Chapter Summaries

Lian Youming and Xue Hen fought a brutal duel atop the storm-lashed peak, each drawing on a different way to pursue the ultimate martial art. As both approached their limits, lightning struck the longsword behind Lian Youming, sending Thunder Force beneath their feet and making them stagger.

• Xue Hen recognized that Lian Youming was channeling heavenly Thunder Force through his body, and both fighters resumed their exchange of blows.
• Xue Hen unleashed his all-encompassing fighting method, combining the principles of many schools and styles to challenge Lian Youming.
• Lian Youming answered with Thunder Force and Taiji Hammer, fighting Xue Hen through dozens of bloody exchanges as the storm began to subside.
• Xue Hen's relentless assault drove Lian Youming backward while both men suffered severe injuries and neared exhaustion.
• As Xue Hen struck at Lian Youming, lightning hit the three-foot longsword behind him, sending Thunder Force beneath both fighters and making them stagger.

Lian Youming defeated Xue Hen in a final exchange of punches, forcing Xue Hen to retreat and fall from the cliff. With the gathered martial artists now wary of Lian Youming’s growing power, he collapsed after the fight.

• A sudden thunderclap gave Xue Hen and Lian Youming enough strength to resume their fight.
• Lian Youming used the Taiji Hammer-Coiling Silk Force and struck through Xue Hen’s Dantian Qi Strike with a devastating final punch.
• Xue Hen’s injuries erupted as he retreated to the cliff’s edge, acknowledged Lian Youming’s victory, and fell to his death.
• The martial artists gathered around Lian Youming, while some went down the mountain to search for Xue Hen’s body.
• Yang Shuang asked Lian Youming how he was, and Lian Youming toppled over stiffly.

After Lian Youming defeated Xue Hen, Senior Li saved him and helped conceal that he was alive, while rumors spread that both fighters had died. Two days later, Lian Youming recovered aboard a fishing boat and planned to return home before Lingyun gave birth; Xie Ruomei arrived to meet him.

• Yang Shuang found Lian Youming barely breathing after his battle with Xue Hen, and Senior Li revived him with ginseng and treated his grievous injuries.
• Lian Youming woke in a killing frenzy, but Senior Li knocked him unconscious; after he recovered enough to speak, he agreed to pretend to be dead to avoid attention from hidden forces.
• Senior Li told Wu Jiu and the others that Lian Youming had died, while rumors of Xue Hen's death spread and Gu Chan's group learned his body was missing.
• Senior Li carried Lian Youming from Mount Lu, and two days later Lian Youming ate with Wu Jiu, A Xing, and Yang Shuang on a boat at Poyang Lake.
• Lian Youming said he planned to return home the next day to be with Lingyun before the birth, then Senior Li and Xie Ruomei arrived by boat and Xie Ruomei greeted him.

Lian Youming learned that Xue Hen’s body had not been found and heard Senior Li’s theory that a powerful Buddhist-linked recluse may have rescued him. After saying farewell to Xie Ruomei and the others at the train station, Lian Youming boarded a train for Guangzhou, determined to meet Xue Hen again someday.

• Senior Li told Lian Youming that Xue Hen’s body had not been found and was probably rescued by someone.
• Senior Li recounted Xue Dian’s history, including his studies on Mount Wutai and his encounter with the monk Venerable Lingkong, who was said to be over a hundred and thirty years old.
• Senior Li described finding a footprint on a cliff and warned Lian Youming that ancient martial artists might still be alive; Lian Youming welcomed the chance to face Xue Hen again.
• Lian Youming fished with Senior Li, who eventually pinned him down and beat him after he kept disrupting the fishing.
• The next day, Senior Li set off to look around Nanchang with Wu Jiu and the others, while Xie Ruomei gave Lian Youming the Gall-Illuminating Sword.
• Lian Youming said goodbye to Xie Ruomei and the group, then boarded a train for Guangzhou.

Lian Youming rushed to the hospital when he heard Yan Lingyun was in labor, only to find she had overeaten and was being kept there until the baby arrived. After reuniting with her, he spoke with Junk King about his martial path and his decision not to kill his defeated opponent, then agreed to bring cooking equipment so his master could make Yan Lingyun fresh fish soup.

• Yan Lingyun cried out, prompting Zhao Lanxiang and the others to rush her to Fourth Hospital while Lian Youming returned home and learned she had gone into labor.
• Lian Youming sprinted to the hospital and found Yan Lingyun eating lamb skewers; Zhao Lanxiang explained that an upset stomach had caused the alarm and that the doctor expected the baby within days.
• Lian Youming comforted Yan Lingyun, who noticed his injuries and weight loss, and promised he would beat their baby once he was born.
• Junk King criticized Lian Youming's use of the Daoist Sect Elixir Sword and asked why he had spared the Taiji Gate girl; Lian Youming said he had moved beyond her.
• Junk King explained that Lian Youming's righteous martial path required him to travel the world and overcome injustice, while warning that Foresight Perfection remained far off.
• Junk King offered to make Yan Lingyun fish soup from two crucian carp, and Lian Youming agreed to bring a stove and pots to the hospital.

