Chapter Summaries

Li Xiuwen worked in the Walled City and saved money so he could learn martial arts and gain a way to protect himself. After choosing Night Heron Martial Arts School as his first choice, he reflected on the incense burner in his mind, which could help him master each martial art he learned.

• Li Xiuwen declined Brother Jun's offer to join United Heroes because he feared dying without martial arts or powerful backing.
• Li Xiuwen returned to the family noodle workshop, where his aunt-in-law, Li Ying, offered him leftover claypot rice.
• Li Xiuwen counted the money he had saved and compared the costs and reputations of Night Heron and Four Seas martial arts schools.
• Li Xiuwen chose Night Heron Martial Arts School as his preferred school once he had enough money.
• Li Xiuwen recalled that the incense burner in his mind would let him master each martial art by practicing until its incense burned out.
• Li Xiuwen read newspaper reports about martial artists and violent confrontations in the Walled City.

Li Xiuwen told his aunt-in-law that he planned to learn martial arts, enter the Learning Society, and earn a better life for them, despite her doubts about his chances. That night, she asked Chen Ziyi to help with the remaining two thousand needed for Li Xiuwen’s apprenticeship, and Chen Ziyi fell silent at the mention of martial arts.

• Li Xiuwen told his aunt-in-law he wanted to learn martial arts and repay the ransom Chen Ziyi had paid to rescue him.
• Li Xiuwen explained that passing the Learning Society’s entrance exam through the Crossing River Association could help them move to a brighter home.
• His aunt-in-law doubted he could win one of the thirteen places and urged him to find a steady job instead.
• Li Xiuwen said he had saved nearly enough for martial arts lessons but refused to ask his uncle-in-law for money.
• That night, his aunt-in-law asked Chen Ziyi to help Li Xiuwen cover the remaining two thousand, and Chen Ziyi fell silent.

Li Xiuwen’s aunt and uncle agreed to lend him money to begin martial arts training, though they doubted he would succeed. On his way to find a master the next morning, he ran into Brother Ji and the Longjin Road Thirteen Guardians.

• Chen Ziyi argued with Yingmei about whether Li Xiuwen should pursue martial arts and worried about the cost.
• Li Xiuwen told his uncle he wanted to train, and Chen Ziyi gave him money for tuition while promising limited support.
• Li Xiuwen thanked his aunt and uncle and vowed to take care of them if he made it.
• The next morning, Li Xiuwen avoided an old junkie who offered to teach him a martial arts manual for fifty.
• Brother Ji and another boy confronted Li Xiuwen on the street and asked where he was going.

Li Xiuwen sought martial arts training after being bullied, but the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall rejected him for being twenty-one. He brought his savings to Huang Sihai’s Four Seas Martial Arts Hall and was still negotiating the price when Huang offered him a discount as a fellow countryman.

• Brother Ji and his young accomplice bullied Li Xiuwen into handing over fifty, then left him shaken.
• Li Xiuwen went to the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall, where the blond senior brother Longlegs Seven dismissed him for being over sixteen.
• The Night Heron master defended the refusal, saying he did not want to waste poor people’s money, while his disciples mocked Li Xiuwen.
• Li Xiuwen crossed the street to the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall and met its proprietress, Mrs. Huang, and its head, Huang Sihai.
• Huang Sihai demanded more than the advertised fees, but after Li Xiuwen started to leave, he offered to accept 3,600 as a fellow countryman.

Li Xiuwen joined the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall and met its students before Huang Sihai began teaching him about bone structure and the basics of martial training. The chapter ended with Li Xiuwen eager to train, unaware that Huang Sihai had called his physique average to keep him enrolled.

• Li Xiuwen agreed to pay Huang Sihai's monthly fees and joined the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall without an apprenticeship ceremony.
• Huang Sihai introduced Li Xiuwen to Li Shuzhen, Chen Xun, Cheng Kuiqiang, Liu Da, and Liu Chun.
• Huang Sihai explained that the hall taught literacy alongside martial arts and began instructing Li Xiuwen about bones, acupoints, and meridians.
• Old Chen described the Skin Membrane, Dragon Muscle, and Tiger Aspect as the three gates of martial training.
• Li Xiuwen asked whether martial artists could catch bullets and what his Martial Constitution was like, and Huang Sihai judged his physique average while privately admitting he had said so to keep Li Xiuwen enrolled.

Li Xiuwen studied martial theory at the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall and discovered that learning knowledge could improve his martial arts skill. Old Chen lent him a book and urged him to value understanding alongside physical training before Li Xiuwen headed home.

