Chapter Summaries

Hu Qi learned about the sect’s cultivation aids and asked Wang Luo about the Nourishing Origin Breathing Method, discovering that it came from the vanished Giant Whale Sect. The chapter left Hu Qi with a clearer sense of the sect’s history and the method’s incomplete inheritance.

• Wang Luo explained the sect’s initiation records, lit Spirit Gathering Incense, and introduced Spirit Snake Paste to the students.
• After class, Hu Qi approached Wang Luo and revealed that he had practiced the Nourishing Origin Breathing Method since childhood.
• Wang Luo identified the method as an inheritance of the Giant Whale Sect, once an overlord-class school.
• Wang Luo explained that the Giant Whale Sect’s fighters had died defending their country against foreign enemies, leaving its inheritance incomplete and the sect extinct.
• Wang Luo added that many schools had declined in the same way and shared a rumor that the Snake Heart Sect had once been an overlord-class school.

Hu Qi struggled to initiate Snake Form Stance after three days of practice, so he decided to use the rare Snow Snake Paste Herlinta had given him. Meanwhile, Wang Luo and Lin Tong wagered on how quickly Hu Qi would cultivate qi and blood, leaving Hu Qi enduring the paste’s intensifying cold as he practiced.

• Wang Luo gave Hu Qi two bottles of Spirit Snake Paste, and Hu Qi took the gift as a sign that Wang Luo valued his potential.
• Wang Luo told Lin Tong that Herlinta was searching for a Lower-tier Black Blood Species in Qirong City and described Hu Qi’s strong physique and experience with the Nourishing Origin Breathing Method.
• Lin Tong bet that Hu Qi would cultivate qi and blood within ten days, while Wang Luo guessed within eighteen days.
• After three days without mastering Snake Form Stance, Hu Qi washed off the Spirit Snake Paste and chose to use the Snow Snake Paste Herlinta had given him.
• Hu Qi spread Snow Snake Paste over his body, assumed the Snake Form Stance, and endured a cold that grew more intense as he practiced.

Hu Qi generated Qi and Blood through Snake Form Breathing Method and Serpentine Movement, then used Crimson to raise Snake Form Stance to the third layer. After undergoing Qi and Blood Transformation One, he discovered his strength had surged enough to shatter a mirror and crack the wall.

• Hu Qi practiced Serpentine Movement with Snake Form Breathing Method, guiding heat from his feet through his body until Qi and Blood began circulating.
• Hu Qi confirmed that Snake Form Stance had reached Beginner and spent Modification Points to raise it to the third layer.
• Hu Qi's Qi and Blood surged, heating his body and expelling grime as he entered Qi and Blood Transformation One.
• Hu Qi crushed a stainless-steel showerhead, then washed and noticed his skin had become smoother and fairer.
• Hu Qi gathered Qi and Blood into his arm and shattered the bathroom mirror, cracking the tiled wall beside it.

Hu Qi tested the physical enhancement from raising Snake Form Stance to the third level and recovered from the temporary weakness caused by condensing too much qi and blood. Seven days after learning the technique, he revealed his breakthrough to Wang Luo, who recognized him as having reached Qi and Blood Transformation One.

• Hu Qi examined his enhanced strength and durability, then used the Scarlet Panel to confirm that Snake Form Stance had reached the third level with one Modification Point remaining.
• Hu Qi nearly collapsed from qi-and-blood depletion after the breakthrough, but circulated his qi and blood and recovered after resting.
• Over the next two days, Hu Qi adjusted to life at Anshan Academy and tried feeding and walking Camphor Tea Duck, which still had not laid an egg.
• Four days after condensing qi and blood, Hu Qi demonstrated his power to Wang Luo, who recognized the first level of Snake Form Stance and marveled that Hu Qi had advanced in seven days.
• Hu Qi credited Second Senior Sister’s Snow Snake Paste for helping him get started, while Wang Luo explained that it could aid a breakthrough but could not generate qi and blood on its own.

After Hu Qi displayed qi and blood in the training room, Wang Luo took him to Zhu Xi and explained the agency’s role in fighting the Black Blood Species. Hu Qi questioned why Secret Martial Arts were not taught to everyone, and Wang Luo explained that schools guarded their Inherited Secret Martial Arts.

