Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Deep Within Mijia Mountain

Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai uses the Star Gu to survey Mijia Mountain and discovers that all people, including the mercenaries, have disappeared. He decides not to concern himself with their schemes for now and focuses on finding the Icefire Bird.
• He dismisses the Three-Eyed Toads and leaves the Golden Toad Gu behind, confident that his stronger and faster Star Gu can now kill threats such as Dryland Turtles before they self-destruct.
• Huo Hai reaches the location where he previously encountered the Icefire Bird. The area has largely recovered from their earlier battle, and he begins searching more carefully as he moves into the unexplored depths of the mountain.
• In the deeper regions, Huo Hai encounters increasingly powerful Spirit Beasts, many of which have reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm. He realizes that the mountain’s interior is far more dangerous than its outskirts, explaining why weaker creatures such as Spiral-Pattern Deer remain near the edges.
• Through Little Butterfly, Huo Hai witnesses a tiger-like Spirit Beast hunting a herd of Spiral-Pattern Deer. Although the predator is only at the Spirit Practitioner Realm, its combat ability is vastly superior to theirs.
• Huo Hai discovers the corpse of a Spirit Practitioner-level Demonfolk. Its body has barely decayed because of the Demonic Energy within it, and Spirit Beasts have abandoned it because Demonfolk meat is poisonous and foul-tasting. Huo Hai suspects it may be connected to the Demon Spirit Masters who were also searching for the Icefire Bird.
• Meanwhile, Little Li of the Huang Family becomes concerned after receiving no word from the fifty death warriors he sent to kill Huo Hai.
• Little Li enters Mijia Mountain and finds the warriors’ destroyed corpses. He determines that they died from powerful poison, with many injuries caused by their own weapons, and concludes—incorrectly—that Huo Hai defeated them by gathering a large number of Three-Eyed Toads.
• Confident that the low-level Three-Eyed Toads cannot threaten him, Little Li decides to personally capture Huo Hai. Rather than kill him immediately, he plans to bring him back to Huang Yu so she can deal with him.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai demonstrates increased confidence in the Star Gu and his own abilities. He is more efficient, avoids unnecessary fights, and shows greater awareness of the dangers and unknown secrets within Mijia Mountain.
• He also becomes more perceptive about the mountain’s ecological hierarchy, understanding why weaker Spirit Beasts remain on the outskirts while stronger ones dominate the interior.
• Little Li shifts from confidence in the Huang Family’s death warriors to alarm and anger after discovering their deaths. His sense of responsibility leads him to take action personally, though his mistaken interpretation of the battle causes him to underestimate Huo Hai.
• Little Li’s loyalty to Huang Yu is emphasized: he intends to capture Huo Hai both to avenge the Huang Family and to compensate for his own costly failure.

Significant Themes

• The danger of the unknown: The unexplored depths of Mijia Mountain contain stronger creatures, unknown forces, and possible secrets that have never been recorded.
• Growth and changing power: Huo Hai’s improved Star Gu allow him to handle threats that previously required more complicated preparations.
• Misjudgment and hidden strength: Little Li assumes Huo Hai relied on Three-Eyed Toads, failing to understand the full extent of Huo Hai’s abilities.
• Nature’s hierarchy: The stronger Spirit Beasts dominate the inner mountain, forcing weaker species to remain on the outskirts.
• Political conflict and revenge: The Huang Family’s attack continues to escalate, with the deaths of the warriors increasing the stakes between Huo Hai and Huang Yu.

Character Interactions

• Huo Hai interacts primarily with the Spirit Beasts and his Gu creatures, using them to scout, observe, and avoid unnecessary confrontations.
• His earlier conflict with the Icefire Bird remains central to his current mission, while the discovery of the Demonfolk corpse hints at a connection between the bird and the Demon Spirit Masters.
• Little Li’s relationship with Huang Yu motivates his pursuit of Huo Hai. His decision to capture Huo Hai rather than kill him reflects his intention to deliver both revenge and a captive to his master.

Chapter Summary: “Man-Eating Tree?”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai travels deeper into Mijia Mountain, realizing that he has not even reached halfway into its most dangerous interior regions.
• He discovers an unnatural clearing devoid of insects, birds, wild beasts, and Spirit Beasts. Using the Star Gu, he determines that the ground is buried beneath countless bones and corpses.
• A strange, intoxicating fragrance begins spreading from a bare ancient tree in the center of the clearing. Huo Hai briefly falls under its influence but quickly regains control and uses his insects’ combined spiritual power to resist it.
• One of the tree’s tumor-like growths opens into a beautiful flower, attracting nearby animals and Spirit Beasts. The creatures approach in a hypnotized state.
• Vines emerge from beneath the leaves, restrain the victims, and pierce them with thorns that drain their blood. Once the victims are reduced to mummified corpses, the tree buries them beneath the clearing, explaining the accumulation of bones.
• Huo Hai identifies the plant as a likely mutated “Man-Eating Tree,” though he finds no records of such a creature on the Heavenly Spirit Continent.
• After observing its behavior, he concludes that the tree uses its fragrance to lure prey, absorbs their blood, and receives nourishment from their corpses.
• Huo Hai decides to kill the tree and investigate the bones beneath it, hoping to find valuable materials or possible Source Spirit Treasures from the creatures it has consumed.
• When the tree’s flower closes and its fragrance fades, Huo Hai prepares an attack. He sends the Star Gu to surround it while Little Gold approaches the poisonous growths. Silver Pearl and Little Butterfly remain safely beside him.

2. Character Development

• Huo Hai demonstrates increasing caution and experience. Rather than entering the suspicious clearing recklessly, he investigates it remotely with the Star Gu and retreats to a safer position.
• His powerful spiritual strength allows him to resist the tree’s mind-affecting fragrance, while his quick thinking enables him to coordinate his insects against the poison.
• Huo Hai’s attitude shifts from suspicion and caution to confidence once he realizes that his insects are largely immune to the tree’s toxins. He begins viewing the tree as a valuable opportunity rather than merely a threat.
• His practical and opportunistic nature is emphasized: he is interested not only in defeating the tree but also in recovering treasures from the bones beneath it.
• Little Gold is shown to possess strong poison resistance and actively devours the toxins, becoming stronger from them. Its eagerness to approach the tree contrasts with Huo Hai’s caution.
• Huo Hai protects Silver Pearl and Little Butterfly, recognizing that their weaker defensive abilities make them vulnerable.

3. Significant Themes

• Nature as survival rather than morality: Huo Hai does not consider the tree evil; its killing behavior is simply its method of survival.
• Danger hidden beneath appearances: The apparently empty and lifeless clearing conceals a powerful predator, while the tree itself initially looks harmless and dead.
• Caution and preparation: Huo Hai survives because he investigates from a distance, tests the danger, and uses his insects strategically.
• Mutation and the unknown: The tree appears to be a rare mutation outside conventional records, highlighting the unexplored mysteries of the world.
• Risk and opportunity: Even extreme danger may contain valuable resources, and Huo Hai is willing to exploit the tree’s accumulated remains.
• Strength through adaptation: Little Gold’s ability to absorb poison turns one of the tree’s greatest weapons into a potential source of power.

