A Heart-Pan is a human being who serves as a causal anchor for a Siming (a high-dimensional deity). The Siming uses this mortal link to interact with and influence the physical world. It is rarely a comfortable role.

Is Bai Lingmiao being tricked by Wusheng Laomu?

That’s the central question. Bai Lingmiao genuinely believes Wusheng Laomu is kind and doesn’t require human sacrifice. Li Huowang, from his experience, believes all Siming are dangerous and that her "happy ending" is a trap.

Why can’t Ji Zai resurrect Bai Lingmiao’s parents?

Ji Zai (Li Huowang’s future self) states that changing such a fundamental event would alter the entire causal web of Li Huowang’s destiny, potentially unraveling his existence or creating a worse outcome. It is forbidden by the nature of the world.

What does the wooden fish mean at the end?

The sound of a wooden fish in the dead of night signals the arrival of a Buddhist or temple-based faction. It suggests the next conflict will be with a highly organized religious group, not just a stray monster.

The White Lotus Saintess’s Happy Lie

1,186 words

Chapter 618: White Lotus

When Li Huowang asked this, Bai Lingmiao’s face showed a brief pause. "Senior Li, why would I lie to you? We’ve come all this way together, how I treat you—should that even need to be questioned?"

"I know. Of course I know. But even without malice, even with the best intentions—sometimes the people closest to you can still lie to you. I’ve been tricked before. It’s hard not to overreact."

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao let out a soft sigh. "Senior Li, whatever you want to know, just ask—I’ll tell you everything. But… could you please not doubt me? It really hurts my heart."

At this, Li Huowang reached out and gently took her hand, pulling her slightly closer. "Being the White Lotus Saintess—are there any hidden dangers?"

"No," Bai Lingmiao answered softly.

"Is that so? Then why were you chosen to be the Saintess? Is that so-called Wusheng Laomu using you as her Heart-Pan?"

Bai Lingmiao looked confused. "Senior Li, what is a Heart-Pan? I don’t think Wusheng Laomu needs something like that."

"No! She does! As long as she’s a Siming, she definitely needs it!" Li Huowang’s voice was ironclad.

"Tell me everything that’s happened. Don’t hide anything. Whatever the problem is, we’ll face it together."

At this, Bai Lingmiao was silent for a long time. Finally, she spoke, her voice distant. "That day, after Senior Lian took me away, I met with people from her White Lotus branch."

"They were all very excited to see me. They said I carried Wusheng Laomu’s ‘Pujue Miaodao’—Universal Enlightenment and Marvelous Way—and they knelt to worship me."

"At first I thought they were swindlers. But after they drew many characters on my body… I actually really felt Wusheng Laomu." As she spoke, her face grew devout.

"Senior Li, do you know? My parents were wrong all along. Believing in Wusheng Laomu doesn’t require human sacrifice at all. Wusheng Laomu is a good deity."

"Hmph!"

Li Huowang sneered inwardly. This so-called Wusheng Laomu probably only stopped requiring human sacrifice because the Heavenly Way that demanded it had been taken from her. It had nothing to do with being good or bad.

While Li Huowang was speculating on Wusheng Laomu’s motives, Bai Lingmiao continued. "She truly is kind. She even told me you were in trouble."

"Then she said she could teach me divine powers, and let me borrow the White Lotus people to save you."

"Think about it, Senior Li. If Wusheng Laomu hadn’t saved you back then, you would have been in real trouble. We owe her a favor."

"You came to save me back then, not her. I owe you, not her."

"But my power comes from Wusheng Laomu. If she hadn’t helped me, I couldn’t have saved you."

Not wanting to keep circling this topic, Li Huowang cut straight to the point. "Tell her this: no matter what her goal is, when it comes to the Child-God, we’re on the same side."

"With a major enemy right in front of us, we can cooperate temporarily to deal with the Child-God. We can sit down and talk slowly after this crisis is over."

Li Huowang was no greenhorn. No matter how convincingly Bai Lingmiao spoke, he knew exactly what sort of beings these Siming were. Leaving Bai Lingmiao in Wusheng Laomu’s hands… he really couldn’t feel at ease.

