Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Zhang Zhi transforms into a fast, heavily armored Demon, with a headless, many-limbed body emerging from his back. Chen Xuan recognizes it as similar to creatures he encountered before, but realizes he lacks the Heavenly Thunder Command needed for his usual anti-Demon technique.
• Unable to escape without abandoning the others, Chen Xuan uses slowed perception and his qi swords to pin the Demon briefly and shove Marlena and Mo Shuyun out of its path. He orders the noncombatants, including Grand Historian Hong Li, to flee.
• Mo Shuyun attacks with a powerful sonic blast. It hurts the Demon and draws its attention, but the confined space also injures Mo Shuyun through the sound’s echoes.
• Chen Xuan realizes the Demon’s open mouth offers a way to attack its vulnerable insides. He coordinates with Mo Shuyun, then throws him toward the creature while using qi swords to hold its jaws open.
• Mo Shuyun lands inside the Demon’s body and unleashes a powerful low-frequency hum. Its organs and flesh rupture, filling the creature with blood and foul fluids.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan shows quick judgment and responsibility: despite lacking his ideal weapon and being able to retreat, he stays to protect the group. He adapts his tactics and risks Mo Shuyun’s safety to exploit the Demon’s weakness.
• Mo Shuyun shifts from confident bravado to being injured by his own attack, but ultimately follows Chen Xuan’s risky plan and delivers the decisive blow.
• Marlena acknowledges her momentary lapse, uses an Invisibility Talisman to support the fight, and is freed from the Demon by Chen Xuan’s swords. Invisibility proves ineffective against it.
• Hong Li and the other noncombatants recover from their terror and flee when Chen Xuan tells them to evacuate.

Significant themes

• Resourcefulness under pressure: Chen Xuan compensates for missing equipment by observing the enemy and improvising.
• Leadership and sacrifice: He prioritizes the group’s survival and accepts danger rather than abandoning the others.
• Cooperation and trust: Chen Xuan’s unconventional plan depends on Mo Shuyun trusting his instructions, even when they seem absurd.
• Power through knowledge: Understanding the Demon’s nature and identifying its internal vulnerability turns an apparently invulnerable foe’s strength against it.

Plot points and events

• After Zhang Zhi dies, Chen Xuan identifies him as an unusual demon able to disguise itself as its human host. Its ability to hide among people makes it more dangerous than familiar demons.
• Chen Xuan discovers that a section of wall has been sealed over. The group breaks through it and follows a long, damp passage beneath the Clear Song Sect.
• At the passage’s end, they find a cave overtaken by grotesque, writhing intestines and other flesh. Chen Xuan determines the growth is real but lifeless, and that it is consuming and replacing the cave’s natural surroundings.
• A small altar at the source resembles one Chen Xuan saw elsewhere, confirming his fear that an entry point from another world lies near Chang’an and that intruders have reached their world.
• A pile of bones contains Immortal Alliance tokens belonging to several Clear Song Sect members, including elder Zhang Fuqin. Alliance records show none of them were ever reported dead.
• Concluding that the sect was secretly wiped out some time ago, Chen Xuan orders the group back to Chang’an to alert the Immortal Alliance. The search yields no evidence of Ji Yanshu, and Chen Xuan fears that if the cultists captured him, his fate may be worse than death.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan remains composed and analytical amid the horror. He recognizes the threat as foreign, investigates the hidden passage, and quickly decides to report the discovery rather than continue searching fruitlessly.
• Mo Shuyun is visibly shaken—first vomiting after Zhang Zhi’s death, then questioning whether the cave is an illusion. He nonetheless joins the expedition and helps identify the tokens.
• Marlena assists with the investigation and stays close to Chen Xuan when the cave’s horrors frighten her.
• Hong Li and the other Alliance officials are horrified by the scene but fulfill their duty to witness and record events. Their records reveal the discrepancy between the dead cultivators and the official registry.
• The group’s reactions—revulsion, disbelief, and fear—contrast with Chen Xuan’s practical focus and reinforce the seriousness of the discovery.

Significant themes

• Infiltration and hidden danger: A demon can pass as human, while an entire sect can disappear without notice.
• Institutional blind spots: The Alliance’s system relies on sects reporting their own affairs, leaving isolated communities vulnerable to concealment and abuse.
• The unnatural as corruption: The foreign flesh consumes and replaces the natural world, signaling a threat that does not fit familiar categories.
• Uncertainty and escalating stakes: The old bones suggest Ji Yanshu was not killed in this cave, but the possibility that he has fallen into the intruders’ hands makes his situation more alarming.

Key plot points and events

• As the group leaves the mountain, they see a vast mass of black light spreading over Chang’an City and swallowing its central towers.
• Chen Xuan recognizes it as an expanding incursion: two spaces overlapping. He concludes that Ji Yanshu was likely a Wanderer who had been using a hidden Cave Heaven near Chang’an to cultivate and gather resources.
• The revelation also makes Ji Yanshu’s departure from the Clear Song Sect, distrust of the Immortal Alliance, and ambition to found an independent sect seem more understandable.
• Chen Xuan remembers that Liu Shuyue and the others are in the city for competition registration. He separates from the group to return to Chang’an quickly, while the others continue down the mountain.
• He teleports back to his shop, sends Marlena to gather the other witches for shelter, and asks Lin Qing to build a signal amplifier so the shop’s Wi-Fi can reach the city. Lin Qing prepares for combat, but Chen Xuan tells her not to take her guns outside.
• Chen Xuan heads toward Chang’an through a mass of fleeing civilians. The scale of the black-light incursion is overwhelming, and he recognizes it as a disaster-level event.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan connects the incursion to his earlier experience and pieces together Ji Yanshu’s likely secrets. His concern for Liu Shuyue’s group prompts him to act quickly and prioritize getting back to the city.
• Grand Historian Hong Li tries to reassure the group by pointing to the powerful cultivators gathered in Chang’an.
• Mo Shuyun challenges that optimism, warning that the incident could be a deliberate attack timed to coincide with the sect competition.
• Marlena is startled by being teleported to the shop but agrees to summon the other witches.
• Lin Qing volunteers to fight, but Chen Xuan redirects her to a technical task. She accepts and begins assembling a signal-amplification device.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and looming catastrophe: The expanding incursion is beyond the group’s understanding, and even the city’s formidable defenses may not be enough.
• Preparation versus confidence: Hong Li’s reassurance is challenged by Mo Shuyun’s caution, highlighting the danger of underestimating a possible enemy.
• Secrets and institutional distrust: Chen Xuan’s deductions suggest that Ji Yanshu concealed his resources because he distrusted both sects and the Immortal Alliance.
• Cooperation under pressure: Chen Xuan, Marlena, and Lin Qing each take on different roles as the crisis escalates.