4. Character Interactions

• Huo Hai communicates indirectly with his insects through spiritual control, linking their powers to resist the tree’s fragrance.
• The Star Gu acts as Huo Hai’s scouts and future attackers, revealing the underground bones and surrounding the tree.
• Little Gold independently reacts to the tree’s poisonous tumors and is eager to consume the toxins.
• Huo Hai deliberately restrains Silver Pearl and Little Butterfly, prioritizing their safety rather than exposing them to the tree.
• The tree interacts with nearby animals and Spirit Beasts through its alluring fragrance, controlling them and drawing them into its killing vines.
  The chapter ends with Huo Hai poised to attack the mutated Man-Eating Tree, confident that its poison and immobility give him a significant advantage.

Chapter Summary: “Fierce Battle with the Tree Demon”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai tests the seemingly ordinary ancient tree by ordering a Star Gu to attack one of its vines. Red-and-green blood flows from the wound, revealing that the tree is actually a powerful mutated Tree Demon.
• The Tree Demon reacts violently, causing the ground to move and countless thorn-covered roots to rise and attack. The thorns contain a potent paralyzing toxin that can incapacitate even Spirit Practitioner-level experts before the roots drain their blood.
• Because Huo Hai remains at a distance and controls the Star Gu, the Tree Demon does not realize who is directing the attack. Its slow movement and limited intelligence make its roots easy for the Star Gu to evade.
• Huo Hai orders the Star Gu to attack the roots at their bases, where they are more vulnerable. The insects rapidly sever the roots, rendering the Tree Demon increasingly helpless.
• As a last resort, the Tree Demon opens all of its flowers, releasing a powerful poisonous and hypnotic fragrance. Huo Hai realizes that staying nearby could have caused him to be controlled, but the Star Gu remain unaffected by the toxin.
• Huo Hai orders the complete destruction of the tree. The Star Gu cut off all the roots and flowers, while Little Gold absorbs the poisonous substances from the blossoms without damaging them.
• Once stripped of its roots and crown, the Tree Demon is reduced to a moving trunk. Huo Hai initially finds no apparent use for it and orders the Star Gu to destroy it.
• During the dismantling, he discovers that the section between the roots and trunk is exceptionally hard—harder than Profound Grade metal—and could be valuable as a material.
• Huo Hai also collects a sample of the Tree Demon’s unusual blood and discovers a Crystal Core, suggesting that the Tree Demon possessed strength equivalent to the Spirit General Realm.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai demonstrates caution, tactical intelligence, and adaptability. He observes the Tree Demon’s abilities before committing to a full attack and exploits its weaknesses rather than confronting it directly.
• His confidence grows as he realizes the Tree Demon’s poison cannot affect the Star Gu and that its slow movements make it vulnerable to their speed.
• Huo Hai’s greed and practical mindset appear when he searches the defeated creature for valuable materials, eventually discovering the unusually hard wood and Crystal Core.
• Little Gold proves useful and obediently absorbs the toxins from the flowers, preventing the poison from continuing to threaten Huo Hai.
• The Star Gu show improved intelligence and combat coordination. They independently evade attacks, target vulnerable points, and later understand Huo Hai’s order to preserve anything unusual.

Significant Themes

• Intelligence and preparation overcoming raw power: The Tree Demon possesses deadly toxins and powerful roots, but its lack of speed and intelligence leaves it helpless against Huo Hai’s strategic approach.
• Adaptation and exploiting weaknesses: Huo Hai identifies that the roots are easier to cut than the trunk and directs the Star Gu to attack their bases.
• Hidden danger beneath ordinary appearances: The ancient tree initially seems harmless, but it is revealed to be a predatory creature capable of paralyzing and draining powerful opponents.
• The value of careful observation: Huo Hai’s discoveries—the toxin, the hard wood, the blood, and the Crystal Core—come from examining the Tree Demon rather than destroying it blindly.
• Growth and usefulness of magical creatures: The Star Gu and Little Gold are not merely tools; their increasing intelligence, immunity, and cooperation make them essential to Huo Hai’s success.

Character Interactions

• Huo Hai communicates mentally with the Star Gu, directing their attacks and later ordering them to preserve unusual materials.
• Little Gold warns Huo Hai about the roots’ paralyzing toxin and later follows his command to consume the poison from the flowers.
• Huo Hai and the Tree Demon are locked in an uneven battle: the Tree Demon relies on instinctive attacks, while Huo Hai controls the fight from a safe distance.
• The Tree Demon’s inability to identify Huo Hai as the true attacker highlights the contrast between its brute-force instincts and Huo Hai’s tactical control.

Plot and events

• After defeating the Tree Demon, Huo Hai examines its remains and discovers several valuable rewards.
• The Tree Demon’s flowers are only Yellow Grade source spirit treasures, but their medicinal potency makes them promising ingredients for cultivating insects or developing medicines and poisons.
• A cylinder of exceptionally hard, metal-infused wood could serve as a defensive source spirit treasure, though Huo Hai prefers to take it back and have it made into weapons or shields.
• The greatest find is an emerald Wood Spirit Crystal, a highest-tier Heavenly Grade source spirit treasure containing immense spiritual power. Huo Hai decides it is an ideal match for Yun’er and abandons his plan to search for the Icefire Bird.
• Huo Hai has the Star Gu clear a nearby pit, revealing a graveyard of spirit-beast bones. Among them are exceptionally hard remains and numerous crystals, including two Earth Grade Lower-tier crystals. He considers keeping those for relatives, including his second uncle.
• The Star Gu also uncover a book: Spirit Serpent Movement, a Lower Profound Grade movement Battle Spirit Art. Delighted to find an art he can learn, Huo Hai begins studying it.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai’s excitement grows as one discovery leads to another, but he remains practical: he weighs the treasures’ uses, decides whom to give items to, and chooses to return rather than pursue further risks.
• His thoughts about Yun’er and his second uncle show his concern for his family and his wish to equip them well.
• The Star Gu act as Huo Hai’s tireless assistants, gathering and sorting the remains while demonstrating the strength they gained through transformation.

Significant themes

• Unexpected fortune and resourcefulness: Huo Hai turns the Tree Demon’s remains and an overlooked pit into a trove of useful materials.
• Practical value over raw power: He considers how treasures can be used—as medicine, equipment, or gifts—not simply their grade.
• Preparation and self-improvement: The movement art offers Huo Hai a way to better evade attacks, while the recovered materials can strengthen him and those close to him.
• Loyalty and generosity: His plans for Yun’er and his relatives emphasize his care for others.

