Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “The True Culprit Revealed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu devises a risky plan to expose the murderer: Zhou Mei will pose as bait and confront the suspected man alone.
• Zhou Mei reluctantly follows the plan despite believing it is reckless and procedurally improper, trusting Lin’s unusual but often successful methods.
• She enters a secluded cabin at Springwater Villa and confronts the guest, Zhu Xiqing, accusing him of murdering the local resident on Tashan.
• Zhou Mei reveals that the police tracked his movements through surveillance and physical clues, including his transformation, escape from the cave, return to human form, and attempts to conceal his trail.
• Zhu Xiqing reacts violently, transforming and attacking Zhou Mei with razor-sharp claws. Before he can kill her, Lin Xiaosu intervenes, cuts off the claws, and defeats him.
• Lin explains that he anticipated Zhu’s escape attempt because the cabin’s unbarred window opened directly toward the mountains, making it ideal for a Xeno-Gene Human seeking to flee.
• Captain Zhang, Director Li, and detective He Jiang arrive. Lin provides the severed claws and a recording of Zhu’s transformation as evidence.
• The claws are expected to contain genetic traces from the victim, while the video confirms Zhu’s ability to transform and supports the case against him.
• Captain Zhang proudly carries the unconscious suspect away, while He Jiang reacts with complicated embarrassment and surprise at Lin’s success.
• On the drive away, Zhou Mei admits she feels inferior because other members of the team have gained genetic abilities or expertise. She then asks Lin to help her practice the same technique he previously used with Zhou Xi.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates his strategic intelligence, combat skill, and ability to anticipate the culprit’s behavior. Although his methods appear childish or unconventional, they prove effective.
• Zhou Mei shows courage and professional competence by acting as bait despite knowing the danger. She also becomes more willing to trust Lin, though she remains frustrated by his methods and jokes.
• Zhu Xiqing is exposed as the true murderer and revealed to be a Xeno-Gene Human capable of transforming into a clawed beast. His calm disguise collapses when he is threatened with exposure.
• Captain Zhang gains an opportunity to display his enhanced strength and takes charge of transporting the suspect.
• Director Li and He Jiang are forced to acknowledge Lin’s success, despite their previous doubts or reservations about him.
• Zhou Mei reveals insecurity about being “ordinary” compared with colleagues who possess special abilities, setting up a possible personal development arc.

Significant Themes

• Results versus procedure: The chapter contrasts Zhou Mei’s police training and concern for proper procedure with Lin’s improvisational approach. It suggests that unconventional methods can succeed when guided by careful preparation.
• Trust and teamwork: Zhou Mei must trust Lin with her safety, while Lin’s preparation proves that the bait operation was not careless.
• Appearance versus reality: Zhu Xiqing appears to be an ordinary traveler but is actually a transformed killer. Similarly, Lin’s seemingly foolish plans conceal careful reasoning.
• Evidence and accountability: The video, severed claws, genetic residue, and surveillance trail turn suspicion into a prosecutable case.
• Growing inequality and insecurity: Zhou Mei worries that enhanced teammates are leaving her behind, reflecting the changing social and professional landscape created by genetic abilities.

Character Interactions

• Lin and Zhou Mei maintain a teasing, argumentative partnership built on mutual trust. She criticizes his “childish” plans, but ultimately relies on him.
• Zhou Mei’s confrontation with Zhu Xiqing is deliberately designed to provoke him into revealing his true nature.
• Lin rescues Zhou Mei at the last possible moment, reassuring her that he would not truly endanger her without protection.
• Captain Zhang’s reaction shows excitement and confidence in the successful capture, while Director Li and He Jiang respond with surprise and discomfort.
• The chapter ends with Zhou Mei playfully but insistently bargaining with Lin for help mastering a rejuvenation technique, reinforcing their flirtatious and comedic dynamic.

Chapter Summary: “A Slightly Ambiguous Process”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhou Mei brings Lin Xiaosu to her apartment so he can help her cultivate by guiding her to locate and stabilize the “origin point” in her Dantian.
• Their flirtatious behavior creates an ambiguous atmosphere, though the procedure remains essentially spiritual cultivation rather than romance.
• Zhou Mei successfully finds and solidifies her origin point while Lin Xiaosu waits outside the bedroom.
• Captain Zhang unexpectedly arrives. Zhou Mei quickly changes back into her police uniform and pretends that she and Lin Xiaosu were merely analyzing the case.
• Captain Zhang reveals that the captured suspect has died. During interrogation, the man escaped specially designed restraints by deforming his bones and transforming his hands and feet into blade-like weapons.
• Captain Zhang killed him with a punch to the forehead when the suspect attempted to murder an officer.
• The suspect’s only intelligible words before dying sounded like either “Li Tian” or “plowing fields,” leaving investigators uncertain whether he named a person or a location.
• Lin Xiaosu suggests a full examination of the body to determine what kind of genetically modified lifeform the suspect was.
• He also proposes returning to the stone tower, reasoning that the suspect deliberately tried to lure the authorities there and have it destroyed. Lin Xiaosu wants to understand why the tower was so important to him.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu remains observant and composed, balancing teasing humor with serious investigative insight. He immediately recognizes that the suspect’s unusual anatomy may reveal the nature of his genetic modification.
• Zhou Mei displays confidence and playful boldness while interacting with Lin Xiaosu, but she also proves capable of disciplined cultivation. She successfully stabilizes her origin point and quickly adapts when Captain Zhang arrives.
• Captain Zhang is shown as decisive and formidable. Although he initially appears suspicious of Zhou Mei and Lin Xiaosu’s explanation, he focuses on the investigation. His willingness to kill the suspect demonstrates the severity of the threat.
• The suspect is revealed to be far more dangerous and abnormal than previously believed. His silence, bizarre body transformation, and cryptic final words deepen the mystery surrounding the forces behind him.

Significant Themes

• Ambiguity between intimacy and duty: The cultivation procedure appears flirtatious and intimate, but it is ultimately connected to Zhou Mei’s development and their larger mission.
• Hidden biological and genetic threats: The suspect’s deformable bones and weaponized limbs suggest increasingly unpredictable forms of genetic modification.
• Mystery and incomplete information: The suspect’s final words cannot be identified, and his motives remain unclear, especially his attempt to direct the authorities toward the stone tower.
• Trust and concealment: Zhou Mei and Lin Xiaosu must disguise their private activities from Captain Zhang, while the investigation itself depends on uncovering secrets hidden by the suspect and his organization.
• Strategic manipulation: The suspect’s attempt to use law enforcement to destroy the tower suggests that he was manipulating events for a larger purpose.

Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu and Zhou Mei: Their conversation is teasing, flirtatious, and full of verbal sparring. Zhou Mei deliberately provokes him while insisting that he maintain self-control. During cultivation, however, both become serious and focused.
• Zhou Mei and Captain Zhang: Zhou Mei hurriedly presents a false explanation for Lin Xiaosu’s presence, while Captain Zhang clearly sees through the excuse but chooses not to challenge it directly.
• Lin Xiaosu and Captain Zhang: Their exchange shifts from humor to serious investigation. Captain Zhang seeks Lin Xiaosu’s ideas, and Lin Xiaosu redirects attention from the suspect’s final words to the larger questions of genetic modification and the stone tower.
• Lin Xiaosu and the dead suspect: Although they never interact directly in the chapter, Lin Xiaosu analyzes the suspect’s actions and recognizes that his apparent death may still contain clues to a larger conspiracy.

Chapter Summary: “Litian Tribe”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Captain Zhang initially reasons that the stone tower may simply be the hiding place of a murderous beast, leading authorities to consider destroying it.
• Lin Xiaosu challenges this assumption, suggesting that the tower may have been deliberately made the focus of the investigation.
• Lin Xiaosu, Captain Zhang, and Zhou Mei return to the tower to inspect it. While Lin Xiaosu investigates inside, Captain Zhang receives forensic results showing that the killer’s body was not fully human.
• The murderer possessed an unusual skeletal and muscular structure, suggesting a fusion of Carbon-Based and Silicon-Based Life.
• Lin Xiaosu identifies the killer’s final words—previously misunderstood as a name or phrase—as “Litian Tribe,” the name of an ancient underground race.
• He explains that the Underground World contains Silicon-Based beings sealed away by the legendary Emperor Kun. The Litian Tribe can disguise themselves within human society.
• Lin Xiaosu further reveals that the stone tower contains a Primordial Grand Array sealing the Underground Race. Destroying the tower could have broken the seal and released the imprisoned beings.
• The group concludes that the Litian tribesman may have committed murder only to lure law enforcement into blowing up the tower and freeing his race.
• Another possibility is raised: foreign powers may have manipulated him to destabilize Daxia by unleashing the Underground Race.
• Captain Zhang realizes the matter is extremely serious and decides to report it directly to Qianlong.
• On the drive back, Zhou Mei worries that Director Li’s eagerness to destroy the tower may have placed her in danger. Lin Xiaosu advises her not to confront him, while she resolves to strengthen herself through cultivation.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates increasingly sophisticated reasoning, moving beyond the obvious murder investigation to uncover the strategic purpose behind the crime. His knowledge of ancient legends, Silicon-Based Life, and sealing arrays establishes him as the central interpreter of the supernatural threat.
• Captain Zhang undergoes a major shift in worldview. He moves from treating the case as a conventional investigation involving beasts or genetic experiments to accepting the existence of ancient underground races and sealed supernatural forces. His decision to contact Qianlong reflects his recognition of the crisis’s national importance.
• Zhou Mei becomes more aware of the danger surrounding the stone tower and her own vulnerability. She is determined to improve her cultivation, though her emotional reactions to Lin Xiaosu suggest growing personal feelings and embarrassment.
• The deceased Litian tribesman is reinterpreted. Rather than killing out of personal hatred, he may have sacrificed himself to advance the cause of his race, making his final words a lament rather than a confession.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: The investigation repeatedly shifts from the obvious explanation—a beast hiding in the tower—to deeper possibilities involving deliberate deception and ancient powers.
• The collision of myth and reality: Legends about Emperor Kun, the Underground World, and Silicon-Based Life are revealed to be factual, forcing ordinary people to reconsider the boundaries of history and science.
• Fear as a weapon: The killer exploits humanity’s fear of darkness and the unknown to manipulate law enforcement into attacking the tower.
• The danger of unintended consequences: A legally justified action—destroying a suspected monster’s hiding place—could have caused a catastrophic release of the sealed Underground Race.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: The Litian tribesman’s murder may have been an act of devotion to his “mother race,” suggesting that his loyalty extended beyond his own life.
• National and existential security: The threat is no longer an isolated criminal case; it may involve the survival of Carbon-Based civilization and possible foreign attempts to harm Daxia.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu redirects Captain Zhang’s investigation from the murderer to the deeper purpose of the stone tower.
• His explanation of the Litian Tribe profoundly unsettles Captain Zhang and Zhou Mei, who must reconcile scientific evidence with ancient legend.
• Zhou Mei proposes that the killer intended to use the police to destroy the seal, and Lin Xiaosu confirms that this is the most logically consistent explanation.
• Captain Zhang’s decision to report to Qianlong shows that he now trusts Lin Xiaosu’s interpretation and recognizes the threat as beyond ordinary police authority.
• In the final exchange, Lin Xiaosu tries to protect Zhou Mei by warning her not to challenge Director Li directly. Zhou Mei responds with determination to cultivate, while her teasing remark about Lin Xiaosu’s “deliberate provocation” hints at unresolved romantic tension and leaves him confused.

