Recaps

Chen Sanshi killed Ji Guangxian and Xue Yuping, then told Han Cheng he would lead everyone willing to defend Poyang out of the city. Meanwhile, Wang Zhi gathered the wealthy households under the pretense of guiding them to safety, then led them toward the barbarian main camp to attack Wumuer.

• Han Cheng killed Tang Ming, and Chen Sanshi killed Ji Guangxian and Xue Yuping after the officials fought over the immortal treasure.
• Han Cheng urged Chen Sanshi to take his family and the young lady and young master out of Poyang, but Chen Sanshi said he would evacuate everyone willing to defend the city.
• Wang Zhi charged the wealthy households a thousand-tael banknote per household and gathered about two thousand people, including more than twelve hundred adult men.
• Wang Zhi led the group out of West City Gate with Zhao Kang, Xiong Qiuan, and soldiers, then revealed they were heading to attack the barbarian main camp and capture Wumuer.
• Zhao Shanming and others tried to flee, but Feng Yong blocked their retreat as the barbarians charged out of their camp.
• Xu Wen ordered the city wall to be lit.

Xu Wencai’s deception drew Wumuer away from the barbarian camp, allowing Chen Sanshi to confront and kill the Xihe Tribe’s Main General. The battle around Poyang City remained underway as Chen Sanshi’s strike left the barbarian forces without their commander.

• Xu Wencai ordered the defenders to light a signal torch and stage a false attack to draw the barbarians away from their camp.
• Wumuer sent cavalry to investigate Sun Buqi and Wang Li’s staged reinforcements, then followed the sound of Chen Sanshi’s arrows toward the city.
• Sun Li and fifty riders fought Wumuer’s cavalry to protect Chen Sanshi while he lured Wumuer away from the central camp.
• Chen Sanshi put away his bow and fought Wumuer with his spear, using his Adamantine Body to withstand a blow from Wumuer’s saber.
• Chen Sanshi drew the Ninth Prince’s sword and beheaded Wumuer.

Chen Sanshi led Poyang's outnumbered defenders to destroy the six-thousand-strong barbarian army after killing its commanders. He ordered the city evacuated with its people, as a much larger invasion threatened and Hengkang Prefecture might not be safe.

• Chen Sanshi displayed Wumuer's head, and the surviving barbarians fled after believing reinforcements had arrived.
• Xu Wencai ordered the city gates opened, and Poyang's remaining forces attacked the besieging army.
• Chen Sanshi and the defenders routed the six thousand barbarians, who abandoned their supplies and retreated beyond the Great Wall.
• Chen Sanshi ordered Poyang evacuated, explaining that thirty thousand more barbarians could soon arrive and the city lacked Viscera Refinement defenders.
• Chen Sanshi promised that the army would escort any commoners who chose to leave, and the people agreed to follow.
• Chen Sanshi asked the wounded Han Cheng about news from the Governor's Mansion and considered fleeing west to You Prefecture if Yun Prefecture fell.

Chen Sanshi prepared to lead Poyang’s civilians toward the Governor’s Mansion, accepted Han Cheng’s Unity Spear Technique, and began cultivating it. After organizing medicine, supplies, and a rear guard, he led more than forty thousand civilians out of the city.

• Han Cheng gave Chen Sanshi the Unity Spear Technique and told him to seek him out if he heard a cuckoo call.
• Chen Sanshi found Sun Li recovering from her wounds and persuaded her to travel with the civilians and help protect Lan Jie'er and the other women.
• Chen Sanshi prepared scar-removal and wound medicines, drank Tooth Tiger Blood Wine, and began practicing the Unity Spear Technique.
• Sun Buqi watched Chen Sanshi practice, briefly considered learning the technique, then gave up when he saw it was a Viscera Quenching method.
• Liu Jinkui and Zhao Kang reported that two thousand armed men and more than forty thousand civilians were ready to depart, and Chen Sanshi ordered them to take as many supplies and horses as possible.
• Chen Sanshi led the rear guard out of Poyang County and followed the civilian column toward the Governor’s Mansion.

Chen Sanshi led the civilians and surviving soldiers away from Poyang while Barbarian forces pursued them and planned attacks across Yun Province. After Hengkang Prefecture fell to a traitor, Chen Sanshi realized the refugees were in grave danger and received a mysterious signal from the Governor's Mansion.

