Chapter Summaries

Su Yueli went to the village entrance to take the Azure Moon Sect’s Root Bone test, hoping it would let her cultivate and avenge her parents. Shen Qing'an tested negative, and the chapter ended as Su Yueli stepped up next, encouraged by the Shen brothers.

• Su Yueli heard from Shen Qing'an that cultivators had arrived to test the villagers’ Root Bones and hurried to the village entrance.
• Su Yueli promised Shen Qing'an that she would share immortal pills and take him flying if she became an immortal.
• Shen Huai'an gave Su Yueli hot meat buns, while Shen Qing'an hid the wild berries he had picked for her.
• Two Azure Moon Sect cultivators arrived, explained the Root Bone test, and used their pressure to silence the villagers.
• The youths took turns on the Formation; most had no Root Bone, three had Mortal Bones, and the blacksmith's second daughter had a Low-grade Spiritual Bone.
• Shen Qing'an tested negative, then encouraged Su Yueli as she prepared to take her turn.

Su Yueli failed the Spiritual Bone test and watched Shen Huai'an leave for the sect, while Shen Qing'an promised she would become an immortal. The next morning, Shen Qing'an left for Fengling City, and Su Yueli found his letter and began to focus on what she would do next.

• Su Yueli was rejected by the immortal formation, while Shen Huai'an revealed a Supreme Heavenly Bone and was chosen to enter the sect.
• Shen Huai'an asked Shen Qing'an to protect Su Yueli, then left with the cultivator and the other youths who had Spiritual Bone.
• After the villagers departed, Su Yueli grieved over her lack of Spiritual Bone and told Shen Qing'an she dreamed of cultivating; he assured her she would become an immortal.
• Su Yueli woke on the roof and found Shen Qing'an's letter, buns, and a sacred healing medicine; he had left for Fengling City to take over the family business.
• Su Yueli ate the bun, folded Shen Qing'an's letter against her chest, and looked at her hands with renewed focus.

Unable to cultivate without spiritual roots, Su Yueli began training in martial arts and seized the chance to help an injured martial artist who arrived in her village. She gave him a healing pill and stayed to watch over him, hoping he could guide her in the Martial Dao.

• Su Yueli practiced thousands of punches each morning, determined to enter the Martial Dao through effort alone.
• Villagers told Su Yueli that a badly injured martial artist had arrived, and she hurried to the village chief’s house to seek his guidance.
• The village chief said the martial artist was nearly dead, and Su Yueli offered to save him.
• Su Yueli gave the unconscious man a pill Shen Qing'an had left her and told the village chief to calm the crowd outside.
• Su Yueli remained beside the injured martial artist, intending to seek his help with martial arts if he survived.

Su Yueli saved the injured martial artist Lu Chen and persuaded him to teach her the Martial Dao, quickly mastering his breathing method and becoming his first disciple. Three days later, Lu Chen took her into the mountains to train her Qi and Blood.

• Su Yueli told Lu Chen that she had given him a defective Spring Return Pill, and he explained that it had saved his life but left his meridians damaged.
• Su Yueli asked Lu Chen to teach her the Martial Dao, and he showed her a breathing method for gathering Qi and Blood.
• Su Yueli learned the breathing method within a few attempts, awakened blood qi, and was accepted as Lu Chen's first disciple.
• The village chief approved of Su Yueli learning martial arts, while villagers gossiped about her decision to train instead of settling down.
• Three days later, Lu Chen took Su Yueli into the mountains to train among wild beasts and venomous insects.

Lu Chen taught Su Yueli his five-form killing fist technique, and she trained for twenty years, reaching the completion of Bone Forging while remaining unchanged by age. She and Lu Chen could not explain her agelessness, and he encouraged her to live on and see the world’s wonders.

• Lu Chen explained the limits of mortal Martial Dao and taught Su Yueli his five-form fist technique, warning her that Life Burning could kill both her and her enemy.
• Su Yueli practiced relentlessly as spring and autumn passed, while Lu Chen and the mountain’s beasts grew old and died.
• After twenty years, Su Yueli had mastered the first three forms, reached minor mastery in River Severing, and completed Second Realm Bone Forging.
• Su Yueli noticed that she still looked seventeen or eighteen, despite having aged twenty years, and wondered whether she was a sealed immortal.
• Lu Chen said he had never heard of anyone like her and urged her not to dwell on the mystery, but to live as long as she could and witness the world’s wonders.

