Chapter Summaries

Lu Ren saw the horrors revealed by his Mind’s Eye and spent 20 Skill Points advancing the Tali Body Forging Art, undergoing a painful transformation as his cultivation changed. By dawn, his Primordial Spirit had reverted to a Spirit Soul, while his mental force had grown powerful enough to stir a continent-wide psychic storm.

• Lu Ren concluded that the deity at Spirit Mist Mountain was likely causing the mountain’s problems and decided to investigate it the next day.
• Lu Ren saw a blood moon and countless spirit monsters slaughtering one another through his Mind’s Eye, while Xu Qing sensed the scene through her Yin-Yang Eyes.
• Lu Ren spent 20 Skill Points to advance the Tali Body Forging Art to the mastered level, and his body shrank, expanded, and developed golden lotus patterns across his shoulders.
• Xu Qing saw Lu Ren’s transformation through the thin sliding door, feared he was a demon, and retreated to her room clutching her prayer beads.
• Lu Ren’s Primordial Spirit reverted to a Spirit Soul as mysterious energy replaced his True Essence, and his mental force grew powerful enough to stir a psychic storm across an entire continent.

Lu Ren endured a painful transformation as the Body Tempering Art reshaped his body, then discovered that Xu Qing possessed an Acquired Sacred Spirit Body. He warned her that the sacred spirits that grant such a constitution could eventually parasitize and drain their chosen host.

• Lu Ren decided to postpone using the Force of Destiny and continued enduring the Body Tempering Art’s changes through the night.
• Xu Qing asked Lu Ren about his painful condition, and he told her to go to class while he continued transforming.
• By afternoon, Lu Ren’s body had grown far stronger, and Xu Qing saw him demonstrate a powerful breath technique.
• Xu Qing asked whether martial arts could fight the monsters, and Lu Ren said sufficiently advanced practitioners could deal with them.
• Lu Ren examined Xu Qing and identified her as an Acquired Sacred Spirit Body, explaining that sacred spirits could later parasitize and drain those they transformed.

Lu Ren went to Spirit Mist Mountain to test his strength and investigate its mountain god, Cong Ling. After entering the shrine, he incapacitated the Shrine Witch, who retaliated with a talisman.

• Lu Ren taught Xu Qing a boxing routine and asked about the chained door in her house, but she said it had always been locked and she avoided it.
• Lu Ren left the old house at night and climbed Spirit Mist Mountain, sensing the mountain god's domain beyond the torii but finding no spirits or ghosts on the mountain.
• Lu Ren entered the Shinto Shrine and saw a clay statue of a girl before asking the Shrine Witch about the mountain god's identity.
• The Shrine Witch identified the deity as Cong Ling and ordered Lu Ren to leave, but he walked toward the statue to draw the mountain god out.
• The Shrine Witch attacked Lu Ren with her sheathed blade, but he threw her to the ground and weakened her with a strange force.
• The Shrine Witch used a talisman that burst into silver light and shot toward Lu Ren.

Lu Ren confronted Cong Ling, the Mountain God of Spirit Mist Mountain, after knocking out her disciple. Their fight revealed the strength of Cong Ling’s mountain-bound authority, and the chapter ended as she turned the mountain’s plants against him.

• A woman attacked Lu Ren with an exploding talisman, but he appeared behind her and knocked her unconscious with a restrained blow.
• Lu Ren used his Mind’s Eye to reveal Cong Ling at the shrine entrance and recognized her Mountain God Authority.
• Cong Ling accused Lu Ren of injuring her disciple and used her authority to turn Spirit Mist Mountain against him.
• Lu Ren attacked Cong Ling, shattered her protective barrier, and missed when she teleported across the mountain.
• Cong Ling demanded to know who Lu Ren was and activated the mountain’s defenses, making the surrounding plants sharp and dangerous.

Lu Ren overwhelmed Cong Ling and extracted the incomplete Earth Authority, gaining a direct connection to Spirit Mist Mountain. He tested its power by repairing the damage and moving instantly to the mountain’s foot.

• Lu Ren asked Cong Ling how he had obtained the Mountain God Authority, then struck him with the Bodhisattva Dharma Appearance and knocked him unconscious.
• Xu Qing woke to a thunderous blast from Spirit Mist Mountain and wondered where Uncle was.
• Lu Ren struck Cong Ling again, used his Mind's Eye to locate the authority rune, and discovered he could not move it by force.
• The system offered to recycle the incomplete Earth Authority, and Lu Ren accepted, successfully equipping it.
• Lu Ren used the authority to repair the damaged terrain and trees, then instantly appeared at the foot of Spirit Mist Mountain.

