Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Must Destroy Tongda Escort Agency

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Jiang Jingnian escapes the Lotus Intent Sect, Fan Yuxi insists that he must be badly injured and poisoned by her Honey-Moss Snake Venom. She proposes pursuing and killing him.
• Jade Tree High Person punishes the wounded Lotus Sect members by flicking rose petals infused with Inner Qi, killing several injured survivors instantly and narrowly cutting Fan Yuxi’s face.
• He correctly deduces that Jiang Jingnian suffered only minor injuries and deliberately weakened his footprints to mislead pursuers. Jade Tree High Person concludes that Jiang fled because he sensed the High Person’s arrival, not because he feared Fan Yuxi and the others.
• Fan Yuxi argues that her venom should have incapacitated Jiang, but Jade Tree High Person dismisses her confidence, explaining that truly powerful martial artists may possess ways to resist or purge poison.
• The Lotus Intent Sect abandons immediate pursuit. Jade Tree High Person orders Lin Wen to implant a Corpse-Insect Pill in the corpse of Little Chen, intending to refine him into a living puppet retaining roughly half of his former strength. The others are commanded to repair and continue drawing the Blood Lotus Formation.
• Jade Tree High Person returns to the sect’s camp and meets Su Ze, an apparently dying martial artist who is trying to break through to the Mid Inner Qi Realm. The Lotus Intent Sect promises to help him complete an advancement ritual.
• Su Ze pledges that the Su Family will later help the Lotus Intent Sect destroy or weaken the Tongda Escort Agency, Gale Wind Sect, and other forces, causing the martial factions around Peace City to fight among themselves.
• The Blood Lotus Formation has already produced one Lotus Crystal and requires three more before the ritual can begin. The Lotus Intent Sect is deliberately escalating chaos in the region and opposing any attempt at peace.
• Meanwhile, Jiang Jingnian moves through the forest toward the Flickerflash Flower Tree. His injuries are minor, and he uses the Jade Heart Method to force the venom from his body.
• He discovers a Lotus Secret Token among the possessions taken from an enemy. Because it can track him, he devours and destroys it despite his concerns about worsening the conflict between the different essences within his body.
• Jiang reflects on the Lotus Intent Sect’s long history as a destructive Demon Sect and realizes that the corpses found near Dongdi Lake were likely victims of a large-scale blood sacrifice rather than ordinary combat casualties.
• Avoiding the lakeshore and traveling cautiously, Jiang finally reaches the northern part of the Dongdi Lake Basin.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates increasing judgment and caution. Having sensed the power of the Inner Qi Realm, he recognizes that he cannot yet confront stronger experts directly and prioritizes finding the Flickerflash Flower Tree to increase his strength.
• He also shows growing knowledge of the martial world, identifying the Lotus Intent Sect’s sinister nature and understanding the danger posed by its tracking token.
• Fan Yuxi is revealed as a poison-focused martial artist whose cultivation has heavily altered her body. Her arrogance and desire for revenge are tempered by Jade Tree High Person’s criticism and threat of further punishment.
• Jade Tree High Person is established as cold, ruthless, and highly perceptive. He casually executes his own injured allies, sees people as resources, and remains focused on the sect’s larger ritual.
• Su Ze is physically deteriorating and desperate to advance before he dies. His dependence on the Lotus Intent Sect reveals both his vulnerability and the Su Family’s willingness to support dangerous schemes for survival and power.

Significant Themes

• Ruthlessness and expendability: The Lotus Intent Sect treats both enemies and its own wounded members as disposable materials.
• Chaos as a strategy: The sect deliberately fuels conflict among major martial forces so that they weaken one another, allowing it to pursue its ritual unchecked.
• Corruption of martial cultivation: Poison arts, corpse puppetry, blood sacrifices, and bodily transformation show how power gained through sinister methods dehumanizes practitioners.
• Caution versus arrogance: Jiang survives by sensing danger and retreating, while Fan Yuxi’s overconfidence nearly leads to disaster. The chapter emphasizes that accurate judgment matters as much as strength.
• Hidden conspiracies: The apparent conflict around Dongdi Lake is revealed to be part of a broader ritual involving the Blood Lotus Formation, the Su Family, and the Lotus Intent Sect’s plans against multiple martial organizations.

Character Interactions

• Fan Yuxi and Jade Tree High Person: Fan Yuxi seeks permission to pursue Jiang, but Jade Tree humiliates and corrects her, exposing her overconfidence.
• Jade Tree and the Lotus disciples: He kills several wounded disciples as punishment and orders the survivors to continue the ritual work, reinforcing his absolute authority.
• Jade Tree and Su Ze: Their conversation reveals a temporary alliance. The Lotus Intent Sect will help Su Ze advance, while the Su Family will assist in destabilizing and destroying rival factions.
• Jiang and the Lotus Intent Sect: Although they do not meet again directly, Jiang’s escape and destruction of the tracking token represent his ongoing struggle to stay ahead of the sect’s pursuit and uncover its plans.

Chapter 102 Summary: “Finally Encountering the Flower Tree”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian travels through the dangerous forests and swamps north of Dongdi Lake, an area rumored to contain Demon Wraiths, rare herbs, relic treasures, and the ruins of an ancient kingdom.
• He proceeds cautiously, searching for Demon Wraiths while avoiding members of the Lotus Intent Sect. He examines footprints and determines that people recently passed through the area, though there are no signs that they belonged to the sect.
• Using his heightened perception, he notices an unusual salty scent and a stark difference between the vegetation: trees to the east are withered and yellow, while the surrounding forest remains lush.
• Recognizing these signs as matching the descriptions of the Flickerflash Flower Tree, he follows the withered trees while carrying raw pork, which he learned might attract or affect the Demon Wraith.
• He eventually reaches a marsh and discovers the Flickerflash Flower Tree—a beautiful, spark-emitting tree whose glowing “leaves” resemble silver flowers or fireworks.
• The tree immediately attacks by unleashing intense flames from beneath Jiang Jingnian’s feet, burning his boots and severely raising the surrounding temperature.
• Realizing that he must finish the fight quickly before his defensive technique fails, Jiang Jingnian throws the raw pork toward the tree and launches his strongest techniques.
• He activates Transforming Splendor Copper-Flame Body and uses Psychic Whip, successfully disrupting the intelligent Demon Wraith for a brief moment.
• Jiang Jingnian strikes the tree directly. His fire-based technique partially resists the tree’s scorching sparks, but he still suffers from the extreme heat.
• The chapter ends as he begins unleashing a rapid barrage of powerful punches against every part of the Flickerflash Flower Tree.

Character Development

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates patience and caution by avoiding unnecessary fights and conserving his strength while navigating a region filled with both monsters and hostile martial artists.
• His observational skills and knowledge improve his chances of survival; he correctly interprets the salty scent, withered trees, and environmental changes as clues leading to the flower tree.
• He shows strong tactical awareness, recognizing that the battle must be ended quickly because his ultimate defensive technique cannot withstand the tree’s heat indefinitely.
• His combat style becomes intensely focused and disciplined. Once the fight begins, he abandons distractions and treats the Demon Wraith like a training post, relying on practiced, relentless punches.
• His willingness to use every available ability—including Psychic Whip, his ultimate body technique, and the raw-pork bait—highlights his adaptability and resourcefulness.

Significant Themes

• Danger beneath beauty: The flower tree is mesmerizing and beautiful, but its appearance conceals deadly power.
• Preparation and survival: Jiang Jingnian’s careful tracking, conservation of energy, and use of prior clues are essential to reaching and confronting the Demon Wraith.
• Knowledge versus brute force: His success depends not only on strength but also on understanding the creature’s habits, weaknesses, and environment.
• Time pressure and endurance: The battle emphasizes the limits of even powerful techniques, forcing Jiang Jingnian to defeat the tree before his body can no longer withstand its flames.
• Human ambition and ancient mysteries: References to buried kingdoms, relics, rare herbs, and competing factions reinforce the broader world of forgotten history and dangerous exploration.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Jingnian has no direct interaction with other human characters in this chapter, but the threat of the Lotus Intent Sect influences his decisions and movements.
• His primary interaction is with the intelligent Flickerflash Flower Tree. He uses raw pork as bait, disrupts its mind with Psychic Whip, withstands its fiery attack, and retaliates with overwhelming physical force.
• The battle establishes a contest between the tree’s supernatural flames and Jiang Jingnian’s copper-flame body technique, with the outcome unresolved at the chapter’s end.

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian battles the Flickerflash Flower Tree, a fire-based Demon Wraith, using relentless, primitive punches rather than refined techniques.
• Despite suffering severe burns, he overwhelms the tree through sheer endurance and force, smashing its trunk, branches, and flames into pieces.
• After dismissing his ultimate technique, Jiang searches the wreckage and finds the tree’s pale-red Spiritual Essence Core.
• He immediately devours and refines the core, fulfilling the final requirement for fusing the Transforming Splendor Ultimate Bronze Scripture with the first volume of the Giant Ayeli Technique.
• The fusion produces the superior Unyielding Transforming Splendor Ultimate Bronze Scripture, which can eventually lead to the Late Inner Qi Realm.
• Jiang tests the newly enhanced ultimate technique, Unyielding Transforming Splendor Copperflame Body, discovering that it greatly improves his healing, preserves his speed, and makes him about twenty percent faster than before.
• He rests, eats roasted pork and canned fish using the Demon Wraith’s remaining embers, and prepares to carry away useful parts of the tree.
• The chapter ends when hurried footsteps approach from the forest, suggesting a new confrontation or encounter.

