Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu was badly injured when the youth who had become impervious to blades struck him, but he discovered a bloodstained jade piece that had fallen from the youth’s clothes. After tending to his injuries overnight, Chu Mu planned to take months of paid leave while remaining wary of the sealed Mine.

• The youth shattered Chu Mu’s treasured blade with one punch, sent him crashing into a wall, and fled as Li Jinghong led Patrol Inspectors in pursuit.
• Chu Mu examined the shattered blade and found a bloodstained jade piece that appeared to have fallen from the youth’s chest.
• Chu Mu used Spirit Radiance Blessing to review the fight, tucked the jade piece away, and limped home.
• Chu Mu spent the night treating his bruises and injuries, then wrapped himself up to make his wounds seem serious enough to justify paid leave.
• Chu Mu decided to recuperate for two or three months and remained concerned that the Mine’s lockdown and lack of news concealed a dangerous situation.

After recovering from the previous night’s battle, Chu Mu learned that the attackers had killed one person, escaped with two others, and stolen the Dried Corpse. He returned to Mingxin Hall to study, where he suspected Old Li was secretly treating the escaped youth.

• Wu Shuo told Chu Mu that one attacker had been killed, two had escaped, the Dried Corpse was taken, and a Patrol Supervisor had been injured.
• Wu Shuo gave Chu Mu his share of the iron mine’s earnings for the past two months.
• Chu Mu left the Patrol Inspectorate and saw how unrest and fear had emptied Nanshan Town.
• Chu Mu visited the devastated area and reflected on the power of the transcendent world before heading to Mingxin Hall to study.
• Chu Mu heard unfamiliar footsteps upstairs and suspected Old Li was secretly meeting or treating the escaped youth, but decided not to interfere.

The Cyan-Clothed Man told Old Li that Chu Mu had used a Spirit Energy Bomb and a Puppet Arm, prompting them to plan how to exploit Li Chang’s movements. After Old Li left the room, Chu Mu grew suspicious of Mingxin Hall and its apprentices, then accompanied Old Li on house calls.

• The Cyan-Clothed Man told Old Li that Chu Mu had ambushed him with a Puppet Arm and might possess an artifact-refining inheritance.
• Old Li and the Cyan-Clothed Man agreed they could create a false appearance to lure Li Chang away rather than confront him directly.
• The Cyan-Clothed Man restored the invisible barrier around Mingxin Hall’s second floor after Old Li removed it.
• Chu Mu noticed signs of Martial Arts among the apprentices and wondered why Old Li had settled in Nanshan Town for so long.
• Old Li invited Chu Mu to join him on house calls, and Chu Mu set out with him and an apprentice.

Chu Mu questioned Old Li about qi-and-blood cultivation and learned that understanding people and medicine could reveal what his body needed. After spending the day treating wounded patrol inspectors alongside Old Li, Chu Mu’s ambition to master medicine became clearer.

• Old Li taught Chu Mu that medicine depended on understanding people’s needs and the properties of medicinal materials.
• Chu Mu asked whether qi-and-blood cultivation could be more than years of painstaking work, and Old Li hinted at a darker extraordinary world.
• Chu Mu suspected Old Li had once encountered the extraordinary world but decided to remain patient and wait for his purpose to become clear.
• Chu Mu accompanied Old Li on house calls to treat dozens of patrol inspectors injured in the previous night’s battle.
• Watching Old Li treat patients and combine medicines showed Chu Mu how shallow his own medical knowledge was and clarified what he wanted to pursue.

Chu Mu studied how medicinal properties affected his body, then returned home and learned that He San had died in the previous night's attack before he could marry the young woman he had forced into the match. As He San's funeral took place next door, cries of alarm erupted and the gathering descended into chaos.

• Chu Mu used Spirit Radiance Blessing to observe how Yang Extremity Grass raised yang fire and Flowing Yin Grass calmed it.
• Chu Mu returned home and found Xu Yuan repairing the roof and caring for Wangcai.
• Xu Yuan told Chu Mu that Wu He and many others from Team Two had died, and that several Grievance Souls had appeared.
• Xu Yuan explained that He San had taken control of the young woman's debts and forced her to marry him, but He San died in the previous night's attack.
• Chu Mu looked toward He San's funeral and heard cries of alarm as the gathering erupted into chaos.

