Chapter Summaries

Liang Qu and his allies finished defeating Octopus King, and Long E Ying froze a hidden tentacle before it could escape. After sleeping for nearly six days, Liang Qu awoke and went with Old Toad to see Sea Market Master, who had saved an Octopus King tentacle for Little Water.

• Liang Qu pushed through his exhaustion to find a hidden octopus west of the cavern, but Long E Ying told him to rest and took over.
• Long E Ying froze the octopus beneath the full moon as Liang Qu collapsed into sleep, and Old Toad stayed behind with him.
• After more than five days, Liang Qu awoke and learned that Sea Market Master was still refining Octopus King and had dispersed the killing intent in him.
• Liang Qu went with Old Toad to visit Sea Market Master, who had grown larger and saved an Octopus King tentacle for Little Water.

Liang Qu and his companions secured the Octopus King’s tentacle and principal will, then arranged rewards with the Sea Market Master while she began refining the power needed for her promotion. Liang Qu tried cooking and eating the tentacle but found it too tough, so the group stayed to guard the Sea Market Master and planned to claim their merit in November.

• The Sea Market Master explained that the Octopus King’s Intercourse Arm could benefit Liang Qu but still carried much of the King’s will, so he needed to eat it in small portions after fully digesting each one.
• The Sea Market Master promised Old Toad, Liang Qu, and the court rewards after she took control of the sea merchants, with Old Toad demanding ten percent interest until he could choose treasures from the Octopus Clan Treasury.
• Liang Qu learned that the frozen Little Octopus was the Octopus King’s principal will, which Long E Ying had trapped in her Ice Barrier.
• Long E Ying cut off the Intercourse Arm and reinforced the seal around the Little Octopus while the Sea Market Master began refining in seclusion.
• Liang Qu summoned Ta Ta Kai and his family to cook a piece of the tentacle, but the meat proved too tough to chew despite giving him eight Marsh Essence.
• Liang Qu set the tentacle aside and decided the group would guard the Sea Market Master, cultivate, and wait until November to go ashore and claim their merit.

Liang Qu spent his days guarding the Sea Market Master's secluded cultivation, then returned to shore with Frog Duke as the Sea Market Master prepared to devour the Octopus King's remains and advance. He reported the mission to the River Conservancy Office, where the Great Grandmasters approved his work and arranged for him to travel to the Imperial Capital to refine pills.

• Liang Qu used Golden Eye and Strong Dominion to make a little yellow croaker perform tricks for Long E Ying while they guarded the Sea Market Master's secluded cultivation.
• Liang Qu and the Water Beasts made octopus meatballs from the Octopus King's flesh, earning him thousands of Marsh Essence.
• Old Toad reminded Liang Qu that November had arrived, so Liang Qu left Long E Ying, Awei, and the Third Prince behind and headed ashore with the Water Beasts.
• Liang Qu presented the Great Grandmasters with records of White Ape, the Sea Market Master, and Frog Duke's actions, and explained that the Sea Market Master might need until next autumn to fulfill her promise.
• Xu Wenzhu told Liang Qu that the mission's details would stay private but his merits would count toward a noble title, and Su Guishan approved his trip to the Imperial Capital to refine pills.

After settling the Octopus King matter, Liang Qu returned home and promised to help Fan Xinglai marry Chen Xiu. He later brought part of the Octopus King’s tentacles to the Imperial Capital as tribute, and the Sacred Emperor directed him to send his share to the Alchemy Workshop for pill refining.

• Liang Qu caught Fan Xinglai sneaking back from seeing Chen Xiu and promised to arrange their marriage if Fan Xinglai trained hard.
• In mid-November, Liang Qu set out for the Imperial Capital with Long Yao, Long Li, Fist, and the River Conservancy Office documents.
• Liang Qu cut off part of the Octopus King’s tentacles to offer as tribute and seek help covering the costs of refining pills.
• The Sacred Emperor heard Liang Qu explain the tentacles’ properties and asked which pill formula was best.
• The Sacred Emperor chose Grandmaster Zhao’s Innate Pure Yang Pill and ordered Liang Qu to send his share to the Alchemy Workshop.

