Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan regained consciousness after being beaten for exposing corruption in the examinations and learned that he had transmigrated into another man's body. His wife and younger sister brought him home, where the loss of his scholarly title left the family facing winter conscription, and a villager gave them millet to help keep him alive.

• Fang Yuan recalled accusing the County Education Official of examination corruption, then being framed for cheating and beaten until he lost consciousness.
• Two men found Fang Yuan nearly frozen in a snow hollow and carried him to his dilapidated home.
• Fang Yuan recognized his wife and younger sister and realized that they were the only family members left.
• Fang Yuan's wife feared that without his scholarly title, the authorities would conscript the family's able-bodied men.
• One of the men gave Fang Yuan's wife a pouch of millet and offered further help before leaving.

After waking from a near-fatal beating over his stolen examination paper, Fang Yuan resolved to gain real strength and discovered a Proficiency System that advanced when he practiced. The chapter left him exhausted but encouraged by the system’s progress and the warmth rising through his body.

• Fang Yuan woke in his family’s poor home and remembered that he had been beaten after reporting the name written on his examination paper.
• Fang Yuan decided to pursue martial strength after realizing his stolen scholarly title would cost him his copying work and leave his family struggling.
• The Proficiency System appeared in Fang Yuan’s vision, displaying his name, realm, and cultivation method as empty.
• Fang Yuan picked up a chopping knife and swung it, causing the system to register Basic Saber Technique progress and a faint current of heat in his arm.
• Fang Yuan repeatedly practiced until exhaustion made him drop the knife, then checked the panel and saw Basic Saber Technique proficiency at 17/10000.

Fang Yuan realized his knife swings were a demanding cultivation method, but he lacked the food needed to train. After learning how little remained at home, he stopped Liu Wanwan and her younger sister from doing laundry in the freezing weather and promised to find food.

• Fang Yuan understood that the system-guided chopping exercise trained his whole body, but worried that hunger would keep him weak before conscription.
• Liu Wanwan offered Fang Yuan water, and he noticed how frightened she and her younger sister were of him.
• Fang Yuan asked whether there was any food left, and Liu Wanwan said the household had only a little millet and bran that San Zhuang had brought.
• Liu Wanwan and her younger sister offered to earn Copper Coins through laundry and mending work.
• Fang Yuan saw Liu Wanwan's cracked, swollen hands, forbade them from doing laundry in the freezing weather, and said he would find food.

After hearing that Wushui Commandery was urgently conscripting men to suppress a rebellion, Fang Yuan realized his weak body could not survive military service and decided to seek a way to pay for an exemption. He chose to enter the dangerous Great Green Mountain to find money and supplies, and asked Liu Wanwan to sharpen the household axe.

• Fang Yuan shared his thin porridge with Liu Wanwan and his sister, then resumed training with the chopping knife.
• Old Madam Chen told Liu Wanwan that men were being conscripted because Hanshan Commandery had fallen into chaos, and even only sons could be taken.
• Fang Yuan realized his lost scholarly status no longer protected him from conscription and feared he would die on the battlefield.
• Fang Yuan decided to gather money for substitute service silver and saw the Great Green Mountain as his only chance.
• Fang Yuan asked Liu Wanwan to sharpen the firewood axe, leaving her startled as he looked toward the mountains.

Fang Yuan chose to enter Great Green Mountain rather than face the front lines, and his Basic Saber Technique reached proficiency as he prepared to leave. He departed at dawn with an axe and rope, leaving Liu Wanwan and her younger sister to guard the house.

• Fang Yuan insisted on going into Great Green Mountain despite Liu Wanwan and her younger sister pleading with him to stay.
• Liu Wanwan sharpened the logging axe while her younger sister gathered the household's hemp rope.
• Fang Yuan's Basic Saber Technique reached 100/10000, strengthening him, and he found that swinging the axe increased its proficiency to 101/10000.
• Fang Yuan warned Liu Wanwan and her younger sister to keep the door bolted while he was away, then left the house.
• Fang Yuan walked through the snowy village toward the mountains, and villagers stopped to ask where he was going.

