Chapter Summaries

Fang Yue was drugged and trapped by the Ning family, where Xia Xiyu revealed that they had lured him there and ordered him restrained with Fluorescent Bracelets. He was left immobilized as the bracelets drained his strength, inner force, and lifespan.

• Fang Yue realized Xia Xiyu was a player after she identified him as Night Dawn, while the Ning family servants ignored his condition and Steward Liao ordered him removed.
• Ning Wudian put a Fluorescent Bracelet on Fang Yue, and Xia Xiyu ordered him covered in bracelets, rejecting Fang Yue’s attempts to persuade her with money.
• Xia Xiyu explained that Fang Yue had survived a Rain-level battlefield and might be more dangerous than Lord Han, then slapped Ning Wudian for questioning her precautions.
• Night's Breath began clearing the drugs’ effects, but the Fluorescent Bracelets drained Fang Yue’s strength, inner force, and lifespan until he could no longer move.
• Xia Xiyu told Fang Yue that the Ning family had deliberately lured him there because he needed to investigate Lord Han’s lost cultivation in person.

Fang Yue used Parchment's Time Rewind to purge the sedatives and restore the power suppressed by the Fluorescent Bracelets. After breaking free, he badly injured Ning Wudian and Xia Xiyu, then prepared another attack.

• Fang Yue called on Parchment, which activated Time Rewind and erased the sedatives’ effects while restoring his absorbed power.
• Fang Yue’s Fluorescent Bracelets cracked and shattered, and he grabbed Ning Wudian and hurled him through a wall.
• Fang Yue charged Xia Xiyu and struck her in the stomach, sending her crashing into a wall.
• Fang Yue swallowed four hundred recovery pills as Xia Xiyu stared in disbelief.
• Fang Yue announced his Strong Hand Splitting Skull move, and flames surged into the sky.

Fang Yue slaughtered Xia Xiyu and the Ning residence’s servants, then forced Ning Wudian to reveal where Lord Han and Lin Ling were being held. Steward Liao arrived and killed Ning Wudian herself, revealing her Xiantian Realm strength as she approached Fang Yue.

• Fang Yue charged Xia Xiyu and killed her with a fire-wreathed punch.
• Fang Yue cut down the servants who attacked him and knocked Old Man Ning aside while Ning Wudian called for help.
• Fang Yue seized Ning Wudian and made him reveal that Lord Han and Lin Ling were in the underground prison’s secret room.
• Ning Wudian ran to Steward Liao and begged her to kill Fang Yue, but Steward Liao stabbed him through the neck with a Serrated Bone Sword.
• Steward Liao approached Fang Yue with her aura rising to the Xiantian Realm.

Fang Yue fought Steward Liao, an Xiantian Realm expert, and used repeated Blazing Fire Bursts to turn the battle in his favor. After piercing Steward Liao’s heart, Fang Yue was left running out of Lifespan and arguing with the sheepskin.

• Fang Yue charged Steward Liao with his Blazing Fire Heart Method and Nine Revolutions Chain Saber, breaking through Steward Liao’s Innate Qi Shield and wounding him.
• Steward Liao ran Fang Yue through with the Serrated Bone Sword, but Fang Yue grabbed the weapon and detonated Blazing Fire Burst.
• Steward Liao survived the first explosion and prepared to finish Fang Yue, but Fang Yue rolled away, seized his legs, and triggered a second Blazing Fire Burst.
• Fang Yue rose from the wreckage and mocked Steward Liao, then argued with the sheepskin over his use of Lifespan and Time Rewind.
• Fang Yue stabbed Steward Liao through the heart with a flaming saber after the Serrated Bone Sword formed a bone shield that failed to stop it.

Fang Yue struggled to break through Steward Liao’s shifting white bone coffin, but it collapsed into black blood and revealed Steward Liao dead inside. After searching the corpse, Fang Yue set out to find someone who could show him the way to Lord Han’s underground prison, only to hear a fight and cries for help approaching.

• Fang Yue discovered that Steward Liao had survived his attacks and that the white bone coffin could shatter his fire blade and resist his fiery punches.
• The sheepskin scroll explained that the Fluorescent Bracelets and Fang Yue’s use of [Time Rewind] had cost him five years of Lifespan.
• Fang Yue used [Blazing Fire Burst] and [Time Rewind], but the coffin restored itself and remained intact.
• Black blood seeped from the coffin, which collapsed into a pool and exposed Steward Liao’s corpse with black eyes and blood.
• Fang Yue searched Steward Liao’s body, found Black Stones, pills, and a jade key, then headed out to find someone who knew how to reach Lord Han.
• Fang Yue heard desperate cries for help and a clash of weapons approaching at high speed.

