Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “A Good Name (First Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• At a restaurant, Hao Fengjing is confronted by an aggressive older woman, who accuses her of secretly meeting another man and behaving improperly.
• Feng Jun explains that he and the two women are discussing enrollment for Hao Fengjing’s music classes, but the older woman continues provoking them.
• The young hostess, Li Shishi, openly defends Hao Fengjing and insults the older woman’s rude behavior. The woman’s nephew eventually recognizes that she is being unreasonable and persuades her to leave.
• Afterward, Hao Fengjing vents about her miserable marriage and in-laws. Her injured husband refuses to work, spends his time fooling around outside, and may bring other women home. Li Shishi urges Hao Fengjing to divorce him or retaliate, but Hao Fengjing insists divorce is not an option.
• The three continue drinking until late at night. Li Shishi teasingly suggests that Hao Fengjing have an affair with Feng Jun, then proposes that they stay overnight at the Penglai Grand Hotel.
• Feng Jun books two suites. Li Shishi reveals her name, Li Shishi, and continues flirting and joking with Feng Jun. She and Hao Fengjing eventually enter his room, where the group drinks and eats until nearly three in the morning.
• After Li Shishi falls asleep on the sofa and Hao Fengjing falls into a deep sleep, Feng Jun quietly dresses in black clothing and leaves through the twelfth-floor window, using his abilities to drift safely downward.
• Li Shishi wakes with a hangover and discovers that Feng Jun is missing. Curious, she enters the bedroom to search for him, eventually checking the bathroom and wardrobe before moving behind the curtains.

Character Developments

• Hao Fengjing becomes increasingly open about the emotional strain of her marriage and in-laws. Though outwardly composed, she is deeply frustrated, resentful, and trapped by her circumstances. Her attraction to Feng Jun is also suggested, though she remains hesitant to act on it.
• Feng Jun demonstrates loyalty by defending Hao Fengjing against the older woman. He also displays confidence, self-control, and extraordinary abilities by leaving the hotel from the twelfth floor without using the door.
• Li Shishi emerges as bold, outspoken, mischievous, and sexually confident. She strongly sympathizes with Hao Fengjing, openly flirts with Feng Jun, and shows considerable curiosity about their relationship.
• The older woman is portrayed as domineering, insulting, and hypocritical, while her nephew proves more reasonable by recognizing her behavior as excessive.
• Li Shishi’s brother, though not present in the main confrontation, is described as irresponsible and promiscuous, contributing to Hao Fengjing’s unhappy marriage.

Significant Themes

• Marriage, oppression, and resentment: Hao Fengjing’s unhappy relationship and hostile in-laws highlight the restrictions and emotional burdens placed on her.
• Judgment and reputation: The older woman repeatedly attacks Hao Fengjing’s morality, reflecting the chapter’s concern with gossip, “respectability,” and the importance of maintaining a good name.
• Female solidarity: Li Shishi supports Hao Fengjing rather than condemning her, offering both emotional validation and practical encouragement.
• Flirtation and forbidden attraction: The late-night drinking and teasing create romantic and sexual tension between Feng Jun, Hao Fengjing, and Li Shishi.
• Freedom and secrecy: Feng Jun’s mysterious nighttime departure suggests a hidden identity or mission, contrasting with the otherwise intimate and playful hotel encounter.

Character Interactions

• The restaurant confrontation brings Feng Jun, Hao Fengjing, Li Shishi, and the older woman into direct conflict, with Feng Jun and Li Shishi defending Hao Fengjing.
• Hao Fengjing and Li Shishi bond while criticizing Hao’s in-laws and discussing the possibility of divorce or infidelity.
• Li Shishi repeatedly teases Feng Jun and hints at her attraction to him, while Feng Jun responds with amused confidence.
• The chapter ends with Li Shishi searching for the absent Feng Jun, unaware that he has secretly left through the window.

Summary of “Night of Unease (Second Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• At around 4:50 a.m., Li Shishi discovers that Feng Jun has mysteriously left Hao Fengjing’s hotel room, even though the interior latch is still fastened. Concerned that Feng Jun’s enemies might harm her sister, she chooses to remain in the outer room rather than leave and risk leaving the door unsecured.
• While trying to sleep, Li Shishi hears noises from the bedroom and bathroom. She discovers that Feng Jun is still secretly present, hiding in the bathroom while Hao Fengjing covers for him. The bedroom window, which Li Shishi had previously found unlocked, is later inexplicably locked, suggesting Feng Jun has entered or exited through it.
• Li Shishi realizes that Feng Jun’s warning about danger was serious. Although she privately wishes she could stay with him and feels disappointed that she must leave, she returns to her own room at about 6:50 a.m.
• Later that morning, Director Luo wakes beside his lover and discovers that half of the woman’s hair has been shaved off while they slept. Neither of them remembers the incident clearly, and the bedroom door had remained locked from the inside.
• They discover that someone entered through a neatly cut opening in a kitchen window, despite the couple living on the eleventh floor. A camera left behind contains photographs and video of their affair, including footage from that very morning.
• Director Luo quickly concludes that Feng Jun carried out the intrusion as a warning. He recognizes that Feng Jun had both the motive and the unusual abilities or resources necessary to enter the apartment undetected and threaten them without directly injuring them.
• The couple considers calling the police but fears exposing their affair. Director Luo also realizes that Feng Jun is wealthy enough that blackmail is unnecessary; the camera is meant to demonstrate his power and frighten them.
• Director Luo regrets provoking Feng Jun and understands why Li Liangquan had previously avoided confronting him.
• Meanwhile, Li Liangquan remains busy at work and misses several calls from Director Luo. When Luo angrily berates him over the phone, Li Liangquan, already expecting trouble connected to Feng Jun, boldly tells Luo to fire him rather than resign. This would allow him to claim severance pay.

Character Developments

• Li Shishi becomes increasingly aware of Feng Jun’s dangerous capabilities. Her curiosity leads her to uncover his presence, while her concern for Hao Fengjing shows her loyalty to her sister. She also develops stronger admiration and romantic feelings toward Feng Jun, though she suppresses them.
• Feng Jun remains mostly unseen but establishes himself as a highly capable and intimidating figure. His silent intrusion, manipulation of the locked room, and psychological warning demonstrate that he can control a situation without direct violence.
• Hao Fengjing protects Feng Jun by pretending he is not in the room and reacts with embarrassed amusement toward Li Shishi. Her willingness to conceal him indicates trust and intimacy.
• Director Luo shifts from arrogance and aggression to fear and regret. He recognizes that he has seriously underestimated Feng Jun and begins reconsidering his previous actions.
• Director Luo’s lover becomes panicked and hysterical after the attack, focusing on the danger of the compromising evidence becoming public.
• Li Liangquan moves from anxious resignation to defiance. Rather than passively waiting to be fired, he uses the situation to protect his financial interests.

Significant Themes

• Psychological intimidation over physical violence: Feng Jun’s warning is frightening precisely because he harms neither victim directly, instead shaving hair and leaving evidence of the affair.
• Hidden power and vulnerability: Wealth, status, locked doors, and high-rise apartments offer Director Luo no protection against someone with greater ability and resources.
• Consequences of provoking powerful people: Director Luo realizes that his professional position cannot shield him from the consequences of antagonizing Feng Jun.
• Secrecy and exposure: The affair, Feng Jun’s hidden presence, and the unexplained events all depend on concealed information. Fear of public exposure prevents the victims from seeking help.
• Pragmatic self-interest: Li Liangquan turns a threatening situation into an opportunity to secure compensation, contrasting with Director Luo’s emotional and fearful reaction.

Character Interactions

• Li Shishi and Hao Fengjing: Their playful exchange reveals sisterly familiarity, with Li Shishi teasing Hao Fengjing and Hao responding with embarrassment and mock anger.
• Li Shishi and Feng Jun: Though they barely speak directly, Li Shishi becomes fascinated by Feng Jun’s mysterious actions and silently wishes to remain close to him.
• Director Luo and his lover: Their shared fear exposes the fragility of their relationship and their conflicting priorities—she worries about scandal, while he focuses on identifying and managing the threat.
• Director Luo and Feng Jun: They do not meet directly, but Feng Jun dominates the interaction through the intrusion and camera, forcing Luo to acknowledge his superiority.
• Director Luo and Li Liangquan: Luo vents his fear through an unusually harsh phone call, but Li Liangquan refuses to submit and challenges him to fire him.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Director Luo orders Li Liangquan to process Feng Jun’s withdrawal of over 100 million yuan immediately, revealing that higher authorities are pressuring the bank.
• Li refuses to take full responsibility, arguing that the bank cannot mobilize such a large amount on short notice. He also refuses Luo’s suggestion to delay Qinghai Real Estate’s funds, knowing he could be blamed for offending another major client.
• Luo instructs Li to contact Feng Jun while he rushes to the bank. Feng Jun responds by deciding to withdraw his money and close his account, having lost trust in the bank after its previous interference.
• The bank cannot gather the full amount before closing. Feng Jun transfers more than 40 million yuan that day and agrees to complete the account closure the following day.
• Feng demands to know what supposed problem existed with his account. Director Luo realizes the account was never actually problematic and that Feng is trying to identify the person behind the bank’s actions.
• Luo contacts Yu Qingzhu and admits that someone wanted to use the bank to teach Feng Jun a lesson. He asks her to mediate.
• Yu Qingzhu involves Xia Xiaoyu, who contacts Gao Qiang. Gao then approaches Yuan Huapeng, creating a chain of influential intermediaries willing to help Feng Jun.
• Yuan Huapeng asks Mayor Zang to investigate. The person targeting Feng Jun is identified as Cao Weihua, the son of a powerful and difficult deputy director in the city bureau.
• Mayor Zang warns that Cao Weihua’s father is a stubborn, well-connected official who may retaliate covertly if directly challenged. Yuan Huapeng, however, remains skeptical of the warning.

Character Developments

• Li Liangquan becomes more assertive and defensive. Having already suffered because of the bank’s actions, he refuses to let Director Luo shift the blame onto him.
• Director Luo is revealed as evasive and self-protective. He knows the bank mishandled Feng Jun’s account but lacks the courage to confront Feng directly or reveal who initiated the attack.
• Feng Jun demonstrates composure and resolve. Rather than arguing emotionally, he withdraws his funds, closes his account, and calmly demands accountability.
• Yu Qingzhu shows a willingness to take responsibility for her involvement in worsening the previous confrontation. Though she does not feel especially close to Feng Jun, she agrees to seek mediation.
• Xia Xiaoyu, Gao Qiang, and Yuan Huapeng reveal the strength of their relationships with Feng Jun and their readiness to help him.
• Yuan Huapeng becomes more protective of Feng Jun, actively investigating the people behind the attack instead of merely trying to resolve the immediate dispute.

