Chapter Summaries

Jiang Qiao fought Yang City's three guardian powerhouses and exposed the rules behind their sun, moon, and star appearances. Though he disrupted their attacks and mocked their abilities, they insisted he could not escape and demanded that he surrender.

• Jiang Qiao shattered Star's false Starry Sky and resisted the Crystal Ball's life-draining and soul-seizing effects by filling Star with fear.
• Fierce Sun used a gravity-producing black circle to interrupt Jiang Qiao's attack, but Jiang Qiao destroyed it and identified Fierce Sun's light-absorbing ability.
• Jiang Qiao explained that Bai Yue used hypnosis and Star used consciousness-disordering rules rather than the powers of the moon or fate.
• Fierce Sun warned Jiang Qiao that he could not defeat all three guardians, and Bai Yue demanded that he surrender and stop resisting.

Jiang Qiao confronted Bai Yue, Fierce Sun, and Star, mocking the Ninth Rank powerhouses as onlookers debated his hidden strength. The three unleashed their overlapping rules against him, leaving him trapped in darkness, disoriented and unable to locate his attackers.

• Jiang Qiao transformed into a giant and taunted Bai Yue, Fierce Sun, and Star, claiming he had killed powerful opponents before.
• Spectators heard Jiang Qiao’s insults, while experts at Yang City’s outskirts realized he did not appear to have stepped onto the Divinity Staircase and speculated that he was concealing his true strength.
• Fierce Sun, Bai Yue, and Star attacked Jiang Qiao together, and Fierce Sun’s rule plunged the area around Yang City into darkness.
• Star’s mental-confusion rule overwhelmed Jiang Qiao with pain and vertigo, while drowsiness and strange sensations in his body further impaired him.
• The three powerhouses layered their rules to overwhelm Jiang Qiao, as outside observers wondered whether Fierce Sun had reached or was approaching the Fifth Step.

Fierce Sun, Bai Yue, and Xing Chen joined forces to trap Jiang Qiao in Yang City with overlapping curses and laws, while Bu Zhou watched and decided to intervene if Jiang Qiao lost. Jiang Qiao fell silent under their attack, leaving his fate unresolved as the three opponents believed they had suppressed him.

• Fierce Sun, Bai Yue, and Xing Chen surrounded Jiang Qiao and unleashed their strongest curses and laws to kill him.
• Onlookers debated the threat of Half-Gods until Bu Zhou revealed he was the peerless genius of Tuoluo City.
• Bu Zhou recognized Jiang Qiao as a Dao Sect successor and resolved to discuss the Dao with him, rescuing him if he lost.
• The three attackers combined Disordered Consciousness, Animation Hypnosis, and Return to Silence End against Jiang Qiao.
• Bai Yue and Xing Chen taunted Jiang Qiao after he stopped responding, and Xing Chen speculated that they would have to leave Yang City after killing him.

Jiang Qiao emerged from the darkness after faking his death and killed Bai Yue with a sudden strike. The battle resumed with Fierce Sun and Stellar facing the surviving Jiang Qiao.

• Bai Yue, Fierce Sun, and Stellar believed Jiang Qiao had died in the darkness and planned to capture his companions for questioning.
• The darkness dispersed, and onlookers debated whether Jiang Qiao had truly been strong enough to challenge the three Ninth Tier experts.
• Bu Zhou warned the crowd that Jiang Qiao was not dead and the battle was not over.
• A strange point appeared in the void and exploded, releasing Jiang Qiao before Bai Yue.
• Jiang Qiao swept his hand across Bai Yue's neck, killing her as Fierce Sun cried out.

Jiang Qiao returned from the extreme point created by Collapse and killed Bai Yue, shocking the observers and his two remaining opponents. He attacked Xingchen next, while reasoning that Collapse could only be sustained briefly and that he had to kill his enemies before they regrouped.

• Jiang Qiao appeared beside Bai Yue through Collapse and severed her head, leaving the onlookers stunned.
• Bu Zhou recognized Jiang Qiao’s effortless use of Collapse and wondered whether the Daoist sect had returned.
• Xingchen reacted with shock and fury, while Fierce Sun realized Jiang Qiao had mastered Collapse beyond what most Divine Staircase powerhouses could manage.
• Jiang Qiao crushed Bai Yue’s head, enlarged his body, and charged at Xingchen with his Giant Axe and the Six Rules.
• Jiang Qiao recalled that the three opponents’ combined attack had nearly overwhelmed him, but they had withdrawn their Rules after believing he was dead, giving him the opening to strike.

