Chapter Summaries

Si Ming and Murong Qing traveled toward the forbidden zone, reaching Central Peak after a day’s trek and camping there for the night. As they sat together in the tent, the quiet and close quarters created an intimate atmosphere.

• A man from the Mohist Knight Guard lent Si Ming and Murong Qing a Lümi-drawn sled, supplies, and a map for their journey into the forbidden zone.
• Si Ming shot several scattered demonic beasts along the way, while the Lümi eventually refused to go any farther and the pair continued on foot.
• Si Ming launched a high-altitude surveillance aircraft and used its images to locate the forbidden zone, whose four peaks formed a distinctive pattern.
• Si Ming and Murong Qing reached the foot of Central Peak at dusk, pitched a tent, and warmed canned food for dinner.
• After dinner, Si Ming and Murong Qing sat in silence as their close quarters made the atmosphere between them feel intimate.

Si Ming and Murong Qing emerged from their tent after a roar stirred violent impulses and a stampede of beasts raced toward three peaks. The chapter then shifted to Water Mirror Manor, where Si Jingyue gave birth to twin girls, securing her standing as the clan leader’s successor.

• Murong Qing tried to cultivate while Si Ming watched her, but she could not focus and asked him to stop staring.
• A nearby roar filled Si Ming and Murong Qing with murderous thoughts, and Si Ming used his Blazing Sun True Qi to help them resist it.
• Si Ming and Murong Qing saw countless beastly shapes rushing through the darkness toward three peaks and sensed dense Yao Qi.
• At Water Mirror Manor, Si Jingyue went into labor while rival factions awaited the child’s sex, which would affect her standing in the clan.
• The physician announced that Si Jingyue’s first baby was a girl, then revealed that she had delivered twins.

Si Jingyue gave birth to boy-and-girl twins, and the girl displayed the rare Supreme Yin Guanghan Dao Physique while the boy showed no special talent. Si Jingzhi agreed to send the boy away from Water Mirror Manor, then secretly ordered Huiyan to cripple his meridians to protect the girl’s future.

• Si Jingzhi learned that Si Jingyue had given birth to a boy and a girl, then had the elders test both babies’ talents with the Jade Mirror.
• The Jade Mirror revealed that the girl possessed the Supreme Yin Guanghan Dao Physique, while the boy had no innate physique or special bloodline.
• Si Jingzhi ordered the boy sent to the Ant-Nurturing House, but Si Jingyue pleaded for him to be raised outside Water Mirror Manor, and Si Jingzhi agreed.
• Si Jingzhi told Huiyan that she intended to clear every obstacle from the girl’s path and ordered her to prick the boy with a Withered Meridian Needle.
• Huiyan accepted the needle but questioned why Si Jingzhi was so wary of a child with no apparent talent.

Si Ming, a transmigrated former teacher raised apart from his twin sister, entertained the girls of Water Mirror Manor with stories while concealing his martial abilities. After spotting Si Jingyu watching him, he continued to suspect that the clan was monitoring his supposed severed meridians.

• Si Jingzhi ordered Huiyan to keep the truth about Si Ming from his mother and use Si Huamu to confine the child, fearing that men might challenge Water Mirror Manor's traditions.
• Si Ming told the girls an enhanced version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes and promised to continue the story in three days.
• The girls discussed Si Ming's stories as they left, and he spotted his twin sister, Si Jingyu, peeking at him from behind the garden wall.
• Si Ming reflected that the clan kept him apart from Si Jingyu and examined him every three days to check whether his meridians remained severed.
• Si Ming continued hiding his martial talent, presenting himself as a gifted storyteller instead.

Si Ming visited his sister Si Jingyu, then traveled by yacht with Si Huaruo, who eagerly talked about her martial arts lessons and upcoming birthday. The chapter ended with their yacht reaching shore.

• Si Ming called goodbye to Si Jingyu, who secretly waved back before returning to her lessons.
• Si Ming met Si Huaruo at the ferry landing, where she complained that he had kept her waiting.
• Si Huaruo told Si Ming she had learned the final introductory martial art and reminded him that her birthday was in three days.
• Si Ming promised to prepare a birthday present, and Uncle Gu teased Si Huaruo about damaging his flowers when she was disappointed.
• Uncle Gu piloted the True Qi-powered yacht, which soon reached the shore.

Si Ming secretly mastered the Cup Bow Snake Shadow Dance after hearing it described once, revealing his extraordinary ability to learn martial arts and complete the introductory section of the Water Moon Precious Mirror. He hid his progress from the household staff and defended his friendship with Si Huaruo, while Fang Qin warned him that their families' political rivalry made the friendship risky.

