Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yuanqing and the others prepared to face the decapitating anomaly in the black smoke, but it struck down the Stop-Killing Palace Lord and sealed her spirit. Searching for the hidden enemy before the next attack, Zhang Yuanqing realized the female statue in Yaoguang Hall was responsible, just as its eyes turned toward Xiahou Aotian.

• The group discussed how to survive the black smoke and agreed to search for the anomaly during its attack.
• Fu Qingyang used the Forest Queen crown to fill the area with plants that could detect disturbances, but the black smoke concealed everything from view.
• After the smoke cleared, Zhang Yuanqing found the Stop-Killing Palace Lord decapitated, with her spirit body sealed and unable to revive itself.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Fu Qingyang concluded that they needed to endure the attacks and find the anomaly during the ten-minute interval.
• The group searched Yaoguang Hall again, and Zhang Yuanqing noticed that no vegetation grew on the statue's pedestal.
• Zhang Yuanqing identified the female statue as the anomaly, and its eyes turned toward Xiahou Aotian.

Zhang Yuanqing and his allies fought the animated female statue, exploiting its weaknesses and nearly destroying it before black smoke gave it a movement technique. With the statue now hunting them from shifting positions and the ten-minute window closing, the group faced an escalating threat without the Stop-Killing Palace Lord’s help.

• Xiahou Aotian survived the statue’s opening sword strikes, and the group escaped as Yaoguang Hall collapsed.
• Fu Qingyang, Zhang Yuanqing, and their allies coordinated attacks, while Princess Yinyao’s and Demon Eye Heavenly King’s abilities restrained the statue and the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon scorched it with dragon flames.
• Xiahou Aotian used Samadhi True Fire to trap the statue’s sword, allowing Zhang Yuanqing to smash half its face with the Purple Thunder Hammer.
• Black smoke obscured the battlefield, and the statue vanished before Zhang Yuanqing could land another blow.
• Fu Qingyang called out the statue’s shifting positions as it used a movement technique, while the group realized they had lost their chance to kill it within the ten-minute interval.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions weakened and defeated the Jade Light Statue, then discovered that its yellow gourd contained the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger. Zhang Yuanqing seized the statue’s spirit and absorbed it, beginning to digest its memories.

• As the footsteps ended, Zhang Yuanqing used a Yin Corpse disguised as Demon Eye Heavenly King to protect the group from the statue’s decapitation attack.
• Fu Qingyang’s duplicate drew the Flying Head Savages out of the pavilion, and Zhang Yuanqing burned them with sunlight and killed Elder Xuanzhen.
• Zhang Yuanqing summoned the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon to burn the pavilion, while Xiahou Aotian trapped the female statue in a Bagua formation and Fu Qingyang and Demon Eye Heavenly King attacked it.
• Zhang Yuanqing struck the statue with ball lightning, and its yellow gourd fell; he picked it up and identified it as the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger.
• While his companions restrained the weakened statue, Zhang Yuanqing used Soul Seizing and the Companion Spirit Moon to pull out and absorb its spirit.
• Zhang Yuanqing closed his eyes and began digesting the woman’s memories while enduring mental contamination.

Zhang Yuanqing learned the Ritual Dance and used the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger to restore the Stop-Killing Palace Lord, though spirit devouring left his mind temporarily unstable. After resting, the team continued into Southern Garden’s second level, where an illusion concealed the area and Zhang Yuanqing sent a Yin corpse to scout.

• Zhang Yuanqing devoured the Yaoguang Sect Leader’s remnant spirit and learned about the Cannibal Divine Art and the Ritual Dance that activated the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger.
• Zhang Yuanqing performed the Ritual Dance and used the gourd to recover the Stop-Killing Palace Lord’s severed head and soul fragments.
• The team retreated to rest while Zhang Yuanqing recovered from the mental effects of spirit devouring and Xiahou Aotian studied the gourd.
• Xiahou Aotian found that the gourd’s abundant metal spiritual power defied his understanding of artifact materials.
• The team reached Southern Garden’s second level, where an illusion concealed the area and caused Xiahou Aotian’s drone to disappear.
• Zhang Yuanqing identified the black smoke as a source of concealment and sent a Yin corpse through the illusion to scout.

