Chapter Summaries

Ding Ling pursued the aberrant God of Longevity, seized the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook, and recovered memories explaining its origin and the Three Stars of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity’s role in uncovering it. He left with the dangerous treasure in hand and planned to investigate it further.

• Sun Wukong and Zhen Yuanzi deduced that the God of Longevity had become an aberration after a failed attempt to refine the sentient scroll, while the group suspected the scroll had transformed him.
• Ding Ling followed the God of Longevity into the Two-Dimensional World, countered his roars, and chased him into a One-Dimensional World.
• Ding Ling caught the God of Longevity, took the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook, destroyed him, and absorbed his black mist to retrieve part of his memories.
• Ding Ling explained that the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook came from another world and had been sealed beneath Abbot Island in the Main World by Sage Taiqing.
• Ding Ling revealed that the Three Stars of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity had been bewitched by the handbook, which could control aberrations and manipulate the One-Dimensional and Two-Dimensional Worlds.

Ding Ling entered the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook through a shadow avatar and discovered an endless library of books containing living worlds. Inside a comic set in Ji Province City, he met the dead Su Quanzhong, who explained that he had become the host of the book and warned of the monsters in the surrounding Black Mist.

• Ding Ling opened the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook, and Sun Wukong, Zhen Yuanzi, Pigsy, and Sha Wujing nearly had their souls drawn into it before Ding Ling woke them.
• Ding Ling sent a shadow avatar into the handbook and found an immense library filled with books whose inhabitants appeared to be real.
• Ding Ling entered a comic and met Su Quanzhong, who identified the setting as Ji Province City and admitted he could not defeat Ding Ling.
• Ding Ling learned that Su Quanzhong had fused the Black Mist Curse Source No. 0 with the Demonization Curse Source No. 3, and that other powerful people in the book had fused multiple Curse Sources.
• Su Quanzhong told Ding Ling that after dying in battle, he had become the host of the book and had nearly been killed by monsters when he ventured into the Black Mist beyond the city.

Ding Ling learned how Su Quanzhong escaped his confinement long enough to discover the Two-Dimensional Passage, and he suspected the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook was tied to the collapse of the Projection World and the danger facing the Main World. After Su Quanzhong pledged himself to Ding Ling, Ding Ling examined Gao Yulan and discovered her soul was almost too faint to detect.

• Su Quanzhong told Ding Ling that Daoist Shen Yuan had trained him, taught him to refine Curse Sources, and helped him discover the passage between his book world and the outside.
• Ding Ling learned that Su Quanzhong possessed the No. 0 Curse Source, Black Mist, and that Shen Yuan had described the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook as the World's Finest Divine Treasure.
• Ding Ling told Su Quanzhong that the Projection World had collapsed and the Main World was in grave danger, and he suspected the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook was connected to both crises.
• Su Quanzhong asked Ding Ling to take him outside and pledged to serve him, and Ding Ling agreed to consider bringing him along if he proved useful.
• Su Quanzhong led Ding Ling through Ji Province City and introduced him to his wife, Gao Yulan, whom Ding Ling examined by sensing her hand.
• Ding Ling discovered that Gao Yulan's soul was extremely faint and nearly imperceptible, unlike Su Quanzhong's.

Ding Ling investigated the Black Mist Territory with Su Quanzhong and discovered powerful new Curse Sources while battling its monsters. Meanwhile, Gao Yulan’s body was taken over by another soul, which seized Ji Province City, and Ding Ling reached a ruined region where he encountered an intelligent Six-Eared Macaque.

• Ding Ling told Su Quanzhong that Gao Yulan’s soul was unusually ethereal, but he could not confirm whether she was an evil anomaly.
• Ding Ling took Su Quanzhong into the Black Mist Territory, where his replicated shadows overwhelmed monsters and yielded several new Curse Sources.
• Gao Yulan’s soul was replaced after Ding Ling and Su Quanzhong left, and the new occupant corrupted the guards and took control of Ji Province City.
• Ding Ling’s plundered Body Snatching, Entwining, and Entanglement Curse Sources advanced toward Tier 8, while his Taiji Ball protected him from the monsters’ attacks.
• Ding Ling and Su Quanzhong reached a desolate region five hundred li into the territory, where Ding Ling subdued an intelligent Six-Eared Macaque.

