Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• Chen Miao tries to evacuate the weakened Wang Chuan and Jiang Yi from the Wood District, but encounters a gaunt, withered figure later identified as the Starveling Lord.
• The creature’s presence drives hunger into Chen Miao and causes his two subordinates’ power to surge—then drains them into lifeless husks.
• Chen Miao’s Wood-Merging escape fails when the creature corrupts and withers the nearby wood. It repeatedly appears ahead of him, seemingly teleporting, while his hunger intensifies.
• Chen Miao boosts his own power with Hunger Delusion, spreads Abyssal Mist, and uses his White Ape form to flee. Neither mist nor speed can stop or mislead the creature for long.
• He escapes briefly with concealment and a decoy, then finds the Wood Banner Commander alive but near death. Chen Miao applies Hunger Delusion to him and flees; the Commander’s power briefly revives greenery, but the Starveling Lord kills him and leaves the area desolate.
• The creature detects Chen Miao’s Mystic Mirror, so he abandons it and retreats into the Mirror Realm. There, he discovers that the hunger remains, though somewhat weakened. Fire and ice techniques cannot remove it.
• Chen Miao suspects the hunger may let the Starveling Lord track him. He considers fleeing the region but focuses instead on Steal Heaven, Replace Buddha and Hunger Delusion as possible solutions.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from trying to escape through ordinary means to recognizing that the Starveling Lord’s powers make speed, concealment, and deception unreliable. His immediate priority becomes understanding and controlling the hunger.
• Wang Chuan and Jiang Yi are killed almost instantly, showing how helpless even empowered fighters are before the creature.
• The Wood Banner Commander receives a temporary surge from Chen Miao’s status, but it cannot save him. Chen Miao’s attempt to use the Commander’s last strength also reveals his desperation and willingness to take risks.
• Two Demon-Suppressing Bureau Banner Assistants arrive after Chen Miao enters the Mirror Realm. Unaware of the danger, they head toward the Wood District.

Significant themes

• Power without control: Hunger Delusion grants immense strength but also exposes its users to a destructive force.
• The limits of conventional defenses: Mist, speed, transformation, concealment, and decoys all fail against the Starveling Lord.
• Desolation versus renewal: The Commander briefly restores greenery, only for the creature’s withering presence to erase it.
• Survival through adaptability: Chen Miao survives by retreating, observing, and searching for a new strategy rather than risking a direct fight.

Key events

• Chen Miao considers two ways to counter the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord’s soul-targeting hunger curse: redirect it with “Steal Heaven, Replace Buddha”, or strengthen Hunger Delusion enough to oppose it.
• Unsure how long the Demon-Suppressing Bureau will take to defeat the Lord, he prepares both options. He spends nearly all his Memory Fragments to upgrade Hunger Delusion into the third-tier Hunger Plague.
• Hunger Plague adds two traits:
  • Contagion: Hunger can spread from an infected person to others, though transmission slows with each generation, and the infection disappears if its original source dies.
  • Forgetting Hunger: A target stops feeling hunger and may become averse to eating, but their body still needs food and can eventually starve.
• Chen Miao uses Forgetting Hunger on himself. It suppresses much of his curse, but also removes the strength he had gained from Hunger Delusion. He realizes the two conditions are partly counteracting each other, though the Mirror Realm may be helping contain the curse.
• He carves a rough Buddha statue and uses Steal Heaven, Replace Buddha to place part of his soul inside it. Unlike his earlier soul shrine, he can no longer communicate with the soul fragment.
• The curse remains: the technique can redirect future soul attacks, but cannot transfer a condition already affecting his soul. Chen Miao concludes that he must either flee or destroy the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao responds to danger methodically, testing complementary supernatural defenses rather than relying on a single uncertain solution.
• His discovery of Hunger Plague’s contagion makes him recognize an unsettling resemblance to the Starveling Lord, while also noting that his power is far less destructive.
• Chen Miao’s interaction with the curse is primarily a struggle of opposing effects: Forgetting Hunger and the Lord’s hunger weaken one another, but neither removes the underlying threat.

Significant themes

• Power with limitations: New abilities offer protection, but come with constraints and cannot solve every problem.
• Mirroring the threat: Chen Miao’s hunger-based power resembles the entity he is fighting, raising the question of how close their abilities—and identities—might become.
• Survival versus agency: Staying in the Mirror Realm offers safety but prevents progress, while leaving risks the curse intensifying.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao returns to Cangzhou Prefecture City and finds the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord’s withered-tree corruption spreading from the Wood Banner toward the Fire and Earth districts. Its power overwhelms the Profound Pass Corpse Lord’s black fog wherever the two domains meet.
• In the Earth district, the Kong clan uses paper effigies to draw black fog out of the area, while Demon-Suppressing Bureau guards destroy the coffins exposed as the fog retreats. Leaping Hopping Corpses move through the Starveling Lord’s territory, but its dead trees can seize and desiccate them.
• At the center of the black fog, a Bronze Coffin is revealed. Corpse-borne figures and three Flying Jiangshi help absorb its fog, while two newcomers use blood to inscribe a seal on the coffin.
• A member of the group handling the coffin suddenly breaks the seal. The coffin opens, releasing a blood-red jiangshi—the Profound Pass Corpse Lord. Its ground-hugging fog corrodes the Kong clan’s paper effigies and spreads as a carpet, drawing black liquid from nearby corpses.
• Instead of attacking those nearby, the Blood Corpse glides toward the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord. At the edge of its domain, the Starveling Lord appears, and the two powerful entities confront one another.

Character developments

• Chen Miao acts as an observer, using the Mystic Mirror to assess the crisis. He recognizes that the Starveling Lord’s influence is expanding and worries that the situation will worsen if left unchecked.
• The Kong clan, Demon-Suppressing Bureau, corpse controllers, and the two sealers demonstrate coordinated efforts to contain the Profound Pass Corpse Lord, though their apparent success proves temporary.
• The Blood Corpse emerges as an unexpectedly purposeful threat: rather than simply spreading its fog, it heads directly toward the Starveling Lord.

