Chapter Summaries

Jiang Chen returned to the Three Corpses Sect and secretly took revenge on the people who had maimed and abandoned her, following Master's advice to torment them one by one. She captured Eldest Sister and began making her suffer, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Jiang Chen left Master’s cave and learned that Eldest Sister had become the Three Corpses Sect Leader after the old Sect Leader’s sudden death.
• Little Fourth, Old Third, and Second Sister were found dead in succession, each mutilated in a way that recalled how they had harmed Jiang Chen.
• Jiang Chen spent time enjoying herself between attacks while Eldest Sister grew increasingly frightened and the sect’s disciples fled.
• Jiang Chen slipped past the patrols, ambushed Eldest Sister with a Blood Vein Sealing Needle, and bound her at the place where the others had died.
• Eldest Sister pleaded for Jiang Chen to fight openly, but Jiang Chen refused and used Blood Threads to make her calf explode.
• Jiang Chen told Eldest Sister she would make her lose her limbs and cast her into a mountain cave before continuing her revenge.

Jiang Chen built the Azure Corpse Sect, survived Sima Shang’s attempt to steal her blood, and was imprisoned by the Sima Family for a century. After escaping and taking control of the family, she announced herself as its new president to draw Master to her; the next day, Master arrived.

• Jiang Chen renamed the Three Corpses Sect the Azure Corpse Sect and developed its blood-control cultivation while seeking ways to help Master.
• Jiang Chen agreed to a nominal marriage with Sima Shang to gain access to the Sima Family’s Corpse Borrowing Technique, but he attacked her for her blood on their wedding night.
• Jiang Chen tore off her reattached arms to unleash the Blood Control Technique, killed Sima Shang, and collapsed after absorbing the corpse qi from his body.
• The Sima Family imprisoned Jiang Chen and repeatedly took her blood, while her special body and Turtle Breath Dream Technique let her endure a century of confinement as the clan’s Corpse Ancestor.
• After Sima Zhao borrowed her limbs and heart, Jiang Chen used the fresh blood on her returned arms to escape, punished the Sima Family, and became its new president.
• Jiang Chen issued an appointment notice hoping Master would find her, and Master arrived the following day.

Ji Qinglin accepted Jiang Chen’s account of their possible master-disciple relationship, agreed to visit the mountain in Desolate City, and asked her to search for Immortal Remains. Their reunion appeared to confirm an alliance between the Nanhua District and Xin Dong Street chambers, but West Chang District Vice President Pei Ruotao arrived with a hostile group.

• Jiang Chen comforted Ji Qinglin, and he agreed to call her Xiao Jiang while they investigated whether he was the Qing she had awaited for a century.
• Ji Qinglin asked Jiang Chen to take him to the mountain in Desolate City and search the Nanhua District Chamber of Commerce for Immortal Remains that might restore his memories.
• Jiang Chen became furious when Ji Qinglin described Sima Zhao’s attacks, then agreed to manage chamber affairs while he returned to sort through what he had learned.
• Ji Qinglin and Jiang Chen rejoined the others, and their familiar exchange led the Nanhua District Chamber members to conclude that Ji Qinglin was Jiang Chen’s Master.
• A messenger reported that West Chang District Vice President Pei Ruotao had arrived with numerous people who appeared to have hostile intentions.

After taking over as Nanhua District’s president, Jiang Chen confronted West Chang District vice president Pei Ruotao when he arrived seeking to exploit tensions between Nanhua District and Ji Qinglin. Pei tried to turn the association against Ji, but Jiang repeatedly insisted on settling matters with a spar, leaving Pei facing her challenge.

• Pei Ruotao planned to use the Cultivation Grand Competition’s aftermath to draw Nanhua District into an alliance against Xin Dong Street or against Nanhua District, unaware that Ji Qinglin and Jiang Chen had recognized their master-disciple relationship.
• Ji Qinglin offered to help Jiang deal with Pei, but Jiang said she would handle Nanhua District’s affairs herself.
• Pei entered the Nanhua District hall with more than twenty disciples and introduced himself as West Chang District’s vice president.
• Jiang bluntly asked whether Pei’s president had died, then announced she would spar with Pei to fulfill his thwarted challenge from the Cultivation Grand Competition.
• Pei urged Nanhua District to join him in seeking revenge against Ji Qinglin, but Jiang again called for a spar, and the Nanhua District members cleared the space for her.

