Chapter Summaries

After awakening from the aftermath of Great Dream True Person's breakthrough, Ren Qing used Nether Essence and memories to stabilize Son of Heavenly Dao's fading remnant soul, which warned him to return to Jing Province. The soul's transformation strengthened Ren Qing's Prison Within the Stomach, and he discovered that Abhidi Hell had expanded into the Water Marsh Desert.

• Great Dream True Person expelled the Forbidden Guards from Netherfeather Land, and Ren Qing awoke in Sanxiang City after falling unconscious.
• Ren Qing removed the unstable Pseudo Soul from the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed and used Ghost Shadow's Nether Essence to draw out Son of Heavenly Dao's memories.
• Ren Qing reminded Son of Heavenly Dao that his lineage endured and asked him to take the White Bone Throne; Son of Heavenly Dao warned him that a blood sun hung over Jing Province.
• The newborn Kindling King stoked the Flesh and Blood Furnace, transforming Ren Qing's Prison Within the Stomach into a vast prison with a sunlike point of Kindling Fire.
• Ren Qing found that his Jailer token could return him to Abhidi Hell and discovered that Abhidi Hell now covered part of the Water Marsh Desert.

Ren Qing surveyed the changes in Xiangxiang and prepared to strengthen himself before the upheaval grew, while helping Xiao San'er recover his eye and entering Abhidi Hell to study Arts. The chapter ended with Ren Qing asking the injured Head in a Jar about Mountain Ghost Cave.

• Ren Qing saw that Xiangxiang's gates had reopened, gangs were seeking the Jailer Hall's favor, and martial arts schools were openly recruiting apprentices.
• Ren Qing decided to pursue the Yin Messenger Realm, sent letters to Forbidden Guards, and went to visit Xiao Wu after learning that Xiao San'er had injured himself trying to cultivate the Eye-less Method.
• Ren Qing used the Fearless Eye-Regrowing Art to restore Xiao San'er's eye and gave him an annotated copy of the Eye-less Method.
• Ren Qing entered Abhidi Hell, found that Knot Cave had vanished, and studied the new map in the Secret Pavilion.
• Ren Qing approached the Head in a Jar to ask about Mountain Ghost Cave, and the Head in a Jar told him to state his business.

Ren Qing discovered that Eerie Dust refined from Ghost Envoy Realm Eerie Objects could ease soul Aberration, giving trapped Forbidden Guards a chance at recovery. He and Song Zongwu used it on Huang Ziwang, while Ren Qing raised the possibility of dealing with the Water Gourd; Song told him that reaching the Yin Messenger Realm would give him more influence.

• Ren Qing learned that the Great Dream True Person planned to separate Art inheritances from the Eerie Objects taken from Abhidi Hell, while the Water Gourd's fate remained in Li Tiangang's hands.
• After more than half a month in the Secret Pavilion, Ren Qing received reports about the Jailer Hall's activities and learned that Huang Ziwang had gone missing.
• Song Zongwu brought Ren Qing to the Stomach within Stomach, where they found Huang Ziwang imprisoned after the Water Gourd had used him as bait for the Fei Du Soul.
• Ren Qing refined a Ghost Envoy Realm Eerie Object into Eerie Dust, and Song Zongwu confirmed that it reduced the soul Aberration afflicting Huang Ziwang.
• Ren Qing proposed using the method to restore the trapped Forbidden Guards and suggested that the Water Gourd could be made harmless; Song said Ren Qing would have more say after reaching the Yin Messenger Realm.

Ren Qing learned from Song Zongwu how the Yin Messenger Realm’s stages involved controlling and organizing the Eerie Objects within a cultivator, and he planned which of his arts to advance first. After helping Huang Ziwang reduce his aberration, Ren Qing returned Li Fangtan’s jade pendant and prepared to choose cultivation arts.

• Song Zongwu explained the Binding Yin God, Melding Yin God, and Releasing Yin God stages, warning Ren Qing that multiple Eerie Objects could destabilize his body.
• Ren Qing decided that a core art must reach Melding Yin God before he advanced other arts, and he postponed the Netherworld Cultivation Method.
• Huang Ziwang absorbed Eerie Dust, while Ren Qing used the Bottle Imp’s Ghost Envoy Realm Eerie Objects to make more and gave Huang two portions.
• Song Zongwu left to report the Water Gourd and Eerie Dust to the Jailer Hall, and the Bottle Imp granted Ren Qing a mark allowing him to enter and leave the Stomach within Stomach.
• After several days, Huang Ziwang’s soul and bodily aberrations had eased, though his body remained half-man, half-frog and continued to emit poison.
• Ren Qing returned Li Fangtan’s jade pendant, and Li Fangtan sensed that the Jailer Hall was about to undergo a major change.

