Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yang learned that his existence had been erased from Earth’s records and memories, then joined Li Cang, Turtle, and Xiao Bieli on a trip to the Liaozhai World. They entered a star-filled realm of myths and legends, where Turtle transported the four of them away beneath a falling star.

• Zhang Yang discovered that his parents, friends, and relatives no longer remembered him, and Li Cang said Zhang Yang and his cousin Mu Shaoan had been erased from existence.
• Zhang Yang learned that Mu Shaoan still remembered him and was protected by Chaos Base, then met Li Cang’s companions Turtle and Xiao Bieli.
• Zhang Yang asked Li Cang, Turtle, and Xiao Bieli to help him reach the Liaozhai World and asked them to look after Mu Shaoan if they met him.
• Li Cang led the group through a restroom door in a shopping mall into a star-filled gathering place for myths and legends.
• Turtle pulled a star from the sky, and it descended over the four men, making them vanish together.

Zhang Yang arrived in the Mortal Realm of A Chinese Ghost Story and learned that the Plague Serpent’s corruption was spreading from Lanruo Temple. After a Snake Monk abducted Xiao Bieli in Liangshan County, Zhang Yang decided to build his village there to try to save him.

• Zhang Yang arrived with Li Cang, Turtle, and Xiao Bieli and asked for permission to build a village in the world.
• Turtle reported that the village had to be built at Lanruo Temple, where a spreading corrosive force had made the region around Guobei County dangerous.
• As the group passed through Liangshan County, Zhang Yang noticed the Plague Serpent lock-on progress increasing and searched the city with his Soul Domain.
• A Snake Monk seized Xiao Bieli with its spatial tongue and vanished despite Zhang Yang’s attack and Li Cang and Turtle’s pursuit.
• Zhang Yang identified the Snake Monk as a monster empowered by the Plague Serpent and said they had to build the village in Liangshan County to rescue Xiao Bieli before it became Cursed Land.

Zhang Yang activated the Sub-Fate Village Building Coordinate and discovered that its Backend Modifier could assimilate and alter the datafied world around Liangshan County. He told Turtle, Li Cang, and Xiao Bieli to keep what they had seen secret and proposed luring Snake Monks to gain resources, leaving the Antivirus Hunters alarmed by his intentions.

• Zhang Yang activated the Sub-Fate Village Building Coordinate, freezing the world and revealing a monstrous Backend Modifier that devoured Liangshan County and its surroundings before the world reset.
• Zhang Yang learned that the Backend Modifier could alter people, terrain, buildings, weather, plants, and animals within a hundred li of Liangshan County, but that it needed resources.
• Zhang Yang saw that devouring land or killing people and monsters could provide village-building resources, including large rewards for killing Turtle, Li Cang, Xiao Bieli, or a Snake Monk.
• Zhang Yang told Turtle, Li Cang, and Xiao Bieli to pretend they knew nothing, then proposed luring Snake Monks into attacks so he could kill monsters and gain experience.
• Turtle said Snake Monks were too dangerous to lure, while Turtle, Li Cang, and Xiao Bieli reacted with alarm when Zhang Yang called the county his village.

Zhang Yang explained how Liangshan County’s ancient-painting mode could trap and kill Snake Monks, then organized the county’s leaders and isolated its curse in a Cursed Land. He went toward Lanruo Temple to lure a Snake Monk himself but stopped short after sensing danger and doubting the plan’s consequences.

• Zhang Yang told Turtle, Li Cang, and Xiao Bieli that Liangshan County had become an ancient painting whose powers could stop time and compress space, but required experience and a Cursed Land to summon a powerful projection.
• Zhang Yang granted the three vacant county positions to Turtle, Li Cang, and Xiao Bieli, who chose the County Magistrate, County Commandant, and Martial Arts Hall Master roles respectively.
• Zhang Yang designated the Mass Burial Ground as the Cursed Land, drove the curse out of Liangshan County, and sealed the area with four profound-grade swords.
• Zhang Yang left Liangshan County and traveled toward Lanruo Temple to lure a Snake Monk himself.
• Zhang Yang stopped two hundred li from Lanruo Temple after sensing danger and worrying that summoning the Plague Serpent’s projection could provoke its true form.

