Chapter Summaries

After the Rebel Army took control of Pingyin County and began requisitioning resources, Chen Fei secretly kept up his pill refining while searching for a way out. With Weirds becoming more active and the Bone-Attached Gangrene reacting, he arranged with Chi Defeng to be notified when a group planned to leave.

• Ling Hanjun learned from Zhao Chengji that Xing Wenxiang might help him deal with the Disguise Technique.
• The Rebel Army stayed in Pingyin County, took over its gates and resources, and left the noble families with little power to resist.
• Chen Fei pretended to be exhausted while secretly finishing his pill quota quickly and keeping the spare herbs for himself.
• Chen Fei noticed his Bone-Attached Gangrene reacting despite staying inside the county and asked Chi Defeng about the growing danger outside.
• Chi Defeng offered to notify Chen Fei when a group organized to leave Pingyin County, and Chen Fei agreed to pay the high price.

Chen Fei sold a large batch of Grass Return Pills in the Black Market for a substantial profit and arranged to refine Light Spirit Pills using herbs supplied by a stall owner. After returning to his rented courtyard, he began studying archery to add a long-range method to his fighting skills.

• Chen Fei negotiated a price of twenty taels per Grass Return Pill and sold the stall owner about a hundred pills for two thousand taels.
• Chen Fei agreed to trade one Light Spirit Pill per set of supplied herbs and receive six taels for each pill, then took three sets of herbs to refine.
• Chen Fei returned to his courtyard after cautiously checking for anyone following him, and recharged the silver into his Panel along the way.
• Chen Fei took out the Returning Origin Archery manual and began studying it to gain a way to attack enemies from a distance.

Chen Fei completed Returning Origin Archery by simplifying it into mixed noodles while continuing to refine pills and cultivate. After he fought off men sent to seize him, Ling Hanjun and Xing Wenxiang caught up with him and brought out a portrait.

• Chen Fei simplified Returning Origin Archery into mixed noodles, reached Great Perfection by mixing and eating the basket of noodles the Zhao Family sent, and continued refining Light Spirit Pills.
• Chen Fei noted that the Weird on Pingyin Mountain had decreased, though the Bone-Attached Gangrene on his arm kept growing stronger.
• After selling pills at the Black Market, Chen Fei was surrounded by five black-clad men and injured them with his blade and inner energy before fleeing.
• Ling Hanjun and Xing Wenxiang followed Chen Fei, judged that his appearance and Movement Technique did not match the person they sought, and Xing Wenxiang presented a portrait.

Chen Fei avoided revealing his identity when Xing Wenxiang and Ling Hanjun questioned him about a disguised man, then used his earnings to unlock a Space Grid. After discovering how to store bundled belongings in it, he went out into a tense and depopulated Pingyin County.

• Chen Fei examined the portrait but said it was too difficult to identify disguise techniques from a painting, then refused Ling Hanjun's request to exchange moves.
• Chen Fei displayed his Movement Technique before leaving, and Ling Hanjun decided he was probably not the person he sought.
• Chen Fei returned to his room, stored more than five hundred taels on the Panel, and exchanged five thousand taels for a Space Grid.
• Chen Fei learned the Space Grid could hold only one item at a time, then discovered that he could store multiple belongings by bundling them together in a sack.
• The next morning, Chen Fei received herbs from the Zhao Family and walked through the subdued streets of Pingyin County, where few women were visible.

Chen Fei refused Dan Xiang’s request for pills after learning that Zhang Sinan’s group had no herbs to provide. He successfully tested a cabinet that let him store and retrieve supplies through his Space Grid, then learned that the Zhao Family would increase his pill-making workload because Old Zeng was badly injured.

• Chen Fei recognized Dan Xiang following him and refused to make Detoxification Pills and Healing Pills when she admitted their group had no herbs.
• Chen Fei returned home, continued refining pills and cultivating, and avoided visiting the Black Market because he feared encountering Ling Hanjun.
• Chen Fei retrieved the custom cabinet and confirmed that he could store it in the Space Grid and withdraw items through its drawers.
• Chen Fei organized his supplies in the cabinet, including a space for bows and arrows.
• Zhao Xia told Chen Fei that Old Zeng’s injury would prevent him from refining Light Spirit Pills, so Chen Fei’s pill-making tasks would increase.

Chen Fei received the Zhao Family’s incomplete Ever Floating Pill recipe while investigating Zeng Defang’s attack and preparing to leave Pingyin County. That night, Zhang Xianping killed Chen Fei’s guards and attacked him, but Chen Fei defeated him with the Three Immortals Sword.

