Chapter Summaries

Qin Ze and the Circus killed the fake ringmaster, but his death triggered a monstrous awakening inside the ruined building. As Earth Rumbling began beneath them, Qin Ze and the others were overwhelmed by the creature’s gaze and mental assault.

• The fake ringmaster regenerated by consuming nearby survivors, so Qin Ze and the Circus focused their attacks on him.
• After surviving their combined barrage, the fake ringmaster was driven into Qin Ze’s blue-flame bone sword and burned to ash.
• Before dying, the fake ringmaster sacrificed himself to his lord, sending a mass of shadow into the remaining half of the building.
• The building split open and revealed writhing flesh and blood-red eyes that incapacitated Qin Ze, Brother Devour, Dharma King, and the other survivors.
• Earth Rumbling began again from deep underground.

Qin Ze’s Desolate God Bloodline activated, letting him destroy the giant mutated monster, but it left him wildly out of control. Giant Overlord knocked him unconscious, and the clones cleaned up the scene before withdrawing into the snow.

• As the monster approached, Qin Ze collapsed under its pressure, but his Desolate God Bloodline activated and transformed him.
• Qin Ze attacked the monster with flames, lightning, and his fists until he reduced it to rubble.
• Giant Overlord and the other clones arrived, but Qin Ze kept attacking the ruins and accidentally killed two clones with lightning.
• When Giant Overlord tried to take Qin Ze away, Qin Ze fought back, and the Mist Lord left to delay the approaching gray coats.
• Giant Overlord struck Qin Ze until the blood markings faded and he fell asleep, then carried him away while the clones erased traces of the dead.

The Inspection Team and other groups investigated the wreckage of the False Circus headquarters, while Taoist discovered that something he sought had been taken into the Northern Territory. After waking from a three-day unconsciousness, Qin Ze reflected on the Desolate God Bloodline’s dangerous tendency to take control of him and wondered how it was connected to the strange monster.

• The hook-nosed man led his team through the Mist Lord’s Fog of War to the ruined False Circus headquarters, where they found no survivors or useful clues.
• Slacking on the Sidelines, Passerby A, and Wang Biao surveyed the wreckage, speculated about the attackers, and left to continue searching for the hundred-million bounty.
• Taoist searched the ruins for something that was gone, then used a talisman to determine that it remained in the Northern Territory.
• A black-cloaked man left a roadside inn as gray coats arrived to question the night attendant about the wanted criminal carrying a hundred-million bounty.
• Qin Ze woke after three days and two nights and realized the Desolate God Bloodline had activated by itself and overwhelmed his control during the fight with the strange monster.
• Qin Ze considered whether the Desolate God might use the bloodline to reincarnate in his body and questioned the connection between the bloodline and the monster.

Qin Ze reviewed the chat group's reports about the blood moon and considered its possible connection to a World Overlord. After recovering from his injuries, he planned to meet Taoist and then seek information from the Maka Race's Fifth Prince, but he encountered a shadow feeding on a man in the snow.

• Qin Ze reread the chat group's discussion of the blood moon, an ancient text about the Overlord, and a bounty on a Maka Race fugitive.
• Qin Ze wondered why a blood moon had appeared when the human world was not destroyed, despite Scholar's text linking the moon to a World Overlord.
• Giant Overlord told Qin Ze that Thousand Faces had found nothing at the Inspection Team and that Brother Devour and Dharma King had recovered; he also gave Qin Ze a hard black object from the ruins.
• Qin Ze decided to avoid using the Desolate God Bloodline, recover before meeting Taoist, and later question the Maka Race's Fifth Prince.
• Qin Ze went out into the snowy night and found a black shadow feasting on a man beneath a streetlamp.

Qin Ze investigated a second corpse with the Inspection Team and suspected the real murderer was still watching him. At a bar, he met the Dew Duo in person and maneuvered Slacking on the Sidelines into hearing the bartender’s job offer.

• Qin Ze found another corpse with hollowed-out organs, sensed someone watching him, and called the Inspection Team.
• Hooknose said the unseen watcher was likely an Advanced Martial Artist and urged Qin Ze to return to school.
• Qin Ze went to a crowded bar, bought overpriced orange juice, and refused the bartender’s offer of work.
• Slacking on the Sidelines and Passerby A arrived to discuss their search for a Maka Race bounty in Snow City.
• Qin Ze let Slacking on the Sidelines drink his orange juice, then told the bartender to offer the job to the Dew Duo.

Qin Ze accepted a job to collect evidence that Colonel Ding Wenxuan's wife was having an affair, then refused Slacking on the Sidelines' attempts to take over the job without paying. Slacking on the Sidelines agreed to meet him outside the bar the next morning and called out a sarcastic thanks as he left.

