Chapter Summaries

Xiang Yi coordinated King Lanling and Guiguzi’s raid on the Eastern Pearl to retrieve two Energy Crystals, but an electromagnetic pulse exposed them and left King Lanling gravely wounded. After they escaped with the crystals, Xiang Yi discovered a Ten Rings mark on one, revealing a far more dangerous threat.

• Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to distract the guards while King Lanling infiltrated Hold Seven aboard the Eastern Pearl to find the target.
• Guiguzi used an illusion to draw the guards away as King Lanling opened the hatch, evaded infrared beams, and reached container TS-07.
• An electromagnetic pulse inside the container injured King Lanling, disrupted Xiang Yi’s mental link, and alerted the guards.
• King Lanling and Guiguzi activated Shadow Mist, allowing King Lanling to seize two Energy Crystals and escape through the cargo maze.
• Xiang Yi hid the evidence from his mother, then received the gravely wounded King Lanling, who returned with the crystals.
• Xiang Yi found a Ten Rings mark on a crystal and froze in horror as King Lanling collapsed beside him.

Xiang Yi used the Energy Crystal to suppress the Ten Rings contamination in King Lanling’s wound, but the mark remained alive and Xiang Yi’s mental power was nearly exhausted. With S.H.I.E.L.D. closing in on the exposed port and the Zhang family erased, Xiang Yi ordered the barrier reinforced and vowed to tear the Ten Rings power out himself.

• Xiang Yi recognized the Ten Rings mark on the crystal and used its energy to suppress the contaminated wound in King Lanling’s shoulder, suffering severe pain and mental-power depletion.
• The wound stopped bleeding, but Xiang Yi and King Lanling saw a living miniature Ten Rings mark still embedded beneath the charred flesh.
• Guiguzi reported that Phil Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. had surrounded Pier Seven and were examining evidence of King Lanling’s fight, including shadow-energy traces and poisoned blood.
• Guiguzi showed Xiang Yi that the Zhang family had been wiped out, their beast totem destroyed and their list and safe removed through spatial cutting linked to Ten Rings power.
• Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to reinforce the barrier across the block, told King Lanling to lie down, and vowed to remove the mark and destroy those operating from the shadows.

Xiang Yi shielded the villa from a S.H.I.E.L.D. scan while trying to help King Lanling, whose wound worsened when exposed to pure energy. He discovered the Ten Rings crystal was a beacon and suspected the dark imprint in King Lanling’s shoulder was another, leaving them trapped in a widening crisis.

• Guiguzi deployed barriers around the neighborhood, and King Lanling tried to use a pure crystal to cleanse his shoulder wound, but the dark-gold strands consumed its energy.
• Guiguzi warned that a S.H.I.E.L.D. scan was approaching, and the barrier diverted its beam away from the villa.
• Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to search the Zhang family’s remains for traces of spatial disturbances linked to the attack.
• Xiang Yi’s system analysis found that the Ten Rings imprint had corrosive properties and that the crystal acted as a tracking beacon, so he ordered it shielded and hid it under lead plates and books.
• Xiang Yi realized the dark-gold imprint in King Lanling’s shoulder might also be a beacon and vowed to find a way to remove it.

Xiang Yi sealed the Ten Rings beacon and learned that a broker called Old K might hold the Zhang family’s trail. With King Lanling injured and Guiguzi occupied suppressing the corrosion, Xiang Yi disguised himself as a homeless child and reached Old K, who noticed him in the alley.

• Xiang Yi exchanged 200 energy points for an isolation box and sealed the beacon crystal, stopping its positioning signal.
• Guiguzi wrapped King Lanling’s wound in Xuan Weizi particles, slowing but not stopping the dark-gold corrosion.
• Guiguzi traced a signal to Old K, a broker called the Cleaner, and found clues pointing toward the northern factory district.
• Xiang Yi disguised himself as a homeless child, left the villa, and relied on Guiguzi to distract nearby surveillance.
• Xiang Yi found Old K waiting behind the Rosemary bar and approached him; Old K noticed him and tensed his hand inside his jacket.

