Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “You Gave It? He Insisted! Killing Intent Ready to Erupt”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Madam Purple leaves after successfully persuading Gu Qingfeng to swallow four Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pills—twice the intended dose.
• The pills are designed to dissolve the victim’s liver and allow Sun Sheng to absorb the resulting killing qi. However, Gu Qingfeng discovers that the pills instead nourish and protect his liver.
• Gu Qingfeng realizes that Madam Purple and Sun Sheng intend to kill him. He decides to remain calm and pretend to be affected while secretly planning to destroy Ghost Hand Apothecary and kill Sun Sheng.
• Madam Purple reports to Sun Sheng that Gu Qingfeng took all four pills and should die by nightfall. When Sun Sheng realizes she gave Gu Qingfeng more than medicine, he becomes enraged and jealous.
• Sun Sheng ultimately suppresses his anger because he believes Gu Qingfeng will soon become another valuable source of liver killing qi.
• Sun Sheng discusses Yellow Smoke Ghost, another intended victim, describing Gu Qingfeng as a meal to be quickly “stir-fried” and Yellow Smoke Ghost as one to be slowly “simmered.”
• Sun Sheng reveals his ambition: by consuming the liver killing qi of many people, he hopes to increase his cultivation from the Third-Tier True Essence Realm toward the Fourth-Tier Divine Sense Realm.
• At night, Gu Qingfeng waits, sensing that an important confrontation is imminent. He detects an extremely stealthy intruder entering the room.
• After finding no one near the doors or windows, he looks upward and discovers a mysterious eye peering through a hole in the wall, watching him like a piece of meat. The chapter ends with Gu Qingfeng wondering whether the intruder is Sun Sheng—or an actual ghost.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng: Remains composed and observant despite being targeted. He confirms that the pills do not harm him and adopts a deceptive strategy, allowing his enemies to think he is dying while preparing to retaliate.
• Madam Purple: Successfully completes her assignment but is visibly uneasy and humiliated by what she had to do. She fears Sun Sheng’s reaction and emphasizes that Gu Qingfeng “insisted” in order to defend herself.
• Sun Sheng: His outwardly gentle demeanor gives way to jealousy and fury when he learns Madam Purple was intimate with Gu Qingfeng. Nevertheless, greed overcomes his anger, and he continues viewing people as resources to be consumed for cultivation.
• Yellow Smoke Ghost: Does not appear directly, but is established as another victim being targeted and manipulated by Sun Sheng.

Significant Themes

• Deception and hidden strength: Gu Qingfeng hides his immunity to the pills, while Sun Sheng and Madam Purple believe they have successfully trapped him.
• Exploitation and objectification: Sun Sheng treats his wives and victims as tools, ingredients, or “dishes” rather than people.
• Greed and cultivation: Sun Sheng’s desire for power drives him to consume the life force of numerous people.
• Revenge and self-preservation: Gu Qingfeng’s fear of being controlled or killed transforms into a resolve to eradicate those threatening him.
• Predator and prey imagery: The repeated descriptions of people as food emphasize the murderous relationship between Sun Sheng and his victims.

Character Interactions

• Madam Purple manipulates Gu Qingfeng into taking the medicine, while Gu Qingfeng privately recognizes her role in the attempted murder.
• Madam Purple reports to Sun Sheng, who questions her about both the medicine and her encounter with Gu Qingfeng.
• Sun Sheng’s jealousy exposes the possessive and hypocritical nature of his relationship with Madam Purple, even though he himself treats her as a disposable instrument.
• Gu Qingfeng silently observes the approaching intruder, setting up an imminent confrontation with the mysterious figure watching him through the wall.

Chapter Summary

Plot and key events

Sun Sheng secretly infiltrates Gu Qingfeng’s room, using his extraordinary lightness kung fu to float along the wall and move without making a sound. He intends to kill Gu Qingfeng by piercing his liver and absorbing his liver-killing aura. Gu Qingfeng, however, has anticipated the attack and pretends to be frightened while waiting for the right moment. When Sun Sheng relaxes and mocks him, Gu Qingfeng launches a surprise counterattack, piercing Sun Sheng’s throat with true essence and liver-killing aura.
Despite the injury, Sun Sheng relies on his exceptional agility and attempts to flee toward his secret chamber in the nearby pavilion, where he believes medicine can save him. Gu Qingfeng pursues him across the courtyard and over a wall. As Sun Sheng rises high into the air to escape, Gu Qingfeng tears a golden core branch from his shoulder and throws it like a spear, impaling Sun Sheng and causing him to fall.

Character developments

• Gu Qingfeng reveals his superior combat instincts, deliberately baiting Sun Sheng into underestimating him. He combines deception, speed, true essence, and liver-killing aura to overwhelm an opponent who is technically near the peak of the Second-Tier Qi Refining Realm. His use of the golden branch as a weapon further emphasizes his abnormal physical strength and ingenuity.
• Sun Sheng is established as an unusually agile, highly trained fat man with a remarkable mastery of lightness kung fu. Initially confident and amused by Gu Qingfeng’s apparent helplessness, he quickly becomes desperate after being wounded. His determination and survival instinct are strong, but ultimately insufficient against Gu Qingfeng’s overwhelming power.

Character interactions

The encounter is framed as a predator-versus-prey confrontation. Sun Sheng approaches Gu Qingfeng like a cat playing with a mouse, while Gu Qingfeng reverses the roles by feigning fear and striking first. Their brief exchange—Sun Sheng asking whether Gu Qingfeng enjoyed himself and Gu Qingfeng answering firmly that he did—captures the reversal of control. The chase that follows becomes a direct contest between Sun Sheng’s agility and Gu Qingfeng’s strength and ranged attacks.

Significant themes

• Underestimation and reversal: Sun Sheng’s confidence causes him to misjudge Gu Qingfeng, allowing the supposedly helpless target to gain the advantage.
• Strength versus technique: Sun Sheng possesses extraordinary movement skills, but Gu Qingfeng’s higher-level true essence and deadly aura ultimately overpower them.
• Deception and combat strategy: Gu Qingfeng wins not merely through force, but by concealing his awareness and exploiting Sun Sheng’s arrogance.
• The uncanny and supernatural: Sun Sheng’s ghostlike movement, Gu Qingfeng’s mysterious golden branch, and the use of liver-killing aura reinforce the chapter’s strange cultivation-world atmosphere.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Core Branch/Gu Qingfeng defeats Sun Sheng by piercing his throat with condensed true qi and Liver-Killing Aura.
• Sun Sheng realizes that Gu Qingfeng is far stronger than expected and suspects he may be an ancient evil expert disguised as a young man.
• After falling, Sun Sheng attempts to survive by using the Ghosthand School’s ultimate technique, Ghosthand Blood-Draining Thousand-Thread Hand. Blood-Qi Gold Threads erupt from his body and attack Gu Qingfeng.
• Gu Qingfeng activates Geng Metal Force, surrounding himself with an extremely sharp golden radiance. The threads fail to penetrate him and snap apart.
• With death approaching, Sun Sheng asks Gu Qingfeng’s identity. Gu introduces himself as “Gu Qingfeng” and jokingly claims that he may be called “a hero.”
• Sun Sheng is horrified by this title because, in Returning Ruins, true heroes are believed to have disappeared. Gu then kills him with Sun Sheng’s own surgical knife, ironically declaring that righteousness and evil must oppose each other.
• Later, at the Ghost Hand Apothecary, the night guards—physician Zhao Di, a clerk, and an apprentice—are preparing to sleep.
• Someone appearing to be Sun Sheng knocks on the inner door. When Zhao Di approaches, the figure suddenly attacks and stabs him in the neck with a physician’s knife.
• Zhao Di notices a terrifying second figure concealed behind the apparent image of Sun Sheng, suggesting that Gu Qingfeng is using Sun Sheng’s body or appearance to infiltrate the apothecary and continue his killings.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng is revealed to be overwhelmingly powerful, possessing both immense true qi and mastery of Liver-Killing Aura. His Geng Metal Force also surpasses Sun Sheng’s carefully cultivated Blood-Qi Gold Threads.
• Gu’s personality appears increasingly sinister beneath his false “heroic” façade. He behaves with calm mockery, kills without hesitation, and adopts righteous language to make his cruelty seem like justice.
• Sun Sheng changes from an arrogant physician and predator of test subjects into a desperate, terrified victim. His confidence collapses once he realizes that Gu is far beyond his level.
• Sun Sheng’s final thoughts emphasize the chapter’s irony: he believes he has encountered a “great evil demon” pretending to be a hero.
• Zhao Di, previously presented as a loyal and experienced apothecary physician, becomes Gu’s next victim. His earlier complicity in the apothecary’s mistreatment of test subjects contrasts with his helpless death.

