Chapter Summaries

Mr. Mengfei confronted Old Daoist Master Xiao and Daoist Jin after finding Su Ziyang injured, then learned the accusation came from a misunderstanding rooted in Daoist Jin’s past. Su Ziyang persuaded Daoist Jin to stay and treat his patients, and he left with his master after the conflict was resolved.

• Mr. Mengfei used Lion's Roar to defend Su Ziyang and demanded that Old Daoist Master Xiao explain why Daoist Jin had attacked him.
• Old Daoist Master Xiao recounted Daoist Jin’s accusation, and Su Ziyang called Bai Pengyu to confirm what had happened.
• Bai Pengyu and his four companions arrived and nearly attacked Daoist Jin, but Su Ziyang introduced Mr. Mengfei as his master.
• Daoist Jin apologized after realizing he had misunderstood Su Ziyang, and Old Daoist Master Xiao explained that a man who used acupoint strikes had caused Daoist Jin’s son to die.
• Su Ziyang persuaded Daoist Jin to remain for his waiting patients, and Daoist Jin agreed to cover Su Ziyang’s treatment and meals as compensation.
• Su Ziyang left with Mr. Mengfei, who admitted he had deliberately shattered Old Daoist Master Xiao’s teacups because he had once wanted the set.

Mr. Mengfei punished Su Ziyang for using acupoint strikes in a fight by making him copy the Scripture of Purity and Tranquility, and Su Ziyang discovered that copying it calmed his mind and set his Qi circulating. The next morning, Daoist Jin apologized for injuring him and replaced his broken phone with an expensive new one, which Su Ziyang accepted.

• Mr. Mengfei scolded Su Ziyang for fighting and ordered him to copy the scripture ten times daily, threatening to cripple his martial arts if he caused trouble again.
• Su Ziyang researched the scripture and copied it repeatedly, eventually feeling serenity as his Qi began circulating on its own.
• Mr. Mengfei returned to find Su Ziyang had copied the scripture more than thirty times, praised his progress, and announced that he would leave the next morning.
• Su Ziyang stayed home that evening to meditate with Mr. Mengfei, who departed early the following morning.
• Daoist Jin apologized for injuring Su Ziyang and offered him a costly replacement phone, which Su Ziyang accepted.

Su Ziyang welcomed recovered patient Sun Hua back and accepted her peanuts and commendation banner. Daoist Jin offered to teach him pediatric medicine and martial arts, then began training him in Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm and left him with a daily footwork exercise.

• Sun Hua visited Su Ziyang, thanked him for curing her, and gave him homegrown peanuts and a commendation banner.
• Daoist Jin invited Su Ziyang to eat mutton soup and offered to teach him pediatrics and the kung fu he had used before.
• Su Ziyang accepted Daoist Jin as his teacher and learned the names Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm and Iron Cloth Shirt.
• Daoist Jin demonstrated his speed and Iron Cloth Shirt, leaving Su Ziyang amazed and sore after his punch struck like iron.
• Daoist Jin drew a nine-palace diagram and taught Su Ziyang to walk its numbered steps for at least an hour every day.

Su Ziyang watched Daoist Jin diagnose and treat a boy whose prolonged high fever was caused by fright, then learned about pediatric finger-vein diagnosis and the medicines used. Daoist Jin ended by assigning Su Ziyang a week to memorize Rhapsody on Medicinal Properties, making his studies and training even busier.

• A worried father brought his five- or six-year-old son, who had suffered a high fever for over two weeks, to Daoist Jin.
• Daoist Jin examined the boy's hand, diagnosed childhood fright, and had Su Ziyang fetch mint and cicada slough for a herbal drink.
• The boy woke and his fever fell after drinking the medicine; Daoist Jin then steeped the father's gold ring in water, and the boy's temperature returned to normal.
• After the father took his son home, Daoist Jin explained pediatric finger-vein diagnosis and the medicinal reasoning behind the treatment to Su Ziyang.
• Daoist Jin ordered Su Ziyang to memorize Rhapsody on Medicinal Properties within a week, and Su Ziyang's days grew busier with practice, study, cultivation, and copying scriptures.

