Chapter Summaries

Lu Changfeng was summoned to treat Princess Taiping’s son, Xue Chongyin, after several physicians were executed for failing to diagnose his mysterious collapse. He identified the cause as cervical syncope and declared he could cure it, triggering the Noble Physician’s Canon and revealing a Nine Yin Manual as the success reward.

• Princess Taiping killed the physicians who blamed Xue Chongyin’s condition on possession.
• Lu Changfeng was called into the hall and examined Xue Chongyin under Princess Taiping’s threat.
• Lu Changfeng questioned the attendants and learned that Xue Chongyin’s fainting spells began after sudden movements and left him breathing.
• Lu Changfeng diagnosed cervical syncope and told Princess Taiping that he could cure it.
• The Noble Physician’s Canon activated and identified the condition, promising Lu Changfeng the max-level Nine Yin Manual if he succeeded.

Lu Changfeng cured Xue Chongyin’s neck injury and was forced into service as Princess Taiping’s chief physician. Alone in the Snow Listening Tower, he claimed his reward and instantly mastered the max-level Nine Yin Manual.

• Lu Changfeng used a gold needle and a precise adjustment to awaken Xue Chongyin and relieve his neck injury.
• Princess Taiping rewarded Lu Changfeng and ordered him to become chief physician at her residence, while assigning Jinghong to escort him and arrange for Qing Dai to attend him.
• Princess Taiping ordered someone to investigate Lu Changfeng as Jinghong led him to the Snow Listening Tower.
• Lu Changfeng dismissed Qing Dai so he could claim his reward in private.
• The reward infused Lu Changfeng with the max-level Nine Yin Manual, opening all eight extraordinary meridians and granting him mastery of its martial arts.

Princess Taiping dismissed Wu Youji, investigated Lu Changfeng’s mysterious past, and considered whether he could be trusted after he cured Xue Chongyin. As Lu weighed how to survive in the dangerous household and wondered if becoming Princess Taiping’s male favorite could protect him, Director Zhang Shouzhuo arrived seeking a meeting.

• Zhang Shouzhuo examined Xue Chongyin, confirmed he was recovering, and faced Princess Taiping’s anger over the incompetent physicians he had recommended.
• Princess Taiping told Zhang that she had killed Zhou Ming and Wang Zhen, then named Lu Changfeng as the household’s new medical officer.
• Jinghong reported that Lu had been an ordinary apprentice until a near-fatal accident three days earlier, after which his abilities and manner changed.
• Xue Chongyin asked whether Lu might be a spy, but Princess Taiping reassured him and urged him to rest.
• Lu considered the dangers of serving Princess Taiping and decided he needed to make himself more valuable and secure his position.
• Qing Dai informed Lu that Director Zhang Shouzhuo was waiting outside his courtyard to meet him.

Lu Changfeng confronted Imperial Physician Director Zhang Shouzhuo over the origins of his medical skills, and Qing Dai stopped Zhang from using force. After Zhang left, Qing Dai explained the martial arts realms, and Lu Changfeng realized he had reached the peak of Houtian.

• Zhang Shouzhuo demanded that Lu Changfeng explain the lineage behind his golden-needle technique and disparaged his unorthodox medical skills.
• Lu Changfeng defended his experience treating ordinary people and reminded Zhang that he had cured Xue Chongyin after the Imperial Medical Bureau misdiagnosed the illness as evil spirit possession.
• Zhang tried to overwhelm Lu Changfeng with true qi, but Qing Dai stepped in and dispelled the pressure without effort.
• Zhang left after warning Lu Changfeng, while Lu recognized that he had made an enemy of Zhang and the Medicine King Valley.
• Lu asked Qing Dai about martial arts realms, and she described the six stages from body tempering to divine wandering.
• Lu concluded that his cultivation was at the peak of Houtian and suspected Qing Dai had reached at least Xiantian.

Lu Changfeng began his duties as Director of Medicine at the Spirit Pivot Institute, where the staff immediately challenged his authority with a difficult patient. He diagnosed Yao Yuansheng’s sudden vertigo and vomiting as otolithiasis, leaving his first test unresolved.

