Chapter Summaries

Ye Chen recounted how he sailed from a mysterious port onto the River of History, survived its Information Torrent, and discovered a route to the Land of the Cold Crow. After escaping the dark region and falling through a waterfall, he awoke on an island in the Nether Sea.

• Ye Chen boarded a ship at the mysterious port and unknowingly sailed onto a tributary of the River of History.
• When Ye Chen touched the river, an Information Torrent overwhelmed him, but he later extracted knowledge that helped him develop a method to turn despair into an altar.
• Ye Chen said the ship vanished after he left the River of History, leaving him stranded in the Nether Sea for years before he contacted his family.
• Ye Chen drifted into the river’s main channel, reached an enormous island, and wandered into a dark region where he lost his senses and nearly became trapped.
• Ye Chen followed the faint connection between his Jade Discs to escape the dark region and concluded the island held the entrance to the Land of the Cold Crow.
• Ye Chen later fell over a waterfall, crashed into a stone passage, and woke on an island in the Nether Sea.

Jiang Qiao killed Ye Chen, Lin Ying, and Yang Li, while Wu Ya vanished after Jiang Qiao secretly grafted hostile fate onto him. The Blood Aversion Island Lord learned of the deaths and demanded that Medicine King City explain Jiang Qiao’s involvement.

• Jiang Qiao killed Lin Ying after rejecting her pleas, then killed Yang Li with lightning as he fled through a Ghost Domain passage.
• Jiang Qiao watched Wu Ya escape, then Wu Ya suddenly disintegrated when the hostile fate Jiang Qiao had grafted onto him took effect.
• Jiang Qiao revealed that he had lied to Ye Chen about why he could ignore the world's rejection, then walked toward Horse Head Slope.
• The Blood Aversion Island Lord received word that Ye Chen, Ye Tian, Yang Li, Wu Ya, and Lin Ying had died.
• After learning Jiang Qiao was involved, the Blood Aversion Island Lord ordered someone to summon the people from Medicine King City and demand an explanation.

Jiang Qiao returned to Horse Head Slope and listened as its village chief warned residents not to speculate about a distant battle. As reports arrived, Jiang Qiao and the villagers learned that a deadly mist from Ten Thousand Ghost Forest was rapidly spreading across the Death Realm and killing even powerful experts.

• Jiang Qiao returned to Horse Head Slope and quietly observed the panicked residents discussing a battle and the Blood Aversion Island patrol.
• The village chief warned the teahouse customers to stop speculating and insisted nothing was wrong with Horse Head Slope.
• Jiang Qiao recognized that the village chief had unusual strength and left without examining him too closely.
• Jiang Qiao learned that a lethal mist had emerged from the huge pit near Ten Thousand Ghost Forest and spread outward, killing everyone it reached.
• New reports said the mist had reached fifteen hundred miles from the pit and killed two Divinity Staircase powerhouses, leaving Horse Head Slope's residents fearing for their home.

Jiang Qiao watched the Death Realm’s fog resist the three Half-God ancestors, then heard that it had dragged away Master Changzai and forced the ancestors to withdraw their monitors. As he suspected the Green Lotus Sect had helped bring about the disaster, the village head of Horse Head Slope approached him to discuss an important matter.

• The three ancestors suppressed the fog until it covered only a tenth of the Death Realm, but they could not clear it, prompting residents to flee and blame Jiang Qiao.
• Jiang Qiao listened to rumors in Horse Head Slope’s teahouse and suspected the Death Priest had framed him for the Abyss Passage’s destruction.
• News spread that arms from the fog had seized Master Changzai despite an ancestor’s intervention, and the ancestors later ordered all monitors to withdraw.
• Jiang Qiao connected the disaster to the Green Lotus Sect and the Return Journey Research Institute, suspecting the sect had influenced the opening of the Abyss Passage.
• The village head of Horse Head Slope approached Jiang Qiao and asked him to speak privately about an important matter.

Jiang Qiao told the Village Chief that the Death Priest had caused the Abyss disaster, then heard the Village Chief’s knowledge of the approaching great calamity and the Green Lotus Sect. The Village Chief proposed an alliance to capture a sect higher-up, but Jiang Qiao refused and left their plans unresolved.

• The Village Chief questioned Jiang Qiao about the Ten Thousand Ghost Forest, and Jiang Qiao explained that Yun Zhou had opened the Abyss passage at the Death Priest’s direction.
• The Village Chief said he believed Jiang Qiao but warned that most of the Death Realm would blame him for the disaster.
• The Village Chief told Jiang Qiao that the Abyss contained coordinates guiding the great calamity from a mysterious world toward theirs.
• The Village Chief revealed that he knew the identity of a Green Lotus Sect higher-up and suspected the Death Priest had conspired with that person.
• The Village Chief asked Jiang Qiao to help capture the higher-up and learn the sect’s way out, but Jiang Qiao refused.