Jiang Qiao battled Fierce Sun and Stardust while questioning why they were not using Yang City’s Half-God items. Meanwhile, Liu Yuanyuan and Don explored the hotel lobby and uncovered a cabinet packed with more than a hundred dead Evolvers.

• Jiang Qiao fought Fierce Sun and Stardust, who used cautious hit-and-run tactics to wear him down while guarding against his Collapse.
• Jiang Qiao and Bu Zhou both wondered why Fierce Sun and Stardust had not used Half-God items, despite the danger of leaving Jiang Qiao alive.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don walked deeper into the hotel lobby, where supernatural darkness obscured their vision and Don heard wandering footsteps.
• Liu Yuanyuan sensed something approaching from an Iron Cabinet, which burst open and released a tide of corpses.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don retreated and discovered that the cabinet contained over a hundred dead Evolvers, each holding a Vicious Ghost.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don were surrounded by Ghost Slaves that pooled their supernatural power into a few exceptionally terrifying bodies, while the Evolver corpses joined the attack. As the Vicious Ghost-filled corpses advanced, their supernatural suppression weakened Don’s cold, leaving the pair in growing danger.

• The corpses of more than a hundred Evolvers and the hall’s Ghost Slaves stirred and surrounded Liu Yuanyuan and Don.
• Don unleashed freezing supernatural power, but Liu Yuanyuan explained that most Ghost Slaves were decoys while their power gathered in a few special ones.
• Liu Yuanyuan slashed a special Ghost Slave and told Don that such disposable servants could be more terrifying than he expected, especially in the Nether Sea.
• Liu Yuanyuan noticed that the Evolver corpses had joined the attack and were more agile and dangerous than ordinary Ghost Slaves.
• The approaching Evolver corpses suppressed supernatural power, preventing Don’s cold air from spreading far.

Don fought alongside Liu Yuanyuan and Jiang Qiao, revealing that he could seize control of ordinary Ghost Slaves and turn them against their attackers. Liu Yuanyuan suppressed three Vicious Ghosts and raised her cleaver, preparing to destroy the approaching Evolver corpses all at once.

• Don reflected on how his encounters with Liu Yuanyuan and Jiang Qiao had exposed his ignorance about the surface Awakened.
• Surrounded by Ghost Slaves and Evolvers, Don used frost and human faces to take control of the ordinary Ghost Slaves and direct them against the stronger foes.
• Liu Yuanyuan ordered the others to focus on the Evolver corpses and cut down one that reached her.
• A Vicious Ghost dragged Liu Yuanyuan into a phantom space, but her red sludge formed a grave and swallowed it; she then buried two more Vicious Ghosts attacking her.
• Liu Yuanyuan raised her cleaver as its blood grooves became Space Rifts, preparing to clear out the approaching Evolver corpses.

Liu Yuanyuan used the machete to slaughter the Vicious Ghosts surrounding her, but its side effects left her body crushed and vulnerable to a terrifying old ghost. She used her clones to distract it long enough to recover, then struck it directly with the blade.

• Liu Yuanyuan swept the machete twice, cutting down more than a hundred Vicious Ghosts while Don watched in shock.
• Liu Yuanyuan's third slash devastated the hall and drew a corpse-spotted old man out of an Iron Cabinet, while the weapon's side effects crushed her body.
• The old man approached Liu Yuanyuan, but she sent out clones to distract it and buy time for her body to recover.
• Liu Yuanyuan raised the machete again and struck the old man at close range.

Liu Yuanyuan killed the Vicious Ghost, ending Liu Ping’s test and transforming the morgue into a hospital corridor. She and Don followed the corridor toward an open office, where Liu Ping revealed that he had once been a doctor.

• Liu Yuanyuan split the old Vicious Ghost in two, and it disintegrated along with its supernatural power.
• The morgue hall vanished and became a bright corridor, cutting Don’s connection to the Ghost Slaves.
• Liu Yuanyuan explained that Liu Ping had been testing them and that her victory had earned them a meeting.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don explored doors that opened onto darkness or a wall, while supernatural hospital sounds came from within.
• A gentle voice told them, “Because I used to be a doctor.”

