Chapter Summaries

After Yang Ling broke through to the Fifth Rank, Yun Tianqing assigned him and three chief disciples to help the Ministry of War wipe out the Jingxiao Bandits. She tested Yang Ling’s Minor Grandmaster regeneration by gravely injuring him, and the chapter ended with him healed and summoned back into the hall.

• Yun Tianqing told Yang Ling that the Ministry of War had requisitioned him and Lin Zhen, Huo Yunzhu, and Chi Ling to fight the Jingxiao Bandits.
• Yun Tianqing explained that Vice Minister Hua had arranged the requisition amid an old feud, but insisted Yang Ling needed combat experience and ordered the group to prepare to leave within half a day.
• Yun Tianqing struck Yang Ling hard enough to break his neck and spine and tear open his abdomen, frightening the disciples who saw him thrown from the hall.
• Yang Ling’s qi and blood rapidly regenerated his injuries, restoring him in about thirty seconds while draining his qi and blood.
• Yun Tianqing called Yang Ling back into the Sect Master Hall, and he reluctantly went inside.

Yun Tianqing tested Yang Ling’s flesh regeneration by striking him with a tenth of her strength, and he recovered far faster than expected. She suspected he had a special constitution that emerged when he advanced to fifth rank, while the other disciples and Mountain Masters were left astonished by his recovery.

• Yang Ling asked how much strength Yun Tianqing had used in her first strike, and she explained that even a tenth of a fourth-rank grandmaster’s strength could kill an ordinary top upper fifth rank.
• Yun Tianqing explained that a grandmaster’s internal furnace could suppress flesh regeneration, then prepared to strike Yang Ling with a tenth of her strength.
• Yang Ling was blasted from the Sect Master Hall with severe injuries, while Lin Zhen, Chi Ling, Huo Yunzhu, and the Mountain Masters watched in shock.
• Yang Ling healed in about twenty breaths, regained his full health, and returned to the Sect Master Hall as the onlookers wondered how quickly a fifth-rank minor grandmaster could recover.
• Yun Tianqing noticed that Yang Ling’s recovery exceeded what qi and blood perfection and crimson wood ghost ginseng could explain, and she concluded that he possessed a special constitution revealed upon reaching fifth rank.

Yun Tianqing tested Yang Ling’s flesh-regenerating constitution and defensive techniques, replenishing his qi and blood with supreme-grade Blood-Nourishing Pills before escalating her next strike to twenty percent of her strength. Yang Ling was sent flying from the Sect Master Hall and fell asleep after the blow.

• Yun Tianqing explained special constitutions and identified Yang Ling’s ability to regenerate flesh as a rare, excellent constitution.
• Yang Ling activated Vajra Mingwang Body and Bronze Wall Iron Barrier, but Yun Tianqing’s ten-percent-strength strike depleted all his qi and blood while leaving him only slightly injured.
• Yun Tianqing gave Yang Ling three supreme-grade Blood-Nourishing Pills, restoring his qi and blood to 50,000 points.
• Yun Tianqing estimated that Yang Ling could survive a Lower Fourth-Rank Grandmaster’s attacks at reduced strength, but would die from a full-strength strike.
• Yun Tianqing increased her strength to twenty percent and struck Yang Ling, sending him out of the Sect Master Hall and knocking him unconscious.

Yang Ling endured Yun Tianqing’s increasingly powerful strikes and recovered before preparing to join the campaign against the Jingxiao Bandits. As he traveled with Langzhong Xie and his junior disciples, he calculated that his boosted strength and agility would let him easily handle upper fifth-rank opponents.

• Yang Ling woke after Yun Tianqing’s twenty-percent-strength strike had left him unconscious for fifteen minutes, then recovered and continued to the Sect Master Hall.
• Yun Tianqing judged that Yang Ling might survive a lower fourth-rank grandmaster’s full-force blow, warned him to avoid fighting the Jingxiao Bandits’ grandmasters, and gave him her remaining Supreme-Grade Blood-Nourishing Pills.
• Yang Ling asked Yun Tianqing to lend him more pills for the journey, and she tossed him the porcelain bottle before he departed.
• Yang Ling, Lin Zhen, and the other disciples traveled aboard Langzhong Xie’s Xuantie Falcon toward the Jingxiao Bandits’ territory, where the Ministry of War had prepared a camp.
• Yang Ling calculated that his boosted attributes would reach 866 strength, 775 agility, and 360 spirit.

