Chapter Summaries

Ren Qing explored Death Nether Cry as a way to create new eerie beasts, then used its Grave-Probing Crow path to forge a Nether Crow and produce message-carrying Sparrow mounts. He left Yuan Si to continue experimenting as another Split Soul was nurtured.

• Ren Qing focused on exploring the Immortality Forbidden Zone while Jailer Hall expanded Wuwei City and gathered resources from Jingzhou.
• Ren Qing’s eerie beasts became popular in the Ghost Market, and he agreed to provide the Gobi people with a monthly batch of lizard mounts.
• Sun asked Ren Qing to use Death Nether Cry to create eerie beasts and gave him the Art while warning him not to cultivate it.
• Ren Qing chose the Death Chaser path, advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm as a Grave-Probing Crow, and confined the transforming Eerie Object within Eternal Prison.
• Ren Qing forged the Nether Crow with Nightmare Demon aura, used its blood to create Sparrow eerie beasts that could enter the dream market, and assigned Yuan Si further experiments.
• Ren Qing’s Split Soul was nurtured into being.

Ren Qing sent his Split Soul into the Immortality Forbidden Zone, where he took on two Disease Seeds and discovered that Weak Physique made it difficult to absorb nourishment. After reaching Un-dead Town, he learned that newcomers had to be mad enough to study medicine, and revealed his grotesque appearance to convince a local that he qualified.

• Ren Qing prepared Ghost Shadow and the Dream Seed to protect the Split Soul, then sent it through the well into the Immortality Forbidden Zone.
• Ren Qing chose the Disease Seeds Weak Physique and Deformity, which altered his body but left him weak and unable to tolerate Lingzhi.
• Ren Qing used Peach Wine to suppress the Weak Physique symptoms and traveled through the rain toward a nearby town.
• A deformed man told Ren Qing that people came to the town to study medicine and needed to eat Longevity Immortal Fruit to become mad enough.
• Ren Qing revealed his Five Qi Towards Origin appearance, and the man declared him the maddest person in Un-dead Town after himself.

Ren Qing entered Un-dead Town and discovered that its residents were drawn to a Longevity Immortal statue whose aura caused Hysteria. He suspected that the town’s supposed cultivation was tied to the illness, but still wondered where true longevity could be found.

• Ren Qing entered Un-dead Town after the officers allowed him through, then evaded their surveillance and captured one officer to question him.
• The officer told Ren Qing that madness in the town was contagious, and Ren Qing saw townspeople gather around a Longevity Immortal statue as black smoke rose from the center.
• When Ren Qing stopped using the Dream Seed to shield himself, the statue’s aura made him crave its medicinal fragrance and caused Hysteria to appear in his Information Flow.
• Ren Qing reopened the Dream Seed Dual Pupils, dispelling the fragrance and the townspeople’s illusion of immortality, and questioned whether cultivation was actually Hysteria.

Ren Qing investigated the patients’ mass hysteria and discovered that their imagined immortal Arts could harm people afflicted by hysteria, as a soldier died after entering the town. He learned from Gao Liang that the patients sought a medical hall said to hold the means of transcendence, and remained in town to adapt to the Longevity Immortal’s influence before investigating it further.

• Ren Qing entered the patients’ gathering and saw the Longevity Immortal manifest before realizing the scene was mass hysteria linked to a medicinal fragrance and possibly the medical hall.
• When Zhou Yi threatened Ren Qing with an apparent Ice Crystal Art, Ren Qing used the Dream Seed to see that Zhou Yi was only sprinkling water, though the patients’ hysteria made the attack seem real.
• A soldier rushed into town to retrieve Chen An, but Chen An and the patients removed his mask and exposed him to the black smoke; Zhou Yi’s apparent ice attack then killed the soldier, while Jin Chengxiang ordered the troops to withdraw.
• Ren Qing concluded that the patients’ Arts worked on people afflicted by hysteria, and he recalled that Ghost Shadow had found an ordinary-looking medical hall filled with patients.
• Gao Liang told Ren Qing that patients sought the medical hall for a way to transcend mortality, explained that their shared Body Gestation Method might help them qualify, and offered to explore the Great Dao with him.
• Ren Qing agreed to Gao Liang’s proposal and spent the following days in the house, adapting to the Longevity Immortal’s influence before attempting another visit to the medical hall.

