Chapter Summaries

Ji Jue fought Meng Fengzuo, Kasu, and the White Emperor Demon Lord, enduring their attacks while countering Kasu’s lethal strikes. The battle remained unresolved as Kasu survived a devastating blow and the White Emperor Demon Lord struck again.

• Ji Jue’s Iron Hand broke through Meng Fengzuo’s recorded Wei Wancheng projection and cracked the Myriad-Light Egret-Turning Lamp.
• The White Emperor Demon Lord’s seal struck Ji Jue, whose body and soul began to decay before Three-Phase Flow and Reflection Black Flame countered the damage.
• Kasu charged through Ji Jue’s purple lightning and black flames by shifting his properties, then attacked with the Hand of End Life.
• Ji Jue stopped Kasu’s strike with Non-Aggression and swallowed Meng Fengzuo’s flames before smashing Kasu’s head with Scene Tremor.
• Kasu survived by layering his head and retreating, while the White Emperor Demon Lord brought the seal down on Ji Jue again.

Ji Jue exposed the flaw in Xu Lingyi’s Realm of Encirclement and used the Mechanical God Mandara to disrupt it, forcing the White Emperor Demon Lord to kneel. He overpowered Kasu and turned his attention toward Meng Fengzuo, who was still waiting for Ling Liu and Shalbah to act.

• Ji Jue recognized that Xu Lingyi’s Realm of Encirclement twisted the precept of doing good and avoiding evil to favor Xu Lingyi, and mocked its ascetic-monk origins.
• Xu Lingyi used the White Emperor Demon Lord’s seal to unleash a ban on transformations of Spiritual Mechanisms, while Kasu and Meng Fengzuo worked to hold Ji Jue in place.
• Ji Jue’s Zhan Lu pierced the Demon Lord’s face, and he unfolded the Curtain to summon the Mechanical God Mandara, weakening Xu Lingyi’s Realm of Encirclement.
• Ji Jue commanded Xu Lingyi to kneel, and Celestial Origin Weight forced the White Emperor Demon Lord down as Ji Jue broke free of Meng Fengzuo’s restraints.
• Kasu attacked Ji Jue, who countered with White Deer Technique · Blood Vibration and shattered Kasu’s regenerated head with a slap.
• Meng Fengzuo wondered why Ling Liu and Shalbah had not acted, then saw Ji Jue look toward him and ask what he was waiting for.

Ji Jue faced a coordinated assault as Xu Lingyi, Kasu, and Meng Fengzuo unleashed life-consuming attacks while Shalbah struck from behind. Meng Fengzuo’s final signal opened countless doors across the West Sea, releasing the month’s dead to curse Ji Jue, and the outcome remained unresolved.

• Ji Jue identified the hidden assassin and challenged Meng Fengzuo, who signaled Xu Lingyi to transform the Realm of Encirclement into an altar.
• Xu Lingyi invoked the Demon Lords of the Five Directions, while Kasu activated Overload and attacked Ji Jue with a self-destructive assault.
• Meng Fengzuo sent his phantom to open an Eternal Gate to the sun, forcing Ji Jue to contend with its destructive heat and an approaching solar prominence.
• Shalbah attacked Ji Jue from behind with a blood blade as Ji Jue deployed [Realm of Encirclement · Non-Aggression].
• Meng Fengzuo brought his palms together and opened countless doors across the blood-red West Sea, releasing the corpses of those who had died over the past month to curse Ji Jue.

Ji Jue survived the karmic curse and used Non-Aggression to turn the attackers’ strikes against Shalbah. With Shalbah dead and Kasu’s assault redirected, Ji Jue remained amid the shattered battlefield.

• Meng Fengzuo’s Secret Rite assigned the West Sea’s deaths and sins to Ji Jue, silencing his soul and shutting down his abilities.
• Wei turned away in disgust, but Ji Jue’s body restarted almost immediately and restored Non-Aggression.
• Ji Jue shattered the Eternal Gate’s breach, redirected its destructive energy through the Demon Lord’s seal, and forced Shalbah back toward Avici.
• Shalbah failed to escape Ji Jue’s grasp as Kasu unleashed End Life against Ji Jue.
• Ji Jue used Zhibao to transfer Kasu’s strike to Shalbah, destroying his Rebirth Form and killing him with Purple Electric Black Flame.

