Chapter Summaries

The Female Emperor ordered the Ministry of War to draft a Northern Expedition proposal within three months, while Prince Huaining suspected the order was a ploy to protect Xu Qingxiao and restrain his enemies. At Shouren Academy, Xu Qingxiao learned that his waterwheel had raised Southern Yu Prefecture’s harvest by forty percent, and Li Guangxiao rushed to tell the Female Emperor it could transform Great Wei.

• The Marquis of Quzhou urged a Northern Expedition, Gu Yan warned that war could ruin Great Wei, and the Female Emperor ordered a proposal within three months despite the officials’ protests.
• Prince Huaining concluded that the Female Emperor was using the Northern Expedition proposal to protect Xu Qingxiao and hold the vassal kings and foreign powers in check, while the Prince of the West asked whether they had found the Martial Emperor’s surviving child.
• Gu Yan asked Xu Qingxiao to dissuade the Female Emperor from war and taught him to guard the treasury, while Zhang Jing invited him back to the Ministry of Punishment and agreed to support his rise.
• Xu Qingxiao told Chen Xinghe that he believed the Northern Expedition was a delaying tactic, then received Li Xin’s letter reporting a forty-percent harvest increase in Southern Yu Prefecture.
• Xu Qingxiao explained that his waterwheel could improve irrigation and potentially double grain yields, and Li Guangxiao recognized its importance.
• Li Guangxiao hurried to Yangxin Hall and excitedly told the Female Emperor that Xu Qingxiao was a peerless genius and that Great Wei’s prosperity was coming.

Li Guangxiao presented Xu Qingxiao’s waterwheel to the Female Emperor, who learned that it could greatly increase Great Wei’s grain production and ordered a large-scale effort to build them. After apologizing to Xu Qingxiao over Prince Huaiping, she offered him Zhao Wan’er in marriage and used Mind-Heart Communication to discover that he had jokingly imagined marrying her, leaving her unsettled before she turned to the waiting Minister of Works Li Yanlong.

• Li Guangxiao showed the Female Emperor a waterwheel diagram and reported that Southern Yu Prefecture’s grain yield had risen by forty percent after Xu Qingxiao’s invention was tested.
• Zhao Wan’er delivered Li Guangxin’s memorial and complete waterwheel plans, which explained that the harvest could double if construction and operating problems were solved and abandoned fields were irrigated.
• Li Guangxiao urged the Female Emperor to fund waterwheel construction and reconsider how she treated Xu Qingxiao, and she agreed to acknowledge her fault over Prince Huaiping.
• The Female Emperor summoned Xu Qingxiao, asked about the waterwheel’s potential, apologized to him, and offered him Zhao Wan’er as a wife; Xu Qingxiao refused and privately joked that he would marry the Female Emperor instead.
• The Female Emperor heard Xu Qingxiao’s private thought through Mind-Heart Communication and spent hours wondering how to respond, while Xu Qingxiao left the palace and Li Yanlong waited outside.
• The Female Emperor finally summoned Li Yanlong and asked whether the waterwheel could be built.

The Female Emperor approved a costly waterwheel project for fifty poor commanderies and secretly authorized its funding. Xu Qingxiao tricked Shui Yunyan into gathering rare materials through the Heavenly Speech Register, then entered the imperial Scripture Repository to research them, where a white-clad figure approached him.

• The Female Emperor ordered Li Yanlong to survey and build waterwheels in Southern Guang, granting him a budget of five hundred million taels and telling him to keep the plan secret from Gu Yan.
• Xu Qingxiao used the Heavenly Speech Register to contact Shui Yunyan, falsely claiming to be an injured Confucian elder in need of rare materials; Shui Yunyan believed him and promised to help.
• Xu Qingxiao told Shui Yunyan to deliver the materials through his disciple at the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, using a password to identify the disciple.
• The Female Emperor granted Xu Qingxiao a Scripture Pavilion Token, and he went to the palace Sutra Repository to study medicinal materials.
• After reading the repository’s books, Xu Qingxiao learned how rare and expensive the materials were and decided to bargain with the Pill Deity Ancient Scripture.
• A white-clad figure approached Xu Qingxiao in the Scripture Repository.

