Chapter Summaries

Qin Yao realized his mastery of literacy let him memorize numerous cultivation methods, but he had once been unable to practice them because he lacked a martial vein. After awakening the Blood Aperture Realm’s hidden apertures and receiving a hundredfold skill-growth boost, he began training Seven Star Steps and rapidly gained proficiency and System Coupons.

• Qin Yao recalled memorizing and practicing dozens of cultivation methods, then learning from the Grind Emperor System that he could not advance without a martial vein.
• Qin Yao considered whether the cultivation methods he had memorized could help him open the nine hidden apertures along his Ren and Du Meridians.
• The Grind Emperor System activated a two-hour hundredfold proficiency boost for new skills awakened that day.
• Qin Yao chose Seven Star Steps and performed its opening movements, awakening it as a first-rate cultivation technique martial skill.
• Qin Yao gained hundreds of proficiency points from each step, quickly advancing twice and earning System Coupons.

Qin Yao trained Seven Star Steps and rapidly mastered it, opening a second hidden aperture as his inner force grew. He then turned to practicing another martial art while the Sharp Blade Squad watched in amazement.

• Qin Yao practiced Seven Star Steps by the campfire, and his proficiency rapidly advanced until he opened his first hidden aperture.
• Qin Yao's footwork deepened a vast pit in the frozen ground as he advanced Seven Star Steps to Great Accomplishment.
• Qin Yao mastered Seven Star Steps, gained a surge of speed, and opened a second hidden aperture.
• Mao Yuchong, Cao Hang, Qi Shilan, and the soldiers praised Qin Yao's movement technique after he climbed out of the pit.
• Qin Yao claimed he would practice another technique, intending to use the remaining time of his New Skill Hundredfold Growth Token to train a new skill.

Qin Yao practiced Vajra Stacked-Breath Fist and Soft Cloud Grappling Art while the New Skill Hundredfold Growth Token accelerated his progress. He reached Mastery in the fist art, opened a third hidden aperture on his Ren Meridian, and continued training in the grappling art as his companions watched in astonishment.

• Qin Yao generated Vajra Stacked-Breath Fist and rapidly increased its proficiency by punching through the snow.
• Qin Yao mastered Vajra Stacked-Breath Fist, earned System Coupons, and opened his third hidden aperture on the Ren Meridian, increasing his internal force.
• Cao Hang, Mao Yuchong, Zhang Fangyou, and Qi Shilan marveled at Qin Yao's growing strength and tried to explain how his internal force had increased without a visible realm breakthrough.
• Qin Yao generated Soft Cloud Grappling Art and quickly practiced its eight techniques until they flowed smoothly.
• Mao Yuchong recognized that Qin Yao's grappling moves targeted joints and could subdue or kill several opponents, leading the others to regard the art as exceptionally dangerous.

Qin Yao perfected Broken Bridge Finger and unlocked another hidden aperture before using his active growth token to learn Ten Shadow Palm. He continued grinding the new technique as his companions watched him tear through the surrounding trees.

• Qin Yao perfected Soft Cloud Grappling Art, opened his fourth hidden Conception Vessel acupoint, and received an equipment puzzle fragment.
• Qin Yao generated Broken Bridge Finger and repeatedly struck trees until the skill reached perfection, earning coupons and opening his fifth hidden Governing Vessel aperture.
• Qin Yao gained detailed knowledge of the body's acupoints and celebrated the rise in his inner force.
• Qin Yao generated Ten Shadow Palm and unleashed layered palm strikes that swept up snow and smashed hundreds of trees.
• Niu Qingren, Zhou Shen, Mao Yuchong, Zhang Fangyou, and Qi Shilan marveled at Qin Yao's speed and strength.

Qin Yao mastered Ten Shadow Palm, received a Fire Lion Talisman, and trained Dust Cloud Grass Skimming to perfection. He opened two more hidden apertures and prepared to use the remaining time on his growth token.

• Qin Yao mastered Ten Shadow Palm, opened his sixth hidden aperture, and received a Fire Lion Talisman from the system.
• Qin Yao learned that system-generated items stayed in his inventory until he summoned them.
• Qin Yao began practicing Dust Cloud Grass Skimming while Cao Hang and the others watched his speed and endurance.
• Qin Yao perfected Dust Cloud Grass Skimming, earned system coupons, and opened his seventh hidden aperture.
• Qin Yao judged his strength sufficient to kill the revived barbarian general in one blow and noted that only half a shichen remained on his growth token.

