After episode 21 of Veil of Shadows (月鳞绮纪), the puzzle pieces finally click. What looked like random disasters, betrayals, and magical transformations now form a clear timeline stretching across ten centuries. From a cursed serpent egg to a star that becomes a monk, from a blind fox gaining divine powers to a fake dragon god ruling over four spirits, the story hides its secrets in plain sight. Here is the real order of events—no theories, just the broken fragments put back together. Hold on tight, because nothing is what it seems.
A thousand years ago
A thousand years ago, a Star Stone fell from the sky. At the same time, a serpent egg named Jiu Ying (九婴) had been lying dormant for a millennium. Its poison created a plague among the Ao Deng (敖登) tribe. When the tribe prayed for help, the Star Stone crashed down, starting a wildfire. Strangely, the fire did not destroy—it healed. The plague vanished. The tribe worshiped the stone as a holy object. But the fire also hatched the serpent egg. A little snake named Xiao Jiu (小九) became the pet of the chieftain’s daughter, Di Zhu (地珠).
Every day, Xiao Jiu absorbed power from the Star Stone. Anyone who tried to steal the stone was killed by Di Zhu’s hand—without her even knowing it. The serpent fed on fear. More deaths meant more panic, and more panic made it grow faster. Yet people still came for the stone’s power. One of them was Wu Zhiqi (无支祁) from the Qing Yuan (青猿) tribe. He sent a tribesman named Man Man (蛮满) to get close to Di Zhu. But Man Man and Di Zhu truly fell in love.
On their wedding day, Wu Zhiqi attacked. The serpent possessed him, its power spiraling out of control. A hurricane destroyed the Ao Deng tribe. By then, Jiu Ying had grown three heads. The Star Stone’s energy created a dream space where time moved differently—seven days inside, but centuries outside. The stone itself later took human form and named himself Tiandi. The first person he met was Wu Zhiqi. Trapped in a cave for eight hundred years, naive Tiandi thought Wu Zhiqi was his friend. He taught the stone to speak and control its power. In return, Tiandi gave him the secret of petrification magic.
One hundred and fifty years ago
One hundred and fifty years ago, a human possessed by a fragment of Jiu Ying killed Wu Zhiqi’s younger brother, A Yuan(阿渊). This sparked a war between humans and Yao (妖). Wu Zhiqi wanted to use the Star Stone against humanity. But two human brothers, Yuan Wuhuo (源无祸) and Yuan Xizai (源息灾), disguised themselves as Qing Yuan tribe members and found the stone trapped in the cave. They told Tiandi the truth about Wu Zhiqi’s lies. The stone agreed to leave with them.
Then the Butterfly Demon appeared. She had taken control of the brothers’ rescue team. She captured Wu Zhiqi and demanded the Star Stone. Tiandi saw his old “friend” dying on the ground. Memories of eight hundred years flooded back. He lost control. A massive explosion—called the Meteor Burst—tore through the land. Inside the stone’s dream space, the two brothers had only twelve hours to survive.
After the blast, Wu Zhiqi’s tribe members were suffering. He used the petrification magic on them, hoping to end their pain. But the Butterfly Demon told him the truth: petrification only stops physical suffering, not the agony inside their minds. Guilt-ridden, Wu Zhiqi locked himself in dark waters with a heavenly chain that slowly drained his yao power. Meanwhile, falling rocks from the explosion hit a blind fox by Yu Mian (玉面) Lake. A dragon named Chi Wen (螭吻) saved the fox and gave it a healing spell. The fox saved Yuan Wuhuo but had no power left for his brother. It took a doll of Yuan Xizai, transformed into his likeness, and stayed beside the older brother. Chi Wen also saved the injured Star Stone and taught it control. The stone, feeling guilty, became a monk—later the master of Wu Shiguang (武拾光). He lied to Chi Wen, asking her to tell Wu Zhiqi that the stone was still alive and could reverse the petrification. It was a lie to keep Wu Zhiqi from killing himself.
Between 150 and 50 years ago
Between 150 and 50 years ago, the Jiu Ying (九婴) crisis grew worse. To contain the serpent and destroy its eighty-one fragments scattered across the world, the nine dragon sons each took a scale to create a tenth dragon child. Chi Wen gave this child to the Star Stone monk for protection. At the same time, Chi Wen summoned four great yao, stored their power in a ring, and gave it to the blind fox. She ordered the four yaos to guard a fake Dragon God—Ji Ling (寄灵) in disguise—until the tenth dragon child truly transformed.
The monk gave the dragon child, named Wu Shiguang, to the Jiao tribe. Ten years later, Wu Shiguang found a piece of the Star Stone and gave it to his father. Wu Zhiqi heard that the Star Stone had reappeared. He went to the Jiao (姣) tribe and discovered that the monk was actually Tiandi. He captured Wu Shiguang to threaten the monk into reversing the petrification. The monk said it was impossible. Wu Zhiqi, in rage, stabbed the monk’s vital point.
At that exact moment, the Jiu Ying, possessing a woman named Wu Wangyan (雾妄言), led her companions disguised as Shilin (侍鳞) tribe members. They searched the Jiao tribe for children with dragon markings and killed them. An ice disaster wiped out the entire Jiao tribe. This is why Wu Shiguang initially saw the Shilin tribe’s Dragon God as his enemy. The dying monk took Wu Shiguang back to the ruins, but Jiu Ying had already planted a fragment inside the boy. The monk created a fake Wu Shiguang to trick the Wu Xiang Yue (无相月) assassins, then passed his twelve teachings to the real boy before dying.
The Fox King, who was actually Jiu Ying in disguise, used a holy spring to revive the dead. She took a piece from each revived person to create a new being: Lu Wuyi (露芜衣). She gave Lu Wuyi the false memories of two sisters, Wu Wangyan and Su Jian (苏笺). She also altered everyone else’s memories. But Wu Wangyan sensed something wrong. She secretly returned to the ruined Jiao tribe. Though she had no memory of what happened, she found traces of her own magic everywhere. She began to suspect the Fox King. Later, a monk gave her a goat-horn pendant that could store memories. Every full moon, before memories were forcibly shared, she hid the ones she did not want the Fox King to see.
Twenty years ago
Twenty years ago, the fake Dragon God still had not transformed. Jiu Ying grew suspicious. She sent the Butterfly Demon to investigate. The demon possessed the elderly Yuan Wuhuo. It took ten years to fully consume his will. The demon then became a perfect copy called Yuan Wuhuo. At the same time, the demon split off another avatar. This avatar had no memories but felt a pull toward the Shilin tribe. It stayed beside the Dragon God—who was actually its own “brother” in a twisted way. This avatar named itself Li Jie. The brother remained its deepest obsession, even without knowing why.
Now, with only eight episodes left, the timeline is clear—but Veil of Shadows loves its twists. Every truth so far has been built on lies within lies. The Star Stone turned monk? A lie to keep a suicidal enemy alive. The blind fox becoming a dragon god? A puppet show for four yaos. Lu Wuyi’s entire identity? Stolen from two sisters’ memories. And Wu Wangyan, the one who remembers too much, hides her truths inside a goat horn every full moon. The real question is not what happened. It is who will break the next illusion.
