Recaps

Wu Youren and Ke Li’s group left the quarantine zone to investigate the mountains, but a major change in Suotu Town brought them a ten-day assignment to guard a mountain pass. The chapter ended as a bloodied merchant group’s weird-hunting team arrived seeking Weird-Dispelling Powder, prompting Ke Li to ask what had happened near Suotu.

• Wu Youren dismissed He Wenhao’s death outwardly, but felt newly urgent about his own safety and concealed his unease from Qigeli.
• Ke Li took Wu Youren, Qigeli, and Cynthia into the mountains to watch for a half-dead weird, and they camped near the summit.
• A convoy returning from Suotu passed below, and a Great Knight ordered Ke Li to guard the mountain exit; Ke Li soon received a ten-day Martial Academy assignment to watch the pass.
• Ke Li and the others dug out caves near the summit, then saw convoys traveling in and out of the mountains.
• A bloodied Knight and Knight Apprentice from a merchant group’s weird-hunting team asked Ke Li for Weird-Dispelling Powder and food; Ke Li refused the powder and asked what changes had occurred around Suotu Town.

Wu Youren and Ke Li discovered that a Weird creature had followed the caravan, then encountered a group of Azure Qiu emerging from the mountainside. Ke Li fought the charging creatures with limited armor-piercing ammunition and his broadsword.

• Ke Li returned after Wu Youren fired at a suspected pursuer, and together they detected and shot a Weird Race member that had followed Ke Li.
• Wu Youren spotted rocks moving downhill, and Ke Li identified the creature beneath them as an Azure Qiu.
• Ke Li ordered the group to use armor-piercing rounds and attack as the first Azure Qiu emerged from the rocks.
• More than a dozen Azure Qiu burst from the ground and charged, forcing Ke Li to switch from his rifle to his broadsword.
• Ke Li cut into the Azure Qiu with Battle Qi while Cynthia and Qigeli fought alongside him and Wu Youren watched their surroundings.

Ke Li, Cynthia, Qigeli, and Wu Youren fought and killed more than a dozen Azure Qiu, including two that had undergone Weird Transformation. After the battle, Ke Li proposed withholding their discovery from the Martial Academy until they searched again, and Wu Youren took the night watch while thinking over the unexpected gains.

• Ke Li ordered an orderly retreat, and Wu Youren detonated traps that blasted several charging Azure Qiu.
• Two Azure Qiu accelerated unnaturally, revealing that they had undergone Weird Transformation, and the group fought them while Wu Youren fetched Ke Li's spare saber.
• Wu Youren's saber work drew an Azure Qiu's attention and eased the pressure on Qigeli as they killed it; Ke Li and the others then wore down and killed the second transformed creature.
• Wu Youren examined the carcasses and found two Azure Qiu largely unaffected by Weird Qi, while Ke Li said he would report the team's contributions but asked them to keep the discovery quiet until they searched again.
• Ke Li assigned Wu Youren night watch, and Wu Youren kept guard outside the cave, reflecting on the night's gains and an unexpected surprise.

Wu Youren guarded the mountain pass while Ke Li left with Qigeli to help a military logistics convoy near Suotu Town. That night, Wu Youren discovered a hidden cavity containing a strange cold object, and touching it with his Weird-Repelling Jue sent an intense chill through his body.

• Wu Youren and Cynthia cleared rocks from the road while Ke Li and Qigeli searched for weird objects.
• A mixed military and Martial Academy convoy passed through, and Ke Li declined to join its forward camp.
• Ke Li agreed to guide a military Logistics Department team and took Qigeli with him, leaving Wu Youren and Cynthia to guard the pass.
• Wu Youren dug into the passage where the Azure Qiu had appeared and uncovered a hollow in the mountain.
• Wu Youren found a round, icy protrusion on a rock, broke his dagger trying to chip it free, and pressed his Weird-Repelling Jue against it.
• The Weird-Repelling Jue heated up as an extraordinary cold surged through Wu Youren's body.

