Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Ran Zirou arrives at Sang Xinghui’s courtyard expecting to meet him, but finds Sang Qingzhi waiting instead. Sang Qingzhi confronts her for lying about being injured and tries to strike her; she easily catches his hand and demands to know what happened to Sang Xinghui.
• Sang Qingzhi says he knows only that Ran and Sang Xinghui had arranged a midnight meeting. A note reveals that Sang Xinghui has left to climb the Immortal Ascension Ladder rather than practice Dual Cultivation with her.
• Ran Zirou reacts with bitter laughter and fear, unable to understand why Sang Xinghui rejected the path she offered him.
• The Manor Master arrives with Zhu Min and Sang Lin. Seeing the Spirit Sword Sect members, Ran realizes events have diverged from her previous life. Sang Lin’s connection to Brocade Splendor Manor shocks her, and she wonders why Zhu Min is there too.
• Zhu Min disclaims Ran as a member of the Spirit Sword Sect and leaves her fate to the Manor Master. Ran is to be escorted from the Manor the next morning and permanently banned from returning.
• Li Zi wakes to the commotion and learns the outcome from the system, but thinks the events do not match what should have happened.

Character developments and interactions

• Ran Zirou shifts from defensive and forceful to frightened and disoriented. Sang Xinghui’s choice and the unexpected presence of people from her past make her doubt her knowledge of the future.
• Sang Qingzhi confronts Ran over her deception and tries to assert authority, but she physically overpowers and humiliates him.
• Sang Xinghui is absent, yet his note reveals a decisive choice to pursue the Immortal Ascension Ladder rather than follow Ran’s proposal.
• Zhu Min coolly distances herself and the Spirit Sword Sect from Ran, placing responsibility for her punishment with the Manor Master.
• Sang Lin cheerfully identifies himself as someone raised at Brocade Splendor Manor, exposing a connection Ran had never recognized.
• Li Zi and the system provide a brief, lighter counterpoint as they catch up on the events.

Significant themes

• A future that will not follow its script: Ran’s assumptions from her previous life are repeatedly contradicted.
• Choice and independence: Sang Xinghui rejects Ran’s preferred path and makes his own decision.
• Fear of uncertainty: As familiar people and relationships appear in new configurations, Ran loses confidence in her ability to control her destiny.

Plot points and events

• Ran Zirou’s attempt to keep Sang Xinghui close backfires: she is blamed for sneaking out for a tryst and faces expulsion from Brocade Splendor Manor. Sang Xinghui has already left to climb the Immortal Ascension Ladder, so he never met her.
• Li Zi sneaks over to witness the uproar. In the main hall, Sang Qingzhi angrily smashes a teacup while a woman laments the humiliation brought upon the Sang Household.
• Zhu Min tells Li Zi that the group will leave the manor the next morning. On the way back, Li Zi learns from the System that Sang Xinghui left decisively to pursue cultivation.
• The next morning, the Manor Master gives Li Zi and her companions food for their journey and reveals that the Sang Household once belonged to a cultivator clan. After an ancestor was wounded by the Devil Race, later generations were born without Spiritual Roots. The Manor Master himself had a Root as a child, but it vanished, and the Medicine King Sect found Demonic Aura within him.

Character developments and interactions

• Sang Xinghui rejects the path he took in his previous life and chooses the Immortal Ascension Ladder over Ran Zirou and Dual Cultivation. Zhu Min is pleased by his resolve.
• Li Zi is eager for gossip but is pulled away by Zhu Min. She reflects on how Sang Xinghui’s previous-life suffering—his parents’ murder, his brother’s death, and the struggle for the Manor Master position—eventually drove him into self-destructive excess and obsession with Ran Zirou.
• Zhu Min remains protective of Li Zi, but also approves of Sang Xinghui’s determination.
• Sang Qingzhi reacts furiously to the scandal, while the Manor Master’s revelation unsettles Sang Lin and prompts Zhu Min to question the household’s connection to the Devil Race.

Significant themes

• Choice and altered fate: Sang Xinghui’s present decision differs sharply from his destructive previous life.
• The cost of ambition and trauma: His past losses helped shape his later obsession and self-destruction.
• Legacy and hidden danger: The Sang family’s lost Spiritual Roots and lingering Demonic Aura suggest an unresolved supernatural threat.

Key plot points

• The Manor Master explains that the Devil Realm’s invasion left Demonic Aura embedded in the Sang family’s bodies. Across generations, it stripped descendants of their Spiritual Roots and may cause hereditary illness or early death.
• Li Zi asks her system whether the damage can be cured. While it searches, she gives the Manor Master medicinal pills and vows to resist the Devil Race.
• On the return journey, Sang Lin realizes his father sent him to the Sect as a child to preserve the family’s last Spiritual Root bloodline.
• Sang Lin reveals that he took all of Ran Zirou’s jewelry, hoping the Demon Prince’s soul might be sealed in one of the hairpins.
• The system discovers that Ran Zirou will eventually create a medicine for Demonic Aura corrosion. It identifies the recipe as the third-grade Bone-Cleansing Pill, which must be taken over time.
• Just as the system begins listing the ingredients, Li Zi abruptly interrupts it.

