Recaps

Chen Qing explained that frequent use of transcendent power had summoned Spirit Ghosts, which hunted people who used it. He concluded that the giant python had trapped the city and poisoned its inhabitants, forcing them to choose between using transcendent power and being eaten or refusing it and dying from the poison.

• Shen Qi asked Chen Qing what the presence in the city was, and Chen Qing explained that excessive transcendent power had drawn a Spirit Ghost to restore balance.
• Chen Qing revealed that Spirit Ghosts marked people who used transcendent power and hunted them, while Shen Qi wondered why the giant python was not targeted.
• Chen Qing suspected the giant python had deliberately trapped the city to make its inhabitants use transcendent power and attract Spirit Ghosts.
• Chen Qing explained that the Poison Mother could surround the city with poison and create toxins that targeted high-energy beings.
• Shen Qi discovered black spots spreading across his arm, and Chen Qing said transcendent power could purge the toxin, leaving them trapped between poison and the Spirit Ghost.

Chen Qing explained how the spirit ghost had poisoned them and why its speed and tracking made escape nearly impossible. He and Shen Qi concluded that Ziyue and the others might be hiding beneath the black lamp in the imperial palace.

• The Beiyu Family's old madam reported that the elders of the great families had vanished, and Chen Qing promised to help find her husband.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi realized the poison was taking effect and discussed how the spirit ghost had infected them through a honey drink.
• Chen Qing explained that using spiritual power could reveal their location to the ghost, while fleeing after purging the poison would be a dangerous gamble.
• Shen Qi proposed distracting the ghost with other people, but Chen Qing rejected the plan as risky and likely to leave them trapped.
• Chen Qing suggested that Ziyue and the others might be hiding somewhere the ghost could not detect, and Shen Qi identified the imperial palace beneath the black lamp.

Chen Qing and Shen Qi entered the imperial palace disguised as maids with Dowager Consort Beiyu, seeking to investigate the Nether Lantern and the darkness over the empress dowager’s quarters. Beiyu Yan gained them entry, and they were stunned by what they found inside.

• Chen Qing and Shen Qi disguised themselves as maids and followed Dowager Consort Beiyu into the palace.
• Chen Qing recognized the darkness over the empress dowager’s quarters as the concealment of a Nether Lantern and wondered why its holders had not used it to escape Northern Wolf City.
• Beiyu Yan requested an audience, and the Murong Family head refused her entry while denying knowledge of her missing father and the Beiyu Family elders.
• Beiyu Yan insisted on her right to enter, and a sinister female voice invited her inside.
• Beiyu Yan led Chen Qing and Shen Qi into the darkness, where the three encountered something unexpected.

Chen Qing and Shen Qi entered King Xiang Palace, where Chen Qing realized Ziyue had used Ghost Child to draw the evil spirits there and open the palace. As they searched for Ziyue, they encountered the Murong Family head and a black-robed woman, then sensed Murong Yunji using the Divine Wind Technique.

• Chen Qing recognized the palace as King Xiang Palace and deduced that Ghost Child had opened it, drawing the region’s evil spirits inside.
• Chen Qing suspected Ziyue had cooperated with the guild faction behind the Dragon Mother to bring the palace to the Northern Wasteland.
• Beiyu Yan met the Murong Family head and a black-robed woman, whose snake-like features suggested they had been changed.
• Shen Qi claimed to be Zhang Zhiwei, and the two strangers welcomed him as a direct descendant of the Zhang Family of Cloud Capital.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi sensed a powerful Divine Wind Technique fluctuation and identified it as Murong Yunji’s.

Murong Yunji used the Divine Wind Technique to draw the Spirit Ghost toward other people while Chen Qing and Shen Qi tried to expel their poison. Chen Qing lured Murong Yuntian and the woman into activating their spiritual power, then fled with Shen Qi, but they still waited in hiding as the danger remained.

