Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng examines a fragment of Zhuanxu’s Book, which he recognizes as a manual devoted to Great Severing—the precise separation of one thing from another.
• Green Mountain’s hidden voices discuss the risks of letting him read it. They suspect Zhuanxu’s knowledge may have been preserved to help humanity, and perhaps even suited to someone like Lin Feng, but they cannot know whether that was deliberate. The books of the Three Mounds and Five Canons are dangerous simply because humans are fragile before the knowledge and intent they contain.
• Lin Feng, unaware of these concerns, decides to learn from the fragment—and immediately regrets touching it. He nevertheless sees the technique’s contents.
• Great Severing reveals how Lin Feng is composed: Jianmu and the sages represent his wisdom, Kapala Sacred Mountain his composure, the Haunted Village his power, Heavenly Fire his medium, and bronze his origin. He learns he can separate himself into these components and survive through any one of them.
• The fragment then presents a scene from the past: Shaman Zhong leads a party across a corpse-stinking wasteland at night. Zhong, a shaman serving Zhuanxu, and his companions must face a disaster threatening their agrarian community.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains impulsive and curious, choosing to investigate despite the danger. The revelation of his own “parts” gives him a new, potentially powerful way to understand and preserve himself.
• Green Mountain’s hidden voices reveal their cautious, humanity-centered perspective. They debate the risks and possible purpose of the Five Emperors’ books, while acknowledging that the truth is unknowable.
• Zhong is introduced not as the mythic Divine General associated with cutting down Jianmu, but as a shaman leading a mission. His party carries old sages’ bones and bones of extinct animals as magical artifacts.
• The shamans’ role is defined through their duty: while others may flee danger, they must confront it for the community.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as both inheritance and danger: Ancient wisdom may help humanity survive, but its scale can overwhelm human beings.
• Severing and identity: Lin Feng discovers that the self can be understood as separable components rather than a single, indivisible whole.
• Duty and sacrifice: Shamans cannot abandon their people when disaster strikes; facing danger is the purpose of their office.
• Uncertain fate and intent: Zhuanxu’s book may have been meant for Lin Feng, but the characters can only speculate about the plans behind its survival.

Key plot points and events

• Six days after a subordinate tribe’s disappearance, Zhuanxu sends Zhong and an armed party to investigate and contain the aftermath—not to rescue survivors, who are presumed mostly dead.
• The lone messenger says a flood from the Wilds brought a strange man to the tribe. After the man vanished, people began disappearing; only two fled, and the messenger left the other behind.
• Zhong, whose two pupils let him see through illusions and detect lies, uses a treasure—his blood-veined Jade Axe—to test the messenger’s account.
• The test reveals a black, infectious mist inside the man. Shaman Niu punctures his neck to release it, while Zhong orders the party to scatter.
• Zhong’s axe draws the mist out, but the messenger’s body sprouts branches and becomes a carrier for the spreading organism. Zhong kills him; the corpse’s branches try to reassemble it.
• Shaman Shi identifies the growth as likely sweetwood, an undying tree from the Wilds. Its alluring sweetness nearly tempts the party, but Zhong recognizes the danger: humans cannot withstand its relentless vitality.

Character developments

• Zhong is established as a disciplined, meticulous investigator who stays composed in the face of an uncanny threat. His mission is containment, and he acts decisively when the infection is exposed.
• Niu demonstrates quick judgment and practical skill by releasing the mist from the messenger’s body.
• Shi contributes knowledge by recognizing the tree-like entity.
• Lin Feng, observing as a disembodied bystander, recognizes the scene as strangely familiar but cannot place it.

Significant themes

• Death as release: In this world, death may be preferable to an existence bound to something worse.
• Nature as a threat: The Wilds are rich with life, but what emerges from them can be dangerous and alien.
• The peril of “immortality”: Unending vitality is not a blessing when human beings are too fragile to endure it.
• Containment over rescue: The mission reflects the grim reality that some disasters can only be managed after survival is no longer possible.
• Temptation and survival: The sweetwood’s appealing scent exploits a basic human craving, making danger seductive as well as deadly.

Character interactions

• Zhong questions the frightened messenger and verifies his story rather than trusting it at face value.
• The messenger’s testimony becomes a trap when Zhong’s test draws out the infection.
• Niu responds to the outbreak, while Zhong directs the group and confronts the threat.
• Shi’s identification helps the party understand what they are facing, and Zhong’s recognition of the danger overrides the sweetwood’s tempting scent.

Key plot points

• Zhong identifies Sweetwood as a spreading, sentient danger: those who consume it become hosts and eventually food for others, drawn in by its irresistible scent. He concludes the affected tribe was likely wiped out through mass cannibalism.
• Sweetwood’s fragrance begins leaking from the corpse and black mist, overwhelming nearby people and beasts. Zhong uses the Jade Axe to partition off the contaminated space, isolating the danger at great physical cost.
• Zhong sends the rest of the group back to report everything, then continues toward the source with Shi and Niu. They travel cautiously, avoiding tribes and relying on the sun to check their direction and the passage of time.
• After three days, they near the affected tribe. The flame’s light shrinks and the terrain grows strange, signaling danger. Niu uses a divination bone that can counteract poison—including Sweetwood’s scent—and the three stop to wait for dawn.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong acts decisively and responsibly, prioritizing the group’s safety and insisting the danger be reported fully. His mastery of the Jade Axe is formidable, though the effort leaves him in pain and visibly strained. He remains pragmatic about the risks of life in this era.
• Shi and Niu follow Zhong without protest and help him investigate. Niu contributes the protective divination bone as the danger intensifies.
• Lin Feng, observing the events, recognizes that Zhong’s spatial partitioning resembles an early form of the Yin-Shang Divine Kingdom’s techniques. This gives him a new understanding of how those methods may have originated.

