Chapter Summaries

Liu Chu infiltrated the Green Tiger Gang’s hall and killed its leader in a brief fight. The gang’s four hall masters arrived with their men and surrounded the entrance.

• The Green Tiger Gang leader promised his concubine he would avenge her brother and revealed that he had sent Hall Master He to assassinate Liu Chu.
• Liu Chu burst into the hall, killed the concubine, and stopped the leader from reaching his saber.
• Liu Chu fought the leader with his long saber, overpowering him with his Great Accomplishment Saber Technique and four surges of Blood Vitality.
• Liu Chu knocked aside the leader’s dagger and cut his throat after nearly twenty exchanges.
• The Green Tiger Gang’s four hall masters arrived with their teams and surrounded the hall entrance.

Liu Chu killed the Green Tiger Gang leader and forced the gang to accept him as their new leader. After he killed Hall Master Xu Kun for resisting, the remaining hall masters and members submitted, and Liu Chu renamed the gang the Black Dragon Gang.

• Hall Master Ruan Jin rushed into the main hall but Liu Chu sent him flying, then emerged wearing a Black Dragon Mask and holding the gang leader’s severed head.
• Liu Chu declared himself the new gang leader, and Ruan Jin knelt first to pledge his allegiance.
• Hall Master Xu Kun opposed Liu Chu and tried to rally the others, but Liu Chu killed him with one strike.
• The other two hall masters and the gang members knelt and submitted to Liu Chu.
• Liu Chu declared that Qinghu was dead and the Black Dragon would rise, then renamed the Green Tiger Gang the Black Dragon Gang.

After taking over the Green Tiger Gang, Liu Chu inventoried its resources, acquired two martial arts manuals, and began securing the loyalty of its members. He ended the night by sending Ruan Jin to summon Han Qi from the Changle Gang.

• Liu Chu inspected the Green Tiger Gang’s treasury with Ruan Jin, kept his share of the silver, and learned the gang had only five Treasure Fish.
• Liu Chu learned that two hall masters practiced the Rolling Thunder Nourishing Practice and Thunderclap Blade Technique, while the third refused to pass on the Flying Eagle Technique.
• Liu Chu had the two hall masters write out their manuals, checked both copies, and decided to wait until his current techniques were perfected before practicing them.
• Liu Chu spent the night learning about the gang and meeting its mid-level members to reassure them.
• Liu Chu gave Ruan Jin a letter for Han Qi and ordered him to bring Han Qi from the Changle Gang.

After the Green Tiger Gang leader was assassinated and the gang became the Black Dragon Gang, Han Qi followed a summons to its leader and discovered that the masked blade guest was his friend Liu Chu. Liu Chu confirmed he had killed the leader, leaving Han Qi stunned by his friend's sudden rise to power.

• Yang Hao told Feng Sheng and Han Qi that a masked blade guest had killed the Green Tiger Gang leader and Hall Master Xu Kun, avenging the Golden Fish Gang and ending the threat to Han Qi.
• Yang Hao revealed that the Green Tiger Gang had become the Black Dragon Gang and its mysterious blade guest was now its leader.
• A former Golden Fish Gang member delivered Han Qi a letter from Ruan Jin summoning him with his old nickname, Water Monkey, making Han Qi suspect Liu Chu was involved.
• Han Qi went with Ruan Jin to the Black Dragon Gang and entered the main hall to meet its leader.
• The masked leader removed his mask, revealing Liu Chu, who confirmed he had killed the Green Tiger Gang leader after the man sent assassins after him.

Liu Chu recruited Han Qi and former Golden Fish Gang members into the Black Dragon Gang as he rebuilt its ranks. After sacrificing ten Treasure Fish, his comprehension multiplier rose to fourfold, and he considered how to obtain the thirty Treasure Fish needed for the next increase.

• Liu Chu asked Han Qi to join the Black Dragon Gang and offered him the position and benefits of a fourth hall master, but Han Qi declined the title so he could focus on reaching the Grade-Entry Realm.
• Liu Chu warned Han Qi not to let competition make him impatient, then asked him to recruit Golden Fish Gang members who were still on the run.
• The next day, Han Qi brought Feng Sheng and dozens of former Golden Fish Gang members to join the Black Dragon Gang, and Liu Chu learned Feng Sheng practiced the Dragon-Tiger Nourishing Practice.
• Liu Chu sent Ruan Jin and Feng Sheng to buy Treasure Fish, then sacrificed ten of the eleven fish and raised his comprehension multiplier to fourfold.
• Liu Chu learned the next sacrifice required thirty Treasure Fish, three hundred taels of silver, or ten years of lifespan, and decided the fish were the best option despite their scarcity and cost.

