Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng urged Ma Yuxuan to follow his own path, then let him face the dangers of Yellow Mud Village without intervening. After Ma Yuxuan killed the village’s human-faced Water God and restored its water, the human-faced map in the Peace Bureau screamed.

• Chen Changsheng told Ma Yuxuan to pursue his path resolutely, and Ma Yuxuan chose to stay in the village longer.
• Villagers trapped and robbed Chen Changsheng and Ma Yuxuan, but Chen Changsheng revealed he had been a Paper figure while his true body watched from the room.
• Ma Yuxuan dealt with some villagers, gave them the clean water and food he had, and learned that the Water God demanded human sacrifices.
• Ma Yuxuan decided to destroy what was in the Water God Temple, and Chen Changsheng told him to handle it himself unless he could not win.
• Ma Yuxuan killed a human-faced yellow eel in the Water God Temple, and clean water flowed into the village’s wells.
• The human-faced map in the Peace Bureau’s main hall screamed when Yellow Mud Village’s Water God died.

Ma Yuxuan left Yellow Mud Village after its people turned on him, and Chen Changsheng explained why his attempt to save them had failed. The two continued across the wilderness as Ma Yuxuan struggled to accept his teacher’s view of ordinary people.

• Yellow Mud Village’s residents demanded that Ma Yuxuan stay, attacked him, and clung to him despite his having restored their water and supplied food.
• Ma Yuxuan knocked the villagers unconscious but refused to kill them, then left the village with Chen Changsheng.
• Ma Yuxuan asked Chen Changsheng why the villagers had treated him that way, and Chen made him shout that he was an idiot before answering.
• Chen Changsheng argued that desperate people behaved like beasts and that Ma Yuxuan had misunderstood the villagers by judging them as people.
• Chen Changsheng questioned whether Ma Yuxuan’s temporary aid could truly save the villagers and pointed out that the Water God Temple had been their last source of hope.

Chen Changsheng explained to Ma Yuxuan that killing the Water God Temple monster had disrupted Yellow Mud Village’s fragile coexistence and left its people facing drought and taxes. Ma Yuxuan resolved to save both the village and the world, and proposed that the Netherworld Epoch could become an example of change.

• Chen Changsheng warned Ma Yuxuan that the monster beneath the Water God Temple had sustained a grim balance, and that the recovered water would dry up within three months.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Yellow Mud Village also faced damaged tools, a lack of seeds, and renewed taxes from local powers.
• Ma Yuxuan turned back toward Yellow Mud Village, but Chen Changsheng challenged him to consider the greater number of people suffering across the Netherworld Epoch.
• Ma Yuxuan said he would save Yellow Mud Village and the world, and Chen Changsheng urged him to solve the Water Law problem before time ran out.
• Chen Changsheng described how powerful cultivators made the Netherworld Epoch’s problems difficult to solve, and Ma Yuxuan insisted they would find a way.
• When Chen Changsheng said he lacked an example to strengthen his conviction, Ma Yuxuan proposed making the Netherworld Epoch that example.

Chen Changsheng and Ma Yuxuan reached Great Jing's Imperial Capital to investigate why its water law had vanished, then split up to uncover the mystery. Ma Yuxuan entered the Anomaly Suppression Bureau while Chen Changsheng sought information through a Zhaojing Prefecture clerk.

• Chen Changsheng agreed to help Ma Yuxuan save the Netherworld Epoch and resolve its cultivation problem.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he had found no clear evidence of either a man-made water shortage or a powerful anomaly in Great Jing.
• Ma Yuxuan proposed that they split up and investigate the Imperial Capital from within, and Chen Changsheng accepted.
• Ma Yuxuan used an eyeball to pass as abnormal and entered the Anomaly Suppression Bureau.
• Chen Changsheng went to Zhaojing Prefecture and flattered a clerk he had bribed into meeting him.

