Zhou Muzhi

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Awakening and the Curse

Zhou Muzhi awakens in the body of the Zhou Family’s youngest son after apparently reaching the end of his life in another world. He inherits only broad memories of the original owner, a notorious local wastrel. The final vivid memory is a crimson silhouette, while the circumstances surrounding the body’s death remain inaccessible 1.

The Zhou Family earns its living through ancestral sauce, vinegar, and fermented grain businesses. Although locally established, it lacks the power of Suming County’s dominant families. His parents seek supernatural help, and an incense candle temporarily sustains him against a curse that the Deduction Board describes as a three-day life lock 1 22.

Discovering that the Myriad Things Deduction Board has followed him into this world, he turns the candle’s protection into a temporary curse-sealing skill. With his health restored but a countdown still running, he pursues martial training as a way to survive 1 3.

Martial Training and Incense Making

Zhou Buren obtains a three-month opportunity for him to study under Li Jingfei. His deduction-assisted progress is so rapid that Li accepts him as a disciple well before that trial period ends 6 7 10.

He also bargains with Half-Immortal Xu for incense-making knowledge. In exchange, he promises to avenge the Daoist’s destroyed school by killing the former sectmate responsible. The sect’s Nine Heavens Supreme Goddess statue supplies Deduction Points, while Xu’s booklet gives him formulas he can improve 9 10.

Li Jingfei’s medicine, enhanced into a Heavenly Blood Treasure Pill, allows him to reach the threshold of Gate Knocking. He subsequently opens the Blood Gate, changing from a dying young master into one of Suming County’s martial experts 13 17.

Conflict with the Qian Family

His investigation links the curse to a young woman taken away by Qian Zhen after an encounter involving the original Zhou Muzhi and other young masters. Several of those young masters are already dead. Meanwhile, the Qian Family begins encroaching on the Zhou Family’s businesses and ancestral property 12 15 22 26.

Zhou Muzhi recruits Third Master as an informant and organizer, assigns Lao Xu to protect Zhou Buren, and secures Li Jingfei’s backing. After surviving an assassination attempt, he reaches his brother in time to destroy another attacking force. He accepts Zhou Buren’s decision to report the killings publicly rather than let the conflict remain hidden 24 25 26 31 32 33.

He later storms the Covered Rain Gambling House, kills its Blood Gate defender Rain Wyrm with one sword stroke, and searches its underground chambers. Finding the secret cells empty, he changes his approach: capture people connected to the wronged spirit and use them to summon it 39 40.

Subduing the Wronged Spirit

Third Master’s investigation leads him to street children who knew Sister Yuan and Granny Chun. Zhou Muzhi takes Sister Yuan’s treasured embroidered shoes as an object connected to the spirit and provides monthly silver for Third Master to support the children 34.

After openly challenging the Hall of Outstanding Heroes at a banquet, he captures seven of its eight men. He gathers them with other captives and lights Soul-Guiding Incense, allowing the spirit to drain them and fully manifest 44.

Using specially prepared incense and Scorching Fire True Intent, he weakens and subdues the spirit rather than merely driving it away. He names her A-Xiang, binds her to his right arm, and incorporates her cold power into his second qi, Steady Mountain 45 46.

Defeating Qian Zhen and Advancing Further

When Qian Zhen escalates his campaign against Zhou Family associates, Zhou Muzhi uses A-Xiang to extract his location from an underworld leader. He confronts Qian Zhen at the Qian residence and kills him through the superior strength and defense of his Second Qi cultivation 49 51 52.

He then joins Li Jingfei against Zhao Chenfeng. A-Xiang restrains Zhao at a crucial moment, forcing him to sacrifice a hand and flee. Zhou Muzhi takes the abandoned saber, obtaining both Deduction Points and the murderous aura needed for Heavy Bone qi 54 55 56.

Following the victory, he learns that the Qian Family’s wealth includes trafficking women and children, with an outside power connected to Great Yong standing behind the operation. The Qian Family seeks peace through Zhong Li, offering silver and rice shops. Zhou Muzhi also discusses a separate business arrangement with Zhong Li but leaves any commitment affecting the family’s future for discussion with Zhou Buren 57 60 61.

During a visit to the Zhong collection, he finds a broken weapon containing a source suitable for further cultivation. He uses it to gather Spirit Pivot, his fourth qi. His claim that he independently deduced the next cultivation method leads Li Jingfei to identify him as a legendary Martial Dao Celestial 62 63.

