Chapter Summaries

Pei Ye welcomed Jiang Yiner to the Sword Cultivation Academy and asked about her master’s connection to Yue Muzhou, while admitting that he missed Li Piaoqing. In Shaolong, Li Piaoqing shared steamed buns with Qu Xin and learned that Pei Ye was alive in the Divine Capital, but Qu Xin refused to say more.

• Pei Ye brought Jiang Yiner to visit Yan Feiqing, who greeted her warmly and gave her books and notes on sword practice.
• Pei Ye asked Jiang Yiner about Ying Suyu and Yue Muzhou; she described Yue as her master’s important benefactor, close friend, most annoying man, and the finest swordsman in the world.
• Jiang Yiner asked who Li Piaoqing was, and Pei Ye said she was the girl he liked and missed.
• At Jadeite Mountain, Li Piaoqing ate buns with Qu Xin and offered to help her obtain the Immortal Platform’s records of medicinal ingredients.
• Qu Xin asked about Li Piaoqing’s missing arm, and Li Piaoqing explained her phantom pain and her hesitation about receiving an artificial arm.
• Li Piaoqing asked about Pei Ye’s life in the Divine Capital, but Qu Xin said that knowing he would survive was enough for her.

Xu Chuo brought Pei Ye to meet Minister Yuan Zhao, where they discussed plans for the New Imperial Examination Law and the risks surrounding its reforms. She then explained that Li Du was behind the Buddha Mask incident and remained the target Pei Ye wanted to confront, leaving Pei Ye to consider how to act against the powerful chief minister.

• Qi Zhaohua told Pei Ye she was secretly arranging support for Fang Jidao's Heavenly Principles Academy entrance examination and warned him that Xu Chuo's unusual favor might come at a price.
• Xu Chuo met Pei Ye at a crowded teahouse and introduced him to Yuan Zhao, Minister of Revenue, who was planning to submit a document about reforms.
• Xu Chuo and Yuan Zhao discussed obstacles to the Heavenly Principles Academy and the New Imperial Examination Law, including the Recommendation Ban Edict and the need to protect Yuan Zhao from political danger.
• Xu Chuo told Yuan Zhao that Pei Ye would take the stage for their opening act, and Yuan Zhao asked whether the young man was the one meant to do it.
• After Yuan Zhao left, Xu Chuo explained that Li Du had been behind the Buddha Mask incident and had held power as Great Tang's chief minister for ten years, while Pei Ye weighed how to confront him.

Xu Chuo explained how Chancellor Xu Ji’s efforts to reform the imperial examinations created the opening that Yuan Zhao now used to challenge the great families. She brought Pei Ye to Xu Ji’s former residence to find a recommendation letter and asked him how they could implement the new law.

• Xu Chuo described how Li Du’s examination reforms favored the great families and said Li Du stood in the way of her policies and Pei Ye’s goals.
• Xu Chuo took Pei Ye to the former Chancellor Xu Ji’s residence to find a recommendation letter for him to use at the Heavenly Principles Academy.
• Xu Chuo explained that Pei Ye’s purpose was to help confront the entrenched powers, and that she had once considered using Jiang Yiner instead.
• Xu Chuo recounted how Chancellor Xu helped Yuan Zhao advance through the Ministry of Rites and later secure a powerful post in the Ministry of Revenue.
• Xu Chuo revealed that Chancellor Xu had drafted the New Imperial Examination Law, fought for it for over ten years, and died without seeing it implemented.
• Xu Chuo asked Pei Ye how they could carry on Xu Ji’s work and implement the new law.

Xu Chuo explained Chancellor Xu’s Two Heavens Theory to Pei Ye and sent him toward the Heavenly Principles Academy to help test it. She left him in the Small Tower with a Recommendation Letter to find and instructions to speak with Fang Jidao before returning that night.

• Xu Chuo explained that challenging the great families required disputing the Heavenly Mandate and asked Pei Ye to consider how human nature related to Heaven.
• Pei Ye proposed that human nature arose from humans themselves, but Xu Chuo showed him the difficulty of proving that humans existed outside Heaven and earth.
• Xu Chuo revealed Chancellor Xu’s Two Heavens Theory, which distinguished natural Heaven from the Heaven of nature and destiny and argued that rulers should govern by the people’s nature and destiny rather than Fortune alone.
• Pei Ye admitted he did not know whether the theory was right, and Xu Chuo said she intended to act on it regardless.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye to go to the Heavenly Principles Academy as empirical evidence for the theory, then left him to find his Recommendation Letter and meet Fang Jidao.

