Chapter Summaries

Yang Ling agreed to secretly investigate the Wangzhi Medicine Guild’s role in the refugees’ deaths after Zhao Zheng urged him to uncover the truth. He followed the Blood-Handed Scholar out of the city and crippled him at a mountain cabin, leaving the man shocked by Yang Ling’s strength.

• Yang Ling privately told Zhao Zheng about the fire oil leads, and Zhao Zheng explained the Wangzhi Medicine Guild’s powerful connections.
• Zhao Zheng ordered Yang Ling to investigate the deaths secretly, warning him not to expose their conversation; Yang Ling promised to handle the matter himself.
• At the Wangzhi Medicine Guild, the Purple-robed Elder gave the Blood-Handed Scholar a 300 Year Crimson Blood Vermilion Fruit and told him to leave for a while.
• Yang Ling followed the Blood-Handed Scholar from the city to a remote cabin, suspecting the man might lead him to Luo Kai.
• Yang Ling attacked and crippled the Blood-Handed Scholar, who recognized him and was stunned by his abilities.

Yang Ling killed the Blood-Handed Scholar after learning that the Wangzhi Medicine Guild and the Third Prince had arranged the refugee killings to target Zhao Chonghong. Kong Xinghu revealed his own involvement, and Yang Ling’s question about Luo Kai prompted him to launch an attack.

• Yang Ling ate the Blood-Handed Scholar’s 300 Year Crimson Blood Vermilion Fruit, then questioned him about the refugees’ deaths.
• The Blood-Handed Scholar said the Wangzhi Medicine Guild’s Head Shopkeeper hired him and revealed that the Third Prince had met with him before the job.
• Yang Ling suspected a link between the Third Prince, the Wangzhi Medicine Guild, and Luo Kai, then killed the Blood-Handed Scholar despite his offer to cooperate.
• Kong Xinghu appeared and admitted that he and the Third Prince had approved the plan to drive Zhao Chonghong from Xiangfeng Prefecture.
• Yang Ling asked Kong Xinghu whether he knew Luo Kai, and Kong Xinghu attacked him with the Heartbreak Palm.

Yang Ling defeated Kong Xinghu, took the Mysterious Phoenix Sword, and forced him to reveal what he knew about Luo Kai. Kong Xinghu identified Luo Kai as a disciple of both the Immortal God Cult Master and the Star Gazing Academy, whom he had met in the Capital.

• Yang Ling used the Vajra Mingwang Technique, Great Grade Azure Dragon Force, and Lingxu Step to evade Kong Xinghu and launch a barrage of attacks.
• Kong Xinghu repeatedly recovered from Yang Ling's internal attacks through his Minor Grandmaster gene mutation, but eventually lost control of his qi and blood.
• Yang Ling disarmed Kong Xinghu, took the Mysterious Phoenix Sword, and demanded to know Luo Kai's whereabouts.
• Kong Xinghu questioned Yang Ling's background and threatened him, but Yang Ling suggested he could escape to the Rong Tribe and revealed that he had a connection there.
• Kong Xinghu guessed that Yang Ling was from the Heavenly Wolf Guard and revealed that Luo Kai was a disciple of the Immortal God Cult Master and the Star Gazing Academy.

Yang Ling learned that Luo Kai was with the Rong Tribe and killed Kong Xinghu after Kong offered to join the Heavenly Wolf Guard. He buried the bodies, then reported the Blood-Handed Scholar sighting to Zhao Zheng, who sent him back to the blazing gold mine.

• Kong Xinghu told Yang Ling that Luo Kai had become the Star Gazing Academy head's disciple and explained the plan to remove Zhao Chonghong from Xiangfeng Prefecture.
• Yang Ling learned that Luo Kai was with the Rong Tribe, then killed Kong Xinghu when he asked to be introduced to the Rong Tribe's Heavenly Wolf Guard.
• Yang Ling took Kong Xinghu's self-repairing Star Gazing Kirin Vest and buried his body alongside the Blood-Handed Scholar's corpse.
• Yang Ling told Zhao Zheng that a man resembling the Blood-Handed Scholar had left the prefectural city, and Zhao Zheng ordered him to return to the blazing gold mine.