Lu Ren killed Cong Ling after the Mountain God Authority left her, then destroyed the Shinto Shrine and returned to his Inner World. Ao Li identified Lu Ren’s cultivation as the Shaman path and offered to trade a way to resolve the real world’s spiritual defilement for his incomplete Earth Authority.

• A driver fled after seeing Lu Ren, who found the unconscious Cong Ling and discovered that black mist and evil power had emerged after she lost the Mountain God Authority.
• Lu Ren killed Cong Ling, gained one Skill Point, destroyed the Shinto Shrine, and left Spirit Mist Mountain.
• Lu Ren checked that the Earth Authority remained stable, then showed its rune to the inhabitants of his Inner World.
• Ao Li identified the rune as an incomplete Earth Authority and told Lu Ren that he had taken up the Shaman path instead of the immortal path.
• Ao Li warned that Shamans had no place in the current era, then described the world’s spiritual defilement and offered to trade a method to resolve it for the Earth Authority.

Lu Ren learned from Ao Li that Wang City held difficult-to-obtain secrets and continued cultivating the witch path while seeking another Shinto Shrine. He headed toward Chenming Mountain after hearing its shrine honored Jiaodi, then found Sun Wukong eating stolen food and saw that his True Essence was nearing the point where he could open his Heavenly Eye.

• Lu Ren left the Inner World after Ao Li told him that the things in Wang City would not be easy to take, and he realized the Primordial Path had vanished from his Inner World.
• Lu Ren cultivated Witch Power through the night and avoided absorbing the strange sunlight in the new world.
• At breakfast, Xu Qing told Lu Ren about Chenming Mountain and its shrine to Jiaodi, a general said to have guarded a passage to the underworld.
• Lu Ren ordered Xu Qing to practice a hundred punches and set out toward Chenming Mountain.
• Lu Ren found Sun Wukong eating food he had not paid for, confirmed he had caused no trouble, and noticed his True Essence was nearing the level needed to open his Heavenly Eye.

Lu Ren went to Chenming Mountain with Sun Wukong to claim the local Mountain God’s Earth Authority, which he believed could become more powerful than the Yu King Cauldron. After defeating Jiaodi and absorbing his authority fragment, Lu Ren gained greater control over the earth and saw a clear path forward.

• Lu Ren left Sun Wukong and hurried to Chenming Mountain, while Sun Wukong followed behind him.
• Lu Ren and Sun Wukong reached the Shinto Shrine, where Sun Wukong sensed a sacred spirit mixed with turbid energy and frightened the worshippers away.
• Lu Ren destroyed the shrine and drew out Jiaodi, who attacked him with a sword but could not cut him.
• Lu Ren stunned Jiaodi with the Mind-to-Mind Imprinting Technique and knocked him unconscious with a punch.
• Lu Ren seized Jiaodi’s Mountain God Authority and absorbed its Earth Authority fragment, gaining stronger control over the earth.

Lu Ren used the Mountain God Authority he had absorbed, provoking Sun Wukong’s jealousy and interest in its power to grant immortality. They went to another Shinto Shrine, where Sun Wukong’s attack revealed that he had already cultivated an Origin Energy seed from Lu Ren’s Buddhist True Essence.

• Lu Ren displayed the Mountain God Authority rune and used its power to restore the land damaged by his punch.
• Sun Wukong tried to claim the authority, but Lu Ren refused, and Sun Wukong left to seek another Shinto Shrine.
• Lu Ren followed Sun Wukong, saying he wanted to see whether Sun Wukong could draw out and kill a god.
• Sun Wukong struck an abandoned shrine with a punch carrying Buddhist True Essence, but the attack vanished before reaching it.
• Lu Ren realized Sun Wukong had cultivated his own qi seed and formed an Origin Energy seed in just a few days.

Sun Wukong and Lu Ren confronted the Six-Tailed Fox at the Shinto Shrine, withstanding her attacks and seduction. Sun Wukong left the defeated fox to Lu Ren, who faced her alone.

• Sun Wukong’s punch vanished near the Shinto Shrine, and the Six-Tailed Fox appeared before him and Lu Ren.
• The Six-Tailed Fox attacked with Iron Wire Rain, but neither man was harmed.
• The fox tried to ensnare Lu Ren with an illusion, but he remained unaffected, while Sun Wukong dismissed her seduction.
• Lu Ren learned the Six-Tailed Fox was not the mountain god, and Sun Wukong left her in Lu Ren’s hands.
• The Six-Tailed Fox admitted she could not escape after exhausting her strength and treasures.

Lu Ren learned about the world’s different supernatural systems, then hunted mountain gods to collect their authority. After a mountain god cursed him and exposed him to spiritual monsters, Lu Ren awakened the Devour Beast ability.

