Chapter Summaries

Zhou Shan killed a Black Dragon Society assassin and joined the fight against the prison-breakers, overwhelming their leaders with his Golden Bell Shield. After the Hundred Herbs Gang fled and the remaining attackers began to retreat, Zhou Shan pursued them and crushed a Datong Merchant Guild martial artist.

• Zhou Shan chased down and killed a Black Dragon Society level-six assassin, then found a Black Dragon Token and suspected Xu Hongtao had hired him.
• Zhou Shan attacked the prison-breakers and killed Huang Maoquan, the Hundred Herbs Gang’s guild master, by twisting his neck.
• The Hundred Herbs Gang martial artists fled after Huang Maoquan died, and the remaining masked prison-breakers ordered a retreat.
• Zhou Shan charged through the Datong Merchant Guild martial artist’s attacks with his Golden Bell Shield, knocked him flying, and stomped his chest in.

Zhou Shan killed the attackers who tried to free the prisoners, then led the Black Armored Army to destroy the Xu Family for its attempt on his life. He killed Shangguan Yun and confronted Xu Hongtao as the Xu Family steward charged at him.

• Zhou Shan killed the three Peak Superclass Martial Artists, including the Datong Merchant Guild president and the Xu Family chief guard, and routed the masked attackers.
• Zhou Shan ordered part of the Black Armored Army to guard the prisoners and led the rest toward the Xu Family.
• Xu Hongtao learned that Zhou Shan had killed the Black Dragon Society assassin and the three Peak Superclass Martial Artists, then tried to escape through a secret passage with Shangguan Yun.
• Zhou Shan intercepted Xu Hongtao and Shangguan Yun, and killed Shangguan Yun when she attacked him.
• Xu Hongtao accused Zhou Shan of ruthlessness, and Zhou Shan explained that the Xu Family had threatened his life and killed innocent people.
• The Xu Family steward charged at Zhou Shan and told Xu Hongtao to run.

Zhou Shan killed Xu Hongtao, subdued the Xu Family, and led the Black Armored Army to wipe out the forces involved in the prison break. The surviving young masters were publicly humiliated and executed, ending the old powers' rule over Luyang County.

• Zhou Shan killed Xu Hongtao after defeating the Xu Family steward, while Xu Hongtao vowed that Xu Haoran would avenge him.
• Zhou Shan and the Black Armored Army took control of the Xu Family and moved on to attack the Hundred Herbs Gang and other allied forces.
• The Black Armored Army wiped out the Xu Family, Hundred Herbs Gang, Datong Merchant Guild, East City Li Family, and other forces, prompting the city's commoners to celebrate Zhou Shan.
• Commoners cursed Xu Haoyu and the other young masters and pelted them with refuse and manure as the Black Armored Army escorted them to the execution ground.
• Executioners beheaded Xu Haoyu, the Hundred Herbs Gang's young gang leader, and the other young masters.

Zhou Shan distributed the seized wealth from the rebel forces, while Fang Yuan considered whether Zhou Shan was an Innate Vajra. Fang Yuan sent Zhou Shan the Indestructible Vajra Skill, hoping to win his favor, as Commander Liu Jianshan requested an audience.

• He Yong reported the seized wealth, and Zhou Shan ordered most of it sent to the commander-in-chief’s residence while reserving funds for Commander Wu and rewards for the Black Armored Army.
• Fang Yuan read a report on Zhou Shan’s strength and speculated that he might be an Innate Vajra capable of reaching the Innate Realm within two years.
• Fang Yuan reviewed the Indestructible Vajra Skill, which the Guiyuan Sect had recovered after defeating the Vajra Sect remnants at Golden Mountain Temple.
• A Black Armored Guard delivered Zhou Shan’s inventory of seized assets, and Fang Yuan ordered the wealth brought inside.
• Fang Yuan placed the Indestructible Vajra Skill in an iron box and sent it to Zhou Shan, then learned that Commander Liu Jianshan had requested an audience.

