Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Gu Chen watches a fight between four members of the Central Continent Official Elite Special Operations Team and six Western Modified Demon Soldiers.
• The Central Continent fighters use a simplified version of Human Immortal Martial Dao 2.0, which grants Qi and Blood Power at an earlier stage of training. It makes them stronger than ordinary Hidden Strength fighters, but they are still outnumbered and less experienced than their opponents.
• The Western soldiers—two Lizardmen, two Werewolves, and two Lionmen—were created using animal traits and a Demonic Bloodline supplied by Basiba. Their enhanced instincts and physical abilities give them an advantage.
• The demon soldiers demand that the team surrender their “goods.” When the fighters refuse, their leader, Henry, orders everyone to transform and kill them quickly.
• The soldiers’ animal features intensify, greatly increasing their strength and speed. The Central Continent team is soon overwhelmed: Zhang Zhengyi is badly wounded, Captain Yang is slashed and knocked down, and a Lizardman restrains him and prepares to torture him.
• Gu Chen decides to intervene secretly, unwilling to let the invaders harm people on Central Continent soil.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen begins as an observer, analyzing both sides’ fighting styles and abilities. His sense of national loyalty ultimately moves him to act.
• Captain Yang and his team show courage and solidarity, refusing to surrender despite being outnumbered. Their defiance gives way to desperation as the transformed soldiers overpower them.
• Henry, the Lionman squad leader, is pragmatic and ruthless: he orders the transformation to finish the fight quickly and secure the goods.
• The demon soldiers taunt their opponents and urge Henry to attack. Their confidence turns into ferocity after transforming, while the Lizardman’s threat to torture Yang emphasizes their cruelty.
• The Central Continent fighters support one another, but their teamwork cannot overcome the demon soldiers’ superior numbers and sudden physical escalation.

Significant themes

• Technology versus training: Martial Dao 2.0 rapidly gives people access to Qi and Blood Power, but still requires practice; biological modification can produce powerful soldiers much faster.
• The cost of rapid enhancement: The Western soldiers gain strength through unnatural transformation, becoming more beastlike and sinister.
• Courage and loyalty: The Central Continent team refuses to abandon its mission, and Gu Chen’s decision to help reflects his identification with them.
• Power and vulnerability: A promising martial system is not enough to overcome a stronger, better-prepared force in this encounter.

Plot points and events

• Two Lizardmen torture the badly injured Captain Yang, threatening to mutilate him unless the Central Continent fighters surrender what they want. Three of Yang’s comrades are held off by four beast-transformed attackers.
• Watching from a rooftop, Gu Chen intervenes by firing pieces of tile with his Qi and Blood Power. He kills both Lizardmen with precise head shots, saving Yang.
• Gu Chen reveals himself and denounces the attackers as foreign “Barbarians Beyond the Realm” trespassing on Central Continent.
• He then kills three more attackers—the Werewolves and lion-headed men—with tile shards. Their captain, Henry, tries to surrender, but Gu Chen kills him too.
• In under two minutes, Gu Chen has eliminated all six infiltrators.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen is introduced as a confident, lethal protector who acts decisively and refuses to show mercy to the invaders. He turns ordinary tile fragments into deadly projectiles.
• Captain Yang remains defiant despite his injuries, ordering his comrades not to surrender. His captors choke and torment him, but Gu Chen’s intervention saves him.
• Yang’s comrades are initially trapped and furious, then celebrate Gu Chen’s intervention and urge him to punish the attackers.
• Henry and his group shift from cruelly dominant to frightened and helpless as Gu Chen kills their companions. Henry’s threats and eventual surrender fail to save him.

Significant themes

• Patriotism and resistance to foreign aggression: Gu Chen frames the fight as a defense of Central Continent against outsiders.
• Power and reversal: The attackers’ control collapses almost instantly when Gu Chen enters the conflict.
• Mercy versus vengeance: Gu Chen refuses Henry’s belated plea for mercy, answering the invaders’ earlier brutality with uncompromising violence.
• Precision and overwhelming strength: Gu Chen’s improvised tile-shard attacks demonstrate both his formidable power and calm control.

Plot points and events

• After Gu Chen saves Captain Yang’s team from Western Augmented Soldiers, Yang explains that foreign augmented fighters are causing trouble across Central Continent—especially flying Vampires in Jinling and Jiangnan.
• Gu Chen decides to eliminate the threat. He sends his consciousness into Li Hansha, his powerful Core Condensation clone, whose martial arts far exceed those of ordinary fighters.
• At a Central Province research institute, Vampire, Werewolf, and Lizardman Augmented Soldiers overpower the defenders and threaten to abduct researchers to steal their work.
• As Vampire Jem escapes with a captive researcher, Li Hansha intercepts him and kills him with one strike. He then defeats the remaining attackers, killing four more in quick succession and bringing down the last fleeing Vampire by tearing off a wing.
• The institute’s defenders are relieved and celebrate the destruction of the raiders.

