Chapter Summaries

Yang Zhengshan defended the Jiang Family courtyard from Scarface Liu and his bandits, killing their leader in a fierce fight. The bandits then charged through the gate, and Jiang He ordered the others to shoot as the battle continued.

• After Jiang Cheng's eldest son fell from the wall, Yang Zhengshan ordered Jiang He to guard the rear and took the front gate himself.
• Yang Zhengshan killed or wounded six bandits with short spears and an iron spear, forcing the others to call for Scarface Liu.
• Scarface Liu entered the courtyard and attacked Yang Zhengshan with his broadsword.
• Yang Zhengshan pierced Scarface Liu's shoulder, endured his counterattack, then swept him down and ran him through the abdomen.
• The bandits charged through the gate to avenge Scarface Liu, and Jiang He ordered the hunters to shoot; one bandit fell to an arrow.

Yang Zhengshan defeated Scarface Liu and drove the mountain bandits out of Jiang Family Village, but the battle left much of the village burned and many villagers dead. He brought the pregnant Yang Yunyan back to Yang Family Village, where she recovered among her family while his killing aura still frightened his grandsons.

• Yang Zhengshan killed or wounded the bandits attacking Jiang Cheng's home, while Jiang He and Jiang Cheng dealt with Scarface Liu and the fallen raiders.
• Yang Zhengshan pursued the fleeing bandits, and Yang Zhengxiang led the young men of Yang Family Village in killing those who escaped into the village.
• Yang Zhengshan and the others helped fight the fire and rescue people, but the blaze consumed more than half of Jiang Family Village and left many villagers dead.
• Jiang Family Village buried its dead and reported the bandits to the authorities, while Yang Zhengshan left with Yang Yunyan for Yang Family Village.
• Yang Zhengshan comforted Yang Yunyan on the way home and told her to make winter clothes for his two disciples.
• Yang Yunyan settled in with the Yang family, but Yang Zhengshan's lingering killing aura made his young grandsons wary of him.

After Yang Zhengshan killed Scarface Liu and more than twenty bandits, County Magistrate Luo Jin learned of his deeds and summoned his brother-in-law Lu Zhaoqi. Yang Zhengshan visited his late wife’s parents in Qinghe Town, where Lu Songhe’s stern attitude softened when he saw the cotton clothes Yang Yunyan had made.

• A bailiff told Luo Jin that Yang Zhengshan had killed Scarface Liu and more than twenty bandits during the attack on Jiang Family Village.
• Luo Jin learned that Yang Zhengshan was a former Jingbian Battalion soldier and Lu Zhaoqi’s brother-in-law, then ordered Lu Zhaoqi summoned.
• Yang Zhengshan carried a bundle to Qinghe Town to visit his late wife’s parents, and Lu Wenchun welcomed him into the Lu Family home.
• Yang Zhengshan greeted Lu Songhe as Father and offered him cotton clothes made by Yang Yunyan.
• Lu Songhe’s displeasure eased when he saw the clothes and recognized the late wife’s familiar stitching.

Yang Zhengshan visited his father-in-law, Lu Songhe, and explained that he had killed the bandit Scarface Liu, whose capture carried a three-hundred-tael reward. Lu Songhe offered to ask his eldest son about helping Yang Zhengshan pursue an official post, and Yang left after a lively meal with the Lu family.

• Yang Zhengshan gave Lu Songhe a padded coat made by Yang Yunyan and mourned his late wife, winning Lu Songhe's sympathy.
• Yang Zhengshan told Lu Songhe that he had killed Scarface Liu and asked for advice about the county yamen's reward.
• Lu Songhe said the killing could attract Lord Luo's attention and advised Yang Zhengshan to plan carefully if he wanted an official post.
• Lu Songhe offered to ask his eldest son, Lu Zhaoqi, about possible opportunities for Yang Zhengshan.
• Yang Zhengshan ate and drank with the Lu family, then left with unsteady steps.

Yang Zhengshan welcomed Yang Minghao home and received three hundred taels in reward money from the county yamen. He learned that no ranked county post was available, so he chose to remain in Yang Family Village and wait for a better opportunity.

• Yang Minghao returned from the county town, and Yang Zhengshan told him to stop working at the blacksmith's shop and practice martial arts.
• Yang Zhengshan received three hundred taels from the county yamen, delivered by his brother-in-law Lu Zhaoqi.
• Yang Zhengshan offered to have Yang Mingcheng accompany Lu Wenyuan to Jing'an Prefecture City for the Prefectural Examination, and Lu Zhaoqi accepted.
• Lu Zhaoqi told Yang Zhengshan that no ranked county post was available, though he could help him obtain an unranked yamen job.
• Yang Zhengshan declined the unranked positions and decided to remain in the village, strengthen himself, and train the younger family members.