Chapter Summary: “Disaster of Erosion”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Xuanling, A Hua, A Jiu, Xue Xiaojin, and the rest of their sect wait outside Moon-Watching Tower to register among the many gathered cultivators.
• While the group jokes about their sect’s lack of uniforms and debates whether their Sect Master could be considered a True Immortal, Liu Shuyue notices that the darkened sky is abnormal.
• Strange “ropes” begin falling from the clouds. The group soon realizes they are actually enormous, living intestines.
• A cultivator attacks one of the intestines, only to be violently absorbed. His spine, organs, bones, and flesh are pulled from his body and fused into the creature as it ascends into the clouds.
• More intestines descend throughout Chang’an, attacking both cultivators and ordinary civilians. People are flayed, dismembered, and dragged upward while the city collapses into panic.
• Liu Shuyue uses two Thousand Thoughts Swords to protect the group, but cutting the intestines only temporarily removes them; the severed portions regenerate and continue descending.
• She identifies the disaster as an Erosion, an event in which different worlds overlap or merge. The familiar Chang’an City may already exist within another world.
• Liu explains that the altered qi and unfamiliar sky indicate the Erosion began when the surrounding space changed. The sky above them is no longer Chang’an’s true sky.

Character Developments

• Xu Xuanling begins in a playful, argumentative mood but is quickly forced to confront overwhelming horror. Her confidence and ordinary understanding of the world collapse as she witnesses the grotesque attacks.
• A Hua and A Jiu retain their childish, humorous dynamic at first, contrasting sharply with the disaster that follows.
• Xue Xiaojin shows his practical, domestic competence while teasing Xu Xuanling, reinforcing his more mature and capable side.
• Liu Shuyue demonstrates clear judgment and leadership. She immediately recognizes the danger, abandons the registration, keeps the disciples together, and protects them with her swords.
• Xu Xuanling’s respect for Liu deepens. She already regards Liu as her true master and now sees her as the group’s primary source of knowledge and protection.
• A Xuan reacts with unusual fear, emphasizing that the phenomenon is terrifying even to cultivators.

Significant Themes

• The fragility of human understanding: The characters initially interpret the darkness and falling objects through familiar explanations, only to discover that reality itself has changed.
• Reality and illusion: The city looks unchanged, but the altered sky and qi reveal that Chang’an may no longer belong entirely to its original world.
• Cosmic horror and helplessness: The intestines are incomprehensible, regenerative, and nearly impossible to fight, making even powerful cultivators feel vulnerable.
• Leadership in crisis: Liu Shuyue’s decisive actions contrast with the surrounding panic and show the importance of knowledge, discipline, and protecting others.
• The limits of power: Even Liu’s swords cannot solve the problem; they can only delay the attacks, suggesting that the disaster is vastly larger than an ordinary enemy.

Character Interactions

• Xu Xuanling and A Jiu bicker over whether their Sect Master is a True Immortal, with A Jiu defending him through deliberately circular reasoning.
• Xue Xiaojin mocks Xu Xuanling for arguing like a child and challenges her by pointing out that he can cook and handle chores.
• Xu Xuanling seeks Liu Shuyue’s support, viewing her as an honest and reliable authority.
• Liu Shuyue cuts off the group’s registration plans and orders everyone to leave, prioritizing survival over the sect’s public reputation.
• Throughout the escape, Liu protects the disciples while explaining the Erosion, giving Xu Xuanling the first framework for understanding the catastrophe.

Summary: “The Human Hunting Ground”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A horrifying anomaly spreads across Chang’an City: enormous intestines descend from the sky, ensnaring people and animals. Anything they touch fuses with them and is dragged upward.
• Liu Shuyue attempts to save victims by severing the intestines, but discovers that doing so kills the victims instantly. Their bodies are forcibly drained of blood, flesh, and organs, leaving only shriveled skin.
• The intestines move slowly and can be avoided by alert Cultivators, but they pose a devastating threat to ordinary civilians. Panic spreads as more residents are killed.
• The group reaches the city gate and finds that Chang’an’s walls and streets have been transformed into a dense web of flesh, veins, and tentacles. The city is effectively sealed off, while buildings appear to be gradually undergoing the same erosion.
• The group debates hiding in Xu Xuanling’s basement or fighting through the intestinal barrier. Liu Shuyue rejects both plans, reasoning that the erosion may eventually consume the buildings and that cutting through the intestines may be futile.
• Suspecting that the disaster is an instance of artificial erosion caused by a Wanderer, Liu Shuyue decides they must locate its source rather than simply flee or defend themselves.
• The Cultivators split into search groups, focusing on the Moon-Watching Tower and central Chang’an while continuing to protect civilians and fight the descending intestines.
• A Jiu spots the Cultivator he believes murdered his family. The man is moving calmly against the flow of fleeing civilians, displaying strange, puppet-like behavior.
• Liu Shuyue uses the Heavenly Cloud Skill and observes that his spiritual energy is abnormal: he possesses immense power, but the points of light within his qi mass are unnaturally scattered.
• The suspicious Cultivator enters a ruined house just as thunder sounds. The sky changes, with blood-red clouds appearing as though stained by the flesh and blood consumed by the anomaly.

