Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Banxia and Zhang Suannai sneak out to learn whether Ning Qing is staying with Chen Shu. They decide to check Xiaoxiao’s room first, bringing fried potatoes as an excuse to visit.
• Xiaoxiao tries to keep them out, admits she lied about Qingqing being there, and points to Chen Shu’s room. Her blunt remark that Suannai is “not a child anymore” leaves Suannai stunned.
• Banxia and Suannai discover that Xiaoxiao is alone. Later, Suannai brings sour papaya to Chen Shu and Qingqing’s room and finds him asleep with his head in Qingqing’s lap while she gently strokes his hair.
• On the morning of the twenty-eighth day of the Twelfth Month, Chen Shu wakes beside Qingqing. They have shared a bed for several nights. He cuddles and kisses her; she calmly tells him to get up and wipes the saliva from her cheek.

Character developments

• Zhang Suannai is curious and increasingly unsettled by evidence of Qingqing and Chen Shu’s intimacy. Seeing Qingqing’s tenderness toward him reveals a side of her Suannai had never imagined.
• Chen Banxia enjoys matchmaking and fantasizes about the couple marrying and having children, while trying to avoid intruding on her brother.
• Xiaoxiao is guarded, perceptive, and deadpan; she easily sees through the visitors’ pretext and refuses to let them in until offered food.
• Ning Qing appears reserved but shows quiet, nurturing affection toward Chen Shu. She remains composed even as he hugs and kisses her.
• Chen Shu is comfortable with their growing closeness and treats sharing a bed and affectionate contact as increasingly natural.

Significant themes

• Growing intimacy: The shared bed and tender gestures suggest a relationship becoming more emotionally and physically comfortable, even without explicit discussion.
• Different perceptions of love: Suannai is shocked by the couple’s closeness, while Banxia treats it as a welcome step toward marriage and family.
• Affection beneath restraint: Qingqing’s calm manner contrasts with the unmistakable tenderness she shows Chen Shu.

Character interactions

• Banxia and Suannai bicker and scheme together, each trying to avoid being the one to face Xiaoxiao.
• Xiaoxiao counters their probing with blunt honesty and uses the fried potatoes to end the standoff.
• Suannai witnesses Qingqing caring for Chen Shu, but reports her impression awkwardly as “your brother is so girly,” baffling Banxia.
• In the morning, Chen Shu initiates playful physical affection; Qingqing responds with understated acceptance and practical reminders.

Plot and key events

• On the last morning of their winter trip, Chen Shu’s group drives to the remote, abandoned White Pagoda Viewing Platform to see the sunrise over the snow-covered mountains.
• They arrive before dawn, where two local men demand a dubious “trash cleanup” fee. Zhang Suannai talks them down, preventing further trouble.
• The group watches the sunrise turn the mountain peaks gold and takes photos. Chen Shu chooses to focus on remembering the experience rather than photographing it; Ning Qing reveals that she has already taken a picture of him.
• After a group photo and breakfast cooked at the viewpoint, they begin the drive home. By afternoon, they are back in Yuanzhou.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is moved by the sunrise and reflects that, even if the details fade from memory, he will remember how wonderful the moment felt. He also recognizes the efficiency and range of Zhang Suannai’s Sword Flight, comparing it with his own travel spells.
• Ning Qing remains composed, holding Peach against the cold and watching Chen Shu more than the scenery. Her quiet decision to photograph him hints at her affection.
• Xiaoxiao watches the mountains solemnly and playfully tells Chen Shu that Qingqing took a picture of him.
• Chen Banxia enthusiastically photographs the sunrise and organizes a group photo.
• Zhang Suannai proves useful by handling the fee collectors, then explains her Sword Flight abilities. She plans to train hard and pursue the Seventh Tier after returning to Sword Province. Her friends respond with little surprise, while her roommate looks envious.
• The group shares a warm, domestic mood: they cook breakfast together, discuss the trip home, and agree that Chen Shu will make Zhang Suannai Chicken with Taro before she leaves.

Significant themes

• Presence and memory: Chen Shu values experiencing the sunrise directly, accepting that memory may blur while the meaning of the moment endures.
• Companionship and affection: The group’s teasing, shared meal, photos, and small gestures create a sense of closeness.
• Cultivation as practical life: The characters discuss spiritual power and travel range not as abstract feats, but as everyday means of getting home and planning future ambitions.

Plot points and events

• Over dinner, Zhang Suannai becomes captivated by Chen Shu’s Chicken with Taro and imagines how useful he would be as a cook for the Sword Sect. Lawyer Wei and Chen Banxia encourage her to stay in Yuanzhou for New Year, but Suannai decides to return home to spend the holiday with her aging grandfather.
• After the others leave, Chen Shu checks the Gray Web and sees that Cat Bro still hasn’t responded about the Rune set—or to his advance New Year greeting. He wonders whether their relationship is naturally fading, then resumes his cultivation.
• Near the end of 5023, Yan Keling visits the countryside where she grew up with Lord Lin Jian, a powerful beast. She recalls wheat harvests, family meals, and the braised food she loved as a child. Hoping to recapture those memories, she suggests they visit her old home and the local cold-dish shop.
• In Bai City, Chen Shu, Chen Banxia, Qingqing, Xiaoxiao, and Peach celebrate New Year together at Mirror Sea. Chen Shu compliments Banxia’s modern traditional-style outfit, teases her about her youthful appearance, and sets off his spiral fireworks as the old year ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai is cheerful and unguarded, but her attachment to family outweighs the appeal of a festive stay with friends. Lawyer Wei admires her sincerity and devotion.
• Chen Shu is generous with his cooking but privately resists being volunteered for it. He also feels wistful about losing contact with Cat Bro, while continuing his daily cultivation.
• Yan Keling is nostalgic and affectionate, sharing childhood memories with Lord Lin Jian. He acts aloof, but his reflections show that he appreciates her good nature and values companionship between humans and powerful beings.
• Chen Banxia enthusiastically encourages Suannai to stay and later proudly shows off her outfit. She and Chen Shu trade familiar teasing; Qingqing, Xiaoxiao, and Peach quietly accompany them through the holiday celebration.

