Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “There Is a Traitor Among Us!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• During a brutally cold winter in Former Village, villagers leave their homes to seek firewood and work. Many gather at a local Daoist temple, which serves as both a warm refuge and a base for the White Lotus Sect.
• Wang Ping, a former transmigrator who has spent twenty years adapting to the impoverished world of Great Shun, is summoned with other villagers to meet the sect’s elderly leader.
• The old Daoist reveals that the White Lotus Sect, once a powerful rebellious movement, has suffered repeated defeats and relocations because a traitor is allegedly leaking information to the government.
• The temple is deliberately sealed, with the young Daoist Xie Shi positioned outside, suggesting that the meeting is also a trap designed to prevent anyone from escaping.
• Wang Ping humorously proposes that everyone commit suicide, arguing that this would eliminate the traitor along with everyone else. When he attempts to act on his suggestion, the old Daoist stops him.
• Instead, the old Daoist appoints Wang Ping to investigate the traitor, praising him as one of the sect’s most loyal and trustworthy followers. Wang Ping is also promoted to Hall Master of the Former Village branch.
• The villagers are placed under house arrest while Wang Ping is allowed to leave and begin his investigation. Xie Shi accompanies him, claiming they should first eat and prepare interrogation tools.
• At Wang Ping’s home, a rat secretly delivers a message instructing him to meet someone outside the city the next day.
• The chapter ends with the revelation that Wang Ping himself is the traitor within the White Lotus Sect.

Character Developments

• Wang Ping: Presented as outwardly devoted, enthusiastic, and even fanatical, but inwardly skeptical and pragmatic. He recognizes danger quickly, sees through the temple’s setup, and uses absurd logic to test the sect’s supposed religious convictions. Despite being appointed investigator, he is secretly the mole, making his promotion both ironic and dangerous.
• The old Daoist Sect Master: Revealed as a former revolutionary leader whose movement has declined badly. He is theatrical and somewhat ridiculous—eating offerings and arguing with his disciple—but remains politically perceptive and capable of arranging traps and investigations.
• Xie Shi: Acts as a dutiful and trusted senior disciple. His quarrel with the Sect Master may be partly staged, and his position outside the sealed hall suggests he is prepared to intercept anyone attempting escape. He appears friendly toward Wang Ping but may be monitoring him.
• The villagers and martial disciples: Their initial faith and loyalty collapse into uncertainty when suicide is seriously suggested, exposing that many may not truly believe in the sect’s promise of eternal life in the “vacuum hometown.”

Significant Themes

• Loyalty versus self-preservation: The villagers claim devotion to the White Lotus Sect, but their reluctance to die reveals the limits of ideological loyalty.
• Deception and hidden identities: The chapter repeatedly emphasizes staged conflicts, concealed motives, and the danger of trusting appearances. Wang Ping is both the sect’s chosen investigator and its actual betrayer.
• Religious fanaticism and hypocrisy: The sect promises salvation after death, yet its followers clearly fear death. Wang Ping exploits this contradiction through his deliberately extreme proposal.
• Political decline and failed revolution: The old Daoist recalls the sect’s former strength, contrasting its past mass support with its present desperation, infighting, and constant flight from the government.
• Pragmatism in a harsh world: Wang Ping’s survival-focused worldview contrasts with the sect’s idealistic rhetoric. His ability to adapt has allowed him to rise from an ordinary villager to a powerful local figure.

Character Interactions

• Wang Ping and Xie Shi: Xie Shi introduces Wang Ping to the Sect Master and later accompanies him from the temple. Their friendly exchange conceals mutual suspicion, as Xie Shi may be guarding against escape while Wang Ping is secretly protecting his own identity.
• Wang Ping and the Sect Master: The Sect Master trusts Wang Ping because of their long history, appointing him investigator and Hall Master. Wang Ping responds with apparent enthusiasm while privately recognizing the absurdity and danger of the situation.
• The Sect Master and Xie Shi: Their staged argument over eating offerings helps seal the main hall and heightens the sense that the meeting is a carefully planned trap.
• Wang Ping and the villagers: Wang Ping challenges their professed faith by urging collective suicide. Their silence and discomfort reveal that they do not share his—or the sect’s claimed—commitment to martyrdom.
• Wang Ping and the rat messenger: The rat’s secret message confirms Wang Ping’s connection to an outside network, establishing that his treason is organized rather than accidental.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping has secretly served as an imperial informant inside the White Lotus Sect for five years. He believes the Great Shun court still controls the towns and elite families, so the sect’s rural support is unlikely to threaten the dynasty.
• The sect’s leader, Daoist Shouchong, summons Wang Ping and offers to teach him the sect’s supreme martial art, the Plain Moon Lotus Blade. Wang Ping is initially unimpressed—until Shouchong’s flying knife demolishes a large rockery. He immediately accepts Shouchong as his master.
• Shouchong warns Wang Ping to use the art discreetly, since he is already notorious to the authorities. He blames the emperor’s wars, construction projects, and heavy taxes for the people’s suffering and the sect’s growing following.
• Shouchong and his disciple Xie Shi discuss the suspected informants. Shouchong suspects Wang Ping may be one, but says the key issue is not identifying the spy: anyone whose actions could seriously harm the sect should be treated as a threat. He orders Xie Shi to monitor Wang Ping.
• Wang Ping begins practicing the manual. He discovers that martial arts here depend on forging and bonding with a weapon, with mastery eventually producing a powerful tactical art. His first attempts with a leaf show promising force, but leave him exhausted and ravenous.
• The manual requires costly white rice and special meat to sustain training. Wang Ping sees this need as a convenient, credible excuse to travel to the county town—and potentially contact his imperial handler.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping remains pragmatic and self-interested: he intends to keep serving the court while studying the sect’s martial arts. Shouchong’s display rapidly changes his view of the world and makes him eager to advance.
• Shouchong is both a charismatic teacher and a cautious strategist. He speaks passionately about popular hardship but prioritizes the sect’s survival, ordering surveillance rather than acting on uncertain suspicions.
• Xie Shi helps induct Wang Ping into the master-disciple relationship, then carries out Shouchong’s order to watch him.
• Wang Ping’s exaggerated devotion flatters Shouchong, though Shouchong recognizes that Wang’s proposal to eliminate all suspects may have been calculated to provoke the expected refusal.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and divided loyalties: Wang Ping treats his sect membership and government work as compatible so long as both serve his interests.
• Power overturning assumptions: Wang’s confidence in modern weapons and skepticism toward martial arts collapse when he witnesses Shouchong’s extraordinary ability.
• Poverty and rebellion: Shouchong argues that oppressive taxation, wars, and state projects create the misery that draws people to the sect.
• Suspicion and political survival: Shouchong values limiting potential damage over proving who the traitor is.
• The material cost of advancement: Martial progress requires specialized weapons, food, and resources, making Wang’s training a potential route out of rural poverty.