• Wuliangha arrived at abandoned Poyang with forty thousand troops, and Amugu ordered forces to pursue the refugees, attack Anding Prefecture, and take Hengkang Prefecture.
• Chen Sanshi met Du Rong and urged him to avoid the direct route to Hengkang Prefecture, but Du Rong hurried back with most of his troops while Wang Zhi and a few hundred men stayed with Chen Sanshi.
• When Wu Da reported three thousand elite Barbarian cavalry nearby, Chen Sanshi set fire to the mountain forest to delay their pursuit.
• A day later, survivors reported that Hengkang Prefecture's Deputy Commander had betrayed the city, killed Commander Ma, and opened the gates to the Barbarians.
• Chen Sanshi feared the Barbarians would overrun Yun Province and capture the refugees before they could reach You Province, then heard a cuckoo call that signaled news from the Governor's Mansion.

Chen Sanshi learned that the selected vanguard and reinforcements were heading to Huanwen County, but he chose to keep escorting the commoners and trained until he reached Organ Refinement. He then harassed the pursuing Barbarian Cavalry, killed their Main General, and vanished before the three thousand troops could catch him.

• Han Cheng told Chen Sanshi that reinforcements and selected vanguard officers were headed for Huanwen County, and advised him to abandon the commoners and hurry there.
• Chen Sanshi changed the column’s destination to Huanwen County and spent the next three days cultivating while keeping pace with the retreating people.
• Chen Sanshi mastered the Unity Spear Technique and reached Organ Refinement, then secretly followed the pursuing cavalry and learned their commander was only at minor accomplishment in Organ Refinement.
• Chen Sanshi repeatedly attacked the Barbarian Cavalry with arrows and escaped on the White Swan Horse, drawing their Main General into pursuit.
• Chen Sanshi turned on the Main General, killed him with the Reed Leaf Spear, and disappeared before the three thousand cavalrymen caught up.

Chen Sanshi held back the Barbarian Cavalry while leading tens of thousands of civilians toward safety, then used a gorge to ambush the pursuers. Hall Master Amugu broke through the ambush with his Meridian-Opening strength, and Chen Sanshi arrived as Amugu prepared to face him.

• Chen Sanshi used Qianxun and his bow to keep three thousand Barbarian Cavalry from advancing while he watched for threats from Hengkang Prefecture.
• Wang Zhi reported that nearly twenty thousand troops from Hengkang Prefecture were taking a shortcut to cut off the refugees, so Chen Sanshi ordered a retreating feint and a gorge ambush.
• Feng Yong and Zhao Kang's forces attacked the pursuers with arrows, stones, logs, and fire, inflicting heavy losses in the gorge.
• Amugu entered the gorge with Witch God Cult followers, shattered the boulders blocking their path, and killed several Sheng soldiers with his Vajra Pestle.
• Wang Zhi charged Amugu but was disarmed and knocked unconscious, while Chen Sanshi arrived on horseback and fired an arrow at Amugu.
• Amugu caught and crushed Chen Sanshi's arrow, recognized him as the man who had held back three thousand cavalry, and prepared to confront him.

Chen Sanshi killed the Witch God Cult hall master Amugu with a fire arrow and returned to his troops, who were nearing the Hongze River with the barbarians close behind. When fifty thousand Great Sheng troops arrived from Huanwen County, their young general abused and killed civilians, leaving the refugees to flee in fear.

• Chen Sanshi sent his troops ahead, fought Amugu alone, and incinerated him with a fire arrow before escaping with Qianxun.
• Chen Sanshi returned to the main force, learned Wang Zhi was barely alive, and heard that more than twenty thousand barbarian cavalry threatened the civilian column.
• Xu Wencai reported that fifty thousand Youzhou garrison troops had arrived from Huanwen County, and Chen Sanshi rode forward to meet them.
• A young Great Sheng general questioned refugees about Yun Province, struck a civilian who offered him food, and killed an old man who protested.
• The civilians scattered from the road in fear as the Great Sheng cavalry advanced.

Chen Sanshi was abandoned by Cao Fan’s army and chose to counterattack the pursuing barbarians to buy time for tens of thousands of civilians to cross the river. Meanwhile, the Sun siblings’ master learned that Chen had led the attack and that the threat to Yunzhou was part of a larger plan to complete a blood sacrifice.

• Chen Sanshi met Cao Fan and Yin Hanwen, who dismissed his warnings and rode away with their fifty-thousand-man army without helping the refugees.
• After Cao Fan’s forces left, Chen Sanshi ordered his troops to counterattack the pursuing barbarians so the civilians could cross the Hongze River.
• A middle-aged scholar and his master discussed the looming blood sacrifice in Yunzhou and learned that the Sun siblings were safe with Chen Sanshi.
• Han Cheng revealed that Chen had taken more than thirty thousand civilians with him and had attacked an army of over twenty thousand barbarians with just over a thousand men.

