Chapter Summaries

Xu Bai summoned Liu Qingfeng with the Mountain Sect Deity Summoning Method, and Liu Qingfeng killed the white-haired old man before following Xu Bai and absorbing his soul. Xu Bai was expelled from the Ruins before he could reach the books beneath Three Lives Mountain, then returned to the Rising Dusk King, who warned him not to get too close to Liu Qingfeng.

• Xu Bai endured the white-haired old man's attacks and summoned Liu Qingfeng, who destroyed the old man and flattened Three Lives Mountain.
• Liu Qingfeng followed Xu Bai, copied his movements, and repeatedly absorbed his divine soul without letting him die.
• Xu Bai uncovered a cave and chest containing dozens of books, but the Ruins expelled him just before he could reach them.
• Xu Bai and half of the Rising Dusk Army returned to Third Watch River, where Liu Qingfeng fled after sensing powerful figures nearby.
• Bai Zhong and Gu Mu Yin questioned Xu Bai about their missing forces, but the Rising Dusk King confronted them and they withdrew.
• The Rising Dusk King met Xu Bai in his Camp Tent and warned him that Liu Qingfeng's loss of his divine soul was not as simple as martial rumors claimed.

Xu Bai learned that Liu Qingfeng destroyed his divine soul to enter the Ghost Market, then decided to travel in disguise to the Great Yue Kingdom in search of Three Lives Mountain. After crossing the Border Pass with a merchant convoy, he stopped at a ruined courtyard, where he noticed Zhong Ruqin enter the largest room.

• Rising Dusk King explained that Liu Qingfeng entered the Ghost Market seeking a way to restore his divine soul, and warned Xu Bai that prolonged contact with him could be dangerous.
• Rising Dusk King identified the Great Yue Kingdom as the likeliest place to find Three Lives Mountain, and Xu Bai decided to go there despite the risks.
• Xu Bai borrowed the human-skin mask, took on the identity of a traveling merchant, and secretly left for the Great Yue Kingdom.
• Xu Bai passed the Border Pass inspection and joined a group of merchants traveling along the official route, where Qian Lai repeatedly tried to learn about his business.
• The convoy stopped at a ruined courtyard for the night, and Xu Bai watched Zhong Ruqin enter the largest room while he read a book from the Ruins.

Xu Bai discovered that Zhong Ruqin was a Pleasure Seeker who used shadow marks to rob merchants, then controlled her and made her kill herself in Fallen Phoenix City. After learning of her death, the Dark Building began investigating, while Xu Bai spotted its operatives gathering across the street.

• Zhong Ruqin used a headless statue to strengthen her Pleasure Seeker abilities and marked a sleeping merchant with her shadow.
• Zhong Ruqin carried Xu Bai to her room, but he resisted her compulsion, controlled her, and learned about her robberies and the Shadow Operative Plan.
• Xu Bai traveled with the caravan into the Great Yue Kingdom and reached Fallen Phoenix City, where he changed his appearance and checked into an inn.
• Xu Bai controlled Zhong Ruqin into stabbing herself and left a written confession beside her body.
• The shopkeeper of the Dark Building's Fallen Phoenix City branch learned that operative Number 2,950 had died and ordered his associates to investigate.
• That night, Xu Bai saw several people standing on a rooftop across the street, including a middle-aged Transcendent Realm man.

Xu Bai infiltrated the Dark Building in Fallen Phoenix City by killing Si Zhong and impersonating him, then searched its records for Three Lives Mountain. When the information proved to be restricted to Grade A, Ying Yue appeared, offered to help him find it, and heard Xu Bai propose a deal.

• Si Zhong identified Xu Bai as the man who had killed Zhong Ruqin and ordered his subordinates to capture him, but Xu Bai fled and lured Si Zhong into the wilderness.
• Xu Bai killed Si Zhong, took his appearance and clothes, and convinced the four pursuing Dark Building members that Si Zhong had been injured and escaped.
• Xu Bai controlled the Dark Building members and followed them to their foothold beneath an apothecary, where they searched the Grade B records for Three Lives Mountain but found nothing.
• Yun Liu explained that Three Lives Mountain's information had likely been erased or restricted to Grade A records, which required Transcendent rank, help from someone with authority, or Grade A merit to access.
• Ying Yue appeared in the underground library and offered to show Xu Bai where the Grade A records were if he helped her; Xu Bai asked whether she wanted to make a deal.

Xu Bai partnered with Ying Yue and the Shadow Building to infiltrate the Dark Building and obtain Grade A information, while Chief Mu revealed that the Chu Emperor’s plan relied on Xu Bai destabilizing Great Yue. Ying Yue later stayed with Xu Bai and asked about Prince Xu, unaware she was asking him about himself.