Character developments and interactions

• Sang Lin’s understanding of his father changes: what he took for rejection was an effort to protect him and the Sang family. Zhu Min responds with unusual tenderness, patting his shoulder and urging him to find the Demon Prince’s soul.
• Sang Lin’s practical side surprises Zhu Min when he produces the entire bundle of jewelry he took from Ran Zirou.
• Li Zi briefly considers leaving the problem to Ran Zirou, whose future achievements seem to make her an effective problem-solver. The system rebukes her, arguing that Ran Zirou’s actions also cause the invasion and its devastation, and Li Zi recommits to stopping her.
• Zhu Min and Sang Lin listen closely to the system’s search and the Bone-Cleansing Pill recipe, eager to find a cure for the Sang family and others affected by Demonic Aura.

Significant themes

• Inherited harm and responsibility: The Devil Realm’s invasion continues to damage people generations later.
• Family sacrifice and misunderstanding: Sang Lin learns that his separation from his family was motivated by love and hope for the future.
• Agency versus reliance on a destined heroine: Li Zi is tempted to let Ran Zirou solve everything, but the system stresses that preventing the catastrophe matters as much as addressing its consequences.

Key plot points and events

• Li Zi learns that the Bone-Cleansing Pill was created by a Medicine King Sect elder known as the Medicine Maniac—not by Ran Zirou. In the previous life, Ran took credit after discovering the pill’s effects.
• The system reveals that Ran’s false information once drew Demonic Cultivators to the Medicine King Sect, leading to the sect’s near-destruction and the elder’s death. Li Zi decides to find him while he is still alive, though Zhu Min and Sang Lin’s watchful presence prevents her from leaving immediately.
• Ran reflects on recent setbacks, especially Sang Xinghui choosing the dangerous Immortal Ascension Ladder rather than accept her offer of Dual Cultivation. She suspects Zhu Min and Sang may have concealed their relationship from her in their previous life.
• Ran discovers that her Dual Cultivation Method can no longer absorb Spiritual Power through ordinary meditation and cannot be removed from her Sea of Consciousness. She concludes she must rely on Dual Cultivation and plans to rebuild her reputation to attract powerful men.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zi shifts from considering taking the pill formula to seeking its rightful creator. Her anger at Ran’s harmful actions strengthens her resolve, but she must remain obedient while Zhu Min and Sang Lin keep watch.
• Ran Zirou grows anxious as her past-life assumptions fail: men no longer respond as expected, and her cultivation method behaves differently. Her panic soon gives way to opportunism; she treats the new limitation as a reason to pursue Dual Cultivation more aggressively.
• Zhu Min and Sang Xinghui unsettle Ran through their apparent closeness and Sang’s refusal of her offer. Zhu Min, meanwhile, keeps Li Zi under strict supervision.
• The system supports Li Zi’s plan and eagerly anticipates finding more gossip at the Medicine King Sect.

Significant themes

• Credit and exploitation: Ran’s reputation rests partly on claiming another person’s invention.
• Consequences of manipulation: Her past scheme devastated the Medicine King Sect, while her current attempts to control others are increasingly failing.
• Uncertainty and changing fate: Memories of a previous life no longer guarantee Ran the outcomes she expects.
• Ambition and moral contrast: Li Zi seeks to protect the inventor and correct a wrong; Ran focuses on restoring her influence and securing cultivation resources.

Key plot points and events

• Ran Zirou regains her confidence and recalls how she first became famous: discovering a medicinal formula in Lan Peak Village that could treat lingering injuries caused by Demonic Cultivators. She plans to return there, gather a rare herb from the nearby mountain, and treat a child who likely has not yet received the medicine.
• Li Zi returns to the Spirit Sword Sect after Zhu Min and Sang Lin escort her back. She resents Zhu Min’s constant supervision and pressure to cultivate.
• With less than three months before the dangerous expedition to the Wasteland, Li Zi considers seeking help from the Medicine King Sect’s “Medicine Madman,” but fears the expedition and wonders whether she can avoid going.
• The system warns that Ran Zirou may soon surpass Li Zi and threaten to take her Myriad Flower Divine Bone. Li Zi reluctantly decides to cultivate rather than give up.
• Fu Chaoqing invites Li Zi to accompany him to the Medicine King Sect to buy ingredients for a pill. Li Zi eagerly accepts after learning Zhu Min is away in the Mortal World.
• The Medicine King Sect prepares for Li Zi’s visit. Disciples who fear her reputation as a gossip—whose previous visits disrupted other sects—leave to avoid her.
• The Medicine King Sect Master and Zhu Min visit the secluded Yao Yifang, the “Medicine Madman.” The Sect Master doubts that Yao, a third-grade alchemist with no notable achievements, could have created a formula capable of addressing Demonic Aura.

