Chapter Summaries

Shande emerged from a cave after recovering by drinking a black bear's blood, while his thoughts returned to losing Sophia and the costs of the spells he studied to revive her. He sent the bear away, but it kept licking him, fearing that leaving would get it killed.

• A black bear discovered an intruder in its cave, charged inside, and fled in terror when it encountered Shande.
• Shande grabbed the bear by its tail and dragged it back into the cave, where he drank its blood for an hour.
• Shande emerged with many of his wounds improved, though his chest wound remained severe, and reflected on his grief for Sophia and his use of the spell book.
• Shande called the bear out and threatened to kill it if it kept pretending to be dead.
• The bear approached Shande and licked his hand, ignored his slaps and orders to leave, and kept licking him because it feared for its life.

Shande tested whether the black bear had sensed something nearby, then left it alive after firing lightning at a distant tree. Meanwhile, Dolan and Jialuo organized a larger pursuit force to capture their increasingly dangerous target, and Jialuo suspected their meeting place had been exposed.

• The black bear offered Shande its honeycomb, and Shande pretended to appreciate the gift despite having lost his sense of taste.
• Shande suddenly fired a bolt of purple lightning past the black bear and struck a distant tree, then searched the area without finding anything.
• Dolan proposed using teams of at least seven Wizards because the target had grown stronger and her team had suffered fifty percent casualties.
• Jialuo agreed with Dolan and called for teams of ten, requesting support from other teams because supervisors Jia Nong and Long Mei Er were watching the mission.
• Jialuo told a subordinate to find a more secluded meeting place because he suspected the abandoned Logging Camp could be exposed.

Richard analyzed the people he had scouted, developed a silent, piercing Guici Missile, and waited for the right moment to investigate the Truth Society. Shande absorbed black mist in a cave, then sensed danger and fled, while a black bear chased after him with a beehive.

• Richard judged Jialuo to be the weakest of the people he scouted, while Shande had a warning method and Bobobo Wei Qi was stronger than he appeared.
• Richard concluded that the Truth Society had targeted Shande and that Bobobo Wei Qi might also be connected to the organization, but he postponed his plan to investigate it.
• Richard tested a new Silent Penetration version of his Micro Spell Tracking Missile and named it the Guici Missile, distinguishing it from his Baruk Flame Huohua Missiles.
• Shande used a pentagram array in a cave to absorb black mist, endured the pain, and collapsed when the process ended.
• Shande sensed danger, transformed into a streak of black, and fled the cave as the black bear followed him with a beehive.

Truth Society pursued the badly wounded Shande through the forest while Black Bear stayed by his side. Shande drove Black Bear away, but it returned to leave him half its honeycomb before disappearing into the forest.

• Dolan led Wizards into the empty cave, concluded Shande had escaped, and ordered the search to continue.
• Bobobo Wei Qi watched another group of Wizards enter the forest and tracked the search on a scroll.
• Shande, badly injured after fighting Truth Society, decided Black Bear had to leave him behind.
• Shande struck Black Bear with controlled lightning until it fled, then grew angry when it returned.
• Black Bear placed half its honeycomb near Shande and ran off without looking back.

Shande waited calmly in the forest as Dolan and dozens of Wizards surrounded him, then fought them despite his expectation that he would die. Gravely wounded after killing four Wizards and injuring another, he charged at Dolan with his last strength, though he doubted he could defeat her.

• Shande ate honey from the broken beehive and calmly faced the approaching Wizards.
• Dolan led the surrounding Wizards in declaring their loyalty to the Truth Society and ordered them to attack Shande.
• Shande evaded the spell barrage, killed four Wizards, and heavily injured a Level 1 Wizard, but suffered grave wounds himself.
• Dolan ordered the Wizards to launch their final attack, refusing to let Shande recover.
• Shande charged at Dolan with black-mist claws, then regretted targeting her because he was unsure he could defeat her.

