Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Lin Qinghe sleeps late after the previous night’s work with Su Yuan, prompting curiosity at the Medical Office. Su Yuan explains that they parted after making pills and leaves her medical kit and a bottle of energy pills.
• Lu Chuan, who is still hoping to see Lin, is dismissed because his injuries have healed. Convinced Su Yuan may be romantically involved with her, he leaves resentful and vows to earn military merit and become a Martial Master.
• Lin wakes after a strange, vivid dream, tries one of Su Yuan’s sweet pills, and heads to the Medical Office.
• Su Yuan goes to train with Yun Shuhan. They spar, and Yun Shuhan’s increased intensity unexpectedly benefits Su Yuan’s training. That night, Su Yuan practices the Golden Horse-Head Technique with Shan Yuehan. A blue-clad figure appears outside their tent.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qinghe is embarrassed by her dream of Su Yuan but remains practical, checking that his pills are safe before taking one. Her knowing look at Xue Tan as he tries to charm Su Yue hints that she is becoming more perceptive about others’ romantic pursuits.
• Su Yuan remains confident and teasing. He brings Lin her belongings and pills, then jokes that Yun Shuhan should court her. He privately rejects Yun Shuhan’s claim that women—especially those of the Lin Family—are unsuitable partners.
• Lu Chuan turns jealousy into ambition, deciding to compete with Su Yuan through military achievement rather than challenge him directly.
• Yun Shuhan insists that romance can wait until he reaches the Grandmaster level and says he wants a partner of equal strength. Despite his dismissive attitude toward women, he acknowledges that training with Su Yuan is valuable.
• Xue Tan makes an eager attempt to entertain Su Yue while Su Yuan is away, drawing Lin Qinghe’s amused sympathy.

Significant themes

• Ambition and rivalry: Lu Chuan channels romantic jealousy into a drive for military merit, while Su Yuan benefits from competitive training.
• Romance versus discipline: Yun Shuhan treats relationships as a distraction, while Su Yuan believes attraction can develop without deliberate pursuit.
• Appearance and uncertainty: Lin’s dream, the observers’ suspicions, and Su Yuan’s explanations leave his relationship with her ambiguous.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Qinghe continues secretly monitoring Su Yuan at night, fascinated by his apparent ability to stay awake and his unusual resistance to medicine. She records her observations until the army’s schedule changes.
• The Black Cloud Army accelerates its march toward Lush City, joining a pincer attack alongside the Flying Rainbow Route. Its first battle since leaving Ji City is imminent.
• Several thousand troops leave camp quietly and in formation. Those remaining prepare supplies, weapons, and medical care; Su Yuan is given medicines and pills to help treat wounded soldiers.
• Su Yuan expects a major confrontation in Lush City, where a Grandmaster is stationed. The Red Peak Army also has a Grandmaster, giving Great Jing a potential two-to-one advantage.
• Lin Qinghe questions Su Yuan about his healing art. He says it cannot be taught and asks about her family’s cultivation method in return.
• Lin explains that the Lin Family’s method requires years of medicinal conditioning from childhood, making its ultimate art difficult to pass to outsiders. She leaves the circumstances under which it might be shared unexplained.
• As Lin teases Su Yuan about his supposed interest in Su Yue, he becomes uncomfortable with the Medical Office’s disapproving looks and withdraws to practice cultivation.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qinghe remains inquisitive and scientifically minded, treating Su Yuan’s unusual body and abilities as subjects for study. Despite the approaching battle, she tries to ease the camp’s tension and continues probing him about his secrets.
• Su Yuan stays guarded about his healing ability and turns Lin’s questioning back on her. He also considers the risks surrounding powerful or unusual bodily traits, but chooses not to press her further.
• The army and medical staff function as a coordinated unit, with the camp preparing to support the troops even though its medical personnel will not fight on the front lines.
• Lin Qinghe and Su Yuan trade pointed questions and teasing remarks. Her insinuation about Su Yue adds awkwardness, while Su Yuan’s response is to avoid the gathering and focus on training.

Significant themes

• War and readiness: The army’s disciplined preparations contrast with the anxiety of those awaiting the first battle.
• Secrecy and guarded knowledge: Both Su Yuan’s healing art and the Lin Family’s cultivation method are powerful inheritances that cannot be freely shared.
• Curiosity versus boundaries: Lin’s desire to investigate Su Yuan clashes with his reluctance to disclose personal or medical secrets.
• Medicine and bodily transformation: The chapter emphasizes the extraordinary ways cultivation and medicinal practice can alter the body.

Key plot points and events

• Great Jing’s surprise attack on Lush City succeeds. With hundreds of Stone-scaled Beasts digging beneath the city, the Black Cloud Army strikes from behind and traps the defenders between itself and the Red Peak Army. The defending Grandmaster escapes north with the remaining troops.
• Wounded soldiers arrive at the Medical Office, praising the Demon Beast Battalion and the Beast-Taming Pills that helped the assault. The Medical Office is credited with the achievement, though Lin Qinghe makes clear that Su Yuan created the pills.
• After treating the wounded, the Medical Office and logistics division set out. Rather than heading directly to Lush City, they take a mountain route toward Fortune City, which Great Jing plans to capture alongside Blessing City before the enemy can respond.
• The route crosses Lush Mountain, where remnants of the enemy forces may still be hiding. Su Yuan is also ordered to tame more monsters to replenish the Demon Beast Battalion. He learns he will receive twenty thousand merit points for the Lush City operation.

