Chapter Summaries

Zeng Anmin returned alive to the Governor's Mansion after disappearing, while his family feared he had been killed by the Black Cat Martial Artist. He told Zeng Shilin that the Black Cat Martial Artist had saved him, leaving the household stunned.

• Wang Daoyuan was overjoyed to see Zeng Anmin alive and gave him his horse.
• Uncle Qi whipped Dachun for failing to stay by Zeng Anmin's side, but Zeng Shilin stopped him and mourned his missing son.
• Aunt Lin learned that auxiliary troops were searching the river for Quanfu and collapsed in grief.
• Uncle Qi told Zeng Shilin that the Broken Blade matched the weapon used by the Black Cat Martial Artist to assassinate Wang Lin.
• Zeng Shilin vowed that Prince Jiang's Estate and the Shen Family would pay if anything happened to Zeng Anmin.
• Zeng Anmin returned to the mansion alive and said the Black Cat Martial Artist had saved him, shocking Uncle Qi and drawing a fierce reaction from Zeng Shilin.

Zeng Anmin learned that his father had placed him in the Clerk’s Office to protect Shen Jun, then used his immunity to resist his father’s Heart Inquiry. After connecting Prince Jiang’s Estate to the Profound Formation Division, sulfur, and Shen Liu’s disappearance, Zeng Anmin prepared to close the net.

• Zeng Shilin explained that he had assigned Zeng Anmin to protect Shen Jun from Prince Jiang’s Estate and gave him a powerful firearm from the Profound Formation Division.
• Zeng Shilin used Heart Inquiry to ask where the Black Cat Martial Artist had gone, but Zeng Anmin resisted and pointed vaguely at a map before pretending to faint.
• Qi Dachun said he had been ordered to stay beside Zeng Anmin, who teased him about Prince Jiang’s Estate and then reasoned that it was preparing a rebellion.
• Zeng Anmin connected Prince Jiang’s Estate to the Profound Formation Division through the disguised assassin’s short blade and to gunpowder through sulfur found on its ship.
• Zeng Anmin concluded that Prince Jiang’s Estate had used Shen Liu to find a place to hide materials and had tried to kill Shen Jun and then Zeng Anmin to conceal its plans.
• Shen Jun and Wang Daoyuan arrived to see Zeng Anmin, who told Qi Dachun to accompany him to close the net.

Zeng Anmin led Shen Jun, Qi Dachun, and Wang Daoyuan to Water Cloud Island to search for Shen Jun’s uncle. They discovered Prince Jiang’s armed men forcing hundreds of laborers to work, but an enigmatic old man intercepted them as they tried to leave.

• Zeng Anmin recruited Wang Daoyuan to accompany him and Shen Jun on an investigation outside Liangjiang Prefecture City.
• The four traveled by boat to Water Cloud Island, where Shen Jun believed his uncle might be hiding.
• Zeng Anmin and the others secretly surveyed a valley and saw hundreds of laborers guarded by armed soldiers carrying Firearms.
• Zeng Anmin ordered the group to retreat without alerting the valley’s occupants.
• An unfamiliar elderly man appeared on the river in a small boat and told them to stay as his guests.

Zeng Anmin confronted Qi Linxian and revealed how he had uncovered Prince Jiang's Estate's schemes and suspected Wang Daoyuan of betrayal. As Wang Daoyuan attacked, Wang Deli killed him with an arrow from a boat, while Zeng Shilin arrived and questioned whether Zeng Anmin had planned for his father to be involved.

• Qi Linxian arrived by boat and declared that he had come to kill Zeng Anmin.
• Zeng Anmin explained how Qi Linxian had manipulated the Shen Jun case and tried to frame the Black Cat Martial Artist.
• Zeng Anmin revealed that he had used himself as bait and suspected Wang Daoyuan of serving Prince Jiang's Estate since the Zhang Lun case.
• Qi Linxian ordered an attack, and Wang Daoyuan lunged at Zeng Anmin as Qi Dachun and Shen Jun tried to protect him.
• Wang Deli shot Wang Daoyuan through the neck from a boat on the river.
• Zeng Shilin arrived with Wang Deli and asked whether Zeng Anmin had included his father in his calculations.

