Recaps

Yi Yang attended Tang Hao’s promotion banquet, where Tang Hao apologized for his past conduct and invited him to a private dinner the next evening. Yi Yang accepted, while Tang Hao privately resolved to kill him after the dinner.

• Yi Yang practiced the Yi Wood Longevity Stance after reaching the fifth level of blood and qi.
• Fang Yue announced Tang Hao’s promotion to provisional patrol superintendent, and Huang Yushu warned Yi Yang that Tang Hao had obstructed him during the operation.
• Yi Yang accepted Tang Hao’s banquet invitation and attended, keeping to himself while eating and drinking.
• After the other guests left, Tang Hao apologized for sending Curator Mu to Yi Yang and invited him to dinner the next evening.
• Tang Hao suspected Yi Yang had killed Fang Yu and decided that Yi Yang would not survive the following night.

Yi Yang trained to strengthen his combat skills, then attended Tang Hao’s dinner invitation at Fortune-Full Tower and accepted ten taels of gold. Tang Hao sent Cao Tie and Qian Jiu after Yi Yang to force him to reveal the missing booklet, while Yi Yang left pretending to be drunk.

• Yi Yang practiced the Nine Peaks Saber and Five-Organ Internal Refining Force, then prepared for his meeting with Tang Hao.
• Yi Yang went to Fortune-Full Tower, where Tang Hao introduced him to Red Tiger Gang members Cao Tie and Qian Jiu and hinted that Yi Yang should hand over something with suspicious origins.
• Yi Yang played dumb, accepted two gold bars from Tang Hao, and drank with the three men.
• Yi Yang left the tower acting drunk, while Tang Hao stayed behind to establish an alibi.
• Tang Hao ordered Cao Tie and Qian Jiu to pursue Yi Yang, interrogate him about the County Commandant’s missing booklet, and return with results before dawn.

Yi Yang ambushed and killed Cao Tie and Qian Jiu, two Red Tiger Gang fighters who had followed him, then learned Tang Hao had ordered the attack for the County Commandant. After concealing the bodies and collecting their valuables, Yi Yang headed back toward the Fortune-Full Tower, intending to deal with Tang Hao before dawn.

• Yi Yang led Cao Tie and Qian Jiu into a narrow alley with an escape route, where Cao Tie attacked him from above.
• Yi Yang killed Cao Tie with one saber strike, and Qian Jiu fled in terror.
• Yi Yang cut off Qian Jiu's lower legs, questioned him, and learned Tang Hao had ordered the attack to obtain a manual for the County Commandant.
• Yi Yang killed Qian Jiu, searched both bodies, and hid them beneath a drainage channel.
• Yi Yang collected the two gold bars and the fighters' silver, then headed toward the restaurant to kill Tang Hao before dawn.

Tang Hao waited at the Fortune-Full Tower, certain that Cao Tie and Qian Jiu would kill Yi Yang and secure his promotion. When the Heaven Patrol Office came under attack, Yi Yang broke into Tang Hao’s room, killed him, and raced toward the battle.

• Tang Hao calculated how the booklet, payment, and Bone Tempering Pills would advance his career and cultivation.
• Emergency signals and sounds of battle revealed that the Heaven Patrol Office was under attack, so Tang Hao prepared to leave the tower.
• Yi Yang punched through the door, seized Tang Hao by the throat, and snapped his neck.
• Yi Yang searched Tang Hao’s clothes for money, then leaped from the third floor and raced across the rooftops toward the Heaven Patrol Office.

During the assault on the Heaven Patrol Office, Yi Yang avoided the fighting and hurried toward his courtyard, but three enemies cornered him in an empty yard. Jiang Liang, a fourth-level Blood Energy deacon of the Nine Evil Sect, ordered his two bandits to kill Yi Yang.