Xiang Yi stole a lighter from Old K and discovered clues connecting him to the Zhang family's silencing operation and the Ten Rings Syndicate. As S.H.I.E.L.D. closed in and Guiguzi's intervention weakened King Lanling's suppression, Xiang Yi crashed into a wall and passed out to conceal his identity.

• Xiang Yi pretended to stumble into Old K, stole his lighter, and noticed a note and Ten Rings insignia on Old K.
• Guiguzi redirected S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scanning beam toward a false energy source, but his mental power became severely depleted and King Lanling's pain surged.
• Xiang Yi fled the alley as Old K grabbed his duffel bag and ran in the opposite direction.
• Su Rui appeared at the alley entrance, blocked their escape, and aimed her pistol at Xiang Yi.
• Xiang Yi slammed his head and shoulder into a brick wall, bleeding and collapsing to pass himself off as a nameless street urchin.

Xiang Yi and King Lanling were ambushed while stealing documents from a shipyard safe, and Xiang Yi unleashed a devastating psychic attack to save his protector. They escaped the ninjas, but King Lanling was poisoned, Xiang Yi was left injured and shaken, and the stolen papers revealed a symbol of ten interlocking rings as sirens closed in.

• Xiang Yi guided King Lanling into a container, where he opened a hidden safe and retrieved a document pouch.
• Smoke bombs and three ninjas ambushed King Lanling, and one poisoned him with a dart beneath his shoulder blade.
• Xiang Yi killed one ninja with a psychic attack, allowing King Lanling to blast through the container wall and escape with him.
• Xiang Yi and King Lanling fled through the shipyard while Xiang Yi used a fragile psychic shield to deflect poisoned darts.
• They reached a breakwater, where Xiang Yi recoiled from the psychic attack’s bloody aftermath as King Lanling noticed the symbol of ten interlocking rings on the documents.
• Sirens sounded nearby as scraps of paper drifted into the sea.

Xiang Yi called Guiguzi to save the poisoned King Lanling, who stabilized the warrior’s condition but could only delay the poison for twenty-four hours. After finding a clue in the Ten Rings documents, Xiang Yi received a mission to intercept the Sea Serpent and seize or destroy its marked cargo to obtain an antidote.

• Xiang Yi summoned Guiguzi after learning he lacked enough energy points to buy an antidote for King Lanling.
• Guiguzi used Xuan Weizi particles to seal the poison’s spread, warning that King Lanling had only twelve double-hours to live without a cure.
• Guiguzi urged Xiang Yi to study the documents and trace the Ten Rings and Xu markings rather than succumb to guilt over the fight.
• Xiang Yi and the system identified a shipment aboard the Sea Serpent, bound for East Sea City, with a target container marked Xu and Ten Rings.
• The system assigned Xiang Yi a seventy-two-hour mission to infiltrate Cabin 7 and seize or destroy the container, offering an antidote as a reward and King Lanling’s death as the failure penalty.
• Xiang Yi declared that they would return home, steal a ship, and seize their chance to survive, and Guiguzi carried King Lanling away with him.

With King Lanling’s poison seal failing, Xiang Yi borrowed Energy Points and summoned A Ke, then sent her to infiltrate the Sea Serpent and find an antidote in Cabin 7. A Ke vanished into the shadows on her mission while Xiang Yi collapsed from the strain, leaving King Lanling’s survival uncertain.

• Guiguzi warned Xiang Yi that the poison was breaking through his seal around King Lanling’s heart meridians.
• Xiang Yi took an emergency loan of 107 Energy Points and forcibly raised his Mental Power enough to summon A Ke.
• A Ke appeared, and Xiang Yi ordered her to save King Lanling by finding the antidote aboard the Sea Serpent.
• Guiguzi used the Xuan Weizi to map the ship’s route, guard placements, and a lightly guarded ventilation duct near Cabin 7.
• Xiang Yi briefed A Ke on the infiltration route and gave her a photograph of the Ten Rings symbol before she disappeared into the shadows.
• Xiang Yi suffered a nosebleed and collapsed against the desk while Guiguzi continued protecting King Lanling.

