Chapter Summaries

Zhou Shan captured the Horse Bandit leader and led the Black Armored Army to Ye County, where he surrounded the Iron Palm Gang's headquarters over its collusion with the bandits. Inside, the gang's leader and hall masters discussed silencing the Horse Bandits when a messenger burst in with news.

• Zhou Shan knocked the Horse Bandit leader unconscious, returned to the Zhang Family Merchant Team, and ordered the Black Armored Army to set out for Ye County.
• Young Master Zhang considered befriending Zhou Shan, but the Chief Steward warned that tying the Zhang Family to the Black Armored Army was risky while Qingyang Commandery remained unstable.
• Zhou Shan led two hundred Black Armored Army soldiers into Ye County and surrounded the Iron Palm Gang's headquarters.
• Zhou Shan ordered the soldiers to seize the gang members, then led them toward the council hall, using force against those who resisted.
• Wang Shi and the five hall masters discussed the Horse Bandits and planned to kill them after receiving the stolen goods, but a gang member rushed in with alarming news.

Zhou Shan led the Black Armored Army to arrest the Iron Palm Gang for disguising themselves as bandits and colluding with Horse Bandits. After Wang Shi refused to surrender and attacked, Zhou Shan killed him with a single palm strike and turned toward the gang’s five hall masters.

• A gang member warned Wang Shi and the Iron Palm Gang’s hall masters that the Black Armored Army had attacked.
• Zhou Shan entered the assembly hall, accused the Iron Palm Gang of banditry and collusion with Horse Bandits, and presented the captured Horse Bandit leader as evidence.
• Wang Shi denied the charges, then called on the gang to fight their way out rather than surrender.
• Wang Shi attacked Zhou Shan with dozens of Iron Palm strikes, but Zhou Shan’s protective golden bell repelled them.
• Zhou Shan struck Wang Shi once with his full power, killing him, then challenged the five hall masters to repeat their threats.

Zhou Shan killed the Iron Palm Gang’s leader and took control of its headquarters, ordering the captured gang members judged and the gang’s wealth seized. Captain Liu arrived and tried to claim the spoils, leaving Zhou Shan determined to keep everything from him.

• Zhou Shan killed Wang Shi with one palm, and the Iron Palm Gang’s members lost their will to fight.
• The Black Armored Army subdued the gang members, while its Centurions killed the five Hall Masters; Zhou Shan ordered executions unless citizens could identify a captured member as a good person.
• He Yong reported that the Iron Palm Gang’s headquarters held large quantities of silver, gold, jewelry, and antiques, which Zhou Shan recognized as loot from wealthy households and merchant caravans.
• Captain Liu arrived and, after a subordinate urged him to claim the confiscated goods, offered Zhou Shan five thousand taels as thanks for wiping out the Horse Bandits and Iron Palm Gang.
• Zhou Shan rejected Captain Liu’s attempt to claim the spoils and decided to auction off any property he could not take, rather than leave Liu anything.

Zhou Shan refused Captain Liu’s demand for the Iron Palm Gang’s seized wealth, insisting Liu had no claim to it and provoking a fight. Zhou Shan defeated Liu with one blow and ordered his men to take their unconscious captain to a doctor.

• Zhou Shan told his men to thank Captain Liu for offering five thousand taels, then insisted the payment come from Liu’s own residence rather than the seized silver.
• Captain Liu demanded the Iron Palm Gang’s wealth and threatened to keep it in Ye County, but Zhou Shan refused to give him a single coin.
• The centurions tried to calm the two men and proposed splitting the wealth equally, but Zhou Shan rejected the compromise.
• Captain Liu and Zhou Shan unleashed their auras and traded insults before charging at each other.
• Zhou Shan struck Captain Liu unconscious with one blow, then told Liu’s men to carry him away for medical care.

Zhou Shan crushed the Iron Palm Gang and Horse Bandits in Ye County, executed their leaders to public acclaim, and rapidly auctioned off the gang’s wealth. He left for Qingyang City with 116,520 taels, planning to buy cultivation-enhancing pills and advance toward the Aperture-Opening Realm.

• Zhou Shan dismissed his captains’ warnings about retaliation from the Liu Family and ordered raids on Wang Shi’s residence and the Iron Palm Gang’s hall masters’ residences.
• Zhou Shan announced a clearance auction of the Iron Palm Gang’s assets and ordered its members and the Horse Bandit leaders taken to the execution ground.
• The Black Armored Army publicized the gang’s crimes, and Ye County’s residents cheered as Zhou Shan’s forces beheaded the prisoners.
• Zhou Shan sold the Iron Palm Gang’s assets for 116,520 taels and departed Ye County for Qingyang City with two hundred Black Armored Army soldiers.

