Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao struggled with his low qi and blood as his family tried to secure him a job and considered buying him a costly potion, while he remained determined to take the martial artist entrance exam. Just as he was about to give up for his parents’ sake, his long-broken system repaired itself and activated.

• Lin Hao practiced the Basic Eighteen Forms while Shi Tie ignored him and Jiang Chao complained about the teacher withholding student subsidies.
• Lin Qing offered Lin Hao a formal security job, but he asked to delay reporting so he could take the martial artist entrance exam.
• Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan asked Lin Qing to postpone the job and help obtain a Primordial Qi and Blood Potion for Lin Hao.
• Lin Hao overheard his parents’ sacrifices and nearly abandoned the exam to accept the security job.
• The system repaired itself, activated the Heaven Rewards Diligence System, and displayed Lin Hao’s qi and blood, mental power, and combat power.

After the Heaven Rewards Diligence System assigned Lin Hao an overwhelming cultivation quest, a bug instantly completed it and unlocked a perfect analysis of the Basic Eighteen Forms of Qi and Blood. Lin Hao practiced the corrected forms through the night, rapidly raising his qi and blood before collapsing from exhaustion.

• Lin Hao accepted the system's quest to complete the Basic Eighteen Forms of Qi and Blood 10,000 times in 100 days, despite the approaching martial artist entrance exam.
• As Lin Hao began the first movement, the system bug registered all 10,000 repetitions and unlocked a complete analysis of the technique's perfection realm.
• Lin Hao learned how to correct the forms and practiced them with newly smooth qi and blood circulation.
• Lin Hao practiced sixty or seventy sets overnight, and his qi and blood rose by 0.12 to 0.42.
• Lin Hao tried to check his system panel but collapsed onto his bed before he could tell his parents the news.

Lin Hao struggled through the aftermath of an exhausting night of cultivation, while his parents worried over his condition and his cousin’s security job offer. At school, classmates learned about Lin Hao’s upcoming position at the East City High-Tech Industrial Park, and Bai Cheng accused him of getting it through connections.

• Lin Hao woke sore and exhausted but refused his mother Li Xiulan’s offer to stay home because he wanted to attend practical combat class.
• Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan explained that Lin Qingqing had secured Lin Hao the industrial park security slot using second-class merit earned at the Jiang City Martial Arts Bureau.
• Lin Hao ate an unusually large breakfast but still felt a deep hunger caused by his body’s increased qi and blood, and he left for school without telling his parents about the system.
• At No. 2 Middle School, Jiang Chao told Lin Hao that the industrial park’s hiring notice had already been posted and that other classmates knew about his position.
• Bai Cheng mocked Lin Hao for supposedly obtaining the job through family connections, and Jiang Chao angrily prepared to confront him.

Lin Hao joined practical combat class and accepted Bai Cheng’s challenge, triggering a system mission to master the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist. The mission promised ten years of frontier combat experience and instinctive fist responses if Lin Hao completed its requirements within 100 days.

• Lin Hao watched Zhou Lie lead the class through three rounds of the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist, but the system did not respond.
• Zhou Lie called Bai Cheng forward to demonstrate sparring, and Bai Cheng challenged Lin Hao or Jiang Chao to face him.
• Jiang Chao volunteered, but Lin Hao stopped him and stepped forward to spar with Bai Cheng.
• Lin Hao’s system issued a 100-day mission requiring him to perfect the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist and complete 10,000 offense-and-defense drills.

After completing ten thousand drills of the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist, Lin Hao gained perfect mastery and combat experience that raised his combat power above Capital Martial University’s admission requirement. He defeated Bai Cheng in two moves, but the exertion left him desperately hungry and in need of tonics.

• Lin Hao completed the mission to practice the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist ten thousand times and unlocked ten years of practical combat experience.
• Lin Hao entered the sparring area after Bai Cheng taunted him, and Zhou Lie announced the rules.
• Lin Hao dodged Bai Cheng’s attack, redirected his momentum, and knocked him beyond the boundary line with a punch.
• Zhou Lie declared Lin Hao the winner, and Bai Cheng eventually admitted defeat despite protesting that he had been unprepared.
• Jiang Chao celebrated Lin Hao’s victory, while Lin Hao realized that mastering the fist art had drained his body and that he urgently needed nourishment.

Lin Hao discovered that his combat power had reached 2.02 despite his qi and blood measuring only 0.42, leaving him ineligible for martial arts university admission. He accepted money from Jiang Chao for tonics and agreed to join him for dinner with Xia Zhi and her friend.

• Zhou Lie tested Lin Hao and found his combat power was 2.02, but his qi and blood was only 0.42, below the entrance requirement.
• Zhou Lie offered Lin Hao the small amount of cash he had, but Lin Hao declined it.
• Lin Hao told Jiang Chao he planned to enter Capital Martial University, and Jiang Chao encouraged him and gave him twenty thousand for tonics.
• Jiang Chao told Lin Hao about his girlfriend Xia Zhi and invited him to dinner at Spirit Charm Restaurant to meet her best friend.
• Lin Hao agreed to join Jiang Chao and help him judge whether anything seemed off about Xia Zhi.

Lin Hao bought and rapidly drank five bottles of Crimson Potion to replenish his depleted body, causing his qi and blood and combat power to rise sharply. After returning home, he told his parents his qi and blood had reached 0.76, leaving them astonished and overjoyed.

• Lin Hao bought five bottles of Crimson Potion from the shopkeeper at Wansheng Martial Arts Supplements and drank the first two inside the shop.
• The shopkeeper stopped Lin Hao from drinking a third bottle in the shop and pushed him outside with the remaining three bottles.
• Lin Hao drank the last three bottles and watched his qi and blood rise to 0.76 and his combat power to 3.52 on the system panel.
• Lin Hao returned home, ate the meal Li Xiulan and Lin Rongshan had prepared, and said his qi and blood had reached 0.76.
• Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan reacted with shock and excitement when Lin Hao explained his qi and blood had risen from 0.3 in three months.

Lin Hao accepted his parents’ Primordial Qi and Blood Potion and used it while cultivating, rapidly raising his strength. With qi and blood at 1.32 and combat power at 5.28, he surpassed his classmates and considered his chances of entering Capital Martial University.

• Lin Hao kept his combat power secret while reassuring Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan that he would place first and earn admission to Capital Martial University.
• Lin Rongshan gave Lin Hao a Primordial Qi and Blood Potion that his cousin had obtained, though Lin Hao knew the money had been saved for his father’s back injury.
• Lin Hao cautiously drank the potion and raised his qi and blood to 0.89 and combat power to 3.92.
• Lin Hao practiced the Basic Eighteen Forms while drinking the rest of the potion, then cleaned the black grime that emerged from his body.
• Lin Hao checked his status and found his qi and blood had reached 1.32 and combat power 5.28, surpassing Bai Cheng and meeting the martial examination’s qi-and-blood threshold.
• Lin Hao considered that his combat power might qualify him for Capital Martial University, and decided he could raise his qi and blood to 2.0 if necessary.

Lin Hao and Jiang Chao headed to a restaurant, where the crowds led Lin Hao to learn that Jiang City was hosting the Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition. Hoping the competition could trigger a system quest and teach him pharmacy skills, Lin Hao decided to investigate despite lacking the required certificate.

• Jiang Chao told Lin Hao that Xia Zhi had left school and claimed she had offered him her first time, but he had turned her down because he thought she was testing him.
• Lin Hao and Jiang Chao reached Linjiang Food Street and found it packed with visitors from the surrounding cities.
• Jiang Chao explained that the Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition would begin Sunday and that contestants needed an officially recognized pharmacy apprentice certificate.
• Lin Hao realized the competition might trigger a system quest that could teach him to make potions, but he lacked the required certificate.
• Lin Hao decided to go see the competition in person, and Jiang Chao pulled him onward to meet Xia Zhi and the others.

Lin Hao joined Jiang Chao, Xia Zhi, and Su Xiaoran for medicinal cuisine and discovered Xia Zhi was secretly flirting with him while Jiang Chao remained unaware. After Jiang Chao left to get money for the costly bill, Xia Zhi asked Lin Hao to take Su Xiaoran home, and Su Xiaoran invited him inside.

• Lin Hao and Jiang Chao met Xia Zhi and Su Xiaoran at the Spirit Charm Restaurant, where Xia Zhi subtly touched Lin Hao during their greeting.
• Lin Hao noticed Xia Zhi flirting with him beneath the table and through other deliberate touches while she acted sweetly toward Jiang Chao.
• Lin Hao avoided Xia Zhi's advances and kept quiet rather than expose her to Jiang Chao.
• The group finished a large meal, and Jiang Chao left to get money after the bill came to thirty-two thousand seven hundred.
• Xia Zhi asked Lin Hao to take Su Xiaoran home, and Su Xiaoran invited him to come inside.

Lin Hao rejected Xia Zhi’s advances, then followed her into a deserted alley after she claimed Jiang Chao was in danger. He saw through her ruse and confronted her as a mimic beast, and the chapter ended as she attacked him with spider silk.

