Chapter Summaries

Wang Hao infiltrated the Black Tiger Gang's compound to rescue Qing'er, while Wu Tai waited outside with a carriage. After finding her, Wang Hao learned of hidden fierce fire oil and a possible escape tunnel, and followed Qing'er toward the oil as the compound raised the alarm.

• Wang Hao gave the roast goose shopkeeper a hundred taels so he could leave the city, then packed the remaining geese for the journey.
• Wu Tai disguised himself and smuggled Wang Hao and Little Erha through the city in a handcart, then explained the Black Tiger Gang compound's layout.
• Wang Hao climbed into the compound and found Qing'er at the kennels, persuading her to leave by warning that Wu Tai might charge in alone.
• When the alarm sounded, Qing'er told Wang Hao about the hidden fierce fire oil and a likely tunnel in Wang Heihu's secret cultivation chamber.
• Qing'er unleashed the kennel dogs, which followed her, and led Wang Hao toward the hidden fierce fire oil.

Wang Hao and Qing'er defeated Wang Zihong and the Fierce Tiger Gang fighters guarding the fierce fire oil, then set the manor's core area ablaze. They escaped into Wang Heihu's secret chamber, where Wang Hao discovered a hidden stone door.

• Wang Hao and Qing'er reached the tower, where Wang Zihong confronted them with dozens of elite Fierce Tiger Gang members.
• Wang Hao killed the elite fighters while Qing'er and the dogs kept Wang Zihong occupied, then Wang Hao killed Wang Zihong.
• Wang Hao hurled jars of fierce fire oil from the tower, setting the manor's core area ablaze as Qing'er and the dogs guarded the entrance.
• Wang Hao carried Qing'er and led the dogs through the fire to Wang Heihu's bedroom, where he broke into a hidden chamber.
• Qing'er insisted Wang Heihu's chamber had a secret passage, and Wang Hao found and opened a concealed stone door in the wall.

Wang Hao looted Wang Heihu’s treasure vault, rescued Qing’er, and reunited her with Wu Tai as the Black Tiger Gang headquarters burned. After learning the gang had sent troops to guard the city gates, he prepared a cart-based breakout with Qing’er and Wu Tai.

• Wang Hao searched the treasure room, took a fine longsword, medicinal treasures, manuals, gold, and silver notes, and discovered the iron gate led to a trapped passage.
• Qing’er sent her bulldog through the passage to trigger its traps, and Wang Hao asked her to become his sworn sister; she accepted.
• Wang Hao and Qing’er emerged near the burning Black Tiger Gang headquarters and went to meet Wu Tai, who recognized Qing’er as his wife.
• Wu Tai reported that two vice gang leaders had taken four hundred men to guard the city gates, so Wang Hao ordered him to gather carts for a breakout.
• Qing’er told Wu Tai to bring straw and tung oil, and the three prepared thirty horse carts and fifty ox carts before setting out for the city gate with the dogs.

Wang Hao fought his way through the Black Tiger Gang’s forces and clashed with deputy leader Yu Wu at the city gate. After killing Yu Wu’s ten deathsworn, Wang Hao threw his greatsword at Yu Wu, leaving the duel at a critical moment.

• Zhao Hu and Yu Wu saw a fire ox formation charge through the streets, and Zhao Hu withdrew while Yu Wu ordered the gang to surround Wang Hao.
• The blazing carts scattered the Black Tiger Gang’s men, allowing Wang Hao to reach the city gate and break its bar before Yu Wu ambushed him.
• Wang Hao and Yu Wu exchanged attacks, and Yu Wu’s ten deathsworn joined in, pushing Wang Hao to refine his Ten Stances of Bloody Battle and see through their sword techniques.
• Yu Wu ordered the deathsworn to use a suicidal attack, but Wang Hao killed all ten with Sweep Away a Thousand Troops.
• Yu Wu launched his own killing blow, and Wang Hao threw his greatsword at him with Survival in Desperate Straits.