Liu Yuanyuan and Don met Liu Ping again at the hospital, where he tested them with a blind Vicious Ghost doctor before inviting them into his office. They entered despite suspecting a trap and were met by the chill of a room that seemed untouched by time.

• Liu Ping told Liu Yuanyuan that he had been born at the hospital and described his family's history as doctors and directors.
• Liu Ping sent a blind Vicious Ghost doctor to examine Liu Yuanyuan and Don, and Liu Yuanyuan killed her with a single strike of her blade.
• Liu Ping praised Liu Yuanyuan's weapon and invited her and Don to his office for wine.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Don that Liu Ping had tested them for a chance to kill them, but changed his plan after she defeated the doctor.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don entered Liu Ping's office and felt its cold, ancient atmosphere.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don searched the vanished Liu Ping’s office and found medical records describing bizarre supernatural illnesses and primitive folk cures. Concluding the room itself was hiding something, Liu Yuanyuan attacked its furnishings, and the wall screamed as it split open.

• Liu Yuanyuan explained that Liu Ping was still in the office but had been cut off by space.
• Liu Yuanyuan and Don examined medical records about patients with missing hearts, faces in their lungs, and other strange conditions.
• Liu Yuanyuan concluded the records described early folk methods for treating supernatural curses and wondered whether Liu Ping’s origins were older and stranger than she knew.
• Don asked what to do, and Liu Yuanyuan hacked the wooden table, causing blood to gush from its split.
• Liu Yuanyuan struck the wall, which tore open like flesh and let out a shrill scream.

Liu Yuanyuan and Don were surrounded in an office by Vicious Ghosts emerging from the walls and corridor, including two enormous Paper People. Liu Yuanyuan struck down one Paper Person but could not kill it, while she suspected Liu Ping was controlling the attack and reflected on his past as a guide on Yellow Springs Road.

• The lights dimmed as black pus burst from a crack in the wall, baby cries echoed from within, and invisible footprints spread across the corridor, walls, and ceiling.
• Liu Yuanyuan slashed the writhing thing in the wall, but it kept crying as more Ghost Infants cried from throughout the walls.
• Two towering Paper People appeared outside the doorway, and Liu Yuanyuan realized the Ghost Infants and footprints had not fully crossed over from other spaces.
• Liu Yuanyuan told Don to watch their surroundings and hacked the white Paper Person down, but it remained alive as more rotting figures crowded the doorway.
• Liu Yuanyuan suspected Liu Ping controlled the Vicious Ghosts and recalled that he had served as a guide for the Green Lotus Sect on Yellow Springs Road.

Liu Yuanyuan destroyed the Vicious Ghosts blocking the office and discovered that a normal medical record concealed an enemy hiding in the wooden table. She struck the transformed figure and left it badly wounded, though its fate remained uncertain.

• Liu Yuanyuan used the blood-grooved cleaver to shred the Vicious Ghosts packed in the doorway, leaving the office silent.
• Liu Yuanyuan created phantoms and used their curses to locate an apparently normal medical record for Yang Qiao.
• Liu Yuanyuan realized the record had appeared among the others and deduced that the hidden figure had been concealed inside the table.
• Liu Yuanyuan and her phantoms attacked the transformed figure, sending him into the wall and inflicting a severe wound across his neck.

Liu Yuanyuan forced Liu Ping out of hiding and wounded him, but he argued that neither side could safely kill the other and proposed a question exchange. After haggling, they agreed that Liu Ping would answer one more question than the others.

• Liu Yuanyuan exposed Liu Ping, who had hidden inside a medical record, and slashed his neck with her cleaver.
• Liu Ping acknowledged that Liu Yuanyuan had gained the advantage but claimed he could still escape and urged her to negotiate.
• Liu Yuanyuan agreed to talk and bargained over how many questions each side could ask.
• Liu Ping and Liu Yuanyuan settled on a one-question-for-one-question exchange, with Liu Ping agreeing to provide one additional answer.

Liu Yuanyuan told Liu Ping that she and her companions came from the future, and they exchanged information about Yellow Springs Road and Fishbone Temple. Convinced by her knowledge of future events, Liu Ping offered to share everything he knew in a deal witnessed by a god if she could return to the future.