Significant Themes

• The hypocrisy of righteousness: Gu claims to act in the name of justice while behaving like the very demon Sun Sheng fears.
• Role reversal: The physicians who treat people as experimental subjects become vulnerable victims themselves.
• Appearance versus reality: Gu appears young and may disguise himself through Sun Sheng’s form, while his “hero” identity conceals a deeply sinister nature.
• Power and fear: Sun Sheng’s status, backing by Lord Ghosthand, and ultimate technique all prove meaningless against Gu Qingfeng’s superior strength.
• Moral inversion and irony: A murderer is killed with a physician’s own knife, while the killer calls himself a hero and the victim recognizes the truth only at the end.

Character Interactions

• Gu Qingfeng and Sun Sheng: Their confrontation shifts from Sun Sheng’s attempted attack and intimidation to pleading, betrayal, and final execution. Gu taunts him by answering his desperate question with the absurd title of “hero.”
• Sun Sheng and his subordinates: Although the apothecary staff normally fear and respect him, his apparent return is used to lure Zhao Di close enough to be killed.
• Gu Qingfeng and Zhao Di: Gu attacks Zhao Di through deception rather than open combat, exploiting the apothecary’s trust in its proprietor.
• The apothecary staff: The clerk and apprentice witness Zhao Di’s murder and are confronted with the terrifying possibility that the “Sun Sheng” at the door is not truly Sun Sheng at all.

Plot points

• Gu Qingfeng kills the medicine boy and shop assistant after they witness him murder the apothecary’s physician and manager, Sun Sheng. With four bodies in the room, the Ghost Hand Apothecary becomes silent.
• He reflects with satisfaction on eliminating people responsible for many deaths, then searches the apothecary for medicine.
• He finds twelve Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pills and swallows them all at once. They make him feel physically energized and clear-headed.
• He also discovers a rare Red Taisui Cinnamon Pill. Its recorded description says it can greatly strengthen the soul and mental power, but its vitality may lure the eater toward merging with the Taisui from which it came.
• Gu Qingfeng learns that his ability to reverse the pill’s cost prevents the call from controlling him, and decides to eat the pill rather than risk leaving it for someone else.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Qingfeng acts decisively and efficiently, silencing the two witnesses before they can raise an alarm. His memories of their earlier rudeness add personal satisfaction, though he considers their involvement in the apothecary’s crimes the real reason they deserve death.
• He displays growing confidence in his unusual “wisdom,” which identifies valuable pills and lets him understand their benefits and dangers. He trusts his ability to neutralize the Red Taisui Pill’s drawback.
• His interactions with the apothecary’s staff are entirely violent; the chapter also recalls his earlier dealings with them and his murder of Sun Sheng. He jokingly frames taking Sun Sheng’s pill as a final triumph over his rival.

Significant themes

• Retribution and moral self-justification: Gu Qingfeng sees the killings as justice for the apothecary’s victims, while also relishing his personal revenge.
• Power through consumption: Medicines offer rapid gains, but their benefits may come with dangerous costs.
• Confidence shading into recklessness: Gu Qingfeng’s belief in his protective ability leads him to consume potent drugs freely, including a pill with an unsettling supernatural influence.
• Dark humor: His casual boasting about eating pills and depriving Sun Sheng of his own treasure contrasts with the brutality of the scene.

Plot points and events

• After taking twelve Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pills, Gu Qingfeng eats the unusual Red Taisui Cinnamon Pill, which tastes greasy at first, then sweet and sour. He later finds that killing qi is leaking from his body as wavering black vapor.
• Hungry, he cooks and eats Physician Zhao Di’s braised duck-leg rice, then returns to the corpses and drags Sun Sheng’s hand across the floor.
• Gu Qingfeng sets fire to the Immortal Leaf storeroom, intending to destroy the addictive substance that had trapped people. The blaze spreads to the Ghost Hand Apothecary and its rear courtyard.
• Nearby residents and apothecary staff rush to fight the fire. The Immortal Leaf smoke makes them euphoric: they dance and sing even as they carry water, turning the street into a bizarre celebration.
• Gu Qingfeng blends into the crowd, pleased with the festivities. The chapter ends as the Red Tear Guards arrive.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Qingfeng is increasingly confident and untroubled by violence, destruction, or danger. He treats his strange killing-qi aura, his meal, and the arson with casual humor.
• The three surviving medicine testers, weakened by diarrhea, flee the burning courtyard with sudden speed.
• The physicians, apothecary staff, neighbors, and onlookers respond to the fire under the influence of Immortal Leaf smoke, acting more jubilant than alarmed.
• Zhao Di and Sun Sheng remain dead; Gu Qingfeng’s brief handling of Sun Sheng’s body underscores his control of the apothecary after killing its strongest men.

Significant themes

• Justice and retribution: Gu Qingfeng frames destroying the Immortal Leaf store as justice against a harmful operation.
• Corruption and complicity: The apothecary’s business has ensnared people, while even those trying to save it are affected by the substance it produces.
• Dark comedy and moral ambiguity: A deadly fire becomes a street party, and Gu Qingfeng’s cheerful, matter-of-fact attitude clashes with the destruction he has caused.
• Power and transformation: The pills and accumulating killing qi suggest Gu Qingfeng is changing, though the full effects remain unclear.