Su Ziyang accompanied Daoist Jin to the city hospital to examine a five-year-old boy whose leukemia had relapsed and whose eyes had developed fleshy growths. After Su Ziyang found a grave black marking on the boy’s finger, Daoist Jin began his own examination, but an angry newcomer interrupted them.

• Su Ziyang experienced a breakthrough while practicing the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps, and Daoist Jin taught him to practice facing eight directions and navigating around obstacles.
• Daoist Jin took Su Ziyang to the city hospital for a house call, carrying his huanghuali medical case despite Su Ziyang’s pleas to turn some of it into a bead bracelet.
• Zhenzhen introduced Daoist Jin to her sister and brother-in-law, who explained that their five-year-old son’s leukemia had relapsed and that fleshy growths had appeared in his eyes.
• Su Ziyang examined the boy’s finger and found a black marking that reached toward the nail, then shared his diagnosis with Daoist Jin.
• Daoist Jin crouched to examine the boy, but someone entered the ward and sharply demanded to know who had allowed them to touch the patient.

Su Ziyang and Daoist Jin confronted Associate Chief Physician Liu Yanzhen while examining a child with leukemia at the hospital. After Daoist Jin offered a thirty percent chance of saving the child, Zhenzhen's brother-in-law chose to leave the hospital and pursue treatment at the Daoist Medicine Clinic.

• Liu Yanzhen challenged Su Ziyang for treating a patient at the hospital without permission or the proper practice registration.
• Daoist Jin finished examining the child, while Liu Yanzhen warned the family that private treatment violated hospital rules and would leave the hospital free of liability.
• Zhenzhen's brother-in-law confronted Liu Yanzhen about the child's worsening condition, and Liu said current medicine could not cure the illness.
• Daoist Jin told Zhenzhen's brother-in-law he had a thirty percent chance of saving the child, and the father decided to risk it.
• Liu Yanzhen arranged the child's discharge after the family agreed to sign a liability waiver.
• Su Ziyang and Daoist Jin rode with Zhenzhen's brother-in-law to the Daoist Medicine Clinic, where he thanked Daoist Jin and said he trusted him.

Daoist Jin treated the unconscious child’s rising fever and severe constipation while teaching Su Ziyang pediatric massage and explaining his diagnosis. After the child passed numerous hard pieces of stool, the lumps in his abdomen disappeared, and Daoist Jin left him to rest.

• Su Ziyang found hard, tender lumps in the child’s lower left abdomen, and Zhenzhen’s sister revealed that he had not passed stool for about a month.
• Daoist Jin prescribed Major Order the Qi Decoction and carefully prepared it while the child’s fever rose to 39°C.
• Daoist Jin performed several pediatric massage techniques, temporarily lowering the child’s temperature to 37.6°C.
• When the unconscious child could not drink, Daoist Jin pressed acupoints to open his mouth, and the family slowly administered the decoction.
• The child passed more than a dozen hard pieces of stool, and Daoist Jin found that the abdominal lumps had disappeared before he left the room with Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang watched Daoist Jin examine the recovering Liu Yuchen and explain how family conflict and overindulgence had contributed to the child’s illness. After prescribing Minor Construct the Middle Decoction, Daoist Jin corrected Su Ziyang’s mistaken reading of the child’s finger vein and punished him for his carelessness, leaving Su Ziyang to flee before another reprimand.

• Su Ziyang examined Liu Yuchen’s finger vein and mistakenly identified its color as pale purple, while Daoist Jin confirmed that the child’s fever and dangerous symptoms had eased.
• Daoist Jin told Liu Yuchen’s parents to stop arguing, avoid spoiling him with snacks, and feed him simple congee while he recovered.
• Daoist Jin wrote a prescription for Minor Construct the Middle Decoction and asked Su Ziyang to identify it.
• Su Ziyang questioned the prescription because he believed the finger vein showed heat, and Daoist Jin explained that he had mistaken red for purple.
• Daoist Jin ordered Su Ziyang to copy The Great Physician's Sincerity ten times and challenged him for neglecting the Secret Manual of Pediatric Tui Na, so Su Ziyang hurried away.