Wu Youren absorbed the hidden treasure while using the Weird-Repelling Jue, interrupting his imminent breakthrough to Knight and gathering qi instead. He left the cave with the jade jue changed and concealed what had happened from Cynthia, who sensed that something was different about him.

• Wu Youren felt experience points surge through him and feared an unwanted breakthrough to Knight would expose him to Ke Li and Liang.
• Wu Youren focused on his dantian, gathered qi, and escaped his rigid state as the treasure vanished from the boulder and the Weird-Repelling Jue grew clearer and smoother.
• Wu Youren took the broken dagger tip and left the cave, confirming that he had interrupted his breakthrough and remained a Knight Apprentice.
• Cynthia confronted Wu Youren outside the cave, and he claimed he had searched for a Weird object but found nothing.
• Wu Youren removed and shook out his gear to dispel Cynthia’s suspicions, then asked her to carry his backpack back to the lodgings.
• Cynthia agreed to help and suggested they fill in the hole at daylight, while Wu Youren hinted that his situation was worse than she thought.

Wu Youren resisted Cynthia’s advances while investigating the strange effects of the qi he had gathered and keeping watch at the mission site. After learning that unknown vehicles had passed through and that the Intelligence Agency had asked about their instructor, he received a mysterious warning to beware of Cynthia.

• Cynthia told Wu Youren she wanted to remain in Liang and offered to help him stay, but he refused her advances and urged her to focus on their mission.
• Wu Youren tried circulating the gathered qi, noticed it made his body react dangerously, and decided to save it while pondering its connection to Azure Qiu’s Weird Transformation.
• After waking from an unusually refreshing sleep, Wu Youren learned from Cynthia that three unidentified vehicles had escaped during the night.
• Cynthia revealed that the Intelligence Agency had asked which Red Pine instructor was leading the team, and she had said Ke Li was investigating the Weird situation.
• Wu Youren checked the mechanisms and received an anonymous message warning him to beware of Cynthia.

Wu Youren and Cynthia held their Martial Academy observation post as martial artists fled a mass appearance of the Weird Race, while they waited for Instructor Ke Li to return. When a bloodied Knight demanded their food and medicine, Cynthia answered with gunfire.

• Wu Youren deleted a suspicious message from someone claiming to watch him and focused on the gains from his earlier activities.
• Wu Youren and Cynthia saw vehicles and then martial artists fleeing the mountains as reports spread of masses of the Weird Race.
• Cynthia chose to wait for the instructor, and she and Wu Youren stayed at the observation post while more people fled past.
• Cynthia summoned Naimuer to the hill, gave him food and injury medicine, and refused to lend him Weird-Repelling Jue or Weird-Dispelling Powder.
• A bloodied Knight charged onto the hill and demanded their supplies, so Cynthia and Wu Youren drew their guns and Cynthia fired three shots.

Cynthia, Wu Youren, and Naimuer fought a Knight who attacked them, using traps and an explosive to knock him down before Naimuer shot him. The group remained uncertain whether the Knight had been affected by Weird Qi, while other martial artists noticed the commotion and began asking what was happening up the mountain.

• Cynthia and Naimuer fought back as the Knight attacked, and Cynthia lured him into a lime-powder trap and an enormous net.
• Cynthia took a small explosive from Wu Youren and detonated it near the Knight, whose blast-driven fall left him motionless.
• After their wristwatches received questions from other martial artists, Cynthia ordered Naimuer to test the Knight with gunfire.
• Naimuer shot the Knight twice in the head, killing him, and Cynthia agreed to share responsibility for the act.
• Wu Youren said he had stayed back to guard against the Knight leaking Weird Qi, while Cynthia and Naimuer discussed why the Knight had not sought help from Red Pine.

After Wu Youren, Cynthia, and Naimuer discovered three Weird Qi Crystals on the dead Knight, they divided the spoils, with Wu Youren taking the Knight’s cold weapons. They waited through the night for help, and at dawn Red Pine contacted Cynthia to ask whether anyone from the academy was still patrolling the mountain pass.

