Chapter Summaries

Lei Ruiyang grew furious after Xiao Changming warned him that Chen Shouyi might now be a Martial Master, while Chen Shouyi discovered his front tooth had fallen out. He left Chen Xingyue convinced she was not ready to take the martial artist examination, but she noticed his missing tooth and asked what had happened.

• Xiao Changming warned Lei Ruiyang that Chen Shouyi had been Jiangnan Province’s strongest person before taking divine blood and might now be a Martial Master.
• Chen Shouyi found his front tooth loose while brushing, pulled it out, and hid the gap from Chen Xingyue at breakfast.
• Chen Xingyue told Chen Shouyi she wanted to take the martial artist examination, but he refused and questioned her training and combat experience.
• Chen Shouyi challenged Chen Xingyue to withstand one move and demonstrated his speed with a chopstick, stopping it just short of her throat.
• Chen Xingyue laughed at Chen Shouyi’s missing front tooth and asked what had happened to it.

After Chen Shouyi’s front tooth fell out, a dentist discovered a new tooth growing in its place and suspected his Natural Healing ability was regrowing it. By the end of the day, another tooth had loosened and Chen Shouyi decided not to speak until his teeth grew back.

• Chen Xingyue teased Chen Shouyi about his missing front tooth, and he rode to the hospital hoping to have it replanted.
• A dentist found a new tooth growing in Chen Shouyi’s gum and told him to return in three days for observation instead of getting an implant.
• Chen Shouyi wondered whether his Natural Healing ability was restoring his tooth and resolved to keep a low profile while it grew back.
• Shell Girl noticed the gap in Chen Shouyi’s teeth, and he praised her own teeth while training outside the safe zone.
• At home, Chen Shouyi hid the new tooth from his family, then discovered his other front tooth was loose and pulled it out.
• Seeing the enlarged gap in the mirror, Chen Shouyi decided not to speak until all his teeth had grown back.

After enduring the loss of all his teeth, Chen Shouyi learned that he had missed mandatory military training and might be punished after someone arranged for him not to receive notice. He accepted the possibility of a penalty, though he remained angry at Lei Ruiyang, and ended the night caring for the exhausted Shell Girl.

• Chen Shouyi checked his Status Panel and found that his attributes had improved and his Archery skill had reached Mastery.
• Bai Xiaoling told Chen Shouyi that military training had begun two days earlier and that his absence might bring an official warning or worse.
• Chen Shouyi realized Lei Ruiyang had likely arranged for him to miss the training notice, but he told Bai Xiaoling not to trouble herself trying to overturn a possible punishment.
• Chen Shouyi privately vowed that he would not tolerate another underhanded move from Lei Ruiyang.
• Chen Shouyi gave Shell Girl honey mixed with hot water, and she fell asleep on his bed.

After receiving a mild penalty for skipping military training, Chen Shouyi warned Martial Arts Academy students away from the dangerous God Corpse site. While training, he realized his body could not withstand the force of his own attacks and decided to develop a way to strengthen it.

• Chen Shouyi received a warning and a deduction from his salary for evading military training, then teased Chen Xingyue about the notice.
• Chen Shouyi bought a hundred buns and saw Martial Arts Academy students touring the God Corpse site, so he warned them to stay away.
• The students dismissed Chen Shouyi's warning, though the class monitor felt uneasy about the boys who had crossed the cordon.
• Chen Shouyi trained by striking a pine tree and recalled that his feet had been injured during his fight with Lei Ruiyang and Xiao Changming.
• Chen Shouyi realized his body was fragile compared with his attacks and decided to use the Book of Knowledge to develop a body-strengthening skill.

Chen Shouyi experimented with toughening his body through repeated injury and healing, then searched for traditional martial arts books to help improve his defenses. He left Jiangnan University with twelve books borrowed through Guan Miao and planned to return them the next day.

• Chen Shouyi punched a tree until it fell, then found that Natural Healing had repaired his fist with slightly tougher skin.
• Chen Shouyi tried punching a second tree with greater force but stopped after nearly breaking his bones, and his practice added a Hand-to-Hand Combat skill.
• Chen Shouyi searched a bookstore for traditional body-conditioning methods, found nothing useful, and decided to seek books at Jiangnan University.
• Chen Shouyi asked Guan Miao to borrow books on traditional martial arts, and she agreed to obtain twelve despite his request for at least a hundred.
• Guan Miao brought Chen Shouyi twelve books on defensive training, and he said he would return them the next day.

