Chapter Summaries

The Plague Emperor and Lord God of Wealth forged a brotherly alliance and agreed to protect Lu Chen as he sought a new path for the Plague Department. Lu Chen organized the Rakshasa Cult members into a company, then accompanied Yu Feng to inspect four mysteriously slain corpses.

• Lord God of Wealth revealed that Lu Chen was his sworn brother, and the Plague Emperor agreed to protect Lu Chen if he could reform the Plague Department.
• The Plague Emperor warned Lord God of Wealth about increasingly frequent disturbances in the Big Dipper and urged him to build up Incense Fire.
• Lu Chen appointed Zeng Rou as general manager and Wang Zhidong as deputy manager of Lu Corporation, giving them funds and Plague Pill formulas to begin production.
• Lu Chen went to the City Lord's Residence, where Yu Feng took him to the morgue to examine four corpses killed in different ways.
• Yu Feng asked Lu Chen whether he had ever heard of a Corpse Liberation Immortal.

Lu Chen identified the corpses as part of the Five-Hells Immortal Corpse-Liberation Method and explained its connection to an earlier ghost-immortal ritual. He joined Yu Feng to investigate the A-rank Jiangdu City Serial Murder Case, where the final victim was expected to die in three days, but the killer’s identity and nature remained uncertain.

• Lu Chen explained that four victims had endured the first four hells of the Five-Hells Immortal Corpse-Liberation Method, leaving the heart-carving ritual unfinished.
• Yu Feng challenged Lu Chen about his detailed knowledge, and Lu Chen showed him a Yin-Thunder Wood plaque recovered from the red-clad vicious ghost at Rebirth Academy.
• Lu Chen described how the plaque had been used in a more sophisticated attempt to create a ghost immortal while retaining a living human body.
• Yu Feng gave Lu Chen the file for the A-rank Jiangdu City Serial Murder Case, which offered three million cash and 1,300 military merit points.
• Lu Chen and Yu Feng linked the four victims’ deaths to their crimes and predicted that the final human demon would be killed by heart-carving three days later.
• Yu Feng said the killer might be a powerful ghostly entity but could not rule out a human culprit.

Lu Chen investigated a series of killings linked to corpse liberation and discovered that the victims’ souls had vanished from the Netherworld’s records. To find the culprit, he decided to seek help from the Four Duty Merit Officers and the City God, leaving the investigation poised to draw him back into conflict with Li City God.

• Yu Feng asked Lu Chen to identify the murderer behind four killings before another human fiend was killed, and Lu Chen summoned Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi to investigate the victims’ souls.
• Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi found no records of the victims in the Netherworld, and Yu Feng concluded that their souls had scattered and vanished.
• Lu Chen proposed asking the City God for clues, and Yu Feng suggested contacting the Four Duty Merit Officers instead of the Day-and-Night Patrol Gods.
• Yu Feng clarified that catching the mastermind mattered more than preventing the fifth human fiend’s death, then returned to the City Lord’s Manor.
• Lu Chen sent Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi to report the case to Lord Yama and resolved to deal with Li City God.

Lu Chen left the South City precinct after sensing something watching him, while the Netherworld officials discussed how to investigate a monster that had destroyed several souls. King Yama summoned Zhong Kui to go to the mortal realm, and Zhong Kui arrived at the Hall of Yama.

• Lu Chen mistook a surveillance camera for the source of his uneasy feeling and left, unaware that a strange presence had followed him before turning away.
• King Yama learned that a monster’s corpse-liberation ritual had caused the souls of the dead to be destroyed and considered four ways to investigate.
• Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi urged King Yama to seek help from the Jiangdu City God, but he decided that Zhong Kui should handle the matter instead.
• Judge Shen delivered King Yama’s invitation to Zhong Kui, who agreed to go and asked his sister to fetch his official robes.
• Zhong Kui entered the Hall of Yama in a crimson cloud, and the Netherworld officials bowed to him.