Zhou Shan returned to Qingyang City, rewarded his subordinates, and spent his remaining silver on pills and martial arts manuals. After consuming two pills, he advanced the Golden Bell Shield to one hundred years of cultivation and gained the Rigid and Soft Harmony trait.

• Zhou Shan ordered He Yong and the other centurions to distribute silver among their soldiers and sent twenty thousand taels to Commander Wu with news that the Ye County mission was complete.
• The five centurions praised Zhou Shan’s generosity and strength and decided they were glad to follow him.
• Zhou Shan purchased a Golden Jade Pill, a Lesser Origin Pill, the Great Strength Vajra Palm, and the Great Strength Vajra Leg from the Guiyuan Sect’s branch sect.
• Zhou Shan refined the Golden Jade Pill and raised his Golden Bell Shield cultivation to ninety years.
• Zhou Shan refined the Lesser Origin Pill, reaching one hundred years of Golden Bell Shield cultivation and gaining the Rigid and Soft Harmony trait.

Zhou Shan broke through to the Aperture-Opening Realm and mastered the Great Strength Vajra Palm and Great Strength Vajra Leg using the Golden Bell Shield’s Internal Force. After resting in Qingyang City, he led two hundred Black Armored Army soldiers back into the countryside to suppress bandits.

• Zhou Shan opened his first qi aperture, becoming an Aperture-Opening Martial Artist.
• Zhou Shan used the Golden Bell Shield’s Internal Force to master the Great Strength Vajra Palm and tested its long-range power on a boulder.
• Zhou Shan mastered the Great Strength Vajra Leg, gaining explosive speed, and judged that few enemies in Qingyang Commandery could threaten him.
• Zhou Shan rested for a day in Qingyang City, then led two hundred Black Armored Army soldiers out to continue suppressing bandits.

After completing the bandit-clearing mission, Zhou Shan returned to cultivation and learned that he had become the target of a Black Dragon Society assassination. He detected two Superclass assassins entering his residence and struck at them through the door.

• Zhou Shan returned to Qingyang City after clearing most of the commandery's bandits and reported his success to Commander Wu.
• Commander Wu confirmed Zhou Shan had earned enough merit to exchange for the Golden Bell Shield and told him to rest while awaiting another mission.
• Zhou Shan checked his cultivation panel, then devoted himself to training at the Zhou Residence.
• Two Level Five Black Dragon Society assassins entered Zhou Shan's residence to kill him, believing he was a newly advanced Superclass Martial Artist.
• Zhou Shan heard the assassins approaching and unleashed a Great Strength Vajra Palm strike at them.

Zhou Shan defeated two Black Dragon Society assassins who had broken into his residence, but they killed themselves before he could question them. After discovering their level-five tokens, he suspected Captain Liu Liu Xuan of hiring them.

• Zhou Shan shattered one assassin’s defenses with the Great Strength Vajra Palm and chased the other into the courtyard.
• Zhou Shan broke the fleeing assassin’s saber with Vajra Mountain Push and struck him down.
• The two Black Dragon Society assassins swallowed poison and died before Zhou Shan could interrogate them.
• Zhou Shan found level-five Black Dragon Society tokens and recognized the pair as professional assassins.
• Zhou Shan considered who might have hired them and suspected Captain Liu Liu Xuan of Ye County.

Zhou Shan learned that Liu Xuan had moved to Luyang County and went there after surviving an assassination attempt. He confronted Liu Xuan at the commandant's residence and struck at him, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Zhou Shan learned Liu Xuan had transferred to Luyang County and set out to confront him.
• Liu Xuan admitted to Liu Jierong that he had stolen his fifth-rank VIP Token and used it to hire two assassins to kill Zhou Shan.
• Liu Jierong warned Liu Xuan that Zhou Shan was connected to Commander Fang Yuan and that the failed assassination could endanger their family.
• Zhou Shan arrived at the commandant's residence and overheard Liu Xuan confessing that he had hired the assassins.
• Liu Xuan recoiled in terror when he saw Zhou Shan, who attacked him with the Great Strength Vajra Palm.

Zhou Shan killed Liu Xuan and fought Liu Jierong, an Aperture-Opening Martial Artist who had concealed his strength. As the Black Armored Army closed in, Zhou Shan battered Liu Jierong and delivered a final attack to his head.