Significant themes

• Nature as indifferent and deadly: Even Shamans and rulers are vulnerable to forces they cannot control.
• False salvation and corrupted immortality: Sweetwood promises eternal life but turns its consumers into instruments of further spread.
• Knowledge and survival: Careful observation, reporting, and inherited ritual tools are essential in an era where little can safely be recorded.
• Origins of later practices: Zhong’s technique hints at how ancient methods of dividing or opening space may have developed into later divine realms.

Chapter summary

• Lin Feng studies Zhong’s axe and realizes its ability to cut and reshape space comes not just from the weapon, but from the living blood smeared on it. The blood acts like an authorization seal for spellcasting. Lin Feng considers using a similar substance to transform his own Life-Bound Artifact, but he does not know what the blood is or whether it can still be obtained.
• As he studies it, Lin Feng begins to feel red threads growing through him, like blood vessels or regenerating flesh. He suspects his Intent may be becoming contaminated and feels himself being drawn toward the blood and the “jade talisman.” He breaks free when he senses he is about to be bound, but allows some assimilation to continue so he can understand the blood directly—accepting the danger in pursuit of insight.
• The narrative shifts into Zhong’s memories. Zhong, Shi, and Niu keep watch at night, with Zhong calmly tending a fire that offers no real protection. He tells the others that strange occurrences are increasing and warns them to flee if necessary, since simply carrying news back could matter.
• Zhong is especially troubled that Zhuanxu, the Great Shaman, has been inaccessible and unusually occupied, even after a tribe was destroyed. Zhong suspects something serious has constrained him. He urges Shi and Niu to be cautious, verify that morning has truly arrived, and observe from a distance.
• As Zhong teaches the younger Shamans, Shi notices something about Zhong’s axe and points it out, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng is curious and analytical, but also willing to risk his identity and safety to gain knowledge. His sarcastic humor briefly persists even as he fears becoming part of the artifact.
• Zhong appears experienced, pragmatic, and protective of his companions. He openly shares what he has learned rather than keeping his survival knowledge to himself, though he is deeply pessimistic about what lies ahead.
• Shi and Niu are nervous and clutch their Magical Artifacts. Zhong tries to steady them; Shi’s sudden focus on the axe shifts their attention to a potentially important clue.

Significant themes

• Knowledge at a cost: Lin Feng risks being altered by the blood to understand it; the chapter frames insight as a high-stakes wager.
• Uncertainty and the limits of understanding: “Nature” and supernatural phenomena resist fixed rules, while even experienced Shamans can only make cautious guesses.
• Fragile survival: Zhong’s advice reflects a world where danger is routine, preparation is limited, and retreat may be the only sensible choice.
• Authority under strain: Zhuanxu’s absence suggests a larger crisis beyond the immediate dangers facing Zhong and his companions.

Key plot points and events

• Zhong notices that his ritual Axe has not changed, but asks Shi what he saw during the ritual. Shi is confused and insists he never spoke, though Zhong distinctly remembers hearing a voice.
• Zhong realizes the group may be experiencing a supernatural disturbance. He scatters wood ash and prays to their tribe’s Totem for protection; the ash darkens and is blown away, suggesting some influence is interfering with them.
• Zhong has Shi and Niu recount events and compare their memories. Their accounts conflict: Shi remembers Zhong giving him instructions, while Niu remembers no conversation and describes feeling too exhausted to investigate—as if trapped in a nightmare.
• Convinced the danger may come from the Wilds or from “nature” itself, Zhong orders them to stay awake and build a Bonfire. He plans to investigate after dawn and tells them to seal off the area if he fails to return.
• Zhong begins a dance to commune with the Heavenly God.

Character developments

• Zhong grows increasingly grim and cautious. Though he believes his double-pupiled eyes make him less prone to error, he accepts that something may be beyond his ability to perceive or control. He shifts from investigating the anomaly to preparing for a potentially deadly encounter.
• Shi and Niu move from confusion to fear as they recognize that their memories do not align. They follow Zhong’s orders, trusting his judgment despite their uncertainty.

Significant themes

• The unknown as a source of terror: The characters fear what they cannot locate, identify, or explain more than a visible enemy.
• Unreliable perception and memory: The contradictions suggest their minds—or their sense of time and communication—are being manipulated.
• Nature’s overwhelming power: The possibility that “nature” itself is responsible makes ordinary spiritual protections seem uncertain.
• Practical survival over emotion: Zhong’s plan to preserve the group, even if he must face the danger alone, reflects their emphasis on minimizing losses.

Character interactions

• Zhong questions Shi repeatedly and then asks both men to recount events so they can compare accounts.
• Shi and Niu check each other’s memories, confirming that something is seriously wrong.
• Though unsettled, they accept Zhong’s authority and cooperate by building the Bonfire while he prepares to commune with the Heavenly God.

Key events

• Zhong performs a fierce-beast ritual dance to drive back the encroaching darkness. Lightning and bonfires flood the area with light, but the ritual’s expected supernatural response never comes.
• Niu uses an ox-skull divination tool and glimpses a dangerous presence concealed in fiery wind and darkness. The vision costs him bloody tears and cracks the skull. He points toward the area repeatedly struck by lightning, but no one knows whether the threat has been destroyed.
• The prolonged light burns Shi and Niu, leaving them covered in pus-filled blisters. Zhong ends the dance early, tending to them before making further, unsuccessful attempts to uncover what happened.
• As the light fades, an unfamiliar sun rises in the wrong direction. The men realize it is one of the terrifying false suns said to appear in the Wilds, and their survival is uncertain.
• Elsewhere, Zhuanxu leads a large search party from the Wild Horse Tribe, whose shamans cannot track Zhong’s group. He confirms their last known location and orders the party onward.
• Zhuanxu’s party includes Gou Mang, an expert in the stars, calendars, and agriculture. Gou Mang reports that the stars shifted and that unusual events have been occurring. Zhuanxu says he already knows what happened and asks for Li to join him.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong remains determined despite exhaustion, but his ritual fails to summon the power he expects. He notices his companions’ injuries and cuts the dance short to help them.
• Niu displays courage and resolve, accepting the painful cost of his vision. Shi supports him and voices their fear that they may vanish in the wilderness.
• Zhuanxu appears confident and authoritative, directing the search without explaining what he knows. Gou Mang is anxious and warns him of ominous changes; Zhuanxu reassures him but remains guarded.
• Shi and Niu endure their injuries silently, while Zhong tries repeatedly to discover the threat’s fate. The search party’s scouts report failure, prompting Zhuanxu to take charge.

