Chapter Summaries

Fang Cheng, Pan Wendi, and Lark investigated a sealed building on the Chen Family estate and discovered coffins, a three-eyed statue, and an old corpse in its basement. After Butler Li Tiansheng visited the building, they decided to question Chen Xu'an the next day, but Lin Chuqiao called to report another incident in the Chen Family.

• Pan Wendi used his Wall-Penetration Technique to explore the building and found coffins throughout its first three floors, Chen Family memorial tablets, and a basement containing a three-eyed statue and a recently deceased old man.
• Fang Cheng sent Pan Wendi back to check for memorial tablets bearing Chen Shaoze, Chen Qiwen, and Chen Tailai's names and to inspect their coffins; Pan Wendi found all three tablets on the fourth floor and their coffins empty.
• Fang Cheng, Pan Wendi, and Lark hid in bushes as Butler Li Tiansheng unlocked the building, went inside, and left about ten minutes later looking relieved.
• Fang Cheng decided they should return to the hospital, meet Lin Chuqiao, and confront Chen Xu'an about the building the next day.
• Lin Chuqiao called Fang Cheng and urgently told him that another Chen Family member had suffered an incident.

Fang Cheng and his companions returned to the hospital to find nine Chen Family descendants suffering from Needle Gu, while the group questioned whether Chen Xu'an was responsible. Fang Cheng decided to confront Chen Xu'an directly and claimed their reinforcements had found the killer’s hideout; Chen Xu'an took them into a locked lounge and demanded to know where Fang Cheng had gone.

• Lin Chuqiao told Fang Cheng that nine Chen Family descendants had fallen ill with symptoms of Needle Gu, and that the killer may have acted to weaken the family before their planned operation.
• Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao questioned why Chen Xu'an would poison his own allies if he were the killer, while Fang Cheng described the Corpse-Hiding Building, its coffins and memorial tablets, and the strange statue and old man's corpse beneath it.
• Fang Cheng decided to confront Chen Xu'an before the planned operation, and Lin Chuqiao, Pan Wendi, and Lark agreed to accompany him.
• Fang Cheng told Chen Xu'an that their team's reinforcements had arrived and they had investigated the killer's hideout.
• Chen Xu'an led Fang Cheng and his companions into a lounge, locked the door, and demanded to know where Fang Cheng had gone.

Chen Xu'an revealed the Chen family’s history of deaths and explained why he suspected his grandfather’s corpse was killing people. He left Fang Cheng and the others with the discovery that Chen Hongye’s body appeared alive inside the Black Building’s coffin.

• Fang Cheng confronted Chen Xu'an about concealing the Black Building and described the Three-Eyed Statue and unknown corpse found in its basement.
• Chen Xu'an admitted that he had suspected the Black Building was the source of the family’s misfortunes, but said family taboos and a lack of evidence had prevented him from investigating openly.
• Chen Xu'an identified his grandfather, Chen Hongye, as the suspected killer and recounted the family’s rule that the dead remained in the Black Building for three years before burial in the Family Secret Realm.
• Chen Xu'an described the deaths of his father, relatives, Chen Shaoze’s fiancée, servants, and other family members, including victims whose bodies had been drained of blood.
• Chen Xu'an said he found Chen Shaoze’s and other victims’ bodies missing from their coffins, then followed an abnormal aura into the basement.
• Chen Xu'an told the group that Chen Hongye’s unrotted corpse lay in a coffin with full muscles and a chest that still rose and fell.

Chen Xu'an and Lin Chuqiao concluded that an evil spirit might be possessing his grandfather’s corpse and killing the Chen family, so Chen Xu'an asked Fang Cheng and the others for help. He arranged a Water-Land Dharma Assembly at the manor, where the opened coffin and its occupant were exposed to the afternoon sun.

• Chen Xu'an described how his grandfather’s corpse had appeared younger and seemed to be changing in the coffin.
• Chen Xu'an revealed that the Chen family’s Bloodline Ability included Solidification, which slowed the decay of their dead.
• Lin Chuqiao proposed that an evil spirit had possessed the corpse and explained how Spirit Gu practitioners could kill through unseen attacks.
• Chen Xu'an decided to burn the corpse, and Fang Cheng, Lin Chuqiao, Pan Wendi, and Lark agreed to help investigate.
• Chen Xu'an invited the monk Yuan Jue from Cui Cheng Temple to conduct a Water-Land Dharma Assembly at the manor.
• Servants carried the open coffin into the courtyard and exposed the corpse to the afternoon sunlight.

