Chapter Summaries

Ren Qing visited Sanmu Alley, where Old Man Coffin revealed how dangerous Morning Street was and that Daoist Fufeng’s limbs had ended up in his shop. After learning that local cultivators could draw on True Essence without Heavenly Dao Worms, Ren Qing concluded that he needed to find an adapted Heavenly Dao Method and fashion one that would let him blend in.

• Ren Qing visited Sanmu Alley and met Old Man Coffin, who removed and replaced his own arm while explaining that Fufeng’s limbs were stored in a coffin.
• Ren Qing found Fufeng’s scarred arm and learned from Old Man Coffin about Morning Street’s three eerie monsters, including the warning that there was no night watchman.
• Ren Qing fortified his courtyard, lit a candle, and repeatedly tried to build a Ghost Market with his Heavenly Dao Dream Seed, but it collapsed.
• Ren Qing listened as a night watchman crossed Morning Street at startling speed and lingered briefly near its northern side.
• Ren Qing realized that Heavenly Dao Worms could spread True Essence through the land, allowing cultivators to practice adapted Heavenly Dao Methods without carrying the worms inside them.
• Ren Qing decided to seek out those adapted methods and create one suited to himself so he could blend in.

Ren Qing investigated a corpse cooked in an iron cauldron and learned from Old Man Coffin that the killer was a cultivator, while the spreading name of Infant Fox was drawing an aberrant horror toward Morning Street. He realized Morning Street was sealed to contain the horrors and decided the Ghost Market could help amid the coming danger.

• Ren Qing found residents panicking after several bodies were carried away, then discovered a corpse boiling in an iron cauldron beneath the blood-written words "Infant Fox."
• Old Man Coffin identified the killer as a cultivator rather than an aberrant horror, but warned that Infant Fox was coming and told residents to avoid iron cauldrons and meat.
• Ren Qing helped Old Man Coffin place the corpse in a coffin and asked him about aberrant horrors and the danger facing Morning Street.
• Old Man Coffin explained that aberrant horrors came from the underworld and drew closer as more people learned of them, prompting Ren Qing to infer that spreading their names could bring them into the world.
• Ren Qing concluded that Qingyan Town had sealed Morning Street to contain the horrors, and Old Man Coffin warned him that desperate cultivators might kill others while searching for whoever spread Infant Fox's name.
• Ren Qing recognized that the Ghost Market could be useful in the crisis ahead.

Ren Qing created an Immortal Market in a dream monastery and used it to recruit Yuan Si while secretly obtaining the Earth Scab Method. After studying the altered Heavenly Dao cultivation method, Ren Qing formed a bold new idea.

• Ren Qing discovered that Old Man Coffin was Jin Bing Tian, a Nascent Soul cultivator with only thirty-five days of lifespan, and learned that he practiced a modified Xuantian Method.
• As cultivators slaughtered Morning Street’s townspeople, Ren Qing concealed himself and planned how to interfere before the two-day massacre ended.
• Ren Qing combined his Split Soul, Ghost Shadow, and Heavenly Dao Dream Seed to create a monastery that served as the beginning of a Ghost Market.
• Ren Qing lured Yuan Si into the monastery through dream wine, made him believe he had met an immortal, and named him Guang Chengzi.
• Ren Qing planted a hidden trace of the Dream Seed in Yuan Si and extracted the Earth Scab Method from his memories.
• Ren Qing studied the altered Heavenly Dao Method in the book and came up with a bold idea.

Ren Qing studied the Earth Scab Method, deduced how Jing Province’s cultivators unknowingly served an Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Worm, and began planning a safer Heavenly Worm Method of his own. While he kept watch for Infant Fox and investigated the dead on Morning Street, his coffin-making skill surprised Old Man Coffin.

• Ren Qing realized the Earth Scab Method relied on True Essence from an Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Worm and considered using his own Heavenly Dao Worm to cultivate Nether Essence through others.
• Ren Qing sent Yuan Si to find five children, then returned him from the dream with Peach Wine and watched as Yuan Si embraced the name Guang Chengzi and set out to search for children.
• Ren Qing studied the Earth Scab Method and began modifying the Netherworld Cultivation Method while worrying that Infant Fox might disrupt Morning Street.
• Ren Qing went to Sanmu Alley to monitor corpses and help Old Man Coffin, who had been making coffins for the growing number of dead.
• Ren Qing quickly learned to make coffins and began producing them faster than Old Man Coffin, leaving the old man surprised and speechless.