Liang Qu secured the Sacred Emperor’s quiet support for the White Ape and awaited the Octopus King’s arm being refined into pills. The Emperor then promoted Liang Qu to Earl Xingyi and granted him substantial rewards, while Liang Qu asked Eunuch Li about Jian Zhongyi’s case in Qingzhou.

• The Sacred Emperor asked Liang Qu about the White Ape and its prospects against the Flood Dragon, then agreed to consider a reward while warning him to keep its submission secret.
• Palace attendants carried the frozen Intercourse Arm into the Alchemy Workshop, where Zhao Yaozuo learned that the Emperor had ordered two batches of Innate Pure Yang Pills before Marquis Li’s Longevity Pill.
• Eunuch Li delivered an Imperial Decree promoting Liang Qu from Xingyi Baron to Xingyi County Earl and raising his Cavalry Commandant rank.
• Liang Qu received a Profound Yellow Token, Great Merits, and other rewards, then asked Eunuch Li about Jian Zhongyi’s case in Qingzhou.

Liang Qu asked the Sacred Emperor for permission to kill Jian Zhongyi before the court resolved his case, hoping to prevent his Buddhist benefactor from clashing with the court. The Sacred Emperor set a condition: Liang Qu must reach True Image within a year and a half and then help handle the Great Snow Mountain affair.

• Eunuch Li told Liang Qu that the Jian Family might have to surrender Jian Tianyuan, while Jian Zhongyi was heading to Blue Lake to investigate the Great Snow Mountain calamity.
• Liang Qu arranged to meet the Sacred Emperor and arrived at the Hall of Diligent Governance wearing his official crown and carrying all three of his seals.
• Liang Qu knelt before the Sacred Emperor and requested permission to execute Jian Zhongyi, explaining that his Buddhist benefactor would otherwise kill him after the calamity was addressed.
• The Sacred Emperor challenged Liang Qu's motives and asked whether he could kill a True Image expert and handle the Great Snow Mountain's methods.
• The Sacred Emperor ordered Liang Qu to enter True Image within a year and a half and said he would assist with the Great Snow Mountain affair, while denying that he had granted permission that day.

After leaving the palace, Liang Qu accepted ten thousand taels from Marquis Li Shunfeng in exchange for delaying his grand pill by a month. He planned to return to Pingyang for the New Year and tell the Old Monk that he had obtained a License to Kill.

• Liang Qu reflected on the Sacred Emperor’s approval and bought jars of brain meat for Long Yao and Long Li on his way home.
• Li Shunfeng and his son Li Feng Hua visited Liang Qu to ask him to move back in the pill-refinement queue so Li Shunfeng could obtain a Longevity Pill for his mother.
• Li Feng Hua offered Liang Qu ten thousand taels as compensation for the one-month delay, and Liang Qu accepted.
• Li Shunfeng explained to Li Feng Hua that the payment was a way to build an acquaintance with Liang Qu without creating an obligation.
• Liang Qu recognized that Li Shunfeng’s pill was not urgently needed, but kept the money and decided to leave the Imperial Capital for Pingyang the next morning.

Liang Qu gathered Pingyang’s Grandmasters after the Old Monk clarified that he had never asked Liang Qu to kill anyone. The Old Monk’s sudden, extravagant meal left everyone watching as Liang Qu hurried to serve him.

• Li Feng Hua told his companions that Xingyi Baron had become a Third-Class Earl, though he had not reached the Grandmaster realm.
• Liang Qu turned away Changrui Baron and other visitors seeking alchemy, then left Pingyang with Long Yao and Long Li.
• Liang Qu wrote the Old Monk a note explaining Jian Zhongyi’s coming disposition and the Slaughter Permit, while promising to kill him after the Great Snow Mountain matter.
• The Old Monk read Liang Qu’s note and said he had never asked him to kill Jian Zhongyi, startling Liang Qu.
• Liang Qu summoned the Dragon Man Tribe’s Grandmasters and Pingyang’s notable Grandmasters as the Old Monk ate an enormous meal.

