Chapter Summaries

Qin Yao warned the martial artists who wanted to follow him that a secret art had weakened him and that the Yu Family would remain his enemy. Most of the crowd withdrew, leaving only about twenty people with him.

• Qin Yao told the gathered martial artists that using a secret art to forge armor had reduced his fighting strength to half and that recovery would take a month or two.
• Qin Yao explained that his feud with the Yu Family began when he wounded Yu Xiaoqian and killed five of the family's guards, after which Yu Yanghai nearly killed him.
• Qin Yao warned the crowd that following him could bring little reward and expose them to danger from the Yu Family.
• Zhang Dabiao led more than half of his followers away, and Sun Ergui and the Green Wolf Squad also withdrew.
• Niu Qingren, Cao Hang, Qi Shilan, and Mao Yuchong remained with Qin Yao as the crowd dwindled to about twenty people.

Qin Yao accepted Liu Zhiwu and nineteen other young fighters into the Sharp Blade Squad, outfitted the forty-one-man unit with quality horses, and led them out of Nine Suns Commandery toward the snowy plains. At the same time, Yu Xiaoqian learned that Qin Yao had left and urged Yu Yanghai to make their move.

• Liu Zhiwu and the surviving members of his squad asked to follow Qin Yao into battle, and Qin Yao agreed to take them in.
• Mao Yuchong counted the newly formed Sharp Blade Squad at forty-one people, and Qin Yao ordered two quality horses for every member except himself.
• Mao Yuchong bought eighty warhorses, and the squad prepared to depart as the men who had left earlier watched enviously.
• Qin Yao led the forty men out of the camp and onto the snowy road, riding toward the plains beyond Nine Suns Commandery.
• Yu Xiaoqian read Zhao Lie's secret letter, learned Qin Yao had left, and told Yu Yanghai they could make their move.

Yu Yanghai rejected Yu Xiaoqian’s plan to immediately attack Qin Yao and revealed that he had planted a man in Qin Yao’s party and could track him with Scent-Seeking Pigeons. After testing and rebuking his daughter, he agreed to take her along when he hunted Qin Yao.

• Yu Xiaoqian read Zhao Lie’s letter about Qin Yao leaving camp with diminished strength and urged Yu Yanghai to attack him at once.
• Yu Yanghai warned that Zhao Lie was trying to use the Yu Family to kill Qin Yao and decided to wait until Qin Yao had traveled farther and Zhao Lie grew impatient.
• Yu Yanghai revealed that one of his men was in Qin Yao’s party and that Scent-Seeking Pigeons could track the man’s scent within five hundred li.
• Yu Yanghai barred Yu Xiaoqian from next year’s Foreign Repelling Camp and ordered her to leave, but she offered to obey him in exchange for joining the hunt for Qin Yao.
• Yu Xiaoqian admitted she wanted to kill Qin Yao herself, and Yu Yanghai agreed to take her along when he hunted him.

Qin Yao found a village slaughtered by Golden Frost Barbarians and led his forty men in pursuit rather than waiting for reinforcements. The group reached a forest where the enemy was camped, and Qin Yao crept ahead to prepare an ambush.

• Qin Yao discovered a corpse at the village entrance and ordered his men to search the settlement.
• Qin Yao and his squad found every villager dead, including a child killed by an arrow, and he used the hoofprints to estimate the enemy's numbers and head start.
• Qin Yao ordered his forty men to pursue the barbarians, while Mao Yuchong and the veteran soldiers defended his decision to the wary recruits.
• After riding twenty or thirty li, Qin Yao found smoke in a dense forest and told his men to follow behind while he scouted ahead.

Qin Yao discovered Golden Frost Barbarians feasting on the remains of villagers and attacked them from concealment. After killing many with his bow and eliminating four Golden Bowmen with throwing knives, he prepared to continue the fight.

• Qin Yao found Golden Frost Barbarians eating roasted human remains and carrying the dismembered corpses of women among their supplies.
• Qin Yao climbed a tree and killed eight barbarians with four arrows, then shot more in a second volley.
• The surviving barbarians spotted Qin Yao and four Golden Bowmen surrounded his position with their bows.
• Qin Yao threw four knives and killed the Golden Bowmen by striking each in the brow.
• Qin Yao drew his bow again after eliminating the archers.

