Chapter Summaries

Xue Shao spent a day with Xu Jiayi, his former love, while struggling with the fact that he was engaged to Wan Zishan. Xu Shao and Xu Jiayi recreated a moment from their youth, and their renewed kiss left their relationship at a turning point.

• Xu Jiayi took Xue Shao cycling and sightseeing, teasing him as they revisited memories from their school days.
• Xue Shao got acute gastroenteritis after eating street food, and Xu Jiayi accompanied him to the hospital while he spoke with his fiancée, Wan Zishan.
• Xue Shao told Xu Jiayi he was getting married, but she asked him to spend another day with her and avoided discussing their private lives.
• Xu Jiayi led Xue Shao through the rain to a shopping mall, where she changed into a student uniform and asked whether time had come back a little.
• Xue Shao found an outfit resembling a student uniform, returned to Xu Jiayi, and she kissed him for a long time.

Xue Shao said goodbye to Xu Jiayi and returned to Wan Zishan, having accepted that their reunion was only a brief continuation of the past. He reclaimed and buried the Treasure Scroll tied to his youthful memory, then left his old self behind.

• Xue Shao and Xu Jiayi spent their last hours together, and he told her he would introduce his fiancée to her before agreeing to buy her another piece of cake.
• Xu Jiayi checked out of the hotel without telling Xue Shao where she was going, and he returned to his work before flying home to Wan Zishan.
• Wan Zishan picked Xue Shao up at the airport, and they stopped at the Wedding Dress Shop, where he noticed the Wishing Tree still standing.
• Xue Shao returned the Crescent Necklace to Boss Luo at the mysterious shop, saying he did not want the shopkeeper appearing unexpectedly at home and frightening Wan Zishan.
• Xue Shao retrieved the Treasure Scroll he had tied to the Wishing Tree, buried it beneath the walkway, and drove away after saying goodbye to his past self.

At his bachelor party, Xue Shao learned that his former classmate Xu Jiayi had married and had a child, then discovered that everyone remembered a different girl, Xu Xin, as his girlfriend during senior year. He checked his old school records and found Xu Xin listed as an exchange student, but her photograph was missing, leaving him with proof that she existed and no memory of her.

• Xue Shao’s former class monitor told him that Xu Jiayi had married and had a child, and recalled that she had gone abroad before winter break in senior year.
• Xue Shao challenged the class monitor’s account, but the monitor and other classmates all remembered Xu Xin as a transfer student who had dated Xue Shao.
• Xue Shao asked the former class monitor to help find Xu Xin, and the monitor suggested asking their homeroom teacher.
• Xue Shao visited his retired homeroom teacher, who found Xu Xin listed in the class records as an exchange student for one semester, though her photograph had faded away.
• Xue Shao found Xu Jiayi’s record showing that she had dropped out during senior year to study abroad.

After learning that the Xu Jiayi he met was not the married classmate whose records and photos he found, Xue Shao returned to Boss Luo and traded away all his happy childhood memories for the truth. Boss Luo brought him to the Wishing Tree and told him the answer was there, leaving Xue Shao with his hand on its trunk.

• Xue Shao found no record of Xu Xin at her supposed former high school, then saw Xu Jiayi’s Facebook photos and realized she was a different person from the woman he had met.
• Xue Shao called Xu Jiayi and heard her speak politely from abroad about her husband, child, and inability to attend his wedding.
• Xue Shao returned home and embraced Wan Zishan, then spent the next day walking through places tied to his memories of the girl he had loved.
• Xue Shao dug up the Treasure Scroll beneath the Wishing Tree and went to Boss Luo, demanding to know who he had met.
• Xue Shao offered all his happy childhood memories in exchange for the answer, and Boss Luo accepted the deal.
• Boss Luo brought Xue Shao to the Wishing Tree and told him to touch its trunk to learn the answer.

Xu Xin, a tree spirit, recounted how she had loved and protected Xue Shao from childhood, then sacrificed her tree heart to save him and asked him to forget her. After Xu Xin made a final deal with Luo Qiu, Xue Shao awoke with his memories erased and reunited with Wan Zishan, while a small remnant of Xu Xin survived.