Significant themes

• Escalating supernatural danger: The Starveling Lord’s domain continues to expand, and the arrival of another great fiend raises the stakes.
• Temporary containment and betrayal: Collective effort nearly seals the Bronze Coffin, but one person’s sabotage undoes the work.
• Power and adaptation: Different groups use distinct methods—paper effigies, corpse techniques, blood seals—to resist forces that can quickly overcome them.
• Uncertain conflict: The Blood Corpse’s approach suggests a clash between supernatural powers, but its purpose and likely outcome remain unknown.

Character interactions

• The Kong clan’s paper-effigy tactics and the Demon-Suppressing Bureau’s cleanup efforts work in tandem against the black fog.
• Corpse handlers and Flying Jiangshi help suppress the fog around the Bronze Coffin, while two blood-wielding figures seal it.
• A saboteur turns against the containment effort by breaking the seal.
• The chapter ends with the Blood Corpse and the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord facing each other across the boundary of their domains.

Plot points and events

• Yan Nangui, head of the Demon-Suppression Department, stays hidden nearby. He had come to eliminate the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord, whose withered domain defeats ordinary fighters and makes even Grandmasters vulnerable: the Lord steadily approaches them, while its spawned Ghosts prevent weaker fighters from being useful.
• The unexpected return of the Profound Pass Corpse Lord complicates Yan’s mission. He waits to see whether the two Blood Fiends will fight, potentially weakening each other.
• The Corpse Lord attacks first, sending a wave of black mist at the Starveling Lord. The Starveling Lord blocks it with dead branches, but the Corpse Lord breaks through and floods its position.
• The Starveling Lord reappears behind the Corpse Lord and opens its long-sealed mouth. Its cries of “hungry” trigger intense hunger in Chen Miao—even his Hunger Plague cannot contain it, forcing him to use Clearheart.
• The Starveling Lord swallows the Corpse Lord’s black wave, then unleashes powerful suction and withering force that devastate the surrounding street. Chen Miao abandons the idea of approaching to collect anything, realizing he might not withstand even one cry.
• When the Starveling Lord turns its hunger toward the Bronze Coffin, the Corpse Lord charges at it. The Starveling Lord draws the Corpse Lord in and swallows it whole, then walks away, leaving withered trees and faint black mist in its wake.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Nangui is shown as a cautious, capable authority figure who planned for a discreet intervention but now faces an unexpected second threat. He wisely holds back while the monsters confront each other.
• Chen Miao recognizes the danger of the Starveling Lord firsthand: its hunger affects even him, and its cries combine suction with decay. His decision not to approach shows growing caution.
• The Corpse Lord and Starveling Lord shift from apparent opponents to a contest that ends in the Starveling Lord’s victory. The Corpse Lord’s attack fails, and its aggression is ultimately used against it.

Significant themes

• The limits of power: Grandmasters cannot safely defeat the Starveling Lord, while weaker fighters are ineffective against its domain.
• Predatory hunger and decay: The Starveling Lord’s hunger is both a physical force and a supernatural power that drains, destroys, and consumes.
• Uncertainty and misjudgment: The Corpse Lord seems to win at first, but the Starveling Lord’s resilience and abilities overturn appearances.
• Survival through restraint: Yan’s decision to wait and Chen Miao’s choice not to approach underline the importance of recognizing when direct action is too dangerous.

Key events

• The Corpse Devourer swallows the Profound Pass Corpse Lord and appears to gain his black-mist ability. The observers fear that, if left to keep consuming Blood Fiends, he could grow into a Calamity and turn Cangzhou into a Ghost Domain.
• Yan Nangui finally intervenes. Unable to use his Ghost-God Manifestation, he activates his Spirit Medium Marks, drawing on his powerful body to restrain the ghost within him.
• The Corpse Devourer tries to suck Yan into his mouth, but Yan counters with a massive black chain from a pouch. The chain enters the Devourer’s mouth and binds him; Yan then clamps the creature’s mouth shut and secures the chain around its body, greatly weakening its power.
• Yan places a flaming stone on the Devourer, setting the Desolate Domain’s dead trees ablaze without burning anything else or producing smoke.
• Just as Chen Miao thinks the crisis is ending—and regrets missing a chance to earn Yin Virtue—a blood-red pangolin Immortal-God Apparition bursts from underground, knocks the stone away, and lashes the chained Devourer directly toward Chen Miao.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Nangui reveals the dangerous limits of his power: he can no longer rely on his Ghost-God Manifestation, so he uses his Spirit Medium Marks and specialized tools instead. His intervention shows both resolve and practical skill.
• Chen Miao watches the fight, recognizes the chain’s resemblance to the restraints used at Desolate Valley, and tracks the change in the Corpse Devourer through the hunger he feels. His instinct to weigh the fight in terms of Yin Virtue gives way to alarm when the monster comes flying at him.
• The Corpse Devourer proves capable of gaining abilities by consuming other Blood Fiends, but the chain and flaming stone temporarily suppress him.
• The pangolin apparition’s sudden attack disrupts Yan’s apparent victory and sends the danger toward Chen Miao.

Significant themes

• Escalating supernatural danger: The Devourer’s ability to grow by consuming others makes delay potentially catastrophic.
• Power has limits and costs: Yan must rely on alternative methods because his usual manifestation is unavailable.
• Control is temporary: The chain suppresses the Devourer, but does not fully neutralize him; the abrupt reversal shows how fragile apparent victories are.

Plot points and events

• The Blood Incense Path reveals itself to Yan Nangui through a group of ghost-masked attackers. They regenerate after being decapitated, even copying his face, Spirit Medium Marks, and a weakened version of the Ghost power within him.
• The attackers identify their deity as the Formless One. A second wave appears with stronger power, surrounds Yan Nangui, and engulfs him in blue-green light.
• Meanwhile, Chen Miao tries to stop the chained Corpse Devourer from escaping. He identifies the fiery object he has as a Primordial Yang Stone, an extremely yang object that can be exchanged through his Notebook.
• Chen Miao embeds one stone in the Corpse Devourer’s forehead, then uses two more in its empty eye sockets. The burning finally stops the creature from spitting out its chains.
• Just as the Corpse Devourer appears subdued, Chen Miao senses a malicious presence watching him from underground.

