Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xing refused Cao Lin’s offer to become his adopted son after questioning his principles and priorities, and Cao Lin ultimately spared him and promoted him to Black Sash. Zhang Xing left the Black Tower with Bai Yousi and explained that he had refused because he would not bend again for a patron whose priorities differed from his own.

• Zhang Xing asked Cao Lin whether refusing his summons would violate his obligations, what principles guided him, and which danger to Great Wei he considered most urgent.
• Cao Lin ranked powerful local families as Great Wei’s most pressing danger, but Zhang Xing refused the adoption because he could not agree with Cao Lin’s priorities merely to secure his future.
• Bai Yousi, Sima Zheng, and Zhang Changgong spoke up for Zhang Xing, and Zhang Changgong revealed that his family had been watching for Zhang Xingyan of the Hedong Zhang Clan’s Western Branch.
• Cao Lin accepted Zhang Xing’s claim that he had lost his memory, let the matter pass, and granted him a Black Sash while warning him not to return to the Black Tower.
• Bai Yousi helped Zhang Xing leave the Jing'an Directorate, and he later told her, Qin Bao, and Zhou Xingfan that he had refused because he would not bend before another person.

After Zhang Xing learned about the Crouching Dragon Guard and the secrets it protected, he questioned his companions about their ambitions. Their answers revealed what each hoped to uphold, and Bai Yousi declared that she would keep pursuing chances to make a difference.

• Zhang Xing asked Sima Zheng about the Crouching Dragon Guard, Langya Pavilion, and the Crouching Dragon Seal, Dragon-Investiture Stele, and Dragon-Awakening Sword.
• Sima Zheng explained that the three artifacts supported Great Wei's authority and that the path toward greater cultivation remained open to those who reached for it.
• Zhang Xing asked his companions about their ambitions, and Sima Zheng, Yue Niang, Zhou Xingfan, and Qin Bao each described what they hoped to do.
• Zhang Xing challenged Qin Bao with hypothetical betrayals and atrocities, and Qin Bao said he would refuse to abandon his principles for office.
• Bai Yousi said she would refuse an unjust order and declared that she would keep seeking ways to act, whether in the Central Pacification Office, the Western Pacification Office, or the army.

Zhang Xing helped Bai Yousi take charge of Duke Ma’s suspected poisoning case, but the search for the missing Dongyi concubine failed. After returning home with gold from Yan Qing, Zhang Xing asked Li Ding to help him think through the case.

• Bai Yousi took over Duke Ma’s case, and Zhang Xing backed her decision and reorganized the Crouching Dragon Guard’s shifts while selecting twenty riders for her.
• Bai Yousi returned the next morning and explained that Duke Ma was likely poisoned, but his Dongyi concubine had vanished after escaping in the Northern Market.
• Zhang Xing learned that several offices had searched all night without finding the concubine, then arranged to recruit more personnel for the Crouching Dragon Guard.
• Zhang Xing returned home with Qin Bao and received a chest of gold from Yan Qing, who reported that the paintings and antiques had sold for less than they might have fetched.
• Zhang Xing questioned Li Ding about his ambition, then asked him to help build a chicken coop and think through Duke Ma’s case.

Zhang Xing and Li Ding discussed how Duke Ma’s murder could affect Great Wei, then Zhang Xing helped solve the case by tracing the fugitive’s contact to a carriage driver. Three days after the case was closed, Bai Yousi reported that Gao Jiang had offered to let the Northern Office oversee construction of the Great Golden Pillar, leaving the Intendant to try to stop the project.

• Zhang Xing and Li Ding debated whether Duke Ma’s case could prompt another campaign against Dongyi and discussed the risks of the Great Golden Pillar.
• Zhang Xing and Li Ding reasoned that the fugitive had likely contacted someone through an overlooked connection at Duke Ma’s residence.
• Qin Bao found that the Dongyi woman’s silk deliveries had been made by a driver from the Tai’an Carriage Agency, and Bai Yousi led the arrest.
• The Dongyi woman confessed to poisoning Duke Ma, and His Majesty ordered the two Dongyi suspects executed without renewing hostilities against Dongyi.
• Bai Yousi told Zhang Xing that Gao Jiang had offered the Northern Office to oversee the Great Golden Pillar’s construction, and that the Intendant had gone to Ziwei Palace to oppose it.

Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi watched the Southern Office reveal its positions on the Great Golden Pillar, and nearly every Chancellor sided with the emperor. Their discussion of imperial power and political change left Bai Yousi contemplating the path to becoming a Supreme One, while she and Zhang Xing set off to drink.

