Chapter Summaries

After transmigrating into the dying body of a True Martial Temple disciple, Zhang Chu used a Merit System to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength and heal most of his wounds. He tested his newfound strength by effortlessly lifting a training stone lock.

• Zhang Chu recalled that the original owner had been ambushed by a masked man after suppressing bandits and had returned to the temple with a fatal chest injury.
• The Merit System appeared and showed Zhang Chu had 1,000 Merit Points and could strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength and True Martial Palm.
• Zhang Chu spent 100 Merit Points to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength to the second layer, easing his chest injury and raising his martial realm.
• Zhang Chu spent another 200 Merit Points to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength to the third layer, healing most of his injuries and greatly increasing his strength.
• Zhang Chu went to the training ground and lifted a massive stone lock with one hand.

Zhang Chu strengthened Yellow Court Inner Strength to the third layer, healed his internal injuries, and reached the peak of the First-rate Realm. He also strengthened the True Martial Palm and demonstrated its power, leaving him confident he could defeat the masked ambusher.

• Zhang Chu shattered a thousand-pound stone lock with the True Martial Palm and resolved to grow stronger after recalling the threat of the masked ambusher.
• Zhang Chu spent 500 Merit Points to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength to the third layer, healing his injuries and raising his cultivation to the peak of the First-rate Realm.
• Zhang Chu realized he had only 200 Merit Points left and spent 100 of them to strengthen the True Martial Palm.
• Zhang Chu absorbed memories of an elderly Daoist practicing the palm technique and comprehended the essence of its first form, Demon Purge.
• Zhang Chu struck down a century-old tree with the strengthened palm and declared he could kill the masked ambusher if they met again.

Zhang Chu learned that his junior brother Wang Yuan had gone missing while investigating disappearances at the northern docks, where even hired Patrol Guards had vanished. After hearing the Li Family controlled the docks, Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai went to question Steward Li, but Zhang Chu left the gatekeeper dead at the mansion entrance.

• Li Minghuai returned to the temple and warned Zhang Chu about suppressing bandits alone, then revealed that Wang Yuan had not returned from a disappearance investigation.
• Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai questioned Constable Zhang He, who told them strong young men and hired Patrol Guards had vanished at the northern docks and that the Sky Patrol Guard might be sent to investigate.
• Zhang Chu decided to ask the Li Family, which owned the northern docks, about Wang Yuan's disappearance despite Li Minghuai's warning about its ties to the Boat Gang.
• Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai went to the Li Mansion, where the gatekeeper mocked and threatened them.
• Zhang Chu kicked the gatekeeper into the mansion gates, killing him.

Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai confronted the Li Family over the disappearances at the northern docks, and Zhang Chu slaughtered the household servants who attacked them. Li Yuanhe agreed to lead them to the truth about Zhang Chu’s missing junior brother, but warned that learning it might bring regret.

• Zhang Chu killed a Li Family gatekeeper and earned 80 Merit Points, then revealed to Li Minghuai that he had broken through.
• Li Yuanhe ordered his servants to seize Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai and take them to a secret chamber, exposing the Li Family’s involvement in the dockside disappearances.
• Zhang Chu killed more than twenty servants, seized Li Yuanhe, and broke his arm while demanding to know where his junior brother was.
• Li Yuanhe offered a reward for Zhang Chu’s death, and Zhang Chu killed the servants who came after him, earning a surge of Merit Points.
• Li Minghuai punched Li Yuanhe and demanded the truth, so Li Yuanhe offered to lead them onward while warning them they might regret what they learned.

Zhang Chu and Li Minghuai followed Li Yuanhe into a secret tunnel beneath the Li Mansion and found Wang Yuan imprisoned there by Boat Gang agents. The two Second-rate masters moved to kill the intruders and relocate their captives, while Zhang Chu faced them without hesitation.

• Li Yuanhe opened the hidden entrance beneath the Li Mansion's rockery, and Zhang Chu warned him to keep his Junior Brother safe.
• Wang Yuan realized that Wang Ping and Zhang Ju were Boat Gang spies who had infiltrated the County Yamen Patrol Guards and were trafficking young men as Blood Food.
• Zhang Chu, Li Minghuai, and Li Yuanhe entered the tunnel, where Wang Yuan urged his Senior Brothers to flee from the two Second-rate masters.
• Wang Ping ordered Zhang Ju to kill the intruders and move the Blood Food, then attacked Zhang Chu with overwhelming force.