After Jiang Qiao left Horse Head Slope, a supernatural disaster engulfed Wumei Village and began sending its residents toward the slope. Jiang Qing was caught in the attack and lost his memories as the village’s masked crowd marched through the torrential rain.

• Jiang Qiao left Horse Head Slope, avoided Yi City, and planned to prepare for a journey to Yellow Springs Road.
• Two days later, Jiang Qing reached Wumei Village and worried about the rising price of ghost medicine and the danger facing the Death Realm.
• Jiang Qing walked through the rain and noticed the villagers staring at him with strange, mocking expressions.
• A supernatural attack erased Jiang Qing’s memories and turned him into a stiff, smiling figure among the crowd.
• A torrential downpour confined to Wumei Village drove its residents toward Horse Head Slope as a huge, indistinct figure appeared in the clouds above.

After learning that the Death Realm had been devastated by the Curse Calamity and Black Mist, Jiang Qiao and Yang Ling discussed the looming threat before meeting an arrogant delegation from Corpse Liberation Valley. The envoys demanded that Tianyu Ancient Village obey the sea factions, and a clash seemed imminent as someone in the crowd mocked their claimed alliance.

• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao that the Death Realm was enveloped by scarlet mist, most of its dead had perished, and one of its three ancestors had disappeared.
• Jiang Qiao and Yang Ling discussed the possibility that Forbidden Zones contained passages to their homeland and that deities might be guarding them.
• A visitor announced that Corpse Liberation Valley had sent envoys to meet Yang Ling, so Jiang Qiao and Yang Ling went to the reception hall.
• A Corpse Liberation Valley envoy demanded that Tianyu Ancient Village follow the orders of the sea factions, claiming they had united with land factions to face the coming calamity.
• The envoy threatened Tianyu Ancient Village and released an aura that weakened those in the hall, provoking its members and bringing both sides close to a fight.
• Someone in the crowd mocked the envoys' claim that the Longevity God Cult and the Celestial Association had joined forces.

Representatives of the Calamity Mutual Aid Society demanded that Tianyu Ancient Village sign a slave-like contract and obey their orders, but Yang Ling refused. As the representatives threatened the village and gathered a strange aura, Yang Ling calmly prepared to see them out.

• Jiang Qiao mocked the representatives’ claim that the rival organizations had made peace, and their leader insulted the land factions before presenting a Human Skin Paper contract.
• Yang Ling asked what benefits the Calamity Mutual Aid Society offered, and the leader said there were none, only orders and the risk of death for humanity’s sake.
• Yang Ling told the representatives that Tianyu Ancient Village would not join the society, and warned that even their valley master could not force the village.
• The leader and his companions rose and released a strange converging Supernatural Aura that Jiang Qiao suspected was a summoning technique.
• Yang Ling remained calm and said he would personally escort the unwelcome guests out.

A coalition of Major Factions attacked Tianyu Ancient Village with a method that disrupted supernatural powers, forcing Yang Ling and the village to consider using their Taboo Weapons. Jiang Qiao analyzed how the attackers borrowed power through a modified ritual, and the chapter ended as bizarre figures in mourning clothes charged Yang Ling.

• A Corpse Liberation Valley attacker opened cracks into Dark Space and disrupted the supernatural phenomena throughout Tianyu’s reception hall.
• Tianyu’s village chief and elders arrived but struggled to use their powers, while the attackers threatened them and warned them not to activate their Taboo Weapons.
• Jiang Qiao realized Tianyu had two Taboo Weapons and understood that Yang Ling was central to the village’s strength.
• Jiang Qiao and the Mad Scientist analyzed the attackers’ method as a modified form of Divine Descent that let them borrow fixed supernatural powers.
• Yang Ling asked whether the attackers’ method came from the Path of Incense and Fire, and the attackers summoned ghostly figures carrying iron chains to rush at him.

Yang Ling used concealment and a mysterious iron nail to seal the Supernatural Passage empowering the Corpse Liberation Valley fighters. Stripped of that power, they admitted defeat and asked him to stop fighting.

• The Corpse Liberation Valley figures attacked Yang Ling with suppressive force, but his body vanished and reappeared unharmed.
• Yang Ling let the fighters believe he was hiding while they threatened the people of Tianyu Ancient Village.
• Talismans appeared on the five men, disrupting their connection to the supernatural.
• Yang Ling's iron nail bypassed the figures in white mourning clothes and sealed the Corpse Liberation Valley's Supernatural Passage.
• The fighters lost their borrowed power and begged Yang Ling to end the fight.