Su Yueli returned to the village after twenty years and learned that the old village chief had died. She read three long-delayed letters from Shen Qing'an and was left reflecting on how much he and the villagers had aged while she remained unchanged.

• Lu Chen told Su Yueli that Second Pebble wanted to see her, and she agreed to go down the mountain the next morning.
• Second Pebble told Su Yueli that the old village chief had died and that her letters were waiting at the village entrance.
• Su Yueli went to the village to pay her respects and parted from Second Pebble to collect the letters.
• Su Yueli read Shen Qing'an's letters from fifteen, ten, and five years earlier, learning how his career and health had changed and that he had once searched for her.
• Su Yueli wondered whether she had become immortal as she compared her unchanged appearance with Shen Qing'an's aging life.

After attending the village chief’s funeral, Su Yueli decided to visit Shen Qing'an in Fengling City. Unchanged by the passage of twenty years, she was shunned by the villagers and left, while Second Pebble realized he could not keep her in the village.

• Su Yueli attended the village chief’s funeral and thanked him for caring for her years earlier.
• Second Pebble asked Su Yueli whether she had married, then told his father he wanted to marry her; Stone Father scolded him and ordered him to find another match.
• Villagers whispered that Su Yueli was a monster because she had not aged, and she decided the village was no longer a place for her.
• Su Yueli set out for Fengling City to visit Shen Qing'an, carrying the letter he had sent her.
• Second Pebble reached the village entrance after Su Yueli had left and learned she was headed toward the big city.

Su Yueli searched Fengling City for Shen Qing'an and learned he had sacrificed his wealth and endured years of hardship seeking a way to help her cultivate. She found him dead from the cold in a ruined temple and pushed open its door.

• Su Yueli arrived in Fengling City and asked for directions to Fuyuan Trading Company.
• The trading company’s old accountant told Su Yueli that Shen Qing'an had sold his possessions and borrowed money to seek immortality, then had his legs broken and been cast out of the city.
• Su Yueli realized Shen Qing'an’s letters had hidden his suffering and went to the poor district to look for him.
• An old beggar told Su Yueli that Shen Qing'an had frozen to death three nights earlier and was still lying inside the ruined temple.
• Su Yueli pushed open the ruined temple door.

Su Yueli found Shen Qing'an dead in a ruined temple, clutching a wooden box containing a worthless stone he had mistaken for an immortal treasure that could grant her spiritual bones. Learning the Azure Cloud Sect had deceived him, she carried his body away and vowed to reject immortality and make the sect’s immortals pay.

• Su Yueli uncovered Shen Qing'an’s frozen corpse beneath a straw mat and found him protecting a wooden box.
• Su Yueli read Shen Qing'an’s letter, which revealed he had spent his fortune to buy what he believed was a Jade Slip for her.
• Su Yueli recognized the glowing stone as worthless Fluorite and realized the Azure Cloud Sect had exploited Shen Qing'an.
• Su Yueli’s Qi and Blood erupted, destroying the ruined temple as she carried Shen Qing'an’s corpse on her back.
• Su Yueli rejected the pursuit of spiritual bones and vowed to avenge Shen Qing'an and her parents by bringing the Azure Cloud Sect’s immortals down.

Su Yueli buried Shen Qing'an outside Fengling City and vowed to become strong enough to challenge immortals who looked down on mortals. Meanwhile, two Foundation Establishment cultivators headed for the mountain village to kill its residents and Su Yueli, but Lu Chen sensed their killing intent as they arrived.

• Su Yueli buried Shen Qing'an with the wooden box he had been clutching and mourned that immortality brought one farewell after another.
• Su Yueli spotted two cultivators flying toward the village and vowed to one day defeat immortals who treated mortals as insignificant.
• Two Foundation Establishment disciples revealed that the sect had sent them to kill the village and Su Yueli so the Young Sect Master could sever his mortal ties.
• The cultivators reached the village, where the villagers mistook them for immortal visitors selecting disciples and knelt before them.
• As the young cultivator prepared to attack the villagers, Lu Chen sensed the murderous spiritual energy from his cave and recognized the threat as cultivators.

Lu Chen discovered that two Azure Moon Sect cultivators had come to kill Su Yueli’s mortal ties and persuaded them to let him take the blame. He slaughtered the village and killed himself, leaving Su Yueli alive while the cultivators returned to report her dead.

