Chapter Summaries

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.

Qin Tiexin took charge of the Craftsmen's Camp, demonstrated his forging skill, and devised a weapon to counter Di cavalry. He recruited Zhou Nan as an apprentice and began refining the weapon while awaiting Team A's next mission.

• Zhou Nan cared for Zhou Cang and learned about smithing as Qin Tiexin returned and announced he would oversee the Craftsmen's Camp.
• Qin Tiexin forged a spearhead with exceptional skill, earning Master Liu's respect and the craftsmen's acceptance.
• Qin Tiexin proposed and built a long-handled sickle for hooking cavalry horses' legs, then demonstrated its force and explained how troops could use it against charging riders.
• Zhou Nan suggested reinforcing the weapon's socket, and Zhou Cang invited him to learn smithing from him and Qin Tiexin.
• Qin Tiexin and Zhou Nan improved the sickle's joint and discussed ways to reduce its weight as Qin Tiexin prepared for Team A's next mission.

Qin Tiexin trained to control Edgeless by channeling his strength through his whole body, then used what he had learned to defeat three mounted bandits during Team A’s scouting mission at Black Wind Ridge. He named the rough outlines of his new saber forms Mountain Collapse, Sever the Flow, and Return to Stillness.

• Qin Tiexin joined Team A’s recovery drills, where Shi Meng taught him to channel strength from his feet through his body and into his saber.
• Qin Tiexin practiced through the night, slowly learning to make Edgeless move as an extension of his arm.
• Shi Meng led Team A to Black Wind Ridge to scout the mounted bandits’ hideout and defenses.
• Three riders charged Qin Tiexin and Tu Dazhu, and Qin Tiexin disabled their horses and killed the third rider with three saber strokes.
• Qin Tiexin named his three rough saber forms Mountain Collapse, Sever the Flow, and Return to Stillness.

After burning a Di grain depot and defeating a cavalry band, Team A risked a dangerous ambush to rescue two captured scouts. They returned to Xinyang Pass wounded but together, and Li Zhenwei reminded Qin Tiexin that a comrade’s support made the fastest blade.

• Shi Meng led Team A on a night raid that burned the Di grain depot, and all ten men escaped unharmed.
• Team A routed about twenty Di horsemen, though Zhou Laowu, Zhang Shan, and Wang Meng suffered minor injuries.
• Shi Meng chose to rescue the two captured scouts at the beacon tower and split Team A between a southern feint and a northern cliff approach.
• The Di sprang an ambush after the scouts were freed, but Qin Tiexin and Tu Dazhu fought back to support Shi Meng and the others.
• Team A escaped down the cliff with the scouts, though every member was wounded and Wang Meng was badly cut.
• Li Zhenwei praised Qin Tiexin's saber work and told him that comrades protecting one another made the fastest blade.

Qin Tiexin helped refine and mass-produce Horse-Slaying Sickles as the Di forces advanced toward Xinyang Pass. At a council, Li Xun ordered preparations to counter the Iron Pagoda and Night Scouts, and Team A braced for the coming battle.

• Qin Tiexin, Zhou Cang, and Zhou Nan improved the Horse-Slaying Sickle, and Li Xun ordered production of five hundred sickles and ten thousand armor-piercing spikes before the first snow.
• Qin Tiexin became deputy steward of the Craftsmen's Camp as the second batch of sickles proved durable enough to sever nine to eleven test posts apiece.
• Li Xun told the officers that the Di forces were approaching Xinyang Pass with Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry and Night Scouts.
• Qin Tiexin proposed using trenches, chevaux-de-frise, spear formations, and Horse-Slaying Sickles against the Iron Pagoda, while Li Zhenwei offered elite squads to counter the Night Scouts.
• Li Xun ordered every camp to prepare for battle, and Shi Meng and Team A vowed to make the Di afraid.

Yelü Hongshan prepared a five-hundred-thousand-strong invasion of Great Xuan, while Li Xun deployed Xinyang Pass’s forces to meet the Northern Di army in the field. The battle began with the Iron Pagoda charging into Great Xuan’s defenses, and Qin Tiexin’s Team A fought isolated riders as the larger assault continued.

• Yelü Hongshan ordered the Northern Di tribes to march on Xinyang Pass in fifteen days, assigning the Iron Pagoda to lead the assault and Yelü Yun to accompany him.
• Li Xun learned that the Northern Di army numbered five hundred thousand and ordered trenches, traps, anti-cavalry weapons, and mobile squads prepared outside the pass.
• Qin Tiexin and the Craftsmen’s Camp completed five hundred horse-cutting scythes and ten thousand armor-piercing spikes for Great Xuan’s forces.
• Yelü Hongshan led the Northern Di army to attack Great Xuan’s field formation, sending the Iron Pagoda against its center and cavalry around its wings.
• Great Xuan’s scythe wielders brought down more than a hundred Iron Pagoda horses, but the remaining charge smashed into the heavy infantry and drove its formation back.
• Shi Meng led Team A against isolated Iron Pagoda riders, and Qin Tiexin fought alongside his squad as the battle worsened and the first snow began to fall.

Li Xun’s traps destroyed most of the Iron Pagoda, and he sent the Formation-Breaking Camp against the Northern Di cavalry as Yelü Hongshan committed fifty thousand riders to a desperate charge. As the battle raged, Night Scouts infiltrated Great Xuan’s rear, where Chen San sacrificed himself to let Zhao Ling carry the poisoned Li Shun to safety.