Wang Hao killed Yu Wu and nearly all the Black Tiger Gang members at the city gate, then escaped with Wu Tai and Qing'er. He sent them south to establish a trading company and prepare an overseas route for his future escape.

• Wang Hao used his swordsmanship to break Yu Wu's treasured sword and kill him, then searched his body and found no martial arts manuals.
• Wang Hao and Qing'er's dogs slaughtered nearly all the Black Tiger Gang members, while the dogs suffered injuries and several died.
• Wang Hao arranged for Wu Tai to send thirty decoy carriages out of the city, set fire to the ox-cart flatbeds, and warned Zhang Gui and the other gate guards to keep quiet.
• Wang Hao met Wu Tai and Qing'er outside the city, treated his wounds, and gave Wu Tai the Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber manual.
• Wang Hao instructed Wu Tai and Qing'er to travel south to Fuzhou, establish a trading company, and build connections in maritime shipping using the gold and banknotes.

Leader Zhao learned that Wang Hao had destroyed the Black Tiger Gang and rescued a blacksmith’s wife, then reunited with him in the mountains. Wang Hao offered Zhao looted treasures and a divine sword while claiming they came from his family, and Zhao agreed to shield him from the powerful figure backing the gang.

• A Lan told Leader Zhao that Wang Hao had killed the Black Tiger Gang leaders, burned their headquarters, and rescued Wu Tai’s wife, while Zhao returned her indenture and left Chaoyang City.
• Leader Zhao found Wang Hao roasting a wild boar and accepted his offer of a medicinal wine gourd and a divine sword.
• Wang Hao presented treasures from the Black Tiger Gang’s cache as ancestral family specialties and claimed he had attacked the gang to reclaim the sword for Zhao.
• Leader Zhao spotted the sword’s inscription identifying it as belonging to Great Yuan’s Prince Cheng, but Wang Hao claimed he had found it by a river.
• Wang Hao implied Zhao was responsible for the chaos and asked him to take the blame, and Zhao agreed because the Black Tiger Gang had hidden fierce fire oil near the capital.

Leader Zhao tested Wang Hao’s swordsmanship and discovered his modified Ten Stances of Bloody Battle could challenge his techniques, while Wang Hao could memorize sword moves after seeing them once. Impressed by Wang Hao’s extraordinary sword talent, Leader Zhao recognized his value and considered recommending him to his father.

• Leader Zhao asked Wang Hao to demonstrate the swordsmanship that had let him kill Wang Heihu and the others.
• Wang Hao revealed his 108-jin greatsword and struck Leader Zhao with Two Armies Facing Off, but Leader Zhao held his ground despite the force.
• Wang Hao unleashed the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle and used his True Spirit Sword Intent to spot flaws in Leader Zhao’s sword techniques.
• Leader Zhao confirmed Wang Hao’s swordsmanship was unusually powerful and learned that Wang Hao claimed to have copied the modified stances after seeing them performed once.
• At Leader Zhao’s request, Wang Hao flawlessly reproduced the moves from five sword technique sets he had just watched, convincing Leader Zhao that his talent was exceptional.

Leader Zhao brought Wang Hao to the Drunken Immortal Tower, where Wang Hao washed up and then tried to scrounge a meal from a drunken young man. After the young man threatened him into drinking, Wang Hao persuaded him to order food for the entire restaurant and secretly asked Xiao Mengmeng about awakening his Bloodline Power.

• Leader Zhao left Wang Hao at the Drunken Immortal Tower and told Uncle Wang to serve him steamed flatbread because it was supposedly his favorite.
• Wang Hao bathed, changed into new clothes, and took Little Erha to the restaurant, where hunger drove him to reclaim the flatbread.
• Wang Hao joined a troubled young man at his table, drank his wine, and ate all the food while trying to stop him from drinking more.
• The young man held a sword to Wang Hao's neck and forced him to drink from a wine jar, then claimed his family owned the Sun Commercial Firm.
• Wang Hao got the young man to book the entire restaurant and secretly asked Xiao Mengmeng whether dog blood could awaken his Bloodline Power and condense a Bloodline Divine Ability.

