Chapter Summaries

This text is a reader-tip acknowledgment, not a story chapter. It lists supporters and their Qidian coin contributions, ranging from 100 to 10,000 coins. No plot events, character development, themes, or character interactions are included.

This text contains no story chapter. It is a list thanking readers for Qidian coin donations, ranging from 100 to 10,000 coins. Several supporters appear more than once; no plot, characters, interactions, or themes are described.

Plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng refuses to add the weak Yin Soldiers guarding the Ghost Domain Stronghold to his force, since they would disrupt the battle formation trained by Yuan Wu.
• He leads his main force deeper into the Ghost Domain, using the Yin Soldier Camp Board to surround them in a smaller domain of black mist. He realizes the artifact could create a Ghost Domain in the living world if sufficiently filled with troops.
• His force encounters more than a thousand Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers, whose gathered yin energy has formed a domain of its own. The two domains clash, while Tang’s better fighters face the enemy’s overwhelming numbers.
• Rather than risk a costly direct attack, Tang orders ten portions of Ritual Food thrown among the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers. The food’s scent breaks their ranks, and the starving ghosts abandon formation to scramble for it.
• Tang’s troops attack the disorganized enemy. Seeing that the ghosts will fight even as they are cut down if food is nearby, Tang calls off the slaughter and withdraws, considering whether they might be recruited instead.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng shows strategic restraint: he avoids a head-on fight, uses the enemy’s hunger against them, and stops once victory is secured rather than killing unnecessarily. He also recognizes that the ghosts could potentially become his soldiers.
• Yuan Wu, Zhangtai, and Du Song reveal how deeply their past hunger shaped them. They are horrified at the order to waste valuable food, while Yuan Wu’s anger at seeing it seized fuels his attack.
• The Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers are shown as desperate and nearly mindless in their hunger, their craving overriding discipline and even fear of death.

Themes

• Hunger and the value of food: Scarcity makes food precious and can overpower discipline, loyalty, and self-preservation.
• Strategy over brute force: Tang wins by exploiting the enemy’s weakness rather than meeting its numbers head-on.
• War and mercy: The Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers were left as a barrier by the Founding Patriarchs, but Tang sees no need to destroy them all and considers turning former enemies into allies.

Character interactions

• Tang’s command overrides the Spirit Ghosts’ reluctance to throw away provisions, showing both his authority and their obedience.
• Yuan Wu leads the attack once Tang gives the signal, while Tang controls the timing and later orders the troops to withdraw.
• Tang’s encounter with the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers shifts his view of them: he first treats them as enemies to defeat, then recognizes their potential as recruits.

Plot points and events

• The Yin Soldier Camp Board crosses the Ancient Battlefield without interference, as the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers are distracted by ritual food.
• Tang Changsheng’s party reaches the collapsed cave believed to be the Ghost Gate. While examining the rubble, they find a piece of Netherworld Stone.
• Zhangtai explains that the rare, unusually light stone can be used to build solid structures in the Ghost Domain and Netherworld. Tang recognizes that it also has valuable uses in artifact-making, spellcasting, and cultivating a Yin-Yang Dharma Body.
• Tang chooses to postpone gathering more stone. His priority is reaching the City God Underworld Office to investigate signs of a major disturbance that may be connected to the Long-Haired Remnants.
• Yuan Wu confirms that the Ghost Gate remains open. The group struggles against the powerful current of yin energy flowing out of the Netherworld, crosses the gate, and enters a forested, fog-covered landscape.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng shows practical restraint: despite recognizing Netherworld Stone’s value, he stays focused on his urgent investigation.
• Zhangtai demonstrates his extensive knowledge of Netherworld lore, offering several theories about the stone’s origin and explaining its everyday use.
• Yuan Wu contributes his familiarity with the Ghost Gate and confirms the route is passable.

Character interactions

• Zhangtai explains the stone to Tang, who listens while privately recalling its wider significance in the living world.
• Tang directs the group to prioritize passage through the gate rather than collecting resources.
• Yuan Wu points out the continuing flow of yin energy, prompting the party to proceed.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and resourcefulness: Even an ordinary-looking stone can be valuable in a realm where material resources are rare.
• Duty over opportunity: Tang delays pursuing a potentially precious resource to investigate a more urgent threat.
• Boundaries between worlds: The Ghost Gate is a perilous passage, and the relentless yin-energy current both sustains the Ghost Domain and makes crossing difficult.
• Uncertainty and hidden history: Conflicting explanations for Netherworld Stone’s origins mirror the mysteries awaiting Tang in the Netherworld.

