Chapter Summaries

After introducing Wenren Sheng to powerful figures in the fighting world, Wu Liansong watched as Wenren Sheng and Wang Wenwen investigated the death of a Happy Village player. The recordings revealed the player’s family had profited from his death after his father’s abuse caused it, and Wu Liansong went after Wang Wenwen to teach her martial arts.

• Wu Liansong introduced Wenren Sheng to influential figures, and Wenren Sheng joked that his time to soar had finally come.
• Wang Wenwen told Wenren Sheng that an Internal Testing player had died and showed him a video of Director Zhang bringing the player’s family compensation.
• Wenren Sheng said the game illusion realm was unlikely to have caused the death, and Wang Wenwen showed him a second recording of the family dividing the money.
• The recordings revealed that the Old Man’s abuse had caused Wang Dagang’s death, and Wenren Sheng advised Wang Wenwen not to draw conclusions before enough facts emerged.
• Wu Liansong suggested that Wang Wenwen learn martial arts, and Wenren Sheng said she would follow Wu Liansong’s lead if he could help her.

Xie Cangyue rejected Yan Ze’s attempt to buy shares in the Xie family’s Green Environmental Mysterious Economy and sent Xie Linghui and Xie Yanjie to arrange overseas labor. In Dongshui City, Wang Cuiyan pushed Wenren Sheng and Wu Liansong to expand Tianxing Club’s project and training operations, leaving Wu Liansong wondering if he would be left behind.

• Yan Ze offered Xie Cangyue Sole Supremacy Society’s backing in exchange for shares, but Xie Cangyue refused and said the business could move overseas.
• Yan Ze warned Xie Cangyue about his status as the Xie Family Ancestral Seed before leaving the estate.
• Xie Cangyue told Xie Linghui and Xie Yanjie to seek a labor partnership in Southern India, and Xie Yanjie agreed after he offered a larger bonus and stock options.
• At Tianxing Club, Wang Cuiyan criticized Wenren Sheng and Wu Liansong’s work pace and proposed expanding the Project Department into three groups.
• Wang Cuiyan recommended sorting trainees into fast, middle, and slow classes and recruiting nationwide, while Wu Liansong worried he might become the club’s weakest link.

Wang Cuiyan reorganized the company’s work and planned to expand its training program, with Wenren Sheng agreeing to teach and develop skills for different roles. After she left, Wenren Sheng discovered Wu Liansong had a substantial stack of Merit Coupons from the Sole Supremacy Society.

• Wang Cuiyan told Wenren Sheng and Wu Liansong that she would become Executive Deputy General Manager and deputy manager of the Project Department, then discussed ways to improve efficiency.
• Wenren Sheng proposed assembly-line work and expanding student recruitment, explaining that his Teaching Skill could rapidly train students but had limited uses.
• Wenren Sheng said he wanted to learn more mysterious skills so he could train students for specialized roles, while Wu Liansong warned him against learning too broadly.
• Wang Cuiyan agreed to expand the tutoring classes and enrollment, and Wenren Sheng accepted her plan while declining to become principal.
• After Wang Cuiyan left, Wenren Sheng teased Wu Liansong about his finances, and Wu revealed a stack of Merit Coupons given to him by friends.

Wenren Sheng secured two weeks of leave to study soul-related Mystery Skills, but learned that Wu Shanshan could not teach him her Soul Caller profession. He found instruction at the Patrol Division’s training ground, where Teacher Qin brought him along to investigate a suspected serial killer in Beidu City.

• Wenren Sheng admired the unusual historical details in President Zhao’s copy of Along the River During the Qingming Festival and noticed that one of the office chairs was missing.
• Wenren Sheng requested two weeks of leave to learn skills he could teach new trainees, and President Zhao approved it.
• Wenren Sheng asked Wu Shanshan to teach him Soul Caller skills, but she explained that her profession was unique to her Otherworldly Seed and suggested related Mystery Skills instead.
• Wenren Sheng enrolled at the Patrol Division’s Mystery Skill Training Ground and met Teacher Qin, an instructor specializing in soul-related skills.
• Teacher Qin received an assignment to assist with a suspected Overaged serial killer case in Beidu City and invited Wenren Sheng to learn basic soul skills through on-site instruction.

Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin traveled to Beidu City to investigate a serial murder case in which victims vanished, leaving only large amounts of blood behind. They arrived at a blood-soaked crime scene, where Teacher Qin prepared to demonstrate his Spirit Calling Art as Wenren Sheng observed.

• Wenren Sheng asked Teacher Qin whether a complete soul could be summoned, and Teacher Qin explained that Summoning Art could only retrieve broken Soul Fragments.
• Tian Lihao and Beiye Lu met Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin at the airport and explained that the serial murder victims had disappeared, though DNA tests identified their blood at the scenes.
• Tian Lihao told them that the killer had avoided most Video Recordings and left no physical traces, leading investigators to suspect an Overaged individual with residual Alien Power.
• The group traveled to the home of a sixty-seven-year-old landlord, where Beiye Lu described the victim's life and the building's former tenants.
• Wenren Sheng sensed old blood and coldness throughout the building, while Teacher Qin warned that the preserved scene's Resentful Energy might become a miniature natural disaster.
• Teacher Qin invited Wenren Sheng to begin a practical lesson at the crime scene.

Teacher Qin demonstrated Mystic Soul Summoning, but his ritual failed to reveal the elderly victim’s death until Wenren Sheng infused it with Alien Power. The recovered memory showed that a Calamity Artifact killed the man from a distance, leaving the investigators with a new lead.

• Teacher Qin drew a peony-shaped Summoning Ritual and used blood powder and Alien Power to summon the elderly victim’s Soul Fragment.
• The illusion showed the victim arguing with his ex-wife and son, then promising to marry Huizi before it shattered at the moment of his death.
• Wenren Sheng infused the ritual with his own Alien Power, restoring the victim’s final memories.
• The recovered scene showed a Bone-Removing Dagger attacking the victim remotely, devouring his flesh, and flying away through the door.
• Beiye Lu realized the killer had never needed to enter the scene, while Tian Lihao and Teacher Qin identified the dagger as a Calamity Artifact.

After the peony disaster was contained, Wenren Sheng joined Teacher Qin at Tian Lihao’s estate and asked him to explain the Mystic Illusion Art. Using Wenren Sheng’s Alien Power, Teacher Qin created an image of Beiye Lu entering an inn, leaving them to observe what the deputy would do next.

• Tian Lihao sent Beiye Lu to prepare a ritual to track the disaster artifact and invited Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin to his family estate.
• At the estate, Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin ate, watched Xiaohe perform on the guzheng, and then settled into a guest courtyard.
• Wenren Sheng told Teacher Qin he wanted to observe Beiye Lu because he believed the deputy already had a suspect in mind.
• Teacher Qin drew a flower-shaped Mystic Illusion Art ritual and explained how rituals guide Alien Power and resonate with the mysterious world.
• Wenren Sheng supplied his Alien Power to the ritual, which showed Beiye Lu walking through an Island Country-style residential district and entering Yoshino House.

Wenren Sheng tracked Rokujiro to Nostalgia Stone, where the serial killer tried to attack a couple with the Bone-Removing Dagger. Beiye Lu stopped him, and the chapter ended with Beiye slapping Rokujiro after he mocked him.

• Beiye Lu questioned Yoshino Ryohei and learned that Rokujiro often visited Nostalgia Stone.
• Wenren Sheng’s illusion with Teacher Qin collapsed as his Alien Power ran low, and Teacher Qin explained how mystical rituals could be made reusable.
• Wenren Sheng traveled to Nostalgia Stone and waited until evening, when the Seed of Mystery identified the Bone-Removing Dagger’s presence nearby.
• Rokujiro confronted Taro and Motokawa and attacked them with the Bone-Removing Dagger.
• Beiye Lu stopped Rokujiro, crushed his right hand, and argued with him about the harm his killings would bring to East Island people.
• Rokujiro taunted Beiye Lu about his position, and Beiye Lu slapped him.