A dried corpse became a zombie and attacked Chu Mu after bursting through the courtyard wall. Chu Mu fought back, but his weapons and strength could barely slow it as it leapt onto the roof toward him.

• A shriveled corpse sprang from a room and drained a woman of her life, prompting the courtyard to descend into panic.
• Chu Mu realized the corpse had become a zombie and led Xu Yuan toward the street, but the zombie smashed through the courtyard wall and fixed on him.
• Chu Mu took Xu Yuan’s saber and told him to run for help before charging the zombie with a slash that broke the blade.
• The zombie wounded Chu Mu despite his evasive move, and his punch did not harm it.
• Chu Mu retreated to a rooftop, but the zombie tore apart a ladder and leapt above the roof ridge toward him.

Chu Mu discovered that the Dried Corpse pursued people with stronger qi and blood, while its lack of intelligence let him evade it. Li Jinghong arrived and fought the creature, leaving Chu Mu to watch the destruction and reconsider the power he had seen from the White-Robed Man.

• Chu Mu tricked the Dried Corpse into repeatedly smashing through his roof, then kicked it back inside and escaped to a neighboring roof.
• Wu Shuo threw Chu Mu a saber and drew the Dried Corpse's attention, but it soon switched targets to him.
• Li Jinghong arrived with patrolmen and kicked the Dried Corpse away, after which it began attacking him instead.
• Chu Mu suspected the Dried Corpse targeted people according to the strength of their qi and blood.
• Li Jinghong repeatedly battered the Dried Corpse, demolishing nearby buildings as Chu Mu compared his strength with the White-Robed Man's.

Li Jinghong destroyed He San’s transformed corpse, while Chu Mu investigated the aftermath and found his home reduced to rubble. He left the grieving He San’s widow behind and planned to stay at an inn for the night.

• Li Jinghong beat He San’s dried corpse to pieces and learned from Wu Shuo that He Ning had brought it back without cremating it.
• Chu Mu found the wreckage of the He family home and discovered He San’s young widow sobbing behind the shattered coffin.
• Chu Mu searched the scene for clues about the corpse transformation but found nothing, then learned Wu Shuo also had no answers.
• Chu Mu returned to his ruined home and salvaged only a dozen medical books from the debris.
• Xu Yuan offered Chu Mu a place to stay, but Chu Mu declined and said he would go to an inn.

After Nanshan Town was devastated, Chu Mu spent a sleepless night reflecting on his greed, the extraordinary knowledge in Old Li’s medical books, and the world beyond his experience. The next morning, he returned to Mingxin Hall, where Old Li explained that Yin Qi could turn a corpse into a Living Corpse but discouraged Chu Mu from probing further.

• Chu Mu blamed his greed for keeping him entangled in the trouble surrounding Nanshan Town and studied the fluorescent Jade Piece and the unusually rigorous Medical Books from Mingxin Hall.
• After a night of qi-and-blood cultivation, Chu Mu left the inn with two Medical Books and went to Mingxin Hall.
• Old Li told Chu Mu that a Grievance Soul could taint a corpse with Yin Qi and turn it into a Living Corpse, though this happened only under certain conditions.
• When Chu Mu asked what affected the transformation, Old Li withheld part of his answer and warned him not to pursue matters beyond his current cultivation.
• Chu Mu accepted Old Li’s advice and began sorting the medicinal materials.

While sorting medicinal materials at the Medicine Hall, Chu Mu discovered that Old Li’s ordinary-looking herbs were rare specimens that had grown for decades. He carefully examined the collection, applying his Medical Book knowledge to identify the herbs and their ages.

• Chu Mu eagerly sorted sacks of medicinal materials while Old Li watched him thoughtfully.
• Old Li told Chu Mu to sort the herbs in a wooden box, where Chu Mu found many finely crafted inner boxes.
• Chu Mu recognized the first herb as Xia Ku Cao and realized its growth markings showed it was around fifty or sixty years old.
• Chu Mu opened more boxes and identified a roughly twenty-year-old Ban Xia among the seemingly ordinary herbs.
• Chu Mu continued examining the rare medicinal materials, matching their ages and features to his Medical Book knowledge.

Chu Mu examined twenty-eight aged medicinal herbs and learned from Old Li that their medicinal properties depended on their precise age and growing conditions. After Old Li identified a Qing Ning Ginseng as thirty-six years and eight months old, Chu Mu felt the same strange desire he had felt toward a Blood-Colored Pill and suspected it came from the broken rootlet.

