Chapter Summaries

Ye Fu accepted Zhong Suihua’s wager that he could make clothes, and his max-level handicraft skill awakened when he touched the sewing machine. As Zhou Ruosheng and Zhong Suihua’s admirers gathered outside and mocked Ye Fu, he grew irritated and prepared to respond.

• Ye Fu agreed to demonstrate his sewing skills in Zhong Suihua’s workshop, confident that the wager carried little risk.
• Ye Fu touched the sewing machine and suddenly gained an instinctive mastery of its craft, briefly causing the machine to tremble.
• Zhou Ruosheng and a crowd of admirers arrived outside the sewing room, demanding to know who had wagered with Zhong Suihua.
• Qin Sanyue questioned whether Ye Fu could sew, and he insisted that men could do needlework too.
• Zhou Ruosheng asked Zhong Suihua if her customer was a hermaphrodite, and Ye Fu frowned at the insult.

Ye Fu used Qi to make Zhou Ruosheng appear and behave effeminately, driving him from Zhong Suihua’s workshop. He then began sewing a green gauze dress for Qin Sanyue, astonishing the gathered seamstresses with his extraordinary skill.

• Ye Fu secretly used Qi on Zhou Ruosheng after Zhou insulted him, while Zhong Suihua warned Zhou to stop making a scene.
• Zhou Ruosheng discovered that his voice and mannerisms had changed, panicked, and fled the workshop as the onlookers recoiled.
• A handsome young man with a cinnabar mark watched the scene and wondered which Household Ye Fu belonged to.
• Ye Fu chose the green cloth and began making a dress for Qin Sanyue without using a ruler.
• Zhong Suihua and the other seamstresses watched in amazement as Ye Fu transformed the cloth with precise, flowing movements, while Qin Sanyue felt proud of her teacher.

Ye Fu finished making two garments at once, unleashing a strange phenomenon that drew hidden outsiders toward the Cloth Robe Workshop before he suppressed it. He won Zhong Suihua’s wager, made himself Earth-style clothes, and left her with a handmade fan and a promise of free service at her shop.

• Ye Fu completed two garments simultaneously, releasing an ethereal presence that brought unusual sights to Black Stone City and drew unfamiliar figures toward the workshop.
• A white-haired youth tried to calculate whether the Great Curtain had arrived early, but failed, bled from his eyes, and collapsed; a tall woman carried him away.
• Ye Fu recalled the strange phenomenon, causing the approaching outsiders to stop and blend back into the crowd.
• Zhong Suihua recognized Ye Fu’s unmatched craftsmanship, admitted defeat, and promised to serve him for free in the future if she could watch him sew.
• Ye Fu made himself a black hoodie and sweatpants, then declined Zhong Suihua’s offer of her fortune and made her a red lady’s fan instead.

Ye Fu and Qin Sanyue returned home after shopping, where a mysterious woman in white repeatedly asked to enter and admire the pear blossoms. Ye Fu refused her, and Qin Sanyue finally told her not to disturb him again and to return another day.

• Ye Fu explained that he had learned needlework out of boredom while Qin Sanyue admired the clothes he had made for her.
• Ye Fu and Qin Sanyue bought household necessities, ate noodle soup, and headed home to prepare for the private school.
• Ye Fu found a beautiful, cold woman in white standing outside his gate, and she said she had come to admire the flowers.
• The woman asked to enter twice, but Ye Fu refused and shut the gate, leaving her puzzled and embarrassed.
• The woman used hand seals to steady her mind, wondered whether Ye Fu concealed a heart demon, and knocked again.
• Qin Sanyue answered the gate and told the woman that Ye Fu did not wish to be disturbed and that she should return another day.

After Qin Sanyue sent the white-clad woman away, the woman’s fragile state of mind collapsed, forcing her to seal her cultivation and retreat. Ye Fu helped Qin Sanyue prepare for her new life by styling her hair and cooking a meal that left her delighted.

• Qin Sanyue told the white-clad woman to leave, and the woman’s Mind of a Clear Mirror cracked, causing her Qi to leak away.
• The woman used her Spirit-Sealing Net to contain her cultivation, then left Black Stone City’s mysteries weighing on her mind.
• Ye Fu reflected on the woman’s collapse while tidying the house and preparing dinner.
• Ye Fu helped Qin Sanyue comb her hair and showed her how to make the style herself.
• Ye Fu cooked twice-cooked pork, stir-fried eggplant, and egg drop soup while Qin Sanyue tended the fire.
• Qin Sanyue was moved by the meal and declared that she never wanted to eat anyone else’s cooking again.