Chen Sanshi ordered his outnumbered force to counterattack in the mountains and chose not to visit Lan Jie'er before the battle. As the pursuing army reached Huangtu Ridge, Bilege realized Chen Sanshi’s men were sacrificing themselves to buy time for the villagers to cross the river.

• Sun Buqi and Sun Li explained that the Eight Great Camps were the only troops truly under Governor Sun’s command, while Chen Sanshi considered why Governor Sun endured the court’s efforts to weaken him.
• Chen Sanshi ordered Xu Wencai to find interception points and gave his men half an hour to visit their families or prepare to die; he sent Lan Jie'er a letter instead of seeing her.
• Chen Sanshi’s men, including Wang Zhi’s nephews and Sun Buqi, chose to stay, while Xu Wencai studied the map.
• The pursuing Witch God Cult and barbarian forces entered Huangtu Ridge, where traps, blocked roads, burning carts, and archers repeatedly delayed their advance.
• Bilege split his force, taking five thousand cavalry down the side path, and found Chen Sanshi’s small force blocking the mountain exit.
• Bilege understood that Chen Sanshi’s men were using their lives to delay the pursuers until the people ahead could cross the river.

Chen Sanshi led a small force against the Barbarian army to buy time for civilians to cross the Hongze River, killing its commanders and forcing the cavalry to retreat. As Chen Sanshi reached the river with his battered survivors, an old man in Coarse Cloth Clothes and a scholar in a wheelchair appeared to block the pursuing infantry.

• Chen Sanshi’s white-horse charge killed the Barbarian commander, and he claimed that Governor Sun and the Youzhou Army were coming to unsettle the enemy.
• Xu Wencai urged the civilians to cross the Hongze River, explaining that Chen Sanshi had led just over a thousand soldiers against more than twenty thousand Barbarians to protect them.
• Sun Li met her Eldest Senior Brother, Lu Ji, who crossed the river to rescue Chen Sanshi after she told him he was fighting to protect the civilians.
• Chen Sanshi killed Bilege, Wulihan, and Nasong, then routed the Barbarian cavalry and led his survivors toward the river.
• A pursuing force of more than ten thousand infantry halted, allowing Chen Sanshi’s group to reach the Hongze River and begin crossing.
• An old man in Coarse Cloth Clothes and a middle-aged scholar in a wheelchair appeared before the Barbarian infantry, and the old man prepared to hold them back.

Chen Sanshi’s exhausted survivors crossed the Hongze River after he helped hold off the pursuing army, while Sun Xiangzong’s intervention routed the barbarians. In the capital, Emperor Longqing received news of victories across the realm, ordered Chen Sanshi rewarded but left at the Governor’s Mansion, and prepared to enter closed-door cultivation.

• Lu Ji reached the riverbank, learned Chen Sanshi had returned, then rushed back after realizing Sun Xiangzong was in danger.
• Chen Sanshi led the surviving four hundred men across the Hongze River with help from local people, and Gu Xinlan tended his wounds.
• Eunuch Huang reported victories in Liang Province and Yun Province to Emperor Longqing, along with Chen Sanshi’s rescue of tens of thousands and Sun Xiangzong’s defeat of nearly twenty thousand bandits.
• Emperor Longqing decided to reward Chen Sanshi without transferring him to the capital, and ordered the river crossing proclaimed throughout the realm.
• Emperor Longqing celebrated the snowfall and victories, then dismissed the court so he could begin closed-door cultivation.

After recovering from his injuries, Chen Sanshi broke through to Viscera Quenching and reflected on the devastation in Yunzhou and the threat posed by the barbarians. As Poyang’s people prepared to return home, he planned to leave for Liangzhou and join the Eight Great Camps.

• Chen Sanshi mastered Viscera Quenching, tempering his organs and strengthening his body.
• Chen Sanshi considered the aftermath of the Ten Days in Yunzhou and concluded that the Emperor’s actions had aided the barbarians, who might be pursuing the immortal treasure.
• Chen Sanshi decided he needed to learn more about the strongest barbarian clans and hoped to obtain the treasure’s missing vessel and formula.
• Poyang’s people began returning home, while Chen Sanshi prepared to travel to Liangzhou for the Eight Great Camps’ vanguard selection.
• Gu Xinlan urged Chen Sanshi to rest, and Chen Sanshi teased her about having a child now that the war was over.