Character developments

• Gu Chen shifts from helping one team to taking responsibility for the wider threat, using his clone to protect Central Continent.
• Li Hansha demonstrates the formidable strength he has developed through Core Condensation and Human Immortal martial arts. He acts decisively and ruthlessly against the invaders.
• Captain Yang and the institute defenders are shown as capable but frustrated by the Western fighters’ unusual abilities—especially flight and echolocation. Li Hansha’s arrival restores their confidence.

Character interactions

• Captain Yang gratefully speaks with Gu Chen and shares intelligence about the growing incursions.
• The institute’s martial artists encourage one another while struggling to hold off the attackers.
• Jem taunts the defenders while taking a researcher hostage, but Li Hansha turns the encounter around, rescues the captive, and confronts the raiders directly.
• The Western Augmented Soldiers’ shock and anger at Jem’s death quickly give way to panic as Li Hansha overwhelms them.

Significant themes

• Protecting the homeland: Gu Chen treats the foreign incursions as a threat to Central Continent and acts to stop them.
• Strength and technological advantage: The defenders’ simplified martial arts leave them vulnerable to the augmented soldiers’ flight and echolocation, while Li Hansha’s advanced abilities decisively change the balance.
• Arrogance versus consequence: The raiders’ confidence and taunting collapse when they encounter an opponent far stronger than they expected.

Key plot points and events

• In the research institute, Gu Chen’s duplicate, Li Hansha, helps defeat a group of Western Augmented Soldiers: five are killed immediately, and the last is captured.
• The Central Continent martial artists recognize Li Hansha and enthusiastically praise him. They repeatedly slap the captive for addressing him by name, then pretend his injuries were self-inflicted. Gu Chen is startled by their behavior before withdrawing his consciousness from the duplicate.
• Gu Chen’s main body has recovered from the damage sustained in his battle with the Western Joint Fleet. He travels to the Ming Emperor Mausoleum in Jinling, where he intercepts Western infiltrators targeting the garrison.
• He captures or disables several Vampires and Lizardmen, forces information from two Lizardmen, and uses it to track down other members of their unit.
• A Lizardman fleeing Gu Chen takes Qin Miaowei hostage. Gu Chen kills him with overwhelming Qi and Blood Power, rescuing her.

Character developments

• Gu Chen continues to use remote consciousness and multiple bodies to pursue threats across different locations. His power is formidable, but Qin Miaowei’s reappearance leaves him unsure how to handle her.
• The Central Continent martial artists show their admiration for Li Hansha, combining genuine hero worship with comic, rough treatment of the prisoner.
• Qin Miaowei reacts excitedly when she sees Gu Chen, suggesting she is pleased to meet him again and trusts him to protect her.

Significant themes

• Patriotism and resistance: Gu Chen protects Central Continent’s research institute and historic sites from foreign infiltration.
• Power and intimidation: His Martial Dao Human Immortal strength makes the Western soldiers’ weapons and tactics ineffective.
• Comic camaraderie and justice: The martial artists’ exaggerated loyalty to Li Hansha turns the captive’s punishment into a running joke.
• Unexpected personal ties: The action plot abruptly reconnects Gu Chen with Qin Miaowei, leaving a personal complication alongside his mission.

Character interactions

• The martial artists treat Li Hansha as an idol and collectively punish the Vampire who addresses him too casually, while their captain humorously pretends not to notice.
• Gu Chen’s duplicate receives their praise, but Gu Chen himself retreats to his other body and continues hunting the infiltrators.
• Gu Chen interrogates the captured Lizardmen, then confronts their remaining comrades.
• Qin Miaowei calls out to Gu Chen when he arrives; the Lizardman tries to use her as leverage, but Gu Chen dismisses the threat and kills him.

Key plot points and events

• Gu Chen, disguised as Pei Canghai, tries to escape Qin Miaowei’s relentless questions, but she clings to him as he flies away. She asks him to take her as his disciple.
• He agrees to teach her Human Immortal Martial Dao, plants Qi and Blood Power in her, and guides her through her initial training. Qin quickly starts flirting with her new master, so Gu Chen takes her home and leaves.
• Back in his true body, Gu Chen recognizes a gap in the simplified Human Immortal Martial Dao 2.0: practitioners can cultivate Qi and Blood Power but lack techniques for using it effectively.
• He develops the Blood Qi Manifestation Method, which lets practitioners shape Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke according to their martial arts style and visualization. He tests it by forming a vast starry-sky manifestation whose countless points of light devastate a mountain range.
• Gu Chen spreads the new method. A stone stele bearing it appears in the Ming Emperor Mausoleum, where official martial artists discover and learn it. Their combat strength rises substantially.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen shifts from reluctant mentor to innovator, noticing that cultivation alone is insufficient and creating a practical system for applying Qi and Blood Power.
• Qin Miaowei becomes his enthusiastic, impulsive disciple. Her curiosity and boldness turn into playful flirtation, while Gu Chen responds with exasperation but still teaches her.
• The official martial artists quickly adopt Gu Chen’s technique, gaining a more effective way to use their cultivated power.

