Chapter Summaries

Jiang Ning joined the Blue-Wave Martial Academy disciples on their way to the Inspection Office assessment, where his killing intent unsettled Zhao Hu and drew Zhou Xing’s notice. Meanwhile, Medicine King Valley’s Third Elder recovered Liu Qingsong’s corpse and learned that Liu had gone to question Jiang Ning, while the assessment gathered a crowd and set up a contest for squad leader.

• Wang Jin led the Blue-Wave Martial Academy disciples toward the assessment, where Zhao Hu challenged Jiang Ning and Zhou Xing noticed Jiang Ning’s killing intent.
• Medicine King Valley’s Third Elder used Liu Qingsong’s life token to find Liu’s and two others’ corpses in the Luo River, then learned Liu had gone to question Jiang Ning.
• At the training grounds, Wang Jin and Yu Yuan discussed their eighth-rank disciples, Zhou Xing and Du Yang, competing for squad leader.
• Jiang Ning spotted Lin Jia'er and Liu Sansheng in the viewing stand, while Lin Jia'er made a proud gesture toward him and Zhao Hu grew jealous of Li Qing’s closeness to Jiang Ning.
• Jiang Ning looked toward the empty seat reserved for the head of the Luoshui County Inspection Office as the assessment gathering continued.

Prefect Hong Minghu arrived at the training ground and began the Inspection Office examination, where candidates had to lift an eight-hundred-jin iron lock. Jiang Ning’s turn came as Gongsun Yu, seeking information about Elder Liu’s death, recognized his name.

• Hong Minghu arrived with Constable Wang and several imposing companions, then ordered the examination to begin.
• Candidates from the Martial Academy and various factions attempted the iron-lock test, and many failed to hold it for three breaths.
• Gongsun Yu told Hong Minghu that Elder Liu had died while pursuing the bandit who stole King Huai'an’s tribute, and said Jiang Ning might know something.
• Zhou Xing, Zhao Hu, and Zhang Tiesheng passed the test, while Lin Mu and Li Qing failed.
• Wang Jin rejected Yu Yuan’s taunts and said he still expected Jiang Ning to pass.
• The examiner called Jiang Ning’s name, and Gongsun Yu focused on him from the viewing stands.

Jiang Ning passed the Inspection Office assessment by effortlessly lifting an eight-hundred-pound iron lock, revealing eighth-rank strength and drawing attention from allies and Medicine King Valley elder Gongsun Yu. Wang Jin examined Jiang Ning afterward and discovered his bone structure had become superior.

• Jiang Ning noticed Gongsun Yu watching him and recognized him as a powerful elder from Medicine King Valley, while Gongsun Yu asked Hong Minghu to question Jiang Ning about Liu Qingsong's death.
• Jiang Ning lifted an eight-hundred-pound iron lock with ease and passed the assessment, astonishing the officials and martial academy disciples.
• Wang Jin and Yu Yuan praised Jiang Ning's talent, while Zhou Xing, Li Qing, and Zhao Hu reacted to his newly revealed strength in different ways.
• Li Qing told Wang Jin she would leave for the Sword Pavilion in Bashu Commandery after failing the assessment, and Wang Jin encouraged her.
• Wang Jin examined Jiang Ning's physique and exclaimed that his bone structure was superior.

Jiang Ning learned that his bone structure had become superior, then prepared for the Inspection Office’s arena assessment. As the Martial Academy students entered the competition, he identified He Jinyun, a young count famed for his innate divine strength, and waited to see him fight.

• Wang Jin confirmed Jiang Ning had superior bone structure, drawing envy from those nearby and praise from Yu Yuan.
• Hong Minghu announced that contestants would fight in groups of ten, with five survivors from each arena entering the Inspection Office.
• Wang Jin urged Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, and the others to support one another, but Zhao Hu left to join a different group.
• He Jinyun mocked Liu Sansheng and headed toward an empty arena, while Jiang Ning persuaded Zhou Xing to wait and observe the Martial Academy students.
• He Jinyun joined four others on the arena, and Jiang Ning recognized him by his voice as the fighter with innate divine strength.

