Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke staged Jingang's younger brother's final meal and discovered that demon beast meat had killed him by causing his body to retain heat. Jingang left to tell his family, while Lin Ke and Wang Lin tested the meat and found no ill effects, though other questions remained.

• Lin Ke, Jingang, and the officials reenacted the corrupt trio's attack, but Jingang began shaking and turned crimson before calming himself.
• Jingang examined the demon beast meat and concluded that it had caused his younger brother's body to remain hot after death.
• Butcher Zhang gave Jingang meat to take home, and Jingang left to inform his family and promised to thank Lin Ke later.
• Lin Ke ate the meat and found that it melted in his mouth, then tested it alongside Wang Lin; neither experienced anything unusual.
• Lin Ke declared the case solved and concluded that his life was safe for now.

Lin Ke solved the Little Golden Crow Prince’s case by discovering that Kuiwater Spirit Ox meat counteracted the Golden Crow Clan, then realized the sudden sale of the meat might conceal a larger political scheme. The Golden Crow Matriarch connected the case to rival departments and asked Jingang to confirm the investigator’s name.

• Li Hanlin accepted Lin Ke’s explanation that Kuiwater Spirit Ox meat had harmed the Golden Crow eldest prince and left to report the case.
• Lin Ke explained that observing plum blossoms had helped him reason through cause and effect and devise his investigative methods.
• Lin Ke learned that Kuiwater Spirit Ox meat had suddenly become widely available in the Eastern Sea Circuit and suspected the prince’s case was not merely an accident.
• Jingang returned to the Golden Crow palace, reported the case to the Golden Crow Matriarch, and showed her the meat.
• The Golden Crow Matriarch considered the plans of several human departments and asked Jingang whether the investigator had been named Lin Ke.

After the Little Golden Crow Prince’s death was confirmed as an accident, Lin Ke learned that he would receive no cash reward but had been named Great Wei Judicial Commissioner. His new designation brought public recognition and likely unpaid work, while Shopkeeper Tong worried that the authorities had taken away his own free help.

• Lin Ke waited for news after the case closed, but Li Hanlin did not arrive until the fifth day after the Little Golden Crow Prince’s death.
• Li Hanlin told Lin Ke he had failed to secure him a cash reward and had received no reward or promotion himself.
• Li Hanlin gave Lin Ke a memorial naming him Great Wei Judicial Commissioner, a consultant designation that let the capital’s eastern prefecture office seek his help and would publicize his deeds.
• Bai Zhantang read the memorial aloud, drawing Shopkeeper Tong and the others into the restaurant to hear the news.
• Shopkeeper Tong complained that the authorities were taking Lin Ke as unpaid labor just after he had recruited him for the same purpose.

After the authorities publicized Lin Ke’s case-solving, the shopkeepers of Chaoyang Street argued over which business could display his Deduction Tree Diagram. Lin Ke realized he could use his growing fame to help every shop attract customers and announced he had a solution.

• Lin Ke explained that he had received only an honorary advisor title and no money, while Shopkeeper Tong vowed to get him a reward.
• Chen An'an asked to buy Lin Ke’s Deduction Tree Diagram, prompting Wang Lin and Shopkeeper Tong to claim it for their own establishments.
• The shopkeepers argued over where to display the diagram, and Lin Ke considered dividing the display time among them before Wang Lin rejected the idea.
• Bai Zhantang’s milk tea prank gave Lin Ke the idea that the shops needed distinctive offerings, such as new stories and food, to draw customers.
• Lin Ke stopped the argument and promised to find a solution that would satisfy every shopkeeper.

Lin Ke settled the dispute over displaying his case-solving tree diagram, then fled when curious visitors began flocking to his courtyard. A beautiful young master arrived asking for him while Bai Zhantang stayed behind to face the crowd, leaving him furious at Lin Ke.

• Lin Ke arranged for Chen Pingping, Wang Lin, Shopkeeper Tong, and Wang Lin to take turns displaying his tree diagram every ten days.
• Lin Ke practiced dancing while focused on his contest with Qi Ye and the upcoming Confucian Scholar Examination.
• Bai Zhantang complained that the courtyard had grown quiet and wondered whether Sister Cuihua liked him.
• Lin Ke spotted crowds of curious visitors approaching and slipped away, telling Bai Zhantang he would be right back.
• A beautiful young master and a maid asked Bai Zhantang where Lin Ke was, then took a private table upstairs and wrote messages on a magical scroll.
• Bai Zhantang saw more young masters and ladies arriving, realized Lin Ke had left him to handle them, and shouted that Lin Ke had screwed him over.

