Chapter Summaries

The narrator prepared for the possibility that he would not return from his trip by making a will, settling his affairs, and saying goodbye to people who mattered to him. At dinner, Seventh Master sensed that he was hiding something, and the narrator broke down in tears.

• The narrator wrote a will leaving his apartment and car arrangements to Meng Yifan and his money to An Ning, then entrusted his old prospective clients to Xie Peng and Li Xingyang.
• He asked Meng Yifan for time off, saying he was going to City A for a friend's wedding and would return in two or three days.
• He visited his father's and grandfather's graves, apologized to his father, and told them he might not come back.
• He visited Fang Man's grave, brought her favorite cookies, and said goodbye before having his documents notarized.
• He brought toys and baby clothes to Seventh Master and joined him for dinner, where Seventh Master warned him that Wu Huaqing would target him next.
• Seventh Master asked whether Wu Huaqing's people had come to see him, and the narrator lost control of his emotions and cried into his bowl.

The narrator spent a full day dating An Ning before he was due to leave for a dangerous trip to City A, and she admitted she wanted to marry him but feared their happiness was only a dream. That night, he dreamed of meeting the Patriarch, who spoke of his attachments and his ability to follow the Dao.

• The narrator surprised An Ning outside her building and persuaded her to skip work for a date.
• The narrator and An Ning visited the morning market, mall, Arcade, Snack Street, and amusement park, where she confessed she wanted to marry him but feared she would disappoint him.
• The narrator told An Ning he was leaving for a friend's wedding, then took her home to watch movies until she fell asleep on his lap.
• The narrator slept soundly despite believing he might die on his trip to City A, then dreamed he met the Patriarch on a bridge beside three tributaries representing family, friendship, and romantic love.
• The Patriarch praised the narrator's understanding of letting nature take its course and warned that his attachments prevented him from breaking free of the lesser path.

The Patriarch explained the lesser dao and the Mohist School’s pursuit of it, telling Chen that someone must stand firm upon it. Chen woke beside An Ning, left her sleeping, and went to the airport to meet Guan Yue, still unsure whether he would survive what came next.

• The Patriarch taught Chen that the lesser dao progressed from virtue to benevolence, righteousness, ritual, wisdom, and trustworthiness as people compromised step by step.
• The Patriarch revealed that Chen’s jade pendant had been made from the token passed down by the leaders of the Mohist School and discussed why the school had died out.
• The Patriarch told Chen that someone had to stand firm upon the lesser dao and that understanding the lesson might help him survive his ordeal.
• Chen woke at daylight, left An Ning asleep, and went to the airport.
• Guan Yue gave Chen his plane ticket but could not say whether the journey would kill him, and Chen agreed to go with him.

Terrified of meeting Wu Huaqing, the narrator traveled with Guan Yue to Wu Huaqing’s villa, while Li Fuguang urged him not to give up. At the entrance, Wu Huaqing’s people immobilized the narrator and extracted Li Fuguang into a sealed box before the narrator could confront him.

• In the departure lounge, the narrator admitted to Guan Yue that he was terrified of dying, and he slept through most of the flight.
• In a dream, Li Fuguang urged the narrator to resist Wu Huaqing and said he would try to create a chance for him to survive, then cut off contact.
• After landing, the narrator and Guan Yue rode with an escort to Wu Huaqing’s villa in City A.
• As the narrator was escorted toward Wu Huaqing, a golden needle paralyzed him and a group of chanters began a ritual.
• Wu Huaqing’s people pulled Li Fuguang out of the narrator and sealed him inside a box wrapped in yellow cloth and marked with a talisman.

After Li Fuguang was sealed away, the narrator met Wu Huaqing, who calmly explained why he considered him a threat and refused to spare him. Wu Huaqing prepared to have the narrator killed with a poisoned cup of tea.

• Guan Yue helped the narrator enter Wu Huaqing’s mansion with the box containing Li Fuguang.
• Wu Huaqing received the sealed box, dismissed Guan Yue, and spoke privately with the narrator.
• Wu Huaqing said the narrator’s actions had disrupted his organization’s plans and that he did not trust his promise to stay out of its affairs.
• Wu Huaqing told the narrator he would kill him but promised not to harm his friends if they did not seek revenge.
• Wu Huaqing summoned someone carrying a tray with a teacup, and the narrator realized the tea was meant to poison him.

