Chapter Summaries

Wu Youren, Luo Xi, and Namuzha pursued the Tianjing Martial Academy group and used timed Weird-Exterminating Grenades to drive the night’s rampaging Weird Qi toward their camp. The Great Knight escaped with the other six Knights, but the group had to flee several kilometers through deadly fluctuations.

• The three Knights decided to retaliate against the Tianjing Martial Academy group, using Weird-Exterminating Grenades and Weird lure to provoke an attack.
• Wu Youren, Luo Xi, and Namuzha followed the group for two days while both parties camped in the wilderness.
• The three waited until late at night, then detonated grenades in three directions around the Tianjing Martial Academy camp.
• The Great Knight recognized the danger and gathered the other six Knights, who packed their belongings and escaped.
• The Great Knight led the group through the rampaging Weird Qi for seven or eight kilometers before stopping beside a large rock.

Wu Youren, Namuzha, and Luo Xi ended their pursuit of Tianjing Martial Academy’s team after finding a trap that offered compensation, then explored the Weird Domain and returned to the military camp. There, Luo Xi faced a hostile group of Knights who revived the dispute, claiming their personal grudge was not settled.

• The chief instructor’s group set up camp after escaping the nighttime attack, while Wu Youren, Namuzha, and Luo Xi discussed whether to pursue them and eventually followed their trail.
• Wu Youren spotted a trap near the second campsite, and the trio disarmed it, taking the Weird item left as compensation before abandoning the pursuit.
• Wu Youren, Manna, and Luo Xi explored the Weird Domain, met teams from the Tianjing City Guard Bureau and Youthful Splendor, and learned Hong Da was safe after they returned to camp.
• A Knight from Tianjing Martial Academy recognized Luo Xi and confronted him with seven or eight Knights, accusing his group of causing an invasion of Weird Qi.
• Luo Xi challenged the Knights’ account and mocked their claim that the matter was now a personal grudge.

Hong Yan returned to camp with Xia'erzi and confronted the Great Knight from Earl Shengming's Residence after learning what had happened to her group. She challenged him to fight outside the camp, leaving their dispute poised to turn violent.

• A Tianwu student demanded compensation from Luo Xi's group, but Tianwu's Great Knight and the Great Knight from Earl Shengming's Residence both withdrew after the New Army's ambiguous stance became apparent.
• Luo Xi's group left the confrontation, and Luo Xi later shared a limited account of their ordeal with curious martial artists while withholding crucial details.
• Hong Yan and Xia'erzi returned three days later with eleven Knights and three urns of ashes, and Hong Yan rested before questioning her group about their gains.
• After reviewing the group's recordings and hearing their account, Hong Yan went to confront the Great Knight from Earl Shengming's Residence.
• Hong Yan smashed the Great Knight's door and challenged him to come outside the military camp, saying she would beat him before they talked.

Hong Yan secured compensation from Earl Shengming’s and Tianwu’s people after they targeted Red Pine’s students, then revealed to Jeff that Wu Youren was a hostage from Jin. After Hong Yan left the camp, an Intelligence Agency Knight tried to take Wu Youren away, and Jeff intervened.

• Hong Yan confronted Earl Shengming’s Great Knight over the attempted robbery of Red Pine’s students and accepted four resentment qi crystals as compensation.
• Hong Yan forced Tianwu’s Great Knight to compensate her people and criticized Tianwu for targeting children.
• Hong Yan told Jeff that Wu Youren was a hostage from Jin, and Jeff asked whether Wu Youren could be released if he persuaded him.
• Hong Yan returned to Red Pine with Namuzha, leaving Manna and Wu Youren in the military camp and warning them to be careful.
• An Intelligence Agency Knight ordered Wu Youren to come with him, but Wu Youren refused and cited his Red Pine mission.
• Jeff confronted the Intelligence Agency Knight and took him away for questioning about his connection to Wu Youren.

Wu Youren grew closer to Ailin through their shared interest in mechanisms while waiting for Hong Yan and facing a warning about changes in the Suspended Bell Mountain Weird Domain. When Ailin asked him to help her pursue an erudite position, he proposed reducing or waiving taxes, arguing that knights needed a fairer way to make a living.

