Chapter Summaries

After Duan Rong saved Xiao Baijiao during her illness, Gu Suxiu warned Xiao Zongting that another attack could be fatal. Duan Rong later brought gifts for Xiao Baijiao and asked Zhu Xiaoqi to give them to her.

• Duan Rong told Xiao Zongting that an elderly neighbor had taught him acupuncture and painting when he was young.
• Gu Suxiu told Xiao Zongting that Xiao Baijiao had survived the attack but might not survive another one.
• Gu Suxiu prescribed medicine for Xiao Baijiao, and she soon fell asleep with steady breathing and color returning to her face.
• Gu Suxiu recognized that Duan Rong's needling resembled his family's Plum Blossom Needle Technique and wondered if Duan Rong was connected to him.
• Duan Rong practiced at the Martial Arts Field and completed his drawing work before buying Osmanthus Cake and candied fruit.
• Duan Rong visited Xiao Zongting's courtyard and asked Zhu Xiaoqi to give the gifts to Xiao Baijiao and tell her to take care of herself.

Duan Rong devoured the Artifact Spirit from Zhu Xiaoqi’s silver anklet and gained beginner-level Cloud Serpent Step. After a painful first attempt, he spent the day practicing the footwork in the dormitory before hurrying to his stall on West Avenue.

• Duan Rong accepted buns from Zhu Xiaoqi, then examined her silver anklet and used Artifact Spirit to learn Cloud Serpent Step.
• Duan Rong returned to the dormitory and dreamed of the footwork’s movements across the ground, wooden stakes, and lotus leaves.
• Duan Rong tried the Cloud Serpent Step in the cramped dormitory at night, slammed into a wall, and startled the bookkeeping apprentice.
• Duan Rong practiced his stance at the Martial Arts Field, then spent the day training Cloud Serpent Step in the dormitory, eventually moving along walls and across the ceiling.
• Duan Rong stopped when Shen Hour arrived, washed at the well, gathered his tools, and headed to his stall beneath the crooked willow tree on West Avenue.

Duan Rong visited Xiao Baijiao after she learned he had saved her with acupuncture, but her lingering weakness and farewell-like words suggested her illness remained dangerous. She gave him an embroidered sachet to remember her by, leaving him unable to respond.

• Duan Rong heard from Zhu Xiaoqi that Xiao Baijiao wanted to thank him and agreed to visit her the next morning.
• Duan Rong arrived at Xiao Zongting's courtyard with a swollen bump on his forehead, and Zhu Xiaoqi teased him about it.
• Zhu Xiaoqi told Duan Rong that Xiao Zongting had left early that morning for an unknown destination.
• Xiao Baijiao told Duan Rong that she still felt weak and thanked him for saving her once.
• Xiao Baijiao gave Duan Rong an embroidered sachet as thanks and something to remember her by, and Duan Rong felt unable to speak.

Duan Rong comforted Xiao Baijiao with a poem that lifted her spirits, then left with the sachet she had embroidered for him. In the Front Courtyard, Zhu Xiaoqi treated his forehead but grew jealous of the sachet, and Kong Bin’s questions about it provoked her into insulting him.

• Xiao Baijiao gave Duan Rong a sachet embroidered for her eldest sister, and Duan Rong inscribed a poem on her painting to ease her sorrow.
• Xiao Baijiao read the poem, felt her gloom lift, and watched Duan Rong leave with the sachet.
• Zhu Xiaoqi applied medicinal paste to Duan Rong’s swollen forehead, then struck the bump after noticing the sachet in his hand.
• Duan Rong encountered Kong Bin outside Xiao Zongting’s courtyard, and the two passed without greeting each other.
• Kong Bin asked Zhu Xiaoqi who had made Duan Rong’s sachet and whether every apprentice escort received one, so Zhu Xiaoqi angrily insulted him.

After being snubbed by Xiao Zongting and Zhu Xiaoqi, Kong Bin heard that former Whale Tiger Gang leader Zhou Shoushan wanted to meet him. Kong Bin accepted the invitation to Swallow Tower, while Duan Rong found that interest in his portrait stall was fading.

• Kong Bin left Xiao Zongting's courtyard hungry and dejected after Xiao Zongting failed to return and Zhu Xiaoqi ignored him.
• Kong Bin skipped dinner and practiced his stance in the Front Courtyard, where Zhang Zheng told him that Wu Hui had conveyed Zhou Shoushan's invitation to dinner.
• Kong Bin recalled how Zhou Shoushan and Wu Hui had survived the purge that killed his and Zhang Zheng's fathers, and reconsidered his reluctance to meet them.
• Kong Bin agreed to meet Zhou Shoushan at Swallow Tower in three days.
• Duan Rong returned from West Avenue after serving five customers and considered setting up his portrait stall only once every three days.

