Recaps

After the Heads of the House agreed to stop fighting, assassins killed six of them and grievously injured twelve others, plunging King Shiyu into crisis. He sought the State Lord’s approval to mobilize the army, and the State Lord agreed, only to learn that King Shiyu had the Army General’s cooperation.

• Gong Wudi warned Chu Qing that the state city was unstable, and Chu Qing told him about a powerful Third Limit expert who had killed King Shiyu’s heavy-armored soldiers.
• King Shiyu gathered the one hundred and eighty Heads of the House, and they agreed to stop sending people out to kill until the Heaven-Connecting Path Competition began.
• A servant reported that the Head of the Liu House had been killed and the Head of the Qin House grievously injured, prompting King Shiyu to send out the heavy-armored soldiers and seek the State Lord.
• King Shiyu asked the State Lord to mobilize the army and seal off the state city, but the State Lord initially refused to risk attracting the Emperor’s attention.
• After King Shiyu revealed that six Heads of the House had been assassinated and twelve grievously injured, the State Lord agreed to stamp his seal, then learned that the Army General was already cooperating with King Shiyu.

After the state city’s unrest subsided, the hidden plotters regrouped as Shi Zhongshan revealed his acceptance into In the Red Dust, while Chu Qing trained for the coming Heaven-Connecting Path contest. A local chronicler recorded the violence and the approaching contest in the State Chronicle.

• Imperial troops restored order in the state city, and aristocratic families paid compensation for the assassinated Heads of the House.
• Shi Zhongshan met with fellow members of In the Red Dust and revealed that he had received an Identity Token.
• Shi Zhongshan ordered the young men and women to prepare for In the Red Dust’s next plans.
• Chu Qing increased his punching speed and used his Sound Wave Skill to suppress the sonic booms as he trained for the coming battle.
• The local chronicler recorded the unrest, its casualties, and the impending contest for Heaven-Connecting Path qualifications.

The mysterious principal announced that Heaven-Connecting Path Resources would no longer be provided to provincial-city academies after this year, throwing the Martial Academy’s students and staff into turmoil. He launched the final quota contest by tossing two boxes into the air, leaving the students poised to decide whether to fight.

• The Martial Academy rang its bells and gathered its surviving students, including Chu Qing, for the annual Heaven-Connecting Path Quota battle.
• The mysterious principal revealed that next year’s resources would be restricted to Major City and Imperial Capital academies, unsettling students who had expected to compete for quotas later.
• Students and staff argued and reconsidered their alliances as they realized this year was their last chance to obtain a quota in the provincial city.
• The mysterious principal declared a final battle for the resources and threw two boxes into the air as the students looked on.

The fight for the final Heaven-Connecting Quota erupted, and the Houses learned that no more Heaven-Connecting Path resources would be available after this year. As the Houses mobilized their forces, Chu Qing disguised himself and followed Gong Wudi with Nangong.

• An Outer Court student seized a token but was killed, and the prodigies fought savagely over the boxes.
• The Colorful-Clad Woman grabbed a box, but an opponent injured her and she dropped it; Gong Wudi then fought off his rivals and obtained a token.
• The mysterious principal announced that Third Limit martial artists were forbidden to act, while King Shiyu and the House Heads discovered this was the final batch of Heaven-Connecting Path resources.
• The Houses argued over their alliances and chose how much of their strength to commit, with some sending out nearly all their forces.
• King Shiyu's soldiers, the Cui Family's masked men, the Bai Family's cavalry, and the Qin Family's Black Armored Soldiers joined the struggle as Chu Qing disguised himself and followed Gong Wudi with Nangong.

Gong Wudi fought through repeated attacks from the great families as he raced to keep his Heaven-Connecting Path token. Nangong intercepted Cui Lie to let Gong Wudi escape, while Chu Qing followed him onward.

• Gong Wudi fought off heavily armored soldiers and white-robed Bai Family cavalry, killing more than a dozen riders before escaping their charge.
• Divine Archers attacked Gong Wudi and his companions, killing a one-armed girl as Gong Wudi ordered his allies to scatter.
• Chu Qing watched Gong Wudi fight through more than ten blockades and noted that he spared Martial Academy prodigies while killing servant experts and Lineage forces.
• Cui Lie blocked Gong Wudi’s path and demanded his token, so Gong Wudi called for Chu Qing’s help.
• Nangong volunteered to face Cui Lie, blocked his spear with a blade of cold light, and let Gong Wudi continue running as Chu Qing chased after him.