Jiang Chen fought Pei Ruotao, defeating his Buddhist techniques with her corpse qi and severing his arm after resisting his illusion. She realized Ji Qinglin had rushed to protect her when he thought she had fallen under the illusion.

• Pei Ruotao attacked Jiang Chen with Arhat Breaker and Soul Forging Karma Fire, but her corpse qi dispersed the attacks.
• Jiang Chen broke Pei Ruotao's Golden Bell Shield with a hand chop and wounded his chest.
• Pei Ruotao surrounded Jiang Chen with Bodhisattva Extinction, but her Corpse Blood Dual Cultivation - Protection left her unharmed.
• Jiang Chen bound Pei Ruotao with Blood Silk threads and advanced, but he used Avalokiteśvara Chaos to create an illusion and attack from behind.
• Jiang Chen cut off Pei Ruotao's right arm with Blood Severing Thread and explained that Buddha had never been in her heart.
• Jiang Chen noticed Ji Qinglin had rushed toward the field when he thought she was trapped by the illusion.

Jiang Chen defeated Pei Ruotao in a spar, severing his arm, and used his own aggression to justify the injury. Ji Qinglin then joined Jiang Chen in pressuring Pei Ruotao, leaving him no choice but to accept lodging in Nanhua District rather than risk another fight.

• Ji Qinglin rushed to support Jiang Chen but stopped when he saw that she had severed Pei Ruotao's arm and was unharmed.
• Jiang Chen denied blame for Pei Ruotao's injury, and Nanhua District's merchants backed her account as Pei Ruotao tried to leave.
• Jiang Chen ordered Sima Shi to prepare lodging for Pei Ruotao and his subordinates, prompting Pei Ruotao to threaten a fight if they were detained.
• Ji Qinglin challenged Pei Ruotao to the match he had missed at the Cultivation Grand Competition, using Pei Ruotao's earlier conduct to justify the request.
• Pei Ruotao realized that claiming injury would get him detained and claiming strength would lead to another fight, so he agreed to stay in Nanhua District.

Jiang Chen reunited with Ji Qinglin, helped secure Nanhua District’s alliance with Xin Dong Street, and gave him a way to contact her through Traction Blood. Back at Ji’s General Store, Ji Qinglin and his disciples theorized that his former self had left the mountains in a diminished state to avoid a powerful virtual being.

• Jiang Chen welcomed Yu Ye as her junior sister and promised to protect her, then gave Ji Qinglin Traction Blood so she could sense when he needed help.
• Ji Qinglin left with NanGong Qian Feng and told her he could not yet confirm his connection to Jiang Chen’s account of the past or involve her in a potentially dangerous matter.
• At Ji’s General Store, Ji Qinglin told Yu Ye and Red Night about Jiang Chen and her hundred years of waiting for him.
• Ji Qinglin and his disciples reasoned that Qing may have deliberately abandoned his former cultivation state before leaving the mountains because it would let a powerful virtual existence find him.

Ji Qinglin and his disciples considered the mysterious Qing’s possible connection to virtual entities, but recalling his past triggered another bout of panic. After deciding to investigate Desolate City and seek a Soul Refinement Method for Red Night, Ji Qinglin received pages on the Corpse Borrowing Thunder Method and devised a way to give Red Night tangible attacks through thunder force stored in Yu Ye’s body.

• Yu Ye noted that Qing’s shelter lacked devices for connecting to the outside world, and Ji Qinglin ordered the group to refer to Qing as “old master” in online or signal communications.
• Ji Qinglin said he doubted he and Qing were the same person, but thinking about his past caused him to struggle to breathe until Yu Ye and Red Night helped calm him.
• Ji Qinglin decided to visit Desolate City and search for cultivation methods or artifacts related to the Emergence of the Yang Spirit realm, including a method Red Night could use to advance.
• Jiang Chen called to tell Ji Qinglin she had found handwritten pages about the Corpse Borrowing Thunder Method while clearing Sima Zhao’s files, and he asked her to bring them to him.
• Ji Qinglin proposed storing thunder force in patterns across Yu Ye’s body so Red Night could release it as a tangible attack, and Red Night agreed to try it.

