Chapter Summaries

Zhang Rongfang helped the Rebel Sect ambush Princess Yongxiang, then left her fate to Zhang Yunqi to avoid being identified as the killer of a royal. After the Sect buried its dead, Zhang Yunqi accepted responsibility for Yongxiang’s death and explained that he would protect Zhang Rongfang, whom he saw as the Sect’s future hope.

• Zhang Rongfang broke Yong Xiang’s remaining arm and spine, then agreed that Zhang Yunqi should handle her because killing a royal could expose him to Ling Ting.
• Zhang Rongfang joined hands with a masked Rebel Sect woman, and the Sect burned the convoy’s bodies before withdrawing.
• Zhang Zhenhai and the Rebel Sect buried their fallen members in Huang Jing Mountain, while Zhang Yunqi revealed that Yongxiang’s Royal Blood Seal had marked him.
• Zhang Yunqi told Zhang Zhenhai that he would bear the consequences to protect Zhang Rongfang, one of the Eastern Sect’s three Human Seeds.
• Zhang Yunqi reflected that Zhang Rongfang could one day lead the Rebel Sect and ease the burden he had carried alone.

Yue Dewen confronted Zhou Yan on Tian Du Mountain and asked him to show leniency toward Zhang Rongfang as Snow Rainbow Pavilion investigated Princess Yongxiang’s disappearance. In Citong, Zhang Rongfang settled into a tense calm and prepared to advance his Golden Toad Skill, while recognizing that its cost to his life force limited his martial arts growth.

• Yue Dewen met Zhou Yan on the steps below Snow Rainbow Pavilion and warned him to be careful when judging Zhang Rongfang’s role in the Citong affair.
• Zhou Yan agreed to give Yue Dewen’s request some consideration as he headed toward Citong, where pressure from the Right Army Lord and Zhen Ding Wang was also mounting.
• Zhang Rongfang established the Great Dao Sect’s Main Temple in Citong as the city quieted after Yong Xiang disappeared and the White Ten Sect fled overseas.
• Zhang Rongfang completed a batch of ointment for the third level of the Golden Toad Skill and decided to focus on raising the skill because its depletion of his life force constrained his martial arts potential.
• Zhang Rongfang weighed out the ointment dosage and noted that damage to Spirit Threads appeared to recover, while two of Yongxiang’s three captured Spirit Veins had died and the last barely remained alive.

Zhang Rongfang advanced Golden Toad Skill to Hidden Moon Third Layer Complete, but the cultivation nearly overwhelmed his heart and reduced his Life Attribute. After a month of recovery in Chen Xiang Temple, he restored his Life Attribute and reflected on the difficulty of finding the Main Herb needed for the next stage.

• Zhang Rongfang swallowed medicinal paste and spent six Attribute Points to advance Golden Toad Skill, suffering severe pain and vomiting a large amount of blood.
• Zhang Rongfang discovered his Life Attribute had fallen from 41 to 37 and sensed that his heart could no longer support his body's strain.
• Chen Han checked Zhang Rongfang's pulse, confirmed his heart was slightly weak, and arranged for him to rest and receive nourishing porridge.
• Zhang Rongfang remained in Chen Xiang Temple for a month and used seven Attribute Points to raise his Life Attribute from 37 to 44.
• Zhang Rongfang decided against changing his Civilian Skill and noted that Golden Toad Skill could now provide one Attribute Point every four days.
• At Citong Bay, Zhang Rongfang watched the busy harbor and lamented that a living Mystic Sun Flesh Fungus was now almost impossible to find.

Zhang Rongfang sought the rare Mystic Sun Flesh Fungus and met with merchant Isivas Freire, who could not find it but offered help with other ingredients. At a market, Zhang Rongfang recognized Sun Chaoyue, whose family had fallen into hardship, as Tong Xinyao berated her for lacking money and urged her to abandon martial arts and marry.

• Zhang Rongfang told Isivas Freire that he still needed the Mystic Sun Flesh Fungus for the Golden Toad Skill, but Isivas had found no information about it.
• Isivas invited Zhang Rongfang to his mansion, and they traveled together through the Outer Ring District.
• Zhang Rongfang spotted Sun Chaoyue near the All Nations Jewelry Fair and recognized her.
• Sun Chaoyue recalled her family's flight to Ci Tong Port after her father's disgrace, injury, and their loss of money to a swindler.
• Tong Xinyao asked Sun Chaoyue to buy watermelon juice, then scolded her when Sun Chaoyue admitted she lacked enough money.
• Tong Xinyao criticized Sun Chaoyue's attempts to practice martial arts and urged her to marry, while Sun Chaoyue lowered her head and struggled not to cry.

