Chapter Summaries

After Luo Yuguan and Ping Lei described their nightmares, Old Master Mo and the Skyward Martial Arts Hall identified the cause as two Dream Drifters draining their mental energy. Doudou demanded one of the rare creatures, while the group still had to decide how to catch them.

• Old Master Mo heard Luo Yuguan and Ping Lei explain their recurring nightmares and arranged to meet them again after they returned to their dorm.
• Luo Yuguan and Ping Lei delivered breakfast to Room 509, where their roommates noticed their improved moods.
• Old Master Mo and the Skyward Martial Arts Hall reported their findings to Red Banshee and concluded that two Dream Drifters were attaching themselves to the students.
• The group discussed how to capture the Dream Drifters, since their usual method of interrupting dreams might not work.
• Doudou called Qin Xiaoxia to ask for one of the Dream Drifters and, if they were male and female, requested the male for himself.
• Gou Junbao, touring the Los Angeles Branch with Xiao Lili, suddenly felt a chill in his crotch.

Old Master Mo and the others used a risky ritual to draw the Dream Drifters out of Luo Yuguan and Ping Lei, revealing two enormous, lethargic bugs. They transported the creatures to the Headquarters Mystic Realm, where Doudou was surprised by their size.

• Luo Yuguan and Ping Lei met Old Master Mo and went with him to a hotel far from campus for the ritual.
• Old Master Mo knocked the two men unconscious, then his companions gathered around them as their mental states changed.
• Old Master Mo used silver needles to stop Luo Yuguan's and Ping Lei's hearts and lungs, forcing two gigantic red Dream Drifters out of their bodies.
• The Dream Drifters curled up and refused to move, so the group pushed them out and loaded them into a vehicle.
• The group delivered the bugs to the Headquarters Mystic Realm, where Doudou saw that they were far larger than expected.

Qin Xiaoxia continued building the Dawn Association’s island defenses and planned to train Su Su to weave Mystic Realms, while Matsuda Yumi finished her first news broadcast in Japan. The chapter ended when Yumi found a trail of blood and a human head in the station’s parking garage.

• Qin Xiaoxia continued inscribing Spell Formation Arrays on Dawn Silent Moon Island and considered how the Association would manage its scarce magic crystals and future rewards.
• Qin Xiaoxia focused on teaching Su Su to weave Mystic Realms, and Su Su erupted with magic power before pretending she had merely sneezed.
• Matsuda Yumi presented a humorous report about Huaguo canceling steel shipments to South Korea after a customs dispute.
• Matsuda Yumi left the studio after her first broadcast and found a blood trail leading to a human head in the underground parking garage.

Matsuda Yumi discovered a murdered security guard’s severed head in the Television Station Building’s parking garage and escaped after believing she struck a shadowy figure. Later, Makino Kana visited Yumi at home and warned that a monster had targeted her.

• Matsuda Yumi found the severed head of security guard Mr. Ikebe and fled the garage, crashing her Honda as she escaped.
• Matsuda Yumi told the police she had seen and possibly hit a black shadow, while the trench-coated officer ordered searches for the rest of the body.
• Matsuda Yumi returned home with Matsuda Masamoto but remained too frightened to sleep.
• Makino Kana came to Yumi’s home, warned that a monster had set its sights on her, and claimed monsters existed in the world.

Makino Kana told Matsuda Yumi that a monster had been hiding at the TV station and revealed her group of spiritually gifted monster hunters. Meanwhile, Silent Knight Order members Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu arrived in Japan as an advance party to rebuild the Sun Island branch.

• Makino Kana warned Matsuda Yumi that the dark figure at the TV station was a monster that had recently begun killing, and suggested monsters might control parts of the government.
• Makino Kana demonstrated her strength and told Yumi that she belonged to a four-person group of spiritually gifted humans who had already killed a suspected Kappa in Hokkaido.
• Makino Kana said her group had been too frightened to confront the powerful monster at the TV station before it attacked.
• Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu arrived at East Tokyo Airport as the Silent Knight Order's advance party for rebuilding the Sun Island branch.

Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu arrived in Japan and followed a police response to East Tokyo Television Station, where officers had gone silent. As assault teams entered the building, the three sensed blood nearby, while six young people watched from a pedestrian overpass.

• Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu arrived in Japan and learned from a taxi driver about unresolved violent incidents in East Tokyo.
• The three noticed heavily armed police vehicles heading toward East Tokyo Television Station and rushed after them.
• They found the station surrounded by police vehicles, ambulances, snipers, and cordons, with the officers who had first investigated the murders dead or missing.
• A Special Incident Metropolitan Police Department commander ordered assault teams to enter the building, turn on the lights, and escort any survivors out.
• Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu watched from beyond the cordon and detected a faint smell of blood as six young people observed from a pedestrian overpass.

Japanese assault teams searched the television station and encountered a black, many-eyed monster on the ninth floor, suffering casualties before apparently killing it. Outside, Arang suddenly became ill while Kana tried to help him.

• Matsuda Yumi joined Makino Kana and their four friends as they anxiously watched the police operation at the television station.
• Assault teams searched the station, finding blood and suspected murder scenes but no bodies or survivors.
• After flashes and gunfire appeared around the ninth floor, a team reported finding and killing a monster, with one officer dead and two seriously wounded.
• The overall commander ordered the teams to continue searching and shoot any threats on sight.
• Arang began clutching his chest and dry-heaving, then told Kana he had suddenly struggled to breathe and felt sick.

Yuan Ye Zhifei’s visions revealed that the black creatures were targeting the police inside the television station, while Kumamoto Taro’s team discovered human eyeballs embedded in the first monster. The creatures reappeared and overwhelmed the assault officers, forcing Kumamoto Taro to order a retreat.

• Yuan Ye Zhifei sensed danger and urged his companions to leave the overpass, but Makino Kana persuaded the group to stay and watch the television station.
• Kumamoto Taro’s team finished sweeping the building, and researchers found human eyeballs embedded in the monster, suggesting that more creatures were present.
• Yuan Ye Zhifei experienced visions of shadowy hands attacking police officers and fled with his companions, warning that the officers could not defeat the monster.
• An assault officer suddenly opened fire on his comrades, and Kumamoto Taro knocked one colleague aside before three people were shot.
• Black sludge possessed the fallen officer as more eye-covered creatures emerged and killed several assault officers, while other fallen officers rose as puppets.
• Kumamoto Taro ordered the surviving officers to retreat with high-powered flashlights, and they shot the puppets’ knees to slow them down.

Huateng Dao Yi, Zuo Zhongqiu, and Clooney confronted the Puppeteer Demon Spirit outside the television station while police and survivors fled. After Yuan Ye Zhifei identified the creature, the three reservists fought its threads as the police launched rockets at the building, but the Demon’s magic power remained undiminished.

• Huateng Dao Yi, Zuo Zhongqiu, and Clooney rushed through the cordon and protected Kumamoto Taro and the surviving officers from the black shadow creatures.
• Huateng warned the police to evacuate and learned that people inside had vomited before changing and attacking their comrades.
• The three reservists fought the Demon’s black threads while the police retreated from the building.
• Yuan Ye Zhifei shouted that the monster was a Puppeteer Demon Spirit, and Huateng Dao Yi and Clooney broke its threads before they could strike Matsuda Yumi’s car.
• Matsuda Yumi drove away as the police fired rockets into the building, giving the three reservists a brief chance to catch their breath despite the Demon’s unchanged magic power.

Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu fought the Puppeteer Demon Spirit as it turned Japanese forces’ weapons against them and destroyed an announcing helicopter. Japanese aircraft then attacked the creature and the Television Station Building, ending with a missile blast engulfing the Demon Spirit.

• Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu dodged a rocket barrage after the Puppeteer Demon Spirit took control of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s launch teams.
• The three fighters survived the explosions, treated their injuries with Flower of Life petals and Vermilion Fruits, and warned the helicopter crew not to reveal the coming air strike.
• The Puppeteer Demon Spirit hurled the Television Station Building’s windows into the helicopter, killing most of its crew and revealing its enormous form outside the building.
• The Demon Spirit struck Huateng Dao Yi, Clooney, and Zuo Zhongqiu into nearby buildings as attack helicopters and an F-15 opened fire on it and the building.
• A tactical missile hit the building, and its massive explosion engulfed the nearby Puppeteer Demon Spirit.

Huateng Dao Yi and the other reservists survived the missile strike, but the Puppeteer Demon Spirit escaped before they could fight it. Qin Xiaoxia took Doudou to Japan to intervene, though he believed the situation had eased because the Demon Spirit had chickened out.