Hua Qing confronted Gong Wudi and tried to seize his Heaven-Connecting Path token, but Chu Qing intervened and defeated Hua Qing’s four maidservants. The maidservants died despite Hua Qing’s secret medicine, and Hua Qing stood to kill Chu Qing.

• Hua Qing blocked Gong Wudi’s escape and explained that he wanted Gong Wudi’s Connect Character plaque to trade for benefits for the Hua Family.
• Chu Qing wondered whether the Heaven Character plaque he had taken from Qin Wushang was a genuine token, then decided to help Gong Wudi escape.
• Gong Wudi called for Chu Qing to hold off Hua Qing’s four maidservants while he fled.
• Chu Qing used Eight Divine Hands: Thousand Arms: Sun and Moon to badly wound all four maidservants in one move.
• Hua Qing gave the maidservants secret medicine, but they coughed up blood and died, so he rose and threatened to kill Chu Qing.

Chu Qing fought Hua Qing, a former Heaven-Connecting Path quota holder, and learned that opening even a fraction of the Path granted powerful enhancements. After defeating Hua Qing, Chu Qing pursued him to learn more about the Path and its token.

• The great clans sent former Heaven-Connecting Path powerhouses to compete for the final quota as word spread that Hua Qing was fighting Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing pressed Hua Qing in battle, and Hua Qing revealed he had opened one-fifth of the Path and gained less than one percent of its full mysteries.
• Hua Qing explained that opening the Path enhanced strength, recovery, and other abilities, while Chu Qing grew determined to obtain a token and open it himself.
• Chu Qing battered Hua Qing, noticed golden spots in his bones and flesh, and continued fighting as Hua Qing's powerful recovery kept him alive.
• Chu Qing caved in part of Hua Qing's skull, but Hua Qing fled at surprising speed, and Chu Qing chased him to ask about the Path's benefits and token.

After Chu Qing defeated Hua Qing, he questioned him about the Heaven-Connecting Path and let him go, while the great Lineages reacted with alarm and prepared to target Chu Qing and Gong Wudi. Hua Qing returned to his family convinced that Chu Qing was the truly invincible one.

• News of Hua Qing's defeat by the Masked Man spread through the provincial city, encouraging low-ranking martial artists and servants to doubt the great Lineages.
• The Heads of the Houses panicked over the damage to their reputations, and one ordered a foundational expert to kill Gong Wudi and capture the Masked Man.
• Chu Qing pinned Hua Qing down, examined the golden specks in his bones, and questioned him about the benefits and tokens of the Heaven-Connecting Path.
• Chu Qing released Hua Qing because he had neither insulted him nor possessed anything Chu Qing wanted, then warned that he would kill him if that changed.
• After Hua Qing's family found him, he rejected the idea of restoring his invincible bearing and declared that Chu Qing was the truly invincible one.

Chu Qing and Nangong Xiao fought their way through Cui family pursuers while searching for Gong Wudi, who was overwhelmed by attackers and faced the loss of his token. Gong Wudi refused to surrender and lay wounded in the ruins as his enemies closed in to kill him.

• Hua Qing killed a servant who questioned her order to leave, while Chu Qing searched for Gong Wudi amid the fighting around the Mysterious Armored Guards.
• Chu Qing rescued Nangong Xiao from Cui family martial artists, and they fought together before she told him she had killed Cui Lie.
• Chu Qing and Nangong Xiao followed the whistles but could not catch up to Gong Wudi, who was being pursued by growing numbers of experts.
• Gong Wudi's companions fell behind as they tried to hold off his pursuers, and he considered surrendering his token but chose to keep fighting.
• Two Second Limit experts struck Gong Wudi down, and he lay in the ruins as the pursuers overwhelmed his remaining companions and closed in.

Chu Qing and Nangong joined Gong Wudi, who awakened to his full strength and began slaughtering the pursuers instead of fleeing. The Martial Academy prodigies withdrew, while the great families prepared for a final, increasingly fierce struggle over the last slot.

• Chu Qing and Nangong rescued Gong Wudi, accepted his offer of resources, and killed two experts together.
• Chu Qing urged Gong Wudi to stop holding back, and Gong Wudi killed a Martial Academy prodigy who demanded his token.
• Gong Wudi and the two Masked Men killed more pursuers, driving the remaining Martial Academy prodigies to flee.
• Chu Qing encouraged Gong Wudi’s rampage, and the three moved through the battlefield as Gong Wudi killed anyone they encountered.
• With twenty hours remaining, powerful contenders prepared for the final contest while the great families’ negotiations over the last slot failed.

Chu Qing, Nangong, Gong Wudi, and Cui Moyang hunted their pursuers while the great families delayed direct action and investigated Chu Qing’s identity. A reward from King Shiyu drew more attackers, while the Qin Family suspected the Hua Family was using Hua Qing’s defeat to weaken its rivals and seize the provincial city.