Zhang Rongfang met Sun Chaoyue in Citong, then discussed Zaju with Isibass before returning to Chen Xiang Temple. He continued cultivating and recovered his Vitality while arranging to learn Hard Skills from Rebel Sect experts.

• Zhang Rongfang recognized Sun Chaoyue, spoke with her about their acquaintances in Tanyang, and left without learning about her hardships.
• Tong Xinyao watched Zhang Rongfang and Sun Chaoyue's exchange from nearby.
• Zhang Rongfang dined with Isibass, praised several Zaju productions, and learned that finding the Main Herb for Sun Chasing Golden Toad Skill would take time.
• Miao Yu, Zheng Shuyang, and Yan Shuang watched Zhang Rongfang enter Chen Xiang Temple and speculated that Golden Toad Skill would soon ruin his health.
• Zhang Rongfang spent half a month cultivating, added four attribute points to Vitality, and asked Zhang Yunqi to find Hard Skill experts to teach him.

Zhang Rongfang began learning Iron Shirt from Hua Chengying and rapidly advanced to its Third Layer. Meanwhile, Tong Haocun urged the ailing Sun Qinghong to use his daughter’s connection to Guardian Priest Zhang to clear the Sun Family’s name and help resolve a dispute with ship owner Gersa.

• Zhang Rongfang asked Hua Chengying to teach him Iron Shirt, and Hua Chengying assessed his existing toughness as equivalent to the Second Layer.
• Zhang Rongfang paid Hua Chengying two hundred taels for instruction and reached the requirements for Iron Shirt’s first two layers within two days, beginning the Third Layer.
• Tong Haocun told Sun Qinghong that Gersa had demanded three shiploads of porcelain after the Tong Family had promised him one.
• Tong Haocun revealed that Sun Chaoyue had been seen speaking with Guardian Priest Zhang and urged Sun Qinghong to strengthen that connection.
• Sun Qinghong realized Zhang might help clear the Sun Family’s Secret Teaching implication and possibly treat his illness, while Tong Haocun explained that Zhang’s friend Isibass could also influence Gersa.

Zhang Rongfang perfected his Iron Shirt and tested his growing strength against Melissa, a Spirit Vein held by the Rebel Sect. He repeatedly killed her as she revived, leaving him exhausted and still counting the deaths.

• Zhang Rongfang spent three Attribute Points to perfect his third-layer Iron Shirt, strengthening his body and deciding to focus on Hard Skills alongside movement techniques.
• Zhang Rongfang evaded the Snow Rainbow Pavilion followers and traveled deep into Huang Jing Mountain for a test with Zhang Yunqi and Melissa.
• Melissa attacked Zhang Rongfang, who matched her strength and killed her with the All Under Heaven Blade after both entered their Limit States.
• After Melissa revived, Zhang Rongfang killed her again with a Heavy Mountain strike and then repeatedly struck her down as soon as she recovered.
• Zhang Rongfang continued killing Melissa dozens of times, growing tired from repeated bursts of effort and realizing why the Rebel Sect needed many people to kill a Spirit Vein.

Zhang Rongfang endured a seventeen-hour battle and killed Melissa, an Internal Method Spirit Vein, alone, though the effort left him utterly exhausted. After recovering, he practiced at Chen Xiang Temple, where a White-Haired Old Daoist told him that an old acquaintance had sent a calling card.

• Zhang Rongfang fought Melissa through ninety-nine revivals, using Limit State more than fifty times and Breaking Limit Skills over two hundred times while Zhang Yunqi and the Rebel Sect experts watched.
• Zhang Yunqi told Zhang Zhenhai that Human Seeds were meant to preserve exceptional bloodlines and suggested she bear Zhang Rongfang's descendants; embarrassed, she fled into the forest.
• Zhang Rongfang killed Melissa with three successive activations of Heavy Mountain, then used the All Under Heaven Blade to prevent her silver threads from returning to her corpse and reviving her.
• Zhang Rongfang discussed ways to kill Spiritized People more quickly with Zhang Yunqi and the Rebel Sect members, then returned to Chen Xiang Temple and slept for two days.
• On the morning of April 7, Zhang Rongfang practiced the Flame Emperor Talisman at Chen Xiang Temple, and a White-Haired Old Daoist informed him that an old acquaintance had delivered a calling card.

