Recaps

Jiang Fa rescued the Tang Family from Meng Chang and his accomplices, then returned home and broke through to Middle An Jin. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, he left Yellow Earth Town to return to the martial arts school, promising to bring his family to the county town once he had settled.

• Jiang Fa rescued the Tang Family, and Old Master Tang thanked him and gave him five hundred taels of silver.
• Jiang Fa left the Tang residence with Chen Yue'e, and Old Master Tang dismissed the prospect of a marriage between Jiang Fa and Tang Jin'er.
• Jiang Fa asked Chen Yue'e not to spread word of the incident and gave her fifty taels before returning home.
• Jiang Fa practiced Mountain-Breaking Stance and broke through from Early An Jin to Middle An Jin.
• Jiang Fa said goodbye to his parents and Jiang Xiaohe, then set out for Qingshan County to return to the martial arts school.

Jiang Fa traveled north toward Qingshan County and met a talkative man and his supposedly timid sister, who said they were going to join their uncle at Zhou's Cloth Shop. As they continued along the muddy road together, Jiang Fa questioned the man about the shop and its location.

• Jiang Fa stopped at Clear Creek Bridge for tea and met a man and woman who claimed to be siblings traveling to Qingshan County.
• The man said their uncle ran a cloth shop and that they were going to help him, while the woman appeared shy and meek.
• Jiang Fa let the pair set off ahead, then followed after a short wait and caught up with them on the road.
• Jiang Fa asked the man about his uncle's business, and the man named Zhou's Cloth Shop in Willow Lane.
• The man explained that he hoped to learn the cloth trade because his family's poor farmland offered little chance to prosper.

Jiang Fa exposed three travelers as assassins and survived a surprise sword thrust thanks to his unusually tough body. The three attacked him together in the forest, and the fight continued with Jiang Fa still holding back his saber.

• Jiang Fa questioned the man and woman as they walked into a snowy forest, then struck the man when he leaned closer.
• A thin assassin stabbed Jiang Fa from a snowdrift, but his sword only pierced an inch before Jiang Fa’s body stopped it, and Jiang Fa knocked him back with an elbow.
• The wounded man revealed his murderous intent, and the three formed a triangle around Jiang Fa.
• The thin man and the woman attacked Jiang Fa together, but Jiang Fa dodged the woman’s blades and struck the thin man’s sword with his fist.
• The wounded man drew a short saber and slashed at Jiang Fa while the other two pressed their attack.

Jiang Fa survived an ambush by three skilled assassins, killed them, and found a valuable breath-concealing manual among their belongings. He continued toward Qingshan County with the manual, still unaware who had sent the attackers.

• Jiang Fa fought off the three assassins and killed them after they refused to reveal who had sent them.
• Jiang Fa searched the bodies and found the Origin-Returning Breath-Concealing Art, a mid Black Grade supporting art.
• Jiang Fa hid the bodies in a ditch in the pine forest and continued toward Qingshan County.
• Jiang Fa reflected that he had suspected the assassins because their act of ordinary travelers was unconvincing.

After returning to the martial arts school, Jiang Fa counted his savings, considered who might have hired the assassins who attacked him, and began cultivating the Origin-Returning Breath-Concealing Art. By nightfall, he had successfully begun its first layer, though the threat behind the assassination remained unknown.

• Jiang Fa returned to the martial arts school, checked his hidden silver, and counted nearly a thousand taels in savings.
• Jiang Fa studied the assassin’s manual and suspected that a skilled, well-funded party had arranged the attack, though he found no clear lead.
• Jiang Fa decided to focus on improving his strength and began practicing the Origin-Returning Breath-Concealing Art.
• Jiang Fa worked his Qi and blood through blocked gateways at the Shoulder Well acupoint and gradually opened them.
• Jiang Fa concealed the visible signs of his Qi and blood, and his panel showed the first layer at 3/800.

After the martial hall reopened, Jiang Fa focused on improving his strength while the Lin Lineage's investigation stalled. The Blood Wolf Gang discovered that Jiang Fa had killed three of its men and vowed to take revenge, ordering surveillance of the Zhao Clan Martial Hall and the Lin Lineage Trading Company.