Ren Qing explored the transformed Ghost Market, discovered that Great Dream True Person’s Split Soul was being shaped into Grandmaster Tai Sui, and selected arts to cultivate later. He withdrew to a cave near Bazhi Village to visit his aging mother, but his quiet routine ended when urgent news arrived from Jailer Hall.

• Ren Qing explored the new Ghost Market and found a hidden monastery containing Great Dream True Person’s mutilated Split Soul, dressed in a robe marked “Tai Sui.”
• Ren Qing examined the manuals in Great Dream Art Tower and chose Nightmare Art, Wind Sand Method, and Kun Peng Art for their potential uses.
• Ren Qing replenished his supplies and planned to have Ghost Shadow manage Great Dream Artifact Forging while he was away.
• Ren Qing told Xiao Wu, Butcher Zhang, and the others that he was leaving on a mission, then settled into a cave near Bazhi Village to visit his mother and cultivate.
• Ren Qing received news from Jailer Hall and vanished from the forest after removing his straw hat.

Ren Qing advanced the Eye-less Method to the Yin Messenger Realm, but the Supreme Dark Nightmare Lord became dangerously unstable after absorbing the Dream Seeds’ auras. He strengthened Prison Within the Stomach and other Arts during seclusion, then returned to Abhidi Hell to find new instructions from the Great Dream True Person.

• Ren Qing used two hundred years of lifespan to advance the Eye-less Method, awakening the Supreme Dark Nightmare Lord and reaching the Yin Messenger Realm.
• The Supreme Dark Nightmare Lord absorbed the auras of Ren Qing’s three Dream Seeds, increasing its power and instability, so Ren Qing resolved to use its abilities cautiously.
• Ren Qing chose Boundless and Waning Moon as Prison Within the Stomach’s remaining Eerie Transformations, giving it expanding space and an alternating moon and sun.
• Ren Qing completed Ghost Shadow’s Shadowless transformation and placed the first Tombstone Furnace in Prison Within the Stomach for Artifact Refining.
• Ren Qing entered Abhidi Hell and found a leaf from the dream tree bearing the Great Dream True Person’s instructions for handling Eerie Dust and the Water Gourd.

Ren Qing refined the Kun Peng Art to the Ghost Envoy Realm, tested its powerful but dangerous beast forms, and later advanced the Wind Sand Method before imprisoning it. As the Jailer Hall prepared for operations near the Water Marsh, Ren Qing headed to Bazhi Village to spend Madam Chen’s final days with her.

• Ren Qing arranged for Ghost Shadow to oversee Great Dream Artifact Forging, then returned to secluded cultivation and began refining the Kun Peng Art.
• Ren Qing advanced the Kun Peng Art through the Half-Corpse and Ghost Envoy Realms, gaining the ability to switch between Kun and Peng forms.
• Ren Qing drank bird and fish blood, Aberrated into a gigantic Peng and Kun, and frightened people near Wen Zhu Hill before fleeing when Li Tiangang approached.
• Ren Qing hid in a cave, advanced the Wind Sand Method to Boundless Sand and Earth, and imprisoned it in the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Ren Qing learned that Madam Chen’s lifespan was nearly exhausted and set out with Husky for Bazhi Village while the Jailer Hall prepared a fortress near the Water Marsh.

After Madam Chen’s death, Ren Qing traveled to Heshantown and investigated the rising, muddy Yu River, discovering that a melting finger bone was causing the strange water flow. He learned that a likely out-of-control Forbidden Guard had passed nearby, and feared her scattered remains could become a disaster when rain arrived.

• Ren Qing mourned Madam Chen, then accepted a Jailer Hall task and traveled toward Heshantown while investigating local abnormalities.
• At a tea stall, Ren Qing learned that the Yu River had risen despite weeks without rain and that its once-clear water had turned muddy.
• Ren Qing transformed into a Kun and found water pouring from a finger bone wedged beneath the riverbed; he removed it, stopping the river’s abnormal flow.
• Ren Qing identified the bone as belonging to a woman whose plant-controlling Art had likely gone out of control, and a boatman recalled someone in blue-green clothes near the river.
• As clouds gathered, Ren Qing realized the woman’s remains might be scattered around Heshantown and feared that rain could trigger a major disaster.

