Chapter Summaries

Li Xuan, an isolated village survivor who lacked any cultivation, repeatedly denied being a Reclusive Master to Xu Yan, who was determined to become his disciple. Xu Yan's lavish apprenticeship gifts finally overcame Li Xuan's resistance, and he accepted Xu Yan as his disciple.

• Li Xuan recalled how he alone survived the Evil Fiend Forest and had been left as the only resident of his village.
• Xu Yan overheard Li Xuan joking about traversing ten million li with a sword and mistook him for a Reclusive Master.
• Xu Yan insisted on becoming Li Xuan's disciple despite Li Xuan's repeated denials, then left to prepare an apprenticeship gift.
• Xu Yan returned half a month later with three hundred taels of gold, a Thousand-Year Ginseng, and a Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma.
• Li Xuan gave in to the valuable gifts and agreed to accept Xu Yan as his disciple.

Li Xuan accepted Xu Yan as his disciple despite having no cultivation method, then invented martial arts realms to deceive him. Xu Yan eagerly believed him and began pursuing the path of cultivation.

• Xu Yan kowtowed to Li Xuan, who accepted him as a disciple and gave him one year to enter the path.
• Li Xuan questioned Xu Yan about the world and learned that they lived in the Qi Kingdom, where martial arts appeared limited to extraordinary physical feats.
• Li Xuan invented the stages of Skin Tempering, Bone Refining, and Organ Refining, telling Xu Yan that sensing Vital Energy was the first step.
• Xu Yan grew excited about the method, while Li Xuan explained that completing Organ Refining counted as entering the path and fabricated even greater powers beyond it.
• Li Xuan stopped Xu Yan from asking more questions, warning him not to be impatient, and privately admitted he had not yet invented the later stages.

Li Xuan kept Xu Yan training with a fabricated cultivation method while secretly enjoying the gifts Xu Yan had brought. Xu Yan remained convinced of his master's sincerity and resolved to enter the path within a year, continuing to practice late into the night.

• Li Xuan instructed Xu Yan to hold a horse stance and sense his vital energy, while privately admitting he had made up the method and had no real techniques to teach.
• Li Xuan stewed part of Xu Yan's Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma with a chicken, then let Xu Yan eat the meal after he failed to sense vital energy.
• When Xu Yan asked how quickly a prodigy could cultivate, Li Xuan claimed an Ancient Prodigy could enter the path in about a month and said Xu Yan had a year to pass.
• Xu Yan took Li Xuan's words as encouragement, vowed to enter the path within a year, and returned to practicing his horse stance.
• After night fell, Li Xuan urged Xu Yan to rest, but Xu Yan continued cultivating before Li Xuan went to sleep.

Xu Yan sensed and moved his qi and blood, beginning to temper his skin and flesh, while Li Xuan mistook his progress for nothing and put him to work cooking. After eating chicken soup with Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma, Xu Yan credited his rapid gains to his master's foresight and resolved to enter the martial path within a year.

• Xu Yan sensed his qi and blood before dawn and moved it through his body, beginning Skin Tempering without asking Li Xuan for guidance.
• Li Xuan saw Xu Yan training and assumed his invented cultivation method could not work, while Xu Yan misread Li Xuan's reaction as dissatisfaction.
• Li Xuan had Xu Yan kill a chicken and stew it with Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma, presenting the cooking as part of his cultivation.
• After the meal, Xu Yan felt his cultivation speed and strength increase, credited Li Xuan with preparing the spirit medicine for him, and vowed to enter the martial path within a year.
• Li Xuan noticed that the Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma was strengthening him too, briefly considered keeping it for himself, then decided to share it with Xu Yan.

Li Xuan worried that Xu Yan had made no progress, while Xu Yan secretly reached Skin Tempering Completion and believed his master’s advice had guided him there. When Xu Yan asked Li Xuan for instruction on Bone Refining, Li Xuan realized he had no fabricated explanation prepared.

• Li Xuan reflected on his improved health, his dwindling Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma, and Xu Yan’s patient cultivation.
• Xu Yan reached Skin Tempering Completion and tested his resilience by lightly cutting his arm, but the blade left no wound.
• Xu Yan cooked the final Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma with a chicken, while Li Xuan praised his patience and warned him against rushing his cultivation.
• Li Xuan offered to answer Xu Yan’s questions, and Xu Yan asked about Bone Refining.
• Li Xuan froze when he realized his prepared fabrications covered only blood and vitality and Skin Tempering, not Bone Refining.

