Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xuanyi and the other three family patriarchs attacked Qin Yao to seize his secret art, while their red-robed men slaughtered the guests. Just as Zhao Xuanyi prepared to kill the gravely wounded Qin Yao, Li Xueran rose from the pile of corpses and revealed herself.

• Zhao Xuanyi ordered the red-robed men to kill everyone, and they overwhelmed the guests while four Blood Aperture Realm patriarchs surrounded Qin Yao.
• The patriarchs demanded Qin Yao's Nine Cycles Life-and-Death Art, but he refused and charged Sima Yilin when Sima threatened his grandfather and little sister.
• Sima Yilin called on the other patriarchs to attack together, and the four men overwhelmed Qin Yao, breaking his ribs and injuring his internal organs.
• Zhao Xuanyi approached the helpless Qin Yao and prepared to deliver the final blow, claiming he would spare Qin Yao's family.
• Li Xueran rose from the pile of corpses, removed her cloak and mask, and revealed her face.

Li Xueran revealed her true face and unleashed a terrifying Mystic Spirit power to save the gravely wounded Qin Yao from the attackers. The chapter ended with her petrifying Tao Lianyong with a single word.

• Kong Juru, Sima Yilin, Zhao Xuanyi, and Tao Lianyong dismissed Li Xueran as a weak cultivator and threatened her and Qin Yao.
• Li Xueran decided to use a dangerous secret art despite the hundred days of petrification it would bring upon her afterward.
• Qin Yao recognized Li Xueran as the disguised female thief and Miss Liu who had stolen a treasure chest from the Village Chief's study.
• Li Xueran shed her disguises to reveal her true face, alarming Zhao Xuanyi, Tao Lianyong, and Kong Juru.
• Li Xueran invoked the Petrifying Eye, then froze Tao Lianyong and turned his body to stone with the word "Freeze!"

Li Xueran used her golden-eyed petrification power to turn Tao Lianyong and the red-robed guards into stone, crushing the attackers’ attempt to escape. She then petrified Zhao Xuanyi after he unleashed the Zhao Family’s Blood Baleful Diamond Palm, leaving the other clan heads in danger.

• Li Xueran petrified Tao Lianyong when he attacked her with his saber.
• She turned the nearby red-robed guards into stone, and the survivors panicked and tried to flee.
• Li Xueran petrified the guards blocking the exit, sealing the way out.
• She targeted Zhao Xuanyi, Kong Juru, and Sima Yilin, slowing them as their backs began to turn to stone.
• Zhao Xuanyi burned his blood essence and lifespan to unleash Blood Baleful Diamond Palm, but Li Xueran stopped his attack and petrified him.

Li Xueran killed the four clan heads and the remaining Black Market Bazaar organizers with her Petrifying Eye, leaving only her and the badly wounded Qin Yao alive. She revealed that using the eye would petrify her for a hundred days and later teleport her elsewhere, then asked Qin Yao to protect her stone body and destroy the other statues.

• Li Xueran petrified Kong Juru and Sima Yilin, completing the deaths of all four Blood Aperture Realm clan heads.
• Li Xueran turned the fleeing red-robed guards and the remaining Black Market Bazaar organizers into stone, leaving the cavern filled with statues and corpses.
• Li Xueran gave Qin Yao a healing pill, and he recovered enough to speak while she admitted that Li Xueran was not her real name.
• Li Xueran began to petrify and explained that the Petrifying Eye's backlash would keep her stone-bound for a hundred days before the Warp-Weft Thousand-Joint Disk teleported her elsewhere.
• Li Xueran asked Qin Yao to protect her stone body and smash the statues of Zhao Xuanyi and the others; Qin Yao agreed.

Qin Yao destroyed the petrified statues while Li Xueran explained the temporary boost from her pill and questioned whether he came from the Cultivation World. As her petrification advanced, she gave him the sinew-cleansing eight treasures list and the Water Moon False Meridian Pill hidden in her earring.

• Qin Yao used his boosted strength to smash the statues of Zhao Xuanyi and the others, then realized his martial combat strength had greatly increased.
• Li Xueran explained that the pill would keep Qin Yao's strength elevated for six hours, and Qin Yao began planning a revenge mission in nearby Snow Pine County.
• Li Xueran asked whether Qin Yao came from the Cultivation World, but he denied knowing anything about it and repeated his explanation for learning about Sinew-Washing and Meridian-Cleansing.
• Li Xueran listed the sinew-cleansing eight treasures and warned Qin Yao that they were rare and extremely expensive in the Mortal World.
• As petrification reached her chest, Li Xueran told Qin Yao to open her earring and gave him the Water Moon False Meridian Pill, which could create usable False Meridians.