2. Character Development

• Jiang demonstrates extraordinary pain tolerance, willpower, and combat endurance, continuing to fight despite being badly burned.
• His battle instinct and enthusiasm for combat intensify. He reflects that fighting both people and Demon Wraiths brings him immense joy.
• The successful technique fusion marks a major advancement in his martial path, expanding his potential from merely entering the Inner Qi Realm to reaching its Late stage.
• His understanding of his abilities improves as he analyzes the fused technique’s healing, speed, and vitality-conversion properties.
• Jiang’s survivalist instincts remain strong: he protects his supplies, salvages usable meat, conserves resources, and plans to collect the Demon Wraith’s remains.
• His appreciation of food reflects lingering memories of starvation from the body’s original owner, showing both his practical nature and the influence of past hardship.

3. Significant Themes

• Endurance and willpower: Jiang wins through persistence and the refusal to yield to pain.
• Fusion and growth: Combining different techniques creates a stronger, more complete martial art, symbolizing progress through synthesis rather than isolated improvement.
• The body as both weapon and resource: Jiang’s vitality, blood, essence, and physical resilience are central to both combat and recovery.
• Violence as exhilaration: Jiang increasingly experiences battle as a source of joy and fulfillment, hinting at his growing transformation into a combat-driven martial artist.
• Survival in a hostile wilderness: Food, medicine, fire, and Demon Wraith remains are all treated as valuable resources.
• Human resilience amid brutality: Even after a savage supernatural battle, Jiang returns to ordinary concerns such as eating, resting, and preserving supplies.

4. Character Interactions

• Jiang’s primary interaction is with the Flickerflash Flower Tree. The Demon Wraith attempts to retreat, but Jiang pursues, pins it down, and destroys it through repeated punches.
• He interacts with the tree’s remains by extracting its Spiritual Essence Core and using its residual heat to cook food.
• Jiang also engages with his own techniques and status system, following the fusion requirements and testing the resulting abilities.
• No other human characters appear directly in the chapter, but the approaching footsteps at the end introduce an unseen presence that is likely to become the next significant interaction.

Chapter Summary: “Overbearing”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian finishes defeating a Grade C Flickerflash Flower Tree Demon Wraith and begins collecting its remains in the marshland.
• A group of disciples from Severing Blade Dock, led by Meng Shengbai, arrives after pursuing the same Demon Wraith for several days. They are injured, bloodstained, and exhausted from fighting both the Demon Wraith and members of the Lotus Intent Sect.
• Jiang Jingnian conceals his identity by claiming to be “Ye Changting,” an Inner Disciple of the Mountain Cloud School. He remains polite but highly suspicious, knowing that the wilderness is dangerous and that the group might still turn on him.
• The Severing Blade Dock disciples explain that the Lotus Intent Sect is conducting a blood sacrifice around Dongdi Lake, slaughtering villagers and travelers. They also mention that reinforcements from their martial academy may arrive soon.
• Meng Shengbai invites Jiang Jingnian to travel with them, but Jiang refuses, preferring to remain alone rather than risk betrayal or attract attention from the Lotus Intent Sect.
• The disciples purchase much of the Demon Wraith’s remains from Jiang using silver and a bottle of secret medicine. Jiang keeps only the valuable charcoal-like essence, since transporting the heavy wooden remains would hinder him.
• The group discovers that the Demon Wraith Core is missing. Realizing Jiang must have taken it, several disciples demand that he hand it over.
• Meng Shengbai attempts to restrain his fellow disciples and urges them not to create unnecessary conflict. However, Junior Brother Xu and others become increasingly aggressive, explaining that the core is needed by their senior, Hong, to purify his Formfire Mystic Blade.
• Jiang claims that he has already used the core and refuses to allow himself or his belongings to be searched. The disciples mock his explanation and imply that they will take it by force.
• Meng Shengbai creates an opening and apologizes, blaming his companions’ irrational behavior on lingering poison from the Lotus Intent Sect. Jiang accepts the apology and tries to leave.
• Junior Brother Xu, convinced Jiang is weakened after fighting the Demon Wraith, attacks him from behind with several companions. Jiang turns around and counters with a punch, beginning a fierce clash.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Demonstrates caution, restraint, and strategic intelligence. He hides his true identity, avoids unnecessary conflict, conserves his strength, and prioritizes escape over confrontation. Despite his patience, he remains fully prepared to fight when attacked.
• Meng Shengbai: Initially presents himself as courteous and reasonable. He recognizes Jiang’s strength and repeatedly tries to prevent his companions from provoking him. His authority, however, is undermined by the more aggressive disciples.
• Junior Brother Xu: Develops into the main antagonist of the encounter. Driven by greed, fear of disappointing Senior Brother Hong, and resentment toward Meng Shengbai, he disregards warnings and chooses violence.
• The Severing Blade Dock disciples: Their unity breaks down under pressure. While some are hesitant, their desire for the Demon Wraith Core eventually leads them to support Xu’s confrontation.
• Senior Brother Hong: Does not appear directly, but his status and need for the core strongly influence the group’s behavior. His importance within Severing Blade Dock is used as a threat against Jiang.

Significant Themes

• Prudence versus recklessness: Jiang’s careful decisions contrast sharply with Xu’s impulsive aggression.
• Trust and betrayal in the wilderness: Even members of an orthodox sect cannot be trusted completely when valuable resources are involved.
• The danger of greed: The disciples already obtained valuable remains, yet their desire for the more important core drives them to abandon courtesy and risk a deadly battle.
• Moral contrast between orthodox and demonic forces: Although the Lotus Intent Sect is committing atrocities through blood sacrifice, the supposedly righteous Severing Blade Dock disciples also show selfishness and willingness to use force.
• Strength concealed beneath restraint: Jiang’s calm and non-threatening appearance causes the disciples to underestimate him, especially after assuming he is badly injured.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Meng Shengbai exchange formal introductions and discuss the Lotus Intent Sect’s activities.
• Meng offers Jiang cooperation and later attempts to stop his fellow disciples from pressuring him.
• Jiang politely rejects the offer to travel together and agrees to sell most of the remains.
• Xu and the other disciples turn the transaction into a confrontation after discovering the missing core, demanding that Jiang surrender it or submit to a search.
• Meng apologizes and forces open a path for Jiang to leave, but Xu overrules him and attacks.
• The chapter ends with Jiang turning to meet the ambush, beginning a direct fight against the Severing Blade Dock disciples.

Chapter Summary: “Reporting to the Sect”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian is confronted by disciples from Severing Blade Dock, led by Junior Brother Xu, who demand an even greater share of the Demon Wraith remains—including the core Jiang has already consumed.
• Already exhausted from multiple battles and wary of the nearby Lotus Intent Sect, Jiang decides not to reveal all his strength or prolong the confrontation. However, when Xu and the others continue provoking him and invoke Senior Brother Hong’s name, Jiang decisively attacks.
• In only a few exchanges, Jiang overwhelms the Severing Blade Dock disciples. He breaks bones, severely injures Xu, and demonstrates strength likely beyond the Late Marrow Tempering Stage.
• Jiang chooses not to kill or pursue them, fearing that the disturbance may attract Lotus Intent Sect fiends. He immediately leaves the swamp.
• Meng Shengbai treats the injured disciples and criticizes Xu for needlessly provoking Jiang and creating trouble for their martial hall. He recognizes Jiang’s extraordinary combat ability and suspects Xu’s judgment was impaired by lingering poison.
• Jiang travels east through the forests, deliberately avoiding Dongdi Lake and the Lotus Intent Sect’s likely activity. He encounters hallucination-inducing sounds caused by an illusion formation surrounding the region.
• By continuously circulating the Jade Heart Method, Jiang resists the hallucinations, suppresses the poison in his body, and escapes the illusion array at dawn.
• He discovers that poisonous smoke has stained his body and clothes yellow-brown, realizing how deadly the Lotus Intent Sect’s poison is. He washes himself in a stream, reaches an official road, buys a horse from a merchant caravan, and learns that he is near Yunlu County.
• After a long journey, Jiang returns to his sect and immediately reports everything to Protector Gao, emphasizing that the Lotus Intent Sect is active nearby and appears to be preparing a major scheme involving blood sacrifices.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Displays overwhelming martial strength, restraint, tactical awareness, and endurance. Though provoked, he avoids killing the Severing Blade Dock disciples and prioritizes escaping the area safely. His resistance to the illusion formation and poison also demonstrates the effectiveness of the Jade Heart Method.
• Junior Brother Xu: Reveals himself as arrogant, reckless, and aggressive. His greed and reliance on Senior Brother Hong’s reputation lead to severe injuries and potentially lasting damage.
• Meng Shengbai: Acts as the responsible member of Severing Blade Dock’s group. He recognizes Xu’s mistake, understands the danger posed by the Lotus Intent Sect, and takes responsibility for treating the injured disciples.
• Protector Gao: Serves as Jiang’s authority figure and the recipient of his urgent intelligence report, marking the transition from Jiang’s personal ordeal to a broader sect-level concern.

Significant Themes

• Danger and treachery in the jianghu: Jiang’s conflict with Severing Blade Dock shows that threats can arise even among ostensibly allied martial practitioners.
• Restraint versus aggression: Jiang has the power to destroy his opponents but chooses to leave them alive, while Xu’s impulsiveness brings disaster upon himself and his companions.
• Hidden conspiracies and escalating danger: The Lotus Intent Sect’s poisons, illusion array, fiends, and blood sacrifices suggest a large-scale plot beyond the immediate Demon Wraith hunt.
• Endurance and preparedness: Jiang’s survival depends on preserving his strength, maintaining the Jade Heart Method, and anticipating hidden dangers.
• The limits of martial power: Even powerful martial artists must fear poison, illusions, ambushes, and organized sect schemes.

