Chapter Summaries

Wei Luo studied the Folding Waves Fist visualization diagram as Qin Changfeng’s new disciple and learned that fully mastering it could earn him a great gift. After returning to the East Courtyard, he witnessed Li Yue’s public breakup with Shen Wu and rejected Sun Qianchuan’s attempt to befriend him, then went drinking with Zhao Xiu and Liu Changle.

• Wei Luo spent two hours contemplating the Folding Waves Fist visualization diagram, and Qin Changfeng instructed him to study it daily without damaging the sole copy.
• Qin Changfeng explained how the fist technique could fuse forces and promised Wei Luo a great gift if he comprehended the diagram in its entirety.
• Qin Changfeng offered Wei Luo a place in his courtyard after asking about his home and family, but Wei Luo politely declined.
• Wei Luo returned to find Li Yue begging Shen Wu not to abandon her as he prepared to marry into the Sun Family; Shen Wu eventually left her behind.
• Sun Qianchuan congratulated Wei Luo and invited him out, but Wei Luo refused to associate with him and left with Zhao Xiu and Liu Changle.
• Wei Luo took Zhao Xiu and Liu Changle to a restaurant for drinks while Sun Qianchuan seethed over the public rejection.

After becoming Master Qin’s disciple, Wei Luo turned down marriage offers from the Yao Family and the Sun Family, then rescued Uncle Cao and Yuanyuan from Fish-Dragon Gang members. As food grew scarce and the city’s situation worsened, he brought a property broker home and told his mother they should move.

• Yao Song urged Wei Luo to consider marrying into the Yao Family, but Wei Luo refused, and Zhao Xiu mentioned the Sun Family was also seeking a son-in-law.
• Wei Luo found two Fish-Dragon Gang members breaking into Uncle Cao’s home, killed one, and defeated the other while rescuing Yuanyuan.
• Wei Luo questioned the surviving gang member, learned the gang’s strength-enhancing powder was linked to the Pure Fragrance Cult’s arrival, and took the powder for study.
• Wei Luo left the bodies outside a Fish-Dragon Gang branch hall with another gang’s name written in blood, and the Fish-Dragon Gang showed no reaction for several days.
• As prices rose and neighbors came to borrow food, Wei Luo brought a property broker home and told his mother they should move.

Wei Luo moved his family from Yellow Mud Alley to a house near the Sun Family Estate while the Yao Family argued over whether to seek his protection. At the estate, Wei Luo defeated Liang Jun in a spar, and Yao Ya arrived demanding to see him.

• Wei Luo reassured Zhao Clan that they could afford a house near the Sun Family Estate, paid a deposit, and moved the family there the next day.
• Yao Song warned Yao Cheng that the Yao Family needed a powerful martial artist to survive the worsening crisis and suggested winning Wei Luo over through Yao Ya.
• Yao Ya rejected the idea of marrying Wei Luo, and Yao Cheng sided with her, deciding to hire a Second Refinement martial artist instead.
• Liu Changle revealed that he had reached the Second Refinement, while Wei Luo sparred with Liang Jun and defeated him using Layered Wave Force.
• Wei Luo assessed the gap between himself and Shen Wu and calculated that his Folding Waves Fist had reached 78% progress.
• Yao Ya rushed into the Sun Family Estate courtyard and demanded that Wei Luo come out.

Yao Ya publicly accused Wei Luo of pursuing her, prompting a dispute within the Yao Family over whether to apologize. At the Zhao Residence, Wei Luo learned his medicinal powder contained poisonous Fierce Fish meat, then discovered a secret method to improve it without side effects.

• Yao Ya stormed into Wei Luo’s training ground, falsely claimed he had sought to marry her, and left without letting him answer.
• Yao Song scolded Yao Ya and urged Yao Cheng to make her apologize, but Yao Cheng refused and declared the Yao Family’s matter with Wei Luo finished.
• Wei Luo visited the unusually quiet Zhao Residence and found Zhao Xiu discussing trouble involving the Pure Fragrance Cult with Sun Qianchuan.
• Wei Luo asked Zhao Xiu to examine medicinal powder from the Fish-Dragon Gang, and Zhao Xiu identified its poisonous Fierce Fish meat.
• Wei Luo saw a secret instruction stating that the powder’s toxicity could be countered with a primary medicinal ingredient, with the improvement taking three days.