• Naimuer found one large and two small Weird Qi Crystals on the Knight’s corpse, and Cynthia offered Wu Youren the first choice.
• Wu Youren declined the crystals and asked for the Knight’s weapons instead, explaining that he needed money and wanted to improve his ability to defend himself.
• Cynthia gave Wu Youren both cold weapons, while she and Naimuer kept the crystals and planned to decide later what to do with them.
• Cynthia and Wu Youren tried contacting Instructor Ke Li, but he did not respond, so the three stayed put and waited through the night.
• At dawn, another Red Pine instructor contacted Cynthia and explained that Ke Li had been kept by the military during the Weird Race outbreak, then asked whether academy members were still patrolling the mountain pass.

Cynthia, Naimuer, and Wu Youren remained at their mountain patrol post as martial artists fled and contact with the front grew scarce. When a bloodied Knight named Aslan called for help, the three watched from their isolated position, leaving the choice of whether to intervene unresolved.

• Cynthia argued with the Martial Academy about withdrawing, but accepted its offer of increased rewards and learned that their post was being kept as a fallback position.
• The three debated whether to invite other people to their camp, then waited for Instructor Ke Li as the mountain road grew steadily quieter.
• As the situation became more ominous, Cynthia considered retreating, but Wu Youren said he felt no need to leave yet, and Cynthia chose to stay with him.
• The Martial Academy reported that fighting continued ahead but offered no reliable updates or help for their withdrawal, prompting Naimuer to accuse it of keeping them uninformed.
• A bloodied Knight named Aslan called over the radio for help, and Cynthia asked Naimuer and Wu Youren whether they would rescue him.

Aslan demanded medicine and Wu Youren's Weird-Repelling Jue while treating an injured young man, then grew suspicious and hostile after realizing Wu Youren was from Jin. Wu Youren, Cynthia, and Naimuer attacked Aslan, and Naimuer rushed toward the injured man as Aslan fired his pistol.

• Aslan stopped Cynthia, Naimuer, and Wu Youren, demanded wound medicine, and treated the injured young man they found on his shoulder.
• Aslan asked for Weird-Dispelling Powder and a Weird-Repelling Jue, while Cynthia insisted that he be checked before Wu Youren examined the young man.
• Wu Youren showed Aslan his jade Weird-Repelling Jue, and Aslan recognized that he was from Jin and said people from Jin could not be trusted.
• Wu Youren warned that Aslan had Weird Qi and struck him with his saber, while Cynthia fired twice and joined the attack.
• Naimuer threw a net at Aslan, then rushed toward the injured young man; Aslan drew his pistol and fired twice.

Wu Youren helped defeat Aslan and discovered that killing people could grant him experience points, while the experience he gained pushed him closer to the Knight realm. After the fight, Naimuer began looting the bodies, and Wu Youren considered trying a Daoist cultivation method while Instructor Ke Li was away.

• Naimuer distracted Aslan, but Wu Youren attacked him with an uncanny saber technique and pierced his Battle Qi field.
• Cynthia finished off the weakened Aslan, then ordered Naimuer to kill the wounded young man beside him.
• Wu Youren used his Weird-Repelling Jue on Aslan and told Cynthia the Weird Qi was gone.
• Naimuer asked Wu Youren to loot the bodies, but Wu Youren returned behind a rock while Naimuer prepared to search them.
• Wu Youren reflected that killing people granted experience points and worried that his growing experience was pushing him toward the Knight realm.

Naimuer and Cynthia debated what to do with Aslan’s damaged greatsword, then watched Wu Youren meditate as a storm approached. Wu Youren emerged with an unusual qi barrier that seemed to repel rain, leaving them wondering whether he had concealed a method or truly did not understand it.