Character developments

• Yan Nangui responds to the Blood Incense Path’s imitation with fury, destroying the first attackers repeatedly. The revelation that they can reproduce his Ghost power—and that a stronger group is coming—turns the confrontation into a serious threat.
• Chen Miao shows increasingly decisive, practical resolve. Rather than retreating when the Corpse Devourer continues to escape, he commits more resources and personally drives the Primordial Yang Stones into it.

Significant themes

• Imitation and corrupted power: The Blood Incense Path copies Yan Nangui’s appearance and supernatural abilities, turning his own power against him.
• Escalating commitment: Chen Miao’s choice to use one stone leads him to use two more—“in for a penny, in for a pound”—as the danger grows.
• Temporary victory and hidden threats: The Corpse Devourer is contained, but the presence underground suggests the danger is far from over.

Character interactions

• The Blood Incense Path taunts Yan Nangui, challenges the strength of his inner Blood Fiend, and invokes the Formless One as the source of its power.
• Chen Miao confronts the Corpse Devourer directly, using the Primordial Yang Stones to burn and restrain it. Its malice appears to focus on him even as it falls silent.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao lures the blood-red Pangolin into the Mirror Realm by opening an entrance beneath it. The creature gets stuck partway through, allowing Chen to haul it inside and seal the portal. Spatial fluctuations afterward suggest it may possess some ability to sense or interact with space.
• Through the Mystic Mirror, Chen watches Yan Nangui struggle against Blood Incense Path fighters who repeatedly reconstruct themselves, growing stronger and increasingly matching Yan’s power. Chen searches for the two men directing events, then leaves with the Corpse Devourer rather than risk being mistaken for an ally.
• Fire-Banner Commander Han Yu arrives with three Banner Assistants and heads to aid Yan, but a ghost-faced Blood Incense Path man blocks them. His attacks pass through him, and his ability to exchange places with his targets traps the four in a confined area.
• Yan suspects the Blood Incense Path has deliberately isolated him and is using him as bait. He tries to escape by summoning the Blood Fiend within him, but the cultists’ blood-marked rituals repeatedly call it out again, preventing his departure.
• As Yan prepares to let the Blood Fiend emerge fully, a sudden, overwhelming hunger surges through him and his power rapidly increases. He pulls the Fiend back inside; it then reappears on his back, now strangely docile.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows quick improvisation and caution: he exploits the Mirror Realm to contain the Pangolin, keeps watch on Yan’s fight, and withdraws with his prize rather than enter a dangerous, uncertain conflict.
• Yan Nangui shifts from confident fighter to trapped and exhausted strategist. He recognizes the cultists’ coordinated plan and attempts to break it, but the sudden hunger and power surge give him an unexpected advantage.
• Han Yu and his Banner Assistants are stopped before they can reach Yan, demonstrating how effectively the Blood Incense Path has cut off outside help.
• The Blood Incense Path fighters work together to restrain Yan and keep him engaged; their taunts and appeals underscore their determination to prevent him from escaping.

Significant themes

• Entrapment and manipulation: Both Yan and Han Yu are confined by carefully coordinated supernatural abilities, while the cult uses Yan as bait.
• Escalating supernatural power: The Pangolin’s spatial sensitivity, the cultists’ regeneration and powers, and Yan’s sudden surge all reveal increasingly strange abilities.
• Uncertainty and shifting control: Chen’s gamble with the Mirror Realm succeeds, while Yan’s apparent loss of control over the Blood Fiend gives way to a new, unexplained form of control.

Plot points

• Yan Nangui regains control after the Blood Fiend is subdued and uses its power to pull the Soul Bodies from more than a dozen Formless Path members, absorbing them into himself and killing their physical bodies.
• The absorption leaves him stronger and still hungry. Though puzzled by the ability and its source, he heads toward the fallen Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord.
• A Selfless Path fighter repeatedly swaps places to evade Han Yu’s group, but Yan Nangui’s arrival shifts the danger onto him. He swaps Yan Nangui away, only to find the Blood Fiend still there.
• Elsewhere, two Blood Incense Path members prepare to move divine statues. Chen Miao appears, bringing the Corpse Devourer’s corpse and overwhelming them with hunger, heat, and cold. One is killed by his fist; the other is bound and drained of Vital Blood.
• Chen Miao turns to the two statues, reasoning that Cangzhou City likely contains more, and begins absorbing their divinity.

Character developments

• Yan Nangui emerges from near defeat with a powerful new means of attack, combining his own actions with the Blood Fiend’s ability to harvest and absorb Soul Bodies. He remains uncertain about why the power now affects him.
• The Selfless Path fighter goes from confident reliance on his swapping ability to desperate escape, then dies unable to understand the forces attacking him.
• Chen Miao remains focused and pragmatic: he disposes of the immediate threats and prioritizes absorbing the statues before searching for more.

Character interactions

• Yan Nangui and the Blood Fiend act in concert: Yan Nangui gathers the Formless Path members’ Soul Threads, while the fiend helps draw their Soul Bodies into him.
• The Selfless Path fighter uses his swapping ability against Han Yu’s group and later Yan Nangui, but the tactic fails to escape the Blood Fiend.
• Chen Miao attacks the Blood Incense Path members before they can flee with the statues; one tries to use swapping to redirect him, but it does not save either target.

