Chapter Summaries

Rumors portrayed Li Ziye as a peerless sword prodigy and drew Qin Enuo to Yuzhou City, though Li Ziye had no talent for martial arts. As Qin Enuo’s arrival approached, Li Ziye and Li Baiwan planned to win her over with wealth in hopes she could help him cultivate.

• A storyteller claimed the Sword Maniac had refused to teach Li Ziye because he had the makings of a sword immortal, and rumors about Li Ziye spread across Yuzhou City.
• A richly dressed young man said he had come to Yuzhou City to seek Qin Enuo’s tutelage and see whether Li Ziye lived up to his reputation.
• Li Baiwan asked Zhang Lata whether the stories would persuade Qin Enuo, and Zhang Lata said he had done what Li Baiwan requested.
• Li Ziye asked whether any method or pill could give him martial talent, but Zhang Lata said he had none and suggested Qin Enuo might know a way.
• Li Ziye told Li Baiwan to offer Qin Enuo anything she wanted and, if necessary, bury her in gold and silver so she would take him as a disciple.

Qin Enuo arrived in Yuzhou City and set Li Ziye three tests before she would accept him as a disciple. Li Ziye passed the first test with a gold sword, leaving him one step closer to the martial path.

• Qin Enuo rode her sword into Yuzhou City, where Li Ziye shouted his admiration and drew puzzled stares from the crowd.
• Li Ziye told Zhang Lata he wanted to become Qin Enuo's disciple, and Qin Enuo later visited the Li residence to set three tests for him.
• Qin Enuo gave Li Ziye one day to find or forge an unusual sword, while Li Ziye and Li Baiwan discussed how to satisfy her open-ended requirement.
• Li Youwei delivered Qin Enuo three valuable gifts at the Yuelai Inn and asked for guidance; Qin Enuo told her that Li Ziye need only do his best.
• Li Ziye presented Qin Enuo with a gold sword, and she praised his understanding of sword cultivation and declared that he had passed the first test.

Li Ziye explained how he had influenced Qin Enuo into setting him a favorable second trial, while Li Youwei and Li Baiwan discussed the threat posed by Mu Yao. After Mu Yao passed Qin Enuo’s first trial and arrived at the Li residence, he summoned Li Ziye, who greeted the news with a bright smile.

• Li Ziye told Zhang Lata that the Li family’s gifts and rumors had helped shape Qin Enuo’s decision to test him by asking him to create a sword technique within a day.
• Li Ziye warned Zhang Lata that Mu Yao had come to Yuzhou City and might move against the Li family, while Zhang Lata hesitated over joining the household as an honored retainer.
• Li Baiwan discussed Mu Yao’s arrival with Li Youwei, who threatened to have him killed if he interfered with Li Ziye’s affairs.
• Mu Yao offered Qin Enuo the famed sword Cold Light, passed her first trial, and was told to meet her at the Li residence before sunset the next day.
• Mu Yao visited the Li residence and asked to see Li Ziye; when a servant brought the message, Li Ziye smiled from beside the lake.

Li Ziye and Third Prince Mu Yao competed to become Qin Enuo’s disciple, each concealing his thoughts during a courteous meeting at the Li residence. After Li Ziye revealed the astonishing Taiji sword art and passed Qin Enuo’s test, she ordered him and Mu Yao to fight the next day, with the winner becoming her disciple.

• Li Ziye and Mu Yao exchanged polite remarks at the Li residence while sizing each other up as rivals, and Li Ziye said he had not opened a Divine Repository.
• Qin Enuo arrived, and Mu Yao performed his swordsmanship; she praised his skill but noted that most of his moves came from existing sources, then counted his test as passed after Li Ziye spoke up for him.
• Li Ziye performed Taiji, producing a faint phenomenon of wind and thunder that shocked Mu Yao and Qin Enuo, who judged his talent extraordinary.
• Li Ziye said an immortal had taught him Taiji in a dream, and Qin Enuo accepted his explanation without questioning him further.
• Qin Enuo declared that Li Ziye and Mu Yao would fight at the same time the next day, and she would take the winner as her disciple.

