Chapter Summaries

Qin Yao queued to replace his ruined bow and heard the camp gossip about his fight with Yu Xiaoqian and Yu Yanghai, which reminded him that he needed greater strength to protect his family. When the quartermaster’s office struggled to find a blacksmith, Qin Yao offered his skills, hoping to improve them and stay safely in camp.

• Qin Yao waited at the quartermaster’s office as camp members praised his archery and repeated rumors about his fight with Yu Xiaoqian and Yu Yanghai.
• Qin Yao reflected that he had held back from killing Yu Xiaoqian because he feared the Yu clan’s Mystic Gathering Realm expert and the danger his actions could bring to his grandfather and little sister.
• A quartermaster’s servant announced that Master Luo was sick and asked the crowd whether anyone could repair weapons.
• Qin Yao saw that his Blacksmithing skill had low proficiency and decided that repairing weapons could earn System Coupons while keeping him in the military camp and out of Yu Yanghai’s reach.
• Qin Yao told the servant that he knew blacksmithing, ignored the crowd’s doubts, and presented his identity plaque to show he was serious.

Qin Yao proved his blacksmithing skill at the quartermaster's office by repairing three ruined blades with exceptional craftsmanship. The steward appointed him master Blacksmithing instructor of the military supply depot.

• Qin Yao told the steward he knew how to forge and wanted to take over as master blacksmith.
• The steward challenged Qin Yao to repair three scrap blades, and a crowd followed them to the smithy to watch.
• Qin Yao heated and hammered the first saber until its rust and chips were gone, restoring it to better than new.
• Qin Yao repaired the other two blades in little more than a quarter of an hour.
• The steward accepted Qin Yao's skill and appointed him master Blacksmithing instructor of the military supply depot.

Qin Yao repaired the Sharp Blade Squad’s damaged weapons with astonishing speed and skill, then arranged to live and work at the quartermaster’s blacksmith shop so he could improve his Blacksmithing. He stayed in camp to recover and avoid Yu Yanghai, intending to return to the battlefield once his skills were perfected.

• Qin Yao asked the steward to let him choose the forging order and repaired more than twenty weapons belonging to Mao Yuchong, Niu Qingren, and the Sharp Blade Squad in less than half an hour.
• Mao Yuchong, Niu Qingren, and Cao Hang tested their restored weapons and praised their sharpness and quality as the watching martial artists envied them.
• Qin Yao saw that his Blacksmithing proficiency had reached 659 and asked the steward for access to the furnaces, materials, and better forging supplies.
• Qin Yao arranged to stay and eat at the blacksmith shop while he trained, and told Mao Yuchong and the others to rest and tend their wounds.
• After the squad left, Qin Yao decided to remain in camp rather than face Yu Yanghai on the battlefield until his skills were perfected.

Qin Yao worked tirelessly in the Foreign Repelling Camp smithy, improving weapons while raising his Blacksmithing skill to the Great Accomplishment Realm. He decided to forge a five-hundred-refinement Divine Eagle Bow and ordered the materials, accepting their thirty-thousand-tael cost.

• Qin Yao repaired and forged weapons for a growing queue of soldiers, impressing them with his craftsmanship and stamina.
• After eating a hearty dinner, Qin Yao resumed smithing so he could improve his Blacksmithing skill and earn System Coupons.
• Qin Yao's Blacksmithing skill advanced to the Great Accomplishment Realm, granting him new forging knowledge and blueprints.
• Qin Yao chose to forge a five-hundred-refinement Divine Eagle Bow to replace his ruined bow.
• Qin Yao told the steward to procure the materials for thirty thousand taels of silver as soon as possible.

Qin Yao decided the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear needed an upgrade and ordered another batch of expensive forging materials from Wang Liu Sun. As he resumed smithing, the original master blacksmith Luo Kun secretly watched from a storeroom.

• Qin Yao inspected the marks on the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear and concluded it needed stronger materials to face powerful enemies.
• Qin Yao called Wang Liu Sun back and ordered another batch of five-hundredfold-forged materials, agreeing to spend at least forty thousand taels.
• Wang Liu Sun hurried off to arrange the order while onlookers marveled at Qin Yao's wealth and spending.
• Qin Yao returned the spear to the rack, remembered the battles they had fought together, and resumed repairing weapons at the forge.
• Luo Kun, the quartermaster's office's original master blacksmith, secretly watched Qin Yao from a storeroom after feigning illness to avoid work.

