Chapter Summaries

A burly man led three companions through a dangerous stretch of woods and a bamboo grove toward the abandoned Mountain God Temple, explaining the threats they faced and their chance to become Awakened. They reached the temple safely, where he ordered them to act as Puppet Persons and wait for the second half of the night.

• A young man in a short white shirt thought his soul had left his body, and the burly man dismissed it as a hallucination caused by nearing the Mountain God Temple.
• The group heard hissing above them, and one man looked up, saw a huge snake with a dead person's head, and lost consciousness.
• The burly man told the others to keep walking without looking around, and they passed into a bamboo grove filled with Paper Face Banners.
• The burly man explained that the paper faces held anomalies connected to Awakened who had died in the mountains, and said the companions might become Awakened if the anomalies entered their bodies.
• The burly man led the three companions safely to the dilapidated Mountain God Temple and told them to stay silent, avoid looking, and act as Puppet Persons while they waited for the second half of the night.

Jiang Qiao planned to explore the edge of the River of History while Liu Yuanyuan and Don searched the mountains separately. After they split up, Jiang Qiao studied the failing supernatural barriers and prepared to send his Thunder Spirit clone toward the emptiness at the river’s edge.

• Jiang Qiao decided to investigate the outskirts of the River of History, where he might find its boundary or reach another supernatural place.
• Liu Yuanyuan warned Jiang Qiao that exploring the river was dangerous and suggested they hide or wait to be expelled from it instead.
• Jiang Qiao insisted on exploring and arranged to meet Liu Yuanyuan and Don the next day at a residential complex in Canghai County.
• Don followed Liu Yuanyuan along another path, while Jiang Qiao stayed behind and noticed that the mountain shadows’ monitoring and curses had largely weakened.
• Jiang Qiao sensed true emptiness only a few kilometers ahead and decided that his Thunder Spirit clone was best suited to investigate the river’s edge.

A burly man brought three ordinary people to the Mountain God Temple, hoping they could become Awakened by making agreements with supernatural horrors. As a horror approached through the darkness, the temple’s candles began to dim.

• The burly man burned paper money and a red paper figure, then told the others to rest and hold incense while waiting for a supernatural horror to appear.
• The burly man explained that the Mountain God’s power could restrain horrors and give the ordinary people a chance to become Awakened by making agreements with them.
• The burly man told the White-clothed youth that he would explain what work they owed him only after they became Awakened.
• The darkness outside the temple entrance turned into a solid-seeming black barrier, and a scratching sound approached through the courtyard.
• The burly man said closing the temple doors was pointless and that the danger was normal, while the three ordinary people were too frightened to approach the entrance.
• Several candles near the entrance crackled, flickered, and rapidly dimmed.

Don and Liu Yuanyuan walked through the mountain forest while Liu Yuanyuan explained the hidden realms and rules governing advancement to Ninth Rank and beyond. Don thanked her for clearing up his doubts, and they continued their journey.

• Don asked Liu Yuanyuan what level of strength the woman had, and she said it was above Ninth Rank, in the realm called Divinity Ninth Tier.
• Liu Yuanyuan explained that the Divinity Staircase was the necessary realm between Ninth Rank and Half-God, where a person gradually became an incarnation of the rules.
• Don asked about the hurdle between Eighth Tier and Ninth Rank, and Liu Yuanyuan said Ninth Rank experts controlled rules and could easily kill those below Ninth Rank.
• Liu Yuanyuan explained that reaching Ninth Rank required deconstructing one's paranormal entity and understanding its underlying laws, and that Top Factions could offer guidance to those who earned it.
• Don solemnly thanked Liu Yuanyuan for clearing up his confusion.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don followed a strange mountain path to a graveyard where every coffin was empty and the graves carried a connected Vicious Ghost aura. After Liu Yuanyuan declared the place a trap, she led Don into the darkness beyond the graves, preparing for a fight.

• Liu Yuanyuan and Don noticed the mountain mist, moonlight, and roadside shadows growing faint as they ventured deeper into the woods.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don reached a barren path lined with charred trees and black condolence lanterns, then continued toward a Ghost Domain.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don found a graveyard with fresh offerings before its old graves and a burned Paper Person beside the central mound.
• Liu Yuanyuan kicked open the graves and revealed that every coffin was open and empty.
• Don sensed that the graves had contained Vicious Ghosts whose linked auras could form a whole, and Liu Yuanyuan called the site a trap.
• Liu Yuanyuan entered the darkness beyond the graveyard, and Don followed her.

