Chapter Summaries

Chen Xu tried to gain an audience with the baron by offering information about his missing wife and daughter, but Zhaotian Zhi and the Nilfgaardian officer suspected him of being a spy. The baron's guard captain recognized Chen Xu's accurate description of Anna and moved to take him to the baron, but the officer stopped them and demanded Chen Xu's identity and purpose.

• Chen Xu offered a crown to a gate guard and said he had information about the baron's wife and daughter, but Zhaotian Zhi attacked him after using Detection.
• Chen Xu fought off Zhaotian Zhi's first strike with Gram, then drew his handgun and called Lizi as Zhaotian Zhi summoned four companions and the baron's guards.
• A Nilfgaardian officer intervened, and Zhaotian Zhi accused Chen Xu of being a Redanian spy, displaying the crown as evidence.
• Chen Xu explained that he knew where the baron's wife was and described Anna's clothing and name, convincing the baron's guard captain that his information was genuine.
• The guard captain returned the crown and offered to take Chen Xu to the baron, but the Nilfgaardian officer blocked them and began interrogating Chen Xu.

Chen Xu entered an armor-making contest against Yoana at Crow's Perch and crafted modified Temerian armor to prove his skill. Just as the Nilfgaardians prepared to test the armor, Zhaotian Zhi brought out a crude mobile cannon aimed at Chen Xu.

• Chen Xu claimed to be a blacksmith from White Orchard, and the officer took him to the smithy to compete against the master armorer Yoana.
• Zhaotian Zhi offered to test the armor with a powerful weapon, and the officer threatened to conscript him if it failed.
• Chen Xu designed heavy armor with removable steel plates and glyphs, completing the quest with a fine-quality result.
• Yoana finished a suit of Nilfgaardian winged cavalry armor, and the officer chose Chen Xu to test his armor first.
• Zhaotian Zhi brought a handcart-mounted cannon from the inner keep and pointed it at Chen Xu.

Zhaotian Zhi demonstrated his homemade cannon, prompting a Nilfgaardian officer to arrest him and arrange his escort to Vizima. When Zhaotian Zhi tried to have Chen Xu seized as a spy, Chen Xu’s claim to be a blacksmith’s apprentice was supported by Fergus, but the officer still ordered him tied up as Chen Xu prepared to escape.

• Zhaotian Zhi fired his cannon, destroying the target, a wooden house, and part of an earthen wall while Chen Xu narrowly avoided the blast.
• The Nilfgaardian officer placed Zhaotian Zhi in custody and ordered elite cavalry to escort him and a secret letter to the emperor in Vizima.
• Zhaotian Zhi asked to take Chen Xu as a spy, and the officer challenged Chen Xu to prove his identity.
• Fergus confirmed that Chen Xu was Willis’s apprentice, but the officer ordered Fergus subdued and Chen Xu tied up anyway.
• Chen Xu edged toward the blasted wall to escape as a white-haired man and a woman arrived on horseback, and the man recognized someone at the scene.

Chen Xu and Geralt confronted Zhaotian Zhi after Fringilla Vigo identified him as a threat to Nilfgaard, and Zhaotian Zhi unleashed his hidden power to escape. Fringilla trapped him with illusion magic, allowing Chen Xu to kill him, then rode into the inner city and ordered Geralt and Chen to follow.

• Fringilla Vigo arrived at the Crow's Perch garrison and ordered the officer to keep Zhaotian Zhi from reaching the North.
• Zhaotian Zhi broke free, seized a poleaxe, and fought his way toward the outer city while the other Chosen refused to help him.
• Chen Xu stopped Zhaotian Zhi's horse, and Geralt fought him as Zhaotian Zhi escaped onto the inner city wall before Geralt blasted him back with Aard.
• Zhaotian Zhi revealed his second-stage mutation and overwhelmed the Nilfgaardian soldiers until Fringilla trapped him in an illusion.
• Chen Xu killed Zhaotian Zhi with a poleaxe while he was incapacitated, earning 200 points.
• Fringilla rode into the inner city and gave Chen Xu and Geralt five minutes to follow her.

Chen Xu spent his points and experience to raise his Willpower, unseal his talent, and gain a powerful assassination skill before meeting the Bloody Baron. The chapter ended with Chen Xu dodging the drunken baron as he smashed up the reception room.