Plot points and events

• Huo Hai learns Spirit Serpent Movement, a Battle Spirit Art based on snake-like Spirit Beasts’ spiritual-power circulation. Since all his spirit veins are already open, he can begin immediately. He quickly masters the art, gaining exceptional flexibility and evasive ability, though he knows further practice is needed to reach its full potential.
• The Star Gu detects a tracker approaching. Huo Hai realizes the man is following his trail and prepares his insects, deciding that escape is unlikely.
• The tracker, Little Li, arrives and reveals that he was sent to kill Huo Hai. He is acting for his master, whose anger stems from the Demon Spirit Masters’ retaliation and Young Master Huang Xiaotian’s involvement.
• Little Li clarifies that the Huang Family is not officially responsible; his master is acting independently to avoid implicating the family. He offers Huo Hai the choice of surrendering or dying.
• Huo Hai refuses and decides the Huang Family is his enemy, believing its members must have permitted such an attack. Little Li reveals that he is an early-stage Spirit General. Huo Hai recognizes the danger but resolves to fight, and the two prepare for a deadly confrontation in a pit strewn with animal remains.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai adds a powerful defensive technique to his abilities, then shifts from caution to open defiance when threatened. He is under pressure but remains calculating, preparing beforehand and weighing the consequences of escape, capture, or resistance.
• Little Li is a confident, exceptionally fast tracker. He speaks politely but treats killing Huo Hai as routine, and openly explains his mission and strength.
• Their conversation moves from questioning and explanation to mutual threats. Huo Hai’s suspicion of the Huang Family hardens into a vow of hostility, while Little Li remains composed and certain of his advantage.

Significant themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Huo Hai’s complete spirit-vein foundation lets him learn an unusual art quickly, and he prepares for danger before his pursuer arrives.
• Power and political impunity: Powerful families and their associates treat life casually and can act covertly to evade accountability.
• Cause, consequence, and escalating conflict: Huo Hai’s past actions involving Huang Xiaotian draw him into another confrontation, deepening his conflict with the Huang Family.
• Resolve against overwhelming odds: Though facing a genuine Spirit General, Huo Hai refuses surrender and chooses to fight.

Chapter Summary: “Between Life and Death”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Little Li remains calm despite Huo Hai’s insults, but his anger becomes apparent when Huo Hai threatens his master. He agrees to take Huo Hai to his master, intending to capture him.
• Huo Hai launches a surprise attack using his Star Gu. Little Li’s speed-focused cultivation allows him to react instantly and repel the insects with a defensive barrier.
• Little Li recognizes that Huo Hai’s “hidden weapons” are actually specially bred bugs. He becomes determined to capture Huo Hai and obtain the cultivation method, believing it could help preserve his master’s position within the Huang Family.
• Little Li closes the distance at terrifying speed and attempts to seize Huo Hai. The Star Gu shield protects their master, while the insects bite and seriously injure Little Li’s hand.
• Huo Hai orders the Star Gu to attack with their full strength. Thousands of insects overwhelm Little Li, forcing him to expend large amounts of spiritual energy defending himself.
• Little Li reveals that his true specialty is also hidden weapons. He launches countless snow-white flying spikes, some of which penetrate the Star Gu’s defensive formation.
• Three spikes narrowly threaten Huo Hai. He instinctively uses the newly learned Spirit Serpent Movement to contort his body and evade them, though one spike grazes his waist and cuts him.
• The near-death experience nearly exhausts Huo Hai’s spiritual power and makes him realize that the Star Gu cannot protect him absolutely. Little Li, recognizing how difficult Huo Hai is to injure directly, decides that future attacks must rely on stealth and ambushes.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai: Demonstrates tactical awareness, relying on layered Star Gu defenses rather than direct combat. His survival instincts awaken under extreme pressure, allowing him to use Spirit Serpent Movement successfully. However, the battle exposes his vulnerability, limited spiritual endurance, and overreliance on his insects.
• Little Li: Reveals exceptional composure, speed, defensive ability, and mastery of hidden weapons. His motives become clearer: he wants Huo Hai alive so he can extract the secret of raising Star Gu and protect his master’s influence. Although initially confident, he becomes wary of Huo Hai’s defenses and chooses retreat and future ambushes over a reckless assault.
• Star Gu: Prove to be both powerful offensive weapons and an extremely effective defensive shield. Their loyalty to Huo Hai is emphasized when they immediately protect him from Little Li’s attacks.

Significant Themes

• The fragility of safety: Even overwhelming defenses cannot guarantee survival; Huo Hai is injured despite being surrounded by thousands of Star Gu.
• Adaptability under pressure: Both fighters quickly analyze each other’s abilities and modify their strategies.
• Skill versus cultivation level: Little Li’s higher realm gives him tremendous speed, but Huo Hai’s techniques, preparation, and Star Gu allow him to challenge the advantage.
• Instinct and growth: Huo Hai’s instinctive use of Spirit Serpent Movement marks a breakthrough in applying his new technique during a life-or-death crisis.
• Reason overcoming emotion: Little Li suppresses his anger and remains calculating, making him a more dangerous opponent.

Character Interactions

• Little Li insults neither Huo Hai nor his master openly but reacts sharply when Huo Hai threatens the latter, revealing his loyalty.
• Huo Hai and Little Li exchange attacks while studying each other’s strengths. Little Li admires Huo Hai’s composure and unusual insects, while Huo Hai recognizes Little Li as a highly dangerous, specialized opponent.
• Their confrontation ends without a decisive victory: Huo Hai survives but is wounded and drained, while Little Li is forced to reconsider his approach and plans to attack from concealment.

Plot points and events

• Huo Hai’s sudden use of Spirit Serpent Movement lets him evade Little Li’s attack, though it leaves him sore and drains nearly half his spiritual power.
• Little Li tries to escape. Huo Hai uses the Star Gu to obstruct him, then combines seals with their attack to unleash Spider Entanglement. The insects pin Little Li long enough for spider silk to bind him completely.
• Huo Hai discovers Little Li’s Battle Spirit Art has temporarily numbed his body. Little Li admits that, had he not underestimated Huo Hai and tried to capture him alive, the outcome might have been different.
• Little Li reveals that Huo Hai’s abilities are already dangerous to Spirit General Realm experts, but cautions that the Huang Family is far stronger than Huo Hai. He refuses to identify his master, who is secretly connected to Huang Yu.
• Huo Hai declares the entire Huang Family his enemy. He then orders the Star Gu to devour the helpless Little Li, who dies in the remote bone-strewn place Huo Hai had promised would be his grave.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai shows quick thinking, strong control of his insects, and growing confidence. His victory does not make him dismiss the threat of the Huang Family; instead, he turns it into a vow of revenge.
• Little Li shifts from skilled attacker to trapped prisoner. Though he warns Huo Hai about the limits of his power and stays defiant, his private thoughts reveal regret and fear that Huo Hai may eventually become a threat to the Huang Family.
• Their exchange is a contest of intimidation: Huo Hai mocks Little Li and presses him for information, while Little Li refuses to cooperate and tries to unsettle him with warnings.

Significant themes

• Preparation and strategy: Huo Hai wins by combining his abilities and controlling the battlefield, not through a straightforward contest of strength.
• The cost of underestimating an opponent: Little Li’s confidence and decision to capture Huo Hai alive help bring about his defeat.
• Revenge and escalating conflict: Huo Hai’s victory ends the immediate danger but hardens his resolve against the Huang Family.
• Power and its limits: Little Li’s death demonstrates Huo Hai’s resourcefulness, while his warnings make clear that one victory does not mean he can defeat the Huang Family or every Spirit General expert.