Plot points and events

• Wang Ping travels to Longxing County’s Grass Market to buy fine rice and refined iron for a flying knife.
• He witnesses Constable Liu extort shopkeeper Old Chen, who advises his resentful young helper to endure the abuse to keep the shop open.
• At the market, Wang hears that a group of “Transcendents”—alchemists favored by the emperor—have opened a hall and are recruiting servants with tax exemptions. He dismisses them as likely frauds.
• At a smithy, Wang secretly passes intelligence to his county-office handler using a covert lip-reading technique. He reveals he has become a disciple of Shouchong and a White Lotus Sect branch leader, and reports that Shouchong may travel to River Village in two days.
• The handler says the county office is preparing to strike the sect, but needs either the locations of the village lookouts or a chance to isolate Shouchong. He promises Wang a county-office position and reward if the operation succeeds.
• Returning to Former Village, Wang is intercepted by Xie Shi and brought to Shouchong. Shouchong accuses him of being the county office’s “ghost,” pointing to a message warning the sect about a mole. Wang realizes the sect also has an informant inside the county office.
• Shouchong turns his suspicion toward Xie Shi as well. Before either man can be conclusively exposed, the authorities attack the temple, announcing a campaign against the White Lotus Sect and offering rewards for captured or killed rebels.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping remains resourceful and guarded, balancing his undercover role with practical concerns and hopes of eventually escaping the dangerous double life. When Shouchong threatens him, he stays composed and denies the accusation, gambling that there is no proof.
• Shouchong reveals his deep suspicion and willingness to accuse even his own disciples. His investigation leaves both Wang and Xie Shi under threat.
• Xie Shi initially seems eager to watch Wang’s confrontation with Shouchong, but becomes frightened when Shouchong suspects him too.
• The handler trusts Wang’s intelligence and urges patience, but their exchange shows the growing risk and frustration of the prolonged undercover operation.
• Old Chen and his young helper illustrate how fear and dependence compel ordinary people to tolerate corruption.

Significant themes

• Deception and divided loyalty: Wang serves the county office while living as a White Lotus leader’s disciple, and the sect has its own mole.
• Suspicion and uncertainty: Neither Shouchong nor the reader can be certain who betrayed the sect; even close relationships offer no protection from accusation.
• Power and exploitation: Constable Liu’s extortion and the authorities’ use of rewards reveal how people are controlled through fear, money, and official power.
• Risk and survival: Wang’s careful concealment, Old Chen’s submission, and the looming raid all show characters trying to survive within dangerous systems.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping, still in the Daoist temple, is caught between the escaping White Lotus leader Shouchong and arriving county constables. Shouchong hands him the Lotus Blade before fleeing with Xie Shi.
• The constables mistake Wang for the White Lotus leader because he is holding the weapon. He tries to explain that he is a county-office undercover agent, but an arrow fatally wounds him.
• Wang recognizes the voice of his handler, Chief Constable Chen Haoyan, and hopes to be cleared. Chen denies that the county office ever planted an agent, leaving Wang to die furious at being abandoned.
• In Former Village, Chen orders the constables to kill the villagers they have arrested, despite evidence that most were ordinary people. When young constable Lin Sheng objects, Chen strikes him and rationalizes the massacre as necessary to fabricate a successful campaign and claim rewards.
• Chen reveals that the raid was improvised after the original plan was compromised. Rather than admit failure and risk his career, he chooses to kill innocents, use the Lotus Blade as evidence, and report a victory.
• Wang unexpectedly revives in a vast, dark space before a supernatural book, the Peace Scripture. It identifies him as an otherworldly being who can revive after death, with a seven-day cooldown, and may enter new or previously visited worlds. In some worlds, he can spend Destiny to obtain a new identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping moves from terror and confusion to helpless rage as he realizes his own government has sacrificed him and denied his service. His resurrection introduces a new possibility beyond his failed life.
• Shouchong unexpectedly spares Wang and gives him the Lotus Blade, inadvertently making him look like the rebel leader.
• Chen Haoyan is exposed as calculating and corrupt: he prioritizes career, rewards, and the county office’s reputation over justice or human life.
• Lin Sheng displays youthful integrity by challenging the killing of innocents. Chen physically punishes him, then tries to teach him the office’s cynical logic.
• Liu Ye, the experienced constable, hesitates but ultimately obeys Chen’s order.

Significant themes

• Institutional corruption and betrayal: The county office exploits Wang’s service, then disowns him to protect itself.
• Self-interest disguised as public duty: Chen recasts a fabricated victory and massacre as necessary to preserve public confidence and political order.
• Unequal value of human life: Chen distinguishes between the influential people inside the county town and the impoverished villagers outside it.
• Justice versus obedience: Lin Sheng’s protest exposes the moral cost of accepting corruption as routine.
• Death and renewal: Wang’s unexpected revival and the Peace Scripture transform his apparent end into the beginning of a larger, supernatural journey.

Key plot points and events

• After dying in Great Shun, Wang Ping awakens in the Peace Scripture’s inner space, which resembles a morgue. He learns that the scripture converts major events involving human hearts, destiny, and popular support into scrolls that grant powers.
• His transmigration created [Scroll One: Otherworldly Celestial Demon]. It lets him resurrect once after death, with a seven-day cooldown, and travel to a different world. Earth is not a destination he can choose, so he takes a chance on a random world rather than risk returning to the soldiers who killed him.
• He awakens in an immortal-cultivation sect and initially hopes he has become a disciple. Instead, he discovers he is a newly made Force Servitor—a puppet-like servant of the Guardian Court.
• The sect’s workers apply a talisman seal that implants a personality and loyalty into Force Servitors. Wang Ping’s existing memories help him recognize the imposed thoughts, but they still affect him.
• The Peace Scripture explains how to gain more scrolls: absorb objects of progressively higher grades, from common worldly objects up to unique treasures. Each object grants one scroll, and the book can also appraise items.
• Wang Ping concludes that his immediate priority is to stay alive and mentally independent until his first scroll’s seven-day cooldown ends.

Character development

Wang Ping shifts from excitement at discovering his cheat to wary pragmatism. He is hopeful about cultivation, then horrified to learn he is treated as a tool and is being conditioned to serve. His survival instinct and awareness of his own thoughts help him resist the sect’s influence, though he recognizes that his resistance may weaken over time.

Significant themes

• Survival and luck: Wang Ping must choose between dangerous options without knowing where they will lead.
• Identity and control: The sect’s attempt to overwrite Force Servitors’ minds threatens Wang Ping’s sense of self.
• Power and its costs: The Peace Scripture offers resurrection and a path to more abilities, but its limits—especially the cooldown and escalating requirements—leave Wang Ping vulnerable.
• Institutional exploitation: The supposedly prestigious Immortal Sect may be using human-shaped servants as controlled, disposable labor.

