Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Qin Ming encounters Li Qingyue, a striking woman in a silver-feather robe, while riding through the night. Though both seem to recognize something familiar, neither speaks. Her maid notices the awkwardness and asks about their connection.
• Qin Ming releases the Violet Lightning Beast after taking it far from Double Tree Village. He then hides his armor and weapons in the forest, deciding that his Heavenly Light Force offers better protection, and returns home.
• The Violet Lightning Beast vents its anger, then tells a white owl that Black White Mountain’s Mountain Master has apparently been replaced by the supposedly dead white-haired beast. The factions are competing for the Yin Yang Great Medicine, so it plans to seek help from its elders. It also asks the owl to identify Qin Ming, whom it intends to take revenge on.
• Qin Ming discovers letters linking the Golden Bandits to Beyond the Mundane People, but dismisses the trail as having ended with his destruction of Golden Chicken Ridge.
• The next morning, Qin Ming tells Old Man Liu that he has completed his mission. Liu is relieved and expects the raid to trigger major upheaval. Qin Ming stays put for now, anticipating events and avoiding suspicion.
• While studying books taken from the bandits, Qin Ming finds an old manual describing a flexible Heavenly Light method and the Yellow Mud Palm, which reportedly once killed a Beyond the Mundane opponent.
• Memories return: Qin Ming realizes Li Qingyue is an old acquaintance who likely recognized him, and wonders why she chose not to acknowledge him.

Character developments

• Qin Ming is increasingly confident after wiping out Golden Chicken Ridge. He sheds unnecessary equipment, plans for future travel, and begins recovering fragments of his past.
• Li Qingyue appears composed but is unsettled by Qin Ming’s apparent coldness. Her decision not to approach him suggests she may be avoiding a sensitive matter.
• The Violet Lightning Beast shifts from fear and humiliation to anger and revenge, while also facing a larger political problem over the Mountain Master and the coveted medicine.
• Old Man Liu shows deep trust and pride in Qin Ming, while Yang Yongqing remains resigned to being forced into bandit life.

Significant themes

• Memory and identity: Qin Ming’s forgotten past resurfaces gradually, changing how he interprets encounters.
• Recognition and estrangement: Former acquaintances meet again but remain separated by time, changed circumstances, and unspoken concerns.
• Power and vulnerability: Qin Ming’s new defenses and the Yellow Mud Palm point to competing paths of strength, including the possibility of defeating seemingly superior Beyond the Mundane People.
• Local conflict and wider intrigue: The destruction of the bandits, the disputed Mountain Master, and the Yin Yang Great Medicine hint at a broader struggle involving powerful factions.

Character interactions

• Qin Ming and Li Qingyue pass one another without speaking; her maid comments on his apparent indifference, and Li Qingyue describes him as an “illusory” person.
• The Violet Lightning Beast tells the white owl about the Mountain Master’s replacement and asks it to investigate Qin Ming.
• Qin Ming reports his success to Old Man Liu, who celebrates privately and invites Yang Yongqing to drink, though Yang remains doubtful about escaping the bandits’ demands.

Chapter Summary: “A Fabricated False Life”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming reflects on his fragmented memories, which span radically different lives and social circumstances. He remembers being poor as a child, later living as Cui Chonghe, a wealthy direct-line member of the Cui Household, and eventually becoming a poor village youth again.
• His memories contain major gaps and contradictions. He recalls riding rare beasts, living in a luxurious manor, and witnessing Cui Chongxuan fuse four types of Heavenly Light Force, yet he cannot understand why he himself never began cultivating.
• Qin Ming identifies fourteen as a major turning point. Around that age, the Feather Robe Youth and his companions attacked his village, setting it ablaze and leaving Qin Ming gravely injured.
• He learns that the Feather-Clothed Woman from his recent encounter is Li Qingyue, someone who had once been close to him. He wonders why she failed to recognize him and whether the upheaval two years earlier caused his current condition.
• Choosing not to dwell on mysteries he cannot yet solve, Qin Ming focuses on strengthening himself and studies an ancient technique called Yellow Mud Palm.
• The technique is revealed to be an extremely powerful art based on Heavenly Light Supple Force. At higher levels, it draws Earth Essence into the practitioner’s hands, enabling devastating palm strikes capable of destroying enormous beasts.
• Qin Ming begins practicing the technique intensively. He believes it may rival the strongest move in his sword manual, although mastering its highest realm will require vast reserves of Heavenly Light Force.
• To fulfill a promise, Qin Ming travels into the mountains and captures a Talking Finch for Xiao Wenrui. The bird’s aggressive “husband” pursues him, but changes from threatening to ingratiating after recognizing Qin Ming.
• The mutated Talking Finch claims to serve Crow Master by helping with messages and scouting. Qin Ming brings it and its wife to Lu Ze’s home, where the children happily welcome the new Talking Finch.
• Qin Ming agrees that the bird may remain temporarily and later help warn Lu Ze during mountain travels.
• Qin Ming is preparing to accompany Yang Yongqing to Golden Chicken Ridge, but delays repeatedly. Before he leaves, Yang Yongqing returns with news that all the mountain bandits there have mysteriously died, turning the area into “Silent Death Ridge.”
• With the local crisis resolved, Qin Ming decides it is time to leave the village and travel elsewhere.
• The chapter ends in a distant, powerful city, where a stern middle-aged man orders Cui Hong to investigate the emergence of the Yin Yang Great Medicine near Black White Mountain. He also instructs Cui Hong to check whether “that child,” whom Cui Hong once abandoned there, survived.

2. Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Becomes increasingly aware that his past may be artificially constructed or incomplete. Rather than obsess over his memories, he adopts a practical attitude, choosing cultivation and strength as the means to eventually recover the truth. His study of Yellow Mud Palm demonstrates his growing confidence and ambition.
• Li Qingyue: Her identity is confirmed, and her former closeness to Qin Ming is revealed, though her failure to recognize him remains mysterious.
• Cui Chongxuan: Through Qin Ming’s memories, he is established as an exceptionally talented young member of the Cui Household, praised after fusing four kinds of Heavenly Light Force.
• The mutated Talking Finch: Initially arrogant, threatening, and foul-mouthed, it becomes respectful and flattering when it realizes Qin Ming’s identity. It is also shown to have connections with Crow Master and knowledge of important figures.
• Lu Ze and his family: They become involved in Qin Ming’s unusual network of intelligent animals and accept the Talking Finches as temporary companions.
• Yang Yongqing: His anxiety about the mountain bandits is relieved when he learns that the entire bandit group has been eliminated before he can reach them.
• Cui Hong: Introduced as a long-armed subordinate familiar with Black White Mountain. His past connection to Qin Ming is hinted at, as he apparently left Qin Ming near the mountain two years earlier.

3. Significant Themes

• Fragmented identity and false memory: Qin Ming’s life appears to consist of disconnected identities and incompatible circumstances, raising questions about reincarnation, manipulation, or an artificially fabricated past.
• Strength as a path to truth: Qin Ming believes that increasing his life level and cultivation will eventually restore his memories and allow him to understand his origins.
• The relationship between technique and the Dao: Yellow Mud Palm illustrates how a martial technique can transcend ordinary combat and approach a higher, almost Dao-like state.
• Promises and responsibility: Qin Ming honors his commitment to obtain a Talking Finch for Xiao Wenrui, showing that he values promises even while facing larger mysteries.
• Ordinary village life amid extraordinary events: Strange creatures, supernatural techniques, and powerful factions coexist with mundane concerns such as tea, travel, children, and livestock.
• Hidden connections and impending conflict: The final scene links Qin Ming’s past to powerful outsiders seeking the Yin Yang Great Medicine, suggesting that his origins and the events at Black White Mountain will soon become central.

4. Character Interactions

• Qin Ming internally analyzes his relationship with Li Qingyue and his former identity within the Cui Household.
• He studies Yellow Mud Palm through the remnants and insights of its ancient creator, effectively learning through spiritual resonance.
• Qin Ming confronts the mutated Talking Finch, whose threats quickly turn into pleas and exaggerated flattery once it recognizes him.
• At Lu Ze’s home, Qin Ming introduces the Talking Finch to Lu Ze’s children and family, while the Finch humorously argues that its wife should be paired with a weasel rather than a squirrel.
• Qin Ming and Yang Yongqing disagree over the urgency of traveling to Golden Chicken Ridge; Qin Ming delays, while Yang Yongqing worries about provoking the bandits.
• In the closing scene, Cui Hong interacts cautiously with the stern middle-aged leader, whose questioning reveals that both men may possess knowledge of Qin Ming’s mysterious past.

Key plot points and events

• In a distant estate, a powerful middle-aged man orders Cui Hong to send more Day Gold to someone living in a remote region. Though concerned that the person may have found another path to New Life, he insists they be allowed to live quietly and comfortably.
• The destruction of Golden Chicken Ridge causes a regional uproar. Locals celebrate the bandits’ demise, while organizations investigate the massacre and speculate about who carried it out.
• Rumors wrongly implicate the new Red Haze City lord, Meng Xinghai, and Li Qingyue. Meng says he is unconcerned: he and the former city lord already intended to draw out and eliminate the Golden Bandits. He has also obtained Black White Tree material that may help Li pursue the precious Yin Yang Great Medicine.
• The Three-Eyed Sect, frightened that it might suffer the same fate as Golden Chicken Ridge, suddenly offers aid to villages and tries to improve its reputation. A tale emerges of a lone hero riding a Violet Lightning Beast and wielding a Sky Splitting Spear, but the trail is impossible to follow. The beast is furious that its reputation has been entangled in the affair and orders the search for an outsider to continue.
• Qin Ming tests his mastered Yellow Mud Palm and finds it devastating—too dangerous for ordinary sparring. He considers buying another ancient manual but rejects an overpriced one, since its Nail Force is already familiar to him.
• Before leaving the region, Qin Ming tells Lu Ze about a frozen Second-Mutation Fire Snake he has left for him. Lu Ze’s recovery and rise to First New Life after eating Fire Snake meat reveal that Qin Ming was behind the earlier destruction of the Mountain Patrol Group.
• Qin Ming gives Lu Ze cultivation methods, encourages him to teach them to Wen Rui, and promises the children he will return. He leaves with his saber, while Old Man Liu sees him off. Meanwhile, Cui Hong and a richly dressed young man arrive by giant bird near Silver Vine Town.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Ming has advanced Yellow Mud Palm to a level that can pulverize flesh, organs, and bone with a light strike. He continues to seek stronger techniques but is preparing to move on and explore beyond the village.
• Lu Ze has recovered quickly and achieved First New Life. Qin Ming’s gift of Fire Snake meat and cultivation manuals gives him a chance to grow further.
• Wen Rui and Wen Hui are upset by Qin Ming’s departure; he reassures them that he will return.
• Meng Xinghai remains calm despite being blamed for the massacre and is willing to use the resulting suspicion to pursue the Golden Bandits.
• Li Qingyue feels guilty that Meng has been misjudged, while remaining focused on securing the Yin Yang Great Medicine.
• The Violet Lightning Beast is increasingly frustrated by rumors connecting it to the massacre and presses its allies to investigate the outsider.

