Chapter Summaries

Jiang Qiao learned that Chen Zhixing, the figure behind his Mad Scientist talent, may have uncovered part of the supernatural’s secrets before he lost his life. He also failed to discover Tong You Lu’s origin, leaving both mysteries unresolved.

• News spread through Ten Thousand Ghost Forest that Gan Ba and the adventurers had made a fortune, prompting factions and adventurers to investigate the cave and contact Jiang Qiao.
• Jiang Qiao read the Simulator’s new description of Mad Scientist, which named Chen Zhixing and suggested his research into reversing the supernatural had not failed completely.
• Jiang Qiao wondered whether Chen Zhixing was connected to the Return Journey Research Institute, the Green Lotus Sect, or Moon Laurel.
• Jiang Qiao questioned Wu Tian about Tong You Lu and learned that Wu Tian had taken it from a merchant caravan several hundred years earlier.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that Tong You Lu’s trail had gone cold and silently repeated Chen Zhixing’s name.

Jiang Qiao received an invitation from the Duer Association to explore Hungry Ghost Valley and the unknown depths of Ten Thousand Ghost Forest. After learning that the region might connect directly to the Abyss, he agreed to cooperate with the association.

• Jiang Qiao met representatives of the Duer Association in the inn lobby after deliberately letting local factions hear fragments about the Abyss.
• A representative invited Jiang Qiao to join an expedition through Hungry Ghost Valley, the limit of the factions’ explored territory.
• Jiang Qiao read Yun Zhou’s letter, which explained that several factions had planned the expedition for two years and believed a passage to the Abyss lay deep within the forest.
• Jiang Qiao learned that ghost herbs came alive in the Abyss and died after leaving it, and that the Duer Association maintained friendly ties with the Yellow Springs Merchant Association.
• Jiang Qiao agreed to cooperate with the Duer Association despite his conflict with Blood Aversion Island.

Jiang Qiao received a Heavenly Prison Fruit from Wu Tian as compensation and settled into a quiet routine while the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest's factions prepared for an expedition into its depths. He learned that the expedition, scheduled for half a month later, would involve the leaders of the major factions, who had been ordered to participate by the powerful beings controlling them.

• Wu Tian sent Jiang Qiao a Heavenly Prison Fruit, a rule fruit that could suppress one rule for a limited time, and Jiang Qiao accepted it as compensation.
• Jiang Qiao resumed his daily walks and ignored the Supernatural Bus, while the factions of the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest kept their distance from him.
• Two people whose ghost medicines had been taken by major factions sought Jiang Qiao's help, but the inn's attendant broke their legs and threw them outside after Jiang Qiao refused to see them.
• Jiang Qiao reviewed the Duer Association's map and learned that only a small, uncertain portion of the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest had been explored, with its major factions focused on ghost medicines and expeditions into the depths.
• The major factions prepared a joint expedition for half a month later, and their leaders had to take part because the powerful beings behind the factions had ordered them to do so.

Yuanbao, Shi Jin Jia, Yang Jing, and Du Weiyang gathered at the entrance to the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest, each hiding what they knew about its secret. Zhong Biao arrived and proposed that they openly exchange information before entering.

• Yuanbao, head of White Lady House, traded barbed remarks with Shi Jin Jia of Corpse Burning Tower and acknowledged that both had been forced to join the expedition.
• Yang Jing of Sword Shadow Platform arrived, politely refused to share what he knew, and urged the others to cooperate inside the forest.
• Du Weiyang arrived by sedan, greeted the others, and asked them to set aside their grievances and work together.
• Yuanbao asked Yang Jing and Du Weiyang to share their information, and Zhong Biao of Jie Sha Gang arrived and proposed an open exchange.

Yun Zhou arrived at the gathering with Gan Ba, provoking objections from the other leaders because Gan Ba was an outsider who had broken the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest’s rules. Yun Zhou said he had obtained Death Priest’s permission to bring him, leaving everyone shocked.

• Zhong Biao shared papers containing information about the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest and tried to disparage Yun Zhou for being late.
• Zhong Biao’s remarks angered Shi Jin Jia, while Yang Jing, Du Weiyang, and Yuan Bao declined to take the bait.
• Yun Zhou arrived with Gan Ba, drawing the leaders’ attention and prompting Shi Jin Jia to accuse him of bringing an outsider to the secret operation.
• Zhong Biao and Shi Jin Jia challenged Yun Zhou’s decision, citing Gan Ba’s past rule-breaking and lack of permission.
• Yun Zhou said Death Priest had approved Gan Ba’s presence, shocking the gathered leaders.