Chapter Summary: “Trouble Seems to Have Leaked Out”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Miao Ruolan and Lin Xiaosu spend the night together under the pretense of “cultivation practice.” Lin’s overflowing true energy makes the experience unusually stimulating, causing Miao to lose some of her normally exceptional self-control.
• Zhou Xi appears to realize what happened. She deliberately decides to stay at a classmate’s house, leaving Miao and Lin alone. Miao becomes increasingly nervous that Zhou Xi may have heard her during the night.
• The next morning, Lin claims he has gone on a business trip to Southern Frontier Province. Zhou Xi explains that this is connected to Snow Jade Pavilion and a major client who had already paid 150,000 yuan.
• Zhou Xi reveals that a murder in Tashan, initially kept secret to prevent public panic, was solved by Lin Xiaosu. He Jiang, River City’s famous number-one detective, had investigated the case, but Lin overturned his conclusion and found the true culprit within an hour.
• The case’s details are made public after its resolution, but the mystery of the stone tower remains classified. Only Captain Zhang and Zhou Mei currently know the truth locally. Captain Zhang has also gained access to a special Genetic Police contact after undergoing a genetic procedure.
• Lin returns to Southern Frontier, the starting and ending point of his recent journey. He believes he now possesses the key to resolving Peacock Valley’s crisis and intends to fulfill his promise to Yi Xiang.
• After arriving in Taichong, Lin goes to Snow Jade Pavilion to meet Old Zhou. There, Zhou Xiaoyu, Zhou Qin, and Zhou Ling debate whether to cut three valuable jade materials before the Yangcheng Jewelry Expo.
• Zhou Qin and Zhou Ling want to proceed immediately, while Old Zhou insists on waiting for Lin’s opinion.

Character Developments

• Miao Ruolan becomes more emotionally and physically involved with Lin. Despite her strong self-control, his special true energy overwhelms her defenses. She also begins to feel more confident and attractive, noticing that she looks healthier and more radiant afterward.
• Zhou Xi shows sharp observational skills and a mischievous understanding of the relationship between Lin and Miao. Her teasing is indirect, but she clearly suspects or knows what happened. She also expresses intense admiration for Lin’s detective abilities.
• Lin Xiaosu continues to demonstrate extraordinary versatility. He is not only powerful in cultivation but also surpasses River City’s most renowned detective. He is now returning to Southern Frontier with a definite purpose: resolving Peacock Valley’s crisis and dealing with Snow Jade Pavilion’s concerns.
• Captain Zhang gains a broader identity and influence through his connection to the Genetic Police, suggesting that his role may extend beyond ordinary county-level law enforcement.
• Zhou Qin is portrayed as proud, refined, and highly skeptical of Lin because he is an outsider to the jade world. Her “Ice-Faced Princess” reputation reflects her aloofness toward men.
• Zhou Ling is established as a talented jade cutter and committed heir to Snow Jade Pavilion. Although confident in his own skill, he considers Lin unqualified to advise on jade.
• Old Zhou remains cautious and authoritative. His insistence on waiting implies that he trusts Lin’s judgment more than his grandchildren expect.

Significant Themes

• Hidden relationships and secrecy: Miao and Lin conceal their intimacy behind cultivation practice, while Zhou Xi’s suspicions create playful tension.
• Lin’s extraordinary competence: The chapter reinforces that Lin excels far beyond conventional expectations, defeating a celebrated detective despite having no formal reputation in that field.
• Trust versus expertise: The Snow Jade Pavilion debate contrasts established family expertise with reliance on Lin, an outsider whose abilities have already proven exceptional.
• Public truth versus hidden secrets: The murder can be publicly revealed once solved, but the stone tower and Genetic Police matters remain concealed, emphasizing the difference between ordinary crime and supernatural or genetically enhanced affairs.
• Misunderstanding and language: Lin’s sincere reference to “Peacock Valley” is given an embarrassing alternative meaning in the Miao context, creating comic tension and highlighting cultural misunderstanding.
• Returning to fulfill promises: Lin’s journey back to Southern Frontier represents both the completion of a personal cycle and his commitment to helping Yi Xiang and Peacock Valley.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin and Miao Ruolan: Their relationship becomes more intimate, though they continue to disguise it as cultivation. Miao is embarrassed and anxious afterward, while Lin remains composed and teasingly aware of the situation.
• Miao Ruolan and Zhou Xi: Zhou Xi subtly tests Miao’s reaction and appears to know about her night with Lin. Miao tries to maintain a respectable explanation but is visibly flustered.
• Zhou Xi and Miao Ruolan regarding Lin’s detective work: Zhou Xi enthusiastically praises Lin for surpassing He Jiang, while Miao calmly insists she already believed Lin was the strongest.
• Lin and He Jiang: Though their interaction is described retrospectively, Lin’s successful challenge to He Jiang establishes a direct rivalry in detective ability, with Lin decisively proving superior.
• The Zhou family: Zhou Qin and Zhou Ling pressure Old Zhou to cut the jade materials, while Old Zhou refuses to act until Lin arrives or gives his judgment. This introduces an internal conflict over tradition, confidence, and outside advice.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• The Zhou family of Snow Jade Pavilion is preparing for the major Jewelry Expo in Yangcheng. They hope to create an extraordinary jade masterpiece that will establish their reputation in China and abroad.
• Old Master Zhou has preserved three valuable jadeite rough stones for this purpose and travels to Phoenix City to invite Lin Xiaosu, an expert known for his exceptional ability to assess jade.
• Zhou Ling and Zhou Qin distrust Lin Xiaosu, considering him an outsider and possibly a jade “layman.” Their skepticism increases when Lin arrives at Snow Jade Pavilion.
• Lin examines the first, smaller stone and correctly identifies it as an old mid-layer stone from the Dongjiang Mine, settling an old internal dispute.
• He rejects the Zhou family’s belief that the area beneath the Iron Moss contains the stone’s most valuable material. Instead, he identifies a valuable formation running directly across the stone’s crack.
• Using lipstick, Lin draws the outline of a dragon across the stone. He explains that the interior contains a strip of Yellow Jadeite resembling a yellow dragon emerging from a valley, with green jade forming a pool near its tail.
• Lin marks precise locations where windows should be opened. Zhou Ling and Zhou Qin follow his instructions and discover Yellow Jadeite exactly where he predicted.
• Old Master Zhou is thrilled and orders the designers to create a masterpiece based on Lin’s concept, titled “Yellow Dragon Emerging from the Valley.”
• Lin then begins examining the second, much larger stone, a highly prized rough jadeite with excellent skin and a record purchase price.
• After examining it, Lin warns that despite its impressive quality, it contains a “Super Spiderweb Fracture,” suggesting a serious hidden defect.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu establishes himself as a genuine expert through precise judgments about the mine origin, internal coloration, and artistic potential of the first stone.
• His confidence and insight challenge the Zhou family’s established assumptions. He is not merely evaluating jade quality but also recognizing how its natural patterns can become part of an artwork.
• Old Master Zhou shifts from anticipation to complete admiration. His faith in Lin is confirmed, and he immediately entrusts the stone’s artistic development to Lin’s vision.
• Zhou Ling begins the chapter arrogant and dismissive, but Lin’s accurate identification unsettles him. Even after seeing the Yellow Jadeite appear exactly where predicted, Zhou Ling insists it may be luck, revealing his reluctance to admit Lin’s superiority.
• Zhou Qin is initially cold but becomes visibly surprised and uncertain after witnessing Lin’s accuracy. Her attitude begins to soften, though she remains cautious.
• Boss Zhou moves from respectful curiosity to excitement and confidence in Lin after seeing the first stone opened successfully.

Significant Themes

• Expertise versus prejudice: Lin is initially judged by the Zhou siblings based on their assumptions, but his knowledge quickly proves more reliable than their confidence.
• Nature and artistic interpretation: Lin sees the jade not only as valuable material but as a naturally formed composition. His recognition of the “Yellow Dragon Emerging from the Valley” transforms the stone into a potential work of art.
• Risk and precision: The chapter emphasizes that high-grade jade must be handled carefully. Cutting or opening windows in the wrong place can destroy its greatest value.
• Tradition versus innovation: The Zhou family relies on established judgments about the stone, while Lin offers an unconventional interpretation that ultimately reveals a more valuable possibility.
• Foreshadowing and suspense: The discovery of the first stone’s hidden Yellow Jadeite builds Lin’s credibility, while his warning about the second stone’s spiderweb fracture introduces a potentially devastating problem.

Character Interactions

• Old Master Zhou warmly welcomes Lin, contrasting with Zhou Ling and Zhou Qin’s restrained hostility.
• Lin and Zhou Ling engage in a direct intellectual confrontation over the first stone’s most valuable section. Lin counters Zhou Ling’s challenge by explaining that the supposed Imperial Green is only a thin layer of lesser quality.
• Zhou Qin unexpectedly assists Lin by giving him her expensive lipstick to mark the stone, creating a small moment of cooperation despite her earlier disdain.
• Lin’s successful prediction forces the siblings to reconsider him, even though Zhou Ling refuses to openly concede.
• Boss Zhou responds enthusiastically to Lin’s artistic concept and places the stone’s design in the hands of Snow Jade Pavilion’s craftsmen.
• The chapter ends with Lin’s alarming diagnosis of the second stone, leaving Boss Zhou and the siblings anxious about the fate of their most prized possession.