Significant themes

• Family and belonging: Suannai chooses to spend New Year with her grandfather, while Yan Keling’s memories connect food and landscape to home.
• Nostalgia and change: Yan Keling finds that familiar food no longer tastes as it did in childhood, underscoring how memory and time alter experience.
• Friendship and distance: Chen Shu recognizes that his bond with Cat Bro may be fading, even though its beginnings and meaning remain special.
• Companionship across unequal power: Lord Lin Jian’s preference for good-natured human company reflects the idea that genuine relationships should be cooperative rather than based on worship or use.
• Tradition and renewal: Bai City’s modern traditional clothing, lanterns, and fireworks blend old customs with contemporary life as the characters welcome another year.

Key plot points

• After studying the Great Blazing Sun Art with the Vice Sect Master, Chen Shu gains a deeper understanding of its rune structure and reverse-rune principles. He suspects he may eventually improve the series, though the Little Blazing Sun Art remains impossible for him to alter.
• At home, Ning Qing is cultivating Ear Desire, learning to appreciate the sounds she loves. She reflects on how bleak the earlier stage of lacking Eye Desire had been, and how its return sharpened her appreciation of beauty.
• Chen Shu playfully uses a new Divine Binding Technique to restrain Ning Qing and teases her, but she breaks free before he can push his luck. They settle down to cultivate together.
• In Sword Province, Zhang Suannai balances New Year obligations, her thesis, cultivation, and a scheme to obtain the Sword Sect’s rare Eighth Tier Otherworldly Beast Cores. She has already won two from her master through games.
• Her senior sectmates catch her writing a thesis on tactics against King Court Sword Cultivators. They mock the work at first, then eagerly debate its arguments and offer practical corrections.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is curious and ambitious about spellcraft, but remains mischievous and affectionate with Ning Qing. His teasing is tempered by awareness of her boundaries.
• Ning Qing is progressing in her sensory cultivation and has regained a richer appreciation of the world. She tolerates Chen Shu’s antics but responds coolly, and proves she can free herself from his binding spell.
• Zhang Suannai appears unusually disciplined and strategic: she works hard on her research while maneuvering to secure resources for cultivation. Her confidence is tested when her seniors scrutinize her thesis, though their serious engagement surprises her.
• The senior disciples shift from teasing Zhang to discussing her topic earnestly, revealing their experience and investment in fighting the King Court.

Significant themes

• Perception and appreciation: Ning Qing’s cultivation shows how losing a sense of beauty can make the world emotionally barren, while recovering it deepens ordinary experience.
• Discipline and ambition: Chen Shu’s study and Zhang’s packed schedule show different forms of striving—one intellectual, the other practical and resource-driven.
• Playful intimacy and boundaries: Chen and Ning’s teasing is affectionate, but Ning’s composure and ability to stop him establish clear limits.
• Theory and practical knowledge: Zhang’s thesis brings out the gap between formal tactics and battlefield experience, as her seniors test academic claims against what they have learned in combat.

Plot points and events

• On Lantern Festival, Chen Shu helps Ning Qing (“Qingqing”) dress in an elegant, ethereal historical-style outfit. Xiaoxiao wears a cute traditional outfit of her own.
• The three visit the crowded Jade Peak Ancient Town festival, where lanterns provide all the light and visitors dress in period costumes. Chen Shu holds Qingqing’s hand while they admire lanterns and try riddles.
• Xiaoxiao and Chen Shu jokingly accuse Qingqing of cheating because she solves riddles quickly. When they fail to solve one, Qingqing eventually gives them the answer despite their earlier teasing.
• At a riddle-prize stall, Qingqing wins an assortment of food and household goods, including valuable ceramic bowls. Chen Shu celebrates the haul, while Qingqing insists the prizes belong to her.
• Back home, Chen Shu persuades Qingqing to meditate in her beautiful festival clothes. He becomes distracted and falls behind in his own cultivation.
• Afterward, they discuss Chen Shu’s possible breakthrough to Seventh Tier. Qingqing cannot predict when it will happen because the Bodhisattva of Calamity’s ascension has disrupted prophetic patterns; she says she herself remains far from her goal.
• In bed, Qingqing asks Chen Shu to sing the next day to help her cultivate, offering him payment. He protests, then agrees, and they whisper together until they fall asleep.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu openly admires Qingqing and is reluctant to let go of her hand. His teasing and flirtation continue at home, though he is also genuinely interested in cultivation and their future progress.
• Qingqing enjoys Chen Shu’s attention while maintaining her cool, reserved manner. She plays along with the festival riddles, wins prizes for the group, and lets him hold her close—while setting boundaries and bargaining over his singing.
• Xiaoxiao joins the teasing and competes with Qingqing over the riddles, displaying confidence and a playful, stubborn streak.
• The trio’s festival outing highlights their familiar, affectionate banter: Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao gang up on Qingqing, while she responds with restrained wit.

Significant themes

• Intimacy through everyday rituals: Dressing, holding hands, riddles, and quiet conversation show the couple’s affection and growing ease.
• Playful competition and family warmth: The outing turns simple lantern riddles into a source of teasing and shared fun.
• Beauty and spectacle: Qingqing’s costume and the lantern-lit town create a dreamlike, historical atmosphere.
• Uncertainty in cultivation: Chen Shu’s advancement and Qingqing’s own progress remain unpredictable, underscoring the limits of foresight after a major supernatural disruption.