Significant themes

• Power gained through absorption: Yan Nangui’s strength increases by taking in others’ Soul Bodies, while Chen Miao seeks power by absorbing divinity.
• Misjudgment and uncertainty: The Formless Path cannot explain Yan Nangui’s sudden reversal, and the dying Selfless Path fighter mistakes Chen Miao for another Blood Fiend.
• The limits of specialized abilities: The Selfless Path fighter’s swapping works repeatedly, but cannot overcome the Blood Fiend’s threat or Chen Miao’s assault.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao absorbs all remaining divinity from the Divine Statues of the Formless One and No-Self, greatly increasing his power. He decides not to pursue the more dangerous Blood Incense Path members in Cangzhou City yet, preferring easier targets arriving from outside.
• Still carrying the hard-to-kill Corpse Devourer, Chen enters the Mirror Realm to wait while a primordial yang stone and chain slowly burn it to death.
• A powerful Blood Incense Path pangolin emerges from the Mirror Realm entrance and searches for Chen. The Notebook warns that leaving through that same spot would get him ambushed and killed. Chen realizes spatially gifted followers may detect the Mirror Realm, so he plans to exit elsewhere and be more cautious.
• At the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, Chu Xiu receives grim reports: the Eastern Mausoleum has fallen, the other three mausoleums’ feng shui formations have collapsed, and Blood Incense Path forces are spreading through the prefecture’s towns. They are targeting feng shui nodes and weakening the region’s protective formation while sacrificing residents to strengthen themselves.
• Reinforcements from headquarters and neighboring prefectures will take at least a day to arrive, and no solution has been found for the prefecture’s inability to use Ghost Body Manifestation.
• Eastern Mausoleum Chief Steward Li Wangchuan appears outside the city instead of entering. Chu Xiu sends Deputy Bureau Chief Zeng Yi to meet him; Li recognizes Zeng as an old acquaintance.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao grows stronger but remains calculating: he avoids unnecessary fights, relies on the Notebook to prevent a fatal ambush, and intends to surprise the pangolin later.
• Chu Xiu faces a worsening crisis and questions whether Cangzhou can hold out until help arrives. His light, teasing reaction to Li Wangchuan suggests familiarity with the steward’s grievances.
• Li Wangchuan arrives at the city gate with Deputy Steward Li Mu and waits outside, apparently expecting Chu Xiu to receive him. He and Zeng Yi share a history.

Significant themes

• Caution and adaptation: Chen survives by changing plans when the Notebook reveals danger.
• Escalating siege and fragile defenses: The Blood Incense Path attacks strategically, dismantling the prefecture’s protective network from the outskirts inward.
• Limits of power and time: Even capable defenders are constrained by lost abilities, scattered forces, and delayed reinforcements.

Key plot points and events

• Outside Cangzhou, Li Wangchuan confronts his former colleague Zeng Yi, now Deputy Bureau Chief of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau. Zeng warns him that entering the city means death.
• Li explains why he joined the Blood Incense Path: after decades of loyal service at the Eastern Mausoleum, the Bureau repeatedly denied his requests to transfer. He feels trapped and fears his son Li Mu will inherit the same dead-end life.
• Li says he is returning to Cangzhou, not seeking a fight, and insists that if the Blood Incense Path cannot win without him and Li Mu, it does not deserve to. He and his son walk on while a surge of Yin Energy erupts inside the city.
• Within Cangzhou, ten linked Immortal-God Apparitions besiege the Demon-Suppressing Bureau. The Corpse-Driving Wang Family unleashes Flying Jiangshi against other Yin Cultivation families and sends Purple Jiangshi through the city.
• Attacks ignite fires at major Yin Cultivation family compounds, including the Cangzhou Kong Clan’s estate. The violence spreads across the city, while ordinary residents are mostly spared if they stay indoors.
• Elsewhere, Chen Miao awakens after destroying the Corpse Devourer. His Notebook records thirty-eight jin of yin virtue, several Memory Fragments, and a new status: Starving Corpse Domain.

Character developments

• Li Wangchuan reveals deep bitterness over being denied advancement and transfer despite years of service. His choice to support the Blood Incense Path is tied to resentment and a desire to escape the fate he sees awaiting his family.
• Li Mu remains uneasy about the Blood Incense Path’s chances, but follows his father rather than challenge him.
• Zeng Yi shows no sympathy for Li’s grievance when it is used to justify aiding the Blood Incense Path; he stands firmly against the threat to Cangzhou.
• Chen Miao gains a substantial reward and a new status after defeating the Corpse Devourer.

Significant themes

• Institutional stagnation and resentment: Li’s story shows how blocked advancement can breed anger and alienation.
• Personal grievances versus responsibility: Zeng argues that Li’s suffering cannot excuse unleashing dangerous forces on the city.
• War and collateral damage: The fighting targets powerful Yin Cultivation families, but nearby people are still drawn into the violence.
• Power and transformation: Chen Miao’s victory is marked by both tangible rewards and a new supernatural status.

Character interactions

• Li Wangchuan and Zeng Yi face each other as old colleagues, debating the past and the consequences of Li’s choices; Zeng ends the exchange with a direct threat.
• Li Wangchuan explains his reasoning to Li Mu and dismisses his concern that the Blood Incense Path may lose.
• The Corpse-Driving Wang Family’s attacks draw the other Yin Cultivation families into battle, turning the city into a series of connected conflicts.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao confirms that the Starving Corpse Domain combines the powers of the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord and the Profound Pass Corpse Lord. It makes everyone in range hungry, gradually withers their bodies and souls, and lets Chen Miao control withered trees that spread corpse qi.
• The domain also grants two forms of movement: Chen Miao can appear near anyone inside it, and—if enough corpse qi has accumulated—travel through corpse qi and control corpses. The domain moves with him, though shifting the surrounding environment takes some time.
• Back in reality, Chen Miao opens ten Blood Incense Path Memory Fragments over roughly twenty hours. He gains Formless Favor (IX) and No-Self Favor, along with extensive intelligence about the group.
• He learns that Formless Path members can steal a target’s power and form a symbiosis, making them especially effective against yin cultivators like Yan Nangui. The host and symbionts are bound together: if the host dies, the others die too. Yan Nangui ultimately defeated them by releasing the Blood Fiend within him.
• Selfless Path members can regard someone in sight as themselves and swap places with them, unless the target’s soul is strong enough to sense and resist the exchange.
• Chen Miao has 55 jin, 6 liang, and 2 qian of yin virtue. He debates whether to spend it on immediate power or save toward 100 jin, which he believes may trigger another Notebook upgrade.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao gains a clearer understanding of his new domain and the Blood Incense Path’s abilities, while recognizing that Formless Favor could potentially be improved later.
• He chooses not to spend yin virtue on that upgrade yet, prioritizing possible needs during the coming upheaval in Cangzhou.
• He messages Shi Manman to cancel her visit for the day.
• Yan Nangui’s earlier confrontation is explained: the Formless Path members were assigned to keep him occupied, but their symbiotic bond and his release of the Blood Fiend turned the encounter against them.