Key plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng’s group reaches a rugged area near the City God Underworld Office. The Office appears depleted, and Yuan Wu warns that something may be wrong there.
• They encounter several hundred organized Wild Ghosts, many of them powerful Vicious or Ferocious Ghosts. Their ranks and coordinated advance suggest a commander is directing them.
• Tang Changsheng gives Yuan Wu control of the battle, while using his Marshal’s Seal and Heroic Soul to activate the Yin Soldier Camp Board’s Ghost Domain.
• Yuan Wu orders Ritual Food thrown among the advancing ghosts. The tactic works far better than expected: the Wild Ghosts abandon their formation to eat, and many immediately surrender.
• One surrendered ghost identifies Yu Qiang as their chief. Yu Qiang and roughly a hundred followers flee, but the Ghost Domain pursues them and breaks up their group.
• Tang Changsheng uses the Yin Soldier Camp Board to absorb the captured ghosts into his forces, treating the unexpected encounter as an opportunity to expand his army.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng shows pragmatic leadership: he delegates battlefield command to Yuan Wu, supplies the power only he can provide, and quickly capitalizes on the ghosts’ surrender.
• Yuan Wu proves himself the experienced tactician, assessing the threat and adapting the Ritual Food tactic previously used against the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers.
• Du Song displays his limited knowledge of Netherworld ranks, suggesting the attackers might be a Ghost King or Ghost General; Yuan Wu and Zhangtai correct him, leaving him embarrassed and silent.
• Zhangtai reinforces Yuan Wu’s authority by explaining the hierarchy and power required to hold those titles.
• The surrendered ghosts turn on their former chief without hesitation, revealing how quickly loyalty gives way to self-preservation.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: The chapter distinguishes ordinary ghosts from organized forces led by Spirit Ghosts, Ghost Generals, and Ghost Kings.
• Practical ingenuity: Ritual Food becomes a surprisingly effective weapon, disrupting enemy discipline and prompting mass surrender.
• Opportunity amid danger: Tang Changsheng treats a hostile encounter—and the apparent disorder near the Underworld Office—as a chance to strengthen his army.
• Authority and loyalty: The ghosts’ rapid surrender and betrayal of Yu Qiang suggest that allegiance may depend more on survival than loyalty.

Plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng uses the Yin Soldier Camp Board to capture a group of Wild Ghosts, focusing on their cunning leader, Yu Qiang, a rare and intelligent Spirit Ghost.
• Yu Qiang surrenders but gives Tang false names. Tang orders him killed; when a Yin Soldier’s blade fails to destroy him, Du Song finishes the job with his powerful Ghost Artifact, scattering Yu Qiang’s soul.
• With their leader gone, the remaining ghosts surrender. Tang feeds one Spirit Ghost, who behaves with unusual restraint and offers to serve him.
• The ghost identifies himself as Shang Yang—once King Shangyang, a rebel leader who became a powerful ghost and challenged the Lower River City God’s Underworld Office.
• Shang Yang explains that he was imprisoned after his defeat. Following the Heaven and Earth Cataclysm, a bloody upheaval drove many Netherworld Office gods and ghosts mad, while the prison’s sealed-off isolation kept him safe.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng proves pragmatic and decisive: he values rare ghosts but will not tolerate deception, and he quickly recognizes Shang Yang’s intelligence and unusual composure.
• Yu Qiang is revealed as clever but overly slippery; his evasiveness costs him his life.
• Shang Yang emerges as a fallen former power. Though now weakened to roughly Ferocious Ghost strength, he retains his dignity, intelligence, and calm.
• Du Song demonstrates the destructive power of his top-grade Ghost Artifact by permanently destroying Yu Qiang.

Character interactions

• Tang tests Yu Qiang’s honesty, then orders his execution when the ghost persists in lying; Du Song carries it out.
• Tang treats Shang Yang with curiosity and hospitality, offering Ritual Food and asking about his identity and the Netherworld Office.
• Shang Yang recognizes Tang as the General’s Temple’s current mage and recounts his past and the Netherworld’s collapse.

Significant themes

• Power and decline: Shang Yang’s fall from a near–Ghost King to a weakened wandering ghost reflects the broader collapse of the Netherworld.
• Trust and deception: Yu Qiang’s cunning cannot overcome Tang’s control, while Shang Yang’s composure earns him attention.
• History and reputation: Shang Yang’s remark that victors become kings and losers bandits highlights how status depends on who tells the story.
• Catastrophe and survival: The prison’s strict isolation, once a punishment, becomes an unlikely refuge during the upheaval.

