Chapter Summaries

Ren Qushun explained his theories linking illnesses and physical traits to emotions, family relationships, and conduct, while Su Ziyang listened and reflected on the ideas. The discussion ended with Ren describing more alleged causes of common ailments, including resentment toward elders and habitual anger.

• Ren Qushun connected premature graying, digestive problems, dizziness, kidney stones, bad breath, hair loss, and ADHD to emotions and family pressures.
• Su Ziyang recalled treating Han Jinkai's child and considered the mental pressure affecting the family.
• Ren Qushun linked head ailments and other symptoms to conflicts with elders, teachers, leaders, and relatives, and Su Ziyang reflected on sincere repentance.
• Ren Qushun described supposed emotional causes of sinusitis, acne, chest tightness, bladder disease, pharyngitis, colitis, and other conditions.
• Ren Qushun concluded that changing one's nature could resolve illnesses such as rhinitis, even when several family members shared them.

Ren Qushun explained how emotions and conduct could contribute to illness, while Su Ziyang listened and recorded his advice. After Ren Qushun shared Buddhist teachings about cause and effect and letting go, Su Ziyang recognized his deeper understanding and offered him tea in respect.

• Ren Qushun described connections between resentment, anger, family conduct, and ailments throughout the body.
• Su Ziyang recalled a case of congenital heart disease that seemed to match Ren Qushun's explanation about family relationships.
• Su Ziyang told Ren Qushun he had noted the advice and would apply it when treating patients.
• Ren Qushun said that personality affected the body and that persuading patients to change could support their treatment.
• Ren Qushun explained illness as cause and effect rooted in the heart, then quoted the Diamond Sutra and a verse attributed to the Sixth Patriarch.
• Su Ziyang recognized Ren Qushun's understanding and offered him a cup of tea, which Ren Qushun accepted.

Ren Qushun explained his methods for treating illnesses through repentance, crying, and laughter, linking physical ailments to anger and failures in family duties. Su Ziyang wondered whether the advice about elders had been aimed at his relationship with Fairy Li, and worried about whether she could get along with his mother.

• Su Ziyang asked Ren Qushun how his ideas about temperament and illness could guide treatment.
• Ren Qushun described using repentance, crying, and laughter to treat headaches and ailments in the shoulders, arms, and legs.
• Ren Qushun said laughter could help with mild cholecystitis and toothache, and urged people to change their nature and practice tolerance.
• Ren Qushun advised younger people to respect their elders, find others' good qualities, and correct their own faults.
• Fairy Li nodded as she listened, while Su Ziyang wondered whether Ren Qushun's advice concerned their relationship and whether she could get along with his mother.

Ren Qushun explained to Su Ziyang and Fairy Li that changing one’s character required correcting bad habits, examining oneself, and sincerely repenting. Su Ziyang agreed with Ren’s advice, but Fairy Li used it to tease him about criticizing her cooking.

• Ren Qushun described how people could improve their character by abandoning harmful habits and reflecting on their conduct.
• Ren Qushun said that illness and misconduct required controlling one’s thoughts, admitting faults, and steadily cultivating a compassionate heart.
• Ren Qushun advised finding the good in others and remaining resolute when faced with trials.
• Su Ziyang nodded in agreement with Ren Qushun’s teachings.
• Fairy Li told Su Ziyang to reflect on how he complained about her cooking instead of being a good boyfriend and husband, and Ren Qushun smiled at their banter.

Su Ziyang learned from Ren Qushun that treating illness through moral guidance required cultivating righteous Qi, and asked him to teach a gradual method. Ren Qushun explained Nurturing Vast Righteous Qi through upright conduct, moderation, meditation, breathing, sleep cultivation, and virtue, leaving Su Ziyang with a path to practice.

• Su Ziyang and Fairy Li joked with Ren Qushun before he explained how moral conduct could help people overcome illness.
• Su Ziyang recognized the practical meaning of Ren Qushun’s advice and asked how he could learn to guide and heal others.
• Ren Qushun said Su Ziyang needed to cultivate righteous Qi and teach himself to stand upright before trying to correct others.
• Su Ziyang inferred that Ren Qushun’s teachings described gradual cultivation and respectfully asked him to teach a gradual method.
• Ren Qushun introduced Nurturing Vast Righteous Qi and explained its principles of proper posture, restraint, breathing, sleep cultivation, and virtue.

Ren Qushun explained the stages of Confucian cultivation to Su Ziyang, who realized the man had reached at least the state of Awakening. After Mr. Mengfei brought Su Ziyang a puppy, he urged his disciple to kowtow to Ren Qushun and ask for instruction.