• Xu Xin secretly watched over Xue Shao as he grew up, then took Xu Jiayi's appearance and spent time with him after he was heartbroken over Xu Jiayi leaving.
• Xu Xin weakened under her love tribulation, tore out her tree heart, and gave it to Xue Shao before fading into her tree.
• After Xue Shao learned Xu Xin's story, he tried to trade for her life, but Xu Xin appeared and made him promise to forget her and return to his life with Wan Zishan.
• Xu Xin asked Luo Qiu to restore Xue Shao's childhood happiness, bless his marriage, and erase his memories of her; Luo Qiu granted her requests and returned the Crescent Necklace to Xue Shao.
• Xue Shao woke in the hospital without remembering Xu Xin, and Wan Zishan brought him a living Root from the felled Wishing Tree, which he planted with the necklace.
• Luo Qiu found a Treasure Scroll embedded in the remaining trunk, bearing Xue Shao's childhood wish for the Wishing Tree to stay healthy forever.

Long Xiruo prepared for Elder Gui’s departure to attend the cultivation world’s ceremony while recovering from blood loss. Nero returned from her trip with the Enma Blade and a reclaimed family keepsake, then exchanged teasing remarks with Boss Luo.

• Long Xiruo drank Elder Gui’s bitter tonic while reflecting on the fallen wishing tree.
• Elder Gui told Long Xiruo he would attend the cultivation world’s ceremony and gave her a pearl containing three uses of a defensive spell.
• Nero faced thirteen men who accused her of killing their master and stealing their guarded treasure, then frightened them with the Enma Blade before teleporting away.
• Nero returned to Boss Luo’s club with the Enma Blade and the pouch that belonged to her mother, and Boss Luo returned her remaining seven souls.
• Nero asked Boss Luo for beer and food, and he offered to mix her a cocktail, prompting her to tease him about flirting.

Nero received a three-month locator for Prometheus and a Soul-Loading Box from Boss Luo, then wondered how to synchronize with the Enma Blade’s third form. Cook remained unable to recover his memories, carved a wooden swan for Xiao Zhi, and Nero watched him from a nearby rooftop while devising a plan.

• Nero asked Boss Luo to mark Prometheus, and he gave her a locator that would work for three months.
• Nero asked how to fully synchronize with the Enma Blade’s third form, and Boss Luo presented her with a Black Card before lending her a Soul-Loading Box.
• Cook continued living quietly without recovering his memories and considered leaving because he sensed San'er was avoiding him.
• Cook carved a wooden swan while Xiao Zhi watched, then placed it in her arms after she fell asleep.
• Nero watched Cook and San'er from a rooftop, discussed the Enma Blade’s desire to eat Cook, and came up with a mischievous idea.

Nero used her perspective to manipulate Zhang Kun into targeting Mark, healing his leg with real medicine and offering him fake pellets to secure his cooperation. As Boss Luo returned his vision from Nero, the seed she had planted in the shopkeeper began to sprout.

• Zhang Kun groped the young nurse, and Nero appeared at his hospital window to offer information and a cure for his broken leg.
• Zhang Kun applied Nero’s medicine, recovered overnight, and welcomed her when she returned.
• Nero told Zhang Kun that Mark had put him in the pit and was staying at San’er’s tofu shop, then encouraged him to attack Mark.
• Nero gave Zhang Kun two fake wax pellets after he trusted the healing medicine, and Zhang Kun summoned his men to act against Mark.
• Nero watched a faint blue ring appear in her reflection before dismissing it, while Boss Luo withdrew his vision from her perspective.

Luo Qiu used Nero’s perspective and sensed an echo of his emotions from before he became the club’s owner. Meanwhile, Xiao Zhi was bullied for not having a father, and San’er brought her home to find their tofu shop vandalized with insults.

• Luo Qiu observed through the mental seed he had planted in Nero and briefly felt as he had before becoming the club’s owner.
• Xiao Zhi fought and bit a boy at preschool after children mocked her for not having a father and the teacher struggled to stop them.
• The boy’s mother insulted San’er, grabbed her hair, and threatened to bring her husband to the tofu shop; Xiao Zhi bit the woman while defending San’er.
• On their way home, Xiao Zhi apologized and asked San’er why Uncle Mark could not be her father, and San’er comforted her by promising sweet meatballs.
• San’er returned to find red insults painted across the front and back of her tofu shop, then locked herself inside and cried with Xiao Zhi.

Mark helped San'er scrub away the red words defacing her home, then fought off four masked men who had come to set it on fire. Though he had planned to leave the next morning, he stayed to protect San'er while Nero watched and celebrated her matchmaking scheme.

