Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen discovers the horrifying effects of his evolved Negative Retina, seeing the world as a rotting, decayed realm.
• He questions his ability to influence or change such a world and fears the mysterious powers of people like Bai Yingying.
• Shi Wen decides to visit the Fist Academy to interact more with ordinary people, fearing his humanity is diminishing.
• He accidentally bumps into a True Immortal Temple Taoist, Lu An, and leads him away, mistaking him for an enemy.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Realizes the limitations of his physical power against mysterious enemies, feels powerless and helpless. He becomes introspective, questioning his humanity and the path he's on.
• Lu An: Initially surprised and confused by Shi Wen's behavior, but follows him to find out what's happening.

Significant Themes

• Powerlessness and helplessness in the face of the unknown and mysterious.
• The struggle to maintain humanity while facing monstrous enemies and transformations.
• The desire to connect with ordinary people to prevent losing one's humanity.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen and Lu An: Shi Wen mistakes Lu An for an enemy and leads him away, while Lu An is confused and follows to understand the situation.
• Xu Youxin and the Ninth Squad: They observe Shi Wen's interaction with Lu An, planning to intervene when Shi Wen is in trouble to assert their authority.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen confronts Lu An and Lu Chen in a deserted alley.
• Lu An attacks Shi Wen but is easily overpowered and injured.
• Lu Chen intervenes, but Shi Wen casually blows him away.
• Shi Wen captures and tortures the Lu brothers for information, but they refuse to reveal anything.
• Shi Wen stomps on the remains of the Lu brothers and turns his attention to Xu Youxin.
• Xu Youxin watches the fight, then confronts Shi Wen, but is instantly killed.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen demonstrates incredible strength and power, easily defeating True Human Realm martial artists.
• Lu An and Lu Chen are revealed to be weak compared to Shi Wen, despite being powerful in their own right.
• Xu Youxin is confident in her strength but is quickly killed by Shi Wen, showing her underestimation of him.

Significant Themes

• The power gap between martial artists of different realms is emphasized, with Shi Wen's strength far surpassing that of the True Human Realm.
• The theme of underestimation is shown through Xu Youxin's confidence in her abilities, which leads to her quick defeat.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen and the Lu brothers: Shi Wen easily overpowers and defeats the Lu brothers, showing his immense strength.
• Shi Wen and Xu Youxin: Xu Youxin underestimates Shi Wen's power and is quickly killed, showing the danger of underestimating one's opponent.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen, a martial artist with extraordinary strength, arrives at the Hall of Bitter Resentment.
• Deputy Deacon Xu Youxin, a Quanzhen First Step expert, attempts to confront Shi Wen but is easily defeated and killed multiple times.
• Shi Wen demonstrates his ability to suppress and corrode Quanzhen martial artists using his Black Crow Fire-Force.
• Xu Youxin activates her Nether Sense and attacks Shi Wen, leaving him with severe but non-lethal wounds.
• Shi Wen expresses dissatisfaction with Xu Youxin's strength and asks why she didn't use her full power.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Shows immense strength and the ability to suppress Quanzhen martial artists. He remains calm and composed even when injured.
• Xu Youxin: Initially confident, she becomes afraid and hesitant after seeing Shi Wen's power. She activates her Nether Sense but still cannot defeat him.

Significant Themes

• The power dynamics between martial artists and the fear and respect they inspire.
• The struggle between different martial arts realms and their unique abilities.
• The theme of suppression, with Shi Wen's Black Crow Fire-Force suppressing Quanzhen martial artists.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen and Xu Youxin: Xu Youxin underestimates Shi Wen's power and pays the price. Shi Wen remains calm and composed, even taunting Xu Youxin.
• The True Persons: They initially underestimate Shi Wen and bet on how long he will last against Xu Youxin. After seeing his power, they quickly submit to him.

• Shi Wen reveals he had sensed Xu Youxin’s surveillance and probes her. She attacks using Nether Sense, landing dozens of wounds before he can react. Using Negative Retina, he finally perceives her movements and subdues her, sparing her life. He then forces her to lead him to the True Immortal Temple contingent.
• Xu Youxin, now fearful and reverent, warns that True Immortal Temple sent heavy forces, including Quanzhen Seventh Step Xiang Ji and many True Persons/Quanzhen experts, to operate in Black Cloud County before heir apparent Ji Ming arrives.
• On the emptied Prosperity Street, Xingyuehong, a Sixth Squad deacon, interrogates Xu Youxin about Shi Wen. When Xu Youxin refuses to talk, Xingyuehong brutally tortures her—tearing off her scalp and breaking her limbs.
• Various sects and martial artists, drawn by Tiannan Prefecture’s upheaval and Gray Mist, secretly watch the confrontation.
• Shi Wen enters the teahouse where the enemy waits. When a Strength-Refining Daoist tries to stop the civilians from leaving, Shi Wen backhands him, exploding his body. After being allowed upstairs, he coldly warns all uninvolved people to leave—or face the consequences.
  Key themes: Hidden strength and ruthless pragmatism; institutional intrigue and betrayal; brutality as intimidation; observation and power display.
  Character notes: Shi Wen is calm, deadly, and increasingly willing to use overwhelming violence; Xu Youxin shifts from spy to cowed follower; Xingyuehong embodies the sadistic, scheming side of the factional struggle.