• Li Xun ordered crossbowmen to fire armor-piercing bolts at the stalled Iron Pagoda, and Helian Zheng escaped the valley ambush with fewer than two hundred riders.
• Li Xun sent the Formation-Breaking Camp forward and arranged side-shield wagons to funnel cavalry into narrow lanes guarded by heavy infantry.
• Yelü Hongshan ordered fifty thousand Northern Di cavalry to charge and rode into battle with Yelü Yun as the Formation-Breaking Camp fought them at the barricades.
• Night Scouts attacked Great Xuan’s rear, but Zhao Ling spotted them; Li Shun was poisoned while defending him.
• Chen San covered Zhao Ling’s retreat with the unconscious Li Shun and killed the last Night Scout, but died from his wounds.

After Chen San died and Li Shun was sent to the medical camp, Li Zhenwei led Team A behind enemy lines to destroy the Night Scouts’ posts and ambush Yelü Hongshan. The surviving four reached the final cliffside post and waited for the routed army to pass through the valley.

• Zhao Ling carried Li Shun to the medical camp, where medics treated his poisoned arrow wound, while Zhao Ling discovered he had also been hit and learned that Chen San had died.
• Li Zhenwei gathered Team A and explained their plan to destroy four Night Scouts command posts before ambushing Yelü Hongshan on his retreat route.
• The disguised team took the first post by surprise, then fought through the second post, where Zhang Shan died and Zhao Ziliang was left behind with a severe leg wound.
• At the third post, Zhou Laowu and Wang Meng died in an ambush, and Shi Meng stayed behind to fight as Li Zhenwei, Qin Tiexin, Lin Feng, and Tu Dazhu continued onward.
• The four survivors silently killed the two guards at the final post, concealed their bodies, and prepared to ambush Yelü Hongshan as the enemy army began to rout.

Yelü Hongshan’s Northern Di army was routed at Xinyang Pass after Li Xun’s Formation-Breaking Camp endured a brutal cavalry assault and decoy troops appeared on both flanks. Yelü Hongshan escaped north while Li Xun ordered a counterattack and pursuit, leaving the battle’s final outcome dependent on Zhenwei.

• Yelü Hongshan ordered the Northern Di cavalry to keep charging the Formation-Breaking Camp, even as its shield wall and coordinated weapons inflicted heavy losses.
• The Northern Di cavalry spread toward the flanks, and Li Xun signaled twenty thousand decoy troops to emerge and encircle them.
• Yelü Hongshan realized the flank troops wore fake armor, but panic had already spread and the Northern Di army broke into a general rout.
• Yelü Hongshan, Yelü Yun, and the army physician escaped north with Dugu Xiao and the Night Scouts.
• Li Xun ordered a full-front counterattack, instructed his troops to break up organized Northern Di units, and sent two thousand elite cavalry to pursue Yelü Hongshan.
• Li Xun watched the Great Xuan army advance and said the battle’s final tenth was up to Zhenwei.

Yelü Hongshan fled north with a dwindling escort while Brigade General Zhao's cavalry pursued, but Li Zhenwei and three companions ambushed him at Black Wind Valley. Li Zhenwei stayed behind to fight Helian Zheng, and both men died in their struggle, leaving Yelü Hongshan's fate to Qin Tiexin and the others.

• Yelü Hongshan ordered routed soldiers to serve as rearguards while he escaped Brigade General Zhao's cavalry, until only a few loyal followers remained with him.
• Dugu Zhao and the Night Scouts sacrificed themselves to delay Brigade General Zhao, giving Yelü Hongshan time to reach Black Wind Valley.
• Yelü Hongshan ignored Dugu Xiao's suggestion to rest at a cliff outpost, but Li Zhenwei, Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng ambushed the party in the valley.
• Helian Zheng blocked the pursuers so Yelü Hongshan could escape, and Li Zhenwei recognized him as the man who had killed his brother and lost an arm to him ten years earlier.
• Li Zhenwei let Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng pass, then killed Helian Zheng with his broken saber, but Helian Zheng mortally wounded him in return.
• As he died beside Helian Zheng, Li Zhenwei asked Qin Tiexin to finish the pursuit and said he had avenged Shitou.

Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng fought through Yelü Hongshan’s rearguard so Qin could continue the pursuit, but Lin Feng was left mortally wounded after killing Yelü Yun. A black-robed cultivator discovered Lin Feng’s rare Blood Baleful Intent Physique and carried him away to the Blood Baleful Intent Sect.

• Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng defeated Dugu Xiao with Lin Feng’s secret Law Technique, though Dugu Xiao severed Tu Dazhu’s left hand.
• Qin Tiexin and Lin Feng caught up with Yelü Yun, and Lin Feng used his Law Power to help Qin break through and continue pursuing Yelü Hongshan.
• Lin Feng used the Blood Burning Technique and a Blood Burning Pill to defeat Yelü Yun, then collapsed with a spear wound and failing meridians.
• A black-robed man collected Yelü Yun’s soul and recognized Lin Feng as possessing the Blood Baleful Intent Physique.
• The black-robed man immobilized Lin Feng and carried him away to the Blood Baleful Intent Sect.