Chapter Summaries

Wang Quan learned that Ruo Jinghong, the First Legion Commander, and the others had been captured in the Underworld while trying to retrieve the red deer's soul, and agreed to help them. Meanwhile, the ghost gods who had captured the cultivators founded Three Safeties City, until one recognized some of their prisoners from Emperor's Tomb City and alarmed the city lord.

• Wang Quan dismissed the legion commanders' confidence and agreed to hear how their companions had run into trouble in the Underworld.
• Ruo Jinghong, the First Legion Commander, Su Mali, and the other captured cultivators were forced to carry rocks under the ghost gods' whips.
• Ruo Jinghong and the First Legion Commander hoped Wang Quan would come rescue them, while the other prisoners regretted joining the expedition.
• The city lord and the ghost gods celebrated their remote refuge, named their planned settlement Three Safeties City, and discussed their captured Foundation Establishment laborers.
• A ghost god recognized some of the prisoners as people from Emperor's Tomb City, and the city lord dropped her wine cup in horror.

Wang Quan sent Ying Jiaren to the Underworld with his token, and the city lord released Ruo Jinghong, the First Legion commander, and the other cultivators without resistance. Ying Jiaren then arranged for the ghost gods to build a residence linking the Underworld and Present World, while the rescued cultivators learned how Wang Quan had bombarded City No. 95.

• The city lord feared that the cultivators might know Wang Quan, but the ghost gods dismissed the possibility until they heard that Ying Jiaren had arrived as Wang Quan’s Dao companion.
• In the Present World, Wang Quan recognized the city lord from the transmitted description and gave Ying Jiaren his token, saying their past connection would ensure the city lord cooperated.
• The city lord recognized Wang Quan’s token and agreed to release the human cultivators when Ying Jiaren asked.
• Ruo Jinghong, the First Legion commander, and the others reunited with Ying Jiaren, then feasted and ordered the ghost gods around.
• Ying Jiaren asked the city lord to have the ghost gods build a residence connected to its counterpart in the Present World, and he agreed.
• Ruo Jinghong told the First Legion commander how Wang Quan had used the Sky Patrol Magic Treasure to bombard City No. 95.

Ying Jiaren arranged for ghosts and gods from the Underworld to work in the Present World, and Wang Quan performed a ritual to summon them. The first ghost-god arrived and greeted Wang Quan, confirming that the city lord’s claims about him were true.

• Ying Jiaren persuaded the Underworld’s ghosts and gods to work for her in the Present World in exchange for resources and access to spirit monsters.
• The ghosts and gods built Ying Jiaren a residence, while the city lord stayed behind to oversee the Underworld and asked the others to tell Wang Quan that he wanted to follow him.
• Wang Quan gathered ritual materials from spirit monsters and used the Five-Colored Earth Altar to open a passage to the Underworld.
• The city lord urged the departing ghosts and gods to obey Wang Quan and sent messages asking him to let the city lord follow him.
• A ghost-god climbed the incense chain into the Present World, bowed to Wang Quan, and said that everything the city lord had told it was true.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren settled the ghost gods in the Far Northern Land, then cultivated together while Wang Quan deciphered a Daoist scripture that turned out to be a series of family search diaries. After reading several accounts without learning whether the family reunited, Ying Jiaren declared she was swearing off sex.

• Wang Quan told the ghost god he planned to return to City No. 95 in a few days, while the ghost god said the group would stay in the Far Northern Land.
• Three hundred and sixty-five ghost gods entered the Present World and built a residence there at Ying Jiaren's request.
• Ying Jiaren asked Ruo Jinghong to guard the entrance while she and Wang Quan cultivated in seclusion.
• Wang Quan deciphered a scripture recounting a Great Heavenly Ghost, a Great Heavenly God, and their children searching for one another across the Underworld.
• After Wang Quan continued studying the scripture and practicing with Ying Jiaren, she complained that wine and sex had hindered Bitter Cold City's development and swore off sex.

As Bitter Cold City grew stronger and more self-sufficient, Ruo Jinghong discovered that Mei Niang, Niu Dali, and many other powerful cultivators had vanished. The cultivators gathered in the council hall and decided to search for them.