• Qing Dai brought Lu Changfeng his official robes, and he changed before heading to the Spirit Pivot Institute.
• Lu Changfeng arrived at the institute and was introduced to Shen Jingwan, Cui Mingxuan, Zhou Wenqian, Qian Weiyu, and the other staff.
• A clerk reported that Yao Yuansheng had suffered another severe headache and vomiting attack, and the staff pressured Lu Changfeng to treat him.
• Lu Changfeng went to the duty room, where Yao Yuansheng angrily rejected the young new director.
• Lu Changfeng examined Yao Yuansheng and diagnosed his condition as otolithiasis.

Lu Changfeng cured Yao Yuansheng’s vertigo with an ear-stone repositioning maneuver, then used the Soul-Shifting Great Method to expose a plot against him. The chapter left Zhou Wenqian and Qian Weiyu under pressure to reveal whom they served.

• Lu Changfeng diagnosed Yao Yuansheng’s vertigo as displaced ear stones and treated it with a precise series of movements.
• Yao Yuansheng’s dizziness disappeared, and he thanked Lu Changfeng and paid him; Lu Changfeng accepted the gold and promised to examine him the next day.
• Lu Changfeng identified Cui Mingxuan, Zhou Wenqian, and Qian Weiyu as likely spies and decided to root out threats at the Spirit Pivot Institute.
• Lu Changfeng used the Soul-Shifting Great Method to compel Cui Mingxuan to reveal that Qian Weiyu had proposed testing Lu Changfeng using Yao Yuansheng, with Zhou Wenqian agreeing.
• The medical staff reacted with fear as Lu Changfeng turned to Zhou Wenqian and Qian Weiyu and demanded to know whom they served.

Lu Changfeng exposed Empress Wei’s spies in the Spirit Pivot Institute and established his authority as chief pharmacist. After learning that the residence’s martial and medical archive required Princess Taiping’s permission, he claimed the Scent-Recognizing Beauty reward and began considering how to prove his value.

• Lu Changfeng used the Soul-Shifting Great Method to make Zhou Wenqian and Qian Weiyu confess that Empress Wei had planted them as spies.
• Lu Changfeng asked Shen Jingwan to punish the infiltrators, and she had Zhou Wenqian and Qian Weiyu imprisoned while expelling Cui Mingxuan.
• Lu Changfeng warned the Spirit Pivot Institute’s staff to obey him and demonstrated his strength by leaving a palm print in a hardwood desk.
• Lu Changfeng asked Qing Dai about borrowing texts from the restricted Pivot of Heaven Pavilion, but she said only Her Highness could grant permission.
• Lu Changfeng considered offering distillation and perfume-making as ways to demonstrate his value, then claimed the Scent-Recognizing Beauty reward.

Lu Changfeng created distilled alcohol and Fragrance Dew, then presented their methods to Princess Taiping in exchange for access to medical manuscripts. She granted him entry to the archives and stewardship of the Hundred Herbs Garden, while Gao Jian grew resentful and Princess Taiping ordered him watched.

• Lu Changfeng used his new mastery of scent and the Spirit Pivot Institute’s supplies to distill high-proof alcohol and make jasmine Fragrance Dew.
• Princess Taiping received reports from Gao Jian about Great Vehicle Sect corpses and suspicious activity by Wu Sansi’s Crescent Moon Hall before Lu Changfeng arrived to present his inventions.
• Princess Taiping praised the alcohol and Fragrance Dew, and Lu Changfeng offered her their formulas along with instructions for seven other fragrances.
• Lu Changfeng asked only for permission to study the medical texts in the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion, and Princess Taiping granted him access.
• Princess Taiping appointed Lu Changfeng steward of the Hundred Herbs Garden and gave him its token, angering Gao Jian.
• After Lu Changfeng left, Princess Taiping ordered Jinghong to have Zi Zhi watch him, while Gao Jian followed Lu Changfeng.

Lu Changfeng rebuffed Gao Jian’s attempt to warn him away from Princess Taiping by reciting a poem that exposed Gao’s insecurity as her male favorite. He entered the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion to study medical texts, where an angry woman accused someone of deception.

