Recaps

After enduring his first day of training at the Celebration Hall, Deng Qing awakened a fate screen and earned a place doing chores in exchange for meals. On his way home, he was caught by men seizing people for conscription.

• Deng Qing paid three taels of silver to become a student of the Celebration Hall and watched Li Dashan demonstrate the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
• Fan Sheng explained that students had three months to reach the Skin Tempering First Layer, and Deng Qing repeatedly fell while practicing the forms.
• After pushing himself until he fainted, Deng Qing saw a fate screen displaying his Mortal realm and Tiger-Subduing Fist progress at zero percent.
• Fan Sheng told Deng Qing that Li Dashan had praised his determination and offered him work sweeping and tethering horses in exchange for two filling meals a day.
• Deng Qing headed home after dark, but when Aunt Zhang warned him from her gate, he ran and was caught and bound by men searching the alley.

Deng Qing secured a month to pay the service levy and discovered that practicing Tiger-Subduing Fist raised the progress shown by his mysterious panel. After learning three more moves at the Celebration Hall, he brought his fist progress to 13%.

• Deng Qing showed his apprentice token to Li Liang, who let him go and gave him a month to pay the service levy.
• Deng Qing practiced Tiger-Subduing Fist until his panel appeared, showing 1% progress, then suspected he needed more blood and vitality to improve further.
• Deng Qing went to the Celebration Hall at dawn, worked and ate there, and learned that Li Liang was a County Yamen squad leader and Named Disciple.
• At the fifth-day lesson, Fan Sheng praised several students’ progress and taught Leaping Body, Scissoring Wrist, and Twisting Spine.
• Deng Qing practiced the new moves with the first three and raised his Tiger-Subduing Fist progress to 13%.

Deng Qing obtained pig offal to strengthen his body and trained until his Tiger-Subduing Fist reached Minor Mastery, with his Mortal realm on the verge of a breakthrough. Li Liang then warned him that he had only three days to pay the service levy before reporting for service.

• Li Liang confronted Deng Qing about working without wages and reminded him he had to pay the service levy.
• Deng Qing helped Chef Zhao butcher a pig and was allowed to take its intestines and lungs, along with salt to reduce their smell.
• After fifteen days of eating pig offal and training, Deng Qing practiced all nine forms of the Tiger-Subduing Fist and reached 38% progress at Minor Mastery.
• Deng Qing noticed that his Mortal realm flickered, signaling that a breakthrough was near.
• Li Liang visited Deng Qing and told him he had three days, not five, to pay the levy or report for service.

With conscription looming and his Celebration Hall job taken from him, Deng Qing sought a way to get meat or offal to build the Qi-Blood he needed for Skin Tempering. He stopped a runaway pig at Five Blessings Butcher Shop, but owner Wu Yun rejected his request for free offal.

• Li Liang warned Deng Qing that the county needed men for the war effort and that he could no longer shield him from conscription.
• Fan Sheng explained that breaking through to Skin Tempering First Layer required enough Qi-Blood, then told Deng Qing he was being replaced at the front entrance.
• Chef Zhao gave Deng Qing pork and offal, prompting him to seek offal from Five Blessings Butcher Shop.
• Deng Qing stopped a runaway pig with his bare hands and introduced himself to Wu Yun.
• Deng Qing asked Wu Yun for offal despite having no money, and Wu Yun refused to give it to him for free.

Deng Qing ate discarded pig offal and practiced the Tiger-Subduing Fist until he broke through to Skin Tempering First Layer. When Li Liang came to collect him for compulsory labor, Deng Qing revealed his breakthrough and learned it could qualify him as a Named Disciple, protecting him from the County Yamen’s labor roundup.

• Deng Qing traded a day of work at Wu Yun’s butcher shop for pig intestines and lungs, then ate them and practiced the first six forms of the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
• While loading another cart of offal, Deng Qing broke through to Skin Tempering First Layer, and Wu Yun offered him all the remaining offal in exchange for a month of work.
• Deng Qing attended Celebration Hall’s class, where Li Liang arrived with two constables to take him for compulsory labor.
• Deng Qing asked for time to find a moneylender, then told Fan Sheng he had broken through and demonstrated his fist forms.
• Fan Sheng confirmed Deng Qing’s Skin Tempering First Layer breakthrough, and Li Liang explained that he could be registered as a Named Disciple and avoid the County Yamen’s labor roundup.

Deng Qing became a Named Disciple of the Celebration Hall and learned that he had six months to reach the Skin Refining Second Layer or leave to make his own living. He chose the Violet Palace Method as his cultivation method, but its diagrams and instructions immediately confused him.

