Chapter Summaries

Cheng Yu used Mad Song’s skill to summon a river of blood and devour the Half-Demons pursuing him. The last pursuer, a powerful Ink Lion, fought back but was swallowed along with the others.

• Cheng Yu had Niu Ba enter the Spirit Beast Bag, then drew Mad Song while momentum carried him across the ground.
• Cheng Yu activated Give It Here!, opening a rift in the sky that poured out a river of blood and dazed the arriving Half-Demons.
• The Half-Demon leader revealed his Ink Lion bloodline and transformed, but Little Red’s tentacles and blood river trapped him.
• Cheng Yu watched as a huge mouth formed from the blood river swallowed the Ink Lion and the remaining pursuers.

Cheng Yu returned to Wen Yang’s caravan after a night away, and the group resumed its journey across the Borderlands. After crossing the desert, they reached Haiqi City, a formidable Demon Race city guarded by towering Great Demons.

• Cheng Yu canceled Mad Song’s effect, devoured the river of blood, and set out with Niu Ba, who recovered from exhaustion by eating his feed.
• Cheng Yu and Niu Ba returned to Wen Yang’s camp at dawn, where Wen Yang welcomed Cheng Yu back and Wen Chen fed Niu Ba.
• Cheng Yu traveled with Wen Yang’s group to Purple Flame Pass, stayed at a trading camp outside the military fortress, and heard Wen Yang explain the frontier’s defenses.
• With a guide’s help, Wen Yang’s group crossed the desert and entered Demon Race territory.
• Wen Yang identified the vast city ahead as Haiqi City, while Cheng Yu observed the enormous Great Demons guarding its gates.

Cheng Yu and Wen Yang arrived in a Demon Race city and stayed at an inn run by Shopkeeper Hu and his daughter, Lingling. Wen Yang rejected Lingling’s request to leave with him, while Cheng Yu sensed unresolved feelings between them; Wen Yang left before he could explain their history.

• Cheng Yu stored Niu Ba in his system space before the caravan entered Demon Race territory, then observed the city’s diverse demons and architecture.
• Wen Yang brought the caravan to Shopkeeper Hu’s inn, where Lingling greeted him eagerly and Hu told her to hang out a “No vacancies” sign.
• Cheng Yu noticed Shopkeeper Hu was secretly reading an adult book while Lingling swept the inn.
• Lingling asked Wen Yang how long he would stay and whether she could leave with him, but Wen Yang refused and told her to forget him.
• Cheng Yu invited Wen Yang to share his story, but the caravan members came downstairs before Wen Yang could explain, and Cheng Yu returned to his room.

Cheng Yu chose not to involve himself in a dispute between Wen Yang’s caravan and Demon Race visitors, then listened as Wen Yang recounted how he had fallen in love with Lingling and later chose his career over her. The chapter left Wen Yang’s unresolved feelings about Lingling unaddressed, while Cheng Yu declined to offer him advice.

• Cheng Yu heard a commotion downstairs but stayed in his room, deciding that helping Wen Yang would bring him no benefit and could expose his abilities.
• Shopkeeper Hu warned someone downstairs, and the disturbance soon subsided.
• Wen Yang visited Cheng Yu and hinted that he had found it easy to remain uninvolved, but Cheng Yu brushed off the criticism.
• Wen Yang explained that he and Shopkeeper Hu had met while rescuing the injured Shopkeeper Hu and Lingling near the border between Humankind and the Demon Race.
• Wen Yang recalled falling in love with Lingling, choosing his career after his father showed him how Half-Demons were treated, and gradually distancing himself from her over the next five years.
• Cheng Yu judged that Wen Yang had wanted to keep both his career and Lingling’s devotion, then refused to counsel him.

Cheng Yu faced down Pig Three, who came to threaten Shopkeeper Hu’s inn and intimidate the humans staying there. After Cheng Yu cited the Demon Laws and warned Pig Three of the consequences, Pig Three fled, while Lingling trembled behind Shopkeeper Hu.

• Cheng Yu told Wen Yang that he was attached to appearances, and Wen Yang left his room.
• The next morning, Lingling asked Cheng Yu whether he knew Wen Yang and what kind of life he had led, and Cheng Yu said they had known each other for less than a year.
• Pig Three and a Dog Demon confronted Cheng Yu and warned him to leave Shopkeeper Hu’s inn, claiming Pig Three controlled business in Haiqi City.
• Cheng Yu cited the Demon Laws and threatened to report Pig Three to the Heavenly Martial Directorate.
• Pig Three fled with his lackeys, and Cheng Yu realized that Lingling had been the target of the demons’ harassment.

