Chapter Summaries

Ming Yue’s big brother explained how people’s possessiveness and loss of respect can turn love and marriage into resentment, and urged partners to understand and cherish each other. He left Ming Yue with the advice that cultivation meant gaining the wisdom to face life and bring comfort to those around them.

• Ming Yue brought her big brother more beer and cigarettes so he would continue explaining his views.
• Ming Yue and her big brother discussed how possessiveness and neglecting respect could turn affection into attempts to control a partner.
• Her big brother described how spouses could trade accusations over money, housework, childcare, and family responsibilities until they considered divorce.
• Ming Yue asked whether ordinary people had any way to avoid such conflicts, and her big brother said they should preserve respect, fulfill their promises, and understand each other’s burdens.
• Her big brother said cultivation developed wisdom for facing life and widening one’s heart so others could feel at ease.

The narrator explained to Ming Yue how he used patterns of the heavenly dao to turn good habits, respectful conduct, and emotional control into instinct. Ming Yue was astonished but still struggled to understand the method.

• The narrator told Ming Yue that he valued mutual respect and a life partner over marriage, and described how he remembered and acted on the small things people told him.
• He explained that self-control and learning to change one’s thinking could make life easier, and that he turned human behavior into routines to free his mind for learning.
• The narrator said he followed the duties of each role in his life without worrying about how others judged him.
• Ming Yue asked what state the narrator had reached, and the narrator described living in the mortal world while keeping his mind detached from worldly attachments.
• The narrator explained that he borrowed the patterns of wind and rain to cultivate flexible cognition and habits, leaving Ming Yue amazed but confused.

Big Brother told Ming Yue how Black and White Impermanence caught a monk who kept escaping death by destroying his cherished alms bowl, then using his ingrained habit to lure him back. He explained the trick as a subconscious instinct and bragged that his knack for manipulating patterns could earn him two little worlds.

• Big Brother told Ming Yue how Black and White Impermanence found the old monk’s violet-gold alms bowl and struck it to draw his wandering soul back.
• The old monk tricked Black and White Impermanence into loosening his chains, smashed the bowl, and escaped into meditation again.
• Black and White Impermanence sought Big Brother’s help, and he arranged for them to strike an identical bowl beside the monk.
• The monk’s habit drew his soul back to investigate the familiar sound, allowing Black and White Impermanence to capture him and finish their assignment.
• Ming Yue asked why the plan worked, and Big Brother explained how familiar objects can trigger subconscious habits.

Big Brother explained to Ming Yue that other cultivators described spiritual states and theories without giving practical methods, while he taught concrete ways to cultivate and control thoughts. Ming Yue accepted his distinction and understood why he considered himself justified in boasting.

• Ming Yue warned Big Brother not to become arrogant, and he argued that he was already being low-key because he had actual cultivation methods.
• Big Brother asked Ming Yue to compare her understanding before and after learning from him, and she realized his teachings had given her clearer direction.
• Ming Yue recognized that other teachers mostly described cultivation states, while Big Brother explained methods such as Thought into Sword and Shifting Thoughts, Transforming Thoughts.
• Big Brother criticized teachers who discussed theories without explaining how to cultivate, and Ming Yue agreed that their advice offered little practical help.

The speaker explained that spiritual teachings were useless without practical methods and urged adapting one’s response to each situation instead of blindly enduring harm. He described devouring Negative Energy while preserving its useful qualities, and left his listener with the principle that everything depended on how it was used.

• The speaker criticized teachings that described suffering and family troubles without explaining how to address them.
• He said cultivation meant turning kindness into instinct while confronting harmful people appropriately, by fighting, fleeing, or calling the police as needed.
• The speaker declared that he was a Qi Eater who consumed the qi of demons, ghosts, immortals, gods, and other sources of Negative Energy.
• He explained that devouring negative emotions did not erase their useful qualities, which he could draw on when circumstances required them.
• The speaker concluded that emotions and traits had no fixed good or bad value because everything depended on how it was used.

The big brother explained how cultivation depended on comprehension, sincerity, and preserving one’s conscience, while balancing kindness with wisdom. He left the younger sibling reflecting on human selfishness after sharing stories of times he had helped people, including a child who tried to drown him.

