Chapter Summaries

Chen Huan trapped Lu Ren inside Netherworld City, an Innate Dao Artifact that enveloped Hanging Mountain in ghostly qi. As strange presences stirred within the city, Lu Ren questioned where Chen Huan had found it and warned that he could not control it.

• Onlookers across Hanging Mountain watched Chen Huan attack Lu Ren, hoping to learn Lu Ren's limits before making their own moves.
• Chen Huan summoned Netherworld City, and its ghostly qi spread across Hanging Mountain and changed the flow of qi throughout the domain.
• Zheng Jie and Huang Gong recognized the danger, while a white-haired old man briefly considered rising before settling back into meditation.
• Lu Ren found himself unable to cross the city gates, and Chen Huan declared that the artifact would make his death a blessing.
• Lu Ren inspected the city as sinister presences watched from its dark houses, then asked Chen Huan where he had found it and warned that desire had clouded his mind.

Lu Ren pushed the Zhou Tian Body Spirit Fist beyond five hundredfold and used the Heaven Splitting Axe to erase the combined attack of twenty-eight Celestial Immortals. Chen Huan awakened the Nether City’s eerie forces, and the battle turned against him as his allies began withdrawing.

• Chen Huan summoned twenty-eight Celestial Immortals to attack Lu Ren inside the Nether City.
• Lu Ren reached five hundred and onefold Zhou Tian Body Spirit Fist, suffering bloody wounds as he raised the Heaven Splitting Axe.
• Lu Ren’s single axe strike destroyed all twenty-eight Celestial Immortals’ attacks and shocked those present.
• Chen Huan activated the Nether City, whose whispers drove Celestial Immortals into madness and whose black hand dragged Ming Tian away.
• An old Daoist and several Late Celestial Immortals withdrew from the fight, leaving Chen Huan to face the danger.

Lu Ren watched as Chen Huan’s allies lost their nerve and demanded to leave Netherworld City. When Chen Huan reminded them that Lu Ren would seek revenge if they escaped, the Celestial Immortals realized they had to kill him or risk his retaliation.

• Several Late Celestial Immortals tried to leave Netherworld City, but found themselves trapped and demanded that Chen Huan open the gates.
• Lu Ren watched the group argue while holding the Heaven Splitting Axe, unaffected by the city’s sinister influence.
• The sinister old Daoist urged the others to abandon the plan, and Chen Huan agreed to release Netherworld City and try the Path to Ascension another day.
• The Black-lipped Woman said Lu Ren was too formidable for their group to fight safely.
• Chen Huan warned the Celestial Immortals that Lu Ren would pursue them if they attacked him and then escaped, and Lu Ren confirmed that he would take revenge.
• One cultivator argued that their escape techniques could save them from Lu Ren, while Chen Huan realized the group was wavering.

Chen Huan discovered that Netherworld City had trapped the group and could no longer be controlled through its gates. As the Celestial Immortals turned toward Lu Ren, a thin black mist began spreading around them.

• Chen Huan failed to open Netherworld City's gates and realized the ghost city had a consciousness of its own.
• Chen Huan admitted that the city had trapped them and revealed that a central manor held its control hub.
• Chen Huan confessed that the ghost-domain city had drifted from the Dark Zone, prompting Fang Ling to curse him for bringing it there.
• The Celestial Immortals turned their attention to Lu Ren, who prepared to fight them one by one.
• Lu Ren paused as black mist began silently spreading through the area.

As black mist spread through Netherworld City, Lu Ren sought shelter inside a sealed courtyard and then used the Heaven Splitting Axe to attack Chen Huan and the other Celestial Immortals. Their combined powers stopped his strike, but the mist continued to close in.

• Lu Ren sensed that the black mist was dangerous and realized he needed to enter a house, but a premonition stopped him from climbing a courtyard wall.
• Lu Ren pounded on a courtyard door, and Chen Huan and the other Celestial Immortals followed his example as the mist spread.
• The courtyard door opened a crack, revealing a pitch-black eye, and Lu Ren asked the unseen homeowner for shelter.
• Lu Ren swung the Heaven Splitting Axe at Chen Huan and the others, tearing open a spatial rift that exposed the exterior of the Path to Ascension.
• Chen Huan and twenty-five other Celestial Immortals combined their powers to block Lu Ren's axe strike, while the black mist kept spreading.

