Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• Song Shuhang and Ye Si encounter a middle-aged man whose body is saturated with Netherworld Energy. Ye Si suspects he was an ordinary person transformed or possessed by it, rather than a cultivator who went astray.
• Song summons his Projected Golden Lotus, whose roots absorb the energy around the man. With that support gone, the man falls from the sky, still ranting that humanity is to blame.
• Rather than let him die in the fall, Song decides to capture him and investigate whether the Netherworld’s influence is part of a larger plan. Ye Si traps him in a cage and brings him back.
• The prisoner continues shouting and attacking the cage. Shi humorously insists that he should say “kill” seven times for greater impact. Song avoids using his own fist pressure, worried he might kill the man accidentally; the three children take turns punching him, but fail to knock him out.
• Song posts the incident and photos to the Nine Provinces Number One Group, then contacts True Lord Eternal Fire to offer the prisoner for investigation.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang acts cautiously: he recognizes the incident may have significance, chooses capture over letting the man fall to his death, and seeks help from experienced cultivators. His concern about controlling his newly increased strength shows he has not yet adjusted to it.
• Ye Si identifies the Netherworld influence, absorbs its energy through the lotus’s roots, and efficiently cages the falling man.
• Little Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu provide comic relief through their confusion over the lotus roots and their enthusiastic, ineffective attempts to quiet the prisoner. Shi corrects Zhu and later coaches the prisoner on how to make his threats sound more impressive.
• The prisoner is consumed by hostility toward human cultivators, repeating violent slogans even after being captured.

Significant themes

• The Netherworld’s threat: Its energy can alter ordinary people, raising concern about a broader scheme.
• Responsible use of power: Shuhang restrains himself because he cannot yet safely control his stronger attacks.
• Comedy amid danger: The group treats a potentially serious supernatural incident with playful banter, especially during the children’s attempts to subdue the prisoner.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang keeps the captured middle-aged man in custody while True Lord Yellow Mountain, delayed by the Confucian School’s reconstruction, promises to collect him in Wenzhou.
• After Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu beat the captive unconscious, he loses the ferocity caused by Netherworld Energy and answers Song Shuhang’s questions.
• The man, Zhao Shuibao, explains that a black ring recently restored his memories and freed him from a mysterious affliction. The ring also filled his mind with whispers and hatred for human cultivators, drove him to fly around hunting them, and gave him snake-like eyes and other abilities.
• Zhao’s misery began years earlier, when he and a fellow townsman tried to rob a reclusive old man. The old man apparently punished them, leaving them incontinent and unable to remember the encounter. When Zhao’s memories returned, he recalled being repeatedly beaten by a vastly stronger cultivator.
• Song Shuhang and Ye Si suspect the ring and its influence may be part of a wider Netherworld scheme. They decide to watch for similar cases and leave Zhao for Yellow Mountain to investigate.
• Ye Si brings Song Shuhang and the unconscious, concealed captive to his family home. His mother answers the door and worries that he has brought home yet another beautiful girl.

Character developments

• Zhao Shuibao is revealed as a bitter, unlucky man whose grievance-filled worldview made him vulnerable to the Netherworld whispers. His apparent fearlessness was supernatural and temporary; beneath it, he is terrified.
• Song Shuhang handles the interrogation through observation rather than specialized methods and recognizes that Zhao may provide important clues about the Netherworld.
• Ye Si helps transport and conceal Zhao, and joins Shuhang in assessing the danger.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain remains occupied with the Confucian School’s recovery but intends to take charge of the prisoner.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and blame: Netherworld Energy amplifies Zhao’s resentment, turning his belief that the world wronged him into a violent mission.
• Power and vulnerability: Zhao’s memories reveal the vast gap between an ordinary person and a powerful cultivator—and how helplessness can leave lasting fear.
• Mystery and escalation: The black ring may be an isolated Netherworld artifact or evidence of a broader plot to transform or mobilize ordinary people.

Character interactions

• Shuhang consults Yellow Mountain about Zhao and agrees to keep him safe until the senior arrives.
• Shuhang and Ye Si discuss the ring’s implications and the need to look for similar cases.
• Ye Si’s arrival at the Song family home prompts Mom Song’s comic suspicion about her son’s string of attractive female visitors.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang returns home with Ye Si, the little monk Guoguo, and the two girls Shi and Zhu. His parents welcome the guests, and Mom Song quickly becomes especially interested in Ye Si.
• Song Shuhang and Ye Si tell his parents that they once nearly became a couple but are now even closer than one. Ye Si innocently confirms that they have “joined together,” meaning they can merge into a two-headed, four-armed form. His parents misunderstand this as a sexual relationship and immediately accept her as family, while Shuhang is left embarrassed.
• The next morning, Shuhang takes the group shopping for everyday supplies and clothes for Ye Si before his planned afternoon meeting with his online friend, Crazy Psychiatric Hospital Director.
• Their neighbor Daoist Cloudmist arrives hoping to visit Shuhang, but learns he has gone out. He agrees to wait, privately brooding over his lack of luck with the Enlightenment Stone and renewing his ambition to improve his skills and rob True Lord Yellow Mountain.
• On Nine Dragons Street, Ye Si is tempted by a shoe shop’s supposedly endless “closing-down” sale. Shuhang explains that the promotion has been running for years, introducing her to ordinary retail tricks.
• While Ye Si and the girls shop for clothes, Shuhang leaves Guoguo in the store and goes to find a restroom.
• Elsewhere, Shuhang’s online friend, the young Demon Catcher, arrives early for their meeting. At a hotel restroom, he recognizes an actor who played villain Senior Brother Gao Sheng in the newly released End-Dharma War. Still upset by the character, he starts filming the actor and plots to prank him by putting a sack over his head.

Character developments and interactions

• Mom and Dad Song are eager to see Shuhang settle down. Mom Song warmly befriends Ye Si and imagines her as Shuhang’s future wife; Dad Song encourages marriage after graduation.
• Ye Si is comfortable and cooperative with Shuhang’s parents, though her literal interpretation of their questions creates comic misunderstandings. She is also curious and easily drawn in by advertising.
• Shuhang is affectionate toward his companions but repeatedly embarrassed by his parents’ assumptions. He acts as Ye Si’s guide to everyday customs and shopping.
• Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu provide comic reactions: Shi and Zhu understand the innuendo, while Guoguo blushes and recites Buddhist sutras. The children remain close to the group because Ye Si is far too powerful for them to escape.
• Daoist Cloudmist misses Shuhang again and turns his frustration into a plan to improve his sleight-of-hand.
• The young Demon Catcher lets his hatred of a fictional villain spill over onto the actor who played him, setting up a potentially troublesome prank.

