Chapter Summaries

After returning home, Jiang Ning sold valuable materials for pills, trained his Heavenly Eye, and discovered a Taoist in Three Origins Taoist Temple praying to bring destructive rain to Dongling. He refined the noon sun’s essence and fifteen pills, increasing his cultivation and Source Energy while leaving him determined to gather enough points to break Literacy’s limit.

• Jiang Ning assessed his wealth and sent Lü Yi to sell his divine-patterned bones and turtle shell for Embracing-Embryo One-Qi Pills.
• Jiang Ning fed blood to Old Softshell and the Dragon Carp, then used his Heavenly Eye to investigate the changing weather and found a fourth-rank Taoist at Three Origins Taoist Temple praying for rain.
• The yellow-robed Taoist saw the clouds disperse and believed his plan to flood Dongling would weaken Great Xia’s national fortune.
• Jiang Ning refined the essence of the great sun at noon, gaining 125 experience in the Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique.
• Lü Yi returned with fifteen Embracing-Embryo One-Qi Pills, which Jiang Ning refined, raising his cultivation from 141 to 143 years while pill toxins accumulated.

Jiang Ning identified Three Origins Taoist Temple as the source of the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau’s anomaly and led Bai Luoyu and Su Zhi to confront its yellow-robed Taoist. The Taoist overwhelmed Bai Luoyu and then pressured Su Zhi, revealing his formidable power from cultivating both martial and Taoist paths, while the group faced the need to retreat or call for stronger help.

• Jiang Ning told Bai Luoyu that his Heavenly Eye had spotted unusual energy at Three Origins Taoist Temple, where a yellow-robed Taoist was worshipping the Rain God’s tablet and controlling the weather.
• Bai Luoyu contacted Su Zhi, and the three traveled to the temple after agreeing to share the credit for capturing the suspected culprit.
• Bai Luoyu entered the temple to test himself against the Taoist, but the Taoist defeated him almost instantly and sent him flying from the main hall.
• Su Zhi confronted the yellow-robed Taoist while Jiang Ning watched from nearby, but the Taoist’s Spirit Summoning Art and Taoist techniques drove her back.
• The Taoist summoned Palm Thunder and declared that only Zhao Yulong could match him, while Bai Luoyu concluded that they should retreat.

Jiang Ning intervened when the yellow-robed Taoist overpowered Su Zhi and defeated him with the Water-Fire Millstone. Before dying, the Taoist declared that the changing of Great Xia’s rulers was inevitable and suggested Jiang Ning was destined to emerge, leaving Jiang Ning without answers.

• Su Zhi tried to retreat with the injured Bai Luoyu, but the yellow-robed Taoist struck them with Palm Thunder and badly injured her.
• Jiang Ning appeared with Wind-Thunder Steps, shattered the Taoist’s Spirit Summoning Art, and seized him by the throat.
• Jiang Ning used the Water-Fire Millstone to drain the Taoist’s life force, leaving him near death.
• Su Zhi and Bai Luoyu recognized the millstone as an exceptionally profound force and were shocked by Jiang Ning’s strength.
• Jiang Ning asked the Taoist questions, but the Taoist spoke of Great Xia’s inevitable collapse and then ended his own life.

Jiang Ning, Bai Luoyu, and Su Zhi defeated the yellow-robed Taoist and stopped his scheme to unleash a catastrophic flood on Dongling City. Back home, Jiang Ning spent his divinity points to advance Flesh Regeneration, broke through its first completion threshold, and began considering the increased cost of completing it again.

• Jiang Ning removed the Rain God's divine plaque and absorbed its divinity, ending the Taoist's suppression of the gathered water vapor as storms formed over the region.
• Bai Luoyu explained that the yellow-robed Taoist had planned to unleash months of stored rainwater and cause devastating floods, and he and Su Zhi agreed Jiang Ning deserved half the operation's credit.
• Bai Luoyu searched the altar and main hall while Su Zhi examined the now-ordinary plaque, then the three left the temple in the worsening storm.
• Jiang Ning returned home, bathed while Lü Yi attended him, and reflected that his strength and defenses had made the yellow-robed Taoist's attacks ineffective.
• Jiang Ning invested his divinity points in Flesh Regeneration, completed its first threshold, and discovered that further progress now cost ten times as much.

