Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Lin Bai takes over the Returning Dragon Temple and renames it the Righteousness Sect. He keeps its Taoists alive and in their posts, but makes clear that resistance will be punished by sealing offenders into cards.
• The sect’s existing buildings instantly satisfy the Super Sect Master System’s construction quests, earning Lin Bai more than 500 Merit Points. The system then urges him to recruit disciples.
• Lin Bai decides to grow the Beggar Gang and Righteousness Sect together, admitting promising Beggar Gang members to the new sect rather than transferring everyone.
• He orders the Taoists to prepare for the arrival of over a thousand Beggar Gang disciples, who will become the sect’s first priority for training.
• Players enthusiastically alter the temple to match Lin Bai’s preferences, even damaging inscriptions and buildings. The former temple disciples resent the changes but fear Lin Bai too much to object.
• Lin Bai experiments with the temple’s cultivation manuals. The Returning Dragon Art sends spiritual power to Daoist Void and Qingyu, who are sealed as card characters, strengthening them instead of Lin Bai. He cannot grasp the Ascending Dragon Method and gives up.
• The Beggar Gang’s Flying Shuttles arrive. Jiang Yuru recognizes that Lin Bai has defeated the Returning Dragon Temple alone and notes that her Words Become Law cultivation has stalled again.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai shows himself to be pragmatic and controlling: he avoids killing the Taoists, expecting their resentment to fade as they adapt, but uses threats to ensure obedience. He also worries about players turning against him and treats them as a greater long-term danger than NPCs.
• The temple’s Taoists remain grief-stricken and hostile, especially as players dismantle their old home. Daokong and Daojing privately ask Qingyu how he regained his senses; Qingyu explains that Lin Bai restored them while retaining control over his actions. Qingyu agrees to try to persuade Lin Bai to restore Daoist Void’s awareness.
• The players, especially [Long Xi] and other Beggar Gang members, eagerly embrace the new sect, hoping its manuals and Lin Bai’s favor will help them advance.
• Jiang Yuru reacts with shock at the temple’s fall, then returns to frustration over her stalled cultivation.

Significant themes

• Power, coercion, and survival: Lin Bai presents the takeover as merciful, but the Taoists’ obedience is enforced by fear.
• Competing interests: Lin Bai believes alliances depend on mutual benefit, while his concern about players reveals how unstable those alliances may be.
• System-driven irony: The system rewards Lin Bai for taking over a fully built sect, reinforcing the villainous path he claims it pushes him toward.
• Unequal paths to growth: Players can learn skills quickly, while Lin Bai struggles with slow, solitary cultivation and considers relying on teaching systems and disciples for advancement.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai makes the Returning Dragon Temple’s leaders wear wooden name placards so players can identify them. The players find the arrangement amusing, while the Taoists are embarrassed.
• After arriving, the players bombard Lin Bai, the temple’s Taoists, and other named characters with extravagant compliments. They are continuing to cultivate Words Become Law, a technique that rewards persistent speech.
• Lin Bai abruptly tells them to stop, claiming their method is wrong. When they obey, he reveals that their technique was correct: their willingness to abandon it at his instruction shows insufficient resolve. The players resent the interruption, but become even more determined to pursue the skill.
• Lin Bai rebukes the Beggar Gang for relying on him and failing to protect him, warning that the Five Evil Sects and other enemies may retaliate. He insists the gang must act as his “protector” and clean up the consequences of his actions.
• He announces that the former temple will become the Righteousness Sect’s Outer Sect. He will select 500 Beggar Gang members for training, with advancement into the Inner Sect based on merit. Qingyu will assign teachers and teach them the former temple’s techniques, which Lin Bai now claims as Righteousness Sect property.
• Lin Bai explains that competition and selective access will motivate growth. The players privately plan to share techniques and exploit gaps in his system, while Lin Bai believes that resources—and his own presence—will keep them dependent on him.
• Jiang Yuru cautiously approaches Lin Bai and agrees to cooperate. Lin Bai describes Daoist Void as having voluntarily surrendered the temple and become his bodyguard, disguising his own role in the takeover. Jiang Yuru accepts the story and respectfully bows to Void; Peng Ze, Sun Lie, and Zhao Ao follow her lead.

Character developments

• Lin Bai acts as a manipulative, assertive leader: he deliberately tests the players’ resolve, disciplines them, and turns the temple’s defeat into an opportunity to expand his sect. He also presents his conquest as a peaceful transfer of power.
• The players remain playful and irreverent toward NPCs, but their frustration with Lin Bai’s manipulation strengthens their determination to master Words Become Law. They also start thinking strategically about organizing and sharing techniques.
• Jiang Yuru demonstrates political caution and adaptability. Rather than challenge Lin Bai, she publicly accommodates him to protect Hundred Flowers Valley.
• Peng Ze, Sun Lie, and Zhao Ao imitate Jiang Yuru’s tact. Zhao Ao, in particular, realizes that navigating social situations may offer insight into worldly cultivation.
• Qingyu and the temple’s Taoists are unsettled by Lin Bai’s authority and by the loss of their institution’s identity and techniques.

Significant themes

• Power and control: Lin Bai tries to shape both the players’ behavior and the institutions under his command.
• Persistence and conviction: The Words Become Law episode frames resolve as essential, though Lin Bai’s test is deliberately deceptive.
• Competition versus cooperation: Lin Bai favors hierarchy and selective advancement; players expect to bypass restrictions by sharing knowledge.
• Adaptation and political survival: Jiang Yuru and the others choose accommodation when direct resistance seems dangerous.
• Absurdity and blurred boundaries: The players treat a serious takeover like a game, while Lin Bai treats them as real subordinates.

Character interactions

• Lin Bai embarrasses the temple leaders with name placards, then frustrates the players by interrupting their cultivation.
• He confronts the players over their dependence on him and assigns them responsibilities within the Beggar Gang and Righteousness Sect.
• Qingyu questions whether the former temple’s techniques will be taught; Lin Bai insists they now belong to his new sect.
• Jiang Yuru and Lin Bai exchange polite but politically charged courtesies. She endorses his account of Daoist Void’s surrender, and the others copy her respectful gesture.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yuru and several sect representatives question Lin Bai about his plans for the Righteousness Sect. He claims he intends to pursue stability, but says he will achieve it by beating his enemies into submission.
• When the others hesitate to promise support against the Five Evil Sects, Lin Bai threatens to join those very sects if necessary. Their warnings about isolation and danger do not unsettle him: he says he can flee, cultivate for years, and return for revenge.
• Lin Bai abruptly changes the subject and asks whether Jiang Yuru wants a Dao companion. She initially mistakes his interest for personal attraction, but he clarifies that he wants to arrange a match for her and help her understand the “Great Love Dao.”
• He reveals that his rapid rise in power comes not from ordinary cultivation but from comprehending laws. He describes Words Become Law as the means to define laws, the Law of Love as a power over marriage fate, and the Way of Deficiency as a method of glimpsing heaven’s secrets.
• Lin Bai says laws are unique: only one person can become the god who governs a given law at a time. He claims he has made these teachings public so someone can help counter the Heaven-Sent Ones, while his own ultimate aim is to become the Supreme God through Words Become Law.
• When Peng Ze accuses him of lying and questions his motives, Lin Bai argues that righteousness and evil are human distinctions, not restraints imposed by the Heavenly Dao. He says understanding the Dao requires facing one’s true inner thoughts.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai displays his usual audacity, pragmatism, and irreverence. He treats alliances as negotiable, jokes about fleeing danger, and pursues matchmaking partly to advance his system’s rewards. At the same time, he presents himself as a sincere guide to the cultivation of laws.
• Jiang Yuru tries to protect her sect’s interests with cautious, diplomatic answers. Lin Bai’s proposal embarrasses her, and she briefly enjoys thinking he finds her attractive before learning he meant to arrange a match. His revelations leave her increasingly puzzled and shaken.
• Zhao Ao and the other sect representatives begin by seeking information they can report to their sects. They are alarmed by Lin Bai’s threat to switch sides and later stunned by his explanation of laws and his extraordinary growth.
• Peng Ze is especially disturbed by the claim that cultivation has been misunderstood and that laws have exclusive divine rulers. His faith in established teachings falters, turning into anger and accusations.
• Little White Fox reacts uneasily to Lin Bai’s description of the Law of Love, hinting that the implications may affect it personally.

