Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian took command of the Brotherhood and led its members to investigate a dispute over payment at a worker’s workplace. The woman at the door revealed that the deadbeat had completed three transactions.

• Fu Qian persuaded the Brotherhood to repent for letting their convictions lapse, and Brother with Thick Eyebrows agreed to lead the group where Fu Qian ordered.
• Fu Qian and the Brotherhood left the church, while the priest, the Old Man, stayed behind to ponder what had happened.
• Brother with Thick Eyebrows explained that the victim had locked the deadbeat inside her workplace after he refused to pay.
• Fu Qian knocked on the workplace door after hearing sounds from inside, and the woman who answered said the deadbeat had completed three transactions.

Fu Qian intervened in a debt dispute at the City of Ultimate Bliss and declared that the guest and the scarf-wearing Lady had become a cohabiting couple. He left them entangled in their relationship after the Lady agreed to stay with the guest and Fu Qian demanded proof of their bond.

• Fu Qian questioned the scarf-wearing Lady and learned that the guest had accepted her advances both times she initiated them.
• Fu Qian declared that their relationship had become a genuine cohabitation, so the debt no longer needed to be collected.
• Fu Qian told the guest that ending the relationship would require giving the scarf-wearing Lady half his assets, citing the Brotherhood's support for his word.
• The guest suggested they could stay together and cool off, and the scarf-wearing Lady agreed and leaned against him.
• Fu Qian praised their reconciliation and demanded that they prove it on the spot.

Fu Qian pushed Lady with the Scarf and the guest brother into a public display, then led the Brotherhood away after sensing a strange, fleeting force that reminded him of the inhuman cycle. He left intending to investigate the sensation and prepare to storm the Brotherhood's main hall.

• Fu Qian demanded that Lady with the Scarf and the guest brother prove their feelings in front of the Brotherhood, and Lady with the Scarf invited him to join them.
• Fu Qian refused the invitation on the grounds of gang rules, while the couple began their performance before the watching group.
• Fu Qian briefly sensed a shaped absence that blocked his perception, resembling his experience in the inhuman cycle.
• Fu Qian declared the couple's account settled as a wedding gift and led the Brotherhood out, ordering the onlookers not to disturb the pair.

Fu Qian was brought back to a forbidden Brotherhood hall after his unexpected performance spared him from immediate judgment. There, an old authority figure identified an incense burner as his, then smashed it before Fu Qian could take it.

• The man with thick eyebrows blindfolded Fu Qian and led him to the Brotherhood's incense-filled hall, where an old voice said he should not have been allowed back.
• Fu Qian admitted he could not find his incense burner, and the old voice praised his answer before emerging from the smoke.
• The old man selected an exquisite bronze burner for Fu Qian and held it out without giving it to him.
• The old man smashed the incense burner on the floor, scattering its ash as Fu Qian watched.

Fu Qian provoked the Brotherhood’s leaders by bringing up Holun and identifying a distinctive incense burner, while trying to learn what made Holun important. The Yin-Yang Head Old Man dismissed Fu Qian’s supposed knowledge and began the punishment he had prepared, leaving Fu Qian struggling to breathe.

• Fu Qian asked where Holun’s incense burner was and watched the leaders’ reactions to his accusation.
• The Yin-Yang Head Old Man grew furious when Fu Qian mentioned Holun and accused him of dragging the Brotherhood into a grave crime.
• Fu Qian pointed out the only incense burner that was not smoking, and both the Yin-Yang Head Old Man and Brother with Thick Eyebrows reacted with anger.
• Fu Qian picked up the burner and offered to share what he had supposedly learned during his time at the church, but the Yin-Yang Head Old Man rejected his claims.
• The Yin-Yang Head Old Man announced that his prepared show was beginning, and Fu Qian took the burner as the mirage returned to normal.
• Fu Qian felt his breathing grow heavy as the Yin-Yang Head Old Man calmly faced him.