Plot points

• Zhang Suannai asks Sixth Senior Sister to guard her as she attempts to advance from the Sixth Tier to the Seventh with Sword Sect pills. She fears she might behave embarrassingly while under their influence and asks her senior sister to keep it secret.
• Sixth Senior Sister initially seems indifferent, so Zhang recalls that she once guarded her during a breakthrough and secretly recorded her saying she liked Seventh Senior Brother. Zhang plans to use this as leverage only if necessary.
• Chen Shu returns to Jade Capital with Jiang Lai and Meng Chunqiu. Meng, buoyed by his rapid cultivation progress and newfound respect from the Royal Family, suggests a trip to see the peach blossoms at New Orthodox Temple.
• Jiang Lai shows them a mysterious, movable, multicolored mark that recently appeared on his waist. Chen Shu and Meng identify it as likely a Deity’s mark, which may help him cultivate once he reaches the High Tier.
• Chen offers possible sources—the Northern Continent’s War God or a Deity among the stars—but stresses that these are only guesses. He then raises the possibility that the Deities’ selection and empowerment of exceptional cultivators could conceal a major conspiracy, deliberately leaving Jiang and Meng unsettled.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai is anxious about her breakthrough but strategic: she appeals to affection first and keeps her compromising video as backup leverage.
• Sixth Senior Sister is sleepy and initially unresponsive, but eventually reassures Zhang without explaining what she intends to do.
• Meng Chunqiu is increasingly confident and pleased by his cultivation success and the respect it brings. He and Chen tease Jiang by refusing to show their own marks, then playfully deflect responsibility for explaining his.
• Jiang Lai is trusting and curious about his new mark. He is briefly bewildered by his roommates’ teasing, then grows concerned about Chen’s conspiracy theory.
• Chen Shu remains observant and analytical, but also enjoys spreading a little anxiety among his friends—especially because he expects Meng’s confidence in his ancestor to eventually calm them down.

Significant themes

• Trust mixed with leverage: Zhang’s affection for her senior sister coexists with her careful preparation to protect herself.
• Uncertainty about divine power: The marks may be blessings or inheritances, but their origins and purpose remain unknown.
• Friendship through teasing and shared worries: The roommates’ banter softens serious concerns, while Chen’s speculation turns anxiety into a mischievous form of camaraderie.

Plot points and events

• In the early spring warmth, Xiaoxiao enjoys a quiet morning in the courtyard with the artificial frog Qingqing Frog and the dog Peach. She has finished her schoolwork, though she privately resents how many difficult extra assignments her sister Ning Qing gives her.
• Ning Qing worries that the erratic weather will damage her newly budding flowers. She orders Xiaoxiao to water them with carefully diluted fertilizers. Xiaoxiao protests, then attacks Ning Qing in frustration—but her Spirit Power-enhanced punch has no effect, and Ning Qing knocks her onto the lawn with Spirit Power.
• Xiaoxiao grudgingly fetches the supplies and waters the plants. Chen Shu jokes that Ning Qing is bullying her; Ning Qing replies that his role as the sympathetic one is merely an act.
• Chen Banxia arrives for her birthday. She praises Xiaoxiao for helping with the flowers, but Xiaoxiao stays sullen. Chen Shu explains that Xiaoxiao challenged the “final boss” and lost, which Banxia understands.
• Zhang Suannai arrives in an electric wheelchair. She deliberately gets out to lift it over the gate’s threshold, amusing a neighbor who had assumed she needed help. In the courtyard, she chats with Xiaoxiao while following her around; after Xiaoxiao warns her about the lawn, Suannai uses Spirit Power to repair the wheelchair tracks.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiaoxiao is leisurely and easily irritated by her sister’s demands, but ultimately does the work. Her feisty attempt to resist highlights both her rebelliousness and the gap in strength between her and Ning Qing.
• Ning Qing is practical and firm, focused on protecting her plants from the unstable weather. Her dry, uncompromising manner contrasts with Xiaoxiao’s dramatic complaints.
• Chen Shu playfully sides with Xiaoxiao, though Ning Qing calls out his performative sympathy. His affectionate view of her quickly returns.
• Chen Banxia arrives cheerful on her birthday and tries to engage Xiaoxiao, but accepts her mood without pressing her.
• Zhang Suannai is lively, mischievous, and self-assured. Her wheelchair does not prevent her from moving independently, and she uses Spirit Power to fix the marks she accidentally leaves.

Significant themes

• Sibling rivalry and affection: Xiaoxiao and Ning Qing bicker and spar, but their everyday friction sits within a familiar, close household.
• Independence and mistaken assumptions: Suannai’s confident handling of her wheelchair challenges the neighbor’s assumption that she needs assistance.
• Nature and seasonal uncertainty: Ning Qing’s concern for the budding plants reflects how unpredictable weather can threaten new growth.

Plot points and events

• At lunch, Chen Shu struggles to remember how old his older sister Chen Banxia is, prompting teasing from Banxia, Xiaoxiao, and Ning Qing. He remembers Qingqing’s age because they are the same age.
• After lunch, Chen Shu asks Zhang Suannai about attempting the Seventh Tier. He reveals that he intends to try in a few days and has an Otherworldly Beast Core. Zhang warns him about the danger of advancing before he is ready and hopes he will wait until she succeeds so she can share her experience.
• Zhang retreats to the Sword Sect, then returns briefly for Ning Qing’s Campus Card. Outside the residential complex, she abandons her wheelchair and runs to the university, eager to absorb the benefits of her earlier failed attempt. She plans to try again at the end of the month and is determined to become the first of her generation to reach the Seventh Tier.
• As the university term resumes, Chen attends classes, trains in spells, works on improving his Tracer Technique, and prepares for his breakthrough. He also watches Brother Jiang win a match that seems almost suspiciously staged for the audience’s entertainment.
• At the end of the month, Chen meets Ning Qing at the Small Courtyard. She has prepared a quiet, soundproofed room to guard his cultivation. After joking and bargaining over what she must do if he loses consciousness—or behaves strangely—Chen begins his attempt using an auxiliary potion and an Otherworldly Beast Core, with an Essence-Returning Pill ready in case of emergency.

