Chapter Summaries

Tian Hao put Yue Lingshan through alternating steam and cold-water training to temper her skin, then persuaded Ning Zhongze to approve the method. Yue Lingshan remained unconscious after he knocked her out, while Tian Hao sought Eight-Treasure Precious Soup to restore her internal breath.

• After two hours in the steam chamber, Tian Hao pulled Yue Lingshan from the cave and made her soak in cold water mixed with A San Divine Oil.
• Tian Hao continued his own steam training, and Yue Lingshan locked him inside the chamber before tending the boiler.
• Tian Hao opened the iron door from inside, punched Yue Lingshan around both eyes, and knocked her unconscious.
• Tian Hao carried Yue Lingshan to Ning Zhongze and asked her to prepare Eight-Treasure Precious Soup to restore the girl's internal breath.
• Tian Hao told Ning Zhongze he had developed a heat-and-cold version of the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, and she agreed to let Yue Lingshan continue training.

Tian Hao forced Yue Lingshan to continue training Iron Shirt while Yue Buqun and his companions reached Guan Family Fort to retrieve its hidden treasure. After digging into the old cesspit, they struck something buried beneath it.

• Tian Hao bound Yue Lingshan and took her to the sealed chamber for another Iron Shirt training session, while Ning Zhongze prepared medicinal cuisine to support her recovery.
• Ning Zhongze reconsidered whether Linghu Chong or Tian Hao might suit Yue Lingshan, but decided to wait and see if Linghu Chong changed.
• Tian Hao decided not to retrieve the Five Mountains Sword Sects' techniques from Reflection Cliff yet and resolved to give Linghu Chong one last chance to reveal the cave to Yue Buqun.
• Yue Buqun and his companions traveled by night to Guan Family Fort, checked that no one was watching, and began digging in the cesspit for the hidden treasure.
• After digging about two meters, Yue Buqun and the others heard their shovels strike something beneath the cesspit.

Yue Buqun and the Mount Hua Sect uncovered the Guan Family Fort’s vast fortune and evidence of its century-long arms trade with the steppe peoples. After discovering the remains of the enslaved workers murdered to conceal the operation, Yue Buqun led his people to find the secret passage toward the Yellow River.

• Yue Buqun and the Mount Hua Sect found meteoric-iron curved sabers and more than ten million taels of silver hidden in a cesspit, confirming the Guan Family Fort had sold weapons to the steppe peoples.
• Yue Buqun divided the treasure among his fellow disciples, reserving gold and three million taels of silver to fund the Mount Hua Academy and assigning the rest for martial-training supplies.
• Yue Buqun followed Tian Hao’s clues to the ruined ancestral shrine and ordered his people to break through the stone covering the underground forge.
• Yue Buqun stopped a disciple from entering too soon, and the Mount Hua Sect burned away foul air before going inside the next night.
• Yue Buqun and the others found the bones of the murdered slaves, then split up to search the underground forge and locate the secret passage.
• Yue Buqun led a group east and found the secret passage toward the Yellow River.

Yue Buqun’s group discovered a hidden waterway from Guan Family Fort to the Yellow River and began arranging to move the stolen treasures. At Mount Hua, Tian Hao’s training accelerated, and Yue Lingshan challenged him after breaking through to internal qi, giving him new evidence for his idle-training method.

• Yue Buqun’s group broke through a sabotaged stone door and found a cavern with a pool connected to the Yellow River.
• Yue Buqun recognized the tunnel as Guan Family Fort’s secret route for smuggling weapons and ordered his disciples to scout and move the treasure chests.
• Tian Hao’s innate spirit attribute helped him advance rapidly in Embrace Origin Force as he trained alongside his other martial arts.
• Yue Lingshan challenged Tian Hao while wearing a mask to hide the damage from the Hot-and-Cold Body Tempering Method.
• Tian Hao put on his meteoric-iron chainmail and took up his greatsword, then rejoiced when Yue Lingshan revealed she had developed internal qi.
• Yue Lingshan attacked Tian Hao with White Rainbow Pierces the Sun.