Yang Ling traveled with Langzhong Xie and the others to a military camp surrounding Wuheng Mountain, where they learned the army planned a decapitation strike against the Jingxiao Bandits. He was relieved to discover his master, Zhao De, was at the camp too, and met Vice Minister Hua and the gathered experts as the mission briefing began.

• Yang Ling considered how improving his internal skills could strengthen him, but doubted he could defeat a fourth-rank grandmaster.
• Langzhong Xie brought Yang Ling, Lin Zhen, Huo Yunzhu, and Chi Ling to the camp and explained that ten thousand soldiers had surrounded Wuheng Mountain to capture the Jingxiao Bandits' leaders.
• Langzhong Xie revealed that the bandits might have a fourth-rank grandmaster archer and that the army had only fifteen days to complete the mission, prompting Lin Zhen and the others to question the planned decapitation strike.
• Yang Ling heard Zhao De speaking inside Vice Minister Hua's tent and felt reassured when he realized his master was there.
• Langzhong Xie introduced Yang Ling as Tun Tian Dao Palace's young fifth-rank minor grandmaster, surprising the other sects' experts, while Yang Ling noticed a player among Arhat Temple's sixth-rank men.

Yang Ling faced Vice Minister Hua, who questioned him about his age and his victory over Wang Yaozu, while Zhao De defended him and pushed for him to receive Sky Wolf Battle Armor. Vice Minister Hua considered granting Yang Ling one of five sets, but representatives from Arhat Temple and the Extreme Flame Sword Mansion also demanded a chance to compete for it.

• Vice Minister Hua questioned Yang Ling about his age and his defeat of Wang Yaozu, and Yang Ling claimed he was twenty-nine and said Wang had been deceived.
• Zhao De praised Yang Ling as a young talent and suggested Vice Minister Hua give him a set of Sky Wolf Battle Armor.
• Vice Minister Hua objected that the armor was scarce and had originally been intended for four military generals, while Zhao De argued that Yang Ling deserved support.
• Vice Minister Hua revealed he had brought five sets and acknowledged Zhao De's argument, prompting the generals to expect they would receive armor for earning merit.
• The Arhat Temple monk and the Extreme Flame Sword Mansion representative demanded a chance to compete for the spare set, and Zhao De regarded them with a cold glint.

Zhao De approved a contest to determine which of the three summoned fighters could wear the Sky Wolf Battle Armor for the night operation. After learning how the armor worked and seeing its strength, Yang Ling hoped to claim it, but an Arhat Temple monk stepped forward to test it first.

• Zhao De and Vice Minister Hua agreed that Yang Ling, Lin Zhen, and an Arhat Temple monk would compete by seeing who could sustain the armor’s weight with their Qi and Blood.
• Vice Minister Hua explained that the Sky Wolf Battle Armor weighed two thousand jin, but Qi and Blood could reduce its effective weight to two hundred jin.
• The group inspected the armor, and Yang Ling saw that it required Lower Fifth Rank cultivation and 13,000 Qi and Blood while doubling stamina.
• Vice Minister Hua and Lin Zhen explained the armor’s exceptional materials and why it had not been made into a Divine Weapon.
• When Vice Minister Hua asked who would test the armor first, the Arhat Temple monk volunteered.

Yang Ling watched Liaochen and a man from Extreme Flame Sword Mansion test the Sky Wolf Battle Armor, then prepared to take his own turn. Though the others doubted his chances, Yang Ling declared that he would be the one to wear it.

• Liaochen passed the vertical-jump and long-jump tests, averaging fifteen zhang and twenty-three zhang, respectively.
• Liaochen attacked Vice Minister Hua for just over a quarter of an hour and passed the final test.
• The man from Extreme Flame Sword Mansion completed the tests with results similar to Liaochen's, though his vertical jump was lower.
• Vice Minister Hua called Yang Ling to test the armor, and Yang Ling ordered Lin Zhen, Huo Yunzhu, and Chi Ling to clean it before he wore it.