The grandmasters of Pingyang Prefecture watched the Old Monk in his motionless state, waiting to learn from his enlightenment. After eating pig head meat, the Old Monk awakened, revealed an extraordinary Martial Saint aura, and gifted Liang Qu a thread of golden light; in Ning Jiang Prefecture, King of Yue took notice of Pingyang.

• Xu Yuelong and Xu Wenzhu discussed how little insight they had gained from observing the Old Monk, while Wei Lin pretended to be deep in thought.
• Ta Ta Kai kicked Scarface away to snatch a fifty-tael Treasure Silver ingot, and Scarface chased him around the courtyard.
• The Dragon Man Tribe's First Elder said he had gained a little insight, while Su Guishan explained that the Old Monk's state could last several months.
• After another five days, the Old Monk awoke when Ta Ta Kai offered him pig head meat, and his aura spread healing vitality across Pingyang Prefecture.
• The Old Monk sent golden light into Liang Qu, who sat down to refine it, while King of Yue looked north toward Pingyang Prefecture.

The Old Monk advanced to the Young Dragon Martial Saint realm, and his breakthrough transformed Liang Qu’s Golden Body and Fubo while empowering his Buddhist beads. After the Old Monk retired to stabilize his realm, the others agreed to guard him and send the gathered villagers home.

• The King of Yue learned that a Buddhist expert had reached the Young Dragon Martial Saint realm, then agreed to take Wen Shiyun to visit his master for the new year.
• The Old Monk’s golden light helped Liang Qu complete the Golden Body’s seven aspects, cleanse his tendons and marrow, and strengthen his Golden Body seed.
• The Old Monk infused Fubo with part of his Martial Saint self-nature, reshaping it into a powerful weapon that shifted between dragon and tiger forms.
• The Old Monk used the remaining self-nature to transform his twelve Buddhist beads, then asked the gathered Grandmasters to guard him while he stabilized his realm.
• Su Guishan agreed to send the villagers home, and Xu Yuelong opened the gates to find thousands gathered outside.

After the Old Monk’s breakthrough, Liang Qu awakened to find his Golden Body transformed and Fubo remade into a powerful Dragon Tiger Spirit Weapon. He learned he had been unconscious for more than a day, and the chapter ended with Wen Shiyun arriving at the Liang Residence.

• Xu Yuelong told the villagers that the master’s breakthrough had cured minor ailments and warned them to return home quietly.
• Chen Zhaoan sent the villagers away and arranged for Liang Qu’s martial arts students to guard the residence against visitors.
• Su Guishan began writing a report to the imperial court about the Old Monk’s emergence as a Young Dragon Martial Saint, while the Dragon Man elders departed.
• Liang Qu awoke after more than a day and discovered his Golden Body and Divine Power Seed had grown stronger.
• Liang Qu found that the Old Monk had remade Fubo, tested its dragon and tiger forms, and split the clouds with a spear thrust.
• Su Guishan told Liang Qu that the Old Monk had entered seclusion, and Wen Shiyun arrived, saying Zhang Jia Zai and her grandfather were nearby.

King of Yue and his family arrived in Pingyang Prefecture to spend the New Year Festival with Liang Qu, who proposed holding an underwater celebration at the Merfolk’s Ice Crystal Palace. As Long E Ying built the palace, Liang Qu practiced with his new spear and Sea Market Master emerged from seclusion after digesting Octopus King.

• King of Yue, Wen Chengyun, and the Crown Princess arrived at Liang Qu’s home, and Liang Qu arranged rooms for them.
• Liang Qu proposed celebrating the New Year Festival underwater in Jiangchuan County, and King of Yue agreed to follow his arrangements.
• Liang Qu asked Long E Ying to build an Ice Crystal Palace for the celebration, while the Water Spiders would provide fresh air.
• Liang Qu practiced the Azure Dragon Spear Technique and unleashed a golden Blood Chrysanthemum that pulverized a rocky island.
• Sea Market Master broke through the seafloor after digesting Octopus King, seized Liang Qu playfully, and teased him about conspiring to kill her.

