Chapter Summaries

Xia Nan regretted destroying the valuable Feather Gill inside the Armor-Clad Monster and resolved to study monster anatomy and material values more carefully. At Rock Hammer Blacksmith, Barn presented Xia Nan with his reforged sword, Blazing Meteor, whose unusual response to Xia Nan’s Emberfire hinted at a connection between them.

• Xia Nan tallied 160 gold from the mission’s materials and lamented that preserving the Armor-Clad Monster’s Feather Gill could have earned him more than 300 additional gold.
• Xia Nan brought devil weapons to Rock Hammer Blacksmith, where Barn asked about the armor and longsword Xia Nan had lost during the battle.
• Barn led Xia Nan into the inner room and presented the reforged Beheading Longsword, now a shorter, heavier Straight Sword.
• Xia Nan gripped the new sword, felt it respond to his Emberfire, and found that its weight and handling suited him perfectly.
• Xia Nan inspected the sword’s revealed properties and learned it was named Blazing Meteor, with effects that included restoring durability and shortening [Ember Echo]’s cooldown when it killed enemies in Ember State.

Xia Nan received the reforged Emberfall straight sword and examined its powerful attributes, then discussed its hidden effects and his future weapon style with Barn. He offered the smith several weapons taken from Devils and asked him to assess or melt them down.

• Xia Nan inspected Emberfall’s seven effects, including improved durability, slashing and decapitation damage, mind damage, and bonuses against Wandering Soul-type creatures.
• Barn explained how the materials affected Emberfall and warned that it might have hidden effects; Xia Nan declined to leave the sword for further testing.
• Barn suggested Xia Nan revisit the place where he found the silver ingot, and Xia Nan agreed to remember the advice.
• Xia Nan considered his combat style and chose Emberfall as a practical middle ground between his former two-handed sword and unfamiliar dual-wielded curved sabers.
• Xia Nan told Barn he would pay the remaining two thousand gold within three days, then showed him four steel forks and a long knife taken from Devils and asked what they were worth.

Xia Nan consulted Barn about selling devil weapons and using a Barbazu blade to forge new armor, then bought temporary chainmail and left to find work. Facing renewed financial pressure, he decided to test Emberfall by taking it out on Goblins.

• Barn explained that the four Imp Steel Forks were poor materials and advised Xia Nan to sell them as spoils.
• Barn recommended using the Barbazu Pole Blade as key material for custom armor, estimating the cost at five or six hundred gold coins.
• Xia Nan agreed to the armor order, gave Barn his measurements, and bought fine Chainmail for 50 gold coins.
• Xia Nan left the Blacksmith Shop with Emberfall in place of his Beheading Longsword and resolved to make Goblins suffer while testing his new sword.

Xia Nan prepared for a low-risk gathering mission to earn enough money to cover his remaining blacksmithing debt, and told Adeline that Abi had died after signing a Devil Contract. He left the White Tit Tavern and set out to consult Lady Edwina about collecting Fog Lamp Grass.

• Xia Nan reviewed his strengthened physique, geared up, and calculated his remaining savings and debt for the armor Barn was forging.
• Xia Nan met Adeline at the White Tit Tavern, where she explained she was staying with her inexperienced teammates until they could establish themselves.
• Xia Nan told Adeline about his encounter with Blackwood Squad, the Devil, and Abi's death, leaving her saddened by the news.
• Xia Nan outlined his plans to earn money, improve his strength, and investigate the Dreamweaver Corridor Key.
• Xia Nan accepted a Fog Lamp Grass gathering mission and two goblin-clearing commissions, then left to visit Lady Edwina for more details.

Xia Nan followed shouts into the rain-soaked forest and found Winter Tree and Aspen surrounded by Goblins. Just as Winter Tree’s escape seemed doomed, Xia Nan intervened, leaving the hunters’ fate unresolved.

• Xia Nan searched for Goblin nests while traveling to gather Fog Lamp Grass, then moved toward shouting from deep in Thin Mist Forest.
• Winter Tree and Aspen faced nearly thirty Goblins, and Aspen planned to draw them away so Winter Tree could escape.
• Aspen shot at the Goblins and urged Winter Tree to flee while he stayed behind to hold them off.
• Winter Tree stumbled over a stone and fell as a Goblin leaped at him with a wooden club.
• Xia Nan’s sword pierced the attacking Goblin’s neck and sliced through its head, saving Winter Tree from the blow.