• On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the martial hall reopened, and Jiang Fa resumed life among the returning disciples.
• Lin Feng told Jiang Fa that the suspected accountant had disappeared and that the Lin Lineage had found no trace of him or Tu Lie.
• Ding Wanshan learned that Lang Si, Wolf Five, and Lang Liu had failed to return and ordered a search south toward Yellow Earth Town.
• The search party found all three men dead, with signs that they had been decisively defeated by a single opponent.
• Ding Wanshan learned that Jiang Fa had returned to Qingshan County and ordered Chai Wenyuan to watch the Zhao Clan Martial Hall and the Lin Lineage Trading Company.

Li Canghai offered the Blood Wolf Gang money to kill Jiang Fa after its ambush failed. As Jiang Fa continued cultivating, Tang Jin'er unexpectedly visited him at the martial hall, where he learned she had joined as a disciple.

• Li Canghai learned that the Blood Wolf Gang's three fighters had been killed and offered Ding Wanshan three thousand taels in compensation, plus two thousand more if Jiang Fa was killed.
• Jiang Fa resumed his daily training and advanced his Origin-Returning Breath-Concealing Art over the following half month.
• Xu Feng told Jiang Fa that a young woman was waiting for him at the martial hall entrance.
• Jiang Fa recognized the visitor as Tang Jin'er, who said she had come to thank him and had joined the martial hall to learn martial arts.
• Tang Jin'er asked Jiang Fa whether her martial outfit looked good, and he replied that it did but did not suit her status.

Tang Jin'er joined the martial arts school and brought Jiang Fa osmanthus sticky rice cakes, while Jiang Fa remained unwilling to acknowledge any connection between them. As he continued training the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art, he worried that its effects would expose his hidden cultivation and decided he needed a body-tempering art to disguise them.

• Tang Jin'er told Jiang Fa she had come to learn martial arts, bowed to him as her senior brother, and offered him osmanthus sticky rice cakes.
• Jiang Fa accepted the cakes, and Tang Jin'er told him where she was staying and invited him to visit.
• Xu Feng teased Jiang Fa about Tang Jin'er and warned him that other martial arts school disciples might pursue her, but Jiang Fa said she had nothing to do with him.
• Jiang Fa kept training as the weather warmed and new disciples made the martial arts school noisy.
• After practicing the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art, Jiang Fa worried its effects would reveal his unusually strong physique and resolved to find a body-tempering art to explain it.

Jiang Fa went to Qingshan County’s black market to seek a body-refinement cultivation method without involving the Lin Lineage. After witnessing the market’s brutality, he found the cultivation manuals stalls and began inspecting a battered body-refinement booklet.

• Jiang Fa decided to search the black market for a cultivation method rather than ask the Lin Lineage for help.
• Jiang Fa disguised himself, paid five copper coins to enter the black market, and surveyed its varied stalls.
• Master Ghost punished a scrawny young man for stealing by chopping off one of his hands.
• Jiang Fa found the stalls selling cultivation manuals and saw that even low-grade techniques commanded exorbitant prices.
• Jiang Fa stopped at a masked vendor’s stall and picked up a battered booklet labeled “Yellow rank upper grade body refinement.”

Jiang Fa found a sophisticated body-tempering manual, the Great Strength Vajra Art, but could not afford its price of three thousand taels. A mysterious man in a gilded mask bought it outright, leaving Jiang Fa to watch the manual slip away.

• Jiang Fa examined a brutal body-tempering art that required costly medicinal herbs and rejected it after hearing its price.
• Jiang Fa asked the half-masked stallholder about the Great Strength Vajra Art and learned it contained only the first three of its five levels.
• Jiang Fa tried to bargain for the manual but could not afford even its reduced price, despite judging it far superior to cheaper body-tempering arts.
• A burly man in a gilded mask arrived, paid three thousand taels without bargaining, and took the Great Strength Vajra Art.
• Jiang Fa watched the man leave and reflected on the vast difference between their wealth.

Jiang Fa negotiated with an old black-market stallholder over a copy of the Great Strength Vajra Art. He traded his complete Wind-Chasing Steps manual and one hundred taels for the incomplete body-refining art, then left with it.

