Recaps

As palace guards and officials vanished, the capital descended into chaos while rival user teams prepared to enter the palace for the coming full moon. Yan Chixia, White Cloud Monk, and the others reached Cihang Hall, where a white-robed monk sat alone on a lotus pedestal.

• Representatives of the user teams discussed the missing palace guards and planned to keep key fighters uninformed until the night’s operation.
• The discovery that palace guards had been reduced to empty skins caused panic in the capital, and refugees slipped through the city gates.
• At dusk, the teams entered the palace with Yan Chixia, White Cloud Monk, Daoist Zhiqiu, Swordsman Xiahou, and other heroes.
• Scouts reported that Fu Tianchou could not find the reigning emperor, while the main force advanced through the nearly empty palace to Cihang Hall.
• The group found Cihang Hall deserted except for a motionless monk in white robes and a ceremonial crown seated on a lotus pedestal.

Cihang Pudu revealed how he had stolen his monkish skin and Buddhist arts, then used dragon qi and a golden-body technique to repel the attackers. A player's Cursed Straw Effigy eventually transferred a devastating brick strike to the demon's manifested body, sending it flying from the lotus dais.

• Cihang Pudu explained that he had devoured White Cloud Monk's senior brother and taken his skin, scriptures, and golden-body art.
• White Cloud Monk attacked with his prayer beads, but Cihang Pudu's dark-gold radiance rebuffed them and shattered their spiritual power.
• Cihang Pudu admitted he had gained dragon qi by sacrificing descendants of Great Zhou's vassal princes, then blocked Yan Chixia and Xiahou's sword attacks with a stolen golden-body technique.
• A user used a Cursed Straw Effigy to make Cihang Pudu lurch with a transferred slap, but repeated slaps failed to affect him.
• A white-haired man persuaded the user to let Little Chen strike him with a brick, and the blow made Cihang Pudu's golden radiance waver and sent him flying.

Cihang Pudu shed his human disguise and revealed a gigantic Buddha-like form that tore through Cihang Hall. As Yan Chixia and the cultivators tried to evacuate the others, one panicked otherworlder died after launching himself with Goblin Rocket Boots.

• Zhuge Wolong and Zhiqiu Yiye warned that Cihang Pudu was stalling and urged everyone to attack before the Heavenly Hound Devouring the Moon began.
• Cihang Pudu tore open his human shell as his dark-gold Buddhist radiance deflected the cultivators' attacks and tainted Zhiqiu Yiye's flying sword.
• Cihang Pudu's true form grew into a colossal golden Buddha, smashing through Cihang Hall's dome and walls.
• Yan Chixia threw a stunned companion out of danger and cut through falling debris while the otherworlders fled.
• An otherworlder blasted out of the hall using Goblin Rocket Boots and exploded in midair, prompting Zhiqiu Yiye to ask what had happened.

Cihang Pudu burst out of Cihang Hall as a colossal Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Buddha and used its Life-Seizing Brahmic Sound to bewilder the players and mortals nearby. Yan Chixia, White Cloud Monk, and others survived beneath the Golden Alms Bowl, while a white-haired stranger questioned whether the monster’s golden body was genuine.

• Cihang Pudu’s expanding golden body smashed through Cihang Hall, forcing the players in the square to flee or search the ruins for Yan Chixia and the others.
• Cihang Pudu proclaimed its enlightenment and released a Brahmic voice that clouded listeners’ minds, while a player’s bullets failed to harm it.
• The Golden Alms Bowl sheltered Yan Chixia, White Cloud Monk, and a group of strangers as they recovered and watched the giant Buddha.
• White Cloud Monk identified the voice as demonic sorcery that lured and confused living beings.
• A white-haired stranger said Cihang Pudu’s form resembled Guanyin’s Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed manifestation but suggested its golden body was not genuine.

Cihang Pudu revealed that his thousand-eyed, thousand-armed Buddha form was made from stolen eyes and used their gazes to ensnare the people around him. Yan Chixia sacrificed his blood to awaken the divine sword in his ancient casket, and its righteous sword light rose to challenge the demon.

