Chapter Summaries

Jiang Chen overheard Uncle Wei and King Chujiang revisit the captain’s past and the Big Dipper’s secrets, while Uncle Wei struggled with his feelings about the captain. After leaving the Security Office, Jiang Chen connected Po Jun’s hidden history to the Gu family’s seven-star art, but chose not to interfere.

• King Chujiang mistook Jiang Chen for Uncle Wei’s chosen successor, and Jiang Chen’s remarks about rebellion only deepened the misunderstanding.
• King Chujiang recalled how the captain had killed a Dream Ghost after it slaughtered three households, leaving the younger team to believe he had acted indiscriminately.
• Uncle Wei wondered why the captain had failed to save Giant Gate, Greedy Wolf, and Lian Zheng despite his immense power, and King Chujiang said the captain had his difficulties.
• Uncle Wei vowed to enter the Restricted Zone and repay the captain ten times the incense money, despite King Chujiang warning him it was too dangerous.
• Jiang Chen realized Po Jun had become powerful enough to stop an Eight-Step King and connected the seven stars of the Gu family’s fortune-transferring art to the Big Dipper.

Jiang Chen reviewed the gains from the battle, learned that Young Ba had become a King at the cost of the Unchanging Bone’s life, and used his resources to enhance his pills and Drought Bone Nail. The nail transformed into the Pseudo God-Suppressing Nail.

• Jiang Chen sent Xiaohai to the Netherworld so Uncle Wei could guide him in Ghost Cultivation.
• Jiang Chen saw that his battle earnings had reached 6.47 million and that he had permanently gained Complete Demonization, raised his base strength to A-Rank, and received level-one information clearance.
• The King of Equality informed Jiang Chen that Young Ba had become a King after the Unchanging Bone sacrificed its life to help it ascend.
• Jiang Chen enhanced his Azure Yang Pills into Purple Yang Pills, then improved the Drought Bone Nail until it became the Pseudo God-Suppressing Nail.

After enhancing his equipment, Jiang Chen learned that an early Yin Qi eruption had triggered a three-day ghost-hunting plan with access to the Netherworld Treasury and Dao Alliance Foundation. As Unusual Persons across the Nine Provinces prepared to hunt, the Cloud-Hidden Sect descended from its mountain to face the calamity.

• Jiang Chen obtained the God-Suppressing Spike, instructed Sister Hong to keep the Gu Clan Members at home, and rested before the upheaval.
• The announcement of the Fengdu Restricted Zone’s Yin Qi eruption and the upcoming Comprehensive Ghost Creature Hunting Plan spread across the Nine Provinces.
• The Chen Family’s patriarch urged his family to hunt for points and use the rare opportunity to secure two more Grandmasters.
• Third Master Huang set a D+ strength requirement for the independent practitioners gathering in Jiangbei, and those who fell short left.
• The Cloud-Hidden Sect’s leader sent nearly every disciple down the mountain, leaving a few children behind to guard the sect and inherit it if no one returned.

Zhao Wushen learned that Shangqing Sect would send nearly all its disciples down the mountain, and a divination suggested the crisis had arrived early. Dragon Elephant Temple, Spirit Treasure Sect, and Zhengyi Dao also prepared to descend and fight ghosts, while the chapter introduced the powerful Yuan Family.

• Zhao Wushen was dragged from the Panlong Wood by his junior sister and brought to Shangqing Sect’s assembly.
• An old Daoist announced that Shangqing Sect would descend the mountain, and Zhao Wushen divined that events had come early.
• Dragon Elephant Temple ordered its monks to go down the mountain, including Seven Precepts, who had long been forbidden to kill.
• Spirit Treasure Sect and Zhengyi Dao also prepared to send their members out to expel evil, with Zhang Wendao standing among Zhengyi Dao’s Grandmasters.
• The chapter introduced the Yuan Family, a powerful clan of heavenly diviners living in an old village.

