Chapter Summaries

Shen Qian discovered Jiang Xuan’s collection of photographs and learned how deeply she had cared for him, then gave Old Hu money to help her and the children in her alley. He traveled to North Capital, where Wei Sijian welcomed him with an embarrassing ceremony and hinted at a plan to bring him into Northern Martial University’s School of Pharmacy; Shen Qian then set out to shop for something meaningful.

• Shen Qian recognized himself in Jiang Xuan’s photographs and realized she was Jiang Chengye’s younger sister.
• Shen Qian gave Old Hu a bank card to support Jiang Xuan and the children, while insisting Jiang Chengye’s story and his own plans were separate matters.
• Shen Qian flew to North Capital and was greeted at the airport by Wei Sijian and students from the School of Pharmacy.
• Wei Sijian told Shen Qian he had arranged something to recruit him into Northern Martial University’s School of Pharmacy, but kept the details secret.
• Shen Qian checked into a hotel near Northern Martial University and decided to go shopping on his own.

Shen Qian reunited with Ding Yi at Northern Martial University, gave her a spatial ring, and told her about the events that had led him to become the national Martial Champion. After weighing his desire to serve in the military against his promise to Ding Yi, he revealed that a teaching appointment at Northern Martial University could let him stay with her while pursuing his plans.

• Ding Yi declined her classmates’ invitation, then watched Shen Qian’s fireworks painting depict their first meeting before he embraced her at Nameless Lake.
• Shen Qian gave Ding Yi a spatial ring and explained that he had received exchange vouchers as the national Martial Champion.
• Shen Qian recounted his recent experiences to Ding Yi, including his time in the Training Class, his conflicts, his championships, and Second Brother Song’s death.
• Shen Qian admitted he was considering Military Martial University because he wanted to help soldiers facing deadly risks, and Ding Yi encouraged him to follow his convictions.
• Shen Qian revealed that Wei Sijian had arranged an official lecturer appointment for him at Northern Martial University, giving him a way to stay near Ding Yi while pursuing his work.

Shen Qian prepared to prove himself as a lecturer at Northern Martial University by giving a public lecture at its School of Pharmacy. The lecture drew a packed crowd of skeptics, and Shen Qian entered the hall without a lesson plan or a chosen topic.

• Ding Yi asked Shen Qian how he had secured the chance to lecture, and he explained that Dean Cheng Shanhe required him to pass a public test before the university approved his appointment.
• Shen Qian told Ding Yi he would succeed so he could become her teacher, and she blushed as she called him Teacher Shen before running back to her dormitory.
• News of Shen Qian's trial lecture spread across campus, prompting students to criticize his appointment as a national Martial Champion with little apparent alchemy experience.
• After recalling that Shen Qian had correctly answered ten obscure alchemy questions, Cheng Shanhe moved the lecture to the large hall and went to reserve a seat.
• Wei Sijian brought Shen Qian to the packed lecture hall, where Shen admitted he had prepared neither a lesson plan nor a lecture topic.
• Wei Sijian entered after Shen Qian and began plotting how to pressure Cheng Shanhe into keeping him, while a nearby teaching assistant shivered at his sinister smile.

Shen Qian gave his first public lecture at Northern Martial University, challenging students and teachers to question the limits of conventional alchemy. After demonstrating how intuition and improvised equipment could replace textbook methods, he faced a teacher who demanded that he prove his claims by brewing a potion on the spot.

• Shen Qian quieted the hostile crowd, then had Dao Jiu remove a student who insulted him and refused to leave.
• Shen Qian introduced his lecture topic, “The Possibilities of Alchemy,” and argued that alchemists should question rigid traditions and prescriptions.
• Shen Qian asked students how to brew a Body Tempering Potion without standard equipment, and Wei Sijian reasoned that lower heat and less heat-resistant containers could still work.
• Shen Qian described brewing the potion with an iron pot, charcoal, tap water, a lighter, and an ordinary scale, judging the process by sight and smell.
• Yu Qing challenged Shen Qian’s account as impossible and demanded that he brew a Body Tempering Potion in front of the class.

Shen Qian impressed the School of Pharmacy by brewing a Body Tempering Potion in midair and answering Dean Cheng Shanhe’s questions about the Mountain Sea-level Creation prescription. After the lecture ended, Shen Qian stopped Wei Sijian and said he had a message for Cheng Shanhe.

