Chapter Summaries

After reaching the Houtian Sixth Layer, you found that your crippled spirit root and Qi Gathering Art could no longer advance your cultivation, so you turned to martial techniques. As you practiced, Liu Hei recognized you as his great-aunt and rebuilt the Changfeng Martial Arts School under your direction, while you learned more about Liu Daye’s mysterious past.

• You bought the Cold Pool Sword Technique, the Qi Gathering Art, and the Essence-Nurturing Art, then returned to Liu Family Ferry and devoted yourself to cultivation.
• You reached the Houtian Fifth Layer at forty-one and the Sixth Layer at forty-nine, where your cultivation stalled because your spirit root could not draw enough spiritual energy to temper your body.
• You began practicing the Cold Pool Sword Technique and, after two years, mastered its first form, Cold Pool Reflecting the Moon.
• Liu Hei discovered you practicing the Changfeng Fist, visited your courtyard, and called you his great-aunt before you punched him outside without injuring him.
• You urged Liu Hei to rebuild the Changfeng Martial Arts School, and Liu Bai became its head again.
• You learned from Liu Bai that Liu Daye had traveled widely and claimed to have met cultivators, though you remained convinced he was no ordinary man.

Jiang Mi discovered that the jujube tree in her courtyard resisted her punches because its fruit contained spiritual energy, which helped her body-tempering progress despite her crippled spirit root. Suspecting something powerful lay beneath the tree, she decided to cultivate with its fruit first and postpone digging until later; two months later, the jujubes ripened.

• Jiang Mi mastered the second form of Cold Pool Sword Technique and advanced Changfeng Fist to small accomplishment, but her full-strength punch failed to damage the courtyard's jujube tree.
• Jiang Mi ate an unripe jujube and felt its gentle spiritual energy circulate through her meridians, advancing her stalled body-tempering progress.
• Jiang Mi realized the jujube tree's fruit was spiritually potent and replaced the meal delivery person after learning they had been eating her jujubes.
• Jiang Mi suspected something buried beneath the tree had transformed it, but decided to eat the jujubes and wait to dig until later in her life.
• Two months later, the jujubes ripened, turning deep red and growing larger and fragrant.

Jiang Mi watched a simulation in which her cultivation advanced through spiritual jujubes, but she lost the people she wanted to share them with. At the Houtian Ninth Level, her simulated self left to investigate the seal beneath the jujube tree and seek revenge for Nanny at Dingbei Marquis Manor.

• Jiang Mi's simulated self discovered that the jujubes greatly accelerated her cultivation, but learned that Old Woman had died before receiving her invitation.
• Her simulated self reached the Houtian Ninth Level at age seventy-six and decided to dig beneath the jujube tree.
• She uncovered a seal pierced by one of the tree's roots, but avoided touching it because she feared its restrictions.
• Jiang Mi reasoned that her simulated self was driven by a need to avenge Nanny, despite the danger posed by the Imperial Court and Haoji Palace.
• Her simulated self concealed the pit, tended Nanny's grave, and headed for the wall of Dingbei Marquis Manor.

Jiang Mi gained the golden trait Failure Is the Progress Bar to Success and used her newfound strength to enter Dingbei Marquis Manor, seeking answers about her godmother’s death. The young marquis agreed to investigate, but froze when Jiang Mi gave Nanny’s surname and said she had been a junior steward, not a nanny.

• Jiang Mi gained the golden trait Failure Is the Progress Bar to Success and hoped it could help her overcome the cultivation gap.
• Jiang Mi leapt over Dingbei Marquis Manor’s wall and intimidated its guards with her ninth-stage Houtian aura.
• Marquis Dingbei came out and agreed to investigate the death of the woman Jiang Mi called her godmother.
• Jiang Mi warned the marquis against harming her and gave him Nanny’s surname, Rong.
• Marquis Dingbei recognized the surname and revealed that the woman had been a junior steward, not a nanny.

The young marquis recognized Nanny as Steward Rong through the shoes she had made for you and recounted how she had protected him from childhood. He confessed that fear had kept him from stopping his relatives from beating and banishing her, leaving you to understand why Nanny had sought a steward’s position.

