Chapter Summaries

Chi Yu buried the remains of Mulian Town’s residents and rescued the wounded Dong Sheng, who charmed him into revealing details about his cultivation and senior brother. After Chi Yu left, Dong Sheng revealed that he was harvesting cultivators as materials and planned to target Chan cultivators, while Chi Yu admitted he had suspected something was wrong but could not bring himself to attack a human.

• Chi Yu found the crashed Flying Artifact he had given Mulian Town’s magistrate, buried the residents’ remains, and heard Dong Sheng calling for help.
• Chi Yu healed Dong Sheng, gave him the false name AA Hardware and Building Supplies Brother Long, and learned that Dong Sheng had lost both legs while fleeing a yaomo.
• While taking Dong Sheng home, Chi Yu revealed he was a fourth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator and that his senior brother was nearing the Nascent Soul stage.
• Chi Yu left Dong Sheng beside a Purple Jade Bamboo Forest and gave him two middle-grade spirit stones.
• Dong Sheng’s legs regrew, and he told his shadow accomplice to avoid Chi Yu because of his powerful senior brother; he then discussed gathering cultivators as materials and targeting Chan cultivators.
• Chi Yu, who had suspected Dong Sheng’s tricks, left relieved but still could not bring himself to kill a human cultivator.

Chi Yu and Xie Xiyi discovered that Dong Sheng was an unorthodox Golden Core cultivator who had nearly captured Chi Yu, and Xie Xiyi left to pursue him. Meanwhile, Dong Sheng fled past Xie Qingning’s group, who debated how to handle the suspicious cultivators before Xie Qingjing offered his sister fruit.

• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi about Dong Sheng, and they found a blood-soaked cave containing pills made from human remains and other evidence of unorthodox cultivation.
• Xie Xiyi warned Chi Yu that he had nearly died, then left to hunt Dong Sheng while Chi Yu burned the cave and returned.
• Dong Sheng and Black Shadow spotted Xie Qingning’s group and suspected their many young cultivators indicated a secret treasure.
• Xie Bo’an reported that Dong Sheng and Black Shadow had fled after he warned them, and Xie Qingning criticized him for not killing them.
• Xie Qingjing offered Xie Qingning some fruit, and she reluctantly admitted that it tasted good.

Xie Xiyi reunited with Xie Qingning and Xie Qingjing, then left after learning they had come to bring him home. Dong Sheng tried to escape his pursuer but was captured by Long Aotian, while Chi Yu waited anxiously for Senior Brother Xuanji, who returned at dawn.

• Xie Qingning and Xie Qingjing urged Xie Xiyi to return home, but he told them to wait and left.
• Dong Sheng sensed his death was near, and the shadow abandoned him as they fled toward the Myriad Firmament Continent.
• Dong Sheng hid in a city and met Long Aotian, then recognized him as the Chan cultivator and was knocked unconscious while trying to flee.
• Chi Yu waited through the night for Senior Brother Xuanji, who returned while Chi Yu and Xiaoqiu sat by the campfire.

After killing the evil cultivator, Xie Xiyi returned to Chi Yu, who sought to comfort him and agreed to visualize together. As Xie Xiyi explored Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm with his Divine Sense, his pleasure and attachment intensified, while he remained unable to understand the feelings stirring within him.

• Chi Yu smelled blood on Xie Xiyi, hugged him, and asked whether the evil cultivator was dead; Xie Xiyi said he was.
• Chi Yu suggested they visualize together, and Xie Xiyi agreed before briefly wondering if he had forgotten something.
• On the slope, Chi Yu sat in Xie Xiyi’s lap and repeatedly called him Senior Brother Xuanji, while Xie Xiyi touched his lips under the pretext of visualizing.
• Xie Xiyi asked Chi Yu about their previous Divine Sense contact, then persuaded him to open his Spiritual Realm.
• Xie Xiyi’s Divine Sense explored and stimulated Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm as Chi Yu clung to him and repeatedly called his name.
• Xie Xiyi bit and licked Chi Yu’s ear, then held him tightly while feeling an overwhelming happiness he could not explain.

