Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• Ye Chuqi presses Coroa for the truth about her Eldest Senior Brother, Ye Changsheng: when Coroa learned his secret, what happened afterward, what message he left, and whether he is still alive.
• Coroa admits he has been testing Ye Chuqi, hoping to make her ask in desperation. He enjoys teasing her—unlike Ye Changsheng, who was too perceptive and unresponsive to entertain him.
• Ye Chuqi explores Coroa’s Library, which he built and filled with books bearing his extensive handwritten research. Coroa reveals that he was once a celebrated magic-and-martial-arts prodigy, but his greatest passion became Alchemy. After taking a puppet body, he could travel only within the Thirteen Misty Islands, where he helped foster its research culture and puppet creations.
• Coroa recalls that Ye Changsheng helped him advance his work on giving puppets intelligence and a “heart,” but insisted he never take an evil path. Ye Chuqi understands that Changsheng feared Coroa might resort to forbidden sacrifices, a common danger in puppet refinement.
• As she reads Coroa’s notes, Ye Chuqi suddenly begins turning pages at superhuman speed, silently grumbling to San San that it should scan the books for her.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi is direct and determined to learn Changsheng’s fate, while remaining patient because she expects Coroa to manipulate the conversation. She recognizes that Changsheng’s concern showed he valued Coroa as a friend.
• Coroa is revealed as playful and calculating, but also a brilliant researcher whose ambitions were tempered by Changsheng’s moral guidance. He finds Ye Chuqi more entertaining than her Eldest Senior Brother and watches her reactions with complicated feelings.
• Ye Changsheng, though absent, emerges as clear-eyed, powerful, and principled: he supported Coroa’s research while warning him against cruelty.
• San San responds smugly to Ye Chuqi’s confidence and remains her practical aid, though she complains about its reading assistance.

Significant themes

• Time and change: Coroa wonders whether Ye Chuqi is still the person Changsheng remembered; long life and experience reshape people.
• Friendship and responsibility: Changsheng’s advice reflects genuine care, especially his effort to keep Coroa from crossing moral boundaries.
• Ambition and ethics: The chapter contrasts legitimate experimentation with the horrific methods sometimes used to create intelligent puppets.
• Knowledge and ingenuity: Coroa’s Library embodies a lifetime of research, while Ye Chuqi relies on her own advantages and San San to keep up.

Plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi settles into life on Coroa’s island, reading, eating, and exploring while Coroa returns to his laboratory.
• San San discovers that Coroa’s Puppet body appears to have been assembled from replacement parts over time. Though it retains his memories and emotions, his soul is incomplete, which may explain his erratic behavior and memory lapses.
• Since she cannot yet rely on Coroa, Ye Chuqi studies his library and searches the island for clues about how to leave and how the island fits into Eldest Senior Brother’s Magic Barrier.
• She finds a Teleportation Array in a Garden Tower. San San recognizes it as Eldest Senior Brother’s work, combining cultivation-world formations with this world’s rune patterns. It is more sophisticated than the Archmage Guild’s arrays in Monte City and Kru Town, which may have been derived from it.
• Ye Chuqi also explores the waters around the island, finding a rich seabed full of sea life, minerals, and Crystal Stone.

Character developments and interactions

• Coroa briefly envies Ye Chuqi and her companions enjoying a feast, despite being unable to eat. The thought inspires him to pursue a new project: enabling Puppet People to taste and digest food.
• Ye Chuqi accepts that Coroa may be unreliable because of his damaged soul and turns to his records and the island’s clues instead.
• San San investigates Coroa, identifies Eldest Senior Brother’s distinctive work in the array, and teases Ye Chuqi about her limited talent for formations. Ye Chuqi feels proud of her senior brother’s achievement but avoids the subject of studying formations herself.

Significant themes

• Loneliness and the cost of longevity: Coroa’s long existence as a Puppet Person has left him isolated, and his envy of ordinary pleasures rekindles his curiosity.
• Identity and incompleteness: Coroa’s altered body and damaged soul complicate the relationship between memory, emotion, and personality.
• Inheritance and discovery: The array links Eldest Senior Brother’s advanced work to later technologies, while Ye Chuqi’s exploration gradually reveals the island’s value and purpose.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi, still unable to find the edge of the strange space around the island, suspects she has entered another space rather than encountered an illusion. She has not yet found useful information in Coroa’s disorganized Library.
• Using Coroa’s Teleportation Array and nearby Crystal Stones, she returns to the Thirteen Misty Islands to reassure her friends and share what she has found.
• Four years after her expedition began, Red Beard and the Red Wind Mercenary Group return to find the islands changed. Ye Chuqi had gone alone into the Sea of Exile to seek the Land of Inheritance and a solution to the Barton Empire’s crisis.
• She revealed that the Magic Barrier is irreversibly failing and that the islanders must eventually relocate. However, its contraction has strengthened it and bought them more than a century, giving them time to prepare. The outer islands have suffered damage, but recovery and relocation efforts are underway.
• Ye Chuqi stays behind to study the Land of Inheritance’s records. She alone can use the hidden palace tower’s Teleportation Array, apparently because Coroa granted her special permission.
• She warns Milforth that the barrier may change again and that a gigantic Stone Demon she sealed in the Sea of Exile could escape in eight to ten years. Since the storms have eased after the five Formation Eyes were destroyed, Milforth can organize patrols using elite personnel and trained Sea Beasts.

