Chapter Summaries

The narrator recounted eight months of hunting souls and failed attempts to use a ritual to reach the future, then discovered that the ritual had activated in the room where it was laid. Investigating, the narrator found Zhuang Cheng instead of the cave and considered whether he had secretly gained supernatural powers.

• The narrator killed a superpowered tenant with Penetration and used his blood in a time-travel ritual, but the ritual failed and attracted Zhu Shi.
• Over the following eight months, the narrator chose to devour souls to advance the Seed of the Heart and watched a reckless monster kill five influential figures while Zhu Shi pursued him.
• The narrator tracked a wounded girl who had stolen firearms from the Public Security Department, but she escaped using spatial transfer.
• The narrator's superiors ordered a nationwide search for the girl, forcing the narrator to abandon plans to hunt her.
• Zhu Changan discovered the narrator's ritual array in the former tenant's room, where it had apparently activated and produced a mysterious cave.
• The narrator returned to investigate but found Zhuang Cheng instead, and suspected that he had gained hidden supernatural powers.

Kong investigated Zhuang Cheng’s mysterious flame ability and the cave on the Fifteenth Floor while plotting to absorb Zhuang Cheng’s soul to strengthen the Seed of the Heart. After decapitating Zhuang Cheng, Kong sensed that he might still be alive as flames began spreading toward him.

• Kong sent a substitute to test Zhuang Cheng, who revealed flames that ignited the substitute by sight and continued burning it through a mental connection.
• Kong learned that Zhuang Cheng had entered the cave on the Fifteenth Floor, escaped after its entrance vanished, and survived the anomaly.
• Kong failed to reopen the cave, then brought Zhuang Cheng to an abandoned construction site and used shadow clones to test his defenses.
• Kong confirmed that Zhuang Cheng did not react to an attack from behind, then decapitated him and crushed his brain with a blade formed from his arm.
• Kong sensed no soul entering his body and realized Zhuang Cheng might still be alive as flames spread toward him.

Kong Da discovered that Zhuang Cheng could survive being beheaded and was immune to both physical and soul attacks, while controlling flames that could ignite Kong Da from within. Kong Da escaped through the Shadow World to the abandoned construction site, where a magical-power fluctuation appeared nearby.

• Zhuang Cheng rose after being beheaded, picked up his head, and accused Kong Da of pretending and possibly being the mastermind.
• Kong Da transformed and repeatedly slashed Zhuang Cheng, but Zhuang Cheng emerged unharmed and ignited Kong Da’s hand and legs.
• Kong Da severed his burning limbs and tried to escape, but Zhuang Cheng’s flames erupted inside his body and left him unable to move.
• Kong Da’s Shadow Transfer carried him into the Shadow World, where Zhuang Cheng’s flames went out and Kong Da recovered his senses.
• Kong Da emerged at the abandoned construction site, formed temporary prosthetic limbs from shadows, and sensed a nearby fluctuation of magical power.

A badly injured Demon Hunter encountered an evil spirit at the abandoned construction site, but Zhuang Cheng appeared through a sea of flames and revealed how he had tracked him. The Demon Hunter concluded that Zhuang Cheng had lied about being trapped beneath the cave and tried to use his substitute puppet ability to escape, only to find a destructive sun in his consciousness.

• The Demon Hunter saw an evil spirit drawn to the Soul Luring Talisman Card, and it cried out that someone was watching them.
• Flames engulfed the construction site, vaporized the evil spirit, and formed a huge flaming eyeball that transformed into Zhuang Cheng.
• Zhuang Cheng explained that the spirit in his flames, light, and heat let him locate the Demon Hunter and reach the Shadow World.
• The Demon Hunter realized Zhuang Cheng had lied about being trapped beneath the cave and had not needed the missing ritual symbol to escape.
• The Demon Hunter attacked Zhuang Cheng with his substitute puppet ability, but a sun filled with destructive fluctuations appeared in his consciousness.

The narrator realized that Zhuang Cheng’s spirit was as overwhelmingly powerful as a blazing sun, then exhausted every attack in a desperate attempt to kill him. After Zhuang Cheng split the unfinished building with a surge of flames, the narrator surrendered to despair, lost the Seed of the Heart, and began to be torn apart by his own power.

• The narrator’s supernatural ability briefly touched Zhuang Cheng’s spirit, overwhelmed the narrator with a vision of the sun, and ended before it could imprison him.
• Zhuang Cheng stepped toward the narrator, who realized his ability had stopped because Zhuang Cheng’s spirit had already overcome it.
• The narrator unleashed shadow blades and transferred Zhuang Cheng to the Shadow World, but Zhuang Cheng returned in a form made of flames.
• Zhuang Cheng slashed at the narrator’s shadow serpent and blasted the narrator out of the unfinished building, which he split apart with a torrent of fire.
• The narrator recalled his past and Monster Maker’s warning, lost the Seed of the Heart, and watched his uncontrolled power tear his body apart.