Fang Cheng and the others helped Chen Xu'an persuade the Chen Family elders to burn Chen Hongye’s strangely preserved corpse, hoping to expose the Evil Spirit behind the family’s misfortunes. As the ritual began, the coffin and corpse resisted the flames, leaving the crowd stunned.

• Fang Cheng examined Chen Hongye’s corpse and found no Spiritual Body inside, though the shell carried an unsettling mixture of vitality and death.
• Chen Dehai and the Chen Family elders objected to cremating Chen Hongye until Chen Xu'an, Lin Chuqiao, Lark, and Master Yuan Jue persuaded them that the corpse might be possessed by an evil spirit.
• Li Tiansheng tried to stop the cremation by warning that disturbing Chen Hongye’s remains would bring ancestral punishment, but Pan Wendi knocked him unconscious and claimed evil energy had clouded his mind.
• Chen Xu'an threw a torch onto the pyre during Master Yuan Jue’s ritual, setting the wood and Black Lacquer Coffin ablaze.
• The Chen Family members cried out that Chen Hongye’s body would not burn.

During Chen Hongye’s funeral, his body resisted the flames until Chen Xu'an intensified the burning, but eerie runes and signs of returning life appeared as the corpse began to char. The chapter ended with Chen Hongye speaking from the pyre, asking why they had disturbed his rest just as he was about to complete his merits.

• The Chen Family discovered that the coffin and Chen Hongye’s body were resisting the fire, while Fang Cheng used the Scavenger’s Eye to spot abnormal energy shielding the corpse.
• Chen Dehai explained that Chen Hongye’s Solidification bloodline ability protected his body, but Chen Xu'an ordered the servants to bring more gasoline and burn the corpse more fiercely.
• At Lin Chuqiao’s suggestion, Chen Xu'an rearranged the firewood to improve airflow, and the flames eventually charred the coffin, burial shroud, and Chen Hongye’s body.
• As the crowd thought the corpse was finally burning away, Fang Cheng sensed its heart beating and saw its dark red energy intensify.
• Twisted runes appeared across Chen Hongye’s charred body, spreading a sudden chill that unsettled the Chen Family and disrupted the monks’ ritual.
• Chen Hongye sighed from within the pyre and asked why they had disturbed his rest when he was about to complete his merits.

Chen Hongye rose from the funeral pyre as a powerful monster, killed a monk to restore his body, and forced the Chen Family to kneel. Chen Xu'an accused him of murdering his relatives, but Chen Hongye tried to control him until Fang Cheng intervened, drawing the monster’s attention.

• Chen Hongye stood up from the burning pyre, revealed himself as the family patriarch, and demanded to know why his descendants had burned his body.
• Chen Hongye howled, scattered the crowd, and killed a monk from Cui Cheng Temple to feed on his blood and heal his burns.
• Chen Hongye pressured the Chen Family members into kneeling and confessing, but Chen Xu'an stayed upright and accused him of murdering his relatives and causing the family’s recent disasters.
• Chen Hongye commanded Chen Xu'an to approach, and his scarlet gaze forced Chen Xu'an’s body to obey.
• Fang Cheng grabbed Chen Xu'an’s wrist and broke the monster’s control, prompting Chen Hongye to recognize Fang Cheng and regard him warily.

Fang Cheng confronted Chen Hongye, who recognized Fang Cheng as Fang Shijie's son and taunted him about his father's death in a great fire. Chen Hongye trapped the group in a supernatural domain and sent ghostly shadows and controlled Chen Family members against them, but the spirits avoided Fang Cheng.

• Fang Cheng asked Chen Hongye whether he knew Crow and the Professor, but Chen Hongye denied knowing them.
• Chen Hongye mistook Fang Cheng for Fang Shijie, then realized Fang Cheng was his son and taunted him about Fang Shijie's death in a great fire.
• Lin Chuqiao calmed Fang Cheng, while Chen Xu'an, Pan Wendi, Lark, and Lin Chuqiao offered to fight beside him.
• Chen Hongye revealed his plan to use the group as food and unleashed ghostly shadows while the Chen Family members rose as controlled puppets.
• Master Yuan Jue tried to flee with the monks, but Chen Hongye's domain trapped them and drew them back into the fight.
• Lin Chuqiao identified the surrounding mist and darkness as a domain, while Fang Cheng stood untouched as the ghostly shadows circled him without approaching.

