Chapter Summaries

Huai Shi was killed by Qi Yuan, who had become a Solidifier through the Savior Society, but Crow revived him by making him sign a contract and using a key to awaken his Stigmata. Huai Shi returned to life with a transformed body and woke in the cage, shocked by what had happened.

• Qi Yuan revealed that he had joined the Savior Society, gained the abyss’s power, and become a Solidifier.
• Qi Yuan crushed Huai Shi’s heart and left him beneath the rubble, but Huai Shi’s body began to twitch after Qi Yuan departed.
• Crow appeared beside Huai Shi and made him sign an old parchment before inserting an ornate key into his chest.
• Crow summoned the Book of Destiny and formed a contract with Huai Shi as black flames transformed him and awakened his Stigmata.
• Huai Shi’s heart restarted and his body became whole, and he woke in the cage and panicked at the strange sensation in his chest.

Huai Shi woke to find Crow had implanted him with a powerful, versatile Yin Soul Stigmata that left him with a hole of darkness in his chest. After considering what he wanted from his newfound power, he decided to pursue a happy life someday and set out to kill Qi Yuan and the Purified People’s lunatics in New Sea.

• Huai Shi discovered the dark rift in his chest and learned from Crow that she had implanted him with the Yin Soul Stigmata after he agreed to the procedure.
• Crow explained that Yin Soul strengthened Huai Shi and could connect him to negative-attribute Stigmata across different Lineages, leaving him many advancement options.
• Huai Shi tested his enhanced physique, then told Crow he wanted to try to live a happy life despite how difficult she said that would be.
• Huai Shi resolved to kill Qi Yuan and the Purified People’s lunatics amid the chaos in New Sea, and Crow offered to give him a lift.

Crow dropped Huai Shi into an underground subway tunnel, where he met a man claiming to be Jin Mu of the Social Security Bureau. Huai Shi recognized the disguise and faced a swarm of Corrosive Entities, activating his Holy Mark: Yin Soul to unleash Fear Aura.

• Crow gave Huai Shi a travel bag, dropped him through a hole, and surveyed the Nine Phoenixes spreading across the city.
• Huai Shi landed in a tunnel and met a one-armed man who identified himself as Jin Mu and led him toward Shen Yue and Ai Qing.
• Huai Shi read Crow's manual and tried to use its instructions while following Jin Mu through the subway tunnel.
• Huai Shi activated Holy Mark: Yin Soul and exposed Jin Mu as a Border Species disguised with a false face.
• The disguised Jin Mu called Corrosive Entities toward Huai Shi, who unleashed Fear Aura across the tunnel.

Huai Shi fought the Corrupted Jin Mu, using Yin Soul and his knife and axe to overcome the stronger opponent. After killing Jin Mu at his request, Huai Shi headed deeper into the darkness, toward the source of the shrieks.

• Huai Shi activated Yin Soul and weakened a Corrupted creature with the deathly aura surrounding him.
• Huai Shi fought Jin Mu, dodging his iron whip and using his knife and axe to crack his shell and sever fingers from the hand holding the weapon.
• Huai Shi restrained Jin Mu with a Source Matter cable, knocked the iron whip from his grasp, and struck a cross-shaped wound into his chest.
• Huai Shi used Heart Poison to kill the Border mutant inside Jin Mu, who briefly thanked him and asked him to go north and help Shen Yue.
• Huai Shi beheaded Jin Mu to prevent him from becoming Corrupted after death, then walked deeper into the darkness toward the shrieks.

Liu Dongli discovered that a Nine Phoenixes Ascendant was using New Sea’s subway Mirror Realm to complete an advancement ritual and open a route to Magic City. He received a cache of alchemical explosives through Yesterday Express, while Huai Shi arrived to rescue Ai Qing and Shen Yue.

• Liu Dongli deduced that the ritual’s overlapping symbols marked a Nine Phoenixes advancement designed to open a passage to Magic City for the Ranch Owner.
• The Mirror Realm expanded its reflections to include a subway station called Pudong Avenue, while Liu Dongli realized the Astronomical Society would not send help.
• Liu Dongli contacted the detective and learned that Yesterday Express had delivered a customer’s order near its destination.
• Liu Dongli found a sealed iron box inside the altar and discovered it contained alchemical explosives bearing the Yesterday Express logo.
• Ai Qing fought off Corruptions while Shen Yue panicked, and Huai Shi burst through the wall to rescue them before freezing in surprise.

Huai Shi reunited with Ai Qing after rescuing her and learned she had been fighting with an experimental mechanical brace. Ai Qing conscripted him to confront Qi Yuan, gave him a weapon-enhancing glove, and sent Shen Yue along as support.

