Chapter Summaries

Wenren Sheng began studying defensive skills as cultivation accelerated and the approaching crisis drew nearer. He selected five skills to cultivate, ending with Limb Severance Survival Art.

• Wenren Sheng set aside the Otherworldly Emergence opportunities and focused on studying skills and techniques.
• Wenren Sheng chose Otherworldly Force Field Art, which could defend against many forms of material harm but consumed enormous Alien Power.
• Wenren Sheng selected Mysterious Evasion Art, whose essence he had learned during an illusory naval battle training exercise.
• Wenren Sheng ranked Etherealization Art third, recognizing its power to evade material attacks and its risk of mental corruption.
• Wenren Sheng chose Tenacity Art to strengthen his resistance to mental attacks, drawing on memories of people who endured despair.
• Wenren Sheng named Limb Severance Survival Art as the fifth defensive skill he intended to cultivate.

Wenren Sheng trained in five Defense System skills before taking up his role as chief judge for the Eastern Continent Otherworldly Qualification Exam. After inspecting examinees in Eastwater and Jiangnan, he raised his Mystery Points limit to 592.

• Wenren Sheng studied and trained in five Defense System skills, though he remained far from mastering them, especially the Etherealization Art.
• Wenren Sheng received authority as chief judge to inspect examinees across seven regions and sent his Ruyi Puppet to Jiangnan District while he stayed in Eastwater District.
• Wenren Sheng toured the examination venue and found that new Otherworldly Users had progressed much further than examinees in the past.
• Wenren Sheng conducted spot checks in Eastwater District and gained ten Mystery Points, raising his limit to 572.
• Wenren Sheng used his Ruyi Puppet to inspect special examinees in Jiangnan District and gained twenty more Mystery Points, bringing his limit to 592.

Wenren Sheng discovered that candidate Jin Bao secretly possessed two Otherworldly Seeds and had used Expert Level Disguise Art to conceal his involvement in his companions’ deaths. Jin Bao was taken for a Scene Retrospection, while Wenren Sheng explained how he had uncovered the scheme.

• Wenren Sheng sensed something suspicious about Jin Bao while inspecting the examination grounds and ordered him to undergo an inspection.
• Jin Bao tried to flee, but an Otherworldly Expert seized him.
• Wenren Sheng detected that Jin Bao had two Otherworldly Seeds, including the Seed of Greed, and Jin Bao admitted he had watched Meng Gang and two others die before activating it.
• Wenren Sheng explained that Jin Bao’s Expert Level Disguise Art had likely hidden his presence during the Scene Retrospection investigation.
• The Otherworldly Expert took Jin Bao for a Scene Retrospection, and Jin Bao’s companions realized he had concealed his role in the deaths.

Wenren Sheng learned how Jin Bao had obtained a Seed of Greed and decided to ask the Patrol Division to investigate how Jin Bao and Liu Jian could possess two Otherworldly Users. After discussing a Brain-Plugged technology with Director An, he heard the mysterious voice again and resolved to use Spirit Communication Art to find its source.

• Wenren Sheng learned that Jin Bao had watched three men kill one another under the influence of a Seed of Greed, then used Disguise Art to hide his role and claimed the Otherworldly User.
• Wenren Sheng noticed that Jin Bao and Liu Jian each possessed two Otherworldly Users and asked the Patrol Division to research how they could do so.
• Director An told Wenren Sheng about a Brain-Plugged tube that kept a person's mind absolutely calm, and Wenren Sheng supported using it elsewhere rather than on their land.
• The mysterious voice returned and urged Wenren Sheng to join it, but Wenren Sheng rejected it and decided to cultivate Spirit Communication Art to discover its true form.

Wenren Sheng hired Stone Flower on the High Mountain to teach him the Spirit Communication Art and prove he was qualified to learn it. He passed her first test, and she began presenting a more dangerous spirit for the next one.

• Wenren Sheng sought a Spirit Communication Art teacher rather than risk using Prophecy Art to investigate the mysterious voice.
• Stone Flower on the High Mountain agreed to teach Wenren Sheng for seven million and met him in a Conference Room.
• Stone Flower explained that mastering the art required defenses against dangerous beings and tested Wenren Sheng with an Entry Level Faceless Man.
• The Faceless Man exploded when it tried to imitate Wenren Sheng, and Stone Flower accepted that he was qualified to learn the art.
• Stone Flower summoned a white flower bud for a second test and warned Wenren Sheng that it could make the weak faint or eat those who questioned it.

Wenren Sheng tested Stone Flower’s mysterious flower bud and began learning the Spirit Communication Art from her. After deciding not to use the bud as a regular communication target, he continued studying Stone Flower’s verified entities and methods.

