Recaps

Chu Qing agreed to take a mysterious woman to Madam Shi so she could save her and stay with her. On the way to the prefectural city, he gave starving men money, killed servants who tried to attack them, and was recognized by a convoy's martial artist.

• The woman asked Chu Qing to save her, and he agreed to bring her to the person he wanted to save in exchange for letting her stay there.
• Chu Qing wrapped the woman in bedding and carried her away, then slowed down at her request so she could look at the snowy scenery.
• Chu Qing gave Silver Notes to burly men who were digging up grass roots for food, but they feared him and begged for mercy.
• When servants rode up to punish the men for taking grass roots from their master's land, Chu Qing killed the servants and left the men with the money.
• Near the prefectural city, youths from a convoy confronted Chu Qing over their dead dogs, and one of their martial artists recognized him as Lord Chu Qing.

Chu Qing brought a mysterious woman to the Shi Residence to treat Madam Shi, then guarded her after she revived Madam Shi. The woman asked Chu Qing to protect her and conceal her identity for a few days, and he agreed.

• Chu Qing frightened several great-clan youths into smiling, explained that he had killed their armed servants under Imperial law, and rode away.
• The youths realized Chu Qing had killed their servants for disturbing peasants who were gathering grass roots, so they spared the men and discussed helping peasants to win Chu Qing's favor.
• Chu Qing carried the woman to the Shi Residence, announced that enemies could come after him, and introduced her as the person who could treat Madam Shi.
• The woman explained how the Soul-Severing Treasure destroyed its victims and told Madam Shi she could cure her.
• After Chu Qing and Madam Jin waited outside, the woman opened the door and Madam Shi sat up, restored to health.
• The woman asked Chu Qing to protect her and keep her presence secret for a few days, and Chu Qing agreed.

Chu Qing reviewed his martial arts, resources, and enemies before leaving to return to the Martial Academy. Madam Jin and Liuli continued probing one another, while Madam Shi wondered how the snowstorm might affect the Rebel Army and the approaching Millennial Tribulation.

• Madam Jin and Madam Shi questioned Liuli about her age, marriage, and feelings for Chu Qing, and Liuli said she already had dozens of children.
• Chu Qing assessed his Blood Refinement, Eight Divine Hands, Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, and Overlord Spear, resolving to find ways to strengthen them.
• Chu Qing decided to use the fake Gong Wudi for resources before killing him and vowed to destroy King Shiyu and the aristocratic families if they blocked his progress.
• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing to consult Nangong and the others before acting against Gong Wudi, and Chu Qing left for the Martial Academy.
• Madam Jin and Liuli schemed while Madam Shi watched the snow and wondered how many years remained until the Millennial Tribulation.

Chu Qing rested at the Martial Academy, discovered that helping Nangong Xiao cultivate also advanced Sun and Moon, and told Cui Moyang he planned to kill Gong Wudi before the New Year break. He tracked Gong Wudi to a stone house and tried to get past the Martial Master guarding it.

• Nangong Xiao used Chu Qing to cultivate the third volume of the Heavenly Demon Strategy, and Chu Qing found that Sun and Moon's progress increased more than twenty times in five hours.
• Cui Moyang warned Chu Qing to keep himself and Nangong Xiao in check as they pursued the perfect First Limit, and Chu Qing said he would deal with Gong Wudi within days.
• Chu Qing explained that the Martial Academy would soon empty for the New Year and resolved to kill Gong Wudi, though he feared the impostor's hidden abilities and powerful backers.
• Chu Qing offered Class Nine students black gold coins and blood-refinement resources to locate Gong Wudi, and they found him in a stone house.
• Chu Qing asked the Martial Master guarding the stone house to let him speak with Gong Wudi, but the Martial Master said Gong Wudi was in seclusion.

Chu Qing forced Gong Wudi to hand over the promised cultivation resources and temporarily took custody of the resources meant for opening the Heaven-Connecting Path. After Gong Wudi returned to seclusion, Chu Qing shared the secret medicine with Nangong and Cui Moyang and planned to find more flesh-refining resources.