• Fan Sheng registered Deng Qing as a Named Disciple after he broke through to the Skin Tempering First Layer.
• Fan Sheng showed Deng Qing injured and dead former Named Disciples and explained that the hall would support him only if he reached the Skin Refining Second Layer within six months.
• Fan Sheng told Deng Qing that the hall provided only lodging, meals, and one cultivation method, while advancing would require resources worth at least two hundred taels of silver.
• Fan Sheng explained the difference between External and Internal Cultivation Methods and introduced Deng Qing to Tu Wei, who practiced the Violet Palace Method.
• Tu Wei told Deng Qing to memorize the Violet Palace Method, but Deng Qing struggled to understand its diagrams and instructions.

Deng Qing became a Named Disciple, learned the Violet Palace Method, and negotiated with Wu Yun for daily meat after the butcher shop reclaimed the offal. After days of study and practice, he completed his first breath cycle and reached Initiation in the method.

• Deng Qing received a white robe, ate at the Inner Courtyard Dining Hall, and spent the day memorizing the Purple Residence Technique while practicing the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
• Deng Qing discovered the butcher shop had taken the offal from his yard and learned from Aunt Zhang that Wu Yun had sent workers to reclaim it.
• Deng Qing confronted Wu Yun, who offered daily meat and pig's blood for three months in exchange for the offal, and Deng Qing accepted the deal.
• Deng Qing memorized the Purple Residence Technique, received Tu Wei's instruction, and practiced until he could complete one breath cycle of the Violet Palace Method.
• Clear Radiance showed Deng Qing's Violet Palace Method at 1% Initiation.

Deng Qing was assigned with Li Cheng, Zhou Tie, and Wang Wei to guard the North Warehouse as unrest spread through Everjoy County. After the streets were blocked and their food deliveries stopped, the four remained trapped at their post, with Deng Qing surviving on the coarse-grain buns he had saved.

• Wu Yun closed the Five Blessings Butcher Shop because of the unrest and left Deng Qing pork belly.
• Fan Sheng assigned Deng Qing, Li Cheng, Zhou Tie, and Wang Wei to guard the North Warehouse.
• Li Cheng arrived with servants and a lavish bed, then joined the others in guarding the warehouse.
• The four spent two uneventful days at the warehouse, while Deng Qing collected the coarse-grain buns the others left uneaten.
• A food delivery warned the guards that trouble had broken out and told them not to open the door without good reason.
• After deliveries stopped for several days, the four debated leaving for help while Deng Qing ate his saved buns.

Deng Qing accepted a Ginseng Pill to scout the streets, used it to bring his Tiger-Subduing Fist to grand mastery, and slipped out of the North Warehouse. He found displaced people looting a grain shop and noticed burly men controlling the crowd just as armed shop hands charged out.

• Li Cheng asked Deng Qing to investigate outside and offered silver, but Deng Qing demanded a Ginseng Pill instead.
• After swallowing the pill, Deng Qing practiced the Violet Palace Method and Tiger-Subduing Fist, reaching grand mastery.
• Deng Qing disguised himself as a displaced person and left through the side door while Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie discussed him.
• Deng Qing crept through chaotic streets and spotted displaced people looting a grain shop, with several imposing men lurking around the crowd's edges.
• More than a dozen armed shop hands burst through the grain shop's doors and charged at the looters.

Deng Qing and the others disguised the North Warehouse as already looted to keep the rioters from taking its Redwood Powder. After the County Yamen and local forces counterattacked, they secured the warehouse, and Deng Qing joined the others in volunteering to pursue the fleeing Donghuang Cult.

• Deng Qing reported that One-Eyed Dragon was directing the displaced people toward the North Warehouse, and he persuaded Li Cheng, Zhou Tie, and Wang Wei to make it look ransacked rather than flee or fight.
• The four opened the warehouse doors, scattered their belongings, hid their white robes, and mingled with the crowd when hundreds of displaced people rushed inside.
• One-Eyed Dragon recognized the value of the Redwood Powder, so Deng Qing escaped and regrouped with the others in a nearby ruined house to wait for a counterattack.
• Yamen Runners and Martial Artists drove the rioters back, allowing the four to reclaim and secure the North Warehouse before Fan Sheng arrived with disciples from the Celebration Hall.
• Fan Sheng explained that the Donghuang Cult had incited the riot and was fleeing the city, and Deng Qing, Li Cheng, Zhou Tie, and Wang Wei volunteered to join the fight.

Deng Qing was left alone to guard North Warehouse, where he fought One-Eyed Dragon after the wounded leader broke in to destroy it. Deng Qing outlasted him and confirmed his death, then searched his body.

