Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu read old newspapers and learned that Cai Shanjun and Liu Yanqi had repeatedly been reported dead during the National Protection War, though both kept reappearing. He decided to go to Yi Province to check on his old acquaintances, but stopped in surprise when someone he knew entered the newspaper office.

• Chu Tianshu exchanged a gold needle for coins and went to the newspaper office to read old papers.
• Chu Tianshu discovered that newspapers had repeatedly reported Cai Shanjun's death, despite later stories showing him alive and fighting.
• Chu Tianshu read about the National Protection Army's campaigns and learned that Liu Yanqi had also been reported dead multiple times.
• Chu Tianshu decided to travel to Yi Province to see whether Uncle Ma and Uncle Zhong had stayed at the Military Academy.
• Chu Tianshu discussed local conditions with the newspaper owner, then encountered someone he knew entering the office.

Huo Ming reunited with Chu Tianshu and explained that Dragon Vein origin canons had begun returning, granting power to people who matched the deeds of historical figures. He revealed that his mission was in Henei County and warned that the latest origin canons came from the late Han and Three Kingdoms era, whose struggles ended with the realm falling to Jin.

• Huo Ming recognized Chu Tianshu at the newspaper office, and they caught up on their old comrades and discussed Old Yu's injuries.
• Huo Ming warned the newspaper owner to be more cautious about speaking freely with strangers.
• Chu Tianshu asked whether Huo Ming had come to act against the Song-Pacifying Army, and Huo Ming said his mission was in Henei County.
• Huo Ming asked whether Chu Tianshu had obtained an origin canon and explained how Dragon Vein blessings passed between historical figures and people who followed their deeds.
• Huo Ming said the Dragon Vein had been returning for decades and that origin canon blessings had helped people in India resist Westerners.
• Huo Ming warned that the latest origin canons came from the late Han and Three Kingdoms period, whose conflicts ended with the realm going to Jin.

Huo Ming told Chu Tianshu that the returned Dragon Vein Original Scriptures exert powerful influence and that Chen Xuewen of Chenjiagou likely possessed Sima Yi’s Origin Canon. After revealing that he had received Zhao Yun’s Origin Canon, Huo Ming was asked by Chu Tianshu to spar.

• Huo Ming explained that nearly two thousand years without the Dragon Veins had made their established tendencies more forceful, and said the Cao Family had identified Chen Xuewen as a likely bearer of Sima Yi’s Origin Canon.
• Huo Ming described Chen Xuewen’s ties to Yu Province’s former Qing officials and Chenjiagou, whose Taiji practitioners had influenced Li Tangjie’s examination scandal and later pursued civil careers.
• Huo Ming showed Chu Tianshu a portrait of Chen Xuewen and said he wanted help because Chenjiagou had many experts and he did not want to alert his target.
• Huo Ming revealed that he had received Zhao Yun’s Origin Canon during a battlefield charge for a machine gun.
• Chu Tianshu reassured Huo Ming that the Origin Canon had chosen him, then insisted on sparring with him.

Huo Ming and Chu Tianshu sparred to measure their strength, and Huo Ming explained how Zhao Yun’s Original Scripture and its True Understanding worked. They decided Chenjiagou’s fighters were manageable but still needed a plan to prevent Chen Xuewen from escaping, and Chu Tianshu offered a pretext to distract the village.

• Huo Ming attacked Chu Tianshu with force shaped by tea mist, then sent a hidden assault through the table, but Chu Tianshu neutralized both moves.
• Huo Ming asked whether Chu Tianshu had obtained an Original Scripture, and Chu Tianshu learned that True Understanding of Dragon Courage was a method for mastering Zhao Yun’s Scripture.
• Chu Tianshu observed that Huo Ming lacked confidence while unarmed, and Huo Ming said he fought with greater assurance when wielding a weapon.
• Huo Ming and Chu Tianshu assessed their chances in Chenjiagou and worried that Chen Xuewen might flee before they could stop him.
• Huo Ming described his plan to exploit the Cao Family’s arrival to distract Chenjiagou while he seized someone for information, and Chu Tianshu said he had a suitable pretext too.

