Chapter Summaries

Lu Qingwu faced Lu Jianqing’s attempt to capture him, while Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun explored a ghost street and stopped to buy candied hawthorns. The chapter left Lu Qingwu fighting three puppets and the One-Armed Ghost considering the living pair’s yang qi as Zhang Yuan offered a spirit stone.

• Lu Qingwu threatened Lu Jianqing and demanded that he report back to the person who wanted to refine him into a Human Pill.
• Lu Jianqing used Teleportation Talismans, but Lu Qingwu sealed the surrounding space with black talismans.
• Lu Jianqing summoned three late-stage Celestial Person puppets and ordered them to attack Lu Qingwu as he joined the fight.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun walked through a ghost street, and Zhang Yuan offered to buy candied hawthorns after noticing her interest.
• The One-Armed Ghost quoted two copper coins per skewer and eyed Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun’s yang qi, but Zhang Yuan asked whether the Netherworld accepted spirit stones.

Plot points

• On Ghost Street, Zhang Yuan gives a Spirit Stone to a one-armed ghost, Yan Yangzhe, in exchange for information about Qinghe City.
• Yan explains that ghosts must stay indoors by day because Nether Bureau officers patrol and arrest those who are out. Captured offenders are sent to the Great Prison beneath the City Lord’s Estate and punished in an Oil Cauldron.
• Yan confirms that the Night Watchman Lei Jingbian was also arrested this way.
• In return for a wisp of Zhang Yuan’s yang qi, Yan reveals his identity and explains that his wife was left witless after a Demonic Monk gnawed at her brains. He wants the qi to help her, rather than spend the Spirit Stone on a more comfortable life.
• Moved by Yan’s devotion and his admiration for Chancellor Cui Qiezhe, Zhang gives him the yang qi freely. Yan then asks Zhang to pass a message to his daughter, Yan Ruosi, if he happens to meet her in Capital City. Zhang agrees, but says he will not seek her out.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan uses the encounter to learn about local laws and the prison, then responds with generosity when he sees Yan’s concern for his wife. He and Xiao Yuanjun share an amused glance at the news that Lei Jingbian was arrested.
• Yan Yangzhe emerges as a selfless, dutiful husband and father. Though a Spirit Stone could improve his own circumstances, he chooses his wife’s wellbeing and worries that wealth might distract him from her. His values are shaped by his respect for Cui Qiezhe.
• Xiao Yuanjun is present as Zhang’s companion and shares his reaction to Lei Jingbian’s arrest.

Significant themes

• Compassion and selflessness: Zhang’s gift and Yan’s sacrifice show care extending beyond personal gain.
• Duty and moral example: Yan models his conduct on Cui Qiezhe’s service to country and family.
• Life under oppressive rules: The Nether Bureau’s enforcement of daytime confinement reveals the dangers and constraints faced by Qinghe’s ghosts.

Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun encountered Lu Jianqing being pursued by Lu Qingwu, the Wu Kingdom's Imperial Preceptor, and Zhang Yuan was drawn into their conflict. Zhang Yuan stopped Lu Qingwu's Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure with a mystic wonder, but Lu Qingwu then declared his intent to refine Zhang Yuan into a pill.

• Zhang Yuan decided to avoid the City Lord's Residence, but a seven-colored light shot toward him and he fled with Xiao Yuanjun.
• Lu Qingwu emerged from the mist and accused Lu Jianqing of relying on puppets before Lu Jianqing asked Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun for help.
• Lu Qingwu attacked Zhang Yuan with his silver whisk, citing Zhang Yuan's role in the Fourth Prince's death while concealing his deeper grudge over Monk Jingjue.
• Zhang Yuan stepped forward and used a mystic wonder to make Lu Qingwu's whisk strands retract.
• Lu Qingwu recognized Zhang Yuan's mystic wonder and said he would refine Zhang Yuan's cultivation into a pill.

Zhang Yuan bluffed that his red pill contained Jiang Peilan’s Sword Qi, then used Xiao Yuanjun’s altered divine abilities to distract Lu Qingwu before striking him with the Sword Qi stored inside. Lu Qingwu was badly wounded, and Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun fled as Lu Jianqing moved to attack.

