Recaps

Su Xinghe practiced the Listening to the Tides Art, discovered it strengthened his martial training, and planned to use his growing power to prepare for a wager and obtain a true cultivation method. The chapter ended with him finding a cold black bead beside his pillow.

• Su Xinghe visualized the Listening to the Tides Art and formed a silver fish, while Little Beggar entered the beginner stage after one attempt.
• Su Xinghe told Little Beggar to summon his father from Lu Family Farm and reveal that he had bought a courtyard in the west of the city.
• At home, Su Xinghe repeatedly practiced the art and found that it increased Golden Ape Fist's training efficiency and Qi-Blood.
• Su Xinghe calculated that the art could help him reach Ninth-Rank sooner, then planned to gain Elder Xie's support and seek a true cultivation method.
• Su Xinghe finished training, noticed Little White Bat was full, and picked up a cold black bead that had rolled from his clothes.

Su Xinghe advanced his Listening to the Tides Art, gaining expanded spiritual hearing and discovering a controllable silver figure in a wondrous space within his mind. He then brought his father and younger brother to their new home on Narcissus Street, while Hongxiu and Lu Zhengkun dealt with the aftermath of Qingmei’s death and plotted to recover the Lu Family’s losses.

• Su Xinghe perfected his Golden Ape Fist while guarding the White Ape Martial Academy, then advanced his Listening to the Tides Art through meditation.
• Su Xinghe sensed sounds within three zhang, noticed golden fuzz growing on Little White Bat, and discovered that he could control a silver figure in a wondrous space in his mind.
• Hongxiu questioned the kneeling men about spear users, killed two of them, and demanded to enter the city, but Lu Zhengkun stopped her and ordered the men to gather one million taels of silver.
• Lu Zhengkun learned that the Qian Family Trading Company was a hidden pawn of the Beheading Gang and ordered prisoners sent to the scholar while seeking another batch of goods.
• Su Cheng arrived after hearing that Su Xinghe had bought a house, and Su Xinghe took him and Su Haitao to see their new home on Narcissus Street.
• Su Cheng and his wife discussed turning the new home’s storefront into a snack shop and planned to pay taxes and settle their affairs.

The White Ape Martial Academy opened after Su Xinghe’s family narrowly avoided the massacre of the Lu Family’s properties, and Su Xinghe’s Listening to Tides Art reached Perfect Mastery. The opening ceremony was interrupted by Lü Chenggong and men from Fierce Tiger Martial Hall, who retreated after Elder Xie revealed his strength.

• Zhao Jing refused to attend the Su Family’s wedding feast and told Xiaoya to stay away from the family.
• After the Zhou Family held a funeral, Su Xinghe learned that attackers had massacred Lu Family properties and that Third Master was hunting the Beheading Gang.
• Su Xinghe’s Listening to Tides Art advanced to Perfect Mastery, expanding his perception and doubling the Golden Ape Fist’s Qi-Blood efficiency.
• The White Ape Martial Academy opened on Narcissus Street, and Zhou Yingjun led the new disciples in a ceremony honoring Zhou Tianxiong.
• Lü Chenggong arrived with Fierce Tiger Martial Hall men and disrupted the ceremony, but Xie Guang intimidated him into taking back his gift and leaving.

After the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall’s attack, Xie Guang recovered while Zhou Yingjun’s group prepared to retaliate, and Su Xinghe began training at the White Ape Martial Academy. Su Xinghe displayed carefully limited strength, learned about the school’s medicinal benefits, and left the new siblings Yu Miaomiao and Yu Renqing to seek guidance on their own.

• Xie Guang collapsed after the ceremony, and Zhou Yingjun sent Xu Qingsong to scout the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall before they moved against it.
• At the disciples’ strength test, Su Xinghe recorded a punching strength of 390 jin while concealing his true ability, then demonstrated the Golden Ape Fist for the newcomers.
• Xie Guang announced the academy’s three-month Inner Tempering requirement and the prices of Qi-Replenishing Pills.
• Su Xinghe tried Bone-Strengthening Soup at lunch, declined Yu Miaomiao and Yu Renqing’s offered bowl, and left to practice.