• Fan Sheng left Deng Qing to guard North Warehouse while he and the others departed.
• One-Eyed Dragon broke through the warehouse roof, intending to destroy the supplies, and attacked Deng Qing.
• Deng Qing fought One-Eyed Dragon with Tiger-Subduing Fist, then stalled him while his abdominal wound worsened.
• Deng Qing kept evading One-Eyed Dragon until the injured man collapsed and died.
• Deng Qing confirmed One-Eyed Dragon was dead, covered his face, and searched his body.

Deng Qing shared the credit for killing Mountain-Crossing Wind with Fan Sheng and the others, gaining their gratitude and helping Fan Sheng earn Initiation. At a celebratory dinner, the group described the opportunities their shares of the credit had brought them, while Deng Qing reflected that he had gained something from the battle as well.

• After Fan Sheng recognized Mountain-Crossing Wind as a wanted Donghuang Cult leader, Deng Qing explained how he had worn the wounded man down until he died.
• Deng Qing offered to share the credit, and Fan Sheng proposed that he claim credit for planning, the others for killing Mountain-Crossing Wind, and Deng Qing for guarding North Warehouse and discovering the enemy's trail.
• Li Cheng, Zhou Tie, and Wang Wei offered Deng Qing silver, and Deng Qing declined extra payment from Fan Sheng, who accepted a share of the credit and promised ten taels.
• Several days later, Li Cheng invited Deng Qing and the others to dinner, where Fan Sheng revealed that his credit for planning the killing had helped him become an Initiate Disciple.
• Li Cheng said his family had secured him a place in the Martial Arts Examination, Zhou Tie reported getting a yamen post, and Wang Wei said he was waiting on a possible provincial clerical position.

Deng Qing tried to use his Medicinal Bath to advance the Violet Palace Method, but medicine shortages forced him to seek help. He secured a place on a trip to Blackwind Ravine to retrieve medicines and prepared for the dangerous journey.

• Deng Qing saved his Medicinal Bath until the Violet Palace Method reached eighteen percent, hoping its effects would push the technique into Minor Mastery.
• Deng Qing found that pharmacies had sold out of the bath's supplementary medicines because the county was treating wounded people after trouble caused by the Donghuang Cult.
• Deng Qing asked Li Cheng for help, and Li Cheng learned that Tianshun Apothecary's medicine convoy had run into trouble at Blackwind Ravine.
• Deng Qing asked Fan Sheng to help him secure a place on the medicine-retrieval trip, and Fan Sheng arranged one for him under Senior Brother Zhang Yan's leadership.
• Fan Sheng gave Deng Qing his old Leather Armor and advised him to rent Silver Crow Handwraps for protection in a fight against armed opponents.

Deng Qing prepared for a dangerous medicine-retrieval trip to Blackwind Ravine as shortages and unrest threatened his cultivation and safety. The convoy reached the ravine, where a medicine cart had fallen partway down the gorge, and Shopkeeper Zhang warned that rain could ruin its cargo.

• Fan Sheng told Deng Qing that resources were growing scarce, Li Cheng had reached the Skin Refining Second Layer, and Deng Qing needed to advance to remain useful to Celebration Hall.
• Deng Qing received Leather Armor and Silver Crow Handwraps before the trip and tested how they affected his movements and protection.
• Deng Qing joined the medicine-retrieval party led by Zhang Yan, which set out with the Tianshun Apothecary convoy.
• The group passed ruined villages and starving refugees before reaching Blackwind Ravine.
• Shopkeeper Zhang explained that a medicine cart had fallen partway down the ravine and that rain could ruin its cargo.

Deng Qing helped recover Tianshun Apothecary’s medicine from Blackwind Ravine before the Golden Saber Sect arrived to claim it under county orders. Zhang Yan fought Chen Kong for the right to take the shipment, and Chen Kong unleashed a Ghost Familiar as the battle continued.

• Zhang Yan assigned the Celebration Hall disciples to haul the medicine chests up from the ravine, and Deng Qing helped relay them to the road.
• The apothecary’s head shopkeeper confirmed that most of the medicine chests were intact, and the workers prepared to load them onto the carriages.
• Chen Kong arrived with Golden Saber Sect disciples and demanded that the shipment be sealed; Zhang Yan refused and agreed to fight him for the medicine.
• Zhang Yan and Chen Kong exchanged dozens of fast blows without either gaining the upper hand.
• Chen Kong revealed a Black Bell and released a mass of gray-black mist that the Celebration Hall disciples recognized as a Ghost Familiar.

