Chapter Summaries

Tian Hao continued refining meteoric iron while Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze praised his progress and urged him not to overwork himself. After they left, Yue Lingshan asked him to adjust her Jade Water Sword, and their hands touched as an ancient mirror suddenly appeared.

• Tian Hao forged a block of meteoric iron with repeated hammer strikes, then drank the medicinal chicken soup Ning Zhongze had brought him.
• Yue Lingshan complained that her parents were favoring Tian Hao, but Yue Buqun said she could earn Eight-Treasure Precious Soup by matching his hammer practice.
• Yue Buqun examined the darkened meteoric iron, and Tian Hao explained that he needed greater mastery of Embrace Origin Force to refine it into Black Iron.
• Ning Zhongze warned Tian Hao not to strain himself, and Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze left after checking his progress.
• Yue Lingshan asked Tian Hao to adjust the grip of her Jade Water Sword, and an ancient mirror appeared when their hands touched.

Tian Hao discovered that the Heaven-Defying Mirror could copy the innate attributes of people with tragic fates after he completed a download from Yue Lingshan. He knocked her unconscious to maintain contact, then hurried to take her to his master and mistress when he could not wake her.

• The Heaven-Defying Mirror displayed Yue Lingshan’s attributes and began downloading her data when Tian Hao touched her hand.
• Tian Hao insulted Yue Lingshan while she tested iron rods, and she chose one that fit her grip before asking him to make a meteor-iron sword for Linghu Chong.
• Tian Hao struck Yue Lingshan unconscious and held her hand for an hour as the Mirror downloaded her data.
• The completed download activated a gemstone and added Yue Lingshan’s spirit, qi, and essence values to Tian Hao’s own attributes.
• Tian Hao failed to wake Yue Lingshan and carried her toward his master and mistress’s courtyard, where Lu Dayou saw them and grew suspicious.

Tian Hao received the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt manual, A San Divine Oil, and rewritten instructions for Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand from Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze. Yue Buqun reflected on Mount Hua’s lost martial arts and, after examining the Violet Mist Manual, worried over how to reclaim the Sunflower Manual.

• Tian Hao told Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze that Yue Lingshan had been injured by a falling stone, and Ning Zhongze treated her nose.
• Ning Zhongze reproached Tian Hao for carrying Yue Lingshan roughly, while he dismissed the idea of finding a wife as a distraction from training.
• Yue Buqun gave Tian Hao the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt manual and A San Divine Oil, and Ning Zhongze gave him rewritten instructions for Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand.
• Yue Buqun lamented that Mount Hua had lost its martial arts collection when the Sword Branch burned the library during the conflict with the Qi Branch.
• Yue Buqun entered the Quiet Chamber, retrieved the Violet Mist Manual from a hidden compartment, and wondered how he could reclaim the Sunflower Manual from the Sun-Moon Demon Cult.

Tian Hao used the Heaven-Defying Mirror’s effects on Yue Lingshan to improve his martial aptitude, then studied new external martial arts and found his cultivation progressing faster. Over breakfast with Lao Denuo, he worried that the Mount Hua Sect’s disciples were unprepared for a looming war with the Demon Cult.

• Tian Hao checked Ning Zhongze’s attributes in the Heaven-Defying Mirror and wondered how he could maintain skin contact with her safely.
• Tian Hao studied the Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand and combined it with the Embrace Origin Force and Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt as complementary external arts.
• Tian Hao practiced the Embrace Origin Force and found that Yue Lingshan’s innate attributes had greatly improved his cultivation efficiency and his ability to condense internal force.
• Lao Denuo brought Tian Hao breakfast and explained that Yue Lingshan was sick, Yue Buqun had entered seclusion, and Linghu Chong had not returned.
• Tian Hao criticized Linghu Chong’s readiness to lead the Mount Hua Sect and warned that the Demon Cult’s movements suggested another orthodox-demonic war was approaching.

Tian Hao asked Lao Denuo to explain internal cultivation and learned how martial artists refined qi through successive realms. After hearing the risks and benefits, Tian Hao said he wanted to try cultivating internal arts.

• Lao Denuo taught Tian Hao Eagle Claw Stele-Hurling Hands and praised his growing strength.
• Tian Hao asked Lao Denuo to explain the realms and methods of internal cultivation.
• Lao Denuo described the Internal Power, Internal Breath, Internal Qi, and Houtian realms, warning that mistakes could damage the meridians and organs.
• Lao Denuo demonstrated how internal qi could reinforce a sword enough to slice through a stone table.
• Tian Hao told Lao Denuo that he wanted to try cultivating internal arts.

Lao Denuo advised Tian Hao to focus on Embrace Origin Force, explaining how outside-in cultivation could fuse with innate qi, while Tian Hao discovered his new hand technique helped him hammer more effectively. Lu Dayou then confronted him over Yue Lingshan and insulted his past, leaving Tian Hao ready to fight.

