Chapter Summaries

Li Ling trapped Ye Hengsheng in an incense cave heaven and battled through the demon’s illusions, eventually locating and injuring his true body. Ye Hengsheng tried to recruit Li Ling to the Demonic Path, but their fight was interrupted when several Netherworld Sect Great Cultivators appeared.

• Li Ling pursued Ye Hengsheng and used Evil-Repelling Incense to seal them inside a cave heaven.
• Ye Hengsheng summoned three evil ghosts and used Mirage Illusion to deceive Li Ling’s perceptions, but Li Ling detected the deception through scent.
• Ye Hengsheng explained how he had masked his true body and urged Li Ling to join his side, warning him not to risk his life for the Heavenly Court.
• Li Ling identified Ye Hengsheng by the scent of his emotions and struck him with the Divine Fire Thunder Spear, badly injuring him.
• Several Netherworld Sect Great Cultivators appeared as Li Ling paused at Ye Hengsheng’s warning.

Li Ling was surrounded by eight Nascent Soul-level experts from the Nether Demon Path, but he used an unseen ability that made them forget why they had gathered. Meanwhile, Meng Chu explained to Yin Du that the hunt was an inadequately prepared probe, then addressed the middle-aged man serving tea as Long Jin.

• Li Ling identified the eight experts surrounding him, including Ye Hengsheng, Poison Elder, Granny Miao, and Cong Yue.
• Ye Hengsheng demanded that Li Ling surrender, while Granny Miao and Poison Elder discussed what to do with his soul and body.
• Li Ling dismissed the hunters’ confidence and said their realms were far below his; he then vanished and caused them to forget his existence and their purpose.
• Meng Chu told Yin Du that the supposed rescue was a pretext for hunting Li Ling, but he had refused to join because the preparations were inadequate.
• Meng Chu asked the tea-serving middle-aged man, Long Jin, whether he still recognized him.

Li Ling used the Dreamlike Spirit-Bewildering Incense and his concealment abilities to ambush the Nascent Soul Cultivators surrounding him, while Meng Chu and Yin Du discovered that the butterfly-pattern orchid had awakened memories in Long Jin and killed him. The remaining pursuers struggled to locate Li Ling, who identified Ye Hengsheng as their weakest target.

• Yin Du showed Meng Chu the butterfly-pattern orchid, and its fragrance triggered Long Jin’s memories of Li Ling.
• Meng Chu killed Long Jin, and he and Yin Du destroyed the orchid, though they feared Li Ling’s influence remained.
• As the eight Nascent Soul Cultivators searched for Li Ling, his incense weakened their focus and let him ambush and severely injure several of them.
• The Poison Elder hid with the Corpse Princess in a shattered-mirror space, while Granny Miao and the others deployed their defenses and attacks.
• Ye Hengsheng realized Li Ling had tricked the group with human incense and, after assessing their strengths, recognized himself as the easiest target.

Li Ling shattered Ye Hengsheng’s Dharma Form and drove off the other attackers, then rejected Ye Hengsheng’s offer to join the Netherworld Sect. Ye Hengsheng fled to his real body in the Netherworld, only to find a white-robed youth waiting inside his sealed chamber.

• Ye Hengsheng used his Mirage Illusion Divine Ability, but Li Ling’s Fragrance-Sensing Talent saw through his illusions as poison from Poison Elder’s Man-Faced Moths began to affect the fighters.
• Ye Hengsheng struck at Li Ling, who used the multiplication law to overwhelm the attacks and pierce through Ye Hengsheng’s Dharma Form.
• Cong Yue, the Bone Devil, Granny Miao, and Poison Elder withdrew, while Ye Hengsheng returned as a weakened projection and threatened revenge in eighteen years.
• Ye Hengsheng warned Li Ling that an unnamed power had set its sights on him and urged him to join the Netherworld Sect, promising future aid for his loved ones.
• Li Ling rejected the offer and declared that Ye Hengsheng would be haunted by his Incense Essence, prompting Ye Hengsheng’s projection to flee.
• Ye Hengsheng awoke in his Netherworld body as a ghost and found a white-robed youth holding a flower inside his sealed chamber.

