Chapter 16 Summary

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with the apprentices recovering from the bee attack in the Wu Lin forest. Master Lianshu, no longer wearing her gas mask, reveals herself as the eccentric archive keeper Ying encountered earlier. She explains that the golden bees were not living creatures but mechanical automatons she dispatched to test the apprentices. Arban angrily confronts her about the danger, but Lianshu dismisses him, stating that the apprentices wagered their lives by entering the guild's trial and that anyone unwilling to sacrifice themselves should leave.

Lianshu then demonstrates the true secret of the forest: Wu Lin is artificially constructed, with an underground mechanical system of pulleys, chains, and movable plate fragments that shift sections of trees. She calls these