Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chen faced Gu Chen alone outside Imperial Capital City while Shen Hou watched from Floating City. When Gu Chen turned a patrolling Jailer into a Blood Slave and sent it after Zhang Chen, a white creature appeared and shattered it.

• Zhang Chen left Tomie at a hotel and went to an uninhabited area to confront Gu Chen.
• Shen Hou monitored the confrontation and told Lian Yuxin he would intervene if Zhang Chen was in danger.
• Deng Min investigated the blood aura, but Gu Chen killed him and used his body to create a Blood Slave.
• Gu Chen ordered the Blood Slave to attack Zhang Chen, but a white creature destroyed it with one palm strike and stored its Soul Stone.

Zhang Chen fought Gu Chen, whose Blood Infant Body initial release overwhelmed him and tore his body in half. Lord Divine Marquis intervened, ordered Gu Chen arrested, and had Zhang Chen’s severed body carried away.

• Gu Chen attacked Zhang Chen with his blood abilities, but Zhang Chen used Advanced Space and an equally powerful Blood Domain to strike at Gu Chen’s Soul Stone.
• A tiny figure emerged from Gu Chen’s Soul Stone, stopped Zhang Chen’s blade, and took control of Gu Chen’s body as the Blood Infant Body.
• Gu Chen trapped Zhang Chen in an Inherent Space formed by a domain, then tore him in half and left Blood Substance in his wounds to hinder regeneration.
• Lord Divine Marquis tore open the Flesh Sac and ordered Gu Chen to surrender, warning him that the Patrol Team was coming.
• The Patrol Team shackled Gu Chen and took him to the Judgment Tower, while Lord Divine Marquis arranged for Zhang Chen’s severed body to be carried away.

Zhang Chen recovered in Shen Hou Mansion after his fight with Gu Chen, and Shen Hou explained how Gu Chen’s Blood Demon Soul Stone fused with a dangerous creature twenty years earlier, transforming him and enabling his rise. After Lian Yuxin left, Shen Hou privately praised Zhang Chen for his trip to Japan and revealed he had watched the battle.

• Shen Hou healed Zhang Chen and warned him not to assume he was the only extraordinary talent in the Floating City.
• Shen Hou recounted how Gu Chen once saved lives and later carried a rare Blood Realm Soul Stone containing a pure Blood Demon.
• During a mission in the Middle East, a red creature attacked Mo Qing and the other Jailers, and Gu Chen drew it into himself to save Mo Qing.
• Gu Chen survived the incident after the creature fused with his Blood Demon Soul Stone, radically changing his temperament and granting him power.
• Shen Hou sent Lian Yuxin away, then told Zhang Chen he had observed his battle with Gu Chen and praised the outcome of his Japan trip.

Zhang Chen visited Shen Hou, then traveled with Lian Yuxin to the Jailer Realm to turn in Shuten Doji’s Soul Stone. After the Soul Stone’s restoration drew a crowd and attracted a greedy Level 2 Jailer Minister, Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin planned their next move while Gu Chen began plotting from his prison.

• Shen Hou told Zhang Chen he trusted him, urged him to protect his original heart, and said the Japan incident remained unresolved as the world reacted to it.
• Zhang Chen asked Lian Yuxin to accompany him to the Jailer Realm so he could turn over Shuten Doji’s Soul Stone.
• Jailer Realm Aura restored the Soul Stone and caused a five-minute phenomenon that drew a crowd, including a greedy Level 2 Jailer Minister.
• Zhang Chen sensed the threat and led Lian Yuxin away; the black-cloaked Jailer Minister decided to follow them and seize the Soul Stone.
• Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin took refuge in a hidden bar, where she warned that the Jailer Minister would likely follow them out of Spirit City.
• Gu Chen deduced that Zhang Chen had hidden something in Imperial Capital City, sent a message to Lord Mo Qing, and asked to be released.

Lian Yuxin explained the dangers of the journey to submit Zhang Chen’s Soul Stone and hid with him in a secret bar before they set out at dusk. After they left Spirit City by the south gate, a Level 2 Jailer Minister tracked them and waited for a chance to attack.