Significant Themes

• Power and influence: Ordinary banking procedures are overridden by pressure from wealthy or politically connected figures.
• Responsibility and self-preservation: Li Liangquan refuses to become the scapegoat for decisions made by his superiors.
• Trust and betrayal: Feng Jun’s decision to close his account reflects his refusal to continue dealing with people who have already acted against him.
• Networks of relationships: Feng Jun’s influence is shown through the many powerful people willing to intervene on his behalf, even when they cannot contact him directly.
• Hidden conflict and retaliation: The apparent banking problem is only a tool in a broader attempt to suppress or intimidate Feng Jun, with the threat of covert retaliation still unresolved.

Character Interactions

• Li Liangquan and Director Luo clash over the withdrawal order, with Li openly challenging Luo’s attempt to delegate the risk.
• Feng Jun refuses Li’s plea to preserve the account but remains reasonable by allowing the bank until the next day to complete the transfer.
• Director Luo appeals to Yu Qingzhu, exposing the hidden motive behind the bank’s actions and hoping she can influence Feng Jun.
• Yu Qingzhu asks Xia Xiaoyu for help; Xia Xiaoyu then turns to Gao Qiang, who relies on Yuan Huapeng’s connection to investigate the matter.
• Yuan Huapeng and Mayor Zang discuss the identity and danger of the people targeting Feng Jun, establishing that the conflict may involve powerful political protection.

Chapter Summary: “How Coincidental Could It Be?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yuan Huapeng confirms that Director Luo’s backer is Cao Weihua, the son of a deputy director. He believes confronting Cao’s family directly would be possible but too costly.
• Yuan asks Feng Jun to show mercy toward Director Luo on behalf of Yu Qingzhu, who has intervened for Luo through Gao Qiang. Feng agrees to let Luo off this time but warns that Luo should not cross him again.
• During dinner, Hao Fengjing reveals that Cao Weihua was once involved in a notorious university scandal. He impregnated a female student, threatened her when she demanded marriage, and drove her to suicide. Her widely distributed suicide notes made the incident famous, after which Cao went abroad.
• Feng Jun is surprised that Cao has returned to Yang City and continued acting recklessly. Hao offers to help investigate him through former classmates and alumni who knew about the scandal.
• Feng, Hao, and Li Shishi spend the evening together, with Li serving as Hao’s “shield” against scrutiny from her mother-in-law.
• The next morning, Feng transfers a large sum of money at the bank. The account cannot be closed immediately, so Li Liangquan asks him to return in half a month.
• Back in White Apricot Town, Feng receives repeated invitations to dinner from Director Luo, first through Li Liangquan and then directly from Yu Qingzhu. Feng rejects both invitations, insisting that Luo is not worthy of his time.
• Yu Qingzhu claims she wants to mediate the conflict between Feng and Luo, leaving the chapter with Feng deciding whether to accept her involvement.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun becomes more confident and openly contemptuous of those attempting to manipulate or pressure him. He agrees to spare Luo only because of Yuan Huapeng’s favor, not because he has forgiven him.
• He also shows increasing strategic caution, choosing secluded locations, avoiding unnecessary exposure, and prioritizing the transfer of his money.
• Yuan Huapeng demonstrates loyalty despite his disagreements with his second brother-in-law. He helps Feng identify the real force behind the conflict and gains a favor from Feng by conveying Yu Qingzhu’s request.
• Hao Fengjing is shown as bold, emotionally frustrated, and pragmatic. She continues her affair with Feng partly as retaliation against her hostile mother-in-law and partly because she is attracted to him. She also proves willing to help Feng investigate Cao.
• Yu Qingzhu emerges as influential but somewhat presumptuous. She intervenes on Luo’s behalf without fully understanding the situation and assumes she can mediate Feng’s conflict.
• Director Luo appears increasingly desperate, repeatedly attempting to arrange a meeting after Feng rejects him.
• Cao Weihua is revealed to have a history of coercion, irresponsibility, and abuse of privilege, making him a more serious and morally corrupt opponent than Feng initially realized.

Significant Themes

• Power, influence, and connections: The conflict is shaped by family status, official networks, and favors rather than ordinary justice.
• Consequences of privilege: Cao’s past behavior shows how wealth and connections can allow someone to evade responsibility and return to public life.
• Manipulation and incomplete information: Luo conceals the truth from Yu Qingzhu, causing her to plead for him without understanding the stakes.
• Loyalty and reciprocity: Yuan helps Feng despite personal disagreements, while Feng repays that loyalty by granting Yuan’s request.
• Coincidence and interconnected lives: The person behind Feng’s troubles unexpectedly turns out to be connected to Hao’s past, making the conflict personal and reinforcing the chapter’s title.
• Revenge versus restraint: Feng is willing to punish those who target him, but he can also choose to stop when someone he respects asks him to.

Character Interactions

• Yuan Huapeng and Feng Jun interact with practical mutual respect despite their differing personalities and approaches.
• Hao Fengjing and Feng share a flirtatious, sexually charged relationship, mixed with humor and emotional support.
• Hao’s request to include Li Shishi shows her desire for protection and companionship while also drawing Li further into Feng’s personal affairs.
• Feng’s conversation with Hao about Cao shifts the story from a political/business conflict to a morally charged personal one.
• Li Liangquan acts as an intermediary between Feng and Luo, though Feng dismisses Luo’s invitations.
• Yu Qingzhu directly confronts Feng’s refusal and offers mediation, creating a new point of tension between her, Feng, and Luo.

Chapter Summary: “At the End of His Rope”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yu Qingzhu invites Feng Jun to dinner, supposedly to help settle his dispute with Director Luo. Feng refuses, criticizing the last-minute invitation and insisting that his agreement to resolve the grudge does not mean he must meet Luo socially.
• Yu then asks Feng to return the videos and photographs he possesses. Feng refuses, explaining that settling the dispute means he will stop actively pursuing Luo—not that he will surrender his safeguards. He also wants to protect Manager Li Liangquan, who risked warning him about Luo.
• Feng ends the call abruptly, angering Yu Qingzhu. He remains suspicious of her motives and dislikes what he sees as her demanding attitude.
• Construction begins at Luohua Manor. Supplies and work crews arrive while Feng and several companions continue cultivating in the rain.
• Sister Hong transfers another twenty million yuan into Feng’s bank account. Li Liangquan informs Feng of the deposit, leaving Feng frustrated because he had been trying to close or simplify his banking arrangements to prevent Sister Hong from becoming involved or facing pressure.
• Feng paces anxiously around the manor, while Crow follows him overhead, mistaking his movements for a game.
• The chapter then shifts to Cao Weihua’s perspective. His foreign diploma is revealed to be from a diploma mill, and he has been unable to gain genuine professional respect. Relying on his father’s reputation, he runs a small construction crew and becomes increasingly desperate to secure profitable projects before his father retires.
• Cao targets Luohua Manor’s perimeter-wall project, believing Feng’s wealth and relatively small entourage make him vulnerable. He initially pressures Feng through Wang Haifeng, then escalates by using connections in banking, construction, forestry, and local government.
• Cao also uses Director Luo, arranging benefits for Luo’s brother in exchange for cooperation. When Feng transfers money away and neutralizes the banking pressure, Cao realizes that many of his tactics have failed.
• Cao becomes especially angry with Director Luo, blaming him for incompetence. He also turns his resentment toward the mayor of White Apricot Town, whom he believes is the only person capable of breaking the stalemate over the manor’s land.
• However, the mayor refuses to become directly involved. After Zhao Haicheng is injured by Ermao, the town government retreats rather than risk its own interests and reputation.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Demonstrates caution, stubbornness, and a strong sense of self-protection. He keeps evidence against Director Luo as insurance, refuses to be pressured into a meeting, and quietly tries to shield Sister Hong from complications. His principles include repaying favors and distinguishing between gratitude and hostility.
• Yu Qingzhu: Becomes increasingly frustrated with Feng’s evasiveness and arrogance. Her attempt to act as an intermediary fails because Feng questions both her methods and her intentions.
• Li Liangquan: Continues to act carefully and maintain ties with Feng despite professional risks. His warning and cooperation earn Feng’s reluctant respect.
• Sister Hong: Shows continued financial support for Feng by transferring another large sum, unintentionally complicating his efforts to manage his bank account independently.
• Cao Weihua: Is revealed as insecure, opportunistic, and dependent on his father’s influence. His resentment grows as Feng refuses to respond to intimidation. He mistakes Feng’s initial silence for weakness, then becomes increasingly desperate when his strategies fail.
• Director Luo: Appears weak and ineffective. Though Cao attempts to use him, Luo fails to produce results and becomes the target of Cao’s anger.
• The mayor of White Apricot Town: Is portrayed as pragmatic and self-protective. He allows others to act on his behalf but refuses to personally risk his career over Cao’s interests.