Fang Yue fought through Ning Manor as a horde of anomalies overwhelmed the estate, then raced for the underground chamber while a Blood-level Anomaly pursued him. He was knocked inside just before the iron doors shut, leaving the horde trapped outside.

• Fang Yue killed a wolf-headed anomaly and saw a Blood-level Anomaly among the growing horde approaching him.
• Ning Manor servants recognized Steward Liao’s corpse and fled toward the underground chamber, revealing its location to Fang Yue.
• Fang Yue followed the servants to the rear courtyard, where the iron doors were closing over the crowded entrance.
• The anomaly horde turned toward Fang Yue, and the centipede-shaped Blood-level Anomaly chased him as he charged for the entrance.
• The centipede-shaped Blood-level Anomaly struck Fang Yue through the closing entrance, knocking him into the underground chamber just before the doors shut.
• The anomalies battered the iron doors, but the reinforced entrance held and kept the horde outside.

The Anomaly army broke into Ning Manor’s underground chamber, led by a new Blood-level Coffin-pulling Anomaly. Meanwhile, Lord Horse Seat spotted smoke rising from Mount Ning Guang and rushed toward the outpost, leaving Ming trapped in a carriage full of preserved body parts.

• The centipede-shaped Blood-level Anomaly devoured Steward Liao’s corpse, formed a black blood sphere, and emerged as a Coffin-pulling Anomaly with a White Bone Coffin.
• The Blood-grade Little Blood Hound formed a red stone on its forehead, while nearby Anomalies advanced to Mid Black-level.
• The Coffin-pulling Anomaly smashed open the underground chamber’s iron door, and the Anomaly army rushed down the stairs.
• Lord Horse Seat saw black smoke rising from Mount Ning Guang and galloped ahead to investigate the outpost.
• Chen Xiaomiao shoved Ming into the carriage, where bottles of preserved human body parts rattled around her.

Xia Xiyu survived the destruction of her game character by using a ring that petrified and restored her face, then reentered the game determined to retaliate. Meanwhile, Fang Yue explored the Ning Estate’s vast underground fortress and realized its three powerful stewards could make it stronger than Qingsi County.

• Xia Xiyu planned to create a new character and use contingencies she had prepared within the Phoenix Organization.
• Xia Xiyu’s face began to burn and scar in the real world, so she used a hidden ring that petrified her body and kept her alive.
• After three days, the stone coating broke away, and Xia Xiyu used the ring’s power to restore her face with a hard, stony covering before reentering the game.
• Fang Yue explored the Ning Estate’s underground palace and suspected that Steward Liao and the other two stewards were behind its construction.
• Fang Yue concluded that the three stewards’ strength could let the Ning Estate overpower Qingsi County and evade the Qing Department.

Fang Yue searched the Ning Manor’s underground maze for Lord Han and Lin Ling, discovering a room where human heads had been preserved and experimented on. Enraged, he slaughtered the armed Martial Artists who confronted him, but Jia-18 suddenly exploded as the prisoners stepped forward.

• Fang Yue wandered through the underground corridors, broke into a dark room, and found jars containing human heads and body parts with records of experiments.
• Fang Yue found no familiar faces among the preserved remains and left, vowing to kill everyone he encountered in the underground chamber.
• More than a hundred armed Martial Artists confronted Fang Yue with five numbered prisoners standing behind them.
• Fang Yue charged the Martial Artists and used repeated fiery attacks to overwhelm them, then killed most of the fallen men.
• The five prisoners stepped forward, and Jia-18 suddenly burst into a cloud of blood as system notifications appeared.

Fang Yue killed the prisoners and Lucky E members who attacked him in the underground chamber, then confronted Misty Morning, a player forced to conduct research there. Misty Morning began explaining his background instead of answering Fang Yue’s questions, leaving the chamber’s purpose unclear.

• The blood mist caused Lucky E’s members to break out in blisters that exploded, killing them.
• Fang Yue killed Prisoner Jia Zi 17, Prisoner Jia Zi 16, and Prisoners Jia Zi 15 and 14 after their anomalous-like abilities failed against him.
• Fang Yue suspected the Condensed Mansion was using Anomalous Essence to give people abilities resembling those of the anomalous.
• Fang Yue called Misty Morning out of hiding, and Misty Morning offered him his White Lab Coat.
• Fang Yue questioned Misty Morning about the chamber and its prisoners, but Misty Morning digressed about becoming a scientist and praised Fang Yue.

Fang Yue learned that the Phoenix Organization backed Ning Manor and resolved to rescue the captives in its underground stronghold before attempting to escape. Qing Chen explained that Experimental Subjects were created by fusing people with anomalies, while Fang Yue worried that powerful masked men might also be inside.