Ding Ling rescued the Six-Eared Macaque from the Black Mist Curse Source and learned fragments of his past, including his obsession with joining an S-Class Battle Team in the Main God Space. As the group flew beyond the five-hundred-li boundary, Ding Ling uncovered a hidden secret in the strange space.

• Ding Ling absorbed most of the Curse Source from the Six-Eared Macaque, restoring his clarity without draining away the power keeping him alive.
• The Six-Eared Macaque recalled fragments of fighting a monkey like himself, being pierced by a flying sword, undergoing an injection, entering a crack, and being wrapped in black mist.
• The Six-Eared Macaque revealed that his obsession was to join the Main God Space's S-Class Battle Team and become its captain, prompting Ding Ling to suspect that Main God Space forces might threaten his worlds.
• Ding Ling led Su Quanzhong and the Six-Eared Macaque farther into the warped wasteland, where distance behaved strangely beyond the five-hundred-li boundary.
• Ding Ling activated his abilities together and discovered the secret hidden in the space.

Ding Ling and his companions failed to cross the abyss beneath the Black Mist, then returned to Ji Province City and discovered that Gao Yulan had taken control and vanished with the Core Stele. Su Quanzhong lost his status as the book’s host and asked to follow Ding Ling.

• Ding Ling sent two groups of replicas into the abyss, learned they were dragged toward a rift, and decided to investigate other books before attempting to reach the laboratory.
• Ding Ling, Su Quanzhong, and the Six-Eared Macaque returned to Ji Province City, where its soldiers attacked them under orders from a new City Lord.
• Ding Ling broke through the city’s protective shield, and the soldiers revealed that the new City Lord was Madam, whom Su Quanzhong suspected was Gao Yulan.
• Ding Ling scanned the city and found that Gao Yulan was gone and its people were recovering from Blood Fiend Curse Source Qi; Kun Qian and Kun Ju said she had left hours earlier.
• Su Quanzhong searched the City Lord’s Mansion, found the Core Stele missing, and asked Ding Ling to let him follow.

Ding Ling left Ji Province City with Su Quanzhong and Six-Eared Macaque, then entered another book world to search for Deng Chanyu. There, they interrupted Xue Ehu, who attacked them and was badly injured when Ding Ling’s defensive technique rebounded his blows.

• Six-Eared Macaque pledged loyalty to Ding Ling, and Su Quanzhong followed after losing control of Ji Province City and fearing Gao Yulan’s return.
• Su Quanzhong told Ding Ling about Deng Chanyu, a formidable female general, and led Ding Ling and Six-Eared Macaque out of Ji Province City.
• Ding Ling emerged from the comic book and discovered that its characters appeared as tiny two-dimensional figures; he returned the book to the shelf and followed Su Quanzhong to another volume.
• Ding Ling strengthened the Yellow Millet Dream technique, broke through the book’s protective barrier, and entered a luxurious room with Su Quanzhong and Six-Eared Macaque.
• Xue Ehu attacked the three newcomers, but Ding Ling’s Taiji Ball rebounded his punches and embedded him in the wall.
• Su Quanzhong condemned Xue Ehu for attacking them, while the injured Xue Ehu begged them to save him and offered to apologize.

Su Quanzhong killed Xue Ehu despite his threats, then a Taiji Ball repelled Han Dulong and Wei Hu when they attacked him. Tu Xingsun learned what happened and flew to confront the mysterious guest on the ninth floor.

• Xue Ehu threatened Su Quanzhong with retaliation from his sworn brothers, but Su Quanzhong saw through his pretended submission and killed him with a punch.
• Han Dulong and Wei Hu rushed into the private room and attacked Su Quanzhong, but a Taiji Ball reflected their weapons and sent them crashing onto the first-floor stage.
• Tu Xingsun healed Han Dulong and Wei Hu, heard their account, and decided to meet the powerful guest himself.
• Tu Xingsun rode an Earth Dragon toward the ninth floor while guests debated whether he could defeat the mysterious guest.
• Han Dulong and Wei Hu resented the guests who criticized them and hoped Tu Xingsun would stand against their enemy.

