Chapter Summaries

Winter Melon tried to secure Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu’s help while hiding her intentions, but Cui Hao unexpectedly began revealing their mission. The chapter left Winter Melon stunned after Lin Luoyu stopped him from explaining what the Great Dao Sect had done at Wuxuan Temple.

• Winter Melon considered using the experimental Rules Crystals to alert her superiors and relied on Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu for protection.
• Cui Hao asked Watermelon whether losing half his body made him lighter, then told him to drive the carriage despite his injuries.
• Winter Melon offered to drive instead, but Lin Luoyu took over and pulled Cui Hao into the carriage.
• Cui Hao sat beside Winter Melon and revealed that their mission involved investigating what the Great Dao Sect had done at Wuxuan Temple.
• Lin Luoyu shouted at Cui Hao, cutting off his explanation and leaving Winter Melon shocked.

At the inn, Winter Melon planned to use Cui Hao to stir up trouble while Watermelon distracted Lin Luoyu, but Cui Hao suspected Watermelon posed the greater danger. Winter Melon and Cui Hao met in the corridor to admire the moon, then immediately agreed to go back to sleep when they saw the storm-dark sky.

• Winter Melon rented rooms and told Watermelon she wanted to manipulate Cui Hao into doing their work while Watermelon kept Lin Luoyu occupied.
• Cui Hao told Lin Luoyu that Watermelon seemed more dangerous than Winter Melon and warned her to stay alert.
• Cui Hao decided to have Second Senior Brother increase the pressure on Winter Melon and Watermelon.
• Winter Melon emerged from her room, and she and Cui Hao agreed to go admire the moon together.
• Cui Hao and Winter Melon found the sky covered in dark clouds and decided to return to sleep.

Lin Luoyu traveled with Cui Hao, Winter Melon, and Watermelon while Li Xingtian arranged an ambush by two Golden Core cultivators. As the attackers approached, Lin Luoyu and Cui Hao silently acknowledged that they had noticed them.

• Lin Luoyu greeted her new Righteousness Sword and reflected that she would help Cui Hao if he got into trouble.
• Cui Hao, Lin Luoyu, Winter Melon, and Watermelon ate breakfast, then set out in a shabby carriage driven by Cui Hao.
• Li Xingtian watched them depart and told Wen Zuo and Yu Jing to follow the plan while warning them to be careful around Lin Luoyu.
• Wen Zuo and Yu Jing pursued the carriage, intending to attack once it was far from inhabited areas.
• Winter Melon sensed two Golden Core cultivators closing in, and Lin Luoyu confirmed she had noticed them.
• Cui Hao looked at Lin Luoyu, who lowered her eyelids in acknowledgment, and he smiled at their silent signal.

Winter Melon and Cui Hao fled while Lin Luoyu stayed behind to confront Yu Jing and Wen Zuo. Lin Luoyu’s overwhelming swordsmanship startled the two cultivators, and a clumsy exchange revealed that all three were trying to stage a fight.

• Winter Melon offered to stay behind, but Lin Luoyu insisted she protect Cui Hao and left the carriage to face the pursuers.
• Winter Melon drove away with Cui Hao while they watched Lin Luoyu unleash the Righteousness Sword’s power.
• Yu Jing and Wen Zuo hesitated to approach Lin Luoyu, who assumed she had forgotten to deliver a righteous speech before fighting.
• Lin Luoyu charged Yu Jing, but he blocked her strike and redirected its force away from himself.
• Yu Jing warned Lin Luoyu that Li Cult Leader was coming, and Lin Luoyu realized the others were also staging the fight.

Winter Melon fled with Cui Hao and the unconscious half of Watermelon while Lin Luoyu confronted Li Xingtian, the Nascent Soul blood cultivator. At Zhuyunluo, Winter Melon explained why the Evil Spirit Cult was unlikely to harm them, and Cui Hao immediately regretted running.

• Cui Hao urged Winter Melon to flee after she pointed out that Lin Luoyu was losing against two Golden Core cultivators.
• Winter Melon took the half of Watermelon and Cui Hao and abandoned the carriage, then saw Li Xingtian's blood blade clash with Lin Luoyu's Righteousness Qi.
• Li Xingtian recognized Lin Luoyu as his Fourth Junior Sister, and they exchanged news about their fellow disciples before he suggested they stop for tea.
• Winter Melon reached Zhuyunluo with Cui Hao and the half of Watermelon, struggling with pain from Li Xingtian's Blood Qi.
• Winter Melon reasoned that the Evil Spirit Cult would avoid harming Lin Luoyu or anyone tied to the Great Dao Sect, prompting Cui Hao to say he wished he had not run.