• Two cultivators arrived in Su Yueli’s village and threatened the villagers until Second Pebble told them she had gone up the mountain.
• The cultivators confronted Lu Chen, who recognized their mission to sever Su Yueli’s mortal ties and warned them their prodigy might punish them for killing her.
• Lu Chen offered to slaughter the village and die, letting the cultivators claim Su Yueli had died with everyone else; they accepted his plan.
• Lu Chen killed all 134 households and every animal in the village, including Second Pebble, while the cultivators watched.
• Lu Chen took his own life after asking Su Yueli to live on and pursue the end of the Martial Dao; the cultivators left, intending to report her death.

Su Yueli returned to Cliff Plateau with wine for Lu Chen, but found his letter saying he had succumbed to qi deviation, slaughtered the village, and taken his own life. She rushed down the mountain and found the villagers and her master dead, leaving her grieving and unsure what had happened.

• Su Yueli bought a gourd of strong wine on her way back from Shen Qing'an's grave, hoping to share it with Lu Chen.
• Su Yueli returned to the cave and found Lu Chen gone, with a letter telling her to seek Tie Tu in Azure Province City and pursue martial arts beyond the third realm.
• Su Yueli read Lu Chen's claim that he had killed the village during qi deviation and ended his own life, then hurried down the mountain to investigate.
• Su Yueli found the village filled with mutilated corpses, including Second Pebble and Lu Chen, whose shattered body lay in the village's blood-soaked center.
• Su Yueli knelt beside Lu Chen's corpse as the wine spilled into the blood and wondered what had happened.

After burying Lu Chen and the villagers, Su Yueli spent five years investigating their deaths and discovered that immortal cultivators had attacked them. Having reached the Third Blood-Exchange Realm, she left Blackwind Ridge for Azure Province City, vowing to pursue vengeance through Martial Dao.

• Su Yueli buried Lu Chen and more than four hundred villagers, then spent years training and keeping watch over her master's grave.
• Five years later, Su Yueli found an immortal cultivator's sword cut on a millstone and concluded that immortal cultivators had killed the villagers and driven Lu Chen to take the blame.
• Su Yueli broke through to the Third Blood-Exchange Realm but remained determined to uncover the attackers and repay the debt owed by the immortals.
• Su Yueli decided to leave Blackwind Ridge for Azure Province City to find Lu Chen's friend, Tie Tu, and visited Shen Qing'an's neglected grave on the way.
• Su Yueli vowed to use Martial Dao to reach its highest realms and bring the immortal cultivators down before she walked into the night.

Two months after leaving Blackwind Ridge, Su Yueli arrived in Azure Province City and sought out Tie Tu at his Ironbone Martial Hall. She met his daughter Tie Ling'er, who led her toward the rear courtyard to find him.

• Su Yueli entered Azure Province City and learned from a jewelry stall owner that Tie Tu ran the Ironbone Martial Hall.
• Su Yueli reached the martial hall and judged the students' training to be crude compared with the killing arts Lu Chen had taught her.
• Tie Ling'er spotted Su Yueli, introduced herself as Tie Tu's daughter, and asked why she had come.
• Su Yueli said she was the disciple of one of Tie Tu's old friends and had come to seek him.
• Tie Ling'er led Su Yueli to the rear courtyard, where Tie Tu was having tea.

Su Yueli visited Tie Tu as the disciple of his old friend Lu Chen and told him that Lu Chen had died five years earlier. Tie Tu welcomed her into his home, where she began settling in with his daughter, Tie Ling'er.

• Tie Ling'er brought Su Yueli to meet her father, Tie Tu, who recognized Lu Chen as his old friend and eagerly asked where he was.
• Su Yueli told Tie Tu that Lu Chen had died five years earlier, and Tie Tu crushed part of the stone table as he grieved and cursed his friend for dying without seeing him again.
• Tie Tu learned that Su Yueli had reached the Third Blood-Exchange Realm and watched her demonstrate Lu Chen's five-form fist technique.
• Tie Tu welcomed Su Yueli as family and asked Tie Ling'er to find her a room.
• Tie Ling'er led Su Yueli to a clean room beside her own and offered to show her around Azure Province City.