Fang Cheng shattered Chen Hongye’s defenses with a supersonic punch, sending him crashing through the altar and greenhouse. Chen Hongye rose from the ruins badly injured and demanded to know how Fang Cheng had gained such monstrous physical strength.

• Fang Cheng dismissed Chen Hongye’s Soul-Snatching Demonic Shadow and challenged him to a physical fight.
• Chen Hongye mocked Fang Cheng and invited him to attack, confident in his hardened body.
• Fang Cheng launched himself beyond the sound barrier and struck Chen Hongye with a golden-flamed punch, blasting him through the altar, rockery, and greenhouse.
• The shockwave scattered the ghostly shadows and knocked the controlled Chen Family members, monks, and onlookers to the ground.
• Fang Cheng assessed his injuries and attributed his punch’s force and resilience to his high Physique and the Iron Fist and Qilin Arm skills.
• Chen Hongye climbed from the rubble with a crushed chest, questioned Fang Cheng’s strength, and demanded to know what kind of monster he was.

Fang Cheng pressured Chen Hongye for the truth about his father’s death, but agreed to negotiate rather than destroy the possessed body and lose his only lead. Chen Hongye began answering and revealed that Fang Shijie had belonged to an organization called Utopia.

• Fang Cheng accused Chen Hongye of knowing suspicious details about Fang Shijie and used the threat of another powerful punch to press him for answers.
• Chen Hongye warned that destroying his possessed body would let his soul escape and take the truth about Fang Shijie's death with it.
• Fang Cheng offered to let Chen Hongye leave if he revealed the truth, and Chen Hongye accepted while silencing Chen Xu'an with a remote attack.
• Fang Cheng asked how Chen Hongye knew his father, and Chen Hongye claimed they had been friends before asking Fang Cheng to join his organization.
• Chen Hongye revealed that Fang Shijie had joined an organization called Utopia.

Chen Hongye recounted how Utopia split over cooperating with the Military Government, and said Fang Shijie's death followed a betrayal during the crackdown. Pressed for a name, Chen Hongye agreed to share what he knew inside his Mental Secret Realm, and Fang Cheng prepared to enter it.

• Chen Hongye described Utopia's ideal of an equal world and explained that its members split over whether to cooperate with the Military Government.
• Chen Hongye said the pro-government faction staged the Guangwu Gate shooting case, then betrayed Utopia's core members after the New Government took power.
• Chen Hongye claimed Fang Shijie died in a fire to protect Utopia's members after a traitor exposed the organization, but he refused to identify the culprit at first.
• Fang Cheng demanded the name of either the surrender faction's leader or the traitor who betrayed his father, and Chen Hongye agreed to tell him privately.
• Lin Chuqiao warned Fang Cheng to be cautious, while Pan Wendi and Lark agreed to guard his body as he entered Chen Hongye's Mental Secret Realm.
• Fang Cheng accepted Chen Hongye's offer and asked how to enter the Mental Secret Realm.

Fang Cheng entered Xuan Zhen’s Soul Devouring Domain expecting to learn the name behind the Guangwu Gate shooting case, but Xuan Zhen trapped him and revealed he intended to devour Fang Cheng’s soul and take his body. Xuan Zhen admitted he had been one of the main culprits in the shooting, leaving Fang Cheng bound and at his mercy.

• Chen Hongye taught Fang Cheng the Contact Cipher, and they entered Chen Hongye’s Mental Secret Realm while Lin Chuqiao, Pan Wendi, and Lark guarded Fang Cheng’s body.
• Fang Cheng arrived at the bone-filled secret realm and met Chen Hongye, who introduced himself as Xuan Zhen.
• Xuan Zhen used the realm’s chains to bind Fang Cheng to the Bone Altar and revealed that he had refined it into a Soul Devouring Domain.
• Fang Cheng failed to escape the domain as Xuan Zhen explained that he planned to devour Fang Cheng’s soul and occupy his body.
• Fang Cheng asked about the Guangwu Gate shooting case, and Xuan Zhen admitted he had been one of its main culprits.