Wei Luo brought an ink-stained pill formula and secret medicinal powder to the Zhao Family’s Alchemy Hall, hoping to refine a medicine that would remove the powder’s toxicity. After the alchemists refused to help, he used the Great Thousand Revelation to guide his own attempt and successfully made two pills.

• Wei Luo asked Zhao Xiu to have the Zhao Family’s alchemists test his pill formula, and Zhao Xiu sent him to the Alchemy Hall.
• Cheng Ming rejected the formula as impossible to refine, while Alchemist Wang backed out after Cheng Ming warned against wasting herbs.
• Wei Luo watched Cheng Ming refine pills and listened to his explanations, then decided to refine the formula himself.
• Wei Luo used the Great Thousand Revelation to deduce each step as he worked, despite growing dizzy and exhausted.
• Wei Luo opened the furnace and found two brown pills inside, confirming that he had successfully refined them.

Wei Luo unexpectedly refined a pill after watching Cheng Ming work, then tested it on animals at Zhao Xiu’s request. The test showed that the pill dramatically strengthened two animals, leaving the alchemists stunned and the Zhao Family’s need for alchemists unresolved.

• Wei Luo refined a flawed pill after observing Cheng Ming, surprising the alchemists, and Zhao Xiu arrived to ask what had happened.
• Cheng Ming explained Wei Luo’s success, and Zhao Xiu offered to train him as an alchemist because the Zhao Family needed one; Wei Luo hesitated to abandon the martial path.
• Medicine boys brought a field mouse, a long snake, and a mountain monkey, and Cheng Ming fed them portions of Wei Luo’s pill to test its effects.
• The field mouse died after reacting violently, but the long snake grew larger and the mountain monkey surged with blood energy, convincing Cheng Ming that the pill’s potency was simply too strong.

Wei Luo successfully refined pills, then encountered Yang Xian of the Pure Fragrance Cult, who threatened Zhao Xiu over the Zhao Family’s Bone Sculpting Pill. After learning that Yang Xian was poisoning and coercing the family, Wei Luo refused to leave Zhao Xiu to face him alone.

• Wei Luo’s pills improved the blood, qi, and strength of the animals used to test them, impressing Cheng Ming and the other pill masters.
• Yang Xian confronted Zhao Xiu and demanded the Bone Sculpting Pill, choking him when Zhao Xiu asked for two months and forcing him to promise delivery within one month.
• Cheng Ming attacked Yang Xian but was knocked unconscious, while Wei Luo prepared to fight before Zhao Xiu secured Yang Xian’s departure with his promise.
• Zhao Xiu told Wei Luo that the Pure Fragrance Cult controlled the area outside town and that Yang Xian had slaughtered members of the Zhao Family and poisoned more than a hundred of them.
• Wei Luo refused Zhao Xiu’s advice to leave, saying Yang Xian would not let him go now that they had met.

Wei Luo agreed to help the Zhao Family stand against Yang Xian, and he and Zhao Xiu discussed seeking Qin Changfeng’s aid and curing the poison. At dawn, Wei Luo and Zhao Xiu set out for the Sun Family Estate, hoping to persuade Qin Changfeng to help.

• Wei Luo confirmed that Yang Xian was unlikely to spare him, but declared he would risk his life alongside Zhao Xiu, who regained his resolve.
• Cheng Ming outlined the two problems facing the Zhao Family: Yang Xian’s poison and his Three Refinements strength.
• Wei Luo agreed to ask Qin Changfeng for help and offered to try curing Zhao Xiu’s poison, Ten Strings, though his deduction showed the antidote would take two months to develop.
• At dawn, Wei Luo and Zhao Xiu traveled to the Sun Family Estate with gifts to seek Qin Changfeng’s assistance.
• Wei Luo suggested asking Shen Wu for help, but Zhao Xiu said Shen Wu was far weaker than Qin Changfeng.