Qin Yao wiped out a Golden Frost Barbarian band with his archery, then led the Sharp Blade Squad on several successful hunts across Nine Suns Commandery. The chapter left him charging alone toward another group of barbarians to test his Thunder Dragon Halberd.

• Qin Yao killed Lord Kamendu and the remaining Golden Frost Barbarians with arrows while the Sharp Blade Squad dealt with a few survivors.
• Qin Yao set a burned cloth doll and a pair of little shoes beside a tree, then ordered the squad to follow its usual battlefield cleanup rules.
• Qin Yao led the Sharp Blade Squad in hunting down eight bands of Golden Frost Barbarians over three or four days, killing every band they caught.
• Qin Yao used the battlefield to train with the Thunder Dragon Halberd, choosing spear charges over archery in most fights.
• Qin Yao spurred his silver-saddled white horse toward about forty barbarian riders escorting carts, while Mao Yuchong ordered the squad to follow and encircle them.

Qin Yao charged a Golden Frost Barbarian cavalry formation alone to improve his Thunder Dragon Halberd proficiency. He killed the barbarian general and slaughtered the charging riders, leaving the survivors fleeing or trapped in the attack.

• The Golden Frost Barbarian general ordered most of his riders to charge Qin Yao while the rest guarded the convoy.
• Qin Yao deflected the barbarians’ arrows, and the general rallied his men by promising merit and a Barbarian God’s Fruit for killing him.
• Qin Yao broke the general’s blade, pierced his throat, and swept four nearby barbarians from their horses.
• Qin Yao killed more riders with his spear, rapidly increasing his Thunder Dragon Halberd proficiency as the formation’s survivors lost heart.
• The convoy guards fled while riders caught in the charge continued toward Qin Yao, who kept cutting them down.

Qin Yao and the Sharp Blade Squad defeated the Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry and rescued women and children from their convoy. As they camped and shared food, Qin Yao discovered Hu Xueyou’s Warp-Weft Thousand-Joint Disk had vanished, realizing her hundred days of Petrification had ended and she had been transported elsewhere.

• Qin Yao killed the fleeing barbarians with his spear and bow, while Mao Yuchong and the Sharp Blade Squad wiped out the remaining cavalrymen without casualties.
• Qin Yao ordered the squad to search the carts, where Mao Yuchong found bound women and children, and told the men to free and feed them before returning to the city.
• The squad escorted the rescued people to a sheltered hillside, where everyone shared a meal of roasted Frosthoof Horse meat.
• Qin Yao discovered that the Warp-Weft Thousand-Joint Disk had disappeared and realized Hu Xueyou’s Petrification had ended, causing the compass to return to her wherever she had been transported.

Qin Yao remembered promising Hu Xueyou he would find a way to cure her petrification, then prepared to keep growing stronger despite his limited progress. As his group traveled, he warned them that Yu Yanghai might attack and told them to stay clear so he could fight without endangering them.

• Qin Yao recalled visiting Hu Xueyou's stone statue before departure and promising to find her by mastering the Warp-Weft Thousand-Joint Disk and Spacetime Search Art.
• Qin Yao examined the sub-frame left after the statue and compass were gone, then ate heartily to prepare for the hard training ahead.
• Zhang Fangyou asked whether the Yu Family would attack, and Qin Yao agreed Yu Yanghai would likely come, though they did not know when or where.
• Qin Yao rejected setting traps and said the group should keep killing barbarians and earning military merit while remaining ready for an attack.
• Qin Yao ordered his men to flee if Yu Yanghai appeared, explaining that their distance would let him use his archery freely.
• Qin Yao told everyone to finish eating, extinguish the fire, and move out in fifteen minutes.

Qin Yao heard fighting nearby and led a charge to rescue a merchant caravan from Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry. He slaughtered the barbarians with his bow and spear, while the caravan survivors watched in disbelief and one man recognized him as familiar.

• Qin Yao heard battle sounds ahead and ordered Liu Zhiwu to guard his convoy while he and the others rode to help.
• Qin Yao and his men found a merchant caravan wrecked and under attack, with more than thirty dead and its defenders nearly overwhelmed.
• Qin Yao shot down several barbarians with his bow, drawing the cavalry's attention away from the surviving merchants.
• Qin Yao charged the barbarians with his spear, killed their commander, and began cutting through their ranks alone.
• A middle-aged man beside the wagons said Qin Yao looked familiar.

