Chapter Summaries

Wenlong escorted his grandmother and uncles toward the Wen clan's Ancestral Grounds, where he and Shitou captured two Kai clansmen who tried to seize their horses. The Wen clan settled in, began rebuilding and farming, and gradually regained hope for the future.

• Wenlong led his grandmother and uncles through the night toward the Wen clan's Ancestral Grounds with their carts and horses.
• Two Kai clansmen stopped the carts and demanded to know where the horses came from, so Wenlong and Shitou knocked them down and captured them.
• Wenlong's uncles tied up the Kai clansmen, and the group continued to the Ancestral Grounds, where Long'er's mother reunited with her family.
• Wenlong handed the captives to the Wen clan patriarch, who ordered them held under guard and put to work.
• The Wen clansmen rebuilt the walls, reclaimed farmland, and practiced martial arts as Wenlong continued cultivating in the secret passage.
• Wenlong's uncles joined the rebuilding and farming, and the clan's food supply and confidence began to recover.

Wenlong returned to Wan Family Town with Shitou and Wenzhu to retrieve smithing supplies and raid the Kai family. After setting fire to the Kai family’s ledgers, he and his companions fought off their pursuers and escaped toward the Wen family’s Ancestral Grounds.

• Wenzhu won first place in Shadow Step and hidden weapons at Wenlong’s martial arts contests, and he demonstrated techniques for the group.
• Wenlong persuaded his family to let him return to Wan Family Town with Shitou and Wenzhu to retrieve the Smithy and forge throwing darts.
• Wenlong entered town alone at night, stored the Smithy’s tools and materials and the contents of a nearby Cloth Shop in his space, then raided the Kai family’s grain warehouse and took a little over a hundred taels from its accounts room.
• Wenlong set fire to the Kai family’s ledgers, but hired experts arrived and pursued him from the compound.
• Wenlong led the experts into an ambush, where Shitou and Wenzhu joined him in attacking with hidden weapons, and several pursuers fell.
• Wenlong, Shitou, and Wenzhu escaped on horseback toward the Wen family’s Ancestral Grounds while the remaining Kai experts stayed behind with their dead and wounded.

Wenlong helped the Wen lineage establish a Smithy and train its people, then discovered two Kai riders near the mountain and captured them. He and Wenzhu later spotted a herd of sika deer and moved in to hunt it with darts.

• Wenlong brought forging equipment, iron, tools, and grain to the Ancestral Grounds, where the clanspeople began building a Smithy.
• Wenlong organized martial arts training, gave Wenzhu a sword and Sword Manual, and tested his companions for cultivation talent, but none awakened an ability.
• Seventh Uncle forged darts, and Wenlong set rules requiring stone practice and supervision before anyone could train with them.
• Wenlong spotted two Kai riders near the mountain, knocked them unconscious with pebbles, and had Shitou and Linzi take them back as captives.
• Wenlong and Wenzhu saw a herd of sika deer in the fruit grove and split up to approach it with darts.

Wenlong and Wenzhu led the clan in a successful deer hunt, then celebrated their catch. After finding no new spirit water or answers about his cultivation, Wenlong trained the clan’s promising youngsters and helped Daniu choose a weapon.

• Wenzhu and Wenlong brought down seven sika deer, and Erniu went to fetch the adults to help carry the game home.
• The clanspeople processed the deer and held a feast to celebrate the clan’s new additions.
• Wenlong found no new spirit water, searched the ancestor’s records without success, and returned to the village dispirited.
• Wenlong demonstrated several martial disciplines and Goddess Scatters Flowers, then guided the youngsters as they asked questions.
• Wenlong helped Daniu choose a large long-handled saber and showed him how to use it.
• Wenlong coached Wenye in swordsmanship and hidden weapons, emphasizing how to turn an opponent’s strength against them.

After improving his companions’ martial skills, Wenlong led Shitou, Wenlin, Wenzhu, and Wenye to Wan Family Town to take grain and supplies from the Kai. He entered the Kai compound alone, found the hidden treasury, and began opening it under cover of night.

• Wenlong praised Wenye and Shitou’s martial skills and decided it was time to collect grain and settle a debt with the Kai.
• Wenlong’s father approved the trip, and Wenlong departed with Shitou, Wenlin, Wenzhu, and Wenye despite his mother’s tearful farewell.
• Wenlong stationed the four companions in the wooded hills outside Wan Family Town and entered the Kai compound alone.
• After failing to find the treasury at first, Wenlong hid in the grain storehouse and used his mental power to follow the Kai patriarch to a room with a concealed mechanism.
• Wenlong waited until night, opened the hidden entrance, disarmed the traps, and entered the Kai treasury, where he found piles of gold and silver.

