Recaps

Lu Zhen earned his Gold Medal by defeating the Nether Three Swords and accepted a contract to kill the Black Sun Corporation’s Ocean City branch manager. He stormed the corporation’s compound, killed the manager and a visiting prince, and left with their heads and a jade pendant.

• Lu Zhen used telekinesis to disarm the Nether Three Swords, then received a Gold Medal from the shopkeeper.
• Lu Zhen chose the contract on the Black Sun Corporation’s branch manager, seeking the Blood Dragon Ginseng reward and a chance to investigate the society.
• Lu Zhen entered the Black Sun Corporation compound and slaughtered its guards and Koga Clan Chunin with flying knives.
• Lu Zhen used the Control Realm to kill Branch Manager Watanabe, then killed the prince despite his threats.
• Lu Zhen took a jade pendant, wrapped up the heads of Watanabe and the prince, and vanished into the night.

Lu Zhen returned to the Yaksha with the heads of Watanabe and Prince Kan'in, collected the posted rewards, and left the shopkeeper and Iron Pagoda stunned. Takeda Koichi concealed the prince’s death and ordered a secret search for the Control Realm killer as the Eastern Island Empire prepared for a political crisis.

• Lu Zhen brought Watanabe’s head and Prince Kan’in’s head to the Yaksha shop, then claimed the rewards for both contracts.
• The shopkeeper added Lu Zhen’s feat to the ledger while Iron Pagoda warned that the prince’s death would provoke the Eastern Islanders.
• Takeda Koichi and Pierre inspected the Black Sun Corporation branch and argued over whether the prince’s killing was an imperial plot or the work of a Control Realm expert.
• Takeda Koichi ordered the bodies taken to Military Police Headquarters and directed his men to conceal the prince’s death from the public.
• Takeda Koichi ordered a secret investigation into the branch’s enemies and anyone connected to Control Realm, fearing the arrival of Prince Kan’in’s powerful imperial relative.

After the Black Sun Society branch was destroyed, Ocean City’s powerful families reacted to the looming unrest while Xiao Yuqing broke through to the seventh layer of Force Extreme. The chapter ended with Xiao Yuqing ordering the Garrison Bureau to keep a low profile as the city’s situation grew uncertain.

• Old Master Zhou ordered Zhou Shichang and Zhou Jiahao to investigate who had died in the French Concession and who had killed them.
• Huo Tianting chastised Huo Tianxiao for resenting Lu Zhen and pursuing Xiao Yuqing, urging him to focus on cultivating Dark Force.
• Huo Tianxiao left the study still resentful and resolved to break through to late-stage Dark Force before dealing with Lu Zhen.
• Xiao Yuqing broke through to Force Extreme Seventh Layer by driving her spear deep into the Refined Steel Sword-Testing Stone.
• Xiao Ran told Xiao Yuqing about the Black Sun Corporation branch’s destruction, and Xiao Yuqing ordered the Garrison Bureau to keep a low profile.

Lu Zhen rescued Yan Shanshan and her comrades from Eastern Island Gendarmes, then returned home and received a huge haul of rewards from the Daily Settlement Panel. He ended the chapter with twenty-one Blood Dragon Ginseng roots, other spirit medicines, jade pendants, and nearly twenty thousand General Experience.

• Lu Zhen killed more than a dozen Eastern Island Gendarmes who had cornered Yan Shanshan and the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society.
• Yan Shanshan called off the group's planned operation and ordered her comrades to hide their guns and return to the safehouse.
• Lu Zhen decided to tell Gu Yanzhi about Yan Shanshan's involvement in the dangerous resistance movement.
• Lu Zhen crossed the guarded streets using the Faceless Mask and returned to East City without being detected.
• Lu Zhen inspected the treasures he had taken from Prince Kan'in and received multiplied rewards through the Daily Settlement Panel.
• Lu Zhen checked his status and saw that he had nearly twenty thousand General Experience and twenty-one Blood Dragon Ginseng roots.

Lu Zhen used Blood Dragon Ginseng rootlets to break through to the late stage of Bright Force, greatly increasing his strength. The next day, he returned to the Third Station amid rumors about the Eastern Island Prince’s death and noticed Gu Yanzhi, whom he needed to warn about the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society.

