Recaps

A blood-red Chiguan Demon Star swept through the human world and entered the Netherworld, where it struck Old Demon Black Mountain and transformed him. Li Yun observed the change, then ordered the Main God to add the world to the third round of missions and send in more people.

• The Chiguan Demon Star appeared in the sky, alarming people across the world and prompting the swordsman surnamed Yan, a Kunlun Daoist, and Buddhist monks to recognize a coming calamity.
• The blood-colored star passed into the Netherworld, startled its ghosts and demons, and hurtled toward Wrongful-Death City and the nearby Black Mountain.
• The mysterious radiance crashed into Black Mountain and merged with Old Demon Black Mountain, suppressing him and destroying his armor as he begged for mercy.
• The radiance manifested traces of two possible inheritances and the Central Wutu Ji Earth Golden Lotus Seal and Heaven-Turning Seal, which fused into Black Mountain's Primordial Spirit.
• Old Demon Black Mountain emerged transformed, questioned whether he was Black Mountain or Li, and noticed a cultivation requirement of twenty-seven million merits.
• Li Yun stopped the world in time and told the Main God to include it in the third mission round and send in more people.

Director Lao introduced the Type-II Sleep Pods and explained the plan to split users into teams of twelve before the next login. When the third round began, Tang Yuyang regrouped most of his team and led the five members who received the strange A Chinese Ghost Story mission into it.

• Director Lao showed the group the new Type-II Sleep Pods and explained how they would monitor users and support their sleep.
• Director Lao said the users would be divided into teams of twelve to preserve their positions when returning to the platform.
• Tang Yuyang gathered most of his team on the azure platform, though two members remained missing.
• The team checked their gear and discovered that several weapons and monitoring devices were unavailable.
• Five team members received the special A Chinese Ghost Story mission, and Tang Yuyang told them to choose it before leading them in.

He Qiu, Du Qifeng, and Lu Yansheng woke in an abandoned temple in the world instance A Chinese Ghost Story???, where they learned its legendary-mythology setting had been altered by a demon star and a prophecy. The chapter left them facing a world where outsiders could affect the unfolding story, with their next choices undecided.

• He Qiu woke in a ruined temple wearing ancient clothes and shook bugs from his robes.
• He Qiu accidentally stepped on Du Qifeng, who leaped from the grass and cried out in pain.
• He Qiu found Lu Yansheng and Du Qifeng, and the three checked their mission screens after waking.
• Lu Yansheng read the mission notice and recognized the reference to Yan Chixia's Xuanyuan Divine Sword.
• The group discovered that Chiguan's passage had created a celestial scar and prompted a prophecy about an Earth Sovereign.
• The background information revealed that Zhiqiu Yiye was searching for the future Earth Sovereign while demons pursued him, and that outsiders had entered the world as variables.

He Qiu, Du Qifeng, and Lu Yansheng discussed how the ruined world connected A Chinese Ghost Story with Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of the Sky before a wolf pack surrounded their temple. The wolves behaved with unsettling intelligence, leaving He Qiu and Lu Yansheng to suspect that even ordinary animals in this world might possess spiritual awareness.

• Du Qifeng and Lu Yansheng compared the stories and settings of A Chinese Ghost Story and Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of the Sky, questioning how their worlds and divine artifacts could relate to the ruined sky.
• He Qiu interrupted their discussion when he sensed something approaching and warned that a wolf pack had surrounded the temple.
• The wolves gathered outside the temple but held back, watching the three men and growling instead of attacking.
• Du Qifeng armed himself with a guandao while He Qiu and Lu Yansheng tried to understand why the wolves seemed unusually intelligent.
• He Qiu ruled out the wolves having become spirits, but he and Lu Yansheng began to suspect that wild animals in this world were naturally spiritually aware.

Old Zhan, Xie Keren, and Fang Yishu decided to head for Jinhua and seek Yan Chixia, believing the Xuanyuan Sword might connect the world of A Chinese Ghost Story to Scar of the Sky. Elsewhere, a frightened scholar was stranded in the woods after three or five armed men blocked his path.