Chapter Summary: “Clash—This Kid Definitely Isn't the Real Culprit Behind the Scenes. Kill Quanzhen!”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen confronts Xiang Ji and the Quanzhen fighters of the True Immortal Temple alone in a teahouse.
• Zheng Tong and members of the Hall of Bitter Resentment are present but withdraw after Shi Wen arrogantly dismisses them. Zheng Tong decides to observe the confrontation from outside, hoping to determine whether Shi Wen has become connected to a powerful master.
• Xiang Ji questions Shi Wen about the death of Xiang Ju. Shi Wen openly claims responsibility, provoking Xiang Ji into attacking him.
• Xiang Ji overwhelms Shi Wen with tremendous speed, striking him hundreds of times and leaving deep wounds. However, he is shocked by Shi Wen’s unusually dense and heavy body, despite Shi Wen apparently not having undergone Rongzhen.
• Shi Wen’s Black Crow Fire-Force activates and gradually dispels the strange black force gnawing at his flesh. Xiang Ji recognizes the technique as the Black Crow Army’s martial art and becomes suspicious of Shi Wen’s origins and abilities.
• Believing Shi Wen too weak to have killed Xiang Ju, Xiang Ji orders several lower-level Quanzhen fighters to capture and interrogate him.
• Seven Quanzhen fighters combine their True Power to trap and disorient Shi Wen. They then attack him simultaneously.
• Shi Wen reveals overwhelming physical strength, using his “Full Bow Stance, Prop Punch” to annihilate all seven fighters instantly. He catches and refines the remnants of their corrupted bodies before they can recover.

2. Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Displays extreme confidence, defiance, and a growing battle frenzy. Though initially injured and forced onto the defensive by Xiang Ji, he remains fearless and eager to fight. His enormous physical density, mastery of Black Crow Fire-Force, and devastating strength reveal that he is far more powerful than his apparent Force Refining level suggests.
• Xiang Ji: Begins calm and skeptical but becomes enraged when Shi Wen claims responsibility for Xiang Ju’s death. His initial assault demonstrates overwhelming speed, yet he is unsettled by Shi Wen’s physical resilience. He eventually underestimates Shi Wen, assuming that the younger man could not have killed Xiang Ju.
• Zheng Tong: Shows restraint and strategic caution. Rather than confront Shi Wen directly, he uses the situation to test Shi Wen’s affiliations and abilities. He also harbors resentment after being dismissed and takes satisfaction in humiliating Xingyuehong privately.
• Linghua: Reacts emotionally to Shi Wen’s arrogance and wants to retaliate, but follows Zheng Tong’s orders. Her anger turns into malicious anticipation as she watches Shi Wen face the True Immortal Temple.
• The seven Quanzhen fighters: Initially confident in their coordinated attack, they are instantly crushed once Shi Wen reveals his true physical power.

3. Significant Themes

• Underestimation and hidden strength: Shi Wen appears to be a young, ordinary Force Refining martial artist, but his body and techniques conceal overwhelming power.
• Arrogance versus confidence: Shi Wen’s provocative behavior may appear reckless, yet his confidence is supported by genuine ability. Conversely, Xiang Ji’s own certainty causes him to misjudge Shi Wen.
• Power concealed beneath appearances: The fighters struggle to understand how Shi Wen can possess such weight, resilience, and True Power without undergoing Rongzhen.
• Violence as revelation: Combat exposes the truth about Shi Wen more effectively than interrogation could. His abilities become clear only when he is pushed into battle.
• Factional suspicion and political maneuvering: Zheng Tong and the others are less interested in helping either side than in discovering Shi Wen’s possible connection to a powerful hidden figure.

4. Character Interactions

• Shi Wen and Zheng Tong’s group: Shi Wen insults and dismisses them, prompting Linghua’s anger and Zheng Tong’s decision to withdraw.
• Zheng Tong and Linghua: Zheng Tong restrains Linghua and orders her to leave, emphasizing his authority and preference for observing events rather than acting impulsively.
• Zheng Tong and Xingyuehong: Zheng Tong rejects further interrogation efforts and uses Xingyuehong to vent his anger privately.
• Shi Wen and Xiang Ji: Their exchange quickly turns from interrogation into combat. Xiang Ji seeks answers about Xiang Ju, while Shi Wen deliberately provokes him and refuses to explain his abilities.
• Shi Wen and the seven Quanzhen fighters: The fighters attempt to overwhelm him through coordination and True Power, but Shi Wen responds with a single devastating counterattack, establishing the vast gap between their perceived and actual strength.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen abandons his compressed form and expands into his true body, a gigantic, seven-meter-tall figure with crimson-black skin, immense muscles, flame-like heat, and sulfurous fumes.
• His transformation destroys the teahouse and surrounding buildings, killing roughly a thousand Quanzhen experts instantly. Their bodies are shattered before they can regenerate, and Shi Wen absorbs and refines their cores.
• The destruction shocks Xiang Ji, the True Immortal Temple’s Taoists, Hall of Bitter Resentment observers, and martial artists arriving from across the city.
• Shi Wen attacks Xiang Ji with overwhelming physical force, smashing him through numerous buildings and burning his body with extreme heat. He then crushes Xiang Ji into the ground with a force of roughly two million jin, splitting him in half.
• Xiang Ji rapidly regenerates and explains the power of Quanzhen martial artists: their Supersense allows them to perceive and exploit an opponent’s weaknesses, move with extraordinary speed, and repeatedly regenerate through Rongzhen-derived abilities.
• Xiang Ji launches a high-speed assault, striking hundreds of Shi Wen’s vital points in moments. Although he inflicts numerous wounds, Shi Wen’s body heals almost immediately, leaving neither fighter able to decisively harm the other.
• Xiang Ji changes tactics, using an invisible and mysterious attack. Numerous holes suddenly pierce Shi Wen’s body, including a cavity through his chest, leaving Shi Wen unable to determine the source or nature of the weapon.

2. Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Reveals his true, monstrous physical form and demonstrates overwhelming strength, durability, heat, and regenerative ability. His confidence and bloodlust intensify as he declares his intention to kill everyone before pursuing another group that has offended or unsettled him.
• Xiang Ji: Initially shocked and cautious, he quickly regains his composure after regenerating from being torn in half. He becomes increasingly confident in the advantages of Quanzhen abilities, relying on Supersense, speed, precision, and invisible attacks rather than brute force.
• The Quanzhen experts: Their supposed immortality is shown to have limits. Against Shi Wen’s power, their bodies are destroyed so quickly that they cannot recover, undermining their confidence and demonstrating the gap between ordinary Quanzhen fighters and Shi Wen.

3. Significant Themes

• Physical power versus supernatural technique: Shi Wen represents overwhelming bodily strength, while Xiang Ji embodies refined perception, speed, and mysterious abilities.
• The limits of immortality: Regeneration does not guarantee survival when the body or core is destroyed before recovery can begin.
• Humanity surpassed: The martial artists are shocked that Shi Wen possesses a body more terrifying than those of many Rongzhen practitioners despite not having undergone Rongzhen himself.
• Mutual invulnerability and escalation: Shi Wen’s body can heal from Xiang Ji’s strikes, while Xiang Ji can evade Shi Wen’s attacks and regenerate from catastrophic injuries, forcing both combatants to reveal stronger methods.
• Fear of the unknown: Shi Wen’s physical form and Xiang Ji’s invisible attacks both challenge conventional understanding of martial arts and combat.

4. Character Interactions

• Shi Wen openly taunts and threatens the gathered Quanzhen experts, treating them as obstacles to be exterminated.
• He directly confronts Xiang Ji, first overpowering him through raw strength and heat.
• Xiang Ji responds by boasting about Quanzhen abilities and insulting Shi Wen’s supposedly flawed body.
• Their battle becomes a contrast between close-range physical domination and elusive, precision-based combat: Shi Wen repeatedly attempts to seize or crush Xiang Ji, while Xiang Ji attacks from outside his reach.
• The chapter ends with Xiang Ji gaining the tactical advantage through unexplained invisible strikes, while Shi Wen remains alive but finally faces an attack his immense body cannot easily anticipate.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Under the blazing sun, the gigantic Shi Wen confronts Xiang Ji, a powerful Rongzhen martial artist from True Immortal Temple.
• Shi Wen’s body is mysteriously pierced by invisible attacks, leaving numerous holes, including severe damage to his heart. Despite this, he remains standing and expresses disbelief that he has been forced into conflict.
• He declares that he only wanted to live peacefully with his family, but threatens to destroy True Immortal Temple if they continue provoking him.
• His words enrage Xiang Ji, who considers Shi Wen an arrogant insect incapable of threatening such a powerful sect.
• Xiang Ji attacks at overwhelming speed. He tears open Shi Wen’s neck, severs his limbs almost completely, and ridicules him for lacking the ability to fuse with the “truth” of heaven and earth.
• Xiang Ji then stomps through Shi Wen’s chest and crushes his heart, intending to demonstrate the helplessness of physical strength before a true Rongzhen expert.
• Rather than panic or beg for mercy, Shi Wen laughs hysterically. He claims that this encounter has finally freed him from his fear of becoming a merciless killer and that he will now slaughter all those responsible.
• Xiang Ji is briefly unnerved by Shi Wen’s mad laughter, but attacks again in anger.
• As Shi Wen appears to surrender all resistance, an enormous, beastlike heartbeat suddenly begins echoing from within his body. The terrifying sound leaves Xiang Ji deeply alarmed, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen: His initial desire for a peaceful, ordinary life gives way to rage and murderous resolve. Even while grievously mutilated, he displays extraordinary willpower and fearlessness. His laughter suggests that his body and powers may possess a hidden transformation or regenerative ability.
• Xiang Ji: Initially calm and disdainful, he becomes enraged by Shi Wen’s threats and violently asserts his superiority. However, Shi Wen’s defiance and strange laughter shake his confidence, revealing that Xiang Ji is not completely immune to fear or uncertainty.
• Observers such as Zheng Tong: Their reactions emphasize the vast difference between Shi Wen and the Rongzhen experts. They regard his threats as absurd because they believe his physical body cannot resist the power of “truth.”