After Zhang Yan and Chen Kong fought to a standstill, they arranged a three-bout contest between their disciples. Ma Mingfei arrived in time to fight the third-layer bout and defeated Xu Zhen, leaving the contest tied at one win each with the decisive bout still to come.

• Zhang Yan repelled Chen Kong’s Yin-Blade Ghost Pet, and the two fighters agreed to settle their dispute with a best-of-three contest between disciples.
• Tan Fang fought Xin Wu, but Xin Wu cut his shoulder and won the first bout for the Golden Saber Sect.
• Xu Zhen entered the second bout, prompting Zhang Yan to reconsider his choices as Celebration Hall faced possible defeat.
• Ma Mingfei arrived from the mountain path and volunteered to fight Xu Zhen in the third-layer bout.
• Ma Mingfei endured Xu Zhen’s palm strikes with his Iron-Clad Body Technique, then broke through Xu Zhen’s guard and knocked him to one knee.

Deng Qing accepted Celebration Hall’s final bout against the renowned Song Que after securing the Hall’s promise to cover any injuries and reward a victory. The two began exchanging blows, with neither yet gaining the upper hand.

• Ma Mingfei returned from his bout injured but standing, leaving Celebration Hall and the Golden Saber Sect tied at one victory apiece.
• Song Que stepped forward for the final bout, and Ding Yuan refused to face him because he feared losing the medicinal herbs and being blamed.
• Fan Sheng persuaded Deng Qing to consider fighting, and Deng Qing agreed once Zhang Yan publicly promised rewards for victory and treatment for injuries.
• Zhang Yan chose Deng Qing, whose reputation as the Offal Martial Saint drew ridicule from Song Que and the Golden Saber Sect.
• Song Que attacked Deng Qing, and the two traded dozens of moves as Deng Qing blocked and countered with Tiger-Subduing Fist and Reaching Claw.

Deng Qing defeated Song Que after enduring his attacks and overcoming his Blacksteel Soft Sword with the Silver Crow Handwraps. The Golden Saber Sect withdrew, leaving the sword as Deng Qing’s spoil of victory.

• Song Que attacked Deng Qing with a hidden sleeve dart, but Deng Qing’s leather armor stopped it.
• Song Que drew the Blacksteel Soft Sword and forced Deng Qing back until Deng Qing put on the Silver Crow Handwraps.
• Deng Qing seized the soft sword and Song Que’s wrist, disarmed him, and stopped a claw strike just short of his throat.
• Deng Qing offered the sword back, but Song Que refused it and fled down the mountain path.
• Chen Kong acknowledged Zhang Yan’s victory, warned that the Golden Saber Sect would remember the incident, and led his sect away.

After Deng Qing won at Blackwind Ravine, he received his promised rewards and used them to undergo a Medicinal Bath. The bath advanced his Violet Palace Method to Minor Mastery, though his realm remained at Skin Tempering First Layer.

• Zhang Yan praised Deng Qing’s hard work, let him keep the Blacksteel Soft Sword, and warned him that the Golden Saber Sect might remember the loss.
• The group returned safely to the County Seat, where Deng Qing received a Medicinal Bath voucher and ten taels of silver from Fan Sheng.
• Deng Qing returned the Silver Crow Handwraps without losing his deposit, bought the bath’s supplementary ingredients at Tianshun Apothecary, and went to the Medicine Hall with Fan Sheng.
• Elder Wu inspected Deng Qing’s ingredients and led him to an underground Medicinal Pool, warning him not to force himself through the ordeal.
• Deng Qing endured the bath while circulating the Violet Palace Method, which reached Minor Mastery, but his realm stayed at Skin Tempering First Layer.

Deng Qing learned that Celebration Hall would end meal provisions for Skin Tempering First Layer disciples, putting his livelihood at risk. He decided to try to reach Skin Refining Second Layer before the fourteen provision slots were announced.

• Deng Qing completed a Medicinal Bath, ate meat, and refined it into Qi-Blood while estimating he needed another twenty or thirty taels' worth of nourishment to break through.
• Fan Sheng summoned Deng Qing and the other apprentices to their apprenticeship ceremony, where Li Dashan accepted their tea and formally welcomed the new Named Disciples.
• Fan Sheng announced that meal provisions for all Named Disciples at Skin Tempering First Layer would end, with only fourteen slots remaining.
• Fan Sheng told Deng Qing that connections would likely determine the provision slots and that Deng Qing had little chance of receiving one.
• Deng Qing asked whether advancing before the announcement could change his prospects, and Fan Sheng said a higher martial arts realm would carry weight.
• Deng Qing resolved to reach Skin Refining Second Layer and protect his meal provisions.

