Chapter Summaries

Qin Geng and the others discovered that a living poison was turning people at Wild Fox Ridge into Black-Furred Monsters, and Old Tan used Qin Geng’s blood to help cure them. As Zhou Yonghe recovered, he revealed that Foreigners had taken the old master’s life-extension Magic Artifact.

• Third Master Cao explained that a poisonous fog and a giant snake had caused people at Wild Fox Ridge to become Black-Furred Monsters, while Zheng Tonghe’s medicines failed to stop the spreading poison.
• Old Lady Liu suspected a sham, and Partridge Sky determined that the victims had been poisoned by a living substance attacking their blood, heart, and brain.
• Old Tan’s golden-dung pole weakened the black fur, and Qin Geng added his blood to strengthen it, allowing them to cure Zhou Yonghe, the other injured men, and the transformed victims.
• Qin Geng told Third Master Cao that Foreigners had ambushed reinforcements bound for Wild Fox Ridge, suggesting they were behind the incident or hiding an experiment.
• Zhou Yonghe woke and told Third Master Cao that the Foreigners had taken the old master’s life-extension Magic Artifact.

After Zhou Yonghe revealed that the stolen Kindling Crossing was one of the Eight Great Lost Arts, Qin Geng and Lu Xingmin suspected he was using the revelation to draw out the Foreigners and questioned whether the artifact was connected to Qin Geng’s aunt. Seeking greater strength, Qin Geng explored the Underground Dark River, discovered a spirit pearl and a stone tablet accusing the Great Xin Dynasty of suppressing waterfolk, and touched the pearl as an ancient will entered his mind.

• Zhou Yonghe identified the stolen Magic Artifact as Kindling Crossing and described the Foreigners’ ambush, while thanking Qin Geng and the others for saving his guards.
• Zheng Tonghe arranged to keep the poisoned Zhou House Guards under observation, and the rescuers dispersed from Wild Fox Ridge.
• On the way back, Lu Xingmin and Qin Geng suspected Zhou Yonghe had revealed Kindling Crossing deliberately and wondered whether it was the Magic Artifact held by Qin Geng’s aunt.
• Lu Xingmin urged Qin Geng to pursue Hidden Force, and Qin Geng returned to Master Zhu Xin’s courtyard to train in the Underground Dark River.
• Qin Geng entered a hidden air pocket, found a spirit pearl beside a turtle shell and a stone tablet describing the Great Xin Dynasty’s persecution of waterfolk, then touched the pearl and received an ancient will.

Qin Geng gained the Water Lord profession by fusing the Incense Deity path with his Fisherman profession, then considered how to establish a sacred domain along the Xun River. He broke through to Hidden Force and was told to prepare for the Su Family patriarch’s birthday banquet, where he would test his new strength.

• Qin Geng received the Incense Deity Scripture, and the Book of a Hundred Trades fused his Fisherman and Incense God paths into the Water Lord profession.
• Qin Geng escaped the collapsing underwater barrier and returned through the well to Tanlong Alley, where he realized the Xun River could become his sacred domain.
• Qin Geng tried to gain Water Lord experience by tending to the Xun River but made no progress, so he focused on advancing his Martial Artist profession.
• Qin Geng used Hidden Force to break a century-old elm post into twelve smooth pieces and reached Martial Artist level 20.
• Ye Lanzen praised Qin Geng’s Hidden Force and told him to attend the Su Family patriarch’s birthday banquet the next day to test himself and observe the hidden forces in Tianjin.

Old Master Su and Su Zhengze discussed the Su Family’s response to Qin Geng’s growing power, deciding to return Qin Xiu’s Magic Artifact while planning to use that gesture to make Qin Geng a target. The chapter ended with Old Master Su alone, resolved to preserve the Su Family through the coming turmoil, whatever the cost.

• Zhou Yonghe reported that the foreigners had received a fake Kindling Crossing and believed he had lost it while defending the shipment.
• Old Master Su told Su Zhengze to return Qin Xiu’s Magic Artifact and order him to divorce Huang, whose feud with Qin Xiu threatened the Su Family.
• Su Zhengze reported that Su Loutai would return from the Eastern Isles and that Louyun had sent word of major developments in the palace.
• Old Master Su revealed to Zhou Yonghe that returning the artifact would expose Qin Geng to the foreigners and leave the Su Family free to reclaim it if he died.
• Old Master Su warned Zhou Yonghe to remain loyal to the Su Family, then reflected that it would do whatever was necessary to survive the coming troubles.

