Chapter Summaries

Zheng Yi traveled alone to Secluded Central City to bid on Flesh Gourd Seeds, intending to cultivate them with zombie flesh and blood and use the resulting sword as the foundation for his Lesser Five Elements Sword Foundation Casting Method. At the underground auction, the seeds came up for bidding, and the offers began.

• Zheng Yi decided to obtain the Flesh Gourd Seeds, which he believed he could cultivate with zombie flesh and blood and cleanse with Merit Golden Light.
• Zheng Yi secretly left the Qi Family and traveled to Secluded Central City after arranging for his caravan to gather information about the auction.
• Zheng Yi entered the underground auction in disguise and waited as the fat shopkeeper presented items taken from cultivators.
• The fat shopkeeper announced the Flesh Gourd Seeds, and attendees jeered at the resources needed to cultivate them.
• Bidding for the Flesh Gourd Seeds began at three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones and quickly rose to five hundred.

Zheng Yi won the Flesh Gourd Seed at auction, then sensed a powerful malicious gaze but failed to identify who was watching him. The watcher, Qi Shengyuan, recognized Zheng Yi as connected to the destruction of the Qi Family Main Lineage and prepared to keep him under surveillance.

• Zheng Yi outbid the remaining contenders and bought the Flesh Gourd Seed for 3,500 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Zheng Yi's seed of merit warned him of intense malice, but he could only trace the gaze to a private room above the second floor.
• Zheng Yi resolved to avoid leaving his base until he reached High-Stage Qi Refining.
• Qi Shengyuan revealed that Zheng Yi bore a blood feud with the Qi Family and ordered his men to keep watch on him.
• Qi Shengyuan explained that a Heart-Connecting Lock linked him to his father, Qi Yuanzong, and had let him identify Zheng Yi after the Qi Family Main Lineage was wiped out.

Qi Shengyuan recognized Zheng Yi as the man responsible for the Qi Family’s destruction and planned to deal with him after the auction, while prioritizing the final material needed for the Five Poison Soul Severing Sword. The auction’s Geng Metal Essence sparked fierce bidding, but Zheng Yi could not afford its rapidly rising price.

• Qi Shengyuan identified Zheng Yi as the culprit behind the Qi Family’s ruin, and he and his companion agreed to investigate whether Zheng Yi had an escort after the auction.
• Qi Shengyuan explained that the Qi Family still had hope if it secured the last Five Elements Essence and recovered its ancestral arrangements beneath the Nine Yin Gathering Evil Vein Termination Array.
• The auctioneer presented a fist-sized piece of Geng Metal Essence, drawing greed from the demonic cultivators and attention from Zheng Yi.
• The plump shopkeeper released a formidable aura that subdued the crowd before opening the bidding.
• The bids for the Geng Metal Essence climbed to thirty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, forcing Zheng Yi to abandon any attempt to buy it.

After leaving an auction, Zheng Yi was ambushed by a cultivator commanding blood bats, but countered with his Azure Profound Fiend and Blood Robed Woman. The attacker’s giant blood bat was destroyed, leaving Zheng Yi victorious and the Blood Robed Woman nourished by its flesh.

• Zheng Yi abandoned the bidding for Geng Metal Essence, left Secluded Central City, and rested in a ruined temple after sensing someone’s malice.
• A cultivator surrounded the temple with blood bats and ordered them to drain Zheng Yi’s flesh and blood.
• Zheng Yi burst from the temple and used ghostfire to kill more than half the swarm.
• The attacker summoned a giant Qi Refining Seventh Layer blood bat, and Zheng Yi sent Blood Robe to fight it.
• Blood Robe tore the blood bat apart and consumed its flesh, while its bones crashed to the ground and shattered.

Zheng Yi uncovered the Qi Family Hidden Lineage and confronted its heir, Qi Shengyuan, who had been watching him near Secluded Central City. As Zheng Yi’s Blood-Clothed Female Ghost overwhelmed Qi Shengyuan, the heir activated Crimson Blood Burning Body and surged to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

• Zheng Yi killed the black-clad attacker and learned through the Soul Devouring Banner that he was a remnant of the Qi Family Hidden Lineage.
• A Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirit spotted a watcher southeast of Zheng Yi, and Zheng Yi pursued him with the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost.
• Qi Shengyuan sensed danger, sent two attendants to investigate, and fled toward Secluded Central City before Zheng Yi intercepted him.
• Zheng Yi identified Qi Shengyuan as the Qi Family’s hidden heir and sent the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost to attack him.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost battered Qi Shengyuan, who burned seventy percent of his vital blood with Crimson Blood Burning Body and raised his strength to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

Zheng Yi helped the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost kill Qi Shengyuan, then ambushed and killed the two remaining Qi Family members before returning to his secret chamber. He had obtained the Flesh Gourd Seed and eliminated the Qi Family Hidden Lineage, but a Foundation Establishment expert in Secluded Central City had investigated the battle site.