Ye Hengsheng recognized Li Ling’s distant reward body and learned firsthand how formidable Li Ling’s future potential was, while Yin Du and Meng Chu arranged Long Jin’s reincarnation to study the mark Li Ling had placed on his soul. After the Incense Transmission Assembly succeeded, Li Ling joined the Heavenly Court’s effort to locate and destroy the Netherworld’s Sea Market in the West Sea.

• Ye Hengsheng realized that the silent figure was Li Ling’s future spirit-transformation reward body, then told a descendant that he had died and fallen into the Ghost Dao.
• Yin Du persuaded Meng Chu to let him take Long Jin, and began preparing Long Jin for another reincarnation so he could try to remove Li Ling’s mark using Incense Path materials.
• The Incense Transmission Assembly ended successfully, spreading the Fragrance of Wisdom and inspiring hundreds of practitioners to learn its preparation.
• The Heavenly Court learned of Ye Hengsheng’s attempt to corrupt the Incense Accumulation Sect and sent Hong Tianming to help eradicate the Mirage Illusion and sever the West Sea’s connection to the Netherworld.
• Li Ling met Hong Tianming and the two Nascent Soul cultivators guarding the former Water Demon Palace, then agreed to help find and destroy the Netherworld’s Sea Market.

After Li Ling's assault devastated the Netherworld market ward, Jin Liniang's ghostly father Zhao Ziren awakened from a sixteen-year dream as a Ghost King. He recognized her as his daughter and declared plans to join forces with the Ye Family and take charge of the local businesses.

• Li Ling mobilized Misty Wave Kingdom forces to purge the West Sea's Demonic Path after Ye Hengsheng's emergence drew the Heavenly Court's attention.
• Li Ling's battle with Ye Hengsheng shattered much of the Mirage Tower market ward, leaving Chief Steward Jin and Liniang alive in the Gilded Den.
• Chief Steward Jin contacted Ye Lianyi, learned they had been placed in the Night Sea near the Demon Abyss, and proposed closing the market to recover.
• The market's factions argued over rebuilding costs and losses, while Ye Lianyi disappeared from the Council Hall.
• Zhao Ziren materialized in Liniang's room as a powerful Ghost King, recognized her as his daughter, and told Chief Steward Jin he would marry her and seek the Ye Family's support.

Zhao Ziren awakened as a ghost king and was appointed ward master by the Ye Family, then asserted control of the Market Ward by defeating a challenger with an astonishing range of mastered abilities. Meanwhile, Yin Du and Meng Chu discussed risking an interference with Li Ling’s future Dao Attainment, and Yin Du resolved to proceed with Meng Chu’s support.

• Zhao Ziren realized Chief Steward Jin no longer recognized him and gave her his name.
• Yin Du explained to Meng Chu the dangers of interfering with Li Ling’s future Dao Attainment and decided to pursue a chance to draw on its origin, with Meng Chu agreeing to help.
• After learning of Zhao Ziren, Ye Hengsheng ordered an investigation and authorized him to take charge of the Market Ward with Ye Family backing.
• When the factions tried to seize the ward’s finances, Zhao Ziren arrived as its newly appointed ward master and declared that everything would follow his rules.
• Zhao Ziren defeated a ghost king challenger using the Nether King Technique and many other abilities, then demanded that the assembled factions accept his rule.

Yao Lingxian organized cultivators to join the Heavenly Court’s campaign against the Demonic Path, while the Four Seas Commerce Guild debated how to respond to the crackdown. Though senior guild members urged caution, lower-ranking officials chose to expand their dealings with the Demonic Path.

• Yao Lingxian welcomed cultivators at the Incense Market Branch Headquarters and offered them supplies, compensation, and reinforcements for the campaign.
• The cultivators accepted the Incense Accumulation Sect’s support and assembled to set out against the Demonic Path.
• Xi Yuanlin and other Four Seas Commerce Guild elders discussed the guild’s growing distance from the Incense Accumulation Sect and warned their subordinates to avoid exposing ties to the Demonic Path.
• Elder He urged the guild elders to restrain their operations, but they argued that business should continue, and Xi Yuanlin believed discreet transactions could escape notice.
• Merchant Association stewards on Hehu Island decided to keep supplying the Demonic Path despite the danger.
• Lower-ranking guild officials in the Misty Wave Kingdom urged one another to expand their trade, hoping to win the Demonic Path’s trust and dominate the market.