• Yi Yang heard fighting erupt at several places around the Heaven Patrol Office and found three patrol guards and two mountain bandits dead in an alley.
• Yi Yang recognized the Nine Evil Sect brand on a bandit's arm, then stole more than a hundred taels of silver from the dead patrol guards.
• A fire blazed near the Heaven Patrol Office as its defenders fought back, but the enemy broke through and scattered into the town.
• Yi Yang hurried toward his courtyard, avoiding the battle, while townspeople extinguished their lights and hid indoors.
• Three men climbed into an empty courtyard where Yi Yang had stopped, and he recognized Jiang Liang as a fourth-level Blood Energy fighter.
• Jiang Liang identified Yi Yang as a Heaven Patrol Office guard and ordered his two bandits to kill him and leave no survivors.

Yi Yang killed two bandits and decapitated Jiang Liang after luring him into an attack. He looted the bodies and hurried on toward his home, where Jiang Yuexin was waiting.

• Yi Yang pretended to cower, then killed the burly bandit with a hidden short saber and stabbed the skinny bandit behind him.
• Yi Yang struck at Jiang Liang’s throat, cutting his jaw when Jiang Liang blocked the attack.
• Yi Yang feigned retreat and exposed an opening, drawing Jiang Liang close before killing him with the fourth form of the Nine Peaks Saber.
• Yi Yang searched the three corpses, took silver, a secret manual, and a Nine Evil Sect token, then vaulted the wall and ran toward his little courtyard.

After surviving the bandit attack, Yi Yang returned home and reassured Jiang Yuexin and Yang Hui that he would stop taking risks. He learned that Wang Gongqin had returned as a fifth-level qi-blood expert seeking the missing Black-Patterned Long Saber, and Yi Yang prepared for their coming confrontation before accepting Deputy Commissioner Sun’s invitation to dinner.

• Yi Yang returned home after the attack, comforted Jiang Yuexin and Yang Hui, and promised to stop taking risks for the Heaven Patrol Office.
• Zhao Gang told Yi Yang that Nine Evil Sect remnants and three bandit groups had attacked the Cloud Pattern Town branch, killing nine Patrol Captains and two Acting Patrol Commanders.
• Zhao Gang revealed that Wang Gongqin had reached the fifth qi-blood level, escaped Fang Yue, and killed Zhang Li and Zhu Yuanshan while asking where the missing saber was.
• Yi Yang realized Wang Gongqin was searching for the Black-Patterned Long Saber he had taken and decided he needed to reach the sixth qi-blood level to kill him decisively.
• Deputy Commissioner Sun invited Yi Yang to the Fortune-Full Tower, and Yi Yang agreed to attend.

Yi Yang met Deputy Patrol Commander Sun Xing, who offered him the vacant Defense Hall Master position in exchange for placing in the top five at an upcoming assessment. Yi Yang refused, and Sun Xing revealed he had planned to use him temporarily before replacing him as his strength declined.

• Sun Xing told Yi Yang he knew about Tang Hao's death and had arranged to clean up Fortune-Full Tower, while the Heaven Patrol Office recorded Tang Hao as having died in the line of duty.
• Sun Xing offered Yi Yang the Defense Hall Master position if he placed in the top five at the Yunlin City assessment and demonstrated qi-blood third-level cultivation.
• Sun Xing explained that he wanted an unaffiliated person to help him contend with rival gangs, the Zhang, Wang, and Li Lineages, and Qian Hu within the Heaven Patrol Office.
• Yi Yang declined the offer, citing his age and the approaching decline of his qi and blood, despite Zhao Gang's frustration.
• After Yi Yang and Zhao Gang left, Sun Xing told his attendant he had intended to replace Yi Yang with one of his own people after a few years.

Yi Zhanzhi basked in his fellow disciples’ praise while privately resenting his great-uncle, and Mu Fenghai prepared the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall for a fiercely competitive Heaven Patrol Office examination. The chapter left Mu Fenghai hoping Yi Zhanzhi might reach heights he could not, while concealing his own complicated motives.