Su Ziyang examined Bai Pengyu’s aunt and discovered a living human face growing from her chest that ate Snickers to relieve her pain. After hearing how it began and how it returned after repeated removals, he was left to figure out how to treat it without Daoist Jin nearby.

• Bai Pengyu brought his mother and aunt to Su Ziyang, asking him to find an expert who could treat a supernatural illness.
• Su Ziyang offered to examine Bai Pengyu’s aunt and was shocked to see an old woman’s face growing from her chest.
• The face opened its mouth and ate a Snickers bar, after which Bai Pengyu’s aunt’s pain and sweating subsided.
• Bai Pengyu’s aunt explained that the growth had appeared after years of intermittent chest pain and had begun eating food after a hospital biopsy.
• Bai Pengyu’s aunt said doctors had removed the face twice, but it grew back even larger each time, leaving Su Ziyang silent.

Su Ziyang used Sichuan fritillaria bulb to cure Bai Pengyu’s younger aunt’s human-faced sore, then discovered that an old account and a medical text explained why the remedy worked. Mr. Mengfei encouraged him to keep studying, leaving Su Ziyang grateful for his master’s guidance.

• Su Ziyang called Mr. Mengfei, who prescribed Sichuan fritillaria bulb to apply with honey and drink as a decoction.
• Su Ziyang prepared the medicine, and Bai Pengyu’s younger aunt’s human-faced sore shrank, drained dark red fluid, and vanished.
• Su Ziyang prescribed another dose for her recovery, and Bai Pengyu took his aunt and mother to rest before inviting Su Ziyang to dinner.
• Unable to understand why the medicine worked, Su Ziyang consulted medical texts and later called Mr. Mengfei for an explanation.
• Mr. Mengfei sent Su Ziyang an old account of a human-faced sore cured by fritillaria and a medical passage listing human-faced sores as an indication for the herb.
• Su Ziyang bought a copy of the medical text and felt grateful to Mr. Mengfei for encouraging him to study.

Su Ziyang returned home for the New Year after receiving generous gifts from his masters and reunited with his family and Su Zang. He went to Su Zang’s apartment for dinner, where the two began preparing for an evening together.

• Mr. Mengfei and Daoist Jin each gave Su Ziyang a red envelope before he traveled home.
• Su Zang picked Su Ziyang up at the station and drove him to his family’s home, where his mother warned him that Su Zang had injured people in a drunken fight.
• Su Ziyang visited his father’s shop, heard more about Su Zang’s fight, and got his father’s approval to go out with him.
• Su Zang picked Su Ziyang up that evening and took him to his rented apartment to eat takeout and drink.
• Su Ziyang and Su Zang cleared a table and began getting ready after the takeout arrived.

Su Ziyang reunited with Su Zang over hot pot and beer, where they shared stories about their failed relationships and Su Zang’s recent troubles. After taking his drunken friend to bed, Su Ziyang went home and discovered his mother’s heavily salted ribs were so bad even Heizi refused to eat them.

• Su Zang told Su Ziyang he had quit his design job, started freelancing, and built a following, then revealed that Yuyu had cheated on him and they had broken up.
• Su Zang explained that a dispute over marriage and children led him to catch Yuyu with another man, punch him, and pay 150,000 yuan in compensation.
• Su Ziyang helped the heavily drunk Su Zang to bed, cleaned up, and walked home while circulating True Qi to dispel the alcohol.
• Su Ziyang tasted his mother’s ribs and spat them out after learning she had cooked them with salty pickle brine and extra salt.
• Heizi refused to eat the ribs, knocked over his bowl, and ran off, so Su Ziyang’s mother ordered him to wash the dishes and left in a huff.