Significant Themes

• Self-protection and leverage: Feng’s refusal to surrender incriminating materials reflects the importance of maintaining safeguards in a hostile environment.
• Actions versus appearances: Cao mistakes Feng’s lack of direct confrontation for weakness, only to discover that Feng is retaliating through quieter and more effective means.
• Power and political caution: The local officials and business figures are willing to cooperate when risks are low but retreat once direct consequences appear.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Feng’s concern for Manager Li shows that he values people who help him, even when he does not particularly like them.
• Pride and desperation: Cao’s ambition is driven less by confidence than by fear of losing access to power once his father retires.
• Indirect conflict: Much of the struggle unfolds through banks, contractors, officials, intermediaries, and rumors rather than open confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Yu Qingzhu: Their phone call reveals mutual distrust and irritation. Yu presses him to cooperate, while Feng rejects both the dinner invitation and the demand to return the evidence.
• Feng Jun and Director Luo: Their conflict remains unresolved publicly, but Feng considers it temporarily settled while retaining evidence in case Luo attacks again.
• Feng Jun and Li Liangquan: Li informs Feng about the new deposit, reinforcing a cautious but cooperative relationship.
• Feng Jun and Sister Hong: Their relationship is marked by quiet concern and indirect support. Feng tries to protect her from trouble, while she continues helping him financially without realizing the inconvenience it causes.
• Cao Weihua and Director Luo: Cao uses Luo for leverage, then berates him when Feng defeats the banking tactic.
• Cao Weihua and the mayor: Cao hopes the mayor will intervene over the land, but the mayor keeps his distance and refuses to risk himself.
• Cao Weihua and Feng Jun: Their conflict intensifies as Cao applies pressure from multiple directions, while Feng simply continues construction and refuses to be drawn into a direct confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “He Showed Himself”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cao Weihua decides to intensify his campaign against Luohua Manor after hearing that Zhang Weihong has transferred more money to Feng Jun. He plans to mobilize local villagers with cash payments, food, and cigarettes, guaranteeing a crowd of around two thousand people.
• The first protest is held in light rain outside Luohua Manor’s Mountain Gate. Only five or six hundred hired villagers appear, standing behind a banner demanding that their land be returned. The rain causes the ink to bleed, but the protest still creates a strong public-relations threat.
• Feng Jun arrives with Gazi, Wang Haifeng, manor workers, cameras, and additional security. He recognizes that Cao Weihua is using the villagers and media to shape public opinion, even though the land claim is legally baseless.
• To discourage the crowd from attacking, Feng has Gazi bring out several suitcases filled with cash. He announces that anyone who charges the gate will be treated as a robber and that killing them would constitute self-defense. The display of money shocks and intimidates both the protesters and Cao Weihua’s hidden cameramen.
• Cao Weihua personally confronts Feng Jun and warns him that the protest will grow to two thousand people the next day and that media coverage will make Feng’s visible wealth a liability.
• Feng refuses to back down. He challenges Cao Weihua’s threats, dismisses the power of Cao’s father—a deputy director—and implies that Cao’s own finances could also be investigated.
• Cao Weihua leaves confidently, warning Feng that he will regret his defiance. Feng remains unmoved and orders the protest equipment, tables, and meal carts to be cleared away.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun shows increasing confidence and willingness to confront powerful opponents directly. He understands the importance of public opinion but chooses an aggressive, unconventional countermeasure by openly displaying his wealth.
• Cao Weihua reveals himself as the main organizer behind the protest. He is manipulative, politically connected, and accustomed to intimidating others through his family background, but he becomes visibly frustrated when Feng refuses to be intimidated.
• Gazi remains a quiet, dependable enforcer for Feng, silently carrying out the cash-display tactic.
• The manor workers begin as reluctant, honest laborers but are encouraged by Feng’s promise of payment and protection to stand their ground if violence breaks out.
• Cao Weihua’s hired protesters and cameramen are shown as tools in a broader propaganda strategy rather than genuine representatives of the villagers’ interests.

Significant Themes

• Money as power: Both sides use money to mobilize people, influence events, and establish dominance. Feng’s wealth allows him to counter Cao’s paid protesters directly.
• Public opinion versus truth: Although the manor’s land ownership is legitimate, emotional slogans and staged media coverage may matter more than facts once the story reaches the internet.
• Power and intimidation: Cao relies on his father’s position and implied official influence, while Feng counters with financial strength and personal confidence.
• The danger of visibility: Feng wants to remain discreet, but defending himself publicly risks exposing his unusual wealth and attracting unwanted attention.
• Manipulation of ordinary people: Villagers and workers are treated as instruments by both sides, recruited through payment and directed toward confrontation.
• Escalation and brinkmanship: The confrontation ends without violence, but both men make clear that the conflict will intensify the following day.

Character Interactions

• Cao Weihua’s subordinates discuss recruiting and controlling the villagers, showing the deliberate organization behind the protest.
• Feng Jun encourages the manor workers and offers them money if they must defend the gate, changing their mood from hesitation to determination.
• Feng and Cao finally meet face-to-face. Cao threatens Feng with media pressure, investigations, and imprisonment, while Feng responds with sarcasm, defiance, and counter-threats.
• Their conversation establishes a direct personal rivalry: Cao believes official connections will eventually force Feng to submit, whereas Feng refuses to acknowledge Cao’s superiority and openly challenges him to act.

Chapter Summary: “Chaos”

Plot Points and Events

• Cao Weihua openly arranges for boxed meals to be distributed to the villagers opposing Feng Jun’s Mountain Gate project. He is unconcerned about being seen, believing the action can be justified as local support for villagers whose interests have been violated.
• Most of the crowd prepares to leave without attacking the manor. Wu Limin’s cousin provokes them by suggesting they should charge in so they can earn more money, especially since the rainy weather ought to bring double wages.
• The remark angers Cao Weihua, who declares that he will destroy Feng Jun within two days. Feng Jun retaliates verbally by bringing up Cao Weihua’s darkest past: the death of a mother and child, which leaves Cao furious and shaken.
• The villagers throw small stones as Cao and his people depart, but Feng Jun orders everyone at the manor to retreat and avoid escalation. The villagers then joke about staging injuries for compensation, revealing their opportunistic and playful attitude.
• Cao remains behind to supervise the distribution of money, while privately relying on a powerful contact in the tax bureau. This connection has helped him pressure multiple organizations, including Yang City Bank, into opposing Feng Jun.
• As the crowd travels away along the muddy road, villagers begin behaving strangely. Some stagger, collide with cars, hallucinate, strip off their clothes, or attack others.
• Cao discovers that more than half of the five or six hundred people have been affected, with dozens suffering severe episodes. Even some of his own lackeys become delusional and reveal sensitive information.
• The situation escalates into supernatural-looking chaos. One villager attacks a lackey over an imagined insult, while another behaves obscenely toward Cao. Terrified, Cao retreats with several men and watches helplessly from a distance, unable to explain what has happened.

Character Developments

• Cao Weihua is shown as arrogant, ruthless, and politically connected, but also increasingly frustrated and frightened when his carefully organized operation spirals beyond his control. His painful guilt—or at least discomfort—over the deaths of the mother and child is exposed when Feng Jun mentions them.
• Feng Jun remains calm, confident, and mocking. Rather than responding violently, he uses psychological pressure and allows Cao’s own aggression to collapse into disorder.
• Wu Limin’s cousin acts as a deliberate provocateur, hoping to push the villagers into violence so they can profit from injuries or compensation claims.
• The villagers shift between anger, greed, humor, and self-preservation. Although they initially appear ready to confront the manor, they ultimately prefer avoiding real danger while discussing ways to exploit the conflict.
• Cao’s lackeys demonstrate loyalty and willingness to intimidate others, but their confidence disappears once the villagers begin experiencing bizarre symptoms.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Cao Weihua engage in a hostile verbal exchange, with Feng Jun’s reference to the mother and child striking directly at Cao’s most sensitive memory.
• Wu Limin’s cousin provokes the villagers and indirectly causes them to reconsider whether rainy-day labor should command higher compensation.
• The villagers argue among themselves about attacking the manor, faking injuries, and dividing possible compensation.
• Cao’s men attempt to investigate and control the affected villagers, but their efforts fail as hallucinations and violent behavior spread.
• Cao is forced to witness the collapse of his own operation while relying on his lackeys for protection.

Significant Themes

• Power and arrogance: Cao’s confidence comes from money, political connections, and institutional influence, but these advantages prove useless against an unpredictable crisis.
• Manipulation and opportunism: Both sides attempt to exploit the villagers, while the villagers themselves look for ways to profit from the confrontation.
• Justice versus coercion: Cao frames his actions as support for local people, but his campaign is fundamentally an effort to force Feng Jun off the project.
• The limits of control: Cao believes he has planned every detail, yet the mysterious mass hallucinations transform his orderly operation into chaos.
• Revenge and buried guilt: Feng Jun’s taunt about the dead mother and child reveals that Cao’s past still holds emotional power over him.
• The supernatural and the inexplicable: The chapter ends with a disturbing, unexplained phenomenon that affects hundreds of people and leaves even the fearless Cao genuinely terrified.

Chapter Summary: “A Headless Fly”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun secretly uses Bewitching Poison Powder, a nonlethal supernatural drug from another plane, against Cao Weihua’s followers and the villagers gathered outside Luohua Manor.
• The powder causes hallucinations and mental disturbances. Those who threw stones suffer the worst symptoms because they were clustered closest to the Mountain Gate, while people standing farther away are largely unaffected.
• The villagers interpret the incident as divine punishment, debating whether Feng Jun is protected by a mountain god, river god, or other supernatural force. Rumors about Feng Jun keeping crows further strengthen their fear and reverence.
• Cao Weihua’s followers eventually claim that the victims were poisoned and take eight people to different hospitals for testing. Medical staff can only determine that the symptoms are unfamiliar; the powder cannot be easily detected or identified.
• Cao Weihua refuses to pay the villagers and retreats to a mahjong parlor to reconsider his strategy. Without the villagers’ cooperation, further public agitation or use of special police forces becomes impractical.
• His followers suggest investigating the strange events in White Apricot Town or hiring a professional killer. Cao initially considers assassination but becomes suspicious of the proposed price and the intermediary’s motives.
• The intermediary, offended by Cao’s distrust, secretly informs someone that Cao plans to attack Feng Jun, suggesting that the information may be sold to Feng.
• Feng Jun concludes that merely defending himself is insufficient. He decides to launch a more decisive counterattack against Cao Weihua and his allies.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun becomes increasingly uncompromising. Although he initially avoids harming large numbers of people, Cao’s arrogance and willingness to seize property convince him that a stronger warning—and possibly lethal action—is necessary.
• Cao Weihua shifts from arrogant confidence to confusion and panic. His authority weakens after the villagers’ bizarre reactions, the failure of his plan, and his followers’ inability to offer effective solutions.
• Cao’s followers lose confidence in him. Some are frightened, some try to distance themselves from responsibility, and at least one considers betraying Cao by selling information about his plans.
• The villagers move from paid opposition to fear and superstition. Their interpretation of the incident makes them unlikely to continue confronting Feng Jun.

Significant Themes

• Power and intimidation: Feng Jun’s supernatural methods undermine Cao’s attempt to use money, crowds, and institutional influence.
• Superstition versus rational explanation: The villagers interpret the poison’s effects as divine punishment, while Cao’s group struggles to frame them as an ordinary poisoning.
• Consequences of arrogance: Cao’s belief that others’ property can be taken without consequence drives him into an increasingly dangerous confrontation.
• Escalation and self-defense: Feng Jun’s response develops from restraint to planned retaliation, reflecting the idea that unchecked threats must eventually be eliminated.
• Fragile loyalty: Cao’s followers support him only while he appears powerful; once his position weakens, they begin considering self-preservation and betrayal.

