Chapter Summaries

Ren Qing was trapped in the collapsing Dao of Non-action Dojo, where the Blind Daoist’s followers turned his improvised cultivation advice into a deadly Art. He concluded the dojo was likely a ruin sustained by the Blind Daoist’s madness, while the students continued demanding more teachings.

• Ren Qing discovered that the Dao of Non-action Dojo was nearly destroyed and had only five years remaining.
• The Dao Boy summoned Ren Qing to the lecture platform, bound him to a prayer cushion, and distributed bone Bamboo Slips containing useless cultivation instructions.
• When a student asked how to cultivate a Body of Filth, Ren Qing fabricated advice, and the dojo turned his words into a method that made the student consume hearts.
• Ren Qing’s main body found the student in Qinghe Imperial Academy, where the student’s abdomen burst open and revealed more than a dozen hearts.
• Ren Qing decided the dojo’s teachings were likely the Blind Daoist’s deranged obsession as the students demanded another Dao method.

Ren Qing completed Dao gives birth to Dao, gained control over the Dao of Non-action Dojo, and identified Zhao Daniu as the Dao Boy's true body. The chapter ended as Zhao Daniu's body transformed under Ren Qing's attacks.

• Ren Qing spent five years of lifespan to complete Dao gives birth to Dao, becoming a Great Dao Official and expelling the students from the dojo.
• Ren Qing searched the Qinghe Imperial Academy, then had Clerk Zhao and the constables drive residents away from the area.
• Ren Qing followed a dazed candied hawthorn vendor into an alley and identified him as Zhao Daniu, a Ghost Envoy Realm cultivator with Human Skin Book and incomplete Dao gives birth to Dao.
• Ren Qing struck Zhao Daniu with Dragon Snake Spine, but Zhao Daniu regenerated his shattered head and seemed unaware of his own Art.
• Zhao Daniu's intelligence faded as tiger-striped beast hide spread across his body, even as Ren Qing attacked him again.

Ren Qing killed Zhao Daniu during the Imperial Examination and discovered that Dao gives birth to Dao could transfer between hosts. Meanwhile, Song Zongwu and Sun used a corpse and a fungus at the Brain Tree in Ksitigarbha King to try to awaken someone.

• Zhao Daniu transformed into a beast and attacked Ren Qing, who fought back with Mirror Flower Water Moon and the Dragon Snake Spine.
• Ren Qing killed Zhao Daniu before the Forbidden Guards could arrive, then absorbed the five-colored light released by Dao gives birth to Dao as the corpse decayed.
• Jiang Feng and the Forbidden Guards suppressed Zhao Daniu's Eerie Object, and Ren Qing reported the mission without revealing the Blind Daoist or the Dao of Non-action Dojo.
• Song Zongwu and Sun brought a hollow, hole-riddled corpse to the Brain Tree in Ksitigarbha King.
• The corpse vanished as a fungus absorbed powder from the giant of smoke and dust, and a human face emerged on the fungus.

Ren Qing completed the First Eerie Transformation of the Prison Within the Stomach, gaining the ability to imprison his own Eerie Objects and command them to attack. He captured the Divine Feet Scripture’s White Wolf and prepared to test whether its blood could help him find the Blind Daoist.

• Ren Qing used his Artifact Forging shop to earn Blood Crystals and raise his lifespan to fifty-three years, then discovered that devouring eyes became much less effective after he passed fifty.
• Ren Qing spent fifty years of lifespan to undergo the Prison Within the Stomach’s Eerie Transformation, expanding its inner space to more than a hundred cubic meters.
• Ren Qing selected the Divine Feet Scripture for the Prison Guard slot and swallowed its Eerie Object, suppressing the Art’s Aberration as the White Wolf appeared inside the prison.
• Ren Qing set aside a cell for the White Wolf, then returned the Divine Feet Scripture to his body and watched wolf fur grow over his legs again.
• Ren Qing collected seventeen kinds of Wolf Blood, intending to use the results of his experiment to gain new trump cards and search for traces of the Blind Daoist.

Ren Qing strengthened Wolf Walker through a dangerous aberration, then secured recognition as an official Forbidden Guard and discovered new missions linked to the Dao of Non-action Monastery. He ended the chapter unsettled by evidence that objects could leave the Dao of Non-action Dojo and that Primal Heavenly Venerate's statue had lost a hand.

