Chapter Summaries

Shuten Doji fought the Blind One, broke its mask, and was nearly destroyed by the chaotic power within it. He tore out his own eyes to escape its influence and decapitated the Blind One, but his body exploded as Zhang Chen and Liu Nuo watched from hiding.

• Shuten Doji failed to tear off the Blind One’s mask at first, then pinned it down and used a guandao to split the mask open.
• Shuten Doji saw countless eyeballs beneath the mask and thrust his hands into them, only to be dragged into a chaotic river that began destroying his body.
• Zhang Chen and Liu Nuo approached the battle while concealing their presence, and Zhang Chen warned Liu Nuo not to look directly at the Blind One.
• The Blind One reached into Shuten Doji’s body and disrupted his flesh and Soul Network, but Shuten Doji tore out and crushed his own eyeballs.
• Shuten Doji seized the Blind One’s head and tore it from its body before his own body exploded over the forest.

Zhang Chen tried to exploit the clash between Shuten Doji and the Blind One, but events forced him to seek Kou Dan’s power and transform into his First Form. The Blind One faced the newly transformed Zhang Chen, while Tip, Wang Yizhi, and Old Man Ksitigarbha watched the battle unfold.

• Zhang Chen removed his eyes, found the Blind One’s severed head, and hid nearby while Liu Nuo went to investigate Shuten Doji.
• Liu Nuo confronted Shuten Doji and the woman absorbing deathly spiritual aura in the natural pit, but Shuten Doji crushed her shoulder and cut off her communication with Zhang Chen.
• When Shuten Doji’s fear aura dispersed, the Blind One reunited with its head and turned its attention toward Zhang Chen; Zhang Chen failed to swallow the head and retreated under the creature’s pressure.
• Zhang Chen entered his soul, drew out Kou Dan’s consciousness without freeing him, and used strange matter left by the clown to complete the fusion.
• Zhang Chen transformed into First Form - White Devourer, revealing a tooth-covered body, a massive tail, elongated claws, and a white cleaver as the Blind One watched him.
• Tip, Wang Yizhi, and Old Man Ksitigarbha watched Zhang Chen’s transformation on the live broadcast, and Tip questioned Wang Yizhi about her connection to him.

Zhang Chen fought Simon, the Eye Snatcher, after Little Mouth explained its origins and warned him about its eye-based misdirection and chaos power. Zhang Chen damaged its mask, but the Eye Snatcher adapted, nearly killing him before removing the mask and transforming.

• Little Mouth explained that the Eye Snatcher had stolen the bodies of two Wraiths and warned Zhang Chen to trust instinct over his senses and target the white mask.
• Zhang Chen used Higher Space to attack Simon, but eye-based misdirection made his first strike miss; he narrowly avoided Simon’s palm by sacrificing his left arm.
• Zhang Chen attacked Simon from behind, pierced its body, and cut a fragment from its mask, swallowing the fragment.
• Simon accelerated, severed Zhang Chen’s neck, and targeted his Soul Stone, but a mouth on Zhang Chen’s body repelled the attack and Zhang Chen escaped into Higher Space.
• Simon removed its white mask, which dissolved into starlight as a white shell formed over its body, and placed the eyes from its palms onto its face.

Zhang Chen fought Simon after Simon transformed into his Chaos True Form, while the island began to collapse. Liu Nuo escaped, Shuten Doji was killed by the woman he had protected, and Zhang Chen got Liu Nuo away just before Simon’s attack split the island apart.

• Simon revealed his Chaos True Form and struck Zhang Chen with a gray staff, shattering Zhang Chen’s fingers and injuring him badly.
• As seawater flooded the pit, Liu Nuo retreated, while Shuten Doji stopped fighting and went to help the woman absorb the corpses.
• The woman betrayed Shuten Doji by transferring undead aura into him, killing him, then swallowed the black Resentment Crystal.
• Zhang Chen reached Liu Nuo and pulled her into high-level space as Simon’s staff came down; the passage closed before the strike landed.
• Simon watched the island split into four pieces and sink, then noticed a peculiar scent coming from the pit.