Character developments and interactions

• Ran Zirou shifts from discouragement to renewed ambition, relying on knowledge from her previous life to rebuild her reputation and cultivation.
• Li Zi remains anxious about danger and discipline, but her fear of Ran Zirou’s future threat pushes her toward action. Her enthusiasm for visiting the Medicine King Sect contrasts with her reluctance to cultivate.
• Zhu Min is portrayed as a strict, watchful senior sister; Li Zi finds her supervision suffocating. Zhu Min later accompanies the Medicine King Sect Master to meet Yao.
• Fu Chaoqing offers Li Zi a welcome chance to travel, arranging for her to join him the next day.
• Yao Yifang is introduced as an eccentric, reclusive medicinal researcher whose work is dismissed by his senior despite the possibility that his formula may be important.

Significant themes

• Knowledge from a second life: Ran Zirou uses memories of her previous life to reclaim status and influence.
• Fear versus responsibility: Li Zi dreads the Wasteland expedition but recognizes that avoiding challenges could leave her vulnerable.
• Reputation and disruption: Li Zi’s notoriety as a gossip shapes how the Medicine King Sect’s disciples react to her arrival.
• Overlooked expertise: Yao’s apparent failure and low rank contrast with the potentially extraordinary value of his research.

Chapter Summary

• Research into Demonic Cultivation: Zhu Min and the Medicine King Sect Master discuss their long-running efforts to understand how Demonic Cultivation Methods affect the body. They hope a prescription developed by the Sect Master’s junior brother will work, bringing relief to afflicted children and earning him recognition. The Sect Master expects the junior sister’s arrival to stir up the Sect.
• Li Zi visits the Medicine King Sect: Two days later, Li Zi accompanies Fu Chaoqing to the Sect. She is captivated by its medicinal fragrance, cliffside Hanging Bell Flowers, and forest-like grounds. Fu explains the flowers’ value and reminds her that he previously sent her seeds. Li Zi’s enthusiasm is mostly internal, though her excitement is loud enough for the accompanying disciple to notice.
• Fu Chaoqing seeks instruction: At the Main Hall, Fu asks the Sect Master and elders for help with a problem refining a Violet Sky Pill. Li Zi, uninterested in alchemy, grows bored and asks the System for gossip.
• A dispute interrupts the meeting: Ye Zexi and Zong Feng arrive arguing over a patient whose care was reassigned from Ye to Zong. Ye believes the Sect Master favors Zong despite Ye’s superior medical skill; Zong is hurt and defensive after hearing that judgment. Their rivalry extends to cultivation, pill refining, and now medicine. Ye insists the patient’s long-standing eye condition is simple and claims he can cure it, while Zong counters that Ye has already failed to help the patient.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Li Zi shows her curiosity and playful excitement, admiring the Sect’s unusual scenery while remaining disengaged from serious alchemy discussion. Her interest sharply shifts when the System offers gossip.
• Fu Chaoqing acts as Li Zi’s guide and asks the Sect’s senior figures for practical alchemy advice.
• The Medicine King Sect Master is cautiously hopeful about the demonic-cultivation prescription but weary of the disruption he anticipates from his junior sister.
• Ye Zexi and Zong Feng are established as competitive, resentful rivals whose disagreement over the patient reflects a deeper pattern of one-upmanship.
• The System supplies the background behind the argument, turning a formal Sect meeting into a source of entertainment for Li Zi and nearby disciples.

Significant Themes

• Hope and uncertainty: The Sect’s research may offer a breakthrough, but its success remains unproven.
• Rivalry and professional pride: Ye and Zong’s conflict shows how competition can complicate medical responsibility.
• Wonder and comic contrast: Li Zi’s delight in the Sect’s natural beauty contrasts with her boredom during technical discussion and eagerness for gossip.

Plot points

• Ye Zexi and Zong Feng argue over who should treat a patient. Ye insists her return has nothing to do with his medical skill; Zong accuses him of being dishonest and boasts about his own.
• The system reveals that Zong personally requested the patient’s transfer, believing she had a genuine illness. In fact, Auntie Zhao has been pretending to need treatment: she once pursued Ye and has now set her sights on Zong.
• Ye and Zong realize they were both deceived. Ye thought Auntie Zhao had a breast lump, while Zong says she asked him to apply medicine near her heart—and even felt his muscles.
• Ye then accuses the Sect Master of favoring Zong and complains that the disciples give Zong whatever he asks for. The system explains that Zong’s booming, painfully deep voice makes people reluctant to refuse him, reinforced by his intimidating build.
• Zong shouts in anger, hurting everyone’s ears and shaking the weaker cultivators’ Seas of Consciousness. The Sect Master raises a soundproof barrier. The chapter ends with Ye wondering why Zong’s voice does not bother him.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zexi begins defensive and angry, but learns that his rival was fooled by the same patient. His complaint about favoritism shifts into a discussion of why Zong gets his way.
• Zong Feng goes from smug and combative to mortified when he realizes Auntie Zhao has been flirting with him. He is shocked to learn that others find his voice unpleasant.
• Li Zi listens to the system’s explanation and reacts to Zong’s voice as an almost supernatural nuisance.
• The Sect Master and elders try to suppress their amusement at the rivals’ embarrassment, then protect everyone with a soundproof barrier.