Significant themes

• Family expectations and misunderstanding: Shuhang’s parents interpret his unusual bond with Ye Si in conventional romantic terms.
• The contrast between cultivation and ordinary life: Immortals and cultivators navigate mundane family visits, clothing purchases, advertising, and public restrooms.
• Comedy through crossed wires: Ye Si’s sincere phrasing, the parents’ assumptions, and the children’s reactions drive the household humor.
• Fiction blurring into reality: The young Demon Catcher treats an actor as though he were the villain he played, foreshadowing trouble.

Chapter 843 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Song Shuhang continues practicing the “Conceal One’s Aura” technique, alternating between:
  • Completely suppressing his aura so he appears to be an ordinary person temporarily.
  • Masking his cultivation level indefinitely, though imperfectly.
• While Song Shuhang is concealing his aura and heading to the restroom, a young Demon Hunter mistakes him for the actor who plays the hated character Senior Brother Gao Sheng.
• Believing Song Shuhang to be an ordinary person, the Demon Hunter secretly records the encounter, throws a sack over Song Shuhang’s head, and immediately flees instead of attacking him.
• Song Shuhang is confused and irritated by the prank, but prioritizes using the restroom. He memorizes the attacker’s aura and vows to retaliate if they meet again.
• The Demon Hunter reviews the recording and decides it will become popular online. To avoid upsetting his friend “Great Pressure of Book Mountain,” whom he knows is a fan of Gao Sheng, he uploads it to a video site rather than his personal social feed.
• The Demon Hunter chats with “Great Pressure of Book Mountain,” arranging to meet later in Wenzhou City. Unbeknownst to both of them, this friend is actually Song Shuhang.
• Afterward, True Monarch Yuyue of the No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces sends Song Shuhang a link to a “funny video.”
• Song Shuhang recognizes the setting and watches the clip, discovering that the sack prank has already been uploaded under the title: “Senior Gao Sheng Must Die, I Put a Sack Over Senior Gao Sheng!”

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang demonstrates increasing mastery of aura concealment and uses it effectively as a disguise. His instinct to counterattack shows his confidence as a cultivator, though the prank leaves him more baffled than injured.
• The young Demon Hunter is revealed to be impulsive, mischievous, and highly amused by his own prank. He treats the incident as viral entertainment rather than a serious confrontation.
• True Monarch Yuyue displays a playful personality by sharing the embarrassing video with Song Shuhang.
• The chapter establishes that Song Shuhang and the Demon Hunter are online friends, creating dramatic irony because neither realizes the other’s identity.

Significant Themes

• Identity and mistaken appearances: Song Shuhang’s concealed aura causes him to be mistaken for an ordinary actor, while his online identity remains separate from his real one.
• The gap between the cultivation world and ordinary society: Cultivators casually use supernatural abilities for absurd everyday pranks.
• Online fame and embarrassment: The Demon Hunter’s desire to make the video viral contrasts sharply with Song Shuhang’s humiliation at becoming the subject of it.
• Dramatic irony: Readers know that “Great Pressure of Book Mountain” is Song Shuhang, while the Demon Hunter does not realize he has just attacked his own online acquaintance.

Character Interactions

• Song Shuhang confronts the Demon Hunter indirectly when he senses the attempted sack attack, though the attacker escapes before they can fight.
• The Demon Hunter and Song Shuhang communicate online under their aliases, unknowingly preparing to meet in person.
• True Monarch Yuyue contacts Song Shuhang directly and shares the prank video, unintentionally showing him evidence of his own recent humiliation.

Chapter Summary: “The Big Fool Who Flipped Cars”

Key Plot Points and Events

• True Lord Rain Moon shares a popular video showing “Senior Brother Gao Sheng” being stuffed into a sack. The video rapidly attracts views, comments, and repeated chants of “Senior Brother Gao Sheng must die!”
• Song Shuhang realizes that the person who uploaded the video was likely the mysterious individual who previously attacked and sacked him. True Lord Rain Moon forwards the video to the Nine Provinces Number One Group, causing the group’s seniors to tease and question Song Shuhang.
• Song Shuhang ignores the group’s messages rather than defending himself, believing the topic will eventually die down. He also attempts to use Su Clan’s Sixteen’s Aura Capture technique to track his attacker but fails because the attacker has either left or concealed their aura.
• Elsewhere, the young Demon Catcher—who intends to meet Song Shuhang later—detects a strange mixture of demonic energy and evil-fiend aura.
• At a busy intersection on Skyseat Avenue, a two-meter-tall, vacant-looking “big fool” begins flipping cars, causing widespread destruction, traffic collisions, panic, and gridlock. He even attempts to overturn a bus.
• The Demon Catcher recognizes the force surrounding the fool as Netherworld evil-fiend power. This energy is activating the fool’s extremely weak demonic bloodline and granting him immense strength, though his movements remain slow and clumsy.
• The Demon Catcher uses a Demon-Binding Rope and kicks the fool down, but the evil-fiend power protects the fool and begins corroding the rope.
• The fool’s power then mutates his eyes, allowing him to see the Demon Catcher despite his invisibility. He charges at him with dangerous force.
• The Demon Catcher lures the fool away, but the fool eventually abandons the chase and returns to flipping cars. Frustrated, the Demon Catcher prepares his three-section staff and attacks again.

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang: Shows restraint and growing familiarity with the eccentric cultivation community. Instead of arguing with the seniors teasing him, he calmly waits for the attention to pass. His failed attempt to trace the attacker highlights his vulnerability and continuing bad luck.
• True Lord Rain Moon: Demonstrates her mischievous, internet-savvy side. Although she denies uploading the video, she happily spreads it and enjoys the resulting chaos.
• The young Demon Catcher: Acts responsibly and courageously by intervening to protect civilians. He quickly identifies the supernatural threat and adapts his tactics, using invisibility, binding equipment, and deception rather than relying only on direct attacks.
• The big fool: Is portrayed as childlike, unintelligent, and driven by simple impulses. Despite his vacant behavior, Netherworld energy is transforming him into a powerful and increasingly dangerous creature.

Significant Themes

• Comedy amid danger: The chapter contrasts absurd online teasing and a ridiculous viral video with a genuinely dangerous supernatural incident.
• Chaos and bad luck: Song Shuhang’s misfortune continues as he becomes the subject of public ridicule, while the city is simultaneously thrown into disorder by the car-flipping fool.
• The hidden supernatural world: Ordinary people see only a bizarre criminal rampage, while cultivators recognize demonic bloodlines and Netherworld power behind it.
• Improvisation versus brute force: The Demon Catcher must rely on strategy and distraction because his direct attacks cannot overcome the fool’s supernatural defenses.
• The corrupting power of the Netherworld: Evil-fiend energy amplifies a weak demonic lineage, suggesting that the fool’s transformation may become even more dangerous if left unchecked.