Chen Shouyi studied hardening techniques and used the Book of Knowledge to combine and optimize the Thirteen Protectors Horizontal Training Skill with the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms. He created the Thirty-Six Forms of Hardening, practiced it to Proficient: 15, and discovered that his skin had become tougher.

• Chen Shouyi gave Shell Girl glass marbles to play with, then read books about hardening techniques in his bedroom.
• Chen Shouyi persuaded Chen Xingyue to bring him dinner by offering her a thousand in pocket money.
• Chen Shouyi practiced the Thirteen Protectors Horizontal Training Skill until it appeared on his Status Panel, then spent an energy point to optimize it.
• The Book of Knowledge merged the Thirteen Protectors Horizontal Training Skill and the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms into an unnamed technique, which Chen Shouyi named Thirty-Six Forms of Hardening.
• Chen Shouyi practiced the new technique fifteen times, reached Proficient: 15, and found that scratching his arm left bloody marks.

Police investigated a gruesome dormitory massacre, while Chen Shouyi continued training his body to withstand blows. After four days, he enlisted Chen Xingyue to strike him with an iron bar, and they returned home to find Bai Xiaoling waiting.

• Police questioned students at Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy after finding a dormitory full of dismembered remains, and an officer reported bite marks on the bones.
• Chen Shouyi repeatedly battered himself against trees, sensing that his muscles were growing stronger through the combined training methods.
• Over four days, Chen Shouyi's physique and agility improved, and he began using Chen Xingyue's iron bar to train his resistance to blows.
• Chen Xingyue struck Chen Shouyi across his body, eventually hitting hard enough to fracture bones that he endured as they healed.
• Chen Shouyi and Chen Xingyue rode back to the safe zone and found Bai Xiaoling sitting in their living room.

Chen Shouyi joined the investigation into a mysterious killer that had silently killed twenty-six people at Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy, including a Great Martial Artist. The students and teachers were gathered on the athletic field under guard, and Chen Shouyi surveyed the grounds as rain threatened.

• Bai Xiaoling told Chen Shouyi that a concealed, humanlike creature had killed twenty-six people at Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy, including a Great Martial Artist.
• Chen Shouyi and Bai Xiaoling rode to the academy, which soldiers had sealed off while police and troops searched for the killer.
• Chen Shouyi joined the joint command center, where Xiao Changming and two military Great Martial Artists had arrived, and learned that the students and teachers were being kept together as a mobile force protected them.
• After dinner, Chen Shouyi noticed thunder and damp air, then went to the athletic field and surveyed the gathered crowd and its surroundings before returning to the administration building.

Chen Shouyi learned that students had seen a missing classmate who appeared bloodied and swollen before he vanished, and he suspected his own strange visions were connected. A storm and a clash between students and soldiers disrupted the operation, while Chen Shouyi's argument with a military Great Martial Artist ended just as reality briefly blurred around him.

• Xiao Changming told Chen Shouyi that students had repeatedly seen a missing classmate sitting in class, soaked in blood with a swollen abdomen, before he abruptly vanished.
• Heavy rain drenched the students and soldiers, and an argument over shelter escalated into a student-led charge through the soldiers' line.
• Xiao Changming cursed as the chaos threatened the effort to capture the man-eating demon, while the fleshy-faced military Great Martial Artist accused Chen Shouyi of avoiding the fight.
• Chen Shouyi and the fleshy-faced military Great Martial Artist exchanged insults until Xiao Changming told them to stop.
• Chen Shouyi noticed reality blur briefly as students rushed past, then the scenery seemed to return to normal.

Chen Shouyi discovered that a black-qi-wreathed figure was using an illusion to deceive him and the others, then fought to keep it from killing Xiao Changming and Wang Yue. The illusion collapsed, revealing the soldiers and gunfire around them, while the attacker escaped and Wang Yue survived.