Lu Ren forced his way into a house in the City of Phantoms and killed its powerful resident, learning that it was a Phantom and gaining a Skill Point. As he considered the connection between the city and the Dark Zone, he heard people fighting and screaming next door.

• Lu Ren forced open the door and fought the house’s nearly two-meter-tall resident, whose attacks slowed his movements and resisted his axe.
• Lu Ren sent the creature flying, then beat it apart with repeated punches until the System announced that he had killed a Phantom and gained 1 Skill Point.
• Lu Ren examined the Phantom as its body dissolved into black qi and recalled the hierarchy of beings that followed death.
• Lu Ren concluded that Nether City was a City of Phantoms and wondered whether the Dark Zone held the greatest secret on the Path to Ascension.
• Lu Ren heard angry shouts and screams from the neighboring house and decided not to get involved.

Lu Ren explored a house in the City of Phantoms and found a Rain Cape of Invisibility that the system identified as valuable. He settled inside and asked Ao Li what the City of Phantoms was, leaving the question unanswered.

• Lu Ren examined the courtyard and found that its sturdy structure seemed fused with the City of Phantoms.
• Lu Ren entered the ruined house, searched its rooms, and found only sinister bedding and other worthless remains.
• Lu Ren discovered a worn Rain Cape of Invisibility and received a system prompt saying it could conceal his aura and allow travel through a certain place.
• Lu Ren set up a bed in a relatively safe spot and asked Ao Li whether he knew what the City of Phantoms was.
• Ao Li pondered the question while continuing to nurture Lu Ren’s Inner World Universe.

Lu Ren realized his Inner World Universe lacked a yin side and a cycle of reincarnation, and considered turning City of Phantoms into its netherworld. After Ao Li misunderstood his intentions, Lu Ren embraced her and teased that he would satisfy her.

• Ao Li searched her Bloodline Memory and recalled that City of Phantoms was a forbidden netherworldly place reached only after a being's true spirit was destroyed.
• Ao Li warned Lu Ren to be cautious, while admitting she knew little about City of Phantoms and could not explain how to escape it.
• Ao Li explained that intelligent life could not emerge in Lu Ren's Inner World without yin-yang balance and reincarnation.
• Lu Ren realized he could use City of Phantoms as the yin-side netherworld and establish a cycle of reincarnation within his Inner World Universe.
• Ao Li mistook Lu Ren's reaction for a sexual advance, and Lu Ren put an arm around her waist and teased her.

Lu Ren and Ao Li discussed the dangerous Dark Zone and the contaminated City of Phantoms while sheltering from the darkness. After teasing Ao Li and forcing her to submit, Lu Ren left her to rest as the city remained dangerous outside.

• Lu Ren emerged from the Inner World Universe and found that the City of Phantoms had grown darker, with his True Energy increasingly suppressed.
• Lu Ren asked Ao Li whether energy-reconstructed bodies had heartbeats, and she warned him that the City of Phantoms was contaminated and not worth absorbing into his Inner World Universe.
• Ao Li explained that an ancestor had vanished in the Dark Zone and warned Lu Ren to avoid it without a Lamp Lighting lantern.
• Lu Ren used his creation authority to change Ao Li's clothes and appearance, then dragged her into the room and disciplined her until she begged him to stop.
• Lu Ren left Ao Li to rest and reflected on how her True Dragon origins had given her an advantage.

Lu Ren waited out the eerie night in the City of Phantoms, eating hot pot while strange beings pressed against his house. Chen Huan proposed joining forces and shared that the city changed at night, but withheld its taboos until they could meet in daylight.

• Lu Ren secured the house, rested, and watched strange shadows gather outside as the temperature fell and a bloody handprint appeared on the window.
• Lu Ren called Ao Li out for hot pot, but she refused to enter the City of Phantoms.
• Chen Huan contacted Lu Ren through the wall and proposed they join forces to survive the city.
• Chen Huan privately told Fang Ling, Luo Xuzi, and the others that they should cooperate with Lu Ren for now and seek a chance to kill him later.
• Chen Huan explained that the city was ordinary by day and inhabited by Phantom Devils at night, and said they could leave only in daylight.
• Lu Ren asked about the city's taboos, but Chen Huan refused to explain them until they met face-to-face after dawn.