After losing his Celebration Hall work, Deng Qing took a pig-farm job from Wu Yun that provided a small wage and Pig Offal, but he still struggled to afford cultivation. Tu Wei brought him to Tianshun Apothecary for better-paid furnace work, where Deng Qing noticed something wrong in the refining room.

• Wu Yun offered Deng Qing a job watching his pig farm for one tael of silver a month and all the intestines and lungs he wanted.
• Deng Qing decided not to sell Zhang Yan's Blacksteel Soft Sword or borrow from Li Cheng, and instead took odd jobs around the county seat.
• Tu Wei told Deng Qing that Tianshun Apothecary needed Internal Cultivation practitioners to tend furnaces, and Deng Qing agreed to join him.
• Steward Liu led Deng Qing and Tu Wei into the underground refining room and explained the furnace-tending rules.
• Deng Qing surveyed the chamber and noticed something wrong.

Deng Qing tended furnaces at Tianshun Apothecary and practiced the Violet Palace Method amid medicinal fumes, which rapidly improved his cultivation. After the final batch before New Year, Steward Liu paid him twelve taels, one more than Deng Qing expected.

• Steward Liu showed Deng Qing the furnace work and left Tu Wei to teach him how to tend the fire and purge medicinal toxins.
• Deng Qing completed two batches and learned from Tu Wei that he considered the Violet Palace Method mastered when he could digest ten jin of meat in one meal.
• Deng Qing spent three days tending furnaces and circulating the Violet Palace Method while Tu Wei grew ill and decided to leave.
• Deng Qing checked Clear Radiance and saw that the Violet Palace Method had risen to 23% Minor Mastery after repeated exposure to medicinal fumes.
• Steward Liu told Deng Qing the last batch before New Year was finished, then gave him twelve taels in wages, surprising him with the extra tael.

Deng Qing spent New Year’s Eve buying enough offal to fuel his cultivation, then shut himself away to eat, refine Qi-Blood, and practice until he finished the supply on the night of the eleventh. He remained at Skin Tempering First Layer, with his Tiger-Subduing Fist at 73% Grand Mastery and Violet Palace Method at 31% Minor Mastery, as the Attendant selection deadline approached.

• Deng Qing received his furnace-guarding pay, bought New Year’s goods, and gave pastries to Aunt Zhang to share with the neighbors.
• Deng Qing set aside silver for New Year’s gifts and used nine taels to buy Miao’s Butcher Shop’s frozen offal through Wu Yun.
• Deng Qing delivered New Year’s gifts at Celebration Hall, including one for Li Dashan, then declined Li Cheng’s invitation to eat.
• Deng Qing confined himself to his courtyard and ate offal, circulated the Violet Palace Method, and practiced the Tiger-Subduing Fist each day.
• Deng Qing finished the last pot of offal on the night of the eleventh and checked his cultivation progress.

Deng Qing rushed to find Elder Wu before the Medicinal Bath began, hoping to break through the Skin Membrane before the list was announced. Elder Wu prepared the bath, and Deng Qing felt his barrier give way as he circulated his methods, but the chapter ended before his breakthrough was confirmed.

• Deng Qing learned that Elder Wu would not return until the day before the Medicinal Bath and the list announcement, so he endured several days of training.
• Deng Qing walked through a snowstorm to Dongting County and found Elder Wu returning from his son's wedding.
• Deng Qing persuaded Elder Wu to return with him, carrying the luggage and shielding Elder Wu and his servant from the storm.
• Elder Wu prepared the Medicinal Pool and warned Deng Qing that his accumulated Qi-Blood could either break through the barrier or damage his Skin Membrane.
• Deng Qing entered the pool, circulated the Violet Palace Method, and used the Tiger-Subduing Fist stance to guide the medicine's power through his body.
• Deng Qing felt the separated pockets of force join and then sensed a membrane being pierced; he opened his eyes and summoned Clear Radiance.

Deng Qing broke through to the Skin Refining Second Layer and secured a place among the Celebration Hall’s Attendants. After he proved his new realm before the gathered disciples, he celebrated with Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie.

• Deng Qing completed his medicinal bath, learned Fan Sheng had secured Zhang Yan’s support, and went to await the Attendant selection.
• At the Celebration Hall, Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie offered Deng Qing alternative jobs while they waited for the results.
• Fan Sheng announced the fourteen selected Attendants, then named Deng Qing as an additional candidate under special circumstances.
• Ding Yuan challenged Deng Qing’s selection, but Zhang Yan explained that Deng Qing had reached the Skin Refining Second Layer.
• Deng Qing demonstrated his strength, silencing the challenge, and then agreed to treat Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie.