Chapter Summaries

After Lin Taichu obtained the Kirin Ganoderma, the emperor rewarded him by making him Commander of the Imperial Guards. Lin Taichu and Old Man of Medicine discovered a cliffside garden of ancient spirit medicines, and Old Man of Medicine concluded that the emperor had sent Lin Taichu there to test whether he could find and claim them.

• Lin Taichu delivered the Kirin Ganoderma to the emperor, who confirmed it was genuine and promoted him to Commander of the Imperial Guards.
• Lin Taichu returned to the Imperial Guards' camp, then visited Old Man of Medicine for a follow-up examination and described the glowing plants and red fruits he had seen on Southern Mountain's cliff.
• Old Man of Medicine rushed with Lin Taichu to the cliff and identified the plants as Purple Flame Grass and Dragon Saliva Fruit, confirming that the cracks held a medicinal garden of tens-of-thousands-of-years-old spirit medicines.
• Old Man of Medicine reasoned that the emperor had deliberately sent Lin Taichu to discover the garden and test his ability to obtain its treasures.

Lin Taichu discovered that the Emperor had entrusted him with South Mountain Medicine Garden, and he used its spiritual herbs to restore and strengthen his cultivation. The Emperor then abruptly dismissed him as Commander of the Imperial Guards, leaving Lin Taichu and the Prince wondering what he was planning.

• The Chief Eunuch delivered the Emperor's decree placing South Mountain Medicine Garden under Lin Taichu's care and ordering its hidden guards to obey him.
• Old Man of Medicine warned Lin Taichu to keep the garden secret, especially from the Third Prince, and prepared its spiritual herbs to heal his meridians.
• After half a month of treatment, Lin Taichu's cultivation surpassed his former peak, and he continued training the Imperial Guards.
• The Emperor summoned Lin Taichu and relieved him of command, telling him to return to the Prince's Mansion because the Third Prince had reined himself in.
• Lin Taichu showed the decree to the Prince, who suspected the sudden dismissal concealed another scheme or arrangement.

After being dismissed from the Imperial Guards, Lin Taichu rejected Wang Yue’s feelings because he could not promise to settle down. Old Man of Medicine explained that the emperor had dismissed him to protect him and give him freedom, and Lin Taichu began adjusting to life at the prince’s estate.

• Wang Yue brought Lin Taichu chicken soup, and he apologized before explaining that he could not marry her or promise to stay.
• Wang Yue accepted his decision, and Lin Taichu left the room in distress.
• Lin Taichu spent several days in his courtyard while Wang Yue and the Prince avoided bringing up marriage.
• Old Man of Medicine told Lin Taichu that the emperor had dismissed him to protect him from the Third Prince and free him from official duties.
• Old Man of Medicine advised Lin Taichu to repay the Prince and Wang Yue by helping and protecting them when needed, then announced he was heading south to gather herbs.
• Lin Taichu resumed his daily routine at the estate, practicing with his trident and occasionally seeing Wang Yue.

Lin Taichu set out to leave the Prince's residence for the Jianghu, but rushed to the imperial palace when the Third Prince launched a rebellion. The Imperial Guards arrived and turned the battle against the rebels, revealing that the emperor had staged Lin Taichu's dismissal to lure the Third Prince into a trap.

• Lin Taichu told the Prince he planned to leave for the Jianghu, but a guard reported that the Third Prince had surrounded the imperial palace with rebel troops.
• Lin Taichu refused the Prince's warning, accepted a cloak from Wang Yue, and rode to the palace to defend the emperor.
• Lin Taichu fought through the rebel soldiers and confronted the Third Prince outside the main hall.
• The Third Prince summoned over a hundred soldiers, and Lin Taichu began to struggle against their numbers.
• The Imperial Guards arrived under a Martial General, defeated the rebels, and protected Lin Taichu.
• The Martial General explained that the emperor had secretly ordered the Imperial Guards to wait for the Third Prince's rebellion, and Lin Taichu realized his dismissal had been a ruse.

After the Third Prince’s rebellion was suppressed, Lin Taichu rejected a high court position and chose to leave the capital for the freedom of Jianghu. The Emperor agreed to give the general’s title to the Prince while allowing Lin Taichu to keep South Mountain Medicine Garden and return whenever he wished.

• The Emperor credited Lin Taichu with helping capture the Third Prince, kept him as Commander of the Imperial Guards, and bestowed South Mountain Medicine Garden upon him.
• Lin Taichu returned to the prince's residence, where Wang Yue and the Prince welcomed him, and Imperial Guards delivered golden armor ahead of his planned appointment as Grand General Who Stabilizes the Nation.
• Lin Taichu refused the armor and told the Prince he wanted to avoid court duties, proposing that the Prince take the general’s title instead.
• Wang Yue wept when Lin Taichu explained that he planned to leave for Jianghu, while the Prince accepted that he could not change Lin Taichu’s mind.
• Lin Taichu asked the Emperor to withdraw his appointment, and the Emperor agreed to appoint the Prince, let Lin Taichu leave the capital, and keep South Mountain Medicine Garden granted to him.

After learning medicine and Poisonous Arts from Old Man of Medicine, Lin Taichu traveled to the Poisonous Fog Land to find Five-Poison Immunity Grass. He stole the grass during a Healing Immortal Medical Hall assessment and escaped while the rival teams fought over a false clue.

• Lin Taichu spent more than two months studying medicine and Poisonous Arts with Old Man of Medicine, who told him about Five-Poison Immunity Grass in the Poisonous Fog Land and gave him supplies and a map.
• Lin Taichu entered the Poisonous Fog Land, killed a Black Poison Python, and treated the poisoning caused by its tail strike.
• Lin Taichu found Five-Poison Immunity Grass in a clearing and overheard two teams say it was the third-round assessment item for apprentice candidates at the Healing Immortal Medical Hall.
• Lin Taichu pulled up the three stalks and ran, then planted a Detoxification Pill wrapper to make Captain Zhang’s team suspect Captain Zhao’s team had hidden the grass.
• Zhang Lei and Zhao Hu’s teams began fighting, allowing Lin Taichu to escape toward the edge of the Poisonous Fog Land.

Lin Taichu was accepted as an apprentice at the Healing Immortal Medical Hall after impressing its hall master with his knowledge of the Five-Poison Immunity Grass and a Black Poison Python. After five days of study, he began a new assessment alone, making a poison while other apprentices doubted him.

• Lin Taichu escaped the Poisonous Fog Land with three stalks of Five-Poison Immunity Grass, and Zhao Hu and Zhang Lei accused him of stealing it.
• Lin Taichu explained how he had gathered the grass and survived a Black Poison Python, and the hall master invited him to become an apprentice.
• Zhao Hu and Zhang Lei were dismissed after failing the assessment, while Lin Taichu joined the Healing Immortal Medical Hall and told the hall master he was Old Man of Medicine's disciple.
• After five days of studying and helping at the medical hall, Lin Taichu learned that apprentices had to make a poison and then create an antidote to a randomly assigned poison.
• Lin Taichu worked alone to prepare a dark poisonous liquid, submitted it as bottle thirty-seven, and watched as the masters mixed and renumbered the poisons for the next stage.

Lin Taichu proved his skill in the poison assessment, then learned that three stalks of Purple Flame Grass had been stolen from the South Mountain Medicine Garden. He left the medical hall to investigate the theft.

• The director identified Lin Taichu's submission as the ancient Five Poisons Xunyang Powder and offered him direct advancement, but Lin Taichu chose to take part in the antidote round.
• Lin Taichu quickly identified and cured poison number fifteen, while the tall, skinny man's team failed to recognize the Five Poisons Xunyang Powder and poisoned themselves with a hastily mixed antidote.
• The director and masters rescued the team, and the crowd stopped objecting to Lin Taichu's advancement.
• A guard from the South Mountain Medicine Garden told Lin Taichu that black-clothed intruders had knocked out the guards and stolen three stalks of Purple Flame Grass.
• The director urged Lin Taichu to investigate and promised to hold his place at the medical hall, so Lin Taichu left for South Mountain with the guard.