• Bai Yousi and Zhang Xing discussed the deadline for the Southern Office’s memorials, and Zhang Xing bet that at least four Chancellors would support the emperor.
• Intendant Cao opposed the Great Golden Pillar, but Lord Niu, Chancellor Zhang, and Lord Yu supported it, with Lord Niu and Chancellor Zhang preferring that the Ministry of Works oversee construction.
• Lord Su also supported the project, prompting Bai Yousi to ask Zhang Xing why a minister known for remonstrating with the late emperor would obey the current emperor.
• Duke of Ying Bai Hengqiu and Duke of Rui Sima Changying both chose obedience, leaving Intendant Cao as the lone opponent in the Southern Office.
• Zhang Xing explained that the Chancellors feared the emperor, while he and Bai Yousi discussed imperial power, institutions, and the risks of opposing the throne.
• Bai Yousi connected the Supreme Ones’ cultivation to their achievements in advancing the realm, and Zhang Xing warned that becoming a Supreme One required chaos throughout the realm before they went to drink.

Zhang Xing used a gathering at Madam An’s establishment to assess Duke Gao and the Crouching Dragon Guard’s factions, then learned that silver prices were rising as the Great Golden Pillar project advanced. At the Guard’s first joint drill, Bai Yousi reported that Zhang Han had volunteered the Ministry of Revenue to lead the project and had been promoted to Minister of Revenue.

• Bai Yousi arranged performances at Madam An’s establishment for the Crouching Dragon Guard, while promotions and appointments helped consolidate its factions.
• Zhang Xing questioned Ding Quan about Duke Gao and heard of Duke Gao’s humble origins, changed name, and attempt to learn a Northern Wasteland War Dance for the emperor.
• Zhang Xing learned that the establishment’s unpaid bills could be settled more cheaply in gold and silver as silver prices rose against copper cash.
• Zhang Xing trained and traveled with Qin Bao to Willow Grove for the Crouching Dragon Guard’s first joint drill.
• Bai Yousi told Zhang Xing that Zhang Han had volunteered the Ministry of Revenue to lead preparations for the Great Golden Pillar, and the emperor had promoted him to Minister of Revenue.

Zhang Xing was drawn into the dispute over Zhang Han’s promotion when the sovereign ordered the Crouching Dragon Guard to protect him. After Zhang Han entered the Southern Office despite Cao Lin’s protest, Zhang Xing carried a sharp message from Cao Lin to Bai Hengqiu and returned to guard Zhang Han.

• The sovereign promoted Zhang Han and ordered ten Crouching Dragon Guards to protect him, so Zhang Xing organized the detail and accompanied Gao Jiang to the Southern Office.
• Zhang Xing removed Cao Lin’s posted memorial and entered the deliberation hall with Zhang Han, where Cao Lin objected but Zhang Han apologized to the chief ministers.
• Zhang Han denied seeing Cao Lin’s memorial, as did Gao Jiang and Zhang Xing, and Cao Lin left the hall.
• Cao Lin summoned Zhang Xing, who argued that continued conflict would weaken the court, then accepted a message to deliver to Bai Hengqiu.
• Zhang Xing loudly relayed Cao Lin’s curse blaming Bai Hengqiu for the dispute, then escaped back to Zhang Han’s office.

Bai Yousi visited her master, Daoist Chonghe, to ask whether he would oppose the court’s Great Golden Pillar project, but learned that a Supreme One might have unlocked Zhang Xing’s ability to use multiple kinds of True Qi. She returned to Eastern Capital and found Zhang Xing collecting gold to meet the project’s demands, while planning to ask the Grand Princess and Empress to persuade the sovereign.

• Bai Yousi reached Mount Taibai and asked Daoist Chonghe to intervene against the Great Golden Pillar, but he refused to leave the mountain because he feared trouble from the court.
• Daoist Chonghe explained that Zhang Xing’s unusual True Qi might mean a Supreme One had chosen him as a contender, and warned Bai Yousi to prepare for danger and possible conflict.
• Daoist Chonghe gave Bai Yousi a wooden golden pillar to test Zhang Xing’s connection to the Three Luminaries; after she left, the Three Luminaries’ light flowed into Chonghe’s hands and became Radiant Light True Qi.
• Bai Yousi returned to Eastern Capital and found Zhang Xing retrieving gold from his fishpond to meet the Crouching Dragon Guard’s quota for the Great Golden Pillar.
• Zhang Xing warned Bai Yousi that the project would drive up gold and silver prices and ruin many middling households, while Bai Yousi decided to ask the Grand Princess and Empress to persuade the sovereign.

