Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua reflected on the jianghu and resolved to accept its dangers, but soon encountered another ambush involving the same bandits and a luxurious carriage. As the attackers demanded a treasure from Miss Nie, Zhang Xiaohua sent his little sword toward them.

• Zhang Xiaohua decided that he needed strength to live by his own rules in the jianghu and continued along the road in peace.
• Zhang Xiaohua heard weapons clashing and discovered that the bandits from earlier were attacking the carriage guards.
• Zhang Xiaohua considered avoiding the fight but chose to intervene, reasoning that he could not keep fleeing from injustice.
• Xiao Juzi shielded Miss Nie as the bandits surrounded them and demanded that she hand over a treasure.
• Miss Nie offered the treasure in exchange for the attackers sparing her and Xiao Juzi, while doubting their oath.
• Zhang Xiaohua drew a small sword and sent it flying toward the bandits.

Miss Nie surrendered the Brocade Box to the bandits, but they broke their promise and attacked her. Zhang Xiaohua used his flying sword to kill several men and drive the rest away, leaving Miss Nie and Xiao Juzi safe.

• Miss Nie handed the Brocade Box to the Deputy Hall Master after deciding the bandits might spare her and Xiao Juzi.
• The Deputy Hall Master ordered Scarface to assault the women and sell them afterward, despite promising to let them live.
• Miss Nie tried to slit her throat, but Scarface broke her wrist with an iron ball before Zhang Xiaohua could stop him.
• Zhang Xiaohua sent his flying sword into Scarface's throat and then killed the Deputy Hall Master and several other bandits.
• The surviving bandits fled, and Miss Nie and Xiao Juzi realized a flying sword had saved them.

Zhang Xiaohua secretly used his flying sword to kill the attackers, then avoided meeting the two women until morning. He found Miss Nie feverish and unconscious, and Xiao Juzi pulled him toward the carriage to show him what was wrong.

• Zhang Xiaohua’s flying sword killed every fleeing attacker, and he tucked it away without revealing himself to the women.
• Zhang Xiaohua slept in a tree while Four Unlike Huanhuan rested beneath him and absorbed the starlight.
• In the morning, Zhang Xiaohua discovered that Xiao Juzi and Miss Nie had stayed beside the carriage, and that Miss Nie had a fever and a badly swollen, broken wrist.
• Xiao Juzi told Zhang Xiaohua that their guards had died and asked him for help moving away from the corpses.
• Xiao Juzi took Zhang Xiaohua by the hand and urged him to look inside the carriage at Miss Nie.

Ren Xiaoyao hesitated to help the gravely ill Miss Nie, but relented and prepared her carriage so Xiao Juzi could take her to a nearby market town for treatment. As they set out, Xiao Juzi remembered something she still needed to tell him.

• Xiao Juzi begged Ren Xiaoyao to help Miss Nie, but he initially turned away because he resented her earlier insults and distrusted her claim that guards had gone for help.
• After Miss Nie cried out in pain, Ren Xiaoyao brought water for her and harnessed a trained black horse to the carriage with ease.
• Ren Xiaoyao admitted that he was a country boy named Ren Xiaoyao rather than a scholar, and Xiao Juzi thanked him and asked him to drive Miss Nie to the market town.
• Ren Xiaoyao took the driver's seat and prepared to leave, but Xiao Juzi suddenly stopped him, struggling to explain what she had remembered.

Zhang Xiaohua helped Xiao Juzi bring the injured Miss Nie to a market town for treatment, then planned to replace their carriage to make them harder to track. He left them waiting outside town with Xiao Juzi’s money pouch so he could buy another carriage.

• Xiao Juzi searched the corpses for a Brocade Box while Zhang Xiaohua waited, then returned to the carriage with it.
• Zhang Xiaohua drove Xiao Juzi and the unconscious Miss Nie to a market town, where a physician set Miss Nie’s broken wrist and prescribed medicine.
• Xiao Juohzi chose to let Miss Nie rest at an inn, but Zhang Xiaohua warned that their attackers might pursue them and suggested changing the carriage.
• Zhang Xiaohua left the carriage and horse in a secluded spot and accepted Xiao Juzi’s money pouch to buy a replacement carriage.

Zhang Xiaohua brought Xiao Juzi a plain carriage and clothes to help conceal their identities, then assisted her with changing her unconscious young lady. Xiao Juzi’s young lady’s advice about keeping a clear conscience stirred Zhang Xiaohua’s cultivation, and he ended by telling Xiao Juzi she would someday meet the scholar whose story he had shared.