Significant themes

• Righteousness versus pragmatism: Lin Bai rejects conventional moral labels and prioritizes survival, ambition, and his own choices.
• Revolutionary knowledge and shaken beliefs: His account of laws challenges the cultivation world’s accepted understanding, leaving the listeners unsure whether to believe or resist it.
• Love as a path to power: Lin Bai presents pure, selfless love as necessary to comprehend marriage fate, while admitting that worldly interests and divided affections obstruct such understanding.
• Power, influence, and manipulation: His matchmaking efforts serve both an ostensible spiritual purpose and his personal system-driven goals, blurring sincerity with self-interest.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai explains his pursuit of the Heavenly Dao and argues that cultivating laws requires purity and selflessness. He says anyone with selfish desires cannot become the Heavenly Dao, and that sharing the methods is part of his path.
• He claims the Heaven-Sent Ones may be “outer heavenly demons” who could destroy the world, making it necessary for cultivators of the Heavenly Dao to rise and protect it. He also suggests the Righteousness Sect’s long seclusion may have hindered its progress.
• Lin Bai describes three laws: Words Become Law, the Way of Love, and the Way of Deficiency. He encourages others to explore laws suited to their own skills, while noting that crafts such as alchemy and artifact-making may also lead to great achievement.
• Jiang Yuru plans to report Lin Bai’s claims to her sect and seek help for the Righteousness Sect. Lin Bai asks her to share any breakthroughs in the Way of Love.
• Zhao Ao takes Lin Bai’s advice about combining the Way of Deficiency with swordsmanship and appears to find a direction for his own path.
• Jiang Yuru and the others agree to remain until the disciple recruitment ceremony and help escort surplus Beggar Gang disciples back to Qian City.
• After the visitors leave, Daojing warns that sharing the laws could put Lin Bai at risk. Lin Bai reassures him and promises that the Returning Dragon Temple’s leaders will eventually receive instruction from the Righteousness Sect’s elders.
• Little White Fox asks whether demons can cultivate laws and says she wants to bring her mother to join her. Lin Bai promises to take her home once the temple’s affairs are settled.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai presents himself as a selfless seeker of the Heavenly Dao, using grand ideas to establish authority and shape events. Privately, he also thinks strategically about how spreading the laws may advance his matchmaking-system goals and strengthen his sect.
• Jiang Yuru shifts from hostility to respect. Although she agrees to report Lin Bai’s situation, she privately doubts that anyone who masters the Way of Love would share the secret.
• Peng Ze and Sun Lie are unsettled by Lin Bai’s teachings but remain tempted to pursue laws, despite the slim odds.
• Zhao Ao responds enthusiastically to the Way of Deficiency, seeing how it might support his swordsmanship.
• Daojing and Daokong increasingly accept Lin Bai as their sect leader. Daojing remains concerned about Lin Bai’s safety, while both welcome the promise of future instruction from the Righteousness Sect.
• Little White Fox shows concern for her people and a desire to reunite with her mother. Lin Bai acknowledges that his own interests have kept her separated from her family.

Significant themes

• Different paths to cultivation: Lin Bai insists that farming, crafting, conventional cultivation, and law-comprehension need not be judged by the same standards.
• Selflessness versus self-interest: His account of the Heavenly Dao centers on purity and equality, though his own plans reveal a more strategic side.
• Knowledge and power: Sharing the methods may change the balance of power, but it also exposes Lin Bai to jealousy and danger.
• Cooperation and adaptation: The characters begin aligning their abilities and sects around new threats, while Lin Bai advocates both guarding against and making use of the Heaven-Sent Ones.
• Family and responsibility: Little White Fox’s wish to help the Demon Race broadens the chapter’s concerns beyond human sects.

Plot points and events

• Lin Bai’s players stage a lavish, chaotic recruitment ceremony at the former Returning Dragon Temple, turning it into the Righteousness Sect. Their adverts and performances promote everything from shampoo to personal-care products.
• The players form an Advertising Alliance with the Beggar Gang, both to earn money and to protect Lin Bai, whose disruptive actions are attracting enemies. Though they treat him as a useful NPC, they recognize his value to their plans.
• The sect’s recruitment and appointments rapidly complete several system missions, pushing Lin Bai’s merit points into five digits. A new mission asks him to make 100,000 people aware of the sect; he plans to use city advertising.
• After the ceremony, Jiang Yuru, Zhao Ao, and other leaders return to Qian City to warn their organizations that the cultivation world is changing.
• Lin Bai spends the next few days at the temple studying cultivation, alchemy, artifact refining, and farming. He urges Deng Libuduo to master the Dragon-Subduing Ten-Stroke Palm.
• Lin Bai inspects the temple’s spirit fields, activates a farming system, and assigns a player to investigate pill formulas. He takes up farming himself, earning tools and techniques—including the Spring Breeze and Rain Technique, which can summon rain to help plants grow.
• Lin Bai also struggles to complete a boasting mission. In the cultivation world, some of his outlandish claims may actually be possible, forcing him to make increasingly extravagant boasts before earning the Voice Transmission Technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai shifts from sect-building into farming and research, constantly seeking ways to exploit his systems. He begins considering how plant-related spells could be used offensively, especially against rival sects’ spirit fields.
• The players show their organizational skill and growing political ambition. They regard Lin Bai as a tool, but also protect him because their prosperity depends on him.
• Jiang Yuru, Zhao Ao, and other sect figures become alarmed by the pace of change and hurry home to alert their groups.
• Daojing and the temple’s Taoists gain a clearer sense of the Heaven-Sent Ones’ extraordinary learning speed—and of how essential the laws are to restraining them.
• Daoist Void is revealed as a talented talisman master whose skill helped his temple compete with larger sects. The temple’s other Taoists are less gifted, particularly in talisman work, alchemy, and artifact refining.

