Why did Master Xinchi frame Li Huowang?

He is petty and vindictive. He was angered by Li Huowang's earlier defiance and used his position of authority to eliminate Li Huowang by labeling him a false impostor.

What is the significance of the empty cavity in the mummy?

It confirms the Chief Recorder’s secret mission was to retrieve “Xin Zhuo,” a treasure that has already been stolen by the Zuowandao, proving the real loot was never the trap.

The Collapse of Trust

1,297 words

Chapter 338: Collapse

“Master Xinchi, are you sure you haven’t made a mistake this time?”

Perhaps the Supervisory Heavenly Office could kill the innocent for the sake of getting the job done, but Li Huowang could never get over that hurdle in his heart.

As soon as Li Huowang said this, the little girl who was bowing to the Buddha shrank, leaving only a set of clothes on the spot.

“Er Jiu! Why won’t you listen to me?” Xinchi spoke again, his voice echoing.

The little clothes quivered and then fell silent, not daring to move.

Li Huowang watched Xinchi’s figure, now resembling an angry Vajra, and gave a cold laugh. He lifted his blade, walked over to the pile of clothes, and thrust it fiercely into the yellow prayer mat. Accompanied by a yelp like a small dog’s, bright red blood gushed out from the mat.

That thing hadn’t left at all; it had merely shrunk extremely small and flat, hiding inside the prayer mat.

“Master Xinchi, if you were this accurate every time, I wouldn’t have to figure things out on my own.”

Furthermore, he didn’t want to be used as a pawn, especially by such a disgusting existence.

Seeing the tension rising between the two, the Chief Recorder immediately intervened.

“Enough! His Excellency isn’t dead yet! You little brats, mind your manners! Don’t forget why I called you here!”

Although the Chief Recorder always wore a genial smile, neither Li Huowang nor Xinchi thought he was someone to be trifled with. Seeing him speak up, they both fell silent.

Time passed. Soon, they had been wandering around the Bone Buddha Temple for half an hour, but aside from that earlier ambush, they had found nothing.

Li Huowang couldn’t tell if the Zuowandao had already left, or if they were deliberately hiding from them.

Despite the long stretch of time, the Chief Recorder, acting as their leader, didn’t seem anxious at all. In fact, his eyes were growing brighter.

This only reinforced Li Huowang’s earlier suspicion: the Chief Recorder had ulterior motives for coming to this Bone Buddha Temple.

Just as they entered another Buddha hall filled with mummies, the Chief Recorder’s expression suddenly shifted to one of ecstasy.

As his fingers, tapping on the abacus, began to accelerate into blurs, tiny sparks flew from it.

“Come at once!”

The Chief Recorder began treading on the marble floor in a specific pattern. After circling in an extremely complex manner three times, a painted portrait of a seated Bodhisattva on one of the pillars moved on its own.

Seeing this, Li Huowang’s conviction hardened. I was right! The Chief Recorder came here to find something! Cleaning up the Zuowandao was just a side mission!

Then, in the painting on the pillar, the serene Buddha figure aged and withered rapidly, soon becoming a mummy.

The mummy’s hands slid between its ribs, slowly prying open its own abdominal cavity.

But just as the delighted Chief Recorder looked up at the mummy portrait on the pillar, he froze.

The figure’s abdomen was completely empty.

“Xin Zhuo? Has someone beaten us to it? But that’s impossible. This place is only known to me.”

Xin Zhuo? Hearing the character “xin” in the name made Li Huowang, a Heart-Element, particularly sensitive.

Could there be another one, like the Heart-Element? A humanoid heavenly treasure? If the Heart-Element is Bewilderment, what are their side effects?

Just as he was about to ask Tuoba Danqing, a long, muffled rumble made everyone look up at the ceiling beams.

Before anyone could react, Hong Da, dressed as a beggar, suddenly spoke. “Get out! This hall’s about to collapse!”

The words had barely left his mouth when, accompanied by a deafening crack, the massive beam, carrying tens of thousands of pounds of tiles, came crashing down.

A thunderous roar followed, and thick dust rose, blanketing everything.

“It hurts.” That was all Li Huowang could feel. His entire body ached everywhere.

Everything was hazy; he couldn’t see where he was. He tried to move, but felt an immense weight on him, pinning him down.

As he was trying to figure out how to escape, amidst the sound of shifting rubble and flying dust, a sturdy figure appeared before him.