The Yuan Family, a diviner clan living in poverty because of the disasters caused by revealing heaven’s secrets, gathered to observe an ominous blood moon and the early eruption of Yin Qi. Their heir, Yuan Tiansuan, was sent out by his great-grandfather after the elders identified the phenomenon as the Disorder of the Ultimate Number.

• The Yuan Family’s descendants endured poverty and misfortune as the price of their ancestors’ divinations and ghost-slaying.
• The clan gathered at the Star-Gazing Platform to discuss the blood-colored sky and the unexpectedly early Yin Qi eruption.
• Yuan Tiansuan teased his younger brother Seventh, then told Third Granduncle that something major would happen after recognizing their approaching great-grandfather.
• The great-grandfather announced that the phenomenon was the Disorder of the Ultimate Number and said it had nothing to do with the other family members.
• The great-grandfather asked Yuan Tiansuan to make another trip, and Yuan Tiansuan requested an extra two hundred yuan for clothes.
• The chapter explained how Yuan Tiansuan’s unusual name was chosen after he drew the characters “Tian” and “Xiang,” then “Gang,” before finally drawing “Suan.”

Yuan Tiansuan was sent from the Yuan Family to find a mysterious man and divine whether he was a world-saving variable or a calamity, while carrying the family’s divination foundation. Before he left, he discovered that a terrifying hand suppressed beneath the village had moved, and the chapter ended with the Yuan Family committing everything to this final divination.

• Yuan Family’s Grandfather gave Yuan Tiansuan the Six Ren Pan and the family’s Tui Bei Tu, ordering him to find the mysterious man and divine for him within three days.
• Grandfather explained that the Nine Provinces faced a great calamity and that the Yuan Family might have to use its accumulated fortune and misfortune to suppress and kill the man.
• Yuan Tiansuan learned that the elders expected the family’s formation to cost several of their lives, and that the surviving family members would finally be free to leave the village.
• Yuan Tiansuan asked whether a female ghost was sealed beneath the village, and Grandfather revealed that it was a hand.
• Yuan Tiansuan saw the hand’s fingers move through the Six Ren Pan, and Grandfather warned him to leave immediately and decide whether to use the Tui Bei Tu after divining for the man.
• Yuan Tiansuan left alone with the family’s foundation while the rest of the Yuan Family remained behind to anchor their formation.

As the Nine Provinces prepared for an upheaval, Jiang Chen read about sect prodigies and Yama successors emerging, then arrived at the Netherworld. With Uncle Wei unable to join the mission, the Jiangbei Branch Bureau appointed Jiang Chen to lead them against their enemies.

• The Martial Sect summoned its disciples to prepare for the Nine Provinces’ peril, while Jiang Hongyu revealed that she had entered the Grandmaster realm and hoped to meet Jiang Chen again.
• Jiang Chen read reports about sects committing their resources to prodigies and about the Yama successors Su Ling and Qiu Tian.
• Jiang Chen provoked Qiu Tian’s supporters online with comments about treating ghosts kindly, then reported users who cursed him and gained thousands of points of ghost qi.
• Jiang Chen arrived at the Netherworld, where the Jiangbei Branch Bureau welcomed him as a powerful fighter.
• Luo Ji told Jiang Chen that Uncle Wei could not join the mission and that Elder Wei had left Jiang Chen in charge of the bureau.
• The Jiangbei Branch Bureau declared that it awaited Jiang Chen’s orders.

Jiang Chen took command of the Jiangbei Branch Bureau’s Netherworld Messengers and delivered an endless speech before leading them and the arriving Xunhe City forces toward the Long River. The journey continued with Jiang Chen speaking over the vehicle radios, while the Xunhe deputy bureau chief defended his words as profound.

• Luo Ji told Jiang Chen that the Jiangbei and Xunhe Netherworld Messengers would follow his command to guard the Long River.
• Jiang Chen gave the Netherworld Messengers a long, rambling speech on discipline, safety, and personal conduct, picking people to answer questions and gaining ghost qi.
• The Xunhe City convoy arrived, and Luo Ji fetched Jiang Chen’s patients before the group set out.
• Jiang Chen had everyone turn on the vehicle radios so he could finish his remarks, leaving the Jiangbei Messengers close to tears.
• Some Xunhe Messengers complained about Jiang Chen’s speech, but their deputy bureau chief rebuked them and praised Jiang Chen’s insight.

