Chapter Summaries

Li Ping'an taught calligraphy to Aliya, Zhao Ling'er, and Wang Yi, whose contempt for scholars led to an argument with his teacher. After leaving, Wang Yi took Fat Jun to meet the mysterious Kong Yang, who confronted him for bringing someone along.

• Li Ping'an taught calligraphy while Aliya and Zhao Ling'er practiced, and Wang Yi told them he had met a master who could command a flying sword.
• Li Ping'an guided Wang Yi through writing and explained the value of learning, but Wang Yi insulted scholars, tore up the paper, and challenged his teacher.
• Zhao Ling'er and Aliya rebuked Wang Yi, while Li Ping'an calmly picked up the torn paper and murmured about the brave and the cowardly.
• Wang Yi met Fat Jun and took him to a cave in the eastern mountains to visit Kong Yang, promising to teach him swordsmanship later.
• Kong Yang fixed his sharp gaze on Fat Jun and reprimanded Wang Yi for telling anyone about him.

Li Ping'an rescued Wang Yi and Pang Jun by defeating the wounded cultivator Kong Yang. He left with the boys after making them promise to keep the fight secret, while Old Ox buried Kong Yang's corpse.

• Wang Yi charged toward Kong Yang's flying sword to protect Pang Jun, but Li Ping'an stepped in front of him and blocked it.
• Kong Yang attacked Li Ping'an with his Short Sword, but Li Ping'an dodged and cut off one of Kong Yang's arms with his cane.
• Kong Yang drove Sword Qi into Li Ping'an, but it vanished inside him, and Li Ping'an killed Kong Yang.
• Li Ping'an warned Wang Yi and Pang Jun to keep the incident secret, then left with them.
• Old Ox buried Kong Yang's corpse and lamented that the family could not last a day without him.

Li Ping'an struggled to erase Kong Yang's Sword Qi from the three-inch short sword while resuming his ordinary routines and reconnecting with Liu Yong. After more than ten days of effort, Li Ping'an faced the sword's final resistance and was wounded in the hand.

• Li Ping'an practiced with a branch, then tried to remove Kong Yang's lingering Sword Qi from the short sword, but the blade resisted and cut his finger.
• Li Ping'an met Liu Yong at a food stall on Southwest Street and learned that Liu Yong was serving under General Xiahou and had come to the Anbei Four Garrisons on confidential business.
• Wang Yi hurried to Li Ping'an's lessons, hoping that his obedience and diligent calligraphy practice would eventually earn him a place as Li Ping'an's final disciple.
• After more than ten days of battling the sword's remaining Sword Qi, Li Ping'an focused his strength into his fingertip, but the blade pierced the back of his hand.

Li Ping'an mastered the first stirrings of controlling his Short Sword, named it Fine Rain, and accepted an escort commission from Ma Sanniang. He traveled with a convoy carrying General Xiahou Shang’s wife and young son, whose journey had been disrupted by a threat from their enemies.

• Li Ping'an sent True Qi into the Short Sword, briefly controlled it in flight, and named it Fine Rain.
• Ma Sanniang gave Li Ping'an an escort commission and his medicine, then told him to leave the Spring Beauty Courtyard.
• Li Ping'an joined a convoy of Spring Beauty Courtyard assassins and military men, where he encountered Liu Yong.
• Liu Yong told Li Ping'an that the carriage held General Xiahou Shang’s wife and young son, and that they had been reassigned after a mishap amid threats from the Hu and other rivals.
• The convoy turned onto a narrow trail and reached a stream near evening.

Li Ping'an and the Spring Beauty Courtyard's assassins survived a Turkic ambush, with Li Ping'an helping kill the enemy cultivator who attacked their carriage. The other three mounted parties were wiped out after Ma Sanniang used them as bait to draw away the enemy forces.

• Li Ping'an gained a cultivation-speed increase and accidentally stabbed Old Ox's tail with the Drizzle Sword.
• Turkic warriors attacked the camp with Xuan Crossbows before charging on horseback, and the Spring Beauty Courtyard's assassins fought back.
• A pale cultivator attacked the carriage, and Li Ping'an wounded him with his saber before the mysterious cultivator inside the carriage beheaded him.
• The Spring Beauty Courtyard's party killed more than fifty Turkic death warriors and survived the battle.
• The other three mounted parties were wiped out; Ma Sanniang had used them as bait to divide the enemy's forces.