• Zhang Yuan claimed his red pill was a Sword Pill from Jiang Peilan, but Lu Qingwu saw through the bluff.
• Zhang Yuan attacked with Three-Colored Qi Light, and Xiao Yuanjun secretly altered its conceptual image so it could cut through Lu Qingwu’s whisk.
• Lu Qingwu countered with divine ability flames, canceling the Three-Colored Qi Light.
• A hidden streak of Sword Qi struck Lu Qingwu’s chest and reopened his wound.
• Lu Jianqing moved to press the attack, but Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun had already fled two li away, and Zhang Yuan called for Lu Jianqing to run.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan escapes Lu Qingwu by faking the use of a Sword Pill containing the legendary Frost-Repelling Sword Immortal’s power. Its Sword Qi is actually Zhang Yuan’s own and far weaker than Lu Qingwu feared, but the deception exploits Lu Qingwu’s dread of Jiang Peilan.
• Lu Qingwu survives with painful injuries, mostly from old wounds reopening. By the time he looks for Zhang Yuan, the street—and its ghosts—has emptied.
• Seeking revenge, Lu Qingwu uses a black, smoke-wreathed scroll to revive three Demon Cultivators with karmic ties to Zhang Yuan: Wu Yuqing, Wu Yuhei, and Old Monk Jingjue. The scroll preserves their Primordial Spirit true essence, allowing them to return after death, but each has only a limited number of revivals; Jingjue’s latest return appears to leave him with just one life remaining.
• Zhang Yuan returns safely to the courtyard with Xiao Yuanjun. He recognizes that Lu Qingwu may be caught up in schemes involving the Hengyang Lu clan’s True Lord and wants to avoid being drawn into them.
• Li Zhongshuang offers to summon a Night Traveling God to arrest Lu Qingwu, but Zhang Yuan declines, doubting it would work against someone who can move freely in Qinghe City and stay at the City Lord’s Estate.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows quick thinking and confidence under pressure, using Lu Qingwu’s fear to make an escape. Despite his success, he is cautious about the powerful forces surrounding the Imperial Preceptor.
• Lu Qingwu turns his humiliation into retaliation, revealing both his vindictiveness and access to an unusual resurrection technique.
• Old Monk Jingjue returns terrified and grateful, while Lu Qingwu berates him for being killed twice by Zhang Yuan. Jingjue privately insists that Zhang Yuan, not his own incompetence, was to blame.
• Li Zhongshuang is protective of Zhang Yuan and willing to call on supernatural authorities, but he chooses restraint.

Significant themes

• Fear as a weapon: Zhang Yuan wins time by exploiting Lu Qingwu’s psychological fear of Jiang Peilan.
• Death and its limits: The scroll can restore those whose true essence has been forcibly preserved, but the process is flawed and finite.
• Power and entanglement: Zhang Yuan’s escape does not end the danger; his enemies’ connections and powerful patrons make direct confrontation risky.

Plot points

• Lu Jianqing visits Zhang Yuan and explains that Lu Qingwu was a Hengyang Lu ancestor from a thousand years ago, stranded in the Mountain-Sea Black-Yellow Realm when an earlier era of flourishing immortal Dao ended.
• The Hengyang Lu clan in Zhang Yuan’s realm has since abandoned its demonic past, while Lu Qingwu’s branch appears to have remained a Demonic Dao family. The two lineages may eventually clash over which is the legitimate Hengyang Lu clan.
• Lu Qingwu has lured Celestial People to the Ya Kingdom, exposed them to the Nether Bureau’s judgment, and plans to seize their lifespans and vitality before their sentences are carried out. He would turn those resources into death qi and sink the kingdom into the Nether Bureau.
• Lu Jianqing proposes rescuing the prisoners before the Nether Bureau acts, which would disrupt Lu Qingwu’s plan. Zhang Yuan agrees they can be saved, but does not want to ruin the scheme altogether: it may help Wu Duanzhuo obtain the Ketu Thorn. Instead, Zhang Yuan intends to slow Lu Qingwu’s progress.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan remains cautious about Lu Jianqing and questions him to learn what he knows. He quickly pieces together the Hengyang Lu clan’s history and Lu Qingwu’s likely motives. He weighs intervention strategically, aiming to protect his own interests while delaying Wu Duanzhuo’s advancement.
• Lu Jianqing provides the clan history and shares his elders’ theories about Lu Qingwu’s plans. Though he offers advice, he is not trying to implicate Zhang Yuan in the clan’s conflict.
• Xiao Yuanjun and Li Zhongshuang sit with Zhang Yuan as he questions Lu Jianqing, giving the meeting the feel of an interrogation.
• Zhang Yuan and Lu Jianqing discuss possible ways to counter Lu Qingwu, but Zhang Yuan rejects the most direct approach of simply sabotaging his entire plan.

