Recaps

At the Ink Pavilion Branch, An An explained that she knew the man who choked her was not her old dad, but she still wanted him back because he had promised to fix her eyes. After Sun Wen refused to become her father, An An left to find a new one, and the others discovered that her mother had died a year earlier.

• An An told Zhao Zicheng and Sun Wen that she recognized her new dad by a callus on his right hand and knew he was not her old dad.
• An An said she had not called the police because her new dad had treated her well and promised to fix her eyes, while her old dad had not.
• An An asked Sun Wen to be her dad, but he refused, so she left to find a new one.
• Sun Wen decided to send An An to a good orphanage and hire a psychologist, while A Tai admitted he would not dare take her in.
• Mu Yu asked why An An had not mentioned her mother, and Sun Wen found records showing that her mother had died in an accident when An An was four.

After Sun Wen reflected on the failed operation and received a call from Lin Siyuan urging him to continue, he decided to investigate Er City openly. In Ink City, Lin Siyuan began torturing a wounded young man with bloodsucking worms.

• Sun Wen concluded that he had been drugged and suspected a covert second force in Er City, so he decided to report the operation and withdraw.
• Lin Siyuan called Sun Wen, told him to keep investigating, and urged him not to lose confidence after making mistakes.
• Sun Wen changed his plan, assigning Zhao Zicheng and Xiao Xiao to the Guard Bureau, Mu Yu to the Dark Pavilion, and himself and A Tai to the Ink Pavilion.
• Lin Siyuan interrogated a wounded young man in the Third Prison and ordered Light Group members to release bloodsucking worms into his arm.
• Lin Siyuan explained that the worms crawled through the young man's body, feeding on his blood and causing intense itching.

Lin Siyuan secretly used a staged interrogation and a planted report to search for Soul Hunt members and moles within the Light Group. In Sin City, Yu Mo spent his time losing at cards and accumulating debt before going with Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to check on Zong Ren.

• Lin Siyuan ordered the release and compensation of Third Prison's employees while continuing to torture a suspected Soul Hunt member.
• Lin Siyuan planned to plant a report about a captured Soul Hunt operative to see whether anyone inside the Light Group leaked the information.
• Yu Mo accused Yu Sheng of cheating at Dou Dizhu, while Yu Sheng added the losses and other charges to Yu Mo's tab.
• Shi Guang calculated Yu Mo's debt at 12.3 million and locked his wheelchair when Yu Mo tried to leave.
• Yu Mo persuaded Shi Guang to unlock the wheelchair so they could go see whether Zong Ren was still alive.

Yu Mo tracked down the badly wounded Zong Ren and offered him the leadership of the Light Group, while making clear that Zong Ren had little choice but to obey. Zong Ren accepted and asked what he had to do, and Yu Mo sent him into the woods to speak with someone.

• Shi Guang used a tracking chip to locate Zong Ren hiding near the boundary between Sin City's Inner City and Outer City.
• Yu Sheng warned that Zong Ren was dangerous and suggested recruiting him into the Light Group or sending him back to Sin City.
• Zong Ren emerged from the woods on a makeshift crutch and accused Yu Mo of wanting to use him as cannon fodder rather than make him leader.
• Yu Mo told Zong Ren he could lead the Light Group and live longer, but warned that his life was no longer in his own hands.
• Zong Ren agreed to do what Yu Mo asked, and Yu Mo directed him into the woods to speak with someone.

Yu Mo sent Zong Ren to deliver himself as the answer to the Confucian Scholar, trusting Zong Ren to answer the Scholar’s question. Zong Ren returned badly wounded and said the Scholar was satisfied, while Yu Mo remained wary and asked what answer he had given.