Zhang Yang discovered a Cursed Land near Guobei County and learned that an enemy Virus Village Chief was using a Primeval Village Building Order and Bone Tower. After finding that Ancient Demonic Language could bind the curse into Curse Fruits, he began harvesting Plague Serpent Shadows while worrying about the hidden enemy at Lanruo Temple.

• Zhang Yang inspected a boundary where the Cursed Land’s curse had reached 480 layers and learned that a Bone Tower could nurture Cursed Snake Monks.
• Zhang Yang realized that a rival Virus Village Chief with a Primeval Village Building Order had the advantage and might be hiding inside Lanruo Temple.
• Zhang Yang tested several techniques against the Plague Serpent Shadows, then used Ancient Demonic Language to bind them into Curse Fruits.
• Zhang Yang learned that Plague Serpent Shadows could not travel far from the Cursed Land and that their curse could not be removed once it infected a target.
• Zhang Yang lured out more Plague Serpent Shadows and bound them into inferior, unstable Curse Fruits to farm experience and improve their quality.

Zhang Yang met Qin Ge on Floor 480 and learned that Qin Ge had come from a tributary of the River of Time to pursue power and freedom. After Qin Ge left, the Fate Village Building Order explained the River of Time, the Fifth Sequence’s conflict, and the forces behind the greater struggle, leaving Zhang Yang wondering how he could kill the Plague Serpent.

• Qin Ge emerged from the Cursed Land and told Zhang Yang he had traveled from a tributary five thousand years in the future to eliminate a powerful figure before he grew.
• Qin Ge revealed that he controlled most of the Primeval Village Building Order, denied intending to attack Zhang Yang or the Fifth Sequence, and disappeared into the black mist.
• Zhang Yang asked the Fate Village Building Order about time travel, and it explained the difference between the River of Time’s main trunk and its tributaries, including Earth’s status as a True Realm.
• The Fate Village Building Order explained that viruses were unique to the Fifth Sequence and that the deeper struggle centered on survival and securing positions in the Third and Fourth Sequences.
• Zhang Yang learned that his former employer was a Heavenly God-level existence and that Earth had once been in the Third Sequence.
• Zhang Yang asked how he could kill the Plague Serpent, but the Fate Village Building Order fell silent.

Zhang Yang examined the Village Building Order’s hidden ownership and convened a shareholders’ meeting, where Cynthia revealed that Ancient Heavenly God Changge and the Lord of Ash held shares in his Fate Village Building Order. He accepted a tentative offer to work for Cynthia’s Third War Zone and learned more about the Plague Serpent, but was warned not to return to the Fifth Sequence or meet his cousin Mu Sha'an yet.

• Zhang Yang reasoned that the Village Building Order was a tool whose upgrades depended on outside investments, then ordered the Fate Village Building Order to reveal its ownership shares.
• The Fate Village Building Order warned Zhang Yang that a shareholders’ meeting required a special cipher and could cost him if convened before the hundred-year interval, so he returned to Earth to proceed.
• Cynthia approached Zhang Yang, used a three-character cipher to reveal a separate Backend Village Building Order, and identified herself as a representative attending the meeting.
• Cynthia explained that Ancient Heavenly God Changge and the Lord of Ash each held ten percent of the Fate Village Building Order’s master control authority, and warned Zhang Yang to complete their missions.
• Zhang Yang noticed that his Plague Serpent mission had a thousand-year deadline and agreed tentatively to work as a chief mercenary village master for Cynthia’s Third War Zone.
• Cynthia described the Plague Serpent as an ancient-god-strength statue skilled in curses and warned Zhang Yang against returning to the Fifth Sequence or meeting Mu Sha'an before he mastered the power of laws.

After examining the Village Building Order’s finances, Zhang Yang decided to find a partner and visited his cousin Mu Shaoan in World 404. He warned Mu Shaoan about Cynthia and offered him a partnership, but Mu Shaoan refused and told Zhang Yang to leave.