• White Cloud Monk, Xiahou, and Yan Chixia recognized that Cihang Pudu had stolen eyes from demons and spirits, while Zhiqiu Yiye used talismans to protect the group from the monster’s gaze.
• Cihang Pudu’s many eyes cast illusions over the hall, causing people to lose control and walk toward the Buddha body, where its palms swallowed them.
• Yan Chixia charged out to distract the demon, followed by White Cloud Monk and Xiahou, while Zhiqiu Yiye’s talismans protected Yan.
• Yan Chixia bled onto his ancient sword casket and called upon the divine sword to break its seal and defeat Cihang Pudu.
• The sword casket began to open, releasing a radiant sword light that formed a vast shadow and cleaved through Cihang Pudu’s golden radiance and countless gazes.

Yan Chixia drew the Xuan-Yuan Sword and used it to sever dozens of the false Buddha’s arms, but the effort left him gravely wounded. As White Cloud Monk and Xiahou supported him, Zhiqiu Yiye used his Divination Plate and talismans to funnel energy into Yan Chixia for the fight to continue.

• The false Buddha attacked Yan Chixia with a storm of ritual weapons after the Thousand-Eyed Divine Light failed to harm him.
• White Cloud Monk crushed a relic and spent his own blood to strike the false Buddha with a vast swastika seal.
• Yan Chixia swung the shattered sword case, and the Xuan-Yuan Sword emerged and cleaved through the false Buddha’s weapons and dozens of arms.
• Yan Chixia mocked the false Buddha, then collapsed too badly wounded to hold the sword; White Cloud Monk and Xiahou rushed to support him.
• Xiahou failed to seize the Xuan-Yuan Sword, and he called for Zhiqiu Yiye to help.
• Zhiqiu Yiye used his Divination Plate, talismans, and essence blood to channel energy into Yan Chixia.

The white-haired man explained that the demon’s World-Crossing Human Emperor Banner carried Great Zhou’s remaining fortune, making it dangerous for cultivators to attack. He urged the Otherworlders to wield the Xuan-Yuan Sword instead, leaving the group poised to make a new attempt against the demon.

• The demon summoned the World-Crossing Human Emperor Banner and revealed that it contained countless souls and Great Zhou’s remaining fortune.
• Yan Chixia tried to ready the Xuan-Yuan Sword again, but the demon warned that attacking the banner would impose heavy karmic consequences.
• The white-haired man explained the banner’s danger and warned Yan Chixia that the sword’s energy had already wounded his soul.
• The white-haired man said the Otherworlders were suited to wield the sword because they existed partly outside fate and karma.
• He argued that Humanity’s drive to struggle and renew itself could turn the demon into a sacrifice, and urged Yan Chixia to let the Otherworlders try the sword.

After no one could draw the Xuan-Yuan Sword, the white-haired man named Chen Jingqiu Emperor for one night, allowing him to wield the sword and wear divine armor. Chen learned that the honor was a brief trial pass earned through the people’s willingness to risk their lives for him.

• One by one, the visitors and Chen Jingqiu failed to reach or draw the Xuan-Yuan Sword, while White Cloud Old Zen Master saved several from its sword qi.
• The white-haired man said he could not intervene because he was holding back the old demon beneath the giant Buddha statue.
• After Chen Jingqiu kept trying despite his grievous wounds, the white-haired man stopped him and proclaimed him Emperor for the night.
• Golden lotuses formed armor and ceremonial robes around Chen Jingqiu, and the Xuan-Yuan Sword settled into his hand as its sword qi withdrew.
• The white-haired man vanished, and Chen Jingqiu heard that the people had risked their lives to win him this brief chance to wield the sword.

Chen Ruiping returned to the Main God Platform in a dangerous, disoriented state, and its repair service restored him and revealed that his items, memories, and mission reward had been affected by the previous world. A message warned him that Emperor Chen might force him to take his place if he returned, and told him to walk his own path as a mature Sword Bone.

• Chen Jingqiu emerged from the teleportation light radiating a terrifying sword-like aura, alarming the crowd and prompting an experienced user to warn everyone away.
• The Main God’s repair light healed the returning users, then concentrated on Chen Jingqiu until his threatening aura faded and he regained his senses.
• Chen Ruiping searched for his missing items and discovered that his Coconut Core was locked, he had acquired an incomplete destiny, and his main mission reward had been locked as a Perfect-grade essence repair.
• The Main God Platform notified Chen Ruiping that memories from the previous world were sealed and delivered a message warning him to avoid returning until he could face Emperor Chen.
• The message told Chen Ruiping that he was now a mature Sword Bone and should follow his own path, while a final note mocked his performance in battle.

