Recaps

After recovering from his injuries, Yi Yang retrieved the resources he had hidden in the Beast Ridge Mountains and resumed cultivating. Li Yuzhao then offered him a paid position as an Attendant for the Evening Glow Merchant Guild, and Yi Yang was still considering his response when she asked him to wait.

• Yi Yang healed his broken ribs and bones in five days, then decided to retrieve his hidden supplies from the Beast Ridge Mountains.
• Yi Yang recovered ten Low-Grade Treasure Pills, three precious herbs, banknotes, a Tourmaline Ring, and a Jade Bead Bracelet, then began consuming a Treasure Pill.
• Li Yuzhao visited Yi Yang with her maid and invited him to become an Attendant for the Evening Glow Merchant Guild.
• Li Yuzhao offered Yi Yang five hundred taels of silver and one Low-Grade Treasure Pill per month, with no need to accompany caravans unless the guild needed his help.
• As Yi Yang prepared to decline, Li Yuzhao asked him to wait.

Yi Yang accepted Li Yuzhao’s offer to serve as the Evening Glow Merchant Guild’s attendant, hoping to investigate whether her family held clues to the Five-Organ Internal Refining Force’s continuation. After the guild gained protection from his reputation, he focused on nearing the next stage of his cultivation and decided to visit the Nether Spring Office’s Armory for new techniques.

• Yi Yang realized Li Yuzhao belonged to a collateral branch of the Li Family and accepted her offer, intending to quietly seek clues about the Five-Organ Internal Refining Force’s continuation.
• Li Yuzhao explained to her maid that Yi Yang’s record of killing a Rampage Six Bandit and his Nether Spring Office affiliation made him worth the guild’s generous payment.
• The Evening Glow Merchant Guild announced Yi Yang as its attendant, reducing harassment against its shops and caravans and helping it establish a foothold in the prefectural city.
• Yi Yang cultivated with the medicinal plants and Treasure Pills until his Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art reached 219,200 out of 250,000 toward perfection.
• Yi Yang recognized that his perfected Nine Peaks Saber art gave him too few options against stronger human opponents and decided to visit the Nether Spring Office’s Armory.

Yi Yang visited the Judgment Hall Armory to find arts suited to his needs and discovered the Heart Ape Mind Guarding Art, a fragment that could protect his mind. The old steward revealed that the Chief Inspector herself had once failed to master it, leaving Yi Yang to consider a mysterious and formidable choice.

• Yi Yang entered the Judgment Hall Armory and learned that his recorded merit let him browse the fourth floor’s true-art fragments.
• Yi Yang read records describing how the Nine Evil Sect extracted martial artists’ cultivation into blood seeds that others could consume.
• Yi Yang inspected several incomplete arts but rejected them as unsuitable for his fighting style or too restrictive.
• Yi Yang found the Heart Ape Mind Guarding Art and recognized its complete still aspect as a defense against mental attacks, though its active aspect was missing.
• The old steward registered Yi Yang’s choice and told him that the Chief Inspector had obtained the art over a decade earlier and said she could not master it.

Yi Yang borrowed a cultivation technique that no one had mastered in thirteen years, trusting his heavenly mandate to overcome its unknown requirements. Yan Wuyuan summoned him and gave him a powerful scarlet fruit, leaving him struggling to guide its violent medicinal power through his meridians.

• Yi Yang ignored the armory keeper’s warnings and borrowed the incomplete silk manuscript for one month.
• Liu Qing summoned Yi Yang to meet Yan Wuyuan in the Nether Spring Office hall.
• Yan Wuyuan revealed that she knew Yi Yang was nearing the peak of second inner qi despite his concealment.
• Yan Wuyuan gave Yi Yang a scarlet fruit whose medicinal power promised a breakthrough.
• Yi Yang ate the fruit and sat down to channel its surging energy through his cultivation technique.

Yi Yang consumed a Flamebody Fruit and broke through to the third stage of inner qi, Heavenly Rain Crowning. Yan Wuyuan then assigned him to eliminate a Nine Evil Sect Altar Master in Whitefish County, investigate a suspected Incense Master, and promised him promotion if he returned.