Chen Sanshi’s soldiers received orders transferring them to the Eight Great Camps, and his party set out for Liangzhou with Fang Qingyun. During the journey, Chen learned more about Fang’s past and the sudden rise in Martial Saints, leaving him to suspect that a major event had occurred in the Year 57 of Longqing.

• Chen Sanshi tried to bring his soldiers with him, but Commander Li refused until Fang Qingyun presented an order transferring them to the Eight Great Camps’ Azure Dragon Camp.
• Fang Qingyun welcomed Xu Wencai into his carriage and told Wang Zhi that his master was still angry but would eventually forgive him.
• Chen Sanshi’s group set out for Liangzhou, and Chen agreed to become Xu Yuhuan’s godfather.
• Wang Zhi told Chen Sanshi that Fang Qingyun had once approached the Martial Saint threshold before disappearing in the Year 57 of Longqing and returning crippled.
• Chen Sanshi learned that Martial Saints had multiplied sharply and connected their rise to Fang Qingyun’s return and Governor Sun’s breakthrough that same year.

Chen Sanshi arrived in Liangzhou City and learned more about the sects, his Ethereal Body Shifting Physique, and the coming Vanguard Selection. Fang Qingyun gave him antidote for the Emperor’s poison, while the selection’s powerful competitors and Sun Li’s concern for Chen Sanshi left Fang Qingyun anticipating trouble.

• Chen Sanshi read about the great sects and discovered that his Ethereal Body Shifting Physique was an Innate Martial Saint Physique.
• Chen Sanshi’s party passed Dongyi City, where the Xuanwu Camp surrounded the Seven Absolute Sect after its betrayal and planned to use the sect in the Vanguard Selection assessment.
• Fang Qingyun gave Chen Sanshi Jade Blood Poison Dew antidote and told him to take it if he felt unwell within two months.
• Chen Sanshi entered Liangzhou City, where Commander Li arranged accommodations for him and his wife and his subordinates.
• Fang Qingyun told Sun Li and Sun Buqi that the Vanguard Selection would include powerful contenders from the capital, then warned Sun Buqi against relying on others instead of cultivating.
• Fang Qingyun realized Sun Li was praising Chen Sanshi’s wife and worried that Master would be angry about the situation.

Chen Sanshi received an Imperial Decree promoting him and awarding him wealth and precious medicine, while recognizing that the Emperor was using the honors to win his loyalty. As the selection of the sharpest approached, Chen learned that it offered one chief true disciple a chance to access Immortal Methods.

• Chen Sanshi settled into his new residence, and Gu Xinlan named the two maidservants Siqin and Mohua.
• A chief eunuch delivered an Imperial Decree promoting Chen Sanshi and awarding him gold, silver, silk, precious medicine, and Imperial Wine; Chen drank the wine, knowing it was the antidote to Jade Blood Poison Dew.
• Chen Sanshi cultivated with the precious medicine and practiced his Unity Spear Technique, then received a flood of invitations from people seeking his favor.
• Sun Buqi explained the selection of the sharpest's five stages and warned Chen that many powerful candidates had arrived for the competition, which would begin in ten days.
• Chen Sanshi focused on the single chief true disciple position, believing it could give him access to Immortal Methods and a way to break through to Above Martial Saint.

Chen Sanshi attended a banquet in Liangzhou City, where he learned about the Witch God Cult’s attacks and the political factions surrounding the Elite Selection. After politely toasting Cao Fan, he decided that competing for first place mattered more than choosing a faction, but Bai Tingzhi publicly approached him before he could leave.

• Chen Sanshi and Sun Buqi traveled to Immortal Crane Tower, where Sun Buqi explained that the Witch God Cult had been killing martial artists in Liangzhou City.
• Sun Buqi described the banquet’s three factions, and Chen Sanshi met young sect leaders and learned that Cao Fan had gathered a large following.
• Yin Hanwen and Wen Qiushi disparaged Chen Sanshi before Cao Fan, who said his father hoped he would recruit Chen Sanshi.
• Chen Sanshi approached Cao Fan and drank three cups to make up for his late toast, then decided to leave rather than align himself with any faction.
• Bai Tingzhi of Guangling County approached Chen Sanshi in the hall and praised his leadership in guiding civilians across the river.