King Yama persuaded Zhong Kui to investigate the Jiangdu corpse-liberation immortal case and escort Lu Chen to City God Street, offering him a share of temple incense in return. Zhong Kui arrived at Lu Chen’s office and introduced himself, leaving Lu Chen stunned by the meeting.

• King Yama showed Zhong Kui the Jiangdu case and explained that a villain had used the Five Hells Ascension method to destroy the souls of the dead.
• King Yama asked Zhong Kui to escort Lu Chen to City God Street so Lu Chen could work with the local City God, and Zhong Kui agreed.
• King Yama offered Zhong Kui a divine seat and a share of the incense offerings from Lu Chen’s planned temple.
• Lu Chen praised Zeng Rou’s expansion plan and told her to manage the company’s affairs while he handled other matters.
• Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong appeared in Lu Chen’s office with Zhong Kui, who introduced himself and drew Lu Chen’s astonished recognition.

Lu Chen and Zhong Kui analyzed the Five Hells Ascension ritual and its required victims, destinies, and willing executioner. Lu Chen suspected the Living Ghost Immortal practitioner was also preparing Five Hells Ascension, and the group considered seeking information from the Four Duty Merit Officers.

• Zhong Kui examined the victims’ files and confirmed that the Gold in Sand destiny and two Four Symbols arrangements were still missing.
• Lu Chen explained that Five Hells Ascension required five Human Fiends and a willing executioner whose destiny matched the practitioner, with both risking destruction if the ritual failed.
• Lu Chen revealed that the ritual’s executioner and punished victims could ascend as Ghost Immortals together, prompting Fan Rusong to consider how many people in Jiangdu were pursuing Ghost Immortal cultivation.
• Lu Chen suspected the practitioner attempting to become a Living Ghost Immortal had prepared Five Hells Ascension as a backup plan.
• Zhong Kui examined the Yin-Thunder Wood and concluded that the person behind the ritual had substantial means and likely ties to the Netherworld.
• Lu Chen proposed asking the Four Duty Merit Officers for precise information, but Zhong Kui warned that it might not be simple.

Lu Chen accompanied Zhong Kui to Jiangdu City's City God to ask the Four Duty Merit Officers to identify the killer behind the Five Hells Ascension incidents. The officers refused to let him consult the Human Register without a decree or imperial edict, leaving Lu Chen needing the Jade Emperor's approval.

• Zhong Kui took Lu Chen's soul to Jiangdu City's City God Street while protecting his physical body with a spell.
• Hu Sanniang welcomed Zhong Kui and Lu Chen on Li City God's behalf, and Li City God apologized for his conduct at the City God Assembly.
• Lu Chen explained the Corpse Liberation Immortal incidents and asked Li City God to introduce them to the Four Duty Merit Officers.
• Li City God led Lu Chen, Zhong Kui, Xie Qingyi, and Fan Rusong to the Duty Registrar Hall, where they found the four officers sharing one body.
• The Four Duty Merit Officers refused Lu Chen access to the Human Register without a Celestial Bureaucracy decree or the Jade Emperor's edict, and told him to seek the Jade Emperor's approval.

Lu Chen and his companions failed to persuade the Four Duty Merit Officers to investigate the danger in Jiangdu, but Li City God agreed to send underworld patrols. After Zhong Kui gave Lu Chen a limited-use command token, Lu Chen learned that a Heavenly Court reform had concentrated worship in temples and weakened the incense offerings—and power—of underworld gods.

• The Four Duty Merit Officers refused to help investigate Jiangdu, so Lu Chen and his companions returned to the City God's Residence without their support.
• Li City God promised to patrol Jiangdu with underworld forces, report disturbances, and punish any ghosts or human killers involved.
• Zhong Kui returned Lu Chen and the others to the mortal world, urged Lu Chen to keep investigating, and gave him a command token usable twice for seven days.
• Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi explained that Zhong Kui's power had declined as his incense offerings dwindled.
• Lu Chen learned that the Heavenly Court had restricted private worship and required deities to be worshipped in temples, reducing the offerings received by underworld gods.

