Recaps

Lu Sui overheard Luo Dongsheng and a beautiful woman plotting Lu Yulin’s murder and realized his father had turned the scheme against them. Lu Yulin finished his lesson on ruthless business and ordered Master Chai to kill everyone at the residence except the woman.

• Lu Yulin explained how the Five Great Trades governed the Land Beyond the Pass and taught Lu Sui about the Lu Family’s business traditions.
• Lu Sui overheard Luo Dongsheng and the beautiful woman discussing the plot to kill Lu Yulin and their plans to seize power at the Dacheng Trading Firm.
• Lu Sui realized Luo Dongsheng was the mole and guessed that Lu Yulin had arranged for him to bring about Luo Youxian’s death.
• Lu Yulin told Lu Sui that business required ruthlessness, then ordered Master Chai to leave the woman alive and kill everyone else.

Lu Sui watched Master Chai defeat a group of fighters and capture the sorceress Yuniang, while Lu Yulin explained how rogue cultivators and their sorceries were handled. The chapter ended with Lu Sui suggesting an even harsher way to prevent Yuniang’s accomplices from rescuing her.

• Lu Yulin told Lu Sui that Master Chai was a powerful fighter who had protected the Lu family, and Master Chai transformed from a stooped old man into a towering warrior.
• Master Chai stormed the residence and defeated the fighters guarding Miss Yu, then killed Luo Dongsheng and captured the sorceress Yuniang after her spell failed against black dog blood.
• Lu Yulin offered to spare Yuniang if she revealed the surviving Yu family, but she refused and insisted he would not dare kill her.
• Lu Yulin explained that rogue cultivators used unorthodox sorceries and described how black dog blood, rooster blood, and uncooked glutinous rice could stop them.
• After Lu Yulin ordered Master Chai to dislocate Yuniang’s jaw and threatened to torture her, Lu Sui suggested driving nails through her shoulder blades to stop her accomplices from rescuing her.

Lu Yulin exposed Luo Dongsheng’s crimes and promised to hunt down the Yu family’s surviving heir, who had wounded Duan Fusheng with a treasured saber. Back at the manor, Lu Sui’s intense training pushed him to a breakthrough in strengthening his Qi and Blood.

• Lu Yulin ordered Master Chai to take Yuniang away, then publicly blamed Luo Dongsheng for theft and murder while Lu Sui helped him win the crowd’s sympathy.
• Lu Yulin learned that the Yu family’s heir had wounded Duan Fusheng with a hundred-refinement saber and vowed to find him.
• Lu Sui returned to his room, steeled himself to train, and used Turtle-Snake Stance’s perfect guiding cycle to build his Qi.
• Lu Sui’s Qi circulated forty-nine times, then surged into his arms and merged with his blood, completing his breakthrough.

Lu Sui advanced his Qi and Blood cultivation through stance practice and learned more about the Fleshly Body Realm from Xiaotang. After Chief Steward Dou sent him a book taken from Yuniang, Lu Sui began recording its fragment, then relaxed in a medicinal bath as Xiaotang massaged him.

• Lu Sui felt his Qi and Blood grow stronger and found that circulating it into his arms made his Turtle-Snake Stance practice more effective.
• Xiaotang described the stages and barriers of the Fleshly Body Realm, then avoided explaining her family's fallen fortunes when Lu Sui asked about her past.
• Xiaotang gave Lu Sui a yellowed book from Chief Steward Dou, which the ancient temple in his consciousness identified as a fragment of the Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing and began recording for twenty-four hours.
• Lu Sui soaked in a medicinal bath while Xiaotang massaged his stronger shoulders and back.
• Lu Sui leaned back against Xiaotang, making her stop massaging and blush as she wondered whether he intended to do anything improper.

Lu Sui nearly suffered Qi deviation when the Turtle-Snake Stance intensified his surging Qi and Blood during a bath, while Xiaotang mistook his practice for desire. The next night, he discovered a new ghost-capturing spell and its baby silkworm spirit, then learned the ingredients he had requested had arrived.