After receiving three hundred taels in reward silver, Yang Zhengshan considered arranging a marriage for Yang Minghao while deciding he wanted to choose his own future wife. He discovered that the Stone Pool Spirit Spring had grown and was producing more water, then secretly served spring-water tea to his sons as snow began to fall.

• Wang, Li, and Yang Minghao crowded around Yang Zhengshan to see his reward banknote, and he let Yang Minghao hold it briefly.
• Yang Minghao asked if he could marry, and Yang Zhengshan agreed to start arranging a match while insisting on finding him a virtuous wife.
• Yang Zhengshan inspected the Stone Pool Spirit Spring and found that the pool had expanded and its daily water production had nearly doubled.
• Yang Zhengshan drank spring water and brewed tea with more of it as fine snow began falling.
• Yang Zhengshan served the spring-water tea to Yang Mingcheng, Yang Mingzhi, and Yang Minghao, who enjoyed its sweetness without realizing its source.

After heavy snowfall, Yang Zhengshan considered buying farmland in Jiang Family Village to give the Yang Family a stable source of wealth. He decided to inspect the land and recognized that he needed to broaden his sons’ limited outlook as the family grew.

• Yang Zhengshan watched his family clear snow while Jiang He arrived, eager to see Yang Yunyan.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that Jiang Family Village had over two hundred mu of ownerless farmland for sale after the bandit attack.
• Jiang He quoted prices of five taels per mu for paddy fields and four for dry fields, and Yang Zhengshan considered buying one hundred mu and hiring Tenant Farmers.
• Yang Zhengshan realized his sons and Jiang He had limited horizons, but decided they were young enough to teach and change.
• Yang Zhengshan said he would inspect the land that afternoon and sent Jiang He to see Yang Yunyan.

Yang Zhengshan bought a hundred mu of farmland and began teaching the Yang Family practical skills through the Yang Family Classroom. After a month of lessons and business observations, he guided the family toward understanding which ventures might suit them, while warning that local businesses required powerful backing.

• Jiang He visited Yang Yunyan, stayed for lunch, and accompanied Yang Zhengshan to Jiang Family Village.
• Yang Zhengshan bought forty mu of paddy field and sixty mu of dry field for four hundred and forty taels, becoming Yang Family Village's largest landlord.
• Yang Zhengshan started the Yang Family Classroom, teaching the family martial arts, mathematics, literacy, and practical subjects, and taking some of them to observe businesses in the county town.
• On the ride home, Yang Mingcheng suggested that a cloth shop would be the best business, based on his observations of local shops.
• Yang Zhengshan explained that cloth shops depended on outside suppliers and that grain stores, though more stable, were backed by powerful landlords and families.

Yang Zhengshan listened as his sons and Lin Zhan reported what they had learned in Anning County, then taught Lin Zhan to weigh the drawbacks of promoting medicinal herb farming. On the journey home, an unfamiliar force of armored cavalry thundered past, leaving Yang Zhengshan wondering why troops from the south had come north.

• Yang Mingzhi described the Lu Family’s businesses, clan school, and connections, impressing Yang Zhengshan with how much he had learned.
• Yang Minghao admitted he had mostly watched a pretty young woman at a cloth shop, while Lin Zhan suggested villagers grow medicinal herbs.
• Yang Zhengshan explained the practical risks of replacing grain with medicinal herbs and advised Lin Zhan to assess both benefits and drawbacks.
• More than three hundred iron-armored cavalrymen raced past the ox cart, and Yang Zhengshan recognized that they were not local Border Army troops.
• Yang Zhengshan told the group to put the ox cart back on the road and continue home as they speculated about the cavalry’s arrival.

Yang Zhengshan celebrated his first Chinese New Year with the Yang family, joining the village’s ancestral rites and welcoming relatives for New Year greetings. He gave Wang Daya and her baby brother names, leaving the holiday marked by their gratitude and his growing place in the family.

• Yang Zhengshan delivered New Year gifts around Yang Family Village and visited his father-in-law, Lu Songhe, where he drank with Lu Zhaoqi and Lu Zhaoran.
• Yang Zhengshan joined Yang Zhengxiang and the villagers in inviting their ancestors home for New Year, walking at the front of the procession.
• Yang Zhengshan shared a plentiful New Year’s Eve dinner with his family, watching the children and feeling his loneliness fade amid the lively gathering.
• Yang Zhengshan gave red envelopes to his family on New Year’s Day and placed a silver lock on his granddaughter, Yang Qingwan.
• Yang Zhengshan named Wang Daya Wang Yunqiao and named her baby brother Wang Mingzhe after she asked him to name them both.

