Chapter Summaries

Tang Lingwu brought Zheng Fa to Teacher Bai to ask about several mathematical diagrams, and Teacher Bai eventually agreed to help after recognizing Zheng Fa’s mathematical talent. He explained that three of the patterns were equivalent under topology, but Zheng Fa struggled to understand the concept of homeomorphism.

• Tang Lingwu asked Teacher Bai to meet Zheng Fa, but Teacher Bai initially refused because he suspected Zheng Fa was courting her.
• Tang Lingwu came out to apologize, and Teacher Bai recognized Zheng Fa as the young man he had met in the park and invited them inside.
• Teacher Bai agreed to teach Zheng Fa, joking that he could see the young man had a talent for Mathematics.
• Teacher Bai examined Zheng Fa’s diagrams, said he could not identify what they represented, but pointed out that three shared a topological pattern.
• Teacher Bai explained homeomorphism at length, leaving Zheng Fa overwhelmed and unable to understand.

Zheng Fa struggled through mathematics lessons with Teacher Bai, then taught the old man the Pine Crane Stance and discovered Bai wanted him to stay and teach longer. After returning to the Zhao Residence, Zheng Fa woke to find Instructor Xu waiting to check how he and Gao Yuan had practiced.

• Teacher Bai struggled to teach Zheng Fa mathematics while Tang Lingwu understood the material easily and defended Zheng Fa from Bai’s insults.
• Teacher Bai simplified the diagrams into two basic patterns, and Zheng Fa memorized them.
• Zheng Fa demonstrated the Pine Crane Stance and corrected Old Man Bai’s posture, leaving Tang Lingwu surprised by his generosity.
• Teacher Bai insisted Zheng Fa study mathematics for another half hour before Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu left late that night.
• Zheng Fa woke at the Zhao Residence, saw Gao Yuan sleeping beside scattered diagram notes, and urged him to get up because Instructor Xu was waiting to check their practice.

Instructor Xu gathered his personal disciples to meet Zheng Fa and asked them to look after him if he joined their school. At the training ground, Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan demonstrated the Pine Crane Stance, and Instructor Xu discovered that Zheng Fa had mastered its basics after only three days.

• Instructor Xu told his personal disciples that Zheng Fa might become their junior brother and instructed them to look after him and temper his confidence with words, not violence.
• Instructor Xu scolded Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan for arriving late, then asked Gao Yuan to demonstrate the Pine Crane Stance.
• Instructor Xu noticed Gao Yuan had trained extra with his father, corrected a flaw in his stance, and warned him against overtraining and taking too many tonics.
• Zheng Fa realized Gao Yuan had secretly practiced martial arts with his father and felt envious of his extra training and resources.
• Zheng Fa entered the Pine Crane Stance and showed he had already grasped it; Instructor Xu and his disciples were astonished that he had done so in three days.

After Zheng Fa impressed Instructor Xu by entering the Pine Crane Stance, Gao Yuan grew jealous and stopped bringing him meals. Seventh Young Master then called them in and announced that he would keep only one of them as his bookboy, leaving their friendship under threat.

• Instructor Xu praised Zheng Fa’s bones and comprehension, while his disciples exaggerated their own training records to downplay Zheng Fa’s progress.
• Gao Yuan left without waiting for Zheng Fa after the assessment and later returned from extra training without bringing him lunch.
• Zheng Fa thanked Gao Yuan for helping him with meals, then went to the main kitchen and ate cold rice with wilted vegetables.
• Gao Yuan stopped bringing Zheng Fa food over the following days, and Zheng Fa received poorer meals from the main kitchen.
• Seventh Young Master called Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan into his study and said he would keep only one bookboy, prompting Gao Yuan to clench his fists.

Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan faced Seventh Young Master’s choice of bookboy, but Gao Yuan revealed his leg injury and yielded. When Gao Yuan could not explain the talismans, Zheng Fa drew two crucial strokes, earning Seventh Young Master’s sudden interest.

