after Shen Tang’s singing caught an officer’s attention. The convoy’s young commander praised her voice and invited her to ride with them, while Qi Shan recognized the commander’s people as an isolated group with unusual customs.

• Shen Tang sang off-key as she and Qi Shan descended the mountain, and Qi Shan endured her singing.
• A Rebel Army officer stopped Shen Tang and Qi Shan, then ordered them to meet the convoy’s commander.
• Shen Tang agreed to go with the soldiers and asked to bring Qi Shan as her elder brother.
• The young commander praised Shen Tang’s singing and called her “Mama,” which Qi Shan explained was their word for “little lady.”
• The commander invited Shen Tang to travel with the convoy and pointed her toward a supply vehicle.

Shen Tang met a young general escorting provisions and bonded with him over music, while Qi Shan remained wary of the convoy. The Rebel Army received the supplies near Xiaocheng, easing its shortage as preparations to take the city continued.

• The young general ignored his aide’s objections, and Shen Tang joined him on the supply vehicle.
• The young general and Shen Tang sang improvised songs together, though Qi Shan found their singing unbearable.
• Shen Tang asked how to address a young man in the general’s hometown, learned the answer was “Diedie,” and called him “Handsome Lad” in return.
• Shen Tang chatted with the young general and discreetly probed for information while Qi Shan planned how to escape or fight.
• A bearded Rebel Army officer arrived to meet the convoy and relaxed when he saw the provisions were safe.

Shen Tang entered the Rebel Army camp with the young general, while Qi Shan tried to keep him from taking her to his tent. Near the camp, Shen Tang recognized Zhai Xiaofang and Zhai Le disguised among the cattle herders, but they all kept their identities hidden.

• The bearded man questioned Shen Tang and Qi Shan, then warned the young general that bringing a woman into camp could anger his adoptive father.
• The young general offered to show Shen Tang his tent and sheet music, and Shen Tang invited Qi Shan to come along.
• Shen Tang saw soldiers return with cattle and sheep they claimed had been donated by grateful locals, and suspected the animals had been stolen.
• Shen Tang recognized Zhai Xiaofang among the disguised cattle herders, while Zhai Le also recognized her; neither side revealed their identity.