Lin Ke discovered that Shopkeeper Tong’s tea leaves and milk could make the milk tea he remembered from his previous life. Seeing a business opportunity in the crowds drawn by his reputation, he approached Shopkeeper Tong with a proposal.

• After recovering from his time in the latrine, Lin Ke noticed the tea leaves and milk jars in the courtyard.
• Lin Ke recognized the leaves as black tea and recreated the flavor of the milk tea Bai Zhantang had given him.
• Lin Ke recalled his experience endorsing a milk tea brand and realized he knew how to make fresh-milk tea.
• Lin Ke calculated that visitors to Tongfu Grand Restaurant could become milk tea customers and formed a business plan.
• Lin Ke brought Shopkeeper Tong a dish and asked if she wanted to make a big deal.

Pan Xiaowu visited the Tongfu Grand Restaurant hoping to ask Lin Ke to investigate a case, but she became captivated by his new Cloud Dance Rainbow Tea and ordered ten cups. Lin Ke observed the shop’s customers and sales from his hiding place, relieved that Pan Xiaowu had not noticed him.

• Pan Xiaowu arrived at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant and asked Bai Zhantang to put her in line to see Lin Ke.
• Bai Zhantang introduced Cloud Dance Rainbow Tea and explained its varieties, price, and beauty-nourishing benefits.
• Pan Xiaowu ordered one cup of each of the ten varieties and sat down, breaking her stool and ending up on the floor.
• Customers praised the tea while some wrote and drew in books.
• Lin Ke watched the customers and recorded their preferences, then calculated the day’s sales and found the business very profitable.

A white-robed young master from the family of the Capital Prefecture’s Left Secretary challenged Lin Ke’s reputation and attacked Chen Pingping at the Hanging Mountain Tea Shop. Chen Pingping was sent flying as a patrol officer tried to intervene.

• Lin Ke heard the young master ridicule his title as Great Wei Judicial Commissioner and Divine Detective at the Hanging Mountain Tea Shop.
• Chen Pingping defended Lin Ke’s official titles and asked the young man to show an official notice.
• The young man said his father was the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture and demanded that Lin Ke face him.
• Chen Pingping signaled Lin Ke to stay out of the dispute, but the young man called him a lowborn wretch and kicked at him.
• The young man revealed his Confucian Scholar Realm aura and kicked Chen Pingping despite a patrol officer’s warning, sending the old man flying.

Lin Ke confronted the son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture after he attacked Chen Pingping, then learned that the man had come to test his literary skill ahead of Lin Ke’s contest with Qi Ye. The crowd discovered that Lin Ke would face the minister’s son in a contest in two months, despite Qi Ye’s strength in both the Confucian and martial paths.

• The son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture tried to punish the young man who had struck Chen Pingping, but the young man stopped the pressure with a token and threatened to question the Prefect.
• Lin Ke helped Chen Pingping up, and Butcher Zhang arrived and intimidated the young man on behalf of the Demon-Slaying Division.
• The young man recognized Lin Ke and taunted him for daring to compete with Qi Ye, while Lin Ke calmly defended his right to look down on him.
• The young man challenged Lin Ke to a poetry contest as a test of whether he deserved to face Qi Ye, then announced that the larger contest would take place in two months.
• The crowd learned that Qi Ye was Minister Qi’s son and had reached both the Intent-Communing Realm on the Martial Path and the Confucian Scholar Realm on the Confucian Path.

Lin Ke accepted a poetry contest against the son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture, who chose Servile Status as the topic and recited a poem that summoned a hundred-li resonance phenomenon. Lin Ke felt the phenomenon weigh down his body as the chapter ended.

• Pan Xiaowu defended Lin Ke against a young man's doubts about his ability to defeat Qi Ye.
• Lin Ke told Wang Lin he wanted to compete in letters and accepted the young man's challenge to compose poetry on any topic.
• The young man chose Servile Status and seven-character regulated verse, then recited a poem insulting those of Servile Status.
• The poem summoned a hundred-li resonance phenomenon that weighed down people with Servile Status and strengthened those of the Noble Registry.
• Lin Ke felt the force draining his strength and stepped forward.

Lin Ke answered his opponent’s poem with verses that stirred heaven and earth, expressing the suffering and silenced anger of common people. His final lines summoned a thunderous manifestation above the crowd.

