Chapter Summaries

Xu Yan broke through the Golden Bone bottleneck and came close to forming Jade Bone before hitting another barrier. Meanwhile, Li Xuan discovered Da Niu’s diary, which revealed a second, more terrifying Fierce Beast in Evil Fiend Forest, and went to find Xu Yan.

• Xu Yan gained insight from observing nature and began tempering his bones, gradually surpassing the strength of his Golden Bone.
• After weeks of cultivation, Xu Yan’s bones became crystalline, but he stalled at the final step toward Jade Bone.
• Li Xuan found and read Da Niu’s diary, which described a Fierce Beast in Evil Fiend Forest larger than the tiger, with a fiery mane and long fangs.
• Li Xuan suspected the tiger might have served the other Fierce Beast and decided to ask Xu Yan to search the forest and kill it.

Xu Yan mistook Li Xuan’s warning about a Fierce Beast in Evil Fiend Forest for guidance on breaking through his bottleneck, then rushed out to fight it. He discovered the beast was a Fire Mane Wolf and battled it fiercely, hoping to temper his bones into Jade Bone.

• Xu Yan worried that he had reached a bottleneck on the verge of achieving Jade Bone and wondered what pressure could help him break through.
• Li Xuan warned Xu Yan that another Fierce Beast lived in Evil Fiend Forest, but Xu Yan took this as a sign to seek the pressure he needed and rode off at once.
• Xu Yan searched deep in Evil Fiend Forest, where a fiery beast knocked him from his horse and struck him with enough force to surprise him.
• Xu Yan recognized the beast as a Fire Mane Wolf and decided that defeating it would let him temper his Jade Bone.
• Xu Yan and the Fire Mane Wolf traded blows; Xu Yan pinned it down, endured its powerful kicks, and flung it away as steam rose from his reddening body.

Xu Yan broke through to flawless Jade Bone after killing the Fire Mane Wolf and consuming its blood, then set off for home with the beast’s corpse. Li Xuan worried about Xu Yan’s five-day absence and hoped their master-disciple relationship would end peacefully after a year.

• Xu Yan battled the Fire Mane Wolf until his Vital Energy broke through the Jade Bone barrier.
• Xu Yan bit through the Fire Mane Wolf’s throat, drank its blood, and completed his Bone Refining.
• Xu Yan admired his flawless Jade Bone, then regretted ruining the Fire Mane Wolf’s hide and decided to find another fine-grade Jade Ruyi for his master.
• Xu Yan loaded the Fire Mane Wolf’s corpse onto his horse and resolved to complete Organ Refining within three months.
• Li Xuan watched the route Xu Yan had taken and worried that his disciple had not returned for five days.
• Li Xuan reflected on his deception and hoped he and Xu Yan could part on good terms after the one-year period ended.

Xu Yan completed Organ Refining and struggled to understand how to enter the martial path. After relaxing for several days, he grasped how to unite his body and Vital Energy, beginning a transformation as his aura expanded around him.

• Xu Yan returned with jade gifts, resumed cultivation, and began Organ Refining.
• Xu Yan tempered all five organs, greatly increasing his strength and Vital Energy over more than two months.
• Xu Yan completed Organ Refining but could not yet unite his foundational stages or produce Vital Energy like Steel Aura.
• Xu Yan eased his cultivation and spent several days relaxing while Li Xuan wondered whether he had become suspicious.
• Xu Yan comprehended how to circulate and gather his Vital Energy throughout his body, completing a cycle that made his strength surge.
• Xu Yan's Vital Energy seeped from his body, expanded to a radius of one zhang, and began to condense.

Xu Yan entered the martial arts path by cultivating Li Xuan’s fabricated technique, while Li Xuan unexpectedly gained great mastery and immense strength through a golden reward. The chapter ended with Xu Yan witnessing his master’s overwhelming Vital Energy and staring at him in shock.

• Xu Yan merged his Vital Energy throughout his body, triggering Bone and Muscle Thunderous Roar and stepping through the gates of martial arts.
• Li Xuan discovered that Xu Yan had cultivated the technique he had invented and panicked that his disciple might expose him as a fraud.
• A golden light informed Li Xuan that Xu Yan’s success had granted him great mastery of the technique and strength a hundred times that of others in the same realm.
• Li Xuan gained flawless Jade Bone and immense Vital Energy, then resolved to keep inventing stronger realms and encourage Xu Yan to continue cultivating.
• Xu Yan celebrated entering martial arts, then saw Li Xuan’s Vital Energy shoot a hundred zhang into the sky and was stunned by his master’s power.

