Chapter Summaries

Lu Ding took a geological survey internship hoping to encounter a monster and activate his Monster Containment Prison. When a blood-seeping stone sphere was unearthed, he drilled into it, revealing a pair of eyes that opened as the others fled.

• Lu Ding accepted a geological survey job after impressing project supervisor Luo Anping with his knowledge of feng shui and geomancy.
• Workers found a large stone leaking red liquid at the construction site, and Lu Ding rushed over, eager to test whether it was a monster.
• Lu Ding urged Luo Anping to let him drill into the stone, and Luo Anping gave him permission.
• Lu Ding drilled through the stone, spilling more red liquid as the workers backed away from him.
• A pair of eyes appeared in the stone sphere and opened, sending the workers running; Luo Anping turned back and grabbed Lu Ding to escape.

Lu Ding killed the not-yet-emerged South Mountain Stubborn Stone and unlocked the Way of Jinche, then left the construction site with the stone fragments to pursue monsters. State Security agents arrived and learned what had happened from Luo Anping.

• Lu Ding ignored Luo Anping’s attempt to stop him and drilled the South Mountain Stubborn Stone until it split apart.
• Lu Ding received the Way of Jinche, gained power, and learned that the stone had been a legendary monster he had destroyed before it emerged.
• Luo Anping paid Lu Ding twenty thousand yuan, and Lu Ding packed the stone fragments and left the construction site, planning not to return.
• A man and a woman from State Security confronted Luo Anping, who revealed what Lu Ding had done and showed them the surveillance footage.
• The agents warned Luo Anping to keep quiet, and he decided he did not dare warn Lu Ding.

Lu Ding moved out of his resettlement apartment and was attacked by a Wangxiang, which he swiftly killed with his Way of Jinche. The encounter granted him That Which Is Called Forgetting Form, while two members of 749 arrived and witnessed his strength.

• Lu Ding prepared to leave his apartment and examined the stubborn stone fragments he had brought home.
• Lu Ding spotted a long-haired figure in the bamboo grove, challenged it, and realized it was a monster rushing toward his building.
• Lu Ding waited in the stairwell and slashed the Wangxiang as it charged upstairs, then attacked it repeatedly as it tried to flee.
• Lu Ding killed the Wangxiang, and his containment reward granted him the ability called That Which Is Called Forgetting Form.
• Two members of 749 arrived, recognized the Wangxiang, and witnessed Lu Ding's overwhelming victory.

Lu Ding met Bureau 749 trainee investigators Zhou Jie and Long Shanshan after killing a Wood Wang, and they explained his likely aperture opening and the bureau’s rules for people like him. Lu Ding decided Bureau 749’s benefits and cultivation opportunities sounded appealing, and asked how cultivation worked.

• Zhou Jie and Long Shanshan introduced themselves as Bureau 749 trainee investigators and asked Lu Ding about the construction-site incident.
• Long Shanshan explained that the Wood Wang’s corpse had dissolved into the soil, while Zhou Jie warned that the South Mountain Stubborn Stone attracted monsters.
• Zhou Jie explained qi refiners, Spirit Kindling, aperture opening, and how Lu Ding might have absorbed the South Mountain Stubborn Stone’s talent; Lu Ding said he had opened his apertures.
• Zhou Jie outlined the benefits of joining Bureau 749 and the restrictions for those who declined, and Lu Ding showed interest in joining.
• Lu Ding asked Zhou Jie how cultivation worked.

Lu Ding joined Bureau 749 and learned how its newcomers were assessed and assigned ranks, rewards, and missions. Though staff advised him to spend a month preparing, he insisted on taking the assessment with the other newcomers the next day.

• Lu Ding agreed to join Bureau 749, and Zhou Jie took him to the bureau’s base with Long Shanshan.
• Lu Ding registered his information and passed through a corridor displaying numerous monster specimens.
• A staff member explained the assessment system and the different ranks, benefits, and mission permissions newcomers could earn.
• Lu Ding argued that he had arrived before midnight and could take the assessment on the first day of the month.
• The staff member agreed to sign Lu Ding up for the next day’s assessment and gave him a Bureau 749 employee phone.

Lu Ding studied Bureau 749’s materials and learned about cultivation ranks and the value of the South Mountain Stubborn Stone. At the assessment grounds, he struck Chu Hao after Chu Hao insulted him, leaving Liu Yun shocked by the damage to Chu Hao’s vine armor.

