Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing learned that the Princess Consort was hunted by the Thousand Eyes Alliance, the Human World, In the Red Dust, and former companions, and she left to fight her pursuers. After inspecting the devastated battlefield and finding no dead anomalous humans, Chu Qing resolved to open three Heaven-Connecting Paths so he could obtain an Exotic Bone and become anomalous.

• The Princess Consort told Chu Qing that several organizations and former companions were hunting her and her best friend, though the Millennial Tribulation was unrelated.
• The Princess Consort warned Chu Qing about martial world searchers, then promised to give him an Exotic Bone if he opened three Heaven-Connecting Paths.
• The Princess Consort left the cave to fight the pursuers, while Chu Qing watched the distant battle shake the mountains and land.
• Chu Qing reached the battlefield an hour later and found destroyed peaks, huge craters, and the Princess Consort's blood, but no dead anomalous humans or Golden Blood.
• Chu Qing concluded that Exotic Bones came from anomalous humans and resolved to open three Heaven-Connecting Paths despite their difficulty.

Chu Qing searched an Extreme Cold Lake for the Three-legged Golden Toad, while cloaked followers mistook him for an extraordinary master and fled from him. After finding no toad on the lakebed, he entered a submerged passage and emerged at another lake, where the cloaked men again took him for a powerful figure.

• Chu Qing reached an Extreme Cold Lake, intimidated the cloaked people studying it, and began searching the water for the Three-legged Golden Toad.
• The cloaked people fled and later found Golden Blood from the Red-clothed Woman, realizing she had been wounded in a battle between Deviants.
• Chu Qing endured the lake's cold, searched its vast bottom, found two deep holes, and swallowed secret medicines before diving into one.
• A Red-clothed Woman floated unconscious on the lake while Chu Qing followed the underwater passage for more than a hundred li.
• Chu Qing emerged from the passage at another lake, and the cloaked people mistook him for their senior and fled again.

Chu Qing searched a chain of underground lakes for a Three-legged Golden Toad, then returned to find the Red-clothed Woman waiting beside his clothes. After she recognized him as an ally of the Princess Consort and warned him away from an Otherkin conflict, she told him the toads would surface at deep night.

• Chu Qing swam through several connected lakes but found no Three-legged Golden Toad, so he returned to the first lake by land.
• Chu Qing found the Red-clothed Woman beside a bonfire and tried to explain why he was naked, but she accused him of being a pervert.
• After Chu Qing dressed, the Red-clothed Woman identified him by the Dragon Tendon Eater and asked where the Princess Consort had gone.
• Chu Qing told the Red-clothed Woman about his encounter with the Princess Consort, and she warned him not to get involved in the Otherkin battle.
• The Red-clothed Woman recognized Chu Qing's Golden Toad Method and told him Three-legged Golden Toads surfaced at deep night, though Chu Qing doubted her.

Chu Qing pursued the Three-legged Golden Toad through lakes and mountains overnight, caught and swallowed it, and activated the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method. The method began tempering all five viscera and six bowels at once, with Chu Qing discovering that the process seemed to accelerate as it continued.

• Chu Qing spotted the Three-legged Golden Toad swallowing moonlight and chased it into the lake, while Redclad animated his Brocade Clothes to tend the fire.
• The Three-legged Golden Toad repeatedly escaped across lakes as Chu Qing pursued it, and cloaked figures repeatedly encountered the chase before deciding to seek Redclad's master.
• At dawn, Chu Qing caught the slowing toad, endured its powerful kicks, and killed it after a prolonged struggle.
• Chu Qing swallowed the Three-legged Golden Toad and received the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method at Beginner level, with a promotion condition to use Golden Toad Fishing for the Moon once.
• The method tempered Chu Qing's five viscera and six bowels simultaneously, and he realized that their self-reinforcing cultivation seemed to grow faster over time.

Chu Qing discovered that the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method was strengthening his internal organs and could greatly enhance his sonic arts. After reuniting with Red Clothes, he learned that the Otherworlder Princess Consort had found her and was about to arrive.

• Chu Qing tested his growing strength and found he could control his internal organs and double the killing power of sonic arts by using his lungs.
• Chu Qing decided to reunite with Red Clothes before nightfall so he could continue searching for another Three-legged Golden Toad.
• Red Clothes dismissed her hooded followers and directed them away from Chu Qing's approach.
• Chu Qing returned and told Red Clothes that he had caught and eaten a golden toad, horrifying her when he admitted he might have eaten it raw.
• Red Clothes vomited dark golden blood and told Chu Qing that the Otherworlder Princess Consort had found her and stirred up her injuries.
• The Otherworlder Princess Consort arrived as Red Clothes prepared to face her, while Chu Qing asked to put his clothes and pants back on.