Fang Yuan entered the snowbound Great Green Mountain to hunt, using his journey and search through the wilderness to train his Basic Footwork. While digging a pit trap in a sheltered hollow, he discovered that the System also increased his Basic Trapping Technique proficiency.

• Hou San watched Fang Yuan leave and began plotting to approach Liu Wanwan and her younger sister while Fang Yuan was away.
• Fang Yuan's Basic Footwork proficiency increased as he ran swiftly through the snow toward Great Green Mountain.
• Fang Yuan entered the mountain's deep, snow-covered forest and searched for tracks, avoiding familiar trails and dangerous large prey.
• Fang Yuan found a sheltered rocky hollow and began digging a simple pit trap in the frozen ground.
• Fang Yuan received a Basic Trapping Technique proficiency increase for digging and realized that making pit traps could train the skill.

Fang Yuan improved his trapping and footwork while hunting in the snow, catching five rabbits near a burrow. A tiger’s roar warned him of danger, and he left the mountain as a battered group of hunters emerged behind him.

• Fang Yuan developed his Basic Trapping Technique by digging and camouflaging sharpened-pit traps, then practiced moving quietly with Basic Footwork.
• Fang Yuan found a rabbit burrow with several exits and set traps around them before waiting nearby.
• Fang Yuan discovered three Snow Rabbits caught in his traps, then heard a tiger roar and abandoned any thought of hunting it.
• Fang Yuan checked his earlier traps, collected five rabbits in total, and hurried down the mountain.
• About half an hour later, four or five battered hunters emerged from deeper in the forest, supporting a companion with an injured leg.

Fang Yuan returned to the village with five rabbits after hunting in the mountains, where a group of hunters discovered his tracks and decided to confront him over hunting in their territory. At home, he found Liu Wanwan frightened and tearful, and realized something had happened while he was away.

• Heizi and the other hunters found Fang Yuan's fresh footprints and partially concealed pit trap, then treated him as an intruder on their hunting grounds.
• The hunters complained that newcomers were encroaching on their territory and planned to demand tribute or punish Fang Yuan if they met him.
• Fang Yuan carried five rabbits home through the dark village, exhausted and considering how to find a safe place to stay overnight in the mountains.
• Fang Yuan reached his dark, silent home and received no answer when he knocked and called for Liu Wanwan.
• Liu Wanwan opened the door with swollen, tearful eyes, and Fang Yuan checked the alley before entering and bolting the door behind him.

Fang Yuan learned that Hou San had tried to force his way into the house, but he calmed Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout by showing them the five rabbits he had caught. He prepared to butcher the rabbits so his family could eat and gain strength.

• Liu Wanwan told Fang Yuan that Hou San had come after dark, cursed, and kicked their door before leaving.
• Fang Yuan promised to handle Hou San and told Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout not to be afraid.
• Fang Yuan showed them the five rabbits he had caught, delighting Little Bean Sprout and easing Liu Wanwan's worry about his safety.
• Little Bean Sprout asked Fang Yuan not to eat the rabbits, but he explained that the food would help him protect them.
• Liu Wanwan brought water to prepare the rabbits, and Fang Yuan took the knife from her when she admitted she had never killed one.

Fang Yuan dressed five rabbits, discovering that butchering them increased his Basic Saber Technique proficiency, while Liu Wanwan prepared a rare meal for the family. The chapter ended with Fang Yuan, Liu Wanwan, and Little Bean Sprout sharing rabbit meat and hoping their lives would improve.

• Fang Yuan dressed the rabbits in the freezing courtyard and gained 100 proficiency by carefully skinning and butchering them.
• Liu Wanwan admired Fang Yuan’s skill and planned to trade the undamaged pelts for grain.
• Fang Yuan let Liu Wanwan cook while he rested, understanding that she wanted to feel useful to the household.
• Fang Yuan comforted hungry Little Bean Sprout and promised their family’s life would get better.
• Fang Yuan served meat to Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout, and the three ate together.

