Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Su Yan enters the Inner Mountain with his bow, saber, and the Darkwater Centipede, seeking valuable herbs and resources to fund his martial training.
• He uses the journey itself to practice movement and apply his martial techniques instinctively. With the centipede’s help, he finds medicinal herbs, including earthblood vine.
• While resting, Su Yan dries his clothes, eats raw medicinal plants, practices the Golden Ape Stance Art, and eats a rabbit. His training and supplements improve his conditioning: skin refining reaches 85/100, and the stance art advances to minor mastery.
• A Giant Wild Boar charges into his campsite. Su Yan kills it with an arrow, but a Striped Tiger emerges, having driven the boar toward him. The tiger attacks and knocks away his quiver.
• The Darkwater Centipede prepares to intervene, but Su Yan chooses to face the tiger himself as a test of his skills. The centipede steps back, and the tiger pounces.

Character development

• Su Yan is becoming more capable and self-reliant, combining practical mountain skills, archery, and martial training. His movements increasingly reflect the instincts he has cultivated.
• He is also growing bolder: rather than relying immediately on his companion, he deliberately accepts a dangerous fight to test his progress.
• The Darkwater Centipede remains a valuable partner, helping locate resources and standing ready to protect him.

Character interactions

• Su Yan and the centipede cooperate closely in the forest, with the insect locating resources and Su Yan gathering them.
• Su Yan confronts the tiger after it turns from the boar to attack him. The tiger senses danger from the centipede, while Su Yan chooses to challenge it without his bow or quiver.

Significant themes

• Training through experience: Martial skill develops not only through formal stances but by making movement and technique instinctive in everyday travel and danger.
• The cost of cultivation: Progress requires substantial food, medicinal supplements, and energy.
• Risk and reward: The Inner Mountain offers rare resources but exposes trekkers to lethal beasts.
• Growing confidence: Su Yan’s decision to fight the tiger reflects his increasing faith in his training—and his willingness to put that confidence to the test.

Plot and key events

• Su Yan defeats a savage tiger using Monkey Fist techniques. He dodges its pouncing attacks, blocks its paw, strikes its belly, then repeatedly pounds its head until he shatters its skull.
• The fight leaves him exhausted, but he eats ginseng from his Insect Realm Space and uses stance training to absorb its medicinal effects. His skills improve: Monkey Fist reaches minor mastery, and his skin refining advances to minor mastery.
• Su Yan recognizes that his tougher skin offers protection, not invulnerability. He resolves to rely on offense and caution rather than trust his defenses.
• He carries the tiger’s carcass—estimated at seven or eight hundred pounds—to the Mountain Market, where villagers gather in amazement. He sells its flesh, sinews, and bones to the Pan Family Restaurant, keeping the hide, four kneecaps, and spine for his own purposes.

Character development

Su Yan demonstrates growing combat skill, strength, and confidence, but remains practical about the risks of relying on his improved defenses. His decision to keep valuable tiger parts suggests he has specific plans for them and is thinking beyond immediate profit.

Character interactions

• Mountain villagers recognize Su Yan, make way for him, and follow him to the market, where they praise his achievement and debate whether he truly killed the tiger.
• At the Pan Family Restaurant, butcher Yang Sandao offers to process the tiger for free in exchange for the whole carcass. Su Yan negotiates to sell most of it while retaining selected parts. Yang is impressed, judging Su Yan’s ambition credible because he killed the tiger barehanded.

Significant themes

• Growth through hardship: The battle advances Su Yan’s martial training and physical cultivation.
• Prudence and self-reliance: He treats greater toughness as useful insurance, not immunity, and favors striking before being struck.
• Recognition and social mobility: The villagers’ reaction suggests Su Yan’s martial training is beginning to distinguish him from ordinary mountain folk.
• Resourcefulness: He uses ginseng to recover and selectively keeps valuable tiger parts for future purposes.

Key plot points and events

• Master Butcher Yang expertly dissects Su Yan’s tiger, separating its pelt, meat, bones, and organs with remarkable precision. Su Yan watches closely and gains progress in his Golden Ape Stance Art.
• Yang weighs the carcass and pays Su Yan a generous 74 taels. Su Yan gives four taels to Zheng Penggang to treat the helpers to food and tea, and tells him to keep any leftover money.
• Zheng warns Su Yan that a constable has been asking about Zhao Erlaizi’s death. The matter appears to have been settled: Oxheart Village blames a strange mountain insect and is sending people to investigate.
• Su Yan privately gives Yang ten taels for his work. Yang advises him, “Don’t practice a dead stance,” prompting Su Yan to reflect on how stance practice should connect to natural movement and combat.
• Su Yan brings a tiger pelt and kneecaps to Song Qi as a gift. Song is astonished to learn that Su Yan has reached minor mastery in skin refining after fighting the tiger. Su Yan describes his mountain training, the fight, and Yang’s advice. Song confirms that Yang’s experience gives him real insight into stance work and that Su Yan must heed the warning as he aims for greater mastery.

Character developments

• Su Yan shows rapid martial progress, observational skill, generosity, and gratitude. He is beginning to connect formal training with practical movement and combat.
• Master Butcher Yang (Yang Sandao) emerges as more than a skilled butcher: his precision reflects martial expertise, and he offers Su Yan useful, hard-won advice.
• Zheng Penggang demonstrates loyalty by helping Su Yan and protecting him in the inquiry. He is moved by Su Yan’s generosity and appreciation.
• Song Qi shifts from casual conversation to genuine astonishment at Su Yan’s breakthrough, then helps interpret Yang’s advice.