• Geralt told Chen Xu that Emhyr had sent him and Fringilla to find Ciri, and warned Chen Xu that war was merciless.
• Chen Xu spent his points on Spirit of Twisting, then used experience to raise his Master Detective level and finally increase his Willpower to 1.
• Chen Xu gained beginner proficiency with a poleaxe and unlocked Assassination: Weakness Insight, which made stealth and backstab hits guaranteed critical strikes.
• The sergeant invited Chen Xu to meet the Bloody Baron, while the Chosen Ones gathered to discuss their next move.
• Fringilla opened a portal that drenched the reception room with moat water, and Chen Xu joined Geralt and the baron there.
• Chen Xu dodged the drunken baron's attacks until the baron smashed his fist into the fireplace and cried out in pain.

Chen Xu and Geralt questioned the Baron about Ciri, while Chen Xu used news of Anna to win his cooperation. The Baron confirmed Anna worshipped the Ladies of the Wood, and Chen Xu showed him a symbol linked to an ancient curse.

• Chen Xu beat the drunken Baron after the Baron attacked him, then gave the Sergeant recipes for tea and injury medicine.
• Fringilla presented her imperial credentials, and Geralt used the Axii Sign to make the Baron recount how Ciri had escaped the swamp and visited him.
• Chen Xu calmed the Baron with herbal tea and ointment, then said Anna was safe and raising orphans deep in the swamp.
• The Baron blamed himself for Anna's miscarriage and described their troubled marriage, while Chen Xu warned that the old crones intended to eat the orphans.
• Chen Xu asked whether Anna worshipped the Ladies of the Wood, drew a symbol he said was an ancient curse, and asked the Sergeant to fetch Anna's portrait.

Chen Xu and Geralt persuaded the Baron that the crones might have cursed Anna and secured his help in saving her. Chen Xu triggered a dangerous quest to save Anna, then tried to keep the other Chosen away from the tower, but they saw through his plan and stayed at Crow's Perch.

• Chen Xu and Geralt convinced the Baron that the crones could be responsible for Anna’s miscarriage and aged appearance, prompting him to rally his men and seek help.
• The Baron promised to share what he knew about Ciri if they saved Anna, and Chen Xu negotiated a future favor in exchange for exposing the crones.
• Chen Xu triggered the quest to lift Anna’s curse and ensure she survived until she met the Baron, with a recommended stage of Qi Sense Middle Stage.
• Geralt followed Fringilla to the guest rooms, while Chen Xu arranged a paid support quest for the Chosen staying below the tower.
• Randall suspected Chen Xu had arranged the quest to send them away, and the Chosen claimed to feel unwell so they could remain at Crow’s Perch.

Chen Xu ate in Crow's Perch, bribed Gretka to deliver booger-laced soup to the Chosen Ones, and watched Randall swallow it. After finding no way to enter the fistfighting tournament, Chen Xu visited Fergus and lied that Willis was alive and well.

• Chen Xu praised the kitchen's cheese and bean soup, then recognized Gretka, the girl Ciri had rescued, and paid her two crowns to deliver a bowl he had contaminated with a booger.
• Chen Xu confronted the Chosen Ones and offered them a quest that would send them away, but Randall refused and vowed to steal Chen Xu's opportunities.
• Gretka brought Randall the soup, and Randall drank it while Chen Xu watched from a distance.
• Chen Xu learned he could not challenge the Sergeant until new regional champions were crowned, since Zhaotian Zhi had already defeated the other circuit champions.
• Chen Xu thanked Fergus for trying to save him and used [Deception] to tell the dwarf that Willis was doing well; Fergus then offered to sell him runestones and glyphs.

Chen Xu crafted two improved Greater Power Runes for Gram at Yoana’s smithy and prepared for his journey into the swamp with Geralt. After rigging alarms against a possible attack by the Chosen, he woke to find that Gretka had accidentally triggered one.

• Chen Xu bought materials from Fergus and persuaded Yoana to let him make runestones in the smithy.
• Chen Xu used black pearl dust and infusion crystals to craft two fine-grade Greater Power Runes, each increasing weapon attack power by 12%.
• Chen Xu socketed the runes into Gram, raising its attack from 27 to 33, but could not afford a gem for its remaining socket.
• Chen Xu left the smithy to sleep before accompanying Geralt into the swamp the next day.
• Uneasy about Randall and the other Chosen, Chen Xu rigged his guest-room door and windows with cutlery tripwires.
• A tripwire woke Chen Xu in the morning, and he found that Gretka had triggered it while coming to clean.

Chen Xu learned to cheat at Gwent and won Geralt’s money and Gram by rigging a game. The group then set out to find Anna, with Fringilla asking Chen Xu whether they should confront the Crones or negotiate with them.