Lin Luoyu returned to the group injured after escaping the Evil Spirit Cult and arranged for Great Dao Sect cultivators to purge the pursuers. At an abandoned hunter’s home, she pulled Winter Melon aside and asked why she was being hunted and what she had concealed.

• Lin Luoyu returned to the camp and explained that her protective Dharma Treasure and escape talisman had helped her evade the Evil Spirit Cult.
• Lin Luoyu told Winter Melon that she had requested Great Dao Sect reinforcements and warned the group to beware of the pursuers, especially the Nascent Soul Realm Blood Qi Evil Cultivator.
• The group extinguished the campfire and traveled deeper into the forest while Cui Hao asked Lin Luoyu to show him her protective treasure.
• The group reached an abandoned hunter’s home and rested while half a Watermelon volunteered to keep watch.
• Lin Luoyu asked Winter Melon to speak privately, then questioned why she was being hunted and whether she had hidden something.

Cui Hao revealed to Winter Melon that he had overheard her conversation with Lin Luoyu and proposed betraying the Great Dao Sect to claim the mysterious object for themselves. Winter Melon welcomed his greed, but the two ended their bargain with a threat to discover who would be the rat and who the pig.

• After traveling through the day and night, Cui Hao asked the group to stop and rest because his spiritual power was nearly exhausted.
• While Lin Luoyu took the first watch, Cui Hao used a Soundproofing Talisman to speak privately with Winter Melon.
• Cui Hao told Winter Melon he knew about her conversation with Lin Luoyu and revealed that the object she carried was a Great Dao, a path beyond immortality.
• Cui Hao proposed that he and Winter Melon keep the object instead of handing it to the Great Dao Sect, offering Winter Melon thirty percent and himself sixty percent.
• Winter Melon questioned whether Cui Hao had been pretending to act foolish, and he admitted he had wanted to disgust Lin Luoyu.
• Winter Melon called Cui Hao a rat, and he warned her that they would see who was the rat and who was the pig.

Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu agreed to stage a betrayal so he could use Winter Melon to pursue a bigger target. After Winter Melon showed him a Rules Crystal, Cui Hao revealed that he did not know how it worked and asked whether he had to swallow it whole.

• Cui Hao told Lin Luoyu he planned to sell her off, and she agreed to cooperate with his scheme and cover for him if it went wrong.
• Cui Hao and Winter Melon left the group and set up a barrier in a secluded spot while Lin Luoyu stayed behind.
• Winter Melon questioned what Cui Hao had told Lin Luoyu, and he claimed he had told her they were sneaking off together to indulge themselves.
• Winter Melon handed Cui Hao a blackish-gray Rules Crystal, and he eagerly examined it.
• Cui Hao admitted he did not know how to use the Rules Crystal or what its black threads were, and asked if he had to swallow it whole.

Chu Xingchen welcomed Li Junzi back to the Great Confucian Realm and learned she planned to honor her appointment at Junzi Mountain. He then arranged for Ning Qianqian to study at the Heavenly Derivation Sect so she could improve her cultivation, promising she could return whenever she wished.

• Chen Baiqing served tea as Chu Xingchen congratulated Li Junzi on returning to the Great Confucian Realm.
• Li Junzi told Chu Xingchen she planned to go to Junzi Mountain and give her answer, declining his offer to accompany her.
• Chu Xingchen invited Li Junzi to rest at the sect and suggested Luo Yu could find her after her affairs were settled.
• Chu Xingchen asked Ning Qianqian about her cultivation and proposed sending her to the Heavenly Derivation Sect to find a suitable method.
• Ning Qianqian worried about leaving the sect's spirit plants, so Chu Xingchen arranged for Sandong to tend them and promised Ning Qianqian his protection.

Winter Melon told Half of Watermelon that Cui Hao knew about her dealings with Lin Luoyu and wanted to exploit Lin Luoyu’s debt to his family. They agreed to wait and see what happened when Winter Melon and Cui Hao acted the next day, while Watermelon considered returning to Qu Lin to find survivors.

• Winter Melon punched Watermelon after he joked that she had offered herself to Cui Hao.
• Winter Melon explained that Cui Hao had learned of her conversation with Lin Luoyu and planned to use Lin Luoyu’s indebtedness to him for his own gain.
• Watermelon proposed giving Cui Hao what he wanted, then leaving the group while he returned to Qu Lin to look for survivors.
• Winter Melon refused to abandon the plan, saying Cui Hao was not clever enough to outmaneuver her and that she did not want to waste Waterman as a trump card.
• Watermelon advised waiting until the situation settled before taking action, and Winter Melon said she had already agreed to act with Cui Hao the next day.
• Winter Melon returned to treat the Blood Qi in her body while Waterman stayed by the tree, gazing at the half-moon.