After escaping the island, Zhang Chen recovered at a villa while Liu Nuo explained the survivors’ dire situation and investigated the mask fragment he had swallowed. The fragment resisted analysis, and Zhang Chen went outside to keep watch as Liu Nuo continued her research.

• Zhang Chen emerged from higher-dimensional space with Liu Nuo and collapsed from exhaustion after escaping the island.
• Liu Nuo took Zhang Chen to a villa, where he woke an hour and a half later fully recovered and learned that only four people across the three sides had survived.
• Liu Nuo told Zhang Chen that Ksitigarbha’s side had included three members and suspected a strange woman had killed Shuten Doji when the island sank.
• Zhang Chen explained what he knew about the Blind One, then discovered he could not digest the white mask fragment and spat it out for Liu Nuo.
• Liu Nuo used Zhang Chen’s watch to construct analytical equipment, but her tests had no effect on the fragment, so Zhang Chen went outside to keep watch.

Zhang Chen awakened a time-based ability in his newly formed tail and used it to strengthen his attacks, while deciding to keep a dangerous Devouring World mouth in reserve. Meanwhile, a woman emerged from the crater left by the island’s destruction, recovered her body, and set out to hunt two targets before returning to Ling.

• Zhang Chen discovered that the clown’s imprint had given him a crimson tail, and he found that striking objects with it could freeze a small area in time.
• Zhang Chen drew time power from the stone and used the tail’s focused Domain to freeze and crush a leaping corpse.
• Zhang Chen chose not to take out the Devouring World mouth, fearing its aura would attract powerful enemies.
• Simon sensed a formidable presence in the crater, withdrew his power, and left the island rather than fight yet.
• A woman emerged from the crater, forced Shuten Doji’s face back into her shoulder, and wrapped herself in a red scarf.
• The woman opened a spatial passage and left to absorb two targets before dealing with a greater threat.

Liu Nuo discovered that Veillonella bacteria could digest Simon’s white mask, giving her and Zhang Chen a possible way to defeat the Eye Snatcher. After sensing a powerful scout and a woman opening Higher Space nearby, they escaped to the tribal ruins and prepared to locate Simon while Liu Nuo shielded their base.

• Liu Nuo used bacteria from her body to soften and digest a white mask fragment, then began cultivating Veillonella to exploit Simon’s weakness.
• Simon’s mask reacted painfully to the bacteria, and he turned west toward Zhang Chen and Liu Nuo.
• Zhang Chen sensed a wide-area scan and a woman opening Higher Space, then carried Liu Nuo through Higher Space to the tribal ruins.
• Liu Nuo shielded the underground altar and gave Zhang Chen a signal-blocking ring and Petri dishes so he could find Simon and expose him to bacteria.
• Tip asked Old Man Ksitigarbha about his failed research, then threatened Wang Yizhi by hinting that something might happen to her boyfriend.

Zhang Chen ambushed Simon with bacteria supplied by Liu Nuo, but Simon overwhelmed him in battle until Zhang Chen spread the bacteria across Simon’s body and exposed the chaotic core within. Just as Zhang Chen noticed the core, the voice from the beginning of the game warned him away and he recognized it as Faceless.

• Liu Nuo told Zhang Chen that the woman had moved north and that the west and south were safe, so Zhang Chen returned to the city and found Simon in the villa basement.
• Zhang Chen ambushed Simon and smeared bacteria onto his white mask, but Simon blasted him away and revealed a chaotic droplet inside his head.
• Simon transformed and attacked Zhang Chen with his staff, forcing Zhang Chen to use slowed time and evade repeated blows.
• Zhang Chen deliberately split his body to avoid Simon’s strike and transferred more bacteria onto Simon, decomposing the white shell and exposing a hollow in his abdomen containing a liquid core.
• A voice from the sky warned Zhang Chen that he could not take the core, and Zhang Chen recognized the speaker as Faceless.

Zhang Chen stole the chaotic-energy liquid from Simon and escaped the ensuing explosion, only to find Liu Nuo captured by a red-silk woman. Liu Nuo sacrificed her body to destroy the woman’s hold over her and restore Zhang Chen, who seized Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal and prepared to flee as Shuten Doji asked him to kill the weakened woman.