Character developments

• Ye Chuqi has become a central figure in the islands’ survival: her actions have bought the inhabitants valuable time, and she continues investigating despite being the only person able to enter the Land of Inheritance.
• Milforth now has strong, almost unquestioning faith in Ye Chuqi. He responds to her warnings urgently and begins preparing for the Stone Demon’s possible return.
• Red Beard reflects on how Ye Chuqi’s supposedly ordinary adventure became a major effort to protect the islands and the empire.

Character interactions

• Ye Chuqi returns to inform her companions that she is safe and to give Milforth practical warnings and time to plan.
• Others can approach the hidden tower but cannot activate its Formation; Ye Chuqi’s special access underscores her unique connection to Coroa and the inheritance.
• Milforth and the other leaders take Ye Chuqi’s findings seriously, recalculating the barrier’s prospects and organizing evacuation and defense preparations.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and discovery: Ye Chuqi continues navigating an unfamiliar space and searching through incomplete, disorganized records.
• Preparation and resilience: The barrier cannot be saved, but time gained through Ye Chuqi’s actions gives the islanders a chance to relocate and prepare.
• Trust and responsibility: Ye Chuqi’s judgment increasingly guides the community, while Milforth’s confidence in her shapes their response to future threats.
• Isolation and unique access: Ye Chuqi alone can reach the inheritance, making her both uniquely capable and responsible for uncovering what it contains.

Plot and key events

• Over four years, the Thirteen Misty Islands expanded their influence onto Raila and Kabu continents. Kabu remained largely unknown, but sightings of its people on Raila raised concerns, making ties with the Islands—and the Barton Empire’s travel routes—strategically important.
• Ye Chuqi stayed mostly on Rewa Island, studying, cultivating, and helping Milforth. Knowledge and materials she brought back from the Land of Inheritance helped address major problems, especially strengthening ships and developing airships for travel through the Misty Sea.
• Red Beard arrives to bring Ye Chuqi home for her imminent twentieth birthday and the Ye Family’s carefully prepared Coming-of-Age Ceremony. He finds her on the island, where she has recently returned to assist Milforth.
• Ye Chuqi shows him a new, bright-yellow flying body she made for San San using alchemy, puppetry, and Coroa’s techniques. The body can advance and grow stronger.
• Red Beard notices that Ye Chuqi has matured and grown taller; she cheerfully points out her growth spurt.

Character development and interactions

• Ye Chuqi has spent the years focused on learning, cultivation, and practical invention. She remains lively and playful, but is now more visibly grown and capable.
• Red Beard has continued visiting once a year and respected her wish to remain secluded. This time, the importance of her ceremony makes him determined to bring her back.
• Their reunion is warm and affectionate: Ye Chuqi greets him eagerly, while Red Beard reflects on how much she has grown.
• San San benefits from Ye Chuqi’s ingenuity, gaining a new, adaptable body that it likes despite its unusual shape.

Significant themes

• Growth and coming of age: Ye Chuqi’s physical and personal maturation parallels the approaching ceremony.
• Knowledge put to practical use: Her studies and discoveries can strengthen transport, support the Empire, and shape regional relations.
• Change alongside continuity: Four years bring political shifts and new achievements, even as Ye Chuqi’s familiar warmth and Red Beard’s bond with her remain unchanged.

Plot points and events

• Red Beard arrives to take Ye Chuqi back to the Ye Family for her twentieth-birthday Coming-of-Age Ceremony. Ye Chuqi realizes that, after four years away, she should return home.
• Her work on the Thirteen Misty Islands is nearly done: she has brought out what is needed to help the Barton Empire face its crisis. She remains cautious about revealing too much advanced alchemy, since it could provoke dangerous ambitions.
• Ye Chuqi sends San San to fetch Little White. San San’s new physical body is still difficult to control, and Little White repeatedly sweeps him away with its tail. One such swipe sends San San into Gaines’s arms.
• Gaines is increasingly eager to stay with Ye Chuqi, whose circle is full of surprises. Though he has not formally sworn an oath, his choice to serve has already been accepted. Little White has even torn up the Advanced Contract Scroll he prepared.

Character developments

• Ye Chuqi begins to recognize her family obligations and prepares to return home, while continuing to balance helping the Empire against the risks of giving it powerful knowledge.
• San San now has a soft, resilient physical body and appears to be developing, but his control and flight remain clumsy. He is fiercely confident of his special bond with Ye Chuqi.
• Gaines shows growing affection and curiosity toward Ye Chuqi’s unusual companions and commits himself to her, despite the lack of a formal oath.
• Little White remains openly hostile to San San and rejects Gaines’s contract scroll, reinforcing its independent, protective nature.

