Chapter Summaries

After learning that the Tiger Demon’s pills and token pointed to Du Yu Mountain in the Northern Territories, Lu Zheng and his companions considered whether the demon had been connected to Leng Jian. They set aside their worries about possible retaliation and shared the Vermillion Fruit before going to sleep together.

• Chu Jin recognized the stone token as belonging to Du Yu Mountain and said he would report the matter to the Zhongjing Demon Suppression Division and alert Huo Mountain Province.
• Du Huanzhen identified the pills as cultivation aids, and Lu Zheng wondered whether the Tiger Demon had been delivering them to Leng Jian.
• Li Hanyu accepted two bottles of pills for Zhu Yushan and his wife after they refused Lu Zheng’s offer to share them.
• Lu Zheng told Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan about Du Yu Mountain, and the three discussed the possibility that it was connected to Leng Jian and might seek revenge.
• Lu Zheng asked whether Liu Qingyan had finished absorbing the Vermillion Fruit’s medicinal power, then shared it with Shen Ying and cultivated with both women until midnight.

After Lu Zheng returned from Yizhou, Zhao Wenrong and Lin Yushu thanked him for saving them from the Tiger Demon and invited him to lunch. On the way home, Liu Qingquan asked for tiger-fur clothing and misunderstood what a tiger whip was, while Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan both began thinking about the Tiger Demon’s medicinal value.

• Hou Ping arrived at Peach Blossom Manor, and Shen Ying ordered him to copy Peach Blossom Shrine’s New Year petition a hundred times.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan returned to Tonglin County and met Zhao Wenrong and Lin Yushu, who came to thank Lu Zheng for saving them.
• Zhao Wenrong invited Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan to lunch at Bright Moon Pavilion, and Lu Zheng agreed before planning to cook for Liu Qingquan that afternoon.
• Liu Qingquan peppered Lu Zheng with questions about the Tiger Demon and asked him for a tiger-fur scarf and cloak.
• Liu Qingyan grabbed Liu Qingquan’s ear and threatened to make her read medical books after she mistook a tiger whip for its tail.
• Lu Zheng imagined using the Tiger Demon’s whip for nourishment, and Liu Qingyan reacted with embarrassed anticipation.

Lu Zheng prepared for the Full Armor Fighting invitational while Lin Wan wrapped up a case, then entered the competition as the first long-weapons match began. He faced a Japanese armored fighter in the ring.

• Lu Zheng declined Zhao Wenyu’s invitation to dinner with Japan’s Sixth Day Club and planned to attend only on competition day.
• Lin Wan learned that the suspect in her case had confessed and went to complete the formal proceedings.
• Lu Zheng picked up Huang Xiumin and Li Ying, then arrived at Hai City Gymnasium while Lin Wan and Huang Xiumin went to the stands.
• Zhang Tiexia said he had withdrawn from the long-weapons event and would compete only in sword-and-shield and dual-weapons events.
• Lu Zheng entered the ring in Fish Scale Chainmail with his Bright Silver Coiling Dragon Spear to face a tall Japanese fighter wielding a long spear.

Lu Zheng dominated the Japanese Sixth Day Club at the Full Armor Fighting China-Japan Invitational, winning the long-weapons, short-weapons, combined-fighting, and team events. The Japanese team changed the twenty-man event to fifteen fighters after too many members were too injured to compete, leaving Lu Zheng out, but the Wu Yue Club still won.

• Lu Zheng overwhelmed Murashita, the Demon King of the Sixth Day, and won the long-weapons match eighty-eight to zero.
• Yamada Mitsunosuke challenged Lu Zheng, who defeated him seventy-two to zero and claimed the long-weapons championship.
• Lu Zheng won the short-weapons championship and later beat Yamada again to take the combined-fighting trophy.
• The next day, Lu Zheng and Zhang Tiexia shut out their opponents in the two-man event, and Lu Zheng led the Wu Yue Club to victory in the eight-man event.
• The Japanese team changed the twenty-man event to fifteen men because many fighters were injured, excluding Lu Zheng, but the Wu Yue Club still beat the Japanese Sixth Day Club.

After Lu Zheng helped Wu Yue Club dominate the Full Armor Fighting event, he skipped the victory dinner to spend time with Lin Wan. They planned a National Day trip and enjoyed four days in Ya City, but Lin Wan received a work call that threatened to ruin their holiday again.