Chu Tianshu arrived at Chenjiagou carrying a boulder carved with the words “Golden Toad Taiji” and challenged the village’s martial artists to fight. As Chen Pinde arranged for three elders to meet him, Chen Xuewen ordered the village’s gunmen to prepare cautiously, and a military convoy arrived seeking Chenjiagou instructors.

• Chu Tianshu carried a massive carved boulder to Chenjiagou and challenged its masters to prove their Taiji against the Golden Toad Sect.
• Chen Pinde restrained villagers eager to fight and proposed that Chu Tianshu test himself against three venerable elders.
• Chen Xuewen ordered Chun'er to send some gunmen to Chen Pinde and keep the others nearby, warning them not to aim or fire first.
• A convoy of sedans and troop trucks arrived, and a hairy middle-aged man asked Chenjiagou’s masters to serve as instructors for his Song-Pacifying Army.
• The hairy middle-aged man noticed Chu Tianshu’s challenge and offered him an instructor’s position if he won a few bouts.

Huo Ming shot at Chen Xuewen, but Chen Xuewen slowed the bullets with an unseen force and fired into the sky to raise an alarm. At Chenjiagou, Chu Tianshu defeated the Three Elders of the Chen Family and then confronted Liu Xueya, revealing that he had intended to take the marshal down.

• Huo Ming ambushed Chen Xuewen, but his bullets slowed near their target; Chen Xuewen dodged them and fired three shots into the sky.
• Huo Ming knocked Chun’er unconscious with a pebble and fled as the gunshots sounded across the village.
• Liu Xueya arrived with his Song-Pacifying Army escort and encouraged Chu Tianshu to demonstrate his skills.
• Chu Tianshu fought through the crowd and defeated the Three Elders of the Chen Family with a piercing Taiji Fist technique.
• Liu Xueya offered Chu Tianshu a post and sent soldiers to tend to the injured, but Chu Tianshu accused him of harboring killing intent.
• Chu Tianshu said he had planned to take Liu Xueya down while the marshal was isolated in Chenjiagou.

Chu Tianshu confronted Liu Xueya and the Song-Pacifying Army convoy, using his sword and oppressive pressure to prevent the soldiers from firing. He pursued Liu Xueya into a truck bed and unleashed a Four-Leaf Seal that disrupted Liu Xueya's hidden Saber Qi.

• Chu Tianshu attacked Liu Xueya, who blocked the sword with his saber, and their clash battered the black car.
• Chu Tianshu pressed his attack as Liu Xueya retreated across the car and onto a truck, then ordered his soldiers to open fire.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed his oppressive pressure, forcing many soldiers to the ground, and drew his sword to attack Liu Xueya across the truck's tarp.
• Liu Xueya dropped into the truck bed and filled it with concealed rings of Yin Qi saber force, preparing to detonate them when Chu Tianshu followed.
• Chu Tianshu burst upward through the tarp and struck the truck with the Sanqi Divine Sword and a Four-Leaf Seal, scattering Liu Xueya's undetonated Saber Qi.

Chu Tianshu defeated Liu Xueya and extracted the serpent half of the Zhongping Plague God, while Huo Ming captured Chen Xuewen. After learning Chen Xuewen possessed Sima Yi’s Origin Canon, Chu Tianshu and Huo Ming weighed his past crimes against the danger of the power he held.

• Chu Tianshu used Sword Qi and the Sanqi Divine Sword to draw the evil serpent from Liu Xueya, then destroyed it and learned from the Youdu Token that it was half of the Zhongping Plague God.
• Huo Ming arrived with Chen Xuewen bound by a rattan spear and explained that Chen Xuewen’s power slowed nearby attacks and could turn an opponent’s momentum to his advantage.
• Chu Tianshu recognized that Chen Xuewen had been pretending to remain unconscious, and Chen admitted he had woken and overheard them discuss Sima Yi’s Origin Canon.
• Huo Ming said Chen Xuewen faced a ten-year prison sentence based on the crimes they had verified, while explaining that the Origin Canon’s danger alone did not determine whether its holder deserved death.
• Chen Xuewen asked whether the Origin Canon was the real reason they had come for him, and Huo Ming said the Grand Marshal’s orders required them to judge him by his past actions.

