Recaps

Qin Tiexin survived an assassination attempt linked to the Heavenly Craft Workshop, then prepared to leave Ink City with Li Zhenwei and join the Northern Army. He departed for the frontier as Zhao Xuan watched his schemes collapse.

• A hidden attacker fired poisoned needles at Qin Tiexin, but Li Zhenwei intercepted two while Qin blocked the third with Edgeless Saber.
• Li Zhenwei pursued the attacker, then confronted Zhao Xuan at the Heavenly Craft Workshop and threatened him after accusing the workshop of attempted murder.
• Back at the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop, Li Zhenwei promised to protect Qin Tiexin, praised Edgeless Saber, and accepted Qin's IOU for the forty-five taels he had spent.
• Qin Tiexin ate an enormous meal at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion before he and Li Zhenwei set out from Ink City with his enlistment papers and shop placed under military protection.
• Zhao Xuan watched from the southern gate tower as Qin Tiexin departed, grieving the collapse of his plans.

Qin Tiexin traveled north with Li Zhenwei and Commandant Sun toward Xinyang Pass, learning about the frontier war and enduring painful days on the road. He arrived at the pass on foot with the veterans, ready to begin his new life in the Craftsmen's Camp.

• Qin Tiexin asked to ride instead of slowing the journey, and Li Zhenwei took him to the relay station to try Black Cloud.
• Qin Tiexin calmed Black Cloud and managed to mount him, so the group continued north at a faster pace.
• Li Zhenwei told Qin Tiexin about the Northern Di, the battles around Yang Pass, and the army's organization as they traveled toward Xinyang Pass.
• Qin Tiexin endured severe saddle sores without complaining, then chose to return Black Cloud and walk alongside ten veterans.
• Qin Tiexin kept pace with the veterans for two days, and the group reached Xinyang Pass at dusk.

Qin Tiexin passed the checkpoints into Xinyang Pass and was assigned to the Northern Army's Craftsmen's Camp as an assistant to Zhou Cang. The chapter ended with Zhou Cang rejecting him as a freeloader and telling him to leave.

• Li Zhenwei and Commandant Sun escorted Qin Tiexin through Xinyang Pass's identity checks, where guards inspected his papers and Edgeless Saber.
• Commandant Sun explained that civilians lived inside the pass to supply the army, then led Qin Tiexin to the Craftsmen's Camp.
• Clerk Wang registered Qin Tiexin and assigned him to Third Section, Seventh Group under Master Zhou Cang, known as Lame Tiger.
• Qin Tiexin found Zhou Cang forging a saber in a dilapidated shed and introduced himself as his new assistant.
• Zhou Cang scrutinized Qin Tiexin and told him to go back where he came from.

Qin Tiexin arrived at Zhou Cang’s forge and tried to prove he belonged there, but Zhou Cang challenged him to forge ten standard-issue sabers from inferior iron in five days. After preparing for the task overnight, Qin Tiexin returned to the shed the next morning, still hungry after a meager breakfast.

• Qin Tiexin refused to leave Zhou Cang’s forge and revealed that he had forged the Edgeless Saber himself, but Zhou Cang did not believe him.
• When Qin Tiexin tried to examine the broken weapons, Zhou Cang stopped him and demanded that he forge ten acceptable sabers from poor iron in five days or leave.
• Qin Tiexin accepted the challenge, inspected the iron and standard saber, and cleaned the old furnace and tools Zhou Cang assigned him.
• Qin Tiexin found a vacant room, planned how to tackle the forging task, and practiced in the Virtual Realm · Forging Hall before bed.
• Qin Tiexin completed his morning exercises and received only a small bowl of porridge at the mess hall, then headed back to the forge as Zhou Cang arrived to eat.

Qin Tiexin repaired the tools in his shed and spent the day refining inferior iron while observing Zhou Cang’s efficient battlefield smithing. Zhou Cang quietly brought him a warm meal, and Qin Tiexin returned to work with more iron still to refine.

