Chapter Summaries

Helian Yuan learned that the seventh empty slot had been used for more than ten years and found the old southern transport road leading to the Inner Mountain Entrance. As a retrieval team moved to capture the Blue Rock Panther, he prepared to interfere with its planned route while limiting the strain on his injured arm.

• The old hunter told Helian Yuan that he had heard of an empty seventh slot at the Inner Mountain Entrance more than ten years earlier, and that gray-robed men had ordered the blank name returned inside the mountain.
• The old hunter marked the route to the Inner Mountain Entrance before leaving, and Helian Yuan used his clues to find an abandoned transport road south of the route the retrieval team was following.
• Helian Yuan compared the master list, supplementary page, and live cage tag, concluding that the seventh slot could refer to different targets or stages of transport and naming.
• Helian Yuan examined the retrieval team's preparations and learned they planned to use the Throat-Locking Wind Wolf to drive the Blue Rock Panther toward a chain net.
• Helian Yuan practiced controlling Shadow Cover with his injured arm and decided he only needed to stop the panther from retreating along the expected route.
• As the first copper bell rang, Helian Yuan buried the old hunter's fruit pit and took up his short spear while the retrieval team began closing the net.

Helian Yuan sabotaged the retrieval team's attempt to capture the Blue Rock Panther and used Shadow Cover to turn their net against them. He escaped into a gully with his right arm numb, while the team identified him as their enemy and the net caught the Throat-Locking Wind Wolf instead.

• Helian Yuan observed the retrieval team's first attempt and identified the western ground spikes as the key to controlling the chain net.
• He loosened the spikes by forcing water and wooden wedges into the rock cracks, then trained himself to use Shadow Cover briefly and precisely on his right arm.
• When the retrieval team returned with more crossbowmen and a barbed net, Helian Yuan used panther-scented cloth to disrupt the Wind Wolf's route and make the western opening rise early.
• Helian Yuan used Shadow Cover to lever up a ground spike, tilting the net so the numbing powder missed the Blue Rock Panther and the net struck the guards.
• The Blue Rock Panther broke free and dragged the Throat-Locking Wind Wolf toward the rocks as Helian Yuan fled with his right arm numb; the gray-robed man recognized him as the saboteur.

Helian Yuan disrupted the recovery team's second attempt to capture the Blue Rock Panther and stole its copper route tube. The tube revealed an old road deeper into the mountain and an order to seal the entrance, while iron bells signaled that the mountain was being closed after the failed recovery.

• Helian Yuan recognized that the black-armored men handled the recovery operation and decided to target their route tube instead of repeating his earlier tactics.
• He planted copper bells and white powder around the recovery team's equipment to create a distraction and track the route cart.
• Helian Yuan used startled mountain civets and a false whistle to disrupt the net formation, giving him a chance to cut the tube's fastening and steal it.
• The Blue Rock Panther broke the Wind Wolf's neck ring and escaped the net as Helian Yuan fled with the route tube.
• Helian Yuan found an animal-hide map, an old road into deeper hunting grounds, and a black rod engraved with the order to seal the entrance.
• Five iron-bell rings sounded from the east, signaling that the recovery team was sealing the mountain.

Helian Yuan escaped the outer region by diverting the Blue Rock Panther toward the sealed passage and breaking its collar, then crossed into the inner mountains. The gray-robed man remained behind the fallen rocks as Helian Yuan continued deeper into the mountains with the route tube.

• Helian Yuan used the broken collar’s vibration and medicinal scents to lure the Blue Rock Panther toward the alternate beast trail and the stone passage.
• Helian Yuan disrupted the guards’ attempt to seal the passage as the Blue Rock Panther charged into their formation.
• Helian Yuan pried open the panther’s iron collar, freeing it and causing it to attack the gray-robed man carrying the whistle.
• Helian Yuan threw a sealing rod toward the fuse fire, forcing the gray-robed man to turn aside, then passed through the stone passage as falling rocks blocked half the exit.
• The crossbow hunter shot through a rope the pursuers were rigging, then left west without meeting Helian Yuan.
• Helian Yuan recovered his short spear, answered the gray-robed man, and walked deeper into the inner mountains with the route tube.

Helian Yuan killed a level-three Throat-Locking Wind Wolf in a narrow passage and escaped the black-armored retrieval team, but they identified his Tiger Shadow and began pursuing him as a target. He entered the deeper mountain alone, where a mysterious figure was hammering metal by a cliff.

• Helian Yuan used the jagged rocks and the Wind Wolf’s momentum to pin its collar against his spear, then struck its throat with a partial manifestation of Tiger Shadow.
• The black-armored man recognized the tiger-shaped power and ordered his crossbowman to take Helian Yuan alive.
• Helian Yuan used a cord and the copper tube to disrupt the crossbowman, escaped the black-armored man, and abandoned his short spear in the dead wolf’s throat.
• The black-armored man warned Helian Yuan he would not survive seven days in the mountain, and Helian Yuan continued into the inner passage with the route tube.
• After entering the deeper reaches, Helian Yuan carved a mark for the level-three Wind Wolf and saw firelight near a cliff, where someone was hammering metal.