Chen Mo appeared to die after Wu Huaqing forced him to drink poisoned tea, but he had used a Daoist forbidden art to transfer his soul and deceive Wu Huaqing. After revealing his survival to Li Fuguang, Chen Mo explained how he pulled off the reversal and admitted the gamble had been fifty-fifty.

• Wu Huaqing forced Chen Mo to drink poisoned tea after Chen wrote a suicide note, and Chen's body fell as if he had died.
• Chen formed the Dao Finger gesture and transferred his soul, then watched as Wu Huaqing ordered his body returned to Lanjiang City.
• Wu Huaqing rebuked Guan Yue for suggesting they interfere in Lanjiang City and told him to refuse all visitors for several days.
• At midnight, Chen opened the sealed box and summoned Li Fuguang, identifying himself so Li would not attack him.
• Chen told Li Fuguang that he had used a Daoist forbidden art, learned from the Seventh Master, and credited his Patriarch's enlightenment with helping him succeed.

The narrator and the Seventh Master devised a plan to kill Wu Huaqing using the forbidden Soul Exchange art, while preparing the narrator’s body to survive poison and a temporary soul swap. The narrator explained the preparations to Li Fuguang, who questioned why he had not been told to leave the narrator’s body beforehand.

• The narrator admitted to the Seventh Master that he planned to kill Wu Huaqing and feared he would not survive.
• The Seventh Master proposed the forbidden Soul Exchange art, which could swap souls for three to seven days.
• The Seventh Master took the narrator to Daoist Master Yuanxiu, who used the Zhu You Art to stimulate the narrator’s Feidu and Tunzei souls.
• The narrator explained to Li Fuguang that his presence inside the narrator’s body had made the planned soul swap impossible.
• Li Fuguang asked why the narrator had not simply told him to leave the body beforehand.

The narrator explained how his Soul Swap plan had depended on Li Fuguang being captured and revealed his plan to destroy the organization after returning to his own body. Li Fuguang departed to repent for Daojue’s sins, leaving the narrator with an apology and a promise of future reunion.

• The narrator explained why Li Fuguang had to accompany him to Wu Huaqing and let Wu Huaqing seal him away, and Li Fuguang insisted he had been ambushed.
• The narrator said he had pretended to fear death to lower Wu Huaqing’s guard and had used Li Fuguang to rehearse the act.
• The narrator outlined how he would return to his own body and gather what he needed to destroy the organization, while Li Fuguang accepted responsibility for Daojue’s sins.
• Li Fuguang said he would report to the nearest City God Temple and accept whatever punishment awaited him.
• The narrator apologized for Gongsun Jing’s past misunderstanding and said Gongsun Jing would fulfill his promise to meet Li Fuguang again; Li Fuguang wept, bowed, and left.

Chen Mo uncovered Wu Huaqing’s records of the Seven Deaths for a Life organization and its powerful beneficiaries, then summoned its senior members to a dinner where he poisoned them. The chapter ended with Chen Mo revealing his identity as their killer before collapsing from the same poison.

• Chen Mo found Wu Huaqing’s notebooks and USB drives, copied their contents, and sent them to Seventh Master for Uncle Song to handle.
• Chen Mo decided to prevent the organization’s remaining members from regrouping and summoned about twenty senior members to Wu Huaqing’s home.
• Chen Mo invited Guan Yue to sit with the senior members and served them wine laced with the poison he had found in Wu Huaqing’s room.
• The senior members collapsed after drinking, and Chen Mo revealed that he was the one who had killed them before the poison brought him down too.

After Seventh Master and An Ning summoned Chen Mo’s soul, he woke in Seventh Master’s house and learned that the organization had been crippled but the powerful Tang Family remained untouched. With Tang Tianming likely to seek revenge, his allies proposed that Chen Mo stay with Xiang Yifeng for a year to lie low and learn martial arts.

• After Wu Huaqing’s death, Chen Mo wandered as a ghost until Seventh Master and An Ning summoned him, and An Ning promised to take him home.
• Chen Mo woke in the upstairs bedroom of Seventh Master’s house and went downstairs to join the gathered group.
• Seventh Master explained that Tang Tianming was Wu Huaqing’s biological son and that the Tang Family’s crimes had not yet been exposed.
• Uncle Song said arrests had crippled the organization, but the Tang Family had protected some members and might use their dark arts to build a new organization.
• Uncle Song warned that Tang Tianming would likely trace Wu Huaqing’s death to Chen Mo and introduced Xiang Yifeng as a safe place for Chen Mo to hide and train for a year.