• Xiaotang tried to comfort Lu Sui in the bath, believing he was holding back, but his practice caused his Qi and Blood to surge dangerously.
• Lu Sui calmed his breath and explained that Xiaotang should not touch him while he practiced; she fled in embarrassment, and Xiaohuan took her place.
• Lu Sui examined the newly unlocked Incomplete Grand Shaman Ghost-Capturing Compendium and learned it could perceive evil emanations but carried risks if practiced improperly.
• Lu Sui saw a plump black-and-white baby silkworm in the shrine and decided to keep it as a possible evil-emanation detector.
• Xiaotang told Lu Sui that the storeroom had delivered the powdered hundred-year-old turtle shell and old snake blood he had requested.

Lu Sui studied the fragmentary witchcraft manual and considered the orthodox cultivation rumored to lie beyond Shaqing Pass. At the mortuary, Yu Tianci revealed his plan to keep fighting the Lu family, relying on the Gold-Inlaid Saber, Black Flood Dragon Armor, and his own life.

• Lu Sui told Xiaotang to store the tortoise shell and snake's blood, teased her about her lesson in the affairs of men and women, and read the Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing.
• Lu Sui learned that the manual's Gu arts and curses had demanding requirements and considered whether orthodox immortal cultivation existed beyond Shaqing Pass.
• A wolf-masked Yu Tianci entered the mortuary, where a crow questioned his next move after Qiu Yu's capture.
• Yu Tianci gave the crow Qiu Yu's hair and essence blood and asked it to curse her to death rather than endure the cesspit or reveal his secrets.
• Yu Tianci declared that he would continue fighting Lu Yulin, citing Master Pei's divination and the Yu family's Gold-Inlaid Saber and Black Flood Dragon Armor as his remaining weapons.
• The crow warned Yu Tianci that the Yu family curse foretold a violent death after he turned twenty-six, and it flew off with Qiu Yu's bundle as Yu Tianci left in the storm.

Lu Sui practiced the Turtle-Snake Stance, then traveled to the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School to hang his curtain. There, Tan Chuanjie told him that an evil calamity had struck Changle County and that people at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency were dying mysteriously.

• Lu Sui completed his morning stance practice and had Xiaotang massage him with blood-activating ointment.
• Lu Sui decided to visit the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School and rode through Changle County, observing its busy streets and trade.
• Tan Chuanjie welcomed Lu Sui to the school and said his father had been ordered to intensify patrols because of a possible evil calamity.
• Tan Chuanjie told Lu Sui that three people had been dying each day at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency and that Chief Escort Lin had fled with his family.

Lu Sui toured the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School and met its inner courtyard disciples after learning that the Zhenyuan Escort Agency had suffered a supernatural calamity. He learned that the original owner had often visited Pleasure Ward, leaving Lu Sui unsettled by the revelation.

• Tan Chuanjie told Lu Sui that Chief Escort Lin had died with his blood essence drained and that the martial schools were discussing countermeasures.
• Tan Chuanjie showed Lu Sui the outer courtyard, where he introduced him as a new inner courtyard senior brother.
• Lu Sui told Tan Chuanjie that he had reached the second stage of Internal Nourishment, surprising him with his rapid progress.
• Tan Chuanjie showed Lu Sui the inner courtyard's dangerous stake training and introduced Wei Erhe, Liang Bao, Bai Fangfang, and Deng Yun.
• Wei Erhe recognized Lu Sui as Young Master Lu Zhan'ao and said his sister had driven him to Pleasure Ward, where Liu Ruyan of Tongchun Garden was waiting for him.

Lu Sui joined the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School, where Tan Jingzong examined his physical potential and taught him about sinews, bones, and martial arts. Impressed by Lu Sui’s build despite his late start, Tan Jingzong gave him the Cicada-Chasing Steps to study.