• Ren Qing drank seventeen kinds of Wolf Blood, transforming into a towering wolf-like form and greatly strengthening Wolf Walker before imprisoning its Eerie Object again.
• Ren Qing replenished his lifespan and visited the Great Dream Pavilion, where he found Great Dream True Person's butterfly-shaped mark on his Jailer token.
• Ren Qing merged his aura into the token and sent his primary Art and information about the Twin Nightmare Demon to Sun through a Nether Crow, completing his Forbidden Guard registration.
• Ren Qing examined the new mission board and found reports of deaths and aberrations connected to the Dao of Non-action Dojo, then chose a mission south of the city.
• Ren Qing noticed that Primordial Heavenly Venerate's statue had a severed hand, took a fragment from the Dojo's wall, and discovered that the physical fragment had followed his Split Soul back to his body.

Ren Qing investigated the disappearances at the Wu Family Escort Agency and discovered that Escort Leader Wu had become a flesh-eating fiend after consuming an Eerie Object. After Wu Mo placed first in the imperial examination, the chapter ended with the embittered Du Gu revealing a stone-like left hand.

• Ren Qing met Reserve members Lin Cheng and Lu Xiaoyu, then led them to investigate the Wu Family Escort Agency.
• Ren Qing found traces of blood and bone near a concealed room, while Lu Xiaoyu uncovered the missing escorts’ buried bodies.
• Ren Qing exposed Escort Leader Wu as a Mountain Demon-like fiend and swallowed him into the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Wu Mo placed first in the imperial examination, and the escort agency celebrated despite mourning Escort Leader Wu.
• Du Gu watched Wu Mo with hatred, uncovered his stone-like left hand, and complained about a Mutton Soup Shop with no meat.

Ren Qing investigated the deaths at the Wu Family Escort Agency and found that a stone arm connected to the Primordial Heavenly Venerate was transforming people and causing the dojo statue to fleshify. After using the arm to unlock the Dao of Non-action Dojo, he discovered a pond full of drowned Daoists and examined one of the corpses.

• Ren Qing sent Escort Leader Wu to the Jailer Hall and began checking students who had taken part in the imperial examinations for signs of the Dao propagator.
• Lin Cheng and Lu Xiaoyu told Ren Qing that everyone at the Wu Family Escort Agency had died, and Ren Qing found seventy-eight bodies that all resembled Wu Mo and were losing their flesh.
• Ren Qing followed clues to a Mutton Soup Shop, where he found an elderly woman cooking an arm and discovered Wu Mo’s body being worn by a gaunt man.
• The gaunt man’s stone forearm caused Ren Qing’s body to change, so Ren Qing severed the arm and killed him before taking the stone arm into the dojo.
• Ren Qing inserted the stone arm’s index finger into the dojo gate’s keyhole and opened it, revealing temples on lotus leaves amid a black pond filled with Daoist corpses.
• Ren Qing touched a nearby corpse and summoned the Information Flow to inspect it.

Ren Qing investigated the Dao of Non-action Monastery’s corpse-filled ruins and found signs that its Heavenly Dao Egg Arts caused the monastery’s destruction and a disciple’s madness. After restoring the statue that let Dao Transmittors enter, he identified them as people from around Heshantown and prepared to travel there, while considering a beast mount.

• Ren Qing examined corpses and learned that their Arts required Heavenly Dao Eggs, finding that one corpse’s insides and another’s tongue had been hollowed out.
• Ren Qing suspected the Dao of Non-action Monastery lay north of Xiangxiang and recorded its destruction on a rough map.
• Ren Qing found Xiao Chenzi’s grave and read that the disciple had sent off the monastery in “Feather Ascension.”
• Ren Qing restored Primordial Heavenly Venerate’s severed hand, allowing dozens of Dao Transmittors to enter the Council Hall and hail him as the Great Dao Official.
• Ren Qing identified the Dao Transmittors’ accent as belonging to the Heshantown area, accepted an escort task there, and went to the market seeking a suitable animal to raise as a mount.

Ren Qing traveled with an escorted group toward Heshantown, where Greenwood Bandits ambushed them under a leader who had mastered the fabricated Pure Yang Immaculate Method. Ren Qing intervened after the Great Chieftain attacked the soldiers, and the chapter ended with Ren Qing cutting open the bandit leader’s belly and realizing a Dao Transmittor was in the mountain stronghold.