Significant themes

• Power and its costs: Formless Path’s stolen strength comes with mutual dependence, while the Starving Corpse Domain’s power brings decay.
• Planning and uncertainty: Chen Miao must weigh reliable immediate gains against the unknown rewards of reaching the Notebook’s next threshold.
• Identity and connection: The Formless and Selfless paths twist relationships and selfhood into mechanisms for sharing power or exchanging places.

Plot points

• Chen Miao decides to preserve his Yin Virtue, since it could help him counter the Blood Incense Path’s strange abilities during the coming conflict.
• Back in Cangzhou, he stacks Deer Immortal’s and Fox Immortal’s Favors on his White Ape form, then uses a sapling to enter a courtyard where Ding Hui is lying in wait.
• Ding Hui mistakes a Blood Incense Path corpse for Chen Miao and attacks it. The Corpse Devourer’s power unexpectedly begins draining Ding Hui, despite protections meant to keep him safe from it.
• Chen Miao fills the courtyard with rapidly growing, withering trees and repeatedly prevents Ding Hui from reaching the ground. Ding Hui recognizes Chen Miao as the person who previously interfered with him and launches a spinning attack.
• Chen Miao grows into a massive red-furred ape, uses a flash of light to momentarily stun Ding Hui, then crushes him between his enormous arms.

Character developments

• Chen Miao acts deliberately, conserving Yin Virtue as a strategic reserve rather than spending it immediately. He also demonstrates increasingly creative use of stacked Favors and his shapeshifting and spatial abilities.
• Ding Hui shifts from patient confidence to confusion and desperation as his own Corpse Devourer protection fails. His determination to attack Chen Miao leaves him vulnerable to the finishing blow.

Themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Chen Miao relies on foresight and multiple abilities rather than committing to a single approach.
• Powers turned against their users: Ding Hui’s own connection to the Corpse Devourer becomes a liability.
• The danger of underestimating an opponent: Ding Hui’s initial misidentification and aggression give Chen Miao control of the fight.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Ding Hui have no conversation; their conflict unfolds through traps, misdirection, and escalating attacks. Ding Hui seeks to catch and kill the intruder, while Chen Miao manipulates the battlefield and ends the encounter decisively.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao tests how combining the Deer Immortal, Fox Immortal, and No-Self abilities strengthens his ape forms. The combination boosts his defense, speed, and combat options enough to threaten even an ordinary Grandmaster.
• Satisfied that he can now accomplish more without spending Yin Virtue, he decides to leave Cangzhou City and head for the Eastern Mausoleum. He plans to take advantage of the Blood Incense Path’s leaders being away to secretly plunder its remaining sites, ghosts, and the Old-Year Pagoda Tree Lord’s Memory Fragment.
• On his way out, Chen Miao encounters Kong Xunzhen and Kong Yue facing Li Zhou, who has joined the Blood Incense Path and become a powerful, blood-covered fiend.
• Li Zhou accuses Kong Xunzhen of having looked down on and neglected him in the past. Kong Xunzhen warns that the Blood Incense Path is exploiting him and offers to help him escape, but Li Zhou rejects the offer and attacks.
• Just as Li Zhou is about to strike Kong Xunzhen, Chen Miao intervenes. He identifies himself by recalling his former identity as Chen Bai, a paper-effigy apprentice, then overwhelms Li Zhou with bloody hair and disappears with him.
• Left behind, Kong Yue asks what the white-furred creature was. Kong Xunzhen reveals that it was an Otherworldly Fiend—and his former disciple.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates growing mastery of combining abilities and confidence in his strength. His priorities remain practical: he ignores the city’s fires and focuses on the richer opportunities at the Eastern Mausoleum.
• Li Zhou reveals deep resentment over years of feeling rejected and dependent on his sister and brother-in-law. He sees his new strength and status as proof that he has escaped that past, and refuses Kong Xunzhen’s attempt to save him.
• Kong Xunzhen remains protective of Kong Yue and tries to reason with Li Zhou despite being in danger and having exhausted most of his paper effigies. Their family ties are strained by Li Zhou’s bitterness.
• Kong Yue is injured and frightened, while Kong Xunzhen’s final revelation connects the mysterious Chen Miao to his own past as a teacher.

Significant themes

• Power and transformation: Chen Miao’s abilities become far more effective through combination, while Li Zhou’s new power appears to have come at the cost of his humanity and judgment.
• Resentment and belonging: Li Zhou’s turn against his family is rooted in old wounds and his desire to escape humiliation.
• Manipulation and false promises: Kong Xunzhen warns that the Blood Incense Path intends to use Li Zhou and abandon him once its goals are met.
• Hidden identities and past ties: Chen Miao’s intervention reveals a surprising connection to Kong Xunzhen, recasting the white ape as both a terrifying fiend and a former disciple.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao enters the Eastern Mausoleum by wearing a Blood Incense Path mask and invoking the Fox Immortal’s power. The Path’s takeover has made the mausoleum unusually easy to traverse, though access to Shadow Cave is controlled by the River Earl Path.
• After being turned away at the cave entrance, Chen uses a hidden route to get inside. He discovers River Earl Path followers cultivating in the resentment-settling water by absorbing water ghosts, revealing that different Immortal-God paths strengthen themselves in different ways.
• Chen clears the section of Shadow Cave he once patrolled, destroying its ghosts and removing the water ghosts from the unused pools. He then reaches the Soul Cocoon, which contains far fewer human faces than before.
• Touching the cocoon draws Chen’s soul into a strange space filled with wandering people and voices. His defenses keep the apparitions from influencing him, but he cannot immediately return to his body. He uses soul threads and the Fire-Pit Hell of the Five Hells to attack the trapped souls, only to find the cocoon repeatedly suppresses his flames.
• Realizing that he cannot overpower the cocoon through soul power alone, Chen physically tears at its membrane with blood-red claws. When the cocoon attacks and wraps around him, he counters by intensifying his hunger and using a Buddha statue to deflect its soul assault.
• Chen finally rips open the cocoon. The flames spread through its interior and begin burning the souls within. The cocoon swells violently, prompting Chen to escape the cavern and reach the entrance. A shock wave then bursts from the cave, tears the soul body from the River Earl Path guard, and leaves him collapsed.

