Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• During curfew, Shen Leyan sneaks out in disguise to reach the Law Enforcement Hall, but gets lost in the mountains.
• He meditates in the unusually rich spiritual energy and breaks through to the Middle Qi Refining Realm, completing Xiao Du’s first quest. His reward is the dubious Playing Dead Method, which makes its user appear convincingly dead.
• Xiao Du sets a second quest: become someone’s disciple at the upcoming master selection assembly. The reward is three Universal Concealment Talismans.
• Shen Leyan smells blood and hears fighting nearby. While cautiously investigating, he is mistaken for a low-ranking member of the Peacock Gate, an assassin organization.
• An assassin reveals that the Peacock Gate is trying to kill Great Xia’s crown prince, Ji Lianyi, and that several Guardians are involved. One appears to have created a domain, making the ambush especially dangerous.
• Ji Lianyi breaks out of the domain, badly wounded, and staggers past Shen Leyan. Shen Leyan recognizes him and addresses him as “Your Highness.”

Character developments

• Shen Leyan grows stronger through his breakthrough and shows a cautious but compassionate streak: he approaches the disturbance intending to help if he can, while keeping escape and summoning aid in mind. He also improvises under pressure when the assassin mistakes him for an ally.
• Xiao Du resumes its role as a quest-giving system, providing Shen Leyan with a strange survival technique and a new goal.
• Ji Lianyi is introduced as resourceful but gravely injured, having escaped the assassins’ pursuit for the moment.

Significant themes

• Survival and caution: Shen Leyan weighs helping others against the danger of intervening.
• Chance and mistaken identity: His disguise and wrong turn place him in the middle of a deadly plot.
• Cultivation and self-improvement: The breakthrough marks tangible progress, though the system’s reward is more comical than powerful.
• Hidden threats and uncertain loyalties: The assassination on sect grounds raises questions about the Peacock Gate’s infiltration and possible connections within the Cloud Radiance Sect.

Character interactions

• Shen Leyan consults Xiao Du about his quests and rewards, though he doubts the usefulness of the Playing Dead Method.
• A Peacock Gate assassin mistakes Shen Leyan for a fellow recruit, gives him instructions, and inadvertently reveals the assassination plot.
• When the wounded Ji Lianyi emerges, Shen Leyan recognizes the crown prince and cautiously speaks to him, setting up their encounter.

Plot points and events

• Shen Leyan finds the badly wounded Crown Prince Ji Lianyi after he escapes a Peacock Gate barrier. Ji initially mistakes Shen for an assassin, but Shen convinces him he is not part of the gate and gives him a Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill.
• Ji explains that a spy lured him to the mountain with a false promise of an imperial decree; he killed the spy. He has endured frequent assassination attempts and suspects Shen of having little interest in the politics behind them.
• As Peacock Gate pursuers close in, Shen refuses to abandon Ji. He carries him toward the Cloud Radiance Sect and gives him a strange technique called the “Playing Dead Method.” When the assassins draw near, Ji urges Shen to escape alone.
• Shen runs but is caught inside a newly raised barrier. He returns to Ji, disguises himself, and pretends to be a junior Peacock Gate assassin who failed to kill the prince.
• The gate’s Chief Guardian orders Shen to finish Ji himself. Shen accepts a dagger and approaches Ji, leaving his true intentions uncertain at the chapter’s end.

Character developments

• Shen Leyan shows practical courage and compassion: despite his weak cultivation and reluctance to get involved in political danger, he repeatedly risks himself to help Ji.
• Ji Lianyi remains guarded and calculating, but reveals a willingness to sacrifice himself so Shen can escape. His composure and resilience complicate the rumors that he is merely a brutal tyrant.
• The Peacock Gate assassins are shown to be disciplined and cautious, using barriers and maintaining cover identities to prevent Ji’s escape.

Character interactions

• Shen and Ji trade wary, dryly humorous remarks while escaping. Shen offers help without asking for repayment; Ji questions his motives but ultimately accepts the pill and lets him carry him.
• Ji urges Shen to leave him behind, while Shen insists on trying to save him. Their mutual distrust persists, but their actions show growing regard.
• Once trapped with the assassins, Shen improvises a false identity. Ji recognizes him but keeps his expression controlled, while the assassins mistake him for one of their own.