Tu Xingsun attacked Ding Ling and his companions in a Mount Guan City brothel, but Ding Ling reflected his techniques and killed him. Ding Ling absorbed Tu Xingsun’s Curse Sources, while news of the fight spread and the brothel’s guests fled.

• Tu Xingsun blamed Ding Ling, Six-Eared Macaque, and Su Quanzhong for Xue Ehu’s death and demanded they kneel.
• Tu Xingsun launched an Earth Dragon and tornado storm at Ding Ling, but a Taiji Ball reflected both attacks and severely wounded him.
• Su Quanzhong stabbed Tu Xingsun, and Ding Ling destroyed Tu Xingsun’s fleeing remnant soul.
• Ding Ling absorbed Tu Xingsun’s Curse Sources and fused them into his Taiji Ball, increasing his strength.
• News of Tu Xingsun’s death spread through Mount Guan City as Han Dulong, Wei Hu, and the brothel guests fled.

After Tu Xingsun was killed at Yan Flower Brothel, Han Dulong and Wei Hu reported the incident to Deng Jiugong and Deng Chanyu. Deng Chanyu set out to investigate and meet Ding Ling, while Ding Ling, Su Quanzhong, and the Six-Eared Macaque calmly waited for them.

• Han Dulong and Wei Hu fled to the City Lord's Mansion and told Deng Jiugong that Tu Xingsun had been killed by Su Quanzhong and two companions.
• Deng Chanyu challenged Han Dulong and Wei Hu to tell the truth, and they admitted they had attacked Su Quanzhong after he killed Xue Ehu, only to be badly wounded by one of his companions.
• Deng Chanyu learned that Tu Xingsun had died and felt relieved, since he had relentlessly pursued her despite their loveless marriage.
• Deng Chanyu ordered Han Dulong and Wei Hu to lead her to Yan Flower Brothel so she could identify the other attackers, and Deng Jiugong joined them.
• News of Tu Xingsun's death spread through Mount Guan City, drawing a crowd toward Yan Flower Brothel.
• Ding Ling, Su Quanzhong, and the Six-Eared Macaque remained in the ninth-floor private room as Ding Ling watched the city with the Divine Meditation Technique.

Ding Ling met Deng Chanyu and Deng Jiugong at Mount Guan City, where he asked about Daoist Shen Yuan and the strange region surrounding them. Deng Chanyu knew little about Shen Yuan and was startled when Ding Ling mentioned cities within the Black Mist.

• Deng Chanyu welcomed Ding Ling after Su Quanzhong introduced him as his master, and she invited him to the City Lord's Mansion.
• Ding Ling drank Deng Chanyu's rare tea and asked to read her books and learn about Daoist Shen Yuan and the region.
• Deng Chanyu said Shen Yuan had guided their cultivation after the Investiture of the Gods War, then vanished seven or eight thousand years ago.
• Ding Ling asked whether Shen Yuan had mentioned cities and a heavenly chasm within the Black Mist, and Deng Chanyu and the others reacted with disbelief.

Ding Ling found the complete Eight Trigrams Plate Cable Secret Martial Art in Mount Guan City’s library, mastered it instantly, and transformed his Taiji Ball into a far more powerful Eight Trigrams Ball. After finishing the library’s books, he set out with Deng Chanyu and the others toward the Heavenly Chasm, with Huang Tianxiang joining them.

• Su Quanzhong described the radiant city beyond the border and the perilous Abyss called the Heavenly Chasm.
• Deng Chanyu led Ding Ling to Mount Guan City’s Library Pavilion, where he discovered the complete Eight Trigrams Plate Cable Secret Martial Art.
• Ding Ling mastered the art at maximum level, formed the Eight Trigrams Ball, and amazed Deng Jiugong, Deng Chanyu, and the others with its power.
• Ding Ling read all the library’s books over two days, further strengthening himself and drawing even more admiration from Deng Chanyu.
• Ding Ling and his companions left the city to explore the Heavenly Chasm, and Huang Tianxiang caught up with them and asked to join.

Ding Ling led the group beyond Mount Guan City and destroyed a vast monster horde with his replicated army. He recognized a woman resembling Little Dragon Girl, freed her from the Curse Source, and learned that she remembered fragments of a mysterious past and felt she had met him before.