After the Death Priest acknowledged Jiang Qiao, the leaders of the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest accepted him as a companion for their journey. Jiang Qiao assessed the group’s strength and reflected on the balance of power between the Death Realm and the Supernatural World.

• Du Weiyang and the others reacted with respect after learning Yun Zhou had received instruction from the Death Priest.
• Yun Zhou apologized for keeping his connection to the Death Priest private, and Zhong Biao, Yuanbao, and Shi Jin Jia acknowledged Jiang Qiao.
• Jiang Qiao agreed to work with the group and assessed the abilities and strength of Shi Jin Jia, Zhong Biao, Yuanbao, Yang Jing, Du Weiyang, and Yun Zhou.
• Jiang Qiao considered how the Death Realm had many experts but few Half-Gods, while the Supernatural World possessed more Half-Gods and Taboo Weapons.

Jiang Qiao and the others shared information about the strange routes and dangers surrounding Hungry Ghost Valley as they traveled toward it. After three hours, they reached a canyon veiled in endless green mist that blocked their sight and Supernatural Perception.

• Zhong Biao described an invisible barrier around Hungry Ghost Valley and said its shifting entrances had made his searchers disappear.
• Yang Jing revealed that his Eighth Tier subordinate entered a sea of flowers beyond the valley, returned with flowers growing over his body, and later died.
• Du Weiyang described a different entrance leading to a dangerous forest where Evil Spirits killed nearly all of his more than thirty searchers within minutes.
• Yuanbao and Shi Jinjia grew uneasy as the group exchanged intelligence, while Jiang Qiao questioned why the forest's Evil Spirits attacked spirits from the Supernatural World.
• After three hours of travel, the group arrived at a canyon shrouded in green mist that obstructed their vision and Supernatural Perception.

Zhong Biao, Yun Zhou, Jiang Qiao, and the others traveled deeper into Hungry Ghost Valley, where the group easily overcame hungry ghosts and several supernatural threats. In a barren rocky stretch, one of Shi Jin Jia’s disciples discovered a cut around his ankle with something writhing inside it.

• Zhong Biao led the group into Hungry Ghost Valley, where he destroyed more than a thousand hungry ghosts with Fierce Sha Energy.
• Yun Zhou explained that the valley’s trees and mist blocked and distorted Supernatural Perception as the group fought through more waves of hungry ghosts.
• Yang Jing severed the vine Evil Spirit formed from a Supernatural Item and recovered the bloodstained Hemp Rope that had attacked Shi Jin Jia.
• Yuanbao laughed and grafted the swamp’s Killing Curse onto the burly man, who endured its effect before the strange markings on his skin faded.
• The group crossed the swamp and entered a barren field of jagged rocks, where one of Shi Jin Jia’s disciples found a cut around his ankle with something moving inside it.

A curse in Hungry Ghost Valley infected Shi Jin Jia’s disciple, and the group discovered that it had spread too far to be safely removed. Yang Jing erased the disciple to prevent the curse from becoming a threat, leaving Shi Jin Jia furious and Jiang Qiao suspicious of his motives for bringing two disciples.

• Shi Jin Jia used ghostly flame to suppress the curse on his disciple’s ankle, but the wriggling fingers returned, and Yun Zhou explained that Hungry Ghost Valley’s curses varied greatly in danger.
• Shi Jin Jia questioned his disciple, while Jiang Qiao reasoned that the wound was caused by a rule curse and identified the mushroom field as the likely trigger.
• The curse rapidly swelled the disciple’s leg and spread throughout his body, so Shi Jin Jia asked Yuan Bao to help save him.
• As the disciple began to swell as if he would explode, Yang Jing used Sword Shadow Platform to make him disappear.
• Yang Jing explained that the disciple had become a living curse and could not be restored without an expert from the latter half of the Divinity Staircase, while Shi Jin Jia glared at him.
• Jiang Qiao watched without intervening and suspected that Shi Jin Jia had brought his two disciples for a special objective.

After entering the lightless Black Domain, Jiang Qiao's group encountered a powerful Evil Spirit fused with a stone stele. Zhong Biao and Yang Jing attacked it, and Yun Zhou warned that Yang Jing's Broken Sword had once been stained with a Half-God's blood.

• Yun Zhou explained to Jiang Qiao that all light went out in the Black Domain and that any light that endured there was dangerous.
• The group found a blank stone stele blocking their route and chose to pass it rather than clear a way around through the trees and vines.
• An old man only three feet tall appeared crouching atop the stele, with his lower legs fused into the stone.
• Zhong Biao attacked the old man with a corpse-wrapping cloth formed from Sha Energy, and Yang Jing joined him with his rust-covered Broken Sword.
• Yun Zhou said Yang Jing's sword was vicious and had once been stained with a Half-God's blood.