Character developments

• Chen Shu is confident enough to attempt the Seventh Tier soon, despite Zhang’s warnings. His humor and embarrassment surface as he tries to secure promises from Ning Qing about not recording or teasing him if he acts foolishly while unconscious.
• Zhang Suannai is ambitious and competitive, determined to advance first. Her earlier failed attempt has left her with both setbacks and benefits, and she intends to try again at the Sword Sect.
• Ning Qing quietly supports Chen by preparing the room and agreeing to guard his cultivation, while maintaining her dry, understated manner and refusing his request for special assurances.
• Chen Banxia is presented as perceptive about food and playfully exasperated with Chen’s poor memory.

Significant themes

• Ambition and rivalry: Chen and Zhang are both racing toward the Seventh Tier, though neither openly admits how much the other’s progress matters.
• Risk and preparation: Advancement carries serious dangers, making Chen’s decision a consequential test rather than a casual experiment.
• Care expressed through teasing: Ning Qing’s practical support and Chen’s joking exchanges reveal intimacy beneath their banter.
• Persistence after failure: Zhang treats her failed attempt as both a warning and a source of future strength.

Character interactions

• Chen’s family lightly needles him over remembering everyone’s ages, while Ning Qing joins the teasing.
• Chen and Zhang trade cautious advice and competitive probing; Zhang hopes to delay his attempt, while Chen suspects she fears being overtaken.
• Ning Qing and Zhang coordinate through messages over the Campus Card, with Ning Qing accommodating her without comment.
• Chen and Ning Qing exchange playful complaints and negotiations before she takes responsibility for guarding his breakthrough.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu absorbs an Eighth-Tier Otherworldly Beast Core to break the Spirit Lock and reach the Seventh Tier. The energy causes excruciating pain, but he refuses Ning Qing’s offer to take on some of it.
• He fails to break through. Still, the attempt weakens the Spirit Sea Lock and strengthens his Spirit Sea, so the effort is not wasted. Exhausted, he passes out, and Ning Qing gives him an Essence-Returning Pill and watches over him.
• After more than a day, Chen Shu wakes with his memories apparently stuck around age eleven. He is disoriented by his adult body and by the fact that he and Ning Qing are now a couple.
• Ning Qing calmly explains their situation and reminds him of an embarrassing childhood prank. Chen Shu then meets Xiaoxiao, whom he remembers as a small child but now sees as a young woman.
• Chen Shu says he is hungry and asks for familiar dishes. Ning Qing decides to cook for him herself.
• Meanwhile, at the Sword Sect, Zhang Suannai fails her second advancement attempt and behaves as if she is a husky. Her fellow disciples tease and encourage her, while Third Senior Sister stops her from eating sunflower-seed shells. They speculate that the Otherworldly Beast Core caused her state and joke about turning her howls into a phone alarm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu endures the advancement’s severe pain through sheer will. His temporary return to an eleven-year-old mindset makes him vulnerable, curious, and comically awkward around adult Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao.
• Ning Qing shows her care through quiet attentiveness: she supports Chen Shu during the ordeal, stays by him while he is unconscious, and patiently guides him through his confusion. Her dry humor and affection surface in their teasing exchange.
• Xiaoxiao is surprised to meet an eleven-year-old version of her brother-in-law, but gently offers to show him around.
• Zhang Suannai’s failed attempt leaves her in a playful, animal-like state. Her seniors respond with affectionate mockery, while Third Senior Sister takes a firmer, protective role.

Significant themes

• Endurance and the cost of advancement: Chen Shu’s attempt is painful and unsuccessful, yet still contributes to future progress.
• Care expressed through action: Ning Qing’s support is understated but constant, from tending to Chen Shu physically to preparing food for him.
• Memory and identity: Chen Shu’s altered memories create a humorous but poignant contrast between who he was as a child and the adults he and those around him have become.
• Affectionate community: Both Ning Qing’s care and the Sword Sect’s teasing show relationships built on familiarity, concern, and shared history.

Key events

• Chen Shu continues asking Xiaoxiao about their shared past after his memory loss. When he remarks that he feels as though he has traveled through time, she jokingly convinces him that he is a transmigrator—then admits she made it up.
• Reassured that he has always lived with Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao, Chen Shu is overwhelmed and faints. He wakes later with his memories restored.
• His failed attempt to break through the Sixth-Tier Spirit Sea Lock still brings major benefits: his Spirit Sea nearly recovers and strengthens, while the Otherworldly Beast Core boosts his body close to Seventh-Tier strength. He decides to wait before trying again, since he has only one core left.
• Chen Shu credits his progress not to exceptional talent but to divine assistance, sect resources, and modern advances in cultivation methods.
• Zhang Suannai leaves the Sword Sect after her seniors mock her for believing she was a dog while out of her senses. Her Seventh Senior Brother sends her a recording of her howling and proclaiming herself a husky.
• Though she knows she should keep her leverage for later, Zhang Suannai retaliates by sharing a compromising romantic video of her Sixth Senior Sister. She then withdraws, feeling the sect lacks warmth.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiaoxiao is gentle and patient with Chen Shu, answering his questions while teasing him about being a transmigrator. She also sees herself as the older sibling in their relationship, despite being much smaller.
• Chen Shu is unsettled by his lost memories but finds comfort in the familiar life Xiaoxiao describes. His recovery leaves him stronger, though he remains cautious about risking another breakthrough.
• Ning Qing has watched over Chen Shu for two days without changing clothes. After he wakes, she cooks for him; he jokingly accuses her of copying his techniques, while she quietly ignores his teasing.
• Zhang Suannai is humiliated by the Sword Sect’s playful cruelty, especially the public ridicule and recording. Rather than endure it passively, she uses her own compromising video to strike back at Sixth Senior Sister.

Significant themes

• Memory and belonging: Chen Shu’s restored memories—and Xiaoxiao’s account of their shared life—reaffirm his place in the family.
• Progress through collective support: Chen Shu’s advancement depends on divine aid, valuable resources, and accumulated knowledge, not individual talent alone.
• Affection mixed with teasing: The family’s care is expressed through patience, cooking, and familiar banter.
• Cruelty and retaliation: The Sword Sect’s teasing leaves Zhang Suannai feeling isolated, prompting her to answer humiliation with humiliation.

