Chapter Summaries

Liu Hei Wu learned that Yangshan County was haunted and its refugees were fleeing as grain prices soared, but he continued toward the county to seek help for Hu San Dao. Refugees told him a Vicious Ghost was spreading a deadly affliction there, leaving him to face the danger ahead.

• Liu Hei Wu heard that hauntings in Yangshan County and Lan Guan City had driven up local grain prices and left residents struggling to buy food.
• Liu Hei Wu reflected on the Flying Horse Escort Agency's losses and continued toward Yangshan County, hoping to find his friend and save Hu San Dao.
• Liu Hei Wu saw militia turn refugees away from a town, so he bought steamed buns and gave them to the refugees' children.
• Liu Hei Wu asked the refugees about Yangshan County, and a young husband warned him that people were dying there and the city gates had been closed.
• A refugee described a family whose bodies rotted after the father encountered the affliction, and said people believed an Old Woman in funeral clothes was the Vicious Ghost behind it.

Liu Hei Wu investigated the Longevity Cult’s aid to refugees and encountered a woman whose daughter, Nannan, vanished moments after being left by the roadside. He offered to search for the girl as a storm broke over the road.

• Liu Hei Wu heard refugees praise the Longevity Cult and suspected its sudden aid efforts concealed a conspiracy.
• Liu Hei Wu traveled toward Yangshan County and passed a woman and her daughter, Nannan, fleeing the haunted area.
• A storm began, and Liu Hei Wu took shelter in an abandoned Wooden House.
• The woman returned from the woods to find Nannan missing and asked Liu Hei Wu if he had seen her.
• Liu Hei Wu questioned the woman about the disappearance and offered to search nearby for Nannan.

Liu Hei Wu searched for Nannan with her mother, then realized the girl had been buried in a Grave Mound and that the grieving woman was a Vicious Ghost. He tried to escape, but after a ghostly hand touched his shoulder, the woman, grave, and all signs of the incident vanished.

• Liu Hei Wu searched the rain-washed roadside with the woman and, sensing something was wrong, suggested they return to ask at a refugee camp.
• Liu Hei Wu noticed fresh soil on the Grave Mound and told the woman that Nannan might have encountered something supernatural there.
• The woman clawed open the Grave Mound and uncovered Nannan’s mutilated body, while Liu Hei Wu spotted a rotten leg bearing a scar identical to the woman’s.
• Liu Hei Wu recognized the woman as a Vicious Ghost and pretended he would warn the refugees and authorities before turning to leave.
• A slimy hand touched Liu Hei Wu’s shoulder, but his saber struck nothing; when he looked back, the woman, the hole, and the Grave Mound had disappeared.

Liu Hei Wu saw the horrors spreading along the roads to Yangshan County and decided to continue toward the county the next day. Meanwhile, a group of young visitors escaped the city after discovering the County Magistrate’s masked enforcers were ghosts, but a Vicious Ghost pursuing their carriages appeared for the fifth time.

• Liu Hei Wu witnessed Vicious Ghosts kill refugees and a family afflicted by Yangshan County’s plague, then decided to seek shelter and continue his journey the next day.
• The County Magistrate sent masked men in black to kill people attempting to flee Yangshan County.
• Young masters and ladies from neighboring counties fought the masked men and discovered that they were ghosts with hollow faces.
• After half their group died, the survivors escaped Yangshan County in carriages and were pursued by a strange old man standing beside the road.
• The old man appeared for the fifth time, with half its body turned toward the carriages and a visible smile.

Liu Hei Wu camped with refugees fleeing Yangshan County and learned that its County Magistrate had been controlled by a Vicious Ghost. After Ma Lao Wu vanished into the woods, Liu Hei Wu and the others stayed awake by the bonfires, where the strange hammering sound returned from the direction Ma Lao Wu had gone.

• Liu Hei Wu learned that the County Magistrate of Yangshan County was controlled by a Vicious Ghost and that masked corpses were killing people trying to flee.
• Liu Hei Wu decided to return home the next day while worrying that his injured friend Hu San Dao might not survive.
• Liu Hei Wu heard a strange hammering sound from the woods, then learned that Ma Lao Wu had risen from his tent and run into the darkness.
• Liu Hei Wu questioned the refugees and considered whether the strange sound had caused Ma Lao Wu to disappear.
• The refugees stoked their bonfires and stayed awake, but the hammering sound resumed from the woods where Ma Lao Wu had vanished.

Liu Hei Wu and Yang Wenbin realized that a Vicious Ghost was luring people into the woods with voices, and Yang Wenbin explained how grief and guilt could make the bewitched rush toward danger. After three refugees tore free and ran into the forest, Liu Hei Wu questioned whether the folk remedies he had relied on against ghosts had ever worked.