Character Developments

• Liu Shuyue becomes more cautious and analytical. After realizing that rescuing victims is impossible once they are caught, she shifts from direct defense to investigating the anomaly’s source. She also assumes command, organizes the search, and restrains the others from making reckless decisions.
• A Jiu shows renewed determination and emotional intensity after recognizing the person he believes killed his family. Despite the danger, he follows Liu Shuyue’s instructions and helps track the suspect.
• Xu Xuanling reacts with horror and fear but tries to offer a practical solution by suggesting that the group shelter in her home’s basement.
• Fu Jiaolu displays courage and impulsiveness, proposing that she fight through the flesh barrier even at the risk of death.
• The wider Cultivator community begins using varied techniques—fire, frost, and formations—to protect themselves and their disciples, revealing the scale of the emergency and their differing abilities.

Significant Themes

• The helplessness of ordinary people: The civilians are largely defenseless against the supernatural attack, and even powerful Cultivators cannot save those already captured.
• The limits of strength: Liu Shuyue’s qi sword can cut the intestines but cannot undo their lethal fusion with victims, emphasizing that brute force is insufficient.
• Crisis leadership and responsibility: Liu Shuyue must make difficult decisions, balancing the desire to rescue people with the need to prevent further deaths and uncover the true cause.
• Hidden corruption and unnatural control: The suspicious Cultivator’s mechanical behavior suggests possession, manipulation, or transformation. The invasion may be affecting not only the city but also its inhabitants.
• A world being overwritten: The city’s walls, streets, and buildings are becoming living flesh, representing the terrifying overlap of worlds and the loss of the familiar human environment.
• Blood and consumption: The red-stained clouds and flesh-draining intestines create imagery of the city being consumed, reinforcing the chapter’s horror and predatory atmosphere.

Character Interactions

• Liu Shuyue attempts to rescue multiple victims but is forced to explain that severing the intestines only causes faster death.
• The group debates competing survival strategies: Xu Xuanling advocates shelter, while Fu Jiaolu argues for fighting through the barrier. Liu Shuyue rejects both and redirects everyone toward finding the anomaly’s source.
• Liu Shuyue organizes the Cultivators into coordinated search teams and instructs them to remain within sight of one another.
• A Jiu alerts Liu Shuyue to the suspected murderer, and she takes his accusation seriously enough to investigate while ordering him to summon the others.
• The chapter ends with Liu Shuyue observing the strange Cultivator entering a ruined residence as the sky darkens and turns blood-red, setting up a confrontation or discovery in the next section.

Plot points and events

• Liu Shuyue leads A Jiu, Fu Jiaolu, and A Hua to investigate a sealed residence while the rest of the disciples hide nearby under Invisibility Talismans.
• Inside, they find A Jiu’s master, Ji Yanshu, bound above a mass of living flesh. Four Clear Song Sect Cultivators are performing a ritual around him.
• Liu Shuyue realizes the sect members have been possessed or transformed into Demons. The group ambushes them, using Thunder Talismans to weaken them before destroying them.
• The battle appears to reveal the source of the catastrophe: Ji Yanshu, a key Wanderer, has been used to create Erosion. He apologizes for past choices and warns that something has already descended and cannot be stopped.
• When A Jiu strikes the mass of flesh, the ground begins to shake. The residence, nearby streets, and an entire district collapse into a vast sinkhole, swallowing buildings and people.

Character development and interactions

• Liu Shuyue remains decisive under pressure, organizing the rescue attempt and quickly adapting when she recognizes the attackers as Demons. Her concern for the city’s ordinary residents is clear.
• A Jiu is stunned by his own progress. Compared with his earlier fear of powerful Cultivators, he now believes he can fight Demons himself, though he still relies on Liu Shuyue’s help.
• A Hua rushes to her master and focuses on saving him, while A Jiu urgently tries to free him. Ji Yanshu, however, is too weak to offer much beyond apologies and a warning.
• Fu Jiaolu supports the assault and is the first to recognize the immediate danger when the earth starts collapsing.
• The team’s coordinated attack shows the trust and training they have built together, while the disciples left outside depend on Xu Xuanling to keep them safe.

Significant themes

• Growth through adversity: A Jiu’s confidence marks how far he has come.
• Responsibility and regret: Ji Yanshu admits that fear and secrecy helped lead to terrible consequences.
• The limits of individual action: The group wins its fight, but their success cannot prevent the larger disaster.
• Catastrophe and sacrifice: The mass destruction of the district makes the invasion’s scale and cost starkly clear.

Chapter Summary: “Blood-and-Flesh Tower”

Key plot points and events

• As the ground collapses around the ruined residence, Liu Shuyue uses a Wind Riding Talisman to escape with A Jiu. Fu Jiaolu grabs A Hua and clings to a tree, but the ground beneath them gives way.
• A gigantic tower made of flesh, blood, eyeballs, and countless hands erupts from underground. Its pale-bone peak is the object that had restrained Ji Yanshu. The collapse is caused by the enormous structure rising through the city.
• Liu sends A Jiu with a talisman to help Fu Jiaolu and A Hua. Fu manages to lift them into the air, but the wind becomes difficult to control, and they begin falling back toward the pit.
• With rescue seemingly out of reach, Fu throws A Hua toward Liu so that at least the girl can survive. Liu catches her, while Fu continues to fall.
• Chen Xuan arrives and repeatedly uses qi swords to pierce the same spot in Fu’s thigh, carrying him upward with each strike until he is safe. He explains that he used the precise technique to rescue Fu without accidentally injuring him further.
• Chen says he entered Chang’an through the Erosion boundary, which seemed to let him cross an impossible distance in a single step. He also describes the horrific scene at the southern gate, where flesh and intestines block escape routes and trapped crowds are being killed.
• A Jiu reveals that his master, the Wanderer, is alive and suspended atop the tower. Chen confirms he can see him.
• The sky turns crimson. Above the tower, an immense shadow descends through the clouds: a huge, blood-vessel-covered membranous sac filled with murky yellow fluid, apparently nearing the moment of its rupture.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Shuyue reacts quickly under pressure, saving A Jiu and later catching A Hua. She is visibly relieved when Chen arrives, but also worried about his safety.
• Fu Jiaolu shows selflessness by throwing A Hua to safety at the cost of his own survival. He is delighted and surprised when Chen rescues him.
• A Hua and A Jiu remain focused on finding their master; A Hua urgently tells Chen that the Wanderer is on the tower.
• Chen Xuan demonstrates exceptional skill and control with the Thousand Thoughts Sword. His arrival reunites the group and gives them a chance to respond to the larger threat.
• Xu Xuanling had already led the others away from the initial collapse, keeping them unharmed.

