Chapter Summaries

Xuanzi fought the six-eyed raccoon with three kinds of elemental power while Zeng Mu struggled free from the soil. After Zeng Mu incapacitated the raccoon, he asked it to lift Yao Chun’s curse, but the raccoon revealed that it considered Yao Chun an enemy.

• Xuanzi burst out of the ground and attacked the six-eyed raccoon, revealing its elemental powers.
• Xuanzi and the six-eyed raccoon exchanged dozens of blows, neither gaining the upper hand.
• The six-eyed raccoon hurled earth and stones at Xuanzi, but the cat remained unharmed as Zeng Mu clenched his buried fist.
• As the six-eyed raccoon tried to flee, Zeng Mu trapped it in a golden light and knocked it unconscious.
• Zeng Mu assured the awakened raccoon that he had come to resolve Yao Chun’s curse, not kill it.
• The six-eyed raccoon refused to lift the curse and said that cutting off someone’s livelihood was like murdering their parents.

Zeng Mu persuaded the Six-Eyed Raccoon to lift Yao Chun’s curse by feeding it treasured Elemental Beast remains. The raccoon gave him a black pearl to cure Yao Chun and warned that it would kill him if he continued helping hunters with divinations.

• The Six-Eyed Raccoon told Zeng Mu that hunters’ divinations were depleting its food supply and recounted why its ancestors had rejected humans.
• Zeng Mu offered the hungry Six-Eyed Raccoon a trove of Elemental Beast remains, and it ate until its energy returned.
• The Six-Eyed Raccoon gave Zeng Mu a black pearl that would lift Yao Chun’s curse once swallowed.
• The Six-Eyed Raccoon told Zeng Mu to warn Yao Chun to stop performing hunting divinations and threatened to kill him if he interfered again.

Zeng Mu lifted Yao Chun’s curse with the Black Pearl, and Yao Chun revealed that their assassination target was Mo Sha Wo, leader of Bear City’s First Mercenary Group. He recounted Mo Sha Wo’s unusual origins and rise, leaving Zeng Mu with a fuller picture of the man they were supposed to eliminate.

• The Six-Eyed Raccoon gave Zeng Mu a White Pearl made from its tears before they parted ways.
• Zeng Mu returned to Yao Chun’s cottage and had him swallow the Black Pearl, lifting the curse.
• Yao Chun told Zeng Mu that the Temple Master had ordered him to eliminate Mo Sha Wo and had expected him to work with Zeng Mu.
• Yao Chun explained how Bear City’s mercenary groups operated and identified Mo Sha Wo as the leader of the First Mercenary Group.
• Yao Chun revealed that Mo Sha Wo was the son of a frontier general, had been raised by wolves, and had come to Bear City four years earlier.

Yao Chun explained that Mo Sha Wo’s hunting success was strengthening the Chu Kingdom by supplying Elemental Beast parts to You City, and that the mercenary group was protected by the powerful Elementalist Wu Di. Zeng Mu agreed to infiltrate the group to learn its plans and passed the guards’ strength test to enter.

• Yao Chun told Zeng Mu that Mo Sha Wo’s mercenary group had hunted twenty-nine Elemental Beasts, most within the past year and a half, and sent them to You City.
• Yao Chun explained that the group had 527 members and was protected by Wu Di, a Metal Elementalist in the willful realm and a Count.
• Yao Chun proposed that Zeng Mu join the recruiting mercenary group to discover what powerful Elemental Beast it planned to hunt and when.
• Zeng Mu accepted the plan, left Yao Chun’s hut, and went to the group’s headquarters with a recruitment notice.
• The guards doubted Zeng Mu was a hunter, but he crushed one guard’s hand in a grip test and was allowed inside.

Zeng Mu, Leng Feng, Ai Xiao, and Ai Da gathered to apply to the First Hunter Mercenary Group and met its deputy commander and instructor, Wu Di. Wu Di began the group’s final day of recruitment by preparing a series of hunting skill tests.

• Zeng Mu waited in the mercenary group's practice yard until Leng Feng arrived and sat beside him.
• Ai Xiao and Ai Da arrived to apply, introduced themselves, and learned Zeng Mu's and Leng Feng's names.
• Wu Di arrived, introduced himself as the First Hunter Mercenary Group's deputy commander and instructor, and briefly wondered about Zeng Mu's presence.
• Wu Di explained that applicants would be judged on their skills and ability to follow orders, then announced the final day of recruitment.
• Wu Di clapped for assistants to arrange straw dummies, targets, bows, arrows, and weapons for the tests.