• Murong Yunji unleashed the Divine Wind Technique and provoked nearby experts, causing the Spirit Ghost to attack them.
• Chen Qing told Shen Qi to expel the poison, and Murong Yuntian and the woman joined them in forcing the toxins out.
• Murong Yunji raced east after someone shouted, "Run east!" while Chen Qing withdrew his and Shen Qi's spiritual power and fled west with him.
• The Spirit Ghost bit Murong Yuntian and the woman in half, leaving Beiyu Yan alive and terrified.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi hid a thousand meters away, and Chen Qing waited tensely to see whether his plan had worked.

Chen Qing rescued Shen Qi from the Spirit Ghost’s guaranteed-kill range and waited for the monster to leave before heading back toward Murong Yunji. He realized Ghost Child’s urgent plea to save her, and his subsequent silence, suggested that Ghost Child might already be gone.

• A Li worried about Murong Yunji, and Ziyue said Chen Qing might be able to save her if he chose to risk his life.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi hid without spiritual power until the Spirit Ghost left the area, relying on its programming to avoid King Xiang’s powerful aura.
• Chen Qing explained that Murong Yunji’s danger had made the others cautious and that the monster would not search near King Xiang Palace for long.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi cautiously headed east to find Murong Yunji and reunite with Ziyue.
• Chen Qing recalled that Ghost Child had urgently asked him to save Murong Yunji, then concluded Ghost Child might already be gone.

Chen Qing and Shen Qi encountered Wang Shiyu, who recounted how villagers had turned on him and his family after learning his true identity. Wang Shiyu led Chen Qing to a gathering of people from the Four Great Guilds, who said they had waited to unite against an outside enemy and revealed that the Black Queen in the Great Jin imperial palace was dead.

• Chen Qing and Shen Qi searched for Murong Yunji but found no one willing to approach them.
• Wang Shiyu met Chen Qing and led him into a rear garden, where he described his life as a village-raised examination candidate and magistrate.
• Wang Shiyu told Chen Qing that villagers had killed his father, tortured his sisters, and beaten him to death after his identity was exposed.
• Chen Qing and Shen Qi saw Wang Shiyu waiting with people wearing moon and sun robes and others with scales and snakelike eyes.
• Wang Shiyu and the others said they had gathered to unite against an outside enemy, then told Chen Qing that the Black Queen in the Great Jin imperial palace was dead.

Chen Qing learned that the Black Queen, a powerful strategist from the Fourth Guild who had shaped several dynasties and the birth of King Xiang, had been killed by the emperor of Great Jin. The others said they had witnessed the killing in the garden at King Xiang Palace, leaving Chen Qing to reconsider how dangerous the emperor truly was.

• Chen Qing accepted Wang Shiyu's invitation and asked the group to explain the Black Queen's death.
• Wang Shiyu described how the Black Queen used the mortal-world route, player bloodlines, and carefully chosen emperors to advance the Fourth Guild's plans.
• Chen Qing learned that the Xiao Household descended from the Black Queen and realized his wife might share that lineage.
• Wang Shiyu told Chen Qing that the emperor of Great Jin had killed the Black Queen.
• Wang Shiyu revealed that the group had witnessed the killing in the garden where they were sitting.

Wang Shiyu explained how the Fourth Guild and Ziyue triggered the Spirit Ghost’s arrival in Northern Wolf City and tried to secure King Xiang Palace. Chen Qing learned that King Xiang had turned against the Black Queen and killed her.

• Wang Shiyu described how the major guilds competed for influence in the north while avoiding conflicts that might summon the Spirit Ghost.
• Wang Shiyu said the Black Queen’s Poison Mother encircled Northern Wolf City as Ziyue used a Thousand-Faced Fox to alter household heads’ memories and spark fighting inside.
• Chen Qing learned that Ziyue had taken control of Northern Yan’s imperial family and arranged for it to submit to Jiangnan, turning the Yin-Yang Road into the Underworld.
• Wang Shiyu said the Divine Path Style Underworld forced King Xiang Palace into the mortal world, so he used the Black Lantern to shield it and summoned his followers.
• Wang Shiyu revealed that an NPC from the Xiao Household killed the Black Queen after turning King Xiang against her.