• Huai Shi found Ai Qing finishing off the monsters with an experimental combat brace, then learned the brace had injured her legs and arms.
• Huai Shi and Ai Qing exchanged information and agreed that Qi Yuan was behind the trouble at the Special Affairs Department.
• Ai Qing told Huai Shi he was free to leave, but he chose to fight Qi Yuan, so she conscripted him in the name of the International Astronomical Society.
• Ai Qing gave Huai Shi a Cavendish Workshop whetstone glove that used his blood and Source Matter to coat his blade with electricity.
• Ai Qing sent Shen Yue with Huai Shi, and the two left while she returned to work in the darkness.

Huai Shi and Shen Yue traveled through the dark underground toward New Sea, where they were attacked by swarms of mutated beasts. They fought their way forward, with Shen Yue pedaling their rail cart and Huai Shi striking back with explosives, gunfire, and his axe.

• Huai Shi comforted Shen Yue with a can of Coke, told him Jin Mu had died peacefully, and returned Jin Mu’s insignia to him.
• Huai Shi found a maintenance rail cart, and he and Shen Yue set off on it as a horde of mutated rats charged after them.
• They encountered a mass of mutated animals blocking the tracks, and Huai Shi told Shen Yue to keep pedaling while he fought.
• Huai Shi threw a grenade and opened fire on the beasts as Shen Yue drove the cart through the attack.
• A mutated python lunged at Shen Yue, but Huai Shi wounded it with an electric strike and then brought down the Axe of Fury amid the surrounding monsters.

Huai Shi and Shen Yue fought their way through a horde of Corruptions on a rail cart and crashed through a steel door, only to find a massive mutant beast waiting for them. With the Social Security Bureau’s action team still half an hour away, Huai Shi and Shen Yue faced immediate danger.

• Huai Shi and Shen Yue rode their rail cart into a swarm of Corruptions as a strange flute sound caused smaller creatures to burst apart and strengthen larger ones.
• Huai Shi fought off the attacking monsters while Shen Yue pedaled, and they broke through the encirclement with Huai Shi singing along the way.
• Huai Shi and Shen Yue rammed through a half-collapsed wall and steel door, wrecking the cart and arriving at the platform.
• Shen Yue learned that twelve Ascenders from the Social Security Bureau were approaching but would take half an hour to reach them.
• Huai Shi and Shen Yue spotted a giant mutant beast chewing on Jin Mu’s severed arm, and it turned its hungry attention toward them.

Huai Shi and Shen Yue faced a gigantic Purified Person, and Shen Yue risked an uncontrolled burst of his buffing ability to empower Huai Shi. Huai Shi unleashed his Calamity Ash Fire and wounded the monster, which transformed into a many-limbed, many-voiced mass and caught his axe.

• Huai Shi urged Shen Yue to buff him while the giant wolf advanced, and Shen Yue recalled that his excessive enhancements had previously caused teammates to end up in the ICU.
• Shen Yue concentrated his power into a reduced buff, but the strain burst his fingertip apart as he dodged the wolf's charge.
• Huai Shi absorbed the excessive strength into his Calamity Ash Mist, then charged the wolf and slashed open its underside with his transformed axe.
• The wolf's black blood sealed the wound and reshaped its body with extra hands, eyes, mouths, and tails as voices inside it argued over how to fight.
• Huai Shi severed two fingers from a reaching hand, but the remaining fingers clamped around his axe blade.

Huai Shi and Shen Yue defeated the transformed giant wolf, though Shen Yue was left gravely injured and gave Huai Shi his remaining blessing. Huai Shi continued to the Century Avenue platform, where Qi Yuan revealed that Nine Phoenixes was transforming and the Demon Capital was nearing the Present Realm.

• Huai Shi wounded the giant wolf with Heart Poison and lightning, then exploited its transformed body to cripple it.
• Shen Yue used his partner's iron whip and the blessings of more than four hundred people to smash the giant wolf's head and destroy its body and soul.
• Shen Yue told Huai Shi he had avenged his partner, gave him his remaining blessing, and collapsed as Huai Shi headed onward.
• Huai Shi reached the Century Avenue platform and found Qi Yuan at the center of an altar surrounded by streams of black blood and overlapping realms.
• Qi Yuan revealed that Nine Phoenixes was transforming and showed Huai Shi the approaching Demon Capital, the City of Bliss.

Huai Shi fought Qi Yuan and his grotesque son Qi Wen, while Satomi Kohaku joined the assault to claim Qi Yuan’s head. Elsewhere, Ai Qing recovered with Liu Dongli as they discussed East Xia’s preparations and the balance of power among the world’s great lineages.

