Chapter Summaries

Lu Zhao was finally ordered to reinforce the ambushed task force in Ning County and rushed out by helicopter with a sniper rifle. Meanwhile, Zhang Like’s group fought off gunmen near the destroyed mahjong parlor, and the task force prepared for further fighting in the alleys.

• Lu Zhao waited for orders, then went with a clerk to the records room, where he reviewed patrol plans signed by Zhang Like.
• Lü Jinshan rushed in and ordered Lu Zhao to support Ning County after an ambush inflicted heavy losses on the Special Counterterrorism Brigade.
• Lu Zhao ordered Mo Kun to prepare a combat-ready helicopter and sniper rifle, then boarded Number Two and flew toward Ning County.
• Zhang Like’s Group Three returned fire against gunmen near the destroyed mahjong parlor, and its snipers and machine gunner stopped the enemy’s fire.
• Group Two joined Group One twenty-five minutes after the explosion, and intense gunfire broke out.

The special response team’s fight against the gang ambush turned into a deadly clash when Lao Gao attacked them with an iron blade and Asan’s explosions disabled the defenders. As Shan Yong searched for the mental-type transcendent, he found Lin Zhiyan, whose giant assistant drove him back underground.

• Zhang Like watched the special response team clear buildings while the enemy’s transcendent forces remained out of sight.
• Lin Zhiyan decided to go to the front line to cover the personnel’s retreat, despite her assistant’s objections.
• Lao Gao learned that most of his gang members had been killed and ordered Asan to use explosions to cover his attack.
• An explosion struck the newsstand, and Lao Gao melted the team’s weapons before killing three special response team members.
• A second blast incapacitated the defenders as a mental attack disoriented Lao Gao, and he ordered Shan Yong to find its source.
• Shan Yong located Lin Zhiyan at a street corner, but her transformed assistant struck at him and forced him underground.

Lu Zhao arrived by helicopter and used his precision shooting to kill Lao Gao and eliminate the fleeing attackers. The survivors learned that the sniper was Lu Zhao, and Zhang Like praised him over the channel.

• Shan Yong spotted a physical-type transcendent ahead, and Lin Zhiyan urged her deputy to buy her time to stop him.
• Lin Zhiyan’s deputy ordered her to withdraw, but Lao Gao rushed toward her position and was met by a sniper bullet from a helicopter.
• Lu Zhao killed Lao Gao, the Siamese man, and other fleeing enemies, leaving only a handful alive after they surrendered.
• Lu Zhao identified himself as a lieutenant from the Ant Ridge Border Station and reported that the enemy’s effective forces had been eliminated.
• Lin Zhiyan recognized Lu Zhao’s advanced mental control, and Zhang Like praised him for arriving to support the mission.

After Lu Zhao helped defeat the Green Bandits, he faced the anger of the Special Response team over their losses and said Lü Jinshan had blocked his earlier deployment. He then stood with the border soldiers he had saved, while Zhang Like urged them to stay in touch and look out for one another.

• Lu Zhao declined a full-time task force post but agreed to follow the organization's arrangements for a temporary adviser position.
• Xu Zhenhua demanded an explanation for the Special Response team's six deaths, and Lu Zhao said Lü Jinshan had denied the request to deploy him.
• A Special Response soldier swung at Lu Zhao, who caught the punch, and both groups gathered for a confrontation.
• Lin Zhiyan used her spiritual power to stop the fight and ordered the Special Response unit to return and report.
• Zhang Like introduced Lu Zhao to the border soldiers and encouraged them to keep in touch because Lü Jinshan would not be on the front lines with them.

Lu Zhao’s successful rescue impressed Commander Liang Chengyun, though political pressure kept him from offering Lu Zhao a transfer. Back at Ant Ridge Border Station, Lü Jinshan began shaping the operation’s report to protect his record, while Zhang Like explained that the rescued grassroots officers could limit Lü Jinshan’s power and urged Lu Zhao to reject a retirement-home position.

• Lu Zhao completed the mission, and Liang Chengyun praised his ability but abandoned the idea of transferring him after his chief of staff warned that doing so would offend the people who had suppressed Lu Zhao.
• Lü Jinshan anxiously awaited news, then celebrated the mission’s success and planned to present the operation as proof of his sound command.
• On the ride back, Lu Zhao told Zhang Like that he had used the Special Response unit to prevent Lü Jinshan from taking credit and to keep Team Leader Lin from being disturbed.
• Zhang Like urged Lu Zhao to turn down a position at the retired officers’ home, explaining that the rescued grassroots officers could refuse to support Lü Jinshan and weaken his authority.
• Lu Zhao listened as Zhang Like described how grassroots officers could challenge Lü Jinshan’s poor reputation and limited standing as station chief.

