Chapter Summaries

Xu Hao and Xiaosa awoke after failing Fang Cheng’s Nightmare Trial and learned they would face another trial in seven days. Fang Cheng reviewed the experiment in his Inner Scenery World, confirmed that it had strengthened the two men, and began considering the trial system as the foundation for the Illumination Society.

• Xu Hao awoke in the Midnight Forest Bar VIP Lounge and received a message confirming his trial failure and scheduling another trial in seven days.
• Xiaosa awoke at home, analyzed the trial’s dangers and rewards, and decided to contact the President for guidance.
• Fang Cheng entered the frozen psychiatric hospital, destroyed its monsters, and cleared away the fog with sunlight.
• Fang Cheng reflected that his Mind Resonance experiment had summoned Xu Hao and Xiaosa into his Inner Scenery World for a realistic horror trial.
• Fang Cheng judged that the trial had improved both men and considered expanding the system to train and select members for the Illumination Society.
• Fang Cheng wondered about the golden pupil in his Inner Scenery World before deciding to resume training and prepare for an important test in reality.

Fang Cheng tested his newly enhanced body by running around YuLong Lake in the rain, pushing through immense physical strain to break the sound barrier. He succeeded in producing a sonic boom and reached a new peak speed, having surpassed the limit he had been chasing.

• Fang Cheng warmed up with a steady run around YuLong Lake before accelerating with his Strength and Agility Attributes.
• Fang Cheng pushed his speed beyond 300 meters per second as wind resistance, heat, and internal strain threatened to tear his body apart.
• Fang Cheng relied on his Gale Force skill and iron will to keep sprinting toward the sound barrier.
• Fang Cheng stomped forward with a final burst of strength and broke the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom and shockwave over YuLong Lake.

Fang Cheng survived a painful sprint past the speed of sound, then recovered in a lake and reflected on the limits of his current abilities. After resuming his morning training, he passed the damaged road he had left behind and planned to visit his father's grave.

• Fang Cheng forced himself to stop after breaking the sound barrier, then plunged into a lake to cool his injured, overheated body.
• A prompt awarded Fang Cheng running experience and raised his Running Level 1 progress to 206/250; he concluded that he had only barely crossed sonic speed and needed stronger attributes to master it.
• Fang Cheng left the lake, noticed the cracked asphalt and deep footprints he had made, and decided to donate money to compensate for the damage.
• Fang Cheng continued his morning practice in the mountain forest park, training Tai Chi and six fitness skills as their experience increased.
• Morning exercisers debated what had damaged Lake Road, and Fang Cheng agreed with an uncle that an excavator had caused it before jogging away.
• Fang Cheng decided to return home to shower and prepare before visiting West Mountain Mausoleum to pay respects at his father's grave.

At his father Fang Shijie’s grave, Fang Cheng comforted his grieving mother and vowed to uncover the truth behind his father’s conviction. Elder Shi, a former Special Search Team operations chief, drew Fang Cheng aside and began explaining that martial arts were about cultivation rather than simply defeating or killing an opponent.

• Fang Cheng, Li Biyun, and Li Zhenhua visited Fang Shijie’s grave, where Li Biyun mourned her husband and rejected the accusation that he had been a murderer.
• Li Zhenhua recalled Fang Shijie’s honest and hardworking character, while Fang Cheng vowed to protect his mother and clear his father’s name.
• Wei Zheng arrived with Shi Chengyi and Xiao Zhang, and Shi Chengyi praised Fang Cheng before inviting him to discuss martial arts privately.
• Fang Cheng accepted Shi Chengyi’s invitation and walked with him to a pavilion overlooking the cemetery.
• Shi Chengyi asked Fang Cheng what the strongest martial art was, rejected the answer that it was whatever could defeat an enemy, and said martial arts existed for cultivation.

Shi Chengyi explained that martial arts cultivated the body and True Self, then tested Fang Cheng's Martial Intent and found it overwhelming. He shared guidance on developing Fang Cheng's Sun-based Inner Scenery and invited him to join the Special Search Team, leaving Fang Cheng silent as Shi Chengyi offered security for his family.