• Lu Zhen trained with Blood Dragon Ginseng rootlets and broke through to the late stage of Bright Force.
• Lu Zhen tested his strength and found that his seventh-layer Force Extreme punch could unleash 175,000 jin of force.
• Lu Zhen congratulated Ding Xuan, Lu Wan, and Shen Yun after they heard his breakthrough, then prepared to return to duty.
• Lu Zhen drove through checkpoints manned by Eastern Island Gendarmerie and reached the Third Station.
• Lu Zhen heard wild rumors about the killing of an Eastern Island Prince and saw Gu Yanzhi, whom he intended to warn about Yan Shanshan and the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society.

Lu Zhen urged Gu Yanzhi to get Yan Shanshan out of the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society, but Gu explained that she had become committed to their cause. Meanwhile, Xiao Yuqing decided to offer Lu Zhen command of the leaderless Fifth Station and a chance to investigate the Zheng Family’s Western Machinery Factory.

• Lu Zhen and Gu Yanzhi discussed the missing Garrison Commander of the Seventh Station and the possible complications of the Zheng Family’s influence.
• Lu Zhen asked Gu Yanzhi to remove Yan Shanshan from the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society, but Gu revealed that they had both joined and that Shanshan refused to leave.
• Gu Yanzhi told Lu Zhen that Shanshan’s commitment had deepened after witnessing the foreigners’ abuses, and Lu wished them both caution.
• Xiao Yuqing and Xiao Ran discussed the disappearances linked to the Zheng Family’s Western Machinery Factory, while Xiao Yuqing explained why she could not openly attack it.
• Xiao Yuqing decided to offer Lu Zhen the vacant Fifth Station Garrison Commander post and sent Xiao Ran to ask whether he would accept.

Lu Zhen revealed his hidden strength to Xiao Ran and accepted the post of garrison commander at the dangerous Fifth Station. The next day, he received his appointment and left Third Station for his new assignment.

• Xiao Ran secretly watched Lu Zhen train, but he exposed her and demonstrated his late Bright Force stage and Force Extreme Sixth Layer.
• Xiao Ran told Lu Zhen about the missing Fifth Station commander and the dangers surrounding the Zheng Family's Western Machinery Factory, and Lu Zhen agreed to take the post.
• Lu Zhen explained that he had shown Xiao Ran his strength because he trusted her and the director, leaving her flustered and thinking about his potential as a match for Xiao Yuqing.
• Xiao Changlin presented Lu Zhen with his appointment as garrison commander while the people of Third Station watched.
• Lu Zhen departed Third Station in a new black Dodge sedan and headed for Fifth Station.

Lu Zhen took command of the Fifth Station and secretly began investigating the Zheng Family's Western Machinery Factory and Sun Dahe's disappearance. He pretended to favor caution while giving Lei Zhenshan and Ma Sanyuan a supposed assault plan as bait to expose any spies.

• Ma Sanyuan and Lei Zhenshan worried about the incoming commander after Garrison Commander Sun disappeared.
• Lu Zhen arrived at the Fifth Station as its new Garrison Commander, and the constables greeted him.
• Lu Zhen told the assembled constables to avoid danger, then asked Lei Zhenshan and Ma Sanyuan what Sun Dahe had discovered at the Western Machinery Factory.
• Lei Zhenshan and Ma Sanyuan reported midnight truck traffic, heavy tracks, and smells of blood and Western Potion near the factory.
• Lu Zhen ordered them to scout the factory and draft a frontal assault plan, then revealed he was using the plan to test whether they would leak information to the Zheng Family.

Lu Zhen accepted Zheng Tu’s invitation and a medicinal herb while secretly preparing a full assault on the Zheng Family’s Western Machinery Factory. When he announced the plan at the Fifth Station, he killed Yan Pei and Luo Zhan for trying to warn the Zheng Family, then ordered their deaths recorded as losses in the line of duty.

