Chapter Summaries

Lin Feng continues refining a mask while studying ancient incantations from the Divine Husk and practicing “No-Gap” swordsmanship. His technique can cut, but he is dissatisfied because it does not yet truly sever the flow of energy; he believes mastery will mean being able both to divide and restore what has been cut. He also works to develop pronunciations suited to his own Intent rather than borrowing another’s power.
Meanwhile, Li Gao runs a struggling Coffee Shop and maintains an elaborate cyber-shrine to the god Fa. On his way home in a taxi, he falls asleep as uncanny forces take hold: incense smoke spreads through the streets, the radio broadcasts strange burial lore and a passage from the Classic of Filial Piety, and the road transforms into a dark, wooded landscape. A ghostly old woman makes the driver believe Li Gao is his mother, while the radio’s “sound” serves as the medium through which a group of Uncanny beings enters the Yellow Millet Dream Realm.
Lin Feng appears and recognizes that the invaders are a collective of lifespan-draining Longevity Worm users—scholars, geomancers, Daoists, and monks bound together by sinister arts. He covers Li Gao with a Painted Skin and confronts the group. He kills their “master” with his Dharma Sword, though he remains dissatisfied with his No-Gap. The victory strengthens his [mou] sound and yields the Fengdu Cursing Ghost Sutra. He also wakes Li Gao and tells him to bring the shrine more figurines and sugary soda, then orders him to stay within a protective circle.
The setting shifts from woods to a ruined academy that resembles a graveyard, filled with dead scholars and more masters. They attack Lin Feng with crushing moral condemnation, trying to make him kneel so they can drain his essence. He counters with a [da] sound for protection and answers their accusations by reciting scholarly verses, turning his voice into thunder as he cuts through their ranks.
Character developments and interactions: Lin Feng shows growing command of sound-based techniques and a clear understanding of the invaders’ methods, while continuing to judge his swordsmanship by a demanding standard. Li Gao remains devoted to his shrine, even in danger, and reacts with comic bewilderment to Lin Feng’s requests. Lin Feng protects him but manipulates his memory and perception so his own face cannot be recalled. The taxi driver, caught in the haunting, becomes confused and vulnerable to the old woman’s deception.
Themes: The chapter links sound, ritual, and belief to supernatural power; contrasts learning and moral authority with coercion and hypocrisy; and explores the danger of shame and reputation as weapons. Lin Feng’s pursuit of “No-Gap” also reflects a broader tension between destruction and restoration, while Li Gao’s improvised shrine brings devotion into a modern, commercial setting.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng cuts through the false “masters” guarding the ancient library. He uses poetry not simply as recitation but as a weapon of Intent, moving through the enemies like a gale. His sword techniques plant the Fengdu Ghost-Cursing Sutra in them; once the script manifests, each master collapses into a sheet of skin, and Lin Feng absorbs their essence.
• The true Five-Powers Immortal Kui emerges from the library, attacking with both spells and physical strength. Kui’s command—“Fail the examination”—carries the malice of countless failed candidates. Lin Feng counters with wind barriers and a sword strike that bisects Kui, then survives a blow that breaks his neck by setting it back into place. He absorbs Kui’s essence.
• The other true Immortal, Wen, appears as a huge blue-faced figure covered in masks of former temple “lords.” He uses accusations and Spring and Autumn Adjudication to turn the surroundings into a prison. Lin Feng answers with powers tied to Mount Tai, the Big Dipper, Zuan Wangye’s temple, and a sword technique called Break the Army. His strike draws on the overwhelming physical Intent of a Divine Husk, and he binds a severed head with the Demon-Binding Rope.
• Elsewhere, a ceremony is underway to awaken a powerful, sleeping corpse—an ancient creator of the Yellow Millet Dream Realm. The Five-Powers Immortals are using stolen “literary lineage” to restore its strength.
• The ritual’s officiant sends a grotesque, corrupted being to stop Lin Feng. This figure imitates Buddhist rites but worships himself and follows a thoroughly distorted path.
• Meanwhile, Lin Feng’s allies dig up Kiln Clay, a dangerous but valuable resource needed for his future cultivation, while also excavating a ritual altar. Nine Nuo Opera Masters and a masked man prepare to attack with a torrent of sword talismans.

Character developments

• Lin Feng demonstrates increasing mastery and adaptability: he turns poetry, religious imagery, ritual knowledge, and borrowed martial Intent into practical weapons. He remains composed even after a potentially fatal injury and treats the defeated Immortals as both threats and sources of nourishment.
• His plans extend beyond the immediate battle. He has arranged for allies to gather Kiln Clay and recover an altar, and he expects his “good brothers” to support him.
• The Five-Powers Immortals are revealed as a broader and more varied group than their name suggests. They have relied on dwindling sacrifices and stolen cultural or spiritual power, leaving them vulnerable.
• The ritual’s grotesque emissary is shown as a corrupted practitioner who has abandoned orthodox belief and turned toward self-worship.

Significant themes

• The power of intent and belief: Words, poetry, symbols, and rituals become effective through the force and meaning behind them—not merely through formal technique.
• Stolen authority and corrupted tradition: The Immortals exploit literary lineage and religious forms that do not truly belong to them; the emissary likewise mimics orthodox rites while embodying their opposite.
• Preparation and reciprocity: Lin Feng’s strength includes planning, resource-gathering, and building alliances—not just combat. His wry claim that he should “start by owing someone a favor” frames cooperation as mutual obligation.
• Violence as harvest: Lin Feng’s battles are presented like reaping a field: defeated enemies are systematically bound, dismantled, and absorbed.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng confronts Kui and Wen in succession, overcoming their assaults through a mix of direct combat and spiritual techniques.
• The ritual officiant appeals for someone to stop Lin Feng, prompting the grotesque emissary to leave the ceremony and approach him.
• Lin Feng’s allies—newly recruited brothers, Nuo Opera Masters, and a masked leader—work together to excavate materials and prepare a coordinated strike.