• Li Xiuwen studied human anatomy over dinner while A Zhen and the other students ate at the hall.
• After the hall grew quiet, Li Xiuwen asked Old Chen about the Longevity Acupoint, and Old Chen explained its role in martial training.
• Li Xiuwen gained entry-level Martial Arts Knowledge after learning from Old Chen, and realized that studying theory could improve his skills.
• Old Chen lent Li Xiuwen his copy of Miscellanies from a Martial Tomb and recommended its Strange Arts and Three Corpses volumes.
• Old Chen told Li Xiuwen that comprehension came from accumulated knowledge and mattered as much as practicing techniques, and Li Xiuwen left for home.

Li Xiuwen learned that his old friends wanted to reunite and discovered that gangs were threatening the Walled City as the Everjoy Society struggled to keep order. Brother Jun offered him a job watching the hair salon and helped cover his martial arts meal fees, while Li Xiuwen remained undecided about the work.

• Li Xiuwen returned from his first day at Fist Training, and his aunt-in-law told him Zhao Dalong had invited him to meet friends from their hometown at Fortune Tower.
• Li Xiuwen's uncle-in-law came home injured after Brother Ji attacked him over protection money, but he and his wife decided to hide the incident from Li Xiuwen.
• Brother Jun offered Li Xiuwen two hundred a month to watch Wu Jun Hair Salon and explained that Heaven's Will was trying to gain control of the Walled City while the Everjoy Society was stretched thin.
• Li Xiuwen said he would consider Brother Jun's offer because he had only just begun training.
• Li Xiuwen asked for an advance on his wages to cover Martial Arts Hall meal fees, and Brother Jun gave him two hundred, including extra money to support his training.

Li Xiuwen impressed the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall with his quick study of martial theory, then began formal training in Huang Sihai’s Sea Sand Style. He endured the painful first steps of the Sea-Sand Stance, with his progress still uncertain.

• Li Xiuwen told the students he had memorized much of Huang Sihai’s Bone-Differentiation and Acupoint-Finding lesson, concealing that he had mastered all of it.
• Huang Sihai laid out the hall’s rules and explained that firearms had made martial artists vulnerable, before describing Sea Sand Style as an orthodox school that survived by keeping a low profile.
• Huang Sihai taught Li Xiuwen that stance work built the foundation for combat methods and explained the four levels of the Sea-Sand Stance.
• Li Xiuwen began training in the Tidal Stance, following its movements and breathing while Huang Sihai tapped his acupoints with a folding fan.
• A Zhen, Old Chen, Liu Chun, and the other students watched as Li Xiuwen endured the pain, and Huang Sihai judged his bone structure passable and urged him to keep training.

Li Xiuwen endured his first full day of fist training and met Xiao Tianhong, a celebrated former disciple who had passed the Three Gates at sixteen. After learning about the Upper Hall and the Learning Society, Li Xiuwen resolved to earn a place on the second floor, then returned home to reassure his aunt-in-law that he could keep training.

• Huang Sihai ended Li Xiuwen's exhausting training and explained the signs of reaching entry level, leaving Li Xiuwen to practice with the other students.
• Xiao Tianhong returned to the Martial Arts Hall, where Li Xiuwen learned that the accomplished former disciple had trained in the Upper Hall and now belonged to the Learning Society.
• Xiao Tianhong treated the students to dinner, and Li Xiuwen decided that reaching the Upper Hall could help him gain resources and enter the Learning Society.
• After the others left, Xiao Tianhong told Huang Sihai that he had passed the Three Gates; Huang praised his achievement and discussed the difficulty of aging and advancing in cultivation.
• Xiao Tianhong asked about Li Xiuwen and A Chun, and Huang said Li Xiuwen's age would make progress difficult while A Chun had a strong chance of reaching the Upper Hall.
• Li Xiuwen returned home sore from training, and he reassured his concerned aunt-in-law that he was determined to continue.

Li Xiuwen ate Huang Sihai’s medicinal fish ball and reached the azure membrane stage while practicing the Sea-Sand Stance. After training through the night, he went to a small shop on Longjin Road for pig blood soup.

• Li Xiuwen told Old Chen that his strength had increased, and Old Chen urged him to persevere with martial arts.
• Huang Sihai examined Li Xiuwen’s progress and gave him a fish ball to help him complete gate initiation.
• Li Xiuwen ate the fish ball and practiced the Sea-Sand Stance through the night as its medicinal power surged through his body.
• By dawn, Li Xiuwen had reached entry level and the azure membrane stage, and he saw that his stance and foundational realm advanced together.
• Li Xiuwen trained for another hour, then went to Granny’s shop on Longjin Road for pig blood soup.

Li Xiuwen witnessed Brother Ji and the Thirteen Guardians extort the old woman who ran the Pig Blood Soup Shop after they forced her son A-Hua to take drugs. He helped her, then headed to the martial arts school, while Brother Ji faced pressure from Third Master to raise more protection money.