Character developments

• Su Yuan remains calm and focused after the victory, treating severe injuries and continuing his medical work. His contributions to the Beast-Taming Pills and the battle become more widely recognized.
• Lin Qinghe shows humility by crediting Su Yuan rather than claiming the pills’ success for herself. Her kindness and competence earn the wounded soldiers’ gratitude.
• Huang Tong survives after Su Yuan treats her, but her martial aptitude has fallen sharply. She feels the growing distance between herself and Su Yuan; he offers a prescription, though he can do little more.
• Zhou Zhiyuan keeps the logistics column moving and explains the army’s rapid campaign plans, while warning everyone to remain alert.

Character interactions

• Soldiers share battlefield stories with the Medical Office and thank Lin Qinghe for the Beast-Taming Pills. Zhang Yuan, who had assumed Yun Kaiming deserved the credit, realizes Su Yuan was responsible and is relieved he never insulted him.
• Su Yuan saves Huang Tong and treats her without resentment, but their exchange highlights how far their lives have diverged.
• Zhou Zhiyuan informs Su Yuan of General Kaiming’s request to replenish the monster ranks and announces his large merit reward.

Significant themes

• Recognition and humility: Su Yuan’s work benefits the army, while Lin Qinghe willingly gives him credit.
• Unequal fortunes and lost potential: Huang Tong’s diminished aptitude contrasts with Su Yuan’s rising achievements.
• Victory and continued danger: Great Jing’s success leads immediately into a risky new campaign, showing that triumph does not remove the threats ahead.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yuan learns that the Lush City battle earned him enough merit points to bring his total to 30,000. Capturing another city could let him buy the Mystic Thunder Cloud Canon and resources for reaching Grandmaster.
• Steward Zhou asks the Medical Office to tame monsters during their journey through Lush Mountain. Su Yuan says he and Big White can handle the task, while the others can help prepare Beast-Taming Pills and earn merit points.
• Lin Qinghe objects that Su Yuan is only an External Force Martial Warrior and insists that she and Xue Tan accompany him. Shan Yuehan also joins the expedition.
• Su Yuan continues refining pills and practicing the White Jade Art, which is close to perfection. He keeps the crucial role of his own blood secret from the formula so others cannot easily reproduce his results.
• Su Yuan’s group uses drugged, injured monsters as bait, with Big White’s blood and concealed strength drawing more beasts into their trap. They wait in the trees as the arriving monsters are incapacitated.
• Li Qingyang and Shi Men secretly observe the operation. Suspecting the Black Cloud Army has found a way to tame monsters, they consider capturing the group to learn the method.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yuan grows more ambitious, linking merit points and monster taming to his goal of reaching Grandmaster. He is confident in Big White and quietly protects his advantage in pill-making.
• Big White eagerly supports Su Yuan, revealing his fearsome aura as a peak Tier 3 Mountain Lord despite usually posing as a harmless large cat. Su Yuan promises to feed him well and help him advance toward Tier 4.
• Lin Qinghe is increasingly frustrated that Su Yuan has become the Medical Office’s de facto leader, but she still insists on protecting him. She also assists with pill-making.
• Xue Tan is reluctant to enter the mountains, though he promises to protect Shan Yuehan. Shan Yuehan remains quiet and composed, and Su Yuan hints that she is more capable than she appears.
• The Medical Office members rally behind Su Yuan after hearing how many merit points they can earn.

Significant themes

• Ambition and advancement: Su Yuan uses rewards, research, and monster taming to pursue greater power.
• Authority and loyalty: The Medical Office increasingly follows Su Yuan, unsettling Lin Qinghe.
• Secrecy and advantage: Su Yuan withholds key information to preserve his exclusive edge.
• Appearances versus reality: Big White looks like a pet but is a formidable monster, while Shan Yuehan may be more than she seems.
• Risk and opportunity: The group’s dangerous venture promises merit points and powerful allies, but their operation has attracted hostile attention.

Su Yuan and his companions lured tier 3 monsters in Lush Mountain so he could tame them, with Lin Qinghe using poison and Big White overpowering a Brown-Spined Bear. After they tamed the bear, another tier 3 mountain boar appeared, but Li Qingyang and his companions suddenly attacked them.

• Li Qingyang ordered his six Martial Masters to lure nearby tier 3 monsters toward Su Yuan and his companions while the monsters were occupied.
• Su Yuan identified an approaching Brown-Spined Bear as a mid-tier 3 beast, and Lin Qinghe poisoned it while Big White struck it down and subdued it.
• Su Yuan fed the Brown-Spined Bear Beast-Taming Pills, infused it with blood qi, and tamed it, then rewarded Big White with blood qi.
• Su Yuan spotted a tier 3 iron-bone mountain boar and prepared to use it to advance his Golden Horse-Head Technique.
• Several figures suddenly lunged at Su Yuan and his companions.

Li Qingyang’s ambush against Su Yuan and his companions failed after Shan Yuehan revealed her strength and Big White turned the fight around. With the Great Liang attackers fleeing and reinforcements arriving, Su Yuan found Lin Qinghe gravely wounded and discovered that her blood was corrosively poisonous.

• Li Qingyang and five other Martial Masters ambushed Su Yuan’s group, hoping to kill Lin Qinghe and capture Su Yuan.
• Shan Yuehan revealed her late internal force stage strength, killed one attacker, and used Su Yuan’s improved Soul-Taming Sound to help Lin Qinghe escape her attackers.
• Su Yuan evaded Shi Men and reached Big White, while the tiger chased the Great Liang Martial Masters and Su Yuan tamed the Iron-Bone Mountain Boar.
• Zhou Zhiyuan arrived with Black Cloud Army reinforcements, and Li Qingyang ordered his men to split up and flee.
• Su Yuan and Xue Tan found Lin Qinghe severely injured in Su Yue’s arms, and her grayish-white blood corroded Su Yue’s armor and resisted Xue Tan’s force.