Significant themes

• Human limits against nature: Ritual, divination, and medicine offer only partial help against forces beyond human control.
• The cost of knowledge: Niu’s glimpse reveals danger but physically harms him and damages his sacred tool.
• Uncertainty and failed protection: Light, ritual, and familiar signs prove unreliable; even sunrise may be dangerous.
• Power and interpretation: The narrative contrasts Zhong’s failed ritual with Zhuanxu’s apparent knowledge and hints that observing and understanding his methods can yield power.

Key plot points and events

• Li, one of Zhuanxu’s two great shamans, reports that forms of “nature” are awakening earlier and in greater numbers. Shamans who use their power accelerate that awakening, and Li fears nature will eventually consume him.
• Using darkness as a map, Li shows Zhuanxu that tribes are migrating and that at least three major tribes have vanished. Some populations may have been absorbed into nature; afterward, other people lose all memory of them. Pottery Shards, however, preserve records of the missing tribes.
• Tribal chiefs seeking refuge show visible signs of erosion and mutation from prolonged exposure to nature. Such power can make tribes formidable, but it brings unpredictable changes and danger.
• Zhuanxu says the region is no longer safe and that he must investigate the cause before anyone can find a solution. Li trusts his judgment.
• The chapter ends with a revelation: the Zhuanxu speaking with Li is only a puppet. The real Zhuanxu has already found Zhong and is using space in an extraordinary way—he is “nowhere” and “everywhere.”

Character developments

• Li is perceptive and increasingly alarmed by the spread of nature’s influence. Though powerful, he recognizes his own vulnerability and approaches the crisis as a disaster rather than a deliberate attack.
• Zhuanxu emerges as a calm, far-sighted strategist who is already pursuing the mystery on another front. His command of space is greater than Li realizes.
• Zhong, though absent from the scene, is implicated in the crisis: Li suspects he may already have encountered nature.

Significant themes

• Nature as indifferent force: Nature is not humanity’s enemy; it causes devastation without intent, like rain that kills simply by falling.
• The cost of power: Drawing close to nature grants strength but invites erosion, mutation, unpredictability, and eventual absorption.
• Memory and evidence: Vanished tribes disappear from collective memory, while Pottery Shards retain traces of their existence.
• Limits of human understanding: People personify nature as a “gift” or a deliberate power, but its behavior resists human motives and rules.

Character interactions

• Li briefs Zhuanxu on the spreading danger and shows him the map of affected tribes. Zhuanxu asks about the chiefs’ physical condition, using their erosion as evidence of nature’s influence.
• Li hesitates over Zhuanxu’s plans and his apparent control of the Qilin, but accepts Zhuanxu’s assurance that it will not interfere.
• Their exchange emphasizes Li’s reverence for Zhuanxu and Zhuanxu’s authority, while the puppet reveal shows that Li understands only part of what Zhuanxu is doing.

Key plot points and events

• Zhuanxu encounters a chaotic region where time and space have become entangled, accompanied by an extraordinary concentration of manifestations of “nature.”
• He suspects the disturbance stems from the Primordial Eight Trigrams, a technique Fuxi used to seal such manifestations away in the past. The seal appears to have partly worked—preserving humanity for ages—but is now failing, leaving the manifestations trapped together and creating dangerous consequences.
• Zhuanxu accepts that manifestations of nature cannot truly be destroyed. Like Fuxi, he can only contain the danger temporarily, but he believes he can find a way into the distorted space.
• Elsewhere, Zhong and his companions confront an unnatural sunrise. They consider whether the “sun” is a predatory creature or a rule-bound supernatural phenomenon; either way, acting carelessly could unleash a greater threat.
• Zhong tells the group to inspect their surroundings and, if possible, retrace their route. Shi then hears a sound like a flash flood. The group spots a huge mountain that should have been visible earlier but was somehow hidden. As a torrent approaches, Zhong raises his Jade Axe and orders everyone to shelter behind him and avert their eyes.

Character developments

• Zhuanxu is cautious and analytical: he avoids certainty where evidence is lacking, connects the present crisis to ancient history, and resolves to confront it despite not knowing Fuxi’s method.
• Zhong is exhausted from the previous night’s ritual but remains alert and protective, taking command as danger closes in.
• Shi notices the approaching danger first by hearing the torrent, prompting the group to react.

Character interactions

• Zhuanxu’s reasoning links the current disaster to Fuxi’s past attempt to protect humanity, framing the crisis as the legacy of an imperfect solution.
• Zhong directs the group’s investigation, then sharply prioritizes their safety when Shi identifies the sound.
• The companions rely on Zhong’s leadership as they face an environment where familiar natural features may be deceptive or deadly.

Significant themes

• Containment versus resolution: Ancient powers can delay catastrophe without eliminating it.
• The danger of nature’s ambiguity: Suns, clouds, mountains, and other familiar sights may be predators or supernatural phenomena governed by unknown rules.
• Knowledge and caution: Survival depends on observation, restraint, and recognizing the limits of what one knows.
• The burden of the past: Fuxi’s efforts preserved humanity, but their unresolved consequences now threaten the present.