Ren Qing perfected the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method with Old Man Coffin’s help and secretly reached Foundation Establishment. When Infant Fox’s first victim appeared on Morning Street, Ren Qing suspected the bizarre killing was meant to spark panic and chaos.

• Ren Qing refined his Netherworld Cultivation Method while making coffins, and Old Man Coffin taught him the Meridian Guiding Method and Xuantian Method.
• Ren Qing completed the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method, which let cultivators absorb foreign True Essence while hiding a back door for his Heavenly Dao Worm to absorb Nether Essence.
• Ren Qing tested the method on himself and quietly advanced to Foundation Establishment while Old Man Coffin watched his uneven but steady progress.
• A corpse appeared on Morning Street with its flesh packed inside its swollen abdomen, and Old Man Coffin suspected Infant Fox was connected to eating people.
• Old Man Coffin warned Ren Qing that the killings could drive cultivators to break the blockade, while Ren Qing suspected someone was deliberately stirring up chaos.

Ren Qing investigated Hibiscus Tower after learning Yuan Si was trapped inside, then discovered that the brothel concealed a terrifying inhuman presence. He left Old Man Coffin with Peach Blossom Wine and entered the brothel, where Third Mistress appeared from a fleshly rift.

• Ren Qing confirmed that Wang Shoubao had been killed by an aberration, and Old Man Coffin warned him to stay away from Xiaojin Place.
• Ren Qing learned about Qingyan Town from Old Man Coffin and gave him Peach Blossom Wine, which temporarily revived his failing body.
• Ren Qing went to Hibiscus Tower to find Yuan Si and spotted courtesans whose empty Niwan Palaces suggested they were Puppets.
• Ren Qing concealed himself in the brothel as Third Mistress emerged from a fleshly rift and entranced the guests.
• Ren Qing recognized Third Mistress's monstrous tail as evidence that Hibiscus Tower was controlled by a terrifying inhuman existence.

Ren Qing disrupted Third Mistress’s performance at Hibiscus Tower, triggering a massacre when she transformed into the powerful Infant Fox. He escaped into the rear courtyard and found Yuan Si and other cultivators imprisoned in candles that were being used to aid a rabbit toad’s cultivation.

• Ren Qing used Soul Butterfly projections to show Foundation Establishment cultivators the horror behind Third Mistress and spur them to resist her.
• Cultivators attacked Third Mistress, but hairless tails killed those trying to flee as she transformed into the Infant Fox.
• Ren Qing realized the Infant Fox had likely been in Qingyan Town for a long time and suspected the town’s true circumstances were far stranger than he had thought.
• Ren Qing slipped into Hibiscus Tower’s rear courtyard and found Yuan Si and more than a dozen men sealed inside enormous candles.
• Ren Qing learned through the Information Flow that the candles were made from cultivators and helped a rabbit toad cultivate.

Ren Qing rescued Yuan Si, the children, and the courtesans from Hibiscus Tower, then brought Old Man Coffin into the Prison Within the Stomach. There, he established an Immortal Market and offered Yuan Si and Old Man Coffin a path to cultivation and a share of its resources.

• Ren Qing placed the unconscious Yuan Si in the Prison Within the Stomach and discovered children hidden beneath Hibiscus Tower, whom he rescued along with the courtesans.
• Ren Qing avoided the night watchman and reached the coffin shop, where he took the drunken Old Man Coffin into the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Yuan Si introduced Old Man Coffin to the Immortal Dwelling, and both men saw Ren Qing's Two-Headed Immortal Split Soul.
• Ren Qing gave Yuan Si and Old Man Coffin the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method and expanded the island to create shops for the Immortal Market.
• Ren Qing's Split Soul gave Yuan Si a flesh artifact to repair his leg and gave Old Man Coffin Corpse Food that extended his lifespan.

Ren Qing discovered that Morning Street was sealed off not to keep Anomalies out, but to keep its inhabitants from learning that Qingyan Town had been overtaken by them. After seeing humans and Anomalies living together beyond the wall, he reconsidered how Jingzhou’s people had adapted to the Blood Moon’s catastrophe.

