Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu learned a Quanzhen health-nourishing formula from Guo Jing and showed an unusual ease in his first meditation session. After Guo Jing left, Lin Yu asked Huang Rong about strange places near Xiangyang in hopes of finding a clue to his goal, and she offered to investigate in exchange for a favor.

• Huang Rong cautioned Guo Jing that Lin Yu needed to build his foundation before learning advanced martial arts, so Guo Jing agreed to teach him a Quanzhen formula for nourishing his health.
• At breakfast, Guo Jing recited the formula to Lin Yu, who understood it after hearing it once.
• Lin Yu meditated in the courtyard and felt clearheaded and refreshed, while Guo Jing praised his progress and Huang Rong noticed his natural affinity with his surroundings.
• After Guo Jing left for a meeting with Lord Lü, Lin Yu told Huang Rong that finding his goal remained the main purpose of his trip.
• Lin Yu asked Huang Rong about unusual places near Xiangyang, and she mentioned Shennongjia and Blazing Sun Valley before offering to investigate for him in exchange for a favor.

Lin Yu taught Huang Rong to understand the Martial Dao by observing nature and harmonizing the body with the world. After Huang Rong demonstrated the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, Lin Yu began showing her how to give its moves a different spirit, and she watched in amazement.

• Huang Rong asked Lin Yu to repay her kindness, and he offered to discuss the Martial Dao with her in the bamboo grove.
• Lin Yu explained that the Dao could be understood through all things in nature and demonstrated how martial arts could follow the rhythms of heaven and earth.
• Huang Rong reflected on her training and asked Lin Yu to examine her Dog-Beating Staff Technique.
• Huang Rong demonstrated the staff technique, and Lin Yu praised her skill before showing how its familiar moves could embody the intent of mountains, rivers, and the earth.

Lin Yu showed Huang Rong how to infuse the Dog-Beating Staff Technique with a broader martial conception, and she began adapting it under his guidance. Guo Jing then left for the military camp after urgent news arrived, while Lin Yu hinted that he sought the power of a nation; elsewhere, Zhao Yan woke another Lin Yu to attack the Golden Bull Martial Arts School.

• Lin Yu demonstrated a powerful version of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, and Huang Rong tried to incorporate its artistic conception into her own moves.
• Huang Rong proposed calling her adaptation the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Stick Technique, and Lin Yu advised her to blend techniques according to her own nature.
• Lin Yu and Huang Rong exchanged martial arts ideas until Guo Jing returned with urgent orders from Lord Lü to report to the military camp.
• Guo Jing left for the camp, and Lin Yu told Huang Rong he wondered whether the power of a nation could help him find what he sought.
• At another location, Zhao Yan woke Lin Yu (Number Twelve) and set out with him to deal with the Golden Bull Martial Arts School.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yan attacked the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, which Zhao Yan had made an enemy of by stealing its treasured saber. Lin Yu drew the school’s attention by defeating four guards and smashing its plaque, while Zhao Yan slipped inside to fight its remaining experts.

• Zhao Yan led Lin Yu to the Golden Bull Martial Arts School and explained that he had stolen its treasured saber.
• Zhao Yan told Lin Yu to clear out the school’s patrolling disciples and create a distraction while he went inside to confront its remaining experts.
• Lin Yu charged into the training ground and knocked four armed disciples aside with four punches.
• Lin Yu kicked the school’s large plaque until it broke in two, prompting the guards to raise the alarm.
• Lin Yu slipped away into the neighboring shadows as the commotion spread through the school.

Lin Yu infiltrated the Golden Bull Martial Arts School amid the chaos and fought off its armed defenders, while Zhao Yan attacked the main building. After the school’s master and elders were reported injured and its defenses activated, Lin Yu raced for the perimeter.

• Zhao Yan watched Lin Yu’s distraction draw the school’s attention, then slipped inside by a route he had scouted.
• Lin Yu ambushed a five-man tactical squad in a pavilion, captured their gear, and used stun grenades to incapacitate them.
• Lin Yu threw four stun grenades at a stronger patrol and attacked its disoriented leader.
• A pillar of blood-colored light and blade Qi erupted from the main building as Zhao Yan damaged it and breached the energy shield.
• School fighters received orders to support the injured school master, Elder Sun, and Elder Feng, so Lin Yu finished off the patrol and raced toward the perimeter.

Lin Yu searched the school’s perimeter for a way through the energy shield and found a secondary energy station, but guards discovered him and forced him to flee. He ended the chapter surrounded by five martial artists, with the bald leader ordering them to seize him.