Yang Ling considered how to deal with Luo Kai and explored the updated White Bone Cave instance options, discovering he could select both a difficulty and random matchmaking. After returning to the mine, he learned that Cao Yunlong, a powerful grand eunuch, would arrive with the Third Prince and received a warning to avoid provoking him.

• Yang Ling concluded that catching Luo Kai would require overwhelming strength because Luo Kai had backing and was skilled at hiding.
• The Divine Realm announced selectable difficulty and random matchmaking modes for the White Bone Cave instance, with random matchmaking granting a one-grade rating increase.
• Yang Ling confirmed he could select both modes at once and considered exploiting the combination for better rewards.
• Players across Zhao State discussed the update, forming parties and weighing the risks of random matchmaking.
• Yang Ling reported what happened in Xiangfeng Prefecture to Xu Wuji, who warned him that Cao Yunlong was a stronger grand eunuch and ranked among the Directorate of Ceremonial's top three Fifth Rank grand eunuchs.
• Yang Ling asked to return to the mine, and Xu Wuji urged him to go work there before the Fourth Prince arrived to oversee the site.

After the Immortal God Cult attack, Yang Ling urged the miners to resist the cult without breaking Zhao State’s laws and discussed using random matchmaking to enter a harder Beginner White Bone Cave Instance together. As the instance opened, he suddenly told his companions to switch to B- difficulty, and some panicked players canceled their entry.

• Yang Ling reported that the Immortal God Cult’s attack had left 124 bodies, including an unknown number of players, and said he would not compromise with the cult.
• Yang Ling advised players to capture suspected cultists and hand them over to him, since killing them without evidence could bring trouble with Zhao State’s authorities.
• Yang Ling explained that the instance’s easier mode offered time to cultivate, while random matchmaking could improve ratings and rewards but carried risks.
• Yang Ling proposed that his companions select the same high difficulty as him so they might be matched together, and more than a dozen players agreed to join him.
• As the instance countdown reached thirty seconds, Yang Ling told the group to change their selected difficulty to B-, and some players canceled their entry in panic.

Yang Ling led a group of players through the Beginner White Bone Cave Instance at B- difficulty, assuring them he would handle the fighting. He instantly destroyed more than a hundred Skeleton Warriors with the Heaven Swallowing Golden Sword’s Blade Storm and leveled up to 87.

• A middle-aged player and his armed companions entered the Beginner White Bone Cave Instance and agreed to clear it before investigating their matchmaking.
• Lin Caiyi, Jiang Tian'ai, Zhang Shendao, Li Shou, Wu Xiaochen, Qin Mo, Chen Xu, Chen Guoqing, Li Tianye, Wang Xudong, Wei Ran, Zhang Wei, and Zhang Yan gathered with Yang Ling after trusting him to choose B- difficulty.
• Yang Ling confirmed that his equipment and bonuses worked in the instance, told the group to stay behind him, and reassured them he would fight alone.
• Over a hundred Skeleton Warriors assembled and charged the group, prompting Yang Ling to rush into their ranks with the Heaven Swallowing Golden Sword.
• Yang Ling activated Blade Storm and shattered all the Skeleton Warriors at once, reaching level 87 and concluding the skill could handle Upper Sixth Rank enemies, Lower Fifth Rank foes, and large groups.

Yang Ling led the Players through the White Bone Cave Instance and defeated the White Bone Daoist, completing its three-minor-stage mission with an S+ rating. The group received five White Bone Essence Pills as their reward.

• Yang Ling destroyed the Skeleton Warriors, inspiring the Players to pursue stronger Martial Way cultivation and clear the Instance.
• Yang Ling led the group to White Bone Cave, where he used two Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers to shatter the White Bone Daoist’s flying swords.
• Yang Ling walked through the White Bone Daoist’s Mental Power barrier and killed him with a palm strike.
• The game rated the completed mission S+ and awarded five White Bone Essence Pills.