Li Xuan fabricated an elaborate explanation of Bone Refining to keep Xu Yan patient and hide his inability to teach real cultivation. He left Xu Yan convinced he must build a firm foundation before pursuing the four Bone Refining ranks.

• Li Xuan explained Bone Refining and urged Xu Yan to cultivate slowly and build a firm foundation, and Xu Yan resolved to follow his teachings.
• Li Xuan secretly worried about being exposed and planned to leave for the Wu Kingdom after deceiving Xu Yan for as long as possible.
• When Xu Yan asked about Bone Refining ranks, Li Xuan invented Iron Bone, Copper Bone, Golden Bone, and Jade Bone, describing their strength and limits.
• Li Xuan claimed that Golden Bone was achieved by only one in ten thousand prodigies and told the excited Xu Yan to calm his heart and still his qi.
• Xu Yan compared the ranks of prodigies to beauties at Chunxiang Tower, then awkwardly denied having visited it when Li Xuan gave him a strange look.

Li Xuan invented grand explanations for Golden Bone, Jade Bone, and Organ Refining, inspiring Xu Yan to cultivate with renewed determination. After Xu Yan began grasping the methods, Thousand-Year Ginseng chicken soup strengthened both Li Xuan and Xu Yan, who expected to complete Skin Tempering within days.

• Li Xuan explained Golden Bone and Jade Bone to Xu Yan, portraying Jade Bone as a rare, miraculous achievement and urging him not to aim too high.
• Li Xuan fabricated an outline of Organ Refining and told Xu Yan to seek the intent behind his teachings rather than cling to their forms.
• Li Xuan used two whiskers from the Thousand-Year Ginseng to have Xu Yan prepare chicken soup, then had him stew some of the root each day after noticing it improved his strength.
• Xu Yan contemplated Li Xuan's Bone Refining and Organ Refining methods while cultivating and found a direction for practicing them.
• Xu Yan drank the ginseng chicken soup, felt his vital energy and Skin Tempering improve, and believed he would finish Skin Tempering by the day after tomorrow.

Xu Yan completed Skin Tempering and began Bone Refining, enduring increasingly painful sensations as he tempered his bones. Li Xuan mistook Xu Yan’s cultivation break for preparation and later told him to make lunch, which Xu Yan took as a timely chance to rest.

• Xu Yan completed Skin Tempering after twenty days and decided to begin Bone Refining the following day.
• Xu Yan tended the garden to settle his mind, and Li Xuan praised his work and encouraged him to remain patient.
• Li Xuan wondered how Xu Yan had crossed Evil Fiend Forest and considered him the key to escaping the village.
• Xu Yan began Bone Refining before dawn, set his sights on Golden Bones, and endured numbness and itching as qi and blood seeped into his bones.
• Li Xuan saw Xu Yan cultivating and later told him to make lunch, so Xu Yan stopped and believed his master had noticed he needed a rest.

Xu Yan completed the first stage of Bone Refining and prepared to return home, while Li Xuan warned him to keep his master and cultivation secret. Xu Yan left for home through the dangerous Evil Fiend Forest, leaving Li Xuan unexpectedly lonely.

• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to balance cultivation with rest, and Xu Yan took the advice to heart.
• After five more days of cultivation, Xu Yan entered the beginning stage of Bone Refining Like Iron and decided to visit his family and prepare Li Xuan another apprenticeship gift.
• Xu Yan cooked Li Xuan a lavish meal, then asked to return home; Li Xuan told him not to mention cultivation or his master before entering the path.
• Li Xuan warned Xu Yan about the fierce tigers and Fierce Beasts in Evil Fiend Forest, and Xu Yan promised to return within six to twelve days.
• Xu Yan left, and Li Xuan watched him go before returning home and realizing he missed having his disciple around.

After Xu Yan returned from Evil Fiend Forest, Li Xuan accepted his costly gifts and tried to comfort him over his broken engagement. Xu Yan left the conversation determined to grow stronger, while Li Xuan encouraged him to focus on cultivation.

• Li Xuan spent eleven days worrying that Xu Yan had died, been confined, or would return with people ready to expose him.
• Xu Yan returned alone and presented Li Xuan with a jeweled gold sword, a Jade Ruyi, and rare medicinal herbs.
• Li Xuan accepted the treasures while maintaining a calm demeanor, and Xu Yan resumed cooking and household chores.
• Xu Yan told Li Xuan that his engagement had been broken off because his fiancée thought his brain did not work well.
• Li Xuan comforted Xu Yan, praised his resolve to make his former fiancée regret her decision, and urged him to cultivate without distractions.