• Qin Tiexin repaired the furnace, bellows, anvil, and tools, then made a sturdy hammer from a discarded hammerhead and broken spear shaft.
• Zhou Cang arrived and expertly repaired damaged spears, while Qin Tiexin studied his precise and economical technique.
• Qin Tiexin hammered impurities from inferior iron through the morning, exhausting himself as Zhou Cang finished several repairs.
• Zhou Cang brought Qin Tiexin a basket of warm buns and pickled vegetables, telling him not to starve in his care.
• Qin Tiexin ate the food, thanked Zhou Cang, and resumed refining iron through the afternoon.

After a long day forging scrap iron, Qin Tiexin confronted the mess hall cook for shorting his meal and dragged him to Clerk Wang to demand fair treatment. The chapter ended with Qin Tiexin arriving at Clerk Wang’s hut with the cook in tow.

• Qin Tiexin finished forging a small pile of iron ingots, while Zhou Cang noticed his effort and borrowed technique.
• Qin Tiexin went to the mess hall and received only two buns and a meager serving of broth from the fat cook.
• Qin Tiexin demanded six or eight buns, but the fat cook mocked him and tried to drive him away with a ladle.
• Qin Tiexin seized the ladle, grabbed the fat cook by the wrist, and said he would not be bullied.
• Qin Tiexin dragged the struggling cook toward Clerk Wang’s hut to ask why workers were denied a full meal.

Qin Tiexin brought Master Liu before Clerk Wang over the meager food he had been served, and proved he could eat the eight buns he had requested. Clerk Wang arranged for Qin to receive full meals in exchange for 200 copper coins from his pay, while Master Liu learned Qin had been brought to the camp by General Li Zhenwei.

• Master Liu accused Qin Tiexin of demanding eight buns and assaulting him, while Qin calmly explained how Master Liu had shorted and mocked him.
• Clerk Wang offered Qin a choice between receiving four buns per meal or paying the mess hall 200 copper coins for unlimited food, and Qin chose the supplement.
• Master Liu returned with eight oversized buns, and Clerk Wang shared his own dinner so Qin could eat them with the two smaller buns he already had.
• After Qin finished all ten buns, Clerk Wang ordered Master Liu to provide him enough food and keep clear accounts of the supplement.
• Clerk Wang warned Master Liu that Qin had been brought by General Li Zhenwei, frightening Master Liu into vowing to follow the instructions.

Qin Tiexin used his appraisal ability and disciplined breathing to forge ten sabers from scrap in five days, impressing Zhou Cang and three veteran craftsmen. After Zhou Cang assigned him damaged spearheads to repair, Qin Tiexin’s illustrated scroll recorded the first military spearhead and began tracking the spear category.

• Qin Tiexin rose before dawn, practiced his breathing, and ate a generous meal before beginning his work in the shed.
• Qin Tiexin used [Appraisal] to study impurities in the iron and forged saber blanks, then synchronized his hammer strikes with his breathing to sustain his effort.
• Qin Tiexin found dried meat left for him in the shed and, over the next days, completed ten saber blanks before refining and polishing them into finished sabers.
• Zhou Cang tested a saber, summoned three veteran craftsmen, and revealed that Qin Tiexin had forged all ten sabers from scrap in five days.
• Zhou Cang assigned Qin Tiexin twenty damaged spearheads to repair, and Qin Tiexin’s illustrated scroll recorded a damaged military-issue spearhead as the first entry in its spear category.

Qin Tiexin learned weapon-repair techniques from Zhou Cang, and their silent rivalry turned into a closer teacher-student relationship after Qin bought Zhou wine with his first extra pay. At the storehouse, Qin met Lin Feng, a curious clerk with an evident interest in forging and suspiciously burned fingers, leaving Qin uneasy about him.

• Qin Tiexin watched Zhou Cang repair spearheads, then practiced until he could mend them without ruining them.
• Clerk Wang gave Qin Tiexin three strings of cash for his monthly pay and extra work, and Qin bought Zhou Cang two bottles of wine.
• Zhou Cang accepted the wine and began explaining his repair techniques as Qin worked beside him.
• Qin Tiexin collected iron ingots from the storehouse and met Lin Feng, who shared his knowledge of forging and other subjects.
• Qin Tiexin noticed Lin Feng's fresh burns and careful handling of the ingots, but dismissed his suspicions as he returned to the shed.