• Lin Hao pushed Xia Zhi away and warned her to respect that Jiang Chao was his brother.
• Xia Zhi claimed a mimic beast had attacked Jiang Chao and urged Lin Hao to come help after contacting the Martial Arts Bureau.
• Lin Hao followed Xia Zhi to an unlit alley, where she revealed her monstrous form and attacked him with spider silk.
• Lin Hao explained that he had suspected Xia Zhi was a mimic beast and asked where Jiang Chao was.
• Xia Zhi said Jiang Chao was alive and admitted she planned to feed on Lin Hao, then launched more than a dozen strands of spider silk at him.

Lin Hao used the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist to fight two Shadow Mimic Spiders who had trapped him in an alley. He killed Xia Zhi and pursued Su Xiaoran as she tried to escape.

• Lin Hao revealed his combat power was 5.28, and Xia Zhi summoned Su Xiaoran as the two spiders sealed the alley with silk and transformed.
• Xia Zhi and Su Xiaoran attacked together, but Lin Hao broke Xia Zhi's front legs and struck Su Xiaoran's abdomen with basic fist techniques.
• Xia Zhi filled the alley with poisonous mist and bound Lin Hao in silk before aiming her stingers at his heart.
• Lin Hao sensed the forces on the silk, broke free, and killed Xia Zhi with a punch to her vulnerable head-and-thorax junction.
• Su Xiaoran scrambled onto the web to flee, but Lin Hao moved to stop her.

Lin Hao killed two Shadow Mimic Spiders, searched their remains, and left the alley to hide his injuries and bloodstained clothes from his parents. Later, Lin Qing investigated the scene and learned the killer was likely a seventeen-to-nineteen-year-old with extraordinary combat power, though no visiting martial artist’s tracker had been detected nearby.

• Lin Hao dragged Su Xiaoran from the web and killed her with a Sinking Abyss Form strike, then struggled with the aftermath of killing humanlike demon beasts.
• Lin Hao searched the two corpses, found thirty thousand in cash and a bank card bearing Jiang Chao’s name, and left to buy clean clothes before going home.
• Lin Qing arrived with Jiang City Martial Arts Branch Bureau personnel, secured the alley, and ordered the evidence team to analyze a phone found on one of the spiders.
• The technical team reported that both Shadow Mimic Spiders had qi and blood around 1.2 and peak combat power around 2.5.
• The technical team estimated the killer was seventeen to nineteen years old, with qi and blood of 1.3 to 1.4 and combat power above 5.0.
• Lin Qing considered whether the killer was a visitor for the Six-City Pharmacist Competition, but the entry office’s tracker records showed no outsiders nearby at the time.

Lin Qing investigated the unknown local martial artist who had killed two Shadow Mimic Spiders with the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist and ordered a citywide search. Meanwhile, Lin Hao failed to enter the Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition or trigger a system quest, but he remained determined to pursue the opportunity.

• The technical team reported that the spider killer was seventeen to nineteen years old, had blood qi between 1.3 and 1.4, combat power above 5.0, and had perfected the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist.
• Lin Qing learned that the cameras had been destroyed and ordered officials to search Jiang City’s schools and neighborhoods for the young martial artist.
• Lin Hao tried to enter the pharmacists competition as an attendant, but staff turned him away because he lacked an apprentice pharmacist certificate.
• Lin Hao asked about alternative registration and an on-site assessment, but staff rejected both options and security barred him from the preparation area.
• After registration closed without the system offering a quest, Lin Hao bought five bottles of Crimson Potion and resolved not to give up on the competition opportunity.

Lin Hao learned that the Martial Arts Bureau had questioned Jiang Chao about Xia Zhi, a Shadow Mimic Spider, and delayed deciding whether to explain his own connection to the case. At a meeting about Jiang City's worsening beast tide, the city's leaders agreed that their aging defenders needed young people to take their place, but lamented that promising fighters left for larger cities.

• Jiang Chao told Lin Hao that the Martial Arts Bureau had questioned him about Xia Zhi and revealed that she had been a Shadow Mimic Spider.
• Jiang Chao wondered whether Xia Zhi's feelings for him had been real, but Lin Hao talked him out of imagining an interspecies romance.
• Lin Hao considered reporting himself to the branch bureau but decided to replenish his qi and blood before addressing the missing cash.
• Shen Ce reported that the beast tide was worsening and that the Third Squad had lost two defenders on the west wall.
• Wei Cang and the other Jiang City leaders recognized that their aging generation could not keep defending the city alone.
• Shen Ce and Huang Keming lamented that promising young fighters left Jiang City for larger cities.

Jiang City’s leaders learned that a local teenager had solo-killed two Shadow Mimic Spiders and debated how to keep the exceptional martial arts talent from moving to a big city. Wei Cang ordered a citywide search, demanding the young man’s identity and location within three days.