Duan Rong spent three days developing a rudimentary way to combine the Cloud Serpent Step with the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber. Meanwhile, Kong Bin met with Zhou Shoushan and Wu Hui at Swallow Tower and began proposing a money-making scheme that required Zhou Shoushan’s leadership.

• Duan Rong shut himself in the dormitory and practiced blending the Cloud Serpent Step with the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber.
• After three days, Duan Rong found he could use the Cloud Serpent Step’s body technique to make the saber forms more elusive, though the fusion remained rudimentary.
• Duan Rong washed up and went to the dining hall for dinner.
• At Swallow Tower, Zhou Shoushan reminisced with Wu Hui about his former influence in South City and complained about being ignored by the new staff.
• Kong Bin toasted Zhou Shoushan, praised his loyalty, and said he had a money-making plan that needed Zhou Shoushan to lead it.

Duan Rong mastered the Cloud Serpent Step, integrated some of it into his saber forms, and reached the Second Level of Inner Breath. After completing his training, he was summoned to the Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s gate to meet a woman from the Xia Residence.

• Zhou Shoushan and Wu Hui learned from Kong Bin that Duan Rong earned large sums selling paintings, and Zhou Shoushan told Wu Hui to investigate.
• Duan Rong mastered the Cloud Serpent Step and incorporated some of its techniques into the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber.
• Duan Rong broke through to the Second Level of Inner Breath and found that his combat strength had increased.
• The gatekeeper told Duan Rong that a young woman from the Xia Residence had come to see him.
• Duan Rong went to the main gate and saw a fine horse, an elegant carriage, and a radiant woman waiting outside.

Xia Shuangshuang invited Duan Rong to Xia Residence, curious about the painter who had angered Shen Mizhi, and asked him to paint her practicing with a spear. Duan Rong began the commission at the pavilion by the pond.

• Xue Qing introduced herself as a maidservant of Xia Residence and escorted Duan Rong there by carriage.
• Xue Qing led Duan Rong through Xia Residence to a pavilion beside a pond, where Xia Shuangshuang was feeding koi.
• Xia Shuangshuang recalled that Shen Mizhi had become angry and avoided her after she mentioned inviting Duan Rong to paint their portraits.
• Xia Shuangshuang greeted Duan Rong and arranged painting tools at the pavilion.
• Duan Rong asked what Xia Shuangshuang wanted painted, and she requested a portrait of herself practicing with a spear.

Xia Shuangshuang demonstrated her spear technique for Duan Rong, who painted her performance as the Heaven and Earth Spear Dance Painting and won her admiration. After helping Duan Rong leave the Xia Residence before Shen Mizhi arrived, Xia Shuangshuang arranged for him to receive five hundred taels, and he went to a modest tavern to feast.

• Xia Shuangshuang fetched her Hundred Birds Facing Phoenix Spear and demonstrated the Azure Water Spear Technique for Duan Rong.
• Duan Rong painted Xia Shuangshuang dancing her spear beneath an immense blank sky, and she praised the conception of his Heaven and Earth Spear Dance Painting.
• A maid warned that Shen Mizhi was approaching, so Xia Shuangshuang sent Xue Qing to escort Duan Rong out and distracted Shen Mizhi at the rockery.
• Xue Qing gave Duan Rong a silver note for five hundred taels as he left the Xia Residence.
• Duan Rong chose a cheap tavern over the expensive restaurants on West Avenue and enjoyed a hearty meal with wine.

Duan Rong accepted a two-hundred-tael commission to paint Kudu Temple’s deity statue and traveled with a gaunt monk to the temple near Silver Mountain. He arrived at its seemingly deserted gates, still unaware of why the temple appeared so quiet.

• Duan Rong met a gaunt monk outside Yuan Shun Escort Agency, who asked him to paint a portrait of Kudu Temple’s deity statue for an abbot in Ruyang Prefecture.
• Duan Rong agreed to the commission after the monk offered him two hundred taels of silver.
• Duan Rong rode with the monk in an old carriage toward Kudu Temple, bracing himself against the rough road with his martial arts stance.
• Duan Rong noticed that the temple seemed desolate despite the monk’s claim that it received abundant offerings.
• Duan Rong followed the monk up the mountain path and reached the platform before Kudu Temple’s gates.

