Recaps

Zhang Qingyuan used the crowd of bounty hunters to test the Taiji Fist he had created during his seclusion at the Taiyin Dao Palace. After defeating them, he paid a nearby couple to dispose of the bodies and continued on his way with Baolai.

• Zhang Qingyuan faced more than fifty attackers without drawing his sword and began practicing slow, unfamiliar fist movements.
• Zhang Qingyuan evaded Zhu Xiaoliang’s swift saber slash, struck him with palm force, and used the attackers’ own strength and weapons against them.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained that he had created Taiji Fist and continued fighting, defeating the attackers with one strike each.
• Zhang Qingyuan opened his eyes to find the crowd sprawled on the ground, with seven or eight dead.
• Zhang Qingyuan gave the husband and wife fifty-five taels to dispose of the bodies and warned the survivors not to send weaker fighters after him.
• Zhang Qingyuan packed his bundle, took Baolai’s lead, and walked away beneath the stars.

Zhang Qingyuan encountered famine in Kaifeng Prefecture and spent the wealth he had looted to buy grain and distribute porridge, but he could not save a starving child. The tragedy led him to decide to make money by pursuing the martial world’s bounties.

• Zhang Qingyuan heard that Yang Chen had lost to Li Qinglian, the Thousand Eagle Devil Master had killed Grandmasters, and drought had devastated Kaifeng Prefecture.
• After passing through famine-stricken villages and dealing with bandits, Zhang Qingyuan sold the Black Lotus Sect’s stolen valuables for 4,800 taels.
• Zhang Qingyuan bought grain and had porridge cooked for the disaster victims, adding sand to discourage impostors from taking food.
• Zhang Qingyuan brought porridge to a starving mother and child, but learned the boy had already died.
• Zhang Qingyuan resolved to pursue the bounties on the martial world’s criminals to raise money.

During the Kaifeng drought, Zhang Qingyuan joined forces with the charitable grain merchant Tang Jie after learning bandits had seized Tang’s grain shipment. He set out alone to recover it from Listening Wind Stronghold.

• Zhang Qingyuan continued feeding disaster victims with grain bought using 4,800 taels, stretching supplies by mixing rice with bran and husks.
• Zhang Qingyuan met Tang Jie, who explained that his family’s grain prices had stayed steady and that he was running out of supplies.
• Tang Jie told Zhang Qingyuan that Chang Lai and more than a hundred bandits at Listening Wind Stronghold had seized two hundred thousand shi of grain.
• Zhang Qingyuan offered to retrieve the grain and demonstrated his strength by cutting a hitching post in two with Sword Qi.
• Tang Jie sent several dozen workers with horse carts, and Zhang Qingyuan set off toward the stronghold with them.

Zhang Qingyuan encountered a wealthy young master and his two skilled guards on the way to Listening Wind Stronghold, where he planned to recover stolen grain. After learning that the Dragon Gate backed the bandits, Zhang Qingyuan sought the young master's help and was asked whether one guard would be enough.

• Tang Zhong stopped the carriage ten li from Whistle Mountain, and Zhang Qingyuan continued toward Listening Wind Stronghold alone.
• Zhang Qingyuan overheard a wealthy young master arguing with Old Five and Old Seven about grain stolen by the stronghold, then revealed himself when the guards sensed him.
• The young master explained that the Dragon Gate backed the stronghold and was exploiting the disaster by stealing grain and selling it at high prices.
• Zhang Qingyuan proposed teaming up with the young master's guards to recover their stolen grain, but Old Five refused to leave the young master's side.
• The young master asked Zhang Qingyuan whether one guard would be enough, and Zhang Qingyuan looked toward Old Seven.

Zhang Qingyuan persuaded Zhu Zizhao, an imperial relative, to join him in attacking the bandits and reclaiming their grain. As they approached the mountain, Old Seven secretly eliminated the sentries, leaving Zhang Qingyuan to show what he could do next.

• Zhang Qingyuan said he could take on the bandits while Old Seven held off the Dragon Lord, and Old Seven promised to kill the Dragon Lord if given an opening.
• Zhu Zizhao agreed to go with Zhang Qingyuan and introduced himself as an imperial relative from the capital, traveling with household guards Old Five and Old Seven.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Zhu Zizhao discussed the hardships of roaming the jianghu and their own hopes for the future.
• As the group neared the mountainside, Old Seven left to deal with the bandits' sentries while Old Five protected Zhu Zizhao.
• Old Seven returned with blood on his sword and confirmed that all twelve guard posts and hidden sentries had been dealt with, and Zhu Zizhao challenged Zhang Qingyuan to prove himself.

