Chapter Summaries

Jiang Chen escaped Xiao Changzai’s attack by diving beneath the Blood River’s surface, where the river punished the Artifact Gate master for following him. As Xiao Changzai bowed and bled, Jiang Chen wondered why the river had returned his own blood instead of accepting it.

• Xiao Changzai recognized Jiang Chen as a threat and launched his black iron anvil at him with full force.
• Jiang Chen sent the wounded Tie Zhu near the Restricted Zone’s barrier, then used a spatial shift to evade the attack.
• Jiang Chen dove three feet beneath the Blood River as the anvil struck the surface and lost much of its power.
• The anvil sank beneath the three-foot mark, and Xiao Changzai exploded before regathering his body and coming back to life.
• Xiao Changzai recognized the Blood River’s power, bowed in apology, and began bleeding as his aura weakened.
• Jiang Chen noticed that his own blood had flowed back to him and wondered why the Blood River treated it differently.

Jiang Chen bottled water from the River of Forgetfulness Blood River and dove after Xiao Changzai’s Black Iron Anvil, discovering a gigantic rock beneath the river that might be the legendary Three-Life Stone. He grabbed the anvil but hesitated to leave the discovery behind.

• Jiang Chen filled a large bottle with River of Forgetfulness Blood River water while Xiao Changzai paid the river’s price in blood, strength, fortune, and vitality.
• Jiang Chen chased the sinking Black Iron Anvil into the depths of the river as onlookers watched in disbelief.
• Jiang Chen found the anvil on what appeared to be a clean, empty riverbed, then realized it was a gigantic rock.
• Jiang Chen suspected the rock was the Three-Life Stone, grabbed the Black Iron Anvil, and struggled to decide whether to flee or investigate further.

Jiang Chen confirmed the boulder was the Three-Life Stone, but a crystalline Mortal World Bone struck him from the Wangchuan River and nearly tore his body apart. He emerged alive, stunning the gathered powerhouses, who recognized the bone’s immense value and watched him warily.

• Jiang Chen struck the boulder with the Black Iron Anvil, failed to damage it, and realized it was the Three-Life Stone.
• A translucent leg bone shot out of the depths of the Wangchuan River, blasted Jiang Chen from the water, and left him gravely injured.
• The gathered powerhouses were astonished that Jiang Chen had survived the river, while King You quietly retreated behind the others.
• God-Level and Jing Shou hesitated to approach Jiang Chen, and Tang Yi, Fei Yaoyu, and Zhou Tai stared at him in disbelief.
• The powerhouses identified the leg bone as a Mortal World Bone and discussed how such bones could help someone comprehend the Dao or even create a Supreme Powerhouse.

Jiang Chen faced Xiao Changzai’s God-Slaying Arsenal, but Stone Pillar’s intervention with the translucent leg bone helped him escape into Blood-Colored City. Xiao Changzai and the other powerhouses entered the Restricted Zone, eager to explore it despite the conflict.

• Xiao Changzai attacked Jiang Chen with the Artifact Gate’s God-Slaying Arsenal while Jiang Chen was injured and considering using his Six-Star Monster Transformation Card.
• Stone Pillar appeared and indicated that Jiang Chen’s translucent leg bone could stop the attack, so Jiang Chen threw it at the weapons.
• The leg bone blazed with a supreme aura, then rebounded and struck Jiang Chen, sending him toward the Blood River.
• Tie Zhu carried the gravely injured Jiang Chen through the Restricted Zone’s barrier, while Stone Pillar vanished into the void.
• Xiao Changzai entered the Restricted Zone after his attack failed, and the other powerhouses followed, warning one another to control their Evil Selves.

King You warned the Sacred Soul Sect against entering Blood-Colored City, but its Supreme Powerhouse insisted they go in search of the sect’s birthplace and a relic that could restore its glory. Jiang Chen arrived in the Restricted Zone gravely wounded, where his Evil Self emerged and the zone’s rules further weakened him.

• King You urged the Sacred Soul Sect to stay outside Blood-Colored City, but Shadow Elder explained how Evil Selves preyed on those who entered while injured.
• The Sacred Soul Sect’s Supreme Powerhouse ordered the group to enter Blood-Colored City, saying they needed to find something at the sect’s birthplace to restore its glory.
• King You and the others followed the Supreme Powerhouse through the Restricted Zone barrier.
• Jiang Chen crashed onto a desolate street with near-fatal injuries after surviving a Supreme Powerhouse’s strike.
• Jiang Chen’s Evil Self emerged, smiled at him, and disappeared into an alley as Demon Transformation ended early.
• Jiang Chen realized his wounds were difficult to heal and the Restricted Zone’s rules had suppressed his strength and vitality.