• Chen Fei asked Zhao Xia about Zeng Defang’s serious injuries and requested the Zhao Family’s incomplete Ever Floating Pill recipe.
• Zhao Xia agreed to report Chen Fei’s request, left two guards to protect him, and later delivered the recipe and more medicinal materials.
• Chen Fei refined pills, stored them in his Space Grid, and practiced his martial techniques as he considered leaving Pingyin County.
• Zhang Xianping entered Chen Fei’s courtyard, killed the two guards, and admitted that Zhang Sinan had sent him.
• Chen Fei exchanged several dozen moves with Zhang Xianping, then killed him with the Three Immortals Sword.

After killing Zhang Xianping and two guards, Chen Fei arranged to leave Pingyin County and sold medicinal pills at the black market. When Ling Hanjun’s men tried to track him, Chen Fei attacked them with his bow, then escaped from Ling Hanjun at astonishing speed.

• Chen Fei disposed of Zhang Xianping and the two guards, hid his belongings in the space grid, and changed his appearance.
• Chi Defeng told Chen Fei to meet at the Wind-Moving Stone in three days at seven in the morning so they could leave Pingyin County.
• Chen Fei sold medicinal pills for more than a thousand taels of silver, noticed someone watching him, and changed his face and clothes to lose the tail.
• Ling Hanjun’s men failed to track Chen Fei, so Chen Fei shot two archers and killed or wounded many Rebel Army soldiers from a distant high place.
• Chen Fei exhausted his arrows slowing Ling Hanjun, then used his Movement Technique to escape before Ling Hanjun could catch him.

After killing the alchemists and escaping Ling Hanjun, Chen Fei stocked up on supplies and left Pingyin County to meet a group traveling to Xingfen City. He joined five others under Qian Jijiang’s lead, paying three hundred taels for the journey.

• Chen Fei returned to a rented courtyard, stored his silver, and reflected on the limits of his bow and the importance of cultivation.
• The Zhao Family discovered the dead alchemists and joined the Rebel Army in searching Pingyin County, while Chen Fei quietly gathered food and water.
• Chen Fei found that food stored in his space grid remained hot and fresh, then prepared his supplies and cultivated through the night.
• Chen Fei disguised himself and left Pingyin County, meeting Chi Defeng and several other martial artists at the Wind-Moving Stone.
• Qian Jijiang asked each traveler for three hundred taels to lead the way to Xingfen City, and six people, including Chen Fei, paid and agreed to travel together.

Chen Fei traveled with Qian Jijiang’s group toward Xingfen City, leaving Pingyin County behind and avoiding danger on the road. After days of uneventful travel, the group encountered a village that seemed to draw them into a repeating scene as white fog closed in.

• Chen Fei left Pingyin County with Qian Jijiang, Chi Defeng, Feng Yu, Yan Qing, and the others, noticing that the mark on his arm weakened as they traveled farther away.
• During a rest, Qian Jijiang gave Chi Defeng several hundred taels of silver, and Chi Defeng said he had left because he feared something terrible was about to happen near Pingyin Mountain.
• The group spent a safe night in a ruined temple and continued traveling for three days, growing more familiar with one another as Qian Jijiang guided them along the roads.
• At dusk, the group saw lights in a village that Qian Jijiang did not recognize, and he decided they should go around it.
• Chen Fei realized the group was repeating the same conversation and had already passed the village, while white fog spread around them and the village grew clearer.

Chen Fei and the others were trapped in a looping fog near a Weird-infested mountain village, and Qian Jijiang used special candles to find a way out. After throwing a White Candle behind them to lure the Weird away, the group raced toward thinning fog, though their escape was not yet confirmed.

• Chen Fei noticed the group was approaching the mountain village again and warned Qian Jijiang, who used a Red Candle to clear the mist and guide them onward.
• Qian Jijiang realized the Red Candle was burning rapidly and that they were still near the Weird, then led everyone southeast when its flame slowed in that direction.
• The mountain village reappeared, and Qian Jijiang lit and threw a White Candle behind them to attract the Weird while the group fled.
• Yan Qing, Yan Ding, and Feng Yu used their abilities to keep up as the mist thickened behind the group and thinned ahead of them.

After surviving Feng Yu’s attack, Chen Fei and the others reached Xingfen City, where Chen Fei decided to continue toward Immortal Cloud City with Chi Defeng. The next morning, Chen Fei went looking for cultivation manuals and found a shopkeeper offering him Swallowing Cloud Force.