Chapter Summary: “Icefire Ruler: Seven Heavens! The Call of Taisui!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Red Tears Guard’s Skyhawk Corps arrives dramatically to welcome City Warden Yu Qiling.
• Yu Qiling makes a flashy entrance, using the technique “Icefire Ruler: Seven Heavens!” His combined ice-and-fire power nearly freezes the flames consuming Immortal Leaf Hall.
• After suppressing the fire, Yu Qiling complains profanely about Sun Sheng and orders him to apologize, revealing that his refined appearance contrasts sharply with his vulgar speech.
• Yu Qiling departs in an equally theatrical fashion, stepping across the heads of the Red Tears guards.
• The fire exposes a much greater disaster: corpses are discovered inside Immortal Leaf Hall, including Manager Sun Sheng. The physician who discovers them panics and flees, realizing the entire Ghost Hand Apothecary may have suffered a catastrophe.
• Despite the massacre, the outer city continues partying under the influence of Immortal Leaf, whose effects remain extremely potent.
• Gu Qingfeng withdraws to test the effects of the Red Taisui Cinnamon Pill. He discovers a mysterious point of light within his consciousness, suggesting that his soul and mental power have been strengthened.
• Although he remains in the third realm and cannot yet use true fourth-realm abilities, Gu Qingfeng gains much finer control over his true essence. He manipulates eighteen hair-thin strands and carves a tiny rose bearing the words “The Funeral of a Rose.”
• A strange, inhuman voice calls to him: “Return. O wandering soul, return.” Gu Qingfeng recognizes it as Taisui attempting to summon him. He resists and cuts off the connection.
• By morning, Gu Qingfeng and other medicine-test subjects remain outside the apothecary to demand their unpaid wages. Gu Qingfeng stays both for his money and because he wants to observe the aftermath of the massacre.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng continues to act casually and irreverently, but he demonstrates sharp judgment by recognizing the danger of Taisui’s call and resisting its influence.
• His soul and mental power have been substantially enhanced by the Red Taisui Cinnamon Pill, giving him exceptional precision in controlling true essence and foreshadowing future advancement toward the Divine Sense Realm.
• Yu Qiling is established as a powerful and influential City Warden. His impressive ice-and-fire technique confirms his strength, while his theatrical behavior and profanity reveal a comically ostentatious personality.
• Sun Sheng is revealed to be dead, transforming the Immortal Leaf Hall fire from a simple accident into a major massacre.
• The physician from Ghost Hand Apothecary reacts cowardly to the corpses, abandoning the scene rather than taking responsibility.

Significant Themes

• Power and spectacle: Yu Qiling’s entrance and exit emphasize how authority is displayed through theatrical martial techniques and ceremony.
• Appearance versus reality: Yu Qiling looks like a refined scholar but speaks crudely; the festive crowd continues celebrating despite a deadly massacre nearby.
• Cultivation and accelerated growth: The pill allows Gu Qingfeng to develop soul and mental abilities beyond his current realm, raising questions about the dangers of unnatural advancement.
• Resistance to temptation and control: Taisui’s call attempts to draw Gu Qingfeng toward it, but his awareness and self-control prevent him from becoming possessed or manipulated.
• Indifference amid disaster: The outer city’s revelry continues even after the destruction of Immortal Leaf Hall, highlighting the contrast between public pleasure and hidden violence.

Character Interactions

• The Red Tears Guard publicly honors Yu Qiling, reinforcing his authority and status.
• Yu Qiling indirectly confronts Sun Sheng by demanding an apology, though Sun Sheng is already dead.
• The City Warden maintains a relatively courteous relationship with Ghost Hand Apothecary because of its wealth, influence, and medical reputation.
• Gu Qingfeng observes Yu Qiling with amused admiration, acknowledging both his flamboyant style and genuine strength.
• Taisui reaches out directly to Gu Qingfeng through a mysterious spiritual summons, creating a supernatural connection and setting up future conflict.
• Gu Qingfeng joins the other test subjects in demanding payment, blending his personal financial concerns with his curiosity about the unfolding investigation.

Plot points and events

• After four people—including Sun Sheng, the Ghost Hand Apothecary’s manager—are found murdered, a doctor fetches Zhao Situ, the first disciple of the apothecary’s owner, Ghosthand.
• Zhao Situ examines the bodies and finds an incomplete “Jiang” written beneath Sun Sheng’s hand. He assumes it points to the rival Jiangzhong Sect, despite the clue being planted by Gu Qingfeng.
• Convinced he has solved the case, Zhao Situ rallies his followers to attack the Jiangzhong Sect. Spectators rush after them, hoping to witness a bloody fight.
• Gu Qingfeng, secretly responsible for the killings, is surprised that his clumsy attempt to misdirect the investigation worked. He grabs a meal and follows the crowd to watch.
• At the Jiangzhong Sect branch, leader Wang Shanshan is already uneasy: Elder Yuan, a powerful headquarters figure, is auditing his accounts. Before Wang can explain himself, a commotion breaks out outside, with cries of murder.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Situ arrives furious over the death of fellow disciple Sun Sheng. Though the disciples usually compete for their master’s favor, he treats the murders as an attack on their whole lineage. His confidence in his own detective skills makes him leap to the wrong conclusion.
• Gu Qingfeng remains outwardly an ordinary, uninformed newcomer while secretly having engineered the murders and planted the clue. His amused reaction shows how easily the investigation has been diverted.
• Wang Shanshan is portrayed as self-righteous and anxious about the audit. He claims to be an upright healer, while admitting to small-scale embezzlement and buying trafficked children for medical experiments.
• Elder Yuan has returned to influence as a trusted ally of the revived Sect Leader Jiang. His audit places Wang under pressure just as Zhao Situ’s armed party approaches.

Significant themes

• Misread evidence and false certainty: Zhao Situ mistakes a planted clue for proof and turns suspicion into a planned attack.
• Rivalry and loyalty: The Ghosthand disciples may compete among themselves, but an outside threat quickly unites them.
• Dark comedy and hypocrisy: Gu Qingfeng’s casual meal contrasts with the looming violence, while Wang’s claims of virtue clash with his corrupt and cruel practices.
• Spectacle and danger: The onlookers treat possible bloodshed as entertainment, even knowing they could be caught in the crossfire.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter introduces Zhao Situ, Ghosthand’s first disciple and senior brother of the Ghosthand Lineage. Although mentally deficient and absurdly overconfident, he possesses extraordinary dexterity and talent with blades.
• Ghosthand recognizes Zhao Situ’s lethal potential and raises him to the level of a powerful enforcer, despite his flaws. Zhao Situ is now approaching the fourth realm, the Divine Sense Realm.
• Believing he has understood the situation, Zhao Situ arrives at the Jiangzhong Sect’s Red Tears Branch with his people to avenge the Ghosthand Lineage and his junior brother.
• He immediately kills two medicine boys who try to stop him, then murders two spectators with a flying hand blade—even killing an observer who complains about being attacked.
• Three Jiangzhong physicians attack using large, talisman-engraved black blades and coordinated formation techniques. Zhao Situ counters with a true essence armor, slows their blades, and kills all three with precise punches to the neck.
• Jiangzhong sends eight more blade-wielding physicians, relying on its superior numbers. Zhao Situ mocks his own allies for hesitating.
• He then uses the Blood Soul Divine Needle, implanting red-threaded needles into his allies and innocent bystanders. He turns them into puppets and commands them to attack Jiang Zhongtang.
• Gu Qingfeng, the sole remaining nearby spectator, is disgusted and concludes that Zhao Situ’s indiscriminate violence has placed him firmly on a path toward destruction.