Plot points

• Tang Changsheng learns that Yu Qiang, a former Netherworld Office clerk and jailer, released condemned ghosts during the upheaval and tried to seize power. Blood-red light drove many ghosts mad, and Yu’s ambitions collapsed when he encountered the Astral Wind.
• Tang suspects the Netherworld Office’s destruction may be connected to the Blood Demon’s earlier schemes. He questions the leaders of the escaped ghosts; their accounts broadly corroborate King Shangyang’s.
• The ghosts warn that the Astral Wind is rising. It sweeps across the plain with enough force to destroy exposed ghosts completely.
• Tang orders everyone into the Yin Soldier Camp Board’s Ghost Domain. Its protection weakens as it spreads, so he shrinks it and has the ghosts crowd together. Some fail to get inside and are annihilated. Even after Tang compresses the Domain to a tiny area and raises another barrier, it barely withstands the wind.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng remains cautious and skeptical: he questions each leader rather than accepting King Shangyang’s story at face value. When the wind hits, he acts quickly to protect the surrendered ghosts, though the strain on his defenses alarms him.
• Yu Qiang is portrayed as ambitious but ineffectual and deeply unlucky; his bid for power ended in disaster.
• King Shangyang is shown as shrewd, having avoided the blood-red light, while other ghost leaders command separate groups and have their own interests.
• Zhuang Yongchang leads a close-knit lineage whose members retained more intelligence through incense offerings. The Spirit Ghost leaders help organize the others as they rush for shelter.

Significant themes

• Survival and failed ambition: The Netherworld’s dangers make power struggles secondary to staying alive.
• Intelligence and self-preservation: Ghosts capable of reason can surrender and cooperate, unlike the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers, who acted on instinct.
• Fragile protection: Tang’s Ghost Domain offers shelter, but its defenses are limited; survival depends on swift decisions and collective discipline.
• Growing suspicion: The destruction of the Netherworld Office appears linked to the Blood Demon, though the connection remains unconfirmed.

Plot and events

• A supernatural gale threatens to destroy the Ghost Domain despite the Yin Soldiers’ efforts. Tang Changsheng realizes his Yin Soldier Camp Board is too understaffed to hold it.
• He offers the Spirit Ghosts Divine Offices in exchange for their help. Zhuang Yongchang and Meng Liangze accept first, prompting the others—including King Shangyang—to follow.
• Their strength flows into the camp, allowing it to withstand the gale. Tang’s roster grows to 133 members, including 38 Ferocious Ghosts, though many others remain unassigned. The gale soon stops, leaving the hills badly damaged.
• King Shangyang reveals that the gale is a recent and worsening phenomenon, previously restrained by divine light. Tang heads to the City God Underworld Office to investigate.
• He finds the office reduced to a wasteland, with no spiritual light and strange red glimmers. Meng Liangze warns that contact with them drives people mad. Tang identifies them as Blood Pollution Aura and trusts the camp’s Yin Domain to protect them.
• Red shadows begin hurling themselves at the camp’s barrier, making it shake under repeated impacts.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang proves both resourceful and opportunistic: he secures the ghosts’ allegiance during a crisis, then leads his expanded force toward the source of the upheaval.
• Zhuang Yongchang and Meng Liangze willingly accept low-ranking Divine Offices. Meng, despite once holding a much higher military rank, is overjoyed to escape centuries of condemnation and gain a legitimate post.
• King Shangyang and the other ghosts submit when they recognize their shared danger and witness the camp’s power.
• Meng Liangze and the others caution Tang about the red glimmers; Tang remains confident in his defensive domain.

Significant themes

• Survival and allegiance: The ghosts cooperate because they are all endangered, even when cooperation means accepting Tang’s authority.
• The value of recognition: Though the Divine Offices are low-ranking, their legitimacy matters deeply to ghosts who have been cast aside.
• A changing supernatural world: The worsening gale, vanished divine light, and ruined Underworld Office suggest a broader collapse or transformation.
• Confidence tested by danger: Tang’s growing strength emboldens him, but the barrage of blood-red shadows signals that the threat is far from over.

Chapter Summary: “Ghosts Tainted by Blood”

Key plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng realizes the attackers are ghosts corrupted by blood pollution, confirming that the Blood Demon has been active inside the City God Netherworld Office while its divine guardians slept.
• Blood-Polluted Ghosts overwhelm the camp’s defenses. Though only on the Netherworld Office’s outskirts, the group learns that tens of thousands of ghosts may have been tainted across the Office.
• A Malicious Ghost breaks through the Yin Soldier Camp’s Ghost Domain, tears apart two Vicious Ghosts, and consumes them as they attempt to recover.
• Tang Changsheng pins the Malicious Ghost using the Marshal’s Seal and the camp’s power. Yuan Wu’s soldiers attack, while Du Song wounds the creature with a rare high-grade Ghost Artifact.
• Since the Malicious Ghost can regenerate while its Ghost Core remains intact, Tang concentrates more than a third of the camp’s strength to expose the core. Du Song then destroys it, killing the ghost.
• Concerned that the camp cannot withstand several Malicious Ghosts at once, Tang orders a retreat. He captures a few blood-tainted Yin Soldiers for later study.
• The force withdraws through the Ghostwood Forest and Ghost Gate to the safer Ghost Domain, leaving the Long-Haired Ghost Soldiers at the Ancient Battlefield as a potential barrier. They return to the Formation-Eye Camp; only a little over half a night has passed in the living world.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng demonstrates tactical leadership, directing his forces and coordinating the attack on the Malicious Ghost. The encounter also makes him more cautious: he recognizes that the camp’s newly appointed offices are not yet unified or fully refined into true Yin Soldiers.
• Yuan Wu leads his twenty-seven Yin Soldiers in a disciplined formation, though their weapons cannot seriously damage the Malicious Ghost.
• Du Song proves crucial with his powerful firearm, first opening the ghost’s head and then destroying its exposed Ghost Core.
• The group works together under Tang’s command, combining the Marshal’s Seal, the soldiers’ assault, and Du Song’s precision shots to overcome a foe none could defeat alone.

