Chapter Summaries

Jiang Qiao questioned Bo Xia about the island, a slain Half-God, and the route to Yellow Springs Road, while discovering that Bo Xia’s anger seemed to affect the island’s unstable space-time. When an eerie song came from the sea, Jiang Qiao and Bo Xia fled into the cave.

• Jiang Qiao noticed that wood had vanished from Bo Xia’s pile and that dismantled ships had been restored.
• Bo Xia said the lake’s stone symbols were prayers and admitted he had killed a Half-God who interrupted his shipbuilding.
• Bo Xia complained that a thief was stealing his wood, and Jiang Qiao sensed cracks in space-time whenever Bo Xia grew angry.
• Bo Xia told Jiang Qiao that Yellow Springs Road lay straight ahead by sea and warned him not to go out at night.
• Bo Xia suddenly ran toward the cave, and Jiang Qiao heard a mournful song from the sea that filled him with intense despair before he followed Bo Xia inside.

Jiang Qiao confronted a bizarre evil spirit that attacked the cave with masses of black hair, while Bo Xia cowered in terror. Jiang Qiao fought through the hair with lightning and unleashed the White Tiger Rule, but the spirit’s fate remained unresolved.

• Jiang Qiao found Bo Xia trembling in the cave as bubbling sounds approached and the door opened by itself.
• A headless-looking woman hidden in long black hair lunged through the entrance, and Jiang Qiao struck her with lightning.
• The woman’s hair engulfed the cave, but Jiang Qiao realized the spirit relied on a special means to frighten Bo Xia and charged into the mass.
• Jiang Qiao burned through the hair as it continuously replenished, then released the White Tiger Rule’s dark Ball Lightning, which expanded and exploded.

Jiang Qiao relentlessly battered the evil entity hidden in Deep Space, overcoming its ghost hair, supernatural scream, and dissolving water until he finally killed it. The Simulator then announced that he had obtained a special item called Fish Master.

• Jiang Qiao tore open the void and found the evil entity concealed behind its ghost hair.
• Jiang Qiao used thunderlight to destroy the entity’s hair and punched it, breaking its arms and striking its face.
• The evil entity opened its eyes and flooded the space with filthy water that suppressed supernatural power, but Jiang Qiao blocked its escape.
• Jiang Qiao bombarded the entity with thunder-infused punches, countering its screams and repeated attempts to recover and flee.
• Jiang Qiao finally killed the evil entity, and the Simulator announced that he had obtained the special item Fish Master.

Jiang Qiao acquired the Fish Master, a Bronze Fish that could guide him through the Nether Sea and point toward the cage in its deepest reaches. He realized it would help him reach Yellow Springs Road and find his way back, though it would also make encounters with evil spirits more likely.

• Jiang Qiao picked up the Bronze Fish dropped by the Spider Woman of the Sea and learned that the Fish Master was a key to a cage in the Nether Sea and a navigation tool.
• Jiang Qiao sensed a faint connection leading toward the deepest reaches of the Nether Sea, where Ruyi Yuanjun and other half-gods were trapped.
• Jiang Qiao tested the Fish Master and found that he could use it to locate Demon Port, Holy Spirit Island, and the underwater ruins he had visited with Yang Ling.
• Jiang Qiao recognized that the Fish Master could help him navigate to Yellow Springs Road and return safely, since the iron door at the Red Moon Restaurant could not connect different locations within the Nether Sea.

Jiang Qiao reflected on the Spider Woman’s death and Bo Xia’s strange reaction, then discovered that the [Simulator] had updated the information about his curses and fate. As he prepared to enter Yellow Springs Road to become a half-god, he wondered whether advancing Dual Pupils would connect him to the Void Abyss.

• Jiang Qiao killed the Spider Woman and tried to comfort the terrified Bo Xia, who stayed curled up and trembling.
• Jiang Qiao considered whether the Spider Woman’s rules had countered Bo Xia’s and worried that his hidden dangers might trouble him on Yellow Springs Road.
• Jiang Qiao noticed that the [Simulator] had updated Chou God's Mark and Karma Vision, revealing Chou God's purpose and warning that Jiang Qiao’s altered karma might attract a god’s attention.
• Jiang Qiao examined Dual Pupils’ immense potential and wondered whether becoming a half-god would let it advance beyond the Fifth Tier.
• Jiang Qiao suspected that Dual Pupils connected to the Void Abyss, the true source of the supernatural.

