Recaps

Chu Qing led constables into the Martial Academy, then revealed himself as the Chu Qing they had come to arrest for killing ninety-six people. He challenged the Gold-robed Constable to explain the real reason for the arrest as Class Nine members gathered outside.

• Chu Qing led the Gold-robed Constable and other constables through the Martial Academy, prompting students and officials to argue over whether the yamen could arrest a student there.
• Chu Qing entered his room with the constables, shut the door, and revealed that he was the man they sought.
• Nangong asked whether Chu Qing had killed the brokers, and he admitted to killing ninety-six people from thirteen households.
• A constable drew his saber, but Nangong put her flexible sword to his neck; Chu Qing snapped another constable’s saber and warned that drawing weapons in his room broke Martial Academy rules.
• The Gold-robed Constable ordered his men to sheath their weapons and stated that Chu Qing was being arrested for the killings under Imperial law.
• Chu Qing repeatedly demanded the real reason for the arrest, while Class Nine members pounded on the door and a constable drew his saber again.

Chu Qing confronted constables who came to arrest him at the Martial Academy, but the Fat Master sent them away before a fight began. After Nangong Xiao left to warn Madam Jin and investigate the constables and Human World, Chu Qing trained until he forged his 300th Black Gold Bone and prepared to kill again that night.

• Chu Qing accused the constables of trying to kill him and invoked Martial Academy rules, while the leader of Class Nine guarded the door.
• The Fat Master arrived, declared the constables his guests, and escorted them out despite Chu Qing's objections.
• The constables threatened Chu Qing's loved ones, and Nangong Xiao memorized their faces as they left the academy.
• Chu Qing and Nangong Xiao discussed the danger to Madam Jin, and Nangong Xiao volunteered to contact her and investigate the constables and Human World.
• Chu Qing trained for six hours, forged one Black Gold Bone to reach 300, and resolved to kill again that night.

Nangong gave Chu Qing intelligence on his enemies and Human World, while Fat Master and the Gold-robed Constable plotted to have Chu Qing killed or expelled from the Martial Academy. A masked, barefoot killer bought detailed intelligence and began murdering the constables, leaving sixteen households on their list.

• Nangong gave Chu Qing information on the constables, several masters, and Human World, an ancient organization of assassins and intelligence brokers.
• Fat Master told the Gold-robed Constable he would use a Class Nine master to give Chu Qing a dangerous assessment and force him out of the Martial Academy.
• A masked, barefoot guest paid Human World for detailed intelligence on a list of people and asked the agents to keep tracking them.
• The masked guest entered a constable's home and killed him by snapping his throat.
• The masked guest marked the first household as handled and noted that sixteen households remained.

Chu Qing killed the Gold-robed Constable and his household after eliminating the constables who had been sent to trouble him. The yamen investigated the killings and suspected Chu Qing, deciding to arrest him for questioning.

• Chu Qing noticed masked figures and strange nighttime visitors as he traveled through the state city, then waited at the Gold-robed Constable’s home.
• Chu Qing killed the gatekeeper after discovering he had poisoned the hot wine, and waited for the Gold-robed Constable to return.
• The Gold-robed Constable arrived drunk, but Chu Qing struck him with the Chain Spear and Sunflower Hand, killed him, and looted his property.
• An eight-man sedan chair arrived after Chu Qing left, and someone inside complained that his actions had increased her workload.
• The yamen discovered that more than a dozen constables and the Gold-robed Constable had died, and examiners linked the killings to Chu Qing’s strength and techniques.
• The constables doubted Chu Qing could have killed the Gold-robed Constable, but decided he might know or have hired the murderer and ordered his arrest.

Chu Qing received a dangerous assigned assessment to clear the bandits in Yellow Ox Town, an anomalous place where a previous class had suffered catastrophic losses. He chose to prepare for the mission rather than withdraw, while the Fat Master’s scheme left him facing danger either way.