• Yu Mo told Zong Ren to tell the Confucian Scholar that he was the answer Yu Mo had sent.
• Yu Mo waited with Yu Sheng and Shi Guang, joked about Zong Ren’s chances of surviving, and warned them to kill him decisively if his plan failed.
• After Shi Guang noticed Zong Ren’s signal moving again, Zong Ren emerged from the woods with his leg wounds reopened and collapsed outside.
• Zong Ren told Yu Mo that the Confucian Scholar was satisfied and that Yu Mo could visit him with any requests.
• Yu Mo jokingly questioned whether Zong Ren was luring him into danger, then asked what answer Zong Ren had given the Confucian Scholar.

Yu Mo heard how Zong Ren had endured experiments to glimpse another world and helped Yu Sheng stop his bleeding with a heated dagger. He then told the Confucian Scholar that the Immortal Realm came from within, leaving the scholar convinced he was an immortal and urging him to enter the mortal world.

• Zong Ren told Yu Mo he had claimed to be a soul without a body to persuade his tormentor to continue the experiments.
• Yu Sheng cauterized Zong Ren’s wounds with a heated dagger while refusing to waste liquor on disinfection, and Shi Guang sent Yu Mo to the Confucian Scholar.
• The Confucian Scholar excitedly described seeing an Immortal Realm, but Yu Mo said he could not see it because it did not exist in his heart.
• Yu Mo explained that what people saw depended on what they held in their hearts, and the Confucian Scholar concluded that he was an immortal and the Immortal Realm was within him.
• Yu Mo told the Confucian Scholar to enter the mortal world, and the scholar jumped around, laughing excitedly.

Yu Mo convinced the Confucian Scholar that he could enter the mortal world by protecting its people and gathering their offerings, then persuaded him to begin cleansing Sin City. The chapter ended with the wary Yu Sheng meeting the Scholar, who offered to teach him immortality before Yu Mo warned that the path was lonely.

• Yu Mo told the Confucian Scholar to keep the world in his heart and gather incense offerings to condense immortal energy, and the Scholar eagerly accepted Yu Mo's offer to guide him.
• The Confucian Scholar vanished to bathe, then returned cleaner as Yu Mo suggested starting the world's cleansing in Sin City and using wicked villains to glimpse the Immortal Realm.
• Yu Mo emerged from the woods with the Confucian Scholar, while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang hid and watched them cautiously.
• When Yu Mo insisted he was safe, Shi Guang used the remote to make his wheelchair perform a trick, and Yu Sheng finally stepped into view.
• The Confucian Scholar recognized Yu Sheng and offered to teach him cultivation, but Yu Mo warned that the road to immortality was long and lonely.

Yu Mo returned to Sin City’s Inner City with Confucian Scholar after Yu Sheng carried off the unconscious Zong Ren. At the gate, Confucian Scholar challenged the blind old man, and Yu Mo defended his plans to change Sin City before entering the city with Shi Guang.

• Yu Mo and Confucian Scholar headed back while Shi Guang followed and Yu Sheng carried the unconscious Zong Ren away.
• At the Inner City gate, the blind old man ordered Confucian Scholar to return to the woods and threatened to kill him if he left Sin City.
• Confucian Scholar accused the old man of suppressing his heart and declared that he would become an immortal while the old man became a demon.
• Yu Mo told the old man that Sin City and the Human Race needed change, thanked him for maintaining stability, and said he would rather fight than accept a slow death.
• Shi Guang guided Yu Mo’s wheelchair into the Inner City, and the old man remained silent before eventually disappearing.

Yu Mo discovered that Confucian Scholar could still use powerful energy despite Sin City’s restraints and suspected he had reached the ninth awakening. The chapter left Yu Mo wondering who Confucian Scholar was and what Sin City was hiding.

• Yu Mo found Zong Ren asleep in the room while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang were nowhere to be seen, and reassured Confucian Scholar that they might accept him with patience.
• Confucian Scholar agreed to let Zong Ren rest, then used his energy to knock him fully asleep for a day.
• Yu Mo realized Confucian Scholar’s supposedly faint energy was powerful enough to suggest he was near the seventh awakening or beyond.
• Confucian Scholar demonstrated that he could levitate a chair, but his memory loss distressed him as he tried to recall his past.
• Confucian Scholar remembered a beautiful object set with nine gems and concluded that he must have come from another world, while Yu Mo suspected he was at the ninth awakening.