Key events

• Zhang Suannai arrives at Jade Capital after an overnight train ride and discovers a flood of angry messages from Sixth Senior Sister about the previous night’s events. Rather than feeling chastened, she delights in the scolding and forwards a particularly memorable message to Sword Sect group chats.
• Back at her dorm, she works on her graduation paper, which is due for review ahead of her March defense. She also reflects on her stalled attempt to break through the Spirit Lock: she stopped short of advancing and now regrets not pushing through. Planning to try again soon, she hopes to ask Chen Shu’s little friend for an update on his own breakthrough.
• At Yujing University, Chen Shu starts the day with his roommates, joking about his unruly hair and admiring his own looks. The group discusses graduation and their plans: Meng Chunqiu hopes to accelerate his studies, while Jiang Lai intends to finish the Martial King Tournament and pursue an opportunity with a research institute.
• Chen Shu heads to class and messages Qingqing, asking her to learn a new hairstyle so he can get another haircut from her.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai is irrepressibly cheerful and treats even Sixth Senior Sister’s fierce reprimands as a source of joy. Beneath the humor, she is anxious about her advancement and her graduation work, and she trusts Chen Shu’s circle more than the Sword Sect or academy staff.
• The young girl responds to Zhang’s questions about Chen Shu’s breakthrough with amused skepticism, focusing instead on Zhang’s odd method of aligning her paper with a ruler.
• Chen Shu remains playful and self-satisfied, while his conversation with Meng and Jiang reveals a growing awareness that their student days are nearing an end. Meng shows how much he values their companionship; Jiang is more confident about his future prospects.
• Zhang and Chen Shu’s parallel mornings connect two looming transitions: her graduation and cultivation breakthrough, and his group’s eventual departure from university.

Significant themes

• Starting over: Zhang embraces the new morning as a fresh beginning, setting aside the previous night’s embarrassment.
• Affection expressed through teasing: The disciples’ angry messages, Chen Shu’s banter with his roommates, and his playful exchange with Qingqing all present teasing as a form of closeness.
• Change and uncertainty: Graduation, career plans, and cultivation advancement all approach, prompting both practical worries and reflection on the end of university life.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Qing gives Chen Shu a haircut in the courtyard, refusing to use a mirror or explain what style she plans to give him. She swats him whenever he complains or tries to distract her.
• The cut leaves Chen Shu with a neat, youthful middle part. He admits it looks good, though it does not fit the rugged, casual image he prefers.
• Ning Qing buries his spirit-infused hair beneath a flower, allowing its spiritual energy to nourish the plants.
• Xiaoxiao offers Chen Shu money to let her cut his hair too, promising to wash and scratch his scalp without hitting him. He accepts when she offers a scalp scratch.
• Ning Qing discovers that she has begun to appreciate the gentle fragrance of a striped rose called Speak of Sorrow, a change from her usual indifference to flower scents.
• Chen Banxia’s doctoral dissertation passes review after only minor formatting revisions. With only her defense remaining, she visits her friend Zhang Suannai, who has been struggling to format her own dissertation using a ruler against the screen. Banxia promises to fix it in half an hour.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Qing shows affectionate care through the haircut, even as she maintains her brusque, teasing manner. Her new appreciation of the rose’s scent suggests a growing sensitivity to small pleasures.
• Chen Shu banters with Ning Qing but is easily persuaded by Xiaoxiao’s offer of a scalp scratch; his vanity also surfaces when he checks his new look.
• Xiaoxiao is eager to join in the haircutting and negotiates playfully with Chen Shu.
• Peach watches the haircut and worries that not receiving haircuts means the cat is excluded or low in the household’s pecking order.
• Chen Banxia is confident and capable, while Zhang Suannai is embarrassed by her difficulty with formatting but accepts Banxia’s help.

Significant themes

• Affection expressed through teasing and practical care: The haircut and playful negotiations reveal the household’s closeness.
• Learning to notice beauty: Ning Qing’s response to the rose marks a shift in how she experiences fragrance and tenderness.
• Competence and mutual support: Banxia’s academic success contrasts with Suannai’s technical struggle, while their friendship turns that gap into an opportunity to help.

Key events

• Chen Banxia rescues Zhang Suannai’s graduation thesis, fixing its formatting and teaching her how to add suitable references. Zhang is initially defensive about her self-made table of contents, then grateful—though she jokes that she wants to grow old with Banxia, who suspects she is angling for meals from Banxia’s little brother.
• Zhang’s advisor, Zhang Ping, says the formatting is acceptable but doubts Zhang wrote such a strong paper herself. Zhang proudly explains that its martial-arts claims come from her own experience, including training and a recent fight. The advisor accepts this explanation, praises the paper’s quality, and tells her to clarify the sources for its data and conclusions before printing a copy for review.
• Relieved by the advisor’s response, Zhang asks Banxia to watch over her when she attempts to advance to Seventh Tier next week. She trusts Banxia to keep the process private and not record her, hinting at painful memories of a previous embarrassing breakthrough.
• In a separate spring scene, Chen Shu and Ning Qing sit together in their courtyard. Ning Qing browses new rose varieties and considers buying two to test. She then leans against Chen Shu and quietly tells him that he smells nice; he is puzzled and assumes she means his soap or detergent.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai reveals both her academic inexperience and her considerable martial confidence. Though anxious about her advisor’s judgment, she stands by her work and is pleased when its quality is recognized. She is also more self-conscious about failing in front of her roommates than in front of Banxia.
• Chen Banxia is practical, capable, and teasing. She helps Zhang patiently with the thesis, agrees without hesitation to supervise her advancement, and casually explores the roommates’ dorms, confident that her longstanding closeness with them gives her permission.
• Zhang Ping is demanding but fair: he questions the paper’s authorship, then accepts Zhang’s explanation and offers concrete guidance rather than dismissing her work.
• Ning Qing shows quiet affection toward Chen Shu through an unusually intimate gesture. Chen Shu remains innocent and confused about what she means.