Lin Taichu investigated the theft of Purple Flame Grass and traced it to the reemerged Snake Shadow Cult, which planned to make the deadly Seven Absolute Poisons. He entered their hidden cave on Heifeng Mountain and found the stolen herbs beside a smoking medicinal furnace.

• Lin Taichu found a token marked with “shadow” and a snake-patterned scrap of cloth at the South Mountain Medicine Garden, where the Purple Flame Grass had been stolen.
• Lin Taichu learned from the Healing Immortal Medical Hall director that the Snake Shadow Cult might be rebuilding the forbidden Seven Absolute Poisons and could be hiding near Heifeng Mountain.
• Lin Taichu traveled to Heifeng Mountain, followed two Snake Shadow Cult members, and discovered their concealed cave.
• Lin Taichu entered the cave and saw more than a dozen black-clothed men, a smoking medicinal furnace, and the stolen Purple Flame Grass.

Lin Taichu stole the Purple Flame Grass from the Snake Shadow Cult but was caught in Soul-Confusing Powder while trying to escape. After misleading the Cult Master’s men, he hid from another search party and concealed himself in tall grass as they turned back.

• Lin Taichu burst into the stone chamber, incapacitated two guards with Poison Powder, and stole all three stalks of Purple Flame Grass.
• The Cult Master pursued Lin Taichu through the cave and trapped him near the entrance with Soul-Confusing Powder.
• Lin Taichu dodged the Cult Master’s attack, escaped outside, and misled the pursuers using Tracking Powder before hiding in the woods.
• Lin Taichu confirmed the Purple Flame Grass was safe, then hid behind a tree as several Black-clothed Men searched nearby.
• After the searchers passed, Lin Taichu moved away quietly, heard them return, and hid in waist-high grass on an earthen slope.

Lin Taichu returned the Purple Flame Grass to the Healing Immortal Medical Hall and warned the hall master that the Snake Shadow Cult had resurfaced to make the Seven Absolute Poisons. After recovering, he joined the apprentices’ final assessment and began trying to poison his cautious mentor, Master Wang, without being detected.

• Patrol soldiers chased off the black-clothed men and took Lin Taichu, still carrying the Purple Flame Grass, back to the Healing Immortal Medical Hall.
• Lin Taichu told the hall master that the Snake Shadow Cult planned to refine the Seven Absolute Poisons, and they decided to ask the authorities to investigate rather than assault the cult’s cave.
• The Guard by the emperor’s side reported that investigators had been dispatched near Heifeng Mountain, while Lin Taichu recuperated at the medical hall for about half a month.
• Lin Taichu joined the final assessment, whose challenge was to poison an assigned mentor without being discovered, and was matched with Master Wang.
• Master Wang scrutinized food, herbs, medicine, and his room for signs of tampering as Lin Taichu quietly observed him through the first day.
• Lin Taichu prepared to use odorless, slow-evaporating Bewitching Incense, then followed Master Wang again on the second day.

Lin Taichu passed the Healing Immortal Medical Hall assessment by secretly poisoning Master Wang with Bewitching Incense and giving him the antidote when it took effect. After learning the Snake Shadow Cult had gone into hiding and a captured disciple refused to talk, Lin Taichu visited the prisoner to examine him.

• Master Wang watched Lin Taichu throughout the assessment but failed to detect the slow-acting Bewitching Incense he had been inhaling.
• At the assessment’s end, Lin Taichu gave Master Wang an antidote and explained how he had poisoned him, earning official apprentice status at the Healing Immortal Medical Hall.
• An Imperial Guard told Lin Taichu that the Snake Shadow Cult’s attempt to refine the Seven Absolute Poisons had failed and that a captured disciple refused to reveal information.
• The next morning, Lin Taichu went with the guard to the prison and approached the silent disciple, who recoiled when Lin Taichu tried to take his pulse.