Fu Qian endured the Brotherhood’s Heart-Beast Punishment while considering how he had entered Holun’s body and how to destroy the Ancient One. As the punishment pushed him toward inhumanity, he attacked the Brotherhood members and wrecked the Incense Hall.

• Yin-Yang Head's Old Man explained that Fu Qian had to withstand the Heart-Beast Punishment to leave the Brotherhood, and Fu Qian recognized it as a mental torment that was making the mirage disappear.
• Fu Qian wondered whether Holun’s incense burner had gone out because Holun was dead and considered how he had taken over the body and might ascend to another heaven.
• Fu Qian maintained his composure despite feeling his humanity slip away and told Yin-Yang Head's Old Man that he had gained a lot over the past two years.
• Fu Qian threw Holun’s incense burner at Brother with Thick Eyebrows and struck Yin-Yang Head's Old Man with another burner, wrecking the Brotherhood's Incense Hall.

Fu Qian endured the Brotherhood’s attacks and the worsening effects of the Heart-Beast Punishment while investigating the strange smoke and hallucination. After the old man with the Yin-Yang Head advised him to remember light, Fu Qian found that imagining it briefly halted the growing suppression.

• The old man with the Yin-Yang Head applauded Fu Qian’s destruction of the Incense Hall, while Brother with Thick Eyebrows recovered and charged at him.
• Brother with Thick Eyebrows struck Fu Qian’s knee, but Fu Qian caught his weapon and forced him to release it.
• Fu Qian realized his ability to observe the strange outline and smoke was fading as the punishment intensified.
• The old man with the Yin-Yang Head told Fu Qian that fewer than three people had lasted past the halfway point and warned him not to fall asleep or forget what light was.
• Fu Qian pictured radiant light in his mind, and the sensation of suppression briefly paused.

Fu Qian endured the Heart-Beast Punishment while trying to understand how the Brotherhood meant to hinder his progress. After surrendering to the abyss and recreating a corrupting symbol, he regained awareness inside what seemed to be an unopened coffin.

• Fu Qian asked the Old Man what would happen if time ran out while he was asleep, and the Old Man said he would announce the result once Fu Qian crawled like livestock.
• Fu Qian noticed his vision recovering and suspected the punishment was meant to teach him a misleading way to resist the abyss and block his spiritual progress.
• Fu Qian stopped resisting the descent and tried to recreate the corrupting symbol he had sensed while watching the Scarf Lady and the other woman.
• Everything dissolved into darkness, and Fu Qian gradually regained his sense of self and breath.
• Fu Qian opened his eyes to find himself in darkness and felt around, concluding he might be trapped in an unopened coffin.

Fu Qian awoke in a coffin in a cemetery, apparently having advanced to a new level after escaping the inhuman cycle in the Incense Hall. He found a sleeping Brotherhood member in a nearby tomb and encountered the gravekeeper who had closed his coffin.

• Fu Qian woke in a coffin wearing Old Master Lu’s suit and concluded that he had advanced beyond the previous level.
• Fu Qian pushed open the coffin lid and emerged in a cemetery that resembled the place where his mission had begun.
• Fu Qian considered whether the City of Ultimate Bliss had been a dream and how his descent into darkness had helped him wake up.
• Fu Qian found a Brotherhood member asleep in an open coffin and confirmed that the man was alive.
• The gravekeeper confronted Fu Qian, who claimed he had left the coffin because it was stuffy.

Fu Qian woke from his coffin in the true Realm of Ultimate Bliss, surprising the gravedigger who had closed it after Fu Qian developed Karma Burden and mutated. The gravedigger explained the false awakening and hinted at a way others might escape, but he could not explain how Fu Qian had recovered and climbed out.

• The gravedigger returned and questioned Fu Qian about waking, opening his coffin, and regaining his former appearance.
• The gravedigger explained that Fu Qian had suffered Karma Burden and undergone a severe mutation, which was why he had closed the coffin.
• Fu Qian learned that the Realm of Ultimate Bliss was the true destination and that the people who had welcomed him before were still trapped in coffins, mistaking their dream for awakening.
• The gravedigger said the open coffins and the lotus-like Ultimate Bliss Bright Light could help sleepers find the way out, and led Fu Qian toward town.
• The gravedigger admitted he did not know how Fu Qian had awakened so quickly despite being deeply trapped and physically mutated.