Fang Yuan recovered his strength by eating rabbit meat and practiced his saber technique before Liu Wanwan cared for him. Worried about Hou San threatening his family, Fang Yuan went out into the snowy night and overheard Hou San boasting about a city recruitment opportunity and his cousin’s rising status.

• Fang Yuan ate a large basin of rabbit meat, practiced his saber technique, and quickly increased his proficiency.
• Liu Wanwan washed Fang Yuan’s feet, while he pushed aside his growing tenderness and worried about Hou San.
• Fang Yuan quietly took a logging axe and left home after Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout fell asleep.
• Fang Yuan followed the village’s eastern houses and heard Hou San tell a group of men that his cousin could recruit them for work in the city.
• Hou San claimed his cousin Zhang Biao served Master Wang and was close to becoming a martial artist, prompting the men to flatter him.

Fang Yuan killed Hou San in the snow and staged his death as an accident before slipping away unnoticed. The other men discovered the body when Black Skin went to look for him.

• Hou San drunkenly bragged to the rogues about a woman he desired and went outside to relieve himself.
• Fang Yuan struck Hou San in the temple with a frozen clod, killing him.
• Fang Yuan arranged Hou San's corpse to look like he had slipped and struck his head, then concealed the evidence and left.
• When Hou San failed to return, Black Skin went to the latrine and found his bloodied body.
• Black Skin screamed, and the other rogues rushed outside to find him pointing at Hou San's corpse.

Fang Yuan concealed his involvement in Hou San’s death and focused on strengthening himself. After demonstrating extraordinary strength, he resolved to keep hunting on Great Green Mountain to fuel his training.

• Fang Yuan returned home after making Hou San’s death look like an accidental fall, wary that Zhang Biao might investigate.
• Fang Yuan reflected on martial artists and the need to grow stronger, then slept beside Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout.
• Fang Yuan practiced his saber and ate the leftover rabbit, while Liu Wanwan worried about his huge appetite.
• Liu Wanwan told Fang Yuan that the village believed Hou San had fallen beside the latrine and died, and Fang Yuan calmly acknowledged the news.
• Fang Yuan lifted a heavy stone mill and trained his footwork, astonishing Liu Wanwan with his strength.
• Fang Yuan decided that hunting on snow-covered Great Green Mountain was necessary to sustain his training and growth.

Fang Yuan and Liu Wanwan refused to send Little Bean Sprout away with human traffickers who had arrived in the village. Fang Yuan comforted his frightened little sister, promising that he would never sell her and that they would have meat to eat.

• Old Madam Chen and two neighboring women visited Liu Wanwan and told her that human traffickers were recruiting children at the village's east entrance.
• Liu Wanwan firmly refused to sell Little Bean Sprout, despite Old Madam Chen's claims that joining a wealthy household could help the family survive.
• After the women left, Fang Yuan reassured Liu Wanwan that he was not troubled by their gossip.
• Fang Yuan found Little Bean Sprout crying in the inner room and used rabbit jerky as a magic trick to make her smile.
• Fang Yuan promised Little Bean Sprout that he would never sell her and that they would have meat to eat every day.

Fang Yuan reassured Little Bean Sprout and Liu Wanwan that he would keep their family together, then rejected Liu Wanwan’s offer to seek washing work and set out to hunt for food. Old Madam Chen secretly planned to exploit the family’s poverty by arranging for Liu Wanwan to become Young Master Chen’s concubine.

• Fang Yuan teased Little Bean Sprout about selling Liu Wanwan, then promised that no one in their family would be sold or left behind.
• Old Madam Chen revealed to the other women that she hoped to arrange Liu Wanwan’s sale to Young Master Chen in exchange for a reward and help with her son’s conscription.
• Old Madam Chen decided to wait until the Fang family ran out of food and to notify Chen Manor about Liu Wanwan.
• Liu Wanwan offered to seek washing work at Master Chen’s house, but Fang Yuan refused and told her to stay home with Little Bean Sprout.
• Fang Yuan checked his axe and rope, then headed into the mountains to hunt larger prey for his family.

