Chapter Summaries

Ren Anran treated Zhang Manqian’s mental trauma and confirmed that X432 Repair Technology could help her recover, while Zhang Xuezhou persuaded Professor Luo Hui to pay for it. The treatment began, but Ren Anran estimated it would take one to three years, leaving Luo Hui to accept the long recovery after considering the danger Zhang Manqian had survived.

• Ren Anran asked Luo Hui and Song Fengying to leave the medical room, then used the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique to calm Zhang Manqian.
• Ren Anran told Zhang Xuezhou that Zhang Manqian’s brain region had suffered serious damage, and Zhang Xuezhou proposed X432 Repair Technology.
• Zhang Xuezhou persuaded Luo Hui to provide Zhang Manqian with the high-end treatment, and Luo Hui agreed to pay for it.
• Zhang Manqian recalled the terrifying figure whose intimidation had caused her trauma, then Ren Anran’s technique helped her regain her composure.
• Luo Gaogao asked whether the Tiger and Crane Blood Agent had affected Zhang Manqian’s ability to feel pain, but Luo Hui could not explain her condition.
• Ren Anran assessed that Zhang Manqian’s treatment would take one to three years, and Luo Hui accepted the cost after remembering the danger she had survived.

Professor Luo Hui abandoned Zhang Manqian as a teammate for Luo Gaogao and decided to build up Ding Hao instead, while Zhang Xuezhou regretted that Luo Hui had rejected his costly treatment proposal. Later, Zhang Xuezhou wondered why Professor Luo Hui’s laboratory might contain a living human head and what significance it held.

• Professor Luo Hui gave up on recruiting Zhang Manqian because she could not safely join Luo Gaogao’s team in time for the Sequencer Grand Gathering.
• Luo Hui recommended Ding Hao, whose familiarity with land-dwelling genetic specialties made him a potential teammate who could hold off Zhou Tianhao.
• Zhang Xuezhou regretted that Luo Hui had rejected his demand for monthly X432 Repair Technology treatments for Zhang Manqian, while Ren Anran called the price excessive.
• In a surveillance blind spot, Zhang Xuezhou asked Ren Anran whether a human could survive as only a head, and she said it would be impossible without the body’s blood supply.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that if Professor Luo Hui’s laboratory had a special head, its importance likely came from what it represented rather than its survival or abilities.

Zhang Xuezhou learned that Song Fengying’s parkour-like Flying Sheep Wall Running could help attract viewers to Flying Entertainment Livestream, while he considered how to improve her cultivation and support Zhang Manqian’s recovery. The chapter left him planning to use his growing connection with Professor Luo Hui to obtain X432 Repair Technology, while Zhang Manqian’s hospitalization remained under his control.

• Song Fengying demonstrated Flying Sheep Wall Running, leaping over a railing and climbing back up from an underground garage entrance.
• Song Fengying told Zhang Xuezhou that Wang Li’s friends, who had impressive martial arts, had begun performing on livestreams and attracted new users.
• Zhang Xuezhou noted that Song Fengying had made little progress in the Mental Strengthening Chapter and the Realm Cultivation Technique, and considered relying on X432 Repair Technology to help her.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered how X432 Repair Technology could strengthen Zhang Manqian’s mental defenses and possibly address the Zhang family’s brain-related symptoms.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected that Zhang Manqian’s connection had entangled him with Professor Luo Hui, from whom he hoped to obtain X432 Repair Technology within three years.
• Zhang Xuezhou acknowledged that Zhang Manqian could be discharged or kept hospitalized as he chose, and that he could prolong her apparent symptoms if he did not tell her to stop.

Zhang Xuezhou investigated the laboratory accident that injured Zhang Manqian and learned that the specimen jar had likely been replaced. While discussing the Sequencer Grand Gathering with Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang, he revealed he had registered as a captain and was short on teammates, then gained an invitation to the Scions' Back Garden.