Significant themes

• Rumor and reputation: The massacre’s true cause is obscured by speculation, and factions act on stories rather than facts.
• Power and fear: Golden Chicken Ridge’s sudden destruction reshapes local behavior, even prompting the Three-Eyed Sect to adopt a charitable public face.
• Mentorship and legacy: Qin Ming’s gifts and instruction allow others—especially Lu Ze and Wen Rui—to continue advancing after he leaves.
• Departure and uncertainty: Qin Ming’s journey opens a new stage in his path, while the arrival of Cui Hong and his companion hints at further developments.

Key events and plot

• Cui Chongyi and Cui Hong arrive in Silver Vine Town looking for Cui Chonghe, who had been left there to live an ordinary life. They learn Chonghe suffered a violent episode, disappeared, and was later seen healthy with Old Man Liu at the Wu Family—apparently having recovered through the New Life Method.
• While Cui Hong asks the Wu Family about Chonghe, Cui Chongyi waits nearby. A white owl observes him, suspects he may be a target, and sets a plan in motion.
• Qin Ming prepares to leave Double Tree Village. Old Man Liu warns him to distrust apparently unremarkable old traveling merchants and Mountain Patrol members who have survived for a long time in the dangerous mountains. Qin Ming jokes about avenging Liu against a monkey nest before setting out.
• In Emei Town, Qin Ming joins merchant Xu Sheng’s party and meets Wu Zheng, a young Wu Family member traveling to Red Haze City to pursue his ambition of becoming the next Spear and Arrow Dual Mastery. Qin Ming urges him to remember his purpose and resist temptation.
• Xu Sheng warns the travelers to stay on the road beside a lightless, deadly desert and not speak carelessly near it. The group proceeds along the mountains bordering the desert.
• Meanwhile, Cui Hong learns that a Violet Lightning Beast has taken Cui Chongyi after mistaking him for a suspect. Tracking them, Cui Hong encounters a strange Old Elephant with two fake tusks and fights it.
• On the third day, Qin Ming’s party comes upon that same battle. He recognizes Cui Hong as one of the two people who saved him years earlier. Cui Hong senses Qin Ming watching and realizes he has found the person he was seeking.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Ming leaves the village with mixed reluctance and curiosity, taking Old Man Liu’s practical warnings seriously. He also shows concern for Wu Zheng’s future, cautioning him against losing sight of his goal.
• Old Man Liu reveals his knowledge of the wider world and its dangers, while his teasing farewell shows his affectionate bond with Qin Ming.
• Wu Zheng sets out with confidence and a clear dream, though Qin Ming’s memories of Old Wu’s disastrous time in Red Haze City suggest a cautionary contrast.
• Cui Hong moves from controlled concern over Chonghe to alarm over Chongyi’s abduction, then frustration and combat with the deceptive elephant. His search ultimately brings him face-to-face with Qin Ming.
• Cui Chongyi appears courteous but forceful, and becomes furious when he hears how poorly Chonghe was cared for. His fate remains uncertain after the Violet Lightning Beast takes him.
• Qin Ming and Cui Hong’s reunion is the chapter’s closing turn: Qin Ming recognizes his rescuer, while Cui Hong identifies the very person he came to find.

Significant themes

• Caution in a dangerous world: Liu’s advice and Xu Sheng’s desert warnings emphasize that appearances can conceal real danger.
• Ambition and temptation: Wu Zheng’s hopes for Red Haze City are set against the risk of being distracted by its pleasures.
• Chance and converging paths: Separate journeys—Qin Ming’s departure and Cui Hong’s search—unexpectedly meet at the mountain battle.
• Hidden identities and deceptive appearances: The owl’s suspicions, the elephant’s false tusks, and the mysterious figures encountered on the road reinforce the uncertainty of who or what can be trusted.

Key events

• Qin Ming encounters Cui Hong, the long-armed man who saved him two years earlier. Their reunion is brief and uneasy: Cui Hong seems surprised, glad, guilty, and conflicted, then returns to fighting.
• Cui Hong battles Old Elephant, a powerful Higher Aberrant, on the narrow mountain path. Their clash brings down part of the cliff and blocks the traveling party’s route. Cui Hong asks Old Elephant to release Cui Chongyi, who has been taken for questioning, but Old Elephant refuses. Cui Hong tries to negotiate, citing the Cui family and suggesting a misunderstanding.
• Once the fighters depart, merchant Xu Sheng hurries his party onward. They enter dense, unnatural fog where their torches will not stay lit.
• The travelers glimpse a silent procession carrying a torch. Xu Sheng warns them that no other party left that day and forbids them from staring or following. He offers two possible explanations: a dangerous deity ritual, or the anger of an unfathomable being in the desert.
• The fog disorients the group: Xu Sheng realizes they are losing their way, and Qin Ming finds himself stepping into sand where the mountain should be. A traveler then seems to encounter a woman—or something resembling one—that grips his neck with icy, long-nailed hands. The chapter ends with the group frozen in fear, weapons ready, as the man pleads for help.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Ming shifts from the excitement of seeing Cui Hong to cautious observation, noticing the man’s conflicted expression. In the fog, he stays quiet and close to Xu Sheng, increasingly aware of how dangerous travel can be.
• Cui Hong shows concern for Cui Chongyi and tries to protect him, but his exchange with Old Elephant suggests he must balance family loyalty against the risks of confronting a powerful enemy.
• Xu Sheng acts as the party’s experienced guide, urging calm and caution, though the strange fog exposes his own uncertainty and fear.
• The travelers move from awe at the duel to panic in the fog. Their nervous curiosity makes them seek explanations, while the apparent attack on one of their companions leaves them speechless.

Significant themes

• The peril of the unknown: Even an ordinary journey becomes life-threatening in a world of mysterious powers and nighttime dangers.
• Caution versus curiosity: Looking toward or joining the strange procession may be fatal; the travelers’ desire to understand it risks making them less safe.
• Family duty and uneasy alliances: Cui Hong’s attempt to recover Cui Chongyi shows how family bonds drive action, even when the opposing force may be beyond easy negotiation.
• Unreliable perception: Fog, darkness, and shifting terrain make it difficult to know what is real or where safety lies.

Key plot points and events

• A supernatural night fog overwhelms the desert. Xu Sheng’s caravan panics in the darkness, while Qin Ming remains alert with his saber.
• Cui Hong, having confirmed that Cui Chongyi is safe, searches for Cui Chonghe. A colossal white-furred creature with a blood-red lantern pursues him, but retreats when the desert’s strange signs appear.
• Xu Sheng leads the caravan to shelter at a cliff rather than risk crossing the mountains. The travelers encounter unsettling signs: unseen hairy creatures brush against them, and a gray-robed woman may be something other than human.
• Qin Ming discovers a palm-sized, unusually intelligent wild boar in his tent. It resembles a gigantic boar he once encountered, and its thunderous snoring is mistakenly blamed on Qin Ming the next morning.
• Cui Hong catches up with the caravan and asks Qin Ming to come with him. After the others leave, he reveals that Qin Ming’s parents ordered him to prevent Qin Ming from leaving the region and to ensure he lives as an ordinary person.

Character developments

• Qin Ming stays composed amid the desert’s dangers, but the revelation about his parents deeply shakes him. His memories and sense of identity already feel incomplete, and he struggles to understand why his parents would restrict his life.
• Cui Hong is dutiful but visibly conflicted. He respects Qin Ming, yet feels compelled to carry out the parents’ orders.
• Xu Sheng shows practical leadership, calming the caravan and choosing the safest available route.
• The gray-robed woman and the little boar remain mysterious, suggesting that the caravan’s travelers and companions may include unusual beings.

Character interactions

• Xu Sheng reassures the frightened travelers and guides them to shelter; the group cautiously tolerates the gray-robed woman despite the young man’s fear of her.
• Qin Ming meets the little boar without attacking it, recognizing that its intelligence makes it unlike an ordinary animal.
• Qin Ming and Cui Hong exchange respectful but uneasy words. Qin Ming resists being treated as a “young master,” while Cui Hong insists he cannot defy the family’s instructions.
• Qin Ming confronts Cui Hong about who issued the order and learns that both his father and mother agreed.