Character Developments

• Zhao Situ is established as both highly gifted and dangerously flawed. His exceptional blade talent and killing ability are undermined by poor judgment, arrogance, and a delusional belief in his own intelligence.
• Despite these mental shortcomings, Zhao Situ has become one of the most terrifying enforcers in the Returning Ruins. His growing mastery of true essence and mind-assisted weapon control demonstrates his advancement toward the Divine Sense Realm.
• His character takes a darker turn as he shows no concern for allies, spectators, or innocent civilians, using anyone nearby as a weapon.
• Ghosthand is portrayed as a pragmatic master who recognizes Zhao Situ’s value despite his defects and preserves his status as senior brother.
• Gu Qingfeng remains an observant outsider, carefully analyzing Zhao Situ’s techniques while increasingly condemning his brutality.

Significant Themes

• Talent versus intelligence: Zhao Situ’s remarkable technical ability contrasts sharply with his defective reasoning and inflated self-confidence.
• The danger of unchecked arrogance: His conviction that he has “seen through everything” drives him toward reckless revenge and escalating violence.
• Medicine and killing: In the harsh Returning Ruins, physicians must also know how to fight and kill; medical tools such as scalpels, needles, and dissecting blades become deadly weapons.
• Power and realm suppression: Zhao Situ’s true essence armor and precise attacks demonstrate how a higher realm can overwhelm coordinated numbers and specialized techniques.
• Dehumanization and moral corruption: By controlling civilians and allies with the Blood Soul Divine Needle, Zhao Situ treats people as disposable instruments rather than human beings.

Character Interactions

• Zhao Situ’s relationship with Ghosthand is defined by the master’s reluctant tolerance and recognition of his disciple’s exceptional lethality.
• Zhao Situ confronts the Red Tears Branch medicine boys and Jiangzhong physicians, killing them with overwhelming speed and realm superiority.
• His own companions and nearby spectators fear him as much as they fear the enemy, since his attacks are indiscriminate.
• The Jiangzhong physicians cooperate through formations and numbers, but Zhao Situ’s techniques disrupt their coordination.
• Gu Qingfeng watches the confrontation closely, understands the mechanics behind Zhao Situ’s flying blades, and ultimately judges his use of innocent people as a decisive step toward death.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• A violent clash erupts at Jiang Zhongtang Apothecary after Zhao Situ leads several dozen cultivators against Jiang Zhongtang’s physicians and medicine boys.
• Zhao uses the Ghosthand Lineage’s Blood Soul Divine Needles to control people as disposable puppets. The victims fight without fear of pain or death, turning the battle into a brutal exchange of wounds and fatalities.
• The apothecary is heavily damaged, while spectators outside scramble for medicinal herbs that are thrown from the wreckage, creating additional chaos.
• Branch Master Wang Shanshan and Elder Yuan enter the battle and unleash the Jiangzhong Sect’s Sun Rising Over the Great River Palm, destroying Zhao’s controlled fighters and forcing Zhao onto the defensive.
• Although Zhao withstands multiple devastating palm strikes and continues attacking, Wang and Elder Yuan eventually overpower him. Elder Yuan pierces his abdomen, and Wang pins him down, demanding that he submit.
• Before Zhao can be executed or imprisoned, Elder Yuan senses danger and cuts Zhao in half. Zhao activates his final technique, Ghosthand Blood-Draining Thousand Threads, sacrificing his life to release golden blood-qi threads that pierce and drag Wang and Elder Yuan into a mutual-destruction attack.
• The Red Tears Guards arrive under the command of City Warden Yu Qiling. Yu freezes the three combatants and separates them, preventing Zhao from dying alongside his enemies.
• As Zhao lies dying, he notices Gu Qingfeng calmly eating rice while watching the battle. Recognizing him as a former medicine-testing subject, Zhao realizes that Gu’s presence and composure suggest something highly unusual—possibly that the entire incident was manipulated. He then faints.

Character Developments

• Zhao Situ is shown to be ruthless, resourceful, and willing to sacrifice both his puppets and himself. His desperation culminates in a suicidal ultimate technique. However, his final realization about Gu Qingfeng reveals his intelligence and ability to detect hidden irregularities.
• Wang Shanshan and Elder Yuan demonstrate that Jiang Zhongtang’s physicians are not merely healers but formidable, ruthless cultivators. Their cooperation allows them to defeat Zhao, though their confidence nearly costs them their lives.
• Gu Qingfeng remains unnervingly calm and detached, observing the carnage while eating. His behavior makes him appear increasingly mysterious and powerful.
• Yu Qiling acts as the force of authority, intervening at the critical moment to stop the battle from becoming a complete massacre.

Significant Themes

• Repression and violent release: The city’s restrictions on open bloodshed have suppressed many cultivators’ aggression, making the battle a thrilling spectacle for the public.
• Mutual destruction and ruthlessness: The fight emphasizes a world where hesitation leads to death and survival requires a willingness to exchange life for life.
• Manipulation and expendability: Zhao’s Blood Soul Divine Needles treat ordinary people as disposable weapons, highlighting the disregard for human life among demonic and heretical practitioners.
• Hidden power beneath appearances: Gu Qingfeng’s seemingly ordinary identity contrasts sharply with his unnatural calmness, suggesting that appearances in this world are deceptive.
• Authority interrupting chaos: Yu Qiling’s arrival shows that even extreme violence has limits imposed by the city’s ruling forces.

Character Interactions

• Zhao Situ’s controlled followers attack Jiang Zhongtang’s physicians in savage, fearless combat.
• Wang Shanshan and Elder Yuan fight together, gradually overwhelming Zhao and destroying his puppet force.
• Wang humiliates and restrains Zhao, while Elder Yuan delivers the decisive attack that triggers Zhao’s final counterattack.
• Zhao’s golden threads bind all three combatants in a deadly struggle before Yu Qiling intervenes.
• Zhao’s final interaction is indirect: by observing Gu Qingfeng, he begins to suspect that the quiet “medicine-testing specimen” is far more important and dangerous than he appears.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhao Situ awakens after Yu Qiling split his body in half with the icy power of Icefire Seven Heavens. Lord Ghosthand has managed to keep him alive despite his catastrophic injuries.
• Zhao Situ admits that he failed to destroy even one branch hall of the Jiangzhong Sect. Ghosthand reveals that he does not mind the conflict, since it gives him an opportunity to test the strength of the Jiangzhong Sect’s two elders.
• Zhao Situ realizes that he was manipulated. Someone killed his junior brother, Sun Sheng, then deliberately left clues that provoked Zhao Situ into attacking the Jiangzhong Sect.
• He identifies one suspicious figure: a test subject who calmly watched the battle while eating and remained unaffected by Zhao Situ’s divine needles. Zhao Situ believes this man was probably the true murderer.
• Ghosthand becomes furious at the thought that someone used both the Ghost Hand Lineage and the Jiangzhong Sect as pawns. Zhao Situ draws a portrait of the suspect—Gu Qingfeng—which is circulated to Ghosthand, Yu Qiling, and the Jiangzhong Sect.
• Because Ghosthand fails to provide a satisfactory explanation, the Ghost Hand Apothecary and Jiangzhong Sect clash three more times over the next two days. Their feud threatens the stability of Red Tears City.
• A bounty notice is issued for Gu Qingfeng, falsely describing him as a possible disguised demon lord who intends to cause chaos.
• Gu Qingfeng sees the notice and angrily mocks the accusation, especially the claim that he is a demon lord.