Character Interactions

• Cao’s followers argue over whether Feng Jun’s attack was caused by poison or divine punishment, revealing their fear and uncertainty.
• Cao orders them to investigate the victims, but his command cannot restore control over the situation.
• His followers later debate possible strategies, including questioning people from White Apricot Town and hiring an assassin. Cao’s contemptuous response shows his growing desperation and cruelty.
• The follower offering assassin contacts feels insulted by Cao’s suspicion and secretly contacts another party, creating a possible link between Cao’s plans and Feng Jun.
• Feng Jun remains physically absent from most of the discussion, but his actions dominate everyone’s behavior and alter the balance of power around Luohua Manor.

Chapter Summary: “The Grim Reaper Descends”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hao Fengjing’s classmates investigate Cao Weihua and uncover extensive information about him and his father, Boss Cao, including their residences and vehicle details.
• Patrol officers arrive at Luohua Manor after reports that people were poisoned there. The guards refuse them entry without a search warrant or Feng Jun’s approval.
• Several elderly relatives of the affected victims arrive to beg Feng Jun for help. When refused, they set up an incense altar outside the manor and pray toward it, leaving the patrol officers stunned.
• Feng Jun secretly leaves the manor in the rain to retaliate against the Cao family. He travels to Yang City and identifies Boss Cao’s apartment in the Construction Committee Dormitory.
• Feng Jun decides that Boss Cao must pay for failing to control or properly raise Cao Weihua. He plans to make the death look accidental, resembling a fatal fall.
• After scouting the residential compound, Feng Jun encounters Boss Cao arriving home. Soon afterward, Boss Cao is killed when a flowerpot falls from above and strikes him. The incident is initially made to appear accidental.
• Cao Weihua returns home to mourn his father. He suspects Feng Jun was responsible, prompted by an eerie mental image of Feng Jun’s face appearing on a black crow.
• Cao Weihua asks an influential acquaintance, Uncle Guo, to arrange an investigation into Feng Jun, offering money. Uncle Guo refuses, emphasizing that Cao Weihua has no evidence and that their relationship does not extend to such favors.
• Furious, Cao Weihua smashes his phone and temporarily sets aside his suspicion while receiving mourners. The chapter ends when firecrackers begin sounding outside the building around ten o’clock, suggesting another ominous development.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun shifts from defensive retaliation to deliberate vengeance. Although normally cautious and controlled, he decides that a swift, ruthless punishment is necessary to intimidate future enemies. He also adopts a morally harsh view of collective responsibility, holding Boss Cao accountable for his son’s actions.
• Cao Weihua is shaken by his father’s sudden death and becomes increasingly paranoid. His certainty that Feng Jun is responsible reveals both his instincts and his inability to produce proof. His failed appeal to Uncle Guo also exposes how dependent he is on outside influence.
• Boss Cao is portrayed as a compromised father: not personally corrupt, but unable or unwilling to restrain his son. His decision to bring Cao Weihua back to Yang City makes him partly responsible for the harm Cao Weihua continues to cause.
• The patrol officers are placed in an awkward position. They wish to investigate, but the supernatural atmosphere, lack of evidence, and the guards’ defiance leave them hesitant and powerless.
• The manor guards remain loyal and uncompromising, protecting Feng Jun’s privacy and refusing to be intimidated by official authority or grieving families.

Significant Themes

• Vengeance and retribution: Feng Jun believes Cao Weihua’s wrongdoing demands punishment and that Boss Cao must pay for enabling him. The chapter presents revenge as calculated justice rather than an impulsive outburst.
• Parental responsibility: Boss Cao’s failure to raise or restrain his son becomes a central moral justification for his death.
• Justice versus legality: The authorities lack evidence and cannot act decisively, while Feng Jun imposes his own version of justice outside the law.
• Powerlessness and influence: Cao Weihua assumes money and connections can mobilize officials, but Uncle Guo’s refusal demonstrates that influence has limits.
• Supernatural fear and uncertainty: The praying relatives, the officers’ hesitation, the mysterious death, and the crow imagery create an atmosphere in which Feng Jun appears almost like an avenging supernatural force.
• Appearance versus reality: Boss Cao’s death is staged as an accident, while Cao Weihua recognizes the hidden possibility of murder but cannot prove it.

Character Interactions

• The manor guards confront the patrol officers and deny them entry, asserting Feng Jun’s authority over the estate.
• The guards reject the victims’ relatives’ pleas for help, forcing them to pray outside instead.
• Feng Jun observes Boss Cao without confronting him directly, then orchestrates his death through an apparently accidental falling flowerpot.
• Cao Weihua’s conversation with Uncle Guo highlights the gap between his expectations and the actual loyalty of his connections. Uncle Guo offers condolences but refuses to abuse his position without evidence.
• Cao Weihua’s grief, suspicion, and rage intensify as he realizes that his father’s death may be the first direct strike in Feng Jun’s revenge.

Chapter Summary: “Rainy Night Speeding”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cao Weihua is enraged when firecrackers are set off outside his residential compound. He discovers that the people responsible are the elderly parents of a young woman who had died by suicide years earlier, allegedly because of the Cao family.
• The old couple celebrates Director Cao’s death as retribution for their daughter’s suffering. Cao Weihua, overwhelmed by grief and fury, kicks the old man and nearly strikes the old woman before bystanders restrain him.
• As Cao Weihua crosses the road, a motorcycle speeds toward him in the rain at over 100 kilometers per hour. The rider appears to target him deliberately. Cao survives the collision attempt but suffers catastrophic injuries, including shattered legs and a broken lumbar spine, and falls into a coma. The lackey who saves him is also seriously injured.
• Police investigate the incident as attempted murder. The grieving elderly couple are initially the most obvious suspects, while Feng Jun is also suspected because of his bitter business conflict with Cao Weihua and because he benefits most from the Cao family’s downfall.
• Officers question Feng Jun at Luohua Manor, but he claims he remained inside all day and refuses to permit a search of the villa or surrounding grounds without a warrant. Lacking evidence, the police can do little beyond making inquiries.
• The manor’s growing supernatural reputation complicates the investigation. Large numbers of people leave incense and pray outside, believing the manor—or the mysterious “Crow”—has healing or other extraordinary powers.
• Two days later, the manor’s construction plans are approved and major building work begins. At the same time, the previously ill visitors recover, further strengthening the manor’s mysterious reputation.
• Cao Weihua’s condition stabilizes, but he becomes permanently unconscious—a vegetable. Director Cao’s wife suffers a breakdown and is hospitalized, leaving the Cao family devastated.
• Cao Weihua’s sister vows revenge against Feng Jun and sends people to investigate him, but locals avoid helping her. Zhang Hongfei discreetly warns the manor’s gatehouse to stay alert, signaling support for Feng Jun.
• Feng Jun realizes that the manor’s frightening reputation may protect it more effectively than a physical wall, though he still proceeds with construction. He remains inside and keeps a low profile while assuming the police are monitoring him.

Character Developments

• Cao Weihua: His father’s death and public humiliation drive him into a violent, irrational rage. His assault on the elderly couple reveals his lack of self-control. His attempted murder leaves him permanently comatose.
• The elderly couple: Their grief has hardened into a vindictive, almost manic satisfaction at Director Cao’s death. They openly welcome punishment and show no fear of Cao Weihua’s anger.
• Feng Jun: He remains calm, cautious, and legally careful when questioned. Although strongly suspected, he gives the police no usable evidence and understands the need to remain inconspicuous.
• Zhang Hongfei: He demonstrates goodwill toward Feng Jun by warning the manor about Cao Weihua’s sister, strengthening their informal alliance.
• The Cao family: The family collapses under successive disasters: Director Cao dies, Cao Weihua becomes a vegetable, and his wife suffers a mental and physical breakdown. His sister becomes consumed by revenge.

Significant Themes

• Retribution and delayed justice: The elderly couple believe Director Cao’s death fulfills a long-awaited punishment for their daughter’s death.
• Power, corruption, and impunity: Director Cao once protected his son through influence, while the police now struggle to investigate Feng Jun because suspicion alone cannot overcome his wealth and status.
• Reputation as power: Luohua Manor’s supernatural image becomes a form of protection, discouraging people from investigating or opposing Feng Jun.
• Grief turning into madness: Both the elderly couple’s celebration and Cao Weihua’s violent breakdown show how prolonged suffering and loss can distort people’s behavior.
• Evidence versus suspicion: Feng Jun is the likely beneficiary and a plausible mastermind, but the police lack proof and must follow legal procedures.
• Caution after success: Despite gaining power and influence, Feng Jun recognizes that he must avoid drawing attention while the police and Cao family remain suspicious.

Character Interactions

• Cao Weihua confronts and attacks the elderly couple, while bystanders restrain him from escalating the violence.
• The old couple taunt him by invoking retribution, intensifying his rage.
• A lackey saves Cao Weihua from the speeding motorcycle but is injured in the process, illustrating both loyalty and the dangerous consequences of Cao’s situation.
• Police officers question Feng Jun and attempt to inspect Luohua Manor, but he firmly limits their access and redirects the conversation toward the county government’s broken construction agreement.
• Zhang Hongfei indirectly contacts the gatehouse to warn Feng Jun about the Cao family’s investigation, showing quiet cooperation between the two men.
• The broader public treats Luohua Manor as a supernatural place, leaving offerings and prayers, which further isolates and protects Feng Jun.