Helian Yuan struck a bargain with Ailina, Leien, and Kelin to guide them across a ravine in exchange for a temporary spear. After they escaped a Rock-Armored Rhinoceros and reached the far side, fresh tracks revealed an immature tiger cub nearby.

• Helian Yuan met Ailina, Leien, and Kelin at the broken rope bridge and offered to guide them across the ravine in exchange for a repaired weapon.
• Ailina agreed to provide Helian Yuan with a short spear, and the group set out along an old beast trail to a natural stone span.
• Helian Yuan and Ailina distracted a fourth-level Rock-Armored Rhinoceros with a copper sheet and the neck ring, letting the group cross safely.
• Ailina gave Helian Yuan a temporary spear shaft and an old three-edged spear point, while warning him to disclose any danger following him.
• Kelin found fresh claw prints and a short length of chain that appeared to belong to an immature tiger cub, not the Windclaw Lynx they were hunting.

Helian Yuan and the others killed the Windclaw Lynx, then found evidence that the chained cub had crossed its path and been wounded. The group negotiated a new arrangement and followed the cub’s trail toward the recovery team, leaving their decision about rescuing it until they found it.

• Helian Yuan showed the group the marked wooden tag, and Ailina gave him a newly joined spear while warning that its iron sleeve would last only seven days.
• The group agreed to hunt the Windclaw Lynx first, then found it in fallen trees and worked together to exploit its injured hind leg.
• Helian Yuan helped bring the lynx down with an ordinary spear thrust, and the group divided the spoils according to each member’s contribution.
• Kelin found black fur in the lynx’s stomach, while the group spotted blood and a chain mark leading deeper into the woods.
• Helian Yuan offered route information and details about the recovery team in exchange for the others continuing with him; Ailina agreed to go as far as the cub before they decided whether to save it.

Helian Yuan and the others evaded the retrieval team’s sentries and found the wounded black cub, which reacted to the blank tag as if it recognized the organization’s cages. With the Black-Armored Retrieval Team closing in, they had to choose between taking the evidence or rescuing the unregistered cub.

• Kelin, Leien, Ailina, and Helian Yuan followed signs of the wounded cub and circled the misty valley to avoid a direct approach.
• Helian Yuan and the others distracted the sentries and redirected the Scent Beasts, creating an opening at the valley entrance.
• Ailina loosened one Scent Beast’s muzzle ring as the group passed the sentry post, and they followed the sound of water into the valley.
• The group found the injured cub beneath a fallen tree and saw signs that it had endured repeated confinement.
• Helian Yuan showed the cub the blank wooden tag, and its fearful reaction suggested it had seen a live cage.
• The Black-Armored Retrieval Team approached from both sides, forcing the group to decide whether to take the evidence or the cub.

Helian Yuan and his companions freed the injured cub from the retrieval team, sacrificing their chance to recover the team’s ledger. They escaped into Mist Valley with the cub, while Helian Yuan’s right arm lost its strength again.

• The retrieval team poisoned the stream and tried to capture the cub, so Helian Yuan ordered Kelin to break its chain while the others held off the attackers.
• Helian Yuan used his shadow for one hammer blow, and Ailina broke the lock that held the cub’s leg chain.
• Helian Yuan chose to carry the cub away instead of chasing the ledger as the ledger man burned it; the cub’s growl and the Tiger Shadow briefly confused their pursuers.
• The four escaped through a rocky crevice, masked their trail, and continued retreating until nightfall with the cub and fragments of its chain and lock.
• By the fire, Ailina asked whether Helian Yuan regretted leaving the ledger behind, and he said it would have told others what the cub was called.

The young beast led Helian Yuan and the others through a hidden tunnel and across concealed ledges to escape the Recovery Society’s pursuers. At a hot-spring cave, Helian Yuan named the beast Little Mo and the group agreed on new terms, while the black-armored leader reported that the tag thief had entered the deeper hunting grounds with three companions and an ink-striped tiger cub.

• The young beast found a hidden cave entrance, leading the group through a narrow tunnel to a ledge beneath the old rope bridge.
• The group crossed a concealed rock ridge with the injured young beast, and Helian Yuan helped dislodge the bridge’s main rope to stop the black-armored pursuers from crossing.
• The young beast guided the group through the mountains until they reached a hot-spring cave, where Helian Yuan named it Little Mo and Kelin recorded the name.
• Leien, Kelin, Ailina, and Helian Yuan agreed on new terms for working together, including the right for anyone to leave at the next safe place.
• The black-armored leader sent word that the tag thief from Sunken Bone Slope had entered the deeper hunting grounds with three others and an ink-striped tiger cub.