Character Interactions

• Jiang’s confrontation with Xu and the Severing Blade Dock disciples establishes a clash between Jiang’s controlled pragmatism and Xu’s greed-driven recklessness.
• Meng Shengbai’s criticism of Xu contrasts with his own sense of responsibility, as he treats the injured despite recognizing their foolishness.
• Jiang’s final conversation with Protector Gao changes the chapter’s focus from personal survival to collective defense, as he warns the sect about the Lotus Intent Sect’s nearby operations and possible blood-sacrifice ritual.

Chapter Summary: The Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage’s Targeting

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian reports to Protector Gao Xian that the Lotus Intent Sect has been operating around Dongdi Lake, attacking cultivators and carrying out brutal activities. He deliberately omits details about his conflict with the disciples of Severing Blade Dock and focuses on the Lotus Intent Sect’s crimes.
• Because Dongdi Lake is close to the Cloud Mountain School and frequently visited by disciples, Gao Xian realizes that other disciples may already have been captured or killed. He brings Jiang Jingnian to Phosphorfire Hall to report the matter to the elders.
• Three inner sect elders hear the report:
  • Elder Chen of the Phosphor Fire Dao Lineage presides.
  • Elder Lin of the Yaofeng Dao Lineage appears largely uninterested.
  • Elder Lan of the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage focuses on Jiang Jingnian with hostility.
• Elder Chen explains that the sect has long known of the Lotus Intent Sect’s activities, including alliances with other Demon Sect forces and blood sacrifices across several regions.
• Gao Xian urges the elders to send experts to Dongdi Lake in case disciples remain trapped there. Elder Lan instead proposes that Jiang Jingnian personally lead a mission to the area.
• Gao Xian objects, displaying Jiang Jingnian’s numerous wounds and lingering poison to prove that he is in no condition to return. He suspects Elder Lan is attempting to place Jiang Jingnian in danger where the Mysterious Mountain Lineage could arrange an “accident.”
• Elder Lan continues arguing that Jiang Jingnian need only guide the group, but Elder Chen finally ends the dispute, ordering Jiang Jingnian to rest while the higher-ups discuss the matter.
• Jiang Jingnian and Gao Xian leave the hall. Jiang senses Elder Lan’s cold gaze behind him and realizes that the Mysterious Mountain Lineage remains intent on targeting him.

2. Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Demonstrates resilience after surviving severe injuries, poison, and an encounter with the Lotus Intent Sect. He remains calm and observant during the elders’ discussion, recognizing Elder Lan’s hidden hostility without openly confronting him. His identification with the Burning Cloud Dao Lineage also becomes clearer, as he understands that he must contend with its feud against the Mysterious Mountain Lineage.
• Protector Gao Xian: Acts as Jiang’s protector and advocate. He takes the Lotus Intent Sect threat seriously and directly challenges the elders’ complacency. He also exposes Jiang’s injuries to prevent Elder Lan from exploiting him.
• Elder Lan: Revealed as a vindictive and politically calculating opponent. He resents Jiang for the deaths of Mysterious Mountain disciples Ye Changting and Gu Xu, and he attempts to send Jiang back into danger under the guise of serving the sect.
• Elder Chen: Though slow and seemingly frail, he retains authority and sound judgment. He recognizes the need for caution and prevents Elder Lan from immediately endangering Jiang.
• Elder Lin: Shows indifference to the crisis, emphasizing the elders’ detached and bureaucratic attitude toward the danger facing ordinary disciples.

3. Significant Themes

• Internal sect conflict versus external threats: The Cloud Mountain School faces a genuine Demon Sect crisis, yet factional rivalries and personal grudges take priority for some elders.
• Political maneuvering and hidden hostility: Elder Lan disguises an attempt to harm Jiang as a righteous mission, showing how sect authority can be manipulated for factional purposes.
• The vulnerability of ordinary disciples: The elders treat widespread blood sacrifices and disappearances as distant intelligence, while Gao Xian stresses that real disciples and families may suffer.
• Survival and growing vigilance: Jiang’s survival has made him more cautious. He understands that enemies within the sect may be as dangerous as the Lotus Intent Sect outside it.
• Factional loyalty: Gao Xian defends Jiang because of their shared Burning Cloud affiliation, forcing Jiang to navigate the broader conflict between the Burning Cloud and Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineages.

4. Character Interactions

• Jiang Jingnian and Gao Xian: Gao Xian trusts Jiang’s report, escorts him before the elders, and protects him from being used in another dangerous mission.
• Gao Xian and Elder Lan: Their exchange becomes an indirect confrontation. Gao Xian openly challenges Lan’s proposal, while Lan maintains a polite but manipulative façade.
• Elder Lan and Jiang Jingnian: Lan’s silent hostility reflects his resentment over the deaths of Mysterious Mountain disciples. He attempts to send Jiang back to Dongdi Lake, likely hoping he will be killed.
• Elder Chen and the other elders: Chen exercises authority over the meeting, cutting off Lan’s scheme and ordering Jiang to recover.
• Jiang Jingnian and Elder Lan: Though they do not directly confront each other, Jiang senses Lan’s murderous gaze and responds with a cold, silent acknowledgment of their growing conflict.

Chapter Summary: “Flour Mill”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Protector Gao warns Jiang Jingnian that his recent actions have offended the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage. Although its elders are unlikely to attack him directly, younger disciples and stewards may cause trouble.
• Gao advises Jiang to build connections, particularly with Du Haichen, a respected True Disciple from the powerful Du Household. Such a relationship could help Jiang gain protection and enter the Inner Disciples’ social circles.
• Jiang acknowledges the advice but remains focused almost entirely on increasing his strength. He has little time or inclination to cultivate relationships through gifts, banquets, and social obligations.
• Jiang returns safely to the sect after a dangerous journey during which he fought or risked encountering Demon Sect members, rogue soldiers, and Demon Wraiths. Despite severe exhaustion and numerous injuries, he maintains his composure.
• He returns to his residence with Duan Xiaodie, warns her about poisonous residue on his body, bathes, rests, and helps her prepare a meal.
• Jiang deliberately participates in ordinary domestic life, viewing chores, eating together, and maintaining close relationships as ways to preserve his humanity and cultivate his character.
• The following morning, Jiang trains, then visits Qian Ningning’s shop. After discussing business with her, he reveals his plan to open a flour mill and asks for her advice.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Demonstrates exceptional talent, determination, and resilience. His rapid rise from refugee to elite Inner Disciple has made him confident and independent, but also socially isolated. He prioritizes martial improvement above networking, though he understands the value of Protector Gao’s advice. His participation in domestic life shows that he recognizes the danger of becoming consumed by battle and wants to retain his humanity.
• Protector Gao: Acts as a practical mentor. Though usually reserved, he gives Jiang sincere guidance about sect politics, reputation, caution, and the importance of relationships.
• Duan Xiaodie: Becomes increasingly impressed and emotionally affected by Jiang’s strength and endurance. Seeing his scars and calm attitude makes her realize why he rose from poverty through sheer effort. She also begins to feel a sense of inferiority beside him, while showing genuine concern through cooking, preparing medicinal tea, and caring for his recovery.
• Qian Ningning: Is portrayed as shrewd, cautious, industrious, and business-minded. She protects herself within the dangerous world of aristocratic families by remaining useful, conservative, and connected to the sect’s authority. She openly recognizes Jiang’s potential and is willing to invest in him.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus social connections: Protector Gao emphasizes that martial ability alone is insufficient; survival also depends on alliances, reputation, and navigating human relationships.
• The danger of isolation: Jiang’s solitary nature makes him appear arrogant and may leave him vulnerable, even though he is not intentionally disdainful of others.
• Preserving humanity: Jiang’s battle-focused martial nature risks turning him into a creature driven only by violence. Everyday activities with Duan Xiaodie serve as an anchor to ordinary life.
• Practical cultivation: The chapter presents cooking, relationships, reputation, caution, and business judgment as forms of character cultivation alongside martial training.
• From survival to prosperity: Jiang’s life has progressed from poverty and danger toward comfort and opportunity, but he still seeks further growth through both martial power and commerce.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Protector Gao: Gao offers heartfelt warnings and strategic advice. Jiang listens respectfully but internally explains why he cannot yet devote much time to social networking.
• Jiang and Duan Xiaodie: Their domestic relationship becomes warmer and more cooperative. She cares for his recovery, while he helps with household tasks and treats ordinary life with her as spiritually important.
• Jiang and Qian Ningning: Their interaction is friendly and increasingly business-oriented. Jiang carefully protects her reputation by keeping the private room open and visible. Qian praises his discretion and rejects rumors that he is simply arrogant, while Jiang seeks her expertise for his proposed flour-mill venture.

Chapter Summary: “Borrowing a Future”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian identifies a rare business opportunity in Peace City created by the ongoing war among Western nations. Imports of cotton textiles and flour have sharply declined, while domestic demand remains high.
• He proposes establishing a flour mill, arguing that it requires far less capital than a cotton textile factory and could exploit the temporary shortage before foreign competition returns.
• Qian Ningning initially doubts Jiang’s business ability because she knows him primarily as a martial artist. However, his detailed analysis of international affairs, commodity prices, investment costs, and different industries quickly changes her opinion.
• Jiang explains that finance is too politically and financially dangerous for him to enter, while theaters, restaurants, and small shops either require heavy investment, depend on unstable conditions, or produce profits too slowly.
• He estimates that he can raise 10,000–20,000 silver dollars through his own resources, loans from foreign banks, and support from the Duan Household.
• His broader plan includes repeated financing rounds, franchising, crowdfunding, direct sales, memberships, and eventually taking the company public before selling at its peak.
• Jiang believes the opportunity will disappear once the overseas war ends and Western industrial powers resume competing in the Chen State. He hopes to profit before that happens and use the money to strengthen himself against future foreign competitors.