• Ren Qushun described how rectifying the heart and progressing through stopping, Stability, Stillness, Ease, Contemplation, and Attainment cultivated Qi and wisdom.
• Su Ziyang listened closely and inferred that Ren Qushun had reached at least the state of Awakening.
• Mr. Mengfei returned with a black double-barreled hound puppy for Su Ziyang, and Fairy Li took the puppy into her arms.
• Mr. Mengfei told Su Ziyang to kowtow to Ren Qushun, who hurriedly dodged, then said he had already taught Su Ziyang a gradual method.
• Su Ziyang said he had chosen the gradual method himself, and Mr. Mengfei invited Ren Qushun to the Daoist temple for a meal.
• Ren Qushun declined, and Su Ziyang followed Mr. Mengfei up the mountain, where his master said Ren Qushun likely cultivated both Confucianism and Buddhism.

Mr. Mengfei, Su Ziyang, and Fairy Li left Zhenze’s mountain after sharing a meal and began driving north. On the road, Mr. Mengfei recounted how he first met Zhenze while investigating a plague-stricken village, ending as they confronted a strange owl suspected of stealing villagers’ souls.

• Mr. Mengfei introduced Su Ziyang to Coal Briquette, then he, Su Ziyang, and Fairy Li visited Zhenze and shared a meal before setting off in a Land Rover.
• Mr. Mengfei explained that Qi could take many forms and told Su Ziyang that Thunder Arts were inherited by only one disciple each generation.
• Mr. Mengfei recalled encountering a silent village where many people had died from a contagious illness and seeing a bare-bottomed child disappear into the woods.
• Mr. Mengfei found Zhenze attacking a tree with Thunder Arts while a huge owl watched from its branches.
• Mr. Mengfei identified the owl’s apparent white feathers as menstrual cloth, explaining why Zhenze’s Thunder Arts could not harm it.
• Zhenze said he suspected the owl of snatching souls in the village, and the owl laughed as the two men demanded that it come down.

Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze followed a strange owl to a ruined mountain temple while investigating a fever that spread from child to child whenever a dying child called out a playmate’s name. After learning the temple had once honored a physician who treated a plague, they postponed investigating it until the next day and stayed in the village.

• Mr. Mengfei drew his Ucchusma Vajra, making the laughing owl stop and fly west as if inviting him and Zhenze to follow.
• The owl led Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze to a ruined temple, but they stayed outside and discussed the children’s mysterious illness.
• Zhenze told Mr. Mengfei that each feverish child had called out a playmate’s name before dying, after which that playmate also fell ill.
• Mr. Mengfei described seeing a smiling, bare-bottomed child, and the two men wondered whether another spirit was involved.
• Mr. Mengfei persuaded Zhenze to ask the villagers about the temple before entering it, and the village patriarch said it had been built for a physician who once treated a plague.
• Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze decided to return to the temple the next day and accepted lodging in the village.

Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze treated a convulsing child and followed an omen to a red dandelion that cured the illness. With the child recovered, the village’s outbreak ended, and the two thanked the owl before leaving the mountain.

• Mr. Mengfei stopped a child’s convulsions with acupuncture and mint water, then told the parents to use medicinal herbs and mint water while he and Zhenze investigated the illness.
• Zhenze received an omen at the ruined temple that the cure lay within ten steps, and he and Mr. Mengfei found a red dandelion nearby.
• Mr. Mengfei boiled the whole red dandelion and gave the decoction to the child, whose fever broke about half an hour later.
• The child recovered by the next day, ending the village’s outbreak, and the clan chief thanked Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze.
• Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze brought meat to the owl on the mountain and thanked it before hurrying away from its laughter.

Su Ziyang, Fairy Li, and Mr. Mengfei visited Jiang Kui’s home, where Su Ziyang reunited with Jiang Tian and went out singing with him. After Su Ziyang and Jiang Tian helped Fairy Li defend two women from a group of Japanese men, Jiang Kui and Mr. Mengfei punished the two young men by sending them to kneel before the founding master's statue.

• Fairy Li asked Mr. Mengfei about his past journey with Martial Uncle Zhenze, and he said they had never solved the mystery of the temple.
• Su Ziyang suggested visiting Jiang Kui, and the group went to his home for a meal.
• Jiang Tian invited Su Ziyang, Fairy Li, and two friends to a KTV, where Su Ziyang and Jiang Tian sparred before they sang and talked.
• Fairy Li defended a woman from several Japanese men in the hallway, and Su Ziyang and Jiang Tian joined the fight and knocked the men down.
• Manager Zhang had the men carried away, and the group returned home without continuing their night out.
• Jiang Kui and Mr. Mengfei ordered Su Ziyang and Jiang Tian to kneel before the founding master's statue as punishment.