Interactions and themes

• Red Beard gently reminds Ye Chuqi of her ties to the Ye Family; their banter about her height also recalls Ed’s easily flustered personality.
• Gaines treats San San respectfully as a person, even while finding him irresistibly squeezable, and addresses both him and Little White with deference.
• The chapter emphasizes responsible use of power: Ye Chuqi wants to help the Empire survive, but fears that advanced techniques could encourage destructive ambitions.
• It also highlights belonging and loyalty—Ye Chuqi’s return to family, San San’s attachment to her, and Gaines’s decision to remain by her side.

Plot points and events

• Little White easily tears up the Advanced Contract Scroll, revealing its strength. Gaines now respectfully calls it “Lord Little White.”
• Ye Chuqi learns that the Island of Inheritance contains little left by her Eldest Senior Brother beyond Coroa’s recollections and resources sealed beneath the sea. Disappointed that he left no message, she is comforted by San San’s suggestion that he expects to speak to her in person someday.
• With her injuries healed and her cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment, Ye Chuqi considers how to reach the Golden Core stage. Because she needs Tribulation Lightning and does not know whether this world can provide it, she refuses to risk forming a permanent False Core.
• Red Beard arrives on the island and appears to have advanced to Martial Combat Grandmaster. He tells Ye Chuqi that her brother has advanced too, then hints that he has something to tell her—but says the time is not right.
• The Thirteen Misty Islands have changed since the crisis: the evacuated outer islands are now Adventurer hubs, and improved ships, airships, and diving gear make exploration easier. Yet the weakened Magic Barrier remains a source of uncertainty.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi is recovering and growing stronger, but remains cautious about risking her long-term cultivation. She jokes with Red Beard about how different he is from her reserved brother.
• Little White establishes its authority by destroying the contract scroll and preventing Red Beard from mussing Ye Chuqi’s hair.
• Red Beard shows a warmer, teasing side with Ye Chuqi, while his unexpected advancement hints at deeper ability than his casual attitude suggests.
• San San supports Ye Chuqi through her disappointment about the lack of a message from her senior brother.
• Gaines shifts from doubt to respect for Little White.

Significant themes

• Trust and uncertainty: Ye Chuqi must choose between risking a False Core and waiting for proof that advancement is possible.
• Absence and hope: Her senior brother’s silence hurts, but San San offers a hopeful interpretation.
• Change and vulnerability: The islands are thriving in new ways, yet their lost protection reminds residents that they cannot rely on the Magic Barrier forever.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi travels aboard a newly modified Barton Empire airship. Its improved speed and compact magic barrier make the journey from the Thirteen Misty Islands much safer and cut a trip that once took two or three months to about one.
• Gaines explains that coastal airships already run regularly, while inland routes remain experimental because flocks of flying demon beasts threaten them. Successful inland routes could transform trade and support the empire’s expansion.
• Ye Chuqi notes that airships could challenge the Archmage Guild’s reliance on teleportation arrays. Those arrays are costly to operate, especially as mineral resources grow scarce. The Barton Empire is pursuing better energy efficiency and has offered crystal ore veins and technical proposals as part of its negotiations.
• Gaines suggests that Ye Chuqi invest in promising ventures. Though she is unsure of her business sense, she decides she may ask Jun Ruofeng to assess her savings once she returns.
• Gaines offers to manage investments connected to the empire, citing his economics training. Ye Chuqi wonders whether he is offering because he feels underused.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi admires the Barton Empire’s innovation and efficiency, and begins considering earning money through investment rather than only through adventure. She remains wary of business and prefers to rely on trusted advisers.
• Gaines is eager to help Ye Chuqi and presents his economic knowledge as a way to be useful to her.
• Red Beard jokes about his apparent lack of money. In reality, he has investments that Jun Ruofeng manages; he simply rarely concerns himself with them.
• Jun Ruofeng, absent on this trip, has become unusually enthusiastic about making money and is involved in several imperial proposals.
• The Little Emperor wants to bind Ye Chuqi more closely to the empire, even considering granting her a title. Milforth advises that the empire can rely on her support so long as it stays on the right course.

Significant themes

• Innovation and adaptation: Better transport technology helps people survive and opens new possibilities.
• Economic change and resource scarcity: Airships could reshape trade and compete with teleportation, while dwindling minerals make energy-efficient systems increasingly important.
• Trust and responsibility: Ye Chuqi considers who should manage her money, while Gaines seeks a meaningful role in supporting her.
• Political allegiance: The empire hopes to secure Ye Chuqi’s loyalty, but Milforth frames that bond as dependent on the empire acting wisely.