Key plot points and events

• A flash flood surges from the mountains, carrying a naked, living man—an anomaly in a wilderness where survival is already nearly impossible.
• Zhong tries to keep the stranger at a distance, using his Jade Axe to raise barriers and divide the flood. The effort worsens his condition: strange “blood vessels” from the force of nature burrow into his arm, and his control begins to fail.
• A monstrous face grows from the back of Zhong’s head and begins to open its eyes. Niu throws medicinal powder on it, apparently calming it, but a strange sound from the flood makes it writhe and open its eyes anyway.
• Niu meets the face’s gaze. His blood vessels burst out of his body and flee, killing him almost instantly through a supernatural law of nature.
• Zhong’s barriers disappear. The flood-borne man crashes into Shi and sends him flying away, unintentionally saving him. Zhong remains rooted in place amid the flood, like a pillar holding back the sea.

Character developments

• Zhong recognizes that someone may have to be sacrificed and accepts that, as the strongest, he may be the one to die. His reliance on nature’s power, however, comes at a devastating cost, and he becomes trapped and powerless as events unfold.
• Niu acts quickly and decisively, attempting to suppress the face with medicine. His effort fails, and he dies for making eye contact with it.
• Shi is overwhelmed by the speed and horror of events. He survives only because the stranger’s collision carries him away.
• The naked stranger remains unexplained, but his arrival abruptly changes the danger and accidentally saves Shi.

Significant themes

• The cost of power: Using nature’s force offers protection but can corrupt or consume the user.
• The danger of perception: The face’s open eyes—and the gaze connecting it to Niu—trigger catastrophe, suggesting that seeing can itself create a lethal connection.
• Sacrifice and survival: Zhong weighs who should die to protect the others, while survival ultimately depends on unpredictable events rather than deliberate choice.
• The uncanny in nature: The flood and the living face transform the natural world into an incomprehensible supernatural threat.

Character interactions

• Zhong protects Shi and Niu with his barriers, though the effort worsens his condition.
• Niu tries to protect Zhong and the others by applying medicine to the face; when it opens its eyes, Niu is the one who meets its gaze.
• Shi is saved indirectly by the stranger, whose collision knocks him clear while Zhong remains behind in the flood.

Key plot points and events

• Shi is overwhelmed by the Great Flood’s power and can barely breathe. The blood inside Zhong’s Stone Axe escapes Zhong’s control, becomes active, and spreads toward Shi.
• Before the flood and blood can reach him, darkness envelops Shi and carries him to safety. Lin Feng appears in human form, but the blood vessels that brought him here have also bound him and may trap him permanently.
• Lin Feng realizes he is caught inside Zhuanxu’s record of a catastrophic history—one containing dangerously real, interwoven forms of “nature.” The Haunted Village is being flooded and its powers are suppressed, while the nearby Zuan Wangye Temple becomes obscured by mist that disrupts Lin Feng’s connection to the forces he controls.
• Desperate to resist, Lin Feng invokes Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, draws on Heavenly Fire, calls upon the Root Teacher, and manifests Mount Tai’s power through its True Form Diagram. The Haunted Village’s old inhabitants chant Lin Feng’s name, though an unexplained laugh from the Altar and the rain blocking his sight leave him uncertain what is happening there.
• Lin Feng sends out wind to scout the area, but the blood vessels follow and multiply whenever he uses his power. He discovers that the Haunted Village has become entangled with the Great Flood and other forms of nature—even across the layered spaces within the record. The chapter ends with Lin Feng still trapped inside the book.

Character developments

• Shi survives the immediate danger but is in severe distress, vomiting an endless supply of water and sand. His status as a shaman is the only thing keeping him alive.
• Lin Feng shifts from observer to unwilling participant in the catastrophe. Though powerful and resourceful, he recognizes that his usual control over the Haunted Village is failing and that every attempt to act may worsen his condition.

Significant themes

• The danger of nature: “Nature” is presented as an overwhelming force that can merge, spread, and defy ordinary boundaries.
• Power has a cost: Lin Feng’s attempts to resist the flood help him fight back, but they also cause the blood vessels binding him to grow.
• The instability of history and space: Zhuanxu’s recorded history is not a harmless account; it contains real, layered forces that can entangle places and threaten those within it.
• Control and uncertainty: Lin Feng cannot fully command the Haunted Village or understand the forces around him, despite being its master.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng rescues Shi from the flood and then watches over him as Shi suffers.
• Lin Feng draws on Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Heavenly Fire, the Root Teacher, and Mount Tai in an effort to defend them.
• The Haunted Village’s old inhabitants chant Lin Feng’s name, seemingly supporting him, but the laugh from the Altar and the obscuring rain leave their actions—and the situation itself—unclear.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng finds Shaman Shi drowning in an impossible flood pouring from his body. He uses Dispel, the Haunted Village’s power, and Ksitigarbha’s aid to keep Shi alive, though the flood remains only partly controlled.
• The surrounding “nature” is being reshaped by a mysterious force. Rain and floodwaters invade the Haunted Village, weakening its defenses and causing its divine projections and other protections to fade.
• Lin Feng’s arm is being consumed by spreading blood vessels, which threaten to trap and assimilate him. He decides to get Shi to the Guesthouse, the nearest relatively safe place.
• His attempts to summon Yu Lei and Zhong Kui fail. Lin Feng suspects there is an unknown rule governing which beings can appear in this ancient recorded world.
• At the Guesthouse, Lin Feng discovers the proprietor—his own duplicate and the area’s control “core”—has become a rotting figure descending the stairs. The lights flicker, and the figure appears only in darkness, making the Guesthouse unsafe too.
• Lin Feng leaves Shi to hold on and prepares to confront the threat, summoning divine fire and multiple arms. The fire itself smells damp, suggesting the flood’s influence has reached even it.