Beiye Lu killed Rokujiro after the man blamed Divine Land for the island’s troubles, and Wenren Sheng identified the dagger as a Calamity Artifact before returning it. The case was set to be reported and the dagger handed over, while Wenren Sheng learned of rising waves at the Great Sea Eye and finished his visit to Beidu City.

• Beiye Lu argued with Rokujiro about the island’s relationship with Divine Land, then killed him and disposed of his body in the sea.
• Wenren Sheng examined the Bone-Removing Dagger, received a Mystery Points notification, and returned it to Beiye Lu without reluctance.
• Wenren Sheng studied Teacher Qin’s lesson, then attended a dinner where Tian Lihao praised the investigators and guests discussed rising waves at the Great Sea Eye.
• Teacher Qin told Wenren Sheng that Tian Lihao planned to blame the incident on the Calamity Artifact and recommend tighter controls on outsiders, while the dagger would be purified and remade as a special weapon.
• Tian Lihao showed Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin around Beidu City, and Wenren Sheng bought local specialties and mailed them home.

After receiving gifts from Wenren Sheng, Wang Wenwen agreed to help him study Magic Painting, and he built an intense schedule that earned him the mysterious skill Mystic Eagle Eye. When his vacation ended, President Zhao and Wang Cuiyan called him in to discuss further dividing the training classes.

• Wenren Sheng gave his family and friends gifts, then asked Wang Wenwen to teach him Magic Painting.
• Wenren Sheng made a detailed study schedule, and Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen sneaked into his room to inspect it.
• Wenren Sheng followed his schedule throughout vacation, mastered Mystic Eagle Eye, and practiced the basic techniques of other skills.
• Wenren Sheng returned to work in October, and President Zhao called him to the general manager's office.
• Wang Cuiyan told Wenren Sheng that the fast, intermediate, and slow classes would be subdivided further.

Wenren Sheng, Wang Cuiyan, and President Zhao discussed formalizing how Tianxing Club would allocate training resources to trainees likely to stay with the company. Wenren Sheng secured a role for his father, Wenren De, in the prophecy process, while President Zhao called Zhao Han to encourage her to continue her studies alongside Alien cultivation.

• Wang Cuiyan and President Zhao explained that the company would assess trainees' futures and character before deciding how much to invest in them.
• President Zhao described how the Sole Supremacy Society had poached a trainee from Director Peng, souring him on youth training.
• Wenren Sheng recommended his father, Wenren De, to help prepare the trainee list, saying he could obtain Master Level prophecy power in five months.
• Wang Cuiyan and President Zhao agreed to wait five months and support Wenren De's preparation with company resources.
• After the meeting, President Zhao called Zhao Han, who said her Alien cultivation had slowed while she focused on her final year of high school.
• President Zhao urged Zhao Han not to drop out, explaining that ordinary learning supported Alien cultivation and that specializing too early could cause problems with Alien fusion.

Wenren Sheng spoke with Wenren De and Ouyang Ling about work and their future before returning to his own duties. Meanwhile, Xie Yanjie and Xie Linghui chose Antam's family as their local partner for a scheme targeting Otherworldly Users, with the story ending as they celebrated the profits they expected to make.

• Wenren Sheng told Wenren De that he had recommended him for a company job if he recovered Master Ding's Otherworldly User, but Wenren De resisted the idea of working.
• Wenren Sheng discussed Ouyang Ling's demanding law firm work and asked her to keep an eye on Wenren De.
• Xie Linghui and Xie Yanjie toured the slums beside a luxury hotel with Antam and heard his proposal to supply workers for their plan.
• Antam's companion gave Xie Yanjie a diamond card, and Xie Yanjie chose Antam's family as their local partner.
• Antam, Xie Yanjie, and their companions celebrated a plan to profit from Otherworldly Users around the world.