As the Gate of Ghosts opened between three and five in the morning, a burly man told three companions that surviving the Mountain God Temple’s supernatural phenomena might help them become Awakened. A ghostly figure emerged at the entrance, leaving them facing the danger.

• The burly man explained that the Gate of Ghosts opened during the most sinister hours and that spirits in the deep mountains could move freely in their territory.
• The burly man told the three companions that they needed to risk encountering anomalies if they wanted to become Awakened.
• At three in the morning, the temple candles flickered and turned green as blackened fingers clawed around the doorway.
• The burly man ordered the three to remain within the Mountain God’s sight and the oil lamp’s light, keep still, and stay silent.
• A humanoid silhouette stopped wandering outside, grew clearer, and appeared at the entrance.

Jiang Qiao crossed deeper into the strange space beyond a tributary of the River of History, passing motionless Vicious Ghosts and a false city made of fireflies. He reached a massive mound blocking the road and sensed that approaching it could get him buried.

• A meat-like figure, two rotting corpse bearers, and a red urn appeared outside a group of four people, frightening them into silence.
• Don and Liu Yuanyuan entered a dim Ghost Domain filled with paper faces and paper money, and they headed toward a green-lit temple.
• Jiang Qiao walked beyond the scarecrows, which he sensed were unrestrained Vicious Ghosts but which let him pass without attacking.
• Jiang Qiao crossed an empty ancient city formed by fireflies and continued along a stone road into a vast, empty space.
• Jiang Qiao found a massive mound overlapping and blocking the road, sensed its danger, and wondered whether it represented earth in a Five Elements test.

Jiang Qiao discovered that the Soul-Calling Banner had changed and used it to cross a mound and a road strewn with execution implements. He reached a river beneath a vast void and continued toward the distant colors, where a rope suddenly shot out and looped around his neck.

• Jiang Qiao saw a Golden Boy and Jade Girl appear beside the Soul-Calling Banner, and their presence dispelled the mound's danger.
• Jiang Qiao crossed the mound and saw an old man appear and vanish behind him.
• Jiang Qiao followed the Stone Slab Road through a stretch filled with bloodied execution implements without encountering danger.
• Jiang Qiao reached the road's end, realized he was standing above a river, and found an invisible path extending toward the colorful substance.
• Jiang Qiao probed forward with the Soul-Calling Banner, but a rope shot from the thick ink and looped around his neck.

Jiang Qiao was pulled from the River of History into a lightless void, where he suspected he had entered a black hole and faced destruction. Just as his Thunder Spirit body began to unravel, he slowed and plunged into a mass of dark green clouds.

• Jiang Qiao was swallowed by a black crack after destroying the rope, and the old figure watched him vanish.
• Jiang Qiao transformed into Ball Lightning and found himself hurtling through a dark space with no perceptible time.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that he had left the River of History and might be traveling through the Void Abyss or a black hole.
• The force pulling Jiang Qiao grew strong enough to distort his lightning body, and he feared the clone would be destroyed before it could report its discoveries.
• Jiang Qiao's forward motion slowed, and he plunged uncontrollably into dark green clouds.

Jiang Qiao crashed through a dark-green cloud into a strange land filled with enormous radishes and learned that its villagers feared Vicious Ghosts and outsiders from beyond their realm. After leaving Luwei Village, he overheard the chief call him an Outer-Realm Demon and concluded the villagers’ supernatural abilities came from an enshrined spirit.

• Jiang Qiao recovered in a grassland full of giant radishes after falling through the cloud, then broke off a grotesque hand that grabbed his foot from the soil.
• Jiang Qiao reached Luwei Village, where chief Li Zhou warned him that Vicious Ghosts haunted the fields and directed him toward a nearby town.
• Li Zhou sent villagers to alert the town and other villages, suspecting Jiang Qiao was an Outer-Realm Demon who had fallen from the sky.
• Jiang Qiao secretly listened to the villagers’ conversation and reasoned that their supernatural power came from a spirit enshrined in the village.

Jiang Qiao entered a festive town and discovered that its Yang San Taiye statue was empowered by a horrific live sacrifice. The town’s elders planned to capture the Outer-Realm Demon reported from Luwei Village, unaware that Jiang Qiao had already arrived and was exploring the town.