• Yi Yang endured the Flamebody Fruit’s medicinal power and reached the third stage of inner qi, with his cultivation progress surging further after the breakthrough.
• Yan Wuyuan explained that the fruit was a twenty-year-old Flamebody Fruit and attributed Yi Yang’s rapid recovery to his late bloomer fate.
• Yan Wuyuan gave Yi Yang a dossier about Nine Evil Sect activity in Whitefish County, where a second-inner-qi Altar Master had killed a Patrol Director.
• Yan Wuyuan revealed that an Incense Master might also be hiding in the county and ordered Yi Yang to eliminate the Altar Master, locate the Incense Master, and report back.
• Yan Wuyuan promised to promote Yi Yang to Patrol Director, and Yi Yang accepted the mission.

Yan Wuyuan sent Yi Yang to White Fish City to investigate a Nine Evil Sect Incense Master and warned him that the Rampage Six Bandits might target him. After strengthening his cultivation and preparing for the journey, Yi Yang left the Prefectural City, unaware that Zhou Yang had leaked his route to the underworld.

• Yan Wuyuan identified White Fish City as a critical trade hub and offered Yi Yang the possibility of becoming Candidate Chief Inspector if he found the Incense Master, while warning him about the Rampage Six Bandits.
• Yi Yang spent three days adapting to Third Inner Qi and completing Five-Organ Internal Refining Force and Treading Water to Cross the River.
• Jiang Yuexin packed Yi Yang's supplies, stayed behind, and asked him to bring back sweet cakes and glutinous rice dumplings.
• Liu Qing gave Yi Yang an appointment document naming him Acting Patrol Director for the White Fish City assignment.
• Zhou Yang, angry that Yi Yang had received the assignment, arranged for details of his journey to reach the Prefectural City's underworld.
• Yi Yang rode south from the Prefectural City, and a scarred man watching from a wine shop reported that he had left.

Yi Yang detected three Rampage Six Bandits pursuing him and prepared to ambush them in a secluded stretch of forest. After hiding his presence in a tree, he emerged before Wu Jin, Jiang Sha, and Chen Xinhu and calmly acknowledged their arrival.

• Yi Yang sensed three pursuers and recognized their auras as belonging to the Rampage Six Bandits, then resolved to kill them rather than flee.
• Wu Jin, Jiang Sha, and Chen Xinhu followed Yi Yang, with Wu Jin dismissing Jiang Sha’s concerns and boasting that his perfected Shattering Mountain Fist could defeat him.
• Yi Yang stopped beside an enormous locust tree, concealed his presence with Hidden Abyss, and hid in its branches.
• Wu Jin and the others found Yi Yang’s horse but could not detect him, so they formed a defensive triangle and searched the forest.
• Yi Yang emerged from behind the locust tree, faced the three bandits, and said, “You're here.”

Yi Yang revealed his third inner qi cultivation and killed Wu Jin and Jiang Sha with Tiger Roar after they confronted him in the woods. He pursued Chen Xinhu next, determined to kill the last fleeing bandit.

• Wu Jin, Jiang Sha, and Chen Xinhu confronted Yi Yang in the woods, and Yi Yang drew Tiger Roar to attack.
• Yi Yang's perfected Perfection Peak strike shattered Wu Jin's defense and crippled him, while Jiang Sha and Chen Xinhu fled.
• Yi Yang caught Wu Jin and killed him with a diagonal Strange Peak slash.
• Yi Yang chased Jiang Sha to the main road, disarmed him, and cut off his head.
• Yi Yang sensed Chen Xinhu fleeing into the distance and pursued her.

Yi Yang killed Chen Xinhu after defeating the three Rampage Six Bandits, then collected their valuables and continued his journey. Two days later, Liu Qing reported the three deaths to Yan Wuyuan, whose page-turning stopped as she listened.

