Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa’s visualization of the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture brought his Pine Crane Stance to mastery and awakened new strength. After sparring with Zheng Fa, Instructor Xu celebrated his achievement in tears, while Gao Yuan and Instructor Xu’s nephew realized they no longer needed to worry about being compared with him.

• Zheng Fa visualized himself as the bird-man in the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture and experienced flying through the clouds before returning to awareness in the training ground.
• Instructor Xu noticed that Zheng Fa had shattered the blue bricks beneath his feet and realized his Pine Crane Stance had reached mastery.
• Instructor Xu attacked Zheng Fa with full strength, and Zheng Fa matched him using the Spirit Crane Cloud-Piercing Hand and his newfound power.
• Instructor Xu recognized that Zheng Fa had mastered the technique and laughed as tears streamed down his face.
• Gao Yuan and Instructor Xu’s nephew arrived with meal boxes, and Gao Yuan told his senior brother that Zheng Fa had beaten Instructor Xu to tears.

Zheng Fa revealed that he had mastered Spirit Crane Body, while Seventh Young Master confessed that his mother had given it to others as an impossible manual to make them suffer setbacks and serve the household. The chapter ended with Instructor Xu dismissing the confession as an attempt to comfort him, even after Zheng Fa said he had truly mastered it.

• Instructor Xu praised Zheng Fa for mastering Spirit Crane Body, and Zheng Fa described how the moves drew power from the outside world.
• Instructor Xu advised Gao Yuan and his nephew not to compare themselves with Zheng Fa, leaving both of them bitter and speechless.
• Seventh Young Master joined the meal, reacted tensely to talk of Spirit Crane Body, and asked Zheng Fa and Instructor Xu to stay behind.
• Seventh Young Master confessed that Spirit Crane Body could not be mastered and that his mother had given it to them to cause setbacks and secure their service.
• Instructor Xu refused to believe the confession, and Seventh Young Master grew distressed when he thought he was being humored.
• Zheng Fa told Seventh Young Master that he had mastered Spirit Crane Body, but Instructor Xu still treated the claim as comforting pretense.

Zheng Fa’s successful cultivation of the Spirit Crane Body eased Instructor Xu’s doubts about Madam, and inspired him to free his nephew to pursue life in the martial world. After the scripture transformed Zheng Fa’s appearance, Madam warned Seventh Young Master that his success suggested a powerful cultivator might be plotting against the Zhao Family, leaving him baffled about what anyone could want from them.

• Zheng Fa explained that the Spirit Crane Body was possible to cultivate but beyond most people, and Instructor Xu concluded Madam had acted to keep him safe rather than deceive him.
• Instructor Xu told Seventh Young Master he did not blame Madam, then decided to ask her to retrieve his nephew’s contract so the young man could enter the martial world.
• Zheng Fa woke to find his skin peeling and his complexion transformed, while Gao Yuan and Seventh Young Master noticed his new fragrance and asked about the Spirit Crane Body.
• Zheng Fa described visualization as the key to cultivating the Spirit Crane Body, but Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan focused on its use rather than why it worked.
• Madam told Seventh Young Master that Zheng Fa’s success implied a Nascent Soul True Person was scheming against the Zhao Family, and Seventh Young Master wondered what the family could possibly be worth.

Old Man Bai gave up martial arts to focus on writing a textbook, but after Tang Lingwu and Zheng Fa confirmed that Zheng Fa’s training had improved his appearance, he eagerly asked to resume. Tang Lingwu also wanted to learn and offered Zheng Fa milk tea.

• Old Man Bai told Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu that he was quitting martial arts because Capital University Press was waiting for his textbook.
• Old Man Bai still offered to answer Zheng Fa’s questions on weekends, while Tang Lingwu noticed that Zheng Fa looked different.
• Zheng Fa explained that mastering the Spirit Crane Body had changed his skin and confirmed that martial arts could extend one’s lifespan.
• Old Man Bai admitted he had doubted Zheng Fa’s claims, then asked to resume learning martial arts.
• Tang Lingwu said she wanted to learn martial arts too and offered to buy Zheng Fa milk tea.

