Shi Feizhe transmigrated into a brutal world of martial chaos in Yiyang City, only to find himself an orphan living in a dilapidated house and slaving away as a helper at a medical clinic for a meager twenty wen per month. Two months before his new life began, the Yellow Heaven had descended upon the city from the sky, a golden three-story pavilion rose from the City Lord's Mansion, and the Sun family seized control. The ensuing battles between the Yellow Heaven and the former lord left countless dead and plunged the city into daily gang warfare among the Four Directions Gang, the Live Slaughter Gang, and the Blood Wolf Gang. From the arms of a corpse, Shi Feizhe retrieved a martial arts manual, the "True Origin Sword Finger Formula," but only its first half was legible. Desperate to change his fate, he resolved to practice the technique despite knowing nothing about meridians, acupoints, or the specialized terminology it contained. He worked at the clinic not only to survive but also to learn the locations of key acupoints by watching the doctors and talking to wounded gang members. He also discovered that he had misread many characters in the manual due to poor handwriting, after misinterpreting clinic scrolls and realizing the manual's text might be similarly distorted. After a month of brutal physical labor and nightly training, he finally felt a thread of true qi generate in his dantian while standing in the sword stance described in the manual, convinced that steady cultivation could open his Ren and Du meridians and achieve the minor realm of "Endless True Qi, Transforming Qi into Sword."One night as he practiced in his courtyard, the burly Four Directions Gang member Liu San appeared, snatched the manual, and mocked it as a worthless fake that had failed for decades. He revealed that only those with abundant qi and blood could cultivate true qi, calling Shi Feizhe a skinny beanpole unworthy of internal power. Liu San had come to kill Shi Feizhe because his elder brother, injured in gang conflicts, was displeased with the boy's work at the clinic. Without warning, Liu San struck, and Shi Feizhe took two heavy blows that nearly killed him. As Liu San grabbed his throat to finish him, Shi Feizhe, half-conscious, raised his right ring finger and instinctively channeled the wisp of true qi along the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao meridian, releasing a faint sword qi that pierced Liu San's throat. The attacker died in disbelief. Shi Feizhe recovered at dawn, searched the corpse, found a few silver taels, and recognized the square Four Directions Gang tattoo on the arm. He immediately realized he could not stay in the city, as the gang's retaliation would be swift. He packed his few belongings, bought an old umbrella, dry food, and a water gourd, then headed south toward Qiuyang City, vowing to train until he reached minor success and then return to wipe out the gang.Traveling alone, he walked during the day and lodged at inns, but one evening he miscalculated and was forced to sleep in the wilderness near the main road. He built a fire and resumed his standing meditation practice under the moonlight, circulating true qi through the Ren meridian. As the moon reached its zenith, a strikingly dressed man named Hua Xiaomei appeared from the darkness, wearing an embroidered white brocade robe with a large cloak and carrying a folding fan. He commented that he too had practiced that same sword stance in his youth. Before their conversation could continue, a woman in flowing white robes with a veiled face suddenly materialized near the bonfire. In a cold, pleasant voice she invited both men to her abode to shelter from the cold, but her eyes were fixed on them like prey. Hua Xiaomei immediately recognized her as a demoness of the Celestial Maiden Sect, a peculiar sect that only accepted female disciples. He explained that the sect's secret manual, the "Form and Formlessness Seven Treasures Lapis Lazuli Sutra," originally from the Cinnabar Monastery, was written by a monk using dense Buddhist terminology and metaphors. A woman who obtained the manual did not understand these terms and forcefully cultivated it, went mad, and founded the sect. Hua Xiaomei identified this demoness as having just entered the Transcendence Realm, making her extremely dangerous. He refused her offer with a gesture and a wave of his fan, and the woman retreated into the night without a word. Hua Xiaomei then elaborated on the perils of martial arts inheritance in the Nine Provinces: secret manuals often contained personal dialects, ambiguous words, and metaphors, and without a master's oral instruction, practitioners risked misunderstanding and madness. Shi Feizhe, who had already stumbled onto the True Origin Sword Finger Formula without any guidance, felt a chill of fear but also an iron resolve. He had already died once and refused to be cut down like grass. He would cling to this one thread of power, no matter how dangerous, and fight to survive in a world where even the most basic knowledge of martial arts could get a man killed for the smallest offense. His journey south continued, his only possessions the manual, a few coppers, and the faint true qi now circulating in his dantian, while ahead lay the unknown dangers of the jianghu and his burning goal of vengeance against the Four Directions Gang.
