Chapter Summaries

Shangguan Yu settled into life at Void Gate while Mo Hua balanced teaching, studying arrays, and completing bounty missions. After Mo Hua asked Elder Xun about an array-master rating, Elder Xun granted him Second-Grade mission permissions, revealing a method of altering the Void Token that Mo Hua recognized through his knowledge of Sub-Thunder Patterns.

• Shangguan Yu moved into the Disciple Quarters, where the disciples learned his identity and became more respectful of Mo Hua.
• Mo Hua continued teaching array classes and joined Murong Caiyun on bounty missions, capturing several Sinful Cultivators and earning 1,130 merit points.
• Mo Hua spent over a thousand merit points to buy six Second-Grade Sixteen-Pattern arrays and studied them until he had learned them more or less completely.
• Mo Hua asked Elder Xun whether he should seek a Second-Grade array rating, and Elder Xun learned that Mo Hua had Sixteen-Pattern Divine Consciousness.
• Elder Xun declined to recommend Mo Hua for an official rating yet, but changed Mo Hua's Void Token permissions so he could take Second-Grade array missions.
• Mo Hua recognized that Elder Xun had used Sub-Thunder Patterns to alter the Void Token's underlying array and change its permissions.

Mo Hua secretly learned how Elder Xun altered Void Token permissions and planned a path toward mastering Thunder Magnetic Arrays. When Yu'er was plagued by demons, Mo Hua devoured them in his Sea of Consciousness, strengthening his Divine Sense, while an old man in Void Gate's Back Mountain sensed that something had eaten the Evil Spirit.

• Elder Xun changed Mo Hua's Void Token permissions, and Mo Hua realized he could use Sub-Thunder Patterns to alter arrays and tamper with their permissions.
• Mo Hua planned to study Primal Magnetism Arrays, Magnetic Patterns, and Array Hubs so he could eventually control the sect's Thunder Magnetic Grand Array.
• About half a month later, Mo Hua sensed demons tormenting Yu'er and asked Wenren Wei to leave him alone with the sleeping child.
• Mo Hua entered his Sea of Consciousness, burned the demons with an array, swallowed them, and refined their Divine Sense as Yu'er slept peacefully.
• Wenren Wei thanked Mo Hua and offered to help him, while Mo Hua resolved to investigate the demons' karmic links and redirect them away from Yu'er.
• An old man in Void Gate's Back Mountain traced the Evil Spirit's disappearance and wondered whether a divine beast had eaten it.

Elder Xun’s senior brother was wounded after his Divine Thought sword struck a karmic Corpse King Dao Sin, and he warned that Ganxue Prefecture’s apparent prosperity concealed growing dangers. Meanwhile, Mo Hua remained unaware of the attack and began taking Second-Grade Array tasks, finally securing his first assignment.

• The long-bearded old man traced the evil’s disappearance to a half-step Corpse King Dao Sin, which bit him through karma before his sword severed its image and destroyed its corpse tide.
• Elder Xun arrived at the Back Mountain Forbidden Area, learned the old man had been wounded by the Dao Sin, and urged him to stop using the Divine Sense Sword Transformation Art.
• The old man declared that no disciple of Void Gate could inherit the dangerous sword art and warned Elder Xun that greed and declining calculation had blinded Ganxue Prefecture to looming threats.
• After Elder Xun left, the old man remained imprisoned in the Sword Graveyard, apologizing to the broken sword beside him for their shared fate.
• Mo Hua attended class without knowing what had happened, then searched for Second-Grade Array work and, after many unsuccessful applications, accepted a Second-Grade Ten-Pattern Spark Array task.

Mo Hua advanced from simple Second-Grade array missions to Thirteen-Pattern arrays, earning merit and recognition while building his Array Master record. As he worried about lacking a reliable combat spell, a memory of Grandpa Kui’s compressed, interwoven Fireball Technique gave him a possible answer.

• Mo Hua accepted a Second-Grade Ten-Pattern Spark Array mission, drew the flower-lantern array himself, and earned nine merit points despite teasing the Merit Elder about hiring others.
• Mo Hua accepted more Spark Array requests, memorized the disciples’ hidden love messages, and gradually gained enough qualifications to take Eleven-Pattern missions.
• Mo Hua advanced through Twelve-Pattern and Thirteen-Pattern arrays, completing them flawlessly until the Merit Elder recognized him as a genuine Second-Grade Initial-Tier Array Master.
• Mo Hua accumulated merit points, exchanged them for Sixteen-Pattern arrays, learned spells seized from Sinful Cultivators, and worried that he lacked a powerful, practical combat technique.
• While watching the sunset with Yu'er, Mo Hua recalled Grandpa Kui compressing and weaving fire threads into a devastating Fireball Technique, and wondered what kind of technique it was.