Qin Yao slaughtered a band of Golden Frost Barbarians who had attacked a merchant caravan, and the survivors recognized his strength and thanked him. As he began helping them, one survivor unexpectedly asked whether he was Qin Yao.

• Qin Yao advanced his Thunder Dragon Halberd to the Proficiency Realm while fighting the barbarians, and his cultivation rose to the peak of the third level of the Blood Aperture Realm.
• The frightened barbarians recognized Qin Yao as the Snow Demon and fled, but Qin Yao and Mao Yuchong’s men killed them all.
• The surviving caravan members thanked Qin Yao, who said rescuing them was the duty of the Foreign Repelling Camp.
• Xiao Qi started to mention that other Foreign Repelling Camp soldiers had refused to shelter the caravan, but Sun Zhongyi stopped him and explained how the caravan had been devastated.
• Qin Yao agreed to help the survivors after his men finished cleaning up the battlefield, then froze when a wounded man asked if his name was Qin Yao.

After defeating the Golden Frost Barbarian Cavalry, Qin Yao reunited with Gao Chang, a former guard officer from Tang Village who barely recognized the young scribe he once knew. Gao Chang learned that Qin Yao had become a Blood Aperture Realm general and had just routed the barbarians.

• Gao Chang recognized Qin Yao and called out to him after the battle.
• Qin Yao gave the grievously wounded Gao Chang a bottle of trauma medicine, and Gao Chang used it to stop his bleeding.
• Gao Chang recalled how Qin Yao had once been a mining slave and later a petty scribe in Tang Village, while Gao Chang had been its guard officer.
• Gao Chang remembered losing his post after Tang Village's chief and the chief's son died, then joining the Sun Family Caravan as a temporary guard.
• Gao Chang saw Qin Yao's radiant hand and realized he had reached the legendary Blood Aperture Realm.
• Qin Yao confirmed his identity as Gao Chang marveled at his transformation into a general who had single-handedly crushed the barbarian cavalry.

After Qin Yao rescued the surviving caravan members, he agreed to let them travel with his party to the commandery city. That night, an assassin attacked the camp and killed Gao Chang, and Qin Yao recognized the poisoned darts as Yu Yanghai's.

• Sun Zhongyi asked Qin Yao to escort the caravan survivors to the commandery city, and Qin Yao agreed.
• Qin Yao gave Gao Chang wound medicine and reminded him to tend to his injuries after they reached the city.
• The party traveled through the snow and made camp in a sheltered patch of woods after nightfall.
• An attacker fired poisoned darts at Qin Yao, but one struck Gao Chang, who died from the wound.
• Qin Yao recognized the darts as the same kind Yu Yanghai had used and realized his pursuers had arrived.

Yu Yanghai and Yu Xiaoqian led nearly fifty Yu Family martial artists in a surprise attack on Qin Yao’s camp, killing and wounding many and poisoning his silver-saddled white horse. Surrounded and heavily outnumbered, Qin Yao refused to flee and challenged them to a fight to the death.

• Mao Yuchong raised the alarm as crossbow bolts and darts struck the camp, killing several caravan members and injuring Sun Zhongyi.
• Yu Xiaoqian shouted for the attackers to stop when their bolts killed her silver-saddled white horse.
• Qin Yao ordered Zhou Shen, Niu Qingren, Cao Hang, and the others to retreat into their tents rather than expose themselves to another volley.
• Yu Yanghai and nearly fifty Yu Family martial artists revealed themselves around the camp, including eight Blood Aperture Realm fighters.
• Yu Xiaoqian taunted Qin Yao and threatened to kill him, while Qin Yao mourned his horse and challenged her side to see who would descend into hell first.

Qin Yao faced Yu Yanghai and Yu Xiaoqian as they ordered their armed men to kill the fleeing caravan survivors. He used the system to perfect his Cloud-Soaring Spear Art, and the resulting surge of inner force began breaking through the limits on his cultivation.

• Qin Yao ordered Mao Yuchong, Niu Qingren, and the caravan's women and children to flee while he held off the Yu Family.
• Yu Yanghai declared that no one present would escape and ordered his fifty armed elites to shoot the fleeing survivors.
• Yu Yanghai said the caravan members had to die because they had witnessed and heard things they should not have.
• Qin Yao spent 44 System Coupons to raise his Cloud-Soaring Spear Art to the Perfection Realm and received a Body-Warming Martial-Nourishing Pill.
• Qin Yao's spear technique became instinctive, and a surge of inner force began breaking open the gates limiting his cultivation.