Significant themes

• Player power and institutional change: The players’ coordination is rapidly transforming the cultivation world, while traditional sects struggle to keep pace.
• Pragmatism and mutual benefit: Players protect Lin Bai not out of loyalty, but because he is valuable to their shared plans and income.
• Systems as tools for growth: Lin Bai turns recruitment, farming, and boasting into opportunities to gain skills and resources.
• The danger of unchecked talent: The Taoists fear that the Heaven-Sent Ones’ rapid progress could overwhelm ordinary cultivators if the laws did not restrain them.
• Innovation versus tradition: Lin Bai’s unconventional methods disrupt established sects and suggest new ways—even destructive ones—to wield cultivation techniques.

Key events

• Lin Bai reviews his active system tasks: farming, spreading the idea of imperfection, provoking someone with a sentence, gaining recognition for artifact refining, recruiting disciples, improving the Righteousness Sect’s reputation, and matchmaking.
• The Beggar Gang’s publicity campaign completes the sect-reputation task. The sect receives a Golden Light Formation, but it is costly to activate because Returning Dragon Temple lacks spirit stones.
• Lin Bai’s disassembly ability reaches a new level, letting him separate his own body into pieces without harm. His new imperfection task requires him to spread the concept without prescribing what people should think about it.
• Deng Libuduo masters the Dragon-Subduing Ten-Stroke Palm, raising Lin Bai’s teacher rank and allowing him to recruit more disciples. Lin Bai sees the promised cultivation-speed boost as most useful for trusted companions rather than unreliable players.
• Lin Bai decides that progress and fame are necessary for survival: he must keep completing tasks and growing stronger before he can hope for peace.
• He invites the bored Little White Fox to leave the farm with him and stir up trouble, then asks her to become his disciple. She initially refuses, confessing that she wants to marry him instead.
• Lin Bai gently rejects her romantic proposal, citing her youth and his existing relationship with Jiang Qingqin. To keep her close and increase her cultivation speed, he persuades her to become his disciple.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai is practical and ambitious, treating discipleship as a low-effort way to gain system rewards and help people he trusts. He also shows restraint in refusing Little White Fox’s advances despite being attracted to her.
• Little White Fox reveals romantic feelings for Lin Bai and briefly feels hurt by his rejection. She quickly agrees to become his disciple, though she remains impulsive and blunt.
• Lin Bai teaches her his opportunistic version of “virtue”: wrongdoing can be framed as righteous if it punishes a wrongdoer and serves a moral lesson. Little White Fox questions the logic but ultimately says she understands; Lin Bai even suggests she teach this approach to future disciples.

Significant themes

• Ambition and survival: Lin Bai believes stopping his rise means death, so peace must wait until he is powerful enough.
• Systems and instrumental relationships: Tasks shape Lin Bai’s choices, including his plan to recruit trusted companions as disciples for their benefits.
• Virtue and moral rationalization: Lin Bai presents morality as a means of justifying action, blurring the boundary between teaching righteousness and manipulating appearances.
• Affection and restraint: Little White Fox’s confession creates emotional tension, while Lin Bai’s concern about her age and his obligations tempers his attraction.

Key plot points and events

• After mastering the Dragon-Subduing Palm, Deng Libuduo asks Lin Bai for advanced or exclusive instruction. Lin Bai tells him to learn the same Ascending Dragon Art as everyone else, then deliberately provokes him with threats of expulsion and insults.
• Deng Libuduo swallows his anger and repeatedly begs to remain Lin Bai’s disciple, convinced the humiliation is a test. Lin Bai finally leaves, satisfied that the easily riled player is useful for his emotion-based tasks.
• The chapter describes the dull routine at the Returning Dragon Temple: players are stuck training, cannot fly or easily return to Qian City, and their livestream audiences are shrinking. Many have abandoned practicing Words Become Law, though they continue cultivating the Way of Deficiency by damaging their surroundings.
• The temple’s Taoists are also trying to master the new Laws. With little experience speaking warmly, they struggle with Words Become Law and turn to storybooks for conversational inspiration. The temple has become an absurd, chaotic place, with Lin Bai the main exception.
• Qingyu asks whether he and Madam Huaxi can cultivate the Law of Love. Lin Bai explains that, as puppets, they cannot. He refuses Qingyu’s request to restore his master Daoxu’s mind for now, preferring to keep him as a harmless, mindless bodyguard.
• Crazy Guy and Long Xi report that the Five Evil Sects have detained Beggar Gang members in Qian City, seized the Profound Ice Spring, and destroyed Lin Bai’s Artifact Refining Workshop. The sects demand Lin Bai come explain himself and threaten to keep killing or recruiting Beggar Gang disciples. The players privately welcome the crisis as a chance to escape the temple’s tedious cultivation.

Character developments and interactions

• Deng Libuduo clings to his disciple status despite feeling insulted, revealing both his pride and his willingness to endure humiliation for the status and benefits it brings.
• Lin Bai uses his composure and Words Become Law to intensify others’ emotions, treating the players’ eccentric behavior as an opportunity rather than a source of anger. He also chooses control and convenience over restoring Daoxu’s mind.
• Little White Fox mistakes Lin Bai’s cruelty toward Deng for encouragement, underscoring her trusting, uncomplicated view of him.
• Qingyu and Madam Huaxi respond to the denial of the Law of Love with affection and acceptance, frustrating Lin Bai’s attempt to provoke anger.
• Crazy Guy and Long Xi present their alarm publicly but are privately excited by the prospect of action; they hope the Five Evil Sects will force Lin Bai to act.

Significant themes

• Gaming and grind: The players’ boredom and declining audiences contrast with the natives’ fear of how quickly the players are progressing.
• Manipulation and emotional cultivation: Lin Bai turns anger, affection, and even routine interactions into material for his systems and tasks.
• Power and dependence: The players want Lin Bai to solve their problems, while Lin Bai expects them to take responsibility; the Taoists, meanwhile, rely on his strength to clean up the trouble he creates.
• Absurdity and adaptation: Both players and Taoists respond to their strange new cultivation environment in improvised ways, from damaging every nearby object to studying storybooks for warmer speech.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai convenes the Righteousness Sect’s leaders and player representatives after the Five Evil Sects detain Heaven-Sent Ones to force his submission.
• He frames the detentions as an attack on the sect and the Righteous Path, rallying the room to fight. The players eagerly back him, while the Returning Dragon Temple Taoists hesitate—especially because their practice of Words Become Law makes angry speech risky.
• Lin Bai advises the Taoists to communicate with notes or signs when speaking is difficult. Their gratitude and eagerness to master the new cultivation method provide comic relief.
• He declares that the sect must never abandon a member and that the coming battle must establish its reputation. Qingyu reports that about eighty golden-core cultivators can be mobilized.
• When Qingyu suggests caution because the Heaven-Sent Ones cannot truly die, Lin Bai rebukes him: treating immortality as a reason to sacrifice them would undermine the sect’s principles. He then threatens to trap Madam Huaxi in a card, revealing the hypocrisy behind his righteous rhetoric.
• Lin Bai admits the former temple members have little reason to risk themselves, and says their participation is mainly for show: he expects to face the Five Evil Sects largely alone.
• He explains that his power of laws is still developing and challenges the Taoists to overcome their petty ambitions if they hope to master it. His remarks lead the players to speculate that he intends to become the Heavenly Dao and may be the game’s final boss.
• Daojing questions whether Lin Bai can truly lack selfish motives. Lin Bai concedes that he has them but says he dares to face them. He then suggests Daojing pursue the “Great Love Dao,” prompting Daojing to embrace the idea and pledge himself to Lin Bai.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai presents himself as a fiercely principled leader while manipulating the room, threatening opponents, and turning the Taoists’ cultivation into a tool for his influence. His ambition to rise toward the Heavenly Dao becomes more apparent.
• Daojing shifts from frustration and uncertainty to renewed purpose. Lin Bai’s provocative advice—especially the suggestion to pursue love—helps him reinterpret his path, and he becomes Lin Bai’s devoted follower.
• Qingyu remains cautious and speaks up for prudence, but Lin Bai silences him with a threat involving Madam Huaxi. He later reflects on Lin Bai’s forceful ideal of protecting every disciple.
• Madam Huaxi becomes frightened by Lin Bai, sensing something demonic and world-threatening beneath his persona.
• The players are stirred by Lin Bai’s speeches but privately suspect he is manipulative and dangerous. Some admire his charisma; others, particularly Deng Libuduo and Long Xi, distrust him based on past experience.
• The Returning Dragon Temple Taoists are humiliated by their difficulty practicing Words Become Law, yet remain eager to learn it and increasingly drawn into Lin Bai’s orbit.