After entering the Blood-Colored City, Jiang Chen assessed how its powerful rules had weakened and injured him, then searched a building for danger. He rested in a child’s room and began drawing a Seven-Star Monster Transformation Card.

• Jiang Chen realized that the Restricted Zone’s dense rules had suppressed his strength, slowed his healing, and made revival more difficult.
• Jiang Chen considered the origins of the Restricted Zones and the world’s decline, then set those questions aside to focus on surviving.
• Jiang Chen explored a dilapidated four-story house on the edge of the Blood-Colored City and found nothing dangerous.
• Jiang Chen swallowed enhanced healing elixirs, lay down in a child’s room, and silently asked the system to draw a Seven-Star Monster Transformation Card.

Jiang Chen was transported to the Heavenly Court during the Jing River Dragon King's execution and witnessed the West Sea Dragon King Ao Run launch a devastating attack. The Heavenly Court's soldiers were slaughtered, and Jiang Chen realized the Four Seas Dragon Kings might be declaring war.

• Jiang Chen drew a Seven-Star Monster Transformation Card and was swept through time to the Heavenly Court.
• Jiang Chen recognized the dead dragon on the Dragon Execution Platform as the Jing River Dragon King and recalled how his execution set Journey to the West in motion.
• Ao Run roared at the Jade Emperor and defied the Heavenly Court's pardon edict.
• Ao Run unleashed black water that killed a nearby Heavenly Soldier and corroded the clouds.
• Ao Run's attack devastated the Heavenly Court's battle formation, leaving Jiang Chen to wonder whether the Four Seas Dragon Kings had declared war.

Jiang Chen woke after receiving the West Sea Dragon King Ao Run’s Seven-Star card and realized the Dragon Clan had been promised a place in the great calamity. He left his room feeling newly confident, then encountered two identical girls who both claimed the other was a dangerous shadow.

• Jiang Chen survived the West Sea Dragon King Ao Run’s terrifying gaze and woke from the vision of Ao Run confronting Heaven.
• Jiang Chen reasoned that the Heavenly Court had offered the Dragon Clan a place in the great calamity, possibly for Ao Lie, and saw Ao Run’s later gains as compensation for the Jing River Dragon King’s death.
• Jiang Chen confirmed that Dragon King Ao Run of the West Sea was a Seven-Star card and felt confident that the card could protect him.
• Jiang Chen heard a girl downstairs asking whether anyone had seen her shadow and noticed she had none.
• A second girl identical to the first warned Jiang Chen not to approach the one downstairs, and both girls showed matching neck scars while claiming the other was a dangerous shadow.

Jiang Chen tried to escape the two Li Xiyues by carrying the original girl downstairs, then betrayed her by handing her over to her shadow. The shadow suspected he was lying and threatened him, while the original Li Xiyue’s resentment began to turn her into a danger as well.

• Li Xiyue threatened Jiang Chen with a bloodstained spoon and demanded that he hide in the bedroom, leading him to recognize her as the original and the other girl as her shadow.
• Jiang Chen dodged Li Xiyue’s attack, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her downstairs despite her struggles.
• Jiang Chen offered the shadow a deal and then tossed the original Li Xiyue in front of her, leaving the girl shocked by his betrayal.
• The original Li Xiyue’s resentment produced black vapor, and her shadow threatened Jiang Chen, suspecting that he was lying about her identity.

Jiang Chen manipulated Li Xiyue’s evil self into describing the ideal shadow, then killed both versions of the little girl with his hammer. As the house transformed, he found an eyeless handmade doll containing powerful wish power.

• Jiang Chen taunted Li Xiyue’s evil self while learning that evil selves could provide Ghost Qi and that originals could be dangerous too.
• Jiang Chen arranged Li Xiyue to resemble her evil self and provoked her into describing a flat, single-colored shadow.
• Jiang Chen killed Li Xiyue, leaving a red shadow, then killed her evil self and called her his new shadow.
• Jiang Chen photographed himself with the red shadow as the house deteriorated and changed.
• Jiang Chen searched the upstairs bedroom and found an eyeless doll that contained powerful wish power.

Jiang Chen discovered that the doll left by Li Xiyue was a sacrificial offering prototype, then reasoned that Restricted Zones used the thoughts and fortune of those they abducted to create such objects and strengthen themselves. He left with a growing sense of danger as he considered the coming Disorder of the Ultimate Number and the forces that might oppose it.