• Chen Fei shot Feng Yu before she could attack, then gave the others Detoxification Pills as they fled the green mist.
• Qian Jijiang led the group onward, and they rested safely before continuing their journey to Xingfen City.
• The five reached Xingfen City, where Yan Qing and his wife parted ways with Chen Fei, Chi Defeng, and Qian Jijiang.
• Chen Fei and Chi Defeng decided to travel together to Immortal Cloud City, planning to join the Immortal Cloud Merchant Group when it arrived.
• Chen Fei visited a shop that bought and sold weapons, pills, and techniques, and the shopkeeper showed him a manual called Swallowing Cloud Force.

Chen Fei bought and merged the Swallowing Cloud Force into the Startling Devour Art, discovering that it greatly improved his ability to absorb pills and accelerated his path to Bone Tempering. After a quiet evening walk in Xingfen City, he turned into an alley toward an ominously lit shop.

• Chen Fei examined the Swallowing Cloud Force manual, rejected the shopkeeper’s thousand-tael price, and bought a stronger bow after testing the shop’s weapons.
• Chen Fei compared pill prices in Xingfen City, bought Ever Floating Pills, and found that his Flesh Refining Realm body could not safely absorb one.
• Chen Fei bought the Swallowing Cloud Force for three hundred taels, merged it into the Startling Devour Art, and simplified the art into the Startling Suspension Force.
• Chen Fei used the Startling Devour Art to absorb an Ever Floating Pill and a Light Spirit Pill without pain, nearly doubling his inner-force growth and reducing his estimated time to Bone Tempering to a little over four months.
• Chen Fei walked through Xingfen City at night, turned into a quiet alley, and approached a shop with lamplight spilling from it.

Chen Fei visited a night-only shop selling items that counter Weirds, then weighed his options for selling medicinal pills in Xingfen City. He hired Chi Defeng to run a stall, agreeing to give him twenty percent of the earnings.

• Chen Fei bought no wares from the shopkeeper, who explained the uses and prices of Red Candles, White Candles, an Evil Breaking Sword, Illusion Breaking Water, and Awakening Incense.
• Chen Fei learned the shop opened at night because the shopkeeper slept during the day, then returned to the inn and cultivated through the night.
• Chen Fei found that Xingfen City's shops offered only about forty percent of market price for medicinal pills, while selling them himself would take time away from cultivation and other goals.
• Chen Fei bought a pill furnace for two hundred taels and asked Chi Defeng to sell his pills at a stall.
• Chi Defeng asked for twenty percent of the earnings, and Chen Fei immediately agreed, leaving Chi Defeng wondering if he had bargained too low.

Chen Fei earned money selling high-quality Light Spirit Pills in Xingfen City while working to deduce the Ever Floating Pill recipe. His Startling Devour Art reached perfection, accelerating his cultivation and bringing a Bone Forging Realm breakthrough closer.

• Chen Fei and Chi Defeng bid farewell to Qian Jijiang, who chose to rejoin his former escort agency and take escort jobs.
• Chen Fei and Chi Defeng rented a courtyard, and Chen Fei gave Chi Defeng a list of herbs for experimenting with the Ever Floating Pill.
• Chen Fei refined dozens of Light Spirit Pills each day, earning about six hundred taels after Chi Defeng's share while limiting sales to avoid attracting trouble.
• Chen Fei brought his deduction of the Ever Floating Pill recipe to its final stage with help from the Zhao Family's incomplete recipe.
• Chen Fei's Startling Devour Art reached perfection, allowing him to swallow two Ever Floating Pills daily and gain 85 cultivation points.
• Chen Fei considered that the Startling Word Incantation had amplified the Swallowing Cloud Force and hoped to reach the Bone Forging Realm before the Immortal Cloud Merchant Group arrived.

Chen Fei refined an Ever Floating Pill, stopped selling pills after the Shallow Water Gang targeted his business, and continued cultivating until he broke through to the Bone Forging Realm. The chapter ended with a boy arriving with Chi Defeng’s warning for Chen Fei to run.

• Chen Fei practiced bow techniques and refined his first Ever Floating Pill, which Chi Defeng identified.
• Chi Defeng told Chen Fei that the Shallow Water Gang had set its sights on their pill business, so they decided to stop selling and wait for the Immortal Cloud Merchant Group.
• After another month of waiting and cultivating, Chen Fei reached the critical point of the Flesh Training Realm and swallowed an Ever Floating Pill.
• Chen Fei broke through to the Bone Forging Realm as his muscles and bones resonated.
• A boy arrived at Chen Fei’s gate and delivered Chi Defeng’s warning: “run!”

