Manual

Story context

Let’s be real for a second: Li Huowang has a *terrible* poker face. When Tuoba Danqing hands him a mission slip, the poor guy practically shouts “YES, FINALLY” with his eyes. But here’s the kicker—Tuoba is no fool. A mid-level bureaucrat in a supernatural enforcement agency who didn’t survive by being dense, he sees the eagerness and immediately suspects an ulterior motive. What follows is a razor-thin tightrope walk where Li Huowang must weaponize his genuine trauma into a believable lie, pass a loyalty test, and secure a fast track to the Office's classified archives. All while a certain domino-wielding trickster snarks from the sidelines. Get ready for a masterclass in bureaucratic intrigue, wrapped in a drunken dinner.

Why it matters

This chapter is a masterful display of Li Huowang’s evolution from a reactive survivor to a proactive schemer. The core tension lies not in a monster attack or a ritual gone wrong, but in a *polite dinner conversation*. Every question from Tuoba is a landmine; every answer from Li Huowang must be calibrated to within a hair’s breadth of believable. The highlight is his improvised confession about the Ao-Jing Sect massacre—a lie built on a foundation of real, unfiltered rage. It’s a perfect example of the novel’s core theme: boundary erosion. Is he lying, or has he simply re-framed his own trauma to serve a new narrative? The Office, meanwhile, is revealed as a deeply political beast—slow, bureaucratic, and requiring a long grind. For a reader accustomed to protagonists who level up in weeks, this six-month prospect is a refreshing dose of gritty realism. Watch how Li Huowang decides to hack the system, and ask yourself: at what point does the mask become the face?

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Source novel

Dao Gui Yi Xian