Chapter Summaries

Fang Han discovered a Spirit-Nurturing Flower that could help his aging parents cultivate Internal Qi, but a hidden First Grade pangolin demon beast attacked him as he approached it. He evaded the pounce and faced the beast from a distance.

• Fang Han absorbed a massive silver ore deposit into the System Panel, raising his possessed wealth from 620,000 gold to 720,000 gold.
• Fang Han followed a sweet fragrance through the forest and found a Spirit-Nurturing Flower, a rare treasure that could help ordinary people enter the Inner Qi Realm.
• Fang Han recalled searching for such a treasure to help his parents overcome the limits of age and cultivate martial arts.
• Fang Han sensed a faint demon-beast aura near the flower and cautiously approached while searching the clearing for danger.
• Fang Han detected a faint tremor beneath his feet and used Wind God Step to evade a sudden underground pounce.
• Fang Han identified the attacker as a First Grade pangolin demon beast that had hidden beneath the clearing and evaded his senses.

Fang Han killed a First Grade Pangolin Monster, harvested the Spirit-Nurturing Flower, and sheltered in a tree hollow for the night. He awoke to sense thousands of beasts and monsters fleeing together toward an unknown danger.

• Fang Han fought the First Grade Pangolin Monster with the Windshock Sword and killed it with a thrust through its throat and heart.
• Fang Han absorbed the Pangolin Monster's corpse into his System Panel, gaining 60,000 gold, then picked and stored the Spirit-Nurturing Flower.
• Fang Han left the battlefield, found a hollow tree to shelter in, and checked that he had 780,000 gold, 220,000 short of the next amplification threshold.
• Fang Han woke in the night and sensed thousands of beasts and monsters fleeing at high speed in the same direction.

Fang Han survived a nighttime beast tide driven by a Grandmaster demonic creature, then resumed exploring the secret realm after dawn. He found Ice Mystic Iron and increased his wealth to 840,000 gold, bringing him closer to activating Level Eight Amplification.

• Fang Han sensed a Grandmaster demonic creature approaching behind a beast tide and fled while concealing his aura.
• The Grandmaster demonic creature tore through the fleeing beasts, killed a First Grade demonic creature, and stopped to feed.
• Fang Han escaped to a cave, blocked its entrance, and spent the night keeping watch with Thousand-Mile Soul Lock.
• After dawn, Fang Han checked the surrounding area, ate, and began exploring the secret realm again.
• Fang Han found Ice Mystic Iron and recharged it into the System Panel, raising his possessed wealth from 780,000 to 840,000 gold.

Fang Han found Purple Essence and gold ore in the secret realm, bringing his wealth to one million gold, then discovered a second treasure map and a mysterious green gemstone beside a skeleton. After storing the gemstone and continuing his search, he caught the scent of something promising near noon.

• Fang Han found Purple Essence beneath an ancient tree and increased his wealth to 910,000 gold.
• Fang Han pulled gold ore from a stream, bringing his wealth to one million gold, but decided to wait until leaving the secret realm before activating Level Eight Talent Amplification.
• Fang Han found a human skeleton beside a fallen tree and discovered a treasure map matching his own, realizing there was more than one key to the secret realm.
• Fang Han found a green gemstone beneath the skeleton’s ribs; touching it caused a strange sensation that vanished when he stored it in his storage ring.
• After an hour without finding anything, Fang Han smelled a refreshing fragrance and reacted with delighted surprise.

Fang Han found a second Spirit-Nurturing Flower and continued exploring, then discovered a Secret Art Fruit guarded by a powerful First Grade crocodile monster. He decided to steal the fruit and flee rather than fight the monster directly.

• Fang Han carefully checked the hollow for danger, harvested the second Spirit-Nurturing Flower, and stored it for his parents.
• Fang Han rested, then found Purple-Gold Ore and several medicinal herbs worth about thirty thousand gold in total.
• Fang Han sensed a heavenly treasure guarded by a First Grade monster and used the Return to Ruin Essence Concealment Art to approach it unseen.
• Fang Han identified the treasure as a Secret Art Fruit that could enhance his Secret Art Talent and spotted the powerful crocodile monster guarding it.
• Fang Han decided to seize the Secret Art Fruit and escape without fighting the crocodile monster head-on.

Fang Han ambushed the Giant Crocodile, stole the Secret Art Fruit, and escaped before it could catch him. After gathering treasures for the rest of his three-day stay, he waited at a cliff as golden light began to envelop him.

