Chapter Summaries

Yaoyue, Kexi, Cioccolata, and Christopher found Rosinante’s abandoned cottage and discovered proof that he had written a song for Yaoyue’s mother. With Rosinante absent, Cioccolata promised to reconstruct the melody, while two new arrivals began searching Ragunna with a dragon-seeking compass.

• Christopher led Yaoyue, Kexi, and Cioccolata to the rose-covered ruins of Ragunna’s old district, where they found Rosinante’s cottage empty.
• Christopher showed Yaoyue a song dedicated to a girl from Yuezhou, and she recognized its handwriting as matching the inscription in her pendant.
• Cioccolata recognized the melody as an inherited tune about a bard who wrote a song for a penniless girl from a distant land.
• The group waited for the cottage’s owner, then left when no one returned; Cioccolata offered to reconstruct the song and sing it for Yaoyue in Egla.
• At Ragunna’s port, a white-haired girl and a blue-haired girl arrived, and the blue-haired girl’s dragon-seeking compass glowed in a direction she claimed to have found.

Kexi and Cioccolata stayed overnight at an inn in Egla Town after visiting the stone house, where Cioccolata had found a more complete version of an old song. They shared the room and a quiet conversation about preserving songs, then Cioccolata gave Kexi a blanket when he woke cold.

• Kexi persuaded Cioccolata to stay in Egla Town and arranged for them to share the Wavecrest Inn's only room.
• Cioccolata took the bed while Kexi laid his bedding on the floor, and she explained how she hoped to restore and pass down “To the Yue Maiden Far Away.”
• Kexi told Cioccolata that her songs would endure, and she quietly accepted his reassurance before falling asleep.
• Kexi woke cold during the night, so Cioccolata tossed him a blanket and warned him not to do anything weird with it.
• Kexi remarked that the blanket smelled like Cioccolata, and she teased him about his twelve years of writing love letters before they went back to sleep.

Cioccolata spent the night reconstructing Rosinante’s song after realizing later singers had added a passage that obscured his original key change. In the morning, Kexi teased her over the blanket he had borrowed, and she quietly kept it instead of putting it in the laundry.

• Kexi woke and watched Cioccolata work through the song on her lute and in her notebook.
• Cioccolata explained that Rosinante’s original version had no transition before the chorus, and that later singers had added one.
• Cioccolata said Rosinante’s deliberately uncomfortable style helped her understand why Yaoyue’s mother had remembered him for a lifetime.
• Cioccolata accused Kexi of snoring and asked for her blanket back; Kexi returned it after pressing it to his face.
• Cioccolata folded the blanket and placed it at the foot of the bed rather than putting it in the laundry basket.

Yaoyue brought her mother's thanks and the musical-note pendant to Rosinante, the bard who had saved her mother fifty years earlier. Rosinante recognized the pendant and invited Yaoyue, Cioccolata, Kexi, and Christopher into his cottage.

• Kexi, Cioccolata, and Yaoyue returned to the old district with Cioccolata's reconstructed score, where Christopher was already waiting outside Rosinante's cottage.
• Cioccolata and Kexi noticed fresh wild roses on the steps, and Yaoyue knocked until Rosinante opened the door.
• Yaoyue introduced herself and explained that her mother had asked her to thank Rosinante for saving her in Ragunna fifty years earlier.
• Rosinante took the pendant, remembered the girl from Yuezhou, and told Yaoyue she resembled her mother.
• Yaoyue told Rosinante that her mother had sung his song throughout her life and died listening to it, and Rosinante invited everyone inside for tea.

Rosinante recounted how he had saved Yaoyue’s mother in Ragunna and sung her a farewell song before she returned to Yuezhou. Yaoyue played her mother’s final message, revealing that she had remembered Rosinante and his song throughout her life, leaving him and the others in silence.

• Rosinante described finding Yaoyue’s feverish mother beneath St. Elmo’s Bridge and carrying her to a clinic, where he spent his earnings to save her.
• Rosinante recalled caring for her during her recovery and walking her to the harbor when she insisted on returning to Yuezhou.
• Rosinante said he sang her “To the Yue Maiden Far Away” as she boarded the ship home.
• Yaoyue played a holographic recording in which her mother thanked Rosinante and said his song had stayed with her for fifty years.
• Yaoyue’s mother revealed that she had wanted to stay with Rosinante but chose to return home, and that she had lived a happy life without forgetting him.

