Pujue

Story context

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.

Why it matters

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 facts

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Source novel

Dao Gui Yi Xian