Chapter Summaries

After three years studying Daoist Scriptures with Ying Jiaren, Wang Quan mastered [Ghost Tales: Scripture of Spirit Journeys and the Transformations of Mountains and Rivers] and gained the method [Days Past in a Single Thought]. Ying Jiaren could neither see nor hear the scripture, mistook Wang Quan’s claims for hysteria, and sent him back to the Far Western Land; left to manage her new mission, she became convinced she had caught hysteria too.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren spent three years practicing Beautiful Lady Yu and advanced their Daoist Scriptures beyond forty-two thousand volumes.
• Wang Quan completed his analysis of [Ghost Tales: Scripture of Spirit Journeys and the Transformations of Mountains and Rivers] and comprehended [Days Past in a Single Thought], a method for refining mountains and rivers and potentially traveling into the past.
• Wang Quan tried to teach Ying Jiaren the scripture, but she could neither see it nor hear its contents.
• Ying Jiaren urged Wang Quan to return to the Far Western Land, and several days later he left through a portal with Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others.
• Ying Jiaren took a mission to link the Underworld and the Present World, then mistook the delicate commander of the First Legion for someone else and concluded she had hysteria.

Wang Quan and his companions returned to Stone City and found it thriving after three years of rapid expansion and careful management. He gathered materials to make treasures that could change the Officiant and Dream Nun’s Foundation Establishment foundations, while Bump Spirit Monsters secretly postponed their plans after spotting his return.

• Wang Quan and his companions returned to Stone City and saw that it had grown more than tenfold, with a population approaching a hundred million and a stable food supply.
• Wang Quan inspected the city’s thriving crops, the fire mulberry tree, and the Bump Spirit Monsters cultivating the Fundamental Method of the Way of Idiocy.
• A group of unusually lucid Bump Spirit Monsters abandoned their secret society’s planned action when Wang Quan returned, deciding to wait until the Flower-Scatter Daoist left again.
• Wang Quan collected Purple Mansion Realm materials gathered by the city’s magical artifacts and planned to make treasures to change the Officiant and Dream Nun’s Foundation Establishment foundations.
• The Officiant and Dream Nun thanked Wang Quan, and the Officiant recorded his kindness in her heart.

Wang Quan organized the creation of foundation-establishment treasures in Stone City and secured his authority in Underworld City No. 95 before entering the Second-Layer World. There, he and the cultivators tried to clear the darkness blocking the temporary safe zone, but the final passage of scripture remained suppressed.

• Wang Quan had the Officiant, Dream Nun, spirit monsters, and New-Method Cultivators make gray-brick magic treasure blanks to strengthen the Foundation Establishment Dao Platform.
• After receiving word that someone was trying to seize his authority in Underworld City No. 95, Wang Quan changed its rules so intruders would be struck by lightning fueled by the city lord's yin virtue.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer World and found that a one-foot strip of darkness still blocked the temporary safe zone's final Dao script.
• Wang Quan recited the Self-Crossing Scripture, while Mei Niang, the Dao Seal Cultivators, and the Multi-Barreled Artillery beings attacked the darkness, but it resisted them.
• After three months without progress, Wang Quan and the cultivators accepted that the temporary safe zone might be sufficient even without completing it.

Wang Quan and the others failed to clear the last stretch of darkness around Stone City, so he sought inspiration by having the Bump Spirit Monsters repeatedly wash and refill his brains. After 366 brains, Wang Quan gained a sudden enlightenment, though the chapter left its consequences unstated.

• Wang Quan, Mei Niang, and the others tried for months to clear the final foot of darkness, but sunlight and every other method failed.
• Ruo Jinghong and the others decided to wear down the darkness slowly, while Wang Quan refused to accept that he could not solve the problem.
• Wang Quan sent his brain to the Bump Spirit Monsters, who performed a ritual, washed it, and filled it with liquid before returning it to him.
• Wang Quan gained insight into the darkness's connection to the 366 totems in the [Ghost's Scripture on Spirit-Roaming Mountains and Rivers and Their Transformations] and [Days Past in a Single Thought], but wanted more inspiration.
• Wang Quan repeatedly removed brains from himself and his main body for the Bump Spirit Monsters to wash, until they had processed 366 brains.
• Wang Quan put on the final brain and declared that he had attained enlightenment.

Wang Quan used twelve ghost diagrams to strengthen the temporary safe zone in the Second-Layer World, driving back the darkness and beginning a fierce battle with the Evils. After months of fighting, he told Ying Jiaren he could not meet her yet, and she said she would send him a treasure.