Chapter Summary: “The Third Stone Held a World Within”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu examines the famous eighty-million-yuan Zhongjiang stone owned by Snow Jade Pavilion. Despite its flawless outer shell, he detects dense internal cracks and predicts that its value will collapse if opened.
• Zhou Ling, who bought the stone and built his reputation around it, refuses to accept Lin Xiaosu’s judgment. He orders a Sky Window to be cut.
• The stone reveals layers of “imperial” and “super imperial” cracks, proving Lin Xiaosu correct and reducing its value from potentially over one hundred million to only a few million.
• Zhou Qin then asks Lin Xiaosu to inspect a smaller red-skinned stone from her personal collection. He senses a terrifying, poisonous aura within it and warns that opening it could kill people.
• Skeptical and determined to disprove him, Zhou Qin has the stone cut inside a sealed workshop while wearing a gas mask.
• The stone is split open and found to be completely hollow inside, filled with a black mist and a darkness resembling a bottomless abyss. The mist causes the white cat to turn black and rigid, while Zhou Qin becomes hysterical and unable to escape.
• Old Zhou arrives and orders the sealed room opened, but the door can only be unlocked from inside. Zhou Ling warns that breaking it could release the poison, while Old Zhou prioritizes saving his granddaughter.
• With Zhou Qin trapped and apparently paralyzed by fear, Lin Xiaosu steps forward and offers to enter or otherwise resolve the crisis himself.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu: Remains calm, confident, and detached despite repeated disbelief. His judgments are proven accurate, establishing his extraordinary ability and earning Old Zhou’s deeper respect. He also shows compassion and courage by volunteering to save Zhou Qin.
• Zhou Ling: His pride and reputation suffer a devastating blow when the treasured stone is exposed as defective. His initial arrogance gives way to shock and helplessness once the truth is confirmed.
• Zhou Qin: Begins skeptical and confrontational, determined to expose Lin Xiaosu’s supposed nonsense. After opening her stone, she is overwhelmed by terror and becomes mentally incapacitated, revealing the limits of her confidence.
• Old Zhou: Initially torn between traditional jadeite knowledge and trust in Lin Xiaosu, he accepts the evidence. His concern for Zhou Qin overrides all concern for the valuable stones, showing his affection and protective instincts.
• Old Kong and the craftsmen: Their caution reflects the immense importance of the Purple Jade King Stone and the danger of the sealed workshop. They become increasingly panicked when Zhou Qin is trapped.
• The white cat: Its transformation from white to black and its rigid body serve as the first horrifying physical sign of the stone’s deadly contents.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: Both stones appear valuable or harmless externally, but their interiors reveal hidden flaws or dangers.
• The limits of conventional knowledge: Traditional rules about Zhongjiang material prove unreliable, while Lin Xiaosu’s unusual perception exposes truths others cannot see.
• Pride and humility: Zhou Ling and Zhou Qin’s confidence leads them to reject Lin Xiaosu’s warnings, while Old Zhou gradually learns to trust him.
• Wealth versus human life: The value of the jade becomes meaningless once Zhou Qin’s life is threatened; Old Zhou immediately places family above fortune.
• The unknown and supernatural danger: The black mist and abyss-like interior suggest that the stone contains something beyond ordinary jadeite, expanding the story into a mysterious and terrifying realm.

Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu and Zhou Ling clash over the value of the Zhongjiang stone, with Zhou Ling taking Lin’s judgment as a challenge to his reputation.
• Lin Xiaosu and Old Zhou develop mutual respect: Old Zhou acknowledges Lin’s composure, while Lin praises the younger generation’s independence despite their skepticism.
• Zhou Qin openly challenges Lin Xiaosu by testing his warning, but the result leaves her trapped and traumatized.
• Old Zhou and Zhou Ling argue over how to rescue Zhou Qin, with Old Zhou accusing Zhou Ling of valuing safety precautions over his sister’s life.
• At the chapter’s end, Lin Xiaosu assumes responsibility for confronting the danger, setting up the next chapter’s rescue.

Chapter Summary: “Absolute Life Amid Death Qi”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu rescues Zhou Qin and Old Zhou from the poisonous gas released in Workshop No. 1. He swiftly carries them outside and returns to investigate the red-skinned stone.
• Inside the stone, he discovers an astonishing contradiction: beneath its overwhelming death qi lies an intense aura of vitality. At its center is a black, coffin-like stone containing an unknown living presence. Unable to inspect it clearly, Lin Xiaosu secretly stores it in his Mystic Realm Space.
• The Zhou family survives because they were wearing gas masks, though the victims suffer temporary confusion and mild poisoning. Zhou thanks Lin Xiaosu, and Snow Jade Pavilion gives him the finished jade pendants, plaques, and beads he had commissioned.
• The following day, Lin Xiaosu travels toward Witch God Mountain. A talkative taxi driver explains how local taxi drivers adapted to competition from shared scooters by becoming tour guides and providing personalized service.
• The driver tells Lin Xiaosu the story of a famous chef who once popularized Witch God Mountain’s wild game. His recipes caused excessive hunting and nearly drove the mountain’s animals to extinction. In remorse, the chef abandoned his career, destroyed his recipes, and deliberately made meat dishes taste terrible to discourage further hunting.
• At Witch God Mountain Primary School, Lin Xiaosu sees Little Moon and Hu Die. Their peaceful lives suggest that Hu Die’s covert mission has not yet been exposed.
• Lin Xiaosu enters Millennium Miao Village and finds that Yi Xiang’s mother has recovered. He soon reunites with Yi Xiang, who enthusiastically embraces him.
• Lin Xiaosu asks Yi Xiang to accompany him into Peacock Valley to search for something important. His wording unintentionally triggers Yi Xiang’s romantic imagination, and she privately wonders whether he is using the valley as an excuse for a secret lovers’ meeting.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu: Demonstrates extraordinary speed and strength while rescuing the Zhou family. His discovery of vitality hidden within death qi deepens the mystery surrounding the black stone and shows his growing caution and resourcefulness. He also remains observant and reflective, thinking about the wider consequences of seemingly minor actions.
• Zhou Qin and Old Zhou: Their vulnerability to the poisonous gas reveals the danger of the workshop accident, while their survival reinforces their dependence on Lin Xiaosu’s intervention.
• Boss Zhou: Becomes more openly grateful to Lin Xiaosu and acknowledges Snow Jade Pavilion’s debt to him.
• Hu Die and Little Moon: Continue living peacefully at the primary school, indicating that Hu Die’s assigned mission remains undiscovered and unresolved.
• Yi Xiang: Shows strong affection and emotional attachment to Lin Xiaosu by immediately embracing him. Her innocent but increasingly romantic interpretation of his request creates both humor and emotional tension.
• The chef: Though only discussed, he represents a morally responsible ordinary person who recognizes the unintended consequences of his influence and sacrifices his career to repair the damage.

Significant Themes

• Life within death: The black stone embodies the central paradox of the chapter: absolute death qi can conceal powerful vitality. This suggests that destruction and creation may coexist and hints at a major supernatural mystery.
• Unintended consequences: The chef’s recipes demonstrate how one person’s talent can affect an entire ecosystem. The chapter emphasizes that even small actions may have far-reaching results.
• Responsibility and atonement: The chef’s deliberate rejection of fame and his ruined meat dishes symbolize his attempt to compensate for the harm he caused.
• Peace and hidden danger: The calm scenes at the school and village contrast with the poisonous workshop and the mysterious stone. Beneath ordinary life, secret missions and unknown threats continue to develop.
• Miscommunication and romantic tension: Yi Xiang misunderstands Lin Xiaosu’s words about Peacock Valley, creating a humorous gap between his practical purpose and her emotionally charged interpretation.

Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu and the Zhou family interact through rescue, gratitude, and repayment, with the finished jade items serving as a tangible expression of Snow Jade Pavilion’s appreciation.
• Lin Xiaosu’s conversation with the taxi driver shifts from casual travel talk to reflections on social adaptation, morality, and environmental consequences.
• His distant observation of Hu Die and Little Moon shows his concern for their safety without disturbing their peaceful routine.
• Lin Xiaosu and Yi Xiang reunite warmly. Her spontaneous embrace confirms their close bond, while his request to enter Peacock Valley unintentionally fuels her romantic hopes and confusion.

Chapter Summary: “The Peacock Spreads Its Tail”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yi Xiang secretly leaves home, telling her mother she is visiting a sick “sister” in Taichong. In reality, she is carrying a quilt and supplies to meet Lin Xiaosu and accompany him into Peacock Valley.
• Her mother accepts the explanation because Yi Xiang initially heads toward the Azure River. Once out of sight, however, Yi Xiang changes direction and meets Lin Xiaosu beneath a large tree.
• Yi Xiang and Lin Xiaosu travel toward Peacock Valley with Little Tiger, stopping to catch and roast a rabbit along the way.
• Peacock Valley is traditionally associated with lovers who risk entering a dangerous place to demonstrate their devotion. Yi Xiang enters not because she expects danger, but because of her romantic nature and determination to follow her feelings.
• Lin Xiaosu enters the valley for a different reason: he believes a passage to the Primordial Ancient World has opened there and hopes to find and seal it. However, he cannot detect any formation or portal.
• Yi Xiang leads him to Peacock Cave, whose beautiful red-and-white stone patterns initially seem promising but prove to be ordinary markings rather than magical formations.
• They decide to spend the night in the cave. After dinner, Yi Xiang sends Little Tiger outside to keep watch and prepares the quilt she brought.
• Yi Xiang appears wearing a Peacock Feather in her hair, signaling that she has chosen a man. She asks Lin Xiaosu to remove it, which would signify that he accepts her.
• The chapter ends with Yi Xiang openly confessing her love and defending her willingness to embrace the present despite the possibility of future pain.

Character Developments

• Yi Xiang takes a decisive emotional step. Although she has previously believed she could avoid the tragic path taken by her elder sister, she realizes that she, too, is willing to follow love rather than prioritize safety or certainty.
• She shows both courage and romantic idealism by lying to her mother, entering Peacock Valley, and openly initiating a relationship with Lin Xiaosu.
• Lin Xiaosu remains focused on his mission to locate and seal the otherworldly passage. Nevertheless, Yi Xiang’s presence unsettles his concentration, and he becomes increasingly aware of the romantic implications of their night together.
• He is cautious and concerned about Yi Xiang’s lack of knowledge about him, especially because he fears she may repeat her elder sister’s painful fate.
• Little Tiger acts as a loyal companion and guard, but Yi Xiang deliberately sends it outside the cave to create privacy.
• Yi Xiang’s family history becomes clearer: her father and elder sister both pursued their deepest ideals passionately, and Yi Xiang recognizes the same impulse within herself.

Significant Themes

• Following one’s heart versus choosing security: Yi Xiang rejects a cautious, controlled life in favor of acting on her love while the feeling is alive.
• Romance and risk: Peacock Valley symbolizes lovers’ willingness to face danger and uncertainty to prove their devotion.
• No regrets: The chapter repeatedly emphasizes that a moment of genuine happiness can be worthwhile even if it eventually ends in sorrow.
• Inheritance of passion: Yi Xiang sees romantic idealism as part of her family’s—and particularly the Witch God lineage’s—nature.
• The present moment: Yi Xiang argues that knowing flowers will wither should not prevent people from enjoying their bloom. Likewise, uncertainty about the future should not erase the meaning of the present.
• Tradition and symbolism: The Peacock Feather custom gives Yi Xiang’s confession a formal cultural meaning: wearing it on her head means she has chosen Lin Xiaosu, while his removing it would signify acceptance.