• Jiang Qiao saw tortured human consciousnesses clinging to the Yang San Taiye statue, though the townspeople could not see them.
• Several elders discussed the town’s third sacrifice and the Old Man in Red Brocade dismissed concerns that it would draw attention.
• A young man reported that an Outer-Realm Demon had fallen into Luwei Village’s fields and was heading toward town.
• The elders decided to secretly watch Jiang Qiao and capture him after Yang San Taiye took root.
• Jiang Qiao explored the festival and learned that townspeople bought poison to ward off evil spirits.

Jiang Qiao sent a ball of lightning to meet the town leader, who learned that he had only three to five days left to live and agreed to meet him the next day. Jiang Qiao continued through the lantern fair, concluding that the town leader and Yang San Taiye’s statue were the only places showing signs of supernatural trouble.

• Jiang Qiao sent a ball of lightning into the town leader’s residence while he watched a lantern fair nearby.
• The lightning’s aura frightened the guards, and the town leader caught it before hearing its message and agreeing to meet at the tavern tomorrow at noon.
• The town leader dismissed the guards and told his son not to inform the Clan Elders about anything beyond the lightning’s arrival.
• The town leader privately recalled that the lightning had warned him he had only three to five days to live and suspected the Clan Elders’ interests differed from his own.
• Jiang Qiao assessed the town’s supernatural dangers, identifying Yang San Taiye’s statue and the town leader’s residence as the only troubled places.

Jiang Qiao met Zhao Qian in a town inside the green cloud and learned that earlier Visitors from beyond the heavens had demanded Blood Food. He asked Zhao Qian about the Red Moon and explained how he had entered the cloud, seeking answers about the force that pulled him there and the Red Moon’s whereabouts.

• Jiang Qiao introduced himself to Zhao Qian as the Outer-Realm Demon who had fallen from the sky.
• Zhao Qian said Visitors from beyond the heavens had demanded Blood Food, and that some had been killed while most had disappeared.
• Jiang Qiao rejected Zhao Qian’s offer to host him and asked whether he knew of the Red Moon.
• Zhao Qian recognized the Red Moon, and Jiang Qiao explained his journey through the Void Abyss and asked about the pulling force and the Red Moon’s location.

Jiang Qiao questioned Zhao Qian about the stranded survivors, their history, and the Outer-Realm Demons. He learned that their worlds were being drawn toward the Abyss where the Red Moon once drifted, and Zhao Qian began asking about the great calamity Jiang Qiao had warned him of.

• Jiang Qiao let Zhao Qian believe he might be a fellow survivor and explained that he had come seeking scattered records of the ancient era.
• Zhao Qian said the survivors had fled toward Blue Star, while some companions were left behind and became the Outer-Realm Demons after pursuing human and Vicious Ghost fusion.
• Zhao Qian explained that the survivors' settlements were isolated worlds drawn toward a strange Abyss, which Jiang Qiao recognized as the place where the Red Moon had once drifted.
• Zhao Qian described how his world secretly tried to imitate the demons, but the method required Blood Food and was eventually forbidden.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that the Outer-Realm Demons were Evolvers who grew through killing and gradually became Vicious Ghosts while retaining human consciousness.
• After their conversation, Zhao Qian asked Jiang Qiao what he meant by warning that Zhao Qian faced a great calamity.

Jiang Qiao investigated the growing crowds at the birthday celebration and realized supernatural erosion was spreading misfortune through the town. He suspected an Outer-Realm Demon was using Yang San Taiye’s empty statue as a medium to collect Blood Food, and the chapter ended with his explanation of how people could recognize and overcome misfortune.

• Jiang Qiao reflected on his strength and concluded that the hidden tributary held secrets about the supernatural, his homeland, and the world’s fate.
• Jiang Qiao suspected that an Outer-Realm Demon was secretly using Yang San Taiye’s statue to receive Blood Food.
• Jiang Qiao noticed that the swelling crowd and the town itself seemed disconnected and gray, signs that supernatural erosion was spreading.
• Jiang Qiao determined that the town’s locals had been tainted with misfortune, which could worsen through a cycle of bad luck and depleted fortune.
• Jiang Qiao explained that people had to examine their behavior, clear away unnecessary possessions, and persist in taking corrective action to drive misfortune away.

At midnight, an unnatural darkness swallowed the town, cutting off supernatural perception and leaving Zhao Qian’s household under siege. Zhao Qian kept his family inside a guarded room and rejected his son’s claim that the mysterious visitor was responsible, while the blood-sacrifice scent outside remained unexplained.