• Stone Flower gave the flower bud pale blue mist, but it failed to bloom, so Wenren Sheng sent it his purple mist and made it bloom.
• Wenren Sheng asked Little Bloom who the most perfect man in the world was, and it swallowed Stone Flower before spitting her out unharmed.
• Stone Flower confirmed Wenren Sheng was qualified to learn the Spirit Communication Art and explained how to make requests safely and use rapid communication methods.
• Stone Flower recommended Little Bloom as a communication target, but Wenren Sheng called it stupid, causing it to wither before he softened his words and revived it.
• Stone Flower explained that Little Bloom ate questioners out of shame when it could not answer, then introduced other tested entities and began a night of lessons with Wenren Sheng.

Wenren Sheng finished his examination work, discovered unusual abilities among several examinees, and learned that Otherworldly Expert evaluations would become stricter. After learning the Spirit Communication Art, he asked Giant Stone about the voice in his mind and received the cryptic answer “Restless mind.”

• Wenren Sheng discovered that Mu Yipeng’s Otherworldly Ability alternated between two attributes every three hours and told him about it.
• Wenren Sheng identified He Liyu’s rare Seed of Slaughter and noted that the Patrol Division was closely observing her.
• The Otherworldly Qualification Exam ended with a notice introducing merit-value assessments and stricter standards for evaluating Otherworldly Experts.
• Wenren Sheng completed his Chief Judge duties, learned the Spirit Communication Art, and reached a Mystery Points cap of 717.
• Wenren Sheng contacted Giant Stone and asked where the voice in his mind came from, and Giant Stone answered, “Restless mind.”

Wenren Sheng learned from Stone Flower that many Peeping Toms were trying to corrupt him, then heard how rising demand for Otherworldly Users had made their skills increasingly valuable. At Aomori University, Zhao Han was asked to use her abilities to investigate a company crisis for ten million, but she had not yet decided whether to help.

• Wenren Sheng asked the giant stone who was spying on him, and it answered that there were too many Peeping Toms to count.
• Stone Flower explained that Wenren Sheng’s dazzling Spiritual Candlelight attracted Peeping Toms and said the giant stone had answered unusually quickly.
• Wenren Sheng saw Stone Flower off and reflected that she had used the tuition arrangement mainly to establish a connection with him.
• Molly asked Zhao Han to identify which of her family company’s shareholders was harming the business, offering ten million for her help.
• Zhao Han hesitated because of past lessons and wanted advice before agreeing, while Molly and Gao Wei discussed their family’s crisis and the influence wealth could not buy.

Zhao Han received Wenren Sheng’s permission to use Prophetic Retrospection to earn money, provided she stayed within the law, and quickly earned ten million helping Molly’s family. Meanwhile, Molly and Master Mo discussed the growing divide between Otherworldly Users and ordinary people, ending uncertain about the Eastern Continent’s future.

• Wenren Sheng told Zhao Han she could use her abilities to earn money because she could now protect herself, but warned her not to disrupt ordinary society or break regulations.
• Zhao Han reviewed Molly’s family’s investigation materials, used Prophetic Retrospection to record evidence, and received ten million in compensation.
• Molly’s family’s evidence revealed that minority shareholders had siphoned business from the parent company through their own firms, potentially allowing the family to recover nearly one billion in damages.
• Zhao Han looked for a home in Eastwater and realized that even her ten-million reward could not buy a nearby villa.
• Master Mo and Molly discussed accepting businesses from the Outer Domain, the difficulty of becoming Otherworldly Users, and the unstable future of the Eastern Continent.

Wenren Sheng traveled with his parents to seek instruction from Lou Nan, only to learn through Wenren De’s divination that the old master was dead. He sent his Ruyi Puppet into the mountain villa to investigate and watched as Lou Nan’s great-granddaughter Lou Xiaoxian welcomed it inside.

• Wenren Sheng accepted Wu Liansong’s recommendation to study Defense System skills under Lou Nan and traveled north with Ouyang Ling and Wenren De.
• Wenren De used Big Data Prediction and discovered that Lou Nan’s portrait was a memorial photograph.
• A notification urged Wenren Sheng to seek guidance from the dead, and his parents agreed to investigate the villa rather than immediately report it.
• Wenren Sheng sent his Ruyi Puppet up the mountain, called ahead, and learned that Lou Xiaoxian was expecting him.
• Lou Xiaoxian welcomed the puppet into the mountain villa while Wenren Sheng and his parents watched its experiences through Illusion Art.

Wenren Sheng sent Ruyi to become Lou Nan’s disciple at Snowstorm Villa while secretly investigating the dead man impersonating the old master. After Lou Xiaoxian offered him a secret of immortality in exchange for a customized Otherworldly User, she died beneath the cliff outside his room, leaving Wenren Sheng determined to investigate.

