Chapter Summaries

Zhang Rongfang discovered Zhao Tianming’s ambush at Deep Water Valley and avoided capture, while the Envoy’s group abandoned the failed trap. Zhao Tianming then pointed them toward Zhang Ying at Mingjing Palace, setting up a new threat.

• At Jingxuan Music Tower, Zhao Tianming persuaded the Envoy to approve a plan to lure White Eagle and Qing Su into a trap and capture them.
• Qing Su sent Zhang Rongfang a message accusing Zhao Tianming of stealing from his chest, and Zhang Rongfang ordered a gathering before deciding to capture Zhao that night.
• Zhang Rongfang changed the meeting place from Pingya Temple to Deep Water Valley and arrived early, where he spotted a concealed bladed web and withdrew without revealing himself.
• Zhao Tianming waited at the valley, but White Eagle and Qing Su never appeared, and the Envoy concluded that Zhao had been exposed.
• The Envoy ordered Di Qiu to investigate the Golden Wing Tower’s stronghold, then agreed to capture Zhang Ying at Mingjing Palace after Zhao identified him as connected to White Eagle.

After Zhao Tianming’s exposure left Zhang Rongfang fearing an attack in Tanyang, he sought help at Cloud and Mist Residence and encountered powerful allies who offered to fulfill a wish. As Golden Wing Tower forces gathered around the residence and armed riders entered Tanyang, the danger around him escalated.

• Zhang Rongfang warned Qing Su that they might have to abandon Tanyang, then went alone to seek help at Cloud and Mist Residence.
• A white-clad woman summoned Fan Qianyu and sent the Silver-Masked Man away to repay a favor, warning that she and her group would not intervene if he died.
• The woman recognized Zhang Rongfang for delivering the Secret Scripture Scroll and offered to fulfill one wish after he described the threats facing him.
• The woman suggested killing Xue Jinghao and his family, while Golden Character Feather Talisman bearers converged on Cloud and Mist Residence.
• Armed riders bearing Golden Wing Tower jade feather emblems approached Tanyang from several roads and entered through its gates without being stopped.

Snake King Xue Jinghao led Black Ten Sect fighters into Mingjing Palace to search for Zhang Ying and possible copies of the Secret Scroll, overpowering the Daoists who tried to stop them. When they entered Zhang Rongfang’s courtyard, Silver Masked Cicada confronted them and grievously wounded Xue Jinghao.

• Xue Jinghao demanded to search Mingjing Palace, and Fu Luo struck down the Liaofang head when he tried to block the Black Ten Sect’s advance.
• Xue Jinghao found a message tube on a red bird and led his men toward Zhang Rongfang’s courtyard, claiming they were searching for the killer.
• Fu Luo injured Void One when the Daoist challenged the intruders, while Xue Jinghao’s men broke into the courtyard.
• Silver Masked Cicada appeared in the courtyard, identified the encounter as a transaction, and faced the Black Ten Sect fighters.
• Silver Masked Cicada evaded their attacks and cut Xue Jinghao several times, forcing the Snake King to flee as screams sounded behind him.

Tong Zhang led Zhang Rongfang through Tianxuan Palace and Great Yang Temple, killing their inhabitants to purge the Secret Teaching and warning that she would slaughter the city if the teachings could not be eradicated. Meanwhile, Zhao Tianming stole Zhang Rongfang’s box and tried to flee, but Zhang Rongfang recovered it after killing Zhao Tianming’s younger brother.

• Tong Zhang killed people throughout Tianxuan Palace with Golden Needles while explaining her beliefs to Zhang Rongfang.
• Tong Zhang and Zhang Rongfang went to Great Yang Temple, where her forces surrounded the temple and killed its monks, including Abbot Fang Ye.
• Tong Zhang told Zhang Rongfang that she intended to purge all Secret Teaching and might slaughter the city if necessary.
• Zhao Tianming stole the box containing the handwritten Scripture Silk and fled the Dao Palace while the Black Ten Sect attacked Silver Masked Cicada.
• Zhao Tianming gave the box to his younger brother and planned to flee to Weiyang Prefecture, but Zhang Rongfang killed the younger brother and retrieved the box.