• Ying Yue offered Xu Bai a deal: the Shadow Building would help him access Grade A information if he investigated something for them after gaining entry to the Dark Building.
• Ying Yue explained that the Shadow Building had split from the Dark Building after Chief Mu engineered its downfall, and she agreed to help Xu Bai pass a soul investigation during his infiltration.
• In the Capital City, Chief Mu told the Chu Emperor that Xu Bai could help destroy the Dark Building and Shadow Building, leaving Great Yue vulnerable while Chu dealt with the Barbarian Tribe.
• Chief Mu admitted he had glimpsed a terrifying future beyond resource exhaustion, and Eunuch Wei confronted him for putting Ying Yue and Xu Bai at risk before leaving the Star Plucking Tower.
• Ying Yue stayed with Xu Bai while he ground the progress bar, then traded him a Dream Talisman for information about Prince Xu.
• Xu Bai began describing himself to Ying Yue as an incomparably handsome young man.

Xu Bai fused the Mountain Sect and Sea Sect Deity Summoning methods into a powerful new skill while waiting for Ying Yue to arrange a deathsworn and first-grade intelligence. After the deathsworn arrived and Xu Bai reported his capture to the Dark Building, an unexpected visitor appeared at the coffin shop.

• Xu Bai completed his study of Trevally’s mysterious book, fused its skills with his own, and gained the Mountain Sea Deity Summoning Method and the Eighth Rank of the Transcendent Mortal Realm.
• Xu Bai agreed to pass down the Corpse Collector profession by giving Gao Guan’s human skin to the emperor of the Great Chu Kingdom after he learned its contents.
• Xu Bai pressed Ying Yue for a deadline, and she admitted she had delayed the arrangement to avoid suspicion before confirming that the deathsworn would arrive the next day.
• In the Great Chu Kingdom’s capital, Eunuch Wei secured Chief Mu’s promise to keep Xu Bai safe, while Qin Feng reported that the Ancient Moon Sword Sect had delivered the item to Ying Yue at great cost.
• In Fallen Phoenix City, Xu Bai received a mutilated deathsworn and intelligence from two branches, then reported the capture at a Dark Building communications shop disguised as a coffin shop.
• As Xu Bai waited for an official to verify his achievement, a voluptuous figure entered the concealed room and nearly startled him into revealing himself.

Xu Bai learned that the Female Daoist Abbot’s two consciousnesses were merging and received a life-saving pouch from Chief Mu before returning to grind the human-skin progress bar. After Ying Yue revealed the atrocities committed by Great Yue soldiers, Xu Bai began considering a response, while the chapter ended with General Zhu Shan preparing to torment captive women at a bonfire.

• The Female Daoist Abbot found Xu Bai through the connection created by his ability and told him her consciousnesses were merging, then delivered a pouch from Chief Mu that Xu Bai was warned to open only in a life-threatening crisis.
• Xu Bai learned that he might soon be promoted and sent to the Capital City, then returned to the apothecary to work on the Corpse Collector’s human-skin progress bar.
• Ying Yue hid in Xu Bai’s shadow while soldiers searched for her, and she later told Xu Bai she had attacked them after they abused Great Chu women.
• Xu Bai saw soldiers carrying the dead women through the streets, asked Ying Yue about the local forces, and sent her away without explaining what he planned to do.
• The Female Daoist Abbot told Ying Yue that her mission had nine chances of death and one of life, warned her not to test Xu Bai, and refused to reveal his identity.
• At the military camp, Zhu Shan gathered his soldiers around a bonfire with captive women and ordered someone to bring something out.

Xu Bai rescued the captured women from Zhu Shan’s soldiers and discovered that Ying Yue was a Bureau of Surveillance hidden agent whose meeting with him had been arranged by Chief Mu. The chapter ended with Xu Bai asking Ying Yue what intelligence Chief Mu had promised him, while Chief Mu’s plan left Ying Yue and Mu Yingnian risking their lives for Great Chu.

• Xu Bai approached the camp intending to kill its soldiers, but watched as Ying Yue used her shadow powers to reach the women and was driven off by Zhu Shan’s light-producing gemstone.
• After Zhu Shan’s remaining soldiers threatened the women, Xu Bai killed them and confronted Ying Yue, who admitted that she had staged the rescue attempt to draw him out.
• Ying Yue revealed that she was a Bureau of Surveillance hidden agent and Chief Mu’s daughter; Xu Bai confirmed her claims with soul control, then helped her evacuate the women.
• Zhu Shan returned to find the camp empty and vowed to capture the Shadow Controller in Fallen Phoenix City.
• In the capital, Chief Mu explained to Mu Yingnian that Ying Yue’s compassion had given her a chance to survive his plan, while Day was dead and only Year and Month remained.
• At an herbal medicine shop, Xu Bai asked Ying Yue what intelligence had made her and Chief Mu place such importance on him obtaining it.