Significant themes

• Cultivation requires application: Raw power must be paired with techniques to become truly useful.
• Innovation through synthesis: The new method links supernatural Qi and Blood Power with familiar martial arts styles.
• Knowledge spreading beyond its creator: Gu Chen’s invention is made accessible to others, strengthening the wider martial-arts community.
• Humor and mentorship: Qin’s exuberant disciple behavior contrasts with Gu Chen’s weary, practical demeanor.

Key plot points and events

• The Blood Qi Manifestation technique makes Central Continent’s official martial artists markedly stronger. Western augmented soldiers are badly beaten unless they use Beast Transformation, prompting Western intelligence agencies to halt further incursions.
• With research facilities safer, work on a simplified Marrow Cleansing Chapter advances. Folk martial artists begin joining official ranks and learning the new methods, while state-promoted martial arts starts shaping a modern martial-arts world.
• Gu Chen, impressed by the changes caused by the supernatural systems he has introduced, decides to create a different kind of path: the Incense God Dao, rooted in the Great Song.
• He spends 1.25 million Origin Points to bring the Great Song Incense God Court, demons and other supernatural beings, and a City God into reality.
• The Incense God Court appears in the void, while supernatural creatures begin stirring across Central Province. In an old temple near Xihang Lin’an, a City God statue awakens and restores the ruined temple.
• Soon afterward, elderly villagers share vivid dreams of gathering outside the City God Temple. The City God silences them with a gavel strike that wakes them all. The shared dream spreads through the region, giving the new supernatural order its first public foothold.

Character developments

• Gu Chen grows more ambitious: rather than merely strengthening existing martial paths, he now seeks to establish a broader supernatural age by introducing the Incense God Dao.
• The City God awakens as an authoritative, active presence, immediately demonstrating power and command.
• Central Province’s martial artists gain confidence and strength, while some folk practitioners move into official service.

Significant themes

• Falsehood becoming reality: Gu Chen uses carefully prepared stories and legends to give new supernatural beings a history and make them believable.
• The spread of power: Martial techniques and supernatural systems reshape society, potentially opening an age in which many people can pursue extraordinary paths.
• Tradition meeting modernity: Folk beliefs and ancient religious imagery become part of a changing, increasingly organized world.

Character interactions

• Central Continent martial artists overpower Western soldiers, reversing their earlier imbalance.
• Elderly villagers encounter familiar people in a shared dream, joking and arguing until the City God demands silence.
• The City God’s gavel strike ends the gathering and jolts every dreamer awake, linking their experiences and spreading news of the temple.

Plot points and events

• Residents near Lin’an repeatedly share dreams in which the City God addresses them. After they make offerings at an old temple, the City God appears to bless the worshippers with golden light. They wake feeling healthier, and word of the temple’s miraculous effects spreads, bringing it crowds and online attention.
• As the temple’s incense offerings grow, reports of supernatural events multiply across the Central Continent: a yellow weasel seeking a title, a man trapped in a “Ghost Wall,” paper figures carrying a red sedan chair, and a water ghost nearly drowning an angler.
• Gu Chen, who is behind the developments, decides to let public interest build before revealing the Great Song Incense God Court.
• Officials respond by sending Qi-and-Blood-trained martial artists to investigate. At the reported campsite, Zhang Yang’s team encounters the floating paper figures and sedan chair. They fight the creatures, destroy two, and escape wounded. Their footage and findings soon circulate online.

Character developments and interactions

• The elderly villagers move from treating their shared dreams as a curiosity to believing the City God is communicating with them. Those who receive his blessing are amazed by their improved health; those who missed the offering rush to the temple afterward.
• Gu Chen watches public fascination grow with satisfaction, deliberately holding back the larger revelation.
• Zhang Yang is presented as a capable, decisive leader: he manifests a bear-shaped aura and attacks first when the paper figures appear. His teammates are frightened but join the fight when he is overwhelmed. Together, they retreat rather than risk being killed.

