Chapter Summaries

Chapter 2: “Corrosion”

• Key events: A strong, pungent smell of corrosion fills the air. Someone asks “Little Color” whether Seventh Sister is in danger.
• Character developments: No clear development is shown in this brief excerpt.
• Themes: The corrosive smell creates an ominous atmosphere and suggests possible danger.
• Character interactions: An unnamed speaker addresses Little Color with concern about Seventh Sister’s safety.

Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui rescued a group of imprisoned merfolk from a hidden water prison and brought them to the Deserted Island, where Dongfang Minghui later woke after taking medicine intended to restore her hearing. As attackers besieged the island, Little Mute mapped the area for Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui, pointing out the treasure’s location.

• Qian Wanyu followed living-dead merfolk to an underwater prison, where she found Wei Junlan, Little Mute, and other imprisoned merfolk; she and Wei Junlan freed them with Dongfang Minghui’s help.
• Qian Wanyu and Wei Junlan brought the injured merfolk to the Deserted Island, where Dongfang Minghui treated them and Little Mute reminded her to prepare medicine for her hearing.
• Little Lecher refined medicine from the companion plant and Phoenix King True Stamen, and Dongfang Minghui swallowed a pill before collapsing unconscious.
• While Dongfang Minghui slept for three days, Wei Junlan organized the island’s residents to prepare for an attack; Dongfang Minghui woke, and Wei Junlan reported that someone was trying to break in.
• Qian Wanyu activated the island’s formation and asked Little Mute to reveal the treasure’s location; he drew a map, and Dongfang Minghui helped identify the spot.

Qian Wanyu’s group exposed a trafficking operation targeting the Merfolk, and Wei Junlan learned that they revered him as their Sacred Ancestor because of his transformed blood and growing power. Dongfang Minghui also revealed that she came from the Longlife Tribe, which had been destroyed over the stolen Elf Heart; after comforting her, Qian Wanyu set out to recover it and find the tribe’s traitor.

• Qian Wanyu opened a gap in the Deserted Island’s formation to lure intruders into Wei Junlan’s traps, where the group fought Lord Jin and a horde of Living Dead Merfolk.
• Qian Wanyu used Soul Search on Lord Jin and learned that a mercenary company sold Merfolk to Death Spirit Masters, who specifically sought a deep-blue-tailed Merfolk like Wei Junlan.
• Ba Tian called Wei Junlan the Sacred Ancestor, and Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui concluded that Merfolk blood had triggered his transformation and rising spiritual power.
• Dongfang Minghui confessed that she was born from a spirit medicine and a human in the Longlife Tribe, which was destroyed after a traitor stole the Elf Heart; Qian Wanyu comforted her and vowed to find the heart and traitor.
• Qian Wanyu offered Wei Junlan the choice of checking his blood or uniting the Merfolk, then took him along with Dongfang Minghui and Little Mute to pursue their treasure hunt.

Qian Wanyu, Dongfang Minghui, Wei Junlan, and Little Mute discovered a hidden cave containing spirit pearls and Merfolk remains, where Wei Junlan gained the power and enormous tail of a revered Merfolk ancestor. After his transformation caused a three-day sea storm, Qian Wanyu explained that the Merfolk now regarded him as their sacred ancestor and that leaving could doom them.

• Little Mute led the group through a concealed passage to a cave filled with spirit pearls and a locked Iron Case, then helped reveal a hidden chamber containing Merfolk remains.
• Wei Junlan touched a blue pearl and the remains, triggering a force that sealed him inside while Qian Wanyu, Dongfang Minghui, and Little Mute were thrown out.
• Qian Wanyu broke through the stone door with the Reincarnation Bow, and the group rescued the unconscious Wei Junlan and carried him back to the sea.
• Wei Junlan transformed into a Merfolk with an enormous blue tail and unleashed a violent storm that lasted three days before the group returned to the Deserted Island.
• Qian Wanyu told Wei Junlan that the remains belonged to a Merfolk Spirit Saint revered as their sacred ancestor and warned that the Merfolk might face extinction if he left.

Wei Junlan considered abandoning the Merfolk, but Qian Wanyu reminded him that the Death Spirit Masters were targeting him and Ninth Sister. He was left to choose between fleeing and confronting them.

• Wei Junlan said the Merfolk could be wiped out and argued that they had managed before he arrived.
• Qian Wanyu watched Wei Junlan quietly.
• Qian Wanyu told Wei Junlan that the Death Spirit Masters had targeted him and Ninth Sister.
• Qian Wanyu left Wei Junlan to choose whether to flee or face the Death Spirit Masters.