Significant themes

• Conscience versus self-preservation: Shen fears the consequences of involvement but cannot bring himself to abandon a wounded person.
• Appearance versus reality: Ji differs from the rumors about him, and Shen’s apparent allegiance to the Peacock Gate is a dangerous disguise.
• Political power and betrayal: Ji’s position makes him a recurring target, with the assassination connected to a broader struggle within the imperial family.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Leyan, undercover among Peacock Gate assassins, must convince them he has killed the badly wounded crown prince, Ji Lianyi. He and Ji stage a convincing sword clash, and Ji collapses as if dead.
• The Peacock Gate Guardian believes the deception, praises Shen, and orders him to carry Ji’s “corpse” back to their stronghold.
• As the assassins near the Cloud Radiance Sect’s formation, a Confucian Grandmaster arrives with the Haoran Bell. Its power suppresses cultivators below Nascent Soul and particularly weakens the assassins.
• When patrols discover the attackers and the Guardian’s power falters, Shen volunteers to cover the group’s retreat. The grateful Guardian escapes with several assassins, leaving Shen and Ji behind.
• Shen confirms that Ji is alive. Ji reveals the Grandmaster, Ning Weimo, came not necessarily to save him, but to see whether he had died. She gives him medicine and departs to pursue the assassins.

Character developments

• Shen Leyan proves quick-thinking and resourceful, using careful acting and the “Playing Dead Method” to keep Ji alive while maintaining his cover. He also improvises a heroic sacrifice to get the Guardian to leave.
• Ji Lianyi cooperates in the ruse despite his serious injuries. His dry humor and wary attitude toward Ning Weimo reveal both composure and deep distrust.
• The Guardian is impressed by Shen’s apparent loyalty and courage, never realizing he has been deceived.
• Ning Weimo appears powerful and inscrutable; her formal deference to Ji contrasts with the ambiguous purpose of her visit.

Significant themes

• Deception and performance: Shen and Ji survive by convincingly playing roles, while Shen must conceal his true allegiance.
• Trust and suspicion: Ji trusts Shen enough to participate in the plan, but distrusts Ning Weimo’s motives and refuses her direct treatment.
• Irony and mistaken assumptions: The Guardian interprets Shen’s actions as loyal service, while Shen privately mocks the situation and struggles to keep his cover intact.
• Political complexity: Ji’s relationship with Ning Weimo hints at tense, layered dynamics within the imperial court.

Character interactions

• Shen and Ji silently coordinate their staged fight, with Ji giving a subtle nod before collapsing.
• The Guardian praises Shen, accepts his offer to cover the retreat, and leaves him behind with Ji.
• After the danger passes, Shen checks on Ji and helps him take the medicine.
• Ji warns Ning Weimo not to suspect Shen, citing his connection to Sect Master Lu; Ning responds diplomatically before leaving.

Key plot points and events

• After the assassination attempt, Shen Leyan accompanies the injured crown prince, Ji Lianyi, back to his residence. He declines further involvement, and Ji promises no one will disturb him.
• Shen sleeps through the day and wakes covered in black sludge from an apparent cultivation breakthrough or purification.
• Lu Yuanyi, Qingli, and the injured Chen Jing are waiting for him. Shen recounts how he encountered Ji, was mistaken for a Peacock Gate assassin, and helped stage the crown prince’s death to fool the attackers.
• Shen fears that Ning Weimo, a powerful Confucian Dao grandmaster who may have recognized him, could expose him or offer him to the assassination plot’s mastermind. Lu explains that Ning supports the Third Prince and might help the real conspirators, though the Third Prince himself was not behind the attack.
• Lu proposes killing Ning to remove the threat. Shen instead argues that Ning is unlikely to risk provoking the Cloud Radiance Sect over an insignificant disciple; a warning should be enough to keep her quiet.
• Lu points out that this protection may not last if the Immortal-Demon War begins. Shen takes the Jiangxue Sword and insists he intends to grow strong enough to protect himself—and the Cloud Radiance Sect—rather than rely on others.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Leyan moves from anxious exhaustion and fear of being targeted toward resolve. He uses calm reasoning to discourage Lu from immediately killing Ning, then asserts his ambition to become capable of protecting himself and the sect.
• Lu Yuanyi shows unusual concern: he erased witnesses’ memories, reassures Shen, and soothes his anxiety with spiritual power. His readiness to kill Ning reveals his fierce protectiveness, while his warning about war underscores the danger ahead.
• Ji Lianyi briefly drops his tyrant’s façade when alone with Shen, then resumes it before his guards, berating them for failing to detect the spy. He remains grateful and promises to keep Shen out of the aftermath.
• Chen Jing and Qingli listen to Shen’s account with alarm and sympathy. Their reactions highlight both the danger Shen faces and the contrast between his practical restraint and Lu’s lethal solution.