• Zheng Tu invited Lu Zhen to dinner, offered him a second-tier medicinal herb, and ordered Yan Pei and Luo Zhan to watch Lu and report any developments.
• Lu Zhen accepted the herb and told Zheng Tu he would investigate the people spreading rumors about the Zheng Family.
• Days later, Lu Zhen announced that the Fifth Station would launch a full assault on the Western Machinery Factory and ordered the station gates locked.
• Yan Pei and Luo Zhan objected to the assault in an attempt to delay it and alert the Zheng Family.
• Lu Zhen killed Yan Pei and Luo Zhan with a single saber strike, then ordered their deaths reported as occurring in the line of duty and their families compensated.

Lu Zhen led the Fifth Station in a dawn assault on the Zheng Family’s Western Machinery Factory, using the morning sun to give his forces an advantage. As Zheng Tu and his armored Guest Elders confronted the officers, Lu Zhen stepped forward with the rising sun behind him.

• Lu Zhen changed Lei Zhenshan’s plan so the main force would attack from east to west, keeping the sun out of their eyes.
• Lu Zhen promised to handle Zheng Tu and the Guest Elders while the officers sealed the perimeter.
• Lei Zhenshan led more than a hundred Fifth Station officers to surround the factory and kill its guards at the alley entrance.
• Zheng Tu learned that Lu Zhen had brought the Fifth Station rather than the East City General Bureau and went out to confront him.
• Zheng Tu and his Guest Elders activated their Western Battle Gear, forcing the officers to retreat until Lu Zhen walked forward with the sun behind him.

Lu Zhen led the Fifth Station in storming the Zheng Family Machinery Factory and killed Zheng Tu with a single punch, revealing his late Bright Force cultivation at the Force Extreme Sixth Layer. After hearing of the victory, Xiao Yuqing set out for West City, while Zhou Shichang was left stunned.

• Lu Zhen refused Zheng Tu's threats and met his City-Crushing Hand with a punch of his own.
• Lu Zhen shattered Zheng Tu's mechanical arm and killed him, stunning the courtyard with his strength.
• Lei Zhenshan led the Fifth Station constables in crushing the factory's remaining resistance, and Lu Zhen ordered a search of the premises.
• Xiao Yuqing learned that Lu Zhen had attacked the factory and hurried to gather a force to go to West City.
• A messenger reported Lu Zhen's victory and his breakthrough to late Bright Force at Force Extreme Sixth Layer, shocking Xiao Yuqing and Zhou Shichang.
• Xiao Yuqing departed for the captured factory while Xiao Ran secretly rejoiced at Lu Zhen's strength.

Lu Zhen uncovered a human-trafficking and live drug-testing operation at the Machinery Factory, then watched the Zheng Family bargain with the Xiao Family to contain the scandal. The Huo Family learned Lu Zhen had cost them a share of the profits and a Spirit Cave Treasure Land place, leaving Huo Tianting intent on killing him.

• Lei Zhenshan reported that the Machinery Factory had trafficked people and tested drugs on captives to create controlled fighters.
• Lu Zhen entered the basement, found the victims and mutated captives, and recognized Li Qingyue among those recently abducted.
• Xiao Yuqing praised Lu Zhen for taking down the Zheng Family's black site and offered to help him obtain a Dark Force-level cultivation method.
• Zheng Yunhe disowned Zheng Tu's branch and offered the Xiao Family two Spirit Cave Treasure Land places to settle the matter.
• Huo Tianxiao told Huo Tianting that Lu Zhen had defeated Zheng Tu and that the Zheng Family demanded the Huo Family surrender one Treasure Land place.
• Huo Tianting, angered by Lu Zhen's interference and his closeness to Xiao Yuqing, decided Lu Zhen had to die.

Takeda Koichi dismissed a lead implicating Lu Zhen in Prince Kan'in's death, while Li Qingyue was rescued from a kidnapping and discovered that Charlie had abandoned her. The chapter ended with Li Qingyue feeling isolated after her father proposed she become Lu Zhen's second wife.

