Chapter Summaries

Li Hao discovered that he had been reborn as the newborn son of Marquis Xingwu in the powerful Li Family of the Great Yu Dynasty. At his hundred-day banquet, he sensed that the emerald bracelet he received sharpened his mind and made a blurry cluster of text appear clearly before him.

• The Yu Emperor honored the fallen Li Junye with a posthumous marquis title and named the infant son of Marquis Xingwu Li Hao.
• Li Hao learned over his first three months that he had transmigrated to the Ephemeral Realm and been born into the Li Family, whose nine sons had lost six in service to the dynasty.
• Ji Qingqing worried that the name bestowed by the Yu Emperor burdened Li Hao with the imperial family’s expectations, and promised to protect him.
• Marquis Xingwu brought Ji Qingqing and Li Hao to join the family’s hundred-day banquet, where the other madams and children welcomed them and gave Li Hao precious gifts.
• After Fifth Madam put an emerald bracelet on Li Hao’s wrist, his mind cleared and the blurry text before him became sharp.

Li Hao discovered that his leisure-game panel could record swordsmanship after watching Li Qianfeng practice the Boundless Sea art. His parents remained away at the Yanbei Battlefield, and he ended the chapter eager to use his newly unlocked Sword Dao attribute.

• A guard reported that Prince Pingcheng had rebelled in Northern Yan, allied with demons, and massacred Mofeng City and eight towns; Marquis Xingwu and Ji Qingqing left to lead forces against him.
• More than a year later, Li Hao watched the snow in Qingzhou City while wondering how his parents were faring at the battlefield.
• Liu Yuerong scolded the servants for letting Li Hao stand in the snow, then carried him to watch her son Li Qianfeng practice swordsmanship.
• Li Hao received a prompt to record Li Qianfeng's Boundless Sea sword forms and unlocked Sword Dao and a Boundless Sea Tide skill on his panel.
• Li Hao used his single Art Skill Point to try raising his Sword Dao.

After gaining rank-one Sword Dao and perfect mastery of Boundless Sea's first level, Li Hao overheard Liu Yuerong confess that she had given him medicine to destroy his chance of awakening divine blood. Three years old and wary of the household, he faced the approaching milestones of the Li Family's cultivation process.

• Li Hao's Sword Dao advanced to rank one, granting him perfect mastery of Boundless Sea's first level.
• Liu Yuerong told an unfamiliar man that she had given Li Hao medicine to prevent his divine blood from awakening, fearing he could rival Li Qianfeng.
• Li Hao realized Liu Yuerong's affection had concealed her scheme and vowed to repay the harm.
• Over the next year and a half, Li Hao became cautious about food sent from the various courtyards and often refused it.
• At three, Li Hao reached the age when children in the Divine General Residence began Foundation Establishment, with Blood Fusion at four and Bone Measurement at five.

Li Hao began foundation establishment with Bian Ruxue, but his game panel blocked the medicinal liquid and left him unable to absorb it. While Bian Ruxue showed exceptional potential, Lin Haixia feared Li Hao might have a physique incapable of martial cultivation.

• Lin Haixia brought Bian Ruxue, the orphaned daughter of Marquis Xingwu’s comrade and Li Hao’s intended fiancée, to live at the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard.
• Li Hao comforted Bian Ruxue about her father and helped the servants care for her as she grieved.
• Lin Haixia began foundation establishment for Li Hao and Bian Ruxue using the Divine General Residence’s finest Foundation Establishment Liquid.
• Li Hao’s panel identified the medicinal liquid as an unknown substance and blocked it, preventing him from absorbing it.
• Li Hao saw that Bian Ruxue had absorbed nearly all her liquid, and Lin Haixia said she might develop an eighth- or ninth-grade battle body.
• Lin Haixia feared Li Hao’s slow absorption meant he had a physique incapable of martial cultivation.

After repeated Foundation Establishment baths fail, the Divine General Residence confirms that Li Hao has a martial dao wasteland physique, and news of his condition spreads beyond the family. By age four, Li Hao has secretly advanced his Chess Dao and Sword Dao to the second stage, but he can no longer gain chess experience by playing alone.

• Li Hao's Foundation Establishment Liquid remains unchanged through repeated baths, and Lin Haixia concludes that he has a martial dao wasteland physique.
• The First Madam orders the household to keep Li Hao's condition secret, while Liu Yuerong fears her attempt to cripple his divine blood caused worse harm.
• Doctors confirm that Li Hao can cultivate only with arduous training and will be limited to the second realm; a letter from Marquis Xingwu urges the First Madam to get him onto the martial path.
• News of Li Hao's condition leaks beyond the residence, drawing attention from Qingzhou City residents and the Li Family's rivals at court.
• At age four, Li Hao advances his Chess Dao and Sword Dao to the second stage, and discovers that he needs an opponent to gain further chess experience.