Character developments

• Lin Feng remains resourceful and determined, using every available power despite confusion and mounting danger. He continues to help Shi even while his own body is under threat, but recognizes that the Haunted Village’s protections are failing.
• Shi briefly stabilizes enough to speak, but remains weak and wary, asking Lin Feng who he is.
• The Guesthouse proprietor appears transformed into a water-rotted figure, showing that even the Haunted Village’s central structures and control points are being corrupted.

Significant themes

• Nature overwhelming human control: Rain, water, and mud reshape the world and breach even powerful supernatural defenses.
• Uncertainty and adaptation: Lin Feng lacks clear explanations or reliable allies, so he responds to each crisis as it comes.
• Life and death blurred: The alternating light and darkness bring a lethal ambiguity, evoking a realm where the boundary between living and dead is unclear.
• Compassion amid crisis: Lin Feng risks himself to save Shi even while facing his own possible assimilation.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng uses his powers to keep Shi from drowning, then drags him through the flood toward the Guesthouse.
• Shi responds with suspicion rather than gratitude, while Lin Feng focuses on survival and does not answer his question.
• Lin Feng’s expected allies, Yu Lei and Zhong Kui, do not respond, deepening his frustration and sense that hidden rules govern this world.
• At the Guesthouse, Lin Feng and Shi watch the transformed proprietor descend the stairs, turning their refuge into a new immediate threat.

Key plot points

• Zhuanxu enters the tangled mass of “nature” to investigate its source. Using an aura that nearly resembles nature, he tries to separate overlapping instances of it. He can define nature and begin to distinguish its boundaries, but fully cutting it apart remains beyond him.
• The Haunted Village spits Lin Feng and the Shaman Shi into this dangerous region. Zhuanxu recognizes Shi as a gifted Shaman corrupted by nature but not beyond saving. He sees that Lin Feng has a different, more unusual problem but keeps his thoughts to himself.
• Lin Feng realizes that the Haunted Village has become entangled with the genuine Great Flood—two instances of nature apparently combining. He fears that, if all nature could merge in this way, it might form an overwhelming force.
• Zhuanxu removes a mass of water from Shi and leads both men farther inside. He asks Lin Feng what he wants to learn; Lin Feng says he is a Historian who hopes to bear witness and, if possible, learn how to repel nature and protect people.
• Zhuanxu explains that nature’s outbreaks once dwindled, suggesting that someone in ancient times restrained or imprisoned it. His own proposed method was to add “time” to nature, giving it a definable limit or shackle. Lin Feng understands that adding concepts such as time and space might make nature comprehensible—and perhaps usable. As they proceed, lightning and thunder erupt.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhuanxu emerges as a formidable, careful investigator. Though he is studying an extremely dangerous phenomenon, he remains responsible for the others’ safety and openly shares his reasoning with Lin Feng. He accepts Lin Feng as a student-observer and entrusts him with keeping Shi safe.
• Lin Feng survives the encounter with nature, though he is badly injured. He shifts from fear and confusion toward focused observation, recognizing the importance of Zhuanxu’s theory and committing it to memory.
• Shi is shown to be a respected Shaman with the potential to found a lineage of his own. Corrupted but recoverable, he is rescued by Zhuanxu and placed under Lin Feng’s care. He reports what he witnessed, though Zhuanxu already understands that loss of control and death are common in this place.

Significant themes

• Understanding as power: Defining and studying nature may be the first step toward controlling or using it.
• The danger of imposing order: Zhuanxu’s theory depends on adding humanly comprehensible concepts—such as time and space—to something that has neither.
• Nature’s instability and scale: Nature can corrupt, overwhelm, and apparently merge with other forces, raising the frightening possibility that it could become vastly more powerful.
• Knowledge amid danger: The characters continue investigating despite injury and the likelihood of death, treating discovery as worth the risk.

Key plot points

• Lin Feng and Shi enter a dangerous “natural environment” formed from entangled forces. Zhuanxu creates a moving pocket of space to shield them, but lightning leaks through while thunderclaps continue to harm them.
• Zhuanxu explains that different forms of nature have mixed together and been confined in one place. The resulting danger is greater toward the center, while weaker forms seep outward. Someone has given these forces the concept of “space,” and Zhuanxu wants Lin Feng to study how it was done as a model for future work.
• On the normal timeline in the Eastern Han, Libationer Green Mountain returns from an unsuccessful search of the Underworld Bureau. He senses history changing and discovers that memories connected to his creation of the Qingshan Game Console are being rewritten.
• Convinced that an unknown Historian has altered the heavenly mandate, Green Mountain leaves to investigate. Zhang Daoling, alarmed by his urgency, gives him his reserved talismanic seals for protection.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng struggles to remain conscious and protect Shi from the lightning, while trying to understand Zhuanxu’s explanation.
• Shi is overwhelmed by the thunderclaps and can barely stand; Lin Feng supports and shields him.
• Zhuanxu remains composed and instructional, treating the perilous environment as a chance to learn from an earlier practitioner’s work.
• Libationer Green Mountain shifts from routine investigation to urgent concern as he realizes the timeline is changing. He consults Zhang Daoling before setting out.
• Zhang Daoling responds with practical support, sacrificing his last reserve of talismans because Green Mountain’s safety may affect his own path to the Dao.

Significant themes

• Nature and control: Different natural forces can combine, transform, and perhaps be controlled through one another.
• History’s instability: A change to the timeline can rewrite memories and threaten to set off consequences across the wider world.
• Learning from precedent: Zhuanxu stresses building on another person’s discoveries rather than losing the path already established.
• Responsibility and burden: Both Zhuanxu’s research and Green Mountain’s investigation carry consequences beyond the individuals involved.