Zhang Rongfang killed Zhao Tianming, then accompanied Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang as the Golden Wing Tower crushed the Secret Teaching and Black Ten Sect. Tong Zhang sent Zhang Rongfang to face the wounded Snake King Xue Jinghao, who suddenly entered his Limit State as their fight began.

• Zhang Rongfang killed Zhao Tianming, promised to spare his family, and left him dead in the forest.
• At Zhao Family Village's burning ruins, Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang questioned Zhang Rongfang about the killing and his promise to Zhao Tianming.
• Zhang Rongfang saw the slaughter of villagers as Golden Wing Tower forces moved against the Secret Teaching and its allies.
• In Rixing Town, Golden Wing Tower death warriors and archers wounded and surrounded Snake King Xue Jinghao and his Black Ten Sect subordinates.
• Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang urged Zhang Rongfang to test himself against Xue Jinghao, and Xue Jinghao's speed surged as he entered his Limit State.

Zhang Rongfang fought Snake King under Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang’s ten-breath ultimatum and discovered a way to unleash Heavy Mountain repeatedly in one strike. He killed Snake King, then collapsed and was carried away by Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang.

• Zhang Rongfang and Snake King exchanged more than thirty dangerous blows as Zhang repeatedly used Breaking Limit Skills to withstand Snake King’s Limit State.
• Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang ordered the crossbowmen to kill both fighters unless they settled the victor within ten breaths.
• Zhang Rongfang kicked Snake King with Pine Cloud, but Snake King kept pressing his advantage as the countdown reached ten.
• Zhang Rongfang unleashed five consecutive Heavy Mountain Breaking Limit Skills, shattered his short sword, and blasted Snake King’s black blade aside.
• Snake King died from the force and sword fragments, and Zhang Rongfang collapsed after winning the duel.
• Heavenly Maiden Tong Zhang caught Zhang Rongfang, gave him a drop from a porcelain bottle, and carried him away.

Lin Li surrounded Sun Qinghong’s residence and told him that his ties to the Black Ten Sect had cost him the Sun Family’s support. Elsewhere, a white-haired masked fighter attacked a Black Ten Sect stronghold, while Zhang Rongfang woke badly injured in an unfamiliar bedroom and met his new guard, Wei Li.

• Lin Li told Sun Qinghong that the Eastern Sect’s forces had moved against the Black Ten Sect and Great Yang Temple, and that the Sun Family had expelled Sun Qinghong from its family tree.
• Lin Li confirmed that Snake King was dead, leaving Sun Qinghong to face the loss of his family’s backing.
• A white-haired fighter in a Silver Mask stormed the Black Ten Sect’s outer stronghold and cut down its guards.
• Zhang Rongfang woke after a day and night unconscious, finding that his Life Attribute had fallen from 30 to 18 and that his injuries caused severe pain.
• Wei Li introduced herself as Zhang Rongfang’s personal female guard and prepared to help him eat, bathe, and change clothes.

Zhang Rongfang learned that Tong Zhang had taken the Secret Scroll and treated his injuries, then offered him training and a new post if he left Tanyang to join his sister. She warned him not to investigate the Dao Gate Statue or the Secret Teaching, leaving him with unanswered questions about the dangers surrounding them.

• Zhang Rongfang realized the scripture silk manuscript was gone and concluded that Tong Zhang had spared him after he handed over the original.
• Wei Li and two blind, tongueless attendants helped Zhang Rongfang change, and Wei Li guided him across a lake to Tong Zhang.
• Tong Zhang told Zhang Rongfang she had burned the hidden Secret Scroll, praised his strength, and offered to teach him the Golden Roc Secret Record for a month.
• Tong Zhang offered Zhang Rongfang Spirit Grade authority and a transfer to join his sister, and Zhang Rongfang asked about the Dao Gate Statue.
• Tong Zhang dismissed Zhang Rongfang's account of the Statue as a hallucination and warned him to avoid the Statue bait and Secret Teaching, invoking Silver Masked Cicada as a cautionary example.