Pei Ye discovered a letter in the late chief minister’s study, in which Kao Zhi vowed to investigate the Two Heavens Theory and continue its Dao. He later met Fang Jidao to discuss the Heavenly Principles Academy and the different paths of Confucian scholarship.

• Pei Ye examined the late chief minister’s drafts and realized how the Two Heavens Theory targeted the Five Surnames rather than the emperor, Qilin, or Great Tang as a whole.
• Pei Ye found a letter from Kao Zhi to Zhou Qiong, promising to test the Two Heavens Theory and take in anyone entrusted to him.
• Pei Ye visited Fang Jidao, drew him away from studying, and took him to Green Splendor Terrace at West Pool.
• Pei Ye asked Fang Jidao about the Heavenly Principles Academy and his role in the dispute over heavenly principles.
• Fang Jidao explained that Confucianism comprised a political lineage, an academic lineage, and a Dao lineage.

Fang Jidao was admitted to the Heavenly Principles Academy as Master Zhu’s disciple after ranking first in every section of the entrance examination. Pei Ye accompanied him to meet Master Zhu and bowed as his student.

• Fang Jidao explained that the academy’s succession of the Dao could influence the realm’s thought, and said he hoped to champion the Two Heavens Theory there.
• At West Pool, scholars told Pei Ye that six candidates would compete for one place and warned that studying under Master Zhu could be dangerous because of the dispute over the Two Heavens Theory.
• Fang Jidao confided his fear that he might never find answers to the questions he pursued, and Pei Ye encouraged him by comparing his learning to a sword.
• The examination results named Fang Jidao first in all four sections and admitted him to Master Zhu’s tutelage.
• Pei Ye and Fang Jidao went to Master Zhu’s residence, where they bowed and introduced themselves as his students.

Pei Ye began studying at Zhu Wen’s academy despite refusing to become his disciple, while Fang Jidao formally accepted Zhu Wen as his teacher. Zhu Wen assigned Pei Ye a strict daily schedule and classical texts, then led him into a rear courtyard to discuss the Two Heavens Theory.

• Fang Jidao completed the teacher-acceptance ceremony, while Pei Ye refused it and agreed only to perform a half-bow after Zhu Wen recognized him as Yue Muzhou’s successor.
• Zhu Wen gave Fang Jidao a work on the Two Heavens Theory and assigned Pei Ye the Three Ritual Classics and other classics to study.
• Pei Ye studied the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, answered Zhu Wen’s questions, and asked about the Two Heavens Theory, but Zhu Wen told him to focus on his assigned reading.
• After supper, Zhu Wen told Pei Ye he must spend eight hours each day at the academy and explain his absences beforehand.
• Zhu Wen led Pei Ye through a library and into the rear courtyard, saying they shared responsibility for the Two Heavens Theory and that he would explain it to him.

Pei Ye visited Philosopher Zhu, who was testing the Two Heavens Theory by waiting to see how his pond froze, then returned to Xu Chuo and learned how the Heavenly Principles Academy’s philosophers differed in their political aims and public principles. Xu Chuo revealed she had already submitted Swinging Rope, leaving Pei Ye asking her to tell him the story from memory.

• Zhu Wen told Pei Ye that he was testing the Two Heavens Theory by observing whether his courtyard pond froze entirely or only halfway.
• Pei Ye returned to the former chancellor’s residence, found the gate locked, and slipped into Xu Chuo’s courtyard.
• Xu Chuo explained the four philosophers’ positions, describing Zhu Wen and Lü Ding as aligned with the Two Heavens Theory and Nan Xiu and Lu Chunshui as opponents.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that all four philosophers publicly acknowledged heavenly principles as objective and supreme, and that reality must amend itself according to them.
• Pei Ye asked when Xu Chuo would write Swinging Rope, and she told him she had already submitted it and had kept no copy.
• Pei Ye asked Xu Chuo to recite Swinging Rope from memory, and she asked whether he wanted her to tell him a story.

