Recaps

Li Yu led the Divine Dragon Cult in a surprise attack on a Red Flower Society villa, where he killed Yang Le and took control of the remaining members. He promoted Guo Xie for his work and sent him to Linhu Town to issue orders, while the fate of Miss Song and her husband remained unresolved.

• Yang Le abused the scholar Yan and his bride at the Red Flower Society villa, believing Yan was Li Yu.
• Li Yu and Fu Rong arrived with the Fish-Dragon Banner members and surrounded Yang Le’s forces.
• Yang Le surrendered, but Yan attacked him with hidden weapons; Li Yu deflected them, and an iron nail killed Yang Le.
• The remaining Red Flower Society members surrendered, and Li Yu promoted Guo Xie to incense master and gave him Yang Le’s Red Flower Spear.
• Li Yu ordered Guo Xie to take Yang Le’s head to Linhu Town, where the White Dragon Envoy was waiting with her forces.

Li Yu discovered that the scholar surnamed Yan had blamed Yang Le for his wife’s death while concealing his own role in it. After the scholar revealed his greed and threatened to disgrace them, Li Yu left him to Fu Rong’s judgment, and the Fish-Dragon Banner seized the Red Flower Society’s hidden fortune.

• Li Yu found the scholar surnamed Yan grieving beside his dead wife and ordered that he receive extra gold and silver for her burial.
• Fu Rong questioned the scholar and exposed his conflicting claims about how his wife had died.
• The scholar admitted that he had forced his wife to die, then demanded more money and threatened to disgrace Li Yu’s group.
• Fu Rong interpreted Li Yu’s order as permission to grant the scholar’s wish, and a minor leader killed him by smashing the gold bars into his forehead.
• Fu Rong reported that the Fish-Dragon Banner had found the Red Flower Society’s hidden treasury, containing thousands of taels of silver, gold, and other valuables.

After defeating the Red Flower Society, Li Yu rewarded the Divine Dragon Cult, set its guiding principle, and found an old lightness-skill manual. When the West Canal Gate ambushed the cult’s forces in Linhu Town, Li Yu ordered a withdrawal to Green Willow Manor rather than retaliating.

• Li Yu ordered the Red Flower Society’s bodies returned, its crimes publicized, and the Divine Dragon Cult to claim it had carried out Heaven’s will and upheld justice.
• The cult looted Red Flower Villa, where Li Yu found the Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow manual, a difficult lightness skill bearing the seal of the Murong Family’s Returning Bestowal Water Pavilion.
• Fu Rong showed Li Yu a camellia pot marked with the name Wang, prompting him to order the tree burned and hurry back to Green Willow Manor to study the manual.
• Guo Xie reported that Ge Zhixiong and the West Canal Gate had seized the Red Flower Society headquarters in Linhu Town and ambushed the White Dragon Banner, wounding Lin Mang and killing more than ten brothers.
• Although Fu Rong urged an attack, Li Yu ordered Lin Mang not to engage and to withdraw directly to Green Willow Manor.

Li Yu overcame his difficulty with Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow by using strong liquor to relax his legs while practicing. He mastered the lightness skill, advanced to the late third-rate tier, and left the Divine Dragon Cult members marveling at his drinking capacity.

• Li Yu repeatedly failed to master Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow because the copper bands on his calves made his movements stiff.
• After the wind flipped open his manual and he noticed the wine jars, Li Yu realized drunkenness could help him practice the footwork.
• Li Yu plunged into a vat of strong liquor, absorbed its wine Qi, and practiced across the willow stakes with light, unsteady steps.
• Fu Rong and Lin Mang watched Li Yu train and discussed the West Canal Gate’s expansion and the absent Miss Qin.
• Li Yu mastered Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow, opened three lower-leg acupoints, and reached the late third-rate tier.
• The cult members watched Li Yu drain a hundred jin of liquor and spread the saying that greater drinking capacity meant greater martial prowess.

Li Yu raided West Canal Gate outposts in Linhu Town, killing Boss Ruan and several men before weighing whether to strike further. At the same time, Ge Zhixiong discussed the Divine Dragon Cult and Wolf Head Stronghold with Man Zhan, then prepared to act when hurried footsteps interrupted them.

• Li Yu killed Boss Ruan by the lakeshore and attacked a drinking party, killing four West Canal Gate members and bringing his tally to sixteen.
• Li Yu gave signal arrows and instructions to Fu Rong, Lin Mang, Tao Zongwang, and Guo Xie, then considered attacking Ge Zhixiong.
• Ge Zhixiong told Man Zhan that he had beaten Zhou Xiao by half a move two years earlier.
• Man Zhan speculated that Li Yu might be a surviving member of the Shi Family seeking revenge against Qin Family Stronghold.
• Ge Zhixiong declared that the Divine Dragon Cult could not be allowed to remain and considered destroying it before Wolf Head Stronghold, but hurried footsteps interrupted him.

