Chapter Summaries

Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to find valuable fishing grounds on the Hun River and caught a profitable haul. When its warning remained after his first catch, he kept casting and spotted a flash of red in his final net.

• Wei Luo met Liu Changle and Liu Jun on the river, and Liu Changle helped him learn to steer his skiff.
• Wei Luo learned about the Sun Family's planned recruitment and asked Liu Changle about the chance to practice martial arts.
• Wei Luo reached the shallow bend indicated by the Great Thousand Revelation and caught three large yellow croakers, other fish, and a soft-shelled turtle.
• Wei Luo noticed the fish-catch information had not disappeared, so he cast his net repeatedly before noon.
• Wei Luo saw a flash of red in his final net and felt a surge of joy.

Wei Luo returned home to find Feng Hao demanding another three taels over a fraudulent porcelain debt, leaving his mother Zhao Rong frightened and despairing. Wei Luo revealed the Crimson Firefin he had caught, which could cover the debt, but resolved to practice martial arts so Feng Hao could not keep bullying them.

• Wei Luo decided to postpone simulating the Sun Family’s recruitment and returned home with his fish basket.
• Uncle Cao warned Wei Luo that Feng Hao was at the courtyard gate, demanding payment again.
• Wei Luo confronted Feng Hao, who claimed the earlier payment had covered only interest and demanded three more taels.
• Feng Hao left after Wei Luo promised to repay him within a month, then privately complained that he was visiting Zhao Rong on behalf of a lord.
• Zhao Rong blamed herself for their troubles until Wei Luo showed her a Crimson Firefin worth at least three or four taels.
• As Zhao Rong prepared lard rice, Wei Luo resolved to practice martial arts so Feng Hao could not continue exploiting them.

Wei Luo caught valuable fish and a Crimson Firefin, then attracted the attention of Fish-Dragon Gang hall master Li Dadao, who tried to recruit him. As Wei Luo wondered what Li Dadao wanted from him, the Sun Family began recruiting young crew members at the pier.

• Liu Changle boasted about his and Old Liu's catch, while Old Liu told him to save a fish for Wei Luo.
• Wei Luo showed the Liu father and son his three large yellow croakers, soft-shelled turtle, and Crimson Firefin, then asked Uncle Liu for help selling the treasure fish.
• At the fish market, Li Dadao offered Wei Luo three hundred copper coins for his fish and invited him to join the Fish-Dragon Gang.
• Wei Luo declined to join the gang, and Li Dadao told him to bring future catches to the gang's fish market.
• Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to investigate Li Dadao and learned that he was a vicious villain with dozens of lives on his back.
• The Sun Family announced that it was recruiting crew members under eighteen for half a tael of silver a month, drawing a crowd at the pier.

Wei Luo tried to join the Sun Family but was rejected after his bone examination showed poor aptitude. Using the Great Thousand Revelation and information about Steward Li’s household, he discovered that a Crimson Firefin could cure Steward Li’s wife and saw a chance to change the steward’s mind.

• Fishermen rushed to apply for Sun Family crew positions, and Wei Luo and Liu Changle joined the selection.
• Steward Li accepted silver from Old Liu and approved Liu Changle despite his barely adequate bone aptitude.
• The examiner judged Wei Luo’s aptitude even worse, and Steward Li refused to recruit him.
• Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation and questioned Liu Qing about Steward Li to find a way to persuade him.
• Liu Qing revealed that Steward Li’s wife, Fan-shi, had a persistent illness, and Wei Luo’s deduction identified a Crimson Firefin as the needed medicine.

Wei Luo traded the Crimson Firefin to Steward Li for a place in the Sun Family’s crewman training, then began learning the Folding Waves Fist under Master Qin. As the other youths made progress with personal guidance, Wei Luo struggled to grasp the Stacked Waves Stance and turned to Great Revelation for help.

• Wei Luo brought the Crimson Firefin to Steward Li and convinced him it could help treat his wife’s illness, earning permission to join the Sun Family.
• Wei Luo registered, gave the unsold turtle to the Liu family, and agreed to join Liu Changle at the Sun Family residence the next morning.
• Steward Li told Wei Luo that his wife was improving, then handed thirty-two youths over to Master Qin for training under a contract requiring them to reach crewman level within two months or serve as servants for three years.
• Master Qin demonstrated the Stacked Waves Stance and ordered the youths to practice the Folding Waves Fist until they reached entry level.
• Master Qin personally corrected Shen Wu and several other promising youths, while Wei Luo struggled to find the right stance and called on Great Revelation to deduce it.

Wei Luo spent nearly a month training the Stacked Waves Stance while balancing fishing and a meager diet, and his strength improved greatly. After Liu Changle warned that Feng Hao was troubling Wei Luo’s family again, Wei Luo decided to return home and repay the debt that day.

• Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to refine his boxing stance, while Master Qin gave the trainees lavish-looking food only to direct them to plain rice and vegetable leaves.
• Wei Luo trained through hunger and fatigue, fishing before dawn to provide for himself while practicing extra to make up for lost time.
• Nearly a month later, Wei Luo had grown stronger and could steadily lift a stone weight of nearly two hundred jin.
• Wei Luo simulated fish-catch information and decided to bring a dace home for his mother after selling his catch.
• Liu Changle told Wei Luo that Feng Hao had been hanging around outside Wei Luo’s family home, and Wei Luo said he would repay the debt that day.

Wei Luo killed Feng Hao after discovering his plot with Li Dadao to exploit Zhao Clan, then disposed of the body in the Hun River. He returned home and told his mother that the debt was paid and Feng Hao would not trouble them again.

• Feng Hao told Li Dadao that he had cornered Zhao Clan and planned to stage a rescue so she would offer herself to Li Dadao; Li Dadao agreed to let Feng Hao join the Fish-Dragon Gang as an underling.
• After celebrating his new status, Feng Hao met Wei Luo in a dark alley, where Wei Luo blinded him with lime powder and beat him to death.
• Wei Luo sank Feng Hao's body in the Hun River, took his silver, and resolved to become strong enough to protect himself.
• Wei Luo returned to the docks with a large catch, sold the fish, and went home to Yellow Mud Alley.
• Zhao Clan urged Wei Luo to stay with the Sun Family and gave him money, but Wei Luo told her he had paid the debt and Feng Hao would not return.

Wei Luo used his deduction ability to deepen his understanding of the Stacked Waves Stance and passed Master Qin’s test for learning boxing. He joined four others in following Master Qin, while Liu Changle and the rest remained behind to practice their stances.

• Wei Luo returned to the Sun Family courtyard, where Liu Changle asked about Feng Hao, and Wei Luo said Feng Hao had stopped bothering him after learning he had joined the Sun Family.
• Master Qin tested the disciples’ balance on a violently moving platform and said only those who held the Stacked Waves Stance for ten breaths could learn boxing.
• Shen Wu lasted sixteen breaths, and several other disciples with good innate aptitude also passed the assessment.
• Wei Luo used deduction to learn how to make his stance more stable by focusing his mind, calming his qi, and feeling the waves through the stance.
• Wei Luo held his stance for twelve breaths and qualified, while Liu Changle lasted only eight breaths despite Wei Luo sharing his insights.
• Master Qin took Wei Luo and the four other successful disciples away to learn boxing, leaving the rest to continue practicing their stances.

Master Qin taught Wei Luo and the others the Folding Waves Fist, then left them to practice on their own. Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to track his progress, refused to teach those who had failed the assessment, and watched them turn to Shen Wu instead.

• Master Qin rewarded the trainees with meat and promised Bone-Strengthening Soup to whoever first got started in the fist art before demonstrating the Folding Waves Fist once.
• A Sun Family sailor explained that Master Qin was a powerful Martial Master who cooperated with the Sun Family and was not obliged to teach them further.
• After several days of practicing without Master Qin, Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to check his Folding Waves Fist progress, which had reached 9.6%.
• Wei Luo refused Li Yue and the others when they asked him to teach them before they passed the assessment.
• Bighead pointed out that Shen Wu was already teaching others, and Li Yue's group went to seek him out.

Wei Luo rejected the others’ requests to learn boxing, while Shen Wu agreed to teach them for a fee and gained their praise. Zhang Chi then recruited Bighead for a supposedly lucrative treasure-fish venture, which Wei Luo refused, while Li Dadao shifted his attention to collecting the Fish-Dragon Tax.

• Luo Sanhu demanded three hundred copper coins per lesson to teach boxing, but Shen Wu let Li Yue learn for free and accepted the others’ payments.
• The group praised Shen Wu and insulted Wei Luo, who ignored them and continued practicing his fist techniques.
• Zhang Chi offered Bighead a chance to earn three to five taels of silver catching treasure fish, and Bighead agreed; Wei Luo declined, suspecting a trap.
• At the Fish-Dragon Gang headquarters, Li Dadao learned that Feng Hao was likely dead and that his plan to threaten Wei Luo’s mother had failed.
• After hearing that the Gang Master had ordered the collection of the Fish-Dragon Tax, Li Dadao made it the priority and postponed dealing with the Zhao Clan.

Wei Luo stalled at the blood and qi threshold in his Folding Waves Fist and sought information about Treasure Fish as a way to overcome his weak roots. Steward Li warned him that catching one was extremely unlikely and urged him to rely on Bone-Strengthening Soup instead.