Key plot points and events

• Gaines volunteers to manage Ye Chuqi’s investments. Though she had considered asking Jun Ruofeng, she gives Gaines all her available Gold Coins in a Spatial Ring and leaves the investment decisions—and when to pay her profits—entirely to him.
• Ye Chuqi returns from the Thirteen Misty Islands by Airship and arrives at a newly built harbor town on the mainland. The route is faster than traveling by Sea Ship.
• Red Beard explains that the Barton and Wovart Empires now have formal diplomatic relations. With help from the Thirteen Misty Islands, the Wovart Empire has upgraded its Teleportation Arrays; the group can travel from the harbor town to Orlan City and then to the Imperial Capital.
• Red Beard shows Ye Chuqi around and takes her to a house Jun Ruofeng bought as a base for the Red Wind Mercenary Group. Jun had also invested in shops in the new town, Fute Town.
• Ye Chuqi asks about Xiao Nuo, whom Red Beard did not bring along.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi shows her trust in Gaines by handing him her funds with almost no restrictions. She treats him like a professional manager and is curious to see what he can accomplish independently. Having just given away her cash, she jokingly feels poor.
• Gaines is eager to prove his worth as Steward, especially through managing internal affairs and investments. Ye Chuqi’s confidence in him surprises him and makes him feel the weight of responsibility.
• Red Beard guides Ye Chuqi through the new harbor town and explains its transport links and political context.
• Jun Ruofeng, though absent, is shown to be enterprising through his early property and business investments.
• Xiao Nuo’s apparent willingness to leave Red Beard behind contrasts with the creature’s earlier devotion, suggesting a change in their relationship or habits.

Significant themes

• Trust and delegation: Ye Chuqi gives Gaines broad authority rather than closely supervising his work.
• Ambition and initiative: Gaines wants to demonstrate his abilities, while Jun Ruofeng’s early investments reflect foresight and confidence.
• Modernization and cooperation: New ports, improved Teleportation Arrays, and diplomatic ties are transforming travel and commerce between the empires.
• Changing attachments: Xiao Nuo’s growing independence hints at shifting bonds with Red Beard.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Nuo has been taken by Xiao Wu to the Bai Family Snowfield to see the next crop of Nine-Leaf Green Flowers mature. Xiao Wu, frustrated at being unable to accompany Ye Chuqi on past journeys, is training so she can be more useful to her.
• Ye Chuqi reflects on the Bai Family’s secluded cultivation of these rare flowers and wonders what other valuable plants might be growing in their garden.
• San San spots Duwak and other familiar faces. Duwak, now with the Red Fang Mercenary Corps, has come to Fute Town as the group expands its work there. He tells Ye Chuqi they once searched for her in the Imperial Capital and complains that she never came back to see them.
• Duwak reveals that he has finally received a Reedleaf Elf’s blessing after years of offering the same gift at Liao Leaf Town’s annual celebration. The blessing seems unusual: the returned box carries a mysterious quality beyond what he experienced in previous years.

Character developments

• Xiao Wu is determined to become a more capable Shadow Guard after feeling overlooked and unable to accompany Ye Chuqi.
• Duwak remains persistent and exuberant; his long-running devotion to winning the elves’ favor has finally paid off.
• Ye Chuqi looks back on her past with affection and curiosity, while recognizing that her old companions have continued to seek her out.

Character interactions

• San San playfully draws Ye Chuqi’s attention to Duwak’s group.
• Duwak greets Ye Chuqi enthusiastically and teases her for being gone so long. Gaines instinctively steps in front of her as Duwak charges over, then realizes his intervention is unnecessary.
• Ye Chuqi and Duwak reminisce about their earlier connection, including the events around Liao Leaf Town and her encounter with the Red Fang Mercenaries.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and persistence: Xiao Wu trains to better support Ye Chuqi, while Duwak keeps making the same offering until he is finally rewarded.
• Friendship across time: Ye Chuqi’s reunion with Duwak reconnects her with people from an earlier stage of her life.
• Hidden value and mystery: The Bai Family’s rare plants and the unusual nature of Duwak’s blessing suggest that valuable things—and their significance—may not be immediately apparent.

