Chapter Summaries

Xiahou Feishan explained how his pursuit of fame shaped his Sword Intent and how his ancestor had first comprehended the art. After Chu Tianshu recognized how Divine Intent interacted with the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer, he challenged Xiahou Feishan to stop his fist using only Sword Intent.

• Xiahou Feishan recounted how his ancestor made peace with failure and comprehended the Hermit's Sword.
• Xiahou Feishan described leaving Xiahou Mountain Manor to hunt criminals and developing a Sword Intent fueled by his desire to become famous.
• Chu Tianshu observed the mist and rosy clouds tempering Xiahou Feishan's Sword Intent and understood how Martial Dao Divine Intent worked.
• Chu Tianshu asked Xiahou Feishan to stop his fist with Sword Intent alone and offered to help him find the answer.

Eunuch Zuo Ziqing arrived at Southern Shaolin to investigate the missing Divine Machine Battalion soldiers and obtain the Fire God Secret Formula, while the temple stalled him by claiming its abbot had been injured. Chu Tianshu completed a new hard qigong technique and warned that Chen Zuqi might be waiting to act now that the imperial envoy had arrived.

• Zuo Ziqing told his companions that the Ming realm was prosperous, but suspected Flowing Cloud Manor of making the Divine Machine Battalion soldiers disappear and believed it would avoid open war for now.
• Zuo Ziqing reached Southern Shaolin and learned that Xiahou Feishan had supposedly injured Abbot Miaofan in a fight, then the monks denied knowing about the new firearms because Miaofan was unconscious.
• Miaofan and Xiahou Feishan spoke privately with Chu Tianshu, who had been using their martial exchanges to study sword intent and improve his own skills.
• Chu Tianshu completed the Arhat Mind-Settling Hard Qigong, and Miaofan recognized its unusual approach to cultivating internal force.
• Chu Tianshu suspected Chen Zuqi was either lost at sea or hiding in Eight Min, and suggested that Xiahou Feishan choose a sword from Dharma Hall.

Chen Zuqi, disguised as the merchant Zhou Quan, discussed the attacks on his children and Southern Shaolin’s growing influence before deciding to strike. He set fires across Mount Qingyuan, forcing Southern Shaolin to choose between protecting the mountain and guarding its hidden weapons workshops and gunpowder.

• Zhou Quan learned that assassins had killed or injured several of his children, while the swordsman targeting Second Miss remained at large.
• Chen Zuqi refused to use his double, judged that Southern Shaolin was his most urgent threat, and ordered his followers to act.
• Chen Zuqi’s men left town in small groups and used fire oil and thousand-mile fire to ignite multiple locations on Mount Qingyuan.
• The fires spread through the mountain forest, sending thick smoke into the sky and threatening Southern Shaolin’s concealed workshops and gunpowder stores.

A sudden arson drew Southern Shaolin’s monks and the imperial envoy’s party away from their posts, but the fires proved to be a diversion. As Abbot Miaofan and the others regrouped in Mahavira Hall, Chen Zuqi emerged disguised as a painted arhat and launched a deadly attack.

• Chan Master Miaokong organized the monks to fight fires across Southern Shaolin, while Zuo Ziqing led the imperial envoy’s party down the mountain.
• Chu Tianshu, Miaofan, Xiahou Feishan, and the others escorted the ammunition craftsmen from their workshop and returned to the temple as iron whistles signaled that fires were being put out.
• Abbot Miaofan dismissed the praying monks from Mahavira Hall, and Miaokong reported that groups of disciples were returning from the forest.
• Chu Tianshu suspected that Chen Zuqi’s men could have disguised themselves as monks, but the group found no intruders among those gathered at the hall.
• A painted Alms-Bowl-Holding Arhat attacked Miaofan; Miaoyin and Miaoguo struck it, and Xiahou Feishan stabbed it, but the attacker continued through their defenses.
• Chu Tianshu struck Miaofan and Xiahou Feishan to bolster them, sending the attacker through the hall wall, where Chen Zuqi revealed himself and praised Chu Tianshu’s internal force.