Significant themes

• Righteous ideals versus hypocrisy: Lin Bai’s call to protect everyone is emotionally powerful, but his threats and schemes complicate its sincerity.
• Leadership and loyalty: Lin Bai uses the crisis to forge a sect identity built around unity, even as he treats some followers as expendable or politically useful.
• Ambition and self-knowledge: The discussion of cultivation turns on whether people can confront their own desires and limitations.
• Power, influence, and belief: Lin Bai’s advice and rhetoric show how repeated ideas can shape behavior and make him an authority.
• Comedy amid danger: The Taoists’ awkward speech restrictions and the players’ irreverent reactions contrast with the looming conflict against the Five Evil Sects.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai motivates Qingyu, Daokong, and the Returning Dragon Temple disciples to pursue multiple cultivation laws, presenting broad study as a way to prepare for unexpected opportunities.
• He announces the Qian City Cup Enemy-Slaying Tournament, inviting several orthodox sects to join the fight against the Five Evil Sects. Any sect that declines will forfeit, allowing the Righteousness Sect to claim first place. Lin Bai’s real aim is to fulfill the Super Sect Master System’s competition requirement.
• Lin Bai orders the Beggar Gang players to publicize the tournament and run betting pools, arguing that the Righteousness Sect must win the people’s support rather than rely on claims of righteousness alone.
• He plans to reuse the players’ “Lightning Storm” tactic against the Five Evil Sects, while Golden Core cultivators protect the Heaven-Sent Ones as they cast Palm Thunder. He also directs Qingmeng to prepare more battle-ready pills, emphasizing that future conflicts are likely and casualties should be reduced.
• In Qian City, the Five Evil Sects’ leaders demand that City Lord Guo Yuan give them control of Heaven-Sent Ones arriving in the region, citing the earlier job fair and Lin Bai’s destruction of Returning Dragon Temple. They also want revenge for the death of Pei Yanzong’s son.
• Guo Yuan refuses to commit to their demand before they defeat Lin Bai. He promises to mediate the allocation of Heaven-Sent Ones if they win, but otherwise claims neutrality, warning that Lin Bai’s unpredictable behavior could bring disaster upon the city.
• After the sect leaders leave, Guo Yuan’s aide questions whether they are abandoning Lin Bai. Guo Yuan says Lin Bai must face the consequences of the trouble he has caused and suggests the challenge may help him grow.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai displays confidence, strategic ambition, and a populist streak. He frames his plans as service to the sect and its people, while privately using the tournament to satisfy his system’s demands. He also prioritizes preparation and casualty reduction rather than sending allies forward as expendable fighters.
• Qingyu remains doubtful and uncomfortable with Lin Bai’s methods, especially his involvement with ordinary people and willingness to provoke conflict. Still, he obeys, feeling increasingly like a puppet and expecting Lin Bai’s schemes to affect the sect’s reputation.
• Daokong is inspired by Lin Bai’s teaching and seeks to learn from him, reinforcing Lin Bai’s image as a persuasive mentor.
• The players privately recognize Lin Bai’s charisma but remain wary: they see themselves as the true “Heavenly Dao” and regard the game’s characters as NPCs. Their familiarity with tournaments leads them to think in terms of advertising and sponsorship.
• Madam Huaxi cooperates with Lin Bai by providing intelligence on the Five Evil Sects. Having lost her place in the Profound Darkness Cult, she hopes Lin Bai’s success will secure her future.
• Guo Yuan is cautious and resentful of Lin Bai’s disruption, but also fears the consequences of crossing him. He balances political pressure by promising the Five Evil Sects help only if they defeat Lin Bai.
• The Five Evil Sects’ leaders are driven by revenge and a desire to restore their influence over the Heaven-Sent Ones. They underestimate the risks of confronting Lin Bai and interpret Guo Yuan’s caution as fear.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and consequences: The title’s idea is echoed in Guo Yuan’s insistence that Lin Bai must bear the fallout from the disorder he has created.
• Public legitimacy: Lin Bai believes a sect’s standing must be earned through the people’s approval and practical service, not merely asserted.
• Tradition versus disruption: The old sect hierarchy and recruitment customs are challenged by Lin Bai’s unconventional tactics, the players’ influence, and the changing balance of power.
• Strategic ambition and self-interest: Lin Bai’s idealistic rhetoric coexists with his private system-driven goals; Guo Yuan’s neutrality likewise reflects political self-preservation.
• Uncertainty and power: Both the players and local authorities recognize that Lin Bai is difficult to predict, making him dangerous even to those who might otherwise oppose him.

Key plot points and events

• News of the Qian City Cup spreads rapidly among players. Many fear Lin Bai’s growing power and resent that their low levels leave them unable to affect the main story. Some give up on opposing him and plan to join the Beggar Gang, make money, and livestream the coming conflict.
• The Returning Dragon Temple prepares for war against the Five Evil Sects. Daoxu and Daokong try to persuade the temple’s Taoists to join, but many distrust the plan and fear they are being sent to die.
• Lin Bai delegates the preparations to Qingyu, Daokong, and Daojing, then returns to his own cultivation. He is stuck on the Great Language System’s task of repeatedly angering someone: people either grow accustomed to his provocations or interpret them as attention and praise.
• Little White Fox notices his bad mood and worries that his behavior will undermine the temple’s confidence. Lin Bai explains that he is cultivating the anger-based stage of Words Become Law, not fretting about the war.
• Lin Bai finds a solution by using the Aversion Arrow and Spirit-Opening Pill on Daoxu, restoring the former temple master’s awareness while leaving him under Lin Bai’s control. Daoxu remembers his humiliation and becomes intensely enraged, giving Lin Bai a reliable target for the mission.
• Lin Bai repeatedly taunts Daoxu, who tries to escape and attack him but cannot disobey his Puppet commands. Even when he flies away, Lin Bai recalls him into the card. Lin Bai also orders him to destroy a stone railing, demonstrating how completely he can control Daoxu.

