Chapter Summaries

Li Qingshan grew up as a prodigy troubled by a sense that the world lacked its vitality and essence. On the eve of his fifteenth birthday, a dream of a mysterious stone gate awakened his memories of being a transmigrator, while a distant event that would change everything remained fifteen years away.

• Li Qingshan amazed Su Wan and Li Guoqiang by speaking at six months old, then displayed extraordinary knowledge and intelligence as he grew.
• From age five onward, Li Qingshan sensed that the world was strangely empty and lifeless, though his parents supported his search for an explanation.
• At school, six-year-old Li Qingshan questioned what heaven and earth truly meant, but his teacher and classmates dismissed his perception.
• As a teenager, Li Qingshan continued studying and wondering whether the world had been locked inside a cage.
• On the night of his fifteenth birthday, Li Qingshan dreamed of a stone gate and heard, “The Great Dao is fifty, Heaven's evolution yields forty-nine, and one escapes the net.”
• The dream restored Li Qingshan's memories of dying in a truck accident and transmigrating; he realized the gate was real, while nine dragon corpses were towing a bronze coffin toward Earth fifteen years before their arrival.

On his fifteenth birthday, Li Qingshan passed through a mysterious stone gate to the Galaxy Federation’s world, where he mastered the Crystal Visualization Method at extraordinary speed. He returned to Earth after two months in the other world, carrying his cultivation with him and discovering that he could slowly absorb Earth’s scarce spiritual energy.

• Li Qingshan touched an ancient stone gate that appeared in his bedroom and was transported to another world.
• He reached the Galaxy Federation Seventh Basic Training Camp, learned its language, and discovered that this world cultivated mental power and psychic energy.
• Li Qingshan found the Crystal Visualization Method and quickly developed Condensed Mental Threads and a Mind Barrier.
• After two months of cultivation, Li Qingshan saw the stone gate again and returned to Earth, where only one night had passed.
• Li Qingshan used his hundred mental threads in his bedroom and began cultivating with the sparse spiritual energy on Earth.

Li Qingshan cultivated the Crystal Visualization Method on Earth, refining his mental power and using it to improve his perception and body. During deep visualization, he discovered five mysterious shackles sealing Divine Treasures within him, and he suspected that the Dharma-ending age was connected to them.

• Li Qingshan began cultivating the Crystal Visualization Method on Earth and quickly reached the realm of a mind like a clear mirror.
• Li Qingshan improved the method, allowing his Condensed Mental Threads to extend his perception from ten meters to thirty and sense objects with greater precision.
• Li Qingshan used mental power to regulate his body, sharpening his senses and improving his strength and endurance while hiding his abilities from others.
• Three months later, Li Qingshan sensed five ancient shackles corresponding to his internal organs and detected Divine Treasures sealed behind them.
• Li Qingshan studied the human body and concluded that Earth's cultivation system had been lost, while continuing to nourish the sealed Divine Treasures through meditation.
• Li Qingshan sensed a possible connection between Earth's stillness and the shackles, and awaited another crossing through the Stone Gate.

At Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School, Li Qingshan’s classmates noticed his growing composure, athletic ability, and interest in ancient texts, though they were unsure what to make of him. While studying at the library, Li Qingshan received a message that the mysterious stone door’s passage had opened again for three days.

• Zhang Tao, Wang Yu, Chen Hao, and Zhao Gang discussed Li Qingshan’s surprising math solutions, faster running, and study of Daoist classics.
• Lin Weiyu, Su Qing, and Sun Mengyao remarked on Li Qingshan’s striking presence and improved appearance.
• Li Qingshan returned to class with The Cantong Qi of the Zhou Yi, calmly answered Chen Hao’s question, and resumed reading as his classmates found him increasingly difficult to understand.
• Li Qingshan went to the library and compared ideas in the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic with the Crystal Visualization Method.
• The mysterious stone door appeared in Li Qingshan’s mind and announced that its passage had opened again for three days.

Li Qingshan spent several days balancing family life, mental cultivation, and preparations for his next journey to another world. As the stone gate’s pull intensified on the third night, he stood ready to face the unknown.

• Li Qingshan declined his parents’ invitation to attend his cousin’s wedding and continued cultivating the Crystal Visualization Method, resolving to find a way to protect his family from aging.
• Li Qingshan bought a small gold bar, medical supplies, and a survival knife, then packed them in a backpack for his journey.
• Li Qingshan trained in sanda at the youth center, quickly mastering techniques through his Deep Sleep cultivation, but declined the coach’s offer to pursue the sport professionally.
• On the third night, Li Qingshan sensed the stone gate’s patterns growing clearer and its pull growing stronger as he prepared to travel to another world.