Significant themes

• Protection versus independence: Shen appreciates Lu’s support but wants to become strong enough to survive without depending on it.
• The cost of peace and the approach of war: Lu’s warning makes Shen recognize that danger may extend beyond this assassination attempt.
• Power, loyalty, and political risk: Ning’s possible role shows how personal safety can become entangled in the struggle for the throne.
• Found family and commitment: Shen’s promise to protect the Cloud Radiance Sect turns his concern for Lu and his companions into a deliberate goal.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Weimo pursues the Peacock Gate assassins who fled after the Haoran Bell’s glow vanished. She kills the entire group, explaining that Sect Master Lu’s intervention leaves her no choice if she is to protect the identity of his beloved disciple.
• Ji Lianyi recovers in private. He rejects an attendant sent by the empress, recognizing them as a watcher, and refuses to let them dictate how he handles Shen Leyan. Though he acts coldly, he admits to himself that he cannot drag Shen into his troubles.
• October brings the Cloud Radiance Sect’s Apprenticeship Ceremony. Shen Leyan spends his days cultivating, while Qingli works exhausting shifts testing applicants’ spiritual roots. Chen Jing has recovered enough to cultivate again, though his damaged spiritual root slows him down; Zheng Ziheng remains away in the capital.
• Shen has not chosen a master. The night before the ceremony, he shares wine with Qingli and Chen Jing. They get drunk and fall asleep, expressing their wishes: Qingli wants to quit her work, while Chen Jing hopes Zheng will return.
• Several elders independently try to recruit Shen. Yan Shi of Beast Taming Peak gives him a Pegasus and supplies; Xuanji of the Nine Stars Pavilion presents divination tools; Qian Yun of Luoxiang Hall offers to make Shen his successor in business. Shen is bewildered and plans to return the gifts, but asks Qian Yun to sell him hangover soup.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Weimo shows decisive loyalty to Sect Master Lu and his disciple, using the Haoran Bell to eliminate the assassins.
• Ji Lianyi reveals distrust of the imperial court and a protective concern for Shen, even as he keeps his plans secret.
• Shen Leyan remains focused on cultivation and avoids seeking status or a master, responding to the elders’ lavish recruitment offers with bafflement and practical concerns.
• Chen Jing has regained the ability to cultivate and remains hopeful that Zheng Ziheng will mentor him.
• Qingli is worn down by her workload, but shares a warm, teasing friendship with Shen and Chen Jing.
• The elders’ awkward, competing recruitment attempts create a comic contrast with Shen’s reluctance to commit to any path.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and protection: Ning’s actions and Ji’s private resolve revolve around shielding someone important, though at considerable personal risk.
• Distrust and hidden agendas: Ji sees the attendant’s imperial assignment as surveillance and insists on controlling his own affairs.
• Choice and vocation: As the ceremony approaches, Shen faces multiple possible masters and futures without yet knowing which to choose.
• Humor amid danger and pressure: The chapter balances the deadly aftermath of the assassination plot with lighthearted scenes of overworked friends and eager elders.

