Chapter Summaries

Tudou reflected on his eighteen years as a web novelist and thanked the readers who had followed his six books. He announced that he was beginning a seventh fantasy novel about a young man growing up and rising from adversity.

• Tudou recalled earning four thousand yuan in his first month as a writer in 2008, which helped him continue writing despite his family's doubts.
• Tudou described the six novels he had written over eighteen years and expressed gratitude to readers who had remembered any part of them.
• Tudou said his recurring stories about young men rising from adversity reflected a deep personal dream rooted in his childhood.
• Tudou announced his seventh novel and hoped it would accompany readers for another three years.

Lu Ming learned that Zhang Yue had placed in the top ten at a prefecture-wide competition, but Zhang Yue soon announced he was leaving Thunderfire Hall for Great Golden Crow Hall. Jiang Ling forced Lu Jin to accept a false account that blamed Thunderfire Hall for Zhang Yue’s departure, and Zhang Yue left with her while hinting that Great Golden Crow Hall could obstruct the hall’s ambitions.

• Lu Mengmeng told Lu Ming that Zhang Yue had returned after placing in the top ten at the Fengyang Prefecture competition.
• Lu Ming entered the reception hall and heard Lu Jinglei confront Zhang Yue for announcing he would leave Thunderfire Hall.
• Jiang Ling arrived with Uncle Lian, who defeated Lu Jinglei’s Flame Blade before Lu Jin intervened with Palm Thunder and identified the attacker’s technique as Great Golden Crow Hall’s Golden Crow Mystic Light.
• Jiang Ling introduced herself as Jiang Feng’s daughter and demanded that Lu Jin let Zhang Yue leave while accepting a false story that Thunderfire Hall had traded him away; she threatened to have the hall destroyed if it refused.
• Lu Jin accepted Jiang Ling’s demands, and she left a high-grade Bone-Tempering Pill before departing with Zhang Yue.
• Outside the hall, Zhang Yue revealed that he had wanted to escape Thunderfire Hall after exhausting its resources, and Jiang Ling promised Great Golden Crow Hall would suppress the hall if it challenged him.

After Zhang Yue humiliated Thunderfire Hall, Lu Jin began Lu Ming’s bone-opening ceremony, and Lu Ming awakened a Divine Ability Bone that showed signs of reaching Heaven-Grade. A Spirit-Sealing Curse began devouring its power, so Lu Jin knelt before the ancestors and begged to use the Lu Clan’s final reserve to save their last hope.

• Lu Jin refused Lu Jinglei’s plan to kill Zhang Yue and explained that Thunderfire Hall had to endure rather than risk the Lu Clan’s destruction.
• Lu Jin took Lu Ming to the ancestral hall and gave him a High-Grade Bone-Opening Pill to begin opening his bone.
• Lu Ming awakened a Divine Ability Bone whose light advanced from silver to gold and then revealed a ray of Glazed Mystic Light.
• A blood-red mark appeared between Lu Ming’s brows and devoured the Glazed Mystic Light, causing his Divine Ability Bone’s grade to begin falling.
• Lu Jin identified the mark as the Spirit-Sealing Curse and knelt before the ancestors, begging to use the Lu Clan’s final reserve to save Lu Ming.

Lu Ming awakened a sub-heaven-grade Divine Ability Bone after Lu Jin spent the Lu Clan ancestors’ accumulated blood-and-bone foundation to seal the Spirit-Sealing Curse. The black ring accepted Lu Ming and drew his consciousness inside, where a fire lotus imparted a mysterious divine ability called Buddha's Fury Flame Lotus.

• Lu Jin sacrificed a finger and used the crimson power stored in the ancestral tablets to seal the curse at Lu Ming’s brow, allowing his Divine Ability Bone to recover and form five strands of Glazed Heavenly Light.
• Lu Ming’s bone reached sub-heaven grade, drew in Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi, and completed his first round of bone refining within an incense stick’s time.
• Lu Jin explained that the Spirit-Sealing Curse had been placed on the Lu Clan by a powerful enemy, and that the ancestral tablets had been made from ancestors’ shattered Divine Ability Bones to protect their descendants.
• Lu Ming learned the enemy still sought an opportunity held by the Lu Clan, which could only be opened by someone with a heaven-grade Divine Ability Bone.
• Lu Ming activated the black ring hidden in a sealed jade box, and his consciousness entered the ring’s mysterious space.
• A stone lotus bloomed into a fire lotus, struck Lu Ming’s chest, and imparted the divine ability Buddha's Fury Flame Lotus.