Character developments

• Lin Bai remains confident and pragmatic. He treats both the looming war and the anger mission as manageable problems, and uses Daoxu’s misery as a cultivation shortcut.
• Little White Fox shows growing perception and concern for her master, while remaining affectionate and supportive. She is also bewildered by the Taoists’ unconventional ideas about cultivation.
• Daoxu shifts from a formerly love-struck Puppet into a conscious, furious captive. His anger is intensified by his memories of public humiliation and the destruction of the temple’s legacy.
• The players grow disillusioned with their lack of influence and begin prioritizing sponsorships, profit, and spectacle over resisting Lin Bai.
• Two young Taoists become convinced that Words Become Law is real, but fear its risks. Their discussion of cultivating the Way of Love turns into an apparent accusation of manipulation.

Character interactions

• Little White Fox massages Lin Bai’s temples, questions his conduct, and learns what he is trying to cultivate.
• Lin Bai exploits Daoxu’s shame and anger with personal taunts, while Daoxu curses him, threatens revenge, and struggles against his Puppet restrictions.
• Two young Taoists watch the abuse and speculate about whether they can cultivate Words Become Law safely. One suggests the Way of Love with his senior brother; the senior brother misreads this as an attempt to provoke him, and Little White Fox misunderstands the exchange in turn.

Significant themes

• Power and helplessness: Players and Taoists alike feel sidelined or endangered by forces they cannot control, while Daoxu’s captivity makes that imbalance literal.
• Emotion as cultivation: Anger is treated as a resource to be deliberately produced and harvested, turning ordinary provocation into a cultivation technique.
• Dark comedy and misunderstanding: The players’ complaints, Daoxu’s humiliation, and the Taoists’ confused romantic exchange create humor amid the threat of war.
• Realism versus agency: The game’s intelligent NPCs make the world feel convincing, but leave players frustrated that they cannot be its heroes.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai continues manipulating Daoxu, provoking him under the pretense of practicing the seventh stage of Words Become Law: making someone angry with a single sentence. The onlookers interpret the technique seriously, reinforcing Lin Bai’s influence.
• Daoxu’s fellow Taoists stop backing him, while Madam Huaxi and Qingyu decide to try cultivating the Way of Love, hoping the laws might help them escape Lin Bai’s control.
• Players speculate about the game’s ability to detect emotions and whether it could threaten their minds or trap them. They calm themselves by deciding it is probably safe—and that Lin Bai’s protection makes the game worthwhile.
• The Mountain Deer Group struggles to compete with Lin Bai and the Beggar Gang. Its attempts to gain influence through other sects and turn them against Lin Bai have largely failed, though its leaders continue recruiting and lobbying.
• The Beggar Gang launches a public campaign for the Qian City Cup, distributing leaflets about the coming Righteous-Evil War and asking citizens to complete a questionnaire about sects, public access to cultivation, and who should protect them. The contest and war become widely discussed.
• Alarmed by Lin Bai’s actions, City Lord Guo Yuan orders defenses prepared, plans to keep the sect leaders at a distance, and writes to the Duke Who Guards the Nation for help.
• Lone Elder interprets Lin Bai’s public outreach as a strategy to build the Righteousness Sect’s support among ordinary people and pressure the Taiyi Kingdom into an alliance.

Character developments

• Lin Bai shows how effectively he can steer others through provocation and publicity, using both the cultivation spectacle and the Qian City Cup to expand his influence.
• Daoxu becomes increasingly powerless and emotionally overwhelmed as his peers accept Lin Bai’s framing of events.
• Daojing and Daokong respond differently: Daojing remains cautious and focused on the war, while Daokong continues practicing the laws and urges Daoxu to embrace them.
• Madam Huaxi and Qingyu shift from opposing Lin Bai toward cautiously exploring cultivation as a possible route to freedom.
• Mountain Deer’s leaders grow frustrated by their lack of leverage but choose patience, hoping to build strength before confronting the Beggar Gang.
• Guo Yuan recognizes that Lin Bai’s actions have exceeded what local authorities can manage alone.

Significant themes

• Belief and manipulation: A fabricated or dubious technique gains force when people believe in it and search for flaws in themselves.
• Public opinion as power: The Beggar Gang turns publicity, polling, and entertainment into tools for shaping the conflict and winning popular support.
• Cultivation and ordinary people: The chapter challenges the separation between the lofty cultivation world and everyday citizens.
• Competition and unequal influence: Mountain Deer’s organized resources cannot match the momentum created by Lin Bai’s charisma and local backing.
• Uncertainty about technology: The players’ fears about emotional monitoring and mental privacy briefly expose their dependence on, and unease about, the game.

Character interactions

• Lin Bai needles Daoxu while Daojing tries to reason with the situation; Daokong and Little White Fox’s explanations instead lead the crowd to treat Lin Bai’s provocation as a lesson.
• Madam Huaxi and Qingyu discuss whether the laws could help them escape Lin Bai’s influence.
• Players debate the risks of the game, then reassure one another by pointing to government oversight, their relative power, and their in-game livelihoods.
• Mountain Deer executives report on recruitment and sect influence, while Boss Lu tells them to maintain contacts and wait for a stronger position.
• Lone Elder explains his reading of Lin Bai’s strategy to Lao Mi, presenting the campaign as an effort to bring common people—and eventually the kingdom—onto Lin Bai’s side.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• The leaders of the five evil sects discuss Lin Bai’s challenge at the Qian City Cup. They recognize his strength but believe their intelligence from the Heaven-Sent Ones, five Nascent Soul cultivators, and extensive preparations give them the advantage.
• The sect leaders doubt Lin Bai’s claims about cultivating laws. Some suspect his supposed hidden sect—and perhaps even the Righteousness Sect—is a cover for a scheme.
• As Lin Bai travels with Daoxu and his followers, he relentlessly provokes Daoxu. The Aversion Arrow makes Daoxu unusually angry at everything Lin Bai says, leaving him so miserable that he envies the mindless puppets accompanying them.
• News of the Qian City Cup revives emotional reactions from people across the world, adding to Lin Bai’s Spirit Fruit stock. He also has several Charisma Fruits, though he has not yet figured out their effects.
• Lin Bai reviews his resources and realizes that his cards cannot reliably seal all five Nascent Soul opponents. Using Love Arrows on them is too risky, so he considers other ways to gain an advantage.
• He notices that completing a Matchmaker System task could earn him five more Red Threads. Since Daoxu may not be famous enough, Lin Bai considers pairing the widely known City Lord Guo Yuan with Lao Mi, the Beggar Gang leader whose reputation Lin Bai helped build.

Character developments

• Lin Bai is increasingly confident in his growing power and influence, but he also recognizes that the coming battle could jeopardize all his interconnected system tasks. He shifts from boasting to practical, calculated planning.
• Daoxu is emotionally worn down by Lin Bai’s taunts and the Aversion Arrow’s influence. His despair and envy of the puppets underscore how completely his former dignity has collapsed.
• The five evil sect leaders show confidence in their preparations, though Shen Kuang urges caution. Their distrust of Lin Bai’s account of his cultivation reflects how difficult they find his power to explain.
• Lao Mi has become a prominent figure in the Beggar Gang, largely through Lin Bai’s efforts; his newfound renown may now serve Lin Bai’s plans.