Unable to find a way to worship the Four Duty Merit Officials, Lu Chen realized the Kitchen God might help him investigate the case and rushed to the Wu Clan Temple. Meanwhile, Li City God sent the Day-and-Night Patrol Gods to capture a suspect, and Sun Yourong and Sun Dechang met Lu Chen at the temple.

• Lu Chen remembered the Kitchen God’s role in recording household deeds and reporting to the Jade Emperor, then called Sun Yourong to ask where a statue could be found.
• Sun Dechang learned that the Wu Clan Temple worshipped the Kitchen God, and Lu Chen set off for the Wu family’s temple.
• Li City God ordered the Day-and-Night Patrol Gods to bring in a middle-aged suspect and revealed that he had used a costly secret art to find him.
• Li City God reprimanded Hu Sanniang for acting on her own, warning her not to interfere with his orders again.
• Sun Yourong and Sun Dechang waited outside the Wu Clan Temple, where they greeted Lu Chen as he arrived.

Lu Chen visited the Wu Family Shrine with Sun Dechang and Sun Yourong to worship the Kitchen God, where Old Wu warned him that the deity had never responded to hundreds of worship attempts. Lu Chen remained determined and reached the Kitchen God’s neglected shrine, ready to offer incense.

• Sun Dechang thanked Lu Chen, called him his grandson, and gave him a thick red envelope that Lu Chen accepted.
• At the Wu Family Shrine, Sun Dechang introduced Lu Chen to Old Wu, who explained his standing and the temple’s Register of Invoked Gods.
• Old Wu revealed that the Kitchen God had shown no spiritual response despite more than three hundred worship attempts, but Lu Chen still chose to try worshipping him.
• Lu Chen bought ten sticks of incense and followed Old Wu through the shrine, learning about its deities and the Moon Palace goddess.
• Old Wu led Lu Chen to the dilapidated rear-courtyard shrine and pointed out the Kitchen God’s idol.

Lu Chen discovered that household cooking smoke and rice could stir the Kitchen God's divine power after ordinary incense offerings failed. After coating the statue's mouth with melted candy, he finally reached the Kitchen God, who invited him into a farmhouse for a chat.

• Lu Chen's repeated incense offerings at the Kitchen God shrine produced no response, so he proposed building a stove to recreate the atmosphere of a mortal home.
• Old Wu agreed to Lu Chen's idea, and craftsmen built a stove where Lu Chen cooked rice beneath the Kitchen God's statue.
• Lu Chen sensed brief flickers of divine power while repeatedly offering incense, but the Kitchen God did not appear.
• Lu Chen remembered the Kitchen God's fondness for sweets and smeared melted lollipop over the statue's mouth before offering incense again.
• A blinding light transported Lu Chen to an old farmhouse, where the Kitchen God invited him inside to talk.

Lu Chen summoned the Kitchen God and asked for help catching the culprit behind the Corpse Liberation Ascension murders. The Kitchen God explained that a dead knot—not a shortage of merit or divine power—kept them from accepting his help, leaving Lu Chen without a solution.

• Lu Chen met the Kitchen God in their cottage and asked them to capture the culprit behind the Jiangdu City murders.
• The Kitchen God pointed out that Lu Chen could have sought help from the Spirit Officers or the Four Duty Merit Officers, and Lu Chen admitted the latter had driven him away.
• The Kitchen God condemned the Four Duty Merit Officers and explained that temple rules had weakened their ability to protect households.
• Lu Chen offered to replenish the Kitchen God's merit with his ancestral secret arts.
• The Kitchen God refused, explaining that their real obstacle was a dead knot that could not be untied.

Lu Chen learned that the Kitchen God’s Hearthfire Register had lost its spiritual power after the god entered the temple, leaving him unable to identify wrongdoers. Lu Chen offered to restore the register through Consecration, and after leaving the Kitchen God’s sea of consciousness, he arranged to take the Kitchen God statue for several days to prepare the ritual.