• Lian Yuxin showed Zhang Chen a map of the Soul Stone submission site and explained why travelers on the route were often targeted.
• Lian Yuxin brought Zhang Chen to a hidden bar protected by a pass string given to her by Master.
• The bar’s waiter recognized Zhang Chen as a strange hybrid and wondered whether his existence was a blessing or a disaster.
• At dusk, Lian Yuxin and Zhang Chen left through the south gate using concealed forms and auras.
• The Level 2 Jailer Minister appeared near the gate, tracked the pair with a glass sphere, and decided to wait until they were farther from Spirit City before attacking.

Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin encountered Hei Ji while carrying the Soul Stone, and Zhang Chen fought off the concealed attacker. Hei Ji unleashed his Initial Release, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin traveled east from Spirit City to deliver the Soul Stone, and Lian Yuxin sensed that someone was following them.
• Zhang Chen detected Hei Ji’s ambush and lost a finger to the corrosive power of his black cloak; Lian Yuxin identified the attacker as the Master of Pain.
• Hei Ji demanded the Soul Stone and threatened to dismember Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin, but Zhang Chen told Lian Yuxin to stand back and assist him as she had before.
• Zhang Chen used his Blood Domain to expose Hei Ji’s concealment, seize him, and cut through his cloak, forcing Hei Ji to retreat ten meters away.
• Hei Ji’s black threads were weakened by Zhang Chen’s domain, and Zhang Chen’s mouths swallowed the few strands that reached him.
• Hei Ji activated Initial Release, wrapping himself in black threads that transformed his aura.

Tomie waited alone in a hotel room in Changping District while a finger-fetish serial killer arrived on her floor and became obsessed with her. After the killer attacked a strange red-eyed man who entered his room, the man healed effortlessly and offered him a chance to transcend his human body.

• Tomie explored her new hotel room and heard a strange presence in the corridor.
• A burly man arrived with a suitcase full of bloody tools and severed fingers, then noticed Tomie outside her room.
• The killer knocked on Tomie's door, but she looked him over and shut it in his face.
• A red-eyed man appeared at the killer's door and began examining his private suitcase.
• The killer stabbed the strange man with a scalpel, but the wound healed and the blade was absorbed into his brain.
• The red-eyed man took control of the killer and offered him a chance to transcend his human body.

Gu Chen transformed Chen Xihan with five drops of pure blood essence, and the newly empowered Chen Xihan went after Tomie, only to find her waiting for him. Meanwhile, Hei Ji overwhelmed Zhang Chen with Black Bind and demanded the Soul Stone, leaving Zhang Chen pinned and in danger.

• Gu Chen destroyed Chen Xihan's finger collection, then injected him with five drops of pure blood essence to test the limits of his body.
• Chen Xihan emerged transformed, accepted Gu Chen's offer to take Tomie's body, and broke into her room, where he found her standing before a mirror.
• Hei Ji used Initial Release: Black Bind to attack Zhang Chen, whose cleaver and Devour ability could not stop the bandages.
• The bartender prevented Lian Yuxin from warning or helping Zhang Chen, threatening to kill everyone if she interfered.
• Hei Ji pinned Zhang Chen with thirty-two Black Binds and demanded that he hand over the Soul Stone.

Zhang Chen survived Hei Ji’s attempt to take the Soul Stone by revealing his White Devourer First Form and escaping through high-level space. Hei Ji attacked again, but Zhang Chen’s domain, blade, and time-deprivation ability let him counter the ambush and send Hei Ji crashing into the vegetation.