• The young marquis asked about Steward Rong’s habits and the embroidered shoes, then wept when you showed him the pair Nanny had made.
• The young marquis explained that Nanny had saved him from poisoning when he was three and cared for him afterward.
• After the young marquis’s father died, Nanny defended his inheritance against the household’s collateral branches.
• The young marquis recalled that his relatives had beaten Nanny and tried to sell her when he was nine, and he had been too afraid to stop them.
• The young marquis investigated the incident years later, punished his second uncle’s family, and knelt to confess his own cowardice.
• You realized that Nanny had sought advancement to become a steward.

Jiang Mi watched her simulated self end her revenge for the matron, then storm the Green Bamboo Sect to kill Qingfeng. Qingfeng died calling for his master, while Jiang Mi suspected he had killed Qing Yun and taken the sect leadership.

• Jiang Mi decided she would ensure the matron lived comfortably, despite not acknowledging her as her godmother.
• The simulated Jiang Mi returned the shoes, declared the matron’s revenge finished, and left the young marquis behind.
• With only days left to live, the simulated Jiang Mi went to the Green Bamboo Sect and attacked Qingfeng, learning Qing Yun had been blamed for his death.
• The simulated Jiang Mi fought Qingfeng with the Azure Frost Sword and killed him, and Qingfeng called for his master as he fell.

After gaining Houtian ninth-level strength from the simulation, Jiang Mi decided to openly ask Dingbei Hou for her bond of servitude so she could become free. The next morning, the matron’s attempt to have Li Pozi slap Jiang Mi stalled when Jiang Mi’s gaze froze Li Pozi, prompting the matron to reconsider her.

• Jiang Mi received the simulation’s memories, martial strength, techniques, and traits, along with a guidance quest to leave servitude openly and honorably.
• Jiang Mi decided to ask Dingbei Hou directly for her bond of servitude rather than sneak around or challenge him.
• Jiang Mi slept soundly, then woke to the matron bursting into the room and scolding the maids for sleeping late.
• Li Pozi tried to slap Jiang Mi, but Jiang Mi’s gaze left her frozen in place.
• The matron grew angry, then paused when Jiang Mi’s smile reminded her of the previous day and made her suspect Jiang Mi had changed.

Jiang Mi asserted herself against the household servants who had mistreated her, striking them with inexplicable force while sparing the matron. The servants were left wary of her, and Li Pozi suspected Jiang Mi had deliberately earned the matron’s favor.

• Jiang Mi stopped the matron from slapping her and insisted that the marquis or madam be summoned to decide her affairs.
• When Zhou Pozi mocked her, Jiang Mi slapped her so hard that she crashed through the doorframe.
• Jiang Mi struck Zhang Pozi for skimping on the maids’ food and warned her to serve meals properly.
• Jiang Mi went around the room slapping the servants for withholding her pay, plotting over her winter clothes, and bullying her.
• Jiang Mi challenged the matron but let her leave unharmed, while Li Pozi concluded that Jiang Mi had spared her to win her over.

Jiang Mi demanded to see the marquis and slapped each steward who came to stop her. Deputy Chief Steward Qian entered the room to confront her, unaware that the others’ warnings were true.

• Steward Sun arrived, and Jiang Mi slapped her, demanding that she bring someone with authority to summon the marquis.
• Steward Sun fetched Chief Steward Liu, who entered the room and was immediately slapped by Jiang Mi.
• Steward Sun and Chief Steward Liu agreed to pass the matter up the household hierarchy, and Chief Steward Liu went to find Deputy Chief Steward Qian.
• Deputy Chief Steward Qian dismissed their warnings, displayed her Houtian Fifth Layer aura, and stepped into the room.

Jiang Mi revealed overwhelming strength by slapping Deputy Chief Steward Qian, then went with Chief Steward Liu to meet Dingbei Hou. After learning Jiang Mi was only sixteen and had reached the Houtian Ninth Level, Dingbei Hou recognized her as an extraordinary genius.