Character Developments

• Zhao Situ suffers a humiliating defeat and devastating injury, forcing him to confront the limits of his supposed cleverness. He realizes he was manipulated by someone more calculating than himself.
• Lord Ghosthand is revealed as arrogant, vengeful, and obsessed with maintaining control. His greatest anger comes not from the destruction caused by Zhao Situ, but from the possibility that someone has used him as a tool.
• Yu Qiling continues to act as a reluctant mediator and city guardian. He understands that neither side is likely to compromise and worries that their conflict will destabilize Red Tears City.
• Gu Qingfeng remains mysterious and seemingly unconcerned. His calm behavior during the battle—watching while eating—and apparent immunity to Zhao Situ’s needles suggest that his strength and identity are far more significant than they appear.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and revenge: The central conflict results from an unknown person deliberately manipulating several powerful factions into fighting one another.
• Pride and loss of control: Ghosthand, Zhao Situ, and the Jiangzhong Sect all act out of wounded pride, particularly because they cannot tolerate being deceived or humiliated.
• Appearance versus reality: Gu Qingfeng is portrayed publicly as a dangerous demon lord, despite the evidence being based on suspicion, a poor portrait, and political fear.
• Chaos caused by power struggles: The feud demonstrates how the actions of a single mysterious individual can destabilize an entire city when powerful organizations respond emotionally.
• Dark humor amid violence: Zhao Situ’s grotesque injuries, Ghosthand’s bizarre appearance, Yu Qiling’s crude “polished” speech, and Gu Qingfeng’s sarcastic reaction give the chapter a strongly comedic tone despite its brutality.

Character Interactions

• Zhao Situ and Ghosthand: Zhao Situ apologizes for his failure, while Ghosthand criticizes him and then questions him about the mysterious test subject. Their exchange reveals both their master-disciple relationship and Ghosthand’s controlling nature.
• Ghosthand and the Jiangzhong Sect: Ghosthand treats the attack as an opportunity to test his rivals, while the Jiangzhong Sect demands accountability for the destruction of its branch hall.
• Zhao Situ and Gu Qingfeng: Although they barely interact directly, Zhao Situ remembers Gu Qingfeng’s unnerving calmness during the battle and suspects he orchestrated the entire incident.
• Yu Qiling and the rival factions: Yu Qiling serves as an unwilling intermediary, but his attempts to contain the dispute are ineffective as both sides continue escalating.
• Gu Qingfeng and the bounty notice: Gu Qingfeng responds with contempt and humor, rejecting the accusation that he is a demon lord.

Chapter Summary: “The Strange Black Dog, One Tael to Pet It”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Gu Qingfeng’s connection to the Ghost Hand Apothecary remains difficult to investigate because the other test subjects who could have identified him were killed during the earlier bloodbath, when Zhao Situ’s Divine Needle controlled them into fighting one another.
• Gu Qingfeng reflects on the success of his first act of “chivalrous justice.” He had intended only to destroy the murderous Ghost Hand Apothecary, but his schemes caused it and the Jiangzhong Sect—accused of abducting children for drug trials—to wage a devastating conflict against each other.
• Both factions continue suffering daily casualties, while Gu Qingfeng takes satisfaction in watching two evil forces destroy one another.
• Red Tears City’s governor misunderstands Gu Qingfeng’s actions, brands him a dangerous fiend, and places a bounty on him. Gu Qingfeng angrily considers this blatant slander.
• Returning to the ruined Ghost Hand Apothecary, Gu Qingfeng feels unexpectedly melancholy. The apothecary had served as his temporary home and the base for his first campaign against evil, but nearly everyone connected to it is now dead or missing.
• He decides not to dwell on the loss and begins searching for a new place to live in Red Tears City.
• Smoke Ghost Huang Qu returns to the apothecary because he cannot endure withdrawal from Immortal Leaf. Finding only charred ruins and the bounty notice, he mistakenly concludes that Gu Qingfeng was killed and believes himself to be the sole survivor. His grief quickly centers on losing access to Immortal Leaf.
• Gu Qingfeng considers various housing options but rejects inns, communal rooms, and distant lodging outside the city. He wants a reasonably sized home near the areas where cultivators gather.
• His search leads him to Red Chive Plain, a cultivation-heavy district across a stone bridge. There, he encounters an enormous black dog advertising a strange service: one tael of silver to pet its head.
• Intrigued by the dog, Gu Qingfeng pays the fee. The dog eagerly swallows the silver, happily allows him to pet it, and triggers a mysterious stream of information in Gu Qingfeng’s consciousness.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng: Reveals a strong personal sense of justice, though his methods are manipulative and disruptive. Despite his confidence and amusement at the destruction of evil factions, he shows unexpected attachment to the Ghost Hand Apothecary as his first “home” and the setting of his initial heroic exploits. He quickly recovers from his melancholy and resumes looking forward to new adventures.
• Smoke Ghost Huang Qu: Shows signs of dependence on Immortal Leaf and comic desperation after returning to the destroyed apothecary. His mistaken belief that Gu Qingfeng died highlights how little he understands the true situation.
• The black dog: Is introduced as an enormous but oddly friendly and business-minded creature. Its eager tail-wagging and willingness to be petted contrast sharply with its intimidating size, suggesting that it may be more intelligent or unusual than an ordinary monster.

Significant Themes

• Justice and unintended consequences: Gu Qingfeng seeks to punish evil, but his actions create a much larger conflict than he originally planned.
• Misjudgment and false reputation: Although Gu Qingfeng believes he is acting heroically, the city authorities label him a villain and put a bounty on him.
• Loss and impermanence: The destruction of the apothecary forces Gu Qingfeng to confront the disappearance of people and places that had begun to matter to him.
• Home and belonging: Gu Qingfeng’s search for a new residence reflects his need for stability while moving through an unfamiliar martial world.
• Comedy amid danger: The chapter balances massacres, addiction, and political misunderstanding with absurd details such as a gigantic dog charging money for affection.

Character Interactions

• Gu Qingfeng’s past connection to the apothecary’s test subjects is discussed indirectly through the investigation into his identity.
• His actions have set the Ghost Hand Apothecary and Jiangzhong Sect against each other, even though he is not directly present in their ongoing conflict.
• Huang Qu returns to the apothecary and mourns its destruction, unknowingly believing Gu Qingfeng died there.
• Gu Qingfeng encounters the giant black dog at Red Chive Plain, responds to its friendly behavior, and pays one tael to pet it. The dog’s reaction appears to initiate a significant new development.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Gu Qingfeng discovers that the enormous black dog is actually a Five-Black Divine Hound, a divine beast capable of calming the mind, gathering qi, and changing its size.
• Petting the hound’s head genuinely improves Gu Qingfeng’s mental tranquility and qi circulation, but each session costs one tael of silver. He spends two taels before stopping.
• The divine hound unexpectedly speaks in a young girl’s voice, then leaves with its basin after realizing Gu Qingfeng will not pay for more petting.
• At the recruitment plaza near Red Chive Plain, multiple sects compete for new disciples. The Clearwater Sect advertises attractive female disciples and scenic surroundings, while the Dongkong Sect offers practical benefits: food, lodging, three meals, late-night snacks, and a monthly allowance.
• Gu Qingfeng chooses Dongkong Sect because it offers the “new home” and financial security he needs.
• Dongkong Sect requires recruits to possess strong qi and blood. Gu Qingfeng passes easily, claiming he was born with divine strength, and is praised for his abundant vitality.
• The sect accepts almost anyone with sufficient physical strength, including criminals and fugitives. Gu Qingfeng realizes that Dongkong Sect is corrupt and indiscriminate—but sees this as an ideal place to infiltrate and potentially reform or destroy.
• Only seven recruits qualify that day, pleasing Martial Uncle Wang, who considers this enough to report to the sect master.

2. Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng is shown to be observant, pragmatic, and financially cautious. He is fascinated by the divine hound but refuses to waste more money on petting it.
• He continues presenting himself as a “young hero,” yet his immediate priority is finding food, shelter, and a place where he can use his abilities.
• Gu Qingfeng’s moral and reformist ambitions become clearer: he intends to investigate Dongkong Sect from within and eliminate its corruption if necessary.
• The Five-Black Divine Hound is revealed as intelligent, powerful, and somewhat mercenary, enjoying Gu Qingfeng’s attention but leaving once payment stops.
• Martial Uncle Wang appears eager to recruit capable people and is pleased by Gu Qingfeng’s physical talent, though he is also part of a sect willing to ignore recruits’ backgrounds.
• The Dongkong and Clearwater disciples display contrasting recruitment styles: one emphasizes material benefits and strength, while the other relies on beauty and charm.

3. Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: The goofy-looking black dog is a divine beast, while Dongkong Sect’s seemingly generous recruitment offer conceals its willingness to accept criminals and undesirable figures.
• Practical needs over romance or beauty: The Clearwater Sect attracts attention with beautiful disciples, but Dongkong Sect’s food, lodging, and allowance prove more persuasive.
• Corruption and reform: Dongkong Sect’s lack of moral standards makes it appear disreputable, but Gu Qingfeng views its corruption as an opportunity to infiltrate and cleanse it.
• Survival in a harsh world: Money, food, shelter, and useful abilities matter more than conventional sect traditions in the Returning Ruins.
• Comedic contrast: The chapter undercuts the grandeur of cultivation through jokes about payment, balding disciples, criminal recruits, and the practical appeal of meals and silver.

4. Character Interactions

• Gu Qingfeng calmly pets the Five-Black Divine Hound, discovers its cultivation-related benefits, and is startled when it speaks.
• Clearwater and Dongkong disciples compete loudly for applicants, trading insults over beauty, sect quality, and benefits.
• A Clearwater disciple attempts to lure Gu Qingfeng away by warning that Dongkong Sect’s techniques cause baldness.
• The Dongkong registrar consults Martial Uncle Wang about Gu Qingfeng, and Wang personally evaluates and approves him.
• Gu Qingfeng is escorted into Dongkong Sect after being accepted, while the sect continues recruiting increasingly dubious applicants outside.

Chapter Summary

Plot and Key Events

• Gu Qingfeng officially joins the Dongkong Sect and receives free but cramped lodging with the six other newly accepted outer disciples.
• He learns that the Dongkong Sect became wealthy through mining, having originally risen from the discovery of a profitable mine near Red Tears City.
• The other disciples spend the night boasting about their criminal pasts, including rape, theft, prison escape, and murder. Gu Qingfeng feels as though he has entered a detention center rather than a cultivation sect.
• When Gu Qingfeng says he hopes to learn cultivation and become a great hero, the others mock him. Their criminal behavior is considered normal among them, while heroism seems absurd.
• The next morning, the disciples are taken to a courtyard, where Elder Yan introduces the sect’s foundational technique: the Dongkong Great Sword Art.
• Elder Yan demonstrates the enormous sword used in the technique, explaining that the art originated from the sect’s mining methods and emphasizes overwhelming size and force.
• He reveals that the sword art can support cultivation across multiple stages, but it must be paired with the Great Dongkong Heart Formula.
• After praising the Sect Master and reciting sect rules, Elder Yan begins teaching the heart formula, which starts with meditation and self-observation.

Character Development

• Gu Qingfeng remains detached and amused by the strange personalities around him. His stated dream of becoming a hero sets him apart morally and socially from the other disciples.
• His immense Geng-Metal Power makes the uncomfortable bed harmless to him, hinting at his unusual physical strength and durability.
• Zhang Chao tries to establish himself as the leader of the group and presents himself as ambitious, though he is cautious around Zhang Jianqiang.
• Zhang Jianqiang is portrayed as shameless and aggressive, openly boasting about his crimes and eagerly embracing Elder Yan’s encouragement.
• The remaining disciples seek acceptance by competing through stories of their past misdeeds, showing that they define status through criminal “achievements.”

Character Interactions

• The disciples bond through exaggerated stories of violence and wrongdoing, creating a lively but morally corrupt group atmosphere.
• Zhang Chao questions Gu Qingfeng about his ambitions, prompting Gu to reveal his desire to become a hero.
• The group responds with ridicule rather than admiration, reinforcing Gu’s outsider status.
• Elder Yan interacts casually with the disciples, even joking about Zhang Jianqiang’s crimes while encouraging him to cultivate.
• Elder Yan repeatedly credits the Sect Master for the sect’s teachings and authority, presenting the sect’s hierarchy and ideology to the newcomers.

Significant Themes

• Moral contrast and alienation: Gu Qingfeng’s heroic ideals sharply contrast with the other disciples’ criminal backgrounds.
• Absurdity and satire: The sect’s name, mining origins, enormous “door-panel” sword, and Elder Yan’s exaggerated speeches create a comedic parody of cultivation traditions.
• Power through physical force: The Dongkong Great Sword Art reflects the sect’s mining heritage, valuing size, strength, and destructive capability.
• Self-observation and cultivation: The Great Dongkong Heart Formula introduces the idea that true power begins with examining and understanding oneself.
• Institutional hypocrisy and indoctrination: Elder Yan’s lengthy praise of the Sect Master and formal sect rhetoric resemble bureaucratic or political propaganda, adding to the chapter’s humorous tone.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Elder Yan finishes instructing Gu Qingfeng and six other newly recruited outer disciples in their cultivation technique. He repeats the explanation several times to ensure they understand, especially since some of them are illiterate.
• Gu Qingfeng helps the illiterate disciples read the manual, while Zhang Jianqiang dismisses literacy as irrelevant to cultivation because they already understand their own acupoints.
• Elder Yan reports to Sect Master Zhang Dongzhi at Spring Comes Courtyard that the sect has recruited seven people with qi-and-blood cultivation.
• Zhang Dongzhi reflects on the Dongkong Sect’s declining position. Although it appears wealthy because of its mines, the sect is financially controlled by the Riches Bloom Gate and receives only a small share of the mining profits.
• The sect’s survival depends on Zhang Dongzhi becoming stronger. As a Fourth-Tier Divine Sense cultivator, he lacks the power to protect the sect’s mines or resist the Riches Bloom Gate.
• A strange jade-en entombed corpse of a female Kun Daoist is discovered deep inside one of the sect’s mines. Her body does not decay after being removed and has skin with a jade-like texture, suggesting that she cultivated within the jade to an extraordinary level.
• Among the corpse’s possessions is an unnamed cultivation manual containing sword techniques. Zhang Dongzhi suspects it may be as valuable as the Immortal-Seeding Art that enabled the Riches Bloom Gate’s rise.
• Zhang Dongzhi tests the manual on injured and unqualified miners. Several practitioners go insane but gain bizarre and formidable abilities, causing over a hundred deaths or injuries.
• Concluding that the failures resulted from poor talent and insufficient foundations, Zhang Dongzhi begins seeking test subjects who have already cultivated qi and blood.
• To disguise the experiment, the Dongkong Sect presents the recruits’ training as the sect’s ordinary Dongkong Great Sword Art, while secretly incorporating the crucial cultivation method from the nameless manual.
• Even Zhang Dongzhi does not know what the recruits will ultimately cultivate or what consequences the manual may produce.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng is portrayed as helpful and observant. Despite finding Elder Yan’s lecture excessive, he assists the illiterate disciples with the manual.
• Zhang Jianqiang displays confidence and practicality, believing cultivation depends more on innate understanding and bodily knowledge than literacy.
• Elder Yan is obedient and thorough, carefully transmitting the technique and later reporting the results to Zhang Dongzhi.
• Sect Master Zhang Dongzhi is revealed to be ambitious but anxious. He recognizes his own weakness and the Dongkong Sect’s dependence on a stronger rival. His desperation drives him to experiment with the dangerous manual.
• The Kun Daoist remains mysterious, but her preserved, jade-like body establishes her as an immensely powerful former cultivator whose legacy may transform the Dongkong Sect.