Ying Yue explained Chief Mu’s qi-fortune plan and why Eunuch Wei had killed two Entering Sainthood experts, while Xu Bai learned that the Great Yue Kingdom’s treasured sword was key to the plan. When a disguised member of the Empty Sky Sect stole the intelligence file, Ying Yue warned Xu Bai not to pursue them, and she later returned to his door as he was feverish.

• Xu Bai pressured Ying Yue into explaining that Chief Mu had secretly grown qi fortune in the Great Yue Kingdom, tied to the Dark Shadow Building and concealed by a treasured sword called the Twin Swords.
• Ying Yue told Xu Bai that the Great Yue Kingdom held one Twin Sword while she held the other, and listed the nine remaining Entering Sainthood experts; she said Eunuch Wei had killed the two who died.
• Xu Bai learned that Eunuch Wei could trade his life to kill an Entering Sainthood Ninth Grade expert, then wondered whether Chief Mu had somehow accounted for Xu Bai’s accidental arrival.
• Lu You arrived to inspect Xu Bai’s merits, took the intelligence file, and claimed the court required more verification, but a disguised impostor soon appeared and revealed that the file had been stolen.
• Ying Yue stopped Xu Bai from pursuing the thief and explained that the Empty Sky Sect could imitate another person’s appearance and abilities; she promised to prepare another intelligence file.
• Xu Bai resumed grinding his progress bar, and after he sensed Ying Yue outside his door, he realized he had a fever again.

Xu Bai learned the Empty Sky Sect’s Thousand Wonders Myriad Faces Art and set out for the Great Yue capital disguised as Lu You to obtain Grade A intelligence. After killing a Transcendent Realm man at Lu You’s old flame’s house, Xu Bai revealed his identity to Ying Yue.

• An Empty Sky Sect disciple named Cheng Yu impersonated Ying Yue, proved she had been sent by Jade Face Abbot, and gave Xu Bai a manual of the Thousand Wonders Myriad Faces Art.
• Xu Bai mastered the art, which let him imitate others’ appearances and abilities, and combined it with the human-skin mask to prepare a safer disguise.
• Ying Yue found that Lu You was a suitable target, and Xu Bai left for the capital with her hidden in his shadow.
• Xu Bai and Ying Yue reached the house of Lu You’s old flame and found her with another man, who attacked Xu Bai when he entered.
• Xu Bai killed the Transcendent Realm attacker within three breaths, and Ying Yue recognized him as Xu Bai.

Xu Bai and Ying Yue uncovered records linking Three Lives Mountain, Ying Yue’s Twin Swords, and Chief Mu’s hidden luck, then set out for the guarded mountain. As Xu Bai searched for a way past the Dark Building scouts, Ying Yue offered to help but got angry when he repeatedly interrupted her.

• Ying Yue excitedly touched Xu Bai and asked to see his face, and he revealed his true appearance before the two waited for Lu You.
• Xu Bai and Ying Yue lured Lu You into a trap and killed him, then Xu Bai decided to infiltrate the Shadow Building headquarters the next day.
• Disguised as Lu You, Xu Bai searched the headquarters’ Jia-grade records and learned that the Twin Swords had been placed inside Three Lives Mountain to suppress unusual luck connected to the Dark Shadow Building’s split.
• Xu Bai told Ying Yue what he had found, learned that Three Lives Mountain was also where Chief Mu had hidden the luck, and agreed to accompany her there.
• Xu Bai and Ying Yue reached the area near Three Lives Mountain, where Xu Bai stopped short of the guarded perimeter and struggled to locate a scout to impersonate.
• Ying Yue said she had a way past the scouts, but Xu Bai interrupted her until she withdrew into his shadow and demanded that he coax her first.

Xu Bai and Ying Yue infiltrated Three Lives Mountain, where Xu Bai discovered Great Yue Kingdom’s spies were abusing captured women and learned Ying Yue was concealing something before she left. As Xu Bai began taking control of the cave’s occupants to reach the underground, an Extraordinary Realm elder confronted him, and Xu Bai incapacitated him with Overturning Earth.