Qin Tiexin designed and forged a composite armor-piercing bodkin that penetrated the Northern Di’s new leather armor, earning promotion to first-grade blacksmith. After Li Zhenwei tested the first production batch, he remembered Qin Tiexin while reviewing the Formation-Breaking Camp reserve selection procedures.

• Clerk Wang ordered the Craftsmen's Camp to design and test armor-piercing bodkins after the Northern Di’s new armor resisted ordinary arrows.
• Qin Tiexin drew up a three-edged, grooved arrowhead design and used the Illusory Realm Hall to refine its shape and composite materials with Zhou Cang.
• Qin Tiexin and Lin Feng found unusually heat-resistant clay near the Black Pine Forest, which Qin Tiexin used to improve his forging process.
• Qin Tiexin’s arrowhead pierced the new leather armor during the competition, and Clerk Wang promoted him to first-grade blacksmith and ordered ten thousand made.
• Li Zhenwei tested the new arrow, recognized the Third Seventh mark, and recalled Qin Tiexin while considering the Formation-Breaking Camp reserve selection procedures.

Qin Tiexin shared his arrowhead-forging method so the Craftsmen's Camp could quickly prepare for war, then discovered Zhou Cang suffering from an old knee injury during a storm. After Qin Tiexin eased his pain, Zhou Cang told him his past and offered to teach him, leaving Qin Tiexin with a new teacher.

• Qin Tiexin shared his improved forging method with the craftsmen after Clerk Wang reported that the armor-piercing arrowheads had succeeded and ordered a hundred thousand made.
• Qin Tiexin explained to Lin Feng that he shared the method because faster production could help end the war sooner.
• Qin Tiexin found Zhou Cang in the shed during the storm, suffering severe pain in his old knee injury, and used warmed iron over wet cloth to soothe it.
• Zhou Cang told Qin Tiexin how Northern Di scouts had shattered his knee and how the Northern Army had inspired him to join the Craftsmen's Camp.
• Zhou Cang offered to teach Qin Tiexin and told him to call him Teacher, and Qin Tiexin accepted before walking back into the rain.

Qin Tiexin learned Zhou Cang’s Battlefield Quenching Technique and practiced its methods in the Void Realm. Meanwhile, Li Zhenwei received permission to form a fifty-man unit for a strike against Yelü Hongshan and named Qin Tiexin as a candidate.

• Zhou Cang gave Qin Tiexin detailed guidance on smithing as he repaired weapons, helping him refine his craft.
• Qin Tiexin brought Zhou Cang liquor and dried beef, and Zhou Cang began teaching him the Battlefield Quenching Technique.
• Zhou Cang demonstrated how horse urine, saltpeter earth, black oil, and muddy water affected quenched blades, then had Qin Tiexin practice two methods.
• Qin Tiexin recorded the lesson in his notebook and repeatedly practiced quenching blades in the Void Realm.
• Li Zhenwei proposed a fifty-man unit to target Yelü Hongshan, and Li Xun authorized him to select its members.
• Li Zhenwei’s roster included Qin Tiexin, whom he considered a promising recruit for the unit.

Qin Tiexin left the Craftsmen's Camp after General Li Zhenwei summoned him to join a secret military selection, and Lin Feng was summoned as well. They completed the first grueling mountain march with stone-filled packs, but the selection continued as dawn broke.

• Li Zhenwei summoned Qin Tiexin and told him the grand general had ordered him to join a new military force; Qin agreed after learning he could return to forging if he survived.
• Qin Tiexin packed his belongings, and Zhou Cang gave him three experimental knives and a farewell warning to be careful.
• Qin Tiexin met Lin Feng at the foot of West Mountain, and a guide led them into a valley where more than a dozen other recruits had gathered.
• Li Zhenwei announced that no more than fifty of the hundred recruits would pass and ordered them to cross the mountain carrying packs filled with stones within four hours.
• Qin Tiexin and Lin Feng reached the camp by the stream, where eighty-two men had arrived before the deadline; Li Zhenwei declared the latecomers eliminated and announced another test.