Zhang Chu defeated the bizarre Secret Envoys Wang Ping and Zhang Ju, killed the merchant Li Yuanhe, and earned a thousand Merit Points. After Zhang Chu asked about their wicked martial art, Li Minghuai recalled a story his master had heard about an incident fifty years earlier.

• Wang Ping attacked Zhang Chu with Flesh Power Fist, but Zhang Chu’s True Martial Palm sent him crashing into the wall.
• Li Minghuai recognized Zhang Chu’s Yellow Court Daoist charm and realized he had reached the First-rate Realm.
• Zhang Ju threw a Black Pellet to escape, but Zhang Chu scattered the smoke and shattered his body with a palm.
• Zhang Chu confirmed Wang Ping and Zhang Ju had died, earning 1,000 Merit Points, then killed Li Yuanhe and earned another 600.
• Li Minghuai searched Wang Ping’s remains, recognized the martial art, and recalled a story from fifty years earlier that a visiting martial uncle had told their master.

Zhang Chu and his fellow True Martial Temple disciples uncovered a Boat Gang connection to the Demonic Cult while rescuing captives from the Li Family estate. After the County Yamen arrived, Zhang He praised Zhang Chu’s strength and gave him money and a martial arts manual as the disciples headed back to the temple.

• Li Minghuai speculated that the Boat Gang had obtained the Flesh Dao Master’s demonic arts and was abducting young people as Blood Food.
• Zhang Chu, Li Minghuai, and Wang Yuan emerged from the underground passage and found the County Yamen surrounding the Li Family estate.
• Zhang He learned that Zhang Chu had killed all the armed men and arranged for the rescued captives to return home.
• Zhang He gave Zhang Chu a bundle containing at least two hundred taels of silver and a secret manual before the disciples departed.
• Zhang Chu inspected the manual and found that it was called Bitter Gourd Palm.

After returning to True Martial Temple, Zhang Chu chose to learn Bitter Gourd Palm and spent 1,000 Merit Points enhancing Yellow Court Inner Strength. The enhancement completed with his internal force surging, though he had not yet confirmed whether he had reached the Dark Strength Realm.

• Li Minghuai explained that Bitter Gourd Palm was an arduous Buddhist martial art designed to overcome suffering, while Zhang Chu decided its precision would complement True Martial Palm.
• Zhang Chu returned to True Martial Temple with Wang Yuan and checked his System Panel, which showed 4,500 Merit Points.
• Zhang Chu considered the strength of the Dark Strength Realm and decided to enhance Yellow Court Inner Strength to prepare for the Boat Gang and the masked assassins.
• Zhang Chu confirmed the enhancement, endured intense pain as his muscles and bones were reforged, and felt boundless internal force surge through his dantian.

Zhang Chu endured the painful strengthening of Yellow Court Inner Strength's fifth layer and broke through to the Dark Strength Realm. He then spent Merit Points strengthening True Martial Palm, learning its second move, Armor Shatter.

• Zhang Chu realized his inner strength had not yet become Gang Qi and reasoned that Yellow Court Inner Strength's fifth layer would bring him to the Dark Strength Realm.
• Zhang Chu used 2,000 Merit Points to strengthen the fifth layer, enduring agonizing bodily reconstruction as Gang Qi formed.
• Zhang Chu broke through to the Dark Strength Realm and found that he had 1,500 Merit Points remaining.
• Zhang Chu decided to strengthen his offensive techniques and spent 300 Merit Points on True Martial Palm's second layer.
• Zhang Chu learned True Martial Palm's second move, Armor Shatter, as silver radiance gathered around his palm.

Zhang Chu strengthened the True Martial Palm and unleashed its final move, Mountain Suppression, revealing power that shocked his senior brothers. As the brothers agreed to handle the temple’s affairs, Sky Patrol Guard Jin Mu arrived at the gates asking for Daoist Priest Zhang.

• Zhang Chu spent 1,200 Merit Points to strengthen the True Martial Palm and learned its final move, Mountain Suppression.
• Zhang Chu tested the technique, leaving a deep crater and startling the animals around Lu Daoist Temple.
• Li Minghuai and Wang Yuan rushed over, and Zhang Chu explained that his practice had caused the rumbling.
• Li Minghuai warned Wang Yuan to keep Zhang Chu’s strength secret, but Zhang Chu said he was not weaker than their master and that the temple’s losses would eventually be reclaimed.
• Li Minghuai and Wang Yuan agreed to manage the temple while Zhang Chu cultivated, then Sky Patrol Guard Jin Mu knocked and asked for Daoist Priest Zhang.