Character interactions

• Yang lets Su Yan observe his work, accepts the private payment, and gives him a cryptic pointer about stance practice.
• Su Yan repays the market helpers through Zheng and expresses gratitude for Zheng’s help with his second uncle.
• Zheng shares the news about the constable and the village’s explanation for Zhao Erlaizi’s death.
• Su Yan brings Song Qi a gift and seeks guidance; Song recognizes his advancement and affirms the importance of Yang’s lesson.

Significant themes

• Learning through observation and experience: Su Yan gains insight by watching Yang and by testing himself in the mountains.
• Living skill versus rigid technique: The warning against a “dead stance” suggests that true mastery requires adaptable, purposeful movement.
• Reciprocity and generosity: Su Yan shares his earnings and gives gifts to those who have helped him.
• Recognition and mentorship: Yang’s advice and Song Qi’s response mark Su Yan’s progress and point toward his next stage of training.

Plot points and events

• Song Qi explains the four levels of stance arts and martial techniques: beginner, minor mastery, major mastery, and the transformation realm. Su Yan demonstrates the Golden Ape Stance, and Song Qi realizes he has progressed well beyond minor mastery.
• Song Qi shows how major mastery makes a stance part of a person’s ordinary movements, uniting form and intent. Reaching it requires insight, compatibility, or long experience that sparks inspiration; transformation is far rarer, demanding exceptional talent and allowing someone to transcend a technique’s limits.
• Song Qi advises Su Yan to weave the Golden Ape Stance into his footwork, Monkey Fist, and everyday movements. Greater mastery would strengthen his blood and qi and speed up skin refining. He also patiently answers Su Yan’s questions about Monkey Fist.
• Meanwhile, Gu Hong berates Niu Dang and Niu Daqi after most of Niu Han’s loan notes are lost in a fire. Although he still wants to collect debts, doing so without records could expose the Little Mountain Society to official scrutiny.
• Needing a new local lending front, Gu Hong asks about Su Yan. He learns Su Yan killed a tiger, joined the Golden Ape Martial Hall, and is connected to a ten-tael debt. Gu Hong orders the cousins to watch him and plans to recruit him, promising possible entry into the society.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan shows unusually strong compatibility with the Golden Ape Stance and is eager to advance. He listens closely to Song Qi and asks about both higher mastery and practical training.
• Song Qi treats Su Yan with warmth and patience, offering guidance as if to a younger relative. He encourages Su Yan’s potential while warning that transformation-level mastery is extraordinarily rare.
• Gu Hong is calculating and opportunistic. He sees Su Yan not as a threat or victim but as a useful new agent for his lending operation.
• Niu Dang and Niu Daqi fear both Gu Hong and the consequences of recruiting Su Yan. They know Su Dahe’s death is tied to the black rock crow ginseng given to Gu Hong, so Su Yan might retaliate if he learns the truth.

Significant themes

• Mastery through integration: True skill becomes embodied in ordinary movement, not merely performed as a set form.
• Talent and limits: Practice can build competence, but profound insight and transformation are rare.
• Mentorship and opportunity: Song Qi’s guidance gives Su Yan a path toward advancement.
• Exploitation and hidden danger: Gu Hong’s search for a new debt collector brings Su Yan closer to the people implicated in his father’s death.

Plot and events

• After returning from the mountain market, Su Yan hears that the summer tax will be collected the next day and stays home. His public display of carrying a tiger through the market has made villagers wary of him, giving him room to train without interference.
• He absorbs insect essence and practices the Golden Ape Stance Art alongside Monkey Fist. Combining the two strengthens his attacks and helps him advance; his status shows both techniques at minor mastery. He also practices the stance through ordinary walking, drinks ginseng soup to replenish his energy, and trains archery until night.
• The following morning, the village gathers to pay its head tax. The revenue officer, Fang Xueyun, arrives with clerks, laborers, and constables led by Chief Constable Xu Guan. The tax is one tael per taxable person, with children under ten exempt.
• When the clerk calls the Su household, the village head explains that Su Yan’s father, Su Dahe, died in a fall. Su Yan steps forward to pay, but Xu Guan stops him, asking whether he killed the tiger himself and whether he has reached minor mastery in skin tempering. Under the Great Li Code, martial artists at that level are exempt from the head tax.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan grows more confident in both his martial skill and public standing. He deliberately uses his tiger-carrying display to deter trouble, and his training shows increasing command of the Golden Ape Stance Art. When challenged by Xu Guan, he stays composed and decides to answer rather than evade.
• Xu Guan emerges as an observant, authoritative martial artist. He singles Su Yan out during tax collection, leaving his motives unclear.
• Old Zheng, the village head, organizes the villagers and handles the tax process, then reports Su Dahe’s death to the clerk.
• Fang Xueyun oversees the collection and relies on Xu Guan to maintain order. The villagers—including Xie Yuzhu—pay their taxes in turn.

Significant themes

• Strength and reputation: Su Yan’s display of power protects him from unwanted attention, while his growing martial ability earns notice from officials.
• Taxation and social order: The tax scene reveals the burdens on ordinary households and a fragmented realm where the court’s authority is shared with martial groups and local powers.
• Discipline and nourishment: Su Yan’s progress depends on sustained practice, careful recovery, and adequate food and medicinal support.
• Uncertain scrutiny: Xu Guan’s question puts Su Yan’s martial status—and the reason he has drawn official attention—at the center of the chapter’s closing moment.

