Chapter Summaries

Gu Yang fought and killed a powerful Black-Striped Leopard after it ambushed him in the forest, then returned to the military camp with its corpse and earned ninety-three points. The chapter left him safely back at camp, with the option to spend his points on supplies.

• Gu Yang hunted Ferocious Beasts throughout the day and cautiously headed out of the forest as dusk approached.
• A large Black-Striped Leopard ambushed Gu Yang, but he fought back with his talents and broke its claws and forelimb before killing it.
• Gu Yang carried the Black-Striped Leopard's corpse back to camp, drawing attention from the soldiers.
• The Black-Faced Clerk tallied Gu Yang's haul at ninety-three points and explained that he could use points to buy supplies at the camp.

Gu Yang cultivated and hunted Ferocious Beasts at the military camp, and the Killing Blade Technique breakthrough granted him the Killing Instinct talent. After demonstrating his growing control over killing intent, he heard someone calling for help in the forest and went to investigate.

• Gu Yang bought Qi and Blood Powder and practiced Blood Nourishing Stance Art through the night, then continued training at dawn.
• Over seven days of hunting and cultivation, Gu Yang increased his skills' proficiency, and the Killing Blade Technique breakthrough gave him the Killing Instinct talent.
• Gu Yang discovered he could accumulate and release killing aura through killing, and practiced condensing and restraining it.
• Gu Yang heard cries for help from a forest to the northwest and went to see what was happening.

Gu Yang rescued three Martial Academy disciples by cutting through the wolf pack and killing the Wolf King. The disciples were left stunned by how easily he defeated the beast that had nearly killed them.

• A Ghost-Faced Bei lured three Martial Academy disciples into a trap, and the Wolf King’s pack overwhelmed them.
• Gu Yang reached the forest, killed the wolves guarding its outskirts, and charged into the battlefield.
• Gu Yang split the Ghost-Faced Bei in two, leaving the Wolf King without its pack’s cunning guide.
• Gu Yang wounded the Wolf King as it tried to flee, then beheaded it with a single strike.
• The three Martial Academy disciples watched in shock as Gu Yang stood over the Wolf King’s head.

Gu Yang killed the Wolf King, returned to camp, and traded his spoils for cultivation supplies before devoting himself to Stance Training. After half a month of secluded cultivation, he had advanced his Blood Nourishing Stance proficiency and continued working toward the midsummer Life and Death Trials.

• Gu Yang accepted the wolf ears Liu Zhuang and the others offered after he saved them, then carried the Wolf King's corpse back to camp.
• The Quartermaster Office awarded Gu Yang one hundred points for the Wolf King and more than fifty Black Wolf ears, which he exchanged for ten portions of Qi and Blood Powder.
• Liu Zhuang, Lv Liang, and Hua Yuanqi visited Gu Yang and gave him a banknote worth one hundred points, which he accepted.
• Gu Yang stayed in camp to practice Stance Training, inspiring the soldiers to cultivate more diligently.
• After half a month, Gu Yang completed a set of Blood Nourishing Stance and saw that its proficiency had reached 324/400.

Gu Yang left the military camp with the Martial Academy disciples to return to Wan City for the New Year. On the way, Master Liao led the group in slaughtering villagers who had worshipped their ancestors, warning that they must retreat if a Specter descended.

• Gu Yang departed the military camp with Master Liao and the Martial Academy disciples as the soldiers saw them off.
• Gu Yingying asked Gu Mother when Gu Yang would return for the New Year.
• Master Liao stopped the traveling group at a village after hearing that a ritual was underway and ordered everyone involved killed.
• Gu Yang watched Master Liao kill a family worshipping their ancestors, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child.
• Master Liao ordered the group to search every house and kill anyone who had conducted a ritual in the past two days, then retreat if a Specter appeared.

Gu Yang learned that Specters were created from the dead and could be summoned through ancestral worship, which explained Master Liao’s harsh orders and his family’s fate. As Master Liao stayed behind to fight three Specters, Gu Yang fled with the villagers, but a possessed girl reached for him.