• Yang Wenbin asked Liu Hei Wu to help attack anything that came out of the woods, and Liu Hei Wu agreed.
• Liu Hei Wu heard a voice calling him, and Yang Wenbin warned him not to answer if he heard it again.
• Yang Wenbin said the refugee who had rushed into the woods was likely bewitched by voices resembling his missing wife and daughter.
• Two men and a woman charged across the road, and the woman tore off her arm while breaking free from a Martial Artist before running into the woods.
• Liu Hei Wu watched the three refugees vanish as the strange clangs stopped, then wondered whether pain and other folk remedies could really counter Vicious Ghosts.

A shadowy old man appeared on the official road, and the refugees' panicked flight triggered a plague that turned people into swollen, rotting corpses. Liu Hei Wu realized the shadow was turning toward them and seemed to be smiling.

• Two Martial Artists destroyed three charging carriages and found that their horses were only skeletons beneath their hides.
• The Horse Gang chief spotted a shadow ahead and ordered his men to retreat, but it moved closer without seeming to walk.
• The refugees panicked and fled along the official road, despite Yang Wenbin's warning that their disorder could provoke the Vicious Ghost.
• Black Mist dimmed the moon and bonfire as refugees began collapsing and transforming into plague-ridden giant corpses.
• Liu Hei Wu recognized the shadow's resemblance to the old people blamed for Yangshan County's plague and saw it turn toward the refugees with a smile.

Liu Hei Wu learned that a Plague Ghost was pursuing the refugees and that escaping its spreading shadows would require breaking them. Yang Wenbin offered to temporarily help Liu Hei Wu enter the Condensing Spirit Realm so he could pierce the shadow barrier, leaving Liu Hei Wu to decide whether to act as the refugees faced imminent death.

• Liu Hei Wu discussed the pursuing Vicious Ghost with Yang Wenbin, who warned that everyone caught in its shadows had been chosen and could not escape by running.
• Yang Wenbin explained that the Plague Ghost had grown stronger by killing people and that the apparent multiple ghosts were projections of the same entity.
• Liu Hei Wu accepted Yang Wenbin's assessment that the Vicious Ghost had reached at least the Condensing Spirit Realm and asked how they could survive.
• Yang Wenbin revealed that a secret item could temporarily help Liu Hei Wu condense his spirit, allowing him to break through the shadow barrier while the others escaped.
• The Vicious Ghost's approach drove the death toll higher, and Yang Wenbin warned that the refugees would die within fifteen minutes if they could not escape.

Yang Wenbin persuaded Liu Hei Wu to use a secret treasure that could temporarily grant him the Condensing Spirit Realm, giving them a chance to pierce the shadows and escape the Plague Ghost. Liu Hei Wu put on the Glass Mask, experienced the realm’s heightened perception, and prepared to use it to break through the shadows.

• Yang Wenbin told Liu Hei Wu that a secret treasure could temporarily grant him the power to pierce the shadows, and argued that Liu Hei Wu was the best person to use it.
• Yang Wenbin revealed that the Glass Mask would weaken Liu Hei Wu for several days and could cause mental fragmentation if worn for more than fifteen minutes.
• As the Plague Ghost’s victims died and the refugees scattered, Liu Hei Wu accepted the mask, hoping the experience would help him eventually advance to the Condensing Spirit Realm.
• Liu Hei Wu put on the Glass Mask and gained an extraordinarily clear awareness of his surroundings, understanding that his spirit and body had become distinct.
• Yang Wenbin reminded Liu Hei Wu that the Plague Ghost remained a threat, and Liu Hei Wu said that piercing through the shadows was all he needed to do.

As the Plague Ghost’s spreading darkness and rapidly accelerating plague overwhelmed the fleeing refugees, Liu Hei Wu searched for a way to break through its shadow. Just as the Vicious Ghost reached the survivors, Liu Hei Wu unleashed a devastating punch that shattered the darkness.

• The Plague Ghost’s shadow spread over the fleeing crowd, infecting those who came within ten meters and causing victims to attack other refugees.
• Infected refugees dragged down fleeing companions, including children, while the uninfected crowd dwindled to only fifty or sixty people.
• Yang Wenbin realized the Vicious Ghost would reach them within seconds, and Liu Hei Wu continued searching the shadows for their weakest point.
• Liu Hei Wu planted his feet and struck the shadow with a powerful fist, injuring himself as he unleashed the blow.
• Liu Hei Wu’s punch opened a hole in the darkness, and cracks spread until the shadow shattered.