• Chu Qing convinced Gong Wudi to keep fighting, then called Cui Moyang to join their hunt and let her lead the attack.
• Cui Moyang killed pursuers with ruthless efficiency, impressing Gong Wudi as the group fought together.
• The great families investigated Chu Qing, and King Shiyu offered a First Limit secret inheritance to anyone who killed the Masked Man, prompting many martial artists to hunt him.
• A maid told the Qin Family’s young master that the Hua Family might have arranged Hua Qing’s defeat to erode the great families’ confidence and take control of the provincial city.
• The Hua Family Head said Hua Qing’s loss would make their rivals lower their guard, while the Hua Family had preserved its strength and could seize the city’s leadership.

King Shiyu and the noble houses prepared a final ambush at the Martial Academy while Chu Qing and his companions waited under mounting pressure. As Gong Wudi went out to walk nearby, snow began falling.

• King Shiyu ordered his foundation awakened to wait at the Martial Academy entrance and kill Chu Qing, while the Heads of the Houses planned their own interception.
• Chu Qing led his companions to a courtyard near the Martial Academy as the city fell quiet and hostile forces gathered their strength.
• Cui Moyang went out and killed people nearby to ease her oppressive restlessness, while Gong Wudi grew increasingly anxious to leave.
• Chu Qing inspected Gong Wudi’s Heaven-Connecting Token, then allowed him to walk nearby as long as he stayed within Cui Moyang’s warning range.
• Gong Wudi asked Chu Qing to arrange for his ashes to be sent to someone in the Imperial Capital if he died, then left the courtyard as snow began falling.

Chu Qing promoted Thousand Arms while preparing with Nangong and Cui Moyang to escort Gong Wudi into the Martial Academy. As the deadline neared, they agreed on a plan to fight their way through, though Nangong sensed something strange about Gong Wudi.

• Chu Qing completed the required swings and promoted Thousand Arms, doubling how often he could apply the might of Sun and Moon.
• Chu Qing told Nangong he could use a water-powered machine to produce forged red copper, and they joked together while Cui Moyang was away fighting.
• Cui Moyang returned covered in blood and warned that experts had surrounded the Martial Academy, leaving the group with no option but to force their way in.
• Gong Wudi returned, and Nangong noticed something discordant about his gaze, though Chu Qing and Cui Moyang saw nothing unusual.
• With a little over an hour left, the group planned to charge toward the Martial Academy when half an hour remained, alternating who fought while Chu Qing escorted Gong Wudi.

Chu Qing and his companions faced successive defenders as they tried to reach the Martial Academy with Gong Wudi’s token. When Nangong was in danger, Chu Qing rushed back and killed Bai Wanli with his newly tested Overlord Spear, leaving the group’s advance unresolved.

• Chu Qing prepared to test the Overlord Spear as the enemy arrived an hour before the deadline, led by Bai Wanli of the Bai Family.
• Nangong stayed behind to fight Bai Wanli while Chu Qing, Cui Moyang, and Gong Wudi passed through the black-clad men.
• Cui Moyang volunteered to fight Qin Wujiu, allowing Chu Qing and Gong Wudi to continue toward the Martial Academy.
• Cui Yixin and a group of First Limit saber wielders confronted Gong Wudi, while Chu Qing realized the defenders were trying to separate them.
• Chu Qing raced back to rescue Nangong, then unleashed the Overlord Spear and killed Bai Wanli.

Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, Cui Moyang, and Gong Wudi fought through the defenses with Chu Qing’s Overlord Spear as their trump card. They reached the final stretch before the Martial Academy gates, where a young man challenged Gong Wudi for the token.

• Chu Qing and Nangong Xiao joined Cui Moyang, and together they killed Qin Wujiu before Chu Qing led them toward Gong Wudi and Long-legged Girl.
• Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, Cui Moyang, and Gong Wudi overwhelmed Long-legged Girl; Chu Qing shattered her legs with his spear and left her alive as they charged onward.
• The four fighters broke through the fourth line of defense and killed the young man guarding it.
• Chu Qing’s Overlord Spear helped the group break through ten lines of defense, but a dense crowd and powerful experts blocked the route to the Martial Academy gates.
• A disheveled young man carrying a Miao Dao challenged Gong Wudi to fight for the token, offering him a hundred meters of progress if he won.

Gong Wudi fought his way toward the Martial Academy, defeating powerful challengers with his secret Heaven-Turning Hand while suffering worsening injuries. At the academy entrance, the Cui Family Daughter warned Chu Qing to flee, and Gong Wudi unexpectedly called him by name and asked him to hold off the gathered opponents.