He Jinyun overwhelmed five Ninth Rank fighters and announced he would compete for Deputy Commander, while Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, and Zhang Tiesheng took the stage for the assessment. Lü Renyao tried to recruit Jiang Ning and Zhou Xing into his future squad, but the presiding official unexpectedly declared all four men had passed before they fought.

• He Jinyun sent five opponents flying from the platform, received a temporary Inspection Office token, and said he would compete for Deputy Commander rather than Squad Leader.
• After a protest against the assessment rules, Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, and Zhang Tiesheng stepped onto a platform, but the crowd refused to join them because of Jiang Ning and Zhou Xing's strength.
• Lü Renyao leaped onto the platform and offered to let Jiang Ning and Zhou Xing pass if they agreed to serve in his future squad.
• Jiang Ning and Zhou Xing refused Lü Renyao's offer and prepared to test their strength against him.
• The presiding official announced that Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, Zhang Tiesheng, and Lü Renyao had all passed the assessment before their fight began.

Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, and Zhang Tiesheng passed the Inspection Office assessment without fighting after the arena failed to gather enough contestants, and Wang Jin revealed that he planned to stop teaching to pursue a breakthrough in Martial Dao. As the assessment ended and the squad leader contest approached, Jiang Ning offered Cheng Ran hope of joining the Inspection Office, and Zhao Hu arrived to announce that he had also passed.

• The assessment overseer declared that everyone on the arena passed because it had failed to gather ten fighters, and Lü Renyao collected his identity token while inviting Jiang Ning to join his command.
• Jiang Ning, Zhou Xing, and Zhang Tiesheng received temporary identity tokens, then returned to Wang Jin, who praised them and said he might close Blue-Wave Martial Academy to pursue Martial Dao.
• Wang Jin confirmed that his Martial Dao had advanced, drawing congratulations and envy from Yu Yuan and the martial academy disciples.
• Jiang Ning told Cheng Ran that he might be able to help him enter the Inspection Office, though he could not promise success.
• The assessment overseer rejected other contestants who tried to pass without fighting, and Jiang Ning and the others ate Marching Pills before the drums announced the assessment's end and the squad leader contest's start.
• Zhao Hu rushed into the wooden shelter and proudly told Wang Jin that he had passed the assessment and become an Inspection Guard.

Jiang Ning watched He Jinyun, Qin Xuan, and Liu Sansheng secure squad leader positions before deciding to compete for one himself. After Liu Sansheng tried to recruit him, Jiang Ning refused and leaped toward the arena.

• He Jinyun and Qin Xuan each held the arena for an incense stick without being challenged and claimed squad leader positions.
• Liu Sansheng took the stage, defeated Fu Shiquan with a swift sword strike, and earned a squad leader position.
• Jiang Ning decided not to challenge Liu Sansheng, partly because he considered his family ties to him.
• Liu Sansheng invited Jiang Ning to join his command and offered him a marriage alliance, but Jiang Ning refused and declared that he would compete for a squad leader position.
• Jiang Ning launched himself toward the arena.

Jiang Ning entered the squad leader contest and stunned the crowd by defeating Martial Academy student Lu Yuan in one strike. Xie Xiaoj iu then challenged him, while Lin Qingyi judged that the powerful swordswoman would likely knock him off the arena.

• Jiang Ning stepped onto the arena first, drawing concern and curiosity from the spectators and Martial Academy students.
• Martial Academy student Lu Yuan challenged Jiang Ning, but Jiang Ning moved too quickly for him to see and sent him flying with a single strike.
• He Jinyun, Qin Xuan, Cao Zijian, and Liu Zhaonan recognized Jiang Ning's extraordinary speed and reconsidered his potential.
• Xie Xiaoj iu leaped onto the arena and introduced herself as Jiang Ning's next challenger.
• Lin Qingyi assessed Xie Xiaoj iu's rank, strength, and sword skills, then decided to warn Jiang Ning before the fight.

