Chapter Summaries

Qin Geng subdued and soul-bound a Red-Armored Giant Shrimp in the Xun River, naming it Xia Qi and ordering it to guard the waters near Chen Family Village. After several days of training and gathering food, he attended the Dragon-Guard Office’s opening in Tianjin, where powerful figures from across the realm had assembled.

• Qin Geng explored the Xun River and fought the Red-Armored Giant Shrimp until he exhausted it and forced it to submit.
• Qin Geng used Soul Seeding to bind the shrimp, named it Xia Qi, and ordered it to watch the waters and find nourishing aquatic beasts.
• Qin Geng gathered fish and crabs with Xia Qi’s help, while his vitality grew and a breakthrough to level twenty-two Martial Artist drew near.
• Qin Geng tested the Bronze Lotus Throne with his Yang Lotus Seed, but nothing happened, and he concluded that the Yin Lotus or other components and a ritual might be needed.
• Qin Geng dressed in his Dragon-Guard Office uniform and went to the newly completed Tianjin headquarters for its opening.
• Qin Geng entered the crowded main hall with his senior brothers as attendees from across the realm watched him because of his Dragon Tendon and Tiger Bone.

Shen Yi and Jia Xincun organized the Dragon-Guard Office to hide the Dragon Vein, block the Foreigners’ access to Tianjin’s waterways, and seize or destroy Magic Artifacts. Qin Geng reported to Wave-Quelling Bureau Headquarters, where he learned that his new post was tangled in factional rivalries and left with Li Tingyun’s advice to build his power in Ping'an County Town.

• Shen Yi and Jia Xincun ordered Elder Wu’s team to conceal the Dragon Vein Array Eye and assigned the Demon-Suppression Bureau to guard mountain routes.
• Shen Yi ordered the Wave-Quelling Bureau to seal Tianjin’s waterways, seize Foreigners’ ships, and kill unauthorized intruders on sight.
• Jia Xincun tasked the Antiquities Office, Customs Bureau, and Geomancy Office with preventing Magic Artifacts from reaching Foreigners, destroying them if necessary.
• Qin Geng followed Li Tingyun to Wave-Quelling Bureau Headquarters, where Li explained the bureau’s structure and the competing groups among its personnel.
• Li Tingyun urged Qin Geng to strengthen his position in Ping'an County Town and make the Ping'an Cart Company his stronghold; Qin Geng agreed to remember his advice.

Qin Geng attended the Wave-Quelling Bureau’s headquarters briefing and learned that the bureau would police Tianjin’s surface and underground waterways against foreign interference. He returned to Ping'an County Town, joined the River-Blocking Guard, and heard Jiang Youzhi announce a merit system that rewarded soldiers for service and fighting foreigners.

• Li Tingyun introduced Qin Geng to deputy Office Director Zhao Jinglie, banner captain Zhou Dawei, battalion commander Liu Heng, and Jiang Youzhi at the Wave-Quelling Bureau headquarters.
• Zhao Jinglie ordered the bureau to control Tianjin’s waterways and guard Great Lord Lake and Dead Dog Cave against foreign tampering.
• Qin Geng visited the Customs Bureau with Chu Xing, who explained its intelligence network and asked him to share information from Ping'an County Town.
• Qin Geng returned to the Ping'an Branch, entered the River-Blocking Guard formation, and listened as Jiang Youzhi announced rewards for service, killing foreigners, capturing ships, and providing important leads.
• Jiang Youzhi ordered rotating shifts to begin that night, and the soldiers roared their approval.

Aboard the Wave-Quelling Bureau’s flagship, Zhou Dawei offered Qin Geng independent patrol authority and the right to keep captured cargo, but Tiger Cub challenged the privilege and demanded a duel. Qin Geng accepted the fight to establish his authority, and the chapter ended as Tiger Cub invoked the Immortal and the two prepared to clash.

• Qin Geng boarded the flagship and spotted Tiger Cub and the cross-dressing Xia Jingyi among the Wave-Quelling Bureau’s divisions.
• Qin Geng considered how his River-Blocking assignment would limit his chance to gain martial resources and use his Water Lord abilities.
• Zhou Dawei offered Qin Geng a fast boat, freedom to patrol independently, and control of cargo he captured.
• Tiger Cub objected that Qin Geng was receiving unfair special treatment and challenged him to a duel for the same privilege.
• Zhou Dawei promised Tiger Cub independent command if he defeated Qin Geng, and Qin Geng accepted the challenge.
• Tiger Cub invoked the Immortal and unleashed a berserk aura as Qin Geng stood ready to fight him barehanded.