Ye Fu decided to open a private school called Three Flavors Study to support himself and Qin Sanyue. After concealing the pear tree’s cultivation from Qin Sanyue, he obtained permission to operate the school, enrolled Hu Zhifu’s child, and began investigating what books were taught in Black Stone City.

• Ye Fu told Qin Sanyue to clear the main hall for a private school and deducted the cost of the dishes she had broken from her wages.
• A Spiritual Qi vortex formed above the pear tree as it cultivated, and Ye Fu shielded it from view while reassuring the tree.
• Qin Sanyue saw Ye Fu interacting with the pear tree, and he told her not to be surprised by strange things he did before sending her to order school furniture.
• Ye Fu carved a sign naming the school Three Flavors Study and asked Hu Zhifu to help him obtain the permit to operate it.
• Hu Zhifu enrolled his child at Ye Fu’s school and paid the tuition, while Ye Fu found that Black Stone City’s schoolbooks mostly covered literature rather than mathematics or physics.

Ye Fu began preparing to teach by studying the world’s Confucian school and activating his max-level reading state. When he read aloud, the Vast Righteous Qi produced a world-spanning celestial spectacle, and people across the Layered Cloud Kingdom welcomed the apparent sage.

• Ye Fu bought primers, arranged for desks and chairs, and had Qin Sanyue post notices to recruit students.
• Ye Fu studied the Confucian school and remembered that his reading skill had once let him cultivate Vast Righteous Qi.
• Ye Fu activated his reading state, and the pear tree entered the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity after absorbing a faint wisp of his presence.
• Ye Fu restrained his Vast Righteous Qi, stopped a book from gaining sentience, and began reading the Classic of Knowledge.
• Ye Fu read only the words "The Master said" before rosy light and a gigantic reading figure appeared in the sky, sending Vast Righteous Qi across the world.
• The white-haired youth in Black Stone City called the figure a sage, bowed, and led people across the Layered Cloud Kingdom in welcoming it.

After Ye Fu’s recitation caused a radiant Sage to appear, Black Stone City’s Forest Guardians suppressed the resulting unrest while outside factions anticipated a struggle over the coming Great Curtain. Ye Fu tried to resume ordinary teaching, but Qin Sanyue arrived and revealed that she had witnessed the Sage phenomenon.

• A youth with a cinnabar mark worried that the new Sage could upset the balance among the Great Sages, then left Black Stone City.
• A white-haired youth and a tall woman concluded that the Forest Guardians had kept the city calm and discussed the karmic fortune expected from the new Sage.
• A Forest Guardian ordered his subordinate to contain unrest, keep ordinary people uninvolved, and prevent the Tree Fellers from criticizing them before the Great Curtain opened.
• Ye Fu reflected on how his uncontrolled Vast Righteous Qi had caused the Sage phenomenon and learned to release and withdraw it without creating further disturbances.
• Qin Sanyue rushed into Three Flavors Study and told Ye Fu she had seen a radiant figure resembling him appear above the city as people welcomed a Sage.

Ye Fu explained his ideas about studying to Qu Hongxiao after she asked to become his student at Three Flavors Study. Though he told her she could no longer recover the heart of a child, Qu Hongxiao remained determined to study both the process of learning and the books themselves.

• Qin Sanyue insisted that her strange experience was real, but Ye Fu advised her not to dwell on it and let her keep the memory.
• Qin Sanyue reported that she had posted enrollment notices and arranged for the carpenter to deliver tables and chairs.
• Qu Hongxiao returned to admire the pear blossoms, then asked Ye Fu to accept her as a student.
• Ye Fu described two approaches to learning and asked Qu Hongxiao what she studied for.
• Qu Hongxiao said she wanted to seek the heart of a child, and Ye Fu explained that studying could not restore it once lost.
• Qu Hongxiao still chose to study at Three Flavors Study, seeking both the meaning of learning and the meaning of books.

Ye Fu accepted Qu Hongxiao as a student and let her remain at the Three Flavors Study under three rules. As dinner began, Qu Hongxiao discovered that the smell of Ye Fu and Qin Sanyue’s ordinary meal made her unable to meditate, and she watched them eat in torment.

• Ye Fu directed Qu Hongxiao to pay Qin Sanyue her tuition, completing her enrollment.
• Qu Hongxiao asked to stay at the Three Flavors Study, and Ye Fu refused to let her sleep there but allowed her to remain under three rules.
• Qu Hongxiao meditated beneath the pear tree and found the courtyard eased her injuries and clarified her soul.
• Ye Fu woke at dinnertime, and Qu Hongxiao was overwhelmed by the aroma of the home-cooked meal.
• Qu Hongxiao watched Ye Fu and Qin Sanyue eat while she sat without food, finding the wait tormenting.