Lu Ming discovered that the Buddha's Fury Flame Lotus could temper his Divine Ability Bone and learned about three powerful flame seeds preserved in the mysterious space. Unable to break the barriers protecting the seeds or pass through the mist, he left, intending to return when he was stronger.

• Lu Ming found that the Buddha's Fury Flame Lotus consumed his Primordial Qi to refine his Divine Ability Bone, removing some flaws and strengthening its Glazed Heavenly Light.
• Lu Ming learned that the lotus could refine Divine Ability Bones and fuse spiritual flames, then discovered three protected flame seeds: the Flame of Life, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, and the Void Devouring Flame.
• Lu Ming tried to take the Flame of Life but was repelled by its barrier, and found the other two seeds protected by even stronger barriers.
• Lu Ming concluded that he lacked the strength to claim the seeds or pass through the mist, then vanished from the mysterious space.

Lu Ming revealed the black ring’s treasures to his family and learned that the Spirit-Sealing Curse could return within two to four years. He vowed to strengthen Thunderfire Hall, seek the Great Sage Fire Talisman, and use the High-Grade Bone Refining Pill to surpass Zhang Yue and confront the Great Golden Crow Hall.

• Lu Ming told Lu Jin, Lu Qingyan, and Lu Jinglei about the fire lotus and three mysterious fire seeds, and they warned him to conceal the fortune and his Sub-Heaven-Grade Divine Ability Bone.
• Lu Jin explained that the ancestors’ protection would last only two to four years before the Spirit-Sealing Curse could suppress Lu Ming again, and Lu Ming vowed to build his own strength.
• Lu Jin said Thunderfire Hall could seek the Great Sage Fire Talisman after reaching fourth rank and entering the Hundred Hall Mystic Assembly, revealing that he had trained Zhang Yue in hopes of obtaining it.
• Lu Jin explained that Zhang Yue had left Thunderfire Hall before helping the Lu Clan, and Lu Ming promised to obtain the Great Sage Fire Talisman and help his family resist the curse.
• Lu Ming decided to use the High-Grade Bone Refining Pill left by the Great Golden Crow Hall’s noble young lady and vowed to demand an explanation if he became a Divine Ability Grandmaster before Zhang Yue.

Lu Ming told his family that he had awakened a Sub-Heaven-Grade Divine Ability Bone, and Zhong Ying gave him and Lu Mengmeng two High-Grade Bone Refining Pills she had saved. When the Li Clan matriarch arrived, Lu Ming guessed the visit concerned Jingyi, the childhood friend who had left Qingyuan Market a year earlier.

• Zhong Ying praised Lu Ming for awakening a Sub-Heaven-Grade Divine Ability Bone, and Lu Qingyan warned that they had to keep it secret.
• Lu Qingyan worried that Lu Ming's need for cultivation resources would delay Lu Mengmeng's awakening, but she was delighted at the thought of cultivating less.
• Zhong Ying revealed two High-Grade Bone Refining Pills she had saved for her children, and Lu Ming accepted both after Lu Mengmeng offered him her share.
• A disciple summoned Lu Qingyan to the front hall because the Li Clan matriarch had come to visit, and Lu Ming suspected it was because of Jingyi.
• Lu Ming recalled how he had saved Jingyi during a Black Rain Season outbreak and how she later left Qingyuan Market to cultivate with her father's family.
• When Zhong Ying and Lu Qingyan teased him about Jingyi, Lu Ming declared that he only cared about revitalizing the Lu Clan and Thunderfire Hall.

Li Yan delivered Jingyi’s latest Flying Crane Letter to Lu Ming and tactfully urged him to distance himself from her under pressure from Jingyi’s father’s clan. Lu Ming accepted that he would not reply, but vowed to face the clan one day, then prepared to begin cultivating divine abilities.

• Li Yan gave Lu Ming Jingyi’s message, in which Jingyi complained about being kept away and asked whether he would come find her if she could not return to Qingyuan Market.
• Lu Ming chose not to reply so Jingyi would not be distracted, and Li Yan discussed the pressure from Jingyi’s father’s clan and Thunderfire Hall’s purchase of Moon Spirit Grass at twice the market price.
• Lu Jin explained that Li Yan had been forced to deliver the warning and asked Lu Ming whether he resented Jingyi’s clan; Lu Ming admitted he was unhappy and said he wanted to see how overbearing they were.
• Lu Jin sent Lu Ming to the divine ability training ground to begin formal cultivation, and Lu Ming eagerly agreed.
• After leaving Thunderfire Hall, Li Yan privately condemned the Jing Clan’s interference and hoped Jingyi would gradually forget her feelings for Lu Ming.