Significant themes

• Self-sacrifice and loyalty: Fu risks himself to save A Hua, while the group acts quickly to protect one another.
• Horror and bodily transformation: The tower and the looming sac turn the city into a landscape of grotesque, living flesh.
• The scale of the threat: The structure’s immense power and the ominous presence in the sky suggest an enemy far beyond an ordinary demon.
• Survival amid catastrophe: Even successful rescues are temporary reprieves as the city’s destruction and the apparent birth of something immense continue.

Key plot points and events

• Chang’an is being consumed by a supernatural ritual: intestines descend from the sky, drain the population’s flesh and blood, and feed a giant membrane sac containing a beating heart.
• Chen Xuan recognizes that the Blood-and-Flesh Tower resembles a Black Magic altar. He concludes the heart’s arrival may complete a sacrifice on a citywide scale—and that destroying the altar, not attacking the heart, is the best chance to stop it.
• Fires erupt atop five towers, apparently ignited deliberately to serve as the ritual’s candles. Chen Xuan suspects more Clear Song Sect Cultivators are involved; he says none of the sect’s members are still alive.
• The group attempts to reach the tower, but rapidly moving flesh tendrils and falling intestines block their approach.
• Liu Shuyue attacks from a distance with the Demon Extermination True Sword. Her strike cuts through many tendrils but fails to reach the tower, and she spends a hundred years of lifespan to perform it.
• Just as the group considers how to proceed, Immortal Alliance Governor Xu Yuanqing arrives with thirty or forty Cultivators.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan connects clues from past encounters with Black Magic and guides the group toward targeting the tower. He stays calm and organizes the response, assigning teams for support, backup, and the assault.
• Liu Shuyue recognizes the ritual’s resemblance to the altar she once used and shares Chen Xuan’s conclusion. She demonstrates immense power but accepts a steep personal cost to try to break through the defenses.
• A Jiu worries about the danger and helps Fu Jiaolu up, while remaining ready to follow the others’ plan.
• Fu Jiaolu insists he has recovered from his injury.
• Xu Yuanqing’s arrival brings urgently needed reinforcements, though the chapter ends before their impact is known.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and its consequences: Black Magic turns life, hearts, and lifespan into power; the city’s mass death may fuel something far worse.
• Pattern recognition and cooperation: Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue combine their knowledge to identify the ritual and decide how to fight it.
• The limits of individual power: Even Liu Shuyue’s devastating sword technique cannot reach the altar through its overwhelming defenses.
• Urgency amid uncertainty: The characters must act quickly despite incomplete understanding and escalating danger.

Key plot points and events

• Governor Xu Yuanqing arrives at the disaster site after spotting the earthquake and Liu Shuyue’s sword strike. He reunites with his daughter, Xu Xuanling, and learns that Liu is Chen Xuan’s sect’s deputy master and instructor.
• Chen Xuan says he has a plan to stop the Cave Heaven disaster: draw the Flesh Tower’s defenses toward the pit so Liu can attack its altar.
• Before explaining the operation, Chen and Liu expose an infiltrator among the Cultivators. Liu’s Thousand Thoughts Sword, empowered by Chen’s Heavenly Thunder Command, kills him; his body dissolves into foul blood, revealing that demons can possess Cultivators and impersonate them.
• Xu Yuanqing hesitates over the plan’s risks, but Xuanling vouches for Chen. The governor issues emergency orders, summoning major sects and their allies to the pit.
• The Flesh Tower attacks anyone approaching the pit, while Cultivators gather and fight its roots and falling entrails. Chen supports the battle with his flying sword. Liu and A Jiu circle the area, practicing wind control while seeking an opening.
• Chen’s phone suddenly regains full signal, suggesting Lin Qing may have established the signal amplifier.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan takes charge, pressing the Immortal Alliance to act despite having no guarantee his plan will work. He also warns that the disaster is only beginning and that the city may be doomed if the threat above falls.
• Xu Yuanqing shifts from skepticism to action, trusting Chen enough to mobilize the Alliance. He is attentive to Xuanling and quickly recognizes Liu’s strength.
• Xu Xuanling is recovering and growing more composed amid the horror. She supports Chen’s judgment and persuades her father to follow his plan.
• Liu Shuyue remains courteous and composed, assists Chen with the plan, and trains A Jiu even during the battle.
• A Jiu practices controlling wind under Liu’s guidance as the fight continues.

Significant themes

• Trust under pressure: The Alliance must act without certainty, relying on Chen’s knowledge and Xuanling’s faith in him.
• Hidden threats and appearances: The possessed Cultivator shows that danger comes not only from the Flesh Tower but also from infiltrators disguised as allies.
• Cooperation and sacrifice: The crisis pushes rival sects to gather and fight together, despite the danger and disruption to their usual duties.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Xuan tests his Fission and Fusion ability on the Flesh Tower and its roots. The roots count as separate targets, making them cheap to fuse individually, but there are too many to manage. Pairing the ability with Curse: Flesh Thirst might increase his capacity, but it triggers a ravenous urge to consume flesh and threatens his self-control. He quickly stores it away.
• Liu Shuyue decides the group must strike the Flesh Tower again before mounting casualties and fear destroy the Cultivators’ morale. Chen Xuan agrees and has Xu Xuanling tell the governor to coordinate an all-out attack.
• Liu Shuyue charges the Tower while A Jiu and A Hua activate the Thunder Art Demon-Slaying Grand Array. Violet True Thunder burns away the roots surrounding her, opening a path for her Demon Extermination True Sword.
• Her second sword strike cuts deeply into the Tower, exposing its organs and a huge, three-pupiled eye. However, the Tower survives, begins regenerating, and protects the eye by drawing its arms over it.
• Liu Shuyue tries to press the attack but, weakened by the immense spiritual-energy cost of the sword, is struck by a root and hurled backward. She retreats to the pit’s edge, badly wounded, and Chen Xuan sees the severity of her injury.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan recognizes the danger of the Flesh Thirst curse and rejects using it, despite its potential usefulness. He remains focused on supporting Liu Shuyue and is alarmed when she is hurt.
• Liu Shuyue shows resolve and willingness to sacrifice greatly, but her limits become clear: repeated use of her life-consuming sword technique leaves her depleted and vulnerable.
• A Jiu and A Hua support Liu Shuyue by powering the thunder array. The surrounding Cultivators also fight to protect her, while the governor receives Chen Xuan’s coordinated call to action.
• Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue share a moment of trust: he is concerned about the cost of her technique, but accepts her reassurance and backs her decision to attack.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and its cost: Liu Shuyue’s powerful technique consumes extraordinary lifespan and spiritual energy, making victory costly even when it succeeds.
• Self-control amid corruption: Chen Xuan must resist an ability that turns him toward grotesque violence and cannibalistic desire.
• Morale under pressure: The worsening casualties threaten to turn anger into despair, making timely action crucial.
• Partial victories and resilience: The attack grievously wounds the Flesh Tower but does not destroy it; both the enemy and the defenders face an urgent race against time.

