Chapter Summaries

Lin Feng refused to abandon Mr. Hong and Yue'e, then awakened the Heart of the Beast and unleashed a relentless barrage of Crimson Gold Glaze that broke Ying Wuchang's Body Protection Qi. Ying Wuchang's demonic shadow shrank as Lin Feng struck his exposed groin, but Ying Wuchang roared and prepared to fight to the death.

• Yue'e urged Lin Feng to flee while she covered his retreat, but Lin Feng refused to leave Mr. Hong and her behind.
• Mr. Hong told Xiaofeng to go, and Lin Feng declared that he would rather die alongside his master and Senior Sister.
• At the brink of death, Lin Feng awakened the Heart of the Beast and fired Crimson Gold Glaze at greatly increased speed, forcing Ying Wuchang to spend more true qi on his defense.
• After Lin Feng ran out of steel pellets, he shattered a large stone and fired the fragments while Yue'e searched for more stones to supply him.
• Lin Feng's barrage broke Ying Wuchang's Body Protection Qi, and his shots struck Ying Wuchang's groin directly as Mr. Hong's Sunny Day Sword Qi pressed closer.
• Ying Wuchang roared, clamped his legs together to protect his groin, and prepared to fight to the death.

Ying Wuchang’s attack nearly killed Lin Feng, but Mr. Hong finished him off and saved Lin Feng with a precious pill. After recovering enough to travel, Lin Feng learned the pill could be converted into Breakthrough Points and asked how to obtain more.

• Lin Feng disrupted Ying Wuchang’s martial arts, allowing Mr. Hong to break through his defenses and fatally wound him.
• Ying Wuchang used his final strength to send a tracking fist-shadow at Lin Feng, who shielded Senior Sister Yue'e and survived with severe injuries.
• Mr. Hong gave Lin Feng a Dragon Blood Heart-Nourishing Pill, which Lin Feng converted into 120 Breakthrough Points.
• Mr. Hong took Lin Feng and Yue'e away from the battlefield, then fed Lin Feng water and jerky while Yue'e roasted meat.
• Lin Feng recovered enough to sit up, thanked Mr. Hong for the pill, and asked how he could obtain more pills of its level.

Lin Feng recovered from the battle with Ying Wuchang and learned that joining the Sect or its subordinate forces could earn him a Dragon Blood Heart-Nourishing Pill. After parting from Mr. Hong and Yue'e, he returned home and planned to visit the Black Market for a horizontal-training manual to advance his cultivation.

• Mr. Hong thanked Lin Feng for saving him and Yue'e, then warned Lin Feng to build a solid foundation before advancing his martial arts.
• Lin Feng explained his Heart of the Beast state, and Mr. Hong urged him to cultivate the Heart Nourishing Swordplay to strengthen his Internal Energy.
• Mr. Hong lent Lin Feng the manuals for Demonic Dragon Roar and Heavenly Demon Meteor Fist to memorize before he turned them over to the Sect.
• Lin Feng ate most of the roasted horse and prawns, and Mr. Hong and Yue'e returned to the Sect after urging him to join them there.
• Mr. Hong promised to teach Yue'e Yin Yang Swordplay, while Lin Feng returned home with prawns and concealed the danger he had faced from Mother Lin.
• Lin Feng went to arrange a Black Market visit with Steward Li so he could buy a horizontal-training Hard Gong manual and pursue Copper Skin.

Lin Feng failed to find a genuine Hard Gong manual at the Black Market, so Steward Li arranged for him to meet a jailed thief who could teach him. The prisoner claimed to know two arts, leaving Lin Feng to decide which one to learn.

• Steward Li accompanied Lin Feng to the Black Market and gave him one thousand taels as a reward for his bunk-bed idea.
• Lin Feng found a fake Iron Cloth Shirt manual and no other useful books, then returned empty-handed.
• Steward Li told Lin Feng about a jailed flying thief skilled in hard-body Hard Gong arts and offered to arrange a meeting at the county yamen.
• Lin Feng wore Steward Li's golden brocade robe, paid one hundred taels to enter the prison, and questioned the young prisoner.
• The prisoner claimed he knew both Iron Cloth Shirt and Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong, and Lin Feng wondered which art to learn.