Zeng Shilin stopped Qi Linxian’s escape, and Wang Deli captured him before leading the soldiers to seize evidence of Prince Jiang’s Estate plotting rebellion. As Zeng Shilin ordered the prisoners taken away, a mysterious voice demanded Qi Linxian.

• Qi Linxian tried to escape using an Instantaneous Movement Array, but Zeng Shilin’s Confucian Law dispelled the formation and left him powerless.
• Wang Deli captured Qi Linxian, and Zeng Shilin questioned Zeng Anmin about the Black Cat Martial Artist and explained how sparing Wang Daoyuan had helped expose Prince Jiang’s Estate.
• Zeng Anmin told Zeng Shilin that evidence lay in a gorge, and Wang Deli led soldiers up the mountain to secure it.
• That night, Zeng Shilin’s forces cleared Prince Jiang’s Estate’s people from the island and found several hundred Firearms in the gorge.
• Zeng Shilin ordered the workers and guards bound, but a mysterious voice suddenly demanded that Qi Linxian be handed over.

Sai Chuxue of the Profound Formation Division took Qi Linxian away after Zeng Shilin allowed her to claim him, and she gave Zeng Anmin a jade pendant as thanks. Zeng Shilin explained the Division’s influence and planned to move against Prince Jiang’s Estate, then confronted Zeng Anmin about resisting his Heart Inquiry.

• Sai Chuxue arrived and said her master had ordered her to take Qi Linxian back to the Profound Formation Division.
• Zeng Shilin recognized Sai Chuxue as Master Xu’s seventh disciple and permitted her to take Qi Linxian.
• Sai Chuxue used her compass to store the unconscious Qi Linxian, then gave Zeng Anmin her jade pendant as thanks for capturing him.
• Zeng Shilin told Zeng Anmin that the Profound Formation Division’s influence could lend weight to accusations against Prince Jiang.
• Zeng Shilin said they would return, surround Prince Jiang’s Estate, and await the Imperial Decree, then asked Zeng Anmin why his Heart Inquiry had not affected him.

Zeng Anmin struggled to advance in the Confucian Path until his memories helped him form a personal insight. He broke through to the Sixth Rank Gentleman Realm, leaving both himself and Zeng Shilin stunned.

• Zeng Anmin accused Zeng Shilin of conducting a Heart Inquiry on him and threatened to tell his late mother about it and Zeng Shilin's visit to the Jiaofang Division.
• Zeng Anmin admitted he had made no progress since entering the Purple Mansion Realm, and Zeng Shilin warned him not to rush his advancement.
• Zeng Shilin explained that a Confucian cultivator advanced through personal insight and that Vast Righteous Qi gained greater influence after entering the Gentleman Realm.
• Remembering an essay from his previous life, Zeng Anmin reflected on how life experience could reveal the meaning of words he had once memorized.
• Zeng Anmin spoke the line, "Desiring to buy osmanthus and share wine upon the road, yet it could never be like the wandering days of youth," and azure qi formed the sentence in his sea of consciousness.
• Zeng Anmin realized he had reached the Sixth Rank Gentleman Realm, while Zeng Shilin stared at him in shock.

After Prince Jiang's Estate was seized, Zeng Anmin met Shen Jun to discuss a business partnership and learned that Princess Wencheng of Jiang Kingdom had claimed his poem as her own. He realized Nan might be Princess Wencheng and began plotting to use that discovery for profit.

• Zeng Shilin ordered Lin Rong and Wang Deli to surround and seize Prince Jiang's Estate, then sent evidence of Prince Jiang's rebellion to the capital.
• Zeng Anmin arrested Right Clerk Xu Yunfeng and prepared a secret weapon while seeking a way to earn money after his father cut off his funds.
• Zeng Anmin met Shen Jun at Wangxian Tower, where Shen Jun thanked him for saving his life and clearing his younger brother of suspicion.
• Zeng Anmin began to propose a business partnership with Shen Jun, but a neighboring conversation interrupted them.
• A man recited a poem attributed to Princess Wencheng, and Zeng Anmin recognized it as the poem he had given Nan.
• Zeng Anmin connected Nan to the Jiang State Imperial Family and planned to exploit her identity for money.