Xia Nan followed a fleeing Green-skinned Goblin to its nest and wiped out the goblins inside. He learned that the nearby Fog Lamp Village regarded part of the canyon where Fog Lamp Grass grew as forbidden land, then left without visiting the village, while Winter Tree hinted that Lillie might need help.

• Xia Nan slaughtered the Green-skinned Goblins attacking Aspen and Winter Tree, then deliberately let one goblin escape so he could follow it to its nest.
• Aspen persuaded Winter Tree to wait for Xia Nan instead of fleeing, and the two hunters watched him emerge from the Goblin Nest after the screams stopped.
• Aspen introduced himself and Winter Tree as hunters from Fog Lamp Village, and Xia Nan asked them about Fog Lamp Grass.
• Aspen said the canyon near the village was considered forbidden land on their side, but the far end was safe for gathering Fog Lamp Grass.
• Xia Nan declined Aspen's invitation to visit the village, learned its location, and left; Winter Tree wondered whether Lillie would be helped if outsiders could reach the village.

After a mudslide blocked the canyon entrance to the Fog Lamp Grass, Xia Nan traveled to the remote Fog Lamp Village to seek another way in. Winter Tree recognized him and brought him to Aspen and the village chief, who welcomed him as an honored adventurer.

• A mudslide buried the canyon entrance, cutting Xia Nan off from the Fog Lamp Grass, so he decided to seek access from the far side of the canyon.
• Xia Nan navigated the difficult route and reached the isolated, gloomy Fog Lamp Village, where the villagers watched him warily.
• Winter Tree recognized Xia Nan and offered to take him to the village chief for help.
• Aspen welcomed Xia Nan into his home and introduced him to the village chief, who addressed him respectfully as an honored adventurer.

Xia Nan negotiated with the village chief and Aspen to wait two days for Fog Lamp Village’s Sacrifice Ritual to end before entering the canyon to gather Fog Lamp Grass. As a villager led him to his room, Xia Nan noticed a guarded house, and his guide claimed not to know who lived there.

• Xia Nan explained that his mission required Fog Lamp Grass and asked permission to enter the canyon near the village.
• The village chief and Aspen said the canyon was forbidden and asked Xia Nan to wait until the Sacrifice Ritual ended in two days.
• Xia Nan agreed to stay, calculating that the delay would still leave enough time to complete his mission.
• After Xia Nan left, the village chief told Aspen he would escort him to the gorge after the ritual and warned the villagers not to provoke him.
• A villager led Xia Nan toward an empty house, and Xia Nan noticed a clean, guarded wooden house that his guide claimed not to know about.

Xia Nan settled into an empty house in Fog Lamp Village and learned that the villagers were hiding something about the approaching Sacrifice Ritual and a house connected to Lillie. That night, he overheard Winter Tree urging Lillie to leave before the ritual.

• Winter Tree took over guiding Xia Nan after Jem avoided questions about the village’s strange wooden cabin.
• Winter Tree told Xia Nan that the villagers were tense because the traditional Sacrifice Ritual was approaching, then grew troubled when Xia Nan asked about a nearby house and Lillie.
• Winter Tree helped Xia Nan clean the vacant house and asked whether he would stay until after the ritual, but held back whatever he had meant to say.
• Xia Nan settled in, used Gravity Control to clean the house, and decided not to press the villagers about their secrets.
• After dinner, Xia Nan went to the threshing ground to train and overheard Winter Tree tell Lillie they had to leave that night.

Winter Tree begged Lillie to flee Fog Lamp Village before its Sacrifice Ritual, but she accepted her fate and left him behind. The next morning, Xia Nan watched Winter Tree train, offered advice, and considered how to improve his own combat skills.

• Winter Tree urged Lillie to escape with him and seek Xia Nan’s help, but Lillie refused, saying her sacrifice would protect the village and that fleeing would endanger its people.
• Lillie told Winter Tree to live well, then left the barn as he collapsed beside the haystack and sobbed.
• Xia Nan, who had secretly witnessed their conversation, suspected Lillie was the sacrifice for the village’s ritual and decided to investigate the village and Canyon further.
• The next morning, Xia Nan found Winter Tree practicing sword swings and corrected his stance and recovery, helping him strike with less effort and greater power.
• Winter Tree claimed he had been kept awake by a nightmare, while Xia Nan watched him train and considered his own lack of versatile offensive skills.
• Xia Nan concluded that he might need to find a solution through his Meteor Blade Hunt profession.

Xia Nan learned that Fog Lamp Village’s Sacrifice Ritual required Lillie as an offering to the Guardian Deity in the Canyon, while Winter Tree confessed he wanted to save her. On the day of the ritual, the villagers gathered as Lillie underwent its final preparations.