• Zhang Xiaohua returned with a battered carriage pulled by Huanhuan and told Xiao Juzi he had reserved a secluded courtyard at an inn.
• Zhang Xiaohua gave Xiao Juzi plain clothes so she and her young lady could disguise themselves, but Xiao Juzi struggled to change the unconscious woman because her wrists were splinted.
• Xiao Juzi asked Zhang Xiaohua to help dress her young lady with his eyes closed, then repeated her young lady’s teaching that people should guard their original hearts and act with a clear conscience.
• Zhang Xiaohua reflected on his decision to rescue Xiao Juzi and her young lady, felt his cultivation improve, and told Xiao Juzi a story about a scholar who wrote according to his own convictions.
• Xiao Juzi admired the scholar’s words, and Zhang Xiaohua said she would eventually meet him.

Zhang Xiaohua helped Xiao Juzi disguise the injured Miss Nie and move her to a secluded inn, then settled in to cultivate while reflecting on a rare insight into the Heavenly Dao. He left the women sheltered for now and turned his thoughts toward the Misty Manor and the possibility of learning to fly.

• Zhang Xiaohua helped Xiao Juzi change Miss Nie into farmers' clothes and load her into a shabby carriage while concealing their valuables.
• Zhang Xiaohua sent the luxurious carriage away and drove Xiao Juzi and Miss Nie to a secluded inn with a small courtyard.
• Xiao Juzi moved Miss Nie into the largest room and sent Zhang Xiaohua out of her private chamber.
• Zhang Xiaohua settled into a small room, considered seeking techniques at Misty Manor, and began cultivating with a yuan stone.
• Zhang Xiaohua reflected on how his earlier experience overlooking Songning Town had brought him into a rare state of unity between man and Heaven.

Zhang Xiaohua entered a state of unity between heaven and man, gained a first glimpse of the Heavenly Dao, and broke through to the sixth layer of Qi Cultivation. Meanwhile, Miss Nie woke in the inn, learned how Xiao Juzi had brought them there, and discussed the mysterious Ren Xiaoyao and the Brocade Box.

• Zhang Xiaohua contemplated the Heavenly Dao as his elixir core began to rotate, then broke through the bottleneck and reached the sixth layer of Qi Cultivation.
• Miss Nie woke beside the exhausted Xiao Juzi and learned how she had brought them to the inn after the previous night's attack.
• Miss Nie and Xiao Juzi discussed Ren Xiaoyao, with Miss Nie suspecting he was more than an ordinary country boy.
• Xiao Juzi showed Miss Nie the Brocade Box she had taken from a corpse, and Miss Nie agreed to keep it despite the danger it posed.
• Miss Nie examined her splinted wrist and the physician's prescription, then asked Xiao Juzi to fetch writing materials so she could revise it.
• Xiao Juzi suggested asking Ren Xiaoyao to help with errands because she was unfamiliar with the town.

Miss Nie and Xiao Juzi discussed Zhang Xiaohua, the danger they had survived, and the medicine Miss Nie needed while Zhang Xiaohua cultivated in his room. After fetching dinner and writing materials, Zhang Xiaohua was invited into their room by Miss Nie.

• Miss Nie and Xiao Juzi debated whether Zhang Xiaohua was an eccentric, and Xiao Juzi decided he was simply a kind young man.
• Miss Nie recalled helping Heroine Xue and lamented that she had never learned martial arts, then wondered about Zhang Xiaohua's abilities.
• Xiao Juzi realized it was nearly dark and that both women were hungry, then went to find Zhang Xiaohua.
• Zhang Xiaohua finished stabilizing his sixth layer of Qi Cultivation while absorbing qi from a primordial stone.
• Xiao Juzi asked Zhang Xiaohua to fetch writing materials, medicine, and dinner, and he returned with the food and supplies.
• Miss Nie invited Zhang Xiaohua into the room as Great Hero Ren, startling him.

Zhang Xiaohua brought food and writing supplies to Nie Qianyu, who thanked him for rescuing her and Xiao Juzi but was disappointed when he said he would not escort them home. After helping them prepare a discreet prescription, he left the room, and Nie Qianyu suddenly realized that she had been fooled by him.

• Zhang Xiaohua met Nie Qianyu and rejected her insistence on calling him a great hero, while she thanked him for helping her and Xiao Juzi escape danger.
• Zhang Xiaohua said he planned to leave after taking the women to a larger town and finding them professional escorts, despite Xiao Juzi asking him to accompany them home.
• Nie Qianyu used a goading remark to challenge Zhang Xiaohua, and he agreed to continue helping them for now and urged her to provide the prescription.
• Zhang Xiaohua noticed that Xiao Juzi's elegant handwriting could draw attention, so he copied the prescription in his own clumsy hand and took it with him.
• After Zhang Xiaohua left, Nie Qianyu questioned whether he was really an ordinary country boy, then suddenly exclaimed that she had figured out how he had fooled her.

