Chapter Summaries

Xu Bai learned that the Dean’s junior sister survived as a wandering soul and was targeting him because he deciphered the Everlasting Righteousness. The Dean gave Xu Bai a travel journal containing an incomplete soul-detection method, and Xu Bai finished its progress bar after a day of study.

• Xu Bai found Yun Zihai gravely weakened after he forced a breakthrough to Transcendence Rank One, and the Dean explained that Yun Zihai’s congenital deficiency had caused his decline.
• The Dean told Xu Bai that his junior sister had created a corrupt scholarly faction and could persist as a soul by sharing other people’s bodies.
• The Dean revealed that Xu Bai’s strength, youth, and success with the Everlasting Righteousness had attracted his junior sister, who might be hiding inside another person.
• The Dean gave Xu Bai his travel journal, hoping he could understand its incomplete method for detecting souls, and also let him take the improved Body-Strengthening Technique.
• Xu Bai returned to his room and focused on the travel journal, filling its progress bar after a day of study.

Xu Bai discovered that the Undying Soul Body could repair his soul, then found the dean’s junior sister hiding inside Liu Xu and plotted to confront her. The chapter ended with Xu Bai and Liu Xu setting out for the abandoned temple where the dean planned to help trap the Old Hag.

• Xu Bai fused the Soul Locking Art with the Undying Body to create the Undying Soul Body, gaining soul-repair and soul-inspection abilities.
• Xu Bai told the dean he had found the Old Hag inside Liu Xu, and the dean explained that his junior sister had possessed her while waiting for a chance to take her body.
• Xu Bai proposed letting the Old Hag take over his body so his regenerating soul could wear hers down, and the dean tested his soul with Righteous Qi before agreeing there was hope.
• Xu Bai arranged to confront the Old Hag at the temple the next day and persuaded the dean to give him another travel journal instead of access to the academy’s books.
• Xu Bai spent the rest of the day grinding the Enhanced Strengthening Body Art, then left with Liu Xu for the temple at dawn.

Xu Bai drew the Old Hag out of Liu Xu, used his Undying Soul Body and divine-soul control to kill her, and learned that the Human and Demon Strange Entity Markets were nearing unification. After sending an urgent warning to the Chu Emperor, Xu Bai was ambushed by Chi Muwu, a Transcendent Realm sixth-rank survivor of the Red Wood Tribe, and fled toward Nanhua Dao before turning back as a beautiful Daoist woman appeared behind Chi Muwu.

• Liu Xu led Xu Bai into the wilderness, where the Old Hag transferred her divine soul into him and attacked his mind.
• Xu Bai endured the Old Hag's assaults with his Undying Soul Body, weakened her, took control of her divine soul, learned the Strange Entity Markets planned to unite, and erased her.
• Xu Bai hurried to a Shadow Courier Station and sent an urgent letter to the Chu Emperor reporting the danger posed by the Strange Entity Markets.
• Chi Muwu ambushed Xu Bai near Nanhua Dao and revealed he was a sixth-rank Transcendent Realm survivor of the Red Wood Tribe who intended to kill him.
• Xu Bai fled toward Nanhua Dao, but when Chi Muwu stopped pursuing him, Xu Bai turned back toward the woman in Daoist robes who had appeared behind Chi Muwu.
• The Daoist woman pointed at Chi Muwu's brow and unleashed overwhelming power.

Xu Bai learned that Great Yue Kingdom was spreading Evil Books into Great Chu, then gained new skills by studying the books and left Azure Cloud Academy for Vajra Temple. He arrived to find the temple closed, and its guards told him to return in a month just as a group of unfamiliar monks approached.

• The Female Daoist Abbot killed Chi Muwu, then brought an Evil Book to the Dean and warned that Great Yue Kingdom was circulating such books into Great Chu.
• The Dean confirmed the book was an Evil Book, and Xu Bai took it to study while the Dean agreed to report the threat to the emperor.
• After time passed, Xu Bai completed the books’ progress bars, raising Strengthening Kidney Gathering Art to Transcendent Realm Tier 1 and gaining Yin Yang Coexistence.
• Xu Bai burned the Evil Book, left Azure Cloud Academy in disguise, and traveled toward Vajra Temple with his puppet.
• Xu Bai found Vajra Temple’s gates closed; its monks refused him entry and told him to return in a month, while unfamiliar monks approached from behind.