Zhuang Cheng reflected on his superpower and an old dream in which he had been offered power, then revisited the dream as an adult but never heard his younger self’s answer. After Agent Kong’s death, Zhu Shi confirmed that he was the real Fallen Demon Hunter and learned the extent of Zhuang Cheng’s abilities, prompting him to ask whether he could join Luoshan.

• Zhuang Cheng considered how powerful he was against armies and other superpowered people, while acknowledging that unknown threats might still exist.
• Zhuang Cheng recalled a dream from before his powers awakened, when a strange man offered him power for an adventure beyond reality.
• Zhuang Cheng dreamed again of the corridor and met his fourteen-year-old self, but gray mist appeared before the boy could answer whether he wanted power.
• Zhuang Cheng explained to Zhu Shi that Agent Kong had died after their fight, and she examined his remains and confirmed he was the real Fallen Demon Hunter.
• Zhu Shi learned that Zhuang Cheng had split the building apart and could turn into fire without being harmed by attacks, and he asked to join Luoshan.

After Agent Kong died, the narrator met Zhu Shi to discuss joining Luoshan and learned that his ability to become flames was an extraordinarily rare form of Elementalization. Zhu Shi explained that his immense power repelled anomalies and revealed that Great Wuchang could each destroy an entire country, leaving the narrator to reconsider the scale of Luoshan’s strongest Demon Hunters.

• The narrator and Zhu Shi discussed Agent Kong’s death, and the narrator took a charred finger from her remains as a keepsake.
• The next day, Zhu Shi met the narrator near the university and asked him to demonstrate his ability to transform into flames.
• Zhu Shi identified the narrator’s Elementalization as a divine manifestation, and the narrator explained that he had learned it by setting himself on fire.
• Zhu Shi said the narrator’s immense power caused anomalies to retreat from him, a phenomenon also seen among Great Wuchang.
• Zhu Shi explained that fewer than ten Great Wuchang were stationed at Luoshan and said they could generally destroy an entire country alone.

Zhuang Cheng questioned Zhu Shi about why Luoshan and the Great Wuchang kept Demon Hunters hidden and out of power despite their immense abilities. Zhu Shi asked whether he considered ability users superior to ordinary people, and he admitted that he did, leaving her to challenge how that belief fit with his friendship with her brother.

• Zhu Shi told Zhuang Cheng that Great Wuchang could cause disasters on a national scale and survive even concentrated nuclear bombardment.
• Zhuang Cheng learned that neither Luoshan nor the Great Wuchang knew why Demon Hunters had historically hidden their existence and avoided ruling, and that Luoshan had been divided over the question for three years.
• Zhu Shi asked Zhuang Cheng whether he viewed ability users as superior to ordinary people and believed they should rule the world.
• Zhuang Cheng admitted that he considered ability users superior, explaining that power established superiority but that he also valued the ability to persuade others.
• Zhu Shi asked why Zhuang Cheng had befriended her brother if he considered him lower in status.

Zhuang agreed to hide his strength from Luoshan while Zhu Shi sought recognition for him as an Outer Path Wuchang. He met Chang'an afterward, intending to end their friendship, though Chang'an did not know it.

• Zhuang told Zhu Shi that he would stand by her but would not join any political faction, and she asked him to conceal his strength while observing Luoshan's factions.
• Zhuang agreed to hide his abilities to protect Maza and learn how Luoshan's factions truly behaved, while Zhu Shi promised to address the evidence from his fight with Agent Kong.
• Zhu Shi explained that becoming an official Demon Hunter required a test and years of study, then offered to apply for Zhuang to become an Outer Path Wuchang.
• Zhu Shi took Zhuang's blood for testing and agreed to pursue Luoshan's recognition of his abilities.
• Zhuang arranged to meet Chang'an at a fried chicken shop, where Chang'an greeted him cheerfully without knowing Zhuang had come to end their friendship.

Acheng met Chang'an and gradually learned more about Zhu Shi's family and Chang'an's fears, while concealing his reasons for ending their friendship. He claimed the cave had cursed him and asked Chang'an to stop keeping in touch.

• Acheng sat with Chang'an at a fried-chicken shop and heard that Chang'an's mother remained in a coma and Zhu Shi had disappeared from the hospital.
• Chang'an explained that Zhu Shi had changed her name from Zhu Jiuxing to Zhu Shi, following the Zhu family's tradition of giving an heir a numerical name.
• Chang'an confessed that he felt rejected by his family and described nightmares about the cave in the Fifteenth Floor room.
• Acheng told Chang'an that the cave had disappeared and lied that it had cursed him.
• Acheng warned Chang'an that learning about supernatural things could be dangerous and asked him to stop keeping in touch for a while.