Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing fought Daoist Master Zi Qing, whose terrifying aura and Golden Toad Secret Transmission made him a formidable opponent. Their battle remained deadlocked as it destroyed the Daoist temple and spread into the street.

• Daoist Master Zi Qing threatened Chu Qing, but Chu Qing resisted his aura and challenged him to a fight.
• Chu Qing attacked with his Overbearing Spear and Eight Divine Hands: Thousand Arms, while Daoist Master Zi Qing blocked his rapid strikes.
• Chu Qing's Thousand Arms Cannot Defend progress increased as Daoist Master Zi Qing repeatedly stopped his attacks.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing activated the Golden Toad Secret Transmission, prompting the qin-playing youth to warn Chu Qing that the technique strengthened his realms.
• Chu Qing demanded Daoist Master Zi Qing reveal his secret transmission, and the two fought to a deadlock that collapsed the temple and wrecked the surrounding street.

Chu Qing fought Daoist Master Zi Qing while onlookers speculated about his extraordinary foundation and strength. As Zi Qing sought to seize Chu Qing’s Golden Inlaid Jade, Chu Qing perfected Thousand Arms Cannot Defend, grew even stronger, and overwhelmed him.

• Third Limit experts recognized Daoist Master Zi Qing and learned that his opponent was Chu Qing, whose deeds and low realm astonished them.
• The experts speculated about Chu Qing’s strength and fortuitous encounter, unaware that his foundation came from a real dragon sinew and Exotic Golden Bone.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing envied Chu Qing’s Golden Inlaid Jade and fought to defeat him for power, reputation, and the future of his lineage.
• Chu Qing’s Thousand Arms Cannot Defend reached Perfection, advancing Eight Divine Hands: Thousand Arms to Proficient and increasing his speed and power.
• Chu Qing’s attacks became faster and stronger, leaving Daoist Master Zi Qing unable to defend himself and despairing over having helped Chu Qing break through.

Daoist Master Zi Qing fled from Chu Qing across the empire, but Chu Qing relentlessly pursued and wounded him until he reached Peace Inn in the desert. Believing its rules and the powerful expert behind it would protect him, Daoist Master Zi Qing confronted Chu Qing as he entered the inn.

• The watching experts feared Chu Qing after Daoist Master Zi Qing fled, and they considered escaping in case Chu Qing killed him.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing tried to outrun and hide from Chu Qing, but Chu Qing repeatedly caught him and inflicted severe wounds during their battles.
• After a day and a night of pursuit, Daoist Master Zi Qing reached the desert and followed directions to Peace Inn, where the innkeeper promised him protection under its no-fighting rules.
• The attendants and innkeeper told Daoist Master Zi Qing that a powerful expert had enforced the inn's rules by killing Old Ancestor Wutian and hundreds of others.
• Chu Qing entered the inn with a bloodstained spear, and Daoist Master Zi Qing declared that the inn's expert would stop him from killing there.

Chu Qing forced Daoist Master Zi Qing to surrender the Golden Toad Method, fused it with Toad Skill, and gained the incomplete Golden Toad Swallows the Moon. He spared Zi Qing, who gave him the remaining half of the transmission and asked to stay at the Peace Inn.

• The Peace Inn welcomed Chu Qing, and the innkeeper and its residents recognized him as Master Qing.
• Chu Qing demanded the Viscera Secret Transmission from Daoist Master Zi Qing and persuaded him to hand it over in exchange for his life.
• Chu Qing learned the Golden Toad Method, fused it with Toad Skill, and received the incomplete Golden Toad Swallows the Moon, which strengthened him under moonlight.
• Daoist Master Zi Qing revealed that he had planted a flaw in the transmission, but Chu Qing spared him and ordered him not to appear again.
• Daoist Ziqing gave Chu Qing the remaining half of the Golden Toad Secret Transmission and asked the innkeeper if he could stay at the inn.

Chu Qing returned to Shi State City with Daoist Master Zi Qing’s human-skin secret transmission, but he, Madam Shi, and Nangong could not decipher its codes. Madam Jin recognized that one phrase referred to the eyes, giving Chu Qing hope that she could help unravel the transmission.

• Chu Qing returned to Shi State City and told Nangong and Madam Shi how Daoist Master Zi Qing had ended up cooking at Peace Inn.
• Shi State’s Third Limit experts and aristocratic families heard that Chu Qing had returned and plotted to block his access to secret transmissions and eventually kill him.
• Chu Qing, Madam Shi, and Nangong studied Daoist Master Zi Qing’s secret transmission but failed to understand its coded phrases.
• Madam Shi offered Chu Qing a different top-tier Viscera Secret Transmission, but he refused because he wanted one that could greatly increase his combat strength.
• Madam Jin noticed the phrase about the sun and moon revolving and suggested it meant the turning of the eyes, helping Chu Qing begin to decipher the transmission.