• Liu Zhuang explained that Specters were mindless creatures formed from the dead and that worshipping them could summon them to possess the living.
• Gu Yang learned that a Ghost Infant had killed Master Liao’s family and that Canglong Island had confirmed Specters were artificially created.
• Master Liao ordered the disciples to lead the villagers away while he stayed behind to confront any Specters.
• Three Specters appeared and attacked the fleeing crowd, so Master Liao unleashed his Blood Qi and charged at them.
• Gu Yang followed the villagers toward Wan City, but a little girl beside him stopped crying, turned pitch-black-eyed, and reached for him with sharp nails.

Gu Yang fought a Specter possessing a little girl while Master Liao battled three others, and his saber skills awakened the talent Killing Intent Soul-Slaying. Gu Yang destroyed the Specter but collapsed from exhaustion, then received a prompt offering to fuse his saber skill with three killing-related talents.

• Gu Yang held off the Specter with his saber while warning the Martial Academy disciples that they could not handle it.
• Master Liao fought three Specters and watched Gu Yang display strength that surprised him.
• Gu Yang's Life-Slaying Saber broke through, manifesting the talent Killing Intent Soul-Slaying, which let his blade injure the Specter.
• Master Liao killed his three Specters as Gu Yang repeatedly struck the possessing Specter in the forehead and finally destroyed it.
• Gu Yang dropped to one knee, exhausted, and received a prompt offering to fuse Life-Slaying Saber with Killing Intent Perception, Killing Instinct, and Killing Intent Soul-Slaying.

After surviving the battle with the Specter, Gu Yang fused the perfected Life-Slaying Saber and its three talents into Heart of Slaughter, discovering that the Life-Slaying Saber was a divine artifact. He learned that Heart of Slaughter could inflict damage with killing intent and track anyone he marked, then recalled Master Liao’s saber strike as his own killing intent erupted.

• Master Liao checked that Gu Yang was unharmed and ordered Liu Zhuang to gather the surviving villagers for resettlement in Wan City.
• Gu Yang rested beneath an ancient willow tree and saw that his battle had greatly increased his Azure Dragon Dance and Life-Slaying Saber proficiency.
• Gu Yang fused Life-Slaying Saber with Killing Intent Perception, Killing Instinct, and Killing Intent Soul-Slaying, creating Heart of Slaughter.
• Gu Yang learned that Heart of Slaughter carried authority transformed from the divine artifact Life-Slaying Saber and could let him sense enemies he held indelible killing intent toward.
• Gu Yang remembered the children’s deaths and Master Liao’s decisive saber strike, and his killing intent erupted.

Gu Yang used his killing intent to locate the hidden mastermind directing the Specters, then told Master Liao and asked for help from the Martial Academy. Master Liao believed him and hurried with Gu Yang to Wan City to see the Academy Dean.

• Lord Cang discussed the Life-Slaying Saber with four companions and agreed to divide the spoils from their expedition into the Water Moon Secret Realm.
• Gu Yang’s killing intent led his perception to a black-robed figure praying before a dark statue in a distant cave, and he recognized the figure as the person behind the Specters.
• Gu Yang told Master Liao that he knew where the Specter mastermind was, though he could only sense that the cave lay somewhere to the south.
• Master Liao decided to trust Gu Yang, took him toward Wan City to meet the Academy Dean, and ordered the disciples to escort the commoners there.

After Gu Yang reported his ability to locate the mastermind behind the Specters, the Academy Dean ordered him to stay at the Martial Academy while he investigated. That night, a visitor from Canglong Island arrived and demanded to see the disciple Lu Yao had mentioned.

• Liao Wu rushed Gu Yang to Tianshu Ward, where the Academy Dean questioned him about how he had found the suspected mastermind’s location.
• Gu Yang said cultivating the Life-Slaying Saber let him sense the location of someone he intensely wanted to kill, and he assured the Academy Dean he could find the target.
• The Academy Dean told Gu Yang to remain at the Martial Academy and await further notice, then privately wondered whether the Life-Slaying Saber had given Gu Yang this ability.
• Gu Yang informed his family he was safe and trained the Blood Nourishing Stance Art while waiting for word.
• The Academy Dean released a Silver-Winged Flying Eagle, and Liao Wu suspected that lords from Canglong Island were on their way.
• A radiant figure arrived from the north and called for Lu Yao to bring out the disciple he had mentioned.

Gu Yang led King Qin Qin Wujiu to the hidden cave behind the specters, where Qin Wujiu revealed overwhelming power to uproot the mountain and erase the attacking Specters. The Divine Envoy remained inside the mountain as its defenses resisted Qin Wujiu’s assault.