• Liu Ping asked Liu Yuanyuan why she and her companions knew him, and she explained that Jiang Qiao was interested in him and that they came from the lower reaches of the River of History.
• Liu Ping doubted her claim but agreed to exchange answers, and Liu Yuanyuan asked how to enter Yellow Springs Road.
• Liu Ping described two routes to Yellow Springs Road: Yin Yang Road through the Green Lotus Sect, or a door in the Red Moon Restaurant leading to the Nether Sea.
• Liu Ping asked whether Fishbone Temple had emerged in the future, and Liu Yuanyuan recounted its emergence and the battle that followed.
• Liu Ping became convinced Liu Yuanyuan came from later generations and offered to tell her everything he knew about Yellow Springs Road in a deal witnessed by a god, if she could return to the future.

Liu Ping tried to persuade Liu Yuanyuan to enter a Divine Witness contract for a future task, but she refused without knowing its purpose and risks. Jiang Qiao appeared in the office and stopped Liu Ping from moving, leaving the negotiation interrupted by his unexpected arrival.

• Liu Ping offered Liu Yuanyuan information about the Yellow Springs Road and Green Lotus Sect in exchange for a contract witnessed by a deity.
• Liu Ping explained that breaking the contract would cause death, while Liu Yuanyuan challenged him to reveal the task and make its risks controllable.
• Liu Ping offered guarantees and an exit mechanism, but Liu Yuanyuan still refused to agree without knowing the task's direction.
• Jiang Qiao entered the office and threatened Liu Ping, who froze in panic.
• Jiang Qiao remarked that Liu Ping's office was filthy and covered in blood.

Jiang Qiao appeared inside Supernatural Space and offered to make Liu Ping’s divine-witnessed transaction, revealing that he had killed Bai Yue and Xingchen while Yang escaped. Liu Yuanyuan then disclosed that Jiang Qiao was a clone, leaving Liu Ping stunned by the scale of his power.

• Jiang Qiao appeared before Liu Ping without triggering his surveillance and erased the battlefield’s blood and remains.
• Jiang Qiao offered to complete Liu Ping’s transaction with Liu Yuanyuan under a divine being’s witness.
• Liu Ping questioned how Jiang Qiao had escaped the three experts, and Jiang Qiao revealed that he killed Bai Yue and Xingchen while Yang fled.
• Liu Yuanyuan congratulated Jiang Qiao on the strength his Main Body would gain when he returned to the future.
• Liu Ping realized from Liu Yuanyuan’s words that Jiang Qiao was only a clone, and she confirmed his guess.

Jiang Qiao followed Liu Ping into the Heart Chamber, the core of a Supernatural Space that connected to bizarre places. Liu Ping explained the dangers of reaching the Depths of the Nether Sea and prepared to use the Heart Mirror, leaving the group poised to begin.

• Jiang Qiao recognized the Heart Chamber as the core of the hospital-like Supernatural Space and recalled his earlier visit to Durahan's church.
• Liu Ping explained that the space could connect to the Depths of the Nether Sea, where powerful explorers had vanished after losing their way.
• Jiang Qiao questioned whether Liu Ping might send them into danger, and Liu Ping said a good relationship and a deal would serve him better.
• Liu Ping explained that the Heart Mirror could connect the Supernatural Space to bizarre existences and that a reflection in it signaled such a connection.
• Liu Ping took out three candles, three blood-vessel-like incense sticks, and a rotten wooden mask, then said he was ready to begin.

Liu Ping performed a ritual to summon the Divine Witness, but the mirror first filled with Vicious Ghosts threatening to break through. After he used a mask and pellet drum, the ghosts vanished and a strange tunnel appeared, leading Jiang Qiao to infer that the mirror showed a journey through the unknown.

• Liu Ping lit candles and incense, filling the room with eerie smoke as Don and Liu Yuanyuan silently avoided listening to strange voices.
• Jiang Qiao watched the mirror distort and considered how mirrors could connect to other places through rituals.
• Liu Ping put on a rotten wooden mask and shook a pellet drum as countless Vicious Ghosts crowded the mirror and black blood seeped through.
• The drum's rhythm made the ghosts fade away, leaving handprints on the mirror and revealing a bizarre tunnel.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that the mirror showed a journey toward an unknown existence and that the ghosts had been sights along its route.