Li Ziye paid Zhang Lata to cripple Mu Yao before their scheduled contest, keeping the third prince from appearing at the trial. With Mu Yao absent, Qin Enuo declared Li Ziye the winner and agreed to take him as her disciple.

• Li Ziye offered Zhang Lata wine to attack Mu Yao, and Zhang Lata agreed to leave the prince bedridden rather than kill him.
• Zhang Lata struck Mu Yao at Yuelai Inn, then escaped after Qin Enuo intervened and recognized him as the Sword Maniac.
• Zhang Lata returned to the Li Residence, where Li Ziye admitted the court had already begun testing and suppressing his family.
• Li Youwei gave Li Ziye a poison-coated sword sent by his sworn brother.
• Mu Yao failed to appear at the Li Residence's trial, and Qin Enuo declared Li Ziye the winner.
• Li Ziye accepted Qin Enuo as his master, and she agreed to take him as her disciple.

Li Ziye learned that his eight meridians were blocked and that Qin Enuo had taken him as her disciple because of a public wager requiring him to fight Huo Liner in three years. Qin Enuo chose to force open his meridians with repeated medicinal treatment, and the Li Family bought up precious ingredients across much of Great Shang; the chapter ended with Li Ziye meeting the Third Prince at the Yuelai Inn.

• Qin Enuo discovered that Li Ziye's eight meridians were blocked, while Zhang Lata revealed that she had been misled by her own assumptions and the rumors.
• Qin Enuo told Li Ziye that he had to face Huo Liner in three years, and Li Ziye jumped into the lake in despair.
• Qin Enuo proposed forcing Li Ziye's meridians open and repairing them with precious medicinal ingredients, despite Zhang Lata's warning that the process could kill him.
• Qin Enuo ordered Li Ziye to gather enough medicinal ingredients to fill a room, and Li Youwei agreed to fund the effort despite Li Baiwan's shock at the expense.
• The Li Family bought up precious medicinal ingredients across Yuzhou, nearby cities, and half the Great Shang Imperial Dynasty.
• Li Ziye met the Third Prince of Great Shang for tea at the Yuelai Inn.

Li Ziye learned that the court controlled three major commercial groups and proposed setting them against each other while the Li Family gained time. He then began Qin Enuo’s cultivation treatment, which shattered the meridians in both his arms and left him screaming in a medicine barrel.

• Li Ziye visited Mu Yao, learned that the Zhangsun Family, Merchant Alliance, and Yin Family Bank were backed by the court, and promised to discuss a partnership with his family.
• Li Ziye told Li Baiwan and Li Youwei about the court’s influence, and they agreed to let the three commercial groups compete while secretly weakening them.
• Li Youwei revealed that Li Qingzhi secretly led the Misty Rain Tower, an assassin organization created to help the Li Family resist the court.
• Li Ziye found Qin Enuo and asked when his cultivation would begin, and she took him to the medicine room for treatment.
• Qin Enuo shattered the meridians in Li Ziye’s right and left arms, threw him into the scalding medicine barrel, and ignored his curses as Zhang Lata cheerfully hummed by the lake.

Li Ziye endured the pain of having his meridians treated and began learning basic swordsmanship from Qin Enuo. After his elder brother Li Qingzhi returned to the Li Residence, he disarmed Li Ziye with a single strike and insulted him.

• Li Youwei cared for Li Ziye after he fainted, and he resolved to continue training to protect the Li Residence.
• Li Ziye returned to Qin Enuo, endured another painful treatment, and stayed conscious through it.
• Qin Enuo taught Li Ziye that a sword was a tool for killing, lent him Azure Frost, and ordered him to practice a thousand sweeps, slashes, and thrusts each day.
• Li Youwei asked Li Qingzhi to secretly sabotage the relationships of the three groups seeking influence over the Li family's business, and he agreed not to act personally.
• The next morning, Li Qingzhi disarmed Li Ziye with two fingers and called him trash.