• Seventh Young Master left Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan alone, expecting them to fight over which of them would stay as his bookboy.
• Gao Yuan told Zheng Fa his leg was injured and urged him to remain, saying Zheng Fa had greater talent and nowhere else to go.
• Seventh Young Master returned, rejected their attempt to decide for themselves, and said he might dismiss them both.
• Seventh Young Master tested Gao Yuan on the copied talismans, but Gao Yuan lowered his head and admitted he had learned nothing.
• Zheng Fa drew two simple strokes from the patterns, surprising Seventh Young Master, then claimed he and Gao Yuan had studied them together.
• Seventh Young Master sent Gao Yuan to fetch lunch and ordered an extra portion for Zheng Fa.

Seventh Young Master explained that the patterns in the book were Talisman Diagrams and recognized Zheng Fa’s talent for deciphering Origin Talismans. After agreeing to keep Gao Yuan alongside Zheng Fa, he revealed that the Immortal Sect stood above him and the Zhao Family.

• Seventh Young Master told Zheng Fa that the diagrams contained no power themselves and that mastering 108 Origin Talismans could qualify someone to become a Talisman Master and enter the Immortal Sect.
• Zheng Fa said he had claimed Gao Yuan understood the diagrams with him because he did not want their rivalry and jealousy to be manipulated by their superiors.
• Seventh Young Master acknowledged Zheng Fa’s talent and agreed that both he and Gao Yuan could stay.
• When Zheng Fa asked what Seventh Young Master wanted to resist, Seventh Young Master said that the Immortal Sect stood above him and the Zhao Family.
• Gao Yuan brought in the meal and later asked why they could both stay, and Zheng Fa told him Seventh Young Master had seen through his lie but kept him anyway.

Seventh Young Master confronted Madam Xiang about his lost chance to enter the Azure Wood Sect and her plans for Zheng Fa. Madam Xiang agreed to keep both pageboys, then prepared to test and reward Zheng Fa in hopes of binding him to the Zhao Family.

• Madam Xiang asked Seventh Young Master why he valued Gao Yuan and Zheng Fa, and he explained their useful qualities.
• Madam Xiang recognized that Zheng Fa reminded Seventh Young Master of himself and explained that the Zhao Family had lost a sect-entry spot because the Spiritual Opportunity was dwindling.
• Seventh Young Master insisted he wanted to keep both pageboys, and Madam Xiang agreed.
• Madam Xiang ordered the Spirit Crane Body given to Instructor Xu and planned to bring Zheng Fa's mother and younger sister to the Zhao Residence.
• Madam Xiang said Zheng Fa could earn an attendant spot in the Azure Wood Sect if he proved his Talisman Dao talent and cultivated the Spirit Crane Body.

Zheng Fa traveled back to his family’s estate with Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan, while Zheng Shan and Mother Zheng waited anxiously for him at home. Zheng Shan revealed that Wang Gui had been bullying her, but she and her mother agreed not to trouble Zheng Fa with it.

• Zheng Fa praised Gao Yuan’s carriage driving as they hurried toward the estate, and Seventh Young Master used a Clear Wind Talisman to clear the dust from the carriage.
• Gao Yuan remarked that Madam was treating Zheng Fa’s family well, and Zheng Fa told Seventh Young Master he was glad he had come along.
• Mother Zheng waited at the doorway until Zheng Shan returned late with a basket, then scolded her for making her worry.
• Zheng Shan explained that she had taken a detour to avoid Wang Gui, who had been bullying her since Zheng Fa refused Steward Wang’s silver.
• Mother Zheng and Zheng Shan agreed not to tell Zheng Fa about the bullying, and Zheng Shan said Wang Gui wanted her to ask Zheng Fa to bring her into the city.

Zheng Fa, Seventh Young Master, and Gao Yuan lost their way and arrived late at the Zheng Family manor, where villagers mistook their carriage for a threat. Mother Zheng rushed out when she heard a carriage had arrived, while Wang Gui mistakenly believed Seventh Young Master had come to fetch him.