• Xie Keren argued that the Xuanyuan Sword was the strongest link between the two stories and that finding Yan Chixia could reveal the main mission.
• Old Zhan and Fang Yishu agreed to travel to Jinhua, gather information near Lanruo Temple, and search for Yan Chixia.
• The three learned from a passing villager that they were in Zhejiang under the Great Zhou dynasty and not far from Jinhua.
• A frail scholar recalled that three or five rough men had stopped him on a remote road and demanded money, leaving him trembling against a tree.

A group of strangers rescued Ning Shizi from highwaymen, then let him reclaim his belongings and leave. A gray-jacketed man stopped him to ask his name after hearing his Ning surname reminded him of a friend unto death.

• Trained strangers emerged from the woods and killed the highwaymen who had threatened Ning Shizi.
• Old Yu vomited after finishing off the wounded bandits, while his companions comforted him and discussed how real the scene felt.
• The Kunlun Slave searched the bodies for valuables, and the Hunter returned Ning Shizi’s basket and books.
• Ning Shizi thanked the group and tried to leave, but a gray-jacketed man stopped him and asked his surname and name.
• Ning Shizi identified himself as a son of the Pingshan Ning Family named Ning Shizi, courtesy name Cai Chen.

Ning Caichen was persuaded to travel to Jinhua with a suspiciously enthusiastic group, while the group’s members in the Great Zhou capital investigated the world’s dangers and chose to focus on the events surrounding Fu Tianchou. They suspected the climax of A Chinese Ghost Story II would occur next month, though Zhao One feared the story had already diverged from its original course.

• A taciturn man recognized Ning Caichen’s name, then convinced him to join the group traveling to Jinhua.
• Zhao One, Zheng Five, and the others compared their findings and learned that Cihang Pudu held power as Great Zhou’s national preceptor.
• Yang Three reported that Lanruo Temple’s story had likely not begun, but the group lacked the time and horse-riding skills to reach it before events unfolded.
• Yang Three urged the group to focus on the capital, where Fu Tianchou existed and was expected to be brought back under arrest.
• Yang Three said a broker’s information pointed to a full-moon climax next month, possibly involving Cihang Pudu and Ning Caichen, while Zhao One warned that events might have strayed from the original story.

A group of outsiders followed Ning Caichen to Lanruo Temple, carefully preserving the events that would bring him there while preparing for danger. After night fell, they guarded themselves in one room, and the Hunter began to tell Ning a ghost story.

• The group let Ning Caichen fail to collect his debt and waited for him outside Jinhua City, then paid for food and shared it with him on the road.
• They found the inscription for Lanruo Temple and entered the abandoned temple with Ning Caichen.
• The group settled into a well-preserved room, checked beneath the floorboards, lit candles, and stayed alert instead of sleeping.
• Ning Caichen stayed awake, fearing his companions might be perverts, and the Hunter offered to tell him a story called A Chinese Ghost Story.

Xiao Qian and Xiao Qing were sent to investigate the living visitors at Lanruo Temple, while the group inside pretended to sleep and waited for the ghosts to make a move. Their plan was interrupted when Yan Chixia stormed into the courtyard and scattered the ghostly mist.

• Tree-Demon Granny ordered Xiao Qian and Xiao Qing to deal with the living visitors, warning them to watch the two Daoists.
• Xiao Qian and Xiao Qing spied on the group and judged most of them ordinary, though Xiao Qian cautioned against underestimating them.
• The men inside pretended to sleep, while Hunter woke Ning Caichen when eerie zither music and a woman's song began.
• Yan Chixia shouted at the ghosts, burst into the courtyard, and drove back the cold mist with his fierce sword energy.

Yan Chixia attacked the ghosts and confronted Tree-Demon Granny after discovering them targeting the people at Lanruo. Granny withdrew, and Yan Chixia turned to question the group about why they were there.

