After surviving his mysterious demise in the ruined temple, Ding Songyan returns to his daily life in Chengyu Lane, only to realize he is surrounded by a web of lies and silent watchers. He resumes his work as a historical storyteller outside Dangkang Temple, but quickly shifts to an improvised, emotionally gripping narration of the Legend of the White Snake to attract the attention of a mysterious, wealthy patron named Xiao Qing. This creative gambit pays off when the powerful Zhen household recruits him to tell this very story to a secret prisoner in their deepest underground dungeon. The prisoner, Yan Changqing, is a crippled master of the Sage-Severing Way who claims to have been betrayed by Patriarch Zhen Qianfan after discovering a treasure from the lost Mount Kunlun. To secure Ding Songyan's cooperation in a desperate bid for freedom, Yan Changqing implants a hazy, glowing seed of pure qi into his sea of consciousness, granting him the extraordinary ability to perceive the spectral netherworld and manipulate vital energy. This newfound power allows Ding Songyan to execute a stunning face-slapping reversal against the Small Boat Gang, utilizing a single thread of Yan Changqing's qi to channel the force of heaven and earth. In a spectacular display of martial dominance at the Stone Pool Martial Hall, he delivers a light palm strike that completely disintegrates a training dummy, summoning a towering water-sucking tornado and calling down a violent bolt of lightning that leaves the hall master and his disciples frozen in sheer terror. Yet, even as he celebrates this sudden elevation in status, Ding Songyan discovers a terrifying catch: the seed in his mind is a double-edged sword, hiding a mental imprint that subtly erases his thoughts whenever he attempts to report the dungeon's existence to the authorities, leaving him trapped as a helpless pawn in a grand game of chess. Just as he resolves to find a way to break this mental shackle, he notices a massive, cold, black-scaled serpent tail sliding silently from beneath the trousers of his own beloved elder brother Bull, revealing that the counterfeit family he has come to love is actually a nest of monstrous heretics waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The illusion of a peaceful domestic life shatters completely as Ding Songyan uses his newly stabilized yin-yang eyes to pierce the concealments protecting his household. He watches in mounting horror as his seemingly scholarly father Ding Shengyi reveals blood-red scaled antennae, identifying him as Qiu Chen, a notorious moth patriarch from the heretical Moth-God Sect who manipulates human puppets through parasitic vermilion moth seeds. His fierce brother Bull is unmasked as Li Zhi, a ruthless bandit of New Yu who cultivates the monstrous Shuhu lineage, while his mother Liu Yuzao is revealed as Qi Xiaoxiang, a deadly unorthodox practitioner who once orchestrated a horrific massacre at Shou Mountain. Even his sweet younger sister Qingyan is revealed to be a disguise worn by Ji Hanyi, the brilliant and ruthless Nine-Evils Demoness of the Sage-Severing Way who has been sleeping in the very next room to monitor his every move. This counterfeit family was custom-built by the heretical mastermind to infiltrate Dingjiang Prefecture, utilizing the original Ding Songyan as a disposable pawn to provoke a bloody war between the Small Boat Gang and the Four Waters Brotherhood. The engineered conflict is designed to force the retired Grandmaster Patriarch Zhen Qianfan to leave his estate, creating the perfect chaos for a daring prison break to seize Yan Changqing and his hidden secrets. Ding Songyan realizes that every warm domestic interaction, every shared meal, and every sweet smile from his little sister was a carefully choreographed performance in a grand, multi-layered conspiracy. He is forced to play along with the charade, knowing that a single misstep or slip of his true thoughts will result in his immediate execution by the monsters sharing his roof. To bypass the mental restrictions of the seed, he cleverly utilizes a self-deception technique to pass crucial clues to the righteous Brightnight Sect disciple Zheng Zhuxi, obtaining a thread of warm candlelight sword intent to shield his mind. But as the red, yellow, and green fireworks signal the start of the final banquet at the Zhen estate, the entire prefecture city erupts into violent chaos as the heretical factions launch their coordinated assault, leaving Ding Songyan with no choice but to plunge directly into the jaws of death to secure his own freedom.

The storm breaks over the Zhen estate in a torrential downpour as the coordinated forces of the heretical factions clash with the local authorities and the orthodox sects. Inside the secret dungeon, Yan Changqing commands Ding Songyan to utilize the remaining qi to knock out the guards, preparing to execute his long-awaited escape plan. But the moment the black blindfold is removed, Ding Songyan is met with the gruesome sight of Yan Changqing as a limbless torso, kept alive only by the mysterious Chaos remains of the ancient Celestial Thearch Dijiang burning within his stomach. Before he can act, the heavy iron door screeches open to reveal Ji Hanyi in her true, breathtaking form, her tiger-eared and tiger-tailed transformation instantly clashing with the arriving Brightnight Sect Master Tao Wenshu in a spectacular display of Grandmaster-level combat. Amid the raging tempest and shattering stone, Ding Songyan hoists the crippled Yan Changqing onto his back and flees into the chaotic ruins of the estate, desperately seeking a secluded chamber to extract the strange object from the old man's belly. Realizing that Yan Changqing intends to kill him the moment the Chaos remains are freed, Ding Songyan unleashes a relentless psychological attack to shatter the old man's mental focus, exposing his deepest fears about his betrayal and his failure to digest the Celestial Thearch's power. As Yan Changqing's mental defense wavers, Ding Songyan ignites the candlelight sword intent within his chest to break free from the mental seed, driving his steel dagger deep into the old man's eye socket and twisting it until the ancient titan is dead. He swiftly cuts away a small portion of the yellow sac containing the Chaos remains, but before he can swallow it, Ji Hanyi glides into the room, her terrifying presence instantly freezing his movements through her active Celestial Heart imprint. The demoness retrieves the main mass of the remains, leaving him with a playful, spine-chilling warning that she has been watching his every move since the day she personally murdered his predecessor, leaving him alive only for her own amusement.

With the heretical factions retreating and the city gates finally closed after a bloody battle that claims the life of his monstrous brother Li Zhi, Ding Songyan returns to the empty, quiet courtyard of Chengyu Lane. The counterfeit family has vanished into the night like a dream, leaving him entirely alone in a silent house that once echoed with false warmth. Knowing that the grandmasters of the orthodox sects will soon arrive to question him, he resolves to take control of his own destiny by consuming the hidden quarter of the Chaos remains before any further complications can arise. As the divine substance of the ancient Celestial Thearch Dijiang slides down his throat, an overwhelming, searing heat erupts within his body, threatening to dissolve his very soul into the void. His skin turns a deep, waxy yellow, his five organs glow like fire, and his spirit expands outward as strange new meridians and non-human viscera crystallize within his flesh. Four phantom wings representing the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter burst from his back, while six invisible legs representing the directions of space anchor him to the void, completing his ascension to the perfected Dharma Realm. He successfully utilizes his new ability of Manifesting the Way and Its Virtue to conceal these monstrous physical abnormalities, restoring his face and body to their normal, human appearance just as his new master Tao Wenshu arrives. Having secured his position as a personal disciple of the Brightnight Sect and obtained a powerful cultivation manual, Ding Songyan stands ready to navigate the swift joys and sudden sorrows of the jianghu. Yet, as he gazes at the hand-copied manuscript of the Legend of the White Snake left behind by Ji Hanyi, he realizes that his connection to the terrifying demoness is far from over, and that the shadows of the heretical paths will follow him wherever he goes.