Cheng Yu used his knowledge of the Demon Laws to drive Pig Three off and reassured Wen Yang that the caravan could sell his goods without fear. Pig Three learned that his actions could bring a severe punishment, while Cheng Yu headed toward the Heavenly Martial Directorate to keep him in line.

• Shopkeeper Hu thanked Cheng Yu for helping him and Lingling, and Lingling ate the meal Cheng Yu had declined.
• Lingling asked how Cheng Yu knew the Demon Laws, and he claimed that a friend in the Demon Race had told him.
• Wen Yang told Cheng Yu that a major demon merchant was obstructing the caravan, and Lingling revealed that Cheng Yu had already driven Pig Three away by citing the Demon Laws.
• Cheng Yu entrusted his goods to Wen Yang to sell and set out for the Heavenly Martial Directorate's headquarters in Haiqi City.
• Pig Three asked a scholar whether he had violated the Demon Laws, and the scholar warned that he could be convicted and reduced to livestock.

Cheng Yu finished his business in Haiqi City and left for human territory after warning Wen Yang that the caravan might be targeted outside the city. A Heavenly Martial Directorate guard spotted Niu Ba’s powerful Demon Race bloodline but chose to return to the city rather than pursue them.

• A Heavenly Martial Guard questioned Cheng Yu at the tea stall, and Cheng Yu explained that he was protecting his business from a wealthy Demon Race merchant.
• Wen Yang paid Cheng Yu his share of the profits, and Cheng Yu declared their accounts settled before warning Wen Yang to guard the caravan.
• Cheng Yu left Haiqi City before the gates closed and released Niu Ba on the road toward human territory.
• A Heavenly Martial Directorate guard found the place where Cheng Yu had departed and, after noticing Niu Ba’s bloodline, returned to Haiqi City to seek his commander’s instructions.

Cheng Yu and Niu Ba reached Azure Sky City and discovered that the city was corrupted by unknown information pollution, with its guards and residents transformed into monsters. Cheng Yu entered the city to investigate the Demon-Worshipping Cult and Broken-Heart Half-Demon, then attacked a guard during inspection.

• Cheng Yu persuaded Niu Ba to race across the desert to Azure Sky City, and Niu Ba reached the city exhausted but proud.
• Near the city, Cheng Yu resisted unknown information pollution while Niu Ba transformed into a powerful bull and warned that they needed to flee.
• Cheng Yu saw the city walls and gate become monstrous and watched guards pierce real people's heads with mouthparts before sending them inside.
• Cheng Yu hid Niu Ba in a Spirit Beast Bag, stored it in system space, and entered the city while considering the Demon-Worshipping Cult's and Broken-Heart Half-Demon's motives.
• When a monster guard demanded Cheng Yu's Identity Token and weapons, Cheng Yu drew a strange blade and severed its mouthpart.

Cheng Yu summoned Little Red as a gigantic Blood Lion and unleashed a devastating assault on the living sludge wall and the Demon Monsters attacking Azure Sky City. Inside the city, Liang Fei and his subordinates remained cut off from headquarters as the blood river crashed toward them.

• Cheng Yu opened a rift for Little Red, then expanded it into a huge opening and summoned a two-hundred-meter-tall Blood Lion outside Azure Sky City.
• Cheng Yu saw Demon Monsters attacking people inside and outside the city, while Little Red spread a lake of blood that consumed creatures near the walls.
• The Blood Lion cleaved through the sludge wall and hurled a blade that transformed into raining blood-red human heads inside the city.
• Liang Fei learned that his subordinates could not contact headquarters or the Director-General while they fought Demon Monsters in the city.
• Liang Fei and the flying girl watched the Blood Lion tear open the wall as a massive river of blood surged into the city.

Cheng Yu watched Little Red rampage through Azure Sky City while he waited for its enemies to be eliminated. Little Red consumed Mud Wall, grew to a colossal size, and began slaughtering the city’s Demon Monsters as Blood Lion carried Cheng Yu into the city.

• Cheng Yu decided to wait for Little Red to eliminate the threats because he could not recall it without exposing his identity as Yunyangzi.
• Liang Fei led the Demon Suppression Guards toward the city center as the blood river swallowed buildings and Demon Monsters.
• Little Red tore into Mud Wall, and Cheng Yu questioned whether its ability to assimilate nonliving things had weakened or disappeared.
• Little Red formed a gigantic head, devoured Mud Wall, and grew to eight or nine hundred meters tall.
• Little Red’s black threads drained at least a third of Azure Sky City’s Demon Monsters, then it poured blackish-red liquid over the city as Blood Lion carried Cheng Yu inside.

Cheng Yu used Little Red to devastate Azure Sky City, then stopped it and left after bluffing Wang Xu into revealing himself. Wang Xu and a cloaked figure decided to turn the city into a stronghold for the Divine Cult.

