Chapter Summaries

The rebels took control of Pingyin County and forced its aristocratic families and businesses to supply them, while Chen Fei concealed how little the pill-making work exhausted him. As strange activity increased around the county, Chen Fei arranged through Chi Defeng to join a costly departure and continued preparing to leave.

• Ling HanJun learned from Zhao Chengji that Xing Wenxiang might help him deal with the Disguise Technique.
• The rebel army stayed in Pingyin County, took control of the county, and requisitioned medicinal pills and other supplies from its aristocratic families.
• The Zhao Family increased Chen Fei's pay and let him refine pills at home, unaware that he completed his quota quickly and kept the remaining ingredients.
• Chen Fei noticed the bone-attached sore on his arm growing active and asked Chi Defeng about the increase in strange activity outside the city.
• Chi Defeng told Chen Fei that someone was organizing a departure from Pingyin County and offered to notify him, warning that the price would be high.
• Chen Fei prepared to sell his stored Revival Pills and discovered that gold and silver deposited in his panel could only pay simplification costs and could not be withdrawn.

Chen Fei profited from selling Revival Pills in the Dark market and arranged a deal to obtain ingredients for making Light Spirit Pills. After returning to his rented courtyard, he began studying the Primordial Archery Technique to add a way to attack enemies from afar.

• Chen Fei negotiated with a stall owner and sold around a hundred Revival Pills for two thousand taels of silver.
• Chen Fei offered to refine Light Spirit Pills using the stall owner's ingredients, and they agreed on one pill plus six taels of silver per set of ingredients.
• The stall owner provided Chen Fei with three sets of Light Spirit Pill ingredients, and Chen Fei left without being followed.
• Chen Fei deposited his silver into the panel, circled Pingyin County cautiously, and returned to his rented courtyard.
• Chen Fei rested, then took out the Primordial Archery Technique manual and began studying it.

Chen Fei completed the Primordial Archery Technique by tossing noodles, then fought off five men who tried to abduct him after he sold pills at the Dark market. Ling HanJun and Xing Wenxiang caught up with him and showed him a portrait, hoping he could identify someone.

• Chen Fei simplified the Primordial Archery Technique into Tossing Noodles and mastered it by tossing noodles one at a time.
• The Zhao Family delivered a basket of noodles, and Chen Fei trained with his bow while waiting for news from Chi Defeng as the strange creatures on Pingyin Mountain grew less active.
• After selling Revival Pills and Light Spirit Pills at the Dark market, Chen Fei refused an invitation from several armed men and wounded all five to warn off anyone seeking to control him.
• Ling HanJun and Xing Wenxiang followed Chen Fei, judged that he did not resemble the person they sought, and asked him for help identifying someone.
• Ling HanJun took a portrait from his robes to show Chen Fei.

Chen Fei evaded Ling HanJun’s attempt to identify him and discovered that the panel could exchange stored value for a Space Grid. After testing its limits, he realized bundled objects could be stored together and left the next morning to continue his work in a subdued Pingyin County.

• Chen Fei examined a portrait for Xing Wenxiang and Ling HanJun, then refused Ling HanJun’s request to exchange moves.
• Chen Fei used his altered movement technique to leave, and Ling HanJun concluded he probably was not the person he sought.
• Chen Fei stored more than five hundred taels of silver in the panel, discovered the Space Grid offer, and exchanged five thousand taels for one.
• Chen Fei found that the Space Grid held only one item at a time, then learned that a sealed sack counted as a single item.
• Chen Fei received medicinal ingredients from the Zhao Family and went out into the quiet, uneasy streets of Pingyin County.

Chen Fei commissioned a cabinet and discovered that it let him use the Space Grid to store and retrieve hidden supplies. Shan Xiang asked him to provide pills for Zhang Sinan’s group without supplying ingredients, but he refused; the chapter ended with Zhao Xia announcing that Chen Fei’s pill-refining workload would increase because Elder Zeng was injured.

• Chen Fei commissioned a compartmentalized cabinet and caught Shan Xiang following him in disguise.
• Shan Xiang asked Chen Fei for Detoxification Pills and healing pills for Zhang Sinan’s group, but he refused when she admitted they had no ingredients.
• Chen Fei stayed home instead of visiting the Dark market because he was wary of Ling HanJun.
• Chen Fei tested the cabinet and used it to store items in the Space Grid and retrieve them through its drawers.
• Zhao Xia told Chen Fei that Elder Zeng’s injury would increase his Light Spirit Pill assignments.

