Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing and the Daoist Nun watched Old Ancestor Wutian arrive at the inn and kill several Brocade World members before ordering everyone out. When the frightened guests prepared to sleep in the desert, Chu Qing challenged them to unite against him.

• Chu Qing and the Daoist Nun talked on the rooftop while he waited for midnight to search for Tiger Jade.
• Old Ancestor Wutian arrived at the inn and demanded thirty rooms for his men.
• Old Ancestor Wutian killed several Brocade World members with iron balls after they objected.
• Old Ancestor Wutian ordered everyone to leave the inn or be killed, and the guests began packing for the desert.
• Chu Qing stood up and urged everyone to attack Old Ancestor Wutian together.

Chu Qing blocked Old Ancestor Wutian’s attacks and rallied the inn’s martial artists to fight the Third Limit expert, forcing him to flee. After Chu Qing urged the others to pursue Wutian, Wutian returned and declared that harmony was precious.

• Old Ancestor Wutian attacked Chu Qing, but Chu Qing shattered his projectiles and destroyed his sedan chair before surviving Wutian’s finger strike.
• Chu Qing called on the inn’s guests to join forces against Wutian, and the Daoist Nun and other fighters joined the battle.
• Chu Qing repeatedly blocked Wutian’s attacks while the others fought desperately, and Wutian killed more than ten people before fleeing to retrieve his weapon.
• Chu Qing urged everyone to hunt Wutian down despite his severe injuries, but Wutian returned through the inn wall and said that harmony was precious.

Bronze Masked Cloaked Figures stormed the inn and killed Old Ancestor Wutian, then recognized Chu Qing as the man the Princess Consort had ordered them not to harm. They let Chu Qing and the Daoist Nun stay, leaving the reason for his protection unclear.

• More than a hundred Bronze Masked Cloaked Figures entered the inn and ordered everyone to leave, except Old Ancestor Wutian, whom they marked for death.
• Old Ancestor Wutian fought the cloaked figures but was overwhelmed, beheaded, and crushed underfoot.
• Chu Qing prepared to fight the cloaked figures who had been watching him, but one identified him as the man the Princess Consort had instructed them about.
• The eight Third Limit leaders decided not to harm Chu Qing and let him and the Daoist Nun remain in their room.
• The Daoist Nun wondered if Chu Qing had beaten the cloaked figures into submission, while the leaders silently resented the suggestion.

Chu Qing learned that an old inn stood above an Underground Palace and entered it with the one-eyed innkeeper, digging through a passage blocked by rubble. As Chu Qing continued toward the palace, a storm drove another wave of guests to the inn.

• Chu Qing explained to the Daoist Nun that a weak foundation made Old Ancestor Wutian weak, then waited until night to search for Tiger Jade.
• Chu Qing began digging in the inn, and a waiter alerted the one-eyed innkeeper.
• The innkeeper recalled finding the Underground Palace beneath the inn and told Chu Qing he knew its secret.
• The innkeeper opened the entrance, and he and Chu Qing descended into the palace passage.
• Chu Qing dug through the rubble blocking the passage while the inn grew chaotic as guests arrived seeking shelter from an approaching storm.

As a sandstorm destroyed the inn, Chu Qing remained in its Underground Palace and uncovered the Tiger Jade. Absorbing it transformed his Black Dragon Golden Bones, leaving him stronger and with bone marrow that produced Bronze Grade blood.

• The Daoist Nun and the other travelers fled the damaged inn toward the ruins as the sandstorm approached, while Chu Qing stayed behind in the Underground Palace.
• Chu Qing gave the innkeeper gold notes and promised that planting trees around a stone inn could help turn the desert into an oasis.
• Chu Qing and the innkeeper cleared the passage and found a dried corpse holding the Tiger Jade.
• Chu Qing absorbed the Tiger Jade and endured intense pain as it transformed his Black Dragon Golden Bones.
• After the transformation, Chu Qing's strength doubled, his bones bore dragon-and-tiger patterns, and his marrow began producing Bronze Grade blood.

Chu Qing found a diary revealing clues about the Millennial Calamity and the Others, then left the desert with his newly strengthened Exotic Golden Bone. While racing toward the Great Gan Empire, he followed a scent of blood and discovered scattered corpses.

• Chu Qing opened the stone platform’s hidden chamber and found a diary whose owner had been a martial artist descended from an Other and had sought Tiger Jade.
• Chu Qing read that the Millennial Calamity was linked to the Others and that the Eternal Mountain Range might hold its root, though the diary owner’s parents had died after pursuing the mystery.
• Chu Qing restored the mechanism, gave the innkeeper his gold and Silver Notes, and left the Underground Palace with him.
• The innkeeper returned toward Stone City to build the Peace Inn and create an oasis, while Chu Qing headed for the Great Gan Empire and the Martial Academy.
• Chu Qing accelerated to 2.6 times the speed of sound, then slowed down after smelling blood and found corpses scattered across the dunes.