Li Xueran gave Qin Yao the Water Moon False Meridian Pill but warned that its temporary meridians would fail unless he completed Sinew-Washing and Meridian-Cleansing within a year. Before petrification finished, she revealed her real name, Hu Xueyou, and told Qin Yao how he might find her after she was transported away; he was left carrying her stone statue from the cave.

• Li Xueran explained that the Water Moon False Meridian Pill would create false meridians lasting only one year, and that their collapse would destroy Qin Yao's cultivation if he failed to cleanse his sinews and meridians in time.
• Li Xueran explained the pill's age restriction, and Qin Yao realized he had to take it within about two months, before turning sixteen.
• Li Xueran told Qin Yao to search her luggage for a compass and a cowhide-wrapped booklet on the laws of spacetime so he might use the Spacetime Search Art to find her after the Warp-Weft Thousand-Joint Disk transported her.
• Li Xueran revealed that her real name was Hu Xueyou and asked Qin Yao to recite poetry for her if they met again before petrification covered her completely.
• Qin Yao touched Hu Xueyou's lifeless stone face, then lifted her heavy statue and carried it toward the cave entrance.

After returning Hu Xueyou’s stone statue to the cave, Qin Yao steadied himself and decided to focus on surviving and advancing in the low-martial world before chasing his dreams of immortality. He searched Hu Xueyou’s belongings and found a mysterious booklet and compass that seemed connected to the laws of time and space, but could not understand either.

• Qin Yao realized Hu Xueyou’s stone statue would be safer left deep in the cave and placed it there.
• Qin Yao calmed himself, resolved to improve his strength in the low-martial world, and checked the cave’s surroundings, finding no guards outside.
• Qin Yao returned to the cave and searched Hu Xueyou’s cloak for her belongings.
• Qin Yao found several hundred taels in silver notes, a strange booklet, and an antique octagonal compass in the blue cloth bundle.
• Qin Yao examined the booklet’s incomprehensible golden writing and the compass’s mysterious crystal and markings, then closed the booklet to avoid becoming dizzy.

Qin Yao used System Coupons to raise Literacy to the Great Accomplishment Realm, allowing him to partially decipher Hu Xueyou’s handbook. He still could not grasp its techniques, so he put the book and compass away and resolved to protect her stone body while seeking answers later.

• Qin Yao struggled to understand the handbook and compass, then reasoned that his Literacy skill might not cover the Cultivation world’s writing.
• Qin Yao exchanged 7 System Coupons for proficiency and raised Literacy to the Great Accomplishment Realm.
• Qin Yao deciphered the handbook’s title, “Space-Time Profound Meaning Handbook,” and recognized scattered concepts such as flow, trace, positioning, and rifts.
• Qin Yao concluded that he could understand only a fraction of the text and would need to raise Literacy to the Perfection Realm.
• Qin Yao put away the handbook and compass, promised to protect Hu Xueyou’s stone body, and vowed to uncover the handbook’s secrets.

After surviving the Black Market Bazaar massacre, Qin Yao gathered the dead guests’ banknotes and valuable herbs, then disguised himself as the old steward of the Zhao Residence. He prepared to pursue the people behind the scheme and make them pay for the bloodshed.

• Qin Yao searched the corpses and collected banknotes totaling about one hundred and eighty thousand taels.
• Qin Yao sorted through the medicinal herbs, packed the best portable ones, and hid his loot in a crevice in the cave.
• Qin Yao ate most of the remaining herbs, using his major-mastery Eating skill to absorb their nourishment and restore his qi and blood.
• Qin Yao used materials from the cave and his Acting skill to disguise himself as the old steward of the Zhao Residence.
• Qin Yao resolved to hunt down the people behind the Black Market Bazaar scheme and make them answer for the blood debt.

Qin Yao rode back to Snow Pine County and secretly entered the Zhao Residence to check on his grandfather and younger sister. Finding them safe, he left the residence without being detected.

• Qin Yao struggled to mount a jujube-red horse, then generated the Horsemanship skill and quickly improved his riding.
• Qin Yao galloped toward Snow Pine County and earned two System Vouchers as his Riding skill advanced.
• Qin Yao left his horse outside the county and silently vaulted over the city wall after the east gate had closed.
• Qin Yao slipped into the Zhao Residence and found his grandfather and sister asleep and apparently unharmed.
• Qin Yao decided to spare the Zhao Family from being wiped out root and branch, then disappeared into the darkness.