Tian Hao defeated Yue Lingshan when she challenged him, then forced her to practice the orthodox Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training method. While she trained, he considered how to develop his self-hypnosis method into spiritual cultivation; the chapter ended with Yue Lingshan attacking him again in anger.

• Yue Lingshan used her improved Mount Hua Swordsmanship to challenge Tian Hao, but he knocked her into a courtyard wall with a forceful body slam.
• Tian Hao dragged Yue Lingshan to his training chamber and ordered her to complete a round of Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training within four hours.
• Tian Hao waited outside while Yue Lingshan trained, confident that her inner qi and medicinal cuisine would help her recover.
• Tian Hao pondered the Daoist Visualization Method and decided to adapt ideas from Star River Emperor to improve his self-hypnosis method.
• After four hours, Yue Lingshan kicked at Tian Hao as he opened the iron door, then attacked him with her qi-strengthened fingers.

Tian Hao used Yue Lingshan’s training and early breakthrough to persuade Ning Zhongze of his AFK cultivation method and the need to strengthen Mount Hua Sect. The chapter ended with Ning Zhongze agreeing to train Yue Lingshan herself, leaving her daughter dismayed.

• Tian Hao brought the unconscious Yue Lingshan to Ning Zhongze and claimed she had asked for rigorous Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training after losing a challenge.
• Ning Zhongze examined Yue Lingshan, learned she had reached the inner qi realm ahead of schedule, and heard Tian Hao explain his AFK Training Method.
• Tian Hao argued that Mount Hua Sect could afford medicinal nourishment if Yue Buqun secured the treasure from Guan Family Fort, then gave Ning Zhongze a design for Yue Lingshan’s training clothes.
• Yue Lingshan revealed she had been pretending to sleep and begged Ning Zhongze to stop making her train with Tian Hao.
• Ning Zhongze agreed to personally train Yue Lingshan in Iron Shirt, leaving her daughter aggrieved.

Tian Hao and the Mount Hua Sect intensified their training and preparations while Yue Buqun’s group moved Guan Family Fort’s treasure and built Mount Hua Academy. After receiving the Dictionary, the Southern Ming Emperor sent Yu Huatian to protect Ru Zhigang and ordered Cao Zhengchun to watch his imperial uncle, while privately reflecting on the powerful rivals testing his rule.

• Yue Lingshan warned Tian Hao that Ning Zhongze would help her practice the orthodox Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt method, and Tian Hao required her to reach entry level and begin skin shedding within twenty days.
• Ning Zhongze tested Tian Hao’s self-hypnosis method, found that it improved her sleep, and continued cultivating in the cold as the sect worked to perfect idle training.
• Tian Hao’s training drive spurred Yue Lingshan, Ning Zhongze, Lao Denuo, the Mount Hua disciples, Linghu Chong, and Lu Dayou to intensify their practice.
• Yue Buqun and his allies moved the treasure from Guan Family Fort, buried most of it around Mount Hua, and used the silver to acquire medicinal herbs and other resources while Ru Zhigang’s group built Mount Hua Academy.
• After receiving the Dictionary, the Southern Ming Emperor ordered Yu Huatian to protect Ru Zhigang with the Imperial Sword and directed Cao Zhengchun to monitor his imperial uncle.
• The Southern Ming Emperor privately reflected that his late father had left Cao Zhengchun and his imperial uncle as obstacles meant to strengthen his grip on the throne.

After three months of training, Tian Hao broke through his misunderstanding of Embrace Origin Guarding the One and entered an epiphany that advanced his Embrace Origin Force. He survived the dangerous strain with Yue Buqun’s help and realized his exceptional comprehension might let him experience epiphanies again.

• Tian Hao thanked Yue Buqun for his hard work establishing Mount Hua Academy and explained that he had been stuck near major mastery of Embrace Origin Force.
• A one-armed Mount Hua disciple recalled that Wang Qinggang had said Embrace Origin Guarding the One depended on focusing the mind, not transforming inner force.
• Tian Hao grasped the meaning, entered an epiphany, and practiced Embrace Origin Force until his punches became soft and elusive yet burst the air with explosive cracks.
• Yue Buqun and the one-armed disciple suspected Tian Hao had experienced an epiphany, and Yue Buqun prepared to intervene if the state became dangerous.
• Tian Hao emerged from the epiphany severely drained, so Yue Buqun gave him a pill and warned him not to enter that state without internal power.
• Tian Hao recognized the episode as an epiphany and thought that his boosted spirit attribute might let him experience one again.