Yang Jing used a broken sword to erase part of space and destroy the old ghost, revealing the weapon’s connection to a powerful half-god. Jiang Qiao questioned Yun Zhou about their backers and the Death Realm’s strongest figures, while remaining suspicious of the pair’s true mission in the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest.

• Yang Jing’s sword erased a frame of space and shattered the old ghost, whose remains vanished in its burial shroud.
• Jiang Qiao deduced that the Broken Sword had absorbed a trace of a half-god’s rule aura and asked Yun Zhou where it came from.
• Yun Zhou said Yang Jing’s backer was Yang Bo, a Ninth Step powerhouse who was a leading candidate to become the fourth half-god.
• Yun Zhou explained that the Death Priest was close to the Ninth Step but had not reached it, and described how power and advancement worked on the divinity staircase.
• Jiang Qiao suspected Yun Zhou and Yang Jing had been sent to investigate deeper secrets in the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest and the Abyss, but kept his suspicions to himself.

After the group entered Hungry Ghost Valley’s dangerous blood-red grassland, Zhong Biao and the others demanded that Jiang Qiao walk ahead and test for hidden curses and traps. Jiang Qiao faced their menace as Yun Zhou objected, leaving the group’s confrontation unresolved.

• Yun Zhou warned that the blood-red grassland hid tunnels whose curses could attract powerful hungry ghosts.
• Zhong Biao accused Jiang Qiao of refusing to help and urged him to contribute to the group.
• Shi Jin Jia suggested Jiang Qiao might have ulterior motives and demanded that he take the lead.
• Yun Zhou objected that Jiang Qiao was unfamiliar with the grassland, but Zhong Biao insisted he could learn by crossing it.
• Yuanbao, Yang Jing, and Du Weiyang joined Zhong Biao in silently pressuring Jiang Qiao to test the dangers ahead.

Jiang Qiao rejected the group’s demand that he and Yun Zhou take turns scouting the Bloody Grassland, then attacked Shi Jin Jia and Zhong Biao when they threatened him. The confrontation left both men struck down, with Zhong Biao furious and preparing to retaliate.

• Yun Zhou argued that the group should share the danger of leading through the Bloody Grassland, but Zhong Biao, Yuan Bao, Shi Jin Jia, Yang Jing, and Du Weiyang insisted Jiang Qiao and Yun Zhou should take the lead.
• Jiang Qiao stepped forward and challenged the group’s hostility, while its members demanded that he prove his strength by scouting the route.
• Shi Jin Jia ordered Jiang Qiao to scout and threatened that his death would be his own fate, so Jiang Qiao applauded and warned them to prepare to pay the price.
• Jiang Qiao vanished and struck Shi Jin Jia in the chest with a lightning-fast punch, sending him flying.
• Jiang Qiao then punched Zhong Biao in the face and sent him backward, leaving half of Zhong Biao’s face gone as he sprang up in fury.

Jiang Qiao attacked Yang Jing to stop him from using the Broken Sword, whose power came from a trace of Half-God blood. He leaves Yuanbao and the burly man annihilated, while the battle against the remaining opponents continues.

• Yang Jing raised the Broken Sword, revealing phantoms and a strand of rule power from a Half-God.
• Jiang Qiao struck Yang Jing's wrist with Black Lightning and the Power of Chaos, tearing apart his hand and knocking the Broken Sword away.
• Zhong Biao unleashed a shroud of Fierce Sha Energy, but Jiang Qiao evaded it and cut Zhong Biao in half.
• Yuanbao cast a rule curse at Jiang Qiao, who dodged it and pierced her with a lightning-wreathed punch.
• Jiang Qiao's Power of Chaos swallowed Yuanbao and the burly man, annihilating them.

Jiang Qiao overwhelmed the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest leaders, killing Yuanbao and badly injuring Zhong Biao and Du Weiyang. As the survivors joined forces against him, Jiang Qiao evaded their attacks and appeared behind Zhong Biao, swallowing him with a strange black speck.

