Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chen’s body collapsed around his Main Soul Stone, then regenerated with blood energy derived from Tomie, restoring his compatibility with the stone and granting him a new blood-based body. After finding a transmitter hidden in Sister Nuo’s watch, Zhang Chen joined Jia Xin and Chong Ying in entering Tomie’s villa to meet her.

• Zhang Chen’s body disintegrated until only his Main Soul Stone remained, while Jia Xin and Chong Ying formed defenses nearby.
• Blood-red grass formed a fetus around the Main Soul Stone and supplied it with energy, stabilizing Zhang Chen as his body regenerated.
• Zhang Chen’s new body absorbed the blood fetus, adapted to the Ghoul Eater’s abilities, and drained the surrounding lawn before a woman ordered him to stop.
• Zhang Chen used Sister Nuo’s watch to discover a hidden signal transmitter and assessed his transformed body’s abilities.
• Zhang Chen, Jia Xin, and Chong Ying entered Tomie’s villa after discussing the danger, and the gate opened to the smell of food.

Zhang Chen, Jia Xin, and Chong Ying met Tomie in the recreated house where she had been tortured and murdered, and learned she planned to return to the human world. After Zhang Chen discovered the blood fetus in an upstairs cabinet, Tomie insisted she was no longer human and revealed her agreement would require every human to die.

• Zhang Chen and Jia Xin entered Tomie's home, where she welcomed them warmly, served them dinner, and asked Zhang Chen to clean the house.
• Tomie explained that opening the iron gate meant she had to leave, and warned that her return to the human world would bring many deaths because she considered humans beneath her in the food chain.
• Zhang Chen washed the dishes and cleaned both floors by hand, then found a bloody smell and eerie sounds coming from a cabinet upstairs.
• Tomie appeared behind Zhang Chen and opened the cabinet, revealing a blood fetus growing flesh as she asked whether he still considered her human.
• Zhang Chen argued that Tomie remained human despite her differences, but she said she had agreed to spare him and his friends only if every other human in the world died.

Zhang Chen learned about Tomie’s regenerating blood embryo and escaped with his companions as Tomie unleashed it across Kyoto Prefecture. As Lu Sheng hurried them toward Tokyo to confront Shuten Doji, a mysterious woman trapped Father Alexander V. Andersen in a dark room.

• Tomie told Zhang Chen that she had been dead for eighty-nine years and had to destroy the flesh regenerated by her blood embryo each day.
• Zhang Chen absorbed some of the embryo’s flesh, but it connected to his blood-energy fingers, forcing him to sever both arms before Tomie sent him, Jia Xin, and Chong Ying through a rift in the sky.
• Lu Sheng rescued Zhang Chen and his companions, while Tomie spread her flesh and blood across Kyoto Prefecture and began killing its residents.
• Lu Sheng apologized to Zhang Chen, then urged the group to travel to Tokyo and begin their battle plan against Shuten Doji because the prison emissaries from Huaxia Country might be in danger.
• After sensing the destruction in Kyoto, Father Alexander V. Andersen tried to reach the city but instead appeared in a dark room, where a veiled woman revealed that she knew his history.

Zhang Chen and Lu Sheng traveled toward Tokyo and discussed Shuten Doji's forces, Tomie's past, and the danger awaiting the Huaxia Country Prison Envoys. As Yuhime's surveillance rain suddenly stopped, Zhao Mu escaped the City of Demons with Xiao Qin and Qi Xue, and Luo Dakou took them away through a spatial passage.

• Zhang Chen and Lu Sheng rode toward Tokyo, where Lu Sheng explained that Shuten Doji's organization was based and that the Huaxia Country Prison Envoys had been lured into the City of Demons.
• Lu Sheng told Zhang Chen that Tomie was a heroic spirit whose demonic artifact was the blood fetus, and that the boss had separated her soul from her body.
• Near Tokyo, Lu Sheng identified the rain's microorganisms as Yuhime's aura-tracking reconnaissance; the microorganisms in Zhang Chen's palm died, and the rain stopped, leading Lu Sheng to suspect Yuhime had died.
• Zhao Mu escaped from a high level of a black tower in the City of Demons with Xiao Qin as Qi Xue helped bring them safely to the ground.
• Luo Dakou arrived, took Zhao Mu, Xiao Qin, and Qi Xue through a spatial passage, and they departed in a van.