Zhang Qingyuan and Zhu Zizhao confronted Listening Wind Stronghold over the stolen grain, and Zhang cut down the bandits who attacked them. He demanded the grain from Chang Lai and the Dragon Lord, but they refused, so Zhang drew his sword again.

• Zhu Zizhao identified Chang Feng at the stronghold gate, and Chang Feng defended the bandits’ claim that they were providing disaster relief.
• Zhang Qingyuan forced his way into the stronghold and killed the bandit squad that charged at him with the Twelve Immortal-Slaying Forms.
• Chang Lai and the Dragon Lord arrived with reinforcements and found their men dead.
• Zhang Qingyuan demanded the grain taken from Dingfeng County, but the Dragon Lord and Chang Lai refused to return it.
• Zhang Qingyuan raised his sword and attacked.

Zhang Qingyuan and Old Seven cut through the Dragon Lord’s forces, then faced the Dragon Lord’s Golden Bell Shield. Zhang Qingyuan found a way past the shield and struck the Dragon Lord in a humiliating weak spot.

• Zhang Qingyuan fought through the bandits while Old Seven clashed with the Dragon Lord’s assassins, and Chang Feng and Chang Lai joined the attack.
• The Chang brothers tried to exhaust Zhang Qingyuan, but his True Qi kept replenishing as he killed the men surrounding him.
• Chang Feng and Chang Lai attacked Zhang Qingyuan together, but he killed both brothers after evading their coordinated blows.
• Old Seven defeated the Dragon Lord’s assassins, and Zhang Qingyuan’s sword failed to pierce the Dragon Lord’s Golden Bell Shield.
• Old Seven targeted the Dragon Lord’s lower body while Zhang Qingyuan devised a trick and stabbed him from behind with a sword.

Zhang Qingyuan defeated the Dragon Lord by stabbing him through the backside, then tortured him for information about the Dragon Gate’s powerful backer. The Dragon Lord finally confessed that Kaifeng Prefecture’s prefect, Liu Xiangquan, was behind the sect.

• Zhang Qingyuan defeated the Dragon Lord by stabbing him through the backside, shocking Zhu Zizhao and the others.
• Zhang Qingyuan stopped Old Seven from killing the Dragon Lord and demanded to know who backed the Dragon Gate.
• The Dragon Lord denied having a backer, so Zhang Qingyuan used pebbles to make the sword wound more painful.
• Zhu Zizhao agreed that the Dragon Lord deserved punishment for profiting from the national calamity and urged him to talk.
• The Dragon Lord asked for a quick death and secrecy about how he died, then revealed that Liu Xiangquan, the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, backed the Dragon Gate.

Zhang Qingyuan returned from Whistle Mountain after defeating the bandits, rejoining the Tang Household’s workers and Zhu Zizhao. Zhu Zizhao proposed gathering evidence against corrupt Prefect Liu Xiangquan and appealing to the emperor, and Zhang Qingyuan agreed to help.

• Tang Zhong mistook the lookout’s report that people were coming down the mountain for a warning that bandits were approaching, so the workers began fleeing in their wagons.
• Zhang Qingyuan caught up with the wagons, revealed that he had dealt with the bandits, and explained the misunderstanding when the lookout arrived with three more people.
• Tang Zhong and the workers turned their wagons around and headed back up the mountain to haul grain.
• Zhu Zizhao told Zhang Qingyuan he wanted to gather evidence against Prefect Liu Xiangquan and take it to the emperor.
• Zhang Qingyuan asked about Zhu Zizhao’s family status, then agreed to join his plan after Zhu said his family was among the greatest under heaven.

Zhang Qingyuan and Zhu Zizhao discovered that Liu Xiangquan had stockpiled enormous quantities of stolen grain to win control over Kaifeng’s disaster victims and raise a rebellion. They sent urgent warnings to the capital, while Zhang Qingyuan and Zhu Zizhao suspected Liu Xiangquan had a powerful backer.

