Chapter Summaries

Lu Ren advanced his Basic Swordsmanship and reflected on how martial arts could help him understand and strengthen his body. Three days after defeating the Twin Devils, he encountered a supernatural mass of hair in his well and cut it apart with his sword.

• Lu Ren decided to focus on practicing his existing martial arts and put the recovered manual in his backpack for Hua Country's Martial Arts Research Institute to study.
• Lu Ren advanced Basic Swordsmanship to Mastery Through Practice, gained one point each in Constitution, Strength, and Agility, and demonstrated his improved sword skill.
• Lu Ren reviewed his progress and spent three uneventful days at home after dealing with the male and female Twin Devils.
• Lu Ren found long black hair in his well, leaned over to investigate, and cut through the hair that surged toward him with his Wild Goose Style sword.

Lu Ren fought a Black-Haired Vengeful Woman at a well until Cao Jingde of the Exorcism Office arrived and destroyed it with his qi and blood. Cao Jingde then questioned Lu Ren about his origins, revealing that Chentai City’s authorities had been watching him since he entered the city.

• Lu Ren severed the vengeful woman’s hair and fought off spikes of hair as Chen Jinghu raised the alarm.
• Cao Jingde arrived, identified himself as a Green-Clad Envoy, and narrowly avoided Lu Ren’s swords.
• Cao Jingde burned the hair and drove the Black-Haired Vengeful Woman back into the well, then checked that it was clear.
• Cao Jingde asked Lu Ren about his knowledge of qi and blood and which Yang World he had come from.
• Lu Ren realized the authorities had noticed him as soon as he entered Chentai City.

Lu Ren accidentally circulated his blood at high speed, damaging his body but gaining Physique Proficiency, then continued sparring with Cao Jingde. Cao Jingde invited him to Nine Eyes Ward, but Lu Ren refused.

• Cao Jingde confirmed that Lu Ren could not gather vitality and blood and assured him that the evil entity in the well had been cleared away.
• Lu Ren’s heart suddenly pumped blood through his body at high speed, creating a scorching aura and rupturing capillaries; the system warned that he was weakened and needed a day to recover.
• Lu Ren checked the well water with his detector, washed with it, and went to sleep with his longsword beside him.
• After the well incident, Cao Jingde repeatedly visited to spar with Lu Ren, helping him improve his combat awareness.
• Cao Jingde invited Lu Ren to go to Nine Eyes Ward, but Lu Ren refused and joked about Cao Jingde expending his essence; Cao Jingde said Dragon Tooth Rice gave him excess vital essence.

Lu Ren and Cao Jingde began another sparring match, with Cao Jingde using Crimson Tiger Fist to rush him down. The chapter ended as Lu Ren countered Cao Jingde’s claw attack with a flurry of Falcon Fist punches.

• Cao Jingde asked Lu Ren whether he prepared extra meals at home, and Lu Ren explained that he had food delivered to meet his growing appetite.
• Cao Jingde charged at Lu Ren, aiming to close the distance and use his strength to suppress him.
• Cao Jingde’s thunderous tiger roar woke Chen Yuanwai, who decided to stay at his shop for a few days.
• Cao Jingde used Crimson Tiger Fist’s ferocious pounce and claw attack, while Lu Ren stood his ground in a Falcon Fist stance.
• Lu Ren unleashed a rapid flurry of punches that filled Cao Jingde’s vision as their attacks met.

Lu Ren continued cultivating as Chentai City tightened security amid signs that the Netherworld was invading the Yang World. Three nights before his planned departure, Exorcism Office envoys arrived to take him into custody as a person of unknown origin.

• Lu Ren defeated Cao Jingde with his improved Falcon Fist, and Cao Jingde warned him that trouble was brewing in Chentai City.
• Over the next three days, authorities and the Exorcism Office increased operations and imposed a nighttime curfew as the city grew tense.
• Lu Ren learned from Chen Yuanwai that the Yang Membrane was weakening and Netherworld beings were invading the Yang World.
• Chen Ji and three Blue-Clad Envoys confronted Lu Ren at his residence and ordered him into unified supervision.
• A Blue-Clad Envoy told Lu Ren that he would be imprisoned.

