Chapter Summaries

Yun Ying was ordered to steal the Forging Art within three days or face the dark old man's threats against Qu Yong and herself. As she secretly took the booklet from He An, Patriarch Peng revealed the Water Droplet's power, and Xiao Buyi began to suspect He An was his missing grandson.

• The dark, scrawny old man threatened Yun Ying and gave her three days to deliver the Forging Technique in exchange for Qu Yong's safety and her freedom.
• Qu Yong urged He An to keep the Water Droplet's secrets guarded, while Yun Ying secretly slipped powder into He An's pear soup.
• Patriarch Peng drew a vast river from the Water Droplet, identified it as an Immortal Weapon, and ordered it enshrined in the Ancestral Hall.
• Shao Qingyan pointed out He An's resemblance to Xiao Zhuo, leading Xiao Buyi to wonder whether He An was his missing grandson, Zhao Xingjia.
• After He An fell asleep, Yun Ying searched his travel bag, took the Forging Art, and escaped through the window.

Yun Ying stole an ancient book for the Black, Emaciated Elder, who beat her and carried her off after refusing to remove the Nightmare-Suppressing Nail. As Unknown Island assassins spread terror through Yangzhou, Xu Guangping killed Yamaji Jiro during an attempted attack on Xu Jie, leaving the city’s fate unresolved.

• Yun Ying delivered the stolen book to the Black, Emaciated Elder, who accused her of betrayal, beat her, and took her unconscious body away.
• A series of brutal murders of officials and villagers spread fear across Yangzhou, and rumors blamed the Unknown Island Fiends.
• Yamaji Jiro hid underwater and prepared to attack Xu Jie during a gathering at a waterside pavilion.
• Xu Guangping killed Yamaji Jiro with a fine silver line as the assassin emerged from the pond.
• Xu Guangping removed a lotus leaf from his robe and remarked that someone had come to add another lamp.

Xu Guangping and Hu Guangsheng defended Yangzhou’s officials and villagers from assassins sent by Unknown Island, while Dongfang Shikai annihilated a village attack with the Heaven and Earth Furnace Sword Technique. Afterward, the two disciples discussed their victories and worried that their master had gone alone to face Unknown Island’s true elite.

• Gong Er attempted to assassinate Lu Duan but was killed by a concealed young man before he could strike.
• Xu Guangping saved Di Wei from a black-clad assassin at his mother’s birthday banquet and killed the attacker with Sword Qi.
• Dongfang Shikai used the Heaven and Earth Furnace Sword Technique to destroy Watanabe and the assassins attacking Willow Creek, saving the villagers.
• Xu Guangping and Hu Guangsheng reported killing eighteen and twenty-one skilled fighters, respectively, while patrolling Yangzhou.
• Xu Guangping and Hu Guangsheng condemned Unknown Island’s attacks on officials and worried that Dongfang Shikai was confronting its elite alone.

Dongfang Shikai appeared at the Eastern Yang palace after an assassination attempt, while the Vertical Sword Sect searched for its stolen Forging Technique manual and Yun Ying. Xiao Buyi questioned He An about his family, and in Great Chen, Emperor Chen raged over a failed attack on the sect’s sword formation.

• Liu Jingtian welcomed Dongfang Shikai after the fighting outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation fell silent.
• He An discovered the Forging Technique manual was missing, and the Vertical Sword Sect named the vanished Yun Ying its prime suspect.
• He An told Qu Yong that Yun Ying was his childhood friend Miao Feifei and suggested she might have been forced to steal the manual.
• Xiao Buyi questioned He An about his parents, hometown, and age while privately wondering if He was connected to his deceased daughter and son-in-law.
• Emperor Chen condemned Geng Chunshan after fifty thousand vanguard troops were defeated by a Vertical Sword Sect formation of about a thousand fighters.