Character Development

• Jiang Jingnian: Reveals an unexpectedly sophisticated understanding of economics, finance, and market timing. He appears not merely as a violent or talented martial artist but as a strategic thinker capable of analyzing large-scale political and commercial trends. His philosophy centers on “borrowing the future”—using loans and future profits to accelerate present growth.
• Qian Ningning: Moves from mild skepticism to admiration and astonishment. As a practical businesswoman, she recognizes that Jiang has correctly noticed market changes even before many experienced merchants. She also becomes curious about his origins, assuming such intelligence must come from a distinguished family.
• Jiang responds honestly that he was once a refugee from the Northern Lands and entered the Mountain Cloud School only because of his master’s protection and Xiaodie’s family connections. His humble origins make his abilities seem even more extraordinary to Qian Ningning.

Significant Themes

• Opportunity amid crisis: War and political instability disrupt established markets, creating temporary openings for ambitious entrepreneurs.
• Borrowing against the future: Jiang’s rise depends on loans, investment, and the belief that future profits can finance present expansion. Debt becomes both a productive tool and a source of risk.
• Transition from martial power to economic power: Jiang recognizes that personal strength alone cannot compete with powerful foreign companies and aristocratic interests. Wealth and industrial influence are necessary forms of power.
• Temporary prosperity and strategic timing: Jiang understands that the flour shortage is only a brief window. Success depends on expanding quickly before international trade recovers.
• Class and unexpected talent: Qian Ningning’s surprise highlights the contrast between Jiang’s refugee background and his exceptional intelligence, challenging assumptions about status and education.
• The limits of individual strength: Even becoming a Dao-Lineage True Disciple may not be enough to resist multiple foreign corporations, emphasizing the need for alliances and economic influence.

Character Interactions

• Jiang calmly presents his business proposal while Qian Ningning prepares tea, creating a contrast between his controlled reasoning and her growing astonishment.
• His reminder that the kettle is boiling briefly breaks her shock and adds a light, human moment to the discussion.
• Qian questions Jiang’s family background because his knowledge seems incompatible with his humble origins. Jiang rejects excessive praise and acknowledges that he lacks practical business experience, deferring to her expertise.
• Their exchange establishes a potential partnership: Jiang contributes vision, capital strategy, and market analysis, while Qian offers practical commercial knowledge and operational ability.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian discusses establishing a flour factory with Qian Ningning. A small mechanical mill would cost around 10,000–20,000 silver dollars, but a competitive medium or large factory would require at least 100,000.
• To reduce expenses, Jiang proposes buying secondhand foreign machinery and renting or purchasing an abandoned factory building. This could lower the cost to several tens of thousands of silver dollars, though at the risk of reduced stability and productivity.
• Jiang asks Qian Ningning to help locate used machinery, a suitable factory site, and workers. He offers her 30% of the factory in exchange for her assistance.
• Qian declines the shares at first, offering instead to invest 2,000 silver dollars and asking Jiang to help her once in the future. Jiang insists that she retain the shares, explaining that he will need her help managing the business.
• The two spend several hours refining the business plan. Their partnership strengthens as Qian contributes practical commercial knowledge to Jiang’s ambitious theories.
• Jiang returns to Duan Xiaodie, bringing her pastries and explaining his plans to enter the flour industry. Xiaodie is surprised by his business ability and gains a deeper appreciation of his talents.
• Jiang’s broader goal is revealed: he intends to expand his commercial influence until he controls much of Peace City’s goods distribution, using money and connections to acquire rare materials and objects useful for cultivation.
• While waiting for Qian’s results, Jiang borrows money from a bank, cultivates on the mountain, and grows closer to Xiaodie. He avoids approaching other Inner Disciples because key allies are unavailable and the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage remains a serious threat.
• He also checks on the Lotus Intent Sect investigation through Protector Gao, who advises him not to travel alone in the wilderness.
• Two days later, Qian finds a very cheap abandoned factory. However, a murder occurred there, and rumors claim that Demon Wraiths haunt the site.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates practical intelligence and long-term ambition. He moves beyond martial strength, showing an ability to plan business ventures, negotiate partnerships, and adapt idealistic strategies to real-world limitations.
• His willingness to offer Qian a substantial share reveals that he understands the importance of trust, connections, and rewarding useful allies.
• Qian Ningning becomes Jiang’s first major business partner. She proves financially constrained but loyal, willing to invest nearly all her available cash and risk her assets to support him.
• Qian also begins to see Jiang as a future Dao-Lineage prodigy whose success could greatly benefit her own future.
• Duan Xiaodie becomes increasingly impressed by Jiang’s versatility. She also feels pressure to improve her cultivation so she can keep pace with him.
• Jiang and Xiaodie’s marital relationship grows warmer and more intimate as they spend time together.

Significant Themes

• Money as a tool of cultivation and power: Jiang views wealth not merely as comfort or currency, but as a means to obtain secret medicines, weapons, ritual materials, rare items, and influence.
• Practicality versus idealism: Jiang’s grand plans must be adjusted to fit available funds, secondhand equipment, and local business realities.
• Trust and mutually beneficial alliances: Jiang’s partnership with Qian shows that influence is built through shared interests, generosity, and reliance on capable allies.
• Expansion of influence: Jiang seeks commercial control over Peace City to create a network capable of supporting his future growth.
• Hidden dangers beneath opportunity: The cheap factory represents both a valuable chance and a supernatural threat, foreshadowing conflict between business ambitions and demon-related dangers.
• Rising external threats: The Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage is secretly plotting against Jiang, while the Lotus Intent Sect remains an unresolved danger.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Qian engage in a candid, practical negotiation over factory costs, financing, equipment, and ownership. Their conversation establishes a strong business partnership.
• Jiang reassures Qian of her importance and persuades her to accept a 30% share, while Qian demonstrates loyalty by offering her limited cash reserves.
• Jiang later explains his plans to Xiaodie, who reacts with surprise and admiration. Their conversation deepens her understanding of his ambitions and abilities.
• Jiang maintains indirect contact with Protector Gao regarding the Lotus Intent Sect, receiving both limited information and a warning about traveling alone.
• The chapter ends with Qian bringing Jiang news of the abandoned factory, introducing the immediate mystery of the murder and possible Demon Wraith hauntings.

Chapter Summary: “Time Is Running Out”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qian Ningning investigates vacant factories for Jiang Jingnian’s planned flour mill. Most options are too expensive or unsuitable, but she discovers a large, conveniently located factory near the Yunsong River priced far below market value.
• The factory’s low price is linked to a series of horrific incidents:
  • More than a dozen workers were mysteriously killed, their bodies drained of blood, flesh, and bones, leaving only skin.
  • Witnesses reported seeing a beautiful woman in red at night.
  • The original owner and his wife later died from unexplained illnesses.
  • Several subsequent buyers also suffered accidents, including a Marrow Tempering Stage martial artist.
• Jiang Jingnian studies old newspaper reports and suspects that the deaths may have resulted from deliberate human manipulation rather than ordinary Demon Wraiths. He reasons that intelligent or instinct-driven monsters would likely have attacked the experts investigating the site.
• Despite the danger, Jiang decides to inspect and potentially purchase the factory because its location and price are exceptionally advantageous. The asking price is under twenty thousand silver dollars, while comparable properties cost around one hundred fifty thousand.
• Qian Ningning agrees to contact the seller and leaves to arrange the transaction.
• Afterward, Duan Xiaodie expresses concern for Jiang’s safety. He explains that the world is already descending into chaos, with Demon Wraiths, war, and sect conflicts increasing. He believes he must seize every opportunity to strengthen himself and prepare for the future.
• Jiang reflects on the weakness of the Burning Cloud Dao Lineage compared with the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage. The Burning Cloud faction lacks a dominant younger leader, tends to be overly restrained, and suffers from an inferior Dao Lord and weaker overall strength.
• Duan Xiaodie warns Jiang to be cautious of attacks from the Mysterious Mountain faction, particularly when he leaves the mountain.
• Jiang and Qian Ningning travel to the remote West Sand District, a heavily industrialized area along the Yunsong River, to inspect the abandoned factory. The district is commercially valuable because of its docks and river access, though it suffers from severe coal pollution, black rain, crowded factories, and poor living conditions.
• The chapter ends as Jiang and Qian Ningning enter the factory to investigate it firsthand.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates practicality, ambition, and courage. Rather than being deterred by the factory’s frightening history, he views the low price as an opportunity and shows confidence in handling the danger.
• He also becomes more politically aware of the sect’s internal power struggle and recognizes that the Burning Cloud Dao Lineage’s cautious attitude has allowed the Mysterious Mountain Lineage to dominate it.
• Qian Ningning proves efficient and resourceful by gathering property information and old newspaper reports. Although frightened by the factory’s history, she remains willing to assist Jiang.
• Duan Xiaodie displays affection and concern for Jiang. Her warning reflects both her awareness of the dangers surrounding him and her growing understanding of the sect’s factional conflicts.

Significant Themes

• Opportunity amid danger: The factory’s terrifying history makes it cheap, but Jiang believes risks are unavoidable in a chaotic world and that valuable opportunities often come with danger.
• The unknown and fear: The unexplained deaths and rumors of a red-clad woman show how fear grows when ordinary people cannot understand the cause of events.
• Preparation in a collapsing world: Jiang recognizes that war, Demon Wraiths, political instability, and sect rivalries are intensifying, making personal strength increasingly necessary.
• Power and factional conflict: The Burning Cloud and Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineages represent an unequal struggle in which restraint and weakness lead to repeated losses.
• Industrial modernization and social cost: West Sand District’s factories, docks, pollution, damaged railways, and crowded neighborhoods illustrate economic development occurring alongside environmental destruction and political instability.