Lu Ren killed the Exorcism Office envoys who tried to force him into custody, then rejected Chen Ji’s attempt to recruit him as an external operative. He left the confrontation alive, while System prompts recorded his swordsmanship gains.

• Lu Ren demanded to see the prefect’s written order, but a Blue-Clad Envoy refused and tried to shackle him.
• Lu Ren beheaded the Blue-Clad Envoy and broke the sabers of Chen Ji and the two other envoys.
• Lu Ren killed the two Blue-Clad Envoys with Wild Goose Style, then faced Chen Ji.
• Chen Ji accused Lu Ren of opposing the Exorcism Office and offered to bury the incident if Lu Ren joined as an external operative.
• Lu Ren killed Chen Ji while he was trying to persuade him, and the System reported swordsmanship proficiency gains.

After disposing of four Exorcism Office men, Lu Ren was attacked by two Yin Demons and fought them off with his martial arts. He severely injured the old demon with Falcon Wing Strike, but the technique tore his arms, leaving him wounded as Chen Yuanwai watched in shock.

• Lu Ren searched the four dead men, took nearly a hundred taels of silver, and dumped their bodies in the river.
• Two Yin Demons emerged from the river and attacked Lu Ren with an illusion that his Mental Strength resisted.
• Lu Ren used the Emotionless Intent Sword to injure the child Yin Demon, suffering mental damage in return.
• The Yin Demons lunged at Lu Ren, and his surging qi and blood forced them back as he tried to escape.
• When the old Yin Demon pursued him over a courtyard wall, Lu Ren unleashed Falcon Wing Strike and drove it away as green smoke.
• Lu Ren's arms were badly wounded by the technique, while Chen Yuanwai stared at him in disbelief.

Lu Ren survived the Yin Demon’s attack, then watched a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons overrun Chentai City as the darkness and cold persisted. The Demon Ghosts eventually breached his home, forcing him to escape into the courtyard, where a Green Ghoul attacked.

• Lu Ren warned Chen Yuanwai to stay indoors after killing the Yin Demon, and Chen Yuanwai hurried back inside.
• Lu Ren noticed that the authorities and Exorcism Office had not responded to the commotion, then spotted Demon Ghosts parading through the street.
• Lu Ren avoided provoking the monsters, tended his injured arms, and waited for daylight, but the sky remained dark and the temperature continued to fall.
• Demon Ghosts began attacking the buildings as their protective talismans failed, and a Green Ghoul smashed through Lu Ren’s wall.
• Lu Ren evaded the Green Ghoul’s fist and escaped through a window, but the monster demolished his house.

Lu Ren joined Cao Jingde and the injured Blue-Clad Envoys as they faced a Green Ghoul amid Chentai City's collapse. After Lu Ren killed the creature with his swords, Cao Jingde asked him to help defend the city, and Lu Ren questioned how dire the situation had become.

• Cao Jingde arrived with injured Blue-Clad Envoys and told Lu Ren that the city gate had fallen, allowing evil creatures into Chentai City.
• The Blue-Clad Envoys attacked the Green Ghoul with flying chains and weapons, but it broke free and sent Cao Jingde crashing through a courtyard wall.
• Lu Ren severed the Green Ghoul's arms and cut its body into pieces with his two swords, saving the Blue-Clad Envoys.
• Cao Jingde was stunned by Lu Ren's swordsmanship and asked him to join the effort to survive Chentai City's impending fall.
• Lu Ren asked Cao Jingde whether Chentai City had truly reached such a critical point.

Lu Ren learned that Chentai City had been abandoned to the Netherworld’s attack and followed Cao Jingde through the devastated city to the Prefect’s Manor. He reached the fortified inner refuge, where tens of thousands had gathered, and was left waiting in a room among the city’s fighters.

• Cao Jingde told Lu Ren that the Yang Membrane had torn open and the frontier army could not help Chentai City, leaving Li Xiaoguo and more than a million residents to face the calamity alone.
• Cao Jingde led Lu Ren toward the Prefect’s Manor through burning streets strewn with corpses, using a Yang Talisman to ward off sudden cold and Yin threats.
• Lu Ren and the group hid as a towering Asura passed, and Cao Jingde warned that even the Exorcism Office’s strongest Black-Clad Envoys needed at least two to kill one.
• The group reached the Prefect’s Manor, where Lu Ren learned that the Prefect had gathered fifty thousand people behind a wall powered by the city’s yang energy.
• Cao Jingde brought Lu Ren inside and left him in a furnished room, warning him not to wander while he attended to his duties.

