Chapter Summaries

Dongfang Yueming helped Li Yue claim credit for killing two Azure-Scaled Leopards, and Captain Wang Zhen rewarded them with contribution points. After the patrol ended, Li Yue transferred Dongfang 40 points and kissed his cheek, leaving him stunned.

• Dongfang Yueming encouraged Li Yue to say they had killed the Azure-Scaled Leopards by joining forces, and she agreed while hinting that the beasts might have been deliberately lured there.
• Li Yue told Captain Wang Zhen that she and Dongfang Yueming had fought the two Flesh Refining Realm beasts together, and Wang Zhen awarded her 40 contribution points and Dongfang 20.
• Dongfang Yueming watched Zhang Meng's reaction and suspected the leopard ambush might have been a coincidence, though he remained wary of him.
• After the patrol mission ended, Li Yue caught up with Dongfang Yueming and transferred him the 40 contribution points she believed he deserved.
• Li Yue kissed Dongfang Yueming on the cheek as thanks, then ran off while he stood stunned.

After building up contribution points through patrols, Dongfang Yueming planned to exchange them for a Flesh Refining Method and asked Qian Jingming to find one better than the academy’s basic method. He leveraged Qian Jingming’s need to bring him to a gathering to push the saber payment aside and demand a stronger method within his budget.

• Dongfang Yueming spent six days patrolling, gained points and contribution rewards, and reached 118 contribution points.
• Qian Jingming messaged Dongfang Yueming to confirm that he would attend their gathering that night.
• Dongfang Yueming asked Qian Jingming whether he could obtain a Flesh Refining Method better than the academy’s basic one for about 120 contribution points.
• Qian Jingming saw Dongfang Yueming’s balance and tried to bring up the unpaid saber.
• Dongfang Yueming warned that he might miss the gathering if he could not secure a cultivation method, then demanded that Qian Jingming bring him a stronger Flesh Refining Method that night.

Dongfang Yueming earned enough contribution points to obtain the Basic Flesh Refining Method, but Zhang Meng arranged for Scorpion to ambush him on his way back to the dorm. Dongfang Yueming identified Zhang Meng as the likely culprit and faced Scorpion as the attack began.

• Liu Yu basked in the freshmen’s praise and imagined defeating Dongfang Yueming, while other students pitied Dongfang Yueming over his coming match with Gao Hu.
• Zhang Meng grew jealous of Li Yue’s closeness to Dongfang Yueming and messaged Scorpion, who replied that he would make his move that day.
• Dongfang Yueming and Li Yue completed a quiet patrol, and Dongfang Yueming received six contribution points, bringing his balance to 124.
• Scorpion waited in an alley with a poisoned dagger and prepared to kill Dongfang Yueming for a thousand Federation coins and healing pills.
• Dongfang Yueming confronted Scorpion, suspected Zhang Meng had sent him, and told Scorpion he was no longer useful after Scorpion refused to name his employer.

Dongfang Yueming killed Scorpion with a perfected fast saber strike, then searched the corpse and discovered a poisonous scorpion trap. After taking Scorpion’s dagger and burning his poisoned technique manual, he left the bloodstained alley.

• Dongfang Yueming drew his saber and used perfected movement and saber techniques to decapitate Scorpion before he could attack.
• Dongfang Yueming noticed a small nick in his E-grade saber and decided he would eventually need a sturdier weapon.
• Dongfang Yueming used his saber to lift Scorpion’s clothing, triggering a hidden poisonous scorpion that he swiftly cut in two.
• Dongfang Yueming found Scorpion’s poisoned dagger and a copy of the Venomous Snake Dagger Technique, then read the manual and added the technique to his system panel.
• Dongfang Yueming burned the poisoned manual, tucked the dagger into his boot, and left the alley.

Gao Long returned to the Gao Family and urged Gao Hu to aim for the United University's Seed Class, while Qian Jingming delivered the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method to Dongfang Yueming. Dongfang Yueming learned the technique's requirements and agreed to go to a gathering, leaving Qian Jingming unsure whether he would keep his word.

• Gao Long returned to the Gao Family, praised Gao Hu's Flesh Refining progress, and gave him Dragon Tiger Tendon Tempering Pills.
• Gao Long told Gao Hu to enter the United University's Seed Class and warned him not to disappoint the family.
• Qian Jingming obtained the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method, which had a hidden side effect of making its user’s yang energy excessively vigorous.
• Qian Jingming brought the technique to Dongfang Yueming, who memorized it and saw that it required six points to reach the entry stage.
• Qian Jingming asked Dongfang Yueming to attend the gathering, and Dongfang Yueming agreed but told him to wait outside.