Chu Qing rescued the Daoist Nun from a strange massacre in the desert and learned that mysterious hunters had attacked people sheltering in the ruins. After helping her recover enough to travel, he received her Golden Inlaid Jade Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission and prepared to return to the Martial Academy.

• Chu Qing discovered that the corpses in the ruins had been arranged into the Thousand Eyes Alliance's Vertical Eye emblem and found the wounded Daoist Nun bleeding uncontrollably.
• Chu Qing treated the Daoist Nun with secret medicine, carried her over a thousand li into the Great Gan heartland, and heard how she and the others had been caught up in a hunt for a woman.
• Chu Qing left the Daoist Nun in a county town with ten thousand black gold, and she learned that he was only at the Blood Refining realm despite his formidable feats and talents.
• The Daoist Nun offered Chu Qing her Golden Inlaid Jade Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, which combined powerful regeneration with strong defense.
• Chu Qing accepted the secret transmission and told the Daoist Nun that he had saved her for her sake, flustering her.

Chu Qing returned from the Great Desert and reunited with Madam Jin and Madam Shi. As the Heaven-Connecting Path Competition approached, Madam Shi warned him about the dangerous factional struggle and explained which great houses were competing for the Martial Academy’s three slots.

• Chu Qing raced back from the Great Desert and surprised Madam Jin and Madam Shi by arriving at their window at night.
• Madam Jin welcomed Chu Qing, while Madam Shi recognized him just before attacking him with her earring.
• Zhao Hongxiu told Chu Qing about the Martial Academy, and Madam Jin and Madam Shi helped him relax after his journey.
• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing that the Heaven-Connecting Path Competition would begin in three to five days and that students were already being forced to choose sides.
• Chu Qing said he had joined Gong Wudi’s camp, and Madam Shi described the rival noble houses, the likely candidates for the three slots, and the need to kill decisively.

Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and met with Nangong Xiao and Gong Wudi as the battle for the Heaven-Connecting Path Quota grew more dangerous. Gong Wudi revealed that his Lineage had abandoned the contest, leaving him to seek a quota alone.

• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing that the quota battle would claim many lives, and he returned quietly to the Martial Academy after lunch.
• Nangong Xiao reunited with Chu Qing, told him she had refined three hundred Golden Bones, and discussed the secret arts she could not access as an Outer Court student.
• Nangong Xiao reported that factions were pressuring Martial Academy students to join them, and she and her companions had joined the Cui Family's team for resources.
• Gong Wudi told Chu Qing that the Qin and Bai Families had joined forces, while the Cui Family and King Shiyu's Mansion also sought quotas.
• Gong Wudi explained that his Lineage had withdrawn and would not support him, so Chu Qing told him to wash up and sleep while refusing to return the resources Gong Wudi had given him.

Gong Wudi asked Chu Qing to help him win a Heaven-Connecting Path Quota and traded resources and a secret transmission for his support. After receiving blood refinement medicine, Chu Qing accelerated his training while Nangong also trained hard, leaving both to prepare for the coming contest.

• Gong Wudi told Chu Qing he refused to accept the Gong Family sacrificing his future and asked him to help seize a Heaven-Connecting Path Quota.
• Chu Qing and Gong Wudi agreed on blood refinement and muscle-tempering resources and a top-tier Five Viscera and Six Bowels secret transmission, which Gong Wudi gave him first.
• Gong Wudi warned Chu Qing that struggles over the quota had already begun and urged him to conceal his return, then agreed to obtain several hundred portions of blood refinement medicine.
• Cloaked figures delivered two hundred portions of top-tier blood refinement secret medicine, and Chu Qing began cultivating with them.
• Chu Qing found that his Exotic Golden Bone sped up the medicine's consumption but reduced its refining efficiency, so he chose to use one portion per hour.
• Nangong trained with the Heavenly Demon Scroll and her dragon tendons, making progress only slightly slower than Chu Qing's.

Chu Qing and Nangong’s scheme to shoot down carrier pigeons triggered chaos among the Martial Academy’s prodigies competing for Heaven-Connecting Path quotas. The Houses’ leaders suspected outsiders were responsible, while Chu Qing and Nangong roasted pigeons outside the provincial city.

• Gong Wudi arrived at Chu Qing and Nangong’s door badly injured and asked Chu Qing to help kill his enemies over the Heaven-Connecting Path quotas.
• Chu Qing gave Gong Wudi Cui Moyang’s contact information so she could help him, and Nangong sent Cui Moyang a letter by carrier pigeon.
• Chu Qing and Nangong decided to shoot down the carrier pigeons flying to and from the Martial Academy, disrupting the prodigies’ intelligence network.
• The prodigies turned to human messengers, who were ambushed and robbed, escalating the quota struggle into widespread chaos.
• King Shiyu investigated the breakdown of the old rules and suspected organizations, rebels, or aliens, while Chu Qing and Nangong roasted pigeons outside the city.