Fang Yuan refused Liu Jianshan permission to investigate Zhou Shan, while Commander Fang sent Zhou Shan the Indestructible Vajra Skill. After learning the Xu Family had been destroyed by Zhou Shan, Xu Haoran prepared to go to Qingyang Commandery, but the Shangguan Family Head intervened and ordered the news kept secret.

• Liu Jianshan told Fang Yuan he suspected Zhou Shan of killing Liu Jierong and Liu Xuan, but Fang Yuan refused to authorize an investigation without evidence.
• He Yong delivered Commander Fang’s iron box to Zhou Shan, who found the Indestructible Vajra Skill inside and calculated that he needed forty-one days to reach 250 years of internal power.
• A rider informed Xu Haoran that Zhou Shan had destroyed the Xu Family, and Xu Haoran revealed his Profound Fire Body as he vowed revenge.
• Xu Haoran ordered a horse prepared so he could travel to Qingyang Commandery, but the Shangguan Family Head dismissed the messenger and ordered the news kept secret.

Xu Haoran was ordered by Shangguan Hong to delay avenging his family until he reached the Innate Realm. In Luyang County, Meng Yan and Liu Jianshan confronted Zhou Shan with an order to answer to the Guiyuan Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall, and Zhou Shan refused, leaving a fight imminent.

• Shangguan Hong told Xu Haoran to wait until he refined a Profound Fire Pill and reached the Innate Realm before trying to kill Zhou Shan.
• Meng Yan and Liu Jianshan arrived at the Commandant’s Residence and demanded that Zhou Shan return to the Guiyuan Sect for an investigation.
• Zhou Shan recognized Liu Jianshan’s connection to the Liu Family and decided that Meng Yan’s arrival hastened his plan to leave the Black Armored Army.
• Zhou Shan refused Meng Yan’s order and warned that he would resist if they tried to take him by force.
• Liu Jianshan urged Meng Yan to kill Zhou Shan, while Meng Yan demanded to know whether Zhou Shan would defy the Law Enforcement Hall.

Zhou Shan fought Deputy Hall Master Meng Yan and Liu Jianshan after they attacked him, defeating both men with the superior force of his Great Strength Vajra Palm. Liu Jianshan was buried under a collapsed wall, and Zhou Shan killed Meng Yan despite his appeal to his position in the Law Enforcement Hall.

• Zhou Shan learned that Commander Fang did not know Liu Jianshan and Meng Yan had come, then warned that he might kill them.
• Meng Yan attacked Zhou Shan with Lion King Fist, but Zhou Shan's Great Strength Vajra Palm injured Meng Yan's arm and sent him flying.
• Liu Jianshan joined the fight with Crimson Refinement Palm, but Zhou Shan's golden palms overwhelmed him and shattered his chest before he crashed through a wall.
• Meng Yan tried to flee, but Zhou Shan pursued him, broke both his arms, and stomped his chest in with Great Strength Vajra Leg.
• Meng Yan pleaded that Zhou Shan could not kill the Deputy Hall Master of the Law Enforcement Hall, but Zhou Shan killed him anyway.

After killing Meng Yan, Zhou Shan fled Luyang County and secluded himself in Black Mountain to pursue the Innate Realm. He broke through and discovered that his Nine Breaths Assimilation talent now drew Spiritual Qi that transformed directly into Innate True Qi.

• Zhou Shan left the Black Armored Army at his residence with instructions to report what happened, then fled after killing Meng Yan and Liu Jianshan.
• Du Yu told the assembled Black Armored Guards that Meng Yan had been the deputy hall master of Guiyuan Sect's Law Enforcement Hall and that Zhou Shan would not return.
• Zhou Shan traveled to Black Mountain in Wushan County and vowed to remain in seclusion until he reached the Innate Realm.
• After thirty-eight days, Zhou Shan used his two hundred and fifty years of Golden Bell Shield cultivation to break through his Ren and Du Meridians and enter the Innate Realm.
• Over the following ten days, Zhou Shan refined all his Internal Force into Innate True Qi, leaving him with one-tenth of his former Internal Force.
• Zhou Shan discovered that his Nine Breaths Assimilation talent now drew Spiritual Qi, which became Innate True Qi directly after entering his meridians.

