Chapter Summaries

After spending his first night in Chang’an, Pei Ye learned he had too little money to buy a house and went to register at the Sword Cultivation Academy. At the academy’s late-autumn intake, he joined the queue and met fellow Sword Talents, while an unfamiliar woman and young girl arrived to ask about admission.

• Qi Zhaohua offered Pei Ye a loan of fifty taels after learning he had only seventy taels and wanted to find a place of his own.
• Qi Zhaohua encouraged Pei Ye to contact the Young Sect Master for his money, but he refused because of the letter he had sent her.
• Little Cat woke Pei Ye and reminded him to register at the Sword Cultivation Academy, and he headed there with his sword.
• Pei Ye found the academy holding its annual intake and joined the queue of new students.
• Pei Ye introduced himself to Wang Shousi, a Golden Crow disciple, who explained how the incoming Sword Talents were recognized.
• A poised woman and a young girl arrived and asked Pei Ye whether they were at the Dao Initiation Assembly academy.

Pei Ye entered the Sword Cultivation Academy despite arriving without the usual admission documents, because a Dao Initiator had already arranged his entry. After receiving his student sword, books, and uniform measurements, he joined the other sword practitioners on the Academy’s Sword Field.

• Pei Ye reached the registration desk without his place-of-origin documents, examination certificate, or Hero Tally, but the old man recognized his name and let him enter on Tongjun’s recommendation.
• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong learned that the Academy accepted Pei Ye through an alternate assessment route, though Pei Ye could not explain who had arranged it.
• Pei Ye received a black-sheathed Dao Student Sword and was measured for his sword uniform.
• Pei Ye and the others received books, including the Compendium of Six Dynasties Swordcraft and the Dao Initiation Assembly Xinsi Year Sword Treatise Selections.
• Pei Ye entered the Sword Field, where Yang Zhenbing and Zuo Qiu Longhua stood among the gathered sword practitioners, while Chu Shuiting spoke with Wen Zheng and Lu Xiu stood beside Zuo Qiu Longhua.

At the Sword Academy, Duan Yu explained the students’ pursuit of the Sword Dao, their five-year graduation requirements, and the assessments ahead. After the Sword Talents introduced themselves, Chu Shuiting defeated Han Xiuben in a sword duel, revealing the gulf between their abilities.

• Duan Yu told the Sword Talents that the academy taught Sword Knowledge, Sword Practice, and Sword Use, and that students had five years to fulfill the requirements for the title of Sword Dao Student.
• Pei Ye read the requirements for Sword Dao Student and the rarer Sovereign Armament Wielder, then learned that students would enter the Hidden Sword Tower for assessment the next day and attempt to build Sword Ladders the day after.
• Han Xiuben introduced himself as a direct-line inheritor of the Southern Sect, and the Sword Talents exchanged names and backgrounds.
• The students discussed the major sects and their representatives, including Zuo Qiu Longhua, the young [Sword Demon], and Lu Xiu.
• Han Xiuben challenged Chu Shuiting to a duel, and Chu Shuiting stopped Han’s sword at his wrist on the seventeenth exchange and won.

Pei Ye left the Sword Field and challenged Yang Zhenbing, a fellow young swordsman from White Deer Palace, to a spar. Though Yang defeated him quickly, he patiently pointed out flaws in Pei Ye’s technique, and their meeting ended with Yang admiring Pei Ye’s black cat.

• Pei Ye found Yang Zhenbing reading in a bamboo garden and persuaded him to spar.
• Pei Ye attacked with a sequence of sword moves, but Yang bypassed his techniques and held a blade to his throat.
• Yang told Pei Ye that his opening strike was poorly practiced, and Pei Ye questioned him about its details.
• Pei Ye accepted Yang’s criticism and thanked him for patiently explaining the flaws in his swordsmanship.
• Yang asked where Pei Ye had found his black cat, then tentatively petted it while Pei Ye explained that he had rescued it in the mountains.
• Pei Ye suggested continuing their sword practice and reminded Yang that the cat was his.