Qin Geng defeated Tiger Cub in a fight that moved from the deck into the Xun River, breaking his Mountain-Driving Whip with Alligator Form. Zhou Dawei rewarded Qin Geng with a fast boat, a command flag, and freedom to lead a squad on the river, while Tiger Cub conceded defeat and the soldiers rallied to fight Foreigners.

• Qin Geng stood in Tiger Guards the Cave stance as Zhou Dawei, Xia Jingyi, and the soldiers recognized his formidable strength.
• Tiger Cub attacked Qin Geng with the Mountain-Driving Whip, but Qin Geng blocked the strike with his forearm and countered with Xingyi techniques that drove Tiger Cub against the railing.
• Tiger Cub plunged into the Xun River to gain the advantage, but Qin Geng used Alligator Form to outmaneuver him underwater and snap the whip in two.
• Tiger Cub admitted defeat and thanked Qin Geng for showing mercy, while the soldiers cheered Qin Geng's victory.
• Zhou Dawei assigned Qin Geng a fast boat and command flag, authorized him to lead a squad freely on the Xun River, and urged the soldiers to earn merit by fighting Foreigners.
• Qin Geng accepted his new command as the soldiers prepared a Wave-Quelling Bureau boat for him.

Qin Geng took command of a swift boat, trained in the Twelve Animal Forms, and patrolled the Xun River while searching underwater with Xia Qi for valuable prey. As the Foreigners disappeared and the river grew unnaturally quiet, Ye Lanzen promised to teach him the Half-Step Crushing Fist on the first of April, and Qin Geng resolved to use it to kill a Transforming Force expert.

• Qin Geng took possession of a modified swift boat bearing the Wave-Quelling flag and began studying feng shui books to prepare for his journey to Yin Mountain.
• Ye Lanzen taught Qin Geng killing moves from the Twelve Animal Forms and praised his growing mastery before Qin Geng left to patrol the Xun River.
• Qin Geng inspected merchant ships, rejected a bribe, and warned their crews to watch for suspicious boats while letting legitimate cargo pass.
• Qin Geng and Xia Qi searched Wildcat Bay, where Xia Qi caught a Golden-Scale Dartfish that gave Qin Geng two points of Water Lord experience.
• During a half-month of calm, Qin Geng trained, patrolled, and hunted underwater as his experience in three paths steadily increased.
• Ye Lanzen announced that he would teach Qin Geng the Half-Step Crushing Fist on the first of April, and Qin Geng resolved to kill a Transforming Force expert with it.

Qin Geng trained to refine his Half-Step Crushing Fist while the Wave-Quelling Bureau struggled to explain how supplies kept reaching the foreign Concessions despite the river blockade. After Chuanzi reported an increase in manure boats and funeral boats, Qin Geng suspected the Foreigners were hiding cargo in manure barrels and coffins, and prepared to investigate.

• Qin Geng practiced punching against heavy chains as Ye Lanzen taught him to concentrate his strength and work toward Transforming Force.
• At the Wave-Quelling Bureau, Zhou Dawei and Jiang Youzhi told Qin Geng that foreign ships had not appeared for sixteen days, yet the Concessions still had plentiful supplies.
• Qin Geng patrolled the river and reviewed Abacus Song's intelligence, then ordered the Dragon King Society's branches, fishermen, and boatmen to report anything unusual.
• After three quiet days, Chuanzi told Qin Geng that manure boats and funeral boats had increased by thirty percent and that the white boats rode unusually low and carried strong rowers.
• Qin Geng concluded that the Foreigners were smuggling supplies in manure boats and coffins, rewarded Chuanzi, and said he would inspect the boats the next day.

With the Wave-Quelling Bureau facing a three-day ultimatum to find the Foreigners’ smuggling route, Qin Geng uncovered how they hid cargo in Purple Clay Teapots carried on dung and funeral boats. He exposed a coffin packed with the artifacts, and Jiang Youzhi ordered the docks sealed and awarded Qin Geng first credit.

• Jiang Youzhi ordered the Wave-Quelling Bureau to search every boat after receiving a three-day ultimatum to find the Foreigners’ underground river entrance.
• Qin Geng stopped Er Dan’s Golden Dung boat, sensed unusual water vapor, and found a Purple Clay Teapot hidden beneath fishing nets.
• Qin Geng recognized the teapot as an artifact that could store goods and had Tiger Cub detain Er Dan and summon Zhou Dawei’s men.
• Qin Geng stopped a funeral boat marked Su Residence, sensed an artifact inside its coffin, and defeated the armed men guarding it.
• Qin Geng opened the coffin and found dozens of Purple Clay Teapots instead of a body.
• Jiang Youzhi ordered all dung and funeral boats impounded and declared that Qin Geng would receive first credit and a major commendation.

