Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu attended a feast and watched a skilled troupe perform Mulian Opera through the night, while Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu discussed giving him the Spirit Yang Gallbladder. Zhong Jinqiu sensed trouble approaching and decided to bring the item to Chu Tianshu after resting.

• Adjutant Zhou offered to recommend Chu Tianshu to the Yi Province Military Academy, but Chu Tianshu said he was not ready to join the military.
• Troupe Leader Chen arranged an outdoor stage, and the town gathered to watch the troupe perform Mulian Opera.
• Chu Tianshu watched Liu Siniang impress the audience with remarkable candle-eating, fire-spitting, and dancing skills.
• After the performance, Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu discussed giving Chu Tianshu the Spirit Yang Gallbladder.
• Zhong Jinqiu sensed a troubling wind and decided to bring the Spirit Yang Gallbladder to Chu Tianshu after sleeping for four hours.

Chu Tianshu learned that Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu had secretly kept a Spirit Yang Gallbladder, a rare treasure that could extend an old practitioner’s life and strengthen boxers. They gave it to him, and Chu Tianshu accepted, determined to grow stronger and honor their hopes for him.

• Chu Tianshu discussed Adjutant Zhou’s mastery of Dragon Coils Around the Body with Shopkeeper Ma and said he wanted to spar with him.
• Zhong Jinqiu arrived with a jar, and Shopkeeper Ma led him and Chu Tianshu into a hidden cellar beneath the restaurant.
• Zhong Jinqiu revealed a Spirit Yang Gallbladder that he and Shopkeeper Ma had obtained after killing a hundred-year-old bear.
• Shopkeeper Ma explained that the gallbladder could help elderly practitioners avoid the painful dissipation of cultivation and could also benefit boxers pursuing Eating Makes an Immortal.
• Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu offered the gallbladder to Chu Tianshu, hoping he would become as strong as possible.
• Chu Tianshu accepted the treasure and promised not to disappoint them.

After absorbing the Spirit Yang Gallbladder, Chu Tianshu learned from Zhong Jinqiu how to issue force through his internal organs and began training the technique. During a storm, Meng Shuangjiang arrived to report that Xiaobao had vanished, and a divination pointed to Commander Xu’s residence, where Adjutant Zhou appeared behind them.

• Chu Tianshu swallowed the Spirit Yang Gallbladder and endured Zhong Jinqiu’s four-hour treatment in a wine vat.
• Chu Tianshu wrote out his Tongbei Fist manual, and Zhong Jinqiu taught him methods for issuing force with his internal organs.
• Zhong Jinqiu demonstrated Immortal Force, showing how internal training could produce precise, penetrating strikes.
• Chu Tianshu declined the town chief’s invitations and practiced internal force until the eighth day, when heavy rain swept through town.
• Meng Shuangjiang arrived at the restaurant and told Chu Tianshu that Xiaobao had disappeared from home.
• Shopkeeper Ma’s divination pointed to Commander Xu’s residence, and Adjutant Zhou appeared at the door as Meng Shuangjiang recognized the location.

Adjutant Zhou revealed that Old Eunuch Chen planned to sacrifice children in a ritual to prolong his life, while Chu Tianshu and his companions weighed how to stop him. Zhou secretly worked to sabotage the ritual and remove Chen, leaving the Meng Clan’s child among the captives as bait for the restaurant’s group.

• Adjutant Zhou told Chu Tianshu, Zhong Jinqiu, and Shopkeeper Ma that Old Eunuch Chen was kidnapping children for an evil life-prolonging ritual, and implied they could kill him without interference from Commander Xu.
• Chu Tianshu considered waiting and planning rather than attacking Chen and his forces immediately, while Shopkeeper Ma sent a paper crane spirit to follow Zhou.
• At Commander Xu’s residence, Liu Siniang and the opera troupe prepared the Five Communications Opera, and Chen explained that the ritual required a jade coffin, the corpse Qi of roving bandits, a golden cauldron, and children with matching birth dates.
• Adjutant Zhou returned to his quarters at night and learned that his guards had drugged the Meng Clan’s child and placed him in a cage with the other captives.
• Adjutant Zhou privately revealed that he wanted Commander Xu to be rid of Chen and had arranged matters so Xu would not act personally, while he waited to see whether the three people at the restaurant survived.