Qin Yao bought seventy thousand taels' worth of Five-Hundred-Forged materials and began forging, astonishing master craftsman Luo Kun and sparking rumors throughout the western military camp. Zhao Lie learned of the purchase and, suspecting Qin Yao had an ulterior purpose, decided the young man could prove useful to him.

• Luo Kun watched Qin Yao forge with unprecedented precision and speed, then worried that the young man might take his place as master craftsman.
• Word spread through the western military camp that Qin Yao had bought seventy thousand taels' worth of materials, likely to forge a powerful bow.
• In the Fierce Tiger Squad's barracks, injured martial artists discussed the rumored Five-Hundred-Forged treasure bow and Qin Yao's strength.
• A personal guard told Zhao Lie about Qin Yao's purchase and asked whether they should intervene, but Zhao Lie refused because Qin Yao had paid for the materials himself.
• Zhao Lie recalled Qin Yao surviving Yu Yanghai's powerful strike and considered whether Qin Yao's forging ability could be useful to him.

Qin Yao continued forging weapons at the Quartermaster Department, impressing the apprentices with his speed and precision as he began shaping five-hundred-fold refined material. Yu Yanghai plotted to kill him after the camp disbanded, while a suspicious wounded soldier arrived to watch him work.

• Zhao Lie questioned whether Qin Yao could forge a mid-grade treasure artifact and decided to test him himself.
• Yu Yanghai learned Qin Yao was forging a mid-grade treasure bow in the military camp and ordered his man to keep watching him.
• Qin Yao repaired weapons with remarkable speed and precision, leaving the blacksmith apprentices in awe.
• Qin Yao began hammering five-hundred-fold refined material into the rough shape of a bow limb.
• A bandaged wounded soldier watched Qin Yao forge, and Qin Yao suspected the man was scrutinizing him rather than simply observing.

Qin Yao continued forging a bow while a disguised observer watched, then discovered the observer was General Zhao Lie. Impressed by Qin Yao’s craftsmanship, Zhao Lie asked him to forge a custom suit of armor.

• Qin Yao forged a bow from five-hundred-fold refined material as a bandage-masked man watched from the smithy.
• The disguised man approached Qin Yao and praised his craftsmanship, accidentally revealing that he was a general.
• The man removed his bandages and revealed himself as Suppressing Barbarians Commandant Zhao Lie, who had come to observe Qin Yao in disguise.
• Zhao Lie dismissed the apprentices who had shoved him and addressed Qin Yao as an equal after seeing his skill.
• Zhao Lie told Qin Yao that he needed sturdy custom armor and asked him to forge a suit.

Qin Yao refused Zhao Lie’s request to forge armor, then pretended his secret art’s side effects left him too weak and busy to accept. He ultimately agreed in exchange for borrowing Zhao Lie’s cultivation technique, while using his supposed weakness as bait for his enemies.

• Qin Yao recalled Zhao Lie’s past failure to defend him and initially refused to forge armor, stunning the onlookers.
• Qin Yao reconsidered and claimed that injuries from the Nine Turns Life-and-Death Art meant he needed to focus on recovering and earning military merit.
• Qin Yao exaggerated how long the armor would take to forge as he and Zhao Lie negotiated over the request.
• Qin Yao agreed to forge the armor after Zhao Lie promised compensation, then asked to borrow Zhao Lie’s cultivation technique.
• Qin Yao persuaded Zhao Lie to let him read the technique by promising to return it within two quarters of an hour.

Qin Yao borrowed Zhao Lie’s Thunder Dragon Halberd manual and used his perfected Literacy skill to memorize and understand it in minutes. He agreed to forge Zhao Lie a suit of five-hundred-refined half-armor, and Zhao Lie gave him a five-thousand-tael deposit.

• Zhao Lie agreed to let Qin Yao read the Thunder Dragon Halberd manual in exchange for Qin Yao forging him armor.
• Qin Yao rapidly read the manual, memorized its contents, and returned it to Zhao Lie after a little over a quarter of an hour.
• Qin Yao pretended he had gained no insight into halberd techniques, then suggested that Zhao Lie’s armor should be sturdy but light enough for mounted combat.
• Qin Yao accepted the armor commission and warned that the design would require costly materials.
• Zhao Lie offered to supply the materials and gave Qin Yao five thousand taels as a deposit.