Plot and key events

• The Reedleaf Elves have returned Duwak’s long-treasured gift and are trying to find Ye Chuqi, who had received their blessing in the past. Ye Chuqi suspects they need her help.
• Duwak tells Ye Chuqi that the Rahu Mercenary Corps collapsed after the Noble Blood Vial affair and was removed from the Adventurers’ Guild. The Red Fang Mercenary Corps took its former tenth-place ranking and has since grown stronger.
• Duwak boasts that Red Fang will reach ninth place, though his companions make clear this is likely his personal ambition rather than the corps’ shared goal.
• When Duwak tries to approach Ye Chuqi, Little White Fox scratches him and Gaines blocks his way. Gaines introduces himself as Ye Chuqi’s chief steward and a retainer of the Barton Empire.
• Ye Chuqi leaves Fute Town for Liao Leaf Town to learn why the Reedleaf Elves are seeking her. Gaines stays in Orlan City to handle her assets; Red Beard accompanies her.
• On the journey, Ye Chuqi raises a possible treatment for Xiao Nuo’s congenital condition. It offers a chance to repair her bloodline, but failure could be fatal. She explains that the Nine-Leaf Green Flower’s power only temporarily prolongs Xiao Nuo’s life rather than curing her.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi is perceptive about the Elves’ motives and the limits of Xiao Nuo’s current treatment. She takes initiative by proposing a risky alternative to Red Beard.
• Duwak remains boastful and eager to reconnect with Ye Chuqi, but his companions’ embarrassment and Little White Fox’s rebuff puncture his confidence.
• Red Beard listens seriously to Ye Chuqi’s proposal; his years of effort to help Xiao Nuo show his enduring commitment.
• Gaines serves as Ye Chuqi’s composed, formal protector and steward, while Little White Fox demonstrates surprising strength by injuring Duwak.

Significant themes

• Hope versus risk: Xiao Nuo’s possible cure could offer a new life, but attempting it may cost her that life.
• The limits of temporary solutions: The Nine-Leaf Green Flower can extend Xiao Nuo’s life, but cannot fix the underlying bloodline defect.
• Ambition and status: The mercenary corps’ rise and Duwak’s boast highlight the importance—and instability—of rank and reputation.
• Unresolved obligations: The Reedleaf Elves’ search for Ye Chuqi signals an important request still to come.

Chapter 331 Summary

Key plot points and events

• Red Beard and Ye Chuqi discuss a possible treatment for Xiao Nuo, whose congenital weakness means it is unlikely to survive or develop normally.
• Ye Chuqi reveals that she has a nearly lifeless phoenix egg. The phoenix died after the altered formation drained its vitality and damaged its soul, but the egg still contains a trace of life-force imbued with the phoenix’s power of rebirth.
• Ye Chuqi believes this power might help Xiao Nuo overcome its bloodline limitations, though the idea is untested and dangerous. She proposes that Xiao Nuo undergo the attempt in her space, with San San watching over it.
• Red Beard insists that Xiao Nuo should decide for itself. Xiao Nuo is staying temporarily with the Bai Family and is expected to return by the time the group travels to the Imperial Capital.
• Ye Chuqi hurries to Liao Leaf Town after learning that the Reedleaf Elf may be in trouble. On arrival, she notices the town feels unusually subdued: the forest’s familiar, calming rustle has been absent, and the Beast Stable seems tense.
• She reunites with the town’s middle-aged Beast Stable guard, who recognizes her as the girl who visited years ago. Ye Chuqi greets him with two jars of fruit wine, which immediately brings him out of his usual languor.

Character development and interactions

• Ye Chuqi shows concern for Xiao Nuo and offers a risky but hopeful possibility, while remaining aware that it is only a theory. Her urgency in traveling to Liao Leaf Town reflects her trust in Duwak’s warning.
• Red Beard recognizes Xiao Nuo’s determination to live but respects its intelligence and autonomy, choosing to let it make the final decision.
• Xiao Nuo, though physically fragile and dependent on others, is portrayed as thoughtful and capable of independent judgment.
• Ye Chuqi and the guard share a warm, familiar reunion. He is struck by how much she has grown, while she teases him about still taking life easy.

Significant themes

• Hope against severe limitations: The phoenix’s rebirth power may offer Xiao Nuo a chance to transcend its inborn weakness.
• Choice and autonomy: Red Beard believes Xiao Nuo should decide whether to accept the dangerous treatment.
• Change and unease: Ye Chuqi’s return highlights both her own growth and a troubling change in Liao Leaf Town, where the forest and its normally calming atmosphere appear disturbed.

Key events

• Ye Chuqi gives the stable keeper two jars of fruit wine, made from ordinary, non-Spiritually energized fruit. Red Beard reminds her she still owes him wine, and she promises to share some with everyone.
• When Ye Chuqi asks why Liao Leaf Town feels different, the stable keeper describes two troubling events:
  • At last year’s festival, the altar’s protective Barrier shattered, the gifts burst apart, and the resident inside the Barrier died. Investigators found no explanation.
  • Since then, Liao Leaf Forest has been losing its vitality. This year, the festival Barrier failed to appear, and Beast Companions have become restless after losing the forest’s cleansing effect.
• Ye Chuqi realizes the Reedleaf Elves may be in danger and that their message, delivered through Duwak, was meant to draw her to the forest.
• She decides to investigate Liao Leaf Forest alone, while Red Beard waits for her at the nearby Beast-Tamer Guild. She briefly considers asking him to certify Starry and Little White, but Little White’s reaction makes her change her mind.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi shows concern and initiative, piecing together the connection between the town’s troubles and the Reedleaf Elves’ appeal. She trusts Red Beard with her plans but chooses to approach the forest alone.
• Red Beard is protective and understanding; he accepts her decision and offers to wait nearby.
• The stable keeper is grateful for the wine but comically hides a second jar after quickly drinking the first. He also provides Ye Chuqi with crucial information.
• Little White clings tightly to Ye Chuqi when Red Beard is asked to handle the certification, suggesting hostility or reluctance toward him; Ye Chuqi avoids provoking her.