Wu Di recruited Ai Da, Ai Xiao, Leng Feng, and Zeng Mu into the First Hunter Mercenary Group after they passed an archery test, then sent them to hunt Black Grasshoppers as their final test. In the Fallen Leaf Forest, the others began hunting while Zeng Mu slept in a tree, waking with only twenty minutes left to catch up.

• Ai Da, Ai Xiao, Leng Feng, and Zeng Mu demonstrated their archery skills, and Wu Di welcomed all four into the First Hunter Mercenary Group.
• Wu Di assigned them to hunt Black Grasshoppers in the Fallen Leaf Forest, with their catch determining their monthly pay.
• The Ai brothers headed left, Leng Feng went right, and Zeng Mu took the middle path as they began hunting separately.
• The Ai brothers set traps and concoctions while Leng Feng searched for prey with a blade, and Zeng Mu climbed a tree to sleep.
• After half an hour, Zeng Mu woke to signs that the others had already caught grasshoppers and began his hunt with twenty minutes remaining.

Zeng Mu, Ai Da, Ai Xiao, and Leng Feng returned from a hunting test with over a hundred Black Grasshoppers, impressing Wu Di. Wu Di revealed that the mercenary group planned to hunt a weakened, pregnant Third-Grade Superior Elemental Beast, a Diamond White Bear, tomorrow, and Zeng Mu suspected the hunt was tied to the coming war.

• Zeng Mu hunted Black Grasshoppers with remarkable precision, collecting fifty-one in less than twenty minutes.
• Ai Da and Ai Xiao presented about thirty Black Grasshoppers, while Leng Feng presented twenty-eight mangled ones.
• Wu Di praised the four hunters and revealed that their quarry was a Third-Grade Superior Elemental Beast: a Diamond White Bear.
• Wu Di explained that the bear was pregnant and weakened, and that the group planned to hunt it with over five hundred hunters, traps, and weapons.
• Zeng Mu realized the Diamond White Bear might be intended for the King of Chu and could affect the impending nationwide war.
• Wu Di told the four hunters to prepare and gather at dusk, as the hunt had been moved up to the following day.

Zeng Mu visited Yao Chun, who showed him face stones that produced sorrowful cries when burned and explained how they could disrupt Diamond White Bears. After giving Yao Chun a Magnifying Glass Elemental Artifact, Zeng Mu asked for a love hexagram, which Yao Chun found was blank.

• Zeng Mu found Yao Chun away from his hut and waited until he returned with baskets of strange stones.
• Yao Chun demonstrated that burning a face stone made it release a distinct, mournful cry, and explained that the stones could interfere with Diamond White Bears’ keen hearing.
• Zeng Mu gave Yao Chun his Magnifying Glass practice artifact, which Yao Chun welcomed as a tool for reading small hexagrams.
• Yao Chun cast a love hexagram for Zeng Mu, then revealed that the result was blank.

Zeng Mu received a warning that love would be difficult for him, then joined the First Hunter Mercenary Group as it gathered to leave Bear City. The group reached Sunlit Haven, where its hunt would begin.

• Yao Chun told Zeng Mu that his love reading was unusually divided and urged him to cherish the person beside him.
• Zeng Mu arrived early at the meeting place and waited with Ai Da, Ai Xiao, and Leng Feng as hunters gathered.
• Wu Di counted about four hundred hunters and led the group east out of Bear City.
• The hunters traveled through the birch forest and creek valley to Sunlit Haven, arriving two hours later.

Zeng Mu and the hunters reached the Muxi Mountains, where Mo Sha Wo ordered the group to camp quietly before hunting the Diamond White Bear at dawn. As rain fell through the night, Zeng Mu resolved to observe Wu Di and find a chance to kill Mo Sha Wo, while thinking of returning to Ma Linya after completing his assassination mission.

• Zeng Mu followed the mercenary group through Creek Valley and saw Mo Sha Wo swing rapidly down the mountainside to meet them.
• Wu Di apologized for the group’s delay, and Mo Sha Wo welcomed the hunters and told them to rest before setting out early to hunt the Diamond White Bear.
• The hunters built shelters from fallen branches and leaves without using blades or lighting fires, then ate, huddled together, and went to sleep.
• Zeng Mu thought of Ma Linya and decided he would return to see her after finishing his remaining assassination targets.
• Zeng Mu rejected the idea of attacking Mo Sha Wo that night and decided to watch Wu Di and assess his abilities the next day.
• A dark cloud brought five hours of rain that battered the hunters’ shelters through the night.