• Zhang Yang discovered that the Village Building Order held investments from the Remnant Soul of Destiny and the Lord of Ash, had few available funds, and lacked a profitable venture.
• Zhang Yang decided to bring in a partner and traveled with the Fate Immortal Sword to the yellow-sand world where Mu Shaoan lived.
• Zhang Yang entered Mu Shaoan’s dream, but Mu Shaoan broke free and attacked him, believing he was being deceived in World 404.
• Mu Shaoan said he was an orphan with missing memories and asked why Zhang Yang had come.
• Zhang Yang warned Mu Shaoan that Cynthia was a white lotus, but Mu Shaoan said she was the boss of the Third War Zone.
• Zhang Yang offered Mu Shaoan a Seed Round partnership, but Mu Shaoan refused and told Zhang Yang to return when he was ready to turn over a new leaf.

Zhang Yang decided to defend Liangshan County and bought the complete Liaozhai data world from Qin Ge for two hundred units of Cosmic Law. With the data world and the true Liaozhai World both in his hands, he planned to build up core assets.

• Zhang Yang sent Li Cang, Turtle, and Xiao Bieli away, then resolved to use the Heavenly Sword Gate and the End of Dharma Liaozhai World as the foundation for his core assets.
• Zhang Yang spent vital blood and Cosmic Law to activate several sword arrays and defend Liangshan County as black fog closed in.
• One hundred stone-tower anomalies surrounded Liangshan County, and Zhang Yang told Table to wait for an opening to swallow them.
• Zhang Yang used the Ninefold Mountain Sword Array to crush several dozen serpent monks attempting to enter Liangshan County underground.
• Zhang Yang negotiated with Qin Ge and paid two hundred units of Cosmic Law for the complete Liaozhai data world, then prepared to develop core assets using it and the true Liaozhai World.

Zhang Yang captured the Plague Serpent’s statue clone after using Qin Ge and the Antivirus Hunters to draw it out, completing the first stage of his Death Black Sail mission. He left after meeting Fourth Sister, who thanked him and invited him for coffee if he gave up his Virus Village Chief identity.

• Zhang Yang watched the data-based Liaozhai World take root in the void, while Qin Ge attacked it with Plague Black Mist and lost his forces to the strengthened firewall.
• A half-god Antivirus Hunter froze Qin Ge’s troops, but Qin Ge released a Plague Serpent statue clone and escaped with a VIP Ship Ticket.
• The statue’s curse overwhelmed the Antivirus Hunters and nearly corrupted the half-god before Zhang Yang returned and dragged the statue into a black vortex with the Black Giant Anchor.
• Zhang Yang learned that his Death Black Sail mission had reached progress 1/3 and explained how he had manipulated Qin Ge and the Antivirus Hunters to expose the Plague Serpent.
• Zhang Yang introduced himself as the Fisherman to Fourth Sister, declined her coffee invitation, and departed on the Fate Immortal Sword.

Zhang Yang spent 4,500 units of Cosmic Law to plant dormant seeds from the fallen Liaozhai True Realm, unlocking a main quest for his Immortal Cultivation Village Building Order. He learned that cultivating True Realm Fruits could restore worlds, but the process demanded enormous numbers of seeds and rare resources.

• Zhang Yang reviewed his dwindling Cosmic Law balance and decided to focus on building wealth without further diluting control of his Village Building Order.
• Zhang Yang placed the Star of Hope on the land and released the Liaozhai World's civilization seeds into Guobei County and Liangshan County.
• Zhang Yang spent 4,500 units of Cosmic Law to let the seeds enter dormancy, which could last at most 100 years, and learned he would also need an Ash Boat to save the world from the Ashen Graveyard.
• Zhang Yang checked his Fate Village Building Order and discovered a main quest to activate 10 million True Realm Seeds, make 10,000 sprout, and mature 100 within 100 years.
• Zhang Yang learned that mature seeds could yield True Realm Fruits capable of strengthening worlds, but cultivating a qualified fruit could consume 1,000 others and required rare fragments or Cosmic Law.

Zhang Yang planned to expand his base and connect its spiritual-energy network so more Data Liaozhai Tinder seeds could survive. After relocating Guobei and Liangshan County’s residents, he discovered twelve mutated True Realm Seeds growing wildly around Nie Xiaoqian's Well and chose to observe them while farming normal seeds.