• The big brother advised the younger sibling to read Wu You’s books and discuss cultivation to better understand their lessons.
• He explained that teaching only worked when learners sincerely applied what they learned, and that he and Wu You chose disciples according to character and affinity.
• The big brother defined conscience as one’s instinctive original heart and advised using wisdom to help others without recklessly endangering oneself.
• The younger sibling observed that people might harm others when their own interests or lives were threatened, and the big brother said he could only teach them to protect themselves and remain untainted.
• The big brother recounted helping a fallen child and rescuing swimmers, then described how a child he saved from drowning had pushed him underwater until he fought back and kicked the child toward shore.

A brother advised his younger companion on overcoming suffering, cultivating inner freedom, and understanding love without attachment. He left them with the view that when someone changes their heart, they should examine the situation, let that person go if needed, and avoid making themselves miserable.

• The brother urged the younger companion to learn from painful experiences without dwelling on forgiveness or keeping harmful people in their heart.
• The brother described how suffering could forge resolve and explained entering and leaving the world as states of the heart, shaped by attachment.
• The brother said that cultivation meant understanding and managing one's own desires and emotions rather than blaming others for them.
• The brother described immortal lovers as people who remained understanding, considerate, and true to each other through changing circumstances.
• The younger companion asked what to do if a loved one changed their heart, and the brother advised looking inward and letting them go if they no longer wanted to stay.

Big Brother explained to Ming Yue why ordinary people’s family affection, love, and friendship often become painful, and taught her that balanced detachment could preserve what mattered. He advised staying away from harmful relationships while growing stronger, then mocked Xiao Goudan for leaving to seek martial arts instead of learning from him.

• Big Brother told Ming Yue that ordinary people’s relationships often turned into obligations, conflict, and disappointment as their circumstances changed.
• Big Brother used handfuls of sand to explain that neither clinging nor rejecting was true letting go, and that a balanced heart could better preserve relationships.
• Ming Yue asked what to do about harmful family members, lovers, or friends, and Big Brother advised keeping away temporarily while cultivating discipline and willpower.
• Ming Yue asked whether a disciple might distance themselves from Big Brother, and he defended his treatment of Xiao Ling'er and criticized Xiao Goudan for leaving to seek martial arts.
• Big Brother claimed Xiao Ling'er flourished by staying with him, while Xiao Goudan had nearly been deceived by two older women in the mundane world.

Big Bro answered a reader’s question by explaining his Nine Layers of Meaning for cultivation, from Enlightenment to breaking the seal of Heaven and Earth. He told the reader to focus on cultivating in the human realm and promised to meet him at the Wuji Realm if he advanced far enough.

• Big Bro returned to his courtyard, meditated, and noticed a message from a reader asking for a detailed explanation of cultivation.
• Big Bro described the first five layers, from Enlightenment through Transcending Awareness, as stages cultivators could pursue in the human realm.
• Big Bro explained the later layers, including Heavenly Awakening, Void, and the Dao Beyond the Dao, and warned the reader not to provoke the gods and spirits of Huaxia.
• Big Bro said the explanation should be treated as fictional and told the reader to cultivate properly before worrying about the higher layers.
• Big Bro told the reader to fly toward the Wuji Realm and call for him if he reached the fifth or sixth layer and was ready to leave.

Big Bro gave his little sister several cultivation verses and explained Buddhist and Daoist ideas to his little brother, warning him not to imitate Big Bro’s extreme past practices. He ended by saying that despite repeatedly falling into demonic obsession, he had remained outwardly normal, aside from claiming to have an Asura King Dharma Body.

• Big Bro sent his little sister the Mingxin Secret and Ignorance Mantra, then gave her the simpler mnemonic Observe after learning she was seventeen and curious about cultivating immortality.
• After his little sister left, Big Bro sighed over how difficult it was to become a real person and recited Boundless to himself.
• Big Bro explained Buddhist and Daoist teachings to his little brother as ways to borrow ideas and change one’s habits, comparing their different approaches to climbing the same mountain.
• Big Bro described how his naive, all-or-nothing approach had led him through repeated demonic obsessions, including treating people, insects, and plants as equal, and warned his little brother not to imitate him.
• Big Bro said he had stayed outwardly normal throughout his practices, except for claiming that he possessed a three-headed, six-armed Asura King Dharma Body for fighting.