• Bitter Cold City strengthened its land and began growing crops, giving its residents hope that it could become self-sufficient like Stone City.
• Ruo Jinghong realized that Mei Niang, Ma Qingqiu, Niu Dali, and other cultivators had not returned or answered their identity tokens.
• The First Legion commander reported that five or six legion commanders and several top-tier grand cultivators were also missing.
• Ruo Jinghong and the First Legion commander convened a council meeting, where the cultivators established that the missing had last been seen after the banquet.
• Ruo Jinghong urged everyone to cast spells to find the missing cultivators and recover them alive or dead.

Dao Seal Cultivators failed to locate the missing cultivators, so one practitioner after another tried unusual divination methods. Ruo Jinghong went to borrow Ying Jiaren’s Five-Colored Altar, but Ying Jiaren dragged her into her room before agreeing to deliver it.

• Ruo Jinghong and the other Dao Seal Cultivators could not find any trace of the missing cultivators through their calculations.
• A cultivator used hearts and mouths in a divination ritual, briefly glimpsed Ma Qingqiu and the others, then suffered an explosive backlash from an expert blocking his spell.
• A female cultivator announced that she practiced a fate spell and asked to use Ying Jiaren’s Five-Colored Altar.
• Ruo Jinghong went to borrow the altar, and Ying Jiaren pulled her into the room after opening the door.
• Ying Jiaren agreed to deliver the altar while Ruo Jinghong turned into blue smoke and followed her, protesting that Tongtong was waiting outside.

Wang Quan and the cultivators attacked Vertical Eye in the Underworld, then uncovered Ma Qingqiu, Mei Niang, and the legion commanders in a compromising state with evil beings. The chapter ended with the exposed group seeing their monstrous reflections in Wang Quan’s mirror.

• Ying Jiaren and the cultivators used the People-Crossing Scripture to locate and attack Vertical Eye in the Underworld beneath Bitter Cold City.
• Ruo Jinghong informed Wang Quan, who rushed to the Underworld as Vertical Eye repeatedly revived after being destroyed.
• The cultivators gathered and followed the injured female cultivator to an underground chamber where the legion commanders were trapped.
• Wang Quan and the cultivators opened the chamber, revealing Ma Qingqiu, Mei Niang, and others with the eyeball-covered commanders.
• Wang Quan showed the group their reflections in a mirror, and they reacted with horror at their altered appearances.

Wang Quan and his allies fought Vertical Eye and tried to cleanse the parasites from Mei Niang and the other cultivators. As the legion commanders resisted being cleansed, Wang Quan suspected a hidden plan, but Vertical Eye claimed he was only a tool and had been ordered to remain until tomorrow.

• Mei Niang and the other cultivators awoke from Vertical Eye’s illusion and found vertical eyes growing on their bodies.
• Mei Niang gouged out the eyes and used the People-Crossing Scripture, but Wang Quan saw that the parasites had already burrowed deep into her cultivation channels.
• Mei Niang replaced her body, tore out the Ninth Legion Commander’s spine, and was blasted away by Feng Jiliao, who said he was obeying his master.
• Wang Quan ordered Ying Jiaren and the others to bind and attack Vertical Eye with the People-Crossing Scripture, while the First Legion Commander’s Dao Seal Cultivators worked to cleanse the affected cultivators.
• The legion commanders refused to be cleansed because their Yang Spirits had become entirely covered in vertical eyes, so Wang Quan prepared to unleash thunderfire if anything went wrong.
• Wang Quan questioned Vertical Eye about his plan, and Vertical Eye said he was only a tool eye ordered to stay in the Underworld until tomorrow.

Wang Quan prepared temporary Thunderfire charges as unease spread among the cultivators, while Mei Niang and the others suffered under Vertical Eye’s corruption. Ma Qingqiu and the others learned to transfer their pain to Vertical Eye, then turned on the legion commanders; Wang Quan began a ritual to search for hidden enemies.

