Chapter Summaries

Su Ziyang arrived at Jiang Kui’s home with a fever and worsening cough, then suddenly began coughing up blood. Jiang Kui and Jiang Tian discovered that someone from the Rang Character Sect had sealed an acupoint on Su Ziyang’s lung meridian, and they unsealed it, leaving Jiang Tian punished for failing to notice sooner.

• Jiang Tian brought the ill Su Ziyang to Jiang Kui’s home, where he rested and later spoke with his master, Mr. Mengfei.
• Su Ziyang’s fever and cough worsened, and he began coughing up blood as Jiang Kui returned and rushed to treat him.
• Jiang Kui recognized that someone from the Rang Character Sect had sealed Su Ziyang’s acupoints and used palm strikes to force out the cold energy.
• Jiang Tian needled Su Ziyang’s Quchi and Xiabai acupoints, revealing a fingerprint mark over Taiyuan as Su Ziyang regained consciousness.
• Jiang Kui reprimanded Jiang Tian for missing the seal for a day and ordered him to kneel before the grandmaster’s statue as punishment.

Su Ziyang recovered enough to get out of bed after Jiang Kui treated him, then learned that Jiang Tian had been made to kneel for failing to notice his dangerous condition. Jiang Tian identified a middle-aged man Su Ziyang had met on the journey as the likely attacker and explained how the Character School’s Little Hand worked.

• Jiang Kui told Su Ziyang to call him Uncle Jiang, then explained that he had punished Jiang Tian for missing the acupoint attack that nearly killed Su Ziyang.
• Su Ziyang pleaded for Jiang Tian and went to the east wing to bring him to breakfast, but Jiang Tian refused to stop kneeling until Jiang Kui came and ordered him up.
• Mr. Mengfei called Jiang Kui, and Jiang Tian went inside to eat after hearing that his uncle wanted him there.
• Jiang Tian asked Su Ziyang about suspicious encounters, and Su Ziyang described the middle-aged man who had lent him a power bank on the journey.
• Jiang Tian said that man was probably responsible and explained that the Character School’s Little Hand, also called Yin Hand, sent qi force into a person’s acupoints through a touch.

While recovering from his lung injury, Su Ziyang learned the origins and principles of the Jiang family's Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method from Jiang Kui. The lesson ended with Su Ziyang still baffled by a coded acupoint mnemonic, as Jiang Kui and Jiang Tian left him to recover before Mr. Mengfei's visit the next day.

• Jiang Kui explained that Mr. Mengfei had not blamed him for Su Ziyang's injury, and Su Ziyang used his intent to guide qi toward his aching lungs and ease the discomfort.
• Jiang Kui described how his family developed the Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method by combining inherited martial and healing techniques with daoyin and massage practices.
• Su Ziyang asked why acupoint striking had affected him without his noticing, and Jiang Kui explained that advanced practitioners could use hidden force to obstruct qi flow and cause severe injury or death.
• Su Ziyang readily recited the fourteen meridians and learned the Song of Meridian Flow by Hour, then struggled to understand a second, coded mnemonic for dangerous acupoints.
• Jiang Kui explained that coded language protected secret techniques from people with evil intentions, but refused to explain the mnemonic yet; Jiang Tian admitted he did not know its meaning and hurried away.
• Jiang Kui told Su Ziyang to stay home and recover while he gathered herbs, then announced that Mr. Mengfei would visit the next day, prompting Su Ziyang to plan to complain about Jiang Kui and Jiang Tian.

Su Ziyang learned that the cultivation method Mr. Mengfei taught him was a Dao-pursuing art that gave him unusual abilities and an aura visible to Qi observers. Mr. Mengfei promised to teach him how to conceal his Qi, while the story left off just as Jiang Kui arrived and called for drinks.