• Gao Jian stopped Lu Changfeng and insinuated that he needed literary refinement to remain in Princess Taiping’s favor.
• Lu Changfeng recited verses about staying pure and refusing to chase favor, then declared that medicine—not poetry or courtly advancement—was his concern.
• Gao Jian took the poem as a humiliating attack and decided to arrange Lu Changfeng’s death before he gained more of the princess’s trust.
• Qing Dai led Lu Changfeng into the Langhuan Blessed Land and explained the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion’s collections and rules.
• Lu Changfeng entered the pavilion and headed for the medicine chamber, where a woman shouted, “You dared deceive me!!”

Lu Changfeng studied Sun Simiao’s medical texts in the archive while Wu Lingyun and Zhang Shouzhuo searched for the lost Shennong Glazed Glass Art. He discovered the art hidden in missing strokes in Great Physician’s Sincerity and memorized it, but Wu Lingyun returned and caught him reading the book.

• Wu Lingyun ordered Lu Changfeng to read only the books scattered on the floor while she and Zhang Shouzhuo damaged manuscripts searching for the Shennong Glazed Glass Art.
• Lu Changfeng studied the Medical Compendium and resolved to memorize its detailed records of martial injuries and treatments.
• Wu Lingyun grew furious when Zhang Shouzhuo explained that Sun Huaijin believed Sun Simiao had hidden the art in his handwritten books, then stormed out to confront Sun Huaijin.
• Lu Changfeng noticed missing strokes in Great Physician’s Sincerity and uncovered a verse naming the Shennong Glazed Glass Art.
• Lu Changfeng memorized the hidden art, but Wu Lingyun returned and questioned what he was reading while Zhang Shouzhuo watched him closely.

Lu Changfeng concealed the cultivation method hidden in Sun Simiao’s manuscripts while Wu Lingyun and Zhang Shouzhuo questioned him. After Qing Dai helped him leave the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion, Lu Changfeng learned more about Wu Lingyun’s poison arts and announced he planned to kill an old enemy.

• Lu Changfeng answered Wu Lingyun’s questions about Thousand Gold Prescriptions and explained that he had memorized the medical texts.
• Zhang Shouzhuo tested Lu Changfeng on prescriptions and acupuncture, but Lu Changfeng answered fluently and demonstrated his photographic memory.
• Qing Dai interrupted the interrogation with a supposed emergency, allowing Lu Changfeng to leave the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion.
• Wu Lingyun rebuked Zhang Shouzhuo for accusing Lu Changfeng, then ordered attendants to take Sun Simiao’s handwritten manuscripts to her residence.
• Outside, Qing Dai admitted she had invented the emergency and warned Lu Changfeng that Wu Lingyun practiced powerful poison arts.
• Lu Changfeng asked Qing Dai to prepare several things, saying he intended to take an old dog’s life.

Lu Changfeng cultivated the Shennong Glazed Glass Art and began transforming his qi, while Sun Huaijin suspected he had obtained Medicine King Valley’s secret and ordered Zhang Shouzhuo to investigate him. Zhang Shouzhuo opened a suspicious letter at the Imperial Medical Bureau and was struck by a mysterious vapor.

• Lu Changfeng cultivated Shennong qi from his liver meridian, refining his Nine Yin true qi and beginning his transformation toward a glazed glass body.
• Qing Dai brought Lu Changfeng a concealed bundle, and he said he would prepare a grand gift for Zhang Shouzhuo.
• Zhang Shouzhuo told Sun Huaijin that Lu Changfeng might have discovered the Shennong Glazed Glass Art in the Thousand Gold Prescriptions.
• Sun Huaijin ordered Zhang Shouzhuo to investigate volume thirty and keep Lu Changfeng under constant watch for signs of cultivating the art.
• Wang Bingwen brought Zhang Shouzhuo a letter delivered mysteriously to the Imperial Medical Bureau, and Zhang opened it despite warnings.
• A colorless vapor escaped the letter and caused numbness to spread through Zhang Shouzhuo’s body.

Zhang Shouzhuo died instantly after opening a poisoned letter marked “Quack,” prompting an investigation at the Imperial Medical Bureau. Yan Mingxiao challenged the initial lines of inquiry, and Sun Huaijin named Lu Changfeng as a suspect because he had clashed with Zhang that day.