Significant themes

• Corruption and hidden danger: The Blood Demon’s pollution has turned the Netherworld’s own ghosts into enemies.
• Power and preparation: A Malicious Ghost’s strength far exceeds that of lesser spirits, and Tang’s camp remains vulnerable because its forces are not yet fully integrated.
• Cooperation and strategy: Victory depends on coordinated abilities rather than brute force.
• Caution in the face of escalating threats: Tang chooses retreat over risking the entire camp, while the captured ghosts offer a chance to learn more about the corruption.

Key plot points and events

• After returning from the Netherworld, Tang Changsheng leaves camp arrangements to Yuan Wu and Zhangtai. His expedition has brought him twenty or thirty Spirit Ghosts and much of Lower River City’s accumulated ghostly essence.
• He regrets that he could not seize the City God’s domain. The Underworld Office also remains unusable: he suspects a powerful, possibly treasure-assisted source of blood contamination is still hidden there.
• Tang tests whether blood-tainted ghosts can be purified. Seven Absolutions Yin Water fails, but Purifying Dharma Water works—though it painfully cleanses the taint from both a ghost’s soul and its aura.
• One ghost is restored and identifies himself as Song Shan, a former Soul-Summoning Ghost Messenger and Grade-C Yin Soldier. Tang arranges a place for him.
• The purification is extremely costly: the water used to save Song Shan could have refined ten Ferocious Ghosts. Tang still has hundreds of unrefined ghosts, including those newly captured and those held in the Heavenly King Pagoda.

Character developments

• Tang shows compassion by taking the risk and expense of saving a corrupted ghost, but quickly recognizes that he cannot afford to repeat the process indiscriminately.
• Song Shan’s gratitude and recovered intelligence reveal that the blood taint had obscured a capable, formerly trusted servant of the City God’s office.
• Tang’s perspective shifts from wanting more Yin Soldiers to confronting the practical burden of having more than he can refine.

Significant themes

• Restoration and its cost: Even deeply corrupted beings can be saved, but doing so consumes far more resources than ordinary ghost refinement.
• Power and responsibility: Tang’s growing forces create new obligations and logistical problems, not just greater strength.
• Lingering corruption: The Blood Demon’s influence may persist in the Netherworld Office, leaving a threat Tang has yet to locate.
• Irony of abundance: Tang’s former shortage of soldiers has become an amusing “happy problem” of excess.

Character interactions

• Tang delegates practical camp matters to Yuan Wu and Zhangtai, then asks Zhangtai to find Song Shan a place.
• He reassures Song Shan after the ghost thanks him for his rescue.
• Tang’s reflections contrast his former rivalry with the Lower River City God’s office against his present concern about its corruption and the unresolved danger behind it.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Shulan wakes Fan Zhiming and Cui Zhengfei at six and orders them to begin morning scripture recitation while Tang Changsheng is “in seclusion.” Fan questions the practice but obeys; Cui is more disciplined and continues training despite nearly collapsing in the Fire Chamber the previous day.
• Tang is actually in the Immortal Realm, where he has purified his body of lingering yin and ghostly energy. He compares his slowly advancing personal cultivation with the rapid growth of Fang Xin’s Spirit Terrace, powered by Incense Offerings, while recognizing that divine cultivation carries its own restrictions.
• Little Pearl tells Tang that ghosts recently attacked the Patrol Inspector’s Temple and that Fang Xin led troops to repel them. Ghost Soldiers now patrol the temple, but Tang decides not to move the residents unless danger increases.
• Tang studies the Jade Purity Pill recipe he obtained from a dead Sword Cultivator and apprentice. Its ingredients include potent poisons and heavy metals, making the pill dangerous despite its potential benefits.
• Hoping to accelerate his cultivation, Tang swallows one pill. It causes severe abdominal pain, but his Heartlight reveals that its force can help expel toxic and corrupt energies.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng is increasingly willing to accept calculated risks to improve his cultivation, though he carefully considers the pill’s dangers and prepares to manage its side effects.
• Cui Zhengfei is shown as earnest and persistent in training, even when it is physically dangerous.
• Fan Zhiming remains more accustomed to modern comforts and questions unfamiliar discipline, but he does not openly defy Wu Shulan.
• Little Pearl’s spiritual perception is strengthening through her practice, allowing her to see events involving Ghost Gods and their troops.
• Wu Shulan shifts from her kindly household role to a stern instructor, revealing her commanding, formidable nature.