Lu Ren tried to avoid getting involved as an asura breached the Prefect's Manor wall and fought Luo Tiancheng, but the damaged defenses let demonic creatures swarm into the city. As casualties mounted, Lu Ren drew his pistols to defend himself while the Prefect's Manor descended into chaos.

• Lu Ren woke to the asura smashing through the Prefect's Manor wall and recognized the creature from Nine Eyes Ward.
• Luo Tiancheng charged the asura and struck it, but the asura rose and attacked him in return.
• Lu Ren retreated from the battle, then watched as the breach in the wall let demonic creatures and ghosts enter the manor.
• Martial artists around Lu Ren debated whether to fight as the growing invasion caused casualties and spread panic.
• Lu Ren chose not to draw his sword and pulled out two pistols as more Demon Ghosts and sinister creatures closed in.

As Demon Ghosts overwhelmed Chentai City, Lu Ren joined forces with Lita, a muscular martial artist who claimed to know an escape route. They reached the Prefect's Manor, where an armored unit of Demon Ghosts blocked their way.

• Lu Ren and Lita agreed to travel together, with Lu Ren handling ordinary threats and Lita taking on yin spirits.
• Lita led Lu Ren across the rooftops toward an underground passage beneath the Prefect's Manor, while Lu Ren's speed and stamina surprised him.
• Lita revealed that the passage lay in a side wing of the manor's central courtyard in the inner city.
• Lita stopped and warned Lu Ren as an orderly unit of soldiers in ancient armor carrying halberds appeared ahead.

Lu Ren and Lita slipped into a side hall after the Yin Soldiers vanished into the mist, where they encountered a regenerating Nuppeppō. Lu Ren blasted it with dual pistols, but it continued to grow as they faced a formidable enemy.

• Lita explained that the Yin Soldiers could curse and transform people who attracted their attention, and Lu Ren and Lita waited until they disappeared into the mist.
• Lita led Lu Ren into a side hall, where they encountered an old man whose talisman burned as he approached them.
• Lita warned that the old man was likely a demon, and Lu Ren shot its head off with a heavy pistol.
• The headless Nuppeppō began regenerating, so Lu Ren fired eight shots from his dual pistols, but it continued multiplying its cells and growing.

As Chentai City fell to the Netherworld invasion, Lu Ren persuaded Lita to abandon the city and seek an escape route through a secret passage. They gathered a group of powerful martial artists, who learned that a Nurarihyon guarded the passage to Zhaofeng Pavilion.

• Lu Ren escaped the proliferating monster, while Lita fled after him.
• Lu Ren watched Luo Tiancheng battle the Asura and decided that he had to escape Chentai City.
• Lu Ren convinced Lita to gamble on a chance of survival, and Lita summoned the others with a firework.
• Lita gathered six men and two women in the Prefect's Manor side hall and told them the secret passage led to Zhaofeng Pavilion, thirty li away.
• Lita warned the group that a Nurarihyon guarded the passage, and the martial artists reacted with shock.

Lu Ren joined Lita and the hulking fighters as they entered the Prefect’s Manor to confront a Nuppeppō, learning that the demons called themselves Self-Proclaimed Gods. When the Nuppeppō transformed into a powerful corpse demon and threatened Lita, Lu Ren shot off its tentacles, giving the others an opening to attack.

• Lita introduced Lu Ren to the hulking fighters, who dismissed him as weak before the group entered the side hall.
• The fighters stormed into the hall and found the Nuppeppō already chopped into pieces by the braided man.
• Lita warned that the Nuppeppō could grow stronger by changing its form and identified it as one of the demons called Self-Proclaimed Gods.
• The scattered flesh reassembled into a bull-shaped corpse demon, and Lita’s sword strike left him exposed to its tentacles.
• Lu Ren shot the tentacles apart, allowing Lita to retreat and the other fighters to attack the corpse demon.

Lu Ren and Lita led the group through a secret tunnel as Nurarihyon pursued them, killing Ning Cha and demonstrating its ability to learn martial arts from its attackers. The survivors raced toward a mechanism that could drop the Dragon Severing Stone, while Nurarihyon continued closing in.