• Hei Ji tore the bandages from Zhang Chen’s arm and demanded the Soul Stone, but Zhang Chen revealed a dangerous mouth on his chest, forcing Hei Ji to retreat.
• Hei Ji’s past revealed how his ability to read perceptions and exploit sensory blind spots had developed through theft and hardship.
• A waiter appeared beside Lian Yuxin as Zhang Chen’s body was devoured; Zhang Chen then emerged from high-level space in his White Devourer form.
• Zhang Chen spread a ten-meter domain and cut through Hei Ji’s bandages and five false bodies with his butcher’s blade.
• Hei Ji’s real body attacked from Zhang Chen’s blind spot with a black dagger, but Zhang Chen slowed him with time deprivation and struck him with his tail.

After defeating Hei Ji, Zhang Chen met Jailer Captain Tian Jing, who discovered the sealed ghost within Zhang Chen’s Soul Palace and sent him and Lian Yuxin to the Spirit Mountain Range. As they entered the range, Zhang Chen learned its rules, but the oppressive feeling of being watched grew stronger instead of fading.

• Hei Ji recovered from his injuries, apologized to Zhang Chen, and gave him twenty high-grade Ghost Crystals before leaving.
• Tian Jing joined Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin on their journey, warned Zhang Chen that he would kill him if he threatened the Underworld, and asked to see his ghost abilities.
• Tian Jing entered Zhang Chen’s Soul Palace, encountered the enormous boulder and its defensive black hands, and realized it had sealed part of Zhang Chen’s ghost.
• Tian Jing sent Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin to the Spirit Mountain Range entrance and warned them about the beings within the range.
• Lian Yuxin explained that abilities were forbidden beyond the Twin Spirit Stone Pillars and that Underworld’s Scrutiny should fade after five minutes, but Zhang Chen felt the watching presence intensify as they continued.

Zhang Chen experienced a strange vision beneath the Ghost Devouring Pool, where he found a vast underground space and a door that told him it was too early. Back at the pool with Lian Yuxin, he reluctantly released Shuten Doji’s Soul Stone into its waters.

• As Zhang Chen followed Lian Yuxin through the mountains, a sandy-yellow eye overwhelmed his consciousness and he found himself dissolving in the Ghost Devouring Pool.
• Zhang Chen’s Soul Stone passed through a membrane beneath the pool and reformed in a vast underground space, where an unseen force drew him toward a massive stone door.
• When Zhang Chen touched the door, a voice told him, “It is too early,” and he awoke behind Lian Yuxin on the mountain path.
• Zhang Chen concealed his vision from Lian Yuxin as they continued to the Ghost Devouring Pool and discussed what might lie beneath it.
• After Shuten Doji’s Soul Stone thanked Zhang Chen and forced his hand open, Zhang Chen let it fall into the pool, where it sank without being destroyed.

After submitting Shuten Doji’s Soul Stone, Zhang Chen received a rank advancement and was offered three rewards by the Underworld Consciousness. He learned that the third option was a three-day trial to unlock and control the ghostly abilities within his body, and was left to choose among the rewards.

• Lian Yuxin warned Zhang Chen not to resist as the Underworld Consciousness examined him in a white space.
• The Underworld Consciousness awarded Zhang Chen 15,000 contribution points, removed his restrictions, and advanced him from Level 3 Jailer Minister to Level 2 Jailer.
• The Underworld Consciousness offered Zhang Chen a Blood Heart that produced refined blood and could protect a Soul Stone, but warned that it could cause an inner demon.
• The Underworld Consciousness presented a rare tooth from Tooth Origin Wood, which could strengthen Zhang Chen’s Soul Stone abilities and Main Soul compatibility.
• The Underworld Consciousness revealed that Zhang Chen’s third reward was a pass to a three-day trial designed to help him unlock and control his ghostly abilities.

Zhang Chen received Tooth Origin Wood's tooth and a trial location after entering an agreement with the Underworld Consciousness, then learned from Lian Yuxin how dangerous the undiscovered region might be. When Shen Hou warned that Gu Chen had been bailed out and was headed to Changping District, Zhang Chen rushed to Tomie's hotel and killed Chen Xihan as he attacked her.