Liu Hei Wu led a handful of survivors through a hole in the plague shadow, escaping the Vicious Ghost after losing nearly all his strength. Once safe, he refused Yang Wenbin’s offer to travel together, and Yang’s companions surrounded him as Yang revealed his hostile intent.

• Liu Hei Wu punched a hole through the black shadow, allowing several people to escape before a Vicious Ghost appeared and killed a man who attacked it.
• Liu Hei Wu and the other survivors fled the shadow; only six of nearly two hundred refugees escaped, and Liu Hei Wu was left badly injured and weakened.
• The survivors reached a safe area near dawn, where someone recognized a road leading to a river and a ferry crossing.
• Yang Wenbin invited Liu Hei Wu to travel with his group, but Liu Hei Wu declined, saying he needed to return home and recover.
• Yang Wenbin challenged Liu Hei Wu’s refusal, and several of his companions surrounded Liu Hei Wu as he tried to leave.

Yang Wenbin revealed that he planned to use the Soul Gathering Mask to absorb Liu Hei Wu’s Mental Power, then had his companions capture Liu Hei Wu as his condition worsened. Just as Yang Wenbin put on the mask, an unseen voice condemned him from behind.

• Yang Wenbin admitted he intended to make Liu Hei Wu use the Soul Gathering Mask again so it would bond with his Spiritual Body, allowing Yang Wenbin to absorb his Mental Power.
• Liu Hei Wu challenged Yang Wenbin’s betrayal and criticized the great clans for exploiting commoners, while Yang Wenbin defended their rule and dismissed his objections.
• Yang Wenbin pointed out that Liu Hei Wu’s condition had deteriorated, then his companions attacked and pinned Liu Hei Wu down.
• Yang Wenbin took out the Glass Mask, mocked Liu Hei Wu, and said his name was not really Yang Wenbin.
• Yang Wenbin fastened the mask onto his face as Liu Hei Wu cursed him, but a voice from behind called him vile.

Jiang Qiao appeared as Yang Wenbin and four others were about to kill Liu Hei Wu, whom he recognized from their time in Lan Guan City. He questioned Liu Hei Wu about how he had ended up trapped, while Yang Wenbin grew wary of Jiang Qiao’s strength and suspected he came from the Fan Family.

• Jiang Qiao appeared behind Yang Wenbin and his four companions without any of them noticing.
• Jiang Qiao greeted Liu Hei Wu, who recognized him as Senior Jiang and explained that he had fallen into a trap.
• Yang Wenbin questioned Jiang Qiao about his identity and carefully considered whether his jade pendant connected him to the Fan Family.
• Jiang Qiao asked Liu Hei Wu how he had ended up on the ground and mocked the five men as pig faces.
• Jiang Qiao reflected on Yang Wenbin’s claims about prestigious families and recounted a noblewoman’s story about a maid and her murdered family.

Jiang Qiao confronted Bo Ao after Bo Ao attacked Liu Hei Wu, killed Bo Ao’s four companions, and learned that Bo Ao’s imitation Soul Gathering Mask came from the Luo Family. Bo Ao assumed Jiang Qiao was a newly advanced Xiantian Expert and challenged him, while Jiang Qiao asked him to guess how he would die.

• Bo Ao revealed his identity as the son of the Governor of Yanjun and protested Jiang Qiao’s insults toward the Bo Family.
• After Liu Hei Wu explained the attack and Bo Ao’s ability to absorb Mental Power, Jiang Qiao seized Bo Ao and dismissed his family’s status.
• Jiang Qiao made Bo Ao’s four companions vanish, then recognized that the mask he took was an imitation and demanded to know where the genuine one came from.
• Bo Ao said the genuine Soul Gathering Mask belonged to the Luo Family and that the Luo Family had given his family its imitation.
• Bo Ao concluded Jiang Qiao was a newly advanced martial Xiantian Expert and mocked him for thinking he could challenge the Luo Family.
• Jiang Qiao warned Bo Ao that clever people died horribly and asked him to guess how he would die.

County Magistrate Meng Sheng learned that his son and three other young aristocrats had been killed by bandits. Bo Ao revealed that the killer was a Jianghu Expert and asked Meng Sheng for a fast horse so he could deliver a letter to the Grand Steward’s residence.

• A constable told Meng Sheng that his son had been killed on the road, and Meng Sheng struck him in anger.
• Meng Sheng went to meet Bo Ao, who explained that he needed a fast horse urgently.
• Bo Ao said the bandits had killed Meng Sheng’s son and three friends, then forced him to deliver a letter.
• Meng Sheng suspected the Fan Family of Qingzhou, but Bo Ao said the killer was a Jianghu Expert.