Ji Qinglin tested whether Yu Ye could develop lightning patterns by resisting lightning force, while Red Night shared her sensory signal. The experiment began in the dark bedroom, where lightning patterns appeared on Yu Ye’s collarbone before the trial moved to a more sensitive area.

• Ji Qinglin proposed that Yu Ye resist injected lightning force so it might form patterns on her body.
• Yu Ye and Red Night agreed to share the sensations, and Ji Qinglin led them to the bedroom and blindfolded himself.
• Ji Qinglin injected lightning force into Yu Ye’s collarbone, where Red Night spotted a few lightning patterns.
• Yu Ye guided Ji Qinglin’s hand toward her next exposed area, but he quickly pulled back and continued hovering his hand nearby.
• As the sensations intensified, Red Night warned Yu Ye that Ji Qinglin’s hand was about to touch her, and Yu Ye moved it higher.

Ji Qinglin transferred nearly all his stored thunder force into Yu Ye, successfully forming thunder marks across her body while she and Red Night endured the process. After an embarrassing misunderstanding and an accidental slap, Yu Ye prepared to massage her exhausted Master, but the General Store doorbell rang again.

• Yu Ye and Red Night discovered that the thunder marks had formed, and Ji Qinglin continued transferring thunder force to Yu Ye's lower abdomen and back.
• Thinking Ji Qinglin meant to continue farther down, Yu Ye guided his hand toward her chest, but he pulled away and clarified that he meant her back.
• Ji Qinglin completed the thunder marks, then accidentally slapped Yu Ye's bare backside after she had removed more clothing than he intended.
• Ji Qinglin confirmed that he had transferred nearly all his thunder force to Yu Ye, and she offered to massage his shoulders while he rested.
• The General Store doorbell rang just as Ji Qinglin was about to lie down.

Ji Qinglin welcomed Dan LuLing, who thanked him for recovering the New Life Storage Box and introduced Dan Luyi, a new life created from his source code. Dan LuLing explained why North New District kept its artificial life isolated from the network, leaving Ji Qinglin to wonder whether “Qing” could be an intelligent machine consciousness.

• Dan LuLing visited Ji Qinglin’s General Store and thanked him for helping recover the New Life Storage Box.
• Dan LuLing activated the box and introduced Dan Luyi, the next generation created from his source code.
• Dan LuLing explained that North New District created new lives within its intranet because a mysterious network force could irreversibly alter and control lifeforms created online.
• Ji Qinglin connected Dan LuLing’s account to his suspicions about “Qing” and asked whether a consciousness could reach Emergence of the Yang Spirit through Soul Refining inside the box.
• Dan LuLing said intelligent machine consciousness had not yet reached that realm, though it was theoretically possible, leaving Ji Qinglin to consider that “Qing” might not be human.

After Dan LuLing’s account made Ji Qinglin wonder whether Qing—and perhaps he himself—was an intelligent machine, Ji agreed to investigate the theft of the New Life Storage Box and ask about Desolate City. He planned to contact Qian Feng for help, while Qian Feng’s frustration at his one-sided calls gave way to relief when he checked that she was safe and called again.

• Dan LuLing thanked Ji Qinglin for saving his son, offered North New District’s technological achievements, and asked Ji to investigate the force behind the stolen New Life Storage Box.
• Ji agreed to investigate and asked Dan LuLing for intelligence, then questioned him about Desolate City and learned that Desolate God Company had won land there for a warehouse project.
• After Dan LuLing left, Ji worried that Qing might be an AI and that he might no longer be human, but Yu Ye comforted him and kissed him when he asked how she would respond if he became unwell.
• Ji told Yu Ye they would ask Qian Feng about Desolate City the next day, and Yu Ye urged him to contact her more thoughtfully because they repeatedly sought her help.
• NanGong Qian Feng grumbled about Ji Qinglin never contacting her unless he needed something, but when she missed his call, she worried he was in trouble.
• Ji Qinglin asked Uncle Mo to check that Qian Feng was safe, and when Ji called again, Qian Feng answered immediately despite her attempts to stay angry.

