Chapter Summaries

The Gongyang Family and the Martial Academy mobilized their young prodigies to protect the Golden Silk White Jade from Chu Qing and Hua Yu’s planned interception. Chu Qing’s group headed for Rose City, where they paused at a temple after a day on the road.

• The Head of the Gongyang Family decided to turn the Golden Silk White Jade matter into a trial for the family’s younger generation and an assessment mission for the Martial Academy.
• Prodigies across the Martial Academy and young members of the Gongyang Family rushed to claim the mission.
• The Gongyang Family learned that Chu Qing and Hua Yu planned to intercept the wedding procession in Rose City and set out to meet them there.
• Chu Qing and Hua Yu led fifty Third Limit experts toward Rose City, slowing their pace because Hua Yu and some of the experts could not keep up.
• After a day’s travel, Chu Qing’s group stopped at a temple, where he arranged lodging only for Hua Yu and told the others to sleep outside.

Chu Qing and Hua Yu traveled with the Third Limit experts toward Rose City, where they sensed danger and chose to avoid entering. In the city, Gongyang Family youths discussed the powerful and dangerous students from the Major City Martial Academy.

• Hua Yu asked to see Chu Qing’s treasure, and he broke through the wall to show her the Golden Toad.
• The group reached a hill overlooking Rose City, and Hua Yu privately reflected on her feelings for Chu Qing.
• As they approached the city, Chu Qing and the Third Limit experts sensed danger, so Chu Qing led them away from the entrance toward the Xu Family’s wedding procession.
• Gongyang Family youths in a restaurant discussed how Rose City’s forces were watching for outsiders and warned one another not to point at the Major City Martial Academy students.
• A young man explained that the Martial Academy students were powerful, unpredictable, and willing to kill anyone who crossed them.

Loulan Martial Academy students learned that Chu Qing’s group was heading toward the Xu Family and sent Luo Sheng after them. Chu Qing sensed the approaching hostility and changed course, while Luo Sheng continued toward the wedding procession, killing travelers he mistook for state-city bumpkins.

• The Heavenly Staff used his divination coins to learn that Chu Qing’s group was traveling toward the Xu Family.
• The Loulan Martial Academy students decided to delay their mission until the next day, then sent Luo Sheng to attack the supposed state-city bumpkins.
• Luo Sheng set off and reasoned that anyone ahead of him might belong to Chu Qing’s group.
• Chu Qing sensed an expert pursuing them and led the group onto a different route for safety.
• Luo Sheng ran along the main road, killing people and fantasizing about taking the Xu bride’s place as groom.

Chu Qing suspected a traitor was helping an expert pursue his group, while the Gongyang Family followed their trail. At a remote tavern, he met a woman seeking vengeance and agreed to help her.

• Chu Qing told Hua Yu that someone might have betrayed them and led an expert to their trail, while Hua Yu denied betraying her husband.
• In Rose City, Heavenly Staff learned that Luo Sheng had missed Chu Qing's group, then sent the Gongyang Family youths to hunt them down.
• The Gongyang youths followed markers left by Chu Qing's companions as they crossed mountains and rivers.
• At a remote tavern, Chu Qing learned that a starving woman was waiting for someone to avenge her family, offering only a donkey, eggs, and cured meat as payment.
• Chu Qing told the woman he would help her kill, and she was stunned and overjoyed.

Chu Qing ordered his Third Limit experts to avenge a woman by killing every bandit within three hundred li, then accepted the family heirloom she offered as payment. After recognizing it as a cultivation technique, he destroyed it and warned her to forget what happened.

• Chu Qing accepted the woman's request for revenge and ordered his experts to wipe out the bandits within three hundred li despite Hua Yu's objections.
• A Third Limit expert brought back the heads of the bandits who had killed the woman's parents, and Chu Qing ordered the hunt to continue until every nearby bandit was dead.
• The woman thanked Chu Qing, gave him her donkey and basket, and asked to offer another payment in private.
• The woman revealed a cloth strip passed down through her family, and Chu Qing recognized the writing on it as a cultivation technique.
• Chu Qing burned the cloth strip and told the woman to take back her donkey and eggs, forget the incident, and never speak of it again or she would die.

After a woman gave Chu Qing a family heirloom containing the Eight Divine Hands: Peacock, he learned the move and considered its power and potential. A group of violent, well-dressed youths then arrived at the tavern searching for martial wanderers and confronted Chu Qing and Hua Yu.