• Jiang Tian brought Mr. Mengfei to the Jiang family home, where Su Ziyang recounted how someone had struck his acupoints.
• Mr. Mengfei ruled out a novice testing a technique and realized the attacker had likely noticed Su Ziyang’s cultivation aura.
• Mr. Mengfei explained that the cultivation method could aid healing, prolong life, and grant unusual abilities, and said he would teach Su Ziyang to conceal his Qi.
• Mr. Mengfei reprimanded Su Ziyang for overlooking the secrecy surrounding the Jiang family’s Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method and their master-disciple secrets.
• Su Ziyang asked how Mr. Mengfei had become a benefactor to the Jiang family, but Jiang Kui arrived before Mr. Mengfei could answer.

Mr. Mengfei told Su Ziyang how he had saved Jiang Kui seven years earlier, after a Fujian developer’s threat was followed by deaths and a mysterious illness in the Jiang family. He drove the evil qi and white hairs from Jiang Kui, but warned Auntie Jiang that the matter was only half resolved.

• Jiang Kui thanked Mr. Mengfei over dinner for saving the family years earlier, and the two drank until Jiang Kui fell asleep at the table.
• Mr. Mengfei explained to Su Ziyang that years of cultivation had made him able to drink without becoming drunk, then began recounting the Jiang family’s past.
• A Fujian developer threatened Jiang Wen after the Jiang brothers refused to sell their ancestral gravesite; Jiang Wen’s wife later died of cancer, and Jiang Wen died in a car crash.
• After Jiang Kui accused the developer of causing the deaths, the developer denied it, and Jiang Kui collapsed and remained bedridden, coughing up black blood and strange white hairs.
• Mr. Mengfei entered the Jiang home, used cinnabar and realgar mixed with baijiu to draw out the white hairs, and woke Jiang Kui from his coma.
• Auntie Jiang tried to thank Mr. Mengfei, but he warned her that the danger had not been fully resolved.

Mr. Mengfei found two separate objects used to harm Jiang Kui’s family, but destroying the objects buried in the ancestral grave did not solve the danger. He uncovered and destroyed a second curse hidden by Jiang Kui’s home, clearing the black Qi over the house.

• Mr. Mengfei revived Jiang Kui and promised to inspect the family’s ancestral graves.
• Mr. Mengfei found a locust tree root and liquor sealed in a box beneath Jiang Kui’s grandfather’s grave and burned them, but warned that the danger remained.
• Mr. Mengfei discovered a bottle buried in the northwest corner of Jiang Kui’s house, containing a black paper figure marked with red symbols and packed with white hairs.
• Mr. Mengfei fried the bottle and its contents in hot rapeseed oil, then had Jiang Kui pour the oil onto the national highway.
• Mr. Mengfei had Jiang Kui and Auntie Jiang scatter mugwort ash around the house, making the remaining black Qi disappear.

Mr. Mengfei told Su Ziyang how he had saved the Jiang family from a powerful curse, then guided him through a breakthrough to Great Heavenly Circulation. Su Ziyang began training in the Jiang family's Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method and was left practicing its basic exercises.

• Mr. Mengfei explained that the curse on Jiang Kui's family combined several forms of evil art, and that destroying its spirit-infused objects had driven away the practitioner and the Fujian developer.
• Su Ziyang learned that Jiang Kui had agreed to teach his family's skill to Mr. Mengfei's future disciples in gratitude for saving the family.
• Mr. Mengfei guided Su Ziyang through an intense overnight practice and forcibly advanced him to Great Heavenly Circulation.
• Su Ziyang joined Jiang Tian and Uncle Jiang Kui for breakfast, and Jiang Tian and Uncle Jiang Kui noticed that he seemed different.
• Jiang Kui taught Su Ziyang the basics of the Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method and had him practice jabbing a padded stool cushion.
• Mr. Mengfei and Jiang Tian returned from the mountain, while Su Ziyang continued practicing alone.

After a month of training with Jiang Tian and Mr. Mengfei, Su Ziyang returned home and reunited with his parents and dog, Heizi. Over mutton soup, memories of his first girlfriend resurfaced, while his father encouraged him to pursue Li Zijun.