Shopkeeper Ma, Zhong Jinqiu, and Chu Tianshu prepared to confront the mansion’s forces and the female sorcerer. Shopkeeper Ma began a ritual at the coffin pit while Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu entered the mansion, where Liu Siniang warned the others just as Chu Tianshu drew his hidden blade.

• Zhong Jinqiu cooked a light breakfast for Chu Tianshu and Shopkeeper Ma, warning Chu not to eat too much before killing.
• Shopkeeper Ma met Meng Lianfa and the other elders at the dug-up coffin pit, then began a ritual beneath their umbrellas and kerosene lamps.
• The old eunuch fell asleep beside the jade coffin after ordering that Liu Siniang not warm up her voice.
• Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu approached the mansion, where Chu concealed his peachwood sword in an umbrella and his iron sword in its sheath.
• Chu Tianshu killed the martial actor who opened the gate and entered the courtyard, claiming he had come to invite Brother Zhou for a walk.
• Liu Siniang sensed danger and shouted a warning as Chu Tianshu’s blade flashed from his umbrella.

Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu attacked the opera troupe after discovering its members had abducted and abused children, killing Troupe Leader Chen and several fighters. Chu shot the old eunuch, but the bullet only wounded him, and he rose again.

• Troupe Leader Chen died after Chu Tianshu killed him and destroyed his Red-Tailed Swallow with the peachwood scabbard and sword hilt.
• Chu Tianshu fought Liu Siniang, using her loss of footing and a series of strikes to kill her.
• Zhong Jinqiu charged into the courtyard with his bamboo spear, killing troupe members and creating an opening for Chu Tianshu to defeat the remaining fighters.
• Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu reached the rear hall, where Zhong warned that Old Ma would wake if they approached.
• Chu Tianshu fired his last revolver bullet at the old eunuch, but the old eunuch dodged the fatal shot and rose with only a wound to his cheekbone.

Shopkeeper Ma’s remote suppression of the old eunuch failed, and Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu fought him in the courtyard. After Zhong was badly injured and the old eunuch was wounded, Chu recognized the source of his opponent’s control over the fight and changed his Aperture Opening state.

• Shopkeeper Ma’s talisman shattered and the lamps around the pit went out, so he and Meng Lianfa’s companions ran toward town as their plan to suppress the old eunuch faltered.
• The old eunuch recovered from the gunshot and charged Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu, who struck back and discovered his Coin Body Armor.
• The old eunuch overwhelmed Zhong Jinqiu with rapid punches, but Zhong lodged a fishbone in his eyelid and struck his chest with Taiji Immortal Force while Chu Tianshu followed with another blow.
• The old eunuch sent Zhong flying and injured his shoulders, but Chu’s follow-up sent the old eunuch crashing through a courtyard wall and wounded his lung.
• The old eunuch accused his enemies of colluding with insiders and boasted of his toughness, while Chu Tianshu studied his control of the fight and realized he was using dual cultivation.
• Chu Tianshu switched his Aperture Opening state from inward to outward, forming a faint five-meter circle beneath his feet as the old eunuch’s expression darkened.

Chu Tianshu used his newly sharpened battlefield insight to defeat the old eunuch, then destroyed the evil creation in the mansion and helped secure the rescued children. Adjutant Zhou returned to find the aftermath and accepted Meng Lianfa’s cover story that Chu and his companions had retired to the mountains.

• Chu Tianshu drew in his Spirit Communication Aperture Opening and used his heightened perception to strike the old eunuch’s ear, exploit his dizziness, and kill him.
• Zhong Jinqiu knocked out the two fleeing servants, while Chu Tianshu used cinnabar talisman ink to disperse the tattoo’s sinister Qi and smash the jade coffin.
• Shopkeeper Ma and the others left the mansion with the rescued children as the town head and Wang Fu arrived to investigate the screams.
• Adjutant Zhou returned in armor, and Meng Lianfa claimed that the old master had died fighting villains and that Chu Tianshu and his companions had gone back to the mountains.
• Adjutant Zhou hid his suspicions, then entered the mansion and loudly lamented the old master’s death.