Significant themes

• Fear of the unknown: The fog, strange creatures, and darkness leave people unable to trust their senses.
• Duty versus personal freedom: Cui Hong’s loyalty to the family conflicts with Qin Ming’s wish to choose his own path.
• Family and betrayal: Qin Ming’s parents’ decision contradicts his belief that parents protect and support their children, leaving him hurt and bewildered.
• Uncertain identity and memory: The revelation intensifies Qin Ming’s suspicion that his past and present understanding of himself are incomplete.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming suffers a violent headache that unlocks fragmented memories of his past. He recalls writing the word “abandon” during earlier stages of his life, suggesting that he had already felt discarded or emotionally broken before losing his memories.
• He remembers the night his former self watched a village burn during a catastrophic attack. Rather than resisting or showing fear, he calmly accepted death, apparently feeling liberated from his life.
• Another memory surfaces: Qin Ming parting from members of the Cui Household. His parents, a powerful middle-aged couple, watch him depart in silence. Qin Ming senses that the farewell contained grief, resentment, and the pain of permanent separation.
• Qin Ming confronts Cui Hong, who reveals that he came both to seek the Yin Yang Great Medicine and to deal with Qin Ming personally. The Cui Household intends to provide him with a safe residence and protection.
• Cui Hong explains that Qin Ming’s current cultivation method is inferior and that he should abandon the New Life Path entirely. In exchange, he would live a peaceful, prosperous life, marry, and have children under the Cui Household’s protection.
• Qin Ming rejects this proposal, arguing that the Cui Household has no right to decide his future or destroy the path he chose through hardship.
• He asks Cui Hong to reveal what truly happened in the past, especially what occurred when the Feather Robe Youth shattered his skull and caused his memory loss. Cui Hong is shocked to learn that Qin Ming has forgotten so much and admits that the Cui Household failed to arrive in time.
• Cui Hong clarifies that he does not intend to kill Qin Ming, but plans to dissolve his New Life Path, believing this will keep him safe. Qin Ming argues that stripping him of his chosen future is effectively another form of death.
• Li Qingyue, Meng Xinghai, and others arrive at the wasteland just as the confrontation reaches its climax.
• Qin Ming formally severs his connection with the Cui Household, declaring that he is no longer Cui Chonghe. He chooses to live as Qin Ming, independently and for his own sake.

Character Development

• Qin Ming: His recovered memories reveal deep feelings of abandonment, betrayal, grief, and suppressed resentment toward his parents and the Cui Household. He moves from confusion and emotional pain to clarity and defiance, finally rejecting the identity imposed on him and claiming his own life.
• Cui Hong: Although loyal to his mission, Cui Hong is shown to feel genuine guilt, pity, and concern for Qin Ming. He believes he is protecting Qin Ming, but fails to understand that safety without freedom would destroy the young man’s spirit.
• Qin Ming’s parents: They remain mostly silent through the memories, but their actions suggest that Qin Ming may have been abandoned, used to avert a disaster, or treated as a disposable piece by the Cui Household.
• Li Qingyue and Meng Xinghai: Their arrival signals that the conflict is no longer private and that outside witnesses may become involved in Qin Ming’s struggle against the Cui Household.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus protection: The chapter questions whether a safe life is worthwhile if it requires surrendering one’s ambitions, identity, and agency.
• Family betrayal and abandonment: Qin Ming suspects that his parents and the Cui Household knowingly sacrificed or discarded him, creating a wound deeper than his physical injuries.
• Identity and rebirth: By renouncing “Cui Chonghe” and embracing “Qin Ming,” he symbolically dies to his former identity and begins anew.
• The right to choose one’s destiny: Qin Ming insists that his future belongs to him, regardless of his family’s power or claims of good intentions.
• Trauma and memory: The fragmentation of Qin Ming’s memories reflects the lasting effects of violence and betrayal, while their recovery forces him to confront painful truths.
• Emotional liberation: The chapter contrasts Qin Ming’s earlier acceptance of death with his present refusal to surrender. He no longer seeks release through abandonment; he chooses to live and struggle for himself.

Character Interactions

• Qin Ming and Cui Hong engage in a tense confrontation. Cui Hong speaks as a concerned guardian, while Qin Ming sees his proposal as another attempt to control and erase him.
• Qin Ming’s memories of his parents are marked by silent, emotionally charged separation, suggesting unresolved love and resentment.
• Cui Hong’s guilt becomes apparent when Qin Ming reveals his memory loss, but his remorse does not change his determination to stop Qin Ming’s cultivation.
• Li Qingyue’s arrival interrupts the impending clash and places Qin Ming’s personal dispute before a larger group of witnesses.
• The chapter ends with Qin Ming asserting his independence in front of Cui Hong and the others: he will no longer live according to the Cui Household’s wishes, but only for himself.

Chapter Summary: “Palm-Sized Bright Pig”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Hong urges Qin Ming—still known as Cui Chonghe—to return to the Cui Household, suggesting that the situation may still be resolved. Qin Ming refuses, viewing the household as dangerous and wanting to live independently as “Qin Ming.”
• When Cui Hong attempts to test or subdue him, Qin Ming draws his Mutton Fat Jade Iron Saber. Despite being newly entered into the New Life Realm, Qin Ming demonstrates astonishing saber skill and cuts off part of Cui Hong’s sleeve.
• Meng Xinghai and Li Qingyue arrive and recognize that Qin Ming’s saber technique is far beyond what his age and cultivation should allow. Meng Xinghai compares his bearing to that of a true saber master.
• Cui Hong tries to seize Qin Ming, but a miniature mountain boar suddenly kicks him away, leaving a hoofprint on his hand. The boar is revealed to be the former mountain lord of Black White Mountain, now transformed into a palm-sized creature.
• The Old Mountain Boar declares that it has promised to protect Qin Ming along this stretch of road. Cui Hong, knowing he cannot defeat it, agrees to postpone the matter rather than provoke it.
• Meng Xinghai and Li Qingyue warn Cui Hong that harming Qin Ming could damage the Cui Household’s reputation, especially since both of them witnessed the confrontation. Meng Xinghai even suggests taking Qin Ming away.
• Qin Ming formally severs himself from the Cui Household, declaring that he will never again claim to be its descendant or return to its circle. He insists that he is now only Qin Ming.
• Qin Ming claims that his saber mastery comes from a one-armed grandmaster who created the “Severing Heaven Sword Intent.” He further boasts that the old master survived, found rare Spiritual Matter, and later walked the New Life Path again.
• Although the others doubt parts of his story, the Old Mountain Boar is startled because the account may refer to a legendary saber expert.
• The boar prepares to escort Qin Ming onward. Before leaving, it urinates massively on the sand, causing the wilderness and its black mist to violently react.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Shows a decisive break from his former identity and the Cui Household. His fear of being controlled has developed into firm independence and self-protection. He reveals extraordinary saber talent and uses confidence, cleverness, and even exaggerated claims to protect himself.
• Cui Hong: Initially attempts to persuade and then restrain Qin Ming, but becomes increasingly cautious after witnessing his saber ability and encountering the Old Mountain Boar. He is forced to delay his intentions and acknowledge the danger of acting recklessly.
• Meng Xinghai: Moves from observer to potential protector or rescuer. He recognizes Qin Ming’s exceptional talent and challenges Cui Hong’s authority, using the threat of public exposure and aristocratic reputation to defend him.
• Li Qingyue: Is deeply surprised by how much Qin Ming has changed in two years. She recognizes both his past accomplishments and his current danger, remaining present alongside Meng Xinghai.
• Old Mountain Boar: Reveals itself as a powerful former mountain lord. Though comical in appearance and behavior, it possesses overwhelming strength and honors its promise to protect Qin Ming.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus family control: Qin Ming rejects the Cui Household’s authority and chooses self-determination over returning to a powerful but dangerous family.
• Rebirth and reconstructed identity: His lost memories and two years of independent experience have allowed him to escape his former life’s path and redefine himself.
• Hidden strength beneath humble appearances: Qin Ming’s youthful appearance and the boar’s tiny body conceal extraordinary power.
• Reputation and political pressure: The presence of Meng Xinghai and Li Qingyue prevents Cui Hong from acting openly, showing how aristocratic families are constrained by public reputation and rival powers.
• Mastery beyond cultivation: Qin Ming’s saber technique gives him influence and protection even though his realm remains relatively low.
• Karmic bonds and protection: The Old Mountain Boar’s intervention suggests that past favors and unseen connections can become crucial sources of aid.

Important Character Interactions

• Qin Ming and Cui Hong: Their conversation shifts from attempted reconciliation to confrontation. Qin Ming rejects Cui Hong’s invitation, while Cui Hong struggles to understand his transformation.
• Qin Ming and the Old Mountain Boar: Qin Ming relies on the boar’s promise of protection, while the boar repays an earlier favor and guides him through the dangerous wilderness.
• Cui Hong and the Old Mountain Boar: Cui Hong recognizes the boar’s superior strength and reluctantly backs down.
• Meng Xinghai and Cui Hong: Meng Xinghai openly challenges Cui Hong’s plan to cripple or seize Qin Ming, warning that the Cui Household cannot silence all witnesses.
• Qin Ming and Li Qingyue: Their interaction is mostly indirect, but Li Qingyue observes with surprise how drastically he has changed from the person she once knew.
• Qin Ming and Meng Xinghai: Meng Xinghai praises Qin Ming’s saber ability, while Qin Ming claims the legendary saber grandmaster as his master, leaving Meng Xinghai uncertain whether to believe him.