Xu Bai reached Vajra Temple, learned that the Saint Buddha Remains had begun growing flesh, and reunited with Wu Hua, who had grown his hair and taken A Xiu as his future wife. After Xu Bai silenced hostile monks and headed toward the remains, he discovered that Vajra Temple’s abbot had been chastised for annotating them and was fleeing a group of furious abbots.

• Xu Bai killed the Great Yue Kingdom monks who attacked him, then revealed his identity and learned that the Saint Buddha Remains had begun growing flesh at Vajra Temple.
• Xu Bai met Wu Hua, who explained that he had grown his hair, become a lay disciple, and planned to marry A Xiu after she saved him.
• Xu Bai used his divine soul to confirm A Xiu had concealed nothing and asked Wu Hua to take him to see the Saint Buddha Remains.
• Xu Bai cursed the monks who tried to bar their way, showed the Xu Royal Token, and passed through the hall with Wu Hua.
• Xu Bai heard the temple leaders condemn Vajra Temple’s abbot for writing annotations on the Saint Buddha Remains, then watched the abbot flee as nine monks pursued him.

Xu Bai visited Vajra Temple and discovered two progress bars on the Saint Buddha Skeleton and the abbot’s annotations, while the temple’s abbots hired him to investigate the skeleton. The Vajra Temple abbot revealed that the Saint Buddha may be preparing to resurrect and asked Xu Bai to protect Wu Hua.

• Xu Bai and Wu Hua arrived at Vajra Temple, where the nine other abbots beat Vajra Temple's abbot for covering the Saint Buddha Skeleton in embarrassing annotations.
• Xu Bai saw two progress bars on the Saint Buddha Skeleton and its annotations, agreed to study them for ten days, and accepted nine booklets from the other abbots as payment.
• After the other abbots left, Vajra Temple's abbot told Xu Bai that the annotations were a seal and that the Saint Buddha had built a flaw into Buddhist practice to compel Buddhists to strengthen his skeleton.
• The Vajra Temple abbot revealed his suspicion that the Saint Buddha planned to resurrect and impose Buddhism on everyone under heaven, then asked Xu Bai to protect Wu Hua.

Xu Bai discovered that the Saint Buddha Skeleton’s growing flesh was connected to the Strange Entity Market, and the abbots’ Buddhist methods only accelerated its growth. As Xu Bai resumed grinding through books, Chief Buddha prepared to summon the Saint Buddha’s remnant soul using the lives of his followers.

• Xu Bai completed the Exemption Suppression Scripture and Demon Absorption Skill, fusing them into the Vajra Saint Demon Exemption Suppression Body and Myriad Aspects Heavenly Attraction Art.
• Xu Bai found a blood-red thread extending from the flesh on the Saint Buddha Skeleton’s little finger into the sky and saw a phantom whose aura revealed a connection to the Strange Entity Market.
• Xu Bai told the Vajra Temple Abbot what he had discovered, and the abbots gathered to cleanse the skeleton, but their Buddhist light made its flesh grow faster.
• Xu Bai urged the abbots to request experts from the Capital City and use a fake skeleton to conceal the danger while suspending further study of the real one.
• Chief Buddha learned that the abbots had discovered the skeleton’s secret, killed several hundred followers to gather their souls, and set out for Vajra Temple disguised in white robes.

Chief Buddha used Wu Hua to awaken the Saint Buddha’s remnant soul, and the Saint Buddha Skeleton began transferring its power and bones into him. The monks struggled to resist as the skeleton grew flesh, until an unexpected voice announced it was time to act.

• Chief Buddha discovered that the displayed Saint Buddha Skeleton was fake, then watched for a chance to find the real one.
• Xu Bai’s feng shui compass warned him of danger, but the abbot of Vajra Temple immobilized him and sent A Xiu away with him to protect him.
• Chief Buddha captured Wu Hua and brought him before the genuine Saint Buddha Skeleton, while the abbots revealed they planned to use Wu Hua to sever the Saint Buddha’s connection.
• The Saint Buddha Skeleton revived, sealed Vajra Temple, and began transferring its bones into Wu Hua as the monks fought it through the Black Lotus.
• As the skeleton slowly grew flesh and the monks lost hope, an unidentified voice said it was time for its turn to show off.

Xu Bai returned to Vajra Temple, gathered the Buddhists’ chaos, and defeated the revived Saint Buddha. After learning the names of ancient figures who had left revival contingencies, he joined the monks to check on the unconscious Wu Hua and prepared to discuss practical matters with them.