Duan Rong entered Kudu Temple believing the monk Tian Xin had invited him into a peaceful sanctuary, only to discover an abandoned temple and a trap set by the Whale Tiger Gang. Surrounded by Zhou Shoushan, Wu Hui, Kong Bin, and Zhang Zheng, Duan Rong faced their threats while remaining confident he could escape with his Cloud Serpent Step.

• Duan Rong noticed signs of neglect at Kudu Temple but followed Tian Xin inside after the monk invited him in.
• Duan Rong discovered the temple was abandoned, and Tian Xin shut the gates and revealed his hostile nature.
• A trained fighter landed between Duan Rong and Tian Xin, and Duan Rong recognized the pair as Zhou Shoushan and Wu Hui of the Whale Tiger Gang.
• Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng emerged from the ruined hall and joined the others in surrounding Duan Rong.
• Zhou Shoushan, Wu Hui, and Kong Bin threatened to kill Duan Rong and bury him in a pit Kong Bin had dug.

Duan Rong fought the bandits at the ruined temple, killing Wu Hui and overpowering Zhou Shoushan. The chapter left Zhou Shoushan badly wounded and disarmed as Duan Rong kicked him into the courtyard, while Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng fled toward the wall.

• Duan Rong drew his saber and struck Wu Hui with a sudden attack, sending the bandit's Wolf Tooth Club into the wall.
• Duan Rong killed Wu Hui with a slash and immediately turned on Zhou Shoushan.
• Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng fled toward a banyan tree, hoping to use it to escape over the courtyard wall.
• Duan Rong mocked Zhou Shoushan's offer to make peace and kept attacking, eventually cutting open his belly.
• Duan Rong cut off Zhou Shoushan's saber hand and kicked him rolling toward the center of the courtyard.

Duan Rong killed Kong Bin, Zhang Zheng, and Zhou Shoushan at the temple, then gathered their corpses and looted their valuables. He found a small Black Porcelain Bottle on Zhou Shoushan, but its contents released a foul stench that made him dizzy.

• Duan Rong stabbed Kong Bin through the heart and killed Zhang Zheng after Zhang Zheng begged for mercy.
• Duan Rong found Zhou Shoushan crawling toward the courtyard gate and slit his throat.
• Duan Rong rested, then dragged all four corpses to the pit Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng had dug for him.
• Duan Rong searched the bodies and collected more than ten thousand taels in Silver Notes and loose silver.
• Duan Rong opened Zhou Shoushan's Black Porcelain Bottle, recoiled from its foul stench, and quickly replaced the stopper.

After killing Zhou Shoushan and Wu Hui, Duan Rong discovered that Zhou Shoushan’s Ghost Head Saber had been coated with the Black Porcelain Bottle’s deadly poison. He mourned Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng, reflecting that the Menial Disciples who had tried to change their fates had all died except him, though he knew the original Duan Rong had also perished.

• Duan Rong disposed of Wu Hui and Zhou Shoushan’s bodies, then examined the Ghost Head Saber and learned it contained the Yellow Springs Saber Technique.
• Duan Rong reconsidered his belief in mastering a single discipline and considered using his ability to devour artifact spirits to blend other martial arts into the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber.
• Duan Rong noticed a blue gleam on the Ghost Head Saber and tested it on Zhou Shoushan’s corpse, discovering the blade carried poison as potent and foul as the contents of the Black Porcelain Bottle.
• Duan Rong threw the poisoned saber into the pit and found Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng’s bodies beside it.
• Duan Rong mourned Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng, remembered that Li Chong had failed the assessment and died by suicide, and realized he was the sole survivor of their group of Menial Disciples.

After burying Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng at Kudu Temple, Duan Rong learned the history behind the temple’s ruin and Wu Hui’s murderous past. He freed the old horse, destroyed the broken cart, and returned to Xiangu County, where he stopped for dinner.

• Duan Rong buried Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng, noticed a wildcat, and left Kudu Temple after reflecting on its sturdy walls.
• Duan Rong recalled how Filthy Blood Sect members had seized Kudu Temple, murdered its monks, and used it as a base for abducting and abusing women before County Magistrate Wang Zhentang’s forces killed them.
• Duan Rong learned that Wu Hui had been a monk at Kudu Temple, survived the massacre by hiding in a dry well, and later became bloodthirsty.
• Duan Rong freed the old horse and smashed the broken cart against a boulder.
• Duan Rong walked back toward Xiangu County through the spring countryside and ate dinner at a small tavern near West Avenue.

After drinking to suppress the distress left by killing, Duan Rong devoured the Yellow Springs Saber Technique and practiced it the next morning. He realized he needed to raise his Mental Strength to advance his cultivation, then went to ask Xiao Zongting for guidance and encountered the strange-looking man summoned to examine Xiao Baijiao.