• Lu Ding read Bureau 749’s App materials, learned the cultivation ranks, and discovered that the South Mountain Stubborn Stone was a valuable spirit creature whose remains could be used for cultivation and weapons.
• A staff member took Lu Ding to the assessment grounds, where spectators discussed the ratings and Liu Yun and Chu Hao’s abilities and supernatural incident.
• Lu Ding learned that the assessment required killing monsters within an hour and entered the grounds as the sixty-fifth candidate.
• Liu Yun recognized Lu Ding as a fellow Yunhai University student, but Chu Hao dismissed him and predicted he would fail the assessment.
• Lu Ding struck Chu Hao with a slashing blow after Chu Hao insulted him, and Liu Yun saw that the attack had badly damaged Chu Hao’s vine armor.

Lu Ding overwhelmed Chu Hao before the assessment and then slaughtered wooden figures at a record pace. Liu Yun watched his lead grow and realized she needed to work harder.

• Lu Ding dismissed Liu Yun’s objection after destroying Chu Hao’s vine armor, and the spectators debated his strength and arrogance.
• The assessment began, and Lu Ding raced to meet the wooden figures, cutting down more than a dozen with one slash.
• Lu Ding killed over eighty figures in ten minutes and continued fighting, leaving the other trainees astonished.
• Liu Yun fought with her demonic saber but fell far behind Lu Ding’s rising score.
• Liu Yun felt ashamed of her earlier praise and resolved to work harder.

Lu Ding dominated the assessment, earned a perfect score and an Aperture Opening Pill, and impressed Bureau 749's administrators. Director Deng Guofu then offered to guide him in choosing a cultivation method as they headed to the Logistics Department.

• Lu Ding entered Unity of Heaven and Humanity and overwhelmed the wooden dummies, astonishing the Bureau 749 administrators watching the assessment.
• The assessment ended with Lu Ding as the only person to receive a perfect score; Liu Yun earned an excellent rating, while Chu Hao received an average rating and felt humiliated.
• Lu Ding collected his Aperture Opening Pill and reflected on Bureau 749's cultivation resources and the path through the foundational realms.
• Director Deng Guofu introduced himself as head of logistics, and Lu Ding thanked him for the reward.
• Deng Guofu learned Lu Ding had not chosen a cultivation method and invited him to the Logistics Department to offer advice; Lu Ding shared a little about his first nineteen years, and Deng Guofu praised him.

After choosing the Flying Bear Visualization Diagram, Lu Ding mastered the Flying Bear Pouncing and Killing Method and reached the Illuminating the Jade Pivot Realm. He accepted a family massacre investigation involving Old Lady Black and posted on the Bureau 749 forum to find an assistant investigator.

• Deng Guofu gave Lu Ding the Flying Bear Visualization Diagram and advised him to take an Aperture Opening Pill while visualizing it.
• Lu Ding spent two days visualizing the diagram and comprehended the violent Flying Bear Pouncing and Killing Method, opening every aperture in his body and reaching the Illuminating the Jade Pivot Realm.
• Lu Ding reviewed Bureau 749 missions and chose the investigation into the massacre of a family of six at Apricot Blossom Residential Complex, where specialists had detected traces of Old Lady Black.
• Lu Ding learned that Old Lady Black was a black bear spirit known for tearing off victims' faces and saw that the mission recommended a team leader at the Illuminating the Jade Pivot Realm or above.
• Lu Ding posted on the Bureau 749 forum seeking an assistant investigator, prompting commenters to question his confidence and point out his trainee status.

Lu Ding recruited Yan Feifan as his assistant investigator and headed with him to investigate the murder of a family. Yan Feifan identified Dong Yong as the strongest suspect, and Lu Ding agreed to investigate him first, leaving Yan Feifan’s talent still unknown.

• After receiving dozens of applications for his mission, Lu Ding chose Yan Feifan and asked whether he had a car.
• Yan Feifan drove Lu Ding toward the investigation site and summarized the three suspects: Tong Yong, Zhao Haichuan, and Fan Wurui.
• Yan Feifan reasoned that Dong Yong was the most suspicious because of his violent past and the likelihood that Old Lady Black could have possessed him.
• Lu Ding accepted Yan Feifan’s analysis and decided to visit Dong Yong, relying on his sense of smell to detect any connection to Old Lady Black.
• Yan Feifan explained that watching movies and documentaries had shaped his investigative reasoning, and Lu Ding asked what his talent was.

Lu Ding and Yan Feifan investigated Dong Yong’s disappearance from his summer job and learned that he had connections to the Ji family. Yan Feifan suspected Dong Yong was caught up in a supernatural affair involving Ji Yanshuang, and the chapter ended with the Ji family consulting a spirit-medium while Dong Yong’s possible patron, Old Lady Black, loomed over the situation.