Significant themes

• Power has costs: Divine cultivation is fast but constrained by official status, while pills can accelerate progress at the risk of poisoning the user.
• Discipline and ambition: Tang’s impatience with slow cultivation leads him to test a dangerous remedy; Cui’s persistence likewise pushes him toward peril.
• Preparation and risk management: Tang considers how to reduce the pill’s toxicity and weighs whether the temple’s residents need protection or relocation.
• The trade-offs of power: Incense Offerings strengthen Fang Xin, but they do not automatically grant him full divine authority.

Character interactions

• Wu Shulan disciplines Fan and Cui, while Fan challenges her order and Cui expresses regret that Tang is unavailable to answer his questions.
• Little Pearl confides in Tang about the temple attack and patrols; Tang listens, reassures her through practical instructions, and considers the residents’ safety.
• Tang’s encounter with the Jade Purity Pills is solitary, but his decision reflects his broader struggle to balance caution with the desire to advance.

Key plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng expels foul energy and lingering poison from his body after taking a Jade Purity Pill. The purge improves his cultivation, but reveals that repeated use of the pill could cause dangerous long-term damage.
• He concludes that the pill’s hidden toxicity may explain why a once-powerful sword cultivator’s strength and health declined with age.
• After bathing and eating well, Tang tells Chen Wangshi he wants to leave the temple. He offers to pay for repairs to her house so she and Little Pearl can return there.
• Little Pearl vows to protect them from bad people when she grows up. Tang responds warmly.
• Fang Xin visits Tang at the shrine. He reports that the formation Tang installed has helped him drive off rival Ghost Gods seeking a share of the offerings, and praises Tang for refining five or six Ferocious Ghosts.
• Fang Xin warns that unrest may soon erupt both in the mortal world and among the gods. Rumors say Marquis Wu has defied the Immortal Sects, though no one knows which sect may act against him.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng becomes more cautious about relying on Jade Purity Pills and recognizes the need to purge their accumulated poison. He continues to conceal how little he actually knows, allowing Fang Xin to assume he has insider knowledge of the Immortal Sects.
• Chen Wangshi is relieved at the prospect of returning to her own home, though she initially feels uneasy accepting Tang’s offer to renovate it.
• Little Pearl expresses growing confidence and a desire to defend her family.
• Fang Xin is pleased with his growing security and impressed by Tang’s abilities. His belief that Tang belongs to a major orthodox sect makes him more eager to maintain their connection. Tang answers his probing with carefully ambiguous remarks.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: The Jade Purity Pill aids cultivation but leaves dangerous poison behind.
• Concealment and misjudgment: Tang’s restrained responses lead Fang Xin to mistake silence and bluffing for secret knowledge.
• Uncertainty and political tension: The coming conflict between Marquis Wu and the Immortal Sects threatens to destabilize both mortal and supernatural worlds.
• Care and community: Tang’s support for Chen Wangshi and Little Pearl contrasts with the larger forces gathering around them.

Chapter Summary: “Goods First, Payment Later?”

Key plot points and events

• Fang Xin tells Tang Changsheng that Clerk Li of the Ghost Prison wants to make a major deal with him. The offer includes scarce Ghost Craftsmen and even Battle Souls—an unusually dangerous and valuable stock.
• Tang realizes Clerk Li must be taking advantage of a looming crisis. Fang Xin explains that a powerful Immortal Sect may soon move against Wu Hou State. Because Fuyang Mountain’s deity is bound by shared Fortune to the state’s ruler, the Mountain God may be drawn into the conflict.
• The prospect of the state’s collapse has prompted officials to prepare to flee. Clerk Li appears to be selling off Ghost Prison assets before he loses his position or the chance to escape.
• Eager to exploit the opportunity, Tang agrees to go immediately and plans to spend all the Dharma Money held by the General’s Temple.
• Fang Xin says Tang can take the goods first and pay later, citing Tang’s supposed standing with a great sect. Tang recognizes that others may mistake him for a powerful outsider, but remains cautious because only his Essence Soul is currently free to act; his Heroic Soul is occupied at the Yin Soldier Camp Board.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng moves from suspicion to enthusiastic resolve once he hears that Ghost Craftsmen and Battle Souls are available. His ambition and opportunism outweigh his alarm over the danger, though he retains some caution.
• Fang Xin reveals that his earlier offer is tied to a wider political crisis. He is anxious about the coming conflict but uses Tang’s perceived prestige to secure favorable terms.
• Clerk Li is presented as a desperate, possibly corrupt official trying to profit from the Ghost Prison before fleeing the consequences.