Themes

• Appearances and mistaken assumptions: Both men misread Auntie Zhao’s motives and mistake flirtation for legitimate medical need.
• Power and social influence: Zong’s size and resonant voice cause others to yield to him, making him seem favored even without deliberate privilege.
• Comedy through rivalry and embarrassment: The quarrel collapses into shared humiliation, with the Sect’s leaders and disciples struggling not to laugh.

Key plot points and events

• Li Zi’s inner thoughts keep exposing misunderstandings. Ye Zexi and Zhong Feng are mistaken for rivals in love because they have been arguing over Auntie Li; Li Zi and others also joke that the pair seem like a “bickering couple.”
• The Medicine King Sect Master dismisses the group and sends Fu Chaoqing to take Li Zi to his old courtyard, while arranging a banquet for them that evening.
• Outside the Main Hall, Auntie Li confronts Ye Zexi and Zhong Feng with a crowd of villagers. She assumes they are both in love with her, proudly explains that she has already found a companion, and strokes Zhong Feng’s hand before leaving. Their attempts to deny the rumor are ignored, and the watching disciples take the misunderstanding as fact.
• Fu Chaoqing quickly leads Li Zi away to spare the men further embarrassment. He explains that the Medicine King Sect was founded in the Spirit Beast Forest to protect nearby residents from dangerous beasts, and that the mountain range is also rich in rare herbs.
• Fu takes Li Zi by sword to the top of a huge tree, where the spiritual energy is unusually dense. He uses formation runes to make the leaves form a platform and invites her to step onto it, beginning a new exercise or demonstration.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zi delights in the romantic misunderstandings and openly enjoys teasing Ye Zexi and Zhong Feng. Despite her nervousness about the height of the platform, she works up the courage to step onto it.
• Ye Zexi and Zhong Feng are embarrassed and increasingly frustrated by being cast as suitors to Auntie Li—and by the Sect Master and disciples teasing them as a couple. Their longstanding arguments remain unresolved.
• Auntie Li is pleased by the attention and confidently misreads the men’s behavior as romantic interest, despite their protests.
• Fu Chaoqing acts protectively toward Li Zi, steering her away from the commotion and patiently showing her the Sect’s surroundings and formations.

Significant themes

• Comedic misunderstanding: Li Zi’s thoughts and the villagers’ assumptions repeatedly turn ordinary conflicts into romantic drama.
• Community and protection: The Medicine King Sect’s original mission was to defend local residents from Spirit Beasts.
• Cultivation and discovery: The dense spiritual energy and living formation platform introduce Li Zi to a new opportunity to train and explore.

Key plot points and events

• Li Zi discovers that the Medicine King Sect’s trees are powerful cultivation sites, a gift from its founding Ancestor. Her Myriad Flower Divine Bone is a wood-element Spiritual Root, making the place especially effective for her cultivation.
• The system reveals that the Spirit Sword Sect ranks near the bottom among major sects. Fu Chaoqing counters that it once produced the Cultivation World’s greatest sword immortal and possesses the Primordial Sage Secret Art, a nearly immortal-grade method, though only an incomplete copy survives.
• Li Zi asks the system when it will finish restoring the Art. Fu Chaoqing overhears and realizes that completing it could help him and other elders overcome their cultivation bottlenecks.
• The system says it needs more gossip points. When Li Zi complains that she has little time to seek gossip because her Senior Sister makes her cultivate, Fu Chaoqing invites her to the Medicine King Sect’s banquet that evening.
• At the banquet, the guests—aware of Li Zi’s gossip-revealing inner thoughts—tease one another and insist they have nothing to hide. The system then announces that there is plenty of gossip and points out Chou Yuejiao, a Light Sect disciple, as its first subject.

Character developments

• Li Zi grows more excited about the system’s gossip than about cultivation, though she remains eager to help restore her sect’s standing.
• Fu Chaoqing shifts from encouraging Li Zi’s loyalty to the sect to seeing her system’s ability to complete the Primordial Sage Secret Art as a possible solution to his own bottleneck.
• The banquet guests are increasingly self-conscious about Li Zi’s inner voice and try to project innocence before the gossip begins.

Significant themes

• Cultivation and inherited legacy: Sacred grounds and ancient techniques shape sect strength, while the Spirit Sword Sect’s incomplete art symbolizes both its decline and its potential revival.
• Ambition versus distraction: Li Zi is urged to cultivate and restore her sect, but gossip is her main motivation.
• Reputation and secrecy: The guests’ confident denials contrast with their nervousness about what Li Zi’s inner thoughts might reveal.

Character interactions

• Fu Chaoqing reassures Li Zi about the Spirit Sword Sect’s history and urges her to help restore its glory; she agrees, then privately asks the system about completing the sect’s art.
• The system’s gossip requirement prompts Fu Chaoqing to invite Li Zi to the banquet, where she can gather material.
• The guests trade playful challenges about whose secrets might be exposed, then turn their attention to Chou Yuejiao when the system identifies him.

