Chapter Summaries

Zhong Lin killed Xing San, Qin Yong, and Qin Yong’s sister-in-law after they stole his silver, then returned home with the money he found. He planned to take Little Shi to Teacher Liu’s place to learn reading and writing the next day.

• Zhong Lin shot Xing San outside the latrine and then waited in Qin Yong’s main room.
• Zhong Lin killed Qin Yong with an arrow when he emerged from the bedroom and threatened Elder Sister-in-law into showing him the silver.
• Zhong Lin slit Elder Sister-in-law’s throat after taking the money pouch, then wiped his weapons and escaped through the rain.
• Zhong Lin returned home, where Little Shi had waited up for him, and promised they would visit Teacher Liu the next day.
• Zhong Lin counted forty-eight taels of silver and reflected that survival in this world required him to be fiercer than the wicked.

Zhong Lin took Little Shi to learn to read, then went to the yamen after hearing that three people had been murdered the previous night. The chapter ended when a yamen runner directly accused Zhong Lin of committing the murders.

• Zhong Lin and Little Shi paid Teacher Liu to study and began memorizing and writing characters.
• Zhong Lin used the System to raise Calligraphy to max level, gaining the ability to write beautifully despite not yet knowing the characters.
• Aunt Jiang told Zhong Lin that three people had been killed and that the yamen wanted to question him.
• Zhong Lin went to the yamen and waited with other residents to be questioned.
• A middle-aged yamen runner accused Zhong Lin of committing the murders.

Zhong Lin was summoned to the County Yamen over the murders of Qin Yong and two others, but the accusation proved to be a bluff. After he drew a lifelike portrait of a wanted criminal, the County Commandant recruited him to help the yamen, and Zhong Lin left with a new badge and position.

• Lao Fang accused Zhong Lin of killing Qin Yong and the other two, then ordered him to wait at the County Yamen.
• Chi Yan brought Zhong Lin to the main hall, where the County Commandant told him to draw a criminal based on a medicine shop apprentice’s description.
• Zhong Lin drew a vivid portrait, and the apprentice identified the depicted man as the criminal.
• The County Commandant praised Zhong Lin’s skill and offered him work drawing wanted portraits, which Zhong Lin accepted.
• Chi Yan explained that Lao Fang had only been bluffing and that the yamen would leave Qin Yong’s murder to the Black Water Gang.
• Chi Yan helped Zhong Lin register at the yamen and obtain a badge.

Zhong Lin learned that the County Yamen offered martial arts training and discovered how power was divided within it. He returned home pleased with his new position and planned to begin training at the yamen.

• Chi Yan told Zhong Lin that the wanted bandit Dan Wenlong had robbed the Lin Family, and Zhong Lin watched constables practice martial arts at the County Yamen.
• Chi Yan explained that Zhong Lin could learn martial arts at the yamen, and Zhong Lin eagerly invited him for a drink.
• At Heavenly Fragrance Brothel, Chi Yan described the yamen's leaders and explained the Martial Path's ranks, while Zhong Lin learned that Chief Constable Head Xue was a Sixth Rank expert.
• Zhong Lin left the brothel without joining the courtesan and returned to Sweet Water Alley with roast chicken for Little Shi.
• Zhong Lin reviewed the events of the past two days and celebrated becoming a yamen portrait artist with access to martial arts training.

Zhong Lin paid Teacher Liu to teach him more characters and asked Chi Yan to find him a martial arts instructor. Old Zhou judged Zhong Lin suited to the Iron Mountain Skill and began teaching him its forms, leaving Zhong Lin with his first exhausting lesson and Chi Yan borrowing three taels of silver.

• Zhong Lin offered Teacher Liu five taels of silver, and Teacher Liu agreed to teach him characters every afternoon.
• Zhong Lin asked Chi Yan to find him a martial arts instructor, and Chi Yan introduced him to Old Zhou.
• Old Zhou accepted Zhong Lin's gift of wine, examined his bones, and said the Iron Mountain Skill suited him.
• Old Zhou demonstrated the Iron Mountain Skill forms and spent two hours teaching Zhong Lin to imitate them.
• After the lesson, Chi Yan asked Zhong Lin to lend him three taels of silver, and Zhong Lin handed it over.

After raising his Iron Mountain Skill to max level, Zhong Lin discovered how to use its breathing method to strengthen his body and realized that training required ample nourishment. The next day, he earned silver painting a portrait and visited an apothecary to buy a martial arts medicated diet.