• Qi Shengyuan unleashed his full strength against the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost, but Zheng Yi used Azure Profound Fiend Qi to strengthen her.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost seized Qi Shengyuan's Flying Sword, destroyed his divine sense imprint, and tore him apart before devouring his Divine Soul.
• Zheng Yi collected Qi Shengyuan's storage bag and fled as a Foundation Establishment expert approached the battlefield.
• The Foundation Establishment expert investigated the scene, sensed that one high-stage Qi Refining combatant had died, and returned to Secluded Central City.
• Zheng Yi circled back, found the two remaining Qi Family members, and killed them with the Soul Devouring Banner's Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirits.
• Zheng Yi returned to his secret chamber at the Ba Dong Town Mine, having obtained the Flesh Gourd Seed and eliminated the Qi Family Hidden Lineage.

After killing Qi Shengyuan, Zheng Yi found the Geng Metal Essence in his storage bag and took it as the main material for the Flesh Gourd's top-grade Flying Sword. He returned to the Apocalyptic World to confront new Ability Users at the rapidly expanded Gathering Place, leaving them crushed beneath his power.

• Zheng Yi opened Qi Shengyuan's storage bag and found the Geng Metal Essence he had missed at the Underground Auction House in Secluded Central City.
• Zheng Yi restored his energy and hurried to the Apocalyptic World, where Jin Wuqian had led the Gathering Place to grow into a city of more than three thousand people.
• Jin Wuqian brought newly joined Ability Users to meet the mysterious leader they had only heard about.
• Zheng Yi's oppressive aura unsettled the newcomers, but some still doubted his abilities and secretly raised their heads to look at him.
• Zheng Yi released azure-green flames, and several newcomers groaned and collapsed facedown under his power.

Zheng Yi ordered the Gathering Place to hunt zombies and use their flesh to cultivate Flesh Gourds with a Blood Supply Array. As the gourds began to grow, he prepared sword-refining materials and watched the vines produce their first fruits.

• Zheng Yi used his aura to subdue the new Ability Users, then ordered Jin Wuqian to lead the guard squads on a zombie hunt.
• Jin Wuqian led a militarized force out to gather zombie corpses, and the Gathering Place returned dozens of truckloads by evening.
• Zheng Yi activated a Blood Supply Array and used the zombie flesh and Zombie Crystal Cores to accelerate the growth of the Flesh Gourd Seeds.
• Zheng Yi told Jin Wuqian to keep replenishing the site with zombie flesh, then examined the sword-refining materials he had obtained from the Qi Family and Qi Shengyuan.
• The Flesh Gourd vines produced seven or eight red, lantern-like gourds after absorbing the zombie Flesh Essence.

Zheng Yi cultivated Flesh Gourds to nurture Flying Sword Embryos and began hatching Bloodsucking Demonic Bat Eggs in the Apocalyptic World, while his Gathering Place expanded and cleared the surrounding area. He led a team toward Hui South in Changhui District, where a vast zombie army stood in the way of further growth.

• Zheng Yi inserted refined metal ores into five Flesh Gourds, which absorbed zombie flesh and blood as Flying Sword Embryos began forming inside them.
• After cultivating the gourds for three days, Zheng Yi prepared to hatch the Bloodsucking Demonic Bat Eggs in a Flesh Demon Nest, keeping them beyond the Progenitor Blood Bat's influence.
• Zheng Yi's Gathering Place recruited more people and killed roughly one hundred thousand zombies, creating a broad safe zone as the Golden Seed in his Sea of Consciousness grew.
• Zheng Yi led a team toward Hui South in Changhui District, where a hierarchical army of one hundred thousand zombies gathered under Mutated Zombies.

Zheng Yi led the gathering place army to Hui Nan Area and destroyed a zombie horde of more than a hundred thousand after a day and night of fighting. With the battle won, he ordered Jin Wuqian to organize resource collection and transport zombie flesh and crystal cores.

• Zheng Yi mobilized the gathering place army and led it to Hui Nan Area to eliminate the approaching zombie horde and gather resources.
• Advance personnel lured the zombies out of the city, and Jin Wuqian ordered artillery and mechanized troops to attack and retreat in coordinated stages.
• After the horde dwindled to fewer than ten thousand, Zheng Yi led the army into close combat against the remaining zombies and their mutated variants.
• Zheng Yi killed the last Golden Bone Zombie with his flying sword, ending the battle and prompting the troops to celebrate their victory.
• Zheng Yi ordered Jin Wuqian to prioritize collecting supplies from military depots and armories, along with zombie flesh and Zombie Crystal Cores.

