Chapter Summaries

Murong Fu fought the Martial Command Office soldiers, killed Helian Tieshu, and was trapped by their formation. Xu Xiao persuaded Qiao Feng to help bring the martial world under Great Song’s control, leaving Qiao Feng bound for Shaolin and tasked with breaking up the martial organizations within two months.

• Murong Fu used Star Shifting to throw two Western Xia riders into a volley of crossbow bolts, then killed Helian Tieshu and revealed himself as a Great Song spy.
• Murong Fu tried to break through the Martial Command Office soldiers, but their disciplined formation kept him surrounded as Xu Xiao and Qiao Feng watched.
• Qiao Feng told Xu Xiao that the soldiers’ formation made escape nearly impossible, and Xu Xiao explained his plan to unite the martial world for Great Song.
• Xu Xiao praised Qiao Feng regardless of his Khitan origins and said they would next go to Shaolin, where Qiao Feng could settle his grievances.
• Xu Xiao ordered Qiao Feng to dismantle Great Song’s established martial organizations and recruit their best members within two months, and Qiao Feng accepted.

After Murong Fu's death, Xu Xiao continued his campaign to bring the jianghu under the Martial Command Office's control. Duan Yanqing led Xu Xiao's forces to Ding Chunqiu, whom they trapped inside a burning inn and waited to capture.

• Xu Xiao ordered the Western Xia First-Class Hall's dead burned and increased compensation for the Martial Command Office's fallen and wounded.
• The Martial Command Office began absorbing the Beggar Clan in Hebei, and Xu Xiao's party traveled toward Henan.
• Duan Yanqing met Xu Xiao and reported that Ding Chunqiu had returned to the Central Plains; Xu Xiao agreed to pursue him in exchange for promised information.
• Duan Yanqing tracked Ding Chunqiu to an inn where the Xingxiu Sect was staying.
• Xu Xiao's soldiers surrounded the inn, fired volleys of arrows, and threw in jars of oil before setting the building ablaze with flaming arrows.
• Ding Chunqiu was trapped in the raging fire as the Martial Command Office's soldiers waited outside with crossbows.

Xu Xiao’s forces captured Ding Chunqiu after Qiao Feng and Wu 1 ambushed him as he escaped a fire. Back at the mansion, Xu Xiao began telling Duan Yanqing the truth he had been waiting to learn, leaving the revelation unfinished.

• The Martial Command Office set fire to flush Ding Chunqiu out, and he threw poisonous powder toward the soldiers as he escaped.
• Qiao Feng dispersed the poison while Wu 1 attacked Ding Chunqiu, and together they wounded him and pierced his limbs with a spear.
• Wu 1 sealed Ding Chunqiu’s mute acupoint, bound him, and took him to the city lodgings under guard.
• Xu Xiao asked Duan Yanqing about his old injuries, then promised to explain the matter Duan Yanqing had hoped to learn.
• Xu Xiao said Duan Zhengming’s family had taken Duan Yanqing’s throne and that Duan Zhengchun had wronged many men, then began recounting what had happened in the past.

Xu Xiao told Duan Yanqing the truth about Duan Yu and sent him to Dali with a warning for its ruling clans. The next day, Xu Xiao’s party arrived at Deaf-Mute Valley with the captive Ding Chunqiu, and Su Xinghe agreed to inform Wuyazi of their visit.

• Xu Xiao told Duan Yanqing that Duan Yu would become emperor of Dali, and Duan Yanqing vowed to seek out his child.
• Xu Xiao ordered Duan Yanqing to tell the Gao Clan and Duan Clan to submit, then let him leave.
• Xu Xiao received his returning subordinates and decided to bring Ding Chunqiu to Wuyazi as a gift.
• The Martial Command Office party reached Deaf-Mute Valley, where Wu 1 told Su Xinghe they had come to visit Wuyazi.
• Su Xinghe recognized the bound Ding Chunqiu and nearly struck him, but Wu 1 stopped him.
• Su Xinghe agreed to alert Wuyazi, and Wu 1 sent an attendant to tell Xu Xiao the way was clear.

Xu Xiao brought Wang Yuyan to meet her grandfather, Wuyazi, at Mount Leigu, using their family connection and his knowledge of the Northern Darkness Divine Art to win Wuyazi’s trust. The meeting ended with Wuyazi joyfully welcoming his granddaughter, while Xu Xiao prepared to seek his guidance in Carefree Sect martial arts.

• Xu Xiao sent A Zhu and A Bi to enjoy the mountains and took Wang Yuyan into the valley to meet her grandfather.
• Su Xinghe recognized Xu Xiao’s Northern Darkness Divine Art and was startled by Wang Yuyan’s resemblance to Li Qiushui.
• Xu Xiao killed Ding Chunqiu, carried his head as a gift, and broke through the hidden entrance to Wuyazi’s chamber.
• Wuyazi mistook Wang Yuyan for Li Qiushui at first, then learned she was his granddaughter and joyfully welcomed her.
• Xu Xiao reassured Wang Yuyan and planned to use their family bond to gain Wuyazi’s knowledge and guidance.

