Chapter Summaries

Zhou You defeated Wang Chong’s hired sports students and learned Wang Chong was not behind the earlier attack. Su Tingxue brought him home to receive True Lord Wenchang’s gift, a rare body-refining manual called the Ming King Body-Refining Art.

• Zhou You appeared behind Wang Chong, punched him down, and defeated the sports-school students who charged at him.
• Zhou You questioned Wang Chong, who admitted hiring the students out of jealousy over his relationship with Su Tingxue but denied arranging the earlier attack.
• Zhou You left with Su Tingxue, who offered to watch for suspicious activity and invited him to collect True Lord Wenchang’s gift.
• Su Tingxue showed Zhou You a messenger pigeon that transformed into an old book and feathers, leaving him with the Ming King Body-Refining Art.
• Su Tingxue explained that the manual had made True Lord Wenchang a formidable fighter, earning him the nickname Ming King and eventually attracting the emperor’s suspicion.

Zhou You began studying the Ming King Body-Refining Art after Chu Xiaoyao urged him to cultivate with his own insight instead of relying on her. Nuomi offered her hidden savings to support the sect, and the group went to retrieve them from Big Stone Lake, where she revealed the school administrator had been arranging fake exorcisms for profit.

• Chu Xiaoyao explained that Zhou You should study the Ming King Body-Refining Art and develop his own cultivation path rather than depend on her guidance.
• Nuomi offered to donate her secret stash, which she had hidden at the bottom of Big Stone Lake.
• Zhou You spent the school day studying the body-refining art and learned that refining his skin required whipping himself while circulating spiritual power.
• After class, Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao accompanied Nuomi to Big Stone Lake to retrieve her savings.
• Nuomi told Zhou You that the school administrator hired incompetent Taoist priests to pretend to exorcise her and split the money with them.

At Big Stone Lake, Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao discovered that Nuomi could not reach the stash she had hidden underwater because she was not a water ghost, while Ghost King Zhenyue secretly worried they might find the Humanity Supreme Treasure. After mosquito bites gave Zhou You an unexpected way to stimulate his skin, he began cultivating the Ming King Body-Refining Art, leaving Chu Xiaoyao still holding out the mosquito repellent.

• Nuomi repeatedly tried to enter Big Stone Lake to retrieve her stash, but an unknown force bounced her back out.
• Chu Xiaoyao reasoned that only water ghosts could enter the lake, and Zhou You confirmed that his soul could go in even though Nuomi could not.
• Nuomi refused Zhou You's suggestion to ask Su Tingxue for help, so Zhou You decided to master skin tempering and retrieve the stash himself.
• Ghost King Zhenyue watched them leave, relieved that the seal on the Humanity Supreme Treasure's box kept vengeful ghosts out.
• Back in the classroom, Zhou You realized his mosquito bites could stimulate his skin and began circulating spiritual power according to the Ming King Body-Refining Art.
• Chu Xiaoyao offered Zhou You mosquito repellent, but he became absorbed in cultivating before taking it.

Chu Xiaoyao explained how Gu Masters forged myriad poisons bodies as Zhou You reflected on his cultivation. Meanwhile, the Superpower Organization deciphered an ancient text about the Humanity Supreme Treasure and sent Soul King to confront its guardian, Ghost King Zhenyue; Soul King then ran into True Lord Wenchang and Dongyunzi in Washington.

• Chu Xiaoyao described Gu Masters and their myriad poisons bodies to Zhou You and Nuomi.
• Professor told the Seven Kings that Mind Master and Force Wielder had deciphered an ancient text revealing the Humanity Supreme Treasure’s location and its ghost king guardian, Zhenyue.
• Soul King volunteered to retrieve the treasure, and Professor ordered him to prepare to leave for the airport.
• True Lord Wenchang and Dongyunzi arrived in Washington and toured the streets while discussing the mortal world’s changes.
• Soul King bumped into True Lord Wenchang, then angrily demanded to know why the old man was staring at him.

