Chapter Summaries

Ji Jue learned that the Blood Cleansing Fleet and local settlements were conspiring against New Spring, and prepared to turn the coming conflict to his advantage. The Long Island Conglomerate arrived at New Spring seeking a meeting with him, but Gou Er refused them entry.

• Ji Jue had Old Fisherman extract Waste Ruins's memories, revealing that five outsiders had infiltrated the area and that a New Spring mole had been controlled.
• Old Fisherman identified Waste Ruins as an enforcer from Coiled Mountain Stronghold and learned that White Deer was a Water Ghost scout connected to the Blood Cleansing Fleet and the Seven Cities Alliance.
• Old Fisherman left in fear of Ji Jue, while Gold Hair Boy pledged his support and agreed to keep the Dick Hair Town group under control.
• Lu Feng pointed out that powerful settlements across Haizhou were likely involved with the Water Ghosts, and Ji Jue eagerly anticipated gaining labor and materials from his enemies.
• The Long Island Conglomerate arrived at New Spring and asked to see Ji Jue, but Gou Er told them the Factory Director was not receiving outside guests.

Tu Sihai brought the Blood Cleansing Fleet’s offer to Ji Jue at New Spring, where the settlement’s orderly streets and wealth impressed his companions. Ji Jue asked about the Fleet’s intentions, and Tu Sihai presented sixteen vials of nearly pure Liquified Life as their greeting.

• Tu Sihai and his companions drove into New Spring and marveled at its developed streets, sanitation, and infrastructure.
• Tu Sihai warned his companions to behave politely when meeting Ji Jue.
• The group passed the finance department, where workers processed large quantities of gold, before meeting Ji Jue in his office.
• Tu Sihai introduced the Long Island Conglomerate and described its ability to procure unusual goods, while Ji Jue asked for its catalog and named two rare Blessings he wanted.
• Ji Jue guessed that Tu Sihai had been sent by the Blood Cleansing Fleet of the northern Endless Sea, and Tu Sihai confirmed it.
• Tu Sihai opened a case and revealed sixteen vials of Liquified Life with purity close to one hundred percent.

Ji Jue rejected Tu Sihai’s offer to let the Water Ghosts use New Spring’s route, despite their bribe of contraband Liquified Life and a share of their profits. He sent Tu Sihai away with three skulls as a warning, leaving the Water Ghosts to face his hostility as they departed.

• Tu Sihai offered Ji Jue seized Liquified Life and a share of the General’s hunting profits in exchange for access through New Spring’s waterways.
• Ji Jue pretended to consider cooperating, then declared that he was unwilling to help the Water Ghosts and insulted their General.
• Tu Sihai accepted Ji Jue’s refusal and prepared to leave, warning him of the consequences.
• Ji Jue stopped Tu Sihai and presented three skulls, asking which missing men belonged to his group.
• Tu Sihai denied that the skulls were his people, and Ji Jue gave him the case as the Water Ghosts hurried away from New Spring.

Ji Jue prepared for the Blood Cleansing Fleet’s retaliation while Tu Sihai delivered New Spring’s gifts to the Colonel aboard a concealed ship. After the Colonel plotted to use other fleets and pressure the settlements, the ship fell into an eerie silence, and a bloodied figure appeared at Tu Sihai’s window.

• Ji Jue and Lu Feng discussed the coming attack, and Ji Jue suggested the fleet would not bring home a gift without checking what had been added to it.
• Tu Sihai inspected the skull, replaced its case, and traveled with Gold Tooth Baldwin and Feng Ming to the Blood Cleansing Fleet’s concealed ship.
• Tu Sihai told the Colonel that Ji Jue had rejected the fleet’s demands and returned the gifts, so the Colonel destroyed the three skulls and ordered other fleets to test New Spring while doubling the settlements’ prices.
• Tu Sihai ordered extra watches and checked the ship’s security, then woke during the night and grew alarmed when the deck became unnaturally quiet.
• A bloodied figure pressed against Tu Sihai’s window and silently grinned at him.

