Chapter Summaries

Gu Sheng broke through the limits of ordinary archery and gained the First-order Penetration special effect, giving him a powerful ranged attack. He planned to focus on tempering his skin and mastering the Iron Stone Fist while seeking better arrows and, eventually, archery martial arts.

• Gu Sheng practiced archery until an arrow pierced two wooden stakes, revealing that he had gained the First-order Penetration special effect.
• Gu Sheng checked his panel and realized Penetration could threaten stone skin and Iron Skin martial artists, though using it shattered ordinary arrows.
• Gu Sheng considered improving his equipment and strength and learning archery martial arts, then decided to prioritize the Iron Stone Fist and becoming a martial artist.
• Gu Sheng resumed hunting after spring arrived and earned far more than nearby hunters thanks to his improved archery.
• Gu Sheng planned to hunt tigers or black bears after becoming a martial artist to cover his expenses and preserve his savings.

Gu Sheng used his archery to hunt a wild boar and promised a share of the meat to the herb gatherer who found its trail. As Gu Sheng and Gu Xiaojiang ate together, they learned that the Black Sand Gang had arrived to collect the annual tribute.

• Gu Sheng offered hunters and herb gatherers one-tenth of a wild boar's spoils for detailed information about its whereabouts.
• A herb gatherer found boar tracks, injured his leg while investigating, and worried that Gu Sheng might fail to catch the animal.
• Gu Sheng returned to Gu Family Village carrying a wild boar and promised the herb gatherer his share of the meat.
• Gu Sheng and Gu Xiaojiang discussed his hunting, his prospects as a martial artist, and the clan elders' decision to honor his Body Tempering Paste share.
• Villagers shouted that the Black Sand Gang had arrived, and Gu Sheng and Gu Xiaojiang realized the annual tribute collectors were there.

The Black Sand Gang, led by Han Lu, demanded that Gu Family Village raise its annual tribute from two thousand taels to three thousand, using its strength and the County Lieutenant’s indifference to force compliance. Gu Changming paid, leaving the village humiliated and angry as he called for a meeting with the elders.

• Black Sand Gang riders whipped and trampled tenant farmers on their way to the estate owner's residence.
• Han Lu arrived at the training ground and demanded three thousand taels in tribute, claiming the gang had raised the amount to cover its losses fighting bandits.
• Gu Jingang challenged Han Lu, but Han Lu demonstrated his strength and warned that neighboring forts had already paid the increased tribute.
• Gu Changming decided Gu Family Village could not afford to defy the gang and ordered another thousand taels brought out.
• Han Lu took the three chests of silver and departed with his men, while Gu Changming called for the elders to discuss the situation.

The Black Sand Gang collected increased tributes across the region while preparing for an eventual break with Liu Yuanhu, and Gu Family Village responded by tightening its resources and training. Gu Sheng continued practicing in private, leaving the chapter close to becoming a true martial artist as the Gang temporarily stopped stirring up trouble.

• Han Lu led the Black Sand Gang riders toward Li Family Fort and explained that Liu Yuanhu would eventually turn against the Gang, so they should seize resources and strengthen themselves in the meantime.
• Gu Sheng worried that the tribute paid by Gu Family Village would reduce young martial artists’ cultivation resources, and he intensified his Iron Stone Fist training.
• Gu Xiaojiang told Gu Sheng that the elders were concentrating resources on talented youths, including him, while Gu Dajiang would make up for any resources Gu Sheng lost.
• Gu Xiaojiang and Gu Sheng drank together, and Gu Xiaojiang said that extra training would leave him with less time to visit.
• The Black Sand Gang collected increased annual tributes from nearby villages and forts, then stopped causing further trouble while Gu Sheng kept training discreetly.

Gu Sheng advanced his Iron Stone Fist to mastery after realizing that its combat and training methods were one technique. The breakthrough greatly accelerated the tempering of his skin membranes, bringing him close to becoming a martial artist.

• Gu Sheng returned to the village with a wolf, declined another marriage proposal, and delivered a wolf leg to Gu Erniu's family.
• Gu Sheng practiced Iron Stone Fist with Body Tempering Paste, knowing his skin-tempering progress was far ahead of what others expected.
• Gu Sheng realized that Iron Stone Fist's combat and training methods were not separate, but different expressions of the same technique.
• Gu Sheng merged the methods, reached mastery in Iron Stone Fist, and felt the new force rapidly tempering his skin membranes.