Yang Zhengshan released Force Energy for the first time and learned that his eldest son, Yang Mingcheng, had become a Martial Artist, bringing celebration to the Yang Family Village. The chapter ended with Anning County officials receiving orders to prepare for a possible Hu Tribe invasion.

• Yang Zhengshan welcomed village children for New Year greetings and gave each one a red envelope and malt candy.
• Yang Zhengshan trained in the back mountain, released Force Energy, and found that his physique and control were not yet strong enough to use it reliably.
• Yang Zhengshan returned home and learned that Yang Mingcheng had become a Martial Artist, prompting celebration throughout the Yang Family Village.
• Yang Zhengxiang rejoiced that Yang Mingcheng's achievement meant the Yang Clan's Martial Dao inheritance would continue.
• Luo Jin, Li Qing, and Duan Changhe discussed a prefectural order to prepare Anning County for a Hu Tribe invasion.

As war threatened the Northeast Border, Luo Jin organized Anning County’s defenses while Yang Zhengshan considered how the Yang Family could survive and whether the crisis offered a chance to gain an official post. Yang Zhengshan resolved to prepare both to resist a small Hu Tribe force and to retreat into Changqing Mountain if a larger army broke through.

• Duan Changhe reported that drought and heavy snow had struck the East Sea Hu Tribe, and Luo Jin ordered patrols, militia watches, and protection for the county granary.
• Luo Jin declined to issue a Call to Arms Order before the Hu Tribe entered Da Rong territory, but arranged for the county to prepare to recruit Martial Artists quickly if needed.
• Lu Wenchun told Yang Zhengshan that Lu Zhaoqi viewed the coming war as an opportunity for him to secure an official post.
• Yang Zhengshan told Yang Zhengxiang that the county was preparing for war and explained that the Yang Family should be ready to resist a small force or flee to Changqing Mountain from a large army.

Yang Zhengshan organized Yang Family Village to prepare for the border war, selecting young men for military training and assigning his sons different roles. He began training the recruits by stressing that they must defend their families and village from the Hu Tribe.

• Yang Zhengxiang agreed to handle the village defenses and find a temporary place to live, while Yang Zhengshan selected a little over a hundred young men for training.
• Yang Zhengshan told Yang Mingcheng to train but remain responsible for protecting the household, appointed Yang Mingzhi a Team Leader, and assigned Yang Minghao as his personal guard.
• Yang Zhengshan divided the recruits into three teams led by Yang Mingzhi, Yang Minghui, and Yang Mingwu.
• Yang Zhengshan silenced the disorderly recruits and made them repeat their responses until they answered together.
• Yang Zhengshan urged the recruits to protect their families and homeland, warning them that the Hu Tribe could bring worse atrocities than the attacks on Jiang Family Village and Little Forest Village.

Yang Zhengshan instilled a conviction to protect their families in the young men of Yang Family Village and began drilling them as the villagers prepared defenses. At Chongshan Pass, Zhang Shouwang discovered the Hu Tribe had used its fifty-thousand-strong army to distract the defenders while small enemy units infiltrated the western frontier to plunder, and he ordered elite cavalry to pursue them.

• Yang Zhengshan rallied the young men to defend their families and began training them in formations.
• Yang Zhengxiang organized villagers to make caltrops, dig traps, reinforce courtyard walls, and search Changqing Mountain for places to hide.
• Zhang Shouwang and his officers watched the Hu army outside Chongshan Pass and wondered why its attacks were limited and cautious.
• Beacon smoke appeared across the western frontier, and Ji Feiyu recognized the signals as evidence of many small enemy groups crossing the border.
• Zhang Shouwang realized the Hu army was tying down Chongshan Pass's defenders while scattered units plundered the frontier, so he ordered the Zhenbiao Left Battalion and Right Battalion to ride out and encircle them.

Yang Zhengshan prepared Yang Family Village for a possible attack by organizing an evacuation drill and keeping watch while the young men continued their training. At dinner, he ordered Yang Yunxue to teach Wang and Li martial arts, leaving the two women dismayed.

• Yang Zhengshan suggested that Yang Zhengxiang organize an evacuation drill and prepare neighboring villages to flee into the mountains if enemies appeared.
• Yang Zhengxiang began arranging the drill and praised Yang Zhengshan, who declined the idea of becoming clan chief.
• Yang Zhengshan continued training the young men, gave them diluted Spirit Spring Water, and established watch posts around the village.
• Yang Zhengshan told Yang Yunxue to teach Wang and Li martial arts, and Yunxue agreed while her sisters-in-law worried about the hard training.

Hu Cavalry entered Anning County while the fighting at Chongshan Pass continued, bringing the threat close to Yang Family Village. Yang Zhengshan organized the village’s defenses and prepared its people to retreat into the mountains if needed, as refugees and rumors intensified local panic.