Su Yueli visited Azure Province City with Tie Ling'er, confronted her uncertainty about her purpose, and made a wish to develop Martial Dao into a path that let mortals resist immortal cultivators. Tie Ling'er then brought her to buy new clothes, where Su Yueli struggled to find an outfit she could accept.

• Tie Ling'er took Su Yueli through the night market to the Wishing Tree and explained how people made wishes there.
• Tie Ling'er wrote a wish for her family, while Su Yueli reflected on her losses and questioned whether revenge was her only path.
• Su Yueli decided to advance Martial Dao so mortals without innate talent could fight back against immortal cultivators, then hung her wish beside Tie Ling'er's.
• Tie Ling'er urged Su Yueli to get new clothes and dragged her into Splendid Embroidery House.
• Su Yueli rejected the skirts and struggled to choose an outfit until Tie Ling'er picked one for her to try.

Su Yueli learned how Lu Chen lost his family and why he had avoided alcohol for twenty-five years, then resolved to find work in Azure Province City. She left two leering Mighty Prestige Martial Hall disciples frightened off with a display of her Third Realm pressure and learned that the city strictly prohibited private fighting.

• Tie Ling'er told Su Yueli that Lu Chen's family had been slaughtered after he got drunk, and that he later avenged them alone rather than risk involving Tie Tu.
• Su Yueli realized Lu Chen had abstained from alcohol because his drunkenness had led to the loss of his family, and she resolved to earn her own money in Azure Province City.
• Two Mighty Prestige Martial Hall disciples approached Su Yueli and Tie Ling'er, and one tried to impose on Su Yueli.
• Su Yueli released her Third Realm Qi and Blood, terrifying the two disciples into apologizing and fleeing.
• Tie Ling'er told Su Yueli that private fighting was forbidden in Azure Province City and that offenders were punished.

Unable to sleep after the massacre at Blackwind Ridge, Su Yueli practiced boxing and agreed to teach Tie Ling'er a breathing technique. After failing to find suitable work, she decided to make and sell beer, but her trip to buy barley brought her to the attention of Zhao Xiu, the young hall master of Mighty Prestige Martial Hall.

• Su Yueli practiced fists in the courtyard at night, where Tie Ling'er asked her to teach her and learned a breathing technique.
• Su Yueli searched Azure Province City for work but rejected the jobs she found because they paid poorly or did not suit her.
• Su Yueli decided to try brewing beer and spent her last copper coins on several pounds of barley.
• Zhao Xiu recognized Su Yueli as the woman his outer disciples had described and introduced himself while apologizing for their conduct.
• Su Yueli accepted Zhao Xiu's apology coolly and walked away, leaving him intrigued and possessive.

Su Yueli finished brewing beer and proved her martial arts skill to Tie Tu before setting out to sell her first batch. She left one barrel with Tie Tu and pushed the rest to Eastern Market in Azure Province City.

• Su Yueli completed her beer after ten days of brewing and continued guiding Tie Ling'er in training while mastering River Severing.
• Tie Tu tasted the beer, praised it, and offered to support Su Yueli, but she insisted on earning her own money.
• Tie Tu tested Su Yueli's Third Realm foundation, and she fought him with Lu Chen's fist techniques, forcing him to reveal his Fifth Realm strength when her grand-mastered River Severing struck.
• Tie Ling'er arrived and praised Su Yueli, while Tie Tu admitted she had little left to learn from him in fist arts or combat.
• Su Yueli packed the beer into barrels, gave one to Tie Tu, and pushed the remaining stock to Eastern Market to sell.

Su Yueli sold her beer to a polite Crimson Flame Sect disciple and Zhao Xiu, earning deposits and stocking up on brewing supplies. After seven days of brewing and training, she was startled when Tie Ling'er climbed into her bed, asking to sleep beside her.

• Su Yueli sold out her beer, and a courteous Crimson Flame Sect disciple bought the remaining supply and reserved fifty barrels for seven days later.
• Zhao Xiu arrived after the beer had sold out, paid a deposit, and reserved the next batch as well.
• Su Yueli used her earnings to buy barley and medicinal herbs, then spent the following seven days brewing and practicing her fists while Tie Ling'er continued training.
• Su Yueli inspected the finished beer and prepared to deliver it the next day.
• Tie Ling'er slipped into Su Yueli's room and announced that she wanted to sleep with Sister Yueli, leaving Su Yueli flustered.