Significant Themes

• Physical strength versus transcendent power: Shi Wen’s monstrous body is still easily damaged by Rongzhen martial artists, whose attacks rely on the deeper power of fused “truth.”
• Oppression and retaliation: Shi Wen’s wish for peace is repeatedly denied, pushing him toward violent revenge.
• Fearlessness in the face of death: His laughter while being dismembered transforms apparent defeat into psychological pressure against Xiang Ji.
• Hidden potential and reversal: The ominous heartbeat hints that Shi Wen’s apparent destruction may trigger a powerful transformation or turn the battle around.
• The danger of arrogance: Both Shi Wen’s provocative threats and Xiang Ji’s contempt contribute to escalating the confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen directly challenges Xiang Ji and condemns True Immortal Temple for forcing him into conflict.
• Xiang Ji responds with contempt, physically humiliating Shi Wen and promising to destroy his limbs and body.
• Shi Wen’s laughter unsettles Xiang Ji, briefly making the stronger fighter retreat.
• The chapter concludes with Xiang Ji recognizing that Shi Wen may not be truly defeated after all, as a terrifying heartbeat emerges from his ruined body.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen, seemingly mortally wounded with severed limbs and catastrophic chest injuries, undergoes a terrifying transformation. His heart turns to magma, producing dragon-like tendons, scales, bone armor, spines, and a long tailbone.
• His body completely regenerates and becomes smaller, denser, and vastly more powerful.
• Activating Burning True Intent at one hundredfold and True Dragon Form, Shi Wen’s speed surpasses the sound barrier. He strikes Xiang Ji with such force that Xiang’s head and body explode.
• Xiang Ji repeatedly reconstructs himself through his supposedly undying body, but Shi Wen continues attacking him relentlessly, delivering over a thousand punches in seconds.
• Shi Wen’s attacks gradually corrode Xiang Ji’s regenerative ability, slowing the rate at which he can reform.
• While mocking Xiang Ji, Shi Wen reveals how he previously killed Xiang Ju and taunts Xiang Ji over the deaths of his followers.
• Shi Wen activates the Negative Retina, allowing him to see the hidden source of the Quanzhen martial artists’ immortality: masses of rotten flesh and delicate networks sustaining their resurrection.
• Using the Extreme Seal, he destroys these cores, permanently killing the immortal Daoists from the True Immortal Temple.
• Shi Wen massacres sixty or seventy Quanzhen martial artists in seconds, then kills every remaining Daoist who accompanied Xiang Ji.
• In desperation, Xiang Ji activates four senses—form, sound, smell, and touch—removing the decay affecting him and greatly increasing his speed. His body mutates further, becoming a huge monster covered in rot, tentacles, pustules, and abnormal organs.
• With all of Xiang Ji’s allies dead, Shi Wen turns toward the gigantic mutated Xiang Ji and declares that he is next.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen evolves into a monstrous True Dragon form, gaining extreme physical durability, speed, regenerative ability, and destructive power.
• His transformation intensifies his savage and ruthless nature. He becomes confident, taunting, and openly exhilarated by the slaughter.
• Shi Wen’s Negative Retina and Extreme Seal demonstrate his growing ability to perceive and destroy the hidden mechanisms behind supernatural immortality.
• Xiang Ji shifts from an arrogant, confident immortal martial artist into a desperate and enraged monster. His repeated deaths weaken his regeneration, while his final sensory activation causes further physical corruption.
• Xiang Ji’s fixation narrows entirely onto killing Shi Wen, even as the battle destroys the surrounding area and his allies.

Significant Themes

• Transformation through violence: Shi Wen’s near-death state triggers a powerful rebirth, turning him into something far more terrifying than before.
• The limits of immortality: Xiang Ji and the Daoists appear undying, but Shi Wen discovers that their resurrection depends on vulnerable hidden cores.
• Predator and prey reversal: The supposedly superior immortal warriors are reduced to helpless targets, while the “lowborn ant” becomes the dominant force.
• Rage and revenge: Shi Wen’s attacks are driven not only by survival but also by resentment toward those who looked down on him and harmed others.
• Monstrous power and corruption: Both fighters become increasingly inhuman, suggesting that overwhelming strength comes at the cost of physical and moral degeneration.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen dominates Xiang Ji physically and psychologically, repeatedly killing and mocking him while emphasizing the humiliation of his inability to stop the slaughter.
• He uses Xiang Ji’s concern for his followers against him, challenging whether Xiang Ji can explain their deaths.
• Xiang Ji responds with escalating fury, abandoning restraint and transforming into a massive aberration.
• The chapter ends with a direct confrontation imminent: Shi Wen has eliminated Xiang Ji’s entire force and now focuses solely on defeating him.

Chapter Summary: “Corruption’s Influence? Kill Them All!!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• In a ruined street, Shi Wen confronts Xiang Ji, who has been transformed by hatred and corruption into a gigantic, grotesque mass of flesh.
• Shi Wen has also taken on a terrifying dragon-like form: seven meters tall, covered in crimson-black scales, bone spikes, a powerful tail, and intense black flames capable of melting the ground.
• Xiang Ji’s mutation is revealed to be the result of the Rot-Borer’s corrupting influence. His body continuously expands, absorbs the earth, and produces horrifying organs, limbs, eyes, and flesh.
• Xiang Ji’s incomprehensible howls spread a corrupting effect, causing hallucinations and threatening to infect or mutate anyone nearby.
• Members of the Hall of Bitter Resentment identify Xiang Ji as a corrupted Quanzhen martial artist. Fearing the corruption will spread, they order the deaths of everyone within a hundred-meter radius.
• Zheng Tong and his followers begin indiscriminately slaughtering spectators, martial artists, and civilians, ignoring pleas based on social status or powerful affiliations.
• Some people escape into the surrounding crowd, making it impossible to determine who was exposed. Zheng Tong therefore orders his subordinates to kill anyone who flees, even considering massacring the entire crowd.
• Members of the Sinking Bell Society, including Zhong Ming, intervene and clash with Zheng Tong’s forces. Their fighters possess immortal bodies and powerful martial arts, allowing them to resist the Hall of Bitter Resentment.
• Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming briefly confront one another. Zheng Tong argues that mass slaughter is necessary to prevent a larger outbreak, while Zhong Ming condemns it as the killing of innocents.
• The chapter ends with the two sides in an uneasy standoff, with Zhong Ming insisting that such extreme measures are unnecessary and meaningless.