Wang Hao used dog blood to awaken Bloodline Power and gained a passive spatial ability that expanded the capacity of his stomach and intestines. Realizing the ability could speed his cultivation by letting him eat more, he took advantage of a wealthy young man’s drunken hospitality, leaving the young man and Uncle Wang drunk as he demanded more food.

• Wang Hao swallowed dog blood and used a method adapted with Xiao Mengmeng’s Dao Comprehension Function to awaken Bloodline Power and the Object Storage ability.
• Wang Hao discovered that Object Storage expanded the space in his stomach and intestines to about three cubic meters, letting him consume far more food and accelerate his cultivation.
• Wang Hao ate through the dishes and wine ordered by the handsome young man, while Uncle Wang came upstairs and was made to drink a pot of Drunken Immortal Brew.
• Wang Hao provoked the young man into ordering the finest dishes, then encouraged him to drink another pot until he became drunk again.

Wang Hao ate and drank 110,000 taels’ worth at the Drunken Immortal Tower, where Zhao Dachui found him with Sun Ruonan, his fiancée. Sun De paid the bill and took Zhao Dachui home, while Zhao Dachui urged Zhao Fengrou to bring Wang Hao to Blood Wind Hall.

• Zhao Dachui arrived at the Drunken Immortal Tower and found Zhao Fengrou overseeing a large bill for Wang Hao’s meal.
• Sun Ruonan, drunk and disguised as a man, held Wang Hao at swordpoint and forced him to keep drinking; Zhao Dachui sobered her up, and she accidentally crushed his back in a hug.
• Wang Hao explained that he had eaten the food to keep Sun Ruonan from drinking alone, then had been unable to leave when she stopped him.
• Zhao Fengrou presented a bill of 110,000 taels for eighty-seven banquet tables and Drunken Immortal Brew, and Wang Hao said his appetite had grown and he had made several trips to the latrine.
• Sun De paid the bill and had his guards carry Zhao Dachui away; Zhao Dachui called to Zhao Fengrou to take Wang Hao to Blood Wind Hall, where their father was waiting.

Wang Hao arrived at the Blood Wind Hall and mistakenly insulted its hall master, Zhao Fengxue, who tested him by demanding he survive ten breaths in a fight. Wang Hao broke through during the battle and passed, then joined the hall under Nine Five Two Seven’s command, asking for meat at every meal.

• Wang Hao asked Zhao Fengrou to let him eat the remaining dishes, claiming he had room because he digested food quickly.
• Zhao Fengrou brought Wang Hao to the Blood Wind Hall, where he mistook Zhao Fengxue for someone awaiting a visitor named Dachui and left without recognizing him.
• Zhao Fengxue revealed he was Zhao Fengrou’s father and the hall master, then ordered Wang Hao to last ten breaths in a fight or be fed to the dogs.
• Wang Hao fought Zhao Fengxue with his greatsword, broke through his physical cultivation and sword technique, and survived the ten breaths.
• Zhao Fengxue accepted Wang Hao into the hall and assigned him to Nine Five Two Seven; Wang Hao asked for meat at every meal, and Zhao Fengrou warned her father about his appetite.

Wang Hao joined Blood Wind Hall and arrived at the Martial Repository Pavilion to register as an assassin, where he received the code name 10086 and authorization to choose a First-Rate martial art. After killing a brutal criminal who challenged him, Wang Hao began reviewing the martial arts catalog and spotted a famous divine art that seemed out of place.