Chu Tianshu, Zhong Jinqiu, and Shopkeeper Ma traveled into the mountains to hide from Adjutant Zhou, where Chu used the old eunuch’s magical armor to deduce an improved fist technique. At an abandoned tea shelter, they encountered two villagers leading a donkey with a sickly-looking man riding it.

• Chu Tianshu and Zhong Jinqiu watched the town from the mountain woods and discussed the old eunuch’s armor and the future of machines with Uncle Ma.
• The three traveled deeper into the mountains, planning to stay away from Yuannan City while Chu continued his martial arts training.
• Zhong Jinqiu brought them to an abandoned tea shelter and explained the Golden Toad Sect’s Taiji Fist to Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu used the Gold-Swallowing Beast Face and Red-Tailed Swallow to deduce the Toad Art Palm Thunder technique.
• After nightfall, Chu Tianshu and Shopkeeper Ma heard a donkey, then saw two villagers leading it through the woods with a hunched man riding on its back.

Chu Tianshu examined a wheezing traveler and discovered that the man was poisoned rather than ill. Zhong Jinqiu recognized him as Cai Yin, Cai Shanjun, and Chu Tianshu offered to help him regain power and deal with Commander Xu.

• Uncle Ma welcomed three travelers into the abandoned tea shelter, and the sickle-bearing man asked Chu Tianshu to examine their wheezing companion.
• Chu Tianshu examined the patient and privately told Zhong Jinqiu that the man had been deeply poisoned and was likely a powerful sorcerer.
• Zhong Jinqiu told Uncle Ma that he recognized the patient as Cai Yin, Cai Shanjun, the former grand governor who had fought against opium in Yi Province.
• Zhong Jinqiu said he wanted Chu Tianshu to help Cai Yin briefly before they left, because becoming involved in Cai Yin's troubles could be dangerous.
• Chu Tianshu revealed that he had wanted to kill Commander Xu and his adjutant, then said he would help Cai Yin if doing so could bring down evil by saving a life.

Chu Tianshu treated the poisoned Cai Shanjun, who hired him and his two companions to help him regain power. After three days of travel, they reached a secluded stronghold, where a Miao girl announced Cai Shanjun’s return.

• Chu Tianshu used acupuncture to suppress Cai Shanjun’s poison, giving him about a month to move around while warning that the treatment could not cure him.
• Cai Shanjun agreed to Chu Tianshu’s demands for escorting him: a home for Zhong Jinqiu and Shopkeeper Ma in Kunming, ten gold bars, and the Yi Province Military Academy’s best boxing and spell manuals.
• Cai Shanjun told the group he was taking them to a beautiful stronghold where they might borrow something to reduce the danger of crossing the river.
• The group shared provisions, rested overnight, and followed Cai Shanjun through remote mountain paths for three days.
• They emerged from a grove at a scenic stronghold, where a Miao girl saw Cai Shanjun and shouted that Cave God Lady’s husband had returned.

Cai Shanjun brought Chu Tianshu and his companions to Wu Clan Stronghold and recounted how he had escaped the Cave God’s cave with the Rainbow Cloud Flute. The stronghold welcomed them warmly, but the clan chief grew wary when Cai Shanjun asked to borrow the flute.

• Cai Shanjun explained that he had once been chosen as the Cave God Lady’s husband, entered the cave, and returned with the Rainbow Cloud Flute.
• Cai Shanjun said the waterfall would not run dry for several years and described how the stronghold’s custom had changed from sending a bride into the cave to sending a husband.
• Wu Tugu and Wu Zewa welcomed Cai Shanjun and his companions across the river, and the clan chief led the stronghold in a festive welcome.
• A Bang served the guests insect tea, oil tea, and flower tea, while Chu Tianshu sampled the teas and learned how they were made.
• Cai Shanjun asked the clan chief to lend him the Rainbow Cloud Flute, and the clan chief objected that Cai had already received generous gifts and the flute had only recently recovered in the ancestral hall.