Wei Junlan learned that the Sacred Ancestor’s writings could help the Merfolk and chose to stay behind to unite them while Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui departed. At the Azure Mist Sect’s ambush, Qian Wanyu drained Qingyan’s spiritual power, and he recognized her just before he died.

• Qian Wanyu explained that the Merfolk and Elf Clan were threatened by a scheme to control the living dead, and Wei Junlan discovered the Sacred Ancestor’s journal and cultivation methods in the Iron Case.
• Wei Junlan decided to remain with the Merfolk, promised to help unite them, and gave Qian Wanyu the Blood Baleful Alliance’s spirit token before she and Dongfang Minghui left.
• After seven days at sea, Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui reached a shore where the Azure Mist Sect was lying in ambush for them.
• Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui fought the Azure Mist Sect disciples, and Qian Wanyu offered them a chance to survive if they killed Qingyan.
• When the disciples hesitated, Qingyan attacked Dongfang Minghui with a water dragon, but Qian Wanyu appeared behind him and drained his spiritual power and vitality.
• As Qingyan died, he remembered that Qian Wanyu had been the young lad he and his fellow disciples met in the Purple Demon Mountains.

Qian Wanyu discovered that Qingyan had been behind it all and killed her, leaving the Azure Mist Sect shaken by the sound of soul tablets breaking.

• Qian Wanyu realized that the repeated mention of Seventh Sister had been an obvious clue about Qingyan.
• Qian Wanyu hurled Qingyan into the flames, reducing her to ashes and smoke.
• Soul tablets shattered repeatedly in the Azure Mist Sect's Soul Pavilion, frightening the disciples.

Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui reached the isolated Long County Village, where Sister-in-law Hua recruited Dongfang Minghui to cook dried fish while Qian Wanyu grew suspicious of the villagers' unexplained strength and strange customs. After mending a large fishing net, Qian Wanyu hauled it from the lake and found it unexpectedly heavy.

• Azure Mist Sect disciples searched the burned woods and Senior Brother Meng Yang concluded that Senior Brother Qingyan and the others were likely dead.
• Qian Wanyu navigated by the stars with Dongfang Minghui and led them out of the woods to Long County Village.
• Sister-in-law Hua took the pair to her home, where Dongfang Minghui cooked dried fish and learned that the village chief might sleep for several more days.
• Qian Wanyu noticed the village's unusual houses, extravagant bedding, and residents' extraordinary strength, but Qing Mo sensed no spiritual power.
• Sister-in-law Hua brought Dongfang Minghui fishing, then returned with an herb to treat her bruised wrist.
• Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu repaired Sister-in-law Hua's oversized net, and Qian Wanyu cast it into the lake and found the catch unusually heavy.

Qian Wanyu suspected the net held more than small fish and used her spiritual power to fling it upward. The chapter ended with a gleaming golden object flying out of the net.

• Qian Wanyu told Ninth Sister to step back.
• Qian Wanyu braced herself and gathered her spiritual power.
• Qian Wanyu stamped her foot and hurled the net upward.
• A gleaming golden object shot into the air.

Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu caught a golden fish that Long County Village revered as its guardian, then learned it was a pseudo-dragon capable of taking human form. After Toothless emerged from seclusion, the fish returned to steal grilled food, and Toothless caught it by the lake.

• Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu caught a heavy golden fish, which the villagers recognized as their guardian and released back into the lake with a ritual.
• Qian Wanyu learned from Qing Mo that the golden fish was a pseudo-dragon that could take human form, while Sister-in-law Hua secretly stole their grilled fish.
• Toothless emerged from seclusion, and Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu grilled fish with the Hua couple before deciding to remain in the village a little longer.
• The pseudo-dragon crept out of the lake at night to steal grilled fish, but Toothless chased it into the water and pinned it down after bringing it ashore.

Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu captured Long County Village’s Pseudo-Dragon village chief and learned that the village lay behind a barrier connected to the Dragon Clan. He led them to the grave of a Dragon Clan lord whose sealed spiritual power had left the ground blackened like the aftermath of Black Herb, raising suspicions about a connection to the Elf Clan’s past.