• Yan Chixia arrived and fixed his attention on the two ghostly women and the foreign employers, while the rough-clothed man sensed his guarded killing intent.
• Yan Chixia released three inches of sword light, breaking the zither and fan and cutting the roots that had restrained the two women.
• Tree-Demon Granny spoke from hiding, challenged Yan Chixia, and warned him that the recovering spiritual essence made this a rare opportunity for cultivation.
• Tree-Demon Granny and the two women vanished after Yan Chixia refused to back down, leaving him to turn and ask the group who they were and why they lingered at Lanruo.

A group of newcomers gained Yan Chixia’s trust by offering him an Earth Marrow Fire Pearl to treat the injured Zhiqiu Yiye. Yan Chixia and Xiahou began driving the demonic poison from Zhiqiu Yiye’s wound, but the treatment was still underway.

• A Taoist offered Yan Chixia an Earth Marrow Fire Pearl as a pledge of loyalty, and Yan Chixia accepted it to save a wounded cultivator.
• Yan Chixia introduced Xiahou and the unconscious Zhiqiu Yiye, explaining that demons had poisoned and gravely injured him.
• Yan Chixia asked Xiahou to protect Zhiqiu Yiye’s vital channels while he used the pearl’s yang fire to treat the wound.
• The pearl’s yang aura burned away the demonic qi, and dark blood began to flow from Zhiqiu Yiye’s wound as the poison was forced out.

Yan Chixia used the fake Daoist’s fire pearl to save Zhiqiu Yiye from demonic poison, while the group awaited the Kunlun disciple’s awakening. In the Underworld, Old Demon Black Mountain confronted Heavenly Corpse, exposed his past, and demanded that he either submit or be destroyed.

• Yan Chixia used the fire pearl to purge most of the demonic poison from Zhiqiu Yiye and thanked the fake Daoist for saving the Kunlun disciple’s life.
• Swordsman Xiahou nearly collapsed from exhaustion, while Zhiqiu Yiye began to stir and the short-clothed man gestured to Oliver to pay up.
• Old Demon Black Mountain examined the jade skeleton and identified its cultivation methods and former identity as Heavenly Corpse, once known as Heavenly Master.
• Heavenly Corpse asked how Old Demon Black Mountain had recognized his past, and Old Demon Black Mountain claimed to recognize his scripture.
• Old Demon Black Mountain warned Heavenly Corpse that he was the last loose end and demanded that he choose between destruction and submission.

Old Demon Black Mountain gathered the Underworld’s subdued rulers in Wrongful-Death City and ordered them to bring the old territories under its dominion within seven days. The demons and ghosts declared their obedience, while Heavenly Corpse was newly pinned beneath a golden lotus.

• Old Demon Black Mountain entered the hall with Heavenly Corpse and walked to the seat of honor as golden lotuses suppressed the beings inside.
• A golden lotus descended over Heavenly Corpse, and he accepted his place among the restrained demons and ghosts.
• Old Demon Black Mountain gave the rulers seven days to bring the old territories under Wrongful-Death City’s rule, threatening failure with annihilation.
• Heavenly Corpse and the demon from the River of Oblivion quickly pledged to obey, prompting the other assembled fiends to declare their loyalty.
• Old Demon Black Mountain watched the rulers comply and regretted that none had objected and given him an excuse to strike someone.

Zuo Qianhu fought off a horde of Walking Corpses attacking Fu Tianchou’s prison convoy, with Old Zhan, Xie Keren, and Fang Yishu helping him. The three newcomers joined the escort toward the capital, unaware that other groups were pursuing the convoy for its connection to Fu Tianchou.