Plot points and events

• After a long night, Shen Leyan wakes his drunken friends Chen Jing and Qingli with hangover soup. They notice the Pegasus, books, and herbs he has acquired and accuse him of secretly getting rich; he claims Elder Yan Shi left them.
• The next morning, Shen heads to the Apprenticeship Ceremony with the gifts he plans to return. At breakfast, he meets Sect Master Lu Yuanyi, who quickly sees through his vague story about having “found” the items.
• Shen worries the elders will be punished for giving him gifts. Lu says they probably will not be, and points out that accepting gifts does not determine the ceremony’s outcome. He gives Shen a modest red jade pendant, which Shen accepts after confirming it is neither a magical artifact nor a storage device.
• Riding the Pegasus, Shen visits Beast Taming Peak and returns the animal and Elder Yan Shi’s other gifts. Yan Shi is disappointed but hides it behind his stammer and lets Shen borrow the Pegasus to reach the ceremony. Shen offers to visit and help care for the spirit beasts.
• Shen returns Elder Xuanji’s divination tools at Nine Stars Pavilion. Xuanji had confidently predicted Shen would arrive as a gifted new junior, but the return of the tools leaves Xuanji’s disciples upset that their master had refused to lend those same items to them.
• Shen reaches the Martial Arts Training Ground just before the ceremony begins. The elders are gathered with Sect Master Lu, while participants prepare to compete. Some disciples notice that Yan Shi and Xuanji look unusually unhappy.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Leyan remains honest, considerate, and determined to earn recognition fairly. He refuses to accept valuable gifts without first competing, and takes pains to return them while sparing the elders embarrassment.
• Lu Yuanyi shows perceptiveness and quiet generosity. He teases Shen for his poor lying, reassures him about the elders, and gives him a practical, low-value pendant. Their easy breakfast conversation suggests growing familiarity.
• Elder Yan Shi is socially anxious and clearly hoped Shen would choose him as a master, but accepts the return of his gifts graciously. He allows Shen to keep borrowing the Pegasus.
• Elder Xuanji is confident in his divination, but his disciples’ complaints reveal his reluctance to share valuable tools with them. Shen’s arrival exposes this awkwardness.
• Chen Jing and Qingli remain close friends who are amused—and suspicious—of Shen’s sudden collection of expensive-looking possessions.

Significant themes

• Merit over favoritism: Shen wants to compete before choosing a master rather than benefit from gifts.
• Honesty and integrity: His weak excuses are easily exposed, but his intentions are sincere.
• Generosity, rivalry, and disappointment: The elders’ gifts reveal their interest in recruiting Shen, while his impartiality frustrates them.
• Humor through contrast: The elders’ dramatic hopes and grievances sit alongside Shen’s earnest attempts to return things and avoid trouble.

Plot points and events

• Before the ceremony, the elders complain that Sect Master Lu Yuanyi gave Shen Leyan a peace pendant. Lu calmly reveals that Shen refused their gifts, leaving the elders irritated by his effortless one-upmanship.
• The sect holds its formal sacrificial ceremony, then announces a points-based Apprenticeship Tournament. Winners advance and earn points that can be exchanged for rewards; elders may also recruit impressive competitors as disciples.
• Contestants may use standardized weapons but not pills, personal artifacts, poison, hidden weapons, or killing blows. Crucially, there are no breaks between matches, making endurance and Spiritual Power management important.
• Shen draws Platform Seven, Number One, and faces Number Eight, a strong but inexperienced fighter wielding two heavy hammers. Shen avoids direct confrontation, conserving his energy until his exhausted opponent surrenders after nearly an hour.
• Chen Jing survives his first match but gets part of his hair burned off. Shen teases him with a sketch of a “Mediterranean bald spot,” then urges him to meditate and offers to replenish his Spiritual Power.
• The second round is announced as a four-person free-for-all on each platform. Contestants may form alliances. Two people on Shen’s platform team up; Shen and another contestant remain independent. The round begins.

Character developments

• Shen Leyan shows composure, tactical patience, and an awareness that the tournament rewards endurance as much as strength. He avoids wasting Spiritual Power, but recognizes that his lack of offensive techniques and unfamiliarity with the other contestants make alliances difficult.
• Chen Jing is anxious about his singed hair and his appearance before Senior Brother Zheng. His damaged Spiritual Root also makes it harder for him to recover, prompting Shen to offer help.
• Lu Yuanyi remains calm and understated, while his effortless handling of the elders’ complaints reinforces his confidence and authority.
• Number Eight is courteous and good-natured, but stubbornly tries to keep fighting until his strength gives out.