Lian Youming waited anxiously as Yan Lingyun gave birth to their healthy son, then found that becoming a father strengthened his spirit and helped him recall the flawless punch he had thrown on Mount Lu. He practiced through the night, moving closer to the realm of Foresight as dawn broke.

• Lian Youming hurried to the hospital when Yan Lingyun went into labor and waited tensely outside the delivery room with their family and friends.
• After more than ten hours, Yan Lingyun safely gave birth to a seven-jin-four-liang boy, and Lian Youming held his son before Yan Lingyun fell asleep.
• Junk King urged Lian Youming to reflect on the final punch from the battle on Mount Lu, saying it could lead him toward the realm of Foresight.
• Lian Youming ran beneath the night sky, felt a new strength in his resolve, and recalled the pure, nearly flawless punch he had thrown on Mount Lu.
• Lian Youming practiced punches and palm strikes through the night, gradually moving into Military Boxing as dawn came.

Yan Lingyun returned home with her newborn son, Lian Ruopu, whom she nicknamed Stone, while Lian Youming and their neighbors helped care for them. By mid-July, a mysterious man named Nalan approached the Junk King and asked him to join an ambush against a monk, leaving the Junk King to consider the proposal.

• Lian Youming brought Yan Lingyun and their newborn son home from the hospital, where the neighbors gathered to admire the baby.
• Yan Lingyun named her son Lian Ruopu and gave him the nickname Stone, while she and Lian Youming learned to care for him with help from Third Aunt and Zhao Lanxiang.
• At Lüzu Temple, the Junk King met a mysterious, powerful man who identified himself as Nalan and recalled witnessing the Junk King's past battle.
• Nalan proposed that he and the Junk King ambush and kill a monk, identifying the target as the Eyeless Monk, formerly known as Venerable Lingkong.
• The Junk King listened to Nalan's claims that Venerable Lingkong had thwarted Du Xinwu's breakthrough and then said he would consider the proposal.

Tian Dayong told Lian Youming that a prison for martial artists had been infiltrated by jailbreakers and that Xu Tian might call on him to help. Lian Youming then found a farewell note revealing that Junk King had left on a dangerous journey, possibly to pursue revenge.

• Lian Youming learned from Tian Dayong that at least four or five experts had attacked the martial-artist prison, and Xu Tian wanted him ready to help later in August.
• Tian Dayong warned Lian Youming to stay home for an impending upheaval, while Lian Youming considered gathering the Green Gang and Hongmen's remaining resources and preparing for a trip overseas.
• Yan Lingyun wondered why Junk King had been away longer than usual, so Lian Youming went to check his courtyard.
• Lian Youming found Junk King's note saying he had gone on a long journey, leaving instructions about Heavenly Dipper Strength and warning that its use could bring disaster.
• Lian Youming feared Junk King had gone to take revenge and worried that he might not return.

Lian Youming discovered that the Junk King had left on a dangerous journey after uncovering the memorial tablets of his slain martial family and the training methods he had left behind. After worrying over the old man’s fate, Lian Youming began practicing Heavenly Dipper Strength, drawing a breath that rolled through him like thunder.

• Lian Youming told Yan Lingyun that the Junk King had left on a long journey, then rushed to Lüzu Temple to search for him.
• Lian Youming found four sealed vats of Tiger Bone Wine and nine memorial tablets, including one for the Junk King under the name Xuanming.
• Lian Youming paid respects to the tablets and found a book containing the training methods for Heavenly Dipper Strength and Earthly Fiend Stance, along with the words, “The common people have no words, yet their voices can be known... the Righteous Path!”
• Zhao Lanxiang worried that the Junk King had left because the family had not cared for him well enough, but Lian Youming reassured her.
• Lian Youming studied Heavenly Dipper Strength and drew in a breath that spread through him like rolling thunder.

As a sweeping crime crackdown reached Xijing, Tian Dayong returned injured after a fight with a Grand Boxer, and Lian Youming treated him. After learning the attacker had been shot dead, Lian Youming reflected on the changing times and declared that he would rise above the Martial Way; Tian Dayong then told him to prepare to leave at the end of August with a companion.

• Lian Father brought the injured Tian Dayong home after Tian encountered an expert in Iron Sand Palm during the crackdown.
• Lian Youming treated Tian Dayong’s chest injury with Inner Strength while Yan Lingyun gave him medicine.
• Lian Father returned the next morning and reported that the attacker had been shot dead.
• Lian Youming declared that he would claim the leading place in the Martial Way, and Tian Dayong considered how the times favored him.
• Tian Dayong told Lian Youming to prepare to leave at the end of August with a companion, whom Lian Youming recognized as the spear expert he had met on Mount Lu.