Plot points

• At a Medicine King Sect banquet, Li Zi’s inner thoughts expose Chou Yuejiao’s embarrassing reason for visiting: he wants medicine from Yu Xiaoxiao, an alchemist who makes remedies for men’s sexual health. His attempts to deny that the medicine is for himself only draw more teasing.
• The system explains that Yu’s unusual, low-temperature fire makes her pills especially suited to male tonics, though her alchemy is generally considered unreliable.
• Li Zi reframes Yu’s specialty as a rare and valuable skill. The system adds that every pill Yu makes—even defective ones—can calm turbulent Spiritual Power and help prevent Qi Deviation.
• The disciples recognize the value of this effect and eagerly offer to buy Yu’s failed pills. Yu is left stunned by the sudden attention.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zi remains an amused, outspoken observer. Though she means only to entertain herself, her praise helps others see Yu’s worth.
• Yu Xiaoxiao shifts from guarded resignation about being mocked to surprised recognition that her work has real value. She is approached by disciples who once ridiculed her.
• Chou Yuejiao becomes flustered as Li Zi’s gossip exposes his request for medicine; the surrounding male disciples tease him.
• The disciples change their attitude toward Yu once they learn her pills can suppress dangerous Spiritual Power surges. They compete to buy them, while some call out a senior who previously insulted her.

Themes

• Hidden value and changing status: A skill dismissed as embarrassing or defective proves uniquely useful.
• Prejudice and social recognition: Yu has endured mockery, but practical need quickly turns contempt into admiration.
• The power of reframing: Li Zi’s sincere praise prompts others to reconsider someone they had taken for granted.

• Plot: Chou Yuejiao tries to leave Yu Xiaoxiao’s gathering after apparently coming to buy her Yang-Boosting Pill. The System reveals that he is the Bright Light Church Sect Master’s son and explains the Church’s secret rite for cleansing disciples’ spiritual roots. It then clarifies that Chou wants the pill for his father—not himself.
• The real reason: Immortal Shadowflame, who once loved Chou’s father, has been assigned to train Chou. Because Chou resembles his father, Shadowflame gives him extra attention: repeated cleansing, private training sessions, and punishing drills. Chou hopes to reunite the two men so Shadowflame will stop exhausting him.
• Character developments and interactions: Chou is mortified as the crowd misreads his purchase as an attempt to impress Shadowflame romantically. The disciples tease and encourage him, while Yu Xiaoxiao joins in with suggestive assumptions. The System corrects them, insisting Shadowflame’s care is simply that of an elder for a junior. Li Zi finds Chou’s plan understandable because her own senior sister also subjects her to grueling training, though she wonders how his mother would react to the medicine.
• Themes: The scene mixes gossip and comic misunderstanding with the burdens of intense cultivation training. It also shows how private sect knowledge can be exposed casually—and how easily outsiders turn an elder’s mentorship into romantic speculation.

Chapter 152 Summary

• Chou Yuejiao abandons his plan: After Li Zi points out that persuading Immortal Shadowflame to marry his father could leave him with a demanding stepmother, Chou Yuejiao admits he had hoped to make his father happy. But once he imagines being subjected to her grueling drills, he gives up on the medicine meant to help bring the match about. He deflects attention by mentioning that Ma Yan also sought a wife for his father.
• Ma Yan’s past comes to light: Li Zi asks the System about Ma Yan, prompting him to flee before it reveals his history. Ma Yan’s mother died giving birth to their fourth daughter, and his father raised six children alone, doing hard labor in the Mortal World despite being a Cultivator. When a wealthy household’s wet nurse offered to marry his father but mistreated the children, Ma Yan drove her away. He later began searching for a suitable stepmother for his family.
• The disciples reconsider their privilege: The System explains that many Cultivators lack the talent or resources to advance beyond Qi Refining and must make ordinary livings as Rogue Cultivators. The Golden Core disciples realize they have rarely considered such struggles, having benefited from Sect support, resources, and status. They learn that Ma Yan’s hard work as an alchemist has improved his family’s circumstances: he can refine Fourth-Grade pills and earns money selling pills in the Mortal World.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Chou Yuejiao shifts from earnest matchmaker to reluctant skeptic, recognizing the personal cost of his plan.
• Ma Yan is revealed as diligent, devoted to his family, and shaped by a difficult upbringing. His peers gain new respect and sympathy for him.
• Li Zi drives the discussion with her blunt observations and questions, while the System supplies the background that broadens everyone’s perspective.
• Yin Junyu boasts about his wealthy family after another disciple describes Ma Yan as someone who gives no impression of money; Yu Xiaoxiao teasingly points out his expensive clothes and accessories.

Significant Themes

• Filial duty and family responsibility: Both Chou Yuejiao and Ma Yan act with their fathers’ and families’ welfare in mind.
• Class and privilege: The chapter contrasts well-supported Sect disciples with struggling Cultivators who cannot advance or access resources.
• Hard work and compassion: Ma Yan’s persistence has helped lift his family’s fortunes, while his story encourages the disciples to recognize lives beyond their own privileged circles.