Qin Yao disguised himself as Zhao Residence’s steward Lao Bu and confronted Snow Pine County magistrate Gongsun Zhanghua with news of the Black Market massacre. Gongsun learned that the mysterious attacker had ordered him to bring two hundred thousand taels in silver notes to the mine before the end of the Hour of the Tiger, leaving him trapped by the threat of exposure.

• Qin Yao disguised himself as Lao Bu and convinced the guards at Gongsun Residence to admit him for an urgent audience.
• Gongsun Zhanghua waited anxiously for news from the Black Market, where he had helped the Four Great Families set a deadly trap using secretly requisitioned military crossbows.
• Qin Yao told Gongsun that a mysterious expert had turned everyone in the mine into stone and had deliberately sent him back to deliver a message.
• Qin Yao demanded that Gongsun bring two hundred thousand taels in silver notes to the mine before the end of the Hour of the Tiger or face exposure for the crossbow plot.
• Gongsun smashed his desk in rage but abandoned his plan to kill Qin Yao when he realized silencing him would not solve the threat.

Qin Yao convinced Gongsun Zhanghua that Hu Xueyou could petrify people and demanded two hundred thousand taels to settle the military-crossbow matter. After Gongsun returned with the money, Qin Yao began checking the banknotes before agreeing to lead him to the demon.

• Qin Yao swore his story was true and showed Gongsun Zhanghua a petrified head as proof of Hu Xueyou's power.
• Gongsun Zhanghua feared the consequences of refusing to meet the demon and asked what it wanted.
• Qin Yao said the demon would overlook the military crossbows in exchange for wealth, so Gongsun Zhanghua rushed out to gather two hundred thousand taels.
• Gongsun Zhanghua returned with a sandalwood box of banknotes and ordered Qin Yao to lead the way.
• Qin Yao insisted on inspecting the money first, and Gongsun Zhanghua let him count it while fuming over the borrowed silver.

Qin Yao accompanied Gongsun Zhanghua toward a meeting with the “demon,” after discovering the poisoned banknotes and swallowing the antidote. Once they left the city, Qin Yao’s newly acquired carriage-driving skill improved, but Gongsun Zhanghua ordered him to take the carriage into the woods and switch to horseback.

• Gongsun Zhanghua gave Qin Yao an antidote for the poison on the banknotes and hurried him to lead the way to the “demon.”
• Gongsun Zhanghua arranged a private carriage and ordered Qin Yao to drive while he carried the box of banknotes.
• Qin Yao struggled to control the horses, then gained the Carriage Driving skill and gradually steadied the carriage.
• As the carriage passed through the city gates, Qin Yao advanced his Carriage Driving skill to Beginner Realm and drove more smoothly.
• Gongsun Zhanghua ordered Qin Yao to head into the woods, unhitch the carriage, and continue on horseback.

Qin Yao led Gongsun Zhanghua to the abandoned mine, where the county magistrate found a massacre and the remains of people turned to stone. As Qin Yao pleaded for his clansmen, a spear flash suddenly struck from the darkness.

• Qin Yao rode ahead of Gongsun Zhanghua while pretending to be an elderly steward who could barely keep up.
• Qin Yao guided Gongsun Zhanghua off the official road and along a mountain path to the abandoned mine.
• Gongsun Zhanghua entered the mine carrying a cashbox and followed Qin Yao toward the marketplace.
• Gongsun Zhanghua found corpses, military crossbows, and shattered stone remains that appeared to be lifelike people turned to stone.
• Qin Yao called out to a senior, saying Gongsun Zhanghua had brought the banknotes and asking for his clansmen to be released, when a spear flash shot toward them.

Qin Yao ambushed Gongsun Zhanghua in the abandoned mine, badly wounding him and revealing his disguise. They fought fiercely, with Qin Yao pressing his advantage while Gongsun Zhanghua struggled through his injury.

• Qin Yao used his disguise and the staged demon story to distract Gongsun Zhanghua, then attacked him from behind with the White Tiger Phoenix Swallow Spear.
• Gongsun Zhanghua dodged a fatal strike but took a deep wound to his right waist and rushed away to create distance.
• Gongsun Zhanghua threw poisoned needles at Qin Yao, who deflected them and tore off his false face.
• Gongsun Zhanghua realized Qin Yao had lured him into a trap and charged at him in a rage.
• Qin Yao advanced and clashed with Gongsun Zhanghua, using his Cloud-Soaring Spear Art against Gongsun Zhanghua's Flowing Cloud Thirteen Forms as the cavern shook around them.