• Chu Qing broke into Gong Wudi’s stone house and demanded the resources promised in exchange for the quota.
• When Gong Wudi tried to delay, Chu Qing took the chest of Heaven-Connecting Path resources and threatened him until Gong Wudi agreed to deliver Chu Qing’s resources.
• Gong Wudi’s carrier pigeons were shot down, so he fetched the resources himself and exchanged chests with Chu Qing.
• Martial Master returned from admiring the snow, and Chu Qing told him to stop and get back to work.
• Gong Wudi moved rooms and resumed seclusion, vowing to open the Heaven-Connecting Path and later crush Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing showed Nangong and Cui Moyang the blood-refining secret medicine, agreed they could kill Gong Wudi, and said he still needed to obtain flesh-refining resources.

Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, and Cui Moyang confronted Gong Wudi at the stone house and demanded flesh-refining resources and Sun Gold Moon Jade. Gong Wudi agreed to fetch the secret medicine and promised to obtain the jade within a month, while Chu Qing left the chest alone for now.

• Gong Wudi worked to carve out the Heaven-Connecting Path while Martial Master questioned why he was guarding the stone house instead of spending New Year's with his family.
• Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, and Cui Moyang arrived, and Chu Qing persuaded Martial Master to go home after giving him a thousand black gold coins.
• Chu Qing broke into the stone house and demanded flesh-refining resources from Gong Wudi.
• Nangong Xiao and Cui Moyang pressured Gong Wudi to provide Sun Gold Moon Jade as well, and Gong Wudi agreed to fetch the secret medicine while asking for a month to obtain the jade.
• Nangong Xiao suggested taking the chest, but Chu Qing refused unless Gong Wudi withheld the secret medicine.

Chu Qing spent the New Year at Shi Residence, then returned to the Martial Academy and rapidly advanced his blood refinement while completing an assessment task about the Rebel Army in Shi Prefecture City. The intelligence revealed that Zheng Zhisheng had gathered several people connected to Chu Qing under his command, including Tang Wuming, whose role as logistics general suggested a possible bid for power.

• Chu Qing and Gong Wudi exchanged resources after Gong Wudi endured another deadly interception, and both secretly resolved to kill the other.
• Chu Qing consumed secret medicine day and night while Cui Moyang healed and Nangong cultivated the third volume of the Heavenly Demon Dance on him.
• Madam Jin summoned Chu Qing for New Year's Day, and he celebrated at Shi Residence with Nangong, Cui Moyang, Madam Shi, and Madam Jin.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with Nangong, and after ten days his blood refinement reached the Silver level while Nangong neared Perfection in the third volume.
• Chu Qing bought and submitted detailed Human World intelligence for his assessment, learning that Zheng Zhisheng commanded Ximen, Qing Feng, Ming Yue, and Tang Wuming in Shi Prefecture City.

Tang Wuming quietly built his own influence within the Rebel Army and sent Chu Qing resources, while Zheng Zhisheng sought the secret behind Chu Qing’s strength. Chu Qing cultivated Sun Moon with Nangong and planned to return to the Shi Residence to advance Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon to Perfection.

• Tang Wuming assessed Chu Qing’s rise, judged Zheng Zhisheng’s Rebel Army poorly managed, and continued recruiting obedient commoners into his own network.
• Tang Wuming followed Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s advice and sent Chu Qing cultivation manuals, blood-refining medicines, and over a thousand Stone Bamboo Pearls.
• Zheng Zhisheng wondered how Chu Qing had gained such a powerful foundation and vowed to make him submit after marching into the provincial capital.
• Chu Qing cultivated the Heavenly Demon Strategy with Nangong, greatly increasing his Sun Moon progress before Nangong became exhausted.
• Chu Qing decided to visit Madam Jin at the Shi Residence, obtain Sun Gold Moon Jade, and advance Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon to Perfection.

Gong Wudi continued preparing to carve out the Heaven-Connecting Path while Chu Qing completed the third condition for Sun Moon and set his sights on taking Sun Gold Moon Jade from Gong Wudi. Shi Tiezhu found Zhao Hongxiu and confessed his feelings, urging her to return with him as he boasted about his progress and dismissed Chu Qing.