• The old man revealed a second copy of the Great Strength Vajra Art and lowered its price to one thousand taels, but Jiang Fa still could not afford it.
• A portly middle-aged man insulted the old man's wares and left, after which the old man offered to trade the art for one of Jiang Fa's cultivation manuals.
• Jiang Fa offered his Yellow Rank Upper Grade movement art, Wind-Chasing Steps, and argued that its completeness made it valuable.
• The old man agreed to exchange the incomplete Great Strength Vajra Art for Wind-Chasing Steps plus one hundred taels.
• Jiang Fa checked the manuals, took the Great Strength Vajra Art, and quickly left the stall.

Jiang Fa was followed from the black market by two Black Tiger Gang thugs who tried to rob him, but he killed them after learning they targeted and murdered other shoppers. He erased the traces and left the alley as the night deepened.

• Jiang Fa refused a thin man’s offer of an escort after leaving the black market, then noticed he was being followed and entered an alley.
• The thin man and his short, fat accomplice blocked Jiang Fa and demanded his pills, cultivation arts, and silver.
• Jiang Fa killed the short, fat man with a punch and a knee strike, then forced the thin man to reveal that Master Hu of the Black Tiger Gang had sent them to rob shoppers and dispose of victims near a mass grave.
• After the thin man admitted they had harmed many people, Jiang Fa killed him with a single punch.
• Jiang Fa erased the evidence, searched the bodies, and hurried away when he heard dogs barking nearby.

Jiang Fa studied the Great Strength Vajra Art and found that the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art let him bypass its first two layers and reach the third, Viscera Refinement. He began cultivating his internal organs, relying on his already-tempered body to reduce the danger.

• Jiang Fa returned to his room and studied the Great Strength Vajra Art’s Skin Tempering method.
• Jiang Fa circulated the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art’s blood and Qi through the Great Strength Vajra Art’s cultivation route, finding that their overlapping paths cleared the meridians.
• Jiang Fa’s panel showed that he had reached the third layer, Viscera Refinement, after the art recognized his skin, sinews, and bones as already tempered.
• Jiang Fa began cultivating Viscera Refinement, using the strength gained from the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art to protect his internal organs.

Jiang Fa cultivated the Great Strength Vajra Art and tested an Azure Wood Elixir, then learned his savings were dwindling. Meanwhile, the county yamen dismissed the murders of two Black Tiger Gang enforcers, but Master Hu ordered his men to investigate and vowed to hold the killer accountable.

• Jiang Fa completed a night of viscera-refinement training, raising his Great Strength Vajra Art progress to 231/2000.
• Jiang Fa consumed an Azure Wood Elixir and gained thirty points of Mountain-Breaking Stance progress, then secured his remaining pills and worried about his finances.
• Constable Fang identified the alley victims as Sun San'er and Zhou Laoliu, recorded their deaths as fatal injuries in a fight, and declined to investigate further.
• A young runner questioned Constable Fang's decision, but Fang warned him that investigating a powerful killer could get him killed.
• Master Hu learned that Sun San'er and Zhou Laoliu had died after staking out newcomers at the black market and ordered his subordinates to investigate recent arrivals and anyone with a feud against the gang.

Jiang Fa perfected the first level of the Origin-Returning Breath-Concealing Art and spent weeks advancing his martial arts while keeping his distance from Tang Jin'er. When she finally confronted him, she asked if he hated her.

• Jiang Fa perfected Qi concealment and began cultivating the second level, form concealment.
• Jiang Fa followed a strict training routine for half a month, improving his Mountain-Breaking Stance, Great Strength Vajra Art, and other techniques.
• Jiang Fa rejected the food Tang Jin'er sent, and she eventually stopped sending it.
• Xu Feng and Zhao Chuan brought Jiang Fa to Tang Jin'er, who had waited for him after training.
• Tang Jin'er asked Jiang Fa if he hated her.

Tang Jin'er gave Jiang Fa a medicinal bath formula, which he found helpful, and Xu Feng, Zhao Chuan, and Ma Ping persuaded him to visit Spring Breeze Pavilion. The four arrived at the establishment and were led to a private room.