Zeng Mu and the hunters traveled to a cave where the Diamond White Bear was hiding, preparing traps before Mo Sha Wo led a seven-person team inside to lure it out. The team approached the beast in near-total darkness and stopped when Mo Sha Wo sensed it was close ahead.

• After the rain, Zeng Mu thanked Leng Feng for building a sturdy shelter, and the hunters assembled for the hunt.
• Mo Sha Wo warned the hunters to stay quiet and led them to the cave where the Diamond White Bear was hiding.
• The hunters began setting traps, while Wu Di used his Metal Element to create an Elemental Trap.
• Leng Feng and Zeng Mu volunteered to join Mo Sha Wo's advance team, which grew to seven members with Wu Di and three other hunters.
• Mo Sha Wo led the team into the dark cave, and after moving deeper, he signaled them to stay silent because the Diamond White Bear was less than fifty meters away.

Wu Di and his companions found a Diamond White Bear about to give birth and used face stones to weaken it before launching an ambush. Wu Di kept attacking while sparing its belly, hoping to take the unborn cub and gain its elemental source.

• Wu Di gave the group Metal Element Shields as they crept through the cave toward the bear.
• The hunters discovered the Diamond White Bear curled on a boulder, apparently close to giving birth, and Mo Sha Wo warned that it might be feigning labor.
• Zeng Mu produced face stones, and Wu Di threw them at the bear while Mo Sha Wo distributed Awakening Pills to protect the group from its cries.
• Wu Di attacked with metal-element weapons as the others fired arrows, waking and badly wounding the bear.
• The enraged bear leaped down, but Wu Di kept battering it and avoided its belly so he could preserve the cub and seek its elemental source.

Wu Di and the hunters killed the Diamond White Bear, but its newborn cub burst from its body and escaped as the cave collapsed. The Little Diamond White Bear attacked the hunters outside, leaving Wu Di and Mo Sha Wo to face it after their companions were killed.

• Wu Di and the hunters defeated the Diamond White Bear, but its corpse burst apart and released a beam that began collapsing the cave.
• Mo Sha Wo led the group out, while Zeng Mu stopped after seeing the bear’s corpse swell with blood again.
• The Little Diamond White Bear appeared on the mountaintop and killed Leng Feng and several archers with fire and ice attacks.
• Wu Di and Mo Sha Wo survived the attack as the hunters’ morale collapsed, and Wu Di trapped the cub with an Elemental Trap.
• Mo Sha Wo urged everyone to kill the Little Diamond White Bear.

Wu Di used a hidden second-tier lightning Elemental Artifact to wound the trapped Little Diamond White Bear, while Zeng Mu killed the revived Diamond White Bear in the cave and obtained its elemental spirit energy. Outside, the Little Diamond White Bear broke free and massacred the hunters, leaving Mo Sha Wo in mortal danger as Wu Di ignored him.

• Wu Di revealed his concealed second-tier lightning Elemental Artifact and blasted the trapped Little Diamond White Bear, breaking through its defenses.
• Zeng Mu watched the dead Diamond White Bear revive in the cave, recognized it had returned without elemental power, and killed it with one strike.
• Zeng Mu obtained the Diamond White Bear's elemental spirit energy as its body withered again.
• The wounded Little Diamond White Bear tore free of the Elemental Trap and killed Ai Xiao, Ai Da, and the hunters who attacked it.
• Wu Di focused entirely on killing the Little Diamond White Bear and failed to protect Mo Sha Wo, who faced the slaughter alone.

After Wu Di forced the hunters to kill the Little Diamond White Bear, he slaughtered the surviving witnesses and prepared to flee the Chu Kingdom. Zeng Mu revealed himself as a spy, and Wu Di faced an unexpectedly powerful opponent.

• After Mo Sha Wo died, Wu Di killed hunters who tried to flee and forced the rest to attack the Little Diamond White Bear.
• The hunters and Wu Di overwhelmed the wounded Little Diamond White Bear, and it died after a brutal battle.
• Wu Di realized Mo Xie's men would hunt him for Mo Sha Wo's death, so he decided to conceal the battle and escape the Chu Kingdom with the beast's corpse.
• Wu Di used his Thunder Elemental Artifact to kill all 116 surviving hunters and erase the witnesses.
• Zeng Mu emerged from a cave and revealed that he had used Phantom Spirit Beast Hide to disguise himself as a spy; when Wu Di confronted him, golden, red, and purple light blazed, leaving Wu Di terrified.