Chen Qing and Shen Qi discussed why they had to cooperate with King Xiang, while Shen Qi recalled that his ancestor had feared the emperor of the Xiao Household. In Ghost King Hall, the emperor and King Xiang revealed their shared hatred of Reincarnators, and King Xiang questioned whether Chen Qing’s peaceful Underworld could last while he remained one.

• Chen Qing told Shen Qi they had to cooperate with King Xiang because the giant python’s poison and King Xiang’s control of the palace left them trapped.
• Shen Qi told Chen Qing that his thousand-year-old ancestor had feared the emperor of the Xiao Household and withdrawn into seclusion after meeting him.
• The emperor of the Xiao Household watched Chen Qing’s movements from Ghost King Hall and discussed him with King Xiang.
• The emperor said he distrusted Reincarnators and explained that his own ancestor had been one, while he and King Xiang shared hatred of them.
• King Xiang sensed the peaceful Underworld Chen Qing had created, but concluded that peace could not last while Reincarnators remained.

Ziyue and A Li waited in hiding while the poison spread through Northern Wolf City, and Chen Qing learned that Wang Shiyu’s group had delayed their escape because they needed his ability to control the Ghost Child. They had at most three days before making their move, with the Black Lotus flame able to conceal them from King Xiang for only an hour.

• Ziyue sensed that Murong Yunji had survived and guessed Chen Qing had saved her, while A Li worried that he might be in danger.
• Ziyue told A Li to remain hidden, warning that riots could erupt and expose her to the emperor from the Xiao Household.
• Chen Qing found a second Black Lantern burning the Unborn Black Lotus and learned its concealment effect would last only an hour.
• Wang Shiyu explained that King Xiang could temporarily intimidate the Spirit Ghost with his ghost-king aura, allowing him to track and poison the group without attacking them directly.
• Chen Qing questioned why the group had waited for him, and Wang Shiyu revealed that they needed Chen Qing because he could control the Ghost Child.

As the poison drove the spellcasters in King Xiang Palace into violence, Murong Yunji and Ziyue tried to navigate the chaos while Chen Qing’s group prepared to strike. After the central hall exploded, Chen Qing realized Ghost Child had opened King Xiang Palace using his own flesh and blood.

• The woman in red attacked her own family after they showed fear, triggering widespread slaughter across the dark palace.
• Murong Yunji, now recovered from the poison, worried that her actions had endangered Chen Qing, Ziyue, and A Li, then headed toward King Xiang Palace as the darkness deepened.
• Ziyue recognized the spreading darkness as Black Lotus lamplight and argued with A Li about whether she should join the fight, before a familiar voice interrupted them.
• Wang Shiyu told the group they had one hour and one chance, while Chen Qing waited for the right moment.
• The central hall exploded, and the woman from the Myriad Void Guild used a compass to identify the Tianshu Position; Chen Qing and the others rushed there at full strength.
• Chen Qing heard Ghost Child warn him to be careful and realized Ghost Child had opened King Xiang Palace with his own flesh and blood.

Chen Qing’s group carried out their plan to destroy the central hall and expose King Xiang, but Wang Shiyu sensed that King Xiang’s fate was unexpectedly unstoppable. Ziyue realized the operation was a conspiracy and rushed to warn Chen Qing that she had not summoned Ghost Child.