• Chu Qing told Nangong that practicing many low-level martial arts could strengthen her foundation and speed up Gold Bone cultivation.
• Big Brother gave Chu Qing an assessment assigned by the masters: eliminate the bandits occupying Yellow Ox Town, thirty li outside the city.
• Big Brother explained that more than thirty Class Ten students had died in Yellow Ox Town during the previous year’s assessment, and Nangong urged Chu Qing to give up.
• Chu Qing decided to face the assessment, reasoning that withdrawing would expose his weakness and make future attacks worse.
• Nangong offered to summon Moyang and the others, but Chu Qing declined because the provincial city was engulfed in war.
• The Fat Master revealed that his friend had arranged the assessment to kill Chu Qing, and that Yellow Ox Town was an anomalous place no one had ever cleared.

Fat Master and powerful figures in the provincial city reacted to the massacre of the constables by plotting against Chu Qing. Chu Qing prepared for a deadly assessment, arranged a group to accompany him to Yellow Ox Town, and left the next morning while Madam Shi and Madam Jin worried about his return.

• Fat Master learned that the Gold-robed Constable and his household, along with more than a dozen constables, had been killed, and he resolved to force Chu Qing into a fatal assessment.
• Several Great Figures ordered their steward to kill everyone connected to Chu Qing, including his relatives and friends.
• Chu Qing hired a hundred people to carry fire oil and fire arrows to Yellow Ox Town at noon the next day.
• Chu Qing told Madam Shi about his coming life-or-death assessment, and she offered to go with him, but he refused so she could protect Madam Jin.
• Chu Qing spent the night with Madam Jin and left early the next morning; Madam Jin promised to wait for him while Madam Shi worried.

Chu Qing ignored the constables demanding to see him and went to the slums, where Principal Shi Ji revealed his dragon tendon research. After fusing the method with his other secret manuals, Chu Qing began cultivating a dragon tendon while Shi Ji watched and the constables lay defeated outside.

• Chu Qing read records about anomalies in the Library Pavilion and found an account claiming that people who ate a dragon tendon could not die.
• Chu Qing left the Martial Academy with the constables pursuing him, then discovered the slum construction site had been abandoned and went to find Principal Shi Ji.
• Principal Shi Ji showed Chu Qing his research and explained that he had devised a method for refining dragon tendons.
• Chu Qing fused the method with his previously mastered secret manuals and obtained the top-grade Dragon Tendon Method.
• Chu Qing began cultivating a dragon tendon using the image of one he had seen in a water marsh, while Principal Shi Ji watched in fascination.
• Several dozen constables and Gold-robed Constables lay vomiting blood and wailing outside.

Chu Qing cultivated the Dragon Tendon Fish Dragon Dance, which strengthened his Golden Sinews and Golden Bones and let him partially break the limits. After learning that Chu Qing had missed his assessment mission, Principal Shi Ji refused to accompany him to Yellow Ox Town because of its Transcendent curse and anomaly.

• Chu Qing focused on cultivating the Dragon Tendon while Masked Men slaughtered the hired cannon fodder at Yellow Ox Town and waited for him to arrive.
• After Fat Master learned Chu Qing had not gone to Yellow Ox Town, he ordered the Masked Men to wait outside town for three days and kill Chu Qing if he did not enter.
• Principal Shi Ji watched over Chu Qing for three days and fed him secret medicine as his body grew thinner, then developed golden patterns that formed a nine-clawed dragon.
• Chu Qing sensed the Dragon Tendon Fish Dragon Dance, which evolved his 365 Golden Sinews and strengthened his Golden Bones, and he demonstrated the resulting power to Principal Shi Ji.
• Chu Qing told Principal Shi Ji about the Dragon Tendon and his assessment mission at Yellow Ox Town, but she refused to go because the town involved a dangerous Transcendent curse and anomaly.

Chu Qing and Principal Shi Ji burned the illusion of Yellow Ox Town and searched its ruins for the abnormal object. Chu Qing found a mirror that drew him into an illusory inn, leaving Principal Shi Ji and Madam Shi unsure how to help him.