Gu Xiaojiang struggled to master the Iron Stone Fist under Gu Jingang’s instruction, while Gu Sheng used his own mastery of the technique to break through to the Stone Skin stage. The chapter ended with Gu Sheng becoming a martial artist after a little over half a year of training.

• Gu Jingang told Gu Xiaojiang that mastering the Iron Stone Fist would make his breakthrough to the Blood Refining Realm within three years certain, but Gu Xiaojiang could not unite its combat techniques and training methods.
• Gu Jingang recalled that he had reached mastery while fighting a notorious bandit in a desperate, near-fatal encounter, and admitted he had no insight into the perfected realm.
• Gu Sheng reasoned that the perfected realm might unite the heart and stance, then decided to use his newly mastered Iron Stone Fist to temper his skin membrane.
• Gu Sheng practiced the Iron Stone Fist repeatedly, and his skin membrane grew tougher as the fused combat techniques and training methods increased his tempering efficiency.
• Gu Sheng broke through to the Stone Skin stage, gaining hardened skin, greater strength, and sharper senses, and became a martial artist.

After becoming a Stone Skin martial artist, Gu Sheng planned to conceal his progress while seeking a stronger bow and supplies through the black market. He continued training and hunting as he waited for a chance to travel to the city with the village party.

• Gu Sheng realized that Stone Skin had greatly improved his defense and strength, and he considered acquiring a four-stone bow from the black market.
• Gu Sheng decided to hide his breakthrough and seek resources discreetly, since his rapid progress and future need for blood-refining medicines could attract scrutiny.
• Gu Sheng kept practicing and concealed his increased need for meat and Body Tempering Paste while waiting for a spring trip to the city.
• Gu Sheng continued hunting for income and quietly searched deeper in Cang Mountain for tigers and wild bears so his strength would not become obvious.

Gu Sheng traveled with Gu Family Village’s purchasing convoy to Canghe County, sold pelts, and planned to visit the black market for martial arts supplies. He learned that Old Mr. Zhang, the storyteller he had met on his last trip, had died over the winter.

• Gu Sheng joined the village convoy, and Gu Erniu asked him to sell two pelts on his behalf.
• Gu Jingang led the cautious convoy to Canghe County without trouble, and Gu Renbing told the villagers to keep their travel permits with them.
• Gu Sheng set up a stall and sold nearly all the pelts he had brought, earning more than four taels of silver.
• Gu Sheng intended to visit the black-market contact who had sold him a bow, but he came upon the tea shed where Old Mr. Li was telling stories.
• Gu Sheng asked a passerby about Old Mr. Zhang and learned that he had died the previous winter.

After failing to learn anything new from a storyteller, Gu Sheng obtained a token and entered Canghe County’s black market, where he cautiously surveyed its sellers and wares. He stopped at a stall selling Body Tempering Paste and questioned the seller about its authenticity.

• Gu Sheng heard Old Mr. Li’s stories but found no information about last year’s upheaval in the county seat.
• Gu Sheng paid Old Xu for a black-market token and learned to enter through Black Dog Alley after the third quarter of the Hour of the Rat.
• Gu Sheng disguised himself, watched the alley, presented his token, and paid another half tael of silver to enter the black market.
• Gu Sheng cautiously surveyed the stalls and noticed that medicinal powders and weapons drew more customers than martial arts manuals.
• Gu Sheng asked a fair-faced seller whether his Body Tempering Paste was genuine, and the man claimed he worked for Alchemist Ge Qing.

Gu Sheng bought Body Tempering Paste and a four-stone bow at the black market, then browsed its more expensive wares and martial arts manuals. He stopped to question a stallholder about the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art, but the seller's answers remained vague as he tried to close the deal.

