Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing visited Mountain God Temple to speak with A'nu in exchange for the Princess Consort's valuable promise. He argued that poverty among ordinary people fueled the Millennial Tribulation's rebellions, but A'nu rejected his explanation, and he left with the promise still intact.

• Chu Qing accepted an invitation from the Princess Consort and followed people from Brocade World to Mountain God Temple while black-robed observers covered up his departure.
• The Princess Consort introduced Chu Qing to A'nu and asked him to speak with her in exchange for a promise.
• A'nu asked Chu Qing about the Millennial Tribulation, and he said rebellions arose because ordinary people could no longer survive.
• Chu Qing proposed feeding and warming ordinary people to delay rebellions, but A'nu blamed their poverty on laziness and dismissed him.
• The Princess Consort assured Chu Qing that her promise still stood, and Chu Qing left Mountain God Temple.

After perfecting his Golden Blood, Chu Qing set out to collect the Overlord Spear and noticed that someone was secretly watching him. He reached the Cui family-backed Blacksmith Shop, where the clerk told him the weapon needed one more day of work.

• Chu Qing brought his blood refinement to Perfection, healed hidden injuries, and felt his blood strengthen his sinews and bones.
• Chu Qing decided to pursue Perfection in every First Limit realm and planned to cultivate the Overlord Spear while delaying muscle tempering.
• Chu Qing left the Martial Academy and noticed both obvious followers and people watching him from homes along the streets.
• Chu Qing arrived at the Blacksmith Shop and asked to collect his Overlord Spear.
• The clerk led Chu Qing into the courtyard and explained that the weapon was still being forged, with only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of becoming divine-grade.

Chu Qing refused to use the Explosive Bear’s blood to finish his Overlord Spear, and Gong Yidao claimed the bear for a saber. After Gong Yidao showed off his new weapon, Chu Qing sensed a trace of killing intent from him.

• Chu Qing asked the blacksmiths to use his blood instead of the Explosive Bear’s, then let Gong Yidao take the bear for his saber.
• Gong Yidao introduced himself as a member of the Gong Family and thanked Chu Qing for exposing the fake Gong Wudi.
• Chu Qing attempted to bathe the Overlord Spear in his own blood but stopped when the blacksmiths explained that the weapon had to be thrust into a body while red-hot.
• Gong Yidao returned with a top-grade saber forged using the Explosive Bear and asked Chu Qing to admire it.
• Chu Qing sensed killing intent from Gong Yidao as he turned the saber in his hand.

Chu Qing used his own body to sharpen a blazing crimson spear, then killed Gong Yidao when he refused to appraise it. He named the weapon Domineering and left the blacksmiths shaken by what they had witnessed.

• Chu Qing grabbed the several-thousand-degree spear and drove it through his body, using his flesh and blood to form three-headed dragon patterns on the weapon.
• Chu Qing challenged Gong Yidao to appraise the spear, but Gong Yidao admitted he was afraid and refused.
• Chu Qing attacked with the Overlord Spear, shattered Gong Yidao's saber and pierced his heart.
• Gong Yidao praised the spear's domineering nature and asked its name, and Chu Qing named it Domineering before smashing Gong Yidao's head.
• Chu Qing asked the blacksmiths what they thought of the spear, then dragged away Gong Yidao's corpse as one blacksmith wrote in the ancestral ledger that Chu Qing was the finest material for sharpening weapons.

After Chu Qing killed Gong Yidao, the aristocratic families discovered that the Gong Family and others had been infiltrated by people wearing human skin, then destroyed the Gong Family and began checking their own ranks. The revelations also fueled distrust among the Transcendents, who feared that they too had been replaced and avoided gathering together.

• The Gong Family disavowed Gong Yidao, sent Chu Qing the heads of his relatives, and shocked the aristocratic families into preparing to destroy them.
• Chu Qing found human skin on Gong Yidao's corpse and warned Madam Shi and Nangong that other families might have been infiltrated.
• Nearly a hundred aristocratic families and King Shiyu attacked and destroyed the Gong Family, then found that its leaders, some of their own higher-ups, and servants had been replaced.
• Shi Zhongshan and the aristocratic descendants at the Martial Academy blamed In the Red Dust for the failed operation and said they would stop cooperating if it brought them no benefits.
• The Transcendents debated checking whether they had been replaced, but most refused to gather because they suspected other Transcendents and feared being hunted.

King Shiyu and the great families waited for Chu Qing to temper his flesh so they could control him, while Chu Qing trained the Overlord Spear toward breaking its limit. After receiving a letter from A'nu's sister, a Princess governing a prefectural city, he sent her advice on aiding disaster victims and resolved to leave the provincial city once he trained his body.