Ren Qing’s Split Soul obtained the Soul Devouring Curse in the Immortality Forbidden Zone, but its Weak Physique prevented him from cultivating it normally. After advancing the Deformity Disease Seed until the Split Soul died, Ren Qing discovered that the lifespan consumed there could temporarily be applied to his main body, and began considering how to survive the Forbidden Zone.

• Ren Qing received the Soul Devouring Curse while the patients gathered for the Longevity Immortal’s lesson, then escaped Un-dead Town as Gao Liang and the others searched for him.
• Ren Qing tried to cultivate the Soul Devouring Curse at a ruined temple, but his Weak Physique prevented him from absorbing nutrients and accelerated his loss of lifespan.
• Ren Qing spent years advancing the Deformity Disease Seed, which became the Deformity Tree Seed as his Split Soul died and its corpse decayed.
• Ren Qing’s main body discovered that the years consumed in the Immortality Forbidden Zone temporarily increased its lifespan, then watched the added five years run out.
• Ren Qing considered using Eerie Transformation abilities from the Human Skin Book and Armored Physique Art to help Ghost Shadow and decided to unfold the Immortality Forbidden Zone first.

Ren Qing selected Eerie Transformation Branches for the Human Skin Book and Bone Attachment as Artifact, discovering that Insect Root could help his Split Soul extend its life through cultivation of the Heavenly Worm Method. After the Insect Root fused with Ghost Shadow and produced Black Insects, his Split Soul neared completion and a return to the Immortality Forbidden Zone.

• Ren Qing chose Mimic Skin, Living Skin, and Skin Devouring for the Human Skin Book, then found that his skin could absorb Peach Wine and slightly extend his lifespan.
• Ren Qing discovered that Bone Attachment as Artifact had unusual branches linked to the Netherworld Cultivation Method and chose Insect Root to give his Split Soul the aptitude to cultivate the Heavenly Worm Method.
• Ren Qing endured the painful Insect Root transformation, then selected Eerie Regeneration and Insect Body to support and enhance the new root.
• Ren Qing found that the Insect Root fused with Ghost Shadow, where the Heavenly Dao Worm nourished it and helped it regenerate.
• Ren Qing discovered that the Shadowless Ghost had inherited part of Insect Body, enabling it to create Black Insects that could be given to mortals or summoned in battle.
• After a dozen or so days, Ren Qing's Split Soul neared completion, preparing him to enter the Immortality Forbidden Zone again.

Ren Qing tested whether the Split Soul could cultivate the Marsh Immortal Method with different anomalous auras, then entered the Immortality Forbidden Zone to create a body with five Disease Types. He suppressed its cold symptoms with Nether Essence and planned to reach Un-dead Town after advancing to Qi Cultivation.

• Ren Qing cultivated the Split Soul until it formed Nightmare Demon and Ghost Shadow heads, then merged a Black Insect into its shadow.
• Ren Qing surveyed Wuwei City and the Forbidden Guards’ growing collection of enormous eerie-beast mounts before sending the Split Soul into the Immortality Forbidden Zone.
• Ren Qing gave the Split Soul Night Blindness, Insomnia, Night Sweats, Cold, and Cancer, then returned as a blind, dark-skinned farmer.
• Ren Qing used Nether Essence to activate Substitute Ghost Skin, suppressing the cold and fever, and planned to travel to Un-dead Town once he reached Qi Cultivation.

Ren Qing’s cultivation worsened his hidden cancer, and a wine-drawn patient named Liu Qian triggered a massacre in Un-dead Town. Ren Qing was taken to the medical hall after its old master recognized his Immortal Bones, while Jin Chengxiang called for more people to replace the town’s vanished patients.

• Ren Qing cultivated the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method, developed relentless hunger, and realized his cancer cells had spread.
• Liu Qian, drawn by Ren Qing’s Peach Wine, followed him into Un-dead Town as his delirium faded and his Aberration grew worse.
• Liu Qian killed patients in the town, and the medical hall’s old master appeared, then killed Liu Qian and two apprentices.
• The old master’s medicinal fragrance compelled the remaining patients, including Ren Qing, to enter the medical hall; he chose Ren Qing as one of three new disciples.
• Jin Chengxiang ordered soldiers to summon at least a hundred people and repair the town, and prison carts arrived several days later.