• Lin Yu tested the energy shield, realized he could not break through, and searched the perimeter for its power source or control node.
• Lin Yu found a guarded energy station, entered through a ventilation duct, and spotted its machines, technicians, and martial artists.
• The bald martial artist detected Lin Yu and sent Number Five after him, so Lin Yu threw a flash grenade and fled through the ducts.
• Lin Yu escaped into the station’s maze of rooms, but the guards pursued him and cut off his routes.
• The five martial artists surrounded Lin Yu, and the bald leader ordered them to take him.

Lin Yu destroyed the energy station to weaken the martial arts school's shield, surviving the resulting explosion. As he escaped the ruins, Zhao Yan seized him and cut open the weakened shield, carrying him into the night.

• Lin Yu smashed the observation window and damaged the instrument panel, triggering an energy-station explosion that drove off the five martial artists.
• Lin Yu sheltered in a metal container and survived the blast, which destroyed most of the energy station and weakened the shield above it.
• Lin Yu crawled through the ruins toward the hole in the ceiling, but Zhao Yan arrived while fleeing his pursuers.
• Zhao Yan spotted Lin Yu and the weakened shield, grabbed him, and slashed open a gap in the barrier.
• Zhao Yan carried Lin Yu through the gap and escaped into the night beyond the Golden Bull Martial Arts School.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yan recovered in a shack after Zhao Yan used Spirit Jade to break through to Great Grandmaster during his attack on the Golden Bull Martial Arts School. The ruined school sought help from its upper sect as Jiangcheng’s powers began searching for the two men, who remained unaware of the storm gathering around them.

• Lin Yu asked Zhao Yan how he had broken through, and Zhao Yan explained that he traded Spirit Jade to the system for a breakthrough empowerment during the battle.
• Zhao Yan said he was now a Great Grandmaster and thanked Lin Yu for destroying the school’s power station and helping him escape.
• The Golden Bull Martial Arts School assessed its losses: Jin Potian was gravely injured, Sun Li was dead, Feng Tao’s cultivation had fallen, and many core disciples had been killed.
• Ancestor Jin ordered the school to stabilize its position and sent a Teleportation Talisman to the upper sect requesting help and reporting Zhao Yan’s possible possession of Spirit Jade.
• Jiangcheng’s other major powers learned of the attack and began investigating Zhao Yan and Lin Yu while the two men tended their injuries in the slums.

After Zhao Yan and Lin Yu recovered from their injuries, the Golden Bull Martial Arts School summoned envoys from the upper realm for help against Zhao Yan. The envoys arrived, and the white-robed man injured Ancestor Jin before ordering Jin Potian to arrange a place for them to rest.

• Zhao Yan told Lin Yu he planned to attack the Golden Bull Martial Arts School again, while Lin Yu refused to join him and focused on healing.
• Ancestor Jin and the remaining Golden Bull Martial Arts School members waited for the upper-realm envoys to arrive through their teleportation formation.
• The white-robed envoy and Tie Kuang emerged from the formation, and Ancestor Jin pleaded for their help against Zhao Yan and to recover the spirit jade.
• The white-robed envoy scorned the school's summons and struck Ancestor Jin into the wall, leaving him gravely injured.
• The white-robed envoy ordered Jin Potian to find a place for him and Tie Kuang to rest, while Tie Kuang grinned hungrily.

Three days after their battle, Lin Yu and Zhao Yan encountered Jin Potian and Feng Tao at a KTV, where a mysterious white-robed man and a bald giant seized control. The white-robed man spotted them upstairs and ordered Jin Potian to confront his old acquaintances.

• Jin Potian agreed to make arrangements for the envoy and, three days later, brought Feng Tao along behind the white-robed man and the bald giant.
• At Nightscape, Lin Yu ignored Zhao Yan’s attempts to make him drink and reflected on his breakthrough to the Profound Understanding Realm.
• The KTV music abruptly stopped as the newcomers arrived, and the white-robed man took over the venue, ordered the men out, and told the women to stay.
• Zhao Yan and Lin Yu recognized Jin Potian and Feng Tao downstairs and sensed that the two newcomers far outmatched them.
• The white-robed man spotted Zhao Yan and Lin Yu through the window and ordered Jin Potian to go upstairs to meet his old acquaintances.