• Tan Chuanjie welcomed Lu Sui to the school and explained that the Lu household would supply three hundred jin of medicinal ingredients each month.
• Bai Fangfang showed Lu Sui around and discussed the school’s techniques while Deng Yun resented Lu Sui’s wealth and attention from Bai Fangfang.
• Tan Chuanjie led Lu Sui to meet Tan Jingzong, who completed his admission ceremony before examining his sinews and bones.
• Tan Jingzong praised Lu Sui’s potential, demonstrated how trained sinews generated force, and gave him a booklet on Cicada-Chasing Steps.

Lu Sui recorded Cicada-Chasing Steps and considered how it might combine with other techniques, then went to the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School the next day. His teasing exchange with Bai Fangfang ended with her blushing and promising not to hold back when they sparred.

• Lu Sui thanked Madam for the medicinal dishes and arranged for Xiaotang to prepare his meals, while Xiaohuan asked for candied hawthorns.
• Lu Sui recorded Cicada-Chasing Steps and inspected its entry in the ancient temple, wondering whether it could combine with other movement arts to become Seven-Transformation Shadowless Legs.
• Lu Sui used the temple's incense to glimpse himself practicing Cicada-Chasing Steps and dismissed the vision that suggested it would take months to master.
• Lu Sui arrived at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School and overheard apprentices discussing Bai Fangfang's attention to him and Junior Brother Wei's jealousy.
• Bai Fangfang showed Lu Sui her hands and spoke of her training, but he asked why she was showing them when the school practiced leg techniques; she blushed and vowed not to go easy on him in their sparring.

Lu Sui sparred with Liang Bao and quickly mastered Cicada-Chasing Steps well enough to defeat him, astonishing the inner courtyard. As Lu Sui prepared to spar with Bai Fangfang, Deng Yun intervened and challenged him.

• Lu Sui entered the inner courtyard, where the disciples greeted him, while Deng Yun mocked his welcome and praised Zheng Rong.
• Lu Sui asked Liang Bao to spar so he could practice Cicada-Chasing Steps, and Liang Bao attacked with a series of kicks.
• During the fight, Cicada-Chasing Steps instructed Lu Sui, who adapted to Liang Bao’s attacks and struck him out of the sandpit.
• Bai Fangfang arrived in training clothes, and Lu Sui invited her to spar with him.
• Deng Yun stepped into the sandpit and challenged Lu Sui to test his skills against him.

Lu Sui accepted Deng Yun’s challenge and endured a barrage of kicks before exploiting Deng Yun’s opening to defeat him with a single Heart-Pit Kick. As Deng Yun fainted, Lu Sui realized that both his hands and feet had opened.

• Bai Fangfang challenged Deng Yun for wanting to spar with Lu Sui, but Lu Sui agreed to fight him.
• Lu Sui absorbed insights from his martial arts methods and prepared to face Deng Yun in the sandpit.
• Deng Yun launched a series of powerful kicks, and Lu Sui blocked them with his arms while waiting for an opening.
• Lu Sui dodged Deng Yun’s final sweeping kick and struck his exposed chest and abdomen, sending him flying into the sand.
• Liang Bao helped Deng Yun up and reminded him that Lu Sui’s kicks were fast and ruthless, and Deng Yun fainted after spitting blood.
• Lu Sui felt his Qi and Blood surge and realized that both his hands and feet had opened.

Lu Yulin learned that Lu Sui had settled into the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School and arranged money for him, while noting his new enemy from Deng's Weapons Forge. Lu Sui completed the Turtle-Snake Stance’s transformation conditions, and it began advancing into the Panwu Great Strength True Art.

• Lu Yulin offered Wanrong a gold shop for her brother and reassured her about her place in the family and her care for Zhan'ao.
• Lu Yulin heard from Chai Sanjin that Zhan'ao had won two sparring matches, advanced his Qi and Blood, and made an enemy of Master Smith Deng's son.
• Lu Yulin authorized Zhan'ao to draw a thousand taels of silver each month and arranged compensation for the injured disciples.
• Lu Sui completed his stance practice and realized his Qi and Blood had reached the point where the Turtle-Snake Stance could transform.
• Lu Sui drank old snake blood mixed with hundred-year-old tortoise shell powder, fulfilling the stance's advancement conditions and triggering its transformation into the Panwu Great Strength True Art.