Cui Hao devised a plan to fake a grave injury and force Lin Luoyu to use a certain item, while Winter Melon and Watermelon prepared to play along. Lin Luoyu waited at a distance, then heard a violent surge of Spiritual Power and headed back, unsure whether Cui Hao’s plan had worked or his companions were simply foolish.

• Cui Hao stopped the group repeatedly, then privately told Lin Luoyu something with a Soundproofing Talisman, and she left them behind.
• Cui Hao told Winter Melon and Watermelon to fake injuries so Lin Luoyu would believe they had been attacked, but Winter Melon questioned his plan.
• Watermelon suspected Cui Hao was hiding something about his relationship with Lin Luoyu, but he kept his doubts to himself.
• Cui Hao revealed a pill from his Spatial Ring and confidently claimed it would work, easing Winter Melon’s suspicion.
• Lin Luoyu waited at a distance until a violent surge of Spiritual Power erupted, then began returning to the group.

Lin Luoyu discovered that Cui Hao had faked his collapse, then learned he was truly gravely injured after an ambush. Winter Melon offered to use the Experiment to save him, though its price was a life.

• Lin Luoyu found Cui Hao lying unharmed and learned he had taken a pill to make himself unable to move.
• Winter Melon told Lin Luoyu that they had been ambushed and that Cui Hao had collapsed; Lin Luoyu changed their route and carried him away.
• In a cave, Lin Luoyu diagnosed Cui Hao with ruptured Spirit Veins and a muddled Spiritual Altar, then decided to take him to the Great Dao Sect.
• Winter Melon warned that the route was dangerous and offered to use the Experiment to save Cui Hao.
• Winter Melon pressed the Experiment to Cui Hao's chest and explained that it could repair his injuries, while privately knowing its price was a life.

Lin Luoyu and Cui Hao tested Winter Melon’s prototype while Winter Melon and Watermelon debated whether their meeting was a trap. The test revealed that the device left hidden traces and had unstable effects, and Lin Luoyu asked whether those traces could be put on them.

• Lin Luoyu accepted the prototype from Winter Melon but chose to test it on her own, then left with Cui Hao.
• Winter Melon said they could use Lin Luoyu’s righteousness qi and learn about the Great Dao Sect, while Watermelon suspected they had been manipulated into accepting a lifeline.
• Winter Melon argued that Lin Luoyu’s righteous convictions made her unlikely to be allied with the Evil Cultivator, and Watermelon reluctantly accepted that they had to gamble.
• Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu decided to have a Great Dao Sect cultivator test the prototype on a wild animal instead of using it on Cui Hao.
• The middle-aged cultivator reported that the prototype left hidden traces on both user and target, had strange effects, and remained unstable; Lin Luoyu asked if he could place the traces on them.

Winter Melon forced Lin Luoyu and Cui Hao to negotiate over the addictive Experiment, while Cui Xingchen arrived at Fuyao Immortal Pavilion with Zhang Miaoyu and found Xu Jin alongside Yuyang Daozi. The chapter left Zhang Miaoyu stunned by the legendary figures gathered with her sect leader.

• Winter Melon confirmed that Lin Luoyu and Cui Hao had used the Experiment and warned that their strengthened meridians would collapse without more of it.
• Lin Luoyu attacked Winter Melon, but Cui Hao persuaded his senior sister to hear Winter Melon's proposal to solve the Experiment's problems together.
• Cui Hao objected to Winter Melon threatening him, and she restrained herself to keep the negotiations on track.
• Chu Xingchen arranged for Qinghe to accompany Ning Qianqian at the Heavenly Derivation Sect and brought Zhang Miaoyu to Fuyao Immortal Pavilion.
• Chu Xingchen found Xu Jin and Yuyang Daozi in the pavilion, leaving Zhang Miaoyu astonished to see her sect leader among legendary figures.

Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin compared their investigations into demons disguising themselves as humans and agreed to monitor Cui Hao’s actions before escalating matters. Yuyang Daozi considered whether the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect could intervene if events became uncontrollable, while Zhang Miaoyu listened in awe.

• Chu Xingchen read a jade slip about Cui Hao’s actions and agreed to cooperate while taking responsibility for his disciple.
• Yuyang Daozi examined Zhang Miaoyu, and Chu Xingchen introduced her as the sect’s Outer Sect elder and reassured her that the sect would support her.
• Xu Jin explained that the demons’ transformation ability was likely connected to the Dao and that researchers were studying an imitation experiment to find ways to identify disguised demons.
• Chu Xingchen proposed waiting to see what happened with Cui Hao before making a conspicuous move, and Xu Jin agreed to let him take the lead.
• Xu Jin asked whether Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect cultivators could intervene if the situation became uncontrollable, and Yuyang Daozi said he would consult his sect leader.