Significant themes

• Complicated family and political identity: The two Hengyang Lu lineages have diverged morally and may contest their shared heritage.
• Strategic cooperation and self-interest: Zhang Yuan is willing to act, but only in ways that serve his broader aims.
• Moral ambiguity: Rescuing the Celestial People does not necessarily mean preventing every harmful consequence of Lu Qingwu’s plot; Zhang Yuan’s priorities are shaped by a larger calculation.

Zhang Yuan, Xiao Yuanjun, and Li Zhongshuang left for the Great Prison beneath the City Lord's Residence to stop Lu Qingwu from gathering death qi. Lu Qingwu arrived at their abandoned courtyard and harvested the karmic connections to Zhang Yuan from Old Monk Jingjue and Wu Yuhei, then trapped Wu Yuqing.

• Zhang Yuan decided to take Xiao Yuanjun and Li Zhongshuang to the Great Prison and leave Clear Harmony City once they secured the mysterious yin death qi.
• Xiao Yuanjun recalled their supplies, and the group left Lei Jingbian imprisoned in the courtyard before departing.
• Lu Qingwu arrived with Old Monk Jingjue, Wu Yuqing, and Wu Yuhei, knowing Zhang Yuan had already left but pursuing the karma connected to him.
• Lu Qingwu killed Old Monk Jingjue and transformed his qi-blood and soul into a karmic pill linked to Zhang Yuan.
• Wu Yuqing threw Wu Yuhei at Lu Qingwu in an attempt to escape, but Lu Qingwu turned Wu Yuhei into another karmic pill and immobilized Wu Yuqing with a silver thread.

Lu Qingwu killed Wu Yuqing and used the karma of him, Wu Yuhei, and Jingjue to cast the Hengyang Lu Clan’s Karmic Curse-Killing Art against Zhang Yuan. Zhang Yuan discovered that all three futures shown by [Heaven's Sight] ended in his death, and Lu Jianqing confirmed that his clan possessed the forbidden art but knew little about countering it.

• Lu Qingwu crushed Wu Yuqing, refined his flesh and soul into three pills, and used them with a black talisman to curse Zhang Yuan through the Karmic Curse-Killing Art.
• Lu Qingwu freed Lei Jingbian from the Firewood Shed, and Lei Jingbian pretended he had only been enjoying the cool air.
• Near the City Lord's Residence, Zhang Yuan and his companions found what they believed was the entrance to the Great Prison, while Xiao Yuanjun retrieved the Weather and Season Mystic Pearls and warned that Lu Qingwu had appeared.
• Zhang Yuan sensed danger, and Li Zhongshuang saw that his fortune had turned blood-red and warned him of a bloody calamity.
• Zhang Yuan used [Heaven's Sight] and saw three futures in which Lu Qingwu's curse killed him and sent his soul into reincarnation.
• Zhang Yuan asked Lu Jianqing about the Karmic Curse-Killing Art, and Lu Jianqing confirmed that his clan possessed the forbidden inheritance but said he knew little about it.

Key events

• Lu Jianqing identifies the curse used on Zhang Yuan as the Hengyang Lu clan’s Karmic Debt Life-Payment Method, a Curse-Killing Art that cannot be stopped once activated.
• Xiao Yuanjun refuses to accept that Zhang Yuan must die. She senses the death-laden Karma and plans to hide Zhang Yuan’s Karma, then redirect the curse onto herself.
• Li Zhongshuang stops her and volunteers to bear the curse instead, saying that a True Lord of her clan protects her. Xiao Yuanjun accepts this reassurance, though Li privately admits she is unsure whether she will survive.
• Zhang Yuan objects to others risking their lives for him, but ultimately thanks Li and promises to help her whenever she asks.
• Xiao Yuanjun has Zhang Yuan connect his Karma to Li’s with [Myriad Coexistence]. She then conceals Zhang’s Karma and uses [Dusk Veil] to deceive the curse into targeting Li. The chapter ends as the transfer begins.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan is shaken by the curse but remains determined not to let others die in his place. He assumes Li’s confidence comes from her clan’s protection, unaware that she is taking a genuine risk.
• Xiao Yuanjun shows fierce, protective devotion to her first disciple, immediately willing to take the curse herself. She is also impatient with Zhang’s protests and uncomfortable at the apparent closeness between him and Li.
• Li Zhongshuang reveals how seriously she takes her marriage contract and her debt to Zhang. Those obligations—not certainty of protection—drive her to volunteer, alongside the potential value of gaining Zhang’s gratitude.
• Lu Jianqing provides the grim explanation of the curse but no way to counter it.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Xiao and Li are willing to take danger onto themselves, while Zhang resists becoming the cause of another’s suffering.
• Karma and obligation: A marriage contract and a debt of gratitude carry profound moral weight for Li, even when Zhang views their bond as limited.
• Agency against fate: Xiao rejects the idea that an apparently unstoppable curse must dictate the outcome and attempts to redirect it through ingenuity.

