Chapter Summaries

Fang Gu revealed that the Black Vatican was pursuing Hua Village’s Kun Well Water, and Mo Fan chose to kill the pursuers while Lu Wu went to rescue their friends. The Black Vatican’s agents continued plotting inside the inner city as Lu Wu launched an attack on their hidden force in the outer district.

• Fang Gu approached Mo Fan and Liu Ru, and Lu Wu soon joined them after Fang Gu said he wanted to work with him.
• Fang Gu explained that he had put Hua Village’s Kun Well Water into the bodies of his undead villagers and believed the Black Vatican had used the water in experiments connected to the Bo City disaster.
• Fang Gu asked Lu Wu and the others to help kill the Black Vatican members and rescue their friends, but Mo Fan chose to go after the Black Vatican himself while Lu Wu handled the rescue.
• Inside an inner-city tea house, a man berated the tea house owner over the failed operation, and the owner promised that his younger brother would retrieve the remaining Kun Well Water.
• Lu Wu scouted the Black Vatican force in the outer district, then activated his Nirvana Domain and attacked the hidden Cursed Beasts and Black Beast Demons with Nirvana Fire.
• Xie Sang watched as Lu Wu’s attack killed nearly all of the hidden creatures within moments.

Lu Wu, Mo Fan, and Liu Ru wiped out the Black Vatican force at Hua Village, exposing Hong Jun as its traitor and capturing Fang Gu. Zhang Xiaohou revealed that his apparent amnesia had been an act to protect himself, then explained how he had discovered the Black Vatican’s presence near Sha Yuan.

• Lu Wu killed the Cursed Beasts and Black Beast Demons, then cornered the female blue-clad deacon as Hong Jun took Zhang Xiaohou hostage.
• Mo Fan and Liu Ru subdued Hong Jun, while the blue-clad deacon killed herself rather than be captured and Fang Gu was prevented from escaping.
• Village Chief Xie Sang learned that his son Hong Jun had joined the Black Vatican, and Hong Jun admitted he had valued the group’s promises over his father’s sacrifices.
• Zhang Xiaohou revealed that his memory had returned earlier, but he had continued pretending to be amnesiac because he feared the Black Vatican would kill him.
• Zhang Xiaohou told Mo Fan that after seeing Black Vatican members near Sha Yuan and escaping to Hua Village, he had suspected someone there was trying to poison him.

Zhang Xiaohou revealed that Grand Deacon Hu Jin, a key Black Vatican figure, had been watching him because he might recognize Hu Jin’s voice from Bo City. The group headed toward the inner city to identify Hu Jin, but Lu Huan, Chief of the Imperial Guard, arrived and summoned them to meet with the authorities.

• Zhang Xiaohou said he recognized Grand Deacon Hu Jin’s voice from Bo City, and Fang Gu explained Hu Jin’s role in the Black Vatican.
• Lu Wu and Mo Fan planned to gather Bo City residents from the Jiaoxue Chamber of Commerce so Zhang Xiaohou could identify Hu Jin by voice.
• Fang Gu said he would accompany them and turn himself in to the Magic Court.
• Mu Bai showed Zhang Xiaohou the chamber of commerce’s mage payroll, but Zhang Xiaohou did not recognize anyone on it.
• Lu Huan arrived with Imperial Mages, asked for Fang Gu, and then summoned the group to meet with him.

Lu Wu and his companions reached Han Ji, who sought Kun Well Water to neutralize Nine Nether Dew and save Ancient Capital, but Fang Gu had used his last supply. When Lu Wu revealed that the Earth Sacred Spring was also gone, Han Ji feared the Ancient King would awaken and destroy the city, though the gray-white-robed man still hoped to find the king’s tomb.