Character Interactions

• True Lord Rain Moon indirectly exposes Song Shuhang’s humiliation to the Nine Provinces Number One Group, prompting the seniors to tease him.
• Song Shuhang avoids engaging with the group, refusing to give the seniors more material.
• The young Demon Catcher is scheduled to meet Song Shuhang, but before doing so he encounters the supernatural disturbance on Skyseat Avenue.
• The Demon Catcher attempts to restrain and attack the big fool, while the fool instinctively identifies him as an enemy and chases him.
• Their confrontation becomes a tactical pursuit, ending with the Demon Catcher returning to battle after the fool abandons the chase and resumes destroying vehicles.

Chapter 845: “Still Too Young” — Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The young Demon Hunter strikes the hulking brute with the Demon Subduing Rod, activating its Evil-Dispelling Lightning Technique. The attack breaks through the brute’s protective demonic energy but causes only superficial physical damage.
• Realizing the brute possesses extraordinary defense, strength, and endurance, the Demon Hunter lures him away from the crowded streets to prevent further civilian casualties.
• The brute’s restraints, a Binding Demon Rope, are gradually corroded by the powerful Nine Nether energy surrounding him. The Demon Hunter worries that the brute will become even stronger once the rope breaks.
• After reaching a relatively deserted riverside area, the Demon Hunter uses his prepared technique, the Demon Breaking Arrow. The arrow pierces the brute’s Nine Nether defenses and embeds itself in his skull, apparently incapacitating him.
• The Demon Hunter approaches cautiously, considering whether the brute might still be captured and purified rather than killed. However, this hesitation allows the corrupted Binding Demon Rope to attack him.
• The Demon Hunter disperses the rope’s Nine Nether energy with lightning from his Demon Subduing Rod, but the brute unexpectedly rises again—stronger than before.
• The brute charges from close range, knocks the Demon Hunter away, and pins him to the ground. The young hunter cannot break free and realizes he may be killed and eaten.
• Just as the brute prepares to bite him, a calm, mature figure appears behind the brute and launches a palm strike, interrupting the attack.

Character Developments

• Young Demon Hunter: Demonstrates courage, quick thinking, and strong combat ability, but remains inexperienced. His attempt to preserve the brute for possible purification exposes him to unnecessary danger. He recognizes that a more seasoned hunter would have delivered a finishing blow immediately.
• The Brute: Revealed to have astonishing physical durability and recovery. His power increases under the influence of the Nine Nether energy, and he begins transforming into something closer to a true Nine Nether Demon.
• Unknown Rescuer: A composed and apparently powerful figure enters at the climax, suggesting that the young Demon Hunter may be saved and that the situation is about to shift.

Significant Themes

• Experience versus youthful idealism: The young hunter’s compassion and desire to capture the brute alive become liabilities in combat.
• The danger of hesitation: His moment of mercy allows the apparently defeated enemy to recover and counterattack.
• Corruption and transformation: The Nine Nether energy corrupts both living beings and magical objects, turning the Binding Demon Rope into an evil artifact and pushing the brute toward becoming a Nine Nether Demon.
• Hidden power and escalating danger: The brute’s resilience shows that appearances are deceptive, while the late arrival of the mysterious expert hints at greater forces involved.

Character Interactions

• The young Demon Hunter repeatedly attempts to control the brute through pursuit, restraint, and ranged attacks.
• The brute responds almost entirely through instinct and rage, relentlessly chasing and attacking him.
• Their conflict shifts from a public street battle to a private struggle at the riverside.
• The final interaction is interrupted when the unknown mature figure intervenes just as the brute is about to consume the defeated Demon Hunter.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• A young Demon Catcher, Pure-Hearted, is nearly crushed by a hulking monster whose body has been strengthened and altered by Nine Netherworld energy.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain arrives just in time, defeats the monster with a single palm strike, and saves Pure-Hearted.
• After examining the unconscious brute, Yellow Mountain confirms that Nine Netherworld energy is transforming ordinary humans into monsters, suggesting deliberate manipulation by someone behind the scenes.
• Pure-Hearted willingly hands the brute over to Yellow Mountain for investigation.
• To prevent panic and avoid exposing supernatural events, Yellow Mountain creates a substitute puppet resembling the brute and erases all traces of Nine Netherworld energy from the scene before the police arrive.
• Yellow Mountain and Pure-Hearted travel together invisibly to White Whale Road. Along the way, Yellow Mountain answers Pure-Hearted’s cultivation questions, giving him valuable guidance equivalent to months of study.
• Pure-Hearted reveals that he is waiting for an online friend named “Stressed by a Mountain of Books.” Yellow Mountain realizes this is likely Song Shuhang.
• Yellow Mountain messages Song Shuhang, confirms the coincidence, and agrees to wait for him at White Whale Road.
• While waiting, Pure-Hearted watches the popular video of himself putting Senior Brother Gao Sheng into a sack and jokes about wanting to torment him further for more attention.
• Amused by Pure-Hearted’s reckless personality, Yellow Mountain returns and offers him a five-star treasure armor for five coins.

2. Character Developments

• True Lord Yellow Mountain is shown as powerful, composed, considerate, and highly experienced. He not only defeats the monster effortlessly but also carefully covers up the supernatural incident and investigates the larger threat.
• Pure-Hearted demonstrates courage and a strong sense of responsibility by deliberately luring the monster away, though he remains impulsive, fame-seeking, and somewhat reckless. His respect for Yellow Mountain grows after receiving personal cultivation guidance.
• Song Shuhang does not appear directly but becomes central to the chapter through the unexpected connection between Yellow Mountain and Pure-Hearted.
• The hulking brute is revealed to be a victim—or weapon—of Nine Netherworld energy, with his body being continuously modified into something increasingly powerful.

3. Significant Themes

• Hidden supernatural danger: The monster’s transformation indicates an organized scheme involving Nine Netherworld energy rather than an isolated incident.
• Responsibility and protection: Yellow Mountain prioritizes protecting ordinary people from panic and concealing the supernatural conflict.
• Mentorship and cultivation: Pure-Hearted’s brief instruction from Yellow Mountain highlights the importance of experienced guidance in spiritual advancement.
• Fate and coincidence: The chapter repeatedly emphasizes amusing connections, especially Pure-Hearted unknowingly waiting to meet Song Shuhang while traveling with one of Shuhang’s acquaintances.
• Comedy amid danger: Serious threats are balanced by Pure-Hearted’s eccentric online behavior and Yellow Mountain’s amusement at finding someone even more reckless than Three Waves.

4. Character Interactions

• Yellow Mountain rescues Pure-Hearted and praises his character, establishing a warm senior-junior relationship.
• Pure-Hearted entrusts the monster to Yellow Mountain and eagerly seeks his cultivation advice.
• Their journey becomes an informal mentoring session, with Yellow Mountain patiently clarifying Pure-Hearted’s doubts.
• Pure-Hearted reveals his connection to Song Shuhang, prompting Yellow Mountain to contact Shuhang.
• After observing Pure-Hearted’s questionable online activities, Yellow Mountain becomes entertained by his suicidal and mischievous personality and offers him a treasure armor at an absurdly cheap price.