Chu Qing watched Red Clothes and the Princess Consort fight until both collapsed, then listened as they each tried to persuade him to sleep with the other. He agreed to sleep with both, but stopped their biting and returned to roasting meat, disappointed by the Outsiders’ behavior.

• The Princess Consort accused Red Clothes of betraying the Outsider Alliance, and the two traded threats before fighting at Extreme Cold Lake.
• After clashing above the lake, Red Clothes and the Princess Consort sank underwater and continued fighting by grabbing hair and gouging eyes while Chu Qing barbecued nearby.
• When the two women surfaced exhausted, Chu Qing carried them beside the bonfire, where the smell of roasting meat woke them.
• Red Clothes and the Princess Consort each offered Chu Qing a reward to sleep with the other, and he agreed to sleep with both.
• Chu Qing stacked the women together, stuffed cloth into their mouths to stop them biting each other, and went back to roasting meat.

Chu Qing followed a Three-legged Golden Toad to a gathering of toads and used the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, producing the omen known as Golden Toad Swallowing the Moon. The Princess Consort and the woman in red feared that everyone who witnessed the omen was doomed, then prepared to attack the toads before one of them spoke.

• Chu Qing found the Princess Consort and the woman in red sucking each other's source Golden Blood, then left when he sensed their killing intent.
• Chu Qing asked the cloaked followers what Golden Toad Fishing for the Moon meant, and one explained the legend of toads swallowing moonlight.
• Chu Qing followed a Three-legged Golden Toad through several lakes to a lakebed crowded with toads and used the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method.
• The Princess Consort and the woman in red saw the moonlight phantom descend and recognized the Golden Toad Swallowing the Moon omen of the Millennial Tribulation.
• The Princess Consort and the woman in red realized they might be ill-fated witnesses, blamed the toads, and moved to kill them.
• A voice from the Extreme Cold Lake pleaded with the two women not to kill it, leaving them surprised that a Three-legged Golden Toad could speak.

Chu Qing convinced Red-Clad and the Princess Consort that his Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method had caused the phenomenon, not the Millennial Tribulation. They promised him valuable cultivation resources and help entering the Major City Martial Academy, and he left with two Golden Toads to continue training.

• Chu Qing denied being connected to the Millennial Tribulation, and the Princess Consort explained that its causes were dangerous to investigate.
• The Princess Consort and Red-Clad offered Chu Qing Phoenix Blood or Turtle Essence, two Exotic Bones once he opened two or three Heaven-Connecting Paths, and help entering the Major City Martial Academy next spring.
• Red-Clad promised to have her followers find heavenly treasures for Chu Qing and advised him to read more books as he neared his limit.
• Chu Qing left carrying two Golden Toads and planned to keep raising the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method's realm.

Chu Qing figured out how to imitate a Three-legged Golden Toad’s run and completed the thousand-mile promotion condition. After reaching the provincial capital, he went to a Human World Organization shop and demanded to borrow a ton of high-purity gold.

• Chu Qing struggled to fulfill the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method’s running condition until Red Clothes’ followers explained that a Three-legged Golden Toad ran with three hind legs and two foreclaws.
• Chu Qing imitated the toad’s movement by powering his limbs with qi and blood, completed the thousand-mile condition, and left strange tracks that led quarry workers to build a temple to a ghost god.
• Chu Qing passed through Stone Rock County without visiting Qing Feng, Ming Yue, or Ximen, promising himself he would return after reaching the First Limit.
• Chu Qing arrived in the provincial capital and visited a Human World Organization shop, where he told its intelligence chief to arrange a loan of a ton of high-purity gold.

Chu Qing demanded twenty thousand taels of gold from a Human World Organization branch and threatened its intelligence chief when the organization did not respond. As the branch’s leaders debated whether to pay, the chief warned Chu Qing that the organization was beyond his power to provoke.

• Chu Qing gave the intelligence chief ten minutes to provide the gold or face death, and the chief sent a message by carrier pigeon.
• A young aristocrat shot down the pigeon, read and destroyed its message, then spread the news that Chu Qing was about to attack the branch.
• The Human World Organization’s higher-ups debated paying Chu Qing, but hesitated over the threat it would pose to their authority and standing.
• After the ten minutes passed, the higher-ups realized the intelligence chief was likely dead and ordered his body and family’s coffins arranged.
• Chu Qing questioned the intelligence chief about why he had refused the money, and the chief insisted the organization’s rules and power were greater than Chu Qing’s reputation.
• The intelligence chief warned that experts would soon arrive and urged Chu Qing to stop, just as Chu Qing’s tapping on his head ended with a crack.

The intelligence chief returned to the Human World's headquarters believing Chu Qing had backed down, but discovered Chu Qing had left him fatally wounded. Chu Qing stormed the headquarters, killed a higher-up, and demanded the twenty thousand taels of gold as the remaining leaders called for reinforcements.