• Lu Huan escorted Lu Wu and his companions to a courtyard where Han Ji thanked Lu Wu for bringing Fang Gu to him.
• Han Ji asked Fang Gu for Kun Well Water, explaining that it could neutralize Nine Nether Dew and put the undead to sleep.
• Fang Gu summoned Fang Tu, revealing that he had used his last Kun Well Water to temper the skeleton and offered him up for its recovery.
• Zhang Xiaohou recalled that Lu Wu had once possessed Bo City's Earth Sacred Spring, and the gray-white-robed man explained that it shared its origin with Kun Well Water.
• Lu Wu said he had already used the Earth Sacred Spring, leaving Han Ji to fear the Ancient King would awaken and obliterate the city.
• The gray-white-robed man said finding the Ancient King's tomb might offer hope, while Han Ji believed the king's awakening could reveal its location and return the city to his rule.

After Zhang Xiaohou recounted what he knew about the Black Vatican, Mu Bai identified his uncle Mu He as a suspect in Head Deacon Hu Jin’s plot. Zhang Xiaohou’s memories began returning through a Forget Worm, while Lu Wu learned that the authorities had detained several possible Salangs but could not identify the real one.

• Zhang Xiaohou told the mysterious man in gray-white and Han Ji what Fang Gu had witnessed and suspected about Head Deacon Hu Jin.
• Mu Bai connected Yu Ang’s ties to the Black Vatican with his uncle Mu He, who had brought Yu Ang into the Mu Family and helped resettle the Bo City refugees.
• Zhang Xiaohou convulsed in pain, and Han Ji discovered a mature Forget Worm on his arm as his memories began to return.
• Zhang Xiaohou cried out that Mu He was involved before the mysterious man in gray-white knocked him unconscious to stop the Forget Worm from advancing.
• The mysterious man in gray-white explained that the authorities had detained several senior defenders because they could not determine which one was the real Salang.

Lu Wu insisted on interrogating the detained Super Level Mages to find Salang before the Ancient King awakened, accepting the possibility of executing them if they refused. As Han Ji and the others weighed the risks and lack of alternatives, Lu Wu asked for powerful energy sources that might help him defeat the remaining Undead Monarchs and evacuate the city.

• Lu Wu proposed interrogating the Super Level Mages, arguing that the Supreme Tribunal would execute them all if Salang could not be identified.
• Lu Wu volunteered to carry out the interrogations, and Zhou Min, Mu Bai, Mo Fan, and Zhang Xiaohou reacted to his willingness to challenge the city’s powerful figures.
• Han Ji and the mysterious gray-white man warned that interrogating Super Level Mages could provoke them, while Mu Bai questioned whether finding or killing Salang would stop the Black Vatican’s plan.
• Lu Wu asked Han Ji and the others for energy-rich resources, hoping to help the Demon Phoenix Insect and Little Fire break through and defeat the remaining Undead Monarchs before evacuating the city.

Lu Wu and Han Ji agreed to prepare the Ancient Capital’s civilians for relocation while using the Earth Sacred Spring as bait to expose the Black Vatican. The plan left Lu Wu to seek energy-rich materials for the three Great Monarchs and try to find Hu Jin before Salang could escape.

• The mysterious man in gray and white proposed using the three Rulers and ten Super Level Mages to open a corridor through the undead for the evacuation.
• Han Ji told Lu Wu about a raw Earth Element crystal ore vein stored beneath the northern district, and Lu Wu decided to retrieve it himself.
• Lu Wu and Han Ji discussed the risk that Salang would escape when the Super Level Mages were released, and Lu Wu proposed finding and interrogating Hu Jin while the Great Monarchs recovered.
• Lu Wu planned to take the Earth Sacred Spring to the northern inner-city wall as bait, while the Imperial Mages secretly prepared the civilian relocation.
• Han Ji told Lu Wu about the Li Family’s blood-potion warehouse, and Imperial Mages began carrying out the relocation orders.

Xue Cang warned Grand Deacon Hu Jin that the Ancient Capital’s leaders were preparing to evacuate citizens with the Great Monarchs and the Earth Sacred Spring. Lu Wu confronted Hu Jin, revealed him as Mu He, and brought him under the Chongming Bird’s control, but the questioning failed to identify Salang.