Qin Yao mastered the Willow Breeze Bamboo Shadow Sword and Wave-Splitting Waterfall-Cleaving Saber, gaining another hidden aperture and system rewards. After perfecting the saber, he waited for the final Blood Aperture Realm opening, but it did not occur.

• Qin Yao practiced the Willow Breeze Bamboo Shadow Sword, and the onlookers marveled at his skill and speed.
• Qin Yao reached Perfection with the sword, received a System Coupon and an Equipment Puzzle Fragment, and opened his eighth hidden aperture.
• Qin Yao took up Hu Kecha’s heavy scimitar and began practicing the Wave-Splitting Waterfall-Cleaving Saber.
• Qin Yao perfected the saber technique and received eleven System Coupons as the weapon’s momentum became one with him.
• Qin Yao waited for the final hidden aperture to open, but after five breaths he heard nothing.

Qin Yao used the New Skill Hundredfold Growth Token to complete Bee-Sting Scorpion-Tail Hand, opening his ninth hidden aperture and greatly increasing his inner force. With time still left on the token, he realized his Mounted Combat and Medical First Aid skills might also qualify for rapid growth.

• Qin Yao recognized that opening hidden apertures required varying amounts of inner force and began practicing Bee-Sting Scorpion-Tail Hand.
• Qin Yao rapidly mastered the hidden-weapon technique, firing stones through tree trunks and completing the skill.
• Qin Yao opened his ninth hidden aperture, linked all nine apertures, and felt his inner force surge to nearly five times its previous strength.
• Mao Yuchong and the others congratulated Qin Yao, while Niu Qingren asked about the martial skills he had practiced.
• Qin Yao noticed eleven minutes remained on the token and realized Mounted Combat and Medical First Aid might still benefit from it.

Qin Yao used a temporary hundredfold proficiency boost to perfect Mounted Combat and Medical First Aid by sparring with and treating Mao Yuchong and the others. The boost expired after he earned System Coupons and an Equipment Puzzle Fragment.

• Qin Yao persuaded Mao Yuchong, Niu Qingren, and the others to spar with him on horseback in exchange for silver.
• Qin Yao beat the group with a firewood stick while Mounted Combat proficiency rapidly increased, and Niu Qingren earned extra silver by repeatedly falling from his horse.
• Qin Yao raised Mounted Combat to Perfection and gained eleven System Coupons.
• Qin Yao used Dust Skimming Over Grass and applied liniment to the injured men to raise his Medical First Aid proficiency.
• Qin Yao perfected Medical First Aid just before the New Skill Hundredfold Growth Token expired, earning a System Coupon and an Equipment Puzzle Fragment.

Qin Yao reviewed his growing System Coupons and chose not to raise his spear art yet, then ordered his men to rest before returning to the city. At the western city military camp, Yu Xiaoqian blamed Mao Yuchong and Qin Yao for the failed battle, but Zhao Lie saw through her accusations.

• Qin Yao checked his cultivation and skills, found that he had 118 System Coupons, and decided to save them rather than improve his Cloud-Soaring Spear Art.
• Qin Yao told his men to rest for two hours and return to the city at dawn.
• Yu Xiaoqian arrived at Zhao Lie's command tent and claimed the Sharp Blade Squad had been ambushed while reinforcing Kele Town.
• Yu Xiaoqian accused Mao Yuchong and Qin Yao of disobeying her orders and causing the squad's near-destruction.
• Zhao Lie reminded Yu Xiaoqian that he had told her to heed Mao Yuchong's advice and declared that she was accusing others to cover her own wrongdoing.

Yu Xiaoqian asked Zhao Lie to let her form another squad, but he rebuked her for losing the Sharp Blade Squad through her own incompetence and refused. After leaving the command tent, she blamed the dead soldiers and resolved to retaliate against their families, including Qin Yao’s.

• Zhao Lie scolded Yu Xiaoqian for ignoring Qin Yao’s sound advice and causing the Sharp Blade Squad’s losses.
• Yu Xiaoqian asked Zhao Lie to let her reorganize a squad and return to battle, but he refused and reminded her that the Yu Family had secured her command and elite soldiers.
• Yu Xiaoqian accused Mao Yuchong and the others of disobeying orders, and Zhao Lie rebuked her for questioning his judgment before dismissing her.
• Outside the command tent, Yu Xiaoqian cursed Zhao Lie and vowed to make him pay after she won the Foreign Repelling Spearhead title and studied at the Imperial Capital Academy.
• Yu Xiaoqian decided to punish the families of Mao Yuchong and Niu Qingren, and to find Qin Yao’s family and destroy them as well.