• Zhang Qingyuan, Zhu Zizhao, and Tang Zhong found a valley filled with grain stolen from merchants by Listening Wind Stronghold.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Zhu Zizhao realized Liu Xiangquan had gathered the grain to feed disaster victims and use them to build an army.
• Zhu Zizhao concluded that Liu Xiangquan planned to rebel and ordered Old Seven to stop the imperial commissioner carrying relief grain.
• Zhu Zizhao wrote a blood letter for Old Five to deliver directly to the emperor or crown prince, then asked Zhang Qingyuan to protect him.
• After Old Five and Old Seven left, Zhang Qingyuan pointed out that Liu Xiangquan might have hidden lookouts, and Zhu Zizhao wondered whether someone was backing him.

Zhang Qingyuan helped run a disaster-relief station and explained microorganisms to Zhu Zizhao, while learning that rumors had named him Great Emperor Zhenwu reincarnated. Worried the exaggerated fame would draw Liu Xiangquan’s powerful allies after him, he confronted Tang Zhong, then unexpectedly met the woman he called his wife.

• Tang Jie arranged grain transport and opened a relief station with Dingfeng County, where Zhang Qingyuan helped care for fifty thousand disaster victims and prevent illness.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained microorganisms and disease to Zhu Zizhao while serving porridge.
• Zhu Zizhao told Zhang Qingyuan that people across Dingfeng County believed he was Great Emperor Zhenwu reincarnated, and Zhang Qingyuan feared the rumor would provoke Liu Xiangquan.
• Zhang Qingyuan discovered that Tang Zhong had started the rumor after believing Zhang Qingyuan alone had defeated the bandits of Listening Wind Stronghold.
• As Zhang Qingyuan considered fleeing, the young Daoist woman he had longed for appeared, and he greeted her as his wife.

The Prince of Yu learned that Zhang Qingyuan had destroyed Listening Wind Stronghold and taken its grain, disrupting his plan to rally disaster victims for a rebellion. Urged on by Xiahou Jue of the Heavenly Principle Sect, the prince resolved to move quickly and ordered Dragon Gate experts to kill Zhang Qingyuan, while waiting for the emperor to die.

• Liu Xiangquan reported to the Prince of Yu that Zhang Qingyuan had wiped out Listening Wind Stronghold and distributed its grain to disaster victims.
• The Prince of Yu learned that Zhang Qingyuan had killed the stronghold’s defenders and that people were calling him Great Emperor Zhenwu descended to the mortal world.
• The Prince of Yu concluded that the loss of the granary had exposed his plans and ordered Liu Xiangquan to send Dragon Gate experts to kill Zhang Qingyuan.
• After Liu Xiangquan left, Xiahou Jue encouraged the Prince of Yu to seize the chance created by the drought and the court’s instability.
• The Prince of Yu admitted the rebellion was rushed but remained resolved, while Xiahou Jue said the emperor would die within another day or two.

Zhang Qingyuan reunited with Li Qiuran, who warned him that the Prince of Yu was conspiring with the Heavenly Principle Sect to rebel. After learning that his destruction of Listening Wind Stronghold had made him a target, Zhang Qingyuan followed Li Qiuran as she left.

• Zhang Qingyuan welcomed Li Qiuran to the Tang Household courtyard and teased her about coming to see him.
• Li Qiuran confirmed that Zhang Qingyuan had wiped out Listening Wind Stronghold and revealed that the prefect was backed by the Prince of Yu.
• Li Qiuran explained that the Prince of Yu was cooperating with the Heavenly Principle Sect, whose leader Xiahou Jue wanted to raise the sect's standing.
• Zhu Zizhao joined them and explained that the Prince of Yu had seemed so mild and unassuming that people scarcely remembered he was in Kaifeng.
• Li Qiuran warned Zhang Qingyuan that the Prince of Yu would target him and offered to protect him; she then left, and Zhang Qingyuan followed after her.

Zhang Qingyuan cooked for Li Qiuran, prepared sharpened wooden sticks to counter the Dragon Gate’s body-tempering experts, and insisted she rest while he kept watch. Three quiet days passed as he continued disaster relief and flirted with her; on the fourth night, he sensed the full-moon evening was ripe for danger.