After receiving a warning that Chi Defeng had disappeared, Chen Fei learned that the Shallow Water Gang had taken him and bought information about the gang and Chi Defeng’s whereabouts. When the information broker betrayed him and arranged to sell his location, Chen Fei returned, killed the men in the back room, and killed the shopkeeper.

• A boy told Chen Fei that Chi Defeng had warned him to tell Chen Fei to run if Chi Defeng failed to visit, so Chen Fei packed his belongings and left the courtyard.
• Chen Fei paid an information broker to learn that the Shallow Water Gang had taken Chi Defeng and injured him.
• Chen Fei paid for details about the Shallow Water Gang and where it was holding Chi Defeng.
• After Chen Fei left, the shopkeeper ordered an accomplice to sell Chen Fei’s information to the Shallow Water Gang and send someone to follow him.
• Chen Fei returned to the shop, killed the men in the back room, and confronted the shopkeeper.
• The shopkeeper tried to invoke his backer, but Chen Fei pierced his heart before he could activate a mechanism beneath the counter.

Chen Fei uncovered new information about the Shallow Water Gang and attacked Xu Zaichuan’s residence while Xu tortured Chi Defeng for information about an Alchemist. Chen Fei’s bow attack slaughtered the gang members, and he evaded Elder He Yuanqiu as the fight continued.

• Chen Fei searched a marketplace shop’s records and learned that the Shallow Water Gang had an injured but still dangerous Marrow Refining Realm fighter.
• Xu Zaichuan beat and stabbed Chi Defeng, demanding that he reveal the Alchemist’s identity and connections.
• Chi Defeng insisted he knew nothing about the Alchemist, then defied Xu Zaichuan as the gang prepared to torture him further.
• Chen Fei attacked the residence with his bow, killing Shallow Water Gang members and suppressing the survivors.
• He Yuanqiu arrived and lunged at Chen Fei, but Chen Fei evaded him and shot more gang members.

Chen Fei stormed the Shallow Water Gang’s hall, using his archery to rescue Chi Defeng and cut down the gang’s fighters. He killed Xu Zaichuan but was left facing He Yuanqiu, whose iron-hard palm withstood Chen Fei’s sword strike.

• Chen Fei shot down Shallow Water Gang members while approaching Chi Defeng, and Xu Zaichuan failed to hit Chi Defeng with a Pipa Hook.
• Chen Fei reached Chi Defeng, then ignored Xu Zaichuan and shot an arrow at He Yuanqiu.
• Xu Zaichuan attacked Chen Fei with a saber, but Chen Fei disrupted his strike and cut his throat with the Fire Pattern Sword.
• He Yuanqiu rushed Chen Fei and attacked with his eagle claws, but Chen Fei’s Three Immortals Sword only made a shallow wound in his palm and forced him back half a step.

Chen Fei defeated He Yuanqiu and escaped with the injured Chi Defeng, but Xu Wangliang’s influence made leaving Xingfen City dangerous. Chen Fei proposed they abandon their disguises and hide in plain sight among the city’s many visitors.

• Chen Fei used Sword Five to pierce He Yuanqiu’s defenses and behead him, then Chi Defeng declined to personally kill the helpless Xu Zaichuan.
• Chen Fei shot down everyone else in the great hall, searched He Yuanqiu, and brought Chi Defeng to another rented courtyard for treatment.
• Chi Defeng warned that joining a merchant caravan could expose them to capture, so he and Chen Fei reconsidered how to escape the search.
• Chen Fei proposed using their real faces to blend into the crowds of outsiders waiting for the Immortal Cloud Merchant Group.
• Xu Zaichuan’s men arrived and found him standing alive, but blood suddenly sprayed from his neck as they gathered around him.

After Xu Zaichuan’s murder, Xu Wangliang launched a violent search across Xingfen City, while the Qian Family sent Wu Changli to help track the killer. Wu Changli’s blood-scenting Gu began following the Aura left on the murderer’s sword.

• Xu Wangliang ordered the Xu Clan to seize anyone with a grudge against Xu Zaichuan or seen near his estate, and the steward was beaten for a cautious investigation.
• A master whose shop had been wrecked ordered an investigation after learning that Xu Zaichuan and He Yuanqiu had also died by sword.
• The Xu Clan searched outsiders and travelers across Xingfen City, but scaled back its broad arrests after two days.
• Wu Changli used his Gu insect to rule out the prisoners, but Xu Wangliang ordered them interrogated again and left Wu to pursue the murderer.
• Wu Changli fed black earth to the Gu insect, which began following the Aura matching Xu Zaichuan’s blood and remaining on the killer’s sword.