Chapter Summaries

Qin Yang, a powerless office worker in a world of Star Warriors and Star Beasts, discovered an enormous cockroach beneath his bed. His system identified it as a King-level Undying Cockroach, but Qin Yang stomped it dead and dismissed the warning as a system error.

• After work, Qin Yang returned to his shabby rented room and heard strange noises under his bed.
• Qin Yang swept out a giant crimson cockroach and prepared to stomp it.
• Qin Yang's system warned that the cockroach was a King-level Star Beast called an Undying Cockroach and urged him to flee.
• Qin Yang saw the cockroach's displayed information, including its Undying Body ability, but doubted the system when it spun helplessly on the floor.
• Qin Yang stomped the cockroach into pulp and concluded that his system was malfunctioning.

After Qin Yang stomped the Undying Cockroach, the system rewarded him with an Undying Body and sixty years of cultivation, raising him to Half-Step to the Innate Realm. His attempts to earn more rewards by killing small animals failed, leaving him to wonder what made the cockroach special.

• Qin Yang questioned the system, which claimed he had killed a Beast King and rewarded him with an Undying Body and sixty years of cultivation.
• Qin Yang absorbed the energy and discovered that he had reached Half-Step to the Innate Realm.
• Qin Yang tested his Undying Body by cutting a finger, and the wound quickly healed without leaving a scar.
• Qin Yang killed mosquitoes, insects, mice, and ants around his home but received no further rewards.
• Qin Yang concluded that the cockroach must have been special and took comfort in his new strength and ability to protect himself.

Qin Yang chose the Clear Wind Sword Technique to study while continuing his quiet work at the Jiang City Martial Arts Library. A month passed peacefully, and he grew closer to his colleagues, until Xia He interrupted his reading to call him to eat.

• Qin Yang selected the Clear Wind Sword Technique and memorized its moves because he had no sword to practice with at the library.
• Qin Yang listened to his colleagues complain about their poor aptitude and decided to keep his Half-Step to the Innate Realm cultivation quiet and remain at the library.
• Qin Yang spent the next month reading and eating while the system stayed silent, and his colleagues came to regard him more warmly as the "Library Hunk."
• Xia He slapped Qin Yang's shoulder and called him to eat, startling him as he read.

Qin Yang practiced the Clear Wind Sword Technique and planned to learn Seven Stars Footwork while covering Xia He's library area. As he read, the system warned him that a Beast Emperor was nearby, leaving Qin Yang searching the spotless floor for an animal.

• Xia He invited Qin Yang to Bai Jin Han, but Qin Yang refused and agreed to cover Area 2 if Xia He missed work.
• Xia He told Qin Yang that a Grandmaster from Jianghai City would visit Jianghai Martial Arts Academy and offer a public lecture, and promised to help him attend.
• Qin Yang practiced the Clear Wind Sword Technique after work and gained a preliminary grasp of it.
• Qin Yang covered Xia He's Area 2 shift and chose Seven Stars Footwork to study.
• A tiny purple spider watched Qin Yang's manual from the ceiling as the system repeatedly warned him that a Beast Emperor was nearby.
• Qin Yang searched the library floor for a small animal but found nothing and doubted the system's warning.

Qin Yang dismissed the system’s warnings about a Beast Emperor while continuing his quiet library routine. When a man suddenly collapsed after mentioning a spider, Qin Yang wondered whether the tiny purple spider he had seen was responsible.

• Qin Yang searched the library for the Beast Emperor the system detected but found only two flies, and the system repeatedly urged him to flee.
• Qin Yang saw a tiny purple spider vanish into the ceiling, then carried on with his routine while Xia He recounted being arrested in a prostitution raid and beaten by Xia's Father.
• Qin Yang read about Star Beasts in Area 1 while Xia He called him to help a convulsing man in Area 2.
• The man said “Spider” before passing out, and Qin Yang kicked Xia He into action and notified security so the man could be taken to the hospital.
• Security questioned Xia He and revealed the collapse happened in a camera blind spot, while Qin Yang scanned the ceiling and wondered whether the man had been bitten by a spider.

After a patron was left comatose by a poisonous bite, Qin Yang and Xia He thoroughly cleaned the library to find the insect. Qin Yang spotted a purple spider and learned from the system that it was an Emperor-Class Purple Soul Demon Spider, leaving him stunned by the danger hiding in the library.