Lü Xianyun, Yang He, and the Night Watchers raided a Merchant Association stronghold where people were being murdered and turned into goods for the demonic path. After rescuing the survivors and seizing records, they uncovered a lead involving abducted craftsmen and the Netherworld Pure Land’s growing demands, which might help them find the Sea Market.

• Steward Lin saved a captive woman from being processed as a zombie, but his subordinates later strangled her and prepared her corpse for sale.
• Lü Xianyun and Yang He led righteous forces in an attack on the island, killed its defenders, and rescued the imprisoned commoners.
• The Night Watchers recovered account books documenting the Merchant Association’s collaboration with the demonic path and left the suspects’ trials to the proper authorities.
• Steward Hu’s team found letters and abducted craftsmen, then connected them to increased Netherworld Pure Land orders for corpses, building materials, and skilled laborers.
• Lü Xianyun and the others ordered an investigation of the craftsmen’s connection to the Sea Market.

Li Ling resolved to use the Incense Path to resist demonic corruption in the West Sea, while Yao Lingxian organized aid for victims of demonic arts. In the Mirage Illusion, Zhao Ziren built a secret supply route through the Sea King, but the Night Watchers soon discovered signs of the operation.

• Li Ling reflected on the Merchant Association’s role in spreading demonic practices and sent a fragrant spiritual flower to Yao Lingxian as he resolved to transform the West Sea’s customs.
• Yao Lingxian ordered the established procedures for handling wronged souls and living dead, and began preparing large Incense-Burning Grand Gatherings and Water and Land Rituals.
• Zhao Ziren and Madam Jin discussed the Mirage Tower’s restoration and their difficulty obtaining supplies and artisans amid the righteous path’s scrutiny.
• Zhao Ziren arranged to use his connection with the West Sea’s Sea King to transport supplies and laborers for the Mirage Tower, and the Sea King accepted the lucrative offer.
• The Night Watchers investigated the Sea King’s Territory and uncovered signs of the secret supply operation.

Feng Jide visited the Sea King to ask for help investigating Demonic Path activity, and the Sea King publicly agreed while privately planning to profit from both factions. After telling his subordinates he would play both sides, he secretly prepared to use the Fragrance of Wisdom to seek the allegiance of whoever could help him break through.

• Feng Jide presented gifts to the Sea King and asked him to help investigate Demonic Path activity in the West Sea.
• The Sea King’s subordinates debated whether to support the righteous path, and the Sea King argued that rogue cultivators could benefit by influencing both sides.
• The Sea King told his subordinates he would offer clues to the righteous path and later to the Sea Market, while secretly deciding to pledge himself to whoever could help him advance.
• The Sea King returned to his private chamber, burned incense, prayed to heaven, and produced the Fragrance of Wisdom that Feng Jide had brought.

The Sea King accepted Li Ling’s gift and helped the righteous faction lure Zhao Ziren aboard the Rolling Thunder, hoping to capture the Sea Market’s new ward master. Zhao Ziren exposed the ambush and revealed that his Wisdom Dao Fruit, Mind-to-Mind Communication, let him read thoughts.

• The Sea King studied Li Ling’s secret letter after taking precautions to obscure his plans and fate.
• Zhao Ziren agreed to meet the Sea King and traveled to the open sea with Ye Family fighters, aware that the Sea King sought favor from both righteous and demonic factions.
• Qi Mosheng welcomed Zhao Ziren aboard the Rolling Thunder as Feng Jide and other disguised righteous-path cultivators prepared to trap him.
• The Sea King’s forces and hidden allies waited for the ship’s arrays to activate, while Zhao Ziren’s attendants fetched gifts he had kept in reserve.
• Zhao Ziren called out the Sea King’s allegiance to the righteous path and announced that he had detected the hidden cultivators through his Mind-to-Mind Communication Dao Fruit.

Zhao Ziren’s warning exposed the Sea King’s alliance with the righteous cultivators, who pursued the Sea Market through the Underworld. As the ward’s backers abandoned it and panic spread, Zhao Ziren and Madam Jin escaped with stolen treasures, though he worried he had overlooked something.