Li Hao's blood fusion failed again, so Bian Ruxue used the precious medicine and gained greater martial aptitude. After his chess practice with Lin Haixia came to an end, Li Hao went to the Listening Rain Pavilion to seek martial arts manuals, leaving the story outside its restricted entrance.

• Li Hao's Tidal Sword Art advanced to Supreme Perfection, but he worried that his fragile body could not withstand performing it and decided to seek body-tempering methods.
• The residence's blood fusion medicine, made from a three-thousand-year-old Great Demon, was rejected by Li Hao's strange blood, and Lin Haixia confirmed the attempt had failed.
• Liu Yuerong heard of Li Hao's failure and believed his poor physique would make her son Li Qianfeng stand out; Bian Ruxue's blood fusion succeeded after she received Li Hao's medicine.
• Unable to gain Chess Dao experience by playing alone, Li Hao persuaded Lin Haixia to play with him, but Lin eventually disappeared after several days of games.
• Li Hao visited the restricted Listening Rain Pavilion with Uncle Zhao and waited outside while they had not yet received the First Madam's permission.

At the Listening Rain Pavilion, Li Hao learned the rudiments of a body-refining manual and discovered that the Li Family’s strongest manuals were too difficult for him to understand without an Art Skill Point. Back at the courtyard, he built up Chess Dao experience by making the servants play against him, and he turned five.

• He Jianlan sent Xue Jian to watch Li Hao in the Listening Rain Pavilion.
• Li Hao recorded Stone Skin Hundred Refinements and saw that his Path of the Physical Body was still uninitiated.
• Xue Jian showed Li Hao the Sixth Floor’s Thousand Dragons Sacred Body and Primordial Beginning manuals, but he could not understand them and went home.
• Bian Ruxue greeted Li Hao and got him to promise he would always return to her.
• Li Hao made the servants and maids play chess with him, then chose the two strongest players to help him gain experience.
• Lin Haixia taught Bian Ruxue basic martial arts while Li Hao continued practicing chess, and he turned five.

At five, Li Hao received the lowest possible bone aptitude assessment, while Bian Ruxue was revealed to have a ninth-grade battle body. After gaining a new Art Skill Point, Li Hao trained in Stone Skin Hundred Refinements and rose from Mortal to the seventh level of the Power Through Realm.

• An old Daoist measured Li Hao’s bones and declared his battle body ungraded and his aptitude the lowest of the low.
• Lin Haixia drank with Li Hao, asked whether he missed his parents, and was moved when Li Hao said he hoped they were safe in Northern Yan.
• Two months later, the old Daoist measured Bian Ruxue’s bones and found she had a supreme-quality ninth-grade battle body.
• Li Hao won a chess game, filled his Chess Dao experience, and assigned the resulting Art Skill Point to the Path of the Physical Body.
• Li Hao practiced Stone Skin Hundred Refinements eight times and advanced to the seventh level of the Power Through Realm.

Li Hao rapidly advanced his physical cultivation by learning several body-refining arts, though he remained at the tenth layer of the Power Through Realm because he could not circulate qi. After cultivating the Primordial Beginning art, he tested his strength by lifting a massive rockery in the courtyard.

• Li Hao recorded two manuals from the sixth floor and cultivated the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body, reaching the tenth layer of the Power Through Realm.
• Li Hao completed the Dragon Body layer but could not advance further because he did not know how to circulate qi.
• Li Hao cultivated the first two sections of the Primordial Beginning art, gaining a Star Body while remaining in the Power Through Realm.
• Li Hao heard Xue Jian practicing swordplay in the courtyard and noticed that her movements had improved.
• Li Hao lifted his father's hundred-cauldron rockery with ease, then carefully set it back down.

Li Hao discovered that collecting chess records let him embed their special attributes into his cultivation paths, then secretly corrected Bian Ruxue’s sword form. The chapter left Lin Haixia astonished as he watched Bian Ruxue practice the next morning.

• Li Hao learned that advancing his Chess Dao required a Chess Heart, but his attempts to feign devotion to chess brought no results.
• After reading a chess record called “Myriad Manifestations,” Li Hao collected it and embedded its ability to conceal his aura into the Path of the Physical Body.
• Li Hao found three more chess records and embedded Flying Section and Hidden Bow into the Sword Dao and Tiger Pressure into the Path of the Physical Body.
• Li Hao privately corrected Bian Ruxue’s sword posture and told her not to reveal that he knew swordsmanship.
• The next morning, Lin Haixia watched Bian Ruxue perform her sword moves and slowly widened his eyes.