Zhang Rongfang declined Sun Qinghong’s request to meet, then encountered Sun Chaoyue and offered help, which she refused out of pride and fear of involving him in the Sun Family’s troubles. Meanwhile, Snow Rainbow Pavilion pursuers learned of the Sun Family’s possible connection to Zhang Rongfang and delayed their arrest, while Sun Qinghong worried that they would find him.

• Zhang Rongfang rejected Sun Qinghong’s calling card because he considered meeting the Sun Family a waste of time.
• Xue Zicun and his companion learned that the Sun Family might be connected to Guardian Zhang and decided to watch them before making an arrest.
• Sun Chaoyue bought medicine for her injured father and explained that her family was struggling after losing its money and other sources of support.
• Zhang Rongfang offered Sun Chaoyue help at the pharmacy, but she refused and left quickly to avoid drawing him into her family’s troubles.
• Sun Qinghong took his medicine and worried that Snow Rainbow Pavilion’s pursuers would discover his hiding place.

Sun Qinghong planned to seek Zhang Rongfang’s help to free the Sun Family from its black household status, while Zhang Rongfang strengthened his Iron Shirt. Sun Qinghong brought Sun Chaoyue to meet the Guardian Priest, and she was stunned to discover he was Zhang Ying.

• Sun Qinghong learned the Tong Family had likely reported the Sun Family to the Snow Rainbow Pavilion pursuers and decided to take Sun Chaoyue to seek the Guardian Priest’s help.
• Zhang Rongfang spent two Attribute Points to advance Iron Shirt to Breaking Limits and planned to remain in Citong while building his strength.
• Sun Qinghong visited Zhang Rongfang, pleaded that the Sun Family had been implicated by the Black Ten Sect, and asked him to hear Sun Chaoyue’s account.
• Sun Chaoyue arrived and recognized Zhang Rongfang as Zhang Ying, the man she had known in Tanyang.
• Sun Qinghong offered himself and Sun Chaoyue as servants in exchange for help, leaving Sun Chaoyue shocked and humiliated.

Zhang Rongfang refused to save the Sun Family as a whole, but allowed Sun Chaoyue to stay while Sun Qinghong accepted responsibility for the family’s crimes. After more than half a year passed, masked figures surrounded a house in Cheng'an Prefecture and prepared to search it.

• Zhang Rongfang offered Sun Qinghong and Sun Chaoyue work in businesses under the Guardian Teaching Office, but refused to discuss any further favors.
• Zhang Rongfang told Sun Qinghong that Sun Chaoyue could stay if he accepted responsibility for the Sun Family’s crimes, and Sun Qinghong agreed.
• Sun Qinghong told Sun Chaoyue to live well before officers led him away, while Chen Han stopped her from chasing after him.
• Chen Han explained that Zhang Rongfang had saved Sun Chaoyue because of her value, but would not risk helping the entire Sun Family.
• Zhang Rongfang wrote letters to his elder sister and his subordinates in Wushan Prefecture, then returned his attention to training and improving his life.
• More than half a year later, a group of masked figures led by the Gold Line Figure surrounded a house in Cheng'an Prefecture and ordered a search.

Cheng Hui identified You Shifei as a likely Human Seed who had obtained the Secret Cache and reported that the Western Sect should decide how to proceed. In Citong, Zhang Rongfang discussed Great Ling’s religious and political history with his friends while keeping his strength and growing vitality to himself.

• Cheng Hui concluded that You Shifei, the Flying Bat, was likely a Human Seed who had obtained the Secret Cache, and chose to report him to the Western Sect instead of continuing the pursuit.
• Great Ling rejected Xi Yi’s request for peace unless its Pope and nobles came before the Ling Emperor, after which Xi Yi severed diplomatic ties and Great Ling sent a punitive fleet toward Xi Yi while preparing another invasion of Annan.
• At Cotton Cloud Residence in Citong, Zhang Rongfang explained to Zhao Yanzhi, Ouyang Shuyi, and Fang Wuxue how the Spirit Flight Teaching’s doctrines shaped Great Ling’s claims over foreign lands.
• Zhang Rongfang and Fang Wuxue warned their friends to avoid the powerful Jade Sea Gang.
• Zhang Rongfang reflected that his vitality had reached seventy-eight and that surpassing one hundred might bring a major leap in strength.