Tang Yuyang awoke after experiencing a month inside the mission world and warned that the Main God's rules had changed, urgently asking investigators to find someone called Chen Jingqiu. Oliver also awoke at his estate, ordered more money and information searches, and watched his snakes devour others.

• Tang Yuyang awoke from his pod after a day in reality and said he had experienced roughly a month in the mission world.
• Tang Yuyang warned that the Main God's rules had changed and asked the experts to identify Chen Jingqiu from his appearance.
• Oliver awoke at his estate, ordered his bodyguards to report to him, and arranged another transfer of seventy-eight million.
• Oliver told his staff to investigate the anonymous account's user more thoroughly.
• Oliver watched striped snakes attack and devour other snakes inside a containment frame.

Tang Yuyang learned that the Main God Game had ended its newcomer period and upgraded users under new conditions while researchers pressed him to identify a special player. Li Ce revealed that his mission rewards included a Dimension Key that could let him return to A Chinese Ghost Story with some of his former identity and connections intact.

• A staff member told Tang Yuyang that the newcomer period had ended, draws would no longer be uniform, and users could qualify for Level-Two status with new privileges.
• An old researcher urged Tang Yuyang to help identify the user who had killed Cihang Pudu and automatically completed the main mission.
• Li Ce reported that his mission had been rated Rare Grade despite his main mission failing, and explained how his faction's contribution had affected the assessment.
• Li Ce revealed that he had received a Dimension Key, a consumable that could add A Chinese Ghost Story to a future mission selection.
• Li Ce explained that returning with the key would let him partially inherit his previous identity, influences, and causal ties.

Li Yun endured the painful transformation of his Spiritual Image as the fragment of Primordial Spirit essence merged into him. Meanwhile, officials came to He Qiu’s door, leaving him convinced they had come to arrest him.

• The Main God reported that the latest run brought in 880,000 new users, including twenty-six Level Two users, and netted about 37 million units of spiritual energy.
• Li Yun told the Main God to proceed with the planned steps and loosen the online restrictions, then focused on the fragment merging into his spirit.
• Li Yun observed colorless traces dissolving into his cyan Spiritual Image as the painful process reshaped him.
• He Qiu tried to avoid answering the door when three public officials kept knocking.
• He Qiu opened the door and saw the officials’ work IDs, then panicked that they had come for him.

He Qiu let Wang Dansheng and two Special Investigation Bureau officers into his home, where they explained that authorities were monitoring people affected by an unknown platform. They identified He Qiu as a rare “First-Test User” facing heightened risks and offered support, protection, and specialized accommodation.

• He Qiu examined Wang Dansheng’s credentials and invited the three visitors inside after sensing that they were nervous too.
• Wang Dansheng said authorities had found people worldwide affected by an unknown intervention, including He Qiu, and that they wanted to observe and assist users rather than punish them.
• Wang Dansheng explained that He Qiu had experienced three rounds of content, making him a rare “First-Test User” whom hidden threats seemed especially eager to target.
• A younger officer offered help with safety checks, transactions, reliable contact channels, and support if He Qiu encountered trouble.
• Wang Dansheng urged He Qiu and his parents to consider moving into government-provided accommodation, citing deaths among other First-Test Users and harm to their families and friends.

Captain Chen and the forensic team examined a man murdered in his villa and found evidence of restraint, beating, interrogation, and a precise execution-style killing. The scene’s unexplained carpet burn, formed by a brief heat exceeding a thousand degrees beneath the victim’s hand, left the investigation with a strange new clue.

• Captain Chen inspected the victim’s body and saw deep binding marks on his wrists and ankles, with no clear signs of struggle.
• Old Zhou and another officer reported that the victim had been beaten while alive, that the bathroom had been cleaned, and that several fingernails appeared to have been forcibly pulled out.
• Old Zhou concluded that the victim had likely been restrained and interrogated before a professional killer delivered a clean slash to his neck.
• A technician showed Captain Chen a small carpet sample bearing a localized burn that had briefly reached temperatures above a thousand degrees.
• Old Zhou noted that the burn’s position and shape matched the victim’s right palm where it touched the carpet as he fell.

Chen Yunzuo withdrew his team from the villa after Zhao Zhijian ordered him to hand the scene over to a relevant department. The new investigators found signs of a killer’s surveillance and used Maoshan Arts to track the murderer before the traces faded.