A Ke infiltrated the Sea Serpent, broke into Cabin 7, and stole a Vibranium fragment from Xu Wenwu’s guarded chamber before escaping the ship despite severe injuries. She reached Xiang Yi with the fragment, which began to repel the Ten Rings poison in the King Lanling’s heart, while a sniper sent hunting hounds after her.

• A Ke forced her way through an energy barrier, killed two guards, and breached Cabin 7 by cutting the cables to its isolation door.
• A Ke disabled the room’s automatic weapons and destroyed the energy core beneath the container, causing a devastating explosion that freed the Vibranium fragment.
• A Ke escaped the wrecked chamber with the fragment, but a sniper on the Sea Serpent attacked her with destructive beams and drove her overboard.
• A Ke swam away from the ship with the fragment as the sniper reported her fall and requested hunting hounds to search the waters.
• Xiang Yi and Guiguzi struggled to maintain the seal on the dying King Lanling as A Ke returned to the Xiang family study and delivered the fragment.
• Xiang Yi and Guiguzi sensed the fragment repelling the Ten Rings poison in the King Lanling’s heart as dawn broke.

Xiang Yi used Primordial Vibranium and Guiguzi’s Xuan Weizi to purge the Ten Rings poison from King Lanling, breaking through his limits before collapsing. King Lanling recovered and renewed his oath to serve Xiang Yi as news of Tony Stark’s rescue and new threats reached the room.

• Xiang Yi pressed the Vibranium fragment against King Lanling’s wound, and its silver energy began battling the poison while Guiguzi struggled to maintain the seal.
• Xiang Yi took over guiding the Vibranium energy through King Lanling’s heart meridians, enduring severe soul damage as Guiguzi protected his consciousness.
• Xiang Yi’s Soul Core exceeded its limits and broke through, allowing him to purge the Ten Rings Malevolent Energy and dissolve the poison.
• Xiang Yi lost consciousness, while Guiguzi confirmed that his life was safe and King Lanling’s breathing had stabilized.
• After waking at dawn, King Lanling saw Xiang Yi’s condition and vowed that his body and soul would forever serve as his lord’s blade.
• The morning news reported the Sea Serpent explosion and Tony Stark’s rescue, while Guiguzi sensed S.H.I.E.L.D., the Ten Rings Syndicate, The Hand, and Stark gathering around the city.

After learning that Tony Stark had been attacked and gone missing in Afghanistan, Xiang Yi accepted a mission to observe the Ten Rings Syndicate and began mobilizing his allies. He left the chapter preparing to gather intelligence on the group as Tony’s kidnapping set Iron Man’s origin in motion.

• Xiang Yi heard the news that Tony Stark had been ambushed in Afghanistan and his whereabouts were unknown.
• Xiang Yi accepted the mission to investigate the Ten Rings Syndicate, risking increased attention from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the syndicate.
• Xiang Yi reassured his parents that Tony’s kidnapping was not the end, then returned to his room.
• Xiang Yi ordered King Lanling to search for Ten Rings activity near the attack site, Guiguzi to focus the Xuan Weizi Network on Afghanistan, Ming Shiyin to divine the syndicate’s plans, and A Ke to stand by.
• Xiang Yi received his allies’ acknowledgments as the Ten Rings observation mission began with clue collection at zero percent.

Xiang Yi used Guiguzi and the Xuan Weizi to spy on the Ten Rings Syndicate in Afghanistan, uncovering a transfer route and evidence that Andrei Vanko was involved. After S.H.I.E.L.D. traced the intrusion and struck back, Xiang Yi severed the link and ordered the Hidden Star Court into silent dormancy while he and Guiguzi recovered.

• Xiang Yi and Guiguzi breached a U.S. satellite’s defenses and found Ten Rings markings and a convoy of suspicious heat sources in Afghanistan.
• Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to trace the convoy’s communications despite the risk of alerting S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The intercepted messages mentioned the Sand Nest, Stark blueprints, Whiplash, and coordinates linked to Andrei Vanko.
• Phil Coulson detected the intrusion at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and ordered the Insight Initiative’s secondary surveillance array to track its source.
• Cyclops traced the link and struck Xiang Yi and Guiguzi with a devastating backlash, but they destroyed the Xuan Weizi node and disconnected.
• Xiang Yi recognized Andrei Vanko in the final satellite image and ordered Guiguzi to heal and erase tracking marks while King Lanling and A Ke raised the alert level and put the Hidden Star Court into silent dormancy.

