Chapter Summaries

Yi Yang lured the Boar King into its cave and killed it in a brutal fight, though he suffered broken ribs. After recovering enough to stand, he followed a medicinal fragrance deeper into the cave.

• The Boar King caught Yi Yang’s scent and pursued him, so he fled into Steward Huang’s cave, which turned out to be the Boar King’s lair.
• Yi Yang tried to wear down the Boar King with repeated evasions, but it blocked the cave entrance and forced him to fight.
• Yi Yang struck the weak spot on the Boar King’s neck, then endured its attacks while countering with Tiger Roar.
• Yi Yang used Thunderous Sound Mantra to stun the Boar King and drove Tiger Roar into its back, then pressed the saber into its heart to kill it.
• Yi Yang escaped from beneath the Boar King, treated his injuries with Five-Organ Internal Refining Force, and followed a medicinal fragrance deeper into the cave.

Yi Yang uncovered Zhao Hu’s stolen Heaven Patrol Office supplies and realized the mission had drawn a powerhouse beyond Inner Qi to the valley. He fled toward the wounded Han Yan, whom he found near a dead Red Boar, and stopped before her.

• Yi Yang found ten Treasure Pills and three valuable herbs hidden in the Red Boar piglet’s nest, then deduced that Zhao Hu had stolen them from the Heaven Patrol Office while disguised as Steward Huang.
• Yi Yang sensed a powerhouse beyond Inner Qi and four other experts approaching the valley, so he concealed his aura and fled into the forest toward Han Yan.
• Yi Yang found the second adult Red Boar dead on a mountainside and saw that Han Yan had lost her left arm and was gravely injured.
• Han Yan looked shocked to see Yi Yang alive, and he stopped three paces away without speaking.

Yi Yang killed the gravely wounded Han Yan, hid the loot and evidence from Beast Ridge, and returned to the Nether Spring Office to report Steward Huang’s death. He told Yan Wuyuan that Steward Huang had been Zhao Hu, an inner qi expert, and that a powerful beyond-inner-qi figure remained in the mountains.

• Han Yan offered Yi Yang money, a lightness technique, and mission credit in exchange for saving her, then revealed that Zhao Hu belonged to the Rampage Six Bandits and that their leader was an astral realm expert.
• Yi Yang pretended to accept Han Yan’s terms and then killed her, deciding that her concealed hostility made her too dangerous to leave alive.
• Yi Yang searched Han Yan’s body, buried her corpse and nearby evidence, and concealed the stolen pills, medicinal herbs, banknotes, and jewelry in a rock crevice.
• Yi Yang returned to the prefectural city at night and reported to Yan Wuyuan that Steward Huang had been killed and that he had encountered mutant Red Boars and a powerful unidentified expert.
• Yi Yang told Yan Wuyuan that Steward Huang had been stronger than the mission file claimed and that the Evil-Breaking Office directors had identified him as Zhao Hu.

After reporting his mission, Yi Yang learned that Zhao Hu belonged to the Six Bandits and that Yan Wuyuan had once pursued their leader, Rampage Killer. Han Yuhua sought help investigating Han Yan’s disappearance, while her fiancé Ye Jin concealed a furious grudge against Yi Yang.

• Yan Wuyuan told Yi Yang that Zhao Hu was one of the Six Bandits and that she had failed to catch their leader, Rampage Killer.
• Yi Yang left the Nether Spring Office, confident that the investigation would not uncover what had happened to Han Yan.
• Han Yuhua learned that Han Yan had vanished after encountering the Red Boar King and that Yi Yang was the only operative to return alive.
• Han Yuhua asked Ye Jin to seize Yi Yang, but Ye Jin warned him to seek a formal joint investigation through the offices.
• After Han Yuhua left, Ye Jin shattered his teacup and voiced his hatred of Yi Yang.

Ye Jin vowed to kill Yi Yang after Han Yan’s death destroyed his chance of breaking through to the True Astral Realm. Yi Yang was cleared of wrongdoing, rewarded for killing Zhao Hu, and began using the pills to advance his cultivation while keeping a low profile.

• Ye Jin revealed that he had courted Han Yan for her yin-origin body and swore revenge on Yi Yang for ruining his plans.
• Yi Yang recovered from his injuries, cultivated, and decided to leave his hidden treasure stash untouched until attention around the mission died down.
• The Evil-Breaking Office and Nether Spring Office investigated the battle site, while Zhu Wei and Zhao Qin returned and gave accounts that matched Yi Yang’s report.
• The Judgment Hall ruled Yi Yang not guilty and classified Han Yan as missing during the mission; the Han Family’s request for assistance was rejected.
• The Judgment Hall awarded Yi Yang six Low-Grade Treasure Pills, three hundred taels of silver, and a commendation, and Yi Yang avoided attention while collecting his reward.
• Yi Yang took the six Treasure Pills home and began cultivating with one of them.

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.