Lin Feng forced Sun Yu to teach him the Iron Cloth Shirt and Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong in exchange for arranging his release from prison. After learning both arts, Lin Feng decided to invest his Breakthrough Points in the Iron Cloth Shirt first.

• Lin Feng learned that Sun Yu had been jailed for stealing and offered to secure his release if Sun Yu taught him two martial arts.
• Sun Yu initially taught Lin Feng an incomplete Iron Cloth Shirt, but Lin Feng withheld his food until Sun Yu finished teaching the art.
• After Lin Feng provided a feast, Sun Yu explained how he had come to Qinghe County and began teaching him the Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong.
• Sun Yu revealed that losing his virginity had ruined his own practice of the Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong, but Lin Feng discovered he could still practice it at the cost of ten Breakthrough Points to begin.
• On the sixth day, Lin Feng learned the Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong and decided to invest his 132 Breakthrough Points in the Iron Cloth Shirt first.

Lin Feng used Breakthrough Points while hunting with Zhang Xiaoyu, perfecting two hard gongs and advancing through Skin Refining to Gold Skin before cultivating Heart Nourishing Swordplay to break into Muscle Refining. He ended the chapter at Stone Muscle with thirty Breakthrough Points left, considering how to spend them.

• Lin Feng took Zhang Xiaoyu into the mountains, where Zhang Xiaoyu hunted while Lin Feng roasted meat and checked his attributes.
• Lin Feng perfected Iron Cloth Shirt, raising his Vitality and discovering that Gold Skin lay beyond Copper Skin.
• Lin Feng perfected Thirteen Taibao Hard Gong and reached Gold Skin, the summit of Skin Refining.
• Lin Feng chose Heart Nourishing Swordplay over Flying Sword Cloud-Piercing Steps and raised it to the sixth level.
• Lin Feng broke through to Stone Muscle in the Muscle Refining Realm and was left with thirty Breakthrough Points.

Lin Feng advanced his martial arts and demonstrated the Wind-Breaking Saber Draw Slash before planning to compete for a minor official post with Zhang Xiaoyu. He freed Sun Yu from prison, but Sun Yu chose to stay in the county town and enter the arena contests.

• Lin Feng raised Crimson Gold Glaze to its third level and advanced the Wind-Breaking Saber Technique to its ultimate move, the Wind-Breaking Saber Draw Slash.
• Lin Feng demonstrated the slash by cutting a large tree in half so quickly that Zhang Xiaoyu barely saw him draw his saber.
• Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu discussed entering the City Guards and yamen recruitment contests, and Lin Feng warned Zhang Xiaoyu to conceal his Bloodthirsty Demonic Art.
• The Ding family mocked Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu, while Steward Ding cautioned them that Lin Feng had connections to Steward Li.
• Lin Feng released Sun Yu from prison, treated him to a meal, and gave him fifty taels before declining Sun Yu's request to become his younger brother.
• Sun Yu saw an arena being built at a city crossroads and decided to stay and compete for a job at the yamen.

Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu went to the City Guards’ recruitment contests, where Lin Feng planned to fight through an entire arena. As the contests began, Lin Feng leaped onto the central arena first, and spectators wondered whether he meant to sweep it.

• Lin Feng raised Flying Sword Cloud-Piercing Steps to the first level, bringing his Life attribute to two hundred.
• Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu left home for the contests after warning each other to fight cautiously and return safely.
• Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu encountered Steward Ding and his son on the way, then separated from them upon reaching the arenas.
• Lin Feng told Zhang Xiaoyu he would fight from beginning to end on one arena and urged him to wait until the other contests had unfolded.
• The contest bell rang, and Lin Feng used Flying Sword Cloud-Piercing Steps to leap onto the central arena.
• Spectators recognized Lin Feng as the Mad Blade Man and wondered whether he planned to sweep the arena.

Lin Feng won his first two arena matches without killing his opponents, then faced the notorious One-Eyed Swordsman, whose strength and malice made him a more serious challenge. Seeing that others had mistaken his restraint for weakness, Lin Feng prepared to establish his fearsome reputation by killing the swordsman.