• Fang Han concealed his presence, wounded the Giant Crocodile with the Windshock Sword, seized the Secret Art Fruit, and fled.
• The enraged Giant Crocodile rampaged through the forest but lost Fang Han’s trail.
• Fang Han sealed the Secret Art Fruit in a cold jade box and continued searching the secret realm.
• Over the next two days, Fang Han collected valuable ores and medicinal treasures, bringing his wealth to 2.72 million gold.
• At the end of the three-day limit, Fang Han waited at a cliff, and golden light surrounded him.

After escaping the treasure site, Fang Han spent his wealth to strengthen his Footwork and Body Tempering Talents, then tested their effects through cultivation. He consumed a Secret Art Fruit to improve his Secret Art Talent and began sensing new insights while using Thousand-Mile Soul Lock.

• Fang Han left the treasure site, erased his traces, and raced dozens of miles to a concealed mountain cave.
• Fang Han spent 2 million gold to raise his Footwork and Body Tempering Talent Amplifications to 256x, leaving 700,000 gold.
• Fang Han tested the Wind God Step and found that his movements had become smoother and his progress toward Proficiency Realm had accelerated.
• Fang Han cultivated the Black Tortoise True Art with Grandmaster demon beast jerky and estimated that he could reach Minor Accomplishment within a few days.
• Fang Han ate the Secret Art Fruit, improving his Secret Art Talent, then used Thousand-Mile Soul Lock and noticed a new insight emerging.

Fang Han realized that perfected techniques could be improved, examined an unexplained azure gemstone, and stayed in Azure Rock City to bring Black Tortoise True Art to minor success before returning to his sect. When a fight between the Zhao Clan and Sun Clan burst into his courtyard, he subdued both sides and resumed cultivating.

• Fang Han realized that perfected secret techniques and cultivation arts could be improved, though he set aside the idea of creating his own for now.
• Fang Han tested an azure gemstone without discovering its purpose and decided to ask a knowledgeable sect elder about it later.
• Fang Han rented a courtyard in Azure Rock City and doubled his daily practice of Black Tortoise True Art, expecting to reach minor success within days.
• A wounded man stumbled into Fang Han's courtyard during a fight between the Zhao Clan and Sun Clan, interrupting his cultivation.
• Fang Han drove both clans' fighters off the street with his sheathed Cloudsplitter Sword and ordered them to fight elsewhere.
• Fang Han returned to cultivating Black Tortoise True Art, finding that his blood and qi flowed more smoothly.

Fang Han broke through the Black Tortoise True Art to Minor Accomplishment, dramatically increasing his physical defense and strength. After refusing Zhao Zhengde and Sun Mao’s apologies, he left Azure Rock City the next morning.

• Fang Han’s Black Tortoise True Art reached Minor Accomplishment, strengthening his body until ordinary First Grade Late Stage martial artists could scarcely harm him.
• Fang Han tested his increased physical strength with a punch that destroyed his courtyard gate.
• Zhao Zhengde and Sun Mao apologized for their people disturbing Fang Han and offered gifts, but Fang Han told them to prevent further conflict and initially refused the gifts.
• Fang Han ate at Drunken Guest Tower, then found and stored the brocade boxes Zhao Zhengde and Sun Mao had left behind.
• Fang Han left ten taels of silver to compensate for the broken gate and departed Azure Rock City.

Fang Han learned that the Grandmaster's Tomb had already been looted and its spoils fought over, then secretly watched two groups battle over a mysterious booklet. The lean man killed the bald leader and discovered the booklet was a Grandmaster cultivation art.

• Fang Han entered Songquan Prefecture in disguise and heard that Meng Zhao's death had been blamed on Dragon Spring Manor.
• Fang Han learned that another force had found the Grandmaster's Tomb, been wiped out, and lost its treasures to rival groups.
• Fang Han left the city and hid in the forest after sensing two groups fighting.
• The lean man’s group overwhelmed the bald man’s group, leaving the bald man as the last survivor.
• The lean man killed the bald man, took his beast-hide booklet, and recognized it as a Grandmaster cultivation art.

Fang Han ambushed the men who had obtained a Grandmaster cultivation method, killed them, and claimed the booklet. After escaping into the mountains, he discovered it contained Shadowveil, a Grandmaster-grade Breath Concealment Secret Technique.