• Lao Denuo explained the benefits and difficulty of cultivating internal energy from the outside in and urged Tian Hao to focus on Embrace Origin Force.
• Tian Hao decided to set aside orthodox internal cultivation and considered using Ning Zhongze’s innate attributes to improve his aptitude.
• Tian Hao used the Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand’s force-redirection method to hammer meteoric iron for forty blows, four more than before.
• Lu Dayou confronted Tian Hao, demanding to know what he had done to Yue Lingshan and accusing him of hurting her.
• Lu Dayou insulted Tian Hao’s past as a runaway slave and accused him of massacring Guan’s household, so Tian Hao returned with a steel rod and threatened to knock out his teeth.

Tian Hao defeated Lu Dayou with his self-created Blacksmithing Swordsmanship after Lu Dayou provoked him, then reported the incident to Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze. Yue Buqun blamed Linghu Chong’s judgment and ordered Lu Dayou to recover before facing punishment on Reflection Cliff.

• Lu Dayou challenged Tian Hao, who used his Steel Staff and embracing the origin inner force to break Lu Dayou’s sword and injure his shoulder.
• Tian Hao beat Lu Dayou unconscious and dragged him to Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze, recounting Lu Dayou’s provocation.
• Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze condemned Lu Dayou for using Tian Hao’s painful past against him, while Tian Hao insisted he held no grudge against his fellow disciples.
• After Tian Hao left, Yue Buqun criticized Linghu Chong for sharing prejudice against Tian Hao and questioned whether Chong could lead Mount Hua.
• Yue Buqun ordered Lu Dayou to recover for three days, then go to Reflection Cliff and remain there until he broke through to the inner qi realm.

Tian Hao began training in the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt with Lao Denuo’s help, using the brutal regimen to strengthen his body and refine Embrace Origin Force. After a month, he reached minor mastery in Embrace Origin Force, while Lao Denuo began considering how to secure his future and wondered whether A San Divine Oil explained Tian Hao’s rapid recovery.

• Tian Hao asked Lao Denuo to help him train in the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, and Lao Denuo agreed to whip him while he held the Giant Crab Stance.
• Tian Hao applied A San Divine Oil and endured twice-daily sessions of whipping, using the pain and his inner force to temper his body.
• After a month of training, Tian Hao instantly condensed Embracing the Origin Inner Force and reached minor mastery in Embrace Origin Force.
• Lao Denuo congratulated Tian Hao and reflected that the Iron Shirt and Embrace Origin Force complemented each other.
• Lao Denuo considered bringing Tian Hao to the Mount Song Sect in the future and suspected A San Divine Oil might account for Tian Hao’s unusually fast recovery.

Yue Lingshan came to confront Tian Hao over the injury to her nose and challenged him to a sparring match, offering hundred-year-old notoginseng as the prize. Tian Hao accepted eagerly, and Yue Lingshan froze when she saw the unusual treasured sword he had forged.

• Lao Denuo ended Tian Hao's training and said he would bring wooden rods after Tian Hao shed his skin.
• Yue Lingshan arrived furious and accused Tian Hao of causing the injury to her nose, then challenged him to fight.
• Tian Hao reminded Yue Lingshan that the sect rules forbade disciples from fighting, so she offered him hundred-year-old notoginseng if he won a spar.
• Lao Denuo confirmed that Yue Lingshan had dug up the notoginseng, and Tian Hao ran to fetch his treasured sword.
• Tian Hao asked Lao Denuo to witness the wager, and Yue Lingshan dismissed his warning before staring in disbelief at Tian Hao's sword.

Tian Hao defeated Yue Lingshan in a rough sparring match and won the century-old notoginseng. He left determined to use it to speed up his training in Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, while considering how to download his mistress’s innate attribute.

• Tian Hao used tea from his waterskin to force Yue Lingshan into a head-on fight, then overwhelmed her with repeated greatsword strikes and his Iron Shirt defense.
• Tian Hao trapped Yue Lingshan against a wall and punched both her eyes, continuing until she admitted defeat.
• Tian Hao told Yue Lingshan to give the century-old notoginseng to Mistress to prepare as a medicinal meal.
• Lao Denuo confirmed that Tian Hao’s waterskin had contained tea and warned Yue Lingshan about the dangers of the martial world.
• Lao Denuo congratulated Tian Hao on winning the notoginseng, and Tian Hao resolved to reach minor mastery of Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt within three months by downloading his mistress’s innate attribute.

Tian Hao received special care from the Yue family as Yue Buqun checked his rapid progress in the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt and found no hidden injuries. After eating Eight-Treasure Precious Soup made with century-old notoginseng, Tian Hao asked whether innate aptitude could be improved.