• Chen Xinhu fled through the woods until Yi Yang cornered her by a lake, where she dropped her daggers and begged for mercy.
• Chen Xinhu threatened Yi Yang with the power of her brothers and then attacked him with poisoned darts, but he dodged them and killed her with Tiger Roar.
• Yi Yang searched the three bandits' corpses, gathered their pills and money, buried the bodies, and resumed his journey.
• Two days later, Liu Qing told Yan Wuyuan that Jiang Sha, Wu Jin, and Chen Xinhu had each been killed in a single blow, indicating an overwhelming difference in strength.

Yan Wuyuan ordered the Shadow Guards to find Rampage Killer after learning that Yi Yang had killed three bandits, while the officials who leaked information about Yi Yang feared being exposed. Six days later, Yi Yang arrived in White Fish City and learned that Yan Wuyuan had fought Rampage Killer and Qin Wuli alone, leaving both gravely wounded.

• Yan Wuyuan recognized Yi Yang's role in the three bandits' deaths and ordered the Shadow Guards to locate Rampage Killer.
• Zhou Yang and two colleagues suspected Yi Yang had killed the bandits, blamed a hidden Nether Spring Office escort, and agreed to conceal their role in leaking information.
• Rampage Killer read a notice reporting the deaths of three members of the Rampage Six Bandits, crushed it, and disappeared deeper into the misty valley.
• After six days of travel and absorbing Treasure Pills, Yi Yang reached White Fish City and saw a bounty notice about the three bandits he had killed.
• Yi Yang read that Yan Wuyuan had faced Rampage Killer and Qin Wuli alone, gravely wounded both, and returned with Qin Wuli's severed arm.
• Yi Yang entered White Fish City unnoticed, expecting Rampage Killer and Qin Wuli not to trouble him while he stayed there.

Yi Yang entered White Fish City in disguise and surveyed its powers, the Heaven Patrol Office’s weakness, and the danger posed by the Nine Evil Sect. As he approached the office through back alleys, he detected a trained pursuer and disappeared around a corner that could serve as an ambush point.

• Yi Yang stabled his conspicuous Mutant Beast Horse, changed clothes, wrapped Tiger Roar, and used the Concealed Breath Formless Art to disguise his cultivation.
• Yi Yang surveyed White Fish City and learned from notices that White Dragon Marsh drew martial artists seeking herbs, beasts, and wealth.
• At Marshview Tower, Yi Yang overheard complaints about the Wei Family, Mo Family, Three Great Gangs, and White Fish Merchant Association, and learned that the Heaven Patrol Office had been badly weakened.
• Yi Yang assessed the six major powers and the hidden true astral realm incense master of the Nine Evil Sect as the main dangers he would face.
• While taking a secluded route toward the Heaven Patrol Office, Yi Yang sensed a first inner qi pursuer and vanished around a blind corner.

Yi Yang discovered that Ye Jin of the Mountain-Walking Martial Hall had sent someone to watch him, then killed the pursuer and continued to White Fish City’s Heaven Patrol Office to take up his post. The chapter ended with acting Deputy Director Xu Pei and the patrol guards welcoming him as their new Director.

• Yi Yang caught Sun Le following him, broke his wrist, and forced him to reveal that Ye Jin had ordered him to watch for Yi Yang.
• Sun Le told Yi Yang that Ye Jin was staying at the Wei Family’s estate with two martial hall experts and was a third inner qi expert near perfection.
• Yi Yang confirmed Sun Le was telling the truth, then killed him and concealed his body in a dead-end alley.
• Yi Yang presented his Command Token and appointment document at White Fish City’s Heaven Patrol Office, and a guard announced the new Director’s arrival.
• Xu Pei introduced himself as the acting Deputy Director and led the patrol guards in welcoming Yi Yang.

Yi Yang arrived in White Fish City, examined the case files on the previous Patrol Director Su Cheng'an’s murder, and accepted an invitation from the city’s major powers. He planned to attend their banquet that night and demanded generous gifts, prompting the powers to threaten him.

