Recaps

After Mao Shisan’s death, the Eunuch Directorate learned that Great Zhou’s Third Prince planned to propose to Imperial Consort Ying Hongzhuang and feared the Emperor would punish eunuchs to vent his anger. The palace buried the affair by executing scapegoats, while Ying Hongzhuang quietly reached out to the eunuchs, and the incident stirred faint ripples among noble lineages.

• Ying Hongzhu asked Chu Qing whether he had designs on her sister, and he silently watched her leave.
• The Eunuch Directorate read the Guard Directorate’s report, which suspected an Imperial Palace member had killed Mao Shisan and noted that the bodies were taken by people from In the Red Dust.
• Gan Shisan revealed that Mao Shisan had carried a proposal letter from Great Zhou’s Third Prince to Imperial Consort Ying Hongzhuang, and he warned that the Emperor might kill eunuchs to vent his anger.
• The chief eunuchs speculated that the Emperor or Imperial Consort Ying Hongzhuang had arranged the assassination, then fell silent over what to do next.
• The Eunuch Directorate declined to pursue Mao Shisan’s murder, and the Guard Directorate and Ministry of Justice executed more than a hundred scapegoats at Azure Dragon Vegetable Market.
• Imperial Consort Ying Hongzhuang sent fruit and pastries to the Eunuch Directorate, which accepted them, while the palace forgot Mao Shisan and noble lineages outside felt faint ripples.

The aristocratic families speculated about the swift execution of Mao Shisan and the Imperial Palace’s silence, while the Great Qian emperor ordered Ying Hongzhuang replaced as the Great Zhou prince’s proposed bride. Chu Qing waited at the Vermilion Bird Gate for Zhao Hongxiu, whose convoy arrived with the Cui Family Daughter and several aristocratic heirs, leaving everyone curious about Zhao Hongxiu’s master.

• The Great Qian emperor learned that Ying Hongzhuang would not be the Great Zhou prince’s bride and ordered that another woman be chosen instead.
• Chu Qing, having earned three thousand points, waited at the Vermilion Bird Gate for Zhao Hongxiu after sending the Gray Robes away.
• The Cui Family Daughter built ties with aristocratic heirs during the journey, and Miao Zong invited her to enter the Imperial Capital with him and stay at his family’s residence.
• Zhao Hongxiu followed Miao Zong and the Cui Family Daughter toward the Vermilion Bird Gate, explaining that her master was waiting there.
• Miao Zong and the other heirs questioned Zhao Hongxiu about her master, and she insisted that he was capable.

Zhao Hongxiu’s companions dismissed her and her master, Chu Qing, as country bumpkins, then plotted to seize her caravan at the Vermilion Bird Gate. They discovered that Chu Qing was already treated with deference by the gate guards, and learned that he had entered the caravan by handing over Black Gold Vouchers as passes.

• Zhao Hongxiu declared that her master, Chu Qing, came from Stone Rock County, prompting Miao Zong and the other scions to mock her and exclude her.
• Zhao Hongxiu led her caravan ahead, while Miao Zong and the scions planned to take its goods and use her as an excuse to gain entry through the Vermilion Bird Gate.
• At the gate, the soldiers brushed aside a servant carrying a pass and attended to Chu Qing, who ordered Jiang Wu to escort Zhao Hongxiu’s caravan to the Tenth Ring.
• The Cui Family Daughter and Miao Zong arrived and saw Chu Qing surrounded by deferential soldiers and entertainers, with Zhao Hongxiu beside him.
• The Cui Family Daughter asked how Chu Qing had arranged entry, and he showed that he had used Black Gold Vouchers as passes, leaving Miao Zong and the others bewildered.

Chu Qing reunited Zhao Hongxiu with Zhao Wuji in the Tenth Ring and planned to register for the Imperial Capital Martial Academy while establishing a property base outside the city. The chapter ended with him preparing to register the next day and take Zhao Hongxiu to find a place for their foundation.