• Zhao Fengxue agreed to provide Wang Hao with banquets in place of mission payments and considered grooming him to lead Blood Wind Hall.
• Wang Hao followed 9527 to the Martial Repository Pavilion and learned that his Grade-A aptitude entitled him to choose a First-Rate martial art.
• When the old registrar assigned Wang Hao the code name 10087, Wang Hao insisted on getting 10086 instead, and a brute threatened him over his martial-art authorization.
• Wang Hao severed the brute’s limbs after questioning him about his assaults, and 9527 killed the unconscious man as the final procedure in their fight.
• The registrar gave Wang Hao his identity token and catalogs, and Wang Hao began searching the First-Rate martial arts for a famous divine art.

Wang Hao bribed Elder Chu to obtain the External Training Golden Bell Shield and the Lightning Straight-Line Step, then learned that Chu intended to protect him. At his new residence, Wang Hao checked his improved status panel and prepared to cultivate the manuals.

• Wang Hao chose the External Training Golden Bell Shield and asked Elder Chu to recommend a movement art suited to a hard-body cultivator.
• Wang Hao gave Elder Chu Drunken Immortal Brew, and Chu raised his martial arts access to first-rate before lending him the Golden Bell Shield and Lightning Straight-Line Step manuals.
• Elder Chu advised Wang Hao to pursue external cultivation to the Grandmaster Realm, then told the old man in blue to keep Wang Hao safe from the Tower’s schemes.
• Wang Hao reached his new courtyard and found that awakening his Bloodline Power had increased his strength and cultivation speed while leaving him with twenty Fortune Points.
• Wang Hao revised his status panel with Xiao Mengmeng and sat down to comprehend the Golden Bell Shield and Lightning Straight-Line Step.

Wang Hao used his Fortune Points to comprehend the Golden Bell Shield and Lightning Straight-Line Step, then trained at Blood Wind Hall and smashed every wooden dummy with his punches. When he asked the killers there to spar, their leader drew a sharp saber and refused to switch to a blunted weapon.

• Wang Hao spent his remaining twenty Fortune Points comprehending the Golden Bell Shield and Lightning Straight-Line Step, reaching mastery in both arts while his actual cultivation remained limited.
• Wang Hao tested the Lightning Straight-Line Step, then decided to avoid using it until his Bloodline Power could better heal the strain on his legs.
• Wang Hao went to Blood Wind Hall's training ground with Little Erha and began cultivating the Golden Bell Shield by striking wooden dummies.
• Wang Hao destroyed all the training ground's wooden dummies over two hours, astonishing the killers who had gathered there.
• Wang Hao asked the killers to spar with him, but their leader drew a sharp saber and refused Wang Hao's request to use a blunted weapon.

Wang Hao defeated a group of martial artists in the training ground by relying on his strength and defenses. Zhao Fengxue arranged a decisive battle between Wang Hao and a lean subordinate one month later, while secretly ordering support for Wang Hao to help him grow.

• Wang Hao refused to use his greatsword in the spar and let the man in black attack him with an unsharpened saber, taking no serious harm.
• The man in black called on more than a dozen others to attack, but Wang Hao beat them all down and left for the dining hall with Little Erha.
• Zhao Fengxue offered the lean man a chance to settle an old offense by defeating Wang Hao in a decisive battle one month later.
• The lean man accepted, confident that his First-Rate strength would let him kill Wang Hao.
• Zhao Fengxue ordered 9527 to provide Wang Hao with grade-B medicinal cuisine each day and meet his other requests, preparing him for the coming test.

Wang Hao devoured the food prepared for Blood Wind Hall before Han Long challenged him to a fight to the death one month later. Leader 9527 made the duel Wang Hao’s first mission and ordered Chef Li to provide him with daily medicinal meals.