Lu Sui transformed the Turtle-Snake Stance into the precious-grade Panwu Great Strength True Art and endured its brutal body-tempering, emerging with Silver Bones and immense strength. Elsewhere, a gray-clad man buried Qiu Yu after cutting out her spine, intending to inherit her Witchcraft and Gu Art and take revenge on Lu Yulin and his son.

• Lu Sui completed the transformation into the Panwu Great Strength True Art, whose guidance called for a million punches and consuming medicines and pills.
• The art forcefully tempered Lu Sui's sinews and bones, leaving him exhausted but far stronger, with Silver Bones.
• Lu Sui asked Xiaotang to bring him food because he was ravenously hungry after practicing.
• A gray-clad man carried Qiu Yu's body to a mass graveyard and lamented that Lu Yulin had left her to die in a cesspit.
• The gray-clad man cut out Qiu Yu's spine, planning to learn her Witchcraft and Gu Art, curse Lu Yulin, and kill his son in revenge.

Lu Sui trained at home, learned that his allowance would increase, and went to the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School while Deng Jin sought an audience with Lu Yulin. Deng Yun returned to the school, grew furious over Lu Sui’s rising standing, and wandered the streets until someone called out to him.

• Lu Sui trained until he reached his daily limit of forty-nine punches, then learned that Lu Yulin had raised his monthly allowance after his success at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School.
• Lu Sui took Xiaohuan with him to the school and saw Deng Jin waiting outside the Lu residence; the gatekeeper hinted that Deng Yun’s quarrel with Lu Sui had caused the Dacheng Trading Firm to cut off Deng's Shop’s iron supply.
• Deng Yun arrived late at the school and learned that Lu Sui was hosting a celebration at the Moon-Gazing Tower, then slapped Senior Brother Wang for mentioning Lu Sui.
• Junior Brother Wei explained to Senior Brother Wang that Lu Sui had defeated Deng Yun in a spar and embarrassed him in front of Senior Sister Bai.
• Deng Yun wandered through the streets, consumed by anger at Lu Sui’s popularity, until someone greeted him as a Hundred Victories Martial Arts School disciple.

Lu Sui learned how the Qiao family was massacred thirty years earlier and recognized that the calamity’s signs resembled the recent events at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency. As Zhou Qing arrived at the Moon-Gazing Tower, Lu Sui’s ghost-capturing compendium reacted to a trace of Calamity Qi.

• Lu Sui hosted fellow disciples from the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School at the Moon-Gazing Tower, where they praised his rapid progress and shared a meal.
• Liang Bao and Bai Fangfang recounted the history of the wealthy Qiao family, including Di Ao’s adoption, his schemes against Qiao Nansheng, and the family estate’s destruction in a fire that left no survivors.
• Liang Bao explained that strange livestock deaths and victims drained of vital blood had preceded the Qiao family’s destruction, just as they had at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
• Lu Sui suspected the evil calamity might never have disappeared and grew wary of Changle County.
• Zhou Qing of the brokerage trade’s Zhou family entered the private room to greet Lu Sui, and the Incomplete Grand Shaman Ghost-Capturing Compendium sensed Calamity Qi and grew hungry.

Lu Sui met Zhou Qing, a brokerage heir whose strange hunger and Calamity Qi made him suspect a connection to the sinister calamity at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency. After seeing Zhou Qing approach the injured Deng Yun, Lu Sui wondered whether Zhou was a victim or the calamity’s source, and whether absorbing Calamity Qi could transform his martial arts.

• Lu Sui politely refused Zhou Qing’s invitation to Pleasure Alley after sensing Calamity Qi on him, and a strange message warned that Zhou might possess a Calamity Artifact and be undergoing a sinister transformation.
• Zhou Qing struck his attendant for insulting Lu Sui, admitted he envied Lu Sui’s status, and privately thought that Lu Sui looked delicious.
• Lu Sui treated his fellow disciples to dinner, parted from them, and set off in his carriage with Xiaohuan and the food he had saved for her.
• Lu Sui overheard Zhou Qing meeting the injured Deng Yun and disparaging Lu Sui while inviting Deng Yun to a banquet in Pleasure Alley.
• Lu Sui considered whether Zhou Qing was a victim or the source of a sinister calamity, and whether Calamity Qi could transform his martial arts.