• Fang Han revealed his Third Grade Late Stage aura and demanded that the lean man hand over the booklet.
• The lean man ordered his companions to attack Fang Han, but Fang Han killed them all and stopped the lean man from destroying the booklet.
• Fang Han looted the corpses, recharged weapons, pills, and armor through the System Panel, and gained 10,000 gold.
• Fang Han fled through the mountains while concealing his aura, then opened the beast-hide booklet.
• Fang Han discovered that the booklet contained Shadowveil, a Grandmaster-grade Breath Concealment Secret Technique.

Fang Han discovered that the master-level breath-concealment art Shadowveil was a convincing forgery and used its lingering aura to track down the suspected forger. He found the man in Green Creek City, subdued him, and demanded answers.

• Fang Han spotted a dangerous flaw in Shadowveil’s Internal Qi circulation mnemonic and concluded that the manual was fake.
• Fang Han used Thousand-Mile Soul Lock to detect a faint aura on the booklet and suspected it belonged to the forger.
• Fang Han searched cities for several days before sensing the aura in a courtyard in Green Creek City.
• Fang Han waited until night, entered the courtyard, and found a thin, middle-aged man surrounded by forgery materials.
• The man reached for a short spear, but Fang Han seized him, smashed him against the wall, and demanded answers.

Fang Han discovered genuine copies of six Grandmaster secret arts and suspected a hidden faction was spreading fake manuals to worsen the unrest in Songquan Prefecture. Elsewhere, a masked old man took a Grandmaster manual from two first-rank martial artists and began draining their vitality as nourishment for his ascent to Grandmaster.

• A captured forger swallowed poison and died before Fang Han could question him.
• Fang Han found six recently copied genuine secret arts, including Shadowveil, and took them before leaving the courtyard.
• In Boulder Forest, two wounded first-rank martial artists, including Yun He, fought over a Grandmaster secret manual.
• A masked old man appeared, took the manual, and immobilized both fighters with a single gesture.
• Yun He tried to flee, but the masked old man froze him and declared that both men would nourish his ascent to Grandmaster.
• The masked old man pressed a hand onto each fighter's crown, and their bodies began to wither.

The masked elder advanced his plan to become a Grandmaster by devouring martial artists and ordered his gang to spread counterfeit secret manuals to worsen the chaos in Songquan Prefecture. In Liangshui City, Fang Han gave his parents Spirit-Nurturing Flowers and began studying Shadowveil.

• The masked elder absorbed the vital essence of two martial artists, then learned that the gang’s counterfeiter in Green Creek City had died without revealing its secrets.
• The masked elder dismissed the search for the stolen manuals and ordered his followers to spread counterfeit secret manuals amid the turmoil over the Grandmaster's Tomb.
• Fang Han returned to Rain-Listening Pavilion and gave Lin Wan and Fang Zheng a Spirit-Nurturing Flower each, enabling them to enter the Ninth Grade Inner Qi Realm.
• Fang Han studied Shadowveil and recognized that his mastery of Return to Ruin Essence Concealment Art would make the Grandmaster-level technique easier to comprehend.

Fang Han returned to Azure Profound Sect after a long journey and gave his parents True Spirit Pills before leaving Liangshui City. At the Sect Master's Hall, he offered Chen Tianyuan six manuals from Songquan Prefecture, warning that only two seemed genuine and the others might be forgeries.

• Fang Han cultivated Shadowveil and began concealing his Internal Qi and life force, though he still needed to comprehend the Shadow Intent Domain to advance.
• Fang Han gave Fang Zheng and Lin Wan more than a dozen bottles of True Spirit Pills, advised them on cultivation, and left Liangshui City for Azure Profound Sect.
• Fang Han returned to No. 35 Annex, where Qui Lan told him that Yun Qianyue had visited twice and a deacon had checked on him during his absence.
• Fang Han visited Chen Tianyuan and explained that he had traveled through Songquan Prefecture, where factions were fighting over treasures from the Grandmaster's Tomb.
• Fang Han presented Chen Tianyuan with six manuals, identifying Shadowveil and Primordial Unity Qi Art as likely genuine while warning that the other four might be forgeries.
• Chen Tianyuan examined the manuals, recognized Shadowveil as a Grandmaster secret art, and asked Fang Han to explain what had happened.

Fang Han reported a suspected conspiracy behind the fake martial manuals in Songquan Prefecture and received two Major Merits for bringing six manuals to the Azure Profound Sect. Chen Tianyuan identified Fang Han’s azure gemstone as a Mid-Grade Heavenly Treasure called Wind Jade, and Fang Han tested how it sharpened his perception of wind while practicing swordsmanship and movement techniques.