• Si Ming returned to his separate residence after promising Si Huaruo he would remember her birthday in three days.
• Si Ming practiced the Cup Bow Snake Shadow Dance and mastered it in a few run-throughs, exposing the secret of his martial talent to the reader.
• Si Ming reviewed fragments of the Water Moon Precious Mirror, completed its introductory section, and felt his body grow firmer and more flexible.
• Fang Qin noticed Si Ming was unusually hungry, but he blamed it on playing with Si Huaruo and mentioned her birthday to divert her attention.
• Fang Qin warned Si Ming against getting close to Si Huaruo because the First and Second Manor Lords were rivals, but Si Ming insisted their conflict was not the children's concern.

Si Ming resolved to escape the Si Clan and pursue a life beyond the cage that kept him from practicing martial arts. In class, he demonstrated his knowledge of history, endured a classmate’s resentment, and considered the limits of fame as an escape route.

• Si Ming reflected on his severed meridians, committed himself to finding a way to change his fate, and decided to wait for an opportunity to leave the Si Clan.
• Master Zheng questioned Si Qi about the industrial revolution, and Si Qi gave the wrong answer and was struck with a ruler.
• Si Ming accurately explained the first industrial revolution and the later Mohist-led martial arts revolution, earning Master Zheng’s praise.
• A student muttered that Si Ming was a cripple, so Master Zheng knocked him down and ordered him to hold a horse stance outside.
• Master Zheng told the class that other paths could lead to success and cited novelist Qu Dongping, while Si Ming judged becoming famous through novels too slow and unsafe for his escape.

Si Ming ignored Si Chao’s taunts until Si Huaruo defended him and defeated Si Chao in a fight. When Si Chao mocked her yellow hair, Si Ming took the upset Si Huaruo away, but she remained convinced that everyone found her hair ugly.

• After Master Zheng left, Si Qi tripped Si Ming, but Si Ming told them not to do it again and walked away from Si Chao’s taunts.
• Si Chao tried to grab Si Ming, and Si Huaruo struck his wrist with a pencil and stood up for Brother Ming.
• Si Huaruo rebuked Si Chao, winning the other children’s support, then dodged his attack and sent him flying with Jade Wave Palm.
• Si Chao mocked Si Huaruo’s yellow hair, making her tearful, so Si Ming took her outside.
• Si Huaruo asked whether her hair was ugly and feared Si Ming would hate her, but he reassured her and told her to come with him.

Si Ming encouraged Si Huaruo to accept her golden hair before Uncle Gu told them that Water Mirror Manor had been locked down after a Mohist guest arrived. At Donglai Pavilion, Yan Jinghong warned the Si Clan that the injured Eight Asura Sin Lord was near, and the clan arranged for Yan to stay by the lake as they prepared to search for him.

• Si Ming pushed Si Huaruo into the lake, praised her shimmering golden hair, and persuaded her not to cut it.
• Uncle Gu found Si Ming and Si Huaruo and told them Water Mirror Manor was under lockdown after a Mohist guest arrived.
• Yan Jinghong told the Si Clan that he had tracked the injured Yuwen Dongliu, the Eight Asura Sin Lord, to Yuanming Town near the manor.
• Si Huamu blamed the Mohist School for bringing danger to Water Mirror Manor, and Si Jingzhi rebuked her.
• Si Jingyue offered to help search for Yuwen Dongliu and asked Yan Jinghong to stay in a residence across Weiyang Lake; Yan agreed.

Si Ming decided to approach Yan Jinghong, a Mohist School Spirit Transformation expert, as a way to escape the Si Clan, then began copying Yan’s Hundred Birds Frolics with astonishing speed. Yan watched the child’s rapid improvement and recognized the rare Hundred Birds Spiritual Sounds, leaving him stunned by Si Ming’s apparent talent.

• Si Ming heard that Yan Jinghong was staying at Water Mirror Manor to hunt the Eight Asura Sin Lord and decided to seek the Mohist expert’s protection despite the risk of a trap.
• Yan Jinghong practiced Hundred Birds Frolics in the guest courtyard, and Si Ming watched from the wall before falling back into his own courtyard.
• Yan Jinghong heard someone next door practicing Hundred Birds Frolics and initially assumed the child had only memorized the routine.
• Si Ming’s skill improved dramatically across successive rounds, prompting Yan Jinghong to climb a tree and observe him directly.
• Yan Jinghong saw Si Ming perform the routine with astonishingly polished movements and heard the birdcalls of Hundred Birds Spiritual Sounds emerge from his bones.

