Chapter Summaries

Jilan learned from Zhao Huaian’s memories that Luo Yan and eleven companions had connections to the Mecha Legion, and he recognized Qing Lian among them. Meanwhile, Luo Yan’s team investigated the parasite victims and prepared to lure out the Heavenly Ghost as the Undercity evacuated residents.

• Meng Ying reported that Zhao Huaian knew Luo You through Mecha Legion Commander Jiao Cheng, and that Luo You had eleven companions.
• Jilan saw Qing Lian in Zhao Huaian’s memories and ordered Meng Ying to investigate where the group was staying.
• Luo Yan and Chu Hao reviewed the autopsy report and concluded that parasites had killed Long Si and the others before melting into black water.
• Luo Yan warned his team that the Heavenly Ghost might have noticed him, while Chu Hao said half the Undercity’s residents had been evacuated.
• Luo Yan and Chu Hao agreed to lure out the Heavenly Ghost after Zhao Huaian and Jian Hongmao met, with Qing Lian as a backup plan, and prepared their team and mechas for battle.
• Luo Yan encouraged his team members and then returned to the Old City.

Ji Ping disguised Meng Ying as Zhou Yuqing so she could infiltrate Mecha Legion Headquarters and obtain Jiao Cheng's memories. Jiao Cheng saw through the disguise, but Meng Ying escaped after exploiting his grief, and he ordered Headquarters sealed.

• Ji Ping used his 'The Emperor's New Clothes' disguise to make Meng Ying look like Zhou Yuqing to everyone else.
• Meng Ying entered Mecha Legion Headquarters, retrieved reports, and used one to get close to Jiao Cheng.
• Meng Ying touched Jiao Cheng and learned about the Tiangang Dragon Riders, Ziyang City's evacuation, and Jiao Cheng's secret.
• Jiao Cheng recognized that Meng Ying was not Zhou Yuqing, but she distracted him by calling out, 'Daddy, don't go!'
• Meng Ying fled Jiao Cheng's office, and he sounded the alarm and ordered Headquarters sealed while warning guards about the impostor.

Meng Ying escaped the Mecha Legion with Ji Ping and learned that Jilan planned to kill Qing Lian and the Human Race teams. Meanwhile, Ji Ping’s group located the spellcaster at the Peninsula arcade and prepared to confront them.

• Ji Ping used his illusion to help Meng Ying slip out of the Mecha Legion unnoticed.
• Meng Ying returned to Jilan and relayed what she had learned about the teams and their objective.
• Jilan decided to kill Qing Lian and the Human Race members, then woke Shatuo and promised him more appetizing food.
• Yang Kui and Murong Xuan monitored the neighborhood with Green Sparrows while playing games at the Peninsula arcade.
• Ji Ping’s group avoided alerting the Green Sparrows, and Fei Li found the spellcaster at the Peninsula arcade.

Ji Ping led Shatuo, Fei Li, and their allies to attack the 'Peninsula' Arcade, where Shatuo overwhelmed Yang Kui and Murong Xuan’s defenses. Fei Li summoned a vast swarm of insects, but a silver barrier suddenly destroyed the swarm, leaving the attackers’ assault unresolved.

• Fei Li warned nearby pedestrians as her insects attacked them, while Ji Ping directed Shatuo toward the arcade.
• Shatuo tore apart Murong Xuan’s martial general and forced his way into the arcade, where he bit off Yang Kui’s left hand.
• Murong Xuan empowered Guandi Wusheng with Divine Talismans, but Shatuo shattered the Wusheng’s saber, and Yang Kui pushed Shatuo back as Murong Xuan escaped through a window.
• Murong Xuan’s protective gear killed dozens of Fei Li’s insects, and Fei Li transformed into a wasp-like creature and summoned a huge swarm to attack him.
• A silver curtain of light rose before Murong Xuan and exploded, destroying countless insects and dispersing Fei Li’s swarm.

The Heavenly Sword Star members rescued Yang Kui and fought Shatuo while Chu Hao faced the hidden enemy Jian Hongmao in a life-stakes gambling challenge. Chu Hao chose an auspicious position and called Jian Hongmao’s first round of guessing high or low.

• Ning Yue and Ning Chen arrived as Fei Li was frozen in an iceberg, and Bai Qixue descended to save Yang Kui from Shatuo.
• Xiao Guizhi carried the unconscious Yang Kui away while Bai Qixue wounded Shatuo, who regenerated and taunted her.
• Chu Hao warned Bai Qixue that Shatuo might be a Heavenly Ghost and ordered the team to evacuate residents and watch for the two missing attackers.
• Jian Hongmao confronted Chu Hao on the rooftop, revealed his Golden Toad form, and proposed gambling their lives through wagers of lifespan.
• Chu Hao used his golden compasses to identify an auspicious position, and Jian Hongmao began a one-year wager with a round of guessing high or low.