Character interactions

• Wang Ping’s main interactions are with the Peace Scripture, whose explanations reveal his powers and their constraints.
• He overhears sect members discussing accidents at the Immortal Formula and Divine Weapons Institutes, hinting at the sect’s scale and internal dangers.
• Sect workers treat him as an object to be manufactured, sealed, and delivered; their actions trigger his first direct struggle against the imposed loyalty.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping awakens in a new world as one of ten Force Servitors—human-shaped cultivation tools meant to obey without consciousness. Realizing that independent thought could expose him, he resolves to act like a mindless servant.
• He discovers the spell Qi Suppression, which generates True Qi to stop bleeding, repair injuries, and protect against weapons. He plans to practice it when he gets the chance.
• The servitors are delivered to Daoist Nun You, who intends to use them to practice the True Explanation of the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, one of the Immortal Sect’s powerful Eight Methods.
• Daoist Nun You senses something unusual and subtly tests the servitors. Wang Ping suppresses his thoughts and passes by remaining still when she gives commands without using the required activation seal.
• After paying the delivery disciples ten Dharma Coins, You orders the servitors to activate Qi Suppression and endure her attacks. She then strikes all of them with sword-light, badly injuring Wang Ping despite his defenses.
• Wang Ping uses Qi Suppression to heal himself and resolves to survive, hoping to take the spell back to his former world and use it against his enemies.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping shifts from alarm to cautious determination. He learns to conceal his awareness, quickly understands the servitors’ operating rules, and begins using cultivation magic under life-threatening conditions.
• Daoist Nun You appears elegant and composed but is also shrewd, financially strained, and willing to exploit her power. She tests the servitors’ reactions before putting them through dangerous training.
• The two delivery disciples fear You’s seductive Divine Ability and agree to sell the servitors at a steep discount. They leave hurriedly, then condemn the Immortal Sect’s commercial exploitation.
• Wang Ping’s interaction with You is indirect but tense: she nearly detects him, while he repeatedly works to appear entirely obedient.

Significant themes

• Survival through concealment: Wang Ping’s most urgent challenge is hiding his consciousness in a society where independent thought is dangerous.
• Power and exploitation: Force Servitors are treated as disposable human livestock, while disciples with greater power can coerce or endanger others.
• The limits of cultivation: Qi Suppression offers healing and protection, but the gap between Wang Ping and a powerful cultivator makes those abilities seem fragile.
• Hope amid danger: Wang Ping sees cultivation as a possible means to gain power and eventually settle old scores, even as his new life proves perilous.

Key plot points

• Daoist Nun You finishes destroying the strongest Force Servitor after repeatedly using the servants as sparring partners. Wang Ping realizes the others may not survive long, and his own death is likely if he stays.
• During his recovery, Wang Ping has independently grasped how to cast Qi Suppression. He hopes to retain its basic healing effects even after returning to his original world.
• After midnight, Wang Ping’s Otherworldly Celestial Demon ability becomes available again. He uses it to move his body without activating its Force Servitor sigil and attempts to escape.
• You catches him at the storeroom. She reveals she had anticipated an escape and secretly waited there after each sparring session.
• Rather than destroy Wang Ping, You plans to use him as evidence in a scheme to portray him as a Brahma Kingdom infiltrator and extort compensation from the Heaven and Earth Pavilion.
• You implants a Brahma scripture into Wang Ping to support her story. His intact personality rejects it, causing his body to explode and vanish. The scripture’s power disappears with him, ruining You’s plan and costing her both a Force Servitor and a valuable text.

Character developments

• Wang Ping grows more resourceful and determined. He turns his forced recovery into an opportunity to master Qi Suppression, then chooses a risky escape over certain eventual death. When caught, he meets his fate with resolve; his strong, independent personality ultimately resists the implanted scripture.
• Daoist Nun You / You Xuexin is shown as calculating and opportunistic. She treats the Force Servitors as disposable tools and plans to exploit Wang Ping’s defect for personal gain, but his sudden destruction leaves her stunned and furious.

Character interactions

• You dominates the Force Servitors in sparring, while Wang Ping watches and recognizes the immense power gap between them and Immortal Sect cultivators.
• Wang Ping attempts to evade You’s control, but she reveals that she has been monitoring the storeroom and quickly disables him with his sigil.
• You tries to turn Wang Ping into a pawn in her dispute with the Heaven and Earth Pavilion; instead, his resistance destroys her evidence and scheme.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Wang Ping’s strength and survival depend on a body that can also be controlled and used against him.
• Agency and selfhood: Though made into a tool, Wang Ping retains a distinct personality and will—powerful enough to reject imposed beliefs.
• Exploitation and opportunism: You’s treatment of the servitors and her plan to fabricate a political scandal expose the self-interest beneath institutional loyalty.
• Blessings in disguise—and reversals: Wang Ping’s painful recovery improves his spellcasting, but his escape fails; You’s apparent victory turns into a costly loss.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping wakes in the morgue with the fragmentary Heavenly Book of He Who Transforms at Will and Governs the Desire Realm in his mind. From it, he extracts the Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method, which can transform his body into a special physique able to sense others’ thoughts and emotions and develop Spirit Sense without formal cultivation.
• Since the scripture is incomplete, Wang Ping gives up on immediate immortal cultivation and plans to return to the Great Shun Dynasty, learn martial arts, and explore the Immortal Sect’s world later.
• The Peace Scripture offers him a chance to spend his Destiny on a new identity. He exchanges his White Lotus Sect Destiny and is reborn as a newly recruited constable in Longxing County, retaining his own appearance but receiving a younger body and background memories.
• Wang Ping finds his appointment papers, equipment, and the standard constable martial art, Yama’s Three Demon Blades. Its reliance on a court-issued saber makes it accessible to constables but leaves practitioners dependent on the yamen.
• A restaurant sends him a lavish meal as a “benefit” for constables. Wang Ping recognizes it as protection money, compares it with the poverty of his former rural life, and bitterly reflects on how hard work alone could not have secured his old ambitions.
• Meanwhile, White Lotus Sect leader Shouchong senses that nearly half the sect’s Destiny has vanished. He suspects the Lotus Blade was tampered with and decides it must be recovered from the county yamen. When his disciple Xie Shi warns of the danger, Shouchong reveals his plan: Xie Shi will lead the assault.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping is excited by his new secret art but tries to restrain his greed when he realizes it cannot teach him immortality. His priorities shift pragmatically toward martial arts, and he remains keenly aware of the advantages his new identity provides.
• His encounter with the fine meal brings out his resentment over inequality and his earlier betrayal, though he immediately gives in to the meal’s appeal.
• Shouchong’s shock at losing Destiny turns to suspicion and resolve. He presents himself as confident and prepared, while Xie Shi admires him—until he discovers that Shouchong intends to send him into danger instead.