Appearance

• Initially curse-stricken: Emaciated, with a blue-tinged face, high cheekbones, dark lips, long fleshless fingers, and labored breathing 1.
• After recovery: Tall and slender, with regular features and a healthy complexion. Martial training changes his skin and facial muscles enough that former acquaintances struggle to recognize him 10 14.
• After Gate Knocking: Grows several inches taller; his black hair reaches his shoulders and becomes unusually tough through nourishment from blood and qi 17.
• Later build: Develops broad shoulders and a muscular physique. When exerting himself fully, his muscles swell and his height increases, straining or tearing his clothing 45 47 49.
• Distinguishing mark: Threadlike markings on his right arm house A-Xiang 46.
• Clothing: Often wears fitted martial robes, bracers, leg wraps, and sturdy boots. His formal attire includes purple robes, a crown, a jade ornament, and the Listening-to-Rain Sword at his hip 29 59.

Personality

Zhou Muzhi is pragmatic and strongly motivated by survival. He studies threats, conceals his cultivation as a trump card, and seeks useful allies rather than relying solely on personal strength. When bargaining for incense-making knowledge, he accepts a dangerous revenge obligation because remaining alive takes priority over distant consequences 9 22 29.

He is ruthless toward enemies and suspected sources of danger. He uses coercive interrogation, orders killings, and deliberately arranges a fatal summoning to turn his persecuting spirit into a source of power. His treatment of the street children is similarly practical: he does not consider himself an indiscriminate benefactor, but funds their care through a useful subordinate 24 34 44 45 57.

His attachment to the Zhou Family grows from its efforts to save him. He wants to reduce the financial burden of his condition, supports Lao Xu’s advancement, and takes responsibility for defending the household. He also accepts advice when Zhou Buren’s political judgment or Li Jingfei’s caution proves better than his own 2 12 20 29 33 56.

Abilities & Skills

Myriad Things Deduction Board

A tool carried over from his previous life, where he used it with single-player leveling games. In this world, it displays his condition, skills, and Deduction Points and offers ways to transform suitable objects or knowledge 1 3.

• Resource acquisition: Gains points by touching certain objects, including Buddhist amulets, a sacred statue, antiques, and Zhao Chenfeng’s saber. Not every old or valuable item produces points 5 6 9 36 55.
• Enhancement: Improves medicines, incense formulas, cultivation manuals, and martial techniques 10 13 27 58.
• Sudden enlightenment: Provides limited opportunities for accelerated understanding that can directly advance his physical cultivation 7 13.
• Material requirement: Zhou Muzhi concludes that deduction requires a physical object to act upon; knowing a technique mentally is insufficient 33.
• Resource limits: Major deductions can exhaust his available points, making the search for suitable objects a continuing priority 27 58.

Nine Heavens Profound Intent

A temporary skill derived from protective incense that seals his curse and restores his health 3.

• Its duration appears as a countdown on the Board.
• He renews its protection through further deduction while seeking a lasting solution 6 9 10.
• The skill suppresses the immediate crisis rather than resolving the spirit itself 3 17.

Nine Hells Origin-Resolving True Intent

A lost divine cultivation art reconstructed through deduction. It gathers the Five Qi by tempering bones with supernatural qualities and is effective against both human and inhuman opponents 27.

• Light Body: Greatly enhances movement speed; its Scorching Fire True Intent can injure spirits that ordinary physical force cannot adequately affect 27 28 54.
• Steady Mountain: Adds defensive qi capable of rebounding attacks. His version carries ghostly cold that erodes an attacker in return 46.
• Heavy Bone: Increases bone density, striking power, and bodily stability; also produces a supernatural murderous aura 56.
• Spirit Pivot: His fourth gathered qi, attained through yin qi from a broken weapon 63.
• Advancement requirement: Each further qi requires an appropriate extraordinary resource. The completed art calls for the supernatural abilities of all Five Qi to connect 29 56.

Cloud-Chasing Thunderclap Technique

Li Jingfei’s specialty, combining leg techniques and movement methods. Zhou Muzhi begins with its foundational leg variations and later perfects it through deduction 30 58.

• Improves rapidly while fighting Zhao Chenfeng under genuine threat of death 54.
• Offers the possibility of fighting above his realm, though his assessment after perfecting it is not a confirmed victory over a Fourth Qi opponent 58.