• Huai Shi confronted Qi Yuan, who said the Lord could awaken from the embryo in the Mirror Realm, and demanded payment for his unpaid performance fee.
• Qi Yuan summoned monsters and attacked Huai Shi, who fought back with lightning-charged weapons and revealed his fire-born fiend form.
• Qi Wen burst through the ceiling and attacked Huai Shi, who fought the spider-like creature while Qi Yuan watched.
• Satomi Kohaku broke through the ceiling and attacked Qi Yuan, declaring that she would claim his head.
• Liu Dongli found Ai Qing at the Social Security Bureau, treated her wounds, and learned she had used an exoskeleton despite its dangerous side effects.
• Liu Dongli and Ai Qing discussed East Xia’s hidden preparations as he considered the power of the six great lineages and their role in the conflict.

Ai Qing proposed using her contact in the Present Realm Coordination Department to make the explosives more effective, while Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku fought Qi Yuan and the regenerating Qi Wen. Huai Shi took three pellets of Dust of the Liberator by stuffing them into his chest, and the resulting blast left him unconscious.

• Ai Qing persuaded Liu Dongli that her contact in the Present Realm Coordination Department could help them use the explosives more efficiently.
• Satomi Kohaku's attack severed Qi Yuan's head, but Qi Yuan caught it, reattached it, and retaliated with black blood.
• Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku discovered each other during the fight, while Huai Shi struggled against Qi Wen's rapidly regenerating body.
• Huai Shi found Crow's white pellets, recognized them as Dust of the Liberator, and decided to use them against Qi Wen.
• Huai Shi stuffed three pellets into the hole in his chest, and an explosion blacked out his vision.

Huai Shi transformed into a ghost after absorbing the Dust of the Liberator and attacked Qi Yuan alongside Satomi Kohaku. They gained the upper hand, but Qi Yuan caught Huai Shi’s weapons as Nine Phoenixes unleashed another furious shriek.

• The Dust of the Liberator collided with Huai Shi’s Tribulation Ash, turning him into a ghost powered by dark lightning.
• Huai Shi tore through Qi Wen with a lightning-charged axe and then attacked Qi Yuan.
• Qi Yuan’s headless neck released a soul-draining cry, but Huai Shi’s deathly power burned Qi Yuan’s arm when he tried to seize it.
• Satomi Kohaku resisted the cry with her relics and attacked Qi Yuan, coordinating with Huai Shi to keep him off balance.
• Qi Yuan caught Huai Shi’s knife and axe with newly grown arms, and Nine Phoenixes shrieked again.

Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku defeated the transformed Qi Yuan after Nine Phoenixes abandoned him, and Huai Shi killed him. As the Mirror Realm vanished, a sacred radiance rose from the pitch-black abyss.

• Qi Yuan unleashed black-blood arrows, while Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku evaded them and continued attacking as Nine Phoenixes' power over him faltered.
• Nine Phoenixes abandoned Qi Yuan, whose body transformed as its final gift of black blood empowered him and drove him into grief and madness.
• Satomi Kohaku used Unrivaled Sword, and Huai Shi combined his weapons and Source Matter to tear open Qi Yuan's body and destroy him.
• Huai Shi stopped Satomi Kohaku from claiming Qi Yuan's head, then executed Qi Yuan after hearing his final words.
• Satomi Kohaku challenged Huai Shi to a duel, but he invoked their organizations and his official role to provoke her instead.
• The Mirror Realm shattered and disappeared, revealing sacred radiance rising from a pitch-black abyss.

Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku discovered that Nine Phoenixes had died during a ritual to transform him into Garuda, a Fifth Tier Holy Mark of the Indian Lineage. As Garuda emerged from the black blood, Satomi realized the ritual was meant to exploit the Magic City passage, and she began explaining how divine Holy Marks depended on changes in Correction Value.

• The Mirror Realm disguise shattered, revealing that Nine Phoenixes's corpse lay in the abyss while East Xia's Ascenders finished battles at the altars.
• A golden light rose from the black blood, and Garuda began to emerge, scorching Huai Shi with its gaze.
• Satomi Kohaku identified the being as Garuda rather than East Xia's Great Peng Golden-Winged Bird and realized Nine Phoenixes had changed his path of sublimation.
• Satomi concluded that the Purified People had planned to use the Magic City passage to compensate for Garuda's deficiencies.
• Huai Shi asked Satomi to explain the ritual, and she began describing the divine traits of Fifth Tier Holy Marks and their Correction Values.

Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku watched Garuda emerge from its transformation and learned how its destiny could raise the Present Realm’s deviation value. Liu Dongli revealed he had sabotaged Garuda’s advancement and then used a shot to guide a subway through a newly opened tunnel toward it.

• Satomi Kohaku explained that Fifth Tier Ascendants changed the Present Realm through their miracles, and that opening a route to the Demon City could earn Garuda significant deviation.
• Huai Shi and Satomi Kohaku watched Garuda emerge with badly damaged wings, and Liu Dongli explained that a flaw in its ritual had left it congenitally deficient.
• Liu Dongli told Huai Shi he had secretly mixed other creatures’ eyes into the Purified People’s supplies and eel-like creatures into their venomous snakes, disrupting their plans for Garuda.
• Liu Dongli shot Garuda in the chest, apparently without effect, then revealed he had used laser guidance.
• A huge opening appeared above Garuda, and a subway train roared through the tunnel toward it.

Ai Qing and the New Sea branch crippled Garuda with a train and explosives, but Destined Black Bird’s attempt to finish it was interrupted when the creature summoned help from Beatific Land. Its call brought a girl crashing through the gate, and she accidentally killed Garuda before wondering where she had landed.

• Ai Qing struck Garuda with a train carrying alchemical explosives, then detonated them from inside its body and heavily wounded it.
• Liu Dongli reported Garuda’s condition to Ai Qing as the creature tried to flee, and Destined Black Bird arrived to pursue it.
• Destined Black Bird trapped Garuda despite its attempts to escape through speed and Mirror Realm Transference.
• Garuda summoned the Ranch Owner’s power, opening the gates of Beatific Land and sending Predator Angels rushing out.
• A girl tumbled through the gate, accidentally decapitated Garuda, and asked the surrounding people where she was.

Huai Shi’s encounter with the lost White Emperor Child ended in an awkward misunderstanding, but her Wish Crystal granted his deepest wish and restored Stone Marrow Hall along with the family life he had lost. He returned home to a welcoming butler as Ai Qing and Liu Dongli watched from outside, bringing Huai Shi’s past to a close and leaving his future ahead.

• White Emperor Child appeared at the shattered altar, and Huai Shi excitedly asked her for an autograph before she fled through the gate to the Beatific Land.
• The Destined Black Bird scolded Huai Shi for his apparent advances toward a minor, then offered him a Social Security Bureau job, which Huai Shi declined.
• Huai Shi reunited with Ai Qing and Liu Dongli in an ambulance, where they identified White Emperor Child’s signed crystal as a Wish Crystal.
• Huai Shi wished for his family to return, and the crystal cracked as a golden beam rose from the direction of his home.
• Huai Shi found Stone Marrow Hall restored and was welcomed by an elderly butler, then cried as he ate the dinner prepared for him.
• Ai Qing and Liu Dongli left Huai Shi to return home, and Ai Qing said she smoked only occasionally when she was in a good mood.

Huai Shi was released from the Special Affairs Department and learned that Xuanniao had cleared him of the charges surrounding Qi Wen’s death. After discussing the Purified People crisis and his upcoming trip to Jinling, he spotted Fu Yi being chased into an alley and rushed to intervene.

• Director Fu questioned Huai Shi about his plans after release and gave him a parole notice.
• Ai Qing picked Huai Shi up and explained that Xuanniao had authorized the operation, leaving him acquitted of Qi Wen’s death.
• Ai Qing told Huai Shi that the Purified People had nearly opened a route into Magic City and that an unknown object had been thrown through.
• Huai Shi said he would go to Jinling next month for his cello examination and might handle his Ascender registration and Stigmata there.
• Huai Shi spotted Fu Yi fleeing from pursuing men, watched them follow her into an alley, and heard her scream.

Huai Shi returned to everyday life, accidentally disrupting Fu Yi’s student-film shoot before reuniting with her and Uncle Fang. He learned more about Uncle Fang’s origins and headed to the basement to see Crow, who had been waiting for him.

• Huai Shi mistook Fu Yi’s film shoot for a real assault and kicked the actors into a garbage pile.
• Fu Yi explained that she was directing a short film for the school anniversary and welcomed Huai Shi back before returning to the shoot.
• Huai Shi went home, where Uncle Fang greeted him and suggested dinner, then said Crow wanted to see him.
• Uncle Fang’s history revealed that Huai Guang’s failed Spirit Coffin project had created Stone Marrow Hall’s Source Matter, and Huai Shi’s wish had helped Uncle Fang manifest in the Present Realm.
• After learning that Crow had been waiting in the basement, Huai Shi put down his things and went to see her.