• Fu Tianchou warned Zuo Qianhu that the mountains ahead seemed dangerous, and Zuo ordered the convoy to halt when he sensed trouble.
• Dozens of Walking Corpses ambushed the convoy, and Zuo Qianhu fought them with his sabers while the soldiers formed a defensive ring around the prison cart.
• Old Zhan came to Zuo’s aid with his walking stick, while Xie Keren and Fang Yishu watched from the woods before Zuo rushed back to protect the soldiers.
• Zuo and Old Zhan helped the soldiers defeat the Walking Corpses, though one soldier died, and the convoy retreated to bury him.
• Old Zhan, Xie Keren, and Fang Yishu joined the convoy escorting Fu Tianchou toward the capital as other groups followed behind.

Hunter and the users watched Yan Chixia, Zhiqiu Yiye, and Swordsman Xiahou swiftly defeat Tree-Demon Granny at Lanruo Temple. They discovered the demon’s token linked her to Old Demon Black Mountain and Wrongful-Death City, while Ning Caichen’s attachment to Xiao Qian and Zhiqiu Yiye’s inherited wealth left the users stunned.

• After two days of rest, Yan Chixia, the recovered Zhiqiu Yiye, and Swordsman Xiahou entered Lanruo Temple and used fire, formations, and coordinated attacks to destroy Tree-Demon Granny and her forces.
• Yan Chixia found a dark token among the ashes, and Zhiqiu Yiye and Xiahou identified its inscriptions as linking it to Black Mountain and Wrongful-Death City.
• Zhiqiu Yiye shared rumors that the demons of the region served Old Demon Black Mountain, leading the group to suspect Tree-Demon Granny had tried to summon him without success.
• The users realized that Old Demon Black Mountain truly existed in this world but had not intervened in the battle.
• Ning Caichen had fallen in love with Xiao Qian and risked his life to save her during the fight, while Zhiqiu Yiye’s powerful inherited cultivation and extensive magical gear made the users envious.

At court, Cihang Pudu dismissed reports of rebellion as spiritual turmoil while a spy insect relayed the scene to a group of users. The group identified the rebels Chen Jingqiu and Li Shimin as likely users and planned to use Fu Tianchou’s arrival in the capital to enter the plot before the lunar eclipse.

• A young official warned the emperor that corrupt administration had fueled the rebellions of Chen Jingqiu and Li Shimin, and urged reforms alongside military action.
• Cihang Pudu persuaded the emperor to rely on Buddhist prayers to dispel hostility rather than send troops against the rebels.
• An Advanced Nanotech Spy Bionic Insect transmitted the court proceedings to a group of users outside a residence.
• Chen Four reported that nearly sixty percent of those in the Golden Throne Hall had abnormal entity signals and warned that the centipede was eating more people.
• The group estimated that Fu Tianchou would reach the capital in three and a half to four days and planned to use his arrival to enter the plot, while Chen Four questioned how Scar of the Sky connected to A Chinese Ghost Story.

Li Shimin and the camp’s leaders weighed a disease-ridden mountain route against safer roads while worrying that fleeing officials might destroy vital grain. Elder Ning’s group discussed preserving improved crop seeds and whether their work fit the mission’s main storyline, leaving the camp to await intelligence and test the researchers’ uncertain theories.

• Zhao Li reported that Team Eleven had surveyed Route Three, whose terrain suited infiltration but whose corpse-filled hills risked epidemics and attacks from monsters.
• Li Shimin agreed the group should avoid the route, prioritize safe water, and wait for intelligence about the next counties and their officials.
• Li Shimin warned that fleeing lords might seize or burn the cities’ grain, as had happened in Linyi.
• The agricultural team reported that the era’s potatoes were primitive and toxic, while limited sweet potato and corn seeds could be propagated cautiously; inspectors had also caught servants spying on the fields.
• A middle-aged man questioned whether seed preservation, penicillin production, refugee recruitment, and marching north would count as pursuing the mission’s main storyline.
• Elder Ning said the camp would follow the research team’s plan and treat its work as a test of uncertain theories while the elite groups went to Jinhua and the capital.