• Takeda Koichi learned that Lu Zhen had clashed with the Black Sun Society and been promoted, but rejected him as a suspect because the killer's abilities far exceeded his.
• Li Qingyue's parents arrived at the Machinery Factory, where Li Changgeng urged her to thank Lu Zhen for rescuing her, but she refused.
• As the family headed home, Li Changgeng proposed asking Lu Zhen to take Li Qingyue as his second wife, prompting her to protest.
• Li Qingyue spotted Charlie and called out to him, but he panicked when Li Changgeng questioned him about her kidnapping and fled.
• Li Qingyue watched Charlie run away and remembered Lu Zhen's indifferent gaze, then crouched down feeling abandoned.

Lu Zhen visited the Xiao Family Library, chose the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique, and learned that Dark Force Grandmasters could enter the perilous Spirit Cave Treasure Land. As he resolved to advance to Dark Force and bring his family into the Inner City, Xiao Changyuan began considering Xiao Yuqing’s marriage as the Xiao Family sought a powerful ally.

• Xiao Yuqing brought Lu Zhen to the Xiao Family Library and explained that she had used her family points to obtain a core cultivation technique for him.
• Seventh Great-Uncle examined Lu Zhen, then guided him to the second floor, where Lu Zhen selected the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique.
• Seventh Great-Uncle explained that Dark Force Grandmasters could enter the Spirit Cave Treasure Land and revealed that the lost Mingwu Empire had been the world itself, ruled by a Martial God and Martial Saints.
• Lu Zhen decided to break through to Dark Force so he could establish himself in the Inner City and bring his little sister, Sister Shen, and his eldest sister there.
• Xiao Changyuan dismissed Lu Zhen as an unsuitable match for Xiao Yuqing and said the Xiao Family needed a powerful outside ally, making her marriage a matter of great importance.

After seizing the Zheng Family's Machinery Factory, Lu Zhen began cultivating the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique and reached its fifth level with the help of his Panel and Red Blood Ginseng. The next morning, Lu Zhen's victory drew crowds of new students to the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall, leaving Yan Tieqiao pleased despite his complaints.

• Lei Zhenshan and Ma Sanyuan presented Lu Zhen with the tallied spoils and Merit Points, and Lu Zhen ordered them to distribute the rewards fairly.
• Lu Zhen studied the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique, swallowed a rootlet of Red Blood Ginseng, and used his Panel to advance through its first three levels.
• Lu Zhen's cultivation reached the fifth level of the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique, and his Panel showed 25,000 General Experience toward the next settlement level.
• The next morning, crowds brought their sons to the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall after hearing that Lu Zhen had defeated Zheng Tu and damaged the Zheng Family.
• Yan Tieqiao complained about the crowds but refused to turn away the prospective disciples, while Yan Shanshan watched him conceal his pride.

Lu Zhen learned that Western battle gear and alienated martial arts were advancing rapidly, threatening the balance of power, while his rise improved his relatives’ standing in Ocean City. He headed to Spring Harmony Troupe to relax, still wondering why the Martial Gods and Martial Saints of old had disappeared.

• Manager Hui delivered medicinal supplies to Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall and offered Yan Tieqiao a thirty percent discount.
• Zhou Wenjing received the director of instruction appointment after the principal sought favor through his connection to Lu Zhen.
• Zhou Wenjing’s mother resolved to treat Lu Fang better, while Lu Fang considered seeking fertility remedies for Shen Yun and a possible second wife for Lu Zhen.
• Xiao Chen handed Lu Zhen a newspaper reporting England’s Titan Type I battle gear and Renault’s breakthrough to Martial Saint.
• Lu Zhen weighed the lethal costs of Western technology and alienated martial arts, then told Xiao Chen to take him to Spring Harmony Troupe.

Huang Suyin feared Master Wang would seize her until Lu Zhen arrived at Spring Harmony Troupe in his new Garrison Commander uniform and made his protection clear. Master Wang abandoned his plan to take her and sent her a collection of ancient qin scores instead, leaving Huang Suyin safe for now.

• Huang Suyin worried that Master Wang would take her and hoped Lu Zhen could rise to a powerful post and protect her.
• Lu Zhen visited Spring Harmony Troupe as a Garrison Commander and listened to Huang Suyin play, noticing that her music had grown more hopeful.
• Lu Zhen told the troupe leader that he would keep visiting to hear Huang Suyin's music, and the troupe leader promised to reserve her room for him.
• Steward Wang told Master Wang that Lu Zhen had claimed Huang Suyin's place and would return to hear her.
• Master Wang chose not to antagonize Lu Zhen and ordered Steward Wang to send Huang Suyin rare qin scores and promise that his people would leave her alone.