Pei Ye witnessed a scholar-led uprising in the Divine Capital over the Recommendation Ban Edict and saw Yuan Zhao quiet the crowd. Yuan Zhao then joined the emperor and senior officials in Purple Chen Hall to discuss the petition and the crisis dividing Great Tang.

• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that an unfinished story manuscript existed and asked him to take a character’s role, then urged him to rely on his swordsmanship against the growing Tidal Wave.
• Pei Ye found scholars protesting after Elder Qi was whipped to death by a Wang Family son, and he followed the crowd toward the imperial city.
• A scholar set fire to a scripture and killed himself against a stone monument as Golden Guards advanced on the protesters.
• Yuan Zhao appeared before the imperial city and quieted the crowd, while Pei Ye continued toward the Heavenly Principles Academy.
• Yuan Zhao confronted Wang Mingyuan, warning that his nephew would die, then entered Purple Chen Hall to meet the emperor and senior officials.
• The emperor asked the officials to discuss the Recommendation Ban Edict and presented several essays arguing for reform.

Yuan Zhao rejected the Reform of the New Imperial Examination Law at court, arguing that only banning public recommendation could prevent the great houses from reclaiming control, while the emperor postponed a decision until the Heavenly Principles Academy studied the Two Heavens Theory. At the academy, Pei Ye saw two scholars plead with Zhu Wen to save a former student sentenced to death in half a month, but Zhu Wen refused and ordered Pei Ye to escort them out.

• Yuan Zhao reviewed three memorials proposing different ways to address the conflict between scholars and the Five Surnames, while Li Du apologized and Wang Jiu defended the revised examination law.
• The emperor said Zhuo Yulun's and Guan Zhiyi's proposals would be considered later, then asked Yuan Zhao whether he supported the Reform of the New Imperial Examination Law.
• Yuan Zhao rejected the reform as insufficient and argued that public recommendation had to be banned; the emperor deferred the issue until the Heavenly Principles Academy produced findings on the Two Heavens Theory.
• Pei Ye attended lessons at the Heavenly Principles Academy and offered to help Zhu Wen hasten his research, but Zhu Wen told him to do nothing unnecessary.
• Ji An and Nian An knelt before Zhu Wen and begged him to save Brother Wen, who had been sentenced to execution in half a month.
• Zhu Wen refused to intervene, saying Brother Wen had chosen benevolence and died for it, then ordered Pei Ye to escort the two scholars out.

Pei Ye visited the imprisoned scholar Wen Zaizi before his execution, while the Divine Capital’s legal crackdown on scholars and the unresolved Two Heavens Theory heightened political tensions. He shared food and a final conversation with Wen Zaizi in the High-Security Prison.

• Pei Ye asked Zhu Wen for a day off so he could visit Wen Zaizi before the execution, and Zhu Wen agreed.
• Xu Chuo explained that she had protected Wen Zaizi for two months but would not interfere with the lawful adjudication of his case.
• Xu Chuo arranged for Pei Ye to visit Wen Zaizi in the High-Security Prison.
• Wen Zaizi recognized Pei Ye, greeted him warmly, and recalled their earlier conversation in prison.
• Pei Ye shared buns, wine, and other food with Wen Zaizi and sent true qi into him.

Pei Ye visited Wen Zaizi in prison, heard why he accepted death, and carried his final words to Zhu Wen after Wen Zaizi’s execution. At the academy, Zhu Wen questioned Pei Ye’s support for the Two Heavens Theory and urged him to study history and ritual institutions before judging it.

• Pei Ye shared a meal with Wen Zaizi, who explained that he had knowingly risked execution to challenge injustice and accepted death as the completion of his life’s work.
• Wen Zaizi gave Pei Ye a handwritten line for Zhu Wen and asked him to tell his teacher to take care of his health.
• Wen Zaizi faced the execution ground, recited a verse about remaining steadfast, and was executed as Pei Ye turned away.
• Pei Ye returned to the Heavenly Principles Academy and studied with Zhu Wen in the library’s second-floor room and on the Wind-Facing Platform.
• Pei Ye asked whether the Two Heavens Theory could be proven, and Zhu Wen challenged his belief that it would improve scholars’ prospects.
• Zhu Wen advised Pei Ye to read history and examine ritual institutions before deciding what was right.