Significant Themes

• Desperation and survival: The Dongkong Sect’s declining influence forces Zhang Dongzhi to gamble with unknown and dangerous techniques.
• Power and dependence: The sect’s financial relationship with the Riches Bloom Gate reflects its broader political weakness and loss of independence.
• The danger of forbidden knowledge: The nameless manual offers extraordinary power but causes madness and death in those who practice it.
• Talent versus instruction: The chapter questions whether proper aptitude is more important than teaching, literacy, or effort in cultivation.
• Hidden exploitation: The supposed recruitment of outer disciples is actually a concealed experiment using people as test subjects.
• The unknown legacy of the Kun Daoist: Her jade-entombed corpse and mysterious manual suggest an ancient or highly advanced cultivation tradition whose purpose and effects remain unclear.

Character Interactions

• Elder Yan repeatedly instructs the recruits, while Gu Qingfeng later helps several of them decipher the manual.
• Zhang Jianqiang challenges the importance of literacy, creating a contrast with Gu Qingfeng’s willingness to teach.
• Elder Yan reports directly to Zhang Dongzhi, reinforcing the sect master’s authority.
• Zhang Dongzhi’s dealings with the Riches Bloom Gate are mostly indirect but define his position: he is forced to accept an exploitative arrangement because he lacks sufficient strength.
• Zhang Dongzhi treats the miners and new disciples as experimental subjects, hiding the manual’s true origins and purpose from them.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Gu Qingfeng begins cultivating the supposedly basic “Great Dongkong Heart Formula,” a manual given to newly inducted outer disciples of the Dongkong Sect.
• Unlike the other disciples, who take cultivation slowly and cautiously, Gu Qingfeng is confident that his previous experiences with sinister arts, demonic arts, and poisonous pills make him especially talented.
• The manual teaches qi circulation, strengthening qi and blood through a visualization technique involving flames burning white bones.
• Gu Qingfeng interprets the imagery through Buddhist White Bone Contemplation, concluding that the bones represent the tranquil true self while the flames symbolize uncontrollable emotions. Rather than suppressing those emotions, he accepts and settles them.
• This insight activates information about the manual’s true identity: it is actually Daoist Chen’s Soul-Losing Sword Intent, not the Great Dongkong Heart Formula.
• The method was created by Daoist Chen, a once-promising Divine Sense Realm cultivator who became obsessed with a female Daoist who rejected him because she was attracted to women. Their repeated attempts to change themselves ultimately ended with the woman’s suicide and Daoist Chen’s descent into madness and disappearance.
• The sword intent is extraordinarily powerful, capable of surpassing the Fourth-Tier Divine Sense Realm, but normally causes the practitioner’s souls and spirits to dissipate, eventually turning them insane or killing them.
• Gu Qingfeng uses his special ability to reverse the method’s cost, stabilizing his soul instead of damaging it.
• He immediately tests the resulting power by lifting and effortlessly manipulating a granite training pedestal weighing around ten thousand jin, astonishing the other disciples.
• Gu Qingfeng begins wondering whether combining this newfound strength with true essence and killing qi could allow him to defeat a Fourth-Tier Divine Sense Realm cultivator.

Character Developments

• Gu Qingfeng grows increasingly confident in his unusual talent and ability to understand dangerous cultivation methods.
• His previous experiences with despair, isolation, and spiritual devastation allow him to cultivate the Soul-Losing Sword Intent especially well.
• By reversing its cost, he transforms a deadly, soul-destroying technique into a source of vitality and strength: the more he cultivates, the more spirited he becomes.
• He also becomes more suspicious of the Dongkong Sect, realizing that the sect may be using new disciples as unwitting test subjects for a dangerous experimental technique.
• Daoist Chen is revealed as a tragic and obsessive figure whose heartbreak led to the creation of a devastating sword art and his eventual loss of sanity.
• The other newly inducted disciples remain cautious and passive, emphasizing the contrast with Gu Qingfeng’s bold experimentation.

Significant Themes

• Power versus cost: The Soul-Losing Sword Intent offers immense strength but normally destroys the practitioner’s soul and identity.
• Emotional acceptance: Gu Qingfeng realizes that emotions cannot simply be suppressed; they must be acknowledged and allowed to return to tranquility.
• Exploitation and mistrust: The Dongkong Sect’s disguised manual suggests that powerful organizations may sacrifice inexperienced disciples for experimentation.
• Despair transformed into strength: Painful experiences that would ruin ordinary cultivators instead become fuel for Gu Qingfeng’s growth.
• Appearance versus reality: The manual appears to be a harmless sect technique but conceals a dangerous sword art with a completely different origin.

Character Interactions

• Elder Yan previously explained the visualization method to the disciples, though Gu Qingfeng considers his explanation vague and inadequate.
• Gu Qingfeng contrasts his own urgency and willingness to experiment with the relaxed, cautious attitudes of the other six disciples.
• Daoist Chen’s interactions with the female Daoist form the tragic backstory of the sword intent: his persistence clashes with her rejection, ultimately contributing to her suicide.
• Gu Qingfeng’s dramatic handling of the massive stone pedestal leaves the other disciples speechless and establishes his sudden physical superiority over them.

Plot points and events

• Gu Qingfeng finds that “Daoist Chen’s Soul-Losing Sword Intent” produces startling strength quickly, making it sinister in his eyes—especially since he can reverse its cost.
• He swings an enormous stone lock with ease, shocking the other new disciples. They assume he has mastered the “Great Dongkong Heart Formula,” and envy his rapid progress.
• A suspicious groom, Zhang Chao, wonders whether Gu is a planted demonstrator, but the others’ results soon persuade him to try the technique too.
• Gu explains the formula to his fellow disciples, beginning with an escaped prisoner. The man grasps its emotional basis—“emotion was fire”—and gains enough strength to lift a stone lock he could not manage before.
• By night, all seven disciples are enthusiastically practicing under Gu’s guidance. His clear teaching earns him more respect than Elder Yan.
• The next day, Elder Yan is astonished to find that all seven have apparently mastered the formula and gained strength comparable to far more advanced practitioners. He tries it himself, succeeds, and rushes to report the results to Sect Leader Zhang Dongzhi.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Qingfeng proves both unusually perceptive and a gifted instructor. He understands the technique quickly, then translates it into simple, effective guidance. He also privately treats teaching the formula as a chance to observe its harmful cost, though he can no longer suffer that cost himself.
• The disciples shift from skepticism and jealousy to eager trust as they experience rapid gains. Zhang Chao, initially suspicious, eventually joins in.
• The escaped prisoner draws on his suffering and despair to understand the formula, but his violent fantasy after gaining strength hints at the danger of empowering people with brutal pasts.
• Elder Yan moves from confident instructor to surprised learner, then becomes an enthusiastic advocate after experiencing the formula’s effects firsthand.
• Zhang Dongzhi appears only at the end, receiving Elder Yan’s excited report.