Madam Jin deciphered the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, and Chu Qing cultivated it, discovering it could grant three traits. Madam Shi and Nangong agreed to learn it and struggled to offer something in return, while Madam Shi slaughtered witnesses to protect the secret.

• Madam Jin deciphered the secret transmission, and Chu Qing initiated the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, which promised three traits and required him to swallow a Three-legged Golden Toad and forge a hundred-ton bronze one for promotion.
• Chu Qing told Madam Shi, Madam Jin, and Nangong that the method granted three traits, prompting Madam Shi to kill everyone she could find within five hundred meters of the Shi Residence who might have heard the secret.
• Chu Qing offered to teach the method to the three women without asking for payment, but Madam Jin declined because she wanted to awaken an Otherkin bloodline.
• Nangong offered to marry Chu Qing, while Madam Shi countered by pledging the Armored Soldier Sect as his vassal; Chu Qing refused to demand anything in return.
• Madam Shi sang opera for Chu Qing, and Nangong resolved to seize more branches of the Thousand Eyes Alliance to give him.

Princess learned that Qingzhou faced a famine and, unable to decide how to help its people, wrote to Chu Qing for advice. Meanwhile, Chu Qing ordered a ten-ton Golden Toad forged, and the blacksmiths asked to use his blood.

• Princess read a report on Chu Qing’s successful policies in Shi Province and considered promoting them elsewhere.
• Princess learned that Qingzhou’s grain prices had soared and people were starving, then decided to ask Chu Qing for help.
• Chu Qing inspected Nangong’s bronze workshop and ordered ten tons of bronze for a project.
• Chu Qing had the Cui family’s blacksmiths begin forging a ten-ton Golden Toad.
• The blacksmiths nervously asked Chu Qing if they could use his blood.

Chu Qing traded blood with the blacksmiths for a scroll containing Eight Divine Hands: Earth Fiend, bringing him closer to mastering all eight moves. After a young blacksmith revealed the secret transmission’s identity, Chu Qing killed him and ordered the blacksmiths to dispose of his body.

• The blacksmiths offered Chu Qing a centuries-old half-secret transmission in exchange for his blood, and he agreed.
• Chu Qing opened the box and learned Eight Divine Hands: Earth Fiend, leaving him with five of the eight moves mastered.
• The young blacksmith warned the others that the secret transmission was too valuable to trade, and Chu Qing realized he knew its significance.
• Chu Qing filled a jade box with his blood, and the blacksmiths thanked him while the young blacksmith protested that the trade was unfair.
• The young blacksmith began to reveal the transmission’s identity, so Chu Qing killed him and told the blacksmiths to burn his body in the furnace.

Chu Qing’s blood helped the blacksmiths forge an extraordinary longsword, and the servant who received it gained the Earth Fiend technique through his dreams. After learning about his new technique and returning to the Martial Academy, Chu Qing discovered that admissions were about to begin.

• The blacksmiths used Chu Qing’s blood on a longsword, producing a weapon with patterns like three dragons and a trace of divine-weapon traits.
• The blacksmiths urged Chu Qing to stay so they could use his blood to forge more weapons, but he left and they presented the longsword to a Great Figure of the Cui family.
• The Great Figure gave the longsword to a servant, who dreamed of learning blacksmithing and the Earth Fiend technique and found that cultivating it improved his realm.
• Chu Qing brought Eight Divine Hands: Earth Fiend to Nangong and Madam Shi, then studied the technique and its promotion condition.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and learned from a female student that new students would be admitted in three days.

Chu Qing buried himself in a pit to cultivate, turning the little grove into a forbidden ground for Martial Academy students. As new students arrived and asked why the grove was off limits, senior students began explaining its strange reputation.

• Chu Qing had senior students bury him in a pit, then sealed his breathing and cultivated underground, increasing his Earth Fiend progress.
• Students learned that Chu Qing was cultivating in the mound and began avoiding the grove, which became known as a forbidden ground.
• Chu Qing advanced through Iron Flesh, Bronze Flesh, and Silver Flesh while cultivating underground, but found Golden Flesh much slower to refine.
• New students arrived at the Martial Academy, including geniuses from prefecture cities, county towns, and the Rebel Army.
• Senior students led the newcomers around the grove and warned them not to enter, prompting them to ask what made it a forbidden ground.

A Senior Student told the newcomers how Chu Qing’s extraordinary exploits had made the grove a forbidden ground. When a Rebel Army prodigy challenged the grave there, Chu Qing emerged and brutally defeated the Rebel Army members who tried to stop him, dragging their companion toward the academy gates.

