You Tanzhi rescues the Xingxiu Sect and becomes Ding Chunqiu’s disciple

You Tanzhi rescues the Xingxiu Sect and becomes Ding Chunqiu’s disciple through a chain of reversals: he drives away the snakes holding the sect’s disciples captive, receives their praise only to watch them redirect it to Ding Chunqiu, and then survives the danger of Ding’s poisonous martial arts. Ding makes him a disciple not out of benevolence, but because he sees in You Tanzhi a rare body from which he hopes to learn and ultimately extract power.

The trapped disciples and the fire

You Tanzhi encounters the Xingxiu Sect’s disciples immobilized by pythons. Their predicament has also left Ding Chunqiu, their leader, unable to act. Seeing the danger and deciding to leave, You Tanzhi initially has no intention of getting involved. The disciples, however, notice his iron mask and appeal to him for help, promising increasingly extravagant rewards. Their flattery briefly makes him feel like the heroic figure they describe, though fear of provoking the snakes quickly brings him back to caution.

Rather than approach the pythons, You Tanzhi gathers dry twigs and leaves, builds a large fire, and throws a burning branch toward the nearest snake while keeping himself ready to flee. The attempt works: the pythons recoil from the fire, release the people they have trapped, and retreat into the bushes. You Tanzhi continues throwing burning twigs until the many snakes and large pythons have left the area. His rescue depends on practical improvisation, not a display of martial skill.

Praise redirected to Ding Chunqiu

The disciples respond to their release by praising Ding Chunqiu, crediting him with wisdom and foresight while making no mention of You Tanzhi’s actions. The reversal stings: moments earlier they had called You a hero and a chivalrous man, but once safe they shift their admiration to their master. You Tanzhi is left wondering why the praise has vanished and why the person who freed them has been forgotten.

Ding Chunqiu summons him and asks him to check whether several Beggar Society members are still breathing. You Tanzhi reports that they are dead and, at Ding’s direction, examines them one by one. Ding’s comment that You’s resistance to poison is formidable exposes the danger he has just faced: the Beggar Society members were victims of poison, and handling them should have put You Tanzhi at risk. Yet he remains unharmed. The narrative connects this unexpected immunity to his recent practice of the [Tendon-Changing Sutra] and the frost silkworm poison that has become integrated into his body.

Ding Chunqiu tests and recruits him

Ding Chunqiu notices You Tanzhi’s unusual physical strength after seeing him throw a disciple aside. He initially judges You’s martial arts to be unexceptional, but the force of his body seems extraordinary. Ding presses You down until he cannot rise, asks who taught him, then attacks with his Great Energy Dissolving Skill, a technique that uses poison to injure an opponent’s meridians and make internal energy seem to disappear.

You Tanzhi is driven back several steps and falls, but Ding’s poison does not disable his meridians or prevent him from exerting internal energy. Ding recognizes that You possesses powerful, unusually cold energy as well as resistance to poison. Although You appears to have lost the exchange, his body has withstood what Ding expected to be a decisive attack. Ding therefore sees him as a valuable subject of investigation rather than simply an opponent to kill.

Ding presses a hand to You Tanzhi’s iron-covered head and makes his survival conditional on becoming a disciple. You agrees. His decision is rooted in fear and self-preservation: after the hardships inflicted on him, he has little confidence that refusal or defiance would improve his prospects. He tells Ding he will obey the sect’s rules and even claims he is willing to die for his master, though he privately reasons that he would try to escape if that demand became real.

A partial account and a concealed source

Ding asks You Tanzhi to explain his history and the poison in his body. You says that he was a farm boy, captured during a Liao raid and fitted with an iron mask. He tells Ding that he encountered and stole the frost silkworm, and claims that it bit him by accident before freezing his body; in his account, the silkworm then died. He does not tell Ding about A'Zi or her use of him in training her poison palm.

He also keeps silent about the book containing unusual diagrams, suspecting that Ding would seize it rather than return it. This omission matters because Ding attributes You Tanzhi’s cold internal energy to the frost silkworm’s effects and does not know of the [Tendon-Changing Sutra] practice behind his development. Ding instead becomes preoccupied with locating more frost silkworms. He reasons that if one came from the Kunlun Mountains, others may be there, and decides that HuiJing, who captured the silkworm, could guide him to them. He orders You Tanzhi to complete the formal rites of discipleship.

A new allegiance, built on unequal knowledge

Ding’s other disciples respond to his special attention to You Tanzhi with more praise, while Ding acts as though he has forgotten their earlier betrayal and criticism. You follows behind his new master as the group travels northeast. He admires Ding’s light steps and appearance, interpreting his own place in the group as good fortune, even though Ding’s interest is driven by the hope of discovering how You acquired his abilities and extracting the poison from his body.

The episode thus makes You Tanzhi’s rescue both a compassionate act and the means by which he enters a dangerous new relationship. The disciples’ quick transfer of credit reveals the instability of their praise, while Ding’s recruitment turns You’s unexplained survival into an instrument of his ambition. You becomes Ding’s disciple, but their bond begins with concealed knowledge and sharply unequal purposes: You seeks safety, whereas Ding sees a rare opportunity to investigate and exploit.