Yan Jinghong discovered Si Ming’s extraordinary talent for learning martial arts and considered recruiting him for the Mohist School. Si Ming revealed that he had deliberately attracted Yan Jinghong’s attention as the first step in his escape plan.

• Yan Jinghong saw Si Ming perform Hundred Birds Frolics with startling talent and offered to teach him martial arts.
• Yan Jinghong demonstrated several martial arts, and Si Ming quickly mastered each one he could practice without internal power.
• Yan Jinghong inferred that the Si Clan’s restrictions had hidden Si Ming’s talent and decided to ask the Great Yi Institute to investigate him.
• Yan Jinghong warned Si Ming to keep their lessons secret, then left the courtyard.
• Si Ming revealed that he had staged the encounter to make Yan Jinghong want to recruit him, and planned to deepen their interactions until he could leave with him.

The Eight Asura Sin Lord abducted Si Jingyu, forcing Water Mirror Manor to find a way to rescue her before he killed her. Yan Jinghong proposed using Si Ming as a substitute hostage, and Si Ming agreed despite Si Jingyue’s objections.

• The Eight Asura Sin Lord infiltrated Water Mirror Manor, seized Si Jingyu, and demanded that he be allowed to leave within half a day.
• Si Jingxi berated Si Yuetan and the other clan members, then explained that she and Yan Jinghong could not safely rescue Si Jingyu by force.
• Yan Jinghong arrived with Si Ming and proposed the plan of letting one sibling take the other’s place.
• Si Jingyue objected, but Si Ming realized she had been trying to protect him and volunteered to risk his life for Si Jingyu.
• Si Jingxi accepted Si Ming’s offer and promised to grant him a wish if he returned safely, while Si Jingyue accused Yan Jinghong of using a child as bait.

Si Ming agreed to impersonate Si Jingyu to help rescue her from Yuwen Dongliu, while Yan Jinghong and Si Jingxi confronted the kidnapper. Their apparent attempt to attack Si Jingyu concealed a trap, and Yuwen Dongliu was blinded by the Dazzling Bomb as the chapter ended.

• Si Jingxi approved the plan for Si Ming to disguise himself as Si Jingyu, and Yan Jinghong promised to protect him with hidden weapons.
• Yuwen Dongliu cooked pheasants with his hostage, Si Jingyu, who calmly vowed to kill him in fifteen years.
• Yan Jinghong and Si Jingxi found Yuwen Dongliu, and Si Jingxi offered to accept his terms while Yan Jinghong served as guarantor.
• Yan Jinghong appeared to attack Si Jingyu, prompting Si Jingxi to strike his back and break open her cane.
• A Dazzling Bomb hidden inside the cane flashed, blinding Yuwen Dongliu and leaving his mind blank for a moment.

Yuwen Dongliu defeated Yan Jinghong after revealing that his Sin Punishment Divine Art had advanced, while Si Ming exposed the hostage switch and the Si Clan elder’s refusal to help. Yuwen then challenged Si Ming to resent the Si Clan’s customs, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Yuwen Dongliu fought off the ambush, but Si Ming revealed that the apparent Si Jingyu was a decoy and that the real Si Jingyu had been rescued.
• Yan Jinghong attacked Yuwen Dongliu, who used the decoy as a shield before Si Ming struck him with hidden needles.
• Yuwen Dongliu wounded Yan Jinghong and revealed that his Sin Punishment Divine Art had broken through after a month of desperate pursuit.
• Si Ming recognized that Si Jingxi had withheld a warning because she feared being asked to fight alongside Yan Jinghong.
• Yuwen Dongliu condemned the great clans and asked Si Ming whether he resented the Si Clan’s treatment of men.

Si Ming watched Yan Jinghong use the Mohist Academy of Science’s Heaven-Soaring Armor to overwhelm Yuwen Dongliu, but Yuwen crippled the armor’s wings and turned the fight into a final gamble. The chapter ended with Yuwen gathering sand and stones into a massive meteorite while his pressure pinned Si Ming to the ground.

• Yuwen Dongliu offered to spare Si Ming and teach him his martial arts, but Si Ming refused and claimed Yan Jinghong as his master.
• Yan Jinghong expelled Yuwen’s Sinful Punishment True Qi and activated the Mohist Academy of Science’s Heaven-Soaring Armor.
• Yan Jinghong used the armor’s speed and flight to wound Yuwen Dongliu and force him onto the defensive.
• Yuwen Dongliu let Yan Jinghong run him through, trapped the sword in his body, and struck at Yan’s heart with the Marrow-Extracting Spirit-Tormenting Claw.
• Yan Jinghong’s defensive barrier blocked the attack, but Yuwen destroyed the armor’s wings and restored his advantage.
• Yuwen Dongliu broke the sword, gathered his power, and formed a massive meteorite from sand and stones, flattening Si Ming with his pressure.