• Lu Yao brought Gu Yang before Qin Wujiu, who asked him to locate the person behind the specters.
• Gu Yang explained that he could sense the hidden cave’s direction, so Qin Wujiu carried him south through the air to the area.
• Gu Yang identified an inconspicuous hill, and Qin Wujiu set him down more than ten li away before approaching it.
• Qin Wujiu transformed into a giant and lifted the hill, while black patterns across the surrounding ground resisted his power.
• The Divine Envoy shouted from the cave and sent swarms of Specters against Qin Wujiu, who made them vanish with a single word.

Qin Wujiu defeated the Lord of Black Nightmare's follower and destroyed the formation, while the Lord of Black Nightmare escaped after vowing revenge against Canglong Island. Qin Wujiu took Gu Yang back to Wan City and promised him a reward for helping find the follower.

• Qin Wujiu shattered the mountain and exposed the black-robed old man who had been hiding within it.
• The old man called upon the Lord of Black Nightmare, whose spiritual force entered his body and freed him from Qin Wujiu's restraint.
• Qin Wujiu transformed into a White Dragon and struck the old man and the formation with heavenly lightning, forcing the Lord of Black Nightmare's spiritual force to retreat.
• A pitch-black statue rose beneath the rubble and vanished unnoticed as the lightning destroyed the formation.
• Qin Wujiu took Gu Yang to Wan City and promised to deliver his reward soon.

After the Lord of Black Nightmare tried to lure Gu Yang into worshipping him, the Dao Seed transformed the statue’s power into Innate Soul Secret Power and granted Gu Yang Soul Vision. Gu Yang returned home at dawn, while the Lord of Black Nightmare raged over the loss of his soul origin.

• After Qin Wujiu left, a black statue appeared in Gu Yang’s mind and the Lord of Black Nightmare tried to persuade him to abandon the Martial Path.
• The Dao Seed repelled the statue’s influence, consumed it, and transformed it into a seed that grew into a starlit tree and bore a fruit.
• The fruit melted into Gu Yang’s mind, awakening Innate Soul Secret Power and allowing him to sense his surroundings without using his eyes.
• The Lord of Black Nightmare discovered that a strand of his soul origin had vanished and roared furiously in the Black Nightmare Realm.
• Gu Yang walked home at dawn using Soul Vision and greeted his father, Gu Dashan.

Gu Yang returned home after resolving the previous night’s danger, then went back to the Martial Academy and reported what happened to Lu Yao. In Hong Tao’s Cultivation Room, he used Soul Secret Power to refine his Blood Nourishing Stance and rapidly improve his proficiency.

• Gu Yang reunited with Gu Dashan, Gu Mother, and Gu Yingying, and urged his father to stop working because their family had enough money.
• Gu Yang returned to the Martial Academy, where Master Liao took him to meet Lu Yao and recount the previous night’s events without revealing his awakened Mental Secret Power.
• Liu Zhuang and the other Trial Disciples questioned Gu Yang about killing the Specter and his Life-Slaying Saber, but he refused to discuss the night’s events.
• Gu Yang went to Hong Tao’s Cultivation Room and sensed Soul Secret Power guiding his Blood Nourishing Stance movements.
• Gu Yang practiced until his stance felt perfectly suited to him, gaining one proficiency point in his first set and two more after prolonged training.

Gu Yang’s Soul Secret Power accelerated his cultivation and gave him an extraordinary memory, so he began learning to read and write while continuing his training. After the year-end sacrifice restrictions were lifted, a Canglong Island deacon arrived to announce Gu Yang’s rewards and a guaranteed status in the island’s genius selection.

• Gu Yang discovered that Soul Secret Power greatly boosted his cultivation and memory, then paid a private-school teacher to teach him reading and writing.
• Over the next three days, Gu Yang gained fifty points of Blood Nourishing Stance Art proficiency and learned several hundred characters.
• Constables announced that the year-end sacrifice restrictions had been lifted, and the people of Wan City celebrated the end of the Specter threat.
• Master Liao brought Gu Yang to Bamboo Garden, where Hong Tao introduced him to Liu Qing, a Canglong Island deacon.
• Liu Qing told Gu Yang he could join Canglong Island without the Life and Death Trials examination, would receive one thousand Contribution Points, and would be raised one rank in the genius selection or receive permanent Grade D Genius status if he failed.