Ji Jue defeated Kasu, converted Xu Lingyi, and killed Meng Fengzuo after revealing that the cursed Rebirth Form had been an empty shell and the curse had not harmed him. The Prosperity sailed on as Seven Cities retaliated against the attackers in East City.

• Ji Jue and Kasu fought without retreating until Ji Jue destroyed Kasu's heart and claimed the Slaughter Finger mask as spoils.
• Ji Jue's Mandala broke through Xu Lingyi's Rebirth Form and converted his soul while Xu Youquan could only watch.
• Ji Jue explained that Meng Fengzuo's curse had taken effect on the Rebirth Form, but the karmic backlash had been devoured by the Hole of Sin Demons and the real Ji Jue was elsewhere.
• Ji Jue named the people Meng Fengzuo's plot had killed and tortured him with alchemical techniques until Meng Fengzuo broke and tried to attack.
• Ji Jue restrained Meng Fengzuo, revealed the Rebirth Form had been an empty shell, and decapitated him, destroying his body and soul.
• The Prosperity resumed sailing as Seven Cities' retaliation fell on East City and silver rain drenched Ash Port.

Silver rain punished Ash Port’s criminals with sudden phone-call executions, while survivors were marked for forced labor. As the purge spread to Sea Abyss Cape, An Ran arrived with an army of awakened mechanical monsters and began attacking the Wild Bazaar.

• Sinclair Mendoza witnessed phone calls kill Parsent, Uncle Scar, Patty Farma, and thousands of people linked to the Wild Bazaar or Ling Liu as silver rain fell across Ash Port.
• The Seven Cities Wild Bazaar received Chieftain [Wei]’s authorization to retaliate, and the executions continued against Ling Liu’s former followers and subordinates.
• A phone spared Sinclair Mendoza from death but marked him for Blessing Park, giving him seventy-two hours to settle his affairs before reporting for labor and reform.
• Sinclair gathered money, left it with uncle Liu for his younger siblings, and fled Ash Port after a smuggler who had promised him passage was killed during a call.
• Iron-cast meteorites struck Wild Bazaar holdings at Sea Abyss Cape, releasing mechanical monsters and An Ran from their pods.
• An Ran received orders from Isis to kill everyone, donned his bone fox mask, and unleashed the mechanical monsters in a violent assault.

After Ji Jue’s rampage in the West Sea, Seven Cities exacted brutal revenge on Ash Port, Misty Reef, and Sea Abyss Cape, while observers debated Ji Jue’s power. Chen Xingzhou’s campaign for Wild Bazaar representative surged into fifteenth place, but he then vanished without a trace.

• Ling Shuo hanged Ling Zong and ordered Misty Reef’s Family burned, while Seven Cities’ forces carried out a bloody purge across the West Sea.
• Blade Tooth led the armored beasts in destroying Sea Abyss Cape’s family and beheading the Empire’s Spokesperson, following Ji Jue’s instructions.
• Ethers and Chosen Ones argued over Ji Jue’s Rebirth Form, his Masterworks, and how he had fought four opponents without injury.
• Chen Xingzhou rallied support from Suzhou, Haizhou, Cloud Province, the South Sea, and Central Earth, climbing to fifteenth place in the Wild Bazaar vote.
• After securing fifteenth place, Chen Xingzhou disappeared and lost contact.

Chen Xingzhou was lured to the dying Mountain Duke’s residence by the Mountain Duke’s pregnant widow, who had accepted East City’s offer, but the old man used his final strength to save him. Chen renewed the blood alliance by promising to protect the widow and her unborn child, just as news footage showed fires and smoke spreading through East City.