Xu Qingxiao avoided Shui Yunyan in the Scripture Repository while the Capital buzzed over Hua Xingyun’s return and the Great Wei Literary Palace argued over his future post. At court, the Female Emperor proposed expanding the waterwheel project to fifty commanderies, but Gu Yan’s refusal to fund it brought the court into a tense confrontation.

• Xu Qingxiao moved on to another section of the Scripture Repository, and Shui Yunyan later took his place to read.
• The Female Emperor reviewed the waterwheel budget with Li Yanlong and decided to discuss the project with the court; Zhao Wan'er then reported that Hua Xingyun was returning to the Capital.
• Rumors spread that Hua Xingyun had returned to challenge Xu Qingxiao, while scholars and commoners argued over his reputation and which man was greater.
• Chen Zhengru, Sun Jing'an, Wang Xinzhi, and Chen Xin disputed Hua Xingyun's appointment, eventually proposing that he become a seventh-rank Director outside the Ministries of Revenue and Personnel.
• At court, Sun Jing'an requested a post for Hua Xingyun, but officials argued over where he should serve, and the Female Emperor postponed the decision until his arrival.
• The Female Emperor presented the waterwheel model and proposed a trial across fifty commanderies; Gu Yan opposed the expense and threatened to resign, and she angrily dismissed the court.

Li Yanlong faced blame and public anger after the Female Emperor proposed building waterwheels across Great Wei, while officials and conspirators tried to block the project. Xu Qingxiao claimed he could resolve the dispute in a day, and the Female Emperor immediately ordered him to do so, leaving him scrambling to take back his boast.

• Li Yanlong was blamed by officials and the Capital's common people as rumors portrayed the waterwheel project as a costly fraud, while military leaders agreed to oppose large-scale construction.
• Duke Qi and Duke An discussed allowing a trial in one commandery, while Prince Huaining ordered his allies to spread rumors and obstruct the project.
• Li Yanlong sought Xu Qingxiao's help, and Xu Qingxiao advised him to wait while he spoke with Gu Yan and other officials.
• Xu Qingxiao told Chen Xinghe that he could settle the waterwheel dispute within a day if the Female Emperor asked him, and Li Guangxiao relayed the boast to her through a Heavenly Edict.
• The Female Emperor ordered Xu Qingxiao to take charge of the project and gave him one day to reassure officials and commoners, so he asked whether he could have a year instead.

Xu Qingxiao tried to win support for the Waterwheel Project by showing the Minister of Revenue the tax potential of foreign merchants and promising that Great Wei's revenue could reach a billion taels within five years. After securing Gu Yan, Zhang Jing, and Chen Zhengru, Xu Qingxiao arrived at the Duke of An's Estate to continue his negotiations.

• Xu Qingxiao sent Yang Hu and Yang Bao to collect accounts from Foreign Merchants Street, then used the figures to show Gu Yan how much tax foreign merchants could provide.
• Xu Qingxiao promised Gu Yan that the Waterwheel Project and further reforms could raise Great Wei's annual tax revenue to a billion taels within five years, and Gu Yan approved the project.
• Xu Qingxiao persuaded Zhang Jing to support the Waterwheel Project by promising the Ministry of Punishment an additional fifteen million taels.
• Xu Qingxiao negotiated with Chen Zhengru, who agreed to support the project for thirty million taels.
• Xu Qingxiao reached the Duke of An's Estate to meet the people Li Jian and Li Kang had been asked to invite.

Xu Qingxiao persuaded the military officials to support the waterwheel project by promising that it would make a Northern Expedition possible once Great Wei had enough grain and revenue, and he found that the people already trusted him and praised the waterwheel. After preparing concealed improvements to the designs, he met Hua Xingyun, whose courteous visit left Xu Qingxiao wary despite his warm welcome.

