Chapter Summaries

After Shen Ping left Wild Boar Mountain, Duan Rong made the cave his planned stronghold and absorbed the Artifact Spirits of its contents. He discovered Shen Ping’s notes on medicine and inner breath, but soul pain from his exertions forced him to sleep before he could study them further.

• Shen Ping scattered poisonous mist as he departed, killing nearby creatures and startling Duan Rong, then vanished into the woods.
• Duan Rong returned to Shen Ping’s cave and devoured the Artifact Spirits of a stone hammer, a dagger, a bone pillow, and the cave’s other belongings.
• Duan Rong sorted the cave’s supplies, medicines, poisons, and notes, deciding to use the cave as a refuge on Wild Boar Mountain.
• Duan Rong studied Shen Ping’s notebooks and found notes on the relationship between medicinal properties and inner-breath circulation.
• Duan Rong’s soul began to ache after his exertions, so he lay on the stone bed and fell asleep.

After absorbing Shen Ping’s memories, Duan Rong awakened with a deep understanding of Shen Ping’s medicinal and poisonous knowledge, then read his notebooks with ease. He left the cave to eat and returned ready to continue studying Shen Ping’s insights.

• Duan Rong realized that absorbing Shen Ping’s belongings had given him familiarity with the cave and knowledge of its medicines and poisons.
• Duan Rong reread Shen Ping’s notebook and understood its contents and hidden meanings almost instantly.
• Duan Rong took a bottle from the stone table and went into the forest, where he subdued a Black Spotted Snake with sedative mist.
• Duan Rong roasted and ate the snake, then returned to the cave.
• Duan Rong read Shen Ping’s remaining three notebooks and reviewed the insights he had absorbed.

Duan Rong left Shen Ping’s cave after gaining medical insights and improving his Cloud Serpent Step, then discovered that a village had been slaughtered. He found Qin Lao Han’s grandson Hei Wa impaled on a fence, and his anger and killing intent surged.

• Duan Rong took two porcelain bottles from Shen Ping’s cave and returned toward the village.
• Duan Rong broke through to Minor Accomplishment in the Cloud Serpent Step while crossing the wilderness.
• Duan Rong smelled blood near the village, spread his divine sense, and rushed toward the source.
• Duan Rong found the village’s residents dead, including an old woman and several people in a farmhouse courtyard.
• Duan Rong went to Qin Lao Han’s home and saw Hei Wa impaled on a sharpened stake in the fence.

Duan Rong investigated the massacre of Qin Lao Han’s family and discovered that bandits had raided Quan Family Manor under orders from Tang Wan Hong, who served Shen Yanliu. After realizing Shen Yanliu had secretly used bandits to rob wealthy estates and slaughter villagers, Duan Rong prepared to attack the men in the manor’s hidden chamber.

• Duan Rong found Hei Wa and Qin Lao Han’s family murdered, then followed the sound of horses toward Quan Family Manor.
• Duan Rong found the manor guards dead and searched the apparently empty grounds for survivors.
• Duan Rong discovered a secret chamber beneath an artificial mountain containing twelve armed men, the dead Quan father and son, and a chest of valuables.
• Duan Rong learned that Tang Wan Hong had sent the bandits to rob the Quan family and recognized Tang as Shen Yanliu’s man.
• Duan Rong resolved to kill the bandits as an offering to the villagers they had murdered.

Duan Rong ambushed Shen Chen and his men while they carried a chest of treasure out of a secret chamber, killing nearly all of them with flying knives. He fought Shen Chen, whose stronger swordsmanship drove him back, until Shen Chen’s vision suddenly blurred.

• Shen Chen ordered Hu Hong and Zhou Zhong to carry the treasure chest out of the secret chamber while his men followed.
• Duan Rong killed a thin man who secretly picked up a gold ingot, then used the noise to launch a surprise attack on Shen Chen and the others.
• Shen Chen dodged Duan Rong’s first knife, but Duan Rong killed the men around him with a series of flying knives.
• Shen Chen offered to split the chest’s contents, but Duan Rong said Shen Chen’s life was useful to him and attacked.
• Duan Rong used the Cloud Serpent Step and Thunder Smoke Saber to evade Shen Chen’s stronger sword strikes, until Shen Chen’s vision suddenly blurred.

Duan Rong killed Shen Chen and the remaining guards at Quan Family Manor, then burned their corpses as an offering for the village dead. He buried Qin Lao Han’s family, offered Shen Chen’s head at their grave, and left for Wild Boar Mountain carrying a chest of valuables.