Su Xinghe discovered that Bone-Strengthening Soup accelerated his Inner Tempering, and he planned to use it to advance even faster. As he looked toward a breakthrough at White Ape Martial Academy, Little Beggar told him he had seen Old Swindler.

• At lunch, Xie Guang urged the academy's higher-ups to abandon outdated Brokerage Guild rules and focus on developing their disciples.
• Su Xinghe found that Bone-Strengthening Soup doubled the Inner Tempering progress he gained from practicing Golden Ape Fist, though its effect lasted only an hour.
• Su Xinghe's Fate Panel showed Inner Tempering at 47%, and he expected to become a Ninth-Rank Martial Warrior within ten days, possibly sooner with his pill-popping plan.
• Liu Bin struggled with the gap between himself and Su Xinghe while teaching Yu Miaomiao and her younger brother.
• Little Beggar told Su Xinghe he had seen Old Swindler, then revealed that his Listening to Tides Art let him hear ants crawling within three zhang.

Su Xinghe was summoned by Xie Guang, who had Wu Yingcai teach him the complete Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art. While watching the demonstrations, Su Xinghe discovered his silver figure could help him practice fist techniques, then studied the full Ninth-Rank art and its methods for circulating Qi-Blood.

• Wu Yingcai brought Su Xinghe to meet Xie Guang in the rear courtyard.
• Xie Guang discussed the White Ape Martial Academy's difficulties and its rivalry with the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall.
• Xie Guang ordered Wu Yingcai to demonstrate the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art three times and recite its chant.
• Su Xinghe's silver figure practiced along as he watched, triggering a prompt that added experience to Golden Ape Fist.
• Su Xinghe studied the art's training, mental, and combat methods and learned that its Qi-Blood techniques would be useful after he became a Martial Warrior.

Su Xinghe learned the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, impressed Xie Guang and Wu Yingcai with his rapid progress, and secured two discounted bottles of Qi-Replenishing Pills. He checked his Fate Panel afterward and found the new art had inherited most of his former Golden Ape Fist proficiency.

• Su Xinghe practiced the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art and gained experience, convincing Xie Guang and Wu Yingcai of his talent.
• Su Xinghe humbly credited Wu Yingcai for his progress, while Wu Yingcai admitted the art had taken him ten days to advance.
• Su Xinghe asked Xie Guang about taking Bone-Strengthening Soup home, and Xie Guang recommended Qi-Replenishing Pills instead.
• Xie Guang offered Su Xinghe advance Inner Disciple pricing, but after Su Xinghe tried to buy ten bottles, Xie Guang sold him only two and warned him not to take too many.
• Su Xinghe checked his Fate Panel and saw that Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art had reached Hall-Entering with nearly all its proficiency inherited from Golden Ape Fist.

Su Xinghe discovered that he could cultivate the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art through the Silver Figurine in his consciousness space and tested a Qi-Replenishing Pill to accelerate his progress. He returned home to find his future sister-in-law Yang Huaiyu had arrived ahead of her wedding, and he gave his father a hundred taels to support the family.

• Su Xinghe practiced the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art through the Silver Figurine and found its cultivation speed and qi-blood consumption matched practicing in person.
• Su Xinghe tested a Qi-Replenishing Pill and advanced his Inner Tempering progress to 55 percent after combining it with the Martial Arts School's Bone-Strengthening Soup.
• Su Xinghe visited Huichun Hall, received reassurance from the old physician, and secretly took another Qi-Replenishing Pill that afternoon.
• Su Xinghe returned home and learned from Su Cheng that Yang Huaiyu's family had brought her to town ahead of her wedding to Su Haitao.
• Su Xinghe gave Su Cheng a hundred taels from his savings and resolved to help Su Haitao learn martial arts.

