Recaps

King Shiyu blamed Chu Qing for the deaths of several great-house heads, while the Liu Family discovered that Chu Qing had secretly trapped Liu Yidao with a deadly hidden trick. Their old ancestor concluded that Chu Qing was exceptionally powerful and proposed having him leave a descendant for the Liu Family.

• King Shiyu learned that his Imperial Guards had killed the Duan Family head after Chu Qing killed the Jiang Family head, and he blamed Chu Qing for both deaths.
• Liu Yidao returned to the Liu Family with the Head of the Liu Family's headless corpse and claimed he had not noticed Chu Qing take the head.
• Liu Yidao reenacted his Seven Flashes in the Wind technique, and the Lion's Roar elder's attack triggered a hidden trick that killed him.
• The Liu Family's old hidden foundation examined Liu Yidao's corpse and determined that Chu Qing had planted the hidden trick.
• The old ancestor praised Chu Qing's abilities and suggested finding a way for him to leave a descendant for the Liu Family.

Chu Qing claimed hundreds of top-tier Pelt Realm secret manuals as his reward for promoting the Empire’s new laws, then rapidly read them while trying to find manuals he could fuse. His actions changed the Princess’s view of the reform, and she ordered her treasury’s Pelt Realm manuals sent to him by eagle.

• Chu Qing told the old teacher that he had completed his assessment task and demanded his secret manuals.
• Chu Qing rapidly read through the manuals in the Library Pavilion, registering each in his Profession Slot while the old teacher questioned his approach.
• Aristocratic houses argued over whether to keep promoting the new laws, with some members fearing Chu Qing’s retaliation.
• The female official reported Chu Qing’s success to the Princess, who marveled that he had achieved what the Reformists could not.
• The Princess ordered every Pelt Realm secret manual in her treasury delivered to Chu Qing by eagle.

Chu Qing read hundreds of secret arts brought by the Martial Academy and a group of soldiers, denying that he was trying to create a new one. Back in his room, he secretly celebrated his many Profession Slot fusions and discovered that his latest secret art could combine with Eight Divine Hands.

• The Princess gave Chu Qing hundreds of top-tier Skin Marrow Realm secret arts to repay his help with the reform.
• Chu Qing read the Martial Academy's secret arts as envious students and the old master watched, then ordinary soldiers arrived with several hundred more.
• After finishing the books, Chu Qing said he had gathered secret arts to establish a Lineage someday, and left without claiming to have created a new art.
• Alone in his room, Chu Qing revealed that he had fused several dual-trait secret arts through his Profession Slot.
• Chu Qing's latest fusion produced a secret art related to the Feng Shui and Earth Fire moves of Eight Divine Hands, which he fused again.

Chu Qing discovered that the limit-breaking Eight Gods secret transmission could reforge the Pelt Realm, chose defense for all three traits, and began cultivating it. His training was interrupted by Liu Xuer, who offered the Liu Family’s friendship and herself as a way to win him over.

• Chu Qing realized Eight Gods had no realms or special material requirements and could let him choose three Pelt Realm traits, but decided to keep the secret transmission to himself.
• He chose defense for all three traits and cultivated Eight Gods, strengthening his skin and hair as his hair grew longer, darker, and hard enough to pierce wood.
• Liu Xuer visited Chu Qing and explained that the Liu Family was divided between revenge and her elder brother’s wish to befriend him.
• Liu Xuer said her husband belonged to the Bai Family of the Imperial Capital and offered to stay at Chu Qing’s disposal during her year-long visit.
• Chu Qing protested that he was not a shameless scoundrel, but Liu Xuer took his hand and pressed it to her chest, insisting that the Liu Family sincerely wished to befriend him.

Chu Qing settled into seclusion at the Shi Residence, using the aristocratic families’ resources and Madam Jin’s support to rapidly advance his Pelt Realm. As copper-like pathways emerged beneath his skin, he wondered whether the immense formations he had seen might belong to a gigantic living creature.