Mo Hua experimented with Grandpa Kui’s method for strengthening the Fireball Technique, eventually forcing two simultaneous fireballs to collide and unleash a catastrophic blast. The chapter ended with Mo Hua unconscious, the Spell Puppet obliterated, and the Daoist Arts Chamber badly damaged.

• Mo Hua rented a private Daoist Arts Chamber and tested compressing a Fireball Technique, but his fist-sized fireball was slow and only modestly stronger.
• Mo Hua used Heavenly Ghost Calculation to cast two Fireball Techniques simultaneously, then tried and failed to fuse them through careful pressure and rotation.
• After studying spell structures, Mo Hua concluded that the fireballs’ shared origin might allow fusion despite their repelling structures.
• Mo Hua drove the two fireballs together at high speed, triggering a violent explosion of uncontrolled Lingli that knocked him unconscious.
• The Elder of Daoist Arts found Mo Hua injured, the chamber scorched and cracked, and the Spell Puppet completely destroyed.

Mo Hua recovered from the injuries he suffered when his improvised Fireball Technique destroyed a Spell Puppet, while Elder Murong and his visitors helped him recuperate. The Elder of Daoist Arts explained the principles behind Mo Hua’s dangerous spell experiment, revealing a connection to Array Disintegration, and finally told Mo Hua that his surname was Yi.

• An elder alchemist treated Mo Hua’s wounds and warned the Elder of Daoist Arts that Old Master Xun would blame him, while they puzzled over how Mo Hua had destroyed the Spell Puppet.
• Mo Hua woke in Elder Murong’s care and learned he could not use spiritual power for half a month or hold a brush for seven days; Yu'er, Murong Caiyun, Shangguan Xu, and fellow disciples visited him.
• Elder Xun urged Mo Hua to focus on Array Techniques rather than dangerous spells, and the Elder of Daoist Arts later asked what Mo Hua had cast in the Daoist Arts Chamber.
• Mo Hua explained that he had tried to fuse two Fireball Techniques, prompting the Elder of Daoist Arts to describe how forced aggregation could collapse spell formulas and unleash destructive spiritual energy.
• Mo Hua recognized the principle as akin to Array Disintegration, and the Elder of Daoist Arts ended their conversation by revealing that his surname was Yi.

After injuring himself while experimenting with Fireball Fusion, Mo Hua sought Elder Yi’s advice and learned that spells involving Lingli transformation were dangerous forbidden arts. He found a hidden title in Jiang Laoda’s list that seemed connected to such an inheritance: “Fire Buddha.”

• Mo Hua recovered from his injuries and realized his unstable Fireball Fusion needed ideas from existing spell structures.
• Mo Hua asked Elder Yi about dangerous spells, and Elder Yi explained that Lingli-transformation techniques were sealed as forbidden arts with serious risks and strict sect prohibitions.
• Mo Hua decided to study forbidden-art principles without secretly learning any Void Gate technique, then searched Jiang Laoda’s list for a possible inheritance.
• Mo Hua noticed a faint causal sign on the Jade Slip and suspected that a hidden forbidden-art inheritance had been concealed in the list.
• Mo Hua found concealed seals among the list’s blank spaces and spent three days decrypting them, uncovering the title “Fire Buddha.”

Mo Hua questioned Gu Changhuai about the elusive Fire Buddha and learned that the dangerous Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator practiced the forbidden Meteor Fire Technique. He then joined Murong Caiyun and the others in Luanshan City, where they tracked the Flower-Plucking Thief, Flower Young Master, to the bedroom of the Wang Family patriarch’s lawful wife.