Character Developments

• Xiang Ji is no longer merely a human consumed by hatred; he has become a monstrous, continuously mutating embodiment of corruption. His transformation shows the devastating effect of the Rot-Borer.
• Shi Wen reveals a powerful dragon-like combat form, emphasizing his immense strength and resilience as he faces Xiang Ji directly.
• Zheng Tong is portrayed as ruthless and pragmatic. He is willing to sacrifice or kill thousands to contain a possible outbreak, showing that duty has overridden compassion.
• Zhong Ming emerges as a defender of ordinary people and a moral counterweight to Zheng Tong. Though powerful and affiliated with a mysterious organization, he refuses to accept indiscriminate killing.
• The Sinking Bell Society is characterized as highly capable, secretive, and morally driven, though its members are also ruthless and formidable in battle.

Significant Themes

• Corruption and loss of humanity: Xiang Ji’s mutation illustrates how hatred and supernatural decay can completely erase a person’s original identity.
• Fear-driven extremism: The Hall of Bitter Resentment uses the threat of corruption to justify mass execution, raising questions about whether preventing disaster can excuse atrocities.
• Justice versus pragmatism: The conflict between Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming centers on whether suspected danger justifies killing innocent people.
• Moral ambiguity: Neither organization is portrayed as wholly simple—one seeks to contain a genuine supernatural threat, while the other protects civilians but is itself secretive and violent.
• Contagion and paranoia: Because corruption cannot be reliably identified, fear spreads through the crowd, turning everyone into a potential suspect.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen and Xiang Ji face each other as monstrous equals, setting up a major battle between overwhelming physical power and spreading corruption.
• Zheng Tong’s forces clash with the fleeing crowd and later with the Sinking Bell Society’s immortal fighters.
• Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming engage in a tense verbal and ideological confrontation after briefly battling. Zheng Tong warns that Zhong Ming may later be forced to help kill even more people, while Zhong Ming rejects his justification for slaughter.
• The Hall of Bitter Resentment and the Sinking Bell Society become direct opposing forces, representing containment through extermination versus protection of civilians.

Chapter Summary: “Destruction—If Such People Were Killed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zheng Tong defends the mass killing of anyone suspected of being corrupted, arguing that even the slightest contamination could eventually cause them to turn into monsters.
• Zhong Ming condemns Zheng Tong’s ruthless ideology and attacks him, accusing warriors who fused with the “truth” of abandoning their humanity.
• Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming engage in a brutal battle. Both possess extraordinary, seemingly immortal bodies and can recover from devastating injuries.
• Elsewhere, Shi Wen confronts Xiang Ji, who has transformed into a massive, grotesque creature known as Meat Mountain.
• Using his Negative Retina, Shi Wen locates Xiang Ji’s true body at the center of the flesh and organs. He only partially activates the ability, fearing that fully viewing the strange corruption could contaminate him.
• Shi Wen transforms into True Dragon Form and attacks Meat Mountain with tremendous force, but the creature continually regenerates.
• Despite his revulsion and fear, Shi Wen enters the mass of flesh and reaches Xiang Ji’s mind, refining a tiny bone within it using the Extreme Seal.
• Meat Mountain suddenly explodes. The corrupted flesh and the transformed landscape vanish completely, leaving no trace behind.
• Shi Wen learns that only one week remains before the flesh of the Lord of Ice Silence and Cold Death is ready, suggesting an urgent looming threat.
• The fighting stops when the surrounding warriors realize that Xiang Ji’s corruption has disappeared. Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming are stunned, as such corruption normally spreads through the loss of control and is extremely difficult to remove.
• Zhong Ming appears to recognize Shi Wen’s feat from a rumored story and reacts with intense excitement.

Character Developments

• Zheng Tong: Reveals himself as an uncompromising extremist who believes suspected corruption must be eliminated before it can spread. He views ordinary humans as fundamentally inferior to truth-fused warriors and considers them expendable.
• Zhong Ming: Acts as a defender of humanity, despite being a powerful truth-fused warrior himself. His anger comes from seeing fellow warriors use their transformation as justification for abandoning human compassion.
• Shi Wen: Demonstrates courage, determination, and growing control over his powers. Though disturbed by the corruption and uncertain about reality, he willingly enters Meat Mountain to destroy Xiang Ji. His success shows that he may possess a unique ability to neutralize or erase corruption.
• Xiang Ji: Has lost his mind and identity after being corrupted, becoming a dangerous, regenerating mass of flesh. His defeat suggests that corruption can be reversed or destroyed under certain conditions.

Significant Themes

• Humanity versus monstrosity: The conflict between Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming centers on whether power and transformation justify abandoning ordinary human values.
• Fear of contamination: Corruption is portrayed as both physical and psychological, threatening to consume individuals and alter reality itself.
• Moral ambiguity of “elimination”: Zheng Tong calls mass murder a preventative necessity, while Zhong Ming views such thinking as a betrayal of humanity.
• Uncertainty of reality: Shi Wen cannot determine whether the normal world or the one revealed by the Negative Retina is real, emphasizing the chapter’s atmosphere of instability and horror.
• Resistance through compassion and willpower: Shi Wen’s decision to confront Xiang Ji rather than simply destroy everything reflects a different response to corruption—one focused on saving or cleansing what remains.
• Hidden potential: Shi Wen’s ability to erase the corruption shocks the powerful warriors and hints that his abilities may be connected to larger secrets surrounding the world’s transformation.