Ji Jue watched Tu Sihai and the pirates die in a staged nightmare, then explained why he considered such people monsters rather than humans. He released a deadly mixture into the pirate ship and sent Isis's Hand through the sea fog to attack them.

• A mutated figure attacked Tu Sihai in his cabin, and grotesque flesh and faces overwhelmed him as he screamed for help.
• Ji Jue watched the attack with Isis and said that people who knowingly tormented others were monsters who deserved merciless punishment.
• Ji Jue opened a jar of Solid Alchemy and released its contents toward the fishing boat concealing the pirates.
• Ji Jue revealed that he had monitored the pirates and controlled materials, vehicles, tea, and air around them as they approached New Spring.
• Ji Jue sent Isis's Hand, a vast mist of mercury controlled by fine threads, riding the sea fog toward the pirate ship.

Ji Jue and Isis used mercury threads and a new Blessing to silently overwhelm the pirates aboard a fishing vessel from afar. The Colonel's explosion broke the attack's concealment, and Ji Jue unleashed the Poison Heart Ring's accumulated power against him and the remaining Chosen Ones.

• Isis used the supercomputing center to control mercury throughout the vessel while Ji Jue imagined making her a future apprentice and Matrix Holy Relic.
• Mercury vapor poisoned and subdued ordinary pirates, while Nightmares and Aberrations attacked the Chosen Ones, including Gold Tooth Baldwin.
• Feng Ming sensed the danger and hurled a dagger that exploded, waking the Colonel and the remaining Chosen Ones.
• The Colonel erupted in crimson bloodfire, destroying the mercury threads and sweeping a Spiritual Substance shockwave across the ship.
• Ji Jue rebuilt the mercury medium across forty nautical miles and unleashed the Poison Heart Ring's accumulated power.

Ji Jue used the Poison Heart Ring to batter Colonel with repeated waves of corrupted Spiritual Substance, but Colonel survived and invoked a Rebirth Form through a sacrifice to the Lord of Scars. The sacrifice restored Colonel while costing him a blessing and bound him to kill Ji Jue to reclaim it, leaving the fight at a desperate turning point.

• Ji Jue unleashed the Poison Heart Ring’s accumulated poisonous thoughts, repeatedly striking Colonel and killing the Chosen Ones inside the ship’s cabin with the aftershock.
• Colonel survived the assault and instinctively dodged Ji Jue’s fiendified bullets, even as his limbs were blown apart.
• Colonel offered his pain to the Lord of Scars and transformed into his Rebirth Form, recovering his health and mana.
• Ji Jue recognized Colonel’s Inheritance Sacrifice and saw that the ritual had cost Colonel one blessing.
• Colonel learned he had to kill Ji Jue and sacrifice his spirit, soul, and life to regain the lost blessing, so he committed to the fight.

Ji Jue used Prosperity’s concealed weapons, transformed missiles, and a coordinated ambush to defeat Colonel and strip away his powers. He left Colonel alive long enough to deliver a message to the General after showing him Tu Sihai’s severed head.

• Colonel charged Ji Jue across the sea, but Prosperity revealed its weapons and unleashed a barrage of bullets and missiles.
• Ji Jue manipulated the missiles to attack Colonel, and one transformed missile released Pan Ying, which slashed through Colonel’s scales.
• The Dragon Mountain Armor emerged from beneath the sea and restrained Colonel while Pan Ying pierced his heart and Matrix, draining his life and power.
• Colonel begged for mercy as Ji Jue approached, then Ji Jue showed him Tu Sihai’s severed head and asked him to pass a message to the General.
• Ji Jue pressed a hand over Colonel’s face and told the General to stay away from his things.

Paquiao Giddens gathered pirate crews in Harlot Town to plan raids and welcomed his son Jonathan, but Ji Jue’s warning and Jonathan’s death triggered an explosion that plunged the town into chaos. After Paquiao vowed revenge, Ji Jue secured Chen Xingzhou’s support and declared that he wanted the Water Ghosts dead.