• Yue Lingshan complained that her parents favored Tian Hao, and Ning Zhongze and Yue Buqun warned her not to let jealousy divide Mount Hua's disciples.
• Yue Buqun examined Tian Hao after learning he had reached the introductory stage of the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt in one month, but found no serious hidden injuries.
• Yue Lingshan saw the many scars on Tian Hao's back and began to understand why her parents treated him with such concern.
• Ning Zhongze served Tian Hao Eight-Treasure Precious Soup made with century-old notoginseng, and he ate the entire basin.
• Tian Hao asked Yue Buqun whether there was a way to improve his innate aptitude.

Tian Hao learned that innate aptitude could improve through Xiantian Realm cultivation and resolved to help Yue Lingshan develop her potential. Yue Buqun ordered Tian Hao to train her, while Ning Zhongze limited the plan to Embrace Origin Force.

• Yue Buqun explained that Xiantian Realm experts and certain supreme arts could improve innate aptitude, though the Mount Hua Sect's Violet Mist Divine Skill could not.
• Tian Hao realized that improving Yue Lingshan's innate aptitude could strengthen the benefit he gained through the Heaven-Defying Mirror.
• Tian Hao criticized Yue Lingshan's weak combat experience and lax training, then urged Yue Buqun to intensify her instruction.
• Yue Buqun ordered Yue Lingshan to practice Embrace Origin Force with Tian Hao and told him to discipline her if she slacked off.
• Ning Zhongze told Tian Hao to leave out the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt.

Tian Hao trained through the night in Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt and saw his skin begin to shed, while Yue Lingshan spent the night reading his notes on self-hypnosis and Embrace Origin Force. He planned to intensify Yue Lingshan’s training and considered traveling to Fuzhou City to pursue a supreme martial arts manual, still unsure how closely this world followed the stories he remembered.

• Tian Hao gave Yue Lingshan his notes and told her to memorize them and pass them to Master and Mistress for safekeeping.
• Tian Hao trained all night by striking a sandbag, and the next morning he found that half of his dead skin had peeled away.
• Yue Lingshan rushed into Tian Hao’s cave after reading his notes all night and questioned him about the conscious and subconscious minds.
• Tian Hao claimed he had derived his ideas from a Daoist text, then told Yue Lingshan to memorize the notes and prepare to reduce her sleep each month.
• Tian Hao thought about visiting Fuzhou City to seek a supreme martial arts manual and wondered whether the world matched the novels he remembered.

Tian Hao fought Linghu Chong after Linghu challenged him over Lu Dayou’s injuries and Yue Lingshan’s treatment. Tian Hao defeated Linghu with his greatsword and grappling technique, and Yue Buqun arrived and slapped his injured eldest disciple.

• Lao Denuo found Yue Lingshan unconscious, and Tian Hao put her on a woodpile after Lao Denuo warned him not to leave her on the ground.
• Tian Hao told Lao Denuo that Yue Buqun had ordered Yue Lingshan to train in Embrace Origin Force and external training with him, while Lao Denuo warned that Linghu Chong would object to Tian Hao’s actions.
• Linghu Chong returned to Mount Hua the next day and confronted Tian Hao over Lu Dayou’s injuries and Yue Lingshan, then challenged him to a fight.
• Tian Hao used Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash to drive Linghu Chong back, and Linghu broke his sword while stopping one of Tian Hao’s swings.
• Linghu Chong punched Tian Hao, but Tian Hao seized his wrist and repeatedly smashed him into the ground with Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand, leaving him badly injured.
• Yue Buqun arrived as Tian Hao greeted him, then slapped Linghu Chong when the injured disciple struggled to his feet.

Yue Buqun confronted Linghu Chong after he fought Tian Hao, but Linghu Chong refused to admit fault and accused Tian Hao and Ru Zhigang of wrongdoing. The argument escalated when Lu Dayou joined in, and Ru Zhigang challenged him to justify his insults or watch him leave the Mount Hua Sect.

• Yue Buqun ordered Linghu Chong to kneel in the Righteousness Piercing Sky Hall and demanded that he acknowledge his wrongdoing.
• Linghu Chong claimed Tian Hao had murdered Old Hero Guan's family and stolen the Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash manual, then urged Yue Buqun to expel him.
• Linghu Chong accused Ru Zhigang of collecting money and being unfit to teach, prompting Yue Buqun to smash a tea table in anger.
• Yue Lingshan tried to intervene, but Yue Buqun silenced her, while Ning Zhongze urged Linghu Chong to apologize.
• Lu Dayou entered and defended Linghu Chong, then insulted Ru Zhigang's teaching; Ru Zhigang challenged him to support his claim or accept Ru's departure from the sect.