Xu Yan entered the martial path and described to Li Xuan how he had understood his fabricated teachings and completed his cultivation. Li Xuan was stunned by Xu Yan’s extraordinary comprehension and learned that he had killed a Fire Mane Wolf bare-handed to temper his Jade Bone.

• Xu Yan felt the force of Li Xuan’s Vital Energy, humbled himself, and announced that he had entered the martial path.
• Li Xuan accepted Xu Yan as his true disciple and asked how he had tempered his skin, bones, and organs.
• Xu Yan explained that he had understood Li Xuan’s fabricated cultivation formula and tempered a Golden Bone and then a Jade Bone.
• Xu Yan said he had taken Li Xuan’s choice of the Jade Ruyi as a metaphor urging him to persevere toward tempering a Jade Bone.
• Xu Yan recounted hunting a Fire Mane Wolf, consuming its blood and flesh, and using them to complete Organ Refining.
• Li Xuan realized Xu Yan had killed the Fire Mane Wolf bare-handed and privately marveled at his disciple’s ability.

After Xu Yan broke through and tempered his Jade Bone, Li Xuan warned him against reckless action and named his current realm the Qi and Blood Realm. Li Xuan then began devising the next stage of cultivation, the Innate Realm, while leaving its details for Xu Yan to figure out.

• Li Xuan praised Xu Yan for enduring the Fire Mane Wolves and tempering his Jade Bone, then advised him to balance courage with caution.
• Xu Yan interpreted Li Xuan’s teachings as lessons in flexibility, courage, and decisiveness.
• Li Xuan named the entry-level martial arts realm the Qi and Blood Realm and said that Vital Energy rising a hundred zhang marked its great accomplishment.
• Xu Yan asked about the Martial World and Li Xuan’s realm, then concluded that his master had transcended all existing realms.
• Li Xuan returned to the house and devised the Innate Realm, imagining that cultivation would involve opening the Heaven and Earth Bridge and refining Vital Energy into true qi.

Li Xuan struggled to invent a cultivation method for the Qi and Blood Realm that would strengthen Xu Yan and bring him more golden-finger feedback. He passed Xu Yan a four-line incantation, leaving him to comprehend it while Li Xuan began considering the Innate Realm.

• Li Xuan decided to invent a mysterious but connected cultivation theory and leave the details for Xu Yan to comprehend.
• Li Xuan composed a four-line Qi and Blood Realm incantation intended to improve the quality and quantity of Qi and blood and strengthen the body.
• Li Xuan summoned Xu Yan and passed on the incantation, reminding him that cultivation depended on comprehension and intent.
• Xu Yan returned to his cultivation area, determined to comprehend the incantation and not disappoint his master.

Xu Yan comprehended the four-line Qi and Blood Realm cultivation formula and strengthened his body and Vital Energy through a new method of cultivation. Meanwhile, Li Xuan completed a theoretical framework for the Innate Realm but decided to wait before teaching it to Xu Yan.

• Xu Yan stopped exhausting himself over the cultivation formula and sought insight by focusing on his cultivation.
• Xu Yan interpreted the formula as Vital Energy gathering like a torrent and battering his bones, then entered a state of enlightenment.
• Xu Yan comprehended the formula, causing his Vital Energy to circulate in a new way and strengthen his bones, body, and Vital Energy.
• Li Xuan devised an Innate Realm method based on opening the Heaven and Earth Bridge and transforming Vital Energy into Innate True Qi.
• Li Xuan decided to let Xu Yan familiarize himself with the Qi and Blood Realm before passing on the Innate Realm method.

Li Xuan learned that Xu Yan had comprehended his improvised Qi and Blood formula, strengthening Li Xuan and deepening his confidence in his disciple. As Xu Yan returned home, Li Xuan prepared to leave the village, while trouble awaited Xu Yan on the road to Donghe Commandery City.

• Li Xuan received a Qi and Blood cultivation method and a boost in strength after Xu Yan filled in the formula's blanks and grasped its meaning.
• Li Xuan praised Xu Yan's firm martial heart and was pleased that his disciple had no interest in women.
• Xu Yan asked to visit his worried parents, and Li Xuan agreed while planning to leave the village after Xu Yan returned.
• Xu Junhe arranged for Chen the Escort Head and Wang the Martial Hall Master to escort a robbed shipment to Jin'an, suspecting powerful enemies from the imperial capital were targeting him.
• Xu Yan rode toward Donghe Commandery City, where two figures blocked his horse and one recognized him as Xu Junhe's son.

Xu Yan returned home after killing two martial artists who tried to abduct him, then learned that bandits on Black Wind Mountain had robbed his family’s goods. Eager to test his strength, he rode to the mountain and charged into the bandits’ gathering.

• Two martial artists tried to seize Xu Yan on the road, but he killed them with his Vital Energy and dipper qi.
• Xu Yan returned home, where Madam Xu told him that bandits had robbed the Xu Family’s goods on Jin'an Road and that Jiang Pingshan had refused to send troops.
• Xu Yan learned the bandits were on Black Wind Mountain and rode there to confront them.
• As Boss Xiong and his men discussed robbing the Xu Family again, Xu Yan charged up the mountain and challenged them.

Xu Yan wiped out every bandit at Black Wind Mountain with brute force, then realized he needed proper martial techniques. After learning of his disciple’s victory, Li Xuan began preparing combat teachings and experimented with a palm technique, leaving his plans for Xu Yan’s return.

• Xu Yan charged into Black Wind Mountain, killed Boss Xiong and every bandit there, and found none of his family’s missing goods.
• Xu Yan recognized that he relied only on brute force and decided to ask Li Xuan for guidance when he returned.
• Li Xuan reviewed his fabricated Innate Realm framework and planned to leave the village once Xu Yan came back.
• Li Xuan received mastery in violently slaying enemies through Xu Yan’s actions and realized he had not prepared any martial techniques.
• Li Xuan decided to teach Xu Yan martial technique principles and demonstrate them, then practiced shaping his Vital Energy into more orderly palm strikes.

Li Xuan taught Xu Yan the Dragon Subduing Palm, disguising his inability to produce dragon-shaped palm force as a lesson about finding his own true intent. Xu Yan accepted the teaching eagerly, but left Li Xuan speechless by questioning why a technique meant to subdue dragons would create dragon-shaped attacks.

• Li Xuan tested his palm technique, then drew a Bagua pattern outside the village and planned to teach Xu Yan a movement technique through formulas and practice.
• Xu Yan returned from home after less than ten days, and Li Xuan took him to a hill to teach him the Dragon Subduing Palm.
• Li Xuan blasted apart a tree and claimed the strike showed the palm technique's entry-level power, while saying he had deliberately withheld its dragon-shaped form.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to value comprehension and true intent over imitation, then explained that producing eighteen True Dragon palm forces would mark minor mastery.
• Xu Yan asked why a palm technique meant to subdue dragons produced dragon-shaped palm force, leaving Li Xuan speechless.

Li Xuan taught Xu Yan the fabricated Dragon Subduing Palm formula and the Bagua, encouraging him to focus more time on cultivation. Xu Yan comprehended the palm’s first principle and unleashed a strike far stronger than his previous attacks.

• Li Xuan explained that the Dragon Subduing Palm subdued both a dragon’s body and heart, then taught Xu Yan its formula.
• Li Xuan showed Xu Yan the Bagua and described how its mysteries could inform martial arts and movement techniques.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to limit his daily chores so he could spend more time cultivating, then wondered whether Xu Yan could succeed.
• Xu Yan decided to practice the Dragon Subduing Palm and realized his first strike was only the force of his Vital Energy.
• Xu Yan compressed and refined his Vital Energy, breaking a tree with a more powerful strike.
• Xu Yan grasped how to make his palm force fierce and unyielding, then blasted a small pit into the ground with a stronger follow-up strike.

Xu Yan made rapid progress in Dragon Subduing Palm but struggled to shape his Vital Energy into a dragon. When he asked Li Xuan how to improve his control, Li Xuan suggested roasting meat with Vital Energy, leaving Xu Yan burning through the village's chickens in practice.

• Xu Yan practiced Dragon Subduing Palm, and Li Xuan saw that he had learned to release his Vital Energy with greater force.
• Over the next half month, Xu Yan increased his palm's power and realized he needed better control over his Vital Energy to form dragon-shaped palm force.
• After three more days of practice, Xu Yan asked Li Xuan how to improve his control over Vital Energy.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to practice by roasting meat with Vital Energy, describing a test involving cooking a chicken leg while leaving the surrounding meat raw.
• Xu Yan tried roasting chickens, burned more than a dozen, and continued cooking another when Li Xuan found him.

Xu Yan improved his Vital Energy control while practicing Dragon Subduing Palm, and Li Xuan gained perfect control through his disciple’s progress. After realizing his dragon-shaped palm force lacked flexibility, Xu Yan adapted his technique and reached beginner level, though he continued training to improve its power and handling.