Important Character Interactions

• Qian Ningning reports the factory’s history and financial advantages to Jiang, while Jiang analyzes the evidence and offers a supernatural and strategic interpretation.
• Qian compliments Duan Xiaodie’s pastries, creating a brief domestic and friendly exchange.
• Duan Xiaodie challenges Jiang’s willingness to take such a dangerous opportunity, but Jiang reassures her that danger exists everywhere and that he must act decisively.
• Their conversation strengthens the impression of Jiang and Duan Xiaodie as a close couple, while also revealing the pressures surrounding Jiang.
• Jiang and Qian’s final conversation during their journey establishes the factory’s location, industrial importance, and connection to recent war and unrest before they begin their investigation.

Chapter Summary: “Red Gauze”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Ningning arrive at a supposedly haunted old factory to meet its owner, Bai Zhiyong.
• Bai explains that the factory has been difficult to sell because workers allegedly encountered the “Red Gauze Woman” before dying, while sensational newspaper reports amplified the rumors.
• He clarifies that his elder brother and sister-in-law died from long-term tuberculosis and exhaustion rather than being murdered, though the factory’s incidents worsened their condition.
• Bai also denies that all prospective buyers died mysteriously, explaining that one famous martial artist died from injuries and preexisting ailments sustained elsewhere.
• Qian asks whether Bai can reduce the price or accept payment in installments. Jiang proposes paying one-third upfront and the remaining two-thirds within six months.
• Bai agrees to continue negotiations and gives them a tour.
• Jiang and Qian inspect the factory’s grounds and its remaining machinery, including steam engines, boilers, and flour grinders. They conclude that the facility could be converted into a medium-sized flour mill at relatively low cost.
• As they pass a corner of the factory, Jiang suddenly notices a scrap of red gauze lodged among the bricks and tiles, suggesting that the supernatural rumors may have some basis.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates practical ambition and financial ingenuity. He plans to establish a flour mill cheaply, use marketing to build a reputation, and profit through financial strategies rather than operate the business long-term.
• Qian Ningning acts as Jiang’s representative and negotiator, directly questioning Bai about the factory’s history and pressing for favorable payment terms. Her status as a member of a powerful clan makes Bai highly cautious and respectful.
• Bai Zhiyong is presented as a businessman with martial-arts training and strong connections to jianghu culture. Though initially wary, he is honest about the factory’s history and agrees to Jiang’s installment proposal because the buyers’ identities appear credible.
• Jiang and Qian’s partnership is shown to be cooperative: Qian handles questioning and negotiation, while Jiang contributes the financial plan and evaluates the factory’s business potential.

Significant Themes

• Rumor versus truth: The factory’s reputation has been distorted by sensational reporting and public gossip, making it difficult to distinguish real supernatural events from exaggeration.
• Business amid danger: Jiang and Qian treat the haunted factory as an investment opportunity, showing their willingness to pursue profit despite apparent risks.
• Social status and influence: Bai’s deferential behavior toward Qian reflects the power of great clans and prestigious martial schools in society.
• Practicality versus the supernatural: The characters analyze machinery, land value, and payment plans rationally, but the discovery of red gauze introduces an ominous supernatural element.
• Reputation and credibility: Bai emphasizes truthful explanations to preserve trust, while Jiang relies on personal credit and institutional standing to secure an unconventional purchase agreement.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai greets Jiang and Qian with exaggerated respect because of Qian’s clan background and the Mountain Cloud School’s prestige.
• Qian interrogates Bai about the factory’s deaths, while Jiang silently observes and validates her questioning.
• Jiang negotiates the installment arrangement directly with Bai, who hesitates but ultimately accepts.
• During the tour, Jiang and Qian discuss the condition and usefulness of the factory machinery, reinforcing their shared business plan.
• The chapter ends with Jiang noticing the red gauze, creating immediate tension and foreshadowing a possible encounter with the Red Gauze Woman.

Chapter Summary: “Who Dares Block My Path to Wealth?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• While inspecting an abandoned factory, Jiang Jingnian, Qian Ningning, and Bai Zhiyong discover a scrap of luxurious deep-red gauze stuck near the ceiling.
• The fabric resembles Langsha Silk and appears clean, new, and faintly fragrant, suggesting it was left recently rather than being an old remnant.
• The discovery recalls rumors of a beautiful woman in red and the violent deaths of workers at the factory, raising the possibility of either a Demon Wraith or a human deliberately creating supernatural disturbances.
• Jiang investigates the scrap and questions Bai Zhiyong about enemies who might be targeting the Bai family. Bai admits to ordinary business rivalries but denies having any serious blood feuds.
• Bai assumes the sale will collapse, but Jiang decides the factory’s favorable location and extremely low price outweigh the danger. He resolves to uncover and eliminate whoever is interfering with his plans.
• Jiang negotiates the price down from 19,300 to 15,500 silver dollars, offering a 50% down payment. Bai accepts, eager to rid himself of the haunted property and protect his orphaned nephew and niece.
• The transaction is later approved through Qian Ningning’s family connections. The factory effectively becomes Jiang’s first major fixed asset.
• Jiang moves into a makeshift shelter inside the factory, intending to lure out whoever—or whatever—is responsible for the disturbances.
• While training alone, Jiang reflects on his growing strength, debts, and reliance on the Taotie trait and secret medicines. His cultivation reaches 26% of the Marrow Tempering Stage, and he believes he can now contend briefly with an Early Inner Qi Realm expert.
• At the end of the chapter, the hot factory suddenly becomes unnaturally cold. Jiang senses someone nearby and sharply demands that they reveal themselves.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Demonstrates practical ambition and fearlessness. Although he recognizes the supernatural risk, he prioritizes the factory’s financial value and views the unknown culprit as an enemy obstructing his rise to wealth. His confidence has grown alongside his cultivation, and he now sees himself as capable of confronting much stronger opponents.
• Qian Ningning: Shows more caution due to her limited experience with genuine supernatural threats. She relies on Jiang’s judgment and supports him through her family’s influence, helping complete the purchase efficiently.
• Bai Zhiyong: Is increasingly frightened and desperate to sell the factory. He reveals that previous investigations, including expert and foreign detective efforts, failed to uncover the source of the strange phenomena. His main concern is obtaining money to send his deceased brother’s children away from the danger.
• Jiang’s social status: The successful purchase highlights his transformation from a rickshaw puller into a powerful martial artist and property owner whose connections and reputation now command respect.

Significant Themes

• Wealth versus danger: Jiang knowingly accepts a supernatural threat because the factory offers an opportunity to escape his mounting debts and accelerate his financial plans.
• Ambition and determination: No one is allowed to obstruct Jiang’s rise. His willingness to confront the hidden enemy reflects his increasingly ruthless drive.
• Social status and power: The ease with which official procedures are handled illustrates how wealth, lineage, and connections reshape Jiang’s treatment by society.
• Mystery and supernatural danger: The red gauze, worker deaths, and unexplained cold suggest that the factory’s haunting may involve an intelligent and persistent presence.
• Growth through adversity: Jiang’s financial burdens, poison experiences, and supernatural threats continually push him to strengthen both his body and strategic judgment.

Important Character Interactions

• Jiang and Bai inspect and analyze the red gauze together, with Jiang leading the investigation and Bai providing information about the factory’s history.
• Jiang questions Bai about possible enemies, while Bai insists that the family has no motive-worthy blood feud.
• Qian identifies the fabric as expensive Langsha Silk and looks to Jiang for the final decision.
• Jiang and Bai negotiate aggressively but ultimately reach an agreement, balancing Bai’s desire to sell with Jiang’s willingness to accept danger.
• Qian’s family connections later help complete the official purchase with minimal bureaucratic obstacles.
• The chapter closes with Jiang confronting an unseen presence inside the factory, setting up the imminent revelation of the force behind the haunting.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• In the Bai Family’s factory, the atmosphere suddenly becomes cold and damp, signaling another supernatural attack. Jiang Jingnian detects poisonous smoke and a familiar fishy, earthy odor but cannot see an attacker.
• Using the poison as a marker, Jiang identifies the hidden assailant as the “Red-Gauze Woman” and attacks her with his powerful body-tempering techniques.
• He initially appears to overwhelm and nearly destroy the figure, smashing her into the factory floor with a barrage of punches and kicks. However, the red gauze begins wrapping around his limbs, revealing that the enemy can shift between physical and intangible forms.
• Jiang realizes he is not fighting a human demon cultist but a Demon Wraith. He activates his ultimate technique, the Unyielding Transforming Splendor Copperflame Body, generating intense heat that burns and weakens the gauze.
• He strikes the wraith apart and sees her face beneath the shattered veil. She resembles Su Wanzhi, though not perfectly. Jiang destroys the wraith’s manifested form, but discovers shell-like fragments afterward, suggesting it escaped through a secret technique rather than being truly killed.
• The fragments and the battle trigger Jiang’s memories of the Su Family, the Purple Clay Goldline Pot, the Dongdi Lake Basin, and the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden.
• Jiang deduces that Su Ze, the old master of the Su Family, had raised the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden. The teapot he once bought from the Su Family had been contaminated by the wraith’s blood during an advancement ritual, explaining its unusual properties.
• He reaches the alarming conclusion that the Su Family may have secretly served as a pawn of the Lotus Intent Sect or another Demon Sect. Their repeated cooperation with the Tongda Escort Agency may therefore have been deliberate rather than coincidental.

Character Development

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates increasing combat awareness and mastery of his techniques. He quickly identifies the poisonous smoke as a tracking clue and adapts when conventional physical attacks prove ineffective.
• His Jade Heart Method protects him from the poison, while his Copperflame Body allows him to counter the wraith’s intangible, gauze-like form.
• Jiang’s confidence and brutality in battle are evident, but the wraith’s resemblance to Su Wanzhi momentarily shocks him and forces him to reconsider his understanding of the Su Family.
• His investigative instincts deepen as he connects previously unrelated incidents and objects into a larger conspiracy.