Key plot points and events

• King Fa of Zhou lies gravely ill. His younger brother, Duke Dan, prays and offers himself as a sacrifice if Heaven will save him, though he knows little time has passed since Zhou’s victory for its new rites to restrain divine forces.
• The storm over Mount Qi recalls the gods of Yin-Shang, who watched Di Xin die without intervening. Their mere presence once nearly shattered Zhou’s army.
• The chapter explains the source of Yin-Shang’s power: their priests partitioned part of nature into a deity called “Di,” with ancestor gods serving as intermediaries. Sacrifice fed this system, but the dead gods gradually lost their humanity and became more like nature itself.
• Ji Chang’s imprisonment and study of divination led to a revelation—later associated with King Wen’s Divination—that gave him knowledge and confidence to oppose Shang. He nevertheless refused to use power to prolong his own life.
• Tai Gongwang returns with a plan to seek dangerous power at an abandoned site in Shuzhong, hoping to save King Fa. Duke Dan does not oppose him, despite understanding the risk.
• A figure falls from a lightning-riven sky and lands before Duke Dan. It bears a third eye and the Tapir-Faced Soaring Serpent Pattern. Its red eye takes control of the body, identified as a “Ritual Vessel.”

Character developments and interactions

• Duke Dan is shown as devout but clear-eyed: he fears the gods’ power, yet refuses to panic at the storm and remains willing to risk forbidden means to save his brother.
• Ji Chang is remembered as both a visionary strategist and a man who rejected immortality, unwilling to become like Shang’s power-seeking ancestors.
• Tai Gongwang is prepared to gamble with dangerous, ancient power for King Fa’s sake. His plan places him at odds with Zhou’s efforts to establish a new order, though Duke Dan allows it.
• Duke Dan and King Fa are bound by intense familial loyalty: Duke Dan’s prayers and willingness to sacrifice himself center on his brother’s survival.
• The chapter ends with the mysterious eye taking control, introducing a new supernatural threat or force into the crisis.

Significant themes

• The cost of power: Yin-Shang’s divine system is effective but feeds on death and ultimately strips the gods of their humanity.
• Faith versus knowledge: Duke Dan prays to Heaven while understanding that the powers behind Shang’s gods are not simple benevolent deities.
• Sacrifice and political order: Zhou seeks to replace Shang’s system with ritual restraint, yet King Fa’s illness tempts its leaders to use the very kind of power they oppose.
• Humanity and legacy: Ji Chang accepts death rather than preserve himself unnaturally, valuing remembrance over continued existence.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng’s lifeless bronze body falls from the sky onto Mount Qi. The clouds clear, but its unnatural form and power terrify the soldiers and Duke Dan of Zhou.
• The body emits red light, strange incantations, and five musical tones associated with the “Land God’s Six Tones”; five additional arms have appeared on it. Duke Dan recognizes the bronze as connected to forbidden artifacts from Xia and Shang.
• Duke Dan recalls that Di Xin had gathered relics from tombs and attempted forbidden, death-related rituals. Shang survivors—among them Wu Geng and Wei Zi—had feared the bronze fragments so deeply that Duke Dan sealed them away after divination.
• Unsure what the fallen figure means, Duke Dan performs another divination and orders it taken away.
• Libationer Green Mountain arrives and encounters the aged Tai Gongwang, who asks how long King Wang Fa has to live. Green Mountain says two years.
• Tai Gongwang explains that Wang Fa had once resolved not to use power to prolong his life, following his father’s final wish. But after waking from unconsciousness several times, he seemed to change his mind. Tai Gongwang sensed a disturbance in time and asks Green Mountain whether he is responsible.

Character developments and interactions

• Duke Dan of Zhou is shaken by the bronze figure but responds cautiously, relying on divination rather than force. His memories reveal his awareness of Shang’s terrifying sacrificial practices.
• Tai Gongwang remains committed to letting life run its course and keeping his inherited knowledge private. His concern about Wang Fa’s altered decision brings him into direct conversation with Green Mountain.
• King Wang Fa, though absent, is revealed to be wavering between accepting death and using power to survive.
• Green Mountain answers Tai Gongwang’s question about Wang Fa’s remaining lifespan, then faces suspicion over the temporal disturbance.
• The soldiers and former Shang nobles react with fear, emphasizing that the bronze is more frightening to those who know its history.

Significant themes

• The danger of forbidden power: The bronze relics and Di Xin’s rituals are linked to calamity and attempts to cross the boundary between life and death.
• Mortality and choice: Wang Fa’s possible change of heart contrasts with Tai Gongwang’s acceptance of death and his refusal to use power to extend life.
• History’s lingering consequences: The Zhou victory has not erased Shang’s supernatural legacy; its artifacts continue to threaten the present.
• Knowledge and restraint: Duke Dan chooses caution, while historians such as Tai Gongwang keep their secrets and avoid interfering with forces they may not control.

Key plot points

• Libationer Green Mountain arrives intending to remove Lin Feng, who has fallen into the past, but realizes the time disturbances are unrelated to him and that Tai Gongwang may know more than he does.
• Tai Gongwang stops Green Mountain from interfering. He believes Lin Feng’s arrival is already part of history and argues that events should be allowed to unfold naturally.
• Tai Gongwang explains that Duke Dan of Zhou is capable of handling the situation. He also recalls that a remnant of Yin-Shang power was inadvertently retained during the effort to deal with the Mount-Viewing Kiln, giving Ji Dan unusually powerful divination.
• Duke Dan carries the unconscious Lin Feng from Mount Qi and travels alone. Green Mountain follows, discovering that the carriage is heading not to Haojing but to the concealed site of Ji Chang’s former palace.
• The palace is protected by an ancient spatial lock, which confounds Green Mountain and seems designed to hide its secrets from the gods. Ji Dan enters with Lin Feng, while Green Mountain remains outside.
• Green Mountain burns a talisman given to him by Zhang Daoling. It reveals a bewildering array of overlapping scenes from the palace’s past and present, leaving him unsure whether to enter.