• Chen Shouyi realized the rain-soaked surroundings had become eerily silent as the students vanished, and the group prepared for an unseen threat.
• A dark-faced Great Martial Artist went to investigate the footsteps, then returned acting strangely; Chen Shouyi saw through the illusion and recognized a demonic young man in his place.
• Chen Shouyi struck at the impostor, but it vanished; he warned Xiao Changming and Wang Yue that Liu Zhen had disappeared and that their vision was being deceived.
• The attacker vanished again, and Chen Shouyi discovered that Wang Yue had also gone missing as the illusion began to collapse.
• The illusion faded, the soldiers and gunfire reappeared, and Chen Shouyi found a skeletonized corpse nearby while Wang Yue lay alive and unconscious.
• Xiao Changming woke Wang Yue, who was bewildered and could not remember what had happened.

Chen Shouyi confronted the illusion-wielding monster as it attacked soldiers on the school grounds. He trapped and killed it, then left after assuring Xiao Changming that his injuries were minor.

• The monster broke through the gunfire and killed several soldiers while its illusion caused others to mistake allies for enemies.
• Chen Shouyi told the group to spread out, but the monster charged directly at him and blinded his senses with an illusion.
• After realizing the monster was agile but weaker than he was, Chen Shouyi let it wound him until he could seize its claws and restrain it.
• Chen Shouyi slammed the monster into the ground repeatedly, killing it and breaking the illusion.
• Chen Shouyi accepted a cigarette from Wang Yue, told Xiao Changming he was only lightly injured, and left for the leaders to be informed he had gone ahead.

After surviving a poisoned creature’s attack, Chen Shouyi made it home, recovered through food and sleep, and found that Shell Girl had become trapped in a wardrobe drawer. The chapter left him comforting her after her failed attempt to organize her clothes.

• Chen Shouyi pushed his bicycle home in the rain, expelled the monster’s toxins, and healed his wounds on the way.
• Chen Shouyi returned home, reassured his waiting family, ate a large meal, and went to sleep after feeding Shell Girl honey.
• Shell Girl explored the wardrobe and climbed into a drawer to organize her clothes.
• Chen Shouyi woke the next morning feeling stronger and noticed that Shell Girl was missing.
• Chen Shouyi found Shell Girl crying in the drawer, where she had become trapped.

Chen Shouyi discovered that his new teeth had grown in unusually strong and numerous, while the authorities began reconsidering his status after his battle against the monster. He left his family wondering about his rising benefits and persuaded Chen Xingyue to practice with him for a hundred yuan.

• Chen Shouyi rescued Shell Girl from a drawer and promised her a large gem in exchange for her tears.
• After practicing the Thirty-Six Forms of Hardening, Chen Shouyi noticed his physique and agility had improved and found that he had grown forty unusual teeth.
• Chen Xingyue questioned Chen Shouyi about no longer wearing a mask, and he told her his teeth had healed.
• A senior deputy mayor visited Chen Shouyi, hinting that the authorities would lift his punishment and raise his benefits after his victory over the monster.
• Chen Xingyue asked about the benefits, and Chen Shouyi dodged her questions by offering to pay her to practice with him.

Chen Shouyi set out from Hedong to find out what had happened to his uncle’s family in Dongning, but learned the railway to the city had been cut and the military had withdrawn. He reached nearby Dongxing and prepared to continue his search despite the danger.

• Chen Dawei worried about his brother’s family, and Chen Shouyi volunteered to travel to Dongning; Chen Dawei agreed and urged him to bring the family back if necessary.
• Chen Shouyi traveled to Hedong’s train station, where he learned trains to Dongning had stopped and bought a ticket to Dongxing instead.
• Chen Shouyi caught a pickpocket trying to steal his wallet and reclaimed it before boarding the train.
• Chen Shouyi learned from two sisters that cultists had torn up roads and railway tracks around Dongning and that the military had withdrawn from the city.
• Chen Shouyi shared boxed meals with the sisters during the journey, then arrived at Dongxing East Station and said goodbye to them.

Chen Shouyi traveled from Dongxing toward Dongning despite warnings that the city was sealed off by the military. He reached a guarded checkpoint, where soldiers verified his credentials but refused to let him enter.

• Chen Shouyi bought a map and learned that the military had surrounded and sealed off Dongning.
• He bought a bicycle in Dongxing and rode toward Dongning, spotting military airships near the border.
• His bicycle chain snapped, and he damaged the bicycle further before continuing on foot.
• Chen Shouyi passed through an abandoned town and checked that Shell Girl was still asleep in his backpack.
• At the Dongning checkpoint, soldiers verified Chen Shouyi’s certificates but ordered him to turn back.