• Duan Rong poisoned Shen Chen, killed him with a throwing knife and saber, and took his severed head.
• Duan Rong killed the two guards at the manor gate, gathered the corpses, and recognized Shen Chen’s swordsmanship as similar to Shen Mizhi’s.
• Duan Rong devoured the longsword’s Rinsing Water Sword Technique and burned the twelve corpses at Quan Family Manor.
• Duan Rong buried Qin Lao Han’s family of four and burned Shen Chen’s head at their grave as an offering.
• Duan Rong destroyed the carriage and headed into Wild Boar Mountain with a chest of valuables.

Duan Rong brought the Quan Family’s fortune to his cave and discovered a strenuous cliff-descent method that could improve his inner breath. After returning to Xiangu County, he delivered Shen Ping’s medicine to Xiao Zongting and told him Shen had left to travel and heal people.

• Duan Rong counted the Quan Family’s gold, jewels, and silver notes, then used the money to secure the registration fees he owed Xi Men Kan Kan.
• Duan Rong carved footholds into the cliff and carried the heavy chest down to his cave, realizing that repeated descents could train his balance and exhaust his inner breath.
• Duan Rong stored the chest and silver notes in the cave, traveled through the night to Xiangu County, and learned from Ma Wentao that the escort agency had been quiet in his absence.
• Duan Rong visited Xiao Zongting and gave him the medicine Shen Ping had left, explaining that Shen had gone to roam the four corners and heal the sick.
• Xiao Zongting grieved over Shen Ping’s departure, and Duan Rong comforted him before leaving with a yellow rose from the vase.

Duan Rong developed a medicinal soup that resolved the problem of medicinal permeability and greatly accelerated his inner breath cultivation. After spending several days drinking it and training, he went to Gu Mountain and carved a boulder into a Rock Coffin.

• Duan Rong refined a medicinal prescription, then delivered Shen Ping's medicine and final words to Hu Huanhuan, who was devastated by the news.
• Duan Rong gathered ingredients from the Crude Drug Store and Slaughter Market and brewed a strange green medicinal soup at Willow Lodge.
• Duan Rong tested the soup while practicing the Hun Yuan Stance and found that it let medicinal potency enter even his finer meridians, increasing his cultivation speed by nearly a third.
• Duan Rong drank successive pots of soup and trained for three days, finding that his inner breath had grown stronger.
• Duan Rong went to Gu Mountain, cut a boulder from the cliff with his Oxtail Saber, and carved it into a rectangular Rock Coffin.

Duan Rong trained by carrying the Rock Coffin up Gu Mountain’s sheer cliffs, relying on his inner breath and Divine Sense Projection. After reaching the summit and startling three children, he left them unconscious and descended with the coffin, while they awoke believing a Mountain Demon had visited.

• Duan Rong drank his medicinal soup and began climbing Gu Mountain with the Rock Coffin on his shoulder.
• Duan Rong carefully leapt from foothold to foothold up the cliff, using Divine Sense Projection to scout his route.
• Three children climbed to the summit to gather wild jujubes and were startled when Duan Rong and the Rock Coffin appeared over the cliff.
• Duan Rong caught a child before he struck a jagged rock, then rested, ate jujubes, and drank more soup to recover his inner breath.
• Duan Rong clouded the children with mist, lifted the Rock Coffin, and leapt down from the summit.
• The children awoke, found jujube pits scattered nearby, and fled down the mountain, fearing a Mountain Demon had eaten the fruit.

After recovering from his training on Gu Mountain, Duan Rong went to the back courtyard accounts office to collect his overdue cultivation allowance from Xu Shouxian. He noticed an unfamiliar man who seemed to resemble Xu Shouxian, then entered East Jia Room to meet the chief accountant.

• Duan Rong returned to Willow Lodge, recovered from his exhausting trip to Gu Mountain, and decided to train there once every three days.
• Duan Rong remembered that it was the day monthly pay was distributed and went to the back courtyard to collect his second monthly cultivation allowance.
• Huang Qing recognized Duan Rong at the accounts office and directed him to Xu Shouxian in East Jia Room.
• Duan Rong saw an unfamiliar man leave East Ding Room and thought the man’s features resembled Xu Shouxian’s.
• Duan Rong knocked on the door of East Jia Room, waited for a response, and entered after Xu Shouxian called him in.

Duan Rong was denied the remaining funds approved for him by Ruan Fengshan, then focused on cultivation and escort work at Yuan Shun Escort Agency. He reached the Minute Subtlety Realm of the Fourth Level of Inner Breath after receiving a Commendation Order.

