Absurd

Story context

Li Huowang is left holding the bag—literally. With the Bone Buddha Temple in ruins, the dust settling, and a suspiciously helpful scholar’s parting gift burning a hole in his leather pouch, our favorite paranoid protagonist faces his greatest challenge yet: *trusting a good deed.* The chapter is a masterclass in Li Huowang’s mental gymnastics as he dissects Zhuge Yuan’s motives, wrestles with the implications of a power that makes people act ‘absurd yet perfectly logical,’ and ultimately decides that his best bet is to squeeze information out of the only man who might know the truth—that creepy Chief Recorder. It’s raining. It’s muddy. And Li Huowang is *not* having a good time.

Why it matters

Li Huowang’s dilemma here is the novel’s core horror in microcosm: he has been so thoroughly traumatized by the Dao-Twisted World’s brutality that an act of genuine, seemingly selfless kindness breaks his brain more effectively than any curse. The question isn’t “Is the spindle a trap?” but “Can I afford to believe it isn’t?” It’s a gorgeous bit of character writing that pits his survival instincts against the very real possibility that Zhuge Yuan is just… a decent guy. Watch how he flinches from the compassionate old monk at the end—he literally cannot process it. His final decision—to hunt down the Chief Recorder for intel—is a perfect return to form. He’s not going to trust the mystery; he’s going to interrogate it. The rainy, muddy ride home is a mood piece that perfectly mirrors his internal slog.

Quick facts

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Source novel

Dao Gui Yi Xian