After breaking through his Authority, Jiang Ning tested his rapid healing, spent his credits and contribution points on pills, and refined them to strengthen his cultivation. The storm eased, Lin Qingyi secured a place to stay and took his letter to Ji Mingyue, and the chapter ended with Jiang Ning seeing that his Source Energy had reached 6703.

• Jiang Ning tested his healing after his Authority breakthrough and found that even deep cuts vanished almost instantly.
• Wang Shouyi ordered the grain stores and West District embankments reinforced as the Nu River rose during the storm.
• Jiang Ning exchanged his Martial Academy credits and 120,000 contribution points for twenty-four Embracing-Embryo One-Qi Pills.
• Lin Qingyi arrived to collect Jiang Ning's promised letter to Ji Mingyue, and Jiang Ning let her stay at his home for a few days.
• Jiang Ning refined the pills, raised his Power from 143 to 147, and saw his Source Energy reach 6703 the next morning.

Jiang Ning sold most of his valuables, bought a two-hundred-year-old Profound Yang Ginseng, and consumed it to absorb its surging yang qi and spiritual substance. He returned home with his cultivation progressing, while the provincial examinations drew near and his next Wind-Thunder Steps breakthrough remained within reach.

• Jiang Ning refined his marrow in the rain, purging pill poison and advancing his Fourth-Rank Marrow Refinement experience.
• Jiang Ning learned that the provincial literary and martial examinations were three and four days away, and he planned to earn a Literary Xiucai degree to clear his Inspection Envoy assessment.
• Jiang Ning exchanged his valuables for gold notes at Eight Directions Bank, then spent two hundred taels of gold at Myriad Treasures Pavilion on a two-hundred-year-old Profound Yang Ginseng.
• Jiang Ning gained Wind-Thunder Steps experience while returning home and saw that the skill needed fewer than five hundred points for its next limit-breaking.
• Jiang Ning ate the Profound Yang Ginseng, sensed its spiritual substance, and let it go because he was not yet ready for blood replacement.
• Jiang Ning felt his yang qi and inner fire strengthen, then used Heart Like a Clear Mirror to dispel his desire for Lin Qingyi.

After the rain cleared, Jiang Ning broke through the Wind-Thunder Steps’ second limit and gained the Swift Wind and Thunder trait. He then accompanied Jiang Yiming to the Civil Examination Preliminary Test, where he completed the exam early and waited for the proctor to release the candidates.

• Jiang Ning spent the rainy days cultivating, then used 200 Source Energy to break the Wind-Thunder Steps’ limits a second time and gained the Swift Wind and Thunder trait.
• Jiang Ning tested his improved movement technique by racing through the mountain forest and back to his courtyard in an instant.
• On the day of the Civil Examination Preliminary Test, Jiang Ning and Jiang Yiming left for the examination compound with their provisions.
• Li Chao intervened during Jiang Ning’s inspection, treated him deferentially, and assigned him examination hall A-9; another scholar protested and was taken for a full-body search.
• Jiang Ning finished the examination before the Hour of the Dog and waited until the bell signaled its end.

Jiang Yiming and Jiang Ning qualified for the martial examination by lifting the thousand-jin boulder, and Jiang Ning’s effortless feat drew attention from the crowd and officials. The first round began with mounted archery, where Jiang Yiming scored only two hits and was effectively eliminated from earning martial xiucai distinction.

• Jiang Yiming told Jiang Ning he believed he had a chance of passing the civil Youth Examination, then prepared for the martial test.
• Jiang Yiming passed the qualification test by lifting the thousand-jin boulder overhead for three breaths.
• Jiang Ning passed the same test effortlessly, prompting spectators to regard him as a leading contender and officials to notice him.
• The chief examiner announced the first round, a mounted archery test requiring nine arrows to pass through the centers of targets while riding at a gallop.
• Jiang Yiming fired all nine arrows and hit only two targets, receiving a lower C that ended his chance of earning martial xiucai distinction.