Bai? and Zhang Tianyi helped evacuate civilians from the Alert Zone around the Peninsula arcade when Meng Ying attacked Bai? and revealed that her robe let her copy supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, Zhang Tianyi encountered an eerie opera-stage attack and used Divine Speed Draw, Buzhou Wind, to destroy its Paper Figure performers.

• Bai? helped a seemingly injured girl, but the girl stabbed at her and revealed herself as Meng Ying, who could read memories.
• Meng Ying said she knew Bai? was Luo Yan’s girlfriend and intended to kill them, then survived the Headless General’s attack by turning into a black Paper Figure.
• Meng Ying put on a robe painted with opera masks and summoned a black copy of the Headless General, which fought the original to a standstill.
• Zhang Tianyi heard opera music during the evacuation and discovered a stage populated by animated Paper Figures and instruments.
• The Paper Figure performers attacked the crowd as blood-colored smoke, and Zhang Tianyi used Buzhou Wind to scatter the smoke and slice the figures apart.

Zhang Tianyi faced Ji Ping and the Headless Bride as Ji Ping’s illusion became real, while Luo Yan rushed to support the attacked squads and encountered Jealousy in the Old City. Jealousy attacked civilians, and Luo Yan intercepted his first strike before Jealousy targeted another woman.

• Ji Ping introduced himself to Zhang Tianyi and turned the opera stage and Headless Bride into a real threat.
• Luo Yan learned that Yang Kui and Murong Xuan had been attacked, then headed toward the fighting squads as the Old City evacuation began.
• Luo Yan encountered Jealousy, who explained that human emotions were his favorite food.
• Luo Yan ordered civilians to flee, and Jealousy tried to kill a man with his curved sickle.
• Luo Yan blocked Jealousy’s strike, but Jealousy flashed away and swung at a woman.

Luo Yan used his Pure Yang True Fire to resist Ji Lan’s power and protect the people in the street. After destroying Ji Lan’s sweeping tide of black light, Luo Yan struck him with the Skeleton General and sent him flying toward Jiao Cheng’s combat zone.

• Luo Yan’s Pure Yang True Fire repelled Ji Lan’s attempt to influence his mind, and Ji Lan recognized Luo Yan’s potential to become a heavenly god.
• Ji Lan sent black light toward pedestrians, but Luo Yan destroyed the attacks with his Solar Term Sword Light.
• Ji Lan unleashed a vast tide of black light across the street, and Luo Yan shattered it with his Vermilion Heavenly Fire.
• Luo Yan summoned the Skeleton General and struck Ji Lan with its bloodstained saber, blasting him toward the combat zone prepared by Jiao Cheng.

Zhang Tianyi fought Ji Ping’s supernatural manifestations, destroying the bride, paper groom, and Head Lanterns before striking Ji Ping with a lightning-fast saber attack. Ji Ping then revealed that everything was a Manifestation of Heart, leaving Zhang Tianyi surrounded by ghosts and monsters as he tried to determine what was real.

• Zhang Tianyi destroyed the Headless Bride and the floating wedding sedan chair before confronting Ji Ping.
• A paper groom attacked Zhang Tianyi with corpse-pale arms, but Zhang Tianyi cut it apart with his saber.
• Ji Ping sent Head Lanterns to explode around Zhang Tianyi, who used Flash of Lightning to strike through Ji Ping.
• Paper spears suddenly pierced and wounded Zhang Tianyi, while Ji Ping claimed that everything was a Manifestation of Heart and questioned whether the Ji Ping he saw was real.
• Zhang Tianyi closed his eyes as Ji Ping summoned countless ghosts and monsters around him.

Ji Ping was killed by Zhang Tianyi after Zhang used the Heart Sword to interrupt his imagined world. Meanwhile, Bai? confronted Meng Ying, who had copied her memories and abilities, and completely liberated her eerie entities.

• Ji Ping recalled his time in the psychiatric hospital and used his Manifestation of Heart to surround Zhang Tianyi with frightening figures.
• Zhang Tianyi interrupted Ji Ping’s imaginings with the Heart Sword, decapitated him, and dispelled the fog and eerie figures.
• Zhang Tianyi noticed the battle between the Headless General and a black eerie entity, which had matched it in power and technique.
• Meng Ying revealed that she had copied Bai?’s memories, experience, power, and eerie abilities, claiming they were identical.
• Bai? argued that her lived hardships had made her more mentally resilient than Meng Ying, then completely liberated the Dragon Fighting General, Black Nether Heaven, Nine Hells, and Plague Ghost.
• The four liberated eerie entities appeared around Bai?, and their auras left Meng Ying trembling and unable to breathe.