After learning that attackers had gravely wounded Zeng Defang, Chen Fei obtained the Zhao Family’s incomplete Floating Pill formula and prepared for his departure from Pingyin County. That night, Zhang Xianping attacked him, but Chen Fei killed him with a hidden sword technique.

• Zhao Xia told Chen Fei that unknown attackers had stormed Zeng Defang’s residence and left him gravely wounded, and Chen Fei requested the incomplete Floating Pill formula.
• Zhao Xia gave Chen Fei the formula and arranged two Zhao Family guards to protect him while the family sought a courtyard for the pill masters.
• Chen Fei refined the day’s pills, stored them and his supplies in his spatial slot, then spent the evening cultivating and practicing.
• Zhang Xianping killed the two guards and attacked Chen Fei, claiming Chen was the fourth target among the former Medical Hall people.
• Chen Fei exchanged dozens of moves with Zhang Xianping, assessed his sword techniques, and killed him with a concealed strike from Three Immortal Swords.

After killing Zhang Xianping and abandoning his former identity, Chen Fei prepared to leave Pingyin County and sold pills in the Dark market. When Ling HanJun’s men tried to track him, Chen Fei ambushed them with his bow, then escaped with his movement technique.

• Chen Fei disposed of Zhang Xianping and the two guards, hid their bodies, and moved his belongings into his spatial grid.
• Chi Defeng told Chen Fei to gather at Windstone at the hour of the dragon three days later, and Chen Fei sold pills for over a thousand taels of silver.
• Chen Fei noticed Ling HanJun’s men following him in the Dark market, changed his appearance, and lost them.
• Chen Fei watched Ling HanJun’s group from a distance and shot down the two archers and many rebel soldiers.
• Chen Fei kept Ling HanJun at bay with arrows until his quiver ran out, then fled at tremendous speed with his movement technique.

After escaping the Zhao Family’s pursuit in Pingyin County, Chen Fei prepared supplies and left the city to join a group traveling toward Xingfen City. He paid Qian Jijiang to lead the journey, and six travelers remained ready to set out together.

• Chen Fei returned to a rented courtyard, stored his silver, and decided to seek a stronger bow while keeping up his Internal Energy cultivation.
• The Zhao Family discovered the dead alchemists and Chen Fei’s disappearance, then joined the rebels in searching Pingyin County.
• Chen Fei filled his Space Grid with supplies, noticed stored buns remained hot, and left Zeng Defang behind because he was injured and had a family to care for.
• Chen Fei disguised himself and left Pingyin County, then reached Windstone and met Chi Defeng and the other travelers.
• Qian Jijiang asked each traveler for three hundred taels to lead the journey to Xingfen City; several people left, while six, including Chen Fei and Chi Defeng, paid.

Chen Fei traveled with Qian Jijiang’s group toward Xingfen City and noticed the anomaly mark on his arm weakening as they left Pingyin County. On the third night, a village appeared through the fog, and the group began repeating the same conversation as the village grew clearer.

• Chen Fei joined Qian Jijiang, Chi Defeng, Yan Qing, Yan Ding, Feng Yu, and the others on a five-day journey to Xingfen City, while the mark on his arm weakened with distance from Pingyin County.
• During a rest, Chi Defeng revealed that he had urged Qian Jijiang to leave because he sensed something major was about to happen in Pingyin County, and Qian Jijiang gave him the promised money.
• The group spent a peaceful night in a ruined temple and continued traveling for three days under Qian Jijiang’s guidance.
• At night, Yan Qing spotted lights from a village, but Qian Jijiang judged it suspicious and led the group around it.
• Chen Fei’s Serene Heart Incantation cleared his mind, revealing that the group was repeating the same conversation as before while white fog spread and the village grew clearer.

Chen Fei and his companions struggled to escape a misty place that kept drawing them toward a strange mountain village. Qian Jijiang used Red and White Candles to lead them toward a possible way out, but they were still racing through the forest as the mist closed in behind them.

• Qian Jijiang used incense to awaken Chen Fei's companions after they became bewitched by the mountain village.
• Chen Fei spotted the village ahead and warned everyone that they were getting closer to it.
• Qian Jijiang lit a Red Candle that dispersed the mist, then changed direction when it began burning too quickly.
• After the village appeared again, Qian Jijiang lit and threw a White Candle behind them to draw the strange things away.
• Qian Jijiang led the group into a desperate sprint as the mist thickened behind them and thinned ahead.