• Tang Jin'er urged Jiang Fa to accept her gratitude and gave him packets of medicinal bath powder before running off.
• Xu Feng told Jiang Fa that Tang Jin'er ignored other male disciples, while Jiang Fa decided he could not get close to her until his own troubles were resolved.
• Jiang Fa used Tang Jin'er's medicinal bath powder and felt it nourish his body and aid his recovery.
• Xu Feng, Zhao Chuan, and Ma Ping invited Jiang Fa to Spring Breeze Pavilion, and he agreed after hearing Ma Ping was going too.
• Xu Feng paid one of the greeters, who led the four men to a second-floor private room.

Jiang Fa and his martial brothers drank and socialized at a private room, where Xu Feng told them that Xu Xiaomeng had left the martial hall months earlier. Her departure with two deferential attendants in a carriage drawn by rare Azure Edge Horses left her background a mystery.

• Xu Feng, Zhao Chuan, Ma Ping, and Jiang Fa entertained four young women, though Ma Ping stayed awkward and Jiang Fa remained uninterested.
• Xu Feng dismissed the women, and the four martial brothers drank together while discussing news from Black Wind Ridge, the county office, and local martial halls.
• Xu Feng remarked that most of their cohort had left the martial hall, including Xu Xiaomeng.
• Xu Feng recounted seeing Xu Xiaomeng leave through the rear gate with a man and woman who treated her respectfully and a carriage drawn by two Azure Edge Horses.
• Zhao Chuan wondered what powerful household Xu Xiaomeng belonged to, but Xu Feng said he did not know.

Xu Feng, Zhao Chuan, Ma Ping, and Jiang Fa discussed Xu Xiaomeng’s possible ties to Qingyang Prefecture’s Xu Lineage and compared their lives after leaving the martial arts school. On their way back, they heard shouts and cries near the vegetable market and crept toward the alley to investigate.

• Ma Ping said Xu Xiaomeng might belong to Qingyang Prefecture’s powerful Xu Lineage, and Xu Feng recalled how respectfully her escorts had treated her.
• Jiang Fa argued that Xu Xiaomeng had never harmed anyone and that they should respect her quiet departure.
• Xu Feng lamented that he had not advanced beyond the threshold of peak Ming Jin, and Jiang Fa encouraged him to find the courage and reserves to break through to An Jin.
• Xu Feng shared news of increased merchant caravans and Xing Lieshan’s recovery before drinking himself to sleep.
• As Jiang Fa and Ma Ping helped Xu Feng home, Ma Ping said he wanted to see the world rather than spend his life as a household guard, and Jiang Fa silently encouraged him.
• Near the vegetable market, the group heard men shouting, women crying, and clubs striking, so Jiang Fa led them toward the alley to investigate.

Jiang Fa tried to leave the Black Tiger Gang’s debt collection alone, but Ma Ping’s painful memories persuaded him to intervene. Jiang Fa offered thirty taels for the IOU, but the bald gang boss decided to demand more.

• The bald man beat Ma Ping when Ma Ping tried to stop the gang from taking the girl.
• Jiang Fa initially helped Ma Ping leave, but Ma Ping told him that a rich man had once abused his mother and nearly beaten his father to death.
• Jiang Fa asked the bald man for the IOU and offered thirty taels of silver for it.
• The bald man called Jiang Fa a fat sheep and said the price had changed.

Jiang Fa defeated the Black Tiger Gang men who tried to extort him and recovered an old woman’s debt note. He left the alley with Ma Ping, Zhao Chuan, and the sleeping Xu Feng, heading back to the martial arts school.

• The bald man raised the price from thirty to three hundred taels and had his men block the alley exit.
• Jiang Fa crushed the bald man’s wrist and sent him crashing through an earthen wall with a punch.
• Jiang Fa defeated the other Black Tiger Gang men, knocking them unconscious or driving them to beg for mercy.
• Jiang Fa found the old woman’s debt note and returned it, telling her to burn it and leave with her granddaughter.
• Jiang Fa helped Ma Ping stand, picked up the sleeping Xu Feng, and set off with Zhao Chuan toward the martial arts school.