Qin Geng accompanied Ye Lanzen and the Ye School to the Su family patriarch’s seventieth-birthday banquet, stopping to buy gifts for his aunt along the way. At the crowded feast, Ye Lanzen received an honored welcome, while Qin Geng noticed hostile attention and foreign guests.

• Qin Geng dressed for the banquet and met his senior brothers at the Ye Residence, where Ye Lanzen explained the customs and warned him that the gathering could involve conflict.
• Qin Geng stopped at Hendeli Watch Shop and Fragrance-Congealing Studio to buy expensive gifts for his aunt, explaining that he wanted to show his care despite their strained family circumstances.
• Ye Lanzen and his disciples rode Red Charcoal’s carriage to the Su Residence, where guests recognized Ye Lanzen and Qin Geng and made way for them.
• Qin Geng entered the banquet courtyard and spotted Old Hai, Granny Liu, Tiger Cub, Old Tan, and Third Master Cao among the guests.
• Old Master Su personally welcomed Ye Lanzen and seated him at the place of honor, while Qin Geng noticed hostile looks and asked Lu Xingmin about the foreigners at a nearby table.

At Old Master Su’s birthday banquet, Qin Geng publicly honored his aunt Qin Xiu and warned the Su household not to mistreat her. The arrival of court officials, martial-world leaders, concession directors, and Su Loutai with Eastern Isles ronin turned the banquet into a gathering of rival powers.

• Qin Geng gave Qin Xiu a new watch and cosmetics, told her she no longer had to bow to anyone, and silenced Huang and the other concubines.
• Jia Xincun and Shen Yi arrived to take charge of the Dragon-Guard Office’s divisions, representing rival court factions.
• Blue Phoenix, Master Jingangzhi, and Daoist Miaoxuan arrived as leading figures from the martial world.
• Link and Smith, directors of the Eight-Nation Concession Municipal Council, entered with armed patrolmen and foreign guards.
• Su Loutai returned from studying in the Eastern Isles with four rōnin, bowed to Old Master Su in the Eastern Isles style, and was told to pay his respects to the guests.

At Old Master Su’s birthday banquet, Lu Xingmin exposed the Copper Lotus Seed returned to Qin Geng as supposedly fake, foiling the Su Family’s attempt to shift trouble onto him. The foreigners then unveiled the Dragon Head and challenged the Great Xin martial world to a contest, leaving the gathering boiling with anger.

• Old Master Su publicly asked Qin Xiu to return the family heirloom, and Qin Geng opened the box to find a Copper Lotus Seed matching a missing piece of his Bronze Lotus Throne.
• Lu Xingmin declared the seed a fake, and Ye Lanzen backed him, forcing Old Master Su to accept blame and promise to find the real item.
• Lu Xingmin secretly told Qin Geng that the seed concerned the Great Xin Dynasty’s national fortune and dragon vein, and that foreigners and martial world figures were seeking it.
• Smith and Link announced a contest on behalf of the Western guests and revealed the Dragon Head, which they said Britain had taken decades earlier.
• Smith offered to return the Dragon Head if Great Xin’s fighters defeated the foreigners, but demanded that they lower their heads to foreigners if they lost, enraging the gathering.

Great Xin accepted Smith’s five-round challenge over the Bronze Dragon Head, and Third Master Cao won the opening feng shui contest. Zheng Tonghe then lost the medical round to a Foreign doctor, leaving the score tied as Granny Liu prepared to face the Foreigners’ Spirit Cultivator.

• Smith proposed five contests, with the winner taking the Bronze Dragon Head, and Shen Yi and Jia Xincun agreed to defend Great Xin’s honor.
• Third Master Cao, Zheng Tonghe, Granny Liu, and Zhao Xiyan were selected for the first four rounds, while Qin Geng accepted Li Bawang’s challenge for the final fight.
• Johnson identified buried silver beneath a locust tree as the Su Residence’s wealth point, but Third Master Cao revealed that the true living wealth point was the Golden Toad Swallowing Water formation around a water vat.
• Old Master Su confirmed Third Master Cao’s account, giving Great Xin the first-round victory.
• A Foreign doctor rapidly healed one injured guard by sucking pus from the wound, while Zheng Tonghe’s slower treatment could not keep pace.
• Zheng Tonghe conceded the medical round, tying the contest at one round apiece as Smith announced the third round.