Li Yu disguised himself as a West Canal Gate disciple and ambushed Ge Zhixiong during a coordinated raid, then escaped after testing his opponent’s strength. Ge Zhixiong planned to lure Li Yu into a decisive fight through Chen Youchun of the Beggars’ Sect’s Gusu Branch.

• The Divine Dragon Cult and the Wolf Head Stronghold attacked the West Canal Gate from four directions, while Ge Zhixiong realized the southern assault was the main attack.
• Li Yu, disguised as a West Canal Gate disciple, ambushed Ge Zhixiong and wounded his leg in their brief fight.
• Li Yu escaped across the rooftops, and Ge Zhixiong stopped Man Zhan from pursuing him, fearing a trap.
• The raid left sixteen West Canal Gate members dead and several houses burned, while Ge Zhixiong struggled to expel the sword energy from his wound.
• Ge Zhixiong decided to force Li Yu into a decisive battle and ordered Man Zhan to prepare gold and beautiful women to recruit Chen Youchun as an intermediary.

Yan Ruhua used two corpses to complete a body-altering poison technique and marked an unconscious woman with it. She then lured four women from the fertilizer house to a secluded path and inflicted the same agony she had endured, demanding proof of their loyalty.

• A maid told Yan Ruhua that Azhu had sent 108 pots of camellias, and Yan ordered her to bring them for inspection.
• Yan Ruhua used a strange technique on two corpses in the fertilizer house, then tested it on an unconscious woman and declared that it had finally worked.
• Yan Ruhua left the fertilizer house at sunset and led four women to a secluded path among the camellias.
• When the four women promised to help with her private matter, Yan Ruhua struck each of them once at the waist, leaving them writhing in unbearable pain.
• Yan Ruhua said the women should taste the suffering she had endured, and the bearded woman promised to obey her orders.

Li Yu rescued a black-clad assassin from the Sun and Moon Twin Staffs, then used a lime trap and a bluff to send them back to Mantuo Manor. The old women returned to protect Madam Wang, leaving Li Yu and the assassin fleeing through the woods.

• A black-clad girl shot a woman in the cottage, and the Sun and Moon Twin Staffs pursued her into the woods.
• The old women cornered the girl, but Li Yu arrived and rescued her with his sword.
• Li Yu scattered lime packets to slow the pursuers and claimed that other bandits were attacking Madam Wang and the young misses.
• The Sun and Moon Twin Staffs turned back to the cottage, where they learned the shooting victim had been carried away and Madam Wang was safe.
• Madam Wang sent the old women to investigate fires around the manor, and they returned after finding only small, extinguished blazes.

Li Yu and Mu Wanqing evaded Mantuo Manor’s searchers by hiding in a secluded courtyard, but Yan Ruhua arrived there claiming to protect the young woman inside. The chapter ended with Li Yu recognizing the vicious old woman as she entered the courtyard.

• Li Yu and Mu Wanqing hid among the camellias as Mantuo Manor’s servants searched the shore for intruders.
• Li Yu crushed several Intoxicating Bees and realized they might lead their pursuers to them, so he proposed hiding in an empty room within the manor.
• Li Yu helped the injured Mu Wanqing over a courtyard wall, and they hid in a side room when someone approached the gate.
• Yan Ruhua broke open the courtyard gate and claimed she had come to protect the young woman inside.
• Li Yu recognized Yan Ruhua as the vicious old woman he knew.

Li Yu and Mu Wanqing hid in the western side room while Yan Ruhua confronted Chen Ping in the courtyard. Yan Ruhua revealed that she had endured years at Mantuo Manor to reclaim something she had lost, leaving her purpose unresolved.

• Li Yu gave Mu Wanqing plum wine to ease the pain and stagnant blood and Qi from her shoulder wound.
• Yan Ruhua entered the courtyard with four women and began searching for the young lady, smashing open the eastern side room.
• Yan Ruhua deflected hidden plum-blossom darts and fought off Chen Ping's surprise attack with her iron staff.
• Li Yu and Mu Wanqing speculated that Yan Ruhua's appearance had been changed by a drug, and that a man she had hurt might have been responsible.
• Yan Ruhua told Chen Ping she had stayed at Mantuo Manor for years to take back what she had lost.