Chapter Summary: “Innate Celebration (Second Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• During his recovery, Feng Jun sent fifty Boiler-Backed Engines to the Phone Plane. Over thirty sold quickly, producing substantial profits. Their popularity also increased demand for more expensive diesel generators, whose convenience, quiet operation, and prestige appealed to wealthy buyers.
• Once Luohua Manor was operating smoothly, Feng Jun returned to the Cultivation Plane with food, five farm vehicles, and five all-terrain vehicles. He agreed to teach people how to drive but refused to sell vehicles because he lacked the time to maintain them.
• Feng Jun, Yu Changzhu, and others trained twenty people to drive. Lang Zhen, Bao Ge’er, Tian Lewen, and the very young Liu Feifei showed exceptional talent. Tian Lewen was especially skilled at controlling the unstable three-wheeled farm vehicles and became the best instructor.
• Guests began arriving for Feng Jun’s Innate Celebration. Important attendees included Deng Yifu and his family, representatives of the Mi and Yu families, Han County Magistrate, the Earl of North Garden, the Prefect, the Heir of the Duke of Bravery, and an aide representing the Commandery Governor.
• During the ceremony, Han County Magistrate invited Feng Jun to register in Zhige County, while the Prefect personally granted him one hundred mu of land. This land represented official recognition and effectively confirmed Feng Jun’s local status.
• The gift lists were publicly announced despite Feng Jun’s discomfort. Notable gifts included a spirit weapon from the Duke of Bravery’s heir, a cultivation technique from the Tian Family, two severed heads from Deng Yifu, an order for thirty Boiler-Backed Engines from the Commandery Governor, and a valuable Eastern Splendor Geomantic Map from the Earl of North Garden.
• Feng Jun delivered the central teaching of the celebration. Rather than discussing abstract Dao principles, he explained practical applications of Outward Internal Energy Release while hovering three feet above the ground.
• His practical and open instruction impressed many attendees, though the Heir of the Duke of Bravery became distracted by Feng Jun’s prolonged levitation and questioned whether a newly advanced Innate Expert should be capable of remaining airborne for so long.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun continues expanding his influence across both planes. His technology business is becoming highly profitable, while his status in the Cultivation Plane is being formally recognized through land, household registration, and the Innate Celebration.
• Lang Zhen demonstrates loyalty and restraint by wanting to bring his family to the celebration but accepting Feng Jun’s warning that their current base is not yet secure. His sharp observation and driving skill further establish him as one of Feng Jun’s most capable subordinates.
• Yu Changzhu is revealed as the “Second Young Master Yu” and becomes one of Feng Jun’s driving apprentices, showing her enthusiasm for modern technology.
• Tian Lewen stands out as an intelligent and perceptive member of the Tian Family. His exceptional vehicle control makes him a natural driving instructor.
• Liu Feifei, despite being under eight years old and physically too small for the driver’s seat, proves remarkably capable and even learns to use turn signals.
• Deng Yifu shows his boldness and close relationship with Feng Jun by giving him the heads of the fake constables connected to Feng Jun’s past troubles.
• The Heir of the Duke of Bravery appears observant but becomes visibly stunned by Feng Jun’s apparent mastery of levitation.

Significant Themes

• Technology and social status: Diesel generators sell not only because they are practical but because they signify wealth and prestige. The chapter emphasizes that luxury goods are often valued as symbols of identity.
• Cultural exchange between worlds: Feng Jun’s vehicles and generators introduce modern technology into the Cultivation Plane, while the Cultivation Plane offers him land, martial knowledge, maps, and social recognition.
• Practical knowledge versus abstract wisdom: Feng Jun chooses to teach a concrete technique rather than repeat vague or exhausted discussions of the Dao. The chapter suggests that useful knowledge can be more valuable than traditional formalism.
• Recognition and belonging: The granting of land and local registration symbolizes Feng Jun’s transition from outsider to accepted figure in Zhige County.
• Hierarchy and honor: The celebration’s gift-giving customs show how seriously people treat relationships with Innate Experts. A poorly chosen gift could be interpreted as an insult, while thoughtful gifts demonstrate respect and allegiance.
• Adaptability and talent: The driving lessons highlight how people from different backgrounds respond to unfamiliar technology, with observation, curiosity, and instinct determining success more than social rank.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun works closely with Lang Zhen, Yu Changzhu, and other apprentices while introducing them to vehicles.
• Lang Zhen discusses bringing his family to the celebration, but Feng Jun advises against it because the Lang Family lacks sufficient self-defense ability.
• The Prefect and Han County Magistrate jointly formalize Feng Jun’s local standing, with the Prefect personally granting him land.
• The various families and officials use their gifts to express respect, practical interest, or political connection. The Commandery Governor’s purchase request links official recognition with Feng Jun’s technology business.
• During Feng Jun’s teaching, the Prefect praises his generosity, while the Heir of the Duke of Bravery focuses on the unusual spectacle of Feng Jun remaining suspended in the air, hinting that Feng Jun’s abilities may exceed what is expected of a newly advanced Innate Expert.

Chapter Summary: “Someone Had Poisoned the Food”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun hosts a lavish three-day celebration after advancing to the Innate realm. He gives a half-hour Dao lecture while effortlessly hovering in the air, astonishing the Heir of the Duke of Bravery and others with his rapid mastery.
• The celebration includes inner and outer banquets, plays, storytellers, and food for tens of thousands of people. Over thirty thousand guests attend, and the Tian, Yu, and Mi Families help maintain order.
• The prefect initially plans to leave but stays after Deng Yifu persuades him to enjoy the evening’s entertainment.
• Feng Jun illuminates the celebration with diesel generators, Boiler-Backed Engines, and spectacular Blue Star fireworks. The fireworks amaze both the nobles and ordinary residents, many of whom have never seen anything similar.
• As the banquet proceeds, a Yu Family disciple reports that someone has poisoned the food with Blue Umbrella Mushroom Powder mixed with Red Ant Eggs. The combination conceals the mushroom’s distinctive scent and could kill anyone who consumed it.
• The Yu Family had discovered the poisoning because Feng Jun had arranged for them to supervise food preparation and safety. They secretly placed the suspected poisoners under surveillance rather than immediately confronting them.
• Yu Zhengqing criticizes this cautious approach, arguing that poisoners are especially dangerous and should never be underestimated. He moves to arrest them, while the Earl of North Garden asks the powerful Wu Consecrated Elder to assist.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates that his recent advancement to Innate has already given him remarkable control and practical ability. His effortless hovering suggests that his cultivation progress is far beyond normal expectations.
• He also appears generous and thoughtful, organizing an enormous public celebration and ensuring that both nobles and commoners are entertained and well fed. At the same time, his reluctance to promise that he will remain in Zhige County reflects his independent, traveling nature.
• The Heir of the Duke of Bravery recognizes that Feng Jun’s advancement is unusual and begins to understand that cultivation is only a secondary pursuit for him.
• The prefect reveals a fondness for entertainment and is deeply impressed by Feng Jun’s modern-style lighting and fireworks.
• Deng Yifu shows political influence by persuading the prefect to stay, indicating the growing strength of the Deng Family and its alliance with Feng Jun.
• Han County Magistrate becomes increasingly attached to Feng Jun’s presence because the celebration brings unprecedented happiness and prosperity to the county.
• The Yu Family proves its expertise in poison detection and its disciplined handling of crises. Yu Zhengqing, however, is more aggressive and insists on immediate action against the suspected poisoners.
• Tian Family disciples display both loyalty and fear toward Feng Jun, even joking about keeping some fireworks before quickly rejecting the idea of misappropriating his property.

Significant Themes

• Extraordinary cultivation and talent: Feng Jun’s rapid mastery of Innate abilities contrasts with the normal months of practice expected from other cultivators.
• Modernity transforming a traditional world: Generators, industrial fireworks, organized mass catering, and public entertainment introduce Blue Star technology and concepts into the agricultural society.
• Public generosity and political influence: Feng Jun’s celebration wins popular affection while also strengthening his relationships with local officials, noble families, and influential powers.
• Order beneath extravagance: Despite the enormous crowd, the event remains peaceful because of careful organization and cooperation among several powerful families.
• Hidden danger beneath celebration: The joyful feast is suddenly threatened by poisoning, emphasizing that political and personal enemies can strike even during moments of triumph.
• Caution versus decisive action: The Yu Family’s surveillance-based approach conflicts with Yu Zhengqing’s demand for immediate arrest, setting up tension over how best to deal with poisoners.

Character Interactions

• The Heir and his attendant discuss Feng Jun’s abnormal cultivation progress, with the attendant reminding him that exceptional people cannot be judged by ordinary standards.
• Deng Yifu persuades the prefect to remain in Zhige County, demonstrating their political cooperation and the prefect’s respect for the Deng Family.
• The prefect and Deng Yifu exchange humorous remarks about entertainment, poetry, and fireworks.
• Han County Magistrate asks Feng Jun to stay permanently, while Mr. Shi rebukes him for being greedy and Earl of North Garden respectfully invites Feng Jun to visit his residence.
• Feng Jun consults with the Yu Family after learning of the poisoning and acknowledges their careful, methodical response.
• Yu Zhengqing challenges the Yu Family disciple’s decision not to arrest the suspects immediately, and the Earl of North Garden supports his position by calling on Wu Consecrated Elder for help.

Chapter Summary: “New Grudges and Old Hatreds”

Key Plot Points and Events

• During the Earl of North Garden’s banquet, poisoners infiltrate the gathering and attempt to contaminate the food.
• Wu Consecrated Elder, an expert in poisons, works with the Yu Family to expose and capture five assassins. Three commit suicide by biting hidden poison capsules, while two are knocked unconscious and disarmed.
• Feng Jun identifies the attackers as members of the Yangshan Gu Clan through divination.
• The attempted poisoning was intended to kill or seriously harm more than a thousand guests and ruin Feng Jun’s reputation.
• Feng Jun decides to destroy the Gu Clan immediately, treating the attack as an intolerable provocation.
• Mr. Shi offers the Commandery Governor’s assistance, first hinting at repayment but later agreeing to help locate Gu Maoyuan, the Gu Clan’s Innate expert, without demanding anything in return.
• Feng Jun and his allies secretly mobilize over five hundred fighters, including more than four hundred commandery soldiers and dozens of Martial Masters.
• To conceal the military operation, the banquet continues normally while the troops leave through the rear gate. Fireworks are deliberately prolonged to mask the convoy’s departure.
• The forces use farm vehicles and all-terrain vehicles to travel rapidly toward Yangshan. Feng Jun leads the convoy on a motorcycle as a scout.
• Those left behind—including the Earl of North Garden, the heir apparent, and the prefect—are deeply impressed by the vehicles’ speed and military potential.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun becomes openly vengeful and resolute. He views the Gu Clan’s use of poison against civilians as morally contemptible, worse than an open attack, and reaffirms that he will destroy them even without official support.
• His strong sense of principle is emphasized: he dislikes treating the deaths of ordinary people as bargaining leverage and values those who help him sincerely.
• Feng Jun also shows confidence in confronting Gu Maoyuan, believing that even if the Innate expert escapes, he can pursue him indefinitely.
• Mr. Shi shifts from appearing politically calculating to demonstrating genuine practicality and loyalty to the commandery’s interests. His offer to locate Gu Maoyuan earns Feng Jun’s respect.
• Wu Consecrated Elder is shown to be highly capable and cautious, successfully preventing most of the poisoning attempt despite losing three prisoners to suicide.
• Gu Maoyuan is characterized indirectly as the central surviving threat. Feng Jun expects his concern for the Gu bloodline may prevent him from abandoning his clan entirely.
• The Earl, prefect, and heir apparent gain a stronger appreciation of modern vehicles and begin imagining their military and logistical value.