• Xue Cang told Hu Jin that the Ancient Capital’s leaders planned to evacuate citizens and that Lu Wu was carrying the Earth Sacred Spring toward the inner city.
• Hu Jin ordered his followers to spread panic among the citizens and went to stop the evacuation himself.
• Lu Wu confronted Mu He at the museum and used the Chongming Bird to control him.
• Lu Wu questioned Mu He about Salang, but learned only that Salang was the bishop.
• Lu Wu brought Mu He to Han Ji and the gathered leaders, asking a Mind Mage to try extracting useful information.

Lu Wu and the others learned that Sha Yuan contained the Ancient King's tomb and was closing in on the city, leaving them facing an imminent catastrophe. After Zhang Xiaohou revealed the truth, Lu Wu turned to question Mu He about Salang.

• Lu Wu gave Mo Fan the Forget Worm antidote and asked a Healing Element mage to help recover Zhang Xiaohou's memories.
• A Psychic Element Imperial Mage discovered that a complex soul restriction prevented them from extracting useful information from Mu He without risking his death.
• Zhang Xiaohou awakened and revealed that Sha Yuan contained the Ancient King's tomb and was approaching the city.
• Sha Yuan appeared in the northern outer city and sucked in ruins and undead, while the gathered mages realized it would soon reach the inner city.
• Lu Wu stopped the crowd from killing Mu He, restored his awareness, and questioned him about Salang.
• Mu He claimed he no longer knew Salang's identity, and Lu Wu threatened him with the cursed inner armor.

As the evacuation of the Ancient Capital began, Lu Wu learned that Weiju Village descendants might be able to enter Sha Yuan and seal the Ancient King. Fang Gu, Su Xiaoluo, and Zhang Xiaohou volunteered to try, and Lu Wu agreed to escort them to the spatial vortex.

• Lu Wu and Lu Huan failed to extract information from Mu He and ordered the civilians evacuated under Han Ji's authority.
• A mysterious man in gray and white revealed that Weiju Village descendants might enter Sha Yuan without being devoured and could seal the Ancient King.
• Fang Gu offered to enter Sha Yuan, and Su Xiaoluo volunteered to accompany him.
• Zhang Xiaohou recognized the gray plum blossoms as signs of death and decided to enter Sha Yuan to help save the people of the Ancient Capital.
• Lu Wu offered to escort Fang Gu, Su Xiaoluo, and Zhang Xiaohou to Sha Yuan's spatial vortex before turning back.

As the Ancient Capital’s evacuation continued, Lu Wu led Zhang Xiaohou, Fang Gu, and their escorts toward Sha Yuan while Lu Huan went to confront the Skeleton Nether Lord. Lu Wu demonstrated his newly strengthened magic before Zhan Kong and Liu Ru joined the group.

• The Chongming Bird and Demon Phoenix Insect attacked the undead, while Lu Huan took command of the fight against the Skeleton Nether Lord.
• Lu Wu gathered a small escort team to guide Zhang Xiaohou, Fang Gu, and Su Xiaoluo toward Sha Yuan as the undead crowded outside the barrier.
• Lu Huan flew toward the Skeleton Nether Lord, and Lu Wu and the others left the barrier on the Golden-Eyed Winged Tiger.
• Lu Wu used fifth-tier Nirvana Fire Fierce Fist to burn a lesser Corpse Minister to nothing.
• Zhan Kong appeared with Liu Ru and explained that he had brought her along after finding her in danger on the way to meet the group.

Mo Fan and the others continued toward Sha Yuan to escort Zhang Xiaohou, while the Advanced Mages turned back and Lu Wu, Zhan Kong, and the Golden-Eyed Winged Tiger carried the group farther into danger. After landing within Sha Yuan’s devouring range, they were surrounded by undead, and Lu Wu prepared to unleash powerful fire magic.