Zhang Rongfang listened to ordinary people weigh the costs of martial arts, then wandered the harbor after leaving his duties to a deputy. Outside the city, Gray Shadow slaughtered the constables investigating the Jade Sea Gang, leaving the gang’s violence unchecked.

• Ouyang Shuyi and Fang Wuxue discussed how Citong’s trade-focused culture left its people less inclined to practice martial arts, while Zhao Yanzhi and a neighboring man described the costs and risks of training.
• Zhang Rongfang reflected on how martial arts resources concentrated power among the wealthy and noble.
• Du Chengqing and Kong He investigated the burning Zhong Family villa and concluded that the Jade Sea Gang was responsible for the massacre.
• Gray Shadow ambushed the constables, killed Du Chengqing, Kong He, and several others with a silver whip, then disappeared.
• Zhang Rongfang left the teahouse in high spirits after assigning his Government Office duties to a deputy and strolled along the harbor.

Zhang Rongfang enjoyed a sunset by the sea before ordering Chen Han to stop foreign sailors who were assaulting two girls, then killed their captain and ordered the fleet investigated. Later, he slipped away from Chen Xiang Temple and arrived at Huang Jing Mountain, where Zhenhai’s group was struggling to kill a Red-Haired Spirit Vein.

• Chen Han told Zhang Rongfang that Sun Chaoyue had reached Fifth Grade and was helping manage Chen Xiang Temple, while her father had been executed after confessing to the Sun Family’s crimes.
• Zhang Rongfang ordered Chen Han to rescue two girls from foreign sailors, then killed the captain when he charged at him and commanded the Temple Guards to investigate the fleet.
• Zhang Rongfang returned toward Chen Xiang Temple, sent Chen Han and the others ahead, and went off alone using a visit to a friend as an excuse.
• At Huang Jing Mountain, Zhenhai’s masked Rebel Sect fighters surrounded a Red-Haired Spirit Vein but struggled to defeat him despite killing him five times.
• Zhang Rongfang appeared beside Zhenhai wearing a Golden Wing Tower mask, and she recognized him with delight.

Zhang Rongfang tested his strength against the Red-Haired Man and learned how the Silver Spirit Threads made Spiritized People difficult to restrain. After the group finally killed the man, Zhang Zhenhai told him they had found another superior Hard Skill expert, Li Guanyue, and Zhang Rongfang spotted three fast-moving figures in the forest.

• Zhang Rongfang crushed the Red-Haired Man with his Eagle Claw and tested whether ropes or other restraints could stop his revival.
• Zhang Zhenhai explained that Silver Spirit Threads resisted restraints and had to be weakened through repeated deaths before the final Spirit Burst.
• Zhang Rongfang tested a close-range firearm attack, but Silver Threads burst from the Red-Haired Man and pursued him before bouncing off the bronze Statue Fragment beneath his sleeve.
• Zhang Rongfang and the others fought the Red-Haired Man through repeated revivals until a final Spirit Burst killed him after nightfall.
• Zhang Zhenhai told Zhang Rongfang that Foster Father had found Li Guanyue, a superior Hard Skill expert living in the outer district.
• Zhang Rongfang noticed three figures racing through the forest near Huang Jing Mountain.

Zhang Rongfang learned that the Jade Sea Gang was active in Citong and visited Li Guanyue to seek the Li family's Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training. He left without an answer but planned to approach Li Guanyue's family again, while the Wineskin Strongman plotted to use Zhou Dongjun to draw the Great Dao Sect into conflict.

• Zhang Zhenhai identified the skilled fighters as likely members of the Jade Sea Gang, and Zhang Rongfang ordered the Rebel Sect to leave them alone.
• The Wineskin Strongman and Ghost Face Man agreed not to interfere with each other, while the Wineskin Strongman planned to lure Zhou Dongjun near Aloeswood Palace and use him to test Zhang Ying's strength.
• Zhang Rongfang visited Li Guanyue and asked to study Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, but Li Guanyue rejected him and shut the door.
• Zhang Rongfang refused Zhang Zhenhai's suggestion to threaten Li Guanyue's children and proposed offering more money or approaching the family through his children instead.

