Chapter Summaries

After Zhang Xuezhou’s treatment helped Zhou Rihui heal some injuries and identify weaknesses in his body, Zhou Rihui urged Zhou Yueyan to seek treatment too. Zhang Xuezhou had already left for Qinmeng, leaving the siblings to wonder when he would return and whether they should follow him.

• Zhou Rihui praised Zhang Xuezhou’s treatment and explained how it had helped him understand his injuries and prepare for advancing his Sequence.
• Zhou Yueyan agreed to contact Zhang Xuezhou about treating her old injuries, but learned that he had gone abroad to Qinmeng.
• Zhou Rihui called Zhang Manqian and discovered that Zhang Xuezhou had left without finishing his treatment.
• Zhou Yueyan worried about seeking treatment while Zhou Rihui complained that his care had been interrupted.
• Zhou Rihui decided to go to Qinmeng for treatment, and Zhou Yueyan considered going there too.

Zuo Jin and Zuo Quan’s feud over a lost item entrusted by Zuo Lianguang escalated into a family brawl and nearly ended in a deadly duel. The Sequence Committee intervened and gave the Zuo Household ten years to prove it could produce Sixth Sequence members, or lose its rights and property.

• Zuo Jin and Zuo Quan fought after accusing each other of causing the loss of the item Zuo Lianguang had entrusted to Zuo Jin.
• Zuo Teng joined the fight on Zuo Quan’s side, while Zuo Denggao failed to help Zuo Jin, and the brawl continued until Zuo Jin’s wife called for help.
• Zuo Quan demanded a fight to the death, and Zuo Teng threatened Zuo Denggao, who reached for a remote control linked to a cannon aimed at the control room.
• Changkong Yinglian stopped Zuo Denggao and found the remote, while Zhu Liangping and Changkong Yinghao warned that the Zuo Household might be forced out of Western Capital City.
• Zuo Teng and Zuo Denggao each vowed to reach the Sixth Sequence within ten years or surrender the Zuo Household’s property, and Zuo Jin and Zuo Quan agreed to the terms.

Luo Gaogao urged Zhu Kuang to improve his Sequence and keep pace with the rising younger generation, while recovering from the injuries he sustained in the Sequence Contest. Zhu Kuang realized that borrowing Zhang Manqian’s Ferocious Beast belt was not just about saving time, but about staying on the team that could shape his future.

• Zhu Kuang questioned why Luo Gaogao had risked his life for the Sequence Contest rewards, and Luo Gaogao explained that he needed the resources to advance.
• Luo Gaogao reflected on the few young fighters he believed could surpass their peers and warned Zhu Kuang that privileged people would lose their advantage as others gained access to gene technology.
• Luo Gaogao urged Zhu Kuang to advance through the Sequences, acquire blood serums, and borrow Zhang Manqian’s Ferocious Beast belt to get ahead.
• Zhu Kuang initially doubted that renting the belt was worth the cost, but he reconsidered after realizing that falling behind could cost him his place on the younger generation’s strongest team.

Zhang Manqian recovered from the shipwreck and demonstrated how much stronger she had become when she defeated Zhu Kuang. At the North Rehe Research Institute, Zuo Teng and Zuo Denggao competed to borrow Zhang Xuezhou's Ferocious Beast belt, leaving Zhang Manqian to decide whose offer deserved priority.

• Zhu Kuang asked Zhang Manqian why Zhang Xuezhou had returned from Qinmeng and then left on another trip so soon, and she explained that she was recovering from their brutal journey back from the Thousand Islands Alliance.
• Zhu Kuang tested Zhang Manqian's strength, and she knocked him down with an elbow despite insisting she was still weak.
• Zhu Kuang asked whether Zhang Manqian could beat Luo Gaogao, Zhou Tianhao, or Zuo Teng, and she said each was beyond her current ability.
• Zuo Denggao and Zuo Teng contacted Zhang Manqian to borrow Zhang Xuezhou's Ferocious Beast belt and repeatedly raised their offers of blood serum and other prizes.
• Zuo Denggao apologized for their past conflict and offered five doses of high-grade swift leopard blood serum, while Zuo Teng added a Ferocious Beast product to his bid.