• Xu Qingxiao explained to the dukes and marquises that waterwheels could secure Great Wei's grain supply and treasury, and the Duke of An agreed to support him if revenue reached seven hundred million taels within five years.
• Zhao Da and Zhao Er told Xu Qingxiao that people in the Capital believed he had invented the waterwheel and praised him, while blaming Li Yanlong for taking credit.
• Xu Qingxiao confirmed the people's support at a tavern, then completed three waterwheel blueprints and planned to withhold the most reliable design so Great Wei could develop while other countries copied an imperfect version.
• Hua Xingyun arrived at Shouren Academy, politely offered gifts and promised to ease tensions with the Great Wei Literary Palace, and Xu Qingxiao responded warmly while remaining suspicious.
• After Hua Xingyun left, Chen Xinghe warned Xu Qingxiao that Hua Xingyun was no good because he was more handsome than Chen Xinghe without being arrogant.

Hua Xingyun returned to the Great Wei Literary Palace and insisted on joining the Ministry of Revenue as a low-ranking file clerk so he could help Xu Qingxiao. At court, the ministers and military officials backed Xu Qingxiao’s waterwheel project, leaving Li Yanlong bewildered and determined to confront him.

• Chen Xinghe warned Xu Qingxiao to keep his distance from Hua Xingyun, while Xu Qingxiao returned to planning ways to improve Great Wei’s agriculture.
• Hua Xingyun returned to the Literary Palace, defended Xu Qingxiao, and accepted a file clerk position in the Ministry of Revenue despite Chen Zhengru’s objections.
• Hua Xingyun told Sun Jing'an that he admired Xu Qingxiao and intended to learn from him, disappointing Sun Jing'an, who wanted him to oppose Xu Qingxiao.
• At court, Li Yanlong recommended delaying the waterwheel project, but Gu Yan, Zhang Jing, Chen Zhengru, and the Duke of An supported its implementation.
• The Female Emperor forgave Gu Yan, ordered the waterwheel project to begin within seven days, and appointed Chen Zhengru to oversee it with Xu Qingxiao as deputy.
• After court, Li Yanlong learned that the officials knew Xu Qingxiao had devised the waterwheel and stormed off to demand an explanation from him.

Xu Qingxiao learned that Prince Huaining planned to stop the waterwheel rollout and eliminate him, while the capital waited for the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering. After receiving a letter from the White Robe Sect and resolving to root out his unorthodox art, Xu Qingxiao met the vanished Cheng Lidong, whose strength had risen alarmingly.

• Xu Qingxiao reassured Li Yanlong about criticism over the waterwheel project, and Li Yanlong told him to help Minister Chen oversee its rollout.
• Prince Huaining suspected the Female Emperor had secured the court's agreement through a bargain, resolved to sabotage the project and eliminate Xu Qingxiao, and received a message ordering the waterwheels destroyed and Qingxiao eliminated.
• Hua Xingyun won public approval by supporting Xu Qingxiao, while Chen Xinghe prepared to make an impression at the coming Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering; Xu Qingxiao read Chen Xinghe's diary and decided to leave the spotlight to him.
• Xu Qingxiao received a letter marked with a peach blossom, suspected the White Robe Sect wanted to approach him, and decided he needed to eliminate the danger posed by his unorthodox art.
• Cheng Lidong appeared at Shouren Academy after nearly half a year away, displaying strength that seemed to place him at the Sixth Rank, and Xu Qingxiao escorted him to the courtyard for a private conversation.

Xu Qingxiao rejected Cheng Lidong’s offer to cooperate and learned that Yan Ru planned to use Cheng as a witness to expose his Unorthodox Art. After identifying Evil-Breaker as the Great Sage’s second disciple, Xu Qingxiao learned that public will could conceal his demonic seed and left to meet the White Robe Sect.

• Cheng Lidong warned Xu Qingxiao that his Unorthodox Art was under investigation and that demons had placed a bounty on his life, then offered to become Xu’s hidden ally in exchange for the Martial Emperor’s Legacy Treasure.
• Xu Qingxiao refused Cheng Lidong’s proposal and dismissed his threat to report him, while Cheng returned to Yan Ru and reported that Xu would not cooperate.
• Yan Ru revealed that Cheng Lidong had also practiced an Unorthodox Art and said he planned to pressure Xu with several Grand Confucians after the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering.
• Xu Qingxiao read the Sage’s Inherited Records, identified the second figure in the Literary Palace as Evil-Breaker, and helped him recover his name as the Great Sage’s second disciple.
• Evil-Breaker told Xu Qingxiao that public will could conceal his demonic seed from Confucian detection, though Xu needed to obtain a great deal of it quickly.
• Xu Qingxiao left Shouren Academy to meet the White Robe Sect.