• The woman left with Chu Qing's token after he promised to help her or her descendants, and Hua Yu asked why he had given it to her.
• Chu Qing frightened Hua Yu when he warned her not to ask about the woman's payment, then revealed that the heirloom had taught him Eight Divine Hands: Peacock.
• Chu Qing checked his Profession Slot and found Peacock at Proficient, with conditions to watch the Peacock Dance ten times and recite the Peacock Sutra ten thousand times.
• Several young men and women arrived at the tavern looking for fifty or sixty martial wanderers, and a girl whipped the innkeeper and killed the saber wielder who pointed at Chu Qing and Hua Yu.
• The girl turned to Chu Qing and Hua Yu and asked whether they were country bumpkins from Stone Province.

Chu Qing tested his new Eight Divine Hands: Peacock technique on the Gongyang Family youths, killing them as their bodies burst into Blood Peacocks. The whip-wielding girl was left alive, digging a hole and begging him not to kill her.

• Hua Yu fought the whip-wielding young woman while Gongyang Family youths ordered Chu Qing to dig a hole and bury himself.
• Chu Qing used Eight Divine Hands: Peacock, mesmerizing the youths with a peacock illusion and tapping Little Seven on the forehead.
• A Blood Peacock burst from Little Seven's body and exploded in the sky, killing him.
• Chu Qing attacked the remaining Gongyang Family youths one by one, killing them with his Peacock technique.
• The whip-wielding girl dug a hole herself and begged Chu Qing to spare her.

Chu Qing and Hua Yu left a blood-soaked inn behind and hurried toward the Xu Family wedding convoy to claim the Golden Silk White Jade. As dawn broke, they reached the convoy, where Luo Sheng charged at them after mistaking them for potential enemies.

• Chu Qing killed the Gongyang Family girl, and Hua Yu dealt with the innkeeper and worried about the consequences of the deaths.
• Hua Yu confronted Chu Qing while he bathed, and he promised that he trusted her and would not kill her.
• The Third Limit experts returned, and Chu Qing led the group toward the Xu Family wedding convoy at twice the speed of sound.
• Near dawn, Chu Qing spotted Daughter of Stonemason Xu's sedan chair and heard her exchange words with Luo Sheng.
• Luo Sheng charged toward Chu Qing's black-clad group, saying he would decide whether they were friends or enemies by whether they resisted.

Chu Qing tried to trade a mysterious treasure for the Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s Golden Silk White Jade, while Luo Sheng attacked the Third Limit experts guarding him. The Daughter of Stonemason Xu agreed to let Chu Qing use the jade for a time, but demanded to see his treasure and threatened to have him chopped into minced meat.

• Chu Qing led fifty Third Limit experts down the mountain to negotiate with the Daughter of Stonemason Xu, leaving Hua Yu and the trade treasures behind.
• Luo Sheng attacked the group, killed one Third Limit expert, and charged at the others while Chu Qing fled toward the Xu family’s party.
• Chu Qing presented Hua Yu’s letter to the Daughter of Stonemason Xu, who read its muddled contents and agreed to let him use Golden Silk White Jade temporarily.
• Chu Qing insisted on trading his treasure for the jade, but the Daughter of Stonemason Xu refused to give it to him outright.
• When Chu Qing claimed his treasure could produce an item each day that increased strength by one jin, the Daughter of Stonemason Xu demanded that he show it and threatened to have him chopped into minced meat.

Chu Qing offered Daughter of Stonemason Xu several treasures in exchange for Golden Silk White Jade, revealing that his Three-legged Golden Toad could produce coins that increased strength, boosted harvests, and extended lifespan. After learning that Luo Sheng’s powerful Lineage rivaled the Xu and Gongyang Families, Chu Qing left the bridal sedan to kill him and trade his head for the jade.

• Chu Qing presented a Copper Coin that increased strength, and an old woman confirmed its effect, but Daughter of Stonemason Xu remained more interested in Golden Silk White Jade.
• As Luo Sheng overwhelmed the fifty Third Limit experts, Chu Qing refused to feel guilty about their deaths and entered Daughter of Stonemason Xu’s bridal sedan to discuss another treasure.
• Chu Qing described Silver Coins that increased crop yields and Gold Coins that could form mountains, but Daughter of Stonemason Xu said the Xu Family did not need them.
• Chu Qing revealed that Jade Coins could extend a person’s lifespan by three hundred years, startling Daughter of Stonemason Xu and leaving her uncertain whether to trade or seize the treasure.
• Daughter of Stonemason Xu said Luo Sheng’s Lineage was as powerful as the Xu and Gongyang Families and that he would die if she and her sedan bearers intervened.
• Chu Qing told Daughter of Stonemason Xu to stay in the sedan and set out to take Luo Sheng’s head in exchange for Golden Silk White Jade.

Chu Qing attacked Luo Sheng to punish Daughter of Stonemason Xu for defying him, but Luo Sheng’s Ancient Secret Martial Art overwhelmed him. Chu Qing rose from the bloody pit and called Luo Sheng’s strongest attack weak.