• Wang Hao ate the cafeteria’s lunch and dinner supplies, leaving Chef Li overwhelmed and the assassins stunned.
• Wang Hao used Han Long’s challenge letter to wipe grease from his hands before learning that Han Long wanted to fight him to the death in a month.
• Wang Hao learned from the black-clad assassin that Han Long led his squad and was an earth-grade assassin.
• Leader 9527 gave Wang Hao information about Han Long and ordered him to bring back Han Long’s head as his first mission.
• Leader 9527 told Chef Li to prepare Wang Hao a grade-B medicinal meal every day and meet his other requests.

Wang Hao used Zhao Fengxue’s order to secure lavish medicinal meals and train intensely, improving his Lightning Straight-Line Step and practicing swordsmanship late into the night. Zhao Fengxue saw his dedication and ordered lingzhi added to his meal, unknowingly setting himself up for enormous expenses.

• Wang Hao read Han Long’s intelligence report and suspected Zhao Fengxue had arranged the assassin’s appearance to pressure him.
• Wang Hao exploited Zhao Fengxue’s orders to train in the Lightning Straight-Line Step for two shichen, increasing its distance by five cun.
• Wang Hao asked Chef Li to prepare his next medicinal meal in the enormous water-heating pot, and Chef Li agreed.
• Wang Hao ate five cattle’s worth of braised beef, trained in the Golden Bell Shield, meditated, and then practiced the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
• Zhao Fengxue watched Wang Hao train after midnight and ordered 9527 to have Li Dazui add lingzhi to his medicinal meal.

After completing his Golden Bell Shield training, Wang Hao arrived at a Blood Robe Tower contest and learned that a visiting fighter had badly wounded his fellow assassin 9341. Wang Hao challenged the man responsible, and their fight began.

• Wang Hao trained relentlessly for half a month, reaching complete mastery in the Golden Bell Shield and Late Second-rate cultivation, but decided he needed to improve the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
• Wang Hao regularly sparred with Blood Wind Hall’s Yellow-rank assassins, and Zhao Fengxue agreed to have them fight him.
• Wang Hao entered the training ground and found Blood Wind Hall’s assassins injured after seven representatives from other great halls challenged them in a contest over annual dividends.
• 9341 told Wang Hao that the burly young man with a saber had killed four fighters and severely wounded him.
• Wang Hao asked Zhao Fengxue whether the contest had restrictions, and Zhao Fengxue said the fighters could act as they pleased within the central fighting area.
• Wang Hao drew his greatsword and attacked the burly young man, who drew his saber and met the strike.

Wang Hao fought the seven halls’ challengers and killed a burly young man after revealing he had been holding back. He then challenged two more opponents at once, leaving Zhao Fengxue and Zhao Dachui worried as the fight was about to begin.

• Wang Hao clashed with the burly young man, while Zhao Fengxue and the other hall masters watched and discussed Wang Hao’s new name and courtesy name.
• Wang Hao announced that the fight had only been a warm-up, then used Two Armies Facing Off to disarm the burly young man and sever his arm.
• Wang Hao threw his greatsword into the fleeing burly young man, killing him just before he reached the boundary and angering his hall master.
• Wang Hao declared that those who hurt his brothers would die, then challenged the remaining ring-wielding and unarmed young men to fight him together.
• The two young men accepted the challenge, while Zhao Fengxue and Zhao Dachui worried that Wang Hao would face too great a risk.

Wang Hao killed a flying-dagger assassin and defeated a ring-wielding opponent, while the Blood Robe Tower’s hall master executed the crippled survivor. When Yang Lianting taunted Wang Hao into a group fight, Wang Hao recognized his name and turned on him with murderous intent.

• Wang Hao identified the young woman’s poisoned flying daggers and killed her with his greatsword.
• Wang Hao used Lightning Straight-Line Step to catch the ring-wielding young man, severed his leg, and drove him beyond the boundary.
• The young man’s hall master killed him, and Wang Hao declined the four remaining brocade-clad men’s challenge to fight together.
• Yang Lianting taunted Wang Hao and urged him to fight all four, but Wang Hao recognized his name and fixed him with a murderous stare.