Significant Themes

• Hidden identities and deception: The attacker disguises herself through concealment and red gauze, while the Su Family may have concealed its demonic affiliations for years.
• Appearance versus reality: The wraith resembles Su Wanzhi but is not exactly her, raising questions about identity, possession, imitation, or familial connections.
• Corruption beneath respectability: The apparently declining but respectable Su Family may actually be tied to a dangerous Demon Sect.
• Cause and effect: Jiang realizes that seemingly minor past events—such as purchasing the teapot—were connected to much larger supernatural rituals.
• Knowledge through combat: Jiang’s fight is not merely physical; the encounter provides crucial evidence about the forces behind the factory deaths and the Su Family’s activities.

Character Interactions

• Jiang directly confronts and violently battles the Red-Gauze Wraith, shifting from physical attacks to heat-based techniques when he recognizes its supernatural nature.
• His recognition of the wraith’s resemblance to Su Wanzhi links his past dealings with the Su Family to the current demonic threat.
• The chapter also revisits the Su Family’s relationship with the Tongda Escort Agency, suggesting that their past requests for protection may have been part of a broader demonic scheme rather than ordinary business.

Chapter Summary: “One Side of the Story”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian reflects on his battle with the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden. Although he appeared to destroy her, his martial instincts tell him that the powerful Demon Wraith may not have revealed her full strength.
• Because the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden can shift between physical and illusory forms and uses deadly venom, Jiang realizes the threat is serious. He decides to report the matter first to the Tongda Escort Agency and later to the Mountain Cloud School.
• At the temporarily closed Tongda Escort Agency, Jiang learns that his master, Old Duan, is away in Cloud Harmony City on a private martial-assistance job.
• Jiang instead confides in the chief escort, explaining his encounter with the Demon Wraith and his suspicion that the Su Family may be involved in secretly raising Demon Sect creatures.
• The chief escort confirms that the red gauze and spiral-shell fragments Jiang recovered are characteristic of the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden. However, he reveals that the Tongda Escort Agency supposedly killed the original Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden over twenty years ago.
• The chief escort explains that the original Demon Wraith’s remains were given to the Mountain Cloud School and used to create medicines and weapons, including the Nine-Ring Saber.
• This creates a contradiction: either the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden survived, or a new one appeared recently. The chief escort also reveals that the old master of the Su Family—the man Jiang believed was connected to the Demon Wraiths—died several years earlier.
• Since Jiang lacks conclusive evidence linking the current Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden to the Su Family, the agency refuses to act directly against the prominent household.
• Instead, the chief escort offers to have Jiang, his master, and other escorts return to the old factory and join forces to eliminate the Demon Wraith.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian becomes increasingly cautious and politically aware. He recognizes that his personal feelings for Su Wanzhi must be set aside when lives and possible Demon Sect activity are involved.
• He also becomes suspicious of everyone around him, even wondering whether the chief escort, his own master, or the Duan Household could be secretly aligned with the Demon Sect.
• Jiang shows restraint and practicality by accepting that suspicion alone is insufficient to accuse the Su Family. He agrees to focus first on destroying the immediate supernatural threat.
• The chief escort is portrayed as warm, forthright, and loyal, but also responsible and politically cautious. He takes Jiang’s report seriously while refusing to endanger the agency through an unsupported attack on the Su Family.
• His testimony introduces uncertainty into Jiang’s investigation by revealing that both the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden and the suspected Su Family mastermind may already have been dead for years.

Significant Themes

• Uncertainty and incomplete truth: Jiang’s conclusions are undermined by conflicting evidence, suggesting that the situation is more complicated than a simple accusation against the Su Family.
• The limits of justice and authority: Even when a threat seems real, the Escort Agency cannot openly move against a powerful household without proof.
• Trust and suspicion: Jiang struggles to determine whom he can trust, reflecting the blurred line between righteous factions and the Demon Sect.
• Personal feelings versus duty: Jiang’s remaining affection for Su Wanzhi is insignificant compared with the danger posed by the Demon Wraith and the possibility of a blood feud.
• The ambiguity of good and evil: Jiang questions whether the distinction between the righteous path and the Demon Sect is truly clear, especially given corruption within supposedly righteous institutions.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and the chief escort begin with casual greetings, but the conversation quickly becomes serious when Jiang describes the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden.
• Jiang tests the chief escort’s trustworthiness by revealing his suspicions, while inwardly preparing for the possibility that the escort himself might be a Demon Sect agent.
• The chief escort responds with alarm rather than hostility, examines Jiang’s physical evidence, and shares the agency’s history with the original Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden.
• Their discussion shifts Jiang’s investigation away from immediately accusing the Su Family and toward a more limited, practical plan: jointly hunting down the Demon Wraith first.

Summary: “The Chamber of Commerce’s Pressure I”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Chief Escort assesses the Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden that attacked Jiang Jingnian. He believes it is weaker than the one exterminated twenty years earlier—probably a descendant or lesser Demon Wraith, likely no stronger than a peak Marrow Tempering Stage fighter.
• Despite its moderate combat strength, its ability to shift between illusion and reality makes it extremely dangerous. The Chief Escort advises Jiang to wait until Duan Escort Chief returns so several experts can join forces against it.
• Jiang agrees outwardly but immediately returns to the old factory, ignoring the warning. He deliberately waits there overnight, hoping to provoke another attack and confirm whether the Su Family—or its supposedly dead former patriarch—is behind the Demon Wraith.
• The Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden does not appear. Jiang spends a sleepless night on guard, then trains, reflects on his growing troubles, and decides to investigate the Su Family through Qian Ningning’s connections.
• Jiang recognizes that his status within the Mountain Cloud School remains limited. Although he is an Inner Disciple, he lacks a powerful background and believes only an Inner Qi Realm breakthrough would make the sect’s upper ranks take him seriously.
• He plans to gather evidence against the Su Family and formally report it to the sect, not because he expects the sect to act, but to create a legitimate basis for joining forces with the Tongda Escort Agency against the family.
• Jiang travels to Nanpu District to meet Qian Ningning. She agrees to secretly investigate the Su Family and warns him not to continue staying at the old factory.
• Qian then reveals a new problem: the local Chamber of Commerce wants to meet with them after noticing their purchase of the old factory and machinery. The stated purpose may be investment, but Jiang realizes the merchants likely expect them to submit to local commercial power structures.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian becomes increasingly confident, daring, and suspicious. He trusts his instincts over official explanations and is willing to take personal risks to uncover the truth.
• At the same time, his growing responsibilities leave him restless and impatient. He recognizes that every advance in status brings stronger enemies and more complicated conflicts.
• Jiang shows greater strategic awareness: he understands that personal strength alone is insufficient and begins deliberately cultivating connections, evidence, and institutional legitimacy.
• The Chief Escort is cautious and experienced. He underestimates Jiang’s true ability, assuming his victory over Ye Changting depended mainly on luck or a hidden treasure.
• Qian Ningning continues to act as Jiang’s primary social and business connection. She is worried about his recklessness, assists with the Su Family investigation, and demonstrates increasing involvement in his factory venture.
• Qian also appears more polished and lively during their meeting, though her concern for Jiang remains sincere and practical.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus connections: Jiang repeatedly observes that background, status, and networks often matter more than martial ability, especially within sects and commercial circles.
• The cost of advancement: As Jiang rises from rickshaw puller to escort, sect disciple, and businessman, his problems become more dangerous and politically complex.
• Caution versus recklessness: The Chief Escort and Qian urge restraint, while Jiang’s confidence and fighting spirit push him toward danger.
• Institutional indifference and social hierarchy: Jiang has little faith that the sect will protect an ordinary-born Inner Disciple, so he seeks evidence and alliances rather than relying on authority.
• Power and legitimacy: Jiang intends to use a formal report not because he trusts the sect, but because official recognition would give him moral and legal justification to act.
• Hidden manipulation: The Red-Gauze Spiral Maiden’s disappearance and Jiang’s suspicions about the Su Family maintain the mystery surrounding the attacks.

Character Interactions

• The Chief Escort gives Jiang a tactical assessment and warns him to stay on Cloudpool Cliff until reinforcements arrive.
• Jiang politely accepts the advice but secretly disregards it, revealing the gap between his outward compliance and inner determination.
• Jiang and Qian Ningning meet in Nanpu District, walking through the rain and later discussing the Su Family in a café.
• Qian expresses concern over Jiang’s willingness to remain in danger, while Jiang downplays his recklessness.
• Their conversation shifts from the Demon Wraith investigation to the factory, where Qian introduces the Chamber of Commerce’s pressure and hints that the merchants’ proposed investment may conceal a demand for submission or political cooperation.

Chapter Summary: “The Chamber of Commerce’s Pressure (2)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian prepares to open a flour mill and recognizes that success depends not only on capital and martial strength, but also on paying facilitation fees and maintaining relationships with officials, gangs, and other local powers.
• He has set aside more than three thousand silver dollars for bribes and logistical arrangements, in addition to the money spent purchasing the old factory.
• Qian Ningning explains that the Chamber of Commerce is backed by powerful business families, martial arts schools, and gangs. The main threat is the Red Gang, particularly its Wenli Hall.
• The Red Gang’s influence extends throughout Peace City, from government offices and foreign powers to laborers and street-level businesses, making it impossible for Jiang to simply force his way through every obstacle.
• Jiang receives an invitation to a banquet at Bright Dusk Tower that same evening. Though Qian Ningning initially offers to attend with a family elder instead, Jiang insists on going because the factory is his responsibility and he does not want her to face the Chamber alone.
• At the banquet, Jiang, Qian Ningning, and her uncle Qian Xinming meet roughly a dozen Chamber of Commerce representatives and their heavily armed martial-artist bodyguards.
• Jiang immediately senses that the gathering is not a normal business negotiation but a deliberate display of force. The guests treat him with open disdain while showing respect toward Qian Ningning and Qian Xinming.
• Qian Xinming’s presence shifts the atmosphere. He exchanges polite greetings with the Chamber representatives and indirectly warns them not to bully Qian Ningning, while they deny intending to obstruct her business.
• The chapter ends as Qian Ningning pulls Jiang to his seat and reminds him to remain calm.