• Lu Wu told the Advanced Mages to turn back near Sha Yuan, but Mo Fan and Zhang Xiaohou stayed with the escort, and Zhan Kong chose to accompany them.
• Lu Wu continued toward Sha Yuan with the group aboard the Golden-Eyed Winged Tiger as the devouring force slowed their flight and the undead on the ground grew stronger.
• The Golden-Eyed Winged Tiger turned back, and Lu Wu brought the others down to proceed on foot after Fang Gu’s startled cry revealed a Ghost Minister nearby.
• Lu Wu cast Light Scale Holy Robe over the group while Mo Fan, Zhang Xiaohou, and Zhan Kong attacked the approaching undead.
• Lu Wu gathered dense fire elemental energy and cast Nirvana Fire: Heavenly Flame Funeral: Heavenly Flame Spear Rain.

Lu Wu and the others were driven toward Sha Yuan by the Skeleton Nether Lord, but their abilities stopped the sinister winds from pulling them in. They chose to continue toward the Ancient King's tomb, where the horrifying mass of imprisoned ghosts below left them hesitant to descend.

• Lu Wu’s Heavenly Flame Spear Rain destroyed the undead army, while the Skeleton Nether Lord charged at the group and attacked them with blasts of black light.
• Lu Wu led everyone toward Sha Yuan to escape the Skeleton Nether Lord’s attacks, but the sinister winds began pulling them into the abyss.
• Lu Wu released most of the group, but Zhan Kong, Mo Fan, Liu Ru, Zhang Xiaohou, Su Xiaoluo, and Fang Gu remained caught in the vortex.
• Zhan Kong broke free, and Mo Fan’s Little Loach and Lu Wu’s Nirvana Spine Bone also protected them from the sinister winds.
• Lu Wu and the others decided to continue toward Sha Yuan, knowing they had to stop the Ancient King’s awakening and the spatial drift to save the Ancient Capital.
• The group looked down into Sha Yuan and saw countless tormented evil ghosts, leaving Mo Fan and Fang Gu reluctant to jump in.

Lu Wu and the others descended through Sha Yuan’s ghost-filled layers and found the Ancient King’s vast tomb, then climbed toward its Tomb Palace. As they noticed a bronze mirror above the entrance and realized the steps resembled the well-water painting, the mirror’s eerie nature remained unexplained.

• Lu Wu led Zhan Kong, Mo Fan, Liu Ru, and the others through Sha Yuan’s ghosts, whose tormenting voices left Lu Wu and Zhang Xiaohou dazed.
• The group emerged into a folded space and saw the white Tomb Palace, which Zhan Kong identified as the Ancient King’s tomb.
• Lu Wu, Zhan Kong, and the others climbed the palace steps past motionless stone guards and spotted an eerie bronze mirror above the entrance.
• Su Xiaoluo said the bronze mirror looked like an eye, and Fang Gu recognized that the white steps resembled the well-water painting.

Lu Wu and the others used the Evil Eye Bronze Mirror to enter the Ancient King's mausoleum and passed through a deadly illusion gallery. In the front palace, Lu Wu began absorbing ancient longevity runes while Mo Fan discovered a fragrant demonic lotus that drew the Little Loach.

• Fang Gu used a small bronze mirror to open the mausoleum's stone gateway, and the group entered as the stone statues awakened behind them.
• Fang Gu warned the group not to look at the psychic murals, and Su Xiaoluo deciphered the illusion gallery using her village's ancestral knowledge.
• Lu Wu recognized a woman carved in one mural from the Hanging Coffin Swamp and wondered why she had helped build the Ancient King's mausoleum.
• In the front palace, Lu Wu found that the runes on the pillars fed his Nirvana Spine Bone, though the Sacrifice System could not absorb them.
• Mo Fan followed the trembling Little Loach to the palace's central stone platform, where he found a fragrant demonic lotus.

Lu Wu absorbed the runes’ energy while Mo Fan used the Immortal Lotus to break through to the Advanced Level, opening the way onward. The group entered the Tomb Palace and reached a jade platform lined with lifelike nude statues, with darkness beyond.