Character development

• Chen Miao is shown as increasingly methodical and prepared: he scouts the mausoleum, uses a convincing disguise, sets multiple layers of protection before confronting the cocoon, and adapts when his first attack fails.
• His ability to combine hunger, domains, soul threads, physical strength, and protective artifacts demonstrates both his growing power and his willingness to endure risks—including the starving corpse domain eroding his true body.
• The River Earl Path guard is introduced as dismissive and self-assured, but becomes a casualty of the uncontrollable force unleashed from Shadow Cave.

Character interactions

• Chen briefly speaks with the River Earl Path guard, who rejects his claimed Fox Immortal Path affiliation and complains about the Fox Immortal Path’s supposed cowardice.
• Chen observes the River Earl Path followers’ cultivation without revealing himself, then attacks the cocoon while they remain unaware. His escape brings him directly to the entrance guard, whose soul is struck by the resulting shock wave.
• Chen’s main struggle is with the Soul Cocoon itself: it lures and traps his soul, suppresses his attacks, and attempts to penetrate his armor, while he counters with escalating tactics.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and preparation: Chen survives by layering safeguards and changing approaches when brute force or soul-based attacks fail.
• Power through different paths: The River Earl Path’s absorption of water ghosts contrasts with blood sacrifice and shows that supernatural strength can be cultivated in varied ways.
• Control versus resistance: The cocoon tries to draw in and dominate Chen, but his awareness and persistence let him resist and eventually break its boundary.
• Unintended consequences: Chen’s success in tearing open the cocoon unleashes a violent surge that endangers others, including the guard outside.

Key plot points and events

• Blood Incense Path leaders investigate the commotion at Shadow Cave. Yu Kun enters with help from Yu Huatian’s water-mist ability and discovers that the soul cocoon has shrunk and ruptured. The cave’s deaths leave the River Earl Path severely depleted, while the Blood Incense Path must now gather bodies and ghosts to repair the cocoon.
• Unaware of the fallout, Chen Miao hides in the mirror space and checks the Notebook. He finds that the Shadow Cave chapter can be settled without exposing his involvement, and receives substantial rewards: over forty-nine jin of yin virtue, Memory Fragments, obsessions, incense, water-ghost materials, a soul-refining method, and a water-control status.
• The reward triggers the Notebook’s advancement. It detaches from its old physical booklet, becomes a self-sufficient dark-gold object, and updates its first page: “Name” becomes “True name,” a sealed “Divine name” field appears, and Chen Miao gains “Incense smoke divinity: False Deity (incomplete).”
• The upgraded Notebook can now extract memories while Chen Miao is awake and stores them in a searchable memory list. Its exchange system also introduces “Prayers,” which can grant effects such as dispelling disease or protecting a household, though these remain locked until his divinity is complete.
• Chen Miao infers that the Notebook is guiding him toward godhood. He wonders whether the upheaval in Cangzhou may be his opportunity to become a god, not merely the Blood Incense Path’s chance to emerge.

Character developments

• Chen Miao gains powerful new abilities and begins to grasp the Notebook’s larger purpose. His curiosity about its evolution turns into a serious, complicated fascination with becoming divine.
• Yu Kun shows concern for his followers and anger at their deaths, but is forced to risk entering Shadow Cave. His discovery confirms that the cocoon is damaged.
• Yu Huatian demonstrates authority over the other path masters and assists Yu Kun by filling the cave with mist.
• The other Blood Incense Path masters are chiefly concerned with blame, schedules, and their own interests.

Significant themes

• The cost of exploitation: The Blood Incense Path benefited from the mausoleum while killing those who understood how to maintain it; now the damaged cocoon leaves them without the knowledge or labor needed to repair it.
• Power and moral consequence: Chen Miao suspects the River Earl followers’ unusually high yin-virtue rewards reflect their past crimes.
• Divinity and transformation: The Notebook’s advancement shifts the story toward Chen Miao’s possible ascent to godhood, raising questions about what divinity means and what price it may carry.

Character interactions

• Yu Kun appeals to Yu Huatian for permission and support; Yu Huatian’s decision overrides the other path masters’ objections.
• The path masters argue over responsibility and the use of Shadow Cave, revealing tensions between factions.
• Chen Miao interacts with the Notebook as an increasingly independent tool, testing its new functions and interpreting what its changes imply for his future.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao secretly clears Ghost Cry Gorge, using Heart-Excavation Prison to kill the Whispering Wind Shards without alerting the Wind Granny Path. He avoids confronting the Lord of a Thousand Howls for now, judging the risk and effort not worth it.
• At Black Fog Cliff, Chen Miao discovers that coffins are beginning to open now that the Profound Pass Corpse Lord is gone. He waits until the corpses stir, then unleashes the Fiend Corpses against the Yin Fiend Path followers.
• The Fiend Corpses overwhelm the followers, whose attacks only strengthen them. Chen Miao then burns both corpses and surviving black-banner followers, leaving behind a scene that looks like a disaster caused by the awakened dead.
• The other Blood Incense Path Lords investigate. They infer that the corpses killed the Yin Fiend Path followers, but cannot explain why the corpses also turned to ashes. The Yin Fiend Path Lord is left with no followers and no clear target for revenge.
• The Path Lords worry that the Eastern Mausoleum’s burial zones are becoming unstable, especially after recent trouble elsewhere. The Rain God Path Lord reassures them that the overseers will return and urges them to remain confident in the Blood Incense Path’s larger ambitions.
• Chen Miao moves on to Desolate Valley. He hides underground at its center and expands the Starving Corpse Domain, reclaiming the valley after the Mountain-Bound Starveling Lord’s departure.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao is methodical and cautious: he prioritizes quiet gains, avoids unnecessary fights, and makes Black Fog Cliff’s destruction appear accidental. His return to Desolate Valley shows his growing ability to control and reclaim dangerous locations.
• The Yin Fiend Path followers, including Li Si, are confident in their black banners and their ability to suppress the coffins. Their confidence collapses as the awakened corpses resist their attacks and drain their ranks.
• The Yin Fiend Path Lord is devastated by the loss of his entire following, whose shared origins make them impossible to replace easily.
• The other Path Lords discuss the accumulating crises. The Bone Spirit Path Lord openly criticizes their earlier purge of the Grave Keepers; the Rain God Path Lord tries to restore morale and maintain faith in their cause.

