Chapter Summaries

Jiang Qiao investigated the illusory path revealed by the Immortal-Guiding Banner and found that newly appeared tents contained repeated traces of an unknown camper. The last tent held a note from someone named Yang, who had gone west toward the city to look for someone, leaving Jiang Qiao wondering what had happened to him and his companions.

• Jiang Qiao took the Immortal-Guiding Banner into the sunlight and saw two illusory Guiding Children and a winding path, but his attempts to interact with them failed.
• Jiang Qiao noticed several tents outside the city that had appeared without his awareness and found that their canvas blocked his perception.
• Jiang Qiao overturned the tents and found ordinary camping supplies but no people, while the faint smell of corpses disappeared.
• Jiang Qiao observed that the tents and their nearly identical contents seemed like repeated traces of the same person across space-time.
• Jiang Qiao found a note in the cleanest tent stating that Yang had gone west to look for someone, and he wondered whether Yang and his companions had entered the city and disappeared.

Jiang Qiao examined a note in the tent and connected it to an old disappearance and a driver’s strange sighting, theorizing that the missing person had become trapped in an isolated space-time. As he considered how traces from different periods could coexist, someone appeared at the distant city gate and walked toward him.

• Jiang Qiao compared the tent’s note with a similar message about Peng and wondered whether the notes and their writers were connected.
• Jiang Qiao recalled rumors about a man who disappeared in 1980 and speculated that he had entered a looping, isolated space rather than traveled through time.
• Jiang Qiao remembered a truck driver’s account of seeing a disheveled man on a remote road who vanished from the rearview mirror and later resembled the missing scientist in a magazine photograph.
• Jiang Qiao reasoned that temporal-spatial isolation could explain one-way encounters, but questioned how traces from different periods could persist independently.
• Jiang Qiao saw someone appear at the city gate and walk toward him.

Jiang Qiao’s approach to the mysterious middle-aged man activated the Immortal-Guiding Banner and pulled him into an isolated residential building where a Vicious Ghost was killing residents. He sensed the ghost on the sixth floor and went to find it.

• Jiang Qiao saw a middle-aged man appear near the city entrance, and the Immortal-Guiding Banner’s Golden Boy, Jade Girl, and muddy path grew more real as the man approached.
• Jiang Qiao shouted to the man, who could neither hear nor see him, then sent the Teng Snake to attack when they drew close.
• The attack transported Jiang Qiao into an isolated residential building, where frightened residents were trapped without phone service and neighbors’ corpses had appeared.
• Jiang Qiao questioned a young resident and learned that a fog had risen about half an hour earlier, cutting off the building and leaving people to disappear or die.
• Jiang Qiao sensed an unseen Vicious Ghost moving around the sixth-floor Fire Escape and decided to go find it.

Jiang Qiao tracked the Shadow Figure to its Main Body, a middle-aged man searching for his missing daughter. When Jiang Qiao suggested that she might have been eaten, the man transformed into a towering, furious figure and accused him.

• Jiang Qiao used thunderwater to erase the Sixth Floor anomaly and followed the Shadow Figure into an apartment.
• The Shadow Figure searched inside two children, revealing how it had killed its victims, and Jiang Qiao tore the apparition apart with the White Tiger Rule.
• Jiang Qiao used the White Tiger Rule to locate the Shadow Figure's Main Body in a bedroom, where a middle-aged man studied photographs of his daughter.
• The man told Jiang Qiao that his daughter had gone missing in the corridor and said he would keep searching for her.
• After Jiang Qiao asked whether the girl had been eaten, the man stood up, grew unnaturally tall, and demanded to know if Jiang Qiao had taken her.

Jiang Qiao shattered a dreamlike residential building and fought the Vicious Ghost haunting it, discovering that the apparent ghost was not the true source. In a black void, he recognized the hidden presence behind the haunting and flooded the space with black lightning-charged water, silencing a child’s laughter.

• Jiang Qiao used Vermilion Bird’s Deprive Intelligence to break the dream bubble and reveal a ruined building filled with the long-dead residents.
• A giant, fan-shaped Vicious Ghost appeared outside, and Jiang Qiao sealed it beneath a tomb formed by Gou Chen.
• Jiang Qiao realized the sealed ghost was not the source when another ghostly face appeared and blew a deadly chill at him.
• Jiang Qiao struck the face with lightning, used Black Tortoise to contain its fragments, and had a phantom tiger swallow them.
• The building vanished, leaving Jiang Qiao in a spaceless void where a child giggled, and he flooded the void with black lightning-charged water until the laughter stopped.