• Gu Sheng bought eleven packets of Body Tempering Paste from a vendor claiming to be connected to the renowned alchemist Ge Qing, inspecting each packet before paying.
• Gu Sheng paid eight taels for a well-made four-stone bow from an aloof, masked stallholder.
• Gu Sheng explored the market and saw Blood Nourishing Powder, divine weapons, rare pills, and arrows he considered too poor in quality to buy.
• Gu Sheng stopped at a stall selling the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art and asked how quickly it could be learned and what its basics enabled.
• The stallholder assured Gu Sheng that he could learn the basics quickly and offered the manual for nine taels, but gave vague answers about further cultivation.

Gu Sheng bargained down the price of the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art to one tael of silver and bought the manual, believing his panel would let him master it through practice. Wary of people targeting him after his purchases, he stayed in the black market until closing, when its guards ordered everyone to leave.

• Gu Sheng rejected the stall owner's high asking price, then bought the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art for one tael of silver after confirming its instructions felt genuine.
• The stall owner secretly left the market in disguise, confident that buyers would struggle to advance without his exclusive medicinal paste.
• Gu Sheng felt pleased with his purchases, including the four-stone bow, Body Tempering Paste, and the martial art manual.
• Noticing people watching him after he had spent nearly twenty taels of silver, Gu Sheng stayed in the black market rather than risk being robbed on the way out.
• After the hour of the Tiger, the guards announced that the black market was closing and ordered everyone to leave within a quarter of an hour.

Gu Sheng escaped an ambush at the black market, then fought and killed a poisoned-dart attacker who pursued him. He left the lean martial artist dead after stabbing him repeatedly in the heart.

• Gu Sheng followed the black market patrons out and evaded a group that tried to surround him.
• Gu Sheng sensed a faster pursuer trailing him and lured the man into attacking with poisoned darts.
• Gu Sheng dodged the darts and shot the lean black-clad martial artist through the shoulder with his four-stone bow.
• The wounded man was slowed by Black Blood Powder and charged Gu Sheng, who fought back with Iron Stone Fist.
• Gu Sheng overwhelmed the lean martial artist and stabbed him in the heart until he stopped moving.

Gu Sheng killed a Black Sand Gang martial artist at the black market and claimed his supplies before erasing the evidence. He returned safely to Gu Family Village’s courtyard, then sold his remaining hides and secured future buyers.

• Gu Sheng searched the dead martial artist and found Body Tempering Paste, poisons, Corpse Dissolving Water, darts, and money, but no martial arts manual.
• Gu Sheng dissolved the corpse, disposed of his bloodstained nightwear, and returned safely to his quarters.
• Gu Sheng greeted Gu Renbing, who said the group would finish shopping and return to the village the next day.
• Gu Sheng avoided Gu Jingang and sold his remaining hides to wealthy households that reserved future hides from him.
• Gu Sheng listened to a storyteller and hoped the new emperor would restore order across the realm.

Gu Sheng practiced the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art and set out with Gu Family Village’s convoy, where they encountered Han Lu escorting Li Family Fort. The chapter ended with a woman in Han Lu’s carriage asking whether the Black Sand Gang had hunted a Silver Fox last year.

• Gu Sheng studied the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art, practiced until his face hurt, and estimated he could get started in four or five days.
• Gu Renbing loaded the supplies and led Gu Family Village’s convoy out of the city with Gu Sheng among the villagers.
• Gu Family Village’s convoy met Li Family Fort’s convoy, which Han Lu was escorting, and Gu Jingang traded barbed remarks with him.
• Gu Sheng kept his strength concealed and grew wary as the convoys passed each other.
• In his carriage, Han Lu indulged a woman in a red dress, who asked whether anyone from the Black Sand Gang had hunted a Silver Fox last year.

Li Yu pressed Han Lu to investigate her brother Li Yan’s death, and Han Lu agreed to look into it while keeping her under his control. Gu Sheng returned safely to Gu Family Village and resumed training, adding the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art.

• Han Lu confronted Li Yu for asking about the Silver Fox and accused her of using him to investigate Li Yan’s death.
• Han Lu said Black Sand Gang members had hunted Silver Foxes but had never encountered Li Yan, and agreed to investigate the old case slowly.
• Li Yu agreed to keep serving Han Lu while privately vowing to avenge Li Yan.
• The Gu Family Village convoy arrived safely, and Gu Sheng returned home after refusing a share of the money from selling Gu Erniu’s hide.
• Gu Sheng trained in the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art for four days, and his panel showed it at Beginner 0%.