After Tanyang was devastated by a mysterious purge, Li Ran prepared a memorial while Li Huoyun and Wan Yanlu received letters announcing Zhang Ying’s departure. Zhang Rongfang recovered under Tong Zhang’s care and learned she was leaving him in Wushan City with protective gear and instructions to hide his identity for three years.

• Li Ran learned that State Governor Sun Qinghong's residence had been emptied and hurried out to investigate as Tanyang descended into chaos.
• Li Huoyun received a letter addressed to him, while Wan Yanlu read Zhang Ying's letter and felt his absence.
• Tong Zhang explained the difference between Super Grades and Grandmasters after defeating Zhang Rongfang in their daily sparring.
• Tong Zhang gave Zhang Rongfang Scale Light Inner Armor, Three Saint One Pills, and a Wushan City Feather Token, and ordered him to keep his identity hidden for three years.
• Zhang Rongfang learned that his elder sister had moved her household to Wushan City and that he could choose which identity to use when he arrived.

Zhang Rongfang chose to travel to Wushan Prefecture as himself, leaving his Zhang Ying identity and official posts behind in Tanyang while taking command of Golden Wing Tower’s forces there. After half a month on the road, he arrived in Wushan Prefecture, where Zhang Rongyu and Suda Heqi were waiting for him.

• Zhang Rongfang decided to reunite with Zhang Rongyu under his original identity, and Wei Li told him that two hundred Cloud Smoke Death Warriors were at his disposal in Wushan City.
• Zhang Rongfang wondered what price he might eventually pay for the Golden Wing Tower’s generous support and the Saint One Pill.
• Zhang Rongyu worried about her younger brother’s journey, while Suda Heqi promised to welcome him and help him adjust to life in Wushan Prefecture.
• Zhang Rongyu and Suda Heqi recalled the family members who had cared for them, and Zhang Rongyu looked forward to having her brother with her again.
• Zhang Rongfang arrived outside Wushan Prefecture in a Wanfu Escort Agency convoy, where officials recognized him from a portrait and called out that Young Master Zhang had arrived.

Zhang Rongfang arrived in Wushan Prefecture, reunited with Zhang Rongyu, and accepted Suda Heqi’s offer to stay with them. A few days later, Lu Mei Sha showed him around the Music Tower and its stage performances.

• Zhang Rongfang met Zhao Hengyu at the city gate and learned that Golden Wing Tower agents were stationed nearby.
• Zhang Rongyu rushed to embrace Zhang Rongfang, scolded him for leaving, and urged him to stay in Wushan Prefecture.
• Suda Heqi welcomed Zhang Rongfang into the family home and told him he could live there and draw silver as needed.
• A few days later, Lu Mei Sha took Zhang Rongfang around the Music Tower and explained its performances and nearby food stalls.

Zhang Rongfang ignored Lu Mei Sha’s advice to appease the young master Yuan Dong, choosing instead to keep a low profile while considering how to build strength and help his family. When a frail youth insulted Zhang Rongyu, Zhang Rongfang threatened him.

• Lu Mei Sha introduced Zhang Rongfang to Yuan Dong and urged him to call the younger boy Brother, but Zhang Rongfang addressed him as “little brother.”
• Lu Mei Sha scolded Zhang Rongfang for offending Yuan Dong, while Zhang Rongfang refused to apologize and privately considered training non-Breaking Limits martial arts.
• Lu Mei Sha reported that Yuan Dong’s uncle oversaw city guard security and urged Zhang Rongfang to offer Yuan Dong a toast, but he refused.
• Zhang Rongfang asked Lu Mei Sha about trouble affecting his brother-in-law’s business and where he could find someone who studied ancient writing.
• A frail youth mocked Zhang Rongyu and suggested she accompany him, so Zhang Rongfang quietly threatened to tear his mouth apart.