Lu Sui showed off his martial skill, hired Heiwa as his attendant, and challenged ten men to fight him. Meanwhile, Deng Yun returned home in a horrifyingly altered state, leaving Deng Jin terrified and unsure what had happened to his son.

• Lu Sui sparred with Heiwa and offered him a job running errands, which Heiwa accepted after seeking Dou Xiaowen's permission.
• Lu Sui asked several men to bring clubs and announced that he wanted to fight ten.
• Deng Yun returned to the Deng residence in the rain after his dispute at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School.
• Deng Jin scolded Deng Yun and planned to take him to the Lu residence to apologize.
• The candlestick went out, and Deng Jin saw that Deng Yun had become corpse-like as Deng Yun insisted that he had never felt better.

Lu Sui learned from Dou Xiaowen how calamities, Calamity Artifacts, and warding objects worked, then impressed Tan Jingzong with his fighting talent at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School. Tan Jingzong offered to teach him killing methods but said he first needed to train his courage.

• Lu Sui coaxed Dou Xiaowen into explaining that calamities could arise from demons or evil objects and might spread through Calamity Qi.
• Dou Xiaowen told Lu Sui that Changle County's Five Great Trades shared a warding Shi Gandang, which the Zhou Family was currently enshrining.
• Tan Jingzong praised Lu Sui's quick grasp of the Cicada-Chasing Steps and his instincts in sparring.
• Tan Jingzong offered to teach Lu Sui killing methods after he obtained Master Lu's permission.
• Tan Jingzong warned Lu Sui that killing methods consumed vital Qi and required courage, so he would need to train his courage first.

Lu Sui trained at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School, received a prized medicine from Tan Jingzong, and learned that Deng Yun had disappeared. After improving his martial arts, Lu Sui followed Deng Yun into an alley, where Deng blamed him for his family's deaths and threatened his life, only for Lu Sui's Half-Step Fetus Embracing bodyguard to appear.

• Tan Jingzong taught Lu Sui the Startled Swan movement and gave him Leopard Fetus Sinew-Changing Pills, instructing him to save them for breaking through a bottleneck.
• Lu Sui learned that Deng Yun had not returned to the school and wondered whether Zhou Qing had harmed him.
• Lu Sui recalled Dou Xiaowen explaining that evidence of a Calamity Artifact had to be verified before the Five Great Trades' warding object.
• Over the next three days, Lu Sui increased his daily punches to eighty and sensed that he was close to achieving six harmonies unification.
• Lu Sui spotted Deng Yun in an alley and followed him inside, where Deng accused him of causing the deaths of the Deng Family and threatened to kill him.
• Lu Sui revealed that he had a Half-Step Fetus Embracing bodyguard, who appeared at the alley entrance and terrified Deng Yun.

Lu Sui fought Deng Yun, who had been transformed into an inhuman creature after encountering Zhou Qing, and gained new insight into his martial arts during the battle. He defeated Deng Yun with a series of devastating kicks, leaving his fate—and the consequences of Lu Sui’s breakthrough—to follow.

• Lu Sui recognized that Deng Yun was becoming an evil entity and questioned him about Zhou Qing, while Chai Sanjin guarded the alley.
• Lu Sui challenged Deng Yun and used Cicada-Chasing Steps to break his shoulder and slam his face against the wall.
• Deng Yun attacked with a barrage of kicks, but Lu Sui evaded him and learned to move through his waist and hips.
• When Deng Yun grabbed Lu Sui’s ankle, Lu Sui used a twisting flip to break free and kick Deng Yun into the wall.
• Lu Sui relentlessly struck Deng Yun until he collapsed, then released heat and mist from his body as he declared that Deng Yun’s death had helped him unify the Six Harmonies.