Chen Zuqi revealed how he had hidden inside an arhat statue and used his Divine Intent to turn the experts’ combined force against Abbot Miaofan. Chu Tianshu confronted him in the great hall, and Chen Zuqi began fighting at full strength after Chu tracked him through the wooden beams.

• Chen Zuqi emerged from the hollow arhat statue and explained that his Divine Intent let him redirect multiple opponents’ power without absorbing it.
• Chen Zuqi used his Divine Intent to make the people in the hall see their own skeletons, but Chu Tianshu pulled the monks and Xiahou Feishan clear of his attack.
• Chu Tianshu exchanged palms with Chen Zuqi and disrupted his attempts to borrow force, forcing him to flee through the hall’s rafters.
• Chu Tianshu sensed Chen Zuqi’s movement and found him behind a pillar on the northwest side of the hall.
• Chen Zuqi made black and white Qi stream from his body and declared that he would fight Chu Tianshu with everything he had.

Chu Tianshu fought Chen Zuqi in Southern Shaolin’s Mahavira Hall, overcoming the pirate king’s borrowed White Bone power with a rapid succession of lightning-charged attacks. After killing Chen Zuqi and destroying his evil spirit, Chu Tianshu left the onlookers facing the aftermath of the battle.

• Chen Zuqi drew power from the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer and used it to launch himself at Chu Tianshu.
• Chan Master Miaokong attacked Chen Zuqi with 108 prayer beads, but Chen Zuqi stopped them with his internal force and hurled them at Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu evaded the bead attack with an illusion of flames, then accelerated his internal force and met Chen Zuqi’s palm with a lightning-charged strike.
• Chu Tianshu overwhelmed Chen Zuqi with rapid palm strikes and claw attacks, then pierced his chest and destroyed his heart.
• Chu Tianshu summoned Chen Zuqi’s evil spirit in a blood grid and cut it apart with cyan lightning.

Zuo Ziqing and the Brocade Guards attacked the wokou raiding a hidden weapons workshop, where Zuo fought the steward using their rival martial arts. Chu Tianshu arrived with Miaoyin and Miaoguo, revealed that he had killed Chen Zuqi, and was identified as the true owner of the Fire God Secret Formula.

• The steward and his men overwhelmed the workshop guards and captured its craftsmen as Zuo Ziqing and the Brocade Guards arrived to confront the wokou.
• Zuo Ziqing killed four wokou and ordered his men to seize craftsmen and scatter, then fought the steward with his Iron Pipa Divine Art.
• The steward countered Zuo Ziqing with the East Sea Water Cloud Sleeves, but Zuo’s strengthened kidney meridian let him break the sleeves and press the attack.
• Chu Tianshu appeared behind the steward and cut off his head, then challenged Zuo Ziqing’s claim that the secret formula belonged to the imperial court.
• Miaoyin and Miaoguo identified Chu Tianshu as the formula’s true owner and announced that he had killed Chen Zuqi, leader of the wokou.

After Layman Chu Tianshu killed Chen Zuqi at Southern Shaolin, the news spread through the jianghu and drew the attention of powerful families and sects. Murong Shijie abandoned his plan to go to Quanzhou, while the Demonic Sect began investigating Chu Tianshu and preparing to exploit the turmoil in Dongying.

• Murong Shijie learned that Chu Tianshu had killed Chen Zuqi at Southern Shaolin and put aside his plan to travel to Quanzhou.
• Murong Shijie ordered his family to send its intelligence to Flowing Cloud Manor.
• Manor Lord Xiahou decided to send an apprenticeship gift to Southern Shaolin in thanks for disciplining his son.
• News of Chen Zuqi's death spread across the land, prompting some southern martial powers to seek ties with Southern Shaolin and others to look for new patrons.
• A leader of the Demonic Sect ordered an investigation into Layman Tian and sent people to Dongying to capitalize on the coming chaos.