• Yi Zhanzhi practiced his swordsmanship and confidently resolved to take first place at the upcoming Heaven Patrol Office examination.
• Yi Zhanzhi remembered how his great-uncle had refused to sell his house to support him and dismissed him as a failure.
• Mu Fenghai told Liao Xu that Qi Shujian’s presence had made the examination a major opportunity for martial arts halls across Yunlin County.
• Mu Fenghai assessed Liao Xu’s combat weaknesses and selected Yi Zhanzhi as the hall’s strongest prospect, despite concerns about his temperament.
• Mu Fenghai instructed Liao Xu to tell Yi Zhanzhi to conserve his strength and rein in his pride before facing formidable rivals.
• After Liao Xu left, Mu Fenghai studied Yi Zhanzhi’s name on the roster and wondered whether his disciple could achieve the Inner Qi Realm.

Huang Yushu revealed that he had reached qi-blood second level, while Yi Yang assessed his own growing strength and set his sights on breaking through to qi-blood sixth level before the Quarterly Ranking Battle. He discovered a middle-grade movement art manual and planned to learn it before the contest.

• Huang Yushu defeated Sun Hao in ten moves, then explained that his recent breakthrough to qi-blood second level had caused the widening gap between them.
• Yi Yang gave Huang Yushu advice on controlling his new strength and pointed out how Sun Hao could have responded more strategically during their sparring.
• Yi Yang reviewed his martial arts progress and concluded that his current abilities let him stand against qi-blood sixth-level experts, but he aimed to reach sixth level before the Quarterly Ranking Battle.
• Yi Yang opened the booklet found on Jiang Liang's corpse and discovered it contained the middle-grade movement art Treading Water to Cross the River.
• Yi Yang decided to bring the movement art to entry level before the Quarterly Ranking Battle while continuing his medicinal baths and stance training.

Yi Yang discovered County Commandant Zhou Jiang waiting in his courtyard and heard his apology for their past conflict. Zhou Jiang offered a five-year-old sunshine flower and three thousand taels of silver to win Yi Yang’s mercy, leaving Yi Yang to consider the valuable gifts.

• Yi Yang sensed a fourth-level Qi-Blood Realm expert beneath the locust tree and entered the courtyard cautiously.
• Yi Yang recognized the visitor as Zhou Jiang and sent Jiang Yuexin to her room before speaking with him privately.
• Zhou Jiang admitted he had wronged Yi Yang and said he had come to resolve their grievance.
• Zhou Jiang presented a five-year-old sunshine flower and about three thousand taels of silver as proof of his sincerity.

Yi Yang accepted Zhou Jiang’s offerings and learned that the Five-Organ Internal Refining Force manual had been stolen from the Li Family generations ago. He frightened Zhou Jiang into backing down by demonstrating a saber strike that looked like inner qi, though Yi Yang revealed to himself that it was only an effect of his Nine Peaks Saber mastery.

• Zhou Jiang explained how he deduced that Yi Yang was at least a fifth-stage blood qi practitioner from the deaths of Tang Hao, Cao Tie, and Qian Jiu.
• Yi Yang accepted the sunshine flowers and asked Zhou Jiang to exchange the three thousand taels of silver for grade-six mortal pills.
• Zhou Jiang revealed that the Five-Organ Internal Refining Force manual had been stolen from the Li Family by a collateral descendant, whose branch Yi Yang had later wiped out.
• Yi Yang told Zhou Jiang their accounts were settled, then used a projected saber wave to split a table and make Zhou Jiang believe he had reached the inner qi realm.
• After Zhou Jiang fled, Yi Yang recognized that the strike was not inner qi but a destructive wave produced by his major mastery of the Nine Peaks Saber.

Yi Yang broke through to the Qi-Blood Sixth Level after cleansing his marrow and renewing his blood, then concealed his strength ahead of the Heaven Patrol Office’s quarterly assessment. The assessment began with the announcement that its top four performers could compete for a place as an outer disciple of the Golden Sun Temple.