• Qing Chen told Fang Yue that Xia Xiyu had brought him into the Phoenix Organization to study human anomalies.
• Fang Yue realized that the Phoenix Organization backed Ning Manor and decided its stronghold had to be destroyed, though he first sought Lord Han and Lin Ling.
• Qing Chen offered to guide Fang Yue to the nearest prisoner cell but warned that it was guarded by a Houtian First-class Martial Artist and Experimental Subjects.
• Fang Yue remembered that the Phoenix Organization had taken An Dong'er and Miaofa and that the Bull-head Masked Man and Horse-head Masked Man might be in the stronghold, so he prioritized rescuing captives and escaping.
• Qing Chen explained that Experimental Subjects were made by fusing compatible people with anomalies, allowing them to combine anomalous and Martial Artist powers.

Fang Yue learned from Qing Chen that the Phoenix Organization operated a large Medicine Person trafficking industry in the Black Green Mountain Range, where it planned to manipulate the region into a breeding ground for better materials. As Fang Yue grew furious over the organization’s treatment of the villages and Lord Han’s capture, Qing Chen began to explain its other major undertaking: research.

• Qing Chen explained that the Phoenix Organization captured people across the Black Green Mountain Range and refined them into Medicine Persons and Human Medicine.
• Qing Chen said the organization processed its products at an underground outpost and shipped them through Chu Nuan City to buyers elsewhere.
• Fang Yue realized the Phoenix Organization intended to manipulate the region’s anomalies and villages to raise the quality of its Medicine Person materials.
• Fang Yue grew angry as he thought of Lord Han and Lin Ling being captured, and Qing Chen revealed that the organization’s other major undertaking was research.

Qing Chen explained the Phoenix Organization’s Anomaly Theory and its efforts to combine human and anomaly powers through Experimental Subjects. Fang Yue suspected anomalies might already be able to control when possessed humans revived, putting Qingsi County in danger, while Qing Chen said the project aimed to reproduce the Abnormal Spiritual Root.

• Qing Chen told Fang Yue that he had rejected Xia Xiyu’s invitation to join the Shadow Society because he wanted to keep the game separate from reality.
• Qing Chen explained that the Phoenix Organization studied anomalies in detail and used its Experimental Subject department to try to give humans anomalous powers.
• Fang Yue connected the research to his own partial transformation and wondered whether anomalies had learned to start or stop a possessed human’s revival at will.
• Fang Yue feared that controllable possessed humans could be used as vessels and hostages, threatening Qingsi County.
• Qing Chen said existing Experimental Subjects could not reliably combine anomaly abilities with Martial Path strength, and that the research ultimately sought to replicate the Abnormal Spiritual Root.

Fang Yue questioned whether he might have an Abnormal Spiritual Root as he learned that the Phoenix Organization was trying to create one, then forced his way into Cell One with Qing Chen. After killing the guards and defeating the warden and an Experimental Subject in one strike, Fang Yue continued into the prison.

• Qing Chen told Fang Yue that the Phoenix Organization’s Experimental Subjects were part of its effort to create a being with human and anomalous traits, prompting Fang Yue to reconsider his own possible Abnormal Spiritual Root.
• Fang Yue decided to save the [Cape Pill] for a life-or-death fight and resolved that the Phoenix Organization’s methods deserved to be punished, whatever its stated aims.
• Fang Yue and Qing Chen reached Cell One, where Fang Yue killed the two guards after they refused entry without an authorization order.
• Qing Chen realized he could no longer stay with the Phoenix Organization and decided he would have to join Fang Yue instead.
• Fang Yue killed the Cell One warden and an Experimental Subject with a fiery tornado and one slash, leaving Qing Chen stunned by his strength.

Fang Yue and Qing Chen fought through the prison cells as Fang Yue searched for Lord Han and Lin Ling, while Fang Yue pondered whether Game Watches and the Lucky Gift Pack granted players their talents. After Fang Yue left the prisoners behind, they faced a rampage by Little Blood Dou and other Anomalies as the stronghold plunged into chaos.

• Qing Chen asked Fang Yue how to get stronger, and Fang Yue explained that talents could help players raise their attributes.
• Fang Yue broke open the prisoners’ cell locks, but most prisoners stayed inside, so he and Qing Chen continued toward the next cell.
• Fang Yue considered whether players’ talents came from their Game Watches and the Lucky Gift Pack, and wondered what the Tengli Group knew.
• Fang Yue slaughtered a group of guards with his fire blade and ignored the prisoners’ pleas as he hurried to find Lord Han and Lin Ling.
• Several prisoners overcame their fear and followed Fang Yue, while others stayed behind and cursed the escapees.
• About half an hour later, Little Blood Dou and other Anomalies stormed Cell One and attacked the stronghold’s inhabitants.