Significant themes

• Crisis as opportunity: Tang treats a potentially catastrophic political upheaval as a rare chance to acquire valuable resources.
• Power and political dependence: Earthly deities are tied to the rulers whose Fortune they share, leaving them vulnerable when powerful Immortal Sects intervene.
• Corruption and institutional collapse: Clerk Li’s willingness to sell Battle Souls suggests that the Ghost Prison’s authority may be breaking down from within.
• Reputation as currency: Tang’s presumed connection to a great sect earns him credit and trust he has not necessarily earned himself.

Character interactions

• Fang Xin acts as Tang’s intermediary, gauging his interest and explaining the danger behind the sale.
• Tang quickly accepts the deal, while Fang reassures him that he can collect the goods before paying because others consider him highly creditworthy.
• Their exchange combines genuine warning with opportunism: both understand the danger, but neither wants to miss the chance to profit before events overtake them.

Key plot points

• Concerned that his immature essence soul would be vulnerable, Tang Changsheng takes four powerful Grade-C Yin Soldiers as bodyguards before projecting his spirit into the Netherworld Office.
• His new spirit appears as a youthful Daoist and is much weaker than before. He explains that it is a newly formed “divided spirit,” attributing the technique to his imagined great sect.
• As Tang and Fang Xin travel through the ghostly landscape, Tang briefly glimpses a menacing black presence above the Netherworld Office, but dismisses it as a mistake; Fang Xin does not notice it.
• Unlike his previous visit to the Ghost Prison, Tang is greeted as an honored guest. Clerk Li and several powerful officials escort him to a lavish feast.
• Tang recognizes that the glowing, spiritually infused food and wine are far beyond ordinary Ritual Food. The gathering includes officials from several departments, all of whom have enough influence and resources to provide such a feast.
• Their extravagant hospitality suggests they want something more than a routine business deal. Tang suspects their motive but waits for them to reveal it, knowing he cannot promise what they may seek.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng is cautious and calculating: he protects his vulnerable spirit, avoids acting superior among much stronger officials, and keeps his suspicions to himself.
• Fang Xin is impressed by Tang’s bodyguards and accepts his explanation of the divided spirit. He remains unaware of the ominous presence Tang thinks he sees.
• The Netherworld officials behave with unusual deference, treating Tang as a valuable guest rather than a mere visitor. Their courtesy appears strategic, though their request remains unstated.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Tang’s growing influence contrasts with the fragility of his newly divided spirit.
• Appearance, reputation, and deception: Tang’s supposed sect provides a convenient explanation for mysterious abilities, while the officials’ polished hospitality may conceal their real intentions.
• Status and resources: The quality of spiritual food reflects the officials’ wealth and influence, and underscores the material needs of powerful ghosts.
• Suspicion and foreboding: Tang’s fleeting glimpse of black energy hints at a danger the assembled officials may not recognize.

Key plot points

• During a banquet, Tang Changsheng lets the Ghost Prison officials believe he belongs to a powerful Immortal Sect, explaining that he cannot return until he reaches the Manifest Divinity Realm.
• Fang Xin reinforces the impression by praising Tang’s wealth, magical skills, and generosity, including his support for Fang’s appointment.
• The officials offer to help Tang assemble a Ghost Army, supplying Ghost Creatures, weapons, armor, and Magical Weapons despite the usual taboo against privately raising such a force.
• Tang presents them with five Ghost Cores. Their value becomes clear when Clerk Li explains that the Netherworld ruler uses a Yin-Yang Disc to make them. The officials react with awe and greed, recognizing the cores as exceptionally valuable cultivation resources.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang stays wary but adapts smoothly to the officials’ social maneuvering, accepting their offers while using his supposed sect status to strengthen his position.
• Fang Xin acts as Tang’s advocate, flattering him and framing his past spending as proof of loyalty and influence.
• Clerk Li and the other officials shift from cautious friendliness to eager deference once they see the Ghost Cores. Their interest is driven less by goodwill than by the cores’ potential to advance their cultivation.

Significant themes

• Status and perception: Tang’s apparent wealth and elite connections shape how others treat him.
• Greed and patronage: The officials’ loyalty grows as the gifts become more valuable.
• Power through resources: Ghost Cores are prized because they can transform or strengthen Ghost Creatures, making them more valuable than ordinary money or provisions.

Key plot points and events

• With a great calamity approaching, Tang Changsheng recognizes that strength matters more than worldly wealth. He gives the Netherworld officials five damaged Ghost Cores as a “deposit,” hinting that he can provide more.
• The officials become eager to cooperate and offer him access to their stores, Battle Souls, and craftsmen.
• At the Ghost Prison, Tang sees a formidable corps of one hundred armored Malicious Ghost soldiers. Their Nether-Iron armor and weapons are strengthened by Daoist Registers, and the soldiers can even endure sunlight briefly.
• Clerk Li explains that the corps is exceptionally valuable and asks Tang to secure a decree from his supposed sect, protecting the officials from being destroyed alongside the Mountain God.
• Tang privately knows he has no such powerful sect to call on, but avoids admitting it. He bargains for soldiers, beginning by asking for half the corps. Li refuses and sets ten as the maximum he can transfer without attracting suspicion.