Xu Qingxiao went to the Peach Blossom Nunnery to meet the White Robe Sect’s contact, but his meeting with Miss White Robe failed, and he left without learning anything. The next day, as the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering approached, Wang Ru warned him that Wang Fu had twisted his remarks into rumors about his arrogance, but Xu Qingxiao refused to explain or attend.

• Xu Qingxiao entered the Peach Blossom Nunnery, where the women recognized and enthusiastically surrounded him, and he chose to wait in the Gathering of Worthies Banquet for the White Robe Sect’s contact.
• Xu Qingxiao greeted Wang Ru and refused Wang Fu’s request for an impromptu poem, saying he would not attend the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering.
• Xu Qingxiao met Miss White Robe in a private room, but she did not understand his hints about the White Robe Sect, so he left without discussing the matter.
• The next day, Wang Ru told Xu Qingxiao that Wang Fu had spread claims that he looked down on scholars and the Poetry Gathering, angering talented scholars from the ten nations.
• Xu Qingxiao dismissed the rumors and returned to reading, while Chen Xinghe took Wang Ru aside to show him two poems he had composed.

Xu Qingxiao refused to attend the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering while he focused on the Waterwheel Project and investigated the Three Great Merchant Guilds’ price demands. After the scholars from the ten nations challenged Great Wei’s rankings, Li En wrote a nation-guarding poem on the third day, and Chen Zhengru sent a guard to invite Xu Qingxiao to the gathering as Great Wei’s last hope.

• Xu Qingxiao declined Mu Nanping’s and Gu Yan’s invitations to the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, choosing instead to work on the Waterwheel Project.
• Gu Yan showed Xu Qingxiao letters in which the Three Great Merchant Guilds warned that waterwheel materials would cost more; Xu Qingxiao advised asking for their proposed prices before deciding how to respond.
• Xu Qingxiao received an apologetic letter from Miss Baiyi and suspected that an inconspicuous person at the Peach Blossom Nunnery might belong to the White Robe Sect.
• The scholars from the ten nations protested Great Wei’s rankings, walked out of the second-day banquet, and sparked hostility in the Capital before Hua Xingyun mediated a temporary truce.
• On the third day, Li En wrote a nation-guarding poem that shattered Hua Xingyun’s masterpiece, putting Great Wei under pressure as the gathering’s scholars disputed the result.
• Chen Zhengru sent a guard to Shouren Academy to invite Xu Qingxiao to Liyang Palace, while scholars and commoners across the Capital waited for him.

At the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, Li En’s nation-stabilizing poem left Great Wei’s scholars unable to answer, and Xu Qingxiao initially refused to attend while he worked on the Three Great Merchant Guilds’ price increases. After an imperial command compelled him to go, Xu arrived and called forth a brush to compose a poem, leaving the gathering waiting for his response.

• Li En composed a nation-stabilizing poem, and the Ten Kingdoms’ Talented Scholars used it to mock Great Wei’s literary world.
• Xu Qingxiao rejected several plans to deal with the Three Great Merchant Guilds and refused the summons to the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, saying he was busy with official duties.
• Chen Xinghe tried to persuade Xu Qingxiao to attend, but Xu refused until an imperial verbal command ordered him to go.
• Xu Qingxiao traveled through the Capital as commoners cheered him, then entered Liyang Palace and asked for the banquet’s theme so he could compose quickly and return to work.
• After Chen Zhengru named the theme as a banquet, Xu Qingxiao called, “Brush, come!” and formed a brush from Purple Righteous Haoran Qi.

Xu Qingxiao composed the immortal masterpiece Bring in the Wine at the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, reviving Great Wei’s spirits and earning the support of its people and officials. After confronting Great Wei’s scholars over their poor rankings, he returned to Shouren Academy and realized the poem had gathered popular will within him.