• Xu Bai returned to the courtyard and told the ten abbots to give their chaos to him so he could fight the Saint Buddha Skeleton.
• The Saint Buddha revived, forced the Buddhists to kneel, and attacked Xu Bai, who used chaos and Yin Yang Coexistence to destroy the Buddha’s Heavenly Change and defeat him.
• Xu Bai tricked the defeated Saint Buddha into revealing the names of ancient figures who had left plans for revival, then left him to the Buddhists, who killed him.
• Xu Bai found Wu Hua unconscious with the Black Lotus above him, and the Vajra Temple abbot said Wu Hua was safe and had gained a great benefit.
• The Buddhists bowed to Xu Bai as their benefactor, and he agreed to discuss practical matters with them.

After the Saint Buddha's death erased the Buddhist inheritances, Xu Bai discovered that Wu Hua's Black Lotus could create a new progress bar and spent nearly half a month studying it. He gained and fused three techniques into the Extraordinary-tier Undying Demon Soul Buddha Body, then prepared to test its defense and was startled by the transformation it caused.

• Xu Bai learned that the Saint Buddha's death had ended the Buddhist inheritances, while Wu Hua's Black Lotus could open a new path for Buddhists.
• Xu Bai noticed a progress bar on the Black Lotus only while Wu Hua held it and persuaded Wu Hua to discuss the Dharma with him while keeping the lotus in hand.
• The storytellers spread tales of Xu Bai's victory over the Saint Buddha, while Eunuch Wei and Knife Ghost continued eliminating targets and Knife Ghost entrusted his saber manual to Eunuch Wei for Xu Bai.
• After nearly half a month of studying the Black Lotus, Xu Bai gained Demon Buddha True Body, which fused with his Vajra Saint Demon Exemption Suppression Body and Undying Soul Body into the Undying Demon Soul Buddha Body.
• Xu Bai found that the new Extraordinary-tier skill drained True Yuan Power rapidly, then activated it to test its defense and reacted with alarm at the resulting transformation.

Xu Bai completed his new Undying Demon Soul Buddha Body and left Vajra Temple for the Border Pass, where fighting between Great Chu Kingdom and Great Yue Kingdom had escalated. He rescued the First Prince’s cavalry from Yang Chen and revealed his overwhelming defense, and the First Prince recognized him as Prince Xu.

• Xu Bai discovered that golden and grayish-white patterns covered his body and tested the Undying Demon Soul Buddha Body by striking his own chest without hurting himself.
• Xu Bai left Vajra Temple after learning that Chu Yu’s capture and killing of Great Yue Kingdom’s Ninth Prince had intensified the Border Pass conflict.
• At a Shadow Courier Station, Xu Bai saw Great Chu Kingdom cavalry flee from Yang Chen and decided to intervene on Rising Dusk King’s side.
• Yang Chen attacked the First Prince and his remaining cavalry, but Xu Bai blocked his giant palm and killed him despite Yang Chen’s strike failing to hurt him.
• Chu Mingyue dismounted, bowed to Xu Bai, and greeted him as Prince Xu.

Xu Bai reached the Border Pass, rescued the First Prince, and met with Rising Dusk King before reuniting with Chu Yu. After Chu Yu returned from battle and warned the camp about a Transcendent Realm aberration, she found Xu Bai and caught up with him, but a commotion outside interrupted them.

• Xu Bai rescued the First Prince from an ambush and accompanied him to Rising Dusk King's military camp.
• The First Prince reported the ambush to Rising Dusk King, who sent him to handle the casualties and prepare a response against Great Yue Kingdom.
• Chu Yu led her unit back from a successful raid, discovered a Transcendent Realm aberration, and alerted the military camp so experts could destroy it.
• Chu Yu learned Xu Bai had arrived and hurried to his tent instead of first reporting to Rising Dusk King.
• Chu Yu showed Xu Bai her notes and told him about life at the Border Pass, and they agreed to share food and wine before a commotion sounded outside.

Xu Bai uncovered the Rising Dusk King’s plan to expose Great Yue Kingdom’s spies and learned that a secret emergency called the Ruins had prompted him to act quickly. Eunuch Wei gave Xu Bai the Ghost Knife Three Styles manual, and the chapter ended with Xu Bai asking what the Ruins were.