Chen Changsheng bribed a clerk to become a night watchman in Bright Capital City, where he spotted a suspicious residence and followed the energy of a substitution technique. In Nine-Twist Alley, a black-robed man was attacked by a supernatural force, and a rattle drum sounded just as he was about to be torn apart.

• Chen Changsheng paid a clerk for a night watchman post and revealed that the Great Jing Dynasty’s fortune appeared as a wounded serpent near death.
• Chen Changsheng began patrolling Bright Capital City while Ma Yuxuan became a squad captain in the Anomaly Suppression Bureau.
• Chen Changsheng noticed scarlet energy over a residence, then watched Ma Yuxuan lead his men inside to fight an evil entity.
• Chen Changsheng examined black ash three li away, identified the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique, and followed its energy trail.
• A black-robed man found his contact murdered in Nine-Twist Alley and burned a pursuing skeleton to ashes with a blood talisman.
• A sinister nursery rhyme caused the black-robed man’s hands to fall off, and a rattle drum sounded as he faced being torn apart.

Ma Yuxuan defeated the eerie treasure in Nine-Twist Alley and arrested the black-robed woman, while Chen Changsheng secretly used his own rattle drum. The next morning, Ma Yuxuan asked Chen Changsheng for help questioning her, and they began exchanging information about the murdered family.

• Ma Yuxuan arrived in Nine-Twist Alley, fought the regenerating monstrous monkeys, and discovered their eerie treasure with the Evil Eye.
• Ma Yuxuan pulled the eerie treasure from the darkness and crushed it, then arrested the black-robed woman.
• Chen Changsheng shook his rattle drum outside the alley and disappeared into the darkness with several pale-faced children.
• Ma Yuxuan visited Chen Changsheng the next morning and said the Anomaly Suppression Bureau had failed to get information from the woman.
• Ma Yuxuan agreed to exchange two questions with Chen Changsheng, then explained that the murdered family had been wealthy merchants who controlled much of Bright Capital City's water supply.

Ma Yuxuan briefed Chen Changsheng on the investigation and learned that the culprit had used a powerful Delusion Artifact to injure his teacher. Chen Changsheng explained the ranks of Eerie Treasures, then revealed that his force had lost when it invaded the Netherworld Epoch.

• Ma Yuxuan identified a water-controlling family as a possible starting point for the case and said the Anomaly Suppression Bureau had put him in charge as a Hundred-Household Officer.
• Chen Changsheng told Ma Yuxuan to release the captured survivor and showed him a Rattle Drum destroyed during a clash with the person behind the crimes.
• Chen Changsheng explained the seven ranks of Eerie Treasures and said the culprit had used a Delusion Artifact that was likely damaged in their exchange.
• Ma Yuxuan asked about higher-ranked Eerie Treasures, and Chen Changsheng said treasures above the fifth rank would not appear in the Great Jing Dynasty.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that his force had lost when he led an invasion of the Netherworld Epoch, leaving Ma Yuxuan astonished.

Chen Changsheng told Ma Yuxuan how a past invasion of the Netherworld Epoch ended in defeat despite a force of Great Emperors and other experts, and revealed that he had left Great Dao Imprints behind to keep the Netherworld Epoch from rising again. After Ma Yuxuan left, Chen Changsheng regretted mishandling the Water Law case, while Ma later freed Miss Xue by telling her an anomaly had killed her family.

• Chen Changsheng explained that the Netherworld Epoch’s Eerie Treasures and a Seventh-Order Origin Artifact had forced his enormous coalition to withdraw, though he had planted Great Dao Imprints there to prevent its resurgence.
• Chen Changsheng refused to lend Ma Yuxuan his Eerie Treasures and sent him away, while Ma left smiling and resolved to keep helping his teacher.
• Chen Changsheng realized the person who struck him the previous night was not behind the disappearance of the Water Law and decided to wait before using his Human-Skin Scripture Scroll.
• Ma Yuxuan went to the Anomaly Suppression Bureau Prison and told Miss Xue she was free because an anomaly had killed her family and the culprit had been killed.