Character Interactions

• Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming: Their battle is both physical and ideological. Zheng Tong represents ruthless preemptive destruction, while Zhong Ming condemns him for becoming inhuman.
• Shi Wen and Xiang Ji: Shi Wen fights Xiang Ji’s monstrous form while searching for and destroying the remaining core of his identity.
• Shi Wen and the Quanzhen warriors: Although they do not directly fight, his actions force them to reconsider their assumptions about corruption and reveal that he may possess a rare method of dealing with it.
• Zhong Ming and Shi Wen: Zhong Ming’s shocked and excited reaction suggests that Shi Wen’s accomplishment may connect to a story or prophecy known within the Sinking Bell Society.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhong Ming realizes that Shi Wen is the legendary “undying spark” sought by the Sinking Bell Society: a pure human who has not undergone Rongzhen, borrowed Yin power, or cultivated Spiritual Perception, yet can oppose the Yin people, the True, and the Rot-Borers.
• Zheng Tong and the others are stunned that Shi Wen managed to make a dangerous Rot-Borer pollution manifestation disappear—something normally requiring overwhelming power or the sacrifice of everyone nearby.
• Members of the Hall of Bitter Resentment demand that Shi Wen reveal his method, hoping to gain immense merit by reporting it to their lord.
• Zhong Ming and the Sinking Bell Society protect Shi Wen, refusing to let the Hall members question or threaten him.
• Shi Wen calls for Xu Youxin, but Ye Jian, Wang Zhong, and the others arrive instead, visibly shaken and unable to explain what happened.
• Linghua mocks Shi Wen and provokes him. Shi Wen attacks immediately, using a devastating Prop Punch.
• Although Linghua is a powerful Quanzhen Sixth Step martial artist with repeated Rongzhen transformations and regenerative immortality, Shi Wen overwhelms him within moments:
  • He destroys Linghua’s arm with one strike.
  • A second punch caves in Linghua’s chest.
  • He obliterates Linghua’s head with a superheated claw.
• Linghua attempts to threaten Shi Wen by targeting his family and friends, believing his regenerative abilities make him untouchable.
• Using his Negative Retina, Shi Wen identifies the tumor-like core sustaining Linghua’s immortality. He reaches into Linghua’s chest and destroys it, permanently preventing regeneration, then crushes Linghua’s head once more.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Demonstrates extraordinary physical power without relying on Rongzhen or other supernatural methods. He becomes increasingly cold and decisive, especially when Linghua threatens his loved ones. His Negative Retina proves capable of detecting the hidden source of an enemy’s immortality.
• Zhong Ming: Experiences overwhelming joy and reverence after recognizing Shi Wen as the Sinking Bell Society’s long-awaited hope. He immediately shifts into a protective role, standing between Shi Wen and the Hall of Bitter Resentment.
• Linghua: Reveals his arrogance, cruelty, and confidence in his regenerative immortality. His contempt for Shi Wen turns into fear when Shi Wen discovers and destroys his true life core.
• Zheng Tong and the Hall members: Move from disbelief to intense curiosity and greed, hoping to exploit Shi Wen’s abilities for personal advancement.
• Ye Jian and Wang Zhong: Appear traumatized and emotionally overwhelmed, suggesting that something serious has happened to their group, though the chapter does not yet reveal the details.

Significant Themes

• Hope and humanity’s survival: Shi Wen may embody the Sinking Bell Society’s long-awaited hope for humanity’s resistance against the world’s supernatural threats.
• Purity versus corruption: Shi Wen’s strength comes without Rongzhen or Yin power, contrasting with Zhong Ming and Linghua, whose abilities are tied to corruption, transformation, or altered humanity.
• Power and exploitation: The Hall of Bitter Resentment immediately seeks to extract Shi Wen’s secret for political and personal gain rather than recognizing its broader significance.
• Protection and loyalty: Zhong Ming and the Sinking Bell Society defend Shi Wen, while Shi Wen’s fury is especially triggered by threats against his friends and family.
• True immortality and hidden weaknesses: Linghua’s regeneration appears absolute until Shi Wen identifies the internal core sustaining it, emphasizing that even seemingly invincible beings possess concealed vulnerabilities.

Character Interactions

• Zhong Ming treats Shi Wen as a messianic figure and shields him from Linghua’s group.
• Linghua and Zhang Zhisheng pressure Shi Wen for information, pretending cooperation while clearly pursuing their own interests.
• Shi Wen ignores their demands and focuses on the distress of Ye Jian and Wang Zhong.
• Linghua’s mocking provocation leads directly to his confrontation with Shi Wen.
• During the fight, Linghua attempts psychological intimidation by threatening Shi Wen’s loved ones, but this only provokes Shi Wen into using lethal force.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Wen kills a Quanzhen Sixth Step expert after demanding that someone confess responsibility for torturing Xu Youxin. His threat is clear: if nobody admits guilt, he will kill everyone present.
• He immediately kills another Quanzhen practitioner, terrifying the assembled True Persons and martial artists.
• Zheng Tong, a Quanzhen Ninth Step expert and leader of the Hall of Bitter Resentment’s forces, confronts Shi Wen for acting without permission and attacking his people.
• Zheng Tong strikes first and seemingly crushes Shi Wen into the ruins, but Shi Wen transforms into a massive seven-meter-tall True Dragon Form covered in crimson-black scales and black flames.
• Shi Wen’s immense strength, supersonic speed, durability, and regeneration allow him to fight Zheng Tong evenly. Their battle devastates the surrounding street, forcing everyone else to retreat.
• Although Zheng Tong has superior perception through Supersense and powerful regenerative abilities, he realizes that Shi Wen’s abnormal physical power and recovery make him extremely difficult to defeat.
• Zhong Ming unexpectedly joins the battle, attempting to restrain Zheng Tong with countless tentacles. He openly supports Shi Wen, arguing that the Hall of Bitter Resentment attacked first and deserved the consequences.
• Zheng Tong recognizes that he cannot defeat both Shi Wen and Zhong Ming and threatens to report the incident to his lord.
• Bai Yingying suddenly appears nearby, revealing that she has been present—or has arrived—without anyone noticing. Her appearance causes both Zheng Tong and the previously arrogant Zhong Ming to react with fear and submission.