Yang Ling killed the Corpse Liberation Valley envoys after they attacked Tianyu Ancient Village and tried to threaten him with the Calamity Mutual Aid Society. He suspected the Society had ulterior motives and planned to contact Lu Jingyi to learn more.

• Yang Ling used talismans to suppress the Corpse Liberation Valley envoys, sealing their powers and cutting off their connection to the energy passage.
• The envoys threatened Yang Ling with retaliation from the Calamity Mutual Aid Society, then begged for mercy when their threats failed.
• Yang Ling trapped the envoys in sealed space and time, transformed them into paintings, and killed them as the surrounding void collapsed.
• The energy passage disintegrated after the envoys died, and Jiang Qiao warned Yang Ling that the Mutual Aid Society might demand an explanation.
• Yang Ling said the Society had excluded Blue Star people and proposed several possible reasons for sending the envoys, then decided to contact Lu Jingyi.

Yang Ling and Jiang Qiao discussed the Calamity Mutual Aid Society’s efforts to recruit the ancient villages and considered who could have united the Nether Sea’s major factions. Yang Ling suspected surviving members of the Return Journey Research Institute, and left Jiang Qiao with a question about why the Longevity God had destroyed the Institute.

• Nan Fu told Yang Ling that the Calamity Mutual Aid Society had approached Taoqiu and other ancient villages, with General's Tomb killing its visitors and Liunian Village’s response remaining uncertain.
• Yang Ling and Nan Fu discussed the Society’s ties to the five major Nether Sea factions and whether the Green Lotus Sect could be behind its rise.
• Nan Fu invited Jiang Qiao to visit Taoqiu on Mr. Lu’s behalf, and Jiang Qiao agreed to come when the time was right.
• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao that the Green Lotus Sect could not have united the factions because it could not get past the Longevity God.
• Yang Ling proposed that surviving members of the Return Journey Research Institute might have emerged to unite the factions, then asked Jiang Qiao why the Longevity God had destroyed the Institute.

Yang Ling explained that the Return Journey Research Institute was destroyed because its attempt to reverse the supernatural drew on the Void Abyss and attracted the gods’ attention. He also warned Jiang Qiao that the Daoist plan to shed mortality and become immortal required the complete Red Moon, whose reunion could draw every god’s attention.

• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao that the Return Journey Research Institute’s path to godhood likely carried traces of the Void Abyss, leading the gods to erase it as it neared success.
• Jiang Qiao wondered whether the path researched by the Institute was now within him and asked whether his homeland had tried to reverse the supernatural.
• Yang Ling said all attempts had failed because removing the supernatural also removed part of a person’s life, and true reversal had never been achieved.
• Yang Ling revealed that the Daoist plan called “Shedding Mortality and Ascending to Immortality” required the complete Red Moon and could not succeed under current conditions.
• Yang Ling warned Jiang Qiao that reuniting the Red Moon or trying to reunite it would likely attract the attention of all the gods.

As the Calamity Mutual Aid Society threatened factions across the Supernatural World, the Guangming Society and the Old Citizens pushed for a surface alliance. Reports of destructive tsunamis in the Nether Sea made Jiang Qiao decide to travel to Yellow Springs Road alone, leaving Yang Ling behind to handle Tianyu Ancient Village and monitor events.

• The Calamity Mutual Aid Society demanded that factions join it and slaughtered every member of organizations that resisted, prompting the Guangming Society and the Old Citizens to condemn it.
• Jiang Qiao speculated that the Guangming Society and the Old Citizens would cooperate, and Yang Ling reported that the Guangming Society was discussing a surface alliance with the Ancient Village called the Allied Boat Alliance.
• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao that powerful tsunamis had devastated sea factions, including two second-rate organizations, and forced several Top Factions to retreat ashore.
• Jiang Qiao decided to travel alone to Yellow Springs Road because the Nether Sea was growing more dangerous and Tianyu Ancient Village needed Yang Ling to stay behind.

Jiang Qiao returned to the Nether Sea Shore and found Bo Xia still repairing his ship, now far stronger than before. Bo Xia said the sea’s storms had grown more frequent and admitted he had eaten one-third of the Elixir of Immortality, leaving Jiang Qiao to question him about it and the Sea Monk.

• Jiang Qiao entered the Nether Sea Shore through the door at the Red Moon Restaurant and suspected the Abyss beyond it was the Yellow Springs Road.
• Jiang Qiao approached the Sunken Ship Site and found Bo Xia repairing his ship in the same manner as before.
• Jiang Qiao sensed that Bo Xia had grown immensely stronger, though Bo Xia treated him as an illusion and remembered his earlier visits.
• Bo Xia said storms had become more frequent but were not serious, and that he would return to sea once his ship was repaired.
• Bo Xia admitted he had eaten one-third of the Elixir of Immortality, and Jiang Qiao asked him what it did and what the Sea Monk was.