Jiang Ning defeated Xie Xiaoj iu in a weapon bout, earning her promise to join his command if he won. As the crowd reacted, Lü Renyao stepped forward to challenge Jiang Ning, while Qin Xuan predicted he might lose.

• Lin Qingyi apologized to Jiang Ning, and Xie Xiaoj iu challenged him because she wanted to prove her talent matched his.
• Jiang Ning and Xie Xiaoj iu agreed that she would listen to him if she lost, and they began a saber-and-sword duel.
• Jiang Ning blocked Xie Xiaoj iu’s strongest thrust, then outmaneuvered her and knocked her off the arena with a palm strike.
• Xie Xiaoj iu conceded and left, while Jiang Ning hoped she would honor their agreement and the onlookers discussed his victory.
• He Jinyun and Qin Xuan assessed Jiang Ning’s chances of becoming squad leader as Lü Renyao approached to challenge him.

After defeating Xie Xiaojiu, Jiang Ning faced Martial Academy student Lü Renyao in a fist-and-foot match and knocked him off the arena with one punch. His overwhelming strength astonished the spectators and drew even more interest from Hong Minghu and Lin Qingyi.

• Lin Qingyi realized Jiang Ning had defeated Xie Xiaojiu despite practicing martial arts for only three months and considered his future potential.
• Hong Minghu warned Gongsun Yu not to harm Jiang Ning and promised to let him question the young fighter after the assessment.
• Lü Renyao challenged Jiang Ning to a fist-and-foot match, believing Jiang Ning's lack of experience in those techniques would give him an advantage.
• As Lü Renyao attacked with Cloud-Stacking Palm, Jiang Ning met him with a punch that broke his arm and sent him flying off the arena.
• The spectators, Hong Minghu, Lin Qingyi, Li Qing, Zhou Xing, and Wang Jin reacted with astonishment at Jiang Ning's strength.

Jiang Ning won a squad leader position by defeating Lü Renyao, while Zhou Xing failed and asked to serve under him. After the thirteen squad leader contests ended, the candidates began competing for four deputy commander posts, and He Jinyun challenged the crowd first.

• Jiang Ning defeated Lü Renyao and accepted a silver identity token, but declined the presiding official’s offer to serve under him because he planned to compete for deputy commander.
• Wang Jin praised Jiang Ning, and Zhou Xing congratulated him before later losing his arena match and asking to work under him.
• Jiang Ning welcomed Zhou Xing, who regretted having passed up an earlier chance to build a closer relationship with him.
• Only three Luoshui County martial artists, including Liu Zhaonan and Ruan Hongmei, won squad leader positions, and the fifteen squad leaders gathered to hear the deputy commander contest rules.
• The presiding official announced that four Subordinate Eighth Rank deputy commander posts would go to the final four victors, and He Jinyun stepped forward to challenge the others.
• The crowd, including Jiang Ning, avoided challenging He Jinyun as the deputy commander contest began.

He Jinyun, Yuan Hua, and Tang Miaomiao claimed three deputy commander positions after no one challenged them. Jiang Ning defeated a Martial Academy student to advance in the contest for the last position.

• The assessment host awarded He Jinyun a deputy commander token when no one stepped forward to fight him.
• Yuan Hua and Tang Miaomiao each automatically claimed a position after the crowd declined their challenges.
• Qin Xuan defeated Ruan Hongmei in a weapons fight, though she injured his right arm and urged Jiang Ning to win the remaining position.
• Jiang Ning accepted a Martial Academy student's challenge and knocked him off the arena with Blind Man Hits Tree.

Jiang Ning fought Feng Ji in the second round of the captain selection, steadily reading her Blazing Prairie Spear Art before overpowering and disarming her. Feng Ji stumbled into his chest, leaving the bout's immediate outcome unresolved at the chapter's end.