• Chen Qing recalled how Ghost Child had originally opened King Xiang Palace and worried that history was steering events toward the same outcome despite his intervention.
• Chen Qing’s group used Ghost Child to trigger the central hall’s hidden mechanism, hoping the blast would force the Xiao Household’s emperor to use Transcendent power and draw the Spirit Ghost away from King Xiang.
• The group found King Xiang within the destroyed Yin-Yang Barrier, still using intimidation to resist the unseen Spirit Ghost.
• Wang Shiyu confirmed King Xiang’s identity but noticed his fate was unstoppable despite his apparent disadvantage, and realized something was wrong.
• Ziyue saw that the players had already acted and hurried toward Chen Qing, believing the operation was a conspiracy and intending to tell him she had not called Ghost Child.

Ziyue realized that Mr. Myriad Forms had impersonated Ghost Child and deceived her, while Chen Qing and the Four Great Guilds walked into the Xiao Household emperor’s trap. As the emperor unleashed a devastating Golden Crow attack, Chen Qing charged toward King Xiang and Ziyue arrived too late to stop him.

• Ziyue concluded that someone from the Xiao Household had manipulated events after the Spirit Ghost failed to contact her and King Xiang Palace’s central hall was destroyed.
• Chen Qing and the other fifteen players attacked King Xiang with their strongest powers, bound by a spell that prevented them from retreating before King Xiang died.
• The Xiao Household emperor unleashed a Golden Crow’s power, killing or crushing the players caught in its overwhelming flames.
• Chen Qing used Godspeed and the Divine Wind Technique to charge toward King Xiang instead of fleeing or attacking the emperor.
• Ziyue arrived and realized the Ghost Child she had met was an impostor, likely Mr. Myriad Forms, while the real Ghost Child had been communicating with Chen Qing.
• Ziyue watched Chen Qing’s final movement and feared that they had already lost.

Chen Qing survived King Xiang’s assault by finding a way around the spell forcing him to attack, while the Xiao Household emperor revealed his power over the Golden Crow Flame and the dead players. The emperor offered Chen Qing one chance to pledge loyalty, leaving Chen Qing’s answer unresolved.

• King Xiang caught Chen Qing’s sword barehanded and shattered it, losing four fingers as his arm cracked from the strain.
• Chen Qing and King Xiang both restrained their powers, while the surviving guild players remained trapped in the Golden Crow Flame.
• Wang Shiyu and the other burned players rose as green-flamed skeletons, and the Xiao Household emperor revealed that he recognized the female envoy.
• The female player threatened the emperor and lunged at him, but she vanished before reaching him, followed by the sound of chewing.
• The emperor praised Chen Qing for finding a chance to survive and offered him one opportunity to pledge loyalty.

The emperor offered Chen Qing an alliance to overthrow the guilds and lead humanity beyond the world, but Chen Qing refused, determined to pursue his own goals and win people over himself. The emperor departed, leaving Chen Qing excited by the prospect of confronting an NPC with ambitions beyond the game world.

• The emperor accused Chen Qing of seeing the people as outsiders and explained that he had opposed the King of Qin for the same reason.
• The emperor asked why Chen Qing had risked his life to save Murong Yunji, and Chen Qing said that once he had acted, he did not regret it.
• The emperor offered Chen Qing an alliance to overthrow the guilds and create a world where humans and demons could coexist, revealing that he wanted to conquer the lands of the gods.
• Ziyue urged Chen Qing to consider the emperor's proposal, but Chen Qing refused and declared that he would accomplish his goals himself.
• The emperor left with King Xiang, while Chen Qing watched him go with renewed excitement about facing his dangerous ambitions.

Chen Qing ordered Ziyue to gather A Li and Ghost Child so they could withdraw from King Xiang Palace, admitting that the players had lost the round. In the Fourth Guild’s abyss, the Divine Martial Guild leader warned that the emperor of the Xiao Household would soon command a huge army of ghost soldiers, and the players considered turning to the King of Qin in Jiangnan.

