Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou was summoned to Weiyang Palace, where the new emperor confronted him about spreading rumors. Zhang Xuezhou declared his loyalty and asked to leave his exhausting military post, and the emperor offered him a scholar awaiting imperial summons position at the Golden Horse Gate if he passed an examination.

• A young eunuch escorted Zhang Xuezhou to Weiyang Palace after the new emperor summoned him.
• The new emperor rebuked Zhang Xuezhou for his conduct, but Zhang claimed he had been wronged and complained that his Gongche Sima commandant post wasted his talents.
• Zhang Xuezhou boasted of his abilities and declared his loyalty to the new emperor, easing the emperor's anger.
• The new emperor questioned Zhang Xuezhou's health, and Zhang insisted he could endure a civil post despite his ailments.
• The new emperor offered Zhang Xuezhou a scholar awaiting imperial summons post at the Golden Horse Gate, provided he answered one examination question correctly.

The new emperor questioned Zhang Xuezhou about how Qin Er Shi could use the Snake-Slaying Sword, and Zhang proposed passing off a fake as the real blade. The emperor accepted the plan and appointed Zhang as a scholar-in-attendance at the Golden Horse Gate, while Zhang realized the emperor had briefly considered killing him to protect the secret.

• The new emperor asked Zhang Xuezhou how Qin Er Shi could use the Snake-Slaying Sword if he could not wield it.
• Zhang suggested that Qin Er Shi use a fake sword and make people believe it was genuine.
• The new emperor accepted Zhang's answer, appointed him a scholar-in-attendance at the Golden Horse Gate, and planned to claim that his ancestor had granted him Crimson Firmament.
• The new emperor briefly considered killing Zhang for knowing the truth, but abandoned the thought because it could invite scrutiny.
• The new emperor invited Zhang to dine with him, but Zhang declined and left with his appointment decree.

Zhang Xuezhou took up his new post as a scholar-in-waiting at the deserted Golden Horse Gate and decided that waiting there suited his condition and plans to cultivate the Fortune Technique near the emperor. Back at Zheng Wukong’s pharmacy, he agreed to read the fate of Chunyu Tiying’s disciple Yi Shuo, while warning them that his Physiognomy Technique carried serious consequences.

• Zhang Xuezhou handed over his duties to Du Rui, collected winter clothes for Song Dongjia and the others, and reported to the Golden Horse Gate.
• Zhang Xuezhou learned that he was the court’s only scholar-in-waiting and accepted that he would wait for an imperial summons while focusing on cultivating the Fortune Technique near the emperor.
• Chunyu Tiying felt frustrated that she had completed no tasks at the pharmacy while Zhang Xuezhou had changed posts successfully.
• Chunyu Tiying introduced her disciple Yi Shuo and asked Zhang Xuezhou to read her fate.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to read Yi Shuo’s fate but warned that helping people avoid disaster could bring calamity upon him.

Zhang Xuezhou caught Yi Shuo sneaking into his residence to investigate his Green Rock Wooden Staff, and learned that her purple-gold gourd could sense it. Yi Shuo revealed that she believed the gourd was connected to her parents’ deaths, and the two objects began reacting to each other.

• Zhang Xuezhou discussed the Evasion Techniques and the Nine Revolutions Harmonizing Qi Technique with Chunyu Tiying and Zheng Wukong until late at night.
• Yi Shuo climbed into Zhang Xuezhou’s residence in the second watch, and Zhang Xuezhou caught her and pressed her to explain why she had come.
• Yi Shuo admitted she had entered to look at Zhang Xuezhou’s walking stick, which she suspected was a magic staff.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed a purple-gold gourd beneath Yi Shuo’s robes and demanded to know why she had brought it.
• Yi Shuo explained that her father had sent her the gourd before her parents died, and that she had come to Chang’an City to investigate their deaths and the gourd’s connection to them.
• Yi Shuo said the gourd sensed Zhang Xuezhou’s Green Rock Wooden Staff, and when he drew it, the gourd wobbled toward the staff.