• Professor Luo Hui let Zhang Xuezhou inspect the laboratory where Zhang Manqian had been electrocuted, while Ding Hao celebrated confirmation that he could have his fighting genes changed early.
• Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang suspected Zhang Xuezhou might be a better teammate than Zhang Manqian and approached him while he examined the specimen display.
• Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang explained that brittle jars could break and cause electrical leaks, but Zhang Xuezhou concluded that the head Zhang Manqian touched had probably already been replaced.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang that he had registered as a captain and had few, if any, teammates, so he might not compete in the Sequencer Grand Gathering.
• Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang recommended Zhang Xuezhou for the Scions' Back Garden, giving him access to the young Lineage scions of Western Capital City.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed his marksmanship and an unfamiliar specimen head with Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang, while Luo Gaogao prepared to spar with his team’s new recruit, Ding Hao. In secret, Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui confronted the still-living head of Emperor Luo Zhong about the secret of immortality, and Luo Tianming hesitated when the emperor offered to share it.

• Zhang Xuezhou chatted with Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang, asked them about the replaced specimen head, and asked Zhu Kuang to contact him if he recognized it.
• Professor Luo Hui urged Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang to get to know Ding Hao, who was slated to receive the Black Tortoise gene, and Luo Gaogao took the team to spar without Gene Fighting Techniques.
• Professor Luo Hui met his father, Luo Tianming, in a locked laboratory, where they discussed the emperor’s secret of immortality and the head in the culture pool.
• Luo Tianming demanded that Luo Zhong trade the secret of immortality for his life, and Luo Zhong claimed that immortality required great mental strength.
• Luo Tianming activated the emergency switch, but Luo Zhong then offered to make him immortal by having their heads connected, leaving Luo Tianming wavering.

After Zhang Manqian completed X432 treatment, she concealed how well she had recovered while discussing its benefits and high cost with Zhang Xuezhou and Song Fengying. The family resolved to earn and save more for future treatments, and Zhang Xuezhou received an inquiry from Professor Luo Hui.

• Zhang Xuezhou waited for Zhang Manqian's X432 treatment to finish, then helped her leave the recuperation center with Song Fengying after her examinations.
• Zhang Manqian dropped her weak act once they were away from the center and told Zhang Xuezhou she had advanced to the middle-to-late stage of the third Mental Strengthening Chapter.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that X432 cost millions because its research and production were difficult, and Song Fengying decided the family needed to earn more money.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested Song Fengying and Zhang Weimeng use mental training and martial arts to avoid expensive treatment, prompting Song Fengying to scold Zhang Weimeng.
• Zhang Xuezhou received an inquiry from Professor Luo Hui.

Professor Luo Hui and Luo Tianming sought Zhang Xuezhou’s help learning about mental longevity and the Mental Strengthening Chapter. Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly directed them to Ren Yisheng, leaving Luo Tianming to consider whether he had to join Ren Yisheng in detention to study the subject.

• Professor Luo Hui contacted Zhang Xuezhou after learning Zhang Manqian had left the hospital, hoping to learn about Ren Yisheng’s research into mental longevity.
• Luo Hui explained that Luo Zhong’s words about eternal life had convinced them that great mental strength was essential, and that Zhang Xuezhou might know the basics of Ren Yisheng’s studies.
• Zhang Xuezhou dodged Luo Hui’s questions with talk about loneliness and women, so Luo Tianming took over the communicator and asked about mental longevity.
• Zhang Xuezhou enthusiastically welcomed Luo Tianming’s interest but repeatedly urged him to speak with Ren Yisheng directly.
• Luo Tianming objected that Ren Yisheng was detained and difficult to reach, while Zhang Xuezhou suggested getting into the detention facility would be easy for him.
• Luo Tianming wondered whether he would have to join Ren Yisheng to access the research he wanted.

The Zhang Household discussed buying a home in Western Capital City as Zhang Weimeng’s notorious online feuds made his novels unexpectedly popular and profitable. The chapter left him alarmed after a reader claimed to have practiced the Sunflower Manual and begun hallucinating.