• Zhang Qingyuan served Li Qiuran a home-cooked meal, and she relaxed enough to accept his attention and pour him tea.
• Zhang Qingyuan sharpened wooden sticks as weapons against Dragon Gate experts, explaining that he had discovered how to break external body-tempering arts.
• Zhang Qingyuan gave Li Qiuran a new quilt and persuaded her to sleep while he kept watch, promising to help her seek revenge.
• Zhang Qingyuan spent the night cultivating, then continued providing disaster relief and courting Li Qiuran over the next three peaceful days.
• On the fourth night, Zhang Qingyuan wondered why Zhu Zizhao had been away so much and remarked that the cloudy, moonlit night was suited to murder and arson.

Li Qiuran and Zhang Qingyuan waited uneasily through the night, and Zhang Qingyuan invited her to join him in Taihang Mountain after their affairs in Kaifeng were settled. Their moment was interrupted by a group of black-robed fighters, whom Zhang Qingyuan confronted with profane insults before challenging them to attack.

• Li Qiuran offered to keep watch, but Zhang Qingyuan said he was alert and claimed his martial arts had made him invincible below Grandmaster.
• Zhang Qingyuan invited Li Qiuran to Taihang Mountain, and she bashfully refused.
• A short black-robed man used a sonic technique to laugh at Zhang Qingyuan and Li Qiuran from a nearby rooftop.
• Zhang Qingyuan countered the laughter by shouting obscenities, leaving the black-robed group stunned.
• The short man identified Zhang Qingyuan and threatened him, and Zhang Qingyuan challenged the group to come after him.

Zhang Qingyuan lured the Heavenly Principle Sect and Dragon Gate experts out of the city, where he trapped the Dragon Gate fighters with a prepared pit and poisonous smoke. With those enemies disabled, he and Li Qiuran faced the six remaining Daoists, and Li Qiuran demanded to know whether they had helped destroy the Heavenly Yin Mysterious Maiden Pavilion.

• Zhang Qingyuan grabbed Li Qiuran and fled the city, using his modified Ascending the Clouds lightness art to evade the pursuing Heavenly Principle Sect and Dragon Gate experts.
• In the forest, Zhang Qingyuan pretended he was too exhausted to keep fighting while Li Qiuran refused to leave him behind.
• Dragon Master accused Zhang Qingyuan of killing Dragon Lord and led the Dragon Gate fighters in an attack.
• The Dragon Gate fighters fell into Zhang Qingyuan’s concealed pit, where wooden spikes, falling logs, and poisonous smoke disabled them.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained his trap and prepared to fight the six remaining Heavenly Principle Sect Daoists, while Li Qiuran asked if they had a hand in destroying the Heavenly Yin Mysterious Maiden Pavilion.
• Daoist Yang answered Li Qiuran’s question with a knowing smile.

Zhang Qingyuan used Taiji and the Jade Purity Lotus Step to defeat the Heavenly Principle Sect fighters while Li Qiuran finished off the Vajras. Afterward, Zhang Qingyuan confronted the trapped Dragon Lord and demanded to know the Prince of Yu’s plans and how many experts remained at his side.

• Zhang Qingyuan evaded attacks from four Heavenly Principle Sect protectors while Li Qiuran fought three opponents nearby.
• Zhang Qingyuan used Taiji to redirect Daoist Qian’s Blazing Sun Palm into Daoist Yang, then killed Daoist Qian with the Questioning Heart Sword.
• Zhang Qingyuan killed Daoist Kun and, with Li Qiuran’s help, defeated Daoist Yin; Li Qiuran had already defeated the two Heavenly Principle Sect Vajras.
• Zhang Qingyuan removed the logs covering the poisoned pit and found many trapped fighters dead or too weak to move.
• Zhang Qingyuan offered the Dragon Lord a fair duel, then asked what the Prince of Yu was planning and how many experts were with him.

After learning of the Prince of Yu’s planned march on the capital, Zhang Qingyuan confronted Zhu Zizhao and revealed that he knew he was the ninth prince, Zhu Qizhao. Zhang Qingyuan challenged Zhu Qizhao’s claim that he wanted no part in the succession struggle and demanded to hear his plan to become emperor.