Key plot points and events

• Huo Hai waits until Star Gu have thoroughly killed Little Li, then dispels the Spider Silk binding him and leaves his body in a secluded pit.
• While searching the corpse, Huo Hai finds a book titled Blood-Shaking Thorn, a rare Profound Grade Upper-tier Battle Spirit Art that Little Li had kept from before joining the Huang Family.
• The art uses specially circulated spiritual power to make a thrown spike vibrate, increasing its speed and causing destructive vibrations inside a target’s body. Huo Hai can cultivate it because he has already opened all his Spirit Veins.
• Huo Hai tests the technique with one of Little Li’s stone spikes. It shoots through several trees and embeds in a rock wall, revealing its extraordinary power.
• Excited by the discovery, Huo Hai decides to stay and master the art, and plans to make better spikes—possibly coated with poison.

Character developments

• Huo Hai remains cautious even after gaining the upper hand, waiting to ensure Little Li is truly dead before approaching.
• Killing a Spirit General Realm expert strengthens Huo Hai’s confidence in his Star Gu and his ability to face powerful enemies, provided he stays safe.
• He eagerly embraces Blood-Shaking Thorn’s vicious potential and imagines adding it to his growing range of abilities. His humor surfaces when he rejects the idea of using embroidery-needle-sized spikes.

Character interactions

• Huo Hai’s relationship with Little Li is defined by lethal combat, but Huo Hai acknowledges him as a worthy opponent and chooses not to destroy his corpse.
• The chapter also reveals, though Huo Hai does not know it, that Little Li acquired Blood-Shaking Thorn before joining Huang Yu’s service, after she saved him from near death.

Significant themes

• Caution and survival: Huo Hai does not assume victory until the danger is unquestionably over.
• Power through adaptation: He turns an enemy’s weapon and knowledge into new tools for his own strength.
• Pragmatism and moral ambiguity: Huo Hai readily considers using poison and values a technique for its effectiveness, however brutal.
• Confidence tempered by preparation: His victory emboldens him, but he still recognizes the need to protect himself and continue cultivating.

Key plot points

• Huo Hai’s near-death encounter deepens his understanding of Spirit Serpent Movement. With little additional practice, he brings it close to greater accomplishment and improves his ability to dodge.
• He spends a month and a half intensively training with Blood-Shaking Thorn and basic hidden-weapon techniques. His accuracy advances from novice level to reliably striking distant, moving targets, though the technique has not yet reached minor accomplishment and only causes brief numbness.
• Having worn out most of his spikes, Huo Hai decides to leave Mijia Mountain and return, concerned that the vice dean may be worried. He favors small, needle-like weapons and plans to make more.
• Near the mountain’s outskirts, he finds more than three thousand people waiting. Using Little Butterfly to scout and overhear them, he learns that most have come to collect a bounty for killing him. Some are mercenaries; others appear connected to the group that sent powerful pursuers.
• Huo Hai confirms that no outsiders are nearby and that the hostile crowd is isolated. Wanting to conceal his strength from other enemies, he quietly deploys the Star Gu, then walks out of the forest with his killing intent unleashed.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai grows more capable and confident as a fighter, developing both evasive movement and practical hidden-weapon skill. He is also increasingly cold and decisive toward those who threaten him.
• Little Butterfly serves as Huo Hai’s scout, using its mental power to survey the camp and relay conversations.
• The waiting attackers reveal their motives and fears through their talk: some hunger for the bounty or anticipate torturing Huo Hai, while a cautious gray-clad elder warns his companions not to expose their lack of powerful backing. They reassure one another that their commander has probably already completed the mission elsewhere.

Significant themes

• Skill depends on the practitioner: even a simple technique can become powerful when properly understood and applied.
• Practice and persistence: Huo Hai’s sustained training transforms him from a novice into a capable hidden-weapon user.
• Predator and prey: the bounty hunters believe they have cornered Huo Hai, but he turns the encounter into a trap of his own.
• Secrecy and restraint: despite his advantage, Huo Hai avoids revealing his true strength, aware that greater enemies may still be watching.

Key plot points and events

• Huo Hai emerges from the woods into a clearing full of mercenaries. When a burly man threatens him with an axe, Huo Hai kills him with Blood-Shaking Thorn, a newly learned technique.
• The mercenaries recognize Huo Hai and rush to claim the enormous bounty on his head. Huo Hai’s anger and killing aura intensify, and he orders his Star Gu to attack.
• Hundreds of Star Gu rapidly kill more than two hundred mercenaries, striking their throats and foreheads. The swarm continues slaughtering the crowd and throwing it into chaos.
• A Spirit Practitioner charges Huo Hai, hoping to take his head. Huo Hai tests Blood-Shaking Thorn on him, killing him with a metal spike that also pierces people behind him. The blow is powerful but imprecise: Huo Hai recognizes that his control is not yet refined.
• Rather than retreat, the remaining experts become convinced the technique is a valuable Battle Spirit Art and attack out of greed. Meanwhile, the Star Gu continue killing; roughly a fifth of the mercenary force is already dead.
• Huo Hai keeps two thousand Star Gu near him as protection, while only a few hundred are attacking the larger crowd. As the chapter ends, the charging mercenaries are about to strike him, still underestimating the danger.

Character developments

• Huo Hai appears calm and controlled, but internally struggles to contain his fused rage and killing aura. He is increasingly ruthless, yet also shows a practical, self-critical side when he notices the flaw in his technique.
• The mercenaries shift from surprise to greed, then to panic and reckless aggression. Even the surviving Spirit Practitioners abandon caution when they imagine acquiring Huo Hai’s technique and bounty.

Significant themes

• Greed and self-deception: The mercenaries convince themselves that killing Huo Hai will stop the insects and make them rich, ignoring the evidence of their own losses.
• Power and underestimation: Huo Hai’s opponents mistake his reliance on insects for weakness, while overlooking both his combat skill and the scale of his reserves.
• Rage and control: Huo Hai’s anger fuels his ferocity but also compromises the precision of his newly learned attack.
• Inevitable consequences: The chapter emphasizes that refusing to recognize danger does not change the facts—a lesson the charging mercenaries are about to learn.

Character interactions

• Huo Hai responds to the burly mercenary’s threat with an immediate killing strike, then reveals his identity to the crowd.
• The mercenaries urge and provoke one another into attacking, framing Huo Hai’s death as a route to wealth and safety.
• Huo Hai uses the Spirit Practitioner’s charge as a test of his technique, while the man’s confidence and the crowd’s greed blind them to how dangerous Huo Hai remains.

