Very much a side quest story. Was hoping for main character progression after such a long time, but it was not to be. Main character is pretty much a narrator in this story, and I found myself liking his former rival more than him. Lots of philosophical type stuff, which is fun for a while, but grows tiresome. The authors notes are nice, since some of the terms were basically nonsensical as a non-Chinese reader for the first 2 books. Hoping the next one picks up, this one did not quite connect for me.