After escaping the specter’s poison, Chen Fei and the others reached Xingfen City, where Chen Fei planned to travel onward to Xianyun City with Chi Defeng. The next morning, Chen Fei went looking for cultivation methods and found a manual called Cloud Swallowing Force.

• Chen Fei shot Feng Yu with an arrow when she revealed that a specter had possessed her, and the group took Detoxification Pills to suppress the poison from her exploding head.
• Qian Jijiang led the exhausted group farther away to camp, and they continued their journey the next day under heightened alert.
• The group reached Xingfen City, where Yan Qing and Yan Ding parted ways with Chen Fei, Chi Defeng, and Qian Jijiang.
• Chen Fei said he wanted to continue to Xianyun City, and Chi Defeng agreed to accompany him; they learned that the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team would arrive in Xingfen City in a little over a month.
• Chen Fei visited a shop to look for cultivation methods and saw a manual called Cloud Swallowing Force.

Chen Fei bought a stronger bow and pills in Xingfen City, then acquired Cloud Swallowing Force and merged it into Shocking Swallowing Art. The new technique let him absorb more pills and greatly accelerated his progress toward Bone Forging, before he entered a quiet alley at night.

• Chen Fei rejected a shopkeeper's thousand-tael price for Cloud Swallowing Force, then tested bows and exchanged his old longbow for a stronger one.
• Chen Fei bought Floating Pills and found that their medicinal power overwhelmed his Muscle Tempering Realm meridians.
• Chen Fei bought Cloud Swallowing Force for three hundred taels and merged it with Shocking Suspension Force to create Shocking Swallowing Art.
• Chen Fei used Shocking Swallowing Art to absorb a Floating Pill and a Light Spirit Pill, nearly doubling his Internal Energy growth and shortening his estimated path to Bone Forging to a little over four months.
• Chen Fei walked through Xingfen City's lively streets at night, then turned into a quiet alley and approached a shop glowing with lamplight.

Chen Fei visited a night-only shop selling goods that could help people deal with the strange, but left without buying anything because he needed to save for a pill furnace. After buying one, he arranged for Chi Defeng to sell his pills at a stall, and Chi Defeng wondered if he had haggled for too little.

• Chen Fei visited the shopkeeper and learned the prices and effects of red candles, white candles, an Evil-Breaking Sword, Illusion-Breaking Water, and Awakening Incense.
• Chen Fei asked why the shop opened only at night, and the shopkeeper said he slept during the day.
• Chen Fei found that Xingfen City shops offered very low prices for pills, so he considered selling them at a stall instead.
• Chen Fei bought a pill furnace for two hundred taels and asked Chi Defeng to sell his pills at a stall.
• Chi Defeng asked for twenty percent of the proceeds, and Chen Fei immediately agreed, leaving Chi Defeng to wonder whether he had asked for too little.

Chen Fei earned steady profits by selling Light Spirit Pills in Xingfen City while advancing his attempt to deduce the Floating Pill formula. His Shocking Swallowing Art reached completion, accelerating his cultivation and raising the possibility that he would reach the Bone Forging Realm before the merchant team arrived.

• Chen Fei and Chi Defeng bade farewell to Qian Jijiang after he chose to rejoin his former escort agency.
• Chen Fei rented a courtyard with Chi Defeng and asked him to gather ingredients for Floating Pills.
• Chi Defeng sold Chen Fei's high-quality Light Spirit Pills, which had been selling out and earning Chen Fei around six hundred taels a day.
• Chen Fei brought his deduction of the Floating Pill formula to its final stage, aided by the Zhao Family's incomplete formula.
• Chen Fei's Shocking Swallowing Art reached completion, allowing him to consume two Floating Pills each day and gain eighty-five points of cultivation progress.
• Chen Fei anticipated that his faster cultivation might let him break through to the Bone Forging Realm before the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team arrived.

Chen Fei refined a Floating Pill, then waited in Xingfen City while the Shallow Water Gang threatened their pill business and the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team failed to arrive. After reaching the Bone Forging Realm, he received an urgent warning from a boy sent by Chi Defeng: run.

• Chen Fei improved his archery and refined a mottled pill that Chi Defeng identified as a Floating Pill.
• Chi Defeng told Chen Fei that the Shallow Water Gang had targeted their business, so Chen Fei stopped selling pills and chose to wait for the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team.
• After another month of waiting, Chen Fei used Floating Pills to reach the Bone Forging Realm.
• A boy arrived at Chen Fei's gate and relayed Chi Defeng's message: run.