Significant themes

• Power through systems and manipulation: Lin Bai’s abilities depend not only on combat strength, but also on emotional influence, reputation, and completing system tasks.
• Reputation and renown: Lin Bai realizes that a person’s fame determines whether they can qualify for his matchmaking plans—and that he can actively manufacture that fame.
• Confidence versus caution: The evil sects are sure their numbers and intelligence will prevail, while Lin Bai understands that a direct confrontation could be dangerous.
• Unintended influence: Lin Bai assumes people believe him because of his words, but his Charisma Fruits are subtly shaping their loyalty and trust.
• Emotional control and loss of agency: Daoxu’s involuntary anger and the puppet followers illustrate how Lin Bai’s powers can strip others of control over their feelings and choices.

Character interactions

• The evil sect leaders debate Lin Bai’s abilities and strategy, with Shen Kuang cautioning against underestimating him and the others dismissing that concern.
• Lin Bai repeatedly needles Daoxu, while Daoxu suffers the effects of the Aversion Arrow and silently resents him.
• Lin Bai reflects on his influence over his followers, especially Daojing and Daokong, who accepted his teachings despite years of loyalty to Daoxu.
• Lin Bai considers using Cupid’s Arrow to bring Guo Yuan and Lao Mi together, viewing the pairing as a way to strengthen his position while keeping his involvement hidden.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai directs the Beggar Gang to publicize the leaders of the sects involved in an upcoming battle. When the players admit they know little about the evil-sect leaders, he tells them to invent and embellish stories: the goal is to build excitement, not accuracy.
• He turns the publicity effort into a weekly newspaper called Justice Weekly, reasoning that shaping public opinion can boost interest in the battle and influence its outcome.
• The players rapidly copy Lin Bai’s ideas through livestreams, then write, edit, and print sensational stories in Qian City. Their headlines invent dramatic histories and relationships for the sect leaders, alarming Qingyu and the others, who fear the resulting damage to the leaders’ reputations.
• The players embrace newspaper-making as a new way to participate in the game: rather than simply fighting NPCs, they can help create and shape the story themselves.
• Beggar Gang leaders Lone Elder and Lao Mi discuss applying real-world ideas to the Immortal World. Lone Elder sees the newspaper—and even modern weapons—as signs that players could develop media, industry, and technology in the game. Lao Mi cautions that Lin Bai’s laws may limit how far such development can go.
• The player known as Immortal World’s Number-One Paparazzo objects to Lin Bai’s fabricated stories. He wants to interview the Five Evil Sects’ leaders and build Justice Weekly into a trustworthy, authoritative outlet. He sees the newspaper as a renewed purpose after livestreaming diminished interest in his forum posts.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai reveals himself as a shrewd promoter, treating information as a tool of power and confidently prioritizing impact over truth. A new Media Mogul System appears, rewarding him for creating a media outlet with Press Passes that can grant access anywhere.
• Crazy Guy initially hesitates because the players lack information, but follows Lin Bai’s instructions.
• Lone Elder recognizes that the game may reward real-world innovation beyond combat and leveling. Lao Mi questions the practicality of pursuing a technological path under Lin Bai’s rules.
• Immortal World’s Number-One Paparazzo shifts from chasing attention to defending journalistic credibility. He challenges the Beggar Gang leaders directly, proposing factual reporting and a more durable role for Justice Weekly.
• Qingyu and others react with unease to Lin Bai’s plan, while the wider player community enthusiastically joins in, supplying creative writing and helping turn the newspaper into a collective project.

Significant themes

• Media as power: Controlling information can shape public opinion and potentially weaken opponents without fighting.
• Truth versus sensationalism: Lin Bai’s strategy may generate attention, but the paparazzo warns that fabrication risks destroying public trust.
• Player creativity and agency: The newspaper lets players influence the game’s narrative rather than remain confined to combat and scripted interactions.
• Real-world ideas in a fantasy setting: The chapter suggests that media, commerce, industry, and technology can all become forms of gameplay—and sources of power.

Summary

Guo Yuan, the City Lord of Qian City, is furious when the first issue of the Justice Weekly publishes an interview portraying him as a bold opponent of demonic cultivators. He never gave the interview; the Heaven-Sent Ones have fabricated or manipulated the story, putting Qian City at odds with the Five Evil Sects and potentially provoking a wider conflict. His Scholar urges him to suppress the paper, but Guo refuses: the Heaven-Sent Ones cannot be permanently controlled, and giving them a constructive outlet is safer than driving them toward the demonic sects. He recognizes Lin Bai’s strategy and accepts that Lin Bai is taking the political risk on himself. If Lin Bai loses, however, Guo says the city will shut its gates and leave him to face the consequences.
The paper’s articles mix sensational profiles, interviews, and melodramatic stories about demonic cultivators. An interview with Madam Huaxi recounts how she chose demonic cultivation to avenge childhood abuse, then describes the ruthless revenge she took. She also claims that Profound Darkness Cult leader Shen Kuang—once named Shen Sishui—became cruel and powerful after being mocked when he was weak. Other pieces tell of a supposedly tragic romance between cultivators from rival sects and trace how Zhao Hongwen, an idealistic scholar, became the bloodthirsty sect master Zhao Tulong.
The Justice Weekly quickly becomes popular because it gives ordinary people an accessible source of news and entertainment, unlike the government gazette. Its stories spark debate about cultivators’ treatment of common people, the failures of established righteous sects, and whether the Righteousness Sect can defeat the evil cultivators. Some citizens call for the City Guard to help; others plan to watch the coming battle and bet on Lin Bai’s side.

Character developments and interactions

• Guo Yuan shifts from anger to pragmatic acceptance. Though he resents being used, he sees Lin Bai’s plan as a way to channel the Heaven-Sent Ones’ disruptive energy and keep them from becoming a greater threat.
• The Scholar worries about the political fallout and proposes confiscating the paper, but Guo persuades him that suppression would be futile and dangerous.
• Lin Bai is absent from the scenes but emerges as a strategic figure: Guo believes he has deliberately redirected public anger and placed himself between the city and the Five Evil Sects.
• Madam Huaxi’s account presents her as shaped by humiliation and revenge, while offering a glimpse of Shen Kuang’s insecurity beneath his fearsome reputation.
• The people of Qian City move from having little access to information to openly discussing cultivation politics and considering collective support for the Righteousness Sect.

Significant themes

• Power and ordinary people: The paper exposes cultivators’ indifference to common lives and gives the public a voice.
• Media as influence: The Justice Weekly entertains while shaping public opinion and political alliances—even through misleading reporting.
• Pragmatism and manipulation: Guo tolerates a risky scheme because managing the Heaven-Sent Ones is wiser than trying to crush them.
• The making of villains: The articles suggest that cruelty can grow from humiliation, revenge, and the pursuit of power, though they do not excuse harm to innocents.
• Public solidarity: Readers begin to see opposition to demonic cultivators as a cause they can support, not merely a conflict among sects.