Zhang Xuezhou used the Green Rock Wooden Staff to restore Yi Shuo’s shrinking purple-gold gourd, then learned it could dissolve objects and leave behind transformed remnants. Yi Shuo had begun testing the gourd’s abilities, and Zhang Xuezhou examined the results.

• Zhang Xuezhou hung Yi Shuo’s gourd on the Green Rock Wooden Staff, causing it to grow back to its former size, but he could not discover its purpose.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned the gourd to Yi Shuo, who left by vaulting over the wall, while he and Rong Tianding discussed martial arts and their plans for spring.
• Yi Shuo returned and told Zhang Xuezhou that the gourd dissolved snow, cloth, and banliang coins.
• Zhang Xuezhou turned the gourd upside down and found that Yi Shuo’s banliang coin had become a small lump of iron.
• Yi Shuo explained that her experiments also turned angelica root into medicinal juice and left soil, wood, cloth, and roof tiles as black dregs.

Zhang Xuezhou and Yi Shuo used her gourd and his wooden staff to turn all their Grain Avoidance Powder into a powerful pill, while Rong Tianding discovered their Spirit Jade had been replaced by a gray stone. Zhang Xuezhou realized the gourd had drawn the Spirit Jade out of the earth and absorbed its power, leaving him unsure whether the result was worth the loss.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Yi Shuo tested the gourd with his wooden staff until their Grain Avoidance Powder became a Grain Avoidance Pill that could last over a month.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned the gourd to Yi Shuo and considered how its ability might help improve other medicines.
• Yi Shuo left, and Rong Tianding began his morning cultivation before discovering that their Spirit Jade had been replaced by a gray stone.
• Zhang Xuezhou examined the stone and Grain Avoidance Pill, recognized their similar scents, and concluded that the gourd had drawn the Spirit Jade out of the earth and taken its power.

Zhang Xuezhou learned how the Green Rock Wooden Staff and Purple-Gold Gourd interacted with Spirit Jade, then turned to studying medicine as a way to deepen his mastery of Evasion Techniques. The chapter left him preparing to connect the Medical School’s acupoint theory to his fused acupoints and expand his abilities.

• Zhang Xuezhou realized the Purple-Gold Gourd needed the Green Rock Wooden Staff to draw from Spirit Jade, and that the staff could find Spirit Jade underground.
• Rong Tianding blamed Yi Shuo for the damaged Spirit Jade, fought her, and ended up lying in the snow after she left for the Imperial Medical Hall.
• Zhang Xuezhou reassured Zheng Wukong that Rong Tianding could be treated, then invited him and Chunyu Tiying to continue their discussion.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed using Rong Tianding to study needling the One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints, and Rong Tianding agreed despite protesting.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized that learning Medical School and Suspended Gourd Sect principles could help him integrate more Evasion Techniques into his fused acupoints.

Zhang Xuezhou explained the Grain Avoidance Instruction and the One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints to Yi Shuo, testing whether her exceptional memory and acupuncture knowledge made her gifted at cultivation. Yi Shuo kept pace late into the night, and Zhang Xuezhou continued teaching her while using the lesson to reinforce his own understanding.

• Zhang Xuezhou decided to focus on organizing the One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints and arranged to continue studying with Zheng Wukong and the others.
• After Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying left, Yi Shuo asked Zhang Xuezhou to teach her other techniques and said she had memorized her teacher's medical teachings and the Pulse Classic's acupoints.
• Zhang Xuezhou challenged Yi Shuo to learn the Grain Avoidance Instruction and connect acupoints, while Rong Tianding listened in.
• Zhang Xuezhou taught the sequence of acupoints, but Rong Tianding fell asleep after struggling to follow the lesson.
• Yi Shuo remained alert and said she could still remember the material, so Zhang Xuezhou continued with another five thousand acupoints.