Granny Liu lost the mind-reading contest after Simon forced Wang Laoshi to confess that he had ended his dying wife’s suffering with poison, but Zhao Xiyan defeated a Western cardinal in a contest of spiritual cultivation. With the score tied at two to two, Qin Geng faced Li Bawang in the final martial contest and took the Tiger Guards the Cave stance as the fight began.

• Smith selected Wang Laoshi for Granny Liu and Simon to read, and both identified much of his background and early life accurately.
• Simon’s reading revealed that Wang Laoshi had poisoned his wife at her request to end her suffering, so Granny Liu conceded the round for withholding that truth out of compassion.
• Zhao Xiyan resisted the cardinal’s holy light with Righteous Vitality and won the spiritual contest, tying the score at two to two.
• Li Bawang challenged Qin Geng to avenge his brother Li Zhizhen, and Qin Geng mocked him before the final fight.
• Li Bawang smashed part of the platform with a stomp, while Qin Geng settled into Tiger Guards the Cave and drew praise from the spectators.

Qin Geng defeated and killed the drug-enhanced Li Bawang with Xingyi techniques, including a final Tail Scissor that destroyed his organs with Hidden Force. The victory won Qin Geng the admiration of powerful officials and made the foreign representatives reconsider Great Xin’s strength.

• Qin Geng stopped Li Bawang’s charge with Coiling Dragon Guarding Stance, then tore open his chest with a Dragon Form claw and smashed him to his knees with a Tiger Form strike.
• Li Bawang injected himself with a green drug, grew larger and stronger, and charged Qin Geng again.
• Qin Geng broke Li Bawang’s hand with Earth Dragon Turns Over and battered him with hundreds of Hidden Force strikes.
• Qin Geng killed Li Bawang with Xingyi—Tail Scissor, whose Hidden Force destroyed his internal organs.
• The crowd cheered Qin Geng, while Jia Xincun and Shen Yi both sought to recruit him.
• Smith and Link watched Li Bawang’s defeat and decided they needed to reassess Great Xin’s strength.

After the Foreigners returned the Dragon Head, Ye Lanzen revealed that they had already destroyed its Dragon Vein Formation Eye, and warned his disciples that Tianjin faced growing dangers. He began teaching Qin Geng the school’s Half-Step Crushing Fist and Monkey Form, leaving Qin Geng eager to continue his training.

• Shen Yi and Jia Xincun jointly took custody of the Dragon Head as the Foreigners departed with Li Bawang’s corpse.
• Ye Lanzen warned his disciples about the Foreigners’ dangerous Fate Cultivators, Granny Liu, the Su Family, and the competing factions of the Dragon-Guard Office.
• Ye Lanzen explained that the Foreigners had used the Dragon Head to find and destroy its Dragon Vein Formation Eye, allowing demons and monsters to emerge in Tianjin.
• Ye Lanzen advised Qin Geng to work with the Dragon-Guard Office without becoming entangled in its internal schemes, then explained how the Nine Magical Artifacts anchored the Dragon Vein Array.
• Ye Lanzen demonstrated the Half-Step Crushing Fist and taught Qin Geng Monkey Form as a foundation for mastering the art.
• Qin Geng quickly learned the Monkey Form routine and trained until nightfall, impressing Ye Lanzen with his talent.

Qin Geng learned from Lu Xingmin that the Copper Lotus Seed was part of a magical artifact tied to the Dragon Vein and that the Huang Family had ruined his father to seize it. At the Su residence, Old Master Su attacked Su Loutai and began consuming him, leaving Su Zhengze unconscious.

• Lu Xingmin matched Qin Geng’s Copper Lotus Seed with his black-jade lotus petal and explained that they belonged to the Yin-Yang Lotus, one of the Nine Magical Artifacts that anchored the Dragon Vein.
• Lu Xingmin told Qin Geng that the Thousand Gate had lured his father into gambling so the Huang Family could take the family heirloom, and that Qin Xiu had carried it into the Su Family to protect it.
• Qin Geng learned that the Su Family’s first madam was a Huang and silently resolved to remember the debt, while Lu Xingmin warned him about the Su Family and the Thousand Gate.
• Su Loutai told Su Zhengze that he had taken Eastern Isles citizenship and rejected inheriting the Su Family, praising his Eastern Isles patrons and their interest in visiting the Northeast.
• Old Master Su revealed his monstrous black tendrils, sealed the hall, and dragged Su Loutai into his mouth as he declared that consuming him would let him live another sixty years.
• Su Zhengze witnessed Old Master Su devouring Su Loutai and fainted.