Xie Xiyi explored Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm and shared some of his Spiritual Resonance, strengthening Chi Yu’s Divine Sense. Chi Yu thanked him and gave him a thumb ring made from a lynx’s finger bone.

• Xie Xiyi discovered a hidden slit in Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm and entered it with threads of Divine Sense despite Chi Yu’s pleas for him to stop.
• Xie Xiyi reached the place where Chi Yu’s Divine Sense arose and merged some of his Spiritual Resonance into it.
• Chi Yu saw that his Divine Sense had grown more substantial and thanked Xie Xiyi for the unexpected gift.
• Chi Yu took a bone thumb ring from his Sumeru Ring and placed it on Xie Xiyi’s thumb.

Chi Yu and Xie Xiyi exchanged gifts before cultivating together through Spiritual Resonance until dawn. Afterward, Chi Yu promised Xiaoqiu and Wu Yunsu that he would help them train their Divine Senses when they were ready.

• Chi Yu explained the customs associated with rings, and Xie Xiyi wore the thumb ring on his middle finger.
• Xie Xiyi gave Chi Yu a protective red gemstone stud and explained its magical abilities.
• Chi Yu asked Xie Xiyi for more Spiritual Resonance, and they continued cultivating through the night.
• At dawn, Xie Xiyi held Chi Yu close while they ignored Xiaoqiu calling for them outside the barrier.
• Chi Yu told Xiaoqiu that their cultivation had advanced his Divine Sense and promised to help him train once he reached Foundation Establishment.
• Chi Yu also promised Wu Yunsu that he would help train his Divine Sense, so neither of them would be left out.

Chi Yu recovered from his encounter with Xie Xiyi and reflected that the spiritual resonance had benefited only him. When Xie Xiyi’s younger siblings arrived in the Wasteland to bring him home, Xie Xiyi punished them and insisted he would remain in the Chan Sect; the chapter ended with Chi Yu asking whether it was safe to let them return alone.

• Xiaoqiu gave Chi Yu a warm roasted sweet potato, and Chi Yu rested instead of hunting monsters while considering the one-sided spiritual resonance.
• Xie Qingning and Xie Qingjing arrived in the Wasteland after using the Blood Guiding Technique to find Xie Xiyi.
• Xie Xiyi beat his younger siblings for sneaking out, questioned Xie Qingjing’s studies, and reprimanded them for their recklessness and their attempts to make him return.
• Xie Xiyi told Xie Qingjing to act like the Crown Prince and declared that he would not leave the Chan Sect, while Xiaoqiu urged the siblings to go home.
• Xie Xiyi explained to Chi Yu that he wanted the Crown Prince to develop strength and ruthlessness, then checked that his discipline had not frightened Chi Yu.
• Chi Yu asked Xie Xiyi whether it was safe to let Xie Qingning and Xie Qingjing return to the capital.

Chi Yu warned Xie Xiyi that his family might face disaster, but Xie Xiyi dismissed the possibility because of Great Xia’s strength. Chi Yu struggled with the thought that Xie Xiyi might still become a villain in the future, and left him questioning whether Great Xia could withstand threats from stronger lands.

• Chi Yu worried that Xie Xiyi’s younger siblings were in danger, but Xie Xiyi said danger was normal and claimed he would avenge them for Great Xia’s dignity, not personal feelings.
• Chi Yu took Xie Xiyi aside and warned that his family might be wiped out, but Xie Xiyi cited the Great Xia Imperial Clan’s powerful cultivators as proof that this was impossible.
• Chi Yu remembered that the future five hundred years later might already be fixed and feared that Xie Xiyi would still become the villain he dreaded.
• Xie Xiyi comforted Chi Yu, teased him by pinching his cheeks, and said he could not judge whether he would become bad because he would remain true to himself.
• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi he might be able to foresee the future and warned that Great Xia could face stronger forces from other continents and realms.

Xie Xiyi used the excuse of practicing Visualization to tease Chi Yu by touching his mouth, leaving Chi Yu flustered and uncertain about his senior brother’s intentions. They finally prepared to leave after Xiaoqiu called for them, but Xie Xiyi continued teasing Chi Yu.