Fu Qian learned from the gravedigger that the black lotus had guided him out of the City of Sin before his coffin was sealed, and he suspected a hidden enemy had manipulated events to trap him. As they approached the true City of Ultimate Bliss, Fu Qian chose to visit the church to look for traces of the vanished Brotherhood.

• Fu Qian confirmed that the black lotus appeared more often when someone struggled deeply with Karma Burden.
• The gravedigger explained how the lotus offered guidance to people lost in the haze and described how they could learn to distinguish truth from falsehood.
• Fu Qian considered whether he had truly reached the Second Heaven and wondered why his enemies had tried to seal his coffin instead of killing him.
• The gravedigger offered to take Fu Qian somewhere in the city, and Fu Qian asked to go to the church.

Fu Qian explored the quiet Realm of Ultimate Bliss with Tomb Keeper, who explained the residents’ pursuit of an indescribable joy. They reached the White-Headed Holy See, whose connection to Fu Qian’s research raised the mission’s stakes, and learned it had stood for thousands of years without belonging to any deity.

• Fu Qian noticed the Realm of Ultimate Bliss was quiet and sparsely populated as Tomb Keeper explained that the lotus was the only way to awaken some long-sleeping residents.
• Tomb Keeper described bliss as an indescribable joy and led Fu Qian toward a church where people could pray.
• Fu Qian recognized the church’s Finger Ball emblem as linked to a Supernatural Item he had studied with the Night Watchers.
• Fu Qian entered the White-Headed Holy See and found its interior resembled the church he had encountered in the City of Sin.
• Tomb Keeper told Fu Qian that the church represented pure bliss, had stood for thousands of years, and had never belonged to a deity.

Fu Qian entered the White Head Church and tried to understand the ultimate bliss worshipped there, while considering whether the force behind it was connected to his mission. His layered meditation unexpectedly resonated with ultimate bliss, but he was left unsure what to do with it.

• Fu Qian thanked the gravedigger and entered the church, wondering whether its presence was the stomach or another hostile force.
• Fu Qian asked the gravedigger how people prayed, then decided to imagine escalating layers of ecstasy instead of emptying his mind.
• Fu Qian cultivated thirty-three layers of ecstasy until an indescribable ultimate bliss erupted in his consciousness and overwhelmed them.
• Fu Qian recognized that his mental exercise had triggered a resonance with ultimate bliss, then wondered what he could do with it.

Fu Qian used the bliss in the White-Headed Holy See to make contact with a higher level, then deliberately rejected it despite the painful withdrawal. The gravedigger left him in the church as Fu Qian intensified the pain and continued testing the balance between bliss and suffering.

• Fu Qian recognized that resonating with bliss had planted the Seed of Ecstasy in him, but decided the risk was worthwhile.
• The gravedigger asked how the bliss felt, and Fu Qian claimed it was fantastic while questioning how long it would last.
• Fu Qian used his will to reject the bliss, forcing himself through an intense emptiness and withdrawal.
• The gravedigger asked whether Fu Qian planned to stay, then left without offering to guide him elsewhere.
• Fu Qian examined the struggle between bliss and pain within himself, broke their balance, and let the pain deepen.

Fu Qian endured the complete loss of bliss and an endless-seeming torment, then emerged in a new place with a different kind of light soothing his pain. Unsure whether he had reached the Third Heaven or entered an illusion, he chose to purge the new pleasure as well, hoping to advance again.

• Fu Qian endured pain as his bliss faded, and concluded that time seemed to slow along with it.
• Fu Qian held to his strategy through the darkness until a gentler light filled his consciousness and eased his torment.
• Fu Qian found himself in a dim town, wearing unfamiliar clothes and lying in an alley, while strangers offered to help him.
• Fu Qian wondered whether he had reached the Third Heaven or was seeing an illusion, then forced the new pleasure out of his mind.