At the frontier, Xiao Ying was infected by something hidden in the Water Marsh’s sand and died as her body turned to grit and water. Ren Qing later found her remains, and when a flood threatened Heshantown, he summoned the Kun Whale to divert the current toward the Yu River.

• Li Tiangang warned Jiang Feng that no one should touch the Water Marsh’s sand, after Xiao Ying unknowingly carried grit back into her body.
• Xiao Ying’s condition worsened after she left the frontier, and she died on the road while her body crumbled into sand and bones.
• Ren Qing identified Xiao Ying’s remains and gathered her bones with Husky as Forbidden Guards searched for the missing pieces.
• Heavy rain flooded the area around Heshantown, and Old Man Ren rushed out to protect his fields despite his family’s pleas.
• Ren Qing met Old Man Ren in the flood and used the Kun Whale to redirect the current away from the farmland and toward the Yu River.
• Li Tiangang arrived with the remaining bones and reacted to Ren Qing’s intervention.

Ren Qing and Li Tiangang discovered that the water marsh’s sand concealed vast numbers of remnant souls, revealing a grave danger to the borderlands. Ren Qing headed north to investigate while testing the sand, and learned that refining it produced Water Souls that could turn a person into a marsh person.

• Ren Qing returned to Heshantown with Li Tiangang and found that sunlight caused marsh sand in the fields to turn into White Bone skulls, which crumbled and released remnant souls.
• Li Tiangang realized that marsh sand could carry remnant souls into people and threaten the Forbidden Guards, so he planned to gather and monitor those who had patrolled the borderlands.
• Ren Qing urged Li Tiangang to avoid alarming the guards, then agreed to travel to the borderlands while Li Tiangang tried to move Ksitigarbha King's rib there.
• Ren Qing fed marsh sand to the Wind Sand Method Eerie Object, which absorbed it and grew into a rough humanoid sandman.
• Ren Qing burned the remaining marsh sand in the Flesh and Blood Furnace and discovered that it produced Water Souls, whose consumption gradually turned people into marsh persons.

Ren Qing investigated the danger posed by swamp sand at the frontier and helped protect the Forbidden Guards with Human Skin Magical Artifacts. The chapter ended with a missing Forbidden Guard entering the desert alongside the apparently resurrected Xiao Ying.

• Ren Qing reached the frontier, examined Jiang Feng, and found no clear sign that swamp sand had entered his body.
• Ren Qing warned Jiang Feng that the swamp sand might cause Aberration, and Jiang Feng began organizing precautions for the Forbidden Guards.
• Ren Qing gave Jiang Feng Eerie Dust and arranged for Human Skin Magical Artifacts to be forged to shield the guards from sand.
• Nether Crows delivered the artifacts to the frontier, but one crow remained because a Forbidden Guard had not received his.
• Ren Qing saw a Forbidden Guard meet a naked woman emerging from the marsh and walk with her into the desert, recognizing her as Xiao Ying.

Ren Qing discovered that marsh sand caused strange lung Aberrations and saved Jiang Feng by treating his thirst with tea and Eerie Dust. After Jailer Hall arrived to investigate, Ren Qing examined a woman whose lungs had turned into liquor, leaving him to investigate the marsh’s new effect.

• Ren Qing watched Xiao Ying disappear into the marsh and went to a watchtower to gather marsh sand for the Sandman.
• Jiang Feng developed a severe lung Aberration, feared water despite intense thirst, and began turning to sand; Ren Qing treated him with tea and Eerie Dust.
• Ren Qing informed Li Tiangang and gathered more marsh sand, while the Sandman grew and took on a bone-like texture.
• Li Tiangang and Song Zongwu arrived, distributed Eerie Dust, and used Ksitigarbha King's rib to neutralize the marsh sand near camp.
• Ren Qing met Li Tiangang and Song Zongwu and examined Luo, whose lungs had transformed into liquor after she survived exposure to the marsh sand by drinking alcohol.

Ren Qing discovered that the Marsh’s aberration might be linked to the Dionysian Method and prepared to investigate it while improving his protection and travel supplies. As Li Tiangang’s group entered the Marsh, Ren Qing gathered sand and sought knowledge to help him forge a vessel, leaving the story with him withdrawing from the Dao of Non-action Dojo after narrowly avoiding the Son of Heavenly Dao.