Significant Themes

• Justice versus political bargaining: Feng Jun rejects the idea that mass civilian deaths should be used to negotiate favors from the authorities.
• Principle and reciprocity: The chapter stresses Feng Jun’s belief that sincere assistance creates an obligation, while conditional help feels morally inferior.
• Open courage versus underhanded cruelty: Feng Jun respects enemies who attack openly but despises the Gu Clan for hiding behind poison and targeting helpless civilians.
• Traditional power meeting modern technology: The convoy demonstrates the strategic advantages of vehicles, especially rapid movement, troop transport, and nighttime operations.
• Escalation of grudges: The Gu Clan’s attack transforms an old rivalry into an immediate campaign of extermination.
• Political authority and private power: Feng Jun can act independently, but cooperation with the commandery reduces the cost and danger of confronting an Innate expert.

Character Interactions

• Wu Consecrated Elder and the Yu Family cooperate efficiently to stop the poisoners, though Wu privately doubts Feng Jun’s divination.
• Yu Zhengqing urges patience, preferring Feng Jun to identify the assassins before interrogating the surviving prisoners.
• Mr. Shi and Feng Jun negotiate over government support. Their exchange reveals mutual testing: Mr. Shi probes Feng Jun’s willingness to repay favors, while Feng Jun resists conditional assistance.
• Mr. Shi’s later offer to locate Gu Maoyuan changes Feng Jun’s view of him and establishes a more cooperative relationship.
• Feng Jun organizes the allied clans and commandery soldiers into a covert expedition, relying on their discipline and available vehicles.
• The Earl, prefect, and heir apparent observe the departure together, bonding over their astonishment at the vehicles and their possible effect on warfare.

Chapter Summary: “A Night Raid Through the Leaks”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun’s forces endure a difficult six-hour winter journey by trucks and horseback before reaching the territory of the Yangshan Gu Clan.
• The group considers attacking either Sanjia Market Town or Gu Family Village, the two main centers of Gu Clan power. A direct assault on the town could cause heavy civilian casualties and might alert the village.
• Mr. Shi proposes targeting the Gu Clan’s Outer Repository, a large warehouse situated between the town and village. Attacking it would force both locations to send reinforcements, allowing Feng Jun’s forces to ambush them.
• Mr. Shi reveals that the Gu Clan’s leaders hold emergency meetings in the dining hall at the training grounds rather than in the family hall. This intelligence reflects the imperial court’s extensive surveillance of powerful aristocratic families.
• Feng Jun accepts the plan. His forces prepare an ambush: poison the repository’s perimeter, attack with a small force, and conceal the main troops along the roads to strike incoming reinforcements.
• Feng Jun leaves Mr. Shi behind and infiltrates Gu Family Village alone using his map, aerial movement, and night-vision goggles.
• Inside the village, he observes young Gu Clan children training before dawn, briefly acknowledging the discipline behind the clan’s strength despite its cruelty.
• Feng Jun plants five large explosive charges around the training-ground dining hall, where Gu Clan leaders are expected to gather.
• The attack on the Outer Repository begins, setting it ablaze. Bells immediately sound throughout the village, mobilizing hundreds of Gu Clan fighters and sending mounted scouts toward the repository.
• Realizing he has little time before the Gu Clan responds, Feng Jun flies toward a large tree near the training grounds, preparing for the next stage of the attack.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates strategic flexibility and ruthlessness. Although he initially considers a direct assault, he accepts a more sophisticated plan designed to divide and ambush the Gu Clan. He remains highly confident in his abilities but has also learned not to underestimate the world’s native experts, recalling Patron Wu’s potential danger.
• Mr. Shi is shown to be both politically informed and militarily capable. His knowledge of the Gu Clan’s internal operations proves crucial, while his confidence reveals his pride in the imperial court’s intelligence network. He is also an Intermediate Martial Master, not merely a government aide.
• The Gu Clan is characterized as disciplined, well-organized, and militarily prepared. Its young children train from an early age, and its members respond rapidly to alarms, demonstrating the foundations of its longstanding power.
• Patron Wu does not appear directly, but his earlier assistance—particularly the poison Feng Jun uses—reminds Feng Jun of the hidden dangers posed by powerful local figures.

Significant Themes

• Strategy versus brute force: Feng Jun and Mr. Shi avoid a costly frontal assault in favor of deception, baiting, ambushes, and targeted explosives.
• The hidden power of information: Mr. Shi’s intelligence about the Gu Clan’s meeting place is as important as martial strength, emphasizing espionage as a tool of political control.
• Imperial surveillance and aristocratic power: The imperial court secretly monitors and prepares plans against influential clans, revealing deep tension between central authority and hereditary families.
• Discipline alongside moral corruption: The Gu Clan’s rigorous training and efficient organization explain its strength, but its willingness to treat human lives cruelly makes its decline seem justified in Feng Jun’s eyes.
• Modern tactics in a traditional world: Poison, explosives, vehicles, night-vision goggles, and aerial movement give Feng Jun’s forces an unconventional advantage over the Gu Clan.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Mr. Shi engage in a strategic discussion over the best target, with Mr. Shi steering Feng Jun away from a direct attack.
• Feng Jun recognizes and praises Mr. Shi’s intelligence network, while Mr. Shi proudly defends the imperial court’s efforts to control the aristocratic families.
• Mr. Shi asks to accompany Feng Jun into the village, but Feng Jun refuses, explaining that his presence would interfere with Feng Jun’s actions.
• Feng Jun coordinates the broader assault with the leaders of the allied families, leaving Yu Zhengqing in command of the participating forces.
• The chapter ends with Feng Jun separated from the main force inside Gu Family Village, while the Gu Clan mobilizes in response to the burning repository, setting up an imminent confrontation.

Chapter Summary: Blade Light Like Snow

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun hides in a large tree near the Gu Family Village’s martial training ground, having already planted over two hundred kilograms of explosives. He waits for the village’s senior experts to gather, hoping to strike first.
• Reports arrive that the Gu Clan’s Outer Depot is under attack, causing the villagers and martial disciples to assemble defensively. Three powerful gray-clad figures, addressed as “Ancestors,” arrive at the training ground. Feng Jun suspects one of them is Gu Maoyuan but cannot identify him.
• Using night-vision equipment, Feng Jun aims a Barrett rifle at the cafeteria where the three experts and other senior Gu Clan members have gathered. When startled birds reveal his movement, he fires and detonates the explosives almost simultaneously.
• The explosions devastate the training ground and completely destroy the cafeteria, killing or incapacitating the disciples gathered there. Feng Jun then openly reveals himself outside the ruined compound.
• The Gu Clan disciples react with a mixture of terror and fury. More than thirty attack Feng Jun, but only two are Martial Masters. Feng Jun cuts through them with his spirit blade, killing more than twenty disciples and both Martial Masters.
• Feng Jun enters the ruined training ground and kills the Shadow Mountain Lord, who attempts to assassinate him with poisoned daggers. He collects the daggers and then attacks the cafeteria ruins after learning that Gu Maoyuan and another important figure may still be alive.
• Gu Maoyuan emerges from the wreckage and engages Feng Jun in a fierce duel. Though Gu Maoyuan is a veteran Innate Expert and wields a spirit sword, Feng Jun matches him strike for strike.
• A second Innate Expert suddenly emerges from the ruins, having disguised himself with the Bone-Shrinking Technique. The ambush was designed to trap Feng Jun between two powerful opponents.
• Feng Jun avoids being surrounded, fights the second expert separately, and notices that the man was injured by the explosion and lacks protective armor. He decides to kill the weaker opponent first while Gu Maoyuan continues attacking.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates careful planning, patience, and tactical cunning by combining explosives, firearms, night-vision equipment, and martial skill. He deliberately targets the Gu Clan’s leadership and uses the chaos to control the battlefield.
• His reputation has grown into a source of genuine fear. The Gu Clan knows of his previous victories over powerful nobles, his destruction of the Immortal Formation, and his advancement to the Innate realm.
• Feng Jun also displays overwhelming combat confidence. He accepts attacks without retreating, kills numerous opponents effortlessly, taunts his enemies, and remains calm even when facing two Innate Experts.
• Gu Maoyuan is revealed as a veteran Innate Expert and a proud, enraged leader. Although he believes his experience should give him an advantage, he is forced to acknowledge that Feng Jun can fight him evenly.
• The second Innate Expert is shown to be deceptive and strategic, using a disguise and ambush tactics. However, his injuries and lack of protection make him vulnerable.
• The ordinary Gu Clan disciples are divided between panic and loyalty. Some flee immediately, while others attack despite knowing Feng Jun’s fearsome reputation, valuing clan honor above survival.

Significant Themes

• Fear versus loyalty: Feng Jun’s reputation causes some Gu Clan members to panic, but the clan’s long history and internal solidarity drive others to fight despite overwhelming odds.
• Honor and vengeance: The Gu Clan considers Feng Jun’s punishment of traitorous members an internal matter, believing only Gu Clan members have the right to kill their own. Their anger is fueled by wounded clan pride and the deaths of their people.
• Strategy over brute force: Feng Jun’s victory depends not only on martial strength but also on preparation, explosives, firearms, reconnaissance, and exploiting enemy weaknesses.
• The clash between old power and rising power: Gu Maoyuan represents the authority and experience of an ancient clan, while Feng Jun embodies a younger, rapidly rising force capable of challenging established experts.
• Ruthlessness and justice: Feng Jun frames his violence as cutting down “injustice beneath heaven,” but his actions are brutal and uncompromising, blurring the line between righteous vengeance and destruction.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun silently observes the Gu Clan’s leaders before striking, maintaining the advantage through concealment and surprise.
• The Gu Clan disciples identify him publicly and react with terror, while the braver members challenge him in defense of their clan.
• Feng Jun kills the attacking disciples and mocks their resistance through a boastful verse about his newly received spirit blade.
• He kills the Shadow Mountain Lord during a surprise attack, then collects the assassin’s poisoned daggers.
• Gu Maoyuan and Feng Jun exchange taunts as they begin their duel, each challenging the other to face his weapon. Their battle reveals mutual recognition of one another’s strength, though Feng Jun remains more dismissive.
• When the second Innate Expert attacks, Feng Jun immediately adapts, refusing to remain trapped between two enemies. He shifts his focus toward eliminating the injured opponent first, setting up the next stage of the battle.