Significant themes

• Power and opportunity: Wang Ping’s success depends not just on effort, but on supernatural advantages and social position.
• Desire and liberation: The scripture proposes that fulfilling desires can ultimately free a person from them, though its teaching remains incomplete.
• Institutional dependence and corruption: The constables’ martial art binds them to government-issued weapons, while their “free” meals reveal the transactional relationship between officials and merchants.
• Manipulation and sacrifice: Shouchong’s plan exposes the gap between a master’s reassuring words and his willingness to put his disciple at risk.

Key plot points and events

• At morning drills, Wang Ping meets Chief Constable Chen Haoyan, the powerful officer who previously shot him during the White Lotus Sect incident. Chen assigns Liu Ye, a Grass Market patrolman, to teach Wang Yama’s Three Demon Blades.
• Chen explains the martial hierarchy: weapons range from Mortal Weapons to Heavenly Craft, while external martial arts strengthen six areas of the body—skin, flesh, tendons, bones, blood, and marrow. Yama’s Three Demon Blades mainly develops the tendons, and ordinary practitioners need multiple arts to reach External Arts Perfection.
• Chen offers a secret middle-grade family art as a reward for a dangerous assignment with only a one-in-ten chance of survival. The constables hesitate, and Chen gives them three months to decide.
• Liu Ye tells Wang that the assignment concerns the White Lotus Sect’s Lotus Blade. The sect intends to use an attack on the county office to make the blade legendary, helping its leader Shouchong advance. Chen is keeping the blade as bait, hoping to draw out and destroy the sect.
• Liu Ye warns Wang that volunteering could mean death—or ruin if he refuses after attracting Chen’s attention. Wang nevertheless intends to pursue the assignment once his supernatural ability is available.
• Liu Ye explains that Yama’s Three Demon Blades has three stages—Greed, Anger, and Delusion—and that its dangerous saber intent can drive an unprepared student mad.
• He then reveals his own ungraded art, the Iron Ox Skill. Though it uses the body rather than a weapon and is dismissed at first, Liu claims it culminates in the battle form “Golden Spear Unyielding.”

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping shows caution by delaying his saber training until he understands it, but also ambition and unusual fearlessness about the deadly assignment. He pays Liu Ye for information and training, using tact to learn what others might keep secret.
• Chen Haoyan appears controlled and strategic: his offer of a family art recruits someone for a trap designed to counter the White Lotus Sect.
• Liu Ye becomes Wang’s informal mentor and source of inside knowledge. Though he warns Wang against reckless choices, he also profits from Wang’s curiosity and eventually shares both the saber art’s risks and his own unusual technique.
• The exchange between Wang and Liu shifts from formal instruction to private, paid confidences, while Chen’s public challenge leaves the constables silently weighing the risks.

Significant themes

• Ambition versus survival: advancement may demand accepting near-certain death.
• Strategy, deception, and sacrifice: both Shouchong and Chen use the Lotus Blade as part of a larger plan, with an expendable “bait” at its center.
• Unequal paths to power: martial progress depends on access to suitable arts, innate talent, and the ability to combine techniques.
• Dangerous knowledge and unconventional value: powerful skills carry psychological risks, while an art’s low status or lack of a weapon does not necessarily make it worthless.

Chapter Ten Summary: “Showing Off”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Ye explains that his Iron Ox Skill can help beginners resist the “Greed” blade intent of Yama’s Three Demon Blades. The brief state of mental clarity produced by the technique counteracts greed and reduces the risk of cultivation deviation.
• Wang Ping realizes the technique may also support his cultivation of the Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method, a powerful secret art requiring repeated intimate exercises with numerous partners. Mastering it would grant emotional perception, limited influence over others, and the ability to condense Spirit Sense.
• Unable to afford the Iron Ox Skill, Wang Ping negotiates with Liu Ye. Liu Ye offers the manual in exchange for any future martial arts Wang Ping acquires, hoping Wang will eventually obtain a valuable technique through Captain Chen’s missions.
• Wang Ping bargains aggressively, but Liu Ye ultimately offers him free access to the Vermilion Phoenix Tower for practical training, revealing a connection to the establishment.
• Wang Ping decides not to visit immediately. He plans to first perfect the Iron Ox Skill privately, using it to strengthen Golden Spear Unyielding, and then rapidly cultivate the Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method before Liu Ye can realize how costly the arrangement might become.
• That night, Wang Ping begins intense private training with the goal of bringing the Iron Ox Skill to perfection.
• Meanwhile, White Lotus Sect disciple Xie Shi infiltrates the Longxing County yamen to locate the famed Lotus Blade. He successfully bypasses the patrols and finds the weapon, but becomes afraid that he has been used as a disposable scout.
• As Xie Shi retreats, Captain Chen Haoyan confronts him. Xie Shi attempts to escape using perfected external arts, but Chen shoots him down with a powerful bow technique.
• Chen declares Xie Shi a White Lotus bandit and orders the city searched. He offers ten taels for information, one hundred taels for killing Xie Shi, and threatens execution for anyone who shelters him.

Character Developments

• Wang Ping: Becomes more ambitious and calculating. He sees the Iron Ox Skill not merely as a martial art but as a foundation for mastering several powerful techniques. His frugality, shameless bargaining, and willingness to exploit Liu Ye’s offer highlight his opportunistic nature.
• Liu Ye: Reveals himself as shrewd and commercially minded. He recognizes Wang Ping’s potential and tries to secure a future payoff by trading a relatively cheap technique for any valuable martial arts Wang may acquire.
• Xie Shi: Shows stealth and considerable martial ability but lacks confidence when faced with higher-level experts. His hesitation reveals that he understands his master has sent him into danger without adequate support.
• Chen Haoyan: Establishes himself as a formidable Inner Force Martial Master with exceptional archery and authority. He is calm, decisive, and ruthless in dealing with perceived threats to the county office.

Significant Themes

• Ambition and strategic cultivation: Wang Ping treats martial arts as interconnected tools, planning several steps ahead to maximize his future power.
• Greed and desire: The chapter plays with the relationship between emotional impulses, spiritual cultivation, and physical desire. “Greed” is both a literal blade intent and a broader obstacle in cultivation.
• Opportunism and exploitation: Liu Ye seeks to profit from Wang Ping’s future success, while Wang intends to exploit Liu Ye’s free access without revealing the true cost of his plans.
• Chaos and political unrest: The spread of rebels throughout Ji Province creates an atmosphere of fear and instability, making even ordinary patrols feel powerless.
• Power hierarchies: Xie Shi’s infiltration demonstrates skill, but his defeat by Chen shows the vast gap between ordinary experts and elite martial masters.