Yi Shuo explained how she used the Suspended Needle Method to organize and cultivate nearly ten thousand acupoints in a day. Her method helped Zhang Xuezhou see a way to simplify Evasion Technique cultivation, while Rong Tianding reached the beginner stage limit of 2,725 acupoints.

• Zhang Xuezhou praised Yi Shuo’s cultivation speed and learned that she wanted to avoid spending time on food by mastering the Grain Avoidance Instruction.
• Yi Shuo explained that she divided acupoints into numerical ranges and used the Suspended Needle Method to guide her cultivation through small and large cycles.
• Yi Shuo demonstrated the method by inserting her single silver needle into Rong Tianding and explaining how the marked points organized the acupoints into cycles.
• Zhang Xuezhou recognized that Yi Shuo’s approach could simplify low-level Evasion Technique cultivation and considered having her practice the Poison Avoidance Art.
• Rong Tianding followed Yi Shuo’s guidance and advanced to 2,725 acupoints, the limit of his beginner stage.

Zhang Xuezhou left the Zheng residence after Yi Shuo confirmed the patients had survived, then returned to his study to prepare for his return to reality. Medical Officer Zhao Rui examined him and found him apparently healthy, but Zhang soon slumped over his desk with barely detectable breathing and a pulse.

• Yi Shuo explained that the Hanging Gourd Sect's Turtle Breathing Technique slowed bodily functions and injury progression, and Chunyu Tiying reassured everyone that Zheng Wukong would survive.
• Zhang Xuezhou urged Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying to stop arguing and said their research would be easier after reaching the Sole Self Realm.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding left the Zheng residence, and Zhang told Rong that remembering the pain of needling could help him advance his Evasion Technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to his study to reinforce his memories, and Medical Officer Zhao Rui arrived to examine him.
• Medical Officer Zhao Rui found Zhang Xuezhou in excellent health, but Rong Tianding said Zhang had been staying awake to study; soon afterward, Zhang slumped over his desk with faint breathing and a barely detectable pulse.

After recovering, Zhang Xuezhou began organizing knowledge about acupoints and planned a digital model of the Digital Poison Avoidance Art. He caught up on delayed messages, declined to commit to Tuer Kalanduo’s dangerous request, and joined Song Fengying’s livestream after realizing she had found data he deleted.

• Zhang Xuezhou left his convalescent bed, checked in with Zhang Manqian, and began reviewing materials to model the acupoints and the Digital Poison Avoidance Art.
• Zhang Xuezhou received seven-day-old messages from Tuer Kalanduo about her becoming chief, new Soul Jade discoveries, and a deadly acid-spitting worm; he replied that he would help when he had time.
• Zhang Xuezhou read messages from Wang Li, Ren Anran, Wang Haoran, and others, then replied to them.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw Song Fengying invite him to her livestream and suspected she had discovered that he deleted Such a Big Chicken’s data.
• Zhang Xuezhou watched Song Fengying lead a dance livestream and tipped her 10,000 yuan while posting, “Xuanxuan, I love you.”

Song Fengying questioned Zhang Xuezhou about the giant Ferocious Beast bird video and wanted to use the creature as livestream content. Zhang Xuezhou accepted her offer of sixty million and promised to help her and his father advance through the Gene Sequences, while introducing her to the Poison Avoidance Art.

• Song Fengying showed Zhang Xuezhou the unedited video of the giant Ferocious Beast bird and asked where it came from.
• Zhang Xuezhou confirmed that the bird existed and warned Song Fengying that it was too dangerous to approach for a livestream.
• Song Fengying became interested in advancing through the Gene Sequences so she could improve her livestream content.
• Song Fengying offered Zhang Xuezhou sixty million, and he accepted while promising supplies to help her and his father advance.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Song Fengying would receive injections and practice Flying Sheep Wall Running, then introduced her to the Poison Avoidance Art.