Plot points and events

• True Lord Yellow Mountain lends the young Demon Catcher lightweight protective armor, advising him to put it on. The Demon Catcher takes the warning seriously, puts it on beneath his clothes, and waits at White Whale Road to meet his online friend, Stressed by a Mountain of Books.
• Song Shuhang heads there with Ye Si, Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu after shopping. Yellow Mountain has told him to meet the Demon Catcher normally and not reveal that they know each other.
• Mistaking Ye Si for his online friend, the Demon Catcher approaches her. Ye Si points out that he means Shuhang.
• Shuhang recognizes the Demon Catcher as the man who ambushed and bagged him earlier that day. Though privately imagining revenge, he greets him with a friendly smile.
• The Demon Catcher recognizes Shuhang as Senior Brother Gao Sheng, whom he recently ambushed, and panics. He decides to conceal his involvement and act as if they are meeting for the first time.
• The two exchange polite greetings and embrace warmly, each appearing friendly while hiding what they know.

Character developments and interactions

• The young Demon Catcher is impulsive and easily carried away by his assumptions, first mistaking Ye Si for his online friend and then realizing he has ambushed the very person he came to meet. Yellow Mountain’s armor makes him wary, but he still tries to bluff his way through the encounter.
• Song Shuhang suppresses his anger at the ambush and adopts a courteous front, even while plotting possible ways to retaliate.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain quietly engineers the meeting and gives the Demon Catcher protection, apparently anticipating trouble.
• Ye Si enjoys the outing and calmly corrects the Demon Catcher’s mistaken identification. Her companions accompany her and Shuhang.

Significant themes

• Dramatic irony and mistaken identity: Both men know the other’s connection to the ambush, but each believes the other may not recognize him.
• Politeness masking hostility: Their warm greeting and embrace conceal mutual suspicion and Shuhang’s desire for payback.
• Cause and consequence: The Demon Catcher reflects that actions bring results—only to find his own earlier ambush colliding with his planned meeting.

Chapter Summary: “I’m Going to Do Something Big!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The young Demon Catcher realizes that several people around Song Shuhang—including the three children, the two young girls, and possibly “Stressed by a Mountain of Books”—are cultivators.
• Song Shuhang, revealed to be Senior Brother Gao Sheng, recognizes the Demon Catcher as the person who previously put a sack over him and uploaded the incident online.
• Song Shuhang enthusiastically hugs and threatens him with a battle, while the Demon Catcher worries about attracting attention from ordinary pedestrians. Their prolonged embrace causes bystanders to misunderstand the situation and try to take pictures.
• Song Shuhang throws the Demon Catcher into the air, though he refrains from using a more destructive technique because civilians are nearby. The Demon Catcher lands stylishly, impressing several girls.
• As they walk home, the two jokingly argue over whether they are even after their previous conflict. Song Shuhang insists they fight in an arena, while the Demon Catcher agrees after learning Song Shuhang has reached the Second Meridian of the Third-Grade Realm.
• At Song Shuhang’s home, Daoist Cloudmist waits to meet him. Cloudmist is shocked by Song Shuhang’s rapid advancement from the First-Grade Realm to the Third-Grade Realm in just over a month.
• Cloudmist asks to cultivate near Song Shuhang so he can use the Enlightenment Stone’s effects to break through a minor realm. He declares that, afterward, he intends to rob True Monarch Yellow Mountain’s household.

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang is shown to have advanced dramatically in cultivation and physical strength. He is more confident, powerful, and playful, openly challenging the Demon Catcher while still avoiding unnecessary harm to ordinary people.
• The young Demon Catcher / Senior Brother Gao Sheng is revealed to be a cultivator with considerable physical ability. He is embarrassed and anxious about Song Shuhang discovering the sack incident but remains humorous and willing to fight.
• Daoist Cloudmist is impressed and somewhat overwhelmed by Song Shuhang’s explosive progress. His desire to borrow the Enlightenment Stone demonstrates both his ambition and his opportunistic personality.
• Ye Si and the children remain part of Song Shuhang’s expanding group of cultivator companions, reinforcing how unusual his household has become.
• True Monarch Yellow Mountain is indirectly presented as Cloudmist’s longtime target and “natural enemy,” setting up future conflict.

Significant Themes

• Rapid growth and changing power dynamics: Song Shuhang’s sudden rise in cultivation surprises even experienced seniors and changes how others view him.
• Humor through misunderstanding: The public misreads Song Shuhang and the Demon Catcher’s intense hug, while their banter turns a past prank into a comic rivalry.
• Friendship expressed through conflict: Threats, teasing, and planned combat function as forms of camaraderie and reconciliation between Song Shuhang and the Demon Catcher.
• Cultivators hidden within ordinary life: The scene contrasts extraordinary cultivators with everyday pedestrians, emphasizing the need for discretion.
• Ambition and opportunism: Daoist Cloudmist seeks to exploit Song Shuhang’s Enlightenment Stone to advance, then plans an outrageous “big” action against Yellow Mountain.

Character Interactions

• Song Shuhang and the Demon Catcher: They confront one another over the sack prank, exchange jokes and threats, and agree to settle matters through a proper battle.
• Song Shuhang and Daoist Cloudmist: Song Shuhang welcomes him and asks why he came, while Cloudmist reveals his plan to borrow the Enlightenment Stone.
• Demon Catcher and Mom Song: He politely greets her and is warmly welcomed into Song Shuhang’s home.
• Daoist Cloudmist and Song Shuhang’s progress: Cloudmist’s stunned reaction highlights how drastically Song Shuhang has changed since their previous meeting.

Key plot points

• Daoist Cloudmist gives Song Shuhang a letter describing how he found and disabled a Puppet Spider hidden in Shuhang’s home. The spider’s presence alarms Shuhang, who has long worried that his cultivation might expose his family to danger. He plans to ask True Lord Yellow Mountain to identify its owner, suspecting Gongzi Hai.
• Shuhang tries to warn Cloudmist against provoking Yellow Mountain again. Cloudmist instead declares that humiliating Yellow Mountain is worth being sealed for years, comparing himself to a mosquito willing to die after making someone slap their own face.
• Cloudmist persuades Shuhang to help him break through a cultivation bottleneck using the Enlightenment Stone. Ye Si brings Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu along to cultivate nearby, while the young Demon Catcher stays behind, puzzled about what is happening.
• Cloudmist explains that his Fifth-Grade Golden Core is awaiting its final, crucial formation stroke. After three hours of assisted cultivation, he completes it and begins advancing toward the Purple-Gold Core realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang is grateful for Cloudmist’s protection of his family but remains anxious about their safety. He shows concern for Cloudmist, though he cannot persuade him to abandon his feud with Yellow Mountain.
• Daoist Cloudmist is generous and protective, but also gleefully reckless in his vendetta. His confidence in his Golden Core formation is rewarded when he completes the breakthrough.
• Ye Si supports Shuhang and arranges for the three girls to benefit from the Enlightenment Stone without intruding on Cloudmist’s private cultivation.
• The young Demon Catcher is curious about the group’s unusual cultivation arrangement but respects their privacy and stays out.