Character interactions

• Lu’s exchange with the elders turns their concern over Shen’s pendant into a comic display of his composure.
• Shen and Number Eight begin politely, then clash in a prolonged contest of brute strength against evasive movement. Shen declines to surrender, and his opponent eventually concedes.
• Shen comforts and jokes with Chen Jing, whose worry over his hair gives way to laughter before he returns to fretting about his appearance.
• As the second round approaches, contestants debate whether alliances are useful or risky. Shen chooses not to join one, wary of trusting strangers whose goals conflict with his own.

Significant themes

• Endurance and discipline: The no-rest format tests persistence and resource management, not just immediate power.
• Strategy over brute strength: Shen’s careful evasion defeats an opponent with greater raw force.
• Trust and competition: The free-for-all encourages temporary alliances while making betrayal and self-interest unavoidable concerns.
• Mentorship and recognition: Tournament performance can attract a master, but choosing and training disciples carries serious responsibility.

Plot points and events

• Shen Leyan’s third-round platform match begins with two allied contestants attacking him together. Rather than meet their swords directly, he uses the Azure Shadow Profound Art to evade them and wears down their Spiritual Power.
• Shen Leyan sows suspicion between the allies, taunting them about holding back and the risk of betrayal. Once both are exhausted, they turn on each other, allowing Shen to conserve his strength.
• The Thunder-Metal dual-rooted contestant wins that fight but is badly depleted. Shen Leyan defeats him by exploiting his weakness. The frustrated contestant breaks down crying, but a bearded elder recognizes his talent and takes him as a disciple. He vows to beat Shen in a rematch.
• The ceremony’s final round requires the remaining contestants to enter the Boundless Gate, a costly magical treasure that creates illusions from their deepest fears. Those who lose their composure are expelled and eliminated.
• Shen worries that the Gate may reveal his vivid memories of the Immortal-Demon War, making his experience difficult to explain. As he enters, Sect Master Lu Yuanyi removes the screen showing Shen’s trial, saying he will watch over him personally. Lu also orders the crown prince’s screen concealed to protect imperial secrets.

Character developments

• Shen proves resourceful, patient, and physically resilient. His evasiveness and psychological tactics compensate for his weaker cultivation, though the prolonged running leaves him exhausted.
• The defeated swordsman moves from anger to helpless tears, then quickly to joy when offered the chance to study under an elder. His promise to challenge Shen again shows his determination.
• Lu Yuanyi’s quiet intervention suggests a particular interest in Shen and a willingness to protect his privacy.

Significant themes

• Strategy over strength: Shen wins by endurance, mobility, and exploiting his opponents’ mistrust rather than overpowering them.
• Fragile alliances and self-interest: The two contestants’ partnership collapses once Shen makes them doubt each other.
• Confronting inner fears: The Boundless Gate tests not martial ability but emotional composure, with uncertain effects on each contestant.
• Privacy and hidden pasts: Shen fears his memories will expose something unusual, while Lu’s decision to conceal his trial—and the crown prince’s—highlights the importance of secrets.

Character interactions

• Shen alternates between taunting and advising the two allies, ultimately steering them into fighting one another.
• After defeating the exhausted swordsman, Shen offers wound medicine; the opponent rejects the offer, but their exchange ends with a friendly promise of a rematch.
• Elders comment on Shen’s unusual approach and the other contestant’s talent. Lu Yuanyi’s decision to watch Shen privately sets him apart from the other candidates.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Leyan emerges into a Boundless Gate vision of the Cloud Radiance Sect during its catastrophic invasion by demons. He finds the sect devastated but cannot locate Lu Yuanyi.
• He overhears a masked man with a red-flowered Oil-Paper Umbrella—Bai Licheng—claim that Lu Yuanyi is still alive and vows to kill him within three days.
• Shen recognizes Bai as the traitor responsible for the invasion and Lu Yuanyi’s eventual fall into demonhood. Since Bai is far too powerful to confront directly, Shen decides to find Lu first and warn him.
• Bai discovers a teleportation array hidden in Cicada Song Pavilion and enters it. Shen follows, arriving in Myriad-Fathom Cliff, a snowy world contained within a magical artifact.
• While Bai searches the distant peaks and destroys a mountaintop in frustration, Shen reasons that Lu would have chosen a nearby cave rather than a remote location. After hours of searching, he finds the cave.
• Lu’s sword, Jiangxue, initially attacks Shen but recognizes him. Shen explains the crisis and persuades the sword to let him enter and wake Lu, warning it to keep Bai out.