• Zheng Fa found the correct road after Seventh Young Master scolded Gao Yuan for getting lost, and the three shared pastries during the journey.
• The carriage reached the manor at night, alarming villagers who feared bandits and sounded gongs to raise the alarm.
• Mother Zheng hurried outside when she learned a carriage from the residence had arrived, remembering the night Wang Gui had been brought home injured.
• Wang Gui followed Steward Wang to meet the carriage and excitedly greeted Seventh Young Master, assuming he had come to take him back.
• Seventh Young Master asked Wang Gui in surprise whether he lived there too.

Seventh Young Master brought Zheng Fa back to the estate to take Zheng Fa’s mother and sister to the city. After arranging a meal at the Zheng home using Steward Wang’s food, Seventh Young Master learned that Wang Gui’s family had bullied them.

• Steward Wang knelt to greet Seventh Young Master and was bewildered when Zheng Fa stepped out of the carriage beside him.
• Seventh Young Master asked Zheng Fa about his mother and sister, then brought him to Mother Zheng and Zheng Shan.
• Zheng Fa told Mother Zheng that Madam had allowed her and Zheng Shan to move to the city, and Mother Zheng hurried home to prepare food.
• Steward Wang offered to host Seventh Young Master, but Seventh Young Master told him to bring his family’s food and meat to the Zheng home instead.
• Seventh Young Master ate at the Zheng home, asked Zheng Fa whether he had a grudge against Wang Gui’s family, and heard Zheng Shan say that they had always bullied her family.

Zheng Shan complained to Seventh Young Master about Wang Gui’s bullying, and the young master let her choose his punishment. Zheng Shan spared Wang Gui’s life, while Seventh Young Master dismissed Steward Wang; afterward, he told Zheng Fa that he envied his family’s affection.

• Zheng Shan told Seventh Young Master that Wang Gui had stolen and trampled her pigweed, torn her new clothes, and insulted Zheng Fa and the young master.
• Seventh Young Master asked Zheng Shan how she wanted Wang Gui punished, and she agreed to another beating before asking that he not be killed.
• Seventh Young Master spared Wang Gui’s life but dismissed Steward Wang, then ordered both men to leave.
• Seventh Young Master told Zheng Fa that he envied the care Zheng Fa received from his mother and sister.
• Zheng Fa returned home and defended Zheng Shan when Mother Zheng scolded her for complaining to Seventh Young Master.

Zheng Fa brought Mother Zheng and Zheng Shan to the Zhao Family estate, where they settled into a courtyard and received generous gifts from Steward Gao. Steward Gao explained to Gao Yuan that Zheng Fa’s growing favor with the Zhao family—and possible chance of entering the Immortal Sect—made it wise to support him.

• On the way to the city, Mother Zheng worried about the expense of moving, while Zheng Fa promised to support the family and send Zheng Shan to school.
• After seeing city food prices, Mother Zheng grew more anxious, but Gao Yuan let the ox cart enter the Zhao Family estate through the back gate.
• Zheng Fa showed his mother and sister the independent courtyard granted to him, and Zheng Shan excitedly learned that the whole courtyard was theirs.
• Steward Gao welcomed the family with furniture and provisions, and Zheng Fa promised to urge Gao Yuan to work harder.
• Steward Gao told Gao Yuan that Zheng Fa might enter the Immortal Sect and had already won Madam’s favor, so he intended to cultivate their connection.

Zheng Fa settled into the Zhao Family home and helped Zheng Shan get a room of her own before heading to train with Instructor Xu. There, Instructor Xu tried to make Zheng Fa his sworn brother, leaving Zheng Fa suspiciously reminded of Instructor Xu’s nephew’s earlier attempt.