• Yi Yang reached the sixth level of the Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art, and his speed and strength improved as his body was renewed.
• Yi Yang resolved to hide his sixth-level strength and show no more than the fourth level at the quarterly assessment to compete for resources without revealing his trump card.
• Yi Yang attended the assessment drill ground with Zhao Gang and learned that Chen Wuya was the chief examiner while two monks from Suining Prefecture’s Golden Sun Temple observed.
• Chen Wuya announced that outstanding performers could be appointed Acting Patrol Commander or higher and that the assessment’s top four would qualify to compete for an outer-disciple position at the Golden Sun Temple.
• Monk Jingyuan said the monks would observe rather than judge, and Chen Wuya opened the assessment.

Yi Zhanzhi climbed the challenge rankings with swift swordsmanship, reaching the top forty and drawing praise from Song Tiecheng. Yi Yang watched from the formation, still waiting for a suitable opponent.

• Chen Wuya explained the challenge rules and began the tournament, where lower-ranked fighters immediately battled for tokens.
• Yi Yang watched the early fights and decided to wait for opponents to tire before challenging them.
• Yi Zhanzhi defeated a rank-seventy-one Azure Cloud Martial Hall disciple in four moves and took his token.
• Yi Zhanzhi defeated opponents ranked sixty-two, fifty-three, and forty-one, advancing to rank thirty-six.
• Song Tiecheng praised Yi Zhanzhi's sword speed, while Mu Fenghai showed satisfaction with his disciple's performance.

The Golden Sun Temple monks revealed that they planned to use the assessment winner to locate the renegade Wang Gongqin and recover the stolen saber. Huang Yushu and Sun Hao won their matches, and Huang Yushu chose to remain in the Archive Hall with Yi Yang as the assessment continued.

• Jingyuan told his senior that the temple's admission slot was bait to recruit a fighter who could track down Wang Gongqin and help recover the treasured saber.
• Huang Yushu defeated a first-stage patrol guard with his second-stage strength and advanced to rank three hundred and nineteen.
• Sun Hao won a rough match against a first-stage opponent, improving his rank from four hundred and sixteen to three hundred and ninety-three.
• Yi Yang offered Huang Yushu and Sun Hao help with the coming reassignments, and Sun Hao said he would consult Deputy Chief Sun.
• Huang Yushu told Yi Yang he would stay with him in the Archive Hall, and Yi Yang accepted.

Yi Yang accepted Wu Zhongqin’s challenge and revealed his superior cultivation by evading his attacks until he was exhausted, then knocking him off the platform with one punch. The victory moved Yi Yang into the rankings’ eighties, while Yi Xun struggled to understand how far his elder brother had come.

• Wu Zhongqin challenged Yi Yang, assuming the elderly man would be an easy opponent.
• Yi Yang evaded Wu Zhongqin’s relentless attacks using his footwork and perception, while Wu Zhongqin steadily exhausted his blood qi.
• Yi Yang advanced and struck Wu Zhongqin once, sending him off the platform and leaving him unable to stand.
• Chen Wuya asked the Patrol Commanders if they knew Yi Yang, while Zhao Gang remarked that Yi Yang had hidden his strength.
• Yi Xun watched Yi Yang’s victory and reflected on how little he understood about his elder brother.
• Yi Yang left the platform with his ranking advanced by more than fifty places, into the eighties.

Yi Yang watched the assessment reshape the Heaven Patrol Office rankings as fighters revealed their hidden abilities. The contest was left facing a formidable new challenger when Qin Ju, the Azure Cloud Martial Hall's perfected fourth-level deputy hall master, took the platform.