Zhang Yuanqing explored the smoke-shrouded Southern Garden with his teammates, but a Ghost Marriage procession appeared and people began vanishing. After he pursued the procession to rescue Xiahou Aotian, he returned to find the rest of the group gone as well.

• Zhang Yuanqing lost contact with his Yin Corpse, which seemed to have been cut off from their world rather than attacked.
• Zhang Yuanqing led the group into the Southern Garden and used the Heaven-Devouring Beast to clear enough black smoke for them to search its empty buildings.
• A Ghost Marriage procession passed the group, and Xiahou Aotian vanished without anyone noticing.
• Zhang Yuanqing used Sunrise and Blazing Sun War God to purify the procession but could not find Xiahou Aotian.
• Zhang Yuanqing returned and discovered that the Stop-Killing Palace Lord, Fu Qingyang, the Demon Eye Heavenly King, and Princess Yinyao had also disappeared.

Zhang Yuanqing discovered that Righteousness Hall trapped intruders in supernatural murals and used his illusion skills to free his corpse puppet. He found a second mural depicting a ghost wedding with a groom resembling Xiahou Aotian, leaving his teammate’s fate unresolved.

• Zhang Yuanqing entered Righteousness Hall after concluding that the missing teammates had likely been drawn into illusions.
• He resisted an illusion of a childhood memory and realized the hall’s danger came from its murals rather than its statue.
• Zhang Yuanqing identified a mural depicting zombies attacking a swordsman and used his brush to defeat them with lightning.
• The mural disappeared, releasing Zhang Yuanqing’s corpse puppet and returning its consciousness to him.
• Zhang Yuanqing found a second mural depicting a ghost wedding, with Xiahou Aotian’s likeness among the groom’s features.

Zhang Yuanqing rescued his teammates from illusions built around their deepest fears, then led the group toward the Southern Garden’s final level. Their first attempt to scout it ended with a yin corpse apparently taking a devastating attack, leaving the unseen threat unresolved.

• Zhang Yuanqing used Xiahou Aotian’s exaggerated protagonist persona to awaken him from the Ghost Marriage illusion, then joined him in rescuing Stop-Killing Palace Lord and Demon Eye Heavenly King from their traumatic memories.
• Fu Qingyang revealed that he had escaped his illusion on his own, and Zhang Yuanqing helped Princess Yinyao remember that she was a yin corpse.
• Fu Qingyang studied the sword diagrams in Righteousness Hall and memorized their techniques before the group headed for the Southern Garden’s final level.
• Xiahou Aotian’s drones were destroyed after entering the final level, where he glimpsed green ghost lamps, so Zhang Yuanqing sent a yin corpse to scout instead.
• The yin corpse passed through the barrier, and about half a minute later Zhang Yuanqing’s head snapped back, his eyes burst, and blood streamed down his face.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions discovered that the third floor was protected by a lethal Seven Stars Formation whose green lanterns unleashed sword qi. As the lanterns began moving east, the group followed, but a storm of sword qi struck even while they remained beneath the light.

• Zhang Yuanqing reported seeing green sky lanterns arranged like the Big Dipper, and Xiahou Aotian identified the layout as a Seven Stars Formation with hidden formation eyes.
• After Zhang Yuanqing's eyes regenerated, Fu Qingyang led the group into the formation, where Xiahou Aotian recognized seven connected lantern patterns and identified their position as the Kaiyang Star.
• The group tested the lanterns and learned that leaving the candlelight or ignoring a descending lantern triggered lethal sword-qi attacks.
• Zhang Yuanqing destroyed a blocking lantern to gauge the attack, and the sword qi shattered his armored yin corpse and blinded him again.
• When the lanterns drifted east, the group ran after them, but sword qi rained down despite their staying within the lantern light.

Zhang Yuanqing and his team survived the Seven-Star Lantern Formation’s sword rain by learning to perform the Yu Step, but discovered they had only minutes to find its hidden cores before the formation turned deadly. They began searching the lantern formations after Zhang Yuanqing’s golden light dispelled the concealing smoke.