• Lu Ding recruited Yan Feifan for future missions after learning he could pass through walls and burrow through the ground, though he could not swim.
• At Dong Yong’s former workplace, Yan Feifan charmed an employee into revealing that Dong Yong had quit abruptly after meeting a beautiful woman and being picked up by a sports car.
• Yan Feifan obtained surveillance results showing that Ji Feiyu had driven Dong Yong away, and that they had previously met on Mountain Goods Old Street.
• Yan Feifan reported that Ji Feiyu’s sister, Ji Yanshuang, had suffered a suspected supernatural affliction and that the family had been acquiring banned medicinal ingredients.
• Yan Feifan learned that Ji Feiyu had vouched for Dong Yong after he was summoned as a suspect in the Apricot Blossom Residential Complex massacre.
• Yan Feifan speculated that Dong Yong would help Ji Yanshuang and outshine the spirit-medium disciple whom Ji Hong had invited to investigate her condition.

Lu Ding and Yan Feifan watched Dong Yong boast at the Ji family villa, then rushed inside when his posturing became unbearable. The confrontation between Dong Yong and Bai Xiaoxiao was interrupted just as they were about to compete to cure Ji Hong’s daughter.

• Yan Feifan guessed that Dong Yong planned to use his new powers and connections to rise in status, and Lu Ding decided to take him down.
• At the Ji family villa, Dong Yong refused Ji Hong’s payment and mocked Bai Xiaoxiao’s ability to cure the second young lady.
• Yan Feifan used a magical bronze mirror to show Lu Ding the argument inside the villa.
• Bai Xiaoxiao challenged Dong Yong to compete to cure the second young lady, and Dong Yong agreed while insisting she go first.
• Lu Ding and Yan Feifan got out of their jeep and charged into the villa after Dong Yong’s boastful remark.

Lu Ding killed Dong Yong and destroyed Old Lady Black after she revealed herself, then Bureau 749 handled the villa witnesses. Ji Feiyu resisted having her memories erased as the chapter ended.

• Ji Feiyu urged Dong Yong and Lu Ding to begin their wager over curing her younger sister.
• Lu Ding burst through the wall, seized Dong Yong, and exposed Old Lady Black hiding inside him.
• Dong Yong confessed to killing the Zhou Family, but Lu Ding split his body in two and destroyed Old Lady Black as she fled.
• Lu Ding received a containment reward, while Yan Feifan made the witnesses sign confidentiality agreements and promised compensation to Chairman Ji.
• Chairman Ji asked Lu Ding to erase Ji Feiyu's memories, but she regained her senses and refused when Yan Feifan approached her with the device.

Lu Ding drove away a vicious ghost that had been haunting Ji Yanshuang and learned it had first appeared after she visited Baiyao Ancient Town. He planned to return to Bureau 749 and then pursue the ghost, while the Ji sisters learned more about his work.

• Lu Ding agreed to wait while Bai Xiaoxiao treated Ji Yanshuang, and he noticed Ji Feiyu watching him.
• A vicious female ghost emerged in Ji Yanshuang's room, but Lu Ding rushed in and scattered the ghost and its black mist with a barrage of slashes.
• The ghost threatened to come after Lu Ding, and Ji Yanshuang told him she had encountered it after visiting Baiyao Ancient Town.
• Lu Ding asked Yan Feifan to check for missions in Baiyao Ancient Town, then decided to return to the bureau before going there himself.
• After Lu Ding left, Bai Xiaoxiao explained Bureau 749 to the Ji sisters, and Ji Feiyu described how she had met Lu Ding.

Linggu reported that a trainee investigator from Bureau 749 had broken her spell, while she and a burly man kept their plans quiet until the Flying Centipede was complete. At the Bureau 749 mission hall, Lu Ding defended Yan Feifan from his bullies and made them agree to take over his chores before the pair went to turn in their mission.

• Linggu told the burly man that a one-star trainee investigator from Bureau 749 had broken her spell and warned him not to disrupt their plans for the Flying Centipede.
• Lu Ding and Yan Feifan returned to the Bureau 749 base at night to turn in their mission.
• Sun Changming stopped Yan Feifan from leaving, and Du Guang confronted him over the dorm chores he had not done.
• Lu Ding kicked Du Guang aside, slapped Sun Changming, and ordered both men to wash Yan Feifan's clothes.
• Lu Ding intimidated Du Guang until he promised to clean the dorm and wash the clothes, then led Yan Feifan to turn in the mission.