After returning from the operation, Lu Zhao challenged Lü Jinshan’s attempt to claim credit and learned that Lü Jinshan’s younger brother was involved in smuggling. Lu Zhao left to rest, considering the clue linking Lü Jinshan to the smuggling route near the station.

• Lu Zhao told Zhang Like that he had found Zhang Like’s signature on a patrol-route change plan from a year and a half earlier, and explained that the Federation’s computer system had preserved the document.
• Lü Jinshan welcomed Lu Zhao’s team, praised him publicly, and tried to dismiss the soldiers, but the officers and troops regrouped until Zhang Like formally dismissed them.
• Zhang Like explained to Lu Zhao that Federation politics depended on loyalty, attitude, and choosing sides as much as on ability and results.
• Lu Zhao spoke with Zhang Laoniu, who told him that Lü Jinshan’s younger brother specialized in smuggling.
• Lu Zhao connected the information to the smuggling route behind the station, thanked Zhang Laoniu, and returned to his dormitory.

Lu Zhao visited Primordial Unity and, through the old Daoist's tea, briefly experienced the Inner Form of a second-stage mental transcendent. He and the old Daoist then argued over whether the new dynasty's claim of equality differed from the Great Ming, leaving their clash over the two eras' governing philosophies unresolved.

• Lu Zhao reached the old Daoist's temple in Primordial Unity and asked how he had made it stable.
• The old Daoist explained that he had used Lu Zhao's Fate Bones to shape objects, then served him nine cups of tea.
• Lu Zhao experienced realistic bodily sensations in the mental world and recognized that the tea had let him glimpse the Inner Form.
• The old Daoist questioned the new dynasty's equality, and Lu Zhao explained its education system and voting restrictions.
• Lu Zhao challenged the old Daoist to compare the new dynasty's fairness with the Great Ming, but the old Daoist argued that both had failed to achieve their ideals.

Lu Zhao stood firm before the old Daoist, who accepted him as a student and began teaching him an ancient path of cultivation. The lesson led Lu Zhao to reconsider how much more he should pursue, and he learned that completing Foundation Establishment required far more than modern Life Development taught.

• Lu Zhao told the old Daoist he would one day rise to a high position and strike back at those who had harmed him.
• The old Daoist asked Lu Zhao to become his student, requiring one Fate Bone every three months and forbidding Lu Zhao to call him master until he could construct an Inner Landscape.
• Lu Zhao bowed to the old Daoist, who taught him to pursue more than what he believed was already owed to him.
• Lu Zhao described the modern Life Development stages, and the old Daoist called the system passable while correcting its gaps.
• The old Daoist explained that proper cultivation refined the senses and divine intent at the first stage, developed the five palaces at the second, and built an Inner Landscape at the third; Lu Zhao asked what realm his teacher had reached.

Lu Zhao began training under his new Daoist teacher, who gave him a path toward Foundation Establishment through the Visualization Method. Short on life supplements, Lu Zhao resolved to compete for his unit’s excellence award, and the chapter left him invited to a victory banquet by the company commanders.

• Lu Zhao woke exhausted after his teacher’s harsh lesson and reflected on how the teacher’s guidance could improve his chances of becoming a Martial Marquis.
• Lu Zhao studied the Visualization Method and learned that he needed to develop his consciousness form’s five senses before advancing toward Foundation Establishment.
• Lu Zhao found that he had only six life supplements left and decided to seek the unit’s excellence award for its increased quota.
• Lu Zhao practiced visualizing the taste of his life supplement, then checked his vitality, which measured 37.
• Liao Lang invited Lu Zhao to sit with the company commanders, offered him priority access to duty-company personnel and equipment, and reminded him about the victory banquet.

Lu Zhao received a promotion to captain and a transfer from command of the reinforced platoon to operations and training staff officer, which he recognized as Lü Jinshan’s attempt to sideline him. After refusing Lü Jinshan’s offer of future advancement in exchange for compliance, Lu Zhao confronted Liang Fei over premature changes to his office and the platoon’s duties, and the chapter ended with his soldiers protesting the transfer.

• A clerk delivered Lu Zhao’s orders promoting him to captain and transferring him to the operations and training section.
• Lu Zhao reported to Lü Jinshan, who offered to help advance his career if he and Zhang Like stopped their activities.
• Lu Zhao told Lü Jinshan that the promotion was the Federation’s decision, then left without accepting the offer.
• Lu Zhao found Liang Fei arguing with Liu Qiang and objected to Liang Fei trying to clear out his office before the handover was complete.
• Lu Zhao ordered Liang Fei to finish the handover procedures, and Liang Fei left.
• The reinforced platoon’s soldiers protested Lu Zhao’s transfer and criticized Liang Fei.