Wang Yuyan reunited with her grandfather Wuyazi and introduced Xu Xiao as her husband. After Xu Xiao presented Ding Chunqiu’s severed head and asked for Wuyazi’s help, Wuyazi recognized Xu Xiao’s Northern Darkness Divine Art.

• Wang Yuyan spent half an hour telling Wuyazi about her family and introduced Xu Xiao as her husband.
• Wuyazi examined Xu Xiao’s internal cultivation and praised it as among the best in the world.
• Xu Xiao presented Ding Chunqiu’s head, and Wuyazi rejoiced that his old enemy had been killed.
• Wuyazi asked Xu Xiao what he wanted in return for avenging him, and Xu Xiao displayed his internal energy.
• Wuyazi recognized the Northern Darkness Divine Art and asked Xu Xiao where he had learned it.

Xu Xiao sought Wuyazi’s guidance after reaching a limit in his Northern Darkness Divine Art cultivation. Wuyazi made him head of the Carefree Sect and prepared to reveal its greatest secret, sending Wang Yuyan away first.

• Xu Xiao explained that he had learned the Northern Darkness Divine Art about a month earlier and absorbed his Internal Energy from martial-world enemies.
• Wuyazi recognized that Xu Xiao had reached a cultivation bottleneck and said he could offer a line of thought, though he did not know the solution himself.
• Wuyazi described the Carefree Sect’s four inheritors and explained that their separate arts did not represent the sect’s true essence.
• Wuyazi offered Xu Xiao the position of sect leader, and Xu Xiao accepted, promising to restore the sect’s greatness.
• Wuyazi passed Xu Xiao the Seven-Treasure Ring after Xu Xiao swore his oath, officially making him the Carefree Sect’s new head.
• Wuyazi sent Wang Yuyan to wait in an empty room before revealing the secret reserved for the sect leader.

Wuyazi explained the origins of Carefree Wind Riding and revealed that its cultivation could lead to immortality, though the world’s Spiritual Qi had become scarce. Xu Xiao learned the art’s three-stage method and was left eager to pursue it.

• Wuyazi told Xu Xiao that Carefree Wind Riding was the Carefree Sect’s supreme art, from which its three other arts had been derived.
• Wuyazi explained that Carefree Wind Riding required the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, which generations of cultivators had depleted.
• Xu Xiao became excited at the prospect of cultivating immortality and asked Wuyazi to teach him the method.
• Wuyazi described how the Northern Darkness Divine Art, Ageless Everlasting Spring Art, and Minor Formless Art formed the three parts of Carefree Wind Riding.
• Wuyazi recalled that he and his fellow disciples had intended to study Carefree Wind Riding together, but their conflicts had prevented them.

Xu Xiao persuaded Wuyazi to stay alive and help him obtain martial arts from Wu Xingyun and Li Qiushui. As Wuyazi accompanied him on the journey, Xu Xiao focused on cultivating the Northern Darkness Divine Art while the Martial Command Office gathered rare medicinal ingredients for him.

• Xu Xiao stopped Wuyazi from taking his own life and explained that he needed Wuyazi's help securing the two women's cooperation and preserving the Carefree Sect.
• Wuyazi agreed to live on, make amends for the conflict he had caused, and see whether Xu Xiao could master Carefree Wind Riding.
• Xu Xiao sent agents with Wuyazi's letters to Vulture Palace and Western Xia, while Wu 1 led a search for the valley where the martial art's principles were carved.
• Wuyazi guided Xu Xiao in compressing his Northern Darkness True Qi, and Xu Xiao devoted himself to cultivation during the journey.
• The Martial Command Office procured rare medicinal ingredients from across the country for Xu Xiao, giving Wuyazi a glimpse of the power behind his cultivation.

As Xu Xiao’s convoy approached Shaolin, foreign powers massed troops at the Great Song’s borders while the court’s purge drew the jianghu’s attention. Wu 6 arrived at Shaolin and ordered the temple dissolved, its property seized, and its monks stripped of their privileges, leaving the monks terrified.

• Reports reached Xu Xiao that Liao, Western Xia, and Tubo were gathering troops at the border, but he remained determined to deal with Shaolin and then confront them himself.
• Black-armored cavalry arrived at Mount Song, where Prefectural Army troops had already sealed off the mountain and frightened Shaolin’s monks.
• Wu 6 led eighteen mounted riders to the temple gate and criticized Shaolin’s wealth and its monks’ privileged lives.
• Xuanci welcomed Wu 6, who taunted him about the killings at Yanmen Pass and said Qiao Feng was waiting at the foot of the mountain.
• Wu 6 announced Xu Xiao’s order to dissolve Shaolin, confiscate its scriptures and property, and make the monks pay taxes and perform compulsory service, threatening those who resisted.