Character Interactions

• Yi Xiang deceives her mother but still shows affection by leaving Xiaowu, the turtle, behind to keep her company.
• She reunites with Lin Xiaosu beneath the tree, embarrassed by the large bundle and quilt she has brought for their stay.
• During the journey, the two share an intimate but restrained companionship as they travel, hunt, and eat together.
• In Peacock Cave, Yi Xiang takes control of the situation by sending Little Tiger away, preparing the quilt, and approaching Lin Xiaosu.
• Lin Xiaosu voices concern that Yi Xiang may suffer as her sister did, but Yi Xiang rejects his warning, insisting that love is worthwhile even without guarantees.
• Their exchange culminates in Yi Xiang’s direct declaration: she does not need to understand everything about Lin Xiaosu; knowing that she loves him is enough.

Chapter Summary: Passage Through Peacock Valley

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu and Yi Xiang spend the night together in Peacock Valley, marking the consummation of their romantic relationship. Yi Xiang wears the bracelet Lin previously gave her and a Peacock Feather he ties around her neck.
• The next morning, Yi Xiang happily prepares roasted rabbit and wild vegetables while Lin Xiaosu embraces and kisses her. Their affectionate behavior amuses them, while Little Tiger reacts with comic disapproval.
• Lin asks Little Tiger whether it remembers where it came from. The creature leads Lin and Yi Xiang across nearly the entire valley to a cliff facing a concealed stone wall.
• Using the Heavenly Insight Eye, Lin discovers that the wall contains incomplete formation patterns related to the Sealing Grand Formations beneath Ning City and at old Tashan. Little Tiger confirms that it emerged from this place.
• Although Yi Xiang believes Lin is climbing the wall to carve a romantic message about the two of them, Lin is actually studying and repairing the damaged formation. Drawing on his knowledge of a complete formation and using the bronze pen, he restores the entire Sealing Grand Formation.
• A red flower falls from the completed formation. Lin gives it to Yi Xiang, who promises to preserve it in her bamboo house. He affectionately compares the flower to her, deepening the romantic symbolism of the moment.
• Lin initially intends to leave after completing his task, but Yi Xiang persuades him to stay for another night. They spend a second night together before departing on the third day.
• Yi Xiang escorts Lin and Little Tiger down the Azure River on a bamboo raft to the borders of Taichong. They part reluctantly with embraces, kisses, and promises that Lin will return.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu: Becomes more openly affectionate toward Yi Xiang, while also demonstrating major growth in the Formation Dao. He successfully repairs a badly damaged grand formation, proving that his Heavenly Insight Eye and developing technical understanding can work together.
• Yi Xiang: Changes from shy and uncertain to joyful, confident, and openly devoted after becoming Lin’s lover. She sees Lin as both her beloved and an extraordinary hero, and she expresses strong faith that he will return.
• Little Tiger: Reveals that it remembers its place of origin and guides Lin to the hidden formation. It also appears to accept Lin as part of its new family, though its reluctant nods are largely forced by Yi Xiang’s persistence. Its inability to return home contrasts with the new sense of belonging it has found with Lin and Yi Xiang.

Significant Themes

• Love, intimacy, and promises: Yi Xiang and Lin’s relationship becomes deeper and more committed, with the flower, bracelet, Peacock Feather, and farewell song symbolizing their bond.
• Home and belonging: Little Tiger’s birthplace is revealed, but it cannot return there. Instead, it has formed a new home with Lin and Yi Xiang.
• Romance versus duty: Yi Xiang interprets Lin’s actions as romantic, but Lin is actually focused on repairing the formation. His practical mission and their emotional relationship coexist throughout the chapter.
• Restoration and preservation: Lin repairs a broken ancient formation, while Yi Xiang wishes to preserve the flower and the memory of their time together forever.
• Discovery and mastery: The chapter advances Lin’s understanding of the Formation Dao, showing him moving beyond simply exploiting or breaking formations toward genuinely comprehending and reconstructing them.

Character Interactions

• Lin and Yi Xiang share affectionate teasing, physical intimacy, kisses, and repeated declarations of trust. Yi Xiang playfully asks Lin to make Little Tiger accept him, effectively establishing him as part of their shared family.
• Yi Xiang treats Little Tiger like a mischievous child, physically forcing it to nod when it refuses to praise Lin or accept him. Little Tiger’s exasperation provides comic relief.
• Lin questions Little Tiger about its origins, and Little Tiger communicates by leading them to the formation and confirming that it came from there.
• Lin gives Yi Xiang the flower produced by the restored formation, turning a technical achievement into a romantic gift.
• Their final farewell on the Azure River is tender but reluctant: Yi Xiang sends Lin away while reminding him to remember her and return to the bamboo house.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After seeing off the mysterious girl on a bamboo raft, Lin Xiaosu is approached by Bloodmark Heavenly King.
• Bloodmark asks Lin Xiaosu to help locate the elusive White-Robed Heavenly King, a Qianlong target who has spent twelve years attacking Great Xia and its interests.
• Bloodmark explains that the White-Robed Heavenly King has:
  • Killed more than thirty Gold Badge Qianlong operatives.
  • Destroyed thirteen Qianlong outposts in the Western world.
  • Slaughtered everyone connected to those outposts, including civilians, scientists, and pro-Daxia officials.
  • Remained unidentified, always appearing in a silver mask and leaving no reliable trace.
• Bloodmark takes Lin Xiaosu by flying car toward Phoenix City and shows him the White-Robed Heavenly King's known records. However, the latest confirmed sighting was three months earlier in Fusang, making Lin’s Time Reversal ability useless for tracking him.
• Bloodmark reveals that the White-Robed Heavenly King uses an extraordinary form of Flower-Flinging Leaf-Picking: an ice flower that spins with hidden force, disturbing nothing around it until it strikes. The technique once shattered Bloodmark’s Dragon Scales and left the scar on his forehead.
• Lin Xiaosu recalls meeting Professor Xiang Yixiu in the northwest. Xiang had used a blade of grass with an identical silent, spinning force to tear apart a Glacier Wolf.
• Bloodmark investigates Xiang and discovers that he is a highly mobile biology professor who travels worldwide, holds numerous foreign passports, and often wears white. These details strongly suggest that Xiang Yixiu may secretly be the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• Lin proposes abandoning the trip to Phoenix City and going directly to Southern Frontier University to intercept Xiang. His blunt plan is to ambush and kill him at night, provided Bloodmark can survive the opponent’s strongest possible attack.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates sharp observation and deductive reasoning. Although he cannot use Time Reversal to follow the old records, he identifies the distinctive martial technique as a more promising clue.
• He also remains pragmatic and irreverent, treating the mission as both dangerous work and a paid assignment. He tries to negotiate a higher reward and jokes about Bloodmark’s indebtedness.
• Bloodmark Heavenly King is shown to be powerful but deeply marked by his previous encounter with the White-Robed Heavenly King. The scar on his forehead and the destruction of his Dragon Scales reveal how seriously he regards the enemy.
• Bloodmark shifts from merely seeking information to believing that Xiang Yixiu is likely the White-Robed Heavenly King. He accepts Lin’s strategy and offers to owe him a personal favor.
• Lin’s mysterious relationship with the departing girl is hinted at through Bloodmark’s teasing reference to their kiss, adding a lighthearted personal element to the chapter.

Significant Themes

• Deception and hidden identities: The White-Robed Heavenly King’s secret identity, Xiang Yixiu’s respectable academic persona, and Lin’s own history of disguises all reinforce the difficulty of distinguishing appearance from reality.
• Reasoning over brute force: Since supernatural tracking cannot work across the three-month gap, Lin succeeds by identifying a unique combat technique and connecting seemingly unrelated evidence.
• The danger of hidden power: The silent spinning force of the ice flower represents a deadly ability that leaves no warning before impact.
• Duty versus personal motives: Bloodmark frames the search as a Qianlong mission, while Lin is primarily motivated by payment, though he is still willing to take the danger seriously.
• Humor amid danger: Teasing, bargaining, and romantic insinuations offset the grim revelations about massacres and create a playful dynamic between Lin and Bloodmark.

Character Interactions

• Lin and Bloodmark exchange sarcastic jokes about Lin’s romantic encounter and Bloodmark’s supposed interest in tracking his itinerary.
• Bloodmark provides the intelligence while Lin analyzes it, creating a partnership built on complementary strengths: Bloodmark’s resources and combat experience alongside Lin’s perception and deduction.
• Bloodmark initially questions whether Lin’s plan is too careless, but realizes that the seemingly simple ambush is actually the most efficient strategy.
• Their final exchange ends humorously when Bloodmark offers to keep Lin’s kiss secret from Changye and Blue Demon, while Lin responds with exasperated ellipses.

Chapter Summary: “Campus Interception”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xiang Yixiu, a young and highly respected professor at Southern Frontier University, walks across campus at night. He is carefree, confident, and unconcerned about rumors criticizing his relationships with female graduate students.
• He is suddenly attacked by Bloodmark Heavenly King, who uses a dagger, multiple illusions, and highly dangerous assassination techniques.
• Xiang demonstrates exceptional martial ability. He identifies the real attacker among several shadows, catches Bloodmark’s wrist, and nearly kills him with a powerful finger strike aimed between the brows.
• Despite having a perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow, Xiang stops and asks Bloodmark who he is. Bloodmark then releases his true power, breaks free, and escapes.
• At a nearby hotel, Bloodmark reports to Lin Xiaosu that Xiang is not the White-Robed Heavenly King. The attack had been a test designed to see whether Xiang would recognize Bloodmark and kill him when given the chance.
• Because Xiang failed to recognize Bloodmark and deliberately spared him, Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark conclude that he cannot be the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• Lin explains that he had previously met Xiang in Huiyan Town during an exotic-beast investigation. Xiang recognized Lin’s abilities and brought him into the case, where the two fought together to save innocent people from a Glacier Wolf.
• Xiang later invited Lin to Southern Frontier University and openly shared his lifetime of research. His work helped solve the Ning City Ferocious Beast Case, which involved the ancient Underground Race.
• Lin believes Xiang may have deliberately revealed his research because he wanted to help, but his motives remain uncertain. Possible explanations are that his sect forbids direct cooperation with Qianlong, or that he does not fully trust Qianlong.
• The chapter ends with the revelation that Xiang belongs to the Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple, an influential Esoteric Sect temple in Tibet. Lin speculates that the sect may have another identity within Kun Cang.