After learning they had to separate for a year so they could become stronger, I accepted Seventh Master’s plan while An Ning and I struggled to face the parting. The chapter ended with An Ning kissing me before I left for Daoist Xiang’s place.

• I struggled with Uncle Song’s plan to send me away for a year, while he explained that hiding from the world was the only alternative.
• Seventh Master urged me to accept the year apart and offered to send An Ning to Qingyun Temple to study under the Abbot and Daoist Master Yuanxiu.
• I agreed to leave, and the others gave An Ning and me half an hour alone together.
• An Ning cried and admitted she feared that our separation meant our happiness had only been a dream.
• I reassured An Ning that our relationship would endure the year apart, and she embraced and kissed me.

Chen Mo left Lanjiang City for a year of training with Daoist Xiang in Shen City, saying goodbye to Seventh Master and his friends. After arriving, Chen Mo and Xiang Yifeng were followed at a night market and fought off their pursuers, leaving the identities of the attackers unresolved.

• Chen Mo said goodbye to Seventh Master, Yi Yang, Meng Yifan, and Song Xiaotian before leaving for Shen City to study under Daoist Xiang.
• Song Xiaotian told Chen Mo that Xiao Rou was pregnant, and Uncle Song gave him an unregistered phone to help him avoid the Tang Family.
• Xiang Yifeng drove Chen Mo to Shen City, where they planned to stay at a hotel before visiting Daoist Xiang the next morning.
• At a night market, Chen Mo sensed that seven people were following them, so Xiang Yifeng led them into an alley.
• Xiang Yifeng attacked the pursuers, while Chen Mo stabbed several of the fallen men before Xiang Yifeng pulled him away and ran.

After fleeing the scene, Chen Mo traveled with Xiang Yifeng to Qingyang Temple in Fengyang County to begin a year of Daoist training. Daoist Xiang welcomed him and arranged his room before an Apprenticeship Ceremony scheduled for the next morning, leaving Chen Mo wondering whether he would become a formally registered Daoist.

• Chen Mo learned that the men he had stabbed might have been Xiang Yifeng’s enemies, then returned to the hotel with Xiang Yifeng and barely slept.
• Chen Mo and Xiang Yifeng drove to Qingyang Temple, where Xiang Yifeng explained its history and its role in raising orphans.
• Xiang Yifeng showed Chen Mo the temple’s disciplined young trainees and brought him to meet Daoist Xiang.
• Daoist Xiang welcomed Chen Mo as his grandmaster but said he would not formally take him as a disciple, and told Xiang Yifeng to prepare him for the Apprenticeship Ceremony at eight the next morning.
• Xiang Yifeng brought Chen Mo to a private room and described the temple’s Vegetarian Hall and Scripture Pavilion; Chen Mo noticed the Daoist robes and wondered if he would enter the Daoist Register.

Chen Mo settled into Qingyang Temple and became Daoist Qingfeng’s disciple in a formal ceremony. His first test of his fighting fundamentals ended with a young senior brother knocking him flat.

• Xiang Yifeng showed Chen Mo around Qingyang Temple and warned him not to wander at night or ask questions about anything he saw.
• That night, Chen Mo saw Xiang Yifeng and a middle-aged Daoist escorting a bloodied young man through the temple.
• Daoist Xiang introduced Chen Mo to the temple’s young disciples, and Daoist Qingfeng accepted him as a disciple after warning him to obey his rules and endure hardship.
• Chen Mo served tea, paid respects to the Patriarchs, and officially completed the ceremony to take Daoist Qingfeng as his master.
• Daoist Qingfeng tested Chen Mo by having him challenge a twelve- or thirteen-year-old senior brother, who immediately knocked him to the ground.

On his first day as his master’s disciple, the narrator endured brutal stance and push-up training, followed by a meal and medicine meant to keep his body from breaking down. He woke the next morning fully recovered and realized his master could sustain the punishing routine for the entire year.

• The narrator’s master whipped him whenever his stance or push-up form faltered, alternating between the exercises until the narrator collapsed.
• His master carried him to the dining hall, gave him a medicinal decoction, and explained that it would restore and nourish his body.
• His master handed him medicinal plasters for his whip wounds, carried him back to the dormitory, and set training for eight the next morning.
• The narrator woke fully recovered and found that the whip wounds had healed after using the medicine and plasters.
• The narrator realized his master intended to put him through the same punishing training for a whole year.

Chen Mo endured a punishing week of foundational training before his grandmaster told him that An Ning was doing well at Qingyun Temple and showed him a photo of her. Reinvigorated, Chen Mo returned to training, and his master took him down the mountain to practice running, catching him by motorcycle after giving him a head start.