Yan Ruhua and four women attacked Chen Ping to force their way into Langhuan Jade Grotto, but the young miss guided Chen Ping from inside the building and helped her defeat the attackers. Li Yu and Mu Wanqing watched the fight, while Yan Ruhua remained standing against Chen Ping.

• Yan Ruhua demanded access to Langhuan Jade Grotto, and Chen Ping told her the young miss had gone to Madam’s quarters with the Wind and Thunder Grannies.
• Yan Ruhua attacked Chen Ping, but Chen Ping countered with her River-Intercepting Staff Technique before Yan Ruhua used the Pearls and Jade Fill the Platter Art to gain the advantage.
• The young miss revealed Yan Ruhua’s movement technique and guided Chen Ping as Yan Ruhua ordered four women to join the fight.
• Chen Ping followed the young miss’s instructions to repel the four women and narrowly avoid Yan Ruhua’s attack.
• After more than sixty exchanges, Chen Ping defeated the four women, leaving only herself and Yan Ruhua standing.
• Li Yu watched from the west wing, and Mu Wanqing wondered whether Yan Ruhua had made a mistake by trying to capture the young miss.

Yan Ruhua poisoned Chen Ping with a corpse-based attack while trying to reach the Langhuan Jade Grotto, and Chen Ping died after urging Wang Yuyan to protect herself. Li Yu and Mu Wanqing resolved to stop Yan Ruhua from entering the grotto as they prepared to act from hiding.

• Yan Ruhua hurled a poisoned corpse at Chen Ping, who struck it with her shovel but was splashed with poisonous blood.
• Wang Yuyan rushed to Chen Ping as Yan Ruhua warned her away, and Chen Ping used her final moments to urge Wang Yuyan to beware of the martial world and pray for her safety.
• As Chen Ping collapsed, Li Yu and Mu Wanqing watched from the western side room and recognized the danger Yan Ruhua posed.
• Li Yu told Mu Wanqing about his past encounter with Yan Ruhua and said they could not let her enter the Langhuan Jade Grotto.
• Mu Wanqing offered to help with hidden weapons and warned Li Yu to keep his green-gauze hat on so other women at Mantuo Manor would not pursue him.

Madam Wang reflected on her past and ordered her guards to investigate a possible attack on Wang Yuyan. In Wutong Courtyard, Yan Ruhua threatened Wang Yuyan and Chen Ping until Wang Yuyan agreed to reveal the entrance to the Langhuan Jade Grotto.

• Madam Wang listened to a blind pipa player, then learned that no attackers had been found at Mantuo Manor.
• Granny Sun suggested the villains might be targeting Wang Yuyan, so Madam Wang sent Granny Moon to the waterside pavilion and Granny Sun to Wutong Courtyard.
• Yan Ruhua killed three women and threatened Wang Yuyan while Chen Ping lay near death.
• Wang Yuyan agreed to lead Yan Ruhua to the Langhuan Jade Grotto in exchange for another antidote pill for Chen Ping.
• Wang Yuyan looked toward the west wing as she began to explain where the entrance was.

Li Yu and Mu Wanqing killed Yan Ruhua while rescuing Wang Yuyan from her ambush in the west wing. Wang Yuyan agreed to take them to the Langhuan Jade Grotto after first arranging care for the wounded Chen Ping.

• Wang Yuyan led Yan Ruhua into the west wing, where Li Yu and Mu Wanqing ambushed and killed the old woman.
• Li Yu asked Wang Yuyan to repay them by showing them the Langhuan Jade Grotto, and she agreed.
• Mu Wanqing questioned Wang Yuyan's sudden willingness, and Wang Yuyan explained she had refused Yan Ruhua because the manuals could bring disaster if they reached an evil person.
• Wang Yuyan judged Li Yu and Mu Wanqing by their eyes and asked to move the unconscious Chen Ping before guiding them to the grotto.
• Li Yu agreed to let Wang Yuyan settle Chen Ping in the building, while Yan Ruhua's corpse remained in the darkened west wing.

Li Yu, Mu Wanqing, and Wang Yuyan entered the sealed Langhuan Jade Grotto and found its martial arts manuals protected behind steel plates. As they prepared to leave, Li Yu discovered an unpolished bronze mirror and concealed it after realizing its strange significance.

• Li Yu and Mu Wanqing discussed protecting their identities while Wang Yuyan opened the secret entrance to the Langhuan Jade Grotto.
• Mu Wanqing heard someone knocking, and she led Wang Yuyan and Li Yu into the hidden passage before the entrance closed behind them.
• Wang Yuyan explained that the grotto's manuals were sealed behind steel plates after someone activated its mechanism.
• Li Yu failed to break through the steel barrier, and Wang Yuyan opened a hidden exit while Mu Wanqing questioned how Li Yu had known it was there.
• Li Yu found an unpolished bronze eight-trigrams mirror on the central platform, realized it could not reflect anyone, and hid it in his robe.