Meng Ying released four fully liberated aberrants and was overwhelmed by their backlash, but she faced her childhood pain and comforted her younger self. Bai? regrouped with the injured Zhang Tianyi, then learned that two Sky Ghosts were in Ziyang City and that Chīgòu was near their combat zone.

• Bai? warned Meng Ying that releasing four fully liberated aberrants could trigger a backlash, but Meng Ying released four of her own to prove she could do the same.
• Meng Ying was battered by the black general and the other aberrants, then faced memories of rejection and reassured her younger self that everyone liked her.
• Bai? recalled her aberrants and met Zhang Tianyi, who had been injured while fighting a blood descendant.
• Bai? learned from Li Yuqing that Yang Kui was out of danger and directed Zhang Tianyi to get treatment while she went to check on Captain Qixue.
• Luo Yan warned over the Walkie-talkie that two Sky Ghosts were in Ziyang City, identified the one nearby as Chīgòu, and advised the team to separate them.

Qing Lian poisoned Shatuo with her Three Lives Mistake while Bai Qixue and True Lord Hidden Sword attacked him. Shatuo survived and fought back, but his perception became disordered, leaving an opening in the battle.

• Qing Lian warned the others that Shatuo was the most troublesome member of the Three Filth Assembly and told them to force him to reveal his true form.
• Qing Lian let Shatuo bite a shed layer of her skin, which carried her Three Lives Mistake and made him retch up blood and organs.
• Bai Qixue summoned True Lord Hidden Sword, whose sword-light tore into Shatuo until he broke through the attack and charged at Bai Qixue.
• Shatuo bit True Lord Hidden Sword's blade and flung both him and Bai Qixue away while Qing Lian's poison continued to harm him.
• Shatuo used his metal-like tongue to block Bai Qixue's sword, but Bai Qixue recognized that the toxin had thrown his perception into chaos.

Bai Qixue and Qing Lian battled Shatuo, whose doctrine let him neutralize Three Lives Mistake and whose bite could tear away divinity. Qing Lian trapped him in a Poison Pool and used Snake Molt to save True Lord Hidden Sword, leaving Shatuo holding a poisoned snakeskin that served as bait for another Hate Curse Technique.

• Bai Qixue and Qing Lian attacked Shatuo, but he resisted their blows and bit away some of True Lord Hidden Sword's divinity.
• Qing Lian explained that Shatuo had likely neutralized Three Lives Mistake and that his higher rank as a titled Sky Demon gave him an advantage.
• Shatuo lunged for True Lord Hidden Sword, but Bai Qixue severed one of his arms and was wounded in the shoulder.
• Qing Lian trapped Shatuo in a Poison Pool and attached a green scale to True Lord Hidden Sword.
• Shatuo swallowed most of the Poison Pool, escaped, and bit down on a snakeskin decoy created by Qing Lian's Snake Molt technique.
• Bai Qixue withdrew True Lord Hidden Sword as Shatuo realized the snakeskin was poisonous bait for another Hate Curse Technique.

Qing Lian wounded Shatuo with a poison spear, prompting him and Jilan to transform into their Ghost Person Stances in separate parts of Ziyang City. As residents were evacuated, Jiao Cheng ordered the Mecha Legion to hold the heavenly demons off for two hours.

• Shatuo swallowed Qing Lian’s Snake Molt, allowing her to trigger the Three Lives Mistake toxin inside him.
• Qing Lian’s Poison Kill Spear burst through Shatuo’s body and damaged his Dao lineage, leaving his wound unable to heal.
• Shatuo called for Jilan, then began forming his Ghost Person Stance as Qing Lian recognized the transformation and Bai Qixue went to retrieve her Xuannü mecha.
• Qing Lian sensed Jilan activating his Ghost Person Stance elsewhere and vanished into an alley while drones relayed both transformations to the Command Hall.
• Jiao Cheng learned that evacuating the remaining Undercity residents would take two hours and ordered the Mecha Legion to keep the heavenly demons from disrupting the evacuation.

Chu Hao faced Jian Hongmao in a high-stakes Texas hold’em match where losing would cost him his remaining lifespan chips. As their gamble continued, Jilan appeared in Ziyang City, and Luo Yan saw the towering Sky Ghost from inside Zhurong.

• Ning Yue and Ning Chen prepared to join the captain aboard Xuannü while Chu Hao stayed behind to finish his game with Jian Hongmao.
• Chu Hao assessed how Jian Hongmao’s gambling ability had blocked his Mystic Arts and forced them to settle their fight through games of chance.
• Chu Hao chose Texas hold’em and raised, hoping an all-in could let him take all of Jian Hongmao’s chips at once.
• Jian Hongmao called Chu Hao’s raise as blood-red lightning struck behind them.
• Jilan emerged among the buildings in Ziyang City, and Luo Yan watched the towering Sky Ghost from Zhurong’s cockpit.