Incense Making and Spirit Control

Learns incense making from Half-Immortal Xu and improves the craft through deduction, eventually reaching perfection 9 10 56.

• Enhanced formulas: Spirit-Cleansing, Evil-Repelling, and Demon-Subduing Incense 10.
• Targeted protection: Uses specially prepared Evil-Repelling Incense against the particular spirit haunting him 45.
• Summoning and binding: Combines Soul-Guiding and Ghost-Controlling Incense to summon, trap, and subdue the spirit 44 45 46.
• Preparation limits: Requires specific ingredients and ritual work. The Ghost-Controlling Incense ritual exhausts him and shatters the Nine Heavens Supreme Goddess statue 11 20 35.

A-Xiang

The subdued spirit resides in his right arm and emerges on command 46.

• Obscures selected people’s sight and hearing, allowing Zhou Muzhi to isolate an interrogation target within a crowded area 51.
• Uses a Red Silk Sash to restrain opponents and can strengthen herself by absorbing supernatural remains 55.
• Remains vulnerable to overwhelming power: Zhou Muzhi judges that she cannot withstand a direct strike from Zhao Chenfeng and therefore reserves her for a decisive opening 54.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Listening-to-Rain Sword — His regular sword during the later conflict with the Qian Family, including his duel with Qian Zhen 47 51.
• Ancestral general’s short sword — A forearm-length weapon with a bronze scabbard and archaic patterns; supplies Deduction Points when handled 36.
• Zhao Chenfeng’s damaged saber — Provides five Deduction Points and the murderous aura used to cultivate Heavy Bone 55 56.
• Broken halberd shaft — Obtained from Zhong Li’s collection; offers a deduction path yielding Heroic Spirit Death Qi, which enables his Fourth Qi breakthrough 62 63.
• Half-Immortal Xu’s incense-making booklet — The physical basis for his improved incense knowledge 9 10.
• Li Jingfei’s cultivation booklet — Contains his master’s method and insights and supplies the basis for further deduction 25 27.
• Sister Yuan’s embroidered shoes — Taken as a personal memento connected to the wronged spirit for his investigation 34.
• Heavenly Blood Treasure Pill — An enhanced Blood-Coagulating Pill consumed to accelerate Body Condensation; its effects also contribute to his Scorching Fire True Intent 13 17 27.

Relationships

• Zhou Buren — His second brother and closest family ally. Secures his introduction to Li Jingfei, gathers resources, manages family affairs, and supplies political judgment that complements Zhou Muzhi’s strength 2 6 29 33.
• Li Jingfei — Master and protector. Teaches him martial cultivation and the Cloud-Chasing Thunderclap Technique, fights beside him, and guards his breakthroughs 10 30 55 63.
• Lao Xu / Old Xu — The Zhou Family’s head guard and trusted subordinate. Accompanies investigations, carries out dangerous assignments, and protects Zhou Buren; Zhou Muzhi supports his attempt at Gate Knocking 1 20 24 25.
• Half-Immortal Xu — Incense-making teacher and collaborator. Shares his craft in exchange for a promise of revenge and helps prepare the incense needed to subdue the spirit 9 35.
• Xiao Zi / A’Zi — Personal maid who handles his daily needs, accompanies outings, and organizes household information for him 3 6 12 47.
• Uncle Chen — Elderly family steward who attends him during his illness, brings supplies, and relays household messages 1 6 28.
• Third Master — Underworld informant and organizer recruited for his practical intelligence. Interrogates captives, recruits hired men, and cares for the street children with Zhou Muzhi’s financial support 22 24 25 34.
• A-Xiang — Former persecuting spirit turned bound subordinate and supernatural combat asset 46 51 55.
• Qian Zhen — Principal enemy in the struggle over the Zhou Family’s security and property; killed by Zhou Muzhi 26 49 52.
• Zhao Chenfeng — Qian Zhen’s master. Escapes Zhou Muzhi and Li Jingfei after losing a hand; his abandoned saber becomes a cultivation resource 55 56.
• Zhong Li — Mediator and prospective business partner. Also considers a marriage alliance involving his daughter Zhong Shao; no marriage is established 60 61.

Notable Quotes

“I’m telling you, you went after the wrong person from the very beginning.” 45

“They wouldn’t dare. I have Master Li behind me. As long as Master Li doesn’t fall, they won’t dare.” 47