Pei Ye explored Pingkang Ward after sparring with Yang Zhenbing, then watched Zhang Piaoxu defend an eagle and perform a fishing trick that pulled fish from the lake through a water vat. The chapter left Pei Ye applauding as Zhang Piaoxu caught a carp, while the black cat watched the nearby entertainment.

• Pei Ye sparred with Yang Zhenbing seven times and lost each bout, then learned about the three swords Yang Zhenbing used.
• Pei Ye left Holy Front Ward with the black cat and explored Pingkang Ward, where he saw a dancer performing on a lotus platform.
• Zhang Piaoxu explained that he had promised to keep the eagle tied up all night, then fought off the bald man and four men who came to take it.
• Zhang Piaoxu demonstrated that his water vat could connect to the lake, nearly hauling up a huge fish before the willow branch snapped.
• Zhang Piaoxu cast again and pulled a blue-green carp from the lake, and Pei Ye applauded.

Pei Ye encountered the injured street performer Zhang Piaoxu, then returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy and began practicing in earnest. The chapter ended as Duan Yu started the Sword-Hiding Pavilion assessment and Pei Ye questioned why Recommendation Letters were needed again.

• Pei Ye watched Zhang Piaoxu perform a trick and learned that the boy was nearly sixteen and had no family.
• Zhang Piaoxu asked Pei Ye to lend him fifty taels, but Pei Ye refused; Pei Ye helped him empty the water vat and learned he lived on Weeping Willow Street.
• Zhang Piaoxu discovered Pei Ye was a new student at the Sword Cultivation Academy and left with his belongings and two fish.
• Pei Ye returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy the next morning, watched the Sword Talents practice, and began working on his sword arts.
• Duan Yu explained the Sword Repository assessment and called for Sword Talents to submit Recommendation Letters, prompting Pei Ye to ask Wang Shousi why they were being checked again.

Pei Ye learned how recommendation letters shaped access to the Sword-Hiding Pavilion, then completed his Sword Report Sword Manual and waited for the final assessments. The assessments began with Zhang Chao and reached Ning Shuhong, whose letters earned him access to the White Deer Palace’s eighth-floor swords.

• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong explained recommendation letters, and Pei Ye discovered Miss Ming’s letter only recommended him for admission.
• Duan Yu gave the sword talents an hour to complete their Sword Report Sword Manuals, which would inform their final assessments.
• Pei Ye recorded his sword training and the sword arts he had studied, including Jadeite Sword and the five-form Snowy Night Flying Goose Sword Form.
• Pei Ye submitted his booklet last, after the other sword talents had finished.
• Duan Yu announced Zhang Chao’s fifth-floor assessment and explained the Sword-Hiding Pavilion’s levels.
• Duan Yu announced Ning Shuhong’s seventh-floor assessment, granting him access to the White Deer Palace’s eighth-floor swords.

Pei Ye received the Sword Repository’s highest assessment after a letter from Qitian of Yunlang granted him permission to study every sword, including the Heart Sword Butterfly. After the assessments, Duan Yu explained the tower’s restrictions and led the Sword Talents toward their new residence, where they would begin their studies after the academy head built their Sword Ladders.

• Duan Yu announced that Yang Zhenbing’s ninth-floor Sword Account assessment qualified him to study the pavilion’s highest-ranked swords, and that the academy would ask Yunlang to open its ninth floor to him.
• The pavilion keepers argued over Pei Ye’s assessment until a message arrived, then Duan Yu announced that Pei Ye had received ninth-floor access and could study Yunlang’s Heart Sword, Butterfly.
• Duan Yu read Qitian of Yunlang’s recommendation, gave Pei Ye a private letter, and kept a second letter addressed to academy head Qiu Yuanzhu Jizi.
• Duan Yu explained the Sword-Hiding Tower’s rules and said the academy head would build each Sword Talent a Sword Ladder the next day.
• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong asked Pei Ye about Ming Qitian, and Pei Ye promised to pass along Ning Shuhong’s regards.
• Duan Yu led the Sword Talents through the academy to a quiet area beyond the Sword Fields.

Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing were assigned to Courtyard G in Lane Seven, where they found Yan Feiqing already living. After the three settled into the courtyard, Pei Ye prepared his room while Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing talked about Black Cat.

• Duan Yu assigned Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing the two vacant places in Courtyard G and warned the Sword Talents not to injure Imperial College students while practicing.
• Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing walked to the secluded Lane Seven and discussed Yang Zhenbing's Sword Ladder and the academy head's guidance.
• Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing found Yan Feiqing relaxing in their courtyard, and Yan allowed them to stay after Yang swept away his muddy footprints.
• Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing calmly argued over how to hold and care for Black Cat while Pei Ye added all three names to the courtyard plaque.
• Pei Ye inspected his clean, furnished room and put his quilt out to sun in the courtyard.

Pei Ye read Yun’s letter, which reassured him about his safety and offered guidance on his Heart Sword studies, then attended the Sword Academy’s Dao Initiation Assembly. As Qiu Jizi began constructing the students’ Sword Ladders, he called Pei Ye aside because his path was unusually difficult, and was astonished to learn Pei Ye had no sword inheritance.

• Pei Ye read Yun’s letter, which praised his progress with the Heart Sword, advised him to study patiently at the Sword Academy, and said she hoped to meet him at Yulin next year.
• Pei Ye joked with Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong about sharing a courtyard with Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing.
• Qiu Jizi explained that a Sword Ladder mapped a swordsman’s path toward the Dao Sword and asked the students to be truthful as he refined theirs.
• Pei Ye admitted that he had learned the sword to defeat enemies rather than for the sword’s own sake, and Qiu Jizi accepted that the academy could still guide him.
• Qiu Jizi constructed Sword Ladders for the other students, then took Pei Ye aside to work on his unusually difficult path.
• Pei Ye apologized for having no inheritance, and Qiu Jizi stared at him in surprise.

Pei Ye and Qiu Jizi examined the Sword Ladder Ming Qitian had designed for him, tracing a demanding path from studying the myriad forms of nature toward the Snowy Night Sword and its Dao Sword. The ladder depended on an unknown sword art created by Yue Muzhou, and Pei Ye chose to pursue that path rather than bypass the missing step.

• Qiu Jizi showed Pei Ye Ming Qitian’s letter and studied the Sword Ladder she had designed, identifying the Snowy Night Sword as its final Dao Sword.
• Qiu Jizi explained that Pei Ye needed to master Stillness of Snowy Night through quiet cultivation and settled understanding, not Spiritual Enlightenment alone.
• Qiu Jizi set out the first three stages: Cicada-Fish Contemplation, Order of Forms, and Life and Death Cycle, with numerous sword arts for Pei Ye to learn.
• Pei Ye and Qiu Jizi recognized that the Life and Death Cycle stage lacked a sword art that could let the swordsman transcend the laws of the myriad forms.
• Qiu Jizi explained that the missing sword art belonged to Yue Muzhou and led to The Self in the Mirror; Pei Ye refused to bypass it.

Pei Ye received the final step of his Sword Ladder, wrote to Ming Qitian, and began Sword Theory lectures at the academy. He met academy director Xu Chuo again, who asked about his friendship with Ming Qitian and taught him about etiquette among the Divine Capital’s nobles.

• Qiu Jizi gave Pei Ye the jade booklet for the final Sword Ladder step, [Parinirvana], and explained how the Sword Ladder advanced a swordsman’s Dao.
• Pei Ye returned to the courtyard, spoke with Yang Zhenbing and Yan Feiqing, and wrote a letter thanking Ming Qitian for her help and wishing her safety.
• Pei Ye attended his first Sword Theory lecture, studied Qingcheng swordsmanship, and filled five pages with notes.
• After the lecture, Pei Ye canceled lunch with Wang Shousi, Ning Shuhong, and Zhu Shishi when he saw Xu Chuo waiting in a carriage.
• Xu Chuo asked Pei Ye how close he was to Ming Qitian, then explained that courtesy and etiquette mattered when meeting the Divine Capital’s nobles.
• Xu Chuo asked whether Pei Ye had other friends he would entrust his life to, and he admitted that he had a few.