• Zhang Chen took the liquid from Simon, triggering Simon’s catastrophic explosion, and escaped through a spatial passage.
• Zhang Chen could not find Liu Nuo at the ruins, then discovered her in the red-silk woman’s grasp at a pyramid in Egypt.
• The woman demanded the liquid in exchange for Liu Nuo, but Liu Nuo awakened and detonated her dark energy in a confined sphere.
• Liu Nuo sent dark energy to Zhang Chen to restore his body, while the blast left the woman mutilated and revealed Shuten Doji’s presence.
• Zhang Chen cut through the woman and the pyramid, retrieved Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal, and heard Shuten Doji ask him to kill her.

Tomie and a blond priest headed toward Tokyo’s black City of Demons as Zhang Chen agreed to help Shuten Doji kill the woman trapping them in a fear barrier. The barrier suppressed Zhang Chen until he used Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal to resist it, and he ended the chapter striking at the woman’s hand.

• Tomie consumed a possessed old woman on an overpass, sensed Zhang Chen inside the City of Demons, and sped toward it.
• A blond priest gathered the gunblades from possessed people in Kita Ward into his Bible and set out for central Tokyo.
• Shuten Doji offered Zhang Chen an item that could help him withstand fear if Zhang Chen killed the woman, and Zhang Chen agreed after questioning his motive.
• The woman created a Black Space that suppressed Zhang Chen, so he took Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal into his body and spread its fear aura over himself.
• Shuten Doji warned Zhang Chen that the woman was above him, and Zhang Chen swung his blood-energy-charged butcher’s knife into her withered palm.

Zhang Chen survived the woman’s Black Space and offered Shuten Doji a way to live as a Soul Stone, but Tip seized the unconscious Zhang Chen after he returned. Wang Yizhi attacked Tip, and a red spear suddenly struck toward him.

• Zhang Chen fought off the woman’s countless copies until her time ran out and the Black Space collapsed, leaving him severely drained but alive.
• Shuten Doji promised to use his core to help Zhang Chen comprehend fear, and Zhang Chen suggested that Shuten Doji become a Soul Stone.
• A prison gate drew Zhang Chen in, but a giant hand seized him and a powerful chaos aura knocked him unconscious.
• Tip held Zhang Chen in the lowest floor of the black building and claimed he wanted to take the Level 3 Jailer Minister, while Old Man Ksitigarbha left.
• Wang Yizhi’s attack cut down buildings around the Myriad Demon Pillar, then ten rune-covered black arms seized Tip.
• A red spear pierced down toward Tip’s head, prompting him to demand to know who had attacked.

Tip attacked the priest and Wang Yizhi, but the priest’s Holy Nail Form and Zhao Mu’s strike helped them escape Tip’s assault. Wang Yizhi opened a breach in Tip’s barrier, allowing the priest and Zhao Mu to leave while Tomie took Zhang Chen away; Tip remained in Tokyo as the threat of Nyarlathotep’s coming loomed.

• Tip judged the priest’s Spear of Longinus projection weak, but the priest’s sacrifice raised its projection rate and let him wound Tip.
• Wang Yizhi severed Tip’s arm to rescue Zhang Chen, then the priest used a wooden nail to enter Holy Nail Form and attack Tip with a thorn-wrapped spear.
• Zhao Mu struck Tip with Forbidden Release—Blue Fist, knocking him into a deep pit as Tomie offered to take Zhang Chen to safety.
• Tip rose in a changed form and sealed Tokyo beneath a barrier of purple stars, warning that Nyarlathotep threatened the human world.
• Wang Yizhi opened a crack in the barrier and handed Zhang Chen to Tomie, who absorbed him and vanished as Zhao Mu and the priest escaped.

Zhang Chen woke after three days unconscious and learned that Tomie had brought him home, but he found Wang Yizhi missing and her belongings erased. As Liu Nuo urgently summoned him to Tianfu City, Zhang Chen discovered a painting hidden beneath Wang Yizhi’s bed.