Zheng Fa tried to make Old Man Bai study talisman diagrams in exchange for continuing to teach him Topology, while Old Man Bai insisted he was too busy writing a book. Tang Lingwu declined to learn martial arts and drank the milk tea, leaving Old Man Bai dismayed that neither of them trusted him.

• Tang Lingwu said she wanted the milk tea because it could make her fairer, while Old Man Bai explained why he cherished his comfortable retirement and loved living.
• Old Man Bai asked Zheng Fa for another chance to learn martial arts, and Zheng Fa warned him that his aptitude was poor and he would have to persist.
• Zheng Fa showed Old Man Bai stacks of talisman-diagram notes and demanded that he prove his sincerity by studying them, hoping to use Old Man Bai's intelligence to help with his own Topology studies.
• Old Man Bai tried to persuade Zheng Fa to keep teaching him Topology, then looked to Tang Lingwu for help, but she drank the milk tea and said she did not want to practice martial arts.
• Old Man Bai pushed the notes away because he had to write his book, and Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu admitted they had thought he was lying.

Old Man Bai explained why he had hesitated to teach Zheng Fa mathematics, but Zheng Fa arranged for Tang Lingwu to teach him while he taught her martial arts. As Zheng Fa began training Tang Lingwu, he noticed that the force he sensed in the Xuanwei Realm did not respond in this world, and Gao Yuan arrived with news that Seventh Young Master had changed in a way that reminded him of Gao Yuan.

• Old Man Bai told Zheng Fa that mathematics should be studied for its own sake and warned that topology might not decode the strange diagrams, but Zheng Fa insisted he wanted to learn both.
• Zheng Fa proposed that Tang Lingwu teach him mathematics in exchange for martial arts lessons, and Old Man Bai agreed to help with anything she could not teach.
• The group moved to a clearing, where Zheng Fa guided Tang Lingwu through a stance while Old Man Bai practiced nearby.
• Zheng Fa sensed that the inner force within him drew no response from the void in this world, unlike in the Xuanwei Realm.
• Gao Yuan told Zheng Fa that Seventh Young Master had changed into someone a little like Gao Yuan.

Zheng Fa learned that Seventh Young Master had begun studying talisman arts out of fear of his returning sister and anxiety over Zheng Fa’s talent. The chapter ended with Seventh Young Master calling Gao Yuan indispensable because Gao Yuan’s shortcomings made him feel better about himself.

• Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan found Seventh Young Master studying talisman diagrams unusually diligently.
• Seventh Young Master explained that his sister was returning from the Immortal Sect and planned to test his talisman arts; he feared her after recalling how she had beaten him as a child.
• After Zheng Fa left for lunch, Seventh Young Master told Gao Yuan he had misjudged him and admitted Zheng Fa’s apparent prospects had made him feel inadequate.
• Seventh Young Master explained that seeing Gao Yuan’s inferior talents comforted him, then declared he could not do without him.

Zheng Fa gave his little sister, Zheng Shan, an elementary mathematics book and prepared a middle school mathematics book for the Seventh Young Master, hoping to teach them and identify promising minds. The Seventh Young Master revealed that his sister was returning to prepare him for the Immortal Selection Fair, leaving Zheng Fa to realize he had been secretly working toward it.

• Zheng Fa gave Zheng Shan Elementary Mathematics, Book One, and promised to teach her at night because she could not safely attend school.
• Zheng Fa brought Middle School Mathematics, Volume One, to the study, where the Seventh Young Master lamented that Zheng Fa had analyzed more Origin Talismans in half a month than he had in three years.
• The Seventh Young Master eagerly accepted the mathematics book and speculated that it was an orthodox immortal method connected to the Great Dao and divination.
• The Seventh Young Master told Zheng Fa that his sister was returning to prepare him for the Immortal Selection Fair, and Zheng Fa realized he had been working toward it in secret.