Lin Haixia tried to teach six-year-old Li Hao martial techniques but gave up, convinced he lacked Martial Dao aptitude. When Lin Haixia prepared to leave, Li Hao revealed his mastery of the Tidal Swordplay as a farewell gift.

• Bian Ruxue quickly mastered her swordplay, and Lin Haixia began teaching her a Superior Sword Art.
• Li Wushuang left with a Daoist master to cultivate after being recognized for her exceptional talent.
• When Li Hao turned six, Lin Haixia made him practice weapons, but Li Hao showed no apparent skill and Lin Haixia eventually gave up teaching him.
• Li Hao asked Lin Haixia whether someone unable to cultivate could become an expert through Body Refining and martial techniques, and Lin Haixia said it was possible.
• As Lin Haixia prepared to leave, Li Hao drew a sword and performed the Boundless Sea, Tidal Swordplay at Supreme perfection.

After Lin Haixia was killed by demons on his way to the frontier, Li Hao buried his severed hand in the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard and secretly mourned him. The chapter ended with Li Hao awakening a new chess-related comprehension after dreaming of Lin Haixia’s death.

• Lin Haixia left the Divine General Residence, eager to tell the frontier commander about Li Hao’s extraordinary Sword Dao talent.
• Li Hao and Bian Ruxue continued their morning visits to First Madam He Jianlan and their quiet routines in the courtyard.
• A soldier brought Lin Haixia’s severed hand to the Evergreen Courtyard and reported that the Tiger Robe Immortal and other demons had killed him near Qizhou.
• Li Hao stopped Xue Jian from taking the hand, learned the demon’s name, and carried Lin Haixia’s remains back to the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard.
• Li Hao buried the hand, made a wooden plaque bearing Lin Haixia’s name, and told Uncle Zhao to provide generously for Lin Haixia’s family.
• After dreaming that the Tiger Robe Immortal attacked Lin Haixia, Li Hao woke and saw the message, “[You have comprehended chess heart.]”

Li Hao recruited a skilled chess-playing servant to gain more experience, but after half a month the man tried to assassinate him. Li Hao evaded the attack and overwhelmed the assassin, leaving him pinned by the throat.

• Li Hao agreed to let Bian Ruxue train at the Martial Arts Arena, where her ninth-grade battle body helped her advance rapidly.
• Li Hao discovered that a skilled chess opponent earned him far more experience, so he promoted a gaunt servant and played matches with him for half a month.
• The gaunt servant suddenly attacked Li Hao with a dagger while they played chess.
• Li Hao dodged the dagger, struck the assassin with a powerful punch, and seized him by the throat before he could call for help.

Li Hao defeated an assassin sent by the White God Lord to target his parents by exploiting their son as their weakest point, then killed him after learning why he had come. The Divine General Residence investigated the breach, while Liu Yuerong concluded that Marquis Xingwu had arranged protection for Li Hao.

• Li Hao overpowered the gaunt young man and learned that the White God Lord had sent him to destabilize Marquis Xingwu’s forces in Northern Yan.
• The assassin said Li Hao was his parents’ softest spot, and Li Hao killed him despite regretting that he would lose a skilled chess opponent.
• Li Hao told He Jianlan that an unknown old man had saved him, and she sent Li Hao and little Bian Ruxue to rest while she investigated.
• He Jianlan’s inquiry revealed that the assassin had used chess to approach Li Hao and had concealed his Circulation Realm cultivation with a special pill.
• After hearing the investigation results, Liu Yuerong decided Li Hao could not have killed the assassin himself and suspected that his parents had arranged protection for him.

After a failed assassination attempt on Li Hao, the Li Family retaliated against the demons while Marquis Xingwu sent Li Fu to guard his son. Six months later, Li Hao learned that Bian Ruxue was upset because someone had insulted him after defeating her at swordsmanship.

• The demons in Northern Yan discussed their failed assassination attempt on Li Hao and considered their next move.
• He Jianlan tightened security at the Divine General Residence, and Li Hao asked her to keep the assassination news from reaching his parents at the front.
• Marquis Xingwu learned of the attack, sent Li Fu to protect Li Hao, and the Li Family Army later destroyed a demon den on the Yanbei Battlefield.
• Six months later, Li Hao joked with Li Fu about his name and reassured him that he did not blame his absent parents.
• Bian Ruxue returned from the Martial Arts Arena after losing a sword match, and Li Hao learned that her opponent had insulted him.