• Deputy Chief Steward Qian tried to reprimand Jiang Mi, but Jiang Mi slapped her before she could react.
• Deputy Chief Steward Qian handed Chief Steward Liu a token and told her to escort Jiang Mi to see the marquis.
• Chief Steward Liu led Jiang Mi through the manor to Jingyuan Hall, where the marquis invited Jiang Mi inside.
• Dingbei Hou asked Jiang Mi's age, and she answered that she was sixteen.
• Dingbei Hou realized Jiang Mi had reached the Houtian Ninth Level and considered her a genius who could bring honor to Great Xia.

Dingbei Hou recognized Jiang Mi as a prodigious martial artist and tried to recruit her for Great Xia, but she asked only for her indenture contract. He gave it to her after she agreed to represent Great Xia at the Northern Region Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament.

• Dingbei Hou decided Jiang Mi was a valuable talent for Great Xia and resolved to urge the emperor to have her trained at Haoji Palace.
• Dingbei Hou offered Jiang Mi resources, cultivation methods, and martial techniques, but Jiang Mi asked for her indenture contract.
• Dingbei Hou retrieved Jiang Mi's indenture contract and made its return conditional on her representing Great Xia at the tournament in one month.
• Jiang Mi agreed to Dingbei Hou's condition, and he handed her the contract and invited her to stay at his residence until the tournament ended.

After Jiang Mi destroyed her indenture, Dingbei Hou and his wife welcomed her warmly, fed her an elaborate breakfast, and arranged a residence for her in the Marquis’s Household. Jiang Mi settled into Qingyan Residence, where the old servant woman who had once slapped her nervously awaited her reaction.

• Jiang Mi tore up her indenture after confirming that doing so increased the uses shown on her panel, and Dingbei Hou invited her to breakfast.
• Dingbei Hou introduced Jiang Mi to his wife as a sixteen-year-old genius who had reached the Houtian Ninth Level, and his wife comforted her after noticing her callused, cracked hands.
• Dingbei Hou’s wife served Jiang Mi nourishing food and arranged furnishings, clothes, jewelry, and daily necessities for her.
• A maid escorted Jiang Mi to Qingyan Residence, where Jiang Mi found the old servant woman waiting anxiously in the garden.

In her third simulation, Jiang Mi entered the Marquis’s Household as an honored guest and asked Dingbei Hou for cultivation guidance. He gave her two spirit-tier cultivation methods and revealed the power of his family’s martial techniques, leaving her with valuable resources to begin training systematically.

• Jiang Mi equipped seven traits and began her third simulation as a sixteen-year-old honored guest of Dingbei Marquis Manor.
• Jiang Mi went to Dingbei Hou’s study and bluntly asked him for cultivation methods and resources.
• Dingbei Hou gave Jiang Mi the low-grade spirit-tier Blazing Sun Art and Flame Sun Skill.
• Dingbei Hou also offered the Sun-Burning Fist and the middle-grade spirit-tier Raging Wind Facing the Sun Spear, explaining its difficulty and his own skill with it.

Dingbei Hou gave Jiang Mi four valuable spear-technique books and brought her to meet the emperor about the Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament. The emperor learned Jiang Mi was sixteen and at the Houtian ninth level, but his unfriendly, agitated reaction left her sensing something was wrong.

• Dingbei Hou gave Jiang Mi four middle-grade spirit-tier spear-technique books and urged her to cultivate for the tournament.
• Dingbei Hou took Jiang Mi by carriage to the palace, where she briefly saw a powerful woman dressed in moon-white.
• Dingbei Hou advised Jiang Mi to answer the emperor honestly and led her into the Imperial Study.
• The emperor asked Dingbei Hou about a jade he had bestowed, then dismissed the matter and asked why he had come.
• Dingbei Hou introduced Jiang Mi as a sixteen-year-old Houtian ninth-level talent he had chosen for the tournament.
• The emperor regarded Jiang Mi without apparent delight, and she sensed his gaze was hostile and something was wrong.

Jiang Mi accompanied Dingbei Hou to meet the emperor, who opposed sending her to the Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament because her origins were uncertain. After they left the palace, Dingbei Hou urged her to leave Great Xia, leaving Jiang Mi wondering why she could not stay.