Chen Shouyi bypassed the military blockade and reached the outskirts of Dongning City, where he discovered that the Guardian Team had taken control of the city in the name of the God of Hunting. After interrogating the group's leader, Chen killed him and continued toward his hometown.

• Chen Shouyi evaded the sentry posts surrounding Dongning City by racing across a field ridge, while Shell Girl mistook the ride in his briefcase for an earthquake.
• Chen Shouyi reached the outskirts of Dongning and saw signs of fighting along the road before rejoicing at his return home.
• Shell Girl warned Chen Shouyi that someone was approaching, and a group of six armed men charged at him.
• Chen Shouyi quickly knocked down all six attackers and forced their leader to explain that they belonged to the Guardian Team, which patrolled for the church of the God of Hunting.
• The leader claimed that all of Dongning belonged to the Guardian Team, and Chen Shouyi turned back and killed him with a punch to the head.

Chen Shouyi crossed a city controlled by the God of Hunting’s church and reached his uncle’s home, where he learned that his uncle had been killed and his aunt and cousin were being persecuted. He ended the chapter enraged by what had happened to his family.

• Chen Shouyi avoided church patrols and saw a statue of the God of Hunting, whose supernatural presence briefly overwhelmed his senses.
• Chen Shouyi crossed Dongning under curfew and climbed through a fifth-floor window to enter his uncle’s home.
• Chen Yuwei recognized Chen Shouyi after he startled her, and she told him Dongning was dangerous.
• Chen Shouyi’s aunt explained that the God of Hunting had destroyed the army, the church had taken control, and his uncle had been sacrificed after cursing a church official.
• Chen Shouyi’s aunt said the family had been blacklisted and that she and Chen Yuwei were repeatedly denounced; Chen Shouyi smashed the table in fury.

Chen Shouyi tried to take Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei out of the heretic-controlled building, but a neighbor raised the alarm and drew residents against them. He killed the informant and a crowd of attackers, then prepared to escape with his family as the stairwell fell silent.

• Chen Shouyi told Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei to leave that night, warning them that the journey could be dangerous.
• A neighbor named Sister Liu overheard their plans and sounded the alarm, summoning believers to catch them.
• Chen Shouyi broke into Sister Liu’s apartment and killed her, then killed her husband when he charged at him with a kitchen knife.
• When residents confronted the group, Chen Shouyi warned them to return to their rooms and then attacked the crowd, killing more than a dozen people in seconds.
• A young man fired a pistol at Chen Shouyi, but the bullet failed to penetrate his body; Chen Shouyi killed the gunman and the man he threw at him.

Chen Shouyi fought his way out of the building with Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei as the God of Hunting Church’s followers surrounded them. He drove the mob into a panicked retreat, leaving a terrified young woman behind.

• Chen Shouyi gave Chen Yuwei the pistol he had taken from the dead old man, and the three descended through the bloodied stairwell.
• A Martial Apprentice ambushed them on the stairs, but Chen Shouyi caught his sword and killed him by driving its hilt through his chest.
• Outside, a woman alerted the approaching cultists, and Chen Shouyi killed her with a coin before sending Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei back into the stairwell for shelter.
• When the cultists urged one another to attack, Chen Shouyi drew his sword and killed more than a dozen people, causing the crowd to flee in terror.
• Chen Shouyi turned back and found a young woman alone on the ground, scrambling away from him in fear.

Chen Shouyi tried to get his aunt and cousin out of Dongning while the city’s hunters pursued him. After surviving a ranged ambush, he killed the attackers and continued onward with his relatives struggling to keep pace.

• Chen Shouyi assembled his War Bow and hurried toward the city’s exit with Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei as a warning firework signaled the intruder’s discovery.
• The Chief Priest ordered a powerful barbarian warrior to find Chen Shouyi and bring him in after dawn.
• Chen Shouyi shot a rifleman who aimed at the group, then let the man’s companions flee to conserve his arrows.
• A martial artist ambushed Chen Shouyi with an arrow, but he split it with his sword and charged the attackers.
• Chen Shouyi smashed the attackers’ boulder cover, killed one with his sword, and crushed the wounded survivor beneath his foot.