Chapter Summaries

Jiang Qiao met the Paper Figure Maker in the passageway, where it tried to recruit him into an alliance with the Green Lotus Sect. After Jiang Qiao rejected and insulted the sect and its Holy Mother, the Paper Figure Maker attacked him.

• Jiang Qiao recognized the Paper Figure Maker, who approached through the passageway and claimed they could be friends.
• The Paper Figure Maker invited Jiang Qiao to Yue City and explained that it wanted to cooperate with the Green Lotus Sect to find a way to survive the coming calamity.
• Jiang Qiao refused, mocked the Paper Figure Maker for serving the Green Lotus Sect, and condemned the Holy Mother.
• The Paper Figure Maker lost its temper, split open the void, and sent paper people, paper horses, and paper crows surging toward Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao fought the Paper Figure Maker, destroying its paper creations and resisting its Life-Buying Money with his lightning. The Paper Figure Maker summoned five armed paper people, but Jiang Qiao struck back and closed in to attack it directly.

• Jiang Qiao froze and blasted apart the paper people and horses, but the Paper Figure Maker reassembled them into a haunted alley.
• The Paper Figure Maker sent bloodstained Life-Buying Money toward Jiang Qiao, who trapped it against a lightning barrier with his rule.
• Jiang Qiao summoned a Sea of Thunder and destroyed the paper creatures, while the Paper Figure Maker revealed that its ancient alley could withstand the strikes.
• The Paper Figure Maker summoned five paper people armed with supernatural items and ordered them to dig out Jiang Qiao's heart.
• Jiang Qiao used a black talisman to weaken the five paper people, knocked one away, and rushed toward the Paper Figure Maker with a punch.

Jiang Qiao defeated the Paper Figure Maker’s endlessly reviving clone in the Malevolent Ghost Building and concluded that the true body would be even more dangerous. In a hidden space, the Paper Figure Maker reported his defeat to Liu Ping, who urged him to reach the Half-God realm before confronting Jiang Qiao again.

• Jiang Qiao overwhelmed the Paper Figure Maker with Thunder Art, destroying his clone again and again as it revived.
• Jiang Qiao finally killed the Paper Figure Maker’s clone permanently, though he could not determine how its revivals worked.
• Jiang Qiao assessed the Malevolent Ghost Building’s Negative Ninety-ninth Floor as a dead end, then left after gaining the opportunity to upgrade his Evil Spirit Body.
• The Paper Figure Maker returned to a hidden space in the Connecting Corridor and told Liu Ping that Jiang Qiao had defeated him using only one rule.
• Liu Ping agreed that Jiang Qiao was extraordinarily powerful and said the Paper Figure Maker could reverse their odds by advancing to the Half-God realm.

Jiang Qiao returned to the Connecting Corridor and searched Durahan’s castle, passing through its ruined halls and the corpse-filled Abyss. He found Durahan’s church and left the Corpse Abyss’s hidden nature to investigate later.

• Jiang Qiao returned to the Connecting Corridor to find the Paper Figure Maker, but the elusive man was gone.
• Jiang Qiao disguised himself and entered Durahan’s castle, breaking through a repaired wall to reach its depths.
• Jiang Qiao descended through the castle’s dungeon and found the Corpse Abyss, where a vast sea of corpses contained a few living people.
• Jiang Qiao realized the visible sea of corpses was a projection connected to a real corpse-filled swamp, and he decided to investigate it later.
• Jiang Qiao continued onward and found Durahan’s church.

Jiang Qiao returned to the church and found Durahan performing a ritual to ascend the Divinity Staircase. Durahan mistook Jiang Qiao for a Ninth Rank opponent and attacked him, but his assault failed, leaving him furious as the candle in the coffin flared.

• Jiang Qiao entered the church and found that its familiar layout remained, though the altar had been replaced by a black coffin and curtain.
• Durahan appeared on the curtain and recognized Jiang Qiao after he revealed his face.
• Durahan demanded the Sacred Relic and boasted that he had ascended the Divinity Staircase, unaware of Jiang Qiao's true strength.
• Durahan sent his phantom to attack Jiang Qiao, but it could not perceive or reach him.
• Durahan grew enraged and the candle inside the coffin blazed brightly.