• The bartender offered Qin Ze a job to find evidence of Colonel Ding Wenxuan's wife's affair, and Qin Ze negotiated the bounty up to one and a half million Alliance coins.
• Slacking on the Sidelines recognized Qin Ze and urged him to take the job, hoping to get it from him afterward.
• After Qin Ze left the bar, Slacking on the Sidelines and Passerby A caught up and revealed that Ding Wenxuan's wife was a Level Four Martial Artist.
• Qin Ze refused to hand over the job and demanded that Slacking on the Sidelines pay a hundred thousand to join him.
• Slacking on the Sidelines agreed to meet Qin Ze outside the bar the next morning, then called out, "Thanks, oh."

Qin Ze joined Slacking on the Sidelines and Passerby A to investigate Ding Wenxuan’s wife, Jing Ke, and caught her meeting multiple men at hotels. After photographing her with one of them, Qin Ze saw a huge mass of darkness emerge from beneath her.

• Qin Ze learned that Slacking on the Sidelines wanted to use the adultery investigation to make contact with Ding Wenxuan and learn about a Maka Race traitor.
• Qin Ze used Thousand Faces to find out that Jing Ke was a Level 4.2 Martial Artist who had married Ding Wenxuan three years earlier.
• Qin Ze met Slacking on the Sidelines and Passerby A outside a bar, dressed as a detective, and accepted another bag of cash.
• The three followed Jing Ke as she met two different men at hotels, then used Slacking on the Sidelines’ Shelter Space to watch her with the second man.
• Qin Ze photographed Jing Ke in the hotel room, but saw a huge mass of darkness emerge from beneath her as they prepared to leave.

Qin Ze and Slacking on the Sidelines discovered Mrs. Jingke murdering a man with her shadow and gathered evidence, while Qin Ze planned to capture her alive. Taoist arrived and restrained Mrs. Jingke, then began separating her shadow from her as she declared that her path led to godhood.

• Mrs. Jingke killed a man by devouring him with her shadow, and Slacking on the Sidelines photographed the scene.
• Qin Ze inferred that Ding Wenxuan had sent him to investigate Mrs. Jingke discreetly, then notified Dharma King and the others that he intended to capture her alive.
• Mrs. Jingke erased the bloodstains, dressed herself, and prepared to leave with Qin Ze and the Dew Duo.
• Taoist appeared in the bedroom, sealed it with talismans, and demanded to know where He was.
• Taoist bound Mrs. Jingke with an electric talisman, but she called her pursuit of godhood a righteous path and sent her shadow to attack.
• Taoist burned the shadow with a Five Elements Talisman, froze it, and began pulling it away from Mrs. Jingke.

Taoist removed the black shadow from Mrs. Jingke, but a cloaked Maka Race Hunter appeared and took the jar containing it. Taoist forced the Hunter out of his Shelter Space and fought him until the Hunter unleashed Fire Element and blasted Taoist away, leaving the jar by Mrs. Jingke.

• Taoist pulled the black shadow from Mrs. Jingke and sealed it in a clay jar, leaving her collapsed and furious.
• The cloaked Maka Race Hunter emerged from his Shelter Space, took the jar, and refused Taoist's demand to hand it over.
• Taoist used a talisman-enhanced wooden sword to break the Hunter out of his Shelter Space, and they began fighting.
• The cloaked man activated Blue Flame Release and traded blows with Taoist while Slacking on the Sidelines and Passerby A guarded the window.
• The cloaked man unleashed Fire Element and blasted Taoist several meters away, knocking the jar to Mrs. Jingke's feet.

Taoist fought the cloaked Hunter while Mrs. Jingke escaped her restraints, and Ding Wenxuan arrived with a Cloud Clan Hunter. The Cloud Clan Hunter’s song put Mrs. Jingke to sleep, but the cloaked man’s escape attempt was stopped by a white tiger phantom.

• Mrs. Jingke broke the clay jar, freed her shadow, and used it to cut through her ropes.
• Taoist summoned a wooden puppet to fight Mrs. Jingke and battled the cloaked Hunter with a blood-red sword.
• Qin Ze and the others saw Ding Wenxuan arrive with a pointed-eared Cloud Clan man, who promised to spare Mrs. Jingke if he succeeded.
• The Cloud Clan man unfurled white wings and sang, putting Mrs. Jingke to sleep and making the others drowsy.
• The cloaked Hunter melted the window talisman and tried to flee, but a white tiger phantom knocked him back into the room.