Character Developments

• Xiang Yixiu: Revealed to be far more powerful and perceptive than his carefree, hedonistic reputation suggests. He calmly withstands a near-lethal ambush, sees through Bloodmark’s illusions, gains the upper hand, and chooses mercy over killing. His conduct suggests an independent moral code and possible hidden loyalties.
• Bloodmark Heavenly King: Acts as the attacker in a carefully controlled test rather than a genuine assassination. He is impressed and somewhat frustrated by the outcome, since Xiang’s identity remains unresolved beyond being ruled out as the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• Lin Xiaosu: Demonstrates strategic intelligence by designing the test and shows personal regard for Xiang. Although he recognizes Xiang’s potentially suspicious connections, he hopes Xiang might become an ally rather than an enemy.
• Xiang and Lin’s past relationship: Their previous cooperation during dangerous investigations established mutual respect and indicates that Xiang has repeatedly acted to protect others.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: Xiang’s scandalous, pleasure-seeking public image contrasts with his extraordinary martial skill, compassion, and willingness to help solve major threats.
• Trust and suspicion: Lin and Bloodmark struggle to determine whether Xiang is trustworthy, while Xiang’s decision to share sensitive research raises questions about his true intentions and confidence in Qianlong.
• Mercy and moral judgment: Xiang’s refusal to kill Bloodmark, even when victory was certain, becomes the decisive evidence that he is not the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• True character in moments of crisis: Lin emphasizes that a person’s nature is revealed when lives are at stake. Xiang’s actions during the Glacier Wolf incident demonstrate genuine concern for innocent people.
• Hidden organizations and ancient threats: The Underground Race, Qianlong, the Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple, and Kun Cang suggest a much larger network of concealed powers and competing loyalties.

Character Interactions

• Xiang versus Bloodmark: Their brief battle is both a physical confrontation and an identity test. Xiang gains the upper hand but refuses to kill Bloodmark, while Bloodmark uses the encounter to judge whether Xiang is the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark: Bloodmark reports the failed verification, and the two analyze Xiang’s behavior and background. Their discussion shows both strategic cooperation and differing attitudes toward Xiang.
• Lin Xiaosu and Xiang Yixiu: Their past collaboration reveals mutual recognition and respect. Xiang trusted Lin enough to expose his research, while Lin remembers him as someone who acted decisively to save lives.
• Xiang and Qianlong: Xiang appears aware of Lin’s connection to Qianlong but does not deal with the organization directly, suggesting caution, limited trust, or restrictions imposed by his sect.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark discuss whether Xiang Yixiu’s Esoteric Sect branch has ties to Kun Cang. If so, Xiang may be bound by Kun Cang’s traditional hostility toward cooperation with the ruling authorities and Qianlong.
• Lin Xiaosu explains that he does not blindly trust Qianlong. He cooperates with it only when its missions align with his own judgment; otherwise, he is willing to become a neutral party or even an opponent.
• Bloodmark warns that Lin Xiaosu is walking a dangerous path, but both acknowledge that the entire world is becoming increasingly perilous, with external demons, underground forces, and the Archaic Realm threatening civilization.
• They decide to speak openly with Xiang Yixiu the following morning. Their joking conversation highlights their shared irreverence and growing camaraderie.
• The narration reveals that Bloodmark underestimates Lin Xiaosu’s current strength. Lin had secretly watched Bloodmark’s battle with Xiang and could potentially have intervened if Bloodmark had been killed. His Blood Pagoda and improved Rejuvenation Technique have dramatically elevated his abilities.
• The next morning, Lin visits Xiang Yixiu at Southern Frontier University. He finds Xiang preparing to skip an unimportant meeting and casually joins him for tea.
• Lin reveals that he knows about the previous night’s battle, correctly inferring that Xiang’s opponent must have told him.
• Bloodmark arrives and introduces himself as a Qianlong Heavenly King. Xiang refuses his handshake, emphasizing that their previous battle was a genuine attempt to kill him, not a friendly test.
• Bloodmark explains that he attacked Xiang to force him to reveal his full strength while testing whether he was a person Bloodmark had been searching for.
• Bloodmark concludes that Xiang is not that person, leaving Xiang puzzled about why Qianlong has come to meet him.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu: Demonstrates independence, confidence, and a willingness to follow his own moral judgment rather than submit blindly to Qianlong. His hidden strength is emphasized: after entering Kun Cang and constructing a Blood Pagoda, he has reached a level capable of surprising even powerful experts.
• Bloodmark: Shows both strategic caution and personal warmth. Although he nearly killed Xiang, he is willing to explain himself and pursue dialogue. He also develops genuine affection and respect for Lin Xiaosu, viewing him as a rare companion despite their differences in age, status, and background.
• Xiang Yixiu: Is portrayed as elegant, unconventional, and sharp-tongued. He remains distrustful and offended by Bloodmark’s violent “test,” refusing to be impressed by Qianlong’s authority or recruitment efforts.
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark: Their friendship deepens through teasing and mutual understanding. They come from very different worlds, but their shared humor and outlook make them feel like natural companions.

Significant Themes

• Independence versus institutional loyalty: Both Lin and Xiang resist the idea that powerful organizations automatically deserve obedience or allegiance.
• Changing traditions: Kun Cang’s historical hostility toward rulers may no longer fit the modern world, where the government claims to represent ordinary people, but old beliefs still influence its cultivators.
• Danger and uncertainty: No path offers true safety as civilization faces threats from multiple supernatural forces.
• Underestimation and hidden growth: Lin Xiaosu’s transformation shows the danger of judging people according to their past reputation or visible cultivation level.
• Trust and alignment: True cooperation depends not on labels or formal membership, but on whether individuals share the same principles and goals.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark debate Qianlong, Kun Cang, and the risks of their chosen paths, strengthening their bond.
• Lin and Xiang exchange playful remarks about Xiang’s meeting and Lin’s visit, establishing a relaxed but probing atmosphere.
• Bloodmark and Xiang confront the consequences of their violent encounter. Xiang’s refusal to shake hands signals his distrust, while Bloodmark’s explanation opens the possibility of future negotiations.
• The chapter ends with Xiang demanding to know why Qianlong has come if Bloodmark has already determined that he is not the person they were seeking.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bloodmark asks Professor Xiang Yixiu to assist Qianlong, but Xiang initially refuses, insisting that his role is to teach rather than conduct special missions.
• Lin Xiaosu confronts Xiang about his sect’s prohibition against cooperating with Qianlong, pointing out the hypocrisy of rejecting Qianlong while potentially harboring disciples who collude with foreign forces.
• Lin identifies the distinctive killing technique used by the criminal known as the White-Robed Heavenly King as the Esoteric Sect’s secret art, the Great Void Spiral, which Xiang had previously demonstrated.
• Bloodmark reveals the White-Robed Heavenly King’s extensive crimes, including assassinations, massacres, political sabotage, the destruction of a scientific project, and the brutal murder of a Qianlong operative. The crimes are linked to Hydra.
• Xiang is horrified and furious, but explains that the Esoteric Sect has many wandering disciples and that more than five but fewer than seven possess cultivation comparable to his own. This makes identifying the culprit extremely difficult.
• Xiang suggests returning to the sect for information, but Lin argues that doing so would likely produce no useful evidence—or worse, lead them into a deliberate trap.
• Xiang recounts his tragic childhood, his rescue by his master, and his deep reverence for the master who became like a father to him. Lin reasons that such a virtuous master could not knowingly tolerate a disciple like the White-Robed Heavenly King, meaning he probably knows nothing.
• Lin asks Xiang whether the crimes are intolerable to him and whether he is willing to protect his conscience and sect’s reputation by helping eliminate the guilty disciple.
• Lin proposes an indirect strategy: Xiang should wear a silver mask, imitate the White-Robed Heavenly King’s technique, and assassinate a major Hydra figure in Luoba Prefecture.
• The goal is to provoke Hydra into investigating the imitation and thereby expose the true White-Robed Heavenly King. Bloodmark names the intended target and presents the relevant intelligence.

Character Developments

• Xiang Yixiu shifts from defensive refusal to reluctant cooperation. His loyalty to his sect and master is challenged, but his moral outrage at the White-Robed Heavenly King’s crimes ultimately motivates him to act.
• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates sharp reasoning and psychological insight. Rather than directly accusing Xiang, he uses the contradiction between Xiang’s principles and his sect’s possible corruption to win his cooperation. He also devises the central plan to identify the killer.
• Bloodmark moves from pressuring Xiang to recognizing Lin’s strategy as a potentially brilliant solution. He supplies the evidence and confirms the seriousness of the proposed target.
• Xiang’s memories reveal his deep emotional dependence on and reverence for his master, explaining both his initial reluctance to suspect the sect and his difficulty accepting that one of its disciples could be corrupt.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty versus conscience: Xiang must decide whether loyalty to his sect and master requires silence or demands that he purge a corrupt disciple.
• Trust and betrayal: The possibility that a revered sect could unknowingly shelter a traitor undermines Xiang’s assumptions about his spiritual community.
• Justice through strategy: Because the enemy cannot be found directly, Qianlong plans to manipulate Hydra into exposing its own member.
• Appearance and identity: Xiang’s silver mask and imitation of the White-Robed Heavenly King’s technique emphasize deception, mistaken identity, and the danger of hidden allegiances.
• Moral responsibility: The chapter asks whether individuals are accountable not only for their own actions but also for the crimes committed by those within their community.

Character Interactions

• Bloodmark’s pressure clashes with Xiang’s principled refusal, creating the initial tension.
• Lin acts as the mediator and interrogator, exposing the sect’s contradiction while carefully avoiding a direct accusation against Xiang.
• Xiang and Lin debate whether returning to the sect would uncover the truth; Lin’s reasoning gradually convinces Xiang that his master’s innocence makes the sect an unreliable source.
• The three men ultimately form a tentative alliance: Xiang provides the sect’s technique, Bloodmark provides intelligence and operational authority, and Lin supplies the strategy to lure Hydra into revealing the White-Robed Heavenly King.