• Lin Feng signed the Waiver of Life and Death and sent his first opponent flying with a single punch, leaving the man unharmed.
• Lin Feng fought Song Dahu to test Hundred Beasts Fist, then won and decided to seek him out after the matches.
• Zheng Huian learned that Lin Feng might be the Great Hero of Qinghe, while Jiang Tiesheng said Lin Feng had killed several of his men.
• Lin Feng watched bloody matches on the neighboring arenas while no one challenged him for half an hour.
• The One-Eyed Swordsman, whose life attribute exceeded one hundred, challenged Lin Feng, and Lin Feng resolved to kill him and put the other contestants on notice.

Lin Feng killed the One-Eyed Swordsman with a single saber slash, ending further challenges at his arena. After Zhang Xiaoyu won a brutal duel, Lin Feng took him to the mountain, where Zhang Xiaoyu stitched his own wounds and bit into a wolf, possibly using the Bloodthirsty Demonic Art to recover.

• Lin Feng cut the One-Eyed Swordsman in half with a lightning-fast slash, frightening the crowd and discouraging anyone else from challenging him.
• Steward Ding praised Lin Feng to Young Master Ding, who later registered for a match but jumped off the stage without drawing his sword.
• With the contest nearing its end, Zhang Xiaoyu and Sun Yu entered neighboring arenas, and Lin Feng saw that Zhang Xiaoyu faced the stronger opponent.
• Zhang Xiaoyu traded wounds with his opponent until both were gravely injured, but he stayed standing and was declared the winner.
• Lin Feng carried Zhang Xiaoyu out of the city to their hunting mountain after Zhang Xiaoyu refused to go to a clinic.
• Zhang Xiaoyu stitched his ruptured intestines back into place, then bit a wolf's neck, leaving Lin Feng wondering whether the Bloodthirsty Demonic Art could heal injuries.

After winning the first round of the Martial Arts Examination, Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu prepared for the remaining assessments to join the City Guards. Lin Feng also encouraged Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu to keep training, while Steward Ding hinted that the City Guards might eliminate even both of the winners.

• Zhang Xiaoyu explained that the Bloodthirsty Demonic Art healed him by consuming his life force, and he and Lin Feng returned to the city after the arena match.
• Steward Ding and Young Master Ding congratulated Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu, who reassured their families that they had won and would continue the examination.
• The next day, Lin Feng took Zhang Xiaoyu hunting, then the two met Sun Yu, who looked forward to joining the City Guards and advancing in his career.
• Lin Feng persuaded Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu not to give up martial arts, promising to support their training and provide each of them two hundred taels a year.
• Three days later, Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaoyu set out for the second assessment, while Steward Ding told his son that the City Guards might eliminate both of them despite their strong martial arts.

Lin Feng, Zhang Xiaoyu, and Sun Yu failed the City Guards’ assessment despite passing the arena round, while Young Master Ding was selected through family connections. They planned to try the yamen assessment instead, and seven days later its arena matches began.

• Lin Feng spoke with Song Dahu before the City Guards tested the martial artists and interviewed them.
• A hostile City Guard questioned Lin Feng about killing Horse Bandits, and Zhang Xiaoyu and Sun Yu also faced difficult interviews.
• The City Guards rejected Lin Feng, Zhang Xiaoyu, and Sun Yu, citing Lin Feng’s killing intent, Zhang Xiaoyu’s weak foundation, and Sun Yu’s criminal record, while selecting Young Master Ding.
• Lin Feng, Zhang Xiaoyu, Sun Yu, Song Dahu, and the Twin Spears of Red River shared drinks and agreed to take the yamen assessment.
• Lin Feng overheard Steward Ding tell Young Master Ding that his maternal cousin had secured his place in the City Guards.
• Steward Li offered to guarantee Lin Feng entry into the yamen, and seven days later the yamen began its arena matches.

After Lin Feng failed both government examinations, Steward Li revealed that the City Lord's Mansion had blocked his entry because of his ties to the Horse Bandits and the Iron Rod Gang. Just as Lin Feng considered leaving Qinghe County, Zheng Tiejun arrived to recruit him into the newly established Mayi Guard and help root out corrupt officials and gangs.