• Chen Xu lost several Gwent games to Geralt, drew repeated weather cards, and learned the skill [Cheating] after secretly switching a card.
• Chen Xu pretended to gamble recklessly, wagered Gram, and rigged Geralt’s deck so rain and Scorch would wipe out Geralt’s siege units.
• Geralt lost the wager and borrowed money from the baron to pay Chen Xu, who collected the Novigrad crowns.
• Fringilla arrived, took charge of the search for Anna, and proposed attacking the Crones to break the curse.
• Geralt argued that the Crones were dangerous and that negotiating for Anna’s release was safer, so Fringilla asked Chen Xu what he thought.

Chen Xu, Geralt, and Fringilla investigated the cemetery at Crow’s Perch and found the Botchling tied to Anna’s miscarriage. Fringilla’s attack awakened waves of monsters, leaving Chen Xu and Geralt fighting to survive while the Botchling continued summoning them.

• Chen Xu persuaded Geralt and Fringilla to negotiate for Anna before resorting to force, then the three rode out of the keep as Randall and the other Chosen were stopped at the gate.
• Geralt’s medallion alerted them to magic in the cemetery, where Chen Xu and Geralt discovered the Botchling sleeping in its opened grave.
• Chen Xu stopped Geralt from killing the Botchling before telling the baron, but Fringilla cast a fire spell into the grave.
• The Botchling’s cry summoned Wraiths and other monsters, and Chen Xu killed one Wraith with Moonblade while Geralt prepared Specter Oil.
• More Wraiths appeared as a Ghoul climbed through the broken wall, and Geralt urged them to finish off the Botchling before more monsters arrived.

Chen Xu, Geralt, and Fringilla fought an overwhelming monster swarm until Fringilla unleashed a devastating lightning spell that cleared most of the battlefield. As the exhausted survivors finished off the remaining monsters, several Chosen tried to claim loot, and Chen Xu confronted them.

• Geralt trapped the Wraiths with Yrden while Chen Xu fought the Ghouls and switched opponents with him as the battle grew more dangerous.
• Randall and other Chosen joined the fight, but Dimako was killed and the Chosen retreated as Chen Xu neared his limit.
• Fringilla finished her chant and unleashed lightning through the pit, killing the Botchling and devastating the Ghouls and Wraiths while Geralt shielded Chen Xu.
• Fringilla and Geralt collapsed from exhaustion, and Chen Xu used Detection before helping finish off the surviving monsters.
• Three Chosen crept in to steal kills and loot; Chen Xu pinned one man's hand with Moonblade and drew his sword when the group challenged him over the spoils.

Chen Xu fought Randall and two other Chosen over the monster spoils, killing Randall and driving the others to flee. Afterward, he collected mutagens from the corpses while Geralt and Fringilla prepared to rest.

• Randall attacked Chen Xu with his Meteor Killing Fist, but Chen Xu dodged his punches and deflected a second Chosen’s sneak attack.
• Chen Xu used an airborne counterattack to break the attacker’s sword and wound him, then stabbed Randall through the throat and killed him.
• Randall’s death earned Chen Xu 200 points, while a mysterious voice declined to save him and asked the panel to find a Homo sapiens genius.
• The remaining Soldier Chosen fled, and Chen Xu finished off the monsters before searching their corpses for mutagens.
• Geralt told Chen Xu where to look for mutagens, and Chen Xu recovered three Red Mutagens and two Wraith Mutagens as Fringilla and Geralt said they needed rest.

Chen Xu dealt with the fallout from the Botchling attack and confronted two Chosen who had robbed the baron’s wife-searching party. He demanded points and a chance to challenge Velen’s champions from them, leaving their agreement uncertain.

• Chen Xu blamed the Botchling disaster on the sorceress’s recklessness, while Geralt reported the incident to the baron and took monster drops.
• The Sergeant reprimanded two Chosen for robbing the wife-searching party, then paid Chen Xu crowns and asked him to show them mercy.
• Chen Xu led the two Chosen aside and asked whether they had saved points to withdraw.
• Chen Xu demanded that they secure him the right to challenge the champions in Velen’s other divisions and pay him 65 points each.
• The Chosen with the mangled hand began to accept, but the swordsman stopped him and questioned why they should pay.

Chen Xu gave two Chosen a map of profitable quests in Velen in exchange for settling their debt and took a hair and coin from them before they left. He then checked on Geralt and Fringilla, whose teasing argument prompted Geralt to offer Chen Xu a chance to demonstrate his aptitude.

• Chen Xu outlined easy quests and monsters in Velen for the two Chosen, urging them to earn enough points to settle their debt.
• The swordsman accepted the map, and Chen Xu took a hair from his mangled-handed teammate and a copper coin before they departed.
• Chen Xu bought food and brought it to Geralt and Fringilla, who were recovering in their room.
• Fringilla mocked Geralt's ability to teach Chen Xu, and Geralt challenged Chen Xu to show his aptitude.