Key events

• Lin Feng’s sword talisman cripples the Five-Powers Immortal—Buddha, a former lama who stole a sacred relic and the Vairocana mantra, then hid in the Yellow Millet Dream Realm.
• A second immortal, the Five-Powers Immortal—Dao, attempts to guide the dead, but Lin Feng’s masked followers overwhelm both foes, extracting their contents into clay jars.
• Lin Feng returns with offerings from a demolished library and confronts Corpse, the most dangerous of the Five-Powers Immortals. Corpse’s signature attack is to kneel and use his superior fate configuration to diminish an opponent’s fortune.
• Lin Feng tries to invoke divine aid through a ritual tablet and Daoist spells. When conventional chanting fails, he uses the tablet as a medium to contact Yu Lei, an ancient Ghost-god.
• Yu Lei’s uncanny power manifests as a vast, tiger-like force that pins Corpse down and bites into him. The tablet transforms into a tiger tally, becoming too saturated with uncanny energy for the ordinary world.
• Yu Lei offers Lin Feng power in exchange for incense offerings. Once told that Corpse plans to kowtow, Yu Lei advises Lin Feng to let him bow—and make him kneel instead.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng demonstrates tactical ingenuity, relying on preparation, his followers, and his understanding of spiritual mediums rather than formal Daoist authority. He is wary of Corpse’s unknown powers but remains composed and resourceful.
• Yu Lei is revealed as a formidable ancient Ghost-god whose power can suppress lesser uncanny beings. He is willing to help Lin Feng, but expects offerings and gives cryptic strategic advice.
• Corpse emerges as an exceptionally powerful and unsettling opponent, sustained by literary qi and protected by uncanny forces. His attempt to rise against Yu Lei’s pressure shows his stubborn resilience.
• Lin Feng’s followers act as a coordinated force, demonstrating their loyalty and the effectiveness of their Thief’s Gate abilities.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: The Five-Powers Immortals vary greatly in strength, and even supernatural beings are subject to a broader order of ranks.
• Ritual, belief, and authority: Lin Feng lacks formal credentials, yet skillfully uses symbols, incantations, and a spiritual medium to reach a genuine power.
• The uncanny and the ordinary: Objects such as the wooden tablet can become dangerous when infused with otherworldly energy, blurring the boundary between worlds.
• Fate and reversal: Corpse weaponizes his elevated fate to make others submit, while Yu Lei’s final instruction suggests that Lin Feng may turn this act of submission against him.

Plot points and events

• Yu Lei makes “Corpse” kowtow to Lin Feng. The first kowtow has no effect; on the second, Yu Lei’s masked form receives the worship instead. Chains and skeletal hands from the Yellow Millet Dream Realm seize “Corpse,” revealing that his attempt to exploit worship failed because Lin Feng is now recognized as a god.
• Outside the Dream Realm, Professor Han learns that the historical record has been corrected: Teacher Qie’s predictions about the war are now in the County Gazetteer. Yet Qie Yi has vanished from the present-day record—“no such person” exists, and someone else has taken his place.
• Renewed by a sense of purpose, Han plans to return to the university and investigate what his teacher uncovered in a Shang Dynasty tomb. He also intends to return Xie Shiba’s tattooed Human Skin to Xie An’an; it is still mysteriously in his pocket.
• Two people watching the hospital discuss a supposedly imagined version of someone connected to the Heaven-Bearing Temple and decide to act. Lin Feng appears, threatens to kill them until they are taken away, and forces them to lead him to their “Kiln.”
• Lin Feng asks about “Void Creation,” which they identify as a gift of the Heaven-Bearing Temple. He then contacts Professor Han from within a passing vehicle. Han tells him what happened to Teacher Qie; Lin Feng understands that Qie is effectively dead. He gives the two Kiln workers Blood Seals, linking them to the Fengdu Ghost-Cursing Sutra.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng acts with growing confidence as a godlike figure, using the failed kowtow to understand his status and later coercing the Kiln workers. Despite that confidence, he remains shaken by the Dream Realm’s instability and Yu Lei’s unsettling lesson.
• Professor Han moves from disorientation and grief toward determination. He accepts that the world’s history has been altered but resolves to investigate his teacher’s past and keep pursuing the truth.
• Yu Lei demonstrates both power and mischievousness: he redirects “Corpse’s” worship and deliberately exposes Lin Feng to the danger of the Dream Realm collapsing.
• “Corpse” is captured after his attempt to exploit the ritual fails.
• Han and Lin Feng reconnect through an unseen voice in the vehicle, sharing the news about Qie. Lin Feng’s response is brief, underscoring the finality of Qie’s apparent death.

Significant themes

• Worship, divinity, and authority: Lin Feng’s changed status makes worship consequential, while “Corpse” cannot manipulate the ritual for his own purposes.
• Unstable reality and erased history: The altered Gazetteer, Qie’s disappearance, and questions about imagined people show that reality can be rewritten or contain “holes.”
• Purpose in the face of loss: Han’s determination gives him direction even as his teacher’s fate remains unresolved.
• Power and its cost: The Heaven-Bearing Temple’s gifts, the mysterious Kiln, and Lin Feng’s warning about being “taken away” suggest that supernatural abilities carry risks.

Key events

• Lin Feng travels with two Kiln workers to the hidden Mount-Viewing Kiln Factory. On the way, a towering Yin God attacks him, but he survives untouched, causing the creature to flee.
• At the factory, Lin Feng questions the workers about a Shang Dynasty priest who once guarded the site. Factory Director Yao reveals that the priest is “inside” all of them: the workers say he instructed them to eat him, making them collectively one being.
• Yao unveils a human-skin scroll depicting Lin Feng at Heaven-Bearing Temple, confirming that the priest had watched him there. Lin Feng infers the priest was already near death when Lin Feng arrived.
• Yao becomes ecstatic at Lin Feng’s arrival. Lin Feng dismisses his behavior, and Yao explodes into Kiln Clay—then reforms and collapses at Lin Feng’s feet. The other workers also beg Lin Feng to save them, inflicting severe injuries on themselves as they plead.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains calm and observant, quickly piecing together the priest’s history and the factory’s strange nature. His effortless survival and power over Yao overturn the workers’ expectations: they treat him not as an intruder but as a possible savior.
• Factory Director Yao shifts from welcoming host to frenzied devotee, then to a terrified supplicant after Lin Feng destroys him.
• The Kiln workers are outwardly polite and law-abiding, but their unnatural bodies and desperate self-harm reveal extreme suffering. Their relationship to the priest—and what they want from Lin Feng—remains unclear.

Significant themes

• Uncanny time and place: The mountain distorts time, gathers Yin energy, and conceals dangerous beings.
• Identity and bodily horror: The workers claim to be both themselves and the priest, whose remains are distributed among them.
• Power and reversal: Lin Feng’s composure and strength turn a seemingly hostile encounter into a plea for rescue.
• Unanswered mystery: The workers’ suffering and their expectation that Lin Feng can save them set up the chapter’s central unresolved question.