Big Brother explained how inward reflection, emotional detachment, and changing one’s beliefs could help a person remain calm and grow from hardship. He argued that a person’s character and confidence mattered more than external fortune, leaving his listener still trying to grasp the lesson.

• The listener asked why people should seek inward answers when others were clearly at fault, and Big Brother explained that refusing to entangle oneself with them could build lasting calm.
• Big Brother described how a steady heart could prevent the senses and thoughts from distorting how someone judged the world.
• The listener recognized that suffering and comfort could each help or hinder a person, depending on how they responded.
• Big Brother contrasted how poor and wealthy families raised children, saying that hardship and opportunity shaped habits and that the brain had to adopt new beliefs to escape pain.
• Big Brother used Zhu Yuanzhang as an example of someone whose belief in himself helped him rise from poverty, then argued that a person’s character and confidence were the true source of good fortune.
• The listener admitted he did not fully understand but said he might grasp the lesson after listening to Big Brother more.

Big Brother explained to his junior how cultivating a strong Jing Qi Shen and reclaiming the true self could lead to fearlessness and freedom. He described meditation as settling thoughts until the Primordial Spirit took charge, leaving the mind clear and under control.

• Big Brother told his junior that the Wuji Sword Sect should help its members become strong in themselves rather than depend on him.
• Big Brother explained that a flourishing Jing Qi Shen, a stable mind, and courage helped a cultivator resist fear and evil.
• Big Brother described seeking the true self as a path to freedom, urging people to accept change and act without clinging to outcomes.
• Big Brother explained that meditation meant stilling thoughts so the Primordial Spirit took charge, whether a person was sitting, walking, eating, or doing something else.
• Big Brother clarified that a clear mind did not mean thinking of nothing, but being able to choose what to think about instead of indulging in wild thoughts.

Big bro taught his little brother about overcoming ordinary habits and attachments, then explained the Four Dhyanas, Eight Samadhis, and Ten Ground Bodhisattvas. The lesson ended with the little brother realizing big bro seemed to embody the highest stages and asking how he cultivated so effortlessly.

• Big bro warned that people often stop valuing what comes easily and urged his little brother to remain humble and keep learning.
• Big bro explained breaking appearances and mastering the mind, then began teaching the Four Dhyanas and Eight Samadhis.
• Big bro described the stages of the Ten Ground Bodhisattvas and the qualities of each ground.
• The little brother noticed that big bro's descriptions sounded like him and asked whether he needed all that knowledge to cultivate.
• Big bro claimed he had subdued the fundamental source of difficulty by mastering the heart and spirit, leaving the little brother astonished and conceding that he could not compare.

A younger cultivator listened as his Big Brother explained how he had mastered his heart by creating methods to control his thoughts and emotions. Big Brother then taught him to show gratitude and respect to those close to him without clinging to repayment, leaving him with reflections on cultivating inner freedom.

• The younger cultivator reacted in disbelief as Big Brother described inventing methods to control his heart and emotions.
• The younger cultivator asked Big Brother to explain something other than cultivation, and Big Brother began discussing how people take kindness from loved ones for granted.
• Big Brother used examples of dumplings and noodles to show how people can treat strangers more appreciatively than family.
• Big Brother warned that excessive kindness can breed resentment and explained that cultivators should give without seeking a return.
• Big Brother concluded that strength meant allowing regret, hypocrisy, and unrewarded effort, and that blessings depended on whether the heart held desire or freedom.

Big Brother explained the Ship of Theseus and biological change to show that the self was impermanent, while cultivation sought the unchanging true mind or Innate Nature. He left his little brother with advice to practice non-attachment, act without ulterior motives, and cultivate wisdom and an open heart.

• Big Brother used the Ship of Theseus and the body's changing cells and thoughts to explain that a person had no fixed self.
• Big Brother connected impermanence and non-self to Buddhist teachings, Zhuangzi, and the Four Lessons of Master Yueh-fu.
• Big Brother said that the true mind, Innate Nature, and Primordial Spirit were the unchanging true self sought through cultivation.
• Big Brother argued that non-self meant acting without bargaining with gods or expecting repayment for helping others.
• Big Brother explained that cultivation meant gaining personal wisdom and living decisively without resentment or entanglement.

