Recaps

The great clans agreed to compensate Chu Qing after Feng Nü warned them, while Chu Qing discovered and began cultivating the powerful Savage Charge technique. Young Lady Ma delivered the clans’ first payment, leaving Chu Qing satisfied and the clans’ future amends underway.

• Feng Nü warned the great clan heads that Chu Qing would kill them if they refused to provide resources, and they returned home to prepare compensation.
• Chu Qing inspected his spoils, learned Wild Bull Charge, and used it to construct the Savage Heavy Armor profession and unlock his second Profession Slot.
• Chu Qing chose to postpone activating the new profession and began cultivating Savage Charge by eating raw beef.
• Chu Qing continued training with the Toad Skill and Blackwater Bone Refining Method while considering the threat posed by Zheng Zhixiang and the Rebel Army.
• Young Lady Ma visited Chu Qing with ten portions of bone-refining secret medicine as the great clans’ compensation, and Chu Qing accepted them.

Chu Qing ordered powerful families to supply resources to him and his companions, while Young Lady Ma warned the families that resisting him would bring disaster. Later, Madam Shi explained two difficult cultivation methods to Chu Qing and prepared him for the prefectural city Martial Academies’ exchange, where he vowed to win resources.

• Cui Moyang and the others asked Chu Qing which powerful families they would wipe out, and Chu Qing told them to demand more secret medicine instead.
• Chu Qing ordered Cui Moyang and the others to pressure the masters of Wu Fortress for abundant secret medicine and threaten those who refused.
• Young Lady Ma told the powerful family heads that Chu Qing’s companions acted as his underlings, and the families agreed to prepare resources for him.
• Chu Qing visited the Shi residence, where Madam Shi explained two cultivation methods for producing dragon tendons while Madam Jin recorded her instructions.
• Madam Shi told Chu Qing that the prefectural city Martial Academies’ exchange would begin in three days, and Chu Qing vowed to defeat his opponents for the resources.

At the Prefecture City Martial Academy, Inner Court students dismissed reports about Chu Qing and Ximen Peak vowed to cripple him if they met. Chu Qing prepared to attend the Exchange Competition despite his friends’ worries, then urged Nangong and Cui Moyang to keep the bone-forging resources and grow stronger.

• The Inner Court students reviewed challengers for the upcoming Exchange Competition and questioned the reports that Chu Qing had reached Golden Sinew Perfection and killed thousands.
• Ximen Peak dismissed Chu Qing’s record as impossible and vowed to cripple him during the competition.
• Cui Moyang and the others urged Chu Qing not to attend the Prefecture City competition, fearing the Inner Court prodigies might injure him.
• Chu Qing reassured his friends that he could retreat safely and sent them away so he could cultivate.
• Nangong and Cui Moyang brought Chu Qing bone-forging resources, but he told them to use the resources themselves and become stronger.

With one day remaining before the Exchange Competition, Chu Qing broke Savage Charge’s limits and learned that Tendon Training skills could improve his Gold Sinew. He then used his Profession Slot to break the limits of 365 finger-based skills, greatly accelerating his Gold Bone refinement.

• Chu Qing trained Savage Charge through its promotion conditions and broke its limits, causing his Gold Sinew to tremble faintly.
• Chu Qing asked the dean why Savage Charge had been so easy to advance, and the dean explained that Bone Refining made Tendon Training skills easier to cultivate.
• Chu Qing registered Fingertip Skill, broke its limits, and found that his Gold Bone refinement progressed slightly faster.
• Chu Qing discovered he could advance hundreds of finger-based skills with the same finger flicks, so he registered every such skill in the Library Pavilion.
• Chu Qing broke the limits of all 365 finger-based skills and found that his Blackwater Bone Refining Method progressed much faster.

Chu Qing and Madam Shi headed for the Prefecture City as Ximen Peak prepared to crush Chu Qing in the Exchange Competition and Zheng Xilong set out to test his Toad Skill. On the road, Chu Qing’s Lightness Skill improved until he caught up with Madam Shi and carried her over his shoulder.