• Jiang Tao told the staff that a library patron had been poisoned by an insect and was now in a coma, then ordered a deep clean.
• Xia He asked Qin Yang if he foresaw trouble after Xia's Father punished him over the incident in Area 2.
• Qin Yang and Xia He collected insecticide and carefully searched their assigned areas for poisonous insects.
• Qin Yang earned the Nine Consecutive Slashes achievement during the cleaning, but neither man found a spider.
• The system warned Qin Yang about a Beast Emperor, and he spotted a purple spider crawling across the ceiling.
• Qin Yang saw the system identify the spider as an Emperor-Class Purple Soul Demon Spider and realized the warning was real.

Qin Yang trained in Sunflower Nine Needles to hunt the Purple Soul Demon Spider, then killed it when it appeared in the library. The system praised him and began granting him a reward for defeating a Beast Emperor-level Star Beast across realms.

• Qin Yang searched for the hidden Purple Soul Demon Spider and decided to learn a concealed-weapon martial art to hunt it.
• Qin Yang studied Sunflower Nine Needles and practiced by pinning a fly to a table with an embroidery needle.
• Xia He told Qin Yang that a Bloodthirsty Demon had killed several people in Jianghai City, while Qin Yang resolved to stay safe in the library.
• The system detected a Beast Emperor aura, and Qin Yang spotted the Purple Soul Demon Spider crawling across the ceiling.
• Qin Yang struck the Purple Soul Demon Spider twice with embroidery needles and killed it.
• The system congratulated Qin Yang for killing a Beast Emperor-level Star Beast across realms and announced a Twentyfold Amplification reward.

After receiving his rewards for killing an Emperor-level Star Beast, Qin Yang left the library to break through to the Innate Realm without drawing attention. He discovered that his Heaven-Defying Comprehension let him rapidly master martial arts, then returned to the library eager to learn more.

• The system rewarded Qin Yang with Twenty Years of Cultivation and Heaven-Defying Comprehension, and the surge of energy began loosening his bottleneck.
• Qin Yang suppressed his breakthrough inside the library, told Xia He he was going to buy something, and went to a quiet park grove.
• Qin Yang released the energy and broke through to the Innate Realm, gaining True Essence Projection and heightened perception.
• Qin Yang entered the gray Enlightenment Space and advanced his Clear Wind Sword Technique from entry level to major mastery.
• Qin Yang returned to Area 1, and when Xia He asked where his purchase was, Qin Yang admitted he had forgotten it.

Qin Yang perfected numerous Basic Sword Techniques and used the Enlightenment Space to create an Innate Swordplay technique. At dawn, he named his new move One Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate and unleashed it at a mountain peak.

• Qin Yang perfected the Spirit Rhinoceros Sword Technique and decided to create an Innate Swordplay technique by combining Basic Sword Techniques.
• Qin Yang memorized and perfected more than ten Basic Sword Techniques over the following days while Xia He thought he was sleeping in the library.
• Qin Yang went to the outskirts of Jianghai City and spent the night comprehending and combining the sword techniques.
• Qin Yang successfully created his swordplay technique, One Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate, and fired a hundred-meter blade of sword qi toward a mountain peak.

Qin Yang tested his Innate Realm strength by severing a mountain peak with one sword, then returned to his rented room to consider how to improve his depleted true essence. The city’s experts investigated the strike while Qin Yang decided to create a Star Power Cultivation Method.

• Qin Yang split a mountain peak with a sword strike and left before the approaching experts arrived.
• The Jianghai Martial Arts Academy Dean, the Star Police Department Commander, and the Jianghai Library Curator examined the severed peak and wondered whether its attacker was friend or foe.
• The Star Police Department Commander agreed to seal off the site, while the dean asked to let his students study the lingering sword intent.
• Qin Yang returned to his rented room and realized his mountain-severing strike had consumed too much true essence.
• Qin Yang decided to combine two flawed Star Power Cultivation Methods from the library into a new method of his own.

Qin Yang attended an emergency library meeting where the Martial Hall Master warned staff to treat unfamiliar elderly visitors with special respect. After Xia He told him that a mysterious Sword Dao Expert had become a trending topic for splitting a mountain, Qin Yang realized the expert was himself and joked that Xia should kowtow if he wanted to become his disciple.

