Chapter Summaries

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.