Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yuxuan brutally whipped Chen Xuan for allegedly looking at Chu Miaoyin, the courtesan he had bought as a concubine. Chen Xuan went limp after Xiao struck the back of his head, and Xiao demanded that he get up.

• Chen Xuan glanced toward the bells on Chu Miaoyin’s ankle, and Xiao Yuxuan accused him of ogling her.
• Xiao kicked Chen Xuan and ordered Guard Li to state the punishment for a slave who looked at his master’s womanfolk.
• Chu Miaoyin tried to urge Xiao to hurry, but he sent her into the carriage and ordered a barbed whip brought to him.
• Xiao repeatedly lashed Chen Xuan as the bystanders watched and then fled without intervening.
• Xiao struck Chen Xuan across the back of the head, and Chen Xuan went limp.
• Xiao leaned on the bloodied whip and ordered Chen Xuan to get up and keep screaming.

After Xiao Yuxuan beat Chen Xuan to death, servants hid his body in a woodshed overnight. Chen Xuan woke in the corpse and realized his soul had transmigrated into another world.

• Xiao Yuxuan ordered Wang Wu to confirm Chen Xuan was dead, then told servants to dispose of the body.
• Chu Miaoyin glanced back at Chen Xuan's corpse from the carriage and wept after lowering the curtain.
• Two menial slaves carried Chen Xuan to a woodshed and left him there until the city gates opened.
• Chen Xuan woke in agony and wondered how he had survived his sudden death from overwork.
• Chen Xuan absorbed the body's memories and realized its original owner had died and his soul had transmigrated into another world.

After awakening in the body of a beaten lifetime slave, Chen Xuan discovered a fate trait that let him master martial arts through relentless practice. He began cultivating the Boulder Art before the residence’s servants could take his body to a mass grave.

• Chen Xuan recalled how Liu Qingyan sold him into slavery and how Xiao Yuxuan whipped him to death, then vowed to settle both debts.
• A golden fate trait, [Heaven rewards diligence; success is certain], appeared in Chen Xuan’s mind and promised that persistent training could overcome any cultivation bottleneck.
• With Steward Zhao’s men due to collect his corpse at daybreak, Chen Xuan retrieved the Boulder Art manual hidden beneath his bedboards.
• Touching the manual let Chen Xuan absorb its instructions and revealed his progress as Boulder Art: Beginner (1/500).
• Chen Xuan followed the corrected Qi-circulation route, felt warmth rise through his meridians, and advanced his proficiency to 2/500.

After healing his wounds and strengthening himself by grinding the Boulder Art all night, Chen Xuan vowed to take revenge on Xiao Yuxuan while hiding his ambitions. The next morning, he reached 200/500 proficiency as men arrived to remove what they assumed was his corpse.

• Chen Xuan circulated the Boulder Art for four hours, healing his wounds and raising his proficiency to 90/500.
• He tested his strength against a mud wall, then heard the guard instructor demonstrate a punch that shattered an ironwood post.
• Chen Xuan vowed to take Xiao Yuxuan's position, power, and women, but decided to conceal his plans until he was strong enough.
• Chen Xuan continued cultivating through the night, raising his Boulder Art proficiency to 200/500 by dawn.
• Two men kicked open the woodshed door, intending to roll Chen Xuan in a straw mat and dump him outside the city.

Chen Xuan survived the young lord’s whipping and concealed his healed wounds when Zhao De discovered him alive. A summons from the marquis let Chen Xuan escape inspection, but Zhao De grew suspicious and ordered Brother Zhang and Xiao Liuzi to spy on him.

• Zhao De and the two menial slaves found Chen Xuan alive in the woodshed, though they had believed him dead.
• Chen Xuan claimed he had fainted and awakened in the woodshed while hiding his unmarked back beneath the straw mat.
• Zhao De grabbed Chen Xuan’s mat and collar to inspect his wounds, but a summons from the front courtyard interrupted him.
• Zhao De ordered Chen Xuan back to work in the stables, and Chen Xuan hurried away without revealing his healed injuries.
• Zhao De suspected something was wrong and told Brother Zhang and Xiao Liuzi to secretly watch Chen Xuan.