• Zheng Fa persuaded Mother Zheng to let Zheng Shan have her own room, and Zheng Shan eagerly volunteered to clean and arrange the family’s rooms.
• Instructor Xu lamented that Madam had sent him the Spirit Crane Body to teach Zheng Fa, preventing him from asking Zheng Fa to become his disciple without seeming opportunistic.
• Instructor Xu’s nephew waited at the training grounds and enthusiastically tried to swear brotherhood with Zheng Fa, but Zheng Fa declined and hurried inside.
• Instructor Xu told Zheng Fa that his deceased younger brother’s death anniversary was that day and asked Zheng Fa to swear brotherhood.
• Zheng Fa spotted the incense table and wondered why Instructor Xu’s proposal sounded familiar.

Zheng Fa received the secret Spirit Crane Body manual from Instructor Xu and learned why the instructor guarded it so carefully. Instructor Xu revealed that after failing to master it during twenty years of practice, he still hoped Zheng Fa might succeed and prove that entering the Dao through martial arts was real.

• Instructor Xu scolded his nephew for disrupting the household discipline, and Zheng Fa eased the awkwardness by thanking him for his past kindness.
• Instructor Xu warned Zheng Fa never to teach the Spirit Crane Body without Madam’s permission and explained that the manual was said to let its practitioner enter the Dao through martial arts.
• Instructor Xu recounted how he spent twenty years trying to master the Spirit Crane Body, sacrificing other parts of his life before giving up.
• Instructor Xu admitted he had befriended Zheng Fa hoping to seek his guidance if he succeeded, then gave him the manual and asked him to tell him if he ever mastered it.
• Zheng Fa took the Spirit Crane Body and agreed to report his success, while Instructor Xu warned him not to end up like him.

Zheng Fa and Seventh Young Master struggled to understand the cryptic Spirit Crane Body manual, while Seventh Young Master sought help from Madam. They ended with no answers and Gao Yuan’s attempt to take comfort in their failures was sharply rebuffed.

• Zheng Fa and Seventh Young Master read Spirit Crane Body and found its first volume was the creator’s boastful autobiography, while the third volume’s strange illustrations baffled them.
• Seventh Young Master asked Madam for the secret to mastering Spirit Crane Body, and she told him the key lay in its first volume.
• Seventh Young Master brought Madam’s advice to Zheng Fa, and the two searched the autobiography for a hidden pattern but found none.
• Gao Yuan smiled at Zheng Fa and Seventh Young Master’s failure, explaining that their struggles made his own martial training difficulties feel less unusual.
• Seventh Young Master pointed out that Gao Yuan had not mastered Pine Crane Stance and compared his failure to Zheng Fa’s, causing Gao Yuan’s smile to vanish.

Zheng Fa returned the memorized Spirit Crane Body manuals and refocused on his other studies, while Old Man Bai lost confidence in his martial training. Zheng Fa persuaded him to keep practicing by promising the secret art could extend his lifespan, but Tang Lingwu punctured the legend with a practical suggestion.

• Zheng Fa returned the four Spirit Crane Body volumes to Instructor Xu, who wrongly believed he had given up and blamed himself for driving Zheng Fa away.
• Seventh Young Master accepted that Zheng Fa could not understand the scripture and teased Gao Yuan for never having been allowed to read it.
• In the modern world, Old Man Bai complained that he had made no progress with the Pine Crane Stance, while Zheng Fa told him it could take six months to get started.
• When Old Man Bai began losing interest in training, Zheng Fa claimed the Pine Crane Stance could extend his lifespan and promised to teach him the Spirit Crane Body if he mastered it.
• Old Man Bai eagerly pledged himself to the sect, but Tang Lingwu suggested that studying birds at a zoo might have helped the sect’s ancestor comprehend the art.

Zheng Fa visited a zoo to study birds for clues to mastering the Spirit Crane Body, but the poor exhibits left him doubtful that captive birds could help. Tang Lingwu sent him a collection of documentaries, and the chapter ended with Zheng Fa wondering whether a documentary about pterosaurs counted as bird research.