• News spread through the Scions' Back Garden that Luo Tianming had applied to move into Twilight Mansion, surprising Zhang Xuezhou.
• Song Fengying and Zhang Weimeng decided the family should buy a house near Professor Ren’s so Ren Anran could help them if their symptoms returned.
• Zhang Weimeng explained that his online arguments as Dongfang Shuo and Plagiarizing Jin Yong had made both of his novels famous and multiplied his income.
• Zhang Weimeng discovered a reader asking whether the Sunflower Manual was an evil art after practicing it and experiencing hallucinations.

Zhang Xuezhou arranged for Zhang Manqian to train at Jishi Medical Center and reflected on the cultivation and support they would need before the Sequencer Grand Gathering. While practicing Crane Soaring, he discovered that the blood agent had improved his control, and Zhang Manqian realized his specialized technique might already be developing into a distinctive trait.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Zhang Weimeng to keep in touch with Dongfang Sheng and provide occasional instruction after the reader reached Realm Entry.
• Zhang Manqian decided to check herself into Jishi Medical Center, where she could train with Ren Anran and prepare for the Sequencer Grand Gathering.
• Zhang Xuezhou arranged for Zhang Manqian to move to Twilight Mansion after Song Xianzhong and the others were relocated there.
• Zhang Xuezhou practiced Crane Soaring and found that the blood agent let him control his backward flight more precisely.
• Zhang Manqian watched Zhang Xuezhou train and concluded that his specialized Crane Soaring might be a distinctive trait, prompting her to consider what focus her own cultivation should take.

Zhang Xuezhou continued traveling with Dong Zhongshu and Zhao Liang’s merchant caravan, using Grain Avoidance Powder to endure his periodic unconsciousness. After Dong Zhongshu taught him the Qi Recognition Technique, the caravan reached a welcoming village and found lodging at Tongfu Inn.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke in the carriage, learned the caravan was still approaching Ba Commandery, and joined Dong Zhongshu outside.
• Dong Zhongshu taught Zhang Xuezhou the Yin Yang Nine Heavens Sect’s Qi Recognition Technique as they took a smaller path toward a village.
• Zhao Liang explained that using his Qi and Blood worsened the pain from the two sources of Law Power inside him.
• Zhang Debiao returned from the village with news that an inn could house the caravan and provide food and baths.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the others entered the village and found Tongfu Inn among the warmly welcoming villagers.

After the group stopped at Tongfu Inn, Dong Zhongshu discovered that their food had been poisoned and warned Zhang Xuezhou that the inn was a den of thieves. As villagers entered their room to carry them away, Dong Zhongshu recognized Zhang Xuezhou’s remarkable perception and resistance to the poison.

• Zhang Xuezhou and the others ate at Tongfu Inn, where a coachman complained that the taro had made his mouth numb.
• Unable to sleep, Zhang Xuezhou pestered Dong Zhongshu until Dong Zhongshu detected poison in their food and warned that they might be in danger.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned why the innkeepers would poison strangers, and Dong Zhongshu told him to stay quiet while he listened for clues.
• Zhang Xuezhou imitated several voices discussing Chang Smoke Poison, a Great King, and plans to smoke or store the captives’ limbs.
• Dong Zhongshu used a spell to identify the speakers as the three gamblers and realized Zhang Xuezhou had keen hearing and seemed unaffected by the poison.
• Villagers quietly entered the occupied rooms and ordered their companions to carry away Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu.

Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu were taken to a village controlled by a tiger demon, where villagers turned travelers into Chang ghosts. Xu Ji of the Agricultural Sect tried to stop the demon, and Dong Zhongshu fought it off, but some of its smoke escaped into the night.

• Villagers carried Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu to the tiger demon, whose aged voice demanded two missing wisps of Chang Smoke from the three middle-aged men.
• Xu Ji of the Agricultural Sect arrived to challenge the tiger demon, but the villagers overpowered him and the youth with him.
• Dong Zhongshu used his Law Treasure fan to free Xu Ji, then dispersed the six martial artists who emerged from the tiger demon's gray smoke.
• The tiger demon attacked with Xu Ji's demon-expelling staff, but Dong Zhongshu dodged its blows and drew the demon outside while it knocked down more than twenty villagers.
• Dong Zhongshu cut the staff in two and struck the tiger demon with his sword, forcing it to escape as gray smoke; some of the smoke got away, and Xu Ji warned it could not have fled far.