• Zhao Ziren revealed that the Sea King’s plot had been anticipated and that the figure at the meeting was an illusion, while his real body had escaped.
• The Sea King joined Feng Jide and the righteous cultivators, who opened a passage to the Underworld and tracked the route to the Sea Market.
• Madam Jin received Zhao Ziren’s warning and raised the Sea Market’s defenses, but the Ye Family and other patrons refused to risk confronting the Thunder Division’s Vast Dharma Heavenly Lord.
• Zhao Ziren told Madam Jin to flee and reunite with Jin Liniang, whom he had sent away earlier, then returned secretly using a ghost-shadow avatar technique.
• Zhao Ziren killed several people, stole valuable treasures, and escaped with Madam Jin and several maids as panic and infighting engulfed the Sea Market.
• After witnessing Zhao Ziren’s escape, Madam Jin admired his foresight, while Zhao Ziren wondered whether he had overlooked something.

The Heavenly Court’s forces destroyed the Sea Market’s defenses and captured or killed its Unorthodox Path cultivators, while Zhao Ziren and Madam Jin escaped with stolen funds. Weeks later, Zhao Ziren reached the place where their daughter was hiding and found Li Ling waiting for him.

• Fan Renshi directed the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals to attack the Clam Demon King’s illusion with coordinated formations until it collapsed and exposed the Sea Market.
• Zuo Zhongliang led the forces into the market, where they killed resisting Unorthodox Path cultivators and arrested suspected collaborators for interrogation.
• The Sea King and his subordinates witnessed the Heavenly Court’s overwhelming strength and reconsidered which side to support.
• Zhao Ziren learned that the Mirage Tower had fallen, while he and Madam Jin continued their escape with the funds and servants they had taken.
• After traveling more than a hundred thousand li, Zhao Ziren and Madam Jin reached their daughter’s hiding place, where they found Li Ling waiting.

Li Ling confronted Zhao Ziren in the Netherworld Pure Land and revealed that a wisp of his wisdom fragrance had awakened Zhao and made him a ghost king. After overpowering him and capturing Madam Jin, Li Ling offered Zhao a chance to join the righteous path instead of killing him.

• Zhao Ziren recognized Li Ling as the source of the fragrance that had awakened him, while Li Ling divined how Zhao had gained his power.
• Li Ling explained that Zhao's rise to ghost-king status came from the wisdom dao fruit formed during Li Ling's battle with Ye Hengsheng.
• Zhao Ziren attacked Li Ling with the Karmic Fire Lotus, but Li Ling's illusory form evaded the flames and subdued Madam Jin with Spirit-Bewildering Incense.
• Zhao Ziren resisted the incense by burning himself with the Karmic Fire Lotus, but he could not harm Li Ling with either the lotus or the Nether King Technique.
• Li Ling used Madam Jin to distract Zhao Ziren, then pierced his soul with spiritual power and rendered him helpless.
• Li Ling sensed that Zhao Ziren still had goodness in his heart and offered him a chance to join the righteous path and serve him.

Li Ling offered Zhao Ziren three terms to persuade him to join: a rematch, protection for his daughter, and an attempt to revive his wife, Du Shi. Zhao Ziren accepted Li Ling’s help and met him at sea, where Li Ling explained the principles and limits of restoring her spirit.

• Zhao Ziren rejected Li Ling’s arguments but admitted he could not turn back from the Ghost Dao, and Li Ling proposed three terms to win him over.
• Zhao Ziren agreed to forgo the rematch, asked Li Ling to promise refuge for his daughter, and pledged to repay him if he attempted to revive Du Shi.
• Li Ling admitted he had never tried resurrection and asked Zhao Ziren to gather Du Shi’s birth details, belongings, place of death, and karmic ties.
• Three days later, Zhao Ziren met Li Ling’s avatar at sea, and Li Ling explained that Du Shi had been killed by Qi Refining cultivators, making her spirit easier to restore.
• Li Ling described resurrection as reuniting dispersed spirituality and explained that the process would be far harder if powerful cultivators or spells had caused the death.