Character Interactions

• Wang Ping and Liu Ye: Their exchange is a mixture of mentorship, bargaining, manipulation, and mutual appraisal. Liu Ye offers guidance and resources, while Wang constantly evaluates how to gain the greatest advantage.
• Xie Shi and the county patrols: Xie Shi’s near-invisibility contrasts with the patrolmen’s helplessness and resignation about the dangerous political climate.
• Xie Shi and Chen Haoyan: Their brief confrontation exposes the difference in their abilities. Xie Shi can infiltrate undetected, but Chen’s superior perception, authority, and archery overwhelm him.
• Chen Haoyan and the city: After injuring Xie Shi, Chen mobilizes the entire town, using rewards and threats to turn the population against the fugitive.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• At the county yamen, most veteran constables have joined the hunt for the wounded White Lotus rebel, Xie Shi. Liu Ye refuses to participate, teaching Wang Ping that patience and caution matter more than chasing a dangerous opportunity. He warns that the rebel may be bait in a larger struggle between the White Lotus leader and Magistrate Chen.
• Wang Ping takes Liu Ye’s advice and returns to training rather than joining the manhunt. In private, he uses Qi Suppression to restore his vitality while practicing [Iron Ox Skill], advancing far faster than Liu Ye expects: he has already reached minor mastery and believes he can perfect it within a week.
• Training brings Wang Ping into a rare state of mental calm, which he uses to practice [Yama’s Three Demon Blades]. The saber art floods him with Greed, threatening to overwhelm his reason. He realizes that resisting the desire—not surrendering to it—is part of the technique’s bodily transformation.
• Rather than rush to enter the saber art’s threshold, Wang Ping decides to build a stronger foundation first. He plans to perfect [Iron Ox Skill], cultivate the [Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method], and then pursue better-quality dragon sinews.
• Meanwhile, the county is sealed and searched for Xie Shi, but the sweep causes widespread disruption and finds many fugitives instead. Injured and nearly powerless, Xie Shi decides to seek shelter at the Spirit Wandering Temple, which is recruiting beautiful women. He plans to use his [Shape-Shifting Disguise Art] to disguise himself and heads toward the Vermilion Phoenix Tower to find a suitable model.
• Wang Ping also visits the Vermilion Phoenix Tower, intending to train [Iron Ox Skill]. Madam Feng assumes he is inexperienced and offers to start him with three women. Wang Ping confidently declares, “I’ll take on ten!”

Character developments

• Wang Ping shows growing discipline and ambition. He accepts Liu Ye’s warning, controls his greed during saber practice, and chooses long-term improvement over quick advancement. His secret recovery technique and intense training reveal that his progress is much greater than others realize.
• Liu Ye acts as a pragmatic mentor. His survival-first philosophy contrasts with the other constables’ eagerness to pursue the wounded rebel, and he recognizes Wang Ping’s potential and self-control.
• Xie Shi is reduced to a desperate, badly injured fugitive. With conventional strength unavailable, he turns to cunning and disguise to escape capture.
• Madam Feng is familiar with Liu Ye and initially underestimates Wang Ping because of his youthful appearance and unassuming build.

Significant themes

• Caution versus greed: Liu Ye counsels Wang Ping to avoid dangerous opportunities, while the saber art literally weaponizes greed and tests whether he can master it.
• Patience and long-term growth: Wang Ping deliberately postpones a quick breakthrough in favor of building a stronger foundation.
• Appearance and deception: Xie Shi’s plan depends on changing his appearance, while the Temple’s beauty requirement and the courtesan’s carefully cultivated image emphasize how much appearance shapes opportunity.
• Power and vulnerability: The county’s powerful factions make ordinary people cautious, while Xie Shi’s injuries show how quickly even a formidable fighter can become helpless.

Character interactions

• Liu Ye sternly trains Wang Ping and explains why he avoids the manhunt; Wang Ping listens and resumes practice.
• Wang Ping confronts the dangerous Greed stirred by his saber art alone, learning to suppress it through reason.
• Xie Shi debates his options internally and settles on the Spirit Wandering Temple as refuge.
• Madam Feng welcomes Wang Ping on Liu Ye’s recommendation, then teasingly doubts his capacity; Wang Ping answers with bold confidence.

Plot points and events

• The Vermilion Phoenix Tower gradually empties as its courtesans and staff gather around a private room, where Wang Ping has spent two hours in an exhausting succession of encounters. The commotion disrupts the tower’s business and draws the patrons’ attention.
• Disguised as a merchant, the wounded Xie Shi is in the hall, hoping to use the tower’s performers to disguise himself as a beauty. The disruption ruins his plan, and he grows furious at the unknown man responsible.
• Afterward, Wang Ping completes the final stage of the Desire-Realm Celestial Birth Method. His body undergoes alarming mutations, but he controls them through concentration and the method’s instructions, achieving a Desire-Realm Celestial Body and gaining Spirit Sense.
• Spirit Sense lets Wang Ping perceive his body and the world in extraordinary detail, while shielding his mind from the blade intents of Yama’s Three Demon Blades. He rapidly advances the art: the first blade reaches entry level, the second minor mastery, and the third major mastery.
• Wang Ping senses intense anger in the hall, follows it to a disguised figure, and recognizes him as Senior Brother Xie Shi. The chapter ends as a storm breaks over the city.

Character development

• Wang Ping completes a dangerous physical transformation, showing greater discipline and composure as he manages its risks. His new Spirit Sense and blade skill mark a major leap in power, though his excitement makes him eager to test his strength.
• Xie Shi remains desperate to conceal himself and survive. His frustration at Wang Ping’s interference threatens to draw attention to him.
• Miss Feng and the tower’s staff shift from managing an unusual disruption to helping sustain Wang Ping’s prolonged ordeal, underscoring his extraordinary stamina.

Significant themes

• Transformation and risk: Wang Ping’s evolution may bring power, but uncontrolled change could grotesquely alter or destroy him.
• Mind over force: Spirit Sense allows Wang Ping to master blade intents that would otherwise overwhelm a martial artist’s mind.
• Power’s unintended consequences: Wang Ping’s private breakthrough disrupts the entire tower and derails Xie Shi’s plans.
• Chance encounter and recognition: A seemingly comic disturbance brings Wang Ping and the fugitive Xie Shi into direct proximity.

Character interactions

• Miss Feng and the maids discuss how to manage Wang Ping and the growing disturbance, while the patrons speculate about his abilities.
• Xie Shi’s plans are indirectly thwarted by Wang Ping, whom he resents without knowing his identity.
• Wang Ping’s newly expanded perception exposes Xie Shi’s disguise, turning a distant source of anger into a personal encounter.