Ma Yuxuan took Xue Huan out of the Anomaly Suppression Bureau and began questioning her about the massacre of her family. He rejected her claim that the killer acted out of revenge and pointed out that her family had known danger was coming before she escaped.

• Xue Huan refused to accept the Bureau’s closed case and demanded that Ma Yuxuan find her family’s killer.
• Ma Yuxuan revealed that he understood the political motives behind his assignment and offered to help Xue Huan investigate.
• Xue Huan followed Ma Yuxuan out of the prison after he warned that she would die there without him.
• At the marketplace, Ma Yuxuan explained why the Bureau had let him take Xue Huan and asked what secret her family had uncovered.
• Xue Huan claimed her family had been killed over an old blood feud, but Ma Yuxuan dismissed the story and noted that her family had anticipated the attack.

Ma Yuxuan deduced why the Xue family was killed and pressed Xue Huan to reveal their secret. She explained that the Great Jing Dynasty’s water network was being drained and showed him the Imperial Jade Seal beside a skeleton in a Dragon Robe.

• Ma Yuxuan reasoned that the Xue family had uncovered a dangerous secret and that Xue Huan had been sent to seek protection with it.
• After Ma Yuxuan guessed the secret involved water, Xue Huan revealed that her father believed Great Jing would have no water left within three years.
• Xue Huan explained that some Water God Temples had fallen into disuse because someone had severed their connections and drained their sources.
• Xue Huan showed Ma Yuxuan a Storage Magical Artifact containing a skeleton in a Dragon Robe and a pitch-black piece of jade.
• Xue Huan identified the jade as Great Jing’s Imperial Jade Seal and asked Ma Yuxuan to guess who the skeleton had been.

Ma Yuxuan learned why Xue Huan's family could not seek protection and discovered that the Imperial Palace had sent attackers after her. As night approached, he prepared formations and explained his Divine Power, while Xue Huan lamented that cultivation had made her feel like a monster.

• Xue Huan explained that a dead man with the Imperial Jade Seal had been found wearing a Dragon Robe, leaving her family at risk whether he or the living emperor was an impostor.
• Ma Yuxuan contacted Chen Changsheng, who revealed that the people who had tried to kill Xue Huan came from the Imperial Palace and warned that he would not intervene again that night.
• Ma Yuxuan decided to prepare for the anticipated attack, and Xue Huan chose to follow him despite doubting his ability to protect them.
• Ma Yuxuan set up formations and explained that his black energy was a disguise for Divine Power, which suppressed Xue Huan's Origin Qi.
• Xue Huan admitted she envied Ma Yuxuan's lack of bodily flaws and wished she could look like a normal person.

Ma Yuxuan questioned Xue Huan about the costs and realms of her cultivation, but sensed an unseen danger before she could finish explaining. Using Xue Huan’s Origin Qi to activate an eyeball, he revealed monsters attacking their courtyard and concluded that a powerful enemy wielding a high-grade Eerie Treasure had concealed the assault.

• Ma Yuxuan teased Xue Huan about her mutations, then asked her to explain the cultivation realms.
• Xue Huan described the first four realms and explained the choices and costs facing cultivators in the delusion-shaping realm.
• Ma Yuxuan sensed someone nearby despite detecting nothing and borrowed Xue Huan’s Origin Qi to activate the eyeball.
• The eyeball revealed monsters attacking the courtyard and destroying its defenses, while Xue Huan identified the attack as Turning Illusion into Reality.
• Ma Yuxuan deduced that their attacker was above the delusion-shaping realm and used at least a bone artifact, possibly a delusion artifact.

Ma Yuxuan fought the hidden Person Behind the Scenes with multiple spells while Chen Changsheng forced his way into the Great Jing Imperial Palace. Ma Yuxuan and Xue Huan were left trapped by a fate artifact that distorted the laws, with no way to escape except by using another eerie treasure.