Key plot points

• Zhang Yuan checks the [Heavenly Vision] and learns that the altered future saves him from Lu Qingwu’s Karmic Curse-Killing Art—but only because Li Zhongshuang takes the curse in his place and dies. Zhang Yuan realizes Li had concealed the danger, though he cannot understand why Li would sacrifice his life over a Marriage Contract.
• Reassured by Xiao Yuanjun’s confidence, Zhang Yuan sets aside the mystery and joins her, Li Zhongshuang, and Lu Jianqing in infiltrating Qinghe City’s Great Prison to rescue the captured Celestial People and disrupt Lu Qingwu’s plans.
• The prison holds Wandering Ghosts and Vengeful Ghosts awaiting punishment under the Nether Bureau’s strict laws. Lu Jianqing explains that the captured Celestial People will be judged at midnight the following day.
• Zhang Yuan finds his old acquaintance Qin Tianyi, imprisoned and stripped of his powers. He frees Qin by destroying both the cell and the suppressive chains.
• Qin tells Zhang Yuan that Deng Qiuzhi is also imprisoned. Zhang Yuan welcomes the chance to confront his old enemy and asks Qin to lead him there.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan moves from relief at escaping his prophesied death to troubled confusion over Li Zhongshuang’s apparent sacrifice. He remains practical, focusing on disrupting Lu Qingwu’s scheme, and his mood brightens when he learns Deng Qiuzhi is nearby.
• Li Zhongshuang’s willingness to take the curse suggests a potentially fatal devotion, though Zhang Yuan does not know her true motive.
• Xiao Yuanjun supports Zhang Yuan and assures him that a solution can be found.
• Lu Jianqing provides knowledge of the prison and the Nether Bureau’s laws, having escaped the facility herself.
• Qin Tianyi is delighted to be rescued and tries to lift Zhang Yuan’s spirits by revealing Deng Qiuzhi’s location.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and concealed motives: Li Zhongshuang’s death in the revised future raises questions about loyalty and the value placed on life.
• Fate and intervention: The changed prophecy offers Zhang Yuan a reprieve, but survival comes at a terrible cost.
• Justice and punishment: The Nether Bureau enforces harsh laws on ghosts, while the captives await judgment.
• Loyalty and mutual aid: Zhang Yuan risks entering the prison to rescue allies, and Qin responds with gratitude and useful information.

Zhang Yuan freed several Celestial Persons from the Great Prison and agreed to help Deng Qiuzhi escape at the Zi Hour, intending to use him against Lu Qingwu. With dawn approaching and Li Zhongshuang still in danger, Zhang Yuan prepared to confront Lu Qingwu and stopped Qin Tianyi from leaving.

