Chapter Summaries

As senior year began, Chen Shouyi wrestled with his uncertain future and his dim chances of becoming a martial artist. At lunch, he watched the talented Ding Liang arrive and was reminded how far he stood from his martial arts ambitions.

• Chen Shouyi boasted to Zhao Yifeng and Sun Xin that summer martial arts training had improved him, though his friends doubted he would pass the Martial Apprentice examination.
• Chen Shouyi paid tuition, traded his completed summer homework to Sun Xin for a meal, and reflected on his mediocre grades and unlikely prospects.
• Homeroom teacher Cao Lili warned the seniors that passing the college entrance examination was more reliable than pursuing the difficult path to the Martial Arts Academy, leaving Chen Shouyi unsure which future to pursue.
• Chen Shouyi ate lunch with Sun Xin and Zhao Yifeng, defended his sister Chen Xingyue from Zhao Yifeng’s interest, and explained that she was competing in a district high school martial arts tournament.
• Ding Liang entered the dining hall, drawing admiration for his muscles and his success in passing the Martial Apprentice examination, while Chen Shouyi watched enviously and Zhao Yifeng reminded him that talent could not be envied into existence.

Chen Shouyi returned home, learned that his younger sister Chen Xingyue had earned a guaranteed place at Capital Martial Arts Academy, and retreated to his room with his wounded hand and bruised pride. He examined the mysterious Rotten Plank he had found at a demolition site, wishing it still had supernatural power.

• Chen Shouyi helped prepare fish at his family's restaurant, cut his finger, and went upstairs to bandage it.
• Chen Xingyue told Chen Shouyi she was one of her school's guaranteed admissions to Capital Martial Arts Academy and expected to pass the Martial Apprentice examination soon.
• Chen Shouyi felt humiliated by his sister's success, left dinner for his bedroom, and failed to concentrate on studying.
• Chen Shouyi took the Rotten Plank from his display cabinet and studied the mysterious images and divine emblems carved into it.

Chen Shouyi discovered that the wooden board was a transformed Divine Artifact called the Book of Knowledge, which recorded his memories and knowledge. He used its ability to optimize the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms, then began to hear a distant voice as the strange space shook.

• Chen Shouyi’s blood touched the wooden board, which vanished as he collapsed unconscious.
• Chen Shouyi awoke in a mist-filled space and discovered a small tree whose leaves held his memories and whose fruits represented his knowledge.
• Chen Shouyi learned that the tree was the Book of Knowledge, a Divine Artifact that had adapted to Earth’s rules and could optimize knowledge.
• Chen Shouyi examined the Book’s record of his abilities and chose to optimize the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms.
• Chen Shouyi experienced himself practicing the forms repeatedly in a dreamlike haze and woke with every detail clear in his memory.
• The mist-filled space began to shake, and Chen Shouyi heard a distant, hollow voice.

Chen Shouyi practiced the Forward Lunge Stab and steadily improved his attributes and swordsmanship. After overcoming his fear of performing in public, he impressed his classmates with a powerful demonstration and began to believe he could enter the Martial Arts Academy.

• Chen Shouyi struggled to apply the Martial Arts Teacher’s muscle memory while practicing the Forward Lunge Stab, then grew stronger over the following days.
• The Martial Arts Teacher praised Chen Shouyi’s technique and asked him to demonstrate it to the class, making him anxious and self-conscious.
• Chen Shouyi talked himself into facing the class, overcame his hesitation, and performed a thrust that struck the model hard enough to send it sliding nearly half a meter.
• Classmates, including Huang Kai, gathered around Chen Shouyi to praise him and ask for training advice, and he enjoyed being noticed.
• Sun Xin told Chen Shouyi not to forget him when he succeeded, and Chen Shouyi was surprised that his friend believed he could enter the Martial Arts Academy.

Chen Shouyi discovered that his Will had risen and asked his parents to let him attend a Martial Arts Cram Class. He demonstrated his Forward Lunge Stab with a chopstick and unexpectedly drove it halfway into a tiled wall.

• Chen Shouyi saw that his Will had reached 11 and decided he wanted to learn another basic sword technique.
• Chen Shouyi watched a report about a wounded Fierce Bird that had attacked people in nearby Ningzhou City.
• Chen Shouyi told his parents he wanted to attend a Martial Arts Cram Class, but Mother Chen worried it would distract him from school.
• Chen Shouyi insisted that he had improved and showed his parents his Forward Lunge Stab using a chopstick.
• Chen Shouyi accidentally stabbed the chopstick halfway into the tiled wall, astonishing himself and his parents.