The Sea Market Master emerged as a Demon King and brought Liang Qu and Old Toad to Sea Abyss Palace, where Liang Qu hoped to touch a rare Seven-Colored Clam Pearl. The Octopus Clan celebrated her breakthrough without knowing the Octopus King had died, while she quietly prepared to secure control before revealing the truth.

• The Sea Market Master offered to fulfill part of her promise to Liang Qu, and Old Toad arrived demanding a trip to the Octopus Clan's Treasure Vault.
• As they traveled, Liang Qu learned that a Seven-Colored Clam Pearl was displayed in the Mermaid King's palace and asked the Sea Market Master to arrange a chance to touch it.
• The Sea Market Master reached Sea Abyss Palace, where the Octopus Clan celebrated its apparent second Demon King while the Merfolk worried about the shift in power.
• The Sea Market Master consulted trusted subordinates and made plans before secretly summoning Liang Qu and Old Toad.
• A light-gray octopus led Liang Qu and Old Toad through a hidden route into the Mermaid Tribe's territory, where Liang Qu spotted the Seven-Colored Clam Pearl above an empty grand hall.

Liang Qu secretly drained 210,000 Marsh Essence from the Seven-Colored Clam Pearl in Sea Abyss Palace, then left with the Old Toad after the Sea Market Master arranged to settle the Octopus Clan crisis. In Jiangchuan County, Liang Qu learned that the Fat Catfish needed only 351 Marsh Essence to grow.

• Liang Qu snuck into the Merfolk hall and absorbed 210,000 Marsh Essence from the Seven-Colored Clam Pearl without taking it away.
• The Old Toad filled more than ten Yellow Leather Bags with treasure from the Sea Market Master's private treasury while Liang Qu kept his promise not to compete.
• The Sea Market Master explained that the Mermaid King had accepted a temporary reduction in the Octopus Clan's profit share and planned to reveal the Octopus King's misdeeds the next day.
• Liang Qu and the Old Toad left for Pingyang, and the Sea Market Master described plans to consolidate the Octopus Clan and establish trade routes there.
• In Jiangchuan County, Liang Qu discovered that the Fat Catfish needed only 351 Marsh Essence to grow.

Liang Qu learned that Fat Catfish had collected countless deposits for unfinished cave renovations, ordered it to stop taking new work, and used its 120,000 Marsh Essence to evolve it to peak Hunting Tiger. He then began evolving Awei, whose new form gained eight golden wings and strengthened talents.

• Fat Catfish revealed that it had taken deposits from so many Frog Clan customers that it could not count them, prompting Liang Qu to order it to pause new jobs and complete existing renovations.
• Liang Qu took Fat Catfish to the Deep Water Area and spent 120,000 Marsh Essence to evolve it to peak Hunting Tiger.
• Liang Qu learned that evolving Fat Catfish into an Ink Tiger Flood Dragon Catfish would require one million Marsh Essence and reflected on the dangers of the Three Tribulations.
• Liang Qu checked the other three beasts' progress and decided to evolve them together, though Round Head and Fist still had to arrive from Jiangchuan County.
• Liang Qu evolved Awei with 12,000 essence, and Awei grew to belt size with eight golden wings and five talents.

Liang Qu tested Awei’s evolved talents and discovered that its Dewdrop could repair damaged stone, then evolved Round Head and Fist into powerful Demon Beasts. He explored their abilities and left impressed by Fist’s enormous Gold Rock Crab King form and its potential as a construction partner for Fat Catfish.

• Liang Qu examined Awei’s talents and saw a tiny amount of Dewdrop repair cracks in a stone.
• Round Head and Fist arrived after evolving, and Liang Qu spent Marsh Essence to grow them into the Spirit River Porpoise King and Gold Rock Crab King.
• Liang Qu studied Round Head’s talents, including its ability to nurture, preserve, and attract Treasure Fish.
• Liang Qu examined Fist’s earth-based talents and watched it assemble a towering stone-crab form reinforced by its Adamant Body Overlord Physique.
• Liang Qu realized that Fat Catfish and Fist could make an ideal construction team.