After narrowly concealing that his back had healed, Chen Xuan returned to work in the stables and kept up his meek slave disguise. Liu San assigned him to deliver water to the training grounds that afternoon, where Chen Xuan planned to observe the estate’s martial artists and Xiao Yuxuan.

• Chen Xuan hid his healed back from Zhao De, changed into a ragged vest, and resolved to act even more cautiously.
• Chen Xuan fed Big Red and reflected that he intended to break free from the people controlling his life.
• The stable slaves mocked Chen Xuan for surviving the heir’s whipping, while Liu San warned them against gossiping about the heir’s consort.
• Liu San ordered Chen Xuan to deliver water to the front courtyard training grounds that afternoon and warned him not to look at the estate’s women.
• Chen Xuan resumed his stable chores under the watch of Brother Zhang and Xiao Liuzi, then decided he would use the delivery to inspect the training grounds and Xiao Yuxuan.

Chen Xuan carried water and served tea at the training grounds, concealing his sharp observations behind a meek manner. He watched heir Xiao Yuxuan boast through a staged sparring match and left convinced that the young lord's martial ability was poor.

• Steward Zhao scolded Chen Xuan for taking too long and warned him not to look at the young lord's wife while serving tea.
• Chen Xuan pretended his back still hurt from the previous day's whipping and took over tea duties from Old Sun.
• Old Sun warned Chen Xuan that Xiao Yuxuan was in a bad mood, while Chen Xuan watched the heir spar with three young masters.
• Xiao Yuxuan lightly struck Fatty Wang, who exaggerated the impact, and the other young masters praised the heir's martial skill.
• Chen Xuan silently judged Xiao Yuxuan to be a weak martial artist who benefited from his status as heir.

Xiao Yuxuan tried to impress Su Wanqing by demonstrating the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Residence’s supreme martial art, but Chen Xuan saw that his palm strike was weak and poorly controlled. Su Wanqing offered faint praise while privately dismissing Xiao Yuxuan as someone living on flattery.

• Xiao Yuxuan sought Su Wanqing’s approval after showing off his martial arts, but she gave him only a detached “not bad.”
• Embarrassed by her indifference, Xiao Yuxuan announced that he would demonstrate the Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang, the residence’s exclusive supreme art.
• Chen Xuan learned from Old Sun that the art was the Marquis of Zhenbei’s core killing technique and watched Xiao Yuxuan perform it.
• Xiao Yuxuan’s palm strike stirred dust and made a nearby lantern sway, while Chen Xuan judged that his force was scattered and his blood and Qi poorly controlled.
• Su Wanqing told Jinshu that Xiao Yuxuan was pitiful for living on others’ flattery, then praised his strike as an improvement over last month.

Chen Xuan used his Heaven Rewards Diligence fate trait to learn Xiao Yuxuan’s Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang by watching him practice, gaining proficiency and a trace of Yang Gang. As Su Wanqing left, she sensed unusually pure masculine blood and Qi near Chen Xuan, though Jinshu dismissed her suspicion.

• Xiao Yuxuan practiced Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang again while Chen Xuan watched from beside the stone table.
• Chen Xuan’s fate trait completed and recorded the martial art, transferring its techniques into his mind.
• Chen Xuan gained proficiency as Xiao Yuxuan repeated the forms, and a strand of Yang Gang appeared in his dantian.
• Su Wanqing stopped Xiao Yuxuan from practicing further and prepared to return to her courtyard.
• Su Wanqing sensed pure masculine blood and Qi near Chen Xuan, but Jinshu suggested she was tired.

Chen Xuan endured Xiao Yuxuan’s abuse while secretly gaining progress in the Xiao family’s Yang Gang art. As he recovered from a scalding, Xiao Ling'er stopped him beside the weapon rack.

• Su Wanqing left the training grounds after sensing something unusual, and Xiao Yuxuan ordered Chen Xuan to serve him tea.
• Xiao Yuxuan recognized Chen Xuan, kicked over the tea and porcelain, and accused him of spying on his wife.
• Chen Xuan pretended to beg for mercy while secretly valuing the injury as payment for progress in Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang.
• Su Wanqing told Xiao Yuxuan to stop tormenting the servant, and Xiao Yuxuan sent Chen Xuan away to brew fresh tea after she left.
• Chen Xuan’s Yang Gang and Boulder Art eased the pain in his hand, but Xiao Ling'er called him to a halt as Lin Wan'er watched.