After Chen Shouyi’s Forward Lunge Stab accidentally pierced a dining-room wall, his parents agreed to fund an advanced swordsmanship class. He spent his accumulated energy improving Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self and awakened to a detailed perception of his body in a dream.

• Chen Xingyue questioned Chen Shouyi about the chopstick lodged in the wall, and Chen Dawei offered to pay for his martial arts class.
• Chen Shouyi asked Mother Chen for seven thousand to attend an Advanced Swordsmanship Class, and she agreed while cutting off his pocket money for the rest of the month.
• Chen Shouyi checked his Book of Knowledge, reviewed his improved martial arts skills, and chose to enhance Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self because he lacked energy to improve the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms again.
• Chen Shouyi entered a dream in which repeated practice calmed his mind and let him perceive his muscles, blood vessels, nerves, organs, bones, and spine.

Chen Shouyi explored the effects of his optimized Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self and visited a swordsmanship cram class to learn more about martial arts. After watching the instructor demonstrate several sword slashes and Basic Footwork, he eagerly looked forward to training.

• Chen Shouyi practiced Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self for the first time and was surprised that he could sense his entire lower body.
• Chen Shouyi tested Forward Lunge Stab with his Wood Sword, then continued practicing before bed.
• Chen Shouyi visited the Youth Martial Arts Training Center and asked to sign up for the swordsmanship cram class.
• The instructor explained the strength-enhancing techniques behind Version 50 Swordsmanship and demonstrated several types of slash.
• Chen Shouyi watched the instructor use Basic Footwork and was impressed by the power and speed of her movements.

Chen Shouyi enrolled in Teacher Wang’s Advanced Swordsmanship Class and unexpectedly met his old friend Guo Qianqian with her boyfriend. After returning home, he used the Memory Leaf to study Teacher Wang’s movements and mastered the sword slash by evening.

• Teacher Wang assessed Chen Shouyi’s Forward Lunge Stab, praised his foundation, and enrolled him in her Advanced Swordsmanship Class for eight thousand yuan per term.
• Chen Shouyi ran into his elementary-school friend Guo Qianqian, who introduced him to her boyfriend, Lin Feng, and invited him to join them for pizza.
• Chen Shouyi declined the invitation, returned home, and told Mother Chen that his class would begin the next afternoon.
• Chen Shouyi entered the Gray Mist Space and replayed the morning lesson, studying Teacher Wang before experiencing her movements through the Memory Space.
• Chen Shouyi practiced the Immovable Slash, Small Step Slash, and Large Step Slash throughout the afternoon and finally grasped the slash technique.

Chen Shouyi trained in swordsmanship and saw his physical attributes continue to rise, while preparing for the Martial Apprentice assessment and his upcoming school exam. As reports of deadly Otherworld incursions spread, he worried about the danger beyond his own progress.

• Chen Shouyi’s strength and physique each rose by 0.1, and he attended an advanced swordsmanship class where the tutor stressed mastering a few techniques and Basic Footwork.
• Chen Shouyi told Sun Xin and Wang Dage that he had studied for the exam but still fell short of the Martial Apprentice physical standard, despite his rapid training gains.
• Chen Shouyi reflected that his schoolwork had become a habit and that Zhao Yifeng had grown distant from him.
• Chen Shouyi saw a fighter jet overhead and recalled news of repeated Otherworld incursions, including a massacre of more than a thousand people by barbarian infiltrators.

Chen Shouyi accompanied his younger sister, Chen Xingyue, to the Martial Arts Assessment Center for her apprentice assessment. While she waited with her friends, she revealed that her brother attended No. 5 High School and worked hard despite his poor grades.

• Chen Shouyi overheard Chen Xingyue tell their parents she planned to take the Martial Arts Assessment, and Mother Chen arranged for him to accompany her.
• Chen Xingyue criticized Chen Shouyi’s casual clothes and chose a more suitable outfit for him to wear to the assessment center.
• Chen Shouyi and Chen Xingyue met her friends Lu Shuyuan and Zhang Qianru outside the center, where his awkward greeting made the girls giggle.
• Chen Shouyi joined the assessment line while Chen Xingyue chatted with her friends, who asked about her brother’s school and abilities.
• Chen Xingyue told Lu Shuyuan and Zhang Qianru that Chen Shouyi attended No. 5 High School, had poor grades, and studied late every day.