Jiang Ning dominated the martial examination’s mounted archery, foot archery, and strength events, leaving the top rank to be decided by written discourse. Yan Youjiao expected his father to help secure victory, but Commandant Yan deliberately smudged his own son’s paper and was caught by General Xu.

• Jiang Ning mastered horsemanship during his mounted archery run and earned Superior A by hitting all nine targets.
• Jiang Yiming received Middle B in foot archery, while Jiang Ning earned Superior A by splitting his earlier arrows with his final shot; Yan Youjiao and Li Guangzheng also received top Grade A in mounted archery.
• Jiang Yiming failed to lift a two-thousand-jin iron block, while Jiang Ning earned top Grade A; Yan Youjiao also received top Grade A, leaving the written discourse to decide the top rank between them.
• Jiang Ning completed the written discourse with ease, while Yan Youjiao believed his memorized answer and his father’s influence would secure him the top rank.
• Commandant Yan deliberately dropped ink on Yan Youjiao’s answer sheet, and General Xu seized his wrist and discovered whose paper he had damaged.

Jiang Ning unexpectedly took first place in Dongling Commandery’s martial examination, earning official honors and an invitation to the Top Scorer Banquet. Yan Youjiao confronted Commandant Yan afterward, refusing to accept the result.

• Jiang Ning trained while Jiang Yiming eagerly awaited the martial examination results, then took Jiang Yiming and Little Doubao to the crowded notice board.
• Jiang Ning used his true essence to part the crowd, where he and Yan Youjiao waited for the results to be posted.
• An officer announced Jiang Ning as the martial examination’s top scorer, stunning Yan Youjiao and delighting Jiang Yiming and Little Doubao.
• Jiang Ning returned home to find his family displaying a Top Scorer plaque, then accepted an invitation to the banquet and tipped the messenger one hundred taels.
• Yan Youjiao demanded that Commandant Yan explain why he had not helped him win, but Commandant Yan rebuked him, and Yan Youjiao declared that he refused to accept the result.

After winning the martial examination, Jiang Ning attended the champion’s feast at Star-Picking Tower, where nobles gathered to cultivate ties with the likely future Martial Graduate. The feast began with Commandant Yan presenting an unprecedented gift of one hundred taels of gold, leaving the hall stunned.

• Jiang Ning learned from Bai Luoyu that the champion’s feast would bring substantial gifts and promised to attend.
• Jiang Ning arrived at Star-Picking Tower with Lü Yi and was welcomed with an elaborate red-carpet procession.
• Jiang Ning met Zhao Yulong and General Xu at the head table, then greeted Commandery Governor Wang Shouyi and Commandant Yan Yikuan when they arrived.
• Commandant Yan presented Jiang Ning with one hundred taels of gold, astonishing the guests because he had never given a gift at a Leader’s Banquet before.

At the top-scorer banquet, Jiang Ning easily defeated Yan Youjiao, then traded his gifts for pills that pushed Literacy to its tenth limit break. He transformed a Yin Spirit and tested its ability to fly through the Dongling Mountain Range toward Dongling City.

• Zhao Yulong toasted Jiang Ning, and the guests joined him in wishing Jiang Ning success in the provincial examination.
• Yan Youjiao challenged Jiang Ning to a spar, and Jiang Ning defeated him with one punch before Yan Yikuan helped him recover.
• Jiang Ning ordered Lü Yi to exchange the banquet gifts, worth about three hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, for Embracing-Embryo One-Qi Pills.
• After refining the pills, Jiang Ning used twelve thousand Source Energy Points to break Literacy through its tenth limit and began transforming into a Yin Spirit.
• Bai Luoyu spotted the Yin Spirit and recognized its transformation as Jiang Ning's spirit grew solid and flew through the mountains toward Dongling City.