Zhang Xuezhou explained the Poison Avoidance Art to Song Fengying and gave her materials to study, while Song Fengying planned to use unusual abilities to boost her livestream. They exchanged a large cash transfer for cultivation materials, and the chapter ended with Song Fengying complaining about Alliance Freight as Zhang Xuezhou offered to report its staff.

• Zhang Xuezhou explained that the Poison Avoidance Art required a realm as its foundation and gave Song Fengying a diagram and digital materials to study.
• Song Fengying became excited about using the nine Evasion Techniques to attract viewers, while Zhang Xuezhou warned her that they were difficult and often replaceable with tools.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Fengying exchanged gifts: he received sixty million, and she received Poison Avoidance Art materials and human-body model files.
• Song Fengying told Zhang Xuezhou she was dancing at Heavenly Firmament Square in Wula City while traveling with her husband, and asked him to send beauty and health-preservation paste in ten batches.
• Song Fengying complained that Alliance Freight damaged or lost many of her factory's viewers, and Zhang Xuezhou offered to help report the responsible workers to their boss.

Zhang Xuezhou’s complaint about missing packages exposed theft and other failures inside Alliance Freight, which Li Yingbo controlled. Seeing how the freight network might help break local monopolies, Li Yingbo offered his brother Li Biming a division of the Li Household’s interests, with Li Biming taking ocean shipping and Li Yingbo taking domestic freight.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Li Yingbo that customers’ packages had disappeared while being shipped through Alliance Freight.
• Li Yingbo examined Song Fengying’s tracking list and realized Alliance Freight had serious internal problems that the Li Household had overlooked.
• Li Yingbo recognized that direct nationwide sales using Alliance Freight could help bypass regional wholesalers and weaken local monopolies.
• Li Yingbo called Li Biming and proposed dividing their interests, with one brother handling affairs abroad and the other at home.
• Li Biming and Li Yingbo agreed to divide the Li Household’s assets, with Li Biming taking ocean shipping and Li Yingbo taking Alliance Freight.

Li Yingbo visited Zhang Xuezhou to compensate him for Alliance Freight’s shipping problems and propose using Song Fengying’s nationwide sales as a model for expanding the freight business. Zhang Xuezhou referred Li Yingbo to Song Fengying so they could discuss a trial directly.

• Five days after Zhang Xuezhou lodged a complaint, Li Yingbo visited him at the North Rehe Research Center and handed him a ten-million check as compensation.
• Li Yingbo explained that he wanted sellers to use Alliance Freight and make goods available across the Alliance States.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Li Yingbo that Song Fengying sold visual devices through livestreams, taking payment before shipping the goods.
• Li Yingbo considered how Song Fengying’s sales method could be replicated and asked whether she had tried selling other products.
• Zhang Xuezhou declined to decide for his mother and introduced Li Yingbo to Song Fengying, who Li Yingbo agreed to meet.

Zhang Xuezhou connected Song Fengying with Alliance Freight chief director Li Yingbo, who offered compensation for her shipping losses and proposed working with her to expand livestream commerce. Song Fengying recognized that Li Yingbo’s plans could provide the support her struggling business needed, though she knew he might have partnered with someone else if she had not prepared the groundwork.

• Zhang Xuezhou brought Song Fengying into a private livestream with Li Yingbo, who showed his Alliance Freight badge and seal to prove his identity.
• Song Fengying verified Li Yingbo’s ten-million check and accepted it as compensation for part of her family’s freight losses.
• Song Fengying told Li Yingbo that Alliance Freight had lost at least fifteen thousand visual devices, causing more than twenty million in raw-material losses.
• Li Yingbo explained that he wanted to overhaul Alliance Freight by recruiting hundreds of thousands of workers and greatly increasing shipments.
• Li Yingbo discussed selling a wide range of products through livestreams, and Song Fengying recognized the opportunity to support her own plans.