Chapter Summary: A Girl Was Just That Sincere

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xiang Yixiu finishes reviewing a dossier and agrees to help Lin Xiaosu kill the White-Robed Heavenly King, despite warning that he will eventually repay every scheme Lin Xiaosu has used against him.
• Xiang insists that his cooperation comes from personal conscience and concern for his sect’s reputation, not from loyalty to Lin Xiaosu’s cause or the “national interest.”
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark withdraw after securing Xiang’s cooperation. They later discuss how the operation was designed not only to eliminate the White-Robed Heavenly King but also to draw Xiang into their alliance.
• Bloodmark reveals that Blue Demon had previously proposed a similar strategy: impersonating the White-Robed Heavenly King, attacking a Hydra stronghold, and using the resulting conflict to expose him.
• Lin Xiaosu explains that Xiang was chosen because the White-Robed Heavenly King’s greatest identifying feature is not his appearance but his distinctive killing methods. Since the Heavenly King already hides behind a silver mask, ordinary disguise techniques cannot convincingly impersonate him.
• Xiang’s acceptance is analyzed as a calculated attempt to redeem his sect. He understands that Lin Xiaosu and the Qianlong Heavenly King will investigate the sect regardless, and that its crimes cannot withstand scrutiny.
• Lin Xiaosu considers visiting the Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple, but unexpectedly encounters Dawa, a Tibetan girl he once traveled with.
• Dawa gives Lin Xiaosu a small ebony bottle containing Sacred Branch Dew, a legendary medicine capable of curing strange poisons. She obtained it during her journey through Kun Cang specifically to save Xiaoye, whom Lin Xiaosu had claimed was poisoned.
• Overwhelmed, Lin Xiaosu immediately decides to return home and use the medicine. Dawa leaves happily after praying to Eternal Heaven in gratitude.
• Back at the hotel, Lin Xiaosu explains to Bloodmark that his original story about Xiaoye had been fabricated to blend into the traveling group. Bloodmark remarks that Dawa’s sincerity transformed the lie into something far more meaningful than Lin Xiaosu intended.

Character Developments

• Xiang Yixiu is shown to be highly perceptive, cautious, and deeply attached to his sect. Though he resists being recruited, he recognizes the danger facing his sect and chooses to act as a form of redemption.
• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates strategic brilliance and emotional complexity. He manipulates Xiang into joining the operation, but Dawa’s selfless faith unexpectedly affects him deeply and revives emotions he has long suppressed.
• Bloodmark acts as Lin Xiaosu’s analytical counterpart, recognizing both the strategic layers of Lin’s plan and the emotional implications of his encounter with Dawa.
• Dawa is revealed as extraordinarily sincere and devoted. She remembers Lin Xiaosu’s invented story, undertakes dangerous efforts to obtain the cure, and trusts his words completely.
• Blue Demon is credited with developing a similar “borrow the enemy’s strength” strategy, highlighting the broader tactical thinking of Lin Xiaosu’s allies.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and unintended consequences: Lin Xiaosu’s fabricated story was meant as a practical disguise, but Dawa believed it wholeheartedly and acted upon it, giving the lie genuine emotional consequences.
• Redemption and responsibility: Xiang’s decision reflects the conflict between personal neutrality and responsibility toward one’s sect. He seeks to save his sect from disgrace even though he does not fully embrace Lin Xiaosu’s cause.
• Strategic deception: The chapter emphasizes using an enemy’s assumptions and relationships against them. Impersonation, provocation, and internal discord become weapons.
• Sincerity versus fabrication: Lin Xiaosu’s calculated falsehood contrasts sharply with Dawa’s pure sincerity. Her actions expose the moral weight that even an insincere story can acquire when someone believes in it deeply.
• Unexpected emotional awakening: Lin Xiaosu, usually controlled and emotionally detached, is shaken by Dawa’s kindness and by the possibility of saving Xiaoye.

Character Interactions

• Lin Xiaosu and Xiang Yixiu exchange sarcastic threats, with Xiang accusing Lin of manipulation while still agreeing to help.
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark dissect Xiang’s motives and the larger purpose behind recruiting him.
• Lin Xiaosu reunites with Dawa, who warmly asks about Xiaoye and delivers the Sacred Branch Dew.
• Dawa’s faith and generosity leave Lin Xiaosu deeply moved, while Bloodmark remains skeptical of the romantic story that inspired her devotion.
• The chapter ends with Bloodmark pointing out that Lin Xiaosu’s story clearly sounded fabricated to him, yet Dawa’s trusting nature allowed it to become completely real in her heart.

Chapter Summary: “Three Days in Tibet”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu discuss the emotional power of Lin’s fabricated romantic story. Bloodmark argues that Dawa’s unusual sincerity and innocence made her especially vulnerable to believing it, while Lin defends her purity and faith in beautiful ideals.
• Overwhelmed by guilt after Dawa helped obtain medicine for Xiaoye, Lin remains trapped in his hotel room for three days. He avoids leaving because he fears encountering Dawa and being forced to confront the conflict between his obligations to Xiaoye and the feelings he may have awakened in Dawa.
• Bloodmark informs him that Xiang Yixiu has already left the country and that the larger plan has begun.
• On the fourth day, Lin visits Southern Frontier University and reunites with Dawa. He tells her that Xiaoye’s condition has greatly improved and that she is out of danger. Dawa joyfully credits Eternal Heaven and is deeply relieved.
• Lin gives Dawa a finely crafted jade pendant called “Spring River, Little Moon.” He presents it as a token of his feelings rather than an ordinary gift. Dawa immediately accepts it and wears it.
• Dawa offers to show Lin around the region. Since she has completed her limited research assignment and is marginalized by her fellow graduate students, she is free to leave the laboratory. The two spend the late-autumn days exploring the city, eating local food, and growing increasingly familiar with one another.
• Dawa reveals her tragic past. She comes from the Roc Branch, an ancient Tibetan group in Moye Valley, and was believed to possess a “Plague God Bloodline” because livestock and people near her repeatedly became ill. Her parents isolated her, and she eventually lived alone at the edge of the valley.
• A mysterious person taught Dawa breathing and meditation techniques that helped her control her bloodline. However, her tribe still rejected her, forcing her to leave and pursue her studies alone. For twenty years she has not returned home, watching her people only from a distance.
• Dawa explains that she helped Lin and Xiaoye see the sky because witnessing the outside world was also her own dream.
• At an ancient temple, Lin takes Dawa’s hand and compares her to the single moon illuminating Tibet. The romantic exchange makes Dawa shy and happy, but Lin avoids directly addressing its deeper implications.
• Dawa introduces Lin to the Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple, an unusually open Buddhist temple emphasizing naturalness and compassion. She explains that its abbot, Master Qiusang, has traveled widely, rescued more than ten orphans, and raised them as accomplished disciples.
• Lin realizes that Master Qiusang is connected to both Hu Fo and Xiang Yixiu: Hu Fo was one of his adopted disciples, while Xiang Yixiu is another disciple and a professor at Dawa’s university.
• Lin and Dawa visit the temple, but Master Qiusang is in seclusion. They meet three of his disciples, all of whom possess considerable cultivation, as well as several elderly monks whose auras suggest great power.

Character Development

• Lin Xiaosu becomes increasingly conflicted and emotionally vulnerable. His guilt over Dawa’s help and his fear of hurting her reveal that he is no longer treating their relationship as a simple manipulation. His romantic words and thoughtful jade gift suggest genuine affection, though he still avoids fully acknowledging it.
• Dawa emerges as sincere, trusting, emotionally open, and far more sociable than others assume. Her apparent quietness comes from lifelong isolation and rejection, not a lack of warmth or desire for companionship. Her growing closeness with Lin allows her natural liveliness and humor to surface.
• Dawa’s past gives greater meaning to her compassion: despite being treated as a source of disease and misfortune, she still dreams of helping others experience freedom and beauty.
• Bloodmark serves as Lin’s skeptical and perceptive observer, recognizing both the manipulative nature of Lin’s story and its powerful effect on Dawa.
• Xiang Yixiu remains physically absent but becomes increasingly important through his connection to Master Qiusang, Hu Fo, and the larger unfolding plan.
• Master Qiusang is characterized indirectly as a compassionate, unconventional Buddhist master whose actions embody his beliefs more than formal meditation or seclusion.

Significant Themes

• Sincerity versus manipulation: Lin’s story was designed with ulterior motives, yet Dawa’s sincere belief gives it genuine emotional power. The chapter questions whether something born from deception can still produce authentic feelings.
• Isolation and belonging: Dawa’s lifelong exclusion from her tribe, family, and university peers contrasts with the companionship she finds with Lin. Her loneliness is portrayed as something imposed upon her rather than chosen.
• Dreams and freedom: Dawa’s desire to let Xiaoye see the sky reflects her own suppressed longing to experience the world beyond Moye Valley. Helping others fulfill their dreams becomes a way of confronting her own.
• Beauty, purity, and innocence: Lin admires Dawa’s faith in beautiful stories and ideals, even while recognizing that such innocence leaves her vulnerable.
• Nature and Buddhist compassion: The temple’s philosophy presents Buddha nature as existing in all aspects of life, including human love. Master Qiusang’s charitable actions demonstrate that compassion is expressed through helping people rather than merely pursuing spiritual seclusion.
• Fate and connections: Dawa emphasizes the mysterious ties linking people together, while the relationships among her, Lin, Hu Fo, Xiang Yixiu, and Master Qiusang suggest that seemingly separate events are connected by destiny.

Character Interactions

• Lin and Bloodmark debate whether Dawa’s innocence is a virtue or a weakness, revealing their contrasting views of sincerity and deception.
• Lin and Dawa’s reunion is warm and emotionally charged. He reports Xiaoye’s recovery, gives Dawa the jade pendant, and deepens their bond through a shared outing.
• Their journey through the city allows Dawa to become more relaxed and expressive, while Lin learns more about her painful history.
• At the temple, Lin and Dawa share a flirtatious, symbolic exchange involving the moon. Dawa openly cherishes the romantic moment, whereas Lin changes the subject, indicating his hesitation and emotional conflict.
• Dawa’s stories about Master Qiusang connect Lin’s personal circumstances to the wider Buddhist and cultivation world, especially through Hu Fo and Xiang Yixiu.