• Jeff threatened a young knight from the Intelligence Agency and demanded information about Little Wu.
• Ailin and Wu Youren spent hours discussing mechanisms, and she continued seeking him out afterward.
• The City Guard Bureau sought Wu Youren's help with mechanisms, while Earl Shengming's household gave him a book and asked him not to raise their past dispute with Hong Da.
• A warning about changes in the Suspended Bell Mountain Weird Domain prompted teams, including six New Army members, to enter for support.
• Ailin discussed possible government careers with Wu Youren and asked him to devise a proposal that could help her become an erudite.
• Wu Youren suggested reducing or waiving taxes and argued that knights without property or businesses deserved a fairer livelihood.

Wu Youren suggested using tax exemptions to draw Liang's knights into supporting the court, and his proposal attracted the attention of Ailin's family and Commander Jeff. Ailin left to discuss the plan with her family, while Wu Youren anticipated the upheaval and experience points it might bring.

• Wu Youren told Ailin and Manna that knights might be given land and businesses in exchange for their service, and he pointed to Liang's failure to collect taxes.
• After Ailin left, Commander Jeff privately asked Wu Youren how Liang could exempt knights from taxes, and Wu Youren demanded a promise to be left alone before offering his assessment.
• Wu Youren suggested that conflicting interests could unite the knights and that the policy could spread from the bottom up, while Jeff questioned how it could be organized.
• Jeff warned Wu Youren not to use his proposal to throw Liang into chaos, then left after telling him to bring future ideas directly to him.
• Wu Youren reflected that the tax-exemption policy could cause upheaval and earn him experience points, and he remained hopeful about its consequences.
• Ailin returned to tell Manna that her family was taking the proposal seriously and wanted her to come home to discuss it, adding that the Treasury Agency could not support another war.

Wu Youren faced Jeff’s attempt to keep him out of the Weird Domain, but Instructor Hong backed his choice to join Red Pine’s mission. The team entered Bellflower Mountain and found the Weird Qi far more dangerous than before, then investigated a call for help that Wu Youren suspected was an illusion.

• Ailin left Wu Youren a package, which he refused to open, and Instructor Hong arrived with six additional Knights and secured him a separate room.
• Instructor Hong told Manna that the situation near Suotu Town had worsened, with repeated Weird attacks, Great Knights among the enemies, and disorder among the barbarians.
• Jeff ordered Wu Youren not to enter the Weird Domain, but Wu Youren insisted on going, and Instructor Hong supported him while warning Jeff not to drag Red Pine into the dispute.
• The next morning, Instructor Hong rejected Jeff’s offer to team up, and Red Pine’s nine members entered the Weird Domain, where they found unusually pure Weird Qi and forming pillars.
• Instructor Hong sent Wu Youren and Namuzha to investigate a call for help, and Wu Youren returned saying it was probably an illusion.

Wu Youren and Instructor Hong’s team monitored a growing Weird Qi pillar while hunting creatures, then witnessed a vast disturbance in the sky as the Hall of Extraordinary Masters attacked an enormous, eye-like anomaly. After repeated spatial tremors devastated their camp, Instructor Hong ordered the group to flee through the chaotic Weird Domain.

• Instructor Hong chose a concealed camp near the growing Weird Qi pillar, and the team hunted nearby creatures while Wu Youren watched for changes.
• After eleven days, Wu Youren warned the team of danger from above, and they returned to camp as the sky darkened and twisted toward the northwest.
• A voice called Great Knights to join the Hall of Extraordinary Masters in attacking an enormous eye-like mass, but Instructor Hong refused to join them.
• Wu Youren sensed that the attack was not over, and Instructor Hong kept the team sheltered as increasingly powerful spatial tremors struck.
• The tremors tore apart most of the camp, so Instructor Hong ordered everyone to follow Wu Youren and escape into the Weird Domain.

Wu Youren escaped the chaotic Weird Domain with Red Pine’s group, bringing out a snow harrier chick that had latched onto him. As the military held the survivors for inspection, Namuzha’s suspicious interest in Wu Youren’s Weird-Repelling Jue remained unresolved, and another Great Knight began threatening the garrison.