• Xu Qingxiao wrote Bring in the Wine, whose final line unleashed a torrent of wine over Great Wei’s Capital and astonished the court and its people.
• Xu Qingxiao drank until he collapsed, while Chen Zhengru and Zhang Jing celebrated being immortalized in his poem and the Ten Kingdoms’ Talented Scholars left in humiliation after Li En fainted.
• The Ten Kingdoms’ Talented Scholars suspected Great Wei had arranged for Xu Qingxiao to receive a poem and agreed to prepare for the poetry duels.
• After waking, Xu Qingxiao addressed Great Wei’s Confucian scholars about their poor rankings and warned that he would request an investigation if they failed again.
• Xu Qingxiao returned to Shouren Academy and discovered that popular will had gathered in his body through his poem.

Xu Qingxiao reflected on how poetry and popular will could strengthen his standing, then learned how to use that will to conceal the demonic seeds within him. As brawls between Great Wei and the Ten Kingdoms’ scholars spread through the capital, he investigated the merchant guilds’ steep waterwheel prices and welcomed Zhang Ruhui, hoping to ask him about their business.

• Xu Qingxiao concluded that poetry earned popular will when it answered the people’s hopes during a particular crisis, then asked Evil-Breaker and Zhaoge how to conceal his unorthodox arts; they explained that righteous haoran qi and popular will could suppress and hide the demonic seeds.
• Great Wei scholars and commoners argued with the Ten Kingdoms’ Talented Scholars over Xu Qingxiao’s poem, and accusations that he had not written it himself escalated into brawls across the capital.
• Gu Yan told Xu Qingxiao that the Three Great Merchant Guilds demanded a fifty-percent increase for waterwheel materials, using the commoners’ compensation as justification; Xu Qingxiao insisted on further negotiation and said he had a possible solution.
• After Gu Yan left, Xu Qingxiao wondered why the merchants risked such an outrageous price, then agreed to meet Zhang Ruhui, the head manager of the Peach Blossom Nunnery.
• Zhang Ruhui brought gifts and praised Xu Qingxiao, who declined to discuss the gifts and asked whether Zhang would clear up a doubt for him.

Xu Qingxiao learned that the Three Great Merchant Guilds might have secretly promised Great Wei’s waterwheel materials to another buyer, and he accepted Zhang Ruhui’s support while considering a future financial venture. He agreed to meet the guilds despite their attempt to keep him from the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, and the chapter ended as he prepared for the poetry contest.

• Zhang Ruhui reasoned that the Three Great Merchant Guilds’ doubled prices suggested another buyer had reserved the materials, leading Xu Qingxiao to suspect the Tuxie Dynasty or Chuyuan Dynasty.
• Xu Qingxiao and Zhang Ruhui became sworn elder and younger brothers, and Zhang Ruhui gave Xu Qingxiao a Spirit Sun Jade pendant and a command token with access to his shops and money houses.
• Xu Qingxiao hinted that a future business venture could increase Zhang Ruhui’s wealth tenfold, then left when Gu Yan summoned him to the Ministry of Revenue.
• Gu Yan told Xu Qingxiao that the Three Great Merchant Guilds demanded his presence at negotiations during the poetry contest, and Xu Qingxiao agreed to attend while promising not to lose.
• Xu Qingxiao asked Chen Xinghe to predict the poetry contest’s themes, and Hua Xingyun composed a nation-stabilizing poem at the gathering that evening.
• At the Wei Hour the next day, Xu Qingxiao left his room carrying several envelopes and entered Chen Xinghe’s room.

Xu Qingxiao skipped the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering but gave Chen Xinghe seven sealed poems for possible topics. When Chen Xinghe opened the envelope matching the chosen topic, Xu Qingxiao’s sealed poem manifested as another timeless masterpiece, and the Ten Kingdoms’ scholars attacked Chen Xinghe to seize the remaining letters.

• Xu Qingxiao told Chen Xinghe to attend the gathering in his place and open no more than one of the seven sealed letters if a predicted topic appeared.
• The Ten Kingdoms’ Wang Yu selected wind and moon as Great Wei’s topic and required the poem to include both words separately; Sun Jing'an accepted the condition.
• Chen Xinghe defended Great Wei’s honor, challenged the Ten Kingdoms’ scholars, and revealed that Xu Qingxiao had prepared poems in advance.
• Chen Xinghe opened the letter for wind and moon, releasing Xu Qingxiao’s poem as a timeless masterpiece and stunning the gathering.
• The Ten Kingdoms’ scholars accused Great Wei of fraud and rushed Chen Xinghe to seize the remaining letters, while Great Wei’s scholars moved to protect him.