Character developments

• Shen Leyan remains frightened and physically unprepared, but acts decisively: he braves the ruined sect, follows Bai into danger, and relies on his knowledge of Lu’s personality to locate the cave.
• Bai Licheng is revealed as a long-lived infiltrator whose revenge and alliance with the demons helped destroy the sect and trigger Lu’s downfall. His temper shows when his search fails.
• Jiangxue Sword shifts from guarding Lu’s seclusion to trusting Shen’s warning and helping him reach its master.
• Lu Yuanyi remains unconscious or meditating in seclusion at the chapter’s end, unaware that the attack and threat are approaching.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus power: Shen cannot defeat Bai physically, so his understanding of the story and Lu’s habits becomes his advantage.
• Intervening in fate: Shen hopes to prevent the tragedy he knows is supposed to unfold.
• Trust and urgency: Jiangxue must weigh the risks of interrupting Lu’s cultivation against the greater danger of letting Bai reach him.
• Illusion and reality: Though the events occur inside the Boundless Gate, the world feels physically real and emotionally consequential.

Character interactions

• Shen secretly overhears Bai and a demon soldier, learning Bai’s identity and intentions.
• Bai treats the soldier with contempt and kills him while revealing the hidden teleportation array.
• Shen appeals to Jiangxue, explaining the invasion and Bai’s plan; after initial hesitation, the sword opens the cave and agrees to defend Lu.

Shen Leyan finds Lu Yuanyi in secluded cultivation and wakes him by pinching and tugging at him. Lu Yuanyi threatens to punish him for the interruption, but quickly notices how cold Shen Leyan is and wraps him in a warm fox-fur cloak. Shen Leyan explains that Bai Licheng is pursuing them after the attack on Cloud Radiance Sect. Lu Yuanyi’s killing intent freezes the cave, but his cultivation has recovered only to about thirty percent, so he tries to send Shen Leyan away. Shen refuses to leave him behind.
Bai Licheng soon reaches Myriad-Fathom Cliff, revealing that Shen’s arrival helped him find Lu. He threatens to kill Shen in front of Lu and drive Lu into demonhood, while the Other Shore Flowers spread through the cave and drain its spiritual power. Lu shields Shen, then begins trying to recover his strength. Shen and the Jiangxue Sword’s flood-dragon spirit hold Bai off. Shen exhausts his spiritual power resisting the flower petals, but breaks through his cultivation bottleneck in desperation, replenishes his power, and renews his attack despite the severe pain. He defiantly claims he will kill Bai himself.
Outside the cave, the battle causes a huge disturbance in the heavens. At the Cloud Radiance Sect, the Boundless Gate twists and the Mind-Peering Demon core inside it panics, warning that the fighting may violate the Heavenly Dao. Lu Yuanyi orders the gate closed early. The chapter returns to the confrontation: Bai easily hurls Shen into the cave wall, leaving him badly injured and unable to match the difference in their cultivation. As Bai approaches to kill him, Shen realizes his earlier bravado was premature.
Character developments and interactions: Shen’s loyalty to Lu is clear: he refuses to abandon him and risks his health and cultivation to buy him time. His fear and self-doubt coexist with stubborn courage and sharp-tongued defiance. Lu is protective and attentive despite his cold manner, but his weakened state leaves Shen exposed. Bai is openly vengeful and manipulative, using both threats against Shen and accusations about Lu’s past to disrupt Lu’s recovery. The Jiangxue Sword’s spirit fights alongside Shen and protects him when he is struck.
Themes: The chapter contrasts loyalty and self-sacrifice with vengeance; explores the cost of courage when power is unequal; and builds suspense around Lu’s recovery and the mysterious, world-shaking consequences of Shen’s battle.