• Lu Ren questioned Qingli about mountain gods, demon spirits, and spirits, and she gave him information about innately born beings.
• Lu Ren used Qingli’s information to hunt mountain gods for three months, including a powerful Dragon Snake Mountain God whose authority covered a vast range.
• Lu Ren shattered the mountain range and killed the Dragon Snake Mountain God, gaining her Mountain God Authority as the battle was recorded and uploaded online.
• The dying Dragon Snake Mountain God cursed Lu Ren, marking him so the surrounding spiritual ghosts and monsters could see him; they swarmed toward him.
• Lu Ren merged the Mountain God Authority into his Earth Authority and activated the Body Tempering Art, awakening the Devour Beast within his body.

Lu Ren absorbed the spirits surrounding him to strengthen his Body Tempering Art and accelerate the fusion of his Spirit Soul and flesh while considering how to expand his Earth Authority. As he cultivated under the world's surveillance, Sun Wukong killed a mountain god and reached for the golden light escaping its body.

• Lu Ren used Devour Beast to absorb ghostly spirits, confirming that their spiritual energy was purified before it strengthened him.
• Lu Ren drew in the surrounding spirits with his Mountain God Authority, rapidly raising his Body Tempering Art proficiency and fusing his spirit and body.
• Lu Ren decided to seize mountain gods over smaller territories to increase his Earth Authority and overwhelm stronger opponents through sheer force.
• Modern surveillance systems focused on Lu Ren as he reshaped the Dragon Snake Mountains and fought the spirits there.
• Sun Wukong demanded the Mountain God Authority from a captured old mountain god, then killed him when he refused.
• Sun Wukong thrust out a paw to catch the golden light that shot from the dead mountain god into the earth.

Lu Ren spent nearly two years gathering Earth Authority and slaughtering spirit monsters, while Sun Wukong failed to seize a Mountain God Authority that instead entered Lu Ren. With most low-level Mountain Gods stripped of their power, Lu Ren prepared to face the far stronger Mountain Gods whose territories spanned over a thousand miles.

• Sun Wukong tried to seize a strand of Mountain God Authority, but his shackles inflicted such agony that it escaped his grasp and flew away.
• The strand of Mountain God Authority entered Lu Ren as he fought spirit monsters, and he wondered why it had been drawn to him.
• Lu Ren fought for nearly seven days, clearing spirit monsters from a hundred-mile radius while the stronger creatures watched from above.
• Lu Ren continued hunting Mountain Gods for nearly two years, raising his Earth Authority to around thirty-five percent and claiming territory he estimated at over one hundred thousand square kilometers.
• The remaining Mountain Gods formed groups to protect one another, and several dangerous encounters forced Lu Ren to rely on Sun Wukong's help.

Lu Ren and Sun Wukong continued hunting Mountain Gods, with Lu Ren planning to challenge those whose domains spanned a thousand miles. After fighting and bickering on a mountain, they encountered a group of people who approached them with a request.

• Lu Ren said they had wiped out the allied Mountain Gods, leaving only thirty-six who each controlled a thousand-mile domain.
• Sun Wukong ate a Mountain God and argued with Lu Ren about his righteous excuses for attacking the others.
• Sun Wukong attacked Lu Ren after Lu Ren mocked the loss of his monkey descendants, and they battled until Sun Wukong grew exhausted.
• Lu Ren outlined his plan to sever the lands from the Earth Authority and contend with the larger Mountain Gods for territory.
• A group of Daoists, monks, elders, and women asked Lu Ren for a favor, and he warned them not to ask him to stop his campaign.

Lu Ren warned the elder that the mountain gods were mutated spirit bodies and urged humanity to develop its own cultivation system to escape the world’s cage. The elder and the short-haired woman chose to continue the research, and nearly three years later, Lu Ren and Sun Wukong were still hunting mountain gods as the elder prepared to take part in a new experiment.

• Lu Ren told the elder that the mountain gods served as a barrier for human society but were likely mutated spirit bodies, and urged him to research cultivation as a way out of the cage.
• Sun Wukong dismissed the humans as doomed insects, and he and Lu Ren departed while the elder wondered if humanity was destined to remain trapped.
• A short-haired woman urged the group to forge their own path, and the elder agreed to continue the research and offer himself to fetch the fire.
• Nearly three years later, people watched broadcasts of Lu Ren and Sun Wukong hunting mountain gods, while the elder said their disappearance might provide material for a new cultivation path.
• The elder asked whether a new round of testing had begun, and a nearby researcher confirmed it and asked if he would really conduct the experiment himself.

Lu Ren and Sun Wukong wiped out the Mountain Gods and collected the world’s Earth Dao Principles, while Lu Ren advanced his Witch by absorbing their authority. They decided to leave without finding the Yu King Cauldron, and Sun Wukong insisted that he had fulfilled their agreement.