Jin Potian brought an envoy from the upper realm to Zhao Yan, who challenged the powerful visitor and was swiftly defeated. The white-robed man then struck Lin Yu, leaving him gravely injured and his fate uncertain, while Tie Kuang moved to cripple Zhao Yan.

• Jin Potian entered Zhao Yan’s room and told him that the envoy wanted to see him.
• Zhao Yan mocked the envoy, whose pressure made Zhao Yan and Lin Yu realize the visitors came from the upper realm.
• Zhao Yan attacked the white-robed man, but the man shattered his blade and sent him crashing into the wall.
• The white-robed man struck Lin Yu, crushing his chest and leaving him motionless as the Primordial Unity Ki Technique struggled to repair his injuries.
• Lin Yu warned Zhao Yan to run, but Zhao Yan saw no way to escape the white-robed man.
• The white-robed man ordered Tie Kuang to cripple Zhao Yan and take him back, and Tie Kuang approached with his axe.

Badly wounded, Lin Yu woke to find Zhao Yan dragging him through the wilderness after their escape from the upper realm pursuers. Zhao Yan took him toward a mass grave, where the two hoped to find a chance to survive.

• Lin Yu woke as Zhao Yan dragged him along a forest path, both of them gravely injured.
• Zhao Yan insisted he had saved Lin Yu so they could go treasure hunting in the Golden Bull Martial Arts School's storeroom, then warned him to stay quiet because their pursuers might be close.
• Lin Yu recalled the attackers and suspected the system had helped Zhao Yan unleash a burst of power to escape with him.
• After coughing up black blood, Zhao Yan checked for pursuers and told Lin Yu they were near a mass grave deep in the forest.
• Zhao Yan dragged Lin Yu into the foggy, deathly mass grave while Lin Yu circulated the Primordial Unity Ki Technique to repair his body.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yan hid in a cave to escape the dangers stalking them in the mass grave, where they found a clear but treacherous pool. After Zhao Yan gave Lin Yu some of its water, Lin Yu regained consciousness and began recovering.

• Zhao Yan noticed the lurking creatures were becoming bolder and dragged Lin Yu to a cave concealed behind vines.
• Zhao Yan drank from the cave's pool, then slipped into its powerful undercurrent while washing his wounds and barely escaped.
• Zhao Yan gave Lin Yu water from the pool and rested while circulating the Sunflower Manual.
• Lin Yu woke, found his meridians showing signs of healing, and drank several mouthfuls from the pool after Zhao Yan warned him to avoid its depths.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yan slowly recovered from their injuries in a haunted cave, where a mysterious power continued to hinder their healing. Zhao Yan leaped into the pool after seemingly discovering something and returned half an hour later, shivering but visibly excited.

• Lin Yu and Zhao Yan survived for nearly a month on pills while their injuries healed unusually slowly, and Lin Yu suspected the white-robed man's power was responsible.
• Zhao Yan blamed the upper-realm figures for leaving them to suffer, while Lin Yu hunted nearby animals and found that the sinister presences had disappeared.
• Lin Yu returned with two rabbits and found Zhao Yan staring intently at the pool before he suddenly jumped into its dark, dangerous depths.
• Lin Yu waited by the pool, then went back to roasting the rabbits when Zhao Yan did not resurface.
• After nearly half an hour, Zhao Yan burst out of the pool, climbed to the fire, and warmed his frozen hands with excitement in his eyes.

Zhao Yan and Lin Yu prepared to explore the underground passage beneath the pool, hoping to find a Spirit Vein and resources to recover their strength. They followed the current through a narrow, dark tunnel and emerged into a vast underground space.

• Zhao Yan told Lin Yu he had found a cavern beneath the pool and showed him a stone that seemed to contain Spirit Jade.
• Zhao Yan explained that the undercurrent briefly calmed about once every cup of tea and urged Lin Yu to explore the passage with him.
• Lin Yu agreed to go with Zhao Yan the next day, and they prepared Turtle Breathing Pills and luminous pearls.
• At noon, Zhao Yan and Lin Yu entered the pool and waited at the hollow in the rock wall for the current to weaken.
• They swam through the passage during the brief calm, then followed a light around a bend and emerged into a vast underground space.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yan discovered an underground spirit vein and used its dense spiritual Qi to recover and cultivate. Zhao Yan broke through to Martial Venerable, while Lin Yu quietly reached Great Grandmaster, leaving Zhao Yan’s triumph dampened by the gap between them.