Character developments and interactions

• Green Mountain shifts from confidence in his mission to wary uncertainty. He still follows Ji Dan, but cannot control events or even safely cross the palace’s threshold. His irreverent humor persists as he calls on Zhang Daoling’s talisman.
• Tai Gongwang demonstrates firm trust in his own judgment and in letting history proceed without intervention. He calmly restrains Green Mountain and shares what he knows about Ji Dan’s divination.
• Duke Dan of Zhou (Ji Dan) acts decisively and independently, carrying Lin Feng through the rain and bringing him to the hidden palace.
• Lin Feng remains unconscious and largely passive, yet his presence is treated by Tai Gongwang as an established part of history.
• Green Mountain and Tai Gongwang debate whether a Historian should intervene; Green Mountain then follows Ji Dan, while Tai Gongwang stays behind.

Significant themes

• Fate versus intervention: Tai Gongwang’s “let nature take its course” philosophy conflicts with Green Mountain’s instinct to remove an apparent disruption.
• History and causality: Lin Feng may be an outsider, yet his appearance seems woven into the events already destined to occur.
• Limits of knowledge and control: Green Mountain’s expertise cannot overcome the palace’s spatial defenses or explain its shifting scenes.
• Hidden power and memory: The ancient Yin-Shang techniques endure beyond their creators, shaping the present and concealing the past.

Plot points and events

• Libationer Green Mountain realizes that time-space around Ji Chang’s former palace has been deliberately balanced. Forcing entry could disrupt it, so he leaves to find an expert. He also suspects Duke Dan of Zhou’s claim that he is going to Haojing is a pretext.
• Duke Dan enters the palace carrying Lin Feng’s body. Inside are wells that appear to contain profound secrets, though he avoids looking into them.
• He recalls that his elder brother Bo Yikao once looked into a well at night and screamed in terror. Afterward, Bo Yikao seemed to have grown up overnight and joined their father in forbidding anyone from approaching the wells.
• Bo Yikao later went to Yin-Shang’s capital to secure Ji Chang’s release. With help from Su Daji, he found a way to influence the situation. But after Di Xin consulted the Ancestor God about appointing Ji Chang an earl, Bo Yikao was killed and sent back as a sacrificial “gift” to his father.
• Duke Dan also saw the well’s revelations. Ji Chang later explained that he had found the site after dreaming of a phoenix landing there. The well bore ancient writing, which he recognized as belonging to people who called themselves descendants of Fuxi and had eventually abandoned the place.

Character developments and interactions

• Libationer Green Mountain is cautious rather than reckless: recognizing that he cannot overcome the palace’s unusual defenses, he seeks a knowledgeable ally.
• Duke Dan of Zhou is portrayed as principled and resolute. Though his power could make people suspect him of seeking the throne, the passage stresses that he would not overturn the succession system he established.
• Bo Yikao changes after seeing the well, becoming grave and seemingly aware of an unavoidable future. He acts calmly in Yin-Shang, helps secure his father’s release, and accepts a fate he appears to anticipate.
• Ji Chang emerges as a man guided by visions and ancient knowledge; his account links the palace site and wells to the phoenix dream and the descendants of Fuxi.
• The memories connect father and sons through shared encounters with the wells: Ji Chang’s fear and warnings, Bo Yikao’s secret knowledge, and Duke Dan’s later understanding.

Significant themes

• Fate and foreknowledge: The wells reveal futures that characters cannot easily escape.
• Appearances and judgment: The poem about Duke Dan and Wang Mang warns that a person’s true character may only become clear over time.
• Sacrifice and political power: Bo Yikao’s death is used to secure a political outcome, showing the brutality of Yin-Shang’s rule.
• Ancient history and hidden knowledge: The wells, phoenix vision, and Fuxi descendants suggest that the palace conceals a deep, largely forgotten past.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng accompanies a recorded version of Zhuanxu through a realm overwhelmed by dangerous “nature.” Zhuanxu explains that Suirenshi, Fuxi, and Shennong once contained these forces with fire, nets, and medicine, preserving several centuries of stability. Their methods have now weakened.
• Zhuanxu says the forces have acquired space and time, making them possible to banish to a frozen realm outside both. Lin Feng recognizes this as connected to people and beings who vanished into oblivion, but expects Zhuanxu to handle the task.
• As Lin Feng is engulfed by the realm, blood-vessel-like threads spread over his body and threaten to turn him into an embodiment of untamed nature. His Heavenly Fire fades, and the Calamity Hound can do little to help.
• When Lin Feng asks what Zhuanxu is waiting for, Zhuanxu answers, “I’m waiting for you.” He reveals that Lin Feng’s condition is itself a form of nature—and that he has been preparing for this moment for years.
• Zhuanxu makes no attempt to save Lin Feng. Lin Feng and the Pottery Shard recording the history begin to disappear. In Green Mountain, the Historians witness the event but cannot interfere or even trace it.
• The Historians conclude that Lin Feng is inside hidden, severed histories associated with the Three Mounds and Five Canons.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng shifts from an observer hoping to learn from Zhuanxu into the target of Zhuanxu’s long-planned experiment or action. His physical and mental control steadily collapses, though Zhuanxu’s words briefly jolt him back to awareness.
• Zhuanxu first appears as a teacher explaining how ancient sages contained nature, but is revealed as calculating and personally invested in Lin Feng’s transformation. He calmly watches Lin Feng disappear.
• The Historians are shown to be immensely powerful yet unable to affect events at the highest level. They can only observe the Pottery Shard’s disappearance and discuss Lin Feng’s fate.

