Chapter Summaries

After the Mo Family patriarch died and a cavalry force confronted Bo County, the Mo Family yielded to Mist Hidden Temple. Wu Shuangren completed his new Internal Skill, named it Method of One Person, and asked Xu Nanzhi to teach him another martial art; she began demonstrating a set of footwork.

• The Mo Family patriarch died after the massacre, while grieving families demanded answers and county magistrate He Zhixu shut the yamen gates.
• Nearly two hundred armored riders arrived outside Bo County, and their dark-faced leader challenged the officials before Xu Jing shot at him and caught the arrow.
• The rider threw Xu Jing a bag containing a letter for the Mo Family, then withdrew with his cavalry; the city guards later received orders to return to their posts.
• Monks from Mist Hidden Temple came to perform funeral rites for the Mo Family, and Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that the family had submitted and warned him not to oppose the temple over illicit salt.
• Wu Shuangren achieved initial mastery of his perfected Internal Skill, named it Method of One Person, and performed it without the Match for One Person Trait for the first time.
• Wu Shuangren asked Xu Nanzhi to teach him another martial art, and she chose to demonstrate footwork called Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps.

Xu Nanzhi taught Wu Shuangren the Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps before he attended a banquet with Bo County’s officials and representatives of the Mist Hidden Temple. Hong Fan singled Wu out and presented him with Peng Tianlang’s one-hundred-tael reward, though the authorities had already claimed it.

• Xu Nanzhi demonstrated the Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps and taught Wu Shuangren its turns, reversals, and wall-assisted changes of direction.
• Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that the Mist Hidden Temple had specifically invited him to a banquet at Moxian Tower, and Xu Jing escorted him there.
• Wu Shuangren recognized the dark-faced man and long-haired man downstairs as possible suspects in the Li Youcai family massacre.
• Hong Fan arrived, greeted Wu Shuangren before the four officials, and introduced himself as Hong Zhanming’s nephew and the Mist Hidden Temple’s representative.
• Hong Fan toasted Wu Shuangren for killing Peng Tianlang, then presented him with a hundred taels of silver as the bandit’s reward, which the Bo County authorities had already claimed.

Hong Fan secured local officials’ approval to rebuild Bo County’s militia and recommended Wu Shuangren as its commander, drawing Wu into a political contest over the county’s future. After the banquet, Hong Fan and Si Congjian discussed their plan to control the militia and expand their illicit salt business.

• Hong Fan gave Wu Shuangren the reward silver for killing Peng Tianlang, then offered to fund the rebuilding of Bo County’s militia.
• Hong Fan recommended Wu Shuangren as militia commander, and He Zhixu, Tan Zheng, and Tang Jiusi approved the appointment.
• Xu Jing warned Wu Shuangren to conduct himself carefully before leaving the banquet.
• Wu Shuangren told Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong about the offer, and Wu Dongrong explained that Hong Fan wanted to win local support through Wu’s appointment.
• Hong Fan met with Si Congjian, credited him with devising the plan to secure Wu’s appointment, and promised him control of the local illicit salt business once the militia was established.
• Hong Fan asked about news from West River Market and discussed his next plans with Si Congjian.

Wu Shuangren accepted the path toward becoming Bo County militia commander, gained his parents’ and Liao Yu’s support, and recruited Hou Huai, who declined to join him. The chapter ended with Hou Huai finding a burly man assaulting Butcher Zhang’s household and drawing his saber to intervene.

• Xu Nanzhi reassured Wu Shuangren that she and Wu Dongrong would support his choices, calming him as he trained.
• Wu Shuangren gave Liao Yu seventy taels to distribute among the constables and the Mo Family, then decided to accept the militia command.
• Bo County began recruiting militia members with improved wages, and He Zhixu and the other officials agreed to recommend Wu Shuangren as commander.
• Wu Shuangren invited Hou Huai to take a position in the militia, but Hou Huai declined, saying he wanted no more upheaval.
• Hou Huai heard a woman screaming, entered Butcher Zhang’s home, and found a burly man pinning the bloody Butcher Zhang down as a woman cried inside.

Hou Huai turned back and charged into Butcher Zhang’s courtyard after initially retreating from Hong Fan’s men, but he was later found gravely injured alongside Butcher Zhang and his wife. Xu Nanzhi treated the three, while Wu Shuangren learned from Zhang’s wife that two men had attacked them; Hou Huai’s survival remained uncertain.

