Chapter Summaries

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.

Lu Sui perfected both chapters of the Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art, gained a new talent, and chose Piercing the Obscure. Using it on his reflection revealed an Owl God Fate, making him question whether he was really the Lu Family's young master.

• Lu Sui considered the dangers of returning to Mute Village and entering the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains, while deciding to seek more martial arts and investigate root nature.
• Lu Sui completed the Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art and learned that it could advance into the Ten Directions All-Illuminating True Art.
• Lu Sui examined the available talents and chose Piercing the Obscure.
• Lu Sui used Piercing the Obscure on his reflection and saw the fate inscription Owl God Enters Fate.
• Lu Sui wondered whether his real name was Yu Sui and whether he was truly a member of the Lu Family.

Lu Sui trained with staves and demonstrated how much his martial arts had improved. After drinking tiger-bone wine, he felt his marrow renewing and his blood surging, then hurried Xiaotang to the bathing room to digest the change.

• Lu Sui wondered about the Yu Family’s Owl God Fate and decided to focus on training and ask Uncle Wen how to test root nature.
• Lu Sui had Heiwa drive away a crow that entered the Lu residence, then received tiger-bone wine sent by his father.
• Lu Sui gathered guards to attack him with staves and used his perfected Cicada-Chasing Steps and staff technique to disarm them all.
• Lu Sui drank tiger-bone wine and felt an intense itching as his marrow grew and new blood surged through him.
• Lu Sui grabbed Xiaotang and hurried to the bathing room, while Heiwa told the guards that Lu Sui needed to digest insights from training.

Lu Sui used the Leopard Fetus Sinew-Changing Pill to advance his blood replacement and learned how sharpened bones made fists and feet capable of inflicting internal injuries. Meanwhile, Yu Tianci rose from his grave after absorbing Qiu Yu’s arts and explained the generations-long conflict between the Lu and Yu families, leaving him resentful of Lu Ping’an’s fortune.

• Lu Sui swallowed the Leopard Fetus Sinew-Changing Pill, endured the surging heat and pain, and continued his blood-replacement breakthrough.
• The Panwu Great Strength True Art cleared Lu Sui’s distracted mind, and he realized that blood replacement sharpened his bones into weapons.
• A crow arrived at a burial ground and found Yu Tianci emerging from the grave after consuming most of Qiu Yu’s arts.
• Yu Tianci explained that the Yu Family’s five calamities and the Lu Family’s five blessings stemmed from a principle of overcoming and seizing.
• The crow remarked that the Lu Family’s blessings brought their own misfortunes, and Yu Tianci complained that Lu Ping’an had escaped his destined poverty and hardship.

Yu Tianci planned to curse Lu Yulin using three living people as the curse’s poisonous mediums, while the crow left to find them. Lu Sui learned that the evil calamity case was resolved and that his supposed heroics had become public, and he began considering how to reach the sealed Calamity Artifact.

• Yu Tianci told the crow he had given up targeting Lu Sui and intended to cripple Lu Yulin with a curse.
• Yu Tianci asked the crow to find a lustful lecher, a gambling addict, and a Five-Mineral Powder addict to serve as the curse’s three poisons, and the crow flew off to search.
• Yu Tianci recognized the crow as a fiend from the Three Calamities Cult and wondered why it was in Changle County.
• Xiaotang told Lu Sui that the investigation into Deng Yun and Zhou Qing had ended, Zhou Qing had escaped, and the sealed Calamity Artifact had been taken to the City God Temple.
• Lu Sui considered approaching the Calamity Artifact to obtain Calamity Qi, then learned people were praising him for capturing Deng Yun and fighting the bewitched thugs.

Lu Sui won over the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School apprentices with a feast and learned how the Bai family’s fortuitous encounter made them leaders of the Dragon King Gang. The chapter left him curious about the gang’s origins and its tradition of collecting incense money.

• Lu Sui accepted the apprentices’ praise for defeating Deng Yun and credited Master Tan’s teaching while protecting the school’s reputation.
• Lu Sui treated the outer courtyard apprentices to Bone-Strengthening Soup, fish, and meat, earning their admiration.
• Lu Sui found Liang Bao and Wei Erhe practicing footwork and asked where Bai Fangfang had gone.
• Liang Bao explained that Bai Fangfang had gone with the Dragon King Gang to collect incense money and described her family’s history as dock officers.
• Liang Bao told Lu Sui how Bai’s ancestor released a golden carp, was later rescued by it, and received a Water-Avoidance Pearl and a River Earl Painting that brought the family wealth and good fortune.

Lu Sui agreed to attend the lantern festival with Liang Bao, learned why Wei Erhe was taking a dangerous escort job, and offered him extra Bone-Strengthening Soup. During a spar atop the plum blossom stakes, Lu Sui tested his hardened body by taking Liang Bao’s kick head-on, leaving Liang Bao astonished by his strength.