• Zhao Hongxiu entered the Imperial Capital with the convoy, while Chu Qing parted from the Cui Family Daughter and the others after exchanging contact information.
• Jiang Wu told Miao Zong and the others that Chu Qing had joined the Anomaly Division as a Black Robe, concealing his strength and connections.
• At the Earth Tower banquet, Chu Qing ate Copper Coins and gained two thousand pounds of strength before Zhao Hongxiu reunited with Zhao Wuji.
• Zhao Wuji urged Chu Qing to secure property as a foundation, and Chu Qing agreed to acquire a Wu Fortress estate outside the Imperial Capital with farmland.
• Chu Qing told Zhao Hongxiu to stay with Mingyue while he registered for the Martial Academy the next day, then planned to take her outside the city to establish their foundation.

Chu Qing registered for the Martial Academy assessments and learned their broad categories and the competitive struggle for proof of completion. After studying past tasks, he was left facing the maid’s question about what kind of scion he was.

• Chu Qing registered at the Martial Academy and learned that assessment tasks would be issued in seven days, had to be completed before New Year’s Eve, and could be seized from their holders.
• Chu Qing gave the maid Black Gold Vouchers, and she arranged to meet him at noon with records of past assessments.
• Chu Qing watched more than ten thousand Heaven-Connecting Martial Artists arrive and wondered whether the Millennial Tribulation stemmed from disasters, abnormalities, or conflict among powerful martial artists.
• The maid gave Chu Qing her detailed records, which showed that most past assessments involved clearing Rebel Armies and that only one proof of completion might be available for a task.
• The maid explained that main-city scions had better odds than state-city scions, then asked Chu Qing what kind of scion he was.

Chu Qing learned about the Imperial Capital Martial Academy’s assessments and sought Heavenly Prides willing to trade with him immediately. After he left the Anomaly Division, a white-robed man asked the gold-robed men how Chu Qing cleared anomalies.

• Chu Qing challenged the maid’s doubts about his qualifications, then asked her to explain the Martial Academy and its students.
• The maid explained that older students were busy with monthly assessments, and warned Chu Qing that his fellow applicants—not the assessment itself—were his greatest enemies.
• Chu Qing gave the maid one thousand black gold, and she left happily to move her family to the Fifth Ring and seek a husband.
• At the Anomaly Division, two gold-robed men told Chu Qing that a prospective trading partner wanted to wait until after the first assessment; Chu Qing ordered them to find people ready to trade now.
• After Chu Qing left, a white-robed man learned that he had cleared more anomalies than the gold-robed men and asked what method he used.

Chu Qing and Ying Hongzhu uncovered an In the Red Dust plot to expose Chu Qing’s anomaly-cleansing method and turn the Anomaly Division against him. After the plot failed, the Human World’s leaders decided to have In the Red Dust kill Chu Qing and take his skin.

• A white-robed man tried to reveal Chu Qing’s secret to the Anomaly Division, but Ying Hongzhu killed him before he could finish.
• Chu Qing examined the corpse and found seven layers of human skin, identifying the man as an In the Red Dust agent who had borrowed strength and abilities from the skin’s former owner.
• Chu Qing concluded that In the Red Dust was probing him and ordered Ying Hongzhu to silence anyone in the Anomaly Division who sought his secret.
• The Human World’s leaders learned that Ying Hongzhu had killed their agents and agreed to have In the Red Dust attack Chu Qing and take his skin.

Chu Qing established a protected estate for Zhao Wuji, then returned to clearing anomalies as the Martial Academy assessment approached. Two days before the assessment, six aristocratic families came to meet him, and he crushed Gongyang Ziwo’s arrogance after the man offered him a place in the Gongyang Family in exchange for helping Gongyang Weiwo claim a slot.

• Chu Qing helped Zhao Wuji establish an estate, warding it against anomalies with coins and warning him to put people’s lives first.
• As the Imperial Capital filled with Heaven-Piercing Heavenly Prides, Chu Qing went to the Anomaly Division to lead the Gray Robes out to clear anomalies.
• Representatives from six families arrived in carriages to meet Chu Qing, and he invited the Gongyang Family’s representative upstairs first while making the others wait.
• Gongyang Ziwo offered Chu Qing family membership and other rewards if he helped Gongyang Weiwo claim a Martial Academy slot.
• When Gongyang Ziwo insulted Chu Qing and demanded that he go meet his brother, Chu Qing knocked him to the floor and questioned his lack of respect.