Qin Geng helped his aunt Qin Xiu secure a divorce from Su Zhengze and took her to Cold Mountain Temple, where she became a nun. At the temple’s ancient well, a carp spirit mistook Qin Geng for a powerful Water Lord and addressed him as a senior.

• Xiao Wei told Qin Geng that Su Zhengze had repudiated Huang and offered Qin Xiu the position of first wife, but Qin Xiu wanted a divorce.
• Qin Geng arrived at the Su Residence and found Xiao Hong had been beaten to death; he confronted Su Zhengze and sensed something unsettling about Su Loutai.
• Qin Xiu told Qin Geng she wanted to become a nun, and Qin Geng persuaded Su Zhengze to issue a divorce agreement before taking her away in a rickshaw.
• Qin Geng brought Qin Xiu to Cold Mountain Temple, where she underwent a tonsure ceremony and became a nun.
• At the temple’s ancient well, Qin Geng saw a red carp with a golden scale, and the spirit addressed him as a senior Water Lord.

Qin Geng learned that the Dragon Head Formation Eye’s destruction was waking suppressed spirits and Demons, then visited his aunt and Master Xin before planning how to grow stronger. He ended the chapter training at home, intending to test whether the Grand Sacrifice could advance his Water Lord class and to hunt powerful fish for nourishment afterward.

• Qin Geng revealed himself as the Xun River Water Lord, frightening the Child-Blessing Carp into promising to use its powers only for good.
• Qin Geng concluded that the Dragon Head’s destruction had weakened Great Xin’s suppression of spirits and Demons, and resolved to become stronger.
• Qin Geng visited Qin Xiu at Cold Mountain Temple, reassured her, and left after hearing her stifled sob.
• Qin Geng paid respects at Zhu Xin’s grave, then heard Old Zhang praise the Benevolence Fund and the improved treatment of the poor.
• Qin Geng inspected the new Dragon-Guard Office and considered ways to advance his Water Lord, Martial Artist, and future support classes.
• Qin Geng began practicing Monkey Form, Dragon Form, and Tiger Form in his courtyard.

Qin Geng struggled to nourish his newly advanced Hidden Force body, then hunted and ate a Black-Armored Dragon Loach in the Xun River. The Book of a Hundred Trades granted him Water Lord experience, and he decided to keep hunting mutated fish there.

• Qin Geng found that the Ye Residence's medicinal food and a costly homemade medicine could not satisfy his new hunger, so he sought nourishment in the Xun River.
• Qin Geng disguised himself and bought ingredients from several pharmacies, but the weak medicine he brewed did little for him.
• Qin Geng used his Water Lord abilities to search Great Willow Shoal and discovered a Black-Armored Dragon Loach hiding beneath the riverbank.
• Qin Geng killed the Black-Armored Dragon Loach with Alligator Form and Hidden Force, then roasted and ate the entire fish to replenish his strength.
• The Book of a Hundred Trades awarded Qin Geng one Water Lord experience point after he ate the fish, and he resolved to hunt more mutated creatures in the Xun River.

Qin Geng visited the Ping'an Cart Company, warned his brothers about dangers around the river, and reorganized their information gathering and accounts. When Li Gou described his newfound speed and appetite, Qin Geng recognized that he had reached the first level of cart-pulling skill, inspiring the others to train.

• Qin Geng visited the cart company's courtyard, gave the children sweets, and warned Xu Chun and the others to keep them away from the unsafe Xun River.
• Qin Geng instructed Abacus Song to track suspicious travelers, especially near the Dragon-Guard Office and the foreigners' Concession, and approved depositing monthly profits at Rising Sun Prosperity.
• Qin Geng shared a meal and liquor with his brothers, telling them he still considered himself Qin Xiao Wu among them.
• Li Gou told Qin Geng that he had become extraordinarily fast while pulling a cart and was now constantly hungry.
• Qin Geng explained that Li Gou had reached the first level, Wind-Fire Wheel, and described the Ever-Burning Lamp as the second level.
• Xu Chun, Ma Laifu, and Jin He resolved to train sincerely, while Qin Geng hoped the cart company would produce more capable cultivators.

