Chapter Summaries

Mu Yu and the others pursued Zong Ren after he escaped, but he switched cars and disappeared. Sun Wen recovered from his defeat, pieced together Zong Ren’s likely destination, and urged the team to intercept him on the way to Sin City.

• Mu Yu left Sun Wen unconscious and headed out of the city, while Zhao Zicheng, A Tai, and Lin Xiaoxiao pursued her.
• Lin Xiaoxiao joined A Tai in his beastified form, then rode Big White ahead as Zhao Zicheng ordered the roads blocked.
• Li Zi told Zhao Zicheng that the intercepted car was driven by an Evil Cultist, not Zong Ren, and the team began searching in three directions.
• Sun Wen woke, learned Zong Ren had switched cars, and struggled with the failures that had shaken his confidence.
• Remembering Xu Yuanqing’s perseverance, Sun Wen reconsidered Zong Ren’s motives and realized he was likely headed to Sin City.
• Sun Wen ordered the team to intercept Zong Ren on the road to Sin City, warning that he would be absolved of his crimes if he came out alive.

Sun Wen deduced that Zong Ren was heading to Sin City after accepting Soul Hunt’s offer, and sent his team to stop him before the gate opened. Zong Ren confirmed his cooperation with a hidden faction, while the chapter revealed that unseen forces had manipulated both him and Sun Wen to advance their own plans.

• Sun Wen concluded that Soul Hunt had offered Zong Ren a chance to clear his name and keep An An, and ordered his team to intercept him near Sin City before its gate opened.
• Sun Wen told his team to use Yu Sheng’s presence in Sin City as an advantage if they failed to stop Zong Ren outside it.
• Zong Ren called an electronically disguised contact, confirmed that their plan had begun, and refused to leave An An behind.
• The contact warned that the Ink Pavilion would investigate the failures around Er City and asked Zong Ren to kill Yu Mo if possible, as their cooperation depended on opening a breach in the Black Market.
• Zong Ren destroyed the phone and continued through the forest with An An, while the narration revealed that hidden factions had manipulated events and watched Sun Wen and Zong Ren from behind.

A hidden Soul Hunt operative revealed that he had orchestrated the Er City incident and manipulated Sun Wen, but Lin Siyuan and veteran Light Group fighters confronted him. The operative’s attempt to escape using a Void Snake was thwarted, and the battle began with the rooftop surrounded.

• A black-clad Soul Hunt operative reported that the Er City operation had isolated Sun Wen and that Zong Ren remained under watch.
• The operative watched Sun Wen sleeping near a supermarket and believed his plans had left Sun Wen powerless against the forces controlling events.
• Lin Siyuan appeared behind the operative and revealed that the Light Group had veterans ready to defend Sun Wen.
• Lin Siyuan and the veteran Light Group members surrounded the operative, who recognized that his people had mistaken the veterans’ imprisonment for the truth.
• The operative tried to escape with a Void Snake and eagle wings, but Lin Siyuan’s Break Void ability made him solid and the others’ chains slowed him down.

Lin Siyuan’s Light Group captured and investigated suspected Soul Hunt members while keeping Sun Wen unaware of their operation. Outside Sin City, Zong Ren threatened to kill children at a kindergarten to force Zhao Zicheng and the others to let him pass, then used An An as a hostage when Zhao attacked.

• A weakened, unidentified man failed to call for help, then destroyed himself before the Light Group could capture him alive.
• Lin Siyuan ordered the group to conceal the incident, investigate Ink City's Third Prison, and observe suspected collaborators while arresting Sixth Awakening Persons across Er City.
• Lin Siyuan reflected that Sun Wen had been manipulated with a Reflecting Heart Flower, then left him asleep by the roadside.
• Zong Ren reached Sin City with An An and threatened to trigger an attack on children at a kindergarten unless Zhao Zicheng and the others let him enter.
• Zhao Zicheng charged when Zong Ren neared the point where phones lost signal, and Zong Ren dropped his phone and grabbed An An by the neck to stop him.

Zong Ren used An An as a hostage to escape into Sin City, leaving Zhao Zicheng and the others to care for her. Inside the city, Yu Mo recognized Zong Ren, and Yu Sheng offered to capture him.

• Zong Ren refused to release An An until Sin City's gate began opening, then dropped her and slipped inside.
• Zhao Zicheng removed An An's earplugs, reassured her that her father would return, and carried her away while she quietly cried.
• After Zhao Zicheng left, A Tai shouted toward Sin City that Zong Ren had entered and urged Brother Yu to kill him.
• Yu Mo, who had been waiting by the gate for three days, recognized Zong Ren as he entered Sin City.
• When A Tai's shout made Zong Ren uneasy, Yu Sheng asked Yu Mo whether he should grab him.