Liu Chu planned to gather Treasure Fish gradually while relying on the Green Tiger Gang to raise and guard them, then continued training after eating the last one. At the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall, he defeated Luo Qingyue in a spar and advised her to focus on cultivation, leaving her determined to pursue Bone Refining.

• Liu Chu decided to buy Treasure Fish in small batches to avoid drawing the attention of Zhaojiang City's major powers, and relied on the Green Tiger Gang to gather and guard them.
• Liu Chu cooked and ate his remaining Treasure Fish, then practiced the Yanglian Technique and saber arts, sensing his progress under fourfold comprehension.
• Liu Chu defeated Luo Qingyue in seven moves during a spar, leaving her surprised by his improved saber skills and upset at her repeated losses.
• Liu Chu advised Luo Qingyue to focus on her strong constitution and cultivation rather than combat techniques, and encouraged her to advance her realm.
• Luo Qingyue resolved to cultivate toward Bone Refining, while Liu Chu privately doubted how easily she could break through.

Luo Qingyue left encouraged to pursue cultivation instead of combat training, while Liu Chu dismissed rumors about them and perfected his saber technique. Mastery gave him far greater control over his strength, and he realized his combat power had risen more than expected.

• Luo Qingyue left the courtyard excited after Liu Chu reassured her, while nearby disciples wrongly assumed something intimate had happened between them.
• Liu Chu rejected Chen He's Dragon-Spirit Tiger-Vigor Pills and learned that Lin Bei and Yang Wenhuai were still investigating the leaked cultivation method.
• Liu Chu practiced until his Duanmen Saber Technique reached mastery, improving his ability to control and sustain powerful strikes.
• Liu Chu concluded that cultivation strengthened the body to endure greater force, while martial techniques refined how that force was wielded.
• Liu Chu realized his newly mastered saber technique had increased his strength far more than he had anticipated.

Liu Chu cultivated the Thunderclap Blade Technique to Minor Accomplishment in three days and continued preparing to break through the Tendon Refining barrier. When two Wild Wolf Gang hall masters seriously wounded Feng Sheng, Liu Chu gathered his hall masters to discuss the gang’s response.

• Liu Chu used his fourfold comprehension and mastery of the Dragon-Tiger Blade-Breaking Technique to learn the Thunderclap Blade Technique to Minor Accomplishment in three days.
• Liu Chu checked the gang’s pond and found eight Treasure Fish, then reflected that the Black Dragon Gang had secured his position and could help him gather resources.
• Han Qi reported that two Wild Wolf Gang hall masters had seriously wounded Feng Sheng while he patrolled Black Dragon Gang territory.
• Liu Chu summoned the hall masters to the main hall, where Ruan Jin explained that the Wild Wolf Gang members had crossed into their territory and tried to collect protection fees.
• The hall masters suspected the Wild Wolf Gang was testing Liu Chu because other gangs might doubt that he had truly taken control of the Black Dragon Gang.

After the Wild Wolf Gang attacked a Black Dragon Gang hall master, Liu Chu rejected his hall masters’ competing plans and invited the Wild Wolf Gang leader to meet at Old Locust Flat. He faced the leader there and demanded an explanation, while the wary leader’s ambush waited nearby.

• Ruan Jin urged Liu Chu to lure the Wild Wolf Gang into an attack, while another hall master warned that showing weakness could invite several gangs to strike.
• Liu Chu ordered Ruan Jin to invite the Wild Wolf Gang leader to Old Locust Flat and declared that he would wipe out the gang.
• Lin Sanlang accepted the invitation, ordered Chen Jiu to prepare an ambush, and brought four hall masters and forty or fifty men to the meeting.
• Liu Chu waited beneath the old locust tree with the Black Dragon Gang forces held back, unsettling Lin Sanlang with his composure.
• Lin Sanlang approached Liu Chu, switched to a friendly greeting, and Liu Chu demanded an explanation.

Liu Chu challenged the Wild Wolf Gang leader to take ten strikes and killed him with only six. He then demanded that whoever injured a Black Dragon Gang hall master step forward.

• The Wild Wolf Gang leader accepted Liu Chu's ten-strike challenge, expecting to withstand the attacks.
• Liu Chu overwhelmed the Wild Wolf Gang leader with a relentless blade assault, and the leader struggled to defend himself.
• Liu Chu changed the course of his blade and cut the Wild Wolf Gang leader's neck with his sixth strike.
• The Wild Wolf Gang members reacted in shock while the Black Dragon Gang celebrated Liu Chu's victory.
• Liu Chu turned to the Wild Wolf Gang's four hall masters and ordered the one who had injured a Black Dragon Gang hall master to step forward.