• Su Ziyang finished learning the Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method, exchanged contact information with Jiang Tian, and traveled home alone.
• Heizi and Su Ziyang's mother welcomed him home, and he found his parents bickering as usual.
• Su Ziyang's mother tried to feed him river snail rice noodles, so he escaped with his father to eat mutton soup.
• Su Ziyang's father asked whether he was dating, prompting Su Ziyang to remember his first girlfriend, Sixth Brother.
• Su Ziyang's father suggested that Li Zijun liked him and could leave the Daoist life to marry, leaving Su Ziyang helplessly eating his soup.

Su Ziyang returned to his university city for a class reunion and reunited with his four dormmates, though Li Zhi could not attend. At their barbecue, Ma Jun explained that he had lost his job after intervening when a department director assaulted a young intern, only to learn that the intern and her family had accepted the director’s offer of a permanent position.

• Xing Zhiyu invited the former classmates to visit their alma mater and have a meal, while Su Ziyang agreed to go if his dormmates went.
• Ma Jun, Han Peng, Wang Jinqiu, and Su Ziyang arranged a reunion of their own, but Li Zhi said he could not get away from work.
• Su Ziyang returned to his university city, where he met Ma Jun, Han Peng, and Wang Jinqiu at the school hotel.
• The four dormmates gathered at their familiar barbecue restaurant and caught up over food and beer.
• Ma Jun said he lost his job after punching a department director who had pinned down and torn the clothes of a young intern.
• Ma Jun revealed that the director returned to work after the intern and her family accepted his promise to secure her a permanent nursing position.

Su Ziyang reunited with his college friends and attended the class gathering organized by Xing Zhiyu. The reunion ended with Xing Zhiyu soliciting donations from classmates for university statues, while Wang Jiarou declined to join the class contribution and absent classmates began sending money too.

• Ma Jun told Han Peng, Wang Jinqiu, and Su Ziyang how he lost his job after reporting his employer's affair, and the friends drank together while video-calling Li Zhi.
• Su Ziyang helped Wang Jinqiu after he vomited the next morning, and the friends revisited their old university haunts, including the tree where they had buried their hamster.
• Su Ziyang and his friends arrived at Xing Zhiyu's class reunion, where he caught up with Wang Jiarou and other classmates.
• Xing Zhiyu proposed that classmates each donate 2,000 yuan toward campus statues, promising the class donor recognition, and Wang Zhiyong immediately contributed 5,000 yuan.
• Wang Jiarou told Xing Zhiyu she would not join the class donation because her academic lineage had already donated, while many classmates transferred money and Xing Zhiyu posted the appeal in the class group chat.
• Classmates who had skipped the reunion began transferring money after seeing Xing Zhiyu's group-chat notice.

At the class reunion, Xing Zhiyu organized a donation drive for campus sculptures and let the class pressure the five men from Su Ziyang’s dormitory for refusing to contribute. Su Ziyang challenged Xing Zhiyu’s motives and left the reunion with his brothers.

• Xing Zhiyu tallied the donations and revealed that only Su Ziyang, Ma Jun, Han Peng, Li Lizhi, and Wang Jinqiu had not paid.
• Wang Jiarou told Su Ziyang that the school’s fundraising effort was real, but Xing Zhiyu had likely taken charge to improve his chances of promotion.
• A female classmate read the five men’s names aloud, and several classmates criticized them; Xing Zhiyu appeared to soothe the conflict while adding to the pressure on Ma Jun.
• Su Ziyang accused Xing Zhiyu of using moral pressure to advance his own career and condemned the classmates for donating insincerely.
• Su Ziyang said that he and his brothers would leave, then walked out of the reunion with Ma Jun and the others.

After Xing Zhiyu sent a group of tough men to confront Su Ziyang and his friends, Su Ziyang defeated them with the acupoint-striking technique Uncle Jiang Kui had taught him. He left with his injured friends, while the Adidas-tracksuit man cursed Xing Zhiyu.