• Chu Qing bid farewell to Madam Jin and left for the Prefecture City with Madam Shi while Cui Moyang and the others wished him luck and named people they wanted him to confront.
• Nangong, Cui Moyang, and Mingyue repeatedly forced Chief Constable Shi to kneel and mocked him over Madam Shi traveling with Chu Qing.
• At the Prefecture City Martial Academy, Ximen Peak boasted that he would cripple Chu Qing in the Exchange Competition, while two other students discussed the coming State City challenge.
• An old man told Zheng Xilong that Chu Qing had obtained his secret Toad inheritance and asked him to test Chu Qing’s skill; Zheng Xilong warned he might kill him by accident.
• As Chu Qing and Madam Shi ran toward the Prefecture City, Chu Qing’s Lightness Skill kept improving until he caught up and lifted her onto his shoulder.

Chu Qing carried Madam Shi through the provincial capital toward the Martial Academy, where he encountered a bald youth and the old man whose Secret Transmission Toad Skill he had taken. Madam Shi revealed herself as Miss Yu Ji and drove the two away, then continued with Chu Qing to the Academy.

• Chu Qing carried the struggling Madam Shi through the provincial capital and bought her candied hawthorns and other snacks as she guided him toward the Martial Academy.
• At a crossroads, Chu Qing sensed killing intent from a bald youth, and the two exchanged a rapid clash that left Chu Qing's circlet broken and the youth's eyes swollen.
• An old man confronted Chu Qing over the Secret Transmission Toad Skill and demanded that he serve for a year or die, while Zheng Xilong urged the old man to kill him.
• Madam Shi stepped between Chu Qing and the old man, who recognized her as Miss Yu Ji and retreated with Zheng Xilong after she ordered him to leave.
• Madam Shi continued toward the Martial Academy with Chu Qing and warned him that the old man, nearing the Second Limit, would have been difficult to escape.

Chu Qing arrived at the prefectural city Martial Academy for the Exchange Competition, where Madam Shi warned him about Ximen Peak and he learned the competition’s rewards. The first match ended with a Liuan County trainee losing, leaving Chu Qing and Zheng Xilong dismissing both fighters as weak.

• Chu Qing trained through the night, breaking the limits of more than three hundred low-level fist techniques and doubling the efficiency of his Blackwater Bone Refining Method.
• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing that Ximen Peak, who possessed the Unrivaled Fist and Foot talent, might target him, but Chu Qing dismissed him as a minor genius.
• Chu Qing and Madam Shi completed the entry procedures at the prefectural city Martial Academy, and Chu Qing joined the participants on the viewing platform.
• Zheng Xilong reminded Chu Qing about the punches he had received and threatened to kill him after the competition, while Chu Qing silently planned to kill him first.
• A Martial Master announced that ten consecutive victories would earn a county student entry to the academy and that each win brought generous rewards.
• A prefectural city woman defeated a Liuan County trainee and kicked him out of the arena, prompting Zheng Xilong and Chu Qing to call both fighters trash.

Chu Qing entered the arena and brutally defeated Ximen Peak after Zheng Xilong had won his match and threatened him. Ximen Peak was left kneeling with shattered knees, his white robes soaked in blood.

• Ren Qingying lost to her opponent and left the arena after spitting blood.
• Zheng Xilong defeated a Prefectural City student with one blow, then threatened to kill Chu Qing outside the city.
• Ximen Peak challenged Chu Qing and offered to spare him if he knelt and kowtowed.
• Chu Qing charged Ximen Peak, broke both his arms, and repeatedly slammed him into the arena.
• Chu Qing shattered Ximen Peak's knees and forced him to kneel, leaving him covered in blood.

Chu Qing won the exchange tournament by crippling Ximen Peak, then demanded the rewards promised by the Martial Academy’s rules. He also secured Zheng Xilong’s rewards, leaving Zheng convinced Chu Qing intended to take them from him later.

• Chu Qing defeated Ximen Peak, shattered his arms and knees, and left him unable to sense the outside world.
• Zheng Xilong admitted Chu Qing had more nerve than he did, while plotting with the old man to kill him outside the city.
• The Vice Principal ended the tournament without initially distributing rewards, but Chu Qing invoked the Martial Academy’s rules and received his prize.
• Chu Qing insisted Zheng Xilong receive his rewards too, and the Vice Principal ordered them handed over, believing Chu Qing planned to seize them afterward.
• Zheng Xilong accepted the resources and made a throat-slitting gesture at Chu Qing, who only smiled.