• Ruyi met the seemingly living Lou Nan, who accepted Wenren Sheng as his disciple and gathered Ji Zhenghao, Guan Yi, and the villa’s servants.
• Wenren Sheng used Five Senses to survey the villa and found two other Otherworldly Users, neither of whom seemed to know Lou Nan was dead.
• At dinner, Ji Zhenghao mentioned being sealed away, and Lou Xiaoxian said Lou Nan practiced Grain Avoidance by eating only once a month.
• Lou Xiaoxian visited Wenren Sheng that night and offered to reveal a secret of immortality in exchange for a customized Otherworldly User, but he refused.
• The next morning, a security guard reported that Lou Xiaoxian had fallen to her death below the cliff outside Wenren Sheng’s room, and Wenren Sheng said he would investigate.

Wenren Sheng and the others discovered Lou Xiaoxian's body impaled on a tree below the cliff, and Lou Nan was overcome with grief when he saw her. Wenren Sheng wanted to summon her Soul Fragment, but Ji Zhenghao and Guan Yi urged him to wait for the Patrol Division's investigation, leaving the cause of her death unresolved.

• Wenren Sheng examined the cliffside and noted that Lou Xiaoxian's fall could not be explained by the distance from the railing, while the servants hesitated to discuss the death.
• Wenren Sheng suggested reporting the death to the Public Security Bureau, and the security guard called them.
• Lou Nan found Lou Xiaoxian's body, carried it into the courtyard, and angrily rebuked Ji Zhenghao and Guan Yi when they offered condolences.
• Lou Nan placed Lou Xiaoxian's body in a freezer and sat in a daze, while Ji Zhenghao and Guan Yi refused Wenren Sheng's suggestion to summon her Soul Fragment.
• Wenren Sheng had Ruyi report the death to the Patrol Division, which said investigators would come but might take time.

Wenren Sheng investigated the Snow Cedar where Lou Xiaoxian’s body had appeared and discovered it was a Bizarreness Object that ate people and grew them back. He pieced together that Lou Nan had used his relatives to prolong his life, leaving the story with Wenren Sheng explaining how Lou Xiaoxian became the tree’s victim.

• Chief Chang and Patrol Officer Pang arrived, and Pang claimed Lou Xiaoxian’s body had grown on the Snow Cedar before the officers began investigating.
• Wenren Sheng sent the Ruyi Puppet to inspect the tree and discovered that it was a man-eating, man-growing Bizarreness Object.
• The Ruyi Puppet found a hidden crack beneath the tree that led to a cave filled with roots and bones.
• Wenren Sheng told Wenren De and Ouyang Ling that Lou Nan had used the Snow Cedar and the flesh and blood of close relatives to extend his life.
• Wenren Sheng explained that Lou Xiaoxian had found the secret and entered the cave for evidence, but the tree consumed her before she could expose Lou Nan.

Lou Nan confessed that he had sacrificed Lou Xiaoxian to transform into a tree and extend his life, but the Snow Cedar Tree revealed his motives and took control of him. As the others waited for help outside the villa, the tree killed Lou Nan’s four servants, leaving Wenren Sheng as their only apparent defense.

• Lou Nan confessed that he had committed sins while seeking immortality and explained that he had been unable to move when Lou Xiaoxian died.
• Patrol Officer Pang moved to arrest Lou Nan, but the Snow Cedar Tree spoke from outside and urged him to resist.
• Wenren Sheng led everyone out as the Snow Cedar Tree grew over the villa and formed Lou Nan’s face in its bark.
• Lou Nan admitted he had let Lou Xiaoxian die to complete his transformation, and the tree accused him of pretending otherwise.
• Wenren Sheng told Patrol Officer Pang to contact higher authorities while the others waited outside the villa.
• The Snow Cedar Tree skewered Lou Nan’s four departing servants with its roots, and the group huddled around Wenren Sheng’s Ruyi Puppet.

Wenren Sheng protected the group from the Snow Cedar Tree, but discovered that its apparent destruction was only an escape. He coordinated with the Patrol Division and began using Spirit Communication Art to search for the hidden enemy.

• The Snow Cedar Tree refused to let anyone leave, and Wenren Sheng reassured Ji Zhenghao, Guan Yi, and the others that the situation was under control.
• Wenren Sheng raised a purple force field as the Snow Cedar Tree attacked with roots, while Ruyi transformed into a Fierce Tiger and struck at the tree.
• Wenren Sheng realized the Snow Cedar Tree had escaped rather than died and led everyone down the mountain to arrange a search and seal off the range.
• Wenren Sheng contacted the Patrol Division, considered how to locate the Defense System Master, and activated Spirit Communication Art with a Bluestone Pebble to reach his Giant Stone Bro.