Pei Ye received Wen’s final aspiration through Zhu Wen and unexpectedly glimpsed a sword insight that made him realize he wanted to defy Heaven rather than follow it. As doubts about the Two Heavens Theory spread, the Heavenly Changes was announced complete, raising the stakes for Zhu Wen’s work.

• Pei Ye gave Zhu Wen the slip Wen had left for him, and Zhu Wen carefully placed it with the dried flowers.
• Pei Ye briefly touched a new sword-state after recalling the cold moon, then discussed the fleeting insight with Cui Zhaoye.
• Fang Jidao told Pei Ye about a dream in which an older version of himself asked what outcome he hoped for from the pond’s freezing.
• Alone in the academy courtyard, Pei Ye drew his sword and felt Heaven and Earth’s dominion, but resolved that he wanted a path that broke beyond Heaven.
• Zhu Wen found Pei Ye in the courtyard, cautioned him about his Meridian Tree, and continued their evening lesson.
• Rumors that the Heavenly Principles Academy could not prove the Two Heavens Theory spread, while Heavenly Changes was declared complete.

Pei Ye studied with Zhu Wen, who offered to teach him a discipline and told him to watch the courtyard pond for signs of insight, while the court convened to hear the dispute over the Two Heavens Theory. The chapter ended with Nan Xiu presenting the Heaven-Qilin-Book of Changes and beginning his defense of the One Heaven Theory as Pei Ye found the pond still unfrozen.

• Pei Ye told Zhu Wen that his sword practice had stalled because the sword he sought came from neither Heaven nor the established Sword Dao.
• Zhu Wen offered to teach Pei Ye a discipline, gave him the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, and instructed him to visit the courtyard and observe the pond.
• His Majesty opened the grand court deliberation and explained why he had founded the Heavenly Principles Academy to settle disputes about heavenly principles.
• Nan Xiu presented the Heaven-Qilin-Book of Changes and argued that the Two Heavens Theory was groundless.
• Pei Ye went to Zhu Wen's courtyard after sword practice and found that the pond had still not frozen.
• Nan Xiu began explaining how Great Tang used the Qilin's authority to observe Heaven's laws and call what it saw Fortune.

Li Zhi demonstrated his Heaven-Qilin-Book of Changes by predicting a sword duel’s exact outcome, and Zhu Wen presented his framework for the Two Heavens Theory before announcing a demonstration involving ice and water. The court’s debate remained unresolved as Zhu Wen prepared to test his theory.

• Nan Xiu explained how Li Zhi’s Heaven-Knowing Heart and Qilin Blood let him perceive worldly affairs through the Book of Changes, and Li Zhi described what he could see and judge.
• Nan Xiu recounted Li Zhi’s prediction that Liang Xiaoyu’s sword would break on the ninety-second move and defeat Baili Jing on the ninety-third; a Soul Bird later confirmed the prediction exactly.
• Yuan Zhao requested that the Heavenly Principles Academy present its discourse on two heavens, and Zhu Wen arrived barefoot with four books.
• Zhu Wen explained his framework for the Two Heavens Theory and said the four books had been sent for printing.
• The sovereign noted that Zhu Wen’s presentation lacked empirical proof, and Zhu Wen said he would demonstrate the theory through ice and water.

Zhu Wen sacrificed himself to test the Two Heavens Theory, freezing the ponds of the Divine Capital into Taiji patterns and leaving Pei Ye with a final poem. At the court debate, Fang Jidao defended Zhu Wen’s evidence against those who maintained that Haotian governed all, and the dispute remained unresolved.

• Zhu Wen asked the sovereign to restore Chancellor Xu’s good name if his test proved the Two Heavens, then dissolved himself in the Mirror Pool, freezing all 631 ponds in the Divine Capital.
• Pei Ye saw his pond freeze into a Taiji pattern and found Zhu Wen’s poem left behind at the academy, then realized Zhu Wen had not scheduled a lesson.
• Fang Jidao explained that Zhu Wen had sealed and smelted his own body for ten years to test whether Heaven was one or two.
• Nan Xiu accepted Zhu Wen’s evidence as support for the Two Heavens Theory but argued that Two Heavens must be encompassed by One Heaven.
• Fang Jidao challenged Nan Xiu and Lu Chunshui to provide evidence that Haotian governed everything, arguing that the causes of Great Tang’s past unrest were the Heaven of Nature and Destiny.
• The court ministers argued over whether Haotian or the Two Heavens governed the realm as Fang Jidao watched the debate from before the Imperial Throne.