Gu Sheng steadily cultivated the Iron Stone Fist and Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art while hunting and maintaining ties with the local hunters. More than three months later, he neared the Iron Skin stage and gained a much more effective disguise, while keeping his progress quiet.

• Gu Sheng found the beginner-level Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art barely changed his appearance, but resolved to train it further.
• Gu Sheng focused on the Iron Stone Fist and skin tempering, using his resources to prepare for the Iron Skin stage.
• Gu Sheng rejoined the hunters, led them on occasional hunts, and discreetly searched alone for fierce beasts while avoiding the deep mountains.
• More than three months later, Gu Sheng's Iron Stone Fist was 82% toward major mastery, and his skin had begun to turn iron-black as he neared a breakthrough.
• Gu Sheng advanced the Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art to minor mastery, allowing him to alter his facial features enough to fool acquaintances with a simple disguise.

Gu Sheng attended a dinner celebrating Gu Erniu’s full recovery, where Zhang Ze revealed that Han Lu was having an affair with Du Jiangbo’s wife. Gu Sheng realized the woman was the Madam Du he had met before and worried that renewed scrutiny of an old matter could cause trouble.

• Gu Sheng stopped practicing Iron Stone Fist and went with Gu Wan to Gu Erniu’s home for dinner.
• Gu Erniu and Gu Sheng toasted his full recovery, and the hunters celebrated with a meal.
• San Mazi prompted Zhang Ze to explain his story about the Green-Haired Turtle.
• Zhang Ze said Han Lu was involved with Du Jiangbo’s wife and that Du Jiangbo reportedly guarded their affair.
• Gu Sheng recognized Madam Du and worried that the affair might lead Du Jiangbo to investigate the old matter involving Li Yan and Li Yu.

Gu Sheng feared the Black Sand Gang might connect him to Li Yan’s death after Li Yu persuaded Han Lu to investigate. He decided to kill Li Yu before she could bring danger to him, planning to advance to Iron Skin and prepare for an opportunity.

• Gu Sheng learned that Li Yu was involved with Han Lu and concluded that Han Lu might eventually investigate Li Yan’s death.
• Du Jiangbo watched Han Lu leave Li Yu’s pavilion, endured their humiliation, and vowed to kill them both someday.
• Gu Erniu reported that the Black Sand Gang had not yet searched nearby villages or forts, and Gu Sheng urged him to stay cautious.
• Gu Sheng decided the gang could seize him without proof and resolved to kill Li Yu while Han Lu was away.
• Gu Sheng planned to become an Iron Skin martial artist and study Li Family Fort before acting.

Gu Sheng learned that Li Yu was seeking the truth about her brother’s death and resolved to deal with her carefully while continuing to grow stronger. He perfected Iron Stone Fist and began using his new power to break through to the Iron Skin stage.

• Gu Sheng gathered information about Li Family Fort and learned that Li Yu had asked Han Lu to investigate her younger brother’s death.
• Gu Sheng’s murderous intent disrupted his Iron Stone Fist training, so he calmed himself and focused on reaching perfection before confronting Li Yu.
• Gu Sheng realized that perfecting Iron Stone Fist meant uniting each move’s combat momentum and training intent.
• Gu Sheng reached perfection in Iron Stone Fist, greatly increasing his power and smashing a wooden stake with a single punch.
• Gu Sheng began tempering his skin with the perfected fist technique and committed himself to breaking through to become an Iron Skin martial artist.

Gu Sheng perfected Iron Stone Fist and broke through from Stone Skin to Iron Skin, then advanced Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art to major accomplishment. He demonstrated a disguise that transformed his appearance and shrank his body, preparing to use the art as protection while he dealt with Li Yu.

• Gu Sheng perfected Iron Stone Fist and naturally broke through to the Iron Skin realm.
• Gu Sheng assessed his increased strength and speed, and estimated that he might reach Jade Skin in three or four months.
• Gu Sheng decided to advance Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art to major accomplishment before addressing Li Yu's situation.
• Several days later, Gu Sheng reached major accomplishment in Body Shifting and Bone Changing Art and transformed into a shorter, thinner young man with a different face.