• Naimuer considered buying Aslan’s damaged greatsword, but Cynthia warned that the Camille Clan could bring trouble, so he decided to sell it to the Martial Academy.
• Naimuer and Cynthia found Wu Youren meditating and chose not to disturb him, wondering whether he was close to breaking through to Knight level.
• A thunderstorm approached, and Cynthia set up a crude rain canopy over the motionless Wu Youren as she and Naimuer prepared to keep watch.
• Wu Youren emerged with an unstable aura and rain sliding off him as if an invisible membrane protected him.
• Wu Youren told Cynthia and Naimuer that he had developed the qi barrier himself but could not explain how, prompting Naimuer to suspect he was hiding the method.

Wu Youren successfully nurtured qi and used his enhanced perception to confront a Knight-level member of the Weird Race alone. With Cynthia joining the fight, they destroyed the creature, and Wu Youren sent his companions back while he checked for more enemies.

• Wu Youren circulated qi through his meridians, improving his perception and strength, then agreed to keep watch while Naimuer and Cynthia rested.
• A Knight-level Weird Race member appeared nearby, and Wu Youren lured it away from the caves to fight it alone.
• Wu Youren evaded the creature and used the Weird-Repelling Jue to slow its attack, then struck it with his greatsword and Weird-Dispelling Powder-coated daggers.
• Cynthia and Naimuer approached the battle, and Cynthia joined Wu Youren in destroying the creature's scattered shadows.
• Wu Youren told Cynthia and Naimuer to return to the caves while he searched the area for other members of the Weird Race.

Wu Youren, Cynthia, and Naimuer agreed to hold their Red Pine outpost for three more days despite dwindling supplies, then encountered two Knights who requisitioned them for tests. The chapter ended with the Knights overruling the apprentices’ objections and preparing to take them in.

• Wu Youren, Cynthia, and Naimuer searched for Weird items and checked nearby for more Weird activity, but found nothing.
• Cynthia requested permission to withdraw, but Red Pine offered double pay and asked them to hold out for three more days; the group agreed to try.
• Naimuer suggested burning the bodies, and Wu Youren used explosives to bury them beneath fallen rocks.
• Two Knights arrived at the site, questioned the apprentices, and ordered them to undergo tests as requisitioned personnel.
• Cynthia and Naimuer protested that they were exhausted, undersupplied, and wounded, but the burly Knight told his companion to give Ke Li’s student some consideration.

Cynthia, Naimuer, and Wu Youren dealt with two military Knights who questioned them about the explosion and sought treasures from the Weird Race. After the Knights left, Cynthia received Wu Youren’s warning about another approaching group and drove them away with a threat.

• Cynthia explained that Weird activity had forced them to burn the dead, while Naimuer asked the Knights for supplies.
• The thin Knight pressed Cynthia about her gold coins and demanded to know whether they had treasures taken from the Weird Race.
• The burly Knight attacked Wu Youren with a curved saber, but stopped short, and the Knights ultimately left to continue their mission.
• Naimuer complained that Wu Youren’s explosion had attracted the Knights, while Cynthia told Wu Youren to rest instead of taking watch.
• Wu Youren warned Cynthia that people were approaching from the northwest, and she threatened to activate the traps until the intruders left.

Cynthia, Wu Youren, and Naimuer faced an approaching group of Weird Race creatures while arguing over a makeshift rain cape. Wu Youren threatened to leave them and head for Suotu Town, but Cynthia insisted they return to Red Pine together to complete their mission.

• Cynthia told Red Pine that two men had visited their position, and her instructor ordered the group to hold out for two more days despite their lack of supplies.
• Wu Youren spotted Weird Qi across the road, and the three prepared to withdraw while suppressing their auras in the rain.
• Cynthia and Wu Youren shared his finished twig-and-leaf rain cape, while Naimuer took the unfinished one.
• Naimuer complained about the cape, prompting Wu Youren to demand it back and threaten to leave if Naimuer kept provoking him.
• As the black mist drifted toward them, Wu Youren said he would go to Suotu Town alone, but Cynthia insisted they return to Red Pine together.