Zheng Fa learned why Seventh Young Master was preparing for the Immortal Selection Fair and agreed to teach Gao Yuan the mathematics behind his talisman method. The chapter ended with Steward Gao and Gao Yuan arriving at Zheng Fa’s home as the family ate.

• Seventh Young Master explained that the Immortal Selection Fair had been moved up to two months away and that the Zhao Family had limited slots for candidates.
• Seventh Young Master revealed that he had reached a bottleneck in the Talisman Dao and hoped Zheng Fa’s method might help him progress.
• Zheng Fa invited Gao Yuan to learn the mathematics, and Gao Yuan admitted he saw himself as a servant beneath Seventh Young Master.
• Gao Yuan joked that he cursed Seventh Young Master a hundred times in his thoughts, and Zheng Fa suggested they keep each other’s secrets.
• Steward Gao and Gao Yuan arrived at Zheng Fa’s courtyard while Zheng Fa’s family was eating, and Zheng Fa asked if they had come to mooch a meal.

Steward Gao thanked Zheng Fa for teaching Gao Yuan an immortal family's secret art by arranging for Mother Zheng to receive the income from a clothing shop, while warning his son to side with Zheng Fa. After struggling to teach Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan, Zheng Fa was summoned by Madam, whose response to his unexplained influence he had long anticipated.

• Steward Gao brought Gao Yuan to thank Zheng Fa for teaching him, and offered Mother Zheng a clothing shop after Zheng Fa agreed to accept the arrangement.
• Steward Gao told Gao Yuan to obey Zheng Fa and declared that their family would side with him if he came into conflict with Seventh Young Master.
• Zheng Fa struggled to teach Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan from Middle School Mathematics, Volume One, and showed them Elementary Mathematics, which he had prepared for his six-year-old sister.
• Seventh Young Master skipped class the next day, and Steward Wu told Zheng Fa that Madam had invited him to speak with her.

Zheng Fa met the Madam of the Zhao Residence, who questioned his motives and investigated his past before he asked for a place at the Immortal Selection Fair. She remained unconvinced that he had a powerful teacher and said his request was not enough, while Zheng Fa smiled at her refusal.

• Steward Wu warned Zheng Fa that the Madam was wary of him and led him to her secluded tower.
• The Madam received Zheng Fa alone, rejected the books he brought because they gave her a headache, and asked why he had given them to the Seventh Young Master.
• Zheng Fa said he regarded the Seventh Young Master as a friend, but the Madam told him she did not believe him and would not risk her son on that assurance.
• Zheng Fa asked for one of the Zhao Residence's two Immortal Selection Fair slots, implying that he needed something from the family.
• The Madam revealed that she had gathered records about Zheng Fa's life and concluded that either he had wisdom from a past life or someone was teaching him.
• The Madam said a single sentence was not enough to earn a slot, and Zheng Fa smiled at her refusal.

Madam tested Zheng Fa with the Zhao Family’s Dharma Treasure and offered him an attendant’s position if Seventh Young Master entered Ascension Gate. Zheng Fa left determined to seek the freedom of cultivation, then woke in the modern world after dreaming of a harsh one.

• Madam told Zheng Fa he could earn an attendant’s position by helping Seventh Young Master enter Ascension Gate, then used the family Dharma Treasure to frighten him with a vision of a deadly gorge.
• Madam admitted she was willing to trust Zheng Fa because Seventh Young Master regarded him as a friend, and she hoped he would support her son at the Immortal Sect.
• Seventh Young Master learned that Madam had offered Zheng Fa the position because she wanted someone capable to help protect him after he left for Ascension Gate.
• Zheng Fa left with Steward Wu and reflected that he disliked a world where survival required constant calculation; he asked whether cultivation would let him go wherever he wished.
• Zheng Fa agreed that entering Ascension Gate would bring freedom, then woke in a modern classroom and told Wang Chen he had dreamed of an ugly world.