• Lita led the group into a hidden tunnel after the martial artists smashed Nurarihyon's corpse demon, and Lu Ren followed while deciding not to risk fighting it again.
• After nearly twenty minutes, Lita said they had left Chentai City's inner city, and a thunderous boom signaled that Nurarihyon was pursuing them.
• Lu Ren and Lita led the group into a desperate sprint toward a mechanism that could drop the Dragon Severing Stone.
• Nurarihyon seized Ning Cha, endured her blood-energy attacks, and tore her apart as the others continued fleeing.
• Lita told Lu Ren that Nurarihyon adapted to its attackers and could become a formidable martial artist, while screams and the sounds of pursuit echoed behind them.

Lu Ren, Lita, and Nuo Shan escaped Nurarihyon through a secret tunnel, but Chentai City lay in ruins and the others had died. As Lita and Nuo Shan fought Nurarihyon outside the city, Lu Ren attacked from hiding with his modified pistol, drawing the demon toward his position.

• Lita, Lu Ren, and Nuo Shan emerged from the tunnel after Nurarihyon killed everyone else in their group.
• Lita told Lu Ren to attack Nurarihyon from concealment, explaining that the demon could not defend against or recover from unexpected attacks.
• Lita and Nuo Shan chose to stay behind and fight Nurarihyon while Lu Ren hid among distant rocks.
• Nurarihyon overwhelmed the exhausted fighters, but Lu Ren shot off its arm, wounded its torso, and destroyed its knee with incendiary rounds.
• Nurarihyon spotted Lu Ren's muzzle flash and leaped toward his hiding place.

Lu Ren used his firearms to badly injure the Nurarihyon, then escaped with Lita and Nuo Shan before it could recover. At their stronghold, he treated his injured arms, received a martial arts rubbing from Lita, and prepared to flee on horseback as the transformed Nurarihyon pursued them.

• Lu Ren gained beginner Gun Arts and shot the Nurarihyon repeatedly, setting it ablaze and blasting apart its head.
• Lu Ren urged Lita and Nuo Shan to flee toward Lita’s stronghold, warning that the Nurarihyon could transform again.
• The Nurarihyon regenerated from its charred remains into a larger, spiked form and followed the group’s trail.
• At the manor, Lita gave Lu Ren medicinal ointment and a rubbing copy of a martial arts manual.
• Lu Ren used the ointment to restore his arms, then mounted a horse with Lita and Nuo Shan despite not knowing how to ride.

Lu Ren confronted Nuo Shan’s attempt to obtain his guns and left him behind, but Nurarihyon caught up as they fled. Nuo Shan attacked Lu Ren’s horse and was left to face the corpse demon alone while Lu Ren ran ahead.

• Lu Ren stopped on the road and told Lita he would no longer travel with Nuo Shan because Nuo Shan was coveting his weapon.
• Nuo Shan offered Lu Ren rewards for the weapon’s design, arguing it could help the Yang World survive, but Lu Ren refused to respond.
• A distant boom signaled Nurarihyon’s approach, and Lu Ren, Lita, and Nuo Shan galloped away as the corpse demon rapidly closed the distance.
• Nuo Shan swung his greatsword at Lu Ren’s horse, cutting it in two, and Lu Ren fired a shot that knocked Nuo Shan from his horse.
• Nurarihyon landed in front of Nuo Shan, who activated a secret technique and attacked the corpse demon with his greatsword as Lu Ren fled.

Lu Ren fled the Corpse Demon after it killed Nuo Shan and Lita, using his heavy pistols to slow its pursuit. After nearly three hours, he reached a cliff above a raging river with little ammunition left, while the demon closed in and declared that blasphemers must die.

• The Corpse Demon impaled Nuo Shan, who exhausted himself attacking it before he died.
• Lu Ren raced past Lita, and the Corpse Demon struck Lita in half as it pursued him.
• Lu Ren fired his heavy pistols at the Corpse Demon, wounding it and using the gunfire to gain distance.
• Lu Ren fled through the forest for nearly three hours, repeatedly firing when the Corpse Demon neared him.
• Lu Ren reached a cliff above a raging river with only twenty rounds left, and the Corpse Demon stopped before him.
• The Corpse Demon told Lu Ren that those who blasphemed the gods had to die.