• Duan Rong drank a jar of Bamboo Leaf Green Wine to ease his lingering distress after killing, then devoured the Mo Dao's artifact spirit to gain Mastery of the Yellow Springs Saber Technique.
• After sleeping off the drink, Duan Rong practiced the Yellow Springs Saber Technique in his dormitory and judged its defensive moves useful mainly against fast, elusive attacks.
• Duan Rong recognized that he needed Level 2 Mental Strength to devour the Minor Accomplishment Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber artifact spirit, and decided to ask Xiao Zongting how to improve it.
• Duan Rong went to Xiao Zongting's courtyard to request the third-level Inner Breath secret manual and found Zhu Xiaoqi drying radish for pickling.
• Xiao Zongting emerged from the back courtyard with a vicious-looking, thin man whom he had brought to examine Xiao Baijiao, and Duan Rong was startled by the man's appearance.

Xiao Baijiao accepted that Evil Doctor Shen Ping could not cure her and asked Xiao Zongting to spend her remaining time with her rather than seek more doctors. Xiao Zongting gave Duan Rong the third-level Inner Breath manual and explained how Mental Strength led martial artists from Minute Subtlety to Perfection, leaving Duan Rong amazed by the ideal of perfect integration.

• Xiao Zongting returned with Duan Rong and found Xiao Baijiao weary after Evil Doctor Shen Ping had examined her.
• Xiao Baijiao comforted Xiao Zongting, accepted her fate, and asked him not to seek more famous doctors; he promised to honor her request.
• Xiao Zongting asked Duan Rong about his cultivation, learned he had reached the Second Level, and gave him the third-level secret manual.
• Duan Rong asked how Mental Strength served as the core of Martial Arts, and Xiao Zongting explained its role in reaching Minute Subtlety and Perfection.
• Xiao Zongting described Perfection as the seamless union of Martial Skills and Inner Breath, which he called the Perfectly Integrated Realm.

Duan Rong learned that the Divine Soul Technique could improve Mental Strength, but that access to it was tightly controlled by the Taiyi Sect. Convinced he had no other path forward, he returned to the ancient ginkgo tree, intending to work on its tree spirit.

• Duan Rong asked Xiao Zongting whether Mental Strength could be improved, and Xiao Zongting revealed that the Divine Soul Technique could raise it through acquired means.
• Xiao Zongting explained that the Taiyi Sect restricted the technique to select disciples and that Shen Yanliu, an Outer Sect Disciple posted outside the sect, could not obtain it.
• Duan Rong realized his Level 1 Mental Strength might keep him from advancing, and that wealth could not buy the sect’s core resources.
• Duan Rong left the escort agency in despair, then stopped at the ancient ginkgo tree and pressed his palm against its bark, deciding to seek help from its tree spirit.

Duan Rong searched Xiangu County for tree-type artifact spirits that could increase his mental strength, finding a Rank 9 spirit in a 361-year-old ginkgo and a Rank 15 spirit in a 1,227-year-old mulberry. Unable to determine how tree spirits gained ranks, he took several days off and rode toward Wild Boar Mountain to continue his search, stopping at a village to ask for water.

• Duan Rong found that the Old Ginkgo Tree had a Rank 9 artifact spirit whose Devouring Effect could increase his mental strength.
• Duan Rong searched the trees in the Yuan Shun Escort Agency and across Xiangu County, discovering that an ancient mulberry at the City God Temple had a Rank 15 artifact spirit.
• Duan Rong concluded he needed to search elsewhere because the trees in Xiangu County provided too few samples to reveal the ranking pattern.
• Duan Rong asked Xiao Zongting for several days off, and Xiao Zongting agreed without questioning him.
• Duan Rong rode a Date-Red Horse toward Wild Boar Mountain and stopped at a nearby village to ask an old man for water.

Duan Rong entered Wild Boar Mountain alone to search for tree spirits he could devour to increase his Mental Strength. After finding and devouring a Rank One spirit without any immediate discomfort, he continued deeper into the forest to test the effect further.

• Duan Rong gave an old man silver to care for his horse and then set off alone into Wild Boar Mountain.
• Duan Rong used the Cloud Serpent Step to cross the steep mountains and enter a secluded valley forest.
• Duan Rong read the artifact spirits of old trees and discovered that a 103-year-old Old Camphor Wood had a Rank One spirit he could devour.
• Duan Rong devoured the Old Camphor Wood's spirit and noticed that he felt no discomfort or other apparent change.
• Duan Rong decided to devour more tree spirits and leapt through the forest.