• The Kitchen God explained that the Hearthfire Register had lost its connection to household hearthfires and could no longer help him identify the true culprit.
• Lu Chen proposed using Consecration to restore the register’s spiritual resonance, and the Kitchen God agreed to trust him and promised a reward if he succeeded.
• Lu Chen left the Kitchen God’s sea of consciousness, while Elder Wu and the Sun family discussed his unusually high Divine Service Ratings.
• Lu Chen reassured Sun Yourong and Elder Wu, then asked to take the Kitchen God statue temporarily so he could prepare the restoration ritual.
• Elder Wu agreed to let Lu Chen take the statue, and Lu Chen said he would need three or four days.

Lu Chen arranged to consecrate the Kitchen God’s Hearthfire Register in Southern Mountain Residential Compound, while Li City God learned of the alliance and suspected Lu Chen still distrusted him. At dinner, Old Wu explained how Jiangdu’s God Temples competed for worshippers, outlining the stages a new temple had to survive.

• Lu Chen chose the cooking smoke of Southern Mountain Residential Compound as the primer for a consecration ritual planned for the auspicious hour two days later.
• After Lu Chen left the God Temple carrying the Kitchen God statue, Li City God observed him and concluded that the Kitchen God had agreed to help catch the culprit behind corpse liberation.
• At dinner, Old Wu and Sun Dechang discussed the Zhao family’s suppression of New Nobility lineages and its control of much of the northern city’s Incense Fire.
• Lu Chen asked how Jiangdu’s God Temples competed for worshippers, and Old Wu explained the one-year sprint phase and the subsequent test of a temple’s foundation.
• Old Wu introduced the third stage of temple competition, called diversion.

Lu Chen learned that the Zhao family’s head, Zhao Wanliang, aggressively competed for worshippers and was a powerful lightning cultivator with a frail appearance. Suspecting Zhao Wanliang might be connected to the Corpse Liberation Case, Lu Chen silently marked his name, while Li City God listened to the gathering and grew furious.

• Old Wu and Sun Dechang explained how New Nobility families avoided competing for worshippers and accused the Zhao family of aggressively taking Incense Fire from other temples.
• Sun Yourong revealed that Zhao Jiutang was only the Zhao family’s nominal head and that his nephew, Zhao Wanliang, truly ruled the clan.
• Old Wu described Zhao Wanliang’s notorious behavior and exceptional talent, including a Divine Service Rating above thirty percent with the Thunder Ancestor and likely fourth-rank strength.
• Sun Dechang recounted Zhao Wanliang’s frail appearance and said he had rejected the man’s proposal to marry Sun Yourong.
• Lu Chen connected Zhao Wanliang’s lightning cultivation, frailty, and ruthless methods to Yin-Thunder Wood, Five Hells Ascension, and the Corpse Liberation Case.
• Li City God watched the gathering from City God Street and clenched his fists in anger at Sun Dechang and Wu Zhong.

After Lu Chen prepared scriptures for the Invitation of the Sacred ritual, Hu Sanniang summoned him to City God Street, where Li City God had caught the culprit behind the corpse-shedding case. Lu Chen learned that Li City God had spent his divine lifespan to track the culprit, a living fifth-rank Spirit Practitioner from Xiangnan.

• Sun Dechang and Old Wu discussed supporting Lu Chen if the Zhao family targeted him, while Sun Yourong worried about his prospects against the powerful clan.
• Back at Cloudtop Manor, Lu Chen copied scriptures and prepared for the Invitation of the Sacred ritual, then Hu Sanniang arrived with news that Li City God had captured the true culprit.
• Lu Chen summoned six underworld constables and traveled with Hu Sanniang to City God Street, where Li City God explained that his City God Secret Art had cost him divine lifespan and aged his face.
• Li City God led Lu Chen to the imprisoned culprit, a scarred living man who protested his confinement and demanded to be released.
• Li City God identified the prisoner as Qiu, a fifth-rank Spirit Practitioner from Xiangnan, but said he could not use soul-searching on a living person.