• Chu Mu identified the twenty-eight herbs in the wooden boxes and realized how rare and valuable they were.
• Chu Mu thanked Old Li sincerely for showing him the aged medicinal materials.
• Old Li taught Chu Mu that herbs could change their medicinal properties after passing their growth cycles, making precise knowledge of age essential.
• Old Li chewed a rootlet and identified the Qing Ning Ginseng as thirty-six years and eight months old.
• Chu Mu felt an intense desire after Old Li broke off the rootlet and connected it to his earlier reaction to the Blood-Colored Pill.

Chu Mu examined a patient under Old Li’s guidance and realized that treating illness and supporting Qi-Blood cultivation both depended on matching medicine to the body’s condition. He used Spirit Radiance Blessing to study Old Li’s medical casebook more deeply.

• Old Li showed Chu Mu the Qing Ning Ginseng and explained that understanding how to use external forces mattered more than merely possessing them.
• Old Li asked Chu Mu to diagnose a woman suffering stomach pain, and Chu Mu identified her condition as Yang deficiency and Yin excess.
• Chu Mu proposed a warming prescription, but Old Li wrote his own formula and told Chu Mu to study it.
• Chu Mu realized that supporting Qi-Blood cultivation required balancing the body’s Yin Yang Five Elements just as medical treatment did.
• Chu Mu struggled to understand Old Li’s casebook, then invoked Spirit Radiance Blessing and resumed reading.

Chu Mu gathered medicinal materials on Goose-Shaped Mountain while reflecting on his medical studies, blade practice, and slow Qi-Blood cultivation. He planned to return to Nanshan Town and test whether he could keep taking leave from the Patrol Inspectorate.

• Chu Mu entered Goose-Shaped Mountain to collect medicinal materials and carefully gathered White Spot Mushrooms.
• Chu Mu ate lunch on a boulder and watched the Mine mountain where the Ice Sculptures had been found.
• Chu Mu considered the Mine's strict lockdown and planned to see whether he could continue taking leave.
• Chu Mu checked his Light Screen Panel and saw his Spirit Radiance Value had fallen to 96.9% after investing heavily in medicine.
• Chu Mu reviewed his progress: he had reached Initial Understanding in Knowledge of People and Herbs, while his Body Forging Art had advanced only slightly.

Chu Mu examined the Body Forging Art’s auxiliary formulas and reflected on how understanding and using external forces could improve cultivation. While training in the mountains, he noticed his Qi-Blood became more active there and began searching for the reason.

• Chu Mu reviewed three cultivation formulas, judged them crude and possibly later additions to the Body Forging Art, but admitted he lacked the skill to improve them.
• Chu Mu considered whether Old Li was deliberately guiding him toward deeper methods of using Medicinal Materials, unlike the other Medicine Hall apprentices.
• Chu Mu practiced Stance Training in the mountains and recognized how much his strength had improved after months of Qi-Blood cultivation.
• Chu Mu noticed his Qi-Blood grew more active when he cultivated in the mountains and wondered whether the quiet environment or lack of people caused it.

Chu Mu investigated why his Qi-Blood grew more active in the mountains and wondered whether an unusually perfect rice seedling could be improved further. Old Li confirmed that people had cultivated the rice and explained that the mountains held denser spiritual energy, leaving Chu Mu poised to ask about it.

• Chu Mu searched Goose-Shaped Mountain for the cause of his Qi-Blood changes but found no clear answer.
• On his way back to Nanshan Town, Chu Mu examined a rice seedling and took one to test whether he could grow it at home.
• Chu Mu asked Old Li why the rice seedling seemed so perfect, and Old Li said it had been improved by people devoted to the Knowledge of Plants.
• Chu Mu told Old Li that his Qi-Blood had become more active in the mountains.
• Old Li attributed the change to the mountains' denser spiritual energy, and Chu Mu began asking what spiritual energy was.

Old Li explained to Chu Mu how Qi-Blood cultivation led to Spirit Manifestation, how Spirit Roots determined aptitude, and how cultivators began sensing spiritual qi. He left Chu Mu with the warning that the Immortal Path stretched on and that a cultivator’s attitude toward power determined whether they sought truth.