Su Ziyang treated Li Youde’s diabetic foot and relieved another patient’s phantom limb pain with acupuncture. Fairy Li left to meet her eldest brother, while Er Biao arrived to teach Su Ziyang a massage technique and struggled to demonstrate it because Su Ziyang was too ticklish.

• Su Ziyang prescribed White Tiger Decoction with Ginseng and a sucrose foot soak for Li Youde’s diabetic foot.
• Fairy Li told Su Ziyang she was going to meet someone who needed her help and tell her eldest brother about their relationship.
• Su Ziyang used the Thirteen Needles of the Ghost Gate to stop an amputee’s phantom limb pain, then prescribed ginseng and lingzhi.
• Er Biao arrived in a Land Rover and explained that his massage work had become so busy that he had lost weight.
• Er Biao began teaching Su Ziyang a technique meant to improve penile size and length, but Su Ziyang laughed because the thigh massage tickled too much.

Su Ziyang taught Er Biao massage techniques and the Eight and a Half Locks, asking him to develop and pass them on. The next day, Su Ziyang met Li Zijun’s two older brothers, who accepted him after he promised to treat their sister well.

• Su Ziyang learned Er Biao’s massage technique, teased him about his health, and taught him Kegel exercises and the Eight and a Half Locks.
• Su Ziyang explained that he wanted Er Biao to develop the techniques and pass them on, and Er Biao promised not to let his trust go to waste.
• After Er Biao left, Li Zijun called to warn Su Ziyang that her brother wanted to meet him, and Su Ziyang asked Mr. Mengfei for advice.
• Li Zijun arrived with her older brothers, Li Zinian and Li Zijian, and Su Ziyang took them to a restaurant.
• Li Zinian and Li Zijian told Su Ziyang to treat Li Zijun well, and Su Ziyang promised to do so before the brothers left.

Su Ziyang treated Liu Sen for worsening tinnitus, deafness, and dizziness before agreeing to help Wei Boyan process aconite. As the aconite smoldered overnight, Wei Boyan taught him about traditional medicine processing, leaving Su Ziyang reflecting on how much he would need to manage if he opened his own clinic.

• After Su Ziyang and Fairy Li returned home, she asked when he would meet her mother, then the two teased each other before going for a walk.
• Su Ziyang examined Liu Sen, traced his worsening left-ear hearing loss and dizziness, diagnosed Shaoyang disease, and prescribed Minor Bupleurum Decoction.
• Daoist Master Xiao Yang asked Su Ziyang to assist Wei Boyan with processing aconite, and Su Ziyang agreed in order to learn from the experienced processor.
• Wei Boyan had Su Ziyang wash the raw aconite for three days, then they set it over grain husks and rice straw to burn overnight.
• While they watched the embers, Wei Boyan explained his aconite-processing method and taught Su Ziyang about immortal pinellia; afterward, Su Ziyang pondered the work involved in running his own clinic.

Su Ziyang stayed with Wei Boyan through the processing of aconite and helped the old man correct his standing meditation posture, strengthening their friendship. After the medicine was finished, Su Ziyang parted from Wei Boyan and joked with Mr. Mengfei, who said he might soon leave too.

• Su Ziyang kept watch by the fire overnight as Wei Boyan processed the aconite, then stayed awake through three days of steaming it.
• Wei Boyan praised Su Ziyang's stamina and shared how an expert had once taught him a standing meditation method.
• Su Ziyang adjusted Wei Boyan's stance and tapped his acupoints until Wei Boyan felt warmth and a swelling sensation in his arms and lower belly.
• Wei Boyan thanked Su Ziyang, added him on WeChat, and promised to answer his questions about medicinal ingredients.
• After the aconite was finished and Wei Boyan left, Mr. Mengfei teased Su Ziyang and said he might head back soon.

Su Ziyang diagnosed Liu Sen with wind-deficiency deafness and prescribed Cinnamon and Arisaema Powder, carefully explaining how to prepare it. After reviewing the formula, Su Ziyang agreed to attend a gathering of his former fellow students, which Liu Hua would organize.