Fu Qian endured a new kind of pain and emerged in the Third Heaven, inside an egg-like womb filled with liquid. He discovered that umbilical cords had been supplying him with chemical bliss, but after he tore out the newest cords, that supply stopped.

• Fu Qian cut through the new kind of light and endured physical pain until his perception began to return.
• Fu Qian opened his eyes and found himself floating inside a translucent, egg-shaped space filled with warm liquid.
• Fu Qian recognized the flesh-like tubes around him as umbilical cords and saw that the cord in his hand had been ripped from his navel.
• Fu Qian tasted liquid from different cords and realized they had been feeding him pleasure like a chemical rush of bliss.
• Fu Qian traced the dried cords to layered blood vessels and concluded that tearing out the newest cords had stopped the bliss supply.

Fu Qian escaped his nutrient pod and realized that an unseen force had replaced an obsolete umbilical cord with a fresh supply of bliss. He discovered a vast flesh-and-blood factory producing and filling nutrient pods, leaving him outside the container and facing an unknown system.

• Fu Qian concluded that different kinds of chemical bliss corresponded to separate worlds and that his past experiences formed parts of his self across eighteen cycles of reincarnation.
• He suspected an unseen opponent had forced an obsolete umbilical cord to take over, then searched for a way out of the container.
• Fu Qian found an organic zipper-like switch and opened a slit in the container, allowing its warm liquid to drain.
• He climbed onto a platform and saw that the pod had been filled by a biomechanical machine in a factory of flesh towers.
• Fu Qian watched a slender gripper carry another nutrient pod away, revealing that the factory used robotic arms instead of conveyor belts.

Fu Qian explored the Third Heaven after escaping his nutrient pod, finding an unmanned flesh factory and evidence of another escapee. He suspected the nearby emptied pod belonged to the Ancient One and followed an instinct toward a familiar filling tower rather than the obvious staircase upward.

• Fu Qian watched the grabbers transport nutrient pods and concluded that the factory operated like a preprogrammed assembly line, replenishing bliss and moving people between filling platforms.
• Fu Qian slid from the raised platform and walked across the factory floor toward the area where his pod had been carried.
• Fu Qian reached the surrounding wall and found his nearly empty pod beside another completely drained pod, which he suspected had belonged to the Ancient One.
• Fu Qian spotted a staircase leading upward but ignored it when an indistinct impulse drew his attention to a familiar filling tower.

Fu Qian ignored the bliss station that tempted him and climbed a perilous staircase, where his intuition grew powerful enough to paralyze him. He turned back badly wounded, then reached another filling station and carved a huge gash into it with a spike.

• Fu Qian chose the staircase over the nearby bliss-filling station, trusting his intuition as he began climbing.
• The stairs sprouted spikes that wounded Fu Qian, while his growing intuition urged him to turn back.
• Fu Qian climbed until his wounds and overpowering intuition stopped him from moving forward, then pulled out a spike as a souvenir.
• Fu Qian descended the staircase, suffering more wounds on the way back to the starting point.
• Fu Qian approached a newer-looking bliss station, praised its design, and carved a huge gash into it with the spike.

Fu Qian exposed and ruptured the bliss glands inside an infusion platform, bathing himself in their contents while resisting the urge imposed on him. He had used the apparent surrender to test whether the will controlling him would reveal itself, and the chapter ended as ecstasy overwhelmed him.

• Fu Qian cut into an infusion platform and uncovered a cluster of translucent glands filled with blue bliss.
• He opened the glands one by one, soaking himself in their contents while cutting himself to ease his remorse and increase absorption.
• Fu Qian recalled how his instincts had pushed him toward actions against his interests and concluded that an outside will was controlling him.
• He reasoned that the controlling being might be influencing people from six heavens above and that he could not safely assume his outsider constitution made him immune.
• Fu Qian deliberately absorbed the bliss to see whether it would affect the foreign will in his mind and expose information about his opponent.
• Fu Qian blinked as a sea of ecstasy enveloped him.