Chapter Summaries

Duan Rong and Lu Feng carried a thousand jin of gold out of Xiangu County, while a city guard sent a sky-lantern signal that revealed the shipment was being watched. Lu Feng tried to flee and was killed, leaving Ruan Fengshan and Luan Jingfu trapped inside the city and worried about Jing'er.

• Duan Rong and Lu Feng left Xiangu County with a steel chest full of gold after He Guizhou ordered the city gate opened.
• He Guizhou released a sky lantern marked with the character for rice, and Duan Rong warned Lu Feng that watchers were likely tracking them.
• Lu Feng jumped from the wagon and ran toward the wheat fields, but crossbowmen shot him and dragged away his body.
• Ruan Fengshan and Luan Jingfu saw the sky lantern from an alley and realized someone at the yamen might be involved.
• Ruan Fengshan struggled to find a way out of the city without alerting their enemies and endangering Jing'er.

Ruan Fengshan escaped South City by hiding beneath Slop Liu’s cart, while Duan Rong was ambushed in the Disordered Graves over a chest containing a thousand jin of gold. Yu Wenlong stabbed Duan Rong through the heart and took the gold, believing the trainee escort was dead.

• Ruan Fengshan ordered Luan Jingfu to leave separately, then hid beneath Slop Liu’s cart as it passed through South City’s gate.
• Duan Rong drove his escort cart into the Disordered Graves, where Yu Wenlong and more than ten Suffering Fate Gang members surrounded him.
• Yu Wenlong demanded to know where the gold was, and Duan Rong opened the chest to reveal a thousand jin of gold.
• Duan Rong’s saber flew from his hand when he clashed with Yu Wenlong, who stabbed him through the chest and kicked him aside.
• Yu Wenlong bit a gold ingot, then told the gang members to clean up and hide in the countryside for a month.

Duan Rong followed Yu Wenlong and the Suffering Fate Gang into Disordered Graves, discovering they had buried the stolen gold and that Yu Wenlong intended to kill his men and Ruan Jing. As Yu Wenlong prepared to cut Ruan Jing’s throat, Duan Rong sprang from the shadows with his saber aimed at Yu Wenlong.

• Duan Rong bound his wounded shoulder, followed the Suffering Fate Gang into Disordered Graves, and watched them dig up a grave.
• Yu Wenlong and several gang members buried the thousand jin of gold beneath a skeleton, then Yu Wenlong left to deal with Ruan Jing.
• Duan Rong realized Yu Wenlong planned to kill the gang members guarding the gold and followed him to an abandoned cave dwelling.
• Yu Wenlong killed the two gang members at the cave entrance and went inside to find Ruan Jing bound and gagged.
• Yu Wenlong lifted Ruan Jing and placed his saber against the child’s neck, but Duan Rong leaped from the shadows and struck at Yu Wenlong.

Duan Rong rescued Ruan Jing by killing Yu Wenlong, then reunited the boy with Ruan Fengshan. They discovered the Suffering Fate Gang had been slaughtered, recovered the buried chest, and prepared to return with two unconscious men.

• Duan Rong defeated Yu Wenlong and beheaded him before freeing Ruan Jing.
• Duan Rong carried Ruan Jing to Disordered Graves and found the Suffering Fate Gang members dead beside the graves.
• Ruan Fengshan arrived, and Ruan Jing rushed into his father's arms.
• Duan Rong led Ruan Fengshan to Yu Wenlong's body, and Ruan Fengshan recognized the gang leader.
• Duan Rong unearthed the steel chest and lifted it onto the escort cart.
• Ruan Fengshan grabbed two unconscious men and put them on the cart to take back with them.

Duan Rong and Ruan Fengshan brought Ruan Jing safely back to the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, where Ruan Fengshan concluded Zhou An had planned the boy’s death and ordered him kept behind. After reuniting Ruan Jing with Ma Chunying, Ruan Fengshan turned to deal with the traitor.

• Duan Rong drove Ruan Fengshan and Ruan Jing away from Disordered Graves while Ruan Jing revealed that Zhou An had made him write something in a dark cave.
• Luan Jingfu joined the escort cart, and Ruan Fengshan identified the Suffering Fate Gang as the people who had harmed Ruan Jing and ordered them to enter the city through the East Gate.
• Ruan Fengshan ordered Duan Rong to tell Old Xiao to release the prisoners except Zhou An, then warned Luan Jingfu not to trouble Duan Rong again.
• Ruan Fengshan brought Ruan Jing to Ma Chunying, who embraced her returned son as he woke and clung to her.
• Ruan Fengshan left Ma Chunying’s room and vowed to deal with the dog that had bitten its master.