• Yang Zhengxiang told Yang Zhengshan that Hu Cavalry had entered Anning County, though Chongshan Pass had not been reported breached.
• Yang Zhengshan ordered Yang Zhengxiang to move the village’s grain up the mountain and assembled the young men for defense preparations.
• Yang Zhengshan assigned Yang Minghui to defend the village, Yang Mingzhi to patrol the back mountain, and Yang Mingwu to watch the surrounding area.
• Yang Zhengshan joined Yang Mingwu on watch after giving his family instructions.
• Refugees brought news of fierce fighting between Hu Cavalry and Chongshan Town’s soldiers, while Yang Zhengxiang struggled to keep the frightened villagers from scattering.

Yang Zhengshan reassured Yang Zhengxiang that he would fight to defend Yang Family Village and explained that martial progress required struggle rather than safety. When Hu Cavalry appeared in the back mountain, Yang Zhengshan and the villagers prepared to defend themselves, but he discovered that the cavalry were fighting a retreating Border Army.

• Yang Zhengxiang asked Yang Zhengshan to take responsibility for the Yang Clan if he died, and Yang Zhengshan vowed to do his utmost in the coming battle.
• Yang Zhengshan demonstrated his Force Energy and told Yang Zhengxiang that a martial artist had to contend rather than pursue safety.
• Yang Zhengxiang urged Yang Zhengshan to survive and protect the clan, and Yang Zhengshan promised he would remain part of the Yang Clan.
• A villager warned Yang Zhengshan and Yang Zhengxiang that Hu Cavalry had appeared on the back mountain, prompting the village to prepare its defenses.
• Yang Zhengshan reached the mountaintop and saw two or three hundred Hu Cavalry fighting a retreating Border Army of just over a hundred soldiers.

Yang Zhengshan gathered the young men of Yang Family Village to aid Zhou Lan’s retreating Border Army against the Hu Cavalry. The villagers and soldiers launched a counterattack together, but Yang Zhengshan was knocked backward by a Hu soldier’s strike.

• Yang Zhengshan ordered Yang Mingzhi to assemble the village’s young men as the Border Army and Hu Cavalry approached the mountain.
• Yang Minghao sounded the assembly whistle, and the young men gathered at the mountaintop under Yang Zhengshan’s command.
• Zhou Lan shouted at the villagers to flee, but Yang Zhengshan killed Hu soldiers with thrown short spears and invited the Border Army to join them.
• Yang Zhengshan charged downhill, and the young men attacked in squads while Zhou Lan and the Border Army counterattacked.
• A Hu soldier’s curved blade struck Yang Zhengshan’s spear and sent him tumbling backward.

Yang Zhengshan and the defenders of Yang Family Village helped defeat the Hu Tribe raiders, but the battle left the village mourning its dead and tending to the wounded. Yang Zhengshan called for the clan to protect and support the families of those killed, leaving their compensation to be addressed when the clan had property.

• Yang Zhengshan nearly died when the bearded Hu Martial Artist bent his iron spear, but Zhou Lan took over the fight and Yang Zhengshan returned to battle with Yang Minghao's wooden spear.
• Yang Zhengshan fought Hu Tribe Martial Artists while the village youths and Border Army soldiers battled the raiders, and the bearded man eventually ordered a retreat.
• Yang Zhengshan stopped the village youths from pursuing the retreating Hu soldiers and sent them to carry the wounded back to the village.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that six villagers had died, twelve were seriously wounded, and twenty-three had light wounds, then gave the seriously wounded the remaining Spirit Spring Water.
• Yang Zhengshan urged Yang Zhengxiang to protect and care for the families of the dead, and Yang Zhengxiang promised to issue the necessary orders.

After the battle, Yang Zhengshan met Zhou Lan, the female Brigade Commander he had helped, and learned that she had brought the spoils of war to his village. The chapter ended with Zhou Lan awkwardly trying to act delicate while Yang Zhengshan reacted uneasily to her gentle way of addressing him.

• Yang Mingzhi told Yang Zhengshan that the general from the previous day wanted to see him, and Yang Zhengshan went to meet her behind the village.
• Zhou Lan introduced herself as the Brigade Commander of the Zhenbiao Left Battalion of Chongshan Town, surprising Yang Zhengshan when he realized she was a woman.
• Zhou Lan called Yang Zhengshan “Brother Yang,” and his discomfort prompted her to repeat it in a deeper voice as “Brother Zhengshan.”
• Zhou Lan told Yang Zhengshan that the Border Army would keep the military merit while the spoils of war went to him.
• Zhou Lan privately blamed Niuduzi for urging her to act delicate as soldiers unloaded armor, weapons, clothing, and dead horses.