After recovering, Tian Hao demonstrated his mastery of Embrace Origin Force and reunited with Li Buli and Yue Buqun. Yue Buqun revealed the Mount Hua Sect’s connection to the Evil-Warding Sword Manual and considered pursuing it after Lin Zhennan was gravely wounded.

• Tian Hao practiced Embrace Origin Force in the courtyard, and Li Buli praised his fully mastered technique.
• Tian Hao thanked Li Buli for helping him overcome a training obstacle, and Yue Buqun joined them.
• Tian Hao asked about the Mount Hua Academy, and Yue Buqun said the Ming Emperor had sent Yu Huatian and half the Western Depot to protect Ru Zhigang.
• Li Buli mentioned that Lin Zhennan had been severely wounded when the White Tiger Stronghold seized his cargo.
• Yue Buqun explained that the Evil-Warding Sword Manual was connected to the Sunflower Manual and said the Mount Hua Sect might pursue it if the Lin family had no secret practitioner.

Tian Hao proposed using self-hypnosis to help Mount Hua disciples master Embrace Origin Force quickly, while Yue Buqun agreed to provide him with manuals for study. After discovering Tian Hao knew Lao Denuo was an infiltrator, Yue Buqun heard his plea to spare the second senior brother.

• Tian Hao questioned whether Shaolin Temple had arranged the leak that led to Mount Hua's defeat, and Yue Buqun said Shaolin was a suspect but too powerful to confront.
• Tian Hao suggested that Mount Hua could attack Putian Shaolin Temple if its martial uncles mastered Embrace Origin Force and wielded Black Iron longswords.
• Tian Hao explained that his Self-Hypnosis Method might help the disciples enter Embrace Origin Guarding the One and asked Yue Buqun for the Primal Chaos Skill and Violet Mist Divine Skill to refine it.
• Yue Buqun ordered Li Buli to recall the disciples, send them Embrace Origin Force manuals, and have them study on the journey back.
• Yue Buqun gave Tian Hao the Primal Chaos Skill and Violet Mist Manual, and Tian Hao asked him to spare Lao Denuo, whom he believed had been sent by Zuo Lengchan.

Tian Hao and Yue Buqun refined the Self-Hypnosis Method into a way to reach the Embrace Origin Guarding the One state, while Mount Hua Sect gathered medicinal ingredients to support training. Tian Hao then gave Lao Denuo the choice to remain at Mount Hua or return to Mount Song, and Lao Denuo chose Mount Hua.

• Yue Buqun agreed to spare Lao Denuo and let Tian Hao use him to feed false intelligence to Zuo Lengchan.
• Tian Hao memorized two manuals and asked Yue Buqun about the relationship between martial heart methods and Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist visualization methods.
• Tian Hao, Yue Buqun, and Ning Zhongze refined the Self-Hypnosis Method over a month until it could bring practitioners to the Embrace Origin Guarding the One state.
• Mount Hua Sect's groups returned with large quantities of medicinal ingredients, and Li Buli and the others praised the Self-Hypnosis Method manual.
• Outside town, Tian Hao told Lao Denuo that Yue Buqun knew he was a spy and offered him the choice of staying at Mount Hua or returning to Mount Song.
• Lao Denuo decided Mount Hua offered him better prospects and followed Tian Hao into town.

Tian Hao and Lao Denuo traveled through a newly orderly city, where Tian Hao agreed to let Lao Denuo repay Zuo Lengchan with a copy of the Evil-Warding Sword Manual. After hearing that Dongfang Bubai was performing at Fleeting Years, Tian Hao hurried there with clear varnish, hoping to get close enough to download her innate attribute.