• Jiang Qiao mocked the leaders’ combat skills after killing Yuanbao, severely injuring Zhong Biao, and wounding Shi Jin Jia and Yang Jing.
• Jiang Qiao punched through Du Weiyang’s spatial defense and pierced his chest, prompting Du Weiyang to call for everyone to attack together.
• Du Weiyang, Yang Jing, and the others unleashed their rules against Jiang Qiao while Yun Zhou and Shi Jin Jia’s disciple remained missing.
• Jiang Qiao evaded the combined attacks and reappeared behind the already injured Zhong Biao.
• Jiang Qiao’s black speck expanded and swallowed Zhong Biao.

Jiang Qiao killed Zhong Biao and Shi Jin Jia on the Bloody Grassland, while Yang Jing and Du Weiyang fled. Suspecting Shi Jin Jia had escaped by possessing a disciple, Jiang Qiao headed toward the far end of Hungry Ghost Valley to find the others.

• Jiang Qiao transformed into a singularity and killed Zhong Biao with a devastating blast of thunder.
• Yang Jing and Du Weiyang fled in unusual ways, leaving Shi Jin Jia behind.
• Jiang Qiao killed Shi Jin Jia but suspected he had survived by possessing a disciple through an unseen connection.
• Jiang Qiao wondered why Shi Jin Jia had risked a disciple’s life earlier, then decided to ask him if they met again.
• Jiang Qiao headed toward a distant Small Mountain, wondering why the others had rushed deeper into Hungry Ghost Valley.

Jiang Qiao reached the summit of the Small Mountain at Hungry Ghost Valley, where he encountered a mysterious boundary and glimpsed a colossal supernatural figure beyond it. The figure vanished in the rain, leaving Jiang Qiao injured but convinced the other side of the valley held even greater dangers.

• Jiang Qiao crossed the Bloody Grassland and began climbing the Small Mountain while an unseen voice urged him to turn back.
• Jiang Qiao questioned the voice about the danger, but it only warned that crossing the summit would cost lives and make people lose control.
• The voice fell silent when Jiang Qiao reached the summit, and he found an impassable Air Wall separating the valley from the other side.
• Jiang Qiao saw a thousand-zhang figure wreathed in black mist beyond the barrier and felt its supernatural dread.
• Looking at the figure cursed Jiang Qiao and made his eyes bleed, while torrential rain fell beyond the Air Wall and the figure disappeared.

Jiang Qiao failed to find a way out of Hungry Ghost Valley and discovered a jade gourd containing a faint Life Aura. A man on the far side of the Air Wall claimed it held his dead daughter’s life force and asked Jiang Qiao to throw it over, but Jiang Qiao ended their awkward exchange by calling him stupid.

• Jiang Qiao searched the mountain range and tried to break through the Air Wall, but found no way to leave Hungry Ghost Valley.
• Jiang Qiao found a jade gourd in a crack between stones and sensed a faint, pure Life Aura inside it.
• A square-faced man in black appeared across the Air Wall and claimed the gourd was his, saying it contained life force from his daughter, who had died twenty years earlier.
• The man asked Jiang Qiao to throw the gourd over and offered a reward, but Jiang Qiao remained silent before asking if the man was stupid.

Jiang Qiao refused to hand over the Jade Gourd to a man claiming to be Zhong Biao’s master and tricked him into believing they were connected by generations of family. As Jiang Qiao left the mountain, a disembodied voice warned him that Old Ancestor Gong and the Child King would come after him.

• Jiang Qiao rejected the man’s demand for the Jade Gourd and discovered that the man and the Air Wall disappeared when he stepped away from the mountain ridge.
• The man threatened to send Zhong Biao after Jiang Qiao, but Jiang Qiao claimed he was Zhong Biao’s great-grandfather.
• The man became furious when Jiang Qiao called him Grandpa, while Jiang Qiao crossed the ridge and left him behind.
• Jiang Qiao found no way through the Air Wall on the mountain and began searching elsewhere.
• A strange voice warned Jiang Qiao that he had offended Old Ancestor Gong and that the Child King would find him, then abruptly vanished.

Jiang Qiao found evidence that Shi Jin Jia had possessed one of his disciples, then fought a mysterious man who used blood threads and Vicious Ghosts. The man escaped through a newly appeared Space Rift, and Jiang Qiao followed him inside.

• Jiang Qiao found warm black blood and scraps of a disciple’s clothing, concluding that Shi Jin Jia had possessed the disciple and likely been attacked.
• A mysterious man attacked Jiang Qiao with an arrow, but Jiang Qiao evaded it and countered with lightning and Exorcism.
• The mysterious man blocked Jiang Qiao’s thunderous strike with blood threads and Vicious Ghosts, then vanished before Jiang Qiao could hit him with the Cutting Rule.
• Jiang Qiao spotted a Space Rift where the man had disappeared and charged inside.