• Shen Qian used a flame and levitating ingredients to brew a Body Tempering Potion, then Yu Qing tasted it and admitted defeat.
• Shen Qian urged the students to explore new alchemical ideas, and the classroom applauded his lecture.
• Cheng Shanhe presented his unfinished Creation prescription, and Shen Qian used the system’s analysis to identify and correct errors in its formula.
• Shen Qian answered students’ questions, completed his hiring formalities, and left with Wei Sijian.
• Shen Qian spotted Ding Yi waiting beneath a streetlamp, stopped Wei Sijian from leaving, and said he had words for Cheng Shanhe.

Wei Sijian brought Shen Qian’s complete Creation formula to Cheng Shanhe, who realized it challenged the accepted understanding of pharmaceutical refinement and rushed to verify it. Meanwhile, Shen Qian logged into the Hundred Kings Hall, deflected accusations that he was the national Martial Champion, and learned that Plum Garden was preparing a Heaven-Seizing Array in North Capital.

• Wei Sijian told Cheng Shanhe that Shen Qian had solved the complete Creation formula, and Cheng Shanhe explained that he had abandoned the research because its ingredients appeared to violate the Yin-Yang Clash theorem.
• Wei Sijian suggested that the third theorem might be wrong, and Cheng Shanhe studied Shen Qian’s formula before flying to the Huaxia Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences to test it.
• Shen Qian reflected on how Wugu Starlight had increased his cultivation speed and spent time with Ding Yi, who said she would return to closed training.
• Shen Qian logged into the Hundred Kings Hall, where Zhao Keyi accused him of being Shen Qian, but Shen Qian argued that his late arrival to the Hall made that unlikely.
• No. 41 revealed that Tantai Qin had destroyed a Northeast sect to obtain Dao Stone and that Duke of Yanshan was gathering materials for the Heaven-Seizing Array, prompting Shen Qian to wonder whose sect had been destroyed.

In the Hundred Kings Hall, Shen Qian learned that Tantai Qin had exterminated a neutral Gate to obtain Dao Stones for a Heaven-Seizing Array, potentially upsetting the balance between Duke of Yanshan and the Marquis of Jingcheng. After earning contribution points for his cultivation breakthrough and spending time with Ding Yi, Shen Qian noticed Dao Jiu was missing just as a Northern Martial University student challenged him.

• No. 9 and the other members explained that Tantai Qin had wiped out every possibility of life in a neutral Gate, provoking fierce debate among the Northeast nobles.
• No. 66 explained that Tantai Qin had likely sought Dao Stones to build a Heaven-Seizing Array that could help those karmically connected to Duke of Yanshan advance their cultivation.
• Shen Qian tested his cultivation and gained 200 contribution points, while Wan Ning explained that breakthroughs at lower stages earned larger multipliers.
• Shen Qian and Ding Yi left the training room, ate on campus, and agreed that he would book a flight home for the next day.
• Shen Qian realized Dao Jiu was missing, then saw Zhang Zhe introduce himself and charge forward to challenge him.

Shen Qian defeated Zhang Zhe, who had disguised his strength to ambush him, and suspected Wang Shuo had arranged the attack. Meanwhile, Wang Shuo’s confrontation with Luo Yi was interrupted by news of Tantai Qin’s return to Plum Garden with Dao Stones, an event that promised Wang Shuo a chance to advance his cultivation.

• Zhang Zhe attacked Shen Qian with hidden sixth-stage strength, but the system took control, let Shen Qian evade his punch, and countered by knocking him unconscious.
• Shen Qian and Ding Yi suspected Zhang Zhe was an impostor acting for Wang Shuo, while Dao Jiu revealed that someone had immobilized him before the attack.
• On the library rooftop, Wang Shuo admitted he had hired graduating senior Li Changxing to test—and humiliate—Shen Qian, then overpowered Luo Yi when he challenged Wang Shuo’s methods.
• Nie Han sent word that Tantai Qin had returned and Duke of Yanshan was on his way; Wang Shuo hurried to Plum Garden, where Tantai Qin arrived injured with a bag of Dao Stones.
• Tantai Qin handed the Dao Stones to Nie Han, who took Wang Shuo to Cold Spring to store them, while Wang Shuo looked forward to using the Heaven-Seizing Array to raise his cultivation.