Wenlong looted the Kai clan’s vault, grain, and cloth, then killed its chief and set the main house on fire. With the Kai clan occupied by the upheaval, he returned to the village and prepared to distribute grain to his aunts’ families.

• Wenlong emptied the Kai clan’s treasure vault, sabotaged its door, and returned to the Wen clan’s Ancestral Grounds with Shitou and Wenzhu.
• Wenlong told Wen Tiancheng and the clan elders about the loot and his plan to raid the Kai clan again, then stored the treasure in the Secret Passage and gave jewelry to his mother.
• Wenlong stole the Kai clan’s cloth and grain, killed its sleeping chief with Shadowless Returning Needles, and set the main house on fire.
• Wenlong killed several guards amid the chaos, escaped Wan Family Town, and met Shitou and Linzi, who were watching for search parties.
• Wenlong returned to the village when the Kai clan sent no searchers, and the clansmen decided to share grain with the aunts’ families.
• Wenlong planned to deliver the grain himself with help from his two maternal uncles, Wenzhu, Wenye, and Daniu.

Wenlong and his companions set out to deliver grain to his aunts’ families, spared six desperate bandits after defeating them, and continued on to Brightlight City. There, Wenlong saw a stall owner beat a boy who had stolen a steamed bun.

• Wenlong stored the grain sacks for his aunts’ families, and he and his companions departed by carriage with his two uncles.
• Six bandits blocked the road to demand a toll, but Daniu knocked them down and Wenlong bound them for questioning.
• After learning the bandits had turned to robbery because their families were starving, Wenlong warned them, gave them grain, and let them go.
• Wenlong had his uncles take the grain to the villages while he, Daniu, Wenzhu, and Wenye entered Brightlight City.
• At a restaurant, Wenlong saw a boy steal a steamed bun to feed a little girl, and the stall owner kicked the boy down and beat him with a stick.

Wenlong’s group rescued an orphaned girl named Little Flower and brought her back to the village, where Long'er’s mother adopted her. As the Lineage prepared to avenge their wrongs, twenty-six clanspeople marched toward the Ambush Site, where Wenlong and Wenzhu began scouting a Kai party.

• Wenlong paid for a doctor and food for the injured beggar boy, then agreed to take in the boy’s young companion, Little Flower.
• Wenlong’s group bought supplies, met their uncles outside the city, and returned to the village, where Long'er’s mother adopted Little Flower.
• After hearing that more Kai were traveling in groups, Wenlong ordered more shackles forged, and the clan resolved to capture them.
• The clanspeople performed rites at the Ancestral Hall, received red armbands, and set out for war under Wen Tiancheng’s lead.
• Wenlong and Wenzhu scouted ahead and spotted a Kai rider followed by a carriage; Wenlong set out to lure the occupants into an ambush so they could be captured alive.

Wenlong, Wenzhu, and the Wen clan ambushed Kai clansmen investigating their leader’s murder, capturing several groups and defeating a force of nearly a hundred. The Kai survivors surrendered or were bound as the Wen clan prepared to secure the battlefield.

• Wenlong and Wenzhu ambushed a Kai group, and the Wen clansmen captured six survivors and searched them for clues.
• Wenzhu defeated another group of Kai clansmen with her sword, and the Wen clansmen bound the captives.
• Wen Tiancheng’s scouts reported that nearly a hundred Kai clansmen were approaching, so Wenlong proposed traps and Wenzhu planned a rear attack.
• The Wen clan trapped and attacked the Kai force with arrows and flanking assaults, while Daniu cut down opponents with his saber.
• Wenlong called for the Kai clansmen to surrender, and the terrified survivors laid down their weapons or were captured.

After defeating the Kai clan, Wenlong helped the Wen clan secure their village and begin building defenses on Front Mountain. He then returned to Brightlight City and offered Xiao Tie, Grandpa Zhang, and the homeless beggars a place to live and work with the clan.

• Wen Tiancheng led the Wen clan in capturing nearly a hundred Kai clan members and bringing the prisoners and spoils back to the village.
• Wenlong ordered that slaves who had killed Wen clan members or resisted be dealt with, and proposed building houses on Front Mountain to strengthen the clan's defenses.
• Wenlong surveyed Front Mountain and drew up a construction plan, and Wen Tiancheng sent guards and slaves there to begin building.
• Wenlong, Shitou, and Wenzhu found Xiao Tie weak in Brightlight City, and Wenlong invited him to reunite with Little Flower and live with the Wen clan.
• Wenlong met Grandpa Zhang and the other beggars at a ruined temple, offered them food, shelter, and work tending farmland, and asked them to gather other homeless people to leave with him.

Wenlong brought the rescued villagers to safety at Front Mountain and renamed it the Huaxia Sect, while preparing for a possible Kai family attack. After capturing two Kai family scouts, he took Little Flower to reunite with Grandpa Zhang and Xiao Tie.