After daylight weakened Lu Ren in the City of Phantoms, he discovered that Chen Huan and the others had killed the household whose courtyard they occupied. Lu Ren attacked them, killing Chen DaoXiao, but gained no Skill Points from the kill.

• Lu Ren waited for daylight, then found an elderly homeowner in his room and paid him to stay.
• When Lu Ren stepped outside, the City's Spiritual Pressure suppressed his body and strength to roughly the Clairvoyant Realm.
• Lu Ren learned from Old Cheng that the City of Phantoms had martial arts masters, then crossed the wall into the neighboring courtyard.
• Lu Ren found Chen Huan and the others disposing of a family's corpses and accused them of acting like bandits.
• Lu Ren killed Chen DaoXiao with an Axe Light, gained axe-technique proficiency, and complained that he received no Skill Points.

Lu Ren fought Chen Huan and the other Celestial Immortals in the City of Phantoms, killing four before escaping as the group discussed how to survive the city’s dangers. He returned wounded to Old Cheng’s house while the local residents wondered who he was.

• Chen Huan warned Lu Ren that the City of Phantoms’ inhabitants would become Phantom Devils at night, but Lu Ren attacked the group.
• The Celestial Immortals formed a trapping formation, but Lu Ren used the Heaven Splitting Axe to kill four of them and escape over the courtyard wall.
• Chen Huan stopped the others from pursuing Lu Ren and explained the dangers of fighting in public, avoiding constables, and facing the city’s mysteries.
• Fang Ling urged the Celestial Immortals to stay united as they considered how to escape the City of Phantoms.
• Lu Ren returned wounded to Old Cheng’s house as passersby speculated that he might be Old Cheng’s long-lost son.

After returning to Old Cheng’s house, Lu Ren healed his wounds and discovered Chen Huan, Fang Ling, Luo Xuzi, and the others had tracked him down. Luo Xuzi attacked him, and Lu Ren countered with overwhelming close-combat strength as Luo Xuzi called for help.

• Lu Ren entered Old Cheng’s house, where the City of Phantoms’ restrictions lifted, and healed the foreign energies left by his attackers.
• Lu Ren reassured Old Cheng that the old man would not be implicated, but Old Cheng spotted people watching over the courtyard wall and fled inside.
• Chen Huan, Fang Ling, Luo Xuzi, and the others confronted Lu Ren, and Chen Huan accused him of abandoning them after getting them killed.
• Luo Xuzi rushed Lu Ren and pierced his arm with a scorching close-combat attack.
• Lu Ren forced Luo Xuzi’s hands apart, seized his wrists, and kicked at his side as Luo Xuzi shouted for the others to attack.

Lu Ren fought Fang Ling and the others in the City of Phantoms, relying on his immense physical strength in the magic-forbidden environment. After striking down Luo Xuzi and surviving Fang Ling’s attack, he clashed with Chen Huan and shattered the edge of Chen Huan’s sword with the Heaven Splitting Axe.

• Fang Ling attacked Lu Ren from behind, but his reinforced neck withstood her claws as he kicked Luo Xuzi into the courtyard wall.
• Lu Ren grabbed for Fang Ling, who escaped with a secret movement technique and retreated to the wall.
• Fang Ling drew her sword as Chen Huan and the others surrounded Lu Ren in the courtyard.
• Lu Ren took out the Heaven Splitting Axe and told Chen Huan that Luo Xuzi might recover if they carried him inside.
• As Chen Huan attacked, Lu Ren swept down with the Heaven Splitting Axe, chipping Chen Huan’s sword and badly injuring him.

Lu Ren defeated Chen Huan and killed Luo Xuzi with the Heaven Splitting Axe, terrifying the remaining Celestial Immortals in the City of Phantoms. He left the survivors a chance to talk, while secretly hoping to gain something from them before killing them destroyed their possessions.

• Chen Huan's arms and bones collapsed under Lu Ren's attack, and he fell to the ground unable to stand.
• Lu Ren smashed the Mid Celestial Immortal sword cultivator's sword light, and the cultivator burst apart under the City of Phantoms' rules.
• Lu Ren struck Luo Xuzi with the Heaven Splitting Axe, killing him and gaining one Skill Point.
• The remaining Celestial Immortals stopped advancing, and Lu Ren warned that their spell-focused skills would not overcome him in close combat.
• Fang Ling proposed that they talk, and Lu Ren agreed while considering how to obtain the survivors' belongings.

