Chapter Summaries

Lu Sui learned that Calamity Qi foretold disasters and fed the jade cicada’s wisp of it to the Turtle-Snake Stance. Using the fading Qi to sharpen his hearing, he overheard a woman report that the Lu Family’s sickly young master had survived the Witchcraft and Gu Art.

• Lu Sui asked Dou Xiaowen about the Lu Family’s treasures and learned that Calamity Qi was an omen of calamity.
• Dou Xiaowen explained that Calamity Qi circulated where disaster was sure to follow, though he dismissed the recent murders in Changle County as unrelated.
• Lu Sui examined the jade cicada, saw visions of famine and refugees, and let the Turtle-Snake Stance devour its Calamity Qi.
• Lu Sui focused his Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art on the fading Qi and detected a woman moving through dark alleys.
• The woman told her Junior Brother that the Witchcraft and Gu Art had failed to kill the sickly wretch of the Lu Family.

Lu Sui overheard a young man and his senior sister discussing their grudge against the Lu Family and the secrets they believed it held. The man told how Physician Yu’s borrowed fortune led to three curses and revealed that the youth who prospered from the bargain was Lu Ping'an.

• Lu Sui listened as the woman described Lu Yulin’s four generals, while the man recalled that Lu Yulin had killed his father.
• The man explained that he had used the Suppression Art on Lu Sui to try to force Lu Yulin to reveal the Lu Family’s secret hoard and use the Ginseng King.
• The man began a story about Physician Yu, who met a youth in Mute Village and agreed to lend him half his fortune.
• Physician Yu accepted gold and silver from the youth, then returned to the Mountain God’s temple, where three wild gods cursed him and his descendants.
• The man revealed that the youth used to be Lu Ping'an, who became wealthy and established a powerful household in Mute Village.

Lu Sui overheard a plot against the Lu family and learned its supposed treasures, while his listening art advanced. Lu Yulin arranged for him to study at the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School and revealed that he already knew there was a mole in his household, promising to expose the traitor in three days.

• Lu Sui overheard a senior sister and junior brother discussing their revenge plot, a planted mole, and the Lu family's three treasures.
• The Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art advanced toward minor accomplishment after Lu Sui listened to the pair's secrets.
• Lu Yulin offered Lu Sui a choice among Changle County's four great schools, and Lu Sui chose Master Tan's Hundred Victories Martial Arts School.
• Lu Yulin arranged gifts for the other schools and work for the Hundred Victories disciples, then spoke privately with Lu Sui about Granny Ma.
• Lu Yulin told Lu Sui he would pull out the household's mole before the young master began his martial arts training, and invited him to watch in three days.

Lu Sui listened in on Luo Youxian and Luo Dongsheng as they planned to silence the thieves tied to the stolen goods, while learning more about Lu Yulin’s ruthless reputation. On the third night, Lu Yulin invited Lu Sui to accompany him, leaving their destination unstated.

• Lu Yulin reassured Luo Youxian about the stolen five cartloads and told him he planned to capture the thieves in three days.
• Luo Youxian confronted Luo Dongsheng, who claimed he had accidentally revealed the shipment’s details to a mounted bandit.
• Lu Sui used [Sound Listening] through the jade cicada and heard Luo Youxian order Luo Dongsheng to kill the thieves before they could expose them.
• Luo Youxian warned Luo Dongsheng that Lu Yulin was ruthless, then told him to leave no traces when he dealt with the thieves.
• Lu Sui continued his training over the next few days, and on the third night Lu Yulin invited him to go out together.

Lu Yulin took Lu Sui out at night and spoke of supporting his son’s path into martial arts, then led Luo Youxian to a warehouse supposedly holding stolen goods. Lu Yulin revealed that he knew Luo Youxian’s betrayal and detonated the gunpowder hidden in the carts, leaving the courtyard engulfed in flames.

• Lu Yulin reassured Lu Sui that he would support his decision to practice martial arts and protect him from danger.
• Lu Yulin and Luo Youxian led armed men to an alley warehouse to recover goods stolen by a band of thieves.
• The men found no thieves at the warehouse, only five covered carts, and Luo Youxian pretended to be outraged and swore he had not leaked information.
• Lu Yulin told Luo Youxian that he had given him a chance to turn back, then had the men unload the carts.
• A burly man discovered that the carts were full of gunpowder, and the courtyard exploded.

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.