Lin Taichu uncovered signs that Amu was lying about the Snake Shadow Cult’s hideout and redirected the investigation toward abandoned medicine huts. While learning at the Healing Immortal Medical Hall, Lin Taichu examined an unconscious man and recognized that someone had deliberately poisoned him.

• Amu told Lin Taichu that the Snake Shadow Cult’s base was behind a waterfall on Heifeng Mountain and that the cult sought Purple Flame Grass.
• Lin Taichu noticed a suspicious needle mark on Amu’s wrist and concluded that Amu had given them false information to lure them away.
• Lin Taichu ordered the guard to watch Amu, keep a distant eye on the waterfall, and investigate abandoned medicine huts south and west of the city.
• Lin Taichu returned to the Healing Immortal Medical Hall and spent the next few days learning from Physician Li.
• A farmer’s father arrived unconscious after a small cut, and Lin Taichu identified the poisoning as deliberate.

Lin Taichu discovered that the Snake Shadow Cult had poisoned the river west of the city to force the exchange of Purple Flame Grass for an antidote. After treating the villagers, he set an ambush at an abandoned temple and confronted a Cult messenger, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Lin Taichu identified poison on an old man's wound, treated him, and learned that two men in black had been seen near the western river.
• Lin Taichu found matching poison on the grass and in the river, then discovered a note revealing the Snake Shadow Cult's plan to demand Purple Flame Grass in exchange for an antidote.
• Lin Taichu prepared medicine to counter the poison and arranged for villagers exposed to the river water to receive treatment.
• After Amu revealed that a messenger would come to the abandoned temple at midnight, Lin Taichu took a Detoxification Pill and waited there with guards hidden outside.
• A black-clothed messenger entered the temple looking for Amu, and Lin Taichu attacked him with Poison Powder.

Lin Taichu captured a Snake Shadow Cult disciple and learned the cult had poisoned a northern well and was based in an abandoned medicine hut, which he raided with his guards. After the cult members refused to answer questions in prison, Lin Taichu suspected they had been poisoned or controlled when one prisoner panicked at his touch.

• Lin Taichu captured a black-clothed Snake Shadow Cult disciple, who revealed the cult’s stronghold was an abandoned medicine hut and that a northern well had also been poisoned.
• Lin Taichu sent guards to investigate the well and surround the medicine hut, then used the captive’s instructions to avoid its poison crossbows and Soul-Confusing Formation.
• Lin Taichu and the guards stormed the medicine hut and subdued more than twenty Snake Shadow Cult disciples.
• Lin Taichu questioned the captured disciples about Cult Master Black Snake and other poisonings, but they remained silent and were sent to prison.
• Lin Taichu later found a prisoner trembling and speaking of poison, then suspected the disciples had been poisoned or controlled when the man recoiled from his touch.

Lin Taichu developed an antidote for the poison the Snake Shadow Cult used to control its Disciples and learned that Black Snake had a hideout on South Mountain. The Guards found the concealed cave and surrounded Black Snake and his Core Disciples.

• Lin Taichu suspected the prisoners were suffering from a poison linked to the Snake Shadow Cult's use of Purple Flame Grass, and the director agreed to let him research an antidote.
• Lin Taichu tested and refined a Purple Flame Grass-based medicine until he created an antidote that restored the prisoners' clarity.
• The prisoners told Lin Taichu that Cult Master Black Snake had poisoned them to control them and had fled to a secret cave on South Mountain with several Core Disciples.
• Lin Taichu shared the prisoners' information with the director and the Guards, who organized a search of South Mountain.
• The Guards discovered the concealed cave, found Black Snake inside, and surrounded him and his Core Disciples.