Yu Xiaoqian bribed Steward Wang Liusun to uncover the families and backgrounds of Mao Yuchong, Niu Qingren, and Qin Yao so she could retaliate against them. She learned some details about Mao Yuchong and ordered Wang to investigate the others, leaving her intent on making Qin Yao’s family suffer.

• Yu Xiaoqian summoned Steward Wang Liusun and paid him to find the home addresses and family details of three members of the Sharp Blade Squad.
• Wang Liusun told her that Mao Yuchong lived in Willow Tree Alley with his mother, wife, and five-year-old child.
• Yu Xiaoqian paid Wang Liusun to investigate Niu Qingren’s hometown and Qin Yao’s family, and he agreed to keep her request secret.
• Yu Xiaoqian decided to target Mao Yuchong’s family and ordered Wang to uncover Niu Qingren’s roots.
• Yu Xiaoqian recalled Qin Yao’s dismissive gaze and vowed to make his family wish they were dead.

Yu Xiaoqian plotted attacks against Qin Yao’s and Niu Qingren’s families while riding into Nine Suns Commandery City. Meanwhile, Qin Yao led his wounded men and captured horses north, welcoming the chance that Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry might find them.

• Steward Wang reported that Qin Yao’s relatives were in the Family Camp, so Yu Xiaoqian ordered him to watch them and alert her if they left.
• Yu Xiaoqian ordered Chen Qi to burn Niu Qingren’s butcher shop and tavern and kill his relatives if they were found.
• Yu Xiaoqian decided to wait until night to target Mao Yuchong’s family, then rode into Nine Suns Commandery City and knocked over street vendors.
• Qin Yao’s thirty-eight men slowly traveled north with captured Frosthoof Horses and spoils while many of them remained wounded.
• Mao Yuchong warned Qin Yao that their slow, heavily laden procession might attract the Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry, but Qin Yao welcomed the possibility.

Qin Yao’s convoy was ambushed by Golden Frost Barbarians who mistook the group for weakened soldiers and easy prey. Qin Yao met their charge with rapid, deadly archery, leaving the surviving attackers stunned as they rode toward him.

• Qin Yao spotted suspicious brush beside a slope and prepared his bow while Zhang Fangyou asked for orders.
• Fu Kegu judged Qin Yao’s convoy to be weakened and ordered his Golden Frost Barbarians to circle around and attack.
• Fu Kegu led more than twenty riders in a charge, mocking the fair-skinned Qin Yao as an easy target.
• Qin Yao shot volleys of arrows, killing nearly half the barbarians before they came within one hundred and fifty paces.
• Fu Kegu and the remaining barbarians panicked and wondered who had called Qin Yao’s convoy an easy target.

Qin Yao annihilated Fu Kegu’s barbarian riders with his bow and continued north with the Sharp Blade Squad, whose growing train of captured horses attracted more enemies. Two groups of barbarians attacked from opposite sides, and the chapter ended as Qin Yao readied four arrows.

• Qin Yao shot Fu Kegu and the other Golden Frost Barbarians as they charged, killing the entire group within moments.
• Qin Yao ordered Mao Yuchong and the Sharp Blade Squad to collect the military merit pendants, horses, weapons, and arrows.
• Qin Yao’s group continued north with an even larger train of captured horses, and he welcomed the prospect of fighting more Golden Frost Barbarians.
• Two groups of barbarians, led by a burly man and a tall, skinny man, closed in on the Sharp Blade Squad from opposite directions.
• The barbarians saw Qin Yao calmly draw four arrows and set them on his bowstring.

Qin Yao used his four-arrow technique to wipe out a band of Golden Frost Barbarians as his group traveled north. He then encountered a group of fleeing villagers who mistook his soldiers for barbarians and feared they were about to die.

• Qin Yao fired four arrows at once, killing the leading Golden Frost Barbarians and driving the rest to panic.
• The Golden Frost Barbarians loosed a volley that Mao Yuchong and the other Great Yan soldiers easily deflected, while Qin Yao continued picking off the riders.
• The surviving barbarians fled, but Qin Yao's arrows killed them one by one, including their leader.
• Mao Yuchong and Cao Hang led squads to clear the battlefield and gather the spoils before the group continued north.
• Qin Yao's group came upon forty or fifty exhausted villagers fleeing through the snow, and the villagers mistook the soldiers for Golden Frost Barbarians and gave up hope.