• Xie Xiyi told Chi Yu that the Xie Clan could defend itself and pressed a finger to Chi Yu’s lips to stop his worries.
• Xie Xiyi put his finger in Chi Yu’s mouth, tasted it, and claimed he was practicing Visualization, while Chi Yu protested that the act felt like kissing.
• Xie Xiyi asked Chi Yu to stick out his tongue again, and Chi Yu grew more convinced that something was wrong.
• Xie Xiyi continued exploring Chi Yu’s mouth with his finger until Xiaoqiu called frantically from outside the barrier.
• Xie Xiyi withdrew his hand, sucked his finger to make Chi Yu blush, and led him out, then touched his red ears and made him jump.

Chi Yu questioned the intimacy between himself and Xie Xiyi, who insisted their bond was beyond ordinary love, before Chi Yu left to warn Xie Xiyi’s siblings about the Xie Clan’s coming destruction. The warning reached Xie Qingning, but the story left the clan’s fate unresolved.

• Chi Yu challenged Xie Xiyi about sharing saliva, and Xie Xiyi called their relationship something beyond definition while dismissing romantic love as vulgar.
• Xiaoqiu interrupted them, and Chi Yu decided to leave Xie Xiyi and carry out a mission to protect his family.
• Xie Qingning worried that Xie Xiyi had severed his ties with the Xie Clan while Xie Qingjing focused on a magical artifact.
• Chi Yu told Xie Qingning that the Xie Clan faced a calamity that would destroy it and urged her to warn their parents.
• Xie Qingning promised to take Xie Xiyi’s prophecy seriously and inform her parents.

Half a year after warning Xie Qingjing and Xie Qingning, Chi Yu continued training with Xie Xiyi and Xiaoqiu before they entered a strangely desolate mortal city that Chi Yu suspected was a secret realm. The group split up to look for its Core Eye, while Chi Yu’s familiar closeness with Xie Xiyi remained plain to Xiaoqiu and Wu Yunsu.

• Xie Qingning found a bloodied man on the road and told Xie Qingjing she might make him her prince consort, and Xie Qingjing agreed.
• Over the next half year, Chi Yu and Xiaoqiu improved their cultivation, while Chi Yu gathered 150 of the group’s 229 mission tokens and began developing sword intent.
• Chi Yu entered a desolate mortal city with Xie Xiyi, Xiaoqiu, and Wu Yunsu, then noticed the lifeless streets and suspected they had wandered into a secret realm.
• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi they needed to find the secret realm’s Core Eye, then split up with Xiaoqiu to search for it.
• Chi Yu bought Shaobing for Xiaoqiu and Wu Yunsu, who asked Chi Yu to take a bite first.

Chi Yu gathered rumors in a resentment-formed secret realm and reunited with Senior Brother Lianchi, who explained that the realm suppressed cultivation. Chi Yu decided to investigate households for the realm’s core eye, starting with a case that had repeatedly caused the realm to restart.

• Chi Yu overheard rumors about a misdelivered bride, an unusual marriage, and the slaughter of Qiu Yuanwai’s household while eating at a restaurant with Xiaoqiu and Wu Yunsu.
• Senior Brother Lianchi met Chi Yu and praised his progress, then explained that he had entered the secret realm more than half a month earlier.
• Lianchi told Chi Yu that the realm suppressed cultivation and that his own cultivation had fallen from the second layer of the Golden Core Realm to the first.
• Chi Yu refused to seek Senior Brother Xuanji’s help and proposed investigating households throughout the realm to find its core eye.
• Lianchi chose the case of a wealthy family’s daughter delivered to the wrong home, explaining that his attempts to investigate it had repeatedly restarted the secret realm.

Chi Yu and Lianchi investigated the secret realm’s repeated tragedies and discovered that Wang Junya’s resentment came from being trapped in an abusive marriage with no freedom. Chi Yu gave her the strength to change her own circumstances, then continued to the next house while missing Senior Brother Xuanji, who had stopped following him.