Chen Jingqiu sat among starving refugees waiting for porridge as an official demanded that local authorities collect the taxes within ten days. A strange white-haired man appeared beside Chen Jingqiu and identified him as someone who had come to become the Heaven's General.

• Refugees gathered for thin porridge while armed men struggled to keep order.
• A mounted official ordered his aide to tell those in charge to collect the full tax amount within ten days or face execution.
• Chen Jingqiu finished half a bowl of porridge and sat beneath the flagpole, watching the blood-red sky.
• A white-haired, youthful-looking stranger sat beside Chen Jingqiu and warned him that even immortals could not save the refugees.
• The stranger called Chen Jingqiu the one who had come to become the Heaven's General.

Chen Jingqiu explained that a strange coconut-core bun had helped him feed starving people and gather followers, while the white-haired visitor warned that charity alone would not save them. The visitor told Chen Jingqiu to reach the capital of Great Zhou before the month’s full moon and advised him to find a sword, leaving Chen Jingqiu confused and short on time.

• Chen Jingqiu realized that the people around him could not see the white-haired visitor and dismissed a guard who came to investigate.
• The visitor asked how Chen Jingqiu had obtained enough food to feed the people, and Chen Jingqiu showed him a coconut-core bun from a Newcomer Blind Box.
• Chen Jingqiu explained that he had turned the buns into porridge, gained followers, and taken several surrounding counties despite wanting only to farm points.
• The visitor warned Chen Jingqiu that virtue and food were not enough to save the people and said he had to fight his way into the capital of Great Zhou before the full moon.
• The visitor told Chen Jingqiu to find a suitable sword, then accidentally—or deliberately—hit him on the head with the bun.

Tang Yuyang tried to persuade Monk Baiyun to travel to the capital and confront Cihang Pudu, whom he claimed was a centipede demon corrupting the court. Monk Baiyun distrusted Tang Yuyang’s group and refused to go, leaving them determined not to give up.

• Monk Baiyun burned the corpses they found in the deserted city and led Shifang and the others to shelter for the night.
• Tang Yuyang’s group followed the monks into the house, prepared a meal, and shared it with them.
• Tang Yuyang told Monk Baiyun that Cihang Pudu was a centipede demon disguised as the Imperial Preceptor and urged him to investigate the capital.
• Monk Baiyun said Tang Yuyang’s claims were only one side of the story and that the group’s unusual abilities and strange behavior made them hard to trust.
• Tang Yuyang and his companions remained unwilling to accept Monk Baiyun’s refusal after spending so much time trying to draw him into their mission.

Tang Yuyang persuaded Zen Master White Cloud to examine the Golden Alms Bowl, whose visions convinced the monk that a demon was deceiving him. White Cloud agreed to go to the capital the next morning, while the Main God warned Tang Yuyang for inadvertently revealing information about its platform.

• Tang Yuyang challenged Zen Master White Cloud to test their claims, and White Cloud brought out his Golden Alms Bowl.
• Tang Yuyang and his companions saw horrifying visions of demons in the bowl, including a demon wearing a face resembling White Cloud’s senior brother.
• White Cloud erupted in fury, then restrained himself and admitted that the visions had revealed the truth about a demon’s deception.
• The Main God warned Tang Yuyang that White Cloud had read his thoughts and suspected him of revealing information about the Main God Platform.
• White Cloud announced that he would accompany the group to the capital the next morning to subdue the demon, surprising Tang Yuyang with the sudden change of plan.

Cihang Pudu learned that the Heavenly Hound Devouring the Moon phenomenon would occur in nine days and consumed the demon who reported to him. Meanwhile, the group escorting Fu Tianchou reached the capital, freed Zuo Qianhu from his restraints, and left him behind as they parted ways.