Character Developments

• Shi Wen: Becomes increasingly ruthless and protective of his subordinate. His willingness to kill indiscriminately demonstrates his terrifying temperament, while his True Dragon Form reveals extraordinary combat abilities. Despite his confidence, Bai Yingying’s arrival leaves him bewildered and helpless.
• Zheng Tong: Initially relies on his authority and superior cultivation, but his confidence deteriorates during the fight. He realizes Shi Wen is far more dangerous than expected and ultimately chooses retreat and escalation through his superiors.
• Xingyuehong: Becomes terrified after recognizing that Shi Wen’s violence may be retaliation for her earlier torture of Xu Youxin. Her previous arrogance disappears, and she seeks protection from Zheng Tong.
• Zhong Ming: Displays intense loyalty—or a disturbing personal interest—in Shi Wen by intervening despite the political consequences. His fearsome, unpredictable personality contrasts with the gentle concern he shows Shi Wen.
• Bai Yingying: Establishes herself as a mysterious and overwhelmingly influential figure. Her mere appearance silences the conflict and frightens powerful figures such as Zheng Tong and Zhong Ming.

Significant Themes

• Retribution and cruelty: Shi Wen’s violence reflects a brutal form of justice, where refusing to confess is treated as justification for mass slaughter.
• Power beyond hierarchy: Zheng Tong’s rank and Ninth Step cultivation are insufficient against Shi Wen’s abnormal abilities, showing that conventional status cannot guarantee dominance.
• Protection and allegiance: Zhong Ming’s intervention highlights the importance of personal loyalty and factional alliances, even when helping Shi Wen risks provoking an entire organization.
• Fear of the unknown: Shi Wen’s strange strength unsettles everyone, but Bai Yingying represents an even more mysterious and overwhelming power.
• Moral ambiguity: The chapter presents no clear moral authority. Shi Wen is avenging cruelty but does so through indiscriminate murder, while the Hall of Bitter Resentment is itself responsible for the original abuse.

Character Interactions

• Shi Wen intimidates the gathered Quanzhen practitioners and directly challenges Zheng Tong’s authority.
• Zheng Tong and Shi Wen engage in a destructive, evenly matched battle, each repeatedly injuring and regenerating from the other’s attacks.
• Zhong Ming interrupts the fight and sides with Shi Wen, provoking Zheng Tong and rejecting the Hall of Bitter Resentment’s claim over the matter.
• Zheng Tong attempts to use factional threats against Zhong Ming, but Zhong Ming dismisses him.
• Bai Yingying’s arrival abruptly changes the balance of power, causing Zheng Tong to kneel and Zhong Ming to suppress his arrogance.

Key plot points and events

• Bai Yingying arrives while Shi Wen is fighting the Quanzhen and members of the Sinking Bell Society. Everyone present immediately submits to her.
• When Zheng Tong and Xingyuehong try to blame Shi Wen, Bai Yingying crushes Zheng Tong into a pulp and kills Xingyuehong outright. She then turns on Shi Wen, pins him in a crater, and shatters his scales and bones with a touch.
• Bai Yingying reminds Shi Wen that he serves her and can be killed at her whim. Before leaving, she orders him to meet her at Gusong Temple in three days.
• Once her force lifts, Zheng Tong reforms and leaves with the surviving Quanzhen, abandoning Xingyuehong’s body.
• Zhong Ming helps Shi Wen out of the crater and gives him Dragon-Tiger Great Elixirs. Shi Wen recovers quickly, thanks to his healing ability and newly gained trace of immortality. He finds no useful energy in Xingyuehong’s remains.
• Zhong Ming then asks Shi Wen to speak privately and introduces himself as a member of the Sinking Bell Society, claiming it fights the Yin people and those with Spiritual Perception to save humanity.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Wen is forced to confront how powerless he is beside Bai Yingying. The encounter deepens his hunger for strength, while leaving him badly injured and more withdrawn.
• Bai Yingying displays overwhelming, arbitrary cruelty: she kills Xingyuehong, tortures Zheng Tong, and humiliates Shi Wen while asserting ownership over him.
• Zhong Ming appears helpful, treating Shi Wen’s injuries, but his intense interest in Shi Wen’s unusual recovery makes Shi Wen wary.
• Zheng Tong survives being crushed through his ability to reform, but departs without defending Xingyuehong or looking back.