Cheng Shanhe and Wei Sijian searched for Shen Qian to offer him a place in the Huake Academy, but a sudden blast in North Capital revealed that Duke of Yanshan had lost the Dao Stone from Cold Spring. Tantai Qin helped uncover how a formation grandmaster had stolen it, and Duke of Yanshan planned to ask King Zhouyi to trace back time and space, while Tantai Qin privately vowed to slay the thief through three lifetimes.

• Cheng Shanhe and Wei Sijian failed to find Shen Qian, and Cheng Shanhe assumed Shen Qian had deliberately avoided the attention surrounding his Creation formula.
• A blast shook North Capital, and Duke of Yanshan apologized for losing control after discovering the Dao Stone missing from Cold Spring at Plum Garden.
• Duke of Yanshan questioned the guards and his disciples, but Tantai Qin suggested examining the bottom of Cold Spring instead of assuming someone had broken the formation.
• Duke of Yanshan lifted Cold Spring and found a formation stone whose faded Dao Patterns had let a grandmaster of formations slip through without damaging the formation.
• Duke of Yanshan decided to ask King Zhouyi to trace back time and space, while Tantai Qin returned to Cold Spring and vowed to slay the thief through three lifetimes.

Shen Qian woke on a plane with Dao Jiu and learned from the system’s AFK records that it had stolen Dao Stones from Plum Garden, taken Tantai Qin’s Space Crystal Stone, and healed her injuries. He extracted the memory fragment of Tantai Qin’s Great Dao Meridians, hoping it would help him begin Path Seeking early.

• Shen Qian discovered he was on a plane with Dao Jiu and realized the system had moved him there after he lost consciousness.
• Shen Qian read the system’s records and learned it had broken into a diving shop, reached Plum Garden through an underground waterway, and studied formations to bypass the Ten Directions Star Locking Array.
• The system entered Plum Garden’s Cold Spring and stole 112 jin of Dao Stone before hiding it in a water vein.
• The system broke into Tantai Qin’s secret chamber, took her Space Crystal Stone to replenish its energy, and healed her Dao Foundation injury.
• Shen Qian found Tantai Qin’s necklace in the sack and extracted the memory fragment showing her Great Dao Meridians.

After returning to Jing City, Shen Qian spent time with his family, decided to attend Jiangzhou Military Martial University, and brought the Dao Stones he had taken from North Capital to Gao Wenyuan. Gao Wenyuan agreed to prepare a Heaven-Seizing Array and warned Shen Qian about women from the Ancient Law Era, while Yu Shouyi delivered Shen Qian’s admission notice and military appointment.

• Shen Qian returned to Jing City with Dao Jiu and encouraged Shen Liang to resume martial arts training with his support.
• Shen Qian spent several days at home with his parents, then told Shen Liang he had chosen Jiangzhou Military Martial University and left for the Sky-Reaching Tower.
• Shen Qian gave Gao Wenyuan the Dao Stones, and Gao Wenyuan said he would set up a Heaven-Seizing Array after making a trip and told Shen Qian to find him in seven days.
• Gao Wenyuan warned Shen Qian to provoke fewer women from the Ancient Law Era, leaving Shen Qian wondering whether he meant Tantai Qin.
• Yu Shouyi delivered Shen Qian’s admission notice, a ten-million bank card, and an appointment commissioning him as a lieutenant and Centurion in the Luxu Battalion.

Jiang Xuan reluctantly accepted a customer appointment, only to find Shen Qian wanted to talk rather than receive a massage. After hearing about her past, Shen Qian gave her basic martial arts books and encouraged her to pursue a new life as a warrior.

• Xiaohong worried that Jiang Xuan was pining for Shen Qian, but Jiang Xuan denied having any relationship with him.
• Zhu Deyong told Jiang Xuan that a customer had requested her, and she finally agreed to go after realizing the customer was Shen Qian.
• Shen Qian considered the costs of university equipment and found little wealth in Tantai Qin's Space Crystal Stone.
• Shen Qian stopped Jiang Xuan from beginning her massage and asked about her family, learning that her older brother had been the champion Jiang Chengye.
• Shen Qian offered Jiang Xuan a stack of introductory martial arts books and urged her to change her life by becoming a warrior.