• Zhang Shouzhuo opened a letter and died from a potent poison, while the paper inside bore the word “Quack.”
• Zhao Zhijie sealed the Imperial Medical Bureau and detained those present as Sun Huaijin examined the corpse and concluded the poison had been delivered through the envelope.
• Sun Huaijin proposed tracing the letter’s delivery and investigating Zhang’s patients and martial-world acquaintances, but Yan Mingxiao argued those leads were too broad and pointed to recent grudges.
• Yan Mingxiao cited several people Zhang had angered through poor treatment and pressed Sun Huaijin to disclose any recent leads.
• Sun Huaijin accused Lu Changfeng of being a suspect because he had publicly clashed with Zhang at the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion earlier that day.

Yan Mingxiao challenged Sun Huaijin’s accusation against Lu Changfeng and redirected suspicion toward Sun, while the investigation remained unresolved. At the Princess’s Residence, Lu Changfeng served pufferfish soup when news arrived that Zhang Shouzhuo had died, and his final remark hinted at his connection to the death.

• Yan Mingxiao argued that Lu Changfeng could not plausibly have made a lethal fifth-tier poison so quickly and accused Sun Huaijin of having greater access and motive.
• Zhao Zhijie ordered Yan Mingxiao to investigate the Imperial Physician Director’s associates and warned her to show Sun Huaijin respect because he belonged to Medicine King Valley.
• Yan Mingxiao and Zhao Zhijie acknowledged that the evidence was inconclusive and agreed to continue investigating Zhang Shouzhuo’s death.
• Lu Changfeng served pufferfish soup to Shen Jingwan, Chen Jing'an, Liu Mingyan, and Qing Dai, reassuring them that he knew how to remove its poison.
• Qing Dai reported that Zhang Shouzhuo had died inside the Imperial Medical Bureau, and she privately suspected Lu Changfeng had killed him.
• Lu Changfeng calmly ate more soup and remarked that heaven envied the gifted.

Lu Changfeng was summoned to treat three poisoned guards after an attack by the Great Vehicle Sect, while suspecting the urgent mission might be a trap. Gao Jian had secretly arranged an ambush to kill him on the way back, disguising his men as cultists.

• Jinghong told Lu Changfeng that the Three Pentads of Major Cold had been poisoned in Pingkang Ward and took him to treat them.
• Qing Dai explained the guards’ importance and hurried after Lu Changfeng with his medical instruments.
• Jinghong reassured Lu Changfeng that he only needed to stabilize the wounded while Commander Gao pursued the cultists.
• Lu Changfeng grew suspicious when he learned Gao Jian was leading the pursuit and watched the route as Jinghong carried him toward Pingkang Ward.
• Gao Jian and Gao Sheng planned to ambush Lu Changfeng on his return, and Gao Sheng said their household elder would personally ensure his death.

Lu Changfeng treated the Plum Blossom Guards poisoned by Rebirth in Ultimate Bliss Powder, discovering that their yin-aligned internal arts required a different needling method than the one in the medical text. After Jinghong left to support Gao Jian, a messenger offered to escort Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai through a secret passage, while hiding murderous intent.

• Jinghong brought Lu Changfeng to the Red Silk House, where he learned that Gao Jian had pursued Yang Kaitian and that five Plum Blossom Guards were suffering from a powerful poison.
• Lu Changfeng identified the poison as Rebirth in Ultimate Bliss Powder and realized that Zi Zhi's Yangming Needling was worsening the guards' condition because they practiced yin-aligned internal arts.
• Lu Changfeng redirected the poison through the guards' acupoints, halting its immediate spread, and gave Zi Zhi a prescription that could cure them if they could not obtain the antidote.
• Lu Changfeng received Sorrowful Softening Breeze and an antidote as a reward after Sweetleaf was successfully treated.
• Jinghong left to support Gao Jian and ordered Qing Dai to escort Lu Changfeng back to the residence in secret.
• The messenger offered to guide Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai through a rear secret passage, but concealed icy killing intent beneath his earnest manner.

Lu Changfeng uncovered Yue Tao’s betrayal and used a poison gas and deadly martial arts to stop the guard from killing him. The disguised attackers remained encircled around Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai when a dark-red blast of energy tore through the alley.