• Chen Qing explained that Ghost Child had survived through regeneration and ordered Ziyue to meet him at the palace gates within an hour.
• The Divine Martial Guild leader showed the abyss factions evidence that the emperor had burned the players with Golden Crow Flame, including an image captured by Wang Shiyu’s Heavenly Secrets Eye.
• The red-clad woman reported that the guilds had lost many Transcendents and that revived evil spirits had inherited the players’ powers, items, and talents.
• She learned that the Ghost Temple forces now obeyed the emperor of the Xiao Household, who was expected to command two hundred thousand first-rank ghost soldiers and over a hundred Transcendent ghost generals by next spring.
• The abyss factions proposed that the King of Qin in Jiangnan might be the only mortal-world force able to confront the emperor.

Chen Qing received Abe Ayaka’s offer of cooperation as Northern Wolf City remained under the Black Lantern and faced an uncertain future. Abe asked him to send troops against the emperor of the Central Plains, and Chen Qing had yet to answer.

• Chen Qing and Ziyue discussed Nezha’s recovery, how long the Black Lantern might last, and the risk that the noble families’ followers could cause trouble.
• Yuchi Feihong brought Abe Ayaka, a representative of the Divine Martial Guild, to meet Chen Qing.
• Abe Ayaka said the Divine Martial Guild wanted to cooperate because the emperor of the Central Plains was gaining power and had taken the Heavenly Ghost Host and the Four Great Guilds’ treasures.
• Chen Qing agreed to hear Abe Ayaka’s terms after she explained that the emperor’s rise threatened the guilds’ influence in the mortal world.
• Abe Ayaka offered security for North Sea City and Northern Yan in exchange for Chen Qing sending troops to help defend the northern lands before spring.

After the Divine Martial Guild’s envoy demanded support for the northern demons, Chen Qing weighed the political cost against the danger of losing North Sea City. With his forces depleted and no troops available to spare, he decided to seek time by negotiating with the so-called evil dragons himself.

• Shen Qi warned Chen Qing that openly aiding the northern demons would alienate northerners, Jiangnan residents, and the Fighter Army, while refusing the guild could invite unrest and pressure.
• Ziyue agreed they could not openly shelter the demons and explained that the Fighter Army had suffered heavy losses, including more than half its strongest combat troops.
• Shen Qi pointed out that the Jiangnan defenses and other fronts could not spare troops, leaving Xu Hu with only about thirty thousand fighters able to fight.
• Chen Qing refused to abandon North Sea City, arguing that losing the northern route would waste lives and undermine the trust of other forces.
• Chen Qing announced that he would go speak with the so-called evil dragons to buy time.

Chen Qing asked to meet the three great guilds, and Kagura argued that they should hear him out and consider an alliance. Meanwhile, the emperor and King Xiang prepared the Flying Dragon Army for spring, confident their ghost-empowered troops could defeat the northern forces.

• Chen Qing asked Abe Ayaka to arrange a meeting with the guild leaders, and she promised an answer by dusk.
• Kagura told the gathered guild leaders that Chen Qing could be their best partner, and they agreed to meet him despite their misgivings.
• The emperor and King Xiang discussed Chen Qing’s dilemma: protecting the northern demons could ruin his reputation, while refusing to act could cost him his strongholds.
• The emperor reported that the Flying Dragon Army was being converted through a pact that let Heavenly Ghost Guard spirits temporarily possess the soldiers.
• King Xiang predicted that the two hundred thousand ghost-empowered soldiers would be ready by spring and could wipe out the northern beasts.

Dahu told the people of North Wild Goose City that the King of Qin had made travel to Jiangnan safe through North Sea City and described the Duke of Wei’s sacrifice to help northerners escape. The crowd wanted to leave for Jiangnan, but they feared the Nether Moon Sect would not let them go.