Chapter Summary: “Mercenaries Collapse, Leave None Alive”

Key Plot Points and Events

• As the mercenaries launch a coordinated attack on Huo Hai, he activates a fluorescent defensive shield that completely blocks their weapons.
• The attackers mistakenly assume the shield is an ordinary Spirit Energy Shield and believe they can overwhelm it.
• Their greed and lack of trust cause them to turn on one another. The mercenaries at the front are stabbed from behind by those trying to claim the bounty first, killing roughly one-third of their Spirit Practitioner experts.
• Huo Hai exploits the confusion, killing three more experts with Blood-Shaking Thorn, which attacks the heart and violently disrupts the victims’ blood flow.
• When some mercenaries attempt to flee while others continue attacking, Huo Hai orders more than two thousand Star Gu to wipe them out.
• The Star Gu, which Huo Hai had already positioned around the area and along every escape route, slaughter the fleeing mercenaries and adventurers. Panic causes further deaths as the attackers kill one another while trying to escape.
• Huo Hai gives the order to “leave none alive.” He personally practices Blood-Shaking Thorn on some enemies while allowing the Star Gu to eliminate the rest.
• Within minutes, the entire attacking force is destroyed. Huo Hai then has the Star Gu gather the bodies into a single pile, both to conceal the massacre and to prevent possible disease.

Character Development

• Huo Hai demonstrates overwhelming confidence, strategic preparation, and increasingly precise control over his abilities. He deliberately allowed the mercenaries to approach because his defenses and Star Gu had already made the battle one-sided.
• His killing ability has become much more efficient: he can eliminate large numbers of enemies with little hesitation and uses the battle to practice Blood-Shaking Thorn.
• Despite his ruthlessness, Huo Hai briefly questions whether repeated killing has made his heart cold. He ultimately justifies his actions as self-defense, reasoning that the mercenaries came intending to murder him.
• His anger is directed beyond the mercenaries toward the unknown people who hired them. He views the attackers as expendable tools and resolves to punish the true masterminds.

Significant Themes

• Greed and betrayal: The mercenaries’ desire for the bounty destroys their cooperation, causing them to attack one another before Huo Hai even responds.
• Preparation versus arrogance: Huo Hai’s hidden defenses and sealed escape routes contrast with the mercenaries’ careless assumption that they can easily kill him.
• The transformation of the hunted into the hunter: The attackers expect to slaughter a vulnerable target, but Huo Hai rapidly reveals himself as a deadly force capable of annihilating them.
• Moral desensitization and self-justification: Huo Hai reflects on his growing comfort with killing, then reassures himself that the enemies initiated the violence.
• Consequences of violence: The battlefield becomes a river of blood and leaves Huo Hai with the practical problem of disposing of hundreds of corpses.

Character Interactions

• The mercenaries initially cooperate against Huo Hai but immediately turn on one another when their attacks fail and the bounty remains uncertain.
• Huo Hai does not directly negotiate or reason with them; he observes their internal conflict with contempt and exploits their disorder.
• His relationship with the Star Gu is one of absolute command. He directs them to block escape routes, kill the remaining enemies, and later collect the bodies.
• The conflict ends with Huo Hai completely dominating the mercenaries, while the real employers remain unseen and become his next intended targets.

Plot points and events

• After defeating more than three thousand mercenaries, Huo Hai orders the Star Gu to gather the bodies and build a pyre from dead trees. He uses the mercenaries’ fire oil to burn the corpses, then leaves the scene.
• A mysterious figure arrives after Huo Hai has gone, reacts furiously to the blaze, and departs in another direction.
• Physically and emotionally drained, Huo Hai camps and sleeps for three days and nights. Meanwhile, the Underground Mercenary Guild discovers the mercenaries’ deaths but finds the fire has destroyed nearly all useful evidence.
• The killing alarms the guild, major factions, Lineages, and Imperial Family. Many had known of the situation but had not intervened; now they must confront the consequences just before a looming conflict with Demon Spirit Masters.
• On waking, Huo Hai finds his mental power clearer and stronger, and his spiritual power has advanced enough that his third Star Core is nearly complete.
• He remembers he has been away for two months and must return to the Academy before the vice dean’s three-month deadline. Concerned that his enemies might target Fang Biya, Ji Mu, and the others, he resolves to hurry home.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai treats the disposal of the bodies pragmatically, but the massacre leaves him psychologically exhausted. His long sleep relieves that distress and coincides with a notable improvement in his mental and spiritual strength. His concern shifts from his own safety to the people waiting for him at the Academy.
• The Star Gu continue to serve Huo Hai obediently, hauling bodies, gathering supplies, and cutting wood.
• The Underground Mercenary Guild’s elder is left helpless by the scale of the loss and the lack of evidence. The guild’s earlier greed and failure to control events have helped create the crisis.
• The unnamed figure appears at the burning site, vents anger, and leaves without meeting Huo Hai.
• The major factions and Imperial Family face pressure to respond, but none wants to take responsibility for the escalating affair.

Significant themes

• Violence and its aftermath: Huo Hai can act decisively, but the psychological toll catches up with him afterward.
• Power and political accountability: Greed and inaction allow a dangerous situation to grow beyond the authorities’ control.
• Growth through hardship: The battle and recovery appear to strengthen Huo Hai’s mind and cultivation.
• Loyalty and vulnerability: Huo Hai’s urgency to return reflects his attachment to his friends and fear that they may become targets.

Chapter Summary: “The Conspiracy Begins”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai returns to Imperial City Academy after completing his mission, traveling back in only half a day because of the improved bodily control granted by Spirit Serpent Movement.
• The Academy is under heightened security due to the growing threat of Demon Spirit Masters. The Enforcement Squad verifies Huo Hai’s identity, and Tan Wu immediately comes to meet him.
• Tan Wu explains that the vice principal originally intended to wait three months before sending Huo Hai to investigate dangerous locations. However, members of the Huang Family and other factions pressured the authorities to accelerate the process.
• The ruler has consequently sped up the nationwide investigation. Several Demon Spirit Masters have already been eliminated, and all known locations are expected to be isolated within roughly ten days.
• News of the Demon Spirit Masters and the ancient Demon Calamity has been made public. The people of Southern Cloud Kingdom, including students at Imperial City Academy, have become suspicious and fearful of one another.
• Huo Hai returns home and discovers that Ji Mu, Fang Biya, and Yun’er have made significant progress in cultivation:
  • Ji Mu and Fang Biya have reached the Spirit Adept Mid-tier.
  • Yun’er has reached Spirit Bone Peak, though she appears thinner from her intense training.
• His companions reveal that rumors are spreading that Huo Hai colluded with Demon Spirit Masters and slaughtered thousands of people.
• Huo Hai admits that he did kill more than three thousand people, but explains that they were mercenaries who had accepted a bounty to assassinate him and ambushed him after he left Mijia Mountain.
• Fang Biya reasons that influential members of the great Lineages may have spread the rumors to damage Huo Hai’s reputation and prevent him from gaining further military merit or political influence.
• Huo Hai concludes that the people who placed the bounty were likely powerful figures among the younger generation of the great Lineages, with the Huang Family being a strong possibility.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai remains calm, pragmatic, and independent. He refuses to be controlled by political factions and becomes increasingly aware that his growing reputation has made him a threat to ambitious rivals.
• He also shows a softer side when reunited with Yun’er, comforting her and feeling concern over her thinner appearance.
• Tan Wu continues to dislike Huo Hai personally but recognizes the importance of his return and the urgency of the situation.
• Ji Mu openly defends Huo Hai and reacts emotionally to the accusations against him, revealing her loyalty and concern.
• Fang Biya demonstrates political insight, recognizing that the rumors are motivated by competition, jealousy, and the desire to undermine Huo Hai.
• Yun’er has trained intensely and advanced greatly in cultivation, though the effort has affected her health and appearance.