• Wang Quan stored temporary Thunderfire charges, intending to use their shock waves to hold back a threat.
• Ying Jiaren and the other cultivators gathered on Wang Quan’s cloud and formed defenses as Mei Niang and the others suffered and were tempted to join the legion commanders.
• The commanders of the Second and Ninth Legions taught Ma Qingqiu and the others a spell that transferred their pain to Vertical Eye.
• After the spell relieved their suffering, Ma Qingqiu kicked the Second Legion commander and led Niu Dali, Fierce Tiger Daoist, and the others into a fight with the commanders.
• Wang Quan set up an altar to search for hidden enemies while the heart-mouth cultivator and the spinning-wheel female cultivator offered to help, and he gave them Drowning Water to strengthen their spells.

Wang Quan sensed that summoning the [Sky Patrol Magic Treasure] would draw a greater danger, so he planned to use it as bait before striking with the [Drowning Dao Court]. In the Underworld, the Ninth Reincarnation King prepared to confront the treasure, while Vertical Eye's true body appeared before Wang Quan and the cultivators.

• Wang Quan abandoned summoning the [Sky Patrol Magic Treasure] at first, then decided to use it as bait and follow with a strike from the [Drowning Dao Court].
• The Ninth Reincarnation King revealed his plan to destroy the [Sky Patrol Magic Treasure] and open a weakness in the Drowning Dao's defenses, then prepared a teleportation ritual after learning the target was locked on.
• Ma Qingqiu and the others sensed danger and fled, while Wang Quan stayed silent because he did not know whether they were human or anomalies.
• Vertical Eye's true body emerged from the shattered mirror and destroyed the defenses protecting Heart Mouth and Spinning Wheel.
• The First Legion commander ordered the cultivators to seal the area, hinder Vertical Eye's escape, attack its body, cloud its eye, and recite the [People-Crossing Scripture].

Wang Quan and the First Legion attacked Vertical Eye, only to discover that the eye they had targeted was one of countless eyes and that Vertical Eye’s true body was forcing its way into their world. Trapped and unable to flee, they prepared to attack the avatar instead.

• Wang Quan amplified a toad-shaped cultivator’s thunderfire, and the First Legion’s attacks made Vertical Eye’s apparent true body retreat.
• Wang Quan and the cultivators discovered that endless vertical eyes surrounded the eye they had attacked, then hurriedly stopped their assault.
• Vertical Eye’s avatar opened a path for the jade-like true body, which resisted the People-Crossing Scripture and began squeezing through the vortex.
• The First Legion tried to return to the Present World but found itself trapped, while Vertical Eye’s power caused eyes to appear on some cultivators’ bodies.
• Wang Quan urged the cultivators to attack Vertical Eye’s avatar for revenge, and the First Legion commander agreed.

Wang Quan used the [Self-Crossing Scripture] to permanently destroy two of [Vertical Eye]'s inner eyes, stopping its true body from squeezing through the vortex and killing Avatar No. 11086. [Vertical Eye] resolved to corrupt Wang Quan and force him to reveal how he had damaged it as it continued squeezing through.

• The First Legion Commander and the other cultivators attacked Vertical Eye's avatar with the [People-Crossing Scripture] while trying to seal the vortex, but their magic artifacts shattered.
• Wang Quan told the cultivators to move aside and claimed he would suppress [Vertical Eye], then used the [Self-Crossing Scripture] instead of the [Sky Patrol Magic Treasure].
• Wang Quan's scripture destroyed one of [Vertical Eye]'s inner eyes, halting its true body's advance and causing Avatar No. 11086 to crumble into ashes without reviving.
• Wang Quan struck [Vertical Eye]'s true body again with the [Self-Crossing Scripture], permanently erasing a second inner eye and reducing its power ceiling.
• [Vertical Eye] considered fleeing but decided to corrupt Wang Quan, make him its vessel, and uncover how he had permanently erased its power, then continued squeezing through the vortex.

Wang Quan summoned the full power of the Drowning Dao Court to stop Vertical Eye and the Ninth Reincarnation King, who had arrived with the Reincarnation Ring. The chapter ended as the Ninth Reincarnation King confronted the returning Dawn Sun Golden Needles and declared that he could hold off a Sky Patrol Magic Treasure.