Li Yu and Mu Wanqing escaped Mantuo Manor with Wang Yuyan’s help, and Wang Yuyan gave Li Yu a finger technique before they parted. As Li Yu and Mu Wanqing examined the manual on the boat, Mu Wanqing said she could not return with him to Green Willow Manor.

• Li Yu stopped Wang Yuyan from stepping off a cliff and told her that the knock at her courtyard might have been an expert sent by her mother to check on her.
• Wang Yuyan, relieved that her mother still cared about her, gave Li Yu a manual containing the Soul-Losing Finger and her detailed annotations.
• Li Yu and Mu Wanqing escaped from Mantuo Mountain Island by boat under cover of night.
• As they sailed away, Li Yu compared Mantuo Manor to a prison, and he and Mu Wanqing joked about his becoming a monk.
• Li Yu and Mu Wanqing examined the manual and identified its techniques, including the actual Soul-Losing Finger.
• Mu Wanqing told Li Yu that she could not return with him to Green Willow Manor.

Madam Wang ordered the dead Xiaohua’s remains turned into fertilizer after learning she had kept an old portrait of the man they once shared. Wang Yuyan visited her mother after surviving an attack, but Madam Wang’s jealousy and resentment surfaced as she watched her daughter leave.

• Madam Wang destroyed Xiaohua’s treasured portrait and ordered Granny Sun to turn her remains into fertilizer for use away from the island.
• Granny Sun recalled how Xiaohua had become Old Woman Yan after Madam Wang punished her for an affair with the man in the painting.
• Wang Yuyan asked Granny Sun whether Madam Wang was in a good mood, then went into the Hall of Blossoms to check on her mother.
• Madam Wang asked Wang Yuyan about the two assassins who had taken her hostage and warned her to beware of suspicious people amid the unrest in Suzhou.
• Wang Yuyan said Murong Fu’s return would deter troublemakers, and Madam Wang dismissed her before murmuring that she had been prettier when young.

Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing tried to leave for Dali but were attacked by the Beggars' Sect, whose disciples sought revenge for an earlier clash. Chen Youchun escaped the fight and decided to visit Green Willow Manor, suspecting Mu Wanqing was connected to Li Yu and the Divine Dragon Cult.

• Qin Hongmian told Mu Wanqing they should return to Dali, while Mu Wanqing concealed her reluctance to leave.
• Chen Youchun and Beggars' Sect disciples surrounded Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing at the Flying Swallow tea shop over the deaths of their fellow disciples.
• Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing fought their way out, killing several Beggars' Sect disciples and escaping south on horseback.
• Man Zhan told Chen Youchun that rumors linked a black-clad woman who helped Li Yu to the Divine Dragon Cult leader.
• Chen Youchun decided to return and visit Green Willow Manor, intending to implicate the Divine Dragon Cult in the Beggars' Sect deaths.

Li Yu arranged for Abi to teach Guo Xie a pole-based rowing technique, then learned that the West Canal Gate planned to force him into a duel with Ge Zhixiong. He worried that his martial arts were not yet strong enough and again examined the mysterious bronze mirror.

• Abi taught Guo Xie how to use a pole while rowing, and he practiced until he accidentally capsized the raft.
• Abi invited Li Yu to visit Swallow Bastion and meet her young master, Murong.
• Li Yu told Guo Xie that a storm was coming and urged him to train for the Divine Dragon Cult's future.
• A messenger from Wolf Head Stronghold warned Li Yu that the West Canal Gate had bribed Chen Youchun to provoke a public duel between Li Yu and Ge Zhixiong.
• Li Yu considered Ge Zhixiong's superior internal power and the limits of his own skills, then studied the bronze mirror he had been carrying.

Li Yu discovered that moonlight revealed the Minor Formless Skill engraved on the bronze mirror and began cultivating it with the help of plum wine. By dawn, he had formed three years of foundational internal power and realized that different aged wines could help him advance further.

• Li Yu gave up trying to force a secret out of the bronze mirror and threw it into the moonlight.
• He saw the Minor Formless Skill projected from the mirror and copied its nine hundred and ninety-nine characters.
• Li Yu memorized the formula and used the Minor Formless Skill to turn his internal power into a bodhi leaf representing one year of cultivation.
• He drank plum wine through the night, using the Wine Worm to supply internal power, and formed three bodhi leaves before reaching his limit.
• Li Yu concluded that each kind of aged wine had a limited effect and considered seeking out many varieties to build his cultivation.