Significant themes

• Power and its consequences: Removing key figures such as the Corpse Lord and Grave Keepers destabilizes places the Blood Incense Paths hoped to exploit.
• Deception and misdirection: Chen Miao’s victories depend not only on force but on concealing his involvement and letting events resemble accidents.
• Overconfidence and vulnerability: The followers believe they can control the coffins, only to find their own power ineffective—or even harmful—against the Fiend Corpses.
• Control versus freedom: Desolate Valley had been shaped by a bound master; Chen Miao’s return makes it his domain, now “not bound.”

Plot points and events

• With Cangzhou Prefecture City now under Blood Incense Path control, Yu Huatian believes the rebellion has succeeded. Imperial forces have been defeated or driven away, and the Blood Incense Path’s Incense-Free Domain makes the city difficult for Great Xia to retake.
• A series of unexplained disasters alarms the Eastern Mausoleum’s Path Masters: followers have died at Desolate Valley, ghosts have vanished from Ghost Cry Gorge, and earlier incidents devastated the River Earl and Yin Fiend Paths.
• Yu Huatian concludes that an enemy has infiltrated the mausoleum and orders a lockdown. He leads the other Path Masters to the Heavenly Ruins Tomb, where their strongest forms reveal an intruder: Chen Miao, who has been absorbing energy from the Old-Year Pagoda Tree Lord.
• Chen Miao asks to stay for another day, but the Path Masters attack. He uses No-Self Displacement to switch places with the River Earl Path Master’s catfish form, causing the catfish to be crushed and badly injuring the Path Master.
• Chen escapes by swapping himself into the mist as a catfish. Yu Huatian pursues, but Chen’s ability also leaves other followers displaced and confused, and Yu eventually loses his trail.
• Yu checks the mausoleum’s sacred statues and finds them intact. Unsure who Chen is or what he wants, he contacts the Blood Incense Path in Cangzhou.
• In a hidden mirror space, Chen checks his Notebook: he has gained 34,556 Memory Fragments, bringing his yin total to 469 jin, 4 liang, 4 qian. He is delighted by the haul.

Character developments and interactions

• Yu Huatian shifts from confidence in the Blood Incense Path’s victory to suspicion and alarm. He takes command during the crisis, recognizes Chen as a serious threat, and ultimately seeks help rather than keep the incident secret.
• Chen Miao is shown as opportunistic and composed under pressure. Even while surrounded by powerful enemies, he bargains casually, studies their abilities, and escapes through clever use of his displacement power.
• The Eastern Mausoleum Path Masters respond as a united force, transforming into formidable combat forms. Their coordinated attack demonstrates their strength, but Chen’s escape exposes their vulnerability to his unusual ability.
• Chen’s ability to wield powers associated with both the Selfless Path and the River Earl Path leaves Yu especially puzzled, deepening the mystery surrounding Chen’s identity and motives.

Significant themes

• Power and reversal: The Blood Incense Path has overturned the old order in Cangzhou, yet its apparent dominance is challenged by Chen’s infiltration.
• Uncertainty and hidden identities: Yu cannot determine who Chen is, why he is in the mausoleum, or how he can use multiple divine powers.
• Resource and power accumulation: Chen’s visit to the tomb is driven by his desire to gather energy and Memory Fragments, turning danger into a lucrative opportunity.
• Control versus adaptability: The Path Masters rely on numbers, territory, and overwhelming force; Chen survives through mobility, misdirection, and unconventional tactics.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao reviews the 123 jin of yin virtue he gained from three burial zones. Most came from Blood Incense Path followers, especially those at Black Fog Cliff. He also absorbs over 30,000 Memory Fragments from the Old-Year Pagoda Tree Lord, far more than he can unlock quickly, so he prioritizes useful memories.
• Inspecting his states, Chen Miao discovers threads of divinity within them. He suspects they can be absorbed into his incomplete False Deity state using yin virtue.
• He tests the process on Three-Eyed and Subtle Insight into Truth. The states disappear from the list, but their abilities remain usable; the divinity strengthens False Deity only slightly. The costs are one jin and ten jin respectively.
• He considers spending a hundred jin to test a third-tier state, but uses Clearheart to curb his impulse and decides to wait until False Deity is restored.
• Wanting greater combat power, Chen Miao weighs several states and chooses to pursue another fusion for Diamond Water-Fire Ape, his best option for powerful single-target attacks.
• While waiting for Memory Fragments to unlock, he carves three replacement Buddha Statues and studies his abilities. The River Earl Path Master’s memories reveal that the Main Mausoleum contains seven one-zhang Divine Statues and a three-zhang statue of the Incense-Free Lord, giving Chen Miao his next destination.
• Four new favor states become available: Yin Iron’s Favor, Rain God’s Favor, Annihilation’s Favor, and Baleful Banner’s Favor. Chen Miao settles on a fusion plan and prepares to begin.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more deliberate about managing scarce resources: after testing divinity absorption, he resists a costly experiment and prioritizes practical gains in combat strength.
• He recognizes that, despite his versatility and ability to escape powerful opponents, he still lacks the force to defeat several Blood Incense Path Masters head-on.
• His Clearheart state acts as a check on his recklessness, interrupting an impulsive decision.
• His interactions with the Notebook, his states, and the Memory Fragments are experimental and strategic: he probes how divinity works, mines enemy memories for intelligence, and chooses abilities to combine.

Significant themes

• Power and its costs: New strength requires careful trade-offs in yin virtue, memory, and abilities.
• Experimentation under uncertainty: Chen Miao tests unfamiliar mechanics while avoiding risks that could undermine his existing powers.
• Preparation and adaptation: He turns past battles and recovered memories into plans for future threats.
• The scale of corruption: The large yin-virtue yield from Blood Incense Path followers underscores the breadth of their atrocities.