Key plot points and events

• During a torrential storm, Liu Ye hears that Wang Ping has been astonishingly active at Vermilion Phoenix Tower. Before he can reach it, a signal arrow announces that the wanted White Lotus rebel Xie Shi has been spotted there.
• Xie Shi, already badly wounded, uses the crowd as cover to flee. County constables surround him, but he breaks through with powerful palm strikes and hidden blades, killing one constable and escaping.
• Liu Ye joins the pursuit and lands a Hundred-Step Divine Fist on Xie Shi, but the rebel survives and smashes through walls to get away. Liu Ye tracks him relentlessly.
• Xie Shi spots Wang Ping and rushes to seize him as a hostage and shield. Liu Ye recognizes Wang and warns him, believing the novice constable has no chance against Xie Shi.
• Wang instead draws his saber and kills Xie Shi with a single decisive strike. His technique displays the fearsome intent of Yama’s Three Demon Blades and the telltale resonance of True Dragon Sinew. In his final moments, Xie Shi recognizes Wang as the former junior brother and county-office mole he once abandoned.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping is revealed to have advanced far beyond Liu Ye’s expectations. Calm in the face of danger, he sees Xie Shi as an opportunity to prove himself and rise as a constable.
• Liu Ye shows concern for Wang and pursues Xie Shi with determination, but is stunned by Wang’s sudden strength and lethal skill.
• Xie Shi, though resourceful and formidable, is weakened and increasingly desperate. His contemptuous assumptions about Wang prove fatal.
• The chapter’s central interaction is the reversal between former master and junior: Xie Shi, who once abandoned Wang, fails to recognize how greatly he has changed until the instant before his death.

Significant themes

• Reversal and underestimated strength: The apparent novice becomes the decisive force, while the powerful fugitive is brought down by the person he dismissed.
• Desperation and consequence: Xie Shi’s injuries, failed escape, and reliance on secret techniques steadily exhaust him.
• Violence as advancement: Wang regards the deadly encounter as a valuable step forward, reflecting the harsh, opportunistic world of martial power and law enforcement.
• The storm as atmosphere and symbol: The rain masks the pursuit, heightens the violence, and finally provides a fitting image for Wang’s composed, chilling conclusion: the blade can be washed clean.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping kills White Lotus rebel Xie Shi with a carefully timed sword strike. He credits the victory to his Spirit Sense, which lets him read Xie Shi’s movements and exploit his own superior True Dragon Sinew.
• Though Xie Shi’s dying attack injures him, Wang Ping uses the rudimentary spell [Qi Suppression] to stop the bleeding and heal rapidly. The fight reinforces his belief that cultivation has greater potential than ordinary martial arts.
• Constable Liu Ye quietly gives Wang Ping a pouch containing the silver he had previously received, plus ten taels. Wang Ping returns it, choosing to preserve their friendship rather than pursue the money.
• Chief Constable Chen Haoyan summons Wang Ping, praises his talent, and rewards him with a gold ingot. After confirming that Wang Ping has tempered True Dragon Sinew, Chen offers to teach him his family’s [Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow].
• Chen then reveals a dangerous plan involving the White Lotus leader Shouchong’s bonded weapon, [Lotus Blade]. Wang Ping must openly escort the blade to the Spirit Wandering Temple, where the Wandering God True Person is expected to destroy it. Chen hopes the spectacle will draw Shouchong out and weaken him, creating an opportunity for Chen to defeat him and claim the blade’s remaining renown.
• Chen warns that failure would almost certainly mean Wang Ping’s death. He offers permission to pass on the bow technique and says Wang Ping has three days to prepare. Wang Ping accepts—but demands higher pay.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping demonstrates tactical judgment, self-awareness, and confidence in his unusual abilities. He chooses to reveal his True Dragon Sinew to Chen because he wants opportunities to advance, while recognizing the danger of trusting his superior.
• Liu Ye shows newfound respect for Wang Ping and tries to make amends for their earlier financial dealings. Wang Ping’s refusal to take the money strengthens their friendly relationship.
• Chen Haoyan is impressed by Wang Ping but treats him as a useful piece in a high-stakes scheme. His warm praise and offers of advancement mask the fact that Wang Ping has little real choice about accepting the mission.
• Their exchanges reveal a balance of negotiation and coercion: Wang Ping understands Chen’s strategy and risks, yet uses the opportunity to press for better compensation.

Significant themes

• Cultivation versus martial arts: Wang Ping’s Spirit Sense and healing spell prove valuable in combat, strengthening his faith in cultivation.
• Talent, ambition, and advancement: Wang Ping understands that displaying his abilities may bring responsibility and status, even when it exposes him to danger.
• Power and manipulation: Chen’s praise and promises conceal a deadly plan, illustrating how authority can frame coercion as opportunity.
• Pragmatism and relationships: Wang Ping values Liu Ye’s goodwill over a small financial gain, while remaining calculating and alert in dealings with Chen.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping accepts Chen Haoyan’s dangerous three-day assignment involving the Lotus Blade and gains access to the intermediate Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow manual. Using Spirit Sense, he reads and memorizes the entire manual quickly.
• He retrieves the enormous Black Chi Bow, designed for the technique, and begins practicing before dawn. Spirit Sense makes his aim exceptionally accurate, but the art rapidly drains his blood and qi. With only three days before the escort mission, he resolves to train intensely and seek stronger nourishment.
• Liu Ye tells Wang Ping that his new county-wide nickname is “the Great Dragon Spear”—a bawdy rumor about his exploits at the Vermilion Phoenix Tower, not recognition of his martial skill.
• Wang Ping gives Liu Ye the manual’s table of contents and promises him access to the full technique, honoring the permission Chen Haoyan granted him to pass it to one person. Moved by Wang Ping’s generosity, Liu Ye offers to find nourishing food to support his training.
• Elsewhere, Shouchong learns that his disciple Xie Shi has died. Rather than mourn, he is pleased that Xie’s actions convinced Chen Haoyan the Lotus Blade was being closely guarded. Shouchong predicts Chen will try to draw him out, so he plans to counter by luring Chen away from the county.
• Shouchong worships Liansheng Bodhisattva, the supernatural source of his martial power and the origin of the White Lotus Sect. He sincerely believes spreading her faith will relieve the people’s suffering, while the scene’s uncanny signs suggest a more unsettling power behind the goddess.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping proves resourceful and ambitious, using Spirit Sense to overcome limits of time and skill. Despite his impending danger, he keeps his promise to Liu Ye and accepts help when his training threatens his health.
• Liu Ye shifts from joking about Wang Ping’s scandalous reputation and worrying about business losses to recognizing Wang Ping’s sincerity. He responds with concern and practical support.
• Shouchong remains calculating and strategic, treating Xie Shi’s death as useful and preparing a new diversion. His sincere devotion to the Bodhisattva contrasts with the ominous supernatural imagery.
• The chapter pairs Wang Ping and Liu Ye’s growing trust with Shouchong’s unseen maneuvering against Chen Haoyan.

Significant themes

• Trust and reciprocity: Wang Ping repays Liu Ye’s earlier kindness, strengthening their bond.
• Ambition versus bodily limits: Wang Ping’s rapid progress depends on Spirit Sense, but his body cannot yet sustain the technique.
• Reputation and misunderstanding: Wang Ping’s fame spreads, though for a vulgar rumor rather than the achievement he hoped for.
• Faith, power, and manipulation: Shouchong frames his devotion as compassion, while the scene hints that the force he serves may be far from benevolent.