At Thunderfire Hall, Lu Qingyan taught Lu Ming, Fang Lang, and the newest disciples the lesser divine ability Flame Blade. Fang Lang reached its entry level after two hours, but Lu Ming’s flame grew to a shocking length, leaving the training ground stunned.

• Lu Qingyan learned that Fang Lang, who had awakened a middle-grade divine ability bone, wanted to become his personal disciple.
• Lu Qingyan gathered the ten new disciples, including Fang Lang and Lu Ming, and began teaching them the Flame Blade using Fire Oil Paste.
• Lu Ming calmly controlled the fire Qi and opened the Flame Blade’s divine ability pathway faster than the other beginners.
• After two hours, Fang Lang formed a half-inch Flame Blade and drew admiring attention from the senior disciples.
• As Fang Lang prepared to ask again about becoming a personal disciple, Lu Ming raised a Flame Blade that stretched a foot long, shocking everyone present.

Lu Ming shocked Thunderfire Hall by reaching minor mastery of Flame Blade in an hour, and Lu Qingyan revealed that he had a high-grade Divine Ability Bone. The revelation restored the disciples’ confidence, but Lu Qingyan worried that Zhang Yue’s departure would hurt recruitment and leave Lu Ming without enough cultivation resources.

• Lu Ming produced foot-long flames with Flame Blade, astonishing Fang Lang and the other disciples.
• Lu Qingyan explained that Lu Ming’s speed was normal because he had awakened a high-grade Divine Ability Bone.
• The disciples congratulated Lu Ming and welcomed him with greater respect, easing the gloom caused by Zhang Yue’s departure.
• Fang Lang abandoned his plan to seek personal-disciple status, and Lu Qingyan instead halved his hall fees and offered him guidance.
• Lu Qingyan worried that Thunderfire Hall would struggle to recruit disciples at the upcoming Qingyuan Market gathering and afford resources for Lu Ming.

Lu Ming advanced his Flame Blade and learned about Thunderfire Hall’s divine abilities and the Dao’s cultivation realms from his family. After seeing Lu Jin’s thunderfire feather robe, he was left eager to reach the higher realms.

• Lu Ming brought Flame Blade to Minor Accomplishment, impressing Lu Jin, Lu Qingyan, and Lu Jinglei.
• Lu Jin explained Thunderfire Hall’s five divine abilities and revealed that its ancient top-tier inheritances had been sealed because they were marked to bring calamity upon the Lu Clan.
• Lu Jin taught Lu Ming about divine ability dharma marks in the Dharma Rune Realm and the cultivation foundations needed to enter the Divine Ability Master realm.
• Lu Jin manifested his thunderfire feather robe and Thunderfire Whip, showing Lu Ming how a Divine Ability Master could fly and defend himself.
• Lu Jin described Divine Ability Grandmasters as weavers of a vast dharma net, saying that within it all were but flies.

Lu Ming discovered that the fire lotus mark on his Divine Ability Bone could remove impurities from Bone-Tempering Pills, allowing him to absorb them rapidly without risking pill toxins. Thunderfire Hall decided to prioritize buying high-grade pills for him, while Lu Jin looked to the upcoming hall gathering—and possibly the Black Rain Zone—to secure the resources they needed.

• Lu Jin told Lu Ming to stop practicing the Flame Blade and advised him to test a high-grade Bone-Tempering Pill.
• Lu Ming absorbed the pill’s medicinal power quickly, and the fire lotus mark refined the pill impurities from his Divine Ability Bone.
• Lu Ming told Lu Jin, Lu Jinglei, and Lu Qingyan that the impurities had vanished; they realized he could use Bone-Tempering Pills without restraint.
• Lu Qingyan pointed out that Thunderfire Hall could scarcely afford one high-grade pill per day, but Lu Jin ordered the hall to spend its savings on them and told Lu Ming to focus on cultivation.
• Lu Jin hoped to recruit members at the upcoming Divine Ability Hall Gathering, though Lu Jinglei warned that rumors about Zhang Yue’s departure could hurt recruitment.
• Lu Jin vowed to seek resources in the depths of the Black Rain Zone if Thunderfire Hall could not otherwise support Lu Ming.