• Zhang Chen awoke from a dream of Wang Yizhi disappearing and realized Shuten Doji’s consciousness remained in his Resentment Crystal.
• Tomie explained that she had brought Zhang Chen home from Japan, cared for his parents, and wanted to discuss matters with him.
• Zhang Chen learned that a woman had saved Japan and then tried to contact Wang Yizhi, whose phone was powered off.
• Zhang Chen went to Wang Yizhi’s home and found her missing, with familiar decorations and their photograph gone.
• Liu Nuo urgently summoned Zhang Chen to her former laboratory in Tianfu City, and Zhang Chen found a painting beneath Wang Yizhi’s bed.

After Zhao Mu left the Judgment Court, Lord Shen Hou questioned him about Zhang Chen, his strength, and the clash between Faceless and Black Woman, then warned of a coming global campaign against Ksitigarbha. Meanwhile, Tip and Ksitigarbha revealed the enormous brain beneath Japan and prepared to move it with captive Wang Yizhi to a hidden location.

• Zhao Mu left the Judgment Court and went with Lian Yuxin to Shen Hou Mansion, postponing his reunion meal with Xiao Qin and the others.
• Lord Shen Hou asked Zhao Mu about Zhang Chen, his chances of entering the top ten, and why Faceless and Black Woman had fought in Japan.
• Zhao Mu speculated that the clash between Faceless and Black Woman might be related to Zhang Chen, and Lord Shen Hou told him to keep the conjecture secret.
• Lord Shen Hou said Ksitigarbha's exposure would lead to a United Nations-led Annihilation Plan and advised Zhao Mu to rest before it began.
• Tip and Ksitigarbha shut down the Japanese research base and uncovered the enormous living brain that Ksitigarbha had been developing.
• Tip and Ksitigarbha arranged to protect the captive Wang Yizhi and move the brain to a hidden location.

Zhang Chen showed Tomie the contrast between outward respectability and hidden evil, urging her to guide people toward better choices rather than kill them. Tomie remained unsure whether she could be considered human, but she leaned in to kiss Zhang Chen before he pushed her away and took her back.

• Zhang Chen retrieved the painting of Wang Yizhi and decided to handle Tomie's situation before traveling to Tianfu City to meet Sister Nuo.
• Zhang Chen met Tomie in Forest Park and told her he would help her find a place to live and learn how to fit into human society.
• Tomie asked whether she could be considered human, so Zhang Chen took her to watch a company technician secretly arranging drug transactions.
• Zhang Chen exposed the technician's crimes, forced him to promise to repay his family, confess, and turn himself in, and explained why changing him was better than killing him.
• Tomie leaned in to kiss Zhang Chen after comparing their moment to a Korean drama, but Zhang Chen pushed her away and suggested they return.

Zhang Chen brought Tomie to Tianfu City, bought her an apartment and clothes, and took her to Sister Nuo’s underground laboratory. He left Tomie with Chong Ying and Lu Sheng while he went upstairs to discuss Yi Zhi with Sister Nuo.

• Zhang Chen bought Tomie a furnished apartment in Jinxi County and agreed to take her to Tianfu City after she promised not to use her abilities.
• Tomie rode a coach for the first time and reluctantly tried on new clothes, which Zhang Chen bought for her.
• Zhang Chen took Tomie to the hidden passage at the stadium, where the laboratory’s defenses flagged her as an A-rank dangerous ghost before the alert was lifted.
• Zhang Chen met Chong Ying, Lu Sheng, and the doctor in the restored laboratory and explained that Tomie would not harm people.
• Chong Ying told Zhang Chen that Sister Nuo wanted to see him urgently about Yi Zhi, so he left Tomie with her and Lu Sheng.

Liu Nuo told Zhang Chen that Yi Zhi was alive but imprisoned in a deep sleep after Faceless and Ksitigarbha ambushed her, and warned him not to challenge them yet. Zhang Chen agreed to accelerate his body-related preparations to grow stronger, then learned more about Tomie and the Heroic Spirits, including that Ksitigarbha was one of them.

