Chapter Summaries

Qin Tiexin prepared to leave Ink City and join General Li’s Northern Army, settling his shop affairs and saying goodbye to his neighbors. After unlocking the blade designs in his artifact catalog, he began planning a custom saber for the journey.

• Qin Tiexin visited his master's graves, explained why he planned to join the army, and promised to return to the shop once he had learned new skills.
• Qin Tiexin asked Veteran Hu for military advice, then ordered protective armor, boots, winter clothing, and provisions while paying five years of shop management fees in advance.
• Qin Tiexin gave Aunt Wang the shop key and informed his neighbors he was leaving, then repaired their tools for free as a farewell.
• Zhao Ming watched Qin Tiexin's farewell repairs and wrongly concluded that his family had driven Qin out of business.
• Qin Tiexin packed his gear and found that repairing ten different blades had unlocked the catalog's basic blade design repository.
• Qin Tiexin used the Virtual Realm's Forging Hall to experiment with saber designs and forging techniques before planning to forge a custom saber.

Qin Tiexin began forging a massive saber around the mysterious black iron, combining it with cold scale iron, phoenix beak copper, and refined iron. After an exhausting night, he successfully fused and shaped the materials into a rough six-foot blade blank, leaving it to anneal before the final simulation and quenching.

• Qin Tiexin examined the mysterious black iron and sensed that it had changed and craved iron, then chose it as the core of his saber.
• Qin Tiexin arranged the black iron, cold scale iron, phoenix beak copper, and refined iron into a composite blank and heated it in the furnace.
• Qin Tiexin hammered the glowing blank through the night, guiding the strange materials as they fused, while Zhao Ming and the neighbors watched and wondered at the noise and lights.
• Qin Tiexin forged the fused blank into a massive slab, then rested briefly and shaped it into a broad, slightly curved saber blank over six feet long.
• Qin Tiexin cleaned the blade blank, buried it in fine sand to anneal, and collapsed from exhaustion, planning a final simulation for quenching as the sun rose with two days remaining.

Qin Tiexin woke after forging a massive black saber, Edgeless, and discovered that its strange hardness and possessive nature made it nearly impossible to sharpen. After preparing his gear and paying his respects to his master, he waited for General Li’s arrival the next day.

• Soot Alley residents worried about Qin Tiexin after hearing his forging through the night, while Carpenter Zhang assured them he was only exhausted; Zhao Ming mistakenly assumed Qin was leaving and prepared to buy his shop cheaply.
• Qin Tiexin woke ravenous and sore, then inspected the cooled saber blank and found it exceptionally heavy, almost entirely black, and faintly warm.
• Qin Tiexin fitted Edgeless with a guard and sandalwood hilt, then tried to sharpen it, but the blade barely marked while the grindstone and whetstone wore away.
• Qin Tiexin sensed that Edgeless resisted losing any of its material, so he accepted that it would remain blunt and named it Edgeless.
• Qin Tiexin checked his travel supplies, placed his silver in his pack, paid his respects at his master’s memorial tablet, and prepared for General Li to arrive the next day.

Zhao Xuan returned to Ink City and discovered that Qin Tiexin had gained the protection of General Li Zhenwei, ruining his plan to seize the blacksmith shop. Determined to stop Qin Tiexin from leaving with the army, Zhao Xuan began considering a covert scheme to make him miss his appointment.

• Zhao Xuan returned to Ink City and learned from Zhao Ming that Qin Tiexin appeared ready to leave and join the army.
• Zhao Xuan forced Zhao Ming to reveal that Qin Tiexin had repaired a soldier’s saber, which had cut through the Heavenly Craft Workshop’s spear, and that Zhao Ming had paid to suppress the incident.
• Zhao Xuan went to the county yamen and learned from Wang Mingyuan that Qin Tiexin had paid his fine and that General Li Zhenwei had intervened on his behalf.
• Wang Mingyuan warned Zhao Xuan not to pursue Qin Tiexin, and Zhao Xuan left knowing the shop could no longer be seized through official pressure.
• Zhao Xuan decided to prevent Qin Tiexin from leaving with Li Zhenwei and turned toward a locked chest of disreputable items, intending to make Qin Tiexin ill temporarily.

Zhao Ming failed to persuade Qin Tiexin to give up his shop, so Zhao Xuan planned to poison him and waited to strike as Qin practiced. The chapter ended with Zhao Xuan poised to shoot the needle, while Li Zhenwei sensed danger and reached for his saber.

• Zhao Xuan ordered Zhao Ming to offer Qin Tiexin one thousand taels and promise him a new shop in exchange for leaving his blacksmith shop in their care.
• Qin Tiexin refused Zhao Ming's offer, insisting he would lock his master's shop while away and keep it for his return.
• After Zhao Ming's failure, Zhao Xuan prepared a poisoned needle and planned to make Qin too ill to leave with General Li.
• Qin Tiexin began his morning body-tempering practice with Edgeless and found the heavy saber made the exercises more effective.
• Zhao Xuan hid on the roof and readied his poisoned needle as Qin began his final cycle, while Li Zhenwei arrived at the alley and sensed danger.

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.