Chu Tianshu checked his Fortune progress and discussed his injuries and new martial technique with Xiahou Feishan. He then decided it was time to meet the imperial envoy before dealing with the wokou in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

• Chu Tianshu checked his token and saw that his Fortune had reached about sixty percent of the transmigration threshold.
• Xiahou Feishan told Chu Tianshu that his appetite was still poor as he recovered from the clash with Chen Zuqi, and asked about Chu Tianshu's injuries.
• Chu Tianshu explained that his wounds had nearly healed and demonstrated a lightning-like technique he had developed from the Sky-Spanning Divine Art, Palm Thunder, and Indra Claw.
• Chu Tianshu named the move Thunder Qi Subdues the Waves while Xiahou Feishan lamented that he still had not fulfilled his contract to fight the wokou.
• Chu Tianshu said the time had come to deal with the wokou in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and stood up to meet the imperial envoy with Xiahou Feishan.

Chu Tianshu showed Zuo Ziqing evidence of corrupt officials and proposed replacing them while concealing the killings from the court. Zuo agreed to help after Chu offered a large supply of horses for the emperor, and Chu left him to recover before reporting their supposed good news to the capital.

• Zen Master Miaoguo showed Zuo Ziqing records of officials’ crimes, then Chu Tianshu arrived with Xiahou Feishan and challenged Zuo over the officials’ conduct.
• Chu Tianshu proposed accusing the corrupt officials of colluding with Japanese raiders and replacing them as they were killed; Zuo recognized the danger and asked whether Chu meant to kill him too.
• Chu Tianshu offered the court a large number of horses, and Zuo Ziqing saw a chance to gain influence by helping conceal the killings and secure official posts for Chu’s appointees.
• Miaoguo explained how imperial appointments and estates had fueled resentment and helped Flowing Cloud Manor infiltrate the provinces.
• Chu Tianshu laughed at the opportunity presented by the Great Ming’s corruption and told Zuo Ziqing to recover before reporting good news to the court.

Xiahou Yi brought the Xiahou Mountain Manor’s gifts to Southern Shaolin and met a wandering swordsman who wanted to see Chu Tianshu. Xiahou Feishan recognized the swordsman as an acquaintance, and the chapter ended with the man giving his name as Lu Shuangyan—or Yan Shuanglu.

• Xiahou Yi noticed Southern Shaolin’s followers teaching martial arts while farming and wondered about the manor master’s lavish gifts to the temple.
• A weary swordsman paid Xiahou Yi to ride in the Xiahou family carriage, and the party continued toward Southern Shaolin under guard.
• Xiahou Feishan met Xiahou Yi and learned the gifts were for Chu Tianshu, who had taken him as a disciple; he tried to inspect the presents and revise the gift list.
• Xiahou Feishan discovered the swordsman in the carriage and learned he had come from Dongying after uncovering an impostor posing as Chen Zuqi.
• The swordsman explained his Zhuxi origins and said his sword would not strike certain people with a killing move; Xiahou Feishan agreed to introduce him to Chu Tianshu.
• When Xiahou Feishan asked his name, the swordsman offered Lu Shuangyan, then added that he could also be called Yan Shuanglu.

Chu Tianshu assessed Southern Shaolin’s recommended officials and met Lu Shuangyan, who had come to study martial arts. Their conversation revealed Chu’s plans for the temple’s future, and Lu named his sword art the Thirteen Death-Claiming Swords.

• Xiahou Feishan brought Lu Shuangyan to the pavilion where officials waited to meet Chu Tianshu, who quickly assessed them and marked his recommendations.
• Chu Tianshu used the Mist and Rosy Clouds Qi Observing Technique to judge people’s merits, misdeeds, abilities, and allegiances, then agreed to meet Lun Wenxu and other candidates.
• Chu Tianshu invited Lu Shuangyan up the mountain, and they observed Southern Shaolin’s monks training among the trees.
• Lu Shuangyan recognized that Chu Tianshu was turning Southern Shaolin into a thriving center for martial arts, and Chu realized Lu had come solely to pursue martial arts.
• Lu Shuangyan named his thirteen-move sword art the Thirteen Death-Claiming Swords, and he told Chu Tianshu he had never heard of Yan Shisan.

Chu Tianshu and Lu Shuangyan demonstrated their martial arts and began a discussion through a sparring match. Lu Shuangyan revealed his fourteenth sword, but Chu Tianshu subdued its power and drove it into the earth.