After recovering from the battle on Mount Lu, Lian Youming mastered Striking Force Across the Air and learned about Yan Lingyun’s Golden Needle Point Stimulation technique and a prescription that could avert the Scattered Power Tribulation. Yan Lingyun’s family arrived to stay with her and their son as Lian Youming prepared to leave, his thoughts turning to the missing Junk King.

• Lian Youming practiced in the Junk King's shack and finally used Striking Force Across the Air to punch a burst of water from a vat without touching it.
• Lian Youming returned home, where Yan Lingyun told him she had developed Golden Needle Point Stimulation to briefly awaken a person's potential, provided they had built up enough vital essence.
• Yan Lingyun revealed that the Junk King had given her a prescription that might avert the Scattered Power Tribulation, and Lian Youming realized the Junk King and Li Da had been in contact.
• Lian Youming surprised Yan Lingyun by arranging for Yan Beitong, her parents, and her Sixth Brother to come stay with her and their son.
• With his family safe at home, Lian Youming's thoughts turned to the missing Junk King, and his killing intent surged.

Tian Dayong and Lian Youming pursued three foreign poachers into the Lop Nur wilderness, where they found signs of the men near a water source. After hearing gunfire, they discovered five White Lotus Sect fighters, including two Xingyi Sect traitors, and Lian Youming attacked them despite Tian Dayong’s warning to be cautious.

• Tian Dayong and Lian Youming traveled into Gansu to hunt three foreign poachers who had entered the uninhabited zone.
• Tian Dayong told Lian Youming that the poachers were Hui men surnamed Bai who practiced Eagle Claw Fist, Flower Fist, and Tongbei Fist and might be searching for buried treasure.
• The two searched Lop Nur through the night and found a Mongolian gazelle whose heart had been gouged out with Eagle Claw Kung Fu.
• After a sandstorm delayed them, Tian Dayong and Lian Youming heard gunfire and approached a water source from opposite sides.
• Lian Youming recognized two of five men butchering a camel as Xingyi Sect traitors who had joined the White Lotus Sect, then charged at them.
• One of the five fired five shots at Lian Youming, but he dodged the bullets, prompting the men to call him a Foresight Martial Artist.

Lian Youming faced five attackers and showed overwhelming skill as they launched a coordinated assault. He defeated two of them, leaving the others shocked by his Striking Force Across the Air.

• Tian Dayong saw Lian Youming signal him to stay back and held his position.
• Lian Youming identified the fat man's younger brother Bai Long as someone he had killed, then reminded the Xingyi Sect men of their encounter at Changbai Mountain.
• Lian Youming offered the Xingyi Sect men a chance to leave, but they and the other three attackers launched a coordinated attack.
• Lian Youming endured the five men's strikes without moving, then dislocated one thin man's leg with a punch.
• Lian Youming broke the other thin man's hold and struck him through the chest, leaving the Xingyi Sect men stunned by his Striking Force Across the Air.

Lian Youming overwhelmed the Xingyi Sect fighters, killing the attackers who tried to seize his pistol and flee. As he prepared to finish the last wounded man, Tian Dayong arrived and called him Shang Fei.

• The fat man and the Chicken Form practitioner attacked Lian Youming, but he dodged their blows and turned their own inner strength against them, leaving them badly injured.
• Lian Youming kicked the Monkey Form practitioner in the jaw after blinding him with his own thrown sand.
• The true Monkey Form disciple grabbed Lian Youming's pistol, but Lian Youming killed him with a sword strike to the neck.
• The fat man tried to flee, and Lian Youming threw his sword through the man's back and heart.
• Lian Youming prepared to kill the last wounded man, but Tian Dayong arrived and called him Shang Fei.

Lian Youming and Tian Dayong uncovered a tattooed map on the bodies of three treasure hunters, but Shang Fei died before they could learn more about it. They followed the map toward Loulan, then fled after spotting White Lotus Sect fighters and found a broken stele among corpses at dawn.

• Lian Youming discovered that tattoos on the three dead treasure hunters formed an incomplete map, while Shang Fei explained their search for Bai family treasure.
• Shang Fei killed himself after mourning his fallen Xingyi comrades, and Tian Dayong told Lian Youming about their shared past and Martial Uncle Xu's prowess.
• Lian Youming and Tian Dayong chose to investigate the map near the Ancient City of Loulan.
• At night, Lian Youming spotted the White Lotus Sect's Vice Sect Leader and several Protectors, including two Foresight experts, heading toward them, so the pair detoured north.
• At dawn, Lian Youming found dried corpses and skeletons pinned beneath rocks beside a broken stele bearing the faint words "Xu... Dwarf Master...".