Ye Fu prepared the Three Flavors Study for its new students and planned lessons to address Qu Hongxiao’s shortcomings. That night, Zhou Ruosheng and his servant broke onto Ye Fu’s roof and tried to drug him before sneaking inside.

• The carpenter delivered five sets of desks and chairs, but his ox refused to enter the alley until Ye Fu called it forward.
• After Qu Hongxiao left, Qin Sanyue carefully prepared the desks and chairs while Ye Fu planned to teach Qu Hongxiao about her poor mindset.
• Ye Fu lamented that only two students had enrolled at the Three Flavors Study, then used the Great Dream of Three Thousand Autumns to fall asleep.
• Zhou Ruosheng and his servant removed roof tiles and blew knockout incense into Ye Fu’s room, unaware that Ye Fu had neutralized it.
• Zhou Ruosheng complained that Hua Niang avoided him, then argued with his servant over whether he was a real man and threatened to lift his skirt.

Ye Fu thwarted Zhou Ruosheng and his servant’s plan to pour a bucket of piss on him, turning it back on Zhou Ruosheng instead. After restoring his house, Ye Fu accidentally knocked a sword immortal out of the sky with the discarded bucket.

• Ye Fu made the piss bucket impossible for Zhou Ruosheng to lift, then let the servant pick it up easily.
• Ye Fu took control of the servant’s body, making him pour the bucket over Zhou Ruosheng.
• Zhou Ruosheng screamed, retched, and fled with a sprained leg while the servant hurried after him.
• Ye Fu restored the roof, removed the smell, and tossed the bucket toward the mountains.
• The bucket struck a sword immortal flying toward Black Stone City, sending him crashing into the Dragon-Rearing Mountain Range and inspiring him to seek revenge.

Ye Fu learned that Qu Hongxiao was cultivating beneath the pear tree and welcomed her diligence as his student. Shopkeeper Hu Zhifu then brought his daughter Hu Xiaomei to study, but she declared she wanted to cultivate and practice the sword so she could save the world, leaving Ye Fu to consider the gifted girl’s unusual ambition.

• Ye Fu spoke with the awakened pear tree and asked it to accommodate Qu Hongxiao as she cultivated beside it.
• Qu Hongxiao arrived early to cultivate beneath the pear tree, then left during mealtimes and returned afterward.
• Hu Zhifu brought his daughter Hu Xiaomei to Ye Fu’s school despite her protests that she did not want to study.
• Hu Xiaomei said she wanted to cultivate immortality and practice the sword to right wrongs and save people.
• Hu Zhifu told Ye Fu that Hu Xiaomei had read every book she could find in Black Stone City and asked him to teach her.

Ye Fu challenged Hu Lan’s belief that learning to read was useless, then inspired her with stories of sages and sword immortals until she accepted him as her teacher. In the Three Flavors Study courtyard, Hu Lan met Qin Sanyue and Qu Hongxiao and began to settle in as Ye Fu’s new student.

• Ye Fu questioned Hu Lan’s claim that she could save the world by learning the sword, arguing that she knew too little about the world or the meaning of books and swordsmanship.
• Hu Lan insisted that she would learn the sword and refuse to read, so Ye Fu described how poetry and learning could make a swordswoman more formidable and renowned.
• Hu Lan was captivated by Ye Fu’s accounts of sages and sword immortals, asked where he had learned of them, and paid her respects as his student.
• Hu Zhifu left after telling Ye Fu about Hu Lan, and Hu Lan asked why the pear tree was blooming in the third month.
• Ye Fu introduced Qin Sanyue as his employee and Qu Hongxiao as his first student, and Hu Lan greeted Qu Hongxiao as her eldest senior sister.

Ye Fu began guiding Qu Hongxiao after her Mind of a Clear Mirror shattered, assigning her to contemplate beneath a pear tree for seven days. He then spoke with Hu Lan about her reading, while Qu Hongxiao began her silent practice.

• Hu Lan asked Qin Sanyue to style her hair, and Ye Fu encouraged Qin Sanyue to do it herself.
• Ye Fu told Qu Hongxiao that her lesson had already begun and assigned her to cultivate beneath the pear tree for seven days.
• Ye Fu explained that Qu Hongxiao had misunderstood the Mind of a Clear Mirror and asked her to consider how it should respond to distractions.
• Qu Hongxiao accepted the assignment and sat silently beneath the pear tree to contemplate how to set her conduct upright and clarify her mind.
• Hu Lan emerged with her hair styled like Qin Sanyue's, and Ye Fu asked whether she had read all the books in Black Stone City.