Significant themes

• Trust and intimacy: Zhang relies on Banxia for both academic help and a vulnerable cultivation milestone; Ning Qing expresses closeness to Chen Shu through a private, sensory moment.
• Competence beneath insecurity: Zhang is inexperienced with thesis conventions, yet the substance of her work is exceptional.
• Different kinds of closeness: Zhang’s long-term roommate bond contrasts with Banxia’s deeper, lifelong familiarity with Qingqing and Xiaoxiao, while the closing scene shows the gentle domestic intimacy between Ning Qing and Chen Shu.

Key events

• Chen Shu and Ning Qing relax together at home while Peach and a young girl look on. They discuss Chen Banxia’s help with Zhang Suannai’s thesis and wonder what is happening at Ling’an Academy.
• Chen Shu messages Banxia, who says Suannai attempted to advance to the Seventh Tier and has just woken up. Banxia does not know whether the attempt succeeded, but Suannai is behaving oddly—calling herself a husky and crawling around the room, even trying to chew a meditation cushion.
• Chen Shu unusually insists on calling his sister, claiming he misses her. Banxia is suspicious, but the call mostly captures Suannai’s bizarre antics. Banxia is left exhausted trying to keep her friend in check.
• At home, Chen Shu laughs at Suannai’s behavior and speculates that she may have reached a higher state of sword enlightenment. Ning Qing dryly says she has something more interesting, prompting Chen Shu to sulk and move away from her on the swing.
• That evening, Suannai appears in the group chat and pretends she has no news. Her invitations to celebrate and pointed remarks about another member’s slow progress reveal that she successfully reached the Seventh Tier. She gleefully boasts, taunts the others, and shares edited “I’m a dog” stickers, including one for an absent member. Chen Shu saves the stickers but holds back from revealing what he knows, expecting her to keep showing off.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai celebrates her Seventh-Tier breakthrough with childish, doglike behavior and exuberant bragging. Her post-advancement personality is playful and provocative, while her new appetite is another sign of the change.
• Chen Banxia acts as Suannai’s caretaker, balancing concern for her friend with exasperation at the chaos. She is also surprised by Chen Shu’s uncharacteristic call and suspects something may be wrong.
• Chen Shu shows affection for his sister by reaching out, though his playful manner makes his concern hard to distinguish from teasing. He and Ning Qing share easy closeness, but he becomes comically jealous when she suggests something else is more interesting.
• Ning Qing is affectionate but deadpan, leaning against Chen Shu before puncturing his amusement with a teasing remark.
• Suannai’s group-chat exchanges turn her breakthrough into a comic spectacle: she boasts to provoke others, while fellow members respond with confusion, mockery, or amused silence.

Significant themes

• Transformation and selfhood: Suannai’s strange behavior raises the comic possibility that advancement reveals a person’s “true nature.”
• Achievement and pride: Her Seventh-Tier breakthrough becomes an occasion for boastful celebration and friendly rivalry.
• Affection expressed through teasing: Chen Shu’s concern for Banxia, his banter with Ning Qing, and the group’s reactions to Suannai all mix genuine care with humor.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Shu finishes bathing and joins Ning Qing in bed. They share an intimate, affectionate moment, with Chen teasing her and Ning Qing reluctantly indulging him. She tells him it will be the last time, then says he should be quicker next time.
• The little girl brings water upstairs for herself and Peach, pleased that her efforts have helped keep the sofa free for the adults.
• Zhang Suannai, newly advanced to Seventh Tier, plans how to reveal her achievement to her friends without seeming to boast. She visits Chen Shu and Ning Qing with a close friend, hoping they will notice her advancement.
• Her hints fail: Ning Qing says her IQ seems lower, Xiaoxiao looks away, Peach ignores her, and Chen Shu simply invites her to shop for groceries. When he asks whether she attempted to reach Seventh Tier, Zhang admits she succeeded—but Chen only says, “Nice.”
• Frustrated that nobody has reacted as she hoped, Zhang accidentally blurts out, “How did you know I’d advanced to the Seventh Tier?” Everyone turns to stare, leaving her exposed and the gathering awkward.

Character developments

• Chen Shu is affectionate and playful with Ning Qing, openly expressing his love while teasing her.
• Ning Qing remains composed and reserved, but her closeness and tenderness toward Chen reveal her affection. She sets boundaries while still showing willingness to meet him partway.
• Zhang Suannai is proud of her remarkable achievement but self-conscious about boasting. Her elaborate plans to appear casual collapse under her eagerness to be praised.
• The little girl takes quiet pride in helping the household.
• Peach provides comic background, absorbed in her game of kicking a paper ball into a box.

Significant themes

• Intimacy and trust: Chen and Ning Qing’s playful negotiation reflects their growing comfort and closeness.
• Pride and recognition: Zhang’s ambition is matched by a desire for her friends to notice and admire her success.
• Comic contrast between plans and reality: Zhang carefully scripts her big reveal, but her friends’ indifference—and her own impatience—undermine it.
• Talent and rarity: Zhang’s advancement underscores how exceptional the current generation of young cultivators is.