Su Xinghe helped prepare for Su Haitao and Yang Huaiyu’s wedding, then discovered that the bride was far stronger and more educated than he had expected. At the wedding feast, Little Beggar reported the restrictions on buying Qi-Replenishing Pills, while Su Xinghe put off his plans to register his newlywed brother at the Martial Arts School.

• Su Xinghe learned from the tipsy Su Haitao that Yang Huaiyu could read, write, paint, and lift heavy loads, and he wondered how she had gained those abilities.
• The Su Family held a wedding feast after Yang Huaiyu arrived, and Su Xinghe used spiritual perception to discover that her body was exceptionally muscular.
• Zhao Jing watched Su Xinghe in embarrassment and decided she would marry a martial artist, while her younger sister Zhao Ya teased her about wanting a rich husband and needing to lose weight.
• Little Beggar told Su Xinghe that buying Qi-Replenishing Pills was restricted and expensive, and Su Xinghe considered the system controlling martial artists and the possibility of finding another supply channel.
• Zhao Ya asked Su Xinghe to visit her home and go toast the bride with her, but he reminded her that she had to wait until she was sixteen to begin body tempering.
• Su Xinghe postponed taking Su Haitao to register at the Martial Arts School so the newlyweds could enjoy their honeymoon.

Su Xinghe completed Inner Tempering and broke through to the Ninth Grade Realm by beginning to temper the skin and flesh of his limbs. After discovering his new strength could damage the floor, he continued practicing through the pain and prepared to temper more of his body.

• Su Xinghe ate beef and took a Qi-Replenishing Pill to restore his Qi-Blood before attempting his breakthrough.
• Su Xinghe condensed his Qi-Blood and sent it to the pad of his right thumb, breaking through to the Ninth Grade Realm and suffering intense pain.
• Su Xinghe sensed that his new Martial Warrior strength was about one thousand jin, and the Listening to the Tides Art boosted his punch enough to dent the floor.
• Su Xinghe covered the damaged floorboard and began tempering the pad of his right index finger, enduring another painful bruise.
• Su Xinghe completed three rounds of the fist technique, ate a late-night snack, took another Qi-Replenishing Pill, and resumed training.

Su Xinghe tested how much faster he could temper his body with Qi-Replenishing Pills and discovered his strength had advanced enough to convince Xie Guang he was nearing Inner Tempering. He left with ten more bottles of pills, realizing Xie Guang had likely mistaken his need for them as a consequence of his poor family.

• Su Xinghe calculated that the Listening to Tides Art and Qi-Replenishing Pills let him temper his body far more efficiently, while the Little White Bat grew too fat to fly and his injured fingers recovered overnight.
• Su Xinghe told Xie Guang he was close to Inner Tempering and wanted more Qi-Replenishing Pills, prompting Xie Guang to test his strength with stone locks.
• Su Xinghe lifted a four-hundred-and-fifty-jin stone lock, and Xie Guang predicted he would reach Inner Tempering in ten days to half a month.
• Xie Guang challenged Su Xinghe about consuming the previous forty pills, then relented after learning he had taken leave for his younger brother's wedding and gave him ten bottles.
• Su Xinghe realized Xie Guang had assumed he needed the pills because his family was poor, then returned home and enjoyed the warmth of family life.

Su Xinghe activated a second silver figure in his Consciousness Space and later found two youths trying to extort his family's grocery shop. He drove them out and paid them for the millet, then warned them not to sleep too soundly that night.

• Su Xinghe successfully activated a second silver figure in his Consciousness Space but failed to activate a third.
• Su Xinghe noticed several suspicious people gathered outside his family's grocery shop and went to investigate.
• Two youths accused Su Cheng's shop of selling tainted millet and demanded ten taels of silver.
• Su Xinghe dragged the youths outside and threw them out after they refused to leave.
• Su Haitao told Su Xinghe that the Black Tiger Gang's patrol had dismissed the incident as a business dispute.
• Su Xinghe gave the youths two big coins for the millet and warned them not to sleep too deeply that night.

After a confrontation at the Su Family General Store, Su Xinghe sent Little Beggar to track the two men responsible while he continued training and considered how to retaliate without drawing the Public Security Office’s attention. His Listening to the Tides Art reached Transcendent Mastery, greatly extending his perception and boosting his strength.