• Ren Qing learned that the woman’s transformed lung had become a Wine Cup linked to the Dionysian Method, and he suspected the Marsh’s aberration turned people into food.
• Li Tiangang postponed his departure briefly, while Ren Qing went to the Ghost Market and forged Human Skin Daoist robes to protect Li Tiangang’s group from wind and sand.
• Ren Qing secretly placed a Ghost Shadow in Yan Feng’s robe, then watched Li Tiangang and his companions set out toward the Marsh on a transformed sheet of paper.
• Ren Qing gathered Marsh Sand for the Sandman and began designing a sand vessel, but found that forging a full-sized ship would be too difficult.
• Ren Qing searched the Hall of Non-action’s cave abodes for Tombstone Furnace knowledge, then withdrew from the Dao of Non-action Dojo when the Son of Heavenly Dao approached.

Ren Qing forged a bone-white Sand Boat to travel to the Water Marsh Desert, where Li Tiangang’s group faced mysterious Marsh Sand Aberrations. After completing his preparations, Ren Qing left the border fortress alone aboard the Sand Boat.

• Ren Qing used Ksitigarbha King's rib and Bone Wood to forge a Sand Boat, while the reanimated giant corpse’s head exploded during the keel’s nurturing.
• Ren Qing sensed Yan Feng’s terror through a Daoist robe artifact, but the robe was destroyed and contact was lost.
• Li Tiangang returned to Abhidi Hell with unconscious Yan Feng, attributing his condition to Marsh Sand entering his body.
• Ren Qing noticed Yan Feng’s weight had dropped after he drank water and suspected another person had been present during the incident.
• The Sandman Oddity completed its transformation, and Ren Qing finished the Sand Boat as Marsh Sand Aberrations continued to affect Forbidden Guards in the Water Marsh Desert.
• Ren Qing chose to travel alone, left a portion of Ghost Shadow at the border fortress, and set out aboard the Sand Boat.

Ren Qing explored Marshland by Sand Boat, studying its extreme heat, cold, strange water mist, and connection to the marsh people. At sunset, he used the Eye-less Method to see a gigantic, diseased Daoist in the clouds, with “Immortal Abode Qingxu Temple” carved into his forehead.

• Ren Qing entered Marshland and sailed north on his Sand Boat, enduring the heat while collecting marsh sand for the Sandman.
• Ren Qing found that his sweat formed untouchable water mist and suspected it was connected to Yan Feng’s unconsciousness and the marsh people.
• Ren Qing sailed through Marshland’s frigid night, when frost trapped the Sand Boat and strange clouds briefly suggested visions of mountains and rivers.
• Ren Qing observed that the water mist stopped changing once it became humanoid and theorized that it transformed during the transition between day and night.
• At sunset, Ren Qing used the Eye-less Method to examine the clouds and saw an enormous, diseased old Daoist bearing the words “Immortal Abode Qingxu Temple” on his forehead.

Ren Qing approached the edge of Abhidi Hell and discovered a sand city beyond it, but a violent sandstorm nearly destroyed his ship as he tried to escape. He survived by unleashing the Supreme Dark Nightmare Lord’s power, then limped back toward the temporary camp, injured but closer to mastering the Nightmare Lord.

• Ren Qing spent more than half a month gathering marsh sand, forging orders, cultivating the Eye-less Method, and watching Qingxu Temple before Husky sensed danger near the edge of Abhidi Hell.
• Ren Qing sailed into a growing sandstorm and glimpsed a Gobi sheltering a sand city, where emaciated mortals carried stones up a White Bone ladder.
• Ren Qing used the Sandman Oddity to hold down his ship and part the sandstorm, confirming that the city might contain cultivators and the Dionysian Method.
• As the storm lifted his ship into the air, Ren Qing invoked the Supreme Dark Nightmare Lord, plunging the storm into darkness and blasting a gap through it.
• Ren Qing’s ship crashed onto a dune, leaving him badly injured and the vessel wrecked; he took Eerie Dust, cultivated to stabilize himself, and slowly steered toward the temporary camp.

Ren Qing repaired and strengthened the Sand Boat using its newly living keel, then sent the transformed Ghost Shadow across the sandstorm to investigate the Gobi. He learned the Ghost Shadow was trapped in a mass grave and headed toward the Jailer camp, but someone arrived at the grave before he did.