• Chu Qing rejected Liu Xuer’s offer of empty-handed sincerity, promised not to take revenge on the Liu family, and told her she could visit him at Hua Yu’s estate.
• Madam Jin advised Chu Qing to complete the Pelt Realm and open at least one Heaven-Connecting Path, and Chu Qing agreed to cultivate at the Shi Residence.
• Chu Qing trained with the Eight Gods Secret Transmission, consumed secret medicines and Copper Coins, and studied under Madam Jin’s strict routine.
• After five days, Chu Qing reached Iron Grade in the Pelt Realm, faster than Madam Shi had expected, and she celebrated by singing opera for him.
• Over the next ten days, Chu Qing’s hair became iron-hard and his pelt began advancing toward Copper Grade, with copper-like threads spreading beneath his skin and linking his pores to his body hair.
• Chu Qing noticed that the threads resembled pathways beneath Stone Ridge Mountain and Extreme Cold Lake, then asked Madam Jin how large mythical creatures could grow.

Chu Qing completed bronze-grade pelt in a month while the five great lineages backed his cultivation and land reforms unsettled the Rebel Army. He began pursuing silver-grade pelt and planned to reach gold grade before the New Year, while Madam Shi prepared to leave for the Armored Soldier Sect without him.

• The five great lineages supplied Chu Qing with resources, while their descendants schemed to produce a bloodline descendant with him.
• The prefectural city began distributing land and absorbing refugees, prompting the Rebel Army to blame Chu Qing and plan his assassination.
• Rebel Army higher-ups discussed how to kill Chu Qing despite Madam Shi's strength and his cautious routine, and one of them proposed a plan.
• After a month of intense training, Chu Qing completed bronze-grade pelt and told Madam Shi he had practiced several thousand Limit-Breaking Skills.
• Chu Qing said he wanted gold-grade pelt before the New Year so he could seek Martial Academy resources and open the Heaven-Connecting Path.
• Madam Shi decided to return to the Armored Soldier Sect, but refused Chu Qing's offer to accompany her.

Madam Shi took Madam Jin to the Armored Soldier Sect, leaving Chu Qing at the Shi Residence to continue cultivating and reading. As Chu Qing settled into life without them, suspicious activity and a servant’s disappearance suggested that danger was gathering around the residence.

• Chu Qing persuaded Madam Shi to take Madam Jin with her, and Madam Shi warned him that the trouble in the Armored Soldier Sect’s Lineage might be intended to draw her away and target him.
• Madam Shi’s convoy departed in the rain with Madam Jin, who worried about Chu Qing and resolved to awaken her Otherkin bloodline by reading.
• After Madam Jin left, Chu Qing stayed at the Shi Residence, continued cultivating, and began reading while Zhao Hongxiu managed the household and pursued her own cultivation.
• Zhao Hongxiu worried that floods and drought might leave Shi State City without food, and Chu Qing told her they could move to a larger city if necessary.
• A man in black visited homes near the Shi Residence, while killing intent gathered toward it in the rain.
• After a servant disappeared while buying supplies, Zhao Hongxiu told Chu Qing, who ordered her not to recruit anyone else even if the remaining servants died.

As servants vanished from Shi Residence, Chu Qing killed a group of suspected infiltrators who arrived seeking work and urged Zhao Hongxiu to build her courage. He declared that he would kill anyone he suspected, including members of the rising Rebel Army, and his words stirred the state city.

• Zhao Hongxiu found more than a dozen suspicious people outside Shi Residence asking to become servants and warned Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing ordered Zhao Hongxiu to kill the applicants, and he killed those who tried to flee; the group was wiped out at the residence gate.
• Chu Qing told Zhao Hongxiu to stop shopping outside and asked the Cui Family to bring necessities with its resource deliveries.
• The five Heads of the House warned Chu Qing that killing Rebel Army members who had not attacked him could give his enemies grounds to act against him.
• Chu Qing insisted that suspicion was reason enough to kill and challenged the Rebel Army to attack him openly.
• Chu Qing's declaration spread throughout the state city, which stirred with gathering tensions.