• The Rising Dusk King ordered the army to prepare for war after Great Yue Kingdom ambushed Wang Zhou’s troops, but Xu Bai persuaded Chu Yu that the king was likely staging the threat to draw out spies.
• Xu Bai noticed a concealed figure leaving camp and followed it to Wang Zhou, who exposed a Great Yue Kingdom Dark Building agent; the agent poisoned himself and died.
• Xu Bai went to the Rising Dusk King’s tent, where he found Eunuch Wei and received the Ghost Knife Three Styles manual as a gift.
• Eunuch Wei warned the Rising Dusk King that using a false military order to expose moles risked undermining the army’s trust, and the king explained that he had no time to remove them slowly.
• The Rising Dusk King revealed that the Ruins were the reason he had to act quickly, and Xu Bai asked Eunuch Wei and the king to explain what they were.

Xu Bai learned that the Ruins held ancient treasures and dangerous Thought Gods, then fused two saber techniques into the powerful Blade Sword Three Absolutes. As he joined Rising Dusk King’s forces at Third Watch River, the three factions faced off over the Ruins, and Bai Zhong rejected Rising Dusk King’s provocation to discuss them instead.

• Rising Dusk King and Eunuch Wei explained that the Ruins came from the era of Ten Thousand Kingdoms, held Thought Gods and valuable manuals, and were tied to the struggle between the human world and the Ghost Market for resources.
• Xu Bai chose to enter the Ruins when they opened, while Eunuch Wei departed to continue clearing old relics threatening Great Chu Kingdom.
• After nearly half a month of grinding, Xu Bai filled the Ghost Knife Three Styles progress bar and fused it with Swordless Saber Grand Technique to create the Transcendent Rank Nine Blade Sword Three Absolutes.
• A messenger reported that the barbarian deputy leader and Great Yue Kingdom’s war god had brought over ten thousand troops to Third Watch River, so Rising Dusk King gathered his army and brought Xu Bai along.
• Rising Dusk King used the Military Formation Method to rush his troops to Third Watch River, where they faced the forces of Great Yue Kingdom and the barbarians.
• Rising Dusk King identified Bai Zhong and Gu Mu Yin, taunted them, and challenged them to fight; Bai Zhong refused to take the bait and called for discussion of the Ruins.

The Rising Dusk King arranged for Xu Bai to enter the Ruins in disguise after the other factions barred him from entering as himself. Xu Bai learned about the Thought Gods and acquired a mysterious God-Invoking cultivation book; the next morning, he joined the army at the Third Watch River as the Ruins began to appear.

• The Rising Dusk King, Bai Zhong, and Gu Mu Yin agreed to send troops into the Ruins together, but Bai Zhong and Gu Mu Yin insisted that Xu Bai could not enter.
• The Rising Dusk King revealed a plan to have Chu Yu impersonate Xu Bai while Xu Bai disguised himself as Chu Yu, and the Thousand Faces Female Thief supplied masks to complete the disguises.
• The Rising Dusk King explained the danger of Thought Gods and told Xu Bai he could pursue his own opportunities inside without protecting the accompanying soldiers.
• Xu Bai asked for a stronger cultivation method, and the Rising Dusk King gave him a rare God-Invoking book while warning him not to cultivate it.
• Xu Bai spent the night studying the book’s progress bar, then went with the Rising Dusk King’s army to the Third Watch River in Chu Yu’s appearance.
• Xu Bai joined the other factions at the Third Watch River, where an anomaly began to appear after they waited.

Xu Bai entered the Ruins above Third Watch River, revealed himself after Great Yue Kingdom and the barbarians tried to kill him, and annihilated their forces with a new move. He separated from Lou Ming’s troops and explored a mountain temple, where he discovered signs of something sinister and confronted the old Taoist over a bone in the dinner meat.

• Xu Bai entered the Ruins with the three factions and arrived before a mountain as Great Chu Kingdom, Great Yue Kingdom, and the barbarians claimed separate boundaries.
• A General from Great Yue Kingdom urged the barbarians to join him in killing Great Chu Kingdom’s soldiers, but Xu Bai removed his mask and revealed his identity.
• Xu Bai unleashed Blade Sword Three Absolutes—Slaying Man and turned every soldier and General from Great Yue Kingdom and the barbarians to ashes.
• Lou Ming declined to travel with Xu Bai, so Xu Bai headed up the mountain while Lou Ming led the Great Chu Kingdom soldiers elsewhere.
• Xu Bai found a Daoist temple, noticed its broken statue seemed to look at him, and accepted the old Taoist’s invitation to stay for the night.
• At dinner, Xu Bai found a long black hair and a bone in the food, then asked the old Taoist whether the bone came from a pig’s tail or a human finger.