Yu Mo watched Zong Ren defeat starving attackers in Sin City and learned from Yu Sheng that Zong Ren was strong enough for the Inner City. Yu Sheng tracked Zong Ren down on Yu Mo’s orders, and their pursuit ended with Zong Ren firing a pistol at him.

• Several starving men ambushed Zong Ren, who killed three of them and searched their bodies before leaving.
• Yu Mo speculated that Zong Ren had arranged supplies and weapons before entering Sin City, and Yu Sheng estimated that he could qualify for the Inner City.
• Yu Sheng confronted Zong Ren and said his friend had asked him to kill him and his employer wanted to see him.
• Zong Ren refused to go with Yu Sheng, threw daggers at him, and fled through the alleys.
• Zong Ren fired a pistol at Yu Sheng, who dodged and kept moving toward him.

Yu Sheng, Shi Guang, and Yu Mo captured Zong Ren after a chase, and Yu Mo tested the ruthless survivor by ordering Yu Sheng to shoot him repeatedly. Zong Ren endured the wounds and asked to talk, but Yu Mo told him to rest first as they waited beneath the moon.

• After Zong Ren abandoned his gun, Yu Sheng shot him in the calf and herded him toward Shi Guang and Yu Mo.
• Zong Ren surrendered, dug the bullet out of his leg with a dagger, and asked Yu Sheng and Shi Guang for tools and gauze, which they refused to lend him.
• Yu Mo praised Zong Ren's ruthlessness and ordered Yu Sheng to shoot his legs; Yu Sheng misunderstood the first instruction, then fired three more times on Yu Mo's orders.
• Zong Ren, badly wounded and exhausted, asked whether they could begin talking, but Yu Mo told him to rest and remarked that the moon was not full.

Yu Mo, Yu Sheng, and Shi Guang tormented the wounded Zong Ren while Yu Mo explained how they had tracked him to Sin City. Zong Ren asked what Yu Mo wanted from him, but Yu Mo revealed that they had found him by tracing the strange fire and the girl he had taken away.

• Yu Sheng shone an extravagant flashlight into Zong Ren’s eyes while Yu Mo joked about tormenting and killing him.
• Shi Guang described Zong Ren’s measurements and the place prepared for him in her Corpse Pit.
• Yu Sheng described a gruesome punishment involving raw food, frightening Zong Ren more than the prospect of death.
• Yu Sheng lit a candle and placed it in Zong Ren’s bloodied hands so they could see his face.
• Zong Ren asked how they had known he would come to Sin City, and Yu Mo said he had been found by tracing the strange fire and the girl he had taken away.

Yu Mo deduced that Zong Ren had helped the Evil Cult disappear into the shadows in exchange for Soul Hunt’s support. Zong Ren pleaded for his life and offered to do anything to survive, but Yu Mo gave him no reason to believe he would be spared.

• Yu Mo explained that Zong Ren had sacrificed Qiu Xiaoxiao and hidden the Evil Cult in exchange for something Soul Hunt could offer, likely access to the Black Market.
• Yu Mo called Zong Ren a disappointing prisoner and ordered Yu Sheng to kill him.
• Yu Sheng fired, but Zong Ren dodged the shot; when Yu Sheng prepared another, Yu Mo stopped him to hear Zong Ren out.
• Zong Ren asked what he could do to stay alive and said he had killed only to survive and live better.
• Yu Mo agreed with Zong Ren’s reasoning but said he would kill him because he was a psychopath.
• Zong Ren insisted he would do anything to stay alive and suggested Yu Mo might need him for something.

Yu Mo let the battered Zong Ren leave with a chance to prove his worth by surviving three days, intending to use him as expendable help in Sin City. As the city’s momentum gathered, Yu Mo prepared an Urban Legend Game for the upcoming contest for spots to leave Sin City.

• Yu Mo told Zong Ren that he could earn a chance to leave Sin City by proving his worth and surviving three days.
• Yu Sheng gave Zong Ren water, and Zong Ren forced himself to his feet and left.
• Yu Mo told Yu Sheng that Zong Ren was doomed but could serve as cannon fodder and answer Confucian Scholar’s questions before being killed.
• Yu Mo explained that Sin City’s momentum would push events toward a predetermined outcome, leaving Zong Ren little room to interfere.
• Shi Guang asked Yu Mo about the last space in his pit, leaving Yu Mo stumped.
• Yu Mo turned his attention to the contest for Sin City’s spots and began planning an Urban Legend Game.

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.