Jiang Chen led the Netherworld convoy to the Long River and reviewed the Nine Provinces’ plan to guard four eerie locations against the Dark Alliance. The briefing revealed that the Nine Provinces might abandon one or two locations if overwhelming forces attacked, hoping to hold at least two.

• Jiang Chen lectured the convoy while psychiatric patients applauded and took notes, leaving the Netherworld Messengers doubtful of his ability to command.
• The convoy reached the Long River about two hours before the hour of the rat, and Jiang Chen ordered everyone to get out and prepare for battle.
• Jiang Chen reviewed the threats at the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, the Dragon-Locking Well, the First Ward, and the river ghost-sacrificing site, along with the forces assigned to each.
• Jiang Chen learned that the Dark Alliance was cooperating with the Hospital Ward and might trigger the ghost-sacrificing lineage to break its treaty if a major seal was opened.
• The briefing instructed the Nine Provinces’ forces to retreat and regroup if too many Dark Alliance Half-Kings attacked, accepting that they might have to abandon one or two locations.

Jiang Chen gathered the Netherworld forces at the Long River and learned that river gods had begun abducting brides in its tributaries. He ordered the group to attack them all immediately, leaving the deputy directors worried that the assault would provoke the powerful beings beneath the river.

• Jiang Chen waited for the Dark Alliance at the Long River until Lü Ming arrived with the Wangjiang City convoy and deferred to Jiang Chen's authority.
• Lü Ming reported that his group had fought weasels serving a river god who had bewitched villagers into sending an eighteen-year-old girl into the river, and that he had pinned the river god beneath the riverbed.
• Zhang Mu and Luo Ji asked whether they should kill the captured river god, while the Netherworld Messengers urged Jiang Chen to let them fight.
• Jiang Chen announced that they would kill all the river gods and ordered everyone to follow him to Lü Ming's reported location.
• The deputy directors tried to warn Jiang Chen about the Ghost-Sacrificing beings beneath the Long River, but he declared that they would fight and drove off toward the tributary.

Jiang Chen led a convoy of Netherworld Messengers to the Zhang River, where he confronted the River God over a missing village girl. He tortured the River God's Lady to provoke him and discovered she was carrying a River God's Son, while the gathered messengers watched in disbelief.

• Jiang Chen arrived at the Zhang River with a convoy of powerful Netherworld Messengers and attacked the River God, demanding the return of a village girl.
• The River God said someone had already rescued the bride and pointed to Lü Ming, but Jiang Chen insisted he still needed someone to rescue.
• Jiang Chen struck the River God's Lady and she begged for mercy, claiming she had been sacrificed from Zhou Family Village and had never harmed anyone innocent.
• Jiang Chen pierced the River God's Lady's belly with a God-Suppressing Nail, suspecting she was carrying a River God's Son created by consuming children.
• The River God unleashed the Zhang River's resentful dead against Jiang Chen, who killed them with his hammer and grew more excited as notifications appeared.
• The Netherworld Messengers watched Jiang Chen torment the River God's Lady and questioned whether they were really accompanying him to exorcise ghosts.

Jiang Chen killed the River God by provoking him into breaking the seal, then led the Netherworld Messengers onward while they mistook his ruthless tactics for self-sacrificing kindness. Lü Ming advised him to conserve his strength, and Jiang Chen latched onto the idea that enemies could exploit his weakness.

• Jiang Chen ordered the Netherworld Messengers to stay on the bank while he attacked the River God and threatened his wife and son.
• Jiang Chen killed the River God's wife and child, driving the River God to break through the Great Grandmaster's seal and attack him.
• Jiang Chen claimed the River God had struck first, then killed him with the Yin God Hammer.
• Jiang Chen enhanced the convoy's vehicles and led the uneasy Netherworld Messengers toward the next river, while they praised his supposed concern for their safety.
• Lü Ming urged Jiang Chen not to exhaust himself protecting his subordinates, and Jiang Chen focused on the possibility that enemies could exploit his weakness.