Li Ling used Wengwu incense, the Stone of Time, and Zhao Ziren’s memories to retrieve Du Shi’s soul from the River of Time and resurrect her, though not fully restore her to life. After fulfilling his promise, Li Ling asked Zhao Ziren to honor his, and Zhao Ziren pledged himself to Li Ling’s service.

• Li Ling searched for traces of Du Shi’s spirit resonance and prepared Wengwu incense within his divine domain.
• As Zhao Ziren recalled Du Shi, the incense carried her spirituality through the River of Time until Li Ling summoned her back.
• Du Shi gradually regained a visible form and a faint voice, and Li Ling pulled her out of the River of Time to complete her resurrection.
• Li Ling explained that Du Shi could cultivate as a ghost but could not be restored to her former living state, then asked Zhao Ziren to fulfill his promise.
• Zhao Ziren knelt and swore to serve Li Ling without hesitation.

Zhao Ziren reunited with Du Shi and explained his plans to establish himself as the Lord of Nether Mountain. With Li Ling’s support, he joined forces with Fang Lin to move against the mountain’s aging ruler.

• Zhao Ziren told Du Shi about his rise to Ghost King and warned her that returning to the Ghost Soul Sect would be dangerous, so she agreed to begin a new life with him.
• Zhao Ziren revealed his plan to defeat the failing Millennium Zombie King and take control of Nether Mountain, while Du Shi forgave him for taking Madam Jin as a second wife.
• Zhao Ziren reunited Du Shi with Madam Jin and their daughter, and the women went to tell Liniang that her birth mother had returned.
• Fang Lin arrived with Li Ling’s token and offered to help Zhao Ziren establish himself in the Netherworld Soil so he could join the White Bone Sect.
• Zhao Ziren and Fang Lin agreed to occupy Nether Mountain and establish their rule, then set out for the mountain to confront its ruler.

Zhao Ziren and Fang Lin defeated the You Mountain Zombie King, after which Zhao Ziren claimed the mountain and built it into a prosperous Netherworld market and stronghold. Years later, the White Bone Sect’s Hundred-Eyed Boy arrived, drawing attention to Fang Lin and Nether Mountain.

• Zhao Ziren and Fang Lin attacked the You Mountain Zombie King together, and Fang Lin’s power of annihilation dispersed the resentment sustaining it.
• With Zhao Ziren’s permission, Fang Lin’s guardian Yakshas absorbed the corpse’s vital blood essence and yin baleful power.
• Zhao Ziren claimed the mountain as the You Mountain King and recruited followers, while Madam Jin opened entertainment venues and helped turn Nether Mountain into a busy market.
• Over three years, Zhao Ziren gathered ghost cultivators and five Core Formation ghost kings, and Nether Mountain became a renowned trading center visited by Li Ling’s Night Watchers and Zuo Zhongliang’s group.
• The White Bone Sect’s Hundred-Eyed Boy arrived at Nether Mountain, and the cultivators there recognized him as a powerful peak Nascent Soul cultivator with the potential to reach Spirit Transformation.

The Hundred-Eyed Boy visited Zhao Ziren’s territory to recruit Fang Lin into the White Bone Sect, but Fang Lin refused to become his disciple. After Fang Lin demonstrated his command of the Dao’s true essence, the Hundred-Eyed Boy offered him his widowed daughter’s hand and an immortal pill; Fang Lin accepted, and Zhao Ziren publicized the alliance as a powerful backing for Nether Mountain.

• The Hundred-Eyed Boy arrived at Zhao Ziren’s territory and asked to meet Fang Lin, whose white bones marked him as a White Bone Path genius.
• The Hundred-Eyed Boy invited Fang Lin to become his disciple, but Fang Lin refused and claimed that the Dharma King was unqualified to be his master.
• The Hundred-Eyed Boy tested Fang Lin with his sinister eyes, and Fang Lin’s nirvana lotus incense subdued most of them and revealed his command of the true essence of Dao arts.
• The Hundred-Eyed Boy offered Fang Lin his widowed daughter in marriage, Ripple Mountain, and an immortal pill, and Fang Lin accepted.
• The Hundred-Eyed Boy departed with Fang Lin, while Zhao Ziren spread news of the marriage and White Bone Sect alliance to strengthen Nether Mountain’s position.