Zheng Yi secured the Blood Bat Eggs in the completed Flesh Demon Nest and strengthened the Soul Devouring Banner with resources and the spirits he had captured. He traveled to a yin-rich ghost cave to cultivate the Black Fiend Technique, where he began absorbing a Big Head Ghost’s energy.

• Zheng Yi placed several hundred Blood Bat Eggs inside the guarded Flesh Demon Nest at the Gathering Place’s core.
• After the Gathering Place grew stronger, Zheng Yi noted that slaughtering the zombie horde had enlarged his Golden Seed and purified the killing aura from his body.
• Zheng Yi improved the Soul Devouring Banner, raising the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost to Qi Refining Eighth Layer and strengthening its Netherworld Soldier Vengeful Spirits.
• Zheng Yi traveled to a mountain hollow three hundred li away, where dense yin energy surrounded a former Gathering Place that had become a Death Forbidden Zone.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost and Netherworld Soldier Ghost Generals captured a Qi Refining Stage Six Big Head Ghost, and Zheng Yi used the Black Fiend Technique to absorb its energy.

Zheng Yi cultivated in the Ghost Cave until he refined its Vengeful Spirits and Malevolent Ghosts, strengthening his Black Fiend Technique and reaching the high tier of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer. He returned to the Da Yi Immortal Domain when the Soul Devouring Banner began to crack, and Qi Lin quickly gathered the materials needed to upgrade it.

• Zheng Yi spent half a month refining more than three hundred Vengeful Spirits and Malevolent Ghosts, transforming about one-third of his Azure Profound Fiend into Ink Spirit Fiend.
• Zheng Yi cleared the Ghost Cave of its ghosts and reached the high tier of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, but still needed to refine many more souls to fully advance his technique.
• Zheng Yi ended his secluded cultivation after the Soul Devouring Banner began cracking under the strength of the ghosts it contained.
• Zheng Yi returned to the Da Yi Immortal Domain and ordered Qi Lin to obtain materials to upgrade the Soul Devouring Banner.
• Qi Lin mobilized the Qi Family's merchant caravans, which gathered all the required materials in about half a month.

Zheng Yi used the Qi Family’s resources to obtain rare materials and began upgrading his damaged Soul Devouring Banner, his Lifebound Artifact. After the banner absorbed the refined materials and grew dramatically inside the cauldron, Zheng Yi faced the most crucial stage of the refinement.

• Zheng Yi praised Qi Lin for gathering rare materials and considered strengthening the Qi Family so it could remain useful to him.
• Zheng Yi ignited the Artifact Refining Room’s cauldron with Cyan-Black Demonic Flame and placed his cracked Soul Devouring Banner inside.
• As Zheng Yi tempered the banner, its ghosts endured the flames, while weaker spirits were destroyed and consumed by the others.
• Zheng Yi refined the materials, including the Lotus Silver Ore Matrix, into liquid and fused them into the Soul Devouring Banner.
• The banner expanded to more than a zhang in length, and Zheng Yi intensified the flames as the refinement reached its crucial moment.

Zheng Yi completed the second refinement of his Soul Devouring Banner, advancing it to a high-grade artifact, then returned to the Apocalyptic World to attack the Ghost-filled hospital in Luo City. He exposed the hospital’s illusion and confronted the Vengeful Spirits as they began to leave and hunt.

• Zheng Yi finished refining the Soul Devouring Banner, whose Ghosts and Yin Soldiers merged into it and whose Blood-Clothed Female Ghost became its primary soul.
• Zheng Yi praised Qi Lin, gave him instructions for their plans, and returned to the Apocalyptic World.
• Zheng Yi spotted the former regional central hospital in Luo City, a dangerous Ghost Den where Ghosts emerged at night to hunt.
• The hospital’s Malevolent Ghosts created an illusion of an ordinary hospital corridor, but Zheng Yi saw through it with his Spirit Eye Technique.
• As the Ghosts followed the Evil Ghost doctors out to hunt, Zheng Yi released his aura and surged with scorching blood qi to stop them.

Zheng Yi unleashed the Soul Devouring Banner against the Ghost Hospital’s hundreds of powerful spirits, leading its ghostly army to destroy them by dawn. The battle greatly strengthened the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost and the surviving Yin Soldiers, leaving the banner’s main soul more powerful than Zheng Yi but still under his control.