• Lin Yu and Zhao Yan emerged from the water into a cavern filled with Spirit Jade and other spirit stones.
• Zhao Yan dug out crystals and vowed to take revenge on the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, while Lin Yu cultivated with the Primordial Unity Ki Technique.
• Lin Yu absorbed spiritual Qi rapidly, healing his injuries and advancing his cultivation as Zhao Yan used the Sunflower Manual to strengthen himself.
• Zhao Yan broke through to Martial Venerable after refining large amounts of Spirit Jade.
• Zhao Yan asked Lin Yu about his progress, and Lin Yu said he had reached Great Grandmaster.
• Zhao Yan silently returned to cultivating, troubled by Lin Yu’s rapid progress.

Lin Yu discovered a glowing barrier behind the spirit-jade cavern wall, and Zhao Yan’s system revealed that the Upper Realm lay beyond it. Unable to cross the one-way barrier yet, the two returned to cultivation while learning more about the powerful world above them.

• Lin Yu sensed a fluctuation in the cavern wall, tore it open, and revealed a glowing barrier as Zhao Yan came to investigate.
• Zhao Yan and Lin Yu tried to break through or probe the barrier, but it absorbed their attacks and blocked their Qi.
• Zhao Yan learned from his system that the Upper Realm lay beyond the barrier and that only beings of sufficient strength could pass between the realms.
• Zhao Yan learned that the barrier restricted travel from the Upper Realm and abandoned his plan to pursue two enemies there; Lin Yu refused to join him.
• Zhao Yan and Lin Yu resumed cultivating in the cavern, and Zhao Yan shared fragments of information about the Upper Realm and its ranks.

After reaching Peak Martial Venerable, Zhao Yan returned to attack the Golden Bull Martial Arts School while Lin Yu helped him hunt down its members. Zhao Yan lured Tie Kuang toward the cavern entrance, but Tie Kuang intensified his assault after Bai Xuan sensed something was wrong.

• Zhao Yan reached Peak Martial Venerable, and Lin Yu advanced to Great Grandmaster Perfection before they left the cavern.
• Zhao Yan raided a Golden Bull Martial Arts School branch, killed its master, and left a bloody mark that prompted Jin Potian to report him to Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang.
• Zhao Yan and Lin Yu ambushed the school's pursuit party near the mass grave, and Lin Yu crippled Jin Potian while Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang watched.
• Zhao Yan challenged Bai Xuan, who ordered Tie Kuang to fight him, while Lin Yu hunted down fleeing senior members to prevent reinforcements.
• Zhao Yan drew Tie Kuang toward the cavern entrance, but Bai Xuan noticed his tactic and ordered Tie Kuang to finish the fight; Tie Kuang powered up and wounded Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan lured Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang into the cave while Lin Yu used a Bewildering Tracks Formation to steer them deeper underground. The pursuit reached a mysterious, frigid pool, and Bai Xuan ordered Tie Kuang to follow Zhao Yan beneath its surface.

• Zhao Yan struck Tie Kuang with Blood Moon Slash, then used the blow's force to flee into the cave.
• Bai Xuan stopped Tie Kuang from chasing Zhao Yan at once and noticed Lin Yu was missing.
• Lin Yu activated his Bewildering Tracks Formation to disorient Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang and guide them toward the cave.
• Lin Yu monitored their progress with warning restrictions while recovering his strength with Spirit Jade.
• Zhao Yan taunted Bai Xuan in an underground cavern, then jumped into a deep, icy pool.
• Bai Xuan sensed a strange power beneath the pool and ordered Tie Kuang to pursue Zhao Yan into it.

Lin Yu trapped Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang in the cavern by activating the Two Realms Barrier, weakening the Upper Realm cultivators as Zhao Yan and Lin Yu prepared to fight them. After Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang overwhelmed them with their remaining strength, Zhao Yan charged at Tie Kuang and declared that he would break through.

• Lin Yu secretly set a formation at the cold pool entrance while Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang pursued Zhao Yan into the underground cavern.
• Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang discovered the Spirit Vein and the Two Realms Barrier, which suppressed their strength, as Lin Yu joined Zhao Yan in the cavern.
• Bai Xuan unleashed his imposing presence and attacked Lin Yu, while Tie Kuang charged Zhao Yan with his giant axe.
• Lin Yu activated his formation to block Bai Xuan's strike, but the force hurled him into the rock wall and left him fearing the formation would soon fail.
• Zhao Yan charged toward Tie Kuang's axe and declared that he would break through the Martial Venerable realm.