Fang Yue searched Lord Liao’s secret room for Lin Ling and Lord Han but instead discovered Hua Qiuqiu, who had been turned into a Human Candle controlling the Soul Lanterns. The chapter left Fang Yue facing the discovery that she had been dead for a long time.

• Fang Yue learned from Qing Chen that the missing people might be held in one of the three lords’ secret rooms, then used Steward Liao’s key to open Lord Liao’s room.
• Fang Yue and Qing Chen found a hidden mechanism in Lord Liao’s bedroom that opened a passage to an underground chamber.
• Fang Yue entered the chamber and saw Qing Chen use Lifespan from a captive to light its Soul Lanterns.
• Fang Yue recognized the impaled woman on a stone platform as Hua Qiuqiu, the village chief of Mo Village.
• Qing Chen told Fang Yue that Hua Qiuqiu had been killed and transformed into a Human Candle that served as the Soul Lanterns’ master control.

Fang Yue found Hua Qiuqiu dead and discovered that removing the Seven Seals Short Sword scattered her body into grit. He rescued Lin Ling from a hidden torture chamber, then vowed to kill the Phoenix Organization’s strange creatures and confront the stewards.

• Fang Yue checked Hua Qiuqiu and found no signs of life, then pulled the Seven Seals Short Sword from her body and watched her corpse crumble into grit.
• Qing Chen showed Fang Yue another keyhole, and Fang Yue used his key to open a hidden chamber where Lin Ling attacked him with an iron needle.
• Fang Yue cut Lin Ling free from his chains, removed the wire sewn into his mouth and the needle in his cheek, and gave him pills to restore his strength.
• Lin Ling told Fang Yue he had held on because he could not abandon the people who had given him his life, then passed out from exhaustion.
• Fang Yue burned the torture chamber and its contents, then said he would kill the strange creatures upstairs and wait at the Condensation Residence for the Head Steward and Second Steward.

Fang Yue fought through the anomalies blocking his escape with Qing Chen and the unconscious Lin Ling, then decided to raid the Phoenix Organization’s Live Anomaly Room for revenge and resources. As they headed there, Fang Yue killed a white-wall anomaly that tried to ambush them.

• Fang Yue found the prisoners gone and killed the Big Head Bug Anomalies blocking the doorway with a barrage of punches.
• Fang Yue calmed down, checked on Lin Ling, and told Qing Chen that getting Lin Ling safely out was the priority.
• Fang Yue learned that the Phoenix Organization kept captured anomalies in the Live Anomaly Room and decided to kill them for resources.
• Qing Chen led Fang Yue along the shortest route, where they passed bodies and encountered fleeing Ning Manor servants.
• Fang Yue killed the white-wall anomaly that had attacked the Ning Manor servants, burning it to ashes and leaving behind Black Stone.

Fang Yue entered the [Live Anomaly Room] with Qing Chen and slaughtered the restrained anomalies to build his attributes and breakthrough degree. He advanced from the Houtian First-class realm to the Innate Third-class realm, gaining a large boost to his stats, comprehension, and lifespan.

• Fang Yue killed the guard at the entrance to the [Live Anomaly Room] and found the room packed with restrained anomalies.
• Fang Yue began killing the anomalies, earning attribute points and lifespan through system rewards.
• Fang Yue’s attributes reached their realm limits, and excess Control Power and Force Dissipation began adding to his Realm Breakthrough Degree.
• Fang Yue slaughtered rows of anomalies until his Realm Breakthrough Degree reached 100%.
• Fang Yue broke through to the Innate Third-class realm and gained 500 Control Power, 500 Force Dissipation, 1,000 Life Value, 10 years of lifespan, and two points of Comprehension.

After breaking through to the Xiantian Realm, Fang Yue marveled at his increased strength and let Qing Chen kill anomalies in the [Live Anomaly Room]. He then tried to help Lin Ling gain strength, but killing Black-level Anomalies did not raise Lin Ling’s attributes.

• Fang Yue reached the Xiantian Realm, gaining 1,500 points in both attributes and a major increase in Qi and Blood, while the [Sheepskin Paper] woke up.
• Qing Chen asked Fang Yue if he could kill an anomaly, and Fang Yue told him to clear an entire row of anomaly jars.
• Qing Chen killed anomalies and raised his attributes and Lifespan, then asked Fang Yue what to do when his attribute points reached their maximum.
• Fang Yue explained Realm Breakthrough Degree to Qing Chen, who chose that route because he had no inner cultivation technique.
• Fang Yue guided Lin Ling’s hand to use the Seven Seals Short Sword to kill an anomaly, but Lin Ling’s attributes did not increase.