Significant themes

• Faith and public belief: The City God’s apparent blessing turns a neglected temple into a popular destination.
• The supernatural entering public life: Online reports and video evidence make strange events harder for people—and the authorities—to dismiss.
• Preparation amid uncertainty: Officials investigate without knowing what they face, relying on martial training against forces that prove unexpectedly dangerous.
• Influence and timing: Gu Chen allows belief and attention to grow before revealing his broader plan.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Yang’s investigation team returns to the Su City Security Bureau badly injured after fighting the Paper Figures carrying a sedan chair. The figures are fast, unusually hard, and radiate a chill that slows anyone they strike.
• A second team reports that the talking Huang Pi Zi escaped by using illusions and outwitting them. Their only result is a tuft of fur.
• Investigation footage circulates online, alarming viewers and making them more cautious about supernatural dangers and going out at night.
• The Central Continent Official confirms that Qi and Blood Power can counter—and, with enough strength, destroy—Demons, Ghosts, and Monsters. This reassures the public and spurs martial artists to train harder. The government also plans to issue version 2.0 of the simplified Five Organs Chapter.
• Gu Chen sees that the public and authorities are becoming better prepared. He decides the time is approaching to gradually reveal the Great Song Incense God Court and establish its supernatural system.
• Streamers Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli travel to Lin’an to investigate the popular City God Temple and capitalize on interest in supernatural livestreams. Their popularity had waned since the delivery-man martial artist Li Hansha left.
• Pan Xiaoli orders pizza and finds bloodstained, icy banknotes hidden in the box. Unable to reach the delivery worker, she throws the money away—but it reappears beside her bed. Online research identifies it as Life-Buying Money, which trades a recipient’s life for cash.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yang gives a sober account of the Paper Figures’ abilities, while his team’s injuries underscore how dangerous the encounter was.
• The Huang Pi Zi investigators admit that their target was clever enough to manipulate and nearly endanger them, despite their strength and numbers.
• Gu Chen shifts from observing events to preparing a deliberate next step: using the City God to help bring his larger supernatural project into reality.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli hope to revive their online success by covering supernatural topics. Pan Xiaoli’s initial irritation at the delivery worker’s hurried departure gives way to fear as the money behaves impossibly.

Significant themes

• Growing public awareness: Evidence and official announcements are changing how people understand supernatural threats.
• Human agency against the supernatural: Qi and Blood Power offers a practical defense, though success may require strength, teamwork, and sacrifice.
• Ambition amid danger: Gu Chen and the streamers each see opportunity in the expanding supernatural landscape, but Pan Xiaoli’s discovery shows that curiosity can become perilous.
• The cost of apparent gain: Life-Buying Money embodies the danger of accepting wealth when its true price is unknown.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Xiaoli wakes in terror after receiving a stack of bloodstained “Life-Buying Money” with a food delivery. The bills cannot be destroyed: whenever the women tear, burn, or flush them, they reappear intact.
• Sun Na discovers that whoever holds the money must pass it on within twenty-four hours or an Evil Ghost will come to claim their life.
• The women livestream their predicament and consider viewers’ advice. Their limited martial-arts ability makes developing Qi and Blood Power impossible in time, so they travel to the City God Temple near Lin’an.
• At the temple, the oppressive supernatural chill around them lessens, giving them hope. Viewers urge them to put the cursed money in the Merit Box and let the City God face the Evil Ghost.
• Nervously, Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli approach the box and try to justify leaving the money there. Meanwhile, Gu Chen sends his consciousness into the City God statue and overhears them.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Xiaoli moves from panic and despair to cautious hope after reaching the temple. She relies on Sun Na for comfort and practical help.
• Sun Na stays composed enough to investigate the curse, seek advice, and guide her friend to the temple, though she is frightened too.
• The livestream viewers act as a collective source of suggestions and reassurance; their teasing encouragement pushes the women toward the Merit Box.
• Gu Chen, observing through the City God, becomes aware of the women’s plan as they appeal to the deity and prepare to pass on the cursed money.

Significant themes

• Fear and survival: The twenty-four-hour deadline forces the women into desperate choices.
• Faith and supernatural protection: The temple’s apparent calming effect suggests the City God may offer real protection.
• Responsibility and moral compromise: Passing the money on could save the women while exposing someone—or something else—to the danger.
• Modern community and folk belief: Livestreaming brings online advice and humor into a crisis rooted in traditional religious and supernatural ideas.

Key plot points and events

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli, urged by their livestream viewers, place bloodstained Life-Buying Money in the City God’s Merit Box—a deeply inappropriate offering.
• Gu Chen, observing through the City God, recognizes the pair from an earlier livestream that helped spread his supernatural plans. He decides to spare them and use the moment to publicize the Great Song Incense God Court.
• The City God statue glows gold, and a commanding voice declares that the women will be spared death but must atone through good deeds.
• The livestream viewers witness the miracle. Though they had suggested the offering as a joke, they immediately try to shift responsibility onto Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli.
• Sun Na calls them out, but the viewers continue making excuses and jokingly offer her gifts to take the blame.

Character developments

• Gu Chen acts as both a powerful supernatural figure and a pragmatic promoter: he is irritated by the offering but chooses to turn the incident into publicity and reward the women for their earlier help.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli move from fear and remorse to amazement when the City God answers them. Sun Na then becomes indignant as the viewers abandon their supposed loyalty.
• The viewers are revealed as mischievous and self-protective: they encourage risky behavior, then deny responsibility when the joke becomes real.

