Chapter Summaries

Jun Jingyi and Sikong Ye searched a mass grave for a young woman’s corpse and buried her, leaving Jun Jingyi troubled by the many recent dead. The next morning, Jun Jingyi returned to business as usual and arranged to meet restaurant managers about a partnership.

• Jun Jingyi reflected on the idea that the strong preyed on the weak as he and Sikong Ye headed outside Tianfu City.
• Jun Jingyi told Sikong Ye they had come to find the young woman’s corpse in a mass grave.
• Jun Jingyi and Sikong Ye found a pile containing over a hundred bodies, and the young man searched it until he found the woman.
• The two took the woman’s corpse away, let people see them on the official road, and buried her in a decent spot.
• The next morning, Jun Jingyi gave a beggar copper coins and told a waiter to invite the restaurant managers to discuss a partnership.

Jun Jingyi invited independent restaurant owners to join his Journey to the West Merchant Alliance, offering them low-cost goods and mutual support. He then told the other proprietors a story that hinted at his anger toward someone who had mistreated the young woman who once helped him, leaving them wary of his hidden fury.

• Jun Jingyi offered steamed buns, Dukang Liquor, and future products at low prices to proprietors who joined his merchant alliance.
• Jun Jingyi explained that alliance members would support one another, and the independent proprietors joined while clan-backed owners held back.
• Jun Jingyi offered the nonmembers a chance to cooperate if they heard a story about a young master who forgot the young woman who had helped him.
• The proprietors realized Jun Jingyi's story referred to a real incident and feared the anger beneath his smile.
• Sikong Ye learned that the young woman had once helped Jun Jingyi and wondered whether Jun Jingyi had concealed his real motives.

After Jun Jingyi publicized the Li Family’s abuse of a young woman, Tianfu City turned against the family and its businesses came under pressure. A prince who wanted to protect the Li Family because of its court connections invited Young Marquis Jun to a banquet, leaving him caught between the Jun and Li families.

• Lian'er told Bai Ruoli that Jun Jingyi had shared the young woman’s story and was acting against the Li Family, though Bai Ruoli still sensed something was wrong.
• Scholars and women in Tianfu City condemned the Li Family after hearing Jun Jingyi’s story.
• Authorities arrived at the Li Family’s residence, its shops were surrounded, and the Liu Family ended its business dealings with them.
• A prince learned that Jun Jingyi had personally buried the young woman and decided to invite Young Marquis Jun to a banquet rather than openly oppose him.

Jun Jingyi attended the eighth prince’s banquet, where the Li family apologized and the matter was settled without justice for the dead. He left believing the eighth prince was the male lead and remained frustrated by the compromise and his inability to return to his original world.

• Jun Jingyi received an invitation to the eighth prince’s banquet and decided to attend in formal clothes.
• At the banquet, the Li family head apologized for his son offending Jun Jingyi and pleaded for his son’s safety.
• Jun Jingyi accepted the apology, and the eighth prince declared their grievances settled over dinner.
• The Li family head saved his son, the eighth prince gained Jun Jingyi’s goodwill, and Jun Jingyi survived his first encounter with the protagonist.
• After leaving with Sikong Ye, Jun Jingyi concluded the eighth prince was the male lead and resented the banquet’s outcome.

Jun Jingyi launched a Qixi promotion at the Journey to the West Restaurant, drawing Tianfu City's scholars, ladies, and powerful families with a discount for married couples and reduced-price Dukang Liquor. Bai Ruoli reluctantly joined the crowd at the restaurant that night, then froze after looking around.

• Jun Jingyi arranged Qixi promotions at the Journey to the West restaurants, offering married couples twenty percent off and discounted Dukang Liquor.
• Waiters promoted the deals as a one-day sacrifice for the people, and Tianfu City's scholars and ladies praised Jun Jingyi and flocked to the restaurant.
• Bai Ruoli suspected Jun Jingyi was scheming but decided she had to attend to maintain her place among Tianfu City's social circles.
• That night, officials, dignitaries, influential figures, and celebrated scholars and ladies gathered at the Journey to the West Restaurant.
• Bai Ruoli arrived with the Bai Clan's party and froze after casually surveying her surroundings.