Significant themes

• The risks of cultivation for loved ones: Shuhang’s family may be vulnerable to dangers from the Cultivator World.
• Obsession and revenge: Cloudmist treats provoking Yellow Mountain as worth any personal cost.
• Cultivation as inner realization: Completing a Golden Core’s formation depends on inspiration and one’s original heart, and its pattern is irreversible.
• Trust and reciprocal aid: Cloudmist’s protection of Shuhang’s family is repaid through Shuhang’s help with his breakthrough.

Chapter 850 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After three hours of cultivation, Song Shuhang makes only minor progress; his natural cultivation speed remains far inferior to the boosts provided by Ye Si and the Living Spring.
• Daoist Cloudmist gives Song Shuhang a “letter of notice” intended for True Lord Yellow Mountain. Inspired by movies about master thieves, Cloudmist believes the letter will make his future theft more dramatic and intimidating.
• Cloudmist announces his plan to perfect the Empty Thieves’ Sect’s secret technique and eventually bankrupt Yellow Mountain. He even improvises a poem about his ambitions.
• While attempting to leave dramatically through a window, Cloudmist crashes into the security bars.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain suddenly enters through another window, reveals that he has been monitoring Cloudmist since his escape, and accepts the letter.
• Yellow Mountain explains that Cloudmist’s armor, phone, daily necessities, and even his online followers were being used as surveillance channels. Cloudmist had never truly escaped Yellow Mountain’s control.
• Cloudmist refuses to surrender and attacks with the Empty Great Annihilation Hand. Yellow Mountain easily evades the attack and strikes him from behind.
• The defeated “Cloudmist” turns out to be a sophisticated puppet substitute made by the Ink Sect. The real Cloudmist had escaped earlier.
• Yellow Mountain acknowledges Cloudmist’s improved cunning but remains confident that he will eventually catch him.
• Song Shuhang gives Yellow Mountain the disabled puppet spider that had infiltrated his home. Yellow Mountain identifies it as a modified surveillance puppet and suggests asking True Lord Eternal Fire to examine it.
• Yellow Mountain then asks about the ordinary man who had been transformed by Netherworld demonic energy. He suspects the incident was deliberately arranged by a powerful Netherworld existence and may signal another calamity.
• The chapter ends with Yellow Mountain bringing the transformed man to Song Shuhang on a flying sword.

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang: Continues to recognize the limits of ordinary cultivation compared with his unusual “cheats.” He shows concern for Cloudmist despite Cloudmist’s foolish behavior and remains involved in investigating the puppet spider and Netherworld-related threats.
• Daoist Cloudmist: Demonstrates cleverness and preparation by using a puppet substitute, proving he is not entirely reckless. However, his theatrical behavior, reliance on movie logic, and overconfidence remain prominent weaknesses.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain: Is revealed to be far more calculating and prepared than Cloudmist realizes. His extensive surveillance network and effortless defeat of the substitute reinforce his overwhelming superiority and his habit of treating Cloudmist like a mischievous fugitive rather than a genuine threat.
• True Lord Eternal Fire: Though absent, he is established as an expert in puppets because of his experience managing the Confucian School’s Ink Sect puppets.

Significant Themes

• Reality versus fiction: Cloudmist imitates fictional master thieves, but his dramatic “letter of notice” and window escape clash humorously with reality.
• Cunning versus overwhelming power: Cloudmist relies on deception and substitution, while Yellow Mountain counters him with superior planning, surveillance, and strength.
• Pursuit and control: Although Cloudmist believes he has escaped, Yellow Mountain has maintained control through hidden tracking devices and false identities.
• Comedy amid danger: The chapter mixes serious threats—Netherworld manipulation and possible calamity—with slapstick humor, including Cloudmist crashing into security bars and composing terrible poetry.
• Growing supernatural threats: The modified surveillance puppet and the possessed ordinary man suggest a larger, deliberate scheme connected to the Netherworld.

Character Interactions

• Song Shuhang and Daoist Cloudmist: Shuhang tries to dissuade Cloudmist from sending the notice but ultimately agrees to deliver it. Their exchange highlights Shuhang’s concern and Cloudmist’s eccentric confidence.
• Daoist Cloudmist and True Lord Yellow Mountain: Their encounter is framed as a cat-and-mouse pursuit. Cloudmist boasts of his future revenge, while Yellow Mountain calmly reveals that he has been monitoring him all along.
• Song Shuhang and True Lord Yellow Mountain: Yellow Mountain thanks Shuhang for dealing with Cloudmist and consults him about the puppet spider and the Netherworld-tainted man, indicating continued cooperation.

Plot points

• Song Shuhang tells True Lord Yellow Mountain that the burly man is also contaminated and transformed by Netherworld Energy, matching the prisoner already held in Ye Si’s magical treasure. The similar contamination suggests a deliberate scheme by a powerful Netherworld being.
• Yellow Mountain takes both contaminated men to investigate and says he must also recapture Daoist Cloudmist before nightfall.
• Song Shuhang brings Yellow Mountain to the backyard prisoner. Meanwhile, Ye Si watches over Guoguo, Shi, and Zhu as they cultivate with the Enlightenment Stone.
• At Song’s home, the young demon catcher decides to leave rather than risk Song Shuhang retaliating for an earlier prank. He is caught at the door by Song and Yellow Mountain, who arrive with the two Netherworld-contaminated men.
• Yellow Mountain asks Song to represent him at Copper Trigram and Northern River’s early-September duel at the Forbidden Summit, since Yellow Mountain expects to be in seclusion. Song agrees and accepts their gifts.
• Song asks who will oversee Doudou’s wedding during Yellow Mountain’s seclusion. Yellow Mountain says arrangements are already made, then makes a dramatic exit by jumping from the balcony.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang is increasingly involved in the cultivation world: he recognizes the Netherworld contamination, agrees to help Yellow Mountain, and is trusted to represent him at a major duel.
• Yellow Mountain continues to act as a dependable senior and organizer, delegating responsibilities while pursuing the Netherworld investigation and Cloudmist.
• The young demon catcher realizes Song no longer needs his protection and is wary of settling their unresolved prank-related score. Yellow Mountain’s teasing about the armor he lent him leaves him embarrassed.
• Ye Si takes responsibility for the younger cultivators, allowing them to continue their practice while Song handles the visitors.
• Song’s concern over Yellow Mountain’s unconventional exit reflects the contrast between cultivators’ casual use of extraordinary abilities and ordinary family life.

Significant themes

• A widening supernatural threat: The repeated Netherworld contamination points to a coordinated plan whose purpose remains unknown.
• Trust and responsibility: Yellow Mountain’s request shows Song’s growing standing among senior cultivators.
• The extraordinary in everyday life: Cultivation-world behavior—especially Yellow Mountain’s exit—creates awkward complications in Song’s ordinary household.