Chen Xuan talked his way out of Xiao Ling'er’s suspicion that he was secretly learning the heir’s martial arts, and she deliberately missed him with her whip. He returned to his chores at the stables, leaving the training grounds with renewed resolve.

• Xiao Ling'er confronted Chen Xuan for watching the heir practice punches, but he claimed he had only been awed by the young heir’s power.
• Chen Xuan belittled himself until Xiao Ling'er dismissed him as too foolish to learn the Boulder Art.
• Xiao Ling'er lashed the marble table beside Chen Xuan instead of striking him, then ordered him to replace the tea.
• Lin Wan'er teased Xiao Ling'er for sparing Chen Xuan, and Xiao Ling'er insisted she had only been protecting her reputation.
• Liu San summoned Chen Xuan back to the stables, and Chen Xuan left to shovel horse manure with steadier steps.

Chen Xuan hid in the stables after secretly learning the Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang, weighing its dangers against the safer Boulder Art. He decided to advance the Boulder Art first and conceal the Yang Gang until he could protect himself.

• Chen Xuan ignored the servants mocking his injuries and hurried to the secluded stables.
• He fed black beans to the bay horse and asked it to warn him if Liu San or Zhao De approached.
• Chen Xuan reasoned that mastering the Boulder Art could help him escape his bondage, while revealing the Yang Gang could get him killed.
• He vowed to surpass Xiao Yuxuan but chose to focus on the safer Boulder Art for now.
• Chen Xuan sat behind the haystack and began cultivating the Boulder Art.

Chen Xuan turned the punishing chores assigned by Liu San into a chance to train with the Boulder Art while working in the rear kitchen. He ended the chapter hauling firewood and secretly building his proficiency as the household servants mocked him.

• Chen Xuan practiced the Boulder Art in the stable until Wang Er interrupted him with Liu San’s order to haul firewood to the rear kitchen.
• Chen Xuan complained about his workload and injured hand, then followed Wang Er to the kitchen to avoid being whipped.
• Kitchen workers piled firewood hauling, water carrying, dishwashing, and sweeping onto Chen Xuan.
• Chen Xuan ignored the workers’ mockery and circulated his blood and Qi while carrying heavy loads, raising his Boulder Art proficiency to 225 points.

Chen Xuan secretly trained the Boulder Art through the night in the stable and discovered that his fate trait made the crude technique cleanse impurities and strengthen his body beyond its normal limits. As his proficiency surged and his senses sharpened, he continued toward a breakthrough in Bright Force.

• After the servants were ordered to their rooms, Chen Xuan waited for them to fall asleep, then slipped back into the stable and blocked the door.
• Chen Xuan practiced the Boulder Art through the night, pushing his proficiency from 230 to 250 and feeling his blood and Qi circulate more smoothly as his bones and muscles changed.
• At 300 proficiency, Chen Xuan sweated out foul black impurities and realized the Boulder Art was producing a marrow-cleansing effect.
• Chen Xuan understood that [Heaven rewards diligence; achievement is assured] was drawing out the art’s hidden potential, and he resolved to keep training toward early-stage Bright Force.
• As his proficiency rose to 390 and his twelve primary meridians opened, Chen Xuan’s body grew stronger and his hearing became keen enough to catch guards talking through a thick wall from thirty paces away.

Chen Xuan perfected Boulder Art and broke through to Early-stage Bright Force, gaining the strength to fight back against those who abused him. After hiding the traces of his marrow cleansing, he tested his new power and vowed to make the masters of the marquis's estate pay.

• Chen Xuan endured the painful final stage of Boulder Art's training through the night until his progress reached perfection.
• Chen Xuan broke through to Early-stage Bright Force as his bones and body transformed.
• Chen Xuan buried his filthy clothes beneath horse manure and washed away the evidence of his marrow cleansing before dawn.
• Chen Xuan punched a three-inch crater into a rammed-earth wall, testing his increased strength.
• Chen Xuan vowed to one day make Xiao Yuxuan and the other masters of the estate kneel before him.