Lian Youming and Tian Dayong recovered the remains of Xu Aishi, Lin Fucheng, and a powerful Manchu martial artist from the wilderness, then carried the two heroes’ remains to the Baji Sect. There, Lian Youming and the gathered martial artists knelt to honor them.

• Lian Youming and Tian Dayong uncovered three skeletons and identified two as Xu Aishi and Lin Fucheng, who had died defeating a Mystic Connection martial artist.
• Lian Youming and Tian Dayong gathered the remains and discussed how far Mystic Connection stood beyond their own martial arts level.
• Lian Youming and Tian Dayong traveled east to Hebei and brought Xu Aishi’s remains to the Baji Sect in Cangzhou.
• Xu Tian welcomed Lian Youming and Tian Dayong, and Xie Ruomei and Xu Baishi greeted Lian Youming.
• The Hung Fist Grand Boxers and Shorty Xu arrived, and Lian Youming, Xu Baishi, and the others knelt before the remains of Xu Aishi and Lin Fucheng.

Lian Youming learned that the prison held formidable fighters, including enemies defeated by his master, and Xu Tian warned him that the age of great contention would soon bring challenges to his door. After eating with Xie Ruomei, Lian Youming reflected on the martial realms beyond ordinary training and practiced controlling his power against the storm.

• The old Hung Fist master left with the bundle after learning what had happened, and Shorty Xu grieved that he would never see his own master again.
• Xu Tian told Lian Youming about the formidable prisoners awaiting him and warned that, after defeating Gu Chan and Xue Hen, he had already entered a trial of gold by fire.
• Lian Youming gave Xu Tian the three human-skin maps, and Xu Tian said Tian Dayong was digging up Bai Long's grave so the maps might be pieced together.
• Xie Ruomei told Lian Youming that Liu Wudi had gone home because he had become a father, then shared a meal with him as rain fell.
• Lian Youming considered the dangers of reaching foresight and mystic connection, then sheltered a candle flame from the storm with his palms.

Lian Youming was assigned to enter the Fushun prison undercover, where he was to investigate a mysterious group connected to Yang Cuo and the others. After Xu Tian and Tian Dayong beat him up and altered his appearance to make him look like a prisoner, he left with a military driver for Fushun.

• Xu Tian urged Lian Youming to consider passing on his martial arts by taking disciples, but Lian Youming said it was not yet time.
• Tian Dayong arrived with the completed human-skin map, and Xu Tian and Tian Dayong told Lian Youming he would enter the prison as a prisoner rather than a supervisor.
• Xu Tian explained that inmates might be connected to the mysterious force Yang Cuo and the others had investigated, and asked Lian Youming to mingle with them and learn their background.
• Tian Dayong and Xu Tian fought Lian Youming, then Lian Youming changed his body and features to disguise himself as a prisoner and kept only the Gall-Illuminating Sword.
• Lian Youming left the Boxing School with Tian Dayong and a mysterious military driver, who drove them toward Fushun.

Lian Youming was taken to a remote prison built into the mountains and locked in an underground cell among dangerous martial artists. After his guards left, a prisoner appeared at the bars, and Lian Youming calmly threatened him.

• Lian Youming and Tian Dayong arrived at a remote compound, where Lian Youming spotted sniper rifles trained on him from the mountain.
• The driver introduced himself as Huo Yuntian, a Taiji Fist and Mizong Fist practitioner, and led Lian Youming inside.
• Lian Youming observed two powerful martial artists and several other experts guarding the prison, then saw the monk open a heavy iron hatch to the underground cells.
• Huo Yuntian and Tian Dayong escorted Lian Youming through a passage where imprisoned martial artists called out threats and explained that escapees were shot.
• Tian Dayong gave Lian Youming cigarettes and left him in a cell; after the upper gate closed, a prisoner stared at him through the bars, and Lian Youming threatened him.

Lian Youming was imprisoned in the White Lotus Sect’s dungeon, where he examined his cell and faced an elderly Foresight martial artist who broke in to rob him. When the old man recognized Lian Youming’s Witnessing Art, the other prisoners reacted, but a terrifying presence stirred in the depths of the dungeon and silenced them.

• Lian Youming changed into prison clothes and ignored the inmates who questioned and taunted him.
• Lian Youming tried to break the steel-and-copper gate, then examined the cell and found signs of a deadly fight.
• An elderly prisoner used the Bone-Shrinking Skill to squeeze through the hatch and demanded Lian Youming’s vital-essence elixirs.
• Lian Youming confronted the old man, who recognized his Witnessing Art as Du Xinwu’s.
• The inmates shouted questions about Lian Youming’s connection to Du Xinwu until chains rattled in the depths and a powerful breath stirred the dungeon.