• Toothless forced the golden Pseudo-Dragon to transform, but the villagers’ arrival let him escape; Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu then followed Sister-in-law Hua and Brother Hua Yi to the village chief’s home.
• Toothless uncovered a hidden passage beneath the village chief’s storeroom, and Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu followed its current to the lake.
• Qian Wanyu waited by the passage until the Pseudo-Dragon returned, and Toothless caught him; the village chief revealed that Long County Village was protected by the Dragon Clan and that a Dragon-Eye Fruit had let him enter and take human form.
• The village chief said a Dragon Clan lord had guided him into the village, and he led Dongfang Minghui, Qian Wanyu, and Toothless to the lord’s grave in the Forbidden Grounds.
• The village chief explained that the lord had died from Black Herb-like corruption after sealing his spiritual power in a stone; Qian Wanyu suspected the Dragon Clan’s barrier might be connected to the Elf Clan’s past.

Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu learned that the Pseudo-Dragon had hidden Dragon Clan relics, including a portrait resembling Toothless and a map, and he asked to join them in search of the Dragon Clan. When Qian Wanyu found a route out of Long County Village by recreating the starry sky from their arrival, the path vanished again, and Toothless swallowed the Pseudo-Dragon.

• Toothless collected the Pseudo-Dragon’s treasures, and Dongfang Minghui learned that an iron fragment among them had been left by the Dragon Clan Elder.
• Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui secretly opened the Pseudo-Dragon’s metal box, found a portrait matching Toothless and a worn map possibly leading to Dragon Valley, and confronted him about the relics.
• The Pseudo-Dragon revealed he had been trapped in Long County Village for over fifty years and asked to join them to seek a Dragon-Eye Fruit that might change his half-human, half-Pseudo-Dragon form.
• Qian Wanyu discovered that the village’s shifting formation blocked their exit and spent days tracing its paths until she recreated the starry sky from the night they arrived and found a route out.
• Qian Wanyu sat in meditation as the path disappeared, while Toothless swallowed the Pseudo-Dragon; Dongfang Minghui made Toothless spit out the tiny golden creature, who asked for water.

Dongfang Minghui tried to revive the limp little golden Pseudo-Dragon by giving it water and spirit liquid. She threatened to feed it to Toothless if it did not wake up, and Toothless eagerly perked up.

• Dongfang Minghui poured water over the limp little golden Pseudo-Dragon.
• She hurriedly fed it spirit liquid when it kept opening and closing its mouth.
• Dongfang Minghui threatened to feed it to Toothless if it did not wake up.
• Toothless's listless expression vanished and its eyes lit up.

Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu fought off an Azure Mist Sect ambush while Qian Wanyu advanced, then continued toward the Beast Tribe settlement. Mo Ce, who appeared to be Cheng Song’s long-lost son, followed them and later clashed with Jing Kewei.

• Dongfang Minghui took the dying Little Golden Pseudo-Dragon to a stream, but an Azure Mist Sect group found her after cutting Little Lecher’s vine and set blood scabies mites on her.
• Dongfang Minghui escaped the insects and returned to Qian Wanyu, where she, Toothless, Little White Ball, and Little Lecher fought the attackers; Mo Ce appeared and killed an Azure Mist Sect disciple.
• Qian Wanyu’s advancement unleashed lightning that killed most of the Azure Mist Sect group, while Dongfang Minghui poisoned the survivors and Little Lecher stopped their escape.
• After Qian Wanyu finished advancing, Dongfang Minghui treated Toothless and Little White Ball, and the two women traveled to Shichuan Town before setting out toward the Beast Tribe settlement.
• Qian Wanyu gave the Little Golden Pseudo-Dragon a water-filled jar, then she and Dongfang Minghui concealed themselves as Mo Ce arrived and followed their trail.
• On a remote path, Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu found Mo Ce fighting Jing Kewei; after Qian Wanyu intervened, Dongfang Minghui learned Mo Ce’s name.

Dongfang Minghui traveled toward the Beast Tribe's settlements with Qian Wanyu, Jing Kewei, and Mo Ce while growing suspicious of Jing Kewei's intentions and hearing about the war against the Cass Tribe. After Qian Wanyu left to cultivate in a thunderstorm and returned, the group set out again, but the Dragon-Trapping Seal on Dongfang Minghui's palm began acting up.

• Qian Wanyu reunited with Jing Kewei and met Mo Ce, who insisted on following Dongfang Minghui as they headed toward the Beast Tribe's settlements.
• Jing Kewei warned that the Beast Tribe's settlements were embroiled in war, and Mo Ce said the Cyril and Hilaris Tribes had attacked the Cass Tribe.
• The group sheltered in a cave during a storm, where Qian Wanyu left to cultivate in the lightning and Mo Ce and Jing Kewei later went outside while Dongfang Minghui slept.
• Dongfang Minghui and Mo Ce stayed wary of Jing Kewei during their half-month wait, and Qian Wanyu returned after the weather cleared.
• As they resumed their journey, Qian Wanyu told Dongfang Minghui she knew Jing Kewei had approached her during the storm, and the Dragon-Trapping Seal on Dongfang Minghui's palm began glowing and spinning.