Qin Yao arranged to move the armory’s forge indoors so he could work on General Zhao Lie’s armor while keeping his improved methods and other skills out of sight. As the workers finished setting up, an apprentice complained about the labor and was suddenly struck and kicked down.

• Qin Yao told Wang Liu Sun he would forge Zhao Lie’s armor while continuing to meet the armory’s needs, and asked for a private indoor workspace.
• Wang Liu Sun summoned more than twenty workers, who moved the furnace, anvil, water trough, and supplies into a room according to Qin Yao’s instructions.
• Qin Yao planned to build a more efficient furnace and conceal his forging abilities, then returned to hammering weapons in the courtyard.
• An apprentice complained that the workers would have to undo the new setup when Qin Yao left, and someone struck him and kicked him to the ground.

Qin Yao had the smithy prepared and began forging a Divine Eagle Bow while practicing the Thunder Dragon Halberd. His practice triggered the system to record the martial skill at the Beginner Realm.

• Wang Liu Sun punished Wang Shuan for complaining and warned him that the Quartermaster's Office had to cooperate flawlessly with Qin Yao.
• The workers prepared the smithy, and Qin Yao praised them and offered to repair one weapon for each of them for free.
• Qin Yao began forging a Divine Eagle Bow limb from five-hundred-fold refined material as his blacksmithing proficiency increased.
• After shaping the bow limb, Qin Yao practiced the Thunder Dragon Halberd with the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear.
• The system generated and recorded Thunder Dragon Halberd as a High Grade martial skill at the Beginner Realm.

Qin Yao practiced the Thunder Dragon Halberd but decided to focus on forging until he could train it effectively on horseback. After sharing a meal with his apprentices, he began forging weapons for himself and armor for Zhao Lie, while also repairing his soldiers’ weapons.

• Qin Yao advanced the Thunder Dragon Halberd to the Entry Realm, then set it aside until he could practice it on the battlefield.
• Qin Yao shared an expensive meal with his apprentices, partly to reward them and partly to check that the food was not poisoned.
• Wang Liu Sun delivered the materials ordered by the general, and Qin Yao asked for more iron to repair his fellow soldiers’ weapons.
• Qin Yao ordered that no one enter while he worked and chose to forge the Divine Eagle Bow and upgrade the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear before making Zhao Lie’s armor.
• Qin Yao spent the next few days forging his own weapons, making armor for Zhao Lie, and repairing the soldiers’ weapons.

Qin Yao tested his newly forged Divine Eagle Bow and arrows, then completed several weapons and armors while working on Zhao Lie’s commission. He finished Zhao Lie’s half-body armor and asked Wang Liu Sun to invite the general over, though his focus on the heart-protecting mirror hinted that he had something in mind.

• Qin Yao tested the Divine Eagle Bow and its arrows by shooting through a three-inch iron plate, then began forging armor for Zhao Lie.
• Wang Liu Sun handed repaired weapons to waiting soldiers and told them Qin Yao was too busy to take more work that day.
• Qin Yao forged a light but sturdy soft armor called Pale Silver and upgraded the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear to five-hundred-refinement quality.
• Qin Yao made ten five-hundred-refinement throwing knives called Awakening of Insects and saw that his blacksmithing proficiency was close to completion.
• Qin Yao finished Zhao Lie’s half-body armor and asked Wang Liu Sun to invite the general to see it.

Qin Yao reached the Perfection Realm in Blacksmithing while repairing a blade, gaining advanced forging knowledge and a system coupon. The skill advancement completed his equipment blueprint fragments, revealing a lower-grade Spirit Artifact whose method of acquisition remained unknown.

• Qin Yao repaired a chipped long-handled blade while feasting, and his Blacksmithing skill advanced to the Perfection Realm.
• Qin Yao received a system coupon and visions of forging powerful Treasure Artifacts and touching the threshold of Profound Artifacts.
• Qin Yao received the final Equipment Blueprint Fragment as an extra reward for reaching Perfection.
• Qin Yao assembled the four fragments, revealing a jade-green ring-shaped Lower-grade Spirit Artifact on the system panel.
• Qin Yao wondered how to turn the artifact's image into a physical object he could use.