Character Developments

Jiang Jingnian

He demonstrates increasing awareness of business and political realities, recognizing the need for money, connections, and compromise. However, his violent instincts remain close beneath the surface. He resents having to bow to gangs after rising from poverty and privately considers using force if the Chamber’s demands become excessive. He also reflects on his long-term ambition to become invincible, viewing death as the only true consequence of failure.

Qian Ningning

She continues to act as Jiang’s business partner and chief intermediary. Despite being a concubine-born member of the Qian Household, she uses her family connections to support him, even bringing in her influential uncle. She is increasingly wary of Jiang’s brutality and repeatedly urges him not to turn a commercial dispute into a fight.

Qian Xinming

Qian Ningning’s main protector within the Qian Household, he is a Perfected Marrow Tempering Stage martial artist with enough status and strength to provide her with political and physical protection. His arrival gives the group leverage in the negotiations.

The Chamber representatives

They appear confident and well-connected, using their bodyguards and hostile reception to intimidate Jiang. Their differing treatment of Jiang and the Qian family reveals that they view him as a new and vulnerable outsider.

Significant Themes

• Power versus legitimacy: Jiang’s martial strength does not automatically grant him social or commercial influence. He must still negotiate with bureaucrats, gangs, families, and foreign interests.
• The cost of doing business: The chapter emphasizes corruption, protection payments, and the complicated network of favors required to operate a factory.
• Violence restrained by pragmatism: Jiang is capable of solving problems through force, but business requires patience and self-control. Qian Ningning serves as a reminder that unchecked violence could destroy their goals.
• Class and social inequality: Jiang notices the distance between Westerners and local Chen State people, as well as the way poor residents are removed from attractive public areas to create an artificial sense of order.
• Rising from the bottom: Jiang’s resentment comes from his former life as a rickshaw puller, when he had to appease gangs. Although he has become powerful, he still faces the same structures that once oppressed him.
• Ambition and fatalism: Jiang’s martial path is portrayed as inherently violent. He believes advancement requires defeating countless enemies and is willing to stake his life on that pursuit.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Qian Ningning discuss the Chamber’s background, with her trying to explain the importance of compromise and him struggling to suppress his anger.
• Qian Ningning worries that Jiang will react violently and offers to attend the banquet with her uncle instead. Jiang refuses, partly out of responsibility and partly to prove his value as her partner.
• At the banquet, Qian Xinming uses friendly conversation to assert the Qian Household’s influence and caution the Chamber against targeting Ningning.
• Qian Ningning physically restrains and reassures Jiang by holding his arm and urging him to stay calm. Jiang responds humorously, easing the tension while showing that he understands her concerns.
• The Chamber’s respectful treatment of Qian Ningning and Qian Xinming, contrasted with their contempt for Jiang, establishes the central tension for the negotiations to come.

Chapter Summary: “Prejudice (Please Subscribe)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Peace City’s powerful chambers of commerce regulate trade, settle conflicts, and protect local businesses from foreign merchant powers. The South City Chamber of Commerce has taken an unusually early interest in Jiang Jingnian’s planned flour mill, even though the project is still only an outline.
• Qian Ningning suspects the invitation is not purely business-related. To strengthen their position, she brings her uncle, Qian Xinming, a respected member of the Qian Household.
• At the banquet, the merchants treat Qian Xinming as the main guest while largely ignoring Jiang Jingnian and Qian Ningning. The meal features refined local cuisine, but the merchants display their admiration for foreign wine and luxury products.
• Jin Zhihao, deputy hall master of the Red Gang’s Wenli Hall, deliberately exposes Jiang Jingnian’s former life as a refugee and rickshaw puller. His goal is to make Qian Xinming and the other merchants look down on Jiang and doubt his qualifications.
• The room’s attitude changes immediately. The merchants mock Jiang’s humble background, while Qian Xinming becomes disappointed and suspicious of both Jiang and his niece.
• Qian Ningning defends Jiang, emphasizing that he is now an Inner Disciple of the Mountain Cloud School and that she was the one who chose to befriend him—not the other way around.
• Jin Zhihao continues insinuating that Jiang only entered the inner sect because of the Qian Household’s influence.
• Jiang calmly acknowledges his past but rejects the suggestion that he is a dependent or “pretty-boy.” He challenges Jin Zhihao to a martial sparring match, implying that Jin has courage only in speech.
• The chapter ends with Jin Zhihao’s confident smile freezing under Jiang’s provocation.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Remains composed despite being humiliated and ignored. Rather than hiding his origins, he accepts them as part of the path that motivated his rise. His confidence and pride emerge when his martial ability and independence are questioned, leading him to confront Jin directly.
• Qian Ningning: Shows loyalty and courage by publicly defending Jiang against both Jin Zhihao and her uncle. Her willingness to challenge her family’s prejudices reveals that she values Jiang’s character and achievements over his birth.
• Qian Xinming: Initially attends to help expand Qian Ningning’s business connections, but his attitude changes sharply after learning Jiang’s humble background. His reaction exposes how deeply the Qian Household’s class prejudice is ingrained.
• Jin Zhihao: Presents himself as friendly and refined but deliberately manipulates the conversation to undermine Jiang. His confidence depends on social hierarchy and verbal provocation; Jiang’s challenge threatens to expose whether he possesses equivalent martial strength.
• The merchants: Their treatment of Jiang reveals their instinctive contempt for people of humble origin, regardless of present accomplishments.

Significant Themes

• Class prejudice: The merchants and Qian Household judge Jiang according to his former occupation and social status rather than his current achievements.
• Origins versus merit: Jiang argues that humble beginnings do not diminish a person’s accomplishments. His past is a source of motivation, not shame.
• Family tradition and social hierarchy: Qian Xinming’s reaction demonstrates how centuries of aristocratic customs can override personal judgment and fairness.
• Loyalty and independence: Qian Ningning’s defense of Jiang shows her willingness to oppose her family, while Jiang insists that his success comes from his own ability rather than Qian influence.
• Words versus action: Jin Zhihao attempts to defeat Jiang socially through insinuation, but Jiang shifts the conflict toward a physical test of skill.

Important Character Interactions

• Qian Ningning and Qian Xinming: Ningning defends Jiang, but her uncle rebukes her, revealing the clash between her personal loyalty and the Qian Household’s rigid standards.
• Jin Zhihao and Jiang Jingnian: Jin uses Jiang’s past to provoke and discredit him; Jiang responds calmly, then challenges Jin to prove his own ability.
• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Xinming: Qian Xinming’s earlier warmth turns into disappointment and suspicion, while Jiang refuses to plead for acceptance.
• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Ningning: Ningning supports Jiang publicly, and Jiang’s measured response reinforces his dignity and self-reliance.

Chapter Summary: “My Fists Kill Only”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian attends a gathering of Peace City business figures, where his impoverished origins and lack of powerful family backing are openly mocked.
• Jin Zhihao, deputy hall master of Wenli Hall and a Hong Gang representative, repeatedly insults Jiang and implies that he is an uncultured peasant relying on the Qian Household.
• Jin warns that business in Peace City requires connections and influence rather than martial strength, and hints that Wenli Hall can obstruct Jiang’s flour mill through its control of local transportation.
• Jiang realizes that Wenli Hall’s detailed knowledge of him and its disregard for his Cloud Mountain School identity likely result from manipulation by the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage.
• Jin challenges Jiang to fight his guard, Mr. Miao, an Orange Blossom Deacon of the Wenli Hall and a Late Marrow Tempering Stage martial artist.
• Despite Qian Ningning’s concern about provoking Wenli Hall and endangering the flour mill, Jiang accepts the match.
• Mr. Miao expects an easy victory because he believes Jiang is only at the Bone Tempering Stage. However, Jiang overwhelms him instantly with a single punch, knocking him unconscious.
• Jiang calmly claims that Mr. Miao merely lost consciousness, while privately believing the man will not survive the night. The business figures are stunned that such a powerful fighter was defeated so effortlessly.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Remains calm, confident, and dismissive in the face of social prejudice. His anger is controlled rather than explosive, sharpening his reasoning and suspicion. He demonstrates overwhelming martial power while deliberately regulating his strength and maintaining a courteous exterior.
• Jin Zhihao: Reveals his arrogance, class prejudice, and reliance on institutional power. Though he presents himself as a respectable businessman, he is deeply resentful of Jiang and uses Mr. Miao to humiliate or eliminate him without risking himself.
• Qian Ningning: Continues to support Jiang and challenges Jin’s insulting remarks. Her concern shifts from Jiang’s immediate safety to the possible political and commercial consequences of his confrontation with Wenli Hall.
• Qian Xinming: Develops a strong prejudice against Jiang after learning of his background. He interprets Jiang’s confidence as vulgarity rather than heroic independence and refuses to intervene when the conflict escalates.
• Mr. Miao: Is portrayed as a battle-hardened martial artist who trusts the intelligence supplied by the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage. His confidence collapses when Jiang defeats him with one blow.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus social status: The business elite judge people by family, connections, and origins, while Jiang judges them primarily by actual strength.
• Class prejudice: Jiang’s refugee background causes others to dismiss his confidence as uncultured aggression, exposing how social interpretation depends on status.
• Power and influence: The chapter contrasts martial ability with the business world’s reliance on connections, transportation networks, political backing, and hidden alliances.
• Hidden manipulation: The Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage appears to be influencing Wenli Hall from behind the scenes, using indirect pressure instead of confronting Jiang openly.
• Calm beneath anger: Jiang’s fury makes him more perceptive and controlled, allowing him to identify the scheme against him rather than act recklessly.
• Underestimation: The inaccurate assessment of Jiang’s cultivation leads Mr. Miao and the others to misjudge him catastrophically.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Jin Zhihao: Their exchange is a battle of insults and status. Jin attempts to belittle Jiang through age, seniority, family background, and business etiquette, while Jiang responds with indifference and barely concealed contempt.
• Qian Ningning and Jin Zhihao: Ningning defends Jiang and criticizes Jin for speaking without dignity, though Jin dismisses her defense as excessive favoritism.
• Qian Ningning and Jiang: She worries about the consequences of his actions, but Jiang reassures her that the fight is merely a martial exchange and implicitly confirms that he will not retreat from necessary confrontations.
• Jiang and Mr. Miao: Mr. Miao provokes Jiang and promises to hold back, but Jiang treats him as no real threat, defeating him before he can properly respond.
• Jin and the assembled business figures: Jin tries to use the duel as a public demonstration of his superior influence, but Jiang’s effortless victory instead humiliates him and shocks everyone present.