• The emperor praised Jiang Mi’s cultivation but questioned her unclear background and suggested she should not compete in the Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament.
• Jiang Mi knelt and offered to withdraw from the tournament, and Dingbei Hou agreed to obey the emperor’s wishes.
• The emperor rebuked Dingbei Hou for previously defying him, then sent him to collect jade from the Imperial Preceptor.
• On their way back, Dingbei Hou revealed through his regretful remarks that he had valued Jiang Mi as a pawn against the emperor.
• Dingbei Hou told Jiang Mi he would not reclaim the Spirit Rank techniques he had given her, then urged her to leave Great Xia.

The Marquis of Northguard’s wife warned Little Mi that the emperor did not want Great Xia to succeed in the Five Nations Martial Tournament and that Little Mi was already caught up in court politics. Little Mi accepted the need to stay at the estate, resolved to grow strong enough to protect herself, and laid out the four books she had received.

• The Marquis of Northguard’s wife stopped Little Mi from leaving the estate and suspected the emperor opposed her competing in the Five Nations Martial Tournament.
• She argued that the emperor’s refusal to use a sixteen-year-old cultivator at the ninth level of the Acquired Realm suggested he wanted Great Xia to lose.
• The marchioness explained that Little Mi’s strength had placed her on the political chessboard, and Little Mi realized she could be in danger.
• Little Mi set aside her resentment toward the marquis and asked him for more guidance with the Li family’s ancestral cultivation method.
• The marchioness gave Little Mi a purse of silver and told her to eat and cultivate freely while the marquis handled the situation.
• Little Mi returned to her courtyard, resolved to become strong enough to need no one’s protection, and laid out the four books.

After a month of slow cultivation, you finally mastered the first stages of the Blazing Sun Art and Flame Sun Skill, then demonstrated the Sun-Burning Fist’s power to Dingbei Hou. Your rapid progress left him stunned and jealous, while you were pleased but kept the Simulator’s role secret.

• You struggled to circulate the Blazing Sun Art and trained daily despite making little progress, while the matron gradually grew comfortable with you.
• After a month, Failure Is the Progress Bar to Success awakened a sudden clarity that let you master the first stage of the Blazing Sun Art.
• You spent two days practicing the Flame Sun Skill and mastered its first stage by the morning of the third day.
• You ate after emerging from your room, then practiced the Sun-Burning Fist and scorched moss on the courtyard wall with a punch.
• Dingbei Hou witnessed your power and admitted that reaching the same point had taken him a year, while you concealed how the Simulator had accelerated your progress.

Jiang Mi listened as Dingbei Hou explained Great Xia’s declining position and asked her to help the country, but she chose not to serve it. At dusk, Dingbei Hou’s wife secretly gave Jiang Mi supplies and arranged for her to leave while her husband was at a palace banquet.

• Jiang Mi heard Dingbei Hou describe Great Xia’s poor performance in the Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament and the suffering caused by its weak standing among neighboring nations.
• Dingbei Hou told Jiang Mi that the emperor had confined him to the capital and undermined his military authority, then appealed to her to help Great Xia.
• Jiang Mi declined to stay and serve Great Xia, choosing instead to focus on cultivation and becoming stronger.
• Dingbei Hou’s wife secretly gave Jiang Mi a bundle of travel supplies and said she could leave while Dingbei Hou attended a palace banquet.
• Jiang Mi asked Dingbei Hou’s wife how she could arrange to visit her if she returned.

Jiang Mi left the Marquis's Household with Nanny and settled in Liu Family Ferry, where she cultivated for a year. She returned to visit the madam, whose health she knew would worsen after becoming pregnant.

• Jiang Mi checked the madam's gifts, disguised herself with a jade clasp, and left the Marquis's Household with Nanny for Liu Family Ferry.
• Jiang Mi bought a residence near the Changfeng Martial Arts School for a thousand taels and hired maids to help care for the household.
• Jiang Mi cultivated through the year, reaching the middle stage of the Houtian Ninth Level and advancing her Blazing Sun Art and Flame Sun Skill to the second level.
• Jiang Mi returned to the Marquis's Household in spring to visit the madam, using the token to gain entry.
• The madam recognized Jiang Mi and asked why she had returned instead of trying her luck in Central Province.