• Yi Yang returned to the ranks, where Zhao Gang joked about his effortless victories and Huang Yushu and Sun Hao praised his footwork.
• Du Qinghe defeated a perfected third-level Red Tiger Gang division leader with his precise saber technique.
• The battles reshuffled the rankings, knocking out the Cloud Pattern Town Heaven Patrol Office's original Acting Patrol Commanders and several visiting Deputy Patrol Chiefs.
• Chen Wuya approved of the disruption as the assessment produced new contenders and talent for the Heaven Patrol Office.
• Qin Ju stepped onto the platform, and the crowd recognized the perfected fourth-level spear expert as a threat to the Golden Sun Temple placements.

Qin Ju defeated Sun Xing and took fifth place, while Zhao Gang won a lower-ranked bout. Yi Yang and Yi Zhanzhi both set out toward the platform, with Yi Yang targeting the Fourth-Level Zheng Qiao, and they stopped to meet each other’s gaze across the drill ground.

• Qin Ju challenged Sun Xing and overwhelmed him with spear thrusts until Sun Xing conceded, dropping from his Deputy Patrol Chief position.
• Zhao Gang defeated an early-stage Third-Level Patrol Guard and earned waist-token rank ninety-three.
• Yi Yang spotted Zheng Qiao, the Fourth-Level Acting Patrol Commander, and decided to challenge him despite Zhao Gang’s warning.
• Yi Yang and Yi Zhanzhi approached the platform from opposite sides and stopped a hundred paces apart, watching each other in silence.

Yi Yang revealed his qi-blood fourth-level cultivation and defeated Zheng Qiao in the Quarterly Ranking Battle, rising to twenty-fifth place. He stopped competing after securing the rank, just as startled cries broke out from another platform.

• Yi Yang challenged Zheng Qiao and revealed his fourth-level cultivation with a powerful opening strike.
• Yi Yang fought Zheng Qiao for twenty-five exchanges, steadily wearing him down and luring him into a risky attack.
• Yi Yang evaded Zheng Qiao's thrust, redirected his momentum, and knocked him off the platform.
• Spectators and martial experts reacted with surprise, while Zhao Gang praised Yi Yang and Yi Xun struggled with conflicting feelings about his brother's strength.
• The ranking clerk recorded Yi Yang at number twenty-five, and Yi Yang chose not to fight again.
• Startled cries erupted from another platform as Yi Yang rested by the weapon rack.

Zhang Songqing crippled Yi Zhanzhi during the Quarterly Ranking Battle, deepening the conflict between the Azure Cloud and Thundercloud Martial Halls. Yi Yang concealed his strength through several drawn-out fights and climbed to thirteenth place, where no one else challenged him.

• Zhang Songqing defeated Yi Zhanzhi and deliberately shattered his arm and leg, leaving the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall disciples to carry him away.
• Mu Fenghai restrained himself from intervening, while Liao Xu confirmed that Yi Zhanzhi's injuries had severely damaged his martial foundation.
• Yi Yang answered challenger number twenty-five and won after thirty-seven exchanges using only basic saber techniques.
• Yi Yang defeated four more challengers by drawing out each match and making his victories appear difficult.
• Yi Yang rose from twenty-fifth to thirteenth place, and no one else challenged him.

The Quarterly Ranking Battle ended with Qin Ju, Wang Qiongyu, Tang Ji, and Zhao Tong qualifying for Golden Sun Temple's outer disciple entrance contest. Yi Yang finished ranked thirteenth and awaited his post assignment and reward.

• Tang Ji defeated the Red Tiger Gang's deputy leader, and Wang Qiongyu defeated the Black Blade Gang's chief Attendant.
• Qin Ju defeated Zhao Tong, then Wang Qiongyu defeated Tang Ji in the final match.
• The battle ended, and Jingyuan announced Qin Ju, Wang Qiongyu, Tang Ji, and Zhao Tong as the four qualifiers for Golden Sun Temple's contest.
• Yi Yang saw that he had placed thirteenth and expected his post and reward to be assigned next.