Nangong Liushui visited Chu Qing and delivered Nangong’s letter, which offered support for his admission to the Imperial Capital Martial Academy and revealed the value of its Outsider quota. Chu Qing resolved to secure the quota, but the warning that killing the person who initiated the Millennial Calamity brought great benefits left him fearing that powerful factions might target him.

• After the other families’ carriages left, Nangong Liushui ordered a black-robed man to take him to Chu Qing.
• Nangong Liushui used his Law of Command on Chu Qing, but Chu Qing resisted and wounded him with a finger strike.
• Facing Chu Qing’s killing intent, Nangong Liushui identified himself and handed over Nangong’s letter.
• Chu Qing read that Nangong had arranged support for his academy admission and learned that the Imperial Capital Martial Academy had a valuable Outsider quota and superior limit-breaking methods.
• The letter reported that killing the person who initiated the Millennial Calamity would bring immense benefits, and Chu Qing worried that other factions might discover he was that person.

Chu Qing received Nangong Liushui’s offer of support, while the Princess Consort returned to the Imperial Capital after outsiders began hunting survivors of Stone Ridge Mountain. She gave Chu Qing the Outsider Bone, and he urged her to hide with him rather than flee.

• Chu Qing pressed Nangong Liushui about the Nangong Lineage’s support, and Nangong Liushui offered three Heaven-Reaching Martial Artists and over three hundred Third Limit experts.
• The Princess Consort and Hongyi fled after learning that outsiders who had visited Stone Ridge Mountain were being hunted and that hundreds had died.
• After being ambushed, the Princess Consort and Hongyi scattered; the Princess Consort later escaped back to the Imperial Capital.
• The Princess Consort visited Chu Qing, gave him the Outsider Bone, and explained that she was being hunted by outsiders.
• Chu Qing told the Princess Consort that Nangong had identified him as the person who initiated the Millennial Calamity, and she joked about killing him to test the benefits.
• The Princess Consort planned to flee the Imperial Capital, but Chu Qing offered to hide her and asked whether she would reveal information about him if captured.

The Princess Consort stayed with Chu Qing and explained the bright pearls’ uses, including their potential to open Heaven-Connecting Paths and the dangers of opening a third. As they left the Anomaly Division to retrieve more pearls, she sensed a hostile Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist watching them and warned Chu Qing that she could not intervene.

• The Princess Consort decided to stay with Chu Qing because she feared other Outsiders might expose her memories and Chu Qing’s secrets.
• She explained that certain bright pearls could refine Peach Blossom Wind, while the Stone Ridge Mountain pearls could help martial artists open a Heaven-Connecting Path.
• The Princess Consort warned Chu Qing that opening a third Heaven-Connecting Path would make becoming an Outsider harder and future advancement far more resource-intensive.
• She offered to prepare Chu Qing’s bright pearls using a secret method, and he agreed to take her outside the city to retrieve them.
• As Chu Qing and the Princess Consort left the Anomaly Division, she sensed a hostile Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist watching them and warned that the attacker might try to kill Chu Qing.

Chu Qing and the Princess Consort headed for Peach Blossom Dock, unaware that Zuo Yan and Heavenly Staff were waiting there to kill him. Zuo Yan dismissed warnings about Chu Qing and prepared to fight him.

• Human World and In the Red Dust’s leaders discussed Zuo Yan’s mission to kill Chu Qing and bring back his intact corpse.
• The Princess Consort sensed the killing intent moving toward Peach Blossom Dock, so Chu Qing carried her there at speed.
• Zhao Wuji continued building Peach Blossom Dock into a fortress and was astonished when peach trees blossomed despite the winter weather.
• Zuo Yan and Heavenly Staff arrived at Peach Blossom Dock, where Zuo Yan insisted Chu Qing was no match for her.

