Chapter Summaries

Lin Bei stopped Zhang Teng from killing Zhang Yong and guided him to focus on overcoming the Zhang Household and the Nanyang Zhou Clan through cultivation. Zhang Teng issued the Zhang Household a challenge for a life-and-death fight in ten days, and Zhang Xiaoxiao arrived to find her grandfather wounded.

• Zhang Yong expected Zhang Teng to kill him, but Lin Bei caught Zhang Teng's palm and urged him not to stain his Dao heart with revenge.
• Lin Bei asked Zhang Teng what had caused his suffering and encouraged him to grow strong enough to smash the Zhang Household's and the Nanyang Zhou Clan's shackles.
• Zhang Teng wrote a challenge to the Zhang Household, setting a visit in ten days and declaring that he would bring a Life-and-Death Writ.
• Zhang Teng told Zhang Yong that, if he defeated the Zhang Household, he would challenge the Nanyang Zhou Clan and use the six-month recovery period to prepare.
• Zhang Teng sent Xiao Liuzi to bring Zhang Xiaoxiao out, and she was stunned to see Zhang Yong lying wounded on the ground.

After Zhang Teng defeated Zhang Yong, Zhang Xiaoxiao learned that her brother’s challenge letter warned her not to oppose him, while Zhang Yong admitted he did not know whether he could bring himself to attack Zhang Teng. Zhang Teng explained his plan to settle the feud with the Nanyang Zhou Clan through an officially sanctioned duel, leaving him ten days to prepare as Xiao Liuzi delivered the challenge letter to the Central Hall.

• Zhang Yong admitted defeat to Zhang Teng, and Zhang Xiaoxiao discovered that Zhang Teng’s challenge letter warned her not to stand in his way.
• Zhang Xiaoxiao asked whether Zhang Yong would attack Zhang Teng if he went to the duel, but Zhang Yong said he did not know.
• Zhang Teng explained that he issued a challenge letter to settle the feud with the Zhang Household and the Nanyang Zhou Clan while gaining time and protection from the Central Hall.
• Lin Bei sent Xiao Liuzi to deliver Zhang Teng’s challenge letter to the Central Hall in Azure Cloud City, and Zhang Teng said ten days would give him a chance to grow stronger.
• Mu Qingyue learned that Xiao Liuzi had arrived from the Martial Arts Grounds and went to meet him, while discussing the Central Hall’s support against the Nanyang Zhou Clan.

Xiao Liuzi delivered Zhang Teng’s challenge to the Zhang Clan to the Central Hall, which agreed to arbitrate the potentially deadly fight scheduled for ten days later. At the Martial Arts Grounds, Tieniu comprehended a cultivation method, triggering four limit breaks for Lin Bei’s Tai Chi Breath-Absorbing Art, and proposed creating a new fist technique.

• Xiao Liuzi gave Mu Qingyue Zhang Teng’s challenge letter and a sword-shaped hairpin as proof of its authenticity.
• Mu Qingyue showed the challenge letter to Mu Qingyun, who agreed to arbitrate and sent her to the fight with a certificate confirming the Martial Arts Grounds had joined the martial hall’s forces.
• Mu Qingyue volunteered to serve as arbiter because she wanted to see why Zhang Teng believed he could challenge the entire Zhang Clan.
• Tieniu’s Tai Chi stirred spiritual power, and he comprehended the Zhou Tian Acupoints Breathing Method.
• Lin Bei’s Tai Chi Breathing Method underwent four limit breaks, allowing his acupoints to absorb and release energy on their own.
• Tieniu told Lin Bei he could cultivate and proposed using Tai Chi as the foundation for an entirely new fist technique.

Lin Bei approved Tieniu’s plans for the Extreme Yang Fist Technique and the Nine Yang Dao Art, which could store spiritual power in nine acupoint circuits and multiply combat strength. On the road to the Martial Arts Grounds, Mu Qingyue learned how far Zhang Teng had advanced and remained stunned by his growth as he prepared to challenge the Zhang Clan.

• Tieniu explained that he wanted to combine Tai Chi’s softness with an extremely hard, yang-focused fist technique, and Lin Bei encouraged him.
• Tieniu proposed storing spiritual power in nine acupoint circuits and releasing it through a special method to multiply his combat strength, naming the technique the Nine Yang Dao Art.
• Mu Qingyue asked Xiao Liuzi why Lin Bei had encouraged Zhang Teng to challenge the Zhang Clan, and Xiao Liuzi explained that Zhang Teng intended to settle his grudge through a formal Challenge Letter.
• Xiao Liuzi told Mu Qingyue that Zhang Teng had defeated Zhang Tao and Zhang Yong, a manifestation-level martial intent expert, after reaching the fifth tempering of the Dao Body.
• Mu Qingyue learned that Zhang Teng had only reached the first tempering when he fought her, leaving her astonished by his progress.

Zhang Teng reached the sixth tempering and explained that the seventh required refining the spirit, while Lin Bei and his disciples discussed their cultivation. Mu Qingyue arrived with news that the Central Hall had accepted Zhang Teng’s challenge application, and she would serve as notary.