• Zhang Yuan led Qin Tianyi underground, rescued Cui Wenshan and other Celestial Persons, and learned Cui Yuanxi was restless and eager to sneak out.
• Zhang Yuan found Deng Qiuzhi in the deepest cell and agreed to free him in exchange for a Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure.
• Zhang Yuan gave Deng Qiuzhi a Three-Colored Pill that would break his shackles at the Zi Hour, planning to use him against Lu Qingwu.
• Zhang Yuan led the rescued Celestial Persons to the surface and urged them to escape Clear Harmony City before Lu Qingwu discovered their release.
• Qin Tianyi tried to leave with the others, but Zhang Yuan called him back to join the fight against Lu Qingwu.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan persuades Qin Tianyi to join the coming fight. Qin initially hesitates, but agrees to hold off Lei Jingbian, relying on his divine wonder, [Thunderous Rumbling].
• Zhang’s plan divides the three powerful opponents: Qin will occupy Lei Jingbian, while the newly freed Deng Qiuzhi is expected to confront Wu Duanzhuo. Zhang must deal with Lu Qingwu, the greatest remaining threat.
• Zhang privately resolves to save Li Zhongshuang from her apparently fatal predicament, confident that this challenge is manageable compared with past battles against Golden Core True Lords.
• At midnight, a bell summons Qinghe City’s ghosts to a public trial. Zhang’s group follows the crowd and finds more than twenty shackled Celestial People guarded before a towering Night Traveling God.
• Deng Qiuzhi, among the prisoners, prepares to act despite wanting to flee the Nether Bureau. He believes Zhang anticipated his possible betrayal and decides to help for now.
• Wu Duanzhuo worries that too few prisoners remain for the ritual. Lu Qingwu assures him they are sufficient: his real goal is not to absorb all of Ya Kingdom, but to use the prisoners’ vitality to generate enough death qi to pull Qinghe City into the Nether Bureau.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Tianyi shifts from cautious reluctance to cooperation after weighing his debt to Zhang against the danger. He negotiates a limited role—fighting Lei Jingbian rather than confronting Lu Qingwu or Wu Duanzhuo.
• Zhang Yuan shows strategic confidence and resolve. He reassures Qin, quietly assesses the team’s strengths, and teases Li Zhongshuang to mask his concern for her.
• Li Zhongshuang remains calm and unaware of the danger Zhang believes she faces; she responds with confusion to his teasing.
• Deng Qiuzhi balances self-preservation against obligation. He prepares his Three-Colored Pills and agrees to help Zhang, while remaining determined to escape before the Nether Bureau can punish him.
• Lu Qingwu reveals the true scale of his plan to Wu Duanzhuo, showing that the prisoners’ sacrifice is intended to engulf Qinghe City rather than all of Ya Kingdom.

Significant themes

• Karma and obligation: Qin’s rescue leaves him indebted to Zhang, shaping his decision to join the fight.
• Trust and calculated cooperation: The allies do not fully trust one another, yet each weighs the risks and accepts a role.
• Defying fate: Zhang’s determination to change Li Zhongshuang’s outcome echoes his earlier escape from a future in which he was certain to die.
• Hidden intentions and sacrifice: The public trial conceals Lu Qingwu’s narrower but still devastating objective: sacrificing prisoners to drag Qinghe City into the Nether Bureau.

Key plot points and events

• At midnight, the Night Traveling God orders the execution of twenty Celestial People for violating Nether Laws: each is to lose two hundred years of lifespan.
• The Ghost General’s saber removes lifespan rather than causing ordinary physical harm. Li Houjin survives but loses two centuries; Li Jingque, who had only fifty years remaining, reaches the end of his Celestial Person lifespan. Freed from his shackles and restored to full cultivation, he ignores the captives’ pleas for help and fights a Nether Bureau Ghost Soldier outside the city.
• As the executions continue, Zhang Yuan finally makes his move, attacking Lu Qingwu with Three-Colored Radiance. Lu Qingwu recognizes it and dodges, while Lei Jingbian identifies Zhang Yuan as his enemy and charges him.
• Zhang Yuan assigns Qin Tianyi to intercept Lei Jingbian. Qin’s Azure-Lightning divine wonder makes Lei’s punches miss, and Qin relishes the chance to challenge a powerful opponent.
• With Lei occupied, Wu Duanzhuo confronts Zhang Yuan and uses his [Twilight Bell] divine wonder to assault Zhang’s mind. [Immaculate Primordial Spirit] suppresses the effect, allowing Zhang to mock him.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Duanzhuo remains tense, focused on the plan that follows the judgment and Lu Qingwu’s conversion of the stolen lifespan into death qi.
• Li Jingque chooses self-preservation over helping the other prisoners, turning instead to combat as his lifespan expires.
• Deng Qiuzhi grows impatient while waiting for Zhang Yuan to act, but Zhang attacks before Deng can escape on his own.
• Zhang Yuan shows tactical confidence, using Qin to keep Lei away while he moves against Lu Qingwu and Wu Duanzhuo.
• Qin Tianyi proves his evasive wonder can frustrate a Celestial Person at Perfection and eagerly accepts the fight.
• Lei Jingbian is furious at Zhang Yuan, but Qin’s intervention diverts his attack.
• Lu Qingwu recognizes Zhang’s supposedly fatal attack technique, suggesting Zhang has survived it before.