Jiang Ning discovered that his new Born Sacred trait had let him condense an Yin God, transforming his mental force into powerful divine consciousness. He tested its abilities, learned he could receive incense offerings, and used it to manipulate weapons and fly, while deciding to investigate Luoshui County that night.

• Jiang Ning realized that the strength of the people he observed appeared according to their power, and Bai Luoyu suspected the deep-blue Yin God might belong to him.
• Jiang Ning saw the Born Sacred trait on his panel and discovered his divine consciousness could sense a ten-li radius, penetrate one li underground, and receive an incense offering from Luoshui County.
• Jiang Ning tested his divine consciousness on stone locks and found he could lift objects weighing up to about one thousand jin.
• Jiang Ning controlled his long saber from a distance, chopped down and carved apart trees, and gained 2,351 Wood-Chopping Saber Technique experience points.
• Jiang Ning rode his saber through the air, then confirmed that adding his divine force to saber strikes worked when he shattered a boulder.
• Jiang Ning decided to send his Yin God to Luoshui County that night to investigate the incense offering.

Jiang Ning and Jiang Yiming both earned scholarly titles, and Jiang Ning learned that becoming Dongling Commandery's Inspector would bring him greater authority. That night, Jiang Ning projected his Yin Spirit and discovered Lin Qingyi could see it, while she recognized his aura and realized he had cultivated a Yin God.

• Jiang Yiming told Jiang Ning that Jiang Ning placed fourth in the civil examination with Grade A, while Jiang Yiming also passed with a lower Grade A and became a scholar.
• Jiang Yiming vowed to pursue martial training and further examinations, and Jiang Ning encouraged him to choose the life he liked.
• Court runners delivered the results, and Jiang Ning learned that passing the assessment would make him Dongling Commandery's Inspector; he also noted the next morning's Sacred Temple ceremony.
• Jiang Ning prepared to project his Yin Spirit to Luoshui County and relied on the Dragon Carp and Old Softshell to guard his body.
• Jiang Ning projected his dark-blue Yin Spirit, tested its abilities around the courtyard, and found that Linglong could sense him but could not see him.
• Lin Qingyi appeared on the courtyard wall, saw Jiang Ning's Yin Spirit, recognized his aura, and realized he had cultivated a Yin God before vanishing.

Jiang Ning roamed Luoshui County as a Yin Spirit, discovered that incense offerings to his statues gave him divinity, and visited Wang Jin and Lu Qingshan in Medicine King Valley. After testing how they sensed him, he left Lu Qingshan’s room and concluded that powerful beings could detect his presence and that a body radiating furnace-like vitality might be dangerous to approach.

• Jiang Ning flew to Luoshui County and absorbed incense offerings from seven statues of himself, gaining three divinity points.
• Jiang Ning visited Wang Jin in Medicine King Valley, startled him with his presence, then used a floating stone to tell him that he was Jiang Ning and would explain everything in a few days.
• Jiang Ning entered Lu Qingshan’s room and discovered that the Valley Master could sense and roughly locate his Yin Spirit.
• Jiang Ning used floating water to identify himself to Lu Qingshan, apologized for disturbing him, and left the room.
• Jiang Ning compared Wang Jin’s and Lu Qingshan’s auras and realized that stronger beings could sense him more clearly, while a furnace-like body might keep him at a distance.

Jiang Ning discovered that the Sacred Temple’s incense ritual planted controlling imprints in scholars, but his own essence blood protected Jiang Yiming from them. He abandoned the civil examinations and continued cultivating, while awaiting his official appointment as Dongling Commandery’s inspector.

• Jiang Ning attended the Sacred Temple ceremony and realized its supposed cleansing of vast righteous qi was an attempt to brand scholars with imprints tied to a deity of Great Xia.
• Jiang Ning gave Jiang Yiming condensed essence blood before his nephew offered incense, then confirmed that the temple had left no imprint in him.
• Jiang Ning declined to attend the Deer-Crying Banquet and decided not to pursue higher civil examinations, wary that further temple rituals could expose him to greater danger.
• Jiang Ning practiced Water-Fire True Force until its experience overflowed, and anticipated receiving his reward for killing the demon Daoist and confirmation of his commandery inspector appointment.