• Gong Wudi consumed vast resources and cultivated more than five hundred limit-breaking techniques as he worked toward carving out the Heaven-Connecting Path and planned to use Sun Gold Moon Jade against Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing had Madam Jin, Zhao Hongxiu, and the maidservants help him complete the third condition for Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon, leaving only the Sun Gold Moon Jade requirement unmet.
• Chu Qing decided he would get the ten pieces of Sun Gold Moon Jade from Gong Wudi before killing him.
• Shi Tiezhu arrived at the Shi Residence and found Zhao Hongxiu, who told him she was doing well with Nangong and Cui Moyang.
• Shi Tiezhu confessed that he liked Zhao Hongxiu and asked her to return with him, citing his copper-level training and future prospects while claiming Chu Qing could not compare to him.

Shi Tiezhu learned that Zhao Hongxiu and Chu Qing far surpassed him, while Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with three women and prepared to attack Gong Wudi for resources. Gong Wudi mistook their visit for a possible attempt to expose and kill him, and planned to use Sun Gold Moon Jade to buy time until he could suppress Chu Qing.

• Zhao Hongxiu told Shi Tiezhu that he could not match her or Chu Qing, then lifted a massive stone lion to demonstrate her strength.
• Shi Tiezhu knelt outside the Shi Residence gates in despair after Zhao Hongxiu left, then vowed to surpass her by returning to the provincial city.
• Chu Qing sketched intimate clothing while Zhao Hongxiu ground ink, and Madam Shi called the designs shameless before demanding a set to critique.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with Madam Shi, summoned Cui Moyang, and planned to confront Gong Wudi for Sun Gold Moon Jade before attacking him.
• Gong Wudi learned that Chu Qing had arrived with Nangong, Cui Moyang, and Madam Shi, and decided to use the jade to delay them while he prepared to open part of the Heaven-Connecting Path.

Chu Qing forced Gong Wudi to hand over Sun Gold Moon Jade, then consumed it to perfect Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon and dramatically increase his strength. When the Vice Principals tried to punish him for taking the resources, Chu Qing seized one by the neck and slammed him to the ground, leaving the others furious and threatening his expulsion and execution.

• Gong Wudi stalled Chu Qing until he could arrange for the Vice Principals to arrive, then handed Chu Qing ten portions of Sun Gold Moon Jade.
• Chu Qing crushed the Sun Gold Moon Jade and completed the requirements for Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon—Perfection.
• Chu Qing's body transformed, and he sensed that his muscles, bones, and strength had grown far stronger.
• Gong Wudi accused Chu Qing of illegally taking Heaven-Connecting Resources, and a Vice Principal declared that he had violated academy rules.
• Chu Qing grabbed the Vice Principal by the neck and slammed him to the ground.
• The remaining Vice Principals threatened to expel and execute Chu Qing while Gong Wudi gloated.

Black-robed enforcers moved to expel Chu Qing for seizing Heaven-Connecting Resources, but he accused Gong Wudi of being an impostor wearing stolen human skin. Chu Qing tore off Gong Wudi’s skin in a fight, exposing an unfamiliar youth and leaving him screaming for his disguise to be returned.

• Black-robed enforcers arrived and ordered Chu Qing to leave the Martial Academy, while students tried to send the news to their Lineages with carrier pigeons that others shot down.
• Chu Qing accused the enforcers of breaking the rules and claimed Gong Wudi had been killed and replaced by someone wearing his skin.
• After a student confirmed that treated human skin could be worn as a disguise, Chu Qing demanded that Gong Wudi peel it off to prove his identity.
• Gong Wudi challenged Chu Qing to prove he was real too, but Chu Qing attacked and shattered Gong Wudi’s right hand with Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon.
• Madam Shi blocked the black-robed enforcers as Chu Qing caught Gong Wudi and tore the human skin from his neck, revealing an unfamiliar youth.
• The exposed impostor insisted he was Gong Wudi and charged at Chu Qing, begging for his human skin back.