Jiang Qiao sailed alone across the Nether Sea, following Fish Master's guidance toward the Yellow Springs Road while avoiding danger and recalling a tale of a monstrous sea turtle. After nearly a month, he finally saw a vast, silent darkness ahead swallowing the rushing seawater.

• Jiang Qiao sailed a concealed wooden ship across the Nether Sea, guided by Fish Master toward the Yellow Springs Road.
• Jiang Qiao recalled a story about an Exploration Ship that found an island rise from the sea on the back of an enormous, many-eyed turtle.
• Jiang Qiao wondered whether Bo Xia's island concealed a creature or a route to the seafloor, but decided that investigating would be dangerous because a god lived in that sea region.
• Jiang Qiao spent nearly a month crossing the sea without encountering any evil creatures.
• Jiang Qiao noticed the currents rushing toward a huge plane of darkness that swallowed the seawater without a sound.

Jiang Qiao passed through the abyss at the entrance to Yellow Springs Road and arrived in its desolate latter half. Using a map to head toward the Three Lives Stone, he encountered unnatural rain and remembered a story from Yang Ling.

• Jiang Qiao's sailboat was pulled into the abyss, where he saw stars fade into darkness before falling through a cavern lined with broken chains.
• Jiang Qiao landed in a misty, lifeless world and realized he had reached Yellow Springs Road.
• Jiang Qiao recalled that Liu Ping had warned him the road's latter half was extremely dangerous and that he had to avoid wandering without direction.
• Jiang Qiao consulted the map of Yellow Springs Road that he had found in a Green Lotus Sect traitor's house and headed southeast.
• Jiang Qiao grew wary when unnatural rain joined the fog and recalled a story Yang Ling had told him.

Yang Ling recounted the mysterious torrential rain that struck Youfu during its three-hundredth anniversary, killing more than thirty people and taking three elders before it vanished. On the Yellow Springs Road, Jiang Qiao saw glowing flowers and then encountered wandering figures, wondering whether they were Lost Souls.

• Yang Ling told Jiang Qiao how bizarre rain attacked Youfu’s anniversary celebration fifty years earlier, making people disappear or die when they entered it.
• Youfu’s master deployed the organization’s Supernatural Items to disperse the rain, which vanished after more than thirty people had died and three elders were lost.
• Yang Ling said the rain might have come from above the firmament, beyond the clouds that concealed the Supernatural World from the Black Tide.
• Jiang Qiao and his companions walked deeper along the Yellow Springs Road as faintly glowing blue flowers grew denser beside it.
• Jiang Qiao stopped when he saw several wandering figures ahead and wondered if they were Lost Souls.

Jiang Qiao traveled along Yellow Springs Road, where unstable space-time concealed deadly hazards and Lost Souls tried to lure him with the faces of people he knew. He resisted their call and continued toward villages where other Lost Souls burned paper for the passing dead.

• Jiang Qiao observed that Yellow Springs Road distorted time and space, concealing cracks in reality as he followed the procession of Lost Souls.
• Several Lost Souls called Jiang Qiao over while appearing as his childhood friend and other friends to his left eye, though his right eye saw their unfamiliar dead faces.
• Jiang Qiao sensed the Lost Souls' powerful corruptive aura, ignored their invitations, and continued down the road.
• Jiang Qiao reached a stranger stretch of Yellow Springs Road, where Lost Souls in ruined villages lit incense and candles, knelt to the procession, and burned Paper Money.

Jiang Qiao saw Yellow Springs floating above the wilderness and learned that the mist and haze came from its water. Wild dogs from Wild Dog Ridge attacked the souls on Yellow Springs Road, and Jiang Qiao secretly took one of them before the pack vanished into the mist.

• Jiang Qiao walked through the watery fog, saw Yellow Springs in the sky, and realized it influenced the entire world.
• A pack of wild dogs from Wild Dog Ridge charged the procession and tore apart many fleeing souls.
• Jiang Qiao watched unseen and considered how Wild Dog Ridge, Golden Rooster Mountain, and Yellow Springs Road had once been connected.
• As the wild dogs left, Jiang Qiao made the one at the back disappear.
• The pack searched frantically for the missing dog, attacked more souls in anger, and then left the wilderness.

Jiang Qiao examined a captured wild dog and found that the creatures were cursed humans with canine features and possible awareness. He followed the Lost Souls to Wangxiang Terrace, where their behavior suggested they briefly regained consciousness inside the pagoda, and stood before it.