• Wang Luo took Hu Qi from the training room and drove him to Zhu Xi’s headquarters in Anshan Science and Technology Park.
• Staff on the seventieth floor greeted Wang Luo and changed their attitude toward Hu Qi after learning he was a newcomer.
• Wang Luo gave Hu Qi the Zhu Xi Confidentiality Manual and Application for Joining and explained that Zhu Xi recruited Secret Martial Artists to hunt the Black Blood Species.
• Hu Qi asked why the Federation did not make Secret Martial Artist cultivation methods public.
• Wang Luo explained that schools guarded their Inherited Secret Martial Arts and only taught them to people who met strict requirements and passed review.

Hu Qi learned about Zhu Xi and signed its contract, then chose the difficult Ghost Slaying Blade Qi and Blood Technique. After Wang Luo reported Hu Qi’s seven-day Blood Qi achievement, Lin Tong realized the news could bring him rewards and a chance to break through.

• Wang Luo explained Zhu Xi’s role, the dangers of secret martial arts, and the benefits and duties of joining.
• Hu Qi read the contract, decided Zhu Xi’s information and benefits were worth joining for, and signed it.
• Wang Luo showed Hu Qi a tablet of Qi and Blood Techniques and explained that he could initially choose only one.
• Hu Qi chose Ghost Slaying Blade despite Wang Luo’s warning that it was difficult and had drawbacks.
• Lin Tong learned from Wang Luo that Hu Qi had generated Blood Qi in seven days and felt excited about the rewards he might receive.

Hu Qi practiced the Ghost Slaying Blade, whose great power consumed Qi and Blood rapidly, then used the Scarlet Modification Panel to raise Snake Form Stance to Level 4 and enter the Qi and Blood Second Change. He decided to conceal his progress for now and studied the handbook to plan how to present himself as a genius without drawing dangerous scrutiny.

• Hu Qi chose the Ghost Slaying Blade because its power suited him, its Qi and Blood cost was manageable, and Herlinta had demonstrated it.
• Hu Qi practiced the blade technique repeatedly in a private training room, exhausting nearly all his Qi and Blood without initiating the skill.
• After two days, Hu Qi used a Modification Point to upgrade Snake Form Stance from Level 3 to Level 4, entering the Qi and Blood Second Change.
• Hu Qi decided to hide his cultivation progress because revealing it so soon could attract suspicion and harsh questioning.
• Hu Qi picked up the basic information handbook and turned to a page.

Hu Qi planned when to reveal his next breakthrough, then went to meet Song Jian, who had found an Exotic Beast for him. Song Jian asked Hu Qi to help investigate his missing mother, a former Snake Heart Sect disciple, and Hu Qi agreed without promising results.

• Hu Qi studied the recorded advancement times of the Sect Master's disciples and decided to reveal his Qi and Blood Second Change between the seventeenth and twenty-fourth day.
• Song Jian called Hu Qi to say he had obtained an Exotic Beast, and Hu Qi went to Tangxi Garden to meet him.
• Song Jian explained that his family had developed the villa complex and that he had studied in Qirong City to compete at the Red Scale Club.
• Hu Qi released his aura after suspecting Song Jian had investigated him, and Song Jian explained that his mother had been a Snake Heart Sect disciple who disappeared when he was ten.
• Song Jian admitted he wanted Hu Qi's help finding traces of his mother, and Hu Qi agreed while warning that he could not guarantee results.

Hu Qi visited Song Jian’s villa, subdued a two-horned goat, and suggested keeping it for breeding and milk. After Song Jian paid him and asked for help finding his mother, Hu Qi sensed that someone else had been watching him but decided not to worry about it unless they caused trouble.

• Song Jian led Hu Qi to a villa courtyard, where Hu Qi inspected and subdued a large goat with two pairs of horns.
• Hu Qi told Song Jian to keep the female goat and find a male for breeding, hoping it might produce offspring or milk.
• Song Jian gave Hu Qi information and a photograph of his mother, along with one hundred thousand yuan, and Hu Qi offered him pointers on combat technique.
• Song Jian’s father emerged after Hu Qi left and praised Song Jian for befriending Hu Qi, while warning that Hu Qi was cold-natured and should only be approached with benefits and good intentions.
• In the taxi, Hu Qi recalled the day’s odd details and concluded that another person had watched him, but he chose not to care as long as no one plotted against or provoked him.

Hu Qi effortlessly defeated Cai Shizhu after Cai challenged him, astonishing the students who witnessed the fight. Three days later, Sims achieved Qi and Blood Transformation One, only to hear that Hu Qi had already reached Qi and Blood Second Change.