• Wang Quan encouraged the bump Spirit Monsters to continue researching their brain-flooding methods, then used their water-flooded brains to comprehend twelve ghost diagrams.
• Wang Quan imprinted the twelve diagrams into the temporary safe zone, greatly strengthening its light and pushing back the darkness.
• Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and other cultivators joined Wang Quan in cheering and working to drive the darkness away.
• The twelve diagrams collapsed, prompting the Evils to counterattack, but Wang Quan recreated the ghosts and the cultivators retained the upper hand.
• After months of the safe zone expanding, Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren he would not visit because he was establishing the zone, and Ying Jiaren said she would send him a treasure in a few days.

Wang Quan entered Officiant Daoist Nun’s Inner Landscape to rebuild her Foundation Establishment Dao Platform after the final materials were completed. He measured the ruined space and began arranging the materials and her cultivation methods, leaving the reconstruction underway.

• Dao Seal Cultivators and the Multi-Barreled Artillery Evils worked to clear the last speck of darkness in the Second-Layer World.
• Wang Quan learned that the final Foundation Establishment materials for Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun were ready and returned to meet them.
• Wang Quan shrank himself and entered Officiant Daoist Nun’s Inner Landscape through her nostril.
• Wang Quan surveyed the cramped, damaged Inner Landscape and used tools to measure it and choose a new location for the Dao Platform.
• Wang Quan sent out Paper People and played his flute as they began building with the materials and arranging Officiant Daoist Nun’s cultivation methods.

Wang Quan built Foundation Establishment Dao Platforms for the Officiant Daoist Nun and the Dream Nun, strengthening their cultivation and deepening his own understanding of the realm. As they considered how to repay him, purple light descended over Stone City and sparked a citywide celebration.

• Wang Quan completed a 108-tier Foundation Establishment Dao Platform for the Officiant Daoist Nun, giving her a path toward opening a Purple Mansion.
• Wang Quan entered the Dream Nun’s Inner Landscape and finished her Foundation Establishment Dao Platform in twenty hours.
• Wang Quan concluded that he had mastered the Foundation Establishment Realm and returned to work in the Second-Layer World.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun and the Dream Nun woke to discover they had 365-tier Dao Platforms that made them dozens of times stronger.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun and the Dream Nun discussed how to repay Wang Quan, then purple light descended over Stone City and its people cheered.

Stone City erupted in celebration after purple light granted cultivators rewards, while the city itself began transforming at an astonishing pace. Officiant, Dream, and the others suspected that the safe zone established in the Second-Layer World had affected the Present World.

• Great Wind-Driller and Pink Panther joined the martial artists and Spirit Monsters in celebrating the unexplained auspicious sign, and the New-Method Cultivators decided to celebrate it too.
• Millions of Orthodox Cultivators received Foundation Establishment Spirit Light and other permissions, while Dao Seal Cultivators who had mastered the [People-Crossing Scripture] gained even greater benefits.
• Two female cultivators realized that the Second-Layer World had supplied Wang Quan with many of his resources and considered using [Sun Flower Spirits] to clear away Evil for rewards.
• Officiant, Dream, and the other cultivators investigated an earthquake and discovered that Stone City's Earth Veins and other veins were growing, its soil was rapidly expanding, and spiritual energy was increasing dramatically.
• Spirit grains and plants flourished, and Stone City's inhabitants celebrated as Officiant, Dream, and the others wondered whether the Second-Layer World's safe zone had affected the Present World.

The cultivators established a safe zone in the second-layer world, where its white light destroyed evils and helped them recover. Outside, a clever evil rallied an army to infiltrate the safe zone by forcing its way into the twelve monsters within the walls, and the evils charged.

• The safe zone appeared in the loft, and cultivators celebrated as its Cafeteria restored Dharma Power and cleared contamination.
• White light spread through the loft’s first floor, destroying the evils attached to its walls and repelling those that attacked.
• The evils learned that humans had created a safe zone inside their dwelling, while twelve monsters within the walls devoured any evil that approached.
• A clever evil proposed infiltrating the enemy by stuffing the twelve monsters, then attacking from inside and outside.
• An army of evils formed and charged the safe zone, aiming to jump into the monsters’ mouths.

Wang Quan and the cultivators discovered that the Evil trapped inside the pavilion’s first-floor walls wanted only freedom and peace, and he let them join the revelry. He then examined his six Favor authorities and wondered whether the Second-Layer World was urging him to enter the Third-Layer World—or giving him a way back.

• Wang Quan turned the pavilion’s first floor into a storeroom, revealing Evil that had been trapped in the walls and was now drinking and celebrating.
• A half-human, half-fish Evil told Wang Quan and the others that the trapped Evil wanted to live in peace, and they explained how the pavilion had confined them.
• Ruo Jinghong watched Mei Niang and the Evil befriend the cultivators, while Wang Quan listened to the Evil’s account and saw them celebrate their freedom.
• Wang Quan examined the six authorities granted by the Second-Layer World, including daily teleportation and resurrection, access to the Third-Layer World, and a way to return from it.
• Wang Quan wondered whether the Second-Layer World’s Favor was encouraging him to enter the Third-Layer World or simply providing him an escape.