• Chi Yu chose to investigate the secret realm with Lianchi, who explained how his earlier attempts to help the wronged bride had ended in her death and a reset.
• Chi Yu reasoned that they needed to understand the bride’s own wishes, and he and Lianchi watched Wang Junya endure abuse in the Fu Family household.
• Chi Yu spoke to Wang Junya as her guardian deity and learned that she wanted freedom from marriage and the restraints placed on women.
• Chi Yu granted Wang Junya boundless strength and confidence, and she crushed an iron pot handle to test her new power.
• After leaving the house, Chi Yu explained that people should save themselves when they could, then admitted he missed Senior Brother Xuanji because Xuanji had not followed him.

Chi Yu used a puppet to save Madam Zhao from the fate Lianchi had foreseen, then investigated the massacre of Qiu Yuanwai's family with Lianchi. Their search uncovered the magistrate's secret arrest of a coroner who had killed the household in revenge, while Chi Yu's thoughts turned to his intimate cultivation with Xuanji.

• Lianchi told Chi Yu that Madam Zhao and her son would lose their home and suffer further misery, but Chi Yu insisted that fate could be challenged.
• Chi Yu used a puppet fashioned from Madam Zhao's memories to make her supposedly dead husband, Zhao Er, return home, restoring her security and frightening off petty thugs.
• Chi Yu explained to Lianchi that some people needed others to save them, and rejected Lianchi's suggestion that Madam Zhao might still meet the same fate.
• Chi Yu and Lianchi went to the magistrate's office and used their divine sense to read the case files about Qiu Yuanwai's murdered family.
• The case files revealed that a coroner had slaughtered Qiu Yuanwai's household after discovering that Qiu Yuanwai's son had abused and killed the woman the coroner loved.
• Lianchi learned that Chi Yu had cultivated his divine sense with Xuanji, while Chi Yu recalled their increasingly intimate sessions.

Chi Yu and Lianchi uncovered the true killer behind the Qiu household massacre and discovered she was pregnant, with Chi Yu helping turn the baby in the womb. They returned to find Xie Xiyi had followed them openly, and Chi Yu reunited with him amid teasing and embarrassed affection.

• Chi Yu and Lianchi searched the coroner’s memories and learned he had been framed, so they investigated people skilled with knives.
• They discovered that Xue Yi, Qiu Yuanwai’s former concubine and a butcher’s daughter, had survived being thrown into a well and killed the Qiu household before fleeing under a false identity.
• Xiaoqiu noticed that Xue Yi was pregnant, and Chi Yu used his divine sense to untangle the umbilical cord and adjust the fetus’s position.
• Chi Yu checked Senior Brother Xuanji’s location and found a Puppet, then realized Xie Xiyi had been following them the whole time.
• Xie Xiyi asked how often Chi Yu had missed him, and Chi Yu admitted he had thought of him five times before hugging him.
• Xie Xiyi greeted Lianchi coolly, then resumed teasing Chi Yu about being a dumb dog.

Chi Yu asked Xie Xiyi why he could not help Lianchi and learned that the secret realm was connected to Chi Yu by fate, so Xie Xiyi feared interfering. Lianchi noticed Xie Xiyi’s possessive closeness to Chi Yu, while Xie Xiyi revealed that their mingled Divine Senses let him sense karma tied specifically to Chi Yu.

• Chi Yu questioned Xie Xiyi about Lianchi’s predicament, and Xie Xiyi said he could not help despite having followed them.
• Lianchi noticed Xie Xiyi’s intimate gestures toward Chi Yu and tested his reaction by placing a hand on Chi Yu’s shoulder, provoking Xie Xiyi’s hostility.
• Lianchi warned Chi Yu not to discuss his Divine Sense cultivation with others, then questioned Xiaoqiu about how long Chi Yu and Xie Xiyi had been close.
• Chi Yu booked Lianchi a room at the inn and shared a room with Xie Xiyi, prompting Lianchi to notice their unusual closeness again.
• Chi Yu asked Xie Xiyi for guidance, and Xie Xiyi explained that the secret realm was Chi Yu’s destined opportunity and that his involvement might alter it.
• Xie Xiyi said he sensed a thread of karma connecting Chi Yu to the secret realm because their Divine Senses had mingled, and that this perception applied only to Chi Yu.

Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi that he wanted to return to his home on Earth, making Xie Xiyi fear their eventual separation. When Xie Xiyi tried to send him away, Chi Yu stayed and pulled Xie Xiyi’s divine sense into his Spiritual Realm.