• Mark and San'er scrubbed the red words from the wall, and Mark told her he planned to leave the next morning.
• Mark urged San'er to leave too, but she broke down over having nowhere to go and needing to care for her daughter.
• Four masked men arrived with crowbars and gasoline, and Mark used a shoulder pole to defeat them before a splitting headache stopped him from pursuing them.
• Mark realized the men had likely planned to burn San'er's home, told her to lock the doors, and decided not to leave after all.
• Nero watched Mark intervene, remarked that he had finally stepped in, and entered the tofu shop unseen.

After Cook protected San'er from attackers, the two of them gave in to their mutual desire in the tofu shop. The encounter ended in silence, leaving San'er overwhelmed by an unexpectedly painful sadness.

• The tyrant young lady left San'er's house after secretly putting down a few things.
• Cook reassured San'er that he would keep watch while she rested, then sat meditating in the courtyard.
• San'er became restless in the shower and began pleasuring herself while thinking about Cook.
• Cook approached the bathroom, but San'er called him back and pressed herself against him.
• Cook and San'er kissed and had sex in the corridor, then fell silent when it was over.

After Zhang Kun’s men failed to defeat Cook, Nero forced Zhang Kun to help her lure Cook out so she could provoke him herself. Later, she contacted Luo Qiu and offered to sell herself to him if she ever needed his protection.

• Zhang Kun ordered his injured underling taken to a doctor in a neighboring town and dismissed the idea of using his wax pills on him.
• Nero appeared in Zhang Kun’s house, mocked his failure, and explained that she had wanted San'er to leave Cook because of the rumors.
• Nero pinned Zhang Kun’s arm with her scroll case and instructed him to lure or provoke Cook so she could deal with him herself.
• On a rooftop, Nero tried to contact Luo Qiu with the Black Card, then met him when he appeared behind her.
• Nero offered to sell herself to Luo Qiu if she could no longer get by, and he formally agreed to accept her request.

San'er reflected on her night with Mark and worried he would leave, while Nero and Luo Qiu watched from afar and discussed how people treated women differently based on age. Cook searched for clues about the men who had attacked the town and stopped at an old woman's stall.

• San'er woke beside Xiao Zhi, remembered her night with Mark, and made breakfast with her daughter instead of letting her disturb him.
• Mark told San'er and Xiao Zhi to stay home while he went out to check the situation, and San'er called after him to be careful.
• Nero watched San'er and Mark with Luo Qiu, questioned him about how people treated women differently based on age, and invited him to breakfast.
• Luo Qiu returned to You Ye, who served him breakfast, while Taiyinzi grumbled about being left hanging from the ceiling.
• Cook reasoned that the attackers had bought four new crowbars locally and began looking for the hardware store that sold them.
• Cook stopped at an old woman's roadside stall and asked how much a hair clip cost.

Cook investigated the men connected to the crowbar and returned to find San'er and Xiao Zhi missing. At the mill, Zhang Kun attacked San'er while Xiao Zhi cried for her mother.

• Cook told San'er he had traced the crowbar to a buyer and would investigate further, then gave Xiao Zhi a keychain.
• San'er told Xiao Zhi that Cook was protecting them and planned to prepare food while they waited for him.
• Cook searched the crowbar buyer’s home and the homes of his associates, learning that the men were close to Zhang Kun.
• Cook returned to the tofu shop and found the back door unlocked, signs of a struggle, Xiao Zhi’s shoe, and a red message on the courtyard wall.
• At a mill outside town, Zhang Kun and his lackeys held San'er and Xiao Zhi captive, and Zhang Kun attacked San'er while Xiao Zhi cried.

Cook reached the abandoned mill too late to save San’er and Xiao Zhi, then recovered his power and killed Nero. He carried the two bodies away after burning the mill, saying he would take them home.

• Nero waited outside the mill while Zhang Kun and the others abused San’er and held Xiao Zhi captive.
• Cook incapacitated the guards and Zhang Kun, but found San’er gravely wounded; she died after asking him to care for Xiao Zhi.
• Nero attacked Xiao Zhi, and Cook rescued her, but she died in his arms after asking him to be her father.
• Cook’s grief awakened his power and summoned Gáe-Bolg, revealing his identity to Nero.
• Cook defeated Nero with Gáe-Bolg, recovered Enma Blade, and burned the mill with San’er and Xiao Zhi’s bodies inside before setting out to take them home.

Cook reported Nero's death to the club, then left San'er and Xiao Zhi after recovering his memories and reflecting on his lost teacher. He discovered the two women had returned safely, while Nero survived the mill fire and remained with Boss Luo.