Chapter Summary

This chapter is an author’s announcement rather than a narrative installment.

• Key events: The author announces a Dragon Boat Festival giveaway of 50 zongzi gift boxes for readers who vote with monthly tickets between June 1 at 00:00 and June 12 at 20:00. Each vote generates a monthly ticket number, which can be viewed in the Monthly Ticket Souvenir Album. Winners will be drawn in a WeChat group and verified before receiving prizes; readers who do not join immediately can wait for the winning numbers to be announced in a later chapter.
• Future publication plans: The book is expected to become a premium title the following month. The author promises a major update campaign at launch, with approximately two chapters—or 8,000 words—posted daily during the new-book period.
• Character developments: No fictional characters develop in this chapter.
• Themes: Reader support, gratitude, community participation, and the ongoing relationship between the author and readership.
• Character interactions: There are no story-based interactions; the author directly addresses readers, thanks them for their encouragement and gifts, and asks them to continue voting and following the book.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping trains before dawn with a Blood Jade Bun. His archery reaches the entry level, completing Blood Like Fire. He learns that the technique briefly boosts strength by pushing the body beyond its limits, but causes serious strain.
• He asks Liu Ye to help him obtain illicit exotic iron. Liu takes him to the Grass Market under the pretext of collecting regular payments.
• Wang Ping sees Liu enforce a fair accounting of the market’s payments, then haggle with an illegal iron dealer. The dealer’s stock includes materials linked to the previous night’s violence, suggesting stolen goods—and possible corruption within the county office.
• Wang Ping buys the finest piece, Hundred-Forged Primordial Copper, for ten taels. He feeds it to the Morgue, which opens the Peace Scripture’s second page and provides an empty slot for a new scroll.
• Before he can choose what to record next, a constable summons him: White Lotus Sect leader Shouchong has entered the county town and disappeared. Wang Ping realizes Chen Haoyan is accelerating their plan, likely wanting him to escort the Lotus Blade to Spirit Wandering Temple immediately and publicly.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping grows more capable and confident, recognizing that his unusual body may let him master martial arts to an exceptional level. He also begins investing in upgrading his cheat now that he can better protect himself.
• Liu Ye shows both authority and practical fairness: he collects payments but corrects an overpayment, and uses his status to negotiate a steep discount on contraband iron.
• The stallholder is wary of Liu Ye and submits when threatened with enforcement, revealing the risks and power dynamics of the illicit trade.
• Wang Ping’s view of Liu Ye softens somewhat, though he remains clear-eyed about the market’s questionable system.

Significant themes

• Power and bodily cost: Blood Like Fire grants extraordinary force at the price of self-injury.
• Pragmatism and moral ambiguity: Liu Ye’s collections support order but still burden ordinary traders; Wang Ping observes without assuming he can change the system.
• Corruption and hidden networks: The iron dealer’s suspicious stock hints at deeper connections between crime and officialdom.
• Plans disrupted by events: Shouchong’s arrival forces Wang Ping and Chen Haoyan to abandon their original timing and act sooner.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Ping arrives armed at the county office after breaking through to a new level of strength. Chen Haoyan recognizes his exceptional traits—divine strength and the highest-grade Supreme Yang Blood—and promises him future advancement if he survives his assignment. Wang Ping politely accepts but privately distrusts Chen, believing the promise is hollow.
• Chen orders Wang Ping to deliver Shouchong’s Lotus Blade to the Spirit Wandering Temple, including its heavy stand. Suspecting a hidden purpose, Wang Ping uses his Spirit Sense to discover a hollow compartment containing the Dragonrise County Seal, the county’s symbol of official authority.
• As Wang Ping’s carriage heads toward the temple in the rain, Shouchong and his followers debate whether the delivery is a trap. Shouchong questions what Chen has offered the temple’s Transcendent, but his followers disagree over whether the blade is bait, a decoy, or part of another scheme.
• Alone in the carriage, Wang senses an immediate threat and assumes he may die. Rather than focus on fighting, he plans to use the Peace Scripture to refine the Lotus Blade, the county seal, and his other weapons, salvaging valuable materials before his possible death.
• Shouchong appears beside the carriage and reveals that he knows Wang killed Xie Shi. He addresses Wang as his “good disciple,” setting up a direct confrontation.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Ping remains outwardly deferential toward Chen while inwardly keeping score. His caution and opportunism show as he detects the hidden seal, assesses the danger, and plans to profit from the materials he carries.
• Chen Haoyan recognizes Wang’s rare talent but values people mainly for their usefulness. His secretive order to transport the blade stand—and the concealed county seal—suggests he has a larger plan.
• Shouchong presents himself as loyal and benevolent, but his followers openly challenge his hypocrisy and accuse him of withholding the true martial art from Xie Shi. He insists that he taught the doctrine, but claims they cannot master it because they do not truly believe.
• Shouchong’s followers question both their master’s conduct and the purpose of the carriage mission. Their speculation contrasts with Shouchong’s confidence that he has a plan.
• Wang and Shouchong are brought into direct conflict when Shouchong identifies Wang as Xie Shi’s killer and confronts him in the rain.

Significant themes

• Power and usefulness: Chen admires Wang’s talent but sees it as valuable only if it can be exploited.
• Faith and hypocrisy: Shouchong’s followers suspect the sect’s religious teachings are a pretext for rebellion, while Shouchong insists that genuine belief is essential to learning its art.
• Secrecy and schemes: The hidden county seal, the unexplained delivery, and the followers’ competing theories create uncertainty about Chen’s intentions.
• Survival and opportunism: Faced with possible death, Wang focuses on preserving what he can gain rather than on heroics.

Key plot points and events

• Shouchong recognizes Wang Ping as his resurrected former disciple, though he does not know what brought him back. He believes a powerful being—his own benefactor, Liansheng Bodhisattva—must have revived Wang Ping.
• When Wang Ping hints that the White Lotus Sect’s scattered “Destiny” matters to Shouchong, Shouchong suddenly attacks, attempting to kill him with a devastating full-body strike.
• A gigantic black snake saves Wang Ping and fights Shouchong. Its handler, Wandering God True Person, appears and confronts Shouchong.
• Shouchong deduces that Chen Haoyan has used the Dragonrise County Seal to lure Wandering God True Person from his temple. A distant explosion at the Spirit Wandering Temple confirms that Chen Haoyan has taken advantage of the distraction to break in.
• Shouchong blocks Wandering God True Person from returning, and the two men and the snake fight as they move away, leaving Wang Ping alone with the carriage and its treasures.
• Wang Ping realizes Chen Haoyan’s apparent plan to make him a pawn in the dispute over the Lotus Blade was a cover for a larger scheme. Chen used the seal as bait, while Shouchong also seems to have helped keep Wandering God True Person occupied.
• Understanding that all three powerful figures treated his survival as irrelevant, Wang Ping refuses to flee or accept being discarded. He takes the Lotus Blade and the Dragonrise County Seal and uses the Peace Scripture to refine and claim both.