Jiang Qiao returned to the church and killed Durahan after effortlessly resisting his supernatural attacks. He left to seek the answers hidden on Yellow Springs Road, while the Paper Figure Maker and Liu Ping remained missing.

• Durahan's funeral light and spreading nothingness failed to affect Jiang Qiao, who revealed that he was far stronger.
• Jiang Qiao confronted Durahan and dismissed his offer to submit, then killed him by pressing a hand to his face.
• Jiang Qiao left the church after settling his old score with Durahan.
• The Paper Figure Maker and Liu Ping had fled, and Jiang Qiao planned to go to Yellow Springs Road.

Jiang Qiao reviewed his new Divinity-level strength and realized that both his Evil Spirit Body and Demonization tied him to dangerous forces and looming truths. He planned to seek more information from Liu Ping, while noting that their agreement would take effect in this timeline only when they met.

• Jiang Qiao saw that his Evil Spirit Body had advanced, binding him more closely to the Abyss as the Black Tide Calamity approached.
• Jiang Qiao considered Chong Heng’s tragic resistance and wondered whether the Red Moon controlled the world’s fate.
• Jiang Qiao recalled that his agreement with Liu Ping required truthful information in exchange for not interfering with Liu Ping’s plan, with an added clause protecting Jiang Qiao if Liu Ping’s companions became his enemies.
• Jiang Qiao noted that Liu Ping had joined forces with the Paper Figure Maker, but the agreement’s supplementary clause left him free to kill the Paper Figure Maker.
• Jiang Qiao realized Liu Ping in this timeline would remember their agreement only when they met, so he would have to wait to question him.

Jiang Qiao returned from Blue Star and told Yang Ling about its near-collapse and the Green Lotus Sect’s experiments, while Yang Ling revealed that Blue Star held several unexplained dangers. They also discussed the growing signs of the great calamity, which Yang Ling feared could arrive within six or seven years.

• Jiang Qiao told Yang Ling that Blue Star had nearly collapsed after its rapid Supernatural Revival, leaving most people dead and its survivors struggling.
• Jiang Qiao described the Malevolent Ghost Building and its possible connection to the Green Lotus Sect’s Other Shore Plan and Survivor game.
• Yang Ling said Blue Star’s unusual Awakened, Dragon Transformation Mountain, Earth's Core, and starry sky suggested that it concealed dangerous secrets, possibly including gods.
• Yang Ling warned that strange phenomena and Evil Spirits were spreading, and estimated that the great calamity might arrive in six or seven years.
• Yang Ling described a village swallowed by a sudden fissure and a strange sun-like apparition, then said the newly appearing Evil Spirits might be the Black Tide’s vanguard.

Jiang Qiao left Tianyu Ancient Village to investigate the growing signs of the great calamity after Yang Ling warned him about a mysterious fatal flood. He rode the Supernatural Bus out across the wasteland, and the bus entered a silent valley through its Ghost Domain.

• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao that factions were considering retreating to Blue Star or searching for another world, but neither plan offered a reliable solution to the Black Tide.
• Jiang Qiao met Tianyu Ancient Village's senior figures, then prepared to leave and investigate the calamity; Yang Ling warned him not to approach its signs after a Guangming Society powerhouse died while investigating a flood.
• Yang Ling invited Jiang Qiao to attend the Ancient Village Alliance meeting in Taoqiu with her in three months, and Jiang Qiao agreed to return in time.
• Jiang Qiao boarded the Supernatural Bus, where the passengers grew wary of him because they believed he was from Tianyu Ancient Village.
• As the bus crossed the wasteland, Jiang Qiao observed its corpse-like driver and its unusual ability to travel through a powerful Ghost Domain.
• The wasteland vanished as the Supernatural Bus entered a silent valley beneath the night sky.

Jiang Qiao stopped at Twilight Valley and reassured the passengers before hearing about a deadly Flame Out on Life and Death Bridge. He recognized the bridge’s invisible watermarks as the embodiment of a concept and learned its location could appear randomly after a platform near Evil Dog Ridge.