Taoist, Qin Ze, and the Dew Duo became entangled in a fight with a wanted Maka Race criminal and a Cloud Clan Hunter over Mrs. Jingke. The cloaked man escaped into Shelter Space with her, but the group destroyed it and forced him to throw her back to them.

• The Cloud Clan man arrived and attacked the cloaked man, while Taoist tried to carry off the sleeping Mrs. Jingke.
• The Cloud Clan man pinned Taoist and the wooden puppet to the wall and demanded their Source of the World.
• Qin Ze and the Dew Duo appeared, stabbed the Cloud Clan man, and began fighting him as Qin Ze freed Taoist.
• The Cloud Clan man's song woke Mrs. Jingke, whose shadow attacked Taoist and forced him to drop her.
• The cloaked man seized Mrs. Jingke and entered Shelter Space, but the group combined their attacks and burst it.
• The cloaked man threw Mrs. Jingke back to Qin Ze and the others as the Dew Duo prepared another attack.

Qin Ze and his companions fought a Cloud Clan member from Myriad Races Law Enforcement after he demanded Mrs. Jingke, and the battle ended with him destroying their hotel with a powerful scroll. Qin Ze and the others survived inside a defensive Martial Artifact, and Slacking on the Sidelines asked Taoist to explain what he had been hiding.

• Qin Ze passed Mrs. Jingke to Slacking on the Sidelines, who handed her to Taoist, while the cloaked man escaped into a Shelter Space.
• The Cloud Clan member demanded Mrs. Jingke and attacked Qin Ze and his companions, but Qin Ze’s mental-power dragon disrupted the member’s singing and let the group strike back.
• The Cloud Clan member recovered, escaped their attacks, and sentenced them to death before unleashing a scroll that destroyed the hotel.
• Qin Ze and the others emerged unharmed from a defensive Martial Artifact, and Slacking on the Sidelines demanded that Taoist tell them the truth.

After the battle over Mrs. Jingke, Qin Ze agreed to meet Taoist and the others at a waystation the next evening. Outside Snow City, Dharma King and Giant Overlord cornered the cloaked Hunter of the Maka Race with Big Black, leaving him facing a towering giant.

• Taoist invited Qin Ze to meet the group at the waystation south of Snow City the next evening, and Qin Ze agreed.
• Taoist warned that the Inspection Team would soon arrive, so Qin Ze and the others went home; afterward, a forearm emerged from the rubble.
• The cloaked man left his Shelter Space outside Snow City and tried to evade Dharma King, who ordered him to meet their boss.
• The cloaked man fled into his Shelter Space, but Big Black attacked it as a Hunting Beast and forced him to deactivate it.
• Dharma King struck the cloaked man with lightning while Big Black retreated, and Giant Overlord confronted him with a massive bone club.

Qin Ze questioned the captured Maka Race Hunter Zhan Li about Jing Ke and the World Overlord. Zhan Li explained that infected followers could help the Overlord awaken and revealed that the Ancient Clan Alliance might know how to use the relics followers left behind.

• The Circus gathered around the captured Zhan Li, who abandoned any plan to escape and introduced himself as a Maka Race Hunter.
• Zhan Li readily let Qin Ze recover his 123 points of Source of the World, and the beasts searched him and took his belongings.
• Qin Ze demanded to know why Zhan Li wanted Jing Ke, and Zhan Li said she had become a follower of the World Overlord and could help spread its power.
• Zhan Li explained that mass casualties could awaken an Overlord and that killing all infected followers could stop the current awakening.
• Zhan Li admitted that followers' relics sold for high prices but said the Ancient Clan Alliance might know how to use them; Qin Ze asked what that alliance was.

Qin Ze learned that the Ancient Clan Alliance used believers to awaken World Overlords, then discovered that Zhan Li was the fifth prince of the Maka Empire. Zhan Li claimed he had been framed and on the run for nearly two months, but Qin Ze realized the letter he had received half a month ago could not have come from him.

• Zhan Li explained that the Ancient Clan Alliance hunted World Overlords by capturing believers and using them to awaken the Overlords, and Qin Ze connected this to the Fairness Society.
• Zhan Li said he had become a wanted criminal after returning from a long trip, and Qin Ze ordered Dharma King to take him to the embassy for the bounty.
• Zhan Li offered to pay his own ransom, then revealed that he was the fifth prince of the Maka Empire and showed Qin Ze his identity badge.
• Qin Ze decided not to hand Zhan Li over and returned his clothes after learning that he had been on the run for nearly two months.
• Qin Ze realized the letter he had received half a month earlier had not been written by the Zhan Li standing before him.