Ren Qing survived Pure Yang Master's attempt to use him as nourishment beneath the Longevity Immortal statue, advanced his Sleeplessness Disease Seed, and became Medicine Daoist's favored disciple. Meanwhile, in Jing Province, the wounded Song Zongwu discovered a disturbing clue among the demon beast corpses.

• Medicine Daoist selected Ren Qing, Gao Liang, and two elderly patients as disciples, and Pure Yang Master led them to the Longevity Immortal statue.
• The statue drained the patients' blood, killing the two elderly men as Pure Yang Master tried to sacrifice Ren Qing.
• Ren Qing advanced his Sleeplessness Disease Seed, survived the blood drain, and caused Gao Liang to die within a dream.
• Medicine Daoist arrived, killed Pure Yang Master, and promised Ren Qing more people to aid his cultivation every ten days.
• Ren Qing returned to his room to cultivate Nether Essence while spreading Ghost Shadow through Un-dead Town.
• In Jing Province, the badly wounded Song Zongwu examined demon beast corpses and found a clue about a vow never to kill or eat flesh.

Ren Qing explored Wuwei City as it grew into a fortified hub and discovered that some demon beast corpses carried a strange Buddha aura. The Jailer Hall traced the corpses to Glazed Mountain and designated it a forbidden area.

• Ren Qing stored his conspicuous house in the Eternal Prison, hired Qing Zhu to guide him, and learned about Wuwei City's bodyguard agencies and demon beast trade.
• Ren Qing checked into an inn and examined the demon beasts being slaughtered, finding corpses with pale-gold blood and a Buddha aura that preserved their souls.
• Ren Qing notified Li Tiangang about the unusual corpse and left to seek fungal trees near spirit veins.
• After Ren Qing departed, the corpse began moving, then knelt and died again as its Buddha aura vanished.
• More corpses revived in the same kneeling posture, and the Jailer Hall traced them to Glazed Mountain and declared the area forbidden.

Ren Qing’s Split Soul relived his time in Un-dead Town, where the Longevity Immortal’s influence steadily grew his Sleepless Tree Seed and lifespan. Peach Blossom Immortal arrived, killed Medicine Daoist, and ordered Ren Qing to replace him and become a Tree Immortal, while Ren Qing agreed despite sensing danger.

• Ren Qing stole four fungus trees from the Dao of Non-action Monastery and planned to use their branches to refine Artifacts.
• Ren Qing’s Split Soul fell near death, and Ghost Shadow’s Night Roaming brought back memories of his life in Un-dead Town.
• Ren Qing discovered the Longevity Immortal statue kept growing his Sleepless Tree Seed even when he did not cultivate, while his lifespan rose to eighteen years.
• Peach Blossom Immortal arrived in Un-dead Town, transformed a soldier into a flat peach, and forced Jin Chengxiang to agree to cultivate false immortality.
• Peach Blossom Immortal killed Medicine Daoist beneath the Longevity Immortal statue, and Ren Qing’s lifespan rose to thirty-five years.
• Peach Blossom Immortal told Ren Qing to replace Medicine Daoist and become a Tree Immortal, and Ren Qing agreed while concealing his suspicions.

Ren Qing discovered that Peach Blossom Immortal was a Longevity Species that used disease seeds to cultivate Eerie Objects, while the clinic’s patients were driven mad and sacrificed to the Longevity Immortal statue. After Peach Blossom Immortal planted a green worm in Ren Qing’s sapling, Ren Qing questioned his origins and left him frightened.

• Ren Qing learned that Peach Blossom Immortal had slaughtered most of the clinic’s patients and that the swelling Longevity Immortal statue was spreading madness.
• Peach Blossom Immortal attacked the soldiers in the nearby hills and brought them to the clinic as nourishment for the statue.
• Peach Blossom Immortal fed the remaining patients to the statue until its head broke off, then swallowed the head and ordered Ren Qing into the pit left behind.
• Ren Qing cooperated as Peach Blossom Immortal buried him and planted a green worm from his chest’s monkey face into Ren Qing’s sapling.
• Ren Qing asked Peach Blossom Immortal where the Longevity Species came from and what would happen if he had not merged with the worm, unsettling Peach Blossom Immortal.