Significant themes

• Power and helplessness: Those with greater power can treat others as disposable, while even a formidable fighter like Shi Wen is powerless before Bai Yingying.
• Control and servitude: Bai Yingying frames Shi Wen not as an ally but as a possession whose life depends on her will.
• Survival and ambition: Shi Wen’s rapid healing lets him endure the encounter, but it also sharpens his desire to become strong enough to resist.
• Trust and manipulation: Zhong Ming offers aid and presents his organization as righteous, yet his unsettling attention leaves his motives uncertain.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Wen meets Zhong Ming, a zealous member of the Sinking Bell Society, which claims to fight the Yin people and their rule.
• Zhong Ming explains that the Society is backed by “kind” Yin people who supposedly want peaceful coexistence and equal rights for humans. The Society is also compiling a God-Slaying Method from martial arts and research, hoping to discover a weakness in the Yin people.
• Shi Wen distrusts the Society’s grand ideals and suspects its Yin sponsors may have their own motives. He initially declines to get involved, preferring to recover and perfect his own martial art.
• Zhong Ming offers information about the Yin people and the God-Slaying Method, as well as Dragon-Tiger Great Elixir pills. Shi Wen accepts a private conversation but insists he only wants practical facts.
• When asked how to kill a Yin person, Zhong Ming says the answer is to have a stronger Yin person do it. Shi Wen gets up to leave, but Zhong Ming urges him to stay and hear the explanation.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Wen remains pragmatic and skeptical. He is interested in concrete weaknesses, not revolutionary rhetoric, and believes his own cultivation may offer a more reliable route to resisting the Yin people.
• Zhong Ming is fervent and idealistic, convinced the Society serves humanity’s liberation. He tries to persuade Shi Wen through its cause, research, and material incentives, but Shi Wen repeatedly redirects him to the facts.
• Their exchange exposes the gap between Zhong Ming’s ideological enthusiasm and Shi Wen’s cautious, practical outlook.

Significant themes

• Resistance and uneasy alliances: The Society opposes Yin rule while relying on Yin benefactors, raising doubts about its independence and aims.
• Hope versus manipulation: Zhong Ming’s vision of equality may be sincere, but Shi Wen recognizes that power struggles and hidden agendas are always possible.
• Practical action versus grand ideals: Shi Wen favors tangible knowledge and personal training over sweeping promises.
• Human vulnerability: The frightened tavern owners and Zhong Ming’s comment that ignorance may be a blessing emphasize how oppressive and dangerous the world has become.

Key plot points and events

• Zhong Ming explains the Sinking Bell Society’s account of the world’s hidden history to Shi Wen, stressing that some details remain unverified.
• The Rot-Borers, invisible particles from the Calamity Sea, contaminate worlds until they are assimilated into it. The Yin people supposedly protected humanity from these forces and can consume Rot-Borers.
• People with Spiritual Perception can cultivate through “Truth,” refine calamities, and gain extraordinary powers. Their organizations grew until they rivaled the Yin people.
• A conflict between the two groups escalated when an Ancient Yin intervened. The leader of those with Spiritual Perception used an evil god’s power to drag him into the Calamity Sea. After further fighting, the factions reached an arrangement and now rule humanity together.
• Zhong Ming condemns both ruling groups for abandoning ordinary people. He says the Sinking Bell Society seeks a path based on human martial arts—the God-Slaying Method—so humanity can become an independent force.
• He reveals that Bai Yingying, associated with the Black Shadow, has Spiritual Perception. When Shi Wen asks directly about the Society’s method, Zhong Ming begins to say they have found weaknesses in the supposedly invincible beings; the excerpt ends before he explains them.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Ming shifts between fervent idealism, fear, grief, and anger as he recounts the history. He presents the Society’s mission as a hope for humanity, though his account is explicitly based on investigation and secondhand clues.
• Shi Wen remains calm, skeptical, and impatient with speeches. He lets Zhong Ming talk but repeatedly steers him toward the practical question: what is the method?
• Their exchange contrasts Zhong Ming’s revolutionary conviction with Shi Wen’s demand for plain, useful information.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s subjugation: Ordinary people are caught beneath two powerful groups that once opposed each other but now share control.
• Power and betrayal: Zhong Ming argues that those who gained power through humanity’s collective efforts have betrayed their original purpose.
• Hope through resistance: The Sinking Bell Society wants humans to develop strength without relying on supernatural authorities.
• Uncertain history and hidden threats: The account is partly unverified, while the scale of the Calamity Sea and Rot-Borer contamination suggests dangers beyond human politics.

Zhong Ming explained the Sinking Bell Society’s research into Yin people, Spiritual Perception beings, and the dangerous God-Slaying Method, which used rot-borer particles to imitate their powers. After learning that practitioners eventually became contaminated or murderous monsters, Shi Wen asked to inspect the method, and Zhong Ming hurried off to obtain it and report to his superior.

• Zhong Ming told Shi Wen that Yin people and Spiritual Perception beings had cores whose destruction could kill them, though their powers made them nearly impossible for mortals to fight.
• Zhong Ming described how the Sinking Bell Society developed the God-Slaying Method by using rot-borer particles to strengthen mortal bodies and imitate the beings’ abilities.
• Zhong Ming explained that practitioners eventually became mentally contaminated or mindless monsters, forcing the society to have Yin people destroy them.
• Shi Wen asked Zhong Ming to lend him the God-Slaying Method for inspection.
• Zhong Ming leaped out of the window to report to his superior and retrieve the method, while Shi Wen remained wary of relying on others’ promises.

Zhong Ming reported that an ordinary person had killed a Quanzhen martial artist without undergoing Rongzhen, leading the Sinking Bell Society to believe they might have found the human hope foretold by the Evil God. Sima Ting left to verify the report before informing headquarters.

• Zhong Ming rushed to the brothel and told Xiao Huai and Ling Rou that an ordinary person had killed a Quanzhen martial artist without undergoing Rongzhen.
• Xiao Huai and Ling Rou were shocked by Zhong Ming's report and recognized its possible connection to the Sinking Bell Society's search for a new human path.
• Sima Ting came out of the VIP room, heard Zhong Ming's account, and agreed the man might be the hope foretold by the Evil God.
• Sima Ting said he would assess the man himself before reporting the discovery to headquarters, then hurried downstairs.