Lin Taichu captured Black Snake and his Core Disciples after stopping their escape, then gave Black Snake an antidote that freed him from his controller’s influence. Black Snake agreed to speak, but said he did not know the mastermind’s identity.

• Black Snake used a smoke bomb to flee through a hidden cave exit, but Lin Taichu ambushed him and subdued him and the Core Disciples.
• The Guards tied up Black Snake and the others and took them to the cells, where Lin Taichu questioned Black Snake about other poison sites and the person controlling him.
• Black Snake refused to identify the mastermind and warned Lin Taichu that more people would be poisoned while that person remained free.
• Lin Taichu offered Black Snake an antidote, and Black Snake swallowed a pill that relieved his pain and ended the feeling of being controlled.
• Black Snake told Lin Taichu that he did not know exactly who the person behind the scenes was.

Lin Taichu treated the Lingxiao Sect's Sect Master after the Second Elder summoned him, but his examination suggested the Sect Master's condition was not ordinary Qi Deviation. The chapter ended with Lin Taichu questioning whether someone had tampered with the Sect Master and the Second Elder denying that anyone had approached him.

• Lin Taichu questioned the poisoned Core Disciples, learned they knew little about their captors, and gave them antidotes before reporting the situation to the guard Captain and the Healing Immortal Medical Hall director.
• Lin Taichu rested and worked at the Healing Immortal Medical Hall for nearly half a month, learning medicine from Physician Li.
• Two Lingxiao Sect Disciples invited Lin Taichu to treat their Sect Master, who had suffered Qi Deviation during a breakthrough, and Lin Taichu agreed.
• Lin Taichu traveled to the Lingxiao Sect, where the Second Elder led him to the unconscious Sect Master in his secluded chamber.
• Lin Taichu found that the Sect Master's pulse and soul fluctuations suggested his cultivation foundation had been eroded and someone had tampered with him; the Second Elder denied anyone had approached the chamber.

Lin Taichu discovered that the Sect Master had been secretly harmed and suspected Second Elder and the Variant Sect were responsible. He kept his suspicions hidden while seeking a way to locate the Sect Master's missing soul, and pressed Second Elder to let him treat the Sect Master in the Meditation Hall.

• Lin Taichu found a mark resembling a Heart-Eating Gu on the Sect Master's chest and suspected Second Elder's involvement.
• Lin Taichu sensed that the Sect Master's soul had been split, and suspected Second Elder had joined forces with the Variant Sect to take the Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill Formula.
• Lin Taichu used a Silver Needle to communicate with the Sect Master, who confirmed through soul fluctuations that Second Elder and the Variant Sect had harmed him for the pill formula.
• Lin Taichu hid his suspicions from Second Elder and prescribed Calming Heart Grass and Spirit-Calming Dew, adding Soul-Guiding Powder to help locate the missing half of the Sect Master's soul.
• Lin Taichu asked to treat the Sect Master in the Meditation Hall, where he believed the missing soul was hidden, and warned Second Elder that delay could damage the Sect Master's cultivation foundation.

Lin Taichu entered the Meditation Hall to retrieve the Sect Master's missing half-soul and expose the Second Elder's plot. As the Second Elder attacked, Lin Taichu began connecting the two halves with a Soul Thread, leaving their reunion unfinished.

• Lin Taichu secured the Sect Master's half-soul with silver needles and slipped his divine soul through the hall's Restrictions to find the other half in a jade box.
• The Second Elder noticed the disturbance and stormed into the hall with four disciples, accusing Lin Taichu of trying to harm the Sect Master.
• Lin Taichu paralyzed one disciple with poison needles and accused the Second Elder of colluding with the Variant Sect to steal the Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill Formula.
• Lin Taichu removed the half-soul from the jade box, but the Soul-Splitting Technique kept it from joining the half-soul in the Sect Master's body.
• While the Second Elder and disciples attacked, Lin Taichu formed a Soul Thread between the two halves and carefully tried to connect them.