• Yi Yang inspected the neglected Heaven Patrol Office and ordered Xu Pei to bring him every file about Su Cheng'an’s death.
• Xu Pei told Yi Yang that Su Cheng'an, a second inner qi expert, had been killed by a single claw-like strike, and Yi Yang found a report of unexplained white hair at the scene.
• A messenger delivered an invitation signed by Wei Wenyuan and the city’s major powers for a banquet at the Abundant Source Restaurant.
• Xu Pei warned Yi Yang that the invitation was a trap and said he suspected the major powers were connected to Su Cheng'an’s death, but Yi Yang decided to attend.
• Yi Yang ordered the powers to prepare generous gifts, and leaders of the Shallow Water Gang, Green Snake Gang, and Three Lakes Gang vowed to deal with him at the banquet.
• Ye Jin heard that the banquet would take place that night and said he wanted to see how many lives Senior Yi would risk.

Yi Yang attended a welcoming banquet where White Fish City's factions mocked and belittled him, culminating in Zheng Haitao presenting him with a coffin. Yi Yang revealed overwhelming inner qi and killed Zheng Haitao with a single palm strike, leaving the banquet hall in shock.

• Yi Yang arrived at the Abundant Source Restaurant with Xu Pei and six Patrol Guards, dressed plainly for the banquet.
• Representatives of the city's factions slighted Yi Yang, while Zheng Haitao arrived late and deliberately ignored him.
• Yi Yang accepted the factions' insulting gifts without reacting, then asked whether they had prepared gifts for his appointment.
• Zheng Haitao presented Yi Yang with a coffin and mocked him with a joke about rising in a coffin and fortune.
• Yi Yang approached the coffin and struck Zheng Haitao with dense inner qi, exploding his head.

Yi Yang killed Zheng Haitao at the banquet and ordered the city’s power representatives to deliver proper gifts to the Heaven Patrol Office by the next day. Back at the Shallow Water Gang’s headquarters, Song Liangcheng ordered generous gifts prepared but decided to wait through the night in case Yi Yang was killed like Director Su.

• Yi Yang killed Zheng Haitao with a single palm strike and ordered the Shallow Water Gang members to carry his body back in the coffin they had brought.
• Yi Yang had the banquet representatives’ cheap gifts placed in the coffin and demanded better gifts at the Heaven Patrol Office by the next day, threatening to strike again if they refused.
• Song Liangcheng saw Zheng Haitao’s body and the gifts in the coffin, then stopped his stewards from rushing out to retaliate.
• Song Liangcheng blamed the other powers for letting Zheng Haitao become the target of their test of Yi Yang’s strength.
• Song Liangcheng ordered generous gifts prepared but decided the Shallow Water Gang would wait until morning to see whether Yi Yang survived the night.

Yi Yang secretly cultivated the Heart Ape Mind Guarding Art and discovered that he could make progress in a technique no one had mastered for thirteen years. A white-furred monster broke into his quarters, and Yi Yang killed it, finding the mark of the Nine Evil Sect on its severed hand.

• Yi Yang ordered Xu Pei to keep everyone thirty zhang from his quarters while he cultivated the Heart Ape Mind Guarding Art.
• Yi Yang visualized the divine ape and gained sixty points toward initiation, then continued practicing as an intruder crept into the courtyard.
• Yi Yang sensed the intruder, concealed himself, and struck when the white-furred creature entered his room.
• Yi Yang recognized the monster as the killer of former patrol director Su Cheng'an and fought it with Tiger Roar, but its hide resisted his saber and its wounds healed quickly.
• Yi Yang used the Five-Organ Internal Refining Force and the Nine Peaks Saber’s Perfection Peak to split the monster in two.
• Yi Yang found the Nine Evil Sect’s mark on the monster’s severed hand and wondered whether it had been sent by the Incense Master he had been asked to investigate.

Ye Jin’s Strange Ghost failed to kill Yi Yang, exposing the Nine Evil Sect’s presence in White Fish City and prompting Wei Zhao to keep the Wei Family quiet. After investigating the monster’s remains and cultivating through the night, Yi Yang received gifts from several city factions and went to meet their delegations.