Bai Yousi failed to stop the sovereign’s Gold and Silver Collection Order, which Zhang Han had already secured approval for. As the Crouching Dragon Guard prepared to pay and rumors spread of officials exploiting the order, Duke Gao arrived to demand its quota, and a summer storm left Zhang Xing reflecting on how little peace remained.

• Bai Yousi told Zhang Xing that the Grand Princess and Empress had been reluctant to help, and the sovereign later sent word that the matter was not hers to concern herself with.
• Qin Bao reported that Zhang Han had obtained the sovereign’s approval for the Gold and Silver Collection Order, prompting the Crouching Dragon Guard to prepare its payment.
• Zhang Xing and the others discussed how official exchange rates and rushed collection could enable officials to plunder merchants and commoners.
• Duke Gao arrived to demand the Crouching Dragon Guard’s gold and silver, but Zhang Xing calmly explained that it was already prepared for delivery.
• A summer downpour drenched the Crouching Dragon Guard’s supper, and Zhang Xing wondered aloud whether the vast world could not provide one peaceful place to eat.

Officials’ demands for gold and silver spread extortion through the Eastern Capital, driving prices up and harming ordinary people. After Qin Bao’s report prompted price controls that failed to stop the abuses, Zhang Xing learned of further victims and prepared to retaliate against the local officials responsible.

• Street-Cleaning Tigers, the Jinwu Guard, and other officials extorted merchants for gold and silver, and merchants raised prices across the Eastern Capital.
• Zhang Xing explained to Qin Bao why officials above them were unlikely to stop the extortion, while Li Ding described his advice to Wu Jingfeng to preserve himself and wait for a chance to act.
• Qin Bao appealed to the chancellors about the price increases, and Zhang Han promised to intervene; the court then imposed price controls that lowered prices without addressing the extortion.
• Yan Qing visited Zhang Xing to borrow gold for the Red Emperor’s True Fire Festival, and a seller brought Zhang Xing the Coiling Dragon Painting in exchange for fourteen taels of gold.
• Yue Niang told Zhang Xing that extortion had ruined a rice-shop owner and driven a paper-shop owner to suicide, after which Zhang Xing found Qin Bao ill and ordered him to help kill the officials responsible.

After Zhang Xing and Qin Bao killed two corrupt officials, Zhang Xing explained his ideas about just laws and good governance while they drank on a ward wall. Qin Bao broke through to the final Orthodox Meridian during a surge of insight, and the pair fled home after waking the neighbors.

• Zhang Xing and Qin Bao killed a Chief Banner Officer and a bailiff squad leader, then distributed their stolen wealth among Tongtuo Ward residents and along Heaven Street.
• On Chengfu Ward’s southern wall, Zhang Xing told Qin Bao that laws should serve the greatest number and that corrupt rules could be resisted when they failed their original purpose.
• Qin Bao asked how to judge rules and leaders, and Zhang Xing criticized Chancellor Zhang Han, the sovereign, and the Southern Office’s failure to correct Great Wei’s course.
• Zhang Xing argued that people’s experience shaped how they weighed policies, and that practice ultimately tested whether their judgments were right.
• As Zhang Xing started home, Qin Bao released a cry that stirred his True Qi and broke through his final Orthodox Meridian, disturbing the neighbors.
• Qin Bao apologized to Zhang Xing for the noise, and Zhang Xing realized he had become second from last in the Crouching Dragon Guard.

Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi discussed his desire to leave the Eastern Capital and asked whether she would go with him; she asked him to wait while they watched his cultivation and the changing times. Their conversation was interrupted when Cao Ming announced that the emperor would travel to Daxing, and they were ordered to prepare to accompany him.

• Qin Bao explained that opening all twelve orthodox meridians had improved his senses and strength and made his true qi circulate more smoothly, while Zhang Xing recorded his observations.
• The court began construction of the Celestial Pivot's Great Golden Pillar and the Heaven-Piercing Tower, while merchants in the Eastern Capital went bankrupt and powerful nobles acquired their businesses and property.
• Bai Yousi recognized that Zhang Xing was cultivating urgently because he wanted to leave, and he admitted he had been testing whether anyone would leave with him.
• Zhang Xing asked Bai Yousi to go with him, and she said she would rather he wait a little longer; they agreed to see how his cultivation and the times developed.
• Cao Ming arrived and announced that the emperor, his family, and the Grand Princess would travel to Daxing, ordering Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi to prepare to accompany them.

As the Emperor’s western tour approached Daxing, Zhang Xing recognized that a rumor about hairy monsters attacking villages blamed the entourage for harming the people along its route. After the Emperor heard the rumor and ordered an investigation, Zhang Xing and his companions feared that officials would punish innocent people, and Zhang Xing began to consider a possible response.