Significant themes

• Faith and the supernatural: The City God’s manifestation turns a prank into undeniable proof of divine power.
• Accountability and atonement: The women are spared, but their wrongdoing still carries consequences.
• Blame and self-preservation: The viewers’ swift attempt to scapegoat the streamers exposes the gap between online support and real loyalty.
• Publicity and belief: Gu Chen uses a miraculous event to spread awareness of the Incense God Court.

Character interactions

• Gu Chen silently reacts to the women’s offering and decides how to respond.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli jointly apologize and plead for mercy before the City God.
• The City God’s pronouncement reassures them while requiring them to make amends.
• Sun Na confronts the viewers for abandoning them; they answer with jokes, excuses, and attempts to leave the blame with the two women.

Key plot points and events

• After the City God manifests and warns that the women may be spared death but not punishment, Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli kneel before the altar and beg forgiveness for placing the Life-Buying Money in the Merit Box.
• Gu Chen, who projected his consciousness into the statue to make the appearance, watches the women’s livestream and is amused by their panic. The incident draws a large online audience, and viewers argue over who is to blame.
• A commenter calling himself Ye Liangchen boasts that he will take responsibility for Sun Na and challenges the City God. Gu Chen recognizes the brash persona as Ye Zhen. In their group chat, others mock Ye Zhen for provoking trouble, while Gu Chen decides he may teach him a lesson using the City God’s power.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli remain at the temple through the day, afraid to leave without the City God’s protection. By evening, the livestream shows black qi entering the temple: the fierce ghost drawn by the Life-Buying Money has arrived.
• Gu Chen sees the ghost’s appearance as an opportunity for the City God to act and begin revealing the Great Song Incense God Court. He sends his consciousness into the statue again.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli shift from reckless participants in the viewers’ dare to frightened, remorseful supplicants. They rely on the temple for safety.
• Gu Chen moves from amused observer to deliberate strategist: he intends to use the coming confrontation both to demonstrate the City God’s power and to advance his larger plans.
• Ye Zhen embraces his exaggerated online identity, insulting the chat and confidently challenging the City God. His friends recognize his recklessness and ridicule him, but he remains oblivious to the danger.
• The livestream audience first dodges responsibility, then turns on Ye Liangchen for his bravado; their comments provide comic relief and highlight the gap between online posturing and real risk.

Significant themes

• Accountability and blame: Viewers who encouraged the dangerous act try to shift responsibility onto Sun Na.
• Online bravado versus real-world consequences: Ye Zhen’s keyboard confidence may attract consequences beyond the screen.
• Faith, fear, and divine authority: The City God’s manifestation changes the women’s perception of the statue and sets the stage for a public display of supernatural power.
• Public spectacle: The livestream turns a supernatural crisis into entertainment, while also giving Gu Chen a way to shape public belief.

Key plot points

• The Life-Buying Money Fierce Ghost erupts inside the City God Temple, unleashing Black Qi and bloodstained bills inhabited by the resentful souls of its victims.
• The bills attack Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli, while the ghost approaches to claim their lives. The women are immobilized by its icy energy.
• Gu Chen, acting through the City God Statue, releases golden light that frees the women and drives the ghost back. Incense Power then pins it down, and the City God’s light destroys it.
• The haunted bills crumble to dust. The shaken women kneel and promise to bring offerings in gratitude; viewers praise the City God’s power and flood the livestream with comments and gifts.
• Gu Chen intends to punish the women despite saving them, and also wants to reach Ye Zhen through the internet to teach him a lesson.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli shift from terror and helplessness to relief and gratitude. They cling to each other during the attack, then kneel together before the statue.
• Gu Chen demonstrates decisive divine authority, but sees rescue and punishment as separate matters: the women may live, yet still face consequences. His irritation with Ye Zhen also reveals a personal, vindictive streak.
• The viewers act as a lively chorus, questioning the City God’s delay before celebrating his intervention. Their reactions reinforce the spectacle of his power.
• The Fierce Ghost is presented as threatening and murderous, but its confidence proves no match for the City God’s authority within the temple.

Significant themes

• Divine authority and justice: The City God protects the women, while Gu Chen insists that mercy does not erase accountability.
• Faith and sacred power: Incense Power and the temple’s altar become the means through which divine force defeats the ghost.
• Public spectacle: The livestream turns a supernatural crisis into a shared event, with viewers’ comments and gifts amplifying the drama.

Plot points and events

• After narrowly surviving the Life-Buying Money Fierce Ghost, Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli end their livestream, retreat to a hotel, and sleep.
• Clips of the broadcast go viral. Viewers debate whether the City God’s manifestation was real, while many begin visiting temples and leaving offerings for protection.
• The Central Continent Security Bureau reviews the footage. Officials and researchers discuss the City God’s powers, his apparent ability to enter dreams, and whether they can contact him. They decide to investigate, including consulting Great Song historians.
• Gu Chen uses the City God’s Incense Power to sense the wishes of people thinking about him. Following one connection, he finds the online troll Ye Zhen, who is boasting that the City God should come find him.
• Gu Chen makes Ye Zhen fall asleep and enters his dream as the City God, intending to teach him a lesson.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli are shaken and exhausted by their encounter, so they stop streaming and recover together.
• Gu Chen gains a clearer understanding of how Incense Wish Power works: thoughts of the City God can reach him, and he can follow that connection to someone’s location or dream. He decides to use this power against Ye Zhen.
• Ye Zhen displays reckless arrogance online, taunting the City God and challenging him to appear. Gu Chen responds by entering his dream.
• The Security Bureau shifts from observing the event to actively seeking contact with the City God, recognizing his potential value against supernatural threats.