Li Qingshan arrived in 2003 City C, discovered a Guoshu martial arts system, and began combining its techniques with his Crystal Visualization Method. Realizing he might be in the world of “Romance of Dragons and Snakes,” he planned to seek out Tang Zichen or Wang Chao as he rapidly trained.

• Li Qingshan emerged from the space-time gate in City C, learned it was August 15, 2003, and sensed that the people’s vigorous blood and Qi replaced spiritual Qi in this world.
• Li Qingshan sold a gold bar for cash, bought old Guoshu books at Ink Fragrance Studio, and studied the Manifest Jin, Hidden Jin, and Transformation Jin realms.
• Li Qingshan practiced Guoshu techniques while cultivating the Crystal Visualization Method, finding that his mental power helped him master the forms and control his body.
• A hotel attendant with weapon-callused hands warned Li Qingshan that City C was unsettled and advised him to avoid its dangerous affairs.
• Li Qingshan recognized similarities to “Romance of Dragons and Snakes” and guessed that Wang Chao had not yet met Tang Zichen, then planned to build his strength and seek them out.
• Li Qingshan sensed powerful martial artists around the city and continued training through the night until dawn.

Li Qingshan searched City C for a teacher of genuine martial arts, dismissing several schools before exposing School Master Chen as a fraud. Elder Wu intervened and invited Li Qingshan to visit his school, leaving Li Qingshan intent on seeking him out.

• Li Qingshan visited several martial arts schools and found their teachings mostly superficial, then met Elder Wu, who turned him away because he believed Li Qingshan’s foundation was too late to build.
• A coach led Li Qingshan to Universe-Shaking Martial Arts Heritage Center, where School Master Chen claimed a prestigious lineage and offered to teach him for a hundred thousand a year.
• Li Qingshan challenged Chen’s skills, redirected Chen’s attack, and defeated the coaches who rushed him by borrowing their force and turning it against them.
• Elder Wu stopped Chen’s next attack, demonstrated his skill, criticized Chen’s empty forms, and invited Li Qingshan to visit his school.
• Li Qingshan recognized Elder Wu as a Hidden Jin expert and decided that the elder might be his first opportunity to learn genuine Guoshu.

One month later, Li Qingshan encountered a mysterious woman practicing an extraordinary form of Baguazhang in Riverside Park and learned from her demonstration of Jin. After she vanished, he suspected she was Tang Zichen and realized Wang Chao might also be in City C.

• Li Qingshan practiced the Crystal Visualization Method in Riverside Park and sensed an unusually powerful presence.
• He watched a woman in white perform Baguazhang, studying her refined control of Jin and unconsciously imitating her techniques.
• The woman noticed Li Qingshan, demonstrated the principles of Hidden Jin, and praised his perceptiveness and insight into martial arts as a path of evolution.
• She demonstrated a strike that made a leaf fall intact from a willow tree, then left without giving her name.
• Li Qingshan recognized the feat as Gang Jin and wondered whether the woman was Tang Zichen, concluding that Wang Chao might soon begin his martial journey in City C.

Li Qingshan sought Tang Zichen’s guidance and impressed her with his comprehension during a sparring test. She taught him Xingyi principles and the fundamentals of Hidden Jin, ending with instructions on how the Three-Body Stance trains Qi through the body.

• Li Qingshan returned to Riverside Park and watched Tang Zichen practice Xingyi Fist before explaining his understanding of martial arts.
• Tang Zichen tested Li Qingshan’s kung fu by crossing hands with him, noticed his unusual ability to read and learn her techniques, and sent him back three steps with a sharp strike.
• Tang Zichen assessed Li Qingshan’s mixed training and corrected his Xingyi Five Elements Fist by teaching him to put intent into each movement.
• Tang Zichen explained that martial arts Qi arose from bodily heat and taught Li Qingshan how Hidden Jin depended on containing Qi rather than losing it through sweat.
• Tang Zichen adjusted Li Qingshan’s posture along his spine and explained how the Three-Body Stance trained Qi to flow through his whole body.

Li Qingshan trained in Xingyi and Baguazhang under Tang Zichen, steadily refining his control of his body and force. After a month, he broke through from Manifest Jin to Hidden Jin, and Tang Zichen showed him how to consolidate the new skill.

• Tang Zichen corrected Li Qingshan's Three-Body Stance and explained how proper practice coordinated his whole body.
• Tang Zichen taught Li Qingshan about martial arts stages, the Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, and Baguazhang's forms and principles.
• Li Qingshan combined his martial training with the Crystal Visualization Method, improving his control and growing stronger over the following weeks.
• A month later, Li Qingshan struck a willow tree with a silent palm that damaged its trunk without breaking its bark, achieving Hidden Jin.
• Tang Zichen praised Li Qingshan's progress and taught him to consolidate Hidden Jin by connecting the force throughout his body.