• Wang Quan, Ruo Jinghong, the First Legion Commander, and the others attacked Vertical Eye with the People-Crossing Scripture as it descended and spread corruption.
• The Dawn Sun Golden Needle struck from the sky, shattering the vertical eyes on the ground and on Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others, then pierced Vertical Eye's main body.
• Wang Quan activated his authorization and ordered the Drowning Dao Court to unleash its full-power strike.
• The Ninth Reincarnation King descended on the Reincarnation Ring, blocked the returning golden needles, and caused several Dao Seal Cultivators who looked at his light pollution to transform into multicolored light.
• The Dawn Sun Golden Needles charged at the Ninth Reincarnation King, who gathered the light pollution around his hands and claimed he could hold off a Sky Patrol Magic Treasure.

The Ninth Reincarnation King battled the [Dawn Sun Golden Needle] until [Vertical Eye] betrayed him, and the Earth Treasury God King’s projection finally appeared to destroy the Sky Patrol Magic Treasure. Their victory ended when a river of three thousand [Sky Patrol Magic Treasures] filled the sky, leaving the God King to declare there was no going back.

• The Ninth Reincarnation King fought the [Dawn Sun Golden Needle], and both he and his Reincarnation Ring suffered heavy damage.
• The [Dawn Sun Golden Needle] used [Vertical Eye] to smash the ring, and [Vertical Eye] admitted that the Sky Patrol Magic Treasure was controlling him.
• The Ninth Reincarnation King called for the Earth Treasury God King, whose projection appeared and captured the [Dawn Sun Golden Needle].
• The Earth Treasury God King’s projection crushed the embroidery needle, and [Vertical Eye] and the Ninth Reincarnation King praised him.
• A river of three thousand [Sky Patrol Magic Treasures] appeared in the sky, and the Earth Treasury God King said there was no going back.

The Drowning Dao Court struck the Earth Treasury God King's projection, the Ninth Reincarnation King, and a portion of Vertical Eye, trapping them as they tried to prepare farewell letters or escape. Its attack reached across countless possibilities and hooked their distant true bodies, leaving the Earth Treasury God King lamenting that his dead grandmaster, master, and senior brothers and junior sisters had led him astray.

• Wang Quan and the others saw the Drowning Dao Court split into three streams aimed at the Earth Treasury God King's projection, the Ninth Reincarnation King, and Vertical Eye.
• The Earth Treasury God King's projection explained that he was writing a farewell letter because a Heterodox Paths Dao Court strike left its targets time to write before dying.
• Vertical Eye failed to escape, wrote a farewell letter, and passed the writing materials to the Ninth Reincarnation King, who revealed that he was his own true body.
• The Drowning Dao Court struck, freezing their powers and sending rivers from their eyes that hooked distant true bodies across countless possibilities.
• The Ninth Reincarnation King and Vertical Eye lost consciousness as the Earth Treasury God King's palace fought the rivers, while the projection realized the strike could reach true bodies and cried that his elders had led him astray.

The newly reborn Tenth Reincarnation King found the Pinnacle of the Mountain Range already under construction and suspected an anomaly, but the Earth Treasury God King told him the work had been arranged before his seclusion. The Tenth Reincarnation King ordered construction to speed up, while the white-furred bei spirit invited his relatives to join the easy, well-paid work.

• The Tenth Reincarnation King was born in the Underworld’s revolving rings and set out to forge the Pinnacle of the Mountain Range.
• Severed Arm whipped the laborers at the construction site while a white-furred bei spirit persuaded the evils to hire him as their strategist.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King arrived at the site, was mistakenly called the Ninth Reincarnation King, and secretly watched the work as a lantern spirit monster.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King contacted the Earth Treasury God King, who said the project had begun before his seclusion and ordered him to keep working.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King promised greater rewards for faster construction, and the white-furred bei spirit wrote to his many relatives to invite them to work.

Earth Treasury God King mourned his defeat by the [Drowning Dao Court] and discovered that [Vertical Eye] had died, yet blamed the world and vowed to welcome a new era. In the Underworld, Ma Qingqiu and the Second Legion commander chose to revive [Vertical Eye], while Fierce Tiger Daoist and his companions left to return to reality.