Yang Ling led the group through the flooded passage to the final stage, where they faced the Bone Demon King. After everyone rejected the demon’s offer of mercy, it emerged in a much larger form than before.

• Yang Ling and the others received their trial rewards, and he promised Chen Guoqing and the other Iron Clothes Department members help obtaining stronger saber techniques.
• Yang Ling warned the group about the flooded passage and dangerous giant tilapia, and they agreed to enter the final stage together.
• The passage collapsed behind them as they swam through the rising water, and the group reached the pool and climbed ashore before the giant tilapia appeared.
• Yang Ling told everyone to reject the Bone Demon King’s offer to spare them if they knelt, and the group chose no.
• The Bone Demon King burst out of its coffin, appearing three and a half meters tall with 12,000 health points and the Bronze Wall Iron Barrier skill.

Yang Ling overwhelmed the Bone Demon King and destroyed all eighteen of his weak points, leaving the boss begging for mercy. After considering the chance of a hidden reward, Yang Ling and the others spared him, and the Bone Demon King led them toward the White Bone Dao Palace’s exclusive secret treasure.

• Yang Ling charged the Bone Demon King and dominated their fight, steadily reducing the boss’s health while the other players watched.
• When the Bone Demon King’s health fell below two thousand, Yang Ling told everyone to refuse the offer to end the instance early.
• Yang Ling destroyed all eighteen of the Bone Demon King’s weak points, after which the boss knelt and begged for mercy.
• Zhang Shendao suggested that sparing the Bone Demon King might unlock a hidden side quest or reward, and the group discussed the possibility.
• Yang Ling and the others chose to spare the Bone Demon King, who thanked them and offered the White Bone Dao Palace’s exclusive secret treasure.

Yang Ling entered the White Bone Dao Palace to claim its secret treasures and faced the White Bone Elder, whose strength forced him to retreat and fight at range. He countered the Elder’s flying sword with flying daggers and began landing Ice Blade strikes, leaving the battle unresolved.

• The Bone Demon King opened the White Bone Dao Palace and revealed that its Grand Elder guarded three secret treasures, triggering a hidden side quest.
• Yang Ling left Qin Mo and the others behind and followed the Bone Demon King into the palace, where the White Bone Elder attacked him with a flying sword.
• Yang Ling saw the White Bone Elder’s formidable attributes and fled the Elder’s attacks while weighing the cost of continually using Treading the Void.
• The White Bone Elder offered the group a chance to kneel and beg for mercy, but Yang Ling stood his ground and used flying daggers to block the sword.
• Yang Ling attacked with Ice Blade, freezing the White Bone Elder, who then used his agility to dodge.

Yang Ling overwhelmed the White Bone Elder with volleys of flying daggers and awakened Ice Blade force, sharply increasing their frost power. Just as Yang Ling prepared to finish the fight, the White Bone Elder stopped the daggers with a Mental Power barrier and challenged him to reveal his next move.

• Yang Ling attacked the White Bone Elder with rapid volleys of flying daggers, while Lin Caiyi and the others watched the palace hall collapse around them.
• Yang Ling blanketed the White Bone Elder’s escape routes, landing more daggers and gradually slowing him with frost as his health fell to half.
• Lin Caiyi and the others celebrated their likely victory, while Yang Ling continued attacking and unexpectedly comprehended Ice Blade force.
• Yang Ling’s strengthened frost attacks coated the White Bone Elder and the surrounding area in ice, slowing him further.
• The White Bone Elder stopped dodging and used an invisible Mental Power barrier to freeze Yang Ling’s incoming volley in midair, then pulled the daggers from his body and taunted him.

Yang Ling wore down White Bone Elder’s invisible barrier, then defeated him in close combat after his daggers finally broke through. White Bone Elder fell to his knees and begged for mercy, leaving Yang Ling to decide whether to spare him.