Lu Zhen used his accumulated experience to raise his Daily Settlement Level to Lv.7. In the provincial capital, Duan Hai warned Zhao Jincheng that Lu Zhen had become a powerful threat, and Zhao agreed to seek money to arrange a new attack.

• Lu Zhen spent 30,400 General Experience to raise his Daily Settlement Level to Lv.7, increasing his additional reward multiplier to X7.
• Duan Hai told Zhao Jincheng that Lu Zhen had healed his leg, reached late-stage Bright Force, defeated formidable opponents, and gained the Xiao Family's attention.
• Duan Hai proposed that he provide informants and remaining strongmen while Zhao supplied money and connections to arrange Lu Zhen's death.
• Zhao Jincheng decided to keep the threat from his family and asked how much the Yaksha had quoted for another assassination.
• Zhao Jincheng dismissed the one-million-Silver-Dollar quote as outdated, then told Duan Hai to wait while he found the money.

Zhao Jincheng used Madam Zhao’s wealth to hire Yaksha’s Gold Medal assassin to kill Lu Zhen, while Duan Hai’s men watched Lu Zhen’s residence. Lu Zhen discovered the surveillance, and Xiao Chen traced the watchers to the Black Dragon Water Stronghold.

• Zhao Jincheng persuaded Madam Zhao to give him her savings and secret investment deeds for a supposed business opportunity.
• Zhao Jincheng and Duan Hai paid Yaksha’s contact eight million in Silver Dollar drafts, gold bars, and Yellow Earth Ginseng to arrange one attempt on Lu Zhen’s life.
• Yaksha’s contact rebuked Duan Hai for using weak men to watch Lu Zhen and ordered him to withdraw them from Ocean City.
• Lu Zhen sensed a watcher near his courtyard and told Xiao Chen to investigate the fishy river smell.
• Xiao Chen identified the watchers as members of the Black Dragon Water Stronghold, led by Duan Hai, who sought revenge for a man Lu Zhen had killed at Soul-Falling Gorge.

Lu Zhen headed to the Provincial Capital to deal with the threats around his residence and the river bandit Duan Hai, but first killed an alienated assassin sent by the Yaksha Pavilion. After learning that Zhao Jincheng had arranged the attack over an old grievance, Lu Zhen watched the Zhao Family’s gate and waited for him to appear.

• Lu Zhen ordered Ma Sanyuan to remove the men lurking around his residence, then set out alone for the Provincial Capital.
• An alienated assassin ambushed Lu Zhen in the woods, but Lu Zhen revealed his Control Realm strength and killed him, taking a top-grade second-tier Spirit Medicine from his pouch.
• Lu Zhen disguised himself with the Faceless mask and lured Duan Hai from the Xinglong Grand Hotel to the Wild Pier, where he crushed Duan Hai’s knees and forced him to confess.
• Duan Hai revealed that Zhao Jincheng had arranged the assassination, reviving Lu Zhen’s memories of the Provincial Capital’s Martial Arts Academy and his crippled leg.
• Lu Zhen took a seat in a teahouse across from the Zhao Family’s gate and waited to confirm Zhao Jincheng’s whereabouts.

After the Yaksha Pavilion’s assassination attempt on Lu Zhen was abandoned, Zhao Jincheng mutilated his face and fled the Provincial Capital to pursue Western Alienated Martial Arts. Lu Zhen continued watching the Zhao mansion while, in Ocean City, Gu Yanzhi’s team planned an ambush on an Eastern Foreigners’ serum convoy.

• The Yaksha Pavilion contact told Zhao Jincheng that the Dark Force Grandmaster sent to kill Lu Zhen had disappeared and the mission was abandoned.
• Zhao Jincheng decided to flee, cut his face with broken glass to conceal his identity, and headed into the night.
• Lu Zhen kept watch on the Zhao Family mansion from a tea stall, but Zhao Jincheng did not appear during three days of surveillance.
• Chen Shan briefed Gu Yanzhi, Yan Shanshan, and the other Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society members about the serum convoy scheduled to travel through Ocean City.
• Chen Shan said twelve Bright Force-level alienated martial artists in Grade B Western Battle Gear would escort the serum, prompting the group to react with alarm.