Chen Xingyue discovered that Lu Shuyuan believed Chen Shouyi was a skilled martial artist, and the realization left her uncertain about how well she knew her brother. After passing the physical and archery tests, she grew anxious as she watched several candidates fail the Cold Weapon Combat assessment.

• Lu Shuyuan pointed out signs of martial arts training in Chen Shouyi, and Chen Xingyue reconsidered the wooden chopstick embedded in the wall.
• Chen Xingyue passed the physical tests and archery event, while Chen Shouyi offered encouragement and Lu Shuyuan and Zhang Qianru kept him company.
• Chen Xingyue went to the Cold Weapon Combat arena after resting, where she watched a candidate narrowly avoid a wooden sword strike but fail the assessment.
• Several more candidates failed the combat test, and Chen Shouyi noticed Chen Xingyue gripping her hand so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.

Chen Xingyue passed her martial arts assessment with a precise attack, and Chen Shouyi later explained his improved method for Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self. He concealed the Book of Knowledge and left his sister doubtful about his claim that his skill came from natural talent.

• Chen Shouyi watched Chen Xingyue evade the Robot's spear and sword, reach its blind spot, and destroy it with a strike, passing her assessment.
• Chen Xingyue celebrated with her friends and family, while Chen Shouyi declined to exchange WeChat details with her friends.
• After lunch, Chen Xingyue asked Chen Shouyi whether he had become a Martial Apprentice or refined all the muscles in his body.
• Chen Shouyi told Chen Xingyue he had discovered a trick for Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self and explained how to guide the subconscious to sense the body's outline.
• Chen Shouyi claimed he had been born able to control his subconscious, and Chen Xingyue left looking skeptical.

After Chen Xingyue celebrated passing the Martial Apprentice exam, Chen Shouyi impressed his classmates with his Basic Footwork at training. His first sparring match with the Beautiful Teacher ended in a rapid beating, but she taught him to hide his intentions, and he prepared to try again.

• Uncle Chen Dalong gave Chen Xingyue an Alloy Sword from Qi Wu Fang at a celebratory dinner, while Chen Shouyi felt happy for his sister.
• Chen Shouyi moved smoothly through the wooden stakes during Basic Footwork practice, earning praise from his classmates and concern from Lin Feng.
• The Beautiful Teacher paired Chen Shouyi with herself for sparring, then struck him repeatedly with her Long Sword before he could respond.
• The Beautiful Teacher explained that Chen Shouyi telegraphed his attacks by staring at his targets and told him to look ahead and use his peripheral vision.
• Chen Shouyi understood her advice and got ready to spar with her again.

After training, Chen Shouyi went to a bookstore to buy books about the Otherworld and ran into Zhang Xiaoyue. A disguised savage attacked the bookstore, and Chen Shouyi escaped with Zhang Xiaoyue as the savage burst through the wall after them.

• Chen Shouyi improved his swordsmanship during a lesson with the Beautiful Teacher, then left the Youth Martial Arts Training Center to buy books about the Otherworld.
• Chen Shouyi met Zhang Xiaoyue in the bookstore and talked with her about the Otherworld and his plans to prepare for the Martial Apprentice examination.
• A suspicious, exceptionally handsome man began stuffing books into a bundle, and Chen Shouyi sensed danger when a security guard approached him.
• The savage killed the security guard and attacked the crowd, so Chen Shouyi grabbed Zhang Xiaoyue and fled with her through the bookstore entrance.
• The savage blasted a hole through the bookstore wall and burst outside amid flying debris.

Chen Shouyi and Zhang Xiaoyue escaped a savage’s deadly attack at a bookstore, and Chen returned home shaken by the bloodshed. That evening, the news reported that the savage had been killed, but the battle had also claimed Zhou Shaofeng and three special police officers.

• Chen Shouyi watched a savage kill a middle-aged man who had challenged it, then fled with Zhang Xiaoyue as the savage escaped.
• Chen Shouyi escorted Zhang Xiaoyue to her community and reassured her before riding home.
• Mother Chen saw blood on Chen Shouyi’s clothes, heard what had happened, and made him pray after he changed.
• Chen Shouyi watched news footage reporting 135 deaths and 43 serious injuries from the bookstore attack.
• The news announced that special police and Martial Arts Association members had killed the savage in Yanghu Park, but Zhou Shaofeng and three special police officers had died.