Lu Sui killed Deng Yun, whose strange condition suggested a possible evil calamity, and reported the attack to Lu Yulin. He hinted at Deng Yun’s connection to the Zhou Family, giving Lu Yulin a possible lead as he considered whether Lu Sui might inherit the Lu Family’s legacy.

• After defeating Deng Yun, Lu Sui received a surge of feedback from the "Panwu Great Strength True Art" that strengthened and renewed his body.
• Lu Sui left the alley with Chai Sanjin and had Heiwa arrange to bring Deng Yun’s corpse back to the Lu residence.
• Lu Sui told Lu Yulin that Deng Yun had attacked him and described his corpse-like appearance and increased strength as possible signs of an evil calamity.
• Lu Yulin discussed the ongoing calamity in Changle County and offered Lu Sui free access to the Lu Family’s training funds.
• Before leaving, Lu Sui told Lu Yulin that Deng Yun had been close with Zhou Qing of the Zhou Family, and Lu Yulin considered using the lead to pressure them.
• After Lu Sui left, Lu Yulin wondered whether his son might have the affinity to inherit what their ancestor had left behind.

Lu Sui reflected on his training and inspected the arts in his ancient temple, discovering that the Cicada-Chasing Steps had reached perfection and granted him a choice of talents. The chapter ended as he examined the three options: Molt and Rebirth, Forewarning, and Cloud Leaping.

• Lu Sui decided to let his father handle the matter involving Zhou Qing while he focused on becoming stronger and planning his next stages of training.
• Xiaotang helped Lu Sui bathe and combed his long hair, while he reflected on how his flourishing Qi and Blood had changed his appearance.
• Lu Sui inspected the shrines in the ancient temple and considered using the Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art to listen in on Zhou Qing, his father, and the Yu Family.
• Lu Sui saw that the Cicada-Chasing Steps had reached perfection and summoned the gray cicada to examine its newly available talents.
• Lu Sui read the three talent choices: Molt and Rebirth, Forewarning, and Cloud Leaping.

Lu Sui chose the Molt and Rebirth talent and greatly increased his endurance through martial training. Meanwhile, Lu Yulin discussed Lu Zhan'ao's prospects with Dou Xiaowen and considered whether to use the Lu Family's final incense stick.

• Lu Sui selected Molt and Rebirth over Forewarning and Cloud Leaping, then updated his talents in the ancient temple.
• Lu Sui stayed home, trained through 148 punches, and felt his Qi and Blood growing stronger.
• Dou Xiaowen visited Lu Yulin, who praised Lu Sui as promising and postponed returning to Mute Village until year's end.
• Lu Yulin asked whether Lu Zhan'ao could reach complete perfection in Internal Nourishment before twenty-eight and enter Fetus Embracing.
• Dou Xiaowen realized Lu Yulin was considering opening the secret treasury and warned that lighting the Lu Family's last incense stick could diminish their allotted fate.

Lu Yulin learned that Yu’s teacher was the Red-Bearded Heavenly King, Han Wenlong, one of the thirteen mountain keepers, and weighed two paths for Zhan'ao: seek admission to the mountains or light the last incense and return to Mute Village. He still planned to kill Yu to settle the Lu and Yu families’ five-generation feud, while Lu Sui overheard the discussion.

• Yang returned from Shaqing Pass and revealed that Yu had received a waist token from Han Wenlong, the Red-Bearded Heavenly King, and permission to seek admission to the mountains.
• Lu Yulin and Dou Xiaowen concluded that Yu’s starving Owl God might devour the Lu Family’s allotted fate and grant Yu extraordinary fortune.
• Lu Yulin planned to send Zhan'ao to seek admission to the mountains or have him light the last incense and return to Mute Village if it failed to awaken his Root and Nature.
• Lu Yulin told Dou Xiaowen that the Zhou Family had spread an evil calamity with a Calamity Artifact and asked him to move the warding Shi Gandang to the Lu Family.
• Lu Yulin insisted that Yu must still be killed to settle the five-generation feud, and Lu Sui sat at his desk realizing the conversation was about him.