Shande mistook Dolan’s substitute for her real body, but Dolan was killed by an unseen attacker before she could strike him. The attacker then slaughtered the Wizards gathered in the field and descended from above after the last one fell.

• Shande stabbed Dolan’s illusion and realized he had missed his chance to kill her.
• Dolan was struck through the brow by an unseen attack and collapsed before she could hit Shande.
• The Wizards attacked Shande, but invisible projectiles began piercing their heads and killing them.
• A tall, thin low-level Level 3 Wizard noticed black light descending from above, but it pierced his eye before he could counterattack.
• The unseen attacker killed the remaining Wizards, then a figure descended from the sky.

Richard offered to pose as Shande’s teacher to protect him from the Truth Society while using the identity to infiltrate the organization. Shande agreed to focus on reviving Sophia before seeking revenge, and accepted a future obligation to Richard once he became stronger.

• Richard told Shande that he had saved him before and proposed posing as his teacher to divert the Truth Society’s attention.
• Richard explained that he wanted to use the false teacher identity to infiltrate the Truth Society and learn more about it.
• Shande said he could not abandon his revenge against the Truth Society, which he blamed for Sophia’s death.
• Richard asked whether Shande valued revenge more than reviving Sophia, and Shande chose to pursue her revival first.
• Richard offered to handle the Truth Society’s threats in Galan City, while Shande would help establish the teacher’s identity and later do a difficult task for Richard.
• Shande accepted the arrangement and said he could do anything Richard asked of him.

Richard and Shande agreed to attack a Truth Society outpost and investigate Shande’s teacher, while Richard tested Shande’s willingness to kill and helped him recover from his injuries. Shande drank Richard’s specially prepared blood substitute, and they prepared to act once he recovered.

• Richard asked whether Shande could kill an ordinary pregnant woman and concluded that Shande had principles, while Richard said he would kill her if necessary.
• Richard and Shande agreed that Richard would help destroy a Truth Society outpost in exchange for Shande helping verify his teacher’s identity.
• Shande asked to join Richard in attacking the outpost so he could take revenge and witness Richard’s actions himself.
• Richard pointed out that Shande was too injured to walk, and Shande said he could recover by drinking blood from the corpses nearby.
• Richard gave Shande a pale red drink that rapidly healed his injuries, then explained that Shande might need only specific components found in blood rather than blood itself.

Shande reached an abandoned castle filled with Truth Society Wizards and prepared to attack the group pursuing him. Inside, Jialuo learned that Leader Dolan’s team had not reported success, and he decided someone should check on them.

• Shande arrived outside the castle and summoned more than a dozen Shadow Wolves to hide and await his orders.
• Shande drank the last of his potion, cast spells on himself, and silently floated over the castle walls.
• Jialuo asked for news of Leader Dolan’s pursuit, and an old man reported that the target was badly injured but still uncaptured.
• Jialuo first agreed to wait for another report, then changed his mind and said someone should go investigate.

Jialuo and his Wizards discovered Shande had infiltrated the castle and killed Bister, then fought him as he claimed revenge for Sophia. Shande escaped the castle badly wounded, and Jialuo ordered his group to attack him again while questioning his claim that he had not used his full strength.

• Jialuo explained to Luo Fu that they needed to investigate whether someone was helping their target, then agreed that Luo Fu should go to the scene.
• Jialuo noticed Bister had stopped responding and led the Wizards outside, where they found Shande standing over Bister's body with three Black Wolves.
• Shande identified himself and said he had killed the pursuers and would kill the Wizards to avenge Sophia; Jialuo and the others attacked him.
• Shande fought Jialuo's group inside the castle, then escaped through the blasted gates with severe wounds and fewer Shadow Wolves.
• Jialuo challenged Shande's claim that he had killed the earlier pursuers, but Shande insisted he was not using his full strength, so Jialuo ordered the Wizards to attack.

Shande lured Jialuo and the Truth Society wizards into a clearing, where a hidden young man massacred them. The young man killed Jialuo after exhausting his Ghost Stab models, leaving his identity and motives unexplained.