Luo Yan used Zhurong to intercept Chīgòu’s barrage of Nether Collapse Flashes and charged the Heavenly Ghost while Ziyang City evacuated residents. Chīgòu dodged Zhurong’s flaming sword and extinguished its flames with black slime.

• Luo Yan spotted a star-speckled black umbrella shielding Chīgòu from the Primordial Tent and suspected it prevented the tent from detecting him.
• Chīgòu unleashed hundreds of Nether Collapse Flashes across the Undercity, and Luo Yan destroyed them with Zhurong’s Samadhi True Fire—Flame Kill Heavenly Net.
• At Mecha Legion Headquarters, Jiao Cheng ordered the Security Department to accelerate the evacuation as he watched Chīgòu and Shatuo battle Zhurong and Xuannü in separate districts.
• Luo Yan charged at Chīgòu with Zhurong’s flaming Pine Pattern Heavy Sword, but Chīgòu leaped aside and spat black slime that extinguished the sword’s flames.

Luo Yan fought Ji Lan as Ji Lan used the Hate Curse Technique and a black scythe to attack Zhurong. After Luo Yan saved a light-rail train from a black crescent, Ji Lan activated a symbol that stirred hunger in people connected to his Blissful Incense.

• Luo Yan analyzed Ji Lan's inner-layer meridians and noticed the stars on the black umbrella gradually going dark, which he suspected was a timer.
• Ji Lan returned the Chang Li's Fire he had stolen, then used the Heavenly Ghost to spray it at Zhurong before conjuring a black scythe and launching black crescents.
• Luo Yan fought off Ji Lan's attacks with Zhurong and destroyed a black crescent before it could hit a light-rail train carrying evacuees.
• Ji Lan said many people had inhaled his Blissful Incense, then formed a black symbol with his scythe and sent it out.
• A middle-aged man on a bus with Zhao Huaian began trembling and asked if anyone had food.

During the evacuation from the Old City, residents transformed into Plague Ghosts and attacked the convoy, prompting Jiao Cheng to order a lockdown and suppression. As Luo Yan fought Jilan with Zhurong, Bai Tong arrived in the fully liberated form of a Plague Ghost wielding the Red Plague Pot, leaving the battle against the Sky Ghost unresolved.

• A middle-aged evacuee transformed into a Plague Ghost and attacked Zhao Huaian on the bus, while similar outbreaks spread through the evacuation convoy.
• Jiao Cheng saw the attacks through drone footage and ordered the affected area sealed, Advanced-level cultivators deployed, and the Academy notified.
• Luo Yan used Zhurong and Changli to cut through Jilan’s Greedy Ink and wound his shoulder.
• Jilan healed, escaped Luo Yan’s strike, and split the Paper Figure that attacked him with a black crescent from his sickle.
• The Paper Figure reassembled, and Luo Yan recognized it as Bai Tong’s fully liberated Plague Ghost form, armed with the Red Plague Pot.

Bai Qixue, Ning Chen, and Ning Yue fought Shatuo as his strange curse and relentless regeneration overwhelmed their attacks. When Shatuo charged toward the evacuation convoy, they tried to stop him, but he kept rolling forward.

• Bai Qixue probed Shatuo, who ignored her attacks while curiously examining the street and nearby buildings.
• Shatuo used his Hate Curse Technique to blank the minds of Bai Qixue, Ning Chen, and Ning Yue, but True Lord Hidden Sword restored Bai Qixue's clarity, allowing her to wound him with Sword Soul—Release.
• Ning Chen and Ning Yue defended against Shatuo's attack, and Han Fei froze him in an iceberg, but Shatuo broke free and ran toward the evacuation convoy.
• Bai Qixue cut Shatuo apart with Mystic Maiden's River of Stars Sword, but his body immediately regenerated as he charged onward.
• Ning Yue used her Jade Wheel-enhanced frost Mystic Art to raise icebergs in Shatuo's path, but he tripped and began rolling toward the convoy.

Shatuo rolled toward the evacuation convoy and tore through the Mecha Legion’s defenses, devouring Mechas and their pilots. He then targeted the Mecha Legion headquarters, where Jiao Cheng and the command staff realized an attack was imminent.

• Shatuo reached the evacuation convoy as three Mecha Legion squads and their officer moved to defend the civilians.
• Shatuo smashed through the armored roadblocks and Mystic Art barriers, then swallowed the squads’ attacks.
• Shatuo bit apart the officer’s Divine Guard Mecha and body, killing him, and attacked another Mecha and its pilot.
• Shatuo ignored the remaining Mechas and fixed his attention on the Ziyang Underground City Mecha Legion headquarters.
• Jiao Cheng watched Shatuo turn toward the headquarters, and Command Hall staff warned that the Sky Demon was preparing to attack the building.