Jiang Qiao uncovered how the Vicious Ghost and Cloth Doll had trapped a section of time and restored the Immortal-Guiding Banner’s route. He escaped the blue world through the path and returned to the Stone Bridge over the River of History.

• Jiang Qiao pinned the Vicious Ghost and took its Cloth Doll, realizing the ghost had mistaken itself for a middle-aged man and was searching for its own identity.
• Jiang Qiao determined that the Cloth Doll had severed time and restored a missing fragment of the Immortal-Guiding Banner, opening a route back through the colored-ink wall.
• Jiang Qiao stepped onto the muddy path, guided by the Golden Boy and Jade Girl, and glimpsed a vast mountain range before the Jade Girl’s lantern jolted and the path shook.
• The Golden Boy raised the Travel Permit, and Jiang Qiao looked away from the mountains and hurried onward as the blue world vanished around the path.
• Jiang Qiao crossed the colored-ink wall and found himself back on the Stone Bridge over the River of History.

Jiang Qiao returned from the River of History to Yang City after glimpsing a deity in the Dark Blue World and reflecting on how to learn more about it. He reached the city at dawn, carrying the spoils of his journey and planning to investigate further in the future.

• Jiang Qiao recalled the Wriggling Meat Mass behind the Black Mountain Range and concluded that it was likely a deity.
• Jiang Qiao decided to return to Yang City and later ask the Metropolitan City God in Yan City about the deity, since he could not return to the Dark Blue World or Small World yet.
• Jiang Qiao reviewed his gains from the journey, including six rules, Nether Era Age supernatural methods, and the half-corpse of an ancient evil spirit.
• Jiang Qiao followed the Golden Boy and Jade Girl along the Stone Slab Road, passed the grave mound and firefly city, and crossed the Scarecrow Forest without trouble.
• Jiang Qiao returned to Yang City in the early morning as its streets filled with people.

Jiang Qiao worried about Liu Yuanyuan and Don as the deadline for their time in the River of History approached, then overheard news about conflicts between Nether Era factions and spies operating in Congcheng District. He learned that one of the three wanted spies was a woman recently spotted nearby, but her identity remained unknown.

• Jiang Qiao reflected on Liu Yuanyuan's mysterious origins and worried that the Moonlight Lady might have taken her anger out on Liu Yuanyuan and the others.
• Jiang Qiao calculated that only three days remained before the limit for staying in the River of History and decided to search for his missing companions.
• Jiang Qiao overheard young people describe Juye City's growing strength, its detention of a merchant convoy, and the threat posed by its former city lord potentially reaching the Half-God realm.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that Yang City had no Half-God, though it possessed a Taboo Weapon that could still endanger him.
• The young people discussed three spies secretly creating Ghost Slaves and contaminating school ingredients, and said the woman among them had recently been spotted in Congcheng District before escaping.

Jiang Qiao watched Liu Yuanyuan evade the Musician and realized the city’s supposed spy hunt was more complicated than it appeared. When the Musician threatened Liu Yuanyuan, Jiang Qiao intervened and sent him flying.

• Jiang Qiao learned that Liu Yuanyuan and Don had escaped capture, though he wondered how they had evaded the Divinity Ninth Tier pursuers.
• Liu Yuanyuan appeared in Yang City, pursued by the Musician and his band, and repeatedly used clones to escape their attempts to surround her.
• Onlookers treated the chase as a training trial for the Musician and refused to help, assuming Liu Yuanyuan was a wanted spy.
• The Musician threatened to turn Liu Yuanyuan into a breeding vessel, and Jiang Qiao appeared beside him and said she was not a spy.
• Jiang Qiao struck the Musician and sent him flying.

Jiang Qiao returned to the city and killed a musician with one slap, drawing Minister Yue and Bai Yue to confront him. He used three rules to pull Minister Yue’s rules and consciousness from his body, killing him and leaving Bai Yue facing him.