Fang Yuan showed the village that he was recovering and avoided a group of hunters’ ambush as he traveled deeper into the mountains. The hunters’ attempt to catch a wild boar failed, leaving Liu Zi with a broken leg while the wounded boar escaped.

• Fang Yuan walked through the village carrying an axe, reassuring villagers with his healthy appearance and seeing that Hou San’s death was being treated as an accident.
• Fang Yuan trained his Basic Footwork on the mountain path and found fresh footprints that suggested a group of experienced hunters was nearby.
• Fang Yuan changed routes and circled around Heizi and the other hunters, who were hiding in wait for wild boars.
• Heizi signaled the hunters to attack when a Black-furred Wild Boar approached their bait, but their arrow and nooses failed to stop it.
• The wild boar broke free after injuring Liu Zi’s leg and escaped, and Heizi hurried to tend to the injured hunter.

Fang Yuan discovered an unusually clever Purple Sable in an abandoned treehouse and followed it to a hidden plant growing in a rock crevice. He found the plant’s human-shaped roots and bright red berries, but its value remained unknown.

• Heizi and another hunter gave up chasing the wild boar and carried the injured Liu Zi back on a makeshift stretcher.
• Fang Yuan found a long-abandoned treehouse and climbed inside to inspect it.
• A Purple Sable ambushed Fang Yuan, but he caught it and realized its pelt could be worth a fortune.
• Fang Yuan gained a point in Basic Beast Language Proficiency and understood that the sable was offering a trade for its freedom.
• He released the Purple Sable and followed it through the snow to a rock crevice.
• The Purple Sable revealed a strange plant with human-shaped roots and bright red berries.

Fang Yuan spared the Purple Sable in exchange for an exceptionally valuable Snow Ginseng, then followed it to a wounded Black-furred Wild Boar. He found the boar near death in a snowy hollow and prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.

• Fang Yuan accepted the Purple Sable’s plea and kept the decades-old Snow Ginseng rather than selling it, intending to use it to strengthen his martial training.
• The Purple Sable returned and persuaded Fang Yuan to crack open its hard pinecones for their kernels.
• Fang Yuan traded the pine nuts for the Purple Sable’s help finding nearby prey.
• The Purple Sable led Fang Yuan to an enormous Black-furred Wild Boar lying grievously wounded in a sheltered hollow.
• Fang Yuan recognized that the boar had escaped a hunter but was now too weak to fight.

Fang Yuan worked with the Purple Sable to secure a huge wild boar, then carried it into his courtyard under cover of night. He and Liu Wanwan planned to keep some of the meat and trade the rest for supplies and warmer clothes.

• Fang Yuan thanked the Purple Sable for helping him find the dying wild boar, and it accepted his company but refused to follow him home.
• Fang Yuan hid the boar until nightfall and split pinecones for the Purple Sable while it collected the kernels.
• Near midnight, Fang Yuan carried the bound boar through secluded paths to avoid being seen by villagers.
• Fang Yuan quietly brought the boar into his courtyard, where Liu Wanwan opened the door and stared in shock.
• Fang Yuan told Liu Wanwan they would keep half the meat and trade the rest for food, household goods, and warmer clothes for her and Little Bean Sprout.

Fang Yuan butchered the wild boar and carried the best meat and leaf fat through the snow to a rural market to trade for supplies. He presented the goods to a wealthy shopkeeper and asked what price he would offer.

• Fang Yuan efficiently butchered nearly half the wild boar while Liu Wanwan held a lantern for him.
• Fang Yuan packed the best cuts and leaf fat, told Liu Wanwan to secure the house, and left for the rural market before dawn.
• Fang Yuan carried the heavy sack through the snowy night and reached the busy market at a crossroads.
• Fang Yuan approached the largest trading tent and showed the shopkeeper the fresh wild boar meat and thick leaf fat.
• The shopkeeper praised the goods and asked how Fang Yuan wanted to sell them, and Fang Yuan asked what price he could offer.