• Xia Nan questioned Winter Tree about the village’s Sacrifice Ritual and discovered that Lillie had been chosen as the offering.
• Winter Tree explained that Aspen had tried to stop the previous offering of his daughter, but a Monster attacked the village until the ritual was completed.
• Winter Tree decided he had to rely on himself to change Lillie’s fate and skipped his morning training on the day of the ritual.
• Xia Nan returned to a silent, tense village where the villagers had gathered for the ceremony.
• Lillie underwent the final process of her life inside a white tent as the offering.

Lillie was sent into the Canyon as Fog Lamp Village’s sacrifice, while Xia Nan questioned the villagers’ belief that the ritual protected them. Aspen revealed that he had once lost his daughter Jenny to the same ritual, and that the Pine Dove she and he had released returned the following year.

• The villagers prepared Lillie for the ritual and escorted her to the Canyon, while Xia Nan followed and questioned why the village remained poor despite its sacrifices.
• At the Canyon gate, the village chief cut Lillie’s forearm and sent her alone into the mist before the gate was locked behind her.
• The relieved villagers invited Xia Nan to a celebratory banquet, but he refused and arranged to enter the Canyon for Fog Lamp Grass the next afternoon.
• Xia Nan asked Aspen whether the sacrifice truly improved village life, and Aspen said calamities struck whenever anyone tried to stop the ritual.
• Xia Nan noticed Jenny’s name carved into Aspen’s bow, and Aspen recalled his daughter, who had been sacrificed at nine, and the Pine Dove she believed would return.
• Aspen said the Pine Dove had returned the year after Jenny entered the Canyon.

After the ritual, Lillie was left wounded in the Forbidden Land, where Winter Tree secretly joined her and treated her injury. As a huge monster emerged from the fog, an explosive clay pot struck it, leaving the identity of their unseen rescuer unknown.

• Lillie fled deeper into the canyon, following the glowing Fog Lamp Grass while fear and blood loss weakened her.
• Winter Tree revealed he had entered the Forbidden Land hours earlier, treated Lillie's wound, and refused to abandon her.
• Lillie urged Winter Tree to return to the gate, warning that the ritual's failure could bring disaster upon the village.
• The fog thickened and the Fog Lamp Grass gathered its lights around a nearly four-meter-tall monster, which Winter Tree and Lillie faced together.
• A dark-brown clay pot flew from the darkness and exploded in flames against the monster.

Xia Nan arrived in the Canyon and fought a powerful Fog Lamp Monster to protect Winter Tree and Lillie. After dodging its attacks and reflecting its mind-control ability, he seized its brief stun and split it in two with a combined sword strike.

• Xia Nan reached Winter Tree and Lillie, told them to retreat, and confronted the unfamiliar Fog Lamp Monster.
• Xia Nan tested the Monster’s strength, dodged its thorn-vine attacks, and cut into its body with the [Emberfall] Straight Sword.
• Xia Nan and Leng Li used their speed to keep clear of the Monster’s heavy attacks while Xia Nan continued slashing it.
• The Fog Lamp Monster released a mind-control ripple, but [Gaze into the Abyss] reflected it and briefly stunned the creature.
• Xia Nan threw two Fire Oil Bombs and struck the stunned Monster with a combined attack that split it in two.

Xia Nan defeated and dismembered the Fog Lamp Monster, then healed Lillie's wound and sent her and Winter Tree back toward the gate. Suspecting the monster was not truly responsible for the village’s Sacrifice Ritual, he gathered its valuable parts and continued deeper into the Canyon to investigate.

• Xia Nan cautiously hacked the Fog Lamp Monster into pieces, sensing that it was a strange mutant rather than a naturally evolved creature.
• Winter Tree and Lillie approached after the battle, and Xia Nan questioned whether the monster was the village’s so-called Spirit of the Canyon.
• Xia Nan told Winter Tree and Lillie to return to the gate, then used [Lesser Healing] to completely heal Lillie’s arm.
• Xia Nan reflected that he had entered the Canyon to investigate the suspicious Sacrifice Ritual and help the two villagers if he could do so safely.
• Xia Nan collected the Fog Lamp Monster’s glowing core and thorny vines, then stealthily headed deeper into the Canyon.

Xia Nan discovered a hidden hut in the canyon and found a pouch of Gold Coins and a diary explaining the origin of the Fog Lamp Village’s sacrifice rituals and the Fog Lamp Monster. The diary ended with its writer preparing a transformation ritual, leaving Xia Nan to consider what had become of the experimenter.