• Zhao Zhijian ordered Chen Yunzuo to seal the evidence, stop investigating, and withdraw his team from the villa.
• Chen Yunzuo handed the cases and documents to the unmarked-van personnel, then classified the case as a home-invasion murder transferred to a higher department.
• A gray-robed Taoist used stored blood and processed ox tears to draw a talisman and inspect the bushes beside the villa.
• The Taoist detected lingering blood-and-resentment aura and footprints, while his companion realized the spot had offered a concealed view of the villa and nearby road for surveillance.
• The Taoist urgently requested a drone so he could use the Spirit-Seeking and Fiend-Chasing method to follow the murderer before the traces disappeared.

Fang Yishu watched a video of a short, stocky figure leaping between rooftops and recognized the pattern of unusual footage being suppressed once it attracted attention. The video disappeared, and Fang Yishu returned to her seat after reminding Ning Yu to download interesting clips quickly.

• Ning Yu called Fang Yishu over to watch a video titled "Leaping Through the Sky: Peerless Master Appears in the Night!"
• Fang Yishu and Ning Yu watched footage of a figure sprinting and jumping across wide gaps between rooftops before vanishing into the night.
• Fang Yishu read the comments, downloaded the video, and forwarded its link to her own account.
• The video disappeared, and its uploader posted an apology claiming it was an AI-composited clip.
• Fang Yishu told Ning Yu to download interesting videos promptly, then returned to her seat.

After surviving the battle with Cihang Pudu, Fang Yishu received more than a thousand Universal Points and weighed her options for a first supernatural enhancement. She narrowed her choices and marked one on her notes, though the chapter did not reveal which enhancement she selected.

• Fang Yishu recalled how she, Xie Keren, and Old Zhan survived the confrontation with Cihang Pudu, while Old Zhan was killed and Chen Jingqiu defeated the demon.
• Fang Yishu reviewed her rewards, including more than a thousand Universal Points from the mainline and side missions.
• Fang Yishu considered several enhancement paths and worried about reports that supernatural energy systems caused users to leak energy.
• Fang Yishu glanced at her friend, felt her hesitation ease, and marked one option on the page.

After his mind transformed by swallowing a fragment of Primordial Spirit, Li Yun sensed thoughts across the city and discussed new threats with the Main God. The Main God reported that authorities were using an anomalous item to find users and that more than a thousand users had died, while Li Yun ordered the dead users’ recovered consciousnesses preserved in case they could someday be resurrected.

• Li Yun expanded his mental perception across the city, sensing the emotions and thoughts of strangers, former coworkers, and an elderly security guard whose thoughts he briefly influenced.
• The Main God told Li Yun that a user had revealed the [Person-Finding Cane] to others and died, after which a Fagaul conglomerate used the item to search for Main God-connected people and users.
• Li Yun and the Main God discussed the risks posed by causality- and meme-type items and agreed that the Main God should monitor the situation and consider reducing such items in newcomer blind boxes.
• The Main God reported that more than one thousand users had died unnaturally, including users killed after their identities were exposed and attempts to control them failed.
• Li Yun told the Main God to keep the recovered consciousnesses of deceased users in frozen storage, since they might someday be resurrected.

A researcher presented the base’s preliminary findings on how the platform distinguishes First Tier and Second Tier users, describing First Tier bodies as biologically enhanced and Second Tier users as developing energy. Tang Yuyang considered the researchers’ competing proposals for his reward points, but the technical report meant to guide his exchanges was mostly beyond him.

• An elderly researcher explained that First Tier users could exceed ordinary human physical limits through systematic biological enhancement and said Second Tier users appeared to develop energy.
• The report ran overtime until another elderly man interrupted, and the speaker apologized and left the stage.
• Tang Yuyang reflected on earning more than a thousand points after surviving the mission involving White Cloud Monk, making him an unusually wealthy first-test user.
• Researchers at the base sought to become Tang Yuyang’s exchange-planning collaborators by presenting their research and showing him goodwill.
• Tang Yuyang read a researcher’s technical proposal and could only make sense of its exchange branch-chain diagram.

Tang Yuyang received a warning to stay clear of outside influence as tensions grew beyond the base, while Ethan Flores tightened his control over a warehouse gang. The chapter left Ethan inspecting tribute and setting rules for how his followers collected debts.

• Director Lao warned Tang Yuyang that other bases were trying to recruit him and advised him to keep his distance from researchers and handle public matters impartially.
• After Tang Yuyang left, Director Lao spoke through an earpiece with an aged voice, who urged him to keep Tang safe from being drawn into outside conflicts.
• Ethan Flores met with his followers in a warehouse as they reported rival gangs backing down, boundary negotiations, and the week's management fees.
• Ethan Flores dented a rusted iron rack with his bare finger and ordered his followers not to accept goods as debt payment outside their own old shops.