• Ren Qing returned to Abhidi Hell for Bone Wood and learned that Song Zongwu would lead the third batch of Forbidden Guards to the marshlands camp.
• Ren Qing chose Night Roam for the Ghost Shadow and discovered that the Sand Boat's keel had become living flesh that could absorb souls and help repair the vessel.
• Ren Qing used the keel to restore and reinforce the Sand Boat, while Sandification helped the Sandman grow to nearly twenty meters tall.
• The Ghost Shadow completed its Third Eerie Transformation and, at night, made contact with Ren Qing from beneath corpses in a Gobi mass grave.
• Ren Qing stored the Sand Boat near the Jailer camp and set out on foot, while someone arrived at the mass grave before him.

Ren Qing possessed the dying Liu Chuan to investigate the Gobi people and learn how to obtain the Dionysian Method. After reaching Yellow Sand City, he declared that he wanted to become an Immortal, then lost control of Liu Chuan’s body at sunrise, leaving Sha Shanzi to take him to the authorities.

• Sha Shanzi and A Zhuo performed a Rebirth Mantra ritual at the mass grave, where Ren Qing watched from the Ghost Shadow.
• Ren Qing discovered several children in the corpse sack were barely alive and possessed Liu Chuan by replacing the soul in his Niwan Palace.
• Sha Shanzi revived Liu Chuan with water and carried him into Yellow Sand City, where Ren Qing saw its water-extraction covers, Daoist priests, and Heavenly Ladder.
• Ren Qing hid another wisp of Ghost Shadow in a Dao Ancestor statue and told Sha Shanzi that he wanted to become an Immortal.
• At sunrise, Ren Qing lost control of Liu Chuan, and Sha Shanzi found the boy unresponsive despite his heartbeat and breath.
• Sha Shanzi agreed to take Liu Chuan to the authorities immediately.

Ren Qing returned to Jailer Hall’s camp and learned that its plan to investigate the Water Marsh involved building a tower to reach the clouds, where an apparent immortal dwelling appeared. After stealing three Dao Ancestor statues from the collapsing Dao of Non-action Dojo, Ren Qing escaped Son of Heavenly Dao, who revealed that there were immortals in the Water Marsh.

• Ren Qing reached Jailer Hall’s camp and told Li Tiangang that he had avoided the Water Marsh’s effects by blocking the sunlight with an Art.
• Li Tiangang explained that Jailer Hall planned to build a high tower to investigate the clouds, and told Ren Qing that cultivators exposed to sunlight could become Ze Immortals when their consciousness entered the substance called ze.
• Ren Qing described the Pustule Old Daoist he had seen in Qingxu Palace, and Li Tiangang identified the Fabricated Art as an Outer Dao trick while insisting they investigate the apparent immortal dwelling.
• Ren Qing entered the Dao of Non-action Dojo and used the Ghost Shadow to steal the Primordial Heavenly Venerate and Moral Heavenly Venerate statues from the Council Hall.
• As Son of Heavenly Dao arrived, Ren Qing tried to take the Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerate statue and asked what was in the Water Marsh; Son of Heavenly Dao answered, “There are immortals,” before Ren Qing escaped and the Council Hall collapsed.

Ren Qing possessed Liu Chuan’s body in Yellow Sand City and discovered that Liu Chuan had been turned into a vessel for a Wraith pursuing immortality through self-devouring. Ren Qing forced the Wraith to complete the Self-Devouring Realm, bound it with the Ghost Shadow, and returned to his own body as the Daoists entered the room.

• Ren Qing descended into Liu Chuan’s body and found his organs aberrated, his lifespan nearly spent, and a Wraith waiting inside a jar.
• Ren Qing used the Fabricated Art and the Pure Yang Immaculate Method to transform Liu Chuan’s frail body into a powerful one.
• The Wraith attacked Ren Qing, but he used the Ghost Shadow to reveal and capture it, learning that its first realm of becoming immortal was called Self-Devouring.
• Ren Qing forced Liu Chuan to absorb his remaining soul and spirits, completing the Self-Devouring Realm and placing the Ghost Shadow inside him.
• Several Daoists entered to celebrate Liu Chuan’s breakthrough, but found Ren Qing’s corpse and Liu Chuan begging them not to kill him.
• Ren Qing’s consciousness returned to his own body at sunrise.