Key plot points and events

• As the Flesh Tower’s fetal membrane grows dangerously thin and the battle below falters, Liu Shuyue volunteers to attempt another use of the Demon Extermination True Sword, despite the years of life it would cost. A Jiu offers to take her place, but she warns that his Wind Riding skill is too weak to dodge the roots.
• A Jiu resolves to act anyway, explaining that Liu Shuyue once saved him and that he has already fulfilled his wishes by finding his master and avenging his family.
• Chen Xuan secretly gives Liu Shuyue the abilities Flesh Thirst and Fission and Fusion. She uses Fusion to absorb a lunging root, turning its attack into fuel for further uses of the ability.
• With Liu Shuyue drawing the roots toward herself, A Jiu flies toward the exposed edge of the Flesh Tower’s defenses. Cultivators across the battlefield rally around them.
• Liu Shuyue begins to falter as the accumulated Demon power affects her sense of self. Chen Xuan recognizes the danger as consciousness contamination, not the curse, and covertly gives her Callousness, a mental defense ability.
• Liu Shuyue steadies herself and continues absorbing roots. At the chapter’s end, A Jiu throws his sword, beginning his strike.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Shuyue accepts a dangerous role to protect the others, using her abilities creatively and enduring the mental strain of absorbing Demon flesh. Her resilience is reinforced by Chen Xuan’s intervention.
• A Jiu moves from offering to sacrifice himself out of gratitude to taking decisive action. He trusts Liu Shuyue to cover him while he attacks.
• Chen Xuan acts quickly as both strategist and protector, using covert ability transfers to support Liu Shuyue and identify the cause of her distress.
• A Hua and the other Cultivators show concern for Liu Shuyue and encourage the pair, briefly uniting the faltering alliance.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and repayment: A Jiu sees the mission as a chance to repay the life and help he received.
• Power and its costs: Liu Shuyue’s ability creates a seemingly endless cycle of absorption, but taking in too much Demon power threatens her identity.
• Trust and cooperation: Chen Xuan’s support, Liu Shuyue’s cover, and A Jiu’s attack depend on the group working together.
• Endurance amid despair: Although the enemy seems endless and the battle is nearing its end, the alliance keeps fighting and encouraging one another.

Key plot points and events

• A Jiu prepares a powerful sword strike against the Blood-and-Flesh Tower, but the technique drains him so severely that he may not be able to finish it. Liu Shuyue encourages him and promises to help.
• Liu uses her Fission and Fusion ability to draw the hanging intestines into the tower, stripping away its protective flesh and shells. She realizes the intestines and tower are separate entities, and suspects the bloody sky and its strange mechanisms may be something closer to a rule or ritual power.
• The fetal membrane ruptures, releasing a torrent of murky yellow fluid and the strange heart it held. With the tower’s vulnerable spine and eye exposed, A Jiu drives his sword through its weakest point. The tower collapses, and the heart falls into the pit.
• The city’s intestines retract and the crimson clouds fade. The Immortal Alliance celebrates its survival.
• A Jiu rushes to his injured master, Ji Yanshu. As Ji lies dying, A Jiu tells him he does not blame him for his family’s destruction, recognizing that Ji never meant to harm them and gave him and A Hua the chance to cultivate.
• Ji gives A Jiu two handmade jade plaques bearing the siblings’ Dao names: Ji Yun for A Jiu and Ji Lian for A Hua. He dies peacefully after seeing A Jiu receive them.

Character developments and interactions

• A Jiu proves his courage and resolve by carrying out the decisive strike despite his exhaustion. His compassion and loyalty are clearest in his forgiveness of Ji Yanshu and his effort to comfort him.
• Liu Shuyue takes a dangerous, resourceful approach to weakening the tower, spending her accumulated power and flesh. Her unease about the ability’s apparent encouragement—and about the larger force behind the ritual—adds to her growing suspicions.
• Ji Yanshu reveals a tender, regretful side. He gives A Jiu and A Hua the names he chose for them, and dies reassured by A Jiu’s affection and forgiveness.
• Liu deliberately leaves A Jiu alone with his master, recognizing the importance of their final farewell.

Significant themes

• Forgiveness and responsibility: A Jiu distinguishes Ji’s unintended role in tragedy from the true enemy, refusing to redirect his grief into blame.
• Mentorship and legacy: Ji’s teachings live on in A Jiu’s values, while the Dao-name plaques offer a personal bond and a legacy for the siblings.
• Sacrifice and perseverance: Liu and A Jiu each expend themselves to create the opening that saves the city.
• Victory amid loss: The Immortal Alliance survives, but the triumph is shadowed by Ji’s death and unresolved questions about the ritual’s greater power.
  Volume One ends with the tower defeated, the city saved, and A Jiu holding the names his dying master chose for him and his sister.