• Su Xinghe dismissed the onlookers and ordered Little Beggar to follow the two men who had caused trouble at the shop.
• Little Beggar reported that the pair visited Firewood Alley, lost their money and Travel Pass Talismans gambling, and were drinking in Tofu Alley.
• Su Xinghe paid Little Beggar to keep watching the pair and find out where they were staying.
• Su Xinghe trained with the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, reaching 51% Body Tempering progress and raising his base strength to over two thousand jin.
• Su Xinghe’s Listening to the Tides Art advanced to Transcendent Mastery, extending his spiritual perception to twenty zhang and raising his strength to five thousand jin when activated.

Su Xinghe followed his newlywed younger sister-in-law as she raided the Black Tiger Gang, then uncovered Fierce Tiger Martial Hall’s role in targeting his family and set out to seize its resources. The chapter left him heading north while a banquet of local power brokers took place at Clear Lotus Pond.

• Su Xinghe heard someone leave the row houses at night, followed the figure, and discovered it was his younger sister-in-law attacking a Black Tiger Gang courtyard.
• His younger sister-in-law beat the gang members inside and left with a bundle; Su Xinghe killed a man who tried to escape and took his purse.
• Su Xinghe realized Fierce Tiger Martial Hall was likely backing the Black Tiger Gang’s harassment of his family and judged the hall’s strength to be a serious threat.
• Su Xinghe headed toward northern Narcissus Street, intending to rob Fierce Tiger Martial Hall for money and pills.
• At Clear Lotus Pond, Qi Haifeng hosted a banquet for a Lu Family steward and Lü Chenggong.

Qi Haifeng bribed Lü Chenggong to target White Ape Martial Academy, and Su Xinghe overheard their plan while sneaking near Fierce Tiger Martial Hall. As Su Xinghe prepared to attack for the promised Grade-Eight True Art, masked figures arrived at the hall’s main entrance to launch their own assault.

• Qi Haifeng urged Lü Chenggong and Liu Jin to pressure White Ape Martial Academy with taxes and attacks, but Lü Chenggong refused to confront its Eighth Rank expert directly.
• Qi Haifeng offered seven bottles of Bone-Forging Pills and a Grade-Eight True Art, persuading Lü Chenggong to promise action against White Ape Martial Academy the next day.
• Su Xinghe overheard the men’s deal near Fierce Tiger Martial Hall and realized they planned to target his Martial Arts School.
• Su Xinghe decided to wait until the hall’s occupants were asleep and ambush them for the Grade-Eight True Art.
• Four masked figures approached Fierce Tiger Martial Hall’s main entrance, confirmed Lü Chenggong and the others were inside, and prepared to move.

Su Xinghe ambushed Lü Chenggong and Liu Jin while they were carrying a Grade-Eight True Art and Bone-Forging Pills, killing both men and taking their belongings. He escaped the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall with the wooden box and returned home without drawing attention.

• Su Xinghe ambushed Lü Chenggong on the mountain path, breaking both of his arms with a powerful punch.
• Lü Chenggong called for Manager Liu, but Su Xinghe crippled his remaining limbs as Liu Jin rushed to help.
• Su Xinghe killed Liu Jin and then crushed Lü Chenggong's head with a large decorative stone.
• Su Xinghe found a scroll, five bottles, and money in the wooden box, then decided against attacking the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall.
• Su Xinghe washed the blood from himself at a riverbank and quietly returned home.

Su Xinghe examined the loot from Lü Chenggong and discovered an authentic Grade-Eight Dripping Water Swordsmanship scroll, which he recorded on his Fate Panel. He decided not to switch arts yet and considered passing the swordsmanship to his family, while remaining cautious about the mysterious identity of his younger brother’s wife.

