Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingtang delivered his late adoptive father’s assets to the Pei family in the capital and left to enter the martial world. As he wandered without a destination, a woman appeared at an upstairs window.

• Ye Jingtang challenged the Far-Reaching Escort Agency and swiftly defeated Chen Biao, appointing Yang Chao as chief escort and handing over official banknotes.
• Ye Jingtang told Chen Biao that he was Pei Yuanfeng’s son and that his father had sent him to deliver the family assets.
• Ye Jingtang recalled Pei Yuanfeng’s letter, which revealed his father’s past, a hidden fragment of the Dragon-Mingling Diagram, and the instruction to return the agency’s assets to the Pei family.
• Ye Jingtang left the Pei family and his father’s former escorts behind, carrying only his saber and pet bird as he set out for the martial world.
• As Ye Jingtang wandered through the capital, a window rod fell near his feet, and he looked up to see a graceful woman.

Pei Xiangjun recognized Ye Jingtang as her late second brother’s son and saw him as a potential heir who could restore Red Flower House. Ye Jingtang refused her offers and left, while Pei Xiangjun decided to observe him and planned to persuade him to stay.

• Pei Xiangjun watched Ye Jingtang defeat Chen Biao and realized he was Pei Yuanfeng’s son.
• Pei Xiangjun called to Ye Jingtang from her window and introduced herself as his martial aunt and Red Flower House’s leader.
• Ye Jingtang refused Pei Xiangjun’s offer of silver and a capital escort agency, saying he would honor his adoptive father’s arrangements.
• The White Prince flew to Pei Xiangjun’s window and landed on her chest before Ye Jingtang called it back.
• Pei Xiangjun told Xiuhe that Ye Jingtang showed exceptional talent but that Red Flower House needed to observe him before choosing him as its future leader.
• Pei Xiangjun decided to visit Ye Jingtang that night and try to persuade him to stay.

Ye Jingtang arrived in Cloud Peace City nearly penniless and went looking for work, only to attract the attention of the Black Bureau and Prince Jing. The chapter ended with Dongfang Liren ordering an investigation into his background and considering whether to show his portrait to the empress.

• Ye Jingtang spent his last money on roast chicken for himself and his bird, then followed a shopkeeper’s directions to the Jade Resonance Tower to seek work.
• Ye Jingtang drew his blade when a man reached for it, then quickly apologized after realizing the man was Wang Chihu, a Black Bureau company officer.
• Wang Chihu checked Ye Jingtang’s Registry Token and invited him to seek Prince Jing’s favor as a way to gain wealth and martial opportunities.
• Dongfang Liren watched Ye Jingtang’s encounter with Wang Chihu from the Jade Resonance Tower and wondered whether his blade technique connected him to the stolen Dragon-Mingling Diagram.
• Dongfang Liren ordered her white-haired attendant to investigate Ye Jingtang and, if his background proved clean, send his portrait to the empress.

Ye Jingtang settled into a dilapidated courtyard in Twin Osmanthus Alley, where a masked spear wielder attacked him and revealed that his saber stance resembled the lost Eight-Step Mad Blade. The visitor, the Red God of Wealth, offered to consider teaching him the Overlord Spear if he proved himself by helping the Pei family, then disappeared into the night.

• Ye Jingtang rented a neglected courtyard in Twin Osmanthus Alley and found signs that someone had recently stayed there.
• A masked visitor wielding a spear confronted Ye Jingtang, and he tried to escape before she overwhelmed him in a rooftop fight.
• The visitor recognized Ye Jingtang's saber stance as resembling the Eight-Step Mad Blade and warned that the authorities might test him because of it.
• The visitor identified herself as the Red God of Wealth and offered to consider teaching Ye Jingtang the Overlord Spear if he demonstrated his abilities and character.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to help the Pei family for pay, and the Red God of Wealth vanished into the night.