Chapter Summary: “A Good Deed a Day, the World Is So Beautiful”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Doudou, now recovered from his puddle-like state, is imprisoned in True Lord Yellow Mountain’s cave abode under heavy restrictions. Zhou Li guards the cage room to prevent another escape.
• To pass the time, Doudou plays an online game with his longtime in-game wife, “Chu Chu,” a teenage girl preparing for her college entrance examinations.
• Chu Chu reveals that she may have little time to play during the coming year. She also praises Doudou’s supposed performance as Senior Brother Gao Sheng in The End-Dharma War, unknowingly confusing Doudou with Song Shuhang.
• When Chu Chu asks where Doudou attends university, he lies that he has already graduated, fearing she will attend Jiangnan University Town and meet the real Song Shuhang.
• Zhou Li enters while the voice chat is still active and reveals that Doudou is being given wedding dresses for his forced marriage. His teasing makes Chu Chu worry that Doudou is in danger or may undergo a gender transformation.
• Zhou Li deliberately mentions that Senior Brother Gao Sheng can be found through Jiangnan University Town. Doudou attacks him by biting his head, but Zhou Li considers the prank a satisfying act of revenge.
• Chu Chu decides to work hard and enter Jiangnan University Town so she can find Doudou. Before Doudou can explain the misunderstanding, she logs off.
• Panicking, Doudou calls Song Shuhang and warns him not to “steal” Chu Chu when he is at Jiangnan University Town. Song Shuhang is confused, mistaking Doudou’s words for a reference to another Chu Chu.
• Meanwhile, Song Shuhang prepares to travel to the Jiangnan Region with the young Demon Catcher, planning to use Ye Si for air travel rather than the bullet train.
• Senior White informs Song Shuhang that he has released Three Waves and Liu Jianyi from the Sluggish Secret Realm and sent them to Spirit Butterfly Island. Liu Jianyi bizarrely wanted to remain inside, while Three Waves desperately wanted to leave.

Character Developments

• Doudou: Despite his imprisonment and impending forced marriage, he remains mischievous, dramatic, and fiercely protective of his online relationship. His fear that Chu Chu may meet Song Shuhang exposes his jealousy and insecurity.
• Chu Chu: She becomes more emotionally invested in Doudou and reveals plans to attend the same university as him. Her determination is based on a serious misunderstanding of his identity.
• Zhou Li: He embraces his role as Doudou’s tormentor and takes revenge by intentionally escalating the misunderstanding with Chu Chu. His “helpful” act is cruel but comically satisfying to him.
• Song Shuhang: He remains unaware of the identity mix-up and is bewildered by Doudou’s warning. His ordinary travel plans continue alongside increasingly chaotic supernatural events.
• Senior White: He acts efficiently by resolving the Sluggish Secret Realm situation and arranging transportation for the displaced cultivators.

Significant Themes

• Misunderstood identities: Doudou has allowed Chu Chu to believe that Song Shuhang’s appearance and achievements belong to him, creating an increasingly dangerous romantic misunderstanding.
• Forced marriage and loss of control: Doudou’s imprisonment and wedding preparations contrast with his insistence on independence and his determination to escape.
• Friendship and mischievous revenge: Zhou Li’s teasing reflects the group’s chaotic relationships, where cruelty is often treated as playful retaliation.
• Comic consequences of deception: Doudou’s lies, meant to protect his relationship, instead encourage Chu Chu to seek him out at Jiangnan University Town.
• Parallel worlds of ordinary and extraordinary life: Online gaming, school entrance exams, university plans, and movie fandom exist alongside immortal cultivators, magical prisons, and supernatural travel.

Character Interactions

• Doudou and Chu Chu share a warm but deceptive online relationship, with Chu Chu admiring Doudou while unknowingly praising Song Shuhang.
• Zhou Li interrupts their voice chat and deliberately fuels Chu Chu’s misunderstanding, provoking Doudou into biting him.
• Doudou urgently contacts Song Shuhang to protect his relationship, but Song Shuhang cannot understand the warning.
• Song Shuhang and the young Demon Catcher discuss traveling to the Jiangnan Region, while Senior White updates him about Three Waves, Liu Jianyi, and Spirit Butterfly Island.

Chapter Summary: “White, the Assistant Director”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Song Shuhang discusses Venerable Spirit Butterfly’s upcoming movie with Venerable White. The film stars Mad Saber Three Waves and centers on his habit of courting danger.
• Venerable White reveals that he plans to work as an assistant director so he can eventually direct his own movie. He offers Song Shuhang a small supporting role requiring only one day of filming.
• Song worries the role might be the cross-dressing character previously offered to him. His awkward question about whether the character has a women’s-clothing fetish accidentally reminds White of his own earlier appearance in a Phoenix Crown and Robe.
• During the call, White casually kills two suspicious pursuers with an overly powerful spell and discovers they possess three pieces of rare Qilin Gold. He then repeatedly damages the surrounding area through careless spell use, including creating a pit and eventually a small mountain.
• White and Song arrange to meet in the Jiangnan Region. They also discuss the box-office performance of The End-Dharma War, which they acted in.
• They plan to explore the Longevity Immortal Cheng Lin’s underwater ruins after Song watches Copper Trigram Immortal Master battle Northern River’s Loose Cultivator at the Forbidden Summit.
• Song asks what Cheng Lin looks like. White remembers only a vague image of a Daoist fairy seated on a white jade lotus, since the Laws obscure her appearance.
• Song finally asks how to protect his parents from supernatural enemies while he is away. White suggests eliminating the threat directly, but Song admits he does not know who is targeting them.

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang: Continues to become more involved in cultivation-world affairs while remaining anxious about his family’s safety. He shows increasing awareness of the many enemies surrounding him and tries to plan responsibly for his parents’ protection.
• Venerable White: Displays his enthusiasm for filmmaking and his confidence in pursuing new interests. His immense power and reckless lack of control remain sources of comic danger, as he casually destroys attackers and landscapes while treating the damage as a minor inconvenience.
• Venerable Spirit Butterfly and Mad Saber Three Waves: Their movie project establishes a continuing connection between the cultivation world and the entertainment industry, with Three Waves serving as the film’s lead.
• Song’s enemies: The chapter identifies several threats, including the Limitless Demon Sect, the Sea Urchin Warrior clan, Thirty-Three Beasts Sect assassins, and Netherworld fiends.

Significant Themes

• Comedy through power imbalance: White’s casual destruction of pursuers and terrain contrasts with Song’s alarm, highlighting how ordinary dangers are trivial to a powerful cultivator.
• Consequences of reputation and first impressions: Song worries that White may associate him with cross-dressing because of their past encounter, showing how embarrassing impressions persist.
• Song’s tendency to attract trouble: White jokes that Song has an exceptional talent for drawing aggro, while Song insists most conflicts were caused by circumstances beyond his control.
• Family responsibility: Despite his increasingly extraordinary life, Song remains concerned about protecting his ordinary family members.
• Adventure and future planning: The conversation sets up several upcoming events: the film’s release, the Forbidden Summit battle, and the exploration of Cheng Lin’s ruins.