Summary

• Lin Feng investigates the Kiln workers’ request for “separation.” The workers want to be freed from the Yin-Shang mission, even at the cost of their lives. Lin Feng searches their stomachs for traces of an ancient Yin-Shang priest’s flesh and blood, which he suspects they were forced to eat. The priest’s remains have endured for millennia, and Lin Feng believes the workers cannot properly digest them.
• The Kiln becomes increasingly dangerous. Black Birds—earthly manifestations associated with Yin-Shang—hurl themselves against the building and die, filling the area with an aura of death. As an unseen Yin God approaches, Lin Feng remains focused on his examination. Once he finds the faint trace he was seeking, the threat manifests through reflections and water: an entity appears in a pool and begins to erode him. The Tiger Tally’s power then hangs Lin Feng in the air, but he counters by using his uncanny village to seize the water-bound entity. He pulls a portion of the entity’s shadow out of the workers, achieving the “separation” they demanded. The encounter is not fully resolved: Lin Feng remarks that the Kiln is resisting fiercely and seems to prefer this struggle to using kiln clay.
• Professor Han seeks out Xie An’an. At a psychiatric hospital, he covertly arranges to meet her, then asks whether she knows Xie Shiba. An’an says Xie Shiba was her younger brother, though he died at six. She explains that the men in her family repeatedly died in accidents before age ten, and that the Xie family has abandoned the trade tied to those deaths. When Professor Han shows her a tattooed Human Skin bearing “18” and an Ouroboros mark, she recognizes its significance but urges him to stop pursuing the matter: her family has already paid the price.
• An uncanny presence intrudes during their meeting. An’an glimpses something she cannot see directly and clutches her Jade Buddha for protection. Professor Han, meanwhile, falls into a deep sleep, apparently entering a dream.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng is intensely focused and methodical, remaining calm amid supernatural danger. He demonstrates both his ability to track hidden traces and his growing command of the uncanny village and sacrificial fire.
• The Kiln workers are desperate to escape their assigned duty. Their willingness to accept any cost underscores their lack of loyalty to the place and their dependence on Lin Feng.
• Professor Han is persistent but cautious, concealing the Human Skin until he can show it privately. His questioning reveals a mystery about Xie Shiba and the Xie family.
• Xie An’an is guarded and determined to distance herself from her family’s former work. The relic unsettles her, but she regains composure and warns Han not to risk his life and family for the investigation.
• An’an and Han conduct their exchange through coded notes and a private meeting, reflecting the danger and secrecy around the subject.

Significant themes

• The cost of inherited curses and dangerous traditions: The Xie family’s repeated losses and the Kiln workers’ bondage suggest that old practices exact a lasting human price.
• Separation, identity, and bodily violation: The workers seek release, while the Human Skin and the entities’ attempts to consume or alter people’s bodies make identity itself vulnerable.
• Death and the supernatural: The Birds’ mass deaths, the Yin Gods, and the dreamlike intrusion at the hospital blur the boundary between ordinary life and uncanny forces.
• Persistence in the face of danger: Lin Feng’s concentration and Han’s investigation contrast with An’an’s belief that some costs are no longer worth paying.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng confronts the Kiln workers, whose bodies cannot be killed normally because they can be reborn. He uses sacrificial fire and karmic fire to contain the awakened “Yu Lei” aura, then destroys the workers’ souls and memories so they can die in a comprehensible way. He leaves their bodies to be buried.
• The office and its records return to normal. Lin Feng finds that the site was the Mount-Viewing Kiln Factory, run by Yao Changsheng (“Factory Yao”), and discovers diaries that convey their writer’s constant terror but offer little clear information.
• Lin Feng recognizes that the gathering of Yin Gods makes the site a useful place to cultivate and potentially raise them. His perception reveals that the surrounding roads overlap like layers of space, suggesting the Kiln may be a dangerous supernatural thoroughfare.
• A candle carrying an incongruous mass of joyful intent emerges from the Black Hole behind Lin Feng. He identifies its nearly melted Candle Man as its source and throws the candle back into the Underworld rather than severing the connection.
• Following the flow of qi, Lin Feng opens the true abandoned Kiln. Inside, he sees grotesque beings, the Iron-Crowned Daoist, and other figures in funeral garments. He marks the location as a future home and cultivation base, though he knows it remains dangerous.
• Before withdrawing for cultivation, Lin Feng plans how to stay publicly active: he can use Intent to keep working, streaming, and appearing present while he lives at the Kiln. He starts arranging university matters and collaborations with other creators.
• Meanwhile, Professor Han returns to campus and investigates what happened to his teacher, Xun. He searches for records of a Yin-Shang sacrificial-pit excavation and seeks out Xun’s earlier books and diary. He asks Xu Nian to borrow a rare book; at the library she encounters another borrower with a bird tattoo.

Character developments

• Lin Feng shows growing confidence and control over his supernatural abilities, using them with more precision than before. He is willing to exploit the Kiln’s dangers for cultivation and resources, but remains cautious about the possibility of becoming prey himself.
• Professor Han is increasingly driven to uncover the truth about his teacher’s transformation. His return to campus also reveals a change in temperament: he is more irritable and less willing to endure the administration’s behavior.
• Xu Nian responds with mixed feelings to her boss’s request: relief that he is back, but frustration at having to work for him again.

Significant themes

• Death and the limits of ordinary understanding: The workers cannot be killed by destroying their bodies; Lin Feng must destroy their souls and memories to give them a death that makes sense.
• Risk, ambition, and survival: The Kiln offers Lin Feng valuable resources and a base, but it may also be a trap where he could become the “fish.”
• The uncanny intruding into ordinary life: Business records, university work, streaming, and library errands coexist with supernatural realms and threats.
• Knowledge and perception: The same events can appear differently to different people, and records may reveal only fragments of the truth.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng handles the Kiln workers and the Yu Lei manifestation, then deals with the Candle Man indirectly by returning the candle to the Underworld.
• He observes the Yin Gods and magical artifacts, judging their reactions to the competing uncanny and incense-offering auras.
• Professor Han contacts the Xie Family and later asks Xu Nian to find Xun’s rare book; Xu Nian’s library search ends with an unexplained encounter with a tattooed stranger.