• Fang Han told Chen Tianyuan that a Third Grade counterfeiter had spread fake manuals to stir conflict in Songquan Prefecture before killing himself after capture.
• Chen Tianyuan concluded that a hidden faction was fueling the turmoil and awarded Fang Han two Major Merits for the six manuals, including the grandmaster-level Shadowveil.
• Fang Han showed Chen Tianyuan an azure gemstone, and Chen Tianyuan identified it as a Wind Jade that enhanced affinity with wind-attribute martial arts.
• Fang Han tied the Wind Jade around his neck and practiced the Void-Sundering Sword Manual, discovering that the treasure sharpened his perception of the Wind Concept.
• Fang Han tested the Wind Jade with the Wind God Step and found that his sharper perception helped him blend wind into his movements more precisely.

Fang Han used the Wind Jade to accelerate his cultivation and broke through Wind God Step to Mastery after seven days. The next morning, he refined a Heaven Origin Pill and brought his Jingming Acupoint to more than ninety-five percent capacity, nearing the second rank.

• Fang Han realized the Wind Jade enhanced wind-attribute affinity and wondered why the System Panel had not revealed a Wind Attribute Affinity Talent Amplification option.
• Fang Han wore the Wind Jade while cultivating Wind God Step and the Void-Sundering Sword Manual, continuing his Internal Qi, body-tempering, and secret-technique training.
• After seven days, Fang Han broke through to Mastery in Wind God Step and found his speed and agility had increased several times over.
• Fang Han practiced his new movement until evening, then accepted tea from Qui Lan and ate dinner in the side hall.
• The next morning, Fang Han refined a Heaven Origin Pill with the Azure Profound Art and filled his Jingming Acupoint to more than ninety-five percent, drawing close to the second rank.

Fang Han invited Yun Qianyue to visit his family at year's end, and she agreed before accompanying him to buy gifts. On the way back, Yun Qianyue told him she would not mind if he married Lan Yuexin, and Fang Han took her hand without answering.

• Fang Han visited Yun Qianyue and invited her to meet his parents and little sister Xiao Ying at year's end, and Yun Qianyue agreed.
• Yun Qianyue brought Fang Han to Hundred Treasures Pavilion, where Lan Yuexin welcomed them and helped Yun Qianyue choose gifts for Fang Han's family.
• Lan Yuexin revealed that she and Yun Qianyue had become sworn sisters after meeting several days earlier.
• On the return journey, Yun Qianyue told Fang Han that Lan Yuexin had feelings for him and said she would not mind if he married her.
• Fang Han asked whether Yun Qianyue truly did not mind, then gently took her cold hand as they continued along the mountain road.

A masked First Elder devoured He Xiong’s vital essence and broke through to Grandmaster rank, while Fang Han used his remaining Heaven Origin Pills to advance to second rank. Fang Han’s breakthrough aura overwhelmed Qui Lan and the maidservants outside his room.

• The masked First Elder killed He Xiong of Vast Pine Abbey and took his Dharma Weapon soft armor.
• The masked First Elder devoured He Xiong’s vital essence, broke through to Grandmaster rank, and told a masked woman their gang’s Sacred Art could take it beyond becoming a top-tier force.
• A few days later, Fang Han consumed a Heaven Origin Pill and directed his Internal Qi toward the Hearing Palace Acupoint.
• Fang Han shattered the barrier to the Hearing Palace Acupoint and advanced to second rank.
• Fang Han’s breakthrough aura knocked over Qui Lan’s teapot and left her and the two maidservants weak and breathless.

Fang Han broke through to the early second rank and learned that the chaos in Songquan Prefecture had ended, though the force behind it remained unknown. Chen Tianyuan then summoned Fang Han, Luo Yuntian, and Yun Muyao to accompany him to a Grandmaster Banquet hosted by the Iron River Gang.

• Fang Han opened the Hearing Palace Acupoint, advanced to the early second rank, and awakened hearing enhancement.
• Fang Han worried that his cultivation would slow once his remaining Heaven Origin Pills ran out, since the sect had no Earth Heart Stone Milk available to exchange.
• A disciple summoned Fang Han to the Sect Master's Hall, where Chen Tianyuan told him the Songquan Prefecture chaos had ended and at least five first-rank martial artists had died.
• Chen Tianyuan told Fang Han that the force behind the Songquan Prefecture turmoil had left no trace and remained unidentified.
• Chen Tianyuan summoned Luo Yuntian and Yun Muyao and revealed that the Iron River Gang had invited him to a Grandmaster Banquet, which the three disciples would attend with him.