After the Red God of Wealth exposed how little Ye Jingtang knew of true martial arts, he decided the Dragon-Mingling Diagram might be his only fallback and planned to seek work with the Pei Family. In the Imperial City, Dongfang Liren visited the lonely Empress Dowager beneath the ginkgo tree, where they discussed her confinement and hopes for romance.

• Ye Jingtang recognized the gap between his showy martial arts and the Red God of Wealth's skill, and resolved not to rely on the promised spear lessons alone.
• Ye Jingtang considered infiltrating the inner palace to retrieve the Dragon-Mingling Diagram, but put the plan aside until he learned more.
• Ye Jingtang reassured Yang Chao and the other escorts that he was safe, then said he would visit the Pei Family to ask for a job.
• Dongfang Liren found the Empress Dowager swinging beneath the ginkgo tree and offered to take her away from the palace for a short stay.
• The Empress Dowager lamented her confinement and hinted at keeping male favorites, while Dongfang Liren rebuked and comforted her.
• When rain began falling, the Empress Dowager threatened to cut down the ginkgo tree, but Dongfang Liren pointed out that it sheltered her from the weather.

Ye Jingtang visited the Pei family and learned that the Green Lotus Gang was disrupting the family’s businesses at Skywater Bridge. He agreed to deal with the gang and set out with the Pei family’s escorts, dressed as its young master.

• Ye Jingtang heard two women pass near his shelter before dawn, then practiced the Red God of Wealth’s spear techniques until morning.
• Maid Xiuhe took Ye Jingtang to the Pei Residence, where he learned that Pei Yuanming had died and his son, Pei Luo, was studying at an academy.
• Pei Xiangjun told Ye Jingtang that the Green Lotus Gang was harassing the Pei family’s shops and that its connections made the trouble difficult to resolve.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to confront the gang and work for the Pei family as its young master rather than as a hired escort.
• Pei Xiangjun had Ye Jingtang change into fine clothes, and he departed in a carriage with Yang Chao, Chen Biao, and other escorts.

Ye Jingtang went to Green Lotus Manor to confront Yang Guan over his attempts to control the Skywater Bridge merchants. He defeated and wounded Yang Guan, then left with his companions while the gang members and merchants watched.

• Yang Guan tried to persuade the Skywater Bridge merchants to accept his protection, blaming the absent Third Lady Pei for their refusal.
• Ye Jingtang arrived at Green Lotus Manor with Chief Escort Chen and the escorts, then shut himself inside the reception hall with Yang Guan.
• Ye Jingtang overwhelmed Yang Guan in a saber fight and pinned him down in the rainy courtyard.
• Yang Guan begged for his life and explained that he had only studied under the Three-Perfection Immortal Elder briefly.
• Ye Jingtang spared Yang Guan but stabbed his right arm to warn him, then left the manor with his companions.

After settling the Green Lotus Manor dispute, Ye Jingtang accepted a position and salary from Pei Xiangjun and spent the day entertaining his escorts in the Capital City. When he returned to his rented room at dusk, he found a mysterious woman sitting on his bed, apparently practicing a technique that made her steam with heat.

• Pei Xiangjun welcomed Ye Jingtang home, praised his handling of Yang Guan, and offered him the Pei Family's young master position with a hundred taels of silver a month.
• Ye Jingtang accepted Pei Xiangjun's offer and went out with Chen Biao and the escorts to listen to songs at the Spring Fragrance Pavilion.
• Ye Jingtang and his companions saw imperial guards and Black Bureau constables rushing toward the Jade Resonance Tower, but they continued drinking.
• Ye Jingtang returned to his rented room to collect his belongings and found a straw rain cape covering the hole in the roof.
• Ye Jingtang discovered a beautiful, unfamiliar young woman sitting cross-legged on his bed, her body steaming as if she were feverish.

Ye Jingtang hid a wounded martial-world woman from constables searching for a fugitive, pretending they were lovers to keep the officers from discovering her. The constables remained suspicious outside, forcing Ye Jingtang and the woman to continue their act.