• Cook told the club he had killed Nero and was ordered to return after the failed mission in the East.
• Cook cleaned San'er and Xiao Zhi, remembered his teacher and his former life, and left the shop with his weapons and equipment.
• San'er and Xiao Zhi returned from the police station and clinic, and Cook realized that the women in the chairs had been piles of sand.
• Cook told San'er that her matter had been settled and refused dinner, saying he was tired and would talk tomorrow.
• Boss Luo watched Nero emerge alive from the charred remains of the mill, and Nero said Cook had probably reported her dead so she could avoid returning to the club.
• Boss Luo provided Nero with clothes, and she dressed beneath the full moon.

Nero used her Second Stage abilities to fake her death and escape Michael's Club, then left Luo Qiu after giving the remaining Orb of Light to San'er and Xiao Zhi. Cook prepared to leave, and San'er spent the night talking to him before discovering he had departed at dawn, leaving a Wooden Swan behind.

• Nero reconstructed the Enma Blade from iron in the riverbed and concealed the remains to prevent Cook from discovering she had escaped.
• Nero retrieved her hidden belongings and souls, then used her discount to give the remaining Orb of Light to San'er and Xiao Zhi.
• Cook realized Nero had left and told San'er through the door that he would depart before dawn, despite her asking him to stay.
• San'er talked with Cook about her memories and her youth while he listened from inside the room, and she eventually fell asleep by the door.
• At dawn, San'er found Cook gone, along with his neatly folded clothes and a Wooden Swan he had left on the table.

San'er decided to leave her tofu shop and take Xiao Zhi to see the city, while a mysterious customer delivered an enigmatic reminder about their wooden swans. Elsewhere, the white-haired woman killed two fleeing thugs, and Sun Xiaosheng broke into Long Xiruo’s hospital and stole medicine before escaping.

• San'er told a young customer she planned to leave town with Xiao Zhi and explore the city, and he wished them good fortune while urging her to cherish the wooden swans.
• Xiao Zhi carried off the wooden swans to clean them, and San'er noticed a faint knocking sound from the larger one.
• A white-haired woman blocked two brothers on a mountain road, killed them with a flash of Cold Light, and argued with Enma Blade over the bodies.
• Luo Qiu brought the tofu he had bought from San'er to the kitchen and offered to help Maid Miss make lunch.
• Sun Xiaosheng sneaked into Long Xiruo’s pet hospital, fled after she confronted him, and left her to discover that Golden Wound Medicine and burn ointment were missing.

Ren Ziling gathered Luo Qiu, You Ye, Lizi, and Ma Houde’s family for a three-day cruise aboard the White Jade, where Luo Qiu noticed an ailing senior manager after boarding. As Luo Qiu and You Ye explored the ship, Ren Ziling enlisted Lizi’s help with a stamina-boosting concoction.

• Ren Ziling forced Luo Qiu to join a three-day, two-night cruise after threatening to make his life at home miserable.
• Ma Houde told Luo Qiu that the White Jade was the first cruise ship in the area, that Luo Qiu’s father had ridden it, and that this would be its final voyage.
• Luo Qiu threw away the energy drinks Ma Houde gave him, then watched an elderly ship manager swallow pills after arguing with a younger manager and clutching his chest.
• Luo Qiu and You Ye settled into their room, and Luo Qiu suggested they explore the ship and look for business.
• Ren Ziling got two stamina-boosting pills from Lizi and discussed trying them, while Lizi assured her that the reduced dose was safe for humans.

Luo Qiu and You Ye explored the White Jade before it set sail, where they noticed a suspicious engineer and a captain whose health seemed poor. At dinner, Ren Ziling tried to give Luo Qiu a drugged glass of watermelon juice, but Ma Houde drank it first.

• Luo Qiu and You Ye spotted a pickpocket stealing valuables from passengers aboard the White Jade.
• Luo Qiu found Qian Guoliang secretly inspecting the ship, and the captain ordered him to leave the closed observation bridge.
• You Ye sensed that the captain was unwell and that Qian Guoliang was searching for something, while Luo Qiu chose to wait and observe.
• After the White Jade set sail, Ren Ziling crushed a pill into a glass of watermelon juice intended for Luo Qiu.
• Ma Houde arrived at dinner, grabbed the watermelon juice, and drank it before Ren Ziling could give it to Luo Qiu.