Recaps

Lian Youming learned martial arts from the Mountain-Guarding Old Man, survived the Logging Camp’s violent clashes, and began strengthening his body with Yan Lingyun’s help. The arc left him and Yan Lingyun hiding in the mountains after he recognized Third Brother Xie among three dangerous men.

• Lian Youming discovered martial arts instructions in Sun Duhe’s old book and began training while working at the Logging Camp.
• After beasts attacked the camp, Lian Youming sought instruction from the Mountain-Guarding Old Man and learned the Toad-Catching Skill and Coiling Silk Force.
• Third Brother Xie attacked the camp during a blizzard, but Lian Youming and Shuang'er fought him and Lian Youming stabbed him with a military spike.
• Lian Youming helped the Mountain-Guarding Old Man defeat the attackers seeking a buried coffin, then kept the Silk Brocade texts as he recovered in Kaoshan Village.
• Lian Youming descended into a hidden chamber to rescue Qin Yuhu, helped Gong Wuer injure Xue Hen, and carried Qin Yuhu back to the village.
• Yan Lingyun identified the dangers of Lian Youming’s Golden Bell Cover training and helped him prepare medicinal decoctions to strengthen his body.
• Lian Youming trained with the Golden Bell Cover and prepared to explore the mountains with Yan Lingyun to retrieve rare ginseng.
• Lian Youming and Yan Lingyun found a mutilated deer and hid from three ragged men, one of whom Lian Youming recognized as Third Brother Xie.

Lian Youming killed Lei Hu and White Ape, received Third Brother Xie’s map, and joined Li Da’s expedition to the Kwantung Army Underground Fortress. After escaping the White Lotus Sect’s stronghold with Xiao Li, he returned to the Logging Camp as the educated youths prepared to leave the mountain.

• Lian Youming followed Third Brother Xie, Lei Hu, and White Ape into the woods, where he killed White Ape and joined Third Brother Xie to defeat Lei Hu.
• Before dying, Third Brother Xie gave Lian Youming the fortress map and a jade case with his granddaughter’s photograph and address, then asked him to burn his body.
• Lian Youming gave Qin Yuhu the map, met Li Da, and agreed to explore the Underground Fortress after a delay while Yan Lingyun confessed that she liked him and later sent him a letter and a Five-Animal Exercise booklet.
• Lian Youming discovered a hidden coffin beneath his stone bed and found writing about the Witnessing Art, then trained through the summer and suspected White Lotus Sect members were hunting the Mountain-Guarding Old Man.
• Li Da led Lian Youming toward the fortress, where Lian Youming rescued Xiao Li and was herded into the tunnels by rival martial factions.
• Inside the fortress, Lian Youming fought a tiger, found Xiao Li, and helped Li Da confront Gu Yutong and the White Lotus Sect before escaping through Entrance No. 2 with Xiao Li.
• Li Da met Lian Youming outside the collapsed entrance, gave him Eastern Pearls, and later explained that the White Lotus Sect had blown up the fortress entrances.
• Lian Youming returned to the Logging Camp with treasure and Yan Lingyun’s letters, sang at the educated youths’ farewell show, and realized the first snow had come and it was time to leave the mountain.

Lian Youming exposed a railway thieves’ gang, uncovered new martial insights, and followed the Junk King into Zhongnan Mountain, where he found clues linking old deaths to the Logging Camp. He prepared to confront the Eagle Claw Sect and took up Third Brother Xie’s charge to protect Xie Ruomei, agreeing to a later street challenge if he survived Cangzhou.

• Lian Youming left the village, rescued Yan Tao from the Thieves' Gate on the train, and defeated Eighth Master’s gang despite their threats to the passengers and children.
• Lian Youming returned home, reunited Yan Tao with Sun Duhe, and deciphered the hidden characters in Journey to the West before a breakthrough in his Golden Bell Cover helped him decide to keep studying.
• Lian Youming learned that Song Xiehu and the Eagle Claw Sect had been investigating him, challenged the sect to meet him in Cangzhou, and brought his cousins home from the black market.
• Lian Youming followed the Junk King into Zhongnan Mountain, fought a mandrill, and found human skeletons and evidence that might connect the cave to the Logging Camp’s hidden chamber.
• Lian Youming returned to the city, practiced controlling force in the Ba River, and found a hand-copied Huo-style Wrestling book while preparing to travel to Cangzhou.
• Lian Youming visited Xie Ruomei, defeated two martial artists who were harassing her, and agreed to face a nine-bout street challenge after dealing with the Eagle Claw Sect.

Lian Youming fought the Eagle Claw Sect and survived the Street Challenge against representatives of nine schools, then recovered in Cangzhou as Xie Ruomei began her martial arts apprenticeship. After teaching his friends the Five Elements Fist, he quietly left town, leaving Xie Ruomei a booklet titled “Ventriloquism.”

• Lian Youming defeated Tan Fei and the Eagle Claw Sect after uncovering the token’s connection to the Sticky Pole Office, while Xue Hen later stole his tokens and escaped.
• Lian Youming prepared for the Street Challenge, helped Liu Wudi leave his qigong following, and learned that nine schools would send fighters against him.
• Lian Youming killed the early challengers in the snow, including Zhuang Cheng, Deng Sanjiang, Zuo Yufei, and a Flower Fist Sect fighter, while other bouts ended without serious combat.
• Lian Youming killed Bai Long in the final bout despite being blinded, completing the Street Challenge and collapsing from his injuries.
• As Lian Youming recovered, an unseen senior removed five buttons from sect leaders’ collars, and the Yanqing Sect leader withdrew from the plans against him.
• Xie Ruomei completed her apprenticeship ceremony, and Lian Youming learned the Five Elements Fist from Yang Cuo before reproducing its forms with remarkable accuracy.
• Lian Youming taught the Five Elements Fist to Wu Jiu, Xie Ruomei, and Liu Danaodai, then shared a farewell kiss with Xie Ruomei and left Cangzhou that night.