Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun learned what Ao Huang and the five little flood dragons had gained from the Dragon Emperor Treasury and planned to cultivate before advancing. When Yan Yukong invited him to a Literary Assembly, Fang Yun sensed a trap and discovered it was a Seat-Seizing Literary Gathering he should avoid.

• Fang Yun and Yan Yukong left the Sacred Academy Medical Hall, where Lei Yigu and the other Lei Family members hurried away in silence.
• Ao Qingyue told Fang Yun that Ao Huang had obtained an Illusory Tower Pearl containing a Dragon Emperor's discourse, while the five little flood dragons had received a pearl divided among them.
• Fang Yun agreed to let Ao Huang and the five little flood dragons cultivate at the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace and said he would study and train for advancement to Grand Academician and his final ascent of Book Mountain.
• Yan Yukong invited Fang Yun to a Literary Assembly in the Qing Kingdom, but Fang Yun sensed something was wrong and asked him to investigate.
• Yan Yukong discovered that the gathering was a Seat-Seizing Literary Gathering and advised Fang Yun not to attend.

Yan Yukong advised Fang Yun to build a firm foundation, learn the customs of Kong City, and avoid joining Jing Kingdom’s war against the Barbarians. Fang Yun planned to use the True Dragon Edict to help defend Jing Kingdom, while Yan Yukong prepared to introduce him to the city’s influential scholars.

• Yan Yukong warned Fang Yun against rushing his cultivation and advised him to train steadily before attempting the Hall of Non-Being or the Three Ascents of Book Mountain.
• Yan Yukong explained the precise, demanding nature of literary assemblies and offered to guide Fang Yun through Kong City’s customs and important visits.
• Yan Yukong urged Fang Yun to abandon Jing Kingdom’s northern front and focus on the greater threat at Two Worlds Mountain, but Fang Yun said he would do his best not to go north.
• Fang Yun explained that he had wagered for the True Dragon Edict and would use it, with help from the Four Seas Dragon Palaces, to hold back the Grass Barbarians.
• Fang Yun declared that a Void Sage should guard the nation’s gates, and Yan Yukong resolved to post his words on the Literary Ranking.
• Yan Yukong agreed that Fang Yun could ask Half-Sage Guanhai to demand justice if the Lei Family delayed handing over the promised treasures.

After returning to the Sacred Academy, Fang Yun toured its halls with Yan Yukong and Kong Delun and learned why the Lei Family was delaying payment of his wager. The chapter ended with Fang Yun revealing that Lei Zhongmo and other Lei Family members would soon publicly beg his forgiveness.

• Fang Yun toured the Sacred Academy with Yan Yukong and Kong Delun, visiting its pavilions and powerful elders.
• Fang Yun learned that the Lei Family claimed its remaining wagered treasures were inside secret grounds that could not be opened until Lei Tingyu returned from exile.
• Yan Yukong argued that the Lei Family should have an emergency method to enter, but Fang Yun could not share what Lei Zhongmo had revealed about the grounds.
• Fang Yun learned that the Lei Family secret grounds were a Half-Sage Former Residence, which the family had secretly anchored after finding it in the starry sky.
• Fang Yun told Yan Yukong and Kong Delun that Lei Zhongmo, Lei Yigu, and other Lei Family members would bear thorn switches and beg his forgiveness in three days.

Fang Yun ordered the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace to secretly locate the Lei Family Secret Grounds and accepted responsibility for any consequences. When Lei Zhongmo arrived to beg forgiveness, Fang Yun made the Lei Family wait outside his residence while he visited the Kong Family.

• Fang Yun told Yan Yukong and Kong Delun that he had added extra demands to the Lei Family's compensation.
• Fang Yun ordered Ao Qingyue to investigate the Lei Family Secret Grounds and said he would bear any karmic consequences.
• Fang Yun planned to take Yang Yuhuan to visit important figures, and scholars gathered in huge numbers to witness the Lei Family's apology.
• Lei Zhongmo led his family to Chongwen Academy, bore thorns, and begged Fang Yun to punish him.
• Fang Daniu told Lei Zhongmo that Fang Yun and Yang Yuhuan were visiting the Kong Family and would not return until after breakfast, leaving the Lei Family waiting.

Fang Yun accepted the Lei Family’s apology and part of the wager, including the Flood Dragon Sage Edict, while recognizing their repentance was incomplete. He then told Yang Yuhuan he would publicly support the Heroine Society, despite the dangers it faced, and planned to visit its school for women.