• Zhang Qingyuan reflected on the drought, the suffering commoners, and the princes’ fight for the throne.
• Zhu Zizhao visited Zhang Qingyuan with steamed buns and was punched after boasting about Zhang’s victory over the Heavenly Principle Sect and Dragon Gate.
• Zhang Qingyuan argued that common people upheld a sovereign’s authority, then asked Zhu Zizhao whether he was the Prince of Jin or the ninth prince.
• Zhang Qingyuan revealed that the Prince of Yu was gathering disaster victims and weapons to march on the capital, based on information he had extracted from Long Qi.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained that he had identified Zhu Zizhao as the ninth prince, Zhu Qizhao, and rejected his claim that he only wanted a carefree life.
• Zhang Qingyuan demanded that Zhu Qizhao explain his plan to become emperor and asked whether Old Five and Old Seven had gone north to seek General Huang’s help.

Zhang Qingyuan agreed to help Zhu Qizhao oppose the Prince of Yu, whose rebellion threatened Kaifeng’s disaster victims. He proposed gathering the starving people with Tang Jie’s grain and recruiting mountain bandits, then asked Zhu Qizhao to explain why he wanted the throne.

• Zhang Qingyuan told Zhu Qizhao he was helping the disaster victims, not the imperial family, and Zhu Qizhao accepted his apology for the punch.
• Zhu Qizhao explained that Xiahou Jue had approached him before turning to the Prince of Yu, and that his Listening Tide Pavilion had tracked their movements.
• Zhu Qizhao revealed that the Prince of Yu was recruiting troops and stockpiling grain in Kaifeng, while Zhu Qizhao had sent his Twelve Guards away to seek General Huang’s support.
• Zhang Qingyuan proposed that Zhu Qizhao attract disaster victims with grain from Tang Jie and arm recruits with weapons from nearby mountain strongholds.
• Zhu Qizhao assured Zhang Qingyuan that General Huang would come, and Zhang Qingyuan urged him to establish a righteous cause through the Listening Tide Pavilion.
• Zhu Qizhao said he wanted to become emperor because he believed the current rulers treated the common people badly.

The Prince of Yu prepared to rebel after learning the emperor had died, while Zhu Qizhao and Tang Jie organized support and Zhang Qingyuan fought bandits. When the Prince of Yu announced his rebellion, Xiahou Jue discovered that rumors had branded the prince a demonic dragon responsible for Yu Prefecture’s drought.

• After Zhang Qingyuan’s twenty attackers were wiped out, the Prince of Yu set aside revenge and focused on gathering troops, learning that 120,000 to 130,000 men could be ready in five days.
• Xiahou Jue told the Prince of Yu that the emperor had died, and the prince’s allies planned to exploit the succession struggle and spread their message across the realm.
• Tang Jie committed his family fortune to supporting Zhu Qizhao, while Zhang Qingyuan led men to clear nearby bandit strongholds and shared advice on governing with Zhu Qizhao.
• Zhang Qingyuan refused Zhu Qizhao’s offer to become Imperial Preceptor, saying he wanted to establish a Daoist sect and remain friends if Zhu Qizhao became emperor.
• Six days later, news of the emperor’s death and the succession struggle spread; the Prince of Yu declared rebellion.
• Xiahou Jue received a report that people were calling the Prince of Yu a demonic dragon responsible for Yu Prefecture’s drought, and realized the prince had become the target of the rumors he had meant to direct at his rivals.

Zhu Qizhao marched south to overthrow Zhu Qizhen and the Prince of Yu, while his rivals struggled to rally forces and press on toward Nanjing. The Prince of Yu refused to surrender, and Zhu Qizhao explained that he had rejected Xiahou Jue’s offer because he disliked his black robes.

• Zhu Qizhao began marching south with the Rebellion-Quelling Army, backed by public opinion that blamed Zhu Qizhen and the Prince of Yu for treachery and rebellion.
• Zhu Qizhen discovered that the Three Great Camps had only a little over ten thousand troops and ordered their commanders to recover the stolen military pay and defend against the Prince of Yu.
• Zhu Qizhen sent Jing Wencai to summon General Wang Biao from the southern frontier and agreed to all of Wang Biao’s conditions.
• Liu Xiangquan urged the Prince of Yu to surrender after hearing that Zhu Qizhao had marched and Huang Ze’s hundred-thousand-man army had crossed the Yellow River, but the Prince of Yu ordered his army to keep advancing.
• Xiahou Jue regretted that Zhu Qizhao had rejected his offer, while Zhang Qingyuan asked why Zhu Qizhao had refused to work with him.
• Zhu Qizhao told Zhang Qingyuan that Xiahou Jue’s black robes had made him seem unrespectable, and the two joked that his rejection came down to appearances.

