Chapter Summaries

The Cui Family investigated whether Gong Wudi had been replaced, while Shi Zhongshan plotted to use In the Red Dust to obtain the imperial family's secret transmissions. At Chu Qing's room, Chu Qing stitched Nangong's severe wound and discovered that closing it made it heal much faster, prompting Cui Moyang to consider the same treatment.

• The Cui Family questioned whether Gong Wudi had been replaced after discovering that nearly everyone close to him had died, and they strengthened their guard and investigation.
• Shi Zhongshan told the In the Red Dust prodigies that they had completed a mission and planned to earn enough points to obtain the imperial family's First Limit secret transmissions.
• Nangong and Cui Moyang discussed how the strange power in their injuries prevented them from healing, while Chu Qing offered to examine their wounds.
• Chu Qing stitched Nangong's long back wound, and Nangong said it was healing at least five times faster.
• Chu Qing explained how to prevent a scar after the wound healed, and Nangong urged him to stitch Cui Moyang's wound next.

Chu Qing treated Cui Moyang and Nangong after their battle, then went to the Shi Residence to visit Madam Jin. There, he found Madam Shi unconscious and learned she had been badly weakened after killing people to help him, leaving him wondering who her enemies had been.

• Chu Qing stitched Cui Moyang's abdominal wound, and she and Nangong agreed to recover quickly so they could help him fight Gong Wudi, King Shiyu, and the great clans.
• Chu Qing treated his own injuries, disguised his face with a silk garment from Nangong, and left the Martial Academy for the Shi Residence.
• At the Shi Residence, Chu Qing found Madam Shi unconscious despite there being no visible wounds on her body.
• Madam Jin told Chu Qing that Madam Shi had returned bloodied the previous night, hidden her in a secret chamber, and later gone out to kill people on Chu Qing's behalf.
• Chu Qing suspected Zheng Zhixiang but doubted he could have injured Madam Shi, and he wondered who she had fought.

Madam Shi told Chu Qing that Gong Wudi had been killed and replaced by someone wearing his skin, and that she had been injured while hunting the impostors. The mysterious dean visited Chu Qing to thank him for taking the token and explained the struggle among factions over how the empire would survive the approaching Millennial Calamity.

• Madam Shi told Chu Qing that killers had skinned Gong Wudi, disguised a young man as him, and injured her with a strange mirror.
• Madam Shi revealed that she had returned to kill the attackers for Chu Qing, though the fake Gong Wudi escaped.
• The mysterious dean arrived and thanked Chu Qing for taking the token, which otherwise would have reached the great clans or King Shiyu.
• The mysterious dean explained that he had backed a mutual-aid organization to help ordinary people rise and described the factions preparing for the Millennial Calamity.
• The mysterious dean told Chu Qing that a token-bearing ordinary genius had died after Qin Wushang beat him and stray dogs devoured him, then agreed with the great clans' belief that people could never escape their origins.

The mysterious principal explained that Madam Shi had been harmed by an Other’s exotic treasure and directed Chu Qing to seek help at a ruined Wind and Snow Temple. He gave Chu Qing a token for Muscle Tempering resources or a future assassination, then left after warning him not to reveal the principal’s involvement in a plot against the Others.

• The mysterious principal said an exotic treasure had caused Madam Shi’s injuries and that only an Other could help her.
• Chu Qing asked where to find an Other, and the principal directed him to the ruined Wind and Snow Temple outside the city.
• The principal warned Chu Qing never to mention him to the Other, threatening to kill Chu Qing and others if he was exposed.
• The principal gave Chu Qing a Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, but Chu Qing said a Daoist Nun had already given him one.
• The principal offered Chu Qing a Jade Pendant token that could be exchanged for a Perfection-level allocation of Muscle Tempering resources or one chance to have the principal kill an enemy.
• The principal departed, and Chu Qing learned that the secret transmission he had offered was stolen.