Gu Yang learned more about Canglong Island’s fierce Genius Assessment and the importance of Contribution Points before leaving Wan City. Hong Tao promised that the Martial Academy would provide for Gu Yang’s family and protect them after his departure.

• Liu Qing told Gu Yang to settle his affairs and prepare to leave for Canglong Island in ten days.
• Hong Tao explained the Genius Assessment’s four grades and described the powerful competitors Gu Yang would face there.
• Hong Tao explained how Martial Academy points converted into Contribution Points and said the Academy would reward Gu Yang with a home, an annual allowance for his family, and a place for his younger sister to train.
• Hong Tao revealed that the Academy’s leaders had argued over how many of the Contribution Points awarded for cultivating a genius to give Gu Yang.
• Gu Yang asked the Academy to keep his family safe, and Hong Tao promised they would be among the first evacuated if Ferocious Beasts attacked Wan City.

Hong Tao told Gu Yang about Canglong Island’s origins and the Human Race’s history of war, strengthening Gu Yang’s resolve to serve his people. As he prepared for the Genius Assessment, Gu Yang condensed Blood Qi, gained the talent Thick Vitality, and reached a new level of power.

• Hong Tao recounted how Lord Cang brought Human Race experts to Cangzhou, the Green Qi Tribe disappeared, and Canglong Island was founded, then explained that the Human Race had won its lands through war.
• Gu Yang accepted that he should contribute to the Human Race and planned his remaining ten days of training before the Genius Assessment at Canglong Island.
• Gu Yang practiced the Blood Nourishing Stance until its proficiency reached perfection, then broke through and began condensing Blood Qi.
• Gu Yang directed the new power into his arm and threw a punch with four thousand jin of force.
• Gu Yang condensed more Blood Qi and manifested the talent Thick Vitality.

Gu Yang discovered that his vitality was twice as thick as an ordinary person's and realized that further cultivation could widen the gap between him and others. When he learned the Hao Family had beaten his father over a furniture order, he headed to their mansion to confront them.

• Gu Yang gained the Thick Vitality talent, tested his increased strength, and learned that practicing the Blood Nourishing Stance accumulated vitality over time.
• Gu Yang decided to focus on Azure Dragon Dance because it was close to a breakthrough and his time was limited.
• Gu Yang returned home and overheard Gu Dashan telling Wang Caihua that the Hao Family had withheld payment and had their guards beat him and his two partners.
• Gu Yang left without seeking help and went to the Hao Mansion, determined to make the Hao Family answer for Gu Dashan's injuries.

Gu Yang stormed into Hao Mansion after learning its servants had mistreated his father and unpaid furniture deliverymen. He crippled Hao Ren and killed or crippled an attacker before Hao Lie demanded to know who he was and why he had entered.

• Gu Yang knocked down Hao Mansion's gatekeepers, broke through the gates, and beat the servants who rushed out.
• At a family banquet, Hao Ren admitted he had claimed to pay the furniture deliverymen while privately dismissing their lost wages, and Hao Lie helped cover for him.
• Gu Yang entered the hall, seized Hao Ren, and smashed his legs into the ground.
• Hao Lie attacked Gu Yang, but Gu Yang met his punch head-on and staggered him backward.
• Gu Yang dodged five throwing knives, struck down the man who had thrown them, and smashed the man's head against the ground.
• Hao Lie stopped his attack and demanded Gu Yang identify himself and explain his trespass.

Gu Yang continued attacking Hao Lie after crippling Hao Ren, forcing the constable chief to draw his blade. Gu Yang severed Hao Lie’s right arm, just as someone outside Hao Mansion shouted for them to stop.

• Gu Yang drove Hao Lie out of the main hall and continued beating him in the courtyard despite Hao Lie invoking his government position.
• Hao Lie accused Gu Yang of impersonating a Martial Academy disciple and drew his blade after arranging witnesses to hear his claims.
• Gu Yang destroyed the courtyard wall and drew his own blade to face Hao Lie.
• Patriarch Hao told his eldest son that Hao Lie’s blade skills would defeat Gu Yang, while acknowledging that Hao Ren’s legs were beyond repair.
• Gu Yang’s blade slid past Hao Lie’s weapon and severed his right arm, and someone outside Hao Mansion shouted for them to stop.