Summary of “Intrigue and Deception”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun battles two Innate experts: Gu Maoyuan and a heavily injured, disguised big man who is impersonating or assisting Gu Maoyuan.
• Gu Maoyuan attempts to exploit Feng Jun’s defenses with his spirit longsword, but Feng Jun uses his superior agility, protective equipment, and the Black Iron Token to withstand the attacks.
• Feng Jun focuses on the injured big man, repeatedly overwhelming him despite Gu Maoyuan’s attempts to intervene with the Falling Thunder Sword Technique.
• The big man tries to escape by leaping into the air, but Feng Jun anticipates the move, knocks him back to the ground, breaks his spirit saber, destroys his Golden Armor Talisman, and finally cuts him into three pieces. The man’s hidden chainmail protects only part of his body.
• Feng Jun notices that the big man could have fled earlier but instead fought to the death, suggesting that his actions were part of a larger plan.
• After Feng Jun’s Black Iron Token is finally cut in half, Gu Maoyuan accuses him of murdering Gu Clan members. Feng Jun counters that the Gu Clan poisoned his Innate Celebration.
• Gu Maoyuan pretends to seek an explanation and tries to delay the fight. Feng Jun suspects he is stalling while waiting for additional Gu Clan experts to gather.
• To prevent the Gu Clan from surrounding him, Feng Jun attacks and kills another Gu Clan Martial Master, then resumes his duel with Gu Maoyuan.
• Their weapons clash repeatedly. Feng Jun realizes Gu Maoyuan’s spirit sword is superior to his own saber, so he avoids unnecessary direct weapon collisions.
• When the Gu Clan members retreat, Feng Jun attempts to pursue and kill them. They respond by throwing explosive nets designed to restrain even an Innate expert.
• Feng Jun narrowly evades the nets with an abrupt aerial maneuver, but upon landing, his legs weaken and his inner breath becomes sluggish. He realizes that the Gu Clan has secretly used poison.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates tactical intelligence, adaptability, and ruthlessness. Rather than fighting both Innate opponents equally, he isolates and eliminates the weaker one first. He also recognizes Gu Maoyuan’s deceptive behavior and refuses to let the Gu Clan buy time.
• Gu Maoyuan is revealed as more calculating than openly aggressive. Although furious over the deaths of his clan members, he prioritizes delaying Feng Jun and waiting for reinforcements. His superior spirit sword shows the Gu Clan’s accumulated wealth and resources.
• The big man is exposed as vulnerable despite being an Innate expert. His injuries, disguised physique, inadequate defensive equipment, and refusal to flee ultimately lead to his death. His strange persistence suggests he was sacrificing himself as part of the Gu Clan’s broader strategy.
• The Gu Clan members shift from direct combat to coordinated tactics, retreating, setting traps, and using explosive restraining nets and poison to overcome Feng Jun’s individual strength.

Significant Themes

• Intrigue and deception: The battle is not merely a contest of martial strength. Disguises, stalling tactics, hidden armor, poison, and traps determine the course of the conflict.
• Preparation versus raw power: Feng Jun survives through protective equipment and tactical planning, while the Gu Clan relies on accumulated resources, coordinated attacks, and concealed weapons.
• Family power and inherited wealth: Gu Maoyuan’s superior spirit sword and the clan’s supply of talismans and specialized weapons reflect the advantages of an ancient, powerful family.
• Ruthlessness and retaliation: Feng Jun views the conflict as justified retaliation for the poisoning attempt and responds by killing Gu Clan members without hesitation.
• The danger of overconfidence: The Gu Clan initially believes that numbers and ambushes can defeat Feng Jun, while Feng Jun’s confidence is shaken when he discovers that their preparations include poison.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun repeatedly frustrates Gu Maoyuan’s attempts to support his companion, forcing Gu Maoyuan into increasingly cautious and defensive tactics.
• Gu Maoyuan and the big man cooperate against Feng Jun, but their partnership breaks down when Feng Jun focuses on the injured man and prevents him from escaping.
• Feng Jun and Gu Maoyuan exchange accusations over the deaths of Gu Clan members and the poisoning of Feng Jun’s celebration, revealing the mutual hostility and conflicting narratives between them.
• Feng Jun deliberately targets Gu Clan Martial Masters to prevent Gu Maoyuan from gathering enough allies to overwhelm him.
• The Gu Clan’s non-Innate fighters support Gu Maoyuan indirectly by retreating, deploying nets, and poisoning the battlefield rather than confronting Feng Jun directly.
• The chapter ends with Feng Jun still alive but suddenly compromised, as the Gu Clan’s hidden poison begins to take effect.

Chapter Summary: “Hope”

Key Plot Points and Events

• During his battle with Feng Jun, Gu Maoyuan reveals that Feng Jun has been affected by Qi-Dispersing Powder, a rare and extremely expensive substance secretly placed on the branches of a large tree near the training ground.
• The trap was prepared seven years earlier as a precaution against possible investigation by the imperial court. Gu Maoyuan uses the situation to confirm that Feng Jun has connections to the court and that the court is hostile toward the Aristocratic Families Alliance.
• Gu Maoyuan deliberately stalls for time while waiting for Feng Jun’s inner qi to disappear. Feng Jun realizes this and pretends that he has also been delaying, but eventually withdraws from the Phone Plane.
• Back in his own world, Feng Jun undergoes a thorough medical examination. His body is perfectly healthy—even unusually youthful—but his inner qi gradually disappears completely.
• Feng Jun tries numerous remedies, including the Yu Family’s Detoxification Pill, Body-Tempering Pills, Meridian Opening Pills, Origin-Nurturing Pills, a Sub-Spirit Green Shoot, spiritual energy absorption, and several cultivation methods. None restore his qi.
• He concludes that his body remains in the condition of an Innate Expert, but his inner breath has been entirely dispersed. Although he can still sense spiritual energy and retains formidable physical strength, he cannot cultivate or generate qi.
• Feng Jun becomes increasingly anxious about returning to the Phone Plane, since he is still facing Gu Maoyuan and the Gu Clan but can no longer rely on his cultivation. He worries that others may discover his weakened state and exploit it.
• His mood begins to improve when Hao Fengjing messages him about taking a trip. Feng Jun invites her to Luohua Manor, boasting playfully about its scenery and activities.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Suffers a major setback after losing all his inner qi. Despite frustration and fear, he remains persistent, testing medicines, cultivation techniques, and changes of environment rather than giving up. His physical strength, spiritual sensitivity, intelligence, and authority remain intact, but his confidence is shaken.
• Gu Maoyuan: Demonstrates considerable strategic ability and confidence. He reveals that the Gu Clan’s trap was designed to counter powerful enemies and takes obvious pride in successfully using Qi-Dispersing Powder against Feng Jun.
• The Gu Clan: Initially celebrates Feng Jun’s apparent defeat, but Gu Maoyuan restrains them, warning that even a weakened Innate Expert remains dangerous.
• Feng Jun’s disciples: Continue to treat him as a powerful master and seek his guidance, unaware that he has lost his qi.
• Hao Fengjing: Provides an unexpected emotional opening for Feng Jun. Her teasing, skeptical responses help draw him out of his gloomy state.

Significant Themes

• Hope amid apparent defeat: Feng Jun loses the ability that has supported much of his power, yet refuses to surrender and continues searching for a solution.
• Hidden dangers and preparation: The Gu Clan’s seven-year-old trap shows how long-term planning and suspicion can defeat even a cautious expert.
• Appearance versus reality: Feng Jun appears healthy and remains physically intimidating, but internally he is severely weakened. Likewise, he maintains the image of an all-powerful master before his disciples.
• Persistence and adaptability: Rather than relying solely on cultivation, Feng Jun considers medicine, physical conditioning, new techniques, emotional adjustment, and strategic planning.
• Political distrust: Gu Maoyuan’s actions reflect the deep conflict between the Aristocratic Families Alliance and the imperial court.
• Companionship as relief: Hao Fengjing’s casual conversation gives Feng Jun a small sense of hope and interrupts his prolonged isolation and anxiety.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Gu Maoyuan engage in a tense verbal exchange during the battle. Gu Maoyuan boasts about his trap and attempts to psychologically dominate Feng Jun, while Feng Jun masks his anxiety and tries to learn the nature of the drug.
• Gu Maoyuan controls the Gu Clan members, preventing them from recklessly attacking Feng Jun and emphasizing the danger posed by a weakened Innate Expert.
• Feng Jun continues interacting with his disciples as their master, concealing his loss of qi while answering their cultivation questions.
• Feng Jun and Hao Fengjing exchange playful messages. Her teasing challenges his exaggerated claims about Luohua Manor, while his increasingly enthusiastic invitation signals that he is beginning to recover emotionally.

Chapter Summary: “Female Guest in the Backyard (Second Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hao Fengjing contacts Feng Jun about traveling, secretly hoping he will accompany her. Feng Jun instead invites her to visit his estate, enthusiastically describing the manor, yacht, scenery, and recreational possibilities.
• Though initially hesitant, Hao agrees to come early and arrives that afternoon in disguise, wearing sunglasses and a scarf to avoid being recognized.
• Feng Jun personally escorts her through the manor grounds. She is impressed by the enormous property, the mountain roads, the villa, the river view, and the yacht, though she considers the villa itself somewhat ordinary.
• Feng Jun repeatedly tries to persuade her to stay overnight by suggesting future activities such as nighttime barbecues on the yacht and exploring the backyard. Hao understands his intentions but remains interested in the estate and its scenery.
• Feng Jun finally brings Hao into the normally restricted backyard, first notifying Gazi to prepare it. This is significant because almost no outsiders are allowed there and the backyard contains the estate’s spiritual secrets.
• Wang Haifeng, Gazi, and another disciple immediately stop cultivating and arrange themselves properly to receive her. Wang recognizes Hao as the beautiful woman involved in Feng Jun’s earlier online encounter, but she does not recognize him.
• Hao admires the backyard’s artificial rockery and heads up to inspect it. The disciples discreetly leave the area, while Gazi offers to prepare tea.
• Hao also notices the Crow’s unusual nest on a clothes rack. Feng Jun explains that the bird shelters in the pavilion during rain, revealing the Crow’s strange attachment to the spiritual energy there and its amusing habit of hoping for rain.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Becomes more open and proactive in pursuing Hao Fengjing. He carefully engineers opportunities to prolong her visit without making his romantic intentions too obvious. His protective secrecy regarding the backyard and pavilion remains strong.
• Hao Fengjing: Shows growing comfort and interest in Feng Jun. Although she recognizes his attempts to keep her longer, she willingly explores the manor and appreciates its beauty. Her artistic personality emerges through her enthusiasm for the yacht’s potential nighttime atmosphere and her attention to the scenery.
• Li Xiaobin: Feels jealous and slightly resentful upon seeing another exceptionally attractive woman welcomed by Feng Jun, but she restrains herself because she notices how much happier he seems.
• Wang Haifeng: Has developed deep respect for Feng Jun and no longer feels comfortable joking about his relationships. He recognizes Hao from their earlier encounter but is embarrassed that she does not remember him.
• Gazi: Acts as Feng Jun’s dependable childhood friend and supports his efforts to host Hao properly. His dislike of crows also provides comic tension with the Crow.
• The Crow: Is portrayed as unusually intelligent and spiritually perceptive. It wants access to the pavilion’s spiritual energy and has adapted by using the rain as an excuse to enter.