Wei Luo and Zhao Xiu learned that the Pure Fragrance Cult threatened Pingjiang, while Qin Changfeng ordered Shen Wu to confront Yang Xian. The chapter left Wei Luo enduring the secret medicine’s painful effects as he tried to break through to Three Refinements, and Sun Chai rushing to warn Sun Sheng about a possible spy.

• Wei Luo heard how Qin Changfeng had defeated several martial arts school masters and noticed someone watching him near the secondary residence.
• Sun Chai told the gathered martial artists that more than fifty thousand refugees had assembled outside Pingjiang and that fewer than thirty percent of nearby villages remained.
• Wei Luo swallowed a pill made from the Fish-Dragon Gang’s secret medicine and began enduring its violent effects to push himself toward Three Refinements.
• Zhao Xiu begged Qin Changfeng to kill Yang Xian and offered the Bone Sculpting Pill formula, but Qin Changfeng directed him to leave the matter to Shen Wu.
• Qin Changfeng insisted Shen Wu needed to be tested against the Pure Fragrance Cult, then pointed out that the cult’s knowledge of the Zhao Family’s formula suggested a spy inside the city.
• Sun Chai realized the Pure Fragrance Cult had infiltrated Pingjiang and hurried off to warn Sun Sheng.

Wei Luo prepared to face the threat from Yang Xian by arranging for a thick breastplate and studying medicinal texts, but two assassins soon attacked his residence. He killed them and learned Yang Xian had ordered the attack, though the surviving assassin died before revealing what he knew about the Zhao Family’s Bone Sculpting Pill formula.

• Wei Luo visited the Miscellaneous Ward, saw the Pure Fragrance Cult recruiting followers, and asked Wang De’s father to forge him a four-inch-thick breastplate.
• Wei Luo studied medicinal texts at his new residence and noticed two assassins approaching after breaking through to the Three Refinements.
• The assassins attacked Wei Luo’s bed, but he ambushed them from the ceiling and killed one before defeating the other.
• The surviving assassin revealed that Yang Xian had ordered the attack and hinted that the Pure Fragrance Cult had experts who practiced force.
• When Wei Luo asked how Yang Xian learned about the Zhao Family’s Bone Sculpting Pill formula, the assassin tried to stab him, and Wei Luo killed him with Layered Wave Force.

Wei Luo reached Three Refinements, learned that the Pure Fragrance Cult planned to attack the Zhao Family as the Prefectural Inspection Headquarters approached, and deduced an antidote to Ten Strings Poison. After killing the informant watching him, he headed to the Zhao Family, intent on dealing with the danger there.

• Wei Luo agreed to let Uncle Cao and Yuanyuan move in, then shattered a bluestone slab with Layered Wave Force and confirmed his Three Refinements strength.
• Huang Tao told Yang Xian that the two cult fighters sent after Wei Luo had disappeared, and Yang Xian accepted Huang Tao's claim that Qin Changfeng had killed them.
• Yang Xian learned that the Prefectural Inspection Headquarters had been sent to the area and decided to attack the Zhao Family first.
• After more than ten days guarding his home, Wei Luo deduced the Ten-String Antidote and told Liu Changle he was going to the Zhao Family.
• Wei Luo killed the beggar informant who had been monitoring him, disposed of the body in the Hun River, and took the back roads toward the Zhao Family.

Wei Luo arrived at Zhao Residence and refined an antidote that restored much of Zhao Xiu’s strength, then worked with Cheng Ming to make more for the poisoned household. As night fell, Yang Xian led a group of unfamiliar people toward the residence.

• Wei Luo reached Zhao Residence and found Shen Wu pressuring Zhao Xiu for a Bone Sculpting Pill.
• Wei Luo rejected Shen Wu’s warning and went with Zhao Xiu to the pill room to help refine an antidote.
• Wei Luo completed the first furnace of antidote, and Zhao Xiu took a dose that cleared much of the Ten Strings poison and restored most of his strength.
• Wei Luo and Cheng Ming continued producing antidote for the more than a hundred poisoned people in the residence.
• As the sky darkened, Yang Xian led more than a dozen unfamiliar people toward Zhao Residence.