Chen Sanshi navigated factional tensions at a banquet, then planned to hunt exotic beasts with Bai Tingzhi to improve his cultivation before the Selection. The first test was announced as drilling the Four Gates Bottom-Up Formation, and Chen Sanshi chose to use his soldiers from Poyang instead of Liangzhou’s elite troops.

• Bai Tingzhi publicly declared his loyalty to Chen Sanshi, provoking the Heir Apparent and drawing Yan Changqing into the dispute.
• Yan Changqing urged Chen Sanshi to cooperate during the Selection and predicted he would struggle in the martial contest because of his low cultivation.
• Sun Buqi told Chen Sanshi about exotic beasts and poisonous beasts in the Luotian Mountain Range, and explained that force could not yet be projected from bows and arrows.
• Bai Tingzhi apologized to Chen Sanshi, offered to follow him, and agreed to guide him to exotic beasts; Chen Sanshi invited him to hunt the next day.
• Commander Li brought Chen Sanshi and Bai Tingzhi to the Eight Great Camps, where Fang Qingyun announced that the Selection’s first test would be drilling the Four Gates Bottom-Up Formation over nine days.
• Chen Sanshi asked Fang Qingyun to let him drill the soldiers he had brought from Poyang, and firmly committed to the choice.

Chen Sanshi chose to enter the Elite Selection with his former Poyang soldiers, despite others warning that it could hurt his chances, and prepared them for the formation assessment. He then joined Sun Buqi and Bai Tingzhi on a hunt in the Luotian Mountain Range, where Sun Buqi presented him with his father’s fifty-stone greatbow.

• Chen Sanshi confirmed that he would use his original subordinates in the Elite Selection and asked Fang Qingyun whether they could become battle soldiers if they passed.
• Yan Changqing urged Chen Sanshi to choose stronger troops, while Yin Hanwen and Wen Qiushi mocked his decision and Bai Tingzhi defended him against Cao Fan’s faction.
• Fang Qingyun forbade the Elite Selection Officers from fighting privately, and Chen Sanshi reunited with his men and oversaw their preparations for the Four Gates Bottom-Up Formation.
• Chen Sanshi learned more about Bai Tingzhi’s talent and background, then headed into the mountains with Sun Buqi and Bai Tingzhi while Qianxun ran off on her own.
• Sun Buqi explained that they would need to travel to the Seventh Mountain to find beasts of another kind and showed Chen Sanshi the fifty-stone greatbow his father had used in his youth.

Chen Sanshi gained the Qi Observation Technique, used a powerful bow to kill a Fangtooth Tiger and a swarm of Soldier Apes, and discovered that Cao Fan’s group had arranged the ambush. The chapter ended with Chen Sanshi wounding Yin Hanwen as the conspirators fled, leaving them unable to expose what had happened.

• Sun Buqi gave Chen Sanshi a Fifty Stone Bow, which Chen tested by shooting through several pine trunks.
• Chen Sanshi’s Tracking skill reached Mastery and granted him the Qi Observation Technique, allowing him to see the qi of people, animals, and the land.
• Chen Sanshi used his new ability to find a Fangtooth Tiger and killed it with an arrow through the heart after Bai Tingzhi charged into its den.
• An injured Soldier Ape cub died near the group, drawing a swarm of vengeful apes led by a powerful white-furred ape.
• Cao Fan, Yin Hanwen, and Wen Qiushi watched from hiding after luring the group into danger, while Tang Yingke ran out to help.
• Chen Sanshi killed more than thirty Soldier Apes, shot the white-furred ape, and then sent an arrow through a tree to wound Yin Hanwen as the conspirators escaped.

Chen Sanshi survived an ambush in the Luotian Mountain Range, hunted a Fangtooth Tiger, and trained intensely before the Vanguard Selection. He began the selection confident in his newly improved Troop Command, though his Unity Spear Technique still needed a final push to break through.

• Chen Sanshi and his companions killed the Soldier Apes, while Tang Yingke arrived, claimed he had come hunting alone, and then left.
• Chen Sanshi spotted a powerful black aura deep in the Luotian Mountain Range, and Sun Buqi warned him that the area beyond Thirtyfold Mountain held terrifying venomous beasts.
• Chen Sanshi carried the Fangtooth Tiger back to his residence, butchered it, and used its meat to fuel days of intensive martial training.
• Chen Sanshi's Troop Command reached Minor Success, granting his troops a major boost in morale and combat power, while his Unity Spear Technique neared its next breakthrough.
• Gu Xinlan, Siqin, and Mohua saw Chen Sanshi off, and he rode Qianxun to the Eight Great Camps for the Vanguard Selection.