• Liang Bao invited Lu Sui to the south gate lantern festival and planned to take him to the Moon-Gazing Tower afterward.
• Wei Erhe said he had accepted an escort job from the Xingtai Oil Mill to help save for a house, and Lu Sui offered him extra Bone-Strengthening Soup.
• Lu Sui and Liang Bao began sparring atop the plum blossom stakes while Wei Erhe refereed and the apprentices watched.
• Lu Sui used his Cicada-Chasing Steps to evade Liang Bao’s attacks, then decided to test his sinews and bones by taking Liang Bao’s Horizontal Nail Kick.
• Liang Bao’s kick struck Lu Sui’s chest without hurting him, and Liang Bao realized Lu Sui had replaced his blood and nourished his bones.

Lu Sui defeated Liang Bao in a spar and received two martial arts manuals from Tan Chuanjie. On returning to the estate, he encountered a strange old man who recognized that Lu Sui had acquired an innate root.

• Lu Sui endured Liang Bao’s kick, then caught and steadied him, winning their match and earning Liang Bao’s wholehearted respect.
• Tan Chuanjie explained the Great Dragon and Tiger Ranking and gave Lu Sui the Dragon-Roving Movement Technique and Chaotic Cloud Hands on Tan Jingzong’s behalf.
• Tan Chuanjie told Lu Sui that Zheng Rong was bounty hunting a bandit chief near Old Fox Gully, with a bounty posted by a surviving Qiao Family heir known as Qiao Shehu.
• Lu Sui returned to the estate after the lantern festival and regretted that watching Bai had revealed only a faint trace of water fortune.
• Lu Sui saw an unfamiliar old man whose fate appeared in five colors, and the old man recognized Lu Sui’s innate root.

Lu Sui learned that Yang Kunbing was a treasure seeker who recognized his newly acquired Root and Nature, and heard how a disastrous expedition to Consort Dong's Tomb had left Dou Xiaowen with a strange condition. The chapter ended with Lu Sui suspecting Dou Xiaowen's famed Iron Crotch Art had caused the mishap.

• Yang Kunbing examined Lu Sui and declared that he now had a remarkable amount of Root and Nature.
• Lu Sui recalled Yang Kunbing's past feats retrieving a Fire Cloud Pearl and astonishing people by moving Boss Zhao's copper mountain.
• Yang Kunbing asked to feel Lu Sui, then explained that Lu Sui had shown no Root and Nature as a baby.
• Yang Kunbing mocked Dou Xiaowen and recounted how he sent him into Consort Dong's Tomb, where Dou's failure ruined their treasure-seeking expedition.
• Lu Sui connected Dou Xiaowen's midmonth Qi and Blood condition and Iron Crotch Art to the calamity in the tomb.

Lu Sui learned from Yang Kunbing that Root and Nature meant the ability to draw in Qi, and that burning incense required fate, an innately receptive body, and a heart and will shaped through visualization. Yang Kunbing recognized that Lu Sui already possessed Root and Nature and showed signs of visualization, though Lu Sui denied ever receiving a visualization diagram.

• Yang Kunbing recounted how Dou Xiaowen became entranced by a female ghost’s voice in Consort Dong’s Tomb, fought a formation for seven days, and had to be rescued from the coffin.
• Lu Sui asked Yang Kunbing to explain Root and Nature, and Yang Kunbing revealed that it referred to the ability to draw in Qi.
• Yang Kunbing explained that burning incense required fate, a body capable of perceiving Yin and Yang, and a heart and will disciplined through visualization.
• Lu Sui connected his own fate and innate body to his talents, while Yang Kunbing noticed signs of several visualized martial forms around him.
• Lu Sui denied knowing about visualization diagrams, and Yang Kunbing decided to tell Lu Yulin that Lu Sui possessed Root and Nature.

Lu Sui gained insight into two martial arts while Tan Jingzong instructed him, then learned about the dangerous stone mask that Tan and the other school heads had suppressed. The chapter left Lu Sui wondering whether the mask was connected to Deng Yun.

• Yang Kunbing told Lu Sui that Root and Nature could qualify Yang Kunbing to enter the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains, though the Lu Family would not readily send its only heir away.
• Tan Jingzong trained Lu Sui in the Dragon-Roving Movement Technique and Chaotic Cloud Hands, and Lu Sui gained insight into both arts.
• Tan Jingzong’s exertion triggered a coughing fit, and Tan Chuanjie explained that his father and the other school heads had exhausted themselves suppressing a Calamity Artifact linked to Zhou Qing’s crimes.
• Tan Jingzong described the artifact as an ancient stone mask with red eyes and sawlike teeth that conjured terrifying illusions, including a powerful man seen from behind.