Wenren Sheng arranged a month of painting lessons with the Painting Immortal of the Four Immortals of Song Mountain, and Wu Shanshan and Wang Wenwen joined him. On the way to Mount Song, the group met elderly men seeking a purported five-hundred-year-old immortal who offered health and longevity prescriptions for a steep price.

• Wu Liansong noticed Zhao Han's athletic ability and offered to teach her Fighting Skill, while Wenren Sheng arranged a month of Mystic Painting lessons for five million in tuition.
• Wu Shanshan and Wang Wenwen decided to accompany Wenren Sheng to study painting, while Zhao Han stayed behind because she had just started her final year of high school.
• Wenren Sheng, Wu Shanshan, and Wang Wenwen drove to Mount Song and climbed toward Junji Peak, where the Painting Immortal lived.
• An elderly man told Wenren Sheng that he and his companions had come seeking a five-hundred-year-old immortal who charged two million to meet and ten million for an immortal health prescription.

Wenren Sheng reached the Mu Family’s mountain courtyard, where he discovered that Mu Tianming’s son had used the family’s name to scam elderly men seeking immortality. After agreeing to teach Wenren Sheng painting, Mu Tianming answered the old men’s request for immortality with advice to quit smoking and drinking and keep a regular schedule.

• Wenren Sheng and the old men reached the Mu Family’s private courtyard, where Yun Rui and Yun Qing stopped them.
• Yun Qing and Yun Rui realized Mu Xiaofan had used their grandfather’s account to sell the old men fake talismans and discussed getting their money back.
• Mu Tianming berated Mu Xiaofan for scamming people, then let him off after Old Man Yu and the others pleaded on his behalf.
• Mu Tianming welcomed Wenren Sheng and agreed to teach him painting because of Old Wu.
• When Old Man Yu asked for immortality, Mu Tianming wrote that they should quit smoking and drinking and keep a regular schedule.

Mu Tianming gave the old men the longevity formula, then began teaching Wenren Sheng, Wu Shanshan, and Wang Wenwen about Mystic Painting. He recognized Wu Shanshan’s insight and offered to teach her his Soul Painting, leaving the three to continue the lesson.

• Old Man Yu noticed Mu Xiaofan’s signal and asked Mu Tianming to let the old men stay overnight; Mu Tianming agreed.
• Wenren Sheng showed Mu Tianming his painting skills, and Mu Tianming began teaching the three students about resonating with the mysterious world.
• Mu Tianming painted a frightening figure in the rain and explained how painting fear could help refine Mystic Painting.
• Wenren Sheng saw that Wu Shanshan’s Mystery Points had risen and realized she had come to grow stronger through her Soul Caller profession.
• Wang Wenwen argued that painting should bring comfort and happiness, but Mu Tianming defended fear as a reminder of the struggle for survival.
• Wu Shanshan praised fear-based painting, prompting Mu Tianming to offer to teach her his Soul Painting and potentially pass on his legacy.

Wenren Sheng, Wu Shanshan, and Wang Wenwen studied painting under Mu Tianming for two weeks, until Yunrui Child revealed that Mu Tianming and his father had disappeared. A note reading “Karmic Retribution” led Wenren Sheng to suspect they were in danger and head for Immortal Sound Peak.

• Wenren Sheng spent the night outside the side room while Wang Wenwen hid from the frightening painting and the figures moving through the courtyard.
• Yunrui Child told Wenren Sheng that Old Man Yu and his companions had left, then gave him the note Mu Tianming had written about quitting smoking and drinking.
• Over two weeks, Wenren Sheng and Wu Shanshan improved their painting, while Wu Shanshan’s works repeatedly frightened Wang Wenwen.
• Yunrui Child rushed in and told Wenren Sheng, Wu Shanshan, and Wang Wenwen that Mu Tianming and his father had disappeared, leaving a note that said “Karmic Retribution.”
• Yunrui Child revealed that his father had often visited Zither Devil at Immortal Sound Peak, and Wenren Sheng set out with the others to find them and report the matter to the Patrol Division.

