Chapter Summaries

At the Flower-Honoring Banquet, Zhang Hengye revealed a camellia from Mantuo Manor and used its significance to cow the South Canal gangs before moving to disgrace the absent Fish-Dragon Gang. Just as Zhu Tuo was about to destroy the Fish-Dragon Gang’s plaque, Li Yu arrived and declared that the gang still had someone to stand for it.

• Zhang Hengye unveiled a pot of red camellias bearing the character “Wang,” and the guests recognized its connection to Mantuo Manor.
• The guests grew wary of opposing Zhang Hengye, while the Tyrant Tiger Gang fell silent before the flower’s implied backing.
• Zhang Hengye ordered the Fish-Dragon Gang’s plaque brought out, and Zhu Tuo prepared to split it with a saber.
• Zhang Hengye accused the absent Fish-Dragon Gang of cowardice and called for its plaque to be burned.
• Li Yu descended before the pavilion and announced that the Fish-Dragon Gang still had someone to fight for it.

Li Yu faced Zhang Hengye in a one-on-one duel before the Black Flood Dragon Gang and a crowd of guests. After luring Zhang Hengye into the cramped pavilion, Li Yu exposed the whip fighter’s weakness and launched a decisive sword attack, leaving Zhang Hengye to defend himself barehanded.

• Li Yu arrived alone at the banquet, and Zhang Hengye stopped Zhu Tuo from having the Black Flood Dragon Gang attack him, insisting on a fair duel.
• Li Yu and Zhang Hengye exchanged dozens of sword and whip techniques while Abi and a veiled woman watched from the roof and decided not to interfere.
• A dark figure arrived on a nearby roof and took aim at the duel.
• Li Yu darted into the pavilion and feinted toward the red camellias, drawing Zhang Hengye inside after him.
• Li Yu exploited the pavilion’s cramped space to trap Zhang Hengye’s whip against a pillar and launched three sword strikes.
• Zhang Hengye abandoned his whip and raised his bare palms to block Li Yu’s attack.

Li Yu fought off Zhang Hengye and his gang as a hidden attacker killed Sun Laoba with a Divine Crow Crossbow. After drinking the last of his plum wine, Li Yu’s internal force surged, leaving Zhang Hengye surrounded by a forceful and newly strengthened opponent.

• Li Yu pursued the wounded Zhang Hengye, but Zhu Tuo hurled a pestle at him as Sun Laoba attacked from the side.
• Li Yu cut off part of Zhang Hengye’s hand and deflected Zhu Tuo’s pestle, while an unseen attacker killed Sun Laoba with a strange crossbow bolt.
• The woman in white and Abi recognized the rooftop attacker as someone from the Apricot Grove and identified her weapon as an imperial Divine Crow Crossbow.
• Li Yu took a saber cut to his shoulder, entered the pavilion, and drank the last of his plum wine as gang members surrounded him.
• Li Yu’s awakened Wine Worm doubled his internal force, and his laughter and swordsmanship left Zhang Hengye in despair.

Li Yu defeated Zhang Hengye, took control of the Black Flood Dragon Gang, and formed the Divine Dragon Cult with the Fish-Dragon Gang and Lake Tai’s Seventy-Two Peaks. The chapter ended with Old Kuai explaining that the Fish-Dragon Gang had been too small to hold the forces gathered beneath Li Yu.

• Fu Rong and Lin Mang led two hundred men from the Fish-Dragon Gang and the Seventy-Two Peaks into the manor, surrounding Li Yu and forcing the Black Flood Dragon Gang onto the defensive.
• Zhang Hengye ordered his men to surrender, told Li Yu that a mysterious man in black had prompted the earlier attack, and revealed where the gang’s treasury was hidden.
• Li Yu cut apart the camellias, and Zhang Hengye accepted defeat before dying; Zhu Tuo then stabbed himself after urging the others to remember the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s courage.
• Li Yu ordered the surviving Black Flood Dragon Gang members to surrender, and nearly a hundred knelt and pledged themselves to him.
• Li Yu renamed the Fish-Dragon Gang the Divine Dragon Cult, appointed Fu Rong its Fish-Dragon Envoy, and placed Lin Mang and Tao Zongwang in command of the Seventy-Two Peaks.
• Old Kuai told Third Master Wen that the Fish-Dragon Gang had been too small to hold the Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai.

Li Yu learned that Qin Xiu was leaving to carry out an assassination, and she declared their debts settled before departing. Abi then brought news of Aunt Wang’s upcoming flower birthday, revealing that Aunt would spend the day alone in a cabin on Mantuo Manor’s back hill, where Li Yu realized Qin Xiu might be headed.

• At Black Sand Wharf, Qin Xiu told Li Yu she had to obey her master and leave for an assassination, then said their debts were settled and departed.
• Li Yu found the words “Clear waters and trees, graceful beauty” written beneath Qin Xiu’s bowl and recognized them as a clue about her.
• Abi arrived from Lake Tai, and Li Yu learned she had come on behalf of Master Murong’s household to obtain potting soil for Aunt Wang’s birthday flowers.
• Abi described Mantuo Manor’s defenses and said Aunt Wang spent each seventh day of the seventh month alone in a cabin on the back hill.
• Li Yu connected the birthday date and cabin to Qin Xiu’s departure and grew grave about her likely destination.

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.