Emperor Chen rewarded Bi Yunfei for returning the Forging Technique and tasked him with monitoring the Cui Family, while Gu Qingzhou reunited with Zhuge Guagua and heard his complaints about court corruption and the Grand Canal. Beside the Luo River, Fan Dazhi admired Linu as they played go, and the chapter left him pursuing work repairing Spirit Artifacts to earn enough to buy her freedom.

• Emperor Chen praised Qingzhou's disaster relief work and ordered Zhao Delu to give Bi Yunfei a Dragon Prosperity Token and tell him to report unusual movements by the Cui Family.
• Gu Qingzhou visited Zhuge Guagua in Dangtu, where Zhuge condemned the Grand Canal project, corrupt officials, and the persecution of Knowledge and Practice Institute members.
• Gu Qingzhou urged Zhuge Guagua to protect himself and learned that Zhuge had sold his ancestral home to buy grain for people suffering during a locust disaster.
• Linu played go beside the Luo River while Fan Dazhi watched her and made a careless move that threatened her dragon group.
• Fan Dazhi sought ways to earn money to buy Linu's freedom and began helping Lin Qiu Chi repair damaged Spirit Artifacts.

Zhu Qiqi teased Fan Dazhi and Linu by the river until a mishap sent Fan Dazhi fleeing in embarrassment. Afterward, Zhu Qiqi made Linu reconsider Fan Dazhi’s apparent foolishness, leaving Linu worried he might see through her plan.

• Zhu Qiqi mocked Fan Dazhi and Linu as they played Go, then pretended she needed him to scratch a mosquito bite.
• Zhu Qiqi recalled Fan Dazhi holding Linu’s hand outside her door, and Fan Dazhi awkwardly scratched her back with a twig.
• A Go stone struck Zhu Qiqi’s calf, tipping her chair and pulling Fan Dazhi on top of her; he hurried away after helping her up.
• Zhu Qiqi teased Linu about her feelings for Fan Dazhi, then swept the Go stones off the board when Linu ignored her.
• Zhu Qiqi pointed out that Fan Dazhi had steadily made Linu think harder during their games, and Linu began to suspect his apparent foolishness hid great intelligence.
• Linu remembered that she needed to find an opening through Fan Dazhi to complete her mission and worried he might discover her scheme.

Linu and Zhu Qiqi were ordered by Dongren to use Fan Dazhi to help rescue the Venerable One from Zhenyue Prison. Meanwhile, Emperor Chen demoted Chancellor Cui Yizhong and sent Cui Zhixia home, where father and son reconciled after Cui Zhixia’s ordeal.

• Dongren confronted Linu and Zhu Qiqi by the Luo River, revealed that the Venerable One was imprisoned in Zhenyue Prison, and ordered them to make use of Fan Dazhi.
• Linu and Zhu Qiqi warned that the Knowledge and Practice Institute was heavily guarded, but Dongren said their lord had plans to draw away its strongest experts.
• Cui Yizhong told Emperor Chen that Cui Zhixia had failed, and Emperor Chen ordered Cui Zhixia to kneel outside Purple Dawn Hall the next morning.
• Emperor Chen removed Cui Yizhong from his post as Vice Chancellor while allowing him to keep his salary, then ordered him to take Cui Zhixia home.
• Cui Yizhong comforted Cui Zhixia, explained that preserving the family mattered more than chasing glory, and accepted his son’s safe return.

He An’s journey back to the Knowledge and Practice Institute led him to reflect on mortal hardship and the value of a worthy partner after meeting a mistreated farmer’s wife. Continuing through the autumn rain, he took shelter in a ruined hermitage, where approaching footsteps left him alert.

• He An traveled through Jiangnan, and the scenery eased his gloom over the theft of the Forging Art.
• He An lodged at a farmhouse, where the farmer’s wife told him about her husband’s drinking, gambling, and abuse.
• He An comforted the woman and her child, then reflected on mortal suffering and thought anxiously of Han Chanjuan.
• After the farmer returned drunk and scolded his wife, He An left the next morning and continued through the rain.
• He An sought shelter in a ruined hermitage and dried his clothes with the Knowledge and Practice Heart Method.
• He An heard footsteps approaching the hermitage from outside.