Significant themes

• Law and its cost: Nether judgment exacts a concrete price in lifespan, even from beings whose vitality seems inexhaustible.
• Self-preservation and loyalty: Li Jingque’s refusal to aid fellow captives highlights how danger turns cooperation into individual survival.
• Power through specialized abilities: Qin and Zhang counter stronger foes through unusual divine wonders, illustrating the value of technique and preparation.
• A precarious balance of power: Zhang’s protections work against the current combatants, but the narration stresses they would not withstand a True Lord’s influence.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Duanzhuo’s divine wonder fails to affect Zhang Yuan, so Wu attacks him directly. Zhang Yuan calls on Deng Qiuzhi, who intervenes and blocks Wu’s strike.
• Wu tries to recruit Deng by invoking his feud with Zhang Yuan. Deng refuses, insisting that the Wenshui Deng clan handles its own grudges, and challenges Wu instead. The two Celestial Persons at Perfection begin a destructive battle across Qinghe City.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun face Lu Qingwu. Zhang has kept the weaker Li Zhongshuang and Lu Jianqing away from the main fight, though Lu’s three powerful puppets remain involved.
• Lu Qingwu deduces that someone else died in Zhang Yuan’s place to remove his death curse. He offers to take Zhang as a disciple, but Xiao Yuanjun angrily rejects the offer and uses her ability to pull Lu from the air.
• Lu Qingwu reveals that enough profound yin death qi has emerged. He transforms the vitality of more than twenty Celestial People into a pill, then converts and releases its death qi across the city, making the ghosts there solid.
• A rare strand of profound yin death qi emerges. Lu Qingwu captures it before Zhang can, then invites Zhang and Xiao Yuanjun to fight him beyond the heavens and flies upward.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan remains composed amid the crisis, relying on misdirection and carefully chosen allies. He recognizes that Deng might distrust him and uses that suspicion to keep him from switching sides.
• Deng Qiuzhi maintains his independence and refuses Wu’s attempt to exploit his feud with Zhang. He chooses to fight Wu on his own terms.
• Xiao Yuanjun is fiercely protective of Zhang and jealous of Lu Qingwu’s attempt to claim him as a disciple. Zhang reassures her that she is his only master, easing her anger.
• Lu Qingwu is manipulative and confident, alternately flattering, threatening, and provoking Zhang and Xiao. His capture of the death qi sets up a direct confrontation.

Significant themes

• Trust and self-interest: Zhang and Deng cooperate despite their hostility because neither wants to be manipulated by an outsider.
• Power and restraint: Even elite fighters must limit themselves because of the Heavenly Laws, while the city’s spirits and structures suffer from their conflict.
• Loyalty and attachment: Xiao Yuanjun’s protectiveness and Zhang’s reassurance underscore their close bond.
• Life, death, and the supernatural: The chapter contrasts vitality with death qi and shows how supernatural forces can transform the dead and reshape an entire city.

Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun pursued Lu Qingwu into Outer Chaos, where Zhang Yuan realized the danger of fighting a perfected Celestial Person without the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm’s suppression. While preparing for the confrontation, he discovered why the realm had favored him as an Otherworlder and feared that his original world had been destroyed when he arrived.

• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun followed Lu Qingwu beyond the heavens in the Golden Carriage Luan Chariot.
• The three reached Outer Chaos, where Lu Qingwu calmly faced Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun.
• Zhang Yuan brought out the Eastern Mystic-Yang Fusang Banner and Western Duguang Bridge-Sky Banner as Xiao Yuanjun explained how Celestial Persons could destroy worlds in chaos.
• Zhang Yuan divined that Otherworlders entered the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm carrying either cultivation or their original world’s favor.
• Zhang Yuan concluded that the realm’s favor came from his arrival with an entire world and feared that his original world had become dust in Outer Chaos.

Zhang Yuan used Xiao Yuanjun’s mystic wonder to trick Lu Qingwu into losing his Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure and securing the mysterious yin death qi. When Lu Qingwu revealed that his curse could not be undone even by his death, Zhang Yuan considered seeking help from powerful True Lords to save the person who had shouldered his karma.

• Zhang Yuan ambushed Lu Qingwu with Xiao Yuanjun’s help and used [Yellow Springs Drink] to make him drop his whisk.
• Zhang Yuan had the [Eastern Mystic-Yang Fusang Banner] and [Western Duguang Bridge-Sky Banner] suppress the whisk, securing it and the mysterious yin death qi.
• Lu Qingwu declined to fight without his Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure and questioned why Zhang Yuan had sought him out instead of fleeing.
• Zhang Yuan asked whether Lu Qingwu could undo the 'Karmic Debt Life-Repayment Method,' and Lu Qingwu said the secret art could not be stopped, even if he died.
• Zhang Yuan considered retreating and asking the True Lords he knew for help saving the person who had taken on his karma.