• After the young man’s poem caused a Hundred-Li Resonance Phenomenon, Lin Ke confirmed that the young man was certain he wanted to be his enemy.
• Lin Ke recited verses about households lost in misery, and the crowd felt their bodies grow heavy with sorrow and oppression.
• Shopkeeper Tong and Wang Lin interpreted the poem as a lament for the suffering and silenced voices of common people, especially those of servile status.
• Some listeners praised Lin Ke’s poem, while others objected to his portrayal of people of servile status as common people.
• Lin Ke recited the poem’s final lines about boundless cares and a thunderclap, causing lightning manifestations to explode above the crowd.

Lin Ke’s poem triggered a Ten-Thousand-Li Chant phenomenon that Minister of Rites Lin Xuanji suppressed. As the sky began rumbling again, Lin Ke smiled, suggesting the phenomenon was returning.

• Thunder and a vast phenomenon appeared over the capital, and Lin Xuanji silenced the powerful figures’ projections before forcibly dispersing it.
• The people on Chaoyang Street felt their accumulated resentment vanish as Lin Ke’s poem’s thunderous resonance spread through the capital.
• An onlooker identified the phenomenon as a Ten-Thousand-Li Chant that had been stopped before it could unfold, and Lin Ke wondered why his poem’s effect seemed limited.
• Wang Lin told Lin Ke that Lin Xuanji had suppressed his phenomenon, then reacted strangely as she considered Lin Ke’s surname and connections.
• The sky rumbled again, and Lin Ke smiled at the prospect that the phenomenon produced by Brother Xun’s poem would return.

After Lin Ke realized Lin Xuanji had suppressed half the reach of his poetic phenomenon, he confronted the noble young man who had insulted people of servile status. Lin Ke’s words drove the young man back and summoned a vast Literary Aura phenomenon across the capital, where voices proclaimed that ghosts and gods wept when poetry fell.

• Lin Ke understood that Lin Xuanji had erased half the reach his poetic phenomenon should have achieved.
• The son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture mocked people of servile status, prompting Chen An and others to challenge him.
• The young man silenced most of the crowd with pressure and threatened Chen An with his Treasured Sword.
• Lin Ke stood between the young man and Chen An, declared that his sword was no less sharp, and forced the young man backward.
• Black clouds gathered over the capital as Literary Aura surged into a vast phenomenon, and voices proclaimed, “When poetry falls... ghosts and gods weep...”

Lin Ke’s Ghosts and Gods Weep manifestation drew the capital’s powerful figures into a confrontation with the Prefect of the Capital's Left Administrator, who attacked Chen An and fatally wounded Chen Pingping. Li Chungang intervened, but a newly arrived official dismissed Chen Pingping’s death and challenged Lin Ke.

• Lin Ke confronted the Left Administrator’s son as Ghosts and Gods Weep shook the capital, and the Left Administrator arrived to defend his son.
• The Left Administrator struck Butcher Zhang down, then attacked Chen An with an ice pellet; Chen Pingping stepped in front of his son and took the fatal wound.
• Li Chungang arrived and clashed with the Left Administrator, while the Left Administrator accused Chen Pingping of stealing books and tried to attack him again.
• A powerful official descended to stop the two Great Confucians from fighting, then dismissed Chen Pingping’s death as Lin Ke protested.

Lin Ke confronted the Punishments Department powerhouse over the rigid class system and the unequal treatment of Chen Pingping and Chen An. He recited a powerful poem that transformed the sky and left the gathered officials stunned as he called for homes that could shelter everyone beneath heaven.

• Lin Ke condemned the belief that people of servile status should remain beneath the ruling classes.
• The unnamed powerhouse dismissed Lin Ke and warned Li Chungang and Qiu to end their confrontation or face consequences from their departments.
• Li Chungang stepped in to shield Lin Ke from the powerhouse's imposing force and told him that his teacher stood with him.
• Lin Ke began reciting a poem about an autumn gale, darkening the sky and silencing the powerhouse.
• Lin Ke completed his poem with a plea for spacious homes to shelter people of every status, leaving the Left Administrator of the Prefect of the Capital and his son shocked.

Lin Ke’s poem spread throughout Great Wei and prompted the Sage Emperor to grant his plea, summoning the phantoms of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Lin Ke prepared to strike the Left Secretary with his bamboo staff, but Qi Tianxia stopped him and arrived with eleven people.