Key plot points and events

• Household Registration Officer Fang Xueyun and Chief Constable Xu Guan assess Su Yan’s martial progress. Xu tests him with a brief clash, then declares that Su Yan’s poll tax can be waived.
• When Guo Yun’s injured family cannot pay its tax, Su Yan contributes the last of his silver—one tael—so they will not be forced into hard labor.
• Before leaving, Xu invites Su Yan to try for a position at the yamen, hinting that he sees unusual promise in him.
• Su Yan learns that Guo Yun and several others were burned by a fire-breathing insect while gathering ganoderma. Examining Guo Yun’s blackened arm, Su Yan recognizes signs of fire poison and gives the family ten taels to buy Miasma-Clearing Powder for all the injured.
• Guo Yun identifies the creature as a bizarre insect and tells Su Yan where it can be found, near the boundary of the inner mountains.

Character developments

• Su Yan shows both rapidly growing martial ability and generosity, using his money to help villagers despite his own plans to train. His skill in recognizing medicines lets him identify the cause of Guo Yun’s injury.
• Xu Guan reveals that he has been tracking Su Yan’s recent accomplishments: Su Yan defeated Wei Kang, advanced quickly, and fought a tiger. He believes Su Yan has exceptional potential and may eventually reach powerful martial realms.
• Guo Yun and Zheng Xiu are vulnerable after his injury but deeply grateful for Su Yan’s help. Guo Yun repays that kindness by sharing information about the insect.

Significant themes

• Generosity and reciprocity: Su Yan helps Guo Yun’s family in gratitude for past kindness, while Guo Yun offers useful information in return.
• Talent and recognition: Su Yan’s rapid progress attracts the attention of a powerful official, suggesting a path beyond village life.
• Community hardship: Taxes, medical expenses, and labor obligations leave ordinary families with few choices.
• The danger of the mountains: The bizarre insect’s attack reveals that gathering mountain goods can carry serious, mysterious risks.

Character interactions

• Xu Guan tests Su Yan, then privately explains to his subordinates why Su Yan stands out and publicly offers him an opportunity at the yamen.
• Su Yan intervenes when Guo Yun’s wife faces the tax collector, refusing repayment and later providing medical funds.
• Zheng Xiu expresses gratitude and follows Su Yan’s advice; Guo Yun accepts the help and tells Su Yan where the insect was encountered.

Key plot points and events

• Guo Yun tells Su Yan about a strange, scorpion-shaped insect that attacked him with flame-like mist while he was gathering cinnabar lingzhi. Su Yan suspects it may be a Velvetfire Scorpion and decides it could be valuable—but dangerous—enough to pursue after preparing.
• Su Yan helps Zheng Xiu and Zheng Peng treat Guo Yun’s burn using Miasma-Clearing Powder, then returns home.
• At the Golden Ape Martial Hall, Su Yan collects and drinks his medicinal decoction. His minor-attainment Golden Ape Stance Art lets him absorb its power unusually efficiently, though he recognizes he will need additional tonics to progress further.
• Dian Jing and Li Shun invite Su Yan to a quiet tavern. They ask for his help with an upcoming martial assessment, explaining that it may determine admission to the inner sect. Inner disciples will also be eligible for a major hunt in the Cloudridge Mountains, held once every three years.

Character developments

• Su Yan remains cautious and pragmatic: he cares for Guo Yun, studies the insect threat, and uses his martial-hall resources strategically. He also shows growing confidence in his unusual ability to absorb medicinal power.
• Guo Yun is badly burned but expected to recover after Su Yan helps treat him.
• Dian Jing and Li Shun reveal that they are seeking allies to improve their chances of entering the inner sect, rather than simply asking for casual assistance.

Character interactions

• Guo Yun warns Su Yan about the insect’s danger, while Su Yan reassures him and helps draw out the fire toxin.
• At the martial hall, Su Yan keeps to himself and focuses on training amid the rival factions.
• Li Shun praises Su Yan’s supposed feat of killing a tiger in three punches. Su Yan corrects the exaggerated story, insisting that luck—not effortless strength—saved him.
• Dian Jing and Li Shun explain the assessment’s stakes and why entering the inner sect early matters.

Significant themes

• Preparation in the face of danger: Su Yan recognizes the Velvetfire Scorpion’s potential value but plans to prepare before confronting it.
• Merit, resources, and advancement: Medicinal supplies and efficient cultivation shape Su Yan’s progress, while inner-sect status offers access to greater opportunities.
• Rumor versus reality: The inflated tiger story contrasts with Su Yan’s modest account of what happened.
• Competition and alliance: The martial hall’s factional divisions coexist with practical cooperation when advancement is at stake.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shun and Dian Jing explain that inner disciples receive free training, wages, medicine, and other resources, and hope to qualify so they can support themselves and their families.
• They ask Su Yan to take the first arena matches and wear down their rivals, while promising vague future help. Li Shun points out that only five outer disciples have reached mastery in Skin Refining and says Su Yan is unlikely to win.
• Su Yan refuses, calling out their selfishness and empty promises. Before leaving, he boasts that he reached minor attainment in half a month and challenges them to imagine how far he might advance in another half month.
• Dian Jing restrains Li Shun when he reacts angrily. Li Shun dismisses Su Yan as lucky and predicts he will struggle in the arena without their support.
• Su Yan visits the Heavenwind Armory to buy a net for catching a Velvetfire Scorpion. He purchases a finely made Iron Wire Fishing Net for fifteen taels of silver, leaving him unsure whether he can still afford medicine, Savage Beast meat, or a new bow.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan shows independence and confidence, refusing to risk himself for a one-sided bargain. His rapid progress gives him leverage, though his boast also sharpens tensions with the senior disciples.
• Li Shun reveals himself as self-interested and tightfisted: he wants Su Yan to help his group but offers only promises of future favors. His resentment flares when Su Yan refuses.
• Dian Jing is more uneasy about the scheme. Though he goes along with it, he stops Li Shun from escalating the confrontation.
• Su Yan and the armory attendant have a straightforward, favorable exchange: the attendant finds a suitable specialized net, and Su Yan buys it despite its high price.