• Wenlong arranged carriages and provisions for the seventy-three people gathered at the Little Broken Temple, then escorted them to Front Mountain.
• Wenlong explained that the captured slaves were enemies of the Wen family, and the rescued villagers settled into the prepared houses.
• At a clan meeting, Wenlong called for continued wall construction and patrols, and named Front Mountain the Huaxia Sect with the dragon as the clan's future totem.
• After Kai family scouts were spotted, Wenlong led Wenzhu, Wenye, Shitou, and Daniu to pursue and capture two of them, then searched the area for other threats.
• Wenlong took Little Flower to Front Mountain, where she reunited tearfully with Grandpa Zhang, Xiao Tie, and her friends.

Wenlong celebrated the New Year, addressed unrest among the slaves, and presented plans to develop the Wen clan and Huaxia Sect. He left the meeting to urge his mother to help arrange marriages for their widowed relatives.

• Wenlong checked the new perimeter wall as Grandpa Zhang assigned more than twenty boys to help Wen Tiancheng guard the settlement.
• During New Year celebrations, Wenlong confronted slaves who wanted better treatment and ordered the village protection squad to watch them more closely.
• After the holiday, Wenlong presented plans for managing the slaves and building training, medical, educational, and production facilities, including a paper-making operation.
• Wenlong asked his father and uncles to teach at the Huaxia Sect, urged Linzi's mother to train medical students, and arranged for his aunts' relatives to settle and farm nearby.
• Wenlong told his mother to consider arranging marriages for the widowed aunts, and she said she would handle the matter.

Wenlong helped expand the Wen’s village and Huaxia Sect while studying medicine, then led a group to capture nearly a hundred Kai working the Wen’s former fields. The captives were brought safely back to Wen Family Village, and Wenlong resolved to be more cautious in future operations.

• Wenlong told Long'er's mother that widowed aunties could leave freely or receive Lineage support if they stayed unmarried, while Wen children had to keep their surname.
• Wenlong studied medicine in seclusion as Wen Tiancheng organized work and apprenticeships at the Huaxia Sect, where Little Flower began learning martial arts.
• Wenlong told Wen Tiancheng to schedule the students’ lessons and proposed capturing Kai who returned to farm the Wen’s former land.
• Wenlong secretly took grain, cloth, and valuables from Kai households in Wan Family Town, then trained ten Huaxia Sect youths to shoot moving targets.
• Wenlong led thirty youths in a nighttime ambush, capturing nearly a hundred Kai men and women who came to work the fields.
• Wenlong and his men escorted the captives to Wen Family Village, where he reflected that future operations required greater caution.

Wenlong strengthened the Wen clan with new family members, labor, defenses, and Repeating Crossbows before leading a night raid against the Kai clan. As the Kai clansmen pursued the attackers, Wenlong covered his companions’ retreat and attacked the enemy with bolts and darts.

• Wen Tiancheng adopted Xiao Tie, who became Wen Tie, and Wenlong gained a younger brother and sister.
• Wenlong oversaw Repeating Crossbow improvements, armor plans, and the mass production of bricks, tiles, and lime for the clan’s defenses.
• Wenlong trained Wenzhu, Wenye, Wen Shitou, Wenlin, Daniu, and Erniu for a surprise attack on the Kai clan.
• Wenlong raided Wan Family Town, seized money and grain, and killed wealthy Kai clansmen and their guards.
• Wenlong led the pursuing Kai clansmen into his companions’ ambush, where the group killed more than a hundred enemies.
• Wenlong sent Shitou and the others to retreat on horseback, then stayed behind and attacked the charging Kai clansmen with crossbow bolts and darts.

After leading a successful raid against the Kai clan, Wenlong raised the Wen clan’s battle flag, strengthened the village, and prepared another attack with improved crossbows. The chapter ended as Shitou and the youths paid their respects to the ancestors before marching to battle again.

• Wenlong and his fighters escaped after killing hundreds of Kai clansmen, then returned safely to Wen Family Village and raised the blood-red battle flag before the Ancestral Hall.
• Wenlong urged the youths to train for the Kai clan’s next attack and vowed to avenge his grandparents and restore the Wen clan.
• Wenlong asked Seventh Uncle to improve the crossbows and ordered tighter controls over their production and storage.
• Wenlong oversaw the growth of Huaxia Sect and the village, then prepared a larger raid with Shitou, Wenzhu, and ten youths using the new crossbows.
• Wenlong told Wen Tie and Wen Hua to call him Third Brother and their mother explained that they had two older brothers.
• Two days later, Shitou led the youths in paying respects to the ancestors before they marched into battle.