Significant Themes

• Romantic pursuit and unspoken intentions: Feng Jun and Hao both understand the attraction between them, but their interactions remain indirect and playful.
• Privacy and exclusivity: The backyard represents Feng Jun’s hidden world, and allowing Hao inside marks a major increase in trust and intimacy.
• Wealth versus genuine attraction: Hao is impressed by Feng Jun’s estate but is not portrayed as materialistic; her interest centers more on beauty, atmosphere, and companionship.
• The contrast between ordinary life and the supernatural: The luxurious manor appears to be a leisure estate, while the backyard secretly functions as a place of cultivation and spiritual activity.
• Humor through personality clashes: Gazi’s hostility toward the Crow, the Crow’s persistence, and Feng Jun’s attempts to stall Hao’s departure create lighthearted moments.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun flirts with Hao through suggestive jokes and romantic descriptions of future outings, while Hao responds with amusement, restraint, and occasional encouragement.
• Hao and Li Xiaobin have a quiet, one-sided tension: Li feels threatened by Hao’s beauty and closeness to Feng Jun, while Hao barely notices her.
• Feng Jun’s disciples treat Hao with unusual formality because her presence in the backyard signals that she is important to him.
• Wang Haifeng silently connects Hao to Feng Jun’s past, while Feng Jun remains unaware—or unconcerned—that Wang remembers their original meeting.
• Gazi assists Feng Jun by preparing tea and managing the backyard, while his past attempts to keep the Crow from entering the pavilion explain the bird’s peculiar behavior.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Hao Fengjing spends the day at Feng Jun’s manor observing and feeding Little Crow. Feng Jun invites her to dinner and persuades her to stay overnight, claiming the mountain roads are unsafe.
• After dinner, Feng Jun and Hao Fengjing become intimate. He later introduces her to an abridged version of the Dragon Soaring, Phoenix Harnessing Harmony Canon, disguising it as a special form of “yoga” supposedly inherited from a royal family and capable of improving one’s complexion.
• Intrigued despite her skepticism, Hao Fengjing agrees to try the technique. They practice throughout the night until dawn. The practice restores Feng Jun’s ability to sense qi and provides him with a significant amount of energy.
• Hao Fengjing feels unusually energetic afterward and goes to work, though Feng Jun worries she will become exhausted. He drives her to her company and cultivates in a nearby park.
• Feng Jun discovers that his qi is still slowly dissipating, suggesting the Qi-Dispersing Powder’s effects have not been completely eliminated. However, his cultivation progresses rapidly because his physical foundation remains intact. He returns to the Beginner Martial Master level in a single morning and expects to regain the Innate realm within a few days.
• Hao Fengjing finishes work early, and Feng Jun picks her up. Both are exhausted and return to the manor to sleep. Their relationship is now openly recognized by the people around them.
• After waking, Feng Jun cultivates again and confirms that his qi is continuing to decline, but he remains confident that regular cultivation with Hao Fengjing will eventually restore him.
• Hao Fengjing spends the day eating, sightseeing around the manor, and resting. Feng Jun persuades her to practice the “yoga” again that night, though she chooses to sleep separately afterward because she needs proper rest.
• Before dawn, Hao Fengjing wakes Feng Jun to ask whether her skin already looks better, showing that she has begun to take the supposed beauty effects seriously.

2. Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Becomes more openly intimate and comfortable with Hao Fengjing while continuing to conceal the true nature of the Harmony Canon. He is pleased that practicing it restores his qi, but grows concerned when he realizes the poison is still causing gradual qi loss. His cultivation talent and retained foundation allow him to recover astonishingly quickly.
• Hao Fengjing: Moves from curiosity and cautious reserve to genuine comfort and enthusiasm in her relationship with Feng Jun. She proves candid, adventurous, food-loving, and unconcerned with excessive formalities. She accepts the “yoga” partly because of its promised beauty benefits and begins monitoring her complexion for results.
• Li Xiaobin and the other men: Notice Feng Jun’s unusual interest in Hao Fengjing and recognize that the two have become intimate, reacting with amused, knowing speculation.

3. Significant Themes

• Deception and euphemism: Feng Jun disguises a cultivation technique as yoga and invents a vague royal origin to make it more appealing and less suspicious.
• Intimacy as cultivation: Physical closeness serves both romantic and practical purposes, allowing Feng Jun to regain qi while deepening his relationship with Hao Fengjing.
• Recovery and resilience: Although Feng Jun’s poison-related condition continues to weaken him, his established foundation enables exceptionally rapid recovery.
• Contradictory emotions and social reserve: Hao Fengjing wants to stay with Feng Jun but worries that doing so might compromise her dignity. Her behavior reflects the tension between personal desire and conventional self-restraint.
• Beauty and self-interest: The promise of improved complexion successfully motivates Hao Fengjing, highlighting how personal desires can make unfamiliar or embarrassing practices more acceptable.
• Everyday comfort amid extraordinary events: Eating, sightseeing, sleeping, and joking coexist with cultivation, poisoning, and martial breakthroughs, giving the relationship an informal and domestic quality.

4. Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Hao Fengjing grow increasingly playful and physically comfortable, teasing one another about the “yoga,” beauty effects, fatigue, and food.
• Feng Jun repeatedly encourages Hao Fengjing to stay, while she alternates between asserting independence and willingly remaining with him.
• Feng Jun uses humor and misleading explanations to persuade her to practice the Harmony Canon.
• The surrounding group silently acknowledges the pair’s relationship, while Hao Fengjing’s relaxed behavior—feeding the crow, requesting instant noodles, choosing meals, and sleeping at the manor—shows her growing familiarity with Feng Jun’s household.
• The chapter ends with Hao Fengjing actively seeking Feng Jun’s judgment about her appearance, suggesting that the practice may have begun producing visible results.

Chapter Summary: “Return”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hao Fengjing wakes Feng Jun and excitedly notices that her skin seems smoother, likely due to practicing the royal yoga technique with him.
• Feng Jun encourages her enthusiasm, flattering her while persuading her to continue practicing. Although she initially plans to leave after breakfast, he takes her hiking, and she eventually stays.
• Plans for a yacht outing with Xu Leigang’s family are postponed because of strong winds and then canceled when heavy rain begins.
• During the rainy period, Hao Fengjing remains at the villa, giving Feng Jun and her more opportunities to practice yoga. The weather also prevents Feng Jun from cultivating, charging the Stone Ring, or sightseeing.
• Feng Jun discovers that the Harmony Union True Explanation is genuinely improving his cultivation. His internal qi depletion slows, and his recovery speed increases.
• While cultivating near Gazi and Xu Leigang, Feng Jun absorbs spiritual energy so strongly that they compare his position to a “vacuum cleaner.” Despite trying to control the effect, he advances to Intermediate Martial Master.
• After Hao Fengjing leaves for work on Monday, Feng Jun cultivates for an entire day and returns to the Innate realm.
• He then charges through the night and wakes feeling unusually refreshed, with a strange new sensitivity that allows him to sense north and south as if he were an electromagnet.
• Feng Jun reconnects with Gu Maoyuan through the phone. Gu Maoyuan taunts him, threatening to turn him into a “human stick” as an example to the people of Donghua Kingdom.
• Feng Jun counters with the principle that villains die from talking too much. He launches the Spirit Blade as a distraction, then closes the distance and attacks with Spirit Hedgehog spines from his Storage Pouch.
• The spines paralyze Gu Maoyuan’s shoulders and legs. Feng Jun then shatters his limbs, deliberately keeping him alive so that Gu Maoyuan suffers the same fate he had threatened to inflict.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: His determination returns despite his earlier frustration and declining mood. Charging the Stone Ring symbolizes his refusal to give up on returning to the other plane. His cultivation steadily improves, reaching Intermediate Martial Master before returning to the Innate realm. He also becomes more confident and ruthless in dealing with enemies, choosing to capture Gu Maoyuan alive so he can repay the threat of mutilation.
• Hao Fengjing: She becomes increasingly interested in yoga after noticing apparent improvements to her skin and vitality. Though she maintains a playful resistance to Feng Jun’s invitations, she willingly stays longer and participates repeatedly. Her comment about feeling mentally refreshed suggests the practice is having broader effects.
• Gazi and Xu Leigang: They notice Feng Jun’s unusual influence over spiritual energy and become aware that his cultivation is operating on a much higher level than theirs.
• Gu Maoyuan: His arrogance and habit of taunting Feng Jun leave him vulnerable. He underestimates Feng Jun’s capabilities, assuming the Spirit Blade is his final move, and is quickly disabled.

Significant Themes

• Persistence and self-discipline: Feng Jun continues charging the Stone Ring even when progress seems inefficient, using the ritual to maintain hope and motivation.
• Cultivation and transformation: The royal secret manual and yoga practice produce tangible changes in both Feng Jun’s cultivation and Hao Fengjing’s physical condition.
• Deception and tactical combat: Feng Jun disguises his true intentions, using the Spirit Blade as a diversion before employing the Spirit Hedgehog spines.
• Retribution: Feng Jun deliberately “returns tooth for tooth,” punishing Gu Maoyuan in the exact manner Gu Maoyuan had threatened.
• Power and imbalance: Feng Jun’s rapidly increasing cultivation disrupts the environment and affects those cultivating nearby, signaling his growing superiority.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Hao Fengjing share a flirtatious, teasing relationship. He uses praise and tenderness to encourage her, while she responds with mock resistance but clearly enjoys remaining with him.
• Feng Jun’s cultivation affects Gazi and Xu Leigang directly, prompting them to comment on the unusual spiritual-energy vacuum around him.
• Crow interrupts Feng Jun’s cultivation by seeking shelter from the rain, adding a recurring comedic inconvenience.
• The final exchange between Feng Jun and Gu Maoyuan shifts from verbal intimidation to a decisive physical confrontation, ending with Gu Maoyuan captured and crippled.