• Tian Hao praised the city's improved order as he and Lao Denuo walked toward Fleeting Years.
• Lao Denuo admitted he wanted to repay Zuo Lengchan, and Tian Hao agreed that he could send Zuo a copy of the Evil-Warding Sword Manual and letters.
• Tian Hao and Lao Denuo heard that Dongfang Bubai was dancing at Fleeting Years, and Tian Hao decided to go there.
• Tian Hao sent Lao Denuo to buy clear varnish, then ran to Fleeting Years after collecting a small amount in a porcelain bottle.

Tian Hao and Lao Denuo entered Fleeting Years and watched Dongfang Bubai dance, until Tian Hao recognized Linghu Chong and intervened when she invited him upstairs. A fight broke out, and Linghu Chong sided against Tian Hao, leaving the Mount Hua disciples at odds.

• Tian Hao and Lao Denuo watched Dongfang Bubai perform a lightness-skill dance at Fleeting Years, and Tian Hao suspected she had come for the Mount Hua Sect.
• Dongfang Bubai invited Linghu Chong to share a drink, but Tian Hao rushed over, stopped him, and berated him for going to a brothel while their junior sister loved him.
• The White-Clad Burly Man attacked Tian Hao, who shattered the man's hand with a punch and moved to strike again.
• Linghu Chong drew his sword to stop Tian Hao, allowing the injured White-Clad Burly Man to escape while Lu Dayou blocked Lao Denuo from pursuing him.
• Tian Hao protested that the man had tried to kill him, while Linghu Chong defended the attacker and condemned Tian Hao's use of force.

Tian Hao confronted Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou for visiting Fleeting Years, then accepted Dongfang Bubai’s invitation to go upstairs with her. The Heaven-Defying Mirror confirmed that she was Dongfang Bai, and Tian Hao recognized her as the tragic, devoted version of Auntie Dongfang.

• Tian Hao asked Lao Denuo to investigate the powerful burly man who had attacked him, while Lao Denuo scolded Linghu Chong for visiting a pleasure house.
• Tian Hao called out Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou for their behavior and warned Dongfang Bubai not to pursue Linghu Chong, who belonged with their junior sister.
• Tian Hao asked Dongfang Bubai to take him to her room, and she agreed before her silk tore when she tried to pull him upstairs.
• Tian Hao carried Dongfang Bubai upstairs and checked the Heaven-Defying Mirror, which identified her as Dongfang Bai and showed her attributes and negative fate.

Tian Hao tried to win Dongfang Bai’s trust by buying her freedom and arguing that women deserved equality with men. Dongfang Bai was moved by his views, though his blunt remarks about her age and appearance repeatedly angered and embarrassed her.

• Tian Hao offered Dongfang Bai fifteen thousand taels to buy her freedom, explaining that she reminded him of his late mother.
• Dongfang Bai claimed to be twenty-four, but Tian Hao guessed she was older after spotting chives stuck in her teeth.
• Dongfang Bai admitted she was thirty-six, and Tian Hao called her an old maid while praising how youthful she looked.
• Tian Hao argued that men and women were equal in intelligence and could become equals in a civilized society, moving Dongfang Bai.

Dongfang Bai learned about Tian Hao’s brutal childhood and was astonished that he had mastered Embrace Origin Force after only three years with the Mount Hua Sect. After revealing her name, she let Tian Hao try his unusual nail art, leaving him holding her hand and beginning the makeover.

• Dongfang Bai asked Tian Hao about his past, and he described his parents’ deaths, his enslavement, and his escape into the Mount Hua Sect.
• Tian Hao said he intended to reshape the cruel world, and Dongfang Bai realized he had mastered Embrace Origin Force in only three years.
• Tian Hao introduced himself and explained his courtesy name, Rugged Man, prompting Dongfang Bai to share her real name.
• Tian Hao offered Dongfang Bai a novel style of nail art, and she agreed to let him demonstrate.
• Tian Hao took Dongfang Bai’s hand and began painting her nails with supplies he had brought.

Tian Hao warned Dongfang Bai about the Sun-Moon Divine Cult’s plans, while Dongfang Bai investigated whether Feng Qingyang had reached the Innate Realm. After learning that the Desert North Duo might be near Mount Hua and connected to Linghu Chong, Tian Hao set out to deal with them.