• Ren Qing monitored the Infant Fox’s attacks and watched cultivators grow increasingly desperate to escape Morning Street.
• Huang Hao crawled through a hole in the wall, shouted a warning, and was dragged away; other cultivators who tried to leave also vanished after seeing something astonishing.
• Ren Qing brought Old Man Coffin and Yuan Si out of the Prison Within the Stomach and implanted memories about the Infant Fox and entering the Immortal Market.
• Ren Qing slipped through the wall and saw soldiers guarding it against outsiders, while Anomalies and humans lived together throughout Qingyan Town.
• Ren Qing concluded that Anomalies had occupied the Waning Moon Layer and that Jingzhou’s people had formed a new order by relying on them; he considered their suitability for the Jailer Method.

Ren Qing investigated Qingyan Town and discovered that its factions captured Morning Street cultivators for use as medicine and other resources. He decided to map the town’s factions and kept his allies from leaving Morning Street while he waited for a safer opportunity.

• A female cultivator emerged from an Underground Cave, lost control of her Heavenly Worm Method, and was captured by Spider Woman and her spider-men.
• Ren Qing considered using the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method to enter Qingyan Town’s power struggle and sent Ghost Shadow to investigate its factions.
• Ren Qing established tasks in the Immortal Market, and Yuan Si took a job teaching children in the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Ren Qing possessed a captured cultivator’s shadow and witnessed Daoists grind the man into medicine before a Mountain Demon killed a Dao Boy.
• Ren Qing warned Yuan Si and the others not to leave Morning Street after learning that several captured cultivators had been killed or exploited by Eerie Object factions.
• After waiting more than half a month, Ren Qing saw one captured person avoid being taken to an Eerie Object cultivator.

Ren Qing infiltrated the Dao of Non-action Monastery by replacing Lai Gou, hoping to recruit its Heavenly Worm Method cultivators into the Immortal Market. He entered the outer sect and noticed a striking Dao Boy with an innate Spiritual Root, while Wuliangzi’s memories of him began to fade.

• Spider Woman captured Lai Gou after he killed two Qi Refining cultivators, then sent him to the Dao of Non-action Monastery in a cocoon.
• Ren Qing traveled through Qingyan Town and found the impoverished Dao of Non-action Monastery, where Dao Boys and farmers lived under its protection.
• Ren Qing took Lai Gou into the Prison Within the Stomach and disguised himself as the cocoon’s occupant.
• Wuliangzi met Ren Qing and assigned him to stay with the outer sect until his aptitude could be tested.
• Wuliangzi showed Ren Qing the outer sect lodging and introduced a huge Dao Boy with an innate Spiritual Root.
• As Wuliangzi returned to the mountain gate, his memories of Ren Qing gradually faded.

Ren Qing investigated the Dao of Non-action Monastery, then secluded himself and drank Peach Wine to extend his lifespan. After returning to the Ghost Market and expanding it with Great Dream True Person’s help, he prepared materials to advance his cultivation.

• Ren Qing questioned Tian Fuzi and learned that the Dao of Non-action Monastery recruited local people, taught arithmetic for its disciples’ business, and relied on farming and commerce to support itself.
• Ren Qing left Soul Butterfly projections to monitor the monastery, found a hidden cave, and began cultivating in seclusion.
• Ren Qing drank the Peach Wine stored in his gourd and slept for more than half a year, gaining enough lifespan to bring his total to 475 years.
• Ren Qing returned his cultivation from the Waning Moon Layer to the New Moon Layer and visited the Ghost Market, where he saw that the Jailer Hall had spread the Eerie Fetus Artifact Forging Method.
• Ren Qing expanded the Ghost Market with Great Dream True Person’s support, then gathered and transferred materials for his cultivation breakthrough.

Ren Qing advanced the Shadowless Ghost and Nightmare Art, then returned to Jing Province and intervened as the Dao of Non-action Monastery recruited disciples. He revealed himself as Huang Qi and began protecting the monastery’s children from Mountain Demon cultivators.