• White Bone Elder stopped Yang Ling’s flying daggers with an invisible barrier and ordered Bone Demon King to attack, but Yang Ling killed Bone Demon King with Ice Blades and leveled up.
• Yang Ling continued attacking as he deduced that White Bone Elder’s barrier consumed his mental power and steadily weakened.
• White Bone Elder offered Yang Ling one of three pill rewards, while the others received five Spirit Nurturing Pills; Yang Ling told them not to accept the reward yet.
• Yang Ling’s dagger finally pierced the barrier, and he charged White Bone Elder with his weapons and martial skills.
• Yang Ling overwhelmed White Bone Elder with a barrage of attacks until his health ran out, and White Bone Elder begged him to spare his life.

Yang Ling rejected the White Bone Elder’s plea for mercy, survived its devastating self-destruction, and chose qi-and-blood pills from the hidden rewards to speed his breakthrough. The other players also received valuable pills, including a Peiyuan Pill.

• Yang Ling rejected the White Bone Elder’s plea, triggering its Corpse Explosion Scorching Heaven attack, and fled with Zhang Shendao and the others.
• Yang Ling survived the blast with half his health remaining and realized how far he was from a grandmaster’s power.
• Lin Caiyi, Qin Mo, Zhang Shendao, and the others checked Yang Ling for injuries while Jiang Tian'ai secretly touched his hoe to boost her mining progress.
• Yang Ling chose two bottles of White Bone Qi and Blood Pills, each containing pills that increased qi and blood by 100 points.
• Zhang Shendao and the other players celebrated after receiving a Peiyuan Pill and ten Spirit Nurturing Pills.

After the group completed the Beginner White Bone Cave instance, Yang Ling received an SS- rating and chose White Bone Essence Pills, while his companions earned F+ ratings and weighed their reward options. After most chose Free Attribute Points on Yang Ling’s advice, he suddenly remembered his throwing knives and rushed back into the cavern.

• Zhang Shendao and the others celebrated the rewards they had already collected and tried to persuade Yang Ling to keep helping them in future instances.
• The game awarded Yang Ling an SS- rating, and he chose fifteen White Bone Essence Pills over forty Free Attribute Points.
• Lin Caiyi and the others received F+ ratings and could choose between Peiyuan Pills, Spirit Nurturing Pills, and Free Attribute Points.
• Yang Ling explained that Mental Power improved Internal Energy cultivation and martial-skill practice, and recommended Free Attribute Points for long-term gains.
• Lin Caiyi, Zhang Shendao, and most of the group chose Free Attribute Points, while a few chose Spirit Nurturing Pills.
• Yang Ling remembered his throwing knives and dashed toward the second cavern.

After recovering the surviving Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers from the White Bone Dao Palace’s destruction, Yang Ling discovered the fragments could be sold as valuable hundred refined blazing gold. He then cultivated with White Bone pills, advancing Divine Ape Visualization to Entering the Hall and Room and gaining the Object Control skill.

• Yang Ling’s companions left him to recover from the apparent loss of his flying daggers, while Qin Mo mistakenly thought he saw Yang Ling crying.
• Yang Ling recovered just over a thousand intact Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers and gathered the fragments, realizing the hundred refined blazing gold could make up for his losses.
• Yang Ling tried to enter the White Bone Dao Palace, but a notification said the hidden side quest was complete and an invisible wall blocked him.
• Yang Ling told his companions he had not cried and urged them to cultivate before swallowing twenty White Bone Qi and Blood Pills, raising his qi and blood to 13,800 points.
• Yang Ling consumed seventeen White Bone Essence Pills, advancing Divine Ape Visualization to Entering the Hall and Room and gaining 80 mental power and the Object Control skill.

Yang Ling tested the range, weight limit, and endurance of his new Object Control skill using flying daggers and other targets. He concluded that the skill worked best on inanimate objects and prepared to test how long he could control a single dagger.