• Chen Mo described his grueling daily training and learned he would have to endure it for a year unless he passed out.
• Chen Mo's grandmaster told him An Ning had become a disciple of Daoist Master Qianxin and was studying medicine under Daoist Master Yuanxiu at Qingyun Temple.
• Chen Mo's grandmaster shared a photo of An Ning learning to identify herbs and urged Chen Mo to stay motivated in training.
• Chen Mo's master explained that foundational practice built the strength and skill needed to use martial arts effectively.
• Chen Mo bragged that he was good at running, but his master caught up with him on a motorcycle after giving him a hundred-meter head start.

After a month and a half of training at Qingyang Temple, Chen Mo was sent to investigate the disappearance of his senior fellow disciple Zhang Rong, who had been looking into two suspicious deaths at Yuchuang Group. Chen Mo realized the case might involve Seven Deaths for a Life, and his grandmaster tasked him with finding Zhang Rong.

• Chen Mo trained and read at Qingyang Temple, discovering its Scripture Pavilion held many books on the Mohist School.
• Chen Mo noticed that young Daoists were rarely seen at the temple and suspected it was hiding a secret, but he focused on his apprenticeship.
• Chen Mo's grandmaster showed him a photograph of Zhang Rong and explained that Zhang Rong had gone missing after investigating two employees' deaths at Yuchuang Group.
• Chen Mo learned that both dead employees and Zhang Rong were born on the fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month, leading him to suspect Seven Deaths for a Life.
• Chen Mo's grandmaster confirmed he knew of the dark art and sent Chen Mo to find Zhang Rong, alive or dead.

Chen Mo went down the mountain to investigate Zhang Rong’s disappearance, posing as Zhang Rong’s younger cousin to gain access to Liu Haicheng. Liu Haicheng revealed that Zhang Rong had warned him he might be in danger, and Chen Mo pressed him for details about the incident.

• Grandmaster told Chen Mo to resolve the matter involving Seven Deaths for a Life, find Zhang Rong, and keep up his training while away from Qingyang Temple.
• Chen Mo said goodbye to his master, left Qingyang Temple, and went to the company to see its general manager, Liu Haicheng.
• Liu Haicheng showed Chen Mo Zhang Rong’s message warning that something might happen to him and saying his younger cousin would visit.
• Liu Haicheng admitted he had not called the police because he feared an investigation could cost him his resettlement allowance, and he offered Chen Mo fifty thousand yuan.
• Chen Mo accepted the money and demanded that Liu Haicheng explain what had happened to Zhang Rong and the two people who died.

The narrator learned that Liu Haicheng had hired Zhang Rong to investigate which of two executives was responsible for a death, and that Liu might falsely accuse one if he found no answer before stepping down. After depositing most of his money, the narrator arranged a staged bag snatching near a bar, but the thief ran off with the woman’s bag.

• Liu Haicheng explained that Wang Cheng and Li Ruyue had undermined each other in their rivalry for general manager, that someone had been killed, and that Zhang Rong was investigating.
• Liu Haicheng said the Board of Directors had given him until the day after tomorrow to identify the culprit or risk losing his bonus and resettlement allowance, and he admitted he might pick one executive at random.
• The narrator agreed to help Liu Haicheng investigate in exchange for help finding his brother, then deposited forty thousand yuan and kept ten thousand in cash.
• The narrator offered a thief money to snatch a woman’s bag so he could play the hero, and reluctantly paid him eight thousand yuan.
• The thief waited near the bar until the woman appeared, then cut her bag strap with a knife and ran off with the bag.

Zhang Lin staged a bag-snatching incident to meet Li Ruyue, then used his knowledge of her background and a fabricated success story to impress her at a bar. After several drinks, Li Ruyue touched his hand and asked whether he believed in love at first sight.

• Zhang Lin caught the pickpocket who stole Li Ruyue’s bag and returned it, then discouraged her from calling the police.
• Li Ruyue invited Zhang Lin for a drink, and he introduced himself as Zhang Lin while she gave her name as Li Ruyue.
• Zhang Lin pretended to be a southern former soldier who had built a successful company and was hiding from his family’s marriage pressure.
• Li Ruyue claimed she was unmarried and innocent in relationships, and Zhang Lin praised her career after seeing her business card.
• After they talked and drank together, Li Ruyue touched Zhang Lin’s hand and asked if he believed in love at first sight.