Lu Zhao handed flood-prevention duties to Liang Fei after being transferred to the training and operations post, while Lü Jinshan refused Chen Hongtao’s request to keep Lu Zhao involved through flood season. Zhang Like then warned Lu Zhao against using his new post to impose stricter training and assessments on the troops.

• Lu Zhao ordered the reinforced platoon to return to their posts and told them to report flood-prevention problems directly to him.
• Lu Zhao questioned Liang Fei’s lack of frontline experience, explained the flood-prevention duties, and gave him the relevant documents and plan.
• Chen Hongtao urged Lü Jinshan to let Lu Zhao guide flood-prevention work until the season ended, but Lü Jinshan rejected the suggestion.
• Lü Jinshan resolved to remove Lu Zhao from the front line and sever his connection with Zhang Like, even if doing so risked problems during flood season.
• Zhang Like visited Lu Zhao’s new office and mocked his promotion, then cautioned him against imposing stricter training and assessments on all the troops.

Lu Zhao used a proposed training allowance and a victory banquet to build support among the border station officers, while learning that Lü Jinshan may be protected by a powerful figure in the South Sea Circuit. He resolved to find evidence of the smuggling operation and continued his painful Spirit Refining practice.

• Lu Zhao proposed a five-hundred-yuan allowance for officers and soldiers who met their training targets, and Zhang Like agreed to ask the rank-and-file what they thought.
• At the victory banquet, Zhang Like introduced Lu Zhao to the officers, who toasted him and promised to support his bid for an excellence award.
• Lu Zhao recognized how power and shared interests shaped the officers’ relationships, and Zhang Like advised him to make requests more tactfully in the future.
• Lu Zhao told Zhang Like that Old Niu had asked him to investigate Lü Jinshan’s brother and his suspected smuggling route; Zhang Like warned that a powerful figure might be protecting Lü Jinshan.
• Lu Zhao insisted they find evidence before confronting Lü Jinshan, then returned to his room and continued Spirit Refining through the night.

Liang Fei disrupted Lu Zhao’s flood-control preparations with unauthorized changes, while Lu Zhao won the border station’s outstanding officer vote by a landslide. After soldiers ignored Liang Fei’s meddling orders, he threatened to report and replace them, prompting Zhang Like to visit Lu Zhao’s office.

• Liang Fei questioned Liu Qiang about flood-season preparations, then criticized Lu Zhao’s existing plan and demanded extra observation posts and patrols despite the lack of manpower.
• Liang Fei changed observation-post locations and disrupted flood-control work, but soldiers continued following Lu Zhao’s original plan after he left.
• The company-grade officers voted in the annual excellence awards, and Lu Zhao received twenty-eight votes to become the outstanding officer.
• Liang Fei inspected the posts he had changed and berated Liu Qiang and the soldiers for not carrying out his orders, threatening to report and replace them.
• Zhang Like arrived at Lu Zhao’s office after hearing about Liang Fei’s confrontation.

Lu Zhao defended his flood-control orders and warned Zhang Like that public safety could not be sacrificed to wait for Liang Fei to fail. Chen Hongtao then took temporary command and suspended Lü Jinshan pending an investigation, while Liang Fei’s behavior led Lu Zhao to suspect he was implicated too.

• Lu Zhao told Zhang Like that he had intervened in Liang Fei’s orders because flood-control mistakes could cost lives, and Zhang Like apologized for suggesting they wait for a failure.
• Lu Zhao explained that Lin Zhiyan and the Special Response team could use their authority to report Lü Jinshan and have him suspended pending investigation.
• Chen Hongtao arrived with authorization to take temporary command and ordered Zhang Like and Lu Zhao to accompany him to arrest Lü Jinshan.
• Liang Fei complained to Lü Jinshan that the reinforced platoon disobeyed him and accused Lu Zhao of exceeding his authority.
• Chen Hongtao placed Lü Jinshan under suspension pending an investigation into dereliction of duty, and Lu Zhao suspected Liang Fei’s hands were not clean.

Lü Jinshan was suspended, and Lu Zhao was appointed temporary instructor for flood prevention while Chen Hongtao temporarily took over the station. Lü Jinshan sought help from Mr. Zhao, and Lu Zhao remained wary of the Chen Family as he discussed the situation with Zhang Like.

• Lu Zhao stopped Liang Fei from leaving, then ordered Lü Jinshan out of the station after his suspension notice was read.
• Chen Hongtao appointed Lu Zhao temporary instructor for flood prevention and hinted that he might take the deputy station chief position.
• Lü Jinshan went to the Foreign District and asked Mr. Zhao about Lin Zhiyan, learning that she came from the Cangwu Lin Family.
• Zhang Like told Lu Zhao that Chen Hongtao might cooperate with them over flood prevention, but Lu Zhao warned that the Chen Family remained a threat.
• Zhang Like urged Lu Zhao to abandon his desire for revenge unless he could become a Martial Marquis, and Lu Zhao did not reply.