Shen Qian sought martial arts techniques to build a foundation for creating his own, but found the Sky-Reaching Tower’s options too limited. He entered Hundred Kings Hall’s Martial Arts Discussion Area to gather ideas and was surprised to find that his new forum identity was “Martial God.”

• Shen Qian collected thirty-seven stalks of wild Seven Flavors Grass and watched Xiao Xuan absorb a Body Refining Potion in the sauna.
• Liu Changqing explained that advanced martial arts techniques were rare and gave Shen Qian three ordinary one-star techniques from the Sky-Reaching Tower.
• Shen Qian decided to gather martial arts knowledge to support his goal of creating his own technique and entered Hundred Kings Hall.
• Wan Ning told Shen Qian that Hundred Kings Hall recorded 367 martial arts techniques, including 72 one-star techniques, and described its Martial Arts Discussion Area.
• Shen Qian spent ten contribution points to register for the discussion area and chose the available nickname “Martial God.”
• Shen Qian browsed the forum and saw that its ten black original posts included posts by King Taiyi, King Qin Guang, and King of Jiangling.

Shen Qian used knowledge gained from the Hundred Kings Hall forum to have his system reconstruct and improve martial arts techniques, confirming he could create a technique of his own. After he began a new AFK task, the chapter shifted to a man in a restricted zone who discovered Shen Qian’s reply to an old bounty and was startled and angered by the responder’s ID, “Martial God.”

• Shen Qian found that the first-generation Kings’ posts required the Mountain Sea realm, then studied green martial arts sharing posts for three days while guiding Jiang Xuan’s training.
• Shen Qian used AFK tasks to reconstruct and improve the two-star Rippling Waves Palm and complete the ancient Black Bone technique, then decided his knowledge was sufficient to create a technique suited to himself.
• After sharing his answers privately on the forum, Shen Qian ate a meal prepared by Jiang Xuan and started a new AFK task.
• In a shadowy canyon, an unnamed man killed a Di Yang and received a notification that someone had answered his three-year-old Rippling Waves bounty.
• The man opened the reply and saw that it came from the ID “Martial God,” leaving him stunned and angry that someone had used it.

Shen Qian discovered that his AFK session had taken him to a junkyard near Jing City, where he appeared to have killed twenty-nine Scavengers. Reading the AFK record revealed that the system had played Martial God for hours, leaving him convinced it had brought Blade Empress’s skills into reality.

• A middle-aged man tested Martial God’s revision of Rippling Waves and found it could unleash the technique’s full power with one hand.
• A woman recognized Martial God’s skill after reading his replies, including the completed version of her damaged Black Bone technique, and wondered who he was.
• Shen Qian woke in a junkyard near the southern city wall and found twenty-nine Scavenger corpses, each killed by blade wounds.
• Shen Qian contacted Dao Jiu, opened his AFK record, and learned that the system had gone to an esports hotel and played thirty-six matches as Blade Empress.
• Shen Qian concluded that the system had brought Blade Empress’s game skills into reality.

Shen Qian extracted the Shadow Blade skill and learned that his system had used it to kill forty-two Scavengers at a junkyard outside Jing City. Chai Haotian showed him a top-secret file revealing that one victim had been an Eighth Stage Intermediate Martial Artist, leaving Shen Qian to confront the extraordinary scale of his achievement and the mystery of the Scavengers.

• Shen Qian extracted Shadow Blade's skill experience and tested the skill, silently splitting a distant stone without visible vital energy fluctuations.
• Shen Qian read that the system had killed forty-two Scavengers at No. 3 Abandoned Junkyard and collected more than 234,000 yuan in spoils.
• Song Ye and the Police Warriors arrived, recognized Shen Qian, and took him back to the station, where he discussed the unexplained Scavenger gathering and the recent sweep with Song Ye.
• After Shen Qian left the station without giving a statement, Chai Haotian took him to Jing City Tower and warned him not to risk his life.
• Chai Haotian gave Shen Qian a top-secret case file, and Shen Qian discovered that Scavenger No. 19 had been an Eighth Stage Intermediate Martial Artist whom the system had instantly killed.