• King Shiyu traced the city's turmoil to Chu Qing and decided to wait until he tempered his flesh before trying to control him.
• Chu Qing trained the Overlord Spear until it reached Perfection and continued working toward the one billion repetitions needed to break its limit.
• Nangong delivered a fragrant letter from a woman to Chu Qing and left after he promised to help her cultivate that night.
• Chu Qing read a letter from A'nu's elder sister, who called herself the Princess and asked how to handle disaster victims in her prefectural city.
• Chu Qing wrote the Princess several dozen pages of advice and gave his reply to a masked messenger who moved at Third Limit speed.
• Chu Qing returned to training and planned to temper his body before leaving the provincial city for the main city or the Imperial Capital.

Princess acted on Chu Qing’s work-for-relief proposal and sent a female official to carry it out in Shi State City. As the city’s commoners began clearing snow and rebuilding, Chu Qing recognized his idea in the relief effort and went to the Shi Residence, where he found Madam Shi cultivating alone in the snow.

• Princess spent hours reading Chu Qing’s letter, then ordered grain distribution and work-for-relief in Shi State City.
• Princess sent a female official with instructions to protect Chu Qing and organize repairs, canals, farmland, and roads.
• King Shiyu and the aristocratic families worried about the female official’s arrival and agreed to accommodate her to avoid provoking Princess.
• The female official ordered the registration of commoners and began organizing public works, with the aristocratic families and Wu Fortress masters supplying funds and tools.
• Chu Qing saw commoners clearing snow and rebuilding houses for food and clothing, recognized his proposal, and wondered how Princess had influenced the city.
• Chu Qing visited the Shi Residence and found only Madam Shi, nearly buried in snow as she cultivated.

Chu Qing discovered that Madam Shi’s secret martial art was draining her emotions and learned she was preparing to open a second Heaven-Connecting Path. He returned to the Martial Academy determined to pursue his training and find a Viscera Secret Transmission, though he concluded that killing the aristocratic families blocking him might be his only path.

• Chu Qing found Madam Shi frozen and emotionless, and she explained that her secret martial art could erase her feelings when she reached the Third Limit.
• Madam Shi told Chu Qing that breaking through the Third Limit might restore her, but losing her emotions could also make cultivation impossible.
• Madam Shi explained that she had opened a Heaven-Connecting Path through fists and feet and wanted to open paths through weapons and Esoteric Arts as well.
• Madam Shi said Madam Jin had entered seclusion after gaining insight from reading, and Chu Qing learned she was resting in an underground chamber.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and planned to break the Overlord Spear’s limit, complete flesh training, and seek a Viscera Secret Transmission.
• Chu Qing rejected traveling to the Great Zhou Empire for a secret transmission and concluded that he might have to kill the aristocratic families standing in his way.

Chu Qing broke the Overlord Spear’s limit, gained its bloodline, and fused it into his unopened second profession. He discovered that the aristocratic families were using access to top-tier muscle-tempering techniques to control him, but rejected their offers and prepared to train with his own secret transmission.

• Chu Qing completed the Overlord Spear’s promotion condition, gained the Overlord Spear Bloodline, and fused it into his unopened second profession.
• Chu Qing applied at the Library Pavilion for a top-tier Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission and learned that the assessment required crushing Zheng Zhisheng’s Rebel Army and rescuing fifteen cities.
• Chu Qing questioned the Martial Master about the assessment, then left without being intimidated by the task or the aristocratic families’ restrictions.
• Chu Qing realized he could train using the Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission given to him by the Daoist Nun, Golden Inlaid Jade.
• A Cui family member offered Chu Qing a secret transmission if he married into their family and pledged loyalty, but Chu Qing refused.
• Scions from other aristocratic families visited Chu Qing with harsher terms, and he rejected them one by one.

The great houses believed Chu Qing’s path to a Blood Refining Secret Transmission had been cut off, but he successfully began cultivating the Golden Inlaid Jade Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission. As spring arrived, he rapidly advanced through muscle tempering while Nangong searched for a secret transmission for his Five Viscera and Six Bowels.

• The great houses discussed Chu Qing’s stalled assessment and planned to join the Rebel Army in a year, though some feared his rapid progress and aptitude.
• Chu Qing cultivated Golden Inlaid Jade while Nangong stood guard, then chose recovery traits and used Internal Vision to repair and strengthen his flesh.
• Chu Qing successfully circulated Golden Inlaid Jade, and Nangong celebrated his having a top-tier Muscle Tempering Secret Transmission.
• Chu Qing told Nangong he still lacked a secret transmission for the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, so she went to seek one through the Thousand Eyes Alliance.
• Chu Qing swallowed secret medicine and rapidly tempered his flesh as winter ended and spring came to the prefectural city.