As the great families abandoned their resource deliveries and the Rebel Army kept targeting him, Chu Qing prepared to leave the Shi Residence to seek the rebels in occupied prefectural cities. He reassured Zhao Hongxiu that he would return, though she sensed his departure might be a parting of life and death.

• Black-robed guards and strongmen from the five great families fortified the Shi Residence while Chu Qing continued cultivating and Zhao Hongxiu stayed by his side.
• The Rebel Army attacked Chu Qing's resource convoys, and after the Cui family failed to locate the rebels, the families stopped sending supplies.
• Chu Qing dressed in white, told Zhao Hongxiu to keep the Copper Coins and protect herself, and said he would search occupied prefectural cities for the Rebel Army.
• Zhao Hongxiu bit Chu Qing's neck before he left, while he insisted he would return the next morning and she feared he was going to his death.

Chu Qing reached Feng City and found Zheng Qingcang facing an assassination attempt while Zheng Zixuan guarded him. After defeating Zheng Zixuan, Chu Qing asked the Rebel Army for food so he could continue killing.

• Chu Qing entered a tavern outside Feng City and watched white-haired martial artists promise to help a young man kill Zheng Qingcang, while suspecting they meant to frame him.
• Zheng Qingcang discussed the Millennial Calamity with Zheng Zixuan, then summoned his niece and forced her to serve him.
• Zheng Zixuan left to fight attackers, killing the apparent heroes who turned out to be skinners from In the Red Dust.
• Chu Qing descended from a rooftop and fought Zheng Zixuan in a clash marked by spring thunder and a peacock-shaped shadow.
• Zheng Qingcang opened the door after hearing a knock, and Zheng Zixuan fell motionless as Chu Qing appeared and asked the Rebel Army for food.

Chu Qing killed Zheng Qingcang and slaughtered the Rebel Army forces in Feng City, leaving the city drenched in blood and its survivors traumatized. News of Feng City's destruction spread across the region, where the remaining Rebel Army members feared Chu Qing.

• Chu Qing praised Zheng Qingcang as a hero, then revealed he intended to kill him and gave him a forty-meter head start.
• Chu Qing killed the fleeing Zheng Qingcang with his Tyrant Spear and told the young couple to stay by the table to survive.
• Chu Qing announced Zheng Qingcang's death and fought the Rebel Army forces until their cries of battle became screams and pleas for mercy.
• At dawn, riders from Zijing found the river stained red and discovered Feng City filled with corpses and the words “Kill” written in bodies.
• News of Feng City's destruction spread through the Rebel Army camp and into Shi State City and beyond.
• A surviving Rebel Army general panicked when questioned about the massacre and begged Master Qing not to kill him.

After returning from the massacre at Feng City, Chu Qing found the Shi Residence under repeated Rebel Army attacks and reunited with his wounded Senior Sister, Zhao Hongxiu. As tens of thousands of Ironclad Butchers surrounded the residence, Chu Qing charged at them at three times the speed of sound.

• Chu Qing returned to the Shi Residence and found bloodstains, corpses, and black-robed warriors inside.
• Chu Qing found Zhao Hongxiu wounded but alive, and she told him the Rebel Army had been attacking the residence every hour.
• The Ironclad Butchers surrounded the Shi Residence and tore down its walls and buildings with chained spears.
• Chu Qing ordered the black-robed warriors to protect Zhao Hongxiu, then dismissed the rebels as too weak to fight.
• A Rebel Army general revealed that ten thousand Ironclad Butchers had been sent to kill Chu Qing, with thirty thousand more behind them.
• Chu Qing compared the Ironclad Butchers to the slaughter at Feng City and charged at them at three times the speed of sound.

The Rebel Army sent its Ironclad Floating Pagoda to kill Chu Qing, even as its leaders learned he had slaughtered Feng City. Chu Qing cut through the encircling troops, while King Shiyu received news that left him shaken and corrected his steward about which army was fighting.