• After leaving their earlier dispute behind, Su Ziyang and his three friends went back to Good Taste Barbecue to drink.
• A man in an Adidas tracksuit arrived with five or six burly men and lured Su Ziyang and his friends outside, despite the proprietress's warning.
• The Adidas-tracksuit man revealed that he was Xing Zhiyu's associate, and his men surrounded and beat Ma Jun, Wang Jinqiu, and Han Peng.
• Su Ziyang used the Crane-Pecking Acupoint-Striking Hand to knock down one attacker, then struck four more men at their acupoints.
• Su Ziyang dodged the Adidas-tracksuit man's flying kick, sent him sprawling, and walked away with his injured friends.
• The Adidas-tracksuit man found his men unconscious and angrily blamed Xing Zhiyu for sending them after Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang treated his three injured, drunken brothers after Xing Zhiyu’s men beat them, then learned that the clinic renovations were finished and he could return to work. After the friends went their separate ways, Su Ziyang shared embarrassing photos of them in the dorm group chat as he rode home.

• Su Ziyang bought supplies, checked his brothers for serious injuries, and treated their wounds at the hotel.
• Ma Jun woke first, mistook Su Ziyang’s teasing account of the fight for the truth, and fell back asleep.
• Han Peng and Wang Jinqiu woke later, and Su Ziyang let them believe Ma Jun had taken down their attackers.
• A clinic worker called Su Ziyang to say the renovations were complete and he could resume seeing patients.
• Su Ziyang and his three brothers ate, rested, and parted ways the next day, with Su Ziyang planning to go home before returning to the clinic.
• Su Ziyang sent photos of his drunken brothers to the dorm group chat, where Li Lizhi saved them and threatened to settle things when they met.

Su Ziyang recognized that Yu Dabao and Li Mei had an unusual illness called encountering red, rather than ordinary yin deficiency. After identifying the cause and explaining the condition, he registered them and began writing a prescription.

• Su Ziyang examined Yu Dabao, who rejected another diagnosis of yin deficiency after many treatments had failed.
• Su Ziyang detected cold and wind in Li Mei’s pulse and learned that both spouses’ symptoms had begun around the time she unexpectedly menstruated during intercourse.
• Yu Dabao and Li Mei recalled the incident, and Su Ziyang identified their illness as encountering red.
• Su Ziyang recorded Yu Dabao and Li Mei’s medical histories and wrote them a prescription.

Su Ziyang treated a couple with a traditional remedy, then prescribed Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill for Wang Jiahui’s uterine fibroids after examining her and explaining dietary restrictions. After Wang Jiahui left with instructions for taking the medicine, Su Ziyang reviewed the formula and began regulating his breathing.

• Su Ziyang prescribed a plantain-and-rice broth for a couple’s zhuanghong and asked them to report back after they recovered.
• Wang Jiahui returned to apologize for doubting Su Ziyang and showed him a hospital report confirming several large uterine fibroids.
• Su Ziyang examined Wang Jiahui, identified signs he associated with cold exposure and heart fire, and told her to avoid cold foods, anger, and seafood.
• Su Ziyang prescribed five boxes of Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill and explained how Wang Jiahui should increase the dose based on her symptoms.
• After Wang Jiahui left, Su Ziyang reviewed the formula’s traditional use for abdominal masses and began regulating his breathing.

Su Ziyang reunited with his senior Bao Mingya at the clinic and diagnosed the cause of her painful urination after taking her pulse. He prescribed her a three-ingredient formula, leaving Bao Mingya trusting his judgment despite her husband’s unsuccessful treatments.

• Bao Mingya visited Su Ziyang at the clinic and teased him for not keeping in touch after graduation.
• Su Ziyang took Bao Mingya’s pulse, noticed an unusual pattern and black qi around her lower abdomen, and asked about her symptoms.
• Bao Mingya revealed that she had back pain and painful urination diagnosed as urethritis, and showed Su Ziyang two prescriptions that had not helped.
• Su Ziyang determined that Bao Mingya’s condition was not caused by damp-heat or spleen and stomach weakness, and offered to prescribe a different remedy.
• With Bao Mingya’s permission, Su Ziyang prescribed three doses of angelica root, fritillaria bulb, and sophora root.

At dinner with Bao Mingya and her boyfriend Liu Yanzhen, Su Ziyang defended his treatment of Bao Mingya’s urethritis and explained why Liu’s reasoning and prescription had failed. He left Liu stunned after arguing that the infection needed to be treated as an acute manifestation first.