• Huateng Dao Yi, Zuo Zhongqiu, and Clooney saw that the missile strike had damaged the Puppeteer Demon Spirit but had not seriously hurt it.
• The Puppeteer Demon Spirit launched itself into the air with its magic threads and disappeared from the reservists' sight.
• Qin Xiaoxia considered which of Dawn's members could defeat the Demon Spirit, but none besides himself could respond in time.
• Qin Xiaoxia brought Doudou along to Japan and teased Doudou about showing interest in Gou Junbao's essence of posterity.
• Doudou swallowed two ice cream cones at the boarding gate, and Qin Xiaoxia hurried Doudou onto the plane.
• Doudou asked why Qin Xiaoxia no longer seemed rushed, and Qin Xiaoxia said the situation had improved because the Demon Spirit seemed to have chickened out.

After the missile strike, Japan’s authorities searched the ruins and questioned Matsuda Yumi while publicly blaming a failed military test. Makino Kana and her friends found the three mysterious Exorcists at the inn, where Qin Xiaoxia warned Yuan Ye Zhifei about his ability and prepared to take them to investigate the monsters.

• Japanese Self-Defense Forces searched the ruins, found blood but no bodies, and reported that the three mysterious warriors had likely survived and left.
• Special Incident Metropolitan Police Department officers brought Matsuda Yumi in for questioning, while news reports offered conflicting explanations for the missile strike.
• Yuan Ye Zhifei told Makino Kana that he had sensed the three Exorcists at the Rinya Inn, and Kana joined her friends to meet them.
• Qin Xiaoxia welcomed Kana and her friends, identified them without introductions, and warned Yuan Ye Zhifei that powerful beings could detect him using his ability.
• Qin Xiaoxia stood and caused the group to feel the building shake and the air grow oppressive before inviting them to see the monsters.

Qin Xiaoxia used Yuan Ye Zhifei's ability to locate the Puppeteer Demon Spirit beneath Daijing Bay, then raced there to attack it. The others set off after him as he unleashed a massive wave of magic power into the sea.

• Qin Xiaoxia persuaded Yuan Ye Zhifei to use his ability, and Yuan Ye discovered that the Puppeteer Demon Spirit was beneath Daijing Bay before suffering a dangerous injury.
• Qin Xiaoxia healed Yuan Ye Zhifei and left the group, using ice to propel himself rapidly toward Daijing Bay.
• Doudou urged Zuo Zhongqiu, Makino Kana, and the others to follow, and they pursued Qin Xiaoxia in taxis.
• Qin Xiaoxia reached Daijing Bay in under five minutes and sent a vast bowl of magic power plunging into the water, churning the sea into towering waves.

Qin Xiaoxia unleashed his magic on Daijing Bay, creating enormous waves and a whirlpool that trapped the puppeteer demon spirit. As Japanese and U.S. forces and onlookers reacted to the spectacle, Qin Xiaoxia sent lightning into the vortex to test its effect on the demon spirit.

• Qin Xiaoxia stirred Daijing Bay into towering waves, frightening people along the shore but causing no direct injuries or deaths.
• Qin Xiaoxia formed a magic zone and whirlpool that swept small boats toward shore and trapped the puppeteer demon spirit.
• Doudou, Zuo Zhongqiu, Huateng Dao Yi, and Clooney watched the storm from a rooftop as military helicopters responded and a television helicopter turned back.
• Qin Xiaoxia ignored the demon spirit's question and sent repeated lightning bolts into the whirlpool to test their effect.

Qin Xiaoxia defeated the Puppeteer Demon Spirit in Daijing Bay and compressed its remains into a black substance. Afterward, Japan’s government covered up the supernatural battle as a rare natural phenomenon, while Kana and the others remained shaken by the power they had witnessed.

• Qin Xiaoxia overwhelmed the Puppeteer Demon Spirit with a seawater vortex, lightning, and purple flames, ignoring its plea for mercy.
• Qin Xiaoxia swallowed the weakened Puppeteer Demon Spirit with a maw of water and flame, then compressed part of its remains.
• Doudou and Huateng Dao Yi recovered their dropped chips as witnesses on shore struggled to breathe under the pressure of Qin Xiaoxia’s battle.
• Japan’s government received a call from General Khalons and faced turmoil over the battle at Daijing Bay.
• A Japanese news station blamed the storm and vortex on a rare Earth-Moon Effect and ocean currents, while Doudou turned off the broadcast as Kana and the others watched Qin Xiaoxia nervously.

Qin Xiaoxia explained that monsters were awakened beings of their world who had once fought demons alongside humans, not simply creatures to be exorcised. Meanwhile, Japan’s officials shifted public attention away from the Wrath of the Sea God and began reconsidering the country’s response to supernatural incidents.