Chu Tianshu captured Liu Xueya and questioned him about the plague god attached to him. After learning how Liu Xueya released the Zhongping Plague God and tried to spread plague, Chu Tianshu knocked him unconscious and planned to stabilize western Yu Province while seeking reinforcements.

• Chen Xuewen offered to persuade Chenjiagou’s martial artists to join the Great Han Government in exchange for a reduced sentence, and Huo Ming told him to try.
• Chu Tianshu revealed that Liu Xueya was in the truck and ordered Huo Ming to prevent news of his capture from spreading while requesting reinforcements from Han Prefecture.
• Chu Tianshu decided to stay in Luoyang and examine the Xigong Barracks while waiting for help to arrive.
• Chu Tianshu used silver needles to put Liu Xueya into a daze and asked him to recount his dealings with the plague god.
• Liu Xueya explained that his offerings and a mishap at the Eastern Han ruins released the Zhongping Plague God, which attached itself to him and helped him spread plague in Shaanxi.
• Liu Xueya complained that Chu Tianshu had attacked him despite their shared worship of great gods, and Chu Tianshu slapped him unconscious.

Cai Shanjun received news that Chu Tianshu had captured the Song-Pacifying Army leader and found Sima Yi’s Origin Canon inheritor, then authorized Huo Ming to accompany Chu to Luoyang. In Chenjiagou, Chu confronted the clan elders and offered to restore their failing vitality with silver needles.

• Cai Shanjun and his staff learned from Huo Ming’s telegram that Chu Tianshu had captured the Song-Pacifying Army leader and found the inheritor of Sima Yi’s Origin Canon.
• Cai Shanjun ordered Huo Ming to accompany Chu to Luoyang and arranged support through the underground organization there.
• Huo Ming told Chu that headquarters wanted the Chenjiagou group taken to Luoyang and said he would keep Chen Xuewen from taking the Origin Canon to prison.
• Chu decided to speak with the Chen family elders and challenged their reliance on Chen Xuewen and the village’s old customs.
• Chu told the three elders that their vitality was failing and placed a silver needle between the western elder’s brows, making his body stiffen as his eyes brightened.

Chu Tianshu escorted the subdued Liu Xueya back to Luoyang, where the commander’s secretary-general welcomed them and Liu offered an excuse for his guards’ deaths. Chu then left the convoy and walked through the city with Liu toward the prison, where the Plague God’s Rainbow Half-Body usually stayed.

• The convoy reached Luoyang, and Liu Xueya explained that he had appointed Li Chaoqun to handle the city’s affairs and arrange their welcome.
• Li Chaoqun greeted Liu at the city gate, and Liu claimed wolves had killed his personal guards while the people from Chenjiagou had helped defeat the pack.
• Liu dismissed Li Chaoqun’s suggestion to recover the dead guards’ remains, and the convoy continued into Luoyang.
• Chu Tianshu sent Little Huo and the others to the Xigong Barracks, then took Liu down a crowded street toward the prison.
• Liu told Chu that only seventy-seven prisoners remained and that the Plague God’s Rainbow Half-Body usually stayed inside the prison.

Chu Tianshu discovered that the Plague God's Rainbow Half-Body had turned all seventy-seven prisoners into seeds of evil poison through the Seven Turbidities of the Prison. He preserved their vitality with a needle technique and ordered Liu Xueya to prepare clean rooms so he could treat them.

• Chu Tianshu entered the prison with Liu Xueya and found the jailers frightened of the diseased prisoners.
• Chu Tianshu sensed the Plague God's presence and realized its Rainbow Half-Body was possessing all seventy-seven prisoners at once.
• Chu Tianshu used the Four-Leaf Seal on a prisoner, but could draw out only a few grains of the replenishing iridescent spirit.
• Chu Tianshu identified the Seven Turbidities of the Prison as the source of the poison and recognized that the prisoners had become magically cursed seeds of evil poison.
• Chu Tianshu used Liu Xueya's heart's blood to conceal his hair-needles and seal a thread of vitality in each prisoner.
• Chu Tianshu ordered Liu Xueya to have soldiers renovate the prison's carpentry, sewing, and weaving rooms by the next morning.