• Chu Qing convinced Principal Shi Ji that the Dragon Tendon Method could empower their descendants, and Principal Shi Ji eagerly planned to marry eighty-seven wives.
• Dozens of Masked Men attacked Chu Qing outside Yellow Ox Town, and he defeated them while mastering Sunflower Hand.
• Chu Qing discovered that Yellow Ox Town's bustling streets concealed a ruin, then burned the town and searched its remains with Principal Shi Ji.
• Chu Qing found an unbreakable mirror and became motionless as an illusion of an inn appeared around him.
• Principal Shi Ji realized Chu Qing was trapped by the mirror, and Madam Shi arrived because she was worried about him.

Chu Qing was trapped in the bronze mirror, reliving Yi Renyu’s poisoning and curse while each cycle inflicted another wound on his real body. As Madam Shi and Principal Shi Ji rushed to save him, Chu Qing refused to beg Yi Renyu for mercy.

• Chu Qing entered the tavern’s repeating past and discovered that Yi Renyu had been poisoned by the Pipa Woman and surrounded by enemies.
• Chu Qing urged the dying Yi Renyu to kill everyone, and Yi Renyu cursed the tavern and Yellow Ox Town to repeat the day.
• Madam Shi and Principal Shi Ji found a deep, bleeding wound on Chu Qing and realized an Otherkin might be helping him inside the mirror.
• Chu Qing resisted Yi Renyu’s control, but another cycle brought another wound to his real body, prompting Madam Shi to carry him toward the provincial city.
• Yi Renyu asked why Chu Qing would not beg for mercy, and Chu Qing said he had never learned how to beg.

Chu Qing learned from Yi Renyu that eating a dragon tendon gave him the foundation to become an Other, then awakened as Madam Shi carried him toward the prefectural city. After they hid Yi Renyu’s bronze mirror, Chu Qing shared the Dragon Tendon Method with Madam Shi, who revealed that her tendon was an Exotic Python Dragon Tendon.

• Yi Renyu told Chu Qing that he had survived because he ate a dragon tendon and explained that becoming an Other also required Phoenix Blood, Tiger Jade, Turtle Essence, and Exotic Bone.
• Chu Qing woke while Madam Shi carried him, and Principal Shi Ji was relieved that Chu Qing had survived and the prefectural city was safe.
• Chu Qing asked Madam Shi to hide the bronze mirror, and she chose the bottom of the well at Shi Residence.
• Chu Qing decided to trust Madam Shi and taught her the Dragon Tendon Method and its precautions.
• Madam Shi revealed that her dragon tendon was an Exotic Python Dragon Tendon and said different dragon tendons might have different weak points.

Chu Qing returned after resolving the Yellow Ox Town anomaly, refused an offer to join the Thousand Eyes Alliance, and decided to repay Nangong Xiao for helping him. His growing reputation caused powerful figures to abandon plans against him, while Zheng Zhixiang angrily rejected advice to apologize.

• Nangong Xiao arrived with Thousand Eyes Alliance experts to search for Chu Qing and learned that he had already resolved the anomaly by burning it and destroying its anomalous object.
• A Level Nine Protector invited Chu Qing to join the Thousand Eyes Alliance, but he refused while leaving open the possibility of joining later.
• Chu Qing learned that Nangong Xiao had paid a heavy price to bring help and decided to give her the Dragon Tendon Method in return.
• Chu Qing returned to the provincial city and visited Madam Jin, while news of his success spread among the upper ranks.
• More than a dozen Great Figures abandoned plans to target Chu Qing, and one urged Zheng Zhixiang to reconcile with him.
• Zheng Zhixiang tore up the letter and angrily asked why he had to apologize when Chu Qing had killed his brother.

After Chu Qing cleared Yellow Ox Town, otherworlders and the Martial Academy reacted to his sudden rise. The otherworlder in the Red Sedan Chair became interested in recruiting him, while Fat Master and Vice Principal Liu plotted to kill him during Class Nine’s assessment; his classmates learned he was returning and bribed Nangong Xiao to keep their funeral ritual secret.