Xu Yan interpreted Li Xuan’s casual advice as profound cultivation guidance and reached the Copper Bone stage through persistent training. After perfecting Copper Bone, he prepared to seek precious medicine to break through to Golden Bone, while Li Xuan planned to teach him a new stance, still convinced his invented methods could not work.

• Xu Yan took Li Xuan’s remark about having no women in his heart as advice to clear distractions, adjusted his Bone Refining, and greatly sped up his cultivation.
• Over half a month, Xu Yan continued interpreting Li Xuan’s encouragement and daily chores as lessons in comprehension and the Dao, and advanced to Copper Bone.
• Xu Yan perfected Copper Bone ten days later, felt he had reached the Golden Bone bottleneck, and decided to return home to seek precious medicine.
• Li Xuan noticed Xu Yan’s stronger, more martial bearing but dismissed the possibility that his disciple had truly cultivated.
• Li Xuan called Xu Yan over, intending to teach him a modified stance he had remembered from martial arts videos.

Li Xuan invented a cultivation technique and taught it to Xu Yan, who spent days failing to understand it. After reinterpreting his master's advice, Xu Yan gained enlightenment about the technique’s meaning, though he remained at Perfected Copper Bone.

• Li Xuan taught Xu Yan a new horse stance and the invented formula, “Clarify the heart, observe the self, nurture true intent; blood and qi like a dragon forge a golden body.”
• Xu Yan excitedly contemplated the formula through the night, and Li Xuan told him to go to sleep.
• For three days, Xu Yan kept up his chores and cultivation while pondering the formula, but he remained stuck at Perfected Copper Bone.
• Xu Yan reflected on Li Xuan’s advice about avoiding distractions and realized that his obsession with cultivation itself was obstructing his understanding.
• Xu Yan gained enlightenment, interpreting the formula as clarifying the mind, observing changes in blood and qi, and using blood and qi to nourish his bones and marrow.

Xu Yan comprehended a method for tempering Golden Bone, refined his Copper Bone to perfect completion, and began his first Golden Bone transformation. He decided to return home to seek Precious Medicine, while Li Xuan worried about his disciple revealing himself and the danger in Evil Fiend Forest.

• Xu Yan realized that focusing on cooking and setting aside cultivation helped him understand Li Xuan's instruction, and Li Xuan encouraged his improved spirits.
• Xu Yan comprehended how to use inner and outer qi and blood to temper his bones, then found and corrected weak spots throughout his body until his Copper Bone was complete.
• Xu Yan began tempering Golden Bone by seeping qi and blood into his bones and coiling it around them, producing faint golden threads before exhaustion forced him to stop.
• Xu Yan realized his tonics were insufficient for Golden Bone cultivation and decided to return home to find Precious Medicine.
• Li Xuan saw the lavish meal and suspected Xu Yan was going home, then resolved to remind him to keep a low profile and worried about the tiger Fierce Beast in Evil Fiend Forest.

Li Xuan sent Xu Yan to hunt fierce tigers in the Evil Fiend Forest, hoping he would clear the area and keep outsiders away from the village. Xu Yan found a gigantic Red-Eyed Tiger and attacked it barehanded, believing its hide would make a fine gift for his master.

• Xu Yan asked to return home, and Li Xuan told him that tiger flesh could aid cultivation while warning him not to disturb the village’s peace.
• Xu Yan interpreted Li Xuan’s words as encouragement to hunt a fierce tiger and left for the Evil Fiend Forest.
• Li Xuan hoped Xu Yan would clear the forest of tigers so the road out of the village would be safe if he had to flee.
• Xu Yan searched the forest and found a tiger more than twice the size of an ordinary one.
• Xu Yan recognized the tiger as the legendary Red-Eyed Tiger and pounced before it could leap up.

Xu Yan killed a Red-Eyed Tiger with his bare hands and carried it back to Donghe Commandery, hoping to use it to forge Golden Bone. As he returned to his wealthy family’s residence, his mother worried because he had been missing for a month.

• Xu Yan overwhelmed the Red-Eyed Tiger with punches and broke its neck, killing it.
• Xu Yan carried the tiger toward town, planning to have it prepared with Precious Medicine before returning to Donghe Commandery.
• Xu Yan dismissed the townspeople’s mockery and resolved to become a martial arts master beyond the reach of even an imperial princess.
• Xu Yan arrived at the Xu Family residence, where his mother worried that he had been unheard from for an entire month.