• Cai Shizhu confronted Hu Qi by the lake and challenged him to a fight.
• Hu Qi broke Cai Shizhu’s wrist and punched him into the lake with a single blow.
• Ye Li watched Hu Qi leave and regretted missing her chance to befriend him.
• On the nineteenth day of training, Sims cultivated Qi and Blood and resolved to surpass Hu Qi.
• Sims heard students say that Hu Qi had reached Qi and Blood Second Change in nineteen days.

After news of Hu Qi’s breakthrough to the Qi and Blood Second Change spread, he improved his defensive Cloud Iron Body while remaining unable to initiate Ghost Slaying Blade. A classmate arrived to tell him that Teacher Wang wanted to see him.

• Two students discussed Hu Qi’s breakthrough, and Sims overheard them and despaired of ever avenging his humiliation.
• News of Hu Qi’s Qi and Blood Second Change spread through the school, and the newcomers began respectfully calling him Senior Brother Hu.
• Hu Qi used a Modification Point to advance Cloud Iron Body to Proficient and tested its strengthened defense with a fork.
• Hu Qi reflected that actual combat might help him initiate Ghost Slaying Blade, since he had not yet grasped the technique’s missing insight.
• A short-haired classmate told Hu Qi that Teacher Wang wanted to see him, and he thanked her before closing the door.

Hu Qi met Snake Heart Sect Master Jiang Zuo, who offered to make him a personal disciple if he reached the third transformation of blood and qi within three months. After warning Hu Qi about the sect’s enemies, Jiang Zuo left Herlinta in charge while he dealt with trouble at Heavenly Pool.

• Hu Qi visited Wang Luo’s office and met Jiang Zuo and Herlinta, then learned Jiang Zuo had noticed his rapid progress in Snake Form Stance.
• Hu Qi guessed that Jiang Zuo wanted to take him as a disciple, and Jiang Zuo promised to accept him as a personal disciple if he reached the third transformation of blood and qi within three months.
• Jiang Zuo advised Hu Qi to take Zhu Xi’s missions to gain life-and-death combat experience and make progress in the Ghost Slaying Blade.
• After Hu Qi left, Jiang Zuo secretly warned him that his aptitude could attract trouble because the Snake Heart Sect had many enemies.
• Jiang Zuo told Herlinta that Heavenly Pool’s crisis was only temporarily contained and left her in charge of the Snake Heart Sect while he was away.

Hu Qi searched Zhu Xi’s mission listings for a nearby Blood Slave he could fight for experience and accepted a cemetery investigation in Anshan City. The chapter left him deciding whether to recruit teammates or handle the mission alone.

• Herlinta’s killing intent surged, and Jiang Zuo suppressed it before warning her to master the Ghost Slaying Blade and remain at the academy to recite scriptures.
• Hu Qi logged into Zhu Xi’s exclusive website and reviewed its missions, rankings, and discussion forum.
• Hu Qi narrowed the listings to Donglin Province and chose a mission at Anxin Cemetery involving a corpse that had disappeared from a recently disturbed grave.
• Hu Qi accepted the mission and was prompted to choose whether to form a team or proceed alone.

Hu Qi failed to breed the unusual goat and roasted it, gaining Modification Points from eating the meat. He left Song Jian after promising to investigate his mother’s affairs once he became a direct disciple, and wondered what determined how many Modification Points an Exotic Beast yielded.

• Hu Qi selected the first option for his mission team and continued practicing the Snake Form Stance while waiting for the team to assemble.
• Song Jian told Hu Qi that attempts to breed the goat had failed because its genes differed from ordinary goats, so Hu Qi decided to roast it.
• Hu Qi cooked and ate a third of the goat, gaining more than three Modification Points, and packed up the rest rather than sharing it with Song Jian.
• Hu Qi guided Song Jian in the Comprehensive Combat Technique, revealed that the Sect Master of the Snake Heart Sect intended to take him as a disciple, and promised to investigate his mother's affairs after gaining the authority to do so.
• Hu Qi checked his panel and speculated that Modification Points depended on factors other than an Exotic Beast's weight.

Hu Qi used his Modification Points to strengthen his Snake Form Stance and Cloud Iron Body before meeting his teammate Xie Fei for a mission. They drove toward the site where a recently transformed Black Blood Species was believed to be hiding.

• Hu Qi accepted Xie Fei’s request to join Zhu Xi’s mission team and arranged to set out the next afternoon.
• Hu Qi raised his Snake Form Stance from Level Five to Level Eight, increasing his qi and blood, explosive force, and reaction speed.
• Hu Qi used his remaining Modification Points to advance Cloud Iron Body to Great Mastery.
• Hu Qi met Xie Fei at Anshan Science and Technology Park and learned that Xie Fei had completed three missions.
• Hu Qi and Xie Fei drove toward their destination while discussing the Black Blood Species they had been assigned to capture.

