Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi'an arranged for Zhao Ling to teach Chen Tiantian the Seven Star-Chasing Forms after Tiantian underwent three marrow cleansings, then prepared to leave Windrise Stronghold. On his way to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, he intervened when gambling-house enforcers beat Han Shan and gave him ten days to repay his debt.

• Chen Tiantian swallowed three Marrow-Washing Pills and underwent three marrow cleansings, while Zhao Ling agreed to teach her the Seven Star-Chasing Forms and keep the pills secret.
• Chen Shi'an practiced the Seven Star-Chasing Forms beneath the old willow tree as Qin E'na sat with him, and he left home quietly at dawn to seek more pills from Tao Yaoyao.
• Chen Shi'an found gambling-house enforcers beating Han Shan over a three-tael debt and learned that Han Shan's father had lost his position as a centurion.
• After an enforcer threatened Chen Shi'an's dead brother, Chen Shi'an kicked the man into a wall and made the others back down.
• Chen Shi'an insisted Han Shan repay his debt, showed his Demon Hunting Team token, and took Han Shan away after granting him ten days to pay.

Chen Shi'an learned that a mysterious intruder from either the Hundred Miasma Forest or Desolate Suppression City had injured Han Shan's father, then visited the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to ask Tao Yaoyao for Marrow-Washing Pills. Tao Yaoyao offered to exchange the pills for Demon Cores, leaving Chen Shi'an to weigh the difficulty of hunting a first-level Demon Beast.

• Chen Shi'an questioned Han Shan about his father's demotion and learned that Commander Wang Tianye had warned the family not to reveal details about the intruder.
• Han Shan said his father suspected the intruder came from the Hundred Miasma Forest or Desolate Suppression City, and Chen Shi'an lent him three taels of silver to settle his gambling debt.
• Chen Shi'an paid an attendant to arrange an audience at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and met Cui Zhu, who was introduced as Junior Steward Li.
• Cui Zhu attacked Chen Shi'an, but he caught her wrist, flicked her forehead, and told her to fetch Tao Yaoyao.
• Chen Shi'an asked Tao Yaoyao for Marrow-Washing Pills, and she explained that he could exchange a first-level Demon Beast core for three pills.

Chen Shi'an joined the Demon Hunting Team as a squad leader and learned that his new recruits would soon face desperate fighting at West Mountain Hollow. When Xiang Qinglong confronted him over his attack on gambling house employees, Chen Shi'an rejected his demand for an apology and challenged him to settle the dispute directly.

• Tao Yaoyao urged Chen Shi'an to seek a demon core himself or become a resident guest of Hundred Flowers Pavilion, while Cui Zhu questioned her decision to bet on him.
• Ye Xicheng assigned Chen Shi'an eleven subordinates, drawing the attention and hostility of the other squad leaders, and announced that the team would march to West Mountain Hollow the next morning.
• Chen Shi'an met his new squad and was summoned by Fu Qingyang after Xiang Qinglong arrived to accuse him of injuring Four Directions Gambling House employees.
• Xiang Qinglong demanded that Chen Shi'an apologize and pay medical expenses, but Chen Shi'an questioned his evidence and confirmed that Fu Qingyang would not intervene.
• Chen Shi'an told Xiang Qinglong to either discuss the matter reasonably or challenge him, then angrily rebuked him for barging into the Demon Hunting Team.

Chen Shi'an stood up to Xiang Qinglong and earned Fu Qingyang's support and the Flowing Flame Saber Technique, while recognizing that both Fu Qingyang and Xiang Chuxiong were trying to recruit him into their power struggle. As he began cultivating with the new technique, the Mysterious Stone Stele disrupted his attempt to gather spiritual energy.

• Chen Shi'an refused to apologize to Xiang Qinglong, and Ye Xicheng backed him while warning Xiang Qinglong not to threaten a Demon Hunting Team member.
• Fu Qingyang told Chen Shi'an he would protect him and smooth things over with the City Lord, then gifted him the Flowing Flame Saber Technique and ordered him to keep it secret.
• Chen Shi'an invited his men to drink before their expedition to West Mountain Hollow and reflected on how he was caught between Fu Qingyang and Xiang Chuxiong.
• Chen Shi'an studied and practiced the Flowing Flame Saber Technique, using its energy-circulation method to draw spiritual energy into his body.
• The Mysterious Stone Stele trembled, scattering the spiritual energy Chen Shi'an had gathered and sending it back into the world.

Chen Shi'an discovered that the Mysterious Stone Stele prevented him from cultivating Origin Force by any method other than Sword-Draw, but that his Sword-Draw Origin Force strengthened techniques from other schools. Later, he fought Song Yuming and copied his Star-Treading Step before Iron Bull arrived and halted the brawl.

• Chen Shi'an found that the Mysterious Stone Stele dispersed Origin Force gathered through the Flowing Flame Saber Technique, but his Sword-Draw Origin Force made its saber strike and the Zhao Family's Seven Star-Chasing Forms unusually powerful.
• Chen Shi'an and his squad drank and feasted in their tent until Song Yuming arrived with his men to accuse them of breaking camp discipline.
• Chen Shi'an ordered his men to fight Song Yuming's squad, and he kept Song Yuming occupied while observing and learning his movement technique.
• Chen Shi'an used the Star-Treading Step he had copied to outpace Song Yuming and taunted him as Song prepared another technique.
• Iron Bull arrived and stopped the fight, and Song Yuming immediately complained that Chen Shi'an had attacked his men.