• The Rebel Army's leaders learned that Chu Qing had massacred Feng City and realized their Ironclad Floating Pagoda had already been sent to fight him.
• Chu Qing charged through the Ironclad Floating Pagoda, breaking shields, cutting nets, and crushing soldiers with their own chains.
• The Ironclad Floating Pagoda's commander called in more troops, while King Shiyu watched the army surround Chu Qing and assumed Chu Qing would eventually break.
• A steward brought King Shiyu a letter, and King Shiyu collapsed after reading it before ordering the steward to help him away.
• The steward called the Ironclad Floating Pagoda the Holy King Army, and King Shiyu slapped him and corrected him that it was the Rebel Army.

Chu Qing slaughtered Feng City and continued fighting the Rebel Army’s Ironclad Floating Pagodas at Shi State City. After learning of the massacre, the Pagoda commanders ordered a retreat, but Chu Qing pursued them.

• King Shiyu learned that Chu Qing had massacred Feng City and shared the news with aristocratic families, whose leaders were horrified.
• Chu Qing continued mechanically killing Rebel Army troops, relying on his immense strength and recovery to sustain the slaughter.
• A female official ordered the governor to send thirty million black gold to the Princess to forge Heavy Armor for Chu Qing, revealing that she expected him to destroy the Ironclad Floating Pagodas.
• The Ironclad Floating Pagodas’ commanders learned of Feng City’s massacre and ordered their troops to retreat from Shi State City.
• Chu Qing refused to let the Ironclad Floating Pagodas escape and pursued them alone.

King Shiyu and the great houses mobilized their reserves to save the Rebel Army’s Ironclad Floating Pagodas, but Chu Qing continued slaughtering the trapped rebels despite their pleas. As the massacre neared its end, Chu Qing rejected the threat of being branded a demon and declared he would become a Supreme Hero.

• King Shiyu received a letter demanding that he spare no cost to save the Ironclad Floating Pagodas, so he summoned the Prince’s Residence’s reserves and joined the great houses’ forces.
• King Shiyu found only corpses at the Shi Residence, then led the great houses toward Chu Qing at a leisurely pace; the Gou family’s head and reserves were killed after rushing ahead.
• King Shiyu ordered the Nine Gates Commander to open the city gates, but the commander refused because Chu Qing had threatened to wipe out his family.
• King Shiyu and the great-house leaders reached Chu Qing as he killed the trapped Ironclad Floating Pagodas, and a head of a great house lost several reserves in a failed ambush.
• King Shiyu begged Chu Qing to stop and warned that the Imperial Capital’s Great Figure would punish him, but Chu Qing continued killing and vowed to become a Supreme Hero.

Chu Qing massacred the Ironclad Floating Pagodas and forced King Shiyu, the Heads of the Houses, and their old foundations to kneel before him. He left them humiliated and still accused them of conspiring against him, despite their denial.

• Chu Qing declared that he would kill nine million to become a Supreme Hero, terrifying King Shiyu and the Heads of the Houses.
• An old foundation charged at Chu Qing, but Chu Qing killed him with Eight Divine Hands: Peacock.
• Chu Qing demanded that everyone kneel and submit, and his blood-soaked city vision broke one old foundation's mind as the others knelt.
• King Shiyu resisted until Chu Qing smashed his shoulder with the Overbearing Spear, then knelt to avoid being killed.
• Chu Qing berated the kneeling group for making trouble and colluding with the Rebel Army, then tore a clump of King Shiyu's scalp away when he denied it.

Chu Qing’s massacre earned him the partial Supreme Hero title of Tyrant, and news of his words spread through the Great Gan Empire and reached the Imperial Palace. As the emperor weighed the Millennial Calamity and the danger facing his empire, he wondered whether Chu Qing was a hidden dragon.

• Chu Qing received the Tyrant title after his name and the saying about slaughtering nine million spread across the Great Gan Empire.
• A young eunuch and a palace maid were inspired by Chu Qing to practice martial arts, while Mi Mei ordered the female officials to gather information about him for the Princess.
• Mi Mei recalled the martial artist who had named her Consort Mei and worried that Chu Qing’s words might anger the emperor.
• The emperor dismissed a memorial about Chu Qing’s massacre because the dead were rebels, then wondered whether the Supreme Hero path was a mythic inheritance.
• Extraordinary people told the emperor that the Millennial Calamity had begun at Stone Ridge Mountain and that the Ninth Princess was exploring its forbidden zone.
• The emperor said the Ninth Princess would become Empress if she returned, considered testing the Great Zhou Empire, and wondered whether Chu Qing might be a hidden dragon.