Chu Qing exposed the fake Gong Wudi, forced him to reveal where the real Gong Wudi was buried, and learned that the impostor belonged to the powerful organization In the Red Dust. News of Chu Qing’s brutality spread, causing powerful families to reconsider provoking him.

• Chu Qing confronted the fake Gong Wudi, who revealed that the real Gong Wudi’s corpse was in a burned-out ruin in Locust Flower Alley after Chu Qing tortured him.
• Chu Qing recovered Gong Wudi’s corpse, had it burned at his request, and stored the ashes in a box.
• A black-robed figure told Chu Qing that the fake Gong Wudi belonged to In the Red Dust and warned him about the organization’s reach and influence.
• Chu Qing dismissed the warning and asked whether In the Red Dust was more terrifying than he was.
• Stories of Chu Qing’s treatment of the fake Gong Wudi spread through the provincial and prefectural cities, leading aristocratic families to avoid further conflict with him.
• A Human World intelligence officer recorded Chu Qing as exceptionally cruel and advised that he be approached with caution.

After receiving a Martial Academy reward, Chu Qing prioritized the Overlord Spear and gave Nangong a water-powered forging blueprint. He accompanied Madam Shi and Nangong to a tailor shop to have his close-fitting clothing designs made, where Madam Shi jealously guarded the designs.

• The Martial Academy rewarded Chu Qing with one hundred pieces of Sun Gold Moon Jade, and he told Nangong and Madam Shi to handle the materials and techniques for Eight Divine Hands while he pursued Perfect Blood Refinement and the Overlord Spear.
• Chu Qing gave Nangong a water-powered forging blueprint, which she recognized as a major improvement for forging and refining minerals.
• Madam Shi reminded Chu Qing that he had promised to make clothes for her, so he took her to a tailor shop while Nangong brought Cui Moyang and requested several sets as well.
• Madam Shi cleared the shop of other customers and asked the tailor to make the clothes from Chu Qing's blueprints.
• Chu Qing explained the designs to the tailor and encouraged her to study them, but Madam Shi threatened her and insisted she not make the clothes for anyone else without permission.

Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy while Princess Consort and A'nu discussed his reputation and the dangers surrounding them. A'nu insisted on meeting Chu Qing, so the Princess Consort sent Brocade World to invite him cautiously.

• Madam Shi, Nangong, and Cui Moyang stayed at the tailor's shop while Chu Qing went back to the Martial Academy.
• Chu Qing crossed snow-cleared streets and reflected on the empire's decay and the suffering of ordinary people.
• At a Mountain God Temple, Princess Consort urged A'nu to return, but A'nu asked about the provincial city and heard about Chu Qing.
• A'nu asked to meet Chu Qing, threatening not to return unless the Princess Consort arranged it.
• Princess Consort sent Brocade World to find Chu Qing and warned them to approach him humbly because he was ruthless and had killed King Shiyu's son.

Chu Qing visited Mountain God Temple to speak with A'nu in exchange for the Princess Consort's valuable promise. He argued that poverty among ordinary people fueled the Millennial Tribulation's rebellions, but A'nu rejected his explanation, and he left with the promise still intact.

• Chu Qing accepted an invitation from the Princess Consort and followed people from Brocade World to Mountain God Temple while black-robed observers covered up his departure.
• The Princess Consort introduced Chu Qing to A'nu and asked him to speak with her in exchange for a promise.
• A'nu asked Chu Qing about the Millennial Tribulation, and he said rebellions arose because ordinary people could no longer survive.
• Chu Qing proposed feeding and warming ordinary people to delay rebellions, but A'nu blamed their poverty on laziness and dismissed him.
• The Princess Consort assured Chu Qing that her promise still stood, and Chu Qing left Mountain God Temple.

After perfecting his Golden Blood, Chu Qing set out to collect the Overlord Spear and noticed that someone was secretly watching him. He reached the Cui family-backed Blacksmith Shop, where the clerk told him the weapon needed one more day of work.