• Zheng Yi used his living aura to draw the Ghost Hospital’s spirits toward him and released the Soul Devouring Banner’s Blood-Clothed Female Ghost and forty-eight Yin Soldiers.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost transformed into its green-faced, fanged true form and devoured an Evil Ghost doctor.
• Zheng Yi’s banner army fought the hospital’s spirits through the night, overwhelming them with stronger Soul Power and ghostly qi.
• Before sunrise, Zheng Yi’s forces wiped out nearly five or six hundred ghostly beings in the hospital.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost advanced to the high stage of the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, while more than half of the surviving Yin Soldiers reached the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

Zheng Yi broke through to Qi Refining Stage Six while refining his cultivation, then spent over a month stabilizing his realm. Meanwhile, the first Blood Bats hatched in the Apocalyptic World and displayed strange, violent behavior, leaving Zheng Yi to suspect that zombie flesh had changed them.

• Zheng Yi’s cultivation broke through to Qi Refining Stage Six, and he stabilized his new realm with Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Zheng Yi returned to the Da Yi Immortal Domain and spent more than a month consolidating his cultivation.
• The first batch of Blood Bat Eggs hatched in the Flesh Nest, with their incubation shortened by the zombie flesh.
• Zheng Yi watched the hatchlings attack and devour one another, until only a Mother Bat and several Bat Kings remained.
• Zheng Yi wondered whether the Blood Bats had mutated or inherited a zombie bloodline.

Zheng Yi discovered that Blood Bat Cubs raised with zombie flesh and blood developed zombie traits, grew rapidly on Zombie Crystal Cores, and devoured one another. After the Mother Bat mated with and ate the Bat Kings, only one Demonic Fetus survived in her womb, consuming its siblings and demanding far more nourishment as Zheng Yi continued to feed it.

• Zheng Yi suspected zombie flesh and blood had given the Blood Bat Cubs zombie bloodlines and caused them to attack and devour one another.
• He found that the Mother Bat and Bat Kings absorbed Zombie Crystal Cores but ignored Low-Grade Spirit Stones, so he supplied them with more crystal cores.
• Over the following weeks, the Mother Bat and Bat Kings grew to enormous size and reached maturity.
• The Mother Bat mated with each Bat King and ate him afterward, then became pregnant and began forming Blood Bat Eggs.
• Zheng Yi sensed that all but one egg had lost its vitality as the surviving Demonic Fetus absorbed their nutrients.
• He fed the Mother Bat extra zombie flesh, blood, and Zombie Crystal Cores as the Demonic Fetus's demands increased.

Zheng Yi watched a mutated Blood Bat Egg devour its siblings and mother before hatching into a ravenous Demonic Fetus. The creature attacked Zheng Yi in its hunger, and he raised blue-black flames to strike it.

• The Demonic Fetus drained the Mother Bat of her life and caused her death.
• The crimson egg tore through the Mother Bat's dried body and emerged, then consumed nearly all the zombie flesh in the Flesh Nest.
• Zheng Yi decided to keep feeding the Demonic Fetus with zombie flesh so he could study what it would become.
• Driven by hunger, the Demonic Fetus sprang from the Flesh Nest and pounced at Zheng Yi.
• Zheng Yi summoned blue-black flames into his palm and struck at the attacking Demonic Fetus.

Zheng Yi punished the rebellious Demonic Fetus Blood Egg with Ink Spirit Fiend Demonic Flame, but it extinguished the flames with its own blood energy. He then ordered the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost to teach it a lesson, and her claws barely scratched its tough outer flesh.

• Zheng Yi sent the Demonic Fetus Blood Egg back into the Flesh Nest and covered it with Ink Spirit Fiend Demonic Flame.
• The Blood Egg endured the flames and released blood-red vapor that extinguished them, surprising Zheng Yi.
• Zheng Yi decided to punish the Blood Egg for resisting and summoned the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost from the Soul Devouring Banner.
• The Blood-Clothed Female Ghost attacked the Blood Egg with her claws, but its tough flesh stopped her from penetrating deeply.

Zheng Yi’s Demonic Fetus hatched into a powerful Progenitor Zombie Blood Bat, which he subdued with the Soul Devouring Banner. He named the new bloodline source Cain and considered how the independent species could aid his plans in the Apocalyptic World.

• Zheng Yi withdrew the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost after the Demonic Fetus’s protective shell began to falter, then warned the fetus against resisting him again.
• Zheng Yi had Jin Wuqian supply the Flesh Nest with zombie flesh, and the Demonic Fetus grew to the size of a giant pumpkin over two months.
• The Demonic Fetus hatched into a humanlike bat monster that Zheng Yi identified as a Progenitor Zombie Blood Bat.
• Zheng Yi tested the newborn against the Blood-Clothed Female Ghost and Malevolent Ghost Yin Soldiers, then used the Soul Devouring Banner and Ink Spirit Fiend to suppress it.
• Zheng Yi concluded that the fused Zombie and Blood Bat bloodlines had become independent of the Blood Bat Palace’s control and named the new bloodline source Cain.