Recaps

Deng Qing advanced from a new Celebration Hall student to the Skin Refining Second Layer through hard training, offal, and medicinal baths while surviving unrest and a Golden Saber Sect challenge. He left the arc selected as an additional Attendant and agreed to treat Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie.

• Deng Qing joined Celebration Hall, broke through to the Skin Tempering First Layer by training and eating pig offal, and became a Named Disciple to avoid compulsory labor.
• Deng Qing learned the Violet Palace Method, guarded North Warehouse during a riot, and killed the wounded One-Eyed Dragon after he attacked the supplies.
• Deng Qing joined Zhang Yan’s medicine-retrieval party and helped Celebration Hall defeat the Golden Saber Sect in a series of bouts, winning against Song Que and keeping the Blacksteel Soft Sword.
• Deng Qing used his Medicinal Bath to raise the Violet Palace Method to Minor Mastery, then sought paid work and bought frozen offal to build his Qi-Blood.
• Deng Qing endured a second Medicinal Bath and broke through to the Skin Refining Second Layer.
• Deng Qing was named as an additional Attendant after Zhang Yan confirmed his breakthrough, and he agreed to treat Li Cheng, Wang Wei, and Zhou Tie.

Deng Qing advanced his swordsmanship and cultivation while surviving a battle with the Donghuang Cult and earning money and support from Li Cheng. After demonstrating his skill at a county banquet, he fought Song Que in a dark alley and returned to his settled routine of training and eating.

• Deng Qing joined Li Cheng in training the Seven Forms of Settling Solitude, advanced rapidly, and later accepted a furnace-tending job at Tianshun Apothecary.
• After surviving the apothecary’s medicinal toxins and advancing his Violet Palace Method, Deng Qing returned to Celebration Hall and joined the expedition against the Donghuang Cult.
• Deng Qing killed Monk Tang, then helped Li Cheng defeat the wounded Zhou Fei after Zhou Fei took a Blood-Burning Pill, and gave Li Cheng Zhou Fei’s head for his Martial Dao Trial recommendation.
• Deng Qing taught Li Cheng the Seven Forms of Settling Solitude, received a hundred taels and five Ginseng Pills, and advanced to Skin Tempering Third Layer and Grand Mastery.
• Li Dashan led Deng Qing and other Celebration Hall disciples to a banquet in Dongting County, where Li Cheng defeated Zhao Tang but lost to Song Que’s Shadow Saber.
• Song Que confronted Deng Qing over the Blacksteel Soft Sword in a dark alley, and Deng Qing turned aside Song Que’s rising strike before leaving him unsure who had won.
• Deng Qing returned to training and eating, while Song Que threatened to keep the alley fight and his ruined clothes secret.

Deng Qing became Li Dashan’s Personal Disciple, then earned a Grade-A Sword Examiner post in Yanshan Prefecture. After intensive Sword Grove training, he disguised himself as Xie Xuan to face Zhuo Lin and the Martial Exam Students.

• Li Dashan named Deng Qing his second Personal Disciple, then assigned him to assist Zhang Yan and helped him prepare for the dangers ahead.
• Deng Qing traveled to Yanshan Prefecture, passed the Weapon Examiner selections, and was named a Grade-A Sword Examiner alongside Xu Ming and Xue Lin.
• Deng Qing preempted Meng Hui’s retaliation, forced him to reconcile with the other examiners, and trained in the Sword Grove until his swordsmanship improved.
• Li Cheng passed the Grade B assessment, and Zhuo Lin impressed the White-Clad Woman by defeating three examiners together with Sword Python.
• When Zhuo Lin planned to challenge all three Grade-A examiners, Deng Qing volunteered to fight him and negotiated for cultivation resources and an all-night Sword Grove session.
• Deng Qing trained through the night, raising the Seven Forms of Settling Solitude to 80% perfected mastery and learning to break the Sword Grove’s four-shot volleys.
• The White-Clad Woman used the Mongqi Hide to disguise Deng Qing, gave him a black robe and the name Xie Xuan, and Deng Qing headed to the Martial Arena.

Deng Qing passed the Grade-A sword test, escaped a trap involving Xiong Zhen and Zhang Bo, and fled Everjoy County after selling Zhang Quan fake jade. He reunited with Li Dashan, then prepared for the Battle of Liangshan by refining Wasteland Blood and learning the Pure Jade Method.

• Deng Qing defeated Yuan Chong, Ma Zhong, and Zhuo Lin in the Grade-A sword test, using the Seven Forms of Settling Solitude to withstand Zhuo Lin’s Sword Python Art.
• Deng Qing returned to Everjoy County with Zhang Bo, realized he was being used as bait, and exposed Xiong Zhen by turning Zhuo Lin and the other failed examinees against the Blue-Robed Guest.
• Deng Qing escaped the Li Family Camp, hid the Black Jade, and negotiated with Zhang Quan to sell it for eight hundred taels at the Martial Market.
• Deng Qing traded Zhang Quan fake jade, obtained a new identity and travel permit, and left Everjoy County before Zhang Quan’s false complaint could trap him.
• Deng Qing met Li Dashan in Cloudwater County, revealed that the genuine Black Jade was Wasteland Bone, and returned to Celebration Hall.
• Deng Qing met the White-Clad Woman at the Martial Market, and she advised him to strengthen himself and obtain a Martial Origin Pill before the Battle of Liangshan.
• Deng Qing took a Blood-Burning Pill under Li Dashan’s guidance and used the Violet Palace Method and Pure Jade Method to refine the Wasteland Blood in his body.
• Deng Qing discovered that his panel tracked his fluctuating cultivation progress, and Li Dashan explained how Martial Origin Pills aided a breakthrough to Bone-Forging.