Chapter Summaries

Yang Chan continued brewing medicinal porridge and practicing his martial arts while Qingyuan Sect’s ambush on the Three Great Sects turned into a trap. Lu Zhenghai and his disciples found themselves surrounded by enemy elders and elite disciples.

• Yang Chan brewed medicinal soups and practiced the Stepping Wind Steps in his room.
• Lu Zhenghai led Qingyuan Sect disciples to hide along Soaring Cloud Road and ambush disciples from the Three Great Sects.
• Lu Zhenghai’s group killed more than two hundred people, then realized they were ordinary folk rather than the expected martial disciples.
• Lu Zhenghai warned his disciples that the Three Great Sects had surrounded them and promised to lead them out alive.
• Song Tianyu revealed the decoy’s purpose and confronted Lu Zhenghai, while Zhao Yuhai, Li Dayi, and the Three Great Sects’ true elite disciples closed in.

Lu Zhenghai faced an ambush by Song Tianyu, Zhao Yuhai, and Li Dayi, but revealed that he had arranged the encounter to draw out the Three Great Sects. As reinforcements arrived, the attackers fled, and Lu Zhenghai pursued the wounded Song Tianyu.

• Song Tianyu, Zhao Yuhai, and Li Dayi attacked Lu Zhenghai together, but his powerful Martial Dao Imprints and a pill let him withstand their assault.
• Lu Zhenghai revealed that he had allowed the moles to send intelligence so the Three Great Sects would set an ambush, and two Personal Disciples exposed and killed four moles.
• Song Tianyu realized Qingyuan Sect reinforcements were approaching, so he, Zhao Yuhai, and Li Dayi fled in separate directions.
• Lu Zhenghai pursued Song Tianyu, caught him, and injured him repeatedly with his cultivation techniques.
• Song Tianyu admitted Lu Zhenghai had outmaneuvered him and vowed to make him pay even if he could not escape.

Song Tianyu fought Lu Zhenghai and died after learning that the Qingyuan Sect was behind the Three Great Sects’ losses and had delayed the Tianshan Sword Sect’s intervention. Lu Zhenghai let a hidden scout escape with the news to lure the Three Great Sects into action, while Yang Chan continued caring for injured Qingyuan Sect disciples.

• Lu Zhenghai defeated Song Tianyu after taunting him about the Tianshan Sword Sect’s absence and Lingyu Palace’s impending destruction.
• Song Tianyu died after deliberately provoking Lu Zhenghai so a concealed scout could learn the Qingyuan Sect’s plans and report them.
• Lu Zhenghai discovered the scout but let him return to Lingyu Palace, hoping the news would draw the Three Great Sects out of the Lingyuan Mountain Range.
• Lu Zhenghai revealed that he had used himself as bait and had mentioned Yang Chan to provoke the Three Great Sects into seeking revenge.
• Yang Chan told Sun Qi Wu to close a window while he monitored the fevers of injured Qingyuan Sect disciples.

Yang Chan continued building his strength while awaiting his return to the Qingyuan Sect, then treated disciples wounded in the sect’s victory over the Three Great Sects. As he heard how Lu Zhenghai had used himself as bait and how many disciples had died, Yang Chan recognized the battle’s cost and resolved to avoid such risks himself.

• Yang Chan added his new Potential Points to the Ox Demon Strength Fist and planned to understand the Ox Demon Martial Imprint before completing External Refinement: Bronze Skin.
• Sun Qi Wu told Yang Chan that injured disciples had arrived from the Lingyuan Mountain Range, including two with severed limbs.
• Yang Chan ordered Sun Qi Wu to prepare medicine and treated the two most seriously wounded disciples before tending to the others.
• The injured disciples told Yang Chan that the Qingyuan Sect had defeated the Three Great Sects, killing several Internal Refinement Grandmaster elders but losing disciples of its own.
• Yang Chan learned that Lu Zhenghai had used himself as bait and considered the battle too dangerous to imitate.

Qiu Gongyi learned that Qingyuan Sect had killed Lingyu Palace disciples and that Tianshan Sword Sect might not arrive for at least a year. After discovering that Yang Chan had helped expose Lingyu Palace’s schemes, he ordered someone in Taiyu City to kill him.

• Qiu Gongyi smashed a Mysterious Spirit Jade Table after Du Xiaofeng reported that Qingyuan Sect had killed Qian Tu, Zhao Qiyang, Lu Zhenghai, and others.
• Du Xiaofeng told Qiu Gongyi that Liu Xuan had concealed his true strength, leaving the Three Great Sects badly wounded.
• Du Xiaofeng reported that Tianshan Sword Sect had been delayed in Yuzhou and might take at least a year to reach Qingzhou.
• Qiu Gongyi learned that Yang Chan had exposed Lingyu Palace’s people and devised the trap against them.
• Qiu Gongyi ordered Lingyu Palace’s people in Taiyu City to send Yang Chan on his way.

Yang Chan decided not to seek promotion to Elite Disciple while Qingyuan Sect faced danger, then went to Qinglin Courtyard after Elder Lu summoned him. Lu Zhenghai had deliberately exposed Yang Chan as bait to draw out the Three Great Sects’ spies and possibly their experts, and received Yang Chan at the end of the chapter.

• Yang Chan judged that becoming an Elite Disciple could send him into battle, so he chose to prioritize his safety over advancing his Ox Demon Martial Imprint.
• An Elite Disciple from the Law Enforcement Hall told Yang Chan that Elder Lu had summoned him, and Yang Chan finished treating an injured disciple before leaving.
• Lu Zhenghai learned that the Three Great Sects had received intelligence about Yang Chan from a Mole in Taiyu City and planned to use the retaliation to hunt their agents or draw out powerful enemies.
• Yang Chan arrived at Qinglin Courtyard, greeted Lu Zhenghai, and presented himself cautiously before the Internal Refinement Grandmaster.

Yang Chan cautiously asked Lu Zhenghai for the Ox Demon Martial Imprint as a reward, and Lu Zhenghai explained its importance before showing him the Visualization Diagram. Yang Chan was captivated by the vision and found the Ox Demon imprinted on his consciousness.

• Lu Zhenghai praised Yang Chan for exposing Qian Tu and helping cause the Three Great Sects to lose elders and disciples, then offered him a reward.
• Yang Chan asked to learn the Ox Demon Martial Imprint, and Lu Zhenghai discovered that he was nearing External Refinement: Bronze Skin.
• Lu Zhenghai explained how Martial Dao Imprints worked and described the Ox Demon Martial Imprint’s cultivation requirements and power.
• Yang Chan grew wary when Lu Zhenghai offered to show him the Visualization Diagram, but Lu Zhenghai manifested the Ox Demon regardless.
• Yang Chan watched the Ox Demon techniques unfold and became unable to look away as the visualization imprinted itself on his consciousness.

Yang Chan received the Ox Demon Martial Imprint from Lu Zhenghai, then learned Lu had used him as bait to draw out the Three Great Sects' spies. Though resentful, Yang Chan agreed to remain in the Ding-character room while Lu arranged guards to protect him.

• Lu Zhenghai displayed the Ox Demon Martial Imprint's Visualization Diagram, and Yang Chan gained the imprint as a cultivation method despite understanding only a little.
• Lu Zhenghai told Yang Chan that he had exposed him as the cause of recent events to Lingyu Palace's mole, making him bait for the Three Great Sects.
• Yang Chan agreed to stay in the Ding-character room, accepted the Visualization Diagram and increased allowances, and left dissatisfied.
• Lu Zhenghai ordered Luo Yu and several Elite Disciples to guard the room, watch for assassins, and protect Yang Chan.

After Lu Zhenghai exposed him, Yang Chan spent his remaining silver preparing to defend himself against another attack and decided to stay in the crowded Ding-character room. He ended the chapter barricaded in place, testing his food and water and avoiding visitors while he studied medicinal packets.

• After leaving Lu Zhenghai's Qinglin Courtyard, Yang Chan bought traps, safety supplies, and other equipment at Qinghan Prefecture's Hall of Artifact Refining.
• Yang Chan stocked up on medicinal ingredients, returned to the Ding-character room, and chose to stay there rather than in his isolated pharmacist room.
• Yang Chan began setting up a bunk bed and escape measures, prepared Five Poisons Powder for his traps, and bought ingredients for Cold Fragrance Yuan Refining Powder and Golden Wind Rain Dew Soup.
• Yang Chan told Sun Qi Wu to alert him to strangers and turn away visitors unless they had an urgent reason to see him.
• Yang Chan prepared poison-testing methods for his food and water and blamed Lu Zhenghai for forcing him to take such precautions.

A group of Three Great Sects assassins tried to reach Yang Chan’s room, but Qingyuan Sect’s traps and poisons killed or injured several of them along the way. The remaining assassins began preparing sleeping smoke at Yang Chan’s window.

• The black-clad assassins entered the courtyard after luring Luo Yu and the others away, but a trap caught one man and a crossbow bolt killed him.
• The group continued toward Yang Chan’s room, and another assassin died after stepping on a trap poisoned with steel needles.
• The assassins found Yang Chan’s room and tried to poke through its window paper to use sleeping smoke.
• The poisoned window paper killed two men, so the chief ordered two more assassins to take their place.

Assassins from the Three Great Sects entered Yang Chan’s room, where his traps killed or injured most of them as they searched for him. After advancing the Ox Demon Martial Imprint, Yang Chan sensed the attack and relied on the defenses he had prepared himself.

• The leader of the assassins sent his men toward the figure on Yang Chan’s bed, and hidden crossbows killed two of them.
• Two more assassins were struck down by Flying Needles after their blades hit a metallic dummy.
• When guards raised the alarm, the leader searched the room, found a tunnel beneath the bed, and led the survivors inside.
• Yang Chan spent five Potential Points to advance the Ox Demon Martial Imprint to First Stage Peeking into the Threshold.
• Yang Chan sensed that his traps had been triggered and realized the Three Great Sects had sent assassins, while the promised guards had not appeared.

Yang Chan escaped an assassination attempt through a tunnel, then helped Qingyuan Sect disciples capture the attackers. Afterward, he collected the assassins’ spoils and reset his traps, leaving him with more money to prepare medicine and increase his Potential Points gain.

• Yang Chan sensed danger, escaped the Ding-character room through his tunnel, and hid nearby in the clothes of a Formal Disciple.
• When two black-clad assassins emerged from the tunnel, Yang Chan pointed them out, and Qingyuan Sect disciples surrounded and subdued them.
• Yang Chan watched three Elite Disciples use the Ox Demon Martial Imprint to overpower the Steel Tendons assassin while the other attacker was captured alive.
• Personal Disciple Luo Yu gave Yang Chan the assassins’ belongings as spoils for his traps and efforts.
• Yang Chan treated injured disciples, returned to the courtyard, and reset the traps so they could be used again.

Yang Chan killed another assassin who had infiltrated the Ding-character room and planned to improve his defenses after another sleepless night. He went to the Hall of Artifact Refining to sell weapons and buy a bunk bed and replacement hidden weapons.

• Yang Chan caught and killed an injured Formal Disciple who had tried to assassinate him, then told Sun Qi Wu to send the body to the Law Enforcement Hall.
• Sun Qi Wu arranged for the corpse to be carried away and gave Yang Chan the banknotes found on it.
• After dawn, Yang Chan sealed the hole in his room and considered his danger in Qinghan Prefecture and the risk of returning to the Qingyuan Sect.
• Yang Chan went with Sun Qi Wu and others to the Hall of Artifact Refining, where Steward Zhang appraised the weapons he had collected from the black-clad men.
• Yang Chan sold the weapons and bought a bunk bed and replacement hidden weapons.

Liu Xuan and Lu Zhenghai discussed Qingyuan Sect’s efforts to purge the Three Great Sects’ spies and prepare a decisive strike. Liu Xuan ordered extra protection and support for Yang Chan, while worrying that turmoil across the Great Zhou Dynasty could threaten Qingyuan Sect.

• Lu Zhenghai reported that Qingyuan Sect had eliminated most of the Three Great Sects’ spies in Taiyu City and Qinghan Prefecture, though further moles might remain.
• Lu Zhenghai said more than ten assassins had targeted Yang Chan, but his traps killed nearly all of them, and Qingyuan Sect captured two External Refinement practitioners for interrogation.
• Lu Zhenghai discovered that the Three Great Sects still had moles among Qingyuan Sect’s Formal Disciples and promised another investigation.
• Liu Xuan ordered Lu Zhenghai to reward Yang Chan, have Xu Gaocen and the others nurture his Pharmacist talent, and ensure that he was protected from assassination.
• Lu Zhenghai said Personal Disciple Luo Yu and several Elite Disciples were already guarding Yang Chan and promised to assign more protectors.
• Liu Xuan said several Qingyuan Sect hall masters would soon arrive to help destroy the Three Great Sects, then voiced concern that unrest across the Great Zhou Dynasty could imperil the sect.

Yang Chan reached External Refinement: Steel Tendons and remained wary while the Qingyuan Sect destroyed the Three Great Sects. With the campaign over, he prepared to return to the Qingyuan Sect while continuing to gather medicinal ingredients and guard against hidden enemies in Taiyu City.

• Yang Chan broke through to External Refinement: Steel Tendons, gaining strength, speed, and four years of lifespan, and planned to obtain bone-refining techniques before advancing further.
• Yang Chan changed the exit of the underground passage in his room and stayed on guard after the assassination attempt.
• Five days after the attempt, Liu Xuan and the Qingyuan Sect elders destroyed Lingyu Palace, then eliminated Taiyu Valley and the Nanhua Sword Sect over the next ten days.
• The Qingyuan Sect killed the Three Great Sects' Personal, Elite, and Formal Disciples and sent the surviving Steward Disciples to work as mining slaves.
• Yang Chan remained in Taiyu City with the Pharmacists and two elders to treat injured disciples while waiting to return to the Qingyuan Sect.
• Yang Chan gathered ingredients for the Dragon Bone Medicinal Bath at lower prices in Taiyu City and kept his precautions in place in case remnants of the Three Great Sects remained.