Before the joint monthly exam, Zheng Fa studied with Tang Lingwu and tested whether his cultivation force could help her practice the Spirit Crane Body. The force began pulsing in sync with the Spirit Crane Mindset, while Old Chen caught them in a suspicious pose.

• Wang Chen worried about the joint monthly exam and the upcoming parent-teacher meeting as Zheng Fa left to study with Tang Lingwu.
• Zheng Fa asked Tang Lingwu questions at the pavilion, then asked her to test whether she could cultivate the Spirit Crane Body.
• Tang Lingwu assumed the Pine Crane Stance, and Zheng Fa sent a thread of his force into her spine.
• Zheng Fa felt his force pulse at the same frequency as the Spirit Crane Mindset while Tang Lingwu trembled lightly.
• Wang Chen and his deskmate watched from the classroom window until Old Chen spotted Zheng Fa touching Tang Lingwu's back and angrily questioned what they were doing.

After the monthly exam, Zheng Fa expected Old Chen to confront him about his closeness with Tang Lingwu, but the results changed the situation. Tang Lingwu ranked first across several schools, while Zheng Fa made the top ten, and the principal praised them both, leaving Old Chen smiling at Zheng Fa instead of scolding him.

• Wang Chen warned Zheng Fa that Old Chen was waiting for the monthly exam results before confronting him about Tang Lingwu.
• Wang Chen told Zheng Fa that Tang Lingwu was rumored to have ranked first again and that Old Chen would favor her even more.
• The principal visited Zheng Fa's class with Old Chen and learned that Tang Lingwu had ranked first across several schools.
• The principal praised Zheng Fa for making the school's top ten and asked how he had improved.
• Old Chen explained that Zheng Fa studied with Tang Lingwu, and the principal encouraged them to keep helping each other.
• Wang Chen realized that Old Chen seemed to have made Zheng Fa a favorite student too.

After Old Man Bai gave Zheng Fa a notebook on identifying the origins of talisman diagrams, he urged Zheng Fa to share knowledge and not let hardship weigh on him. Back in the Xuanwei Realm, Zheng Fa decided to cheer himself up by giving his students a surprise math test.

• Zheng Fa asked Old Man Bai for quick methods to guess answers on talisman tests, but Old Man Bai refused and offered to help Tang Lingwu advance her Pine Crane Stance instead.
• After Zheng Fa demonstrated how he helped Tang Lingwu practice, Old Man Bai gave Zheng Fa a notebook of patterns for tracing talisman diagrams to their likely Origin Talismans.
• Old Man Bai warned Zheng Fa against rushing and hoarding knowledge, explaining that scholars should work together to investigate the world's mysteries and accept setbacks.
• Tang Lingwu revealed that she had told Old Man Bai about Zheng Fa's troubled mood, and Zheng Fa accepted her milk tea as Old Man Bai tried to comfort him.
• Back in the Xuanwei Realm, Zheng Fa told Gao Yuan he would hold a surprise mathematics test, leaving Gao Yuan baffled by Zheng Fa's cheerful mood.

Zheng Fa gave Gao Yuan, Seventh Young Master, and Zheng Shan a surprise exam to show Seventh Young Master how far behind he was and motivate him to study. After Seventh Young Master copied from Zheng Shan and still scored worse, Zheng Fa persuaded him to undergo two months of special training in talisman diagrams.

• Zheng Fa gave Gao Yuan, Seventh Young Master, and Zheng Shan one shichen to complete an exam.
• Seventh Young Master ran out of questions he could answer and watched Gao Yuan and Zheng Shan work.
• Zheng Shan tried to help Seventh Young Master by letting him copy her answers, and he secretly did so.
• Seventh Young Master learned that he had copied Zheng Shan's answers and still failed to beat her.
• Zheng Fa told Seventh Young Master that he could improve his talisman arts through a special two-month course without studying mathematics.
• Seventh Young Master agreed to the training after Zheng Fa called it the sea-of-diagrams tactic.