Ye Fu began teaching Hu Lan the principles of the Book of Saving the World while Qu Hongxiao reflected on her new teacher and Qin Sanyue watched the peaceful courtyard. After Hu Lan sampled Ye Fu’s cooking, the students left, and Ye Fu used his Divine Ability to replay a movie in his mind before bed.

• Ye Fu accepted Hu Lan as his student and promised to teach her the principles of the Book of Saving the World.
• Qu Hongxiao overheard Ye Fu’s promise, resolved to study diligently under him, and remembered her late master’s wish for her to find guidance.
• Ye Fu taught Hu Lan through examples, but she spent much of the lesson arguing that tofu pudding should be savory.
• Ye Fu agreed to cook for Hu Lan after she pleaded with him, and her enjoyment of the meal convinced him that she would keep eating with the household.
• Ye Fu refused Hu Lan’s request to live at the Three Flavors Study, and Qin Sanyue escorted her home while Qu Hongxiao later took her leave.
• Ye Fu used Return to the Root and Trace the Source to replay a classic movie in his mind before sleeping.

Qu Hongxiao fought a masked tree chopper in Black Stone City while the Great Curtain sealed her cultivation, leaving her badly wounded and apparently unable to use her trump-card Divine Ability. After she seemed to collapse, she stood again, startling her opponent as the chapter ended.

• The man in the conical hat ambushed Qu Hongxiao and wounded her as she tried to flee.
• The forest keeper appeared, and the man told Qu Hongxiao that only one of the two tree choppers could remain.
• Qu Hongxiao declared herself Camel Bell Mountain’s human-world walker and used Spirit Rhinoceros to break the man’s attack, exhausting herself.
• The man in the conical hat judged Qu Hongxiao defeated and began to leave after she fell.
• Qu Hongxiao stood upright again, shocking the man in the conical hat.

Qu Hongxiao survived the conical-hatted man’s attack after her Dharma Idol slew him, while the Forest Guardian concealed the incident to protect his organization. Ye Fu decided to help her become a sage, and Qu Hongxiao later woke with no memory of who had saved her.

• Qu Hongxiao’s Dharma Idol commanded the conical-hatted man to die, and his fleeing Nascent Soul perished as well.
• The Forest Guardian realized Qu Hongxiao’s Dharma Idol resembled the sage’s form and feared her emergence could make the Forest Guardians enemies of the cultivation world.
• The Forest Guardian repeatedly shielded the event from detection, removed the man’s body, erased the traces of the fight, and left without noticing Ye Fu.
• Ye Fu appeared beside the unconscious Qu Hongxiao, promised to make her a sage, and departed to watch the rest of the Kung Fu.
• Qu Hongxiao woke unharmed, found the men gone, and wondered who had rescued her as she headed home.

Qu Hongxiao recovered her composure after her injuries, while the Forest Guardians learned that she might be a new saint and a childlike Daoist spread the secret. At the Three Flavors Study, Ye Fu saw her diligence and began changing his lessons to help her protect herself.

• Qu Hongxiao recalled Ye Fu’s advice and walked forward with her dignity intact.
• Ding reported the events surrounding Qu Hongxiao to his lord, who warned him not to interfere unless she proved to be the new saint.
• A childlike Daoist uncovered the Forest Guardians’ secret and removed Ding’s restrictions, unaware that Ye Fu had placed another restriction over them.
• Ye Fu saw Qu Hongxiao studying beneath the pear tree and regretted not protecting her sooner after seeing her injuries.
• Ye Fu decided to teach Qu Hongxiao and Hu Lan self-defense as well as reading, then asked Qu Hongxiao whether she was satisfied with the Three Flavors Study.

Ye Fu sent Qu Hongxiao to a secluded valley for five days of painful training through a revised copy of “Clear Breeze,” hoping to restore her strength before Black Stone City’s grand event. Qu Hongxiao accepted the task and began exploring the place where she would study.

• Ye Fu warned Qu Hongxiao that she would face hardship and told her to work harder before the upcoming event.
• Ye Fu gave Qu Hongxiao a rewritten copy of “Clear Breeze” and a pear-tree branch, then sent her to a safe valley with a strand of his divine sense attached to the branch.
• Ye Fu revealed that reading the book would expose Qu Hongxiao to Vast Righteous Qi, painfully rebuilding her meridians without draining her foundation.
• Qu Hongxiao woke in the valley, heard Ye Fu’s message explaining her five-day assignment, and decided to stop questioning his identity.
• Qu Hongxiao found a wooden cabin by a stream and, after entering to begin reading, noticed a red hair ribbon on the windowsill.