• Dahu arrived in North Wild Goose City with goods from Jiangnan, astonishing the northerners who questioned how he had crossed the snake-infested lands.
• Dahu said the King of Qin had sent troops to rescue northerners and that North Sea City was now under his control, with soldiers escorting travelers safely.
• Dahu recounted how the Duke of Wei had become an ice road across the North Sea so northerners could flee to Jiangnan, moving the crowd and shaming the deserters.
• Dahu explained that he had come to collect his family and said northerners could settle in Jiangnan or reclaim land in the West Sea island kingdoms.
• The crowd considered leaving for Jiangnan, but realized they needed the Nether Moon Sect’s Black Lanterns and feared the sect might refuse to let them go.

The Nether Moon envoy told the people of North Wild Goose City that she could escort them to safer regions in batches, explaining that her sect secretly protected humanity during recurring demonic upheavals. She left the crowd alarmed by revealing that the Central Plains held something more terrifying than snake demons.

• The envoy announced that North Sea City had been taken and offered to escort the people to Northern Yan or Jiangnan in groups of up to a thousand.
• The envoy addressed the crowd’s suspicions by summoning a giant black python and explaining that the Nether Moon Sect controlled some Heavenly Python Palace demons to protect humanity.
• The envoy described repeated Ancient Revivals and said several major sects worked to preserve humanity through each crisis.
• The envoy offered people a choice to remain in North Wild Goose City or seek refuge in Northern Yan or Jiangnan, prompting many to request places in the first group.
• The envoy explained that the sect had scouted the Central Plains but found something there more terrifying than snake demons.

Rumors about the Central Plains drove families to weigh the dangers of returning there against fleeing to Jiangnan, while Abe Ayaka and a guild leader discussed how the nobles’ choices could weaken the emperor’s campaign. The guild leader ended by vowing revenge on the Xiao Household and everyone loyal to the emperor.

• A Grand Elder told his family that Chen Qing might have engineered past disasters to make himself a savior, and argued they should return to the Central Plains to protect their holdings.
• The family decided to split, sending some members to Jiangnan and others to the Central Plains to reclaim property and assess the danger.
• A Nether Moon disciple reported to Abe Ayaka that commoners favored Jiangnan or the Northern Wasteland, while many noble families wanted to return to the Central Plains.
• Abe Ayaka said the nobles would learn the truth from their elders and might move their assets to Jiangnan, undermining the Central Plains emperor’s campaign.
• The burly man resented Chen Qing’s power and vowed that the Four Great Guilds would torture the Xiao Household and the emperor’s supporters once the guild leaders revived.

Chen Qing’s forces welcomed displaced northerners into North Sea City with shelter, food, and assurances of safe passage to Jiangnan, where a peddler described the region’s prosperity. Meanwhile, noble clansmen who chose the route toward the Central Plains entered a border city and began to regret their decision.

• The envoy accepted wine and hospitality from a Fighter Army captain, while the captain praised the envoy’s efforts to protect people from demons.
• The captain led northern refugees into North Sea City, where they saw powerful Jiangnan soldiers and thriving merchants.
• A Jiangnan peddler told the refugees that Mountain Gods and sorcerers had made Jiangnan prosperous and its people unusually strong.
• Soldiers served the refugees generous portions of meat congee, and the peddler contrasted Jiangnan’s welcome with the harsher prospects in Northern Wolf City and the Northern Wasteland.
• Noble clansmen who had taken the route toward the Central Plains reached a border city, where many regretted their choice.

A group of great families reached Guanzhong expecting safety, but found Zijing Pass and Luyang City abandoned and strewn with bones. A surviving steward revealed that residents had fled and the Taiyuan Prefectural Government had also been deserted.

• The great families arrived at Zijing Pass and found its gates unguarded and its entrance overgrown with weeds.
• They burned the weeds and discovered the remains of at least ten thousand people beneath them.
• The group entered Luyang City and found it dark, deserted, and prowled by dog demons.
• The travelers found an old steward and his young grandson hiding in the Su Family residence cellar.
• The steward explained that many residents had fled, while those unable to escape had become prey to demons.
• The steward told the group that the Taiyuan Prefectural Government had also been abandoned.