Significant themes

• Resource inequality: Inner disciples gain the material support that poorer students lack, making advancement a path to security as well as status.
• Self-interest and reciprocity: The negotiation exposes the difference between genuine help and promises designed to recruit someone else’s effort.
• Confidence, ambition, and risk: Su Yan’s rapid cultivation and boldness challenge assumptions about his weakness, while the arena remains a test of both skill and courage.
• Practical sacrifice: Su Yan spends heavily on equipment needed for a rare opportunity, forcing him to weigh immediate needs against future training expenses.

• Su Yan buys cultivation medicine: At Hundred Herbs Hall, he chooses Redskin Powder on Song Qi’s recommendation. The assistant explains that it is a potent first-tier medicine for skin refining, used in hot-water baths followed by stance practice. Su Yan buys three bottles for thirty taels, spending most of his savings despite the steep price.
• He visits Temple Butcher House: With a little over ten taels remaining, Su Yan heads to the secluded Rear Temple Alley to buy Savage Beast meat. The shop’s imposing entrance and powerful staff suggest it is among the town’s strongest establishments.
• A demonstration of butchery skill: Su Yan is shown a newly delivered Blue-Back Rock Ox, an early first-tier Savage Beast. The senior butcher, Xie Zheng, subdues the charging animal, breaks its spine, and kills and carves it with astonishing speed and precision. Su Yan studies the man’s blade work, recognizing its deep mastery and becoming absorbed in thoughts of martial technique.
• Su Yan’s purchase and Xie Zheng’s notice: Su Yan spends his remaining silver on ten jin of ox meat, prioritizing physical training despite the cost. As he leaves, Xie Zheng notices an ape-like quality in his gait and suspects he may belong to Golden Ape Martial Hall.
  Character developments and interactions: Su Yan shows growing discipline and commitment to strengthening his body, willingly sacrificing nearly all his money for medicine and nourishing meat. His keen attention to Xie Zheng’s technique reveals how readily he connects practical demonstrations with martial learning. Xie Zheng, in turn, shifts from butcher to perceptive observer, recognizing something distinctive in Su Yan’s movements.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes the high material cost of martial cultivation, the value of skilled practice and close observation, and the way martial ability can be revealed through seemingly ordinary movements and trades.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yan buys supplies in Cloudcang Town but, short on money, resists the tempting food stalls and hurries home.
• He stews Blue-Back Rock Ox meat with earthblood vine and cinnabar lingzhi. Practicing the Golden Ape Stance Art afterward, he finds that beast meat releases nourishment gradually, strengthening his body and helping his qi and blood develop.
• Determined to reach major attainment in skin refining and qualify as an inner disciple, Su Yan takes a bath in Redskin Powder. Its effects cause intense, burning pain, but he endures it, then practices the stance art again to absorb the medicine.
• His training improves, though he remains at minor attainment: Skin Refining 31/200, Golden Ape Stance Art 79/200, and Monkey Fist 21/200.
• That night, he sets out for the mountains to find the Velvetfire Scorpion. The route appears undisturbed, and he reaches the ravine where he previously found cinnabar lingzhi. A large cluster of the valuable herb remains there as an ominous rustling begins.

Character development

• Su Yan is disciplined and increasingly resourceful, combining beast meat, medicinal herbs, and martial practice to improve efficiently.
• His ambition is clear: first attain major skin refining and enter the inner ranks, then strengthen his tendons and bones. He also sees inner-disciple status as a source of influence and access to the resources expected from the Great Wilderness Mountains.
• His willingness to endure the Redskin Powder’s agony underscores his toughness and resolve.

Significant themes

• Pain and perseverance: Progress demands enduring severe discomfort.
• Resourcefulness and material cultivation: Food, herbs, medicine, and training all contribute to advancement in different ways.
• Ambition and opportunity: Su Yan’s drive to become an inner disciple is tied to both security and a share in future mountain resources.
• Risk and reward: His nighttime trip into dangerous territory promises valuable gains but exposes him to the unknown.

Character interactions

• The chapter is largely focused on Su Yan’s solitary choices and training. His plans are shaped partly by what Li Shun and Dian Jing have said about opening the Great Wilderness Mountains, and by his awareness that Uncle Xie, Guo Yun, and other trekkers know the herb-gathering area. No direct conversation occurs; the closing rustle introduces a likely encounter.