• Shande revealed that someone had helped him escape and claimed he had brought Jialuo to the clearing so they could be killed.
• A hidden attacker ambushed the Truth Society wizards, shattering their defenses and killing everyone except Jialuo.
• The young man descended and wore down Jialuo's shields with repeated black-light attacks until Jialuo ran out of mana.
• Jialuo questioned the young man, who said he was only Shande's temporary partner and had wanted Jialuo to believe they were close.
• The young man ran out of Ghost Stab models, then used a blood-red Short Staff to destroy Jialuo's final shield and kill him.

After Richard defeated Jialuo and the other Truth Society Wizards, Shande fulfilled his remaining obligations in their transaction and left to pursue Sophia’s resurrection. Richard then searched the castle for information and sensed someone outside, leaving the story with an unknown presence approaching.

• Richard reflected that his technological approach had overwhelmed Jialuo and the other Truth Society Wizards, then Shande returned to the scene.
• Shande burned the corpses into a single black mass and said he planned to try to resurrect Sophia.
• Shande gave Richard an enchanted finger-bone communication device, Devil Horn Powder, and a mysterious small box from beside the Inheritance Wizard Book.
• Shande left, hoping he would meet Richard again after resurrecting Sophia.
• Richard entered the castle to search for information about the Truth Society, sensed someone outside, and continued deeper into the castle.

Bobobo Wei Qi investigated the abandoned Truth Society castle and unexpectedly found Richard inside. He explained that new clues had led him back to Galan City to search for a friend who had vanished years earlier.

• Bobobo Wei Qi followed his map to the castle, found signs of battle and a huge black stone outside, and entered to investigate.
• After finding the castle empty, Bobobo Wei Qi searched it thoroughly but uncovered no useful clues.
• Bobobo Wei Qi entered the Main Castle's hall and was startled to find Richard there.
• Richard and Bobobo Wei Qi exchanged implausible excuses for being at the castle before Richard asked about Bobobo Wei Qi's connection to his enemies.
• Bobobo Wei Qi told Richard that he had come to Galan City to investigate his missing friend and had recently found new leads among the Truth Society.

Richard and Bobobo Wei Qi agreed to cooperate in investigating the Truth Society, whose members had vanished from a castle in Galan City. Richard traced a glass cup left behind by one of them to Delan, leaving them with a likely lead on where the group had come from.

• Bobobo Wei Qi revealed that he had come to find Mike, a missing man who owed him money and could rise from the dead.
• Richard refused to explain why he was nearby, then proposed that he and Bobobo Wei Qi work together to investigate the Truth Society.
• Richard argued that clues from the vanished Wizards and their temporary stronghold could reveal where they had come from.
• Richard examined a glass cup left by a Truth Society Wizard and identified its material as distinct from glass made in Galan City.
• Richard compared the cup with a green glass bottle from Galan City and concluded that the cup had been produced in Delan, suggesting the Truth Society Wizards came from there.

Richard explained how clues from a glass cup pointed to the Truth Society having ties to Delan, but said he and Bobobo Wei Qi needed to prepare before trying to approach them. Meanwhile, a hungry black bear found honey in a fallen beehive and then discovered another hive at its feet.

• Bobobo Wei Qi summarized Richard’s reasoning that the glass cup indicated the Truth Society had come from or stayed in Delan, and Richard agreed.
• Richard told Bobobo Wei Qi they could not go to Delan immediately because they first needed to prepare to infiltrate the Truth Society.
• Richard walked toward the ancient castle, and Bobobo Wei Qi followed him.
• A hungry black bear tried and failed to reach a beehive, then climbed the tree but slipped and fell.
• The beehive fell onto the black bear, which ate the honey and escaped the bees by jumping into a river.
• After the black bear climbed out of the river, another beehive rolled from the grass and stopped at its feet.