Zeng Anmin won Shen Jun’s friendship and proposed a partnership to sell his Flavor Supreme seasoning across the Great Sage Dynasty. Shen Jun insisted on giving Zeng Anmin sixty percent of the profits, and they agreed to begin the venture.

• Zeng Anmin told Shen Jun he wanted to befriend him for his character, not merely for Jin Taiping’s profits.
• Zeng Anmin introduced Flavor Supreme by adding it to soup, and Shen Jun was astonished by how much it improved the taste.
• Shen Jun tested the seasoning on braised fish and recognized its potential as a business.
• Zeng Anmin proposed opening restaurants across the dynasty before selling the seasoning to ordinary households, with himself contributing the formula.
• Shen Jun insisted Zeng Anmin take at least sixty percent of the profits, and Zeng Anmin accepted.

After sharing dinner with Huzi and Aunt Lin, Zeng Anmin entered the Dragon Survey Map’s group chat and confirmed that Nan was Princess Wencheng. He asked her to provide the Jiang State Imperial Family’s ultimate art, “Phoenix Cry Nine,” for a friend facing a martial arts bottleneck.

• Zeng Anmin returned to the Governor’s Mansion and agreed to eat with Huzi after the child pleaded to have dinner with both parents.
• Huzi tricked Zeng Anmin into giving up his chicken drumstick, then took the remaining drumsticks from the plate.
• Zeng Anmin entered his Purple Mansion space and greeted the Dragon Survey Map group members.
• Huang told Bei that his father was beating him to improve his combat experience ahead of the Barbaric Mystery Realm.
• Nan apologized for revealing Bei’s poem and offered to help him with something he needed.
• Zeng Anmin asked Princess Wencheng to provide the Jiang State Imperial Family’s ultimate art, “Phoenix Cry Nine.”

Zeng Anmin used the Heavenly Dao Alliance chat to coax Nan into sharing the powerful Eternal Night Three Slashes and offering help with Martial Arts. Nan explained how to advance from the Martial Core Realm to the Visualization Realm and offered locations of rare herbs, then Zeng Anmin asked what changed after reaching the Visualization Realm.

• Zeng Anmin joked that he wanted Phoenix Cry Nine, then pretended not to care when Nan refused to share it.
• Nan offered Eternal Night Three Slashes, explaining that it was powerful but could alter the temperament of someone without firm resolve; Zeng Anmin realized his Golden Finger made him immune to its side effect.
• Zeng Anmin praised Nan’s generosity, prompting her to promise help with his Martial Arts questions.
• Nan explained that advancing from the Martial Core Realm required opening the Heaven and Earth Twin Bridges, using compressed Martial Arts Aura, fresh Demon Race Vital Blood, or rare herbs.
• Nan offered to share locations from Jiang Kingdom’s Record of Strange Herbs, and Zeng Anmin asked about the differences between the Martial Core Realm and Visualization Realm.

Zeng Anmin learned that Visualization Realm martial artists gained combat power through intent, then wondered whether his Dragon Survey Map and dragon-claw transformation meant he had awakened it. At the Governor’s Mansion, Dean Qin arrived with his daughter Qin Wanyue, whose Confucian breakthrough prompted Qin Shouchang to boast—only for Zeng Shilin to laugh instead of praise her.