Ren Qing’s Split Soul transformed into a monstrous Disease Tree, defeated Peach Blossom Immortal, and absorbed his Eerie Object before dying. Back in the main body, Ren Qing gained enough lifespan to surpass the five-hundred-year threshold needed to advance to Releasing Yin God.

• Ren Qing promoted his Sleepless Disease Tree and other Disease Seeds, transforming into a gigantic three-headed Ape Monster as Un-dead Town collapsed.
• Ren Qing attacked Peach Blossom Immortal, who revealed his Eerie Object form and tried to seize Jin Chengxiang for strength.
• Ren Qing beat Peach Blossom Immortal unconscious, then used the Three-headed Immortal’s roots to absorb the Eerie Object and increase his lifespan.
• Ren Qing escaped Un-dead Town with Ghost Shadow carrying Jin Chengxiang, then collapsed and died as his body turned to ash.
• Ren Qing’s main body awakened with hundreds of additional years of lifespan and used Peach Wine to push his total beyond five hundred years.

Ren Qing promoted Shadowless Ghost to Releasing Yin God and began fusing its Eerie Transformation Branches to nurture a divine ability embryonic form. After making progress, he entered the Ghost Market in Eternal Prison to look for Arts that could strengthen Shadowless Ghost.

• Ren Qing spent five hundred years of lifespan to promote Shadowless Ghost to Releasing Yin God, suppressing its secondary Arts' Eerie Objects in the process.
• Ren Qing learned that Releasing Yin God meant controlling his Eerie Objects and that fusing Eerie Transformation Branches would nurture a divine ability embryonic form.
• Ren Qing fused Night Roaming with Eerie Substitution, then used the Information Flow to assess the lifespan cost of further Eerie Transformation Gestation.
• Ren Qing fused Shadowless Ghost's own Eerie Transformation Branches and then fused a fourth branch from Substitute Ghost Skin, while noting that the secondary Art needed further promotion.
• Ren Qing's Split Soul reached the Foundation Establishment Realm of the Netherworld Heavenly Worm Method and explored a route toward a town in the Immortality Forbidden Zone.
• Ren Qing entered the Ghost Market within Eternal Prison to search among its Art manuals and Eerie Objects for suitable Arts.

Ren Qing failed to complete his fifth Eerie Transformation gestation after losing control of his mindset, then explored the eerie objects in the Great Dream Heretical Dao and found the promising Dragon Snake Spine Art. He also discovered a hidden Half-Corpse Realm Art within Jailer Hall, leaving its origin and potential to be investigated.

• Ren Qing sent the Ghost Shadow and Heavenly Dao Worm to search Abhidi Hell for eerie objects while he attempted his fifth Eerie Transformation gestation.
• Ren Qing's impatience and prolonged confinement in darkness caused a severe Aberration, forcing him to abandon the gestation and spend more than ten days recovering.
• Ren Qing checked the Information Flow and saw that five Eerie Transformation Branches had fused into the Divine Ability being nurtured.
• Ren Qing examined six eerie objects and rejected several Arts before identifying Dragon Snake Spine as a promising path that could strengthen his body and Lifebound Objects.
• Ren Qing detected a hidden Half-Corpse Realm eerie object in a corner of Jailer Hall and pulled it out with the Ghost Shadow.

Ren Qing advanced Dragon Snake Spine into a flood dragon, naming the living Lifebound Artifact Dragon Spine. He investigated the Storyteller Eerie Object and, after learning what happened in the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone, suspected its creator could hide inside other people.

• Ren Qing used lifespan to advance Dragon Snake Spine, which shed its skin in Eternal Prison and reached the peak of the Half-Corpse Realm.
• Ren Qing advanced Dragon Snake Spine into the Spirit Snake Transforms into Flood Dragon branch, and it transformed into a flood dragon that he named Dragon Spine.
• Ren Qing released Dragon Spine, watched it fly around with a childlike intelligence, and then let it nest in his spine.
• Ren Qing studied the Storyteller Eerie Object and contacted Li Tiangang to ask about the Disaster Aversion Forbidden Zone.
• Ren Qing read Li Tiangang's account of the Forbidden Guards being trapped inside his body and concluded the Storyteller could hide within anyone.