• Zhou Shan killed Liu Xuan with a Great Strength Vajra Palm, enraging Liu Jierong.
• Liu Jierong revealed his Aperture-Opening cultivation and attacked Zhou Shan with the Crimson Refinement Palm.
• Zhou Shan blocked Liu Jierong’s attacks with the Golden Bell Shield, then broke his fingers with the Great Strength Vajra Palm.
• Zhou Shan forced the fire poison from his palm as the Black Armored Army began surrounding the commandant’s residence.
• Zhou Shan overwhelmed Liu Jierong with a series of powerful palm strikes and swung both palms toward his head for the final blow.

Zhou Shan killed Liu Jierong and Liu Xuan, fought through the Black Armored Army, and escaped Luyang County while framing the Vajra Sect. The killings triggered a citywide lockdown, prompting the Blood Fiend Sect Hall Master and a Vajra Sect elder to prepare to leave and suspend their operations.

• Zhou Shan killed Liu Jierong, defeated the soldiers who rushed into the commandant's residence, and escaped Luyang County despite the Black Armored Army's pursuit.
• Zhou Shan revealed the name Cheng Shifei and framed the Vajra Sect so the Black Armored Army would intensify its hunt for the sect's survivors.
• The Black Armored Army sealed Luyang County and sent word to Qingyang City about the deaths of Commandant Liu Jierong and Captain Liu Xuan.
• Huang Maoquan warned the Blood Fiend Sect Hall Master that the lockdown risked exposing him, and the Hall Master decided to leave the city and pause the medicinal-herb operation.
• A Vajra Sect elder denied that his sect had killed the officers and told the Xu Family Patriarch to halt operations while he left Luyang County.

Zhou Shan was appointed commandant of Luyang County after Liu Jierong and Liu Xuan were assassinated, and he took charge while secretly avoiding a serious investigation into their deaths. Ten days later, he punished his officers for failing to find the killer, lifted the county lockdown, and ordered continued inspections and night patrols.

• Commander Wu appointed Zhou Shan commandant of Luyang County and gave him orders to stage a public investigation into the assassinations.
• Zhou Shan rode to Luyang County with two hundred Black Armored Army soldiers and ordered Captain Cheng and Captain Li to find the murderer within ten days.
• Captain Cheng and Captain Li realized Zhou Shan did not expect them to catch the killer and carried out the citywide searches.
• Zhou Shan stayed in the commandant's residence cultivating and returned the gifts brought by local visitors.
• After ten days, Captain Cheng and Captain Li reported that they had failed to capture the murderer, and Zhou Shan docked half a year's salary from the officers.
• Zhou Shan lifted the lockdown but ordered strict inspections of people entering and leaving the city, a curfew, and nightly patrols.

Zhou Shan learned that the Dark Division suspected Luyang County merchant Xu Hongtao of ties to the Vajra Sect remnants and agreed to help draw them out. He proposed a month-long crackdown across Luyang County City, leaving the trap for the remnants in place while giving him time to strengthen his cultivation.

• A Dark Division agent told Zhou Shan that Xu Hongtao might be connected to the Vajra Sect remnants but could not be targeted without evidence because of his Shangguan Family ties.
• Zhou Shan read the Xu Family dossier and learned that Xu Haoyu had committed numerous crimes while his family used money and influence to escape justice.
• The agent proposed arresting Xu Haoyu and executing him to force Xu Hongtao to seek help from the Vajra Sect remnants.
• Zhou Shan warned that arresting Xu Haoyu alone would alert the remnants and proposed a month-long operation to pursue criminals and reopen old cases throughout Luyang County City.
• The Dark Division agent approved Zhou Shan's plan, which also gave Zhou Shan time to advance his cultivation.

Zhou Shan ordered the Black Armored Army to crack down on criminal gangs and warned his officers not to take bribes or ignore the law. His campaign began in Luyang County when a patrol arrested Niu Er and his lackeys for beating a fruit seller and destroying his stall.

• Zhou Shan summoned the Black Armored Army officers and laid out more than a dozen orders to punish criminal forces and handle public complaints promptly.
• Zhou Shan smashed a boulder to warn officers that he would punish anyone who defied his orders.
• Captain Cheng, Captain Li, and Captain Qian discussed whether Zhou Shan would pursue the crackdown or release powerful offenders in exchange for silver.
• The Black Armored Army deployed patrols throughout Luyang County after Zhou Shan issued his orders.
• Niu Er and two lackeys beat an elderly fruit seller and overturned his stall after refusing to pay for the pears they took.
• A Black Armored Army patrol arrested the three men; Niu Er paid compensation, but he was still detained for ten days and fined.