• Paquiao Giddens organized a rainy-season raiding command center in Harlot Town after Ling Shuo offered Ling Liu’s support in exchange for twenty percent of the profits.
• Paquiao announced that his son Jonathan would represent him, but Jonathan arrived chained to a ruined ship and near death.
• Jonathan’s preserved head of Tu Sihai released Ji Jue’s recorded warning, and Jonathan was killed when the message ended.
• The ruined ship exploded, spreading phlogiston across Harlot Town, while Paquiao blamed Ji Jue and vowed revenge.
• Chen Xingzhou called Ji Jue about the bounty on him, then agreed to send Old Lin and others to support Ji Jue’s operation.
• Ji Jue told Chen Xingzhou he wanted the Water Ghosts dead.

Ji Jue emerged from the furnace with his body transformed and experimented with his new abilities before returning to New Spring. He approved Gou Er’s list of targets, and the Security Team began making arrests as the settlement descended into chaos.

• Ji Jue emerged from the furnace after adapting to the Unextinguished Tinder, gaining the ability to manipulate his body’s material properties and levitate through magnetic repulsion.
• Ji Jue’s experiments in the metal-filled workshop attracted a barrage of objects, and Isis told him that visitors had arrived.
• Ji Jue returned to New Spring, where Gou Er explained the troubles he had handled during Ji Jue’s absence.
• Ji Jue signed Gou Er’s list and instructed him to consult Feng Ge and Yan Craftsman if Ji Jue was unavailable.
• A Nao delivered the approved list to Lu Feng, and the Security Team began arresting people across Coast Industry.
• New Spring’s former bustle gave way to chaos.

As rumors fueled unrest in New Spring, Ji Jue welcomed Slan and the Homecoming Knights, who had come to support him. Their accountant negotiated to buy Ji Jue’s upgraded exoskeletons, and Slan revealed that the knights would accept any cost to win.

• Rumors and sabotage drove many people to flee New Spring or stir up trouble, while Ji Jue punished workers who broke their contracts or damaged production lines.
• Slan arrived with the Homecoming Knights, bringing their inherited armor and pledging their service to Ji Jue.
• The Knights’ accountant asked Ji Jue for a higher contract price and payment in goods, explaining that the Red Federation needed supplies and military equipment.
• Ji Jue offered the accountant a configuration plan for exoskeletons upgraded to approach the performance of obsolete first-generation armor.
• The accountant took the proposal to report it, saying the Mycelium Seed would arrive the next day, and Slan told Ji Jue that the Knights had to win regardless of the cost.

Ji Jue secured a contract with the Homecoming Knights and prepared New Spring for an anticipated attack, but the enemy fleet never arrived. Under pressure from his dissatisfied pirates and confused by reports of Ji Jue’s influence, Paquiao accepted an Oath-Curse Wine covenant and ordered his forces to attack New Spring in three days.

• Ji Jue signed a contract with the Homecoming Knights, who pledged their support and brought him a Seed of Dead Mycelium.
• Homecoming Knights and Wild Bazaar personnel arrived at New Spring, while Ji Jue upgraded the security team’s equipment and defenses.
• As the rainy season isolated Haizhou, water ghost bands raided the wilderness, but the expected Blood Cleansing Fleet failed to appear.
• Paquiao struggled to control his hungry, restless fleet and became alarmed by conflicting intelligence about Ji Jue’s power and connections.
• Paquiao drank the Oath-Curse Wine and formed a covenant with an unseen party.
• Paquiao regained his strength, ordered communications cut, and commanded the fleet to burn New Spring in three days.

As a typhoon flooded New Spring and cut it off from outside assistance, Ji Jue prepared for the Water Ghosts’ attack. The Blood Cleansing Fleet and pirate forces reached the town, and Paquiao led the assault as an EMP plunged New Spring into darkness.