• Zhong Lin raised his Iron Mountain Skill to max level and gained decades of cultivation experience.
• Zhong Lin practiced the skill with its breathing method, exhausted himself, and found that he could lift a millstone with ease.
• Zhong Lin became hungry soon after training and concluded that he needed meat and other nourishing foods to build his body.
• Zhong Lin sent Little Shi to Teacher Liu, reported to the yamen, and painted a portrait for a wealthy gentleman surnamed Li for six taels of silver.
• Zhong Lin went to an apothecary, where the physician offered him an expensive formula for Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup.

Zhong Lin bought Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup and discovered that it greatly improved his stamina when practicing the Iron Mountain Skill. Half a month later, he and Little Shi were healthier, and Zhong Lin had established himself as a successful painter with the yamen’s protection.

• Zhong Lin bought two packets of Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup after haggling with the physician, then visited a teahouse to learn about Chen Country and its counties.
• Zhong Lin bought a Black Ring Snake, prepared snake stew and noodles at home, and took Little Shi with him to eat.
• Zhong Lin continued learning characters from Teacher Liu and then drank a portion of the medicinal soup before practicing the Iron Mountain Skill.
• Zhong Lin felt the medicine’s warmth circulate through his body and completed six sets of punches, far more than he could manage before.
• Half a month later, Zhong Lin and Little Shi had grown healthier, while Zhong Lin’s painting work and yamen affiliation brought him income and protection in Black Mountain County.

Zhong Lin enjoyed his newfound popularity at the yamen before Chief Constable Xue Zheng summoned him to draw a portrait of a dangerous fugitive. Xue revealed that the fugitive Dan Wenlong had escaped, leaving Zhong Lin worried that the man might target him for drawing his likeness.

• Yamen constables and runners crowded around Zhong Lin with food and friendly offers because he had visited the Warm Fragrance Brothel without paying and brought Old Zhou along for free.
• Chi Yan told Zhong Lin that Chief Constable Xue Zheng had returned and was waiting for him.
• Xue Zheng asked Zhong Lin to draw a portrait from his description, and Zhong Lin quickly produced a detailed likeness of a scarred man.
• Xue Zheng warned Zhong Lin that Dan Wenlong had escaped and advised him to be careful.
• Zhong Lin blamed Lao Fang for letting Dan Wenlong get away and went to the records room to learn about the fugitive's background.

Zhong Lin learned that the escaped bandit Dan Wenlong was a dangerous Seventh-Rank martial artist and prepared for a possible attack while training to advance. He entered the Ninth-Rank Skin Grinding Realm, gaining greatly increased strength and tough skin.

• Lao Liu warned Zhong Lin about Dan Wenlong, a Seventh-Rank Bone Forging expert who had escaped capture, and Zhong Lin reviewed the bandit's case file.
• Chi Yan asked Zhong Lin for another loan despite owing him eight taels, and Zhong Lin refused; Chi Yan grew angry and threatened him after he left.
• Worried about Dan Wenlong's possible revenge, Zhong Lin bought supplies, started digging a cellar at home, and increased his dose of Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup.
• Zhong Lin trained intensely and felt a cool current pass through his body as he broke through to the Ninth-Rank Skin Grinding Realm.
• Zhong Lin tested his new strength by lifting a heavy millstone and found that his skin resisted a kitchen knife.

Chi Yan broke into Zhong Lin’s courtyard to murder him for his wealth, but Zhong Lin’s traps and hidden weapons turned the attack into a desperate fight. The chapter ended as Zhong Lin lunged with a concealed dagger and Chi Yan recognized the Instant Kill Technique.

• Zhong Lin planned to study weapon techniques while continuing to practice the Iron Mountain Skill, then spent three days waiting tensely.
• Chi Yan sneaked into Zhong Lin’s courtyard, hoping to steal the silver he believed Zhong Lin had earned from painting and calligraphy.
• Chi Yan triggered Zhong Lin’s concealed pit, waking Zhong Lin, who recognized the intruder despite his disguise.
• Chi Yan attacked Zhong Lin with a short blade and admitted he planned to frame Dan Wenlong after killing him.
• Zhong Lin dodged Chi Yan’s strikes, threw metal caltrops and lime powder, then lunged with a dagger as Chi Yan identified the move as the Instant Kill Technique.

Zhong Lin killed Chi Yan, who had broken into his home to murder him, and the constables identified the dead man as one of their own. After Fang Shunjin took Chi Yan’s body to the yamen, Zhong Lin checked his system and called Shi Tou out of a hiding place beneath his bed.