Key plot points and events

• Professor Han asks Xu Nian to arrange a meeting with Song Zi, a third-year economics student whose arm bears a bird tattoo resembling the Bird family’s techniques.
• During their handshake, Han experiences a disturbing vision and an urge to surgically combine human and animal parts. His aura turns sinister, Song Zi becomes paralyzed, and Han grows feverish.
• Lin Feng arrives, suppresses Han’s aura, and removes him. He recognizes the Bird lineage in Song Zi and senses that Han’s condition is connected to him. Han’s fever subsides once Song Zi is taken away.
• Lin Feng later questions Song Zi, who explains that the Bird family were originally sacrifices who escaped their pursuers. Their Head Bird’s death severed the family’s inheritance, and Song Zi believes an unseen force—“fate”—drew him to the university.
• Lin Feng advises Song Zi to take leave and avoid Han. Returning to watch over Han, Lin Feng discovers him stitching animal parts together with disturbing skill, while a strange barrier separates the apartment from the outside world.

Character developments and interactions

• Professor Han shifts from a curious academic into someone apparently overtaken by an uncanny influence. His scholarly interest in Song Zi becomes a grotesque compulsion to alter living bodies.
• Song Zi is revealed as the last Bird-family member in the country. Though trained in the family’s basic techniques, he knows little of its history and is frightened by Lin Feng.
• Lin Feng acts decisively to contain Han’s episode and protect Song Zi. He uses his presence and spiritual techniques to steady both men, then investigates the deeper link between them.
• Xu Nian remains concerned for her advisor despite joking about Lin Feng’s visit. Her casual invitation to Song Zi leads to the unsettling encounter.
• The exchanges contrast Xu Nian’s playful banter with Lin Feng’s calm authority, Song Zi’s fear, and Han’s inexplicable transformation.

Significant themes

• Fate and inherited history: Song Zi’s family, studies, and discovery of its past seem guided by forces beyond his control.
• Lineage and loss: The Bird family’s traditions have weakened, and the Head Bird’s death has cut off its central inheritance.
• Humanity versus the uncanny: Han’s attempt to combine human and animal bodies suggests a dangerous urge to overcome human limits.
• The return of buried threats: The Bird family’s history of being hunted may no longer be safely confined to the past; Han’s transformation hints that something strange is again at work.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng discovers that Professor Han’s apparent life in the dark house is a perception created by a supernatural effect: the professor does not truly exist there in the ordinary sense. The house’s occupants experience time differently from the outside world, with the living room showing 9:30 while the entryway is already at 11:30.
• When Lin Feng tries to cross the boundary, an unseen force attacks him through supernatural abilities and spells. His three layers of protection withstand the assault, which seems intended as a warning not to interfere. Unsure who issued it, Lin Feng leaves.
• Concerned that Professor Han may be in danger, Lin Feng tells him what he has found and takes him to the Mount-Viewing Kiln Factory. He leaves a Peace Charm and Tiger Tally as protection and warns him not to go outside at night or trust what he sees.
• While Lin Feng is away, Professor Han senses unseen presences around the factory. One night, a strange monk-like creature appears at his window, demanding bodily organs and two lives as payment for “sin banknotes.” It chants Buddhist prayers and sends incense smoke and banknotes toward him.
• The attack triggers one of Professor Han’s altered states. He sees a cave with a purple-blue underground lake and neatly arranged sacrificial remains made from human and animal bones. He recites a scripture-opening verse, cuts off his own legs in the vision, and reaches toward an unfamiliar ox-like, snake-like creature. The passage ends with him calmly removing the attacking creature’s head, leaving the outcome unclear.

Character developments

• Lin Feng recognizes the limits of his understanding of No-Gap and accepts that Professor Han’s condition is beyond his ability to fix. He nevertheless takes responsibility for protecting the professor.
• Professor Han moves from anxious bewilderment to confronting supernatural danger directly. His strange visions appear increasingly connected to the hidden phenomena surrounding the factory, though he remains unaware of their full meaning.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng tries to reach and investigate Professor Han, but the temporal-spatial boundary separates them and retaliates when crossed.
• Lin Feng comforts the discouraged professor, then relocates him and gives him practical warnings and protective objects.
• Professor Han faces the ghostly peddler alone, resisting its demands before being drawn into a disturbing vision.

Significant themes

• Perception and reality: Supernatural forces shape what people believe they see and experience.
• Time and space out of alignment: The boundary creates separate timelines within a single household.
• Limits of knowledge and control: Lin Feng cannot fully understand or repair the phenomenon, and Professor Han’s experiences remain only partly intelligible.
• The uncanny and unseen danger: Ordinary surroundings conceal wandering presences and forces that punish interference.
• Protection amid uncertainty: Lin Feng can offer precautions, but ultimately Professor Han must face the danger himself.

Key plot points and events

• Professor Han wakes from what seems to have been a nightmare: his door and belongings are undisturbed, and no Repentance Banknotes remain. Unsure what was real, he writes down his memories and sketches what he saw, planning to ask Lin Feng when he returns.
• Unaware that the Kiln has become a dangerous ghost domain, Han contacts the director of the Central Plains Museum and obtains old excavation records by fax.
• The records describe a Late Shang tomb discovered by a construction worker and excavated under Xun Yanyu. Torrential rain later flooded the site and destroyed many artifacts.
• Among the photographs, Han notices a Ding bearing an unnamed flame-and-eye design. He finds a strikingly similar vessel in his own research materials, and the matching measurements leave him troubled.
• As Han studies, Yin Gods gather around the Kiln. One enters the building and disappears after a quarter of an hour. A disembodied female voice recites a hunting poem, frightening the beings sheltering inside.
• Meanwhile, Lin Feng conducts a grand sacrifice in the Kiln, using the cooked Wood Guest as incense and refining himself with the Source Seed. The ritual imprints three powerful forces—including Sin—onto the vessel and strengthens his Intent, which takes the form of wind.
• The chapter ends with the Kiln’s danger deepening: several powerful Yin Gods have vanished, while Han continues to experience unexplained nighttime episodes without finding evidence of them.

Character developments

• Professor Han remains rational and methodical, recording unsettling experiences rather than deciding whether they were real. His scholarly focus, however, makes him oblivious to the supernatural danger around him.
• Lin Feng advances through the sacrifice, learning that ritual incense strengthens Intent and gaining a clearer understanding of the rite’s requirements.
• The old buddies and other Yin beings are shown to fear the forces gathering at the Kiln and seek protection from the inscribed tablet.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty between reality and illusion: Han’s memories and experiences leave him unable to verify what happened.
• Knowledge and danger: His research uncovers clues about the supernatural past, even as his concentration prevents him from noticing the immediate threat.
• Ritual, power, and transformation: Lin Feng’s sacrifice turns incense into a means of strengthening Intent and imprinting forces onto an extraordinary vessel.
• The persistence of hidden history: The damaged tomb records and unidentified bronze design hint at mysteries not yet understood.