Zhu Qizhao defeated the Prince of Yu, took the throne, and rewarded his allies while Zhang Qingyuan searched for Xiahou Jue and secured an imperial title. Zhang learned that Xiahou Jue had been captured, then asked the Listening Tide Pavilion who had destroyed Cloud Dust Manor and framed him.

• Zhu Qizhao and General Huang retook Nanjing, and the Prince of Yu killed himself on the throne after his army surrendered.
• Zhu Qizhao and the Crown Prince staged a reluctant succession, and the ministers urged Zhu Qizhao to become emperor.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Li Qiuran searched for Xiahou Jue, and Old Three reported that he had fled south and been captured near Mount Niushou.
• Zhu Qizhao appointed the Twelve Guards as the Dragon Protection Clan, rewarded General Huang and Tang Jie, and granted Zhang Qingyuan the title Dao Lord of True Martiality and the post of Imperial City Attendant.
• Zhang Qingyuan asked Old Three who had destroyed Cloud Dust Manor and framed him, and Old Three asked whether he had heard of the Star River Sect.

After Xiahou Jue revealed that another culprit behind the destruction of the Heavenly Yin Mysterious Maiden Pavilion was cultivating at Shaolin, Li Qiuran tried to go there for revenge, but Zhang Qingyuan calmed her and promised to help her later. They rode toward Taihang Mountain to settle accounts with the Star River Sect, but a sudden streak of Sword Qi interrupted them.

• After Zhu Qizhao's enthronement, Zhang Qingyuan and Li Qiuran visited the imprisoned Xiahou Jue, who confessed that one of the Pavilion's destroyers was cultivating at Shaolin Temple.
• Li Qiuran insisted on going to Shaolin immediately, but Zhang Qingyuan warned that she was not strong enough and comforted her as she mourned her master and the lost Pavilion.
• Zhang Qingyuan promised to help Li Qiuran take revenge once he reached the Supreme Peak, and the two resumed their journey toward Taihang Mountain to confront the Star River Sect.
• Zhang Qingyuan advised Li Qiuran to set aside her hatred and calm her mind so her martial arts could improve, then teased her until she attacked him with Cold Ice Palm.
• As Zhang Qingyuan and Li Qiuran clashed palms, a streak of Sword Qi sliced between them, forcing Zhang Qingyuan to turn toward the unseen attacker.

Yang Chen, the Starlight Sword Master, challenged Zhang Qingyuan to a duel to claim a higher place on the Young Heroes Ranking, and the fight turned deadly. Zhang Qingyuan outmaneuvered Yang Chen and struck him from behind, leaving Yang Chen wounded and the duel’s outcome settled.

• Yang Chen introduced himself as the Starlight Sword Master and challenged Zhang Qingyuan, saying he wanted to test his reputation and climb the Young Heroes Ranking.
• Li Qiuran explained the Martial Arts Alliance’s rankings while Zhang Qingyuan questioned their authority and criticized Yang Chen for launching a potentially lethal attack without warning.
• Yang Chen declared that their duel would decide who lived and who died, and Zhang Qingyuan drew the Questioning Heart Sword to face him.
• Yang Chen’s Starlight Swordsmanship overwhelmed Zhang Qingyuan, who defended through more than a hundred exchanges as Li Qiuran watched anxiously.
• Yang Chen unleashed Brilliant Star River, but Zhang Qingyuan used a deliberately exposed opening to counter the repeated technique and stab Yang Chen from behind.

After defeating Yang Chen, Zhang Qingyuan buried him, found no manual, and gave the Starlight Sword to Li Qiuran while explaining how he had read and countered Yang Chen’s predictable swordplay. As they rode on, Li Qiuran studied the sword and discovered that its patterns revealed the Starlight Swordsmanship manual.

• Zhang Qingyuan buried Yang Chen and found only a little silver, with no sword manual or cultivation method.
• Zhang Qingyuan handed the Starlight Sword to Li Qiuran, who thanked him for the treasured weapon.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained that his Lotus Steps let him dodge Yang Chen’s strike and that he had learned to predict Yang Chen’s repeated sequence of sword moves.
• Zhang Qingyuan taught Li Qiuran that a skilled fighter could make even ordinary swordsmanship formidable by using it flexibly.
• Li Qiuran studied the Starlight Sword’s patterns as they rode and realized they contained the Starlight Swordsmanship manual.