Significant Themes

• Political intrigue and internal conflict: Even in the face of an external threat like the Demon Spirit Masters, powerful factions continue to compete against one another.
• Jealousy and ambition: Huo Hai’s achievements and rising prestige make him an obstacle to other young elites seeking military merit and influence.
• Rumor and manipulation: The accusations against Huo Hai show how easily fear and misinformation can spread, especially when people already doubt the seriousness of the Demon Spirit threat.
• Historical amnesia: Although the Demon Calamity devastated the Southern Nations a thousand years earlier, most people no longer believe the danger is real because they have forgotten or dismissed the past.
• Pragmatism versus idealism: Huo Hai values results and survival, while others are driven by reputation, political advantage, or blind confidence.
• Family and loyalty: Huo Hai’s reunion with his companions contrasts with the hostility and conspiracy developing outside his home.

Character Interactions

• Tan Wu informs Huo Hai about the accelerated investigation and the Huang Family’s interference, establishing the political pressure surrounding his mission.
• Huo Hai maintains a distant, formal relationship with Tan Wu, choosing not to engage in unnecessary conversation.
• Upon returning home, Huo Hai affectionately embraces Yun’er, demonstrating his emotional attachment to his companions.
• Ji Mu and Fang Biya tell Huo Hai about the rumors and listen to his explanation of the massacre.
• Ji Mu angrily defends Huo Hai, while Fang Biya offers a more measured analysis of the motives behind the rumors.
• Huo Hai and Fang Biya together identify the likely involvement of powerful Lineage members, especially those threatened by his growing status.

Chapter Summary: “Sharing the Spoils”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai concludes that the enormous rewards offered for his capture could only have been funded by powerful Lineages or organizations in the Southern Cloud Kingdom, possibly through pooled resources.
• Although he cannot punish everyone involved, he decides to target the main instigators, especially the Huang Family.
• He reveals the treasures obtained during his recent mission:
  • A Heaven Grade upper-tier Wood Spirit Crystal, intended as Yun’er’s Source Spirit Treasure.
  • The movement Battle Spirit Art Spirit Serpent Movement.
  • The complete High Profound Grade Battle Spirit Art Blood-Shaking Thorn, which provides Battle Spirit Masters with a long-range attack.
• Huo Hai explains that he acquired these treasures while pursuing resources for his Summoning Space and dealing with the mercenaries sent after him.
• He recounts surviving an attack by a Huang Family Spirit General Realm expert. Though he makes the fight sound easy, the women realize he was genuinely endangered and was injured partly because the enemy underestimated him.
• Huo Hai vows to deal with the Huang Family later, using a powerful poison he has recently developed.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai becomes more strategic and politically aware, recognizing that the attack against him was likely backed by major powers rather than isolated enemies. He also demonstrates his role as a protector and provider for his household.
• Yun’er reaches Spirit Bone Peak and receives the Wood Spirit Crystal she needs for her future breakthrough. Her absolute trust in Huo Hai is emphasized.
• Fang Biya grows more cheerful and secure in Huo Hai’s household, but remains emotionally sensitive. She feels guilty about Huo Hai’s injuries and believes her conflict with the Huang Family contributed to the danger.
• Ji Mu remains lively and affectionate, teasing Huo Hai and becoming jealous when he comforts Fang Biya.
• Bi’er quietly worries that Fang Biya’s growing happiness and dependence on Huo Hai may make her own role unnecessary.
• The women’s concern for Huo Hai deepens after hearing how dangerous his recent battle truly was.

Significant Themes

• Family and mutual protection: Huo Hai reassures the women that he will handle external dangers, while they show intense concern for his safety.
• Trust and emotional intimacy: The playful embrace between Huo Hai, Ji Mu, and Fang Biya contrasts with their serious fear over his injuries.
• Power and political conflict: The attack reveals the hidden influence of powerful Lineages and the limitations of ordinary law against elite families.
• Growth through resources and preparation: Yun’er’s Source Spirit Treasure and the new Battle Spirit Arts emphasize the importance of strengthening the household before future conflicts.
• Revenge and justice: Huo Hai distinguishes between indiscriminate punishment and targeting the leaders responsible, with the Huang Family becoming his primary future target.

Character Interactions

• Ji Mu and Fang Biya tease Huo Hai and become jealous when he comforts Fang Biya, creating a humorous scene that eases the earlier tension.
• Huo Hai gives Yun’er the Wood Spirit Crystal and instructs her not to rush her cultivation or give the treasure away.
• He shares the new Battle Spirit Arts with the women, strengthening their confidence in his ability to provide for them.
• When Huo Hai mentions being injured, Ji Mu, Fang Biya, and Yun’er immediately abandon their excitement over the treasures and anxiously inspect him.
• The women react with fear and anger upon learning that mercenaries and a Huang Family Spirit General pursued Huo Hai.
• Huo Hai comforts Fang Biya when she blames herself, while quietly reaffirming his intention to retaliate against the Huang Family.

Chapter summary

• Huo Hai’s household and training: After returning, Huo Hai shares advice on cultivating Battle Spirit Arts. Fang Biya and Ji Mu begin training in Spirit Serpent Movement and Blood-Shaking Thorn, but because their Spirit Veins are already strengthened and blocked, opening the required pathways will take weeks or months. Huo Hai provides pain-relieving pills. Yun’er, meanwhile, has nearly mastered Celestial Star Transformation and is preparing for a breakthrough; her rapid cultivation has also brought her body close to full maturity.
• Huo Hai’s progress: While waiting for word from the Academy, he practices Blood-Shaking Thorn with tiny wooden sticks—objects he refuses to call needles. His accuracy and power have improved enough to incapacitate a Spirit Practitioner with one strike, and he can just about keep pace with Ji Mu. He sets out to collect a batch of steel versions he has ordered, calling them “Steel Stingers.”
• A hostile crowd arrives: On his way, Huo Hai encounters a large procession that has come to the Academy to accuse him of colluding with Demon Spirit Masters and killing their relatives. The vice dean is away investigating progress on a toxin-related matter, leaving Academy instructor Tan Wu unable to control the crowd. People from major Lineages have joined the protest, while some Academy officials watch or avoid involvement.
• Huo Hai answers with force: Rather than appease the crowd, Huo Hai identifies and kills the first man who accuses him, after the man claims to be grieving his only brother. When another instigator calls for justice, Huo Hai’s Star Gu pull him from the crowd. The young man identifies himself as a member of the Liu Lineage and repeats the charge; Huo Hai kills him too, using the accuser’s own claim of defending justice against him.
• The crowd is cowed: Huo Hai warns that he will not provoke others, but will not tolerate being bullied. His immense spiritual pressure silences thousands. He then demands that someone explain what is happening and points out a well-dressed man to question.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai shows growing confidence in his strength and a blunt, retaliatory approach to provocation. He rejects the expectation that he should quietly smooth over the accusations, using both Star Gu and his sword to control the confrontation.
• Fang Biya and Ji Mu commit to demanding physical training, while Yun’er advances toward a major cultivation breakthrough.
• Tan Wu tries to defend Huo Hai and manage the crowd, but lacks the authority and numbers to stop events; his warning cannot prevent the second killing.
• The demonstrators and Lineage members begin as a united, accusatory crowd, but Huo Hai’s violence and aura quickly turn their anger into fear and silence.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: Huo Hai’s strength changes how others can treat him, and his presence alone can silence a vast crowd.
• Rumor and public judgment: Accusations spread rapidly and draw people into a mob before the truth is established.
• Justice versus vengeance: Huo Hai invokes the crowd’s language of justice while acting as judge and executioner himself, making the confrontation’s idea of justice deliberately uneasy.