After half a year of training under Tang Zichen, Li Qingshan learned her Dragon-Snake Joint Strike and shared the Crystal Visualization Method with her. Tang Zichen departed for Nanyang, leaving Li Qingshan on the verge of Transformation Jin and urging him to keep refining his skill.

• Tang Zichen demonstrated the Dragon-Snake Joint Strike and showed how its Jin could move and control a heavy boulder.
• Li Qingshan told Tang Zichen about the Crystal Visualization Method, and she recognized its value for mental cultivation and martial advancement.
• Tang Zichen demonstrated a spear technique that lifted and softly set down a boulder, revealing the subtle control of Transformation Jin.
• Li Qingshan trained in the Dragon-Snake Joint Strike for more than ten days and brought his Guoshu cultivation to the edge of Transformation Jin.
• Tang Zichen told Li Qingshan she had to leave for Nanyang and advised him to cultivate Transformation Jin by controlling Qi, blood, and intent.

Li Qingshan practiced the Dragon-Snake Joint Strike on the coast and stumbled upon a drug-smuggling operation, fighting the smugglers until Cao Yi’s police raid overwhelmed them. After Cao Yi questioned him and offered him a job, Li Qingshan declined and returned home to reflect on the battle and its effect on his progress toward Transformation Jin.

• Li Qingshan practiced his martial arts on the reef until his palm strike alerted smugglers approaching in a boat.
• Li Qingshan fought the smugglers who attacked him, killing some and driving others back toward the boat.
• Cao Yi and his officers raided the smuggling operation, arrested the surviving criminals, and seized the drugs.
• Cao Yi questioned Li Qingshan, learned he practiced Xingyi Fist, and offered him a position as a police combat instructor.
• Li Qingshan declined Cao Yi’s offer, accepted his business card, and returned home to review the fight.

Li Qingshan warned that Zhou Kun, a Jinmen Xingyi master, might come after him, then demonstrated his skill while sparring with Cao Yi and instructing students at Zhang Hao’s martial arts club. After entering Stillness by the lake and deepening his perception, Li Qingshan prepared to travel north to Jinmen.

• Cao Yi told Li Qingshan that the Chen Group had sent Zhou Kun, a peak Manifest Jin Xingyi expert, and sparred with him, but Li Qingshan’s Bagua footwork let him defeat Cao Yi.
• Zhang Hao invited Li Qingshan to instruct the University of Technology martial arts club, and Li Qingshan agreed to visit the next afternoon.
• At the club, Li Qingshan neutralized Wang Lei’s punch, corrected the students’ techniques, and demonstrated Hidden Jin by shattering a basketball’s inner bladder without damaging its outside.
• Li Qingshan told the club members he planned to travel to Jinmen, and Zhang Hao gave him his phone number and offered help through Cao Yi’s contact at the Jinmen Public Security Bureau.
• Li Qingshan entered Stillness by the lake, sharpening his perception and understanding of force, then packed his supplies and books for his departure to Jinmen the next day.

Li Qingshan arrived in Jinmen and challenged the Might-Shaking Martial Arts School, defeating its head instructor and master. He left after Zhao Tianxiong warned him that powerful people in Jinmen might not accept defeat, while news of the young martial artist’s victory spread through the city.

• Li Qingshan explored Jinmen’s martial arts scene and chose the Might-Shaking Martial Arts School as his first challenge.
• Li Qingshan entered the school and knocked A Qiang unconscious with a single Xingyi Crushing Fist strike.
• Li Qingshan defeated head instructor Liu Gang after a fierce exchange of techniques.
• Zhao Tianxiong challenged Li Qingshan, but Li combined Taijiquan, Xingyi Fist, and Baguazhang to injure him and win.
• Zhao Tianxiong admitted defeat and warned Li Qingshan that some people in Jinmen could not afford to lose.
• Li Qingshan left the school, and word of his victory spread throughout Jinmen’s martial arts world.

Li Qingshan challenged Jinmen’s leading martial arts schools and mastered their techniques through each fight, then broke through to Transformation Jin. Jinmen’s martial arts community chose to befriend him, and he continued refining his skills through exchanges with local experts.

• Jinmen’s martial arts leaders discussed Li Qingshan’s challenge to ten schools, while Li ignored the crowd outside his lodging and went to face the Xingyi Fist Society’s Master Chen.
• Li defeated Master Chen after thirty moves, then challenged the Baguazhang Dong Family, Taijiquan Yang Family, and Bajiquan Wu School, winning with each school’s own techniques.
• Li completed his tenth challenge by defeating Tongbei Fist master Master Bai, combining techniques he had learned from other schools.
• After recalling his fights that night, Li reached Transformation Jin, controlling his breathing and pores as his refined Jin flowed through his body.
• Old Master Sun persuaded Jinmen’s martial arts leaders to treat Li with courtesy rather than make an enemy of him, and they agreed.
• Jinmen’s masters began visiting Li respectfully, and he shifted from issuing challenges to exchanging martial arts insights as his fame spread through the northern martial arts community.