Plot points

• At a banquet, Li Zi and the disciples gossip about Ma Yan’s unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable match for his father. Li Zi’s laughter and the disciples’ sympathy highlight the gap between Ma Yan’s modest family and their wealthier backgrounds.
• The Sect Master arrives with the notorious Medicine Maniac, prompting the disciples to whisper, avoid him, and show open disdain. He is disliked for his eccentric behavior, failed research, alleged mistreatment of disciples and Spirit Beasts, and for fleeing during the Immortal-Demon War.
• Li Zi asks Fu Chaoqing why the elder is so hated. The System says the Medicine Maniac is actually a decent person, contradicting the Sect’s reputation.
• The Medicine Maniac asks the Sect Master for Dragon-Gall Condensation Water, hoping it will help him develop a Fourth-Grade medicinal pill. The Sect Master says he has other matters to discuss first.
• Li Zi thinks the Medicine Maniac is a genius who invented the Bone-Cleansing Pill. The elder hears the System’s voice, chokes on his wine, and sprays it across the table.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zi remains curious and outspoken, trusting what she recalls from the book rather than the Sect’s judgment.
• The Medicine Maniac appears disheveled and socially ostracized, but is focused on his research. Hearing praise—and a reference to a pill he apparently invented—startles him.
• The Sect Master has leverage over his junior martial brother, having secured the ingredient in exchange for the Medicine Maniac’s cooperation.
• Fu Chaoqing explains the elder’s poor reputation to Li Zi, while the surrounding disciples’ contempt contrasts sharply with her sympathetic view.

Significant themes

• Reputation versus reality: The Medicine Maniac may be better and more accomplished than the Sect believes, suggesting that public judgment is unreliable.
• Prejudice and exclusion: The disciples’ gossip and avoidance show how a notorious reputation can isolate someone.
• Hidden knowledge and dramatic irony: Li Zi’s thoughts and the System’s comments reveal information the other characters do not know, while the Medicine Maniac’s ability to hear the voice hints at a deeper mystery.

Chapter 154 Summary

• The Medicine Maniac’s past is revealed: The system says he fought in the Immortal-Demon War and has spent years researching what happens when Demonic Aura enters a mortal body. His unusual dedication stands out in a cultivation world where most cultivators focus on their own power.
• His damaged cultivation is exposed: The Sect Master scolds him for neglecting cultivation, then learns from the system that his Dantian was destroyed during the war. The Sect Master and elders examine him, but his pulse, Dantian, and Golden Core appear normal.
• The Medicine Maniac explains his condition: He says he can no longer advance in cultivation because spiritual energy drains from his body like water through a leak. He has accepted this and prefers to devote himself to other pursuits.
• The danger is worse than it appears: The system reveals that his Golden Core has actually died and Demonic Aura is slowly consuming his remaining cultivation. He has fewer than fifty years to live, contradicting the Sect Master’s estimate of less than a hundred.

Character Developments and Interactions

• The Medicine Maniac remains calm and detached about his failing body and possible death, even comforting the Sect Master. His long-running research suggests that his apparent retreat from battle may conceal a more complicated history.
• The Sect Master shifts from irritation at his junior brother’s lack of cultivation to alarm and grief when he learns of the damage. He checks him personally and regrets not knowing sooner.
• The elders and disciples are shocked by the revelation and question what really happened during the war. Li Zi watches with concern, though the Medicine Maniac’s laughter briefly reassures her.
• The system provides the crucial hidden facts that ordinary medical and spiritual examinations cannot detect.

Significant Themes

The chapter contrasts devotion to personal cultivation with service through research, and highlights how hidden injuries can escape even expert examination. It also explores acceptance of mortality, while raising doubts about the Medicine Maniac’s role in the Immortal-Demon War.

• A hidden betrayal is revealed: The system recounts how, a thousand years earlier, the Medicine Maniac was prevented from joining the Immortal-Demon War. His childhood friend drugged and bound him in the Sect’s Forbidden Grounds, intending to use a secret art to devour his Dantian and cure the demonic corruption in his own body. The attack damaged the Medicine Maniac’s cultivation, but its effects were concealed.
• A longstanding misunderstanding: The Medicine Maniac remained unconscious in the Sect while the others fought. When they returned and found him asleep but apparently unharmed, they assumed he had feigned illness to avoid the battle. The Great Elder and Second Elder now realize they misjudged what happened.
• The betrayer’s identity shocks the Sect: The system names the childhood friend as Pu Chan, now celebrated throughout the Cultivation World as a renowned Buddhist ascetic. The Medicine Maniac confirms that Pu Chan was once a young errand boy in their Sect and stole his Golden Core and refined Spiritual Root. Rather than repenting for the crime, Pu Chan later became a Buddhist Cultivator after his personality was influenced by the Medicine Maniac’s easygoing nature.
• The Medicine Maniac’s reputation has been repeatedly abused: The system explains that Sect members have long taken advantage of his reluctance to defend himself. It recalls false rumors that he stalked female disciples and a prank that made him ask a woman for a supposed “Placenta,” leaving him a target of ridicule.
• Character developments and interactions: Li Zi reacts with outrage and sympathy, unable to understand how the Medicine Maniac could endure such injustice without resentment. The elders and Sect Master confront the gap between their assumptions and the truth. The Medicine Maniac remains outwardly resigned, drinking as he recounts his losses, while the disciples listen and recognize how much of his past—and public image—has been distorted.
• Themes: The chapter explores betrayal, the lasting consequences of injustice, and how public reputations can conceal private wrongdoing. It also contrasts the Medicine Maniac’s forgiving, easygoing temperament with others’ exploitation of it, questioning whether apparent virtue always reflects genuine remorse.