Plot points and events

• Huo Hai challenges a well-dressed man in the crowd to explain why people have gathered against him. The man claims he came only because he heard Huo Hai had killed their relatives.
• Huo Hai warns the crowd that they have effectively stormed Imperial City Academy, making the gathering’s organizers uneasy about the consequences.
• A woman accuses Huo Hai of murdering innocents. Little Butterfly unleashes a mental shock wave that silences and injures the crowd, though the attack nearly exhausts her.
• Huo Hai admits he killed more than three thousand people, explaining that they were underground mercenaries who had accepted a contract to kill him. He argues that he acted in self-defense.
• An old man demands to know why Huo Hai killed his son. Huo Hai maintains that he kills those who try to kill him and leaves those who do not provoke him alone.
• A man accuses Huo Hai of colluding with Demon Spirit Masters, then tries to flee. Huo Hai has him dragged back, demands evidence, and kills him when he cannot provide any.

Character developments

• Huo Hai remains composed and uncompromising. He uses the crowd’s ignorance to defend his actions, but shows little mercy toward those who accuse or threaten him.
• Little Butterfly demonstrates the power of her mental attacks, but the effort leaves her nearly depleted, and Huo Hai sends her away to recover.
• The crowd shifts from noisy accusation to fear and uncertainty as Huo Hai reveals the mercenaries’ activities and demonstrates his willingness to kill.
• The old man appears to grieve sincerely for his son, yet seems not to have known what his son did.

Themes

• Self-defense and justice: Huo Hai insists that killing those who seek his life is justified, while the crowd initially demands justice without understanding the circumstances.
• Ignorance and manipulation: Many mourners do not know their relatives’ occupations or why they were killed, and some people appear to be exploiting their grief.
• Moral ambiguity: The chapter contrasts the victims’ families’ pain with the crimes attributed to underground mercenaries, while leaving Huo Hai’s brutal methods starkly visible.
• Power and intimidation: Huo Hai controls the confrontation through both force and rhetoric, turning a public accusation into a fearful silence.

Character interactions

• Huo Hai questions the well-dressed man, then confronts the woman and old man over their claims that the dead were innocent.
• The old man challenges Huo Hai over his son’s death; Huo Hai answers by framing the killing as retaliation against someone who tried to kill him.
• Little Butterfly supports Huo Hai by attacking the crowd mentally, while Huo Hai conceals her exhaustion.
• Huo Hai exposes the fleeing accuser’s unsupported charge as slander and kills him, reinforcing the threat behind his warning.

• Plot and key events: Huo Hai refuses to back down after killing people who came to challenge him. He redirects the crowd’s anger toward whoever commissioned the Underground Mercenary Guild’s attack, prompting suspicion of several young scions. When they accuse him of colluding with Demon Spirit Masters and propose checking for the mission, Huo Hai rejects the suggestion as a likely trap: he believes the mission has already been erased. He counters their unsupported accusations by citing his destruction of more than 110,000 Demonfolk and warns that anyone who provokes him may meet the same fate as the dead. The standoff escalates until the Academy Enforcement Squad arrives with the vice dean, who has returned unexpectedly. The Squad surrounds the crowd and restores control. The vice dean demands to know why outsiders are inside the Academy.
• Character developments: Huo Hai is shown as ruthless, intimidating, and shrewd. Rather than accept a seemingly fair investigation, he anticipates how it could be used against him and turns his opponents’ own logic back on them. Tan Wu is relieved by the vice dean’s return and contemptuous of Academy officials who only react once the situation becomes serious. The visiting scions and their allies grow increasingly frightened and regret joining the confrontation. The vice dean returns in a good mood after successfully obtaining a fast-acting antidote to the toxin, though he is furious to find disorder at the Academy.
• Character interactions: Huo Hai confronts the crowd, challenges accusers to produce evidence, and uses threats and his reputation to suppress further provocation. Some young men attempt to deflect suspicion or portray him as a conspirator, while others quietly suggest his victory against the Demonfolk was staged. Tan Wu invokes the vice dean’s authority when he arrives. Academy officials rush to organize the Enforcement Squad, whose collective pressure quickly overpowers the troublemakers.
• Significant themes: The chapter emphasizes power and intimidation as tools of control, the danger of unsupported accusations, and the value of suspicion and strategic thinking in a hostile political environment. It also exposes opportunism and institutional failure: some Academy leaders watched the crisis unfold, then scrambled to act when the vice dean returned.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

• The vice principal returns from researching an antidote for Demon Spirit Master toxins. Although the antidote cannot directly cure mental poisoning, it can remove physical toxins and allow gradual mental recovery. He plans to mass-produce the antidote for the Southern Cloud Kingdom and seek more mind-related materials from Huo Hai.
• Upon returning to the Imperial City Academy, he finds the entrance in disorder and learns that outsiders forced their way inside. The Academy’s security and leadership had failed to respond effectively.
• Huo Hai is surrounded by relatives of underground mercenaries he recently killed. They accuse him of murdering their family members and possibly colluding with Demon Spirit Masters.
• Huo Hai admits to killing the mercenaries but explains that they had accepted a mission to assassinate him. He argues that he acted in self-defense and demands proof of the accusations against him.
• The vice principal openly supports Huo Hai, condemns the intruders for violating Academy rules, orders them detained, and threatens the Academy officials who neglected their duties.
• The accusers are unable to provide evidence. Huo Hai proposes that either they prove his supposed alliance with Demon Spirit Masters or he prove that they hired the underground mercenaries.
• The vice principal approves this approach, declares that the Academy will investigate, and promises temporary support for the accusers while warning against further manipulation or attacks behind the scenes.

Character developments

• Huo Hai displays a fierce, uncompromising temperament. He refuses to apologize for killing those who tried to assassinate him and openly threatens anyone who attacks him, even claiming he would kill in the Royal Palace if necessary. His defiance reveals both his confidence and his growing frustration with political persecution.
• The vice principal emerges as a principled and capable authority figure. He values Huo Hai’s loyalty and believes his character makes it unlikely that he would join the Demon Spirit Masters. He also becomes increasingly determined to purge corrupt or ineffective Academy officials.
• The Academy’s higher-ups are exposed as self-interested and cowardly. They watched the disturbance without intervening and appear more concerned with political gain than institutional security.
• The accusers lose their confidence once confronted by Huo Hai and the vice principal. Their inability to produce evidence suggests that their outrage may have been encouraged or exploited by others seeking to undermine Huo Hai.