Zhang Manqian struggled to choose between Zuo Teng and Zuo Denggao’s offers for the chance to use the Ferocious Beast belt, as the Zuo brothers raced to advance their Sequences. After accepting Zuo Denggao’s blood agents, she invited Zuo Teng to spar while he waited for his turn.

• Zuo Teng and Zuo Denggao competed to persuade Zhang Manqian to let them use the Ferocious Beast belt first, offering blood agents and Ferocious Beast products.
• Zhang Manqian said Zhang Xuezhou had already received a feather from Ning Que, weakening Zuo Teng’s offer, and Zuo Denggao took the lead with his blood agents.
• Zuo Teng angrily punched the air and taunted Zuo Denggao, who had secured the belt first.
• Zhang Manqian invited Zuo Teng to spar while he waited for his turn, and he accepted.
• Zuo Teng and Zuo Denggao entered the institute after Zhang Manqian agreed to the deal.

Zhang Xuezhou learned how Ren Anran and the others survived their shipwreck and discussed cultivation with her during their airbus ride. Inspired by her ideas and insight, he resolved to invest in talented people who could innovate techniques for him to learn.

• Ren Anran told Zhang Xuezhou how she, Zhang Manqian, and the others struggled to survive the shipwreck while carrying his unconscious body.
• Zhang Xuezhou offered to teach Ren Anran the Water Avoidance Instruction and explained that he had cultivated ten One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints Techniques.
• Ren Anran suggested infusing mental abilities into the acupoints, prompting Zhang Xuezhou to consider testing the idea despite its difficulties.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Anran discussed the Fortune Technique, including why emperors' dynasties could fall despite their good fortune.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected on Ren Anran, Ning Que, and Yi Shuo's ability to innovate and decided to support capable people so he could learn from their advances.

Zhang Xuezhou searched Shouchun for Dong Zhongshu and found Jin Chang instead, who believed Zhang's damaged Heaven and Earth Bridges limited his cultivation. Jin Chang offered to help Zhang fuse Yin-Yang School techniques, hoping to secure Zhang's dependence and obtain a missing technique.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke at a courier-station lodging in Shouchun and learned that Dong Zhongshu's whereabouts were unknown.
• Zhang Xuezhou went to Lei Bei's courtyard and encountered Jin Chang, who told him Lei Bei had moved near the Literary Excellence Pavilion.
• Jin Chang questioned Zhang Xuezhou about his damaged Heaven and Earth Bridges and concluded that Zhang could not reach the Sole Self Realm by ordinary means.
• Jin Chang advised Zhang to enter the Divine Ability Realm and fuse Yin-Yang School techniques to try to restore the bridges.
• Jin Chang offered to teach Zhang how to fuse the Nine Heavens Incantation and the Nine People Incantation, intending to make Zhang rely on him for further cultivation.

Jin Chang offered to guide Zhang Xuezhou in fusing the Yin and Yang branches’ Realm Techniques, while hiding his plan to make Zhang Xuezhou dependent on him. Zhang Xuezhou accepted, hoping the training might help him overcome his damaged Heaven and Earth Bridges and stalled cultivation.

• Jin Chang insisted that he could help Zhang Xuezhou with his damaged head and encouraged him to stay and study rather than seek out Dong Zhongshu.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked about the danger of imbalance between the Yin and Yang Realm Techniques, and Jin Chang realized that this imbalance had caused his own cultivation to decline.
• Jin Chang promised to provide Zhang Xuezhou with cultivation pills and claimed that fusing the two branches’ techniques could quickly restore his cultivation and bring him to the Divine Ability Realm.
• After confirming that Zhang Xuezhou’s Heaven and Earth Bridges were damaged, Jin Chang urged him to study under his guidance and break through his limits.
• Zhang Xuezhou accepted Jin Chang’s help, while Jin Chang privately intended to make him rely on Yin-Yang fusion and eventually seek the Nine Heavens Sect’s technique.

Jin Chang's attempt to help Zhang Xuezhou cultivate the Yin Yang Great Joy Nine People Incantation failed despite spending dozens of pills, leaving him searching for another way to advance. After learning Zou Bugui lived in Zhu Jiuyin's secret land, Jin Chang abandoned the idea of reaching him and decided to investigate the Yin-Yang Sacred Land himself.