Key plot points and events

• Justice Weekly publishes fabricated scandals about four Evil Sect leaders, humiliating them and unsettling their disciples. They recognize the rumors as Lin Bai’s attempt to disrupt them before the decisive battle.
• The leaders debate how to respond. A player, Disqualified from Being Human, argues that Lin Bai must be killed and the Beggar Gang’s Heaven-Sent Ones (players) brought under control. He warns that their immortality will change the world and that the sects must adapt. He pledges to support whichever side wins.
• Lin Bai receives new system rewards for expanding Justice Weekly: a Press Pass, Voice Recorders, cameras, and a printing press. A separate communication mission grants a power that makes people smile when he does.
• Lin Bai presents the Voice Recorder and camera as artifacts from the Righteousness Sect. The players are baffled by the modern technology, while local cultivators mistake it for sophisticated magical equipment.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Kuang is visibly angered by the rumors, especially when Xin Shang repeats a story about his past. Xin Shang tries to calm him by warning that losing his composure would mean falling for Lin Bai’s scheme.
• Ge Feiyun responds to his own scandal by acting more dignified, and grudgingly acknowledges that Lin Bai’s tactics are beyond anything the Evil Sect has used.
• Zhao Tulong jokes about the notoriety he might gain from mass slaughter; Pei Yanzong counters that such fame would invite Orthodox cultivators to hunt him.
• Disqualified from Being Human speaks cautiously after a previous defeat, emphasizing that he will commit to the winning side.
• Lin Bai remains amused by his increasingly absurd rewards and suspects his systems come from forces opposed to the game developers. He keeps the technological items’ true nature hidden behind a convincing story about his sect.

Significant themes

• Information as a weapon: Rumors and media can unsettle powerful leaders more effectively than conventional force.
• Adaptation to change: The immortal world must reckon with the players’ immortality and the social upheaval it brings.
• Clashing worlds and comic absurdity: Modern technology appears in a cultivation setting, exposing the gap between the game’s expectations and Lin Bai’s unexplained powers.
• Performance and reputation: The sect leaders care not only about truth, but also about how their disciples and the public perceive them.

Plot and key events

• The people around Lin Bai are startled when he warns against “going out of line,” since they believe his actions are already outrageously manipulative. They also conclude that the Righteousness Sect’s patriarch enables him rather than restraining him.
• Lin Bai confirms he has reached the seventh stage of Words Become Law. He refuses to return Daoxu to his card, explaining that the upcoming battle needs him. Daoxu agrees to protect the Returning Dragon Temple’s disciples but vows to remain Lin Bai’s enemy.
• When Daokong worries that Lin Bai’s rapid progress makes his own cultivation pointless, Lin Bai tells him to focus on his own path instead of comparing himself to others. The advice restores Daokong’s confidence and encourages the other Taoists.
• Lin Bai produces a Press Pass, Voice Recorder, and camera for Justice Weekly. Players watching the livestream initially accuse the developers of ruining the game’s realism by giving an NPC modern technology.
• [Crazy Guy] investigates whether the native characters know what a reporter is. Lin Bai conceals the truth by describing the Press Pass and equipment as magic treasures. He claims the pass can bypass formations and allow its bearer to enter or leave any location, including prisons.
• The players’ outrage immediately turns to excitement. They compete for the chance to become reporters, but Lin Bai says the four passes are reserved for Justice Weekly and will be awarded after the Five Evil Sects are defeated. Recipients must serve for life and possess not just strength, but intelligence, writing ability, and courage.
• [Immortal World’s Number-One Paparazzo] privately celebrates, believing the passes are perfectly suited to him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai continues to manipulate appearances while presenting himself as a mentor. He conceals his knowledge of reporters and turns players’ complaints into eagerness for exclusive equipment.
• Daoxu remains openly hostile despite Lin Bai’s polite words, while accepting responsibility for the Returning Dragon Temple’s disciples.
• Daokong moves from discouragement to renewed determination after Lin Bai’s counsel; the Taoists follow his lead.
• The players rapidly shift from protesting a perceived breach of immersion to competing for the benefits of the Press Pass.
• The natives are baffled by the players’ enthusiasm, seeing little appeal in entering dangerous forbidden areas.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus truth: Lin Bai disguises modern tools as magic treasures, while his respectable language masks a deeply manipulative approach.
• Competition and self-belief: Lin Bai urges Daokong to follow his own path rather than be paralyzed by comparison.
• Power, access, and incentives: The Press Pass’s ability to bypass barriers makes it desirable regardless of whether its existence fits the game’s realism.
• Media and truth-seeking: Justice Weekly is framed as a lasting enterprise built on evidence, though its reporters will operate under Lin Bai’s control.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai puts away his Press Pass, then reveals a Voice Recorder and asks the players to rehearse their lightning-generating tongue twister to prevent another accident.
• [Crazy Guy] realizes that the players’ chanting powers up Lin Bai’s recorder—and, by extension, his already devastating Palm Thunder. He hesitates, suspecting the Righteousness Sect may be a future enemy, but [Bai Yin] and Lin Bai’s disciple Deng Libuduo volunteer to help.
• After realizing that refusing could cost him favor with Lin Bai, [Crazy Guy] changes course and eagerly joins in. As groups chant, Lin Bai uses the recorder to unleash repeated waves of lightning, devastating the forest and terrifying the local Taoists.
• Players watching the demonstration conclude that Lin Bai is nearly impossible to defeat and accuse the game of making their progress meaningless. They protest on the forums and boycott Beggar Gang promotions.
• The game’s official forum responds: there are no bugs or fixed plotlines; events emerge from characters’ choices, NPCs can be killed, and players can become the final Boss. It also announces 200,000 new Pioneer slots in seven days. The announcement abruptly silences the complaints.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai becomes an even more intimidating force. He uses the players’ enthusiasm and the recorder to amplify his power, while maintaining control through friendly but pointed social pressure.
• [Crazy Guy] shifts from wary resistance to strategic compliance when he realizes his standing with Lin Bai is at stake.
• [Bai Yin] willingly helps Lin Bai, prioritizing immediate rewards over concern about the consequences.
• Deng Libuduo supports his master, reasoning that the Righteousness Sect’s growth benefits him—even if he might later join resistance against Lin Bai.
• The local Taoists’ fear turns to relief and admiration for the Righteousness Sect’s power, making their earlier resentment toward Lin Bai seem insignificant.
• Players disagree over what is happening: some see Lin Bai as an overpowered, unfair boss; others argue that a living world should allow events to unfold without a scripted path.