Chu Tianshu arranged the prison’s renovation and discussed recruiting allies, managing the Chenjiagou elders, and finding a way to combat the plague god’s evil poison. After deducing a new sword technique that could temper his Sword Intent with poison, he looked over Luoyang and embraced the challenge of helping build a better city.

• Liu Xueya’s men hurried to renovate the prison while Chu Tianshu brought the surviving prisoners outside to recover.
• Huo Ming told Chu Tianshu that he was placing their comrades in Luoyang’s departments and would ask headquarters for doctors and clerical staff; Chu Tianshu asked him to seek sorcerers locally.
• Huo Ming explained that the Chenjiagou elders were watching Chen Xuewen and that he planned to use the others as instructors to drill and screen the Song-Pacifying Army.
• Chu Tianshu said he had persuaded the three elders to cooperate by offering to help extend their lives, and asked Huo Ming to have them assess medicinal ingredients.
• Chu Tianshu fed the Snake Half into his sword manual’s deduction and gained the Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash God-Startling Sword, which could use poisonous Qi to nourish his Sword Intent.
• Chu Tianshu reflected on Luoyang’s beauty and told Huo Ming he wanted to help build a city like gold.

Zhang Yi learned that Chen Xuewen had been taken away, then accompanied Cao Shaolin and Lord Yuanli to Guanlin in Luoyang. Lord Yuanli revealed his plan to put the Guan Yu Origin Canon in Cao Shaolin’s hands, while Zhang Yi considered how the plan might help him advance.

• Adjutant Yang told Zhang Yi that men with Bashu accents had taken Chen Xuewen from Henei County, and Zhang Yi blamed himself for the delay.
• Cao Shaolin mocked Zhang Yi and demanded an apology, then persuaded him to go to Luoyang for some fun.
• Cao Shaolin, Zhang Yi, and Lord Yuanli reached Guanlin, where Zhang Yi asked why Lord Yuanli had chosen the temple as their destination.
• Lord Yuanli explained that Chen Xuewen’s Sima Yi Origin Canon could not yet be taken without consequences, and that he intended to give the Guan Yu Origin Canon to Cao Shaolin to weaken the Dragon Vein’s influence.
• Zhang Yi realized Lord Yuanli planned to empower Cao Shaolin and privately hoped the scheme would eventually let him advance further.

Lord Yuanli began a bloody ritual at Guanlin Temple to take Lord Guan’s strength for Cao Shaolin, but Huo Ming arrived and disrupted it. Huo Ming escaped after Adjutant Yang unexpectedly turned his gun on Zhang Yi.

• Lord Yuanli entered Guanlin Temple with Zhang Yi and Cao Shaolin, ordered offerings and a knife, and began preparing talismans for the ritual.
• Cao Shaolin killed a Song-Pacifying Army soldier to freshen the knife with blood, then slaughtered the soldiers while Zhang Yi’s men restrained them.
• Lord Yuanli activated the ritual altar, and a cold wind drained the corpses of blood until they crumbled to powder.
• Huo Ming arrived with Guanlin’s former temple keeper and sensed Zhao Yun’s Origin Canon stirring inside him as Lord Yuanli recognized it.
• Zhang Yi ordered his men to fire, but Huo Ming shot several of them and escaped Lord Yuanli’s palm strike before Zhang Yi attacked with a spear.
• Adjutant Yang shot at Zhang Yi’s leg, giving Huo Ming time to flee over the screen wall, and Zhang Yi accused Yang of betrayal.

Huo Ming rescued Adjutant Yang from Zhang Yi and Lord Yuanli, then fled toward Luoyang Prison while Lord Yuanli sent a fire ghost after them. Chu Tianshu stopped the ghost at the prison and sealed it inside his scabbard.