After eating carrier pigeons with Nangong, Chu Qing explained that he planned to help Gong Wudi kill people while studying the great families and the Heaven-Connecting Path competition. He went masked to Huaihua Alley to meet Gong Wudi’s contact, rejected her first target as too weak, and left asking for information on someone stronger.

• Chu Qing and Nangong ate more than a hundred carrier pigeons, and Chu Qing said they should kill pigeons whenever they saw them.
• Chu Qing told Nangong he would help Gong Wudi to observe the Heaven-Connecting Path quota competition, assess the great families, and temper himself.
• Nangong left through the snowy woods and told Chu Qing to contact her through Madam Shi rather than meet her directly.
• Chu Qing covered his face and went to Huaihua Alley, where he met a woman who said Gong Wudi had sent her a killer.
• The woman named Hou Haitong, a Skin Marrow Realm martial artist with powerful connections, as Chu Qing’s first target.
• Chu Qing dismissed Hou Haitong as too weak and left, demanding information on a stronger target while the woman wondered whether Gong Wudi had truly sent him.

Chu Qing killed Hou Haitong and took on Zhou Hai as his next target. Back at the woman’s courtyard, a masked man delivered another frozen head, leaving the yellow-faced youth terrified by his sister-in-law’s secret snowdrift.

• Chu Qing confronted Hou Haitong at the Martial Hall and killed him with a tiger-roar sound wave before tearing off his head.
• Chu Qing brought Hou Haitong’s head to the woman, who named Zhou Hai, a First Limit gang boss, as the next target.
• Chu Qing rejected the woman’s offer to find helpers and left to pursue Zhou Hai on his own.
• The yellow-faced youth told his sister-in-law that Hou Haitong was dead, and she urged him to consider studying instead of pursuing martial arts.
• The Masked Man arrived with a frozen head, and the woman buried it beneath the snow while the yellow-faced youth watched in horror.

Chu Qing cleared out Gong Wudi’s enemies with ease, then set out to kill Qin Xiaoying in exchange for secret medicine. He encountered her at a crossroads while she was confronting Ling Xun, and the chapter ended as their fight began and Chu Qing faced Qin Xiaoying.

• Chu Qing killed his way through the roster while the woman and the sallow-faced youth buried the heads he brought back.
• After receiving a message from Gong Wudi, the woman told Chu Qing that the remaining targets included Qin Xiaoying, a ruthless Pelt Realm expert who had secretly plotted against Gong Wudi.
• Chu Qing departed to find Qin Xiaoying, asking Gong Wudi to send another hundred portions of secret medicine in exchange for her head.
• Qin Xiaoying set out to kill Ling Xun, who refused to abandon Gong Wudi despite the danger.
• At a crossroads, Chu Qing asked Qin Xiaoying to pause her confrontation with Ling Xun; she ordered her experts to attack Ling Xun while she turned to Chu Qing.

Chu Qing fought off Qin Xiaoying’s servants and forced her to pay three hundred portions of blood-refining resources to spare her. He left the story with Qin Xiaoying ordered to stay out of his way and Li Xun escaping with a Jade Pendant token.

• Chu Qing stood his ground against Qin Xiaoying as Li Xun was beaten and thrown beside him.
• Chu Qing defeated Qin Xiaoying’s servants with his martial arts, then overpowered Qin Xiaoying when she tried to flee.
• Qin Xiaoying offered increasing amounts of blood-refining resources, and Chu Qing agreed to spare her for three hundred portions.
• Qin Xiaoying asked Chu Qing to kill Gong Wudi, but he refused because he was helping Gong Wudi secure a Heaven-Connecting Path Quota.
• Qin Xiaoying ordered her servants to demand three hundred portions of resources from the Head of the House, while Chu Qing gave Li Xun medicine and let him leave with a Jade Pendant.
• Chu Qing told Qin Xiaoying to hide for the next few days and warned he would kill her if she disobeyed.

Chu Qing discovered that the Heaven-Connecting Path competition had left prodigies and ordinary residents dead across the provincial city. After burning the bodies of Li Xun and the impoverished household in Huaihua Alley, he found Qin Xiaoying and Qin Wubing dead near the Martial Academy.

• Qin Xiaoying received three hundred portions of Blood Refining secret medicine from Chu Qing, then encountered masked third-year Martial Academy experts and sent up a signal for aid.
• Chu Qing heard the battle signal but continued toward Huaihua Alley, where he found Li Xun's stripped corpse and discovered a family frozen to death in a nearby home.
• Chu Qing found the woman and the yellow-faced youth dead in Huaihua Alley, drove off the Scythe Gang, and burned their bodies along with Li Xun's.
• Chu Qing reached the woman's home and found the three bodies reduced to ashes, then headed toward the Martial Academy to ask Gong Wudi for his next contact.
• Chu Qing found Qin Xiaoying and Qin Wubing dead near the Martial Academy, both killed by spear wounds.