Jiang Fa lured a gray-clad assassin away from his companions and discovered the man was pursuing him over the deaths of three fellow assassins. Their fight began in an abandoned compound, where Jiang Fa’s trickery and quick reactions kept him alive, but the gray-clad man cut his sleeve and grazed his shoulder.

• Jiang Fa sent Zhao Chuan, Ma Ping, and Xu Feng back to the martial arts hall while he went alone to confirm who was following him.
• Jiang Fa used Wind-Chasing Steps to race through the streets and alleys, but the gray-clad man caught up and tried to kill him.
• The gray-clad man accused Jiang Fa of killing Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, while Jiang Fa denied knowing anything about them.
• Jiang Fa distracted the gray-clad man with a feigned warning and a thrown piece of rubble, then attacked him with a punch.
• The gray-clad man evaded Jiang Fa’s blows and thrust his sword, slicing Jiang Fa’s sleeve and grazing his shoulder.

Jiang Fa fought a gray-clad assassin whose swordsmanship and speed could not overcome Jiang Fa’s formidable body-tempering defenses. After the assassin unleashed his Ten Thousand Snakes Devouring Heart Sword and left only shallow wounds, Jiang Fa calmly beckoned him to continue.

• The gray-clad assassin discovered that his sword could barely pierce Jiang Fa’s skin and recognized him as a body-tempering martial artist.
• Jiang Fa caught the assassin’s blade between his palms, forcing the assassin to break free with a finger strike and a kick.
• The assassin realized Jiang Fa had also killed Lang Si and the other two, then attacked with a barrage of rapid sword strikes that Jiang Fa blocked with his fists.
• The gray-clad assassin unleashed his Ten Thousand Snakes Devouring Heart Sword, leaving more than a dozen shallow marks on Jiang Fa’s body.
• Jiang Fa brushed off his torn clothes and told the astonished assassin to keep going.

Jiang Fa defeated the gray-clad assassin in a brutal fight and demanded to know who had sent him. The assassin died without answering, leaving Jiang Fa with no clue about the people behind the attack.

• Jiang Fa unleashed his full strength and wounded the gray-clad man with a punch, forcing him to retreat.
• Jiang Fa pressed the gray-clad man for the identity of his allies, but the assassin refused to answer.
• The gray-clad man risked everything on a lightning-fast strike aimed at Jiang Fa's right eye.
• Jiang Fa met the sword with his Mountain-Breaking Fist, shattering the blade and crushing the assassin's arm before hurling him into a stone pillar.
• Jiang Fa questioned the dying assassin, who taunted him and died without revealing who had sent him.

Jiang Fa killed a gray-clad swordsman, took his Ten Thousand Serpents Heart-Devouring Sword Art and hidden silver, and returned to the martial hall with minor injuries. The next morning, Constable Fang examined the corpse and the destruction at the abandoned residence, beginning to piece together the fight.

• Jiang Fa searched the gray-clad man's body and found the Ten Thousand Serpents Heart-Devouring Sword Art, a yellow rank upper grade manual, and more than fifty taels of silver.
• Jiang Fa fled the abandoned residence, avoided being followed, and returned to his room at the martial hall, where he cleaned his wounds and considered the threat of further assassinations.
• Goudan and other scavenging youngsters entered the abandoned residence, discovered blood and the corpse, and raised the alarm.
• Constable Fang examined the corpse and broken sword, then studied the damaged courtyard and deep footprints left by the battle.

Constable Fang’s investigation of a murdered assassin pointed to a powerful body-refining martial artist who had also been injured. When four Black Tiger Gang members were reported dead, Fang dismissed the case as gang infighting and focused instead on the twenty-seven missing-person cases.

• The coroner found that the assassin had been killed barehanded, and Constable Fang judged the killer’s methods matched those used on two corpses near the black market.
• Constable Fang concluded the killer was likely a formidable body-refining martial artist and found blood near the rear wall, suggesting the killer had been injured.
• Constable Fang ordered the corpse taken to the county magistrate and the killer reported as a repeat offender.
• A runner told Constable Fang that four Black Tiger Gang members, including Bald Liu’s men, had died in Willow Tree Alley.
• Constable Fang refused to investigate the gang deaths, calling them an internal dispute, and complained that twenty-seven missing-person cases remained unsolved.