Zhou Shan discovered that breaking through to the Innate Realm had enhanced his Nine Breaths Assimilation talent and several Golden Bell Shield traits, allowing him to absorb spiritual energy and strengthen his defenses. He decided to gather heavenly treasures for Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing and planned to post a bounty through the Black Dragon Society.

• Zhou Shan found that his Golden Bell Shield cultivation had risen to two hundred and sixty years in the ten days since his breakthrough, as his enhanced talent absorbed spiritual energy and turned it into Innate True Qi.
• Zhou Shan examined his enhanced traits, including Immune to a Hundred Poisons, Double Rebound, Condense Qi into Armor, and Leakless Body, and tested the strength of his golden qi armor.
• Zhou Shan concluded that he needed heavenly treasures to undergo Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing and raise his cultivation limit beyond the ordinary Innate Realm ceiling.
• Zhou Shan decided to post a bounty through the Black Dragon Society, whose branches and informants could search across all thirteen provinces for the treasures he needed.

Zhou Shan entered Luyang County’s Ghost Market using his Black Dragon Society killer token and found a bounty posted by Xu Haoran seeking clues about him. He decided to kill Xu Haoran, then posted a mission requesting a list of extremely valuable treasures.

• Zhou Shan waited ten days for the Ghost Market to open, and his Golden Bell Shield cultivation reached two hundred and seventy years.
• Zhou Shan traveled to Luyang County, found the Ghost Market in a mountain valley, and entered with his Black Dragon Society Level 6 Killer Token.
• Zhou Shan visited the Black Dragon Society stronghold and discovered Xu Haoran’s bounty offering ten thousand taels for accurate information about him.
• Zhou Shan resolved to kill Xu Haoran and handed an Impermanent Masked Man a mission listing the treasures he wanted.

Zhou Shan posted a mission across all thirteen provinces seeking leads on several items, then went to Luyang County City to confront Xu Haoran. Their battle began in the Xu Family hall, and the chapter ended with their first clash devastating the surrounding room.

• Zhou Shan paid thirty-three thousand taels to post his mission at Black Dragon Society branches across all thirteen provinces, using the name Gu Santong and token 857.
• Xu Haoran ordered a hundred-thousand-tael bounty for Zhou Shan to be posted throughout the thirteen provinces, insisting he would kill Zhou Shan himself.
• Zhou Shan arrived at the Xu Family residence and killed a Shangguan Family martial artist with a single palm strike.
• Xu Haoran recognized Zhou Shan, and the two charged at each other and collided palms.
• Zhou Shan and Xu Haoran's Innate True Qi shattered the floor tiles and blasted holes into the hall's walls.

Zhou Shan and Xu Haoran fought inside the Xu Residence after each discovered that the other was an Innate Realm Grandmaster. Their battle devastated the main hall, while the Shangguan Family martial artists watched from a safer distance without identifying Zhou Shan.

• Zhou Shan and Xu Haoran's clash sent stone shards flying, killing one Shangguan Family martial artist and forcing the other two to retreat.
• Xu Haoran realized Zhou Shan had reached the Innate Realm, while Zhou Shan learned that Xu Haoran had concealed his own Innate Realm cultivation.
• Xu Haoran unleashed his Profound Fire Body and Nine Heavens Profound Fire Skill, and Zhou Shan formed thick golden True Qi armor to protect himself.
• The two Innate Realm Grandmasters exchanged dozens of attacks as the Shangguan Family martial artists speculated that Zhou Shan might be a Vajra Sect grandmaster.
• Their battle reduced the main hall's furnishings to powder, broke its pillars, and left the structure close to collapse.