Lu Qingwu attacked Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun with deadly Yin Thunder, while fighting across Clear Harmony City began to wind down and Wu Duanzhuo prepared to seek truth. A Golden Carriage and two Thunder Pools then fell toward Lei Jingbian, interrupting his battle with Qin Tianyi.

• Lu Qingwu hurled two Thunder Pools of black Yin Thunder at Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun, and Zhang Yuan weakened them with [First Under Heaven, Past and Present].
• Lu Qingwu restored power to the Thunder Pools and decided his Hengyang Lu Clan could afford to kill Zhang Yuan regardless of who backed him.
• Wu Duanzhuo and Deng Qiuzhi stopped fighting at Clear Harmony City’s battlements, and Deng Qiuzhi left as Wu Duanzhuo prepared to seek truth through [Ketu Thorn].
• Qin Tianyi refused Lei Jingbian’s challenge to fight beyond the heavens and continued evading his attacks with [Thunder Rumbles].
• A Golden Carriage plunged from the sky toward Lei Jingbian before vanishing, leaving two Thunder Pools to crash down at him.

Plot points and events

• After Lu Qingwu’s Thunder Pool strikes, Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun emerge unharmed, while Lei Jingbian is left submerged in black yin lightning. Wu Duanzhuo notes their surprising resilience but sets aside his grudge against Zhang Yuan to pursue Truth-Seeking.
• Wu Duanzhuo begins the ritual to attain the [Ketu Thorn]. Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun consider intervening, but Zhang decides to wait; Lu Qingwu also watches, intending to use Wu as a stepping stone.
• Wu Duanzhuo’s attempt fails almost immediately: the [Ketu Thorn] appears, looks at him, and vanishes. He realizes the ritual is flawed because only Qinghe City—not the whole Ya Kingdom—has sunk into the Nether Bureau.
• Lu Qingwu attempts the same feat. Before he can finish his declaration, a voice from beneath the city says, “Not permitted.”
• Qinghe City dissolves into dust, leaving the group in an unfamiliar space within or connected to the Nether Bureau. Powerful Nether Bureau Ghost Deities appear, each at Celestial Person perfection. Zhang Yuan finds Li Zhongshuang safe, and everyone realizes they must flee.

Character developments

• Zhang Yuan stays cautious rather than disrupting Wu Duanzhuo’s ritual, but the sudden transformation leaves him alarmed and angry at Lu Qingwu.
• Xiao Yuanjun is ready to stop Wu, showing her loyalty to Zhang Yuan; she follows his decision to wait.
• Wu Duanzhuo shifts from confidence to terror after recognizing that the [Ketu Thorn] ritual has gone wrong. He warns Lu Qingwu, who dismisses him.
• Lu Qingwu reveals his ambition to exploit Wu Duanzhuo, but his own attempt is thwarted. His composure gives way to anger and confusion when Qinghe City disappears.

Themes

• Hubris and miscalculation: Both Wu Duanzhuo and Lu Qingwu assume they can claim the [Ketu Thorn], only to discover that their ritual and understanding are flawed.
• Hidden powers and limits: The Nether Bureau’s voice and overwhelming Ghost Deities suggest forces that even powerful cultivators cannot command.
• Shifting alliances and self-interest: The characters cooperate only when useful, while each pursues personal goals and watches for a chance to gain advantage.

Character interactions

• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun discuss whether to interfere with Wu Duanzhuo; Zhang’s restraint prevails.
• Lu Qingwu treats Wu Duanzhuo as a rival and potential stepping stone, while Wu later tries to warn him.
• Zhang Yuan confronts Lu Qingwu after the city vanishes; Lu snaps back that he has no idea what happened.
• The group’s immediate need to escape overrides their rivalries as they face the Nether Bureau’s Ghost Deities.