Shande offered Black Bear a chance to leave the forest with him, and Black Bear followed after gathering the beehives Shande had brought. In Eden Garden, Richard awakened the soul inside the square box, which revealed itself to be a Lich Phylactery and emerged as an irritable old man.

• Shande brought Black Bear several honey-filled beehives and invited him to leave the forest, warning that the journey could be dangerous.
• Black Bear walked away, then returned with a purple vine and strung the beehives together so he could carry them.
• Shande led Black Bear toward the forest’s edge as dawn approached.
• Richard studied the seamless square box and decided to use the Soul Worm spell to awaken the soul he suspected was inside it.
• After three days of practicing the spell, Richard sent a spiritual worm into the box, which shook violently before expelling the worm.
• Black mist emerged from the box and formed an old man, who cursed about the soul roundworm before asking Richard where he was.

Richard learned that the old man had several possible revival methods, but none guaranteed success. The old man discovered that Patton Academy and the Weizhede Kingdom had vanished, and Richard asked what reward he could offer for help in this unfamiliar era.

• The old man listed seven or eight revival methods and claimed that trying them would likely succeed, but Richard asked what reward he would receive.
• The old man promised benefits from Patton Academy, and Richard told him that the organization no longer existed.
• The old man insisted that the Weizhede Kingdom could not have fallen, but Richard confirmed that it had been destroyed.
• Richard explained that the Soma Alliance was the strongest power in the present world and that he had never heard of Weizhede.
• The old man accepted that he had awakened in an unfamiliar era and imagined enjoying life after revival, but Richard asked what he could offer in return.

Richard rejected the old man's proposed exchange of knowledge and combat aid for revival, explaining that he had no use for what the old man could offer. He warned the old man not to provoke him by showing him two other unresponsive soul containers, then returned to studying Devil Horn Powder.

• The old man offered to teach Richard preserved knowledge if Richard revived him, but Richard demanded to receive the knowledge first.
• Richard rejected the old man's claims of wisdom and usefulness, then told him a story to show that he did not need the old man's services.
• The old man threatened Richard, who interrupted him by placing a book and a Golden Mask with bite marks on the table.
• Richard explained that the objects contained souls that had stopped responding after he questioned them, and warned the old man not to become a third such case.
• The frightened old man asked who Richard was, while Richard began studying the Devil Horn Powder Shande had given him.

The chapter described Delan’s rise into a prosperous commercial center and introduced Xiaman, an indulgent Level 1 Low-Rank Wizard who left a pleasure house and headed home in his carriage. Shaer drove him away while two unseen observers watched from a nearby inn.

• Delan’s history showed how its merchants built a poor town into a wealthy southern commercial center despite dangerous trade routes.
• Xiaman left a pleasure house after an exhausting night and reflected that he had no regrets about choosing worldly pleasures over Wizard studies.
• Xiaman summoned his servant Shaer, who helped him into the carriage and brought him a hot towel.
• Shaer drove the sleeping Xiaman toward his residence while two pairs of eyes watched them leave from an inn.

Richard and Bobobo Wei Qi began their plan to infiltrate the Truth Society by targeting a weak member, whom Richard believed could lead them up the organization’s hierarchy. Richard’s analysis of stolen Black Iron Ring information left him convinced that the Truth Society was a loose, expansive branch of the same organization as the Supreme Order Divine Assembly.

• Bobobo Wei Qi questioned why Richard chose a weak Truth Society member as their first target, and Richard explained that the choice would attract less suspicion and let them follow the hierarchy upward.
• Bobobo Wei Qi realized Richard had concealed information about the Truth Society, but Richard did not reveal how he had learned it.
• Richard reflected that Black Iron Rings taken from the Truth Society had given him clues about its membership, organization, and relationship to the Supreme Order Divine Assembly.
• Richard concluded that the Truth Society was likely a large, loosely organized branch focused on expansion, making it more feasible to infiltrate than the elite Supreme Order Divine Assembly.
• Richard decided to use the opportunity to infiltrate the Truth Society and uncover its secrets.