• Jiang Chen tested the handmade doll and concluded that it held wish power like a damaged sacrificial offering, though its limited age gave it only a few uses.
• Jiang Chen named the object a sacrificial offering prototype and speculated that ancient sacrificial offerings formed when powerful beings’ wishes endured over time.
• Jiang Chen watched Li Xiyue’s former home vanish into gray mist and wondered whether Restricted Zones shaped buildings from the thoughts and wishes of the living and dead they drew in.
• Jiang Chen reasoned that Li Xiyue’s memories and suffering had accumulated in the doll, and suspected Restricted Zones selected people with great fortune to steal power from the Mortal World.
• Jiang Chen considered whether his own ghost qi and Monster Transformation Cards also drew power from the Restricted Zones, then reflected on the approaching crisis and the powerful figures who might intervene.

Jiang Chen explored the outskirts of the Blood-Colored City and witnessed his evil self’s memories of escaping a haunted apartment building. After his evil self killed the woman who helped him and slew the ghost, Jiang Chen discovered that his actions earned ghost qi and headed toward him to offer guidance.

• Jiang Chen assessed the Blood-Colored City’s layers of buildings and decided to investigate a six-story apartment building.
• Jiang Chen saw images of his evil self encountering a crying woman in a school uniform and hiding from her monstrous ghost form.
• Jiang Chen watched his evil self escape the building with the woman’s help, then stab and kill her at the entrance.
• Jiang Chen’s evil self killed the pursuing ghost and taunted Jiang Chen through a mirror.
• Jiang Chen criticized his evil self’s methods, then discovered his actions earned ghost qi and set off to find him.

Jiang Chen searched the haunted city for his evil self while testing how well he could fight under the Restricted Zone’s rules. After defeating a top-tier blood-clad ghost, he assessed his limits and the dangers deeper in the city.

• Jiang Chen loudly called for Jiang Xiao Chen as he searched the district of six-story buildings, while his evil self heard him and left to master his inherited abilities.
• Jiang Chen entered an old office building to test the strength of its ghosts while his injuries continued to heal.
• Jiang Chen found a cardboard-box-headed ghost trying to squeeze into a storage cabinet and recognized that its fears echoed the dead employee’s claustrophobia.
• Jiang Chen attacked the ghost with Six Paths Thunder Method and the Yin God Hammer, then smashed the top-tier blood-clad ghost to pieces.
• Jiang Chen concluded that he could handle top-tier blood-clad ghosts but might be in danger against a Half-King, and wondered how the Restricted Zone affected stronger beings.

Jiang Chen used the River Earl to redeem a claustrophobic ghost, then crossed toward the black high-rise area while planning to map the Restricted Zone. A system notification revealed that Jiang Xiao Chen had killed a fierce soul, while Jiang Chen's evil self plotted to surpass him and take control of the body.

• Jiang Chen disguised himself and used the River Earl to frighten the claustrophobic ghost through cramped spaces before revealing the ghost's corpse and redeeming him.
• Jiang Chen burned a doll and the man's bloodstained key, gaining limited healing for his chest wounds.
• Jiang Chen headed toward the black high-rise area and noted the empty stretch of road so he could map the Restricted Zone later.
• Jiang Chen received a notification that Jiang Xiao Chen had killed a fierce soul and complained that the boy had wasted the chance to gain more ghost qi.
• Jiang Chen's evil self praised the Great Transformation Technique after ambushing and killing a middle fierce soul-level Weird Object, then resolved to kill again and take the lead.

Jiang Chen entered a black high-rise in the Blood-Colored City to find Sacrificial Offering Prototypes, then felt a distant clash shake the Restricted Zone and wondered whether the Wangchuan River was fighting powerful beings. He discovered the building’s owner had been a murderous surgeon who dissected himself and became a Fierce Soul.

• Jiang Chen watched his Evil Self kill a Security Guard Fierce Soul and its Evil Self, then pretended to vent in anger while a hidden observer mocked him.
• Jiang Chen entered a twelve-story black high-rise, identified its Yin Baleful Qi crystals as part of the Restricted Zone’s system, and grew wary of unseen controllers.
• A thunderous clash deep within the City of Metropolis shook the high-rise, and Jiang Chen suspected the Wangchuan River had begun fighting terrifying ghosts and gods.
• Jiang Chen searched the building and learned from its records that its owner was a surgeon whose malpractice and killings drove him to dissect himself alive, after which he became a Fierce Soul.