Stone Province absorbed hundreds of thousands of refugees into road-building and farmland reclamation, improving safety and prosperity while reducing the Rebel Army’s manpower. The Princess recognized the scale of Chu Qing’s plan, wrote him a detailed letter asking for guidance, and ordered an elite Jinxiutian squad summoned.

• Stone Province arrested beggars, vagrants, criminals, and troublemaking martial artists and put them to work building roads and reclaiming farmland.
• Merchants welcomed cleaner streets and safer roads, while refugees streamed into the provincial city for food and wages.
• A female official reported that the Princess’s instructions could turn refugees into an obedient labor force and future army.
• The Princess’s intelligence report revealed that more than six hundred thousand people had entered the provincial city in February, prompting her to consider the plan’s empire-wide consequences.
• The Princess spent a day writing Chu Qing a serious letter of thanks and questions, then ordered a squad of Jinxiutian’s most elite people summoned.

Chu Qing sent the Princess a bundle of improvised political and scientific theories, which Brocade World circulated and the Princess studied with unexpected seriousness. As the Princess grew troubled by political developments, Chu Qing returned to the Shi Residence, where Madam Jin emerged from seclusion with a transformed presence.

• Chu Qing advanced rapidly in flesh training but struggled to obtain the secret transmissions for the five viscera and six bowels.
• Chu Qing answered the Princess's questions about governance with a thick letter of theories, including the Theory of Relativity and assembly-line production, and told Brocade World that the contents concerned the Empire's foundation.
• A dispute among Brocade World's thirty-six-person squad left only thirty-five reaching the Princess, who investigated the incident and then opened Chu Qing's letter.
• Brocade World copied and distributed Chu Qing's letter, while the Princess studied its ideas, nearly went berserk over the Theory of Relativity, and considered the military potential of the assembly line.
• The Princess learned that only a little over thirty female-official candidates were worth attention and wondered why other main cities lacked recommendations from top Lineages.
• Madam Jin emerged from seclusion at the Shi Residence with a more imposing, otherworldly presence, leaving Chu Qing hesitant to approach her.

Chu Qing learned that Madam Jin might awaken an extraordinary bloodline, then received secret transmissions from Cui Moyang before she left for Great Zhou to grow stronger. After Nangong Xiao found news of Viscera Secret Transmissions brought to Stone Province, Chu Qing decided to buy their location from Human World.

• Madam Jin told Chu Qing that reading had awakened part of her ancestor's extraordinary bloodline, and he returned to the Martial Academy after spending the night with her and Madam Shi.
• Cui Moyang announced she was going to Great Zhou to kill people and strengthen herself, and Chu Qing and Nangong Xiao exchanged secret transmissions with her before she departed.
• Nangong Xiao grieved over Cui Moyang's departure, even after hydraulic forging began producing Thousand-Forged and Ten-Thousand-Forged Copper.
• Nangong Xiao told Chu Qing that secret transmissions, including several Viscera Secret Transmissions, had been found in a desert ruin and carried to Stone Province.
• Chu Qing learned the Thousand Eyes Alliance had no specific location for the transmissions and decided to buy information from Human World.

Chu Qing searched for the people from the Great Desert who supposedly carried the Five Viscera and Six Bowels secret transmission, but began to suspect their arrival and the leaked information were part of a plot. Outside the city, four men revealed they were using the secret transmission as bait to lure him into an ambush.

• Human World failed to locate the people from the Great Desert and ordered its agents to search the city and watch the roads.
• Chu Qing followed Human World's agents, but neither they nor Nangong found any trace of the strangers.
• Chu Qing reasoned that the Great Desert group had deliberately come to Stone Province and questioned whether the trail to their secret transmission was a trap.
• At a thatched tavern outside the city, four brawny men wrote messages in wine and discussed luring Chu Qing with the Five Viscera and Six Bowels secret transmission.
• The four men decided to leak more information after Chu Qing failed to take the bait.

Chu Qing followed rumors of a secret transmission from the desert people to Grass Head Mountain, where martial artists had gathered amid suspicious clashes and rising fireworks. He disguised himself and joined the crowd as rival groups rushed into the mountains and began fighting.

• Chu Qing searched the thatched huts outside the city for people from the desert and learned that others were also asking about them.
• Chu Qing reached a burning tavern, healed a wounded child, and heard from the widow that guests had fought over a secret transmission before fleeing west toward Grass Head Mountain.
• Chu Qing suspected the desert arrivals had deliberately drawn attention, then disguised himself and joined a group heading for Grass Head Mountain.
• At the mountain’s foot, Big Brother Leader proposed sharing copies of the secret transmission, but other martial artists mocked him.
• As battle cries and fireworks rose from Grass Head Mountain, teams charged inside and began killing one another before locating the secret transmission.