Yang Ling tested the Sky Wolf Battle Armor, discovering that it amplified his hearing and perception while helping him move despite its weight. He then completed one hundred standing high jumps at exactly thirty zhang apiece, earning an outstanding result as Liaochen assumed he had exhausted his qi and blood.

• Yang Ling put on the Sky Wolf Battle Armor and found that his qi and blood made it easier to move in, while its helmet amplified his hearing and perception.
• Vice Minister Hua began Yang Ling’s standing high-jump test, and Yang Ling immediately leaped thirty zhang.
• Yang Ling repeated the same thirty-zhang jump for each of his one hundred attempts, impressing the officials and Fifth Ranks watching.
• Vice Minister Hua announced Yang Ling’s average result as thirty zhang, calling it outstanding.
• Liaochen was stunned by Yang Ling’s consistency, then concluded that he had spent all his qi and blood on the test and dismissed him as inexperienced.

Yang Ling dominated the Sky Wolf Battle Armor trials, passing the high jump and long jump tests with excellent results before attacking Vice Minister Hua in the third test. He was injured when Hua instinctively struck back, prompting Zhao De to protest that a Third-Rank Grandmaster should not have fought a fifth-rank martial artist.

• Yang Ling completed one hundred high jumps at the same height, leaving the generals and gathered soldiers astonished.
• Yang Ling made one hundred long jumps of forty zhang, earning an excellent result and strengthening his disciples’ hope that he would win the armor.
• Liaochen questioned whether Yang Ling would have enough qi and blood for the third test, and Vice Minister Hua said failing it would disqualify him.
• Yang Ling attacked Vice Minister Hua continuously for a quarter of an hour, then greatly increased the force of his kicks with several abilities.
• Vice Minister Hua tapped the Sky Wolf Battle Armor and injured Yang Ling, who staggered back after spitting blood.
• Zhao De angrily asked how Vice Minister Hua could fight back when he was a Third-Rank Grandmaster and Yang Ling was only fifth rank.

Yang Ling survived Vice Minister Hua’s strike during the test and earned the Sky Wolf Battle Armor, then proved his mastery of Subtlety. Vice Minister Hua also gave him a Flesh-and-Blood Ginseng Fruit as compensation, which Yang Ling immediately ate.

• Yang Ling stood up after Vice Minister Hua’s blow and realized the Sky Wolf Battle Armor could not protect him from a Third-Rank Grandmaster’s attack.
• Zhao De criticized Vice Minister Hua for striking a junior, and Vice Minister Hua acknowledged his mistake before awarding Yang Ling the Sky Wolf Battle Armor for his record-setting test results.
• Yang Ling accepted the armor as a game reward and resolved to use it to improve his chances of surviving the campaign against the Jingxiao Bandits.
• At Vice Minister Hua’s request, Yang Ling walked across withered leaves in the armor, crushing them without making a sound and demonstrating his control of strength at Subtlety.
• Vice Minister Hua gave Yang Ling a Flesh-and-Blood Ginseng Fruit as compensation, and Yang Ling took it from the box and ate it at once.

Yang Ling consumed the Flesh-and-Blood Ginseng Fruit and gained 60 points in strength and agility before joining a war council about attacking the Jingxiao Bandits on Wuheng Mountain. Vice Minister Hua explained the danger of a possible Third-Rank Grandmaster among the bandits, then began assigning routes for the operation.

• Yang Ling swallowed the Flesh-and-Blood Ginseng Fruit, while Vice Minister Hua told Zhao De he had obtained only one and would reveal its source after the bandits were defeated.
• After two hours, Yang Ling's strength and agility had each increased by 30 points, bringing both to 381.
• Yang Ling thanked Vice Minister Hua for the treasure and entered the tent to resume the meeting, choosing to remain standing in his Sky Wolf Battle Armor.
• Vice Minister Hua explained that the Jingxiao Bandits were trapped on Wuheng Mountain but that its defenses made a direct assault dangerous.
• Liaochen warned that a Fourth-Rank archer could kill most of their force and asked whether a Third-Rank Grandmaster was with the bandits.
• Vice Minister Hua said he would intervene if a Third-Rank enemy appeared and began determining everyone's route.