The Holy King Army struggled to decide how to deal with Chu Qing after he destroyed Feng City and tens of thousands of Ironclad Floating Pagodas. In Shi State City, Chu Qing’s terrifying aura overwhelmed Zhao Hongxiu as he bathed.

• The King reviewed his lists of hidden dragons but still did not add Chu Qing’s name, while the Princess read Chu Qing’s letters and marveled at his ruthlessness.
• After news of Chu Qing’s massacre spread through Rebel Army territory, aristocratic families and Wu Fortress lords split their lineages and began reducing their support for the Rebel Army.
• The Holy King Army’s leaders lamented the loss of Feng City, tens of thousands of Ironclad Floating Pagodas, and Zheng Qingcang, then debated how to kill or recruit Chu Qing.
• The Holy King Army resolved to block Chu Qing from entering the Major City Martial Academy next spring and to prepare contingencies in case he got in.
• In Shi State City, Zhao Hongxiu changed Chu Qing’s bathwater but was nearly overcome by his terrifying aura; Chu Qing noticed her distress and asked why she would not look at him.

Chu Qing announced that he had entered the Pelt Realm to test how the provincial capital would react, prompting aristocratic families and other powerful groups to send him gifts. After Zhao Hongxiu collected the offerings, she discovered that Chu Qing’s mere presence seemed to unleash terrifying killing intent, leaving him confused when even servants cowered before him.

• Chu Qing ordered Zhao Hongxiu to spread word that he had entered the Pelt Realm, and aristocratic families realized he was testing their response.
• King Shiyu sent Chu Qing Pelt Realm resources, and other aristocratic families followed with gifts as the news spread and ordinary people celebrated.
• Zhao Hongxiu arranged the gifts and took bribes from stewards who wanted their offerings placed first.
• Zhao Hongxiu was overwhelmed by killing intent when she entered Chu Qing’s courtyard and told him she could not approach him.
• Chu Qing denied releasing killing intent, but servants screamed and kowtowed when he approached, while Zhao Hongxiu said his gaze terrified her.

Chu Qing discovered that his unintentional killing intent terrified even Third Limit Experts, who believed something was wrong with his body or spirit. He wrote Madam Shi a letter seeking help, but the Armored Soldier Sect intercepted it and prepared to humiliate her, dismissing warnings about Chu Qing.

• Chu Qing had Zhao Hongxiu bring Limit-Breaking Experts from the five great families to test how they reacted to his presence.
• The First and Second Limit Experts fled Chu Qing's courtyard in terror, overwhelmed by visions of a corpse mountain and a sea of blood.
• The Third Limit Experts entered together, but one tried to kill himself under Chu Qing's deathly killing intent before the group escaped and concluded something was wrong with Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing examined his body, suspected a problem with his spirit, and sent Madam Shi a letter through the great families' channels.
• The Armored Soldier Sect intercepted the letter and ordered someone to humiliate Madam Shi, while dismissing warnings about Chu Qing as rumors.

Madam Shi faced an accusation of conspiring against the Armored Soldier Sect until Chu Qing’s letter frightened her accusers into retreat. She sent him Madam Jin’s advice to read more books, while the sect members feared he would soon arrive to rescue her.

• Madam Shi struggled under disguised house arrest as her faction neared defeat, and Madam Jin tried to comfort her.
• A group confronted Madam Shi with a letter from Chu Qing and accused her of colluding with the Cui family.
• The group read Chu Qing’s account of killing in Feng City and destroying tens of thousands of Ironclad Floating Pagodas, then heard that even Third Limit martial artists could not meet his gaze.
• The accusers panicked, apologized to Madam Shi, and fled after realizing Chu Qing might take revenge on them.
• Madam Shi asked Madam Jin how to help Chu Qing, and Madam Jin suggested he read more books.
• Madam Shi sent a hawk toward Shi State with her reply, and sect members worried that Chu Qing would soon come for her.