Significant themes

• A hidden crisis and unraveling mystery: The broken Barrier, dead resident, and failing forest point to a threat no one has yet identified.
• Dependence on nature: Liao Leaf Town’s wellbeing—and the Beast Companions’ calm—relies on the forest’s vitality.
• Trust and responsibility: The Reedleaf Elves reach out to Ye Chuqi because she is one of the few humans they trust, and she accepts the risk of investigating.
• Warmth amid danger: Sharing wine and joking with companions contrasts with the ominous discoveries.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi approaches Liao Leaf Town and finds Liao Leaf Forest unnaturally silent. San San confirms that it can no longer sense the Reedleaf Elves and detects a disturbing presence deeper in the forest.
• Suspecting the elves may have been discovered and endangered, Ye Chuqi follows San San’s uneasy sense. Its scan reveals no obvious source, prompting Ye Chuqi to wonder whether the elves live in a hidden, separate space.
• In a clearing, the oppressive malice suddenly disappears within a small patch of ground. Ye Chuqi reasons that the spot may be a naturally formed protective boundary, though she finds no signs of a conventional formation.
• Little White points her toward the center and then slashes at the air, opening a passage into another space. Ye Chuqi finds the Reedleaf Elves, their ethereal song, and a vast Knotleaf Tree that appears sentient.
• The elves’ singing stops when Ye Chuqi arrives, and a presence rushes toward her.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi shows growing confidence in drawing on past experiences with hidden spaces and unusual defenses, rather than assuming the forest’s mysteries must have an ordinary explanation.
• San San’s sensitivity to spiritual beings and its aversion to dark forces guide Ye Chuqi, while its scans cannot detect the hidden space.
• Little White acts protectively and decisively, leading Ye Chuqi to the safe spot and apparently cutting through the barrier between spaces. Ye Chuqi is impressed and curious about its ability.
• Ye Chuqi and her companions work closely together: San San senses danger, Little White identifies the route, and Ye Chuqi interprets the clues.

Significant themes

• Hidden worlds and perception: The elves and their refuge exist beyond ordinary sight and cannot be found by scanning alone.
• Instinct and cooperation: San San’s discomfort and Little White’s actions reveal what reason and technology cannot.
• Threat and sanctuary: Malice seems to surround the clearing, while a tiny protected area provides access to the elves’ hidden home.
• Nature’s spiritual vitality: The Knotleaf Tree and the rich wood element suggest a living, powerful bond between the forest and its inhabitants.

Summary

Ye Chuqi enters the Knotleaf Tree’s hidden space and can faintly see the tiny Reedleaf Elves, likely because of her Wood Spiritual Root. One Sprite—apparently the same one that previously stole a kiss—eagerly approaches her, but Little White keeps swatting it away until Ye Chuqi tells it to stop. The other Elves swarm San San, whose aura resembles theirs, while San San communicates with the ancient tree.
San San learns that someone is targeting Liao Leaf Forest to seize its purest power, found mainly in the Knotleaf Tree and the fragile Reedleaf Elves. A hostile force is gradually eroding the hidden space and could eventually reach it. The culprit has acted elsewhere in the forest and remains unidentified.
The message that led Ye Chuqi there was the Sprite’s idea. It had slipped through the spreading malice to return Duwak’s gift box and warn him, despite being exhausted and acting alone—unlike the Elves’ usual group behavior. The tree had little faith in humans, but Ye Chuqi’s pure aura has begun to earn its trust. San San also explains that although the tree was not badly harmed when the Barrier shattered, the surrounding malice cut off its control of the altar. This is why repairing the altar did not restore the Barrier. Ye Chuqi asks what they can do.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi shows concern and willingness to help, and treats the Elves’ curiosity with warmth and amusement.
• Little White acts possessively, protecting Ye Chuqi from the persistent Sprite, but obeys her when she asks it to stop.
• San San serves as the communicator between Ye Chuqi and the Knotleaf Tree, though it is overwhelmed by the Elves’ noisy attention.
• The Knotleaf Tree shifts from distrust toward cautious confidence in Ye Chuqi.
• The Sprite emerges as resourceful and brave, having risked traveling alone to deliver a warning.

Significant themes

The passage emphasizes the vulnerability of nature to concealed threats, the importance of cooperation across different beings, and how trust can grow through a person’s actions and character. It also contrasts the Elves’ lively innocence with the spreading malice threatening their home.

Plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi and San San learn that malice has been spreading through Liao Leaf Forest for over a year. The knotleaf tree’s protected clearing may be overtaken by next year’s festival, and the tree offers little useful information about the cause.
• Ye Chuqi decides to investigate the malice rather than first pursue the motives of whoever is behind it. The clever Reedleaf Elf that previously sought her out says it knows something and leads them on a wide route through the forest.
• The Elf’s route brings them near Liao Leaf Town’s rear gate, suggesting the source of the malice may be inside the town. Ye Chuqi hides San San and the Elf as she approaches the main gate with Red Beard.
• Red Beard has been waiting for her and sees how badly the crisis has affected the town. Its streets are nearly empty, businesses are shut, and the gloom has replaced the lively atmosphere Ye Chuqi remembers.
• When Red Beard asks what she has discovered, Ye Chuqi says she needs to inspect the altar.

Character developments and interactions

• The knotleaf tree is resigned to its fate, but cooperates with Ye Chuqi and San San.
• Ye Chuqi remains practical and focused: she prioritizes finding the malice’s source, while recognizing that the corruption is worsening and may soon overwhelm the tree.
• The bold, clever Reedleaf Elf shows initiative by guiding Ye Chuqi toward a possible clue. San San protects it and stays concealed during their entry into town.
• Red Beard’s concern deepens as he sees the town’s condition. He trusts Ye Chuqi’s judgment, even though her journey began in response to Duwak’s dream.

Significant themes

• Corruption versus renewal: The spreading malice directly opposes the knotleaf tree’s purifying power.
• Resignation and responsibility: Though the tree has accepted its fate, Ye Chuqi chooses to act.
• Community under threat: The forest’s decline has undermined the town’s livelihood, security, and emotional well-being.
• Hidden danger: The apparent trail leads from the forest toward the town, raising the possibility that the source is concealed within it.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Chuqi and Red Beard investigate the Altar in Liao Leaf Town, suspecting it may be the source of a faint trace of malice. The repaired Altar shows no malice now, and even San San’s Reedleaf Elf senses nothing.
• San San spots a tiny black fragment lodged in a crack. It is residue from a Magic Scroll that was used when the Barrier exploded, but the fragment is too damaged to identify the scroll.
• When Little White touches the fragment, Ye Chuqi alone sees a brief vision of the past: a young man placing the Magic Scroll on the Altar. She recognizes him as one of the people who came from Kabu Continent with Lu Ronghuan.
• The vision exhausts Little White. It refuses to return to Ye Chuqi’s space, so she holds it while deciding to search the town for further clues.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi playfully teases Red Beard about believing in Reedleaf Elves, and he responds with concern and an offer to help. Their exchange reflects their familiarity and affection, though he now treats her as an adult.
• Ye Chuqi trusts Red Beard but takes the lead in the investigation, asking him to report anything unusual while she searches.
• San San helps by detecting the hidden fragment, showing that its sensitivity remains useful even when it cannot sense the original malice.
• Little White reveals a powerful, previously unexplained ability to show Ye Chuqi a past event through an object. Its insistence on staying with her also underscores their closeness.
• Ye Chuqi connects the culprit to an earlier incident: she had helped expose Lu Ronghuan’s group four years ago, leading to their expulsion from the Thirteen Misty Islands. She now wonders whether others from the group remained in Raila Continent.

Significant themes

• Clues and incomplete evidence: The fragment identifies a Magic Scroll and reveals one person involved, but not the source of the malice or the full extent of the group’s actions.
• Memory and magical power: Little White’s vision turns physical residue into a glimpse of the past, but the ability comes at a cost.
• Trust and companionship: Ye Chuqi’s bond with Little White, San San, and Red Beard supports the investigation, even as she must pursue the next lead herself.

Key plot points

• Ye Chuqi tells Red Beard that a powerful malice is spreading through Liao Leaf Forest and could have disastrous consequences. Though they search the town and forest, they find no source—and Red Beard cannot sense the malice at all.
• Ye Chuqi suspects the phenomenon may be connected to the Beast-Tamer Guild and the Kabu Continent’s cultivation method involving Beast Souls. She returns to investigate.
• The guild is overwhelmed with work because Liao Leaf Forest has stopped easing the berserk energy in Beast Cores, leaving many Beast Companions in distress.
• While Ye Chuqi is being shown the guild’s public areas, a Demon Beast erupts into a violent rampage, damaging the building and endangering everyone. Ye Chuqi immediately rushes toward it to intervene.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi becomes more determined to oppose the Kabu Continent’s schemes, recognizing that she has repeatedly disrupted their plans and expects further clashes.
• Her attentiveness helps her identify a possible link between the hidden malice and Beast Souls, though she has not confirmed it.
• Red Beard supports Ye Chuqi and worries that the guild might exploit her ability to calm Beast Companions if they learn what she can do.
• The guild staff member is courteous and accommodating, but becomes alarmed when the accident begins. Red Beard watches Ye Chuqi as she races to help.

Significant themes

• Unseen threats and incomplete understanding: The malice’s source remains elusive, and its absence from the town and Red Beard’s inability to detect it suggest a hidden mechanism.
• Responsibility and intervention: Ye Chuqi acts quickly to protect others, even when facing danger.
• Nature’s balance and its disruption: With the forest no longer cleansing berserk energy, both Beast Companions and their caretakers are suffering.