Dongfang Yueming used his points to perfect the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method, reaching Dragon Elephant's Force in the Flesh Refining Realm. His daily point gain rose from two to six, though he realized he had not attained the realm's highest level.

• Dongfang Yueming sent Qian Jingming out of the dorm room and decided to spend points on the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method before attending the gathering.
• Dongfang Yueming advanced the method through beginner, minor accomplishment, and major accomplishment stages by spending points.
• Dongfang Yueming perfected the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method and reached the Flesh Refining Realm with Dragon Elephant's Force.
• Dongfang Yueming realized he had not reached the highest Flesh Refining level, Heaven-Splitting Body, and resolved to seek a more advanced method later.
• Dongfang Yueming saw that his daily point gain had increased from two to six and celebrated his greater strength and faster accumulation.

Dongfang Yueming advanced to the Flesh Refining Realm and headed with Qian Jingming to a gathering, where Shi Qing was confronted by her cousin Shi Yu. Shi Yu bragged about Li Hao’s cultivation, while Shi Qing remained alone and unshaken.

• Dongfang Yueming noticed an embarrassing side effect of practicing the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method and suppressed it by controlling his qi and blood.
• Dongfang Yueming changed clothes, concealed Scorpion’s poisoned dagger in his boot, and left with Qian Jingming while carrying his saber.
• At the lavish gathering, Shi Qing stood apart from the crowd as Shi Yu and Li Hao approached her.
• Shi Yu mocked Shi Qing for attending alone and challenged her to find a partner for the upcoming two-on-two family competition.
• Shi Yu praised Li Hao’s cultivation, and he boasted that he had reached perfection in the Cowhide Realm and Mighty Bull’s Strength.

Dongfang Yueming arrived at the gathering with Qian Jingming and learned that Shi Qing had arranged his invitation and provided the technique-transmission jade slip. Shi Qing welcomed him, led him inside, and asked him to dance, while Shi Yu expected the mismatched pair to become a spectacle.

• Shi Yu praised Li Hao's Body Tempering achievements while the couple looked down on others.
• Guards stopped Dongfang Yueming at the manor gate and told him that weapons were prohibited.
• Li Hao and Shi Yu mocked Dongfang Yueming for carrying a saber, and Qian Jingming admitted that Shi Qing had instructed him to invite Dongfang Yueming and had lent him the technique-transmission jade slip.
• Shi Qing came out to meet Dongfang Yueming, who thanked her and called her a beauty; she smiled and took him into the manor.
• Shi Qing led Dongfang Yueming to a quiet corner and asked him to dance, and he accepted.
• Shi Yu sneered at the pair and anticipated that Shi Qing's strength would make Dongfang Yueming's dance a disaster.

Dongfang Yueming surprised everyone by dancing in perfect sync with Shi Qing, whose strength stirred his memories of a childhood friend. As he left the gathering, he recognized Shi Qing as the girl he had once called Little Stone.

• Li Hao mocked Dongfang Yueming and expected Shi Qing to overwhelm him with her strength.
• Dongfang Yueming matched Shi Qing's powerful dance steps with his speed and control, astonishing her and the watching guests.
• Shi Qing praised Dongfang Yueming after the dance and let him leave the gathering.
• Dongfang Yueming discovered that Qian Jingming had already left and headed toward the manor gates alone.
• Dongfang Yueming remembered Shi Qing as Little Stone, a strong girl who had followed him when they were children.

Dongfang Yueming told an elderly stranger that weapons were essential for martial artists, then discovered the man was an unfathomably powerful expert when he tested him. The old man effortlessly blocked Dongfang Yueming’s strongest attacks and recognized his extraordinary strength and Jade Skin.

• Dongfang Yueming worried that Senior Shi might still resent an old grudge after learning how drastically she had changed since childhood.
• An elderly man stopped Dongfang Yueming and asked whether powerful experts needed weapons, referring to the Li family youngster’s claim that they did not.
• Dongfang Yueming argued that weapons compensated for human physical disadvantages, and the old man praised his reasoning.
• The old man suddenly grabbed at Dongfang Yueming, who reacted with his perfected Gale Movement Technique and drew his saber partway.
• At the old man’s urging, Dongfang Yueming unleashed his perfected Gale Movement Technique and Basic Thirteen Fast Saber Forms, but the old man blocked every strike with a casual sweep of his sleeve.
• The old man marveled at Dongfang Yueming’s strength, speed, movement technique, and Jade Skin.