• Su Xinghe found Bone-Forging Pills, money, a Ninth Rank Crouching Tiger Stance copy, and other items in the purses and chest.
• He discovered that Lü Chenggong had lied about possessing eight thousand taels and fifty bottles of Bone-Forging Pills.
• Su Xinghe opened the scroll and confirmed it contained the genuine Grade-Eight Dripping Water Swordsmanship, including the Mountain-Piercing and Rainstorm techniques.
• After studying the scroll, Su Xinghe recorded the swordsmanship on his Fate Panel but chose not to begin practicing it yet.
• Su Xinghe considered teaching the swordsmanship to his family and resolved to avoid acting rashly until he learned his younger brother’s wife’s identity.

Su Xinghe used Bone-Forging Pills to strengthen his body and broke through to Inner Tempering, earning recognition at the White Ape Martial Academy. Meanwhile, Lu Xuanlin told Lu Zhengquan that Lü Chenggong and the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall had been found slaughtered, and Lu Zhengquan went to investigate.

• Su Xinghe swallowed a Bone-Forging Pill and practiced the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art until his Body Tempering progress rose by five percentage points.
• Su Xinghe gave his father a one-hundred-tael banknote and went to the martial academy, where he demonstrated strength that impressed Xie Guang and the other disciples.
• Xie Guang and the disciples congratulated Su Xinghe on breaking through to Inner Tempering and began calling him Third Senior Brother.
• Lu Xuanlin told Lu Zhengquan that Lü Chenggong and another Ninth-Rank Martial Warrior had been found beheaded after the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall was wiped out.
• Lu Zhengquan left with Lu Xuanlin to inspect the scene.

Lu Zhengkun and Lu Zhengquan investigated Liu Jin’s death and planned to lure White Ape Martial Academy out of the city, while Su Xinghe became an Inner Disciple and Xie Guang invited him to ask for a reward. The chapter ended with Xie Guang asking Su Xinghe what he wanted.

• Lu Zhengquan brought Lu Xuanlin and Qi Haifeng to Red Elegance Manor after seeing Liu Jin’s headless corpse.
• Qi Haifeng explained the failed plot against White Ape Martial Academy, and Lu Zhengkun and Lu Zhengquan suspected Xie Guang still had Grade-Eight combat strength.
• Lu Zhengkun proposed using a Zhou Family iron mine outside the city to lure White Ape Martial Academy’s people away from Lin County.
• Zhou Hao congratulated Su Xinghe on becoming an Inner Disciple and planned to reward him with Qi-Replenishing Pills.
• Xie Guang praised Su Xinghe’s rapid progress and asked him to say what he wanted.

Su Xinghe completed Body Tempering and set out to deal with two thugs, but he changed plans after spotting Yang Huaiyu leaving home with a bundle of loot. He followed her to Luhua Village, suspecting she was heading to its Black Market and hoping to learn about her background and buy pills.

• Su Xinghe persuaded Xie Guang to give him one bottle of pills, then practiced at the Martial Arts School while concealing his Consciousness Space.
• Little Beggar told Su Xinghe where the two thugs lived, and Su Xinghe postponed confronting them until later that night.
• Su Xinghe used two Bone-Forging Pills and completed Body Tempering, reaching 100% on his Fate Panel.
• As Su Xinghe prepared to leave and silence the thugs, he saw Yang Huaiyu sneak out with a floral-patterned bundle and head north.
• Su Xinghe followed Yang Huaiyu to Luhua Village, where he found a crowded livestock market and a road leading toward the Black Market.

Su Xinghe followed Yang Huaiyu through the Black Market and learned that she was connected to the Mountain-Chasing Gang and was pregnant. After buying a short sword, he entered the gang’s stall to ask about pills and discovered that Uncle Nine was a Grade-Eight martial artist.

• Su Xinghe paid to enter the Black Market and secretly followed Yang Huaiyu to a remote earthen house.
• Yang Huaiyu exchanged money, herbs, and weapons with Uncle Nine, who offered her gentler Qi-Nourishing Pills because she was pregnant.
• Su Xinghe bought a short sword for one tael after bargaining with a startled stall owner.
• Su Xinghe entered the Mountain-Chasing Gang’s stall and asked Uncle Nine about Qi-Replenishing Pills, Qi-Nourishing Pills, and Bone-Forging Pills.
• Uncle Nine released an aura that Su Xinghe recognized as the Internal Force tide of a Grade-Eight martial artist.

