Chapter Summaries

Song Xuan killed the prefect’s son and Zhou Tailai after avenging the woman they had harmed, while Lin Daiyu joined in by stabbing the son herself. He postponed dealing with the prefect’s family, then gained insight into the Xiantian Realm during a long period of meditation aboard the ship.

• Song Xuan confronted the prefect’s son, killed his guards with an exploding paper umbrella, and drew Zhou Tailai out of hiding.
• Song Xuan defeated Zhou Tailai with a single strike of Sword Qi after the elder attacked him.
• Lin Daiyu took a saber and killed the wounded prefect’s son, telling Song Xuan that she would not reveal what had happened.
• Song Xuan said he would deal with the prefect’s family when he had time, then returned to the ship with Song Qian and Lin Daiyu.
• Song Xuan meditated on the ship for more than four hours and sensed that he was approaching the Xiantian Realm.
• Song Xuan asked Lin Pingzhi to bring the barbecue grill and two jars of wine for Song Qian.

Song Xuan advised Lin Pingzhi to trust his own judgment and revealed that he and Song Qian served in the Black Robe Guard, though they were headed to Jiangzhe Prefecture. Meanwhile, a commandery governor grieved over his murdered son and decided to report the killing to the Black Robe Guard.

• Song Xuan grilled food with Lin Pingzhi and advised him not to let other people’s opinions dictate his choices.
• Song Qian joked that Song Xuan would become invincible and marry many wives, while Song Xuan and Lin Pingzhi discussed their work and future contact in Jiangzhe Prefecture.
• Song Qian revealed that she and Song Xuan worked for the Black Robe Guard, and Song Xuan warned Lin Pingzhi to consider the consequences before acting.
• In River City Commandery, the governor learned that his son and the guards had been killed by a skilled swordsman, and he ordered a report sent to the Black Robe Guard.

Song Xuan discussed the three realms of reading with Lin Daiyu, then explained his understanding of the Sword Dao to Song Qian. He outlined the first three of its five realms, leaving his explanation unfinished.

• Lin Daiyu asked Song Xuan whether he was fond of Lin Pingzhi and what kinds of books he read.
• Song Xuan described three realms of reading and recited verses Lin Daiyu suspected he had written himself.
• Song Qian teased Song Xuan about having a matchmaking date with Lin Daiyu, then asked him about martial arts.
• Song Xuan told Song Qian that mastery required developing one's own understanding and divided the Sword Dao into five realms.
• Song Xuan explained the sharp sword, flexible sword, and heavy sword realms.

Song Xuan explained his theories about the five realms of swordsmanship and considered how to obtain a powerful sword art. After arriving in Yangzhou with Song Qian and Lin Daiyu, he headed for the Jiangzhe Prefecture Salt Commission Office to see Lin Daiyu’s father, Lin Ruhai.

• Song Xuan described the fourth and fifth sword realms to Song Qian, who marveled at his ideas and asked which realm he had reached.
• Song Xuan said he was at most in the second realm and weighed obtaining the Lin Household’s Evil-Repelling Swordplay against seeking Dugu Nine Swords from Linghu Chong.
• Song Xuan and Song Qian discussed swordsmanship late into the night, and Song Xuan spent the rest of the evening contemplating his path ahead.
• Three days later, the ship reached Yangzhou without encountering pirates or bandits, and Song Xuan, Song Qian, and Lin Daiyu said farewell to Lin Pingzhi.
• Song Xuan hired a carriage and directed the driver to take them to the Jiangzhe Prefecture Salt Commission Office, where Lin Ruhai served as Salt Commissioner.

Song Xuan and Song Qian escorted Lin Daiyu to the Salt Commission Office, where they learned Lin Ruhai was gravely ill. When Daiyu reached her father’s bedside, Song Xuan stopped her and declared that Lin Ruhai had been poisoned.

• Song Xuan learned that Lin Ruhai had ruthlessly suppressed salt merchants and was now bedridden, while merchants celebrated his illness.
• Song Xuan reassured Lin Daiyu that a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill could save her father if he was still alive.
• Lin Daiyu presented her jade pendant to the Salt Soldiers, who let the group enter the guarded Salt Commission Office.
• Nanny Wu welcomed Lin Daiyu and led her and her cousins to Lin Ruhai’s quarters.
• Lin Daiyu rushed to her father’s bedside, but Song Xuan stopped her and identified Lin Ruhai’s condition as poisoning.