Chapter 338 Summary

• Key events: The chapter explains that untreated berserk energy in Demon Beasts keeps accumulating, even when a Beast Tamer’s mental power temporarily calms it. Ye Chuqi stops a rampaging Demon Beast by striking it with the sheathed Thousand-Leaf Sword, then freezes it long enough for the Beast-Tamer Guild staff to secure it in a special cage.
• Character developments: Ye Chuqi demonstrates impressive restraint as well as strength, freezing the beast without killing it. Red Beard realizes she may have exceptional beast-taming abilities in addition to her known talents. Lord Youguo, the Guild’s Grandmaster Beast Tamer, becomes fascinated by her unusual bond with Demon Beasts.
• Character interactions: Youguo thanks Ye Chuqi and asks to see Big Black Fish, whose size, ability to fly and stay out of water, and apparent intelligence astonish him. He also notices that Ye Chuqi has no contract with Big Black Fish, yet the two clearly trust each other. Little White remains unusually listless and unresponsive during the encounter.
• Significant themes: The chapter highlights the limits of treating symptoms without addressing the cause, the risks of uncontrolled berserk energy, and the possibility that trust and understanding can connect humans and Demon Beasts beyond formal contracts.

Ye Chuqi visits the Beast-Tamer Guild outpost with Youguo, a Beast-Taming Grandmaster, hoping to investigate the strange decline of Liao Leaf Forest’s purification. She explains that animals may simply like her, while Youguo reflects that genuine trust—not force—is the proper basis for taming beasts.
Youguo is puzzled by Big Black Fish, whose strength he cannot gauge and who shows no sign of berserk energy. He finds Little White similarly deceptive: it looks harmless, but its claws are extraordinarily powerful. Ye Chuqi knows Big Black Fish’s condition comes from time spent in her spirit-space’s spring, which purifies berserk energy, though she cannot use this remedy for every beast.
With Youguo’s support, Ye Chuqi enters areas normally closed to visitors. She sees suffering beast companions and learns that, after an accident at the town celebration a year earlier, Liao Leaf Forest’s purifying influence faded and berserk energy began surging back—especially badly at this outpost. Ye Chuqi doubts the forest’s disruption alone explains the severity. Asking about the timing of new arrivals, she learns most beasts were admitted before the celebration, with the largest influx shortly beforehand. The chapter ends as she asks whether the guild stopped accepting beasts after discovering the forest’s purification had failed.
Character developments and interactions: Ye Chuqi shows compassion and sharp investigative instincts, using Youguo’s expertise to pursue clues while recognizing the limits of her own abilities. Youguo moves from curiosity about her unusual animal affinity to helping her investigate. Big Black Fish’s wish to contract with Ye Chuqi is thwarted by Little White’s possessive intimidation; their dynamic highlights Little White’s fierce protectiveness.
Themes: Trust is more lasting than coercion; outward appearances can conceal extraordinary power; and the suffering of beasts reflects a wider ecological and magical disturbance.

Key plot points and events

• The Beast-Tamer Guild’s recovery facility has seen dangerous beast companions’ berserk energy intensify as the Liao Leaf Forest’s purifying effect steadily weakened and vanished. The Guild has found no explanation for either change or the earlier celebration accident.
• Ye Chuqi asks Youguo about anything that seemed suspicious. He shows her a Bucktoothed Rabbit found injured in the wild more than a year earlier.
• Though it was initially a first-tier beast, the rabbit has advanced to at least the seventh tier and appears to fight like a ninth-tier beast. Yet Ye Chuqi discovers its apparent strength is an illusion: it is actually only around first or second tier.
• Ye Chuqi senses two souls within it. With Red Beard’s approval, she lets Youguo in on the matter concerning the Kabu Continent, then uses her spiritual power to extract the foreign beast soul. The removed soul is a pale, indistinct shape resembling a feline rather than a rabbit.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Chuqi follows Youguo’s vague unease to an overlooked clue. She demonstrates confidence and care, choosing to remove the foreign soul rather than harm the rabbit.
• Youguo is cautious about releasing the rabbit, since the Guild wants to investigate its unusual growth. Seeing Ye Chuqi extract a visible beast soul shocks him and makes the strange case far more concrete.
• Red Beard supports Ye Chuqi, clears the room, and reassures Youguo while she works.
• The scene shifts Youguo from guarded interest to astonishment as he witnesses something beyond ordinary Beast-Tamer knowledge.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: the rabbit seems immensely powerful, but its strength is hollow.
• The unknown nature of souls: a second beast soul has been placed inside the rabbit, revealing an unusual intervention whose purpose remains unclear.
• Unresolved causes and growing danger: the forest’s fading purification and the beast companions’ worsening berserk energy remain unexplained, while the rabbit offers a possible new lead.