Significant themes

• Faith and supernatural power: Public attention and belief generate Incense Wish Power, strengthening the connection between people and the City God.
• Modernity meets ancient tradition: Viral videos, online communities, and government research bring renewed attention to an ancient temple and its deity.
• Consequences of arrogance: Ye Zhen’s provocative online behavior sets up a direct supernatural confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Gu Chen enters Ye Zhen’s dream, where Ye Zhen imagines himself as an invincible martial hero boasting to and defeating his rivals.
• Gu Chen appears as a towering City God and has his supernatural attendants beat Ye Zhen until he delivers a warning. Ye Zhen’s injuries carry over into waking life, leaving him bruised and sore.
• Gu Chen also punishes online viewers who encouraged Sun Na to misuse the Life-Buying Money. They are whipped in nightmares and wake with real marks, convinced the City God has disciplined them.
• Gu Chen visits Sun Na and her friend Pan Xiaoli in a shared dream. He spares them but appoints them temporary Yin and Yang Judges, giving each a token that allows them to wield incense wish power and sense supernatural beings.
• Reports of the City God’s dream visitations spread online. The Central Continent Security Bureau questions Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli. They conceal their tokens but reveal the City God’s plans to restore the Great Song Incense God Court, prompting an official investigation.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen acts as both punisher and recruiter: he uses dreams to enforce reverence for the City God, then gives Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli supernatural roles.
• Ye Zhen remains boastful even while being beaten, underscoring how deeply his grandiose persona runs. He wakes confused and furious at his injuries.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli move from frightened offenders to empowered agents. Though startled by their appointment, they become excited by their new abilities and keep the tokens secret from investigators.
• The Security Bureau shifts from gathering testimony to urgently researching the Incense God Court and the consequences of its restoration.

Significant themes

• Supernatural authority and accountability: Offenses against the City God bring consequences that cross from dreams into waking life.
• Dreams shaping reality: Gu Chen’s dream interventions produce physical effects, suggesting the mind and supernatural power can alter the body.
• Punishment paired with purpose: Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli are disciplined, but their punishment becomes a chance to serve and gain power.
• The supernatural entering public life: Shared dreams and online reports draw government attention, setting up broader consequences for the City God’s plans.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After cooperating with the Central Province Security Investigation Bureau, streamers Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli leave without revealing that the City God appointed them acting Yin and Yang Judges. They fear the authorities might imprison or study them.
• The friends continue streaming while using their Judge tokens to travel spiritually, hunt minor demons and ghosts, and gather Incense Wish Power.
• The authorities struggle to learn about the Great Song Incense God Court. Historical records offer no useful information, apparently as though relevant history had been erased. An official team sent to contact the Lin’an City God cannot even approach the temple, which seems to exist beyond their reach.
• Gu Chen counts the rewards from his staged supernatural events: nearly 400,000 Origin Points. He spends 300,000 to use Refine Falsehood Into Truth again, creating Mountain Gods, River Gods, and temples to build anticipation for the Court’s arrival.
• Golden lights appear in mountains and rivers, and temples emerge across the Central Province. Worshippers receive divine protection; some are visited in dreams, chosen as temple attendants, and given incense tokens that grant supernatural abilities. Their tokens also tell them to gather Incense Wish Power for the approaching Court.
• The authorities inspect the temples but find ordinary structures and clay statues, leaving them unable to explain their powers. The new deities become a major topic of online speculation.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli protect their secret from the authorities and work together to strengthen their new powers by hunting supernatural threats.
• Gu Chen continues to expand his influence strategically, using Origin Points to create real deities and temples that will prepare the public for the Great Song Incense God Court.
• Government officials and researchers grow more anxious as their investigations yield little. Their attempts to contact the City God are rebuffed, and their scientific equipment cannot explain the temples’ supernatural effects.
• Temple attendants and worshippers become intermediaries between the deities and ordinary people, spreading word of the Court and collecting Incense Wish Power.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and mistrust: Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli fear becoming subjects of government research, while the authorities remain wary of the divine forces emerging around them.
• The limits of knowledge: Historical records, investigation teams, and scientific instruments all fail to explain the supernatural changes.
• Belief made real: Incense offerings bring protection and power, while Gu Chen’s ability to turn falsehood into reality transforms staged phenomena into genuine gods and temples.
• Growing anticipation and uncertainty: The spread of temples and rumors raises the prospect of the Great Song Incense God Court’s return, while leaving its intentions—and its relationship with the modern world—unknown.