Rosinante shared the meaning of his song with Yaoyue and taught Cioccolata how to play it. Christopher discovered Kexi had written the letter and used his book to pull Kexi, Cioccolata, Yaoyue, and Rosinante out of the real world.

• Rosinante explained why he had refused to marry Yaoyue's mother and said their life together had made his song worthwhile.
• Yaoyue asked Rosinante if she could call him Grandpa Luo, and he gently accepted her affection.
• Rosinante guided Cioccolata as she played the song, teaching her how to shape its parting and final verse.
• Christopher recognized Cioccolata's letter as matching one Napomo had shown him, then read it and asked who wrote it.
• Kexi admitted he had written the letter, and Christopher revealed that someone wanted him dead.
• Christopher opened his book and used its dark red chains to draw Kexi, Cioccolata, Yaoyue, and Rosinante out of the real world.

Kexi woke in a cultivation world as a disciple who had drugged and defiled his master, Qiuyuan, then jumped off a cliff. Yangyang and Suisui brought him back to the Mystic Sect, while Christopher watched and wondered why Kexi was not under his script’s control.

• Kexi woke in an unfamiliar forest and met Yangyang and Suisui, who identified him as their junior brother.
• Yangyang explained that Kexi had offended their master, Qiuyuan, by giving her a drugged spirit fruit and then jumping off a cliff.
• Kexi realized Christopher had placed him in a scripted cultivation world and resolved to find Cioccolata, Yaoyue, and Rosinante and escape.
• Yangyang and Suisui took Kexi back toward the Mystic Sect, warning that he would likely face punishment from Qiuyuan.
• Christopher appeared after they left, checked his book, and noted that Kexi was not under his script’s control.

Kexi returned to the Mystic Sect and reunited with his worried senior and junior sisters, whose bizarre accents and speech left him bewildered. He arrived at Clear Heart Hall to face his master and explain the spirit fruit he had used to drug her.

• Yangyang and Suisui brought Kexi to the Mystic Sect's mountain gate, where Chisa greeted him in a thick Japanese-colonel accent and scolded him for acting impulsively.
• Jinhsi ran out to welcome Kexi, calling him “senia bwother” in a Zhuang-accented voice and showing him a small scrape from searching for him.
• Chisa told Kexi that Jinhsi had gone to the back mountain every day to look for him, and Kexi patted Jinhsi's head in thanks.
• Suisui warned Kexi that his master was in a bad temper over the spirit fruit he had used to drug her.
• Kexi walked with his sisters to Clear Heart Hall and announced his return to his master outside the closed doors.

Kexi returned to Clear Heart Hall and faced Qiuyuan after fleeing following his offense against her. She punished him before explaining that his real mistake was running away and making his family and disciples worry, then ordered him to kneel and reflect.

• Kexi admitted that he had offered Qiuyuan a spirit fruit without checking it and had jumped off a cliff to escape punishment.
• Qiuyuan slapped Kexi, knocked him down, and demanded that he identify his mistake, rejecting his guesses.
• Kexi cried and begged Qiuyuan to tell him what he had done wrong.
• Qiuyuan explained that Yangyang, Chisa, Jinhsi, Suisui, and she had worried and searched for him after he disappeared.
• Qiuyuan told Kexi that he should have stayed to face the consequences and ordered him to kneel until he had thought it through.

Qiuyuan punished Kexi for his disobedience but secretly tended to his injuries and arranged private lessons with him. After he left, she struggled to control the lingering effects of the spirit fruit and her feelings toward him.

• Qiuyuan said the spirit fruit had improved her cultivation, ordered Kexi to keep its side effects secret, and sentenced him to three months of confinement and extra sword practice.
• Qiuyuan asked whether Kexi had been hurt when he jumped off the cliff, then gave him ointment and told him to apply it twice a day.
• Qiuyuan told Kexi to come to her room at the hour of the boar to make up missed lessons, warning him not to tell anyone, especially Yangyang.
• After Kexi left, Qiuyuan tried to calm herself by playing the guqin and meditating, but the spirit fruit’s effects and thoughts of Kexi overwhelmed her.