Xu Yan returned to the Xu residence with a giant Red-Eyed Tiger, reassuring his worried mother while his father questioned his story and claimed the tiger’s valuable parts for medicinal use. After a celebratory feast, Xu Yan returned to his private training residence, where his strength far surpassed the family’s martial artists.

• Mother Xu worried that Xu Yan had been gone for a month, then hurried to greet him when he returned.
• Xu Yan directed the servants to take the Red-Eyed Tiger to the slaughterhouse and told his mother he had bought it to keep her from worrying.
• Xu Junhe doubted Xu Yan’s claim that the tiger was the legendary King of Tigers, while Apothecary Pan prepared its meat and medicinal ingredients.
• Xu Junhe arranged for Apothecary Pan to use the tiger’s penis in wine and pills for Xu Yan’s maternal grandfather and other men.
• The Xu family held a celebratory feast, and Xu Yan ate most of the Tiger King meat before returning to his private training residence.

Xu Yan rapidly refined his bones with the Red-Eyed Tiger tonic and reached the fifth Golden Bone transformation before preparing to return to the mountain village. Li Xuan waited for his disciple and noticed his own strength had increased, which he attributed to the Precious Medicine Xu Yan had brought.

• Xu Yan used the Red-Eyed Tiger tonic and continued comprehending his cultivation formula, completing his first Golden Bone transformation and purifying his Vital Energy.
• Xu Yan bought more Precious Medicine, and Xu Junhe scolded him for the expense until Mother Xu defended him and Xu Junhe relented.
• By the twelfth day after returning to the Xu residence, Xu Yan had reached the fifth transformation and resolved to return to the mountain village the next day.
• Li Xuan waited for Xu Yan and wondered whether the tiger in Evil Fiend Forest had been killed, while attributing his increased strength to the Precious Medicine.

Xu Yan returned from seeking his master after killing a First-rate Jianghu Expert with one punch, and he brought the Red-Eyed Tiger's pelt and medicinal materials to Li Xuan. Li Xuan praised him, then sent him to weed the garden, which Xu Yan mistook for guidance to calm his mind.

• Xu Yan left the city with Precious Medicine and the Red-Eyed Tiger pelt, shook off his family's guards, and headed toward his master's village.
• A tall, gaunt First-rate Jianghu Expert blocked Xu Yan and demanded the Precious Medicine, but Xu Yan killed him with one punch.
• Xu Yan carried his horse through the mountain forest to conceal his tracks, then rode on to the village.
• Xu Yan told Li Xuan he had killed the Red-Eyed Tiger and presented the pelt and medicinal materials; Li Xuan praised him.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to weed the vegetable garden, and Xu Yan believed the task would help him calm his mind and cultivate.

Xu Yan completed his Golden Bones after months of diligent cultivation, reaching a level comparable to an Ancient Prodigy. Excited by his achievement, he hurried to tell Li Xuan, who remained unaware of the transformation and was still planning to leave after a year.

• Xu Yan refined his bones to the eighth transformation and began studying Li Xuan’s method of Organ Refining while continuing to cultivate.
• Li Xuan reflected on Xu Yan’s patience and persistence, decided not to reveal that he had invented the cultivation method, and planned to leave for Wu Kingdom after the one-year period.
• Two days later, Xu Yan reached his ninth transformation, and his bones, bone marrow, and Vital Energy underwent a dramatic change as he completed his Golden Bones.
• Xu Yan sensed his new strength, believed he could stand against even a Peak Jianghu Expert, and reminded himself to remain humble and follow Li Xuan’s teachings.
• Xu Yan finished cultivating and hurried to tell Li Xuan that he had refined Golden Bones and met his master’s requirements.

Xu Yan mistook Li Xuan’s wish for another Jade Ruyi as a hint to pursue Jade Bone, then struggled to grasp the cultivation formula’s meaning of “true intent.” After three days without a breakthrough, Li Xuan advised him to seek inspiration from nature, leaving Xu Yan to try sudden enlightenment.

• Li Xuan admired the Jade Ruyi and hinted to Xu Yan that he wanted another one, but Xu Yan took his words as encouragement to refine Jade Bone.
• Xu Yan decided his Golden Bone was not enough and tried to advance by comprehending the cultivation formula and its meaning of “true intent.”
• Xu Yan realized he had misunderstood “nurture true intent,” but could not break through the barrier to understanding it.
• For three days, Xu Yan continued cultivating and pondering the formula without making progress, while Li Xuan worried that he had become discouraged.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to relax, contemplate nature, and seek a sudden spark of inspiration to overcome his bottleneck.