The provincial city descended into chaos as aristocratic descendants, followers, and messengers were killed, leaving the factions unable to identify their attackers or restore order. King Shiyu sent his heavy-armored soldiers to contact the Heads of the House, while lamenting that the absent Princess Consort might have deterred the enemy.

• The Qin Family discovered Qin Xiaoying and Qin Wubing dead, then learned that Li Xun, Cai Rong, Gong Xiaodao, and many other descendants had also been killed.
• The Head of the Qin Family contacted friendly and hostile aristocratic families and urged them to meet and restrain their followers, but fighting had already spread across the provincial city.
• The owner of the Red Sedan Chair and the others learned that many of their followers had vanished or died, and they suspected the Thousand Eyes Alliance was behind the chaos.
• The others proposed clearing casualty sites, putting surviving followers in control of the streets, and ordering the aristocratic families to stop fighting, but they lacked enough people to carry out the plans.
• King Shiyu invited every Head of the House to meet, but his messengers were killed before they could deliver their letters.
• King Shiyu ordered his heavy-armored soldiers to contact the Heads of the House and regretted that the Princess Consort had not returned.

The city’s messengers were slaughtered, leaving the Qin Family head to fear that King Shiyu’s strength was dwindling, while Chu Qing killed masked warriors amid the chaos. After witnessing a powerful black-robed expert and returning toward the Martial Academy, Chu Qing found Principal Shi Ji’s hidden laboratory and was led inside to see his research.

• A lone, dying heavy-armored soldier reached the Qin Family with King Shiyu’s letter and reported that one black-robed attacker wearing a Vertical Eye mask had killed his entire squad.
• The Qin Family head inspected the letter and feared King Shiyu had lost many of his heavy-armored soldiers after the messenger died in his house.
• Chu Qing roamed the streets, killing masked warriors and managing to kill three heavy-armored soldiers through repeated sneak attacks.
• A black-robed Third Limit expert effortlessly killed several heavy-armored soldiers, warned Chu Qing to hide, and left.
• Chu Qing changed into coarse hemp clothing and headed toward the Martial Academy, then entered the underground passage near the slums to check on Principal Shi Ji.
• Principal Shi Ji seized Chu Qing, said he was perfectly fine, and led him into a brightly lit underground space to show him his research.

Chu Qing discovered Principal Shi Ji’s underground experiments on martial artists and distracted him with fabricated blood-type theories. Principal Shi Ji later revealed that another self had taken control of him, gave Chu Qing his research notes, and sent him away after warning him about the Great Zhou Empire and reminding him of their agreement.

• Chu Qing found altered martial artists in Principal Shi Ji’s basement, and Principal Shi Ji admitted he had been experimenting on them and asked Chu Qing to help capture more people.
• Chu Qing invented explanations about blood types and compatibility, prompting Principal Shi Ji to resume his experiments on two captives.
• Chu Qing searched the expanded basement, registered the secret inheritances in his Profession Slot, and found that the Overlord Spear inheritance was listed as Mastery.
• Principal Shi Ji gave Chu Qing a booklet of his research, destroyed the boxes of secret inheritances, and said another self had taken control of his body.
• Chu Qing explained dissociative identity disorder, and Principal Shi Ji warned him that the Great Zhou Empire was far more powerful than the Great Gan Empire.
• Chu Qing promised to go to the Imperial Capital and bring out the woman, then Principal Shi Ji shared more Martial Academy secrets and sent him away.

Chu Qing visited Madam Shi’s residence, learned how Nangong had rescued Cui Moyang, and agreed to help Madam Shi target the Bai Family after the Third Limit experts left. He then met Gong Wudi and learned the Heaven-Connecting Path assessment would begin in two days, leaving Gong Wudi planning to seize a token and asking Chu Qing to help protect him.

• Chu Qing found corpses outside Madam Shi’s residence and learned Nangong had brought the injured Cui Moyang there after rescuing her from pursuers.
• Madam Shi explained that she wanted to kill members of the Bai Family, and Chu Qing agreed they would act after the Third Limit experts left.
• Chu Qing met Gong Wudi in a grove and heard that the assessment would offer three Heaven-Connecting Path Quotas through a token-seizing contest.
• Gong Wudi said he planned to take one of the two tokens given to contenders and asked Chu Qing to help hold off the experts pursuing him.
• Chu Qing agreed to help and suggested Gong Wudi flee into the wilderness, but Gong Wudi reminded him that leaving the provincial city would disqualify him.