Ji Qinglin met NanGong Qian Feng at Four Seas Trade Group to discuss his coming trip to Desolate City and received a loaned top-grade technique. The meeting ended abruptly when Ji Qinglin spotted an armed attacker outside and pulled Qian Feng away from the glass as it shattered.

• Ji Qinglin arranged to meet NanGong Qian Feng, who learned that her eldest brother had escaped confinement and warned her father to strengthen security.
• Ji Qinglin, Yu Ye, and Red Night split up, with Yu Ye and Red Night heading to Nanhua District to meet Jiang Chen while Ji Qinglin went to Four Seas Trade Group.
• Ji Qinglin explained his connection to Jiang Chen's Master and told Qian Feng he was traveling to Desolate City to investigate Wild God Technology's overseas branch.
• Qian Feng offered to look for old group records and lent Ji Qinglin a top-grade technique with temporary authorization.
• Ji Qinglin noticed a shadow outside the meeting room raising a weapon and yanked Qian Feng away just before the glass shattered.

Ji Qinglin protected NanGong Qian Feng from a masked attacker using Laser Cutting Skimmer Mines and tried to stall until help arrived. Cornered by the mines, he disabled one with Only Consciousness Sword Intent, but another dropped toward them.

• Ji Qinglin carried NanGong Qian Feng behind a conference table as blue cutting lasers shattered it.
• Ji Qinglin recognized six Laser Cutting Skimmer Mines controlled by a masked man in a Four Seas Trade Group uniform.
• Ji Qinglin pretended he had hired the attacker and staged NanGong Qian Feng's death to buy time, but the attacker sent the mines toward them anyway.
• Ji Qinglin used the Big Dipper Map to evade the first mines while carrying NanGong Qian Feng, and one cut off part of his robe.
• Ji Qinglin had NanGong Qian Feng cling to his waist and struck one mine with Only Consciousness Sword Intent, disabling it as another fell from above.

Ji Qinglin and NanGong Qian Feng survived an attack by a technician controlling Laser Cutting Skimmer Mines, but Ji Qinglin was wounded and exposed to a strange smoke. After the danger passed, he suddenly collapsed unconscious beside NanGong Qian Feng.

• Ji Qinglin dodged the Laser Cutting Skimmer Mines while protecting NanGong Qian Feng, then threw her out of their encirclement so she could attack the controller.
• NanGong Qian Feng knocked the tablet from the assassin's hand and broke his arm, but he used it again to make the skimmer mines move erratically.
• Ji Qinglin destroyed one overloaded skimmer mine, ran through its purple smoke, and suffered a shallow laser cut while the mines wounded the assassin.
• Company security arrived, destroyed the remaining skimmer mines, and began treating the scene as Ji Qinglin retrieved the Mo Attack Nanobots.
• Ji Qinglin told NanGong Qian Feng to investigate possible accomplices, joked with her, then grew drowsy and collapsed after realizing the smoke might have affected him.

After Ji Qinglin saved NanGong Qian Feng from an assassination attempt, she learned he was injured and unconscious, then secretly kissed his cheek while he slept. Yu Ye learned of her master's condition during a hot spring lesson with Jiang Chen, whose lightning qi burst out of control at the news.

• NanGong Qian Feng ordered tighter security at Four Seas Trade Group as Uncle Mo investigated the employee who had helped an assassin, likely hired by her eldest brother.
• A doctor told NanGong Qian Feng that Ji Qinglin would recover after sleeping, though his qi force was low and his right shoulder was swollen.
• Feeling guilty that Ji Qinglin had risked himself for her, NanGong Qian Feng kissed his cheek while he remained unconscious, then blushed when Uncle Mo noticed.
• Jiang Chen taught Yu Ye to control the corpse qi and lightning patterns on her body while they soaked in a hot spring.
• NanGong Qian Feng called Yu Ye and revealed that Ji Qinglin had been attacked and was unconscious, causing Jiang Chen's lightning qi to erupt through the water.