• Lin Feng, Zhang Xiaoyu, Sun Yu, Song Dahu, and the Twin Spears of Red River won their first-round bouts but failed the yamen's second-round examination.
• Steward Li returned Lin Feng's two thousand taels and explained that the City Lord's Mansion had barred Lin Feng and his brother from joining the yamen, while the Iron Rod Gang had influenced the City Guards against him.
• Steward Li advised Lin Feng to leave Qinghe County for Feixue County, and Lin Feng considered departing after taking revenge on the forces that had obstructed him.
• The government announced the creation of the Mayi Guard, a Sword Sect force with authority to investigate local officials and oppressors while reducing the staffing of the yamen and City Guards.
• Zheng Tiejun visited Lin Feng, described his plan to cleanse Qinghe County of corrupt officials and predatory gangs, and asked Lin Feng to join him.

Lin Feng joined Zheng Tiejun’s newly established Mayi Guard after seeing proof of its authority, and helped recruit twenty-two martial artists from Qinghe County. The recruits received their posts and equipment, while Zheng Tiejun vowed to root out corruption and restore order in the county.

• Zheng Tiejun took Lin Feng to the Mayi Guard headquarters and introduced him to his martial uncle, who reprimanded the City Lord, the City Guards General, and the County Magistrate for failing to recruit Lin Feng after he won their arena matches.
• The white-haired elder ordered the City Guards and government office to vacate thirty positions each, and told Zheng Tiejun to recruit sixty people and investigate their recruitment records.
• Zheng Tiejun asked Lin Feng to help recruit commoners with no ties to other local forces, and Lin Feng gathered twenty-two martial artists with help from Zhang Xiaoyu, Zhou Haitao, and Lin Hu.
• Zheng Tiejun appointed Lin Feng deputy general and made Sun Yu, Zhang Xiaoyu, Song Dahu, and the Twin Spears of Red River squad leaders.
• Zheng Tiejun issued the recruits Mayi Guard uniforms, armor, tokens, and swords, then declared that the people's interests came first and vowed to clean up Qinghe County.

Lin Feng and the Mayi Guard seized Martial Arts Examination records and officials from the City Guards and yamen despite their refusal to cooperate. After the city’s leaders ordered the records burned, Lin Feng caught a recruit he had personally chosen trying to set them alight.

• Lin Feng, Sun Yu, and Zhang Xiaoyu led a team into City Guards headquarters, where Sun Yu used a trick to make a soldier guide them to the examination records.
• Lin Feng’s group collected records from this and previous examinations and detained more than a dozen City Guards involved in the examination.
• Lin Feng and Sun Yu obtained records and personnel from the yamen, and Zheng Tiejun ordered the detainees taken to the Mayi Guard’s underground prison.
• Liu Rensong, Zheng Huian, and Li Wenzhong learned the records had been seized and ordered someone to burn them that night.
• Lin Feng stayed behind to guard the records and caught a recruit he had personally enlisted trying to set them on fire.

Lin Feng stopped Chu Zhengyi from burning the Martial Arts Examination case files, and the interrogation exposed Ji Yunhao as the man who had bribed him. Ji Yunhao confessed to abusing his cousin Zheng Huian’s influence, but the evidence could not connect Zheng Huian to the plot, leaving Zheng Tiejun to turn to punishing Chu Zhengyi as a traitor.

• Lin Feng caught Chu Zhengyi trying to burn the case files, foiled his dagger attack, and had him imprisoned for interrogation.
• Zhang Xiaoyu tortured Chu Zhengyi until he confessed that Ji Yunhao had paid him five thousand taels to destroy the files.
• Lin Feng arrested Ji Yunhao, while Sun Yu found five thousand taels in Chu Zhengyi’s home and lifted fingerprints from the banknotes.
• Ji Yunhao confessed that he had acted after receiving a message from his cousin Zheng Huian, but the paper ball was gone and Zheng Huian had an alibi.
• Zhang Xiaoyu forced Ji Yunhao to confess to using Zheng Huian’s influence to oppress people and seize land, but Zheng Tiejun concluded that the case against Zheng Huian could not proceed.
• Zheng Tiejun declared that the Mayi Guard needed rules and prepared to punish Chu Zhengyi for treason.

Lin Feng and Zheng Tiejun exposed widespread corruption in Qinghe County’s City Guards and yamen, but the Sword Sect halted the crackdown after the Mayi Guard executed many offenders. Lin Feng returned home planning to target the Iron Rod Gang next and remained hopeful about the promised rewards.