• Xu Shouxian refused to give Duan Rong the rest of his approved funds, while Li Jun mocked him and Xu Shouxian admitted he was not afraid of a complaint.
• Duan Rong realized Xu Shouxian was taking out his conflict with Xiao Zongting on him, but chose to endure the slight so he could remain at Yuan Shun Escort Agency and pursue the Taiyi Sect selection.
• Duan Rong cultivated intensely for four months, reached the Major Accomplishment Realm of the Fourth Level of Inner Breath, and concealed his progress by displaying the Minor Accomplishment Realm of the Third Level on escort runs.
• Sun Huang applied for a Commendation Order for Duan Rong, and Ruan Fengshan approved it, believing Duan Rong's progress justified the thousand taels he had authorized.
• Duan Rong reached the Minute Subtlety Realm of the Fourth Level of Inner Breath less than two months after attaining Major Accomplishment, using Divine Sense Projection to examine changes in his meridians.

Duan Rong learned from Xi Men Kan Kan that martial artists at higher realms could live for thousands of years, overturning his understanding of the world. He became convinced that Taiyi Sect might hold clues to immortality.

• Duan Rong read about the Filthy Blood Sect and dismissed a book’s claim that people could live for ten thousand years.
• Xi Men Kan Kan visited Duan Rong to discuss registering him for the Registered Disciple selection and collecting sixty thousand silver coins.
• Xi Men Kan Kan explained the lifespans associated with higher martial realms, including up to five thousand years at the Primal God Realm.
• Xi Men Kan Kan revealed that Taiyi Sect forbade lifespan information from spreading in the secular world and ordered related books confiscated.
• After Xi Men Kan Kan left, Duan Rong wondered whether immortality existed and resolved to look toward Taiyi Sect.

Duan Rong paid Xi Men Yong to register him for Taiyi Sect’s Registered Disciple selection, and Xi Men Yong agreed to handle the recommendation letter alongside Xi Men Kan Kan’s. At Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s Year-End Assembly, Ruan Fengshan assigned Xiao Yu and Duan Rong to audit the accounts, and Xiao Zongting summoned Duan Rong to explain the task.

• Duan Rong gave Xi Men Kan Kan six Silver Notes worth sixty thousand taels to pay for registration for Taiyi Sect’s selection.
• Xi Men Yong kept thirty thousand taels for the registration fee and returned the rest to Duan Rong through Xi Men Kan Kan, promising to arrange his recommendation letter.
• Duan Rong gave Xi Men Kan Kan a spring palace painting, and Xi Men Kan Kan left Willow Lodge happily.
• At Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s Year-End Assembly, Ruan Fengshan asked Xiao Zongting to audit Chief Accountant Xu Shouxian’s accounts, but Xiao Zongting pleaded that he could not do it.
• Ruan Fengshan assigned Xiao Yu and Duan Rong to audit the accounts and warned Xu Shouxian to cooperate fully.
• After the assembly, Xiao Zongting returned to his courtyard and told Zhu Xiaoqi to fetch Duan Rong.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu were assigned to audit the escort agency’s accounts despite knowing nothing about accounting, while Xu Shouxian and his confidants prepared to make the books difficult to inspect. The next morning, Wang Dean was assigned to coordinate with them as they began the audit.

• Xiao Zongting told Duan Rong and Xiao Yu that Ruan Fengshan had assigned them to audit the escort agency’s accounts within five days.
• Duan Rong realized Ruan Fengshan had given Xiao Zongting Zhou An’s former responsibilities, leaving Xiao Zongting worried that the audit would worsen his strained relationship with Luan Jingfu and Xu Shouxian.
• Xu Shouxian, Li Jun, Wang Dean, and Zhu Shicheng discussed how the nested ledger system would make the accounts difficult to trace.
• Duan Rong and Xiao Yu arrived at the accounting office the next morning, where a young man informed them that Wang Dean would coordinate their audit.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu began their five-day audit of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s accounts, choosing Huang Qing and Li Jun to assist them. In the Document Repository, they started requesting monthly summary account books without yet knowing how to proceed.

• Wang Dean gave Duan Rong and Xiao Yu keys to the accounting office and Document Repository and offered them a roster of possible assistants.
• Duan Rong chose apprentice accountant Huang Qing, while Xiao Yu asked for Li Jun, Xu Shouxian’s assistant; Xu Shouxian approved both choices.
• Wang Dean led the group to West C Room, where the agency stored account books from the current and previous year.
• Duan Rong asked Huang Qing to find the summary account book for the twelfth month, and Xiao Yu requested the one for March.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu pretended to audit the accounts in the Document Repository, where Duan Rong collected his overdue pay and used his ability to devour Li Jun’s copper abacus. He gained three accounting-related masteries, leaving him better equipped to understand the ledgers as the group continued their work.