• Xu Qing watched an elder speak about refining experiments, then went outside and felt the city had grown peaceful since Lu Ren began hunting spirit entities.
• Lu Ren defeated Kui Li, seized her Mountain God Authority, and beat her to death as Sun Wukong fought nearby.
• Lu Ren and Sun Wukong finished collecting the Earth Dao Principles after killing the world’s Mountain Gods, leaving only mountain monsters that had hidden from them.
• Lu Ren and Sun Wukong realized they had never found the Yu King Cauldron, but Lu Ren chose to stop searching and leave the world.
• Sun Wukong said he had fulfilled their agreement and warned Lu Ren not to blame him for ending the search.

Lu Ren and Sun Wukong returned to the present world and found that three years had passed and the region had been devastated by polluted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. As Lu Ren gathered the dead soldiers’ remains, he sensed a powerful Dao aura awakening and learned that Tathagata and the Jade Emperor might soon return.

• Lu Ren opened a dimensional passage back to the present world, and Sun Wukong followed him through it.
• Lu Ren and Sun Wukong found that the underground area was permeated with pollution, and Sun Wukong warned that it could turn people into Outer Demons.
• Lu Ren returned to the surface and discovered that the soldiers who had guarded the area were dead, their bodies mutated by the polluted spiritual energy.
• Sun Wukong said the region of the starry sky had been ruined and that Tathagata and the Jade Emperor might return soon.
• Lu Ren sensed a surging Dao aura awakening as the spiritual currents of heaven and earth began to change.

Lu Ren confronted the collapse of human civilization as contaminated spiritual energy turned people into monsters, then used the Earth Dao Principles to create a vast Mountain God domain that could suppress and purify the corruption. Zhang Tongxuan arrived in fury, alarmed that Lu Ren’s domain threatened the future of Buddhism and Daoism.

• Lu Ren purified the Corpse Fiends and erased the abandoned cruiser, then traveled across China and Shenzhou to witness the devastation caused by contaminated Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy.
• Ji Quanzhen told Lu Ren that society was nearing collapse, births had become rare and deadly, and survivors were being moved to the Shu Region.
• After Ji Quanzhen passed out, Lu Ren used the Earth Dao Principles to merge with the land, gain Mountain God Authority, and establish a domain spanning tens of millions of miles.
• Lu Ren raised clay statues across the domain to suppress and purify spiritual energy, and gained awareness of life within its boundaries.
• Zhang Tongxuan arrived with Ji Quanzhen and others, demanded to know how Lu Ren had created the domain, and feared its consequences for Buddhism and Daoism.

Lu Ren urged Zhang Tongxuan to join him in giving people faith and resisting the returning immortals, but Zhang Tongxuan trusted the Taoist patriarchs to restore the world. When they could not reconcile their beliefs, Lu Ren attacked Zhang Tongxuan and the six ancient Taoists, who recognized him as a Witch.

• Lu Ren revealed his plan to merge the Earth Dao Principles into the earth and challenged Zhang Tongxuan's Taoist territory.
• Zhang Tongxuan summoned six ancient Taoists, each wielding the power of a half-step True Immortal, and explained that he trusted the Taoist patriarchs to resolve the crisis.
• Lu Ren argued that the immortals and gods had abandoned the world and treated humans as livestock, while Zhang Tongxuan insisted humans could not resist their power.
• Lu Ren and Zhang Tongxuan ended their debate, and Lu Ren used the Mountain God Seal to send earthen dragons crashing toward Zhang Tongxuan and the six Taoists.
• The ancient Taoists recognized Lu Ren as a Witch, and Zhang Tongxuan called for his sword to rise.

Lu Ren overwhelmed the six old Daoists and Zhang Tongxuan with his Earth Authority and immense strength. The six Daoists died, while Zhang Tongxuan survived the strike but lay gravely wounded.

• Lu Ren used the Earth Dao Principles to bury the six old Daoists beneath waves of earthen dragon-serpents, forcing them to consider retreating.
• Lu Ren froze the surrounding heaven and earth with the Reality Tathagata Sutra, but Zhang Tongxuan broke the restraint with his Bagua Mirror.
• Lu Ren grew into a hundred-meter True Witch Body and brought down a powerful palm strike on the six Daoists and Zhang Tongxuan.
• The combined defenses of the six Daoists and Zhang Tongxuan collapsed beneath Lu Ren's palm, which killed the six Daoists and left Zhang Tongxuan alive but severely wounded.
• Lu Ren returned to normal size and approached Zhang Tongxuan, reflecting that the six Daoists might have been more difficult opponents before he planted the Earth Dao Principles.