• Chen Xingzhou visited the Mountain Duke’s secluded residence and discovered the dying ruler’s widow had betrayed their alliance to East City in exchange for protection.
• The Mountain Duke warned Chen Xingzhou of the trap, and the widow’s men held Chen at gunpoint while Lord Han’s representative watched.
• Chen Xingzhou disarmed the widow and urged her to shoot him herself, but the Mountain Duke unleashed a final burst of power that destroyed the sickroom and killed Lord Han’s representative.
• The Mountain Duke died after saving Chen Xingzhou, and Chen promised to protect the widow and her unborn daughter while renewing the blood alliance with her.
• A television bulletin interrupted the scene with footage of fires and thick smoke rising over East City.

Han Hui survived an assassination attempt and revealed that he had become a Heavenly Being, then sensed a crisis at the Governor's Residence and blamed Chen Xingzhou. Amid the chaos, Ji Jue robbed East City Bank, leaving the story with his shotgun aimed at the stunned crowd.

• Shadow Scale discovered that the corpse aboard the burning airship was a fake, and Han Hui concluded that Chen Xingzhou had outmaneuvered East City.
• Han Hui learned that Meng Fengzuo had died in the failed West Sea operation and decided to confront Chen Xingzhou himself.
• A hidden infiltrator and a distant sniper attacked Han Hui, but he survived unharmed and revealed his Heavenly Being power.
• Han Hui sensed flames at the Governor's Residence and shouted Chen Xingzhou's name as East City descended into emergency.
• Ji Jue entered East City Bank, retrieved a shotgun from his bag, fired into the chandelier, and announced a robbery.

Ji Jue and Chen Xingzhou launched a coordinated robbery of East City Bank to sabotage the Vast Sea Alliance’s financing and strike back at East City. After sealing the bank and taking hostages, Ji Jue prepared to use the bank’s business manager to bring the police into the plan.

• Ji Jue’s crew stormed East City Bank, disabled its alarms and systems, sealed the building, and took the people inside hostage.
• Ji Jue encouraged the hostages to accept beatings in exchange for sick leave, while Tang Qian helped manage the captives and the operation.
• Ji Jue’s conversation with Chen Xingzhou revealed that they had planned the robbery to disrupt the loans and collateral needed to finance the Vast Sea Alliance.
• Chen Xingzhou had infiltrated helpers into the bank, while Ji Jue operated there using a spare Rebirth Form and entrusted his other Rebirth Form to Isis.
• Ji Jue’s crew brought in weapons and captured the bank’s business manager, then Ji Jue asked him to call the police.

Ji Jue staged a conspicuous East City Bank robbery while engineering a wave of false alarms that kept the Security Bureau on high alert. The chapter left the robbery exposed to the city as news helicopters broadcast the scene, while East City authorities struggled to identify the real threat.

• Ji Jue forced the East City Bank manager to report a robbery, then had him knocked unconscious and ordered the masked crew to prepare for the first guests.
• Ji Jue told Old Tang that cutting the Governor's Residence telephone line had triggered a major security response, and Yu Yinglong ordered East City into emergency status after learning the governor was safe.
• A flood of unrelated incidents overwhelmed the Security Bureau, while officials rejected an attempt to blame Ji Jue because he had a clear alibi at the Wild Bazaar.
• East City Police Headquarters dispatched SWAT to the bank, but helicopters carrying news crews arrived and began broadcasting the robbery live.
• The East City Police Headquarters director smashed his cup and demanded to know who had alerted the media.

East City police uncovered surveillance footage showing the bank robbers planned an attack on the Governor's Residence, then launched a forced assault after the director received assurances from local businesses. Gunfire broke out at the bank, but the chapter ended before the outcome was clear.

• An archives clerk found a still-connected line that let police access East City Bank's surveillance cameras.
• The footage revealed masked Shi Bang men discussing explosives, hijacking an Airship, and crashing it into the Governor's Residence to avenge Mister Xie Heli.
• The Security Bureau advised the police to proceed cautiously, leaving the director to decide whether to act as the hostage crisis continued.
• The director ordered police to disrupt communications, disperse the media, and prepare a forced assault after his assistant relayed the companies' support.
• Police staged a feint at the front entrance and blasted into the bank through the rear, where gunfire erupted before suddenly stopping.

Ji Jue’s crew staged a bank robbery while the police assault teams were lured into a deadly-looking trap that left them incapacitated but alive. After discovering that the vault’s Kunwu Lock could not be opened with ordinary force, Ji Jue used a falling breaching pile to strike its core, leaving the crew ready to get to work.