Character interactions

• Han contacts the museum director, who unexpectedly cooperates and faxes the restricted excavation records.
• Han plans to consult Lin Feng, whose knowledge of the Kiln exceeds his own, but Lin Feng is occupied with the sacrifice.
• The old buddies huddle together and worship the tablet for protection as the eerie poem and storm intensify.

Key plot points and events

• In the Living Forbidden Ground, Yu Lei’s aura forms an eye and observes Professor Han, whose unintended creation—a stitched-together, three-armed Yin God King—is growing stronger by absorbing and ruling over other Yin Gods.
• The Headless Taoist approaches, hoping to steal the King’s essence and use it to advance his own power. His Golden Seal has begun to acquire authority, though it bears no title.
• Yin Gods attack the Taoist with viscous rain, snakes, chains, and other supernatural restraints. He fights back with his bell and Bronze Whip, draining the attackers’ blood-red essence.
• The King traps the Taoist among black lanterns and uses the Three Officials’ powers—“Heavenly Official Bestows Blessings,” “Earth Official Pardons Sins,” and “Water Official Relieves Calamities”—to extract his fate and vitality, while rain strips away his blood aura.
• The Taoist unleashes a powerful burst of force that clears the clouds and brings down moonlight. His robes vanish, and he disappears before the King can finish him.
• Freed from restraint, the King’s lanterns spread across the Mount-Viewing Kiln Factory and drain the Yin Gods and Uncanny beings unable to escape.

Character developments and interactions

• The Yin God King proves far more powerful and purposeful than a mere accidental creation. Calm and almost kindly in manner, he demonstrates precise control over fate, vitality, and the lanterns.
• The Headless Taoist reveals his ambition to gain a recognized title and a head, but also his caution about claiming the authority of powerful religious lineages. His greed for the King’s essence leads him into a dangerous confrontation. Though weakened, he escapes with a dramatic counterattack.
• Yu Lei observes but does not intervene: he is Fengdu’s gatekeeper, not Lin Feng’s personal protector. He withdraws when the Taoist’s final technique threatens to draw him into the battle.
• Professor Han’s influence remains indirect but significant: his altered state has produced a powerful being, suggesting that changes affecting the creator can reshape his creations.
• The dignified woman acknowledges Yu Lei’s presence without fear, her abundant Vow Power marking her as an exceptionally well-supported divine figure.

Significant themes

• Creation and unintended consequences: Professor Han’s condition has transformed what he created, turning an accidental being into a formidable power.
• Power, titles, and legitimacy: The Taoist seeks authority without daring to borrow the names of established deities, highlighting the risks and politics of supernatural status.
• Predation and survival: Both the Taoist and the King grow stronger by consuming or extracting the essence of others.
• The supernatural order and its limits: Even powerful beings must consider alliances, rules, and the consequences of invoking another force’s authority.

Key plot points and events

• Professor Han sleeps while the Mount-Viewing Kiln is enveloped by blood-red lanterns and the Three-Official Yin God’s eerie domain. Mazu and Yu Lei watch from nearby, protected by their own supernatural authority.
• Mazu identifies the lantern ritual as an ancient form of witchcraft that steals fortune and fate. Yu Lei recognizes elements of the lost Three-Official Calamity-Dispelling Great Repentance, while both suspect a western-derived practice and note that its creator is losing control of a visualized being.
• The stitched-together Three-Official Yin God grows enormous and searches for a passage into the real Kiln, spreading calamity and poisoning people’s fortune. The lanterns follow it inside.
• A furious voice from the Kiln rebukes the intruder for raiding its “farm.” Lin Feng’s Sacrificial Fire surges into a potent, sin-laden flame, while pale hands and thirty-six strands of hair seize and pierce the Yin God.
• The fallen lanterns ignite, and their flames produce faceless, robe-wearing figures resembling Lin Feng. Beating Deity Drums, they form a forceful rhythm that batters hostile spiritual influences. A divine bull repeatedly kicks the Yin God, adding insult to injury.
• The Yin God tries to use fate charts and its three officials’ powers to reach Lin Feng. But Lin Feng, newly emerged from secluded cultivation, repels the corrupted diagrams and the Yin God’s wind-and-rain attacks.
• Lin Feng reveals new power: he has broken the first seal of his Historian’s Eye, and the Kiln’s mold patterns have been engraved onto his body. He confronts the towering Yin God with a soul-shocking gaze, a supernatural blood-spitting attack that inscribes a massive spell inside it, and a protective Karmic Fire Lotus.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng returns from cultivation markedly strengthened, combining new bodily patterns and his partially awakened Historian’s Eye with familiar exorcistic abilities. He directly challenges the Yin God rather than remaining inside the Kiln.
• Mazu and Yu Lei act as observers, discussing the ritual’s origins and dangers. Though they recognize that the lanterns may drift into hazardous places, they leave the confrontation to Lin Feng and withdraw to their talismans.
• The Three-Official Yin God is revealed as powerful but unstable and driven by greed. Its attempts to seize Lin Feng’s essence provoke the Kiln’s violent defense and Lin Feng’s counterattack.
• The Kiln itself appears to have a hostile, protective will, speaking through its flames and treating the Yin God as an intruder.