• Ye Jingtang discovered the woman in his bed and realized she was the older martial-world woman he had encountered that morning.
• The woman asked Ye Jingtang to divert the constables searching the alley, warning that they and her companion would be in danger if she were exposed.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to help in exchange for a free martial arts lesson and concealed her under the quilt while pretending they were being intimate.
• The constables kicked open the door, questioned Ye Jingtang, and searched the room; he showed them his lease and claimed he had seen no suspicious person.
• The constables left but stopped outside to keep watch, so Ye Jingtang and the woman continued pretending to be husband and wife.

Ye Jingtang helped the poisoned Luo Ning evade the constables, then learned she had come to the capital to investigate the Black Bureau and rescue a friend. After Luo Ning demonstrated a martial technique, Ye Jingtang copied it perfectly and seemed to grasp its hidden method of circulating qi, leaving her shocked.

• Ye Jingtang kept the constables from discovering Luo Ning by pretending they were lovers, then argued with her after they left.
• Luo Ning introduced herself and explained that a Black Bureau trap had poisoned her while she investigated the bureau, and that she had escaped White Impermanence.
• Ye Jingtang insisted Luo Ning honor her promise to teach him a martial arts move, and she demonstrated the first form of the Cloud-Adhering Fourteen Hands.
• Luo Ning explained that martial arts combined techniques with internal force, while Ye Jingtang revealed he had only trained his body under his foster father's guidance.
• Ye Jingtang reproduced Luo Ning's movements exactly, and a faint breeze stirred as he appeared to comprehend the technique, astonishing her.

Ye Jingtang mastered Luo Ning’s Cloud-Adhering Fourteen Hands almost instantly, astonishing her and prompting her to offer him guidance. Their conversation was interrupted by Zhe Yunli, who arrived searching for Luo Ning; the two women stayed at Ye Jingtang’s home, where Zhe Yunli tended to Luo Ning and spoke of their effort to rescue Hero Qiu.

• Ye Jingtang learned the Cloud-Adhering Fourteen Hands in three attempts and left a deep palm print in the wall, shocking Luo Ning.
• Luo Ning offered to guide Ye Jingtang and introduce him to a master, but he questioned her claims and teased her about being married.
• Zhe Yunli burst into the room, attacked Ye Jingtang, then stopped when Luo Ning told her he was a good man.
• Zhe Yunli realized that she and Luo Ning had been staying in Ye Jingtang’s home without permission, then helped Luo Ning and asked Ye Jingtang for food.
• Zhe Yunli massaged Luo Ning and explained that they had come to the capital to rescue Hero Qiu, who had been captured by the authorities.
• Zhe Yunli noticed Luo Ning’s damp trousers, and Luo Ning blushed and knocked her on the head.

Ye Jingtang reconstructed the opening of his foster father’s Eight-Step Mad Blade and used it to cut down a locust tree. Back at home, he shared food and learned about Zhe Yunli’s mission to rescue Qiu Tianhe, while the chapter ended with the group settling in for the night.

• Ye Jingtang studied his foster father’s old movements and completed the Eight-Step Mad Blade, slicing through a locust tree with a single strike.
• Ye Jingtang returned to Twin Osmanthus Alley with food, where Zhe Yunli complained that he had bought her only roasted sweet potatoes while bringing Luo Ning chicken soup and steamed buns.
• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli traded teasing remarks over dinner, and Zhe Yunli explained that she had come to the Capital City to rescue her blade instructor, Qiu Tianhe.
• Zhe Yunli told Ye Jingtang about the Three Heroes of Yunze and the declining Red Flower House, prompting Ye Jingtang to consider his foster father’s history and his feud with Xuanyuan Tiangang.
• Ye Jingtang gave Luo Ning the bed and sat against the wall with his saber, while Zhe Yunli settled beside him and Niao Niao took watch from a roof beam.

Ye Jingtang was ambushed by Yang Guan and two Black Bureau experts in an alley near Skywater Bridge. After the tall man’s arm stopped his saber and White Impermanence numbed his sword arm, Ye Jingtang was trapped between the two foes.