• A demon told Cihang Pudu that the Heavenly Hound Devouring the Moon would occur in nine days and that the replaced vassal kings would soon be brought before him.
• Cihang Pudu learned that the Wrongful Death Token had stopped working and asked how many former Zhou rulers’ souls had been found.
• Cihang Pudu swallowed the reporting demon and the token, then wondered whether Black Mountain Friend and the Heavenly Dao Scar would affect his plans.
• Zuo Qianhu reached the capital with a group far larger than the twenty soldiers he had started with and refused to travel with them until he confirmed their claims.
• A man returned Zuo Qianhu’s weapons and belongings, released him from the prison cart, and said his restraints would wear off by nightfall.
• The group left Zuo Qianhu behind, and Master Zheng admitted that he had falsely claimed they meant to kill him to gain favors from him and Fu Tianchou.

Old Demon Black Mountain gathered the fundamental auras of the Netherworld’s demons and combined them with the city’s powers and karmic traces to create the Reincarnation Disc. He declared that he would restore the Six Paths and reincarnation, establishing himself as the Central Wutu Virtue-Bearing Wheel-Holding Earth Sovereign.

• Seven days after the demons submitted, Old Demon Black Mountain summoned them and demanded a portion of each one’s fundamental aura as a pledge.
• Heavenly Corpse led the demons in surrendering their auras, after which they were escorted from the hall.
• Old Demon Black Mountain extracted and combined the imprints, Netherworld traces, and Primordial Breath, gradually forming a divine object resembling a wheel and a disc.
• The newly formed Reincarnation Disc released a pillar of light that terrified the demons and ghosts throughout Wrongful-Death City.
• Old Demon Black Mountain declared that he would reestablish the Six Paths and complete reincarnation, drawing the attention of living beings across the world.
• Old Demon Black Mountain announced that the halls and bureaus would reopen, worthy souls would serve as yin gods, and he would be known as the Central Wutu Virtue-Bearing Wheel-Holding Earth Sovereign.

After the Earth Sovereign reestablished the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Main God Users and cultivators struggled to understand the sudden change. The chapter showed how reincarnation’s restoration offered hope to declining lineages, and ended with an old Daoist sending his disciple down the mountain to watch for opportunities and proceed cautiously.

• Main God Users argued over the Earth Sovereign’s rise and considered whether outsiders could earn divine positions in the Netherworld Bureaucracy.
• Ancient cultivators sensed reincarnation turning again, the Numinous Spark shifting, and the world’s decline easing.
• A white-haired Daoist recalled how broken reincarnation had forced cultivator lineages to preserve themselves and warned younger generations to honor the Earth Sovereign.
• A withered old Daoist hoped to abandon his corpse-like existence if reincarnation had truly been restored and told his disciple to accumulate merit when the Netherworld Bureaucracy reopened.
• The old Daoist gave his disciple a sword pouch and sent him down the mountain with instructions to be cautious.

Yang Three’s group tracked Yan Chixia and White Cloud Monk while suspecting that someone in the imperial court was helping Cihang Pudu. Cihang Pudu recruited Otherworlders for his plans and prepared to make a sacrifice as his transformation neared.

• Yang Three told his group that Yan Chixia had entered the capital with Zhiqiu Yiye, Ning Caichen, Swordsman Xiahou, and many users, while White Cloud Monk and another group had also arrived.
• Yang Three sent Chen Four to identify the monks and Li Two to approach Yan Chixia’s group, warn them of a pursuer, and investigate the sword case on Yan Chixia’s back.
• Yang Three wondered whether Cihang Pudu, rather than Fu Tianchou, was searching for Yan Chixia and recruiting users to join him.
• Cihang Pudu rejected a masked Otherworlder’s suggestion to kill Yan Chixia, explaining that he needed to face his coming calamity during his transformation.
• The masked Otherworlder reported luring more than twenty people to Longliu Inn and asked for cultivation manuals and Yan Chixia’s sword as payment.
• Cihang Pudu swallowed the eunuch used to carry the masked figure’s voice and reflected that the route through Wrongful-Death City was cut off, leaving him to make a sacrifice.