• Fang Yun welcomed Lei Zhongmo, rejected his self-punishment, and publicly forgave the Lei Family for its past offenses.
• Lei Zhongmo handed Fang Yun the wager’s treasures, property documents, bulk goods, and the Flood Dragon Sage Edict, while keeping some promised valuables in the family’s secret vault.
• After Lei Zhongmo left, Fang Yun told Yang Yuhuan that the Lei Family was not truly sincere because it had withheld treasures.
• Fang Yun asked Yang Yuhuan to accompany him to meet Kong City’s important figures and said he would visit the Heroine Society on the first day of the next month.
• Yang Yuhuan warned Fang Yun that scholars had persecuted the Heroine Society and destroyed its women’s academy, but Fang Yun maintained that he would support it.

Fang Yun brought Yang Yuhuan and Su Xiaoxiao to the Heroine Farmstead, where a crowd of women eagerly awaited him. He felt more nervous facing them than facing armies or scholars.

• Fang Yun reassured Su Xiaoxiao that she could visit the Heroine Society and later host its members at his residence with Yang Yuhuan.
• Fang Yun’s family traveled from the Sacred Academy toward the Heroine Farmstead, accompanied by more than two hundred guards and Ying Cang.
• Fang Yun stopped the procession outside the farmstead and entered with Yang Yuhuan and four Metropolitan Graduates.
• More than a thousand women from different ages and social classes gathered to meet Fang Yun, and they joked about his kindness to Yang Yuhuan.
• Fang Yun felt unusually nervous as he faced the waiting women.

Fang Yun visited the Heroine Society’s women’s farmstead, where he learned about the women who lived and studied there and saw how the society had been suppressed. He toured the school and joined its members for lunch, leaving the ruined entrance untouched as a witness to their treatment.

• Fang Yun arrived with his wife and Su Xiaoxiao, and the women of the Heroine Society welcomed him with gratitude.
• Yang Xunlou guided Fang Yun around the farmstead and explained that many women lived there because they were poor, displaced, or refugees.
• Fang Yun saw the broken gateway that authorities had forbidden the society to rebuild and said it should remain as a witness for future generations.
• Fang Yun toured the classrooms, discussed teaching, and tested students on passages from The Analects.
• Fang Yun agreed to eat lunch with the women, who chose an experienced cook to prepare Jing Kingdom dishes.

Fang Yun visited the Heroine Society, offered plans to expand women’s education, and proposed training women to care for wounded soldiers. The women welcomed his support, and Yang Xunlou asked him to write a poem for the Heroine Society.

• Fang Yun inspected the dining hall, ate with the women, and discussed ways to recruit and educate more female students.
• Yang Xunlou warned Fang Yun that the Heroine Society faced powerful opposition, but Fang Yun insisted he could make his proposals happen.
• Yang Xunlou showed Fang Yun the parade ground, where female students trained with weapons and practiced military exercises.
• Fang Yun said women already helped resist the Demon Barbarians through their work and proposed collaborating with the Medical Hall and War Hall to train women in medical care.
• Yang Xunlou asked Fang Yun to compose a poem for the Heroine Society, promising that its members would not circulate it.

Fang Yun wrote a war poem for the Heroine Society despite warnings that supporting the women’s military training could anger conservative scholars. The poem strengthened only the women present, leaving them to hail him as the originator of women’s war poetry.

• Fang Yun rejected Yang Xunlou’s warning and said he would write a poem and publish an account of his visit to the Heroine Society.
• Fang Yun inspected the Heroine Society’s students as they formed ranks on the drill ground.
• Fang Yun wrote a poem praising the women who chose battle dress over rouge and finery.
• The poem gained eternal-transmission radiance, transformed into a phoenix, and sent a ring of red light across the drill ground.
• The women felt their strength and stamina increase, while Fang Yun and his four Metropolitan Graduate private soldiers were unaffected.
• Yang Xunlou concluded that the war poem empowered women, and the students praised Fang Yun as the Poem Ancestor of women’s war poetry.

Fang Yun honored the Heroine Society with a new plaque naming it the Heroine Academy and pledged to protect the women’s school from further attacks. His declaration was followed by a sudden ripple of sacred power at the Sacred Academy, leaving its Grand Academicians and Great Scholars shaken.

• Fang Yun gave Yang Xunlou another copy of the Heroine Eulogy and continued touring the farm.
• At the smashed gate, Fang Yun asked the women to bring him an uninscribed plaque and declared that he would give the place its rightful name.
• Fang Yun carved the words “Heroine Academy” into an ebony plaque with the True Dragon Ancient Sword, moving the women to tears.
• Fang Yun announced that he would notify the Sacred Academy of the women’s academy and warned that anyone who attacked it would face his retaliation.
• At the Sacred Academy, Grand Academicians and Great Scholars sensed a brief ripple of sacred power from the Eastern Sage Pavilion and were left drenched in sweat.

Fang Yun established the first women’s academy, the Heroine Academy, and reassured the Heroine Society that he would defend it against attempts to shut it down. As scholars from the Sacred Academy approached, the women feared trouble, but Fang Yun noted that their purpose was unclear.