After the Exchange Competition, Chu Qing pursued Zheng Xilong to settle their grudge, and they began a brutal fight outside the city. Zheng Xilong took a False Bone Secret Medicine from the Ximen family, but Chu Qing’s superior skill and resolve drove him to unleash his full potential.

• Chu Qing told Madam Shi he wanted to kill Zheng Xilong, and she revealed that Zheng Xilong had also reached Gold Sinew Perfection.
• The Ximen family refused to openly avenge Ximen Peak’s defeat but gave Zheng Xilong a False Bone Secret Medicine to help him kill Chu Qing.
• Zheng Xilong swallowed the medicine, gained a hundred temporary Silver Bones, and led Chu Qing out of the city to fight.
• Chu Qing and Zheng Xilong exchanged hundreds of full-strength blows, leaving both bloodied and exposing their bones.
• Chu Qing taunted Zheng Xilong’s inferior courage and pressed his attack, causing Zheng Xilong to erupt with all his potential and shout, “Kill!”

Chu Qing defeated Zheng Xilong in a brutal fight, while Madam Shi let Zheng Xilong’s rescuer escape as a future whetstone for Chu Qing. The Ximen Lineage publicly offered reconciliation but secretly planned against him, as other aristocratic lineages also sent warnings and favors through their descendants.

• Chu Qing fought through severe injuries, adapted to Zheng Xilong’s attacks, and used his Black Gold Bone to gain the upper hand before both men were thrown back.
• An old man carried the wounded Zheng Xilong away, and Chu Qing, too exhausted to pursue, collected Zheng Xilong’s resources while Madam Shi treated his wounds.
• Madam Shi explained Zheng Xilong’s strength came from perfected Golden Sinews, secret medicine, and a method that unleashed his potential; she said she kept the old man as a whetstone for Chu Qing.
• The Martial Academy’s Vice Principal praised Chu Qing’s courage, while the Ximen Lineage Head ordered a descendant in Stone Rock County to befriend him before striking later.
• The Ximen Lineage publicly announced it would not retaliate and would welcome Chu Qing, prompting other aristocratic lineages to recognize the maneuver and send warnings or favors through their descendants.

Chu Qing returned to the Shi residence, recovered from his wounds while refining his bones, and learned that his golden tendons accelerated his healing. Outside the residence, Chief Constable Shi was turned away as Madam Shi sang opera with Chu Qing, leaving him devastated.

• Madam Shi carried the injured Chu Qing to the Shi residence, where Madam Jin stitched his tendons and wounds.
• Chu Qing restored his strength, healed his golden tendons, and used top-grade bone-refining secret medicine to cultivate as his bones recovered.
• Cui Moyang and the others received letters praising Chu Qing, while Ximen revealed his Lineage wanted him to befriend Chu Qing and he planned to use the opportunity against its main branch.
• Chief Constable Shi tried to enter the rear courtyard, but Wind Flower Snow Moon slapped him and refused to let him see Madam Shi.
• Madam Shi dismissed Chief Constable Shi as a dog and sang opera with Chu Qing, and he dropped to his knees in anguish.

After recovering at the Shi residence, Chu Qing considered joining the State City Martial Academy Exchange Competition, but the dean warned him that entering the state city now would invite trouble. Chu Qing agreed to pursue a safer route through the prefectural city, though he was puzzled by the dean’s advice to keep a low profile while winning ten consecutive victories.

• Chu Qing healed, forged several golden bones, and impressed Madam Shi with his cultivation speed.
• Madam Shi proposed taking Chu Qing to the state city Exchange Competition, and Chu Qing said he could obtain a Recommendation Letter from the dean.
• Chu Qing visited the dean, who refused to recommend him for the competition because powerful state city factions would make his life difficult and disrupt his cultivation.
• The dean advised Chu Qing to win ten consecutive victories in the prefectural city and then enter the State City Martial Academy as a transfer student.
• The dean told Chu Qing to keep a low profile while pursuing ten consecutive victories, leaving Chu Qing wondering how he could do so.