• Otherworlders learned that Chu Qing had cleared Yellow Ox Town, and the otherworlder in the Red Sedan Chair requested his dossier from Human World.
• After reading Chu Qing’s record, the otherworlder in the Red Sedan Chair decided he had the potential to become an otherworlder and considered giving him a benefit.
• Fat Master learned that a Great Figure had ordered him to stop targeting Chu Qing and apologize, but he refused and asked Vice Principal Liu for help.
• Vice Principal Liu suggested that Fat Master make Class Nine’s collective assessment deadly so Chu Qing could die without their direct involvement.
• Nangong Xiao told Class Nine that Chu Qing had completed the assessment and would return tomorrow, prompting Big Brother Leader and his lackeys to hide their paper-burning ritual.
• Big Brother Leader gave Nangong Xiao two ten-tael black-gold exchange notes to keep the ritual from Chu Qing, and she accepted them.

Chu Qing returned from Yellow Ox Town and confronted Class Nine's Martial Master, who denied him a Perfection token and claimed his assessment was ordinary. Back at the dormitory, Chu Qing planned to wait until the group assessment before dealing with the Martial Master, then discovered Dragon Sinew had greatly accelerated his Golden Bone cultivation.

• Chu Qing demanded the Perfection token he believed he had earned, but Class Nine's Martial Master gave him an ordinary stone token and blamed him for the deaths during the mission.
• Chu Qing left the token behind and warned that he would return for it, while the Martial Master considered exploiting Chu Qing's achievement for his own gain.
• Chu Qing told Nangong they would wait until after the group assessment and their entry into the Inner Court before confronting the Martial Master, then used her resources to cultivate.
• Chu Qing discovered that Dragon Sinew let him form Black Gold Bones in one hour, and Nangong worried that he was taking secret medicine too frequently.
• After dinner, Nangong asked Chu Qing to help her cultivate, and they activated their complementary secret teachings together.

Chu Qing reached Perfection in his Black Gold Bones, gaining immense strength and speed with the support of his Dragon Tendon. He revealed the Dragon Tendon to Nangong and taught her its cultivation method, leaving them to prepare for the group assessment together.

• After four days of intensive cultivation, Chu Qing perfected all 365 Black Gold Bones, and the Dragon Tendon further amplified his strength and speed.
• Chu Qing tested his new power and reinforced his Iron Cloth Shirt with more Golden Tendons while Nangong watched in astonishment.
• Chu Qing asked Nangong to cut open his back and examine his Dragon Tendon, which she touched before his wound healed within an hour.
• Chu Qing revealed that the tendon was a Dragon Tendon and trusted Nangong with the secret, then promised to help her grow one herself.
• Chu Qing explained the Dragon Tendon Method and urged Nangong to cultivate Dragon Tendons before the group assessment; she agreed and promised to entrust their lives to each other.

Chu Qing had Nangong train her Dragon Tendons while he sought a secret-transmission-grade blood-training method and investigated Master Sun. At the Class Nine gathering, Master Sun announced a dangerous mission to destroy Lotus Leaf Temple, blamed it on Chu Qing, and provoked Chu Qing into attacking his classmates.

• Chu Qing had Nangong begin training her Dragon Tendons and spent the next three days replenishing her secret medicines.
• Chu Qing contacted Human World to investigate Master Sun and asked for details about his daily routine.
• Master Sun announced that Class Nine had seven days to destroy Lotus Leaf Temple and behead its Demonic Monk, warning that students who failed would lose their Martial Academy status.
• Master Sun blamed the mission on Chu Qing, and the frightened students turned against him.
• Chu Qing seized and threw the students who blamed him, leaving them injured and making Master Sun fear how powerful Chu Qing might become.

After Master Sun announced that Class Nine would face Lotus Leaf Temple, most of the students transferred out to avoid the assessment, leaving the Big Brother and a few loyal underlings behind. Meanwhile, Nangong completed her dragon-sinew transformation, and the Big Brother asked Chu Qing to save the remaining members of Class Nine.

• Master Sun watched the students flee into other classes and planned to expel them after the assessment while leaving Chu Qing to face the mission alone.
• The Big Brother refused to abandon Class Nine and led several underlings to seek Chu Qing's help.
• Nangong's secret medicine caused her clothes to burst as her dragon sinew manifested, and she invited Chu Qing to examine the dragon tattoo on her back.
• The Big Brother explained the Lotus Leaf Temple assessment to Chu Qing and said only five people remained in Class Nine.