Character developments

• Tang Changsheng shows himself to be a shrewd negotiator, using the Ghost Cores to raise the officials’ hopes and concealing his lack of powerful backing. He is tempted by the soldiers but understands their value and the risks of taking too many.
• Clerk Li and the other officials reveal that their apparent generosity is driven by self-preservation. They are willing to risk diverting valuable military assets in exchange for protection during the coming calamity.

Significant themes

• Preparation and power: As disaster approaches, survival depends on strength and resources.
• Deception and leverage: Tang’s hint that he has more Ghost Cores—and the officials’ belief in his sect connections—helps him negotiate.
• Corruption and risk: The officials are secretly misappropriating the Mountain God’s assets, balancing personal survival against the danger of being caught.

Character interactions

• Tang uses a modest gift to cultivate the officials’ interest, and they compete to offer him valuable resources.
• Clerk Li tests Tang’s understanding by emphasizing the corps’ worth, then proposes an exchange: up to ten soldiers for a promise of protection.
• Tang and Li bargain hard, with Tang feigning confidence in his ability to obtain a sect decree while Li limits the deal to what can be concealed.

Key plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng secures ten Foot Soldier Corps troops and three magical command tokens from Clerk Li. The tokens let him summon and store the soldiers discreetly.
• Hoping to win his help, the Ghost Officials give Tang a haul of treasures. They rely on him to obtain a pardon talisman, though Clerk Li admits they have no other choice—and may be keeping backup plans.
• As Tang and Fang Xin leave, the Netherworld Office is suddenly attacked. A vast rift opens in the sky; a red force clashes with a huge pale-blue hand, and blue threads spread over the Office like a net.
• Fang Xin urges Tang to flee. Tang suspects the Immortal Sects may be behind the assault and wisely avoids getting involved. As they escape the Ghost Prison, an armored Divine General and his troops arrive; a lieutenant asks whether they should pursue the pair.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng uses theatrical reluctance to bargain, accepts the soldiers and gifts, and remains wary of a conflict he does not understand. He chooses survival over curiosity.
• Clerk Li helps Tang obtain the command tokens and presents him as a possible route to safety. He is frank with the other officials that they have no better option, while implying Tang is only one of several safeguards.
• The Ghost Officials shift from guarded hosts to eager flatterers, hoping Tang will secure their pardon. Their anxiety resurfaces when the attack begins.
• Fang Xin stays unobtrusive during the negotiations, then acts decisively by warning Tang and leading him away.
• The arriving Divine General’s lieutenant raises the unresolved question of whether Tang and Fang Xin will be pursued.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: The Ghost Officials are formidable within their own domain but feel powerless beyond it; even they are frightened by the attack.
• Pragmatism and self-preservation: Tang avoids a dangerous struggle outside his understanding, while the officials pursue every possible path to safety.
• Transactional trust: Tang and the officials cooperate through gifts and promised help, but neither side’s reliance is entirely secure.
• Sudden upheaval: The attack abruptly transforms a negotiation into a crisis, suggesting a larger conflict whose causes and sides remain unclear.

Key events

• The Divine General dismisses Fang Xin and Tang Changsheng as minor threats and orders his troops to break open the Ghost Prison, hoping to release the condemned ghosts and throw the Netherworld Office into chaos.
• Tang Changsheng and Fang Xin flee toward a city gate, only to find it under attack by hundreds of Azure Sea True Void Palace Aquatic Demon Soldiers.
• As other ghosts rush the gate, Tang decides to escape with them, but Fang Xin reveals a little-known side gate used by Ghost Messengers for secret dealings.
• On the way, a group of demon soldiers ambushes them. Tang releases four Ferocious Ghost guards from his Chess Pieces; the guards are quickly destroyed but buy the pair time to escape.
• Netherworld Office Ghost Soldiers mistake Tang and Fang for spies and pursue them. Tang releases the condemned ghosts stored in his Cloudwater Bag, who engage the demon soldiers and create another opening. Tang and Fang prepare to fight their way through.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng stays practical under pressure, quickly choosing escape routes and using whatever resources he has, even sacrificing his guards and releasing ghosts he had intended to keep.
• Fang Xin proves resourceful by knowing a concealed exit, and courageous despite the danger. He follows Tang’s lead and recognizes Tang’s decisiveness.
• The two work closely together, trusting each other’s judgment as the city descends into chaos.