• Qin Xiaoxia warned Sato and the other students that hunting suspected monsters without training had put them in grave danger, and declined to take them as disciples.
• Qin Xiaoxia asked what they believed monsters were, then revealed that the monsters of ancient history had been powerful allies who defended the world from demons.
• Qin Xiaoxia told the students not to call their work exorcising monsters, while Doudou watched their shocked reactions.
• Japanese authorities redirected public attention toward scandals involving wealthy yacht-party guests, politicians, celebrities, and schools.
• Asakura Miya and Kumamoto Taro urged Japanese officials to take special incidents more seriously, noting that the Americans seemed to know more about the Wrath of the Sea God than they had disclosed.

The World Anti-Dark Tide Convention Alliance learned that Dawn had stopped a dangerous demon in Daijing Bay and that Japan had nearly let it escape. Back at Headquarters, Qin Xiaoxia returned with the demon’s corpse and asked Su Su to help test whether Gou Junbao’s essence could prevent immune rejection.

• The Alliance rated the Daijing Bay incident Class One, then learned from Tao Xingzhi’s Echo Flower contact that Dawn had destroyed an intelligent demon capable of controlling puppets.
• The Alliance discovered that Japan had mistakenly believed it had destroyed the demon and had promoted its botched response as a success.
• Charkus acquired land on Asakura Mountain for Dawn’s Japan Branch, while Huateng Dao Yi enrolled Makino Kana and four other youths in the Silent Knight Training Camp.
• Qin Xiaoxia returned to Headquarters with the demon’s corpse, which he gave to Mumu to sustain the Crystal Forest.
• Su Su told Qin Xiaoxia that Red Banshee was working on the Mystic Realm ring and that Gou Junbao and Xiao Lili had gone to help; Qin Xiaoxia then asked Su Su to test Gou Junbao’s essence for preventing immune rejection.

Qin Xiaoxia, Su Su, and Hama Pi tested the compatibility of Gou Junbao’s essence with living and nonliving materials while Hama Pi reaffirmed his resolve to carry out the Outer Realm Plan. The results supported Qin Xiaoxia’s hypothesis, and Gou Junbao remained on the Atlantic island with his wife and the Red Banshee.

• Qin Xiaoxia offered Hama Pi the chance to avoid the dangerous Outer Realm Plan, but Hama Pi declared he would carry it out to save his people.
• Su Su used divination to rank materials by their compatibility with Gou Junbao’s essence, finding that it could affect nonliving substances and that its effects depended on his strength.
• Qin Xiaoxia returned with a piece of the Puppeteer Demon Spirit’s corpse, and Su Su found it ranked between Mumu’s thorn tissue and the Eye of the Void’s secretion.
• Hama Pi separated the tadpoles from Gou Junbao’s essence in a centrifuge while Qin Xiaoxia reviewed the compatibility results.
• Gou Junbao offered to help the Red Banshee, but she told him to stay away while she worked on the beach.

Qin Xiaoxia began experiments using Gou Junbao’s catalyst to develop a new path to power and stronger materials. The first trial let salamander tissue and Baru’s blood coexist briefly, but the activated cells soon ran out of energy and died.

• Qin Xiaoxia asked Su Su to document a fusion experiment, and she reluctantly joined the work.
• Qin Xiaoxia prepared salamander tissue with Gou Junbao’s catalyst, and the tissue changed without its cells being damaged.
• Hama Pi supplied Baru’s blood, and Qin Xiaoxia added it to the culture dish as Su Su recorded the reaction.
• The salamander and Baru cells initially coexisted without an immune reaction, but they soon exhausted their energy and died.

Qin Xiaoxia and his companions tested the Gou-style catalyst on living tissue, blood, and various materials. They discovered that a calamity-like derivative could absorb magic crystal powder and metal, producing a threadlike substance that might be a new form of magic steel.

• Qin Xiaoxia tested the failed culture tank’s magical residue on rabbits, then continued experiments with tissue, nutrients, and blood from several Magic Beings.
• Su Su recorded how Magic Beings’ tissues and magic powers reacted to one another and to the Gou-style catalyst.
• The group found that the catalyst fused many materials, but magic crystal powder destroyed its active enzymes when used directly.
• Qin Xiaoxia poured a type A derivative into a mixture of magic crystal powder and metal, and it consumed them to grow metallic threads.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Hama Pi noted that the threads resembled magic steel, leaving the laboratory encouraged by the promising result.