Nie Qianyu recognized that Ren Xiaoyao’s powerful handwriting revealed his martial arts skill and tried to learn more about him. He avoided her questions about his age and kept his background hidden.

• Zhang Xiaohua bought the medicine at a pharmacy and threw away the prescription he had copied.
• Nie Qianyu explained to Xiao Juzi that Ren Xiaoyao’s forceful brushwork showed he was a martial arts master, though she could not tell how old he was.
• After Zhang Xiaohua returned with the medicine, Nie Qianyu asked about the prescription and learned he had discarded it.
• Zhang Xiaohua described Ji Xiaohua’s mother’s illness, and Nie Qianyu said an ordinary physician could treat her tuberculosis.
• When Nie Qianyu asked his age, Zhang Xiaohua demanded to know hers first and then evaded answering even after Xiao Juzi shared her age.

Zhang Xiaohua told Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi that he was eighteen, and Nie Qianyu began calling him Brother Xiaoyao while hoping to secure his help and protection. After leaving them, Zhang Xiaohua reflected on his new insight into the Heavenly Dao and recognized it as the true foundation of cultivation.

• Nie Qianyu told Zhang Xiaohua she would turn twelve in a month, and he revealed that he had turned eighteen two months earlier.
• Nie Qianyu asked to call Zhang Xiaohua Brother Xiaoyao, and he reluctantly let her use the name before hurrying away.
• Nie Qianyu told Xiao Juzi she hoped to draw Zhang Xiaohua closer because his strength and possible sect connections could protect them from their pursuers.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned to his room and contemplated his glimpse of the Heavenly Dao instead of immediately cultivating the Carefree Heart Sutra.
• Zhang Xiaohua concluded that understanding the Heavenly Dao was the root of cultivation, while Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment helped practitioners grasp and use it.

Zhang Xiaohua hid Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi at an inn while he advanced his cultivation and kept watch for their pursuers. After the town grew quiet, he proposed they leave for Danhe City to find an escort agency, and Nie Qianyu agreed it might be suitable.

• Zhang Xiaohua set a restriction around the courtyard, cultivated through the night, and discovered that his Big Dipper Divine Fist had reached its ninth layer.
• Zhang Xiaohua spoke with Nie Qianyu after she recovered from her fever, then avoided her suggestion that he escort her home in exchange for learning medicine.
• Zhang Xiaohua kept Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi hidden for two days, watched the town with his divine sense, and turned away anyone from the courtyard.
• Zhang Xiaohua found that the mysterious searchers had disappeared and proposed traveling to Danhe City to hire protection.
• Nie Qianyu said Danhe City was about two days away and asked whether Zhang Xiaohua could take them there.

Zhang Xiaohua slowly escorted Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi toward Danhe City, hoping to leave them with the Fushun Escort Agency and continue home. After avoiding several pursuers, he reached a desolate stretch of road, where one of five riders noticed something suspicious about his cart.

• Zhang Xiaohua left the inn with Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi, keeping their destination secret and driving the slow Four Unlike cart toward Danhe City.
• Xiao Juzi complained about the cart’s pace, and Zhang Xiaohua made Huanhuan run faster, silencing the women when the cart jolted.
• Zhang Xiaohua deliberately traveled slowly to avoid the men hunting Nie Qianyu, and a group of similarly dressed riders passed without recognizing them.
• Zhang Xiaohua learned Danhe City was near and planned to leave the women at the Fushun Escort Agency before heading home for the New Year.
• Five men rode toward Zhang Xiaohua’s cart, and one of them called to their Hall Master that something was wrong with it.

Zhang Xiaohua overheard Jiang Heshu identify clues suggesting his battered carriage concealed something heavy and several passengers, prompting Hall Master Qiu to pursue and stop him. Qiu began questioning Zhang Xiaohua and tested him by throwing a silver ingot, leaving Zhang Xiaohua startled and expecting an attack.

• Jiang Heshu explained to Hall Master Qiu that the carriage’s warped wheels, noisy ride, bouncing cushions, and struggling mule suggested it carried something heavy or multiple people.
• Hall Master Qiu dismissed Jiang Heshu’s deductions as uncertain, then decided to stop Zhang Xiaohua and inspect the carriage himself.
• Hall Master Qiu and his four men caught up, surrounded Zhang Xiaohua’s carriage, and demanded to know where he was going and what it carried.
• Zhang Xiaohua claimed the carriage had been registered with Danhe City’s garrison and told the men, who were not government officers, to move aside.
• Hall Master Qiu offered Zhang Xiaohua a silver ingot for answers, and Zhang Xiaohua asked to receive it first.
• Hall Master Qiu flung the silver at Zhang Xiaohua with force, making him fear the men were about to attack.