• Zhang Chen asked the Underworld Consciousness where the trial was located and received a piece of white fur marked with a red X before choosing Tooth Origin Wood's tooth.
• Zhang Chen told Lian Yuxin about the trial and the fur, and she warned him that the marked location could be too dangerous to enter.
• Zhang Chen and Lian Yuxin returned to Shen Hou Mansion, where Shen Hou revealed that Gu Chen had used Mo Qing's favor to leave the Judgment Tower and urged Zhang Chen to check on Tomie.
• Zhang Chen rushed to Tomie's hotel and found Chen Xihan pinning her down and attacking her with a scalpel.
• Zhang Chen slammed Chen Xihan into a wall, killing him, then asked Tomie to leave with him.

Zhang Chen escaped the Imperial Capital with Tomie and hid in a Hebei town, but Gu Chen followed and prepared a blood ritual. Gu Chen’s Blood Ghost Five Seals activated, trapping Zhang Chen as the five drops of blood essence in his body formed a matching pentagram.

• Zhang Chen absorbed Chen Xihan’s blood-essence body and escaped with Tomie, while Gu Chen watched them leave.
• Zhang Chen and Tomie checked into a small-town hotel, where Zhang Chen told her to stay while he handled matters in the Imperial Capital.
• At 03:15, Gu Chen killed the beggar and hundreds of people, filling the river with bloodied corpses.
• Gu Chen divided the corpses into five groups and invoked the Blood Ghost Five Seals, forming a pentagram over the town.
• The ritual destroyed Zhang Chen’s hotel, suppressed him, and drew the five drops of blood essence from his body into a matching pentagram.
• As Zhang Chen tried to release his Soul Stone ability, his consciousness shifted to an endless sea of blood.

Zhang Chen was trapped inside Gu Chen’s enhanced Five Ghosts Blood Seal, which suppressed his abilities and Soul Stone while Gu Chen turned his attention to Tomie. The chapter revealed how Gu Chen had acquired the blood-colored being within him: after resisting its attempt to take over his body, he was burdened with the evil and suffering of tens of thousands of people.

• Zhang Chen discovered that Gu Chen’s seal used the town’s residents to trap him and suppress his Soul Stone, and he resolved to kill Gu Chen.
• Zhang Chen found that the Tooth Origin Wood tooth stirred the incomplete Devouring Realm mouth, which spoke and asked him for the tooth’s Devouring Essence.
• Gu Chen saw Tomie descend the inn’s stairs, recognized her likely identity, and released the blood-colored little man from his Soul Stone.
• In 1992, Gu Chen endured repeated bodily explosions as the blood-colored little man urged him to surrender his body and accept a forced fusion.
• Gu Chen resisted the being’s soul, allowing only its body to fuse with his Soul Stone, and the being planted its evil within him by flooding him with the pain and resentment of tens of thousands of victims.
• Gu Chen’s consciousness collapsed, and Mo Qing and the Imperial Capital Jailers took him away the next morning.

Gu Chen regained control of his body and unleashed his forbidden release against Tomie, revealing the power of the Blood Realm Heroic Spirit. As his Blood Saber struck, an unknown figure blocked the blow and whisked Tomie away.

• Gu Chen explained that his consciousness had survived inside the Soul Stone while another consciousness formed from the dead of Twit, and he reclaimed control of his body.
• Gu Chen attacked Tomie, but her repeated appearances and illusions exposed his inner turmoil; she pierced his chest and reached his Soul Stone but chose not to kill him.
• Gu Chen released his self-imposed seals and entered Forbidden Release: Body of Ten Thousand Bloods, creating a powerful Flesh Sac and Blood Saber.
• Gu Chen attacked Tomie with the Blood Saber, but an unknown figure blocked the strike and carried her away.

Zhang Chen questioned an incomplete Ghoul Realm creature trapped in a mouth and learned that Hellwardens needed a conscious main soul to grow stronger. When the creature tried to take over Kou Dan’s Soul Stone, Kou Dan awakened, and Zhang Chen chose to help destroy him.