• At dawn, Ye Jingtang left the courtyard to find work, while Zhe Yunli offered to accompany him and Luo Ning angrily stopped her from pretending to be his wife.
• At the Pei residence, Pei Xiangjun and Zhang Yulian discussed the Red Flower House’s weakness before Xiuhe reported that Ye Jingtang had clashed with the Black Bureau Six Fiends.
• Ye Jingtang spotted Yang Guan near Skywater Bridge, sent Niao Niao to scout, and followed him into an alley where two men in bamboo hats waited.
• Ye Jingtang attacked the tall stranger, but the man blocked his saber with bronze skin and punched him in the chest.
• White Impermanence swept past Ye Jingtang and struck his shoulder with Ghost Shoulder Tap, leaving his right arm numb and weak.
• Ye Jingtang backed against the wall with his saber in his left hand as the two Black Bureau experts blocked his escape.

Prince Jing Dongfang Liren watched Ye Jingtang fight Black and White Impermanence and awarded him a token after his powerful slash impressed her. Ye Jingtang left the alley with the token and injured Yang Guan, while the mystery of his blade technique remained unresolved.

• Dongfang Liren ordered She Long and Shang Jianli to test Ye Jingtang, who fought them and grievously wounded She Long with a single slash.
• Ye Jingtang seized Yang Guan as a hostage, then stopped when he learned the two opponents were government constables investigating his blade technique.
• She Long and Shang Jianli mistook Ye Jingtang's slash for a technique called White Slash, while Dongfang Liren and the White-Haired Old Woman debated its mysterious origins.
• Dongfang Liren chose not to send Ye Jingtang's portrait to the Empress and instead gave him a token to Prince Jing's Manor.
• After Shang Jianli explained the investigation and left, Ye Jingtang slashed Yang Guan's uninjured arm, then departed with Niao Niao.

After Ye Jingtang left the alley, Pei Xiangjun tended his injured arm and questioned him about his fight with the Black Bureau, but he concealed the truth about his saber technique. She accepted the Prince Jing's Manor token, planned gifts in his name, and asked him to help manage the Pei family's businesses.

• Pei Xiangjun checked Ye Jingtang's injured arm and took him home in her carriage to treat it.
• Ye Jingtang claimed his powerful saber technique was a move taught by his foster father, and Pei Xiangjun accused him of lying to his martial aunt.
• Ye Jingtang showed Pei Xiangjun the token from Prince Jing's Manor, and she advised him to keep it and arranged to send gifts in his name.
• Pei Xiangjun gave Ye Jingtang a few days to rest and said she would introduce him to the Pei family's other businesses and managers.
• Pei Xiangjun continued tending Ye Jingtang's arm as he wondered how she could be the leader of a powerful martial-world organization.

Ye Jingtang returned home and found Luo Ning cleaning the kitchen while Zhe Yunli was out buying household goods. When armored footsteps approached, he and Luo Ning pretended to be repairing a rocking bed, just as Zhe Yunli came back with their purchases.

• Ye Jingtang returned to Twin Osmanthus Alley and found Luo Ning cleaning his kitchen while Zhe Yunli was away buying pots and other supplies.
• Ye Jingtang offered Luo Ning a bottle of Jade Dragon Balm, and she refused to accept it in exchange for teaching him martial arts.
• After Ye Jingtang teased Luo Ning about their previous encounter, she drew her sword and warned him never to mention it again.
• Hearing armored footsteps outside, Ye Jingtang pulled Luo Ning into the main room and shook the bed to make it sound as though they were occupied.
• Zhe Yunli entered the courtyard, heard the bed creaking, and questioned Luo Ning, but Ye Jingtang claimed he had been fixing the loose bed.
• Zhe Yunli brought the household goods into the kitchen and spotted Niao Niao wiping the rice jar before the bird dropped the cloth and sprawled on the chopping board.