• Wu Youren charged through the Weird Domain, fell down a slope after a flying tree branch struck his pack, and became wary when he sensed malice from Namuzha.
• Wu Youren rested behind a rock, gave water to a featherless snow harrier chick, and let it follow him out of the Weird Domain.
• Instructor Hong and Red Pine’s Knights waited outside while the military announced that survivors had to remain for inspection; Namuzha claimed he had been delayed by the Weird Race.
• Wu Youren arrived with the chick on his shoulder, and the group learned it was a snow harrier; he showed Daiqisi his ironwood Weird-Repelling Jue, which she found to be high quality.
• A tattooed Great Knight bought Weird-Dispelling Powder from Instructor Hong, while Wu Youren noticed Namuzha’s gaze lingering on his Weird-Repelling Jue.
• Another Great Knight arrived with five battered Knights and threatened the garrison troops when they would not let his group leave immediately.

Wu Youren avoided being drawn into the political struggle surrounding Ailin’s attack, while Ailin and her allies plotted to pressure the nobles and conceal their own actions. After returning to the military camp, Wu Youren discovered Toad Glasses was eager to swallow his jade Weird-Repelling Jue.

• Soldiers inspected the teams leaving the Weird Domain, and Wu Youren reunited with Luo Xi before Red Pine’s group returned to camp.
• Luo Xi and Commander Jeff told Wu Youren that Ailin had been attacked and left an idiot, but Wu Youren resisted being drawn into her case or the proposal she had planned to submit.
• Jeff warned Wu Youren to be careful, and Wu Youren inferred that the attack might be tied to someone trying to suppress Ailin’s proposal; he later reflected that Jeff had tolerated his probing.
• Manna told Wu Youren that Instructor Hong had advised him to reinforce himself, then criticized him for being underhanded and said he owed Ailin.
• Ailin and her allies discussed using rumors about her condition to unsettle the nobles, silencing witnesses, and arranging Anbei’s death to protect their scheme.
• After waking to find Toad Glasses clawing at his chest, Wu Youren offered it food and water, then discovered the fledgling was desperately trying to swallow his jade Weird-Repelling Jue.

Wu Youren and Red Pine left the Bellflower Mountain barracks to avoid the Hall of Extraordinary Masters’ search for a missing treasure, then settled into Red Pine’s Tianjing base. After hearing that the team was being summoned back, Wu Youren went out with Daiqisi to explore the city, where a stranger approached her at a restaurant.

• Wu Youren tested whether the newly hatched Toad Shades would eat jade, ironwood, or insects, then left his barracks room when soldiers needed it for wounded men.
• Hong Da led Red Pine out of the barracks, and the convoy traveled to the team’s base in Tianjing.
• Red Pine learned that the Hall of Extraordinary Masters was searching for a missing extraordinary treasure, and Hong Da explained why she had hurried the team away.
• Hong Da allowed Wu Youren to go out, and he joined Daiqisi and other instructors for a stroll through Tianjing.
• Wu Youren and Daiqisi went to a restaurant, where Daiqisi showed her identity tag to a man who came over to approach her.

Wu Youren and Daiqisi discovered worshippers of the Weird Race in Tianjing and alerted Chief Instructor Hong, who arranged for the City Guard Bureau to investigate. Back at Red Pine’s lodgings, the fledgling Toad Glasses ate meat coated with Weird attractant and showed that he had imprinted on Wu Youren.

• Wu Youren sensed suspicious newcomers at the restaurant, and Daiqisi alerted Chief Instructor Hong after he signaled her.
• Hong Yan identified the suspects as worshippers of the Weird Race and contacted a City Guard Bureau alumnus to investigate while Red Pine kept watch.
• Hong Yan promised Wu Youren a perfect mission the following year and learned that Toad Glasses might be raised into a spirit beast.
• Manna fed Toad Glasses meat with Weird attractant, and he swallowed it without spitting it back up.
• Wu Youren offered to sell Toad Glasses for three hundred gold, but the fledgling clung to him and followed him wherever he went.
• Hong Da concluded that Toad Glasses had taken Wu Youren for his parent after Wu recounted how the fledgling had first attached himself to him.

Wu Youren negotiated a shared feeding arrangement for Toad Glasses, while Hong Yan secured a City Guard Bureau invitation for Red Pine to assist with investigations in Tianjing. During a rainy walk with Manna and Ranxue, Wu Youren encountered the one-eyed man from the previous night, who recognized his Jin accent.