Qin Yao and his unit encountered villagers fleeing a Golden Frost Barbarian attack and agreed to detour to Li Family Village to rescue those still trapped there. As they arrived, Qin Yao shot three barbarians pursuing a woman carrying an infant.

• Qin Yao stopped a young woman from taking her own life by shooting the scissors from her hand, then told the villagers his group was not made up of Golden Frost Barbarians.
• Old Li explained that barbarians were attacking Li Family Village and volunteered to fight if Qin Yao would send troops to help.
• Qin Yao had Old Li take a horse and lead the way, then rode with his men toward the burning village despite the detour.
• Qin Yao saw three barbarians chasing a woman with an infant and killed all three with arrows as they neared her.
• The woman looked back and saw Qin Yao approaching on a white horse with a silver saddle.

Qin Yao rescued Li Village by defeating the Golden Frost Barbarians who had attacked it. Afterward, the surviving villagers thanked him and called him an immortal descended from heaven.

• Qin Yao shot down the barbarians who charged him, forcing the survivors to retreat into the village and use its residents as leverage.
• Qin Yao put away his bow, charged into the village, and killed Laxie with Hu Kecha’s saber.
• Qin Yao used his perfected Seven Star Steps and Wave-Splitting Waterfall-Cleaving Saber to cut down the barbarians surrounding him.
• Qin Yao confirmed the village was safe and directed the villagers to gather the dead and clean up the battlefield.
• The villagers, including the woman and her child, knelt and thanked Qin Yao for saving their lives.

Qin Yao rescued the survivors of Li Village, gave them food and shelter instructions, and used the village as bait to draw in another band of Golden Frost Barbarians. When the riders recognized him as the monster who had killed Lord Hu Kecha, Qin Yao opened fire and brought down six of them.

• Qin Yao helped the surviving villagers to their feet, gave orders to distribute food and clothing, and told them to shelter in their secret passage.
• Qin Yao instructed the villagers to eat, receive treatment, and later hide in the passage, while Niu Qingren built a large cooking fire to attract barbarians.
• Mu Anxi’s group scouted Li Village and, seeing its defenders eating without a guard, charged toward it.
• The villagers stayed calm as the barbarians approached, trusting Qin Yao to protect them.
• A barbarian recognized Qin Yao as the monster who had killed Lord Hu Kecha, and Qin Yao shot six riders with four arrows.

Qin Yao and the Sharp Blade Squad continued north after he killed the Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry threatening Li Village, leaving the villagers supplies and silver. They reached Nine Suns Commandery by dusk, while his men reflected on the lives he had saved and pledged their loyalty to him.

• Qin Yao killed the Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry at Li Village, then gave the villagers provisions and silver before riding north with the Sharp Blade Squad.
• Niu Qingren told the woman Qin Yao had saved that her benefactor was named Qin Yao, and the villagers knelt to bid the departing squad farewell.
• Qin Yao teased Niu Qingren about his handwriting as the party traveled through heavier snowfall toward Nine Suns Commandery.
• The Sharp Blade Squad reached Nine Suns Commandery with more than one hundred and sixty Frosthoof Horses carrying weapons and other spoils, drawing stares from passersby.
• Niu Qingren, Zhang Fangyou, and Qi Shilan recalled Qin Yao's victories over the barbarians, and Mao Yuchong and the others pledged their lives and loyalty to him.

Qin Yao led the surviving Sharp Blade Squad back to Nine Suns Commandery with a huge haul of Frosthoof Horses and weapons, shocking the camp after Yu Xiaoqian had reported them wiped out. General Zhao summoned the squad’s officers to his tent, while the men who remained outside watched Qin Yao with fervent devotion.

• Qin Yao presented his squad leader token at the western camp gate, and Mao Yuchong identified the returning party as the Sharp Blade Squad.
• The sentries were stunned to see the squad alive with more than a hundred and sixty Frosthoof Horses loaded with spoils, and one soldier ran to inform General Zhao.
• Qin Yao led the squad past the quartermaster’s office, where returning warriors recognized Mao Yuchong and marveled at the group’s spoils and discipline.
• A guard announced that General Zhao had summoned all officers of squad-leader rank and above, so Qin Yao and more than half the returning men entered the commander’s tent.
• The remaining soldiers stood outside the tent and watched Qin Yao with fervent devotion.