Chen Sanshi arrived at the vanguard selection after learning that Witch God Cult followers had killed disciples from two sects, then discovered that Yin Hanwen had withdrawn after being wounded by his arrow. As the first examination began, the officials debated the leading candidates’ chances and the value of Chen Sanshi’s Nine Dragon Physique, while Fang Qingyun realized the selection was tied to a dangerous plan affecting the Eight Great Camps and the realm.

• Chen Sanshi suspected that the Witch God Cult had a way to hide its followers after heart blood was taken from martial artists killed at Tongxuan Sect and Sunset Mountain Villa.
• Chen Sanshi confronted the injured Yin Hanwen, who claimed Witch God Cult followers had wounded him, and learned that the arrow wound matched the one Chen Sanshi had inflicted.
• Cao Fan and his followers dismissed Chen Sanshi’s soldiers and planned to stop him in the second examination, while Cao Fan acknowledged that his troops had trained well.
• Tang Yingke warned Chen Sanshi that someone had spoken with the person overseeing the second stage, then withdrew from the group as the vanguard selection began.
• Sun Xiangzong, Governor Liu, and Eunuch Hou discussed the candidates and the importance of bone structure, while Fang Qingyun sought evidence that Chen Sanshi’s Nine Dragon Physique could merit a Grade A.
• Fang Qingyun recognized that Chen Sanshi’s success was connected to a plan involving the Eight Great Camps and the fate of the realm.

Sun Xiangzong proposed expanding the Eight Great Camps and keeping his disciples in the north, while Chen Sanshi earned Grade A in the first vanguard test by maintaining formation against a beast tide. As Chen entered the second test, a dangerous formation-breaking challenge, he suspected Cao Fan might be behind the trouble Tang Yingke had warned him about.

• Sun Xiangzong told Governor Liu and Eunuch Hou that he intended to destroy two barbarian tribes, retain his disciples, and expand the Eight Great Camps to twelve, then sent his memorial to the emperor.
• Chen Sanshi inspected Sun Xiangzong’s unusual azure qi before leading his men through a cavalry charge and a beast tide without letting their formation collapse.
• The examiners awarded Chen Sanshi Grade A for the first test, while Xie Sishu received Grade C after failing to demonstrate troop leadership.
• Commander Li began the second test, in which candidates had to escape a forty-thousand-man Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation; several candidates were captured or earned low grades.
• Chen Sanshi entered the formation on a supplied horse with an unsharpened spear, prepared to face possible interference from Cao Fan.

Chen Sanshi broke through the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, earning praise for finding its Life Gate, but his trial turned deadly when he discovered Organ Refining fighters had been secretly added. After killing the infiltrators, he exposed the sabotage before the examiners, and Sun Xiangzong ordered an investigation.

• Chen Sanshi identified the Life Gate and smashed through a shield that concealed the route out of the formation.
• Officials praised Chen Sanshi's military skill, while Sun Li watched from behind the curtains and then prepared to leave.
• Chen Sanshi's spear broke, but he used its wooden shaft to fight through the formation and charged into the Gate of Death.
• Chen Sanshi discovered that several Organ Refining fighters had joined the formation and were attacking him with lethal intent.
• Chen Sanshi killed the four hidden Organ Refining fighters and their troops, then officials recognized that the trial had been sabotaged.
• Sun Xiangzong ordered his subordinate to investigate who had tampered with the selection and bring the culprits to him.

Chen Sanshi earned first grade in the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, exposing an attempt to sabotage the examination. Sun Xiangzong’s rivals tried to use the ensuing public inquiry to undermine his authority, but he revealed that he remained a fearsome Martial Saint and killed Ning Changqun.

• Bai Tingzhi accused Cao Fan of tampering with the formation, and officials restrained him for disrupting the examination.
• Chen Sanshi emerged with first grade, then presented evidence that men had been placed at the Gate of Death to kill him; the vanguard examination was suspended for an investigation.
• Fang Qingyun traced the plot to men from Yunzhong Camp, and Ning Changqun executed them publicly to display his authority while trying to discredit Sun Xiangzong.
• Fang Qingyun produced Shen Chang and the soldiers’ families as evidence that Ning Changqun had ordered the sabotage, while Ning denied the charges.
• Sun Xiangzong ordered Ning Changqun executed, and Ning challenged him as a Martial Saint before attacking him with his Mountain Splitting Great Axe.
• Sun Xiangzong wielded a silver dragon that destroyed Ning Changqun, revealing his overwhelming power to the crowd.