Yang Ling met with Zhao De, who praised his Fifth Rank breakthrough and gave him ten Supreme-Grade Blood-Nourishing Pills. Vice Minister Hua then assigned Yang Ling a secret route to attack the Jingxiao Bandits, leaving him to suspect there was a spy in the camp.

• Zhao De took Yang Ling aside, and Yang Ling explained that he kept his Sky Wolf Battle Armor close because he feared the Jingxiao Bandits' Fourth-Rank archer and a player from Arhat Temple.
• Yang Ling told Zhao De that he had reached qi and blood perfection and eaten crimson wood ghost ginseng before breaking through to Fifth Rank, and Zhao De said his illusions reflected his exceptional talent.
• Yang Ling described how Yun Tianqing's strength had left him unconscious for only fifteen minutes, and Zhao De gave him ten Supreme-Grade Blood-Nourishing Pills, calling him his founding disciple.
• Vice Minister Hua privately showed Yang Ling a map of the Purple Bamboo Forest Trail and ordered him to set out at midnight, kill every Jingxiao Bandit he encountered, and keep the route secret.
• Vice Minister Hua told Yang Ling to take his junior brothers and sisters away from the tents and lie low, prompting Yang Ling to suspect there was a spy in the camp.

Yang Ling led Lin Zhen, Huo Yunzhu, and Chi Ling along the Purple Bamboo Forest Trail, silently eliminating the Jingxiao Bandits’ hidden sentries. They reached a stone pavilion where bandits discussed Yang Ling and threatened to kill him within ten moves.

• Yang Ling used his perception and map to lead the group toward the Purple Bamboo Forest Trail at night.
• Yang Ling killed thirteen hidden sentries with flying daggers and silently lowered their warning bells before they could ring.
• Yang Ling continued killing hidden sentries along the path while Lin Zhen, Huo Yunzhu, and Chi Ling mistakenly feared a Fourth-Rank Grandmaster was guarding it.
• Yang Ling told the three he had already killed at least thirty-six hidden sentries and urged them to stay calm as they watched him eliminate more.
• Yang Ling and the others reached a stone pavilion, where he overheard Jingxiao Bandits discuss his strength and one bandit claim he could kill Yang Ling within ten moves.

Yang Ling discovered that the Jingxiao Bandits on Wuheng Mountain were Divine Guard Office operatives and suspected the Great Dream Dynasty had designs on Rong State. He ambushed three fifth-rank guards at a pavilion, killing Old Xu and seizing the other two.

• Yang Ling overheard the bandits discuss the Ministry of War’s impending attack and their leader’s confidence in holding Wuheng Mountain.
• After fighting erupted elsewhere, Yang Ling approached a pavilion where three bandits guarded the Purple Bamboo Forest Trail.
• Yang Ling used Attribute Panels to learn that the three guards belonged to the Divine Guard Office, and he wondered whether the Great Dream Dynasty was targeting Rong State.
• Yang Ling crept within ten meters of the guards while Lin Zhen and his companions watched from a distance.
• Yang Ling hurled twenty Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers at Old Xu, killing him, then grabbed the other two guards and smashed their heads together.

Yang Ling interrogated the surviving Divine Guard Office fighter and persuaded Li Cheng to reveal the enemy’s deployments. Li Cheng identified Ji Tianming as the office’s second-in-command, and Ji appeared nearby, exposing their conversation.

• Yang Ling killed one Lower Fifth Rank and interrogated the surviving fighter, who first claimed to be Li Taotao of the Jingxiao Bandits before admitting his real name was Li Cheng.
• Li Cheng revealed that the Great Dream Dynasty had destroyed the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect ten years earlier to clear the way for an attack on Rong State.
• Yang Ling offered Li Cheng a chance to defect to Rong State’s Ministry of War and crushed the whistle at Li Cheng’s waist.
• Li Cheng accepted the offer and reported that their boss was a Third-Rank Grandmaster while Ji Tianming, a powerful Fourth-Rank Grandmaster and former Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect member, usually issued orders.
• Yang Ling realized that Ji Tianming was his sworn elder brother, then Ji’s voice sounded nearby as Li Cheng hurriedly claimed he had only pretended to defect.