Dongfang Yueming learned that Shi Qing’s relative was a Qi Refining Realm expert who wanted him to reach Marrow Cleansing within six months. He agreed the goal might be possible but asked the old man to provide top-tier Bone Forging and Tendon Transformation techniques first.

• The old man effortlessly deflected Dongfang Yueming’s attack and revealed that he had long since reached the Qi Refining Realm.
• The old man explained that he was Shi Qing’s uncle and that the Shi family’s main lineage suffered from a condition that caused faster aging.
• The old man asked Dongfang Yueming to reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm within six months.
• Dongfang Yueming judged the demand difficult but potentially achievable with enough resources and cultivation techniques.
• Dongfang Yueming asked the old man to give him top-tier techniques for the Bone Forging and Tendon Transformation realms.

Dongfang Yueming received the quasi-A-rank saber Light Snow from the old man, who told him the Beast Defense Frontier offered cultivation techniques and resources in exchange for military merit. Worried that Little Stone might suffer from the Shi Family’s accelerated-aging illness, Dongfang Yueming decided to reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm within half a year and help her.

• The old man admitted he had no cultivation techniques to give Dongfang Yueming and presented him with his former saber, Light Snow.
• Dongfang Yueming drew Light Snow and learned from the old man that it was a quasi-A-rank weapon.
• The old man explained that the Beast Defense Frontier offered military merit that could be exchanged for rare cultivation techniques and other resources, if a soldier survived long enough.
• The old man vanished into the night, leaving Dongfang Yueming to consider the dangers of the frontier and the old man's demand that he reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm within half a year.
• Dongfang Yueming worried that Little Stone might have the Shi Family's accelerated-aging illness and resolved to help her by going to the Beast Defense Frontier.

Shi Qing broke through to the Bone Forging Realm as she resolved to seek a way to lift the Shi Family’s bloodline curse. Dongfang Yueming planned to leave the patrol team and search for better opportunities, then discovered that Bone Forging techniques were not publicly listed.

• Uncle Shi told Shi Qing that even a Peak Grandmaster had failed to lift the Shi Family’s bloodline curse, and that powerful dynasties might hold the answer.
• Shi Qing entered seclusion and broke through to the Bone Forging Realm, becoming somewhat less massive in build.
• Dongfang Yueming considered how to obtain a stronger Flesh Refining technique and decided to quit the patrol team the next day.
• Dongfang Yueming searched the academy website for Bone Forging techniques and found that techniques for that realm and above were not publicly displayed.

Dongfang Yueming discovered that the academy kept Bone Forging cultivation techniques secret, while Zhang Meng learned that Scorpion had been killed and fled toward the Beast Defense Frontier. Gao Hu advanced to Lesser Flesh Refining and publicly demanded that Dongfang Yueming apologize before their arena match.

• Dongfang Yueming found no public information about Bone Forging techniques and recalled that military merit at the Beast Defense Frontier could buy them.
• Zhang Meng learned Scorpion had been beheaded and feared that Dongfang Yueming had powerful backing.
• Zhang Meng resigned from Captain Wang Zhen’s patrol team and left to seek opportunities at the Beast Defense Frontier.
• Gao Hu reached Lesser Flesh Refining with the Dragon Tiger Tendon Tempering Pill and boasted that he could crush Dongfang Yueming.
• Gao Hu tagged Dongfang Yueming in the freshmen’s group chat and demanded that he kowtow and apologize, setting off a commotion.

Lin Qingyao offered to help Dongfang Yueming with Gao Hu and then promised him one cultivation resource before entering seclusion. Dongfang Yueming asked for a Flesh Refining Method, and Lin Qingyao sent him the powerful Nine-Turn Coiled Dragon Force, which he found even more profound than the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method.

• Lin Qingyao messaged Dongfang Yueming that she could stop Gao Hu from bothering him, but Dongfang Yueming refused to withdraw from the arena match.
• Aunt Fu warned Lin Qingyao to focus on breaking through to the Tendon Transformation Realm and avoid distractions before the family trial.
• Lin Qingyao offered Dongfang Yueming one cultivation resource, and he accepted while asking for a powerful Flesh Refining Method.
• Lin Qingyao selected the Nine-Turn Coiled Dragon Force and sent Dongfang Yueming its encrypted manual.
• Dongfang Yueming examined the technique and realized it was more profound than the Crimson Sun Flesh Refining Method.