Kexi emerged from Master’s hall and reunited with his senior and junior sisters, then met Changli, the pink-haired Second Senior Sister. He hoped she would be normal, but her repeated casual “'Kay” showed that even she had a distinctive quirk.

• Kexi told Jinhsi, Chisa, Suisui, and Yangyang that Master had given him three months of confinement and extra sword practice, but had not hit or scolded him.
• Yangyang straightened Kexi’s robe and blushed when she touched his neck, while Suisui teased her.
• Changli arrived, and Yangyang introduced her as Kexi’s Second Senior Sister.
• Changli warmly welcomed Kexi and offered to help him with any difficulties, but her “'Kay” made him realize she was not entirely ordinary.
• Changli asked Yangyang to prepare a room and medicinal soup for Kexi, then asked Chisa to manage the sect while she gathered herbs; she ended both exchanges with “'Kay.”

Kexi tried to make sense of his unexpectedly comfortable life in the script world and suspected Christopher’s claim that someone wanted him dead was foreshadowing a hidden danger. That night, Qiuyuan’s planned make-up lesson remained on his mind as someone quietly knocked at his door.

• Kexi learned Changli had grown up in Luo City and endured her distinctive use of the word “zhong,” while Suisui hinted that she might have a hidden accent too.
• Kexi replayed Qiuyuan’s invitation to come to her room during the hour of the pig and struggled to interpret her concern and faint blush.
• Jinhsi startled Kexi as he worried about Qiuyuan, and he claimed he was thinking about sword practice.
• That night, Kexi questioned Christopher’s warning that someone wanted him dead, since everyone he had met had treated him kindly.
• Kexi concluded that his comfortable life must be foreshadowing and heard someone knock softly, asking whether he was asleep.

Yangyang brought Kexi a calming decoction and recalled their shared past, breaking down over his cliff jump. Kexi comforted her and promised not to jump again, then went to Qiuyuan's residence, where her trembling voice and a faint gasp came from behind the closed door.

• Yangyang gave Kexi calming broth and recounted childhood memories he could not remember.
• Yangyang cried over Kexi's cliff jump and asked whether he had thought about those he left behind.
• Kexi embraced Yangyang, reassured her that he was alive, and promised never to jump again.
• Yangyang fell asleep in Kexi's arms, and he tucked her into bed before leaving for Qiuyuan's residence.
• Kexi heard faint, broken sounds behind Qiuyuan's door, and she warned him not to come in.

Qiuyuan struggled with her heart demon, which accused her of feeling desire for her disciple Kexi and challenged her to admit it. The chapter ended with Qiuyuan raging against the demon in the dark.

• Qiuyuan's heart demon urged her to kill Kexi, arguing that she had treated him far more leniently than other rebellious disciples.
• Qiuyuan defended Kexi's punishment and claimed the spirit fruit had improved her cultivation.
• The heart demon recounted how Qiuyuan's body had reacted when she touched and punished Kexi, insisting she found his vulnerability cute.
• Qiuyuan denied the accusations, drew her sword, and attacked the heart demon, which turned to smoke and reappeared behind her.
• The heart demon pointed to Qiuyuan's snapped zither string, disordered breathing, and trembling hand as proof of her turmoil.
• Qiuyuan roared and swept her sword, extinguishing every candle and plunging the room into darkness.

Qiuyuan’s heart demon forced her to confront her desire for Kexi and then merged with her, transforming her into a languid, alluring version of herself. When Kexi entered her room, she greeted him with a dangerous new presence and asked why he thought she had called him.

• The heart demon taunted Qiuyuan until she collapsed, unable to deny that she wanted Kexi.
• The other Qiuyuan embraced her and dissolved into black threads that entered and merged with her body.
• Qiuyuan rose with red-lit eyes and adopted the heart demon’s languid manner.
• Kexi entered the darkened room and sensed that Qiuyuan’s aura had changed.
• Qiuyuan pressed his chin up and asked whether he knew why she had called him.