Qin Tiexin and his teammates passed Li Zhenwei’s teamwork trial and entered a final flag-capture battle between the yin and yang teams. Badly injured but still standing, Qin Tiexin defeated Sun Yun and raised the flag, leaving the camp staring at him.

• Lin Feng formed a five-man team with Qin Tiexin, Zhao Ling, Tu Dazhu, and Chen San for the second trial, in which they had to take a slip from a veteran without letting him make a sound.
• Lin Feng distracted a veteran while Qin Tiexin and Tu Dazhu subdued him, and the team returned with a slip marked “yang,” passing the trial.
• Li Zhenwei announced that the final round would pit the yin and yang teams against each other for control of a flag, with the losing side reduced until fifty men remained.
• Qin Tiexin and Tu Dazhu rushed to seize the flag, and their team fought to defend it as the yin team gradually drove most of them from the platform.
• Qin Tiexin and Tu Dazhu charged through the remaining opponents, but Tu Dazhu and Lin Feng were eliminated, leaving Qin Tiexin to face Sun Yun.
• Qin Tiexin used the Layered Edge Technique to break Sun Yun’s arm and knock him out, then pulled the flag free and raised it above the bloodied crowd.

Qin Tiexin woke from his injuries and joined Shi Meng’s brutal training as a member of Squad A. After learning about his squad and its captain from Lin Feng, he enjoyed an enormous meal and returned to the training ground ready to endure the hardship.

• Qin Tiexin woke in the recruits’ shed, met captain Shi Meng, and joined the squad’s mud-crawling drill despite his bandaged arm.
• Shi Meng introduced himself as the squad’s captain and punished Qin Tiexin for answering late.
• Lin Feng told Qin Tiexin that General Li had declared their group the winners, explained Squad A’s history, and introduced the other recruits.
• Qin Tiexin went with the squad to the mess shed and ate ten or so buns and an entire deer leg, astonishing the others.
• Qin Tiexin returned to the training ground, tested his aching arm, and decided the hardship was worth the food.

Qin Tiexin trained with Edgeless, learning to control its heavy strikes under Shi Meng’s instruction, while Li Zhenwei taught the recruits military strategy and urged them to survive. After the squad took medicinal baths, Li Zhenwei and Shi Meng discussed Qin Tiexin’s potential and the hope that the fifty recruits could help end the long war.

• Qin Tiexin had no saber training, so Shi Meng taught him a basic diagonal chop and ordered him to repeat it a hundred times.
• After Qin Tiexin’s strikes grew crooked with exhaustion, Shi Meng demonstrated three perfectly overlapping cuts and taught him that each strike required control.
• Shi Meng demonstrated three lethal techniques on wooden dummies, then told the recruits they were learning to kill in three moves.
• Li Zhenwei lectured the fifty recruits on deception in warfare and told them he hoped they would return alive from the battlefield.
• The recruits endured painful medicinal baths, and Qin Tiexin reviewed his notes before going to sleep.
• Li Zhenwei and Shi Meng discussed Qin Tiexin’s willingness to train, while Li Zhenwei argued that the fifty recruits could be worth thousands and might help end the war.

After seven days of punishing training, Squad A fought a flag-capture exercise that tested their tactics and Qin Tiexin’s strength. Qin Tiexin smashed through the opposing team’s shield wall and won, and Shi Meng assigned him to lead assaults on fortified positions.