• More than a thousand women bowed to Fang Yun and the newly unveiled Heroine Academy plaque, while Su Xiaoxiao insisted they finish their bows before he helped them rise.
• Fang Yun explained that a Void Sage could establish an academy without Sacred Academy approval and said he would build more academies in the Bloodmang Realm if the Heroine Academy were banned.
• Fang Yun registered the academy and arranged for the Medical Hall to train women and authorize them to aid the wounded behind the front lines.
• Two Great Scholars and twelve Grand Academicians arrived from the Sacred Academy, frightening the women and causing one to collapse from fright.
• The women urged Fang Yun to destroy the plaque and vowed to protect him, but Fang Yun told them to stay calm and observed that the visiting scholars were not from the offices most likely to arrest him.

Fang Yun’s family feared that the Heroine Society plaque would bring trouble, but Great Scholars Sai Xiaoyu and Ling Gu'ao arrived to admire its unprecedented calligraphy rather than confiscate it. After a comic misunderstanding, they examined the plaque and praised Fang Yun’s new Regular Script, then asked him to write more.

• Fang Yun put the Heroine Calligraphy Society plaque into his Sea-Swallowing Shell to ease his family’s worries.
• Sai Xiaoyu and Ling Gu'ao arrived with Grand Academicians and asked Fang Yun to bring out the plaque, alarming the Heroine Society women.
• Several older women staged a dramatic collapse before Ling Gu'ao, believing the scholars meant to arrest Fang Yun.
• Sai Xiaoyu explained that they had come to study the plaque’s four characters, and the embarrassed women hurried into the academy.
• Ling Gu'ao drew out the plaque, and the scholars praised Fang Yun’s new Regular Script and asked him to write an essay in the style.

Fang Yun explained that admiration for Yan Zi had inspired him to create Yan Style, and the calligraphy drew scholars from across Kong City to the Heroine Academy. As the crowd gathered beneath the newly restored gate, Li Fanming joked about whether Fang Yun had made the script for Yan Yukong, setting everyone laughing.

• Fang Yun said his admiration for Sage Yan had inspired Yan Style, and Sai Xiaoyu and Ling Gu'ao made rubbings of the calligraphy on Sage Pages.
• More than thirty Walking the Blue Clouds arrived, including Yan Yukong, and Fang Yun told the Heroine Society to prepare for the gathering of calligraphy enthusiasts.
• Yan Yukong studied the plaque as scholars streamed in, and Yang Xunlou directed the women in setting out tables, chairs, fruit, and food.
• A Mohist Grand Academician used a Lu Ban Ruler to build a new gate and mount the Heroine Academy plaque above it.
• Sai Xiaoyu and Wang Minghan declared that the gathering would discuss only calligraphy, calming the crowd and discouraging anyone from stirring up trouble.
• Li Fanming teased Fang Yun about creating Yan Style for Yan Yukong, and Fang Yun, Yan Yukong, Nunu, and the Inkstone Turtle reacted amid the laughter.

Fang Yun hosted a lively gathering at the Heroine Academy, writing Yan Style calligraphy for the crowd before learning that a prominent article had challenged his efforts to raise women’s status. He answered the critics with a pointed defense of women, leaving the debate over the Heroine Academy underway.

• Li Fanming arrived at the Heroine Academy with Big Rabbit, who greeted Fang Yun and joined Nunu and Inkstone Turtle.
• Crowds gathered to witness Fang Yun’s literary assembly, and he wrote several poems in Yan Style calligraphy for them.
• Yang Yuhuan teased Fang Yun about the heroine in his poem, and Li Fanming urged him to check the Discourse Ranking.
• Fang Yun read an article by an elderly Hanlin Academician arguing against the Heroine Academy and saw scholars debate women’s status.
• Fang Yun responded to critics who claimed women were useless by asking who had given birth to the men fighting the demon barbarians.

Fang Yun established his oversight role in the Heroine Society and told its members that equality required strength and sacrifice. His words sparked debate on the Literary Ranking, where opposition to the Heroine Academy began to soften.

• After the literary assembly ended, the Calligraphy Academy decided to promote Yan Style throughout the human race, and the Heroine Society thanked Fang Yun for establishing the Heroine Academy.
• Fang Yun proposed the right to recommend and oversee the society’s leaders, and Yang Xunlou agreed to draft a charter that gave him authority to nominate three supervisors.
• Fang Yun explained that women’s standing had changed with society’s needs and warned that the Heroine Society would need strength and sacrifice to earn equality.
• Fang Yun left the Heroine Academy, and Yang Xunlou and the other women bowed to thank him for his guidance.
• A Metropolitan Graduate posted Fang Yun’s speech on the Literary Ranking, where debate shifted and many former opponents of the Heroine Academy became neutral.