Li Yingbo and Zhang Xuezhou assembled investors for a new online shopping platform, with Song Fengying warning about the challenges of attracting merchants and customers. Zhang Xuezhou joined the project to stir up conflict and public debate, distracting attention from Sinkhole No. 2 and the Zhang Household’s plans.

• Song Fengying recognized that she could not stop Li Yingbo from launching a shopping platform and decided to get involved at the right moment.
• Zhang Xuezhou recruited more than ten investors, then Li Yingbo enlisted Sequence Committee members and formed a broad alliance of backers.
• Li Yingbo added Zhang Xuezhou to the shareholders’ group and asked how long their nearly five hundred million in funding might last.
• Song Fengying and Zhang Xuezhou discussed the need for diverse products and the difficulty of persuading merchants across the country to register.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw the platform and its public controversies as ways to distract attention from Sinkhole No. 2 while the Zhang Household advanced its plans.
• Zhang Xuezhou joined Li Yingbo’s chat group, Alliance No. 9, becoming an accomplice to people who had investigated the Zhang Household.

Li Yingbo launched Alliance No. 9 as a shopping platform funded by equal one-percent stakes from participating Lineages. After explaining its plan to connect trusted online promoters and Alliance Freight so customers could buy directly from factories, he left the shareholders considering the investment and its risks.

• Li Yingbo announced that Alliance No. 9 shareholders needed to contribute funds and explained that shares were split equally among Lineages.
• Zuo Jin criticized Li Yingbo’s approach, and Li Yingbo removed him from the group chat.
• Li Yingbo described how online sales and Alliance Freight could help products circulate nationally and let customers buy directly from factories.
• Zhou Yueyan agreed to invest, while Changkong Yinghao asked how the platform would attract customers.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Alliance No. 9 would recruit large numbers of commission-based salespeople, and Li Yingbo revealed that forty-seven shareholders had been added to avoid divisions between partners.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed Alliance No. 9 and online commerce with Song Fengying, then turned back to his delayed laboratory work. He obtained Zhou Yueyan’s agreement to supply B13 Laboratory with culture media, while learning more about Luo Burang’s troubled research career.

• Song Fengying said Alliance No. 9’s potential to bring affordable products to ordinary people could usher in the internet age, and Zhang Xuezhou cautioned her not to over-promote Western Capital City goods.
• Zhang Xuezhou reviewed the popularity of the “Such a Big Chicken” videos and noted that rumors and imitations were spreading online.
• Zhang Xuezhou contacted Zhou Yueyan to request culture media for B13 Laboratory, and she realized Luo Burang had prepared the detailed supply list.
• Zhou Yueyan described Luo Burang as a gifted but difficult researcher whose work had fallen behind, and Zhang Xuezhou suggested his restricted funds had limited his experiments.
• Zhou Yueyan agreed to sell Zhang Xuezhou sixty types of culture media, totaling four hundred portions, at a discount.

Zhang Xuezhou and Luo Burang discussed their research plans, Luo Burang’s unusually strong memory, and his painful history with the Luo Household. The conversation ended with Luo Burang renewing his promise to take Zhang Xuezhou to see Luo Zhong’s living head if his relatives needed his longevity research.

• Zhang Xuezhou confirmed that he and Luo Burang would begin work on culture medium after ordering exotic beasts from Professor Zhu Liangping.
• Luo Burang explained how his research could improve culture-medium production and told Zhang Xuezhou where to find egrets suited to his genes.
• Luo Burang recounted how an electric shock and his grandfather’s treatment left him with an unusually vivid memory and lasting resentment toward his family.
• Luo Burang told Zhang Xuezhou that the Luo Household had exiled him after his gene conflict, while Luo Gaogao had been the only one to seek his rescue.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked whether Professor Luo Hui might be conducting longevity experiments on living humans, and Luo Burang said his relatives might eventually need his help.
• Luo Burang promised that if his relatives came to him for help, he would take Zhang Xuezhou to see Luo Zhong’s head.