Recaps

Li Qing escaped the Border Fortress’s destruction and used a year in Obsidian City to train, trade, and forge the Peerless Hammer. After the Yan family targeted him through the Righteous Gang, Tian Long invited him to help overthrow the Yan family, and Li Qing left without deciding.

• Li Qing learned the Wu Li Army was preparing for war, trained under Master Gu’s guidance, and mourned Master Gu after he died.
• Li Qing studied the Yan family’s martial arts, forged a Mountain-Splitting Axe, and learned that Tuwahaer’s bandits were advancing toward the border.
• When the bandits attacked the camp, Li Qing hid food in the Eternal Night World and escaped, then chose to remain in Obsidian City to train.
• Li Qing traded Black Rye Mushrooms for jade and iron, defeated the Qi Family's Three Brothers when they tried to rob him, and forced them to carry his iron home.
• Li Qing used the Ancient Profound Hammer Technique to forge the Peerless Hammer, gained three years of lifespan, and reached the Outer Strength realm.
• After a year of training, Li Qing gave Old Man An his stored mushrooms when the Yan family pressured An Xuan’s family, though he initially refused to take An Xuan in.
• Li Qing caught Wei Tian stealing food and followed him to the Righteous Gang, where Tian Long revealed the Yan family had ordered the test.
• Tian Long asked Li Qing to help overthrow the Yan family and described its three Outer Strength experts and martial arts treasury, but Li Qing left to consider the offer.

Li Qing helped the Righteous Gang destroy the Yan family, then traveled to Shengtian and settled into blacksmithing while cultivating his martial arts. As Prince Yu’s hunt for the Star-Picking Divine Thief and the dispute over Lin Yi’s tomb stirred the city, Li Qing prepared to seek tiger bones and was approached by constables.

• Li Qing helped Tian Long and the Seven Kill Squad defeat the Yan family, then refused the position of second-in-command and remained a Guest Elder.
• Li Qing learned the Golden Body Technique, left Obsidian City, and brought Qi Kang through a hidden passage into Wangyuan City.
• Li Qing and Qi Kang escaped Wangyuan City during the Liang Kingdom’s attack and traveled to Shengtian, where Li Qing opened a blacksmith shop.
• Li Qing attended the Green Mountain Martial Arts School’s banquet and watched Xu Qingshan raise Chiming Street’s protection fee with Zhang Lai’s approval.
• Qi Kang left Li Qing to pursue martial arts, while Li Qing discovered he could cultivate the Golden Body Technique alongside the Turtle Breath Technique and secretly advanced to Internal Energy.
• Li Qing heard that Prince Yu’s Mansion and the Nine Lotus Sect had clashed over Lin Yi’s supposed tomb at Little Cui Ridge, but he chose to stay out of the dispute.
• Li Qing recognized the Star-Picking Divine Thief in a portrait as a man he had seen at a tavern, declined to pursue the bounty, and prepared to hunt tigers at Little Cui Ridge.
• Constables arrived at Li Qing’s smithy and said they wanted to ask him questions.

Li Qing hunted a fierce tiger, raised its cub Rice Bucket, and continued his travels after forging a renowned saber and surviving attacks on his smithy. In Chongning County, he found Gu Yu, a descendant of his master’s family, and drove off the man who was threatening him.

• Li Qing met Ning Yuan and Qi Kang inside Lin Yi’s tomb, learned about the Life-Extinguishing Art, then joined Old Man Sun in hunting a wounded tiger and carried its surviving cub back to the village.
• Li Qing returned to Sheng Tian with the cub, named it Rice Bucket, brewed medicinal wines, and killed intruders who broke into his smithy.
• Li Qing accepted a sword commission from Fang Long, then traveled north with Rice Bucket to return Master Gu’s Ancient Profound Hammer Technique to his family.
• At a martial exhibition, Zhao Yuan used Li Qing’s Startling Silence Blade to defeat an opponent, prompting Qian Hong and other commanders to seek out its maker.
• Li Qing passed through Jingyang City amid fighting between the Black Fiend Gang and the Lei Family, then killed bandits who stopped his carriage outside Chongning County.
• Li Qing investigated rumors of Sun Qi’s immortality treasure but decided against pursuing it and asked He Baosheng to help locate Master Gu’s family.
• Li Qing found Gu Yu forging in a dilapidated home and recognized his use of the Ancient Profound Hammer Technique.
• When Feng Jin tried to extort Gu Yu, Li Qing exposed his lie and Rice Bucket’s roar frightened him into fleeing.

Li Qing advanced to the Internal Energy realm, left the Righteous Gang, and entered Giant Rock City to investigate the Red Fish Merchant Guild and its strange beasts. At Qin Xiu’s birthday banquet, Jia Dachun exposed a plot against the city, but Shi Dong betrayed him.

• Li Qing brought Gu Yu’s family to Sheng Tian, settled them in a home and blacksmith shop, and forged Qian Hong the peerless Green Rainbow Sword.
• After training in the Black Wind Mountain Range for six months, Li Qing reached the Internal Energy realm and returned to the Eternal Night World.
• Li Qing visited the Righteous Gang, learned that Old Man An and Old Man Mo had died, and declined Tian Long’s request to inherit the gang and marry An Xuan.
• Li Qing demonstrated his strength by disarming Zhao Kou, then traveled to Giant Rock City and entered with a Righteous Gang caravan.
• Li Qing opened a smithy and investigated the Red Fish Merchant Guild’s Armored Pigs, Blood-Generating Pills, and connection to Sunlight Era beasts.
• After confronting Keloda and learning the Guild’s rise coincided with Ge Wen’s injury, Li Qing attended Qin Xiu’s birthday banquet disguised as a Sand Crocodile Gang member.
• Qin Xiu promised to investigate the deaths of Jia Dachun’s men, but Jia Dachun realized his wine was drugged and accused Qin Xiu and Ge Wen.
• Jia Dachun revealed he was an Internal Energy expert and called on Shi Dong to seize Giant Rock City, but Shi Dong stabbed him in the back.