Li Hao casually guided Bian Ruxue’s sword practice, revealing to Li Fu an unexpected grasp of swordsmanship despite his inability to cultivate. The next day, Bian Ruxue challenged Li Dongbai again, and their match ended with a sword flying from the Arena Stage, leaving the victor unclear.

• Li Hao comforted Bian Ruxue about his inability to cultivate, then offered pointers that improved her sword techniques and impressed Li Fu.
• Li Hao watched Bian Ruxue demonstrate the move that had lost her the previous day and gave her further corrections.
• The next day, Bian Ruxue challenged Li Dongbai at the Martial Arts Arena after he and the other concubine-born boys mocked Li Hao.
• Li Dongbai and Bian Ruxue fought on the Arena Stage, and a sword flew into the sand as the fighters and spectators froze.

Bian Ruxue defeated Li Dongbai and shared the milk crisps Li Yun gave her with Li Hao. Several days later, a legendary Sword Saint arrived at the Divine General Residence, and He Jianlan summoned Li Hao and sent for Bian Ruxue.

• Bian Ruxue disarmed Li Dongbai and demanded he apologize to Li Hao, but he refused and left the Martial Arts Arena.
• Li Yun gave Bian Ruxue a box of milk crisps, which she brought to Li Hao and shared with him after her training.
• Li Hao recognized that Li Yun had given Bian Ruxue the pastries and told her to ask him to bring more next time.
• A renowned guest from the Sword Hermitage arrived, and He Jianlan received him in the Evergreen Courtyard.
• He Jianlan led the white-haired Sword Saint and the Military Elder to the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard, where she called Li Hao over and sent Xue Jian to fetch Bian Ruxue.

Sword Wudao discovered Bian Ruxue’s extraordinary sword talent and offered to take her to the Sword Hermitage as his disciple. Before she could leave, He Jianlan and Li Fu persuaded him to examine Li Hao’s sword ability, and he asked Li Hao to demonstrate with a sword.

• He Jianlan introduced Li Hao to Sword Wudao and asked the Sword Saint to assess his talent for the sword.
• Bian Ruxue arrived and demonstrated her swordplay, astonishing Sword Wudao with her rare aptitude.
• Sword Wudao offered to take Bian Ruxue to the Sword Hermitage and teach her sword arts.
• Bian Ruxue asked whether Li Hao would go with her, prompting He Jianlan and Li Fu to request an assessment of his sword talent.
• Sword Wudao agreed to examine Li Hao, and Bian Ruxue handed him her sword.

Sword Wudao rejected Li Hao as a disciple but chose Bian Ruxue, whose love of the sword and exceptional talent impressed him. Though reluctant to leave Li Hao, Bian Ruxue agreed to go with the Sword Saint after Li Hao comforted her, while Sword Wudao left Li Hao a Body Refining Manual to try.

• Sword Wudao judged that Li Hao lacked a feeling for the sword and could not reach the standards of the Sword Hermitage, despite He Jianlan and Li Fu pleading for him to demonstrate.
• Sword Wudao praised Bian Ruxue's talent and love of the sword, then invited her to cultivate with him in the mountains.
• Bian Ruxue refused to leave Li Hao, but Li Hao encouraged her to go and promised she could return after succeeding in her cultivation.
• Li Hao asked Sword Wudao to protect Bian Ruxue and promised to retaliate against anyone who bullied her at the Sword Hermitage.
• Sword Wudao offered to send the Divine General Residence a Body Refining Manual for Li Hao, then departed, remarking that Li Hao had been born to a good fate but had little fortune.

After Sword Wudao left without taking Li Hao as his disciple, Li Fu pushed the boy to cultivate, and Li Hao quickly showed exceptional talent in body refining. At the Listening Rain Pavilion, Li Hao collected numerous body-tempering techniques, then encountered an old man whom Li Fu recognized as Second Uncle.

• Li Fu blamed Li Hao for missing his chance with Sword Wudao and insisted that he begin body refining, while agreeing to keep their daily chess games.
• Li Hao reached great mastery in the basic Body Refining Manual over three months, and his Chess Dao advanced to the fourth stage.
• Li Hao entered the Listening Rain Pavilion and recorded the Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body, reaching its second layer and gaining the Crouching Dragon Body.
• Li Hao searched the pavilion for more manuals, improving different parts of his body and realizing that varied techniques could help make his physique more complete.
• Li Fu suggested that Li Hao find a comprehensive body-tempering technique, and the two left the pavilion to get dinner.
• Li Fu encountered an ordinary-looking old man with a fishing rod and fish basket, stopped respectfully, and greeted him as Second Uncle.