• Jiang Qiao arrived at Twilight Valley and told the tense passengers the platform was safe, warning them to remain on the bus in case it suffered a Flame Out.
• A passenger described surviving two Flame Outs, including one on a stone arch bridge where invisible watermarks cursed people and caused them to swell.
• Jiang Qiao recognized the watermarks as the embodiment of a concept and asked the passenger about the bridge.
• The passenger recalled that the bridge was called Life and Death Bridge and that it could appear randomly after a platform near Evil Dog Ridge.

Jiang Qiao guided the bus through Twilight Valley, reassuring the passengers when a pair of straw sandals boarded and ordering the driver to refuse a stop with eight ghost passengers. The bus sped past the platform, leaving the passengers in awe of Jiang Qiao and Tianyu Ancient Village.

• Jiang Qiao told the passengers to let a pair of moving straw sandals board, then assured them the ghost would not harm anyone if they did not step on it.
• The bus passed two more stations as passengers speculated about Twilight Valley and its history.
• Passengers spotted eight ghost passengers waiting at a platform, and Jiang Qiao told them the ghosts could be driven away but there was no need to do so.
• Jiang Qiao asked the driver not to stop, and the driver accelerated past the platform without picking up the ghosts.
• Jiang Qiao returned to his seat while the passengers praised the strength of those from Tianyu Ancient Village.

Jiang Qiao discovered that he could control the Supernatural Bus by suppressing its driver, then used it to strike a Weird Woman at a Bus Stop. After judging the bus’s combat usefulness limited, he noticed that it connected to some kind of space.

• Jiang Qiao reasoned that the Evil Spirit Body could suppress the corpse-driver and let him control the Supernatural Bus.
• He wondered whether he could control the Ghost Train, and considered the possibility that the Green Lotus Sect’s vehicles carried Vicious Ghosts to special regions.
• Jiang Qiao made the bus accelerate into a Weird Woman waiting at a Bus Stop, sending her flying while the passengers watched in shock.
• Jiang Qiao assessed the bus as sturdy but not useful for fighting powerful Vicious Ghosts, then noticed that it was connected to some kind of space.

Jiang Qiao recognized the supernatural passage ahead as the Yin Yang Road while the bus approached its entrance. He recalled a story about a man who accidentally crossed from the Yang Road into the Yin Road and received help from a murdered traveler’s ghost.

• Jiang Qiao watched the bus approach a fog-shrouded crossroads marked by a streetlamp and a Yin Yang Road sign.
• Jiang Qiao saw an illusory tunnel in the fog and realized that every apparent route led into the same Supernatural Passage.
• Jiang Qiao recalled how a man walking home on the Ghost Festival stumbled from the moonlit Yang Road into the dark Yin Road.
• A seemingly helpful hand reached out to the fallen man, but vanished when he tried to take it.
• The man later heard that a severed hand and a body had been found where he had fallen, and learned the encounter was tied to the Yin Yang Road.

The bus entered the Black Mist and encountered an invisible Evil Spirit at the Yin Yang Road stop. As the passengers approached what looked like a tunnel entrance, the bus began to flame out and break down, leaving them in danger.

• The passengers traveled through a rain-filled Supernatural Space inside the Black Mist and shared stories of past encounters with Vicious Ghosts.
• The bus stopped at Yin Yang Road, where invisible footprints appeared in the rain and boarded the vehicle.
• Two sets of wet footprints appeared beside the straw sandals in the back rows, suggesting two Vicious Ghosts were riding the bus.
• The passengers spotted a bright opening ahead that looked like a tunnel entrance.
• The bus suddenly slowed, and someone warned that it was about to flame out and break down.

The Supernatural Bus broke down in a torrential storm, forcing the passengers to flee while Jiang Qiao stayed aboard to watch the two Evil Spirits and await the Abyss entrance. Outside, the passengers realized the gentleman from Tianyu Ancient Village was missing as two lanterns marked “Offering” drifted toward them.

• The bus suddenly flamed out and opened its doors in the rain, prompting an experienced passenger to warn everyone to get off quickly.
• The passengers fled the bus, while Jiang Qiao remained inside with the motionless driver and the two bodiless Evil Spirits.
• The experienced passenger explained that the bus was stitched together from Vicious Ghosts, which attacked anyone left inside after a breakdown.
• The passengers noticed the gentleman from Tianyu Ancient Village was missing and saw two lanterns marked “Offering” drifting toward them from a tunnel entrance.