Key plot points and events

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli narrowly defeat a powerful pregnant ghost in red by drawing her out and striking with incense wish power. They earn twenty merit points.
• Since receiving yin-and-yang judge incense tokens from the City God, the pair have trained steadily. In just over a month, they have advanced from Manifesting Strength to the peak of Hidden Strength.
• The women join a five-day gathering of the Divine Envoy Alliance, a secretive network of incense-token holders who trade intelligence and sometimes cooperate against supernatural threats. Known as the Yin Yang Female Judge, Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli are among its strongest members.
• Gu Chen secretly attends under an alias. Seeing that the alliance has grown as he hoped, he sends a decree from the Great Song Incense God Court through the members’ tokens.
• The decree warns that remnants of the Evil Buddha Demonic Temple are about to emerge. It orders the Divine Envoys to erase their lingering will and gives them coordinates.
• The Envoys are stunned by a vision of the Incense God Court floating in the void. Government-affiliated members resolve to report what they have seen.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli have grown markedly stronger and more confident after their earlier near-death experience. They remain close partners, acting and traveling together.
• Gu Chen moves from quietly observing the alliance to directing it toward a larger purpose, using the God Court’s authority to mobilize its members.
• The Divine Envoys’ cautious cooperation is tested by the sudden decree. They react with awe, speculation, and concern, while the official members recognize the discovery’s importance.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: The Envoys’ gifts bring strength, but also obligations to confront supernatural dangers.
• Trust and secrecy: Members cooperate while hiding their identities, wary that allies could become threats.
• Faith and authority: The God Court’s overwhelming presence turns the incense deities from distant benefactors into a force capable of issuing commands.
• Collective action: The alliance’s growing reach makes it possible to face dangers that individuals could not handle alone.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Divine Envoy Alliance gathering ends abruptly after the Great Song Incense God Court issues a frightening decree: the remnants of the Evil Buddha Demonic Temple are about to emerge, and the Divine Envoys must confront them.
• Gu Chen reveals the decree was part of his plan. He spends 500,000 origin points using Refine Falsehood Into Truth to create a sinister temple on Wutai Mountain, along with an Evil Monk, corrupted monks and novices, and monstrous animals. Their chants infect and torment anyone who hears them, while spreading corruption cloaks the temple from view.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli return from their spiritual journey. Pan is initially thrilled by the experience, but Sun Na recognizes the decree as a warning of a serious threat.
• Divine Envoys across the country begin spending their merit points to grow stronger.
• Central Province’s security bureau holds an emergency meeting. Officials discuss the Incense God Court’s existence in another dimension and consider pairing Captain Level Warriors with Official Divine Envoys to investigate or destroy the temple.
• Historians and investigators connect the threat to the Song-era suppression of Buddhism. They focus on the Taoist Lin Lingsu, who was renowned for nearly eliminating Buddhism, though the historical truth remains uncertain.
• A week later, tourists on Wutai Mountain report maddening chants, nightmares, and sightings of a dreadful temple. Their accounts spread online, attracting the attention of investigators and Divine Envoys.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen confidently advances his plan to manufacture a crisis, draw the Great Song incense gods into the world, establish the Incense God Dao, and gain origin points. He is satisfied with the temple’s sinister appearance and waits for others to enter the trap.
• Sun Na proves cautious and practical, warning Pan Xiaoli that the decree signals a dangerous mission and urging her to become stronger.
• Pan Xiaoli shifts from excitement about the spiritual journey to anxiety once she understands the danger.
• Officials, warriors, researchers, and historians respond collectively: the bureau plans for a possible crisis, while scholars search the past for clues. Their theories remain tentative.

Significant themes

• Manufactured reality and deception: Gu Chen creates a threat that appears to be an ancient evil returning.
• Power and preparation: The decree drives Divine Envoys and officials to strengthen themselves before the danger fully emerges.
• The uncertainty of history: Present-day investigators search for explanations in Song-era events, but the passage of time has left crucial truths obscure.
• Fear spreading through rumor: The temple’s influence reaches beyond the mountain through disturbing encounters and online reports.