• Earth Treasury God King considered how to defend against Dao Courts after the [Drowning Dao Court] severely wounded him.
• Earth Treasury God King found [Vertical Eye]'s true body reduced to ashes and realized his influence over the [Strange Eye Alliance] had weakened.
• Rivers of weapons and treasures swept the [Vertical Eyes] away from Ma Qingqiu, Fierce Tiger Daoist, and the other Dao Seal Cultivators.
• Fierce Tiger Daoist and several cultivators parted ways with Ma Qingqiu's group, choosing to seek the Underworld region corresponding to Bitter Cold City and return to reality.
• Ma Qingqiu and the Second Legion commander began researching how to revive [Vertical Eye], with Niu Dali offering to help.

The lord of City No. 95 fled the Far Northern Land to escape Wang Quan, only to return to a radically transformed city where he could no longer enter his residence or enjoy his former privileges. He ended up sharing an urn with ordinary ghosts and monsters, longing for the luxuries they now received through their labor.

• After witnessing Wang Quan use the [Drowning Dao Court], the lord of City No. 95 decided to flee back to the Far Western Land and set off carrying his residence in a bundle.
• The lord returned to City No. 95 in Emperor's Tomb City and found its once-dark alleys brightly lit and bustling with ghosts and monsters.
• At the former site of his residence, the lord learned that No. 95 Courtyard had become the new city lord's residence, but its stone lions refused to recognize his great seal.
• Unable to claim his residence, the lord rented space in an urn and learned that ghosts and monsters worked for City Lord Flower-Scatter to earn human-world flesh and blood.
• The lord tasted diluted blood and smelled beef through a crack in the wall, then lamented that ordinary ghosts now enjoyed delicacies once reserved for his residence.

After defeating Vertical Eye and the other enemies, Wang Quan explained how to gain permissions by connecting the Underworld and the Present World, while Ying Jiaren prepared to pursue the same method. Wang Quan then examined his Dao Seal and the newly changed Chronicle of the Flower-Scatter Daoist's Struggles, uncertain whether his enemies had truly been killed.

• The First Legion commander and the other cultivators thanked Wang Quan, then asked how he had summoned the Drowning Dao Court and gained its permission.
• Wang Quan explained that connecting corresponding buildings in the Underworld and the Present World could grant permissions, and revealed that Ying Jiaren had been following the same method.
• Mei Niang dragged the First Legion commander away to discuss how they could make up for Ying Jiaren's advantages, while Ying Jiaren assigned Ruo Jinghong and Tongtong to guard her during cultivation.
• Wang Quan postponed spending time with Ying Jiaren so he could inspect his Dao Seal and the Chronicle of the Flower-Scatter Daoist's Struggles.
• Wang Quan found that his permission level had stayed the same and wondered whether the Drowning Dao Court had killed only avatars or projections of the Reincarnation King, Earth Treasury King, and Vertical Eye.

Wang Quan obtained the [Beacon Smoke] Diagram and decided to return to the Far Western Land to fill it with rebel armies. After a month of studying Daoist Scriptures with Ying Jiaren, he prepared to leave and pursue a Fifth-Grade Dao Seal.

• Wang Quan read how his killing of the three great demons had condensed their regrets into the first-tier [Beacon Smoke] Diagram, then branded and mastered the treasure.
• Wang Quan decided to return to the Far Western Land to find six rebel armies and complete the [Beacon Smoke] Diagram.
• Wang Quan approached Ying Jiaren and caused an agitated great cultivator to flee after the cultivator warned her that Wang Quan and Stone City’s cultivators had hysteria.
• Wang Quan dismissed the great cultivator’s advice, and Ying Jiaren agreed to study Daoist Scriptures and discuss linking the Present World to the Underworld with him.
• Wang Quan spent a month studying the [Scripture of Ghostly Tales, Divine Wandering, and the Transformations of Mountains and Rivers], deciphering thirty-six entries about ghosts and monsters.
• When Wang Quan prepared to return to the Far Western Land, Ying Jiaren sealed his mouth with [Beautiful Lady Yu] and urged him to keep cultivating toward a Fifth-Grade Dao Seal.