Xiang Yi summoned Ming Shiyin, who paid a devastating price to divine an imminent fire at the Xiang family factory, warn Xiang Yi to remain hidden, and glimpse a golden-red star that pointed to Iron Man. With Ming Shiyin unconscious and his Energy Points depleted, Xiang Yi ordered King Lanling to secretly stop the arson plot and A Ke to guard their hideout while he recovered.

• Xiang Yi spent 400 Energy Points to summon Ming Shiyin despite the danger to his injured mind.
• Ming Shiyin divined that a fire would threaten the Xiang family factory within three days and warned Xiang Yi that acting or revealing himself would bring immediate calamity.
• Ming Shiyin's final hexagram showed a golden-red star, which Xiang Yi recognized as Tony and the coming of Iron Man, before the backlash left Ming Shiyin unconscious.
• Xiang Yi ordered King Lanling to identify and silently prevent the planned arson at the Xiang family factory.
• Xiang Yi told A Ke to guard Ming Shiyin and eliminate anyone spying on their hideout, then resumed meditating to recover his Mental Power.

Xiang Yi warned Xiang Haishan of an impending factory fire through a nightmare, and Xiang Haishan uncovered and reported an arson plot. King Lanling abducted Zhang Zhenhua and delivered him, with evidence, to the police, while Xiang Yi received a crisis-resolution reward and prepared to exploit Stark Industries’ falling stock.

• Xiang Yi told Xiang Haishan that he had dreamed of a gasoline-fueled fire at the factory and described a suspect with a black snake tattoo.
• Xiang Haishan searched the factory before dawn, found gasoline bottles hidden by the raw materials warehouse, and called the police.
• King Lanling seized Zhang Zhenhua from his villa and left him hanging upside down at the police station with a USB drive containing evidence of the arson order.
• The police watched the video, confirmed Zhang Zhenhua’s role in the plot, and ordered his arrest and the freezing of his assets.
• Xiang Yi saw the Family Fire Calamity warning disappear and gained 50 energy points as he considered investing in Stark Industries during the panic over Tony Stark’s disappearance.

Xiang Yi spent his last 50 Energy Points on an offshore company template, causing Ming Shiyin’s life-support formation to shut down, then ordered his allies to create identities and seize funds. With Cygnus Holdings established and eight million dollars secured, Xiang Yi prepared to exploit Stark Industries’ collapsing stock price as the first weapon of his Dark Court.

• Xiang Yi exchanged his last 50 Energy Points for an offshore company template, interrupting Ming Shiyin’s energy supply and shutting down the Life-Sustaining Formation.
• Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to create three untraceable identities, and Guiguzi used the Xuan Weizi to register Cygnus Holdings Limited.
• Xiang Yi ordered King Lanling to steal eight million dollars in cash, bonds, diamonds, and gold from the Scorpion Gang’s basement safe.
• King Lanling delivered the three cases to Xiang Yi as Guiguzi confirmed the identities and company records were complete.
• Xiang Yi watched Stark Industries’ stock price collapse and declared that Cygnus Holdings would use the panic as the first sword of his Dark Court.

As Tony Stark returned and shut down Stark Industries’ weapons division, Xiang Yi used the resulting stock crash to amass millions of STK shares and revive Ming Shiyin’s failing formation. Tony noticed the mysterious Cygnus Holdings’ role in the crash, while Xiang Yi’s shadowy financial operation established its first foothold.

• Xiang Yi struggled to maintain the Life-Sustaining Formation as Ming Shiyin’s condition worsened and his energy points ran out.
• Tony Stark crashed into Stark Industries’ press conference in his Mark III Armor, revealed he was alive, and announced that the weapons division would close.
• Xiang Yi directed Cosmos Holdings Limited to buy STK shares during the panic sell-off, ending with 8,673,200 shares at an average cost of $16.88.
• The Life-Sustaining Formation pulsed with renewed strength after Xiang Yi’s funds were exhausted, and Xiang Yi declared that they had secured their first pot of gold.
• Pepper told Tony that Cygnus Holdings had bought heavily during the crash, and Tony studied the Cygnus name with interest.