• Chu Qing brought his blood refinement to Perfection, healed hidden injuries, and felt his blood strengthen his sinews and bones.
• Chu Qing decided to pursue Perfection in every First Limit realm and planned to cultivate the Overlord Spear while delaying muscle tempering.
• Chu Qing left the Martial Academy and noticed both obvious followers and people watching him from homes along the streets.
• Chu Qing arrived at the Blacksmith Shop and asked to collect his Overlord Spear.
• The clerk led Chu Qing into the courtyard and explained that the weapon was still being forged, with only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of becoming divine-grade.

Chu Qing refused to use the Explosive Bear’s blood to finish his Overlord Spear, and Gong Yidao claimed the bear for a saber. After Gong Yidao showed off his new weapon, Chu Qing sensed a trace of killing intent from him.

• Chu Qing asked the blacksmiths to use his blood instead of the Explosive Bear’s, then let Gong Yidao take the bear for his saber.
• Gong Yidao introduced himself as a member of the Gong Family and thanked Chu Qing for exposing the fake Gong Wudi.
• Chu Qing attempted to bathe the Overlord Spear in his own blood but stopped when the blacksmiths explained that the weapon had to be thrust into a body while red-hot.
• Gong Yidao returned with a top-grade saber forged using the Explosive Bear and asked Chu Qing to admire it.
• Chu Qing sensed killing intent from Gong Yidao as he turned the saber in his hand.

Chu Qing used his own body to sharpen a blazing crimson spear, then killed Gong Yidao when he refused to appraise it. He named the weapon Domineering and left the blacksmiths shaken by what they had witnessed.

• Chu Qing grabbed the several-thousand-degree spear and drove it through his body, using his flesh and blood to form three-headed dragon patterns on the weapon.
• Chu Qing challenged Gong Yidao to appraise the spear, but Gong Yidao admitted he was afraid and refused.
• Chu Qing attacked with the Overlord Spear, shattered Gong Yidao's saber and pierced his heart.
• Gong Yidao praised the spear's domineering nature and asked its name, and Chu Qing named it Domineering before smashing Gong Yidao's head.
• Chu Qing asked the blacksmiths what they thought of the spear, then dragged away Gong Yidao's corpse as one blacksmith wrote in the ancestral ledger that Chu Qing was the finest material for sharpening weapons.

After Chu Qing killed Gong Yidao, the aristocratic families discovered that the Gong Family and others had been infiltrated by people wearing human skin, then destroyed the Gong Family and began checking their own ranks. The revelations also fueled distrust among the Transcendents, who feared that they too had been replaced and avoided gathering together.

• The Gong Family disavowed Gong Yidao, sent Chu Qing the heads of his relatives, and shocked the aristocratic families into preparing to destroy them.
• Chu Qing found human skin on Gong Yidao's corpse and warned Madam Shi and Nangong that other families might have been infiltrated.
• Nearly a hundred aristocratic families and King Shiyu attacked and destroyed the Gong Family, then found that its leaders, some of their own higher-ups, and servants had been replaced.
• Shi Zhongshan and the aristocratic descendants at the Martial Academy blamed In the Red Dust for the failed operation and said they would stop cooperating if it brought them no benefits.
• The Transcendents debated checking whether they had been replaced, but most refused to gather because they suspected other Transcendents and feared being hunted.

King Shiyu and the great families waited for Chu Qing to temper his flesh so they could control him, while Chu Qing trained the Overlord Spear toward breaking its limit. After receiving a letter from A'nu's sister, a Princess governing a prefectural city, he sent her advice on aiding disaster victims and resolved to leave the provincial city once he trained his body.

• King Shiyu traced the city's turmoil to Chu Qing and decided to wait until he tempered his flesh before trying to control him.
• Chu Qing trained the Overlord Spear until it reached Perfection and continued working toward the one billion repetitions needed to break its limit.
• Nangong delivered a fragrant letter from a woman to Chu Qing and left after he promised to help her cultivate that night.
• Chu Qing read a letter from A'nu's elder sister, who called herself the Princess and asked how to handle disaster victims in her prefectural city.
• Chu Qing wrote the Princess several dozen pages of advice and gave his reply to a masked messenger who moved at Third Limit speed.
• Chu Qing returned to training and planned to temper his body before leaving the provincial city for the main city or the Imperial Capital.