Chen Youchun arrived at Green Willow Manor with jealousy toward Li Yu stirred by Man Zhan’s boastful tale of Li Yu’s looks and reputation. Li Yu continued practicing the Giant Wave Finger on a bamboo raft, and the chapter ended when Guo Xie reported that Chen Youchun had come to visit.

• Chen Youchun and the others reached Green Willow Manor, where Man Zhan invented a rhyme comparing Li Yu favorably to Murong Fu.
• Chen Youchun grew resentful and vowed to see what kind of man Li Yu was.
• At the manor, Fu Rong supervised cult members practicing the Black Tiger Saber Technique while Li Yu trained in the Giant Wave Finger.
• Li Yu failed to master the finger technique and decided to seek aged wine to help guide his practice.
• Guo Xie hurried to Li Yu’s raft and reported that Chen Youchun of the Beggars' Sect had come to pay a visit.

Li Yu returned to Divine Dragon Hall and found Luo Xia injured after Chen Youchun had broken his leg. He entered the hall as Fu Rong fought Chen Youchun, and Man Zhan hurled West Canal Gate’s challenge toward him.

• Li Yu treated Luo Xia’s injured leg, and Luo Xia said Chen Youchun had smashed it with an iron pestle after he spilled tea.
• Fu Rong fought Chen Youchun in Divine Dragon Hall, but Chen Youchun disarmed her and exposed her undergarment while trying to seize her.
• Li Yu arrived and sat near the entrance as the gathered Divine Dragon Cult disciples surrounded the Beggars’ Sect members.
• Chen Youchun said he had come on his adoptive father’s orders to settle the feud between the Divine Dragon Cult and West Canal Gate, and announced a challenge at Apricot Grove on the fourteenth day of the eighth month.
• Man Zhan threw the gold-leaf challenge invitation at Li Yu with Snake-Head Snatching Hand.

Li Yu stopped Man Zhan’s challenge and accepted Ge Zhixiong’s invitation to meet in Apricot Grove, then attacked Man Zhan and Chen Youchun when they insulted his companions. Chen Youchun left vowing revenge, while Man Zhan was carried away after losing both legs.

• Li Yu halted Man Zhan’s gold-foil challenge with his internal force and accepted Ge Zhixiong’s challenge for the fourteenth of the eighth month in Apricot Grove.
• Chen Youchun and Man Zhan prepared to leave, but Li Yu stopped them to settle personal matters.
• After Man Zhan insulted Fu Rong and Li Yu’s veiled companion, Li Yu struck him down and severed both his legs.
• Li Yu let Chen Youchun leave with Man Zhan on a stretcher and told his followers to pick up the severed legs.
• Two or three li from Green Willow Manor, Chen Youchun stopped and vowed revenge as Man Zhan groaned on the stretcher.

Li Yu weighed the Divine Dragon Cult’s danger from Chen Youchun and the Beggars’ Sect while preparing for the decisive battle at Apricot Grove. After learning of the powerful Hegemon Wine in Wuxi, he saw a possible way to strengthen himself and announced that he would enter secluded cultivation.

• Divine Dragon Cult disciples cleaned the courtyard after Li Yu’s clash with Chen Youchun, while Fu Rong worried that the Beggars’ Sect would retaliate.
• Li Yu agreed that the Cult could not rely on the Beggars’ Sect to uphold justice and said victory at Apricot Grove was crucial to securing the Cult’s standing.
• Li Yu admitted he was unsure he could defeat Ge Zhixiong and considered the risks of the coming battle, while Fu Rong proposed retreating onto Lake Tai.
• Guo Xie reported that Pine and Crane Tower in Wuxi possessed Hegemon Wine, a liquor so potent it had once been linked to a death.
• Li Yu ordered that he would enter secluded cultivation starting the next day and receive no visitors.

A blue-green-robed swordsman rode into a roadside confrontation and killed Tan Lan’s three henchmen with a single display of swordsmanship. Tan Lan turned to face him as a lame Daoist burst into song.

• Tan Lan and his thugs harassed a blind pipa performer on the highway, while the travelers in the tavern watched.
• The pockmarked proprietor accused the blind woman of being a prostitute, and the tavern guests accepted his claim without intervening.
• A lame Daoist prepared to help the woman, but a blue-green-robed swordsman arrived on horseback before he could act.
• Tan Lan ordered his three thugs to attack the swordsman, who killed all three without stopping his horse.
• The lame Daoist praised the swordsman and sang as Tan Lan turned toward the rider.