Jiang Chen and the Netherworld Messengers found a village preparing to sacrifice a girl to its River God, and he confronted the villagers and the ghost behind the offering. He summoned the River God from the river and ordered it to retrieve his hammer with its mouth.

• Jiang Chen learned that the Spirit Treasure Sect would join the campaign against the Ghost-Sacrificing Lineage and considered secretly profiting from its artifact refiners.
• Jiang Chen’s convoy arrived at a village preparing a feast and a River God’s Lady offering, and he confronted the village chief.
• The village chief explained that the River God had promised to bring back drowned villagers and threatened to flood the surrounding villages if no sacrifice was made.
• Jiang Chen seized Zhang Erwa, revealed him as a water ghost, and killed him before exploding his corpse over the villagers.
• Jiang Chen threw the Yin God Hammer into the river, summoned the River God, and demanded that it retrieve the hammer with its mouth.

Jiang Chen killed the River God, revealed that the Yin God Hammer could summon the dead as puppets, and used his hidden abilities to justify his actions to the Netherworld Messengers. After killing several more river gods, he and the others reached Qishan Village, where they found a ghost village whose residents appeared to have faced a terrifying threat before they died.

• Jiang Chen accused the River God of being an impostor, transformed into a Green-Haired Lion Head monster, and killed it.
• Jiang Chen used the Yin God Hammer to capture the River God’s soul and summon it back as a puppet, shocking the Netherworld Messengers and prompting Zhang Mu and Luo Ji to defend him.
• Jiang Chen explained that revealing his secrets gradually would keep people from questioning his power, then ordered the group to gather the nearby ghosts.
• Jiang Chen used God-Slaying thunder to frighten away the ghosts and then killed three more river gods, including the Qishui River God.
• Jiang Chen and the others searched Qishan Village and found that its ghostly residents had apparently been attacked by a terrifying presence before they died.

Jiang Chen reached the Wei River and interrupted a sacrifice to confront its powerful female River God, provoking her with talk of marriage until she threatened him. Jiang Chen invoked the Netherworld’s authority, and a terrifying figure emerged from his Yin God Hammer.

• After the group reached the Wei River, Lü Ming warned that its River God might have transformed into a powerful Fierce Soul, and Jiang Chen urged caution.
• Jiang Chen stopped the villagers’ river sacrifice, learned that they offered the female River God a groom, and volunteered himself as the sacrifice.
• Jiang Chen called for the River God, and a young girl in wedding clothes rose from the river with an immense aura.
• Jiang Chen teased the River God about marrying him, but she revealed her elderly voice and warned that even a Great Grandmaster could die.
• The River God’s anger shook the Wei River, and she ordered Jiang Chen to leave.
• Jiang Chen declared that insulting the Netherworld meant slapping Yama in the face, then summoned a terrifying figure from his Yin God Hammer.

Jiang Chen and his allies defeated the Wei River God, then he set out to inspect the other tributary river gods before the Ghost-Sacrificing Lineage's elders awakened. Meanwhile, the heirs Qiu Tian and Yu Qian arrived at the Long River with a young woman to begin their own mission.

• Jiang Chen summoned the Great Elder of the Ghost Refining Sect and Ghost Maitreya to confront the Wei River God, who fled into the river.
• Jiang Chen used the God-Suppressing Nail to force the Wei River God out of the water, and his allies overwhelmed her.
• Jiang Chen struck the wounded Wei River God with the Yin God Hammer as rain and thunder descended, killing her and sending a message to the Long River.
• Jiang Chen told the Netherworld Messengers to follow by vehicle while he went ahead to inspect the tributary river gods for guilt.
• Qiu Tian and Yu Qian bickered on the Long River bank until their companion urged them to contact the others and get on with their business.