• Ye Jin cleaned away the Strange Ghost’s remains, and Wei Zhao rejected his suggestion to confront Yi Yang, deciding instead to send Yi Yang a generous gift.
• Yi Yang killed a tiny worm hidden in the monster’s remains and concluded that Holy Church members were operating in White Fish City.
• Yi Yang cultivated overnight, and Xu Pei visited in the morning to ask about the attack before arranging for Patrol Guards to clean the room.
• Xu Pei reported that the Wei Family, Mo Family, Green Snake Gang, Three Lakes Gang, and White Fish Merchant Association had brought gifts, while the Shallow Water Gang had not come.
• Yi Yang set aside his case files and went to meet the delegations, saying he wanted to see whether their gifts suited his tastes.

Yi Yang accepted gifts from White Fish City's factions, including a valuable offering from Song Liangcheng of the Shallow Water Gang, then publicly sought leads on Director Su's death and the Nine Evil Sect. After the factions left, Xu Pei brought Yi Yang an unsigned envelope from Song Liangcheng.

• Yi Yang received gifts from the Wei Family, Mo Family, Green Snake Gang, Three Lakes Gang, and White Fish Merchant Association, with the Wei Family returning thirty percent of its eastern trade route revenue to the Heaven Patrol Office.
• Song Liangcheng arrived in person and offered Yi Yang a twenty-year-old jadeblood grass from White Dragon Marsh to celebrate his promotion.
• Yi Yang asked the faction representatives to share any information about Director Su's death or the Nine Evil Sect, and offered rewards for valuable leads.
• After the representatives departed, Xu Pei brought Yi Yang an unsigned envelope sent by Song Liangcheng.

Yi Yang used the gifts from White Fish City’s factions and Song Liangcheng’s jadeblood grass to prepare for a breakthrough, while deciding not to investigate White Dragon Marsh until he had more strength. After consuming fifty-three Low-Grade Treasure Pills and the jadeblood grass, he completed the Inner Qi Volume and began transforming his power into the True Astral Realm.

• Yi Yang studied Song Liangcheng’s letter about thirty-seven Shallow Water Gang members disappearing in White Dragon Marsh’s southern region and suspected the Wei Family, the Three Lakes Gang, and the Nine Evil Sect might be involved.
• Yi Yang decided to postpone investigating White Dragon Marsh until he could face Yan Wuyuan’s True Astral Realm Incense Master, and calculated that his available gifts could provide enough cultivation resources to attempt a breakthrough.
• Yi Yang ordered Xu Pei to sell the inner armor, medicinal ingredients, mutant beast materials, and silver for Treasure Pills and treasure herbs, then began secluded cultivation with his existing pills and jadeblood grass.
• Xu Pei returned with fifteen Low-Grade Treasure Pills, and Yi Yang consumed all fifty-three pills over two days, raising his cultivation progress to 413200.
• Yi Yang swallowed the jadeblood grass, reached 500000 progress, completed the Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art’s Inner Qi Volume, and began condensing his internal energy as the True Astral Realm entry appeared on his panel.

After reaching the true astral realm, Yi Yang set out for White Dragon Marsh to investigate the Nine Evil Sect and the disappearances there. The Three Lakes Gang also sailed toward Blackwater Whirlpool, where its leader Chen Tao hoped to find a way to break through his cultivation bottleneck.

• Yi Yang tested his new true astral power, recognized how much stronger he had become, and decided to search White Dragon Marsh for clues and resources.
• Wu Yuanhao told Chen Tao that a Gold-Patterned Black Serpent had attacked his party at Blackwater Whirlpool and killed his companions.
• Chen Tao identified the serpent as the source of the Black-Scale Fruit and ordered Qian Yue to prepare twenty men for an expedition, forcing Wu Yuanhao to guide them.
• Three hours later, Chen Tao's ship headed into the southern region of White Dragon Marsh with Wu Yuanhao aboard.
• Yi Yang told Xu Pei he would be away for three days, then left White Fish City for White Dragon Marsh.

Chen Tao led the Three Lakes Gang into Blackwater Whirlpool to find the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent and claim its Black-Scale Fruit. Yi Yang secretly followed, discovered the serpent’s cave and other treasures, and waited to see how the gang’s confrontation unfolded.