Duan Rong returned to the escort agency after learning Zhou An was the sole culprit in the plot against Ruan Jing, then rested in his room and dreamed of his life on Blue Star. Ruan Fengshan tortured Zhou An into confessing, killed him and two servant boys, and left Sun Huang to handle the bodies.

• Duan Rong told Xiao Zongting that Ruan Fengshan wanted only Zhou An kept in custody, and Xiao Zongting released Wang Dean and Zhu Shicheng while leaving Sun Huang and two escorts to guard Zhou An.
• Xiao Yu gave Duan Rong Golden Sore Medicine, and he returned to his room, treated his shoulder, and fell asleep homesick for Blue Star.
• Ruan Fengshan arrived carrying two unconscious servant boys and confronted Zhou An about making Ruan Jing write the incriminating words.
• Zhou An cursed Yu Wenlong and, after Ruan Fengshan whipped him nearly to death, confessed to his role in the plot.
• Ruan Fengshan snapped Zhou An's neck, killed both servant boys, and told Sun Huang to deal with the three corpses.

Ruan Fengshan and Shen Yanliu exposed and punished He Guizhou for helping Yu Wenlong smuggle gold out of the city, while Shen Yanliu pressed Ruan Fengshan to investigate the Yuan Shun Escort Agency. After waking and eating, Duan Rong was summoned to the Hall of Righteous Gathering, where the reason for the meeting remained unknown.

• Yang Zhen arrested He Guizhou at the county yamen and found the unused One Character Sky Lantern in his duty room.
• Shen Yanliu and Ruan Fengshan confronted He Guizhou with the secret signals he had arranged with Yu Wenlong, and He Guizhou confessed that he had acted for five thousand taels of silver.
• Shen Yanliu ordered He Guizhou flayed and paraded through the streets, then told Ruan Fengshan to investigate the Yuan Shun Escort Agency thoroughly.
• Duan Rong woke after noon, accepted pears from Ma Wentao, and ate sesame flatbreads and Beef Soup at a roadside stall.
• A guard told Duan Rong that Ruan Fengshan wanted him at the Hall of Righteous Gathering, but did not explain what the meeting concerned.

Duan Rong received permission to become a full escort early, a monthly cultivation allowance, and a residence in Willow Lodge. After moving in and cleaning the place, he focused on recovering and preparing to strengthen his cultivation.

• Ruan Fengshan announced that Duan Rong could take the May fifteenth assessment to become a full escort and would receive one thousand taels of silver in monthly installments for cultivation.
• Ruan Fengshan gave Duan Rong Willow Lodge, his former residence, prompting curious looks from the others in the hall.
• Duan Rong moved into Willow Lodge, cleaned the dusty courtyard, and discovered that patrols near the adjoining back courtyard added to its security.
• Duan Rong bathed, treated his shoulder wound with Xiao Yu's Golden Sore Medicine, and bought three doses of medicine for cultivation.
• Duan Rong returned to Willow Lodge and began pondering the Three Unnamed Forms Xiao Zongting had taught him.

Duan Rong expanded his efforts to fuse saber techniques and decided he needed real combat practice, then visited Xi Men Kan Kan to seek a sparring partner. Xi Men Kan Kan invited him to leave the escort agency and work at his home, but Duan Rong stood by his proper livelihood and joined him for breakfast barbecue.

• Duan Rong tried combining saber techniques from several styles with Xiao Zongting's Three Crippled Moves, but struggled and concluded he needed to exchange moves with someone in real combat.
• Duan Rong agreed to have dinner with Ma Wentao's family after Ma Wentao insisted on thanking him for saving his grandson.
• Duan Rong went to Xi Men Residence and met Shi Kang, who was carrying marinated meat for Xi Men Kan Kan's morning barbecue.
• Xi Men Kan Kan offered Duan Rong an easy job as a courtyard guard, but Duan Rong refused because he intended to keep working as an escort.
• Xi Men Kan Kan set aside the offer and invited Duan Rong to barbecue with him.

Duan Rong sparred with Xi Men Kan Kan and studied the Thunder Smoke Saber, gaining new ideas for his own techniques. He left to cultivate the third level of inner breath, while Xi Men Kan Kan looked forward to the promised Erotic Picture.

• Xi Men Kan Kan said Lao Qin should return soon with news about the Dragon Flame Grease, and Duan Rong persuaded him to spar by offering an Erotic Picture.
• Xi Men Kan Kan revealed he had reached the fourth level, Major Accomplishment realm, while Duan Rong was at the second level, proficient realm.
• Xi Men Kan Kan defeated Duan Rong with the Thunder Smoke Saber and cut a lock of hair from his temple.
• Duan Rong spent nearly an hour and a half reworking his saber moves, then faced Xi Men Kan Kan again and lasted three moves longer before losing.
• Duan Rong left to cultivate the third level of inner breath, while Xi Men Kan Kan insisted their half-day spar counted as a day toward his Erotic Picture.