After Iron Bull punished Chen Shi'an and Song Yuming for their brawl, he secretly relayed Commander Ye's support for Chen Shi'an against Song Yuming. The next morning, Chen Shi'an joined a routine mission to destroy the Black Saber Alliance, whose leader Jiang Beiwang fled as the Demon Hunting Team overwhelmed its headquarters.

• Iron Bull ordered Chen Shi'an, Song Yuming, and their men to run twenty laps for fighting, then later apologized and conveyed Commander Ye's backing for Chen Shi'an.
• Chen Shi'an concluded that he could learn techniques by watching others fight and resolved to watch Song Yuming, Xu Yun, and Tu Gou closely.
• Fu Qingyang led the Demon Hunting Team out of Windrise Stronghold, and Chen Shi'an's squad joined Iron Bull on a routine mission against the Black Saber Alliance.
• Iron Bull's veterans cleared the alliance's sentries, and Chen Shi'an led his squad through the headquarters, killing sentries with the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.
• Jiang Beiwang rallied his experts after the attack began, then fled with his family and valuables when he learned the Demon Hunting Team had come for the alliance.

Chen Shi'an spared a woman and her child and went alone to pursue Jiang Beiwang, hoping to capture the alliance leader and make up for his squad's head count. He reached the battle just as Jiang Beiwang fled, but Black-Iron Arrows wounded Iron Bull and his companions, while Chen Shi'an secretly continued the chase.

• Chen Shi'an ordered Pi Hou and the others to spare defenseless women and children, then left to pursue Jiang Beiwang.
• Chen Shi'an followed the trail of Iron Bull and the veterans to a courtyard where they were fighting dozens of Black Saber Alliance martial artists led by Jiang Beiwang.
• Jiang Beiwang abandoned the fight and fled deeper into the compound as more Demon Hunting Team fighters approached, and Iron Bull, three companions, and Chen Shi'an pursued him.
• Black-Iron Arrows ambushed Iron Bull and the three veterans, who blocked four volleys but suffered serious wounds, including one companion shot through the abdomen.
• Chen Shi'an silently vaulted over the wall and continued after Jiang Beiwang while Iron Bull and the others halted their pursuit.

Chen Shi'an pursued Jiang Beiwang through a hidden tunnel, killed his six confidants, and defeated him in a sword clash. Jiang revealed that West Mountain Hollow held a vast black-iron deposit, but his son killed him and offered to lead Chen to the ore in exchange for safe passage out of the Outer City.

• Jiang Beiwang escaped through a hidden tunnel with his son and six confidants, leaving his wife and daughter behind.
• Chen Shi'an followed them underground and killed all six confidants in a sudden attack.
• Jiang Beiwang attacked Chen, but Chen disarmed and wounded him with the first of the Seven Star-Chasing Forms.
• Jiang revealed that Flowing Stone Stronghold had given him Black-Iron Bows in exchange for part of a secret about black-iron ore at West Mountain Hollow.
• Jiang's son stabbed his father and offered to reveal the deposit's exact location if Chen got him out of the Outer City.

Chen Shi'an killed Jiang Beiwang's son rather than bargain for the location of the black-iron ore deposit, then returned to the Demon Hunting Team after concealing half the valuables he had seized. He arrived as Ye Xicheng reprimanded his squad for its low kill tally, carrying a heavy bundle whose contents remained unknown.

• Chen Shi'an refused to deal with Jiang Beiwang's son and killed him, then burned the secret chamber and disguised his own injury.
• Chen Shi'an hid half of the valuables taken from Jiang Beiwang and carried the rest back toward the Demon Hunting Team.
• Iron Bull completed the casualty count and declared Song Yuming the greatest contributor, while Chen Shi'an's squad had the fewest recorded kills.
• Ye Xicheng questioned Pi Hou about Chen Shi'an's absence and ordered the squad to find him, while Song Yuming's men mocked them.
• Chen Shi'an returned carrying a heavy oilcloth bundle, and Ye Xicheng reprimanded him for abandoning his post and threatened him with a major demerit.

Chen Shi'an returned with Jiang Beiwang's head, six Black-Iron Bows, and captured treasure, earning praise and rewards for his squad. As the Demon Hunting Team continued toward West Mountain Hollow, Chen Shi'an rebuked Song Yuming, and Ye Xicheng challenged him to prove himself through military merit.

• Chen Shi'an revealed Jiang Beiwang's head and explained that he had killed the wounded man after infighting within the Black Saber Alliance, then presented six Black-Iron Bows and twenty-four arrows.
• Ye Xicheng recognized Chen Shi'an's squad for its service, while Qianshan Xue questioned him about the bows' origins and asked him to lead her and Ye Xicheng to the site, which was already engulfed in flames.
• Fu Qingyang awarded Chen Shi'an two Marrow-Washing Pills and gave each other member of his squad ten Strong-Blood Pills and Linked-Ring Soft Armor.
• After Song Yuming mocked the squad's rewards, Chen Shi'an defended his men and challenged Song Yuming and his subordinates to earn merit instead of complaining.
• Ye Xicheng dismissed Song Yuming's complaint and told him to answer Chen Shi'an with military merit at West Mountain Hollow.