Lu Ming advanced his cultivation and mastered Lesser Thunderlight before joining the Thunderfire Hall elders on a visit to the market offices. Gao Yu reaffirmed that she would stay with the hall despite the gossip surrounding Zhang Yue, and the group set out together.

• Lu Jin explained that the new Qingyuan Market master would take office in three days and that the resulting changes to the Yuan Qi Earth Veins could benefit Lu Ming's cultivation.
• Lu Ming practiced Flame Blade, mastered Lesser Thunderlight, and used a High-Grade Bone Refining Pill each day until he had nearly completed his second round of bone refining and ran out of pills.
• Lu Ming met Gao Yu at the Thunderfire Hall and realized that gossip about Zhang Yue had left her upset.
• Lu Qingyan asked Gao Yu to say plainly if she no longer wished to stay, and Gao Yu insisted that she had joined the Thunderfire Hall for herself and would not leave.
• Lu Jin comforted Gao Yu, then invited her to accompany the group to the market offices.

Lu Ming and the Thunderfire Hall group met the masters and leading disciples of Qingyuan Market’s other great Divine Ability Halls, where Red Sand Hall mocked Thunderfire Hall over Zhang Yue’s departure. The newly appointed market lord, Zhou Xuan, arrived with a display of overwhelming power and introduced himself.

• Lu Ming, Gao Yu, Yuan Da, and Lu Jin entered the market administration compound, where Shi Tong mocked Thunderfire Hall for losing Zhang Yue.
• Gao Yu described Lü Xiao’s strength, while Yuan Da worried that he might not be able to match him at the next hall meet.
• Lu Ming observed Shen Tai of Mountain Moving Hall and Lin Changkong, Wang Chen, and Lin Zhao of Golden Gang Sword Hall, and learned of Wang Chen’s formidable cultivation.
• Zhou Xuan arrived and released a powerful pressure that made the young disciples tremble, but Lu Jin countered it with his thunderfire primordial Qi.
• Zhou Xuan introduced himself as Qingyuan Market’s newly appointed market lord and asked the hall masters for their support.

Market Master Zhou Xuan arrived at Qingyuan Market with his niece Zhou Fuling, whose talent and cultivation impressed the hall disciples. When Lu Jin sought the Thunderfire Hall’s competition reward, Shi Tong and Lin Changkong opposed him, so Zhou Xuan proposed a Primordial Qi Infusion contest to decide whether the reward would be granted.

• The four hall masters welcomed Zhou Xuan, who introduced his niece Zhou Fuling as a newly made Great Divine Ability Practitioner.
• Wang Chen and Lü Xiao eagerly greeted Zhou Fuling, while Lu Ming kept his distance and Lin Zhao looked displeased.
• Lu Jin asked Zhou Xuan to grant the Thunderfire Hall the customary reward for placing in the top ten at the Fengyang Prefecture competition.
• Shi Tong argued that Zhang Yue had earned the reward before leaving for the Great Golden Crow Hall, and Lin Changkong also questioned Lu Jin’s claim.
• Zhou Xuan proposed that practitioners from the four halls undergo Primordial Qi Infusion, with the reward going to the Thunderfire Hall if one of its disciples finished among the last three remaining; Lu Jin and Shi Tong agreed.

Zhou Xuan opened the Primordial Qi Pavilion, where disciples from the four halls tested how long they could withstand its surging Primordial Qi. Lu Ming absorbed it with remarkable efficiency, prompting Zhou Xuan and the hall masters to realize he had awakened a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, while Shi Tong resolved to keep the Thunderfire Hall from gaining another powerful disciple.

• Zhou Xuan used the Ward Lord’s Seal to stir the Primordial Qi earth vein and opened the Primordial Qi Pavilion for the disciples from the four halls.
• Lu Jin sent Lu Ming, Yuan Da, and Gao Yu into the pavilion, where the dense Primordial Qi would reward those who could refine it without being overwhelmed.
• Lu Ming activated the Thunderfire Furnace Qi refinement art and used his Divine Ability Bone and its glazed heavenly light to absorb and refine Primordial Qi at a rate comparable to disciples who had completed their third bone refinement.
• Yuan Da, Gong Peng, and Gong Hu reached their limits and fled the pavilion, while Lu Ming continued refining Primordial Qi without faltering.
• Zhou Xuan recognized Lu Ming’s extraordinary talent as evidence of a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, and Shi Tong privately vowed not to let the Thunderfire Hall nurture another Zhang Yue.

