Recaps

Duan Rong used Devour Artifact Spirit to acquire saber skill and rapidly advance from menial disciple to Xiao Zongting’s apprentice. He discovered he could identify valuable artifacts and sold a painting for eight hundred taels, earning an offer to appraise more antiques.

• Duan Rong devoured the spirit of Zhao Mu’s saber and gained beginner mastery of the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber, then trained secretly while working at the Horse Stable.
• Duan Rong defeated Li Chong’s challenge and impressed Xiao Zongting at the apprentice assessment, passing alongside Kong Bin.
• Duan Rong and Kong Bin signed service contracts, and Duan Rong quickly began circulating inner breath after Xiao Zongting explained the method.
• Duan Rong explored the Weaponry Depot, devoured a Rank 1 artifact spirit, and strengthened his inner breath with deer antler velvet.
• Duan Rong reached Inner Breath Power, realized he needed money for training resources, and searched Antique Street for valuable artifacts.
• Duan Rong bought a genuine Portrait of a Lady for six qian and showed it to Tang Wan Hong at Gu Yue Zhai.
• Duan Rong sold Tang Wan Hong the painting for eight hundred taels and received an offer of thirty taels for each future appraisal.

Duan Rong balanced martial training with a portrait business, using art and medicine to advance his cultivation while drawing attention from courtesans and strangers. After Xiao Zongting exposed the danger in Guan Yun’s prescription, Duan Rong continued training and narrowly prevented Shen Mizhi from killing a woman, leaving rumors to spread about the encounter.

• Duan Rong killed four thieves in an alley, then struggled with the memory of their deaths as he returned to martial training.
• Duan Rong completed the First Level of Inner Breath, began the Second Level, and found Guan Yun’s prescription too costly to use regularly.
• Duan Rong gained painting skills from artifact spirits and began selling portraits, attracting Jiang Qingyu, Lan Ying, and the courtesans of Flower Shadow House.
• Duan Rong earned money painting portraits and used Guan Yun’s prescription while training intensely, unaware that its ingredients could destroy his Dantian.
• Xiao Zongting recognized the prescription’s danger, explained how Duan Rong’s training had protected him, and wrote him a safer cultivation prescription.
• Duan Rong moved his portrait stall beneath a willow tree, where Shen Mizhi became interested in his work after hearing about his fame.
• Shen Mizhi fought a woman over Qiu Hen’s drawing token, and Duan Rong knocked Shen down to stop her sword from killing the woman.
• Shen Mizhi kicked Duan Rong after he touched her chest while saving the woman, then left with Qiu Hen as rumors about the fight spread.

Duan Rong’s reputation grows as he saves Xiao Baijiao, learns new martial arts, and earns a lucrative commission from Xia Shuangshuang. Lured to Kudu Temple, he kills the men who ambush him, buries Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng, and returns toward Xiangu County as the sole surviving Menial Disciple of his group.

• Luan Jingfu accused Duan Rong of violating agency rules, but Xiao Zongting defended him and revealed his rapid progress in Inner Breath.
• Duan Rong visited Shen Yanliu’s home for a banquet, where he discovered Shen Mizhi was the daughter he had encountered during the street-painting dispute.
• Duan Rong stabilized Xiao Baijiao during a seizure with silver needles, and Gu Suxiu later treated her and recognized Duan Rong’s technique as resembling the Plum Blossom Needle Technique.
• Duan Rong learned Cloud Serpent Step by examining Zhu Xiaoqi’s anklet, mastered the footwork, and blended it with the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber while advancing to the Second Level of Inner Breath.
• Xia Shuangshuang hired Duan Rong to paint her practicing with a spear, praised his Heaven and Earth Spear Dance Painting, and paid him five hundred taels.
• Tian Xin lured Duan Rong to the abandoned Kudu Temple, where Zhou Shoushan, Wu Hui, Kong Bin, and Zhang Zheng surrounded him and threatened to kill him.
• Duan Rong killed Wu Hui, Zhou Shoushan, Kong Bin, and Zhang Zheng, searched their bodies, and found over ten thousand taels in silver and Silver Notes.
• Duan Rong discovered the Ghost Head Saber contained the Yellow Springs Saber Technique and carried poison, buried Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng, and left Kudu Temple for Xiangu County.

Duan Rong sought a way to raise his Mental Strength, but returned from Wild Boar Mountain to find Xiao Baijiao dead and the escort agency under investigation. He uncovered Xu Ruhu and Jie Lei’s secret, killed them and obtained the Garbha Sutra, then joined Xiao Baijiao’s funeral procession as Jie Daohan pursued the deaths.

• Duan Rong discovered that devouring tree spirits could raise his Mental Strength, then spent days on Wild Boar Mountain devouring dozens of them.
• Duan Rong returned to Xiangu County and learned Xiao Baijiao had died while he was away, then grieved at her coffin.
• Fan Yuanhai authorized a search of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, while Duan Rong learned from Yang Zhen that Jie Lei had helped Xu Ruhu escape the Great Prison.
• Duan Rong suspected Jie Lei had hidden Xu Ruhu and followed him to a courtyard, where he found a concealed passage beneath a dry well.
• Duan Rong found Xu Ruhu in an underground chamber, killed him with Poison Needles, and later ambushed Jie Lei when he entered the cave.
• Duan Rong killed Jie Lei and took the Garbha Sutra, the Obstacle Blade, and the Longevity Lock, then hid the manual and returned to the escort agency.
• Duan Rong helped carry Xiao Baijiao’s coffin in the funeral procession as Jie Daohan discovered the underground chamber and identified the poisoned bodies.
• Jie Daohan rushed to the West City Gate after learning the funeral procession was about to leave, suspecting the killer might be among its mourners.