• Ren Qing bought a scarred mongrel, fed it diluted Wolf Blood, and set out with the group bound for Heshantown.
• Ren Qing traveled concealed among the group, cultivated on a supply cart, and later found that the mongrel had survived and transformed into a wolf-like animal.
• As the group neared Heshantown, Qian Yun prepared for an ambush in the hills, and Greenwood Bandits approached after nightfall.
• The Great Chieftain killed the Dog-head strategist, demanded that the group surrender half its people, and defeated Qian Yun when he charged.
• Ren Qing’s Split Soul revealed that the Great Chieftain had mastered the fabricated Pure Yang Immaculate Method, and Ren Qing killed the surrounding bandits before cutting open the leader’s belly with the Dragon Snake Spine.
• Ren Qing saw thirty-six hearts inside the Great Chieftain and concluded that a Dao Transmittor was in the mountain stronghold and that the Art had changed under the Dao of Non-action Dojo.

Ren Qing investigated the Dao of Non-action and discovered that its false Arts transformed followers into unusually delicious bodies. At a mountain stronghold near Heshantown, he confronted the Spider Woman, whose faction called itself the Gate of Non-action, as she began turning into a monster.

• Ren Qing captured Zhang Sanwa, learned that the Pure Yang Immaculate Method made its cultivator's flesh delicious, and left the soldiers to camp while he pursued the bandits.
• Ren Qing found the mountain stronghold and saw bandits bring charcoal and mud into an underground cave, where the Spider Woman taught the Wood Fire Generation Art to imprisoned civilians.
• A seeker of the Dao Aberrated, killed people with flames, and was captured by Ren Qing, who considered using him and Zhang Sanwa as bait for the Wraith in the pool.
• The Spider Woman confronted Ren Qing, claimed the Gate of Non-action had granted her immortality, and transformed into a giant spider-like monster.
• Ren Qing began undergoing Aberration as the Spider Woman prepared to attack him.

Ren Qing defeated Spider Woman, learned more about the Gate of Non-action, and concealed the fight from the soldiers and scholars. He continued the journey to Heshantown with his identity hidden, while planning to destroy the Gate of Non-action.

• Ren Qing transformed into a werewolf, defeated Spider Woman, and imprisoned her before she could die and form a Forbidden Zone.
• Ren Qing entered the Dao of Non-action Dojo, disrupted the Immortal Lord’s attempt to claim Yu Hong, and confirmed that the Immortal Lord had not reached the Yin Messenger Realm.
• Ren Qing erased the camp’s memories of the battle and removed traces of the fight before the group resumed its journey.
• Ren Qing returned to the cart, drank wine, and cultivated while keeping his presence concealed.

Ren Qing entered Heshantown and searched for the Gate of Non-action while waiting for the Mountain God worship ceremony, suspecting the sect was using the town’s gatherings to spread its teachings. At the ceremony’s opening, he decided he could force the Gate of Non-action to reveal itself, though he first wanted to gather enough lifespan to advance.

• Ren Qing left Qian Yun’s party outside Heshantown and hid in a tree hollow for several days, cultivating and observing the Aberrant Wolves and his strengthened Dragon Snake Spine.
• Ren Qing secretly entered Heshantown, surveyed the town, and learned that its residents regularly held ceremonies for the Arurou God whenever they needed help.
• Ren Qing found no sign of the Gate of Non-action in town and concluded that it was more likely focused on nearby mountain villages, though it would probably interfere with the upcoming worship ceremony.
• Ren Qing replenished resources at the Ghost Market and returned to Heshantown as preparations for the ceremony grew, but the Gate of Non-action still showed no sign of acting.
• Ren Qing joined the crowd for the ceremony’s opening and saw a carriage carrying a large, faceless Mountain God Statue toward the site.
• Ren Qing decided to force the Gate of Non-action to reveal itself and arrived at the ceremony site, intending to gather enough lifespan for his advancement first.

Ren Qing investigated the Gate of Non-action’s preparations for a Mountain God sacrifice in Heshantown and devised a plan to provoke them without alerting the Jailer Hall. He secretly made prisoner Wang Er a Dao Officer and began considering an Art for his three Wolfhounds and Husky.