• The Seven-Star Lantern Formation’s sword rain injured Zhang Yuanqing, Demon Eye Heavenly King, and Princess Yinyao, while Fu Qingyang emerged unscathed.
• The Qin Dynasty Occultist explained that Mizar governed order and suggested they perform the Yu Step, which Xiahou Aotian demonstrated as the group moved safely with the drifting lanterns.
• The Qin Dynasty Occultist warned that the formation would become a killing formation when the Dipper’s handle shifted to winter, and Xiahou Aotian confirmed they could traverse the spring formations safely.
• The Qin Dynasty Occultist explained that the formation cores did not attack, and Fu Qingyang proposed identifying them by their item attributes once the concealing smoke was cleared.
• Zhang Yuanqing used Sunrise and Blazing Sun War God to dispel the smoke, and the team split up to search the lantern formations for the cores.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions broke the Seven-Star Lantern Formation by finding and destroying its formation eye, then defeated the yin creature guarding the Golden Summit Hall. Zhang Yuanqing entered the hall to look for the White Emperor Crown.

• The Stop-Killing Palace Lord found and destroyed the Tianquan formation eye, while the group inspected lanterns and navigated the rotating formations before time ran out.
• Zhang Yuanqing used a corpse puppet to scout the Yuheng and Tianquan formations, and Fu Qingyang guided the team through Tianquan’s balanced sword-qi pattern.
• Demon Eye Heavenly King forced his way through the Tianji Formation, but the Tianxuan Formation overwhelmed and killed him; the Stop-Killing Palace Lord later revived him.
• Zhang Yuanqing, Fu Qingyang, Xiahou Aotian, and Demon Eye Heavenly King entered Tianxuan together, protected Demon Eye while he inspected lanterns, and watched him destroy the formation eye.
• A weak Level 9 yin creature emerged from the Golden Summit Hall, and the group defeated it with their combined skills and the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger.
• Zhang Yuanqing used the Heaven-Devouring Beast to consume the yin creature’s sealed head, then went into the Golden Summit Hall to search for the White Emperor Crown.

Zhang Yuanqing and his team completed the Southern Garden of Shu Mountain dungeon, collected their rewards, and left with Xiahou Aotian claiming he had found a way to gain experience without using a Role Card. Meanwhile, Chen Yuanjun asked Li Dongze to investigate possible misconduct at the Kangyang District police bureau, while the Pure Yang Sect Leader searched the middle school’s student records for clues to Yuanshi Tianzun’s identity.

• Zhang Yuanqing and his team failed to find the White Emperor Crown in the Southern Garden and decided against risking the S-rank main peak.
• Zhang Yuanqing’s team completed the dungeon, received experience and items, and discussed whether the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger and White Emperor Crown awaited them on the main peak.
• Xiahou Aotian claimed he had found a way to bypass the Role Card and gain experience as the group was about to leave the Spirit Realm.
• Chen Yuanjun told Li Dongze that a deleted, incomplete missing-person file for Lei Yibing had turned up during a database restoration and asked him to identify lawbreaking officials using his supernatural abilities.
• The Pure Yang Sect Leader hypnotized the principal and a teacher at Kangyang District Middle School and demanded household registration records for male students from Songhai in 2017.
• Back in Fu Family Bay, Zhang Yuanqing met Xiahou Aotian after their dungeon exits and asked him to explain his experience-gaining method.

Xiahou Aotian proposed exploiting dungeon spiritual-power infusions to grow stronger beyond the experience recorded by a Role Card, but Zhang Yuanqing learned the Three Talents Pill formula risked driving him mad and considered asking Old Clapper to improve it. Meanwhile, the Pure Yang Sect Leader began a covert investigation to discover Yuanshi Tianzun’s identity, and the Grand Protector refused to help.

• Xiahou Aotian explained that Zhang Yuanqing could devour other Spirit Realm Walkers’ spiritual power during a dungeon infusion, boosting his actual strength without changing his recorded experience or gaining level-up skills.
• Zhang Yuanqing gave Xiahou Aotian the Three Talents Pill formula, and Xiahou Aotian warned that it lacked a way to purify mental corruption and could turn Zhang Yuanqing into a lunatic.
• Zhang Yuanqing realized Old Clapper might be able to alter the formula because she was a peak Day Wanderer skilled in alchemy, but he doubted he could persuade her.
• The Pure Yang Sect Leader planned to identify Yuanshi Tianzun by asking Kangyang Middle School graduates which of their classmates had changed dramatically after gaining supernatural powers.
• The Grand Protector refused to use Dark Night Rose’s connections to help with the investigation, so the Pure Yang Sect Leader left and returned to Songhai.
• After receiving a number that could help him obtain official resources, the Pure Yang Sect Leader suspected the Grand Protector had a hidden connection to Yuanshi Tianzun and kept the suspicion to himself.