Chapter Summary: “Flipping the Table I”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian defeats Mr. Miao in a single exchange, leaving him unconscious but alive. The spectators are shocked, since Mr. Miao had been expected to put up a stronger fight.
• Qian Ningning is relieved that Jiang does not kill anyone, recognizing that a massacre would provoke devastating retaliation from the Red Gang and other forces.
• The Chamber of Commerce meeting and investment negotiations collapse after the confrontation. Wenli Hall had come intending to pressure Jiang’s flour mill into paying fees, tribute, and dividends, but the conflict makes further discussion impossible.
• Jin Zhihao is furious but refrains from immediate violence. Instead, he plans to use commercial pressure to destroy Jiang’s flour mill, drive it into debt, and force Jiang into helplessness without openly assassinating him.
• Qian Xinming takes Qian Ningning away from the banquet, signaling that his attitude toward Jiang has changed. He no longer openly supports Jiang, largely because of Jiang’s mysterious and unexpectedly powerful background.
• After everyone leaves, Jiang remains behind eating rouge fungus. His anger intensifies, and the bronze color in his eyes develops a reddish tint, hinting at a dangerous inner transformation or growing power.
• On the journey back, Tang Ran suggests retaliating against the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage for providing inaccurate information about Jiang. Jin refuses, deciding that the payment they received makes the deception tolerable.
• Jin concludes that Jiang’s poor relations with the Mountain Cloud School mean the school may not protect him. Wenli Hall will therefore attack him indirectly through business tactics, allowing it to avoid political and sectarian consequences.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian: Demonstrates overwhelming physical strength and remarkable restraint by defeating Mr. Miao without killing him. Despite appearing calm and continuing to eat, his anger is steadily intensifying, reflected in the changing color of his eyes.
• Jin Zhihao: Shifts from confidence and intimidation to cautious strategic planning. Rather than acting impulsively, he chooses a long-term campaign to bankrupt Jiang and destroy his support network.
• Qian Ningning: Shows deep concern and loyalty toward Jiang. She fears he may lose control but is reassured by his composure and agrees to return with her family.
• Qian Xinming: His attitude toward Jiang becomes noticeably colder. He appears unwilling to openly involve the Qian Household after witnessing Jiang’s strength and the danger surrounding him.
• Mr. Miao: His defeat exposes the danger of underestimating Jiang and becomes the immediate cause of the banquet’s collapse.
• Tang Ran: Supports a direct response against the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage, but Jin rejects this approach in favor of more discreet methods.

Significant Themes

• Victory without bloodshed: Jin believes economic destruction can be more effective than physical violence. Bankruptcy and isolation are presented as weapons capable of defeating someone without a public killing.
• Underestimation and hidden strength: Mr. Miao’s failure shows the danger of misjudging Jiang’s abilities, while the inaccurate intelligence surrounding Jiang suggests that his power is still not fully understood.
• Restraint versus retaliation: Jiang’s decision not to kill prevents an immediate disaster, while Jin’s controlled response demonstrates that restraint can also conceal more sophisticated vengeance.
• Isolation and severing alliances: Jin intends to cut off Jiang’s financial resources, family connections, and institutional protection before attacking him directly.
• Growing inner danger: Jiang’s reddening bronze eyes and intensifying emotions suggest that his anger may trigger a powerful or potentially uncontrollable change.

Important Character Interactions

• Jiang defeats Mr. Miao while Jin watches, turning the power dynamic of the banquet against Wenli Hall.
• Qian Ningning seeks reassurance from Jiang, and Jiang calmly tells her to leave with Qian Xinming rather than become involved.
• Qian Xinming silently withdraws his previous support, creating emotional and political distance between himself and Jiang.
• Jin and Tang Ran discuss whether to punish the Mysterious Mountain Dao Lineage; Jin chooses not to, prioritizing practical gains.
• Jin ultimately decides to target Jiang’s flour mill through financial sabotage, intending to leave Jiang isolated, indebted, and unable to retaliate.

Chapter Summary: “Overturning the Table II (Please Subscribe)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter opens at night in Xie’ersun Park, where Jin Zhihao, Tang Ran, Mr. Miao, and several Red Gang guards travel toward Wenli Hall.
• Mr. Miao regains consciousness after Jiang Jingnian previously defeated him. He explains that Jiang’s strength was vastly underestimated: Jiang possessed the terrifying pressure and bloodlust of someone at the peak of Marrow Tempering and close to the Inner Qi Realm.
• The Red Gang members discuss the Jianghu Rules, emphasizing that martial artists cannot openly kill or abuse their power without consequences. “Overturning the table” means abandoning those rules, allowing every stronger force to retaliate against the offender and their family.
• Their discussion is interrupted when gunmen ambush the convoy. Both vehicles are disabled by gunfire and crash into each other.
• Jin Zhihao immediately shields Tang Ran, concerned that her death would bring severe consequences from the Chamber of Commerce and the Red Gang’s leadership.
• The guards initially assume the attackers are hiding in the park, but Jiang Jingnian suddenly appears behind them, revealing that he orchestrated the ambush.
• Mr. Miao attacks Jiang with his strongest technique, the Illusory Shadowless Kick, but Jiang withstands it effortlessly. Jiang then crushes Mr. Miao’s neck and head, killing him brutally.
• Jiang massacres the remaining Red Gang guards as they attempt to flee, destroying them with casual blows and demonstrating the overwhelming power of his transformed body.
• Returning to normal size, Jiang kills the driver and another guard, prevents Jin Zhihao from using his ultimate technique, and snaps Tang Ran’s neck.
• Jin Zhihao rages that Jiang has violated the Jianghu Rules and Chamber of Commerce order, warning that Jiang, his family, and his friends will be hunted down.
• Jiang dismisses the threats, defeats Jin with three ordinary punches, and mocks him for being a pampered, ineffectual martial artist.
• Rather than killing Jin immediately, Jiang stuffs him into a prepared burlap sack, apparently intending to bury or drown him. Jin briefly believes this gives him a chance to survive, but Jiang begins repeatedly punching the sack, shattering Jin’s leg and continuing the torture.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian is revealed to be far more ruthless and powerful than previously believed. His advancement to the Marrow Tempering Stage, combined with his true art and transformed physique, makes ordinary martial artists virtually helpless against him. He has abandoned restraint and now deliberately disregards the established Jianghu order.
• Mr. Miao shifts from a confident enforcer to a terrified victim. His recognition of Jiang’s true strength comes too late; even his strongest technique cannot harm Jiang.
• Jin Zhihao loses his authority and composure. Once an influential Red Gang figure who manipulated events from a position of superiority, he becomes powerless, panicked, and humiliated. His threats about social order and retaliation are meaningless against Jiang’s overwhelming force.
• Tang Ran is presented as politically and socially important, but those connections cannot protect her. Her death demonstrates how completely Jiang has decided to disregard consequences.
• The Red Gang guards initially behave according to their duty and hierarchy, but their confidence collapses when they realize Jiang is attacking them directly.

Significant Themes

• Power versus established rules: The chapter explores the idea that martial society operates through rules only while powerful individuals agree to respect them. Jiang’s attack represents a deliberate “overturning of the table.”
• Consequences of defying the Jianghu order: The Red Gang repeatedly warns that violating the rules will bring retaliation against one’s family and allies. Jiang knowingly accepts those consequences, showing that personal resolve can come at the cost of social legitimacy.
• True strength versus status: Jin Zhihao’s authority, Tang Ran’s political influence, and the Red Gang’s reputation offer no protection once confronted by overwhelming martial power.
• Revenge and swift justice: Jiang acts according to his own idea of justice, punishing those who plotted against him without concern for formal institutions or future retaliation.
• Fear and psychological domination: Jiang does not merely defeat his enemies; he humiliates and terrifies them, particularly through Mr. Miao’s effortless execution and Jin’s prolonged punishment.

Character Interactions

• Mr. Miao and the guards debate whether Jiang is truly near the Inner Qi Realm, with Mr. Miao insisting that his frightening aura was genuine.
• Jin Zhihao and Tang Ran rely on the Red Gang’s protection during the ambush, while Jin’s concern for Tang reflects the political consequences of her death more than personal affection.
• Jiang’s confrontation with Mr. Miao reverses their earlier encounter: Mr. Miao’s strongest attack now barely affects Jiang, who kills him with contemptuous ease.
• Jin attempts to confront Jiang through anger, accusations, and threats of retaliation, but Jiang responds with mockery and overwhelming physical force.
• Jiang and Jin’s final exchange contrasts their philosophies: Jin clings to rules, alliances, and institutional power, while Jiang embraces direct action and claims that no scheme can withstand absolute strength.