Zhou Shan defeated and killed Xu Haoran after a prolonged battle in Luyang County, then killed two Shangguan Family martial artists who tried to flee. He left with a beast-hide scroll and an iron vial, while the Black Armored Army anticipated the Shangguan Family’s retaliation.

• Xu Haoran tried to escape and summon the Shangguan Family, but Zhou Shan pursued him through the Xu Residence and into the streets.
• After roughly a quarter of an hour, Xu Haoran’s strength waned while Zhou Shan’s True Qi remained abundant.
• Zhou Shan shattered Xu Haoran’s arms, knocked him down, and smashed his head with a golden fist.
• Two Shangguan Family martial artists fled, but Zhou Shan killed them with long-range True Qi palm imprints.
• Zhou Shan searched Xu Haoran’s corpse, found a beast-hide scroll and an iron vial, and left as the Black Armored Army feared the Shangguan Family’s response.

After killing Xu Haoran, Zhou Shan studied the Profound Fire Three Transformations and used Xu Haoran’s Profound Fire Pills to cultivate the combat secret art. He mastered its First and Second Transformations, but would need more pills to attempt the dangerous Third Transformation.

• Centurions who witnessed Xu Haoran’s death wondered whether the killer resembled Zhou Shan, then decided to report the matter to their superiors.
• Zhou Shan learned that the Profound Fire Three Transformations could temporarily increase True Qi strength, but its higher transformations carried severe risks.
• Zhou Shan returned to his cave on Black Mountain and swallowed a Profound Fire Pill to begin cultivating the secret art.
• Zhou Shan spent ninety days refining all three Profound Fire Pills.
• Zhou Shan successfully activated the First Transformation, increasing his True Qi strength by fifty percent, and the Second Transformation, which doubled it but left him fatigued.
• Zhou Shan concluded that the first two transformations were sufficient for now and that he needed more Profound Fire Pills to cultivate the Third Transformation.

Zhou Shan learned that the Blood Fiend Sect was guarding an unripe Golden Fruit in Yingchuan Commandery, a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item he sought. He left the Ghost Market knowing it would ripen in at least fifteen days.

• Zhou Shan considered robbing the Shangguan Family for Profound Fire Pills but decided against it because of their strength and alliance.
• Zhou Shan heard that the Shangguan Family had expanded its bounty for the killer of Xu Haoran across several provinces, but remained confident he could hide in Qingyang Commandery.
• Zhou Shan visited the Black Dragon Society’s Ghost Market outpost and learned that his search for Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items had yielded no news yet.
• Three months later, Zhou Shan paid the Impermanent Masked Man for reliable information that a Golden Fruit had appeared at a Linglong Gold Mine in Yingchuan Commandery.
• The Impermanent Masked Man told Zhou Shan that the Blood Fiend Sect was guarding the unripe Golden Fruit, which would need at least fifteen more days to ripen.

Zhou Shan traveled to Yingchuan Commandery after learning that the Golden Fruit would ripen in fifteen days, passing through armies gathering for a possible war between the Guiyuan Sect and the Blood Fiend Sect. He reached Blackwater Town near the Linglong Gold Mine, learned that the Shangguan Family was hunting Xu Haoran’s killer, and checked into an inn while waiting for the Golden Fruit to ripen.

• Zhou Shan set out for Yingchuan Commandery, reasoning that competing forces could make it easier to seize the Golden Fruit.
• Zhou Shan passed the Black Armored Army camp in Hengshan County and spotted scouts from both the Black Armored Army and the Blood Flame Army in the Horizontal Cloud Mountain Range.
• Zhou Shan reached Kunshan County, saw the Blood Flame Army guarding the route to the Linglong Gold Mine, and continued toward Blackwater Town.
• Zhou Shan heard martial artists say the Shangguan Family had sent a late-stage Innate Realm grandmaster to hunt Xu Haoran’s killer.
• Zhou Shan confirmed his cultivation had reached the late stage of the Innate Realm and decided to wait in Blackwater Town until the Golden Fruit ripened.
• Zhou Shan paid a hundred-tael deposit and checked into the Yuelai Inn.