• Old Li explained that Qi-Blood cultivation strengthened Essence, Qi, and Spirit, with Spirit Manifestation allowing someone to sense spiritual qi and enter the Immortal Path.
• Old Li told Chu Mu that spiritual qi was far more potent than Energy of Five Grains and could nourish even ordinary people in places where it was dense.
• Old Li described Heavenly, Earthly, False, Waste, and Mutated Spiritual Roots and compared their spiritual qi affinity and cultivation speeds.
• Old Li said cultivators drew power from external sources, but their choices determined whether they became bound by power or pursued truth.

After Old Li revealed that Qi-Blood cultivation could lead to the Immortal Path of Spirit Manifestation, Chu Mu resolved to continue studying medicine and herbs while following the path steadily. Back in his rebuilt home, he considered how to reach Spirit Manifestation sooner but accepted that he lacked the means to bypass Qi-Blood cultivation for now.

• Old Li explained that cultivators who kept seeking truth might walk the Immortal Path more smoothly, and Chu Mu left Mingxin Hall newly certain that Spirit Manifestation was the goal of cultivation.
• Chu Mu returned to his rebuilt courtyard, which had been renovated with fifty silver in compensation for the earlier disturbance.
• Chu Mu sorted the medicinal materials he had gathered and reflected on how his knowledge of people and herbs might help him enter the Immortal Path.
• Chu Mu wondered whether he could make his spirit soul manifest early, but concluded he had no choice but to keep cultivating Qi-Blood and practicing medicine.
• Chu Mu decided to stay calm, continue learning from Old Li, and follow his teacher’s pace as he sought the truth.

Old Li discussed Chu Mu’s exceptional Comprehension and poor Spirit Root aptitude with the Cyan-Clothed Man, while denying that his medical studies amounted to true Alchemy. Chu Mu discovered a Medical Book missing from his room, recovered it from Old Li, and then saw the Little Widow struggling at a cloth shop.

• The Cyan-Clothed Man questioned why Old Li had told Chu Mu so much, and Old Li said Chu Mu’s ability to endure patiently would matter more than his poor aptitude.
• The Cyan-Clothed Man suspected Old Li was teaching Chu Mu Alchemy, but Old Li described his research as basic medical knowledge and offered to teach him for Spirit Stones.
• Chu Mu noticed that a Medical Book was missing and another had been moved, so he suspected someone had searched his room.
• Chu Mu went to Mingxin Hall, where Old Li returned the missing book and said Chu Mu had left it behind.
• Chu Mu wondered about Storage Bags and noticed the Little Widow being told that cloth she wanted to buy was poor quality, but he continued on without getting involved.

Chu Mu advanced his Basic Blade Technique to Entering the Hall, discovering that his control and concentration had improved as he considered ways to cultivate his spirit. A sudden mass mobilization of Patrol Inspectors in Nanshan Town drew his attention toward the Mine.

• Chu Mu advanced his Basic Blade Technique to Entering the Hall and found he could sense his Qi-Blood more easily and control his blade with greater precision.
• Chu Mu speculated that blade practice, Qi-Blood cultivation, and spirit-nourishing medicines could help him achieve Spirit Manifestation and enter the Immortal Path.
• Dozens of Patrol Inspectors rushed past Chu Mu's courtyard, and a shrill whistle sounded, though he stayed behind because he was recovering from an injury sustained in the line of duty.
• Chu Mu saw Patrol Inspectors filling the streets and estimated that more than two thousand had gathered in Nanshan Town under Li Jinghong's command.
• Chu Mu looked toward the Mine, which stood out among the mountains beside the smoke rising from the Iron Smelting Factory.

Chu Mu shut himself away from the turmoil while a revolt erupted at Nanshan Iron Mine, where forced laborers fled and patrol inspectors brutally suppressed them. The chaos spread into Nanshan Town, and a fleeing laborer killed a woman and began looting.

• Chu Mu closed his courtyard gate and continued reading, practicing martial arts, and tending medicinal plants as he ignored the unrest outside.
• Forced laborers rebelled at Nanshan Iron Mine, and many fled into the mountains while Li Jinghong led patrol inspectors to block the route to Nanshan Town.
• Reinforcements arrived from Nanshan Town, and Li Jinghong ordered a merciless suppression that turned the mine into a slaughter.
• The fleeing forced laborers carried the chaos into Nanshan Town, where one man killed a woman and stole her money.