• Chu Qing charged at Luo Sheng, intending to kill him and shake the Xu family after Daughter of Stonemason Xu refused to cooperate.
• Luo Sheng exchanged blows with Chu Qing, injuring his hands before they healed, while his own twisted hands also recovered.
• Luo Sheng unleashed the Ancient Secret Martial Art Nine Desolations, battering Chu Qing with corrosive currents and a nine-headed attack that drove him into a deep pit.
• Daughter of Stonemason Xu and the sedan bearers recognized the power of Luo Sheng’s Martial Academy secret art and feared for Chu Qing.
• Chu Qing stood up beneath the blood mist and taunted Luo Sheng, calling his strongest attack weak.

Chu Qing killed Luo Sheng with Eight Divine Hands: Peacock after Luo Sheng broke the limit too late to save himself. Carrying Luo Sheng’s head to the Xu Family procession, Chu Qing demanded the Golden Silk White Jade.

• Chu Qing healed from Luo Sheng’s attack and charged him with Eight Divine Hands: Peacock, breaking through his defenses and piercing his chest and abdomen.
• Luo Sheng broke the limit in desperation, but Chu Qing seized the brief lapse in his control and pierced his heart and forehead.
• Luo Sheng died, and Chu Qing tore off his head before walking toward the Xu Family procession.
• Hua Yu rushed down from the mountaintop, saw that Chu Qing was alive, and wept with relief.
• Chu Qing raised Luo Sheng’s head before the bridal sedan and demanded that the Xu Family hand over the Golden Silk White Jade.

Chu Qing forced Daughter of Stonemason Xu to hand over the Golden Silk White Jade after killing Luo Sheng and threatening her procession. He absorbed the jade, completing a Promotion Condition for the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, while Daughter of Stonemason Xu warned that the Gongyang Family would come for it.

• Chu Qing demanded the Golden Silk White Jade in exchange for Luo Sheng's head, but Daughter of Stonemason Xu refused, saying she had never agreed to the trade.
• Chu Qing threatened to kill the Xu Family procession unless they surrendered the jade, and his killing intent drove several guards to attempt suicide until Hua Yu calmed him.
• Daughter of Stonemason Xu handed Chu Qing the Golden Silk White Jade and warned him about the Millennial Tribulation and the Gongyang Family's interest in it.
• Chu Qing absorbed the Golden Silk White Jade, completing a Promotion Condition for the Golden Toad Swallowing Heaven Method, and declared that the Gongyang Family could not take it back.

Chu Qing destroyed the Golden Silk White Jade, then attacked the Xu Family wedding procession when Daughter of Stonemason Xu ordered him killed. He slaughtered the guards as she fled toward Loulan City, and the massacre continued.

• Daughter of Stonemason Xu and her followers raged after Chu Qing destroyed the Golden Silk White Jade, and Chu Qing challenged them to attack.
• When Daughter of Stonemason Xu ordered her people to kill Chu Qing, he struck first and killed Hua Yu.
• Chu Qing used Eight Divine Hands to kill several elders and charge toward the bridal sedan, forcing Daughter of Stonemason Xu to flee.
• More than a thousand Xu Family Guards attacked Chu Qing, but he slaughtered them and killed their Guard Commander.
• Daughter of Stonemason Xu escaped toward Loulan City, while the guards broke ranks and fled and Chu Qing pursued them at three times the speed of sound.

After defeating Luo Sheng’s group, Chu Qing and Hua Yu searched the bridal sedan, finding secret First Limit information and a wealth of treasures. Chu Qing discovered dragon sinew in Luo Sheng’s remains, then the two fled toward Stone Prefecture as the fire Chu Qing set spread through the mountains.

• Chu Qing carried the unconscious Hua Yu to safety, and she awoke believing they had both died before learning she was alive.
• Chu Qing and Hua Yu searched the bridal sedan, found booklets about the First Limit, and gathered valuable dowry goods to take with them.
• Chu Qing searched Luo Sheng’s corpse for his martial art, found no manuals, and discovered an intact dragon sinew after smashing the body.
• Hua Yu packed two enormous bundles of treasures, and she and Chu Qing headed toward Stone Prefecture.
• Chu Qing set fire to the remaining dowry, and the flames spread into the surrounding mountains as the pair hurried away.

Daughter of Stonemason Xu escaped and told Heavenly Staff and the other Major City Martial Academy prodigies that Chu Qing had killed Luo Sheng and destroyed the Golden Silk White Jade. The prodigies investigated the burning convoy site, were shaken by the scale and brutality of Chu Qing’s killings, and returned toward Loulan City without confronting him.