• The police assault teams breached the bank, where fake surveillance, automated weapons, rubber bullets, and Soul-Loss Poison incapacitated them without killing them.
• Waste Ruins recognized the Soul-Loss Poison and petrified himself to survive while noticing an X-shaped mark in the hall.
• A disguised figure emerged with an assault team member and demanded the release of Lomona, but a sniper shot the figure dead, triggering chaos outside.
• Ji Jue explained that the vault was sealed by a Kunwu Lock and that explosives alone could not open it.
• A breaching pile dropped from an Airship crashed through the bank and struck the Kunwu Lock’s core, shaking East City.
• Ji Jue emerged from behind the shield and told the others to get to work now that they had their tools.

Ji Jue and his accomplices exploited a crack in East City Bank’s vault defenses, using a recreated Breath of Bei Gong to make the vault decay. As the Shadow Scale’s power stirred beneath the vault, Ji Jue and everyone underground faced a deadly supernatural threat.

• A falling breaching device blasted East City Bank, sending stocks—including Vast Sea Alliance’s—into a sharp plunge and leaving the East City authorities overwhelmed by alarms and emergencies.
• Yu Yinglong learned that the Governor was sealed in a shelter while reports came in of a possibly contaminated water reserve, abnormal balloons, another altar, and explosives near City Hall.
• Ji Jue used the opening in the vault shell to connect new Secret Rites and prepare a gray flame, while the Kunwu Lock remained short of drawing on East City’s ley lines.
• Ji Jue ignited a lite version of the Breath of Bei Gong, causing the vault shell to crack, decay, and turn to ash.
• A serpent-like presence with emerald eyes looked toward Ji Jue, who collapsed bleeding and vomiting as the underground floor darkened and the realm’s crows opened their eyes.
• Pitch-black wings spread over the underground vault as the current Shadow Scale reached for everyone there.

Shadow Scale attacked Ji Jue in the bank vault, but Old Tang’s ancestral power and Ji Jue’s Scarlet Firmament protection turned the fight against him. After several masked allies used imitations of famous techniques to stall Shadow Scale, the real Cliff Horn Spear struck and pierced his heart.

• Shadow Scale used Death Wing to attack Ji Jue, but Old Tang unleashed the Horde lineage’s Blood Flame and broke the technique.
• Ji Jue invoked Scarlet Firmament’s [Granted], restoring Old Tang and clothing him in Palace Guard regalia.
• Old Tang and masked allies attacked Shadow Scale with Blood Flame, Weight of Kunwu, Dragon Scale Arrow, and Yesterday Once More, but Shadow Scale recognized the latter techniques as imitations.
• Shadow Scale abandoned the fight against his attackers and rushed toward Ji Jue, aiming to stop the dying Artisan from controlling the Secret Rite.
• Shadow Scale blocked a false Cliff Horn Spear, then froze as a second, genuine Cliff Horn Spear pierced his wrist and heart.

Ji Jue and Old Bastard from Cliff Corner killed Shadow Scale, but East City’s authorities mobilized to stop the bank heist. As East City unlocked its leylines to restore the vault, the [Demolition Pile] began to awaken and Kunwu Lock No. 1 went out of control.

• Old Bastard from Cliff Corner used a desperate strike to kill Shadow Scale, then recovered as his hidden blessings and power returned.
• Ji Jue told Old Bastard from Cliff Corner that East City, not them, was out of chances as danger closed in.
• Chosen Ones cleared the balloons outside East City and discovered they contained nitrous oxide, while the Security Bureau found the gas tanks were ordinary fuel and the altar held a singed pig's head.
• Yu Yinglong mobilized the Security Bureau as Han Hui broke free of the Heavenly Origin Law's suppression and Ji Jue triggered the bank vault's final alarm.
• Gao Yuanchen activated East City's highest Threat State, and Yu Yinglong opened the sixteen dragon-imprisoning locks despite an Artisan's warning.
• Spiritual Substance surged through East City's leylines and repaired the vault, causing the fused [Demolition Pile] to crack open as Kunwu Lock No. 1 lost control.