• Su Yan hides near a patch of cinnabar lingzhi and discovers a Velvetfire Scorpion emerging from a crevice to eat the medicinal fungus. Recognizing the danger—and recalling that Uncle Guo Yun was injured gathering cinnabar lingzhi—he avoids approaching it directly.
• To draw the scorpion away from its refuge, Su Yan sends his Darkwater Centipede to provoke it. The two insects clash fiercely. The scorpion’s fiery poison mist badly scorches the centipede’s shell, but the centipede resists most of the poison and eventually lures the scorpion onto open ground.
• Su Yan traps the pursuing scorpion with an Iron Wire Fishing Net and knocks aside its attempt to burn through the mesh with its tail. He then refines it using the Fierce Insect Cauldron and his stored beast blood essence. The scorpion is already in its growth stage, bringing his progress to First-Rank Insect Master 19/100.
• Su Yan sees the new insect as a major boost to his defenses: paired with the Darkwater Centipede, their poisons may threaten even opponents at the Sinew and Bone realm. With half a month left before the inner-sect entry contest, he plans to continue training and expects to reach major attainment in Skin Refining.
• After collecting the remaining cinnabar lingzhi, Su Yan notices a glow in the crevice and pries open the rocks. He discovers a rare flameflesh lingzhi, which explains why the scorpion guarded the spot so fiercely.
  Character developments and interactions: Su Yan shows patience, tactical thinking, and growing confidence as an insect master. He directs the Darkwater Centipede as a decoy and combat partner, while the centipede’s resistance and aggression help secure the capture. The Velvetfire Scorpion is revealed as territorial and predatory, but after being refined it becomes Su Yan’s new source of strength.
  Themes: Resourcefulness over brute force; the risks and rewards of cultivating dangerous creatures; the strategic value of preparation; and the steady accumulation of power in anticipation of a future contest.

Key events

• Su Yan harvests a valuable flameflesh lingzhi in the mountains, choosing to feed it to his bonded insects rather than sell it. He also gives them poisonous plants, mushrooms, rabbits, and snakes.
• Back in Yunqian Village, he intensifies his training with Blue-Back Rock Ox meat, Redskin Powder, and insect essence. He practices the Golden Ape Stance Art and all eight forms of Monkey Fist, working to make the stance’s principles part of his movement.
• Over several days, his skills improve substantially. His skin refining, stance art, and Monkey Fist approach major mastery; the Darkwater Centipede nears maturity. His Basic Archery reaches major mastery first, and applying stance-generated power lets him shoot three arrows into the same branch at once.
• Realizing that practice alone may not carry him past his current plateau, Su Yan decides to spend time in the mountains to seek resources and gain combat experience.
• Dian Jing visits to warn him that Li Shun has obtained a prized Rhinoceros-Horn Catfish and may try to regain face during the upcoming assessment. He also tells Su Yan that wild beasts have fled into the inner mountains, creating an opportunity for hunters to patrol, hunt, and earn valuable rewards.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan grows stronger and more confident, but recognizes that he needs real combat—not just strenuous practice—to advance further. He dismisses Li Shun’s posturing as unimportant.
• Li Shun remains hostile toward Su Yan and is preparing to challenge him, relying partly on the benefit of the prized fish.
• Dian Jing acknowledges that he was wrong to follow Li Shun’s faction-building scheme. He has since broken with him and comes to warn Su Yan, partly to make amends. Su Yan receives both the warning and the hunting opportunity gratefully.

Significant themes

• Strength earned through effort: Su Yan and Dian Jing both conclude that personal ability matters more than borrowed influence or factional alliances.
• Practice and breakthrough: Resources and disciplined training accelerate progress, but mastery eventually requires risk, combat, and practical experience.
• Turning opportunity into growth: Su Yan treats plants, prey, training, archery, and the coming hunt as ways to strengthen both himself and his insects.

Key plot points and events

• Dian Jing warns Su Yan that Savage Beasts are running wild in the mountains and that officials have advised people to avoid the Inner Mountain. Village Head Zheng confirms the warning.
• Seeing a chance to improve, Su Yan enters the Inner Mountain despite the danger. He releases his Darkwater Centipede and Velvetfire Scorpion to flush out prey and search for useful plants, while he hunts with his bow.
• The creatures draw out larger beasts. Su Yan kills a Black Bear, a boar, and a Black Panther in close combat, using them to test and refine his martial techniques.
• At night, Su Yan camps in the mountains and practices his stance. His insight deepens, and the fighting accelerates his progress toward a breakthrough in skin refining.
• A series of frightened wolf howls breaks the quiet. Su Yan realizes the wolves are fleeing something and wonders what could be hunting them.

Character developments

• Su Yan acts decisively on the warning, treating the danger as an opportunity rather than a reason to retreat. His growing confidence is matched by practical insight: he recognizes that martial training must be tested in real combat, not just rehearsed.
• His technique is powerful but not yet fully integrated; after killing the bear, he reflects on how better movement could have ended the fight faster.
• Dian Jing attempts to make amends by sharing the warning. Village Head Zheng is kind and cautious, but has only the same limited information available from town.

Character interactions

• Su Yan gives Zheng Daqing cured meat in gratitude for his family’s help, then questions him about the mountain danger.
• The Darkwater Centipede and Velvetfire Scorpion assist by stirring prey from the undergrowth and confronting dangerous animals, while Su Yan handles the kills.
• Su Yan faces each beast directly, turning their attacks into opportunities to test his skills.