• Shi Chengyi taught Fang Cheng that martial arts strengthened the body and refined the True Self, while condemning reliance on Gene Optimization and Human Experimentation.
• Shi Chengyi challenged Fang Cheng to a contest of Martial Intent, and Fang Cheng's Great Sun overwhelmed and assimilated Shi Chengyi's mountain-like will.
• Fang Cheng asked how to develop life in his Inner Scenery World and achieve Inner Scenery External Manifestation, and Shi Chengyi advised aligning real-world actions with the Way of the Sun.
• Shi Chengyi formally invited Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team and help revive martial arts, but Fang Cheng gave no response.
• Shi Chengyi urged Fang Cheng to serve the country and offered the highest level of security for Fang Cheng's mother and maternal grandfather.

Shi Chengyi urged Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team, revealing that his father’s death might be tied to the politically taboo Guangwu Gate shooting case and a mysterious organization. Fang Cheng gave no answer, while Shi Chengyi left confident that the revelation would lead him to choose for himself.

• Fang Cheng declined Shi Chengyi’s invitation, saying he wanted a stable life and to remain an ordinary office worker.
• Shi Chengyi told Fang Cheng that his father’s murder case had suspicious links to the Guangwu Gate shooting case and might have been covered up.
• Shi Chengyi explained that investigating the truth would require confronting powerful forces, then urged Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team and grow strong enough to challenge them.
• Fang Cheng returned to his family without giving Shi Chengyi a clear answer, and Shi Chengyi placed white chrysanthemums at Fang Shijie’s grave before leaving.
• Wei Zheng asked whether Fang Cheng had agreed, and Shi Chengyi said he had not but believed the revelation would make Fang Cheng consider joining willingly.

Fang Cheng weighed Shi Chengyi’s invitation to join the Special Search Team against his plans to build strength and remain independent, and decided not to join for now. As he considered finding a stronger public identity to conceal himself, his Cleaning Skill leveled up.

• Fang Cheng helped Li Zhenhua prepare a vegetable furrow while reflecting on his cultivation and plans for the Illumination Society.
• Fang Cheng told Li Biyun and Li Zhenhua that Shi Chengyi had offered him a confidential government position requiring an internal selection process.
• Li Zhenhua hoped Shi Chengyi could help resolve Fang Cheng’s background-check problem, but Fang Cheng reassured his family without revealing his plans or secrets.
• Fang Cheng considered the risks of joining the Special Search Team, including factional constraints and exposure of his strength and White Owl identity, and decided the offer was not worthwhile at present.
• Fang Cheng concluded that he needed to keep improving his strength and find a more substantial social identity to conceal himself, then his Cleaning Skill leveled up while he swept the courtyard.

Fang Cheng maxed out Cleaning and gained Trace Back, an ability that let him sense when traces were made and replay how they were formed. He then learned from Xiaosa that Xiaosa had entered a Mental Secret Realm, while the Noah Organization had found a backer from the Xiao Family.

• Fang Cheng reached Cleaning lv2(MAX) and unlocked Trace Back, which let him estimate the age and force of traces and mentally replay the moments they were made.
• Fang Cheng tested Trace Back on a footprint and a fingerprint on his quilt, seeing himself leave the footprint and his mother fold the quilt.
• Xiaosa called Fang Cheng and described a nightmare trial in a psychiatric hospital that ended with a failed trial and a message saying it would reopen in seven days.
• Fang Cheng told Xiaosa the experience was a Mental Secret Realm and urged him to learn from it, then asked about the Red Tiger Gang and Chen Chen.
• Xiaosa reported that Chen Chen had pulled back the Red Tiger Gang’s forces after Noah Organization became wanted, and said someone from the Xiao Family had met with the Noah Organization’s Station Chief surnamed Feng.

Fang Cheng arranged for the Illumination Society to bring the Red Tiger Gang under its protection while secretly gathering resources and recruiting members. After reflecting on his family and his goal of solving his father’s seventeen-year-old case, he trained in Tai Chi and expanded his Inner Scenery World before joining his family for dinner.