Ma Sanniang faced the Anbei Four Garrisons’ underworld after defying the Turks and raising their monthly tribute. Uncle Deng severed their relationship, leaving her surrounded by hostile gang leaders.

• Ma Sanniang recalled how Xiahou Shang had avenged her mother’s death, and how she had promised to repay his kindness.
• After Ma Sanniang defied the Turks, their demanded share of the gangs’ profits rose from forty percent to sixty percent, turning the Anbei Four Garrisons’ underworld against her.
• Uncle Deng confronted Ma Sanniang at his residence, asking why she had risked her life, and she said she had acted to repay a favor.
• Uncle Deng burned Ma Sanniang’s calling card and ended their relationship.
• Jia Wan and the other gang leaders ordered Ma Sanniang to leave, while the surrounding underworld forces prepared to move against her.

Ma Sanniang endured the Anbei Four Garrisons underworld leaders’ execution until Li Ping'an returned and rescued her. He used the threat of his cultivation to get them out, then promised the leaders that the Spring Beauty Courtyard would repay them in days to come.

• Jia Wan and Zhao Jun accused Ma Sanniang of past wrongs and stabbed her repeatedly as the underworld leaders carried out her execution.
• Li Ping'an arrived with his monkey mask, stopped Ma Sanniang's bleeding, and untied her.
• Ma Sanniang asked why Li Ping'an had returned, and he said she still owed him a month's wages.
• Li Ping'an threatened to kill most of the gathered leaders with his cultivation if they blocked their way, and they stepped aside.
• Li Ping'an led Ma Sanniang away and warned the leaders that the Spring Beauty Courtyard would repay them later.

Li Ping'an helped Ma Sanniang recover, then watched the underworld bosses he had killed get replaced by newcomers and struggled with a lack of income. Later, his erhu music clashed with Jing Yu’s qin playing, and Jing Yu’s string snapped, leaving their contest unresolved.

• Li Ping'an sheltered Ma Sanniang, who left the Anbei Four Garrisons alone half a month later without saying goodbye.
• The Spring Beauty Courtyard was demolished, and several underworld bosses were killed, but newcomers soon took their places.
• Li Ping'an practiced controlling Fine Rain, struggled to afford food, and later played his erhu in a garden.
• Jing Yu played Master Zhong’s qin while Li Ping'an played a discordant tune nearby, turning their music into a contest.
• Jing Yu grew anxious under Li Ping'an’s melody, lost control of his playing, and snapped a qin string.

Li Ping'an gained the Green Fate Single-Minded Devotion, improving his cultivation, and continued earning money by writing at his street stall. Master Zhong discovered Li Ping'an's calligraphy and poetry, invited him to the Academy, and left after Li Ping'an declined but directed him to ask the children's parents about enrolling them.

• Li Ping'an gained Single-Minded Devotion and found that it helped him enter meditation quickly and cultivate through the night.
• Li Ping'an returned to his street stall, where he wrote family letters and couplets for customers.
• Aliya and Zhao Ling'er collided with Master Zhong, who read the poems in their basket and asked to meet their teacher.
• Master Zhong praised Li Ping'an's calligraphy and poetry and invited him to enter the Academy, but Li Ping'an refused.
• Master Zhong asked whether Li Ping'an would send his pupils to the Academy; Li Ping'an said their parents had to decide, and Master Zhong bought several pieces of calligraphy.

Li Ping'an explained why he had pretended not to recognize Master Zhong, while Zhao Ling'er’s chance to enter the Academy excited her father. As Great Sui began purging collaborators in the Anbei Four Garrisons, Wang Shan feared arrest, but he and the other parents later visited Li Ping'an to ask for his help with the children’s journey to the Academy.

• Li Ping'an told Aliya and Zhao Ling'er that Master Zhong was a renowned scholar and that he had avoided admitting he recognized him to sidestep trouble.
• Zhao Ling'er told her father, Zhao Kai, that Master Zhong had offered her a place at the Academy, and Zhao Kai received a visiting card confirming the offer.
• Great Sui stationed twenty thousand cavalry in the Anbei Four Garrisons and began purging officials, merchants, and others who had cooperated with the Turkic people.
• Wang Shan feared soldiers had come to arrest him, but the official leading them instead congratulated him because Master Zhong had selected his son for the Academy.
• Li Ping'an saw the arrests and wanted posters spreading through the city, then welcomed Wang Shan, Zhao Kai, and Pan Yong, who asked him to help with the children’s two-thousand-li journey to the Academy.