Xu Bai killed the cannibal daoist and the Thought God hidden in the temple’s statue, then followed Trevally to his home in the mountain. After discovering that night never ended, Xu Bai watched Trevally eat a live fish and prepare to cut flesh from himself to feed his spirit fish.

• The daoist revealed that he served human flesh to Xu Bai, transformed into a monster, and attacked him; Xu Bai killed him with a blade strike.
• Xu Bai destroyed the temple hall and confronted the Thought God inside its statue, a wounded, stitched young girl, then killed her with his blade technique.
• Xu Bai continued up the mountain and met the obese Trevally, who offered him a place to stay and said he would guide him out in the morning.
• At Trevally’s house, Xu Bai’s divination warned of great misfortune, and he realized that the moon had not moved and dawn would not come.
• Xu Bai watched Trevally eat a live fish and complain that the mountain’s graveyards were dwindling, then saw him take a sharpened rib bone and cut into his own flesh to feed the spirit fish.

Xu Bai killed Trevally and the Spirit Fish Thought God, then encountered a Corpse Collector and found a book with a progress bar. At a lone grave, he uncovered a letter that seemed to predict his arrival, but he realized the grave’s occupant had been manipulating his divine soul, and the candles went out around him.

• Trevally offered Xu Bai half his Spirit Fish in exchange for his bones, then attacked when Xu Bai refused; Xu Bai killed him and the Spirit Fish Thought God.
• A white-robed Paper Figure Maker and Corpse Collector thanked Xu Bai for releasing Trevally, then left with his paper figures.
• Xu Bai found a book with a progress bar and continued up the mountain until he reached a candle-lined path and a lone grave.
• Xu Bai opened the grave and read a letter from the Shi Kingdom Princess, which described a future man in armor and a Daoist robe who matched Xu Bai.
• Xu Bai realized the princess was alive and had been influencing his divine soul through the Candlelight Formation; the candles went out and an eerie wind rose behind him.

Xu Bai defeated and killed the Shi Kingdom Princess before she became a Thought God, then continued up Three Lives Mountain with the Corpse Collector. After learning that madness and the mountain’s limits were tied to survival methods, Xu Bai realized the madman they had discussed might already be a Thought God.

• The Shi Kingdom Princess used soul control to make Xu Bai believe they were marrying, but Xu Bai shattered and restored his own soul to break her technique.
• Xu Bai killed the Shi Kingdom Princess when she tried to flee, then searched her graveyard and found no progress bar.
• The Corpse Collector arrived to look for bodies, warned Xu Bai that the mountain grew more dangerous higher up, and said he would not ask Xu Bai to provide corpses.
• Xu Bai encountered the Corpse Collector again farther up the mountain and agreed to accompany him while he cremated a group of bodies.
• The Corpse Collector explained that the mountain's inhabitants sought resources to survive and that reaching one's limit could corrupt the mind and cause madness.
• Xu Bai suspected the earlier madman was a Thought God, while the Corpse Collector departed and a streak of madness spread through his shadow.

Xu Bai explored the abandoned Three Lives Mountain, mastered the Deity Summoning Heart Sutra and Mountain Sect Deity Summoning Method, and met Gao Guan again among the dead. After Gao Guan left to fight a lucid madman, Xu Bai found that the madman had killed and eaten him, and prepared to take revenge.

• Xu Bai searched the empty mountain houses while grinding the Deity Summoning Heart Sutra, then mastered it and the Mountain Sect Deity Summoning Method, which fused with his Myriad Aspects Heavenly Attraction Art.
• At the summit, Xu Bai found Gao Guan mourning a group of people who had died together to avoid going mad, and learned that Gao Guan planned to eliminate another madman before his own mind failed.
• Gao Guan gave Xu Bai his Corpse Collector inheritance to pass on, then left to fight the madman, saying he would die even if he won.
• Xu Bai found a stele naming the mountain Three Lives Mountain and pointing toward a trove of secret manuals, but a sinister wind warned him that the clue was more than treasure.
• The white-haired madman appeared carrying Gao Guan's severed head and confessed that he had killed and eaten him, so Xu Bai gathered his power and vowed to avenge Gao Guan.