Significant themes

• Power without mastery invites disaster: the visualized entity’s unstable nature reflects the danger of acquiring supernatural force without the capacity to control it.
• Greed and predation: the Yin God’s attempt to steal fortune and essence turns it into prey for the Kiln’s retaliation.
• Transformation and uncertain identity: borrowed fates, stolen essences, stitched divinities, and Lin Feng’s altered body blur the boundaries between self and supernatural creation.
• Escalating supernatural conflict: the chapter shifts from observation and mystery to a direct clash, ending with Lin Feng and the Yin God locked in battle.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng defeats the Three-Official Yin God. His blood, karmic fire, and the power left in the Kiln Clay awaken a new combat form: the Gamalang Jianmu, surrounded by the preserved remains and wisdom of ancient Gamalang sages. The Yin God dissolves into pus and dies with a grief-stricken cry.
• Its death draws other beings toward the kiln factory. Lin Feng senses something watching from the back mountain, but the newcomers avoid attacking him.
• While investigating, Lin Feng sees Professor Han awaken and calmly dissect an Uncanny, severing its qi with a technique resembling Lin Feng’s No-Gap. Lin Feng realizes Han’s condition is far more unusual than he first assumed.
• About a month and a half has passed during Lin Feng’s seclusion. Checking his livestream, he discovers it has gained over a thousand Nobility, with supporters including Li Gao, the Headless Taoist, Xun Yanyu, and possibly Professor Han.
• Lin Feng prepares to investigate Han using a Gamalang Mediumship Potion, but Mazu stops him. She explains that Han’s problem originates in Shuzhong, not where he is now, and warns Lin Feng that probing further could entangle him in it.
• Mazu’s presence is made of Incense Offerings and Vow Power. Lin Feng can perceive its many faces and the wishes behind it, an experience painful to him.
• A huge, petrifying Yin God approaches, but Lin Feng frightens it away with a thunderous command. He then examines Han’s notebook, which is filled with drawings of enormous, strange beasts in Shuzhong’s mountains. Their scale and number leave him worried that he may not be able to handle what is there.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng gains a powerful new form and demonstrates authority over nearby supernatural beings, but also becomes increasingly uneasy about the dangers connected to Professor Han and Shuzhong. His growing hair, threaded with the Net of Luo, has begun to resemble a new creature.
• Professor Han is revealed to have uncanny capabilities and an unknown connection to a “Creator” or a method of Void Creation. Although he remains unconscious, something associated with him can awaken and act with startling skill.
• Mazu intervenes as a protector and guide, directing Lin Feng toward Shuzhong while warning him against investigating Han’s present condition.
• Li Gao, the Headless Taoist, Xun Yanyu, and possibly Han Chen appear among Lin Feng’s livestream supporters, blending supernatural relationships with the modern online world.

Significant themes

• Power and its hidden costs: Lin Feng’s transformation and Han’s apparent abilities are formidable, but both point toward risks and unresolved consequences.
• Traces of the past: Ritual Incense brings buried memories and ancient civilization’s knowledge into the present.
• The uncanny within the ordinary: In a place already full of abnormalities, even the absence of a smell can be a warning; Han’s peaceful sleep amid supernatural violence is similarly unsettling.
• The limits of understanding: Han’s drawings suggest a vast ecosystem of anomalous beasts whose existence defies ordinary logic—and may exceed Lin Feng’s ability to confront it.

Summary

The passage is a reference snapshot of Lin Feng’s abilities and equipment before the new Great Song arc, rather than a sequence of plot events. It establishes his current capabilities and identity.

• Combat strength and identity: Lin Feng is at the upper Seventh Rank in combat power; this rating is separate from whether someone is an immortal or god. He is a Qi-Observing Historian, able to anchor history.
• Foundation: His practice rests on the Godhood Method, Feasting on Wind and Drinking Dew. He also has the Mystic Sustenance Method: Second Life, derived from that foundation.
• Physical and supernatural traits: His hair comprises thirty-six strands of the Net of Luo, useful for mental control and for transmitting qi and blood to aid others. His Yellow River uncanny eye, gained through Western Xia sacrifices, has seven seals; its first, the Blood Seal, is open and can enhance his Qi-Observing Eye’s soul-shocking gaze. He can spit blood as an ability, and his Source Seed supports the Transformation and Rubbing arts. His Zuan-derived intent and wind affinity let him transform into and command wind.
• Techniques: His skills include swordsmanship mastery and related abilities such as Swordsmanship Clarity and Precise Vision; four of the Land God’s Six Tones; the mental quality Unyielding; and the sword aspect Sword Talisman: Break the Army.
• Crafts and artifacts: His craft paths include the Yak Kapala’s Dharma Protector and Dharma Mahā Gamalang Potion. His notable artifacts include the Land God’s Staff, Demon-Binding Rope, Great Ming Fire Lance, Mountain Spider Boots, Mazu Amulet, and Painted Skin, alongside his bonded magical artifact.

Character, themes, and interactions

The passage does not depict character development or interactions; instead, it frames Lin Feng as a versatile combatant whose powers span history, perception, swordsmanship, spiritual practice, and wind. Its central themes are accumulated capability and preparation: Lin Feng’s diverse skills and tools are laid out as the baseline he brings into the coming arc.

Key events

• During a terrifying temple rite in Hongzhou, shamans consecrate an infant as an Altar Fosterling: they write blood-soaked incantations on the child, pass it among worshippers, and return it to his parents. A spirit-writing divination produces the ominous result “Great calamity.”
• Lin Feng watches the scene as a spectator and learns from the game’s text that such sects take in infants, raise them as devoted servants, and train them in demonic arts.
• The ceremony shifts to the funeral of a dead shaman. Hui Ming warns the widow and family to follow strict rules: the widow must not cry, no one may look into the lidless coffin despite any sounds, and they must burn grass bundles continuously until the third watch.
• The procession departs under the name of the “Joy Spirit.” The coffin emits weeping and scratching, while a thread tied to Hui Ming’s finger cuts into him whenever he strays from the proper course.
• When a young child falls and nearly cries out, Hui Ming silences him with a pill that appears to be a Corpse Elixir, then threatens the family and strikes the widow. The group reaches the wilderness, where Hui Ming orders them to kneel and burn weeds.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains unable to intervene, but studies the ritual and recognizes how cruelly its rules govern the participants. He suspects the elixir turns the child into a living corpse and notes that something has corrupted Hui Ming.
• Hui Ming first appears composed and almost kindly, but his fear of the divination and obsession with meeting the funeral’s appointed hour reveal a ruthless side. He threatens the widow’s family and uses violence to enforce obedience.
• The widow agrees to Hui Ming’s instructions but struggles to manage her young child during the dangerous procession. Her attempt to prevent him from crying fails, and Hui Ming punishes her.
• The child is vulnerable and frightened; his instinctive cry nearly breaks a critical taboo, prompting Hui Ming to drug him.
• The dead shaman’s family obeys Hui Ming, while the coffin’s eerie sounds go deliberately unacknowledged.

Significant themes

• Ritual and coercion: Religious customs control people through threats, taboos, and fear.
• Life and death intertwined: The infant’s initiation and the shaman’s funeral occur on the same night, setting a rite of “birth” against a perilous rite of death.
• Abuse disguised as protection: The sect’s promise to care for children masks their exploitation, while Hui Ming’s “guidance” becomes intimidation and cruelty.
• Fear and complicity: Participants suppress grief, questions, and even a child’s cries to survive the ritual.
• Ominous fate: The “Great calamity” divination foreshadows danger, though its target remains unclear.