Wu Youren left Cynthia and Naimuer and cautiously made his way out of the mountains, where he found shelter and a vehicle near a Knight Weird. He killed the transformed Knight Weird with Daoist True Qi and began dealing with its corpse, while the vehicle’s supplies remained unknown.

• Wu Youren vanished after telling Cynthia and Naimuer to head back together, leaving them to decide how to face the approaching Weird Qi.
• Wu Youren avoided dangerous concentrations of Weird Qi, switched off his watch after Cynthia messaged him, and spent five hours reaching the mountains’ edge.
• Wu Youren found an abandoned cave, killed a python for dinner, and surveyed the severe Weird Qi around the area.
• Wu Youren discovered an overturned off-road vehicle and used timed noise-making metal balls to draw away nearby Weird Qi.
• Wu Youren approached the vehicle unnoticed and cut down a Knight Weird that had transformed after death.
• Wu Youren used Daoist True Qi on his blade and repeatedly struck the Knight Weird’s corpse as Weird Qi began to seep from it.

Wu Youren killed a transformed Knight, scavenged supplies, and waited out Liang’s counterattack by its Great Knights before returning to his cave. As he resumed intense cultivation, a warning mechanism outside the cave was triggered and a faint wave of pressure swept over him.

• Wu Youren silently killed a Weird Race member who had undergone Weird Transformation and searched the vehicle for supplies as the metal balls’ effects faded.
• He waited through Liang’s distant battle, watched several Great Knights unleash powerful attacks, and left once the surrounding Weird Qi began drifting toward the battlefield.
• Wu Youren returned to his cave with supplies, ate roasted python meat, dried his clothes with true qi, and meditated intensely.
• After hours of cultivation, Wu Youren began opening the Yang Heel Vessel but sensed danger and dispersed his true qi.
• A warning mechanism outside the cave was triggered, and a faint wave of pressure swept through the still surroundings.

Wu Youren encountered three Intelligence Agency operatives in a cave and negotiated over his supplies while keeping his identity and intentions guarded. The Knight recognized him through Sister Hua and questioned his cultivation, leaving Wu Youren alarmed by his growing notoriety.

• Wu Youren identified himself as a Red Pine student and exchanged identity and Weird-Repelling Jue checks with the Intelligence Agency team.
• The Knight learned Wu Youren had killed and eaten a python, then claimed the cave and demanded to inspect his supplies.
• Wu Youren refused to surrender his first aid kit and wound medicine without a trade, but let the injured Knight use them after the Knight Apprentice offered to pay.
• The Knight noticed Wu Youren's watch was switched off, recognized him by name through Sister Hua, and said she had praised his intuition for Weird Qi.
• The Knight sensed Wu Youren was nearing Knight cultivation, and Wu Youren said he hoped to attempt becoming a Knight before twenty.

Wu Youren discovered that the Knight was a Liang spy, then exploited his wound and a Battle Qi disruption to kill him. The Knight’s final attempt to fake his death failed, leaving him writhing after Wu Youren tested him with a dagger.

• The Knight killed two Knight Apprentices and told Wu Youren that he was from Jin, then discussed the Weird situation and the tensions between Jin and Liang.
• Wu Youren attacked the Knight as they moved the bodies, striking beneath his ribs and then slashing his throat when the Knight’s Battle Qi began leaking away.
• Wu Youren explained that the Knight’s repeated use of “Great Jin” exposed him as a Liang man and waited for him to bleed out.
• The Knight appeared to die, but Wu Youren tested him with daggers and discovered he was still alive.
• Wu Youren threw a dagger between the Knight’s legs, and the wounded man jerked and rolled in pain.

Wu Youren left the cave after killing a knight, then hunted in the Weird Qi and gained experience by killing an isolated member of the Weird Race. Military scouts and a great knight tried to requisition him, but Hong Yan intervened and took him along; they learned that Cynthia had blasted down the mountainside and withdrawn, though her whereabouts remained unknown.