• Fang Cheng told Xiaosa to keep Chen Chen in the Eastern Capital, absorb the Red Tiger Gang as a peripheral force, collect the protection fee, and forbid drugs and human trafficking.
• Xiaosa reported two possible headquarters sites and proposed Wang Li, a debt-burdened former accountant, as a finance recruit, and Fang Cheng ordered a thorough background check before approaching him.
• Fang Cheng watched his family and the neighborhood, resolved to protect that ordinary life, and renewed his determination to investigate the old serial murder and shooting cases that had ruined his father’s life.
• Fang Cheng practiced Tai Chi and gained experience, then used Visualization to reshape the hills, roads, and plaza in his Inner Scenery World.
• Fang Cheng joined Li Biyun and Li Zhenhua for dinner, where Li Zhenhua wondered whether his brother would come home to eat Qingming Cakes that year.

Fang Cheng investigated why his uncle, Li Dingjian, had not returned from Tiannan Province and learned that he and the professor were pursuing a murder case linked to a shadowy intermediary. He decided to enter the City of Night to investigate further.

• At dinner, Fang Cheng's mother and maternal grandfather worried that Li Dingjian had not returned or answered calls, and Fang Cheng reassured them while concealing his concern.
• Fang Cheng checked his call history, saw that he had missed his uncle's call during secluded cultivation, and found no later attempts to reach him.
• Fang Cheng called Lark, who confirmed that Crow and the professor had gone to Tiannan Province over a private matter and could not be reached.
• Lark recalled seeing the two discuss a file about the Tiannan Province Jewelry Tycoon Chen Family Curse Case and suspected they had bought information from Bridge of Helplessness.
• Lark explained that Bridge of Helplessness operated through the City of Night, a vast lawless Secret Realm, and warned Fang Cheng that dying there could harm his brain in reality.
• After learning the incantation to enter the City of Night, Fang Cheng decided to go there and take a look.

Fang Cheng entered the Night City through a mist-covered ruin, drew a crowd of newcomers with his Golden Flame, and reached the city by crossing the River of the Dead. Guided by Yuan Datou, he began making his way toward the Bridge of Helplessness.

• Fang Cheng recited Lark’s Incantation and appeared in a ruined city filled with Mist and hungry ghosts.
• Fang Cheng’s Golden Flame drove away the Ghostly Shadows, and a group of people began following him through the ruins.
• Yuan Datou volunteered to guide Fang Cheng to the City of Night and warned his newcomers about the dangers there.
• The group boarded an eerie ship that crossed the River of the Dead, and Yuan Datou explained how residents could later enter the city directly.
• Fang Cheng arrived in the City of Night, asked Yuan Datou to take him to the Bridge of Helplessness, and walked into its bustling streets.

Fang Cheng visited Bridge of Helplessness to buy information about the Tiannan Province Chen Family Curse Case, but balked at the steep price and briefly considered taking it by force. Yuan Datou paid for the intelligence on his behalf, and Fang Cheng left with an encrypted download link while the newcomers explored City of Night.

• Yuan Datou warned Fang Cheng and the three newcomers that the Thousand-Mile Eye would blacklist anyone who killed, set fires, or caused destruction in City of Night.
• Yuan Datou led Fang Cheng to Bridge of Helplessness, where Fang Cheng asked about other places like the city and learned about its districts and long history.
• Fang Cheng asked the intelligence clerk about the Tiannan Province Chen Family Curse Case and chose the Condensed Edition after she refused to reveal who had bought the information.
• Fang Cheng balked at the cost and considered taking the intelligence by force, but Yuan Datou offered his black card and paid for it.
• Fang Cheng chose to receive the intelligence through an encrypted cloud drive link, memorized its password, and left the Service Hall with Yuan Datou.

Fang Cheng reviewed the Chen Family Curse Case file and decided to travel to Tiannan Province to investigate the professor and Crow’s disappearance. Lin Chuqiao arranged for them to leave early the next morning on a friend’s private jet.