After learning that Xiao Qiushui had emerged from seclusion and might have become a Heaven-Man Grandmaster, Jiang Ning trained Wind-Thunder Steps to strengthen himself. He then persuaded Wang Qingtan to lend him twelve hundred taels of gold for resources, leaving him better funded but still facing the threat of Xiao Qiushui.

• Jiang Ning received Xiao Emei's message that Xiao Qiushui had emerged from seclusion and resolved to prepare for the possibility that she had reached the Heaven-Man Grandmaster realm.
• Jiang Ning judged that his skills were his best chance against Xiao Qiushui and began grinding Wind-Thunder Steps experience in the Dongling Mountain Range.
• Jiang Ning made progress in Wind-Thunder Steps and the Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique during his training.
• Wang Qingtan visited Jiang Ning to collect the academic credits he had borrowed, but he claimed he had no money because he needed to prepare for Xiao Qiushui.
• Wang Qingtan lent Jiang Ning twelve hundred taels of gold, and Jiang Ning agreed to repay her next year with twenty percent interest.

Jiang Ning used the 1,200 taels of gold Wang Qingtan lent him to obtain resources, then raised the Wood-Chopping Saber Technique to its experience limit. After receiving Xiao Emei’s warning that Xiao Qiushui was headed for Dongling City, he spent 10,000 source energy points to begin breaking through the saber technique.

• Wang Qingtan lent Jiang Ning 1,200 taels of gold, and the two made a promise that she could call on him for a favor.
• Jiang Ning exchanged the gold at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and saw his source energy rise to 13,863.
• Jiang Ning chopped a massive tree with his divine sense until the Wood-Chopping Saber Technique reached 10,000 experience.
• Xiao Emei’s letter warned Jiang Ning that Xiao Qiushui could arrive in Dongling City within two to five days.
• Jiang Ning recovered in the lake, then spent 10,000 source energy points to break the Wood-Chopping Saber Technique’s limit.

Jiang Ning’s tenth limit-breaking of the Wood-Chopping Saber Technique gave his blade intent the ability to sever natural flows, while his third limit-breaking of Wind-Thunder Steps greatly improved his speed. With Xiao Qiushui approaching Dongling City, he decided to focus the remaining time before her arrival on the training that would strengthen him most.

• Jiang Ning tested his newly awakened blade intent at a waterfall and found that his strike could halt its flow; he named this rule-breaking effect Severance.
• Jiang Ning checked his panel and discovered that the tenth limit-breaking had granted the trait Blade Reaches the Profound.
• Jiang Ning absorbed the great sun’s essence qi, then used 500 source energy to break Wind-Thunder Steps through its third limit.
• Jiang Ning tested his new Chasing Wind and Pursuing Lightning trait and found that his movement, saber speed, and reactions had all improved substantially.
• Jiang Ning considered whether his new abilities could contend with Xiao Qiushui if she became a Heaven-Man Grandmaster and concluded that there was too little time for another Wind-Thunder Steps breakthrough.
• Jiang Ning chose to set aside marrow tempering and focus his remaining training time on the areas most likely to improve his strength before Xiao Qiushui arrived.

Jiang Ning devoted himself to cultivating the Indestructible Vajra Body, rapidly increasing his skill and working toward the Silver-Silk Iron Armor that would strengthen his defense. After training through the night, he ate the porridge Lü Yi prepared and continued cultivating.

• Jiang Ning chose to focus on the Indestructible Vajra Body because he needed stronger defense and could make rapid progress with his current foundation.
• Jiang Ning practiced the twelve movements through the night, gaining experience as his blood qi tempered his skin membrane.
• Lü Yi stayed awake to check on Jiang Ning, then prepared lean meat porridge for him near dawn.
• Jiang Ning's Indestructible Vajra Body advanced to Minor Accomplishment as he finished another round of training.
• Jiang Ning ate the porridge Lü Yi made and asked her to tell Eldest Sister-in-law to prepare more food and meat in the morning.