Chapter Summary: White-Robed One Strikes Back Against Hydra

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu questions Master Qiusang about martial-arts cultivation, unintentionally embarrassing him. Dawa explains that Qiusang lacks the aptitude for martial arts and uses “heart cultivation” as a justification. Lin instead interprets Qiusang’s remarkable disciples and Buddhist insight as evidence of his extraordinary nature.
• Lin and Dawa spend two carefree days riding across the grasslands, visiting the Tali River, and enjoying each other’s company. Their nighttime conversation beneath the moon carries clear romantic overtones, though neither openly confesses their feelings.
• Elsewhere, a masked figure in white—apparently impersonating the White-Robed Heavenly King—assaults the Grait Family estate. Using ordinary objects as deadly weapons, he kills numerous guards and Gene Humans before assassinating Duke Grait.
• The assassination throws Europa into turmoil and prompts Lin to abandon his vacation with Dawa. He returns to the hotel, where Bloodmark is waiting.
• Lin and Bloodmark analyze the possible consequences of the attack. They agree that Hydra’s leadership is unlikely to immediately distrust the real White-Robed One, since his long history of loyalty and anti-Xia actions makes him highly trusted.
• Lin reveals that this was never the primary objective. His true plan is to provoke the real White-Robed One into investigating the impersonation and retaliating against Xiang Yixiu, whom Lin believes Hydra will identify as the culprit.
• Bloodmark recognizes that White-Robed One cannot ignore Xiang Yixiu, since allowing further provocations would be too dangerous. Because Xiang has no family or obvious vulnerabilities, the retaliation may occur in an unexpected place or through an outside force.
• Lin speculates that White-Robed One might enlist forces within Kun Cang to eliminate Xiang. He and Bloodmark discuss the danger of allowing such hidden factions to act freely, emphasizing the need for courage and initiative in confronting evil.
• Xiang Yixiu returns to campus and is summoned by two junior monks to Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple. He changes into a gray outfit, leaves with them, and unknowingly moves toward the next stage of Lin’s trap.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu: Demonstrates strategic brilliance and patience. He understands that the assassination will not immediately fracture Hydra but has designed it to force the real White-Robed One into action. He also displays growing emotional closeness with Dawa.
• Dawa: Becomes increasingly comfortable and joyful around Lin. Her quiet romantic feelings deepen during their time on the grasslands, although she remains restrained and does not voice them directly.
• Bloodmark: Initially evaluates the operation through conventional strategic outcomes, but comes to admire Lin’s deeper, indirect plan. His concern is not personal fear but the possibility that the conflict will escalate beyond control.
• White-Robed One: Though absent from the chapter, he is portrayed as highly intelligent, methodical, and committed to retaliating against anyone who threatens his authority or impersonates him.
• Xiang Yixiu: Remains unaware that he has been targeted. His calm return to campus and summons to the temple contrast sharply with the danger gathering around him.

Significant Themes

• Strategy and indirect warfare: The chapter emphasizes that the most effective schemes often aim not at immediate victory but at compelling an enemy to make a predictable move.
• Trust and reputation: Hydra’s confidence in White-Robed One is based on his long record of loyalty, making a single false-flag attack insufficient to destroy their alliance.
• Courage versus caution: Lin argues that righteous forces must sometimes act decisively before evil gains the initiative, even when doing so risks expanding the conflict.
• Romance and emotional awakening: Lin and Dawa’s peaceful grassland journey introduces a tender, understated romance amid the chapter’s political violence.
• Appearance and identity: The impersonation of White-Robed One highlights the power of reputation, false attribution, and the difficulty of distinguishing a person’s true actions from those performed in their name.

Character Interactions

• Lin’s awkward exchange with Master Qiusang is softened by Dawa, who explains the monk’s situation and helps Lin reinterpret the encounter.
• Lin and Dawa share playful, intimate dialogue beneath the moon, with Lin teasingly associating her with the moon and Dawa accusing him of “breaking the rules.”
• Lin and Bloodmark engage in a detailed strategic discussion, gradually uncovering the real purpose of the assassination. Bloodmark moves from analysis to admiration as he understands Lin’s plan.
• Bloodmark and Lin debate the potential involvement of Kun Cang and the moral necessity of confronting hidden, corrupt forces.
• Xiang Yixiu interacts casually with a female graduate student and then receives his summons from two junior monks, setting up his connection to the unfolding retaliation.

Chapter Summary: “Punishment by Abolishing Cultivation”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xiang Yixiu returns to Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple and is brought before his master, Master Qiusang, along with eminent monks Qiu Ling and Qiu Xin and several senior disciples.
• Qiu Xin accuses Xiang of massacring thirty-one people at Weiyedu Manor using the sect’s secret art, the Great Void Spiral.
• Xiang denies the accusation and challenges the temple’s claim that it can identify a murderer thousands of li away. He also questions why the temple suspects him instead of the notorious White-Robed Heavenly King of Hydra.
• Xiang suggests that Qiu Xin may have close ties with the White-Robed Heavenly King and may be helping him suppress those who oppose him.
• Qiu Xin and Qiu Ling call for Xiang’s cultivation to be abolished as punishment for disrespecting elders and violating Buddhist law.
• Xiang realizes that the accusation is part of a larger scheme: the White-Robed Heavenly King is using the temple to eliminate Xiang as a future threat by stripping him of his cultivation.
• Master Qiusang unexpectedly supports the punishment, claiming that Xiang’s cultivation belongs to the sect and must be returned. He orders Qiu Xin to enforce the sentence.
• Qiu Xin attacks Xiang’s fatal cultivation point, but Xiang blocks the strike. Their clash demonstrates Xiang’s extraordinary strength and confirms that he is not willing to submit quietly.
• Qiusang formally orders the disciples to enforce the law against Xiang.
• Before the temple can surround him, the Merit Hall doors are blasted open. Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu enter, carrying a Qianlong Command Token that grants them authority to enter even the temple’s forbidden grounds.

Character Developments

• Xiang Yixiu: Reveals the frightening depth of his mastery over the Great Void Spiral, using his voice alone to shake the hall. He remains calm and analytical under accusation, quickly recognizing the political conspiracy behind the temple’s judgment. However, his composure breaks when Qiusang chooses to sacrifice him, exposing his deep sense of betrayal and disbelief. He ultimately resists Qiu Xin’s attack, showing both immense power and a willingness to defy his entire sect.
• Master Qiusang: Initially appears compassionate and impartial, but ultimately sides with Qiu Ling and Qiu Xin. His decision to order Xiang’s cultivation abolished suggests either complicity with the White-Robed Heavenly King or a willingness to sacrifice his disciple to preserve the sect’s interests.
• Qiu Xin: Acts as the chief accuser and becomes openly furious when Xiang challenges him. His ability to directly attack Xiang’s fatal point shows his high cultivation, but his apparent eagerness to carry out the punishment raises suspicions about his motives.
• Qiu Ling: Supports Qiu Xin and argues that Xiang’s cultivation should be returned to the sect. He functions as another authority figure reinforcing the conspiracy against Xiang.
• Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu: Enter at the critical moment as outside intervention. Their arrival, backed by the Qianlong Command Token, interrupts the temple’s attempt to punish Xiang and shifts the balance of power.

Significant Themes

• Institutional corruption and betrayal: The temple, supposedly a moral and Buddhist institution, appears willing to protect a mass murderer and punish an innocent or inconvenient disciple.
• Power used to control truth: The accusation is less about justice than about eliminating Xiang as a threat. Sect authority is manipulated to serve hidden political interests.
• Loyalty versus principle: Xiang challenges his master and sect because he values justice over obedience, while Qiusang prioritizes sect law—or possibly the interests of powerful allies—over moral responsibility.
• Cultivation as identity and power: Abolishing cultivation is portrayed as worse than death, since it destroys decades of effort and leaves the victim powerless. The threat therefore represents both physical punishment and the erasure of Xiang’s identity.
• Free will and karma: Qiusang invokes individual karma to justify inaction, but his words contrast sharply with the temple’s active decision to punish Xiang while ignoring greater crimes.
• Strategic conflict: The events are part of a larger chain of schemes involving Xiang, the White-Robed Heavenly King, Lin Xiaosu, and Bloodmark. What appears to be a sect trial is actually one move in a broader struggle.

Character Interactions

• Xiang’s respectful but increasingly confrontational exchanges with Qiu Xin expose the latter’s anger and possible hidden loyalties.
• Xiang appeals directly to Qiusang as his master, seeking moral intervention, but Qiusang responds by condemning him and ordering his punishment.
• Xiang’s three pointed questions force Qiusang to confront the temple’s apparent protection of the White-Robed Heavenly King, though Qiusang avoids answering directly.
• Qiu Xin’s attack and Xiang’s counterstrike transform the verbal confrontation into open conflict.
• Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu’s dramatic entrance interrupts the enforcement of sect law, with Bloodmark asserting that the Qianlong Command Token overrides the temple’s claim to forbidden territory.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qianlong arrives at Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple to enforce the laws of Great Xia. Bloodmark declares that the temple cannot claim exemption from worldly law simply because it is a Buddhist institution.
• Lin Xiaosu reveals that Qianlong has investigated Master Qiusang, the temple’s revered abbot.
• He presents three suspicious patterns:
  1. Qiusang repeatedly encountered family tragedies during his rare journeys outside the temple.
  2. In every case, the parents died while the children survived.
  3. Each rescued child possessed extraordinary cultivation talent and later became one of Qiusang’s disciples.
• Lin Xiaosu concludes that Qiusang deliberately caused the accidents, murdered the children’s parents, and then “rescued” the orphans to recruit talented disciples and build his reputation as a living Buddha.
• Qiusang denies the accusation and invokes Eternal Heaven, claiming that Lin Xiaosu will be punished by divine thunder if he lies. Lin Xiaosu challenges Heaven to strike him, but nothing happens, which he uses to mock Qiusang and imply that the accusation is true.
• Xiang Yixiu, Yiming, and Yihe realize that their own origins may have been manufactured by their master. Their faith and understanding of their past collapse.
• When Xiang Yixiu demands the truth, Qiusang avoids answering and instead labels his doubts “demonic thoughts.” He orders the disciples to eliminate the supposed “demons” in the hall, effectively attempting to silence the witnesses.
• Qiusang seals the hall and launches an attack. Bloodmark invokes the Qianlong War Order and kills a disciple who attacks Lin Xiaosu.
• A battle erupts: Bloodmark confronts Master Qiu Ling, while Xiang Yixiu blocks Master Qiu Xin. Lin Xiaosu personally defeats another attacker by striking the weakness of the Great Void Spiral technique. The chapter ends in the middle of the confrontation.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu demonstrates sharp investigative ability, psychological manipulation, and fearless defiance. He exposes Qiusang through logic, then uses Qiusang’s reliance on religious authority against him.
• Master Qiusang is revealed as potentially corrupt and calculating beneath his compassionate image. When challenged, he abandons moral argument and turns to violence and religious condemnation.
• Xiang Yixiu experiences a devastating crisis of faith. His long-standing belief that Qiusang was the one pure figure in the Buddhist Sect is replaced by suspicion and cold anger.
• Yiming and Yihe undergo the same painful realization, recognizing that their childhood tragedies may have been deliberately arranged.
• Bloodmark proves his willingness to enforce Qianlong’s authority without hesitation, killing an attacker who violates the War Order and showing formidable combat skill.
• Qiu Ling and Qiu Xin emerge as powerful defenders of Qiusang and the temple, directly opposing Qianlong and Lin Xiaosu.