Yan Jinghong defeated Yuwen Dongliu by piercing his meteorite attack with the Yin-Yang Spiral Piercing Kill Cannon, while Si Ming rescued Si Huaruo from the ensuing devastation. After the battle, Si Huaruo revealed that she knew Si Ming longed to leave and see the world outside.

• Yan Jinghong prepared his Certain-Kill Edict Circuit as Yuwen Dongliu unleashed Sin Star Descends in a Calamitous Year.
• Yan Jinghong fired the Yin-Yang Spiral Piercing Kill Cannon, pierced the meteorite, and struck Yuwen Dongliu through the chest.
• Si Ming rushed through the chaos to rescue Si Huaruo and shielded her behind the sword case as meteorite fragments and the aftershock battered the area.
• Si Ming and Si Huaruo survived the storm, though a fragment wounded Si Ming, and Yan Jinghong explained the limits of his armor and cannon.
• Yan Jinghong went to confirm Yuwen Dongliu's death while Si Huaruo bandaged Si Ming and said she knew he wanted to see the world outside.

Si Ming said farewell to Si Huaruo and left Water Mirror Manor with Yan Jinghong, having decided that his debt to the Si Clan was repaid. A parallel-world branch then showed him staying at the manor, preparing for his engagement to Si Huaruo and finding success as a celebrated writer and artist.

• Si Ming gave Si Huaruo winding arm gold and promised to return after he had escaped the cage of Water Mirror Manor.
• Yan Jinghong returned after failing to catch the wounded fugitive, and Si Ming said he had repaid his debts to the Si Clan and was ready to leave.
• Yan Jinghong carried Si Ming away, while Si Huaruo called after him that she would wait for his return.
• In a parallel world, Si Ming prepared for his engagement to Si Huaruo as Si Jingyue expressed regret that he had never been able to leave the manor.
• Si Ming reassured Si Jingyue that he was happy with his life and described his success in novels, calligraphy, painting, chess, music, and dance.

Si Ming’s novel Red Dawn made him a literary sensation, drawing fierce offers from publishers and acclaim from across the world. He left the banquet to stop Si Huaruo and Si Jingyu’s quarrel, only to become the center of their rivalry over him.

• Si Ming’s success with Red Dawn prompted publishers to compete for the rights to his next volume.
• Si Ming left the banquet after Si Huaruo’s maid told him that she was arguing with Si Jingyu.
• Si Huaruo boasted that she had won Si Ming, while Si Jingyu insisted she could never be beaten in that regard.
• Si Jingyu kissed Si Ming when he entered the room, and Si Huaruo angrily claimed him as her man.
• Si Huaruo threatened to guard Si Ming around the clock after Si Jingyu warned that the law could not restrain her.

Si Ming and Murong Qing hid from a massive stampede of demonic beasts in a cramped cave, where they spent the night sheltering together. In the morning, Murong Qing woke in Si Ming’s arms and hurried to check whether the danger outside had passed.

• Si Ming and Murong Qing concealed themselves as a huge wave of demonic beasts charged toward the mountain, where a Spirit Transformation expert fought them.
• An injured two-headed beast crashed through their tent, and Si Ming killed it with a silent shot from the Spirit Sparrow.
• Murong Qing led Si Ming to a hidden cave, and they took shelter there as the beasts roared outside.
• Si Ming drew Murong Qing into his arms and warmed the cave with his Blazing Sun True Qi, and she fell asleep against him.
• Murong Qing woke in Si Ming’s arms, bumped her head on the cave roof as she stood, and offered to check outside.

Si Ming and Murong Qing climbed the mountain to meet the expert Yan Jinghong had recommended, after finding the slope strewn with frozen demonic beast corpses. At the summit, the woman in white fur revealed that the monster imprisoned beneath the mountain was the previous Grandmaster.

• Si Ming and Murong Qing found their luggage mostly intact and decided to continue climbing toward the summit.
• Si Ming and Murong Qing discovered enormous snow-covered chains connecting four peaks, and Si Ming suspected they were restraining the source of the roar.
• Si Ming helped the exhausted Murong Qing climb the final stretch to the summit.
• Si Ming approached a motionless woman in white fur, but another roar shook the mountain before he could introduce himself.
• The woman in white fur told Si Ming and Murong Qing that the monster beneath the mountain was the previous Grandmaster.