Xu Xiao’s ultimatum to Shaolin Temple ended in armed resistance, giving him the pretext to destroy the temple and make an example of it for the martial world. As Qiao Feng relayed the order to set fires, Shaolin prepared to face the encircling army.

• Xuanci rejected Wu 6’s demand that Shaolin disband, surrender its scriptures and property, and have its monks pay taxes and perform corvée labor.
• Xuanci ordered Xuannan and Xuanji to seize Wu 6, but eighteen cavalrymen fired crossbows at the monks, and Wu 6’s men threw explosive jars that set Shaolin’s buildings ablaze.
• Xuanci summoned Shaolin’s disciples and ordered them to find a way to preserve the temple as the monks prepared to resist.
• Xu Xiao explained that he had surrounded Shaolin to intimidate martial sects across the land, while allowing martial-world observers to witness the campaign.
• After Wu 6 reported Shaolin’s resistance, Xu Xiao ordered Qiao Feng to tell the troops to light the fires, and Qiao Feng agreed to carry out the plan.

As Shaolin Temple faced destruction, Xuanci led the monks down the only unburned route, where Xu Xiao’s forces attacked them. The Sweeper Monk stepped forward to shield the monks and charged toward Xu Xiao amid a barrage of battlefield weapons.

• Xuanci and the Shaolin monks abandoned their escape plan when soldiers set Mount Shaoshi ablaze, and Xuanci ordered them to carry the scriptures and valuables down the main road.
• Xu Xiao’s forces surrounded the road, and Wu 6 ordered arrows fired as the monks descended, killing most of them in the first volley.
• The Sweeper Monk emerged and deflected arrows with his three-foot Qi wall, prompting Xu Xiao to order bed crossbows and catapults to attack.
• The Sweeper Monk used his Qi wall and a seized crossbow bolt to deflect the heavier barrage, then charged toward Xu Xiao.

The Sweeper Monk tried to capture Xu Xiao, but Qiao Feng intervened until Xu Xiao chose to face the monk himself. Xu Xiao’s compressed Northern Darkness True Qi broke through the monk’s protective Qi, and their duel began with neither side yet defeated.

• Wu 6 and Xu Xiao’s guards tried to stop the Sweeper Monk, but he swept them aside without killing them.
• Qiao Feng blocked the Sweeper Monk’s path and struck him with The Proud Dragon Repents, but the monk forced him back.
• Qiao Feng refused to retreat from Xu Xiao’s carriage until Xu Xiao ordered him to stand down and take revenge among Shaolin’s ranks.
• Xu Xiao challenged the Sweeper Monk and threatened Shaolin and Buddhism in Great Song if the monk lost.
• Xu Xiao used Lingbo Weibu and his compressed Northern Darkness True Qi to break through the Sweeper Monk’s protective Qi, forcing the monk to dodge and retreat.

Xu Xiao defeated the Sweeper Monk after using Telekinesis to immobilize him and striking him with overwhelming force. Reflecting on the fight, Xu Xiao decided to rely on strengthening his internal energy, Telekinesis, and body rather than focusing on martial techniques.

• Xu Xiao and the Sweeper Monk exchanged attacks, but Xu Xiao's Northern Darkness True Qi absorbed or deflected the monk's strikes while Xu Xiao's blows hurt him.
• The Sweeper Monk stopped meeting Xu Xiao head-on and relied on evasion, hoping to exhaust Xu Xiao's True Qi.
• Xu Xiao warned the Sweeper Monk, then used Telekinesis to bind him and propel himself into a rapid attack.
• Xu Xiao's punch broke through the Sweeper Monk's Qi wall and smashed his face, killing him.
• Xu Xiao concluded that he could compensate for weak techniques by improving his internal energy, Telekinesis, and physical condition.

Xu Xiao destroyed Shaolin Temple, brought Qiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan into his service, and tightened the Martial Command Office’s control over the jianghu. After Liao, Tubo, and Western Xia invaded Great Song, Xu Xiao assigned his commanders to track down foreign leaders and prepared to lead the fight himself.

• Xu Xiao watched Qiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan fight Shaolin’s forces before the Martial Command Office annihilated the temple and burned its corpses.
• Qiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan thanked Xu Xiao, pledged their loyalty, and agreed to serve under him.
• The Martial Command Office announced that martial artists must register and urged jianghu sects to disband or join its ranks.
• Three days after Shaolin’s destruction, Liao, Tubo, and Western Xia invaded Great Song, while domestic jianghu factions began stirring.
• Xu Xiao ordered Qiao Feng to maintain control of the domestic jianghu, sent deputy commanders to locate foreign leaders, and declared he would personally destroy the invading armies.