Zhang Yuanqing manipulated Princess Yinyao into helping him persuade Lady of Three Paths Mountain to improve a dangerous pill formula, then obtained the revised instructions. As he searched for a Star Official to use in an experiment, Li Dongze and Chen Yuanjun investigated a missing-person case while the Pure Yang Sect Leader gathered files on people connected to Yuanshi Tianzun.

• Zhang Yuanqing used a Yin Jade Crystal to convince Princess Yinyao to help him ask Lady of Three Paths Mountain to revise the Three Talents Pill formula.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Princess Yinyao staged an appeal to righteousness, but Lady of Three Paths Mountain condemned the formula and threatened to expel him from the sect.
• After Zhang Yuanqing and Princess Yinyao left, Lady of Three Paths Mountain secretly added two Spirit Talisman arrays to the formula, and Zhang Yuanqing retrieved and memorized them in Mohist Mechanism City.
• Li Dongze and Chen Yuanjun investigated a deleted missing-person file and began to suspect that someone had made Lei Yibing's family forget reporting his disappearance.
• The Pure Yang Sect Leader received files from an official Swordsman and kept the file of a missing Hangzhou University student who had attended Kangyang Middle School with Yuanshi Tianzun.
• Zhang Yuanqing called Fu Qingyang and asked him to find a low-difficulty White Tiger Corps instance containing a Star Official for a pill experiment.

Zhang Yuanqing and Xiahou Aotian infiltrated a Yellow Turban camp, abducted its strategist, and successfully refined a pill that permanently increased Zhang Yuanqing’s spiritual power. After leaving the dungeon, Zhai Cai fought alongside the Knights’ Order until Holy Knight Simon Rodney sent him away to preserve the knights’ legacy.

• Zhang Yuanqing and Xiahou Aotian posed as Yellow Turban soldiers and learned that the strategist was stationed in a tent inside the camp.
• Zhang Yuanqing abducted the strategist, and Xiahou Aotian refined him into a Three Talents Pill with Zhang Yuanqing’s help.
• Zhang Yuanqing swallowed the pill after the dungeon ended and discovered that it permanently increased his spiritual power.
• Zhai Cai fought off waves of mutated monsters alongside the Knights’ Order in a ruined city.
• Holy Knight Simon Rodney urged Zhai Cai to leave and preserve the knights’ legacy, and Zhai Cai departed from the battlefield.

Zhai Cai returned after clearing an S-rank dungeon and told Zhang Yuanqing and Mr. President that the Holy See's lost treasury was hidden inside the Knight's Twilight dungeon. They prepared to pursue the treasure, but Mr. President questioned whether a level-seven S-rank dungeon could contain such powerful items.

• Fu Qingyang showed Zhang Yuanqing the Marshal's advancement route and proposed that he exceed her record by clearing difficult dungeons.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Fu Qingyang discussed hunting a Day Wanderer to advance Zhang Yuanqing's leveling plan, but could not find a viable target.
• Zhai Cai called Zhang Yuanqing after reaching level eight and completing the Knight inheritance, announcing that he could try opening the Holy See Treasury.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Mr. President traveled to Desen River Park, where Zhai Cai explained that the Holy See's treasury had become the hidden mission in the Knight's Twilight dungeon.
• Mr. President doubted that the level-seven dungeon could reward the treasury's supposed demigod items.

Zhang Yuanqing, Zhai Cai, and the chairman entered the Holy See Treasury, which lay outside the instance’s rules, and began exploring its hidden storehouse. They found a silver-sealed coffin inside and wondered what the Holy See had imprisoned there.