• Zhang Teng finished practicing and told Tieniu that he had reached the sixth tempering and that the seventh required his spirit to resonate with Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Power.
• Zhang Teng said he could control spiritual power and promised to perform Heavenly Gate Opening for the disciples once he reached the ninth tempering.
• Tieniu admitted that his Zhou Tian Acupoints Breathing Method let him absorb spiritual power instinctively, and Zhang Teng reassured him that Master Lin Bei was on a far higher level.
• Lin Bei privately reflected that Zhang Teng’s progress could help him finish developing Dao-method wielding before Zhang Teng challenged the Zhang Clan.
• Xiao Liuzi arrived with Mu Qingyue, who was startled by Tieniu’s powerful aura and told Lin Bei that the Central Hall had accepted Zhang Teng’s application and appointed her as notary.

Mu Qingyue delivered the Central Hall’s certificate recognizing the Martial Arts Grounds as a second-rate force and asked to test Zhang Teng’s strength. Their full-power spar began, and Zhang Teng shattered her manifested sword intent, but Mu Qingyue pressed her attack as they neared their clash.

• Mu Qingyue gave Lin Bei the certificate classifying the Martial Arts Grounds as a second-rate force, exciting Xiao Liuzi, Tieniu, and the others with the prospect of recruiting settlers.
• Mu Qingyue explained that the grounds were safe but lacked roads, commerce, and supplies, making it difficult to attract settlers.
• Mu Qingyue asked to spar with Zhang Teng and offered to have the Martial Arts Grounds nominated as a candidate for first-rate status if he defeated her.
• Mu Qingyue attacked Zhang Teng with three manifested swords, striking from above, the left, and the right.
• Zhang Teng roared and shattered Mu Qingyue’s manifested sword qi, after which she intensified her attack and the two prepared to clash.

Zhang Teng defeated Mu Qingyue in a spar after using Acupoint Sealing to disrupt her true qi and martial intent, though Lin Bei stopped him before she was hurt. Impressed by Zhang Teng’s rapid growth and the Immortal Cultivator path, Mu Qingyue asked Lin Bei if she could cultivate it.

• Zhang Teng disarmed Mu Qingyue and gradually gained the upper hand with his Tai Chi techniques.
• Zhang Teng sealed Mu Qingyue’s aperture points, leaving her unable to recover her rhythm and convinced she had lost.
• Lin Bei stopped the spar, and Mu Qingyue thanked Zhang Teng and Lin Bei as they preserved her dignity.
• Mu Qingyue learned Zhang Teng had reached the sixth tempering and would reach the seventh before the Ten-Day Pact.
• Mu Qingyue asked Lin Bei whether she could cultivate the Immortal Cultivator path, shocking the disciples nearby.

Lin Bei tested Mu Qingyue’s aptitude for the Immortal Cultivation Method, but her dedication to martial arts prevented her from grasping its essence. Tieniu and Xiao Liuzi then received permission to recruit in Qingyun Town, where Tieniu proposed taking advantage of the Six Harmonies Martial Hall’s weakness to destroy it.

• Lin Bei explained that Mu Qingyue’s martial intent would obstruct her Immortal Cultivation and that she lacked a destined connection to the Martial Arts Grounds.
• Xiao Liuzi told Mu Qingyue why she could not learn the Immortal Cultivation Method, and she accepted that her path lay in martial arts.
• Tieniu and Xiao Liuzi asked Lin Bei for permission to go to Qingyun Town and recruit residents, and Lin Bei approved their plan.
• Tieniu proposed targeting the weakened Six Harmonies Martial Hall, whose Hall Master Cheng had been crippled, and said they should tear it out by the roots.

Lin Bei advised Zhang Teng to rest, then discussed Mu Qingyue’s lack of affinity for immortal cultivation and the challenge letter sent to the Zhang Household. The Zhang Clan debated Zhang Teng’s return, and Zhang Zhong offered him one final chance before declaring that he should die if he refused.

• Lin Bei told Tieniu and Xiao Liuzi to carry out their plan, then urged Zhang Teng to balance punch practice with rest and meditation.
• Mu Qingyue asked Lin Bei whether he had prompted Xiao Liuzi to discourage her from immortal cultivation, and Lin Bei said her focus on the martial path made her unsuitable for it.
• Mu Qingyue asked how the Zhang Household would react to the challenge letter, and Lin Bei replied that it did not matter.
• The Zhang Clan elders accused Zhang Yong of protecting Zhang Teng, but Zhang Yong showed them the notarized challenge letter.
• Zhang Zhong asked whether the clan would accept Zhang Teng if he had regained his strength, and the clan leader admitted its mistreatment had broken Zhang Teng’s ties to the family.
• Zhang Zhong ordered the clan to give Zhang Teng one last chance to return and said they would have to let him die if he refused.

Tieniu and Xiao Liuzi went to Qingyun Town to recruit merchants from the Six Harmonies Martial Hall’s territory, starting with the Chen Family Cloth Shop. After Tieniu offered to help recover shops seized by the Exquisite Silk Shop, the shopkeeper summoned the family head to consider opening a branch in their village.

• Tieniu explained to Xiao Liuzi that they would recruit merchants by helping businesses harmed by the Six Harmonies Martial Hall.
• Tieniu and Xiao Liuzi chose the Chen Family Cloth Shop as their first target and met with its shopkeeper.
• Tieniu offered to help the Chen Family Cloth Shop recover its seized shops and seek compensation through the Central Hall if it had evidence.
• The shopkeeper offered thirty percent of the shops’ net profits, but Tieniu refused the reward and Xiao Liuzi proposed that the shop open a village branch with reduced taxes.
• The shopkeeper recognized the opportunity and hurried to fetch the family head to decide.