Li Ziye met with Mu Yao while his family prepared Li Youwei’s journey to the capital, then endured a week of punishing sword practice. Qin Enuo took him to the Qilian Mountains under the pretext of retrieving a blood ginseng king, where he discovered she had lured bandits toward him and fled.

• Li Qingzhi told Li Ziye to take responsibility for the Li household while he secretly accompanied Li Youwei to the capital, and promised to search for a sword for his younger brother.
• Li Ziye met Mu Yao and agreed that Li Youwei would travel to the capital to discuss cooperation with three families; Mu Yao offered to accompany her.
• Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata discussed forcing Li Ziye into combat, and Li Ziye spent the next seven days enduring medicinal baths and relentless sword practice as his body and meridians improved.
• Li Youwei departed for the capital with Li Baiwan, while Li Ziye stayed behind to practice; Qin Enuo then led him to the Qilian Mountains to retrieve a blood ginseng king.
• Qin Enuo provoked a bandit camp and drew the bandits toward Li Ziye, who realized she had set him up and ran from the attackers.

Qin Enuo forced Li Ziye to fight bandits in the Qilian Mountains, where he overcame his fear and killed several men while she retrieved the blood ginseng herb king from their stronghold. Afterward, she ordered him to keep exterminating bandits and gave him the ginseng, then blasted him out of the carriage when he tried to hug her.

• Qin Enuo revealed Li Ziye's hiding place with a Sword Qi strike, forcing him to flee from the bandits.
• Li Ziye killed a bandit in a direct fight, then used the darkness to kill more bandits and grow calmer under pressure.
• Qin Enuo broke into the bandits' stronghold, found the blood ginseng herb king, and defeated the bandit chief before leaving.
• Qin Enuo found Li Ziye at the edge of the woods after he had killed the remaining bandits, then told him to return to the mountains to exterminate bandits.
• Qin Enuo gave Li Ziye the blood ginseng and ordered him to fight the bandit chief, but blasted him out of the carriage when he tried to embrace her.

Li Ziye returned to the Li residence after killing a dozen bandits and resumed sword practice under Qin Enuo’s supervision. Qin Enuo used a blood ginseng herb king to repair one of his blocked meridians, leaving both of them badly exhausted, and Li Ziye recognized the weight of her sacrifice.

• Li Ziye returned home bedraggled and went to confront Qin Enuo, but he immediately became obedient when she looked at him and went to practice his sword.
• Qin Enuo told Zhang Lata that Li Ziye had killed more than a dozen bandits without her help and praised his ability to endure and adapt.
• Qin Enuo revealed she might seek a thousand-year-old fleeceflower root at the Imperial Academy if she needed another herb king to open Li Ziye’s meridians.
• Qin Enuo brought Li Ziye to the medicine room, struck his chest, and used the blood ginseng herb king to repair one of his meridians.
• The medicinal tub exploded as the treatment ended, leaving Li Ziye weak and Qin Enuo injured and exhausted.
• Li Ziye told Zhang Lata that the treatment had worked, and Zhang Lata said Qin Enuo was especially good to him.

At the Li estate, Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata decided to teach Li Ziye the Flying Immortal Art, hoping to overcome his poor cultivation talent through swordsmanship and relentless training. After witnessing their demonstration, Li Ziye learned that reaching Zhang Lata’s level could take thirty years, while matching the first Sword God might take three hundred.

• Qin Enuo told Li Ziye to practice his sword, then discussed with Zhang Lata how her intervention had opened one of his meridians.
• Qin Enuo proposed teaching Li Ziye the Flying Immortal Art, and Zhang Lata agreed to help her train him.
• Qin Enuo explained the art’s difficult cultivation method and handed Li Ziye a scroll, which he memorized after a single reading.
• Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata demonstrated the Flying Immortal Art with their swords, leaving Li Ziye stunned.
• Li Ziye asked how long it would take to match Zhang Lata and the first Sword God, and Zhang Lata answered thirty years and three hundred years, respectively.