• Hou Huai recognized Hong Fan’s powerful men and tried to buy them off, but left the courtyard when they threatened him.
• After walking away, Hou Huai turned back, drew his saber, and charged into Butcher Zhang’s courtyard.
• The next morning, a woman told Xu Nanzhi that her husband Hou Huai had been beaten and begged her to save him.
• Xu Nanzhi and Wu Shuangren found Hou Huai and two others badly injured outside the clinic and carried them inside for treatment.
• Xu Nanzhi said Butcher Zhang’s wife would recover and Zhang would need a month of bed rest, but she could not say whether Hou Huai would wake.
• After waking, Butcher Zhang’s wife told Wu Shuangren that a long-haired man and a larger man with a saber had followed her and Zhang home and attacked them.

Wu Shuangren learned how Hou Huai had been tortured by men working for Hong Fan and questioned whether the city’s law could protect ordinary people. After refusing to let the matter go, he visited Hou Huai’s family at the clinic, where Hou remained near death.

• Butcher Zhang told Wu Shuangren that a constable had returned to fight the attacker, who broke Hou Huai’s limbs and tore off his ear.
• Wu Shuangren told Liao Yu what happened and asked whether the city had laws; Liao urged him to wait until he was stronger before challenging Hong Fan’s men.
• Hong Fan learned Hou Huai had survived, dismissed the attack as minor, and ordered Si Congjian to send compensation to the family.
• Wu Shuangren returned to the clinic in new clothes and learned Jiang Rong had refused the compensation, so he kept the money pouch to return it later.
• Wu Shuangren visited Hou Huai’s bedside, spoke with Jiang Rong, and asked her timid son, An'an, his name.

Wu Shuangren prepared to meet Wei Laohei before attending Hong Fan’s banquet at Moxian Tower, while the county’s officials and gentry gathered and the Mo Family’s leaders arrived. The chapter left Wu Shuangren’s confrontation with Wei Laohei unresolved as the banquet approached.

• Wu Shuangren spoke with Hou Ping'an and spent the night at the clinic keeping watch with Wu Dongrong.
• Wu Dongrong told Wu Shuangren that Hong Fan was holding a banquet at Moxian Tower and asked whether he was ready; Wu Shuangren said he was.
• Hong Fan sent Wei Laohei to meet Wu Shuangren, believing the encounter would let Wei Laohei put the new militia commander in his place.
• Zhang Li led Wei Laohei to Butcher Zhang's home, where Wei Laohei recognized the place as the residence Luo You had chosen.
• Officials, gentry, clerks, and trading firm owners arrived at Moxian Tower, followed by Mo Zhenglin and Mo Zhengxing, who attended without attendants.

Wu Shuangren confronted Wei Laohei over Hou Huai and proved far stronger in their saber fight. He disarmed and pinned Wei Laohei, then kicked his left knee, leaving the outcome of the confrontation unresolved.

• Hong Fan grew impatient that Wei Laohei had not returned and sent someone to find him and bring Wu Shuangren to Moxian Tower.
• Wu Shuangren admitted he had come to stand up for Hou Huai, and Wei Laohei mocked him before the two drew their weapons.
• Wu Shuangren repeatedly thwarted Wei Laohei's attempts to draw his saber and wounded his thigh with a planned counterattack.
• Wei Laohei warned that Hong Fan would retaliate and threatened Wu Shuangren's family, but Wu Shuangren continued attacking.
• Wu Shuangren broke Wei Laohei's wrist, sent his saber flying, pinned him at swordpoint, and kicked his left knee.

Wu Shuangren crippled and killed Wei Laohei, then arrived at a banquet honoring his appointment as Bo County militia commander with Wei’s bloody head in a bundle. He publicly challenged Hong Fan’s authority and defended his appointment by pointing to the four county officials who had chosen him.

• Wu Shuangren broke Wei Laohei’s legs and arms, tore off his ear, and beheaded him.
• Hong Fan arrived at Moxian Tower for the banquet and asked why Wu Shuangren had not come with him.
• Zhang Li brought Liao Yu alarming news from the constables’ office, and Liao Yu quietly informed Wu Dongrong.
• Wu Shuangren arrived late with blood on his clothes and a blood-dripping bundle, then announced his thanks to the banquet guests.
• Hong Fan demanded to know where Wei Laohei was, and Wu Shuangren began recounting the assault at Butcher Zhang’s home.
• Wu Shuangren challenged Hong Fan and said the four Bo County officials had chosen him as commander.

Wu Shuangren killed Wei Laohei and then defeated Luo You when he resisted arrest, leaving Hong Fan without his two experts or control of the situation. He then questioned Hong Fan about the Mo Family Village massacre.

• Wu Shuangren revealed Wei Laohei’s severed head and said he had executed him after arresting him for attacking a constable.
• Luo You mourned Wei Laohei, admitted he had gone to Butcher Zhang’s home, and attacked Wu Shuangren when he was told to surrender.
• Xu Jing refused Hong Fan’s demand to stop Wu Shuangren, while constables surrounded Moxian Tower and kept Hong Fan’s attendants outside.
• Wu Shuangren killed Luo You in their fight, leaving Hong Fan without either of his two experts.
• Wu Shuangren asked Hong Fan whether he knew of his subordinates’ crimes and whether he was involved in the massacre at Mo Family Village.