Character Interactions

• Song and White banter about acting, directing, cross-dressing, and Song’s unfortunate habit of courting danger.
• White’s teasing response makes Song realize that his question about women’s clothing was connected to White’s own Phoenix-themed disguise.
• Song and White coordinate their future travel plans and discuss Cheng Lin’s appearance and possible clues about her identity.
• Their final exchange emphasizes their contrasting approaches: White recommends directly killing threats, while Song is more cautious because he cannot identify the enemy targeting his parents.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang asks Venerable White how to protect his family from the Limitless Demon Sect and the Sea Urchin Warrior, since he cannot defeat them outright. White suggests asking True Lord Eternal Fire for help, then later protecting the family with formations and reusable high-grade talismans powered by Shuhang’s essence blood.
• The young Demon Catcher overhears how dangerous Shuhang’s enemies are and grows anxious about having volunteered to protect him.
• Shuhang persuades the Demon Catcher to act in a film, using the promise of forgiveness for the earlier incident when the Demon Catcher put him in a sack—and, more persuasively, the chance to meet Venerable White. White confirms the casting.
• Shuhang’s mother returns with refreshments and wonders how True Lord Yellow Mountain left without passing through the door. Shuhang covers for him.
• True Lord Eternal Fire arrives. Having helped preserve the Confucian School’s Golden Lotus World, he has gained a blessing and approached the threshold of the Venerable realm. He tells Shuhang that vacant Confucian academies may offer a solution to Shuhang’s search for a spiritually rich home for his family.

Character developments

• Shuhang remains practical about his family’s safety, seeking protection rather than pretending he can already defeat his enemies. He also shows a playful, opportunistic side in recruiting the Demon Catcher.
• The Demon Catcher shifts from fear and suspicion to eager cooperation once he learns Venerable White will be involved.
• True Lord Eternal Fire is recovering from the effort of managing the Golden Lotus World, but has benefited spiritually and is now nearing the Venerable realm.

Significant themes

• Family protection and responsibility: Shuhang seeks layered safeguards while he grows stronger.
• Reciprocity and favors: The Confucian School wants to repay Shuhang, and the Demon Catcher agrees to help in exchange for being forgiven.
• Unexpected opportunity: Dangerous or awkward situations—like the Demon Catcher’s past mistake and the Golden Lotus World’s restoration—create new chances for connection and support.

Character interactions

• White offers Shuhang practical advice and coordinates the film casting.
• Shuhang turns his past conflict with the Demon Catcher into leverage, while reassuring him that the role is not the one he fears.
• Shuhang carefully disguises his relationship with the cultivators when speaking around his mother.
• Eternal Fire approaches Shuhang with a possible solution to his family’s future residence, linking the Confucian School’s needs with Shuhang’s own.

Key plot points and events

• After Song Shuhang helped save the Confucian School’s Golden Lotus World, the school begins rebuilding it and moves many disciples into it. Their old, now-vacant Grotto-Heaven Abodes become available.
• True Lord Eternal Fire visits Shuhang to offer him eleven abodes. Ten are secretly fragments of the fallen Ancient Heavenly Court, which the Confucian School had turned into small cultivation refuges; the remaining one is in Wenzhou. Shuhang accepts the offer’s significance, and Eternal Fire plans to transfer control of all eleven.
• Shuhang asks Eternal Fire to examine a suspicious puppet spider. Eternal Fire discovers it was built for remote spying and eavesdropping, contains troublesome poison needles, and can explode with enough force to destroy a house.
• The spider’s components point to the Limitless Demon Sect, despite being disguised as the work of the Mystic Mechanism Alliance. Eternal Fire proposes using the puppet’s connection to trace and counterattack its owner.
• During closed-door cultivation, Gongzi Hai senses a powerful mental attack coming through the puppet connection. He recognizes the target as Song Shuhang and blames Shuhang’s “European” luck for repeatedly ruining his plans.
• The chapter ends with Shuhang noticing that the Nightmare curse, previously sealed by the Sage Scripture, has suddenly disappeared.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang is surprised by the scale of Eternal Fire’s gift, but is especially intrigued by the Heavenly Court fragments because of their connection to his cultivation technique. He is also relieved to learn how dangerous the puppet spider was.
• True Lord Eternal Fire repays the Confucian School’s debt to Shuhang with the abodes, then demonstrates his expertise by dismantling and identifying the puppet spider and offering to trace its owner.
• Mother Song is astonished by the visitors and the extravagant gift, and privately urges Shuhang to stop Eternal Fire from acting impulsively. Her ordinary, practical concerns contrast with the supernatural stakes.
• Gongzi Hai is frustrated and resentful toward Shuhang, whose luck repeatedly undermines his schemes. He suppresses his pain during cultivation rather than disturbing Zheng Neng and Devil Lord Anzhi.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and repayment: The Confucian School repays Shuhang’s help gradually, with gifts that are both valuable and historically significant.
• Luck versus planning: Gongzi Hai’s careful schemes repeatedly fail against Shuhang, leading him to explain the pattern as bad luck rather than accept that his plans can be thwarted.
• Hidden danger and counterattack: The harmless-looking spider is a surveillance device, weapon, and potential tracking link—turning an enemy’s tool into a means of striking back.
• The past shaping the present: The Ancient Heavenly Court’s fragments survive as cultivation abodes, tying Shuhang’s present opportunities to the world’s fallen history.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang’s Nightmare curse vanishes when he touches True Lord Eternal Fire’s formation. Eternal Fire uses the Spider Puppet to launch a mental attack against its master, Gongzi Hai, leaving him with severe pain that may last a month.
• Eternal Fire asks when Shuhang will tell his family about cultivation. Shuhang says he will do so when he is ready. The Confucian School plans to open a teaching hall near his home to help protect his family, and Eternal Fire promises to transfer eleven grotto-heaven abodes to him.
• Shuhang’s mother worries that he accepted the abodes, but he reassures her. Before leaving for Jiangnan, he secretly gives his parents water from the Living Spring, extending their lifespans by fifty years.
• Shuhang’s group travels in a van with his prospective disciple Joseph and Joseph’s family rather than flying. Joseph hopes to grow strong enough to make the air explode with a punch; his daughter Ji Shuangxue teases Shuhang about his role in End-Dharma War and the backlash his classmates may give him.
• A sudden, unusually thick fog appears on the highway. Shuhang and the young demon catcher both sense that something is wrong and exchange a knowing look.