• Zhang Yang decided to prioritize quietly building up his base and ordered a second ring road, ten county cities, Dongting Lake, a river, and raised terrain.
• Zhang Yang led his disciples in relocating the residents of Guobei and Liangshan Counties and establishing New Guobei County and New Liangshan County.
• Zhang Yang returned to the empty Guobei County and found twelve strange plants growing around the site of Nie Xiaoqian's Well.
• Zhang Yang used the Village Building Order to identify the plants as mutated True Realm Seeds and chose to investigate by waiting and watching.
• Zhang Yang monitored the mutated seeds and began cultivating one hundred normal True Realm Seeds in Liangshan County.

Zhang Yang tended his True Realm saplings and discovered that one had unlocked the Sacred trait, making it a powerful asset he planned to cultivate. When a sword formation briefly flared near Guobei County, he welcomed the arrival of the Plague Serpent Ancient Virus.

• Zhang Yang watered and loosened the soil around his True Realm saplings, carefully resisting the urge to eat their tender sprouts.
• Zhang Yang found that the fifty-third sapling had grown a second leaf bud and discovered it had become a Tier 2 True Realm Sprout with the Sacred trait.
• Zhang Yang decided to cultivate the Sacred sapling with Destiny, Time, and Space Fragments, then guarded all the saplings as he rested nearby.
• Zhang Yang noticed Heavenly Sword Clan disciples on patrol near Guobei County and saw their sword formation flare before quickly dimming.
• Zhang Yang greeted the uninvited guests, identifying them as either hyenas or the Plague Serpent Ancient Virus.

Zhang Yang prepared the Heavenly Sword Clan to investigate and contain the virus-infested Guobei County, now called Doggy Paradise. He Yimou’s squad fought through the Demon Lair with the Five Great Sword Intents, but a supernatural illusion nearly trapped them before Table carried them to safety.

• Zhang Yang activated the sword arrays, ordered He Yimou and four disciples to investigate the Demon Lair, and assigned other squads to stand by.
• He Yimou, Song Ye, Cheng Sifang, Jiang Dao, and Zhu Ti entered Guobei County and used the Five Great Sword Intents to clear a path through its poisonous growths.
• Zhu Ti led the advance with his Mountain-Moving Sword Art while the squad fought through the transformed county and killed two Snake Monks.
• A woman's laughter restored Guobei County to an illusion of its former appearance, and the city transformed into a bloody maw that caught the squad off guard.
• Table appeared and carried the five disciples out of the Demon Lair, escaping the maw before it retreated.

After the disciples were bewitched by an anomaly, Zhang Yang strengthened their spiritual and demonic cultivation while guarding Doggy Paradise. The table emerged as the Immortal-tier Anomaly Mu Yizhuo, and Zhang Yang sent his disciples to attack the Demon Lair, hoping to lure the Plague Serpent’s remaining true body.

• Zhang Yang ordered He Yimou’s team and Jiang Rong’s team to cultivate Spirit Domains, and assigned teams to train in both sword and spirit or sword and demon cultivation.
• Zhang Yang taught the disciples a demonic-language Immobilization Technique while the Demon-Slaying Sword Formation suppressed the Ancient Demonic Virus.
• After three months, the disciples had made progress, but Zhang Yang refused to let them attack the Demon Lair until the table finished its seclusion.
• The table emerged as an Immortal-tier Anomaly, asked Zhang Yang for a name, and became Mu Yizhuo, the Heaven Sword Clan’s sixth-seat disciple.
• Zhang Yang sent Jiang Rong’s, Zhao Baiyi’s, and He Yimou’s teams to sweep the Demon Lair while Wu County’s team controlled the formation and Mu Yizhuo oversaw it.

Zhang Yang used a trap in Guobei County to lure the Plague Serpent’s followers into attacking, letting his disciples harvest Cosmic Law and a fragment of the Primeval Village Building Order. He rejected the other shareholders’ proposal to destroy the invasion passage and secured enough resources to nurture a sacred True Realm Fruit.

• Zhang Yang prepared Sword Valley’s defenses and reviewed his plan to draw the Plague Serpent’s followers into his trap, despite the curse spreading across his arm.
• Jiang Rong and the other disciples began killing Plague Serpent followers, earning Zhang Yang Cosmic Law through the Village Building Order’s collection mode.
• Mu Yizhuo led the disciples to kill Black Mountain Old Demon and Ning Caichen, while Wu Jun led them in destroying thousands of clones of Mu.
• Mu Yizhuo and the disciples killed Nie Xiaoqian, earning 1,200 units of Cosmic Law and a fragment of the Primeval Village Building Order.
• After the Fate Village Building Order proposed destroying the invasion passage, Zhang Yang rejected the proposal and accepted the accumulated rewards.