Ru Zhigang had Tian Hao explain the classical sayings Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou used to challenge him, then advised Yue Buqun that the two disciples lacked the temperament to lead. The chapter leaves Tian Hao preparing to give his assessment of Linghu Chong.

• Lu Dayou and Linghu Chong cited two sayings to accuse Ru Zhigang of disrespecting women, but Tian Hao explained their classical meanings and corrected their misunderstanding.
• Ru Zhigang declined to punish the two disciples himself, while Yue Buqun sent them to Reflection Cliff to reflect on their faults.
• Ning Zhongze dismissed the other disciples, and Yue Lingshan left wondering what major undertaking her mother and the others were concealing.
• Ru Zhigang told Yue Buqun that Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou had petty cleverness but lacked the temperament to take charge.
• Ru Zhigang asked Tian Hao to explain what he thought of Linghu Chong, and Tian Hao recalled his own experience and knowledge from his previous life.

Tian Hao received the courtesy name Rugged Man and the literary title Master from Ru Zhigang, who praised his judgment and their work compiling dictionaries and phonetic spelling. Yue Buqun and Ru Zhigang prepared to recover the Guan family's treasure to fund Mount Hua Academy and protect the sect.

• Tian Hao criticized Linghu Chong as a self-centered, naive chief disciple whose choices had endangered Mount Hua and betrayed his responsibilities to the sect.
• Ru Zhigang gave Tian Hao a jade pendant for his coming of age and named him Rugged Man and Master.
• Ru Zhigang, Tian Hao, and Ning Zhongze discussed Confucius's martial abilities and the significance of their dictionary and phonetic-spelling project.
• Tian Hao explained why public credit for the dictionary could provoke powerful scholarly clans and why Ru Zhigang's status as an imperial tutor could shield the project.
• Yue Buqun announced that Ru Zhigang's journey had prepared them to retrieve the Guan family's treasure, and Ru Zhigang said the funds were needed to build Mount Hua Academy.

Tian Hao told Yue Buqun, Ning Zhongze, and Ru Zhigang how he had destroyed Guan Family Fort and revealed the scale of its illicit arms trade. He then outlined his vision for uniting the martial world and government under a new order built on the common people, leaving Ru Zhigang reflecting on why dynasties repeatedly fell.

• Tian Hao revealed that Guan Family Fort had sold weapons and crossbows to foreign peoples for over a century and that he had hidden its vast treasure in a cesspit.
• In response to Ning Zhongze's questions, Tian Hao explained that he had poisoned the fort's residents with aflatoxin, while internal conflict and his crossbow finished off the survivors.
• Ru Zhigang disclosed that powerful forces, including people in the imperial court, had been involved with Guan Family Fort.
• Tian Hao warned that Ming was nearing collapse and said he wanted to build a new dynasty founded on the common people, with power and profit kept separate.
• Ru Zhigang considered Tian Hao's argument that corrupt elites weakened dynasties while the common people remained their indispensable foundation.

Tian Hao asked Ning Zhongze to help him build up his Acquired Qi, hoping to condense internal energy, while learning that his self-hypnosis might be a lost Daoist visualization method. He left to resume training, resolved to develop the method further and strengthen himself.

• Tian Hao asked Ning Zhongze to use her true qi to regulate his Acquired Qi, and she spent four hours treating him before warning him not to try again if he failed to condense internal energy within half a year.
• Ning Zhongze questioned Tian Hao about the self-hypnosis method, and he claimed he had learned its principles from a damaged book at Guan Family Fort.
• Ning Zhongze explained that visualization methods were central to Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions and that Martial Will might be a form of visualization.
• Tian Hao checked the Heaven-Defying Mirror and confirmed that he could stack other women's Innate Attributes in its thirty-six slots.
• Tian Hao planned to resume Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training and studied Guan Family Fort's Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash manual, regretting that he had not obtained its Azure Dragon Force.

Tian Hao lured Yue Lingshan into trying his modified Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training by promising it would improve her skin without beatings. He locked her in a steam chamber to train while he practiced outside, leaving her trapped and enduring the heat.

• Yue Lingshan admired Tian Hao’s newly fair skin, and Tian Hao persuaded her that his modified Iron Shirt method could improve her complexion without the usual beatings.
• Yue Lingshan agreed to try the method, so Tian Hao led her into a sealed chamber and told her to apply A San Divine Oil.
• After Yue Lingshan finished applying the oil, Tian Hao sealed the steel door and filled the chamber with steam, telling her to circulate her internal energy for two hours.
• Yue Lingshan panicked and demanded to be let out, but Tian Hao ignored her and left the cave to practice the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt with Lao Denuo.
• Yue Lingshan gave up trying to break the door and sat down to use her internal energy and Jade-Breaking Fist method to endure the heat and temper her skin.