• Chi Yan attacked Zhong Lin, but Zhong Lin’s Instant Kill Technique and prepared poison left Chi Yan poisoned and dying.
• Zhong Lin called to his neighbor Hai Kuan for help, and Fang Shunjin arrived with other constables.
• Fang Shunjin recognized the corpse as Chi Yan and ordered the constables to take him to the yamen for the Chief Constable to handle.
• Zhong Lin explained that he had mistaken Chi Yan for Dan Wenlong, and Fang Shunjin noted that Zhong Lin had reached Rank.
• Zhong Lin checked his system panel, then lifted the straw mat and called Shi Tou out of the hole beneath his bed.

After killing Chi Yan, Zhong Lin faced a chillier reception at the yamen but learned where a dangerous black market opened each month. He entered the mountain hollow in disguise, carrying weapons and supplies.

• Little Shi asked Zhong Lin to teach him martial arts, and Zhong Lin agreed.
• Chief Constable Xue Zheng accepted Zhong Lin's account of killing the thief and learned that Zhong Lin had entered the martial ranks in just twenty-one days.
• Old Zhou explained why the yamen's colleagues felt estranged and told Zhong Lin about a mountain hollow that hosted a black market for seven days each month.
• Zhong Lin selected the Willow Catkins movement technique and Wind Breaking Saber Technique from the Martial Pavilion.
• On the first evening of the tenth month, Zhong Lin reached the mountain hollow in disguise and entered the black market.

Zhong Lin explored the Black Market, saw its illegal wares and abducted children, and found the pills he had come looking for. He learned that a Blood Replenishment Pill cost ten taels and a Bone Strengthening Pill cost thirty, leaving him to weigh their steep prices.

• Zhong Lin paid the entry fee and entered the Black Market, where he inspected stalls selling poisons, weapons, and other illegal goods.
• A skinny man tried to sell Zhong Lin a Martial Arts Manual, but Zhong Lin remembered Old Zhou's warning that the manuals were usually fake and walked away.
• Zhong Lin saw stalls selling game and recently dug-up burial objects, then spotted five abducted children being offered for sale and suppressed his urge to intervene.
• Zhong Lin found a masked vendor selling pills and asked about the Blood Replenishment Pill and Bone Strengthening Pill.
• The vendor priced one Blood Replenishment Pill at ten taels of silver and one Bone Strengthening Pill at thirty taels, shocking Zhong Lin with their cost.

After buying five Blood Replenishing Pills at the Black Market, Zhong Lin was followed into the woods by three men and fought them off. He killed their leader after discovering how much more experienced the man was, and reflected that his earlier victory over Chi Yan had been luck.

• Zhong Lin spent fifty taels of silver on five Blood Replenishing Pills and left the Black Market after the masked owner refused to sell him the formula.
• Zhong Lin noticed three men following him through the woods and lured them into an ambush.
• Zhong Lin used his Iron Bow and Curved Shot to kill two of the pursuers.
• Zhong Lin discarded his bow and fought the triangular-eyed leader, using the encounter to test his martial skills.
• The leader scratched Zhong Lin's skin with a dagger, realized Zhong Lin was a Ranked Martial Artist, and was killed by Zhong Lin's short blade.

After killing three men in the woods, Zhong Lin returned home safely and learned from Old Zhou that the Black Market’s powerful backers made it dangerous to interfere with its child trafficking. He tested a Blood Replenishment Pill and used his max-level Iron Mountain Skill to absorb it completely, accelerating his progress toward the Eighth Rank Tendons Transformation Realm.

• Zhong Lin took the Ghost Head Saber and two taels of silver from the three corpses, then returned home and reassured Little Shi.
• At the yamen, Old Zhou warned Zhong Lin that powerful figures protected the Black Market and told him to deal with traffickers only when they appeared in the city.
• Zhong Lin earned five taels of silver by painting at the Warm Fragrance Brothel and returned home to examine his pills.
• Zhong Lin swallowed a Blood Replenishment Pill and practiced the Iron Mountain Skill, absorbing all of its medicinal power.
• Zhong Lin realized that daily access to pills could let him complete Tendons Transformation cultivation within a month and reach the Eighth Rank Tendons Transformation Realm.

Zhong Lin noticed that refugees and food prices were rising as drought and unrest worsened, then witnessed the Black Water Gang increasing its protection fees. The chapter ended with him recognizing Huang Sheng at Xu's Clinic.