Heavenly Staff discovered 108 ancient gold coins bearing the same carving as his divination Copper Coin and realized they might be Heavenly Mandate Coins, suggesting Chu Qing had an extraordinary background. He found Zuo Yan fighting Chu Qing and watched her unleash ten blades and secret inheritances against him, while Chu Qing prepared to test her strength.

• Heavenly Staff found a gold coin bearing the same golden toad carving as his Copper Coin and identified it as a Heavenly Mandate Coin.
• Heavenly Staff searched Peach Blossom Dock and discovered 108 ancient gold coins deliberately scattered across rooftops, leading him to suspect Chu Qing had a formidable background.
• Heavenly Staff found Zuo Yan blocking Chu Qing and another black-robed figure, and realized he was too late to warn her.
• Zuo Yan introduced herself as Chu Qing's killer and attacked him with twin blades and eight blades drawn from her back.
• Chu Qing met Zuo Yan's blades with his bare hands, then tore open his robe and challenged her to show the depth of her foundation.

Chu Qing and Zuo Yan fought through hundreds of secret saber arts before Chu Qing unleashed a devastating sonic attack that shattered her sabers and wounded her. Zuo Yan recovered through her mysterious bloodline and physique, then resumed the battle with Chu Qing in a prolonged, brutal clash.

• Zuo Yan cycled through hundreds of secret saber arts, while Chu Qing matched each one until his techniques began to repeat.
• Zuo Yan launched a combined saber strike at Chu Qing’s mouth, but he swallowed the attack’s Saber Light and shattered her weapons with sonic ripples.
• Zuo Yan survived the torrent of saber fragments and emerged from the blood mist naked and badly wounded, then rapidly healed as the Heavenly Staff watched.
• Chu Qing attacked with Eight Divine Hands, Thousand Arms, Earth Fiend, and Peacock, but Zuo Yan met his strike with her glowing forehead.
• Chu Qing and Zuo Yan fought for ten minutes, repeatedly wounding each other as Peacock-shaped attacks crashed into Zuo Yan.

Chu Qing defeated Zuo Yan after a brutal fight and demanded that she submit to him and help him enter the Imperial Capital Martial Academy. Zuo Yan rejected him at first, but reconsidered once he offered to spare her and she asked him to stop pressing her down and find her a coat.

• Zuo Yan fought Chu Qing with her bloodline and physique, but his attacks overwhelmed her and shattered her blade and clothes.
• Chu Qing perfected Eight Divine Hands: Thousand Arms during the battle, then wounded Zuo Yan so severely that she fled rather than return to the Imperial Capital.
• Zuo Yan's wounds would not heal, so she stopped in a mountain forest and fought Chu Qing again.
• Chu Qing defeated Zuo Yan, forced her to her knees, and asked her to submit and help him enter the Imperial Capital Martial Academy.
• Zuo Yan initially refused, then asked Chu Qing to stop pressing her head down and find her a coat.

Heavenly Staff found Zuo Yan at Peach Blossom Dock, where she chose to fake her death and cooperate with Chu Qing. As factions discussed hunting Chu Qing for his Eight Divine Hands techniques, he stormed the Earth Tower, leaving a trail of dead guards as its rooftop occupants wondered whether to flee.

• Heavenly Staff found Zuo Yan at Peach Blossom Dock and urged her to come with him, but she refused and said she would pretend to be dead and work with Chu Qing.
• Zuo Yan told Heavenly Staff that Chu Qing had promised her resources for a second Heaven-Connecting Path, and that he was more trustworthy than the Zuo Family and In the Red Dust.
• Heavenly Staff told the Human World and In the Red Dust that Chu Qing had killed Zuo Yan, then described his Peacock technique and revealed that he possessed two moves from Eight Divine Hands.
• Heavenly Staff tried to divine Chu Qing's fate at a tavern but could not get an answer.
• Chu Qing climbed the Earth Tower, killing the Human World and In the Red Dust guards who tried to stop him.
• Experts on the rooftop sensed trouble below and asked the arguing leaders whether they should retreat.