Liu Chu killed the two Wild Wolf Gang hall leaders who had injured Feng Sheng, forcing the remaining leaders and gang members to submit to him. After taking control of the gang, he assessed its poor finances and acquired the Blood Qi Profound Sound Technique, which might help him temper his body further.

• Liu Chu killed the two exposed Wild Wolf Gang hall leaders with a swift saber strike after the other two abandoned them.
• The two remaining hall leaders and the Wild Wolf Gang members knelt and accepted Liu Chu as their new chief.
• Liu Chu took his new followers to the Wild Wolf Gang and found its treasury contained barely more than four hundred taels of silver.
• Liu Chu calculated that he still needed one or two hundred taels to buy thirty Treasure Fish.
• A Wild Wolf Gang hall leader offered Liu Chu the Jintao Yanglian Technique and Jintao Blade Technique, while another presented the Blood Qi Profound Sound Technique.
• Liu Chu learned that the secret technique could temper the body a second time but required ten strands of Blood Vitality and costly medicinal decoctions.

Liu Chu perfected the Yanglian Technique and broke through to the Eighth-Rank Tendon Refining Realm, then went to the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall to ask about further cultivation. He found Senior Brother Lin Bei gravely ill and apparently poisoned, leaving the cause of Lin Bei’s condition unresolved.

• Liu Chu perfected the Yanglian Technique, increasing his Blood Vitality to eight streams.
• Liu Chu broke through to the Eighth-Rank Tendon Refining Realm and discovered his strength had greatly increased.
• Liu Chu considered whether he could practice other Yanglian Techniques and decided to ask Hall Master Yang Wenhuai.
• Liu Chu arrived at the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall and found Lin Bei pale, weak, and apparently poisoned as Yang Wenhuai tended to him.

Liu Chu learned that Lin Bei had been poisoned after investigating the technique leak, and a mysterious former fellow disciple of Yang Wenhuai arrived with an antidote and demanded a contest for a secret technique. Yang Wenhuai accepted, and Luo Qingyue faced the visitor’s one-handed disciple.

• Chen He told Liu Chu that Lin Bei had been badly wounded and poisoned while investigating the leak of the martial arts hall’s techniques.
• A physician declared that he could not identify or cure Lin Bei’s rare poison, so Yang Wenhuai sent disciples to seek another physician.
• A middle-aged scholar arrived with a short-haired young man, claimed he had the antidote, and challenged Yang Wenhuai to a contest for a technique.
• Yang Wenhuai accepted the contest after the scholar promised to provide the antidote even if his side lost.
• Yang Wenhuai chose Luo Qingyue to fight, and she charged at the short-haired young man with the Combat Technique after he said he would use one hand.

Luo Qingyue and another martial arts hall disciple were defeated by the short-haired young man, who demanded the sect's cultivation method from Yang Wenhuai. Liu Chu stepped forward and claimed he could beat the challenger in one move.

• The short-haired young man overwhelmed Luo Qingyue in a fight, injured her, and declared her weaker than he had expected.
• The middle-aged scholar taunted Yang Wenhuai and suggested he pass the cultivation method to his junior brother so the sect's legacy could be revived.
• The short-haired young man insulted the martial arts hall disciples and quickly defeated Senior Brother Zhou when he challenged him.
• Liu Chu emerged from the crowd, confronted the short-haired young man, and said he could beat him in one move.

Liu Chu defeated Gu Hualong’s arrogant apprentice in one move, then survived Gu Hualong’s attack with Yang Wenhuai’s help. After Gu Hualong and his apprentice were driven away, the martial arts school celebrated Liu Chu’s strength, and Yang Wenhuai summoned him to the study.

• Liu Chu struck the short-haired young man past his guard, broke his ribs, and defeated him in one move.
• Gu Hualong attacked Liu Chu, but Yang Wenhuai stepped in and clashed with him before ordering him and his apprentice to leave.
• The martial arts school disciples cheered Liu Chu, while Gu Heng, Xu Liyuan, and Luo Qingyue recognized how far his strength had surpassed theirs.
• Yang Wenhuai called Liu Chu to the study.

Yang Wenhuai revealed that he was a survivor of the Jinding Sect and offered Liu Chu its powerful Neizhuang art once Liu Chu reached Bone Refining. After learning more about Liu Chu’s abilities and advising him on Blood Vitality, Yang Wenhuai urged him to stay wary of Gu Hualong, but Liu Chu left the martial arts school with killing intent.