• Huang Tianxiang questioned Han Dulong and Wei Hu about their admiration for Ding Ling, then saw Ding Ling's replicas overwhelm the monsters outside Mount Guan City.
• Deng Chanyu and Deng Jiugong praised Ding Ling for easing the city's defensive burden as the group reached the Black Mist border.
• Ding Ling recognized a woman resembling Little Dragon Girl as Long Er and absorbed most of the Curse Source in her body, clearing the Black Mist and restoring her appearance.
• Long Er recalled fragments involving a Sky City, an attack by Gods, Devils, Demons, and Immortals, experiments, and the Black Mist, and said her obsession was to protect the Human Race.
• Long Er told Ding Ling that she felt she had met him before, leaving him unsettled by her familiarity with him.

Ding Ling investigated the Abyss rift and the mysterious city while trying to understand Long Er's lost memories and her uncanny connection to him. His clones revealed that human and monster symbols were fighting inside the fissure, and he resolved to uncover the truth on the other side.

• Long Er failed to recall any memories of Ding Ling, though she felt close to him, and Ding Ling comforted her.
• Ding Ling led the group to the chasm, where Long Er said the distant city resembled but was far smaller than the Sky City in her memories.
• Ding Ling sent waves of clones into the Abyss and discovered that human-shaped symbols radiated white light while monster symbols radiated black light and widened the fissure.
• Ding Ling's clones occupied more of the fissure's territory and endured longer, but every attempt to pass through the rift ended in their deaths.
• Ding Ling used the surrounding Black Mist to create and strengthen more clones, thinning the mist as he investigated the rift.
• Ding Ling concluded that the world beyond the fissure might hold the source of the Black Mist and the truth behind Long Er and the Six-Eared Macaque, and prepared to fight his way into it.

Ding Ling drove the Humanoid Symbol to consume the Monster Symbol and seal the Black Mist pouring into the Natural Chasm, revealing a distant city guarded by figures Long Er recognized as her companions. His clones then crossed the repaired rift and discovered an immense river filled with powerful Curse Sources, including Tier 8 and possibly Tier 9 sources, which Ding Ling hoped to plunder.

• Ding Ling sent tens of millions of clones into the Abyss, expanding the Humanoid Symbol's territory until it swallowed the Monster Symbol and stopped the Black Mist from flowing into the Natural Chasm.
• Deng Chanyu, Huang Tianxiang, and the others watched the Black Mist retreat as the Void City and its silent defenders became visible across the chasm.
• Long Er recognized the figures in the city as her companions and told Ding Ling she felt she had once been one of them; Ding Ling promised to help her recover her memories.
• Ding Ling and the others tried to reach the Void City but could not cross the distance, so Ding Ling returned with them to the other side of the Natural Chasm.
• Ding Ling sent more clones through the repaired rift, and they found a narrow breach opening onto a vast black river whose water destroyed them.
• Ding Ling realized the river held the source of the disaster, with surging Curse Sources that included Tier 8 and perhaps Tier 9, and considered plundering them.

Ding Ling sent eleven powerful avatars into the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook to seek Rank 8 and Rank 9 Curse Sources, while Sun Wukong and Zhen Yuanzi followed with avatars of their own. He brought them into Deng Chanyu’s book-world, where they met Deng Chanyu and her companions and began exchanging knowledge about their worlds.

• Ding Ling decided to risk sending avatars to the bottom of the Abyss and created eleven avatars capable of refining Curse Sources.
• Sun Wukong and Zhen Yuanzi made avatars and entered the Lingbao Illustrated Handbook, where Ding Ling explained that each book contained a world.
• Ding Ling noticed that many books near Su Quanzhong’s shelf were stained pink with Blood Fiend and suspected they had been eroded by the curse.
• Ding Ling used the Eight Trigrams Plate Cable to take Sun Wukong and Zhen Yuanzi into Deng Chanyu’s book-world and led them through the Black Mist to the natural moat.
• Deng Chanyu and her companions welcomed Sun Wukong and Zhen Yuanzi, and both groups exchanged information about their worlds, leaving everyone astonished.