• Jiang Qiao appeared on the flower float and beat the musician to death with one slap, sending the crowd fleeing.
• Minister Yue arrived with Vicious Ghosts, and Bai Yue’s pale moonlight appeared over the city.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Jiang Qiao that the long-distance bus station was the only way out of the city and remarked that his strength had grown.
• Minister Yue attacked Jiang Qiao with Vicious Ghosts and corpses, but Jiang Qiao destroyed them with lightning.
• Jiang Qiao used the White Tiger, Teng Snake, and Gou Chen rules to pull Minister Yue’s rules and consciousness from his body, killing him.

Jiang Qiao fought Bai Yue after killing her subordinate, overwhelming her with his fused laws and thunder techniques. Bai Yue transformed into a bright moon to dispel his attack, leaving their battle unresolved.

• Jiang Qiao instantly killed Bai Yue's Ninth Rank subordinate, shocking her with his strength.
• Bai Yue accused Jiang Qiao of hiding his power and said she would capture him, so Jiang Qiao attacked first.
• Jiang Qiao trapped Bai Yue in a net of lightning, but she cut through it with deathly radiance and mist.
• Jiang Qiao countered Bai Yue's attacks with thunder and threatened to separate her from her life and laws.
• Bai Yue merged with moonlight and rose as a bright moon, dispersing Jiang Qiao's clouds and thunder.

Jiang Qiao fought Bai Yue above Yang City after she accused him of crimes and called for his surrender. As the battle devastated the city, Bai Yue suspected he had truly entered the River of History and summoned others to help subdue him.

• Bai Yue used the moonlight to accuse Jiang Qiao of slaughtering Yang City’s people and harming Minister Yue, then offered to spare his life if the person behind him came forward.
• Jiang Qiao mocked Bai Yue, rejected her accusations, and launched himself into the sky to fight her.
• Jiang Qiao and Bai Yue clashed with thunder and moonlight, shattering buildings and splitting the ground as the battle terrified Yang City’s residents.
• Bai Yue realized Jiang Qiao might genuinely be from the River of History and called for others to join her in taking him down.

Fierce Sun, Bai Yue, and Star joined forces against Jiang Qiao after recognizing his abnormal power and possible knowledge of the future. Jiang Qiao welcomed the challenge and attacked all three with a raging thunderous vortex.

• Fierce Sun illuminated Congcheng District, and Bai Yue and Star revealed their powers across the sky, alarming Yang City's residents.
• Residents speculated that Jiang Qiao was a Green Lotus Sect spy or another dangerous intruder.
• Jiang Qiao's Ball Lightning transformed under the Six Rules, displaying the strange forms of six mythical beasts.
• Fierce Sun, Bai Yue, and Star discussed Jiang Qiao's strength and decided to capture him for information from the future.
• The three powerhouses unleashed their Sun, Moon, and Star rules against Jiang Qiao.
• Jiang Qiao declared that he intended to defeat all three and attacked them with a vast, thunderous vortex.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don went to find Liu Ping while Jiang Qiao fought Bai Yue, Fierce Sun, and the stars in Congcheng District. Liu Yuanyuan believed Jiang Qiao would hold his own, and she and Don entered the hotel where Liu Ping was waiting for them.

• Liu Yuanyuan met Don in Flower Street District after Jiang Qiao returned and began fighting three powerful opponents.
• Don told Liu Yuanyuan that Liu Ping was still in the district, and she decided to capture him while Jiang Qiao drew the experts’ attention.
• Liu Yuanyuan explained that Liu Ping had noticed them and was waiting for them to come, then walked into his hotel with Don.

Don and Liu Yuanyuan entered the dark hotel, where an elevator opened, and Don wondered whether they should get in. The chapter ended with a security guard’s eerie story about a missing video blogger whose final video showed a couple living on a nonexistent forty-ninth floor.

• Don and Liu Yuanyuan walked into the unlit hotel and reached the elevator hall, where an elevator opened and cast light into the darkness.
• Don asked whether they should enter, and the narration described an elevator game involving an empty residential complex.
• A young security guard became friends with a video blogger who filmed around the supposedly empty complex.
• The guard saw a video of the blogger on a sealed rooftop, but found no evidence that anyone had accessed it.
• The blogger’s parents and police arrived after he stopped answering them and updating his account.
• The guard found the blogger’s final video, which mentioned a couple on the forty-ninth floor, even though Building Three had only forty-eight floors.