Wenren Sheng learned that Lou Nan was bound somewhere within the North Ice Mountain Range, then confronted him at the ruined Mountain Villa. After showing Lou Nan the souls living in his afterlife village and restoring Lou Xiaoxian's spirit, Wenren Sheng left Lou Nan overwhelmed by the truth.

• Wenren Sheng asked the boulder where Lou Nan's true body was and learned it was somewhere in the mountain range.
• Wenren Sheng sent the Ruyi Puppet into the mountains, where it traced the vast network of roots but could not locate Lou Nan.
• Lou Nan appeared in the roots at the ruined Mountain Villa and defended his immortality and the deaths of his descendants.
• Wenren Sheng showed Lou Nan the Soul Fragments living in his village and summoned Lou Xiaoxian's spirit.
• Wenren Sheng transferred Lou Xiaoxian into the village, and Lou Nan broke down, insisting that what he saw was fake.

Wenren Sheng found and killed Lou Nan after the mountains collapsed, then linked with Lou Nan’s crazed soul to absorb his knowledge. After three days of seclusion, Wenren Sheng gained new skills and improved his abilities, while his parents kept watch over him.

• Chief Chang and Patrol Officer Pang dismissed the mountain-shaking disaster as a Dragon Vein’s metabolism, while Guan Ji and the others fled.
• Wenren Sheng sent the wildcat into the collapsing mountains, found Lou Nan’s fractured face, and tore it free from the roots.
• Wenren Sheng asked Little Flower how to learn from a crazed monster and used the Ruyi Puppet to link his mind with Lou Nan’s soul.
• Wenren Sheng absorbed Lou Nan’s memories and knowledge for three days as Wenren De and Ouyang Ling guarded his body at the hotel.
• Wenren Sheng woke with improved Extraordinary Memory and Defense Art, several new skills, and a Mystery Points limit of 802.

Wenren Sheng handed Lou Nan’s sealed human face over to the Patrol Division, then returned home while absorbing Lou Nan’s knowledge. When an unusual presence appeared in Miken’s East Side, Wenren Sheng investigated and found a First Team using Brain-Plugged technology.

• Wenren Sheng had the Masters seal Lou Nan’s human face and left its disposal to the Patrol Division.
• Wenren Sheng returned home with his parents and absorbed Lou Nan’s knowledge while removing the personal imprints from it.
• Wenren Sheng sensed an extraordinary presence in Miken’s East Side through Big Cat, but Milia said her team was occupied pursuing a Demon.
• Wenren Sheng sent Big Cat toward the East Side and found a First Team entering a slum district with doctors and nurses.
• Wenren Sheng recognized the team’s headgear as Brain-Plugged technology, activated Big Cat’s Stealth Art, and followed them while recording their actions.

Wenren Sheng watched Miken soldiers force people to undergo intubation, killing those who resisted and calming the survivors with the procedure. He realized the soldiers were using the violence to train newly awakened Otherworldly Users and suppress Anomalies, then had Big Cat follow an old man who had been intubated.

• Miken soldiers rounded up residents and shot a man who refused intubation, declaring that potential infection sources had to be eliminated.
• The soldiers killed people who resisted or tried to flee, until the survivors submitted to intubation and became abruptly calm.
• Wenren Sheng used Big Cat’s senses to identify newly awakened Otherworldly Users among the armed personnel and concluded the violence was training them while suppressing Anomalies.
• Nurses gave the intubated residents Food Stamps, and the survivors left without reacting to their dead companions.
• Wenren Sheng had Big Cat follow an old man who had been weeping over a Black man before intubation changed his demeanor.

Wenren Sheng dismissed the Brain Whisperer and woke from a nightmare on the plane, only to find that a bird strike had left the aircraft out of control. He used his Mysterious Power to slow the plane and stabilize its descent over a forest.

• Wenren Sheng returned Big Cat to Bauer's home after observing Brain-Plugged people in the slums of Minsk City.
• The Brain Whisperer accused Wenren Sheng of being heartless, but Wenren Sheng told it to leave his mind and went to sleep.
• Wenren Sheng dreamed of a snake emerging from a travel bag, then woke on the plane and wondered whether absorbing Lou Nan's knowledge had caused the nightmare.
• A bird struck the cockpit windshield, disrupting the controls and sending the plane into a dangerous descent.
• Wenren Sheng wrapped the aircraft in Purple Mist, slowed it by applying the brakes with his Alien Power, and stabilized its descent over a coniferous forest.