• Yang Ling found that Object Control reached roughly 280 meters and lifted up to twenty-eight flying daggers, weighing two jin and eight taels in total.
• Yang Ling tried to lift Lin Caiyi with Object Control, causing her to feel an unexplained pinch and jump up in confusion.
• Yang Ling examined the Divine Ape Visualization skill and learned that its Supernatural Skill granted 120 Mental Power and included Divine Ape Spirit Body.
• Yang Ling tested Object Control on his palm and inside his nostril, but found that it could only affect the surface or extend a few centimeters into a narrow space.
• Yang Ling controlled twenty-eight flying daggers for about half an hour before feeling mentally fatigued, then practiced the Divine Ape Visualization to recover before testing a single dagger.

Yang Ling spent the month in the Beginner White Bone Cave Instance refining Peiyuan Pills and improving the Vajra Mingwang Technique while the others cultivated. Before the mission ended, he warned the group that Immortal God Cult followers might be among the players and told them what to say after they returned to the Blazing Gold Ore mine.

• Yang Ling tested the limits of controlling one flying dagger, took three White Bone Essence Pills, and increased the Heavenly Will True Scripture's experience points to 20,100.
• Yang Ling found a secluded ledge high above the Stone Cave and spent the month refining nine Peiyuan Pills to raise the Vajra Mingwang Technique's experience points to 25,630.
• Lin Caiyi, Zhang Shendao, Li Shou, and the others spotted Yang Ling cultivating on the cliff, and he later leaped down safely using his movement techniques.
• Yang Ling told the group that Immortal God Cult followers might be among the players at the Blazing Gold Ore mine and instructed them to claim they had failed at the first stage of the mission.
• The group returned to the Blazing Gold Ore mine, where less than a second had passed outside the instance.

Yang Ling mined blazing gold while fending off Li Fengxian’s recruitment offer, then learned that Kong Xinghu’s death had cost him control of the mine. Zhao Zheng ordered him to Xiangfeng Prefecture to investigate the murder, leaving Yang Ling tasked with investigating a crime he had committed himself.

• Yang Ling entered the mine and found blazing gold while players discussed instance rewards and recruitment.
• Li Fengxian offered Yang Ling a position in the Immortal God Cult and supplies, but Yang Ling refused and challenged him to come watch the Sixth Rank Top Hundred Battle.
• After several days of mining, Yang Ling reached level 89 and learned from Zhang Wei that the Third and Fourth Princes had arrived with troubling news.
• Zhao Zheng told Yang Ling that Kong Xinghu had been found dead and that Zhao Chonghong would take charge of the mine.
• Zhao Zheng ordered Yang Ling to Xiangfeng Prefecture to identify Kong Xinghu’s killer, and Zhao Fu accused Yang Ling of taking blazing gold ore.

Yang Ling left the Blazing Gold Ore mine with Zhao Zheng and learned new details about Kong Xinghu’s murder before returning to Xiangfeng Prefecture. There, he met Xu Wenjun, the powerful official assigned to oversee the case, who ignored him and rode into the Iron Clothes Department.

• Zhao Fu ordered Cao Yunlong to search Yang Ling for stolen blazing gold ore, but the search found nothing.
• Zhao Zheng told Yang Ling that Kong Xinghu had been found dead beside the Black List criminal Blood-Handed Scholar and that five Divine Soul Great Return Pills and five Great Evolution Blood Qi Pills were missing.
• Zhao Zheng said the emperor had assigned Xu Wenjun to lead the investigation, then returned to the Capital with Xu Wuji and Zhang Wei while Yang Ling stayed in Xiangfeng Prefecture.
• Yang Ling privately told Lin Caiyi and the others to remain at the mine, and he planned to investigate Luo Kai while pursuing Kong Xinghu’s case.
• At the Iron Clothes Department, Yang Ling inspected Xu Wenjun’s formidable abilities, but Xu Wenjun ignored his greeting and rode inside with his subordinates.