• Jiang Qiao saw the sky darken so completely that even the lantern festival’s lights vanished.
• Zhao Qian’s supernatural perception was devoured by the darkness, so he cut it off and ordered everyone to ignore someone knocking while impersonating Steward Liu.
• Zhao Qian explained that the Mysterious Person had warned him of strange events, but kept his suspicions about the Clan Elders from his son.
• Zhao Qian sent three Puppet Persons outside, but they all lost contact after traveling about twenty steps.
• A guard reported smelling a faint bloody scent mixed with incense, and Zhao Qian’s son accused the Mysterious Person of preparing a Blood Sacrifice.
• Zhao Qian rebuked his son for defending the Clan Elders and ordered him to go look after the family in the back of the house.

At dawn, Zhao Qian discovered that a Blood Sacrifice had filled the town with Bone Trees and Unmelting Infants, leaving almost no residents alive. He sent the last Puppet Person toward the town gate to find a way out, where he noticed blood on the statue of Yang San Taiye before continuing toward the outskirts.

• At dawn, a guard restored his connection to the Puppet People and saw Bone Trees spreading through the estate and town streets.
• A slime-covered Monster Infant with Steward Liu’s face tore apart two Puppet People, while the last one escaped into the town.
• Zhao Qian identified the disaster as a Blood Sacrifice that had created Unmelting Infants and learned that only a few wealthy families seemed to have survived.
• Zhao Qian explained how Unmelting Infants formed and discovered through the last Puppet Person that nearly every other household in town had been wiped out.
• Zhao Qian sent the Puppet Person toward the town entrance to scout an escape route and noticed blood on the mouth of the Yang San Taiye statue.

Zhao Qian tried to escape the town and summon help, but discovered that a Ghost Domain had sealed it off and cut off his connection to the Puppet Person. As he faced the prospect of being trapped with the Outer-Realm Demons, he spotted a figure in the distance.

• Zhao Qian sent the Puppet Person toward the town gate, but the world beyond dissolved into fog and his connection began to fade.
• Zhao Qian recalled that he had approved worship of Yang San Taiye and suspected the Clan Elders had become Painted Skin for Outer-Realm Demons.
• Zhao Qian tried the town’s left, right, and rear exits, but each one led to Black Mist and weakened his connection to the Puppet Person.
• Zhao Qian realized a Ghost Domain covered the entire town, leaving him unable to escape or send a message outside.
• Zhao Qian spotted a figure walking along a distant street and wondered whether it was the person he recognized.

Jiang Qiao discovered that a blood sacrifice had turned nearly everyone in the town into Bone Trees and Unmelting Infants, then destroyed the horrors on an entire street without moving. Outside the town, the Clan Elders realized the ritual had gone wrong and blamed the Outer-Realm Demon.

• Jiang Qiao surveyed the town and found that only a few wealthy families and the opera stage had been spared by the blood sacrifice.
• Jiang Qiao spotted several Painted Skin Vicious Ghosts waiting in carriages outside the town and guessed they were waiting for someone.
• Jiang Qiao drew the Bone Trees and Unmelting Infants toward him, then killed them all without moving from his spot.
• The Clan Elders left their carriages after sensing that something had gone wrong with the ritual.
• The bearded elder and the man in the red brocade robe concluded that the Outer-Realm Demon had disrupted their plans and discussed why they had started the ritual early.

Zhao Qian watched Jiang Qiao destroy the evil creatures and realized the powerful outsider was not behind the Blood Sacrifice. The possessed Clan Elders, fearing Jiang Qiao would expose them, decided to capture him while carrying out their ritual.

• Zhao Qian saw Jiang Qiao annihilate the Bone Tree and other evil creatures with invisible thunder, and judged his strength greater than the County City God’s.
• Zhao Qian hoped Jiang Qiao’s actions would provoke the Outer-Realm Demon and create a chance to escape, then recalled that the Clan Elders had been replaced by Painted Skin years earlier.
• The Old Man in Red Brocade and the other Clan Elders accused Jiang Qiao of interfering with their Blood Sacrifice and believed he meant to steal their spoils.
• The Clan Elders explained that they had advanced their ritual to sacrifice the whole town before Zhao Qian uncovered them, and had succeeded despite Jiang Qiao’s arrival.
• The Bearded Old Man urged the Clan Elders to capture Jiang Qiao and question him about what lay beyond the heavens.