After learning that the Shallow Water Gang had captured Chi Defeng, Chen Fei sought information on the gang and the place where Chi was held. He discovered that the information broker had betrayed him, so he closed the shop doors and killed the shopkeeper.

• A boy delivered Chi Defeng’s warning that Chen Fei should run if Chi failed to meet him, and Chen Fei abandoned his courtyard.
• Chen Fei paid an information shop to confirm that the Shallow Water Gang had captured Chi Defeng and to learn where Chi was being held.
• The shopkeeper secretly ordered an accomplice to sell Chen Fei’s identity and location to the Shallow Water Gang.
• Chen Fei returned through the inner hall and silenced the shop’s Bone Forging Realm guards.
• Chen Fei shut the front doors and pierced the shopkeeper’s heart after confronting him about the betrayal.

Chen Fei raided the Shallow Water Gang’s residence after discovering it had a Marrow Refinement Realm elder, while Xu Zaichuan tortured Chi Defeng for information about an alchemist. Chen Fei interrupted the torture with a deadly arrow attack, and He Yuanqiu arrived to confront him.

• Chen Fei searched the market shop’s records, learned that the Shallow Water Gang had an elderly Marrow Refinement Realm martial artist, and headed to Xu Zaichuan’s residence.
• Xu Zaichuan beat and tortured Chi Defeng, demanding information about the alchemist, but Chi Defeng insisted he knew only the man’s pill-selling arrangement.
• As the gang members prepared to torture Chi Defeng further, Chen Fei shot the torturer and killed several other Shallow Water Gang members with arrows.
• Chen Fei’s archery overwhelmed the gang members inside the hall, killing more than a dozen and forcing the survivors to hide.
• He Yuanqiu rushed to the residence and attacked Chen Fei, but Chen Fei evaded him and continued shooting the gang members in hiding.

Chen Fei reached Chi Defeng and rescued him from the Shallow Water Gang, killing Xu Zaichuan when the gang leader attacked. He Yuanqiu confronted Chen Fei, whose Three Immortal Swords forced him back but only slightly wounded his palm.

• Chen Fei shot down Shallow Water Gang members while moving and stopped Xu Zaichuan’s Pipa Hook from reaching Chi Defeng.
• Chen Fei reached Chi Defeng, and Xu Zaichuan attacked him with a saber.
• Chen Fei used the Fire Pattern Sword stance to pierce Xu Zaichuan’s throat.
• He Yuanqiu rushed at Chen Fei, who countered with the Three Immortal Swords and forced him to step back.

Chen Fei killed He Yuanqiu with his newly developed Sword Five and escaped Xu Zaichuan’s residence with Chi Defeng. They considered hiding in Xingfen City under their real faces, while Xu Zaichuan finally died as help arrived.

• Chen Fei used Sword Five to shatter He Yuanqiu’s hands and behead him, then chose not to kill Xu Zaichuan himself.
• Chen Fei shot the other people in the hall, searched He Yuanqiu, and took Chi Defeng to another rented courtyard to treat his wounds.
• Chen Fei and Chi Defeng discussed fleeing Xingfen City and realized joining a merchant team could expose them to Xu Wangliang’s search.
• Chen Fei proposed abandoning their disguises and hiding in plain sight among the many outsiders in Xingfen City, and Chi Defeng understood the plan.
• Xu Zaichuan’s men arrived and found him still standing, but blood suddenly sprayed from his neck as he died.

After Xu Zaichuan’s death, Xu Wangliang launched a brutal search across Xingfen City, while Wu Changli used a Gu worm to help track the killer. The Gu worm followed the aura of Xu Zaichuan’s blood, leaving Xu Wangliang with a possible lead.

• Xu Wangliang ordered the seizure and interrogation of anyone who had held a grudge against Xu Zaichuan or visited his residence, and he also demanded an investigation into a nearby shop where everyone had been killed by sword strikes.
• The Xu Family’s searches and arrests unsettled Xingfen City, but the broad hunt for outsiders eased after two days because it risked antagonizing powerful people.
• Wu Changli used a Gu worm to check the prisoners in the Xu Family dungeon, confirmed the killer was not among them, and watched Xu Wangliang order more torture and killings.
• Xu Wangliang asked Wu Changli to track down his son’s killer, and Wu Changli fed the Gu worm black soil after it had licked Xu Zaichuan’s blood.
• The Gu worm began flying in pursuit of the same aura it had detected in Xu Zaichuan’s blood.