Su Ziyang learned from Qiangzi that Tongtong’s accusations of infidelity might stem from a mental illness, and he tried to ease her distress before deciding to help persuade her to seek treatment. The chapter ended with Su Ziyang and his mother preparing to approach Tongtong together.

• Su Ziyang’s mother welcomed Aunt Tong and offered to cook for her, but Aunt Tong broke down crying and accused Qiangzi of cheating.
• Su Ziyang’s father invited Qiangzi over, and Qiangzi explained that Tongtong had become suspicious and emotionally volatile, while refusing medical care.
• Qiangzi showed Su Ziyang and his father a counselor’s assessment that Tongtong might have bipolar disorder and said she had mistaken his attempt to seek help for evidence of an affair.
• Su Ziyang joked with Tongtong until she laughed, then joined the family for lunch with Qiangzi.
• Su Ziyang pulled his mother aside and told her what Qiangzi had revealed, and she agreed to help persuade Tongtong to take medicine.

Su Ziyang tried to ease the tension between Aunt Tong and Qiangzi by using palm reading to draw Aunt Tong into discussing her health. After an argument broke out, he calmed everyone and continued helping her, but her long head line made him suspect her condition was more serious than he had first thought.

• Su Ziyang persuaded Aunt Tong and Qiangzi to start eating and used jokes about giving his mother a massage to lighten the mood.
• Su Ziyang examined Aunt Tong’s palms and described symptoms she confirmed, then promised to check her pulse and prescribe medicine after the meal.
• Aunt Tong recorded Su Ziyang’s palm-reading explanation and grew irritated when he tried to stop her, then compared her palm with Pingping’s and became upset.
• When Su Ziyang stopped explaining, Aunt Tong called him unfilial, prompting Qiangzi and Su Ziyang’s parents to become angry.
• Su Ziyang restrained Qiangzi, asked everyone to calm down, and apologized before continuing his explanation of Aunt Tong’s symptoms.
• Su Ziyang noticed Aunt Tong’s head line nearly reached the edge of her palm and realized her mental condition might be more serious than he had expected.

Su Ziyang diagnosed Aunt Tong with visceral agitation and prescribed Licorice, Wheat and Jujube Decoction, though his parents worried about treating her. After more than a week passed without news from Aunt Tong, Su Ziyang showed his father that he could smash a brick with his palm, then helped his mother avoid eating her badly cooked cabbage.

• Su Ziyang examined Aunt Tong's pulse and tongue, then prescribed a three-ingredient decoction for her emotional agitation.
• Aunt Tong left to fill the prescription, while Qiangzi apologized to Su Ziyang's parents for her behavior.
• Su Ziyang's mother said Aunt Tong's second aunt had died by suicide after suffering mental illness, and his parents warned him to be cautious about treating her.
• More than a week passed without Aunt Tong contacting the family, and Su Ziyang continued his daily practice.
• After his father doubted his skills, Su Ziyang smashed a frozen brick with his palm and showed that his hand was unharmed.
• Su Ziyang praised his mother's cabbage to spare her feelings, but she tasted it herself and reheated the leftover red-braised pork.

Su Ziyang examined his father’s friend Erhei, identified his insomnia and digestive problems, and prescribed him a medicinal decoction. Erhei left trusting Su Ziyang’s treatment after learning he had been pressing the wrong spot for the Taixi Acupoint.

• Su Ziyang gave his mother a massage, then went to his father’s shop after his father called him over.
• Erhei asked Su Ziyang to examine him, and Su Ziyang identified his insomnia, poor appetite, indigestion, diarrhea, anxiety, and fatigue from his pulse and tongue.
• Erhei described his year of insomnia, his failed treatment with Sour Jujube Seed Decoction, and doctors who had diagnosed him with depression and prescribed antidepressants.
• Erhei showed Su Ziyang where he had rubbed his ankle raw while trying to press the Taixi Acupoint, and Su Ziyang showed him the correct spot.
• Su Ziyang prescribed Erhei seven doses of a medicinal decoction and instructed him to add fresh ginger when preparing it.