• Chu Qing let the intelligence chief leave to demand twenty thousand taels of gold from the Human World, and the chief bragged that Chu Qing feared the organization.
• At the headquarters, the intelligence chief saw coffins and mourning clothes, then learned from a bronze mirror that Chu Qing had left dozens of holes in his head.
• The intelligence chief accepted that his wounds would kill him and asked the higher-ups to care for his family and avenge him.
• Chu Qing burst into the headquarters, killed the guards, and challenged the Human World's leaders as he opened the coffins.
• Chu Qing shattered a higher-up's defenses, smashed him to death with a coffin board, and demanded the twenty thousand taels of gold.
• A higher-up blew an enemy-attack whistle to summon the experts stationed throughout the city.

Chu Qing attacked the Human World headquarters over twenty thousand taels of gold and refused to yield to its rules or reinforcements. He trapped the organization’s leaders in coffins and set them alight, leaving the Human World’s remaining members in panic.

• Aristocratic clans arranged simultaneous attacks on Human World experts and planned to blame Chu Qing for the killings.
• At Human World headquarters, Chu Qing killed the whistle-blowing high-ranking member and challenged the organization’s reinforcements.
• Chu Qing defeated two returning Third Limit experts and killed or sealed multiple Human World higher-ups in coffins.
• The intelligence chief insisted that the Human World’s rules mattered more than the gold, so Chu Qing nailed him inside his coffin and continued imprisoning the others.
• Chu Qing stacked the coffins, doused them with cooking oil, and set them on fire while some Human World members stood on the lids.

After burning Human World’s provincial capital headquarters, Chu Qing turned the twenty thousand taels of gold into a golden toad and used the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method to break through into the five viscera and six bowels realm. The Heads of the House feared his growing strength, and Chu Qing’s next promotion conditions demanded even greater resources.

• Chu Qing’s destruction of Human World’s headquarters made many provincial martial artists fear and respect him, while the Heads of the House debated whether to oppose him or let their lineages serve as his granaries.
• Chu Qing carried the bloodstained gold to the Cui family’s blacksmith shop and ordered the blacksmiths to make a golden toad quickly.
• After the toad was finished, Chu Qing completed the first condition of the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, advanced it to Proficient, and began cultivating atop the toad.
• Chu Qing’s sinews, bones, flesh, and organs thundered with power, and the blacksmiths fled as rumors spread that he had entered the five viscera and six bowels realm.
• The Heads of the House considered how to respond if Chu Qing demanded a skin and hair method, while Chu Qing raised his five viscera and six bowels realm to Iron Grade within hours.
• Chu Qing checked the method’s next promotion conditions: a ten-ton golden toad inside a Red Copper Golden Toad, a journey of ten thousand li, and one Golden Silk White Jade golden toad.

Chu Qing arranged for the blacksmiths to forge a ten-ton golden toad and learned that Human World might send powerful experts to retaliate for its destruction. He decided to stay and confront them, while Madam Shi urged him to be cautious.

• Chu Qing ordered the blacksmiths to forge a ten-ton golden toad and place it inside the salvaged Red Copper Golden Toad, giving them his blood in exchange.
• The blacksmiths learned from the Cui family manager that Chu Qing had destroyed Human World's headquarters and were told to comply with his requests.
• Chu Qing returned to Madam Shi and Madam Jin to ask about finding the Golden Silk White Jade Golden Toad needed to advance his method.
• Madam Shi warned Chu Qing that Human World would retaliate and said its hidden experts were more formidable than its intelligence network.
• Chu Qing refused to flee and asked Madam Shi to watch for Human World's experts so he could confront them, then promised to be careful.

Chu Qing sought Golden Silk White Jade to make a Golden Silk White Jade Golden Toad and sent Zhao Hongxiu to ask aristocratic families whether they had any. The chapter left Zhao Hongxiu delivering Chu Qing’s letter to a family whose head feared what he might be demanding.

• Madam Jin explained that Golden Silk White Jade was rare and that a golden toad carved from it would be harder to find, so Chu Qing decided to ask aristocratic families for the jade.
• Madam Shi insisted that Chu Qing also send a letter to King Shiyu’s Mansion to test King Shiyu’s attitude, and suggested they could frame him for rebellion if he harmed Zhao Hongxiu.
• Zhao Hongxiu accepted the dangerous delivery task, and Chu Qing warned her to flee if anyone threatened her, especially at King Shiyu’s Mansion.
• Zhao Hongxiu began delivering the letters, and gatekeepers treated Chu Qing’s calling card with great deference.
• A family head learned Zhao Hongxiu had delivered Chu Qing’s letter and hesitated to open it, fearing what Chu Qing wanted.

Zhao Hongxiu delivered Chu Qing’s invitations asking noble houses to find Golden Silk White Jade, and the houses cooperated rather than risk provoking him. She left King Shiyu’s Mansion with its servants’ respect, reflecting on how Chu Qing’s rise had changed her own fortunes.