The professor learned that True Lord Wenchang and Dongyunzi had injured the Soul King, while Zhou You investigated a suspicious weight-loss livestream and helped Su Tingxue identify its demon host. The chapter ended with Su Tingxue asking Zhou You to help capture a Poverty Ghost, and Zhou You suspecting she had called him poor.

• The professor ordered the injured Soul King brought to headquarters and summoned the Red King while weighing the risks of confronting True Lord Wenchang and Dongyunzi.
• Zhou You tried a mosquito-bite body-tempering method during school break, then continued studying and cultivating.
• Zhou You spotted scales and vertical pupils in a weight-loss stream and sent evidence to Su Tingxue, who identified the streamer as the repeat-offender snake demon Lin Ling'er and had her account banned.
• Su Tingxue video-called Zhou You and asked him to help exorcise a Poverty Ghost that made people lose money when they approached it.
• Zhou You misunderstood the request as Su Tingxue calling him poor, then remained suspicious even after she explained.

Zhou You agreed to help Su Tingxue deal with a new kind of Poverty Ghost that drained money through automatic purchases and loans. He met the indebted cultivator Kong Fan at the ghost’s apartment and learned the tragic story behind its haunting, leaving the group ready to confront it.

• Su Tingxue explained that the Poverty Ghost had defeated her old talismans, made her buy Albert Einstein's brain, and left its target buried in debt.
• Zhou You agreed to join Su Tingxue, then spent his fifty-yuan stash on food and discussed whether he could lend it to Chu Xiaoyao and Nuomi for safekeeping.
• Zhou You met Su Tingxue at the school gates, and they took a taxi to the residential complex where the Poverty Ghost was trapped.
• Kong Fan of the Azure Ox Temple greeted Zhou You and asked him to help remove the ghost from his apartment.
• Kong Fan explained that the ghost had lost its money through a failed milk tea franchise, loans, stock trading, and gambling before killing itself in the apartment.

Zhou You confronted the Poverty Ghost in Kong Fan’s house, where its curse had drained Kong Fan’s money. After Nuomi severed the ghost’s attempt to burn Zhou You’s remaining fifty yuan, Zhou You caught and beat it, but the ghost still had not been sealed as fragments of its soul drifted toward him.

• Zhou You entered Kong Fan’s dark house with Su Tingxue’s talisman and a flashlight to find the Poverty Ghost.
• The Poverty Ghost saw that Zhou You had no money and tried to dismiss him, but it discovered he had transferred fifty yuan to Second High School and set out to burn it.
• Nuomi noticed the ghost’s malicious thread reaching the fifty-yuan note and snapped it, forcing the Poverty Ghost’s consciousness back to its body.
• Zhou You chased the Poverty Ghost through the house, caught it in the darkness, and pinned it down with a beating.
• Zhou You’s talisman failed to seal the Poverty Ghost, so he kept beating it until it raised its hands in surrender; fragments of its soul then drifted toward his mouth.

Zhou You defeated the Poverty Ghost, whose curse failed because he was poorer, and gained the ghost’s ability to make people buy useless things. After collecting payment and returning to school, he shared shaved ice with Su Tingxue and found that Nuomi had safely protected his fifty yuan.

• Zhou You ate a bite of the Poverty Ghost, and its Poverty-Bound Curse shattered when it hit him.
• Zhou You told Su Tingxue what happened, and she concluded the curse failed because he was poorer than the Poverty Ghost.
• Kong Fan offered Zhou You payment through the Cultivation Forum, and Su Tingxue agreed to transfer the money for him.
• Zhou You tested his new ability on Su Tingxue, making her order talisman paper online before lifting the spell so she could request a refund.
• Zhou You borrowed six yuan from Su Tingxue to buy shaved ice, shared a bowl with her, and returned to school with three bowls.
• Nuomi showed Zhou You that it had protected his fifty yuan, and Zhou You offered to share his shaved ice.