Chu Qing learned that the Millennial Tribulation would be deadly and focused on raising his strength and securing resources. After improving hundreds of low-level martial arts and gaining a higher dormitory placement, he prepared to refine more golden bones and allocated his new follower resources to Zhao Hongxiu and Lan Lan.

• The principal warned Chu Qing that Yu Ji could not protect him from the Millennial Tribulation and urged him to raise his realm quickly.
• Chu Qing registered hundreds of low-level palm, leg, and horizontal-training martial arts, then asked Madam Shi for black gold to improve his Blackwater Bone Refining Method.
• Madam Shi gave Chu Qing four thousand taels of black gold and offered to investigate students in the provincial capital so he could seek more without killing anyone.
• Chu Qing broke the limits of hundreds of low-level martial arts and found that he could refine a golden bone in about twenty hours without secret medicine.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and learned that the Vice Principal had moved him to the fifth floor, where he received extra supplies and follower slots.
• Chu Qing assigned his new follower resources to Zhao Hongxiu and Lan Lan, who thanked him.

Chu Qing refined twenty golden bones during fifteen days of seclusion, then left the Martial Academy after receiving a letter from Madam Shi about a State City student carrying Black Gold. He reached the State City and identified the departing student as a young woman in Brocade Clothes.

• Zheng Xilong nursed his injuries and began refining bones while his old man predicted Chu Qing might be killed by the Ximen family.
• Chu Qing secluded himself in a Martial Academy stone chamber, healing his wounds and refining two golden bones a day.
• After fifteen days, Chu Qing left seclusion with twenty new golden bones and received a letter from Madam Shi about an Inner Court student with Black Gold.
• Chu Qing disguised himself, traveled toward the State City, and avoided drawing attention as he crossed villages and towns.
• At dawn, Chu Qing waited near the State City gate and spotted the young woman leaving for home, recognizing her as Madam Shi's target.

Chu Qing disguised himself and defeated a girl from the State City Martial Academy, taking her Black Gold Vouchers. He exchanged the vouchers for physical Black Gold in the Prosperous Land, absorbed four thousand taels, and headed toward the outskirts while the bandits following him became targets for his bone-setting training.

• A girl rode toward the prefectural city to visit Ren Qingying, but Chu Qing stopped her and challenged her to a fight for Black Gold.
• The girl fought Chu Qing with her sword and then her fists, but he overpowered her and took her pouch containing nine hundred taels' worth of Black Gold Vouchers.
• Chu Qing went to the Prosperous Land and exchanged vouchers at several banks for physical Black Gold, receiving four thousand taels in total.
• After Chu Qing absorbed the Black Gold, he noticed bandits and lookouts following him and decided to use them to farm bone-setting attempts.

Chu Qing completed the third Promotion Condition of the Blackwater Bone Refining Method by repeatedly setting the bones of bandits and blade masters who attacked him in the darkness. As he headed back to Stone Rock County, Second Miss Wang warned the Cloth-Clad Blade Master that the city was becoming too chaotic to guarantee anyone’s safety, while a young girl at the State City Martial Academy trained to understand Chu Qing’s fighting style.

• Chu Qing lured bandits and blade masters into the darkness and crippled them with his killing moves, then tortured them with repeated bone-setting rather than killing them outright.
• After several hours, Chu Qing completed the third Promotion Condition of the Blackwater Bone Refining Method and realized he needed only two thousand taels more in Black Gold.
• Chu Qing left for Stone Rock County before dawn, while the surviving attackers lay near death and the people of the Prosperous Land learned that Black Gold vouchers had drawn them to him.
• The Cloth-Clad Blade Master told Second Miss Wang that Chu Qing had come for Black Gold, and she ordered him not to interfere and to obey anyone who came asking him to work for them.
• At the State City Martial Academy, a young girl sparred with a Martial Master to reproduce her deadly fight with Chu Qing, and the Martial Master said her opponent was no simple man.