Significant themes

• Justice versus political manipulation: The accusations against Huo Hai appear less concerned with truth than with using the deaths of mercenaries as an excuse to attack him.
• Evidence and due process: Huo Hai and the vice principal insist that serious accusations require proof rather than rumor or emotional appeal.
• Institutional corruption and responsibility: The Academy’s failure to protect its grounds reflects the dangers of officials prioritizing personal interests during a national crisis.
• Loyalty during crisis: Despite Huo Hai’s violent methods, the vice principal recognizes his opposition to the Demon Spirit Masters and chooses to protect him.
• Defiance and survival: Huo Hai’s willingness to confront both powerful individuals and institutions shows his determination to survive on his own terms, even if it means abandoning the Southern Cloud Kingdom.

Character interactions

• The vice principal confronts the negligent Academy officials and orders them to restore order.
• He asks Huo Hai what happened and immediately signals that he will not allow outsiders to intimidate or punish him without proof.
• Huo Hai challenges the accusers, rejects their claims, and turns their demand for accountability back on them.
• The middle-aged woman argues that Huo Hai destroyed her family’s livelihood, but the vice principal questions her knowledge of her husband’s activities and demands evidence.
• Huo Hai and the vice principal ultimately unite around an evidence-based investigation, while the accusers are placed under temporary Academy protection and surveillance.

Chapter Summary: “Bargaining”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The vice principal intervenes on Huo Hai’s behalf, effectively ending the accusations that he is colluding with Demon Spirit Masters.
• He reminds everyone that Huo Hai personally killed more than one hundred thousand Demonfolk and is essential to Southern Cloud Kingdom’s ongoing investigation of dangerous “death zones.”
• Huo Hai turns the accusation against his opponents: since they claim he may be working with Demon Spirit Masters, he argues that the kingdom cannot reasonably ask him to investigate those areas without first clearing his name.
• His refusal alarms the descendants of several great Lineages, whose territories lie near the death zones. They realize that without Huo Hai’s insects and abilities, investigating those regions could cost the kingdom more than one hundred thousand soldiers—and might expose their own Lineages to destruction.
• The accused troublemakers are removed and temporarily detained by the Academy while the matter is investigated.
• Once they are gone, the vice principal privately asks Huo Hai to let the matter end and continue his mission. Huo Hai refuses unless he receives a public and satisfactory explanation.
• Huo Hai proposes targeting the Underground Mercenary Guild, suggesting that an organization willing to disregard the kingdom’s survival might contain Demon Spirit Master collaborators.
• The vice principal rejects the idea of the Academy attacking the guild because the Academy must remain neutral and destroying the guild could throw Southern Cloud Kingdom into chaos.
• Huo Hai compromises only partially: he asks the vice principal to reveal the guild’s headquarters so he can investigate it himself and find evidence to clear his name. He makes it clear that until his reputation is restored, he will not investigate the death zones.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai demonstrates his strategic intelligence, stubbornness, and ability to use political pressure. Rather than simply accepting the vice principal’s protection, he exploits the accusers’ own claims to force the authorities to address the injustice.
• His calm, almost innocent manner contrasts with the seriousness of his demands. He is angry but refuses to act recklessly, insisting that he must receive a proper explanation before cooperating.
• The vice principal is revealed as both protective and politically shrewd. He supports Huo Hai because of his importance to the kingdom, but he also tries to prevent Huo Hai from causing wider instability.
• The vice principal recognizes that Huo Hai is dependable but cannot be controlled once he becomes offended or feels wronged.
• The great Lineages’ representatives shift from arrogance and hostility to fear and regret when they realize their actions could endanger their own territories and political standing.
• The Academy’s upper ranks act decisively by removing the disruptive factions, preventing the dispute from escalating.

Significant Themes

• Political manipulation and bargaining: Huo Hai uses the authorities’ dependence on him as leverage, turning a false accusation into a negotiation.
• Justice versus expediency: The vice principal wants to suppress the dispute for the sake of the war effort, while Huo Hai insists that practical necessity cannot erase an attack on his reputation.
• Individual power and institutional dependence: Huo Hai’s unique abilities make the kingdom heavily reliant on him, giving one person unusual influence over national policy and military strategy.
• Responsibility during crisis: The chapter questions whether political factions can pursue personal interests when the kingdom faces an existential threat.
• Neutrality and stability: The Academy refuses to attack the Underground Mercenary Guild because doing so would violate its neutrality and potentially create greater chaos than the guild itself.

Character Interactions

• The vice principal publicly defends Huo Hai and pressures the Lineage representatives by emphasizing his importance to the kingdom.
• Huo Hai challenges the vice principal’s logic, arguing that the accusations make it impossible for him to perform the requested investigation safely or credibly.
• The Lineage representatives remain silent as their earlier attack on Huo Hai threatens their own families and territories.
• After the others are removed, the vice principal and Huo Hai negotiate directly. The vice principal offers protection and asks Huo Hai to cooperate; Huo Hai counters by demanding accountability and information about the Underground Mercenary Guild.
• Their exchange shows mutual respect beneath the conflict: the vice principal understands Huo Hai’s value and temperament, while Huo Hai recognizes that the vice principal is genuinely trying to protect him and the kingdom.

Key plot points and events

• After Huo Hai refuses to help until the Academy addresses the trouble caused by the lineage scions, the vice dean orders the Enforcement Squad to detain them and keep the incident secret.
• The vice dean reveals that the Underground Mercenary Guild’s headquarters is in the Imperial Capital. Huo Hai promises not to kill its senior members for now, while privately planning eventual revenge.
• The vice dean asks Huo Hai for more Illusion Butterfly powder. Huo Hai uses the request to bargain for compensation: a rare insect with a special ability.
• The vice dean offers the Academy’s Mist-Spitting Insect, which can consume and produce mist. Huo Hai accepts, extracts powder from Little Butterfly, and gives it to the vice dean.
• Huo Hai leaves to collect the Steel Stinger he had meant to obtain before the disruption, then heads to the Academy’s best smithy.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Hai shows that he will not let the Academy take his cooperation for granted. He is strategic and self-interested, but also affectionate toward his insects—though he still uses Little Butterfly’s wings to obtain powder.
• The vice dean recognizes Huo Hai’s resentment and negotiates rather than forcing the issue. He is embarrassed by Little Butterfly’s distress and leaves quickly with the powder.
• Little Butterfly trusts Huo Hai completely, believing his claim that the vice dean is to blame for its discomfort.
• Academy onlookers now regard Huo Hai as someone not to provoke; he hides his identity to move through the grounds unnoticed.

Significant themes

• Leverage and compensation: Huo Hai insists that cooperation should bring fair treatment, using his usefulness to secure a reward.
• Retaliation and restraint: He promises not to kill the guild’s senior members immediately, but makes clear he intends to settle the score later.
• Loyalty and exploitation: Little Butterfly is devoted to Huo Hai, while he both cares for it and exploits its abilities.
• Reputation and intimidation: The consequences faced by Huo Hai’s opponents have made his standing at the Academy formidable.