Zhou You registered on the cultivation forum, explored its discussions and marketplace, and discovered that Kong Fan’s bounty thread praised the Free and Unfettered Gate for defeating a Poverty Ghost. He stayed up past midnight browsing the forum, pleased by the sect’s reputation but tempted to keep reading.

• Su Tingxue paid Zhou You eight pieces of spirit jade, then gifted him two more and explained how the cultivation forum and its virtual currency worked.
• Zhou You registered under the name “Swimming This Week?” and browsed threads about Sword Flight, religious arguments, and Kunlun Mountain’s bounty for the Humanity Supreme Treasure.
• Zhou You selected Chang'an City and found Kong Fan’s resolved bounty thread, where Kong Fan praised the Free and Unfettered Gate for defeating a new variety of Poverty Ghost in under ten minutes.
• Zhou You enjoyed reading cultivators speculate about the Free and Unfettered Gate, but chose not to post and risk revealing himself as its sect leader.
• Zhou You noticed it was past midnight and considered logging off, then hesitated because he wanted to keep browsing.

The Red King arrived in Chang'an City to investigate Ghost King Zhenyue and the missing supreme treasure of humanity. After observing Zhou You's classroom, he recognized Zhou You's deskmate as Calamity, the most powerful superhuman in history.

• Chu Xiaoyao asked Zhou You why he was tired, and he admitted he had stayed up browsing the Cultivation Forum.
• The Mind Master and the Force Wielder received the Red King at the airport and briefed him on Ghost King Zhenyue, Zhou You, and the Free and Unfettered Gate.
• The Red King criticized the pair's intelligence and went with them to a rooftop overlooking No. 2 High School.
• The Red King used special glasses to observe Zhou You and Ghost King Zhenyue, then froze when he looked at Zhou You's deskmate.
• The Red King angrily revealed that Zhou You's deskmate was Calamity, the most powerful superhuman in history.

The Red King recognized Chu Xiaoyao as Calamity, the powerful defector who had defeated the Seven Kings, and learned she was Zhou You’s closest companion. After confirming her identity, he informed the professor, who ordered him to keep watching Second High School for clues to the Humanity Supreme Treasure while avoiding Calamity.

• The Red King recalled how Calamity had overwhelmed the organization’s ability users five years earlier, and the Mind Master and Force Wielder feared they had nearly crossed her.
• The Red King suspected Calamity had come to find the Humanity Supreme Treasure, threatened the Force Wielder for questioning him, and ordered both men to investigate her identity without telling anyone she was there.
• The Mind Master and Force Wielder brought back a file identifying her as Chu Xiaoyao, adopted in Chang'an City, and saying she had been close to Zhou You since middle school.
• The Red King confirmed Chu Xiaoyao was Calamity and called the professor, who said the female ghost they had seen was not the Humanity Supreme Treasure’s guardian.
• The professor ordered the Red King to keep observing the school for clues to the treasure and warned him not to let Calamity discover him.

The Red King worried that Chu Xiaoyao had noticed his secret call, while Zhou You kept her focused on studying and later trained by letting mosquitoes bite him. The group ended the chapter at Big Stone Lake, where Chu Xiaoyao claimed her bloodline kept mosquitoes away and refused to use her powers to find Nuomi’s hidden stash.

• The Mind Master and Force Wielder considered apologizing to Zhou You, but the Force Wielder argued that Zhou You might still retaliate because of his ties to Calamity and Su Tingxue.
• Zhou You made Chu Xiaoyao review a math problem, and she turned toward the window as if she had detected the Red King listening in on his call with the professor.
• Zhou You turned Chu Xiaoyao back toward her work and gave her his solution to study.
• Zhou You, Chu Xiaoyao, and Nuomi went to the cafeteria, where Nuomi suggested burning offerings so she could eat, but Zhou You doubted the food would remain edible.
• Zhou You took Chu Xiaoyao and Nuomi to Big Stone Lake to train by letting mosquitoes bite him, while Chu Xiaoyao claimed her Ancient Jiuli Tribe bloodline kept the mosquitoes away.
• Chu Xiaoyao refused Zhou You’s request to use her superpowers to find Nuomi’s secret stash, saying she could not waste her limited uses on small things.