Fang Yun planned his Sacred Academy activities and began selecting courses, balancing his studies with preparations for the Infinite Battle Hall and the Three Ascents of Book Mountain. He arrived at the course selection office and started choosing among the academy’s demanding Sacred Way and combat classes.

• Fang Yun read messages about his Yan Style script and the Heroine Society, then replied to Yan Yukong, who reminded him about course selection and upcoming academy events.
• Fang Yun decided to skip the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Festival literary assemblies so he could absorb the Dragon Gate’s power and challenge the Hanlin Hall.
• Fang Yun inspected the True Dragon Ancient Sword and saw that it had gained six true dragon patterns, increasing its power by twenty percent.
• Fang Yun traveled by flying boat to the course selection office, where new students and Jing Kingdom scholars greeted him.
• Fang Yun began selecting courses, which included Sacred Way subjects and the compulsory combat classes Lip Spear and Tongue Sword, War Poetry, and survival.

Fang Yun selected twenty-four elective courses at Chongwen Academy, explaining that he would use an Illusory Tower Pearl to keep up with them. His friends were inspired to take on more courses, while Fang Yun returned to study and planned to sleep only half an hour a day.

• Fang Yun told Grand Academician Wan Xiangchao that he was selecting twenty-four elective courses and would use an Illusory Tower Pearl to record and review classes.
• Wan Xiangchao warned Fang Yun about the workload and the consequences of failing, then agreed to account for the pearl when arranging his schedule.
• Fang Yun finished registering, and his friends worried about his demanding course load as he said he had to keep moving forward against the approaching demon barbarians.
• After Fang Yun left, his friends decided to add courses, and Wan Xiangchao praised Fang Yun’s influence on the new students.
• Fang Yun returned to his quarters, took Seven-Colored Jade Ginseng, and entered the Strange Book World to study, intending to sleep only half an hour a day.

Fang Yun studied relentlessly at Chongwen Academy, using Illusory Tower Pearls and the Strange Book World to keep up with many classes while practicing and writing through the night. As the Heroine Academy controversy quieted without a Ritual Hall ban, the chapter ended with Fang Yun and School of War students arriving at Chang Hong Courtyard for the Farewell Spring Literary Gathering.

• Fang Yun used Illusory Tower Pearls and Dual-Mindedness to record and study lessons he could not attend in person.
• Fang Yun reviewed and previewed lessons inside the Strange Book World, then practiced combat techniques and wrote through the night before returning to classes.
• Sacred Academy students began studying harder under Fang Yun's example, while most opponents abandoned plans to undermine his literary reputation.
• The Ritual Hall did not ban the Heroine Calligraphy Society because its elders remained divided, and rumors circulated about its political motives.
• Yang Yuhuan and Su Xiaoxiao joined the Heroine Society and helped run it.
• Fang Yun retrieved the last Illusory Tower Pearl from the School of War classroom and went with its students to Chang Hong Courtyard for the Farewell Spring Literary Gathering.

Fang Yun attended the Farewell Spring Literary Gathering while considering the war against the demon barbarians and the role of Sage Kong’s Literary World people. At Weibei Fortress, Zhang Poyue’s exhausted defenders faced a new assault until a million Eastern Sea Water Race warriors arrived to reinforce them.

• Fang Yun answered classmates’ questions on the way to Chang Hong Courtyard while keeping matters he could not disclose to himself.
• Fang Yun thought about Literary World people joining the war and followed reports of the Three Frontiers and Two Worlds Mountain.
• Zhang Poyue and his generals discussed the barbarians’ relentless attacks and how Fang Yun’s Light Iron Poison Arrows had killed twenty-one Barbarian Kings.
• Zhang Poyue wondered how much longer Weibei Fortress could hold as the defenders faced a seemingly endless war of attrition.
• An immense wave surged toward Weibei Fortress as a million Eastern Sea Water Race warriors arrived beneath the banners of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace.

Fang Yun attended the farewell spring literary gathering at the Sacred Academy, where he won over his fellow students and reunited with friends who were hosting the event. Zhang Zhixing announced a contest requiring brief, unusual works about spring and threatened humiliating punishment for those who failed.

• Fang Yun greeted the students seated with him, learned about Duan Qing's courtship, and offered Tang Yu help with his father's illness.
• Zhang Zhixing, Sun Renbing, and Li Fanming took the platform, signaling the Academy's support for Fang Yun and warning others against causing trouble.
• Zhang Zhixing opened the farewell spring literary gathering and explained that new students had to write unusual, brief poetry or prose about spring.
• Zhang Zhixing said students who failed to finish or produced poor work would have to shout that they were pigs and oink twice on Academy Street.