Big brother explained how master-disciple affinity depended on a disciple’s sincere disposition and subconscious respect, rather than formal titles or flattering words. He left the listener with a way to judge people by their hearts and said that those he accepted felt whatever they gave him was far too little.

• The listener asked Big brother to accept him as a formal disciple, and Big brother explained that he judged candidates by disposition, sincerity, and affinity.
• Big brother described how a little girl’s disrespectful familiarity severed her master-disciple affinity with him, though she could still learn from him.
• Big brother taught the listener to judge people by their unguarded reactions and explained that self-interest could hide beneath polite words.
• Big brother asked whether the listener would give up all his money for cultivation, and the listener realized he was weighing its benefits against its cost.
• Big brother said his accepted disciples felt whatever they gave him was far too little, and that this feeling showed their true hearts.

Big Bro explained comprehension, inner awareness, and cultivation to his stammering younger companion, linking control of thoughts and desires to insight into the laws of things. He left off boasting that his cultivated wisdom and righteous qi could let him master circumstances, resist aging, heal people, and overwhelm anyone who interfered.

• The younger companion suggested that Big Bro had been observing the laws and essence behind everything, and Big Bro praised his comprehension.
• Big Bro described comprehension as both the ability to understand things and an understanding of one’s own heart and innate nature.
• Big Bro explained that cultivation involved returning awareness inward, observing thoughts, and learning to control whether they continued.
• Big Bro told the younger companion that desire and attachment to external things obscured wisdom, while feeling complete already helped a person obtain what they sought.
• Big Bro connected cultivated wisdom to recognizing and controlling changing laws, then claimed it could lead to longevity, youthful vigor, healing, and powerful righteous qi.
• Big Bro imagined intimidating anyone who interrupted him while he treated a patient, declaring himself a living Demon God Tai Sui Lord.

Big Bro explained how mastering the laws of the Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Souls could let someone control their thoughts, habits, and fate instead of being controlled by them. He left his listener struggling to understand, then used an example about controlling lustful thoughts and bodily reactions to make the idea more concrete.

• Big Bro said the I Ching’s lessons about Heaven and Earth contained the principles behind all other things.
• Big Bro described subduing the little self, transcending higher dimensions and nothingness, and mastering the arising and passing of thoughts and emotions.
• Big Bro explained how awareness could control the Human Soul, direct what the Earthly Soul recorded, and use the Heavenly Soul’s laws to shape habits.
• Big Bro claimed that controlling all three Souls meant standing beyond their laws and choosing one’s own thoughts, personality, and fate.
• When his listener still struggled to understand, Big Bro illustrated his point with an example of choosing whether to entertain lustful thoughts or bodily reactions.

Big Bro taught his little brother practical ways to build confidence and cultivate steadily, emphasizing that mastering one simple practice mattered more than rushing through many. He left him with advice to focus every activity on cultivating the heart and refining a single skill.

• Big Bro advised his little brother to improve his manners, appearance, and confidence, and to borrow peaceful surroundings to settle his mind.
• Big Bro compared cultivation to learning to crawl, walk, and run, telling his little brother to master each stage before moving on.
• Big Bro explained that Thought into Sword could cut off distracting thoughts, and urged his little brother to build one practice patiently while learning other ideas.
• Big Bro argued that refining one skill brought mastery more effectively than spreading effort across many pursuits.
• Big Bro explained that he turned everyday activities into cultivation by focusing on the heart and learning from whatever he did.

Big Brother lectured his younger companion on meditation, insisting that cultivation required settling and controlling the mind rather than chasing sensations or images. He explained the Earth Store King as the heart’s mastery over thoughts and emotions, leaving the companion to absorb his teaching.

• Big Brother criticized his companion for letting his attention wander during breath observation and explained that meditation trained the mind to remain still.
• Big Brother warned that forcing qi to circulate or following confused teachers could harm the body, and urged his companion to relax and let the body work naturally.
• Big Brother explained how controlling thoughts could interrupt unwanted sadness or excitement, describing this discipline as a heart method.
• Big Brother interpreted Earth Store King as becoming sovereign over the heart and its thoughts, and said that eliminating inner hell meant ending dualistic opposition.