Chapter Summary: “Returning to the Daylight World”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming and Old Mountain Boar travel through the violently disturbed desert while avoiding pursuit from the White Wolf and the Cui Household.
• Meng Xinghai secretly advises Qin Ming to go to Red Haze City, assuring him that the Cui Household’s position may soften if it wishes to preserve its reputation.
• Old Mountain Boar uses ritual objects from the Esoteric Sect to protect them from the desert’s supernatural phenomena. Qin Ming learns that some Esoteric Sect factions worship such powers, while others seek to control and assimilate them.
• The pair encounters ghostly shadows, giant spectral beasts, green torches, and other ominous manifestations, but none attack them because of the boar’s ritual protections.
• Old Mountain Boar reveals that White Wolf once crippled him by scattering his spirituality, reducing him to a normal beast. Qin Ming unknowingly helped him recover after clearing out a Blood Snake nest beneath which the boar had hidden Spiritual Matter.
• After sleeping through the night in the desert, Old Mountain Boar and Qin Ming avoid the main road and use Talking Finches to gather information.
• They discover a hidden Golden Bandit outpost at Fire Spring. Qin Ming and the boar’s supernatural presence causes the bandits to panic and flee when they realize there seems to be an extra person among them.
• Five days later, a Talking Finch brings Meng Xinghai’s message: the Cui Household has temporarily softened its stance. Qin Ming must avoid Clear River City and Thousand Stars City, abandon the name Cui Chonghe, and refrain from claiming ties to the Cui Household for several years.
• Qin Ming remains hidden at the desert oasis for eleven days, then parts from Old Mountain Boar. The boar chooses to stay concealed in the desert rather than attempt to reclaim Black White Mountain.
• Qin Ming finally reaches the outskirts of Red Haze City, a bright city sustained by a powerful Fire Spring. Its daylight-like appearance triggers memories of his former life as Cui Chonghe.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Becomes more cautious and politically aware, recognizing the danger of his former identity and the need to conceal his connection to the Cui Household. His fragmented memories are gradually returning, including knowledge of powerful families, old acquaintances, and Beyond the Mundane People. He also develops greater trust and gratitude toward Meng Xinghai and Li Qingyue.
• Old Mountain Boar: Reveals his history, including his defeat by White Wolf and the role Qin Ming unintentionally played in his recovery. He shifts from wanting to reclaim his former status as mountain lord to accepting a quieter life in hiding, though he still plans to wait for an opportunity for revenge.
• Meng Xinghai: Establishes himself as a capable and pragmatic protector of Qin Ming. He mediates the conflict with the Cui Household without openly involving himself too deeply.
• Li Qingyue: Quietly supports Qin Ming, though she and Meng Xinghai understand that openly associating with him could worsen his situation.
• Cui Hong and Huo Hong: Continue searching for Qin Ming but fail to intercept him. Cui Hong becomes exhausted, while Huo Hong and Cui Chongyi wait outside the desert in hopes of seeing him again.
• The Cui Household: Retreats from its immediate intention to kill Qin Ming, but only on the condition that he remain disconnected from the family and its cities for the time being.

Significant Themes

• Identity and alienation: Qin Ming returns to civilization but cannot reclaim his former identity as Cui Chonghe. His past relationships may no longer be available to him.
• Political survival and reputation: The Cui Household’s concern for its public image limits how aggressively it can act, while Meng Xinghai uses diplomacy and indirect warnings to protect Qin Ming.
• Karma and unintended consequences: Qin Ming unknowingly helped Old Mountain Boar recover, creating a karmic bond that the boar now seeks to repay.
• Power, decline, and revenge: Old Mountain Boar’s fall from mountain lord to hunted beast illustrates the instability of power. His decision to hide reflects hard-won acceptance rather than complete surrender.
• Memory and restoration: Qin Ming’s return to the “daylight world” parallels his slowly recovering memories and raises questions about whether his former relationships can ever be restored.
• The mysterious nature of the desert: The desert is portrayed as a living, dangerous, almost sacred realm filled with supernatural phenomena. Different Esoteric Sect traditions interpret it either as something to worship or something to conquer.

Important Character Interactions

• Meng Xinghai secretly warns Qin Ming and offers him a path toward safety in Red Haze City.
• Qin Ming and Old Mountain Boar discuss the Esoteric Sect, the Beast God’s Tomb, White Wolf, and the boar’s hidden connection to Qin Ming’s past.
• Qin Ming learns that Old Mountain Boar’s recovery depended indirectly on Qin Ming clearing the Blood Snake nest.
• Li Qingyue and Meng Xinghai discuss the danger of remaining close to Qin Ming, acknowledging that former friends may abandon him after his fall from the Cui Household.
• Qin Ming and Old Mountain Boar part amicably, with the boar choosing concealment and delayed revenge while Qin Ming returns to human society.
• Upon seeing Red Haze City, Qin Ming reflects on how many of his former friends might still recognize or accept him now that he is living under the name Qin Ming.

Chapter Summary: “Utter Anticipation”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming firmly rejects his former identity as Cui Chonghe, deciding that his past—including old relationships and inherited status—must be severed. He resolves to build his own reputation and power.
• He enters Red Haze City, a prosperous and strategically located settlement surrounded by dangerous mountains, Fire Fields, a major river, and abundant Spiritual Matter.
• Qin Ming explores the city, examining bookstores and Spiritual Matter merchants. He finds that available cultivation manuals are low quality and that even basic Spiritual Matter is prohibitively expensive. Materials capable of supporting his Fourth New Life are essentially unavailable.
• He learns that the city is powered and illuminated by a Tier-Four Fire Spring, along with several weaker Fire Springs.
• While exploring the city, Qin Ming unexpectedly encounters Wu Zheng near Drunken Haze Tavern. Though he initially assumes Wu Zheng is following his grandfather Old Wu’s indulgent habits, Wu Zheng explains that he visits the tavern to hear hunters exchange information.
• Qin Ming joins Wu Zheng inside the tavern, where he meets Xu Sheng, the former traveling merchant who escorted them to the city. Xu Sheng has abandoned that profession after suffering a frightening encounter with a powerful female aberrant.
• The tavern’s patrons discuss mutated creatures, hunting opportunities, and Spiritual Matter. Qin Ming learns about a rare opportunity at Thunderfire Alchemy Hall on Red Haze Mountain.
• Thunderfire Alchemy Hall supposedly creates a unique mixture of lightning and Heavenly Light during the first storms of spring. New Life Evolvers risk death there to absorb it and undergo a powerful transformation.
• Xu Sheng warns Qin Ming that the Heavenly Light is extremely dangerous and kills most participants. Qin Ming, however, believes his ability to withstand Heavenly Light gives him an advantage. He decides that he will go to the hall when spring arrives.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Becomes increasingly independent and determined to escape the shadow of Cui Chonghe and his former clan. His immediate goals are recovering his memories, discovering the truth of his past, and advancing through another New Life. His confidence grows when he realizes that Thunderfire Alchemy Hall’s dangers may be survivable for him.
• Wu Zheng: Reveals himself to be more practical than Qin Ming initially assumes. Although he enjoys the atmosphere of the tavern, he claims to be gathering useful intelligence about aberrants, hunters, and Spiritual Matter. His sociability and inherited charm resemble Old Wu’s.
• Xu Sheng: Abandons traveling merchant work after repeated encounters with danger and possible impostors within the profession. He plans to become a freelance Spiritual Hunter and acts as a knowledgeable, cautious guide for Qin Ming.
• Qin Ming’s outlook: He shifts from simply investigating Red Haze City to actively anticipating a dangerous opportunity that could accelerate his cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Self-reinvention and separation from the past: Qin Ming insists that he is no longer Cui Chonghe and must create his own future rather than rely on his former clan’s prestige.
• Power earned through individual effort: True brilliance, in Qin Ming’s view, comes from advancement achieved independently rather than inherited status.
• Risk and opportunity: The chapter contrasts the deadly dangers of the Eternal Night world with the extraordinary rewards available to those willing and able to face them.
• Knowledge through community: Taverns, merchants, and hunters function as information networks, demonstrating that survival depends not only on strength but also on gathering local intelligence.
• Anticipation and transformation: Qin Ming’s excitement over Thunderfire Alchemy Hall reflects his growing confidence that he can turn a deadly trial into a personal breakthrough.

Important Character Interactions

• Qin Ming briefly interacts with shopkeepers while searching for cultivation manuals and Spiritual Matter, discovering the limitations and high costs of city commerce.
• Wu Zheng greets Qin Ming enthusiastically and persuades him to enter Drunken Haze Tavern. Their conversation shows Qin Ming’s protective skepticism and Wu Zheng’s youthful confidence.
• Xu Sheng reunites warmly with Qin Ming, explains his career change, and warns him about both traveling merchants and Thunderfire Alchemy Hall.
• Qin Ming listens closely to the hunters’ discussions, then questions Xu Sheng about the hall. Xu Sheng advises caution, while Qin Ming privately decides that he must pursue the opportunity.

Key plot points and events

• As spring approaches, New Life Evolvers gather in Red Haze City and discuss the approaching Thunderfire Alchemy Hall. Xu Sheng explains that the Hall’s Heavenly Light is usually fatal: people seek a number of strikes matching their New Life stage, but even one can kill. Rare survivors have sometimes returned for another baptism, with disastrous results.
• Qin Ming, who has undergone New Life twice, and Wu Zheng join a crowd heading into the mountains to hunt a wounded, five-times-mutated Azure Ox. Qin’s arrow strikes its eye, helping turn the fight; Liang Yu Kang ultimately kills it and promises everyone a share.
• The hunters discover that Liang secretly took the ox’s valuable bezoar and fled, leaving the group with less-spiritual meat. The betrayal enrages the city and shatters his reputation.
• Xu Sheng later leads a party to collect a spiritual snow lotus guarded by white apes. After they drive the apes away, a swift, masked figure steals the lotus and escapes, frustrating the group.
• As spring arrives, Qin asks Xu Sheng to take him to Thunderfire Alchemy Hall so he can inspect it before the seasonal Thunderfire. A crush of visitors sweeps Qin and Wu through the Hall entrance. Inside, Qin touches a wall and experiences an overwhelming emotional surge, suggesting the ancient building can somehow resonate with him.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Ming is ambitious and eager to pursue powerful opportunities, but he is also learning how dangerous and treacherous the region can be. He contributes meaningfully to the Azure Ox hunt, then grows frustrated by the snow-lotus theft. His unexpected reaction to the Hall raises a new mystery.
• Wu Zheng is curious but more cautious and less experienced. He jokes about waiting until old age to risk the Hall’s baptism, then gets swept along with Qin and loses a shoe in the crowd.
• Xu Sheng acts as Qin’s guide, explaining the hazards of the Hall and urging him to keep his distance from the wounded Azure Ox. He helps organize the later snow-lotus expedition.
• Liang Yu Kang first appears to be a respected leader who shares the spoils fairly, but his theft of the bezoar reveals him as self-serving and deceitful.
• The gathered hunters cooperate when the Azure Ox is vulnerable, but their suspicion and anger quickly turn on Liang after the betrayal. The snow-lotus party likewise shares a common goal, only to be united in frustration when the masked thief outmaneuvers them.