• Yang Wenhuai praised Liu Chu for reaching Great Accomplishment in his Combat Technique and Duanmen Saber Technique.
• Yang Wenhuai told Liu Chu that the Lingjian Sect had destroyed the Jinding Sect eighteen years earlier and that he had escaped with the Jinding Technique.
• Yang Wenhuai explained the Jinding Technique’s defensive and weapon-enhancing powers, and promised to teach it to Liu Chu after he reached Bone Refining.
• Liu Chu asked why Yang Wenhuai had not killed Gu Hualong, and Yang Wenhuai said Gu was a Bone Refining expert and his former junior brother.
• Yang Wenhuai explained that further Yanglian techniques would add Blood Vitality only slowly and advised Liu Chu to focus on martial techniques.
• Yang Wenhuai warned Liu Chu to be careful of Gu Hualong, but Liu Chu left the school with a flash of killing intent.

Liu Chu tracked down Gu Hualong and his injured disciple at a dilapidated temple, intending to eliminate the Bone Refining expert before he could retaliate. Gu Hualong mistook Liu Chu for an easy opponent, leaving the two sides poised for a confrontation.

• Liu Chu learned from Han Qi that the Black Dragon Gang had found Gu Hualong, then set out with a few men to confront him.
• Liu Chu and Han Qi found Gu Hualong and his disciple at a remote, dilapidated temple, where Gu Hualong was treating the young man's injuries.
• Gu Hualong explained that he planned to wait until Yang Wenhuai lowered his guard before attacking again for the Jinding Technique, and warned his disciple against seeking the Lingjian Sect's help.
• Gu Hualong sensed movement outside the temple and emerged with his disciple to find Liu Chu and several gang members surrounding the building.
• The short-haired young man angrily confronted Liu Chu, while Gu Hualong relaxed after assuming Liu Chu was only a Tendon Refining martial artist.

Liu Chu fought Gu Hualong and killed him despite Gu Hualong’s Bone Refining Realm cultivation. Afterward, Liu Chu turned to the short-haired young man and prepared to fulfill his promise to collect the group’s corpses.

• Gu Hualong threatened to cripple Liu Chu, but Liu Chu told the others to stand back and challenged him alone.
• Liu Chu and Gu Hualong clashed evenly at first, then Liu Chu’s perfected techniques gave him the advantage.
• Liu Chu wounded Gu Hualong, severed his arm, and beheaded him after keeping up the attack.
• Liu Chu told Gu Hualong he had exchanged more moves with him than with anyone else, then addressed the short-haired young man.

Liu Chu killed Gu Hualong and his subordinate, then used pills taken from Gu Hualong to save Lin Bei from poison. Yang Wenhuai learned Liu Chu had defeated a Bone Refining Realm expert and gave him two hundred taels to support his next stage of cultivation.

• Liu Chu killed Gu Hualong’s short-haired subordinate after defeating Gu Hualong, and ordered Han Qi and the Black Dragon Gang disciples to collect the bodies and spoils.
• Han Qi gave Liu Chu six hundred taels in banknotes and two bottles of pills taken from Gu Hualong.
• Liu Chu brought the pills to Yang Wenhuai, who realized Liu Chu had killed Gu Hualong and was stunned by his disciple’s strength.
• Yang Wenhuai tested the pills, identified one as poison and the other as its antidote, and gave the antidote to Lin Bei, bringing him out of danger.
• Yang Wenhuai gave Liu Chu two hundred taels to help him cultivate a second Yanglian Technique, and Liu Chu accepted the money.

A young martial artist in Wencuo realized his master had likely met with disaster and set out to seek help from the Three Friends of Songling. Liu Chu advanced his techniques and began training a second nourishing practice before the Li Family invited him to their residence for an unexplained opportunity.

• When his master's scheduled carrier pigeon failed to arrive, the square-faced young man concluded his master was in danger and left for Songling to find the Three Friends of Songling.
• Liu Chu reached Great Accomplishment in Thunderclap Blade Technique and reflected that practicing two blade techniques together accelerated his progress.
• Liu Chu spent two Treasure Fish training Rolling Thunder Nourishing Practice, but it only reached Minor Accomplishment and had not broken the Blood Vitality limit.
• Feng Sheng told Liu Chu that the Li Family had invited him to their residence, though neither knew why.
• Liu Chu met the Li Family's head steward, a Tendon Refining martial artist, who offered him a good opportunity and asked him to go along.