Chen Xu and Geralt fought a public sword duel at Crow's Perch, escalating from a contest of skill to a clash involving Dark Energy and a forbidden Sign. Geralt broke Chen Xu's weapon and appeared to win, while Chen Xu pretended to be overcome and praised him.

• A guard announced a real-sword duel between witchers, drawing a large crowd to the courtyard.
• Chen Xu and Geralt agreed to spar without Signs, and Geralt gained the advantage with his superior swordsmanship.
• Geralt used Dark Energy to unleash Whirl, forcing Chen Xu toward the edge of the fighting area.
• Chen Xu used Air Stall and Guard Counter to disrupt Geralt's Whirl and turn the crowd's excitement around.
• Geralt secretly used Axii on Chen Xu, but Chen Xu broke free by inflicting repeated damage on himself.
• Geralt charged with New Year Greeting Swordsmanship and split Chen Xu's steel sword, while Chen Xu fell and applauded Geralt as the apparent victor.

After defeating Geralt in the swordsmanship contest at Crow’s Perch, Chen Xu collected provisions and learned about witcher combat techniques and Source Power. Geralt’s explanations helped Chen Xu acquire beginner Sword Technique along with the skills Whirl and Burst.

• The crowd celebrated Chen Xu’s victory over Geralt, who refused to accept the result because Chen Xu’s sword had cut his blade in half.
• Chen Xu stored about seventy kilograms of food and learned that Gretka had received a flawless emerald from Ciri.
• Chen Xu traveled with Geralt and asked him to explain the sword dance and how witchers used magic in combat.
• Geralt transferred Source Power to Chen Xu, but Chen Xu could not perceive or use it, and the panel stored the first five units.
• Chen Xu studied sword techniques with Geralt and acquired beginner Sword Technique, Whirl, and Burst.

Geralt returned to Orphans' Village to ask Anna and the Godling about Ciri, then joined Chen Xu and Fringilla in clearing Harpies from a cliffside nest. The three faced a Wyvern, and Geralt warned them about its poisonous tail stinger.

• Geralt entered Orphans' Village while Fringilla and Chen Xu listened through a magical brooch, but Anna refused to discuss Ciri or the Ladies of the Wood.
• Geralt bribed the children with pastries and learned that the Godling outside the village might know where Ciri had gone.
• Geralt found the Godling, who led him to a Harpy-infested cliff, and Geralt returned to tell Chen Xu and Fringilla about the lead.
• Geralt brewed draconid oil while Chen Xu learned Alchemy, and the three set out to clear the Harpies from their nest.
• Fringilla's fire and Geralt and Chen Xu's attacks killed the Harpies, but a Wyvern swooped down on the group.
• Geralt drank a potion and warned Chen Xu and Fringilla to avoid the Wyvern's venomous tail stinger.

Chen Xu and Geralt killed a wyvern, recovered Johnny’s voice, and learned that Ciri had fled to Crow’s Perch. Geralt met the Crones, who promised to lift Anna’s curse if he destroyed the dark power troubling Downwarren.

• Chen Xu and Geralt defeated the wyvern, and Chen Xu gained a level while Geralt took a replacement steel sword from the corpse.
• Chen Xu and Geralt searched the harpies’ nest and recovered the golden flask containing Johnny’s voice.
• Johnny told Geralt that a wounded, ash-haired girl had run into the orphan village, contradicting Anna’s account.
• Johnny persuaded Anna to introduce Geralt to the Crones, who possessed her and demanded that he eradicate the dark power in Downwarren in exchange for lifting her curse.
• The Crones gave Geralt a dagger as a token and vanished, while Chen Xu recalled that their imprisoned mother was held near Downwarren at Whispering Hillock.

Chen Xu and Geralt tried to protect Anna and the orphans from the Crones, then investigated the Whispering Hillock’s dark power. After killing a werewolf beneath the oak, they heard an unseen presence ask whether they had come to kill or free it.

• Anna awoke and urged Geralt to save the children, while Chen Xu realized her hope of resistance had changed her attitude.
• Geralt asked Fringilla to take Anna and the orphans to Crow’s Perch, but she warned that she could not safely teleport them, so Chen Xu poisoned their treats to make them temporarily undesirable to the Crones.
• Chen Xu and Geralt questioned Downwarren’s ealdorman and learned that villagers had vanished near the Whispering Hillock.
• At the hillock, Chen Xu sensed a werewolf beside a Place of Power, but it woke before he could ambush it, and he and Geralt killed it together.
• Chen Xu took a werewolf mutagen, and he and Geralt entered the cave beneath the oak, where an unseen presence asked whether they had come to kill it or set it free.