• Xu Bai coaxed Ying Yue out of the shadows, and she explained that they would enter Three Lives Mountain at night through her shadow.
• Xu Bai and Ying Yue captured a spy, and Xu Bai disguised himself and followed a shift change into the mountain’s cave.
• Xu Bai found captured Great Chu Kingdom women being tortured, controlled a woman to cover his presence, and watched Ying Yue embrace him before vanishing.
• Xu Bai controlled the cave’s overseer and the people in its rooms so he could dig toward the underground, but an Extraordinary Realm elder discovered him.
• Xu Bai struck the elder with Overturning Earth, destroying most of his divine soul, then approached to take control of him.

Xu Bai used Sun Yun’s identity and a growing network of controlled spies to dig beneath the Great Yue Kingdom, then became trapped with Ying Yue in a sealed space tied to her mission. After nearly half a year, he finished grinding through the books Ying Yue had hidden, while the danger of the Great Yue Prime Minister’s arrival remained unresolved.

• Xu Bai defeated the divine-soul specialist Sun Yun, learned about the guarded site, and used Sun Yun’s identity to expand his control over the spies and dig a deep pit.
• Xu Bai comprehended the Corpse Control Method from the human skin, then used it to replace the dead spies with corpses that could keep working after he left.
• After the pit reached a hidden space, Xu Bai found Ying Yue there and learned that her use of the Twin Sword and a supreme treasure had sealed and shifted the area while she drew upon buried fortune.
• Ying Yue explained that the Great Yue Prime Minister might come when the fortune collapsed, and Xu Bai suspected Chief Mu had arranged the many coincidences that brought him there.
• Ying Yue revealed more than twenty books Chief Mu had given her, and Xu Bai found progress bars on them and began grinding through them during their confinement.
• Nearly half a year passed, and Xu Bai finished grinding through the books as their stay in the sealed space neared its end.

Xu Bai maxed out his skills and fled with Ying Yue when Great Yue Kingdom’s fortune collapsed, but the White-Robed Prime Minister Liu Yue caught up and overwhelmed him. As Liu Yue reached to capture Xu Bai, Xu Bai remembered one last move that might turn the situation around.

• Xu Bai completed his progress bars, reached Extraordinary First Rank, and discovered that his Heavenly Change could drive weaker people into madness.
• Xu Bai and Ying Yue planned to flee when the fortune turned chaotic, and Xu Bai decided to summon Liu Qingfeng to buy them time.
• The fortune collapsed across Great Yue Kingdom, and Liu Yue used a jade locator to pursue Xu Bai after learning that the Dark Building was in crisis.
• Xu Bai opened the brocade sachet, whose supreme treasure briefly trapped Liu Yue, and escaped with Ying Yue in her black orb while Liu Qingfeng was struck and hurled away.
• Liu Yue broke free, caught up with Xu Bai, and nullified his Overturning Heaven attack; as he reached to capture Xu Bai alive, Xu Bai remembered one final move.

Xu Bai escaped Liu Yue by provoking the power behind his golden finger, then returned to the Capital City and confronted Chief Mu about the strange coincidences surrounding his journey. Chief Mu began to explain, while Ying Yue went to restore her records at Star Plucking Tower.

• Xu Bai convinced Liu Yue to take him to the Ghost Market entrance, then urged Liu Yue to destroy his soul so he could enter safely.
• Xu Bai's golden and grayish-white eyes awakened, terrifying Liu Yue and eroding his body and soul until he fled.
• Xu Bai recovered and flew back to Great Chu Kingdom, carrying Ying Yue in her black sphere form.
• Xu Bai met Eunuch Wei and asked him to accompany him to Star Plucking Tower to question Chief Mu.
• Eunuch Wei seized Chief Mu and demanded an explanation for Liu Yue's attack, while Chief Mu said he had used a one-use supreme treasure to keep Xu Bai safe.
• Chief Mu gave Ying Yue a waist token to restore her records, then told Xu Bai he knew he wanted to ask why everything had been so coincidental.

Chief Mu explained that he had lent Xu Bai his personal fortune, which had drawn Xu Bai into events connected to Three Lives Mountain, and compensated him with an Entering Sainthood blade named Evil Eye. Back in the Imperial Palace, Xu Bai reunited with Ye Zi and took her away for a day together.

• Chief Mu revealed that he had watched Xu Bai since his journey to Upper Capital, lent him fortune to protect him, and nearly died trying to see Xu Bai's past.
• Xu Bai demanded compensation for Chief Mu's schemes, and Eunuch Wei helped him obtain Chief Mu's treasured Entering Sainthood blade.
• Xu Bai named the chaotic, eye-bearing blade Evil Eye, and Chief Mu angrily drove Xu Bai and Eunuch Wei from Star Plucking Tower.
• A young eunuch summoned Eunuch Wei to the Emperor, while Xu Bai went to the Imperial Treasury to see Ye Zi.
• Ye Zi rushed to Xu Bai, and the Heavenly Sound Master granted her a day off before Xu Bai carried her away.