Su Ziyang spent the New Year with his family in their rural hometown, then treated a distant relative’s frozen shoulder when the man came to see him. The treatment temporarily restored the man’s movement, and he planned to return the next day.

• Su Ziyang explained the reasoning behind his prescription for Erhei, but Erhei did not return before the family left for the New Year.
• Su Ziyang helped his parents prepare for the holiday and joined the family’s New Year celebrations and visits to relatives.
• A stranger repeatedly tried to add Su Ziyang on WeChat, called him claiming to be his grandpa, and then arrived with Su Ziyang’s father.
• Su Ziyang’s father explained that the man was a distant relative, and the man asked Su Ziyang to treat his frozen shoulder.
• Su Ziyang massaged the man’s shoulder with Jiang Family Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Pressing, temporarily restoring his ability to raise his arm.
• The man left saying he would return the next day, while Su Ziyang’s father suspected his son had deliberately made the treatment painful.

Su Ziyang treated several village women for aches and pains after word spread that he could give massages, then examined Third Grandma’s back and found compression fractures. After advising her on home care, he received a bag of peanuts from her and reflected on the village custom of bringing a gift after treatment.

• Su Wenxian’s shoulder recovered after Su Ziyang’s massages, and Wenxian sent several middle-aged women to seek treatment from him.
• Su Ziyang diagnosed one woman with third lumbar transverse process syndrome, massaged her back, and treated the other women’s complaints.
• Su Ziyang examined Third Grandma’s CT films and found compression fractures in her second and fourth lumbar vertebrae after she fell while gathering firewood.
• Su Ziyang advised Third Grandma to use a hot compress and medicinal oil, and she later returned with a bag of peanuts as a customary gift.
• Su Ziyang thought about Third Grandma’s insistence that patients bring something to their healer and recalled the day’s events.

Su Ziyang examined Xiaocai, whose rheumatic arthritis had caused severe pain and deformity over ten years, and considered the limits of his ability to treat her. The chapter ended with him taking her pulse before deciding what to do next.

• Su Ziyang declined to set his young cousin's dislocated elbow and told his aunt to take her to a hospital for an X-ray.
• Su Ziyang called Mr. Mengfei and insisted that his master help him learn bone-setting and fracture treatment.
• Xiaoyun brought her sister Xiaocai to Su Ziyang for help with long-standing rheumatic arthritis that had curled and stiffened her hands and arms.
• Su Ziyang learned that Xiaocai's treatments had brought little relief and that a practitioner had charged her family over two thousand yuan for painful needle-knife sessions.
• Su Ziyang examined Xiaocai's tender joints, asked about her symptoms, and began taking her pulse.

Su Ziyang examined Xiaocai’s severe rheumatoid arthritis and prescribed the Cinnamon Twig, Peony and Anemarrhena Decoction, carefully instructing her how to boil the poisonous aconite. After Xiaocai left with Xiaoyun, Su Ziyang recorded her condition and analyzed the prescription in his Daoist Medicine Clinic Notes.

• Su Ziyang examined Xiaocai’s weak pulse and white tongue coating, then explained that massage and acupuncture could only provide temporary relief for her rheumatoid arthritis.
• Xiaocai agreed to take medicine, and Su Ziyang prescribed seven doses of the Cinnamon Twig, Peony and Anemarrhena Decoction.
• Su Ziyang warned Xiaocai and Xiaoyun to boil the aconite separately for half an hour before adding the other herbs.
• Su Ziyang’s mother worried that his treatment might worsen Xiaocai’s long-standing illness, and he reassured her before she went to cook.
• Su Ziyang recorded Xiaocai’s symptoms and prescription in his notebook and analyzed the formula’s ingredients and their effects.