Princess acted on Chu Qing’s work-for-relief proposal and sent a female official to carry it out in Shi State City. As the city’s commoners began clearing snow and rebuilding, Chu Qing recognized his idea in the relief effort and went to the Shi Residence, where he found Madam Shi cultivating alone in the snow.

• Princess spent hours reading Chu Qing’s letter, then ordered grain distribution and work-for-relief in Shi State City.
• Princess sent a female official with instructions to protect Chu Qing and organize repairs, canals, farmland, and roads.
• King Shiyu and the aristocratic families worried about the female official’s arrival and agreed to accommodate her to avoid provoking Princess.
• The female official ordered the registration of commoners and began organizing public works, with the aristocratic families and Wu Fortress masters supplying funds and tools.
• Chu Qing saw commoners clearing snow and rebuilding houses for food and clothing, recognized his proposal, and wondered how Princess had influenced the city.
• Chu Qing visited the Shi Residence and found only Madam Shi, nearly buried in snow as she cultivated.

Chu Qing discovered that Madam Shi’s secret martial art was draining her emotions and learned she was preparing to open a second Heaven-Connecting Path. He returned to the Martial Academy determined to pursue his training and find a Viscera Secret Transmission, though he concluded that killing the aristocratic families blocking him might be his only path.

• Chu Qing found Madam Shi frozen and emotionless, and she explained that her secret martial art could erase her feelings when she reached the Third Limit.
• Madam Shi told Chu Qing that breaking through the Third Limit might restore her, but losing her emotions could also make cultivation impossible.
• Madam Shi explained that she had opened a Heaven-Connecting Path through fists and feet and wanted to open paths through weapons and Esoteric Arts as well.
• Madam Shi said Madam Jin had entered seclusion after gaining insight from reading, and Chu Qing learned she was resting in an underground chamber.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and planned to break the Overlord Spear’s limit, complete flesh training, and seek a Viscera Secret Transmission.
• Chu Qing rejected traveling to the Great Zhou Empire for a secret transmission and concluded that he might have to kill the aristocratic families standing in his way.

Chu Qing broke the Overlord Spear’s limit, gained its bloodline, and fused it into his unopened second profession. He discovered that the aristocratic families were using access to top-tier muscle-tempering techniques to control him, but rejected their offers and prepared to train with his own secret transmission.

• Chu Qing completed the Overlord Spear’s promotion condition, gained the Overlord Spear Bloodline, and fused it into his unopened second profession.
• Chu Qing applied at the Library Pavilion for a top-tier Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission and learned that the assessment required crushing Zheng Zhisheng’s Rebel Army and rescuing fifteen cities.
• Chu Qing questioned the Martial Master about the assessment, then left without being intimidated by the task or the aristocratic families’ restrictions.
• Chu Qing realized he could train using the Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission given to him by the Daoist Nun, Golden Inlaid Jade.
• A Cui family member offered Chu Qing a secret transmission if he married into their family and pledged loyalty, but Chu Qing refused.
• Scions from other aristocratic families visited Chu Qing with harsher terms, and he rejected them one by one.

The great houses believed Chu Qing’s path to a Blood Refining Secret Transmission had been cut off, but he successfully began cultivating the Golden Inlaid Jade Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission. As spring arrived, he rapidly advanced through muscle tempering while Nangong searched for a secret transmission for his Five Viscera and Six Bowels.

• The great houses discussed Chu Qing’s stalled assessment and planned to join the Rebel Army in a year, though some feared his rapid progress and aptitude.
• Chu Qing cultivated Golden Inlaid Jade while Nangong stood guard, then chose recovery traits and used Internal Vision to repair and strengthen his flesh.
• Chu Qing successfully circulated Golden Inlaid Jade, and Nangong celebrated his having a top-tier Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission.
• Chu Qing told Nangong he still lacked a secret transmission for the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, so she went to seek one through the Thousand Eyes Alliance.
• Chu Qing swallowed secret medicine and rapidly tempered his flesh as winter ended and spring came to the prefectural city.