Bai Lingmiao nodded gently. "Alright. But Senior Li… I think things are good right now. I’m truly happy. My parents are living well in Wusheng Laomu’s Native Land of True Emptiness."

"And after I die, I’ll return to the Native Land of True Emptiness and see them again!"

Li Huowang couldn’t hold it in anymore. He was about to argue—but then Bai Lingmiao’s expression suddenly changed.

That familiar feeling made Li Huowang freeze for a moment. Er Shen. Er Shen was still alive!

Just as Li Huowang opened his mouth to speak, Er Shen stared straight at him and snapped, "Can you stop being so damn fussy? Do you just enjoy seeing Miaomiao filled with pain and despair?"

"But—but that’s fake!"

"So what if it’s fake? We’re happy this way! Besides, how can you be so sure it’s fake? Can you really tell the difference so clearly between true and false?"

These words hit Li Huowang like a thunderclap. He stood there frozen, countless thoughts suddenly flooding his mind.

A moment later, seeing Li Huowang silent for so long, Bai Lingmiao returned to her own self and spoke with a hint of apology. "I actually wanted to tell you that Er Shen was still alive… but Er Shen wouldn’t let me."

"Really, we’re not entirely two separate people. Our upper bodies are split, but our lower bodies are still connected. I guess that counts as one person."

"Wait. Hold on. I suddenly have something I need to ask someone." Li Huowang stood up quickly, pulled out his phone, and walked outside.

Soon, he was back at the pond’s edge. He looked down at his own reflection and said with some excitement, "Ji Zai! I need your help! Since this world is alive, and the future changes every moment—do you have a way to bring Bai Lingmiao’s dead family back to life?"

"No."

"Why?" Li Huowang demanded loudly.

"First, I can’t change things that directly. Move one strand, and the whole web shifts. Second, this is your karma. If I remove this karma, everything that happens to you afterward will change. It might even—"

"Might even what?"

"Good. Keep it up." With that, Ji Zai fell silent.

"Eat shit!" Li Huowang couldn’t hold back his curse.

To be honest, even knowing that Ji Zai was his future self, Li Huowang hated him to the bone. He wanted to Cultivate the False into Reality just so he could punch the bastard’s face in.

"Senior Li, what’s wrong?" Bai Lingmiao, worried, had followed him. Seeing him shouting at his reflection, her concern deepened.

"Nothing. Don’t worry about me. My illness is really better now." Li Huowang reached out and patted her shoulder.

"Really?"

"This whole thing is a bit messy. Let’s focus on the Great Qi refugees first. I feel like this wave is bigger than it looks."

Bai Lingmiao immediately stopped questioning him. She nodded gently. "Alright."

Though he feared the refugees might threaten Oxheart Village, these people were skin and bones from starvation. They didn’t have the strength to raid or conquer.

At least around Oxheart Village, things seemed calm.

Using the straw, rags, and wood the village had sent, the refugees built simple little shelters nearby.

Crude and ugly—but enough to block the late-winter wind.

Li Huowang had originally assumed that since the Niuxin Mountain area in Great Qi was already empty, any real trouble from these refugees would come from elsewhere.

But as it turned out, in the dead of that same night, Li Huowang’s eyes suddenly snapped open.

He heard a strange sound. Very faint—but he heard it clearly.

It was the sound of a wooden fish. The kind you only hear inside a Buddhist temple.

—————

Next chapter update: 23:30

(Chapter End)

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Reading Guide Decoding

Faith, Lies, and the Comforting Illusion of a Good God

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Wusheng Laomu (Unborn Venerable Mother) and Native Land of True Emptiness: Bai Lingmiao’s faith leans heavily on late-imperial Chinese folk religious ideas. Wusheng Laomu is the central deity of the White Lotus-esque sectarian traditions—a cosmic mother who promises to call her children back to her "Native Land of True Emptiness," a salvific paradise. In this chapter, the emphasis is that she doesn't require human sacrifice, which Li Huowang cynically attributes to her "Heavenly Way" (domain) being taken, rather than any inherent goodness. This is a key lore point: Siming are defined by what they consume or control; their morality is secondary to their ontological hunger.