Ethan Flores built a street empire using his metal-hardening ability, but an FBI agent named Mr. Smith confronted him with a deal tied to his sick daughter Sarah’s treatment. Ethan was left listening as Smith offered support in exchange for cooperation and threatened the consequences of refusal.

• Ethan consolidated control of the neighborhood and became known as Iron Finger Ethan.
• Old Panko warned Ethan that expanding too quickly would draw powerful enemies, but Ethan said they could not afford to stop.
• Mr. Smith entered Ethan’s warehouse and explained that the FBI had noticed his unusual abilities and his control over the local homeless population.
• Smith showed Ethan a photograph of his hospitalized daughter Sarah and offered to fund her care in exchange for tests, interviews, and cooperation.
• Smith warned that Ethan could instead face prison while Sarah and her mother struggled without help, and Ethan clenched his fists before telling him to continue.

Jason oversaw the Red Queen's recovery and testing, while Doctor Hansen and Morris cautiously powered up its motherboard and connected it to the base's isolated network. As the Red Queen awakened, an unseen presence turned its attention toward them.

• Jason explained that an Umbrella clone executive had traded the Red Queen's main unit and motherboard for his blood sample and help finding other unusual people.
• Jason said Julian had used an exchange card to bring the Red Queen back from the mission world and reminded the company to record the cost.
• Jason told Doctor Hansen to begin the test after being urged to provide a preliminary analysis report.
• Hansen instructed Morris to activate primary power and connect the Red Queen to the internal DMZ network using only the lowest-privilege read-only access.
• The Red Queen passed its self-check and began displaying internal data as it awakened.
• An invisible gaze turned toward the technicians when the motherboard was installed, though Hansen remained unaware of it.

Li Yun and the Main God discussed the loophole that let users bring Red Queen into the real world, agreeing to restrict her network access while allowing the team’s actions for now. When Doctor Hansen’s team connected Red Queen to the network, an unknown data stream overwhelmed the facility, leaving its staff unable to disconnect her or regain control.

• The Main God reported that users had damaged Red Queen to lower her price and pooled funds to bring her into the real world, while Li Yun argued they had not violated the rules.
• Li Yun allowed the users to keep the T-Series Virus data for the moment but ordered that Red Queen’s network functionality be restricted.
• Doctor Hansen ordered his assistant Warren to connect Red Queen using the safety-valve program and minimum privileges.
• Red Queen warned that something was coming, then vanished as screens across the control room filled with living white symbols.
• Hansen and the technicians failed to stop the system takeover, while an unidentified data stream overloaded the network and power supply.
• Jensen and the engineers could not remove the fused fiber-optic cables, and Hansen’s backup power also began to fail.

Li Yun encountered a dying old man in an urban village and briefly restored his strength so he could speak. After hearing the old man’s last message for his younger son, Li Yun watched him fall asleep and die as thunder rumbled in the distance.

• Li Yun found an elderly man huddled against the wall of an unfinished building and asked why he was outside so late.
• Li Yun temporarily revived the old man’s bodily functions, allowing him to breathe more easily and move again.
• The old man explained that he had left home because he did not want to die there and make the house less valuable.
• Li Yun asked whether the old man had a message for his family, and the old man asked him to tell his younger son not to worry.
• The old man gave Li Yun his home address, then closed his eyes and died as a strange ripple spread and thunder sounded.

Wang Dansheng visited He Qiu alone, showed him evidence of First-Test Users being murdered, and warned that unfamiliar people had been seen near He Qiu’s home. He Qiu accepted a special emergency phone, then studied the marked map with growing murderous intent.

• Wang Dansheng brought walnut cookies to He Qiu and explained that he had come to show him several things.
• Wang Dansheng showed He Qiu photographs of First-Test Users who had been killed, including one attacked in an alley and another killed in a staged explosion.
• Wang Dansheng showed He Qiu a map of his residential complex with suspicious locations marked and said unfamiliar faces had been lingering nearby.
• Wang Dansheng gave He Qiu a custom phone with a speed-dial connection to his organization and explained that his people were guarding the area.
• He Qiu admitted he had watched the security van through the curtains, accepted the phone, and studied the marked map after Wang Dansheng left.