The security guard learned that a blogger had died before uploading a video that seemed to show him encountering people who were not there, but the authorities dismissed the case. Don and Liu Yuanyuan entered a Supernatural Space elevator to confront Liu Ping, and the elevator stopped after monstrous hands attacked them.

• The security guard discovered the blogger’s body and learned that he had died of a heart attack on the twenty-second, despite a video appearing online the next day.
• The Relevant Department dismissed the video as the blogger’s usual attention-grabbing style, and the property manager warned the security guard not to investigate further.
• Don and Liu Yuanyuan entered the elevator, which Liu Yuanyuan recognized as part of a Supernatural Space prepared by Liu Ping.
• The elevator climbed past the hotel’s ninth floor as corpse water and blood appeared, and Don realized it seemed to be moving forward rather than upward.
• Monstrous hands reached through the shattered ceiling, but the elevator stopped and its doors opened.

Don and Liu Yuanyuan were trapped in a Vicious Ghost elevator inside Liu Ping’s Supernatural Space, where Don destroyed the ghostly hands attacking them. Liu Yuanyuan explained Liu Ping’s ties to the Prayer Association and the Green Lotus Sect, leaving Don stunned by her confidence and knowledge.

• The Vicious Ghost elevator carried Don and Liu Yuanyuan far above the building’s ninth floor, and monstrous hands reached for them from the ceiling.
• Don froze the hands gripping him and shattered them, causing the elevator to stop swaying.
• Liu Yuanyuan identified their surroundings as Liu Ping’s Supernatural Space and said his power was limited to opening it and guiding some Vicious Ghosts.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Don that Liu Ping had been a founder of the Prayer Association, which had been planted by the Green Lotus Sect.
• Don recoiled at Liu Ping’s connection to the Green Lotus Sect and wondered how Liu Yuanyuan could face such dangers so confidently.

Liu Yuanyuan defeated a Ghost Slave blocking the elevator and explained that the real Vicious Ghost was deeper on the floor, guarding a route through Yin Yang Road. Don was shocked when she claimed the supernatural passage could lead to the deepest part of the Nether Sea, a place he believed no one had ever reached.

• Liu Yuanyuan took on the approaching Vicious Ghost while Don stood back.
• The Vicious Ghost slammed into Liu Yuanyuan's red mud barrier, but she cut it in two and the mud sealed it away.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Don that the creature was only a Ghost Slave and that the real Vicious Ghost had blocked the passage upstairs.
• Liu Yuanyuan said Liu Ping had waited at the hotel to confront them once before retreating, rather than risk a fight to the death.
• Liu Yuanyuan revealed that Yin Yang Road connected to other supernatural regions and could lead to the deepest part of the Nether Sea.
• Don rejected her claim, citing the lack of reliable evidence that anyone had ever reached the Nether Sea's deepest part.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don left the elevator and discovered a morgue filled with Ghost Slaves. When the elevator began sinking into the shaft, they let it go, leaving themselves to find another way through the Supernatural Space.

• Liu Yuanyuan told Don she was stating facts, and Don followed her out of the elevator after regretting his earlier attitude.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don found a hall full of corpses and identified them as Ghost Slaves from a Supernatural Hospital morgue.
• The elevator began sinking into the shaft, and Don used his supernatural power to stop it temporarily.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Don the elevator was a Vicious Ghost and that they should let it go, then said they could break through elsewhere after killing the Vicious Ghost.
• Don released the elevator, and it plunged into the darkness of the shaft.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don entered a hospital hall filled with dormant Ghost Slaves, where Liu Yuanyuan demonstrated how easily they could awaken. Meanwhile, Jiang Qiao fought Bai Yue and Xingchen, resisted their supernatural powers, and charged at Xingchen to seize his Crystal Ball.

• Liu Yuanyuan explained to Don that Ghost Slaves in the hospital imitated its setting and could awaken if exposed to the living’s blood and vital energy.
• Liu Yuanyuan touched a child Ghost Slave, snapped off its arm, and used mud to seal its senses until it fell still again.
• Jiang Qiao transformed into a giant and split Bai Yue’s moonlight with his Giant Axe, cleaving her body in two.
• Bai Yue said she could not make the supernatural power inside Jiang Qiao rebel, while Xingchen deduced that Jiang Qiao’s history began at the long-distance bus station.
• Jiang Qiao knocked Bai Yue away, rushed toward Xingchen, and declared that he would take the Crystal Ball.