• Gong Wudi revealed that he had mastered Heaven-Turning and defeated the saber-bearing youth and another fighter who challenged him for the token.
• Gong Wudi continued through successive checkpoints, while Chu Qing studied his Heaven-Turning Hand and noticed that his wounds healed slowly.
• Gong Wudi reached the Martial Academy entrance, where more than ten experts, school officials, and the Cui Family had gathered.
• The Cui Family Daughter warned Chu Qing that he would die if he stayed, but Chu Qing refused to run.
• Gong Wudi asked Chu Qing to hold off the opponents while he recovered, startling Chu Qing, Nangong, and Cui Moyang.

Chu Qing fought Wang Xuan as Gong Wudi’s token baited the assembled lineages into a chaotic battle for the slot. The fight intensified around the academy gates, with the token still contested and people dying as the countdown reached ten minutes.

• Wang Xuan recognized Chu Qing as the killer of King Shiyu’s son and challenged him after Gong Wudi revealed Chu Qing’s identity.
• Chu Qing and Wang Xuan exchanged powerful attacks, while Gong Wudi charged the prodigies at the gates and was quickly sent flying.
• The Cui Family members tried to escort the Cui Family Daughter toward the gates, but the surrounding lineages attacked and cost them one-fifth of their manpower.
• Gong Wudi threw out tokens, and Chu Qing falsely announced that the token was fake and the real one remained with Gong Wudi, drawing the crowd back toward him.
• Cui Moyang and Nangong fought through the chaos to reach Chu Qing, then saw him resume his battle with Wang Xuan.
• Chu Qing knocked away a token falling toward him, sending attackers after it as the fighting grew more brutal and the countdown reached ten minutes.

Chu Qing defeated and killed Wang Xuan, then drove off the experts besieging Nangong and Cui Moyang. He reached the Martial Academy gate and learned from the mysterious principal that he could claim the resources promised by his real token later, after perfecting his skin and hair.

• Wang Xuan and two experts attacked Chu Qing, but Chu Qing shattered Wang Xuan’s halberd, killed him, and forced the other two to retreat.
• Chu Qing carried Wang Xuan’s corpse to the experts attacking Nangong and Cui Moyang, warned them off, and crushed Wang Xuan’s head beneath his foot.
• The experts fled, leaving Chu Qing to escort Nangong and Cui Moyang across the battlefield toward the Martial Academy gate.
• The mysterious principal told Chu Qing to find him at the main city’s Martial Academy once his skin and hair reached Perfection, where he would receive the promised resources.

Gong Wudi revealed that he had hidden the real token in his stomach and secured a place alongside the Cui Family Daughter, while the third token remained undiscovered. After the battle, lineage heads blamed Chu Qing for helping foil their plans and noted that the Provincial City might be handed to the Rebel Army before next year.

• Secret-medicine experts attacked the fighters, but Gong Wudi was beaten back and the Cui Family Daughter fought her way toward the Martial Academy entrance.
• At the deadline, Gong Wudi presented a real token hidden in his stomach, and the Vice Principal confirmed that his and the Cui Family Daughter's tokens were genuine.
• The mysterious principal promised the remaining rewards to whoever found the third token, which Nangong and Chu Qing already had.
• Nangong and Cui Moyang collected the shattered weapons of Chu Qing and Wang Xuan to forge an Overlord Spear for Chu Qing.
• The great Lineages gathered their dead and reserves, then concluded that their plan had failed and that the Provincial City might soon fall to the Rebel Army.
• A lineage head blamed Chu Qing for helping Gong Wudi hide and keep the token.

King Shiyu and the Cui Family discussed Chu Qing’s rise and considered ways to control or use him, while the Cui Family also turned its attention to Gong Wudi. The chapter ended with the family recalling a warning that Gong Wudi had been replaced.

• King Shiyu reviewed intelligence on Chu Qing and concluded that threats against his loved ones would not control him.
• The chief steward proposed that King Shiyu persuade the aristocratic families to deny Chu Qing the Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, leaving him unable to advance.
• King Shiyu decided to send letters to the aristocratic families, but learned that all his carrier pigeons were dead.
• The Cui Family celebrated securing a quota and credited Chu Qing with helping Gong Wudi win it.
• The Cui Family head ordered a special team to study Chu Qing and sought to befriend him, while dismissing the claim that his future was already blocked.
• The Cui Family discussed Gong Wudi and recalled the Cui Family Daughter’s coded warning that Gong Wudi had been replaced.