Xu Chuo explained that Pei Ye was the only suitable swordsman to test whether a human sword could break free of Heaven’s authority, and he wrestled with what he hoped to achieve in the trial. She revealed that her planned counterattack in the Divine Capital was a high-stakes gamble tied to struggles over the succession.

• Yuan Zhao challenged Nan Xiu to wager that all things, including the human-created sword, fell beneath Haotian.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that his connection to Yue Muzhou made him the best choice for the coming Sword Trial, which tested the bond between heart and sword rather than swordsmanship alone.
• Pei Ye reflected on Mister Zhu’s teachings and wondered whether he would enter the trial to win or to seek the truth about Haotian.
• Xu Chuo said she would prioritize victory over truth and urged Pei Ye to do the same.
• Xu Chuo explained that success in her counterattack would secure a foothold in the Divine Capital, while failure could leave them in dire danger.
• Xu Chuo revealed that her counterattack was bound up with deeper struggles over the succession.

Pei Ye struggled to advance his sword practice because he could not decide what purpose he should serve in the coming conflict. Xu Chuo suggested that Zhu Wen had deliberately led him toward this question as part of the Sword State, then wrote him an essay and recommended books for further study.

• Xu Chuo explained that the Qilin Blood Trial would influence the succession and revealed that she wanted to overturn Li Zhi’s expected succession, but teased Pei Ye by naming the Ninth Prince as her choice.
• Pei Ye practiced alone at the Heavenly Principles Academy and found himself unable to advance because he was unsure which side he would stand on and what he had to accomplish.
• Xu Chuo met Pei Ye for breakfast, listened to his account of the sword-practice barrier, and accompanied him to the academy to examine it.
• Xu Chuo suggested that Zhu Wen had intentionally placed the question in Pei Ye’s heart to guide him toward the true meaning of the Sword State.
• Xu Chuo wrote Pei Ye an essay about his confusion and offered to help him find books in the library.

Pei Ye discovered that the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial had been engraved in his mindscape as a heart slip, and Xu Chuo helped him understand how it worked. After they discussed his confusion and plans for training, she took him to an old shop in Peach Blossoms Alley, where they met an elderly woman.

• Pei Ye realized that reading the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial had cleared mist from his mindscape and revealed its words engraved on bamboo.
• Xu Chuo explained that a heart slip reflected and steadied the mind, then tested whether Pei Ye could add more writing by reading carefully.
• Pei Ye found that the book's words were engraved only when he understood them correctly, while the romance novel left no inscription in his mindscape.
• Xu Chuo and Pei Ye agreed that he should keep studying the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial to help him find his way through confusion.
• Xu Chuo took Pei Ye to a beef-bone shop in Peach Blossoms Alley, where they prepared their food and greeted the elderly shopkeeper.

Pei Ye learned more about Xu Chuo’s childhood friendship with Sister Sisi while the two discussed the sword and his coming trials. At the end, Granny revealed that Xu Chuo had a lingering illness that likely began on a night she was caught in cold rain, leaving Pei Ye stunned.

• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye about Sister Sisi, her childhood friend and collaborator on the first draft of “Swinging Rope,” as they ate Beef Paomo.
• Xu Chuo showed Pei Ye traces of her and Sister Sisi’s childhood in the old house, then explained how Sister Sisi had proposed using the sword to shatter the One Heaven Theory.
• Xu Chuo laid out Pei Ye’s next steps: finish the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, face the heart-questioning trial, and later study Sister Sisi’s examination and Zhu Wen’s [Heaven and Earth Furnace] technique.
• On the fifth day, Pei Ye visited Granny’s shop for food to take back to Xu Chuo and learned the old woman called her by a childhood name.
• Granny said Xu Chuo had a lingering illness that likely began when she endured cold rain as a child, and Pei Ye was shocked to hear it.