Key plot points and events

• Walter Weiss’s company has prospered for months by acting on secret, seemingly prophetic market information from the Dimensional Limit Organization. He passes the latest instructions—covering a company’s impending bankruptcy and stocks to short—to his youngest son, Longlan, who has taken on a role in the family business after Gio’s departure.
• Despite the family’s growing wealth and prestige, Walter worries that the Organization expects something in return. Walter Corporation’s gains are largely financial; its industrial capabilities have not grown enough to make it valuable as a partner.
• Walter asks the Organization whether it has recommendations for expanding production. Lin replies that they will meet in person at the next ammunition delivery.
• Hoping to make the meeting secure and demonstrate goodwill, Walter buys the remote Boglin Hotel near the Organization’s exchange point. He offers to transfer it to the Organization for its use.
• Lin Qing meets Walter and accepts his invitation to the hotel, though she notes that privacy matters more than lavish hospitality. Walter asks about Chen Xuan, but Lin explains that she handles operations while Chen oversees broad strategy. She then describes their branch as a top-secret division focused on next-generation technology and neural equipment.

Character developments and interactions

• Walter is more powerful and respected than before, but success has made him wary. He tries to anticipate the Organization’s needs and strengthen the relationship through careful questioning and an expensive gift.
• Longlan is presented as loyal and diligent, though less clever than his absent elder brother. Walter trusts him to carry out important instructions.
• Lin Qing is calm, direct, and confident in her authority. She sets limits on the meeting and handles the Organization’s business without consulting Chen.
• Walter and Lin negotiate politely but cautiously. Walter probes the Organization’s structure and intentions; Lin offers a carefully limited explanation.
• Lin privately notes that Chen Xuan has seemed distracted since returning from Chang’an City, while Liu Shuyue has stopped visiting the store regularly. She suspects tension between them, though both deny it.

Significant themes

• Power and dependency: Walter’s fortune depends on the Organization’s information, leaving him uncertain whether he is a partner or merely useful for now.
• Trust, secrecy, and leverage: Both sides manage what they reveal, while Walter searches for ways to make his company indispensable.
• Business as courtship: Walter uses hospitality and the hotel purchase to demonstrate respect and secure a closer relationship.
• Changing relationships: Lin’s independent handling of the meeting contrasts with the uncertainty surrounding Chen and Liu’s apparent estrangement.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Qing reveals her artificial hand, demonstrating advanced neural equipment: a lifelike prosthesis that reads and responds to neural signals. She warns Walter that exposing the Dimensional Limit Organization’s secrets could bring deadly consequences.
• Walter assures her that he has dealt with problems within his company. Lin explains that the Organization’s earlier instructions to acquire struggling firms were preparation for a new phase of cooperation.
• The Organization wants Walter Corporation to develop neural equipment, beginning with two artificial-eye designs. Lin provides blueprints for a military A-Class version, which must be supplied to the Organization first, and a civilian B-Class version, which Walter’s company may sell freely.
• Once alone, Walter studies the plans and realizes the artificial eyes could restore sight and correct vision problems by transmitting signals directly to the brain. The military model also includes capabilities such as night vision, infrared detection, and target tracking.
• Recognizing the product’s enormous commercial promise—and the Organization’s greater power—Walter resolves to prioritize military production and recruit the promising researchers Lin will identify.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Qing remains composed and authoritative. She demonstrates the technology, warns Walter about its risks, and lays out the Organization’s conditions and long-term plan.
• Walter Weiss shifts from astonishment at the prosthetic to cautious ambition. He wants a concrete, compelling goal to attract researchers, then accepts the Organization’s terms once he sees the artificial-eye designs.
• Their exchange is both cooperative and guarded: Walter seeks clarity and shows respect for the Organization’s power, while Lin offers him an opportunity but emphasizes the need for secrecy and priority service.

Significant themes

• Technological transformation: Neural interfaces promise to reshape medicine, disability, and military capability.
• Power and dependency: Walter Corporation gains access to revolutionary designs but remains expendable compared with the Organization.
• Human potential and investment: The Organization values overlooked researchers and believes their abilities can be recognized before conventional success reveals them.
• Ambition under constraint: Walter sees the civilian product’s vast potential but subordinates profit to the Organization’s military requirements.

Key plot points

• Lin Qing returns to the store after arranging an ammunition deal. The supplier has given her a hotel, which she plans to turn into a branch once the acquisition is complete.
• Seeing Chen Xuan distracted, Lin Qing assumes Liu Shuyue rejected him and urges him to follow traditional courtship customs. Chen Xuan denies having confessed or being rejected.
• Chen Xuan explains his real concern: several Erosion-related abilities and events may trace back to the same world, but to different periods of it. He wonders whether changes to another era could alter his own existence.
• The Chang’an disaster has ended, but Erosion still covers over half the city. More than 400,000 people and at least a thousand Cultivators are believed dead. The Immortal Alliance prepares for war, appoints Xu Quan as leader, and elevates Xu Yuanqing; their sect gains great prestige.
• Three teams sent into the Erosion to investigate never return. Chen Xuan notes that the worlds glimpsed through different Erosion Points seem radically different, yet may represent different times in one world.
• Lin Qing says the Dimensional Limit Organization’s evidence suggests that apparently similar worlds have distinct, continuous timelines, easing Chen Xuan’s fear that history could rewrite his existence. Still, the matching Gravitational Fluctuation of several Erosion Points suggests a possible link the Organization has overlooked.
• Lin Qing returns to the question of Liu Shuyue, but Chen Xuan says her reduced visits are simply because her teaching duties are over and she is now focused on Mala Village.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan shifts from brooding to sharing a serious theory about Erosion Points, forbidden abilities, and time. He remains uncertain about the worlds’ relationship but is not preoccupied with romance.
• Lin Qing misreads Chen Xuan’s mood and tries to help—while also being protective of the store’s relationship with Liu Shuyue and its plans to arm Mala Village. She engages Chen Xuan in a close, teasing interrogation before offering a thoughtful explanation of the Organization’s research.
• Their exchange balances humor and intimacy with a deeper discussion of cosmic uncertainty. Chen Xuan trusts Lin Qing with sensitive information, and she responds with analysis rather than dismissing his concern.