Chen Shouyi entered the barbarian’s memory to experience its strength and witness the fatal blow from both sides, then faced exams and intervened when classmates attacked Zhao Yifeng. He left Zhao Yifeng’s fight unexplained as the injured student limped away.

• Chen Shouyi trained intensely, entered the barbarian’s body in a memory, and experienced its immense strength and sharpened senses.
• Chen Shouyi relived the middle-aged man’s death, then entered the barbarian’s body again and judged its crude fighting technique overwhelmed by its physical power.
• Chen Shouyi took his first monthly exams, struggled with several subjects, and spoke with Zhang Xiaoyue about their university plans.
• Chen Shouyi rushed in when three students beat Zhao Yifeng, knocked them down, and asked Zhao Yifeng why they had attacked him.
• Zhao Yifeng refused to explain and limped away while Chen Shouyi watched in silence.

Chen Shouyi followed the Book of Knowledge’s strange reaction to an unfinished building and discovered a Space Channel leading to the Otherworld. After crossing into it, he found the Book of Knowledge was transforming his body and raising his attributes.

• After leaving school with Zhang Xiaoyue, Chen Shouyi passed an unfinished building and noticed the Book of Knowledge flicker.
• Unable to sleep, Chen Shouyi returned to the building and followed the Book of Knowledge’s increasingly strong reaction into its underground parking lot.
• Chen Shouyi discovered a small Space Channel and cautiously tested it with a wooden stick before stepping through.
• Chen Shouyi emerged halfway up a mountain in the Otherworld, where he found the air and gravity initially difficult to endure.
• Chen Shouyi summoned the Book of Knowledge and saw that his attributes had risen, a Natural Healing talent had appeared, and his body was continuing to grow stronger.

After training in the threefold-gravity world, Chen Shouyi returned to Earth stronger and faster, but worried about whether to report the Space Channel. The next morning, he shed his old skin and, alarmed by his transformed appearance, jumped out of his bedroom window and slipped away from home.

• Chen Shouyi explored the deserted island, adjusted to his increased strength, and returned to Earth exhilarated by how light and fast he felt.
• Chen Shouyi discovered that his improved attributes and Beginner Self-Healing ability remained, then agonized over whether to report the Space Channel.
• Chen Shouyi's sister Chen Xingyue noticed him shedding skin, but he distracted her with a fabricated sunburn explanation and an embarrassing childhood story.
• Chen Shouyi peeled off the rest of his old skin and saw that his appearance had changed dramatically, leaving him worried about his family's reaction.
• Chen Shouyi jumped safely from his bedroom window and told Mother Chen he was going out with a classmate, leaving her puzzled when she realized he was already gone.

Chen Shouyi explored the other world and captured a tiny creature he found inside a colorful shell. He tried to keep the Shell Girl captive as he headed back toward the Space Channel, leaving her awake and furious in his palm.

• Chen Shouyi returned to the other world, practiced the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms, and explored the barren island.
• Chen Shouyi found a rainbow-colored shell on a boulder and discovered a tiny, humanlike Shell Girl inside it.
• Chen Shouyi poked the Shell Girl back into her shell, then caught her when she tried to fly away toward the sea.
• Chen Shouyi stuffed the Shell Girl into the shell, realized she had fainted, and tied one of her feet with a cord made from grass.
• The Shell Girl woke, tried to escape, and began angrily speaking to Chen Shouyi, who leaned closer to hear her before she spat at him.

Chen Shouyi discovered gold sand on the island and made Shell Girl gather it for him before leaving to eat and message Zhang Xiaoyue. He returned to find more gold beside Shell Girl and continued practicing as night fell, when a haunting song from the sea made the other world seem dangerous.

• Chen Shouyi practiced swordsmanship on the island, struggling with the other world's heavy gravity while Shell Girl repeatedly failed to escape her rope.
• Chen Shouyi noticed a golden grain of sand in Shell Girl's hands and realized it was gold; he frightened her into searching for more, and she collected eighteen grains before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Chen Shouyi left Shell Girl beside her shell, went outside to eat malatang, and exchanged dozens of messages with Zhang Xiaoyue.
• Chen Shouyi returned to find seven or eight more grains of gold beside Shell Girl, then walked around the island and resumed practicing swordsmanship.
• Night fell without stars or moon, and Chen Shouyi heard an eerie song drifting from the sea while Shell Girl hid inside her shell.