Chu Qing confronted leaders of Human World and In the Red Dust, who tried to recruit and threaten him, but he rejected them and killed them. He then demanded that their four Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist enforcers explain the dead leaders’ identities.

• The leaders of Human World and In the Red Dust summoned Chu Qing and offered to subdue him with rewards, status, and threats.
• The old woman in red revealed that the four Heaven-Connecting Martial Artists served the organizations because they controlled their families and careers.
• The old woman threatened Zhao Hongxiu and warned that she would make Chu Qing an empire-wide wanted criminal.
• Chu Qing slapped the old woman to death, then blasted apart the heads of the other leaders.
• Chu Qing sat in a grandmaster chair and asked the four Heaven-Connecting Martial Artists what identities the dead leaders had, telling them to thank him.

Chu Qing learned that the Unique Association had created pseudo-Heaven-Reaching Martial Artists, then strengthened himself by swallowing the Outsider Bone. Meanwhile, Heavenly Staff discovered records about Golden Toad Money and suspected it explained Chu Qing’s success as the Unique Association became the subject of a secret meeting.

• Li Hao and the other three protectors refused to fight Chu Qing, revealed that they had become pseudo-Heaven-Reaching Martial Artists using prodigies’ human skins, and told him secrets about the Unique Association.
• Chu Qing returned to the Anomaly Division and swallowed the Outsider Bone, which transformed his bones and blood and greatly increased his strength.
• Chu Qing decided he would take the Martial Academy assessment token, expecting Zuo Yan to help him.
• Heavenly Staff found an ancient record describing Copper Coin, Silver Coin, and Golden Toad Money, then suspected Chu Qing used Golden Toad Money to clear anomalies.
• After learning that the masters wanted to discuss the Unique Association, Heavenly Staff ate the description he had torn from the book.

The Unique Association investigated the deaths of its members and learned that the killer was likely a Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist. As its leaders ordered revenge, the Golden Robe Youth entered their headquarters and revealed himself as the murderer.

• The Unique Association sent tracking experts to investigate the massacre, but they returned with evidence that the four semi-finished Heaven-Reaching experts had fled the killer.
• Three Eyes reported that Zuo Yan had been killed after the Unique Association sent him and Heavenly Staff to attack someone, while Heavenly Staff survived.
• The Grand Members concluded that a genuine Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist had frightened the four experts into leaving and ordered the destruction of their lineages.
• The Grand Members ordered an investigation of the Tian Family and demanded an explanation from the killer.
• The Golden Robe Youth entered the hall, barred the doors, and told the Grand Members that he was the murderer.

Chu Qing destroyed the Unique Association headquarters and returned to Peach Blossom Dock, while its leaders and allied aristocratic houses learned who had done it. After reading about his past mass killings, they began to fear retaliating against him.

• Chu Qing looted the Unique Association headquarters, told a snack-stall owner its members had moved to the Netherworld, and left for Peach Blossom Dock.
• Heavenly Staff and several Tian family elders arrived to answer the Unique Association’s summons and discovered blood beneath its locked gates.
• Human World and In the Red Dust organized a search for the killer, and a Tian family elder identified Chu Qing as the one who had destroyed the headquarters.
• The Unique Association gathered information about Chu Qing and learned that he had personally slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people.
• The gathered leaders questioned whether they should retaliate against Chu Qing and worried about how he could sleep without nightmares.

After returning to Peach Blossom Dock, Chu Qing received a strange pearl and a bundle of valuables from the Princess Consort. The bundle contained a Golden Silk White Jade Book with an exceptionally powerful method for breaking through the First Limit, which Chu Qing eagerly began to inspect.

• Chu Qing returned to Peach Blossom Dock, where Zhao Hongxiu and Mingyue had moved in and welcomed him.
• The Princess Consort gave Chu Qing a fragrant strange pearl and examined the items he had collected.
• Chu Qing swallowed the pearl and used its power to slay ten great dragons in the second Heaven-Connecting Path.
• The Princess Consort found martial transmissions, medicines, black gold notes, and a book made from Golden Silk White Jade in the bundle.
• The Princess Consort explained that the book contained three Strange Arts, methods to refine two strange treasures, and an exceptionally powerful method for breaking from the Four Great Realms into the First Limit.
• Chu Qing eagerly leaned closer to study the limit-breaking method, and the Princess Consort pushed him away for pressing against her chest.