Pei Ye learned that the investigation into the Wilderness People's attempt to assassinate him had stalled, and Xu Chuo gave him a Wild Goose Inspector token to pursue the King of Yan's involvement. He began studying at the Imperial College, where a lesson on The Analects left Fang Jidao reflecting on the position of common-born students.

• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that the Court of Judicial Review had not replied to inquiries about the Wilderness People's case and suspected the King of Yan's power was obstructing the investigation.
• Xu Chuo gave Pei Ye a Wild Goose Inspector token, and he agreed to investigate the King of Yan's role.
• Xu Chuo brought Pei Ye to the Four Gates Academy for his first Imperial College lesson and gave him a copy of The Analects.
• Pei Ye met Fang Jidao in class, and Fang explained a passage about Confucius and Zilu.
• When Xu Chuo taught a passage about ministers who merely filled their posts, Fang Jidao told Pei Ye that the Four Gates Academy had eight hundred outstanding sons of commoners.

Pei Ye studied under Xu Chuo, learned to integrate his sword arts into his sword ladder, and received a rare rain sword manual from Qiu Jizi. He began studying the Xiao Ma Sword and left Qiu Jizi speechless by asking about Confucius’s Way of ruler and minister.

• Xu Chuo gave Pei Ye permission to attend the academy and lent him books, then offered to ask the Libationer about the Four Qi Jade Candle Sword and named Ying Suyu as someone who might know Yue’s intent sword.
• Pei Ye integrated Wind Yao and Tree-Washing Bronze Shadow into his sword ladder, where they appeared as a cicada and a yellow bird.
• Qiu Jizi told Pei Ye how the twenty-four swords should usually be learned, then chose the Xiao Ma Sword for him and gave him seven manuals on its rain sword.
• Pei Ye began reading the Xiao Ma Sword manuals in the Hidden Sword Tower and asked Qiu Jizi what he thought of Confucius’s Way of ruler and minister.
• Qiu Jizi left without answering, and Pei Ye continued reading through the morning.

Pei Ye investigated how She Shi entered the Southern Office’s High-Security Prison and learned that Yu Ziliang had ordered his cell changed, though the Court of Judicial Review could not pursue him further. Pei Ye then examined She Shi’s earlier killing of Constable Ding Yukang and went to see Ding’s body after finding that the constable had recently handled no significant cases.

• Pei Ye met Court Vice Director Li Zhao, who said She Shi’s restraints had been tampered with and that Yu Ziliang had ordered him moved to Prison Cell Yi-7.
• Yu Ziliang admitted ordering the cell change, then left to go fox hunting with the Third Highness.
• Pei Ye and Xu Chuo agreed that investigating Yu Ziliang was unlikely to help, so Pei Ye went to the Chang'an County Office to investigate She Shi’s killing of a constable.
• Registrar Zhang and Zhao Yi told Pei Ye that She Shi had killed Ding Yukang with three punches after they bumped into each other in Pingkang Ward.
• Pei Ye read Ding Yukang’s file and learned that he had no recent cases and that his body remained unclaimed, then asked Xu Liu to take him to see it.

Pei Ye investigated Ding Yukang’s murder and uncovered the constable’s covert investigation into the Taiping Transport Gang through Pingkang Ward’s brothel supply records. He identified Carp Hall as a likely center of the gang’s influence and approached the establishment.

• Pei Ye examined Ding Yukang’s body and learned that he had stopped drinking and talking much in the days before his death.
• Pei Ye searched Ding Yukang’s home and found that he had been eating steamed buns and pickles while recording brothels’ food purchases.
• Pei Ye compared Ding Yukang’s notes with Pingkang Ward’s layout and realized the constable had been tracing rice deliveries by mapping routes around a storehouse.
• Pei Ye found that Carp Hall bought unusually large amounts of rice and flour for its stated population and learned from Xu Chuo that the Taiping Transport Gang controlled it.
• Pei Ye concluded that the Wilderness man had killed Ding Yukang to stop his investigation, then approached Carp Hall.

Pei Ye watched the Dragon Martial Army raid Carp Hall and uncover a hidden chamber of mutilated captives. He learned the captives were being turned into “Human Pens” for the Taiping Transport Gang’s amusement.