• Ma Yuxuan cast the Golden Light Spell and summoned Golden-Armored Guards to battle the monsters surrounding the courtyard.
• Chen Changsheng broke through the Imperial Palace's energy barrier, knocked the Imperial Guard Commander from the sky, and passed an old official who withdrew after being wounded.
• Chen Changsheng defeated the eight-armed man, tearing off six of his arms and severing one of his heads before continuing into the palace.
• Ma Yuxuan, badly battered after an hour of fighting the Person Behind the Scenes, realized his opponent had deployed a fate artifact that distorted the laws.
• Xue Huan told Ma Yuxuan that only an eerie treasure could counter another eerie treasure.

Ma Yuxuan was trapped by a Fifth-Tier Eerie Treasure that turned his blood into clear water, and he fought to escape after Ma Xu'an refused to help him. He injured the treasure's hidden wielder in the Great Jing Imperial Palace, then returned to his body with Xue Huan's help.

• Xue Huan passed out as the Fifth-Tier Eerie Treasure overwhelmed him, while Ma Yuxuan's blood continued turning into clear water despite his attempts to resist.
• Ma Yuxuan used a special magical artifact to contact Ma Xu'an, who refused to save him and ended the call.
• Ma Yuxuan drew in origin qi, entered the Delusion-Shaping Realm, and used his primordial spirit to locate the treasure's hidden wielder.
• Ma Yuxuan sent a swarm of flying swords toward the Great Jing Imperial Palace and grievously injured the person controlling the eerie treasure.
• Ma Yuxuan struggled to return his life lamp to his body until Xue Huan awakened and pierced his chest with a bone hairpin, allowing him to come back to life.

Ma Yuxuan learned that his body had irreversibly died after he separated his primordial spirit from it to gain Delusion-Shaping Realm power. Chen Changsheng told him that understanding the origin qi system and finding more eerie treasures to suppress his changing body were his only remaining chances.

• Ma Yuxuan explained to Xue Huan that he had feigned death by separating his primordial spirit, but discovered that his body remained lifeless and his cultivation could not restore it.
• Xue Huan explained that Ma Yuxuan’s body was resisting his primordial spirit, and Ma Yuxuan stopped removing the bone hairpin when his spirit began to destabilize.
• A man in white blocked Chen Changsheng at the Great Jing Imperial Palace, but Chen Changsheng left without fighting.
• Ma Yuxuan brought Xue Huan to Chen Changsheng, who confirmed that Ma Yuxuan was dead and could not revive his body by abandoning it or dispersing his origin qi cultivation.
• Chen Changsheng said Ma Yuxuan might find a solution by fully understanding the origin qi system and warned him to find more eerie treasures before his body became one.

Chen Changsheng explained that Ma Yuxuan’s body was turning into an eerie treasure after he cultivated origin qi and left his body, while admitting that his own body was mutating too. He offered Ma Yuxuan a chance to become an ordinary person, but argued that abandoning their promise to save the Netherworld Epoch would make them cowards.

• Chen Changsheng told Xue Huan that Ma Yuxuan’s body had begun transforming into an eerie treasure after his primordial spirit left it, and that the Bone Hairpin had temporarily suppressed the change.
• After Xue Huan left, Ma Yuxuan begged Chen Changsheng to save him, and Chen Changsheng revealed that his own right hand had become bare bone after a fight in the Great Jing Imperial Palace.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he and Ma Yuxuan had cultivated origin qi to uncover the Netherworld Epoch’s problems, but their origin qi cultivation was suppressing their sea of bitterness cultivation and causing mutations.
• Chen Changsheng revealed a face growing on his chest and said he could give Ma Yuxuan a normal body at a crucial moment, even if that meant making him ordinary.
• Chen Changsheng called that offer a coward’s choice and reminded Ma Yuxuan of their vow to save the Netherworld Epoch and their responsibilities in both worlds.