Li Ping'an left the Anbei Four Garrisons with four children and two guards, heading south toward the Academy after helping Liu Er and his former colleagues. An unexpected snowfall slowed the travelers and left the children shivering around a fire.

• Li Ping'an visited imprisoned Liu Er with food and wine, then asked Wang Shan to bring supplies to his former colleagues at the Spring Beauty Courtyard.
• Li Ping'an set out south with Aliya, Wang Yi, Pang Jun, Zhao Ling'er, Cui Cheng, and Cui Cai.
• Jing Yu met the group outside town and joined them, talking at length about food, fashion, and life at the Academy.
• The travelers took shelter from unseasonable snow, and Li Ping'an warned that it could ruin crops and bring hardship.
• The cold caught Aliya and the other children unprepared, so Li Ping'an built up the fire while they huddled beside it.

Li Ping'an and the southbound group met a wandering former Confucian scholar searching for a missing woman before taking shelter in an eerie village. After Jing Yu mysteriously collapsed, Li Ping'an and Cui Cheng investigated a mourning hall and discovered paper figures resembling their companions.

• Li Ping'an refused Jing Yu's invitations to compose poetry, spar, or play music, then entered visualization after sending Jing Yu into the woods.
• The group shared fire and food with a silent traveler, who revealed that he was a former Confucian scholar searching for Yan, his missing fellow scholar and partner.
• The travelers reached a quiet village and were led to an empty courtyard by a wary old man.
• Jing Yu suddenly fainted, and Li Ping'an confirmed that his breathing and pulse were steady.
• At midnight, Li Ping'an and Cui Cheng followed a faint crying sound to a locked mourning hall and found seven paper figures that looked like them.

Li Ping'an discovered that a formation trapped the village and made his companions repeat the same day, while he and Old Ox remained unaffected. He met Yan Xun, the woman tied to the formation, and learned she had been missing for ten years and once knew a Confucian scholar.

• Li Ping'an found seven figurines resembling his companions, with no figurine matching him, and the next morning the group tried to leave the village.
• The companions returned to the village and repeated their previous day's actions, while Li Ping'an and Old Ox were unaffected; Li Ping'an also failed to carry Aliya out.
• Li Ping'an questioned Yan Xun in the well and learned she could not release his friends without undoing the formation, which would make her vanish.
• Li Ping'an met Yan Xun in the village and promised to deliver his companions safely to the Academy; she said she did not want the scholar searching for her to see her as she was.
• Yan Xun told Li Ping'an how she and the scholar had met, entered the Academy, and traveled together before their story was cut short.

Li Ping'an spent ten days with Yan Xun inside her formation, encouraging her to let go of the past, and she agreed to dissolve it. Before she vanished, Yan Xun gave him the Fusang tree and reunited with the man who had searched for her for ten years.

• Yan Xun explained that she had trapped herself and others in the formation because she could not accept dying, while Li Ping'an continued searching for a way to save them.
• Li Ping'an told Yan Xun about his life, and she agreed to undo the formation after ten days together.
• Li Ping'an taught Yan Xun basketball, and she enjoyed playing it with him.
• Yan Xun gave Li Ping'an the Fusang tree to make into a saber, asking him to return its seed to the Duke of Southern State's Residence.
• Li Ping'an led Yan Xun to the village entrance, where she reunited with the man who had searched for her; the formation dissolved, and Yan Xun began to vanish.

After Yan Xun dissolved the formation, Li Ping'an and the others traveled across the desert with Gu Xizhou, who learned that Li Ping'an could not cultivate. Li Ping'an continued shaping the Fusang Tree into a saber as a sandstorm approached.

• Yan Xun unraveled the formation, making the village vanish and freeing those who had been trapped there.
• Gu Xizhou thanked Li Ping'an for helping the others escape, revealed his name, and explained that the Fusang Tree would turn into a seed if one of its limbs was severed.
• As the group traveled through the desert, Li Ping'an used his flying sword Fine Rain to shape the Fusang Tree while Gu Xizhou offered to find a smith to design his saber.
• Jing Yu told Gu Xizhou that Li Ping'an could not cultivate, and Gu Xizhou confirmed that Li Ping'an's blocked apertures kept him from the path to immortality.
• Wang Yi and the children mocked Jing Yu's claim that he was a rare Academy genius, and Aliya's attempt to soothe him made him angrier.
• A cloud of yellow sand and flying stones appeared in the distance.