• Nan explained that visualization diagrams produced intent that strengthened martial artists, and Zeng Anmin questioned whether intent was limited to the Visualization Realm.
• Zeng Anmin transformed his arm into a dragon claw and wondered about the secrets of the Dragon Survey Map and whether he had awakened it.
• Zeng Anmin chose Stone Mountain as a nearby destination for rare herbs and planned to learn the Eternal Night Three Slashes technique.
• Zeng Anmin met Qin Shouchang and his daughter Qin Wanyue at the Governor’s Mansion and learned she had reached the Purple Mansion Realm and found her Confucian direction.
• Qin Shouchang boasted that Qin Wanyue would likely enter the Sixth Rank Gentleman Realm within half a year, but Zeng Shilin answered with hearty laughter instead of praise.

Zeng Shilin and Qin Shouchang sparred through veiled remarks about their children and an old agreement, while Zeng Anmin stayed quiet. Zeng Shilin revealed that Zeng Anmin had reached Sixth Grade, leaving Qin Shouchang and Qin Wanyue stunned.

• Zeng Shilin praised Qin Wanyue briefly, then used Lushan Cloud Mist Tea to hint that her talent needed time to reveal its full value.
• Qin Shouchang asked whether their old agreement still stood, and Zeng Shilin recalled that they had agreed the loser of a contest between their descendants would imitate a donkey.
• Qin Wanyue tried to dismiss the old wager, while Zeng Shilin and Qin Shouchang reminisced about their youth and praised a line of poetry.
• Zeng Shilin revealed that Zeng Anmin had spoken the line after breaking through to Sixth Grade, then Zeng Anmin demonstrated his condensed Vast Righteous Qi.
• Qin Shouchang froze and Qin Wanyue stared at Zeng Anmin in amazement as Zeng Shilin declared that the tea's fragrance was finally rushing to the nose.

After declining Qin Shouchang’s invitation, Zeng Anmin returned to the Xuanjing Division and practiced Nan’s powerful “Eternal Night Three Slashes” in his Purple Mansion. His night ride was interrupted when Wang Deli revealed that Prince Jiang had vanished from custody.

• Zeng Anmin left Qin Shouchang and returned to the Xuanjing Division with Dachun.
• Zeng Anmin studied the three diagrams of “Eternal Night Three Slashes” and used his short axe to practice the first slash in his Purple Mansion.
• The first slash exhausted Zeng Anmin’s Martial Arts True Qi and left his eyes crimson, but his Unyielding Martial God trait protected him from its mental influence.
• While riding through the nearly empty streets, Zeng Anmin saw Wang Deli galloping urgently and caught up with him.
• Wang Deli told Zeng Anmin that Prince Jiang had disappeared despite being watched and surrounded by Xuanjing Division guards.

Zeng Anmin entered Prince Jiang's Estate to investigate how Prince Jiang had vanished from a heavily guarded room. After considering an Instantaneous Movement Array, he heard from Zeng Shilin that such an array could be deployed without its usual materials by a Fourth-Rank Vein Gathering Master.

• Zeng Anmin rode to Prince Jiang's Estate with Dachun and persuaded Lin Rong to let him enter.
• Lin Rong explained that Prince Jiang had disappeared between inspections despite constant guards, and that the estate's secret passage did not lead to the room where he was held.
• Zeng Anmin inspected the foul, ransacked room and considered whether an Instantaneous Movement Array had been used.
• Lin Rong said an array normally required materials absent from the room, but Zeng Anmin asked whether it could be deployed without them.
• Zeng Shilin arrived and said a Fourth-Rank Vein Gathering Master from the Profound Formation Division could deploy the array without those materials.

After Prince Jiang vanished from a sealed room, Zeng Anmin and his father suspected a hidden passage and used Heart Inquiry to investigate who had arranged the room. Their interrogation revealed the passage was triggered by moving a book, but Li Fu died before he could explain further.

• Zeng Anmin and his father ruled out an array and suspected Prince Jiang had escaped through a hidden passage, possibly to join a secret rebel army.
• Zeng Anmin proposed using Heart Inquiry on whoever had arranged Prince Jiang's room, and his father ordered the investigation.
• Zeng Anmin used Heart Inquiry on Cheng Li, who revealed that Prince Jiang's Estate's steward had arranged the room before confessing to numerous crimes.
• Zeng Anmin's Heart Inquiry failed on Li Fu, and his father recognized that the steward was also a Confucian Dao cultivator.
• Zeng Shilin used Heart Inquiry to ask how to find the passage, and Li Fu answered, "Move the book," before his head exploded.