Zhang Rongfang paid Li Guanyue ten thousand taels for the promise of learning the Li Family’s Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, while Li planned to exploit the deal. Later, Zhang met Zhang Yunqi on a desolate coast to discuss rising factional attention and test his improved martial skills.

• Zhang Rongfang agreed to Li Guanyue’s demand for a ten-thousand-tael deposit and signed a contract requiring him to meet three conditions before the Li Family taught him its inherited Martial Arts.
• Li Guanyue returned home with the money and told his children the talks had gone smoothly, while privately planning to use the conditions as an excuse to teach Zhang only superficial techniques if he failed.
• Li Wansha watched her father with concern as the chapter revealed that the family had previously cheated someone out of a large sum to acquire a fleet.
• Zhang Rongfang told Zhang Yunqi that the Western Sect and the Secret Teaching had come to Citong and were competing for control of the fleets, but advised their group to stay out of the conflict.
• Zhang Rongfang asked Zhang Yunqi to spar so he could test his recent martial breakthroughs, and the two began exchanging moves on the rocky coast.

Zhang Rongfang demonstrated to Zhang Yunqi that his strength had reached the level of Super Grade Three Voids, then weighed the risks of marriage and children. Meanwhile, Li Guanyue received the commerce permit Zhang Rongfang had obtained and set a difficult second condition, before a stranger named Sun Dinglong arrived to discuss cooperation.

• Zhang Rongfang and Zhang Yunqi fought, and Zhang Yunqi entered his Limit State before Zhang Rongfang matched him and proved he was no weaker.
• Zhang Yunqi urged Zhang Rongfang to start a family, but Zhang Rongfang considered marriage and children a liability given the dangers ahead.
• Li Guanyue made a new commerce permit the first condition for teaching Zhang Rongfang, and Zhang Rongfang quickly delivered it.
• Li Guanyue set recovering the missing ship West Wind as the second condition while plotting to take Zhang Rongfang's money and flee overseas.
• Sun Dinglong arrived at Li Mansion and asked to discuss cooperation with Li Guanyue.

Sun Dinglong recruited Li Guanyue to sabotage Zhang Rongfang’s plans, but Zhang Rongfang won Li’s trust by returning his ship, the West Wind. Li accepted more money to betray him anyway and fled with his family, leaving Zhang Rongfang to discover the empty mansion.

• Sun Dinglong offered Li Guanyue money to cooperate in secretly altering Zhang Ying’s Hard Skill training, and Li agreed while planning to profit from both sides.
• Zhang Rongfang recovered the West Wind and two other ships for Li Guanyue, satisfying Li’s second condition and strengthening Li’s trust in him.
• Li Guanyue met Sun Dinglong and agreed to help sabotage Zhang Rongfang after Sun raised his payment to ten thousand taels.
• Zhang Rongfang learned that his Free Attribute Points had reached eighteen and listened to reports about events in Ci Tong.
• A guard reported that Li Guanyue and his family had fled by ship, and Zhang Rongfang found Li Mansion empty except for its servants.

Li Guanyue fled aboard the Pengsha with his family and stolen gold, but a hammer-wielding giant and a Dwarf attacked and killed his children. After Li Guanyue defeated them at terrible cost, he begged Zhang Rongfang for help avenging his family and offered all his martial arts, leaving Zhang to reflect on the cruelty of the game they were all caught in.

• Li Guanyue and his family escaped Great Ling aboard the Pengsha with their wealth, believing they had fooled Zhang Rongfang and his allies.
• A hammer-wielding giant and a Dwarf confronted Li Guanyue, killed his children, and forced him into a desperate fight.
• Li Guanyue killed the attackers but suffered grievous injuries and was left alone among his family's bodies.
• Zhang Rongfang arrived at the dock, gave Li Guanyue emergency treatment, and ordered him taken to a physician.
• Zhang Zhenhai told Zhang Rongfang that her people had not carried out the attack, and Zhang reflected on how everyone was trapped in the same game.