Character interactions

• Chen and Ning Qing share a private, affectionate exchange full of teasing, restraint, and mutual familiarity.
• Zhang tries several indirect approaches to draw attention to her new rank, while Ning Qing and Chen respond plainly rather than following her imagined script.
• Chen’s casual invitation to shop contrasts with Zhang’s expectation of a dramatic reaction, prompting her accidental confession and the group’s awkward silence.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Suannai joins Chen Shu, Chen Banxia, and their friends for a birthday dinner marking Chen Shu’s upcoming twenty-fourth birthday. She boasts about reaching the Seventh Tier, her enhanced physical control, and her ability to alter parts of her body.
• In the cultivators’ group chat, Zhang continues bragging about her cultivation and appetite. Chen Shu teases her about what happened after her advancement; she immediately leaves the chat, leaving the others curious about his supposed recording.
• At Yujing University, Chen Banxia and Zhang Suannai defend their dissertations.
• Banxia presents her pharmacology research, including her improved Clear Spirit Pills formula, already adopted by a company and protected by a patent. Her academic reputation is so strong that the reviewers have no questions.
• Suannai presents a practical study of traditional sword cultivators’ tactics against King Court sword cultivators, drawing on her own experience. Though her paper has limited data and references, the expert reviewers recognize its quality. Her Seventh-Tier status and reputation reinforce its credibility.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai remains boastful and playful, using every opportunity to flaunt her new rank. Yet her dissertation defense shows genuine expertise and ambition: she wants to impress the reviewers and establish the value of her combat experience.
• Chen Shu indulges in affectionate teasing, especially in the group chat, and shares an easy, familiar rapport with his friends. His glance at Qingqing during Suannai’s bodily-control stunt prompts Qingqing’s chilly reaction, while a younger girl watches Suannai with admiration and competitive interest.
• Chen Banxia is established as a formidable scholar whose achievements speak for themselves. She presents her work casually and confidently, with little need to impress the panel.
• The reviewers initially doubt Suannai’s swagger but become serious as her analysis proves solid. Their respect for Banxia’s scholarship is already so great that they avoid challenging her.

Significant themes

• Competence versus self-promotion: Both women are talented, but Banxia’s quiet confidence contrasts with Suannai’s exuberant boasting.
• Expertise and credibility: Banxia’s research is validated through practical adoption and publication, while Suannai’s authority comes from firsthand combat experience and exceptional cultivation.
• Friendship and teasing: Dinner and group-chat banter show the characters’ affectionate, irreverent relationships.
• Ambition and recognition: Both defenses mark important steps in establishing the women’s standing in their respective fields.

Chapter summary

Key events

• With spring rain giving way to summer heat, Peach spends her days listening for cicadas. She wants to catch them but hesitates when they are in the persimmon tree; when one sings near the rosebush, she catches it and brings it to Chen Shu, who barely acknowledges her.
• Chen Shu scrolls through videos about Zhang Suannai’s graduation thesis. The thesis compares Sword Sect techniques with the King Court’s methods and has drawn widespread attention. The videos portray Suannai as a brilliant, beautiful, exceptionally young High Tier cultivator, while viewers celebrate her as a future Sword God.
• Suannai reposts the flattering videos herself and joins the group chat, where she openly boasts that her thesis has “rocked the whole country.” Luo Huai’an argues that the King Court can learn from the thesis and improve its own practices, rather than simply suffer from having its weaknesses exposed.
• At Yujing University, Chen Shu finishes studying the Great Blazing Sun Art: Core Structure (V). He understands the art but cannot yet use it because his Spirit Power is not strong enough. He then prepares to join the group’s dinner, which Suannai is hosting to mark the end of her student days.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Suannai emerges as talented, bold, and unabashedly self-promoting. Her thesis is genuinely respected, but she also eagerly amplifies her online fame and claims victory in her fight with the Sword King’s final disciple.
• Chen Shu is amused and mildly exasperated by Suannai’s vanity, though he stops himself from threatening to expose an embarrassing recording because he wants to keep seeing her posts. With Ning Qing, he acts clingy and teasing—offering her his half-eaten ice cream and then using his head as a cushion—while she remains cool and unresponsive.
• Ning Qing maintains her usual reserved demeanor, ignoring Chen Shu’s antics and continuing to read.
• The group chat responds to Suannai’s return with mock-formal welcomes and teasing. Chen Shu prompts Luo Huai’an to admit that Suannai became furious after he mocked her in the video comments. Luo, meanwhile, treats her thesis seriously and emphasizes the King Court’s capacity to adapt.
• Peach’s hesitant attempts to catch cicadas show her cautious, observant nature and her eagerness to seek her master’s approval.

Significant themes

• Public image and self-promotion: Suannai’s academic achievement becomes online spectacle, which she actively cultivates.
• Competition and institutional adaptability: The thesis exposes differences between the Sword Sect and King Court, but Luo argues that a flexible institution can learn from criticism.
• Affection expressed through teasing: Chen Shu’s playful behavior contrasts with Ning Qing’s silence, highlighting their familiar intimacy and mismatched styles.
• Limits and preparation: Chen Shu’s understanding of the Great Blazing Sun Art is ahead of his current ability; mastery must wait until his Spirit Power catches up.

At noon, Chen Shu and Qingqing arrive at Yan’s Private Kitchen for a group meal hosted by Zhang Suannai. Suannai is late, prompting the group to suspect she might be retaliating for their previous teasing. She eventually arrives by Seventh-Tier sword flight—having overshot the restaurant and stopped at a red light—and immediately turns her new advancement into a chance to boast.
Suannai proudly describes her strength, proposes drinking five cups as a penalty, asks for iron chopsticks because she supposedly can’t control her new power, and nearly asks Master Xuanzhen for pills before remembering that they no longer work on High Tier cultivators. Chen Shu recognizes her claims as exaggerated, while the others mostly endure her showboating. Suannai also needles the group for not having reached High Tier themselves, making the table tense.
Master Xuanzhen suggests playing a recording of Suannai’s earlier failed advancement, but she claims she has become immune to the embarrassment. Wu Eiwei instead proposes that the group test Suannai while her new cultivation is still unstable. Though Suannai boasts that she could defeat them easily, the group—including Chen Shu, the group admin, Master Tongdeng, Wu, and the hesitant Yan Keling—joins in. Meng Chunqiu offers to film, and Jiang Lai follows the group admin.
Wu draws her sword, and the group chases Suannai out into the street. Suannai protests that fighting in the city is illegal and calls for the police, while others film the pursuit.
Character developments and interactions: Suannai has become a genuine Seventh-Tier cultivator, but her confidence and need to flaunt her status make her a target for the group’s teasing and eventual challenge. Chen Shu remains skeptical of her excuses; Wu takes the lead in confronting her; and the group members bond through their coordinated, humorous decision to pursue her.
Themes: The chapter plays advancement and status for comedy, contrasting Suannai’s newfound power with her persistent vanity. It also highlights group camaraderie, teasing as a form of friendship, and the gap between boasting about strength and facing the people one has provoked.