• Lu Changfeng accepted Yue Tao’s offer to lead him and Qing Dai through a secluded alley, while Qing Dai followed warily.
• Several men disguised as Great Vehicle Sect followers ambushed them, and Yue Tao attacked Lu Changfeng with the Shaolin Great Strength Diamond Finger.
• Lu Changfeng released Sorrowful Softening Breeze, dodged Yue Tao’s attack, and crippled him with the Heart-Crushing Palm and Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
• Lu Changfeng accused the disguised attackers of working for Gao Jian, and their uncertainty stalled their attack as the poison spread.
• A dark-red blast of energy shot from the depths of the alley toward them.

Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai fought Gao Lu and the false cultists, and Lu Changfeng turned the poisoned elder’s attack against him before beating him nearly to death. When Gao Jian arrived, Lu Changfeng presented Gao Lu as a supposed remnant of the Great Vehicle Sect and asked whether Gao Jian recognized him.

• Gao Lu killed Yue Tao and attacked Lu Changfeng with his poisonous Blood Rainbow Hand, but Lu Changfeng evaded his first strikes and survived another with the Golden Bell Shield.
• The Sorrowful Softening Breeze weakened Gao Lu, and Qing Dai used the Ephemeral Blossom Art and Twelve Fragrant Blossom Swords to hold him off.
• When Gao Lu nearly struck Qing Dai, Lu Changfeng seized his ankle, crushed it with the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, and battered him into the ground.
• Jinghong, Zi Zhi, and the others arrived and found Lu Changfeng standing over the mangled but still-living Gao Lu.
• Gao Jian recognized Gao Lu’s clothes and reacted in shock, while Lu Changfeng accused the supposed cult remnant of shouting “Maitreya Descends” and asked Gao Jian if he recognized him.

After recovering from his clash with Gao Jian, Lu Changfeng learned that Princess Taiping had punished the Gao family and summoned him to investigate a prisoner’s poison. He went to the Dark Prison to examine Su Bonian, while Taiping considered whether Lu was deliberately keeping his distance and ordered a Phoenix Feather Invitation if he succeeded.

• Jinghong identified Gao Lu as Commander Gao’s steward and ordered everyone taken back to the residence; Lu Changfeng collapsed from his injuries and Qing Dai took him to recover.
• After Lu woke, Qing Dai told him that Princess Taiping had stripped Gao Jian of his posts, confined him, and ordered an investigation into the Gao family’s ties to the Prince of Liang.
• Lu met Princess Taiping at the Golden Scale Pool Pavilion, declined to play Go, and received three-hundred-year-old red ginseng as a reward for his actions in Pingkang Ward.
• Princess Taiping explained that the Guards had captured Su Bonian, a former confidant of the Two Zhangs who knew about their unusual treasures, and asked Lu to examine the Great Vehicle Sect poison that kept him silent.
• Princess Taiping sent Lu with Fu Rong to the Dark Prison and told Jinghong to give him a Phoenix Feather Invitation if he succeeded; she wondered whether he was putting on an act by keeping his distance.

Lu Changfeng discovered that Su Bonian’s silence was enforced by the Great Vehicle Sect’s Immeasurable Seal, a qi poison only its secret art could counter. After learning of the Shennong Glazed Glass Art, Lu Changfeng promised to cure Su Bonian and set out to break through to Xiantian within six days.

• Fu Rong led Lu Changfeng and Qing Dai through the guarded Ten Directions Secret Prison to Su Bonian’s cell.
• Su Bonian explained that the Great Vehicle Sect’s Immeasurable Seal caused recurring agony and that he would speak only if his poison was cured.
• Lu Changfeng suggested a gentle, life-nourishing art might counter the Three Vows of Longhua Art, prompting Su Bonian to ask whether the Shennong Glazed Glass Art existed.
• The Noble Physician’s Canon identified Su Bonian’s ailment and offered the Huayang Needle Technique, including Huayang Needles, as a success reward.
• Lu Changfeng learned that Su Bonian’s next attack would come in seven days, promised to return in six, and told Fu Rong he would cure him after breaking through to Xiantian.
• Fu Rong resolved to report Lu Changfeng’s claims to the princess, while Qing Dai followed him back to prepare for his breakthrough.