• Duan Rong checked the ledger’s final balance, challenged Li Jun about the unpaid wages, and received five Silver Notes for his overdue pay.
• Duan Rong asked Huang Qing to find detailed ledgers, and Li Jun taught Huang Qing how the repository’s ledger numbering worked.
• Li Jun explained Mental Abacus Calculation while Xiao Yu lost interest and returned to reading her ledger.
• Duan Rong examined Li Jun’s copper abacus and used his ability to devour its Rank 3 Artifact Spirit, gaining Counting Rods, Virtual Abacus Mental Calculation, and Exquisite Accounting mastery.
• Duan Rong returned the abacus, and the group continued their work while Li Jun recognized that Duan Rong and Xiao Yu were only pretending to audit the accounts.

Duan Rong recognized that the accounting office’s books were deliberately arranged as nested-account mazes and suspected the senior staff were hiding a major problem. As he traced entries approved by Xu Shouxian, Li Jun watched him closely and noticed an odd movement of Duan Rong’s fingers.

• Duan Rong and Xiao Yu stopped auditing for lunch, while Li Jun stayed behind and spoke with Wang Dean about how confusing the books were.
• After lunch, Duan Rong returned to West C Room and continued examining the account books with Xiao Yu, Huang Qing, and Li Jun.
• Duan Rong realized that the books’ deeply nested entries were deliberately designed to obscure their meaning and that senior accountants had approved them.
• Suspecting a serious concealed irregularity, Duan Rong chose an entry signed by Xu Shouxian and sent Huang Qing to retrieve related account books.
• Duan Rong rapidly located relevant entries as Huang Qing brought him books, making Xiao Yu wonder whether he had been pretending not to understand accounting.
• Li Jun dismissed Duan Rong’s work as an act, then noticed him repeatedly rubbing his sleeve cuff with his left fingers.

Duan Rong uncovered more than five hundred taels of concealed discrepancies in the Yuan Shun Escort Agency's accounts, then secretly used sedative powder to knock Li Jun unconscious. As the audit continued without a replacement assistant, Xu Shouxian worried more about Li Jun's health than about the investigation.

• Duan Rong traced nested entries across account books and found that more than five hundred taels had been added twice under different pretexts.
• Li Jun recognized that Duan Rong had understood the account structure, but Duan Rong's sleeve-brushed sedative made Li Jun collapse.
• Huang Qing carried Li Jun into the corridor, and Wang Dean took him to a clinic after Xu Shouxian ordered it.
• Duan Rong declined Xu Shouxian's offer of a replacement assistant and continued the audit with Xiao Yu and Huang Qing.
• Xu Shouxian questioned Huang Qing, learned Li Jun had arrived late after drinking heavily, and dismissed him without asking about the audit.

Duan Rong discovered major embezzlement hidden in the Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s layered accounts and decided to investigate it despite the risks. As he began auditing the twelfth-month books, he found another large discrepancy matching the one in an entry signed by Xu Shouxian.

• Duan Rong warned Xiao Yu that an assistant would mean one more pair of eyes, then considered how exposing the embezzlement could remove Xu Shouxian and help Xiao Zongting.
• Duan Rong decided to spend the remaining four and a half days investigating the twelfth-month accounts so he could uncover evidence and confront Xu Shouxian.
• Duan Rong asked Huang Qing to retrieve the relevant books, then persuaded Xiao Yu to help search the shelves.
• Xiao Yu noticed Duan Rong’s sincere concentration and began to believe that he truly understood the accounts.
• Duan Rong examined more than thirty account books and found that an entry signed by Zhu Shicheng had a discrepancy of over four hundred and twenty taels, nearly the same proportion as the discrepancy in Xu Shouxian’s entry.

Duan Rong examined the escort agency’s accounts, uncovering a clean set of books signed by Xu Fuxian, while Wang Dean took the unconscious Li Jun home and reported back to Xu Shouxian. The chapter left Wang Dean fearing Xu Shouxian blamed him for Li Jun’s condition and hoping Li Jun would wake up.

• Duan Rong sorted the account books he had reviewed and found that Xu Fuxian’s accounts were meticulous and free of discrepancies.
• Duan Rong, Xiao Yu, and Huang Qing worked through the remaining account books more quickly as they grew familiar with the shelves and nested records.
• Wang Dean took the unconscious Li Jun to a clinic, where a physician could not identify his illness and prescribed medicine to calm his mind and disperse stagnant qi.
• Wang Dean brought Li Jun home, told Li Jun’s father what the physician had said, and returned to the accounting office.
• Xu Shouxian asked Wang Dean about Li Jun and warned him to let Li Jun drink less, prompting Wang Dean to fear that Xu blamed him for Li Jun’s collapse.