Jiang Chen devised a psychological treatment for a murderous surgeon by making him relive his victims’ suffering and giving him chances to save them. The surgeon briefly reclaimed his calling, but after discovering that every patient had been killed again, he learned his evil self was responsible and was consumed by it.

• Jiang Chen brought the surgeon downstairs, where disguised ghosts appeared as the surgeon’s former victims and called for help.
• The surgeon treated the victims he had once dissected, choosing to save them instead of harming them.
• After the surgeon left, his evil self killed each patient he had saved and left their bodies mutilated.
• The surgeon discovered the victims’ bodies, broke down in grief, and transformed as his resentment grew.
• The evil self revealed that it had killed the patients and entered the surgeon’s body, filling him with a sinister aura.

Jiang Chen defeated the Doctor Evil Sha with the help of the Jiangbei Four Fiends and discovered that its corrupting aura strengthened his Ghost Kings instead of harming them. He then gathered his ghosts and Weird Objects to deliberately spread the Evil Sha’s baleful qi, leaving the Doctor overwhelmed and at their mercy.

• The Doctor transformed into an upper-tier Evil Sha and attacked Jiang Chen, who was already badly wounded.
• Jiang Chen summoned four Ghost Kings to subdue the Doctor Evil Sha, and it tainted them with its corrupting aura.
• Jiang Chen realized that the aura had made his Yin God Puppets more dangerous and joked that they were the infamous Jiangbei Four Fiends.
• The Doctor Evil Sha’s taunts prompted Jiang Chen to boast about his virtue, while his speech earned him two large Ghost Qi payouts.
• Jiang Chen summoned a mass of ghosts and ordered his Weird Objects to rub the Doctor Evil Sha’s remaining head against themselves to absorb its baleful qi.

Jiang Chen exploited the ghosts’ obsessions and teamed up with their evil selves to turn them fully evil before killing them, earning ghost qi, sacrificial offerings, and stronger Yin God Puppets. After refining his approach, he left the first building to repeat the process in others.

• Jiang Chen had the River Earl kill the doctor evil sha, then dispersed the weird objects in the building.
• Jiang Chen recorded his exorcism method and found the doctor’s sacrificial offering prototype, a scalpel.
• Jiang Chen considered how restricted zones offered reincarnators and powerful kings a steady supply of sacrificial offerings.
• Jiang Chen entered other black high-rises and tailored plans around each building owner’s deepest obsessions.
• Jiang Chen persuaded the ghosts’ evil selves to cooperate, used them to turn their true selves fully evil, then killed the evil selves and collected ghost qi, sacrificial offering prototypes, and stronger Yin God Puppets.

Jiang Chen recovered from the crystalline leg bone’s injuries, then weighed the dangers emerging in Blood-Colored City against the cost of fighting its strongest Fierce Souls. After his Evil Self taunted him by killing a captive, Jiang Chen realized he could use its strength to take on the black high-rises.

• Jiang Chen healed his injuries with Sacrificial Offering Prototypes and rare elixirs, and discovered that enhancing the crystalline leg bone would cost five times as much ghost qi as enhancing the stone pillar.
• Jiang Chen hid from a colossal figure that appeared in Blood-Colored City, whose gaze filled him with dread and seemed to surpass Supreme Powerhouses.
• Jiang Chen continued luring Fierce Souls into becoming evil sha, but found that top-tier opponents took too long and too many resources to defeat.
• Jiang Chen spotted his Evil Self in an eighteen-story building, where it killed a captive woman and taunted him for arriving too late.
• Jiang Chen realized his Evil Self retained power comparable to a Nine-Step King and decided it could help him fight the Fierce Souls in the black high-rises.

Jiang Chen saved a woman from his evil self by taking a knife wound, then told Jiang Xiao Chen that killing people was not truly evil because the dead no longer suffered. He began teaching his doubting counterpart that real evil meant creating suffering and despair.

• Jiang Chen rushed up the building and found his evil self about to stab the office-attired woman.
• Jiang Chen pulled the woman out of danger and was stabbed in the chest, then urged her to run.
• The evil self left the knife behind and questioned whether saving the woman had been worth it.
• Jiang Chen revealed that he had saved Jiang Xiao Chen’s soul, then mocked its crude approach to evil.
• Jiang Chen argued that killing ended suffering and could count as doing good, leaving Jiang Xiao Chen shaken and questioning its actions.