Ye Jingtang agreed to ask the Black Bureau about Qiu Tianhe while helping Luo Ning and Zhe Yunli settle into their repaired home. That night, he practiced linking the opening moves of the Eight-Step Mad Blade as Luo Ning watched from the window.

• While cooking with Luo Ning and Zhe Yunli, Ye Jingtang agreed to visit the Black Bureau and confirm whether Qiu Tianhe was safe, but refused to promise to rescue him.
• Luo Ning and Zhe Yunli offered to teach Ye Jingtang martial arts in return for his help asking about Qiu Tianhe.
• At dinner, Zhe Yunli teased Luo Ning and Ye Jingtang beneath the table, and Luo Ning caught her and struck her with a broom.
• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli repaired the courtyard roof and practiced martial arts after Luo Ning went to bed early.
• Ye Jingtang worked on linking the opening moves of the Eight-Step Mad Blade, while Luo Ning watched and wondered if he was inventing a saber technique.

Ye Jingtang visited the Black Bureau, offered to help the court, and accepted an assignment to capture the thief Wingless Owl. Shang Jianli then agreed to take him to meet saber Grandmaster Qiu Tianhe.

• Ye Jingtang arrived at the Black Bureau, where Shang Jianli and Wang Chihu welcomed him and discussed his injury of She Long.
• Shang Jianli showed Ye Jingtang wanted notices, including one for Sky-Pacifying Sect Master Xue Baijin, while Wang Chihu and Shang Jianli discussed the martial world and the court.
• Shang Jianli offered Ye Jingtang several Black Bureau cases, and Ye Jingtang chose to pursue Wingless Owl, a thief suspected of infiltrating the Imperial Stele Pavilion.
• Ye Jingtang asked Shang Jianli about meeting saber Grandmaster Qiu Tianhe, and Shang Jianli agreed to take him to see Qiu Tianhe.

Ye Jingtang visited the imprisoned saber master Qiu Tianhe, who recounted Zheng Feng’s love for Xuanyuan Shuye and how he rescued her after Zheng Feng was crippled. Qiu Tianhe recognized Zheng Feng’s saber in Ye Jingtang’s hands and left him with a warning not to let Xuanyuan Chao remain Blade Overlord.

• Shang Jianli led Ye Jingtang to the Black Bureau’s underground prison, where Ye met the chained Qiu Tianhe.
• Qiu Tianhe recognized the Chi Dragon Ring-Pommel Saber and saw Zheng Feng’s signature stroke in Ye Jingtang’s saber technique.
• Qiu Tianhe told Ye Jingtang how Zheng Feng loved Xuanyuan Shuye, challenged Xuanyuan Tiangang for her, and was crippled after losing.
• Shang Jianli explained that Qiu Tianhe later rescued Xuanyuan Shuye from a palace-bound convoy and spent ten years helping her search for Zheng Feng.
• Qiu Tianhe urged Ye Jingtang to challenge Xuanyuan Chao, then reflected that Zheng Feng had raised a fine son.

Ye Jingtang met Prince Jing, Dongfang Liren, in her manor and agreed to teach her his blade technique in exchange for a chance to learn the Tianhe Blade and help Qiu Tianhe. Dongfang offered to petition for Qiu’s life if Ye Jingtang worked for her, then sent him to prove himself by solving the Wingless Owl case.

• Wang Chihu summoned Ye Jingtang to Prince Jing’s manor, where he saw the renowned Dragon-Mingling Spear.
• Dongfang Liren appeared and asked Ye Jingtang to teach her his blade technique; he agreed, hoping to learn martial arts in return.
• Dongfang offered to teach Ye Jingtang the Tianhe Blade if he provided a complete first-rate martial art, and explained that she wanted to learn Qiu Tianhe’s technique.
• Dongfang revealed that Qiu Tianhe’s abduction of Xuanyuan Shuye had indirectly benefited the imperial family and offered to seek leniency for him if Ye Jingtang worked for her.
• Dongfang told Ye Jingtang to prove his abilities by pursuing the Wingless Owl case, and he agreed to do his utmost.