He An took shelter from the rain with a blind elderly monk and his middle-aged attendant, whose extraordinary Buddhist arts revealed their great cultivation. The blind monk’s brief advice helped He An understand how to advance his Spirit-Shocking Finger, though he had not yet mastered the Extinction Finger.

• He An watched the two monks approach and recognized that the blind elderly monk’s protective Gang Qi marked him as a transcendent cultivator.
• The middle-aged monk went to gather firewood, and He An helped the blind monk retrieve his waterskin before they spoke about travel and Buddhist practice.
• The middle-aged monk returned and ignited the rain-soaked wood with a golden Buddhist flame that warmed the hermitage without producing smoke.
• He An studied the flame and recalled his difficulty concentrating his true qi to perform the Extinction Finger.
• The blind monk told He An that the flame’s shadow stayed steady because its foundation remained firm, prompting He An to focus his awareness and gather true qi at his fingertips.

After meeting the Blind Monk and continuing his journey, He An encountered a village being raided by Great Chen Cavalry and rescued two children after their mother was killed. Surrounded by thousands of cavalry while protecting them, he prepared to fight.

• The Blind Monk departed after telling He An to remember that mountains and waters could be seen in different ways, and He An set out on his journey.
• He An reached a village, shared persimmons with Xiaobao and Nannan, and recognized the approaching riders as Great Chen Cavalry.
• A cavalryman killed the children's mother and charged at Xiaobao and Nannan, so He An used his sword to strike down several riders and shielded the children.
• He An secured Xiaobao to his back, put Nannan on a warhorse, and fled as the cavalry gathered and set the village ablaze.
• The exhausted horse collapsed, leaving He An and the children surrounded by thousands of cavalry, and He An resolved to fight.

He An faced a Great Chen Cavalry force after killing its soldiers and denied being an Eastern Yang spy, but the army’s cultivators moved to kill him rather than let him go. He An revealed his strength by defeating the Lishui Sword Sect sword cultivator, taking his bonded flying sword as the talisman cultivator watched without intervening.

• Liu Fulong accused He An of being an Eastern Yang spy and demanded that he surrender, while He An identified himself as a Knowledge and Practice Institute disciple and pointed out the two children with him.
• Guo Wei and the accompanying cultivators decided He An had to die, and the Lishui Sword Sect sword cultivator rode forward to force his surrender.
• He An stepped onto the old sword cultivator’s flying sword and demonstrated his mastery, prompting the man to recognize him as a dao integration realm cultivator.
• The old sword cultivator surrounded He An with twelve apparent flying swords, but He An destroyed the replicas and blocked the genuine attack with his true qi and Flowing Fireflies.
• He An took the old sword cultivator’s bonded flying sword and put it in his sachet, while the talisman cultivator declined to intervene.

He An protected two children from Guo Wei’s troops, and the Blind Monk halted the first arrow attack with Buddha’s light. Guo Wei ordered his heavy cavalry to charge, but Yangcuo’s Buddhist roar threw the formation into chaos and forced the army to retreat.

• After He An defeated the old sword cultivator, Guo Wei ordered his archers to aim at He An and the two children.
• He An urged Guo Wei’s soldiers not to slaughter civilians, but Guo Wei commanded them to fire.
• The Blind Monk appeared and froze the arrows in midair with Buddha’s light, then praised He An for protecting the children.
• The Blind Monk asked Yangcuo to care for the children, while Guo Wei secretly signaled his troops to leave no survivors.
• Yangcuo charged toward the heavy cavalry and used a Buddhist roar to panic their horses and wreck their formation.
• Guo Wei was dragged by his frightened horse as the cavalry routed and he shouted for a retreat.