• Ren Qing saw the Giant Mountain God Statue being prepared for a sacrifice and noticed its blood-red, name-covered base and the suspiciously hollow smaller statue.
• After confirming that Forbidden Guards were watching the area, Ren Qing entered the Dao of Non-action Dojo and decided to test the Gate of Non-action by making it fear discovery by the Jailer Hall.
• Ren Qing slipped into the Heshantown Yamen prison and chose the long-imprisoned Wang Er as an isolated candidate to become an uncontrolled Dao Transmittor.
• Ren Qing brought Wang Er into the Dao of Non-action Dojo, where the three mutant wolves and the Husky unexpectedly appeared alongside him.
• Ren Qing made Wang Er a Dao Officer without losing much Dao charm, then considered creating an Art suited to the Wolfhounds.

Ren Qing disrupted the Mountain God ritual by spreading chaos among Heshantown’s residents, while the Gate of Non-action launched its own plan. The Immortal Lord drew Zeng Lin into the Dao of Non-action Dojo as the situation escalated, and Ren Qing noticed Dao Transmittors rushing toward the ritual site.

• Ren Qing tested the Taotie Colossus Technique on the Aberrant Wolf and Husky; the Aberrant Wolf died, while the Husky survived and entered a Flesh Cocoon.
• Wang Er wandered through Heshantown as Ren Qing used propagation to stir trouble among gang members, wealthy merchants, and prominent households.
• During the Mountain God ritual, Ren Qing sent people’s consciousnesses into the Dao of Non-action Dojo, while Wang Er died after spreading Canine Plague toxin.
• A wealthy merchant aberrated and charged into the altar’s fire basin as Forbidden Guard Zeng Lin tried to investigate the deaths.
• The Immortal Lord appeared in the Dao of Non-action Dojo and pulled Zeng Lin inside, influencing her true body to ignore the chaos.
• Ren Qing spotted Dao Transmittors approaching and realized that the Immortal Lord intended to kill them to harvest Dao charm and advance.

Ren Qing hunted Dao Transmittors to thwart the Immortal Lord’s advancement, but the Immortal Lord’s ritual failed and exposed his monstrous true body inside the Giant Mountain God Statue. As the Immortal Lord lost control and the crowd fled, Ren Qing began advancing to Trojan Wolf to fight him.

• Ren Qing witnessed the Gate of Non-action’s Butchers perform Brain Splicing on Dao seekers and realized they were using blood from a Fabricated Art user to preserve memories and induce madness.
• Ren Qing hunted Dao Transmittors across Heshan, killing them and absorbing their Dao charm while the Immortal Lord’s advancement chances collapsed.
• Ren Qing sensed that the mountain of bodies near the ritual altar was attracting something, then heard the Immortal Lord call for Master Xiao Chenzi without receiving an answer.
• The Giant Mountain God Statue cracked open, revealing the Immortal Lord as a mass of malformed flesh covered in Human Faces, and the Immortal Lord cried out that he was human.
• Zeng Lin ordered the Reserve to evacuate the crowd and move the wounded Dao Transmittors away from the monster.
• Ren Qing chose to confront the Immortal Lord and spent ten years of lifespan to advance to Trojan Wolf as his body began to grow.

Ren Qing underwent a dangerous Aberration into a Ghost Wolf and joined the battle against the Immortal Lord at Heshan Mountain. He pierced the brain hidden inside the Immortal Lord, though his dwindling lifespan and fading sanity left his own fate uncertain.

• Ren Qing's Divine Feet Scripture transformed his body as Zeng Lin fought the Immortal Lord and Lei Bin arrived to help defend her.
• The Immortal Lord consumed the Dao Seekers, became a malformed giant, and summoned Flesh and Blood Puppets that surrounded Zeng Lin and Lei Bin.
• Ren Qing appeared as a Bone-armored Ghost Wolf and struck the Immortal Lord, while the Information Flow warned that his remaining lifespan would last at most an hour.
• Ren Qing noticed a brain hidden deep within the Immortal Lord's flesh and used the Dragon Snake Spine to cut open its body.
• Ren Qing evaded the Immortal Lord's defenses, tore open its flesh, and drove the Dragon Snake Spine through the brain.