Li Ziye escaped a bandit pursuit and returned to the Li residence, where his emotional cultivation unexpectedly opened his first divine repository. After he excitedly challenged Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata to spar, Zhang Lata sent him crashing into a courtyard wall.

• Qin Enuo told Zhang Lata she had let Li Ziye face the bandits alone because he could flee if he was outmatched.
• Li Ziye killed two bandits, evaded the bandit leader and his men, and rode back to Yuzhou City before dawn.
• Li Ziye practiced the Flying Immortal Formula while brooding over his lack of talent, alarming Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata because they feared he would suffer Qi deviation.
• As Li Ziye cultivated, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged into him, and he opened his first divine repository.
• Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata realized strong emotions might help the Flying Immortal Formula, and Li Ziye eagerly asked them to exchange moves.
• Zhang Lata attacked with his sheathed sword, slamming Li Ziye into the courtyard wall.

Li Ziye lured the bandits away from their stronghold, stole a rosewood box, and escaped after wounding the bandit chief, but arrived home badly injured. Qin Enuo healed him and showed Zhang Lata the box, whose contents startled him.

• Li Ziye led most of the bandits on a long chase, then returned to their stronghold and cut down the guards.
• Li Ziye found a rosewood box beneath the bandit chief’s tiger-skin chair and fled as the chief and his men pursued him.
• After the other bandits fell behind, the bandit chief ambushed Li Ziye and struck him, but Li Ziye wounded him with Azure Frost and escaped the woods.
• Soldiers brought the unconscious Li Ziye back to the Li Residence, where Qin Enuo examined him and treated his injuries in the medicine room.
• Qin Enuo gave Zhang Lata the rosewood box, and Zhang Lata’s expression changed when he opened it.

Zhang Lata and Qin Enuo discovered that the bandits’ stone was blazing fire divine iron and suspected their leader knew more than an ordinary bandit should. After Li Ziye recovered and recounted his fight, Li Youwei arrived in the Great Shang capital, where Mu Rong and Mubai anticipated Li Ziye’s eventual arrival and the conflicts it could trigger.

• Zhang Lata identified the stone as blazing fire divine iron and explained that forging it would require an equally powerful extreme yin object.
• Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata reasoned that the Qilian Mountains bandit leader likely knew the stone’s value and decided Li Ziye could investigate him.
• Li Ziye woke from his injuries, told Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata how he had survived his fight with the bandit chief, and was promised sword training once he recovered.
• Li Youwei and the Third Prince Mu Yao arrived in the Great Shang capital, prompting reports of the Li Family’s arrival to spread through the city.
• Mu Rong learned that Li Youwei had come without Li Ziye, while Mubai expressed interest in sparring with him; Mu Rong predicted Li Ziye would soon arrive and intensify the conflicts in the capital.

Li Ziye struggled to learn the Flying Immortal Formula’s sword techniques, but his perseverance impressed Qin Enuo as he slowly improved. Meanwhile, Li Youwei arrived in the Great Shang capital and drew the attention of powerful factions, including the ninth princess, Mu Rong.

• Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata discussed Li Ziye’s slow cultivation and considered how to obtain the King of Medicines to open his meridians.
• Li Ziye returned from the Qilian Mountains after bandits ambushed him, and Qin Enuo began teaching him the Flying Immortal Formula’s sword movements.
• Li Ziye repeatedly crashed into trees and fell into the lake while practicing, but continued through the night and progressed to the fifth step.
• Qin Enuo watched Li Ziye’s persistence and decided he might soon master the first move of the Flying Immortal Formula.
• Li Youwei arrived in the Great Shang capital, attracting the interest of political factions and the four princes’ supporters.
• Mu Rong, the ninth princess, became the first member of the imperial family to request a meeting with Li Youwei.