• Xia Nan found a concealed passage in the canyon wall and entered a long-abandoned wooden hut.
• Xia Nan uncovered nearly thirty Gold Coins and an oilcloth-wrapped diary hidden beneath a floorboard.
• The diary revealed that its writer had used sacrificed girls’ Life Force to refine Fog Lamp Grass Essence and recover from a curse.
• The writer described creating the Fog Lamp Monster from Fog Lamp Grass, which preyed on the village’s sacrifices while it bloomed.
• The diary ended with the writer preparing to merge with the Fog Lamp Grass in a final transformation ritual.

Xia Nan uncovered the truth behind Fog Lamp Village’s sacrifice ritual and found a clue that the Molton family heirloom might be a key to the Dreamweaver Corridor. Searching the Druid’s hidden room, he discovered a vast garden of Fog Lamp Grass and spotted a huge shape at its center.

• Xia Nan pieced together that a Druid had forced Fog Lamp Village to sacrifice people for his experiments, and that the village chief had kept the ritual going to preserve his authority.
• Xia Nan recognized that a Molton family heirloom taken to Barracuda Bay might be the missing key to the Dreamweaver Corridor, and decided to investigate there after returning to River Valley Town.
• Xia Nan used Heart’s Sight to detect a hidden section of wall and opened a passage by pressing a book on the shelf.
• Xia Nan followed the passage into a cavern filled with densely growing Fog Lamp Grass and saw a huge, blurry outline at the garden’s center.

Xia Nan discovered that the failed ritual had left the Druid alive but weakened, and resisted his attempt to recruit him into gathering villagers’ life energy. After rejecting the Druid’s evasive promises and contract offer, Xia Nan demanded the promised rewards and prepared to end the confrontation.

• Xia Nan found the transformed Druid connected to the Fog Lamp Grass, and sensed that the plant-fed energy barely kept him alive.
• The Druid awakened, tried to reassure Xia Nan, and offered skills, equipment, a potion, and control of the garden in exchange for help completing his ritual.
• Xia Nan learned that the Druid wanted him to gather life energy by killing villagers, then asked about the Molton Family heir and the [Dreamweaver Corridor] Key.
• Xia Nan asked for a reward as a deposit, but the Druid refused and offered a Contract instead.
• Xia Nan dropped his pretense, demanded the promised items, and said he would end things faster.

Xia Nan demanded the Druid’s promised rewards, then fought and killed him after the Druid attacked. He left the Garden with Fog Lamp Monster spoils and a clue to the Key to the [Dreamweaver Corridor], but still had to settle matters involving Fog Lamp Village and its residents.

• Xia Nan demanded the [Mist-Hidden Light Step] training method, the [Green Grass Wood Ring] accessory, and the [Fog Lamp Grass Concentrated Essence Potion] formula from the Druid.
• The Druid attacked with Mind Control, draining light, shoots, and vines, but Xia Nan countered his assaults and closed in.
• Xia Nan rejected the Druid’s pleas and beheaded him, then further mutilated the body to make sure he was dead.
• Xia Nan searched the corpse but found none of the promised rewards, and reflected that better speechcraft might have helped him obtain information.
• Xia Nan concluded his spoils could cover his debt to Rock Hammer Blacksmith and noted his clue to the Key to the [Dreamweaver Corridor].
• Xia Nan planned to return to River Valley Town, collect the armor Barn had forged, and deal with Winter Tree, Lillie, Aspen, and the old village chief.

Xia Nan exposed the truth behind the Sacrifice Ritual, but the village chief stirred the villagers into demanding that Lillie be sacrificed anyway. After Aspen learned how the chief had deceived him and forced him to sacrifice his daughter, he killed the chief and declared the ritual over forever.

• Xia Nan told Winter Tree and Lillie that the Druid’s records and the Dark Room Garden showed the Sacrifice Ritual had become a tool for the village chief’s power, and that the monster had been killed.
• The villagers opened the Canyon gate, saw Lillie alive, and demanded that she be sacrificed; Winter Tree tried to tell them the ritual was a lie.
• The village chief claimed the Spirit of the Canyon still demanded a sacrifice, and the villagers turned against Lillie and Winter Tree.
• Xia Nan gave Aspen the Druid’s notebook, and Aspen learned that the village chief had coerced him into sending his daughter Jenny to her death.
• The village chief charged at Lillie with a dagger, but Aspen shot and killed him with his longbow.
• Aspen turned to the villagers and declared that the ritual was over forever.