As passengers on a bus confronted eighteen Vicious Ghosts, Jiang Qiao investigated the Abyss Passage that had opened inside the vehicle. He sent a clone down the Stone Slab Road after the straw sandals and footprints, into the darkness beyond.

• Passengers got off the bus and discovered eighteen Vicious Ghosts approaching through the rain.
• Fu Le urged the Awakened to work together, while the man with the rotting face judged that the ghosts were dangerous but could be fought.
• The Vicious Ghosts opened their mouths and screamed, killing two Third Tier Awakened and starting the battle.
• The rear of the bus transformed into a Dark Space, with a Stone Slab Road stretching into the darkness between pale lanterns.
• Jiang Qiao watched the straw sandals and footprints enter the passage, then sent a clone after them to investigate.

Jiang Qiao crossed the Stone Slab Road and followed a yellow-mud path through the darkness, discovering that his footprints marked him as living. The path ended at the Well of Returning Yang, which he entered as a possible Supernatural Space connected to the Supernatural Bus.

• Jiang Qiao crossed onto the Stone Slab Road and saw strange figures moving beneath it, though the apparent fingers at the roadside were only dead branches.
• He continued along the quiet path until it changed into a yellow-mud road, where his footprints remained despite his attempts to avoid leaving marks.
• Jiang Qiao realized that the footprints identified him as living and might bring trouble, but he chose to keep going rather than erase them.
• The broken yellow-mud road led Jiang Qiao to a swaying Wooden House marked Well of Returning Yang, with a well inside and no path beyond it.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that the well might connect to the Supernatural Bus and jumped inside to investigate.

Jiang Qiao entered a world beneath the underground and explored a town where Vicious Ghosts lived like people. At an inn, he learned the town used Underworld Notes and drew the attention of locals who planned to prey on newcomers.

• Jiang Qiao left the mountain forest and entered a town whose residents were all Vicious Ghosts.
• Jiang Qiao visited an inn, paid two hundred Underworld Notes for food, and noticed the customers tolerated the waiter's rude behavior.
• Jiang Qiao guessed that the town might be where the Vicious Ghosts from the Supernatural World lived.
• A young man sat at Jiang Qiao's table, introduced Ten Thousand Ghost Forest as dangerous, and offered to guide him.
• The inn's patrons identified the young man as one of the Wang brothers and predicted that Jiang Qiao would be robbed and killed.

Jiang Qiao rejected the Wang brothers’ offer to guide him through the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest and killed them when they threatened him. The innkeeper appeased him with free lodging and better service, and Jiang Qiao settled into a room upstairs.

• The Wang brothers offered to guide Jiang Qiao for five thousand yuan a day and warned that the town and forest were dangerous for outsiders.
• Jiang Qiao smashed a wine jug into the young man’s face, then killed all five Wang brothers when they attacked.
• The inn fell silent, and the innkeeper recognized that Jiang Qiao was too powerful to confront.
• The innkeeper apologized, returned Jiang Qiao’s payment, and offered him free expenses, but Jiang Qiao refused the refund and requested a larger, better room.
• Jiang Qiao finished his meal, went to his room on the third floor, and told the deferential waiter not to disturb him.

After Jiang Qiao, using the name Gan Ba, killed the Wang brothers, the Death Realm factions investigated him and learned he was a living person whose identity and purpose were unknown. As the factions considered whether to enforce their toll rules against him, one major faction leader prepared to kill him if he resisted.

• News of Gan Ba’s killing of the Wang brothers spread, and the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest’s organizations failed to uncover his identity beyond confirming he was a living person.
• Jiang Qiao learned that the realm was called the Death Realm and that its dead people used ghost medicine to grow stronger, with the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest rich in both medicine and danger.
• The innkeeper’s employer told him to maintain a good relationship with Jiang Qiao, while adventurers speculated that the factions might soon demand tolls from the powerful newcomer.
• A leader of a major faction dismissed Gan Ba’s strength and said his faction would kill him if he broke the forest’s rules.