Song Xuan discovered that Lin Ruhai had been poisoned through the incense and saved him with a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, though Lin Ruhai had only about ten years left. After Lin Ruhai reunited with Lin Daiyu, his old guard identified the poison as Thousand-Day Drunk, and Lin Daiyu invited Song Xuan inside to speak with her father.

• Song Xuan sensed poison in the incense and threw the burner out of Lin Ruhai's room.
• Song Xuan gave Lin Ruhai a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, which neutralized the poison but could not restore the years of life it had cost him.
• Lin Ruhai told Lin Daiyu he regretted sending her to the Jia Mansion, and the two tearfully reunited.
• Song Xuan took Song Qian outside, where Lin Ruhai's old guard identified the poison as the rare, slow-acting Thousand-Day Drunk.
• Lin Daiyu told Song Xuan that Lin Ruhai wanted to discuss something with him and asked him to go inside.

Song Xuan visited Lin Ruhai, who had recovered from his poison and reunited with Lin Daiyu, and learned that Jiangzhe Prefecture’s officials might be colluding with the Martial World. After Song Xuan and Song Qian left to dig up a grave, Lin Ruhai’s guard warned that the siblings’ strength was difficult to judge and that they might break through during a fight to the death.

• Song Xuan greeted Lin Ruhai, who thanked him and Song Qian for helping reunite him with Lin Daiyu.
• Lin Ruhai warned Song Xuan that Jiangzhe Prefecture was dangerous, with salt merchants, officials, and the Martial World tangled together.
• Song Xuan wondered whether his father had hidden influence after Lin Ruhai said he could have prevented the siblings’ appointment.
• Song Xuan and Song Qian declined Lin Daiyu’s meal and left to dig up a grave.
• Lin Ruhai asked his black-robed guard to assess the siblings, and the guard said he might win a spar but would likely die in a fight to the death.

Song Xuan and Song Qian confirmed that Xu Chang'an had been murdered, then rode to take up their posts at the Black Robe Guard's Thousand-Household Office in Yangzhou. Song Xuan intended to test the local office and purge it if necessary, carrying out Zhao Dezhu's plan to establish the hereditary Black Robe Guard lineages' strength.

• Lin Ruhai and Elder Feng discussed Song Xuan's abilities and agreed that Elder Feng might help him if needed.
• Song Xuan and Song Qian exhumed Xu Chang'an's body and found that he had been killed before entering the water, with his heart shattered by a martial technique.
• Song Qian said Xu Chang'an's murder challenged all hereditary Black Robe Guard lineages, and Song Xuan anticipated a journey of slaughter.
• Song Xuan donned his hundred-household commander's robes, and he and Song Qian rode toward the Yangzhou Thousand-Household Office to take up their posts.
• Song Xuan resolved to purge the local Black Robe Guards if they proved unusable, following Zhao Dezhu's instruction to establish their might.

Song Xuan arrived at the Jiangzhe Prefecture Thousand-Household Office to take up his post as hundred-household commander and Imperial Prison pacification commissioner. He confronted thousand-household commander Fang Cheng and his officers, who resented his appointment and had discussed making sure he never took office.

• Fang Cheng and his officers discussed Song Xuan's appointment, while Fang Cheng resented losing control of the Imperial Prison.
• A trusted hundred-household commander suggested arranging Song Xuan's death, and Fang Cheng rebuked him while signaling that he would welcome an accident.
• Song Xuan and Song Qian entered the office after Song Xuan's men threw several junior banner commanders inside.
• Song Xuan introduced himself and confronted Fang Cheng, who remained seated and considered how his local support could overpower the newcomer.

Song Xuan demanded the Pacification Commissioner’s seal from the officials at the Thousand-Household Office and asserted that he would make the rules there. After Song Qian killed the seal-holding Hundred-household Officer and handed Song Xuan the seal, some officials backed away while others challenged him.

• Song Xuan confronted Thousand-household Officer Fang Cheng and demanded the Pacification Commissioner’s seal, declaring that he would make the rules at the office.
• Fang Cheng’s trusted fat Hundred-household Officer refused to hand over the seal, so Song Xuan ordered Song Qian to kill him.
• Song Qian killed the fat Hundred-household Officer and retrieved the seal from his body, and Song Xuan took it.
• Song Xuan threatened the officials, prompting several Hundred-household Officers and Banner Captains to put away their weapons and withdraw from the dispute.
• A Banner Captain pointed his saber at Song Xuan and accused him of rebellion, warning that the Son of Heaven would not spare him.