In this chapter, we learn that the people who have come to see Dr. Bledsoe are experts from the various families in the area of tianling-sage. They've come specifically to see the four purple totems, which are in his possession. He's worried that they're following him because he's attracted so much attention to them, but he doesn't know why. He wants to know who these people are, and he wants to see how they plan to escape now that he has run into a "dead end" . He asks them to hand over the four totems and he'll spare their lives as long as they give him the artifacts. He also asks if they can see what's going on in the shrine, and if they have anything to do with the totem drawings. He says that if they think he has what it takes, then they can come and get the artifacts, but if they don't, he'd like them to crack and crack. He tells them to snap snap in and see what a dragon-user of the eighth-layer of heaven can do with these four artifacts.