Chu Qing went to an abandoned Mountain God Temple at the mysterious dean’s instruction and encountered a beautiful woman he suspected was an Otherfolk. After a tense conversation, he told her he had come to save someone.

• Madam Jin comforted Chu Qing about the token while Madam Shi worried that Chu Qing could not handle the Otherfolk.
• Chu Qing left the Shi Residence and found an abandoned Mountain God Temple in the snow.
• Chu Qing discovered fresh supplies and fine women’s clothes in the temple, then found a white-robed woman praying beneath a damaged statue.
• The woman questioned Chu Qing about the Gods and Devils, the broken statues, and who had sent him, but he claimed instinct had brought him there.
• The woman asked whether Chu Qing had come to take her back or kill her, and Chu Qing said he had come to save someone.

Chu Qing agreed to take a mysterious woman to Madam Shi so she could save her and stay with her. On the way to the prefectural city, he gave starving men money, killed servants who tried to attack them, and was recognized by a convoy's martial artist.

• The woman asked Chu Qing to save her, and he agreed to bring her to the person he wanted to save in exchange for letting her stay there.
• Chu Qing wrapped the woman in bedding and carried her away, then slowed down at her request so she could look at the snowy scenery.
• Chu Qing gave Silver Notes to burly men who were digging up grass roots for food, but they feared him and begged for mercy.
• When servants rode up to punish the men for taking grass roots from their master's land, Chu Qing killed the servants and left the men with the money.
• Near the prefectural city, youths from a convoy confronted Chu Qing over their dead dogs, and one of their martial artists recognized him as Lord Chu Qing.

Chu Qing brought a mysterious woman to the Shi Residence to treat Madam Shi, then guarded her after she revived Madam Shi. The woman asked Chu Qing to protect her and conceal her identity for a few days, and he agreed.

• Chu Qing frightened several great-clan youths into smiling, explained that he had killed their armed servants under Imperial law, and rode away.
• The youths realized Chu Qing had killed their servants for disturbing peasants who were gathering grass roots, so they spared the men and discussed helping peasants to win Chu Qing's favor.
• Chu Qing carried the woman to the Shi Residence, announced that enemies could come after him, and introduced her as the person who could treat Madam Shi.
• The woman explained how the Soul-Severing Treasure destroyed its victims and told Madam Shi she could cure her.
• After Chu Qing and Madam Jin waited outside, the woman opened the door and Madam Shi sat up, restored to health.
• The woman asked Chu Qing to protect her and keep her presence secret for a few days, and Chu Qing agreed.

Chu Qing reviewed his martial arts, resources, and enemies before leaving to return to the Martial Academy. Madam Jin and Liuli continued probing one another, while Madam Shi wondered how the snowstorm might affect the Rebel Army and the approaching Millennial Tribulation.

• Madam Jin and Madam Shi questioned Liuli about her age, marriage, and feelings for Chu Qing, and Liuli said she already had dozens of children.
• Chu Qing assessed his Blood Refinement, Eight Divine Hands, Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission, and Overlord Spear, resolving to find ways to strengthen them.
• Chu Qing decided to use the fake Gong Wudi for resources before killing him and vowed to destroy King Shiyu and the aristocratic families if they blocked his progress.
• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing to consult Nangong and the others before acting against Gong Wudi, and Chu Qing left for the Martial Academy.
• Madam Jin and Liuli schemed while Madam Shi watched the snow and wondered how many years remained until the Millennial Tribulation.

Chu Qing rested at the Martial Academy, discovered that helping Nangong Xiao cultivate also advanced Sun and Moon, and told Cui Moyang he planned to kill Gong Wudi before the New Year break. He tracked Gong Wudi to a stone house and tried to get past the Martial Master guarding it.