Martial Master analyzed Chu Qing’s formidable techniques for the young woman he had defeated, while Chu Qing returned to Stone Rock County and resumed his plans. After learning the search for the Mysterious Great Tendon had failed, Chu Qing told Tang Wuming to obtain rabbit tendons and keep supplying him with medicine.

• Martial Master told the young woman that Chu Qing had mastered dozens of limit-breaking techniques, perfected his golden tendons, and cultivated around thirty golden bones.
• Chu Qing returned to Stone Rock County, changed into fine clothes, and warned the Wu Fortress disciples that their safety depended on an uninterrupted resource supply.
• Chu Qing read Tang Wuming’s letter describing the deaths of tens of thousands around the Eight Hundred Li Water Plain and the unsuccessful search for the Mysterious Great Tendon.
• Chu Qing replied that Tang Wuming should raise rabbits on the islands and send him their great tendons, as well as monthly deliveries of Marching Pills and Hemostasis Powder.
• Zhao Hongxiu delivered Chu Qing’s messages, then trained through the night and reflected on how his talent and diligence surpassed hers.

Zheng Zhisheng targeted Stone Rock County’s quarry and supply lines to undermine Chu Qing, but Chu Qing ordered Cui Moyang and the others to strike the Rebel Army instead. After they massacred Black Stone County, Zheng Zhixiang learned that Chu Qing had directed the attack and ordered every Rebel Army member there wiped out.

• Zheng Zhisheng ordered attacks on Stone Rock County’s quarry and told his people to monitor Madam Shi and Chu Qing.
• Cui Moyang and the others told Chu Qing that expert raiders had killed quarry workers, burned tools, and disrupted pearl production.
• Chu Qing advised them to attack Rebel Army County Towns, so Cui Moyang and the others raided Black Stone County and killed its soldiers and experts.
• Nangong led the group in burning Black Stone County’s granaries and armory after the massacre.
• Cui Moyang and the others returned to Stone Rock County, where they reorganized the quarry workers into smaller guarded groups.
• Zheng Zhixiang learned that Chu Qing had ordered the attack and commanded his forces to eliminate every Rebel Army member in Black Stone County.

After the Rebel Army prepared to attack Stone Rock County, Chu Qing revealed his preparations to move people and supplies into a defensible base in Stone Ridge Mountain. He assigned his allies tasks to secure the quarry workers, blacksmiths, food, and defenses before the assault.

• Zheng Zhixiang rejected a proposal to abandon the County Towns and ordered the Rebel Army to surround and destroy Stone Rock County in three days.
• Chief Constable Shi prepared to flee with Fatty Jin while Madam Shi and Madam Jin planned to take the main road to the prefectural city.
• Chu Qing reassured the worried Martial Academy members and told them he had established a base in Stone Ridge Mountain for their relatives and friends.
• Chu Qing showed his allies a quarry map and explained that the passage could be sealed while the stored food, springs, and tools sustained the people inside.
• Chu Qing sent the oval-faced maid to contact Pharmacist Li and ordered Zhao Hongxiu to invite martial arts halls to gather at the Martial Academy.
• Chu Qing assigned Cui Moyang and Nangong to seal the mountain passage and move the blacksmiths' families into Stone Ridge Mountain.

As Zheng Zhixiang’s rebel army approached Stone Rock County, Chu Qing moved craftsmen and brothel workers to the quarry while Lord Lan persuaded local clans to send supplies there. The Principal left the Martial Academy for the quarry after speaking with Chu Qing, and wondered whether Chu Qing intended to empty the county.

• Gang leaders drove craftsmen and women from the brothels to the quarry, while Lord Lan told local leaders that Chu Qing had raided Black Stone County and urged them to send grain, weapons, armor, and skilled slaves.
• The next morning, Wu Fortress lords and powerful clans delivered supplies to the quarry, where Zhao Hongxiu’s people recorded each contribution for later accounting.
• At the Martial Academy, the Vice Principal prepared the shelter and arranged supplies as the Principal planned to flee with Chu Qing into Stone Ridge Mountain.
• Chu Qing told the Principal he was focused on cultivating for the Exchange Competition and invited him to help defend the quarry against Zheng Zhixiang.
• The Principal headed for the quarry and saw many families moving there, leading him to wonder whether Chu Qing meant to empty Stone Rock County.