Plot and key events

• Hui Ming and the Shaman’s sister-in-law perform a nighttime funeral rite for a dead Shaman, burning grass and reciting a scripture while the corpse speaks from inside the coffin. A child who should have participated has become a “living corpse,” leaving the rite incomplete.
• At the rite’s end, Hui Ming uses a talisman to create a smoke staircase. The corpse disappears, and he tells the sister-in-law that all is well. But when they try to leave, their shadows stop moving. The Joy Spirit strikes: Hui Ming is killed by a cut to the throat, while the sister-in-law is skinned alive.
• Lin Feng sees text describing how Shamans exploit illness, superstition, and bereaved families, followed by Xia Song’s memorial urging strict laws against such practices. The scene becomes a vision of mass executions.
• The game interface then starts a new chapter, “Old Acquaintances in Shu,” and generates Act One: “Severe Officials and Harsh Clerks.” Lin Feng has one life, and completing an assignment within its time limit will reveal the next stage.
• Lin Feng awakens beside Xia Song, who recounts a friend’s failed campaign against a temple’s supposedly sacred python. The two see ritual masters confronting yamen runners over a shrouded corpse in a Hongzhou alley. Xia Song asks whether he, too, will die after challenging local superstition.

Character developments and interactions

• Hui Ming is frightened but perseveres through the funeral rite, clinging to ritual objects and reassuring the sister-in-law despite his uncertainty. His confidence proves misplaced.
• The sister-in-law is anxious about the rite and her child; Hui Ming comforts her, but neither escapes the Joy Spirit.
• Lin Feng remains a detached observer of the supernatural scene, then enters the next game scenario and encounters Xia Song.
• Xia Song appears composed and conversational, but his story reveals concern about the danger of confronting entrenched religious interests. He turns to Lin Feng (“Youzhi”) for an opinion.

Significant themes

• Superstition as exploitation: The text depicts ritual authorities using fear and illness to deprive people of food, medicine, property, and family ties.
• Law versus popular belief: Xia Song’s memorial calls for firm state action, while the story of his friend suggests that confronting religious power may carry personal and political risks.
• False reassurance and failed protection: Hui Ming believes the rite has succeeded and tries to calm the sister-in-law, but the danger remains.
• Observation and judgment: Lin Feng watches events as though they exist only while observed, while the game frames the suffering and executions as evidence to be recorded and acted upon.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng realizes he has entered the identity of Lin Youzhi, an Imperial Guard and bearer of imperial weapons who appears to be close to Xia Song. He wonders whether the original Youzhi is dead or has been displaced.
• Xia Song dismisses the idea that he might be killed, but points to the lawlessness around them as evidence that Hongzhou’s Shamans openly defy the Song court. He tells Youzhi that this is a chance to prove himself.
• Lin Feng watches the Shamans beat bailiffs, carry off a corpse, and intimidate the townspeople. Xia Song remains calm as they walk through a city overwhelmed by shrines, incense, and sinister energy.
• At the prefectural Yamen, Xia Song explains that his offer of amnesty to the Shamans was met with the murder of the official sent to publicize it. He concludes that ordinary arrests and punishments will not restore order.
• Xia Song assigns Lin Feng a timed mission: deal with four ringleaders within forty-eight two-hour periods. The targets are at four locations, but only three portraits are available; the fourth, the elusive Fire Virtue Daoist, has never been seen.
• Lin Feng is authorized to capture the suspects, but if necessary, to kill without mercy.

Character developments

• Lin Feng shifts from confusion about his identity to confronting the practical demands of his new role. He observes carefully, assesses the supernatural disorder, and recognizes that ordinary law enforcement cannot handle it.
• Xia Song emerges as a composed, forceful official who understands the depth of the crisis. Rather than reacting emotionally to the violence, he makes a decisive plan and entrusts Lin Feng with broad authority.

Significant themes

• Identity and displacement: Lin Feng’s new name and position raise the question of whether he has replaced the original Lin Youzhi.
• Law versus local power: The court’s authority has been undermined by the Shamans’ violence and the people’s fear of them.
• Decisive action: With amnesty and routine enforcement failing, Xia Song turns to targeted force.
• Supernatural corruption: Hongzhou’s dense yin and demonic energy reflects how deeply the region has fallen into disorder.

Character interactions

• Xia Song addresses Lin Feng familiarly as Youzhi, treating him as a trusted subordinate and testing his capability.
• Lin Feng responds cautiously, defending the dignity of the Song court while watching how Xia Song handles the crisis.
• Xia Song explains the failed amnesty effort, then gives Lin Feng the map, portraits, deadline, and authority to choose lethal force.

Plot and events

• Xia Song orders Lin Feng to deal with four powerful, unofficial religious leaders across four counties and townships within four days. He gives Lin a sealed, handwritten authorization to use lethal force, with one crucial limit: do not provoke a popular uprising.
• Lin sets out with six of Xia Song’s armed men and three local Daoists from the Xu Ancestral Altar. The Daoists hope the campaign will lead to official recognition of their tradition.
• Their targets include the Water Bodhisattva Temple’s tyrannical keeper, Daoist Liang, the Three Mountains Recluse, and the mysterious Fire Virtue Perfected One. The Xu Daoists fear the last two—especially the Fire Virtue Perfected One—and recommend a route beginning with the Water Bodhisattva.
• Lin reaches the temple, kills its keeper and his men, destroys their souls, and burns the supposed Bodhisattva, which is merely a large water snake. The surrounding villagers have lived in fear of the temple’s excessive demands.
• Afterward, the Xu Daoists reveal their connection to Daoist Liang. They warn that his hidden, esoteric lineage may be far more dangerous than his public spells suggest. Lin remains unconcerned so long as Liang does not rebel.
• The party rides on through the night and reaches Plum Town, where Daoist Liang’s grounds are staging a dramatic display of exorcism and resurrection.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng shows confidence, decisiveness, and a pragmatic understanding of his mission. He is willing to kill and destroy temples, but frames his actions as removing predators rather than attacking ordinary villagers. He questions the Xu Daoists, listens to their warning, and keeps the group moving under the tight deadline.
• Xia Song demonstrates trust in Lin by issuing risky personal authorization and assembling a force of soldiers and cooperating Daoists. His policy is forceful but politically cautious: eliminate threats without provoking revolt.
• The three Xu Daoists are opportunistic but wary. They cooperate in hopes of gaining official standing, yet their fear of stronger rival traditions—and their eventual disclosure about Daoist Liang—reveals their limits and divided loyalties.
• The armed young men serve as Lin’s trusted support, while the Xu Daoists provide local knowledge and practical assistance during the journey.