After the ranking battle, Chen Wuya and Song Tiecheng assigned posts and rewards to the top contestants, balancing the Heaven Patrol Office’s needs against the influence of Yunlin County’s great Lineages. Chen Wuya gave Yi Yang a special assignment after suspecting the elderly former patrol captain had concealed his true ability.

• Chen Wuya appointed Qin Ju deputy administrator of the Yunlin County Heaven Patrol Office and gave him authority over the Martial Law Hall and Contribution Hall.
• Chen Wuya sent Wang Qiongyu to Green Mountain Town as patrol administrator, keeping him away from the county seat’s center of power.
• Chen Wuya retained Tang Ji as deputy administrator and assigned him the Military Affairs Hall, while giving Zhao Tong an honorary Attendant title and a stipend.
• Chen Wuya reviewed Yi Yang’s matches and linked his apparent skill to several suspiciously clean killings from the Nine Evil Sect uprising.
• Chen Wuya wrote a special assignment beside Yi Yang’s name, and Song Tiecheng approved the decision.

After the ranking assignments were posted, Yi Yang learned he had been appointed Acting Patrol Commander and Sunbright Tower Master. He realized the tower’s elixir trade could give him the resources to advance toward the Inner Qi Realm.

• Yi Yang read the assignment list and saw Qin Ju and Wang Qiongyu receive senior posts, while Yi Yang was named Acting Patrol Commander and Master of the Sunbright Tower.
• Zhao Gang explained that the Sunbright Tower was the Heaven Patrol Office’s major Yunlin County business, selling elixirs and other goods below market prices.
• Yi Yang recognized that running the tower would give him access to affordable elixirs and income to fuel his cultivation.
• Yi Yang concealed his excitement from Zhao Gang and privately regarded the Sunbright Tower as his path to the Inner Qi Realm.

Zhou Jiang toasted Yi Yang and Zhao Gang, offering them silver and future assistance while Yi Yang made clear he would still follow Heaven Patrol Office rules. At Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall, Liao Xu explained to Yi Xun that Yi Zhanzhi had been deliberately crippled by Zhang Songqing amid an old feud, leaving the Yi Family helpless against the powerful Zhang Family.

• Zhou Jiang hosted Yi Yang and Zhao Gang at Fortune-Full Tower and gave them silver, which both men accepted.
• Yi Yang told Zhao Gang that Zhou Jiang was useful as long as Yi Yang remained strong enough to keep him under control.
• Yi Xun waited anxiously beside the unconscious Yi Zhanzhi while Liao Xu explained that Zhang Songqing had deliberately targeted his tendons and bones.
• Liao Xu revealed that Chu Yao’s old feud with the Azure Cloud Martial Hall had led to Yi Zhanzhi’s injury, and that Zhang Songqing had the Inner City Zhang Family behind him.
• Yi Xun learned that Yi Zhanzhi would likely survive but would have greatly reduced qi and blood circulation, making further breakthroughs difficult.

Yi Yang took charge of Sunbright Tower and demanded its ledgers, uncovering how Ye Yang had diverted the Heaven Patrol Office’s high-grade resources to the three great Lineages. He sent Huang Yushu to investigate Ye Yang’s connections while warning him not to act rashly.

• Yi Yang wore his new Acting Patrol Commander robes and accepted Huang Yushu as his trusted aide for the visit to Sunbright Tower.
• Yi Yang arrived at Sunbright Tower, ignored Ye Yang’s welcoming feast, and ordered him to produce the ledgers.
• Ye Yang tried to delay the inspection, but Yi Yang pressured him into handing over three years of accounts.
• Huang Yushu spotted suspicious below-market sales in the ledgers, and Yi Yang explained that Ye Yang had supplied most of the high-grade pills to the three great Lineages’ underground channels.
• Yi Yang told Huang Yushu to investigate Ye Yang’s connections to the great houses and warned him not to act alone.