Ji Qinglin woke in Qian Feng’s private lounge after saving her, then discovered her annotated cultivation picture album and teased her with it. Qian Feng learned he already knew her identity, but their conversation ended with her trying to take the album back from him.

• Ji Qinglin woke in Qian Feng’s lounge and found a sketch of himself and an annotated dual-cultivation picture album in her desk drawer.
• Qian Feng tried to feed the unconscious Ji Qinglin medicine, but he opened his eyes and startled her into spraying it across his face.
• Qian Feng checked Ji Qinglin’s condition and learned that he had suspected her identity as the Young Chairman since his first visit.
• Ji Qinglin revealed that he had taken Qian Feng’s picture album and teased her about her private annotations.
• Qian Feng tried to snatch the album back while Ji Qinglin held it out of reach and teased her again.

After recovering from his injury, Ji Qinglin discussed Wild God Technology’s land in Desolate City with NanGong Qian Feng and his disciples. He decided to investigate incidents near the guarded property rather than infiltrate it, then eyed Yu Ye and Jiang Chen as potential police-uniform-wearing investigators.

• NanGong Qian Feng retrieved the indecent picture album from Ji Qinglin, then welcomed Yu Ye and Jiang Chen after they arrived worried about his injury.
• Jiang Chen checked Ji Qinglin’s pulse, and he reassured both disciples that he was fit to pursue his memories in Desolate City.
• NanGong Qian Feng projected Desolate City’s terrain and explained that Wild God Technology had bought a large tract, fenced it off, and transported soil away.
• Ji Qinglin, Yu Ye, and Jiang Chen suspected Wild God Technology might have found the mountain cave, though Ji Qinglin doubted it was the cave itself.
• NanGong Qian Feng warned that the site was guarded and legally protected, so Ji Qinglin asked her to investigate pollution, local disputes, and nearby missing-person or homicide cases.
• Ji Qinglin looked at Yu Ye and Jiang Chen and imagined them in police uniforms.

Ji Qinglin gathered his disciples at his home and prepared them for their upcoming trip to Desolate City. He left the three women together for the night, only to discover the striking way they had arranged their cultivation patterns as black and white stockings.

• NanGong Qian Feng agreed to investigate Wild God Technology's Desolate City branch, and Ji Qinglin left with his disciples after reminding her to return his book.
• Jiang Chen gave Ji Qinglin the Borrowing Corpse to Guide Thunder Technique papers, and he invited her to stay at his home rather than be dropped off at the Chamber of Commerce.
• Jiang Chen met Coal Boss and Red Night, while Ji Qinglin explained that the disciples would coordinate before traveling to Desolate City and that Yu Ye would need a disguise.
• Ji Qinglin went to retrieve his bedding and found Jiang Chen, Yu Ye, and Red Night displaying their corpse-aura and lightning patterns as black and white silk stockings.
• Ji Qinglin said the black patterns looked better, allowed the women to continue, and returned to the living room to calm himself.

Ji Qinglin practiced NanGong Qian Feng’s Divine Possession Qi Control Art and learned to control one or two streams of qi-force water with his fingers. After preparing breakfast, he heard from Yu Ye that Jiang Chen could not feel her lightning force and decided to investigate her condition.

• Ji Qinglin studied the Divine Possession Qi Control Art and realized he might use it to carry and control the Only Consciousness Sword Intent.
• Ji Qinglin practiced in the Sea of Data, learned to control a stream of water, and spent the night mastering two streams with both hands.
• Ji Qinglin recovered his qi force, got up before his disciples, and prepared breakfast while reflecting on his unusual life with them.
• Yu Ye came downstairs and told Ji Qinglin that Jiang Chen had shown no reaction when Yu Ye tested her with lightning force.
• Ji Qinglin told Yu Ye to keep Jiang Chen’s condition quiet for now and planned to ask Sima Shi and a doctor about it.