Ren Qing subdued the Immortal Lord but was left weakened and struggling to control the Divine Feet Scripture Eerie Object. The Blind Daoist appeared and attacked, but Li Tiangang and Song Zongwu captured him, while Song Zongwu took Ren Qing into custody for observation.

• Ren Qing killed Liu Bao, then used the Eye-less Method to suppress the Divine Feet Scripture Eerie Object and recover from his aberration.
• The Blind Daoist arrived, killed Lei Bin, and devoured the Immortal Lord before turning his attention to Ren Qing.
• Li Tiangang removed Heshan and Heshantown from the scene with a book page, and Song Zongwu fought the Blind Daoist.
• Song Zongwu and Li Tiangang sent the Blind Daoist to Abhidi Hell and discussed Ren Qing's severe aberration.
• Li Tiangang ordered Ren Qing temporarily imprisoned in the Stomach within Stomach, and Song Zongwu knocked him unconscious.

Ren Qing woke imprisoned in the Jailer Hall’s Stomach within Stomach, where his Arts were sealed and only three months of lifespan remained. After identifying the Fei Du Soul as the creature attacking his door, he waited for a chance to use his Split Soul to retrieve resources and escape his predicament.

• Ren Qing found that his Arts could not be used, his Strange Mouth was closed, and his lifespan had fallen to three months and seventeen days.
• Ren Qing heard a prisoner warn him not to speak because the Bottle Imp would come, then watched the Fei Du Soul ram the neighboring door and his own.
• Ren Qing recognized the Fei Du Soul as the three-legged toad with the Corpse Dog Soul’s face and concluded that the Stomach within Stomach held Aberrated Forbidden Guards.
• Ren Qing sensed the souls in his Niwan Palace through the damaged door and reasoned that his Split Soul might retrieve supplies from the Prison Within the Stomach.
• Ren Qing called out again to ask about the Bottle Imp, drawing the Fei Du Soul back, then tried to summon his Split Soul while waiting for another opportunity.

Ren Qing used his connection to the Dao of Non-action Dojo and a swallowed eyeball to survive the Fei Du Soul, then explored the dojo and discovered that maggots hatched from Heavenly Dao Eggs lived in its pond. After the Bottle Imp appeared and warned him about the Wraith in his heart, Ren Qing found himself trapped inside a Glazed Bottle.

• Ren Qing sent his Split Soul into the Dao of Non-action Dojo while evading the Fei Du Soul, then swallowed an eyeball to restore his strength and fend off its tongue until the iron door closed.
• Ren Qing used the Primordial Heavenly Venerate statue's arm to open the Council Hall and tested a lotus leaf as a boat, discovering a monstrous maggot in the pond that was swallowed by an even larger, evolving Giant Maggot.
• Ren Qing waited in the dojo, retrieved supplies from the Prison Within the Stomach, and trained while watching for signs of Aberration among the imprisoned Forbidden Guards.
• Ren Qing sensed danger, then encountered the Bottle Imp, which told him that everyone had a Wraith in their heart and warned that the Wraith was coming.
• Ren Qing's restraints disappeared as his surroundings changed, and he realized he was inside a Glazed Bottle.

Ren Qing endured the Bottle Imp’s illusion, learned how the Stomach within Stomach exploited the aberrations of imprisoned cultivators, and awakened his Twin Double Pupils. After seeing the Bottle Imp harvest the flesh and malice of other Forbidden Guards, Ren Qing returned to his room to suppress his Eerie Objects.

• Ren Qing discovered that the Bottle Imp’s Art trapped consciousness in a Glazed Bottle and tormented its victims with malicious thoughts drawn from their aberrations.
• Ren Qing resisted the illusion by reciting the Eye-less Method with his Split Soul, then awakened his Twin Double Pupils as the illusion shattered.
• Ren Qing realized the Bottle Imp used imprisoned cultivators as a source of malicious thoughts while Jailer Hall used it to contain those whose aberrations had run out of control.
• Ren Qing watched Li Fangtan’s evil duplicate taunt him until Li Fangtan crushed it, after which the Bottle Imp swallowed the remains.
• Ren Qing inspected the other rooms, saw that the Bottle Imp repeatedly harvested aberrant Forbidden Guards, and returned to suppress his Eerie Objects.