Dong Zhongshu and Xu Ji realized that the tiger demon could hide among villagers by using the Chang Ghost Technique, while the demon’s frightened villagers gathered to attack them. As the crowd broke into the ancestral hall, Xu Ji prepared a spell and the group braced for a fight.

• Dong Zhongshu and Xu Ji discussed how the tiger demon could possess villagers and evade detection.
• Villagers armed with farming tools and bows approached the ancestral hall, and one shot an arrow into Xu Ji’s chest as he tried to explain the demon’s crimes.
• Xu Ji urged restraint toward the villagers, while Xu Yuan questioned why they should be spared after helping the tiger demon harm travelers.
• Dong Zhongshu ordered Zhang Xuezhou to stop Xu Ji’s bleeding and asked Xu Ji to wake capable fighters from the caravan.
• Xu Ji prepared the Purple-Gold Vine spell as the villagers broke the ancestral hall’s door bar and rushed inside.

Dong Zhongshu fought through the villagers and confronted the tiger demon, which had been coercing the village into cooperating. He cut apart the demon’s body, but its broken core released a tiger-headed ghost that escaped into the darkness as the villagers screamed.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu fled and fought through the villagers, while Zhang Debiao struggled to restrain them without killing them.
• Dong Zhongshu escaped the ancestral hall and argued with an old woman, who accused the authorities of abandoning the village to the tiger demon.
• Dong Zhongshu ran toward the village outskirts, where the tiger demon attacked him in the form of the old woman.
• Dong Zhongshu countered with his sword and Law Treasure fan, cutting the tiger demon into pieces with a wind blade.
• The tiger demon’s Chang ghosts were drawn into its red demon core, which cracked and released a little tiger-headed ghost that fled into the darkness.

Dong Zhongshu and Zhang Xuezhou struggled to contain the tiger demon’s Yin Soul as villagers and members of the merchant group began becoming Chang Ghosts. Just as Dong Zhongshu weighed two grim ways to stop the demon, Zhang Xuezhou’s tracking technique revealed a powerful presence near the shrine.

• Dong Zhongshu returned to find villagers dying as the tiger demon’s Yin Soul created Chang Ghosts, and he warned those familiar with the demon to hide in water.
• Zhang Xuezhou fought off villagers at the ancestral hall while Dong Zhongshu explained that the tiger demon could grow stronger by devouring Chang Ghosts.
• Dong Zhongshu urged Xu Ji to drive Chang Smoke from the merchant group, and Xu Ji’s drizzle slowed the ghosts’ emergence and helped Zhao Liang wake.
• Dong Zhongshu, Zhang Xuezhou, and Xu Ji discussed how to stop the tiger demon, while Xu Yuan criticized the Great Han court for wiping out the Shijiao School.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s Yin Entity Tracking Technique detected twenty-three ghosts and pointed toward the Buddhist shrine, which shone with the presence of a powerful ghost.

Zhang Xuezhou tracked the tiger demon’s yin entity, and Xu Ji gave Dong Zhongshu a Shijiao School scroll containing the Southern Brightness Fire Technique. Dong Zhongshu used the technique to burn the tiger demon to death, but the fight left several members of the merchant group dead; Zhang Xuezhou then found a tiger pelt covered in ancient writing and drawings.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the Yin Entity Tracking Technique to locate the tiger demon while Dong Zhongshu confirmed that it had returned and was producing more Chang ghosts.
• Xu Yuan asked why the Chang ghosts had not possessed people to kill them, and Xu Ji explained that the tiger demon had already used its power to make the villagers attack.
• Xu Ji gave Dong Zhongshu a Shijiao School scroll containing the Southern Brightness Fire Technique, which was especially effective against yin entities.
• Dong Zhongshu learned the technique and burned the tiger-headed ghost until the tiger demon disappeared, while its Chang ghosts tried to protect it and attack the group.
• The group found that several people had died, and Dong Zhongshu worried that the deaths would bring trouble during his journey to seek treatment from General Li Guang.
• Zhang Xuezhou searched the ancestral hall and brought Dong Zhongshu a tiger pelt marked with ancient writing and crude drawings.