Zheng Fa forced Seventh Young Master to continue studying Talisman Diagrams with the threat of a vine from his mother. The return of his sister aboard an Azure Luan left Seventh Young Master calling for rescue while she failed to recognize him.

• Zheng Fa gave Seventh Young Master an even larger stack of Talisman Diagrams, but Seventh Young Master declared that he was done studying.
• Zheng Fa showed Seventh Young Master the Imperial Treasure Vine sent by Madam, and Seventh Young Master returned to his desk in fear of being whipped.
• Seventh Young Master complained about his miserable life, and an Azure Luan blotted out the sunlight as it passed overhead.
• Seventh Young Master recognized the Azure Luan and shouted for his returning sister to save him.
• The girl in red described the Zhao Family estate to her companion, then dismissed the man waving below as too scholarly and diligent to be her lazy younger brother.

Zhao Shan reunited with her mother and brought Senior Sister Zhang, a Golden Core talisman master, to the Zhao Residence to help her younger brother prepare for the Immortal Selection Fair. Senior Sister Zhang sought out Zheng Fa over his mathematics book, leaving him to realize she shared an unusual enthusiasm for solving problems.

• Zhao Shan reunited with Madam Zhao and introduced Senior Sister Zhang, who politely accepted the invitation to stay at the Zhao Residence.
• Senior Sister Zhang borrowed Middle School Mathematics and asked to meet its author, Zheng Fa.
• Zhao Shan told Madam Zhao she planned to have Senior Sister Zhang teach her younger brother talisman arts so he might qualify for the Azure Wood Sect.
• Zhao Shan said she would reserve a personal attendant position for Zheng Fa only if her brother passed the Immortal Selection Fair.
• Senior Sister Zhang visited Zheng Fa, questioned him about the mathematics book, and eagerly asked whether he solved problems for fun.

A mathematics-obsessed cultivator tested Zheng Fa with increasingly difficult arithmetic problems and eagerly demanded more. Meanwhile, the Eldest Miss returned to find Seventh Young Master studying Talisman Diagrams and arranged for Senior Sister Zhang to teach him, but he refused to go.

• The woman in green explained that she collected difficult arithmetic problems and asked Zheng Fa for harder ones.
• Zheng Fa wrote several problems for the woman, who solved them and repeatedly demanded more.
• The Eldest Miss hurried to Seventh Young Master's courtyard and was startled by his disheveled appearance and diligent study.
• The Eldest Miss praised Zheng Fa for helping the Zhao Family and told Seventh Young Master that Senior Sister Zhang would teach him talisman arts for two months.
• Seventh Young Master refused to go study under Senior Sister Zhang.

The Eldest Miss tried to persuade Zhao Jingfan to study under Senior Sister Zhang so he could enter an Immortal Sect, while he insisted on telling Zheng Fa before agreeing. As they approached Zheng Fa’s courtyard, they saw Senior Sister Zhang smiling warmly at him.

• The Eldest Miss threatened to beat Zhao Jingfan for refusing to learn from Senior Sister Zhang, but he said he could not abandon Zheng Fa after all his hard work teaching him.
• The Eldest Miss explained that the Immortal Selection Fair would be stricter and that Zheng Fa might lose his promised attendant slot if Zhao Jingfan failed to earn an upper-grade rating.
• Zhao Jingfan agreed to study under Senior Sister Zhang but insisted that he first tell Zheng Fa so Zheng Fa would not misunderstand.
• The Eldest Miss questioned Zhao Jingfan about Zheng Fa and warned him that Zheng Fa’s talent might mean little in the wider cultivation world.
• Zhao Jingfan recognized Senior Sister Zhang’s appearance and pointed her out smiling at Zheng Fa inside the small courtyard.