Blind Monk revealed himself as Faxian and saved He An, Yangcuo, and two children from the surviving cavalry. After helping mourn and bury the villagers, Faxian told He An that he carried an extraordinary heavenly destiny and urged him to treat the people with compassion.

• A talisman cultivator and an elderly sword cultivator recognized the Blind Monk as Faxian and begged him for guidance and forgiveness.
• Faxian explained that he had left the mountains to search for his missing martial nephew Yushu, then walked on as the surviving cavalry retreated.
• Yangcuo comforted the two children while He An and the others returned to the ruined village with Faxian.
• Faxian chanted the Rebirth Mantra for the dead villagers as He An and Yangcuo dug their graves.
• Faxian told He An that he bore signs of a Celestial Person and a heavenly destiny, and urged him to remember the villagers' suffering and show compassion.
• He An promised to remember Faxian's words and said the children needed a safe place to live.

Fan Dazhi brought Linu his savings toward buying her freedom, confessed his feelings, and received her care as she mended his robe. Linu remained torn between his sincerity and her mission, while Zhu Qiqi misread the intimate-looking scene and hurried away in shock.

• Fan Dazhi bought two vegetable buns and reflected on saving money to free Linu.
• Linu and Zhu Qiqi discussed the Brilliant Pavilion’s dwindling business, Fan Dazhi’s devotion, and the danger of Linu’s hidden identity.
• Fan Dazhi visited Linu and gave her the money he had saved toward buying her freedom.
• Fan Dazhi confessed that he liked Linu, and she gave him a Snow Fox Fur Coat and mended his robe.
• Zhu Qiqi saw Linu bent over Fan Dazhi while he sat with his eyes closed, misunderstood the scene, and hurried away.

During the autumn hunt, Emperor Chen explained his plans to reform official selection and expand the imperial examinations. Urgent dispatches brought news of a victory at Juyan City and a costly supply-camp attack, leaving him furious at the general’s misleading report.

• Emperor Chen shot an elk during the hunt and reflected on his age and unfinished ambitions.
• Emperor Chen told Tong Huan and Zhantai Ming that he intended to reform government and give talented men of humble birth a path into imperial service.
• Tong Huan and Zhantai Ming knelt in support of Emperor Chen’s plans, and the soldiers joined them in cheering.
• Couriers delivered urgent military reports from Qin Prefecture and the Shu Region.
• Emperor Chen learned that Huyan Xiuluo’s pursuit after victory at Juyan City had allowed Han cavalry and the Tuyuhun Tribe to raid the supply camp at Blackwater Ravine, costing the army more than half its provisions.
• Emperor Chen condemned frontier generals for concealing defeats and misleading him.

Emperor Chen decided to build the Ten-Thousand-Li Great Wall and learned that a mutiny had erupted in the Shu Region, prompting him to summon a court assembly to address the crisis. At the Cui residence, the old patriarch confronted Cui Zhixia over the Shark Dagger he had brought back from the Sword Tomb Secret Realm.

• Emperor Chen rejected a gradual approach to the Tuyuhun threat and ordered plans for a Ten-Thousand-Li Great Wall, funding it first from his Imperial Mausoleum budget.
• Zhantai Ming and Tong Huan urged Emperor Chen to send senior military and civil officials to quell the escalating mutiny in the Shu Region.
• Emperor Chen ordered a return to Luoyang and summoned the civil and military officials to a grand court assembly the next day.
• The old Cui patriarch questioned Cui Zhixia about the Shark Dagger and condemned the disappointment of the treasure he had brought back from the Sword Tomb Secret Realm.

Cui Yizhong revealed that his apparent failures at court were a deliberate effort to protect the Cui Family from the suspicious emperor, while Cui Hu had mistaken his strategy for incompetence. The chapter ended with Cui Hu entrusting the family’s future to Cui Yizhong and pledging to rebuild Cui Zhixia’s Dao foundation.