Li Yingling supported Cui Hao’s assignments behind the scenes while preparing Zhang Miaoyu to help expose Second Junior Brother. Winter Melon recognized that Cui Hao had become an exceptionally capable operative, leaving him buried in work.

• Li Yingling learned that Cui Hao was handling a wide range of tasks for Winter Melon and used Great Dao Sect resources to make those assignments possible.
• Zhang Miaoyu returned to Li Yingling and doubted she could manage an important task because of her Golden Core abilities.
• Li Yingling showed Zhang Miaoyu instructions to sabotage Second Junior Brother’s plan, leave evidence that could withstand scrutiny, and spread rumors that would improve Zhang Miaoyu’s reputation.
• Cui Hao complained to Winter Melon that he was exhausted from handling all her work, and Winter Melon reflected on how reliably he completed every task.
• Winter Melon concluded that Cui Hao was a top talent at getting things done.

Cui Hao challenged Winter Melon over her dangerous assignment and argued that they should make their superiors invest in a promising plan rather than risk their lives for nothing. Winter Melon accepted his proposal, leaving Watermelon worried that Cui Hao was driving a wedge between them.

• Winter Melon asked Cui Hao about his assignment, and he admitted he had gone away to relax and done nothing.
• Cui Hao argued that a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not take on the Nascent Soul Realm Blood Qi Evil Cultivator and accused Winter Melon of sending him to his death.
• Cui Hao called Half a Watermelon into the room and urged Winter Melon to make her superiors pay a price by promising them enticing benefits.
• Watermelon recognized the appeal of Cui Hao's proposal but suspected it was a divisive tactic.
• Winter Melon praised Cui Hao's knack for getting things done and promised he would receive his due credit and rewards, while Waterman's expression fell.

Cui Hao persuaded Winter Melon to follow his plan, while Watermelon warned him that Cui Hao was manipulating them and then accepted Winter Melon’s choice to survive. Back at Stillbone Forest, Cui Hao reported his progress to Lin Luoyu and Li Xingtian, and he anticipated that Winter Melon would act within days and that he would soon face Eldest Senior Sister.

• Cui Hao left Winter Melon after planting doubts about their superiors’ orders and using him as bait to draw out hidden forces.
• Watermelon warned Winter Melon that Cui Hao’s plan could divide them, but Winter Melon admitted he wanted to live, and Watermelon agreed to let him proceed.
• At Stillbone Forest, Li Xingtian told Lin Luoyu that Elder Zhang Miaoyu was expected to arrive in a few days and that Master was investigating something with Yuyang Daozi.
• Cui Hao told Lin Luoyu that Winter Melon had accepted the plan, while Watermelon was unlikely to change his mind or send word easily.
• Cui Hao sought Li Xingtian’s support for his extensive requests to Eldest Senior Sister, then estimated that Winter Melon would act in a few days and that he would face Eldest Senior Sister in about ten days.

Winter Melon falsely reported that the evil cultivators possessed a Heavenfall to secure reinforcements from her superiors. Afterward, Watermelon was questioned about her claims and cautiously undermined them while trying to protect her.

• Winter Melon told the clay statue that the evil cultivators might have obtained Wuxuan Temple's lost Heavenfall and asked for reinforcements.
• Winter Melon admitted she had no concrete evidence, but claimed Cui Hao would stake his life on the intelligence and had a Dharma Method.
• The clay statue promised to adjust deployments, ordered Winter Melon to investigate further, and offered Heaven Beyond Heaven as a reward if the Heavenfall was real.
• Winter Melon left, privately admitting that the Heavenfall report was fabricated and that she only hoped to survive the mission.
• Watermelon told the old wooden puppet he had no evidence for Winter Melon's claim and suggested Cui Hao might have deceived her.
• The old wooden puppet gave an ambiguous response as Watermelon reflected that his death could leave Winter Melon free to act.

Chu Xingchen, Xu Jin, and Yuyang Daozi tracked the Evil Cultivators to a mountain region and debated how to deal with them, while Winter Melon prepared to lead an attack despite the danger. Watermelon warned Winter Melon not to trust Cui Hao, and left reassured that she was still thinking clearly.

• Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin discussed attacking the Evil Cultivators’ mountain hideout, while Yuyang Daozi warned that they might escape if the sects acted too bluntly.
• Chu Xingchen proposed sending a few survivors back under an illusion so they could be studied, and Xu Jin left the arrangements to him.
• Three days after Watermelon’s report, Winter Melon began personally planning the operation against the Evil Cultivator as Cui Hao’s proposals came under her control.
• Watermelon warned Winter Melon not to trust Cui Hao and urged her to make her own plan and prepare for betrayal and retreat.
• Winter Melon told Watermelon she had only pretended to play dumb with Cui Hao, then thanked him for not exposing her; Waterman left reassured.