Significant themes

• Power and unintended consequences: The players’ own actions strengthen the force they may eventually need to oppose.
• Agency versus balance: The chapter questions whether an unpredictable, player-influenced world feels immersive or simply unfair.
• Self-interest and complicity: Characters cooperate with Lin Bai for immediate advantage, even while recognizing the possible danger.
• The nature of games and storytelling: The developers’ announcement reframes the complaints: what players call bad design may be an emergent world in which anyone can rise—or become the final Boss.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Bai’s five Voice Recorders greatly amplify his Palm Thunder ability, letting him unleash enormous barrages without relying on nearby players. He learns that the developers will add two hundred thousand players in three days, but takes comfort in their rule against directly targeting him.
• Daoxu despairs at his inability to escape Lin Bai’s control. He believes Lin Bai’s new power can defeat the Five Evil Sects—and perhaps even threaten the Seven Righteous Sects.
• Near Qian City, Lin Bai hears that rival sects are only pretending to attend his “Qian City Cup.” Though tempted to capitalize on his strength and bring them under his command, he decides not to make unnecessary enemies.
• The Five Evil Sects ambush Lin Bai and his allies with blood mist and a light-blocking Sky Curtain, restricting vision and hindering ordinary attacks. The Ultimate Comeback System responds by offering Lin Bai an agility boost if he wins.
• Daoxu first warns the attackers that Lin Bai is too powerful, then tries to alert them to the Voice Recorders. Lin Bai starts a recording before they can react: five hundred Palm Thunder strikes tear through the mist, incinerating the hidden attackers.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai is increasingly confident but remains strategically cautious. He relies on his systems and new tools while recognizing that provoking every sect could be dangerous.
• Daoxu grows more bitter and openly obstructive, attempting to undermine Lin Bai even as his warnings inadvertently reveal the enemy’s plans. Lin Bai mocks him, while Qingyu urges him to stop disrupting their unity.
• Qingyu remains loyal to Lin Bai and tries to keep Returning Dragon Temple’s Taoists focused on the battle.
• The Five Evil Sects show careful preparation, using coordinated concealment and tactics rather than confronting Lin Bai directly.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Lin Bai’s growing strength gives him sweeping destructive potential, but survival still requires political caution.
• Systems and improvisation: Lin Bai’s overlapping systems and unexpected tools repeatedly turn dangerous situations to his advantage.
• Manipulation and division: The sects use slogans and Daoxu’s hostility to sow distrust, while Lin Bai’s team struggles to maintain solidarity.
• Modern tactics in a cultivation world: Player-inspired propaganda and recorded incantations bring unconventional methods into traditional sect warfare.

Plot points and events

• The Five Evil Sects ambush Lin Bai with blood mist and a fog-based Sky Curtain, hoping to slow him, obscure his vision, and use evil spirits to eliminate the Heaven-Sent players before Lin can unleash Palm Thunder.
• Their plan fails almost immediately: Lin uses staggered Voice Recorders to cast Palm Thunder continuously, destroying or driving off the evil spirits. The sect leaders realize that intelligence about his supposed need to chant was misleading.
• The players watch the supernatural battle from a Suspension Talisman, awed by its danger and reflecting on how unprepared they are for it.
• Unable to see through the fog, Lin adapts. He recalls his detached left hand to protect him, sends his puppets to guard his flanks, and uses his unusual eye placement to watch in every direction while charging toward the Sky Curtain’s edge.
• Daoist Void, compelled to fight by Lin’s control, taunts the sect leaders and urges them to attack him or flee. Lin mocks them and proposes joining forces against the Orthodox Sects.
• When the fog suddenly clears, a flash of light blinds Lin’s right eye. He reacts by throwing the Blacksmith’s Six-Piece Set at the source, destroying Pei Yanzong’s Eye-Eater Mirror. Pei Yanzong attacks him in fury.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai demonstrates that he is prepared, adaptable, and formidable even when deprived of vision. He also uses humor and provocation to unsettle his opponents.
• The Five Evil Sects’ leaders are shaken by the failure of their carefully planned strategy, though Ge Feiyun remains confident that their combined strength can still kill Lin.
• [Disqualified from Being Human] / [Grig] is revealed as the player who supplied the sects with intelligence. He deliberately withheld what he learned about the Voice Recorders because he wants Lin killed and hopes the game will send stronger NPCs after him.
• Daoist Void remains resentful of being forced to serve Lin, but uses his position to warn and antagonize the enemy leaders.
• The players, especially [Long Xi] and [Crazy Guy], recognize their weakness and their earlier foolishness in thinking they could challenge Lin. They express renewed interest in cultivating the game’s techniques and arts.

Significant themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Lin’s concealed capabilities defeat an ambush designed around his supposed limitations.
• Revenge and manipulation: Grig’s hatred leads him to endanger the sects and distort the balance of the game to pursue his vendetta.
• The gap between spectators and fighters: The players can observe the battle but are far too weak to participate.
• Alliance and opportunism: Lin tries to turn the sects’ conflict with him toward a shared attack on the Orthodox Sects, while the ambushers remain committed to killing him.

Plot points and events

• Lin Bai’s right eye is blinded by the ambush, leaving him shaken and aware that he had underestimated the veteran Nascent Soul opponents. His rewards from the Great Demon Disassembly Manual prove crucial to his survival.
• Daoist Void is blinded too, but exploits his unusual condition to block Pei Yanzong and openly urges the enemy to kill him in one blow. Pei cannot finish him quickly, and Void repeatedly prevents him from joining the attack on Lin Bai.
• Four other sect masters converge on Lin Bai with specialized weapons and techniques: Zhao Tulong’s blood-draining saber, Ge Feiyun’s spirit-filled black qi, and Shen Kuang’s freezing, poisonous cold among them.
• Lin Bai evades their attacks with his exceptional agility, Palm Thunder, and Blacksmith’s Six-Piece Set. He drives Zhao back and badly damages Ge’s evil spirits, forcing Ge to retreat.
• But sustaining thousands of lightning bolts rapidly drains Lin Bai’s and his allies’ shared power. Pei also destroys several of Lin Bai’s disposable puppets, while Daoist Void wastes his own energy trying to provoke Pei into killing him.
• When Lin Bai lets the Lightning Storm subside, the sect masters mistake it for exhaustion and press their advantage. Lin Bai reveals that he had been freeing his hands to use Cupid’s Bow.
• The enemies try to flee, but Lin Bai switches Daoist Void from guarding to attacking. Void forces Pei to turn back just as Lin Bai shoots him with a Love Arrow. Pei immediately falls in love with Void, who recoils in disgust and attacks him with his strongest technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Bai shifts from overconfidence to hard-won caution. He recognizes the danger of experience and resource management, then turns the apparent end of his lightning assault into a setup for Cupid’s Bow.
• Daoist Void remains both a formidable obstacle and a comic liability: he blocks Pei while begging to die, then becomes the object of Pei’s magically induced affection.
• Pei Yanzong is frustrated by Void’s interference and Lin Bai’s defenses. Once struck by the Love Arrow, his hostility turns instantly into devotion, which horrifies Void.
• The sect masters begin confident that Lin Bai is doomed, but his lightning and unusual weapons shake their resolve. They retreat once Cupid’s Bow appears.
• Lin Bai and his enemies continually adapt to each other: the sect masters exploit his apparent exhaustion, while Lin Bai uses their fear of the Love Arrow—and Void’s interference—to catch Pei off guard.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence versus experience: Lin Bai’s initial confidence falters against seasoned opponents, reminding him that raw power does not erase hard-earned combat skill.
• Power has a cost: Lin Bai’s devastating lightning consumes resources too quickly to sustain indefinitely, making restraint and timing essential.
• Preparation and deception: Lin Bai survives by combining equipment, tactics, and a staged lull rather than relying on brute force alone.
• Absurdity amid danger: Void’s desperate pleas, Pei’s sudden romantic fixation, and the characters’ crude banter puncture the intensity of the battle.