• Li Xiuwen ate at the Pig Blood Soup Shop and learned that A-Hua had found manual labor to support his mother.
• Brother Ji and the Thirteen Guardians accused A-Hua of owing money for Sugar Pills, beat him, and took the old woman's coffin money.
• Li Xiuwen helped the injured old woman and her son, warned her to keep A-Hua inside, and headed toward the martial arts school.
• Third Master ordered Brother Ji to make one last haul before Tianyi and Changle went to war, warning that he could lose his third seat if he missed next month's target.
• Brother Ji left the Sewers with his underlings, told them not to speak against Third Master, and privately resented the old man's disloyalty.

Li Xiuwen asked Huang Sihai how he could qualify for the martial arts hall’s second floor and learned he had already reached entry level. After Li Xiuwen revealed his progress to his aunt-in-law, he asked her and his uncle-in-law to keep it secret from Brother Ji, who was scheming to exploit the family and their rice noodle business.

• Brother Ji plotted to squeeze money from Chen's Rice Noodle Factory, recruit A Wen into heroin use, and build his own drug operation while practicing martial arts.
• Li Xiuwen asked Huang Sihai about the second floor and learned he could qualify through a superior martial constitution, formal apprenticeship, or first place in the annual tournament.
• Huang Sihai discovered Li Xiuwen had reached entry level and told him that A Chun had done so in three days, while Tianzi had managed it in one.
• Li Xiuwen showed his aunt-in-law his hardened blue membrane and asked her not to tell the neighbors because Brother Ji might target him.
• Aunt-in-law told Uncle-in-law about Li Xiuwen’s progress, and they agreed to keep it secret from Brother Ji.

On his eleventh day at the Martial Arts Hall, Li Xiuwen learned the Sea Sand Style’s Sand-Turning Palm and reached entry level after a day of practice. He planned to talk with Brother Jun about earning money, while Big Liu arrived at the hall carrying his luggage.

• Li Xiuwen’s uncle-in-law gave him a thousand bills, and his aunt-in-law promised to make him heartier meals.
• Li Xiuwen arrived early, paid respects to the Nine Dragons Daoist, and began learning the Sand-Turning Palm from Huang Sihai.
• Huang Sihai gave Li Xiuwen a manual and a pouch of Soul-Dissolving Sorrow Powder, explaining how the irritant could be used as a hidden weapon.
• Li Xiuwen practiced the Sand-Turning Palm until he reached entry level, then ate three bowls of Fish Ball Noodles and an extra duck leg.
• Li Xiuwen decided to meet Brother Jun about finding a way to earn money, and Big Liu arrived at the Martial Arts Hall with his luggage.

Liu Da left the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall to join a gang, while Li Xiuwen advanced his training and secured a paid arrangement protecting Brother Jun’s establishment. As the hall’s fee deadline approached, Old Huang offered a discount for early renewals, and Liu Chun paid for six months while nearing major mastery of Sand-Turning Palm.

• Liu Da said goodbye to the disciples and left to seek work in a gang, and Huang Sihai warned him not to use his name unless he was killed.
• Chen Laodao began a Four Seas Fellow Disciples Register, and the remaining disciples trained harder after Liu Da departed.
• Li Xiuwen arranged to earn two hundred a month protecting Brother Jun’s establishment and noted that Brother Ji had been missing for over twenty days.
• Li Xiuwen reviewed his progress in Sand-Turning Palm and Sea Sand Stance, hoping to reach purple membrane before his next fee was due.
• Old Huang offered a ten-percent discount to disciples who paid for at least three months in advance, and Liu Chun renewed for six months.
• Liu Chun told Old Huang that he remained at minor mastery but expected to reach major mastery soon, and Old Huang praised his progress toward the second floor.

Hesheng Tu Red Poles Wild Chicken and Lion-Head Buddha recruited Liu Chun, Big Silly Qiang, and A Zhen, while Li Xiuwen was turned away from Lion-Head Buddha’s Hard Qigong training. A month later, Sihai Martial Arts Hall faced a planned Hall Challenge from Night Heron Martial Arts Hall, which intended to use the match to gain publicity.

• Wild Chicken and Lion-Head Buddha arrived at Sihai Martial Arts Hall to recruit members for Hesheng Tu.
• Wild Chicken recruited Liu Chun, and Lion-Head Buddha recruited Big Silly Qiang and A Zhen to learn Hard Qigong.
• Li Xiuwen volunteered to train under Lion-Head Buddha, but she said she had no opening for him unless he could offer real money.
• Seven days later, Li Xiuwen returned Martial Tomb Miscellany to Old Chen and checked his improving martial arts progress.
• Huang Sihai announced that Night Heron Martial Arts Hall would challenge Sihai Martial Arts Hall in a month and explained that Old Night wanted publicity and to elevate his school’s reputation.