Jun Jingyi’s restaurant drew Tianfu City’s elite with discounted Dukang Liquor and a poetry contest offering prizes and fame. After the contest ended, Liu Xuan challenged Jun Jingyi to come out and compose a poem.

• A middle-aged man announced discounted Dukang Liquor and a poetry contest at the Journey to the West Restaurant.
• The crowd grew excited when the restaurant offered wine prizes and promised to display the top three poems across its Tianfu City locations.
• The restaurant became a popular topic throughout Tianfu City, and the county magistrate, a Jin Family member, and the eighth prince judged the contest.
• Liu Xuan of the Liu Family took first place and called on Jun Jingyi to compose a poem himself.

When scholars challenged Jun Jingyi to write a poem at the Journey to the West Restaurant, he answered with “Immortal at the Magpie Bridge,” stunning the crowd and silencing his critics. Jun Yixue proudly delivered the poem, while Bai Ruoli wondered who had inspired it.

• Tianfu scholars, resentful of Jun Jingyi’s fame, urged him to prove his talent at the restaurant.
• Jun Jingyi stopped the angry Jun Yixue and began writing a poem for the gathering.
• Jun Jingyi wrote “Immortal at the Magpie Bridge” without hesitation, impressing Sikong Ye and Jun Yixue.
• Jun Jingyi asked Jun Yixue to take the poem downstairs, and she happily delivered it to the scholars.
• The poem left the scholars and guests stunned, while Bai Ruoli wondered who Jun Jingyi had written it for.

As the protagonists’ meeting approached, Jun Jingyi worried that the main plot would put his life in danger and decided to focus on gaining the strength to protect himself. He asked Sikong Ye about the Yan Kingdom’s jianghu, whose grim reality was far removed from his romantic idea of it.

• Jun Jingyi’s Qixi poems spread across Great Yan, and Jiangnan’s scholars recognized him as their leading poet.
• Jun Jingyi learned that the eighth prince had invited Bai Ruoli to treat his illness, meaning she was about to meet the male lead and begin the main plot.
• Jun Jingyi decided he could not stop the protagonists’ meeting and resolved to accelerate his plans and build up his martial strength.
• Jun Jingyi asked Sikong Ye to explain the Yan Kingdom’s jianghu, and Sikong Ye described it as a world of slaughter, feuds, and massacres.

Jun Jingyi learned that Tianfu City's jianghu was controlled by gangs and that its righteous and demonic factions were driven largely by money and survival. He decided to use his wealth to gather beggars into the Beggar Sect, and the young man in black agreed to help him.

• The young man in black explained that the Golden Dragon Gang, the Earth Tiger Gang, and the Heaven and Earth Gang controlled Tianfu City's underworld.
• He told Jun Jingyi that jianghu people struggled to survive, and that many so-called righteous and demonic groups served wealth or desperation.
• Jun Jingyi asked the young man in black to help him establish a sect and recruit beggars.
• Jun Jingyi named the group the Beggar Sect and insisted that beggars were people worth helping.
• The young man in black agreed to let Jun Jingyi proceed, and Jun Jingyi declared that establishing the Beggar Sect was the first step.

Jun Jingyi used charitable porridge to establish a Beggar Sect, intending to build an intelligence network against Great Yan. As he wandered the streets without Sikong Ye, he encountered Li Young Master abducting a girl and ordered his guards to intervene.

• Jun Jingyi’s porridge stalls drew public praise, and Bai Ruoli and Lian'er began to doubt that he was entirely bad.
• Jun Jingyi told Sikong Ye to establish the Beggar Sect, hoping to use beggars as spies because their backgrounds were difficult for the imperial court to investigate.
• Sikong Ye agreed to get results and left, while Jun Jingyi felt uneasy about losing his protection.
• Jun Jingyi encountered Li Young Master pursuing a terrified girl in green while Li Family guards dragged away her parents’ bodies.
• Jun Jingyi sent the Jun Family guards to attack Li Young Master and his men.

Jun Jingyi learned that the woman he had directed to the county yamen was falsely accused and handed over to the Li Family, likely through the Eighth Prince’s influence. He grew cold toward the men behind it, while the Eighth Prince dismissed Jun Jingyi’s response and ordered the woman’s family buried in a mass grave.