• Lin Ke’s poem manifested across Great Wei, depicting a thatched hut torn apart by wind and calling for shelter for all the people.
• Lin Ke declared that he would wield his staff on the Sage Emperor’s behalf, and his words reached the imperial palace.
• The Sage Emperor answered, “Granted,” as auspicious signs spread and phantoms of the Hundred Schools of Thought appeared to pay their respects.
• An old scholar told the Sage Emperor that the person he had wanted had arrived, then vanished along with the other phantoms.
• As officials bowed to the imperial palace, Lin Ke raised his staff to strike the Left Secretary, but Qi Tianxia caught it and arrived with eleven people.

The twelve ministers gathered after Lin Ke’s poem brought forth the Bamboo Staff, and they argued over his status and the punishment owed to the officials who had harmed people. Minister Qi explained that the staff carried the Sage Emperor’s authority and could strike injustice, while the ministers’ quarrel left Lin Ke with a powerful but contentious weapon.

• Qi Tianxia took the Bamboo Staff from Lin Ke and revealed that the ministers had assembled because Lin Ke had composed a Sage Appears poem.
• Several ministers welcomed Lin Ke despite his Servile Status, while Qi Tianxia called him a lowborn bastard of Prostitute Status and changed some ministers’ attitudes toward him.
• The Hundred Schools Department minister invited Lin Ke to visit, and Lin Ke suggested they savor his milk tea instead.
• Qi Tianxia sought punishment for the capital prefect’s left deputy and his son, but the ministers of the Punishments and Personnel Departments refused to support dismissal and cited fines under the Great Wei Code.
• Lin Ke asked whether the Punishments Department minister intended to shield the men, and the minister insisted that he was following the law.
• Qi Tianxia explained that the Bamboo Staff bore the Sage Emperor’s authority and could be used to strike injustice, prompting the ministers to break into a heated argument.

Lin Ke used his bamboo staff to kill the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture’s son after the young man challenged him, while the ministers watched. The staff’s extraordinary power became clear, and Lord Qiu was left facing his son’s death.

• Lin Xuanji addressed Lin Ke, then Minister Qi arranged for the Hundred Schools Department minister to heal Chen Pingping, whose injuries revealed questions about his past.
• Lin Ke demanded that the Left Secretary or his son take a blow from his staff because the son had lost to him.
• Lord Qiu’s son approached Lin Ke with a jade pendant, while the ministers on each side balanced their auras against one another.
• Lin Ke’s bamboo staff absorbed manifestations and struck the young man repeatedly, killing him and shattering the jade pendant.
• Lord Qiu tried to attack Lin Ke, but Li Chungang stopped him as the ministers discussed the staff and Lin Ke said the young man had told him to kill him.

Lin Ke survived Lord Qiu’s attempt to kill him after Minister Qi intervened, then learned that Chen Pingping had once reached the Great Confucian realm. After the crowd carried Chen Pingping inside and dispersed, Lin Ke returned home and reflected on the enormous gains he had made that day.

• Minister Qi stopped Lin Ke from attacking Lord Qiu and drove off the surrounding ministers by revealing his great Confucian literary heart.
• Lord Qiu retrieved his son’s body and vanished, while the gathered guests praised Lin Ke’s poems and celebrated the Emperor’s approval.
• Lin Ke and Li Chungang examined the unconscious Chen Pingping, and Li Chungang explained that Chen Pingping’s old injury had flared up and that he had reached the Great Confucian realm in the past.
• Lin Ke offered the crowd a discount on milk tea, and they helped carry Chen Pingping into the storytelling shop before Chen An closed the door.
• Lin Ke welcomed visitors at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, then returned to his courtyard at night and considered his gains while examining his Bamboo Staff.

Lin Ke reflected on gaining Imperial Sanction, understanding manifestations, and receiving the Rare Treasure Bamboo Staff after his poem's success. He planned to use Chaoyang Street's sudden fame to transform its struggling businesses, beginning with milk tea and considering new ventures for its residents.

• Lin Ke recognized that Imperial Sanction offered him protection and that manifestations could give powerful effects to poetry.
• Lin Ke reviewed the ranks of treasures and considered the potential of his Bamboo Staff, a Rare Treasure.
• Lin Ke realized that Cloud Dance Rainbow Tea had gained brand recognition and that the Twelve Ministers now knew of it.
• Lin Ke considered how Chaoyang Street's new fame could bring customers and profits to its residents' businesses.
• Lin Ke planned to shift the Tongfu Grand Restaurant toward milk tea and develop other ventures for Wang Lin, Chen Pingping, Chen An, Li Chungang, Butcher Zhang, and Constable Xing.
• Lin Ke went to the table and wrote down an idea.