• Mo Hua asked around about Fire Buddha and learned nothing until he questioned Gu Changhuai at the Dao Court Office.
• Gu Changhuai explained that Fire Buddha was a murderous Foundation Establishment Late Stage Evil Cultivator who practiced the forbidden Meteor Fire Technique, then warned Mo Hua not to pursue him.
• Mo Hua waited for Murong Caiyun and joined her, Senior Brother Feng, and the others on an assignment to catch Flower Young Master in Luanshan City.
• Murong Caiyun told Mo Hua that Flower Young Master had harvested several female disciples who still defended him despite their injuries.
• Mo Hua used his Divine Consciousness and a Derivation Calculation of Karma to follow Flower Young Master’s trail to the bedroom of the Wang Family patriarch’s lawful wife.

After Mo Hua and his companions captured Flower Young Master, he overheard a group at a tea house discussing the missing Hua Liulang. He recognized their leader as the Fire Buddha, leaving him to face a dangerous new discovery while waiting for his companions.

• Murong Caiyun and Hua Qianqian exposed the Wang Family Matriarch's affair with Flower Young Master, while Wang Family cultivators obstructed Ouyang Feng and Shangguan Xu as the thief escaped.
• Mo Hua tracked Flower Young Master to a cave outside Luanshan City, where he trapped him with Water Prison Technique and helped his companions capture him.
• The group confiscated Flower Young Master's belongings, escorted him toward the Dao Court Office, and returned stolen personal items to the women he had harmed.
• While waiting at a tea house outside the city, Mo Hua overheard four cultivators complain that Hua Liulang had missed an appointment.
• Mo Hua examined the group's kindly-faced leader and recognized the red kasaya markings and burn scars associated with the Fire Buddha.

Mo Hua encountered Fire Buddha and three other wanted Sinful Cultivators at a tea house, then used deception and his Movement Technique to evade them. The four pursued him into the mountain woods, where he disappeared from sight.

• Mo Hua recognized Fire Buddha as a dangerous Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator and tried to leave the tea house without drawing attention.
• Fire Buddha’s companions questioned Mo Hua, and Mo Hua identified them as Blood Woodcutter, Yin Thunder Child, and Ghost-Faced Baleful from Jiang Laoda’s list.
• Fire Buddha ordered Qiao the Fifth to kill Mo Hua, but Mo Hua dodged the attackers’ strikes and escaped their encirclement with a burst of Fireball Techniques.
• Fire Buddha blocked Mo Hua’s path in the woods and showed the two fireball-like cores of his Meteor Fire Forbidden Technique.
• Mo Hua feigned a powerful dual-fireball attack, used the resulting dust to escape, and vanished into the mountain woods despite the four cultivators pursuing him.

Mo Hua escaped an encounter with Fire Buddha and three other dangerous cultivators, then reported them to Gu Changhuai at the Dao Court Office. Several days later, Murong Caiyun told Mo Hua that Fire Buddha had wiped out the Xie Family of Bishan City.

• Fire Buddha and the other three searched the forest for Mo Hua, then left without finding him and wondered how he had recognized them.
• Mo Hua reached Luanshan City, met up with Murong Caiyun, Hua Qianqian, Ouyang Feng, and Shangguan Xu, and returned with them to Ganxue Prefecture.
• Mo Hua told Gu Changhuai that he had encountered Fire Buddha and identified the four cultivators, prompting Gu Changhuai to dispatch inspectors to investigate.
• Mo Hua returned to the sect and asked Murong Caiyun to gather information about Fire Buddha's plans.
• Murong Caiyun told Mo Hua that Fire Buddha had burned the Xie Family of Bishan City alive, leaving no survivors.

After learning that Fire Buddha had exterminated the Xie Family, Mo Hua became determined to obtain the forbidden Meteor Fire Technique and decided to seek Gu Changhuai’s help. He accompanied Yu'er home to visit Wenren Wan, then asked Gu Changhuai to bring him along on the hunt and revealed that he had a Dao Court Office identity.

• Murong Caiyun told Mo Hua that Fire Buddha had exterminated the Xie Family, while the Dao Court Office kept the investigation secret and would not issue a sect mission against him.
• Mo Hua resolved to obtain Fire Buddha’s Meteor Fire Technique and settled on using Gu Changhuai to get involved in the hunt, despite the danger.
• Mo Hua went to Gu Changhuai’s Inspector Office but found that Gu Changhuai had left to apprehend Sinful Cultivators.
• During the ten-day break, Mo Hua accompanied Yu'er to visit Wenren Wan, who was delighted to see her son healthy and free of nightmares.
• After Wenren Wan left them alone, Mo Hua asked Gu Changhuai to bring him along to hunt Fire Buddha, then showed him a Bronze Waist Token and claimed he also had a Dao Court Office identity.