Wang Quan realized the Fifth Authority could project a blazing sun into the Second and Third Layers, and he linked the safe zone’s growth and his improved Dharma Power recovery to the three worlds merging. He decided to visit the Third-Layer World, trusting his daily forced return to save him from danger.

• Wang Quan recognized the Fifth Authority as a once-a-year weapon capable of projecting a blazing sun into the Second and Third Layers, and reserved it for a critical moment.
• Wang Quan found the inner layer still full of evil beings and realized the safe zone was expanding steadily after the Underworld, Second-Layer World, and Present World became one.
• Wang Quan discovered that Yang Spirits recovered Dharma Power much faster and persuaded the cultivators to pour more power into the safe zone’s reserves.
• Wang Quan decided to enter the Third-Layer World, reasoning that his once-daily forced return would let him escape if he encountered danger.

Wang Quan rewarded Great Wind-Driller with a cultivation method tailored to Wild Pig Spirits and tasked him with increasing Stone City's Spirit Monster population. As Great Wind-Driller and Little Wind-Driller set out to carry out his orders, they encountered Ni Shuihan, a Grotto Heaven Cultivator investigating Stone City's rapidly rising weighting.

• Wang Quan created the [Eighteen Wild Boar Forms], branded it into Great Wind-Driller's bloodline, and ordered him to help Stone City's Spirit Monsters prosper and reproduce.
• Great Wind-Driller vowed to organize the Pig Spirits and expand their population, while Little Wind-Driller questioned whether the plan would provoke resistance.
• When Great Wind-Driller noticed they had been wandering in place, he sent up an emergency Thunderfire signal, but Ni Shuihan caught it.
• Ni Shuihan explained that Drowning Water Headquarters had sent them to investigate Stone City's sharply rising weighting and that they had kept the Wind-Drillers wandering to avoid the city's reported hysteria.
• Little Wind-Driller offered to show Ni Shuihan what had happened through visualization.

Ni Shuihan investigated Stone City's safe zone in the Second-Layer World and found a bizarre place where humans and evil creatures lived and worked together. After returning to Drowning Water Headquarters, she reported what she saw to the big shots, sharing every disturbing detail so they could be contaminated too.

• Little Wind-Driller showed Ni Shuihan a visualization of recent celebrations, leaving her baffled by the claims about the three realms and Lord Flower-Scatter's victories.
• Ni Shuihan entered the Second-Layer World and found a pavilion whose milky-white lower story formed a complete safe zone amid the evil creatures.
• Inside the pavilion, Ni Shuihan saw yang spirits strengthening the safe zone and cultivators interacting with evil beings, then left while black smoke hissed from her seven orifices.
• Ni Shuihan returned to Drowning Water Headquarters and saw a chained cultivator insisting that his claims were true before entering the hall to report.
• Ni Shuihan visualized the safe zone and its inhabitants for the big shots, including the scenes Little Wind-Driller had shown her.

Ni Shuihan returned from Stone City insisting that it had established a large safe zone, but the big shots dismissed her report as hysteria and ordered her taken for treatment. As she was dragged away, she urged another cultivator to visualize only a palm-sized safe zone.

• Ni Shuihan visualized Stone City's strange human-Evil relations to frighten the big shots, who mistook her smile and visions for signs of hysteria.
• Ni Shuihan argued that Stone City had established a safe zone, but the big shots rejected her memories and pointed out that its weighting had already reached first place, which they believed meant the ranking Magic Treasure had malfunctioned.
• The big shots insisted that creating the established safe zones had required immense resources and concluded that Ni Shuihan's account was delusional.
• Grotto Heaven Cultivators chained Ni Shuihan and dragged her away as she repeatedly protested that her report was true.
• When another Grotto Heaven Cultivator arrived and assumed she had hysteria too, Ni Shuihan warned him to visualize only a palm-sized safe zone.

Ni Shuihan met cultivators imprisoned for claiming that the polar region’s safe zone was expanding, then joined a high-level cultivator who believed seventy-two rebellion trees would produce rebel kings. When one sapling became a tree and vanished into the void, Ni Shuihan helped search its pit for a biography identifying the future king.

• Ni Shuihan was dragged into Hysteria Prison after insisting that the cultivator who entered the hall was her brother and that she wanted to travel with him.
• Ni Shuihan met imprisoned cultivators who said they had seen an expanding safe zone in the Second-Layer World, but another cultivator dismissed their claims as hysteria.
• Ni Shuihan tried to hasten the growth of seventy-two saplings and learned from their keeper that they were rebellion trees tied to a prophecy about seventy-two rebel kings.
• Ni Shuihan recognized links between the keeper’s prophecy, the three realms of heaven, earth, and humanity, and a cultivator who practiced Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust, then agreed to join the rebellion.
• One sapling grew into a towering tree, ignored the prison’s restrictions, and vanished into the void; Ni Shuihan and the keeper dug beneath its pit to find a biography of its future master.

Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World to explore, while the Evil in the attic were inspired by his promise of a better world and followed him through a portal. Ruo Jinghong and the other cultivators resolved to strengthen their own foothold in the Second Layer as they wondered what Wang Quan had encountered.

• Wang Quan borrowed Spell Pills, packed food, and entered the Third-Layer World with his Yang Spirit and body, leaving his organs with Ruo Jinghong for safekeeping.
• Ruo Jinghong and the cultivators decided not to follow Wang Quan into the dangerous Third Layer and planned to expand their territory in the Second Layer instead.
• A towering tree appeared in the attic, and the Evil climbed it, turning into black threads that formed a route out of their chambers.
• The Evil wove a banner, opened a vortex, and left the attic to join Wang Quan in the new world.
• Ruo Jinghong urged the cultivators to hasten their progress, while they wondered how Wang Quan had persuaded the Evil to follow him.

Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World and found a ruined landscape where a serpent and a two-headed youth were trapped in an endless cycle of hunting and death to pay taxes to the temple’s gods and devils. After learning of their inherited conflict and desperate lives, he proposed that they rebel and kill the temple’s rulers.

• Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World, found a ruined village, and encountered a three-headed giant serpent fleeing a two-headed youth.
• The serpent claimed that its ancestors had served Wang Quan’s ancestors, while the youth pursued it to catch a snake for the next day’s taxes.
• Wang Quan trapped the serpent and youth inside a ring of flame, forcing them to fight until the serpent begged him to enslave it.
• The youth explained that he had to catch a giant serpent to pay the temple’s gods and devils, who would otherwise eat him as a sacrifice.
• Wang Quan promised that neither of them would die and urged them to kill the gods and devils in the temple, but they warned that rebellion required a pole to raise.

Wang Quan made a banner from Giant Serpent’s skin and led the boy and serpent to rebel against a god-and-devil lord in a starving village. Their Thunderfire failed to break the temple doors, and the lord’s servant mocked them for lacking a real pole.

• Wang Quan stripped Giant Serpent’s skin, turned it into a banner, and persuaded the boy and serpent to join his rebellion.
• The trio traveled through the Third-Layer World and reached a village where starving evil beings carried offerings to a temple.
• The villagers welcomed the rebels but kept their best food in reserve in case the rebellion failed.
• The boy and Giant Serpent challenged the god-and-devil lord, while the villagers cheered and demanded lower offerings.
• A round servant emerged from the temple, declared the rebellion unjust, and retreated inside.
• Wang Quan attacked the temple doors with Thunderfire and Gourds, but they held, and the servant mocked the rebels for not having a real pole.

Wang Quan learned that a Rebellion Tree and rebel flag were supposedly needed to damage the temple, but he used a summoned, empowered black cloud to destroy it anyway. The temple was reduced to a solitary gate, while the god-devil and Evils were struck by lightning.

• Wang Quan tested his Thunderfire on the Evils’ houses, destroying them and scattering their hidden food, then learned that a Rebellion Tree was required to make a flag capable of harming the temple.
• Wang Quan summoned the Five-Colored Altar and prepared Nine Heavens Thunderfire, using Enlightenment Art, Drowning Water, and scriptures to empower a black cloud.
• The round Evil reported Wang Quan’s preparations to the god-devil, which dismissed him because he had not raised the banner of rebellion.
• Wang Quan unleashed nine lightning bolts that blasted apart the temple and electrocuted the Evils and god-devil.
• The god-devil charged at Wang Quan, but the black cloud engulfed it in lightning and left only the temple gate standing.

Wang Quan destroyed temples across the Third-Layer World without raising a rebellion, then faced officials who accused him of violating the [Masters' Legal Code]. He fought off their boats and threatened to launch a rebellion by the proper means.

• Wang Quan demolished the temple and refused the evils' offer to worship him, though he let them build him a grand pavilion.
• Wang Quan surveyed and destroyed temples in other villages, confirming that only his combined reserves could break them without a Rebellion Tree.
• Officials arrived by boat, accused Wang Quan of illegal rebellion, and sentenced him to imprisonment and forced labor under the [Masters' Legal Code].
• Wang Quan released Sunlight Gourds, and the two-headed youth led the evils in beating the first officials and forcing them to work.
• Wang Quan blasted successive boats carrying more officials with Sunlight Gourds and Thunderfire, then declared he would show them how to raise a pole in rebellion.