• Jin Chang watched Zhang Xuezhou cultivate for seven days, but Zhang made no progress with the Yin Yang Great Joy Nine People Incantation.
• Jin Chang grew furious over the pills he had spent and despaired that Zhang Xuezhou's body could not cultivate the technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou urged Jin Chang to take him to the Yin-Yang Sacred Land, where abundant Spiritual Qi might help him advance.
• Jin Chang asked about Zou Bugui, and Zhang Xuezhou revealed that his foster father lived in Zhu Jiuyin's secret land beneath a lake in the Xieluosi River Holy Land.
• Zhang Xuezhou described the guarded entrance and Zhu Jiuyin's enormous demon body, convincing Jin Chang that he could not reach Zou Bugui.
• Jin Chang decided to search for the Yin-Yang Sacred Land alone and said he would bring Zhang Xuezhou along only after checking its dangers.

Zhang Xuezhou’s cultivation remained stalled despite Jin Chang’s efforts, while a file Zhang Cigong uncovered linked Jin Chang’s old investigation to 326 human seeds. Zhang Xuezhou and his companions rode to North Mountain to investigate the King of Huainan’s medicine-making grounds, where he sent his Yang Corporeal Soul toward the mountains.

• Jin Chang left to search for the Yin-Yang Sacred Land, and Zhang Xuezhou considered whether the two Yin-Yang School techniques could help him break through to the Divine Ability Realm.
• Zhang Cigong told Zhang Xuezhou that Jin Chang had sought life-prolonging medicine for the King of Huainan and that a report mentioned 326 human seeds.
• Zhang Xuezhou learned that the human seeds might have been cultivated as medicinal ingredients and decided to investigate Five Trees Mountain with Zhang Cigong and Rong Tianding.
• Guards stopped the group near North Mountain, so Zhang Xuezhou sat in a hollow and sent his Yang Corporeal Soul out to scout.
• Zhang Cigong learned that Zhang Xuezhou had reached the Divine Ability Realm and that Rong Tianding was only at the Meridian Circulation Realm.

Zhang Xuezhou sent his strengthened Yang Corporeal Soul to Five Trees Mountain and disguised himself as Holy Mother Wudang to speak with Li Shang, a senior alchemist. He asked about the Life-Creating Fortune Pill and ended the discussion by claiming its missing final ingredient was “human medicine.”

• Zhang Xuezhou’s Yang Corporeal Soul traveled to Five Trees Mountain and surveyed its alchemists and medicinal gardens.
• Li Shang detected Zhang Xuezhou and invited him to discuss alchemy, so Zhang Xuezhou adopted a woman’s voice and called himself Wudang of Mount Li.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Li Shang discussed their pill-making specialties, and Zhang Xuezhou asked about the Life-Creating Fortune Pill.
• Li Shang shared the ingredients and method for his Holy Blood Pill, then asked Zhang Xuezhou to explain the Life-Creating Fortune Pill.
• Zhang Xuezhou named nine ingredients from a ten-ingredient formula and said the final ingredient was “human medicine,” leaving Li Shang puzzled.

Li Shang sought ingredients to reproduce Zhang Xuezhou’s Life-Creating Fortune Pill and sent a medicine slave to Purple Gold Mountain for a human medicine. Zhang Xuezhou followed the slave and discovered that the women imprisoned there were from his own Zhang Household Village.

• Li Shang warned Zhang Xuezhou that human medicine could mean using a person as medicine, then wondered whether the Life-Creating Fortune Pill required a medicinal ginseng or a human being.
• Li Shang decided to test the pill formula and ordered a medicine slave to ask Zuo Wu on Purple Gold Mountain for a young human medicine with clean Qi and Blood.
• Zhang Xuezhou followed the medicine slave to Purple Gold Mountain and watched him enter an enclosure where women were kept.
• The medicine slave tried to seize a young woman, but she fought back, and the guards arrived to help him overpower the women.
• A washerwoman cried out for her daughter Zhang Jiangang, and Zhang Xuezhou recognized the women as people from his former Zhang Household Village.

Zhang Xuezhou found his father and other villagers from Zhang Household Village being held on Purple Gold Mountain, then freed Zhang Jiangang after she was taken captive. He began guiding her toward an escape route, knowing that Li Shang might soon discover the medicine people were missing.