Mo Hua convinced Gu Changhuai to let him assist the Dao Court Office in hunting Fire Buddha, then identified Flower Young Master as a possible link to the massacre of the Xie Family. When they reached Luanshan City to question him, they found Flower Young Master dead in his cell, suggesting the Dao Court Office had a mole.

• Mo Hua showed Gu Changhuai his Dao Court Office token and negotiated permission to help pursue Fire Buddha in exchange for Dao Court Office Merit Points.
• Gu Changhuai explained how Fire Buddha and dozens of Sinful Cultivators had trapped and slaughtered the Xie Family, then vanished from the sealed Binding Array.
• Mo Hua revealed that Flower Young Master, who had been captured after encountering Fire Buddha, might have been connected to the Xie Family massacre.
• Gu Changhuai took Mo Hua to Luanshan City to question Flower Young Master, but they found him dead in his Dao Prison cell.
• Mo Hua asked Gu Changhuai whether the Dao Court Office had a mole, and Gu Changhuai said nothing.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai investigated Flower Young Master’s suspicious death, then traveled to Bishan City to examine the Xie Family ruins. After Mo Hua identified how the estate’s Array Technique had been altered, Gu Changhuai let him enter, where Mo Hua suddenly saw a horrifying vision of the massacre.

• Mo Hua secretly used Ghost Derivation Calculation on Flower Young Master but found no trace of Karma, while Gu Changhuai questioned the Dao Prison Inspectors about the death.
• Gu Changhuai searched Flower Young Master’s belongings and discovered a clue on a Jade Slip, but refused to tell Mo Hua what he had found.
• Mo Hua persuaded Gu Changhuai to take him to Bishan City, and they set out the next morning for the Xie Family ruins.
• Mo Hua identified the estate’s original Second-Grade Metal-Earth Gen Mountain Compound Array and deduced that its altered patterns had turned it into a Second-Grade “Burial” Earth Gen Mountain Compound Array.
• Gu Changhuai used his Gold Waist Token to let Mo Hua enter the sealed estate, where Mo Hua saw a vision of the Xie Family’s slaughter in a sea of fire.

Mo Hua witnessed the Xie Family’s slaughter through lingering memories and saw their corpses undergo a trace of Great Dao Sinful Mutation before the Corpse King destroyed them. After searching the ruins with Gu Changhuai, he found black residue carrying the aura of an evil god, suggesting the massacre concealed a deeper secret.

• Mo Hua used Heavenly Calculation to witness the Xie Family’s massacre and saw the slain cultivators transform into sin-corrupted Demons beneath a sea of fire that concealed the truth.
• The sin-corrupted Demons attacked Mo Hua, but his Corpse King and its horde annihilated them before Mo Hua ordered the restless corpses to stand down.
• Mo Hua woke beside Gu Changhuai and concealed what he had seen, then searched the burned Xie Family estate with him.
• Mo Hua used his memory of the vision to locate a hidden pavilion courtyard on the Xie Family’s architectural map.
• Mo Hua followed a faint scent to black residue in the courtyard, recognized the aura of an evil god, and Gu Changhuai sealed samples for the Dao Court Office to examine.

After leaving the Xie Family estate, Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai returned to the Gu Family, where Gu Changhuai gave Mo Hua a Message Token. Back at Void Gate, Mo Hua used it to question Gu Changhuai about the erased Message Token from Flower Young Master and decided to study how to restore its Magnetic Patterns.

• Mo Hua poured strong liquor before the Xie Family gates and vowed to make Fire Buddha die alongside the slaughtered Xie Family cultivators.
• Wenren Wan scolded Gu Changhuai for returning late, then took Mo Hua and Yu'er back to Void Gate after dinner.
• Gu Changhuai gave Mo Hua a custom Second-Grade Message Token, and Mo Hua quickly tucked it away before Gu Changhuai could reconsider.
• After returning to Void Gate, Mo Hua repeatedly messaged Gu Changhuai and asked about the black residue and Flower Young Master's erased Message Token.
• Gu Changhuai explained that he had sent Flower Young Master's Message Token to Heavenly Pivot Pavilion for restoration, and Mo Hua inferred how the process worked.
• Mo Hua decided to study Primal Magnetism Arrays and learn to restore Magnetic Patterns himself.