Qin Yao discovered that his system could exchange jade for a Spirit Artifact, then presented Zhao Lie with a remarkably light and flexible five-hundred-refined suit of armor. Zhao Lie praised Qin Yao’s skill and questioned how he had finished so quickly, and Qin Yao claimed he had relied on the Nine Turns Life-and-Death Art despite its severe side effects.

• Qin Yao learned that he needed to invest enough jade to fill the exchange value and obtain the low-grade Spirit Artifact.
• Zhao Lie arrived, admired Qin Yao’s five-hundred-refined armor, and praised his craftsmanship.
• Zhao Lie tried on the armor, tested his movements with a horse lance, and marveled at its flexibility and lightness.
• Zhao Lie asked Qin Yao why the armor was finished in about a dozen days instead of forty or fifty.
• Qin Yao said he had worked day and night using the Nine Turns Life-and-Death Art, which left his combat strength greatly reduced, and Zhao Lie’s eyes flickered at the revelation.

Qin Yao let Zhao Lie delay the armor payment in exchange for a public promise to protect his grandfather and younger sister while he was away. After Zhao Lie left, Qin Yao prepared to return to the battlefield, intending to earn military merit and lure the Yu Family into underestimating him.

• Zhao Lie asked Qin Yao to wait a month for the remaining armor payment, promising thirty thousand taels in total.
• Qin Yao asked Zhao Lie to publicly protect his grandfather and younger sister while he was away, and Zhao Lie guaranteed their safety.
• Qin Yao decided not to ask Zhao Lie to help procure jade because he did not trust him.
• After Zhao Lie departed, Qin Yao gathered his weapons and prepared to leave for the battlefield the next day.
• Qin Yao planned to fight barbarians, earn military merit, guard against the Yu Family, and let word spread that his strength had fallen below half.

Qin Yao left the military forge and returned to Family Camp, where he reunited with Qin Lan and Qin Dashan over a lavish dinner. Meanwhile, Yu Xiaoqian continued to rage over the injuries Qin Yao had inflicted on her.

• Qin Yao thanked the forge workers, gave them money, and asked them to look after his family before leaving the military camp.
• Wang Binghe told Qin Yao that the Ding Family had stayed quiet while he worked at the forge, and Qin Yao suspected trouble might come after he left.
• Qin Yao returned to Family Camp and joyfully reunited with Qin Lan and Qin Dashan, bringing a feast for them to share.
• Yu Xiaoqian smashed up her courtyard and cursed Qin Yao over her lingering injuries and missing teeth.

Qin Yao reunited with Qin Lan and Qin Dashan over a family meal, then told them he would return to the battlefield the next morning. He warned them not to trust Zhao Lie or leave the Family Camp, while Zhao Lie privately decided he would not protect them if the Yu Family sought revenge.

• Qin Yao shared a lavish meal with Qin Lan and Qin Dashan, who were delighted to have him home.
• Qin Yao told his family he would return to the battlefield at dawn and promised to come back before the Foreign Repelling Camp disbanded.
• Qin Yao warned Qin Lan and Qin Dashan to stay in the Family Camp and not trust anyone easily, despite Zhao Lie's promise to protect them.
• Zhao Lie admired Qin Yao's armor but privately resolved not to risk antagonizing the Yu Family to protect Qin Yao's relatives.
• That night, Qin Yao put Qin Lan to bed, and Qin Dashan urged him to return alive; Qin Yao firmly promised he would.

Qin Yao arrived at the western city barracks to lead the Sharp Blade Squad against the barbarians, but dozens of battered soldiers from scattered units asked to join him. He silenced the crowd with a gesture, leaving their fate and the squad’s new size undecided.

• At dawn, Mao Yuchong and the other nineteen members of the Sharp Blade Squad gathered at the drill ground to await Qin Yao.
• Qin Yao arrived, and the soldiers greeted him while others in the barracks discussed his accomplishments.
• Zhang Dabiao brought twenty-odd survivors of the Fierce Tiger Squad and asked Qin Yao to take them in.
• Sun Ergui and scattered soldiers from other units also asked to join the Sharp Blade Squad, bringing the number of applicants to at least seventy or eighty.
• Qin Yao surveyed the applicants and silenced the noisy crowd with a raised hand and a finger to his lips.