Yan Yuanyi, deputy director of the Special Service Department, tried to recruit Li Qingshan, but he refused to preserve his freedom and conceal his secrets. They fought three exchanges, and Li Qingshan endured her Elixir Jin attacks before she left, reaffirming his resolve to pursue his own martial path.

• After Li Qingshan's Jinmen challenge spread, Yan Yuanyi found him practicing beside the Hai River and offered him a place in the Special Service Department.
• Li Qingshan refused Yan Yuanyi's offer, despite her warning that declining could bring trouble and her promises of freedom and resources.
• Yan Yuanyi tested Li Qingshan with three powerful attacks, and he used several martial arts to withstand them despite being injured.
• Yan Yuanyi praised Li Qingshan's skill, left the recruitment offer open, and departed.
• Li Qingshan reflected on the gap between their abilities and resolved to keep pursuing his martial path toward Elixir Jin.

Li Qingshan traveled to Siam with the City C University of Technology Martial Arts Club, where he studied Muay Thai and other fighting styles and deepened his understanding of martial arts. After the five-day trip, he decided to continue traveling around Southeast Asia to seek new insights and stronger opponents.

• Li Qingshan accepted Zhang Hao’s invitation to join the martial arts club’s five-day trip to Siam.
• In Bangkok, Li Qingshan studied Ancient Muay Thai techniques and gained a new insight into his cultivation at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.
• At Buakaw’s gym, Li Qingshan demonstrated Chinese boxing, sparred with Buakaw, and received an ancient Muay Thai manual.
• Li Qingshan observed mixed martial arts training and Muay Thai matches, noting their combat methods and similarities to Chinese martial arts.
• Li Qingshan used his presence to frighten away thugs who tried to extort the group, then received another martial arts manual from an antique shop owner.
• After seeing the students off, Li Qingshan decided to travel around Southeast Asia and wondered where to go next.

Li Qingshan rescued A Ming, a young man who escaped from a brutal telecom fraud compound, and discovered that local police were helping the criminals. After bringing A Ming to safety at a Chinese temple, Li Qingshan set out to destroy the compound and uncover the powerful people protecting it.

• Li Qingshan found the injured A Ming in the jungle and learned that fraudsters had lured him to Siam and imprisoned him in a compound.
• Li Qingshan took A Ming to a local police station, where he sensed the officer was hiding something and secretly watched from outside.
• The officer summoned three thugs to reclaim A Ming, and Li Qingshan killed the thugs and the corrupt officer.
• Li Qingshan brought A Ming to a Chinese temple, where the abbot agreed to shelter him and help arrange his return to China.
• After the abbot warned him that powerful officials protected the compounds, Li Qingshan vowed to free the captives and expose their protectors.

Li Qingshan raided a telecom fraud compound, killed its guards and managers, and rescued 376 captives, then discovered the compound belonged to a larger international criminal network. As he vanished to pursue the syndicate, the network’s leader learned the compound had been wiped out and sensed a terrifying presence nearby.

• Li Qingshan infiltrated the compound, disabled its surveillance, and silently killed guards as he made his way inside.
• He freed more than twenty badly injured captives from the basement, treated their wounds, and continued clearing the building.
• Li Qingshan killed the guards overseeing more than a hundred forced workers, organized the captives, and rescued the women held with the compound’s managers.
• He led 376 rescued people to the city and arranged for trucks to take them safely to their respective embassies and consular offices.
• Li Qingshan found documents showing the compound was part of a vast international criminal syndicate and vowed to pursue it.
• The syndicate’s leader heard that the compound had been destroyed, armed himself, and felt a terrifying presence watching him.

Li Qingshan tracked scam-compound boss Wu Tianxiong to Bangkok, killed him and his elite bodyguards, and forced him to reveal the scale of the criminal network. As Li Qingshan pursued the network’s key nodes, a powerful crime lord learned of the massacre and put his forces on highest alert.

• Li Qingshan discovered that Wu Tianxiong had fled to a luxury hotel in Bangkok and crossed into Thailand to hunt him down.
• Li Qingshan infiltrated the Lotus Grand Hotel and killed Wu Tianxiong’s elite bodyguards before confronting him in his suite.
• Wu Tianxiong revealed the international network’s crimes, scale, and key figures, but Li Qingshan killed him rather than spare him.
• Li Qingshan gathered the information and identified several key nodes as he prepared to continue his pursuit.
• A white-haired elder watched footage of the hotel attack, ordered the network to its highest alert, and vowed to meet Shura Qing himself.