• Jun Jingyi asked Steward Wang about the county yamen and learned that the woman’s complaint had already been dismissed as false, with her sent to the Li Family.
• Jun Jingyi suspected the Li Family and the county yamen had acted to provoke him, and he grew increasingly troubled and angry.
• At the Eighth Prince’s residence, a guard reported that the woman had been delivered to the Li Family and that the Jun Residence had made no further move.
• The Eighth Prince mocked Jun Jingyi and ordered the woman’s family placed in a mass grave.

Jun Jingyi questioned whether the Eighth Prince was truly the protagonist and asked Bai Ruoli how she felt about him. Bai Ruoli warned that the Eighth Prince was a bad person, while Jun Jingyi’s blunt question about whether she would marry him left her wondering if he was jealous.

• Jun Jingyi spent the day brooding over the Eighth Prince’s actions and whether confronting him was worth the risk.
• Bai Ruoli visited the Jun Residence after Jun Yixue encouraged her, though she regretted agreeing to come.
• Jun Jingyi asked Bai Ruoli what she thought of the Eighth Prince, and she warned him to stay away from the man.
• Jun Jingyi asked whether Bai Ruoli would be willing to marry the Eighth Prince, making Lian'er amused and Bai Ruoli wonder if he was jealous.

Jun Jingyi was relieved when Bai Ruoli assured him she would not marry the Eighth Prince, and he began plotting against the Li Family’s Second Young Master. After sharing a meal with Bai Ruoli and Lian'er, he returned to the Jun Residence and started writing a story.

• Bai Ruoli told Jun Jingyi that she would not marry the Eighth Prince, easing his jealousy and suspicion.
• Jun Jingyi decided the Eighth Prince was not the protagonist and chose the Li Family’s Second Young Master as his first target.
• Jun Jingyi went to prepare food, and Bai Ruoli and Lian'er eagerly ate the dishes he served.
• At the Jun Residence that night, Jun Jingyi wrote a story about a chivalrous jianghu, spirited horses, and wine.

A tale about the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and the Heaven-Reliant Divine Sword reignited interest in two destroyed families and sent the martial world into turmoil. At the Eighth Prince’s residence, the prince saw the weapons as a chance to gain power, while his guard suspected a trap and wondered whether its author knew the weapons were real.

• Stories about the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and Heaven-Reliant Sword spread through Tianfu City, stirring up the commoners and martial factions.
• The martial world learned that the Li Family and Zhang Family had once wielded the weapons, risen to power, and been destroyed after their conflict brought catastrophe.
• The Eighth Prince recalled that Great Yan’s founding ancestor and empress had possessed a divine saber and sword, and wondered whether they had been the legendary weapons.
• A guard reported that the Heavenly Constabulary records said the emperor had secretly supported the Li Family and Zhang Family to divide the martial world.
• The Eighth Prince dismissed his guard’s warning that the revelation might be a trap, arguing that the chance to obtain two weapons and divine arts was worth the risk.
• The Eighth Prince revealed that Great Yan’s founding weapons had indeed been an exceptionally sharp saber and sword, leaving the guard to wonder whether the schemer had anticipated that fact.

Jun Jingyi learned that Sikong Ye belonged to Northern Wei’s imperial clan and weighed whether he could pursue his plans beyond Great Yan. He agreed to take Sikong Ye to see the weapons, while considering how to prevent Northern Wei and Eastern Chu from joining forces with Great Yan.

• Sikong Ye told Jun Jingyi that he was not from Yan Kingdom but Northern Wei, though he refused to reveal his full identity.
• Jun Jingyi recalled Great Yan’s unrest and decline, including the eldest prince’s brutal suppression of a major rebellion five years earlier.
• Jun Jingyi connected Sikong Ye to the escaped child of Sikong Baixing, whose family had been executed for treason in Northern Wei.
• Sikong Ye assured Jun Jingyi that he would not inform Great Yan’s court about the divine weapons.
• Jun Jingyi agreed to take Sikong Ye to see the weapons and considered making arrangements in Northern Wei and Eastern Chu, even replacing their rulers if necessary.

Jun Jingyi showed Sikong Ye the mass-produced Dragon Slaying Sabers and Heaven Reliant Swords, and Sikong Ye discovered that one saber could break his treasured sword. Sikong Ye suspected Jun Jingyi was preparing to rebel against Great Yan but chose to support him, while Jun Jingyi secretly dismissed the hidden figures watching them.