Zhou You explored the Cultivation Forum’s Heavenly Market and asked Su Tingxue about its most expensive listings. She revealed how rival sect leaders used forum permissions to promote themselves as the strongest under heaven, then left Zhou You with her candid assessment of Dragon Tiger Mountain’s leader.

• Zhou You browsed the Heavenly Market, found its prices mostly unaffordable, and sorted the listings from highest to lowest.
• Zhou You asked Su Tingxue whether the Sect Master of Kunlun Mountain was the strongest under heaven, and she explained how Kunlun Mountain and other major sects had invested in the forum.
• Su Tingxue told Zhou You that the True Martial Hall’s Hall Master and other faction leaders had set their own high prices to claim superiority, and warned him to keep the story secret.
• Su Tingxue said the Sect Master of Kunlun Mountain, the Hall Master of the True Martial Hall, and others were among the five greatest cultivators alive, but no one knew who was truly strongest.
• Su Tingxue agreed to sell Zhou You a spirit stone at a discount in exchange for asking Nuomi to fight her, then told him Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Sect Master was not that strong.

Zhou You browsed the Cultivation Forum, while Lu Tianxing found an unusual body-tempering suggestion to use in interrogating a prisoner. Su Tingxue challenged Nuomi again and lost, but paid the promised Spirit Stone and remained determined to improve.

• Zhou You read a post about True Lord Wenchang running for president and replied to a body-tempering thread that he used mosquitoes to bite him.
• Lu Tianxing, unable to break a body-tempering prisoner's resistance, saw Zhou You's reply and called the Beast Hall to ask about Foundation Establishment Realm mosquitoes.
• Nuomi eagerly accepted Su Tingxue's challenge, while Chu Xiaoyao speculated that Su Tingxue was following a path of repeated defeat and self-improvement.
• Su Tingxue used her Heart Eye to predict Nuomi's movements and trapped her briefly with an Immobility Talisman, but Nuomi broke free and defeated her again.
• Su Tingxue gave Nuomi the agreed Spirit Stone, and Nuomi pointed out that Su Tingxue still owed her for two earlier defeats.

The Red King’s team investigated Zhou You and Calamity, while Zhou You absorbed a spirit stone and considered taking a bounty to accelerate his cultivation. He decided to go bounty hunting with Chu Xiaoyao, leaving Nuomi to guard the Free and Unfettered Gate’s two desks.

• The Red King, Mind Master, and Force Wielder watched Su Tingxue and Calamity, then concluded that Calamity had used the female ghost to punish Su Tingxue out of jealousy over Zhou You.
• The Red King ordered the Mind Master and Force Wielder to write a formal report about Zhou You and Calamity’s relationship, then wondered whether Calamity had defeated Ghost King Zhenyue.
• Zhou You absorbed spiritual energy from Su Tingxue’s spirit stone and found that it greatly improved his cultivation and Skin Tempering speed.
• Zhou You considered taking a bounty to earn more spirit stones, and Chu Xiaoyao offered to accompany him.
• Nuomi volunteered to join them, but Chu Xiaoyao told her to stay behind and guard the Free and Unfettered Gate’s two desks.

Zhou You accepted a Cultivation Forum request to investigate a poster’s possible haunting, and arranged to visit after getting leave from evening self-study. Su Tingxue joined the planned trip, while Nuomi stayed home.

• Zhou You read a post by Bamboo Shoots with Pork about a puppy barking at unseen things and agreed to investigate for fifteen pieces of Spirit Jade.
• Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao asked Lao Gao for leave from evening self-study, claiming they had signed up for a discounted tutoring class.
• Zhou You told Su Tingxue about the help request, and she asked to join the investigation.
• Su Tingxue said she did not want payment, and Zhou You carried half her math test papers back to the office.
• Chu Xiaoyao told Su Tingxue that Nuomi would stay home and watch the house.