Qiu Tian and the other Yama successors headed to join Bureau Chief Jiang, whose ruthless reputation seemed to be confirmed when they arrived and found him torturing the Lan River God. Qiu Tian was left stunned by Jiang's apparent delight in killing ghost creatures.

• Qiu Tian learned that Jiang had killed several River Gods and was heading to the Lan River, then led Yu Qian and Su Qing toward him with Elder Zou Lianshan.
• Jiang summoned figures from the Yin God Hammer to pin down the Lan River God and beat him bloody.
• Zou Lianshan identified himself and requested permission to approach, while Jiang phoned Old Wei to confirm the identities of the Yama successors.
• Jiang welcomed the arriving group while continuing to drive the God-Suppressing Nail into the Lan River God.
• Qiu Tian saw Jiang torturing the River God with apparent delight and wondered whether Jiang had already lost himself.

Jiang Chen killed the Lan River's River God as the Long River's rising threat grew, then revealed to Zou Lianshan that Quasi-King Mist Ghost Xie Hanyu was dead and under his control. He headed for the next river to evacuate villagers while Zou Lianshan agreed to follow his lead.

• Qiu Tian watched Jiang Chen exorcise ghosts with delighted excitement and warned Su Qing and Yu Qian never to provoke him.
• Jiang Chen killed the Lan River's River God, sensed a growing threat from the Long River, and noticed a distant gaze watching him.
• Zou Lianshan warned Jiang Chen that the Long River had turned black and icy and was rising rapidly.
• Jiang Chen dismissed the warning as a rising tide and challenged Zou Lianshan to read the kill list showing Quasi-King Mist Ghost Xie Hanyu as permanently dead.
• Jiang Chen revealed Xie Hanyu's name on his hammer, and Zou Lianshan realized Jiang Chen had killed the Quasi-King and made him a puppet.
• Jiang Chen told Zou Lianshan to bring everyone along while he went ahead to evacuate villagers near the next river.

Jiang Chen and the Netherworld forces slaughtered ghosts along the rivers as the Ghost-Sacrificing Lineage waited for the Dark Alliance’s signal. A group of Yama successors arrived, and Su Ling introduced herself and asked where Jiang Chen was.

• Jiang Chen swallowed a Blood Ginseng Pill, threw his hammer into the Long River, and threatened its River God until it gave him a gold hammer and a silver hammer.
• Jiang Chen sped up his slaughter while Netherworld Messengers followed him, brutally hunting water ghosts under Qiu Tian’s warning not to lose themselves.
• The newly arrived Yama successors found the Netherworld group killing ghosts wildly, while Zou Lianshan stopped filling in the river and greeted them.
• Qiu Tian and Shi Jiuming traded taunts as the successors reunited, and the group recognized Luo Li, the current Yama King’s successor, and other powerful arrivals.
• Su Ling introduced herself, said she had only recently reached the Grandmaster level, and asked where Jiang Chen was.

Su Ling and the Netherworld successors discussed Jiang Chen’s strength as Zou Lianshan realized the King of the Metropolis had arrived to challenge his decision to provoke the Ghost-Sacrificing Lineage. The chapter left the Great Grandmasters fearing that Jiang Chen might endanger the King of the Metropolis, since Zhang Mu believed Jiang Chen had once spared a king.

• Su Ling heard that Jiang Chen had become a Half-King and rushed off to compete for ghosts, persuading Chu Hanyue to give her the points from a Blood-Clad Ghost.
• Wang Xuanyi told Zou Lianshan that a secret Netherworld figure had gone to investigate unusual activity in the Long River, and Zou suspected the King of the Metropolis had come in person.
• The King of the Metropolis arrived using Samsara Illusions, criticized Jiang Chen for provoking the Ghost-Sacrificing Lineage, and set off to confront him.
• Zou Lianshan urged Luo Ji to warn Jiang Chen, while Zhang Mu explained that Jiang Chen had once looked ready to kill a king but ultimately spared him.