Significant themes

• Time, identity, and historical change: The possibility that different eras of one world can overlap raises questions about whether the past—and a person’s existence—can be altered.
• Limits of knowledge: The Organization’s records may be incomplete, and evidence can challenge settled theories.
• Disaster and recovery: Chang’an’s immense losses reshape the political and spiritual order, even after the immediate catastrophe ends.
• Miscommunication and affection: Lin Qing’s mistaken assumption about Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue provides comic relief while showing her concern for both the store and its people.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Xuan is relieved to find his companions safe, but remains troubled by a strange change in the Ability Store.
• Two weeks earlier, after the Chang’an City crisis, Liu Shuyue returned Flesh Thirst and Fission and Fusion. Both abilities had risen in rarity, and Flesh Thirst’s curse had become more controllable. Chen tested it and found its bloodthirsty influence was greatly reduced, especially with the Heart Calming Incantation.
• More disturbing, the abilities’ inventory text began sprouting growing tendrils. The tendrils return whenever the abilities are put down, seem to respond to their position, and have grown beyond the inventory table. Chen suspects something may be affecting the Store, but has no way to destroy the abilities or explain what is happening.
• Lin Qing asks about A Jiu and A Hua after the sect Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign was disbanded. Chen says they will remain with the Immortal Alliance and join the Ascension Terrace rather than come to his shop.
• Chen reflects that the twins were heartbroken to lose their master and sect, but believes staying behind is best. The Alliance plans to contain the Chang’an Erosion zone while most Cultivators head to the Western Extremity Coast to fight Demons and grow stronger.
• Chen left the twins the Cultivation Prodigy ability and took only the Spiritual Energy Body, partly to protect them from its risk of hastening a Heart Demon. He expects them to thrive under Xu Xuanling and Xu Yuanqing’s care.
• Chen explains that he told the Alliance their leader had left to seek a breakthrough, while the sect’s disciples had dispersed. The Alliance was especially reluctant to lose the Teleportation Array and had hurried to send as many Cultivators through it as possible before it became unavailable.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan is increasingly uneasy about the Store’s apparent corruption, but keeps the problem to himself to avoid worrying others. He also shows concern for the twins’ future, choosing their long-term prospects over keeping them close.
• Liu Shuyue had found the two abilities so disturbing to use that she returned them to Chen, despite relying on them during the crisis.
• Lin Qing offers a lighter, teasing perspective, suggesting that the twins visit the shop; Chen firmly reminds her it is a store, not an amusement park. She also draws out his explanation of the sect’s departure and the Alliance’s plans.
• A Jiu and A Hua are portrayed as resilient but deeply attached to their former master; their grief contrasts with Chen’s conviction that separation gives them better opportunities.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Demonic abilities can be effective but morally and psychologically unsettling, and even after being returned they may carry unknown consequences.
• Growth through hardship: The coming Demon-slaying war is presented as both dangerous and a chance for ordinary Cultivators to advance.
• Care through letting go: Chen’s decision to leave the twins behind reflects his belief that protecting them means allowing them to pursue their own future.
• Unanswered supernatural danger: The growing tendrils suggest that the crisis may not be over and introduce a new mystery surrounding the Ability Store.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Xuan realizes that his growing reputation among the Immortal Alliance and France might help him qualify for promotion to Level 5 shopkeeper. Excited by the prospect of gaining an extra ability slot, he begins writing an application and listing his achievements.
• Qiao Xi, daughter of one of Chen Xuan’s regular customers, visits to thank him for warning her family about the danger at the zoo months earlier. She gives him two tickets to Ability Showdown, a popular live-recorded variety show about superpowers.
• Lin Qing persuades Chen Xuan to attend with her, suggesting they might meet potential allies among the ability users on the show. They agree to go the following evening.
• In Mala Village, a pioneering team continues clearing the Myriad Mountain Great Wilderness. Their efforts have uncovered valuable gemstones, which they traded for essential supplies such as clothing and tools.
• The team has reached Mountain Pillar No. 99, twelve kilometers beyond the wilderness boundary. After checking for demonic activity and setting up a Demon-Driving Formation, they prepare to inspect the mountain’s caves.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan shifts from wanting to avoid attention to recognizing that fame could advance his career. He also accepts Lin Qing’s suggestion to go out, partly because he sees that she has had little chance to explore Jiangcheng.
• Lin Qing teases Chen Xuan about his growing fame, shows enthusiasm for the TV show, and frames the outing as a chance to find like-minded ability users. Chen Xuan suspects she mainly wants a fun trip.
• Qiao Xi repays Chen Xuan’s past kindness with tickets, even though she cannot attend herself because of a work interview. Her gesture reflects her father’s belief that favors should be returned.
• Huang Ting leads the pioneering team with practical care, while Xiaomai serves as its talisman master and is treated by him like a daughter. Stone Monkey uses his cultivated abilities to climb the cliff and prepare ropes for the team.

Significant themes

• Reputation and ambition: Chen Xuan sees public recognition not only as praise but as a means to advance professionally.
• Reciprocity and community: Qiao Xi’s visit shows the importance of returning kindness, while Chen Xuan’s original warning arose from neighborhood solidarity.
• Self-reliance and safety: The villagers aim to secure necessities and expand their territory through their own efforts rather than relying entirely on outside help.
• Cultivation as practical progress: The team’s abilities support exploration and protection, even as scarce resources like Wind Riding Talismans limit what they can do.

Key plot points and events

• The team checks a small, seemingly empty cave in the Myriad Mountain Great Wilderness. Huang Ting explains that caves may hide beasts or Demons, while encounters with a Great Demon require immediate retreat.
• Giant, bat-like creatures suddenly burst from the passage and knock Huang Ting over the edge. His safety rope saves him, and the team pulls him back up.
• Huang Ting discovers a perfectly round opening above the cave. Its smooth, metallic walls suggest it was constructed rather than naturally formed.
• He crawls through the opening and finds an enormous, orderly underground tomb, apparently containing rows of coffins. He retreats and reports what he saw to the others.
• Though eager to claim the discovery for his team, Huang Ting decides they should return to Mala Village and report it to Immortal Master Liu, who can determine what to do next.