Mo Hua learned to interpret Fixed-Formula Magnetic Patterns and used them to restore erased messages from Message Tokens. After Uncle Gu asked him to visit the Gu Family for news about Fire Buddha, Mo Hua restored Bald Eagle’s token and found records of spirit livestock purchases that raised a disturbing suspicion.

• Mo Hua dismantled Uncle Gu’s Message Token, studied its magnetic patterns, and asked Elder Xun about the meanings of Fixed-Formula Magnetic Patterns.
• Elder Xun secretly gave Mo Hua a booklet of annotations and explained that Fixed-Formula Magnetic Patterns worked like encoded writing.
• After studying for half a month, Mo Hua reconstructed Uncle Gu’s erased messages and confirmed his method worked.
• Gu Changhuai told Mo Hua to visit the Gu Family on the ten-day rest to hear about clues concerning Fire Buddha.
• Mo Hua restored Bald Eagle’s Message Token and found records of spirit livestock being acquired in several cities, prompting a chilling suspicion.

Mo Hua restored Flower Young Master's Message Token and uncovered clues linking Fire Buddha's gang to a meeting at a Rouge Shop in Bishan City. While watching the suspicious shop with Gu Changhuai, Mo Hua recognized its supposed customers as one cultivator he had previously caught and sent to the Dao Prison.

• Mo Hua concealed Bald Eagle's Message Token after realizing its accounts recorded a large-scale cultivator-trafficking operation, and decided to investigate only when he was stronger.
• Mo Hua proved to Gu Changhuai that he could restore erased messages, then restored Flower Young Master's Message Token and found references to Hua Laoliu, a Young Master, and a Rouge Shop in Bishan City.
• Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai went to Bishan City and watched a suspicious Rouge Shop, where Mo Hua realized its different customers were actually the same cultivator.
• Mo Hua told Gu Changhuai that he had previously caught the cultivator posing as customers and thrown him into the Dao Prison.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai tracked down Jia Ren, a shapeshifting Duanjin Gate cultivator suspected of involvement in the Xie Family massacre and Fire Buddha’s disappearance. They captured him and found bloodstained weapons and discarded Xie Family belongings, but Jia Ren refused to talk until he recognized Mo Hua.

• Mo Hua told Gu Changhuai that Jia Ren had once been arrested for the Xie Family theft and Duanjin Gate betrayal, but Gu learned Jia Ren had been released according to the rules after both accusations were withdrawn.
• Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai watched Jia Ren discard Storage Bags in ravines, then followed him into the northern mountains when a patrol disrupted his routine.
• Gu Changhuai trapped and subdued Jia Ren with poisoned shackles and Sonic Blast Arrays, preventing him from escaping or killing himself.
• Gu Changhuai and Mo Hua searched Jia Ren’s Storage Bags and found bloodstained weapons and everyday Spirit Artifacts that Mo Hua identified as belonging to the Xie Family.
• Gu Changhuai questioned Jia Ren and used a branding iron when he stayed silent, but Jia Ren erupted in fury after recognizing Mo Hua and shouted at him.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai tortured Jia Ren with Mo Hua’s improved Iron Plate, but a Silence Curse kept him from revealing anything about Fire Buddha or the Xie Family. They found Jia Ren’s hidden storage chamber and unsealed a message token whose recovered words pointed to “Bishan Demon Cave, Heavenly Outer Grotto-Heaven.”

• Mo Hua recognized Jia Ren as the first person he had tested his Iron Plate on, and Gu Changhuai forced Jia Ren to kneel on its improved Five Elements Array until he agreed to talk.
• Jia Ren’s Silence Curse prevented him from speaking or writing about Fire Buddha and the Xie Family, but he revealed that his real Storage Bag was hidden behind the Secret Chamber in Bishan City’s Rouge Shop.
• Gu Changhuai’s Gu Family Inspectors took custody of Jia Ren, while Gu Changhuai and Mo Hua searched the Rouge Shop and Mo Hua dismantled the array sealing its secret chamber.
• Mo Hua identified a hidden Earth Seal Array concealing a Primal Magnetism Array mechanism, then safely retrieved Jia Ren’s Storage Bag from the hidden compartment.
• Gu Changhuai found a sealed Message Token among the Storage Bag’s contents, and Mo Hua deciphered it to reveal the words “Bishan Demon Cave, Heavenly Outer Grotto-Heaven.”