Wenren Sheng and his companions climbed Immortal Sound Peak and encountered a supernatural vision of a mother and child fleeing a mudslide. Wenren Sheng gave them survival advice, and the vision revealed that Mu Xiaofan had once lost his mother in a similar disaster.

• Wang Wenwen and Wu Shanshan disagreed over whether Immortal Sound Peak's two summits resembled a couple or a mother and child.
• Wenren Sheng chose the path to Zi Peak by reading the tracks in the moss, and the group climbed toward the eerie music.
• The music unsettled Wang Wenwen, so Yunrui handed out earplugs as they continued up the mountain.
• The group saw a mother and child fleeing a mudslide, and Yunrui recognized them as his father and grandmother.
• Wenren Sheng told the woman to run sideways and uphill from the mudslide, and she carried her child to safety.
• Mu Xiaofan's voice admitted that his mother had died because he had not known that simple survival advice.

Wenren Sheng exposed Shi Tianyin’s disguise and learned that Mu Tianming and Mu Yunrui’s father were reviving Mu Yunrui’s mother. The group reached the summit, where Old Man Yu and his allies prepared a ritual using people who had volunteered their lifespans.

• Wenren Sheng agreed to confront the Zither Devil after Mu Tianming said Shi Tianyin blocked the way forward.
• Wenren Sheng struck the apparent Mu Tianming and revealed that he was Shi Tianyin in disguise.
• Shi Tianyin said Mu Tianming and Mu Yunrui’s father were reviving Mu Yunrui’s mother, then fled toward the summit.
• Wenren Sheng urged Mu Yunrui to come to terms with his family’s past before pursuing the matter, and Mu Yunrui said he understood.
• Wenren Sheng, Wu Shanshan, Wang Wenwen, and Mu Yunrui reached the summit and saw Old Man Yu’s group surrounding a ritual setup.
• Old Man Yu and another man warned Wenren Sheng not to disrupt their ritual, which used volunteers who had offered their lifespans.

Wenren Sheng and Wang Wenwen confronted Old Man Yu’s group as they tried to use volunteers’ lifespans in a ritual to extend their own lives. They learned the ritual required power from hundreds of thousands of people, but Old Man Yu planned to source cheap lives elsewhere, leaving Mu Yunrui as their only hope of stopping the scheme.

• Wenren Sheng and Wang Wenwen found Mu Tianming, Mu Xiaofan, and volunteers gathered for the lifespan ritual, but the volunteers insisted they had agreed to it for money.
• Old Man Yu showed Wang Wenwen contracts proving the volunteers had been informed, and she swallowed one before he revealed he had many more.
• Wenren Sheng explained that the ritual required power from 300,000 people, prompting Old Man Yu’s companions to plan to buy lives cheaply overseas and repeat it.
• Wang Wenwen realized the Patrol Division had no rule forbidding voluntary lifespan sacrifices, and Wenren Sheng confirmed the old men had prepared for legal objections.
• Wenren Sheng and Wang Wenwen concluded that Mu Yunrui was their only realistic chance to persuade Mu Tianming and Mu Xiaofan to stop.

Mu Yunrui’s threatened suicide made Mu Xiaofan and Mu Tianming reconsider their attempt to revive the dead, and they halted the ritual rather than risk leaving the children alone. As everyone began dismantling the ritual, Shi Tianyin objected to their decision.

• Mu Yunrui awakened to the danger of the ritual and threatened to jump off the cliff unless his father and grandfather stopped it.
• Wenren Sheng urged Mu Xiaofan to put his living children before the dead, and Mu Yunrui said he and Yun Qing would die too if their father and grandfather left them.
• Mu Xiaofan and Mu Tianming ended the ritual after deciding to raise the children and wait longer before trying again.
• Mu Xiaofan silenced the men demanding compensation, and Mu Tianming declared that the matter would end there for the day.
• Shi Tianyin emerged from beneath the cliff and urged Mu Xiaofan to finish what he had started, but everyone began packing up and erasing the ritual.