Zhou Shan’s crackdown cleared Luyang County’s streets and earned him a reputation as an upright official, while the powerful families held back. After completing the Aperture-Opening Realm, Zhou Shan sent He Yong to secretly investigate Xu Haoyu’s whereabouts.

• The Black Armored Army arrested street criminals and debt collectors, and the county executed prisoners guilty of murder.
• The Black Armored Army arrested Landlord Luo, Third Young Master Liu, and the Liu Family head after villagers reported their crimes and the family head tried to bribe Zhou Shan.
• Zhou Shan’s crackdown improved public security, won the commoners’ praise, and made the major powers warn their subordinates to stay out of trouble.
• After another twenty-five days, Zhou Shan opened all one hundred and eight apertures and gained the Exhale Like Arrows trait in his Golden Bell Shield.
• Zhou Shan ordered He Yong to secretly investigate the whereabouts of Xu Haoyu, the Xu Family’s Second Young Master.

Zhou Shan led the Black Armored Army to Moon Lake Villa to arrest Xu Haoyu, who had been hiding there while the city was under investigation. The chapter ended with Zhou Shan ordering Xu Haoyu seized as Xu Haoyu tried to bribe his guards into fighting.

• Xu Hongtao and Shangguan Yun discussed Xu Haoyu's stay at Moon Lake Villa and planned to petition for Zhou Shan's transfer.
• He Yong reported Xu Haoyu's location, and Zhou Shan ordered a covert arrest operation with He Yong and Zhang Lei.
• Zhou Shan's party entered Moon Lake Villa after subduing the guards at its gate.
• Xu Haoyu watched a Demonic Beast tear apart a martial artist before a guard warned him that the Black Armored Army had entered the villa.
• Zhou Shan blocked Xu Haoyu's escape and ordered his arrest, while Xu Haoyu urged his guards to fight and offered Guard Geng up to thirty thousand taels of silver.

Zhou Shan stopped Xu Haoyu and his companions from resisting arrest by killing Guard Geng with a single breath. The Xu Family guards and the young masters surrendered or were subdued, while Zhou Shan slapped Xu Haoyu for threatening the soldiers.

• Guard Geng accepted Xu Haoyu's order to attack Zhou Shan, hoping to claim thirty thousand taels of silver and flee.
• Zhou Shan expelled an arrow of qi that pierced Guard Geng's head and killed another martial artist behind him.
• The Xu Family guards dropped their weapons and knelt after Zhou Shan warned that anyone who resisted would die.
• The young masters tried to separate themselves from Xu Haoyu, but Zhou Shan ordered the Black Armored Army to arrest them all.
• Xu Haoyu threatened the soldiers restraining him, and Zhou Shan slapped him and rebuked his arrogance.

Zhou Shan ordered Xu Haoyu and the other young scions executed at the third quarter of noon the next day, and the news brought cheers from Luyang County’s commoners. Xu Hongtao learned of the execution order and sent a letter to the Hundred Herbs Gang while considering whether to seek help from the Vajra Sect remnants.

• Zhou Shan had Xu Haoyu and the other young scions taken into custody, then ordered He Yong to announce their execution for the next day.
• The execution announcement spread through Luyang County, where commoners celebrated and smaller factions waited cautiously to see what would happen.
• Xu Hongtao learned that Xu Haoyu would be executed, and Shangguan Yun urged him to save their son and contact the Vajra Sect remnants if necessary.
• Xu Hongtao told Shangguan Yun he would consider contacting the remnants, then wrote a letter and sent a servant to deliver it to the Hundred Herbs Gang’s leader.

Zhou Shan defended the Black Armored Army’s prison as a coordinated prison break began amid fires and distractions across Luyang County. He repelled an assassin from the Black Dragon Society, while the attackers’ assault on the prison remained underway.

• The Black Armored Army’s Dark Division followed carrier pigeons out of Luyang County after the Xu Family and Hundred Herbs Gang sent messages saying their bait had worked.
• Zhou Shan realized the fires and reports of bandits across the city were meant to draw away reinforcements before a prison break.
• Several hundred masked martial artists charged the prison, and the Black Armored Army fired arrows and Armor-Piercing Ballistae, killing dozens before the sides clashed.
• A Black Dragon Society assassin sneaked behind Zhou Shan and tried to stab him, but Zhou Shan’s Golden Bell Shield shattered the assassin’s blade.
• Zhou Shan struck the assassin with a Great Strength Vajra Palm, and the wounded assassin fled after recognizing Zhou Shan’s peak Aperture-Opening Realm strength.