Wu Shuangren used evidence and public pressure to persuade He Zhixu to authorize Hong Fan’s arrest for the Mo Family Village massacre. Afterward, he explained to Liao Yu that he had carefully planned the day’s confrontations, while Wu Dongrong urged him not to act so impulsively again.

• Wu Shuangren confronted Hong Fan and called on He Zhixu to investigate his alleged role in the Mo Family Village massacre.
• Wu Shuangren appealed to the officials and gentry gathered at Moxian Tower, winning their support and rekindling the Mo Family leaders’ resolve.
• He Zhixu authorized Wu Shuangren to take Hong Fan into custody, and Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong escorted the prisoner from Moxian Tower.
• Wu Dongrong locked Hong Fan in prison, where Hong Fan protested and threatened that his uncle, Chief Steward Hong of Mist Hidden Temple, would retaliate.
• Wu Shuangren told Liao Yu that he had planned the day’s actions and prepared backup strategies, then Wu Dongrong warned him not to be so impulsive in the future.

Wu Shuangren resolved to kill Hong Fan and use the act to force the Mo Family into an alliance, accepting that this would risk retaliation from the Mist Hidden Temple. He returned to the clinic, told Hou Ping'an and Jiang Rong that the attackers had been punished, and offered them compensation from the authorities.

• Wu Shuangren told Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu that he would send Hong Fan to the Mo Family to kill, forcing the family to join their side.
• Wu Shuangren argued that the Mist Hidden Temple would not dare openly attack within the city and said he could handle even its strongest expert.
• Wu Dongrong told Liao Yu that Wu Shuangren had acted mainly because of Hou Huai and his loyalty to others, though he worried Wu Shuangren might become like Hou Huai.
• Wu Shuangren noticed that the green color in his Match for One Person Trait had grown after defeating powerful opponents and anticipated fighting more experts.
• At the clinic, Wu Shuangren learned Hou Huai had not woken up, then told Hou Ping'an and Jiang Rong that the attackers had been caught and punished.
• Wu Shuangren offered Jiang Rong money, explaining that the authorities owed compensation because Hou Huai had been injured in the line of duty.

Wu Shuangren gave Jiang Rong silver for Hou Huai’s family, then secured the Mo Family’s agreement to join forces against Mist Hidden Temple. He confiscated Hong Fan’s property, but the haul was too small to fund the militia for long.

• Wu Shuangren gave Jiang Rong silver taken from Wei Laohei’s corpse and let her treat it as a loan for Ping'an.
• Wu Shuangren asked Mo Zhenglin and Mo Zhengxing how they would deal with Hong Fan, and Mo Zhenglin agreed that the Mo Family would join forces with him against Mist Hidden Temple.
• Wu Shuangren met Wu Dongrong, Liao Yu, and the constables outside the Mo residence, then announced they would confiscate a household’s property.
• Liao Yu led the constables in raiding Hong Fan’s residence and seized its valuables, servants, and maids without resistance.
• Wu Shuangren asked Liao Yu to share part of the seized property with four officials and the Mo Family, then calculated that the remaining funds could not sustain the militia for long.

Wu Shuangren and the others interrogated Hong Fan about Mist Hidden Temple before Mo Zhenglin killed him. They covered up his death, discovered his hidden fortune, and Wu Shuangren proposed dividing it among the officials, the Mo Family, and himself.

• Wu Dongrong, Wu Shuangren, Liao Yu, and the Mo brothers questioned Hong Fan, who revealed that Mist Hidden Temple had secretly assembled two hundred cavalrymen and targeted Bo County to secure a foothold near West River Market.
• Hong Fan named Master Ciwen, Master Kongzheng, and an unnamed elder as Mist Hidden Temple’s first-rate experts, then answered further questions about the temple’s plans.
• As the group prepared to kill him, Hong Fan revealed that Chief Steward Hong was his father; Mo Zhenglin struck him dead despite Mo Zhengxing’s hesitation.
• Wu Dongrong said he would report Hong Fan’s death as a suicide and revealed fifteen exchange notes found on him, worth one hundred and fifty strings of cash.
• Wu Shuangren proposed splitting the money from Hong Fan’s residence and the exchange notes three ways among the four officials, the Mo Family, and himself.

After the Mo Family yielded its share of the money and offered supplies, Wu Shuangren began organizing the militia while deepening his martial training. Liao Yu urged him to take the martial examination, but Wu Shuangren rejected the idea because he wanted to build power of his own as the dynasty approached chaos.