• Ji Jue learned that the Blood Cleansing Fleet was approaching New Spring while the Security Bureau was occupied by other emergencies and a powerful typhoon was moving west.
• Floodwaters broke through the Long River’s temporary dikes, forcing Ji Jue to withdraw the flood-control crews as the storm battered New Spring.
• As the rain eased, Lu Feng sensed the Water Ghosts’ arrival, and Ji Jue ordered Isis to launch a saturation strike against the swarm on the radar.
• The missiles destroyed many decoy targets, but Paquiao’s old-fashioned sailing ship evaded them, disabled a drone, and sounded the signal for the assault.
• Water Ghost ships breached the minefield and advanced up the Long River; New Spring’s defenses crippled one raider, but it unleashed an EMP that plunged the town into darkness.
• Paquiao led the surviving fleet toward New Spring and ordered the Water Ghosts to kill everyone and burn everything.

Paquiao’s pirate armada launched a surprise assault on New Spring, but Ji Jue activated the town’s hidden defenses and turned the attack into a massacre. As the pirates’ weapons failed and their ships came under fire, their leaders began demanding answers from Paquiao.

• Paquiao led the Water Ghost pirates in a sudden assault on New Spring after an EMP Bomb disabled the town’s power grid and many exoskeletons.
• Paquiao and Ji Jue exchanged looks as the pirates advanced, and Ji Jue activated the Spirit Essence Circuits spread beneath New Spring.
• More than two hundred heavy exoskeletons restarted and formed a defensive line, slaughtering the charging Water Ghosts.
• Isis’s Mercury infiltrated the pirate ships’ weapons, causing their guns and cannons to jam and explode.
• The leading pirate ship suffered heavy damage, and its owner questioned Paquiao about the unexpected turn of events.

Paquiao pressed the Water Ghost fleet to continue attacking New Spring as sea monsters and three merfolk joined the assault. With the town evacuated, Ji Jue ordered Slan to show no mercy, and the 170-strong Homecoming Knights charged into battle.

• Paquiao threatened the allied fleets with future retaliation unless they pressed on toward New Spring.
• A flute call thickened the sea fog, roused sea monsters from the Long River, and drove three chained merfolk into the Water Ghost assault.
• Water Ghosts pushed into New Spring and found its residents had evacuated into underground shelters.
• Ji Jue told Slan to kill every attacker, and Slan rallied the Horde's Chosen Ones behind him.
• The Homecoming Knights burst through Coast Industry's gates and charged down New Spring's main road, trampling the Water Ghosts at the front.

Ji Jue’s forces used Pan Ying to turn the Water Ghosts’ deaths into an apparently endless source of Blood Flame, and the Sacrificial Master recognized Ji Jue as a High Priest. As Paquiao’s fleet launched a full assault and New Spring’s battle intensified, Old Lin killed an enemy Rebirth while Tang Qian charged the flagship to attack Paquiao.

• Slan led the Homecoming Knights in killing the three merfolk champions and clearing New Spring, while Pan Ying converted the dead into sacrifices that sustained and strengthened the knights.
• The Sacrificial Master marked Pan Ying as a sacred artifact, gave Ji Jue the Inheritance Sacrifice rites, and caused a Broken Iron Crown to appear above him; Slan recognized Ji Jue as a High Priest.
• Paquiao ordered a full assault and used Green Fire to raise the dead into a corpse army, while the Water Ghosts, their allies, and the Heart Pivot pressed into New Spring.
• Ji Jue called in his other forces, and Old Lin killed the Entropy Lineage woman by tearing out and crushing her heart.
• Gou Er offered Tang Qian three gold coins and promised another payment for holding Paquiao back, so Tang Qian raced to the flagship and attacked him while shouting that Paquiao had hurt his foster father.

Tang Qian’s ancestral founders helped him fight Paquiao, whose blessing faltered under their attacks. Lu Feng then used the Dragon Mountain Armor to ambush the Secret Rite, kill Pan Ying, and escape with his sealed corpse.