• Zheng Fa visited a shabby zoo, where he found dogs posing as pandas and pigeons under a net in the bird enclosure.
• Zheng Fa returned to school and realized captive birds might not reveal the natural behavior he needed to understand the Spirit Crane Body.
• Tang Lingwu sent Zheng Fa a cloud-drive folder of bird documentaries, while Wang Chen revealed that the Tang Lingwu in their class group chat was actually her mother.
• Old Chen caught Wang Chen using his phone, while Zheng Fa pretended to be engrossed in his textbook.
• Zheng Fa browsed Tang Lingwu’s documentaries and questioned whether pterosaurs counted as birds.

After studying bird documentaries, Zheng Fa understood that the Spirit Crane Body’s diagrams modeled the movements and habits of flying creatures. Back in the cultivation world, Seventh Young Master urged him to study talisman arts, but Zheng Fa learned that talisman diagrams were an ever-expanding field with no exhaustive end.

• Zheng Fa watched documentaries about birds and pterosaurs until he realized the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture’s diagrams depicted a modeled birdman.
• Zheng Fa revisited the documentaries to compare bird movements with the scripture’s diagrams, leaving him exhausted at school.
• Wang Chen misunderstood the wildlife documentaries Tang Lingwu had sent Zheng Fa and assumed they revealed her risqué private interests.
• Zheng Fa told Seventh Young Master that he had gained insight into the Spirit Crane Body, but Seventh Young Master handed him a book on talisman diagrams instead.
• Seventh Young Master explained that talisman diagrams came from cultivators’ insights into heaven and earth and that new diagrams were still being discovered, prompting Zheng Fa to recognize the study as an exhaustive method.

Zheng Fa realized that memorizing the books on Talisman Diagrams would not help him pass the Talisman Master examination, so he planned to rely on his growing understanding of Topology. As Zheng Fa pushed himself through early-morning training and struggled to master Spirit Crane Body, Madam revealed that he had never been able to master it.

• Seventh Young Master explained that the Talisman Master examination tested whether Zheng Fa could analyze unfamiliar diagrams using his understanding of Basic Origin Talismans, not memorize every book.
• Zheng Fa practiced in the training ground before dawn, and Seventh Young Master pushed Gao Yuan to train beside him.
• Instructor Xu kicked his sleepy nephew into the training ground, where the young man complained about Zheng Fa and mocked him and Gao Yuan for getting up early.
• Seventh Young Master and Instructor Xu worried that Zheng Fa was overexerting himself while trying to comprehend Spirit Crane Body, and Instructor Xu promised to watch him.
• Seventh Young Master asked Madam to find Gao Yuan an accounting teacher and told her that Zheng Fa was struggling with Spirit Crane Body.
• Madam told Seventh Young Master that Zheng Fa could never master Spirit Crane Body.

The Madam explained that Spirit Crane Body was designed for descendants of powerful cultivators and that she had given it to Zheng Fa expecting him to fail and temper his ambitions. When a crane’s cry rang out from the training ground and the clouds stirred, she realized Zheng Fa had cultivated the technique.

• The Madam told Zhao Jingfan that Spirit Crane Body was based on an Innate Dao Body and required exceptional aptitude to comprehend, so ordinary people could not cultivate it.
• She admitted she had given the technique to Instructor Xu to make him accept his limits and remain at Zhao Residence, and said she had expected Zheng Fa to fail for the same reason.
• Zhao Jingfan protested that he did not care whether Zheng Fa had greater talent, then left after the Madam warned him to remember their master-servant status.
• The Madam told her maid that she had planned for Zheng Fa to accompany Zhao Jingfan into an Immortal Sect, but had rushed her attempt to prune his ambitions.
• A powerful crane’s cry rose from the training ground, the clouds rolled above Jingzhou City, and the Madam realized Zheng Fa had cultivated Spirit Crane Body.