Jiang Qiao turned Bo Ao into a puppet who retained his consciousness and continued toward Lingze County while reviewing his abilities. He discovered new information on the Simulator, including a mysterious message beneath Demonization that questioned whether the Chess Player existed.

• Meng Sheng listened to Old Wu's warning that Long Fei had controlled Bo Ao with a Secret Treasure and that the matter might involve the Eagle Wolf Guard.
• Meng Sheng decided to investigate Jiang Qiao and ordered Old Wu to join him and Long Fei in setting a trap.
• Jiang Qiao rode toward Lingze County and explained how he had used the Soul Gathering Mask to make Bo Ao a conscious puppet unable to control his actions.
• Jiang Qiao checked the Simulator and found that it listed the Gaze of the Chou God as his Origin Curse and showed new information beneath Demonization.
• The new Demonization message questioned whether the Chess Player and the chessboard existed and how past events could otherwise be explained.

Jiang Qiao examined new information about the Demonization talent and the man whose nine tragic reincarnations led him to hunt the Chess Players who controlled fate. He concluded that even the man's resistance might have been orchestrated by the very forces he sought to defeat.

• Jiang Qiao noticed that the Simulator had silently added new information to the Demonization talent after his encounter with the Fan Family Old Ancestor.
• Jiang Qiao considered how Demonization absorbed ghosts and anomalies, warning that their residue could eventually transform its user into a supernatural creature.
• Jiang Qiao connected the talent's account of nine reincarnations with a man who retained his memories and became a rebel after repeatedly suffering tragic deaths.
• Jiang Qiao interpreted the new text to mean that the man had reached a place he believed held the Chess Players, found no one there, and began doubting their existence.
• Jiang Qiao concluded that the man might have become an anomaly despite reaching immense strength, and that his violent struggle against fate could itself have been part of fate's design.

Jiang Qiao reflected on the strange forces connected to his talents, then headed toward Youzhou to study a genuine Soul Gathering Mask. As Lingze County prepared to capture him, he encountered Mo Qingying and spun an absurd tale about Korea and the Indian Empire.

• Jiang Qiao suppressed his growing unease about the Fate Weaver, Demonization, and the Dual Pupils, then decided to visit the Grand Steward of Youzhou and study a genuine Soul Gathering Mask.
• Old Wu learned that Jiang Qiao was approaching Lingze County and prepared five hundred elite soldiers to capture the man they believed had impersonated the Fan Family.
• Long Fei began directing the soldiers as Lingze County laid its trap for Jiang Qiao.
• Jiang Qiao met Mo Qingying, a several-hundred-year-old woman at the peak of the Eighth Tier, and mocked her youthful appearance.
• Mo Qingying asked Jiang Qiao about Korea, so he invented a story about its wars with the Indian Empire and claimed even Komodo dragons feared them.

Jiang Qiao met Mo Qingying, an elder of the Imperial Family, and learned why Great Qi’s powerful families were probing the royal house and what danger threatened the Void Realm. The chapter ended with Jiang Qiao asking Mo Qingying what she wanted from him.

• Jiang Qiao introduced himself and said he planned to visit the Governor of Youzhou to see his treasure.
• Mo Qingying revealed that she belonged to the Mo Family and was part of the Imperial Family.
• Jiang Qiao questioned Mo Qingying about the royal family’s hidden cards, and she explained that the great families sought clues about the Ancestor Emperor’s path to the Ninth Rank.
• Mo Qingying said the Void Realm’s barrier had weakened since the Imperial Mausoleum of the Founding Emperor stopped functioning, allowing more Vicious Ghosts to escape.
• Mo Qingying explained that powerful figures sought the Ancestor Emperor’s clues to regain their humanity or break through the Eighth Tier, and Jiang Qiao asked why she had sought him out.

Jiang Qiao suspected Mo Qingying’s sudden invitation to explore the Northern Pole Land was a trap and recalled a tenant’s disastrous online date that ended in an extortion attempt. He left the story uncertain about whether Mo Qingying was fishing for him or he was fishing for her.

• Mo Qingying invited Jiang Qiao to explore the Northern Pole Land and investigate where the Ancestor Emperor disappeared.
• Jiang Qiao questioned why Mo Qingying would invite someone she had just met and compared her approach to fishing with a straight hook.
• Jiang Qiao recalled how his tenant met an online acquaintance at the Sha County Hotel, only to discover she was an older woman.
• Burly men stormed the Asia-Pacific Grand Hotel and tried to extort the tenant, but Uncle Hats arrived during a surprise inspection and arrested them.
• Jiang Qiao went to the police station, spoke up for the tenant, and helped him avoid a fine.