Liang Qu assigned money-making work to his Water Beasts and learned that his Bloodstone Mine share was finally being paid out. He continued finishing the Ice Crystal Palace before Zhang Wenbao arrived with the proceeds from the mines.

• Liang Qu made Fat Catfish and Fist negotiate a sixty-forty split for their construction work, then told Fist to stop searching exhausted Bloodstone Mines.
• Liang Qu sent Round Head to work with Fat Catfish and Frog Duke on a service business for preserving Spirit Fish and taking commissions.
• Liang Qu returned to Jiangchuan County, inspected the partly finished Ice Crystal Palace, and worked with Long E Ying and the Water Beasts to furnish it.
• Two days before the New Year Festival, Zhang Wenbao visited the Liang Residence and presented Liang Qu with Silver Notes and account books for his Bloodstone share, rounded to three hundred seventy thousand taels.

Liang Qu settled three years of Bloodstone Mine profits with Zhang Wenbao and told him about the upcoming sea merchant, giving the Zhang Clan a chance to expand its water trade. Afterward, Liang Qu discussed his path to Grandmaster with his family and weighed whether to fuse the Profound Yellow Long Qi into the Creation Long Qi.

• Liang Qu received 370,000 silver taels in Bloodstone profits from Zhang Wenbao, bringing his cash reserves to 480,000 taels.
• Zhang Wenbao explained that the Zhang Clan and Li Family had diversified into inland-river shipping as the Bloodstone Mine declined, then asked Liang Qu for an opportunity.
• Liang Qu told Zhang Wenbao that a sea merchant would settle permanently in Pingyang from late March to April and pay taxes in silver, prompting Zhang Wenbao to leave eagerly with the news.
• Liang Qu told Wen Chengyun and the others that he needed four more layers to reach Hunting Tiger Completion and planned to obtain high-grade water-element Long Qi from the sea merchant.
• Liang Qu explained his confidence in reaching Grandmaster at twenty-two, then considered whether to fuse the Profound Yellow Long Qi into the Creation Long Qi.

Liang Qu persuaded the Time Insect to fuse Profound Yellow Long Qi into Creation Long Qi, then set off with Wen Shiyun, the Old Monk, and their companions for Jiangchuan County’s Ice Crystal Palace. The group sailed into the frozen river, eager to explore the palace.

• Liang Qu showed the Time Insect his Profound Yellow Token and promised to restore its freedom, and the insect agreed to one final fusion.
• Liang Qu received Xu Yuelong’s approval to exchange the token for Profound Yellow Energy after the New Year Festival.
• Liang Qu woke Wen Shiyun, helped prepare him for the trip, and learned that the Old Monk would join them.
• Liang Qu and his companions boarded the imperial Treasure Ship and departed for Jiangchuan County, where Volcano Algae had been buried to heat the Ice Crystal Palace.
• The travelers admired the vast ice island as their ship sailed across the frozen river.

Liang Qu welcomed his companions to the underwater Ice Crystal Palace, where they explored its halls, enjoyed the Mermaid New Year Festival, and relaxed beneath the ice. As evening fell, Liang Qu prepared a Dragon Spirit Silk screen and began a surprise shadow show, opening with a Blue Cat and a brown rat.

• Liang Qu anchored the Treasure Ship to the ice island and showed the group the palace’s two entrances, with most guests choosing the southern slide.
• Liang Qu and Wen Shiyun slid into the palace while Xu Shi and the Crown Princess descended in an ice seat lowered by Water Spiders.
• The group admired the underwater palace, chose rooms, and learned how its Water Spiders and heated pipes kept the halls ventilated and warm.
• Xu Shi and the Crown Princess visited the Mermaid market while the others relaxed, played cards, and joined in New Year Festival activities.
• Liang Qu set up a Dragon Spirit Silk screen with the little River Otters, and their performance began with a Blue Cat and a brown rat leaping onto the curtain.