• The Senior Student recounted Chu Qing’s deeds and explained that the grove became forbidden after he buried himself there.
• A Rebel Army prodigy dismissed Chu Qing’s reputation, entered the grove, and challenged the grave mound.
• Chu Qing emerged carrying the prodigy and used him to smash through trees as he left the grove.
• Chu Qing ignored the Rebel Army members’ demands, dragged their companion onward, and crushed the fingers of one who attacked him.
• Chu Qing broke another attacker’s leg and fought off the remaining Rebel Army members, crippling them one after another.

Chu Qing killed a rebel prodigy, collected his Red Copper Golden Toad, and continued cultivating while the rebels discovered that his injuries could leave their fighters crippled. He learned the Earth Fiend method’s promotion requirements and planned to temper his five viscera before attempting them.

• Chu Qing dragged a rebel prodigy to the Martial Academy gates, killed him in front of the crowd, and went to the Cui family's Blacksmith Shop for his Red Copper Golden Toad.
• The blacksmiths loaded the ten-ton golden toad onto a specially made carriage, and Chu Qing cultivated flesh tempering as it was transported.
• The rebel prodigies reported Chu Qing to the Rebel Army, but a pharmacist found that their wounds would heal only if their strength caught up to his.
• Chu Qing reviewed the Earth Fiend method’s promotion conditions and concluded that he needed Earth Fiend qi after spending ten days buried in the earth.
• Chu Qing expected to perfect flesh tempering within two months, then planned to temper his five viscera and deal with the Three-legged Golden Toad.

Chu Qing threw the red-copper Golden Toad into the moat and clashed with Lan Yichen, a powerful Holy King Army general. He fulfilled the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method’s second condition, but both men were wounded, and Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy determined to grow stronger.

• Chu Qing ordered his men to throw the Golden Toad into the moat, where Lan Yichen arrived with the Pipa Woman and challenged him on behalf of the Holy King Army.
• Chu Qing lifted the ten-ton Golden Toad and smashed it at Lan Yichen’s boat, while Lan Yichen countered with Sword Qi that cut deeply into Chu Qing’s palm and cracked his Exotic Golden Bone.
• Chu Qing used three forms of Eight Divine Hands to suppress Lan Yichen’s Sword Qi and destroy the boat with the falling Golden Toad, completing the method’s second condition.
• Lan Yichen escaped with the Pipa Woman and revealed his name, while Chu Qing assessed his wound and returned to the Martial Academy to focus on flesh-tempering.
• Lan Yichen told the Pipa Woman that Chu Qing’s Eight Divine Hands had injured him and would take three to five days to heal.

After surviving Lan Yichen’s failed attempt to kill him, Chu Qing trained to recover and strengthen his martial arts, then sent the Princess advice on stabilizing grain prices. Impressed by his scheme, the Princess issued orders and summoned Mi Mei, a talented female official sought by powerful figures at court.

• Lan Yichen vowed to heal and kill Chu Qing, while the Pipa Woman urged him on after recruiting him to avenge her lover.
• Chu Qing practiced martial arts and consumed gold and jade to improve his Golden Inlaid Jade Secret Transmission and gain more Limit-Breaking Skills.
• Nangong delivered a letter from the Princess, and Chu Qing replied with a plan to buy grain from other cities and use outside merchants to pressure local grain merchants.
• Chu Qing sparred with Nangong, noticed her improvement, and continued training for three days.
• The Princess praised Chu Qing’s grain-price strategy, issued orders, and asked about outstanding female officials.
• After learning that the Emperor, Empress, and imperial consorts wanted Mi Mei, the Princess decided to speak with the Emperor and Empress and summoned Mi Mei.

Chu Qing advanced his cultivation while Nangong trained with him for nearly a month, then told him she was leaving to compete in the Thousand Eyes Alliance trial for Holy Maiden. She left the Martial Academy, determined to grow alongside Chu Qing rather than be left behind.

• Chu Qing spent five days practicing Limit-Breaking Skills, improved Golden Inlaid Jade to the proficient level, and found that his flesh refinement was progressing faster.
• Nangong cultivated the Heavenly Demon Strategy with Chu Qing for nearly a month, and both of their strength increased.
• Nangong told Chu Qing that she would leave to take part in the Thousand Eyes Alliance trial and compete for the Holy Maiden position, despite the danger.
• Nangong explained that she wanted to grow because Chu Qing was advancing so quickly, and she feared he would eventually look down on her as she did on Ximen.
• Nangong left the Martial Academy, where several old women met her, and she declared that she was the best person Chu Qing had ever met.