• Qin Yang went to the Jianghai City Library and attended an emergency meeting with the Martial Hall Master.
• The Martial Hall Master instructed library staff to show visitors extra respect, especially unfamiliar elderly people.
• The Martial Hall Master sensed something unusual about Qin Yang, but the supervisor said Qin Yang was a new employee with poor talent.
• Qin Yang left the meeting and decided to keep a lower profile after noticing the Martial Hall Master's gaze.
• Xia He told Qin Yang that a Sword Dao Expert had split a mountain and become a trending topic.
• Qin Yang recognized the mountain as the one he had cut and teased Xia He to kowtow if he wanted Qin Yang as his teacher.

Qin Yang secretly used the Enlightenment Space to combine two flawed cultivation methods and create the first version of the Star Sutra while working at the library. Afterward, Xia He warned him about the Bloodthirsty Demon, unaware that Qin Yang had begun forging a path of his own.

• Xia He laughed at Qin Yang’s claim that he was the Sword Dao Expert and argued that the expert must have come from outside Jianghai City.
• Xia He explained that Jianghai City had only three Innate Realm Experts, including the Library Master and the Martial Arts Academy Dean, who could not achieve One Sword Breaks Peak.
• Qin Yang clocked in and secretly memorized two neglected Basic Star Power Cultivation Methods from the library shelves.
• Qin Yang entered the Enlightenment Space and merged the two manuals into a new cultivation method, which he named the Star Sutra.
• Qin Yang went to lunch with Xia He, who warned him to be careful because the Bloodthirsty Demon had been harming people again.

Qin Yang worried about the Bloodthirsty Demon’s attacks in Jianghai City, but rushed to rescue Xia He from a Honey Trap instead. The next morning, Xia He told him that the Bloodthirsty Demon had been caught the previous night.

• Qin Yang reflected on how his sword arts had improved after studying basic sword manuals, but decided not to test his power.
• Qin Yang saw armed guards enter the library as rumors spread about the Bloodthirsty Demon’s killings in Jianghai City.
• Xia He called Qin Yang for help from the Red Wave Hotel, explaining that he had been caught in a Honey Trap and stripped naked.
• Qin Yang went to the hotel and brought the bruised, distraught Xia He home.
• Xia He visited Qin Yang at the library the next morning and exclaimed that the Bloodthirsty Demon had been caught last night.

Qin Yang saw news that the Bloodthirsty Demon had been captured and used the quieter library to create a new movement technique. Three days later, as Xia He showed him a video of the demon's execution, the system warned Qin Yang that the Bloodthirsty Leech was nearby.

• Qin Yang and Xia He discussed the Bloodthirsty Demon's capture and learned that he was expected to be executed in three days.
• The system warned Qin Yang that a Blood Demon was nearby, but he found nothing and went to work at the library with Xia He.
• Qin Yang noticed that the library had emptied after the danger seemed to pass and searched for movement techniques.
• Qin Yang combined six basic movement techniques into the Innate technique Seven Stars Dragon Swimming Steps.
• Three days later, Xia He showed Qin Yang a video of the Bloodthirsty Demon's execution, and the system identified the Bloodthirsty Leech as a Blood Demon.

Qin Yang suspected the supposedly executed Bloodthirsty Demon was being controlled by an Emperor-level Bloodthirsty Leech and chose to stay cautious rather than investigate. That night, the leech escaped the corpse in the Star Police Department’s Cremation Room and parasitized a staff member.

• Qin Yang examined the system’s description of the Emperor-level Bloodthirsty Leech and realized it might be controlling a human host.
• Qin Yang watched footage of Bloodthirsty Demon’s beheading and worried that the execution had only destroyed the leech’s host.
• Qin Yang refused Xia He’s invitation to Bai Jin Han and warned him to be careful, but kept his suspicions to himself.
• Qin Yang returned to the Enlightenment Space to fuse martial arts and prepare for another breakthrough.
• A Bloodthirsty Leech burst from Bloodthirsty Demon’s corpse in the Cremation Room and sprang onto a staff member, burrowing into his body.

The Star Police Department faced a wave of Bloodthirsty Demon attacks targeting its officers and quietly increased patrols across Jianghai City. At the library, Qin Yang encountered the girl who had stood beside the Dean of Jianghai Martial Arts Academy, and his system identified her as an Empress.