• Chen Tao promised Qian Yue and twenty-two gang members rewards for finding the serpent’s nest and luring the beast out while he handled the fight.
• Yi Yang, newly at the True Astral Realm, followed the gang in secret and decided to let them test the serpent before he risked acting.
• Chen Tao, Qian Yue, and the gang members plunged into the water and found a fissure leading to the serpent’s cave.
• Yi Yang sensed the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent coiled inside the cave over more than a dozen Black-Scale Fruits, along with other unusual plants.
• Yi Yang judged the serpent to be near the True Astral Realm and stayed hidden as Chen Tao and his men approached the cave.

The Gold-Patterned Black Serpent slaughtered the Three Lakes Gang members sent into its cave, leaving Chen Tao alone to face it. Yi Yang watched from hiding, excited by the prospect of the serpent’s medicinal treasures and readying Tiger Roar as Chen Tao’s fight began.

• The Gold-Patterned Black Serpent sensed the approaching group and waited in its cave, hoping to finish its transformation by eating powerful martial artists.
• Qian Yue led six gang members into the cave as bait, where the serpent killed Chen Qiang and Zhao Meng before Qian Yue’s sword strike failed to pierce its scales.
• Chen Tao struck the serpent’s neck but barely wounded it, and the beast turned on the weaker gang members, killing them as Chen Tao struggled to keep up.
• The serpent killed Qian Yue while he fled, leaving all twenty-two gang members dead and turning its attention to Chen Tao.
• Yi Yang watched from three hundred meters away, judged the serpent stronger than expected, and silently placed his hand on Tiger Roar’s hilt.

Chen Tao used a Scarlet Rampage Pill to kill the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent and found the Black-Scale Fruits and other treasures in its lair. Yi Yang then killed Chen Tao before he could claim the fruits, and turned his attention to the haul.

• Chen Tao swallowed the Scarlet Rampage Pill and fought the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent, wounding it and pursuing it into its lair.
• Yi Yang watched from nearby, recognized that Chen Tao’s pill was draining his vitality, and silently followed him.
• Chen Tao endured the serpent’s poisonous mist and killed it with repeated saber strikes.
• Chen Tao found the Black-Scale Fruits, three medicinal herbs, and a serpent egg, then reached for the fruits.
• Yi Yang attacked Chen Tao with Tiger Roar, cut him in half, and turned toward the Black-Scale Fruits.

Yi Yang gathered rare medicinal plants and valuable parts from the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent, then followed blood flowing through a hidden passage to a water eye filled with drained corpses. He discovered two true astral realm auras beneath its blood-red whirlpool just as both unleashed attacks.

• Yi Yang collected three ripe Black-Scale Fruits, several precious medicinal plants including a deepwater orchid, the Snake Egg, and valuable materials from the Gold-Patterned Black Serpent.
• Yi Yang searched Chen Tao's corpse, found no valuables, and concluded that the serpent could not explain the Southern Region's many disappearances.
• Yi Yang noticed blood flowing toward a narrow crack and followed it through a passage into an enormous underwater space.
• Yi Yang found a whirlpool surrounded by more than a hundred shriveled corpses, including dozens of missing Southern Region martial artists.
• Yi Yang sensed two true astral realm auras beneath the blood-red whirlpool, and two attacks erupted from its depths.

Yi Yang hid among corpses in the Blood Vortex and discovered that a Nine Evil Sect Incense Master was pursuing Profound Sword Pavilion members alongside Rampage Killer and Qin Wuli. After the Incense Master exposed Yi Yang, he escaped to the surface of White Dragon Marsh, where he faced Qin Wuli on a floating log.

• Yi Yang concealed himself among the corpses as two Profound Sword Pavilion members fled the vortex and the Incense Master ordered Rampage Killer to kill them.
• The Incense Master detected Yi Yang and sent Qin Wuli after him, forcing Yi Yang to abandon his hiding place and flee.
• Yi Yang dodged Qin Wuli's attacks underwater, then took one attack on his armor as he surged toward the surface.
• Yi Yang burst out of White Dragon Marsh and landed on floating deadwood, where Qin Wuli confronted him and accused him of being from the Heaven Patrol Office.
• Yi Yang wiped away his blood and gripped Tiger Roar's hilt as he prepared to fight Qin Wuli on the water's surface.