• Tang Qian’s ancestral founders emerged and caught Paquiao’s strike, then attacked him with chains and the Dragon Hunting Spear.
• Paquiao clashed with Tang Qian’s ancestral powers, weakening his connection to the Lord of Scars before he found Tang Qian’s weakness and sent him flying.
• Lu Feng drove the Dragon Mountain Armor through its seal and executed the Meteorite Maneuver toward the battlefield.
• Lu Feng’s armor smashed through the Secret Rite’s defenses and crushed a victim beneath its feet.
• Lu Feng killed Pan Ying, sealed his corpse and soul in mercury, and soared away with them before Paquiao could catch him.

Lu Feng, Tang Qian, Lin, and Pan Ying kept Paquiao occupied while New Spring’s forces launched a coordinated counterattack against the Water Ghost fleet. The trapped Paquiao saw the bodies of his eleven infiltrators displayed from Coast Industry’s building, revealing that his plan to destroy the upstream dam had failed.

• Lu Feng survived Paquiao’s bloodlit dagger with Dragon Mountain Armor’s defense, then sent the captured Heart Pivot Chosen One away and joined Pan Ying in attacking Paquiao.
• Lin and Tang Qian joined Lu Feng and Pan Ying, forcing Paquiao to unleash Green Fire and abandon his control over the Living Corpses.
• A huge mass of wreckage struck Paquiao’s flagship, and the Water Ghosts recognized it as Vichaya’s destroyed ship.
• Isis transformed the Prosperity cargo ship into a Steel Giant, which attacked the fleet as Slan led New Spring’s army out through the gates.
• Mines sank the Water Ghost ships at the front of the fleet, blocking the others’ escape along the Long River.
• Paquiao saw eleven dead Chosen Ones hanging from Coast Industry’s building, exposing the failure of his plan to sabotage the upstream dam.

Ji Jue’s mechanical army forced Paquiao to reveal his demonic Rebirth Form and overwhelm the Homecoming Knights, but Paquiao’s strike at Ji Jue was a feint for a hidden attack. As a Sinbearer unleashed annihilating Nether Frost toward Ji Jue, another figure appeared behind him and attacked with Hunter Finger: Flying Light.

• Ji Jue awakened the battlefield’s machines and turned them against the Water Ghosts, leaving Paquiao to unleash his Rebirth Form.
• Paquiao shattered Slan’s charge, drove back Old Lin and White Deer, and spread his Realm of Encirclement across the battlefield.
• Paquiao attacked Ji Jue with a bone spear, but the Dragon Mountain Armor and Pan Ying blocked the blow while revealing it was a decoy.
• A hidden Sinbearer unleashed Great Sin · Nether Frost and fired a black flame at Ji Jue.
• A figure appeared behind the Sinbearer and struck him with Hunter Finger: Flying Light.

An Neng and Yellow Beard helped Ji Jue defeat Paquiao’s forces while the Dragon Bone Fleet destroyed Harlot Town and Paquiao’s sea-based stronghold. The chapter ended with Frederick securing a larger share of the spoils for Ji Jue, while Paquiao was left trapped and under attack.

• An Neng relentlessly pursued and struck Nether Frost’s Fiendified One, then finished it with a barrage of flying iron hammers.
• Yellow Beard used his shield to absorb the Annihilation Flame and joined Ji Jue in attacking Paquiao with three Seed of Heroes giants.
• Paquiao tried to escape through Blood Bone Rebirth, but his rituals failed after the Dragon Bone Fleet destroyed Harlot Town, and the giants continued attacking him.
• Ling Shuo revealed that Ling Liu, Ji Jue, Frederick, and Yellow Beard had coordinated their forces against Paquiao.
• The Dragon Bone Fleet raided and burned Harlot Town, and its captain told Frederick to raise Ji Jue’s agreed share from fifteen percent to twenty percent.