• Li Zi realizes that Medicine Maniac’s Bone-Cleansing Pill could restore his reputation if others knew it might treat Demonic Aura, but the formula is still untested because he lacks an ingredient.
• Before she can work out how to raise the subject, Medicine Maniac approaches and offers her the formula for one Spirit Stone. Li Zi recognizes it and asks aloud whether it is meant to treat Demonic Aura, drawing the disciples’ attention to its potential.
• Medicine Maniac admits he does not yet know what the formula will do. He says he feels connected to Li Zi and wants to pass it to her, severing his own claim to it. The System urges Li Zi to accept the chance for fame, but she rejects that prospect and refuses to profit from an unverified formula.
• Medicine Maniac insists, physically forcing the formula into Li Zi’s hand. Their stubborn argument is interrupted by the Sect Master, who takes the formula and summons Fu Chaoqing for a private conversation.
  Character developments and interactions: Li Zi shows compassion for Medicine Maniac and integrity by trying to protect him from being undervalued, while remaining uninterested in fame or ambition. Medicine Maniac reveals an unexpected trust in her, though he is still unaware of the formula’s effects. The Sect disciples’ guilt deepens as they witness the exchange, and the Sect Master steps in to manage the conflict. Fu Chaoqing privately reflects that Li Zi’s hope of quitting cultivation is unlikely to last.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts fame and genuine compassion, highlights the harm of institutional neglect, and emphasizes the gap between a promising discovery and proven results.

• Plot: After Fu Chaoqing and the elders leave the banquet with the Medicine Maniac, Li Zi returns to the Small Courtyard with Yu Xiaoxiao, who shows her around the sect. The guests learn that the accusations against the Medicine Maniac were lies, and some female disciples leave him an apology letter. The Medicine King Sect Master and Fu Chaoqing discuss testing the prescription Li Zi proposed, which may treat Demonic Aura. They consider who should lead the effort, but the Medicine Maniac wants only a quiet life. Fu Chaoqing later asks Li Zi whether she wants the fame of becoming a Divine Maiden; she refuses, and he agrees not to pressure her. When he hints at the Medicine Maniac’s illness, Li Zi consults the System and learns the possible cure: replace his Golden Core, then use Profound Ice Netherflower and a Bone-Cleansing Pill to remove the remaining Demonic Aura. Fu Chaoqing overhears this information.
• Character developments: Li Zi shows she understands her limits and firmly rejects public fame, fearing the attention and responsibilities it would bring. The Medicine Maniac remains uninterested in recognition or revenge, preferring peace despite his Sect Master’s attempts to spur him on. Fu Chaoqing respects Li Zi’s choice but quietly tries to learn more about the Medicine Maniac’s condition. The Sect Master is protective and forceful, insisting that the prescription be tested and that his junior brother not dismiss his illness.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts fame and responsibility with the desire for a quiet life. It also highlights the consequences of prejudice and misinformation, as the Medicine Maniac’s reputation is reconsidered once the lies are exposed. Healing and sacrifice emerge as central concerns, especially through the need to replace the Medicine Maniac’s Golden Core.
• Character interactions: Yu Xiaoxiao befriends and escorts Li Zi around the sect. Fu Chaoqing and the Sect Master discuss leadership of the treatment effort, while the Sect Master scolds the Medicine Maniac for hiding his condition and refusing recognition. Fu Chaoqing accepts Li Zi’s refusal to become a Divine Maiden, then uses a hint of concern to prompt her to ask the System about a cure.

Plot points and events

• Fu Chaoqing gives the Medicine King Sect a treatment for the Medicine Maniac and informs the Spirit Sword Sect Master.
• Li Zi learns the Medicine King Sect has found a cure. The sect has acted quickly, while she worries the Bone-Cleansing Pill might fail; the System confidently assures her it will work.
• In Lan Peak Village, Ran Zirou treats Gouwa’er, a child unable to stand, with acupuncture. He manages to move his toes, giving the villagers hope that he can recover.
• Ran Zirou intends to take credit for the Bone-Cleansing Pill’s effects and become renowned as the savior of those afflicted by Demonic Aura.
• Medicine King Sect members arrive with medicine. The villagers rush to welcome them, honoring the sect as longtime protectors and benefactors. Ran Zirou joins them, but freezes when she sees the six visitors.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zi is relieved by the news of a cure but remains anxious about whether the pill will work. The System reassures and supports her.
• Ran Zirou presents herself as compassionate and capable, but privately reveals an ambitious, self-serving plan to claim credit for another’s treatment.
• Gouwa’er and his mother embody the villagers’ hope and fear; his first small movement brings the community joy.
• The villagers initially admire Ran Zirou, then prioritize the Medicine King Sect out of gratitude for its longstanding protection. One villager’s skepticism is quickly rebuked.
• The Medicine King Sect appears as a respected institution acting swiftly to help those affected by Demonic Aura.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus motive: Ran Zirou’s saintly public image contrasts with her desire for fame.
• Service and recognition: The villagers value both immediate care and the sect’s long history of protection.
• Hope through healing: Gouwa’er’s slight improvement offers hope to families suffering from Demonic Aura’s effects.