Zhang Chen and his companions reached a hidden refuge in Tokyo, where he rested and pondered the stone that had sealed Little Mouth’s consciousness. After speaking with Wang Yizhi, he contacted Divine Marquis the next morning, who was surprised that Zhang Chen had reached him on his own.

• Lu Sheng led Zhang Chen, Jia Xin, and the sleeping Chong Ying through a concealed passage beneath a supermarket to their rooms.
• Zhang Chen found that the stone inside him had sealed Little Mouth’s consciousness instead of letting him destroy it, and he wondered who was manipulating events around him.
• Zhang Chen called Wang Yizhi, reassured her that he expected to return in about a week, and resolved to meet the Huaxia Country prison agents before pursuing Shuten Doji.
• After sleeping, Zhang Chen used the lingering trace of Divine Marquis’s contact to reach him in the Imperial Capital Floating City, surprising Divine Marquis.

Zhang Chen met with the Huaxia Hellwardens and shared intelligence about Shuten Doji and Tomie, then privately coordinated with Zhao Mu to avoid fighting each other during the coming operation. The chapter ended with Zhao Mu inviting Zhang Chen to spar before he returned.

• Zhang Chen told Master Shen Hou that Little Mouth had possessed him during his previous meeting with Zhao Mu's group, and Master Shen Hou arranged a way for him to meet them.
• Lu Sheng warned Zhang Chen that Yuhime had been killed by a powerful Huaxia Hellwarden and urged him to limit contact with the team while they planned to infiltrate Shuten Doji's base.
• Zhang Chen met Zhuge Feixuan, offered intelligence on Shuten Doji in exchange for a cooperative relationship, and warned her about Tomie.
• Zhang Chen met Zhao Mu privately and learned Zhao Mu had recognized Little Mouth as an impersonator during their previous encounter.
• Zhang Chen and Zhao Mu agreed to prioritize killing Shuten Doji and not turn against each other if they met during the operation.
• Zhao Mu invited Zhang Chen to spar, and Zhang Chen reluctantly agreed.

Zhao Mu tested Zhang Chen’s strength in a brutal spar, then questioned whether Zhang Chen’s main soul was truly his own. After breakfast, Lu Sheng outlined a plan to exploit Tokyo’s coming upheaval to infiltrate Shuten Doji’s organization, but spotted a Black Windbreaker entering the supermarket and feared the little fox was in danger.

• Zhao Mu struck Zhang Chen with enough force to blow apart his head and arms, but Zhang Chen regenerated and counterattacked with the Ghoul Eater’s spatial ability.
• Zhao Mu ended the spar, admitting that Zhang Chen had injured him, and told Luo Dakou to take Zhang Chen back to the phone booth.
• Zhao Mu told Zhuge Feixuan that Zhang Chen’s main soul seemed dead and suggested that someone had replaced the Zhang Chen they met several days earlier.
• Zhang Chen returned to Lu Sheng’s group, and they ate breakfast before Lu Sheng explained his plan to infiltrate Shuten Doji’s organization amid Tokyo’s coming turmoil.
• Lu Sheng saw a man in a Black Windbreaker enter the supermarket and warned that the little fox seemed to be in danger.

Zhang Chen killed a stitched ghost that attacked the little fox, revealing his new domain, while Lu Sheng prepared the group to infiltrate the City of Demons. The disguise pills failed to affect Zhang Chen, so Lu Sheng told him to pose as a Blood Demon instead.