• Fang Gu identified the strange lotus as an Immortal Lotus that could only be overcome by destroying it, but Zhang Xiaohou’s attacks failed to damage it.
• Lu Wu absorbed the energy in the pillar runes, strengthening his physique and soul as observers in the bell tower identified the runes as a secret method linked to the Ancient King’s eternal life.
• Mo Fan seized the Immortal Lotus and endured great pain as he used its energy to advance, while Lu Wu continued absorbing the remaining runic energy.
• Mo Fan completed his breakthrough with a fire phoenix bursting from his body, and Xie Sang explained that the group would next face the Bridge of Nine Deaths on the way to the Blood Throne.
• The group entered the Tomb Palace and found rows of lifelike nude female statues leading to a narrowing jade platform and darkness.

The group reached ten bridges spanning a deadly black wind wall and learned that only one was the Bridge of Nine Deaths’ life gate. Mo Fan rejected splitting up to improve their odds and chose to keep the companions together as they prepared to cross.

• Lu Wu, Zhang Xiaohou, and Fang Gu discovered that a wall of black wind blocked the path, while Liu Ru spotted ten white stone bridges ahead.
• Fang Gu identified the bridges as the Bridge of Nine Deaths, where nine routes led to death and only one was the life gate, though the ancestral teachings did not reveal which one.
• Zhan Kong and Lu Wu considered having the seven companions take separate bridges, but Fang Gu warned them to consider the bonds between them.
• Zhang Xiaohou said he would follow Mo Fan, and Liu Ru told Mo Fan she would do whatever he chose.
• Mo Fan decided that the companions would not split up and told Fang Gu that a death gate might still be passable.

Lu Wu and the others crossed a death bridge and emerged in a separate space inside the Ancient King's tomb. They found an exit, but countless undead were falling from a vortex above it.

• Lu Wu led the group across an arched bridge while Fang Gu chose to go alone.
• Black winds swept the group into a spatial portal after the bridges vanished behind them.
• Lu Wu and Mo Fan determined that the small space had an exit, and Lu Wu sensed a silver mirror wall several kilometers away.
• Lu Wu warned that reaching the exit would be difficult when the group spotted countless undead falling from a silver vortex.

Lu Wu and the others were trapped in a space that kept drawing in larger undead, culminating in the Skeleton Nether Lord. Lu Wu attacked the injured Monarch with his strongest fire magic and then charged through its armor, leaving his own arms shattered as the battle continued.

• Lu Wu and Su Xiaoluo fought through thousands of undead after the spatial vortex swept them into the Death Gate Bridge space.
• Xie Sang warned that the trial would grow harder, while the vortex swallowed stronger undead and the Skeleton Nether Lord disappeared from the battlefield outside.
• The vortex dropped the Skeleton Nether Lord into Lu Wu's space, and Lu Wu, Mo Fan, and Zhan Kong prepared to fight it.
• Lu Wu used Nirvana Fire and a rain of Heavenly Flame Spears to burn the Skeleton Nether Lord, pierce its chest, and break one of its wings.
• Lu Wu dodged the Skeleton Nether Lord's black-light attack, then drove a giant flaming spear into its throat and plunged through its shattered bone armor, breaking both arms.

Lu Wu crippled the Skeleton Nether Lord with a heaven-piercing spear and shielded Mo Fan and the others as they charged through the undead. They escaped before the Corpse of the Mountain Peak could fully emerge, while Lu Wu sensed a vast power locking onto him.

• Lu Wu waited for his shattered arms to heal while the undead sacrificed themselves to rebuild the Skeleton Nether Lord.
• Lu Wu completed his Star Constellation and pierced the Skeleton Nether Lord with a massive spear, shattering its Undead Crystal and weakening it.
• Mo Fan and Zhan Kong prepared to charge through, but Lu Wu warned them that the undead kept pouring from the spatial vortex.
• Lu Wu cast Light Scale Holy Robe on the group and led them through the undead as the Corpse of the Mountain Peak began to emerge.
• The Corpse of the Mountain Peak suddenly fell after appearing, while Lu Wu sensed a terrifying aura briefly locking onto him.