• Wu Youren persuaded the group to pool resources to feed Toad Glasses, and Daiqisi agreed to keep its secret among them.
• Namuzha investigated whether Weird objects could be living creatures, but his watch ruled that out and denied him classified information.
• Hong Yan refused to explain how Red Pine detected Weird Qi, then arranged a flexible City Guard Bureau invitation for the group to assist with investigations.
• Wu Youren named the fledgling Little Ha, stayed indoors for much of the day, and later went walking in the rain with Manna and Ranxue.
• Ranxue fought with a cooked-meat shopkeeper after criticizing the shop's products, while Manna guarded against the shopkeeper's associates.
• The one-eyed middle-aged man approached Wu Youren and said he had recognized his Jin accent and had been waiting for him.

Wu Youren dealt with a suspected Jin intelligence operative, then endured a prolonged surge of experience points while Little Ha grew rapidly. After a talking black cat appeared and died, Wu Youren learned the City Guard Bureau had struck a gang of fallen Ability Users; the chapter ended with the Hall of Extraordinary Masters arriving at Red Pine's lodging.

• Wu Youren rejected the one-eyed middle-aged man's insinuations, and Ranxue and Manna fled with him after the disciplinary inspector beat the cooked-meat shop proprietor.
• Wu Youren spent the next few days avoiding the unconfirmed man while Little Ha grew, then secretly absorbed an unending flow of experience points that advanced his cultivation.
• Wu Youren saw a black cat watching him in the courtyard, pinned it to a wall, and heard it whisper, "Sigh, the second one," before it died.
• The bushy-bearded man told Wu Youren that the City Guard Bureau had captured one apprentice fallen Ability User and killed another, and Wu Youren realized the operation had caused the experience-point surge.
• The bushy-bearded man treated the group to lunch, and four people from the Hall of Extraordinary Masters arrived in the afternoon.

Wu Youren faced pressure over his proposal to exempt Knights from taxes as Commander Jeff demanded that he help the New Army, while Hong Yan weighed whether Red Pine should leave Tianjing. Hong Yan negotiated for five rare anomalous objects in exchange for advising Jeff, and the chapter ended with Jeff offering only one.

• The Hall of Extraordinary Masters demanded Red Pine hand over its Weird Domain objects, while a Ministry of Works messenger asked Wu Youren to visit Ailin; Wu Youren declined and sent her a gold coin instead.
• Youthful Splendor instructors revealed that the Hall of Extraordinary Masters had used a relic weapon to interrupt the Weird Domain's advance and was searching for the object that could advance it.
• Red Pine's instructors learned that Wu Youren's proposal to exempt Knights from taxes had already been submitted to the throne, and Hong Yan considered taking the group back to Red Pine.
• Hong Yan explained to Wu Youren that the crown prince relied on the aristocratic faction and that the New Army sought to overturn the old power structure.
• Commander Jeff told Wu Youren that the court was debating his proposal and demanded a solution, but Wu Youren said he wanted to return to Great Jin and then asked to speak with Hong Yan instead.
• Hong Yan demanded at least five pale-green, honeycombed anomalous objects from Jeff, who refused and offered only one.

Wu Youren proposed a pilot program to Jeff and secured Hong Yan’s promise to protect him, then avoided the New Army’s attempt to win his favor. After a street attack left him briefly unwatched, he met Chen Quanxu, a rat who claimed to be a dual-talented Jin guard unable to return home.

• Wu Youren suggested a pilot program to Jeff, who agreed to consider it while Hong Yan demanded two pale-green anomalous objects in return.
• Hong Yan promised to handle anyone who gave Wu Youren trouble, and he learned she planned to stay and collect her debt.
• A New Army female Knight offered Wu Youren a pass, but he refused and said he belonged to Hong Yan.
• Wu Youren drew his saber when a boy rushed toward him, and the female Knight shot and arrested suspected attackers nearby.
• After escaping the New Army’s attention, Wu Youren heard a rat speaking through secret voice transmission and learned it was Chen Quanxu, an escaped Jin guard whose family’s fief had been abolished.
• Wu Youren asked Chen Quanxu why he needed help, and Chen Quanxu said he was wealthy but could not return to Jin.

Wu Youren encountered Chen Quanxu, hid in a City Guard Bureau cell to conceal surges of experience points, and learned those surges coincided with the deaths of Great Knights. After returning to Red Pine amid growing unrest, he found an intruder in his cottage and called for Instructor Burning Blood.