Yu Mo spoke with Confucian Scholar about the Jailer and the Immortal Realm while Yu Sheng watched from a distance. In the Demon Domain, Old White Ape revealed to Fei that Dragon Python had used a secret technique to drain human blood and vital energy, and handed over the technique.

• Yu Mo asked Confucian Scholar about the Jailer in the Outer City, and Confucian Scholar dismissed him as a big oaf.
• Confucian Scholar described his belief that he alone could behold immortals, while Yu Mo affirmed that the Immortal Realm must exist.
• Yu Sheng saw that Yu Mo was alive, then leaped from a rooftop and disappeared.
• Old White Ape urged Fei to recall Ji Hong, but Fei said Ji Hong was needed to govern the Thousand-Li Demon Plain for now.
• Old White Ape told Fei that Dragon Python had secretly drained blood and vital energy from humans using a technique, then gave Fei the hidden parchment containing it.

Fei became excited after Old White Ape brought it a cultivation technique that might let it reach level nine, and it planned to test the technique on two imprisoned human women. Meanwhile, an eight-tailed fox prepared to act amid Skyvault Ravine’s unusual calm, while Zong Ren woke in Sin City and the Confucian Scholar embraced the power of worship.

• Fei accepted Old White Ape’s hide parchment, then privately celebrated the chance to become a Demon God and considered testing the technique on two imprisoned human women.
• Old White Ape returned to the Thousand-Li Demon Plain without meeting Ji Hong and raged at his residence, while the other demon beasts mocked him.
• An eight-tailed fox at Qingqiu Mountain heard that everything was ready and announced that Skyvault Ravine’s turmoil would soon quiet down before flying away.
• Yu Mo tried to wake Zong Ren, who opened his eyes after two days without food but was too weak and injured to sit up.
• Yu Mo told Zong Ren to thank the Confucian Scholar, who declared that he had felt the pure power of worship and called himself an immortal who saved lives and healed the wounded.

Yu Mo made Zong Ren endure a second ordeal by asking Confucian Scholar to treat his injured legs, while using Confucian Scholar’s Idealism to convince him that Zong Ren enjoyed the pain. The treatment left Zong Ren screaming as Yu Mo realized Confucian Scholar could sense the gratitude he believed was there.

• Yu Mo urged Zong Ren to crawl to a chair and told him he was the Light Group’s next head and successor.
• Yu Mo assigned Zong Ren a second mission, and Zong Ren protested that his wounds prevented him from walking.
• Yu Mo asked Confucian Scholar to treat Zong Ren’s legs, then persuaded him to heal them only halfway so he could receive gratitude in installments.
• Confucian Scholar used violent energy to treat Zong Ren, causing him extreme pain while Yu Mo insisted that Zong Ren enjoyed it.
• Confucian Scholar sensed the incense offerings he believed Zong Ren’s gratitude produced, and Yu Mo recognized the power of his Idealism Awakening Object.

Yu Mo sent the injured Zong Ren on a dangerous second mission while the Confucian Scholar healed him and grew more devoted to Yu Mo. After Zong Ren left, Yu Mo praised guiding evil people toward goodness, unknowingly inspiring the Confucian Scholar to another delusion.