Significant themes

• The cost of power: New Life and Thunderfire offer extraordinary transformation, but pursuing them can mean death.
• Ambition and risk: Qin and other Evolvers are drawn to rare treasures and opportunities despite the dangers.
• Greed and betrayal: Liang exploits the hunters’ trust, illustrating how the pursuit of spiritual resources can corrupt alliances.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: The masked thief’s identity and Qin’s apparent connection to the ancient Hall remain unexplained, setting up future conflict and discovery.

Key plot points and events

• Inside Thunderfire Alchemy Hall, Qin Ming’s mental resonance exposes him to a flood of emotions left by people who died there—mostly fear, pain, and resentment. The intensity nearly overwhelms him, but he recognizes that the hall’s accumulated memories might contain useful knowledge and vows to search them again.
• Qin Ming decides to risk the coming Spring Thunder and Heavenly Light on Red Haze Mountain, despite Xu Sheng and Wu Zheng warning that survival is extremely unlikely. Qin Ming reveals that he once survived exposure to Heavenly Light and plans to go up the mountain more than once, asking Xu Sheng to arrange for him to be carried away in disguise so he will not be recognized.
• Qin Ming asks Xu Sheng to find a fallen family with old secret manuals. Xu Sheng takes him to the impoverished Sun household, where an elderly woman raises her young grandson.
• By resonating with the family’s damaged manual, Qin Ming learns that the Sun family’s secrets were stolen after the old patriarch was attacked by Xin Yi Hall; the patriarch died before he could fully restore the text. Qin Ming recovers the complete technique from the emotional traces in the book: a hammer art requiring both Hammer Force and Whip Force.
• Moved by the grandmother and child’s plight—and reminded of his own hard childhood—Qin Ming leaves them money and promises to restore the manual if he masters the art.
• After the crowds disperse, Qin Ming settles on Red Haze Mountain and repeatedly enters Thunderfire Alchemy Hall, searching its memories for useful knowledge. At last, the First Thunder of Spring rumbles, signaling that the dangerous event is beginning.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Ming remains determined and resourceful, concealing how confident he is in his ability to withstand Heavenly Light. He also shows compassion toward the Sun family, helping them without seeking recognition.
• Xu Sheng is protective and sincere. Though he opposes Qin Ming’s plan, he ultimately helps arrange the risky expedition and locate a manual, even becoming involved in Qin Ming’s elaborate plan to avoid being identified.
• Wu Zheng shares Xu Sheng’s concern and provides some comic relief after getting crushed in the crowds and losing his shoes.
• The Sun family’s grandmother is worn down by loss and poverty but devoted to her grandson. Her willingness to share the damaged manual reflects her generosity despite hardship.

Significant themes

• Risk, survival, and ambition: Qin Ming willingly faces near-certain death to gain strength and advance.
• Memory as inheritance: The emotions preserved in people and objects reveal hidden histories and recover lost knowledge.
• Compassion amid hardship: Qin Ming’s empathy for the Sun family connects their suffering to his own past.
• Betrayal and injustice: The Sun family’s ruin traces back to violence and the theft of its ancestral art.
• The burden of the past: Thunderfire Alchemy Hall’s accumulated deaths create a powerful, nearly unbearable emotional legacy.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• As Spring Thunder approaches at Red Haze Mountain, sixty-nine people gather in the Thunderfire Alchemy Hall to undergo the deadly ritual known as “Withered Tree Meets Spring.” The participants know that very few survive, and many prepare for death by wearing burial clothes, bringing coffins, and holding a final feast.
• The group includes elderly cultivators, desperate youths, condemned criminals, and people sent by nobles to become “Thunder Meat”—corpses infused with Heavenly Light and useful as food or materials for powerful beings.
• Qin Ming attends the ritual because he needs to raise his life level and escape the threat of a thousand-year-old giant beast. He secretly arranges for Xu Sheng and a corpse collector to remove him after he has endured enough Heavenly Light.
• While waiting, Qin Ming explores the black sea of emotions and encounters the final memories of a young cultivator who dies resisting Heavenly Light. From this memory, Qin Ming learns and begins practicing Explosive Force, a powerful composite technique capable of evolving into true Thunder Force.
• Spring Thunder finally erupts. Worldly Heavenly Light descends into the hall alongside the thunderfire, creating rare Spiritual Matter but killing or crippling the participants.
• The first several waves devastate the group. Old Zhao explodes during the second wave, and by the fourth wave the hall has become a slaughterhouse, littered with dismembered bodies.
• Qin Ming uses the Silk Scripture to circulate and absorb the Heavenly Light, allowing it to merge with the power within his own body. He lies still to avoid attracting attention and continues enduring the waves.
• His corpse collector delays removing him, causing Qin Ming to endure a fifth and sixth wave and nearly provoking him to reveal that he is still alive. He is finally dragged out during the seventh wave, after being struck by some of its residual force.
• Once outside, Qin Ming uses “Harmonizing with Light, Blending with Dust” to disguise himself as a corpse. He believes the accumulated Spiritual Matter will allow him to achieve his Fourth New Life and recover his lost memories.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming becomes increasingly determined and resourceful. Although he understands the extreme danger, he treats the ritual as an opportunity for cultivation rather than simply a gamble with death. He learns Explosive Force, withstands multiple waves of Heavenly Light, and successfully absorbs its Spiritual Matter.
• Old Zhao and the elderly participants demonstrate calm acceptance of death. Their burial clothes, coffins, food, and humor show that they have faced repeated failure and mortality without abandoning hope.
• Qian Cheng, initially dismissed as dull or foolish, reveals emotional strength and self-awareness. He refuses Old Zhao’s pity, insisting that kindness based on sympathy will eventually fade.
• The condemned criminal exposes the cruel social system surrounding the ritual. He was sent by wealthy people in exchange for money for his family, but discovers that surviving may only result in his body being exploited.
• The young cultivator in Qin Ming’s vision serves as a warning about impatience. His decision to force a breakthrough before mastering true Thunder Force destroys his future and leads to his death.
• The corpse collector is portrayed as unreliable and careless, causing Qin Ming to remain in the hall far longer than planned. His delay unintentionally forces Qin Ming to endure additional Heavenly Light.

Significant Themes

• Facing death with dignity: The old participants treat the ritual as a final journey, using humor, food, and preparation to resist fear.
• Hope amid near-certain failure: Even though survival is rare, the characters continue trying because “nothing is ever certain” and someone may still achieve transformation.
• Exploitation and social inequality: Nobles and wealthy families use criminals and desperate people as expendable sources of Thunder Meat, showing how power turns human lives into resources.
• The dangers of impatience: The dead cultivator’s regret demonstrates that rushing cultivation can destroy greater possibilities.
• Transformation through suffering: Qin Ming deliberately endures terrifying pain because Heavenly Light can strengthen him, raise his life level, and restore his lost memories.
• Appearance versus reality: Qin Ming pretends to be dead, Qian Cheng’s supposed stupidity hides intelligence, and the corpse collector’s careless behavior conceals the crucial role he plays in Qin Ming’s escape.

Character Interactions

• Old Zhao encourages the younger participants to relax, eat, drink, and consider whether they truly wish to risk their lives.
• He offers Qian Cheng a safe job out of sympathy, but Qian Cheng firmly rejects the offer.
• The old men joke with the younger participants about death, coffins, and the afterlife, creating a grim but strangely communal atmosphere.
• Qin Ming speaks openly with the group about his need to grow stronger because of the giant beast watching him.
• The other participants mock or pity the condemned criminal after explaining how his body may be used, intensifying his despair.
• Xu Sheng checks whether Qin Ming will abandon the ritual, but Qin Ming insists that he is ready and reminds him of the plan to retrieve him.
• Qin Ming internally rages at the corpse collector’s delay, yet the collector eventually drags him out before the seventh wave can kill him outright.