• Nangong Xiao used Chu Qing to cultivate the third volume of the Heavenly Demon Strategy, and Chu Qing found that Sun and Moon's progress increased more than twenty times in five hours.
• Cui Moyang warned Chu Qing to keep himself and Nangong Xiao in check as they pursued the perfect First Limit, and Chu Qing said he would deal with Gong Wudi within days.
• Chu Qing explained that the Martial Academy would soon empty for the New Year and resolved to kill Gong Wudi, though he feared the impostor's hidden abilities and powerful backers.
• Chu Qing offered Class Nine students black gold coins and blood-refinement resources to locate Gong Wudi, and they found him in a stone house.
• Chu Qing asked the Martial Master guarding the stone house to let him speak with Gong Wudi, but the Martial Master said Gong Wudi was in seclusion.

Chu Qing forced Gong Wudi to hand over the promised cultivation resources and temporarily took custody of the resources meant for opening the Heaven-Connecting Path. After Gong Wudi returned to seclusion, Chu Qing shared the secret medicine with Nangong and Cui Moyang and planned to find more flesh-refining resources.

• Chu Qing broke into Gong Wudi’s stone house and demanded the resources promised in exchange for the quota.
• When Gong Wudi tried to delay, Chu Qing took the chest of Heaven-Connecting Path resources and threatened him until Gong Wudi agreed to deliver Chu Qing’s resources.
• Gong Wudi’s carrier pigeons were shot down, so he fetched the resources himself and exchanged chests with Chu Qing.
• Martial Master returned from admiring the snow, and Chu Qing told him to stop and get back to work.
• Gong Wudi moved rooms and resumed seclusion, vowing to open the Heaven-Connecting Path and later crush Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing showed Nangong and Cui Moyang the blood-refining secret medicine, agreed they could kill Gong Wudi, and said he still needed to obtain flesh-refining resources.

Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, and Cui Moyang confronted Gong Wudi at the stone house and demanded flesh-refining resources and Sun Gold Moon Jade. Gong Wudi agreed to fetch the secret medicine and promised to obtain the jade within a month, while Chu Qing left the chest alone for now.

• Gong Wudi worked to carve out the Heaven-Connecting Path while Martial Master questioned why he was guarding the stone house instead of spending New Year's with his family.
• Chu Qing, Nangong Xiao, and Cui Moyang arrived, and Chu Qing persuaded Martial Master to go home after giving him a thousand black gold coins.
• Chu Qing broke into the stone house and demanded flesh-refining resources from Gong Wudi.
• Nangong Xiao and Cui Moyang pressured Gong Wudi to provide Sun Gold Moon Jade as well, and Gong Wudi agreed to fetch the secret medicine while asking for a month to obtain the jade.
• Nangong Xiao suggested taking the chest, but Chu Qing refused unless Gong Wudi withheld the secret medicine.

Chu Qing spent the New Year at Shi Residence, then returned to the Martial Academy and rapidly advanced his blood refinement while completing an assessment task about the Rebel Army in Shi Prefecture City. The intelligence revealed that Zheng Zhisheng had gathered several people connected to Chu Qing under his command, including Tang Wuming, whose role as logistics general suggested a possible bid for power.

• Chu Qing and Gong Wudi exchanged resources after Gong Wudi endured another deadly interception, and both secretly resolved to kill the other.
• Chu Qing consumed secret medicine day and night while Cui Moyang healed and Nangong cultivated the third volume of the Heavenly Demon Dance on him.
• Madam Jin summoned Chu Qing for New Year's Day, and he celebrated at Shi Residence with Nangong, Cui Moyang, Madam Shi, and Madam Jin.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with Nangong, and after ten days his blood refinement reached the Silver level while Nangong neared Perfection in the third volume.
• Chu Qing bought and submitted detailed Human World intelligence for his assessment, learning that Zheng Zhisheng commanded Ximen, Qing Feng, Ming Yue, and Tang Wuming in Shi Prefecture City.

Tang Wuming quietly built his own influence within the Rebel Army and sent Chu Qing resources, while Zheng Zhisheng sought the secret behind Chu Qing’s strength. Chu Qing cultivated Sun Moon with Nangong and planned to return to the Shi Residence to advance Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon to Perfection.