At Liyang Palace, Sun Jing'an opened Xu Qingxiao’s letters after the Ten Kingdoms’ scholars demanded proof, revealing seven immortal poems that matched the banquet topics and nearly brought the palace down. Meanwhile, Xu Qingxiao suppressed the surging literary qi from afar, but as the crowd accused him of fraud, a vast wave of literary qi swept toward the Capital from the east.

• The Ten Kingdoms’ scholars demanded that Xu Qingxiao’s remaining letters be opened, while Sun Jing'an clashed with Great Wei’s scholars and Li Shouming destroyed his illuminated will before leaving the Literary Palace.
• Chen Zhengru backed Chen Xinghe’s condition that the Ten Kingdoms’ scholars kowtow and admit their wrongdoing if the letters proved Xu Qingxiao’s innocence, and they accepted after the topics were displayed.
• Sun Jing'an opened the letters, and Xu Qingxiao’s poems matched the topics and produced seven immortal masterpieces, flooding Liyang Palace with literary qi and forcing everyone to evacuate.
• At Drunken Immortal Tower, Xu Qingxiao met representatives of three merchant groups with Gu Yan, then discovered that the poems were being opened and used the Eight Desolations Bell and other Sage Artifacts to contain the literary qi.
• The Ten Kingdoms’ scholars called the vanished poetic phenomena fake, but Chen Zhengru and the other Grand Confucians doubted their explanation as literary qi surged three thousand li from the east toward Great Wei’s Capital.

Xu Qingxiao subdued the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering with seven poems, then learned from Chen Zhengru that a hidden faction might be trying to sever Great Wei’s Literary Palace. As he prepared a plan to secure Waterwheel Project materials, a secret voice declared that its plan had failed and ordered one final act for Sage Zhu.

• Xu Qingxiao’s seven poems drew literary qi three thousand miles from the east, silencing the Ten Kingdoms’ Great Talents and winning Great Wei’s scholars’ admiration.
• Chen Zhengru suspected Sun Jing'an and a hidden mastermind had manipulated the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering, while Hua Xingyun remained unnervingly calm.
• At the Drunken Immortal Tower, the Jin Merchants’ representative demanded sixteen thousand five hundred taels per waterwheel and proposed installments; Gu Yan rejected the offer and left with Xu Qingxiao.
• Xu Qingxiao told Gu Yan he could make the Three Great Merchant Guilds provide materials at half the quoted price, then asked him to announce a Capital-only appeal for merchant support.
• Chen Zhengru warned Xu Qingxiao that someone was attempting to sever the Literary Palace, explained the factions behind the scheme, and urged him to watch Hua Xingyun.
• In a secret chamber beneath the Literary Palace, an unseen voice said the plan had failed and ordered someone to do one final thing for Sage Zhu.

The Female Emperor weighed Great Wei’s political threats while Xu Qingxiao planned to build a Eunuch Faction and recalled a hidden trump card. After Li Shouming apologized and joined Xu Qingxiao’s School of the Mind, literary qi healed him and restored him to the Seventh Rank.

• The Black Cloud Pavilion reported foreign plots, suspicious merchant dealings, and unrest within the Great Wei Literary Palace, while the Female Emperor approved Gu Yan’s donation proposal after learning Xu Qingxiao had suggested it.
• Xu Qingxiao decided to cultivate a Eunuch Faction as a loyal force and began writing a plan involving a trump card powerful enough to deter his enemies.
• Li Shouming learned that the Literary Palace had cleared Sun Jing'an and would let him return only if he apologized, while the Ten Kingdoms’ great talents were allowed to leave the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering early.
• Li Shouming visited Xu Qingxiao to apologize, heard his explanation of the School of the Mind, and asked to become his student.
• Li Shouming performed three bows and nine kowtows to join Shouren Academy, and a surge of literary qi healed him and restored his cultivation to the Seventh Rank.