Chapter Summary: “Bathing in Light, New Life”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming is pulled from the Thunderfire Alchemy Hall after enduring multiple waves of Heavenly Light. To avoid being recognized, he deliberately blackens his skin and uses a secret art to make himself appear like an ordinary corpse.
• Corpse collector Xu Hai delays retrieving him, allowing Qin Ming’s body to absorb even more Heavenly Light and Spiritual Matter. Xu Hai then attempts to sell Qin Ming’s “corpse” as valuable Medicine Man material, even offering to sell his organs as “Thunder Meat.”
• Qin Ming secretly retaliates by placing the Yellow Mud Palm’s Supple Force on Xu Hai’s back, ensuring that Xu Hai will suffer internal injuries days later.
• Xu Sheng arrives before Qin Ming can be sold, kicks Xu Hai away, and carries Qin Ming from the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, Wu Zheng and Xu Sheng mourn Qin Ming—until Qin Ming secretly reveals that he is still alive.
• Qin Ming escapes to a secluded place, washes away the soot, and returns to an inn. There, the Heavenly Light within him triggers his Fourth New Life.
• The transformation is extremely painful and dangerous. Qin Ming uses the New Life Method from the Silk Scripture to compress, fuse, and repeatedly explode the Heavenly Light throughout his body. After nine cycles, the Heavenly Light from beyond the world merges with the light produced by his own body, undergoing a major qualitative transformation.
• Once recovered, Qin Ming practices his Heavenly Light Force techniques. Supple Force, Hammer Force, and Whip Force all reach completion. His Explosive Force combines especially well with the latter two, creating a powerful new hybrid technique.
• Qin Ming ultimately fuses all his force techniques into his original technique, greatly increasing its power. He can now unleash a hidden trump card capable of “smashing through decay and rot.”
• As exhaustion overtakes him, Qin Ming remains awake and contemplative, aware that his strength—and perhaps his entire future—has fundamentally changed.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Survives an ordeal that should have killed him, completes his Fourth New Life, and achieves a major advancement in both physical constitution and combat ability. He becomes more cautious and ruthless, retaliating against Xu Hai while maintaining his disguise. His mastery of the Silk Scripture’s dangerous method confirms his willingness to pursue strength along the boundary between life and death.
• Xu Hai: Reveals himself as exploitative and morally unscrupulous, treating corpses as commodities and attempting to profit from Qin Ming’s supposedly intact body. His claims about having protected Qin Ming are exposed as lies.
• Xu Sheng: Initially believes Qin Ming is dead, but becomes shocked and impressed when Qin Ming revives. He shows concern for Qin Ming and protects him from Xu Hai’s exploitation.
• Wu Zheng: Mourns Qin Ming sincerely, then reacts with excitement and admiration upon discovering that Qin Ming survived. His humorous comments emphasize how miraculous Qin Ming’s transformation appears.
• The other corpse collectors and buyers: Their willingness to purchase and consume parts of corpses highlights the brutal, predatory environment surrounding the Thunderfire Alchemy Hall.

Significant Themes

• Rebirth through suffering: Qin Ming’s “New Life” is not peaceful renewal but a near-death ordeal involving pain, burning Heavenly Light, and repeated internal destruction and reconstruction.
• The danger of unconventional cultivation: The Silk Scripture offers extraordinary power but requires practitioners to advance through deadly trials. Its abandonment by later generations suggests that its path is too dangerous for most people.
• Life and death as neighboring states: Qin Ming literally appears dead while undergoing transformation, and his advancement depends on surviving conditions that resemble death.
• Exploitation and moral corruption: The corpse sellers’ treatment of the dead as food, medicine, or merchandise reveals the disturbing depravity of the cultivation world.
• Hidden strength and deception: Qin Ming conceals his survival and abilities, using disguise and misdirection to protect himself while preparing a stronger future.
• Unity and transformation: The merging of outside Heavenly Light with the light generated by Qin Ming’s own body symbolizes the integration of external power into his personal cultivation.

Important Character Interactions

• Qin Ming silently observes Xu Hai’s lies and later strikes him with Supple Force as punishment.
• Xu Hai bargains with multiple buyers over Qin Ming’s “corpse,” creating both a grotesque and darkly comic contrast with Qin Ming’s continued awareness.
• Xu Sheng rescues Qin Ming from being sold and later hears him reveal that he survived.
• Wu Zheng and Xu Sheng shift from mourning Qin Ming to marveling at his survival and transformation.
• While Qin Ming undergoes his New Life, Xu Sheng and Wu Zheng wait outside, hearing the violent sounds of his cultivation and realizing that his abilities far exceed those of ordinary practitioners.

Chapter Summary: “Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with Legend”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming reflects on his forgotten past as Cui Chonghe, wondering why he left the Cui Household, why he was severely injured, and why his relatives abandoned him on Black White Mountain.
• During sleep, the Jade Suit Sewn with Gold Threads repairs the three shattered areas of his skull. Silver Mud heals the wounds while golden needles stitch his bones and cleanse lingering injuries.
• Qin Ming completes the Fourth New Life, which strengthens his five senses and grants exceptionally sharp instinctive perception. The Silk Scripture also reveals the method for the Fifth New Life.
• As his memories return, Qin Ming becomes emotionally unsettled and vents his killing intent through intense saber practice, blending saber, spear, and hammer techniques.
• Xu Sheng visits and notices that Qin Ming’s vitality is far greater than he previously appeared to possess. He takes Qin Ming to Zhou Lin’s training hall to test his physical strength.
• Qin Ming shocks Xu Sheng and Wu Zheng by lifting a 4,500-jin cauldron, demonstrating strength far beyond what should be normal for someone at the Fourth New Life.
• Xu Sheng compares Qin Ming to legendary prodigies recorded in ancient texts, while Wu Zheng realizes that Qin Ming’s strength during his First New Life may already have surpassed that of the famed “Teenage Aberrant.”
• Qin Ming learns that ancient lineages, powerful organizations, and prestigious academies will soon begin recruiting disciples, but he postpones deciding where to go.
• Seeking information about his past, Qin Ming buys several years of Night Reports and investigates events connected to the Cui Household.
• He discovers that the Cui Household underwent a major upheaval two years earlier involving a brief confrontation between two enormous powers, though the public reports reveal little.
• By the end of the chapter, Qin Ming’s memories of his family, former acquaintances, the Feather Robe Youth, and Li Qingyue are nearly restored. He views these memories with detached calm, as though watching another person’s tragedy.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: His Fourth New Life is nearly complete, greatly improving his perception, physical vitality, and healing. His memories of being Cui Chonghe return rapidly, forcing him to confront his former identity and the mysteries surrounding his abandonment. Despite his emotional turmoil, he maintains remarkable composure and restraint.
• Wu Zheng: He becomes increasingly amazed by Qin Ming’s abilities and recognizes that his companion may stand alongside legendary figures from ancient records.
• Xu Sheng: His curiosity about Qin Ming’s true strength turns into genuine astonishment. He begins to understand that Qin Ming has been concealing power far beyond his apparent level.
• Zhou Lin: She remains practical and outspoken, operating a well-established training hall. Her suspicion that Qin Ming, Xu Sheng, and Wu Zheng moved her treasured stone tablet suggests a familiar, somewhat humorous relationship with Xu Sheng.
• Cui Chonghe’s family and former acquaintances: Though mostly appearing through memories, they become increasingly important as Qin Ming reconstructs the circumstances of his past and the Cui Household’s internal crisis.

Significant Themes

• Rebirth and restoration: The healing of Qin Ming’s skull mirrors the larger process of Human Body Rebirth and suggests that physical revival may also restore deeper truths about identity and existence.
• Memory and identity: Qin Ming must reconcile his present life as Qin Ming with his former life as Cui Chonghe. The chapter emphasizes that a person without their past is incomplete.
• Hidden strength and concealed identity: Qin Ming deliberately suppresses his abilities because revealing them could attract danger from Clear River City, Thousand Stars City, and other powerful forces.
• Legend becoming reality: Ancient accounts of extraordinary prodigies are no longer distant myths; Qin Ming’s achievements demonstrate that such legendary talents can exist in the present.
• Power and political instability: The mysterious conflict involving the Cui Household hints at larger struggles among ancient clans and powerful organizations.
• Emotional detachment and acceptance: Qin Ming observes his painful memories almost like a spectator, suggesting both his remarkable self-control and the psychological distance created by his rebirth and fragmented past.

Important Character Interactions

• Qin Ming and Wu Zheng: Wu Zheng notices Qin Ming’s intense killing intent and later reacts with awe to his physical strength. His admiration grows as he realizes Qin Ming may be comparable to legendary prodigies.
• Qin Ming and Xu Sheng: Xu Sheng challenges Qin Ming to undergo physical testing and becomes stunned by the results. Their conversation also raises Qin Ming’s future choices regarding powerful schools and organizations.
• Xu Sheng and Wu Zheng: Xu Sheng explains the ancient records of prodigious New Life Evolvers, while Wu Zheng excitedly compares Qin Ming’s accomplishments with those legends.
• The trio and Zhou Lin: Their visit to Zhou Lin’s training hall provides the setting for Qin Ming’s strength test, while Zhou Lin’s suspicion adds a lighter interpersonal moment.
• Qin Ming and his past: Through the Night Reports and returning memories, Qin Ming indirectly confronts his family, former allies, enemies, and the unresolved conflict that led to his exile and injury.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• As night falls in Red Haze City, Qin Ming’s fragmented memories return. He learns that a feather-robed youth he once knew was Li Qingxu, a gifted member of the Li Household who became the disciple of a powerful Old Senior.
• Qin Ming identifies his former self as Cui Chonghe, a favored direct descendant of the Cui Household. His recovered memories begin with his arrival at the family residence as a small child, after an unexplained early disappearance.
• He recalls growing up among the Cui family: his stern parents, younger brother Cui Chongxuan, older brother Cui Chongxiao, and especially his affectionate Seventh Uncle, Cui Hao.
• Chonghe commits himself to the difficult cultivation method in the Silk Scripture. Though tempted to compare it with other methods, he is advised that changing paths would weaken his foundation, and he remains determined.
• The household expects Chonghe to become a future leader and believes his unusual gift makes him suited to entering Beyond the Mundane. A powerful Old Senior is expected to take him as a disciple, but instead that Senior chooses Li Qingxu. Chonghe is told to wait for another patron.
• Chonghe faces repeated assassination attempts after his exceptional status becomes known. The Cui Household protects him and arranges a future marriage alliance with a daughter of the Wang Family.
• Conflict erupts between the Cui and rising Li households. With the Cui Old Ancestor missing and the Li Household backed by an unknown force, the Cui family begins evacuating important members.
• Chonghe’s father orders him to lead a dangerous diversionary route with clan elders, while his parents and younger brother take another path. Chonghe realizes the mission is likely a sacrifice to draw Li forces away. He tearfully says farewell and departs in a bronze carriage.
• Back in the present, Qin Ming sighs as he watches this painful memory.