• The Confucian Scholar healed one of Zong Ren's legs completely, and Zong Ren struggled to his feet despite his uneven legs.
• Yu Mo ordered Zong Ren to find a chained, burly man in the Outer City and tell him someone wanted to meet at eight that night.
• Zong Ren accepted the mission and left with a walking stick the Confucian Scholar had brought him.
• Yu Mo told the Confucian Scholar that guiding evil people toward goodness was the greatest undertaking and could earn more incense.
• The Confucian Scholar concluded that Yu Mo was guiding himself because the world was false, while Yu Mo enjoyed having Yu Sheng and Shi Guang away from him.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang continued Yu Mo’s protection assignment while leaving him stranded in the courtyard, and Sun Yingxiong and Zhong Yushu discussed the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan’s sudden rise in Skyvault Ravine. They prepared for a possible Demon Clan offensive and considered who could succeed Zhong Yushu as Ink Pavilion Head.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang decided to continue the job, planning to collect Yu Mo’s body before leaving Sin City and hoping Lin Siyuan would trust Yu Sheng’s promise about the money.
• Yu Mo sent Shi Guang instructions to steer him to the back courtyard and watch Zong Ren, but Shi Guang left him alone after positioning his wheelchair over a hole in its seat.
• At the Ink Pavilion, Sun Yingxiong told Zhong Yushu that Skyvault Ravine’s eleven other God Clans had chosen the low-profile Nine-Tailed Fox Clan to govern the Demon Domain for twenty years.
• Zhong Yushu suspected the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan had a hidden plan, said he would contact demons in Skyvault Ravine, and ordered the Four Great Passes placed under martial law in preparation for a major move.
• Sun Yingxiong and Zhong Yushu discussed candidates to succeed Zhong as Ink Pavilion Head, rejected Yuan Qingshan as too erratic, and left Sun considering other possibilities.

After losing contact with his agents in Skyvault Ravine, Zhong Yushu warned Sun Yingxiong to prepare the Four Great Passes and sought help from the Mountain-Guarding Old Man. The old man agreed to leave his mountain and investigate, while Zhong Yushu remained worried about the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan’s movements.

• Zhong Yushu told Sun Yingxiong that his agents in Skyvault Ravine had been rooted out and urged the Four Great Passes to openly muster troops and strengthen their combat forces.
• Zhong Yushu ordered Sun Yingxiong to summon Kong Hongfang and use supplies seized from the Demon Domain to improve the troops’ strength.
• Zhong Yushu visited the Mountain-Guarding Old Man and explained that all his agents in Skyvault Ravine were dead, leaving the Human Race blind to events in its core region.
• The Mountain-Guarding Old Man agreed to leave after Zhong Yushu said the threat endangered tens of thousands of lives, telling him, “Guard the mountain for me.”
• Zhong Yushu stayed behind on the mountain, joked about the old man’s ruined Azure Bird eggs, and worried that the Human Race still needed time before the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan made its move.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang ensured Zong Ren entered the house, though they were not responsible for what happened to him inside. In Cang City, Yuan Qingshan brought rare resources to the family of the unconscious Xiao Kong, and Xiao Kong’s wife asked whether they could stop treating him.

• Yu Sheng fired a crossbow bolt through the house window, prompting Zong Ren to turn away before the door opened.
• A burly man seized Zong Ren and carried him inside, leaving his cane outside; Yu Sheng told Shi Guang their mission was complete.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang decided to wait two hours for Zong Ren to come out before leaving.
• Yuan Qingshan visited Xiao Kong’s home, where Nian An and her mother recognized the case of resources he had brought.
• Yuan Qingshan opened the case, revealing valuable Demon Plants and an eighth-level Demon Core without a Divine Beast Blood Vein.
• Xiao Kong’s wife asked Yuan Qingshan if they could stop treating her husband.

Kong Hongfang’s wife told Yuan Qingshan how his repeated departures to fight at Dome Pass had left her and Nian An longing for him and fearing he would not return. She asked Yuan to do everything possible to bring Kong back alive, while Nian An vowed to take her father’s place when she turned eighteen.

• Kong Hongfang’s wife recounted how he had returned gravely injured, spent years unconscious, and left again soon after Yuan Qingshan cured him.
• She described how Kong returned unconscious after killing a Demon Lord, leaving medical books as a request to study when he woke again.
• Kong Hongfang’s wife revealed that after another five years, Kong woke and left for Dome Pass before he could see Nian An after school.
• She told Yuan Qingshan that she feared Kong would eventually return dead, but asked him to bring Kong back alive, even if he remained unconscious.
• Nian An stood behind her mother and declared that she would go in her father’s place when she turned eighteen.