Xiang Yi and his companions established Hidden Star Court in an abandoned Kunlun weather station, fortifying it and concealing it with Guiguzi’s illusion. When a mountain patrolman spotted a flaw, Guiguzi altered his perception at great cost, leaving the base hidden but revealing the danger of maintaining their refuge.

• Xiang Yi, King Lanling, A Ke, and Guiguzi reached the abandoned weather station and began setting up Hidden Star Court.
• Guiguzi cloaked the station with Cognitive Interference while King Lanling reinforced the structure and A Ke placed traps and organized supplies.
• An old weather transmitter made a sudden noise, and King Lanling found and destroyed it.
• A mountain patrolman spotted a flaw in the illusion, so Xiang Yi ordered Guiguzi to make him believe falling rocks had caused what he saw.
• Guiguzi changed Old Zhang’s perception and sent him away, but the effort injured him and left a hidden mental wound in the patrolman.
• Xiang Yi ordered the others to reinforce the base, hide supplies, expand its defenses, and let Guiguzi recover.

Phil Coulson and Melinda May investigated the Xiang family over fragments from the factory fire, and Xiang Yi hid his connection to Cygnus Holdings and distracted them with a staged coughing fit. A Mind-Guarding Formation obscured Coulson’s suspicions, but S.H.I.E.L.D. continued investigating the Zhang family and the factory as Xiang Yi realized the threat was not over.

• Coulson and May visited the Xiang family to ask about the factory fire and showed Xiang Haishan fragments bearing the Hand’s mark.
• Xiang Yi spotted the active Cygnus Holdings analysis in the study and faked a coughing fit to block Coulson’s view of the computer.
• Ming Shiyin used Guiguzi’s Mind-Guarding Formation to blur Coulson and May’s doubts, and Coulson left without confronting the family about Cygnus.
• In the car, Coulson briefly recalled seeing the Stark analysis but lost that suspicion and instead directed S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate the Zhang family and the factory’s unusual radiation.
• Xiang Yi erased the Cygnus and Stark evidence, discovered that his spiritual power had fallen to 63/210, and resolved to prepare for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s continued scrutiny.

King Lanling and A Ke attacked The Hand's Yunnan base, but Poison Fang's poison and an ambush left both assassins critically injured. Xiang Yi supplied A Ke with an antidote, and the two fought back long enough to cripple Poison Fang as reinforcements approached; they still had to secure the intelligence and withdraw.

• A Ke killed the outer guards while King Lanling infiltrated the ruined temple to attack Poison Fang.
• Poison Fang evaded King Lanling's strike and poisoned him, while a disguised elite ninja ambushed A Ke and wounded her with a poisoned blade.
• Xiang Yi exchanged a potent antidote for A Ke, who used her remaining strength to kill the ambusher as King Lanling destroyed Poison Fang's poison mist with a grenade.
• The explosion badly injured Poison Fang and his guards, while King Lanling and A Ke survived but remained critically wounded.
• Xiang Yi ordered King Lanling and A Ke to secure the intelligence and withdraw as the Stardust Workshop's rapid-response team approached.

Xiang Yi broke through his mental-power limit and used the system to obtain an antidote for King Lanling’s fatal poison. After A Ke helped remove the poison, King Lanling stabilized, while Xiang Yi was left exhausted and bound to her debt.

• King Lanling succumbed to The Hand’s Ghost-Faced Spider poison, and the system warned Xiang Yi that he lacked the resources to buy an antidote.
• Xiang Yi forced himself through a mental-power breakthrough, raising his cap to 300 and restoring enough power to exchange for the serum.
• Xiang Yi injected King Lanling with the antidote and used his remaining mental power to fight the poison inside him.
• A Ke pinned King Lanling down, then sucked the remaining poison from his wound until the blood ran bright red.
• A Ke told Xiang Yi that King Lanling would live and said Xiang Yi owed her, then disappeared into the warehouse shadows.