• The Emperor’s vast procession traveled west in the Wind-Observing Traveling Palace, while Zhang Xing took advantage of his low rank to roam among the entourage.
• At a drinking gathering near Weinan, Commandant Jia repeated a rumor about hairy monsters attacking villages and mutilating people.
• Zhang Xing explained that the rumor reflected the soldiers’ abuses and the common people’s anger at the western tour, drawing a rebuke from Duke Niu.
• The rumor spread through the entourage, and the Emperor heard it from the Grand Princess’s attendants at Mount Li Temporary Palace before ordering an investigation and severe punishment.
• Zhang Xing, Li Ding, Qin Bao, and Qin Erlang worried that the investigation would lead to widespread punishment of innocent people.
• After Li Ding said lives would have to be taken to appease the Emperor, Zhang Xing seemed to think of a possible answer but kept it to himself.

As the Sage’s brutal rumor investigation continued at Mount Li, Zhang Xing proposed to Wang Daiji that they redirect the bloodshed toward powerful officials by implicating Cao Cheng, Duke Mu. Wang agreed to submit a report that could help the Sage remove Cao while sparing common people, leaving Zhang Xing uneasy about his own complicity.

• The Sage halted the imperial procession at Mount Li and ordered the rumor investigation to continue, while dozens of people were tortured, executed, or displayed as corpses.
• Zhang Xing met Wang Daiji over chilled grape wine and asked what leads he had found and how the rumor case might end; Wang said there were no reliable leads and expected the killing to stop only when the Sage was satisfied.
• Zhang Xing asked whether Wang would risk offending colleagues to win the Sage’s favor and suggested that powerful officials, rather than commoners and soldiers, should bear the investigation’s bloodshed.
• Wang recognized that Zhang wanted to turn the investigation against powerful figures and agreed to work with him, with Zhang acting inside and Wang submitting the report.
• Zhang proposed naming Cao Cheng, Duke Mu and commander-general of Yongzhou, whom the Sage already wanted removed, and Wang agreed that the accusation could please the Sage while sparing many innocents.

Zhang Xing helped Wang Daiji turn his memorial into an investigation of the rumor’s source, but the Southern Office’s response threatened to put Wang Daiji at a disadvantage. Zhang Xing, Wang Daiji, and Li Ding set out for Daxing to reach Duke Mu’s attendants before Minister Duan could act.

• The Northern Office traced the rumor to an early gathering attended by junior officers, then discovered two attendees had left with Duke Mu and could not be questioned.
• Wang Daiji submitted a memorial urging the Ministry of War to investigate despite Duke Mu’s status, and Zhang Xing admitted he had helped deliver it to the Northern Office.
• Li Ding warned Zhang Xing that pursuing the rumor’s source risked framing innocent people, while Zhang Xing defended his role in Wang Daiji’s gamble.
• Chancellors Sima Changying and Yu Changji authorized Wang Daiji to investigate in Daxing while arranging for Minister Duan to take overall charge and potentially punish him.
• Wang Daiji told Zhang Xing that the Southern Office planned to send Minister Duan after the two attendants, so Zhang Xing devised a plan to reach Daxing first and seize them.
• Zhang Xing agreed to accompany Wang Daiji, and Li Ding insisted on joining them as a witness and intermediary.

Wang Daiji, Zhang Xing, and Li Ding entered Daxing to arrest two attendants at Duke Mu’s residence and uncover evidence linking Duke Mu to the Mount Li rumors. Zhang Xing’s scheme frightened Cao Cheng into admitting he had relied on the Wu Clan Heretics’ teachings, but Minister Duan Wei was on his way, so Wang Daiji hurriedly took Cao Cheng out through the back gate.

• Wang Daiji and Zhang Xing paid Xin Yan to delay his delivery to Minister Duan Wei, then entered Daxing with Li Ding and the Jinwu Guards.
• Wang Daiji announced the imperial arrest at Duke Mu’s residence, and Cao Cheng ordered the gates opened so the two attendants could be questioned.
• Xin Yan changed his mind and sought Minister Duan’s favor, but the steward took his bribe without waking Duan Wei, who eventually noticed the commotion himself.
• When the attendants refused to confess, Zhang Xing advised Wang Daiji to isolate Cao Cheng by arresting his household members, and the resulting pressure made Cao Cheng admit he had used the Wu Clan Heretics’ teachings for comfort.
• Ding Quan warned that Duan Wei was approaching with his ceremonial escort, so Zhang Xing told Wang Daiji to take Cao Cheng out the back gate; Wang Daiji carried him away while Li Ding and Zhang Xing remained behind.