After Yuan Qingshan revived Kong Hongfang from a four-year sleep, Kong Hongfang reunited with his wife and daughter before leaving for Dome Pass. He concealed the flaw in his Awakening Object and returned to a Reserve Corps welcome as General Kong.

• Yuan Qingshan used a case to restore Kong Hongfang, while members of the Reserve Corps waited outside in Dome uniforms.
• Kong Hongfang woke, learned he had been asleep for four years, and reunited with his wife and daughter, Kong Nian'an.
• Kong Hongfang left home with Yuan Qingshan after his wife told him she would wait for his return.
• Kong Nian'an called after her father that she would go in his place next time, and Kong Hongfang told her to do her best before departing.
• Kong Hongfang told Yuan Qingshan he had kept quiet about his Awakening Object's flaw because hope was not always a good thing.
• The Reserve Corps welcomed Kong Hongfang back at Dome Pass as General Kong.

Kong Hongfang led soldiers on a forced march toward Dome Pass while Yuan Qingshan remained behind, and Xin Yongfeng returned to the Demon Domain disguised as a cheetah to pursue Ji Hong. At Skyvault Ravine, the Eight-Tailed Fox demanded that the God Clan chiefs acknowledge their responsibility for the Mirage Dragon’s death, and the Black Flood Dragon King reluctantly agreed to issue a proclamation.

• Kong Hongfang ordered his soldiers to reach Dome Pass within thirty-six hours and asked Yuan Qingshan to protect Nian An and the others if he fell unconscious.
• Yuan Qingshan promised their safety but lamented that his potential to reach the ninth awakening kept him from fighting.
• Xin Yongfeng returned to the Demon Domain, transformed into a cheetah using the Mirage Dragon’s Illusion skill, and set out to kill Ji Hong.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox told the Skyvault Ravine chiefs that they had to acknowledge their faults for the Mirage Dragon’s death and their infighting.
• The Black Flood Dragon King and Red Dragon objected to apologizing to low-level demon beasts, but the Black Flood Dragon King yielded to the Eight-Tailed Fox and agreed to issue a proclamation.

The Eight-Tailed Fox pushed the God Race patriarchs to abandon their superiority, learn from humanity, and reform the Demon Domain. Its plan for unified resource allocation and merit-based promotions met fierce resistance, leaving the patriarchs divided over who would control the Demon Clan’s power and resources.

• The Eight-Tailed Fox urged the God Race patriarchs to stop treating themselves as rulers above the low-level demon beasts and to abandon titles such as “this king” and “this god.”
• The patriarchs objected to abolishing “this god,” but their ancestors appeared in the void and signaled their approval, silencing the opposition.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox told the patriarchs to study human knowledge and learn from the Gu Diao Clan’s Demon-Human Plan.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox proposed unified resource allocation, merit-based assessments, removing ineffective leaders, and admitting deserving tribes into the God Race.
• Most patriarchs rejected the reforms, while the Black Flood Dragon King stayed silent and saw possible benefits for its clan.

The Eight-Tailed Fox won support for a centralized Demon Alliance by offering a merit-based system and isolating those who resisted. After the chiefs joined, he called for vigilance over Mirage Dragon’s stolen Demon Core and proposed another offensive against the Human Race’s Four Great Passes.

• The Black Flood Dragon King backed the Eight-Tailed Fox’s reforms and offered up his clan’s resources, while the Taotie chief and others called for his clan’s removal from the God Race.
• The Qiongqi, Hundun, and Heavenly Dog chiefs supported the reforms, leaving the twelve tribes evenly divided.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox established the Demon Alliance and excluded the Taowu Clan from it unless it joined.
• The Red Dragon King switched sides, and the remaining opposing chiefs, including Taowu, joined the Demon Alliance.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox promised a merit-based reward and punishment system, ordered the chiefs to watch for signs of Mirage Dragon’s abilities, and proposed an offensive against the Human Race’s Four Great Passes.