• Xie Xiyi asked where Chi Yu wanted to go after seeing a path in his state of mind, and Chi Yu said he wanted to go home.
• Chi Yu explained that he would stay with Xie Xiyi until he could return, but Xie Xiyi grew cold at the prospect of their parting.
• Chi Yu reflected that he would return to his grandparents and his original world if given the chance, despite his attachment to Xie Xiyi.
• Xie Xiyi ordered Chi Yu to get another room, but Chi Yu refused and invited him to share the bed.
• When Xie Xiyi tried to leave, Chi Yu hooked their divine senses together and drew Xie Xiyi’s into his Spiritual Realm.

Xie Xiyi and Chi Yu practiced Divine Sense cultivation so intensely that Lianchi mistook it for Spiritual Communion and warned Xie Xiyi that he had broken Buddhist precepts. Afterward, Chi Yu joined Xie Xiyi for breakfast, still unaware of Lianchi’s concern and believing Xie Xiyi’s attachment to him was a good sign.

• Xie Xiyi used his Divine Sense on Chi Yu, called him by his real name, and deliberately thrust until Chi Yu lost himself in pleasure.
• Lianchi heard them through the unsealed room, assumed they were engaging in Spiritual Communion, and set up a barrier until dawn.
• Lianchi warned Xie Xiyi that their practice was for Dao companions and could ruin his cultivation, then gave him a booklet that Xie Xiyi burned.
• Lianchi insisted his feelings for Chi Yu were only pure affection between fellow disciples, and Xie Xiyi responded with mockery.
• Chi Yu joined Xie Xiyi downstairs for breakfast and thought Xie Xiyi’s apparent concern about their bond meant he valued emotional ties.

Chi Yu and Lianchi investigated the Ke family’s rumored forced marriage and discovered that Ke Boss and the Book Repairer were secretly in love and had staged the abduction as a kink. They concluded that the real source of the secret realm’s strange story was likely the Book Repairer’s Qingmei, and set their attention on her.

• Xie Xiyi told Chi Yu he would call him by his secular name, then left to take the day off, leaving Chi Yu feeling listless.
• Chi Yu joined Lianchi, Xiaoqiu, and Wu Yunsu to investigate the Ke family after postponing their visit to a pregnant brothel woman.
• Lianchi explained that Ke Boss had supposedly abducted the Book Repairer, whose Qingmei had been his childhood sweetheart, and admitted he had once used a secret art to swap their souls.
• The group entered the Ke residence and saw Ke Boss and the Book Repairer having sex, so they withdrew until the pair had finished.
• Chi Yu examined the couple’s memories and found evidence of their mutual flirtation and sexual relationship, then decided the supposed abduction had been staged between consenting lovers.
• Chi Yu and Lianchi suspected that the Book Repairer’s Qingmei, rather than the couple, was the secret realm’s Core Eye.

Chi Yu and Lianchi changed Gong Wenhui into a handsome man to free her from an unwanted marriage, then continued addressing problems across the secret realm. Back at their lodging, Xie Xiyi reflected on his bond with Chi Yu and discovered that his feelings had formed a golden thread of Love Threads in his spiritual realm, obstructing his cultivation even as it brought him joy.

• Chi Yu and Lianchi learned that Gong Wenhui faced marriage to a cruel, lame old man, and Chi Yu decided to turn her into a man rather than ask her to resist or arrange another match.
• Lianchi used a spell to transform Gong Wenhui into a handsome man, and her parents immediately began planning a more advantageous marriage for their son.
• Gong Wenhui saw her new reflection, heard women admire her looks, and felt relieved that she would no longer be married off as a woman.
• Chi Yu and Lianchi left Gong Wenhui and continued working through problems in the city and its surrounding villages.
• Chi Yu returned to find Xie Xiyi sitting on the bed, braided his hair, and playfully touched his eyelashes before noticing Xie Xiyi seemed quiet.
• Xie Xiyi realized that his and Chi Yu’s intimacy counted as divine sense dual cultivation between partners, and his thoughts about their bond formed a golden thread of Love Threads that impeded his cultivation but made him happy.