• Liu Nuo revealed that Wang Yizhi had been Yi Zhi's chosen name and that Yi Zhi was imprisoned by Faceless after Ksitigarbha severely injured her.
• Zhang Chen broke down at the news, then steadied himself and asked Liu Nuo why Yi Zhi had chosen him.
• Liu Nuo explained that Yi Zhi's life was not in danger and said they needed to help Zhang Chen reach a higher level so he could eventually rescue her.
• Zhang Chen told Liu Nuo that Tomie was a unique Heroic Spirit with a Blood Fetus and said he was about eighty percent confident he could keep her from doing anything dangerous.
• Liu Nuo explained that Faceless was Nyarlathotep and revealed that another of the five exiles was a Heroic Spirit; Zhang Chen guessed it was Blue Oni.

Liu Nuo told Zhang Chen about Green Ghost and Tengu, then helped him seal Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal in a Soul Stone shell. Zhang Chen reunited with Lu Sheng and Doctor Chang Qing, who pledged to help him kill Jizo, and left with Chong Ying and Tomie as Tomie began to understand friendship.

• Liu Nuo explained Green Ghost’s history and Tengu’s hostility, and Zhang Chen said he would try to contact Green Ghost and inform his Master and Senior Sister Lian Yuxin that he was safe.
• Zhang Chen showed Liu Nuo Shuten Doji’s Resentment Crystal fused to his body, and Liu Nuo sealed it in a Soul Stone shell for him to submit to the prison realm later.
• Zhang Chen gave Liu Nuo Heichuan Jun’s body core to study or restore.
• Zhang Chen learned that Lu Sheng was free after Liu Nuo removed the control metal linking him to Jizo, and Lu Sheng and Doctor Chang Qing promised to help kill Jizo.
• Chong Ying befriended Tomie, who asked Zhang Chen what friendship meant and thanked him after he assured her that they were friends.

Zhang Chen reunited with his companions in Tianfu City and agreed to spend three years preparing to rescue Black Woman and kill Old Man Ksitigarbha. The group parted ways, while Qingyun Sect learned Zhang Chen was safe and anticipated turmoil across the human world.

• Zhang Chen contacted Lian Yuxin and his Master, learned they had been searching for him, and promised to visit the Imperial Capital after handling his affairs.
• Liu Nuo gathered Zhang Chen, Chong Ying, Tomie, Lu Sheng, and Doctor Chang Qing to coordinate their goal of rescuing Black Woman and killing Old Man Ksitigarbha, and gave the group communication rings.
• Liu Nuo set a three-year deadline, and Lu Sheng told Zhang Chen to overcome his inner demons and grow strong enough to surpass him.
• After lunch, Lu Sheng and Doctor Chang Qing left, and Chong Ying returned to the Imperial Capital after Zhang Chen reassured her he would visit.
• Liu Nuo planned a comprehensive examination of Zhang Chen, while Zhang Chen prepared to meet the Divine Marquis.
• Little White told Jia Xin that Zhang Chen had returned to Tianfu City unharmed, and Jia Xin said the Qingyun Sect should prepare to receive its martial uncles as turmoil approached.

Liu Nuo tested Zhang Chen’s body and found its stability was an unprecedented 100%, then helped him and Tomie prepare to travel to the Imperial Capital. As they flew toward the city, Blood Demon Gu Chen sensed Zhang Chen’s arrival and set out to intercept him.

• Liu Nuo explained that É could corrode Soul Stones and kill Jailer Ministers, but Zhang Chen’s Ghoulification let him withstand its opposing auras during the stability test.
• Zhang Chen decided to take Tomie to the Imperial Capital, and Liu Nuo transferred him twenty-five million, then gave them Tomie’s second-generation ID card and plane tickets after the test showed 100% stability.
• After Zhang Chen and Tomie left, Liu Nuo studied the Heichuan Jun body core and Eternal organization records, including information on making artificial humans.
• Zhang Chen and Tomie boarded a first-class flight to the Imperial Capital, while Zhang Chen planned to find Tomie a suburban home and visit his master in Floating City.
• Blood Demon Gu Chen detected Zhang Chen on the plane and left Floating City in a streak of blood, intending to intercept and absorb him.