• Xu Yan practiced controlling his Vital Energy by roasting wild boars, and Li Xuan gained one-hundred-percent Vital Energy control when Xu Yan reached beginner level at roasting meat barehanded.
• Li Xuan demonstrated precise control by cooking only the meat within a finger’s breadth of a chicken leg, and Xu Yan learned to cook with eighty-percent control after five days.
• Xu Yan returned to cultivating Dragon Subduing Palm and realized his dragon-shaped palm force lacked flexibility and vitality.
• After seven more days of practice, Xu Yan made his scarlet dragon palm force maneuver around obstacles and use its head and tail to attack, reaching beginner level in Dragon Subduing Palm.
• Xu Yan summoned two dragon-shaped palm forces and continued practicing to improve their flexibility, power, and control.

Li Xuan’s fabricated Dragon Subduing Palm became real when Xu Yan cultivated it, and Li Xuan demonstrated its mastery to his shocked disciple. As Xu Yan worked on the Bagua, Li Xuan decided to invent an incantation for a movement technique.

• Li Xuan learned that Xu Yan had cultivated the Dragon Subduing Palm to the introductory level, and the technique advanced to mastery for Li Xuan.
• Li Xuan watched Xu Yan demonstrate his crimson Dragon Subduing Palm and praised his progress while pointing out that it lacked vitality.
• Li Xuan demonstrated a mighty golden Dragon Subduing Palm strike, leaving Xu Yan in awe of his master’s strength and the technique’s potential.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to keep comprehending the Bagua, and Xu Yan devoted more time to practicing its steps without yet gaining a movement technique.
• Li Xuan realized Xu Yan might need an incantation to comprehend a movement technique, and a gust carrying yellow leaves inspired him with an idea.

Li Xuan taught Xu Yan a movement-technique formula, and Xu Yan mistook his master's casual walk for a profound demonstration, eventually comprehending and naming the Light Swan Movement Technique. Li Xuan received the resulting mastery through their bond and silently followed Xu Yan as he practiced, preparing to show off.

• Li Xuan gave Xu Yan a formula describing movement techniques as light and swift, then left him to comprehend it.
• Xu Yan interpreted Li Xuan's leisurely steps as an example of the technique and combined them with the formula while training.
• Xu Yan comprehended and named the Light Swan Movement Technique, then tested it alongside Dragon Subduing Palm.
• Three days later, Li Xuan received the technique's mysteries and attained great mastery of Light Swan Movement Technique.
• Li Xuan silently followed Xu Yan during practice, intending to demonstrate his own abilities without being noticed.

Xu Yan reached the minor accomplishment stage of the Qi and Blood Realm, and Li Xuan passed on the method of the Innate Realm. Li Xuan also wondered whether his disciple’s comprehension of the next realm would grant him cultivation feedback before Xu Yan broke through.

• Xu Yan combined Light Swan Movement Technique with Dragon Subduing Palm, and Li Xuan warned him to distinguish good from evil and avoid becoming addicted to killing.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to reach the minor accomplishment stage of the Qi and Blood Realm within half a month before he would teach him the Innate Realm method.
• After half a month of arduous cultivation, Xu Yan reached the minor accomplishment stage, and Li Xuan received feedback that brought him to Qi and Blood Perfection.
• Xu Yan returned to announce his breakthrough, and Li Xuan urged him to build a firm foundation before pursuing the Innate Realm.
• Li Xuan explained the Innate Realm and taught Xu Yan how to reach it by opening the two bridges between heaven and earth, establishing the Dantian Sea of Qi, and transforming Vital Energy into Innate True Qi.

Li Xuan taught Xu Yan the Innate Realm method and decided to leave the mountains to seek another suitable disciple. They reached Yunshan County, where Xu Yan brought Li Xuan to his family’s courtyard, while a beggar and a stallkeeper took notice of Li Xuan’s valuable Jade Ruyi.

• Li Xuan taught Xu Yan the Innate Realm cultivation method and urged him to focus on reaching perfection in Vital Energy before attempting a breakthrough.
• Li Xuan decided to seek another disciple and considered compiling a new technique to gain greater feedback from his golden finger.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to pack, and they left the mountain village in a horse cart.
• Xu Yan led Li Xuan toward Yunshan County and said his family owned a shop and courtyard there.
• A beggar exchanged a meaningful glance with a stallkeeper after spotting Li Xuan’s Jade Ruyi, and the stallkeeper slipped away.
• Xu Yan brought Li Xuan to his family’s courtyard, where a servant reacted with surprise when Xu Yan called Li Xuan his master.