Zeng Anmin and Father uncovered a secret passage beneath a bookshelf and sent Lin Rong and the Red-robed Guards after Prince Jiang. Before Zeng Anmin could join the pursuit, he learned that Wang Deli had died in prison, and Father left for the Xuanjing Division while entrusting the chase to him.

• After the old man's Purple Mansion exploded to prevent a Heart Inquiry, Zeng Anmin realized his last words meant they should move the bookshelf.
• Lin Rong moved the bookshelf and found a hollow section beneath the surrounding floor; he broke through the bricks to reveal a narrow passage.
• Zeng Anmin ordered the Red-robed Guards to widen the hole, and Lin Rong led a group into the passage to pursue Prince Jiang.
• A messenger reported that Wang Deli had died in prison after a tremendous blast.
• Father left for the Xuanjing Division and told Zeng Anmin to stop Prince Jiang from escaping.

Zeng Anmin deduced that Prince Jiang’s secret passage exited underwater and raced to intercept him. He discovered Prince Jiang could transform into a fish demon, then followed him toward the villages outside Liangjiang Prefecture City.

• Zeng Anmin realized the secret passage might open into the river and left to intercept Prince Jiang.
• Zeng Anmin rode out of the city, put on a black cat-shaped hood, and dived into the river to find the cave entrance.
• Zeng Anmin located the underwater exit and waited there, mistaking a passing fish for an approaching person before Prince Jiang emerged.
• Zeng Anmin recognized Prince Jiang but froze when he watched him transform into a fish-tailed creature and swim away.
• Zeng Anmin followed Prince Jiang until he returned to human form and surfaced near villages outside Liangjiang Prefecture City.

Zeng Anmin confronted Prince Jiang on the riverbank, expecting to kill him, but was driven back by Prince Jiang’s relentless attacks. Prince Jiang revealed his Visualization Realm strength as Zeng Anmin began to draw on the dragon power within his sea of consciousness.

• Zeng Anmin approached Prince Jiang in his Black Cat Hood and declared that he had come to kill him.
• Prince Jiang attacked first, forcing Zeng Anmin to dodge until he was trapped at the riverbank.
• Zeng Anmin countered with his short axe, whose seven-colored light forced Prince Jiang to retreat.
• Prince Jiang revealed shining scales and Water Intent, then advanced while boasting that he had reached the Visualization Realm.
• Zeng Anmin calmly took a stance and channeled Martial Arts Aura into his sea of consciousness, where the dragon on the Dragon Survey Map roared as his right arm began to change.

Zeng Anmin defeated Prince Jiang with a dragon-infused axe, then learned Prince Jiang had not known Emperor Jianhong was traveling incognito and was likely not behind the Dragon Survey Map Theft Case. As he pieced together Prince Jiang’s ties to a mysterious Fish Demon and discovered the map had given him a dragon claw, Zeng Anmin concluded the Demon Race’s true objective might be the Dragon Survey Map.

• Zeng Anmin’s Dragon Survey Map transformation emerged as scales and claws, and he struck Prince Jiang with the first of the Eternal Night Three Slashes, severing his arm and leaving him gravely wounded.
• Zeng Anmin used Heart Inquiry to ask who had told Prince Jiang about Emperor Jianhong’s secret journey, but Prince Jiang said he did not know before his body exploded.
• Zeng Anmin realized Prince Jiang could not have masterminded the theft case if he had not known the emperor was coming, and recalled that Prince Jiang had used fresh Demon Race Vital Blood to advance.
• Zeng Anmin reasoned that a Fish Demon could have reached the prefecture through connected waterways and wondered what it sought by cooperating with Prince Jiang.
• Zeng Anmin discovered that the Dragon Survey Map could transform his right hand into a powerful dragon claw and suspected the Demon Race’s objective was the map.