Key plot points and events

• Yu Huatian walks with Shan Zhonglou, the Mountains-Moving Dao Lord, who has arrived to help secure the Eastern Mausoleum. They discuss the Incense-Free Lord’s unusually powerful role in supporting the Blood Incense Path and the history of how the Year Star Dao Lord discovered him.
• The Blood Incense Path has failed to find the intruder, Chen Miao. Shan Zhonglou orders the patrols withdrawn and waits alone in the Heavenly Ruins Tomb, hoping to draw Chen out. The other Dao Lords hide in the Main Mausoleum.
• Disguised as a River Earl Path follower, Chen Miao spends time cleaning the River Earl statue while secretly draining its divinity. He destroys it, revealing himself and prompting the six remaining Dao Lords to surround him.
• As the Dao Lords attack, Chen Miao moves between statues and begins absorbing their divinity. The Dao Lords kill the other followers in the chamber to prevent Chen from using them as cover, but this leaves them alone against him.
• Chen Miao activates God-Blessed Vajra. The Dao Lords’ powerful attacks—including bone-spirit flames and corrosive rain—fail to harm him. He swiftly kills or incapacitates the Wind Granny, Oblivion, Bone Spirit, and Yin Iron Dao Lords, then absorbs the Yin Fiend Dao Lord into a black banner.
• Yu Huatian is left facing Chen Miao. Chen announces that he now intends to take the Incense-Free Lord’s statue as well as use the Heavenly Ruins Tomb; no one is able to stop him.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shifts from covert intruder to open, overwhelming attacker. His ability to absorb statue divinity and his God-Blessed Vajra form make him far more dangerous than the Dao Lords expected.
• Yu Huatian remains cautious and strategic, but his control of the situation collapses as the mausoleum’s defenders are rapidly defeated.
• Shan Zhonglou is confident in his strength and accepts the risk of waiting alone in the Heavenly Ruins Tomb, though he is absent from the main confrontation.
• The Dao Lords move from suspicion to coordinated desperation, resorting to killing their own followers in an attempt to stop Chen.

Significant themes

• Faith as power and infrastructure: The statues and the Incense-Free Lord’s domain sustain the Blood Incense Path’s influence, making devotion both spiritual and political.
• Overconfidence and vulnerability: The Dao Lords trust their divine powers and protections, yet their attacks prove useless against Chen’s unusual strength.
• Power at a human cost: The Dao Lords sacrifice their followers to preserve their statues, revealing how expendable ordinary devotees are to the ruling hierarchy.
• Control and appropriation: Chen treats sacred places and divine power as resources to borrow or seize, challenging the Blood Incense Path’s authority.

Character interactions

• Shan Zhonglou questions Yu Huatian about the Incense-Free Lord and the missing intruder; Yu explains the Path’s history and agrees to the plan to lure Chen out.
• The Dao Lords briefly coordinate against Chen, but their attempt to protect the statues leads them to kill the followers around them.
• Chen taunts Yu Huatian after defeating the others, framing his intended seizure of the Incense-Free Lord’s statue as a matter on which Yu has no say.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao explains that his divinely favored vajra form combines eight states: the diamond water-fire ape plus deer god’s blessing, fox immortal’s favor, yin iron’s favor, and no-self favor. Their combination gives him crowd control, charm and speed, formidable strength and defense, and enhanced movement.
• Yu Huatian turns into rain mist to avoid Chen Miao’s close-range attacks. Chen instead builds an enormous cage of yin-iron roots and fox statues around the cavern, then begins absorbing divinity from the Rain God statue.
• Yu Huatian sends rain clones after Chen, but Chen’s no-self ability swaps them with the fox statues in the cage. Yin-iron spikes then pin the clones in place, preventing them from dissolving into rain.
• Unable to stop Chen, Yu Huatian uses blood and spatial power to shroud the divine statues in mist, making them inaccessible, then escapes the cage.
• Chen bursts through the mausoleum roof in pursuit. The Mountain-Moving Path Master, Shan Zhonglou, arrives carrying a mountain over fifty meters tall and hurls it at Chen.
• The mountain’s power suppresses Chen, but he unleashes his starving corpse domain, uses hunger plague to restore his strength, and expands into a ten-meter, spiked ape. He punches the falling mountain apart.
• Chen immediately kills Shan Zhonglou with a crushing blow, then claps Yu Huatian between his hands as Yu tries to flee. The chapter ends with Chen enjoying the sunlight and his newly unleashed power.

Character developments

• Chen Miao demonstrates that his strength lies not only in raw force but in combining abilities creatively. He stays calm, uses the environment and his powers to neutralize Yu Huatian, and then reveals a far greater form when directly threatened.
• Yu Huatian shifts from tactical confidence to desperation. He tries mist, clones, and spatial concealment, but each tactic fails; his final attempt to escape ends in his death.
• Shan Zhonglou arrives with contempt for Chen, judging him by his soul strength and assuming physical power will not be enough. That confidence collapses when Chen destroys the mountain and kills him almost instantly.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and tactical thinking: Chen counters each opponent’s advantage with a different ability rather than relying on brute force alone.
• The danger of underestimating others: Both Path Masters misjudge Chen, especially Shan Zhonglou, whose overwhelming weapon proves no match for Chen’s transformed strength.
• Power through combination: The chapter emphasizes how fused abilities create unexpected effects, particularly the interaction between fox statues, no-self movement, and the cage’s imprisoning force.
• Liberation and exhilaration: Chen’s final transformation and reaction suggest that unleashing his full strength brings a sense of release after feeling constrained in the Mortal World.

Character interactions

• Chen taunts Yu Huatian and refuses to chase him through the mist, choosing instead to target the Rain God statue and force Yu to act.
• Yu’s clones attack Chen, but Chen turns their assault against them by swapping them into the cage’s traps.
• Shan Zhonglou asks Yu whether Chen is the target, then attacks without speaking to Chen, dismissing him as a lesser threat.
• After destroying Shan Zhonglou’s mountain, Chen turns directly on both Path Masters, killing Shan and preventing Yu’s escape.