Key plot points and events

• Six disciples from the Medicine King Sect arrive at Lan Peak Village, welcomed with great respect. They explain that they have developed a new medicine for demonic aura in the body and want to test it on a child.
• The villagers mention Ran Zirou, who has already claimed to be treating the affected children. She steps forward and presents herself as a compassionate, skilled healer.
• Ran’s treatment of Gouwa’er consisted of acupuncture that briefly made his legs feel something; she knows lasting improvement depends on the Bone-Cleansing Pill. She hopes to collaborate with the sect and take credit for its results.
• When a disciple asks to examine Gouwa’er, Ran becomes defensive, fearing they will expose her claims. She redirects the conversation, drawing on her knowledge of demonic aura to win the disciples’ favor.
• The Medicine King Sect stays overnight and examines villagers from house to house. The next day, they find that Gouwa’er’s condition has not improved and his legs still cannot move.
• Ran dismisses the brief effect as temporary. The sect then produces a bottle of medicine, whose potent fragrance amazes the villagers.

Character developments and interactions

• Ran Zirou appears gracious and confident but is driven by ambition and anxiety about being found out. She tries to control the situation and secure credit for the sect’s discovery.
• The Medicine King Sect disciples are courteous and sincerely interested in helping villagers. Their request to inspect Gouwa’er unintentionally threatens Ran’s façade.
• The village chief and villagers trust the sect and are eager to help with its trial. Gouwa’er’s mother comforts him when the examination confirms he remains unable to move his legs.
• Ran’s smooth rapport with the disciples contrasts with her sharp, defensive response when her supposed medical success is questioned.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Ran’s polished, saintly image hides weak medical knowledge and self-serving motives.
• Credit and integrity: She intends to claim another group’s work as her own, while the sect approaches treatment as a genuine effort to help.
• Care for the vulnerable: The chapter highlights the villagers’ hopes for the children and the limited attention mortals’ suffering receives from cultivators.

Plot points

• Ran Zirou tries to help Gouwa’er after the Medicine King Sect gives him a Bone-Cleansing Pill, hoping to use the treatment—and the pill’s success—to advance her own plans.
• The sect refuses her involvement, explaining that once it takes responsibility for a patient, outsiders cannot intervene. It assigns a disciple to monitor Gouwa’er and orders Ran to leave.
• Ran is shaken: in her past life, the sect had shown little interest in the Bone-Cleansing Pill, but now it is treating the matter as important. She wonders whether another person’s rebirth—or her own actions—has changed events.
• Meanwhile, Li Zi tours the Medicine King Sect and learns how its trade system supplies high-grade pills in exchange for rare medicines and completed missions.
• Medicine Maniac cheerfully calls Li Zi to the Alchemy Pavilion, where he says he has something for her.
• The system warns Li Zi that Ran intends to use the Bone-Cleansing Pill to become famous and attract talented men to serve as her Furnace Cauldrons. Li Zi fears Ran may be moving quickly enough to become a major threat.

Character developments and interactions

• Ran Zirou is revealed as ambitious and opportunistic: she hopes to take advantage of the pill’s success, but the Medicine King Sect’s intervention frustrates her. Her confidence gives way to confusion and suspicion about why events have changed.
• Li Zi is increasingly anxious about Ran’s plans and the speed of her rise. Hearing that Ran may know the pill’s formula, Li Zi worries she could claim to have invented it.
• Medicine Maniac appears refreshed and lively, warmly waving Li Zi over, while the Medicine King Sect’s disciples treat her as an honored guest.
• The sect’s disciples act firmly but courteously toward Ran, enforcing their custom of keeping outsiders away from patients under the sect’s care.

Significant themes

• Changed fate and unintended consequences: Ran’s rebirth does not guarantee events will unfold as before; the Medicine King Sect’s unexpected response raises the possibility of a butterfly effect.
• Ambition and exploitation: Ran seeks fame and influence through the Bone-Cleansing Pill, with the system revealing her broader plans for power.
• Knowledge, labor, and reward: The sect’s trade and mission systems show that access to valuable medicine depends on work and exchange, contrasting with Ran’s former privileged position.
• Rules and authority: The Medicine King Sect’s customs limit Ran’s ability to interfere, even when she presents herself as helpful.