• Daughter of Stonemason Xu met Heavenly Staff and the others and recounted how Chu Qing had taken and destroyed the Golden Silk White Jade.
• When Heavenly Staff asked about Luo Sheng, Daughter of Stonemason Xu explained that Chu Qing had defeated and killed him in a direct fight.
• Heavenly Staff and the others went to the burning convoy site and found hundreds of corpses, but no trace of Luo Sheng’s body.
• The bald young man and the young girl examined the corpses and concluded that an unknown, devastating fist technique had killed most of the victims.
• The bald man proposed that the prodigies join forces to kill Chu Qing, but Heavenly Staff refused and led them back toward Loulan City with Daughter of Stonemason Xu.

The Gongyang Family questioned Daughter of Stonemason Xu about the loss of Golden Silk White Jade, while Loulan Martial Academy and several aristocratic families learned that Chu Qing had killed Luo Sheng and destroyed the treasure. The chapter left the Gongyang Family probing who had sent Chu Qing a letter and the families reassessing his growing reputation.

• Daughter of Stonemason Xu told the Gongyang Family that Chu Qing had destroyed Golden Silk White Jade and killed Luo Sheng, but concealed his offer of a life-extending treasure.
• An intelligence agent reported that guards had seen Chu Qing deliver Daughter of Stonemason Xu a letter before she invited him into the bridal sedan, prompting the Gongyang Family head to demand the letter's author and contents.
• Heavenly Staff reported that his team had failed its mission, and Loulan Martial Academy learned that Chu Qing had killed Luo Sheng in a one-on-one fight.
• The Martial Academy's students and teachers recognized Luo Sheng's death as a blow to the school's reputation and marveled at Chu Qing's audacity.
• Hua Yu recounted Chu Qing's actions to the heads of five aristocratic families, who discussed how his slaughter of thousands of Rebel Army soldiers had shaped his fearsome bearing.

Chu Qing tried to retrieve the Red Copper Golden Toad from the moat so he could fulfill his final Promotion Condition, but neither a hundred strongmen nor his own immense strength could move it. He suspected the toad or the water was connected to the otherkind and went to seek advice, while Rebel Army leaders plotted to use the next attempt to seize the golden toad and damage his reputation.

• Chu Qing brought a ten-ton golden toad to the moat, where strongmen prepared to place it inside the Red Copper Golden Toad.
• The strongmen failed to haul the Red Copper Golden Toad out, and Chu Qing's attempt snapped several chains without moving it.
• Chu Qing redirected the snapping chains into the water and saw the red-copper toad staring at him with an unsettling, lifelike gaze.
• Chu Qing called off the attempt, ordered the golden toad taken back, and decided to ask Madam Jin and Madam Shi for advice.
• Rebel Army leaders discussed stirring up the crowd to seize the golden toad and undermine Chu Qing when he tried again.

Chu Qing learned that Ghost Gods could cause the Red Copper Golden Toad’s strange behavior, and he and Madam Jin tried producing Golden Toad Money to ward them off. The Golden Toad successfully spat out a piece of Money, though Chu Qing sensed nothing unusual from it.

• Chu Qing teased Madam Shi, then explained his difficulties with the Golden Toads, and she urged him not to hide future troubles from her.
• Madam Shi told Chu Qing and Madam Jin that Ghost Gods existed and could possess objects, possibly causing the Red Copper Golden Toad’s condition.
• Madam Jin suggested that Golden Toad Money might ward off Ghost Gods, and Chu Qing agreed to test the idea.
• Chu Qing and the others prepared the required materials, and Chu Qing fed them to a Three-legged Golden Toad.
• The Three-legged Golden Toad spat out a piece of Money, and Madam Jin said she wanted it.

Chu Qing made a coin with the Golden Toad and prepared to catch more in Stone Ridge Mountain, while his enemies plotted to use public sentiment and the next attempt to undermine him. As King Shiyu worried that ghosts and gods might be emerging, Red Robe’s followers arrived at the Shi Residence to deliver treasures to Chu Qing.

• Madam Jin delighted in a coin produced by the Golden Toad, and Chu Qing said he would make enough coins to suppress the ghost or god.
• Chu Qing set off for Stone Ridge Mountain to catch more Golden Toads while Madam Shi helped Madam Jin prepare materials.
• At King Shiyu’s Mansion, Iron Armor persuaded family heads to use public condemnation against Chu Qing when he tried to move the Red Copper Golden Toad again.
• King Shiyu suspected ghosts and gods might be behind the moat’s abnormality and worried because the Otherkin had disappeared.
• Red Robe’s followers reached the Shi Residence with cultivation-accelerating treasures to deliver to Chu Qing.