• Zheng Tiejun ordered the Mayi Guard to execute Chu Zhengyi by a hundred cuts, then had Lin Feng inspect the Martial Arts Examination case files.
• Lin Feng found the recorded match winners had been falsified, and Zheng Tiejun used the evidence and confessions to strip Zheng Huian and Li Wenzhong of their posts.
• The white-haired elder ordered a broader investigation, and Lin Feng urged commoners to report grievances as the Mayi Guard uncovered widespread abuses.
• Lin Feng warned Zheng Tiejun that the Sword Sect might stop the crackdown because the law could not punish everyone, but Zheng Tiejun ordered the execution of those whose crimes warranted beheading.
• The Sword Sect ordered the Mayi Guard to release the prisoners and redirect its efforts, and Lin Feng went home with his companions.
• Lin Feng said he planned to wipe out the Iron Rod Gang after resting and hoped his coming rewards would include pills that increased Breakthrough Points.

Lin Feng used his accumulated Breakthrough Points to raise Demonic Dragon Roar to the fourth level, then tested its lethal power on two Wild Boars. After the Mayi Guard finished its casework, Zheng Tiejun began dismissing temporary recruits and rewarding those who remained; Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu were kept on as official members.

• Lin Feng ignored Steward Ding and Young Master Ding as the bankrupt family prepared to leave Qinghe County, then urged Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu to keep training.
• During three days off, Lin Feng spent thirty-six Breakthrough Points to raise Demonic Dragon Roar to the fourth level and saved nine points.
• Lin Feng tested Demonic Dragon Roar on two Wild Boars, killing them with a roar that left his throat tight.
• After the Mayi Guard completed its case records, Zheng Tiejun gave everyone three days off before they returned to find a large pile of reward silver.
• Zheng Tiejun dismissed more than thirty recruits with brocade robes and two thousand taels each, while Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu learned they had been retained as official Mayi Guard members.
• Zheng Tiejun began rewarding the remaining Mayi Guard members for their merit.

Zheng Tiejun rewarded the Mayi Guard and vowed to seize Qinghe County from City Lord Liu Rensong, while Lin Feng proposed infiltrating the Heavenly Serpent Gang’s Horse Bandits to uncover proof of their ties to the City Lord’s Mansion. Lin Feng began organizing an intelligence network and ended the chapter preparing to take his Sixty-Year Power-Boosting Pill.

• Zheng Tiejun distributed silver and Power-Boosting Pills to the Mayi Guard, but Lin Feng found that the regular pills had no effect on him.
• Zheng Tiejun told Lin Feng he intended to take over the City Lord’s Mansion within half a year and rewarded him with a Sixty-Year Power-Boosting Pill.
• Lin Feng proposed infiltrating the Horse Bandits to find evidence of their collusion with the City Lord’s Mansion, and Zheng Tiejun promised to make him a Mayi Guard General if they succeeded.
• Lin Feng assigned Zhang Xiaoyu, Sun Yu, Zhou Haitao, and Lin Hu to build an intelligence network across Qinghe County using hired contacts, carrier pigeons, and Shenzhou Records as a codebook.
• Lin Feng prepared to take Zheng Tiejun’s Sixty-Year Power-Boosting Pill and test its effects.

Lin Feng prepared to infiltrate the Heavenly Serpent Gang's Horse Bandits, while his friends began setting up an intelligence network and he secured General Zheng Tiejun's approval for its expenses. After learning that Steward Li had come to borrow money and say goodbye, Lin Feng went to find him.

• Lin Feng gave Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu the remaining Power-Boosting Pills, then told them and Zhang Xiaoyu that he planned to infiltrate the Horse Bandits in five days.
• Lin Feng explained that the Horse Bandits were recruiting skilled martial artists and that the Mayi Guard needed to strike before they retaliated; he asked his friends to build an intelligence network and help conceal his mission from his family.
• Lin Feng met Sun Yu after midnight, learned he had spent his money at the pleasure quarters, and asked him to look after the brothers while Lin Feng was away.
• Lin Feng took a fifty-thousand-tael procurement list to Zheng Tiejun, who approved it after pointing out a woman he had glimpsed at the City Lord's Mansion.
• Lin Feng learned Steward Li had come to borrow silver and say goodbye, then headed out to find him.