• Tian Hao finished decorating Dongfang Bai’s nails, warned her about the planned attack on Mount Hua, and left after teasing her about her age.
• Dongfang Bai ordered Tong Baixiong and others to accompany her to Mount Hua so she could meet Feng Qingyang and determine whether he was an Innate Realm expert.
• Dongfang Bai learned that Yu Huatian stayed with Imperial Tutor Ru Zhigang and that the Western Depot’s forces were concentrated at Mount Hua Academy.
• Lao Denuo told Tian Hao that the two suspicious men might be the Desert North Duo, notorious unorthodox practitioners rumored to eat human flesh.
• Tian Hao blamed Linghu Chong for befriending the Desert North Duo and went to find Martial Uncle Zhao Bulu.

After learning that Linghu Chong had been seen with the cannibal Desert North Duo, Tian Hao and the Mount Hua Sect moved to capture them and prove the sect’s innocence. Tian Hao ambushed Black Bear at the courtyard gate and battered him into submission, while Zhao Bulu and Lao Denuo overwhelmed White Bear.

• Tian Hao told Zhao Bulu that Linghu Chong had been seen associating with the Desert North Duo, so Zhao ordered disciples to track them down using White Bear’s broken bone and hunting dogs.
• After the disciples found the duo, Tian Hao, Lao Denuo, and Zhao Bulu set out with Constable Chief Li and his crossbow-equipped men to surround their hiding place.
• Zhao Bulu and Lao Denuo entered the courtyard to fight Black Bear and White Bear, while Tian Hao guarded the main gate and the constables covered the surrounding streets.
• Black Bear broke through the gate and met Tian Hao’s rapid greatsword strikes, which drove him backward and eventually severed his Ghost-Head Broadsword and left arm.
• Black Bear tried to kill Tian Hao with his broken saber, but Tian Hao’s Chainmail stopped the blow; Tian Hao seized Black Bear and repeatedly slammed him into the ground.
• Zhao Bulu and Lao Denuo continued to suppress the bloodied White Bear as the constables watched Tian Hao batter Black Bear.

Tian Hao defeated the Desert North Duo and uncovered their cannibalism, then arranged for the rescued siblings to be taken toward Mount Hua. Linghu Chong, convinced the official account was a frame-up, sent Lu Dayou to investigate Tian Hao and protect the Mount Hua Sect's reputation.

• Tian Hao crippled Black Bear and ordered that he and White Bear be kept alive after the fight.
• Tian Hao and the others discovered the remains of the tofu-selling family and rescued the surviving brother and sister; the boy asked Tian Hao to teach him to kill villains.
• Tian Hao asked Constable Zhao to help him learn the Desert North Duo's arm-training technique, and Zhao agreed.
• The county office interrogated the Desert North Duo, posted notices crediting the Mount Hua Sect, and sentenced the brothers to Death by a Thousand Cuts.
• Linghu Chong accused Tian Hao of framing White Bear and told Lu Dayou to investigate Tian Hao's identity near Guan Family Fort.

Tian Hao examined the Desert North Duo’s Demon Ape Skill and decided the Mount Hua Sect could replace its cannibalistic cultivation method with medicinal cuisine. He and Zhao Bulu returned to Mount Hua with Yang Jian and Yang Chan, where Yue Buqun celebrated his breakthrough to major mastery of the Embrace Origin Force before Linghu Chong arrived.

• A constable delivered the Desert North Duo’s handwritten martial arts manuals to Tian Hao, who learned they had quickly surrendered under torture.
• Tian Hao and Zhao Bulu examined the Demon Ape Skill and its paired Demon Ape Through-Arm Fist, discovering that the arts accelerated cultivation through cannibalism.
• Tian Hao concluded that medicinal cuisine could replace eating people and proposed expanding the Mount Hua Sect’s medicinal chicken farming.
• Tian Hao and Zhao Bulu set off for Mount Hua with Yang Jian and Yang Chan, intending to report Linghu Chong’s trouble and recommend Yang Chan for training.
• Yue Buqun told Ning Zhongze he had reached major mastery of the Embrace Origin Force, and they discussed Mount Hua’s growing strength and plans.
• Linghu Chong returned to the courtyard, surprising Ning Zhongze, who had expected him to enjoy a few more days in the city.