Significant themes

• Growth through struggle: Real combat advances Su Yan’s training more effectively than routine practice.
• Courage and danger: Su Yan knowingly enters a hazardous area because he believes it will help him grow.
• Martial arts as lived practice: He concludes that mastery requires the ability and willingness to fight, not merely correct forms.
• Foreboding: The wolves’ panicked cries suggest a greater threat is moving through the mountains.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yan investigates terrified wolf howls near his mountain refuge and discovers a copper-furred, fox-faced ape attacking a gray-wolf pack.
• The ape overwhelms the wolves, killing their near–Quasi-First Tier king and scattering the survivors. Su Yan notices the ape has a bleeding neck wound and decides to attack while it is distracted.
• His arrows injure the ape but do little to stop it. As it charges, Su Yan switches from archery to close combat, using his practiced footwork, stances, and ape-inspired techniques.
• After a fierce exchange, Su Yan throws the ape, fractures its sternum, breaks its arm, and finally crushes its neck, killing it.

Character development

• Su Yan begins cautiously, setting limits on how dangerous a beast he is willing to face, but becomes increasingly bold once he sees an opening.
• He refuses assistance from his Darkwater Centipede and Velvetfire Scorpion, relying on his own strength and skill.
• The struggle pushes his martial training to a breakthrough: his Fist Technique and Stance Training fuse into his movements and reach perfection.

Significant themes

• Courage and calculated risk: Su Yan attacks only after observing the fight and assessing the ape’s injury and strength.
• Adaptation and mastery: He shifts from ranged attacks to hand-to-hand combat as circumstances change, and the battle transforms practiced techniques into instinct.
• Nature’s brutal hierarchy: The wolves’ strength as a pack cannot save their king from a more powerful predator.
• Growth through ordeal: Su Yan’s most dangerous fight becomes the catalyst for a major advance in his martial ability.

Character interactions

• The copper fox ape dominates the wolf pack, killing its king and forcing the survivors to flee.
• Su Yan exploits the ape’s fight with the wolves, then engages it directly in a contest of strength and technique.
• Although his two companion creatures are nearby, Su Yan deliberately keeps them out of the battle.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yan reaches major attainment in Skin Refining, gaining tougher skin, stronger blood and qi, and exceptional physical strength. His cultivation and several martial skills are now at major attainment.
• He feeds the Copper Fox Ape’s heart to the nearly mature Darkwater Centipede. The insect breaks through, develops a new blackish-purple shell, and replenishes itself by eating more of the beast.
• Following the centipede’s signal, Su Yan discovers a cave in the wolves’ den. Inside are seven wolf pups and several Blood Tendon Flowers—the medicinal plants he had promised to find for Song Qi.
• He collects the flowers and vines, takes the pups, and spends the night cutting the Copper Fox Ape into transportable pieces. He stores its meat and choice Wolf King cuts in his Insect Realm.
• The next day he carries a black bear and leopard down to the Mountain Market. Yang Sandao buys them for thirty taels and twenty taels, respectively.
• Niu Dang and Niu Daqi spot Su Yan and hurry to find Gu Hong, hoping to seize their chance to deal with him before he leaves.

Character developments

• Su Yan becomes more confident in his transformed body, but remains cautious about attracting attention. He keeps the Copper Fox Ape’s meat for his own and his insects’ needs rather than displaying or selling the rare kill.
• His resourcefulness is evident in how he uses the centipede to locate useful plants, gathers the wolf pups, and efficiently turns his mountain haul into supplies and money.
• The Darkwater Centipede advances in growth and gains a more formidable armored appearance after consuming the ape’s heart.

Character interactions

• Su Yan directs the centipede’s feeding and growth, then gives some of the ape’s remains to the Velvetfire Scorpion.
• He recovers the wolf pups and Blood Tendon Flowers from the den, fulfilling his promise to Song Qi.
• At the market, Yang Sandao praises Su Yan’s courage and purchases the bear and leopard. Su Yan brushes off the praise and accepts the offered prices.
• Niu Dang and Niu Daqi act behind the scenes, seeking Gu Hong as Su Yan arrives.

Significant themes

• Cultivation through danger and resources: Su Yan’s breakthrough is tied to combat, training, and the strategic use of a rare beast’s remains.
• Power and restraint: Although Su Yan can make a spectacle of his achievements, he deliberately avoids drawing further attention.
• Practical survival and opportunity: He turns danger into valuable resources—meat, medicinal flowers, wolf pups, and market income.
• The costs of ambition: Yang Sandao recognizes that Su Yan’s progress reflects not just courage but a willingness to push himself ruthlessly.