Significant themes

• Control versus nature: Ancient methods can contain dangerous forces, but only temporarily; untamed nature remains capable of overwhelming individuals and civilizations.
• Knowledge and manipulation: Zhuanxu’s apparent lesson conceals a plan, making the record feel less like instruction and more like a trap.
• Limits of power and history: Even beings near the pinnacle cannot alter or follow histories that have been severed and hidden away.
• Identity and oblivion: Lin Feng risks becoming something other than himself, while disappearance into a realm beyond time and space is presented as both exile and erasure.

Key plot points

• In Green Mountain, Zou Yan asks why the erased stretch of history still exists and why its links to “nature” remain. Cangjie explains that removing that history might strip nature of important anchors, trigger its self-cleansing, and allow it to return unchecked. The group admits this is only a theory.
• The two scholars introduce themselves and begin debating whether nature would adapt after its first defeat. They do not intervene in Lin Feng’s ordeal: they believe he must gain the experience required of a Historian, and they cannot safely enter a severed stretch of history.
• At the hidden site beneath King Wen’s former palace, Duke Dan of Zhou studies visions left by Fuxi. He understands that his father, Ji Chang, used this strange realm to develop the Heavenly Trigrams—an attempt to model Heaven as a moral, protective authority.
• Duke Dan is continuing his father’s work by establishing orderly succession through primogeniture and creating the system that will become the Rites of Zhou. He has also foreseen the Shang remnants’ rebellion and Wu Geng’s connection to the Yin-Shang gods, but regards Lin Feng’s arrival as the crucial matter.
• Duke Dan takes Lin Feng to the well, then heads toward Haojing. When Libationer Green Mountain stops him, he says Lin Feng is safe, will return soon, and is following the necessary course of events. He directs the others to the Mount-Viewing Kiln, where he has left something for Lin Feng.
• Green Mountain and Xin Jia are left to decide whether to wait or seek the kiln. Xin Jia says he must return to Haojing and admits he knows little about the heavily restricted site.

Character developments and interactions

• Zou Yan shifts from confusion to understanding after Cangjie’s explanation, then joins him in an energetic intellectual discussion.
• Cangjie offers a cautious theory rather than certainty, reflecting the group’s limited understanding of nature.
• Duke Dan of Zhou emerges as a deliberate, forward-looking figure: he is shaping Zhou institutions while knowingly guiding Lin Feng through a dangerous but necessary stage.
• Libationer Green Mountain is frustrated by Duke Dan’s cryptic reassurances but must choose how to respond. Xin Jia stays practical and returns to Haojing.
• Green Mountain’s inhabitants collectively decide not to rescue Lin Feng, believing the dangers of intervening outweigh what they can know or control.

Significant themes

• The limits of knowledge and control: Nature cannot be predicted or prevented; its opponents can only react when it appears.
• History as both danger and necessity: Preserving a troubled stretch of time may keep nature anchored, while erasing it could undo past victories.
• Fate, experience, and responsibility: Lin Feng’s ordeal is treated as essential preparation for his role as a Historian.
• Order and legitimacy: Ji Chang’s vision of Heaven, and Duke Dan’s reforms, frame Zhou rule as morally justified and protected by a higher order.

Key plot points and events

• Xin Jia, an adaptable Yin-Shang Historian and remonstrating official, fled Di Xin’s court when the king’s harsh reforms and frequent sacrifices made Xin fear he might be killed. He later settled in Zhou, where he kept a low profile and avoided dangerous historical investigations.
• Libationer Green Mountain seeks Xin Jia’s help with Mount-Viewing Kiln. Xin refuses and escapes, leaving Green Mountain to go there himself, despite his dread of the place.
• Mount-Viewing Kiln is an ancient site where heavenly gods died. Their remains once supplied materials for sacred bronze vessels; later, the site was sealed after the creation of terrifying “living ritual vessels,” then reopened so Yin-Shang priests could suppress the creatures within.
• Lin Feng, conscious but unable to tell whether he is a body or an intention, is drawn into a vast, deathless entity through networks of blood vessels. Zhuanxu explains that this is an experiment intended to create a being present at every point in time—a possible defense against time itself awakening in response to repeated temporal resets.
• Lin Feng is pulled into Mount-Viewing Kiln. His decaying flesh is revitalized as its time synchronizes with the site, while the Thunderclap on him resonates with the lightning above.
• The Slender Ghost awakens and sees a flickering image of Lin Feng climbing toward the summit. Sensing that Mount-Viewing Kiln is changing, he realizes that the terrifying forces he had been unable to perceive were not hiding themselves: his own body had been shielding him from them.

Character developments and interactions

• Xin Jia is shown as practical and self-preserving rather than heroic: he trusts his ability to survive, refuses Green Mountain’s request, and flees without hesitation.
• Libationer Green Mountain is reluctant but feels responsible for investigating the kiln, partly because of Lin Feng and the succession he represents. His muttered worries about Celestial Master Zhang reveal both frustration and anxiety.
• Zhuanxu reveals the broader purpose behind the events: generations of Historians have been guided as part of a long effort to preserve a single timeline and prepare someone capable of existing across time.
• The Slender Ghost shifts from bewilderment to insight, recognizing that his former inability to inspect the kiln’s traces was an unconscious act of self-protection.

Significant themes

• Survival and self-preservation: Xin Jia’s escape and the Slender Ghost’s protective instincts show survival as a powerful, sometimes unconscious force.
• Time and historical continuity: Repeatedly severing and restarting time may provoke time itself to awaken and purge those manipulating it.
• Legacy and preparation: Historians and successive generations are shaped to pass knowledge forward and confront dangers no individual can fully understand.
• The limits of knowledge: Even powerful beings do not know what time is, while Mount-Viewing Kiln contains forces so immense that they were long hidden from perception.
• Life, death, and transformation: The kiln’s divine corpse, its revitalizing influence, and Lin Feng’s changing state blur the boundaries between life, death, and becoming.