Chu Qing set out to bring back the Class Nine students who had transferred to other classes, using threats about his past violence to persuade the martial masters to release them. He returned with most of the students to prepare for the collective assessment against Lotus Leaf Temple, while leaving the two students in Fat Master’s Class Three behind.

• Chu Qing ordered the Class Nine leader to gather everyone the next morning, then went with him to Class Eight to retrieve the transferred students.
• When Class Eight students mocked Chu Qing and refused to return, he told the martial masters that he had wiped out thirteen brokerages and the families of sixteen constables.
• The Class Eight martial masters agreed to send the Class Nine students back, claiming they needed to improve their temperament, and Chu Qing repeated the same approach at other classes.
• Fat Master refused to release the two students in Class Three and warned Chu Qing not to threaten his family.
• Chu Qing made a throat-slitting gesture at Fat Master and led the rest of the retrieved students back to Class Nine to prepare for Lotus Leaf Temple.

Chu Qing forced Class Nine to prepare to attack Lotus Leaf Temple, then gathered intelligence revealing the temple’s powerful backers and numerous enemies. He concluded that the Cui Family and other great families might shield them from King Shiyu’s Zhao Family if they could first destroy the temple.

• Chu Qing beat down a student who suggested running away and pressured Class Nine to gather fighters and cannon fodder to attack Lotus Leaf Temple.
• Class Nine students swore to mobilize their connections, while the Big Brother conceded Chu Qing’s leadership and remained in charge himself.
• Chu Qing returned to his room, encouraged Nangong to keep training, and went to the Human World intelligence station for information on Lotus Leaf Temple.
• Chu Qing learned the temple had powerful backers, including King Shiyu’s Zhao Family and an Otherkind follower, and realized King Shiyu could retaliate if the temple fell.
• Chu Qing discovered the Cui Family and dozens of other great families had grievances against Lotus Leaf Temple, and decided they might counter King Shiyu if the temple was successfully destroyed.
• Chu Qing learned the temple had hundreds of martial artists, a Second Limit abbot, several First Limit experts, armor, and crossbows.

Chu Qing asked Madam Shi to help confront Lotus Leaf Temple, and she claimed her mastery of the Dragon Tendon Method let her defeat its Second Limit abbot. As Lotus Leaf Temple prepared to fight the Martial Academy students, King Shiyu rallied his retainers to support the temple.

• Chu Qing asked Principal Shi Ji for help against Lotus Leaf Temple, but Principal Shi Ji directed him to Yu Ji and urged him to trust her potential.
• Chu Qing found Madam Shi, who said she had mastered the Dragon Tendon Method and could easily defeat a Second Limit expert.
• Lotus Leaf Temple's monks debated their child-sending business and the coming attack, and the abbot ordered elite heavy armor prepared while refusing to suspend the business.
• King Shiyu told his retainers that Lotus Leaf Temple faced villains and encouraged them to go support it, promising the best performer wine poured by the Princess Consort.

Chu Qing gathered support for an assault on Lotus Leaf Temple and arranged to hire a vast force of cannon fodder after he could not afford assassins. Meanwhile, the Cui Family prepared to strike the temple on the day the Martial Academy students died, unaware of Chu Qing’s plan to send more than ten thousand people against it.

• The Cui Family’s Head of the House learned that King Shiyu had gained control of at least half the aristocratic families and ordered her family to contact those still independent before attacking Lotus Leaf Temple.
• Chu Qing found that half the students had stayed away, while the others had brought retainers; Big Brother reported that they had gathered more than five hundred experts, but none had golden tendons or bones.
• Chu Qing told Big Brother to buy weapons and supplies, then assured him that Madam Shi could handle Second Limit Experts, though she would not fight lesser opponents.
• Chu Qing asked the Human World intelligence broker to hire assassins to kill Lotus Leaf Temple’s monks, but he refused to pay the required black gold.
• Chu Qing spent fifteen thousand gold notes to hire fifteen thousand untrained cannon fodder and warned the broker that they might all die inside Lotus Leaf Temple.
• The intelligence broker contacted his superior, who recognized that Chu Qing’s plan could devastate the temple and bring consequences for King Shiyu and the entire prefectural city.