Bound on an altar in Xuan Zhen’s Soul Devouring Domain, Fang Cheng learned that Xuan Zhen had helped kill witnesses and his father’s allies, betrayed the organization’s egalitarian faction, and conspired with the New Government. Xuan Zhen threatened to take Fang Cheng’s body, but Fang Cheng revealed that he was not afraid and unleashed a far more terrifying aura.

• Xuan Zhen admitted that he had helped kill witnesses, investigators, and two members who had been close to Fang Cheng’s father.
• Xuan Zhen explained that Utopia sought aberrant domination, had cooperated with Feng Zhonglin, and later helped the New Government take power through the Guangwu Gate incident.
• Xuan Zhen revealed that Fang Cheng’s father, Fang Shijie, had been known as the Midnight Red Devil, while claiming he did not know who had betrayed him.
• Xuan Zhen declared that he would resurrect through Fang Cheng’s body and threatened to torment him and take care of his mother, friends, and girlfriend afterward.
• Fang Cheng appeared to tremble in fear, then calmly told Xuan Zhen that he was afraid Xuan Zhen would run away and unleashed a tremendous baleful aura.

Fang Cheng broke free of Xuan Zhen’s Soul Devouring Domain, resisted its attacks, and turned his mental power against the realm itself. He shattered the domain and exposed Xuan Zhen’s weakened Spiritual Body, then raised his fist as the collapsing space blazed around them.

• Fang Cheng activated Overlord Body, broke the Soul Lock Chains, and smashed Xuan Zhen’s Boning Knife with a punch.
• Fang Cheng battered Xuan Zhen’s Spiritual Body until it burst into Ghostly Shadows, but Xuan Zhen used the domain to reconstitute himself.
• Xuan Zhen unleashed Ten Thousand Ghosts Paying Homage, but Fang Cheng’s Golden Flames and resistance to negative energy burned away the attack.
• Fang Cheng released Ghost Back and used his mental power to destroy the Bone Altar and batter the walls of the Soul Devouring Domain.
• Xuan Zhen pleaded for mercy as Fang Cheng punched through the blood-colored vortex, causing the domain to collapse and revealing Xuan Zhen’s weakened true form.
• Fang Cheng appeared before Xuan Zhen and raised his fist as light blazed and space collapsed.

Fang Cheng emerged from his battle in Chen Hongye’s Mental Secret Realm, destroying the Evil Spirit and ending the supernatural threat at Chen Family Manor. As the Chen Family cremated Chen Hongye’s remains again, Fang Cheng and Lin Chuqiao held hands, while his search for Utopia’s traitors and his missing relatives remained unresolved.

• Lin Chuqiao sensed that Fang Cheng was growing stronger, and golden flames erupted around him as the dark curtain over the estate cracked apart and the ghosts vanished.
• Fang Cheng woke and said he had destroyed the Evil Spirit inside Chen Hongye’s Mental Secret Realm.
• Chen Xu'an thanked Fang Cheng, and Master Yuan Jue called him a Dharmapala Arhat descended from the Buddha’s seat.
• Fang Cheng ordered the Chen Family to cremate Chen Hongye’s body again and hold a Water-Land Dharma Assembly, wary of another hidden threat.
• Lin Chuqiao held Fang Cheng’s hand as he reflected on his remaining goals, including finding Utopia’s traitors and learning what had happened to his uncle and the professor.

The professor and Li Dingjian tracked Xuan Zhen to a hidden Miao village and discovered that the Myriad Soul Mother Gu Pool sustained his wounded soul. After Xuan Zhen escaped a battle with Fang Cheng and returned to the pool, the professor and Li Dingjian seized their chance to confront him.

• The professor explained that he and Li Dingjian had followed clues from the Chen Family Gu-poisoning Case to Xuan Zhen's hidden village and identified the Mother Gu Pool as his source of power.
• The professor sensed the villagers being summoned, and he and Li Dingjian followed them to the guarded cave carrying bags of explosives.
• The two entered the cave and saw the villagers sacrifice blood to the pool while Xuan Zhen drew on its power during a battle in the Mental Secret Realm.
• When the pool's energy surged back and the altar cracked, the professor concluded Xuan Zhen had lost and sent Li Dingjian to plant explosives.
• Xuan Zhen revealed that he had survived Fang Cheng by using a substitute technique and returned to the pool, but the professor appeared on the altar and addressed him.