Qiuyuan cornered Kexi in her room after summoning him to make up missed lessons, then revealed that the spirit fruit he had given her had left her uncomfortable. Kexi ended up pinned to her bed as she told him he would have to deal with the trouble he had caused.

• Qiuyuan told Kexi to remove his outer robe so she could inspect his injuries, while her suggestive behavior made him increasingly uneasy.
• Qiuyuan pressed her hand to Kexi's chest and asked whether he knew all the effects of the spirit fruit he had given her.
• Kexi denied knowing about the fruit's side effects and tried to insist that he was innocent.
• Qiuyuan pulled Kexi away from the door, kicked the backs of his knees, and pinned him to the bed.
• Qiuyuan told Kexi that she had not felt this uncomfortable in hundreds of years and that he had to deal with the trouble he caused.

Kexi tried to resist Qiuyuan’s intimate advances but ultimately lost himself in the encounter, after which Qiuyuan regained control and was horrified by what she had done. She nearly killed him, then ordered him to leave the Mystic Sect and never return.

• Kexi reminded himself that the tenderness from Qiuyuan and the concern from his senior and junior sisters were part of Christopher’s fake script, and reached for the bed’s edge to escape.
• Qiuyuan caught Kexi’s wrist, intertwined their fingers, and pulled him back; Kexi eventually gave in completely.
• Qiuyuan’s eyes cleared, and she realized that her inner demon had only brought her hidden desires to the surface.
• Qiuyuan picked up her sword and pointed it at Kexi’s throat, but she could not bring herself to kill him.
• Qiuyuan turned away and told Kexi to get out, leave the mountain, and never come back.

After Qiuyuan drove Kexi from the Mystic Sect following their night together, he left the mountain while hiding the truth from his worried companions. He descended carrying gifts and farewells from the sisters, especially Yangyang, whose silent concern stayed with him.

• Qiuyuan ordered Kexi out after their night together, and he fled her room before dawn.
• At the mountain gate, Yangyang and the other sisters questioned Kexi about why Qiuyuan had sent him away.
• Kexi claimed he and Qiuyuan had a purely academic disagreement, then blamed the mark on his neck on mosquitoes.
• Yangyang let Kexi's lie pass and told him to take care of himself as he left the mountain.
• Chisa, Suisui, Changli, and Jinhsi gave Kexi money, supplies, medicine, food, and a talisman for his journey.
• Kexi looked back at the sisters before continuing down the steps, and he read Yangyang's silent farewell: “Take care.”

Christopher heard Aleph-1’s offer to help free it from its seal in exchange for Leviathan and the promise of knowledge and escape from Solaris. Meanwhile, Kexi traveled toward Ragunna City, but after landing beside a lake, he was attacked by white seals and prepared to relieve himself.

• Aleph-1 told Christopher how the Tuner had killed it and offered him information and passage off Solaris if he helped it escape Lahai-Roi.
• Christopher took Aleph-1’s crystal and planned to discuss the bargain with the president, unaware that Aleph-1 intended to summon its true form and consume Solaris.
• Kexi used Changli’s map and Yangyang’s account of his past to decide to search Ragunna City for clues and possibly his missing companions.
• Kexi descended into a valley to find a secluded place to urinate and landed beside what he mistook for pebbles.
• A pack of white seals charged Kexi, and he knocked them unconscious with his sword before turning toward the lake.

After taking human form, Aemeath heard her family being slaughtered and hid in the lake, convinced Kexi was the killer. She attacked him as he urinated by the shore, and the chapter ended with her choking him.

• Aemeath completed her transformation at the sacred lake and admired her human appearance.
• Aemeath heard her family crying out in danger and realized they were being slaughtered while she was too weak to fight.
• Kexi arrived at the lake, and Aemeath mistook the white fluff on his clothes as proof he had killed her family.
• Kexi urinated by the shore, and Aemeath interpreted it as a deliberate humiliation before leaping out of the water to attack him.
• Aemeath pinned Kexi to the grass and tightened her grip around his throat until he struggled to breathe.