Plot points and events

• Su Yan visits Hundred Herbs Hall and gives Song Qi several blood tendon flowers—rare plants Song Qi has sought for years to treat old injuries that have stalled his cultivation.
• Gu Hong arrives with hired fighters and tries to buy the flowers for the Little Mountain Society. He offers Su Yan a place in the society, but the offer is plainly a demand for loyalty and obedience.
• Gu Hong reveals that Niu Han joined the society by bringing black rock crow ginseng. Su Yan reacts with quiet anger, though he does not yet know that his father, Su Dahe, died after being thrown from a cliff while gathering ginseng.
• Su Yan gives the flowers to Song Qi instead. Gu Hong attacks him, but Song Qi knocks Gu Hong outside and reveals that he has regained the Blood Moving Realm. Gu Hong retreats rather than risk being killed.
• Song Qi offers to pay Su Yan four times the flowers’ usual price. Su Yan refuses, calling the gift repayment for Song Qi’s martial guidance and admitting he hopes Song Qi will become his backer.
• Song Qi takes Su Yan to the rear courtyard to test his stance training—and discovers that Su Yan has already reached full mastery in Skin Refining.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan shows gratitude, resolve, and growing confidence. He rejects Gu Hong’s condescending offer and openly challenges the Little Mountain Society’s assumption that he can be bought. His hidden advancement makes him stronger than Gu Hong realizes.
• Song Qi shifts from mentor to committed protector. The flowers move him deeply, and Su Yan’s sincerity strengthens his resolve to guide and support the young man.
• Gu Hong is exposed as arrogant and coercive. His attempt to assert authority ends in public humiliation when Song Qi defeats him, forcing him to retreat.
• Niu Dang and Niu Daqi recognize the danger in Gu Hong’s careless disclosure about the ginseng, knowing it could connect the society to Su Yan’s father’s death.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and loyalty: Su Yan values Song Qi’s guidance more than money, while Song Qi responds with a deeper commitment to him.
• Power and patronage: Gu Hong presents membership as opportunity, but it requires submission; Su Yan refuses to trade his independence for advancement.
• Hidden strength and underestimated ability: Gu Hong misjudges Su Yan’s cultivation, while Song Qi’s apparent decline conceals his recovered power.
• Unresolved injustice: The ginseng revelation foreshadows Su Yan’s eventual discovery of the circumstances surrounding his father’s death.

Key plot points

• Su Yan reveals that he has reached greater mastery of the Golden Ape Stance Art and Monkey Fist. He explains that after ordinary training stalled, he used real combat—fighting savage beasts—and broke through after killing a Copper Fox Ape.
• Song Qi recognizes that live combat is the final stage of mastering a fighting art. He advises Su Yan to strengthen his foundation with the ape’s meat and bones, medicinal herbs, and two blood tendon flowers, and to seek a blood lingzhi from Bai Shan.
• Song Qi invites Su Yan to stay with him and promises to introduce him to old acquaintances, anticipating that Su Yan will soon enter the Golden Ape Martial Hall’s inner ranks. Privately, he worries that the Hall’s techniques alone will leave gaps in Su Yan’s abilities and resolves to seek other teachers for him.
• The next morning, Su Yan practices and notices that greater mastery lets him refine stronger qi and blood and absorb medicinal resources more efficiently. Song Qi praises his Monkey Fist, then takes him into Cloudcang Town to meet someone.
• Little Mountain Society watchers fail to find a chance to capture Su Yan while Song Qi protects him. They withdraw, leaving the Mountain Market undisturbed.
• Song Qi brings Su Yan to a wealthy residence in Cangliu Lane and calls out for “Second Xu,” announcing his return.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan shows rapid progress, but also humility, explaining his breakthrough as luck. His ability to recognize the need for practical combat shows growing insight into martial training.
• Song Qi is astonished by Su Yan’s advancement and shifts from intending to instruct him to arranging broader training and resources. His mention of Gu Changfeng hints at an old defeat and a lingering personal grievance.
• Song Qi and Su Yan develop a closer mentor-student relationship: Song Qi offers advice, lodging, introductions, and protection; Su Yan responds respectfully and offers to share the ape’s flesh.
• The Little Mountain Society remains intent on seizing Su Yan for Gu Hong, but Song Qi’s presence prevents them from acting.

Significant themes

• Practice through real conflict: Martial skill is incomplete without the willingness to fight and kill.
• Growth through insight and resources: Su Yan’s progress comes from both independent understanding and effective use of medicinal support.
• Mentorship and legacy: Song Qi’s concern for Su Yan leads him to seek teachers beyond his own art—and recalls the weakness that once cost him a fight.
• Rising danger and wider horizons: Su Yan’s move toward the inner ranks and the town’s martial networks signals a transition from local disputes toward greater struggles in the Wild Mountains.

Key events

• Song Qi reveals that he has spent years gathering ingredients for a Sinew-Mending Meridian-Continuing Pill. Xu Zhongdao, the chief steward of Hundred Herbs Hall’s pill chamber, agrees to refine it.
• Song Qi explains that internal politics and rival factions—including the Little Mountain Society—have obstructed his recovery and oppose the possibility of another powerful expert emerging in Cloudcang Town.
• Song Qi introduces Su Yan to Xu, both to recognize Su Yan’s talent and to secure him support. Xu welcomes them and offers to prepare specialized training medicine for Su Yan.
• Song Qi plans to enter the Wild Mountains after reaching the origin-nurturing realm, where he hopes to confront Gu Changfeng. Though Xu warns him that Gu has years of cultivation advantage, Song Qi refuses to abandon his vendetta.
• Meanwhile, Su Yan trains and resolves to become strong enough to deal with Gu Hong, whom he suspects possesses the treasure plant connected to his father Su Dahe’s death. He also considers using his poisonous creatures to surprise Gu Hong.
• Xu examines Su Yan and discovers his exceptional vitality, strong physique, and ability to endure the full dose of Redskin Powder. Learning that most trainees reduce the dose or leave early, Xu decides Su Yan can handle a more potent formula, which he calls “Poison-Skin Powder.”