Yang Chan returned to Qingyuan Sect after the Three Great Sects were destroyed and collected the rewards for becoming a Pharmacist. He settled into his new courtyard and planned to keep a low profile while preparing for future cultivation.

• Elder Lu Zhenghai sent people in Taiyu City to hunt down the remaining members of the Three Great Sects.
• Yang Chan collected a key to a Pharmacist's courtyard, new robes, and permission to borrow books from the Medicine Hall Library Pavilion.
• Yang Chan decided to delay claiming Elite Disciple status until his martial cultivation approached the limit of External Refinement: Steel Tendons, when he could exchange contribution points for the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist.
• Yang Chan reached his new courtyard, greeted the disciples guarding it, and moved his belongings over from his old room.

Yang Chan treated injured Qingyuan Sect disciples and advised Du Xiaolin, whose attempt to break through External Refinement: Bronze Skin had damaged his body. After Du Xiaolin left, Yang Chan continued treating patients, confident that he could advance quickly without weakening his foundation.

• Yang Chan helped treat injured disciples in the Medicine Hall while selecting candidates for his alchemist assistants.
• Yang Chan reunited with Du Xiaolin, who described his back pain, dizziness, weakness, and other symptoms.
• Yang Chan identified Du Xiaolin's condition as damage from improper skin-and-flesh tempering and advised him to seek instruction and use medicinal aids.
• Du Xiaolin left after thanking Yang Chan, troubled by the consequences of the special tempering method he had used.
• Yang Chan reflected that others had to advance cautiously while he could forge a Great Heavenly Path, then examined the next injured disciple.

As Qingyuan Sect prepared for its New Year Sect Competition, Yang Chan chose to avoid competing and focus on pharmacy studies and cultivation. Sun Qi Wu signed up, while the chapter described how disciples used competitions and dangerous missions to pursue scarce resources and rise through the sect.

• New Year arrived, and Qingyuan Sect prepared its Sect Competition with valuable rewards and benefits for disciples.
• Yang Chan checked his panel, saw that his age had risen to 17, and worried that his lifespan remained limited.
• Sun Qi Wu asked Yang Chan about competing, but Yang Chan declined so he could study pharmacy and train in secret.
• Yang Chan encouraged Sun Qi Wu to compete, and Sun Qi Wu said he had signed up to demonstrate the Medicine Hall disciples' strength.
• Yang Chan reflected on the heavy casualties from the recent campaign against the Three Great Sects and how surviving disciples might advance with the resources they gained.

Yang Chan continued training while the Sect Competition unfolded, hearing that Chu Mo and Sun Qi Wu had both been defeated. When delayed medicinal ingredients finally arrived, he prepared Dragon Bone Medicinal Bath supplies to restore his daily Potential Point gains and accelerate his cultivation.

• Yang Chan reflected on the slow progress from adding Potential Points to the mastered Ox Demon Strength Fist and read pharmacy books while waiting for medicinal ingredients.
• Alchemist Assistants discussed Chu Mo's crushing defeat by an Elite Disciple, while Sun Qi Wu told Yang Chan that he had also lost in the Sect Competition.
• Yang Chan noted that major experts were not competing and planned to watch the final victor on the competition's last day.
• Yang Chan received and checked the delayed medicinal ingredients from Taiyu City, including dragon bone, and confirmed that nothing was missing.
• Yang Chan began preparing Dragon Bone Medicinal Bath packets and other medicines to restore his daily gains and strengthen his cultivation before pursuing External Refinement: Iron Bones.

Over half a year, Yang Chan kept a low profile while advancing to Elite Disciple and strengthening his cultivation techniques. His progress brought major gains in talent, lifespan, and recovery, and the chapter left him continuing to invest Potential Points in the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist.

• Tang Jian won the Elite Disciple competition and became Lu Zhenghai's disciple, prompting Yang Chan to keep his distance from him and Lu Zhenghai.
• Yang Chan heard that unrest and heretical cults had spread through Yuzhou and Qingzhou, but he avoided investigating and continued taking Pharmacist missions.
• Yang Chan became an Elite Disciple while continuing to focus on Pharmacist work and improve his cultivation over the next half year.
• Yang Chan raised the Tai Chi Health Cultivation Technique and Ox Demon Strength Fist to the Fourth Order, gaining eight talent points, one hundred years of lifespan, and rapid recovery.
• Yang Chan obtained the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist, Tiger Demon Martial Imprint, and Purple Qi Body Cultivation Technique, then advanced them alongside his other techniques.
• Yang Chan received his usual Potential Points, added them to the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist, and checked his updated cultivation panel.