• Liu Zhaonan and Cao Zijian discussed Jiang Ning's strength and what his rise could mean for their families.
• Qin Xuan defeated his first opponent in the second round without being wounded.
• Jiang Ning requested a saber and accepted Feng Ji's challenge to a weapon match.
• Feng Ji pressed Jiang Ning toward the arena's edge with her fierce Blazing Prairie Spear Art, but he read her attacks and blocked them all.
• Jiang Ning unleashed five layers of force, knocked Feng Ji's spear aside, seized it, and wrenched it from her hands.
• Feng Ji stumbled into Jiang Ning's chest, pushed herself away, and said, "S-sorry!!"

Jiang Ning arranged to meet Feng Ji and befriended Qin Xuan as the assessment narrowed to three contenders for deputy commander. After Jiang Ning revealed he was only eighteen, Qin Xuan and Yuan Fei fought for the chance to face him, and Yuan Fei defeated Qin Xuan with his staff.

• Feng Ji agreed to meet Jiang Ning at Moon-Perching Residence that afternoon, and Qin Xuan approached Jiang Ning to strike up a friendship.
• Yuan Fei won the fist-and-foot contest and joined Jiang Ning and Qin Xuan as one of the final three contenders.
• The assessor decided that eighteen-year-old Jiang Ning would wait while Qin Xuan and Yuan Fei fought, and Yuan Fei chose a weapon battle with Qin Xuan.
• Yuan Fei overwhelmed Qin Xuan with a rapid series of staff strikes, forcing Qin Xuan to concede and step off the arena.

Jiang Ning faced Yuan Fei in the deputy commander assessment and overwhelmed him with a heavy saber, forcing Yuan Fei to unleash a forbidden art. Jiang Ning then revealed fifth-rank body-limit removal and blade force, leaving the spectators astonished as the clash continued.

• Yuan Fei challenged Jiang Ning after Qin Xuan conceded, and the elders recognized Yuan Fei's Ape Demon True Body.
• Jiang Ning chose a weapons battle, took up a three-hundred-pound broadsaber, and repeatedly drove Yuan Fei backward with powerful slashes.
• Yuan Fei activated a forbidden art and struck Jiang Ning hard enough to make him retreat three steps.
• Jiang Ning removed his body's limits, displaying power that Hong Minghu and Gongsun Yu recognized as a fifth-rank technique.
• Jiang Ning's next slash manifested blade force, astonishing Hong Minghu and Gongsun Yu.

Jiang Ning defeated Yuan Fei and won the Inspection Office vice commander position, then accepted his token and recruited Xie Xiaoj iu to serve under him. The prefectural lord summoned him, while Hong Minghu awaited his arrival and considered Jiang Ning’s potential place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.

• Jiang Ning struck Yuan Fei off the arena with a powerful saber blow and secured first place and the vice commander position.
• Jiang Ning noticed Hong Minghu and Gongsun Yu watching, and hoped his display of saber intent would help win their support against the Medicine King Valley expert.
• Ye Qiu congratulated Jiang Ning, invited him for a drink, and handed him a gold token marking his new position.
• Jiang Ning confirmed that Xie Xiaoj iu would work under him and told her he would transfer her into his command.
• A personal guard summoned Jiang Ning to meet the prefectural lord, and Wang Jin told him to be careful as he left.
• Hong Minghu waited in a tent for Jiang Ning and considered whether his performance could earn him a place on the Human Ranking of the Hidden Dragon Ranking.

Jiang Ning answered Gongsun Yu’s questions about Liu Qingsong’s death while Gongsun concluded that Jiang Ning was likely responsible for both Liu Qingsong and Tian Buyi. After Hong Minghu revealed he was a fifth-rank martial artist and offered his fourteen-year-old daughter as a match, Jiang Ning declined and visited Feng Ji, who asked to join his command.