• Zhang Chen demanded that the incomplete mouth explain how it could help him escape the seal before he gave it the Tooth Origin Wood’s tooth.
• The mouth recognized Kou Dan’s Soul Stone and explained that a conscious main soul was necessary for a Hellwarden to reach higher levels.
• Zhang Chen let the mouth enter his body and attempt to occupy Kou Dan’s masterless Soul Stone.
• The enormous stone released Kou Dan’s consciousness, and the mouth accused Zhang Chen of setting them against each other.
• Kou Dan and the mouth both appealed to Zhang Chen, but he rejected Kou Dan and focused on eradicating his consciousness.

Zhang Chen broke free of Kou Dan’s possession with help from Evil Mouth Elder, then confronted Gu Chen as Gu Chen’s Flesh Sac trapped the town. Tomie used the Blood Womb to overwhelm Gu Chen’s mind, and Zhang Chen escaped with her as an Imperial Capital figure arrived to take Gu Chen away.

• Kou Dan triggered the Five-Pointed Star Seal, but Evil Mouth swallowed the seal and Kou Dan’s consciousness, freeing Zhang Chen and then retreating to recover.
• Zhang Chen entered White Devourer form and clashed with Gu Chen, who had released his Forbidden Release form and enclosed the town in a Flesh Sac.
• Zhang Chen and Tomie reached the edge of the Flesh Sac, where Gu Chen appeared and blocked their escape.
• Tomie released the Blood Womb, which fused into Gu Chen’s Blood Saber and overwhelmed him with vitality, resentful souls, and her life story.
• Tomie recalled the Blood Womb after Gu Chen became vacant, and his Flesh Sac burst apart; Zhang Chen took Tomie and fled through higher-dimensional space.
• A black figure arrived, acknowledged that Tomie had reformed Gu Chen, and carried the vacant Gu Chen away, saying they would both face judgment.

After eliminating Kou Dan, Zhang Chen returned to Shen Hou Mansion to learn that Gu Chen had been sentenced to three years and one month in a special cell, then encountered Kou Suo in a dreamlike banquet hall. Kou Suo welcomed him and revealed that Faceless was Nyarlathotep, the Tenth Apostle, leaving Zhang Chen with a new clue about his enemy.

• Zhang Chen left Tomie in their apartment and traveled to Imperial Capital City to ask his Master about Gu Chen.
• Lian Yuxin told Zhang Chen that Gu Chen had been imprisoned for killing 3,128 civilians and would experience three thousand years of isolation inside a time-distorting cell.
• Zhang Chen returned to his room at Shen Hou Mansion to sleep, but his consciousness entered the white-marble banquet hall instead of the Dreamscape.
• Kou Suo welcomed Zhang Chen, praised him for defeating Kou Dan, and offered him a feast and a future visit to the Ghost Eater Realm.
• Zhang Chen asked Kou Suo about Faceless, and Kou Suo revealed that Faceless was Nyarlathotep, the Tenth Apostle and spokesperson of the Chaos Realm.

Zhang Chen learned that the apostle he planned to face was one of Ling’s twelve strongest beings, but he vowed to reach the necessary level within three years. After discussing his recent deeds and a dangerous prison-realm location with Shen Hou, Zhang Chen prepared to return home for New Year with Chong Ying, promising they would rescue Yi Zhi together in three years.

• Kou Suo explained that apostles were Ling’s twelve strongest beings and revealed that he was the Seventh Apostle, while Zhang Chen vowed to prepare to face an apostle within three years.
• Shen Hou praised Zhang Chen for helping Gu Chen confront his nature and told him General Mo Qing owed him a favor.
• Shen Hou identified the marked location on Zhang Chen’s white cloth as highly dangerous and gave him a rare prison-realm map showing it.
• Zhang Chen learned that the United Nations conference had been postponed for a month and agreed to stay overnight before returning home.
• Zhang Chen invited Chong Ying to celebrate New Year with his family, and Elder Wu permitted her to go with him.
• Chong Ying asked whether they would rescue Yi Zhi in three years, and Zhang Chen promised they would bring her back for New Year.