• The chairman explained that the Holy See Treasury was separate from the Knight's Dusk instance, then exiled himself, Zhang Yuanqing, and Zhai Cai to the ruined city where the instance took place.
• The chairman lent Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai Explorer gear, and Zhang Yuanqing reminded Zhai Cai that he had promised the Saints of Return of the Dead a share of the treasure.
• The chairman assembled the four Holy Disk fragments and opened a portal into the treasury, where Zhang Yuanqing summoned fresh air and the chairman lit an ancient gas lamp.
• The three surveyed the treasury’s weapons, supplies, and Saint-quality items without taking anything, then found a silver coffin sealed with molten silver and an exorcism array.
• Zhai Cai suggested opening the coffin and looked to the chairman for a response.

Zhang Yuanqing, Zhai Cai, and Mr. President awakened a vampire sealed in the Holy See’s treasury and learned that he came from a thousand years ago. The vampire, Augusto, revealed that his bloodkin were cursed by Odin, leaving the group with evidence that the Norse god may have truly existed.

• Zhang Yuanqing opened the silver coffin, and the group found a pale man with a silver nail through his heart.
• The Sole-Heir Knight removed the nail, and Mr. President’s golden liquid revived the vampire, who introduced himself as Augusto and threatened to make the treasure hunters his servants or food.
• Zhai Cai and Zhang Yuanqing each slapped Augusto back into the coffin, and Mr. President made him submit before asking about his past.
• Augusto said he had slept for more than eight hundred years, hunted supernatural creatures after awakening, and was sealed by Pope Falang after being weakened with mercury.
• Augusto claimed that Odin cursed the progenitor of his bloodkin, prompting Mr. President and Zhang Yuanqing to consider whether the Norse god had truly existed.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions learned that vampires, witches, and Icefire Demon Wolves were connected to the unopened Third District and investigated what had become of its ancient practitioners. They bound Augusto to Zhai Cai with a knight’s contract, then discovered Sovereign-grade treasures in the ruins.

• Augusto explained that vampires and witches descended from beings who stole Odin’s Rune magic, and that the Norse gods perished in Ragnarok.
• Zhang Yuanqing and his companions connected Ragnarok to an ancient calamity that devastated the Third District, while Uncle argued that the Icefire Demon Wolf arose during the disaster and wandered into the First District.
• The group decided to make Augusto Zhai Cai’s servant, and Augusto accepted a knight’s contract after being threatened with imprisonment in the sealed treasury.
• Chairman led the group deeper into the ruins, where they found three Sovereign-grade items and three sealed brass chests.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai rushed toward the treasures.

Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai divided the Holy See Treasury’s spoils, and Zhang Yuanqing discovered the final two pieces of the Thunder God Set. As he prepared to test the completed set, a spirit body appeared and threatened to punish the intruders.

• Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai exchanged weapons, while Mr. President claimed the direction-reversing puppet.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai opened the gilded pot and fell asleep; Mr. President identified its contents as Eternal Night and claimed the material.
• Zhang Yuanqing and Zhai Cai gave Mr. President a poisonous demon heart in exchange for a promised Sovereign-level item.
• Zhang Yuanqing found the Lightning Boots and Thunder God Helm in the third chest and recognized them as the last pieces of his set.
• Zhang Yuanqing stored the two Sovereign-grade items and examined their speed, defense, and magnetization abilities.
• Zhang Yuanqing took out the other set pieces to test the completed set, but a spirit body appeared and declared that the treasury intruders would be punished.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions faced the Holy Knight’s powerful remnant spirit in the Holy See’s treasury. After the chairman devised a plan to seal its armor, Zhang Yuanqing equipped the Thunder God Set and unleashed its power against the Holy Knight.

• The Holy Knight’s remnant spirit appeared and used its rules to force Zhang Yuanqing, Zhai Cai, and the chairman out of the void.
• The chairman fought the Holy Knight but was overpowered, then used the Explorer’s gear to hide the group briefly while he began preparing a sealing array.
• The chairman lured Augusto out of his coffin to distract the Holy Knight and explained that they needed to weaken and seal the armor.
• Zhang Yuanqing gave Zhai Cai the Heaven-Devouring Beast and equipped the Thunder God Set, while Zhai Cai used the beast and Life Source Fluid to withstand the Holy Knight’s attack.
• Zhang Yuanqing learned the set’s abilities and struck the Holy Knight with a lightning orb, blasting him backward.