Yang Wenguang struggled to hold Yanmen Pass against a massive Liao invasion until Xu Xiao arrived, claiming reinforcements would come the next day. Xu Xiao then showed him what lay beyond the pass, leaving Yang Wenguang astonished.

• Yang Wenguang directed Yanmen Pass's dwindling defenders as hundreds of thousands of Liao troops attacked and reinforcements failed to arrive.
• Yang Wenguang found surviving soldiers bowing among corpses and saw Xu Xiao hovering above them with floating blades.
• Xu Xiao showed Yang Wenguang his command token, identified himself as the Military Command Commissioner, and said reinforcements would arrive the next day.
• Yang Wenguang despaired that the pass would fall before the reinforcements arrived, while Xu Xiao said the army was coming to clean up the aftermath.
• Xu Xiao lifted Yang Wenguang and made him look beyond Yanmen Pass, where the sight left Yang Wenguang exclaiming in shock.

Xu Xiao slaughtered Liao soldiers attacking Yanmen Pass, then took Yang Wenguang into the sky to hunt down the Liao army’s commanders. After demonstrating his Blade Winch, he had Yang Wenguang spread the claim that he was a divine protector of Great Song, hoping fear would break the army’s resolve.

• Xu Xiao lifted Yang Wenguang above Yanmen Pass, where Yang saw the bloodied remains of more than a thousand Liao soldiers Xu Xiao had killed with six blades.
• Xu Xiao asked Yang Wenguang, a veteran of more than twenty years of fighting the Liao, to guide him to the enemy commanders.
• Xu Xiao carried Yang Wenguang above the Liao ranks and used his spinning blades to slaughter soldiers who shot arrows at them.
• Liao soldiers knelt and begged for mercy, believing Xu Xiao was a god, and Xu Xiao told Yang Wenguang to declare in Liao that he was a god of Great Song who would punish anyone who defied him.

Xu Xiao and Yang Wenguang found a camp of senior Liao generals and slaughtered all but Yelü Gada, Yelü Hongji’s uncle. Xu Xiao ordered Yang Wenguang to ask Yelü Gada where Yelü Hongji was.

• Yang Wenguang inferred that the Liao army’s command hub lay in a valley, and Xu Xiao followed his lead.
• Xu Xiao and Yang Wenguang found the Yelü clan’s royal flag and attacked the camp of senior Liao generals.
• Xu Xiao tore away the tents and had Yang Wenguang identify the generals, then killed the men who challenged them.
• Yang Wenguang identified Yelü Gada as Yelü Hongji’s uncle, and Xu Xiao killed the other generals while sparing him.
• Yelü Gada begged Xu Xiao to spare his life, and Xu Xiao told Yang Wenguang to ask him where Yelü Hongji was.

Xu Xiao tracked down and killed Yelü Hongji, the emperor of Great Liao, then spared Yelü Gada and ordered him to seize the throne and make Liao withdraw. With Liao’s affairs arranged, Xu Xiao set out for Western Xia.

• Yelü Hongji waited in a decoy palace after Liao’s attack on Yanmen Pass collapsed and his generals failed to return.
• Xu Xiao and his companions arrived at the tent, and Yelü Gada identified Yelü Hongji as the emperor of Liao.
• Xu Xiao killed Yelü Hongji and everyone else in the tent, then gave the emperor’s head to Yelü Gada.
• Xu Xiao told Yelü Gada to return, take the throne, and carry out the plan to make Liao submit and withdraw its troops.
• Xu Xiao left for Western Xia after settling Liao’s affairs.

Xu Xiao routed the Western Xia army, invaded Xingqing Prefecture, and killed Li Liangzuo before confronting Li Qiushui. After overpowering her, he spared her, and she demanded to know how he had obtained the Seven Treasures Thumb Ring and what he had done to her senior brother.

• Xu Xiao crossed to the Western Xia battlefield, killed its commander and chain of command, and helped the Great Song army rout the Western Xia forces.
• Xu Xiao captured Western Xia soldiers and went to Xingqing Prefecture to target the imperial family.
• Li Liangzuo revealed his location when Xu Xiao called for him, while Li Qiushui ordered the palace experts to capture the intruder and the city to be locked down.
• Xu Xiao reached the Hall of State Affairs and killed Li Liangzuo before Li Qiushui arrived and attacked him with White Rainbow Palm Force.
• Xu Xiao seized Li Qiushui by the throat, suppressed her Internal Energy, and released her after she showed fear and regret.
• Li Qiushui recognized the thumb ring on Xu Xiao's hand and demanded to know where he had gotten it and what had happened to her senior brother.