Significant themes

• Survival and improvisation: Tang repeatedly adapts as plans fail and danger escalates.
• Chaos and opportunism: The assault on the prison destabilizes the city, while different factions exploit the confusion.
• Moral compromise and consequences: Ghost Messengers’ private dealings and Tang’s release of violent condemned ghosts show how desperation blurs the line between useful and dangerous actions.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Fang Xin reveals a powerful high-grade Ghost Artifact spear and uses it to fight off the Demon Soldiers in the Netherworld Office.
• In the living world, Tang Changsheng senses a disturbance and uses the Three Realms Mirror to look into the Netherworld Office. He sees Demon Soldiers fighting the city’s ghosts and searches anxiously for his own Divine Soul.
• Tang’s soul is being chased and nearly captured. Since it entered without his Magical Artifacts, it is badly outmatched; Fang Xin repeatedly helps keep it alive.
• Tang tries to intervene by sending a Golden Tiger created through Visualization, but it proves to be only an empty shell. His attempt wounds him, and sparks from his Primordial Yang Divine Lamp only lightly burn the enemy.
• Tang considers risking the Yin Soldier Camp Board to save his soul, despite fearing he may lose the artifact permanently.
• Before he acts, Fang Xin’s spear kills the Demon Soldier holding Tang’s soul and cuts its bonds. Fang Xin urges Tang to flee.
• The Demon Soldiers stop pursuing when a scholar-like figure appears and is identified as the Green Wolf King. He watches Tang’s soul escape, then looks directly through the Three Realms Mirror at Tang’s living body. Tang’s lamp goes out, breaking the connection.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Changsheng shifts from cautious observation to desperate intervention when he realizes his Divine Soul may be destroyed. He accepts the possible loss of a valuable artifact rather than risk losing his soul, but Fang Xin saves him before he must use it.
• Fang Xin demonstrates both hidden strength and loyalty, repeatedly protecting Tang’s soul and ultimately rescuing it with his Ghost Artifact spear.
• The Green Wolf King is introduced as an imposing leader whose arrival immediately commands the Demon Soldiers’ obedience. His ability to meet Tang’s gaze through the mirror suggests he can perceive or threaten those watching from the living world.
• Tang’s efforts to help his soul show the limits of his powers without suitable artifacts, while Fang Xin’s intervention becomes the decisive factor in the rescue.

Significant themes

• The cost of attachment and survival: Tang weighs sacrificing a prized artifact against the far greater danger of losing his Divine Soul.
• Limits of power and preparation: Tang’s Visualization and borrowed lamp power cannot replace the right Magical Artifact in the Netherworld.
• Loyalty and hidden strength: Fang Xin’s concealed weapon and repeated acts of rescue reveal his importance as an ally.
• The danger of watching from afar: Tang’s attempt to observe the conflict draws the Green Wolf King’s attention, turning distant surveillance into a direct threat.

Plot points and events

• Tang Changsheng recovers from the shock of briefly meeting the Green Wolf King, whose power is overwhelming. The Green Wolf King recognizes the Primordial Yang Divine Lamp and wonders how Lu Yuanzhen would react to learning Tang possesses it.
• Tang reflects on his dangerous escape from the Netherworld Ghost Prison. His Criminal Ghosts and four Yin Soldier guards were destroyed, but he secretly retains an even greater prize: ten soldiers of the Foot Soldier Corps. He and Clerk Li have agreed to keep them hidden, even from Fang Xin.
• Fang Xin returns after making arrangements for his subordinates and warns Tang that the Azure Sea True Void Palace is preparing to punish Wu Hou State. Because Marquis Wu antagonized the sect, its retaliation may destroy his household and sweep away the Ghost Gods who serve under him.
• Tang proposes that they stay hidden and wait for events to unfold. The upheaval could create vacancies in the divine hierarchy and offer Fang Xin a chance to rise.
• Fang Xin agrees, but decides to stop collecting unauthorized Incense Offerings from his temple, which could expose him to punishment.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang proves both resourceful and calculating: he keeps the Foot Soldier Corps secret, then turns Fang Xin’s fear into a practical plan by pointing out the opportunities a political purge might create.
• Fang Xin is grateful to Tang for helping him survive the escape. Their shared danger strengthens their bond, and Fang Xin increasingly trusts Tang’s status as a disciple of a great sect to help protect him.
• Fang Xin shifts from panic toward cautious resolve, while showing a willingness to sacrifice the temple’s income to avoid attracting attention.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even capable figures are helpless before vastly stronger forces, as Tang’s encounter with the Green Wolf King demonstrates.
• Secrecy and survival: Tang hides his most valuable asset, and both men prioritize limiting risk in a dangerous political climate.
• Crisis as opportunity: Tang sees the coming purge not only as a threat but as a chance to advance.
• Loyalty and mutual dependence: Shared peril deepens Tang and Fang Xin’s alliance, though Tang still withholds crucial information.