Su Xinghe sold a Ninth Rank true art at the Black Market and bought pills, while the old man recognized the scroll’s connection to Su Xinghe’s recent killings. The chapter ended with the old man probing whether Su Xinghe was new to Black Market trading as he paid for the costly pills.

• The hunchbacked old man tested Su Xinghe with his Grade-Eight martial pressure and invited him to join the Mountain-Chasing Gang, but Su Xinghe refused.
• Su Xinghe revealed that he wanted pills and offered a Ninth Rank true art, persuading the old man to sell him Bone-Forging Pills and Qi-Nourishing Pills.
• The old man inspected the Crouching Tiger Stance scroll and paid Su Xinghe four thousand taels for it.
• The old man recognized the scroll and told Su Xinghe that people outside the city were discussing his killings and the Lu Family steward’s death.
• The old man quoted a total of three thousand two hundred taels for the pills, and Su Xinghe slapped his Treasure Notes onto the counter.

Su Xinghe bought Bone-Forging Pills at the Black Market and tested their effect during an overnight cultivation session. At dawn, an injured Little Beggar brought him to Tofu Alley, where Su Xinghe found a man who was apparently involved in an attack and kicked him.

• Su Xinghe inspected and bought pills at the Black Market, then sensed several people following him as he rushed back to Lin County.
• Su Xinghe tested the Bone-Forging Pills with the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art and found that each pill supported three rounds of training with Dual Engines.
• Su Xinghe cultivated through the night, advancing his Bone-Forging progress before stopping for wontons at dawn.
• Little Beggar arrived bruised and limping, told Su Xinghe that two skinny monkeys were trying to run, and led him to Tofu Alley.
• Su Xinghe entered a courtyard, saw a motionless filthy figure and a man trying to rise, then kicked the man in the abdomen.

Su Xinghe helped Little Beggar deal with two fleeing thugs, then enrolled him as an Outer Disciple at White Ape Martial Academy. At the Martial Dao Bureau, Zhou Yingjun overheard Chen Qi and Mu Wanqing mock his family’s decline and his attempt to revive it through a martial arts school.

• Little Beggar told Su Xinghe how he had overheard two thugs planning to flee and had attacked them before one could escape.
• Su Xinghe disposed of the three bodies in a dry well and carried the injured Little Beggar to Huichun Hall for treatment.
• Su Xinghe paid ten taels to register Little Beggar as an Outer Disciple at White Ape Martial Academy and asked the school’s helpers to look after him.
• At the Martial Dao Bureau, Chen Qi and Mu Wanqing cleared a path through the crowded hall and mocked Zhou Yingjun’s poverty and his attempt to rebuild the Zhou Family’s standing.
• Zhou Yingjun’s eyelashes trembled as he heard Chen Qi and Mu Wanqing insult him.

Zhou Yingjun took White Ape Martial Academy on a three-month mine patrol mission and selected a team that included Su Xinghe. He planned to use the assignment to train Su Xinghe, whose rapid progress had impressed him.

• Zhou Yingjun rejected a bandit-suppression mission and recalled fleeing after the raid on Fierce Tiger Martial Hall, which had been interrupted by the Public Security Office.
• Zhou Yingjun accepted a ninety-day patrol mission at the Azure Cloud Mountain mine for White Ape Martial Academy.
• Zhou Yingjun chose Lu Sandao, Xu Qingsong, Chen Sanke, and ten disciples for the expedition, while Elder Xie and Wu Yingcai stayed behind.
• Elder Xie told Zhou Yingjun that Su Xinghe had entered Inner Tempering, and Zhou Yingjun decided the mine trip would help train him for battles between Martial Warriors.
• Su Xinghe heard about the mission, joined the academy meeting, and received praise from Zhou Yingjun.