Qin Geng prepared for the Grand Sacrifice, but Lu Xingmin arrived with news that the Huang Family had been slaughtered by a supernatural force. At the Huang mansion, Zheng Tonghe identified the killer’s aura as a more dangerous version of the creature linked to the Foreigners’ scheme at Wild Fox Ridge, and the Dragon-Guard Office began its investigation.

• Abacus Song gave Qin Geng the Grand Sacrifice procedures and a register of influential families along the Xun River, and Qin Geng memorized the sacrificial address.
• Lu Xingmin told Qin Geng that all thirty-one members of the Huang Family had been found dead, their bodies drained into husks.
• Qin Geng and Lu Xingmin went to the Huang mansion, where Coroner Zhang reported no ordinary cause of death and Old Tan questioned the nightsoil collector who had discovered the bodies.
• Zheng Tonghe identified a foul aura like the black-furred creature from Wild Fox Ridge and revealed that he had reached the Seventh Tier of the Medical Path.
• Zheng Tonghe explained that Foreigners had used black hair to turn people into flesh-eating monsters at Wild Fox Ridge, and Jia Xincun and Shen Yi ordered a thorough search for the killer.

After the Huang Family massacre, Ye Lanzen’s disciples considered whether a shared evil method linked the case to Wild Fox Ridge, while Zheng Tonghe explained how choosing one path had helped him reach the Seventh Tier. Qin Geng trained Snake Form, began costly medicinal treatment to restore his body, and ended the chapter hunting a giant golden coin turtle in the Xun River.

• Shen Yi sealed the Huang residence, ordered the local powers to keep the peace, and summoned them to a Dragon-Guard Office meeting.
• Qin Geng, Lu Xingmin, and Zheng Tonghe reported the Huang Family deaths to Ye Lanzen, who warned that the shared evil scent did not prove the same people were responsible.
• Zheng Tonghe credited Qin Geng’s words about movement and stillness for his breakthrough to the Seventh Tier, prompting Lu Xingmin to rush back to his shop with a new insight.
• Ye Lanzen taught Qin Geng Snake Form, and Qin Geng quickly learned to move and strike like a snake.
• Zheng Tonghe prescribed expensive internal and external treatments that strengthened Qin Geng, then Qin Geng headed to the Xun River to hunt for blood fare.
• At Chen Family Village, Qin Geng used Snake Form and Alligator Form to subdue and kill a giant golden coin turtle.

After preparing a golden softshell turtle, Qin Geng presided over the Xun River Grand Sacrifice, where the Copper Lotus Seed resonated with the gathered prayers and the river’s water vein, raising him to Xun River Water Lord. As a monstrous black-haired creature burst from the river and lunged for him, the chapter ended with his allies shouting warnings.

• Qin Geng ate the golden softshell turtle, gained Water Lord and Martial Artist experience, and saved its valuable shell.
• Qin Geng prepared for the Grand Sacrifice and remembered Master Xin as he anticipated presiding over the ceremony.
• Qin Geng welcomed the five lineage elders and prepared for the ceremony as townspeople and martial artists gathered along the Xun River.
• Qin Geng performed the sacrifice, and the Copper Lotus Seed resonated with the people’s prayers and the Xun River’s water vein, raising his Water Lord profession to level ten and unlocking Soul Seeding.
• A huge black-haired monster erupted from the Xun River and lunged at Qin Geng, drawing warnings from his allies.

Qin Geng killed a Black-Furred Monster attacking him during the river ceremony, then learned that the Foreigners were targeting him and Old Tan while preparing to sever Tianjin’s Dragon Vein. The Ye School prepared for the growing threat, and Qin Geng was left facing a likely expedition to Yin Mountain.

• Qin Geng killed the Black-Furred Monster with a yang-powered Tail Scissor kick, and the crowd cheered as Shen Yi’s soldiers took away its corpse.
• Xiao Wei summoned Qin Geng to Ye Residence, where Zheng Tonghe revealed that another Black-Furred Monster had attacked Old Tan and that the Foreigners were likely trying to eliminate their opponents.
• Zheng Tonghe explained that a ritual artifact had been found at Yin Mountain, where Qin Geng’s pure yang blood made him a powerful counter to the evil gathered there.
• Ye Lanzen ordered Iron Mountain to make Qin Geng inner armor and warned that high-level Foreign experts had arrived as the threat to the Dragon Vein escalated.
• Lu Xingmin warned Qin Geng that he might be sent to Yin Mountain and advised him to bargain if the Dragon-Guard Office demanded his blood.