• Li Tiangang and Song Zongwu prepared the Jailer Hall to attack the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone while Ren Qing rested after his consciousness returned.
• Ren Qing advanced the Shadowless Ghost to the Yin Messenger Realm and chose Dark Light, Recollection, and Dream Overlap for the Nightmare Art.
• Ren Qing examined the weakened Dao of Non-action Monastery, told Yuan Si and Old Man Coffin to prepare the children to leave for Qingyan Town, and refined his robe and gourd into Half-Corpse Realm Eerie Fetus Artifacts.
• At the monastery’s recruitment gathering, Ren Qing killed an old woman who had transformed into a Mountain Demon and ordered the children to continue onward.
• Wuliangzi found the damaged Bronze Mirror artifact and heard Ren Qing identify himself as Huang Qi of the Dao of Non-action Monastery.

Wuliangzi searched for Huang Qi, then struggled with worsening Aberration and uncertainty about the Dao of Non-action Monastery. Ren Qing steadied him through a dream vision, where Wuliangzi witnessed the Forbidden Guards setting out for the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone and recognized Ren Qing as an Earthly Immortal.

• Wuliangzi rushed to the farmstead seeking Huang Qi but found no trace of him, then returned to help inspect the children's Dao aptitude.
• Wuliangzi accepted the children despite Qingsongzi's warning that the Qingqiu Anomalous might have gathered them, and his Aberration worsened until he feared he was going mad.
• Ren Qing noticed Wuliangzi's distressed obsession and entered his dream, calming him as his Aberration spiraled out of control.
• Ren Qing showed Wuliangzi the Immortal Market, where Song Zongwu, Li Tiangang, Mu Yi, Li Yaoyang, Miss Bai, Sun, and the Forbidden Guards prepared to attack the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone.
• Wuliangzi returned to his body with his Aberration receding and welcomed the Earthly Immortal's descent before the Son of Heavenly Dao's statue.

Ren Qing brought most of the Dao of Non-action Monastery’s disciples into the Immortal Market, where they discovered its shops, resources, and cultivation texts. After the market opened, he watched his lifespan grow from the wealth it generated.

• Ren Qing decided to create a Heavenly Dao Method for the Dao of Non-action Monastery, adapting the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method and planning for cultivators to change Arts at higher realms.
• Ren Qing used dream Arts to identify eight disciples connected to aberrant cultivators and left them out of the Immortal Market, then brought seventy-three others inside.
• Wuliangzi explained the Immortal Market to the disciples and told them they could exchange True Essence for limited amounts of spirit crystals.
• The disciples explored Old Man Coffin’s Great Dream Coffin Shop, the Great Dream Pavilion, and the Great Dream Secret Treasure, finding artifacts, materials, and lost cultivation texts for sale.
• The disciples awoke in the monastery with a renewed sense of recognition, while Ren Qing watched his lifespan increase from the Ghost Market and Immortal Market.

Ren Qing advanced the Shadowless Ghost to Melding Yin God, causing his other Arts to transform and the Dao Boys to show signs of Aberration. He concealed the disturbance, introduced the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method to Wuliangzi, and ordered the Dao Boys to convert to it within a year.

• Ren Qing used five hundred years of lifespan to advance the Shadowless Ghost to Melding Yin God, and the Information Flow drew his other Arts into closer alignment with it.
• The advancement caused severe pain and transformed the Heavenly Dao Worm, Ren Qing's Netherworld Cultivation Method, Human Skin Book, Armored Physique Art, and Yellow Springs Immortal Bone.
• Han Li and more than a dozen Dao Boys began leaking black blood and manifesting black lines as their body-soul Aberration threatened to lose control.
• Wuliangzi sealed the classroom and tried to hide the Dao Boys' strange aura from a suspected mole in the Dao of Non-action Monastery.
• Ren Qing appeared, calmed the Black Insects beneath the Dao Boys' skin, and ordered Wuliangzi to convert the Dao Boys to the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method within a year and himself within five years.

Ren Qing advanced the Netherworld Cultivation Method to the Nascent Soul Realm, transforming his Yellow Springs Immortal Bone into an Immortal Body and awakening an Adult Heavenly Dao Worm. As the Dao of Non-action Monastery spread its teachings, Ren Qing discovered signs that the Anomalous faction was targeting its disciples and prepared to grasp the Disaster Aversion Method before confronting the growing danger.