After the man lifted the thousand-pound main beam off him, Li Huowang could finally move again. He crawled out from the broken tiles, shook off the dust, and said to the man, “Thanks, Brother Tuoba.”

Tuoba Danqing, equally covered in dust and grime, set down the beam. “Ah, what are you saying? We’ve shared drinks and… well, good times. Did you think I’d just let you die?”

“You alright? What about the others? This temple collapse must be the Zuowandao’s doing,” Tuoba Danqing said, also brushing the dust off himself.

Li Huowang nodded. “No doubt about it.” As he spoke, he subtly moved a few inches away from Tuoba Danqing, keeping his face towards him.

As they were talking, movement sounded from the thinning dust in the distance. An extremely tall figure emerged from it—it was Master Xinchi.

The moment he saw the two of them standing together, his expression grew serious. He pointed a thick finger sharply at Li Huowang.

The next moment, Tuoba Danqing seemed to hear something, staggering back several steps to put distance between them.

Then, the three of them stood in a triangular formation. Xinchi and Tuoba Danqing were now glaring at Li Huowang, poised to attack.

In this situation, Li Huowang quickly deduced that Xinchi must have used his Mind-Reading ability to whisper something in Tuoba Danqing’s ear.

Just as they were about to act, Li Huowang looked at Tuoba Danqing and spoke. “Brother Tuoba, you can suspect I’m a Zuowandao, fine. But shouldn’t you also consider that this Xinchi might be the fake one?”

“Save your lies. Does the Zuowandao know Mind-Reading?” Tuoba Danqing, previously so warm, was now noticeably cold.

“Why wouldn’t the Zuowandao know Mind-Reading? They steal any ability they have!” Li Huowang, his face ashen, drew the sword from his back.

“We knew you’d try this kind of divide-and-conquer. But the Chief Recorder has already calculated. Even if they stole it, learning Mind-Reading takes three hours. So he’s real, and you’re the fake.”

Faced with this baseless accusation, Li Huowang could barely contain his rage.

“He’s obviously the fake!” As Li Huowang pointed his sword directly at Xinchi, a familiar voice sounded in his ear—it was the monk’s Mind-Reading.

“No. I am real. And I know Brother Er is real, too. But right now, my word is the truth. Whoever I say is a fake is a fake.”

“What?!” Li Huowang’s pupils dilated to their limit as he stared in disbelief at Xinchi.

He had considered many possibilities, but he never expected this. That he would be stabbed in the back by his own people here!

“You’re causing internal strife at a time like this? Are you insane? Just because I talked back to you earlier?”

Xinchi’s mouth curled slightly, then quickly returned to a serene, neutral expression. “That is correct. I am that petty.”

With that, he stomped his foot and charged at Li Huowang together with Tuoba Danqing.

“You madman!” Roaring with a fury that felt like his guts were tearing, Li Huowang hardened his heart, drew the Purple-Tasseled Sword, and rushed at Xinchi.

As Li Huowang got closer, a flash of cold light stabbed out from the mist beside him, aimed straight at his neck.

It was a rusted short knife, held in the hand of Hong Da, the Credit Seller.

Li Huowang was now caught in a three-pronged attack, completely on the defensive.

What the hell is going on?! Have they discovered my identity?! Was this whole thing a trap meant for me from the start?

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Reading Guide Decoding

Framed by the System: The Three-Pronged Trap

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Mind-Reading (他心通): This ability is one of the “supernatural powers” (神通, shentong) in Buddhist and Daoist lore. It literally means “knowing the thoughts of others.” In xianxia, it is a rare and powerful skill often associated with high-level monks or enlightened beings. The Chief Recorder’s use of a strict “three-hour training” rule as a verification method is a perfect example of how this world’s logic is meticulously bureaucratic, even when dealing with the supernatural. The Collapse as a Trope: In Chinese martial arts and xianxia fiction, a sudden, convenient collapse is a classic storyteller’s device. It serves to isolate characters, shift the battlefield, and, most importantly, sow chaos and destroy trust. In the “Dao-Twisted World,” it also serves as an environmental attack—a very mundane, physical horror applied to a supernatural conflict, making it feel both calculated and terrifyingly real. The Mummified Buddha (佛骨寺): The “Bone Buddha Temple” setting is a corrupted take on a sacred space. In Chinese folk religion and Buddhism, relics—especially mummified remains of saintly monks (肉身佛, flesh-body Buddha)—are objects of veneration. Here, that sacred, preserved power is hollowed out, used as a hiding place for a stolen prize (Xin Zhuo), and ultimately weaponized as a trap. The sacred is literally gutted.