• Shen Wu broke through the fist technique in thirteen days, smashed a wooden stake, and received Bone-Strengthening Soup from Master Qin.
• Wei Luo practiced relentlessly as the two-month deadline neared, while Liu Changle improved by following Wei Luo’s advice.
• Wei Luo’s Folding Waves Fist progress remained stuck at twenty percent, and he identified the blood and qi threshold as the obstacle.
• Wei Luo considered catching Treasure Fish to strengthen his blood and qi, then visited Steward Li to ask to borrow the Sun Family’s books about them.
• Steward Li offered medicinal soup but warned Wei Luo that catching a Treasure Fish was unlikely.

Wei Luo used books and his deduction ability to find a Money Fish in the Hun River, where a dangerous creature attacked him. After roasting and eating the fish, he practiced the Folding Waves Fist and broke through his first qi-and-blood barrier, achieving entry into the fist art.

• Wei Luo insisted on borrowing books about Treasure Fish despite Steward Li warning him that the books would not help him catch any.
• Two nights later, Wei Luo used his deduction to locate a Treasure Fish pool on the Hun River and spotted a black shadow attacking a Money Fish.
• Wei Luo retrieved the wounded Money Fish, but a creature struck his boat and forced him to flee toward shore.
• The creature lunged at Wei Luo on shore, and he drove a broken oar into it before it escaped back into the water.
• Wei Luo moved to a safer location, roasted and ate the Money Fish, then practiced the Folding Waves Fist and broke through his first qi-and-blood barrier.

As Steward Li arrived to take the youths who had failed to master their fist techniques into slavery, Wei Luo revealed that he had reached the introductory level and proved it to Master Qin. He stayed to train as a sailor of the Sun Family, while the fishy scent around Bighead hinted that he had also encountered a strange opportunity.

• Wei Luo continued practicing the Folding Waves Fist and used [Great Thousand Revelation] to track its progress as Luo Sanhu and Li Yue mocked him.
• Steward Li arrived with Master Qin to take the youths who had not reached the introductory level, and Master Qin beat down those who pleaded for more time.
• Bighead told Wei Luo he was the only one among their first batch to fail, but Wei Luo noticed a fishy stench like the one from his earlier encounter.
• Wei Luo declared that his fist technique had reached the introductory level and parried Master Qin's punch, proving he had broken through the first Qi-Blood Threshold.
• Master Qin allowed Wei Luo to stay, and Wei Luo realized the fishy stench came from Bighead, who may have had a fortuitous opportunity.
• Steward Li welcomed the successful youths as sailors of the Sun Family and wondered whether Wei Luo had caught another Treasure Fish.

Wei Luo learned that medicinal resources were essential for advancing in martial arts and asked Zhao Xiu about ways to earn money. Bighead then invited Wei Luo and Liu Changle to join Zhang Chi’s group in obtaining Treasure Fish from the Hun River.

• Wei Luo lost a sparring match to Zhao Xiu but realized his fist technique was close to mastering Linked Waves Force.
• Zhao Xiu explained that martial artists needed medicinal resources like Bone-Strengthening Soup to build enough Qi and blood to cross the thresholds.
• Wei Luo decided to seek extra work, and Zhao Xiu offered to connect him and Liu Changle with jobs that could earn them silver.
• Bighead apologized for his earlier words and invited Wei Luo and Liu Changle to join Zhang Chi and the others in getting Treasure Fish from the depths of the Hun River.

Wei Luo rejected Bighead’s risky Hun River fishing offer and learned that children had been disappearing in Yellow Mud Alley, with the Fish-Dragon Gang suspected. He returned home to find Hall Master Li Dadao had sent betrothal gifts to his mother, and began deducing what would happen if she accepted them.

• Wei Luo warned Bighead that Zhang Chi’s fishing offer could cost him his life, but Bighead left to join Zhang Chi’s group anyway.
• Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to learn that following Bighead into the Hun River carried a thirty percent chance of sudden death.
• Wei Luo heard that Uncle Cao’s granddaughter and several other children had vanished, with neighbors blaming the Fish-Dragon Gang.
• A matchmaker arrived at Wei Luo’s home with betrothal gifts from Li Dadao for Zhao Xiu, leaving both Zhao Xiu and Wei Luo stunned.
• Wei Luo began a deduction about his mother’s fate if she accepted the betrothal gifts.

Wei Luo learned that Li Dadao planned to marry his mother and used the Great Thousand Revelation to find a black-market apothecary selling sleeping smoke. After confirming the smoke could affect even martial artists, Wei Luo set out to act against Li Dadao without waiting a month.