She endured pain as the trapped dragon’s terrain began to change, comparing her earlier maps and drawing anything unfamiliar. Mo Ce noticed her pale face and asked what was wrong.

• She hurriedly took out her terrain maps of the trapped dragon and marked their order.
• She drew any terrain she had never seen before.
• Mo Ce noticed that she was pale, sweating, and clutching her hand, and asked what was wrong.

Dongfang Minghui’s Dragon-Trapping Seal repeatedly took control of her at night, leading Qian Wanyu and their companions toward the Dragon-Trapping Valley while she remembered nothing. After escaping Flame Sparrows and crossing a magnetic sandstorm, the group fell into an abyss, where Dongfang Minghui found a fiery-red egg and woke with an injured arm.

• Dongfang Minghui hid her drawings of the Dragon-Trapping Seal’s terrain-like markings, and Qian Wanyu suspected Jing Kewei after he showed suspicious knowledge of Beast Tribe defenses.
• At night, the Dragon-Trapping Seal took control of Dongfang Minghui, who left Baoning Town and injured two beastfolk guards while Qian Wanyu followed her.
• Dongfang Minghui led Qian Wanyu, Mo Ce, and Jing Kewei through the night, surviving a swarm of Flame Sparrows before reaching a cavern that Qian Wanyu suspected was the Dragon-Trapping Valley.
• The group followed Dongfang Minghui into a magnetic sandstorm, which swept them into a pit above a bottomless abyss.
• Dongfang Minghui freed her trapped arm and found a fiery-red egg; Little Lecher’s vines hauled Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce out of the abyss, and Qian Wanyu noticed Dongfang Minghui’s dislocated arm.

Seventh Sister’s face was injured, and she blamed the Dragon-Trapping Seal for the damage. The seal silently rejected her blame.

• Seventh Sister’s eye twitched and her lip split at the lightest touch.
• Seventh Sister offered to check Seventh Sister’s face.
• Seventh Sister wished she could chop off her hand and blamed the Dragon-Trapping Seal.
• The Dragon-Trapping Seal denied wanting to take the blame.

Dongfang Minghui, Qian Wanyu, and Mo Ce were trapped on a tiny platform above an abyss, where Dongfang Minghui’s nightly trance revealed a Phantom Stairway into the Dragon-Trapping Valley. As Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce fought undead on the descending path, they triggered the abyss’s rules, and the staircase shattered beneath them.

• Qian Wanyu questioned Mo Ce about Cheng Feng, the Blood Baleful Alliance, and why he followed them before giving him the necklace tied to his origins.
• Dongfang Minghui feared they were in the Dragon-Trapping Valley, purified spirit liquid for a withered tree, and fell asleep as darkness came.
• Dongfang Minghui’s black-eyed trance revealed the Phantom Stairway, and Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce followed her down into the abyss.
• Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce fought Four-Limbed Monsters and undead giants while the staircase vanished behind them; Qian Wanyu’s five spiritual elements shocked Mo Ce.
• Qian Wanyu destroyed an undead giant, triggering the abyss’s rules, and the blinding light engulfed the group as the staircase shattered and they fell.

Dongfang Minghui was guided by the Dragon-Trapping Seal through a maze of hanging corpses and ancient dragon murals to a pool that revealed Qian Wanyu’s struggles elsewhere in Dragon-Trapping Valley. After Minghui disturbed the pool, it trapped her in a Water Shield amid fragments of recorded memories, and she tried to reach one before nightfall.

• Dongfang Minghui woke among hanging corpses and Living Dead, then the Dragon-Trapping Seal took control of her and led her down stairs to a chamber with dragon murals and an ancient stone door.
• The Dragon-Trapping Seal opened the door, and Dongfang Minghui entered a chamber with a deep pool whose surface showed Qian Wanyu fighting Emerald Kun Beasts in a spatial formation.
• Qian Wanyu defeated the Emerald Kun Beasts, studied the terrain maps, concluded the Dragon-Trapping Seal might be trying to close Dragon-Trapping Valley, and set out to find Dongfang Minghui.
• After the Dragon-Trapping Seal released her, Dongfang Minghui tried to use the pool as a mirror to find Qian Wanyu, but diving into it caused the pool to trap her in a rigid Water Shield.
• The pool broke into fragments showing memories from hundreds of years, and Dongfang Minghui began using Spiritual Power to push herself closer to a fragment before nightfall.