Yang Ling survived Ji Tianming’s crushing pressure when Ji removed his helmet and recognized him as his long-lost younger brother. The brothers reunited and explained their roles in the bandit attack, but Ji planned to return to the Great Dream Dynasty after the Jingxiao Bandits were finished.

• Ji Tianming entered the pavilion and used his pressure to pin Yang Ling and Li Cheng, while Lin Zhen and his companions passed out.
• Ji Tianming removed Yang Ling’s helmet, recognized his brother, and immediately withdrew his pressure, then killed Li Cheng as he tried to thank him.
• Yang Ling recovered and asked Ji Tianming why he had become a Jingxiao Bandit, and Ji explained that he had been working undercover for the Divine Guard Office while seeking revenge for their sect.
• Ji Tianming told Yang Ling that Vice Minister Hua had asked him to look after him and that Zhao Heavenly King had helped secure his Sky Wolf Battle Armor.
• Yang Ling asked Ji Tianming to stay in the Rong State, but Ji said he would return to the Great Dream Dynasty to pursue advancement to Third Rank.

Yang Ling learned more about Ji Tianming's Divine Ape Visualization and received directions to a hidden vault before the two parted. As Yang Ling led his companions deeper into Wuheng Mountain, a wounded monk begged him for help and a Divine Guard Office officer ordered a crossbow attack.

• Yang Ling realized Ji Tianming's Divine Ape Spirit Body had suppressed him and resolved to cultivate the Divine Ape Visualization to supernatural skill.
• Ji Tianming warned Yang Ling to avoid Fire Flood Dragon Island for several years, then revealed a secret vault beneath a waterfall and left to stage a fight with his longbow.
• Yang Ling woke Lin Zhen and the others, then killed Old Xu after realizing the apparently dead man had been playing dead.
• After seeing Ji Tianming's arrow strike like a meteor, Yang Ling led his companions deeper into Wuheng Mountain to meet the other fifth-ranks.
• A bloodied monk from Liaochen's group begged Yang Ling to save him, and a Divine Guard Office fifth-rank ordered more than a hundred crossbow bolts fired at them.

Yang Ling fought five Jingxiao Bandits Minor Grandmasters while concealing how easily he could stop them, then killed one and let the others escape. After learning that Master Liaochen and other Ministry of War fighters had fallen, he asked the player monk to take them to check on Liaochen.

• Yang Ling charged through the crossbowmen’s arrows and faced five Jingxiao Bandits Minor Grandmasters, while Lin Zhen and the player monk watched.
• The player monk told Lin Zhen that Master Liaochen and two senior brothers had died, and Lin Zhen suspected someone in the Ministry of War had colluded with the bandits.
• The upper fifth-rank fighter charged Yang Ling, who used Treading the Void, Fierce Heart, Double Critical Hit, and Azure Dragon Force to kick him in half.
• The four other Minor Grandmasters and the crossbowmen fled, while the wounded upper fifth-rank fighter escaped by dragging himself down the mountain.
• Chi Ling reported that the upper fifth-rank fighter might still be alive, and Yang Ling asked the player monk to lead them to check whether Liaochen was truly dead.

Yang Ling reached the waterfall intending to find his sworn brother’s secret vault, but arrived at the site of a failed ambush where the Ministry of War’s forces were surrounded by Jingxiao Bandits. As Zhao De confronted the exposed Ji Tianming, Ji drew his bow and prepared to attack with an unseen arrow.

• Yang Ling found Liaochen dead from a feathered arrow and realized the court had likely used sect cultivators as expendable forces in its operation against Wuheng Mountain.
• Yang Ling sent the player monk, Lin Zhen, and the other disciples down the mountain with the bodies, then hurried toward the waterfall to seek the secret vault.
• Yang Ling reached the pool and discovered the generals and surviving soldiers stripped of their Sky Wolf Battle Armor and surrounded by more than twenty fifth-rank experts.
• The bandits mocked the trapped forces and demanded that Yang Ling surrender his armor, while the generals told him he should not have come to save them.
• Zhao De appeared across from Ji Tianming, exposed his identity as a grandmaster of the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect, and challenged him.
• Ji Tianming drew his longbow and gathered an unseen arrow of mental power, making weaker sixth-rank cultivators retch.