• Wei Luo stopped his mother from harming herself and told the matchmaker they would accept Li Dadao's betrothal gifts but needed a month to prepare.
• Zhao Xiu explained that Li Dadao's strength came from a Fish-Dragon Gang secret art that could force ordinary people past the qi-and-blood threshold.
• Wei Luo visited the Miscellaneous Ward and saw refugees from flooded Shanyang County struggling to obtain food.
• Wei Luo used coded phrases at a black-market apothecary to buy sleeping smoke and its antidote.
• Wei Luo verified the sleeping smoke with the Great Thousand Revelation, then left into the night, intending to strike before Li Dadao could claim his mother.

Wei Luo infiltrated the Fish-Dragon Gang’s hall, killed Li Dadao and the gang members, and discovered a group of kidnapped children, including Yuanyuan. He freed them and set the hall on fire, then disappeared into the night.

• Li Dadao celebrated his upcoming marriage to the Zhao Clan woman while Sister Hua refused his offer of the gang’s dangerous secret medicine.
• Wei Luo drugged the Fish-Dragon Gang’s gathering, ambushed Li Dadao, and killed him with a dagger after blinding him with lime.
• Wei Luo entered the hall and killed the remaining gang members, taking more than ten taels of silver from their money pouches.
• Wei Luo found Yuanyuan and more than a dozen other chained children locked in the woodshed, and told a boy who knew the way to lead them home.
• Wei Luo set the hall ablaze and waited until the children had fled before vanishing into the night.

Wei Luo’s mother reunited with Yuanyuan after the Fish-Dragon Gang was destroyed, while Wei Luo concealed his role in the gang’s deaths. At the Sun Family residence, he learned Shen Wu might become Master Qin’s disciple and Zhao Xiu began to suspect Wei Luo had killed Li Dadao.

• Uncle Cao brought the missing Yuanyuan home and told Zhao Clan that the Fish-Dragon Gang’s hall had burned down, while hiding who had rescued her.
• Wei Luo went to the Sun Family residence and listened as Master Qin taught the boatmen that martial arts were about defeating opponents.
• Zhao Xiu told Wei Luo and Liu Changle that the Sun Family planned a friendly exchange with the Wu Family and might have Master Qin take Shen Wu as a disciple.
• Zhao Xiu explained that the Sun Family had declined since its old master died, making talented Shen Wu a promising candidate to restore its standing.
• Wei Luo reviewed his progress in Folding Waves Fist and remained unconcerned about lacking a master because the Great Thousand Revelation could help him improve.
• Zhao Xiu connected Wei Luo’s questions about Li Dadao to the gang leader’s death, and Liu Changle realized Wei Luo might also have settled Feng Hao’s debt.

Zhang Chi led Luo Sanhu, Bighead, and the others into dangerous waters to catch treasure fish, but Bighead saw a corpse and then went berserk, attacking the crew. Zhang Chi and the survivors hid in the fish hold as Bighead pounded on the door, and Zhang Chi ordered Wang Zhu and Luo Sanhu to help block it until dawn.

• Master Qin finished instructing Shen Wu and ordered several men to spar with the Wu Family in half a month, while Zhang Chi and many new crewmen were missing.
• Zhang Chi took Luo Sanhu, Bighead, and the others into a treacherous tributary, where they used martial artists' blood as bait to attract treasure fish.
• Bighead spotted what looked like a woman's corpse in the water, but Zhang Chi silenced him, and the crew laughed off his warning.
• Bighead suddenly became violent, bit through two people's throats, and attacked the others, forcing Zhang Chi and the survivors to flee into the fish hold.
• As Bighead pounded on the fish-hold door, Zhang Chi told Wang Zhu and Luo Sanhu to help block it until dawn.

Zhang Chi sacrificed his crew to escape a sea monster, then attacked Luo Sanhu when he exposed him at the Sun Family Estate. Master Qin intervened after Shen Wu summoned him, leaving Wei Luo to reflect on how strength governed the estate.

• Zhang Chi shoved Wang Zhu and Luo Sanhu out as bait for the sea monster, then escaped into the water while the creature killed Wang Zhu and Qi Yang.
• Luo Sanhu reached shore alone and later returned to the Sun Family Estate with two other survivors to expose Zhang Chi.
• Wei Luo demonstrated his rapid progress in Folding Waves Fist, prompting Zhao Xiu to praise his mastery of Linked Waves Force.
• Zhang Chi attacked Luo Sanhu in front of the gathered crewmen, but Master Qin arrived and sent him flying after Shen Wu called for help.
• Master Qin warned Zhang Chi to obey the estate's rules, and Wei Luo recognized that strength—not morality—decided who was protected.