After the tiger demon’s defeat, Zhang Xuezhou kept watch while talking with the troubled Xu Yuan about agriculture’s power to change society. Their conversation left Xu Yuan considering high-yield crops, while Zhang Xuezhou learned that Xu Yuan cultivated medicinal herbs he needed for the Spirit-Forging Pill.

• Zhang Xuezhou collected the tiger skin and stored it, while Dong Zhongshu and the others envied his storage pouch.
• Dong Zhongshu reassured the merchant group that Zhang Xuezhou could stay awake as their lookout, and the group left the ancestral hall for the inn.
• While Zhang Xuezhou cultivated through the night, Xu Yuan voiced his despair about the Agricultural Sect, the court, and society.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed with Xu Yuan’s concerns and argued that plentiful food could prevent war and even keep dangerous demons from attacking people.
• Xu Yuan realized that agriculture could transform the world and began considering ways to cultivate high-yield grain.
• Xu Yuan named medicinal herbs he cultivated, and Zhang Xuezhou recognized that several were ingredients he needed for the Spirit-Forging Pill.

Zhang Xuezhou revealed that he was a cultivator and pill refiner from the Nine Heavens Sect, then persuaded Xu Yuan of the Agricultural Sect to cooperate with him. They agreed to meet within two years, leaving Zhang with a promising connection for sourcing medicinal ingredients and refining pills.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Xu Yuan he belonged to the Nine Heavens Sect and demonstrated his Three-Day Grain Avoidance Powder.
• Xu Yuan realized the powder could be valuable on long journeys and praised its usefulness, while Zhang reflected on how much he already had.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed refining pills with Agricultural Sect cultivators and sharing the results, and told Xu Yuan how to find him in Chang'an City.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Xu Yuan agreed to meet within two years and sealed their promise by striking palms.
• Xu Yuan left encouraged by the prospect of helping the common people through the Agricultural Sect, while Zhang hoped he would introduce more cultivators for future cooperation.

After surviving the tiger demon, the caravan mourned its dead and debated whether to travel by minor roads or the main road to the Northern Border Military Region. Zhao Liang chose the main road, but sixteen days after leaving Ba Commandery the caravan encountered trouble again.

• The caravan members recovered from the attack, gathered their belongings, and loaded the dead drivers onto the wagons.
• Dong Zhongshu reflected on his misfortune and on Xu Yuan’s new willingness to meet Zhang Xuezhou in Chang'an City.
• Xu Ji and Xu Yuan said farewell, and the caravan departed as the villagers watched in fear and gratitude.
• Zhao Liang asked whether the caravan should take minor roads to arrive sooner or the main road to travel more slowly, and Zhang Xuezhou refused to decide for them.
• Zhao Liang chose the main road, and the caravan encountered trouble after traveling for sixteen days from Ba Commandery.

Zhao Liang’s merchant party encountered water bandits while traveling downriver, and Dong Zhongshu recognized their leader as Su Fang, the sect master of the Beast Taming Sect. The bandits threatened the boat, leaving the party facing a dangerous confrontation.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu discussed the Yin-Yang School’s cultivation techniques and the flaws that may have caused the school’s decline.
• The boat struck a violent obstruction, and the party discovered sharpened bamboo poles blocking the river and armed men approaching on rafts.
• Zhao Liang identified the party as official merchants from Shu Commandery City, but the bandits reacted by demanding that they be killed.
• Dong Zhongshu emerged from the cabin and recognized the bandit leader as Iron-Backed Gray Ape, Su Fang.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked whether Su Fang was a yao, and Dong Zhongshu explained that he was human and the sect master of the Beast Taming Sect.