Zhang Xiaohua revealed his strength when Hall Master Qiu recognized Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi, killing Qiu and his men before continuing to Danhe City. After finding an inn with money from Nie Qianyu, he settled the women in and began cultivating, while they whispered in the next room.

• Zhang Xiaohua let Hall Master Qiu see Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi, prompting Qiu to order his men to seize them.
• Zhang Xiaohua killed Hall Master Qiu and the other four martial artists with his long sword, then cleared their bodies and horses from the road.
• Zhang Xiaohua drove the carriage to Danhe City and passed through the city gate without trouble.
• Zhang Xiaohua refused several inns because he said he lacked enough money, so Xiao Juzi gave him Nie Qianyu's purse.
• Zhang Xiaohua chose a cleaner inn, brought food to Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi himself, and cultivated alone as the two women whispered nearby.

Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi spent a sleepless night discussing Zhang Xiaohua’s heroism, their fears about the treasure, and whether he would escort them home. The next morning, Zhang Xiaohua arranged to ask Fushun Escort Agency about the job, while Nie Qianyu revealed that her destination was Hui Chun Valley and he asked where it was.

• Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi recalled Zhang Xiaohua’s strength and worried that he would hand them over to an escort agency instead of taking them home.
• Xiao Juzi warned Nie Qianyu not to tell Zhang Xiaohua about their treasure, and Nie Qianyu confirmed that he had not seen the Brocade Box.
• Zhang Xiaohua cultivated through the night and practiced the Big Dipper Divine Fist the next morning.
• Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi emerged tired, and Xiao Juzi claimed they had both dreamed of a cat chasing a mouse.
• Zhang Xiaohua brought them breakfast and said he would ask Fushun Escort Agency about escorting them.
• Nie Qianyu said she was going to Hui Chun Valley, and Zhang Xiaohua asked her to explain where it was.

Zhang Xiaohua went to the Fushun Escort Agency hoping to arrange protection for Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi on their way to Mochou City, but discovered the agency had stopped escorting anyone or anything there. Suspecting the restrictions were meant to target Nie Qianyu, he secretly followed Chief Escort Leader Lu and began eavesdropping on a meeting with a middle-aged scholar.

• Nie Qianyu told Zhang Xiaohua that her home was in Mochou City, and he reassured her before leaving to find an escort agency.
• Zhang Xiaohua reached the Fushun Escort Agency and learned it had temporarily stopped taking jobs to Mochou City and was inspecting goods and people under new rules.
• Chief Escort Leader Lu told customers that other escort agencies had issued similar announcements and that armed martial artists had been posted at three of the city gates.
• Zhang Xiaohua suspected the restrictions were connected to the people hunting Nie Qianyu, then followed Chief Escort Leader Lu to a rear courtyard.
• Zhang Xiaohua used his abilities to reach the roof of the room where Lu met a refined middle-aged scholar and began listening in.

Zhang Xiaohua learned that Commander Zhou had sent his men to the East Gate after a false lead, so he rushed Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi out through the West Gate. The trio left Danhe City safely, but Zhang Xiaohua was still unsure how they would reach Mochou City without an escort.

• Commander Zhou learned that Hall Master Qiu and five others had been killed outside the East Gate, then ordered his men to gather and called for reinforcements.
• Chief Escort Leader Lu decided not to lift the escort agency's restrictions, leaving Zhang Xiaohua worried about how to transport Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi.
• Zhang Xiaohua bought a carriage and horse, told Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi to pack, and set out with them for the West Gate.
• Zhang Xiaohua checked the road with his divine sense and drove the carriage safely out of Danhe City.
• Zhang Xiaohua wondered who would escort Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi to Mochou City.

Zhang Xiaohua secretly took Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi out of Danhe City after escort agencies refused to take them south. He proposed that they travel with him until he finished his own business, then he would escort them to Mochou City.

• Nie Qianyu and Xiao Juzi realized Zhang Xiaohua had not left them behind and asked why he had taken them outside the city.
• Zhang Xiaohua explained that their pursuers had gone toward the East Gate and that the escort agency would not accept their job.
• Nie Qianyu described the routes to Mochou City and Pingyang City, revealing that their destinations lay in different directions from Danhe City.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided he could not entrust the girls to unfamiliar escorts and offered to take them along until he completed his business.
• Nie Qianyu accepted the plan, reasoning that traveling farther from their pursuers would make it harder for them to be found.