• Mo Zhenglin gave Wu Shuangren the Mo Family's share of the money and offered clothes and spears to support the militia, and Mo Zhengxing agreed.
• Wu Shuangren impressed Xu Nanzhi with how quickly he learned the Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps, and he reassured her that she had not held him back.
• Wu Shuangren asked Liao Yu to find a place in the county seat for militia training, then discovered he could lift a two-hundred-jin stone lock seventeen times.
• Wu Shuangren sparred with Liao Yu and discussed the differences between military martial arts and jianghu techniques, as well as the prospects offered by the martial examination.
• Liao Yu advised Wu Shuangren to take the martial examination, but Wu Shuangren said he preferred to establish power of his own rather than risk his life serving someone else.

Wu Shuangren prepared a training ground and began drilling his newly assembled militia, combining recruits with twenty Mo Family veterans. He struggled to teach them basic formation and left them standing at attention under the midday sun as Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong watched.

• Liao Yu arranged for Wu Shuangren to buy three residences in the south of the city and covered the extra cost of paying with jiaozi.
• Wu Shuangren joined the residences into a training ground and sparred with Bai Jinhuan and other Mo Family guards to improve his martial skills.
• Wu Shuangren gathered sixty-eight recruits and twenty Mo Family veterans, then ordered them to form four rows and disciplined them with a wooden stick.
• Wu Shuangren discovered many militiamen could not distinguish left from right, so he tied cloth strips around their right arms until they formed neat ranks.
• Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong watched Wu Shuangren keep the militia standing in formation, while he struck those who moved or wiped away sweat.

Wu Shuangren enforced strict discipline in the Bo County militia and recruited Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong as instructors. After several days of training, he tested [Match for One Person] against three veterans and found it gave him no extra power against weaker opponents.

• Wu Shuangren threw a militiaman out for refusing to train, and Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong arrived with constables to support him.
• Wu Shuangren explained that the drills taught obedience and asked Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong to serve as militia instructors.
• Over the next few days, Wu Shuangren drilled the militia in formation, standing at attention, and synchronized goose-stepping while Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong questioned his methods.
• Wu Shuangren had three veterans attack him with padded spears and found that [Match for One Person] only sharpened his focus, reactions, and control against weaker opponents.
• Wu Shuangren defeated the three veterans in turn, confirmed the Trait did not change, and then had them charge together in a row.

Wu Shuangren trained to fight multiple opponents while considering the limits of [Match for One Person] and his need to build a faction. Meanwhile, Hong Zhanming ordered a night attack in Bo County and sent men to kidnap Xu Nanzhi, leaving the town under threat from a cavalry force outside its walls.

• Wu Shuangren discovered that [Match for One Person] required him to focus on enemies one at a time, then considered how the Trait limited him on a chaotic battlefield.
• Wu Shuangren trained with five veterans while Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong taught him and the militia how to fight in coordinated groups.
• Hong Zhanming learned that his men had reached Bo County and ordered Luo You's captured family killed.
• More than a hundred riders approached Bo County at night, drawing the defenders to the walls as two intruders slipped into town.
• The intruders reached Xu Nanzhi's clinic to kidnap her and use her as leverage against Wu Shuangren.

Xu Nanzhi defeated two swordsmen sent by the Mist Hidden Temple to abduct her while Hou Huai woke, and Wu Shuangren’s group arrived to find her safe. Wu Shuangren stayed with Hou Huai, who asked whether he regretted falling out with Hong Fan.

• Hou Huai woke as Xu Nanzhi treated him, and Xu Nanzhi warned Jiang Rong to stay inside before confronting two intruders in the courtyard.
• The swordsmen attacked Xu Nanzhi, but she disarmed one and struck the other down.
• Wu Shuangren, Wu Dongrong, and Liao Yu rushed to Xu Nanzhi’s clinic and found her unharmed with the two men bound.
• Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu took the swordsmen to the county yamen, while Wu Shuangren stayed with Hou Huai.
• Hou Huai learned that Wu Shuangren had killed Wei Laohei and Luo You and captured Hong Fan, then asked whether Wu Shuangren regretted falling out with Hong Fan.

Wu Shuangren led a counterattack against the Mist Hidden Temple cavalry outside Bo County after learning their plan and numbers. The ambush scattered the riders, and Wu Shuangren fought their leader, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Wu Shuangren learned that Mist Hidden Temple men had tried to kidnap Xu Nanzhi and proposed striking back.
• Wu Dongrong, Liao Yu, Xu Jing, and the Mo Family supported the counterattack after learning that only about a hundred enemy riders were outside the city.
• Wu Dongrong used a ruse to split the cavalry, and Xu Jing’s archers ambushed them on a steep hillside.
• Wu Shuangren charged down the slope and attacked the leader of the disordered riders.
• Wu Shuangren knocked the leader from his horse and used a sudden saber feint to leave his chest exposed.