The Cui Family investigated whether Gong Wudi had been replaced, while Shi Zhongshan plotted to use In the Red Dust to obtain the imperial family's secret transmissions. At Chu Qing's room, Chu Qing stitched Nangong's severe wound and discovered that closing it made it heal much faster, prompting Cui Moyang to consider the same treatment.

• The Cui Family questioned whether Gong Wudi had been replaced after discovering that nearly everyone close to him had died, and they strengthened their guard and investigation.
• Shi Zhongshan told the In the Red Dust prodigies that they had completed a mission and planned to earn enough points to obtain the imperial family's First Limit secret transmissions.
• Nangong and Cui Moyang discussed how the strange power in their injuries prevented them from healing, while Chu Qing offered to examine their wounds.
• Chu Qing stitched Nangong's long back wound, and Nangong said it was healing at least five times faster.
• Chu Qing explained how to prevent a scar after the wound healed, and Nangong urged him to stitch Cui Moyang's wound next.

Chu Qing treated Cui Moyang and Nangong after their battle, then went to the Shi Residence to visit Madam Jin. There, he found Madam Shi unconscious and learned she had been badly weakened after killing people to help him, leaving him wondering who her enemies had been.

• Chu Qing stitched Cui Moyang's abdominal wound, and she and Nangong agreed to recover quickly so they could help him fight Gong Wudi, King Shiyu, and the great clans.
• Chu Qing treated his own injuries, disguised his face with a silk garment from Nangong, and left the Martial Academy for the Shi Residence.
• At the Shi Residence, Chu Qing found Madam Shi unconscious despite there being no visible wounds on her body.
• Madam Jin told Chu Qing that Madam Shi had returned bloodied the previous night, hidden her in a secret chamber, and later gone out to kill people on Chu Qing's behalf.
• Chu Qing suspected Zheng Zhixiang but doubted he could have injured Madam Shi, and he wondered who she had fought.

Madam Shi told Chu Qing that Gong Wudi had been killed and replaced by someone wearing his skin, and that she had been injured while hunting the impostors. The mysterious dean visited Chu Qing to thank him for taking the token and explained the struggle among factions over how the empire would survive the approaching Millennial Calamity.

• Madam Shi told Chu Qing that killers had skinned Gong Wudi, disguised a young man as him, and injured her with a strange mirror.
• Madam Shi revealed that she had returned to kill the attackers for Chu Qing, though the fake Gong Wudi escaped.
• The mysterious dean arrived and thanked Chu Qing for taking the token, which otherwise would have reached the great clans or King Shiyu.
• The mysterious dean explained that he had backed a mutual-aid organization to help ordinary people rise and described the factions preparing for the Millennial Calamity.
• The mysterious dean told Chu Qing that a token-bearing ordinary genius had died after Qin Wushang beat him and stray dogs devoured him, then agreed with the great clans' belief that people could never escape their origins.

The mysterious principal explained that Madam Shi had been harmed by an Other’s exotic treasure and directed Chu Qing to seek help at a ruined Wind and Snow Temple. He gave Chu Qing a token for Muscle Tempering resources or a future assassination, then left after warning him not to reveal the principal’s involvement in a plot against the Others.

• The mysterious principal said an exotic treasure had caused Madam Shi’s injuries and that only an Other could help her.
• Chu Qing asked where to find an Other, and the principal directed him to the ruined Wind and Snow Temple outside the city.
• The principal warned Chu Qing never to mention him to the Other, threatening to kill Chu Qing and others if he was exposed.
• The principal gave Chu Qing a Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, but Chu Qing said a Daoist Nun had already given him one.
• The principal offered Chu Qing a Jade Pendant token that could be exchanged for a Perfection-level allocation of Muscle Tempering resources or one chance to have the principal kill an enemy.
• The principal departed, and Chu Qing learned that the secret transmission he had offered was stolen.

Chu Qing went to an abandoned Mountain God Temple at the mysterious dean’s instruction and encountered a beautiful woman he suspected was an Otherfolk. After a tense conversation, he told her he had come to save someone.

• Madam Jin comforted Chu Qing about the token while Madam Shi worried that Chu Qing could not handle the Otherfolk.
• Chu Qing left the Shi Residence and found an abandoned Mountain God Temple in the snow.
• Chu Qing discovered fresh supplies and fine women’s clothes in the temple, then found a white-robed woman praying beneath a damaged statue.
• The woman questioned Chu Qing about the Gods and Devils, the broken statues, and who had sent him, but he claimed instinct had brought him there.
• The woman asked whether Chu Qing had come to take her back or kill her, and Chu Qing said he had come to save someone.