• Star Police Department officials learned that multiple Bloodthirsty Demons were killing officers in Jianghai City and suspected an organized group.
• The Commander ordered officials to conceal the deaths from citizens and increase patrols.
• A prisoner died suddenly in the Star Police Department prison, and a guard prepared to remove the body for cremation.
• Library patrons mocked Qin Yang for resting, but Xia He soon rushed over and dragged him toward a beautiful girl reading nearby.
• Qin Yang recognized the girl from the scene after One Sword Breaks Peak, and his system told him to kneel and take her as his master.

Qin Yang’s system identified library patron Li Zixuan as a 516-year-old Empress and urged him to take her as his master, so he approached her to confirm her identity. After learning that her student ID listed her age as sixteen, Qin Yang wondered whether the system was five hundred years ahead of the timeline.

• Qin Yang saw the system identify Li Zixuan as a Peak Emperor Venerable Realm Empress with five thousand years of life remaining.
• Qin Yang walked over to Li Zixuan while Xia He and library patrons watched, assuming he was trying to flirt with her.
• Qin Yang asked Li Zixuan her name and spotted her student ID, confirming that her name matched the system prompt.
• Li Zixuan covered her student ID and questioned Qin Yang, who apologized and explained that he was looking for a borrower who had not returned books.
• Li Zixuan accepted Qin Yang’s explanation, and he left wondering why the system listed her as 516 when her student ID said she was sixteen.

Qin Yang realized that the weak creatures and the sixteen-year-old Li Zixuan could become terrifying powers five hundred years later, but he refused the system’s demand that he take her as his teacher. After he left, Li Zixuan reflected on the sword strike that first inspired her and vowed to seek guidance from its wielder someday.

• Qin Yang concluded that the Dog System had shown him creatures and people in their future forms, and that he had killed two future threats before they could grow powerful.
• The Dog System urged Qin Yang to return to Li Zixuan and ask to become her disciple, but he refused, noting that she was only at the Acquired Realm Eighth Stage and that he was already an Innate Realm Expert.
• After Qin Yang departed, Li Zixuan resumed reading her sword technique manual and listening to the Sword Dao music her family had prepared for her.
• Li Zixuan secretly looked at her photograph of a mountain peak cut cleanly by a sword, recalling that the strike had awakened her interest in the Sword Dao.
• Li Zixuan resolved to become a Peerless Swordsman and personally seek guidance from the senior who had severed the peak.

Qin Yang realized the system only rewarded interactions with beings who would survive five hundred years, then decided to reverse its task and make the future Empress Li Zixuan take him as her teacher. When he returned to find her gone, he asked Xia He to track her down.

• Qin Yang explained to himself why ordinary people and creatures could not trigger the system's prompts, while long-lived beings like Li Zixuan could.
• Qin Yang rejected the system's demand that he become Li Zixuan's disciple, worrying that approaching her could endanger his library administrator job.
• Qin Yang remembered how opposing the system's warning about the cockroach had earned him rewards and decided to make Li Zixuan take him as her teacher instead.
• Qin Yang returned to Li Zixuan's seat but found she had already left.
• Xia He offered to find Li Zixuan's information, and Qin Yang told him she studied at Jianghai Martial Arts Academy.

The Police Chief Commander told Old Li and the Library Director that the Bloodthirsty Demon was a group and asked them to help trace a captured Bloodthirsty Leech clone. Old Li proposed using Soul-Chasing Incense Powder, while the leech’s enormous true body fed in a hidden cave beneath Lishui Lake as Qin Yang received Xia He’s intelligence.

• The Commander revealed that the Bloodthirsty Demon consisted of a group and that the captured leech was being investigated as a possible source of the mutated insects.
• The Library Director could not identify the leech, but Old Li recognized it as a clone and offered to use Soul-Chasing Incense Powder to find its true body.
• The Commander accepted Old Li’s method and prepared to track down the Bloodthirsty Demon Worm’s true body.
• A nearly five-meter-long leech in a hidden cave beneath Lishui Lake absorbed blood essence from its clones and expanded its feeding vortex.
• The leech said it was still thirsty and needed more blood as Qin Yang received the intelligence Xia He had investigated.