Zhang Rongfang killed Fang Wenxuan at Music Tower and returned to his new courtyard, where he spent three free attributes advancing his Guanxu Skill. His Life Attribute’s upper limit rose to thirty-five as he set his sights on reaching the Nine Revolutions Golden Pill realm.

• Zhang Rongfang struck Fang Wenxuan with his Eagle Claw and left Music Tower, unaware that the delayed wound would soon prove fatal.
• Fang Wenxuan collapsed and died, while his guards fled and Lu Mei Sha rushed away to warn her brother.
• Zhang Rongfang returned to the courtyard provided by Golden Wing Tower, tested its water for poison, and practiced his Civilian Skill.
• Zhang Rongfang spent all three free attributes on the Guanxu Skill, advancing it to Core Formation Realm, Third Revolution and raising his Life Attribute’s upper limit from thirty to thirty-five.
• Zhang Rongfang realized he needed six more attribute points to reach the Ninth Revolution and qualify to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Zhang Rongfang tested whether he could safely stack Heavy Mountain and found he could sustain two layers, though a third caused pain. After Fang Wenxuan died, Fang Wucuo learned Zhang Rongfang had killed him and chose to avoid provoking the powerful Spirit Grade fighter.

• Zhang Rongfang used Double Heavy Mountain to strike a training post and discovered he could use the two-layer state without injury, but a further layer caused internal pain.
• Fang Wucuo ordered Qin Ye to investigate Fang Wenxuan's death and went with Fang Huasheng to demand answers from the Commerce Affairs Office.
• Fang Huasheng suggested the killing might be connected to an earlier case and identified the killer as Zhang Rongyu's younger brother.
• After receiving a message by Xiao Hong Bird, Fang Wucuo claimed Fang Wenxuan had died of a heart illness and told Fang Huasheng he would handle the matter.
• Fang Wucuo recognized Zhang Rongfang's reputation and decided against confronting him, resolving instead to approach him discreetly in the future.

After Fang Wenxuan’s death was attributed to heart disease and the Fang Family declined to investigate, Zhang Rongfang ignored Lu Mei Sha’s accusations and attended lessons in government affairs. His teacher, He Hanzhi, introduced the unsolved Shadow in the Forest case and assigned the students to research it.

• The Fang Family announced that Fang Wenxuan had died of heart disease and would not pursue the matter, easing Zhang Rongyu and Suda Heqi’s fears about Zhang Rongfang.
• Lu Mei Sha confronted Zhang Rongfang at the Commerce Affairs Office, but he denied responsibility and walked away from her accusations.
• Zhang Rongfang attended a lesson taught by He Hanzhi, who introduced the case of girls who disappeared after entering Yin Huai Forest alone at night.
• He Hanzhi explained that the witness was a flying thief who had seen the girls, but the case remained unsolved and the Government Office had sealed off access to the forest.
• He Hanzhi assigned his students to gather information and material about Shadow in the Forest.

Zhang Rongfang arranged to study Locked Script, reunited with Qing Su, and summoned Wushan Prefecture’s deathsworn leader. Duan Gu arrived with the matching half of Zhang Rongfang’s military token and warned him that the prefecture was no good place, leaving Zhang Rongfang asking what the higher-ups meant by sending him there.

• He Hanzhi taught his students that officials often blamed disappearances on gods and ghosts, and Zhang Rongfang disagreed with the method.
• Zhang Rongfang and Dai Yan agreed to hire a woman from the Zen Heart Literary Society to teach Zhang Rongfang Locked Script for three taels a day.
• Zhang Rongfang encountered Qing Su, who had traveled from Tanyang despite being robbed by the bandit gang Sweeping Mountain Tiger, and welcomed her into his service.
• Zhang Rongfang sent Xiao Hong Bird to summon his subordinates and prepared to meet the leader of Wushan Prefecture’s deathsworn.
• Duan Gu arrived, verified Zhang Rongfang’s military token, and warned him that the higher-ups had likely sent him to Wushan Prefecture to hold down the fort.