Zhou You, Chu Xiaoyao, and Su Tingxue visited Ji Sen’s apartment to investigate the strange occurrences he had reported, but their search found no sign of a ghost or magic. After Ji Sen’s dog Coal Ball vanished, two identical Ji Sens appeared and accused each other of being impostors.

• The Red King followed Zhou You, Chu Xiaoyao, and Su Tingxue to a noodle shop and recorded what they ate as vital intelligence.
• Zhou You, Chu Xiaoyao, and Su Tingxue met Ji Sen at Wanhe Residential Community and went to his apartment to investigate his frightening experiences.
• Ji Sen discovered that the unplugged television was on and the balcony window had been opened, though he insisted he had left it off and closed.
• Zhou You and Su Tingxue searched the apartment with their abilities but found no ghost, magic, or explanation for the strange events.
• Coal Ball vanished without a trace, and two identical Ji Sens appeared, each drawing his sword and demanding to know who the other was.

Zhou You and Su Tingxue confronted two Ji Sens before Chu Xiaoyao exposed the impostor as Lian Yi, a member of the Demon Alliance who had posed as Ji Sen’s dog Coal Ball for a year to feed on his fear. Lian Yi escaped the apartment, but the Red King caught her above the city and demanded answers.

• Two Ji Sens each proved they could access Ji Sen’s Cultivation Forum account, leaving Zhou You and Su Tingxue unable to identify the real one.
• Chu Xiaoyao recognized that the Ji Sen from the master bedroom was fake, and Zhou You attacked it.
• The impostor transformed into a girl, while Ji Sen learned she was Lian Yi and had been Coal Ball all along.
• Su Tingxue identified Lian Yi as a member of the Demon Alliance, and Lian Yi escaped through the balcony after introducing herself to Chu Xiaoyao.
• Lian Yi flew over the city, but the Red King bound her with flame chains and called her down for questioning.

The Red King captured Lian Yi and fought her through several transformations, but she escaped after he overpowered her. Back at Ji Sen's home, Chu Xiaoyao explained her bluff to Zhou You, who revealed he had helped Lian Yi buy a few things.

• The Red King, the Mind Master, and the Force Wielder captured Lian Yi on a rooftop and demanded to know what had happened at Ji Sen's home.
• Lian Yi escaped her restraints, fought the Red King's black flames with a flexible sword, and transformed into a white snake and then a poisonous flood dragon.
• The Red King burned away Lian Yi's venom and body of flame, but she shed her skin and escaped again.
• After Lian Yi left, Zhou You asked Chu Xiaoyao about her claim that Lian Yi could not escape, and Chu Xiaoyao said she had been trying to sound imposing.
• Zhou You agreed with Chu Xiaoyao's view of Lian Yi and said he had helped her buy a few things.

After discovering that Lian Yi had modified Ji Sen’s television to frighten him, Zhou You and the others learned more about the Demon Alliance and Lian Yi’s elaborate scheme. Lian Yi chose Chu Xiaoyao as her next target, but her search for information on the Free and Unfettered Gate led her to an unexpected delivery.

• Ji Sen explained that the Demon Alliance recruited cultivators who relished causing negative emotions, while Chu Xiaoyao claimed she had once subdued more than a thousand Demon Sects.
• Chu Xiaoyao dismantled the television, and Zhou You found a hidden generator that Lian Yi had installed to make it hiss and scare Ji Sen.
• Lian Yi, recovering from her injuries, decided to target Chu Xiaoyao and began searching the cultivation forums for information about the Free and Unfettered Gate.
• Lian Yi found no information about the Free and Unfettered Gate and suspected it was a powerful hidden sect.
• Lian Yi answered a call from a delivery driver and learned that twenty stone lions and fifty stone bollards were being delivered to her home.