Significant themes

• State authority versus unofficial religion: The court treats unrecognized religious groups as potential threats, regardless of their beliefs or abilities.
• Legitimacy and self-interest: The Xu Daoists’ willingness to cooperate reflects the rewards of official recognition, while the campaign raises questions about faith being judged by political approval.
• Power and exploitation: The Water Bodhisattva’s authority rests on fear and excessive demands; Lin’s violence is presented as relief from that oppression.
• Pragmatism and political restraint: The mission demands decisive force, but its success depends on avoiding popular unrest.
• Hidden danger and uncertainty: Daoist Liang’s concealed tradition, and the mysterious spectacle awaiting Lin, foreshadow a more complicated confrontation than the first one.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng’s group arrives in Plum Town, a prosperous settlement dominated by Daoist Liang’s Witch Altar. Lin Feng senses that he has been noticed and uses his Qi-Observing Eye, revealing sinister altar-energy and a host of hostile spirits and ritual implements.
• He quietly spreads Nets of Luo to counter the unseen malice, then settles into an inn to observe the town’s practitioners. His power reaches almost everywhere except one large residence, likely Daoist Liang’s.
• In the town square, Daoist Liang’s followers stage a public ritual involving a towering, blade-lined altar, a coffin, ritual blade dancers, and a man walking barefoot over burning incense ash. A spectral female Dharma Protector appears in the incense smoke.
• The ritualist summons a god and climbs the altar. As the possessed man in the coffin cries that a tiger killed him, black energy enters him and the apparition marks his body with incantation script. Lin Feng judges the methods sinister but comprehensible.
• Daoist Liang appears beside Lin Feng, despite the exhausted Xu Daoists failing to notice him. He offers silver and silk, prompting Lin Feng to point out that the official silver could expose Liang and his entire household to severe punishment.

Character developments

• Lin Feng remains calm and observant, concealing the extent of his abilities while assessing the Witch Altar’s magic. He is curious about mortal spellcraft but cautious about judging it too soon.
• The three Xu Daoists are physically, spiritually, and mentally exhausted by the journey; they can barely stay alert during the ritual.
• Daoist Liang emerges as powerful, confident, and politically vulnerable: he can appear undetected and commands formidable ritual forces, but his use of official silver gives Lin Feng leverage.

Significant themes

• Power and perception: Lin Feng sees dangers invisible to ordinary observers and can quietly counter them.
• Ritual, spectacle, and livelihood: The elaborate altar and public performance serve both spiritual purposes and the practical need to attract clients.
• The ambiguity of supernatural practice: The ritual is frightening and violent, yet Lin Feng recognizes it as a system he can partially understand rather than dismiss outright.
• Authority and accountability: Liang’s supernatural influence does not shield him from earthly law.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng allows the young men to fetch food but stays vigilant, monitoring the town through his wind.
• Old Daoist Xu explains the ritual setup and warns Lin Feng that the apparition may be the Witch Altar’s Dharma Protector.
• Lin Feng reassures his companions when Daoist Liang appears, preventing them from attacking.
• Liang asks Lin Feng’s opinion of their arts; Lin Feng answers candidly, then challenges him over the suspicious official silver, setting up a tense negotiation.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng discovers that Daoist Liang’s warehouse contains stolen government silver. He confronts Liang, whose powerful Ritual Lord clashes with Lin Feng’s Imperial Guard Dragon-Tiger Qi. The supernatural pressure injures the person conducting a ritual outside.
• Liang submits to the imperial court rather than fight. He explains that he was once a Taibao Master, a traditional surveyor of mountains and their veins whose inherited arts have largely faded.
• Lin Feng offers Liang a chance to survive if he proves useful. He takes Liang’s valuables for his companions’ efforts, asks to inspect Liang’s illustrated lineage record, and reveals that Liang is one of four people he came to eliminate. Since the Water Bodhisattva and Temple Keeper are already gone, Liang may secure a reward by bringing him either Venerable Fire Virtue or the Three Mountains Recluse. Liang chooses the latter.
• Lin Feng rides toward Ridge County with Liang’s lineage record, intending to use the spiritual essence of ghosts and gods to make masks for his men. He travels with the help of the Uncanny beings beneath him.
• Liang warns that the supposed Fire Virtue Daoist may be a false identity. A bald, scarred outsider is the real power in the area, controlling local spirits, officials, and even the county’s magistrate.
• On reaching Ridge County at night, Lin Feng encounters a strange funeral procession led by the monk Hui Ming, whom he thought the Joy Spirit had dealt with. The county seems nearly empty, though its people are present. Lin Feng then finds Little Daoist Xu hanging dead in the Ancestral Hall; two other companions are unaccounted for.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng shows both force and political savvy: he overwhelms the warehouse with his presence, but accepts Liang’s submission and uses his Imperial Guard authority to recruit him rather than simply kill him. His physical strength is also revealed to be extraordinary, independent of magic.
• Daoist Liang proves pragmatic and calculating. Guided by divinations that identify this moment as his sole chance to survive, he submits, offers resources, and agrees to hunt the Three Mountains Recluse.
• Lin Feng and Liang negotiate from opposing positions: Lin Feng demands proof of loyalty, while Liang tries to satisfy him with trading permits before learning what Lin Feng actually wants.
• The group’s situation grows more dangerous when Lin Feng finds evidence that Little Daoist Xu has been captured and killed, and realizes the Joy Spirit incident may have taken place in Ridge County.

Significant themes

• Authority versus supernatural power: Lin Feng’s imperial status is as important as his magical strength, compelling Liang to submit.
• Pragmatism and survival: Both men adapt to the balance of power; Liang chooses cooperation, while Lin Feng turns a potential enemy into an asset.
• The hidden order beneath appearances: Official titles and local reputations prove unreliable—the “Fire Virtue Daoist” may be a cover, while a hidden outsider controls the county.
• Escalating danger and uncertainty: The bizarre funeral, deserted streets, and Xu’s body signal that Lin Feng has entered a hostile situation whose full scope remains unknown.