• Shadowless Ghost's advancement transformed cultivators of the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method and created Black Insects, while Ren Qing tested his strengthened body and Ghost Shadow in seclusion.
• Ren Qing noticed that memorial tablets belonging to disciples in the South of the City had become corrupted, and suspected the Corpse Elephant faction was forcibly changing their cultivation methods.
• Ren Qing advanced the Netherworld Cultivation Method to the Nascent Soul Realm, turning his Yellow Springs Immortal Bone into an Immortal Body and his Heavenly Dao Worm into a strange Dragon-Serpent-headed Adult Worm.
• The Earth Immortal Heavenly Dao Worm stirred beneath Jing Province when Ren Qing briefly tried to bring his new worm outside, so he stored Ghost Shadow away and kept the worm in the New Moon Layer.
• Ren Qing decided to wait for Jailer Hall's campaign against the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone so he could grasp the Disaster Aversion Method, while the Dao Boys became formal disciples and dispersed across Jing Province.
• Ren Qing briefly took the Disaster Aversion Method's Eerie Object and returned it without attracting notice.

Wuliangzi struggled to move the monastery’s Spirit Grain as reports spread of deadly violence tied to the Qingqiu Fox Immortal. Ren Qing joined the caravan bound for West of the City, while the source of his Disaster Aversion Method’s power was revealed to be a monster called No Anomaly that could devour people.

• Wuliangzi prepared to transport the harvest after the expected merchants failed to arrive and the monastery’s disciples had dwindled.
• Deng Chuan’s battered caravan reached the monastery, carrying the dead, including Zixi Chamber of Commerce’s Steward Liu.
• Deng Chuan told Wuliangzi and Qingsongzi that women had been skinned after someone violated Grandmother Fox Immortal’s taboo, and that his escorts had barely survived the journey.
• Ren Qing used the Disaster Aversion Method to make the caravan regard him as one of their own and learned that they were traveling through Changning Street toward West of the City.
• Ren Qing’s cultivation information identified No Anomaly as the Disaster Aversion Method’s Eerie Object, a monster that devoured people’s sense of presence.

Ren Qing examined the dangerous new abilities of the Disaster Aversion Method and traveled with the caravan toward Changning Street. After a bronze bell rang and the locals emerged from hiding, he sensed several wandering cultivators heading southwest and wondered whether anomalous cultivators could be recruited into a dreamscape market.

• Ren Qing reviewed the Anomaly Devourer’s hunger and the Eerie Belly Concealing Door, deciding he would never enter the isolated room beyond the Mirror Door.
• Deng Chuan organized the escorts and led the Spirit Grain caravan away from the Dao of Non-action Monastery toward Changning Street.
• Ren Qing considered recruiting more Dao Boys and sent Soul Butterfly projections to watch over the tense convoy.
• The caravan entered deserted streets where residents hid in cellars, and Ren Qing used his Double Pupils to spot them.
• A bronze bell rang, the residents emerged, and Deng Chuan said Grandmother Fox Immortal had calmed down.
• Ren Qing sensed wandering cultivators moving southwest and wondered whether anomalous cultivators could be recruited for a dreamscape market.

Ren Qing investigated the Qingqiu Anomalous calamity and discovered that the bridal processions appeared in the Gibbous Moon Layer. He sacrificed the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed to stabilize the Immortal Market, then created a Dream Seed that could absorb Anomalous aura, preparing to investigate Anomalous Arts.

• Ren Qing left the caravan and searched the abandoned Mourning Hall while Deng Chuan and the Escorts returned to the inn, unaware that their sudden relief had come over them together.
• After a night of searching without finding the aura’s source, Ren Qing saw funeral processions carrying bridal sedan chairs filled with flayed corpses through the rain-soaked streets.
• Ren Qing used his Double Pupils to glimpse the Gibbous Moon Layer, where the sedan chairs were made of flesh and headed toward a crowded Mourning Hall filled with half-fox cultivators.
• Ren Qing stripped the Heavenly Dao Dream Seed from the Immortal Market and planted it on Wine Lake Island, stabilizing the dreamscape and moving Yuan Si and the children into the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Ren Qing created a new Dream Seed, embedded it in his brow, and named it the Demon Anomaly Dream Seed after it began absorbing the surrounding Anomalous aura.