• Shi Meng trained Squad A in basic weapons skills and battlefield fundamentals for seven days.
• Lin Feng’s team built a low wall around their flag, while Zhao Ling planned a shield formation with archers to stop Qin Tiexin’s charge.
• Zhao Ling and Li Shun’s arrows and Tu Dazhu’s shield formation took down Wang Meng, Chen San, Zhou Laowu, and Lin Feng, leaving Qin Tiexin alone.
• Qin Tiexin used the force and posture he had learned from forging to break through the shields and knock down the opposing team’s flag.
• Shi Meng told Qin Tiexin to go first when Squad A assaulted a fortified position, and Qin Tiexin accepted as his teammates teased him.

After seven days of secret training, Qin Tiexin returned to the Craftsmen's Camp with new confidence and three taels of silver. He learned he would help Zhou Cang repair bright armor the next day and studied its forging techniques in the Void Realm.

• Li Zhenwei ordered the ten trainees to return to their camps and keep the secret training confidential, then awarded them two taels each and an extra tael to the winning side.
• Shi Meng dismissed Team A and told them to return in seven days; Qin Tiexin headed back to the Craftsmen's Camp with his three taels of silver.
• Qin Tiexin reported to Clerk Wang and visited Zhou Cang, who asked him to help repair three damaged suits of bright armor the next day.
• Qin Tiexin paid the dining hall cook in advance for next month's meals and reviewed his Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts, which showed his saber collection complete.
• Qin Tiexin entered the Void Realm and studied bright armor's form and forging principles before going to sleep.

Qin Tiexin proved his understanding of Zhou Cang’s knife-making methods and learned to forge and repair armor while studying the damage caused by the Northern Di army’s Iron Pagoda cavalry. After restoring three suits of bright armor, he saw the Armor entry in the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts reach 2/10, while Zhou Cang watched him with a faint smile.

• Qin Tiexin explained the differences between three knives, and Zhou Cang began teaching him the method for forging armor.
• Zhou Cang showed Qin Tiexin three bloodstained suits damaged in a clash with the Iron Pagoda and explained that the Formation-Breaking Camp had suffered two deaths and one serious injury to kill one enemy rider and horse.
• Qin Tiexin learned to fold-forge armor plates and, over five days, helped Zhou Cang repair the first two suits.
• Zhou Cang left Qin Tiexin to repair the most badly damaged suit on his own, and Qin Tiexin dismantled it, forged replacement plates, and reassembled the armor.
• Qin Tiexin finished the third suit and saw the Armor entry in the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts show collection progress of 2/10, while Zhou Cang watched him silently.

Qin Tiexin left for training wearing the chain mail Zhou Cang had made for him, then spent three months learning smithing and specialized combat skills with Squad A. He excelled at nearly everything except archery, and the chapter left him accepting that weakness as he dreamed of arrows turning into hammers.

• Zhou Cang gave Qin Tiexin a chain-mail vest he had altered from his old armor and urged him to come back alive.
• Over the next three months, Qin Tiexin learned advanced smithing from Zhou Cang and expanded his knowledge of weapons in the Illusory Realm Hall.
• Qin Tiexin and Squad A trained in mountain movement, mud fighting, underwater assassination, small-unit tactics, Northern Di intelligence, wilderness survival, and covert communication.
• Qin Tiexin bonded with Black Cloud and became a skilled rider, but repeatedly missed targets or broke bows during archery practice.
• After Squad A teased him about his poor aim, Qin Tiexin pondered the problem in the Illusory Realm Hall and concluded that his hands were better suited to heavy weapons than bows.

After months of brutal training, Qin Tiexin joined a mission to ambush a Northern Di patrol and killed a soldier for the first time. He returned to camp shaken, and Zhou Cang urged him to remember the taste of the liquor he drank after killing.

• Li Zhenwei decided Team A was ready to taste blood as Northern Di patrols threatened to expose their training camp.
• Qin Tiexin received orders to meet Shi Meng in a mountain hollow, where Shi Meng assigned him to the right flank of an ambush.
• Qin Tiexin evaded two Northern Di patrols on his way to the hollow and waited with Shi Meng, Lin Feng, Zhao Ling, Chen San, and Zhao Ziliang for their target.
• When Zhao Ling shot the sentry, Qin Tiexin charged the rear of the patrol and killed a young Di soldier with Edgeless as the team killed all six men.
• The team concealed the bodies and returned to camp, where Li Zhenwei recognized their first kills and Zhou Cang gave Qin Tiexin liquor to help him remember the experience.