Cao Che vented his anger over Great Wei’s rebellions and made more than a thousand officials question Cao Cheng, who was ultimately exiled instead of executed. In Daxing, Bai Yousi explained the Crouching Dragon Seal and invited Zhang Xing to meet her master on Mount Taibai, leaving him intrigued but worried that the Great Grandmaster might discover his secret.

• Cao Che blamed Great Wei’s nobles and officials for repeated rebellions and ordered them to ask Cao Cheng who was truly rebellious and without virtue.
• Chancellor Sima and more than a thousand officials questioned Cao Cheng, who repeatedly admitted his own guilt while Zhang Xing stood guard in the sun.
• The court stopped investigating the rumors, and Cao Cheng was spared execution after the Grand Princess and Chancellor Yu interceded; Cao Che exiled him to Listening to the Waves City.
• Bai Yousi showed Zhang Xing the Crouching Dragon Seal and explained that using its power could let her cut down a Great Grandmaster but damage her foundations.
• Bai Yousi invited Zhang Xing to visit her master, the head of the Three-One Orthodox Church, on Mount Taibai, and Zhang Xing spent the night wondering whether the master would uncover his secret.

After breaking through his final orthodox meridian, Zhang Xing practiced the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic while the Sage’s western inspection reshaped Guanzhong and continued northwest. The procession reached Weizhou, where the Grand Princess fell gravely ill and brought the journey to a halt.

• Zhang Xing opened his final orthodox meridian and practiced the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic in Daxing, making clear progress each day.
• Wang Daiji’s investigation brought down Guanzhong’s five governors-general, and the Sage appointed him Fenyang Palace Commissioner.
• The Sage redirected the western inspection toward Longxi, and Zhang Xing became popular by making chilled drinks for the exhausted procession.
• Zhang Xing discussed the Poison Desert and Sea of Bitterness with Qin Bao and Li Ding as the procession traveled northwest.
• Wu Clan leaders met the Sage near Weiyuan, but the Grand Princess’s worsening illness forced the procession to stop at Weizhou.

After the Grand Princess died, the procession headed back toward Daxing and was delayed by flooding at the Qian River. During a tense night in the traveling palace, the sovereign summoned Sima Changying to interpret a dream that accused the Ma family of threatening the imperial surname.

• The Grand Princess died after Ma Rui and Ma Hong arrived, and the sovereign granted Ma Rui a fief of five thousand households and ordered her buried beside her husband with empress's honors.
• Zhang Xing and eleven other officers guarded the Grand Princess's coffin with their ice true qi as the procession returned toward Daxing.
• At Chencang, the sovereign ordered the Wu Clan chiefs to remain with the procession and refused to dismantle the Wind-Observing Traveling Palace to cross the flooded Qian River.
• Duke Niu told Zhang Xing to hide Crouching Dragon Guards near the sovereign's bedchamber and watch whether Bai Yousi activated her Crouching Dragon Seal.
• The sovereign summoned Sima Changying and Sima Huada to interpret his dream of flooding and two horses eating from a trough.
• Sima Changying interpreted the dream as an ill omen and claimed that someone surnamed Ma threatened the imperial surname, leaving the sovereign startled.

After the Sage redirected suspicion from the Sima clan to Ma Rui and his son, Zhang Xing and Li Ding realized the Sage intended to force Ma Rui into suicide and that Chancellor Sima might help bring about the Ma clan’s destruction. Zhang Xing secured leave from coffin duty and persuaded Bai Yousi to avoid risking herself; the chapter ends with Sima Changying accusing Ma Rui of treason, leading to Ma Rui’s execution.

• The Sage changed the touring party’s route repeatedly and summoned Ma Rui, who returned distraught before receiving a further increase to his fief.
• Zhang Xing told Li Ding about the events surrounding the Grand Princess’s coffin, and Li Ding concluded that the Sage wanted Ma Rui to kill himself and feared Chancellor Sima would accuse him of treason.
• Li Ding warned Zhang Xing that Ma Rui’s refusal to die could doom his clan, while Zhang Xing sought leave from Duke Niu and urged Bai Yousi to preserve herself and seek an outside posting after the tour.
• Sima Changying told Sima Huada to remember the Sage’s actions, then went to pay respects to the Grand Princess in the rain.
• Sima Changying accused Ma Rui of unlawful intentions, Yu Changji’s interrogation declared him guilty of plotting rebellion, and the Sage ordered Ma Rui executed to preserve his family.