• Bao Mingya met Su Ziyang at the Wind and Waves Pavilion and introduced him to her boyfriend, Liu Yanzhen.
• Bao Mingya thanked Su Ziyang for curing her illness with two doses of his herbal medicine, and Liu Yanzhen challenged him over whose treatment deserved credit.
• Su Ziyang told Liu Yanzhen that he had treated Bao Mingya incorrectly, prompting Liu to demand an explanation and Bao Mingya to watch their argument.
• Liu Yanzhen defended his diagnosis of weak spleen qi, while Su Ziyang questioned why Bao Mingya had not improved after more than ten doses and had needed levofloxacin.
• Su Ziyang explained that Bao Mingya’s weak constitution had compromised her body’s defenses and that he had used the Danggui Beimu Kushen Decoction to clear the infection; Liu Yanzhen and Bao Mingya were stunned.

After an awkward dinner with Liu Yanzhen, Su Ziyang returned to his clinic and treated the injuries he had inflicted on a group of men who had once attacked him. The men left eager to befriend him, while a nearby Daoist and an old patient added to Su Ziyang’s troubles.

• Liu Yanzhen thanked Su Ziyang for his advice, then left with Bao Mingya, who later messaged Su Ziyang to apologize for her brother-in-law’s drunken behavior.
• Su Ziyang meditated at home and continued cultivating his qi before returning to work on Monday.
• The bespectacled leader of the men who had confronted Su Ziyang came to his clinic with four companions and asked him to forgive them.
• Su Ziyang restored the leader’s back and unblocked the others’ acupoints, prompting them to clean his clinic and insist on treating him to a meal.
• Daoist Jin accused Su Ziyang of using crooked tricks, and Su Ziyang stopped the leader from confronting him.
• An old lady asked Su Ziyang for a free massage, then left after he told her to register and pay.

Su Ziyang was taken to a restaurant by Bai Pengyu and his friends, who apologized for their earlier fight and became friendly with him. After they discovered Bai Pengyu’s secret martial arts practice and teased him about it, Su Ziyang demonstrated his own skill by shattering a beer bottle with his fingertips.

• Bai Pengyu and his friends grabbed Su Ziyang after he left the consultation room and took him to the Wind and Waves Pavilion.
• Bai Pengyu introduced his friends, apologized for their earlier attack, and explained that they had acted on Xing Zhiyu’s complaint.
• Su Ziyang and Bai Pengyu discussed their martial arts, and Su Ziyang recognized internal energy when Bai Pengyu shattered a beer bottle.
• Bai Pengyu admitted he practiced the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, and Su Ziyang revealed that only a virgin could master it.
• Li Yanji messaged someone about Bai Pengyu’s secret, prompting a phone call and more teasing before Bai Pengyu turned on Su Ziyang.
• Su Ziyang distracted the group by offering a demonstration, then shattered a beer bottle with his fingertips.

Su Ziyang was accused by Daoist Jin of deliberately injuring patients, and their dispute escalated into a fight in which Daoist Jin repeatedly overpowered him. Just as Daoist Jin prepared to cripple him, Mr. Mengfei arrived and confronted Daoist Jin.

• Daoist Jin accused Su Ziyang of using the Blood-Blocking Technique to injure five patients, while Su Ziyang admitted it and explained that the injuries had happened during a conflict before he and Bai Pengyu reconciled.
• Daoist Jin rejected Su Ziyang's account, attacked him, and accused him of striking major acupoints; Su Ziyang's counterattack failed against Daoist Jin's Iron Cloth Shirt.
• Daoist Master Xiao questioned Su Ziyang about his martial arts and the patients, then accepted that he might not have injured them on purpose, but Daoist Jin demanded that Su Ziyang break two fingers.
• Daoist Jin attacked Su Ziyang again and threw him into the courtyard, where he beat him until he could not get up.
• Daoist Jin pinned Su Ziyang's hand and began to cut his tendons, but a loud blast knocked Daoist Jin down and sent his knife flying.
• Mr. Mengfei helped Su Ziyang up and confronted Daoist Jin for threatening to sever his disciple's tendons.