Ji Jue’s crew used the bank’s leyline-powered defenses to hold off East City’s forces while they opened the vault and began taking its treasures. The backlash from Han Hui’s failed Dragon Snake Path then stripped away his Heavenly Mandate, leaving his transformation into a dragon cut off forever.

• The second Kunwu Lock linked with the original, expanded its defenses across East City Bank, and repelled Han Hui’s Celestial Being’s Shadow and the siege outside.
• Ji Jue explained that the lockdown had made the bank an impregnable fortress, then opened the vault by burning out its lock cylinder.
• Ji Jue and his companions found 411 tons of gold and priceless artworks, and began collecting the valuables as signs of Rock Blight appeared.
• Old Tang and the others realized Han Hui was suffering the Five Decays of a Celestial Being as the backlash of his Dragon Snake Path intensified.
• Chen Xingzhou watched Han Hui’s Heavenly Mandate collapse, while Yu Yinglong ordered East City’s teams to block the crew from moving the gold through the leylines.
• The leyline transport was intercepted, but Han Hui’s foundation continued to crumble until his serpent form fell from the clouds, and his path to becoming a dragon ended forever.

The East City Bank robbers escaped with the gold while Security Bureau forces pursued a decoy tunnel and detained innocent victims. Chou Zong discovered that the robbers had posed as Special Police officers and been escorted out of the bank by the Bureau.

• The Security Bureau found every hostage alive in the basement vault, but the robbers and all the gold were gone.
• Yu Yinglong ordered a pursuit through the tunnel and detained seven suspicious survivors, but the Heart Pivot confirmed they were innocent victims used as a distraction.
• The pursuit team discovered the tunnel exited beneath the East City Second Water Reserve Depot, while the robbers escaped unnoticed with the Bureau focused elsewhere.
• Chou Zong used Heavenly Eye Illumination and determined that the robbers had never used the tunnel to leave the bank.
• Chou Zong traced the robbers’ escape and revealed that seven people posing as Special Police officers had been legitimate-looking hostages whom the Bureau escorted out.

The Security Bureau uncovered how the seven robbers melted East City Bank’s gold into liquid and smuggled it through pipes and tanker trucks, while officials scrambled to contain the financial crisis. Ji Jue watched the city’s reassuring news coverage and wondered who would be sacrificed to get East City through the turmoil, as Han Hui’s shadow stretched like a hunting serpent.

• The Security Bureau found that hidden suggestions had made officers remember seven nonexistent SWAT members, while the robbers escaped in disguises and the prison transport van vanished.
• Chou Zong discovered gold-plated pump components and pipes, and an Artisan identified the solvent used to liquefy the gold.
• Investigators traced the gold through modified water pipes to a wastewater plant, where tanker trucks had carried most of it away; only scattered liquid gold remained.
• East City officials closed the Exchange early and arranged emergency support from other banks and Federation Insurance to steady East City Bank and prevent a wider crisis.
• Ji Jue watched the televised assurances from an empty dockside warehouse and wondered who would be left behind, while Han Hui stood outside with his shadow stretching inward.

Ji Jue used his false body, Han Hui’s Rock Blight Dust, and the curse that East City had laid upon him to return the curse to Han Hui, then escaped as a hidden explosive devastated the warehouse. Han Hui survived but was left gravely injured and publicly exposed, while Ji Jue’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• Ji Jue showed Han Hui the Wild Bazaar election results and explained how Han Hui’s secretive ambition and loss of power had weakened his standing in the Vast Sea Alliance.
• Han Hui crushed Ji Jue’s false body, but Ji Jue used the Spirit Essence Hand and [Zhibao] to return Han Hui’s Rock Blight Dust and the curses of West Sea.
• The returned curses struck Han Hui, and a hidden Thunder Pool charge detonated as Sky Rail transferred Ji Jue’s brain away.
• A guardian and other celestials arrived at the burning warehouse and found Han Hui badly burned, his Rock Blight spreading and his power running wild.
• Loudspeakers across East City broadcast Ji Jue’s prepared taunt, while Han Hui searched in vain for Ji Jue and roared beneath the watching cameras.