• A giant man in a Black Windbreaker demanded a key from the little fox, killed a young customer who tried to intervene, and was about to crush her throat when Zhang Chen attacked.
• Zhang Chen tore out the man’s soul marrow, then used his domain to destroy the white maggots that emerged from the body and absorbed their blood essence.
• Lu Sheng praised the little fox for keeping her identity concealed, then sent her to the Nurarihyon Group while he took the others away from the supermarket.
• Lu Sheng brought the group near the City of Demons and gave everyone pills that made them resemble mid-level ghosts; the doctor, Little White, Chong Ying, and Jia Xin took theirs.
• The ghostly energy from Zhang Chen’s pills vanished into unknown vortices in his body, and Lu Sheng suggested he disguise himself as a Blood Demon.

As Shuten Doji’s City of Demons appeared over Tokyo, black vengeful souls spread through the city and possessed civilians. Lu Sheng led his group toward the city’s entrance, where an unseen guard demanded their identification.

• A black spirit possessed a woman in an alley, and she crawled into an apartment building and killed Mika and her husband.
• Lu Sheng explained that Shuten Doji’s City of Demons had manifested northeast of them and that more than ten thousand ghosts were emerging from it.
• Zhang Chen watched the spirits possess civilians and attack people across Tokyo as the city began to fall.
• Lu Sheng led the group toward an entrance to the City of Demons, with Zhang Chen transformed to resemble a ghost.
• A black aura appeared at the entrance and demanded identification from the six members of the group.

Lu Sheng’s group entered the City of Demons and learned that Shuten Doji had summoned its ghosts to the Myriad Demon Pillar. After Zhang Chen absorbed a driver who had identified them as outsiders, the group reached the black building, where they split up to search for Shuten Doji.

• Lu Sheng presented the group’s tickets, and a bandaged ghost let them enter the City of Demons.
• The group passed shops displaying human skins, organs, and imprisoned people as Lu Sheng condemned Shuten Doji’s territory.
• A bone-bus driver recognized the group as outsiders, so Zhang Chen absorbed him and took his form and memories.
• Zhang Chen used the driver’s memories to bring the group into the black building’s underground parking lot.
• Lu Sheng divided the group among floors A through Z and warned them that the building’s black stone could absorb energy.
• Lu Sheng and the doctor exited the elevator at Floor A as the others continued their assigned searches.

Shuten Doji ordered his forces to finish searching Tokyo for Blade Spirit and Zhao Mu’s group while sending Nurarihyon and the others into the dangerous Z District. In the Real Theatre, Zhang Chen and Chong Ying discovered that the stage plays were deadly arenas for selecting actors, and a high-level ghost targeted Chong Ying.

• Shuten Doji learned that Zhang Chen’s group had entered the Myriad Demon Pillar, ordered Susanoo to search Tokyo, and told Xid to open Z District for Nurarihyon’s group.
• Zhang Chen and Chong Ying left the elevator at P District after finding Z District closed, and Zhang Chen informed Jia Xin and Lu Sheng of the restriction.
• Chong Ying gave Zhang Chen a one-of-a-kind butterfly chrysalis derived from her main soul, and he stored it in his chest and formed a connection with her.
• Zhang Chen and Chong Ying entered the Real Theatre, where they found a corridor lined with rooms for famous plays and passed a grotesque ghost from Yotsuya Kaidan.
• Zhang Chen saw a blood-soaked theater full of dead female ghosts and realized the rooms were used to select actors; the Yotsuya Kaidan ghost then targeted Chong Ying.

Zhang Chen and Chong Ying obtained a Protagonist Token in P District, where an attendant explained that Z District was a prison for dangerous death-row prisoners. When the elevator unexpectedly carried them to Z District, they found the mustached attendant waiting outside.

• Chong Ying subdued the Oiwa ghost with her white ribbons, absorbed her, and received a Protagonist Token that Zhang Chen told her to keep.
• The mustached attendant explained that Protagonist Tokens granted status and access to performances, while Z District held dangerous prisoners and opened monthly for would-be executioners.
• Zhang Chen asked about Z District, then left with Chong Ying and resolved to tell Jia Xin and the others what he had learned.
• Zhang Chen accidentally activated the elevator’s Z button; Lu Sheng urged him to enter, while Jia Xin warned him to stay away.
• Zhang Chen and Chong Ying reached Z District after the elevator rose 1,500 meters above Y District, where the mustached attendant was waiting outside.