Duan Rong attended Ma Chunying’s banquet, continued training, and negotiated with Xi Men Kan Kan for Dragon Flame Grease by painting him into an erotic picture. Just as Xi Men Kan Kan admired the finished painting, someone entered and called his name.

• Duan Rong attended Ma Chunying’s banquet, accepted her gifts for saving Ruan Jing, and left early to eat before returning to practice.
• Ruan Fengshan praised Duan Rong’s respectful restraint after Ma Chunying recounted the banquet.
• Duan Rong trained the Hun Yuan Stance and sparred with Xi Men Kan Kan, gradually improving but still losing to him.
• Xi Men Kan Kan revealed that Duan Rong’s Dragon Flame Grease had arrived and demanded to appear in an erotic painting in exchange for it.
• Duan Rong painted Xi Men Kan Kan into the picture, and Xi Men Kan Kan praised the result before a figure entered and called out to him.

Duan Rong saved Xi Men Kan Kan from being caught with an erotic painting, then obtained Dragon Flame Grease and prepared to practice the second level of the Garbha Sutra. The chapter ended with Duan Rong alone and naked in a locked room, ready to use the grease.

• Duan Rong transformed the erotic painting into a scene of Xi Men Kan Kan helping an old woman and added a poem, convincing Xi Men Yong to praise it and hang it in the main courtyard.
• Xi Men Yong told Xi Men Kan Kan to guard the house during his trip to the prefectural city and left him his monthly allowance.
• Xi Men Kan Kan sold Duan Rong two qian of Dragon Flame Grease for twenty thousand taels, which Duan Rong agreed to pay for with two erotic pictures.
• Duan Rong returned to his old courtyard, removed the second-level Garbha Sutra method from a hidden scroll, and placed it in Xiao Baijiao's sachet beside the first level.
• At Willow Lodge, Duan Rong studied the second-level method and its instructions for using Dragon Flame Grease, then locked himself inside and undressed.

Duan Rong used Dragon Flame Grease to prepare for cultivating the Garbha Sutra and entered his Luminous Consciousness Sea, where he summoned the Four Great Wisdom Kings. As the ritual gathered crimson threads with milky-white light, an infant-shaped figure began to form in the heavens.

• Duan Rong dissolved a small amount of Dragon Flame Grease in water, turning it blood-red, then prepared the Four Great Wisdom Kings’ portraits and drenched his body in the painful mixture.
• Duan Rong sat on the Prayer Mat, chanted, and entered his Luminous Consciousness Sea by finding the turning point in his breathing.
• Duan Rong saw crimson threads drifting through the consciousness sea and realized they had come from the Dragon Flame Grease.
• Duan Rong summoned the Four Great Wisdom Kings, who drew in the mist and expelled milky-white threads that gathered the crimson ones.
• Duan Rong watched the light threads rise and intertwine into the increasingly lifelike outline of an infant.

Duan Rong completed the first layer of the Garbha Sutra, forming a blood-red cocoon after the cultivation consumed nearly all the tree spirits in the Tree Spirit Light Sea. Unwilling to delay the second layer until after his escort assessment, he rode to Wild Boar Mountain that night and woke Qin Lao Han.

• Duan Rong replenished the Dragon Flame Grease and resumed cultivating, feeding the infant of light and shadow until it formed a solid body and began to be enveloped in a cocoon.
• The Four Great Wisdom Kings’ phantoms vanished, ending the cultivation session, and Duan Rong found only two tree spirits left in the Tree Spirit Light Sea.
• Duan Rong withdrew from the Luminous Consciousness Sea, slept until dusk, and decided to seek more tree spirits before his upcoming trainee escort assessment.
• Duan Rong rode through the night to Wild Boar Mountain and called out to Qin Lao Han, who came to the door and recognized him.

Duan Rong returned to Wild Boar Mountain and devoured seventy-nine Tree Spirits in three days, then went back to Yuan Shun Escort Agency to resume cultivating the second layer of the Garbha Sutra. He entered the Luminous Consciousness Sea and headed toward the Tree Spirit Light Sea.

• Duan Rong used Read Artifact Spirit to identify a second-rank Camphor Ancient Wood and devoured its Tree Spirit as he hunted through Wild Boar Mountain.
• Duan Rong returned to the city after three days, returned his horse, ate at the Beef Soup Shop, and went back to Yuan Shun Escort Agency.
• Duan Rong washed, rested briefly, then mixed the remaining Dragon Flame Grease into water and applied it despite the burning pain and unbearable itch.
• Duan Rong endured the discomfort, entered the Luminous Consciousness Sea, and saw the milky-white celestial body and the crimson Blood Cocoon.
• Duan Rong watched the mist turn scarlet and headed toward the Tree Spirit Light Sea.