Hu Qi and Xie Fei took night-shift jobs at Peaceful Rest Cemetery to investigate the strange disappearances and rumors surrounding it. After Old Liu showed them around and left, Xie Fei warned Hu Qi that the old man seemed suspicious.

• Hu Qi and Xie Fei arrived at Peaceful Rest Cemetery and met Manager Wu, who hired them as night guards for 450 yuan per shift.
• Manager Wu denied the cemetery was haunted and said new surveillance cameras had been installed, then left the two with Old Liu.
• Old Liu explained the guards’ duties and warned Hu Qi and Xie Fei to protect themselves if anything unusual happened.
• Hu Qi asked Old Liu about the cemetery and learned that his grandson had failed to get into college.
• Old Liu gave Hu Qi and Xie Fei uniforms and left, after which Xie Fei told Hu Qi that something was wrong with him.

Hu Qi and Xie Fei investigated the cemetery’s missing corpses, suspecting a man who smelled of smoke and the cemetery staff. They waited overnight in the surveillance room for the Black Blood Species to return, while Hu Qi learned that Xie Fei had spent three years cultivating but was still far from becoming a Martial Dao Practitioner.

• Xie Fei explained that the suspicious man’s fingers showed no signs of long-term smoking, and Hu Qi told him to follow the man while he inspected the stolen-corpses graves.
• Hu Qi examined the graves listed in the work log but found no major clues, while Xie Fei confirmed that the man lived alone in a village one kilometer away.
• Hu Qi returned to the surveillance room and explained that he had corrected cameras with blind spots that cemetery staff could have exploited.
• Hu Qi and Xie Fei stayed up watching the surveillance feeds, expecting the Black Blood Species to seek food because the recent corpse had been stolen two days earlier.
• Hu Qi learned that Xie Fei had been in the Snake Heart Sect for three years and had reached the seventh level of Snake Form Stance, but was still far from becoming a Martial Dao Practitioner.

Xie Fei explained that Martial Dao Practitioners were rare, powerful beings whose dangerous breakthroughs could end in death or crippling. While Hu Qi and Xie Fei watched the cemetery cameras, Chen Fan and A Ling arrived seeking corpses, and A Ling attacked Hu Qi when they were discovered.

• Xie Fei told Hu Qi that Martial Dao Practitioners had transformed their life level, possessed extraordinary strength and longevity, and were exceedingly rare in the Snake Heart Sect.
• Xie Fei explained that failed breakthroughs could kill or cripple, while successful candidates needed the Sect Master's permission to receive the true Secret Martial Arts inheritance.
• Hu Qi and Xie Fei spotted Chen Fan and A Ling sneaking into the cemetery to feed on corpses, and heard A Ling urge Chen Fan to attack living people instead.
• Chen Fan refused A Ling's suggestion to eat the new guards, but the pair encountered Hu Qi and Xie Fei in the darkness.
• A Ling charged at Hu Qi, choosing him because his larger build promised more meat.

Hu Qi killed A Ling while Xie Fei subdued Chen Fan, one of the Black Blood Species. Chen Fan challenged their right to exterminate his kind, and Xie Fei questioned whether every Black Blood Species deserved to die.

• A Ling attacked Hu Qi, while Chen Fan transformed and fought Xie Fei.
• Hu Qi wounded A Ling until she collapsed, then killed her despite her plea for mercy.
• Hu Qi collected blood from A Ling's corpse and returned to find Xie Fei had captured Chen Fan alive.
• Hu Qi asked Xie Fei why he had spared Chen Fan, and Xie Fei questioned whether every Black Blood Species deserved to die.
• Chen Fan claimed that his kind only ate corpses to survive, then raised his head as a dangerous aura emerged from him.

Chen Fan transformed into a Black Blood Species after killing Xie Fei, then attacked Hu Qi in the graveyard. Hu Qi’s Cloud Iron Body withstood the assault, and he seized Chen Fan’s tail and began smashing him into the ground.

• Chen Fan pierced Xie Fei with his tail, drained his life, and healed as he began transforming.
• Hu Qi fled, but Chen Fan pursued him through the graveyard and attacked with his tail.
• Hu Qi realized he could not escape and charged Chen Fan, whose tail strikes barely harmed him because his Cloud Iron Body was fully activated.
• Hu Qi grabbed Chen Fan’s tail after it stalled, discarded his saber when it failed to cut through, and used the tail to swing Chen Fan into the ground.