Lu Chen interrogated Qiu Qianluo, who admitted to killing Yin soldiers and a Day Patrol God but refused to identify his accomplice. After recognizing Qiu as the fated person in the Five Hells Ascension scheme, Lu Chen knocked him unconscious and had Ox-Head and Horse-Face carry him away to investigate further.

• Lu Chen questioned Qiu Qianluo about using wicked arts, and Qiu admitted his crimes and claimed he had killed more than a dozen Yin soldiers and one Day Patrol God.
• Qiu challenged Li City God to kill him, while Lu Chen threatened him with Lead-Pouring Punishment and pretended to be the Rakshasa Cult's leader to unsettle him.
• Lu Chen used the Book of Life and Death to identify Qiu as the fated person and accused him of conspiring with a local mastermind to carry out the Five Hells Ascension method.
• Qiu refused to name his accomplice, so Lu Chen knocked him unconscious and ordered Ox-Head and Horse-Face to take him away.
• Lu Chen asked Li City God to speak with him privately.

Lu Chen learned that Li City God had helped him partly in hopes of winning the vacant Prefectural City God post. After learning Lu Chen's new rank, Li Qingyuan pledged to serve him and gave him the Jiangdu City God Token, then prepared three more gifts.

• Li City God explained that he could investigate the remaining Five Hells Ascension culprit again, but Lu Chen refused to let him risk more of his lifespan and said the Kitchen Lord was helping instead.
• Li City God apologized for their past conflict and privately asked Lu Chen to recommend him for the vacant Prefectural City God position.
• Li City God argued that Lu Chen's ties to the Plague Department and the Supreme One gave him influence over the appointment.
• Lu Chen revealed that he had become the Netherworld's Mighty Martial Virtue General and the Plague Department's Plague-Wielding Young Lord, prompting Li Qingyuan to bow and address him as Your Highness.
• Li Qingyuan offered Lu Chen the Jiangdu City God Token and pledged to serve at his command in exchange for help seeking promotion; he then produced three brocade boxes.

Lu Chen accepted three rare Netherworld treasures from Li City God and learned that the Heavenly Court had sealed the old path of cultivation through treasures of heaven and earth. After Lu Chen departed, Li City God revealed that his gift and humble performance were part of a scheme to secure the Prefecture City God position and advance a hidden plan.

• Li City God presented Lu Chen with three rare treasures and explained their uses as offerings, ritual materials, and medicine ingredients.
• Li City God told Lu Chen that mortals had once cultivated with treasures of heaven and earth, but the Heavenly Court sealed that path when it established the God Temple system.
• Li City God explained the assessment process for Prefecture City God, and Lu Chen agreed to speak with the Star Lord after handling his urgent business.
• Lu Chen accepted the three treasures, then left with Hu Sanniang after Li City God thanked him for his support.
• After Lu Chen departed, Li City God dropped his humble facade and told Hu Sanniang to notify Wan Liang and have Ma Shilong await orders.
• Li City God promised Hu Sanniang the Jiangdu City God position as compensation, then laughed as he considered the plan to be going his way.

After returning from City God Street, Lu Chen learned that Li City God wanted his help securing the powerful Provincial City God position and agreed to lend support without guaranteeing success. He rewarded Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujie, then summoned City Lord Yu Feng, who arrived to find Qiu Qianluo captured.

• Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujie explained how City Gods could monitor their cities and the limits that kept them from spying on Lu Chen at Cloudtop Manor.
• Lu Chen told the netherworld constables that Li City God wanted him to ask the Plague Emperor and the Star Lord to help him gain the Jiang Province Provincial City God position.
• Xie Bi'an explained that a Provincial City God commanded the province's City Gods and yin forces and held broad authority to appoint yin officials.
• Lu Chen agreed to put in a word for Li City God but said he could not promise the appointment, then gave Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujie five million netherworld currency notes.
• After the netherworld constables returned to the Netherworld, Lu Chen called Yu Feng, who arrived and praised him after seeing the bound Qiu Qianluo.