Chu Qing learned that the Three Nines Killing Tribulation combined martial arts with Strange Arts rituals and read a Mythological Era account of a war among gods and ghosts. He prepared to try the first ritual, sought more strange pearls from Tang Wuming, and advanced his second Heaven-Connecting Path.

• The Princess Consort explained that the Three Nines Killing Tribulation fused Strange Arts rituals with martial arts, and Chu Qing planned to use its first ritual against Zuo Yan.
• Chu Qing read the book owner's account of Shiji, the North Sea, a sealed master, and wars between gods and ghosts that recurred every three thousand years.
• The Princess Consort decided to study the book's Strange Arts and asked Chu Qing for more specially refined strange pearls, warning that Chu Qing could die if he tried to cultivate Strange Arts himself.
• Chu Qing wrote Tang Wuming asking for increased stone production and the strange pearls excavated so far, offering four top-tier secret transmissions as payment.
• Chu Qing had Mingyue and several maids prepare thirty-six Apricot Yellow Banners, then swallowed two specially refined pearls and killed twenty-one great dragons while opening his second Heaven-Connecting Path.
• The Princess Consort said she could refine at most four strange pearls a day and that others could not help without being Otherfolk.

Chu Qing went to the Imperial Capital Martial Academy to learn about the assessment, but found that its tasks were already being claimed. He chose Gu San, a powerful Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist, as the target for his ritual and prepared to challenge him as Gu San left the academy.

• Chu Qing defeated Zuo Yan again, noticing that his strength and golden bones had improved, but remained disappointed that he had not completed his ritual.
• Chu Qing arrived at the Martial Academy and learned from a servant that the assessment details were already available and people were securing tasks for their masters.
• Gu San of the Imperial Capital's Gu Family arrived, and Chu Qing learned that he had killed a Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist from the Rebel Army.
• Chu Qing set up the thirty-six Apricot Yellow Banners on a nearby rooftop and intimidated the Third Limit men who tried to make him leave.
• Gu San left the Martial Academy and looked toward Chu Qing, who raised an Apricot Yellow Banner and threw it.

Chu Qing defeated Gu San outside the Martial Academy, leaving Gu San injured and shaken. The Unique Association identified Chu Qing as the attacker and resolved to stop him from completing the remaining rituals.

• Gu San secured an advantageous Martial Academy assessment mission and spotted Chu Qing approaching through the snow.
• Chu Qing and Gu San fought, and Chu Qing overwhelmed him with a barrage of Peacock strikes.
• Chu Qing spared Gu San, criticized his abilities, and left while Gu San shouted that his brother would avenge him.
• News of Gu San's defeat spread among the Heaven-Connecting Martial Artists, who wondered who Chu Qing was.
• The Unique Association learned Chu Qing had defeated Gu San and ordered its members to contain and kill him before he completed the remaining rituals.

Chu Qing learned that all five hundred Martial Academy examination tasks had been claimed by powerful teams, then strengthened himself by mastering martial arts from the first ritual. He went to Hong Hao Tower to trade Recommendation Letters, but his appointment failed to appear, leaving Chu Qing eager to fight whoever came.

• Chu Qing learned from a maid that the Martial Academy's five hundred examination tasks had been locked down and that candidates needed to join the teams holding them.
• Chu Qing examined the first ritual's power, mastered several secret arts including the Ancient God Method, and began incubating an Ancient God Physique.
• A golden-robed man told Chu Qing that someone wanted to trade Recommendation Letters at Hong Hao Tower, and warned him that aristocratic heirs might make trouble.
• Chu Qing swallowed a strange pearl, killed ten great dragons in the second Heaven-Connecting Path, and then headed to Hong Hao Tower for the meeting.
• Chu Qing waited for an hour in Qing Xue Pavilion, killed an eleventh great dragon while waiting, and planned to use the encounter to complete his second ritual.