Qin Yao surged to the sixth level of the Blood Aperture Realm and overwhelmed Yu Yanghai with a spear assault, leaving him wounded and retreating. Qin Yao then threw three knives past Yu Yanghai toward the crowd behind him, and Yu Yanghai realized what he might be planning.

• Qin Yao's strength surged to the sixth level of the Blood Aperture Realm, and he charged Yu Yanghai with his spear.
• Yu Yanghai blocked Qin Yao's first thrust but was forced back six steps with his arms cut and bleeding.
• Qin Yao unleashed Cloud Emerges from Three Peaks, then continued attacking until his spear grazed Yu Yanghai's cheek.
• Qin Yao drew his willow-leaf throwing knife and sent three blades arcing past Yu Yanghai toward the crowd behind him.
• Yu Yanghai recognized a possible purpose behind Qin Yao's redirected knives and reacted with alarm.

Qin Yao used his throwing knives to kill six of the Yu Family’s Blood Aperture Realm experts while evading Yu Yanghai’s attacks. Yu Yanghai grew frantic as he failed to land a blow, and Yu Xiaoqian warned him to be careful.

• Qin Yao killed three Yu Family martial artists with throwing knives while holding Yu Yanghai at bay.
• Qin Yao used the Seven Star Steps and Dust Skimming Over Grass to evade Yu Yanghai’s powerful palm strikes.
• Qin Yao threw three more knives and killed three additional Blood Aperture Realm experts.
• Yu Yanghai raged over the deaths of six elite fighters and continued attacking Qin Yao without hitting him.
• Yu Xiaoqian watched Yu Yanghai flail helplessly and cried out a warning for him to be careful.

Qin Yao killed the Yu Family’s remaining Blood Aperture Realm fighters with his last throwing knives, then used stones and ice fragments to wipe out the rest of their elites. Yu Yanghai was left speechless after losing his forces, while Yu Xiaoqian collapsed in terror.

• Qin Yao fired his last four throwing knives and killed the remaining two Blood Aperture Realm martial artists and four Body Tempering Realm fighters.
• Yu Yanghai attacked Qin Yao more fiercely, but Qin Yao calmly circled him and revealed that his throwing knives were gone.
• Qin Yao stomped the frozen ground, caught shattered stones and ice fragments, and hurled them at the Yu Family’s remaining fighters.
• Qin Yao used repeated volleys to kill all fifty Yu Family elites despite Yu Yanghai’s warnings to dodge and take cover.
• Yu Yanghai gaped in shock at the loss of his forces, and Yu Xiaoqian fell to her knees in terror.

Qin Yao wiped out the Yu Family fighters, and Yu Yanghai fled using a Cloud-Treading Talisman, leaving Yu Xiaoqian behind. Qin Yao immobilized her and set off after Yu Yanghai with her in tow.

• Yu Yanghai activated a Cloud-Treading Talisman and escaped after Qin Yao killed the Yu Family's fighters.
• Yu Xiaoqian begged Yu Yanghai to take her with him, but he blamed her for the family's losses and left her behind.
• Yu Yanghai promised to return with his father and kill Qin Yao.
• Qin Yao immobilized Yu Xiaoqian and said he would take her to catch up with her father.
• Qin Yao dashed after Yu Yanghai with Yu Xiaoqian.

Qin Yao chased down Yu Yanghai after defeating the Yu Family, using Yu Xiaoqian’s screams to try to force her father to turn back. Yu Yanghai finally stopped and fought, but Qin Yao pierced his chest with a spear.

• Qin Yao threw Yu Xiaoqian through the air repeatedly while pursuing Yu Yanghai, hoping her screams would make him turn back.
• Yu Yanghai kept fleeing even after his Cloud-Treading Talisman expired and reached the edge of the forest where spare horses were tied.
• Qin Yao hurled his White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear past Yu Yanghai, stopped him, and tossed the battered Yu Xiaoqian aside.
• Yu Yanghai offered to make peace and meet Qin Yao’s conditions, but Qin Yao mocked him until he lost his temper.
• Yu Yanghai attacked Qin Yao with all his remaining strength, and Qin Yao countered with Cloud-Soaring Spear Art—Clouds Part, Sun Appears, piercing Yu Yanghai through the chest.