• Fang Cheng thanked Yuan Datou for helping him and learned about missions, Credit Coins, and renting an apartment in the City of Night.
• Fang Cheng returned to the Bridge of Helplessness and regretted paying for intelligence instead of accepting the Chen Family Curse Case mission.
• Fang Cheng glimpsed a blood-colored crack in the City of Night’s distant fog before returning to the real world.
• Fang Cheng read the file describing the Chen family’s mysterious deaths and injuries, suspected a curse, and decided he needed to investigate in Tiannan Province.
• Lin Chuqiao called Fang Cheng about Crow and the professor’s disappearance, and they agreed to travel to Tiannan Province together on her friend’s private jet the next morning.

Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, and Lark flew to Tiannan Province aboard Pan Wendi’s private jet to investigate the Chen Family Curse Case and search for the missing professor and Crow. As the plane neared Cuicheng, they had identified a suspected Nanyang Gu-poisoning technique but had not yet solved the case.

• Lin Chuqiao arranged the investigation trip with Fang Cheng and brought Lark along, while Pan Wendi surprised them by joining on his private jet.
• Pan Wendi reunited with Fang Cheng and recalled how Fang Cheng had saved him and Lin Chuqiao from the Noah Organization on Yong'an Island.
• Lin Chuqiao brought Fang Cheng hot tea and brushed off a flight attendant who showed interest in him.
• Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao reviewed intelligence on the Tiannan Province Chen Family Curse Case and noted that its three victims died in different ways without signs of a struggle.
• Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao exchanged a quiet, affectionate glance before the flight attendant announced their arrival in Cuicheng was fifteen minutes away.

Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, and Lark arrived in Cuicheng to investigate the Chen Family’s gu-poisoning case and questioned Madam Chen Li at the family mansion. Madam Chen Li described her youngest grandson’s disturbing final days, just as Chen Xu’an arrived.

• Pan Wendi welcomed Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, and Lark to Cuicheng and took them to their hotel.
• Lin Chuqiao gave Fang Cheng and Lark protective wooden talismans before they went to the Chen Family Mansion.
• Lin Chuqiao explained that Madam Chen Li now led the family after Chen Jintang’s death, while the eldest grandson lay in a coma and Chen Xu’an managed the business.
• Madam Chen Li agreed to answer Fang Cheng’s questions and said her grandson Ze’er had been haunted by a ghost before his death.
• Madam Chen Li recounted finding Ze’er sleepwalking and eating raw beef, and said she had planned to send him to the family’s Secret Realm.
• A man arriving at the gate called out to his grandmother, asking why she was discussing such sad things again.

Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, and Lark learned how previous investigators had died while probing the Chen Family’s curse and gained permission to inspect Chen Shaoze’s room. Fang Cheng’s Scavenger’s Eye revealed faint, abnormal traces on the wall behind the bed.

• Chen Xu'an returned home, apologized for Madam Chen Li’s cold reception, and explained that a White-robed Ajarn had vanished after visiting the estate.
• Chen Xu'an described how two members of the Fox Hunter team and a Maoshan mage had died gruesomely while investigating the Chen Family’s suspected gu-poisoning.
• Fang Cheng asked about Uncle Li Dingjian and the professor; Chen Xu'an recalled seeing a man resembling the professor outside the estate on the day Chen Xu'an’s elder brother had a car accident.
• Lin Chuqiao learned that Chen Xu'an’s brother was in the ICU and his second uncle had been sent into the Chen Family’s secret realm, cutting off access to both survivors.
• Lin Chuqiao persuaded Chen Xu'an to let Fang Cheng inspect Chen Shaoze’s room by revealing that he was a powerful Mental Ability User.
• Fang Cheng searched Chen Shaoze’s sealed room with Scavenger’s Eye and spotted faint abnormal halos on the wall behind the bed.

Fang Cheng used Trace Back to see Chen Shaoze touch a smoke-like figure through the wall, then told Chen Xu'an he had found a key clue and arranged for reinforcements. After Lark reported feeling watched in the dark mansion, she and Lin Chuqiao stayed in Fang Cheng’s room as he meditated through the ominous night.