• Tang Wuming assessed Chu Qing’s rise, judged Zheng Zhisheng’s Rebel Army poorly managed, and continued recruiting obedient commoners into his own network.
• Tang Wuming followed Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s advice and sent Chu Qing cultivation manuals, blood-refining medicines, and over a thousand Stone Bamboo Pearls.
• Zheng Zhisheng wondered how Chu Qing had gained such a powerful foundation and vowed to make him submit after marching into the provincial capital.
• Chu Qing cultivated the Heavenly Demon Strategy with Nangong, greatly increasing his Sun Moon progress before Nangong became exhausted.
• Chu Qing decided to visit Madam Jin at the Shi Residence, obtain Sun Gold Moon Jade, and advance Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon to Perfection.

Gong Wudi continued preparing to carve out the Heaven-Connecting Path while Chu Qing completed the third condition for Sun Moon and set his sights on taking Sun Gold Moon Jade from Gong Wudi. Shi Tiezhu found Zhao Hongxiu and confessed his feelings, urging her to return with him as he boasted about his progress and dismissed Chu Qing.

• Gong Wudi consumed vast resources and cultivated more than five hundred limit-breaking techniques as he worked toward carving out the Heaven-Connecting Path and planned to use Sun Gold Moon Jade against Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing had Madam Jin, Zhao Hongxiu, and the maidservants help him complete the third condition for Eight Divine Hands: Sun Moon, leaving only the Sun Gold Moon Jade requirement unmet.
• Chu Qing decided he would get the ten pieces of Sun Gold Moon Jade from Gong Wudi before killing him.
• Shi Tiezhu arrived at the Shi Residence and found Zhao Hongxiu, who told him she was doing well with Nangong and Cui Moyang.
• Shi Tiezhu confessed that he liked Zhao Hongxiu and asked her to return with him, citing his copper-level training and future prospects while claiming Chu Qing could not compare to him.

Shi Tiezhu learned that Zhao Hongxiu and Chu Qing far surpassed him, while Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with three women and prepared to attack Gong Wudi for resources. Gong Wudi mistook their visit for a possible attempt to expose and kill him, and planned to use Sun Gold Moon Jade to buy time until he could suppress Chu Qing.

• Zhao Hongxiu told Shi Tiezhu that he could not match her or Chu Qing, then lifted a massive stone lion to demonstrate her strength.
• Shi Tiezhu knelt outside the Shi Residence gates in despair after Zhao Hongxiu left, then vowed to surpass her by returning to the provincial city.
• Chu Qing sketched intimate clothing while Zhao Hongxiu ground ink, and Madam Shi called the designs shameless before demanding a set to critique.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy with Madam Shi, summoned Cui Moyang, and planned to confront Gong Wudi for Sun Gold Moon Jade before attacking him.
• Gong Wudi learned that Chu Qing had arrived with Nangong, Cui Moyang, and Madam Shi, and decided to use the jade to delay them while he prepared to open part of the Heaven-Connecting Path.

Chu Qing forced Gong Wudi to hand over Sun Gold Moon Jade, then consumed it to perfect Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon and dramatically increase his strength. When the Vice Principals tried to punish him for taking the resources, Chu Qing seized one by the neck and slammed him to the ground, leaving the others furious and threatening his expulsion and execution.

• Gong Wudi stalled Chu Qing until he could arrange for the Vice Principals to arrive, then handed Chu Qing ten portions of Sun Gold Moon Jade.
• Chu Qing crushed the Sun Gold Moon Jade and completed the requirements for Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon—Perfection.
• Chu Qing's body transformed, and he sensed that his muscles, bones, and strength had grown far stronger.
• Gong Wudi accused Chu Qing of illegally taking Heaven-Connecting Resources, and a Vice Principal declared that he had violated academy rules.
• Chu Qing grabbed the Vice Principal by the neck and slammed him to the ground.
• The remaining Vice Principals threatened to expel and execute Chu Qing while Gong Wudi gloated.