• Lu Shuangyan showed how his Sword Qi could cut and spin a branch, and Chu Tianshu demonstrated his internal power by making a falling leaf strike the branch like a blade.
• Xiahou Feishan moved aside to watch without disturbing them as Lu Shuangyan attacked with the branch and Chu Tianshu intercepted his thrusts and successive sword moves.
• Lu Shuangyan unleashed his fourteenth sword, gathering the onlookers’ fear into a deadly point of icy light aimed at Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu used Thunder Qi Subdues the Waves to slow Lu Shuangyan’s sword light, then pressed it into the ground and swallowed its force.

Lu Shuangyan, Chu Tianshu, and Xiahou Feishan discussed their sword techniques after Xiahou nearly unleashed a Fourteenth Sword that seemed to come from outside his own understanding. Chu Tianshu suspected Lu Shuangyan’s sword art was attracting a forming evil spirit, and the chapter ended with Lu Shuangyan recalling that the Flowing Cloud Manor Master had broken his first thirteen swords using traces of highly skilled sword moves.

• Lu Shuangyan and Chu Tianshu compared the Fourteenth Sword with Chu’s Thunder Qi Subdues the Waves, while Xiahou Feishan listened.
• Xiahou Feishan used the battle as inspiration to imitate the qualities of Lu Shuangyan’s Thirteen Death-Claiming Swords.
• As Xiahou attempted a Fourteenth Sword, Chu Tianshu disrupted him and Lu Shuangyan sheathed his blade before he could complete the strike.
• Xiahou admitted the Fourteenth Sword had not come from his own work, and Lu Shuangyan explained that his sword art had begun urging him toward a Fifteenth Sword through dreams.
• Chu Tianshu recognized signs that a forming evil spirit in the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer had influenced Xiahou, then asked about the Flowing Cloud Manor Master.
• Lu Shuangyan said the Flowing Cloud Manor Master had no sword when he broke Lu’s first thirteen swords, but his sleeves had contained traces of several highly skilled sword moves.

Chu Tianshu invited Lu Shuangyan and Xiahou Feishan to explore Lu’s sword-making insights through poetry and prose after they discussed the danger of the Death-Claiming Sword’s fifteenth form. Meanwhile, someone at Flowing Cloud Manor awakened from meditation and addressed the fifteenth sword.

• Lu Shuangyan warned that the Flowing Cloud Manor Master might master the fifteenth sword and use it to kill powerful martial artists across the jianghu.
• Chu Tianshu decided to send a warning to the capital, then asked Lu Shuangyan to share the insights he had gained while creating his sword art.
• Chu Tianshu brought Lu Shuangyan and Xiahou Feishan to his room and showed them his collection of literary passages gathered for studying martial arts.
• Chu Tianshu proposed using poetry and prose to help Lu express the connections between Qi, body, and mind in his creative process.
• Someone at Flowing Cloud Manor awoke from meditation and asked whether the fifteenth sword wanted to be born through someone else's hand again.

The Flowing Cloud Manor Master examined reports on Chu Tianshu and realized his new order relied on cooperation among factions rather than a single ruler. Seeing that system as a threat to the Flowing Cloud Manor’s ambitions, he decided he could not wait to master the Fifteenth Sword before killing Chu Tianshu.

• Ye Zongsheng showed the Flowing Cloud Manor Master portraits of Chu Tianshu and reported that he had not used his sword against Chen Zuqi.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master considered using information about Chu Tianshu to lure Sect Leader Qiu into the Central Plains.
• Xiang Tanzhong and Ye Zongsheng discussed Chu Tianshu’s officials, lay disciples, militia, and monks, then realized that the factions depended on one another and could resist domination by a single ruler.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master rejected the idea that Chu Tianshu’s system was madness and said the southern martial world could not tolerate it.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master decided to kill Chu Tianshu as soon as possible rather than wait to master the Fifteenth Sword.