A medical examiner fled as ghosts overran a Tokyo clinic, while Elder Susanoo complained about Shuten Doji’s search operation. Zhang Chen and Chong Ying entered Z District’s prison, where a strange boy sensed Zhang Chen’s scent and eagerly awaited him.

• A medical examiner saw his supervisor transform and attack him, then was killed by a woman in the Zero Bacteria Culture Room as ghosts took over the clinic.
• Elder Susanoo questioned Xid about Shuten Doji’s arrangements and learned that the Magician and Heichuan Jun were stationed in Z District.
• Zhang Chen met the little mustached attendant, registered a disguised identity, and received a guide to Z District.
• Zhang Chen and Chong Ying entered the prison, where suppressive force weakened their abilities, and proceeded down a corridor lined with cells.
• A chubby kid in a dark cell sensed a special scent from upstairs and hoped the newcomer would reach him alive.

Zhang Chen, Jia Xin, and Chong Ying entered Z District Prison to uncover why Shuten Doji had opened it, while Lu Sheng left the Myriad Demon Pillar to search for Shuten Doji. After Zhang Chen combined a prison token with his Protagonist Token, he vanished and was transported deep into the prison, leaving Jia Xin and Chong Ying to pursue him.

• Zhang Chen and Chong Ying waited at the first level of Z District, where Zhang Chen suspected prisoners had to be killed for tokens to descend.
• Jia Xin arrived and revealed there had been no attendant at the entrance for him, leading him and Zhang Chen to suspect the prison opening was a trap aimed at them.
• Jia Xin contacted Lu Sheng, who left the Myriad Demon Pillar with the doctor, and the remaining group decided to continue through the prison.
• Jia Xin and Chong Ying quickly defeated prisoners for their tokens, while Zhang Chen killed an ape-like Demon Race ghost and took its token.
• Zhang Chen's prison token fused with his Protagonist Token, transporting him away as the mustached attendant appeared and told Jia Xin and Chong Ying he was deep below.
• Chong Ying sensed Zhang Chen through the butterfly chrysalis in his chest, and she and Jia Xin hurried down to find him.

Tomie saved Xiao Mo from suicide and took her home, where she killed the ghost possessing Xiao Mo’s brother and then killed Xiao Mo’s parents and Xiao Mo herself. Xiao Mo’s soul became a wandering ghost, while Tomie left after thinking of someone.

• Tomie stopped Xiao Mo from jumping off a bridge, took her to dinner, and invited her to stay the night.
• Tomie accompanied Xiao Mo home and was welcomed by Xiao Mo’s parents after praising their son.
• Xiao Mo’s brother kicked her, and Tomie pierced his chest, revealing that a powerful ghost had possessed his body.
• Tomie destroyed the ghost, and Xiao Mo recovered memories that she had once been loved by her parents and had never had a brother.
• When Xiao Mo blamed Tomie for killing her parents, Tomie killed Xiao Mo and absorbed her flesh; Xiao Mo’s soul mutated into a wandering ghost.
• Tomie remembered someone and vanished from the room.

Zhang Chen reached the seventeenth floor of the underground prison, examined its four ghost prisoners, and approached the chained man despite a warning. Meanwhile, Heichuan Jun entered Z District intending to confront Zhang Chen and uncover the truth about his power.

• Zhang Chen escaped the spatial passage before it carried him to the eighteenth floor and emerged on the seventeenth floor.
• Zhang Chen inspected the four prisoners: an old woman knitting, a grotesque ballet dancer, a flower-like woman, and a frail man bound in chains.
• The flower-like prisoner gave Zhang Chen a note warning him not to choose the chained man, but Zhang Chen decided to approach him for clues about Shuten Doji.
• Heichuan Jun entered Z District after hearing that Zhang Chen had killed The Custodian, and he vowed to confront Zhang Chen and seize his power.