Zhang Rongfang arrived in Wushan Prefecture and learned that the Three Great Families and their allies made the region difficult to challenge. After demonstrating his overwhelming strength to Duan Gu, he questioned him about the local forces and summoned the local Double Eagle to report.

• Duan Gu warned Zhang Rongfang that the Three Great Families dominated Wushan Prefecture and explained that the Huang Family had repeatedly targeted the death warriors.
• Zhang Rongfang tested Duan Gu in combat, easily subdued him, and established his authority.
• Duan Gu explained how the Golden Wing Tower trained and supplied its death warriors, then described the Huang, Yue, and Shangguan Families and their powerful connections.
• Zhang Rongfang dismissed Duan Gu, declined his offer to guard the courtyard, and instructed Qing Su to summon the local Double Eagle.
• Black Eagle Tongxin and White Eagle Xiangling arrived at the courtyard and greeted Zhang Rongfang.

Zhang Rongfang learned about Wu Mountain’s powers and ordered Golden Wing Tower’s leaders to stop forcing women into prostitution or seizing families’ property, while they secretly planned to ignore him. At dinner, his family discussed finding him a match before an urgent summons sent Suda Heqi away, with Zhang Rongfang overhearing the name Sweeping Mountain Tiger.

• Tongxin and Xiangling briefed Zhang Rongfang on Wu Mountain’s powers and Golden Wing Tower’s operations, and he ordered them to forbid forced prostitution and schemes to seize property.
• After leaving Zhang Rongfang, Tongxin and Xiangling dismissed his authority and discussed their plan to ruin a woman’s family and traffic her and her relatives to Sea Dragon.
• At dinner, Zhang Rongyu and Suda Heqi urged Lu Mei Sha to help find Zhang Rongfang a suitable marriage match, but he remained focused on martial arts and Locked Script.
• A messenger summoned Suda Heqi urgently from the yamen, and Zhang Rongfang overheard him mention Sweeping Mountain Tiger.

Zhang Rongfang witnessed the Huang Family kill Xu Chen and his children, then learned more about Sweeping Mountain Tiger and Wushan Prefecture’s factional struggles. He ordered Qing Su and Wei Li to take control of the local Death Warrior forces before using an Attribute Point to advance his Guanxu Skill.

• Zhang Rongfang watched Huang Family warriors kill the wounded Xu Chen and his two children while the onlookers stood by.
• Zhang Rongfang returned home and heard Wei Li describe Sweeping Mountain Tiger’s raids and the factional conflicts that had hindered suppression efforts.
• Zhang Rongfang ordered Qing Su and Wei Li to investigate and take control of the Death Warrior forces in Wushan Prefecture.
• Zhang Rongfang spent an Attribute Point to advance his Guanxu Skill.

Zhang Rongfang continued cultivating after reaching Fourth Revolution Core Formation, while masked rescuers raided a pleasure boat carrying abducted women and learned Golden Wing Tower had a Spirit Envoy in Wushan. Later, Dai Yan brought Zhang Rongfang to Zen Heart Literary Society to learn Locked Script from Gong Shuyin, whose unusual room and presence left him suspicious.

• Zhang Rongfang set aside his impatience and continued cultivating in seclusion after his progress in Guanxu Skill became Fourth Revolution Core Formation.
• Xiang Ling argued with two Blue-Clad Uniform men over a shipment of abducted women being loaded onto a pleasure boat outside Wushan Prefecture City.
• A masked group attacked the boat, killed one of Sea Dragon’s Leading Men, and rescued the women, but Xiang Ling escaped after warning them that Golden Wing Tower had a Spirit Envoy.
• The masked group’s leader found his drugged daughter among the rescued women and vowed to make Sea Dragon and Golden Wing Tower pay.
• Dai Yan took Zhang Rongfang to Zen Heart Literary Society and revealed that Gong Shuyin would teach him Locked Script.
• Dai Yan hurriedly left Zhang Rongfang at Gong Shuyin’s door, and Zhang Rongfang suspected she was more than an ordinary scholar after sensing the room’s strange incense and failing to detect her presence.