Chen Changsheng and Ma Yuxuan agreed to investigate the Netherworld Epoch’s water law independently, while Ma Yuxuan began teaching Xue Huan to provide a reference for their cultivation research. Chen Changsheng discussed the Netherworld Epoch with Yun Yu and continued meditating on his own difficult cultivation problem.

• Chen Changsheng told Ma Yuxuan to find his own path through cultivation and challenged him to solve the water law problem first.
• Chen Changsheng asked Ma Yuxuan to teach Xue Huan so they could observe an ordinary cultivator as a reference.
• Chen Changsheng contacted Yun Yu, who explained that a Netherworld Epoch Origin Artifact might harm him but would require its cultivation system to activate.
• Chen Changsheng rejected Yun Yu’s offer of conjectures, ended the call, and resumed meditating despite his serious difficulties.
• Ma Yuxuan told Xue Huan he would guide her cultivation and claimed he would soon surpass her in realm, strength, and understanding.

Xue Huan tested Ma Yuxuan’s origin qi cultivation and watched him surpass the standards she described with ease. He continued demonstrating strange physical abilities, leaving Xue Huan stunned as she assessed his meridians.

• Xue Huan explained that origin qi condensed on the body measured a cultivator’s foundation, then demonstrated her own defensive barrier.
• Ma Yuxuan drew in the origin qi around the Xue Residence, formed a massive barrier, compressed it into armor, and shaped it into flying faces.
• Xue Huan described the stained viscera realm, and Ma Yuxuan cut open his abdomen to reveal a black-crystal heart before instantly healing the wound.
• Xue Huan explained that meridians were judged by their width and resilience, so Ma Yuxuan turned transparent and revealed his ink-black meridians.
• Ma Yuxuan sent an enormous amount of origin qi through his meridians, distorting his body as Xue Huan questioned whether he was human.

Ma Yuxuan rebuked Xue Huan for wallowing in self-pity and explained his path of developing morality, intellect, physique, beauty, and labor. Xue Huan described the painful method her teacher taught her for attracting Origin Qi, and Ma Yuxuan questioned whether that method was correct.

• Ma Yuxuan scolded Xue Huan for giving up when she saw his strength and told her to ask questions about cultivation.
• Xue Huan asked Ma Yuxuan about his cultivation experience, and he explained his pursuit of all-round development in morality, intellect, physique, beauty, and labor.
• Ma Yuxuan said beauty meant recognizing love and goodness in the world, and explained that labor meant putting knowledge into practice.
• Xue Huan explained that her teacher taught her to torture herself to increase her affinity with Origin Qi, including peeling off her skin to approach the Dark Embryo Realm.
• Ma Yuxuan asked Xue Huan whether she had ever questioned her teacher's method, and she admitted she had not.

Ma Yuxuan taught Xue Huan how Origin Qi came from living beings’ suffering and helped her develop a stronger affinity for it, while warning her about the dangers of aberration. He left to investigate the previous night’s events and seek a stronger Eerie Treasure, with no solution yet to the mutations caused by Origin Qi cultivation.

• Ma Yuxuan explained that Origin Qi came from the suffering of living beings and that accepting it could attract it as well as tormenting oneself.
• Xue Huan listened to Origin Qi’s whispers, absorbed a vast amount, and began to mutate until Ma Yuxuan pulled the excess energy from her.
• Xue Huan discovered her Origin Qi affinity had more than tripled, but Ma Yuxuan warned that absorbing too much could turn her into a monster or anomaly.
• Ma Yuxuan explained that cultivators could not preserve their lucidity forever and would eventually have to abandon their bodies or become monsters.
• Ma Yuxuan left for the Anomaly Suppression Bureau to investigate the previous night and claim a reward, hoping to obtain a stronger Eerie Treasure before his body disappeared.