Qin Yao defeated and killed Gongsun Zhanghua after a fierce spear-and-sword battle, then collected the magistrate’s money. With the hidden mastermind dead, Qin Yao turned his attention to the Four Great Families.

• Gongsun Zhanghua realized Qin Yao was still in the Body-Tempering Realm but matched his peak Blood Aperture strength, and unleashed Flowing Cloud Stacking Waves.
• Qin Yao pierced through Gongsun Zhanghua’s sword move with Spear Draws Thundercloud, Light Fills the Ground, leaving the magistrate gravely injured.
• Qin Yao pressed his attack while Gongsun Zhanghua begged to bargain, then killed him with a spear thrust through the throat.
• Qin Yao confirmed Hu Xueyou’s stone statue was unharmed and added the banknotes he had acquired to his hidden stash, bringing his total to three hundred and eighty thousand taels.
• Qin Yao decided to target the Four Great Families now that Gongsun Zhanghua was dead.

Qin Yao disguised himself as Magistrate Gongsun Zhanghua and went to the Zhao Residence to deceive Zhao Xuande about the black market disaster. He left Zhao Xuande terrified and demanding a way to save the Zhao Family, then named a price of two hundred thousand taels.

• Qin Yao used his disguise and acting skills to impersonate Gongsun Zhanghua and rode to the Zhao Residence.
• Qin Yao ordered Zhao Xuande to dismiss everyone and claimed that the black market trap had exposed the Military Crossbows and devastated the families’ leaders and guests.
• Qin Yao warned Zhao Xuande that the four great families could be condemned for illegally using Military Crossbows and offered to use his connections to suppress the matter.
• Zhao Xuande begged Qin Yao to help preserve the Zhao Family, and Qin Yao demanded two hundred thousand taels.

Qin Yao impersonated County Magistrate Gongsun Zhanghua and convinced the four great families to hand over a fortune to avert a fabricated catastrophe. He left with four hundred thousand taels in banknotes and promissory notes, while Zhao Xuande believed the deception was real.

• Qin Yao pressured Zhao Xuande to raise two hundred thousand taels, accepting one hundred thousand immediately and the rest within ten days, with the Zhao family's fields and shops as collateral.
• After Qin Yao left, Zhao Xuande investigated Gongsun Zhanghua's movements and wrongly concluded that the magistrate had joined forces with the Zhao Family to handle the black market crisis.
• Qin Yao repeated his scare tactics with the Tao, Kong, and Sima Families, persuading them to agree to his demands.
• Representatives of the four families and the bank's chief steward met Qin Yao at South Four Storehouses Alley and handed over banknotes and promissory notes.
• Qin Yao used Gongsun Zhanghua's identity plaque as a guarantee, warned the families to keep quiet, and left with another four hundred thousand taels.

Qin Yao hurried back to the Zhao Residence after hearing that assassins had attacked, only to find Qin Xusheng carrying off Qin Lan and Qin Dashan. Qin Yao disguised his strength as a frightened bystander, but Qin Xusheng’s attempt to kill him revealed that his kick could not move him.

• Qin Yao planned to leave Snow Pine County with Qin Lan and Qin Dashan after retrieving the banknotes and Hu Xueyou’s stone-carved body.
• Qin Yao heard an alarm from the Zhao Residence and rushed there when he learned that Qin Lan and Qin Dashan had been kidnapped.
• Qin Xusheng carried the bound Qin Lan and Qin Dashan through an alley, hoping to use them to force Qin Yao to surrender.
• Qin Yao pretended to be frightened and claimed he had seen nothing as Qin Xusheng approached.
• Qin Xusheng kicked Qin Yao in the abdomen, but Qin Yao remained unmoved and the force rebounded painfully into Qin Xusheng’s leg.

Qin Yao rescued Qin Dashan and Qin Lan from Qin Xusheng, subdued their captor, and escaped Snow Pine County with them. After his Stealth skill advanced, he carried all three toward an abandoned mine to question Qin Xusheng.

• Qin Yao struck Qin Xusheng unconscious, then caught Qin Dashan and Qin Lan as they fell.
• Qin Yao revealed himself to Qin Lan and Qin Dashan with their familiar pinky-promise gesture and told them to stay quiet as Zhao Family pursuers searched nearby.
• Qin Yao freed his grandfather and sister, tied up Qin Xusheng, and carried all three across the rooftops to escape the city.
• Qin Yao gained and advanced the Stealth skill while slipping past patrols and leaving Snow Pine County.
• Qin Yao bundled Qin Dashan and Qin Lan against the cold, then ran with them and the unconscious Qin Xusheng toward an abandoned mine.