• Little Red devoured Azure Sky City's inhabitants and forces, while its grating laughter badly injured Liang Fei and the girl.
• Cheng Yu stopped Little Red and challenged whoever was hiding in the city to come out.
• Wang Xu, a senior Demon Suppression Bureau inspector, appeared and invited Cheng Yu, who gave the alias Juexin and refused to stay.
• Cheng Yu used Mad Song to devour Little Red and walked out of the city as Wang Xu watched.
• Wang Xu and a cloaked figure discussed Cheng Yu's possible identity and the risks of confronting him.
• Wang Xu decided to turn all of Azure Sky City into a shell for the Divine Cult.

Cheng Yu escaped Azure Sky City with Niu Ba and learned that Niu Ba’s teacher had discussed Humankind’s Demon Suppression Bureau. After realizing how much Niu Ba knew about the Demon Race, Cheng Yu warned him to keep its secrets hidden as they continued their journey.

• Cheng Yu checked with the System that nobody was following him, then summoned Niu Ba and rode away from the city.
• Cheng Yu and Niu Ba stopped by a boulder at midnight, where Niu Ba recalled that his teacher, Yan Yiyun, had analyzed Humankind and the Demon Suppression Bureau.
• Cheng Yu realized Niu Ba belonged to the clan he had suspected and asked him to remember Yan Yiyun’s name.
• Cheng Yu warned Niu Ba not to reveal anything about the Demon Race or its important figures to humans, explaining that people might pursue him for the secrets he carried.
• Niu Ba said he trusted Cheng Yu because they were friends, and Cheng Yu accepted his loyalty while keeping the warning in place.

After eight months of travel, Cheng Yu stopped at a post station on the road to Fuzhou City, where he planned to leave the Southern Continent for the Eastern Continent. He worried that the Demon-Worshipping Cult, Wang Xu, and the Demon Race were part of a wider plot, then went to listen for rumors before continuing his journey.

• Cheng Yu arrived at a post station near Fuzhou City, rented room seventeen, and let Niu Ba out to rest.
• Cheng Yu reflected on Wang Xu's ties to the Demon-Worshipping Cult and suspected that the Demon Race was stirring up Baiyue Prefecture.
• Cheng Yu considered whether the Demon Race and Humankind had each fostered organizations in the other's territory, and decided to leave the Southern Continent before the situation worsened.
• Cheng Yu recalled that free Teleportation Arrays had helped him travel for eight months, but that he had to take the official road to reach Fuzhou City.
• Cheng Yu went downstairs, ordered tea, and listened inconspicuously for rumors that might help him avoid trouble.

Cheng Yu heard reports about Azure Sky City’s rebuilding effort and the mysterious Juexin appearing on the Southern Continent Loose Cultivator Ranking. He recognized the powerful young lord of the Qilin who approached him at the inn, then returned to his room determined to keep posing as an ordinary Daoist.

• Cheng Yu overheard travelers discussing the Demon-Worshipping Cult’s attacks and the Prefect of Azure Sky City’s offer to attract settlers and merchants.
• Cheng Yu learned that Juexin had appeared on the Southern Continent Loose Cultivator Ranking and that the Southern Continent Demon Suppression Bureau’s Left Inspector could not match them.
• Cheng Yu smiled at a story about the Demon Race’s Divine Strategy Great General killing the Demon-Worshipping Cult Leader, then a lavishly dressed man asked to sit with him.
• Cheng Yu excused himself and went upstairs, while the man watched him and murmured that he was interesting.
• Cheng Yu privately panicked with the System about the Qilin’s young lord recognizing him, then resolved to maintain his Daoist disguise and avoid drawing attention.

Cheng Yu reached Fuzhou City and learned about routes to the Eastern Continent while avoiding involvement with Ji Han’s official business. As he resolved to leave the Southern Continent, Cheng Ming revealed that he intended to prevent the Demon Race from taking Baiyue Prefecture and later interfere in Humankind’s plans for the Northern Abyss Islands.

• Cheng Yu arrived in Fuzhou City just before the deadline and briefly met Ji Han, who was preparing to welcome an important visitor.
• Cheng Yu asked an innkeeper about reaching the Eastern Continent and learned that a Teleportation Array was fastest while a Heavenly Dynasty Maritime Bureau ship was cheapest.
• Cheng Yu bought supplies and saw Ji Han escorting a grand carriage through the city, prompting him to worry that several troubling events in the Southern Continent might be connected.
• Cheng Yu decided to leave the Southern Continent the next morning to avoid further trouble.
• Cheng Ming said he would keep Baiyue Prefecture from falling to the Demon Race and planned to intervene in Humankind’s Northern Abyss Islands plans after matters in the Southern Continent were settled.