• Zhang Xuezhou entered Purple Gold Mountain with his Yang Corporeal Soul and found Zhang Zhong working at a furnace.
• Zhang Xuezhou followed Zhang Jiangang after a falling rock knocked the medicine slave unconscious and freed her from her hemp bonds.
• Zhang Jiangang told Zhang Xuezhou that more than a hundred villagers might be on Purple Gold Mountain, though she could not give an exact count.
• Zhang Xuezhou hid the medicine slave in a ditch and told Zhang Jiangang to follow his directions out of North Mountain.
• Zhang Xuezhou dispersed his solid body and warned Zhang Jiangang not to look back as he began guiding her through patrol blind spots.

After rescuing Zhang Jiangang from North Mountain, Zhang Xuezhou learned that the people of Zhang Household Village were being kept as ingredients for alchemy and planned to attack Li Shang to buy time for a larger rescue. He and his companions arranged for the villagers to flee toward Chang'an, then Zhang Xuezhou set out under cover of night with Five-Step Bewitching Smoke.

• Zhang Xuezhou escorted Zhang Jiangang away from North Mountain and reunited her with Zhang Cigong and Rong Tianding.
• Zhang Xuezhou told his companions that the people of Zhang Household Village were being treated as medicinal ingredients and could soon be used to refine pills.
• Zhang Xuezhou rejected seeking help from the imperial court and planned to sneak up on Li Shang after nightfall to delay the alchemy.
• Rong Tianding and Zhang Cigong discussed how to feed, transport, and shelter the villagers, and they chose the area outside Chang'an as their destination.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Rong Tianding he could manage on his own, manifested his Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation, and leaped into the night carrying Five-Step Bewitching Smoke.

Zhang Xuezhou watched Li Shang and Zuo Wu prepare to refine a human-medicine pill at Five Trees Mountain while waiting for a chance to act. When urgent bells rang from Shouchun City, both men abandoned the preparations and rushed down the mountain.

• Zhang Xuezhou used his Yang Corporeal Soul to enter Five Trees Mountain while Zhang Cigong left to seek horses for the village’s escape.
• Rong Tianding kept watch with Zhang Jiangang as they waited for Zhang Xuezhou’s return.
• Li Shang prepared to refine the Life-Creating Fortune Pill with a captive, while Zuo Wu stayed to watch despite Li Shang’s protests.
• Zhang Xuezhou observed Li Shang and Zuo Wu from hiding and waited for an opening.
• Bells rang urgently from Shouchun City, and Li Shang and Zuo Wu grabbed their weapons and raced down the mountain.

Zhang Xuezhou rescued Zhang Houtu from being used as human medicine on Five Trees Mountain and sent him toward Purple Gold Mountain to help the villagers escape. He then flew off to rescue more people, while Zhang Houtu set out with a medicine slave’s disguise and Five-Step Bewitching Smoke.

• Zhang Xuezhou knocked out the two medicine slaves guarding the cauldron and recognized Zhang Houtu among the bound captives.
• Zhang Xuezhou woke Zhang Houtu, learned that Lady Yourong was on Xiashi Mountain, and explained that he planned to take villagers from Purple Gold Mountain.
• Zhang Xuezhou disguised Zhang Houtu in a medicine slave’s clothes, gave him an identity token and Five-Step Bewitching Smoke, and told him to head toward Purple Gold Mountain.
• Zhang Xuezhou flew toward Purple Gold Mountain, while Zhang Houtu watched him go and hurried down the mountain to escape.

Zhang Xuezhou used Sleepy Bugs to incapacitate the guards at Purple Gold Mountain and began leading Zhang Household Village in an escape. With the villagers gathered and armed, they prepared to follow him out while Zhang Xuezhou planned to search for Lady Yourong and the others afterward.

• Zhang Xuezhou remembered the Drowsiness Technique and turned flying insects into Sleepy Bugs, then summoned the golden insect from afar.
• Zhang Xuezhou sent the Sleepy Bugs to the guardhouse, putting all sixteen guards and four hunting dogs to sleep.
• Zhang Xuezhou found Zhang Zhong and urged him to wake the villagers and prepare to escape immediately.
• Zhang Zhong rallied the village patriarch and clan elders, and the villagers gathered with weapons in hand.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the villagers that Gangniu was already out and the second elder was approaching, then led them toward the escape route while promising to search for Lady Yourong and the others.