Character developments and interactions

• Huang Ting is boastful and excitable, especially when recounting Immortal Master Liu’s past victory over a Great Demon. He also acts protectively, pushing Xiaomai out of danger, and ultimately shows good judgment by choosing to report the tomb rather than explore it alone.
• Xiaomai is impatient to finish the day’s work and return to the village. She interrupts Huang’s familiar story and later notices his shaken reaction to the tomb.
• Stone Monkey questions Huang’s comparisons and correctly suspects that the round passage was made by people.
• The team works together to rescue Huang and debates whether to investigate further. They reject both sharing the discovery with nearby teams and exploring the dangerous tomb with too few people.

Significant themes

• Caution in the face of the unknown: The team knows the dangers of the wilderness and chooses not to press on without support.
• Ambition versus responsibility: Huang wants his team to keep credit for the discovery, but recognizes that safety and expert guidance matter more.
• The mysterious past: The carefully engineered passage and vast joint tomb suggest an ancient, possibly supernatural presence in the wilderness.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing arrive at Jiangcheng City TV for a recording, where Lin Qing’s striking cyberpunk outfit attracts attention.
• Lin Qing poses for photos and accepts social-media requests, keeping Chen Xuan beside her and claiming he is her jealous boyfriend. She explains that posing as a couple is a useful cover against possible surveillance by the Dimensional Limit Organization.
• They pass security. Lin Qing says the older scanners cannot detect her prosthetics; weight would be harder to disguise, but no scales are present.
• Inside the hall, Chen Xuan finds no unusually strong Spiritual Energy signatures. The TV station’s signal jamming blocks his Scanner Gun, but Lin Qing bypasses the interference and shares a connection with him.
• When Chen Xuan opens his inventory, he sees the strange tendrils above “Fission and Fusion” extending toward “Spiritual Energy Shield,” “Linguistics,” and “Coin Toss.” He suspects the mutated “Coin Toss” ability has drawn them, raising an unsettling question about how the digital inventory’s elements can interact.

Character developments

• Chen Xuan remains cautious and uneasy in the glamorous crowd, but relies on Lin Qing’s technical skill. The inventory anomaly leaves him alarmed and puzzled.
• Lin Qing is confident, socially adept, and playful, using her appearance and a fake-couple story as cover. She also demonstrates her advanced technology by defeating the signal jammer.

Character interactions

• Lin Qing repeatedly draws Chen Xuan into photographs and casually labels him her boyfriend, embarrassing him. He objects afterward, but she defends it as a practical disguise.
• Chen Xuan questions whether security can detect Lin Qing’s prosthetics; she reassures him and later restores his Scanner Gun’s connection.

Significant themes

• Surveillance and infiltration: Lin Qing assumes the organization’s influence may reach beyond its territory, making ordinary outings potentially risky.
• Technology versus outdated systems: Her advanced devices easily bypass the TV station’s conventional security and signal blocking.
• The uncanny digital world: The apparent interaction between mutated abilities in Chen Xuan’s inventory suggests that its supposedly simple data structure may conceal something stranger.

Chapter Summary — “His Gift”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan tests whether two Forbidden abilities can interact by placing Coin Toss near the black tentacles associated with Fission and Fusion.
• Instead of merging, the tentacles devour Coin Toss. The ability is gradually torn apart and disappears entirely.
• Chen Xuan discovers that Coin Toss has been replaced by a new ability:

Flesh Seed — Level 9, White

• It stores flesh, Spiritual Energy, and other energy that can later be used as the “price” for Fission and Fusion.
• The ability’s high level results from absorbing Coin Toss. Its capacity is roughly equivalent to the flesh and energy of nine Chen Xuans.
• Chen Xuan concludes that Flesh Seed only absorbs energy from enemies connected to hostile powers, while Flesh Hunger can absorb almost any living being. This suggests multiple supernatural powers or entities exist, and that they may be enemies.
• Although Flesh Seed would strengthen his combat abilities, Chen Xuan removes it because he does not want to embrace the grotesque, cult-like image associated with Flesh Fusion. He restores Spiritual Energy Body instead.
• The television program begins. The guest is revealed to be Jiang Wenbin, the president of Gaosheng Group and Chen Xuan’s former employer.
• Jiang unveils a bridge loaded with one hundred million in cash, announcing that the money is only the beginning of a much larger investment.
• When asked what he is investing in, Jiang answers: “Safety.”

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan becomes more cautious and analytical about the relationships between Forbidden abilities. He realizes that abilities can be destroyed and absorbed rather than simply fused.
• He gains a powerful new resource through Flesh Seed but rejects it for personal and stylistic reasons, showing that he still values his identity as a refined cultivator rather than an agent of Flesh Fusion.
• Chen Xuan also develops a clearer understanding of the supernatural forces behind abilities. He suspects that different entities grant powers and that these entities are hostile to one another.
• Jiang Wenbin is introduced as a wealthy, influential figure who appears to possess knowledge of the supernatural world. His enormous financial investment suggests preparation for a major threat.

Significant Themes

• Power and sacrifice: Strong abilities require payment, and Flesh Seed provides a reserve of flesh and energy to reduce the cost of using Fission and Fusion.
• The danger of forbidden power: Chen Xuan gains strength through a disturbing process but remains wary of being transformed by it or becoming its representative.
• Competing supernatural forces: The chapter establishes that the powers behind abilities may be separate entities with conflicting interests.
• Wealth versus survival: Jiang’s mountain of cash emphasizes that ordinary wealth is insignificant compared with the cost of preparing for supernatural dangers. His stated goal—“safety”—foreshadows a looming crisis.
• Appearance and identity: Chen Xuan’s rejection of Flesh Seed reflects his concern that using certain powers would make him appear like an evil cultist, even if they are strategically useful.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan quietly observes the ability battle while sitting beside Lin Qing. When he asks whether she can see the coin and tentacles, she says she cannot, confirming that the supernatural confrontation is visible only to him.
• Chen Xuan remembers Jiang Wenbin from his former workplace, where Jiang was the company’s top executive.
• Huanxin, the program’s elegant host, introduces Jiang enthusiastically and prompts him to explain the purpose of his massive financial investment.
• Jiang responds calmly and forcefully, presenting himself as someone preparing for danger on a large scale.