Yang Xian led the Pure Fragrance Cult in an attack on the Zhao Residence, killing Uncle Fu and overwhelming Zhao Xiu’s hired defenders. Just as Wang Dali was about to kill Zhao Xiu, Wei Luo arrived and killed him with a single punch.

• Yang Xian’s men stormed the Zhao Residence, and an iron skewer killed Uncle Fu before he could warn Zhao Xiu.
• Yang Xian revealed he knew Zhao Xiu’s plans and attacked the Zhao Family despite Zhao Xiu’s hidden reinforcements.
• Shen Wu intervened against Yang Xian, but Wang Dali ambushed him with a poisoned blade, and Shen Wu fled as the defenders were slaughtered.
• Wang Dali broke Zhao Xiu’s arm and prepared to kill him after Yang Xian ordered the gates shut.
• Wei Luo appeared behind Wang Dali and smashed his skull with Layered Wave Force, saving Zhao Xiu.

Wei Luo helped Zhao Xiu defeat the Pure Fragrance Cult attackers and killed Yang Xian after he returned from his fight with Qin Changfeng. Qin Changfeng learned that Wei Luo had reached Three Refinements, while Shen Wu realized Wei Luo had saved the Zhao Family and surpassed him.

• Wei Luo killed Wang Dali and the remaining Pure Fragrance Cult members, then helped Zhao Xiu with his broken arm.
• Yang Xian returned badly injured from Qin Changfeng and attacked Wei Luo and Zhao Xiu, but Wei Luo survived the iron spike with his breastplate and ambushed Yang Xian from behind.
• Qin Changfeng arrived and learned from Wei Luo and Zhao Xiu that Wei Luo had reached Three Refinements, cured the Zhao Family's poison, and killed Wang Dali and Yang Xian.
• Shen Wu returned and mistakenly praised Qin Changfeng for killing Yang Xian, then reacted with disbelief when he learned Wei Luo had done it.
• Zhao Xiu mocked Shen Wu, who recognized Wei Luo's strength and felt ashamed that Wei Luo had saved the Zhao Family after Shen Wu had disparaged him.

After Yang Xian’s death, Wei Luo gained valuable martial arts and a Bone Sculpting Pill formula while the Zhao Family moved nearby and supported him. As the Pure Fragrance Cult threatened Pingjiang Town, Wei Luo rejected the Sun Family’s marriage offer, and Sun Chai demanded that he fight on the family’s behalf.

• Wei Luo took the Shadowless Hand, a Marrow-Washing Pill, medicinal powders, and the Bone Sculpting Pill formula from Yang Xian and Wang Dali, while Zhao Xiu let him keep the formula.
• The Zhao Family moved near Wei Luo, and Zhao Xiu brought him pills and warned that the Pure Fragrance Cult’s attacks made peaceful days unlikely to last.
• Sun Chai arrived with lavish betrothal gifts and offered Wei Luo a share of the Sun Family’s business and Treasure Fish in exchange for marrying into the family.
• Wei Luo refused to marry into the Sun Family, saying he wanted to focus on martial arts and would not bind himself to the family.
• Sun Chai demanded that Wei Luo fight the Pure Fragrance Cult on the Sun Family’s behalf and reminded him that the Sun Family had once helped him.

Wei Luo went to the Sun Family estate to help fight the Pure Fragrance Cult, where he met a group of martial artists and clashed with Ling Xiyun. After Wang Xiang stopped the fight and Qin Changfeng introduced them, Ling Xiyun claimed seniority over Wei Luo and the others.

• Wei Luo refused to become the Sun Family's live-in son-in-law but agreed to help them fight the Pure Fragrance Cult.
• Wei Luo arrived at the Sun Family estate and reunited with Liu Changle, Liang Jun, Shen Wu, and the Sun Family boatmen.
• Ling Xiyun insulted Wei Luo and attacked Liu Changle, so Wei Luo threw an iron spike to make her evade the blow.
• Wang Xiang stopped Ling Xiyun, and Qin Changfeng introduced Wei Luo, Shen Wu, and Liang Jun to him as his disciples.
• After Qin Changfeng and Wang Xiang left, Ling Xiyun told the three young men to call her Senior Sister.