Shen Qian learned why Chai Haotian had concealed his battle with forty-two Scavengers and heard Chai’s offer to prepare him for Jing City’s City Lord position, which he declined. After Chai left, Ling Xiao arrived and revealed that Big Shot Gao’s Heaven-Seizing Array was bringing many of Shen Qian’s senior brothers and sisters back to Jing City.

• Shen Qian read the secret report on the forty-two Scavengers he had killed, and Chai Haotian explained that he had concealed the incident to protect him.
• Chai Haotian offered Shen Qian a nominal secretariat post as a first step toward becoming Jing City’s next City Lord and explained the People’s Way and its risks.
• Shen Qian declined the City Lord path but promised to help Jing City if needed, and Chai awarded him a ten-million bounty for the Scavengers.
• After Chai left, Shen Qian stayed at the rooftop restaurant to eat and drink, and Ling Xiao arrived to join him.
• Ling Xiao said he had returned because Big Shot Gao was preparing the Heaven-Seizing Array, and he expected most of Shen Qian’s senior brothers and sisters to come back as well.

Shen Qian learned why Chai Haotian wanted him to become Jing City's next City Lord, then reflected with Ling Xiao on responsibility and the soldiers in Buya Valley. After finding that his Hundred Kings Hall contributions had made him wealthy, Shen Qian spent 470 points on treasures to strengthen his vital energy, leaving him worried about the cost of future cultivation.

• Ling Xiao explained that Chai Haotian could preserve and strengthen his People's Way by supporting Shen Qian as his successor.
• Shen Qian asked Ling Xiao about his sense of responsibility toward the soldiers in Buya Valley, and Ling Xiao urged him to follow his heart.
• Shen Qian received ten million Huaxia Coin from Chai Haotian, returned to the Sky-Reaching Tower, and entered seclusion.
• Shen Qian logged into the Hundred Kings Hall and discovered that his replies had earned him over a thousand contribution points and widespread attention.
• Shen Qian exchanged 470 contribution points for a hundred Essence Gathering Pills, ten Peak Gathering Pills, and three pieces of Black Jade.

Shen Qian tested the Essence Gathering Pills, whose potent effects pushed his strength into the Third Stage Beginner Martial Artist realm, before Gao Wenyuan summoned him to see the completed Heaven-Seizing Array. After an awkward encounter with Ji Ruoshui and meeting his eerie Fourth Senior Brother, Shen Qian watched the rooftop darken as the array began to reveal itself.

• Shen Qian received his Hundred Kings Hall order from a cloaked Mountain-Sea Realm expert and entered seclusion to test the Essence Gathering Pills.
• Shen Qian increased his strength by taking the pills, overdid it by swallowing several at once, and woke the next morning with his strength raised to 2273 kilograms.
• Gao Wenyuan told Shen Qian that the Heaven-Seizing Array was complete and asked him to come over in an hour.
• Ji Ruoshui came to call Shen Qian, and the system's influence led to an awkward kiss before she fled.
• Shen Qian met his unsettling Fourth Senior Brother on the way to the rooftop, where Gao Wenyuan and the others gathered.
• The sky turned dark and filled with rivers of stars as the Heaven-Seizing Array began to appear.

Gao Wenyuan activated the Heaven-Seizing Array, drawing stellar power from the sky and sending it to Shen Qian and others. After the array ended, Ling Xiao realized Gao Wenyuan was giving Shen Qian unusually strong support, and wondered what difficult future his teacher had seen for him.

• Gao Wenyuan activated the Heaven-Seizing Array and drew down stellar power, which Shen Qian and the people connected to him absorbed.
• Shen Qian’s starlight began to fade, but beams from Eldest Senior Brother, Seventh Senior Brother, Ji Ruoshui, and four academy elders were redirected to him.
• Liu Changqing complained that the elders had forgotten he was young too, then dramatically fell over the rooftop edge.
• Gao Wenyuan used miniature stars and the Sky-Concealing Technique to hide the array’s damage from Heaven and Earth, dispersing the forming thunderclouds.
• After the array ended, Ling Xiao saw how much starlight Shen Qian still had and wondered what future had led Gao Wenyuan to favor him so strongly.