Chu Qing prepared Stone Rock County for an approaching Rebel Army by moving its people and supplies to the quarry, while Zheng Zhixiang mistook the county’s silence for weakness and ordered his elites to attack. Chu Qing then escorted Madam Jin and Madam Shi into the mountains for safety.

• Chu Qing ordered people from the Martial Halls to gather at the quarry, prompting nearly all of Stone Rock County to evacuate there with their families and neighbors.
• Zheng Zhixiang learned that the county’s craftsmen, supplies, Martial Halls, and gangs had gone to the quarry, then sent his carrier pigeon leader to investigate.
• The carrier pigeon leader reported that Stone Rock County was nearly empty, and Zheng Zhixiang ordered tens of thousands of Rebel Army elites to march there through the night.
• At the Shi Residence, Madam Jin and Madam Shi packed their belongings to leave the county, and Chu Qing arrived to escort them into the mountains.
• Zhao Wuji and the Martial Hall masters carried Madam Jin and Madam Shi in a sedan chair toward Bamboo Lake in Stone Ridge Mountain.

Chu Qing left for the Prefecture City exchange competition while Madam Shi and Ximen accompanied him, leaving the Rebel Army under the Martial Academy headmaster’s protection. Zheng Zhisheng arrived at an emptied Stone Rock County and learned Chu Qing had gone to confront his younger brother Zheng Xilong, leaving him furious and anxious.

• Madam Jin asked Chu Qing to build more bamboo buildings, and he arranged for Zhao Wuji to oversee construction and Zhao Hongxiu to protect her.
• Chu Qing told Cui Moyang and the others he was going to the Prefecture City, then agreed to take Ximen along with Madam Shi as their backing.
• Chu Qing, Madam Shi, and Ximen reached the Prefecture City at dawn as Zheng Zhisheng’s army entered Stone Rock County and found its people gone.
• Zheng Zhisheng ordered his army to attack the quarry and resolved to kill Chu Qing himself, but Cui Moyang and the others appeared with the Martial Academy headmaster instead.
• The headmaster told Zheng Zhisheng that Chu Qing had gone to the Prefecture City to compete and intended to kill Zheng Xilong, leaving Zheng Zhisheng enraged and worried for his brother.

Chu Qing entered the Prefecture City Martial Academy Exchange Competition and arranged a match by offering the opponent ten thousand taels. After Zheng Xilong defeated Young Lady Ren with his abnormal healing ability, Chu Qing stepped into the arena to face him.

• The academy students refused to challenge Chu Qing, fearing they would suffer the same fate as Ximen Peak, so Chu Qing offered ten thousand taels to anyone who fought him.
• Hou Chunlei accepted Chu Qing’s offer, fought him in a staged-looking but spectacular match, and was kicked off the arena.
• Zheng Xilong dismissed Chu Qing’s victory and challenged him to fight outside the city, then faced Young Lady Ren in the arena.
• Young Lady Ren wounded Zheng Xilong with Gilded Blade, but his wounds healed rapidly and he knocked her off the stage.
• Chu Qing caught Young Lady Ren and took the force of Zheng Xilong’s strike, then entered the arena and charged at Zheng Xilong.

Chu Qing pursued Zheng Xilong from the city into a forest and fought him despite Zheng Xilong’s powerful healing and bloodline talent. After a savage struggle, Chu Qing emerged bloodied and carrying a human head, leaving the fight’s outcome clear.

• Chu Qing pierced Zheng Xilong’s throat with his Chain Spear, but Zheng Xilong’s wound healed quickly and he fled.
• Madam Shi blocked an old man who tried to intervene while Chu Qing pursued Zheng Xilong through the city and out to a forest.
• Zheng Xilong and Chu Qing fought with the Chain Spear inside the forest as both sustained severe injuries.
• Madam Shi killed the Nangong Family servants who tried to enter the forest and stop Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing let Zheng Xilong stab his lower abdomen, grappled him, and bit down on his throat.
• Chu Qing emerged from the forest covered in blood and carrying a human head.