• Jiang Ning told Gongsun Yu that Liu Qingsong had only asked him about River-Roaming Dragon Tian Buyi before leaving, while Gongsun privately suspected Jiang Ning had killed them both.
• Hong Minghu praised Jiang Ning’s composure and revealed that he was also a fifth-rank martial artist.
• Hong Minghu offered Jiang Ning the chance to meet his fourteen-year-old daughter, but Jiang Ning said he wanted to focus on Martial Dao and postpone marriage.
• Jiang Ning went to Moon-Perching Residence to see Feng Ji because he suspected the Blazing Prairie Spear Art was related to the Blazing Prairie Saber Art.
• Feng Ji congratulated Jiang Ning on winning the deputy commander position and asked whether she could join his command; Jiang Ning welcomed her.

Jiang Ning sparred with Feng Ji, revealed his blade intent and Ninefold Force, and arranged to exchange the Canglang Saber Art for her Blazing Prairie Spear Art. After receiving gifts from Luoshui County’s factions and advancing his cultivation, he was interrupted by news that an unidentified young woman had come to see him.

• Jiang Ning drank with Feng Ji, then defeated her in a rematch by revealing his blade intent and discussed how their water- and fire-based forces could lead to Water-Fire True Intent.
• Feng Ji proposed exchanging the Blazing Prairie Spear Art for Jiang Ning’s Canglang Saber Art, and Wang Jin approved the exchange and gave Jiang Ning the manual.
• Jiang Ning returned home to find gifts from Luoshui County’s major families and factions, including the Cao, Liu, and Xie Families, then attended a private banquet with Ye Qiu.
• Jiang Ning reviewed his cultivation panel, refined Leopard Womb Form-Transmutation Body-Tempering Pills, and continued tempering his body toward the peak of the eighth rank.
• Little Doubao told Jiang Ning that an unidentified pretty older sister had arrived and specifically asked to see him.

Li Qing bid farewell to Jiang Ning before leaving for Sword Pavilion, and he sent her off with wine steeped with a precious black stone. At the Inspection Office, Liu Zhaonan used fabricated evidence and force to defend Zhao Hu after a constable’s death, while Jiang Ning accepted Ye Qiu’s invitation to talk.

• Li Qing told Jiang Ning she was leaving for Sword Pavilion in Bashu Commandery, and he gave her black-stone-infused wine to improve her Martial Dao talent.
• After drinking two cups, Li Qing became heavily intoxicated, and Jiang Ning took her home by carriage.
• A grieving father and more than ten constables demanded justice at the Inspection Office over an old constable’s death at Zhao Hu’s hands.
• Liu Zhaonan claimed he had evidence that the dead constable colluded with the Evil God Cult, then struck Constable Lin with a kicked stone and threatened Xu Zhengnan.
• Liu Zhaonan and Xu Zhengnan began fighting as Jiang Ning noticed Ye Qiu watching from the Inspection Office building.
• Ye Qiu silently invited Jiang Ning upstairs, and Jiang Ning leaped up to meet him.

Jiang Ning watched Ye Qiu use a killing to assert the Inspection Office’s authority over the county yamen, then learned that he could recruit people and explored the office’s benefits and contribution system. The chapter left him with one silver captain’s token and four black Inspection Guard tokens, ready to appoint trusted people.

• Ye Qiu explained to Jiang Ning that the Inspection Office would use the constable’s death to establish its authority, regardless of right and wrong.
• Shan Xiangxiong challenged Liu Zhaonan, but Ye Qiu confronted him and compelled the county commandant to accept the Inspection Office’s handling of the case.
• Jiang Ning persuaded Ye Qiu to release the old man whose son had been killed, and the old man carried his son’s body away to bury it.
• Ye Qiu told Jiang Ning that each deputy commander could recruit four Inspection Guards and appoint one captain.
• Jiang Ning had the Internal Affairs Office engrave his deputy commander’s token and collected one silver token and four black tokens for future recruits.
• Jiang Ning learned that his monthly salary was one hundred contribution points and reviewed the martial arts and medicines available through the Inspection Office.