Zhang Chen freed the chained prisoner on the seventeenth floor, only for Lin Guoyun to kill him and reveal his hatred of people from Huaxia Country. The chapter then recounted Lin Guoyun’s childhood and how he became a skilled butcher who helped his father kill and dismember victims.

• Zhang Chen entered the seventeenth-floor cell and asked the chained prisoner his name, but the man challenged him to break the chains first.
• Zhang Chen severed the chains binding the man, including the collar around his neck, while the other prisoners watched in disbelief.
• The freed man pulled a cleaver-like rib from his body, cut Zhang Chen in half, and introduced himself as Lin Guoyun, saying he loved killing people from Huaxia Country.
• In 1851, Lin Guoyun was born to a butcher in Sanli City, whose father killed his three daughters and later killed Lin Guoyun’s mother.
• After a butcher’s cleaver pierced Lin Guoyun’s heart when he was three, he survived surgery, and the cleaver mysteriously disappeared.
• As a boy, Lin Guoyun learned to wield a cleaver with uncanny skill, helped his father process human victims, and showed no fear when he began killing.

Lin Guoyun’s past as a murderer and his confrontation with Zhang Chen ended with Zhang Chen consuming him and extracting his Origin Weapon, the butcher’s cleaver. Zhang Chen learned that Shuten Doji might be on the eighteenth floor, but found no way down and suspected only one person could proceed.

• Lin Guoyun’s childhood abuse and years of murder culminated in him killing his father and slaughtering the constables who discovered his crimes.
• After decades in confinement, Lin Guoyun fought Zhang Chen, who suppressed him until Lin Guoyun drained his own flesh to weaken the Blood Domain and attack.
• Zhang Chen overpowered and consumed Lin Guoyun, who revealed that Shuten Doji’s whereabouts might be below the eighteenth floor.
• Zhang Chen chose to extract Lin Guoyun’s Origin Weapon, gained the cleaver and its Saber Intent, then left the seventeenth-floor cell with the wooden plaque.
• Zhang Chen found no entrance to the eighteenth floor and suspected that only one person could descend, so he decided to wait for Jia Xin and the others.

Zhang Chen and his companions gathered the four wooden plaques needed to enter the eighteenth floor of the Myriad Demon Pillar. After Zhang Chen passed through the spatial transfer alone, he found himself in a pitch-dark room as an ominous presence drew near.

• Zhang Chen examined Lin Guoyun’s Origin Weapon, a butcher knife, and tested its bloody power against the ballet dancer’s prison cell.
• Jia Xin agreed that the group had been led toward the lowest floor and helped Zhang Chen and Chong Ying collect the wooden plaques by defeating the ghosts in their cells.
• Zhang Chen chose to enter the eighteenth floor alone while Jia Xin and Chong Ying stayed behind on the seventeenth floor.
• A wounded Green-faced Fanged Ghostly Creature appeared and attacked, but Jia Xin swiftly crippled it.
• Zhang Chen joined the four wooden plaques, which merged and transported him to the eighteenth floor, where he sensed a threatening presence in the darkness.

Zhuge Feixuan's group used Xiao Qin's scan of Tokyo to locate three elders and planned a surprise attack on Shuten Doji at The Peninsula Tokyo. After infiltrating the hotel through Higher Space, they discovered a terrifying old man devouring cars and people in the underground garage.

• Xiao Qin completed her scan of Tokyo and projected a map showing three elders, including one inside The Peninsula Tokyo.
• Zhuge Feixuan decided Shuten Doji was likely at the hotel and ordered Luo Dakou to transport the group through Higher Space.
• Luo Dakou used his Initial Release, Abdominal Devour, to take the Jailers to an empty park near the hotel.
• Old Master Kun concealed the group with ghosts, and Davier crushed a hanging ghost as they made their way to the underground parking garage.
• Xiao Qin sensed a powerful presence inside the garage, where Zhao Mu found a ragged old man devouring a Maserati and its passengers.