• Zhang Yi wounded Adjutant Yang and demanded to know why he had betrayed him, but Huo Ming shot to distract Zhang Yi and carried Yang away.
• Lord Yuanli tried to stop Huo Ming, then summoned a fire ghost with a jade pendant to pursue him.
• Huo Ming met the fleeing physician, handed over Adjutant Yang, and led them toward Luoyang Prison despite suffering injuries from his technique.
• The fire ghost caught up with the three men near the prison, where Chu Tianshu confronted it with the Sanqi Divine Sword.
• Chu Tianshu trapped the fire ghost in his scabbard, eased the men's pain with silver needles, and asked Huo Ming where it had come from.

Zhang Yi and Lord Yuanli chose to continue the ritual at Guanlin despite learning that the Fire Ghost had been suppressed and their intelligence might be false. As Zhang Yi’s men prepared to fight, a powerful stranger arrived, wearing the shattered entrance wall like a cloak.

• Lord Yuanli told Zhang Yi that the Fire Ghost had been suppressed and suspected Adjutant Yang’s information was unreliable.
• Zhang Yi realized their enemies might have more experts than expected, but Lord Yuanli persuaded him to continue the ritual for five more minutes.
• Lord Yuanli offered Zhang Yi the possibility of obtaining a second Origin Canon, and Zhang Yi rallied his men with promises of rewards from Lord Cao.
• A sword’s cry approached Guanlin as the Fire Ghost’s cord writhed, and Zhang Yi’s men aimed their guns at the entrance.
• The stone screen wall crumbled into dust and surged toward the hall around the arriving stranger, who had draped the wall over himself.

Chu Tianshu defeated Zhang Yi, destroyed Lord Yuanli’s ritual altar, and killed Cao Shaolin, triggering backlash against Lord Yuanli. The chapter ended with Chu Tianshu pursuing Lord Yuanli across the statue of Lord Guan and reaching for his head with eight cyan palm strikes.

• Chu Tianshu used a wind column and protective Gang Qi to shatter Zhang Yi’s spear and kill him with a palm strike.
• Lord Yuanli scattered talismans through the rubble, but Chu Tianshu landed and used his Four-Leaf Seal to overturn the offering table and destroy the ritual altar.
• Chu Tianshu struck Cao Shaolin, causing the power of the Origin Canon to dissipate, then rejected Lord Yuanli’s attempt to protect him and killed him.
• Cao Shaolin’s death caused ritual backlash that wounded Lord Yuanli, who fled across Lord Guan’s statue.
• Chu Tianshu pursued Lord Yuanli and launched eight cyan palm strikes toward his head.

Lord Yuanli confronted Chu Tianshu while attempting to steal Guan Yu's Origin Canon, but Chu overwhelmed him with the power of Lord Guan's statue. Yuanli's Gold-Swallowing Beast Face shattered beneath Chu's foot, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Lord Yuanli realized he had underestimated the danger of stealing Guan Yu's Origin Canon and regretted traveling without a larger escort.
• Lord Yuanli summoned the Huaguang statue through his Five Rampancies seal to block Chu Tianshu's attack and retreated beside Cao Shaolin's corpse.
• Lord Yuanli knocked Cao Shaolin's corpse toward Chu, but Chu made Lord Guan's statue lean forward and continued his assault.
• Lord Yuanli used the golden Huaguang statue to halt Lord Guan's falling statue, but Chu struck and broke his ribs, sending him into Zhou Cang's statue base.
• Chu Tianshu recognized Yuanli's Gold-Swallowing Beast Face and shattered it by pressing his foot against Yuanli's chest.

Chu Tianshu found a broad collection of evil techniques on the defeated Lord Yuanli and sensed strange powers circling him. After drawing a golden spirit seal from Lord Yuanli, he left the temple with the old Daoist while the Chenjiagou elders dealt with the fallen gunmen.

• Chu Tianshu found a hidden manual of varied techniques in Lord Yuanli's robe and began examining it.
• Chu Tianshu sensed baleful pressure from the Lord Guan statue and pale streams of Qi circling him, but could not fully absorb or understand them.
• Chu Tianshu used silver needles to draw a golden spirit seal out of Lord Yuanli and stored it in the Sanqi Divine Sword.
• The two old men from Chenjiagou arrived, subdued the gunmen with silver needles, and agreed to take the people and corpses back to the city.
• Chu Tianshu led Lord Yuanli out of the temple and noticed that the strange presences still followed him.