Lu Ding completed his mission handover and drove with Yan Feifan to Baiyao Ancient Town to confront an enemy. There, Bureau 749 investigators Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng fought Ma Qi and Linggu, and Lu Ding ordered Yan Feifan to ram Linggu with the jeep.

• Lu Ding reported Old Lady Black's death, received his rewards, and learned he needed nine more missions to become a full investigator.
• Lu Ding agreed to take Yan Feifan with him to Baiyao Ancient Town, and Yan Feifan shared information about the town on the drive.
• Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng confronted Ma Qi and Linggu at an inn, and the four fought their way out into the streets.
• Lu Ding recognized Linggu's scent as the one from the vicious ghost at the Ji family's home and ordered Yan Feifan to drive straight at her.
• Yan Feifan floored the accelerator and rammed the jeep toward Linggu.

Lu Ding and Yan Feifan ambushed Linggu and killed Ma Qi after he took a blow meant for her. Lu Ding caught up with Linggu in the woods and began torturing her over her earlier threat.

• Ma Qi pushed Linggu out of the jeep’s path, so Lu Ding dragged him through the windshield and beat him while Yan Feifan attacked him with a blade.
• Ma Qi told Linggu to run, and she fled as Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng arrived to find Lu Ding and Yan Feifan covered in blood.
• Lu Ding chased Linggu across the rooftops while Yan Feifan told the senior investigators that Lu Ding intended to tear her apart.
• Lu Ding caught Linggu in the woods, broke her arm, and reminded her that she had threatened him earlier that day.
• Linggu recognized Lu Ding as the person who had broken her spell, and he asked whether he should tear her apart or flay her.

Lu Ding killed Linggu and tracked down the Thousand-Gold Elder, who offered a Wind-Calming Pearl in exchange for his life. After learning that the Heavenly Principle Sect was keeping a Flying Centipede in a nearby hollow, Lu Ding demanded to know the elder’s role and killed him when he claimed he had only done odd jobs.

• An unseen elder called the Thousand-Gold Elder urged Lu Ding to spare Linggu, but Lu Ding killed her before the elder could intervene.
• Lu Ding located the Thousand-Gold Elder with a wide-ranging attack and damaged the elder’s gold ingot artifact with a powerful slash.
• The Thousand-Gold Elder offered a Wind-Calming Pearl for his life, and Lu Ding realized it was connected to the Flying Centipede and the Ji family’s second young lady.
• The Thousand-Gold Elder revealed that the Heavenly Principle Sect kept the Flying Centipede in a nearby mountain hollow and identified Linggu as one of its members.
• When Lu Ding asked what the Thousand-Gold Elder had done for the sect, the elder claimed he had only done odd jobs, so Lu Ding killed him with a palm strike.

Lu Ding killed Linggu and the Thousand-Gold Elder, then reached Shi Yinghe as she fought a puppeteer near the mountain hollow. After Lu Ding captured him and demanded to be taken to the Flying Centipede, the puppeteer confessed that the Heavenly Principle Sect planned to work with treasure seekers to hunt Zhi People and Zhi Horses.

• Lu Ding killed Linggu and the Thousand-Gold Elder before Wen Yuquan, Yin Feng, and Yan Feifan arrived.
• Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng found the bodies and reacted to Lu Ding having finished the fight before they could reach him.
• Shi Yinghe struggled against a puppeteer who kept attacking with wooden puppets and taunted her about her hidden killing move.
• Lu Ding appeared behind the puppeteer, severed his arm, and demanded to know where the Flying Centipede was.
• The puppeteer pointed toward the mountain hollow and begged Shi Yinghe to stop Lu Ding, confessing that his group planned to supply a Wind-Calming Pearl for a joint hunt with treasure seekers.

Lu Ding found the Flying Centipede in a cave and killed it after using the puppeteer as bait. Containing the monster granted him the Wind-Calming Technique, and he discovered that he could fly.

• Shi Yinghe mocked the captured puppeteer and messaged the operation group chat to ask who had brought in the fierce trainee investigator.
• Lu Ding questioned the puppeteer, learned that the Flying Centipede was in a cave, and hurled him inside to draw it out.
• The Flying Centipede emerged and began eating the puppeteer, then dodged Lu Ding’s attacks with great speed.
• Lu Ding launched himself from a bent tree and shattered the Flying Centipede’s armor with a powerful strike, killing it and taking its inner core.
• The system rewarded Lu Ding with the Wind-Calming Technique, and he rose into the air to test his new ability to fly.