Jin Mu recruited Zhang Chu to help the Sky Patrol Guard attack the Boat Gang, whose leader Jin Kui was suspected of practicing the Refining Corpse Sect’s demonic arts. Zhang Chu joined the expedition for merit and payment, and the assembled fleet sailed toward the gang’s island.

• Jin Mu visited Zhang Chu at the Daoist temple and asked him to join an urgent operation against the Boat Gang.
• Jin Mu explained that Jin Kui had ties to the Refining Corpse Sect, and that imprisoned young men had vanished from the gang’s island while investigators disappeared or died.
• Zhang Chu agreed to join the attack, and Jin Mu promised him one thousand taels of patterned silver.
• The next morning, Zhang Chu met Jin Mu at the ferry dock, where soldiers and martial artists had gathered aboard boats requisitioned across Linjiang County.
• Jin Mu ordered the fleet to sail toward the Boat Gang’s island.

Zhang Chu joined the gathering aboard Jin Mu’s ship before the campaign against the Boat Gang, where Lu Feng accused him of deception and attacked him. Zhang Chu killed Lu Feng in one move, compelled the others to accept his actions, and the ship then reached the Boat Gang’s stronghold.

• Zhang Chu entered the ship’s cabin and greeted Situ Ying and Jiang Yourong.
• Lu Feng accused Zhang Chu of using an unknown evil art and misleading the group, then drew his saber and attacked him.
• Zhang Chu caught Lu Feng’s blade, lifted him by the neck, and killed him before throwing his body into the river.
• Zhang Chu asked the gathering to witness that Lu Feng had attacked him first, and Jin Mu and the others agreed that Lu Feng had brought his death upon himself.
• A yamen runner announced that the ship had arrived at the Boat Gang’s stronghold.

Jin Mu split the forces attacking the Boat Gang, and Zhang Chu’s group encountered the Lingnan Three Ghosts on River Island. Zhang Chu killed the Cook with ease and charged at the Beggar and the Actor.

• Jin Mu divided the assault force into two groups to surround the Boat Gang’s stronghold, and Zhang Chu joined Sun Sky Patrol Guard’s route.
• Zhang Chu sensed an ambush near a cliff, where the Lingnan Three Ghosts—the Beggar, the Cook, and the Actor—revealed themselves.
• Sun Youwei recognized the three criminals and warned the group, while the Actor identified her as Hundred Flowers Sword’s daughter.
• The Cook attacked Zhang Chu, but Zhang Chu seized him, demanded to know how many Demonic Cult members were on the island, and killed him with a palm strike.
• Zhang Chu gained 2,000 Merit Points and rushed toward the Beggar and the Actor.

Zhang Chu slaughtered the Lingnan Three Ghosts and more than a hundred Boat Gang disciples beneath the cliff, then learned that the Refining Corpse Sect was helping Jin Kui break through inside the main hall. He left the others to clean up and headed off to kill demons.

• Zhang Chu killed Cook with one palm, prompting Hong Shijie, Sun Youwei, and the Changle Gang Leader to marvel at his strength and say he could enter the Human Ranking.
• Beggar attacked Zhang Chu with his Hidden Snake Staff Technique, but Zhang Chu evaded him and broke all four of his limbs.
• Actor attacked Zhang Chu from behind, but his Body Protection Qi repelled her, and his Armor Shatter palm killed her.
• Zhang Chu used Mountain Suppression to kill more than a hundred Boat Gang disciples, earning enough Merit Points to approach ten thousand.
• Zhang Chu questioned Beggar, who revealed that the Refining Corpse Sect had brought two Silver Corpses to protect Jin Kui during his breakthrough in the main hall.
• Zhang Chu killed Beggar and told the others to clean up the scene while he went to kill demons.

Jin Mu and his allies fought the Refining Corpse Sect Expert and two silver corpses in the Boat Gang's central hall, but their assault collapsed when Jin Kui completed his breakthrough and killed the Old Monk. Jin Kui revealed that he had eaten the young men and Secret Agents for his breakthrough, just as an unidentified voice spoke from outside the hall.

• Jin Mu warned his team about the Blood Dissolving Gu while he and Guard Ma battled the silver corpses and the Refining Corpse Sect Expert.
• Guard Ma's bamboo hat was knocked off, revealing him as a bald old monk, and he attacked the Refining Corpse Sect Expert while Jiang Yourong, Situ Ying, and the Jade Fan Hall Master engaged the silver corpses.
• Jin Kui erupted from the rear of the hall with powerful Gang Qi, mortally wounding the Old Monk and sending Jin Mu and the others crashing to the ground.
• Jin Kui appeared as a mountain of flesh, claimed he had eaten two hundred young men and the Sky Patrol Guard Secret Agents, and advanced on the wounded survivors.
• An unidentified voice outside the door remarked on the corpses, Gu insects, Jin Kui, and the Demonic Cult's strange martial arts.