Chu Qing waited for a snowstorm before leading the Martial Academy students against Lotus Leaf Temple, while the Cui Family and King Shiyu prepared to exploit the coming battle. The Human World Organization sent more than ten thousand expendable men to storm the temple, leaving its monks killing the attackers and the city’s power players fearing the consequences.

• As heavy snow began falling, Chu Qing and Nangong prepared weapons, while Lotus Leaf Temple, the Cui Family, and King Shiyu’s Mansion readied themselves for battle.
• The Human World Organization sent fifteen thousand armed men toward Lotus Leaf Temple, and Big Brother led several hundred Martial Academy students there as well.
• The mob stormed Lotus Leaf Temple from all directions, and the monks killed many attackers but could not stop them from charging inside.
• The Cui Family’s head began writing letters accusing Lotus Leaf Temple of killing thousands, while the prefectural governor prepared to flee with his valuables.
• King Shiyu realized the massacre could ruin Lotus Leaf Temple and implicate him, and he wondered whether to seek help from the Princess Consort.

Chu Qing ordered Lotus Leaf Temple soaked in Fire Oil and set ablaze, then fought its monks alongside Nangong. After destroying more than a hundred armored monks, he faced the surviving enemies as they began to panic, while a terrifying presence stirred inside the burning temple.

• Chu Qing arrived with Nangong and Madam Shi and ordered the students to douse Lotus Leaf Temple with Fire Oil, dismissing the cannon fodder's lives as expendable.
• Chu Qing ignited the oil, setting the temple, its cannon fodder, and some of its monks ablaze.
• Nangong killed the monks who charged outside, and the leader followed her into the fight.
• Chu Qing charged the armored monks, smashed their armor, and killed or scattered more than a hundred of them as his Sunflower Hand advanced.
• The surviving armored monks grew terrified and tried to flee as killing intent and flames surged from the burning Buddha hall.

Madam Shi fought the awakened abbot at Lotus Leaf Temple, while Chu Qing battled the monks and survived the abbot’s strike. Chu Qing clung to the fleeing abbot until Madam Shi caught up and killed him.

• Madam Shi approached the Buddhist hall as Chu Qing charged the monks, and the abbot emerged after the hall collapsed.
• The abbot attacked Madam Shi, but she blew apart one of his arms and severely injured him with a single palm strike.
• The abbot fled toward Chu Qing and struck him in the chest, but Chu Qing’s defenses kept his bones from breaking.
• Chu Qing leaped onto the abbot’s back, bit off his ear, and repeatedly rammed his head into the monk’s as he tried to escape.
• Madam Shi caught up and crushed the abbot’s heart.

Chu Qing and his allies destroyed Lotus Leaf Temple, killed its abbot and monks, and left rival factions scrambling to understand how he had done it. As Chu Qing continued clearing out looters, the Cui Family, King Shiyu, Human World, and Martial Academy considered how to respond to him.

• Chu Qing killed the abbot, ordered Lotus Leaf Temple wiped out, and had the crowd publicly name him as the killer to shield Madam Shi from blame.
• Nangong, Chu Qing, Human World assassins, and the students killed the fleeing monks and great monks, while the Cui Family and King Shiyu's people watched in shock.
• The Cui Family ordered its people to withdraw and investigate Chu Qing and the expert they believed had killed the abbot, while King Shiyu told his steward to blame the massacre on runaway household slaves.
• Human World identified the woman with Chu Qing as Yu Ji and warned its members not to provoke him.
• Fat Master and Master Sun feared Chu Qing's strength but planned to use difficult assessments to hinder him, with Principal Liu approving their schemes.
• Chu Qing ordered Human World to drive away the cannon fodder, then killed those who tried to loot Lotus Leaf Temple.