Significant Themes

• Corruption beneath religious virtue: The chapter questions whether public acts of compassion are truly benevolent when they serve hidden ambitions.
• Manipulation of fate and faith: Qiusang hides deliberate crimes behind claims of Eternal Heaven’s will and Buddhist destiny.
• Truth versus authority: Lin Xiaosu challenges the temple’s spiritual authority through evidence and reasoning, while Qiusang relies on status, doctrine, and force.
• Betrayal and shattered identity: The disciples must confront the possibility that their personal tragedies—and even their gratitude toward their master—were constructed lies.
• Law versus institutional immunity: Qianlong insists that no sect or temple exists above the laws of the world.
• Words masking violence: Qiusang’s phrase “eliminate demons and defend the Path” is exposed as a sanctified justification for murder.

Character Interactions

• Bloodmark and the temple leadership: Bloodmark confronts Qiusang’s claim that the temple stands apart from worldly law and later battles Master Qiu Ling.
• Lin Xiaosu and Qiusang: Their exchange is the chapter’s central confrontation. Lin Xiaosu methodically dismantles Qiusang’s reputation, while Qiusang responds with evasions and accusations.
• Lin Xiaosu and Xiang Yixiu: Lin Xiaosu guides Xiang toward recognizing the pattern in his master’s actions, forcing him to confront the truth.
• Xiang Yixiu and Qiusang: Xiang directly asks whether the accusations are true, but Qiusang refuses to answer and instead brands him spiritually corrupted.
• Lin Xiaosu and the attacking disciples: Lin Xiaosu proves he is not merely an investigator by defeating an attacker with precise knowledge of the opponent’s technique.

Chapter Summary: “Join Forces to Kill Qiusang”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Xiaosu reaches the platform where Qiusang is standing, killing two disciples who try to stop him.
• Qiusang attacks with his deadly Heavenly Spiral Pearl. Xiang Yixiu sacrifices himself to block one pearl, suffering severe injuries, while Bloodmark distracts Qiu Ling.
• Another pearl targets Lin Xiaosu, but he catches and destroys it through his own strength, revealing that he has reached the Earth-Peering Realm.
• Lin Xiaosu confronts Qiusang directly, relying on incredible speed to evade his attacks. However, he quickly realizes that Qiusang’s Peering into Heaven Realm cultivation is far beyond his expectations.
• Bloodmark defeats and fatally wounds Qiu Ling with his curved blade.
• Xiang Yixiu battles Qiu Xin, losing a finger but killing him with a dagger and his Great Sun Free-and-Easy Tablet. He declares that he has repaid all debts to the temple and severed his ties with it.
• The disciples Yiming and Yihe turn against Qiusang after revealing that he destroyed their families and deceived them for years. Xiang Yixiu stops them from throwing their lives away and promises to avenge them.
• Xiang Yixiu, Bloodmark, and Lin Xiaosu attack Qiusang together on the platform. Though all three are badly injured, they coordinate their attacks and exploit an opening.
• Xiang Yixiu acts as bait, Bloodmark diverts Qiusang’s attention with a slash, and Lin Xiaosu drives a dagger into Qiusang’s fatal weak point. Qiusang finally collapses and dies.
• The surviving group opens the temple doors and confronts more than a hundred monks led by Qiu Lu, who threatens to defend the temple and destroy the “demons.”
• Bloodmark invokes the Qianlong War Order and commands the authorities to enforce the law. Before the temple forces can attack, missiles strike from the sky, devastating the temple and killing or scattering many of its defenders.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiaosu proves that he has reached the Earth-Peering Realm by destroying a Heavenly Spiral Pearl with his bare hand. He also recognizes his own limitations after facing a genuine Peering into Heaven Realm opponent, learning that speed and reflexes alone cannot defeat Qiusang.
• Xiang Yixiu demonstrates exceptional loyalty and courage by taking attacks meant for Lin Xiaosu. Despite losing a finger, he kills Qiu Xin and symbolically ends his relationship with the Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple.
• Bloodmark acts as the group’s strategist and central commander. He repeatedly protects Lin Xiaosu, coordinates the final attack, and invokes the Qianlong War Order to confront the temple openly.
• Qiusang is revealed as an extremely powerful and ruthless master who uses the Great Void Spiral to weaponize even his robes. His confidence collapses only after the combined assault exposes his fatal weakness.
• Yiming and Yihe finally rebel against Qiusang after years of manipulation and family-related trauma. Their desire for immediate revenge is restrained by Xiang Yixiu, who takes responsibility for avenging them.
• Qiu Xin and Qiu Ling are defeated, demonstrating that Qiusang’s faction cannot withstand the combined strength and coordination of the three outsiders.

Significant Themes

• Unity against overwhelming power: Individually, the heroes cannot defeat Qiusang, but their cooperation allows them to overcome an opponent vastly stronger than any one of them.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: Xiang Yixiu repeatedly risks his life and body for his companions, while Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu also accept serious injuries to create the opening needed for victory.
• Revenge versus justice: Yiming and Yihe seek personal revenge, while Bloodmark frames the confrontation as lawful enforcement under the Qianlong War Order.
• Breaking free from corruption: Xiang Yixiu renounces the temple, and Yiming and Yihe reject Qiusang’s control after learning the truth about their pasts.
• The limits of individual strength: Lin Xiaosu’s realization that he cannot defeat Qiusang alone emphasizes the importance of experience, teamwork, and tactical understanding.
• Religious authority versus moral legitimacy: Although Qiu Lu claims the temple is a sacred sanctuary, the temple’s leaders are shown to be corrupt and violent, making the heroes’ assault appear as a response to injustice rather than simple desecration.

Important Character Interactions

• Xiang Yixiu saves Lin Xiaosu from Qiusang’s first pearl attack, establishing his willingness to sacrifice himself for the group.
• Bloodmark warns Lin Xiaosu of danger and later supports him by attacking Qiu Ling and distracting Qiusang.
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark encourage each other during the battle, with Bloodmark recognizing Lin Xiaosu’s breakthrough in cultivation.
• Xiang Yixiu kills Qiu Xin while publicly declaring his separation from the temple.
• Yiming and Yihe confront their past betrayal, but Xiang Yixiu prevents them from making a suicidal attack and promises to avenge their families.
• The three main fighters combine their abilities in an improvised but perfectly coordinated attack that kills Qiusang.
• Bloodmark and Qiu Lu engage in a final ideological confrontation over whether the temple will resist the law, ending when the Qianlong forces launch the missile assault.

Chapter Summary: “The Red Line Drawn Against Kun Cang”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qianlong forces, led by Bloodmark, launch a decisive assault on Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple under the authority of the Qianlong Command Token.
• When the temple’s cultivators resist, Qianlong opens fire without hesitation, killing many and surrounding the area with Qianlong Robots and Hidden Dragon Gold Medals.
• Abbot Qiu Lu invokes the danger of provoking Kun Cang, but Bloodmark openly declares that Qianlong will cooperate with Kun Cang if possible, remain neutral if necessary, and annihilate it if it stands against the nation.
• Facing overwhelming force and Qianlong’s resolve, Qiu Lu and the remaining disciples surrender. More than a hundred cultivators are arrested and transported away.
• Bloodmark reveals that Great Sun Free-and-Easy Temple was deliberately chosen as Qianlong’s “red line” in its confrontation with Kun Cang. The operation is intended to force Kun Cang to respond.
• Lin Xiaosu explains that Kun Cang’s eighty-three competing peaks make it powerful but internally fragile. He believes Kun Cang will avoid openly opposing Qianlong because doing so could disrupt its internal balance.
• The raid’s larger objective is exposed: locating and capturing the White-Robed Heavenly King, who is believed to have contacted the temple regarding an assassination plot.
• Lin Xiaosu searches Abbot Qiusang’s meditation chamber and discovers a hidden mobile phone containing a Luoba Prefecture number.
• Rather than trying to deceive the White-Robed Heavenly King through conversation, Lin Xiaosu plans to impersonate Qiusang only long enough to make him answer a call, allowing Qianlong’s Dragon Eye system to track the signal.
• The call connects, immediately locating the recipient in Luoba Prefecture. The White-Robed Heavenly King answers using a disguised voice and addresses the caller as “Master.”

Character Developments

• Bloodmark demonstrates a major shift from caution to uncompromising decisiveness. Although aware of the risks of antagonizing Kun Cang, he accepts the need to establish a firm boundary and personally enforces it.
• Qiu Lu loses confidence when confronted with Qianlong’s overwhelming firepower and political resolve. After witnessing the destruction around him, he abandons resistance and submits.
• Lin Xiaosu is shown to be exceptionally perceptive, strategic, and resourceful. He understands Kun Cang’s internal structure, identifies the importance of the hidden phone, and devises a plan based on signal tracking rather than verbal deception.
• Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu become more closely aligned as partners. Bloodmark still questions Lin Xiaosu’s methods, but increasingly trusts his judgment and expertise.
• The White-Robed Heavenly King is characterized as cautious and intelligent, disguising his voice even when speaking with someone he believes to be his master. However, his concern for the operation forces him to answer the call.

Significant Themes

• Drawing and defending red lines: Qianlong decides that certain actions cannot go unanswered, regardless of Kun Cang’s power or political importance.
• National authority versus independent power: Bloodmark asserts that Qianlong serves the nation and will not allow a powerful organization such as Kun Cang to place itself above national law.
• Resolve over hesitation: The chapter contrasts Qianlong’s previous uncertainty toward Kun Cang with Bloodmark’s willingness to act decisively.
• Power and internal fragility: Lin Xiaosu argues that Kun Cang’s strength is undermined by rivalry among its eighty-three peaks, making it vulnerable to outside pressure.
• Strategy and information warfare: The operation relies on layered deception, manipulation, surveillance, and technological tracking rather than brute force alone.
• The limits of resistance: The temple’s surrender shows how quickly opposition collapses when faced with overwhelming organization and determination.

Character Interactions

• Bloodmark and Qiu Lu: Their confrontation centers on whether Qianlong dares challenge Kun Cang. Bloodmark’s declaration of possible annihilation destroys Qiu Lu’s confidence.
• Bloodmark and Lin Xiaosu: They discuss the consequences of attacking the temple and the structure of Kun Cang. Bloodmark questions Lin Xiaosu’s knowledge and plan, while Lin Xiaosu confidently defends his investigative abilities.
• Lin Xiaosu and Bloodmark during the investigation: Lin Xiaosu discovers the phone and outlines the four-stage operation: finding Xiang Yixiu, using him as bait, drawing out the temple, and tracing its communication link to the White-Robed Heavenly King.
• Lin Xiaosu and the White-Robed Heavenly King: Their indirect confrontation begins when Lin Xiaosu places the call. The disguised voice confirms the target’s caution, while the successful tracking operation brings Qianlong within reach of its ultimate enemy.