Character developments and interactions

• Song Qi remains determined to recover and pursue revenge, but also acts protectively toward Su Yan by introducing him to Xu and asking Xu to tailor medicines for him.
• Xu Zhongdao emerges as a skilled, politically experienced ally. He recognizes Song Qi’s intentions, agrees to help, and becomes impressed by Su Yan’s unusual resilience.
• Su Yan shows discipline, physical promise, and growing resolve. He understands that he needs protection and greater strength before confronting his enemies, while his knowledge of medicinal ingredients surprises Xu.
• Song Qi and Xu share a long-standing friendship and candid concern for one another. Xu worries that Song Qi’s revenge may be dangerous, while Song Qi remains unwavering; both see Su Yan as worth investing in.

Significant themes

• Factional politics and obstruction: Powerful groups protect their interests by limiting rivals’ advancement.
• Revenge and patience: Song Qi and Su Yan both carry grudges, but recognize that strength and timing matter.
• Mentorship and alliance: Song Qi’s introduction connects Su Yan with an experienced medical expert who can support his growth.
• Endurance and potential: Su Yan’s willingness to withstand the painful full treatment marks him as unusually capable—and allows stronger training methods.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Zhongdao explains that he has been adjusting Su Yan’s medicines to match his unusual ability to absorb them and endure pain. Unlike standard remedies, these treatments are tailored to an individual’s body and cultivation needs.
• In a separate courtyard, Gu Hong urges his father, Gu Changfeng, to act before Song Qi recovers. Gu Changfeng dismisses Song as a minor threat and focuses instead on the Wild Mountains reopening and the Beast King Sect’s upcoming collection of tribute.
• Gu Changfeng plans to secure favor with the Beast King Sect for the Little Mountain Society by finding young beasts and earning merit. Access to the sect’s cultivation methods could benefit the Gu family and its descendants.
• The Gu family also targets Su Yan for supporting Song Qi. Gu Changfeng orders Gu Hong to punish Su Yan subtly and keep him from passing the Golden Ape Martial Hall’s upcoming Inner Gate examination.
• Su Yan gathers ingredients for the Sinew-Mending Meridian-Continuing Pill and brings them to Xu Zhongdao. Since the pill is difficult to refine, Xu plans to study its ingredients and proceed carefully.
• Xu invites Su Yan to watch him make Redskin Powder as a test of Su Yan’s medicinal knowledge. This sparks Su Yan’s idea of refining the poisonous plants he has found into poison pills for his Bound Insects instead of feeding them raw.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yan shows trust and gratitude toward Xu Zhongdao, while remaining observant and resourceful. He is beginning to think beyond cultivation and consider ways to make more effective use of poisons.
• Xu Zhongdao takes an increasingly active interest in teaching Su Yan, assessing his knowledge and sharing practical medicine-making techniques.
• Gu Changfeng emerges as calculating and ambitious: he prioritizes gaining influence with the Beast King Sect over settling scores with Song Qi, while still arranging a quiet retaliation against Su Yan.
• Gu Hong shifts from concern about Song Qi to enthusiasm for his father’s strategy, but remains resentful toward Su Yan.
• The chapter contrasts Xu’s careful, individualized mentorship of Su Yan with the Gu family’s strategic scheming and retaliation.

Significant themes

• Individualized cultivation: Medicines and martial arts must be adapted to the practitioner rather than followed mechanically.
• Political ambition and power: The reopening of the mountains and the Beast King Sect’s tribute create opportunities for factions to compete for status and resources.
• Mentorship and practical learning: Xu teaches through observation and hands-on demonstration.
• Resourcefulness and retaliation: Su Yan looks for more efficient uses of scarce materials, while the Gu family uses influence and indirect punishment to eliminate obstacles.

Plot points and events

• Xu Zhongdao takes Su Yan to the Pill Room to teach him how medicine is prepared and to make a stronger-than-usual Redskin Powder for testing.
• While refining the ingredients over charcoal, Xu explains that first-tier medicines rely on combining and processing ingredients, while higher-tier pills require True Essence and, at still higher levels, beast spirit true intent.
• Xu and Su Yan join Song Qi in the rear courtyard, where preparations are underway to treat Song’s injuries. Su Yan is given a tub of hot water infused with the potent powder, intended to test his limits before the Golden Ape Martial Hall’s Inner Gate examination.
• Su Yan endures two hours of extreme burning and itching as the medicine damages and repairs his skin. Following Xu’s instructions, he circulates the Golden Ape Stance Art and uses his blood and qi to absorb the medicine and regenerate his skin.
• Afterward, Su Yan’s cultivation progress is recorded as Skin Refining 37/400 and Golden Ape Stance Art 24/400, both at grand mastery.

Character development

• Su Yan shows discipline and a high tolerance for pain, choosing to immerse himself without hesitation and persisting through the treatment. The ordeal advances his training.
• Xu Zhongdao acts as both instructor and practical mentor, explaining medicine-making and guiding Su Yan through a dangerous strengthening technique.
• Song Qi’s scarred, powerful physique reveals the physical toll of his experience and establishes that he is preparing for treatment.

Significant themes

• Pain and growth: Su Yan’s improvement comes through a punishing process of destruction and renewal.
• Practical knowledge and cultivation: Medicine-making is presented as a craft grounded in ingredients and technique, with more powerful methods requiring deeper cultivation.
• Persistence and self-discipline: Su Yan’s composure and determination allow him to endure a treatment that could overwhelm an ordinary person.

Character interactions

• Xu teaches Su Yan by explaining the refinement process and then directing him during the treatment.
• Su Yan listens to Xu, follows his instructions, and withstands the ordeal under his supervision.
• Song Qi briefly directs Su Yan to use the prepared tub while continuing his own training and preparations.