Zeng Mu escaped the aftermath of the hunters’ deaths and met Yao Chun, who was waiting to accompany him to the Wei State. Malena’s fifth secret letter revealed that Yao Chun would provide intelligence for the next operation, and the two prepared to travel together.

• Zeng Mu let Wu Di leave, then extracted the young Diamond White Bear’s elemental spirit qi and buried its body beneath a mound of stones.
• Zeng Mu realized he could not return to Bear City without raising suspicion, so he summoned Abyss and rode away.
• At a stream, Zeng Mu found Yao Chun waiting for him, and Yao Chun asked to travel with him.
• Zeng Mu opened Malena’s fifth secret letter, which named the Wei State as his next target and identified Yao Chun as his contact there.
• Yao Chun invited Zeng Mu to discuss the mission on the road and asked to ride Abyss.

Zeng Mu and Yao Chun reached Green City, where they discussed Wang Quande, the hidden son and sole heir of Wei State general Wang Ge, and his impending marriage to Zhao Jingya. Yao Chun argued that the two kings had arranged the marriage for their children’s happiness, leaving Zeng Mu unconvinced.

• Yao Chun told Zeng Mu he would not return to Bear City after finishing his work in Wei State, predicting that looming war would make spies like them covert assassins.
• Zeng Mu and Yao Chun reached Green City and learned of Wang Quande, Wang Ge’s gifted but little-known son and only direct heir.
• The chapter revealed that a royal decree would soon announce Wang Quande’s birth and that he would marry Zhao State’s Seventh Princess, Zhao Jingya, as part of the alliance between the two kingdoms.
• Zeng Mu asked why King Zhao would marry Zhao Jingya to an obscure general’s son, and Yao Chun said Wang Quande’s death would leave Wang Ge without an heir.
• Yao Chun said the two kings chiefly wanted their children to be happy, while Zeng Mu insisted that political alliances and mutual support came first.

Yao Chun and Zeng Mu headed toward the Emperor Dragon Mountains as a torrential storm trapped Zhao Jingya’s bridal escort in the mountains. The escort pushed onward through worsening conditions as a destructive torrent gathered above them.

• Yao Chun explained that King Zhao arranged Zhao Jingya’s marriage to Wang Quande out of concern for his daughter, while Wang Quande received his father’s letter and ordered preparations for her arrival.
• Zhao Jingya’s escort hurried toward Green City after a guard warned that heavy rain could cause floods and rockfalls in the Emperor Dragon Mountains.
• Yao Chun kept Zeng Mu from attacking Wang Quande and led him out of Green City toward the mountains, saying the rain was only the beginning of what he had divined.
• A torrential storm struck Green City, and Zhao Jingya’s escort endured more than ten hours of rain while struggling through muddy mountain valleys.
• A hidden torrent, swollen by rain from six peaks and mixed with soil and rocks, surged down through the ravines near the escort.

A flash flood struck Zhao Jingya’s convoy, washing away its horses and leaving Zhao Jingya unconscious. As the captain tried to protect her, a swarm of Yellow-Eyed Leeches attacked the surviving soldiers, and their escape seemed hopeless.

• The escort captain heard a flash flood approaching and ordered the soldiers to link together around the carriage.
• The flood swept over the convoy, but the soldiers survived by anchoring themselves to the carriage and shielding Zhao Jingya.
• The soldiers pulled Zhao Jingya from the muddy carriage, and two female medics revived her after she nearly drowned.
• The captain discovered Yellow-Eyed Leeches on the medics and carried Zhao Jingya away as a swarm erupted from the pooled water.
• The leeches overwhelmed the soldiers, draining their blood as the captain fled with the unconscious Zhao Jingya.

Zhao Jingya was rescued from the Yellow-Eyed Leeches by a mysterious, extraordinarily fast man, who carried her to a secluded cottage and treated her with a Medicinal Decoction. After waking, she learned that her guards had died and offered her rescuer a reward, which he refused.

• Zeng Mu and Yao Chun watched as Yellow-Eyed Leeches attacked Zhao Jingya and the guard carrying her through the rain.
• A mysterious man caught Zhao Jingya as she fell, and the leeches retreated when they sensed his presence.
• Zeng Mu and Yao Chun followed the man to a secluded valley cottage about forty li from Green City.
• The man prepared a Medicinal Decoction for Zhao Jingya, who dreamed before waking and vomiting mud.
• Zhao Jingya asked where she was and learned her guards had been killed by the Yellow-Eyed Leeches.
• Zhao Jingya offered the man gold or silver as a reward, but he refused and went to prepare lunch.