• Jiang Qiao dissected a captured wild dog and discovered its head was filled with teeth, while a mass of cursed copper coins lay inside its abdomen.
• Jiang Qiao compared the wild dogs to the conscious chicken creatures of Golden Rooster Mountain, whose requests for water, food, and a victim’s feet had been reported by an investigator.
• The Lost Souls endured two more wild dog attacks as they continued beneath the increasingly visible Yellow Springs.
• The Lost Souls entered the pagoda at Wangxiang Terrace with blank expressions and emerged looking sorrowful, while genuine weeping came from inside.
• Jiang Qiao followed the procession up the mountain and stood before Wangxiang Terrace.

Jiang Qiao explored the strange platform at Wangxiang Terrace and encountered Fang Xun, the Prayer Association president, on Yellow Springs Road. Fang Xun deduced that Jiang Qiao was heading for the Three Lives Stone and proposed they travel together to the Bridge of Helplessness.

• Jiang Qiao found that the platform’s chaotic space led Lost Souls back toward Wangxiang Terrace, while those who descended vanished into the mist.
• Jiang Qiao met Fang Xun, who recognized him and sensed that he was close to becoming a Half-God.
• Jiang Qiao raised the past conflicts between himself and the Prayer Association, and Fang Xun said the grudge could be eased on Yellow Springs Road.
• Fang Xun explained that someone had tampered with the route from Wangxiang Terrace to the River of History and inferred that Jiang Qiao had entered through the Red Moon Restaurant.
• Fang Xun guessed Jiang Qiao was seeking the Three Lives Stone and proposed that they travel together to the Bridge of Helplessness, where he wanted to find Meng Po’s Soup.

Jiang Qiao agreed to travel with Fang Xun to seek Meng Po’s Soup, and Fang Xun explained how he hoped to use it to become a true strange tale. Their discussion uncovered more about the Paper Figure Maker and his connection to Liu Ping, leaving their motives and the Other Shore Plan uncertain.

• Jiang Qiao agreed to accompany Fang Xun and asked why he wanted Meng Po’s Soup.
• Fang Xun said he wanted to erase a strange tale’s nature and replace it with a living person’s consciousness, and he believed Meng Po might exist.
• Jiang Qiao mentioned Liu Ping, and Fang Xun recognized him as a Yellow Springs Guide from the Early Nether Era.
• Fang Xun said the Paper Figure Maker came from the Missing One Door Paper Figure Shop and had become the last surviving victor among its Paper Person inheritors.
• Fang Xun suspected Liu Ping was trying to draw the Paper Figure Maker into the Green Lotus Sect’s Other Shore Plan while the Paper Figure Maker pretended to agree for personal gain.

Jiang Qiao learned that Fang Xun had once held a high position in the Green Lotus Sect, though Fang Xun denied being the traitor who led the Other Shore Plan and said his identity was too dangerous to reveal. Fang Xun argued that the plan aimed to preserve civilization and urged cooperation against the approaching great calamity, and the two arrived at Wangxiang Terrace.

• Fang Xun revealed that he had once been a high-ranking member of the Green Lotus Sect, far above Liu Ping.
• Fang Xun denied being the sect traitor who led the Other Shore Plan and warned Jiang Qiao that learning his identity could bring misfortune.
• Fang Xun confirmed that the Other Shore Plan was real and said it aimed to preserve the spark of civilization, though Jiang Qiao remained unsure whether to believe him.
• Fang Xun explained that he had shared secrets to build trust and prepare for cooperation against the approaching great calamity.
• Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun arrived at Wangxiang Terrace with the procession and prepared to ascend.

Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun learned that the shrine on Wangxiang Terrace’s sixth floor honored the First-generation River God, who had governed the River of Forgetfulness before a deity erased him. On the seventh floor, Jiang Qiao saw lost souls briefly regain their emotions as they returned from the exterior walkway, then stepped outside and was stunned by what he saw.

• Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun climbed Wangxiang Terrace and found a small shrine to the First-generation River God on the sixth floor.
• Fang Xun told Jiang Qiao that the River God had governed the River of Forgetfulness and that its rules were connected to reincarnation.
• Fang Xun explained that a deity had erased the First-generation River God, leaving no way for him to return.
• Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun reached the seventh floor, where lost souls went out through one door and returned weeping through another.
• Jiang Qiao followed the souls outside and was stunned by the sight before him.

Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun examined Wangxiang Terrace, where Lost Souls briefly experienced false memories while viewing the River of History. After Fang Xun warned Jiang Qiao away from a dangerous rope leading toward the river, they left the terrace and headed for the River of Forgetfulness.

• Jiang Qiao saw the River of History from Wangxiang Terrace and recognized that the Lost Souls cried over false memories and the brief return of consciousness.
• Jiang Qiao viewed his own past in the river, including his experience at Dragon Transformation Mountain, but saw no image of Chou God.
• Jiang Qiao noticed a rope leading toward the tower roof, and Fang Xun warned that the route had been altered and could cause even a Half-God to become lost in the River of History.
• Fang Xun explained that reaching the river required a boat and that climbing back down was dangerous, so Jiang Qiao abandoned the attempt.
• Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun descended from Wangxiang Terrace and took a newly appeared fork leading to the River of Forgetfulness.

Jiang Qiao and Fang Xun reached the River of Forgetfulness and learned about its dangers and the two different opposite banks, including one said to lead to the Source World. As they searched for the Bridge of Helplessness, a strange bird attacked and the evil entity behind it appeared as a ghastly white sun.

• Jiang Qiao saw corpses in the River of Forgetfulness through its mental influence, and Fang Xun warned him about the river and the evil spirits near its banks.
• Fang Xun explained that the Bridge of Helplessness moved, that crossing the river could take a thousand years, and that the opposite bank visible to them was not the real one.
• Fang Xun said another opposite bank could be reached by swimming across the river and was said to correspond to the Source World.
• Jiang Qiao spotted a strange bird attacking them, dodged its strike, and destroyed it with a punch.
• Fang Xun identified the bird as a sign of an evil entity, and a ghastly white sun appeared overhead as he warned that it could command nearby spirits and send avatars to attack.

Fang Xun and Jiang Qiao encountered the evil spirit haunting the River of Forgetfulness and fought its incarnation after it trapped them between two wooden houses. The creature emerged from a demonic well with eight tentacles, and Jiang Qiao prepared to face its overwhelming power.

• Fang Xun and Jiang Qiao killed evil spiders born from the River of Forgetfulness and headed upstream to find the Bridge of Helplessness.
• Two shadow-shrouded wooden houses appeared in their path, trapping them between the River of Forgetfulness and the way back.
• Fang Xun identified the houses as the incarnation of an evil spirit and warned that it possessed at least near-Half-God strength.
• Fang Xun summoned pale figures at windows embedded in the void as the two houses released waves of baleful energy.
• Jiang Qiao smashed the wooden house ahead, but a tentacle emerged from the revealed demonic well and attacked him.
• Jiang Qiao clashed with the tentacle and shattered the well, releasing a stitched monster with eight tentacles.

Jiang Qiao fought the resentment-born evil spirit beside the River of Forgetfulness, but its endless regeneration and corruption of his own resentment kept him from gaining ground. After realizing that the battle could not continue as an attrition war, he prepared to use a trump card while checking on Fang Xun.

• Jiang Qiao identified the evil spirit as a collection of resentment and attacked it with thunder and powerful strikes.
• The evil spirit's tentacles and the shadows beneath it spawned twisted silhouettes that flooded Jiang Qiao with resentment.
• Jiang Qiao's own buried anger surfaced, and he used Time Reversal to undo the corruption, only for it to return.
• Jiang Qiao repeatedly destroyed the evil spirit's tentacles and shadows, but the River of Forgetfulness restored them.
• Jiang Qiao decided to stop holding back his trump card after realizing the enemy could outlast him, and he glanced at Fang Xun and the River of Forgetfulness.

Fang Xun battled a four-faced Woman Statue whose curse repeatedly killed him, while he used his abilities to revive and evade its attacks. He realized his powers might only keep him alive, then saw Jiang Qiao reveal a strange godlike, demonlike figure as their fight escalated.

• The Woman Statue’s smiles made Fang Xun’s summoned figures collapse, but Fang Xun struck back and wounded its smiling face.
• The Statue’s angry face fixed on Fang Xun, and its hatred caused his body to explode; he revived, only to be pulled toward the River of Forgetfulness.
• Fang Xun escaped through one of his windows and covered the angry face with red cloth, interrupting the curse, but the cloth quickly turned to ash.
• Fang Xun considered using a Taboo Weapon, then looked toward Jiang Qiao and saw him recover with the Strings of Time.
• Jiang Qiao said he would reveal a trump card, and a twisted figure resembling both a god and a demon appeared behind him.