Renxiao (人魈)

A person who lives past 120 without achieving immortality and forcibly extends their life with elixirs, resulting in a malformed, blind monster. Obsession (执念) must be dispelled before the age of 120 to avoid this fate.

Chapter Overview

Oof. Chapter 338 is a brutal, claustrophobic gut-punch that masterfully weaponizes the novel’s core theme: paranoia. After a tense standoff with the repulsive Master Xinchi, Li Huowang finally thinks the group is forming a cohesive hunting party. But when the temple dramatically collapses, the dust settles not on a clear enemy, but on a three-way showdown where Li Huowang himself is suddenly the designated target. This isn't a fight against monsters; it’s a viciously efficient character assassination, using the group's own established rules and trust against our favorite paranoid protagonist. Get ready for a betrayal that feels less like a plot twist and more like a logical, terrifying extension of the world's logic.

Key Plot Points

The chapter opens with Li Huowang and Master Xinchi butting heads. Li Huowang questions the monk’s infallibility, and shows his ruthlessness by using his blade to expose a small, hideous creature hiding inside a prayer mat. The power dynamic is set: they are allied, but not friends.
The Chief Recorder steps in to quell the dispute, revealing his authority over both men. The search party continues to wander the Bone Buddha Temple for half an hour, finding nothing but the earlier ambush, which deepens the suspicion that the Zuowandao are either long gone or actively hiding.
The atmosphere shifts when the Chief Recorder discovers the real reason for his visit: he uses a complex ritual to open a hidden compartment within a mummified Buddha portrait, seeking something called “Xin Zhuo.” The cavity is empty, implying someone has beaten them to the prize.
The temple hall suddenly collapses. Hong Da, the beggar-like Credit Seller, gives the only warning. After the dust settles, Li Huowang is rescued by Tuoba Danqing, but their brief camaraderie is shattered when Master Xinchi appears and immediately uses his ‘Mind Reading’ ability to accuse Li Huowang of being a fake.
A deadly standoff forms. Tuoba Danqing and Xinchi corner Li Huowang. Li Huowang’s attempts to argue that the monk could be the impostor are shot down with cold, bureaucratic logic from Tuoba Danqing: the Chief Recorder calculated that learning Mind-Reading takes three hours, so Xinchi is considered verified.
Master Xinchi confirms his pettiness, admitting he is framing Li Huowang out of spite for their earlier argument. He, Tuoba Danqing, and the third party, Hong Da, all attack Li Huowang simultaneously, leaving him completely cornered and questioning whether this was always a trap meant for him.

Reading Guide

Alright, fellow survivors, let’s talk about this absolute betrayal. This chapter is a masterclass in using systemic logic to create horror. Notice how the Zuowandao didn't need to be present to win. They simply needed to plant the seed of the ambush and leave. The group’s own internal rules—the Chief Recorder’s authority, Xinchi’s priestly vanity, Tuoba Danqing’s faith in the system—did the rest. Also, watch how Li Huowang’s paranoia has been validated. He was suspicious of Xinchi, he felt the Chief Recorder had a hidden agenda, and now he’s been left alone to fight three people at once. The tragedy is that his instincts were correct, but they were too slow for the targeted, personal attack Xinchi launched. Finally, keep an eye on that “Xin Zhuo” (心浊). The name shares the “Xin” (心) radical with “Heart-Element” (心素). This is a huge clue. The Chief Recorder wasn’t here for the Zuowandao; he was hunting another type of humanoid treasure. This confirms that Li Huowang is only one part of a larger, terrifying ecosystem of people who are less human and more “resource.” The world just got a whole lot bigger—and more dangerous—for him.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

Why did Master Xinchi frame Li Huowang?: He is petty and vindictive. He was angered by Li Huowang's earlier defiance and used his position of authority to eliminate Li Huowang by labeling him a false impostor.
What is the significance of the empty cavity in the mummy?: It confirms the Chief Recorder’s secret mission was to retrieve “Xin Zhuo,” a treasure that has already been stolen by the Zuowandao, proving the real loot was never the trap.