Mu Rong met Li Youwei in the capital and warned her to be cautious about choosing a business partner, while Li Youwei considered whether the Ninth Princess might make a suitable wife for Li Ziye. In the Qilian Mountains, Li Ziye defeated the bandit chief and demanded to know where he had obtained the Blazing Fire Iron Essence.

• Mu Rong invited Li Youwei to stay at her residence, then warned her that the capital's factions were complicated and suggested she consider the Zhangsun Family as a partner.
• Li Youwei told Mu Rong that the Li Family's inventions came from an elderly traveler and dismissed rumors that her little brother had created them.
• Li Youwei privately considered Mu Rong a suitable wife for Li Ziye, while Mu Rong shuddered at her sudden kind gaze.
• Li Ziye taunted the bandits into chasing him through the mountains until only their chief could keep up.
• Li Ziye evaded the bandit chief's attacks, wounded him with Azure Frost, and demanded to know where he had obtained the Blazing Fire Iron Essence.

Li Ziye learned that Yin Kuang was the Yin Clan’s illegitimate son and made a deal to protect him in exchange for three years of service. After arranging for Li Qingzhi to help, Li Ziye received the Pure Jun Sword from Hongzhu, whose teasing left him flustered.

• Li Ziye questioned Yin Kuang, learned the Yin Clan’s first madam had killed Yin Kuang’s mother, and offered to protect him in exchange for three years of service.
• Yin Kuang told Li Ziye that the Yin Clan’s treasury held an incomplete volume of the Essential Arts of Heavenly Craft, which might reveal where to find an object of extreme yin.
• Li Ziye wrote to Li Qingzhi, who ordered Hongzhu to follow his instructions and sent the Pure Jun Sword to Yuzhou City.
• Hongzhu arrived at the Li Residence and gave Li Ziye the Pure Jun Sword.
• Li Ziye led Hongzhu into his room, where she teased him about having grown up and left him flustered.

Li Ziye asked Hongzhu to disguise Yin Kuang so he could infiltrate the Yin Clan in the capital and search for the Essential Arts of Heavenly Craft. After Hongzhu completed the painful transformation, Li Ziye admitted he would most likely have to go to the capital himself.

• Hongzhu teased Li Ziye, and after he accidentally grabbed her while falling, she punished him before hearing his request.
• Li Ziye asked Hongzhu to disguise Yin Kuang and prepare an antidote so he could enter the capital without being recognized.
• Li Ziye told Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata that Yin Kuang had stolen the blazing fire iron essence and revealed that the Yin Clan possessed the Essential Arts of Heavenly Craft.
• Li Ziye explained that he planned to use Yin Kuang to infiltrate the Yin Clan and find clues about an object of extreme yin.
• Hongzhu finished changing Yin Kuang's appearance, leaving him unconscious, while Zhang Lata and Qin Enuo warned Li Ziye to be careful and focus on sword practice.
• Hongzhu asked whether Li Ziye was preparing to go to the capital, and he said he probably would have no choice.

Li Ziye mastered the first form of the Flying Immortal Formula as Hongzhu departed for the capital, and Qin Enuo went there to seek medicine to open his meridians. At the Imperial Academy, Kong Qiu agreed to provide the thousand-year-old fleeceflower root only if Li Ziye came to the capital within ten days, wagering Qin Enuo would lecture for a year if he did.

• Li Ziye spoke with Hongzhu about her home, then practiced through the night until he mastered the ninth step of the first form and shattered a rockery with his sword.
• Hongzhu and Yin Kuang left for the capital, while Zhang Lata demonstrated the second form of the Flying Immortal Formula and began teaching Li Ziye.
• Qin Enuo told Zhang Lata she would go to the capital to seek medicine for Li Ziye, then departed from the Li Residence.
• Two days later, Qin Enuo met Kong Qiu at the Imperial Academy and asked for its thousand-year-old fleeceflower root to open Li Ziye's meridians.
• Kong Qiu offered the medicine if Li Ziye came to the capital within ten days, wagering that Qin Enuo would lecture at the Imperial Academy for a year if he did; Qin Enuo accepted.