• Pei Ye and Xu Chuo discussed Carp Hall, the Taiping Transport Gang, and their plan to purge the King of Yan's Residence from the Divine Capital.
• The Dragon Martial Army surrounded Carp Hall, broke through its gates, and began searching it for concealed military arms.
• Pei Ye entered the raided hall and joined Shang Lang as soldiers dismantled a concealed wall.
• Pei Ye and Shang Lang found dozens of shackled, mutilated captives hidden in cages.
• A black-armored man explained that the captives were made into “Human Pens” and kept mostly for amusement.

Pei Ye joined Di Jiu and Li Zhao to investigate Carp Hall’s human trafficking case, but they faced official obstruction and a Taiping Transport Gang too widespread to search. After finding almost no useful records, they learned that the suspects and victims who might have provided leads were beyond their reach.

• Xu Chuo ordered the imperial guard to raid Carp Hall and declared that the human trafficking case would be pursued under the law.
• After several days of political clashes, Di Jiu took charge of the Three Offices investigation at Jingzhao Prefecture despite Prefect Lu Yugu’s objections.
• Di Jiu and Pei Ye identified Carp Hall as a way station and suspected the Taiping Transport Gang had a higher-level distribution point.
• Di Jiu, Li Zhao, and Pei Ye searched Jingzhao Prefecture’s files but found only seventy-eight minor cases involving the gang and no useful records of its larger operations.
• Di Jiu explained that Carp Hall’s suspects had retracted their confessions after being transferred to the Southern Office, while the Dragon Martial Army had killed the core members who knew more.

Pei Ye questioned the rescued captives and learned that many had been abducted from the Divine Capital along with their parents, while Di Jiu vowed to correct Jingzhao Prefecture’s wrongful convictions. At the Imperial College, Pei Ye confronted Lin Wen Yuan over his father’s carriage and heard fellow students discussing the reopened trafficking case and Di Jiu’s ten-day pledge.

• Pei Ye read the brief case file about Liu Dao and his accomplices, while Di Jiu told him that many Jingzhao Prefecture cases appeared wrongful or forced through despite gaps in evidence.
• Pei Ye questioned the rescued captives, and Cheng Xiaozhu told him that men claiming her father had committed a crime took her parents away after showing a waist token.
• Pei Ye learned that many captives came from the Divine Capital and that their families had also been taken, then reported his findings to Di Jiu.
• Di Jiu vowed to Tongjun that he would set every wrongful conviction in Jingzhao Prefecture right, while Pei Ye left to attend class at the Imperial College.
• Pei Ye told Lin Wen Yuan that his father would not need his carriage for the next two days, then entered the classroom with the case file.
• Pei Ye overheard students discussing the trafficking case, the Taiping Transport Gang, and Di Jiu’s pledge to solve the case within ten days with only Li Zhao and Pei Ye named as his aides.

Pei Ye uncovered suspicious inconsistencies in the Zhang Mengyuan murder file and suspected Zhang Mingqin’s body had been dumped inside the Divine Capital, prompting him to confront Jingzhao Prefecture head constable Lü Dingwu. After Pei Ye subdued Lü with his sword and threatened him with the Immortal Platform’s High-Security Prison, Black Cat teased him, while Lü remained afraid to move.

• Pei Ye noticed vague autopsy reports and mismatched dates in the Zhang family murder file, then considered that the victims might have died or been found at different times.
• Pei Ye traced Dragon Head Canal through wards inhabited by imperial relatives and powerful officials, suspected the case was not a simple robbery-murder, and hurried to Jingzhao Prefecture.
• Pei Ye confronted head constable Lü Dingwu about how the Zhang Mengyuan case had been handled, but Lü gave a cursory account and invoked his status as an official.
• Pei Ye struck Lü with his sword, held the blade to his throat, and offered him the choice of speaking or being taken to the Immortal Platform’s High-Security Prison.
• Black Cat joked that Lü had touched a sore spot, while Lü stayed frozen, afraid of Pei Ye’s sword.