Lu Ren forced sixteen Heavenly Immortals to surrender seventy percent of their resources, then considered Chen Huan’s proposal to cooperate and escape the City of Phantoms. A system prompt revealed that Lu Ren was slowly being assimilated by the city, prompting him to hear Chen Huan out.

• Lu Ren demanded seventy percent of the group’s resources in exchange for sparing their lives and warned them not to flee.
• The Heavenly Immortals accepted the terms, and Lu Ren collected their resources while Chen Huan questioned their willingness to submit.
• After taking the group’s resources, Lu Ren declared their past grievances settled and prepared to leave.
• Chen Huan asked Lu Ren to cooperate, warning that the City of Phantoms could assimilate them if they failed to escape.
• A system prompt told Lu Ren that a special aura was assimilating him, and he asked Chen Huan how they would cooperate.

Lu Ren rejected Chen Huan’s scheme and killed him, then left the remaining Celestial Immortals to face their own fate. Shaken by the gulf between themselves and Lu Ren, they urged one another to leave City of Phantoms and questioned whether they could advance further on the Path to Ascension.

• Lu Ren demanded that Chen Huan accept a Heart Oath as the condition for cooperation, then attacked when Chen Huan balked.
• Lu Ren killed Chen Huan with the Heaven Splitting Axe and received a Skill Point after the system identified Chen Huan as an Otherworlder.
• Lu Ren gave Old Cheng Silver Shards and left the courtyard while the other Celestial Immortals remained silent.
• Fang Ling urged the group to leave City of Phantoms, and the remaining cultivators reflected on Lu Ren’s overwhelming strength.
• Luo Yang admitted he felt mediocre, while another Celestial Immortal concluded that reaching the end of the Path to Ascension was beyond their hopes.

Lu Ren discovered that food in City of Phantoms restored and strengthened him despite the city’s suppression, so he ate his way across the street. The chapter ended with him hiding from two apparently ordinary constables whose presence filled him with unprecedented fear.

• Lu Ren left the house and found the quiet alley and bustling street outside.
• Lu Ren bought a glutinous rice pastry and discovered that eating it restored his energy through system prompts.
• Lu Ren spent silver on food across the street and found that his physique grew stronger as he ate.
• Lu Ren spotted two constables in green uniforms and red sleeves, then hid in an alley after sensing overwhelming danger from them.

Lu Ren explored the City of Phantoms and discovered that its rules could suppress even a Celestial Immortal and empower its constables. He settled into Tongfu Inn for the night, where asking the city’s name triggered a brief, dangerous change in the waiter.

• Two constables used the City of Phantoms’ rules to immobilize a Celestial Immortal and haul him to prison.
• Lu Ren suspected that unusual energy currents connected to the City Lord’s Residence controlled the city, and he altered his physique to blend into the crowds.
• Lu Ren explored the city, noted its guarded gates and imposing City Lord’s Residence, and wondered what would happen after nightfall.
• Lu Ren rented an upper-class courtyard at Tongfu Inn and paid the waiter generously for food and service.
• When Lu Ren asked what city they were in, the waiter answered that it was ~ City and briefly took on the appearance of a scorched, dangerous being before returning to normal.

Lu Ren recovered his strength inside Tongfu Inn and tested the food from the City of Phantoms by feeding it to a spirit beast, whose body nearly failed under its potent energy. After eating and benefiting from the meal himself, he watched night fall over the city as its daytime bustle abruptly stopped.

• Lu Ren’s suppressed True Energy returned inside his room, and the system said the City of Phantoms’ contamination was dissipating while his physique and spirit improved slightly.
• Lu Ren sent samples of the inn’s dishes into his Inner World Universe and fed them to a spirit beast, which overheated and swelled from the powerful medicinal energy.
• Lu Ren used the Inner World Universe’s Primal Qi to guide the energy through the spirit beast, then left it recovering from the ordeal.
• Lu Ren ate the meal, felt its nourishing effects, and remarked that staying in the City of Phantoms could rapidly improve his cultivation but risked assimilation.
• Lu Ren watched sunset turn the distant mountains into ominous shadows, and the city’s sounds abruptly ceased as night spread.