Significant themes

• Results create authority: The disciples follow Gu because his instruction works, valuing practical improvement above rank.
• Knowledge and teaching: Clear, focused explanation proves more effective than Elder Yan’s lengthy instruction.
• Power and danger: The formula’s rapid strength gains are exhilarating, but they also amplify violent impulses.
• Irony and mistaken assumptions: Gu’s extraordinary progress makes him seem like a planted shill, while the supposedly questionable technique becomes a genuine success among its testers.

Key plot points and events

• Elder Yan demonstrates remarkable progress after practicing the nameless manual: he can wield Sect Leader Zhang Dongzhi’s much heavier Sky Stone Heavy Sword and complete the sect’s sword routine.
• Zhang is impressed but also jealous. He orders Yan to keep observing the trainees and report back, while delaying his own practice so others can “test the waters.”
• In Gu Qingfeng’s courtyard, the trainees’ strength continues to grow, but several begin showing disturbing changes in behavior. Zhang Jianqiang coerces fellow disciple Zhang Chao into a sexual encounter, then threatens the others; only Gu Qingfeng is spared.
• Zhang Chao’s own fixation intensifies afterward: he becomes increasingly eager to “steal” men as well as women. Gu Qingfeng notices the shift.
• Elder Yan also behaves strangely, ending the chapter kneeling under the night sky and asking his disciple about life’s meaning.

Character developments and interactions

• Elder Yan remains loyal to Zhang, but his sudden advancement provokes his superior’s envy. He appears to be undergoing the same unsettling mental changes as the trainees.
• Sect Leader Zhang Dongzhi is torn between caution and insecurity. Though he postpones practicing the manual, the prospect of subordinates catching up to him keeps him awake.
• Zhang Jianqiang grows more domineering and unstable, using his increased strength to force Zhang Chao and threaten the other disciples.
• Zhang Chao shifts from a habitual thief of horses and women toward a more aggressive fixation on men.
• Gu Qingfeng acts as a watchful observer, recognizing that the manual may be changing people’s minds as well as their bodies.

Significant themes

• Envy and status: Rapid gains threaten established hierarchies, stirring jealousy in both Zhang and Elder Yan.
• Power without control: The manual grants strength, but its effects appear to include loss of reason and distorted desires.
• Uncertainty and ominous change: The chapter contrasts impressive martial progress with increasingly troubling behavior, suggesting the “divine art” carries a dangerous cost.

Plot points and events

• Cultivating the Nameless Manual has left Elder Yan unusually tranquil and depressed. He knows the sect needs him, but spends his time gazing at the stars until the inner disciples threaten to report the crisis to the Sect Master.
• Gu Qingfeng observes that Daoist Chen’s Soul-Losing Sword Intent is causing different psychological changes among the people in the Small Courtyard. Some grow melancholy and withdrawn; Zhang Jianqiang and Zhang Chao become increasingly violent and sexually predatory.
• The two men leave the courtyard and attack several inner disciples, whose resistance is no match for them. The victims appeal to Elder Yan, who falsely claims the Sect Master arranged the situation to test the newcomers.
• The humiliated inner disciples investigate the newcomers’ strength and discover they are practicing a revised Great Dongkong Heart Formula. Gu Qingfeng gives them a copy, complete with his own detailed annotations.
• The inner disciples quickly learn the formula. Wang Qing suddenly cries “Croak!” and declares that he wants fairness, then sets out to confront Elder Yan.

Character developments and interactions

• Elder Yan has shifted from a dependable authority figure to an apathetic, star-gazing depressive, though he still protects the Sect Master’s interests.
• Gu Qingfeng watches the courtyard’s deterioration with detached curiosity, correctly expects trouble, and helps the inner disciples by sharing the manual.
• Zhang Jianqiang and Zhang Chao become more reckless as the Sword Intent alters their temperaments, turning on higher-ranking disciples rather than Gu Qingfeng.
• The inner disciples, initially confident in their rank, are shocked and humiliated by the newcomers. They respond by trying to learn the powerful formula themselves.
• Wang Qing appears to suffer the same strange behavioral effects—his sudden “Croak!” echoes the Fugitive’s habits—but channels his anger into a demand for justice.

Themes

• The cost of cultivation: The Soul-Losing Sword Intent changes people in unpredictable ways, suggesting that power may come at the price of identity and mental stability.
• Hierarchy and fairness: Rank offers little protection when strength shifts, and the inner disciples’ appeal to authority fails. Wang Qing’s final outburst turns the chapter’s grievance into a comic but pointed challenge to the sect’s unequal order.
• Absurdity and hypocrisy: Elder Yan’s fabricated explanation, the newcomers’ escalating abuse, and the inner disciples’ sudden imitation of their training create dark comedy around institutional power and favoritism.

Wang Qing defeated Zhang Jianqiang and Zhang Chao after their fight escalated, but Elder Yan intervened and protected them. When Sect Master Zhang Dongzhi confronted Elder Yan, Yan declared himself Madam’s dog and challenged the sect master, leaving a clash imminent.

• Wang Qing overwhelmed Zhang Jianqiang, and Zhang Chao joined the fight against him.
• Wang Qing knocked both men down and beat them until Elder Yan stopped him with a soul-shaking roar.
• Elder Yan struck Wang Qing aside and carried Zhang Jianqiang and Zhang Chao to his quarters, saying he had been ordered to observe them.
• Zhang Dongzhi confronted Elder Yan over injuring Wang Qing and protecting the two Outer Disciples.
• Elder Yan declared his loyalty to Madam, accused Zhang Dongzhi of mistreating her, and challenged him as Gu Qingfeng watched.

Elder Yan challenged Sect Master Zhang Dongzhi, and their heavy-sword duel devastated the Dongkong Sect courtyard. After Zhang defeated Yan, Gu Qingfeng resolved to study the sect’s sword art.

• Zhang Dongzhi confronted Elder Yan over his betrayal, and the two began fighting with true essence.
• Elder Yan unleashed a relentless barrage of heavy-sword thrusts, shocking Elder Feng and the watching disciples.
• Zhang Dongzhi summoned his own heavy sword, and the two clashed with force that shattered buildings and injured nearby disciples.
• At the forty-second clash, Zhang disarmed Yan, bound him with true essence, and slammed him into a pit, leaving him unable to fight.
• Zhang told Yan to practice more and walked away, while Gu Qingfeng admired the heavy sword’s power and decided to learn the Dongkong Sect’s sword art.