• Wu Yue Club won seven of the eight Full Armor Fighting trophies, and Lu Zheng left before the victory dinner to join Lin Wan and her friends.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan discussed their National Day plans, and Lu Zheng promised to plan a peaceful seven-day trip.
• Zhang Tiexia began livestreaming martial arts and helping Zhao Wenyu sell products, turning Zhao Wenyu's factory profitable.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan traveled to Ya City and spent four days at Yalong Bay swimming, diving, shopping, and sightseeing.
• After Lin Wan took a work call while returning from a yacht trip, she told Lu Zheng that National Day might be ruined again.

Lin Wan asked Lu Zheng to help investigate Sha Dun, a suspected criminal whose Tai Country undercover colleague had disappeared in Ya City. They found the colleague alive, tied up aboard a yacht, and decided to wait there for Sha Dun’s transaction.

• Lin Wan explained that she needed to rescue a missing colleague, gather evidence against Sha Dun, and identify his trading partner.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan used an Invisibility Technique to search the missing officer’s hotel room and found it ransacked, but Lu Zheng sensed that the officer was still alive at sea.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan checked Sha Dun’s suite, found five people inside, and concluded that the other two from his group were likely guarding the missing officer.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan boarded Sha Dun’s nearby yacht and found Lin Wan’s colleague tied up in a storage room with ballast stones beside him.
• Lin Wan decided they should wait aboard the yacht for Sha Dun’s transaction, and Lu Zheng praised her plan.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan secretly recorded Sha Dun negotiating a large illicit transaction with Sunny aboard a yacht, completing Lin Wan’s second and third missions. After Sunny left, Sha Dun ordered an International Criminal Police agent drowned and headed back to the hotel for a show.

• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan watched the sunrise at sea and discussed Lu Zheng’s rapid cultivation progress and future flight.
• Sha Dun boarded the yacht and confirmed that the captive International Criminal Police agent was still alive, then arranged to meet his trading partner.
• Sha Dun met Sunny on another yacht, and they negotiated a larger transaction at a higher price while Lin Wan recorded their conversation and the online deposit.
• Lin Wan’s recording captured the transaction details and payment, completing her second and third missions.
• After Sunny departed, Sha Dun ordered his bodyguards to tie a ballast stone to the agent and throw him into the sea, then set sail for the hotel.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan rescued Pu Cha Wang and completed their mission to gather evidence against Sha Dun, then prepared to return from Ya City. At the hotel, Pu Cha Wang appeared to betray them, and Sha Dun’s men forced them onto a yacht, where Lu Zheng waited for a chance to fight back.

• Lu Zheng revived Pu Cha Wang after rescuing him from the sea, and Lin Wan told him the evidence against Sha Dun had been sent to headquarters.
• Pu Cha Wang returned to the hotel, while Lu Zheng and Lin Wan discussed how the mission had ended quickly and went shopping.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan talked about a future trip to Australia, then noticed two people approaching them in the hotel lobby.
• Sha Dun’s men held Lu Zheng and Lin Wan at gunpoint as Pu Cha Wang sat with one of Sha Dun’s bodyguards nearby.
• Sha Dun welcomed the captives aboard his yacht, and Lu Zheng told Lin Wan he would wait until they were at sea before acting in self-defense.

Sha Dun captured Lu Zheng and Lin Wan aboard his yacht and tried to locate the recording they had made of his transaction. After discovering the footage, he abandoned his pretense of negotiation and ordered them onto the blood-scented deck.

• Sha Dun welcomed Lu Zheng and Lin Wan aboard, questioned how they had rescued Pu Cha Wang, and claimed his transaction had been a decoy.
• Sha Dun unlocked their phones and learned that Lin Wan had recorded the transaction, including Sunny's payment details.
• Sha Dun searched Lin Wan's bag for the hidden recording device but found nothing.
• Sha Dun offered Lu Zheng and Lin Wan drinks and said Pu Cha Wang was not protected by Hua Country, but Lin Wan insisted he was under its protection.
• Sha Dun ordered Lu Zheng and Lin Wan out of the lounge at gunpoint, and they smelled blood on the deck as he said it was cow blood.

Sha Dun tried to feed Lu Zheng, Lin Wan, and Pu Cha Wang to sharks, but Lu Zheng and Lin Wan turned the tables on his crew. They confronted Sha Dun alone on the yacht, asking whether he regretted his choices.