Dongfang Yueming used points to cultivate Lin Qingyao’s Nine-Turn Coiled Dragon Force, advancing it to perfection and reaching the Heaven-Splitting Body, the pinnacle of the Flesh Refining Realm. He celebrated his newfound strength and formidable foundation.

• Dongfang Yueming thanked Lin Qingyao for giving him the Nine-Turn Coiled Dragon Force, but discovered she had gone offline.
• Dongfang Yueming spent eight points to initiate the Nine-Turn Coiled Dragon Force and felt its power begin to transform his body.
• Dongfang Yueming spent more points to raise the method to minor and then major accomplishment, gaining strength he believed could rival an ordinary Bone Forging Realm martial artist.
• Dongfang Yueming spent his remaining cultivation points to perfect the method and attain the Heaven-Splitting Body.
• Dongfang Yueming felt his physical strength had increased more than tenfold and celebrated reaching the pinnacle of the Flesh Refining Realm.

After reaching the absolute perfection of the Flesh Refining Realm, Dongfang Yueming decided to leave for the Beast Defense Frontier and departed his dorm after breakfast. When Liu Yu mocked him in the cafeteria, Dongfang Yueming pinned him down with one hand, leaving Liu Yu humiliated and vowing revenge.

• Dongfang Yueming decided that he had nothing left to gain in the Flesh Refining Realm and resolved to head to the Beast Defense Frontier.
• The next morning, Dongfang Yueming checked his points, packed two sabers, and left his dorm for breakfast before departing.
• Liu Yu mocked Dongfang Yueming in the cafeteria for challenging Gao Hu despite supposedly lacking Skin Tempering progress.
• When Liu Yu tried to lash out, Dongfang Yueming slammed him against the table with one hand and calmly wiped his mouth.
• After Dongfang Yueming left, Liu Yu swore to repay the humiliation and make him suffer.

Dongfang Yueming resigned from the patrol team and went to enlist at the Beast Defense Frontier, suspecting Zhang Meng had arranged the assassin’s attack. At the registration point, he silenced the crowd’s mockery by effortlessly lifting the stone lock for greater flesh refining.

• Dongfang Yueming handed Captain Wang Zhen his uniform and token and resigned from the patrol team.
• Captain Wang Zhen said Zhang Meng had resigned the night before to seek his fortunes at the Beast Defense Frontier, leading Dongfang Yueming to suspect Zhang Meng had sent Scorpion after him.
• Dongfang Yueming thanked Captain Wang Zhen and Li Yue, then went directly to the Beast Defense Frontier registration point.
• A lean man with a scorpion tattoo mocked Dongfang Yueming and demonstrated that he could lift the stone lock for lesser flesh refining.
• Dongfang Yueming lifted the heaviest stone lock above his head with ease, leaving the crowd stunned and silent.

Dongfang Yueming impressed the frontier registrar by lifting a Greater Flesh Refining stone lock and received a military merit terminal before boarding a train to the Beast Defense Frontier. He joined four strangers in a compartment, suspecting that the journey ahead would be dangerous.

• Dongfang Yueming lifted the Greater Flesh Refining stone lock with one hand, surprising the registrar and the men who had mocked him.
• The registrar warned Dongfang Yueming about the frontier and gave him a terminal for recording and spending military merit.
• Dongfang Yueming left the registration point as the other men reacted with shock and discussed the dangers he might face.
• Dongfang Yueming checked his terminal and wondered whether people might steal others' devices and military merit.
• Dongfang Yueming verified his identity and boarded the special train to the Beast Defense Frontier.
• Dongfang Yueming entered a compartment with a woman in red, two middle-aged brothers, and an arrogant man, then sat down and watched his new travel companions.

After reaching Skin Tempering Entry, Liu Yu sought Qin Rushuang as his master but was rejected and given an impossible challenge. Reeling from the rejection, he accepted Wu Daozi’s offer of tutelage and agreed to the sinister price Wu Daozi demanded.

• Liu Yu reached Skin Tempering Entry after about ten days of cultivation and celebrated his progress.
• Liu Yu asked Qin Rushuang to take him as her disciple, but she refused and challenged him to reach Jade Skin in seven days and the Heaven-Splitting Body in a month.
• Qin Rushuang acknowledged Liu Yu’s good aptitude but told him he did not meet her standard, leaving him devastated.
• Wu Daozi introduced himself as the Yin Wind Hand, a Tendon Transformation Greater Completion expert, and offered to become Liu Yu’s master.
• Wu Daozi whispered the price of his help to Liu Yu, who overcame his fear and agreed in hopes of gaining power and revenge.