• Jun Jingyi showed Sikong Ye the sabers and swords the blacksmiths had forged using his iron-smelting method.
• Sikong Ye tested a Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber against his longsword, and the saber broke the sword without suffering damage.
• Sikong Ye saw the large stockpile of divine weapons and suspected Jun Jingyi was preparing a rebellion.
• Jun Jingyi said he only wanted to protect himself, and Sikong Ye decided he would follow him despite his suspicions.
• Jun Jingyi discreetly signaled for the figures around the courtyard to vanish.

The Eighth Prince prompted Magistrate Jia Dayan to crack down on the unrest in Tianfu City and search for the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber. Jun Jingyi waited for more powerful forces to arrive, and the Snow Mountain Sect’s arrival left him smiling.

• Magistrate Jia Dayan sought the Eighth Prince’s help as fighting spread through Tianfu City over rumors of the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber.
• The Eighth Prince lent Jia Dayan his guards and urged him to search for the saber, prompting the county yamen to suppress open fighting and investigate.
• Sikong Ye reported that major jianghu forces, including the Water God Gang, had entered the city, while Jun Jingyi insisted they needed to wait for a heavyweight force.
• The Snow Mountain Sect, one of the jianghu’s seven great sects, arrived in Tianfu City, and Jun Jingyi smiled at the news.

Sikong Ye delivered a saber to the Li Family gates on Jun Jingyi’s instructions, and its ability to break ordinary weapons convinced the gathered martial artists that the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber was real. As factions rushed to seize it and the Eighth Prince ordered his guards to retrieve it and the Heaven Reliant Sword, Bai Ruoli feared an unseen force was directing events in Tianfu City.

• Sikong Ye used a megaphone to announce that he had delivered a saber, then vanished into the night.
• Three burly men recognized the saber as the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and saw it break their weapons, while hidden onlookers confirmed its power.
• Armed figures killed the three men as people converged on the Li Family gates.
• The Eighth Prince ordered his guards to retrieve the Dragon-Slaying Saber and the Heaven Reliant Sword at any cost.
• Members of jianghu sects and independent cultivators rushed into the blood-soaked western city, while Bai Ruoli feared the Li Family was doomed and sensed someone was orchestrating events.

Bai Ruoli realized that a powerful figure was likely behind the scheme involving the Li Family, the Eighth Prince, and the jianghu, and decided to help him pursue the throne as repayment for an old debt. Jun Jingyi found the surviving Li Family head and ordered him killed, leaving the man to confront the cruelty he had once inflicted on the weak.

• Bai Ruoli considered whether Jun Jingyi or a powerful figure from her previous life had orchestrated the scheme and decided to help that figure fight for the throne.
• The Li Family head emerged from hiding and found his family and household devastated, with only his nineteenth concubine among his wives still alive.
• Jun Jingyi arrived with Sikong Ye, and the Li Family head tried to flee before Sikong Ye seized him.
• The Li Family head pleaded that Jun Jingyi had no reason to kill him, but Jun Jingyi said that being weaker than him was reason enough and ordered his execution.
• The Li Family head remembered how he had denied justice to a young woman and went mad.

Jun Jingyi reflected on embracing the strong preying on the weak after destroying the Li Family, while the Eighth Prince received the Heaven Reliant Sword and decided to pursue the Dragon Slaying Saber despite suspecting a scheme. At the Jun Residence, Jun Jingyi declared that greed had made the Eighth Prince take the bait.

• Jun Jingyi accepted that he was acting like a villain and walked away with Sikong Ye as the Li Family residence burned behind them.
• The next day, the county magistrate let the army restore order, disposed of the bodies, and sealed Tianfu City’s gates to jianghu people.
• The Eighth Prince learned that the Azure Dragon Hall had obtained the Dragon Slaying Saber, then received the Heaven Reliant Sword from a messenger who escaped.
• The Eighth Prince suspected the sword’s delivery was part of a scheme but decided to pursue the Dragon Slaying Saber, hoping to claim both divine weapons.
• Jun Jingyi told those at the Jun Residence that the Eighth Prince’s greed and gambler’s mentality had made him take the bait.