After reaching early-stage Bright Force, Chen Xuan heard Liu San deliberately overturn a fodder cart and pretended to be weak while Steward Zhao tested him. Steward Zhao let Liu San discipline him and secretly had Xiao Liuzi watch Chen Xuan, leaving Chen Xuan under suspicion.

• Chen Xuan used his sharpened senses to recognize that Liu San had deliberately tipped over the fodder cart, but acted apologetic and helpless.
• Liu San accused Chen Xuan of wasting the hay and appealed to Steward Zhao while the stable slaves whispered that the incident was a test.
• Chen Xuan blamed his dizziness and weak footing, concealing his strength as Steward Zhao scrutinized him for signs of injury.
• Steward Zhao allowed Liu San to set the stable rules but warned him not to beat Chen Xuan too badly because the rear kitchen needed him for work.
• Steward Zhao signaled Xiao Liuzi to keep watching Chen Xuan as he left the stable yard.

Chen Xuan hid his newly acquired Bright Force strength while Liu San whipped him under the watch of Zhao De's spy. After faking pain, Chen Xuan secretly tore his own shoulder so the beating would leave visible wounds and protect his disguise.

• Chen Xuan realized Zhao De's spy was still watching and decided not to reveal his martial strength.
• Liu San ordered Chen Xuan to kneel, but Chen Xuan pretended his legs were cramping and pleaded for mercy.
• Liu San struck Chen Xuan five times across the right shoulder, while Chen Xuan acted as though each lash badly hurt.
• Chen Xuan noticed Xiao Liuzi watching and secretly tore the skin on his shoulder to make the beating look real.

Chen Xuan endured Liu San’s lashes, then used a feigned slip to secretly crack Liu San’s kneecap and knock out his teeth. The stable workers believed it was an accident, while Chen Xuan worried that a careful examination might expose his strength.

• Chen Xuan tore his shoulder and pretended that five lashes had taught him the rules, but Liu San became enraged when he tried to stop the beating.
• As Liu San reached to grab him, Chen Xuan faked a slip and struck Liu San’s knee with a small burst of Qi force.
• Liu San’s right leg buckled, and he fell face-first onto a bluestone slab, breaking his front teeth and injuring his knee.
• The stable workers blamed the collision on bad luck, while Chen Xuan acted frightened and apologized as he helped Liu San.
• Chen Xuan felt Liu San’s kneecap and discovered a hairline fracture, then worried that skilled physicians might detect it.

Chen Xuan talked Steward Zhao into believing that Liu San had been injured in an accident, keeping his use of internal force from being discovered. As Steward Zhao prepared to leave, he noticed Chen Xuan’s right hand, which he remembered had been scalded the day before.

• Liu San accused Chen Xuan of deliberately breaking his leg, while Chen Xuan knelt and claimed he had slipped in the mud after being whipped.
• An old slave backed Chen Xuan’s account, and Steward Zhao dismissed Liu San’s accusation because Chen Xuan was known as a powerless failure.
• Steward Zhao ordered the menial slaves to take Liu San to Blind Liu in the outer courtyard and forbade them from using the inner courtyard clinic.
• Chen Xuan felt relieved that the less capable doctor would not detect the damage caused by internal force.
• Steward Zhao paused before leaving and recognized Chen Xuan’s right hand as the one he had seen scalded the previous day.

Chen Xuan concealed his strength from Steward Zhao and overheard Liu San plotting to get him killed by the Third Miss's vicious horse, Treading Snow. He prepared to face Liu San at the training grounds that afternoon, then hid his abilities and resumed his stable chores.

• Steward Zhao eyed Chen Xuan's uninjured hand suspiciously but left without confronting him.
• Liu San privately vowed to make Chen Xuan lead Treading Snow so the horse would trample him, and Chen Xuan overheard the plan.
• Chen Xuan reviewed his fight with Liu San and resolved to control his strength more precisely.
• Chen Xuan shared a quiet moment with the bay horse, then returned to work while concealing his improved abilities.