Character developments and interactions

• Shuhang remains uneasy about the curse’s unexplained disappearance, but trusts Eternal Fire to handle the puppet. He is also cautious about revealing cultivation to his ordinary parents, while quietly taking steps to protect and support them.
• Eternal Fire shows the Confucian School’s commitment to Shuhang and his family, balancing his formal manners with warm concern.
• Joseph is enthusiastic about his training and treats Shuhang as a respected master. Ji Shuangxue’s teasing embarrasses Shuhang, who regrets having taught her father a song and worries about being recognized as “Senior Brother Gao Sheng.”
• Shuhang’s mother struggles to adjust to how extraordinary her son’s life has become.

Significant themes

• Family care and protection: Shuhang delays revealing the supernatural world to his parents but safeguards their future.
• Responsibility and loyalty: The Confucian School offers practical support, not just promises.
• Humor amid danger: Shuhang’s celebrity embarrassment and Joseph’s earnest questions provide comedy before the ominous fog shifts the mood.
• Unseen threats: The sudden fog suggests that the journey may be interrupted by a new danger.

Key plot points and events

• Strange mist suddenly envelops the highway, carrying an unfamiliar power. Song Shuhang asks Ye Si to clear it, but she notices someone has already acted.
• A gigantic, sentient Heavenly Court banknote arrives on a sword. It disperses the fog with a single movement and announces that a demon’s head is worth five Seventh-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The banknote uses an ancient rune to expose a huge, Netherworld-corrupted rat hiding beside the road, then kills it with sword energy and flies off with its head.
• Song Shuhang suspects that Netherworld Energy can mutate animals as well as people, and wonders whether cultivators have begun a wider campaign against such creatures. He reports the encounter to the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
• True Lord Yellow Mountain confirms that the danger may be broader than they thought, but admits he has not yet investigated the two previously encountered demonized humans.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang responds to the bizarre banknote with disbelief, then accepts that it may be a spirit that gained sentience. He remains alert to the growing Netherworld threat and consults Ye Si and the Demon Catcher.
• Ye Si identifies the banknote as a powerful spirit or artifact spirit, likely above the Fifth-Grade Realm.
• The young Demon Catcher recognizes that the rat is only around Second-Grade strength and regrets missing the valuable reward.
• The Demon Catcher apologizes for staring at the banknote; it reacts defensively to being treated as unusual, insisting that there is nothing wrong with being a banknote.
• Joseph’s family sees the fog vanish but cannot perceive the supernatural events, while Ji Shuangxue notices that Song Shuhang and the Demon Catcher are looking at something she cannot see.
• In the group chat, Yellow Mountain shares Shuhang’s concern, though he is preoccupied with capturing Cloudmist.

Significant themes

• The extraordinary in the ordinary: Even a banknote can become a powerful cultivator, challenging assumptions about what can gain sentience.
• An expanding supernatural threat: Netherworld Energy appears capable of corrupting both humans and animals, raising fears of a spreading crisis.
• The hidden world: Ordinary people remain unaware of supernatural events unfolding around them.
• Humor amid danger: The banknote’s indignation and the Demon Catcher’s regret over lost spirit stones soften an encounter that points to a serious, growing threat.

Key plot points and events

• At Demon Throat Peak, Gongzi Hai survives a second psychic attack from the Spider Puppet. It drags him into a terrifying Nightmare Space, where everything around him becomes hostile and claims his body. A mental treasure pulls him out, but he fears the nightmare may return. He can find no curse on himself and wonders whether the attack was a one-time event—and whether Was Stressed by a Mountain of Books is his nemesis.
• Banknote delivers a demonized rat’s head to a blue-haired cultivator in a hidden stone fortress, collecting the promised five Seventh-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The cultivator activates the powerful Nine Netherworld energy inside the rat. Banknote senses that its source may be a formidable, living Longevity Immortal. The cultivator explains that restrictions between the Nine Netherworld and the Present World prevent its master from perceiving them directly.
• She decides to analyze the energy to learn why someone is creating demonized beings in the Present World. Banknote tries to flee, then stays after she jokingly threatens to expose it if the experiment goes wrong. She insists she is reliable—but immediately realizes she has “played with fire” too far.

Character developments and interactions

• Gongzi Hai is resilient and prepared, but the repeated mental assault leaves him shaken and uncertain about the threat’s persistence.
• Banknote is money-loving, cautious, and easily alarmed by danger. Its working relationship with the cultivator is transactional, but their teasing suggests familiarity and friendship.
• The blue-haired cultivator is wealthy, playful, confident, and willing to take risks. She pays despite calling the agreed price a loss, then needles Banknote to keep it from leaving while she investigates.

Significant themes

• Mental vulnerability and unseen threats: Gongzi Hai’s ordeal suggests dangers that may be difficult to detect or escape.
• Power and restraint: The Nine Netherworld’s influence is immense, yet barriers between realms limit its reach.
• Risk, trust, and comic bravado: Banknote’s fear contrasts with the cultivator’s confidence, while their banter undercuts the seriousness of her potentially dangerous experiment.

Key plot points and events

• Banknote and the blue-haired cultivator witness a sphere of immense Netherworld power. Though the force marks them as targets, the blue-haired cultivator explains that the entity cannot attack them directly while they remain in the Present World. The energy then explodes, wrecking the fortress despite her defensive formations.
• She concludes that the demonized creatures are part of an experiment to fuse Nine Nether Demons with humans or animals. She plans to alert the major sects; Banknote, unwilling to risk involvement in a Longevity-level affair, leaves.
• In the Nine Provinces Number One Group, Skylark reveals that the Netherworld energy has infected much of her right side and may consume her within days. She admits she deliberately exposed herself to study the transformation, but badly underestimated its severity. She asks Little Snow Wolf to freeze her once the corruption is complete so she can examine what happens.
• Skylark reassures the group that her unusual body can withstand the corruption, while sharing her findings about the fusion experiment. Seven Cultivations remarks that he now understands why she likes Three Waves, after Three Waves recommends amputating her arm.
• Meanwhile, Song Shuhang and his companions stop for the night. Joseph has arranged to share a room with his master and eagerly demonstrates his improved fitness by performing an accelerated version of “The Times Are Calling,” leaving Shuhang exasperated.

Character developments and interactions

• Skylark is curious and composed, even when gravely infected; her willingness to experiment on herself is both reckless and characteristic. She jokes with Three Waves and calmly asks the group for help.
• Banknote is frightened by the powerful entity and chooses to withdraw rather than risk its life.
• Three Waves offers blunt advice to cut off the infected limb, then falls silent when Skylark playfully offers to send him more revealing photos.
• Joseph is proud of his training and eager for his master’s approval; Song Shuhang is stuck watching his enthusiastic, badly timed display.

Significant themes

• Curiosity versus caution: Skylark’s research advances understanding but exposes her to severe danger.
• Limits and survival: The Netherworld threat is formidable, yet its inability to cross realms gives the characters a narrow measure of safety.
• Comic contrast: High-stakes supernatural danger is set against teasing group-chat banter and Joseph’s awkward exercise performance.