Chu Qing completed perfect Golden Flesh cultivation and sought a Three-legged Golden Toad to advance the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method. After reading an ancient text about the creature, he asked Madam Jin to deduce where the “southern mountain” might be, and she worked through the night.

• Nangong left for the Thousand Eyes Alliance’s trial grounds while Chu Qing continued cultivating.
• Chu Qing achieved Golden Flesh, greatly strengthening his blood, sinews, and bones, and planned to cultivate the Five Viscera and Six Bowels next.
• Unable to find a Three-legged Golden Toad, Chu Qing visited the Shi Residence and read an ancient text describing one south of the southern mountain.
• Chu Qing asked Madam Jin to deduce the mountain’s location, and she spent the day and evening working through maps.
• Madam Shi asked why Chu Qing wanted the toad, and he explained that consuming one would help him cultivate the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method.

Madam Jin deduced that Stone Ridge Mountain in Stone Rock County might be the ancient records’ South of Southern Mountain, where a Three-legged Golden Toad could be found, and Chu Qing set out to search for it. On the journey, he saw signs of a coming Great Drought across Rebel Army territory and arrived at Stone Rock County, heading straight for Stone Ridge Mountain.

• Madam Jin stayed up all night studying ancient records, then mapped Stone Ridge Mountain as South of Southern Mountain and said the Three-legged Golden Toad might be there.
• Chu Qing decided to search Stone Ridge Mountain for the Three-legged Golden Toad and left Madam Jin and Madam Shi with his Overbearing Spear.
• As Chu Qing traveled through Rebel Army territory, he saw ruined towns, failing crops, low rivers, and starving people, while an old farmer warned that a Great Drought was coming.
• Chu Qing worried that the Great Gan Empire might not withstand the succession of disasters and continued toward Stone Rock County.
• Chu Qing reached Stone Rock County, found its walls badly ruined, and went directly to Stone Ridge Mountain without entering the town.

Chu Qing returned to Stone Ridge Mountain, where Rebel Army soldiers guarded the starving miners under General Tang Wuming’s orders. After finding evidence that the Mountain God Temple woman had been injured, he avoided her trail and headed deeper into the forest to search for the Three-legged Golden Toad.

• Chu Qing immobilized the Rebel Army guards with his aura and learned that General Tang Wuming had ordered them to seal off Stone Ridge Mountain.
• A former Rebel Army spy identified Chu Qing to the guards, who realized he was the famous quarry figure they had heard about.
• Chu Qing found the bamboo house by the small lake and discovered a bloodstained scrap of silk from the woman of the Mountain God Temple.
• Chu Qing suspected the woman had fought another Otherkind, avoided the traces left by others, and continued into the mountain forest.
• After crossing several peaks, Chu Qing reached a remote, lush area and kept searching for the Three-legged Golden Toad.

Chu Qing searched Stone Ridge Mountain for the Three-legged Golden Toad and discovered a strange pattern of icy lakes as he ventured deeper. He rescued the wounded Princess Consort, who told him her enemies were dead and returned to claim their spoils; her chant set their corpses ablaze.

• Chu Qing searched dozens of peaks for the Three-legged Golden Toad but found none, and he noticed icy lakes appearing on high mountains in a repeating pattern.
• As a distant roar approached, Chu Qing fled and found the Princess Consort crashing into the bamboo forest, then carried her away at twice the speed of sound.
• The Princess Consort told Chu Qing that her enemy was dead and asked him to take her back to collect the spoils of battle.
• Chu Qing carried the Princess Consort to a ruined valley, where she confirmed that the two figures beneath the rubble were dead because they had lost too much Golden Blood.
• The Princess Consort approached the corpses and chanted, causing both bodies to erupt into pillars of fire.

Chu Qing hid with the Otherkin Princess Consort while she recovered from her injuries, then learned from her that the Three-legged Golden Toad lived in Stone Ridge Mountain’s extremely cold lake. The Princess Consort had stopped vomiting blood, and Chu Qing realized her clue could save him months of searching.

• The Otherkin Princess Consort burned away two corpses, collected their belongings and bones, and asked Chu Qing to find a secluded place where she could recuperate.
• Chu Qing brought the injured Princess Consort to a hidden cave, where she warned him that her enemies could sense anyone who had come into contact with her unless they stayed nearby.
• The Princess Consort rested in Chu Qing’s arms as he cultivated the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, and her vomiting gradually stopped.
• The Princess Consort asked why Chu Qing had come to Stone Ridge Mountain, and he told her he was searching for the Three-legged Golden Toad.
• The Princess Consort explained that the Three-legged Golden Toad lived in the extremely cold lake on the mountain guarded by 365 peaks, revealing that Chu Qing had already been near its lair.