Key plot points and events

• At the Jade Capital detention center, Zhang Suannai loudly insists she has been wrongly arrested after a chaotic public incident. Chen Shu confirms that she knows the group and had joined them for dinner, undermining her claim that she was a stranger to them.
• The officer explains that the group faces penalties for flying and speeding through a crowded area, disturbing the peace, and attracting public attention. Students and religious practitioners will be referred to their schools or orders; others have been taken into the appropriate authorities’ custody.
• Chen Shu, Jiang Lai, and Yan Keling are released to a university teacher. Master Xuanzhen and Master Tongdeng are later taken away by a Daoist administrator. Suannai is left alone until Ning Qing arrives and secures her release through the group owner’s connections.
• Outside, Chen Shu waits on his motorcycle. Ning Qing tells him, “Your life just got a little richer,” and Suannai’s anger unexpectedly fades.
• In the following days, Chen Shu continues experimenting with ways to make his Tracer Technique automatically pursue targets, but makes little progress.
• In April, Chen Shu and Suannai encounter each other on their motorcycles and discover they are both headed home. Suannai speeds ahead, while Chen takes his time.
• That night, Chen makes a second attempt to advance, using an Auxiliary Potion, an Otherworldly Beast Core, and Eighth Tier Essence-Returning Pills, with Ning Qing beside him for support.

Character developments

• Zhang Suannai is boisterous, stubborn, and quick to feel betrayed, but her brief gratitude toward Chen suggests her anger is not absolute. Her playful rivalry with him continues on the road.
• Chen Shu remains calm and good-humored amid the detention-room chaos. He is also persistent in his technical research and determined to advance despite the pain.
• Ning Qing quietly helps Suannai get released and supports Chen’s cultivation attempt, while maintaining her composed, understated manner.
• The monks and Daoist practitioners remain relaxed and friendly in custody, treating the situation as an occasion for casual conversation rather than panic.

Significant themes

• Friendship and loyalty beneath bickering: Suannai protests and insults the group, yet her ties to them—and their efforts to get her released—are clear.
• Comedy through contrast: Suannai’s frantic shouting contrasts with the others’ calm chatter, and the detention center’s formal procedures clash with their extraordinary abilities and affiliations.
• Persistence and self-improvement: Chen’s ongoing research and repeated cultivation attempt show his determination to grow stronger.
• A widening circle of connections: Ning Qing’s remark that Chen’s life has become “richer” suggests that his relationships and the complications around them are increasing.

Character interactions

• Chen calmly exposes Suannai’s claim of not knowing the others; she responds by accusing the group of framing her.
• The detained companions tease one another and discuss cultivation progress while Suannai shouts, creating a comic divide between her indignation and their composure.
• Ning Qing rescues Suannai, who initially greets her with relief before redirecting her anger toward the group.
• Chen and Suannai exchange horn beeps on the road, then trade questions about where they are going; Suannai’s sudden acceleration turns the encounter into a playful contest.
• Ning Qing encourages Chen’s advancement, and he jokingly frames her support as part of the “romance” before beginning the painful attempt.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Suannai moves into the courtyard next door and plans a playful surprise for Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao. She leaves Xiaoxiao a food gift and a note, then spends the day waiting for a reciprocal visit.
• Xiaoxiao suspects the “new neighbor” is Zhang Suannai but follows Ning Qing’s instruction to ignore her. When Zhang eventually contacts her, Xiaoxiao casually admits she knows where she is.
• Zhang joins Xiaoxiao on the swing and learns that Chen Shu is attempting a breakthrough to the Seventh Tier. Afterward, he will spend a period confused and childlike.
• Hoping to get close to Chen Shu during that vulnerable period, Zhang ingratiates herself with Xiaoxiao by criticizing Ning Qing’s caregiving and offering to help. She also secures permission to stay over, since she has not bought bedding for her new home.
• Early the next morning, Ning Qing brings Chen Shu—now behaving like a three-year-old—to Xiaoxiao and asks her to play with him. Chen Shu begins crying at the sight of unfamiliar people. Xiaoxiao offers ice cream to comfort him, while Zhang secretly records the scene. When Xiaoxiao goes to fetch the treat, Zhang tells Chen Shu that his “mommy sold him,” making him cry again.

Character developments

• Zhang Suannai is playful, persistent, and mischievous. Her excitement about Chen Shu’s vulnerable state reveals a competitive, somewhat possessive interest in him, and she is willing to manipulate Xiaoxiao’s sympathy to get access.
• Xiaoxiao remains blunt and indifferent to social niceties, obeying Ning Qing’s request to ignore Zhang while still letting Zhang visit. She is also quick to take responsibility for comforting Chen Shu.
• Ning Qing is protective of Chen Shu and delegates his care to Xiaoxiao, while remaining curt and dismissive toward Zhang.
• Chen Shu is temporarily reduced to a frightened, childlike state after his breakthrough, clinging to the familiar Ning Qing and crying around strangers.

Significant themes and interactions

• The chapter plays comedy from the contrast between Zhang’s elaborate schemes and Xiaoxiao’s matter-of-fact responses.
• Caregiving and intimacy are contrasted: Ning Qing calmly supervises Chen Shu, Xiaoxiao tries to soothe him, and Zhang turns his distress into a prank and a keepsake video.
• Zhang’s interactions with Xiaoxiao show her using flattery and shared complaints to build trust; her banter with Ning Qing remains openly antagonistic.
• The chapter ends on a comic but cruel note, as Zhang deliberately makes Chen Shu cry just after Xiaoxiao has managed to calm him.