Serendipitous incidents lead him to discover the Golden Serpent Sword and a martial arts manual which once belonged to Xia Xueyi, a long-dead enigmatic swordsman.

Although Yuan initially wanted to seek redress for his father, he eventually joins Li Zicheng's rebellion to overthrow the corrupt Ming government.

He helps the rebels retrieve the gold robbed by the Wen family, sabotages a battery of cannons supplied to the Ming army by foreigners, and finances the rebellion with part of the treasure he discovered in Nanjing.

While Yuan sees overthrowing the corrupt Ming government as one of his key priorities, he also recognises that the Manchus in northeast China pose an even greater threat to the Han Chinese nation.

Yuan realises that he is unable to do anything to reverse the situation and decides to leave for good, so he sails to a distant land (the Bruneian Empire) with his companions.