Ren Qing advanced Storyteller to guard against possession, then chose No Thoughts to make himself immune to its ability. After his Split Soul encountered danger in a hidden town and Dragon Spine gained Thunder Control, Ren Qing received word of a mysterious temple at Glazed Mountain and prepared to investigate.

• Ren Qing advanced to Storyteller, learned it could hide his soul inside another person, and chose No Thoughts as his first Eerie Transformation to resist possession.
• Ren Qing learned that his Split Soul had been poisoned by townsfolk in a settlement inside the Immortality Forbidden Zone, but Ghost Shadow saved it by advancing it to Disease Species.
• Ren Qing used thirty years of temporary lifespan to give Dragon Snake Spine the Thunder Control Eerie Transformation, allowing it to brew and cast lightning.
• Dragon Spine demonstrated its new power, and Ren Qing examined how its Arts combined with Ghost Shadow to form a fearsome Ghost Dragon.
• Ren Qing received Li Tiangang's report that the Changyuan Bodyguard Agency had vanished near Glazed Mountain, where a crowded Linggan Temple had appeared.
• Ren Qing agreed to investigate the temple and its mysterious Great King Linggan, hoping to uncover information relevant to the coming Primordial Transformation.

Qing Zhu learned that her father, Shen Qieteng, had vanished near Glazed Mountain and secretly joined a convoy headed there. After the Escorts were drawn toward a temple by strange chanting, a fishlike monster formed and spoke in her father’s voice as Ren Qing arrived.

• Qing Zhu searched for news of Shen Qieteng and learned that a Forbidden Guard had accepted a mission to investigate Glazed Mountain.
• Qing Zhu hid in a supply chest on a bodyguard convoy leaving Wuwei City for Glazed Mountain.
• As the convoy traveled through dense demon aura, Qing Zhu endured the journey while the Escorts grew silent and stopped salvaging demonic beast corpses.
• Qing Zhu awoke to strange chanting and found the Escorts gone, abandoned lizards, and the group kowtowing toward a temple on Glazed Mountain.
• Qing Zhu saw fish tails growing from the Escorts’ heads and a distorted monster forming from a floating fishing line before it spoke in Shen Qieteng’s voice.
• Ren Qing appeared beside Qing Zhu and examined the monster.

Ren Qing investigated Linggan Temple and discovered that its Buddhist aura had controlled the monks and corroded Great King Linggan. As he tried to uncover Glazed Mountain’s secrets, the entire mountain vanished into a deeper level of Jingzhou.

• Ren Qing crushed the fish demon that claimed to be Great King Linggan, then sent Qing Zhu and the controlled Escorts into Eternal Prison.
• Ren Qing entered Linggan Temple and found that its grand halls contained little beyond Buddhist aura and a strange statue made of Blood Stone.
• Ren Qing discovered a Six Eyes Four Arms Buddha statue and suspected that Buddhist aura, rather than the demon, had controlled the monks.
• Ren Qing absorbed the Buddhist aura into his Ember Dream Seed, causing the monks to regain consciousness and Glazed Mountain to crack open.
• Great King Linggan emerged from the cracks, badly corroded by Buddhist aura and trapped inside the mountain.
• As Ren Qing tried to use Information Flow on Glazed Mountain, the mountain vanished toward a deeper level of Jingzhou.

Ren Qing captured Great King Linggan and discovered that Buddha Qi might counteract Demon Qi, then witnessed the Corpse Elephant’s immense growth before returning toward Wuwei City. Meanwhile, Song Zongwu prepared to confront a Rabbit Toad Cultivator as a strange mountain appeared briefly before him.

• Ren Qing swallowed Great King Linggan and the falling cultivators with his Ghost Shadow, then stopped the Prison Guards from killing Great King Linggan after noticing it survived without Demon Qi.
• Ren Qing suspected Buddha Qi could dispel Demon Qi and considered using Great King Linggan as a vessel for Nether Essence.
• Ren Qing spotted the Corpse Elephant near Glazed Mountain and felt its distant sonic attack, concluding that it had likely reached the true Yang God Realm.
• Ren Qing released Husky and headed toward Wuwei City, reflecting on the rapid spread of demonized plants and animals across Jing Province.
• Song Zongwu waited near the center of Jing Province, seeking a breakthrough by confronting a Rabbit Toad Cultivator, and briefly saw a crystal-clear mountain before it vanished.