Key plot points and events

• Stories about an ancient temple near Wutai Mountain in Jin Province spread rapidly online. Visitors claimed its eerie chanting could overwhelm the mind, cause hallucinations, and leave people with nightmares.
• The rumors gained traction amid a growing public fascination with supernatural events. Supernatural Explorers—martial artists and people with Incense Wish Power—began investigating strange phenomena for Merit Points.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli recognized the temple as a likely match for the Evil Buddha Demonic Temple named in a recent Divine Decree. Sun Na warned that its chanting made it too dangerous to approach alone, but believed the decree implied the Divine Envoys should cooperate and that the authorities would intervene. The two booked flights to Wutai Mountain.
• The Central Continent Security Bureau verified the temple’s existence and location, linked it to the decree, classified it as the highest-level threat, and dispatched investigators and captain-level martial artists. Independent martial artists also headed there.
• Gu Chen watched the attention build and smiled, pleased that the temple had attracted the Security Bureau and Divine Envoys.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun Na shows caution and strategic judgment: she recognizes the danger, discourages a reckless solo assault, and expects strength in numbers and official support.
• Pan Xiaoli is eager to confront the threat, but accepts Sun Na’s reasoning and prepares to join the expedition.
• Gu Chen appears satisfied that events are unfolding as he hoped, though his precise motives are not explained here.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli’s exchange contrasts Pan’s enthusiasm with Sun Na’s pragmatism and leads them to travel together.

Significant themes

• Collective action against supernatural threats: the Divine Decree and the Security Bureau’s response suggest that the temple requires coordinated intervention.
• Fear, rumor, and public fascination: alarming accounts spread quickly online, drawing both curious civilians and trained fighters.
• Power versus danger: martial skill and supernatural abilities offer some protection, but the temple’s influence is dangerous even at a distance.

Key plot points and events

• Experts and visitors flood Wutai Mountain after news spreads of the Evil Ancient Temple, filling nearby hotels. The arrivals include Central Continent security officials, martial artists, Divine Envoys, and suspected Western Augmented Soldiers.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli arrive and take comfort in the crowd of powerful people, believing they can follow the official investigators and explore the temple more safely.
• Gu Chen recognizes the women as people connected to his clone, Li Hansha. He previously gave them yin and yang incense tokens, and their strong Incense Wish Power suggests they have risen to the Divine Envoy Alliance’s top ranks.
• Gu Chen observes the gathering of at least four competing factions and anticipates a clash that will earn him Origin Points.
• Online commenters—and the security teams themselves—assume the temple will be swiftly defeated by the overwhelming force assembled. Gu Chen knows otherwise: he spent 500,000 Origin Points making it a real and formidable entity, comparable to a full-strength Martial Dao Human Immortal, with power that counters Incense Wish Power.

Character developments

• Gu Chen appears as both an observer and the hidden architect of events. He is amused by the crowd’s confidence and eager to profit from the coming confrontation.
• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli are more established and powerful Divine Envoys than their initial connection to Gu Chen might suggest; their tokens and growing influence have placed them among the alliance’s strongest.
• The assembled officials, martial artists, and online commenters share a growing but misplaced certainty that numbers alone guarantee victory.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence versus hidden danger: The crowd mistakes a large force for a certain win, while Gu Chen knows the temple’s true strength.
• Clashing systems of power: The temple’s demonic force is presented as an opposing counterpart to Incense Wish Power, foreshadowing a conflict beyond ordinary martial strength.
• Public spectacle and manipulation: Online attention draws factions to Wutai Mountain, while Gu Chen watches events unfold for his own gain.

Character interactions

• Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli discuss the benefits—and safety—of arriving amid so many experts.
• Gu Chen privately recognizes their connection to him and assesses their standing as Divine Envoys.
• Gu Chen contrasts his knowledge of the temple with the confident predictions circulating online and shared by the security personnel.

Plot points and events

• Gu Chen joins the Idiot Group Friends—Fang Xiu, Liu Qing’er, Wang Xiaoai, and others—for an expedition to the Evil Ancient Temple on Wutai Mountain.
• The next day, a large group of martial artists, government investigators, Divine Envoys, and Western operatives travels to the temple.
• At the site, the temple appears eerie and out of place, surrounded by gray-white vapor. The chanting heard from within unsettles the explorers.
• While officials and more cautious groups assess the scene, a cocky Hidden Strength martial artist leads a dozen others toward the temple.
• As they approach, the chant grows louder and exerts a powerful pull on their minds. The group becomes possessed, their bodies stiffening and twisting as they begin chanting like the temple’s monks.
• The observers realize the chant is a deadly supernatural attack: the Life-Taking Incantation, which ensnares minds and kills its victims.

Character developments and interactions

• Gu Chen accepts the group’s invitation but remains skeptical of Ye Liangchen’s renewed boasting, recalling that he previously beat him while disguised as the City God.
• The Group Chat friends coordinate their meeting and exploration, while Ji Taibao stays home because of exam preparation.
• The first martial artist dismisses the temple’s danger and mocks the cautious experts, prompting others to follow him. Their confidence turns into helplessness once the chant takes hold.
• The officials, Divine Envoys, and Western operatives show varying degrees of caution and choose to observe rather than rush in.

Significant themes

• Arrogance versus caution: The overconfident explorers ignore warning signs and are the first to fall victim.
• The deceptive nature of appearances: A seemingly ordinary chant conceals a lethal supernatural force.
• Supernatural danger and group response: The expedition brings together diverse factions, but shared curiosity and competition may put them at risk.