Cai Shanjun urged Stronghold Chief Wu to lend him the treasure, warning that foreign powers threatened Yi Province and insisting that only his return could spur its leaders to act in time. Stronghold Chief Wu agreed to decide the matter through three contests, and Chu Tianshu sealed the pact in Cai Shanjun’s place by grasping Wu’s fist in the flames.

• Cai Shanjun reminded Stronghold Chief Wu of Wu Clan Stronghold’s past suffering over its treasure and warned that foreign powers would eventually threaten Yi Province.
• Stronghold Chief Wu questioned whether Cai Shanjun could regain power and protect the province, and Cai Shanjun argued that his return would prompt decisive action.
• Stronghold Chief Wu invoked the ancestors’ rules and proposed three contests to determine whether Cai Shanjun’s companions could borrow the treasure.
• Cai Shanjun stepped forward to grasp Stronghold Chief Wu’s burning fist, but Chu Tianshu took his place and gripped it in the flames, sealing the pact.

Wu Clan Stronghold held the first of three trials, Pillar in Midstream, where challengers had to face bamboo hurtling down a fast river. Wu Zewa broke 144 lengths, while Zhong Jinqiu used Cloud Hands to trap and split the bamboo in a whirlpool, and Chu Tianshu declared his count to be 300.

• At the evening gathering, Wu Tugu told Chu Tianshu that he expected to face him in one of the stronghold’s trials and took him to watch Wu Zewa prepare for Pillar in Midstream.
• The next morning, Stronghold Chief Wu explained that challengers had to avoid 300 lengths of fast-moving bamboo and break as many as possible with their bare hands and feet.
• Wu Zewa stood in the river and broke 144 lengths of bamboo, demonstrating his water-trained snake-fist techniques.
• Zhong Jinqiu entered the river fully clothed and used Cloud Hands to gather the bamboo into a whirlpool, splitting the lengths as they circled him.
• Zhong Jinqiu leaped out of the collapsing whirlpool, and Chu Tianshu declared that he had broken all 300 lengths.

Zhong Jinqiu won the first trial at Wu Clan Stronghold by using Taiji Fist to deflect bamboo in the river, and Chu Tianshu shared a new fist mnemonic with him. The group prepared for the next contests as Chu Tianshu began testing whether his needling skills could improve his training.

• Zhong Jinqiu used Taiji Fist to deflect the bamboo in the river and won the first contest, while Wu Zewa accepted the result and applauded.
• Chu Tianshu treated Zhong Jinqiu’s injured hands, and Stronghold Chief Wu warned that the next two contests would be harder.
• Cai Shanjun and Shopkeeper Ma chatted about books as they returned to the stronghold, leaving Old Yu and Little Huo wondering how much of Cai Shanjun’s references they had missed.
• Chu Tianshu recited a Taiji Fist mnemonic that impressed Zhong Jinqiu, who said it could inspire his fighting methods even though mastering it would take months.
• Chu Tianshu explained that he planned to combine his needling knowledge with methods for stimulating acupoints to develop a more effective way to train.

A Bang learned that outsiders were competing for the Rainbow Cloud Flute, while the shrine keeper reacted with anger and spent the night brooding over the shrine. The next day, Wu Tugu faced a wild bull in the stronghold’s second trial, and the contest was still underway when he seized its horns.

• A Bang told the shrine keeper that an outsider had won the first trial and that the clan had agreed to lend him the Rainbow Cloud Flute if he passed all three trials.
• The shrine keeper objected to lending the flute, then refused A Bang’s invitation to watch the next contest and played her flute by the shrine late into the night.
• Chu Tianshu reflected on his progress in Dragon Coils Around the Body and Eating Makes an Immortal before joining Cai Shanjun and the others at the second trial.
• Stronghold Chief Wu explained that the trial reenacted a Miao king subduing a bull, and the rules limited contestants to bare hands and ten dodges.
• Wu Tugu dodged the charging bull three times, then charged at it and clamped both hands onto its horns.