Huang Sihai prepared the Sea Sand Style’s disciples for a Hall Challenge against the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall by promising generous rewards for victory. On his way home, Li Xiuwen encountered Brother Ji, who demanded money and ordered him to help make drugs.

• Huang Sihai explained that the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall would send eight disciples to challenge the Sea Sand Style, and asked A Zhen, Big Silly Qiang, and Li Xiuwen to develop purple membranes before the contest.
• Huang Sihai promised two fish balls, three months without fees, and a movement technique to disciples who won their matches.
• Brother Ji emerged from a manhole and took Li Xiuwen’s forty bills, then offered him a packet of drugs.
• Brother Ji told Li Xiuwen to meet him in three nights and help make drugs, while Li Xiuwen concealed his anger after Brother Ji left.

Li Xiuwen bought a folding knife and decided to kill Brother Ji after learning that the gang was demanding ten years of protection fees from his relatives. After seeing the bodies of the pig blood soup seller and A-Hua, he trained hard for three days and prepared to confront Brother Ji.

• Li Xiuwen bought a folding knife and named it Butterfly.
• Li Xiuwen learned that Brother Ji had demanded ten years of protection fees from Chen's Rice Noodle Factory and told his relatives he would seek help.
• Li Xiuwen found the pig blood soup seller and A-Hua dead, apparently after the old woman poisoned them both.
• Li Xiuwen used two fish balls from Old Huang and trained intensively for three days, raising his Sea of Stake Training and blue membrane stage to 88%.
• Li Xiuwen compared his Sea Sand Style training with Brother Ji's Bear Mountain Style and decided he was ready to make his move.

Li Xiuwen lured Brother Ji into the sewers and killed him in a planned ambush, revealing that he had reached azure membrane cultivation. He stood over Brother Ji’s body after confirming the man was dead.

• Li Xiuwen told his aunt-in-law he was going out to practice boxing and left for his meeting with Brother Ji.
• Brother Ji led Li Xiuwen through the sewers, planning to introduce him to the Thirteen Guardians while hiding his powder-making scheme from Third Master.
• Li Xiuwen learned that Third Master did not know he was coming and followed Brother Ji deeper into the tunnels.
• Li Xiuwen stabbed Brother Ji in the back, threw powder into his face, and struck him with the Sand-Turning Palm.
• Brother Ji fought back, but Li Xiuwen broke his arm and neck, then continued striking until Brother Ji stopped moving.

Li Xiuwen killed Brother Ji, found a secret martial arts manual on him, and concealed the evidence. As the Thirteen Guardians planned to hide Brother Ji’s death, Li Xiuwen returned to Chen's Noodle Factory and reassured his aunt and uncle that their troubles might soon end.

• Li Xiuwen took the Moving-Mountain Style and Binding Armor Skill manual from Brother Ji, cleaned the corpse and his traces, and left it in the Sewers.
• Third Master and Venomous Snake learned that Brother Ji had been killed, and Third Master ordered them to burn the body and conceal the death from Dao Youming.
• Third Master revealed that he and the Thirteen Guardians planned to leave the Enclave after one more job, while Venomous Snake noted Brother Ji's poor martial arts talent and drug use.
• Li Xiuwen returned to Chen's Noodle Factory and heard his aunt and uncle planned to surrender their machines to Brother Ji in three days.
• Li Xiuwen comforted his aunt and uncle and suggested that Brother Ji might soon face punishment for his crimes.

Li Xiuwen borrowed money for his martial arts fees and focused on preparing for next month’s exchange match, while Master Ye trained the Night Heron Hall’s top disciples to face Four Seas. Huang Sihai warned Li Xiuwen that relying on fish balls could cause cultivation deviation, hinting at the danger behind their use.

• Li Xiuwen learned that his aunt and uncle were struggling financially, and his aunt borrowed five hundred dollars from neighbors to cover his fees.
• Li Xiuwen resolved to win next month’s exchange match and planned to progress toward becoming Old Huang’s formal disciple and entering the Learning Society.
• Master Ye drilled Longlegs Seven, Wen Wu, Tian Er, and Black Dog, warning them about likely opponents Liu Chun and Cheng Kuiqiang.
• Li Xiuwen found five hundred dollars beside his pillow, then went to train while remaining wary of the Thirteen Guardians and Third Master.
• Huang Sihai told Li Xiuwen that fish balls should be saved for breakthroughs and warned that their poison could cause cultivation deviation.