Lu Zhao rejected Mo Kun’s attempt to curry favor with an apparent box of intermediate life supplements, then learned Zhang Like had purchased the bottles at the internal price. He revealed that his vitality had reached 37.4, surprising Zhang Like as he considered his rapid progress.

• Lu Zhao discussed seeking Deputy Station Chief Chen’s post and learned Zhang Like thought his captain’s rank and two second-class merits made him eligible.
• Mo Kun invited Lu Zhao to discuss flood prevention, then tried to send him a box of supposed liquor for Zhang Like.
• Lu Zhao discovered the bottles were intermediate life supplements and refused to deliver them, returning to collect his own pay and supplements.
• Zhang Like brought home nine bottles of intermediate life supplement he had bought at the internal price, and Lu Zhao repaid him twenty thousand yuan.
• Lu Zhao told Zhang Like his vitality was 37.4, startling him with how much it had risen since March.

Lu Zhao and Zhang Like investigated Lü Jinshan’s brother Lü Bowen and traced a smuggling route carrying life supplements from Ant Ridge into Fang City. The chapter left them following the smugglers’ contacts into the city’s western district.

• Zhang Like learned that Lu Zhao had gained two vitality points in four months and lent him another twenty thousand yuan.
• Lu Zhao and Zhang Like discussed Lü Bowen’s bars and the difficulty of exposing his smuggling operation outside their jurisdiction.
• Lu Zhao staked out a hidden route on Ant Ridge, using his spiritual power to detect fresh tracks and later identify smugglers carrying life supplements.
• Lu Zhao followed the smugglers to a village, memorized the villagers who met them, and returned to the forest.
• Lu Zhao and Zhang Like tracked the villagers’ vehicle across Fang City, from its eastern side to the west.

Lin Zhiyan struggled against the obstruction facing her task force in Fang City and used her connections to arrange a transfer for Lu Zhao. Lu Zhao returned to his cultivation and entered Primordial Unity to seek his teacher’s advice, ending as he began asking about matters he did not understand.

• Lu Zhao and Zhang Like returned from the Foreign District, where they discussed how evidence against Lü Bowen might also affect Lü Jinshan.
• Lin Zhiyan described the local obstruction facing her task force and asked Liang Chengyun to transfer Lu Zhao, but he warned her about Marquis Chen’s influence.
• Lin Zhiyan called Marquis Liu, who agreed to arrange Lu Zhao’s transfer.
• Lu Zhao meditated in his dormitory, found himself blocked in spirit refining, and entered Primordial Unity to meet his teacher.
• Lu Zhao’s teacher remarked that he seemed happy, and Lu Zhao began asking him about several things he did not understand.

Lu Zhao discussed his cultivation and the border station conflict with the old Daoist, then chose to seek the Great Dao through his own understanding. After losing his temporary instructor title, he realized that authority granted by others could not be relied upon and continued on without concern.

• Lu Zhao told the old Daoist about killing the criminals and defended his decision to stand by what was right.
• The old Daoist explained that Lu Zhao’s talent had brought him to the Inner Landscape and taught him about Spirit Refining and comprehending the Dao.
• Lu Zhao demonstrated his improved spiritual sense, learned he was nearing Minor Accomplishment, and chose to seek the Great Dao himself.
• On June 12, Lu Zhao learned that Lü Jinshan’s suspension would last one month and that he would likely be reinstated.
• At a June 13 flood-control meeting, Chen Hongtao criticized Lu Zhao, assigned Liang Fei to lead flood-control work, and stripped Lu Zhao of his temporary instructor position.
• Lu Zhao realized that titles and authority should not be entrusted to or bestowed by others, dismissed the loss as an empty title, and walked on.

Lu Zhao received an appointment as a temporary staff officer on the Fang City special task force, while considering a recommendation for deputy station chief. He left Ant Ridge Border Station’s officers startled by his new influence and discovered that Honghualang accelerated his cultivation.

• Chen Hongtao apologized to Lu Zhao and revealed that Fang City's city executive had pressured him, then delivered Lu Zhao’s appointment to the special task force, signed by Liang Chengyun.
• Lu Zhao inferred that Lin Zhiyan had secured the appointment and asked Chen Hongtao to recommend him for deputy station chief before Chen transferred out.
• At lunch, Lu Zhao told Zhang Like and the other officers about his appointment, and the news spread through the station, prompting Liang Fei to fall back into line.
• The next morning, Lu Zhao checked his vitality after practicing and found it had risen to 38, an increase of 0.2, which he attributed to drinking Honghualang.