• Wei Cang proposed a special fund to recruit and retain martial arts talent in Jiang City, and Huang Keming objected to the expense.
• A confidential report revealed that a seventeen-to-nineteen-year-old Jiang City local had killed two Shadow Mimic Spiders alone using the Mountain-Subduing Basic Fist.
• Shen Ce reported that the teenager had only 1.3 to 1.4 qi and blood but achieved combat power above 5.0, prompting Wei Cang to call him a supreme genius.
• Wei Cang proposed covering the teenager’s tuition, living expenses, and cultivation resources and reserving a deputy director position for him after graduation.
• Huang Keming, Shen Ce, and Chen Jingshan warned that the offer was risky before the teenager’s character and meridian talent were known, but Wei Cang insisted Jiang City prepare to recruit him.
• Wei Cang ordered the Martial Arts General Bureau, the City Defense General Administration, and subdistrict offices to find the teenager within three days.

Lin Hao bought Zhou Mingxuan’s tournament slot and slipped into the Six-City Tournament despite the identity check, hoping to trigger the system’s pharmacist quest. He reached the waiting hall, but the system remained silent.

• Lin Hao learned spectator tickets were sold out and approached Zhou Mingxuan, who planned to withdraw from the tournament.
• Lin Hao offered to buy Zhou Mingxuan’s contestant badge and documents, and Zhou Mingxuan warned him that competing under another person’s name could bring a lifetime ban.
• Zhou Mingxuan sold Lin Hao the slot for eight thousand yuan, then left him to enter alone with documents bearing a different face.
• Lin Hao wore a mask and rushed through the entrance just before the deadline, bypassing the required face check.
• Lin Hao entered the waiting hall alone and focused on the system, but it did not trigger a quest.

Lin Hao entered the Six-City Young Pharmacists Competition under his real name and struggled to recognize the equipment and ingredients at his station. Su Mo mistook his ignorance and hesitation for the signs of a hidden master, and the chapter ended when the competition task was announced.

• Lin Hao joined the empty spot beside Su Mo's team and accidentally introduced himself by his real name instead of Zhou Mingxuan.
• Su Mo praised Lin Hao's supposed skill, then told Uncle Fu that Lin Hao was a fellow pharmaceutical prodigy because he had come without an assistant.
• Lin Hao overheard Su Mo's praise and followed the contestants into the arena, where he could not identify the instruments or ingredients at his station.
• Su Mo interpreted Lin Hao's hesitation as careful preparation and told Uncle Fu that a true master calculated every step before acting.
• The arena announced that contestants had five hours to refine a Primordial Qi and Blood Potion, which would be judged on efficacy, purity, qi and blood activity, and negative effects.

At the Six-City Pharmacist Competition, Lin Hao tried to forfeit before anyone discovered he was impersonating Zhou Mingxuan, but a series of disastrous mistakes convinced the proctor to let him go. Just as Lin Hao prepared to leave, the system issued a quest requiring him to refine 10,000 Primordial Qi and Blood Potions in 100 days.

• The Primordial Qi and Blood Potion challenge caused many contestants to forfeit, and Lin Hao decided to leave because he did not know how to refine it.
• A proctor stopped Lin Hao to verify his identity, but a substitute test-taker's discovery drew the proctor away and security guards remained to watch Lin Hao.
• Lin Hao burned the ingredients and spilled extract onto his workstation, prompting ridicule from spectators and disbelief from Su Mo and Uncle Fu.
• After seeing Lin Hao's botched work, the proctor assumed nobody would hire him to take a test and waved him off without checking his identity.
• As Lin Hao started toward the exit, the system issued a quest to complete 10,000 standard Primordial Qi and Blood Potion refinements at 100% proficiency within 100 days.

Lin Hao unlocked max-level fire element affinity and potion-brewing mastery, completing his main quest. With four hours and thirty-nine minutes left in the competition, he planned to use the free equipment and ingredients to brew two doses of Primordial Qi and Blood Potion.

• Lin Hao accepted a fire-element prerequisite quest after the system revealed that his lack of fire affinity had locked the main quest.
• Lin Hao completed the fire-training quest, gained max-level fire element affinity and thirty years of potion-grandmaster experience, and demonstrated precise control by creating a tiny flame at his fingertip.
• Lin Hao's main quest unlocked and completed as the system granted him perfect-grade Primordial Qi and Blood Potion brewing knowledge and mastery of elementary potions.
• Lin Hao returned to his workstation, calculated that the remaining ingredients would make two doses, and decided to brew them before the competition ended.