Jiang Qiao questioned Bo Xia about the Elixir of Immortality, Qianyuan Temple, and the Sea Monk while assessing the wreck site before going to sea. Bo Xia’s changing account of his companions and the elixir left Jiang Qiao doubting his story and wondering how it related to legends outside these waters.

• Jiang Qiao delayed going to sea so he could inspect the wrecks and question Bo Xia about the Elixir of Immortality.
• Bo Xia said he had eaten one-third of an elixir refined by Qianyuan Temple, which eased his supernatural illness but did not cure it, and that the Sea Monk hunted anyone who took it.
• Bo Xia said Qianyuan Temple was gone and described a journey with his companions toward the Yellow Springs Road, during which the Sea Monk and a strange wind left him stranded alone.
• Bo Xia gathered wood from the wrecks and carried it to a cave-side stack as evening approached.
• Jiang Qiao noticed Bo Xia’s account now contradicted his earlier claim that his companions had stayed on the beach, and that he had previously omitted eating the elixir.
• Jiang Qiao considered the many outside legends of the Elixir of Immortality and wondered whether Bo Xia’s elixir was the same one.

Jiang Qiao explored the island’s lake and uncovered evidence of human sacrifices spanning different eras, along with a remarkably fresh severed head. He recognized the head and was shocked by its identity.

• Jiang Qiao explored the island’s interior and found a lake at its center, separate from the Nether Sea.
• Jiang Qiao discovered treasure, bound skeletons, inscribed stone slabs, and weapons buried in the lakebed, all apparently from different eras.
• Jiang Qiao wondered whether the sacrifices were connected to Yellow Springs Road and continued digging for clues.
• Jiang Qiao unearthed a severed head with fresh-looking flesh and realized he recognized it.

Jiang Qiao found the severed head of the Half-God he had banished and suspected Bo Xia had killed him, possibly in both the River of History and reality. Before he could investigate further, a Deity’s enormous hair rose from the sea, forcing Jiang Qiao to dive into Island Heart Lake.

• Jiang Qiao recognized the head he had dug from Island Heart Lake as the Half-God he had banished to the Nether Sea Shore.
• Jiang Qiao reasoned that the Half-God’s death in the River of History could have killed his real-world self, and wondered who had killed and sacrificed him.
• Jiang Qiao suspected Bo Xia had killed the Half-God in both the River of History and reality, and decided to test Bo Xia again the next day.
• Jiang Qiao saw enormous strands of hair rise from the sea and sensed that a Deity was approaching.
• Jiang Qiao plunged into Island Heart Lake as the Deity’s presence distorted his senses.

Jiang Qiao nearly died after encountering a Deity’s hair in Island Heart Lake, then experienced a vision of an ancient human sacrifice and prayers concerning the Yellow Springs, the Other Shore, and the Moon God. He stayed underwater to recover the fading memories and realized the vision was connected to Yellow Springs Road.

• Jiang Qiao saw a vision of himself bound among sacrificial victims and beheaded during an ancient ceremony.
• His consciousness rose above the ceremony and heard prayers about crossing the Yellow Springs, reaching the Other Shore, and the Moon God.
• A powerful force pulled Jiang Qiao back into his body, and he awoke unharmed on the bottom of Island Heart Lake.
• Jiang Qiao decided to remain underwater and quickly recall the vision’s fading details.
• Jiang Qiao remembered the phrase “Yellow Springs are difficult to cross” and concluded that the vision was related to Yellow Springs Road.

Jiang Qiao connected the island’s ancient ritual to Yellow Springs Road, the Other Shore, and the Return Journey Research Institute’s Fate Weaver path. After resurfacing and finding no sign of the Deity, he met Bo Xia and noticed something amiss among the planks and shipwrecks.

• Jiang Qiao reasoned that Yellow Springs Road could lead to his homeland, the River of History, or the Other Shore, while the Three Lives Stone might hold a secret passage.
• Jiang Qiao recalled that the Return Journey Research Institute had reached his homeland and wondered how it completed the Fate Weaver path, concluding that he might be its only inheritor.
• Jiang Qiao waited underwater for more than ten days, then surfaced during the Nether Sea’s daytime and checked for the Deity.
• Jiang Qiao met Bo Xia, who dismissed his greeting and went to work on the sunken ships.
• Jiang Qiao noticed the planks outside Bo Xia’s cave and the shipwrecks, then realized something was wrong.