Character developments

• Wang Ping shifts from cautious survival to open defiance. He sees that his life has been treated as expendable, and decides to claim power and agency rather than quietly endure it.
• Shouchong reveals a mix of apparent goodwill toward Wang Ping and ruthless opportunism: he recognizes him, attacks him, then prioritizes stopping Wandering God True Person over taking the Lotus Blade.
• Wandering God True Person is drawn into the conflict by the promise of the Dragonrise County Seal, then discovers that the temple has been attacked while he was away.
• Chen Haoyan emerges as a calculating strategist whose apparent plans conceal a more ambitious operation—and whose schemes place Wang Ping in extreme danger.

Significant themes

• Power and expendability: The powerful players pursue their agendas without regard for Wang Ping’s life.
• Agency and rebellion: Wang Ping’s decision to take the treasures marks his refusal to remain a disposable pawn.
• Deception and layered schemes: The apparent contest over the Lotus Blade masks a plan involving the Dragonrise County Seal and the Spirit Wandering Temple.
• A world deeper than it appears: References to resurrection, great worthies, Transcendents, and supernatural beings reveal forces beyond the martial world Wang Ping thought he knew.

Character interactions

• Shouchong privately tells Wang Ping he recognizes him as his resurrected disciple and asks who revived him; Wang Ping conceals what he knows.
• Wang Ping provokes Shouchong by mentioning the sect’s lost Destiny, prompting Shouchong’s attack.
• The black snake intervenes to save Wang Ping, and its handler, Wandering God True Person, joins the confrontation.
• Shouchong and Wandering God True Person trade accusations and fight, while Shouchong prevents the True Person from returning to his endangered temple.
• Left alone, Wang Ping rejects the role Chen Haoyan and the others have assigned him and claims the two treasures for himself.

Chapter Summary: “The Second Scripture Scroll, Perish with the Sun!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Haoyan infiltrates Spirit Wandering Temple in search of the secret medicine of eternal youth, hoping to obtain the same kind of life-extending remedy that has kept the emperor alive for over a century.
• He is confronted by the temple’s formidable Bronze Man Formation. Though the bronze guardians attack with the strength of perfected external martial artists, Chen protects himself with blood-red force and breaks the formation by firing nine Black-Iron Armor-Piercing Arrows at once.
• Chen exploits a flaw in the formation and reaches the temple’s alchemy chamber. Unable to identify the correct medicine, he gathers every porcelain bottle and attempts to escape through the roof.
• Just as he seems to succeed, he encounters the supernatural power of Liansheng Bodhisattva. A lotus and holy woman appear before him, leaving Chen dazed and implying that the supposedly fictional divine beings recorded in official files are real.
• Meanwhile, within the Peace Scripture, Wang Ping discovers that the second page—previously blank—has been filled. The scripture reveals the truth behind Longxing County’s “death.”
• Wang witnesses county officials abusing the autumn tax reforms. They falsely inflate land records, impose taxes on nonexistent farmland, split families into additional taxable households, and seize grain from impoverished villagers.
• Chen Haoyan reports proudly to the county magistrate that he has uncovered vast amounts of “concealed” farmland and thousands of “unregistered” households, dramatically increasing tax revenue.
• The magistrate approves of Chen’s methods and promises him a position in the Capital Divine Constables’ Bureau. The magistrate and Chen deliberately protect wealthy martial families while exploiting poor farmers, rationalizing that the powerless villagers cannot resist.
• Wang realizes that the Dragonrise County Seal was treated by the Peace Scripture as Longxing County’s “corpse.” The county effectively died during the corrupt autumn tax collection, even though its people and institutions continued functioning.
• The Peace Scripture produces its second scroll, [Perish with the Sun]. Wang learns that it records injuries inflicted on him and can later return those injuries to an enemy as retribution.
• Determined to confront Chen Haoyan, Wang leaves in the storm, declaring that Chen—one of Longxing County’s “suns”—must be shot down.

Character Developments

• Chen Haoyan demonstrates exceptional martial strength, tactical awareness, and confidence by breaking through the Bronze Man Formation. However, his competence is paired with greed and moral corruption: he is willing to exploit ordinary people and steal from the temple to advance himself.
• Chen’s ambition becomes clearer through his dealings with the county magistrate. He views oppressive taxation as a successful political achievement and accepts promotion as the reward for harming the populace.
• Wang Ping gains a deeper understanding of the suffering that shaped his past life. He connects the county’s corrupt taxation to his family’s former poverty and recognizes that widespread hunger was caused not by a lack of farmland, but by exploitation and grain extraction.
• Wang shifts from merely surviving and investigating supernatural events to actively choosing retaliation. His anger toward Chen becomes personal, but he also frames his coming attack as repayment to the people of Longxing County.
• Wang also gains an important new weapon in the form of the second scripture scroll, giving him a potential trump card against stronger opponents.

Significant Themes

• Corruption and exploitation: Official reforms are presented as benefiting the state and people, but are used to fabricate debts, seize grain, and enrich or protect the powerful.
• Class inequality: Wealthy martial families receive preferential treatment, while poor villagers are burdened with impossible taxes because they lack the strength to resist.
• The hidden causes of suffering: Wang realizes that historical poverty and famine were consequences of institutional corruption rather than natural scarcity.
• Justice and retribution: The Peace Scripture transforms collective injustice into supernatural power. Perish with the Sun embodies delayed retaliation against those who inflict harm.
• Power and moral hypocrisy: The county magistrate speaks of putting the people first while openly endorsing policies that sacrifice them for stability and political success.
• The reality of the supernatural: Chen’s encounter with Liansheng Bodhisattva confirms that divine and occult beings dismissed as superstition may genuinely exist.
• Sacrifice and resistance: The new scripture’s principle—suffering damage oneself in order to harm a stronger enemy—reflects the desperate resistance of the powerless against overwhelming authority.

Character Interactions

• Chen Haoyan and the Bronze Men: Chen meets their coordinated assault with overwhelming defense and archery, breaking their formation through strength and tactical observation.
• Chen Haoyan and Liansheng Bodhisattva: Their brief encounter interrupts Chen’s escape and leaves him spiritually stunned, suggesting a major supernatural confrontation or judgment.
• Chen Haoyan and the county magistrate: Chen reports the success of his exploitative tax campaign, while the magistrate praises him, excuses the protection of elite families, and rewards him with a promotion.
• Officials and the farming family: The constable uses falsified records and threats of violence to force a poor household to pay taxes on far more land and more households than it actually possesses.
• Wang Ping and the Peace Scripture: Wang interprets the scripture’s vision, understands Longxing County’s symbolic “death,” and learns the mechanism of the new scroll.
• Wang Ping and Chen Haoyan: Though they do not meet directly in this chapter, Wang’s final vow establishes him as Chen’s approaching enemy and sets up an imminent confrontation.