• Mr. Mengfei returned as promised, and Su Ziyang earned two kicks for teasing him about visiting their master's wife.
• Su Ziyang examined Liu Sen, found his dizziness had improved but his deafness and ear noises remained, and diagnosed wind-deficiency deafness.
• Su Ziyang prescribed Cinnamon and Arisaema Powder and carefully checked that Liu Sen had recorded the preparation instructions correctly.
• Su Ziyang reviewed the formula's ingredients and reasoning in his notes.
• Liu Hua called Su Ziyang to propose a gathering with their former fellow students, and Su Ziyang agreed to go.

Su Ziyang heard that his treatment had helped Ma Jun’s mother and shared a traditional mirabilite remedy for Liu Hua’s father’s age-related farsightedness. He planned to attend a gathering with his master’s schoolmates, while Fairy Li wondered aloud about someone who valued money over people.

• Ma Jun called Su Ziyang to report that his mother had recovered after taking the medicine Su Ziyang prescribed.
• Liu Hua invited Su Ziyang to a gathering that weekend and asked for help with his father’s blurry vision and dry eyes.
• Su Ziyang sent Liu Hua a traditional mirabilite remedy and explained how to use it.
• Liu Hua arranged to buy mirabilite, and Su Ziyang told Fairy Li he wanted to attend the gathering.
• Fairy Li asked Su Ziyang whether people or money mattered more, then wondered how someone could be otherwise.

Su Ziyang recalled how Fairy Li refused a feng shui job that could not satisfy the client without harming his descendants, then visited his former tuina teacher, Li Dongjun, at the hospital. After giving Li Dongjun a massage that impressed him with techniques learned from folk masters, Su Ziyang left with him to share dinner and drinks.

• Fairy Li decided to refuse a client's request to change a feng shui arrangement that had already made his family wealthy but harmed his descendants.
• Su Ziyang heard that two feng shui masters hired afterward nearly died while moving the family's burial site on a dangerous day.
• Su Ziyang visited Li Dongjun at the hospital, where his former teacher was instructing junior students in tuina.
• Li Dongjun recognized Su Ziyang and asked him to demonstrate his tuina skills by giving him a massage.
• Su Ziyang performed a full massage using techniques Li Dongjun had not taught him, and Li Dongjun praised his progress.
• Li Dongjun invited Su Ziyang to dinner and drinks so they could catch up.

Su Ziyang revisited his university, spent a noisy night at a cheap inn, and reflected on his student years and homesickness. The next morning, he met Liu Hua, and they drove to pick up their teacher before the gathering.

• Li Dongjun shared dinner and a stroll around campus with Su Ziyang, then invited him to stay over, but Su Ziyang declined.
• Su Ziyang checked into a small inn and video-called Fairy Li, but the noisy neighboring room drove him out for a late-night walk.
• While wandering, Su Ziyang recalled carrying a drunken roommate back to school and felt homesick before appreciating the students enjoying their youth.
• Su Ziyang returned to the inn around eleven, rested, and checked out early the next morning.
• Liu Hua met Su Ziyang at the school gate and explained that they would pick up their teacher together in their supervisor's borrowed car.
• Su Ziyang and Liu Hua visited their teacher, praised his outfit, and heard that his wife would stay behind to teach while they attended the gathering.

Su Ziyang attended a gathering with his mentor and former classmates, keeping to himself while they ate, played games, and talked. When urged to drink, he said he was unwell and drank juice instead.

• Su Ziyang told his mentor that he worked at a small clinic and saw around a dozen patients a day.
• Liu Hua brought Su Ziyang and their mentor to the villa, where their classmates gathered and chose games and activities.
• Su Ziyang sat apart from the others and sent Fairy Li a video of the lively gathering.
• Their mentor reminded everyone of their duty to save lives and heal the wounded before they began eating.
• A senior sister and their mentor urged Su Ziyang to drink, but he said he was unwell and raised a glass of juice instead.

At a dinner gathering, Liu Hua suffered a severe gout flare, and Su Ziyang used talisman water and the Zhuyou Technique to ease his pain. As their colleagues gathered to watch, Su Ziyang continued treating Liu Hua in the hall.

• Liu Hua told Su Ziyang that his gout had flared up and was causing him intense pain.
• Su Ziyang took Liu Hua out to the hall, removed his shoe, and found his big toe badly swollen and red.
• Su Ziyang made talisman water and applied it to Liu Hua's toe, quickly easing the pain.
• When colleagues came looking for them, Su Ziyang kept treating Liu Hua while telling the group he would give it a try.
• Su Ziyang's colleagues and their advisor gathered to watch as he traced another talisman over Liu Hua's bandaged toe.