Wang Xiang gathered Pingjiang Town’s martial artists to suppress the Pure Fragrance Cult and offered a complete body-tempering technique as a reward for great contributions. Wei Luo joined the force, determined to earn the technique and use the coming fight to advance his martial arts.

• Qin Changfeng explained his ties to the Three Mountains Sect, and Wei Luo learned that he and his companions counted as half-disciples.
• Shen Wu ingratiated himself with Ling Xiyun, while Liu Xing hinted that she might cause trouble for him before refusing to explain further.
• Wang Xiang declared the Pure Fragrance Cult a target for suppression and pressed the town’s families and martial schools to provide fighters.
• Sun Chai selected Wei Luo for the Sun Family’s contingent, while the Huang and Wu Families also put forward marginal figures.
• Wang Xiang offered the Mountain-Sinking Unmoving Technique as a reward, prompting more than a hundred martial artists to volunteer; the families also supplied pills and medical provisions.
• Wei Luo resolved to earn the technique and use the campaign as a whetstone as he continued working toward Force Training.

Wei Luo uncovered two traitors in his sector after the Pure Fragrance Cult began luring patrolmen into deadly ambushes. He brought one captive to Wang Xiang, but the traitor died before they could question him, and the other sectors were still suffering heavy losses.

• Wei Luo inspected the bodies of three patrolmen and a Pure Fragrance Cult member, realized the patrolmen had been lured into a trap, and recalled everyone in his sector.
• Wei Luo used the four Pure Fragrance Cult corpses to expose two traitors among his men; one tried to flee and was killed, while the other was captured.
• Wei Luo brought the captive to Wang Xiang and learned that patrolmen across the other sectors had also been ambushed, with some groups losing more than half their members.
• Wang Xiang explained that the Pure Fragrance Cult had poisoned and brainwashed its lookouts, who carried poison pellets to kill themselves if captured.
• Wu Fan asked Wang Xiang what they should do as the gathered martial artists faced the ongoing attacks.

Wei Luo devised a ruse to expose the Pure Fragrance Cult moles hiding among the resistance force in Pingjiang Town. The scheme drove more than a dozen moles into the open, where Wang Xiang, Ling Xiyun, and the Three Mountains Sect disciples confronted them.

• Wang Xiang asked the martial artists for a way to find the moles, and Wei Luo privately proposed deceiving them into revealing themselves.
• Wei Luo arranged for Cheng Ming to arrive and had Liu Changle spread a rumor that Cheng Ming's medicinal soup would trigger the moles' poison pills.
• Wei Luo took a first batch of people inside the Sun Family Estate, then threw out a blood-soaked corpse and claimed they had found a mole.
• More than a dozen frightened moles tried to flee through an apparently open route, but Wang Xiang and the Three Mountains Sect disciples blocked them.
• Ling Xiyun charged into the moles and killed one with a palm strike, while Wang Xiang and the other disciples joined the fight and Shen Wu hurried to protect her.

Wei Luo received the Mountain-Sinking Unmoving Technique for helping Wang Xiang expose the Pure Fragrance Cult's moles. Sun Sheng apologized for the Sun Family's treatment of him and presented a gift, leaving Wei Luo to face an unexpected offer.

• Wang Xiang killed the last surviving mole, and Wei Luo publicly credited him with exposing the traitors and thwarting the Pure Fragrance Cult's plot.
• At the gathering in the western courtyard, Wang Xiang named Wei Luo worthy of learning the Mountain-Sinking Unmoving Technique, and no one objected.
• Sun Sheng and Sun Chai approached Wei Luo, and Sun Sheng apologized for Sun Chai arranging his confrontation with the Pure Fragrance Cult.
• Sun Sheng knelt and begged Wei Luo to forgive the Sun Family, then ordered Sun Chai to reveal an apology gift: a box of Iron Shatterflowers, explosive concealed weapons.