The group defeated the Corpse Ghoul Army and two monks plotting to kill the Academy disciples, then traveled to Yumen Pass. Li Ping'an got them through the gate despite his forged permit, but watched a stubborn young soldier get punished for enforcing the rules.

• Gu Xizhou charged into the Corpse Ghoul Army and cut down the corpse ghouls while Li Ping'an attacked the two monks on the hill and defeated them.
• Hu Qiang thanked the group for saving the Dingyuan Escort Agency, and several days later they reached Yumen Pass.
• A young soldier rejected Li Ping'an's forged travel permit and refused both a bribe and Jing Yu's appeal to the Academy's authority.
• An officer recognized Hu Qiang and, after hearing his explanation, let the group pass through the gate.
• Li Ping'an saw the officer reprimand and kick the young soldier, and recalled learning that rules did not apply equally to everyone.

Li Ping'an left the Fusang Tree with the blacksmith to forge a saber, then witnessed the young stutterer stop a runaway horse and fight the horse’s owner and his men. The young stutterer defeated Uncle Qian but was caught off guard by a sudden attack on his throat.

• Li Ping'an and Gu Xizhou left the Fusang Tree at the smithy after the blacksmith agreed to forge it into a saber.
• Li Ping'an ate lamb soup in the market and prepared to buy food for Aliya and the others.
• The young stutterer forced a runaway horse to the ground before it could trample a woman and a girl.
• The young stutterer broke the brocade-clad young master's hand and defeated his servants after the man attacked A Wu.
• Uncle Qian struck the young stutterer, but the young stutterer wounded him and drove him to his knees.
• Uncle Qian suddenly stabbed his fingers toward the young stutterer's throat.

Li Ping'an used his claimed identity as Jing Yu of the Academy to stop a brocade-clad young master from punishing Qin Shi, then shared paomo with Qin Shi and A-Wu. The next day, Gu Xizhou left on an errand, and Li Ping'an went to Old Mo's smithy to arrange for his saber, where he met Old Mo's daughter.

• Li Ping'an warned the brocade-clad young master and the constables to leave Qin Shi alone by claiming to be Jing Yu of the Academy.
• After the young master and Uncle Qian fled, A-Wu thanked Li Ping'an, who shared paomo with A-Wu and Qin Shi and asked Qin Shi about his military service and martial arts.
• Li Ping'an returned to the inn, where Jing Yu praised him for bringing back a larger bowl of paomo.
• The following morning, Gu Xizhou said he could no longer escort Li Ping'an to the Academy and departed to fulfill his promise to the blacksmith.
• Li Ping'an visited Old Mo's smithy and met Old Mo's young daughter beside the untouched Fusang Tree.

Li Ping'an commissioned Old Mo to make a saber concealed in a walking stick, then accepted a meal at Qin Shi’s home as thanks for saving him. Before leaving, Li Ping'an began teaching Qin Shi Stance Walking and urged him to build his strength before acting rashly.

• Li Ping'an gave Old Mo a drawing of the saber he wanted, and Old Mo told him to return in two days.
• Qin Shi came looking for the person he knew as Young Master Jing, and Li Ping'an revealed his real name and accepted an invitation to Qin Shi’s home.
• Qin Shi’s mother served Li Ping'an a meal, and Li Ping'an gave Qin Shi his share of the chicken drumstick.
• Li Ping'an asked about Qin Shi’s future and taught him Stance Walking, demonstrating how to control strength by splitting a large rock while leaving a small stone intact.
• Li Ping'an warned Qin Shi to build his strength in secret rather than risk harming himself and his mother, then left money for the meal.

Li Ping'an collected the Fusang Saber from Old Mo, received a mouthful of wine that strengthened his body, and resumed the journey south with the others. At a ferry landing, the party waited for a boat to Fengshui Prefecture, bringing Li Ping'an closer to the Capital City.

• Li Ping'an collected the Fusang Saber, which Old Mo explained could neutralize spells and let him fight cultivators.
• Old Mo gave Li Ping'an a mouthful of wine that infused his body with power and returned the Fusang Tree seeds.
• The southbound party set out again, and Jing Yu left for the Academy before rushing back because he had forgotten his things at the inn.
• Li Ping'an and the others reached a ferry landing and learned that chartering a boat to Fengshui Prefecture would cost about six hundred copper coins.
• The party waited for other passengers to share a boat while Wang Yi practiced stance walking and Li Ping'an fed his dry rations to the fish.