• Sha Dun revealed that he had lured sharks to the yacht and pushed Pu Cha Wang into the sea, where sharks devoured him.
• Sha Dun offered Lin Wan and Lu Zheng wine, but Lin Wan warned him that his guns would not work against them.
• Lu Zheng disarmed three bodyguards, and Lin Wan threw them into the sea after crippling two with her blood energy.
• Sha Dun's accountant attacked Lu Zheng with hidden blades, but Lu Zheng kicked him overboard.
• A bodyguard and the secretary fired at Lin Wan and Lu Zheng, but both survived and sent the attackers into the sea.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan approached Sha Dun with wine and asked whether he regretted what he had done.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan killed Sha Dun after he surrendered, then returned to shore and learned that the International Criminal Police had lost track of Sha Dun and Pu Cha Wang. They left the unresolved investigation behind and ended the night at a seaside market, ordering a seafood feast.

• Lin Wan threw Sha Dun into the sea, where sharks killed him, and she vowed to pursue the armed group responsible for the dead border police officers.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan drove the yacht near shore, cleaned away traces, and returned to land across the water.
• Lin Wan learned that Pu Cha Wang and Sha Dun had disappeared and that headquarters suspected a mole in the Tai Country branch.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan changed clothes and went to a seaside night market, where they ordered a large seafood meal.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan set out for Dingfeng Mountain in southern Xinjiang after saying goodbye to Shen Ying and Du YueYao. At a roadside noodle stall, their roast chicken drew wary attention, and an old beggar asked Lu Zheng for a chicken leg.

• Lu Zheng agreed with Liu Qingyan and Old Man Liu to leave for Dingfeng Mountain the next morning, and Du YueYao saw them off after dinner.
• Liu Qingyan urged Lu Zheng to visit Shen Ying before the long journey, and he spent the night at Peach Blossom Manor.
• The next morning, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan ate breakfast with Shen Ying, then traveled south along the route of the official road.
• At a roadside noodle stall, Lu Zheng shared Five-Spice Roast Chicken with Liu Qingyan, while several customers restrained two men from acting against the pair.
• As Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan prepared to eat their noodles, an old beggar asked Lu Zheng for a chicken leg.

Lu Zheng reunited with the Old Beggar who had saved him years earlier, and they shared a feast with Liu Qingyan at a noodle shop. The Old Beggar revealed he was several hundred years old, and Lu Zheng ended the chapter offering him noodles seasoned with food from his gourd.

• Lu Zheng recognized the Old Beggar and invited him to sit, then introduced Liu Qingyan and explained that the senior had saved him from a flower plucking thief.
• The Old Beggar praised Lu Zheng’s rapid cultivation and joked that he should become the master of White Cloud Temple once he cultivated Innate Cloud Qi.
• Lu Zheng brought out Huadiao wine and braised dishes from his gourd, and the Old Beggar eagerly ate and praised the pork intestines.
• The Old Beggar revealed that he had lived for several hundred years, surprising Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan, who had been unable to sense his aura.
• Lu Zheng dressed the shop’s plain noodles with seasonings and toppings from his gourd, then offered the finished bowl to the Old Beggar.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan shared wine and a meal with the Old Beggar, who offered them cultivation advice. Before vanishing, he gave Lu Zheng a Thousand-Li Swift Travel Talisman for their journey to Southern Frontier.

• Lu Zheng told the Old Beggar that he and Liu Qingyan were traveling to Southern Frontier for Hu Zhou's wedding, and the Old Beggar recognized Liu Qingyan as the Green Physician Goddess.
• The Old Beggar praised Liu Qingyan's merit and advised both her and Lu Zheng on their cultivation paths.
• Lu Zheng served the Old Beggar more wine and dishes, and the three ate together for nearly two hours.
• Lu Zheng gave the Old Beggar ten jars of wine and five packages of braised meat in thanks for his guidance.
• The Old Beggar vanished and left Lu Zheng a Thousand-Li Swift Travel Talisman, warning that Southern Frontier was not peaceful.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan joined Luo Jin’s merchant party to cross Ling Mountain by a quicker mountain route. The group entered the mountains, expecting to reach a hunters’ cabin by evening.

• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan arrived at the official Ling Mountain road and decided to travel through the mountains rather than take the long route.
• Luo Jin offered to guide them along a mountain path with his merchant caravan, and Lu Zheng paid him two strings of cash.
• Luo Jin warned Lu Zheng not to display his Treasure Notes, but Lu Zheng said he could protect himself.
• Luo Jin introduced Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan to the four guards led by the Surname Zhang Man, who cautioned them about the difficult path.
• The party set out into Ling Mountain, with Luo Jin expecting them to reach a hunters’ cabin by evening.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan traveled through the Ling Mountain Range with Luo Jin’s merchant caravan, treating the difficult journey as a sightseeing trip while hiding their extraordinary abilities. They reached the mountain inn at dusk, where Lu Zheng noticed it was surrounded by gloomy Yin Qi.

• Luo Jin and Surname Zhang Man explained the caravan’s five-day route through the mountains and recruited Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan to join them.
• The group crossed nearly thirty li on the first day and rested at a hunters’ hut, where Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan ate their own food and slept on a grass bed.
• On the second day, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan admired flowers, scenery, rocks, and waterfalls while Surname Zhang Man’s guards dealt with dangerous wildlife.
• The caravan passed several small merchant groups heading north, and Luo Jin’s group became more respectful after noticing Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan remained unfazed by the long trek.
• At dusk, Luo Jin led the group to a three-story inn, and Lu Zheng gaped at its gloomy Yin Qi.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan stayed at a mountain inn that gave off heavy Yin Qi, while the rest of Luo Jin’s caravan ate and slept there without noticing anything unusual. The chapter ended with the couple recognizing that they had arrived at another haunted house.

• Luo Jin led the travelers to the isolated inn and paid for communal beds and a small room for Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan.
• The Innkeeper welcomed the group and said the inn was empty despite having hosted many guests the day before.
• Lu Zheng noticed something amiss with the tea, but decided not to interfere because earlier travelers had apparently passed through safely.
• The caravan ate the inn’s food while Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan stuck to their own pastries and fruit.
• The Innkeeper showed Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan to a room on the third floor and discussed their route toward Lingnan Province.
• After the Innkeeper left, Liu Qingyan remarked that they had ended up in another haunted house, and Lu Zheng agreed the trip was more interesting than his previous journey.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan discovered that the haunted inn’s staff intended to kill them, then defeated the four ghosts with the Body Immobilization Spell and the True Cloud Spell. They left the inn’s murderous spirits destroyed.

• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan noticed sleep-inducing incense and eerie Yin Qi spreading through their room, but pretended to be asleep.
• The innkeeper, two Shop Assistants, and a Giant Corpse discussed killing them and eating their heads before realizing they were awake.
• The innkeeper attacked with stretched arms, the Giant Corpse swung its cleavers, and the two Fierce Ghosts unleashed icy wind.
• Lu Zheng immobilized all four ghosts with the Body Immobilization Spell while Liu Qingyan watched.
• Lu Zheng used the True Cloud Spell to destroy the two Fierce Ghosts, the Giant Corpse, and the innkeeper.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan destroyed the four ghosts haunting a mountain inn, then continued their journey through Lingnan Province. They reached Yongzhou Prefecture and tried a bowl of vividly colored mushroom soup, with the chapter ending as the waiter urged them to eat it hot.

• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan confirmed that the inn’s four ghosts were gone and suspected the innkeeper’s nearby-village story had been fabricated.
• Luo Jin and his caravan left the inn, unaware that it had been haunted, and Lu Zheng later warned him about traveling on side paths.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan crossed Ling Mountain without further trouble and parted ways with Luo Jin’s group after reaching a village.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan traveled through Lingnan Province, sampling local food and sightseeing in its towns and cities.
• At Dinghai Tower in Yongzhou Prefecture, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan saw people from the southern frontier and were served a brightly colored mushroom soup.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan traveled through Southern Frontier disguised as herb gatherers, reaching Dingfeng Mountain without trouble. At a secluded waterfall pool, they descended with a Water-Repelling Pearl to find the white fish Lu Zheng planned to cook.

• Lu Zheng explained Southern Frontier's geography and settlements to Liu Qingyan as they traveled south toward Peach Mother Divine Mountain.
• The pair disguised themselves in local clothing and avoided cultivators and strange places, safely reaching Dingfeng Mountain's territory.
• Lu Zheng recognized a village near a deep pool where Hu Zhou had once shown him tender white fish, and he and Liu Qingyan went to catch some.
• Lu Zheng entered the pool using the Water Aversion Art, and Liu Qingyan followed with the Water-Repelling Pearl he had given her.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan descended about a hundred zhang and spotted white fish swimming beneath the pearl's glow.