Character developments

• Qin Ming/Cui Chonghe shifts between reliving his emotions and observing his past objectively, using the Silk Scripture’s method to keep from being overwhelmed.
• As a child, Chonghe is dutiful and reserved, but grows into a disciplined young cultivator whose commitment to the Silk Scripture survives doubts and pressure.
• Cui Chongxuan begins as a loving younger brother, but becomes jealous when denied the chance to practice the Silk Scripture.
• Cui Father is stern and protective, balancing family expectations with caution. His farewell reveals the emotional cost of sending Chonghe into danger.
• Cui Hao is a warm, playful relative who provides Chonghe with affection and freedom absent from his father’s stricter presence.
• Li Qingxu emerges as both a rival and a parallel: another gifted youth chosen by a powerful Beyond-the-Mundane figure.

Significant themes

• Memory and perspective: Qin Ming revisits his life while trying to judge it from outside his former emotions.
• Family, duty, and sacrifice: Chonghe’s loyalty to the Cui Household culminates in accepting a perilous role to protect his family.
• Inheritance and chosen paths: The Silk Scripture represents both Chonghe’s determination and the pressure of committing to a difficult cultivation path.
• Privilege and vulnerability: The Cui Household’s status and protection elevate Chonghe, yet also make him a target.
• Uncertainty and fate: Expected destinies—such as Chonghe’s anticipated apprenticeship and the Cui Old Ancestor’s return—remain unresolved.

Character interactions

• Cui Hao treats Chonghe with warmth, while Cui Father commands his respect and directs his upbringing.
• Cui Mother introduces Chonghe to his younger brother and teaches him his responsibility to protect him.
• Chonghe and Chongxuan share affection, but the younger boy’s frustration over the Silk Scripture strains their bond.
• The family elders advise Chonghe on cultivation, reinforcing the importance of choosing and staying on a foundational path.
• Li Qingxu’s selection by the Old Senior unsettles the expectations surrounding Chonghe and foreshadows rivalry.
• In the final farewell, Chonghe’s parents entrust him with the dangerous evacuation route; he accepts, then watches them leave, knowing the family may be separated for good.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Ming relives the journey from his childhood, when he was sent away with Cui Household elders as the Li Household pursued them. The elders fought with desperate courage, suffering heavy losses before escaping to a prepared village.
• The elders believe the pursuit has eased because the Li Household has found another Cui group or because the missing Old Ancestor has returned. Cui Hao’s grandfather predicts that help will come, but dies after entrusting young Qin Ming with instructions to remain hidden.
• The village is later attacked by Li Qingxu, the Feather Robe Youth, and his forces. Cui Hong and a woman rescue Qin Ming and take him toward Black White Mountain, partly because it is remote and partly because a beam of Heavenly Light has fallen there.
• In the present, Qin Ming uses the Memory Book to revisit these events rather than avoid the trauma. He realizes that what he once accepted as the truth was only another layer of deception.
• He also reexamines his childhood: his impoverished life with the ordinary old man who taught him the Silk Scripture, his longing for that grandfather, and the Cui Household’s refusal to return the scripture. Qin Ming suspects the household deliberately used that longing to make him practice it. He ends by wondering whether one unseen person connects the manipulations he has uncovered.

Character developments

• Qin Ming confronts the pain of feeling abandoned by his parents and questions whether his deep attachment to others is truly a weakness. With his memories restored, he becomes more analytical, recognizing that his younger self was manipulated and that his survival may be tied to years of Silk Scripture practice.
• Cui Hao’s grandfather shows affection and concern for Qin Ming, shielding him from the other elders and sacrificing his final moments to protect him.
• The Cui elders are portrayed as fiercely loyal, accepting death rather than surrendering easily.
• Cui Hao is established as someone who deeply cares for Qin Ming and would likely have come to save him, though clan interests may have prevented it.

Significant themes

• Truth and deception: Each apparent explanation proves incomplete; Qin Ming now sees the past as a succession of “curtains.”
• Memory and identity: Recovering memories lets Qin Ming reinterpret his childhood and understand the motives behind his choices.
• Love as strength or weakness: Qin Ming’s compassion causes pain, but it also motivates loyalty and survival.
• Manipulation and agency: The chapter suggests that adults shaped a child’s actions by exploiting his attachments, raising questions about how much control he had over his own path.
• Perseverance and survival: Qin Ming’s long practice of the Silk Scripture may have helped him survive injuries that should have killed him.

Character interactions

• The Cui elders argue over Qin Ming’s safety; Cui Hao’s grandfather insists the others keep away and gives Qin Ming a place beside him.
• The dying elder comforts Qin Ming, explains that help may come, and secretly instructs him to stay hidden.
• Qin Ming’s memory of his parents’ retreating backs frames his sense of abandonment, while his recollection of his old grandfather reveals the emotional attachment that drove his devotion to the Silk Scripture.
• In the present, Qin Ming effectively addresses his younger self, challenging the conclusions he once drew and examining how the Cui Household may have guided him.

Chapter Summary: “Blowing Away All the Mist”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming reflects on the return of most of his memories and realizes that his identity within the Cui Household was likely created as a temporary substitute. The Cui Household needed someone to fill the role of “Cui Chonghe,” regardless of who occupied it.
• He concludes that the conflict between the Cui and Li Households was unrelated to his original purpose. He was merely caught up in the confrontation and used as a final expendable asset.
• During the completion of his Fourth New Life, Qin Ming’s memories and instincts gradually recover. His body is repaired through golden needles, Silver Mud, and the vast amount of Spiritual Matter he obtained from the Thunderfire Alchemy Hall.
• He remembers waking in Silver Vine Town after Li Qingxu severely injured his head. The trauma had erased his memories and nearly driven him insane, but the New Life Method had apparently been restoring him subconsciously for years.
• Qin Ming relives childhood memories of his grandfather, confirming that his real name is Qin Ming and that he is not a member of the Cui Household.
• His grandfather had studied the mysterious Silk Scripture for most of his life but failed to master it. He believed that true mastery might require dying once without completely losing one’s life. Qin Ming’s parents had also disappeared while pursuing the method.
• After completing his Fourth New Life, Qin Ming’s memories become clear and his physical strength increases significantly. He estimates that he now possesses nearly five thousand jin of strength.
• He recalls that the Cui Household carefully taught him to write and identify himself as Cui Chonghe, isolated him from outsiders, and used him as a “seamless replacement” for the real Cui Chonghe.
• Qin Ming realizes that the real Cui Chonghe was sent away as a small child to become the disciple of a powerful Beyond the Mundane expert. His talent was likely extraordinary—possibly enough to make him a future Near-Immortal.
• The Cui Household created Qin Ming’s identity to shield the real Cui Chonghe’s existence. As the real Cui Chonghe prepares to reveal himself, Qin Ming’s role is ending.
• Qin Ming also recognizes that members of the Cui Household, especially Cui Hao’s grandfather, Cui Hong, and the woman with the red mole, unintentionally or deliberately protected him from being taken away or killed during the conflict.
• He concludes that he has completed the role assigned to him and is now being removed from the stage so that the genuine Cui Chonghe can appear.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Qin Ming: Gains complete clarity about his past, recovers his identity, and becomes physically stronger after completing the Fourth New Life. He moves from confusion and emotional turmoil toward a composed understanding of his position, though he remains deeply concerned about his missing grandfather.
• Qin Ming’s grandfather: Revealed as a loving but unsuccessful practitioner of the Silk Scripture. He sacrificed much of his life to the method and worried about Qin Ming’s survival after his own death. His teachings and affection become central to Qin Ming’s motivation.
• Qin Ming’s parents: Their disappearance is connected to the Silk Scripture, suggesting that the entire family was harmed or consumed by the pursuit of its secrets.
• Cui Father and Cui Mother: Their past happiness over letters about “Cui Chonghe” is reinterpreted as evidence that the real Cui Chonghe was alive and extraordinarily gifted. Their decision to raise Qin Ming as a replacement reflects both their caution and their desire to protect their true son.
• Cui Chongxiao: His unusually observant reaction when first meeting Qin Ming now makes sense: he likely recognized that Qin Ming resembled the real Cui Chonghe.
• Li Qingxu: His attack caused the head injury that erased Qin Ming’s memories, indirectly triggering the long process through which Qin Ming recovered his true identity.
• Cui Hao’s grandfather, Cui Hong, and the red-mole woman: Their actions prevented Qin Ming from being seized or disposed of during the Cui–Li conflict, allowing him to survive.

Significant Themes

• Identity and replacement: Qin Ming discovers that the identity he lived under was constructed for him, forcing him to distinguish between his true self and the role imposed by the Cui Household.
• Memory and self-recovery: The Fourth New Life restores not only Qin Ming’s physical condition but also his buried memories and subconscious understanding of the past.
• Sacrifice and expendability: Qin Ming recognizes that both he and the Cui Household’s old men were treated as expendable tools, though the old men willingly sacrificed themselves for their family.
• Family and inheritance: His grandfather’s love and hopes give Qin Ming an emotional foundation, while the Cui Household’s protection of the real Cui Chonghe shows how family loyalty can involve secrecy and deception.
• Life, death, and rebirth: The Silk Scripture’s connection to “dying once” and being reborn mirrors Qin Ming’s New Life Method and suggests that true transformation requires passing through death without being completely destroyed.
• Fate and predetermined roles: Qin Ming believes his role was always temporary. His “stage” is ending just as the real Cui Chonghe’s rise begins, emphasizing the tension between personal agency and the roles assigned by powerful families.
• Hidden power structures: The Beyond the Mundane world is portrayed as an interconnected and dangerous network where aristocratic families compete, protect their heirs, and fear one another’s influence.