Chu Qing read to suppress his growing killing intent and found that his cultivation accelerated, while the aura around him eventually contracted into his room. As Zhao Hongxiu waited for him to emerge, floods and drought drove vast numbers of starving refugees toward Shi State City, which was already at its limit, and the Rebel Army began moving again.

• Chu Qing swore to take revenge on the Armored Soldier Sect, then asked Zhao Hongxiu to spread word that he wanted books from the great clans.
• Chu Qing carefully read the books and discovered that his Eight Gods Method cultivation advanced at more than twice its previous rate.
• Over the next month, Chu Qing's killing intent spread across half of Shi Residence, and he wondered whether such an aura could create a forbidden zone.
• After another two months, Chu Qing's aura shrank into his room, where Zhao Hongxiu was too terrified to look inside.
• Floods followed by drought destroyed crops and dried up rivers and wells, sending hundreds of thousands of starving refugees toward Shi State City.
• Shi State City reached its capacity for refugees, the great clans resisted taking in more, and the Rebel Army became active again.

Rebel Army leaders awakened the Red Copper Golden Toad, hoping it would destroy Shi State City and derail the Princess’s reforms. The anomaly tore through the Rebel Army and attacked the city, leaving the Nine Gates Commander’s forces desperate for help from Master Qing and the Espers.

• Rebel Army soldiers used secret medicine and chains to approach the Red Copper Golden Toad in the moat, while their leaders ordered them to take coins from it.
• The Red Copper Golden Toad awakened, devoured soldiers, and charged toward Shi State City after the Rebel Army leaders revealed their plan to destroy the city and prevent its reforms.
• The Nine Gates Commander saw the anomaly, ordered the army to prepare, and sent word to King Shiyu and Master Qing that Master Qing’s Golden Toad had come alive.
• The Red Copper Golden Toad leaped onto the city wall, killing soldiers with the impact and swallowing a Third Limit expert after his attack failed.
• The remaining military experts searched for the Golden Toad’s weakness and urged the Nine Gates Commander to summon the great clans’ hidden forces and the Espers.

With the Others away, King Shiyu and Shi State’s aristocratic families faced the Red Copper Golden Toad without Chu Qing, and their fighters could not stop it. As the anomaly broke through the city wall, a family head ordered the Lineage reserves awakened to fight it.

• King Shiyu learned that the Red Copper Golden Toad Chu Qing had thrown into the moat had come alive, and he ordered the aristocratic families to send their experts against it.
• A general and another Third Limit expert attacked the Red Copper Golden Toad, but it killed them and overwhelmed the other fighters.
• The fighters urged a messenger to ask Chu Qing for help, but Zhao Hongxiu refused to disturb him while he cultivated.
• A family head went to Shi Residence to invite Chu Qing, but Zhao Hongxiu turned him away and challenged the family heads to show their fear by coming themselves.
• The Red Copper Golden Toad broke through the city wall and entered Shi State City, prompting a family head to order the Lineage reserves awakened to kill it.

The Red Copper Golden Toad slaughtered the Lineage foundations, forcing King Shiyu and the Heads of the Houses to beg Chu Qing for help. After emerging from seclusion stronger, Chu Qing refused to intervene and set out to seek Heaven-Connecting Resources.

• The Lineage foundations attacked the Red Copper Golden Toad, but it swallowed them as their wounds failed to hinder it.
• King Shiyu and the Heads of the Houses went to Shi Residence, knelt before Zhao Hongxiu, and pleaded for Chu Qing to save the city.
• Chu Qing completed the gold-tier Pelt Realm and sensed that linking his realms could let him advance toward the First Limit.
• Zhao Hongxiu told Chu Qing that the Red Copper Golden Toad had come to life and that the State Lord and a female official had arrived to ask for his help.
• Chu Qing refused to face the Red Copper Golden Toad and said he would go to the Martial Academy to seek Heaven-Connecting Resources.