Qin Geng exposed the foreigners’ Purple Clay Teapot smuggling route, helping the Wave-Quelling Bureau seize the cargo and develop compasses to find more. He earned ten merits and exchanged them for a Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill, while Jiang Youzhi warned that the foreigners might make their next move at Yin Mountain.

• Qin Geng showed the Purple Clay Teapot to the soldiers, and a Geomancy Office Attendant identified it as a sinister vessel that could conceal a roomful of goods.
• Soldiers found Purple Clay Teapots hidden across Tianjin’s boats and businesses, and Jiang Youzhi ordered everyone found with one seized while allowing clean ships to pass.
• Jiang Youzhi brought Qin Geng and chests of seized teapots to Jia Xincun, who credited Qin with the case and ordered a tracking compass devised.
• A Mohist Grand Artisan modified a compass to detect Purple Clay Teapots, and the Wave-Quelling Bureau sent the new compasses out to search Tianjin.
• Jiang Youzhi awarded Qin Geng ten merits, which Qin spent on a Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill to replenish his blood and vitality.
• Jiang Youzhi warned Qin Geng that the foreigners might turn to Yin Mountain after their water route was disrupted.

Qin Geng used the Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill to master the Half-Step Crushing Fist, then learned from Ye Lanzen that Transforming Force required precise control rather than brute strength. At the Wave-Quelling Bureau, he heard that the smuggling case had been handled, but Lu Xingmin warned him that foreigners had broken three dragon-vein array nodes and demons could soon emerge.

• Qin Geng swallowed the Nine-Turn Bear-Snake Pill, trained in chains, and shattered the Iron Pearwood post with the Half-Step Crushing Fist.
• Qin Geng tried and failed to break his chains, and Ye Lanzen taught him that Transforming Force depended on controlling and redirecting force.
• Qin Geng visited the Wave-Quelling Bureau, where Chu Xing and Jiang Youzhi discussed his merits and the fates of the smugglers and Er Dan.
• Qin Geng warned that the foreigners would keep seeking ways to operate, while Chu Xing said the Customs Bureau was watching them.
• Lu Xingmin sent Qin Geng a paper bird and warned that foreigners had destroyed three dragon-vein array nodes, summoning him to the sect for an urgent meeting.

Ye Lanzen explained that Great Xin’s Dragon Vein both enabled cultivation and bound cultivators to imperial power, leaving the Ye School’s disciples torn between preserving it and destroying it. Qin Geng collected protective armor from Iron Mountain and planned to strengthen himself before seeking materials and fortune.

• Ye Lanzen told his disciples that three of the nine Dragon Vein Formation Eyes had been destroyed and explained the Dragon Vein’s role in cultivation and the founding emperor’s control over cultivators.
• Lu Xingmin condemned the choice between remaining bound by the Dragon Vein and unleashing the Demons and old powers suppressed by it.
• Ye Lanzen urged his disciples to survive and never turn against one another, without choosing a side in the conflict.
• Iron Mountain brought Qin Geng to Zhang's Smithy, explained his family ties to the shop, and gave him a Black Gold Thread Soft Armor that could stop firearms.
• Iron Mountain advised Qin Geng to prepare rare materials for a weapon when he reached Transforming Force, and Qin Geng planned to master his fists before searching for materials and slaying Demons.

Qin Geng practiced the first signs of transforming force, received Celestial Star Meteoric Iron Essence from the Divine Stride Bureau, and investigated why the foreign Concession remained well supplied despite the river blockade. Beneath the Xun River, he discovered dragon-energy-mutated creatures, defeated and devoured a giant carp, and reached Martial Artist level 26, one step from transforming force.

• Qin Geng made the chains and Mount Tai Stone Guardian tremble with force carried through his body, and Ye Lanzen recognized that he had reached the threshold of transforming force.
• A Divine Stride Bureau runner delivered Qin Geng a reward of Celestial Star Meteoric Iron Essence for slaying the foreigner's Mutant Snake Corpse.
• Qin Geng suspected the foreigners' supplies were traveling beneath the river, then entered the water at Wildcat Bay with his level-ten Water Lord senses.
• Qin Geng and Xia Qi found the river crowded with mutated creatures and fought a five-meter golden-red carp whose Dragon Might drove other fish into hiding.
• Qin Geng and Xia Qi killed the giant carp after a fierce underwater battle, and Qin Geng devoured its flesh and bones.
• The carp's essence raised Qin Geng to Martial Artist level 26 and strengthened his Hidden Force, leaving him close to transforming force as he returned with Xia Qi.