Chapter Summary: “One Person”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming reflects on his past and realizes that his entire identity within the Cui Household was fabricated. He was used as a substitute for the real Cui Chonghe, while the family restricted his cultivation and attempted to keep him from pursuing the New Life Path.
• He recognizes that the Cui Household’s apparent care was largely manipulative. Their repeated praise of him attracted assassinations, yet the family seemed more pleased by the chance to eliminate enemies than concerned for his safety.
• Qin Ming resolves to recover the incomplete Silk Scripture, the only important relic left by his grandfather and a crucial part of his future cultivation. He knows this will eventually force him to confront the Cui Household in Clear River City.
• He considers the broader political danger surrounding him. The weakened but deeply rooted Cui Household remains powerful, while the Li Household—especially Li Qingxu, who nearly killed Qin Ming—has its own grudge against him. Li Qingxu’s hostility appears connected to Qin Ming’s former engagement to the Wang Family’s legitimate daughter.
• Qin Ming worries about his grandfather, who may have been taken or manipulated by the Cui Household more than ten years earlier. Unable to ask the Cui Household directly, he decides to seek information from City Lord Meng Xinghai.
• Before reaching the City Lord’s Manor, Qin Ming intervenes when members of Xin Yi Hall bully an elderly woman from the declining Sun Family and threaten her young grandson. He protects them, uses the Yellow Mud Palm to punish the attackers, and frightens them by invoking the new city lord’s authority.
• At the City Lord’s Manor, Qin Ming meets Meng Xinghai. Meng grants him a command token and authorizes him to investigate wrongdoing in the city and act when necessary.
• Qin Ming asks Meng for information about his grandfather rather than seeking revenge against the Cui Household. Meng confirms that the real Cui Chonghe exists and explains that he has powerful protection in Beyond the Mundane: his teacher has emerged from seclusion, advanced tremendously, and accepted him as a final disciple.
• Qin Ming learns that the Cui Household barred him from Clear River City and Thousand Stars City because the real Cui Chonghe had been exposed. The Wang Family is furious at having been deceived, and the real Cui Chonghe is also resentful because Qin Ming once went on an outing with the Wang Family’s daughter.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Becomes more composed and analytical, examining his past without collapsing under its betrayals. He shifts from merely surviving to deliberately planning his future, including reclaiming the Silk Scripture, investigating his grandfather’s fate, and confronting the powers that manipulated him. Despite his anger, he retains compassion and a strong sense of justice.
• Meng Xinghai: Recognizes Qin Ming’s unusual maturity and moral character. He begins treating him as a capable ally rather than merely a talented young man, granting him authority to investigate and punish local wrongdoing.
• The real Cui Chonghe: Emerges as an important future rival or source of conflict. Though protected and highly favored by a powerful teacher, he is dissatisfied with Qin Ming because of the Wang Family engagement and their past connection.
• Cui Father, Cui Mother, and the Cui Household: Their past actions are reinterpreted as calculated efforts to control Qin Ming, suppress his advancement, and preserve the position of the real Cui Chonghe.
• Li Qingxu: Is revealed as a continuing danger whose hostility likely combines personal jealousy with the rivalry between the Li and Cui families.

Significant Themes

• Identity and deception: Qin Ming must confront the fact that the life he believed was his was constructed around a false identity.
• Betrayal and exploitation: The Cui Household treated him as a disposable substitute while presenting control as protection.
• Justice and compassion: Qin Ming’s defense of the Sun Family shows that he refuses to become indifferent despite his own suffering.
• Family power and political entanglement: Personal relationships, engagements, and rivalries are controlled by aristocratic families and extend into the powerful realm of Beyond the Mundane.
• Fate versus self-determination: Although others tried to seal Qin Ming’s path, he now intends to reclaim his cultivation, his history, and his future through his own decisions.
• The resilience of fallen families: The Sun Family’s decline parallels Qin Ming’s own ruined household, while the Cui and Li families demonstrate how powerful clans can survive even major losses.

Character Interactions

• Qin Ming and the Cui Household: Qin Ming reassesses their seemingly affectionate behavior, recognizing the manipulation behind their guidance and restrictions.
• Qin Ming and the Sun Family: He protects the old woman and her grandson from Xin Yi Hall, showing empathy toward people whose family has fallen into hardship.
• Qin Ming and Xin Yi Hall: He confronts and intimidates their agents, warning them that Meng Xinghai’s administration will punish such abuses.
• Qin Ming and Meng Xinghai: Their relationship deepens into one of mutual respect. Qin Ming thanks Meng and Li Qingyue for past assistance, while Meng grants him authority and shares sensitive information about the Cui Household.
• Qin Ming and the Wang Family’s daughter: Though Qin Ming barely knows her and views their engagement as a political arrangement, their brief outing has helped trigger Li Qingxu’s hostility and the real Cui Chonghe’s resentment.
• Qin Ming and his grandfather: Their separation becomes Qin Ming’s most immediate personal concern, motivating his visit to Meng and his search for information beyond the Cui Household.

Chapter Summary: “Close Friends”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Ming discusses his conflict with Cui Chonghe with Meng Xinghai. Meng explains that, as the legitimate heir of a powerful Millennium Aristocratic Family, Cui Chonghe views Qin Ming as socially inferior and would not consider Qin Ming’s feelings—even after Qin protected him from danger.
• Qin realizes that the strict hierarchy of the Cui Household has always treated him as an expendable servant rather than a true member of the family. This humiliates and angers him, strengthening his desire to become powerful enough to stand on equal footing with them.
• Meng Xinghai reveals that the Cui Household nearly killed Qin to appease the Wang Family after the deception surrounding Cui Chonghe was exposed. Cui Hao protected Qin because he regarded him as family, preventing the matter from becoming even worse.
• Meng advises Qin to remain in Red Haze City and investigate special academies and ancient lineages that recruit disciples in the spring. These institutions may offer protection from the influence of aristocratic clans.
• Meng gives Qin an Ink Jade Token bearing the authority of the Meng Family’s Mountain Patrol Group. The token grants Qin protection in Red Haze City and allows him to patrol the city and surrounding mountains.
• Meng warns Qin to avoid old acquaintances connected to Cui Chonghe’s former identity. Qin accepts that close friendships can bring danger, especially because the Cui, Wang, and Li families remain interested in the matter.
• Qin vows that he will still support Li Qingyue if she ever faces trouble, despite the danger of associating with her.
• Meng reveals that he knows Qin survived the Thunderfire Alchemy Hall. He also mentions that Qian Cheng survived but disappeared soon afterward.
• After returning to the inn, Qin is secretly watched by people connected to Xin Yi Hall or another outside force. They decide not to attack because of Qin’s apparent connection to the City Lord’s Manor and his mysterious background.
• Qin and Wu Zheng spend two days investigating academies and sect-like organizations. Qin also studies maps of the surrounding mountains, intending to search for Spiritual Matter and grow stronger.
• Qin buys a heavy Black Gold Hammer to hunt giant beasts. He explains that his increasing strength—nearly five thousand jin—makes him capable of fighting opponents who have undergone six or seven New Life transformations.
• Xu Sheng returns injured after being ambushed while hunting with Zhou Lin. Qin, concerned for him and Zhou Lin, offers to accompany him back into the mountains. Zhou Lin soon joins them, setting up another dangerous hunting expedition.

Character Developments

• Qin Ming: Becomes more aware of the social gulf between himself and the aristocratic families. His anger turns into determination rather than reckless action. He accepts the need to keep a low profile, seek institutional protection, and rapidly improve his strength. His loyalty to Li Qingyue remains firm.
• Meng Xinghai: Acts as a mentor and protector. He gives Qin valuable information, cautions him against rash decisions, and provides the Ink Jade Token. Although his concern began with Li Qingyue’s request, he now openly acknowledges that he respects Qin’s abilities and character.
• Cui Chonghe: Though absent, his attitude toward Qin becomes clearer: he sees Qin as an inferior servant who crossed social boundaries by traveling alongside the Wang Family’s legitimate daughter.
• Cui Hao: Is portrayed as compassionate and loyal. He nearly opposed members of the Cui Household to prevent Qin’s death.
• Li Qingyue: Remains an important influence despite not appearing directly. Her concern for Qin motivates Meng’s assistance, and her warning about the dangers brought by close friends shapes Qin’s choices.
• Wu Zheng: Continues learning from Qin and is eager for martial guidance. He is surprised and slightly regretful that Qin has shifted from spear techniques to the heavy hammer.
• Xu Sheng and Zhou Lin: Their hunting partnership is shown to be vulnerable after an ambush. Xu Sheng recognizes that Qin has surpassed him in physical strength, while Zhou Lin is portrayed as quick and practical.

Significant Themes

• Class hierarchy and alienation: Qin’s experiences reveal how deeply aristocratic status determines a person’s worth and treatment. Despite living in the Cui Household for years, he was never truly accepted as one of them.
• Power and self-determination: Qin’s humiliation fuels his ambition to become strong enough to recover the Silk Scripture and confront the powerful families on his own terms.
• Friendship and danger: Genuine relationships can also create liabilities. Qin’s connection to Li Qingyue and his former acquaintances may draw him into conflicts with major clans.
• Protection versus independence: Meng’s token gives Qin temporary safety, but Qin understands that lasting security must come from his own strength.
• Caution in a hostile world: The chapter emphasizes knowing when to withdraw, conceal one’s identity, and avoid unnecessary confrontations.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Qin remains grateful to those who protect him and promises to aid Li Qingyue despite the risks.

Character Interactions

• Qin Ming and Meng Xinghai: Have a candid mentor-like conversation about Qin’s anger, his low status in the Cui Household, the danger posed by aristocratic families, and possible paths for his future. Meng offers both emotional guidance and tangible protection.
• Qin Ming and Li Qingyue: Though separated, their bond is evident. Qin promises to come to her aid, while her message warns him that closeness can bring trouble.
• Qin Ming and Wu Zheng: Discuss martial techniques and Qin’s decision to use a heavy hammer for hunting powerful beasts. Wu Zheng continues to regard Qin as someone from whom he can learn.
• Qin Ming and Xu Sheng: Qin shows sincere concern after Xu Sheng’s injury and immediately offers to help him return to the mountains.
• Qin Ming, Xu Sheng, and Zhou Lin: Reunite as hunting partners and prepare to investigate the ambush and resume their search for Spiritual Matter.