Ding Ling risked reaching into the Great River to collect Curse Sources and discovered that its dangerous tides concealed powerful sources, including an 8th-order Jealousy Curse Source and an Aging Curse Source. After half a month of fishing, his abilities had grown greatly, but he wondered why the breach yielded sources from only four sequences.

• Ding Ling sent clones into the Great River to study its tides and waited nearly ten days for a safe opening to collect his first Curse Source, a 5th-order Greed Curse Source.
• Ding Ling made another grab and narrowly escaped a wave, refining an 8th-order Jealousy Curse Source whose attacks could strike unpredictable targets, including the soul.
• Ding Ling collected a 7th-order Aging Curse Source and continued fishing, determined to obtain more high-order sources.
• After half a month, Ding Ling had raised his Desire, Despair, Fear, and Pain Curse Sources to the seventh- and eighth-tier ranks, with amplification bringing many to higher thresholds.
• Ding Ling obtained an 8th-order Aging Curse Source, which the Martial Dao True Understanding amplified to the 9th Order, and he questioned why the breach yielded only four sequences.

Ding Ling left the Great River after strengthening his Curse Sources and traveled toward Flying Tiger City, recruiting Cui Ying along the way. He arrived to meet Huang Feihu, who welcomed him but doubted that the unfamiliar Ding Ling could truly be everyone’s hope.

• Ding Ling spent several more days fishing at the edge of the Great River, found no more eighth-grade Curse Sources, and withdrew after absorbing the gains from his incarnations.
• Ding Ling explained the Great River and its deadly water to Deng Chanyu and the others, then returned with them to Mount Guan City, where Deng Chanyu joined his group.
• Ding Ling entered a comic-book world, broke its protective barrier, and cleared monsters from the Black Mist outside Heavy Hammer City.
• Cui Ying witnessed the Black Mist thin after Ding Ling’s attack, asked to follow him, and joined Ding Ling’s group.
• Ding Ling arrived at Flying Tiger City, where Huang Tianxiang explained who he was and Huang Feihu welcomed him while privately doubting his importance.

Ding Ling rescued Chan Er, a woman who resembled Diao Chan and remembered dying in battle, and learned she shared Long Er’s strange return from death. He then explored the fissure beneath the Heavenly Chasm, collected powerful Curse Sources from the Great River, and left to continue opening up other territories.

• Ding Ling crushed the monsters in the Black Mist World and rescued Chan Er, whose appearance closely resembled Diao Chan’s.
• Ding Ling confirmed that Diao Chan and Little Dragon Girl were safe, then questioned Chan Er about her fragmented memories of leading an army, being beheaded, and later being subjected to experiments and the Black Mist.
• Chan Er revealed her obsession with defeating an enemy army, and Ding Ling arranged for her to stay with Long Er before leading his group to the Heavenly Chasm.
• Ding Ling sent millions of clones into the fissure, occupied it with Humanoid Symbols, and waited for the Great River’s violent tide to calm.
• Ding Ling gathered an eighth-grade Chaotic Space Curse Source and many other seventh- and eighth-grade Curse Sources over the following month.
• Ding Ling absorbed the collected Curse Sources, greatly increased his strength, and left to explore another territory.

Ding Ling recruited Huang Feihu’s former bodyguards Long Huan and Zhou Ji while investigating how Abyss rifts and Curse Sources varied between nearby cities. He confirmed that Long Huan City’s rift held mostly familiar Tier 5 and Tier 6 Curse Sources, then moved on to Zhou City to continue testing his theory.

• Huang Feihu chose to follow Ding Ling after witnessing his strength, and told him that Shen Yuan had once guided him and other former disciples.
• Ding Ling brought Huang Feihu and the others through a manga book into Long Huan City, where Huang Feihu recognized his former bodyguard Long Huan.
• Long Huan joined Ding Ling’s group and watched Ding Ling’s clones overwhelm the monsters outside the city.
• Ding Ling repaired the Abyss rift near Long Huan City and collected a few mostly Tier 5 and Tier 6 Curse Sources, finding them similar to those near Flying Tiger City.
• Ding Ling went to Zhou City, where its lord Zhou Ji respectfully welcomed him and led him outside the city.