Zhang Yang sealed Nie Xiaoqian's Well under Wu County's guard while preparing for the disciple's future tribulation, then spent three years strengthening the Heavenly Sword Clan and cultivating True Realm Seeds. He fused a mature Wild True Realm Fruit with the Liaozhai Age of Dharma Decline World to create a True Realm Fragment, survived its formation, and fended off a forced takeover by surrendering part of his control.

• Zhang Yang planted twenty-four True Realm Seeds around Nie Xiaoqian's Well, ordered Wu County to guard the seal, and marked him as the first to face tribulation.
• Over three years, Zhang Yang used Cosmic Law to help Zhao Baiyi, Jiang Rong, Li Guokui, and He Yimou reach the Nascent Soul Stage, while other disciples advanced in cultivation.
• Zhang Yang completed the third mainline stage of the Immortal Cultivation Village Building Task and prepared to fuse a mature Wild True Realm Fruit with the Liaozhai Age of Dharma Decline World.
• Zhang Yang bound himself to the fruit with his vital blood and consciousness, and its fusion created a recognized True Realm Fragment as tribulation lightning crushed him.
• Zhang Yang revived through his bond with the fragment and sold five percent of its master control to Destiny Shareholder and six percent to Death Shareholder to repel an unknown forced takeover, leaving himself with sixty-nine percent control.

Zhang Yang used the True Realm fragment’s new management interface to establish its independent assets and choose a civilization path. He left the story poised for a mystical-immortal cultivation hybrid world, with mystical power likely to dominate its development.

• After waiting three days without another capital injection, Zhang Yang reviewed the fragment’s data and chose active editing mode, paying 1,000 units of Cosmic Law for an attribute panel.
• Zhang Yang transferred 2,000 units of Cosmic Law and about 120,000 people from the Village Building Order’s main body into the fragment, accumulating a population debt while leaving the True Realm Seeds untouched.
• He also moved the Heavenly Sword Clan, Sword Valley, Guobei County, Nie Xiaoqian's Well, Wu County, and other assets into the fragment.
• Zhang Yang examined the available civilization types and selected the mystical-immortal cultivation hybrid, despite its lower compatibility than the mystical side alone.

Zhang Yang created a city and a legend around an ancient well to develop his fragment of the True Realm and lure the Plague Serpent. When a woman became infected and slaughtered swept the city, Zhang Yang staged the arrival of Wu County, the tribulation-bearer, to keep the story going.

• Zhang Yang spent five hundred units of Cosmic Law to create an ancient well, a city, and a legend about a swordsman sealing a demon inside it.
• Zhang Yang left the city after planting the story, which the fragment of the True Realm acknowledged and could project into the Myriad Heavens and Worlds.
• A young woman who drew water near the well began hearing whispers, dreaming of a misty sea, and developing snake scales and a craving for blood.
• Blood-red light rose from the courtyards around the well, and more than a hundred corpses were found with their throats bitten through and their blood drained.
• Zhang Yang watched as a fifth-generation Heavenly Sword Clan disciple investigated the demonic aura and Wu County appeared to slay the mutated woman.

Zhang Yang used Wang Ergou’s life in Lidu City to lure the Plague Serpent’s power, record a story projection, and launch an attack. After the projection was imprinted, he reverse-transmigrated a wisp of his soul into Wang Ergou, only to find the servant was still an infant and seal himself for fifteen years.

• Zhang Yang lived as the inn servant Wang Ergou and witnessed a guest’s corpse trigger an evil invasion that spread through Lidu City.
• After Wang Ergou died on the fourth day, Zhang Yang ordered the Heavenly Sword Clan to attack the Plague Serpent’s power and record Lidu City’s calamity as a story projection.
• Zhang Yang appointed new leaders and roles for the Heavenly Sword Clan before entering seclusion.
• Three months later, Zhang Yang sent a wisp of his soul through the imprinted projection into Wang Ergou’s body at the Yuelai Inn.
• Zhang Yang discovered Wang Ergou was still an infant, sealed himself to avoid destroying the body, and remained sealed for fifteen years.