Zhang Chu confronted Jin Kui after Jin Kui broke through to the Dark Strength Realm and revealed that he had trained the Six Storehouse Scripture by eating his victims. Zhang Chu defeated him with the True Martial Third Style: Mountain Suppression, leaving Jin Kui motionless beneath a huge palm print.

• Jiang Yourong, Jin Mu, and Situ Ying urged Zhang Chu to flee while they tried to protect him from Jin Kui.
• Zhang Chu intercepted Jin Kui’s attack on Jin Mu and struck Jin Kui with True Martial Demon Purge, revealing that Zhang Chu was also in the Dark Strength Realm.
• Zhang Chu questioned Jin Kui about his fleshly technique, and Jin Kui identified it as the Six Storehouse Scripture and boasted that consuming people was a blessing for them.
• Zhang Chu launched Jin Kui through the Boat Gang’s buildings with Armor Shatter and found him among the corpses and bones in the back courtyard.
• Zhang Chu struck Jin Kui’s head with Mountain Suppression, collapsing the courtyard and killing him.

Zhang Chu killed Jin Kui and the remaining Silver Corpses, then learned that the dead Master Yuan Hui had the same knife scar as the murderer who killed the original Zhang Chu. He left the Refining Corpse Sect captive for questioning, while the scar raised a new clue about the original owner's murder.

• Zhang Chu crushed Jin Kui with a palm strike and gained more than twenty thousand Merit Points.
• Jin Mu and the others arrived, saw the devastation, and learned that Zhang Chu had killed Jin Kui almost instantly.
• Zhang Chu smashed the two Silver Corpses but gained no Merit Points from them.
• Jin Mu persuaded Zhang Chu to spare the unconscious Refining Corpse Sect member so they could question him about the sect's headquarters.
• Zhang Chu recognized the knife scar on Master Yuan Hui's right hand as identical to the scar on the original owner's murderer.

After discovering that Yuan Hui of Jinguang Temple had tried to assassinate him, Zhang Chu returned to True Martial Temple and strengthened his Yellow Court Inner Strength. He reached its sixth layer and resolved to keep advancing toward the True Gang Realm.

• Zhang Chu concealed that he recognized Yuan Hui as the assassin and left the island for True Martial Temple.
• Zhang Chu considered how the Boat Gang, Refining Corpse Sect, and Yuan Hui’s attack might fit into a larger conspiracy.
• Zhang Chu spent 5,000 Merit Points to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength to its sixth layer.
• Zhang Chu endured a painful reconstruction that strengthened his body and greatly increased his Gang Qi and physical power.
• Zhang Chu decided to spend his remaining Merit Points on another strengthening and pursue the True Gang Realm.

Zhang Chu used Merit Points to advance Yellow Court Inner Strength to its seventh layer and break through to the True Gang Realm. After testing his new strength, he decided to begin cultivating the Bitter Gourd Palm.

• Zhang Chu endured the scorching pain of the seventh-layer enhancement as sun essence remade his body and meridians.
• Zhang Chu converted all his inner strength into silver-white Gang Qi and reached the True Gang Realm.
• Zhang Chu tested his new toughness by striking his arm with a saber, which broke without leaving a mark.
• Zhang Chu tested his strength in the back mountain, lifting a massive boulder and shattering rock with his fist and palm.
• Zhang Chu noted that he had just over 1,200 Merit Points left and resolved to cultivate the Bitter Gourd Palm.

Zhang Chu returned to True Martial Temple as Lu Family Manor blockaded its gates to avenge Lu Chengfeng’s grandson, whom Zhang Chu had killed. Lu Chengfeng arrived and threatened the temple, but Zhang Chu faced him without fear and challenged his ability to kill him.

• Zhang Chu stopped cultivating the Bitter Gourd Palm after hearing Senior Brother Li Minghuai rebuke troublemakers at the temple gate.
• Lu Family Manor’s Lu Fang blockaded the temple and threatened Li Minghuai, while visitors learned Zhang Chu had killed Young Master Lu aboard a boat.
• Hong Shijie, Situ Ying, and Yu Mantang testified that Young Master Lu had started the fight, but Lu Fang rejected their pleas to negotiate.
• Lu Chengfeng arrived, drove back the witnesses with his power, and declared he would destroy True Martial Temple and kill its disciples.
• Zhang Chu came out to face Lu Chengfeng, dismissed his demand for an explanation, and asked whether he thought he could kill him.