This chapter opens with a soliloquy by the taoist, in which he defends his plan to use the dead body of a beggar to resurrect the life of someone else. He argues that this method has been around for thousands of years, and that it is more useful than the traditional method of cultivating an elixir. He also argues that the people he is using are beggars, since they do not have the means to create value. He then sends a message to his wife, asking her to send him his son's birthdate. She does not believe him, since she remembers his birthday incorrectly. He tells her that he will go back to find out what happened, and then he will tell her immediately.