• Cui Hu scolded Cui Zhixia for losing his Dao heart and struck him, then condemned Cui Yizhong for bringing the Cui Family into decline.
• Cui Yizhong confronted Cui Hu and explained that he had intentionally hidden his abilities and withdrawn from power to keep the emperor from seeing the family as a threat.
• Cui Yizhong warned that the emperor had disposed of capable officials before and predicted he would be sent to quell the unrest in the Shu Region.
• Cui Yizhong stripped and plunged into ice water to demonstrate his resolve, leaving Cui Hu and Cui Zhixia stunned by his sacrifice and insight.
• Cui Hu admitted he had wronged Cui Yizhong, entrusted him with restoring the Cui Family, and vowed to take Cui Zhixia into seclusion to rebuild his Dao foundation.
• Cui Hu drove the Shark Dagger into the granite floor and pledged the Cui Family’s resources to make Cui Zhixia a leading cultivator.

He An took the orphaned Jiang Ye and Jiang Chong toward the Knowledge and Practice Institute, urging Jiang Chong to temper his desire for revenge with learning and justice. In Luoyang, Wei Zhilin divined a coming upheaval and a powerful captive’s escape before Cheng Zi Ya arrived to ask about the court’s decree.

• He An bought new clothes and candied hawthorns for Jiang Ye and Jiang Chong, then hired a carriage to take them away from the market town.
• Jiang Chong wept over his mother’s death and vowed to learn swordsmanship to avenge her, while Jiang Ye mourned beside him.
• He An promised to take the children to the Knowledge and Practice Institute and urged Jiang Chong to study right and wrong as well as swordsmanship.
• Wei Zhilin cast a yarrow hexagram that foretold upheaval, a powerful imprisoned enemy’s escape, and renewed conflict.
• Cheng Zi Ya entered the Knowledge and Practice Tower and asked Wei Zhilin why the court’s eunuchs had come.

Wei Zhilin sent Cheng Zi Ya to suppress a military mutiny in the Shu Region, with Liu Ben traveling ahead to assist him. After returning to the Knowledge and Practice Institute, He An reunited with Fan Dazhi and checked on the children he had rescued; as the two headed out to eat, they encountered Zhu Jin.

• Wei Zhilin explained the Shu Region mutiny and agreed to let Cheng Zi Ya lead the mission, giving him the Commander's Axe and revealing that Liu Ben had gone ahead to help.
• Fan Dazhi woke late beside his mysteriously unchanged black cat and was delighted when He An returned to the Institute.
• He An reported his Sword Tomb Secret Realm experiences to Wei Zhilin, who arranged for Jiang Ye and Jiang Chong to join the Initiation Hall.
• He An visited Lu Zhengqing and delivered Qu Yong's letter, then returned to his quarters and reunited with Fan Dazhi.
• He An learned that Fan Dazhi had been helping Master Lin repair Spirit Artifacts but had not yet broken through the qi transformation realm.
• He An and Fan Dazhi went out to find a meal and encountered Zhu Jin in the courtyard.

He An reunited with Zhu Jin, while Cheng Zi Ya left the Knowledge and Practice Institute for the Shu Region. After He An stopped a beggar from being beaten, the beggar secretly invited him to meet at midnight, claiming to have an earth-shattering secret.

• He An and Fan Dazhi greeted Zhu Jin, who questioned He An about his journey to Eastern Yang and encouraged him after hearing his account.
• Cheng Zi Ya traveled swiftly from Luoyang toward the Shu Region, announcing that he was coming.
• At a restaurant, He An spoke with Fan Dazhi about Linu and supported his feelings for her.
• He An stopped a proprietor and his workers from beating a beggar, paid for the stolen food, and gave the beggar his remaining silver.
• An attendant summoned Fan Dazhi to meet Lin Qiu Chi, and the beggar then approached He An and arranged a secret midnight meeting in Lotus Seed Alley.