Wenlong and Shitou led the Wen clan’s youths in a night assault on the Kai clan, using ambushes and crossbows to inflict heavy losses before returning safely to Wen Family Village. Wenlong then ordered stronger defenses and preparations for the Huaxia Sect, and took Seventh Uncle to develop stronger weapons.

• Shitou led seventeen youths out of the village to fight the Kai clan, and Wenlong and Linzi scouted the enemy’s hidden force near Wan Family Town.
• Wenlong raided Kai households, gathered their hidden wealth, and drew Kai clanspeople toward Shitou’s ambush positions.
• Shitou’s fighters struck the Kai clanspeople with crossbow bolts, then withdrew between ambush sites as Wenlong and Wenzhu covered their retreat.
• Wenlong and the others returned to Wen Family Village unharmed, where the clan celebrated their victory.
• Wenlong told his father to strengthen defenses around the Huaxia Sect, ordered Shitou to target Kai scouts, and assigned training duties to Wenzhu and his uncles.
• Wenlong took Seventh Uncle to work on developing stronger weapons.

Wenlong expanded the Wen and Huaxia Sect’s training and medical work while pursuing gunpowder ingredients and checking on paper-making. After Shitou’s raids disrupted Wan Family Town, Wenlong ordered a pause and continued preparing to strengthen the Wen against the Kai.

• Wenlong sent people to seek gunpowder materials and ordered Shitou to launch small, covert raids on Wan Family Town.
• Wenlong emerged from the Secret Passage and learned that his widowed aunts had remarried, then taught the youngsters martial arts, demonstrating how a spear could keep a swordsman at bay.
• Wenlong instructed Wenzhu to train the youngsters with long weapons and on horseback, then taught his aunts medicine and established plans for a Medical Hall and medicinal-herb purchases.
• Wenlong inspected the soaking bamboo and told the clansmen to keep working toward making paper.
• Shitou reported that the raid had disrupted Wan Family Town but its defenses had tightened, so Wenlong ordered the raids to stop temporarily.
• Wenlong learned that his maternal uncles had found nitric acid and charcoal but no sulfur, and he went home hoping the Wen would soon overcome the Kai.

Wenlong weakened the Kai clan, built up the Huaxia Sect and village with new workshops and ways to earn income, and prepared to strike the Kai clan again. His plans were interrupted by the happy news that his mother was pregnant.

• Wenlong assassinated the Kai clan’s leading figures, took their valuables, and ordered Shitou to establish hidden lookout posts.
• Wenlong set up a Papermaking Workshop, organized paid work and contribution points, and oversaw construction projects around the sect and villages.
• The workshop produced paper for writing and toilet use, and Wenlong helped establish a Soap Workshop that made soap for the villagers.
• Shitou reported that the Kai clan had sent scouts; Wenlong ordered surveillance strengthened, questioned two captured scouts, and learned where the clan’s new leaders lived.
• As Wenlong prepared to return to Wan Family Town and strike the Kai clan again, he learned that his mother was pregnant.

Wenlong cared for his pregnant mother, helped his younger siblings study, and designed a faster loom to benefit the Wen. He also worked to contain the Kai threat and advised Wen Tiancheng to delegate the clan’s many responsibilities.

• Wenlong returned home, greeted Wen Tie and Wen Hua, and helped them with arithmetic and medicinal herbs while sharing his mother’s excitement about her pregnancy.
• Wenlong found pregnancy prescriptions in the Secret Passage and asked Linzi's mother to prepare them for his mother.
• Wenlong redesigned his mother’s loom to weave several times faster and proposed expanding cloth production through the Wen, Huaxia Sect, and Huaxia Village.
• Wenlong urged Wen Tiancheng to spend more time with his pregnant mother, then told Shitou to stop Kai scouts from reaching the Wen and avoid a premature battle.
• Wenlong advised Wen Tiancheng to delegate responsibilities across the Wen’s villages and sect, and Wen Tiancheng enthusiastically agreed.

Wenlong organized the Wen family’s industries and planned the Huaxia Sect’s founding, including its gate plaque and dragon pillar. Before the sect’s establishment, a hostile group of martial artists arrived, and Wen Tiancheng prepared to confront them.

• Wenlong assigned clan members and villagers to oversee workshops, village affairs, security, and instruction, while Wen Tiancheng became sect master.
• Wenlong fixed a pulp-quality problem at the Papermaking Workshop and decided the territory’s immediate priority was keeping the land peaceful.
• Wenlong designed the Huaxia Sect’s calligraphy and a dragon pillar, then asked Wen Tiancheng to arrange for stoneworkers to make them before the New Year.
• A disciple warned Wen Tiancheng and Wenlong that unidentified martial artists were approaching the sect with hostile intent.
• Wenlong, Wen Tiancheng, Shitou, and Zhuzi reached the gate and faced a black-clad group whose leader threatened to destroy the Huaxia Sect.