At the Contracting Platform, Ma Liu held Gu Changeng down and tried to cut out the heart of the zero-mark cub he'd raised, while keeping it alive. Gu Changeng slashed his palm and signed a zero-mark contract with his blood. As the whole platform laughed at the "useless man paired with a useless beast," Huo Xiao led up a four-mark red-backed wolf, claiming he needed to verify its mark but actually coming to kill him. Gu Changeng exposed him for using a high-rank beast to bully an errand boy. With nowhere left to retreat, he stood at the three-zhang death line and waited for the wolf to pounce.