Pujue Miaodao (Universal Enlightenment and Marvelous Way): This is part of the mystical terminology used by White Lotus groups. It refers to a special spiritual quality or a "seed" of enlightenment that marks a person as connected to Wusheng Laomu. In the novel, it functions as a divine signal that Bai Lingmiao is the chosen vessel.

The Wooden Fish (Muyu): A Buddhist percussion instrument used during sutra chanting to keep rhythm. Its appearance here (heard in the dead of night, presumably from an approaching force) signals a shift in the horror—from the Dao-Twisted world’s carnage to the highly organized, scripture-chanting terror of a religious sect. In Chinese horror, the sound of chanting and wooden fish is often more unsettling than a scream, because it suggests a systematic, relentless pursuit.

Chapter Overview

Get ready, because this chapter is a heavy one—not in action, but in emotional warfare and raw philosophical doubt. Bai Lingmiao confesses her faith in Wusheng Laomu with a sincerity that cuts deeper than any blade, and Li Huowang finds himself trapped between his love for her and his absolute, hard-won distrust of any Siming. The real knockout punch? Er Shen is alive, and she throws the most painful question back at our protagonist: "Can you really tell the difference so clearly between true and false?" For a man whose entire survival depends on clinging to some kind of anchor, that question is a poison pill. The chapter ends with the domestic tension unresolved and a new, ominous sound—a wooden fish in the dead of night—suggesting that the next threat is not a monster from the Dao-Twisted world, but something with a temple bell and a sutra.

Key Plot Points

The Confession: Bai Lingmiao openly admits she feels the presence of Wusheng Laomu and believes her deity is "good," free of the need for human sacrifice. She frames her faith as a correction of her parents’ mistakes.
Li Huowang’s Pragmatism: Trapped between his distrust of Siming and his need for allies against the Child-God, he proposes a temporary truce. He knows he’s making a deal with a wolf, but the wolf is pointed at a bigger monster.
The Revelation of Er Shen: During the argument, Bai Lingmiao’s personality shifts into Er Shen’s, who is alive and well. Er Shen directly challenges Li Huowang’s obsession with "truth" and defends the comforting illusion.
The Failed Miracle: Li Huowang rushes to his reflection (Ji Zai) to ask if he can resurrect Bai Lingmiao’s parents. Ji Zai refuses, citing the web of causality and the danger of altering Li Huowang’s own karma.
The Calm Before the Storm: The refugee crisis is dealt with via simple charity, but the quiet is broken by the sound of a wooden fish—a Buddhist ritual instrument—heralding a new and unfamiliar threat.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a masterclass in emotional dissonance. Bai Lingmiao is genuinely happy, and that happiness is wrong from Li Huowang’s perspective because it is built on, from his view, a lie. The reader is forced to sit in that tension: is it better to live a comfortable fiction or a painful truth? Pay close attention to Er Shen’s argument—she is the embodiment of the novel’s central thesis. Li Huowang’s plea to Ji Zai is also crucial; it shows that even with the power of a future self, some problems cannot be solved without breaking everything else. The final image—the wooden fish at midnight—is the hook for the next arc. It suggests that the conflict isn't just with the gods and monsters, but with organized religious institutions (likely a Buddhist or White Lotus aligned temple) that have their own agenda.

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.

What is a Heart-Pan?: A Heart-Pan is a human being who serves as a causal anchor for a Siming (a high-dimensional deity). The Siming uses this mortal link to interact with and influence the physical world. It is rarely a comfortable role.
Is Bai Lingmiao being tricked by Wusheng Laomu?: That’s the central question. Bai Lingmiao genuinely believes Wusheng Laomu is kind and doesn’t require human sacrifice. Li Huowang, from his experience, believes all Siming are dangerous and that her "happy ending" is a trap.
Why can’t Ji Zai resurrect Bai Lingmiao’s parents?: Ji Zai (Li Huowang’s future self) states that changing such a fundamental event would alter the entire causal web of Li Huowang’s destiny, potentially unraveling his existence or creating a worse outcome. It is forbidden by the nature of the world.
What does the wooden fish mean at the end?: The sound of a wooden fish in the dead of night signals the arrival of a Buddhist or temple-based faction. It suggests the next conflict will be with a highly organized religious group, not just a stray monster.