• Zhong Lin reviewed his max-level skills, practiced the Wind Breaking Saber Technique, and decided he could teach the Black Tiger Fist to Little Shi.
• Zhong Lin noticed that refugees had become more numerous in Black Mountain County and learned from Butcher Liang that meat and rice prices had risen sharply.
• Zhong Lin found coarse rice selling for twelve Big Coins per jin and suspected that serious trouble was brewing amid the worsening drought.
• Huang Sheng demanded a twenty-percent increase in the Black Water Gang's protection fee from Xu Lewu, who reluctantly paid.
• Zhong Lin entered Xu's Clinic after Huang Sheng left and identified him as Huang Sheng of the Black Water Gang.

Zhong Lin and Doctor Xu saw Huang Sheng and the Black Water Gang beat Old Wang Tou and his son over protection money, and Zhong Lin’s yamen position made Huang Sheng retreat. Zhong Lin then proposed that he and Doctor Xu sell Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup in the Black Market, though Doctor Xu balked at splitting the profits evenly.

• Doctor Xu told Zhong Lin that the Black Water Gang had raised its cut of merchants’ profits, and Zhong Lin confirmed that the medicine he bought worked well despite its high price.
• Huang Sheng’s thugs beat Old Wang Tou and his son for resisting the gang’s demands, and Doctor Xu stepped in to stop them.
• Doctor Xu drew Huang Sheng’s attention to Zhong Lin, and Huang Sheng left after recognizing the yamen painter who had killed Chi Yan.
• Zhong Lin confronted Doctor Xu for using him to intervene, then asked whether Doctor Xu wanted to make money.
• Zhong Lin suggested selling Doctor Xu’s Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup in the Black Market and proposed a fifty-fifty split, but Doctor Xu objected to the terms.

Zhong Lin arranged with Xu Lewu to buy medicinal packets for resale at the Black Market, then used his System to master Treatise on Cold Damage and began studying another medical book. After identifying ingredients in the medicine, Zhong Lin left town at night for the Black Market, where the familiar gatekeeper was impressed by his Ghost Head Saber.

• Zhong Lin negotiated with Xu Lewu to buy each packet of medicine for two taels, with Xu Lewu making ten packets that day and planning to make thirty daily.
• While waiting, Zhong Lin read Treatise on Cold Damage, then used his System to raise the skill to max level and absorb decades of medical knowledge.
• Zhong Lin borrowed Materia Medica Primer, returned home, and spent the evening with Little Shi before continuing to study.
• Zhong Lin sampled the Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup and identified nine of its ingredients.
• At the hour of Xu, Zhong Lin left town armed and disguised, and the Black Market gatekeeper recognized him and reacted to his Ghost Head Saber.

Zhong Lin sold his Eight Treasures Blood Replenishment Powder at the Black Market and learned from Old Zhou that drought, refugees, and rebellion were bringing chaos closer to Black Mountain County. He spent the following days buying pills and grain while preparing a shelter for himself and Little Shi.

• Zhong Lin sold all ten packets of medicine to a monkey-masked man for fifty taels of silver, then used twenty taels to buy two Blood Replenishment Pills from Xu Lewu.
• Zhong Lin gave Xu Lewu his share of the sale and borrowed another medical book before asking Old Zhou about the growing number of refugees and rising grain prices.
• Old Zhou told Zhong Lin that a severe drought and gathering bandits had destabilized the outside world and warned him to stockpile grain before the County Magistrate returned to conscript soldiers.
• Zhong Lin practiced martial arts after hearing the news, using a Blood Replenishment Pill and feeling his body grow stronger.
• Over the next few days, Zhong Lin sold medicine at the Black Market, bought pills and grain, and expanded the cellar into a shelter where he and Little Shi could hide for about a month.

Zhong Lin completed the Eighth Rank Tendons Transformation Realm after seven days of training, then returned to the Black Market to sell his Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup. As he left, two groups that had been watching his thriving business followed him, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Zhong Lin completed the Eighth Rank Tendons Transformation Realm and estimated that he had gained five hundred jin of strength.
• Zhong Lin lamented the cost of the Blood Replenishment Pills, packed thirty portions of Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup, and went to the Black Market.
• The Skinny Monkey tried to sell Zhong Lin a book of miscellaneous arts, but Zhong Lin sent him away.
• Zhong Lin sold all thirty portions of soup and noticed someone watching him from afar.
• Zhong Lin left the Black Market, and onlookers identified two groups following him: the Black Tiger Gang led by Dong Yan and a group brought by Skinny Monkey.