Zhou Shan ordered food at an inn in Blackwater Town, where the Five Tigers of Changbai Mountain plotted to rob him. When Zhang Yuanshan and Huang Qing confronted the gang outside, Zhou Shan secretly stopped their leader, Zhao Qian, with an invisible blast of force.

• Zhou Shan ordered roast chicken, pork knuckles, and wine to his room after arriving at the inn.
• The Five Tigers of Changbai Mountain noticed Zhou Shan's banknotes and planned to rob him with Soul-Bewitching Smoke.
• Zhang Yuanshan and Huang Qing challenged the Five Tigers after overhearing their plot, and the innkeeper warned them to fight outside.
• Zhang Yuanshan and Huang Qing attacked the Five Tigers as they left the inn, but the gang countered with hidden weapons.
• Zhang Yuanshan unleashed the Flying Snow Sword Technique, and Zhou Shan secretly sealed Zhao Qian's acupoints with an invisible blast of force.

Zhou Shan secretly helped Zhang Yuanshan kill the Five Tigers of Changbai Mountain, then kept his role hidden while the Golden Fruit drew martial artists to Blackwater Town. Ten days later, Zhou Shan went in disguise to the Linglong Gold Mine as the Golden Fruit neared ripening, but the Blood Flame Army restricted entry to First-class Martial Artists and above.

• Zhou Shan secretly sealed Zhao Qian’s acupoints, allowing Zhang Yuanshan to behead him with one sword strike.
• Zhou Shan disabled the other four tigers with invisible bursts of force, and Zhang Yuanshan killed them as they fled.
• Zhang Yuanshan accepted the surrounding martial artists’ praise while Zhou Shan returned to hiding his merit and fame.
• News of the Golden Fruit spread through Yun Province, and the Blood Flame Army began allowing only First-class Martial Artists and above into the Linglong Gold Mine.
• Ten days later, Zhou Shan disguised himself and headed to the mine, where he saw the Blood Flame Army screening martial artists at the entrance.

Zhou Shan entered the Linglong Gold Mine and revealed his Innate Realm Grandmaster aura before heading toward the Golden Fruit Tree. The gathered martial artists recognized his power, while Zhang Yuanshan regretted missing an earlier chance to meet him.

• Zhou Shan reached the Linglong Gold Mine entrance, where the Blood Flame Army stopped him for being below First-class Martial Artist rank.
• Zhou Shan released his Innate True Qi, causing nearby soldiers and martial artists to recognize him as an Innate Realm Grandmaster.
• The Blood Flame Army commander respectfully escorted Zhou Shan into the mine, where he found the Golden Fruit Tree bearing nine fruits and seven grandmasters waiting beneath it.
• Zhou Shan walked toward the tree, prompting the gathered martial artists to speculate about his identity and wonder whether he was an independent grandmaster from outside Yun Province.
• Huang Qing and Zhang Yuanshan recognized Zhou Shan as the man the Five Tigers of Changbai Mountain had targeted, and Zhang Yuanshan regretted not befriending him earlier.

Zhou Shan, posing as Gu Santong, waited with thirteen other Innate Realm Grandmasters for the Golden Fruit to ripen, as rival factions negotiated and threatened one another. The nine Golden Fruits ripened and fell, setting the stage for a battle over them.

• Zhou Shan introduced himself as Gu Santong and refused the Blood Fiend Sect’s offer to join, then sat beside the Golden Fruit Tree.
• Lu Chake, Fang Yuan, and Yi Tianxing arrived, and the Blood Fiend Sect and Five Poisons Sect confronted them before all sides agreed to wait until the Golden Fruit ripened.
• Two more independent Grandmasters arrived over the next three days, bringing the gathering to thirteen Grandmasters for nine Golden Fruits.
• Zhou Shan planned to seize at least one Golden Fruit, hoping to use it to advance his cultivation and undergo Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing.
• The Golden Fruits ripened as the tree’s leaves turned to ash, and the fruits fell from the tree.