• Chen Quanxu urged Wu Youren not to forget his Jin origins and proposed cooperation before a ragged boy carried him away as the “third one.”
• Hong Da gave Wu Youren anomaly lure for Little Ha and agreed to let him stay at the City Guard Bureau for safety.
• Wu Youren chose a prison cell, where a sudden surge of experience points coincided with Great Knight Meier and his household being killed.
• Wu Youren noticed that Little Ha coughed up pellets after major experience-point surges and began to suspect a connection.
• After fifteen days, Wu Youren returned to Red Pine with the others and saw signs of growing conflict around the Martial Academy.
• A burly man from the Life and Death Knot entered Wu Youren’s cottage at night, and Wu Youren summoned Instructor Burning Blood.

Wu Youren returned to Red Pine amid growing political turmoil and tried to keep a low profile while arranging a winter greenhouse. After rumors surfaced about his identity and the Jin Garden’s liquor trade, he questioned Liu Jingming about alleged traitor Chen Quanxu and was left expecting another wave of experience points.

• Ranxue drove Salim away from Wu Youren’s house, then learned that Daiqisi had been commended for her role in exposing a rebellion and heard rumors that Wu Youren was a hostage prince from Jin.
• Daiqisi passed out in Wu Youren’s bed after celebrating, and Cynthia arrived demanding to know why Daiqisi was in the bed she claimed belonged to her and Wu Youren.
• Manna intervened after Daiqisi threatened Cynthia and the Mirage Sea Alliance, then helped Daiqisi arrange to visit Wu Youren under the pretext of discussing his greenhouse plans.
• The administrator asked Wu Youren about liquor allegedly sold by the barbarians and told him not to plant vegetables through winter, while Liu Jingming warned that Tianjing was becoming dangerous and Jin Garden’s liquor trade was expanding.
• Wu Youren asked Liu Jingming about Chen Quanxu, whose family’s fief had reportedly been abolished, and wondered how many of the hostages could still be trusted.
• Wu Youren asked Liu Jingming for greenhouse advice, then shut himself inside, expecting another wave of experience points to arrive.

Wu Youren arranged to build a greenhouse at Red Pine, but the caretaker and Karl tried to block the work with a landfill plan. Ranxue backed Wu Youren’s permit and confronted Karl, while Wu Youren suspected the Life and Death Knot had prompted the interference; Ranxue later ordered the caretaker reassigned.

• Namuzha brought Wu Youren Red Pine’s permit to build a greenhouse of up to ten thousand square meters, and Wu Youren hired a crew to construct one.
• The caretaker objected to the construction, but Ranxue arrived and told him the work could continue.
• The next morning, Karl’s logistics team tried to turn the site into a landfill, and Ranxue refused to let them proceed.
• Wu Youren gave Ranxue the permit, and Ranxue slapped Karl before taking him aside to talk.
• Karl called off the landfill plan, while Wu Youren told the caretaker he had never asked to see the permit.
• After Salim contacted him, Wu Youren suspected the Life and Death Knot had engineered the dispute, and Ranxue ordered Karl to reassign the caretaker.

Wu Youren learned the Life and Death Knot might try to send him back to Jin Garden, so he planned to leave Red Pine and seek opportunities outside. While accompanying Red Pine instructors into the wilderness, he encountered barbarians fleeing powerful Weird Qi, and they pursued his group after the instructors warned nearby camps; the chapter ended with Wu Youren proposing an explosive charge to stop them.

• Liu Jingming told Wu Youren that the Life and Death Knot was considering transferring him back to Jin Garden and shared the locations of its gathering places near Red Pine.
• Manna delivered Wu Youren his share of the Bellflower Mountain profits, and he told her he wanted to go outside the Martial Academy.
• Chief Instructor Hong sent Manna, Namuzha, Kenpa, a female archer, and Wu Youren into the wilderness to hunt Weirds and search for Fallen Ones.
• The group spent two days clearing patches of Weird Qi without finding valuable drops, then noticed people fleeing toward their camp with powerful Weird Qi behind them.
• The instructors warned nearby martial artists with signal flares, but the fleeing barbarians pursued them in anger after losing companions to the Weird Qi.
• Wu Youren proposed using an explosive charge with a delay fuse, and asked whether they should add Weird-Dispelling Powder.