Black-robed enforcers moved to expel Chu Qing for seizing Heaven-Connecting Resources, but he accused Gong Wudi of being an impostor wearing stolen human skin. Chu Qing tore off Gong Wudi’s skin in a fight, exposing an unfamiliar youth and leaving him screaming for his disguise to be returned.

• Black-robed enforcers arrived and ordered Chu Qing to leave the Martial Academy, while students tried to send the news to their Lineages with carrier pigeons that others shot down.
• Chu Qing accused the enforcers of breaking the rules and claimed Gong Wudi had been killed and replaced by someone wearing his skin.
• After a student confirmed that treated human skin could be worn as a disguise, Chu Qing demanded that Gong Wudi peel it off to prove his identity.
• Gong Wudi challenged Chu Qing to prove he was real too, but Chu Qing attacked and shattered Gong Wudi’s right hand with Eight Divine Hands: Sun and Moon.
• Madam Shi blocked the black-robed enforcers as Chu Qing caught Gong Wudi and tore the human skin from his neck, revealing an unfamiliar youth.
• The exposed impostor insisted he was Gong Wudi and charged at Chu Qing, begging for his human skin back.

Chu Qing exposed the fake Gong Wudi, forced him to reveal where the real Gong Wudi was buried, and learned that the impostor belonged to the powerful organization In the Red Dust. News of Chu Qing’s brutality spread, causing powerful families to reconsider provoking him.

• Chu Qing confronted the fake Gong Wudi, who revealed that the real Gong Wudi’s corpse was in a burned-out ruin in Locust Flower Alley after Chu Qing tortured him.
• Chu Qing recovered Gong Wudi’s corpse, had it burned at his request, and stored the ashes in a box.
• A black-robed figure told Chu Qing that the fake Gong Wudi belonged to In the Red Dust and warned him about the organization’s reach and influence.
• Chu Qing dismissed the warning and asked whether In the Red Dust was more terrifying than he was.
• Stories of Chu Qing’s treatment of the fake Gong Wudi spread through the provincial and prefectural cities, leading aristocratic families to avoid further conflict with him.
• A Human World intelligence officer recorded Chu Qing as exceptionally cruel and advised that he be approached with caution.

After receiving a Martial Academy reward, Chu Qing prioritized the Overlord Spear and gave Nangong a water-powered forging blueprint. He accompanied Madam Shi and Nangong to a tailor shop to have his close-fitting clothing designs made, where Madam Shi jealously guarded the designs.

• The Martial Academy rewarded Chu Qing with one hundred pieces of Sun Gold Moon Jade, and he told Nangong and Madam Shi to handle the materials and techniques for Eight Divine Hands while he pursued Perfect Blood Refinement and the Overlord Spear.
• Chu Qing gave Nangong a water-powered forging blueprint, which she recognized as a major improvement for forging and refining minerals.
• Madam Shi reminded Chu Qing that he had promised to make clothes for her, so he took her to a tailor shop while Nangong brought Cui Moyang and requested several sets as well.
• Madam Shi cleared the shop of other customers and asked the tailor to make the clothes from Chu Qing's blueprints.
• Chu Qing explained the designs to the tailor and encouraged her to study them, but Madam Shi threatened her and insisted she not make the clothes for anyone else without permission.

Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy while Princess Consort and A'nu discussed his reputation and the dangers surrounding them. A'nu insisted on meeting Chu Qing, so the Princess Consort sent Brocade World to invite him cautiously.

• Madam Shi, Nangong, and Cui Moyang stayed at the tailor's shop while Chu Qing went back to the Martial Academy.
• Chu Qing crossed snow-cleared streets and reflected on the empire's decay and the suffering of ordinary people.
• At a Mountain God Temple, Princess Consort urged A'nu to return, but A'nu asked about the provincial city and heard about Chu Qing.
• A'nu asked to meet Chu Qing, threatening not to return unless the Princess Consort arranged it.
• Princess Consort sent Brocade World to find Chu Qing and warned them to approach him humbly because he was ruthless and had killed King Shiyu's son.