• The Head of the House learned that Chu Qing wanted Golden Silk White Jade and ordered his people to gather unfamiliar jade and send it to him.
• Noble houses, including families that had lost people to Chu Qing, searched for the jade and accepted Zhao Hongxiu’s invitations without making trouble.
• King Shiyu first considered having Zhao Hongxiu killed, then worried Chu Qing might retaliate and ordered his people to receive her properly.
• King Shiyu’s servants prepared the entrance and respectfully accepted Zhao Hongxiu’s invitation when she arrived.
• Zhao Hongxiu left the mansion, reflecting on how Chu Qing’s rise had transformed her status while the servants envied her position.

Chu Qing trained thousands of Limit-Breaking Sound Wave Skills, strengthening his foundation and five viscera and six bowels while he waited for Golden Silk White Jade. After news of the jade reached Zhao Hongxiu, the chapter left Chu Qing asking where it was and learning that the Cui family had news.

• King Shiyu ordered his chief steward to seize any Golden Silk White Jade discovered and keep it from Chu Qing, while the Cui family and its allies searched to earn Chu Qing’s favor.
• Chu Qing turned to cultivating Limit-Breaking Skills because his progress had slowed and the promised treasures from the red-clothed mutant had not arrived.
• Chu Qing broke the limits of every Sound Wave Skill in the Martial Academy, improving his foundation, strengthening his five viscera and six bowels, and gaining stronger attacks.
• Chu Qing began deriving new Sound Wave Skills and breaking their limits, alternating that work with cultivation of the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method.
• Zhao Hongxiu brought Chu Qing news about Golden Silk White Jade at the Shi Residence, and told him that the Cui family had information.

Chu Qing learned that the Golden Silk White Jade was part of Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s dowry for her marriage into the Gongyang Family, and decided to meet her in Rose City before she reached Loulan Main City. He left open the possibility of force but planned to seek a transaction first.

• Hua Yu told Chu Qing that the Gongyang Family would receive a basin-sized piece of Golden Silk White Jade as part of Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s dowry.
• Hua Yu explained that the jade could help martial artists break through the Third Limit and might strengthen a lineage’s bloodline, making it unlikely the Gongyang Family would willingly give it up.
• Madam Jin showed Chu Qing a map, and he chose Rose City, a thousand li from Loulan Main City, as the place to meet Daughter of Stonemason Xu.
• Hua Yu offered five Third Limit experts prepared by several lineages, but Chu Qing declined their help and said he would act alone.
• Hua Yu said she had ties to the Xu Family and had exchanged letters with Daughter of Stonemason Xu, and Chu Qing agreed that she could help.

Chu Qing discovered that the Three-legged Golden Toads could produce Copper Coins that granted strength, and prepared one to trade for Golden Silk White Jade. He told Hua Yu he had found a treasure, while she mistakenly thought he meant something indecent and doubted Daughter of Stonemason Xu would accept it.

• Chu Qing caught Three-legged Golden Toads and fed two to Madam Shi and Madam Jin, then learned from Madam Jin that the creatures might produce valuable coins when fed specially refined bronze.
• Madam Jin taught Chu Qing to make the bronze, and one Golden Toad swallowed it and eventually spat out a Copper Coin.
• Chu Qing ate the Copper Coin and gained about one jin of strength, confirming the Golden Toad's power.
• Chu Qing decided to take one Golden Toad to trade for Golden Silk White Jade and kept the bronze-refining method secret for bargaining.
• Chu Qing sent word to Hua Yu that he was departing to meet Daughter of Stonemason Xu, and Hua Yu arrived with Zhao Hongxiu to warn that the aristocratic families were not ready.
• Chu Qing claimed his treasure would please Daughter of Stonemason Xu, while Hua Yu blushed and mistakenly assumed he meant an indecent matter.

Chu Qing set out with Hua Yu and fifty Third Limit experts to intercept Daughter of Stonemason Xu's wedding convoy, while King Shiyu and the aristocratic families discussed how to exploit the pursuit. King Shiyu chose to draw in the Gongyang Family over the Golden Silk White Jade and doubted the Rebel Army could take the state city.

• Hua Yu accepted the five aristocratic families' treasures and led fifty Third Limit experts with Chu Qing toward Rose City.
• The experts sensed Chu Qing's terrifying aura, and one nearly struck himself dead before Chu Qing's cough interrupted him.
• Chu Qing said farewell to Madam Jin and teased Madam Shi before the group departed to intercept Daughter of Stonemason Xu's convoy.
• King Shiyu met secretly with several family heads and ordered them to contact the Gongyang Family about the Golden Silk White Jade.
• King Shiyu argued that the Rebel Army might not capture the state city, while the family heads dismissed the idea that better wages for workers could make it prosper.