Chu Qing’s squad fought its way toward the Viscera Secret Transmission on Grass Head Mountain while Chu Qing observed the hidden agendas among his companions and tested his growing strength. Elsewhere, Daoist Master Zi Qing and a young man awaited Chu Qing, who hoped to kill him and claim the Golden Inlaid Jade.

• Big Brother led Chu Qing’s squad through the mountains, urging them to capture scholars and copy the secret transmission while Chu Qing noticed a bald man secretly sending carrier pigeons for reinforcements.
• At the central mountain, Chu Qing killed a masked attacker and watched ambushes replace half the squad, while Big Brother kept pushing the group toward the summit.
• In a prefectural-city Taoist temple, Daoist Master Zi Qing discussed Chu Qing’s chances of arriving with a young zither player who planned to kill him and win his mother’s praise.
• King Shiyu’s armored soldiers blocked the squad, but Big Brother led everyone around them; Chu Qing judged the soldiers easy to defeat, though he stayed with the group.
• The squad fought through aristocratic servants, losing seven or eight people before reaching the chaotic mountaintop, where several teams battled amid scattered corpses.

Chu Qing and the gathered martial artists fought over the secret inheritance, but four supposedly desert experts proved overwhelmingly powerful. Big Brother Leader challenged them and was badly wounded, then recognized them as members of the Round Moon Demonic Palace.

• Big Brother Leader persuaded the gathered martial artists to stop fighting one another and attack the four curved-saber wielders for the secret inheritance.
• Chu Qing suspected the four men were not from the desert and prepared to fight for the original inheritance as they cut down more than a hundred martial artists.
• Several concealed First Limit Experts attacked the four men but were swiftly wounded, and the crowd learned their opponents were Second Limit Experts.
• Big Brother Leader revealed his Brocade Clothes and Miao Dao, then fought the four men while Chu Qing and the bald man watched.
• The four curved-saber wielders emerged uninjured while Big Brother Leader was left bleeding, and he recognized them as people from the Round Moon Demonic Palace.

Chu Qing confronted four saber experts from the Round Moon Demonic Palace, who had used the Five Viscera and Six Bowels secret transmission as bait to lure him out. He killed one of them with a single spear assault and demanded the secret transmission from the survivors.

• The Round Moon Demonic Palace’s arrival terrified the gathered martial artists, and several chose death over resisting or fleeing.
• Chu Qing walked through the group’s oppressive aura and demanded that the four saber experts hand over the Five Viscera and Six Bowels secret transmission.
• The saber experts revealed that the secret transmission was only bait to lure Chu Qing, whose path to obtaining it had supposedly been cut off.
• One saber expert attacked Chu Qing and shattered his Full Moon Saber against Chu Qing’s spear.
• Chu Qing killed the saber expert with a flurry of spear thrusts, crushed his head underfoot, and demanded the secret transmission from the remaining three.

Chu Qing fought his way toward the provincial city to seize the Viscera Secret Transmission, carrying a wounded Round Moon man who claimed it was hidden in a Taoist Temple. As Chu Qing approached the temple, Daoist Master Zi Qing and the young zither player sensed him coming and prepared for a possible fight.

• Chu Qing killed two Round Moon men, forced the last survivor to reveal that the Viscera Secret Transmission was in a Taoist Temple in the provincial city, and took him along as a guide.
• A bald man sent carrier pigeons urging the Great Figures to intercept Chu Qing, and warning signals spread to King Shiyu's Mansion.
• Chu Qing charged through the heavily armored soldiers at the city gate, killing and maiming those in his path.
• Chu Qing demanded directions from the dying Round Moon man, who pointed toward the Taoist Temple and begged for secret medicine.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing swallowed the incense smoke as the young zither player sensed someone approaching at 2.2 times the speed of sound and hoped it was Chu Qing.

Chu Qing fought the zither-playing youth and demanded the Viscera Secret Transmission, but learned that Daoist Master Zi Qing was the true leader of the group. Zi Qing challenged Chu Qing’s right to demand his prized secret transmission, and Chu Qing answered by mocking him and ordering him to hand it over.

• Chu Qing shattered the zither player's sound attacks and blocked his Tenth String technique with the sun and moon, leaving the youth shocked by his strength.
• The zither-playing youth offered Chu Qing secret transmissions, including high-grade ones, in exchange for working for him, but Chu Qing said he could take them by killing him.
• Chu Qing recognized Daoist Master Zi Qing as the group's core and demanded the Viscera Secret Transmission from him.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing praised the youth for traveling beyond Great Zhou, then challenged Chu Qing to name his ability and boasted about his secret transmission.
• Chu Qing mocked Zi Qing by guessing that he had knelt and handed over the secret transmission to survive, then demanded that he hand it over.