After killing a Mutant Dragon Carp, Qin Geng realized newly awakened creatures in the Underground Rivers could be hunted for rewards if he learned to locate their lairs through feng shui. Lu Xingmin confirmed Qin Geng’s aptitude, warned him that Great Xin’s Dragon Vein was doomed, and directed him to meet Third Master Cao to enter the feng shui trade.

• Qin Geng concluded that broken Dragon Vein formations had roused unintelligent creatures beneath the rivers and decided to learn feng shui to find their lairs, while also studying medicine to treat his injuries.
• Qin Geng visited Lu Xingmin and correctly explained the feng shui formation in Osmanthus Fragrance Studio’s courtyard.
• Lu Xingmin told Qin Geng that the Great Xin Dynasty and its Dragon Vein were nearing collapse, and revealed that Foreigners had defiled the Origin Mountain Formation Eye with tainted blood.
• Lu Xingmin advised Qin Geng to seek practical feng shui work through Third Master Cao, a leading Tianjin authority, and Qin Geng resolved to meet him the next day.

Qin Geng went to the Geomancy Office to seek work in Feng Shui, but learned Third Master Cao had gone to Yin Mountain to deal with graves bursting open. Cao Xiaoliu took him to the troubled Lin Residence, where Qin Geng exposed the ritual priests as members of the Thousand Gate.

• Qin Geng trained with his weighted chains, then visited the Geomancy Office to ask Third Master Cao for help entering the Feng Shui trade.
• Cao Xiaoliu told Qin Geng that Third Master Cao had been summoned to Yin Mountain, where Earth Veins were unstable and buried bodies had emerged, and offered him an urgent job at the Lin Residence.
• Cao Xiaoliu explained the trade's rules as they walked to the Lin Residence, where the Lin Family faced barking dogs, bats striking the doors, and Lin Zhengde hearing his dead father's cough.
• Qin Geng and Cao Xiaoliu entered the Lin Residence and found Lin Zhengde hosting three Daoist priests, who were performing a ritual while the family endured strange disturbances.
• Lin Zhengde explained that his five-year-old son had suddenly fallen ill, and Qin Geng stopped him from kneeling to beg for help.
• After the lead priest mocked Qin Geng's martial skills, Qin Geng examined the hall and accused the priests of being members of the Thousand Gate.

Qin Geng exposed three Thousand Gate swindlers who had terrorized the Lin family, cured Lin Zhengde’s son of gu poisoning, and arrested the conspirators. After accepting a reward, he unlocked the Feng Shui Master profession and set out to collect a bounty for the captured men.

• Qin Geng explained that the strange noises and omens at the Lin estate came from eel blood and sick hedgehogs planted by the fake Taoists, and Cao Xiaoliu found one of the hedgehogs.
• Qin Geng revealed that the Taoists planned to rob the Lin family tomb for a Jade Ruyi, then used yang blood to force a two-mouthed gu worm out of Lin Zhengde’s son and crushed it.
• The three Thousand Gate men attacked Qin Geng, but he quickly defeated them and ordered Cao Xiaoliu and the Lin family guards to bind them for the county yamen.
• Lin Zhengde gave Qin Geng a thousand silver dollars and five gold bars, and Qin Geng advised the family to clear the estate’s remaining yin energy.
• Qin Geng unlocked the Feng Shui Master profession, saw its future talents and advancement paths, and decided to take more Feng Shui work.
• Qin Geng escorted the captured men toward the county yamen and told Cao Xiaoliu to have the county magistrate settle the bounty reward.

Qin Geng registered with the Mound-Sealing Celestial Official Hall, assessed the cost of his rapid martial progress, and spent half a month training and hunting underwater creatures. He shattered the restraints during training, reached Transforming Force, and unlocked the Dragon-Tiger Convergence talent.

• Steward Wang warned Qin Geng that the Lingnan Thousand Gate would seek revenge for the captured scouts, but Qin Geng dismissed the threat.
• Cao Xiaoliu brought Qin Geng to the Mound-Sealing Celestial Official Hall, where Uncle Zhang registered him for feng shui, breaking schemes, and driving out evil.
• Qin Geng deposited his money at the Rishenglong Exchange House and realized his savings would barely cover his advance toward Transforming Force and its costly requirements.
• Qin Geng followed a strict routine of studying medicine, training with Ye Lanzen, and hunting mutated creatures in the Xun River, but failed to bind a Giant Crocodile with his Soul Seeding Supernatural Ability.
• On the first day of the fifth month, Qin Geng used a spiraling force to shatter his chains and pierce the Iron Birchwood Post, reaching Transforming Force and unlocking Dragon-Tiger Convergence.