Key plot points

• Lu Qingwu resurrects thousands of dead Form Refinement and Spirit Transformation demonic cultivators using a scroll, then sacrifices them to construct an Immortal Deity Gate.
• The gate opens onto a wilderness in the Mountain-Sea Profound Yellow Realm. Lu Qingwu intends to escape through it.
• Zhang Yuan uses an iron-chain ability to hinder Lu Qingwu, then takes Xiao Yuanjun and the cursed Li Zhongshuang toward the gate in his Golden Carriage.
• As Lu Qingwu alters the gate’s destination, Zhang Yuan realizes it may lead not to the realm he originally hoped to reach, but to the Mountain-Sea Profound Yellow Realm. He hesitates, since his original plan was to find help in the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm to save Li Zhongshuang.
• Zhang Yuan calls on True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts. The True Lord says he can remove Li Zhongshuang’s karmic curse and confirms that crossing into the Mountain-Sea Profound Yellow Realm would prevent the Celestial Person-level curse from following them across chaos.
• Zhang Yuan decides the gate is a viable escape route, though the True Lord withholds that help may already be on its way.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Qingwu shows resourcefulness and urgency, creating the gate from sacrificed cultivators. He is caught off guard by Zhang Yuan’s interference but quickly tries to redirect the gate rather than close it.
• Zhang Yuan shifts from pursuing a specific rescue plan to making a risky, independent choice. He trusts that the True Lord has left safeguards in place and puts Li Zhongshuang’s survival first.
• Wu Duanzhuo, though displeased at being ordered to kill the resurrected cultivators, obeys and efficiently feeds them into the gate.
• Xiao Yuanjun and Li Zhongshuang recognize Zhang Yuan’s hesitation and look to him for a decision.
• The exchange with True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts highlights their familiar, teasing dynamic: the True Lord gives useful advice but keeps important information to himself.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and grotesque power: Lu Qingwu builds an escape route by repeatedly killing resurrected cultivators.
• Uncertainty and choice: Zhang Yuan must act without knowing what awaits beyond the gate, especially after his foresight fails to reveal the future.
• Loyalty and protection: His concern for Li Zhongshuang drives his decisions, even when they depart from his original plan.
• Partial knowledge and hidden agendas: Lu Qingwu manipulates the gate’s destination, while the True Lord offers guidance selectively.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan escapes through the Flesh Gate with two companions. Lu Qingwu and Wu Duanzhuo try to follow, hoping to return to the Mountain-Sea Black-Yellow Realm.
• Jiang Peilan arrives and destroys the Flesh Gate with a single sword strike, trapping the two men in the Nether Bureau.
• She is accompanied by Qiming, the Jun Tian Night-Cutting Goddess, an Incarnation of the Ya East Cui True Lord. Qiming effortlessly kills Lu Qingwu and Wu Duanzhuo, shattering their bodies, spirits, and Dao Domains.
• Qin Tianyi, who had been hiding nearby, begs for mercy. He explains that Zhang Yuan went through the gate Jiang destroyed, though he does not know where it led. Jiang lets him escape through the rift back to the Azure Sky Dust-Stained Realm.
• Jiang learns from Qiming that Zhang Yuan is safe for now in Qingxu’s homeland and will return. Qiming has been waiting for someone.
• Li Huixi arrives and rebukes Qiming: her killing strike used a trace of the [Grand White Edge] mystery, exceeding the power permitted to a Foundation-Building Celestial Person. Qiming argues that she acted to save someone and that the Nether Bureau lies outside the Azure Sky Dust-Stained Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Peilan acts decisively, destroying the gate without knowing Zhang Yuan has already passed through it. Once she hears he is safe, she relaxes and tries to learn where he went.
• Qiming demonstrates overwhelming power and calm authority, but her intervention brings her into conflict with Li Huixi’s rules.
• Lu Qingwu and Wu Duanzhuo go from seeking escape to being killed before they can respond to Qiming’s attack.
• Qin Tianyi survives by pleading that he is Zhang Yuan’s old friend; his connection to Zhang earns him Jiang’s protection.
• The exchanges reveal Jiang’s concern for Zhang, Qiming’s protective purpose, and Li Huixi’s role in enforcing limits on powerful beings’ actions.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Qiming can kill two perfected Celestial Persons effortlessly, yet her use of a forbidden level of power has consequences.
• Fate and unintended consequences: Jiang’s attempt to stop Lu Qingwu destroys the very gate Zhang used, separating her from him.
• Protection and loyalty: Qiming’s actions are framed as an effort to save someone, while Jiang’s concern centers on Zhang’s safety.
• Survival through connection: Qin Tianyi’s friendship with Zhang helps him escape a battlefield where others are swiftly dealt with.