Chu Tianshu completed the Vertical and Horizontal Simple Seal and transformed Mind Power into internal power, gaining spell-like control over wind and leaves. After Flowing Cloud Manor returned artisans from Fire God Gully and invited him to Kangshan Island, Chu Tianshu decided to travel beyond the pass to confront the Demonic Sect.

• Chu Tianshu wrote a cultivation method combining the Secret Incantations of Vertical and Horizontal with insights into refining spirit into Qi, then used his token to deduce the Vertical and Horizontal Simple Seal.
• Chu Tianshu asked Lu Shuangyan and Xiahou Feishan to stand guard as he cultivated, transformed Mind Power into internal power, and controlled four leaves with wind-like force.
• Chu Tianshu demonstrated that he could summon the leaves back with a gesture, while Lu Shuangyan and Xiahou Feishan marveled at his spell-like ability.
• A messenger announced that Flowing Cloud Manor had sent more than fifty Fire God Gully artisans as a gift and invited Layman Tian to meet its master on Kangshan Island on the first day of the next month.
• Chu Tianshu suspected the invitation was not a peaceful one and proposed traveling beyond the pass to visit the Demonic Sect, asking Lu Shuangyan and Xiahou Feishan to accompany him.

A Demonic Sect column led by Sect Leader Qiu traveled toward Flowing Cloud Manor, but Lu Shuangyan ambushed it and fought Jin Shi and Yin Jiang. As Sect Leader Qiu prepared to draw his saber, Chu Tianshu emerged from the snow and struck, interrupting the confrontation.

• Sect Leader Qiu ordered the Demonic Sect cavalry to leave the thinning river ice and head for the bank, while Protector Jin Shi rode out to observe the land inside the pass.
• Lu Shuangyan revealed himself as an assassin and charged the column, cutting down a rider and battling Jin Shi.
• Lu Shuangyan's attack scattered the cavalry, drove riders onto the cracking ice, and sent several plunging into the river.
• Yin Jiang intercepted Lu Shuangyan, but the swordsman's Death-Claiming Sword Intent wounded him until Sect Leader Qiu reached through the carriage wall and hurled him away.
• Sect Leader Qiu prepared to draw his saber against Lu Shuangyan, but Chu Tianshu emerged from beneath the snow and struck with his palm.

Chu Tianshu and Lu Shuangyan ambushed Sect Leader Qiu, but his saber art let him survive and escape. Chu Tianshu chased him into the mountains and launched a strike that drew on the skills he had cultivated throughout his life.

• Sect Leader Qiu split his saber intent to counter Lu Shuangyan’s sword and Chu Tianshu’s palm strike, though both attacks wounded him.
• Chu Tianshu revealed that he had tracked Sect Leader Qiu with a spell, but Qiu shattered his silver needle with blood beads and fled with Chu Tianshu pursuing him.
• Qiu used his knowledge of the mountain terrain to evade Chu Tianshu and suppress his injuries, while Chu Tianshu adapted to the hazards and closed the gap.
• Qiu turned and attacked with a saber technique that formed a cyan moon, and Chu Tianshu thrust his sword toward the saber’s true location, channeling the skills he had learned across his life.

Chu Tianshu defeated and captured the Demonic Sect leader after countering his saber techniques with a four-leaf green mark. He left the leader alive, intending to preserve his Fortune Bar score for a future confrontation with the Flowing Cloud Manor Master.

• Chu Tianshu and the Demonic Sect leader clashed, and both were injured by the leader’s saber technique.
• The Demonic Sect leader pursued Chu Tianshu with the Divine Saber Slash, while Chu Tianshu used a four-leaf mark to disrupt the crescent-shaped Saber Qi.
• Chu Tianshu drove the Saber Qi back and struck the leader’s saber at a weak point, disrupting his internal force.
• Chu Tianshu seized the leader’s saber arm, and the leader severed it to try to unleash the Blood-Transforming Demonic Saber.
• Chu Tianshu struck the leader’s left hand, sealed the wound, and blocked seven acupoints, leaving him immobilized.
• The Demonic Sect leader asked why Chu Tianshu had spared him, and Chu Tianshu stayed silent to keep his Fortune Bar score in reserve.