Chu Tianshu subdued the Wild Bull King on his fourth attempt while investigating strange mosquitoes that disrupted the contest. He caught two of the insects alive and showed them to Stronghold Chief Wu, who identified them as the shrine's Great Acid Mosquitoes.

• Wu Tugu wrestled the Wild Bull to the ground, earning cheers from the onlookers.
• Chu Tianshu dodged the bull's first two charges while studying how it moved and exerted force.
• Chu Tianshu prepared to strike during the third charge, but abruptly dodged when mosquitoes flew toward him and burst apart after his needles hit them.
• On the fourth charge, Chu Tianshu struck the bull's front legs and head with precise force, knocking it unconscious and winning the round.
• Chu Tianshu showed Stronghold Chief Wu two mosquitoes he had caught alive, and Stronghold Chief Wu identified them as the shrine's Great Acid Mosquitoes.

Chu Tianshu and Stronghold Chief Wu pursued the ancestral hall guardian into Hidden Immortal Cave after she took the Rainbow Cloud Flute and set off its dangerous insects. The guardian admitted she had sabotaged the trials because she treasured the flute, leaving the group to find a way to retrieve it without letting the cave’s poisons escape.

• The old woman took the Rainbow Cloud Flute from the ancestral hall and fled into Hidden Immortal Cave as Chu Tianshu and Stronghold Chief Wu pursued her.
• The old woman used her flute to gather venomous insects, which burst into flames and forced Chu Tianshu to retreat from the cave entrance.
• Stronghold Chief Wu explained that the cave contained dangerous insects and poisonous fungi, and that its only entrance made a careless attack risky.
• The old woman told Wu Tugu and Stronghold Chief Wu that she had helped sabotage the trials to protect the Rainbow Cloud Flute from being lent out.
• Chu Tianshu and the others concluded that the old woman had acted on her own rather than as part of an outside plot.
• When Stronghold Chief Wu suggested waiting for the old woman to emerge, Chu Tianshu rejected waiting a month and asked whether another way existed.

Chu Tianshu entered the insect-filled cave wearing a lamp-oil cloak and fought through its flames and poisonous insects to reach the old woman guarding the shrine. He defeated her after resisting the jade flute’s attack on his internal organs and knocked her unconscious.

• Stronghold Chief Wu explained how eggs attracted Gu insects and described the Wu Clan Stronghold’s dangerous Path Through Fire trial.
• Chu Tianshu decided to enter the cave in a lamp-oil cloak and seize the old woman before the day ended.
• Chu Tianshu charged through the cave, using his speed and burning cloak to scatter the insects and withstand bursts of flame.
• The old woman switched from her broken bamboo flute to a jade flute that struck at Chu Tianshu’s internal organs.
• Chu Tianshu roared, released a burst of force that suppressed the flute’s effect, and knocked the old woman unconscious.

Chu Tianshu rescued the shrine-keeping granny and returned the Rainbow Cloud Flute to Stronghold Chief Wu, who gave it to Cai Shanjun after losing all three trials. As Cai Shanjun played, a mysterious sound answered from Flying Waterfall Cave, and he took it as a blessing for their journey to Kunming.

• Chu Tianshu carried the unconscious shrine-keeping granny out of the cave, returned the Rainbow Cloud Flute, and left Stronghold Chief Wu to treat and punish her.
• Stronghold Chief Wu handed the flute to Cai Shanjun and offered Wu Tugu, Wu Zewa, and A Bang as companions, but Cai Shanjun declined them for the journey.
• Shopkeeper Ma asked for cinnabar, and Stronghold Chief Wu offered spell paper and weapons while Chu Tianshu said they could choose later.
• Cai Shanjun praised Chu Tianshu's growing mastery of his martial art, then played the Rainbow Cloud Flute as Chu Tianshu listened.
• A mysterious sound answered from Flying Waterfall Cave, prompting villagers to call it the Cave God Lady, and Cai Shanjun said it was blessing their journey.