Qin Tiexin struggled with the trauma of killing his first enemy until Zhou Cang’s life was threatened during a Night Scout attack. As the second Di rider charged, Qin Tiexin overcame his paralysis, picked up a saber, and advanced toward him.

• Qin Tiexin suffered nightmares, sleeplessness, and a loss of appetite after killing a Di soldier, and Zhou Cang and Li Zhenwei agreed he should stay away from training.
• Lin Feng visited Qin Tiexin, used a calming technique, and told him that his first kill had saved lives; he left him food and urged him to recover before the next mission.
• Zhou Cang took Qin Tiexin toward East Mountain Mine, but they found a Northern Di Night Scout attacking villagers.
• Zhou Cang killed the Night Scout with a crossbow, but Qin Tiexin froze when blood sprayed across his face as he tried to remove the dead rider’s armor.
• A second Di rider charged Qin Tiexin, and Zhou Cang shoved him clear before the horse struck him and the rider severed Zhou Cang’s already injured leg.
• Qin Tiexin picked up the fallen saber, his fear vanished, and he walked toward the charging rider.

Qin Tiexin killed the second Di horseman, saved Zhou Cang from bleeding to death, and brought him to Xinyang Pass, where the military physician could not reattach his leg. After the village boy buried his family and followed Qin Tiexin to the pass, Qin offered him shelter at the Craftsmen's Camp.

• Qin Tiexin used the horse's charge against it, killed the mount and its rider, then treated Zhou Cang's severed leg and carried him toward Xinyang Pass.
• The village boy buried his parents and sister, gathered the dead Di's armor and sabers, and led a horse toward Xinyang Pass.
• Qin Tiexin reached the pass and brought Zhou Cang to the medical camp, where the physician saved his life but said his leg could not be reattached.
• The boy offered the armor and sabers to Qin Tiexin, who gave him one saber and offered him food, lodging, and work at the Craftsmen's Camp.
• Qin Tiexin sat beside the recovering Zhou Cang, felt his gloom lift, and rested.

After Zhou Cang lost his leg saving him, Qin Tiexin returned to duty and learned Team A had been sent into a trap near Xinyang Pass. He rode to their aid and broke into the valley fight, leaving the reunited soldiers facing the approaching Di cavalry.

• Zhou Cang woke to learn his leg could not be reattached, while Qin Tiexin promised to provide for him and returned to the training camp.
• Qin Tiexin reported that Night Scouts had operated near Team A's mission site, and Li Zhenwei realized the squad they were sent to destroy was likely elite.
• Li Zhenwei sent Qin Tiexin ahead on Black Cloud while assembling light cavalry reinforcements.
• Qin Tiexin found Team A trapped in a valley as Di soldiers tried to smoke them out, then attacked the guards at the entrance.
• Shi Meng led Team A out of the valley during the commotion, and Qin Tiexin joined them as more Di cavalry approached.

Qin Tiexin joined Shi Meng’s squad and helped destroy the Night Scouts, then pursued and killed their fleeing leader, Helian Zhen. After Qin returned to Xinyang Pass, Helian Zheng learned of his nephew’s death and vowed revenge.

• Shi Meng formed Team A into an arrowhead formation with Qin Tiexin at its front, and the squad defeated the remaining Night Scouts.
• Helian Zhen fled on horseback, so Qin Tiexin summoned Black Cloud and pursued him while Shi Meng’s men cleared the battlefield.
• Qin Tiexin threw Edgeless and cut Helian Zhen in half before retrieving the weapon and carrying the corpse back toward Xinyang Pass.
• Qin Tiexin reported to Li Zhenwei, cared for Black Cloud, ate five men’s portions, and went to sleep.
• Helian Zheng examined Helian Zhen’s remains, learned that a burly Xuan soldier with an enormous saber had killed him, and swore revenge.