Qin Ze learned that the Maka Race’s civil war and the World Overlord may be connected to a wider struggle over the path to godhood, and Brother Yuanzi told him to follow Taoist’s plans. Qin Ze freed Zhan Li to stir up trouble and discovered that the relic strengthened his body and helped him control the Desolate God Bloodline.

• Qin Ze questioned Zhan Li and concluded that the man did not match the refined fifth prince described in the invitation, then ordered his clones to tie Zhan Li up.
• Qin Ze told Brother Yuanzi about Zhan Li and the World Overlord, and Brother Yuanzi confirmed that the Fairness Society might be trying to awaken it.
• Brother Yuanzi told Qin Ze that the Maka Race had cut off contact as its dying emperor faced an impending civil war, and advised him to make the situation as chaotic as possible while following Taoist’s arrangements.
• Qin Ze ordered Dharma King to release Zhan Li discreetly so he could stir up trouble among the Maka Race.
• Qin Ze activated the Desolate God Bloodline and held the fake troupe leader’s relic, which strengthened his body and reduced his bloodline’s loss-of-control feeling.

Zhan Li escaped the abandoned factory as part of a setup, while Qin Ze considered the Cloud Clan’s plans and collected a bounty with the Dew Duo. That night, Qin Ze and the pair headed to Snow City's south station for the group’s first offline meetup.

• Zhan Li broke free and entered his Shelter Space, unaware that Big Black and the other beasts had pretended to sleep so he would escape.
• Giant Overlord reported that Zhan Li was in position, and Qin Ze worried that the Cloud Clan might awaken the World Overlord at a terrible cost.
• Taoist arranged an offline meetup for the next night, and the chat group discussed meeting Qin Ze and a new friend.
• Qin Ze joined the Dew Duo to collect the bounty, and Slacking on the Sidelines explained that the Cloud Clan’s authority protected Ding Wenxuan from being reported.
• Slacking on the Sidelines pressured the bartender into adding two hundred thousand in compensation, then kept it as payment for teaching Qin Ze about the adult world.
• Qin Ze spent the day on bounty missions with the Dew Duo before the three left the city for the south station meetup.

Qin Ze and the Dew Duo met Taoist and Scholar at an abandoned waystation near Snow City, where Fairy arrived with a dramatic prank. After greeting Qin Ze, Fairy asked Taoist to explain why they had gathered, and Passerby A pointed out that he was there too.

• Qin Ze and the Dew Duo arrived at the South Waystation and learned Taoist had recently advanced to level six while Qin Ze had reached level four.
• Scholar arrived late after escaping a beast tide in Penglai City and said the city's defensive system had stopped the beasts.
• Fairy appeared amid flowers, bound Slacking on the Sidelines with a vine, and pretended a giant sea beast had swallowed him.
• Taoist shattered the sea beast with a talisman, and Scholar remarked that its flesh was weak before Fairy revealed the beast had been an illusion.
• Fairy ruffled Qin Ze's hair and asked Taoist to explain their gathering, prompting Passerby A to remind them he was present.

Taoist revealed that Yin-Yang Temple guarded the seal containing the World Overlord and explained how part of its power escaped, killed his master, and spread through followers in Snow City. He asked the group for help before the World Overlord could fully awaken.

• Fairy linked her arm through Qin Ze's, and Qin Ze realized the others had mistaken their closeness for romance.
• Taoist explained that Yin-Yang Temple's temple masters guarded a seal on Yin-Yang Mountain and that his master had died after sending him to cultivate there.
• Taoist revealed that the Ancestral Beast was another name for the World Overlord, whom Mu Xinhan and Xu Baichuan had sealed after its attempted awakening.
• Taoist explained that the seal could only be guarded by a few people because the World Overlord's influence drove nearby people mad.
• Taoist said part of the World Overlord's power escaped, killed his master, and infected people in Snow City, whose serial killings helped it reach the Abyss.
• Taoist told the group they were running out of time and asked them for help.

Taoist explained the World Overlord’s awakening and the hunt for its remaining believers, while the group assigned Snow City search areas and prepared to act. Elsewhere, Ma Yan received a three-day assessment to obtain a believer’s relic and headed for Snow City.

• Taoist told the group that mass casualties could awaken the World Overlord and that a surviving fragment of its power was linked to the believers in Snow City.
• Taoist said the Cloud Clan Hunter might be trying to awaken the Overlord, and the group agreed to eliminate the believers and, if necessary, the Hunter.
• Slacking on the Sidelines concluded that at least two believers remained and that one hosted the escaped power; the group divided Snow City into search areas.
• Fairy offered to handle any believer or Overlord fragment they found, and the group planned to begin searching the next day.
• A burly man assigned Ma Yan an assessment to obtain a believer’s relic in Snow City within three days, and Ma Yan set off.