Duan Rong completed the second layer of the Garbha Sutra and unlocked Divine Sense Projection. He tested the technique at Willow Lodge, where his divine sense covered a radius of roughly one hundred meters and reached the Yuan Shun Escort Agency.

• Duan Rong cultivated the Garbha Sutra as cyan light from the Tree Spirit Light Sea wrapped the Blood Cocoon, and he achieved the second layer.
• Duan Rong saw crimson and white celestial bodies appear in his sea of consciousness and found that thirty-two tree spirits had been consumed.
• Duan Rong left his sea of consciousness, put away the Hidden Mandala paintings, and prepared to practice Divine Sense Projection.
• Duan Rong projected his divine sense around Willow Lodge and sensed minute details, including an ant struggling in a puddle and an earthworm in the soil.
• Duan Rong extended his divine sense through an alley into the back courtyard of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, reaching the entrance of the Hall of Righteous Gathering.

Duan Rong explored Divine Sense Projection but stopped when it strained his soul, then slept before his full-escort assessment. During the written test, he left a question unanswered and secretly projected his Divine Sense toward the composed trainee escort beside him.

• Duan Rong projected his Divine Sense through a passing guard, saw inside the man's body, and withdrew it when his soul began to hurt.
• Duan Rong realized his Mental Strength Level had reached Level 3, allowing him to devour a Major Accomplishment Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber weapon spirit, then went to sleep.
• Duan Rong arrived at the Middle Courtyard Martial Arts Field for the full-escort assessment alongside Zhao Mu and an unfamiliar trainee escort.
• Chief Instructor Xiao Zongting and four escort leaders prepared six written-test questions, and Duan Rong answered five but could not answer what to do if a Letter Escort was lost.
• Duan Rong noticed the unfamiliar trainee escort answering calmly and projected his Divine Sense toward him.

Duan Rong used Divine Sense Projection to fill gaps in his written exam and passed in first place, while Zong Yong and Zhao Mu also qualified. The martial examination began with Duan Rong facing the drunken Liang Wu, whom Xiao Zongting slapped for drinking before the bout.

• Duan Rong secretly used Divine Sense Projection to read the other trainees’ papers, complete his answers, and check Zhao Mu’s work.
• Xiao Zongting announced that Duan Rong ranked first, Zong Yong second, and Zhao Mu third, and all three had passed the written test.
• The martial examination began with Duan Rong taking the first turn and Xiao Zongting drawing Liang Wu as his opponent.
• Xiao Zongting smelled alcohol on Liang Wu and slapped him, while Wang Zhuoyong demanded that Liang Wu fight.
• Liang Wu climbed onto the platform to face Duan Rong as Xiao Zongting returned to his seat.

Duan Rong used his divine sense to read Liang Wu’s movements and then defeated him in the trainee-to-full escort assessment. The match left the escort chiefs unsure whether the result counted because Liang Wu was badly hungover.

• Xiao Zongting announced that trainee escort Duan Rong had reached the Second Level of Inner Breath and allowed Liang Wu to fight without suppressing his realm.
• Duan Rong projected his divine sense and saw Liang Wu’s body and saber movements in precise detail.
• Duan Rong repeatedly dodged Liang Wu’s attacks, prompting laughter from the spectators and anger from Wang Zhuoyong.
• Duan Rong withdrew his divine sense, drew his saber, and defeated Liang Wu in two moves, kicking him off the arena.
• Liang Wu vomited on the ground, and Wang Zhuoyong and the other escort chiefs questioned whether the assessment match counted.

Duan Rong passed the martial test and became an official escort, then hosted his colleagues at Granny's Tavern. As the drinking ended, he learned Xiao Yu would prepare for Taiyi Sect's Registered Disciple selection next March, a selection he also planned to enter.

• Wang Zhuoyong accepted Duan Rong's victory over Liang Wu, and the assessment continued without another drawing.
• Zong Yong and Zhao Mu passed their martial tests, and Xiao Zongting gave the three new escorts the Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber manual and official Waist Tags.
• Sun Huang invited Duan Rong to treat the Second Escort Team at Granny's Tavern, and Duan Rong agreed.
• At the tavern, Sun Huang explained that Xiao Yu was training for Taiyi Sect's selection next March, while Yao Liangrong and Shao Yongping mentioned the shopkeeper's costly selection slots for Xiao Yu and Luan Bao.
• Duan Rong toasted Sun Huang until he became dead drunk, and the colleagues drank all the wine while Luo Fanglong lamented the hardships of making a living through fighting.
• Duan Rong and Luo Fanglong escorted the drunken Sun Huang home after the gathering.