Chen Shan and Gu Yanzhi led a team that detonated mines beneath a Japanese convoy carrying a powerful drug, destroying the cargo and killing half its Bright Force escorts. Yan Shanshan was wounded and poisoned while fleeing, but Gu Yanzhi appeared to confront her pursuer.

• Chen Shan planned a close-range ambush and chose Gu Yanzhi, Xiao Lin, and Old Zhao to trigger the mines; Yan Shanshan insisted on taking Old Zhao’s place, and Gu Yanzhi agreed.
• Inukai warned his twelve alienated martial artists that the convoy’s high-purity drug could help the Empire create hundreds of Bright Force Holy Warriors.
• Yan Shanshan, Chen Shan, Gu Yanzhi, and Xiao Lin detonated the mines as the convoy entered the bend, destroying the cargo and killing six of the twelve escorts.
• The surviving escorts split up to chase the attackers, and one wounded Yan Shanshan with a venomous spike that left her right leg numb.
• Gu Yanzhi burst from cover and charged at the alienated martial artist pursuing Yan Shanshan.

Gu Yanzhi rescued Yan Shanshan from the mutant martial artist, but she died from the poison at the safe retreat, and the survivors concealed the truth from her father. After Lu Zhen learned of her death at the funeral, he recognized that his grief came from the injustice she had fought against and ordered his car home, resolved to act.

• Gu Yanzhi used a Tier Two Spirit Medicine to defeat the mutant martial artist and carried the poisoned Yan Shanshan to the safe retreat.
• Yan Shanshan died in Gu Yanzhi's arms, and Chen Shan told him that the operation had to remain secret, even from Master Yan Tieqiao.
• Lu Zhen learned that Zhao Jincheng had disappeared from the Provincial Capital and returned to Ocean City.
• Xiao Chen told Lu Zhen that Yan Shanshan had died, and Lu Zhen attended her funeral at the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall.
• Lu Zhen saw the old woman and girl being exploited again, understood the source of his anger, and ordered the driver to take him home.

After realizing the Western powers sought to eradicate Huaxia's traditional martial arts and subjugate its people, Lu Zhen resolved to act without restraint. He infiltrated an Eastern Island secret factory in Ocean City, where he discovered its cruel experiments on poor Chinese recruits and began preparing to attack.

• Lu Zhen concluded that the three-year pact was meant to weaken Huaxia's martial arts until the Western powers could destroy the nation, and he decided he practiced martial arts to never bow.
• Lu Zhen put on the Faceless mask and chose to act recklessly for one night.
• An Eastern Island officer injected a poor young man with experimental serum, revealing that the factory intended to enslave and sell survivors rather than make them martial artists.
• Lu Zhen surveyed the factory from a water tower, judged its defenses and strongest fighter, and slipped into a well-furnished building.

Lu Zhen infiltrated the Eastern Island factory, killed Kondo Shu and confronted factory director Kondo Masao, then broke into a secret compartment and found a rare Third Rank Purple Scale Hidden Dragon Vine. As armed guards rushed toward him, he prepared to continue his assault on the factory.

• Lu Zhen forced Kondo Shu to reveal the factory’s defenses, the treasury’s location, and the arrival of an imperial visitor before killing him.
• Kondo Masao ordered his subordinates to accelerate experiments to produce Bright Force Mutated Warriors ahead of the Sword Saint Grandmaster’s arrival.
• Lu Zhen entered the meeting chamber and killed Kondo Masao’s three subordinates with throwing knives, revealing his Control Realm power.
• Lu Zhen maimed Kondo Masao until he disclosed the secret compartment behind the Mount Fuji Painting.
• Lu Zhen opened the compartment and took a jade box containing a Third Rank Purple Scale Hidden Dragon Vine.
• Eastern Island guards rushed toward the chamber as Lu Zhen concealed the treasure.