After Qin Geng reached Transforming Force, Ye Lanzen explained the realms beyond it and told him to discover the Essence, Qi, and Spirit that suited his nature. Their spar awakened Qin Geng’s Dragon-Tiger Convergence, revealing Dragon-Tiger True Intent as his path forward.

• Qin Geng broke through to Transforming Force, and Ye Lanzen explained the stages of martial cultivation beyond the physical body.
• Ye Lanzen described how a martial artist’s nature shaped their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, citing House Guard Zhou and Qin Geng’s ninth senior brother as examples.
• Qin Geng asked how to discover his own nature, and Ye Lanzen challenged him to fight.
• Qin Geng sparred with Ye Lanzen, and his new power and Dragon-Tiger Convergence talent awakened as he fought with Dragon and Tiger forms.
• Ye Lanzen recognized Qin Geng’s Dragon-Tiger True Intent and told him to cultivate his fierce, yang-filled path toward Embracing the Elixir.

Qin Geng tested his newly formed Dragon-Tiger True Intent by killing a giant crocodile with one punch and discovered that it let his body keep growing beyond its supposed limit by consuming powerful beasts. After studying geomancy, he was summoned to the Lin residence, where he concluded that Lin Zhengde’s dreams of his drowned ancestor pointed to a serious problem at the family grave, possibly connected to the underground dark river.

• Qin Geng killed a giant crocodile at Wildcat Bay with a single Transforming Force punch, then fed its meat to Xia Qi and himself.
• Qin Geng discovered in the Book of a Hundred Trades that Dragon-Tiger Convergence let his body grow stronger without an upper limit by consuming blood fare.
• Qin Geng heard Wave-Quelling Bureau soldiers discussing recent monster attacks and rumors that Tianjin’s dragon vein was in trouble.
• Qin Geng studied geomancy through books from the Geomancy Office and gained Feng Shui Master experience.
• Shunzi summoned Qin Geng to the Lin residence, where Lin Zhengde described recurring dreams of his drowned ancestor and bruises on his neck.
• Qin Geng interpreted the signs as a problem with the Lin family’s ancestral grave and ordered Lin Zhengde to prepare a journey there.

Qin Geng discovered that the Foreigners had diverted an underground river beneath Yin Mountain to move people and supplies into the area. He reported the hidden route to Jiang Youzhi, who ordered an assault on the underground passage and appointed Qin Geng as its guide.

• Qin Geng examined the Lin Family’s ancestral grave at Wanger Ridge and found black groundwater flooding Old Master Lin’s coffin.
• Qin Geng deduced that the Foreigners had blasted an underground route from the Concession through Yin Mountain, and he memorized its course.
• Qin Geng ordered Lin Zhengde to move Old Master Lin’s coffin to a dry place before the group returned to Jinmen City.
• Qin Geng told Zhou Dawei that the Foreigners were using the underground river, and Zhou Dawei brought him to Jiang Youzhi.
• Qin Geng showed Jiang Youzhi the route on a terrain map, and Jiang Youzhi ordered elite troops and a Mo School craftsman to prepare an assault.
• Jiang Youzhi appointed Qin Geng as the operation’s guide and promised him three promotions if they trapped the Foreigners underground.

Qin Geng found the ideal place to collapse the Underground Dark River, and the Dragon-Guard Office ordered a demolition strike instead of mapping the route. He led a small team to Ghost-Sorrow Ravine, where they detonated the Mo School charges and buried the Foreigners' convoy beneath the mountain.

• Qin Geng located a weak section of rock above a bend in the Underground Dark River at Ghost-Sorrow Ravine and marked the site.
• Jia Xincun and Shen Yi argued over whether to map the river or destroy it, and Jia Xincun ultimately approved Shen Yi's plan to blow it up.
• Jiang Youzhi assembled Qin Geng, Tiger Cub, Xia Jingyi, Zhao Yuanji, Daoist Chi Song, and others, then put Qin Geng in charge of the operation.
• Qin Geng guided the team to Ghost-Sorrow Ravine, where Zhao Yuanji's crew planted Mountain-Shaking Thunder charges while Daoist Chi Song fought off Mountain Ogres and White-Haired Zombies.
• Qin Geng sensed the Foreigners' convoy approaching underground and ordered Zhao Yuanji to ignite the charges.
• The blast collapsed the ravine into the Underground Dark River, burying the convoy and blocking the waterway.