Eight-Tailed Fox reorganized the Demon Domain through the Demon Alliance, tying the clans’ influence and resources to a new merit system. The Tengu King concluded that the Twelve God Clans’ era had ended and that Eight-Tailed Fox’s authority would keep growing unless the Demon Gods intervened.

• The Red Dragon King and several other clan chiefs volunteered to fight, while the Black Flood Dragon King pledged to lead his tribe’s first assault on Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Eight-Tailed Fox praised the Black Flood Dragon King, then ordered the chiefs to prepare, submit edicts of self-reproach, and have their tribes’ human-culture progress inspected.
• Eight-Tailed Fox warned that failing to meet standards would cost merits and ruled that merits could not be sold or gifted.
• The clan chiefs recognized that the rules had undermined their alliances and placed them in competition under Eight-Tailed Fox’s leadership.
• The Tengu King reflected that the Twelve God Clans’ era was over, credited Yu Mo with understanding the force of political momentum, and wondered why the ancestors had chosen Eight-Tailed Fox.

The Eight-Tailed Fox planned to spread a merit system across the Demon Domain and considered how the Demon Clan might adopt technology after defeating the Human Race. At Thousand-Li Demon Plain, Old White Ape saw the Fox’s plan as an opportunity to take control of the Demon Domain, while Ji Hong warned that everyone around Old White Ape tended to meet a bad end.

• The Eight-Tailed Fox told the Seven-Tailed Fox that Demon Gods cared more about grand ambitions than their tribes and said the Human Race’s powerful successor could be worn down with enough lives.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox ordered the merit system spread throughout the Demon Domain and proposed adopting technology after the Human Race was destroyed, envisioning a cultured Demon Clan.
• Ao Eagles carried conches announcing the merit system across the Demon Domain, and regional Demon Lords collected them.
• At Thousand-Li Demon Plain, Old White Ape told Ji Hong he intended to take control of the Demon Domain and make the Eight-Tailed Fox his subordinate.
• Old White Ape said he would accept serving the Eight-Tailed Fox if it helped him survive and grow stronger, prompting Ji Hong to point out that Old White Ape’s superiors, subordinates, friends, and family never ended well.

Ji Hong considered Old White Ape’s ruthless plan to gain merit and rise within the Demon Domain, while a new conch message left him silently brooding. Meanwhile, Zong Ren dragged himself from his room and crawled through the street as Shi Guang and Yu Sheng watched without helping.

• Old White Ape explained how the Merit Token would spur competition among demon tribes and give Ji Hong a chance to gain status by killing humans and taking over Eagle Ravine Mountain.
• Ji Hong said he would think about Old White Ape’s proposal, then left.
• A goshawk delivered Ji Hong a new conch, and he listened to its message before putting it away in silence.
• Shi Guang saw Zong Ren emerge from his room badly injured, with both legs broken, and collapse outside.
• As Zong Ren crawled away, leaving a trail of blood, Shi Guang asked whether they should help him, but Yu Sheng refused because the mission did not require it and his friend wanted Zong Ren dead.

Zong Ren crawled toward the street, convinced Yu Mo would save him, while Yu Mo asked the Confucian Scholar to retrieve him and delay healing him to maximize his gratitude. The Confucian Scholar found Zong Ren on the brink of death and watched him lose consciousness, leaving his survival in the scholar’s hands.

• Shi Guang and Yu Sheng showed little concern for Zong Ren’s suffering, while Zong Ren kept crawling and believed Yu Mo would eventually save him.
• Yu Mo tried to get Shi Guang’s attention through the camera, then summoned the Confucian Scholar and asked him to bring Zong Ren back without healing him unless his life was in danger.
• The Confucian Scholar agreed that people were most grateful when rescued at their most desperate and left to find Zong Ren.
• As Zong Ren neared death, he thought of An An, renewed his resolve to become stronger, and continued crawling despite his grievous injuries.
• The Confucian Scholar found Zong Ren, who recognized that he would not die and then passed out as his life continued to ebb away.