Eunuch Wei agreed to sacrifice himself to help Great Chu win its coming war against Great Yue and asked the Chu Emperor to protect Xu Bai. Xu Bai reunited with Ye Zi, learned war was near, and received a protective treasure from Eunuch Wei before Ying Yue arrived with grave news.

• The Chu Emperor told his ministers that Great Yue was in chaos, and they agreed to attack the Barbarian Tribe in half a month.
• Eunuch Wei accepted a mission to trade his life for the Great Yue Emperor and secured the Chu Emperor's promise to protect Xu Bai.
• Xu Bai woke beside Ye Zi, learned she had reached the Transcendent Realm, and visited the Ninth Princess, who revealed her plans to claim a distant fief after the war.
• Xu Bai drank with Eunuch Wei, who confirmed war was coming and gave him a bead that could block a strike from an Extraordinary Rank 9 expert.
• Ying Yue appeared outside Xu Bai's residence and leaned close to tell him something, leaving him sensing that trouble was coming.

Xu Bai agreed to enter the Demon-Strange Entity Market to retrieve the Demon Heart that could save Eunuch Wei, receiving several protections from Chief Mu and the Chu Emperor. The next morning, Chief Mu guided Xu Bai to a hidden array, and Xu Bai vanished into the market with only half a month to complete his mission.

• Ying Yue told Xu Bai that Eunuch Wei would die on a mission to the Great Yue Kingdom and that Chief Mu had summoned him to Star Plucking Tower.
• Chief Mu explained the Chu Emperor’s plan to conquer the Great Yue Kingdom and proposed that Xu Bai enter the Demon-Strange Entity Market to retrieve the Demon Heart needed to perfect Evil Eye Saber.
• Xu Bai accepted the dangerous mission, and Chief Mu gave him an Entering Sainthood Third Grade token and the Great Chu Kingdom’s fortune to protect him.
• The Chu Emperor confronted Chief Mu for giving away the kingdom’s fortune, then allowed the plan to proceed and gave Xu Bai a jade pendant that could trap an Entering Sainthood Ninth Grade expert.
• The next morning, Chief Mu led Xu Bai to a hidden array beneath the Imperial Palace and warned him that he had half a month to return.
• Xu Bai stood at the array’s center, and its light transported him into the Demon-Strange Entity Market.

Xu Bai entered the Demon-Strange Entity Market to find the Demon Heart, fought his way through a powerful guardian, and tracked the heart to a City Lord’s Mansion. There, he discovered it was being used to stabilize the City Lord’s newborn daughter, whose face left him stunned.

• Xu Bai reached the Demon-Strange Entity Market and used Evil Eye to sense the direction of the Demon Heart.
• Xu Bai destroyed a small temple, drew out a towering demon-strange entity, and killed it with Overturning Heaven before continuing toward the heart.
• Xu Bai reached an ancient city and learned that the City Lord’s newborn daughter was gravely ill and depended on a Demon Heart to stay stable.
• Xu Bai disguised himself as a healer, entered the City Lord’s Mansion, and examined the infant while looking for a chance to take the heart and the City Lord’s token.
• Xu Bai saw the infant’s face and froze because she looked remarkably like someone he knew.

Xu Bai learned that Chief Sun’s daughter had a demon-strange entity body and a human divine soul, and he negotiated for the token and took her out of the Demon-Strange Entity Market with Liu Qingfeng. Once outside, Xu Bai realized Chief Sun had arranged the escape to get her daughter out, and the baby girl opened her eyes in a plea for help.

• Xu Bai recognized that the baby girl resembled Liu Qingfeng, and Chief Sun revealed that she had conceived before dying and given birth after Liu Qingfeng appeared in the market.
• Chief Sun tried to keep Xu Bai under watch, but Xu Bai summoned Liu Qingfeng and used the baby girl’s fate as leverage to obtain her token.
• Chief Sun explained that the girl’s human divine soul was being eroded in the Demon-Strange Entity Market and that she could be saved only by leaving it.
• Xu Bai, Liu Qingfeng, and the baby girl used the token to leave the market, while Chief Sun watched them go with relief.
• Chief Mu restrained Liu Qingfeng in the underground space, and Xu Bai realized Chief Sun had deliberately arranged for her daughter to be taken out.
• The baby girl opened her eyes and pleaded with Xu Bai.