• Wu Youren found no experience points for killing the knight, buried the bodies and most of their supplies, and moved to a hidden dugout.
• Wu Youren hunted through the rain, avoided masses of Weird Qi, and killed a lone member of the Weird Race, gaining experience points.
• Two military scouts appeared and tried to requisition Wu Youren, but Hong Yan arrived and refused to let them take him without her.
• Wu Youren led Hong Yan and a burly great knight to his dugout, where they discussed the military crisis and the retreat from Suotu.
• The burly man asked Wu Youren to guide them toward retreating soldiers, and Wu Youren warned that the route through the Weird Qi was uncertain.
• Wu Youren showed that his watch had been switched off, and Hong Yan and the burly man explained that Cynthia had blown up the mountainside and withdrawn, but her location was unknown.

Wu Youren guided a military rescue team through a fog-filled mountain pass, where a Weird Domain concealed a dense swarm of the Weird Race. When a battle erupted, he operated a heavy machine gun to support two Great Knights and an Ability User Apprentice, and the powerful enemy escaped after Instructor Hong grievously wounded it.

• Wu Youren led the rescue team through thick fog and warned them that enormous numbers of Weird Qi masses surrounded them.
• A Knight Apprentice slipped down a slope, drawing attacks from the Weird Race and dying after fighting back with gunfire and a Weird-Exterminating Grenade.
• Wu Youren assessed a battle ahead and warned that the enemy was too strong for the rescue team, so the burly Great Knight and Instructor Hong charged into the fog.
• Wu Youren learned to operate the heavy machine gun and fired Weird-Breaking Projectiles, opening holes in the fog and drawing attacks toward his position.
• Wu Youren kept changing positions and firing while two Knights protected him, supporting the Great Knights and an Ability User Apprentice in the battle.
• Instructor Hong wounded the powerful Weird Race enemy, which then fled into the surrounding Weird Qi.

Wu Youren helped the rescued group withdraw from the mountains, and the survivors established a forward post while discussing their losses. At the post, Instructor Hong Yan and a military Great Knight disputed a recovered Weird item until an exhausted Inspectorate Ability User offered a high price for it, fearing Hong Yan might kill him.

• Wu Youren fired his heavy machine gun at a threat, helping the group regroup and withdraw with the rescued soldiers.
• Instructor Hong Yan and the burly Great Knight led the survivors to Wu Youren's foxhole, where they established a post and questioned the rescued group.
• Cynthia told Wu Youren that Naimuer had probably died, and they discussed how the military scouts had led their group to the garrison post.
• The burly Great Knight challenged Instructor Hong Yan over the Weird item she had picked up, while Wu Youren returned to his foxhole to meditate.
• The tall, thin Ability User from the Inspectorate revealed his status and argued that the Weird item should go to him, but Hong Yan refused to yield.
• After Hong Yan and the burly Great Knight left him exposed, the Ability User offered a high price for the item to save his life, and Hong Yan said any gains belonged to Red Pine.

Wu Youren fought off Weird shadows after a Weird artifact stirred an intense urge in him, then kept a low profile as the front line advanced. After a Great Knight showed interest in him and Instructor Hong protected him, Wu Youren paid her for a six-month written order and returned toward the Martial Academy, where he learned Naimuer was presumed dead.

• Instructor Hong refused to sell the bone-like Weird artifact, but Wu Youren rushed out to fight Weird shadows drawn by its presence while the others dispersed the Weird Qi.
• Reinforcements arrived, and Wu Youren was sidelined from combat and assigned construction and patrol work; Instructor Hong stopped the military from requisitioning him for the front line.
• A group searching for a missing Knight investigated Wu Youren, while an Eastern Liang Great Knight noticed him and offered to buy him, prompting Instructor Hong to intervene.
• Wu Youren asked to return to the Martial Academy, agreed to pay Instructor Hong three thousand silver dollars, and received a six-month written order.
• Wu Youren passed through Red Pine's chaotic quarantine station, heard Cynthia had returned to the Academy, and learned Naimuer was presumed dead.