Lu Ming discovered that Buddha's Fury Flame Lotus could refine the Primordial Qi in the pavilion and activate its Bone-Tempering Divine Power, forming a faint sixth Glazed Heavenly Light. He left the pavilion alongside Wang Chen before his endurance revealed that his Divine Ability Bone was beyond high-grade.

• Lu Ming's flame lotus absorbed the pavilion's Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and refined the golden flecks on his Divine Ability Bone, beginning to form a sixth Glazed Heavenly Light.
• Lu Ming drew in more Primordial Qi while Lü Xiao, Gao Yu, Lin Zhao, and Luo Yan struggled and left the pavilion.
• Lü Xiao and the others saw Lu Ming still inside, and Gao Yu told them that he had a high-grade Divine Ability Bone.
• Lü Xiao challenged Gao Yu to see how Lu Ming would perform at the next month's hall gathering.
• Wang Chen finally stood up, and Lu Ming rose as well to avoid revealing that his Divine Ability Bone was stronger than high-grade.

After Lu Ming impressed Ward Lord Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan gave him high-grade Bone-Tempering Pills and announced valuable rewards for next month's hall gathering. Back at the Thunderfire Hall, Lu Qingyan questioned whether Lin Changkong was acting strangely.

• Zhou Xuan stopped the Yuan Qi Earth Veins and returned the Thunderfire Hall's reward, exchanging its Mark Condensation Pills for twelve high-grade Bone-Tempering Pills for Lu Ming.
• Zhou Xuan announced that next month's first-place hall would receive high-level Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi and a Pattern-Transforming Lesser Yuan Pill.
• After the group left, Zhou Fuling judged Lu Ming promising but held that his poor background would limit his prospects, while she and Zhou Xuan discussed Zhang Yue and other potential recruits.
• Lu Jin told Lu Qingyan and Lu Jinglei what had happened at the ward office, and Lu Jinglei first raged over the Red Sand Hall's hostility before praising Lu Ming's performance.
• Lu Qingyan told Lu Jin that Lin Changkong seemed suspicious.

Lu Jin and the Thunderfire Hall family suspected Great Golden Crow Hall had prompted Lin Changkong to turn against them and prepared for the coming hall gathering. With Zhang Yue gone, they aimed to defend their second-hall rank, and Lu Ming volunteered to help guard a flag.

• Lu Ming suggested Golden Gang Sword Hall's changed attitude might be connected to Great Golden Crow Hall, and Lu Jin vowed Thunderfire Hall would not be easy to crush.
• Lu Jin said Thunderfire Hall would focus on keeping second hall at the gathering, since losing that rank would harm its reputation and Lu Ming's cultivation resources.
• Lu Qingyan and Lu Jinglei agreed to guard a flag, while Lu Jin warned he might fight himself if Thunderfire Hall were pressed too far.
• Lu Ming volunteered to help defend the third Divine Ability Flag, and Lu Jin encouraged him despite his limited experience.
• Lu Ming resolved to redouble his cultivation before the gathering and surprise his family.

Lu Ming used Fire Lotus Yuan Qi to achieve greater mastery of Flame Blade and moved closer to completing his second round of bone tempering. After catching Lu Mengmeng trying to hide her Qi Refining Pills in his bag, he left to accompany Lu Qingyan on an errand for Thunderfire Hall.

• Lu Ming stopped taking High-Grade Bone Refining Pills and focused on practicing Flame Blade and Lesser Thunderlight as he neared the end of his second round of bone tempering.
• After his ordinary Flame Blade remained crimson, Lu Ming used the fire lotus mark to transform his Yuan Qi and produced a blue Flame Blade at greater mastery.
• Lu Ming struck a massive rock with the blue blade, then felt his Yuan Qi rapidly drain; the successful use nevertheless brought his divine ability bone closer to completion.
• Lu Ming caught Lu Mengmeng sneaking her saved Qi Refining Pills into his bag and told her to cultivate properly.
• Lu Ming promised to bring Lu Mengmeng Fire Rosy Cloud Pastries and left to accompany Lu Qingyan on an errand, as Lu Jin had instructed.