Ye Zhi Ren confronted Xuan Zhen in the hidden Myriad Soul Mother Gu Pool and killed him to avenge the brothers lost seventeen years earlier. After Li Dingjian destroyed the altar with explosives, Ye Zhi Ren worried that Xuan Zhen’s death might bring the Leader of Utopia or other consequences closer.

• Ye Zhi Ren revealed his identity to Xuan Zhen and explained that he had spent seventeen years preparing to avenge the dead brothers.
• Xuan Zhen attacked Ye Zhi Ren with blood spears and a giant maw, but Ye Zhi Ren’s overwhelming Mental Power shattered the assault and suppressed his wounded soul.
• Ye Zhi Ren poured industrial quicklime into the Blood Pool until Xuan Zhen and the Mother Ghostworm were destroyed.
• Li Dingjian detonated explosives that demolished the bone altar and solidified Blood Pool.
• Ye Zhi Ren warned Li Dingjian that Xuan Zhen’s death might draw the Leader of Utopia or affect Chen Hongye’s physical body.

Ye Zhi Ren and Li Dingjian destroyed Xuan Zhen’s soul anchor and planned to clear the villagers of ghostworms, while Fang Cheng’s group searched the Chen Family for signs that Xuan Zhen had survived. After the search found no abnormalities, they realized Chen Qiming was missing and could not reach him.

• Ye Zhi Ren explained that Xuan Zhen might have left a remnant in his controlled victims, then took Li Dingjian to clear the villagers of ghostworms without killing them.
• Lin Chuqiao used her ability to draw the destroyed Bone Altar and warned that Xuan Zhen might still survive through people he had controlled.
• Fang Cheng and his companions discussed the possibility of Xuan Zhen’s survival, and Lin Chuqiao promised to help him investigate the connection to Utopia and his father.
• Chen Xu'an brought the Chen Family members in Emerald City to the hospital, where Fang Cheng and Chen Xu'an found no abnormal signs among them.
• Lin Chuqiao and Lark noticed that Chen Qiming was absent, and Chen Xu'an repeatedly called him without getting an answer.

Lin Chuqiao warned that Chen Qiming was in danger, leading Fang Cheng and the others to Haoting Hotel, where an old spirit possessed him. Xuan Zhen struggled to control Chen Qiming's body just as the group broke into the suite.

• Lin Chuqiao claimed Chen Qiming faced bloody misfortune linked to an evil spirit, so Fang Cheng led her, Lark, Pan Wendi, and Chen Xu'an to Haoting Hotel.
• At the hotel, Chen Qiming woke and heard a voice impersonating his deceased grandfather, which persuaded him to open a window.
• A chilling force entered Chen Qiming, allowing Xuan Zhen to possess his body and resolve to hide from Ye Zhi Ren and Utopia.
• Chen Qiming's consciousness resisted Xuan Zhen, who suppressed it while Chen Xu'an and the others knocked at the suite door.
• Lin Chuqiao sensed the Evil Spirit's Aura growing stronger, and Fang Cheng kicked open the suite door as the group rushed in.

Xuan Zhen was exposed as the Evil Spirit possessing Chen Qiming after Fang Cheng’s mental pressure shattered his disguise. As the group cornered him, a powerful consciousness awakened in Chen Qiming’s body, and Fang Cheng kicked him through the suite’s window, only for him to stop in midair.

• Xuan Zhen tried to pass himself off as Chen Qiming, using private family memories to persuade the Chen Family members that he was genuine.
• Lin Chuqiao proposed a mental examination, and Fang Cheng’s pressure forced Xuan Zhen to reveal his aged voice and true identity.
• Surrounded by the group, Xuan Zhen offered Fang Cheng information about Utopia and That Lord in exchange for his life, but Fang Cheng refused.
• Xuan Zhen cried out for his lord, and a vast, sacred consciousness awakened inside Chen Qiming, blasting back the people who rushed him.
• Fang Cheng attacked before the consciousness could fully take control, kicking Chen Qiming through the suite’s window, but the body stopped in midair.