• Fang Cheng used Trace Back on Chen Shaoze’s fingerprints and saw him stroke a wall while a black-smoke figure touched his fingers from the other side.
• Fang Cheng found no trace of his uncle or the professor among the investigators’ footprints and suspected they had come to hunt the Gu-poisoning master.
• Fang Cheng told Chen Xu'an he had found a key clue, claimed reinforcements would arrive in Emerald City, and secured lodging for his team at the manor.
• Fang Cheng reassured Chen Xu'an that they had a ninety-percent chance of finding the killer, then joined the Chen family for dinner.
• Lark told Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao that she had felt an unseen presence watching her in the dark living room, so she and Lin Chuqiao stayed in Fang Cheng’s room.
• Fang Cheng meditated as his golden perception spread through the room and the mansion grew increasingly eerie in the night.

Fang Cheng lured a shadow Gu into attacking him, tracked its controller through his Solar Mental Network, and fought off an ambush of vipers before the trail was cut. He returned to find the Chen Family Old Madam suffering from a vicious Needle Gu poisoning.

• A black shadow entered Fang Cheng’s room to feed on his blood qi, but his Golden Flame burned it and drove it away.
• Fang Cheng chased the shadow through the garden and destroyed it, then used his Solar Mental Network to locate its controller in the Estate’s northwest corner.
• An ambush of more than a hundred vipers stalled Fang Cheng while the controller severed his tracking link.
• Fang Cheng heard cries from the mansion and rushed back, fearing Lin Chuqiao and Lark were in danger, but found them safe outside the master bedroom.
• Lin Chuqiao told Fang Cheng that the Chen Family Old Madam appeared to have been poisoned by a vicious Needle Gu.

After Chen Family Old Madam was struck by Needle Gu and hospitalized, Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, and Lark joined Chen Xu'an in preparing to investigate the attack. Lin Chuqiao concluded that the culprit likely had help inside the Chen family—or belonged to the family—and the investigation was set to begin when reinforcements arrived.

• Chen Family Old Madam was rushed to the hospital after Needle Gu caused her to bleed and convulse, while Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao helped the family through the emergency.
• Chen Xu'an thanked Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao, promised to summon Chen family experts to assist them, and prepared to act once their reinforcements arrived.
• Chen Qiming came to the hospital, made unwanted advances toward Lin Chuqiao, and withdrew with Chen Xu'an after she rebuffed him with a warning about romantic misfortune.
• Lin Chuqiao explained that her Kirin Wood Talisman concealed her from Chen Qiming's Spirit Eye and that her Mental Energy had reached A+-Class.
• After hearing Lark describe the attack, Lin Chuqiao identified it as Needle Gu, explained that it required both Medicine Gu and Flying Gu, and concluded that someone inside the Chen family was aiding the caster or was the culprit.

Fang Cheng, Lark, and Pan Wendi returned to Chen Family Manor in disguise to investigate the attack on Madam Chen Li and the suspected gu-poisoning killer. After finding no new clues in her room, they reached a secluded four-story building beyond the woods, where the story left them poised to investigate.

• Lin Chuqiao suspected Chen Xu'an of using gu-poisoning to purge rivals, while Fang Cheng revealed that a Hungry Ghost Gu had attacked him and that its controller had severed his Mental Lock with a snake formation.
• Fang Cheng arranged for Lark to impersonate Chen Xu'an and for Pan Wendi to drive them back to the manor while Lin Chuqiao remained at the hospital to watch the Chen brothers.
• Lark convincingly posed as Chen Xu'an, ordered Butler Li Tiansheng to bring the master bedroom key, and entered Madam Chen Li's room with Fang Cheng and Pan Wendi.
• Fang Cheng used Trace Back on the bloodstained carpet and saw Madam Chen Li suffer as a black-smoke figure appeared, but he found no other useful evidence.
• The trio searched the northwest woods, passed the scattered bodies of over a hundred snakes, and came upon a solitary four-story building.