Shen Yue’s Demon-Seeding Secret Art corrupted Ji Hu and pushed Baiyue Prefecture toward rebellion, giving the Demon Race a chance to seize the Southern Continent. Cheng Ming traveled there as the Qilin’s young lord, intending to eliminate Ji Hu, while Cheng Yu slept unaware that the region had become a powder keg.

• Shen Yue spread the Demon-Seeding Secret Art in Baiyue Prefecture, and Ji Hu became a Demon after the art magnified his doubts about the Human Emperor.
• Ji Hu shut down Baiyue Prefecture’s Teleportation Arrays, killed the Inspector, and brought the prefecture closer to breaking away from the Heavenly Dynasty.
• Shen Tian pressured Humankind while the Demon Race prepared to take the Southern Continent, and Qin Shuo supported the Half-Demons to divert its attention.
• The Qilin approached Humankind, and Cheng Ming set off for Fuzhou City to visit Baiyue Prefecture.
• Cheng Ming intended to eliminate Ji Hu, while Ji Hu accepted his visit without knowing its purpose.
• Cheng Yu slept at an inn with Niu Ba, unaware that Baiyue Prefecture had become a powder keg.

Cheng Ming killed Ji Hu and ended the rebellion in Baiyue Prefecture, while Cheng Yu left for the Eastern Continent by ferry after deciding the Teleportation Array fare was too expensive. He boarded a suspiciously rowdy flower boat and went to inspect its layout, expecting trouble.

• Cheng Ming confronted Ji Hu at the Demon Suppression Bureau, revealed he had come for Ji Hu's head, and killed him as he left the bureau.
• The Great Qin Celestial Dynasty replaced Baiyue Prefecture's officials and began purging the Demon-Worshipping Cult and the Demon Race's forces.
• Cheng Yu heard Fuzhou City's residents praise Ji Hu's supposed promotion and reflected on the irony of his fate.
• Cheng Yu learned that his special Identity Token could not give him free access to the Eastern Continent's Teleportation Array, so he chose a three-Origin-Stone ferry instead.
• Cheng Yu noticed the ferry's upper-deck passengers and worried he had bought a ticket for a flower boat, then boarded with Niu Ba stored in his Spirit Beast Bag and went to inspect the boat.

Cheng Yu endured the noisy voyage and spent quiet afternoons on deck with Niu Ba. When they saw a young woman about to jump overboard after a quarrel, Cheng Yu tried to comfort her with an improvised speech about love, then left her to reflect on it.

• Cheng Yu struggled to sleep through the passengers’ loud drinking and singing, so he spent afternoons resting on deck beside Niu Ba.
• Niu Ba noticed a young woman standing alone at the stern after a man stormed away and asked Cheng Yu why he would not save her.
• Cheng Yu questioned the woman about love and delivered a long, improvised reflection while she listened in silence.
• Cheng Yu left with Niu Ba before the woman could respond, and Niu Ba praised how impressive he had sounded.

Cheng Yu learned that a fresh death and a foul sea scent were nearby, just before soldiers searched the ship for a monster that had dragged someone overboard. The lower-deck passengers were confined for questioning as the investigation began.

• Niu Ba detected fresh human blood and a foul sea scent, so Cheng Yu put him in the Spirit Beast Bag and warned Nuan Yu that trouble was coming.
• Back in his room, Cheng Yu let Niu Ba out, and Niu Ba confirmed that someone nearby had died recently.
• Soldiers arrived on the lower deck and ordered all passengers out for a routine inspection.
• A sailor told the officer that a monster had leaped from the water and dragged someone away.
• The officer sealed the passage to the upper deck and ordered soldiers to search rooms and question the passengers.

Cheng Yu was questioned after a passenger vanished from the ship, and the soldiers suspected a Demon Monster was responsible. After another disappearance that night, Cheng Yu discovered a human skin stuffed with strange creatures clinging to the ship’s hull.

• Cheng Yu told the soldier questioning him that he had been asleep and that Nuan Yu and a sailor might confirm parts of his account.
• The soldier concluded that a Demon Monster might be aboard and ordered the lower deck sealed off.
• Cheng Yu asked the system whether a Demon Monster was responsible, and it confirmed that one was nearby.
• A passenger vanished from the room next door, and the soldier believed the Demon Monster had jumped into the sea.
• Cheng Yu heard Second Brother and Third Brother speaking outside his door, then spotted a figure clinging to the ship beneath Third Brother’s room.
• Lightning revealed that the figure was a human skin stuffed with small humanoid creatures, while its eyeless head stared at Cheng Yu.