Chapter Summaries

After finishing his special training, Cheng Sheng planned to grow stronger by acquiring a large beast for his fourth sacrifice, while an unknown man watched him leave the arena. At the gym, Sulai visited Sha Lie and learned that he had not yet reached the realm of a true fighter.

• Cheng Sheng found a cockfighting newspaper left by a suspicious man, then headed home after considering how he might afford an elephant for his fourth sacrifice.
• Cheng Sheng found a fish tank and a note at home, fed the goldfish, meditated with the Black Book, and planned to rent a suburban warehouse for the ritual.
• Cheng Sheng replied to Song Cai after seeing her messages and photos from his training period.
• The nose-ringed man reappeared after Cheng Sheng left and watched the minibus disappear.
• Sulai found Sha Lie training with a massive steel coil and asked whether he had become a true fighter.
• Sha Lie said he had gained insight from the vat of black water but remained short of the true fighter realm, then asked Sulai what she had come to report.

Sha Lie suspected Cheng Sheng’s rapid progress might hide a secret and planned to investigate him before arranging his core promotion. Songpa began teaching Cheng Sheng to cultivate Sha Intent through medicinal treatments, blood baths, and Crocodile Breath.

• Sha Lie told Sulai that Cheng Sheng had trained for only nine days and wondered if he was a spy from another style.
• Sha Lie decided to bring Su Tai back from Bangtun and have An Sai investigate Cheng Sheng’s background before his core promotion ceremony.
• Songpa tested Cheng Sheng’s talent, then took him to a natural spring and explained how Sha Intent was formed from Qi and blood, killing intent, and damp poison.
• Songpa revealed a blood-filled bathtub and said Cheng Sheng would use blood baths to cultivate his killing nature.
• Cheng Sheng climbed into the tub, and Songpa began teaching him Crocodile Breath.

Cheng Sheng trained in the Black Killing Style’s Six Great Forms and built a reputation fighting at Mamba, where Songpa showed him the power of Body Sha. Walking home after a match, he was ambushed by two Ruan Clan fighters and suspected Zhou Wenye had sent them.

• Cheng Sheng practiced the Six Great Forms under Songpa while training to advance through Nurturing Sha.
• Cheng Sheng fought regularly at Mamba, won five of six matches, and learned how Body Sha’s Sha Light could pierce his Spiny Skin.
• Cheng Sheng earned over two hundred thousand from fighting and planned to visit Senior Brother Nalong at the Black Killing Style’s elephant grounds.
• Two men approached Cheng Sheng on a dark road, and he recognized the scrawny man with the nose ring from the fighting arena.
• The men attacked with steel knuckle-dusters and a bladed weapon, and Cheng Sheng identified them as Ruan Clan fighters and asked if Zhou Wenye had sent them.

Cheng Sheng was ambushed by two Nurturing Sha fighters hired by Zhou Wenye and struggled to survive their coordinated attacks. He tricked the attackers into separating, then seized the brass-knuckled man and began crushing his chest while the nose-ringed fighter stabbed him in the back.

• Cheng Sheng narrowly dodged the two fighters’ first attacks and realized Zhou Wenye had sent them to kill him.
• Cheng Sheng exchanged blows with the attackers, using Calamity (Crocodile) Kiss before evading the bee stinger and striking the brass-knuckled man beneath the ribs.
• Cheng Sheng distracted the fighters with a feigned warning, then kicked up a puddle’s water to blind the nose-ringed man and rush the brass-knuckled fighter.
• Cheng Sheng dodged Twin Peaks Strike the Ears, locked the brass-knuckled man in Death Choke, and struck his chest with repeated Power of the Ram knee strikes.
• The nose-ringed man stabbed Cheng Sheng through Spiny Skin, but Cheng Sheng kept choking and attacking the brass-knuckled man as blood streamed through the rain.

After defeating two Ruan Clan disciples in a rain-soaked fight, Cheng Sheng chose to sacrifice them rather than kill them outright. He began his fourth Dark Sacrifice, using living people as offerings for the first time.

• Cheng Sheng used the Power of the Ram to defeat the muscular knuckle-duster man and the nose-ring man, despite suffering several stab wounds.
• Cheng Sheng prepared to kill the two incapacitated men, but decided they would be more useful as sacrifices.
• Cheng Sheng carried the wounded men to the abandoned classroom at Qingsha No. 3 Middle School and drew the Dark Sacrifice array.
• Cheng Sheng told the terrified men to save their last words for the other side, then began the ritual as his fourth sacrifice and first using living offerings.

After sacrificing two attackers, Cheng Sheng’s wounds healed and he gained the Hell Plague Fly summoning method. Songpa gave him a few days off, and Cheng Sheng planned to test his new ability while finding a way to eliminate Zhou Wenye.

• Cheng Sheng’s array swallowed the nose-ring man and his companion, then healed his wounds and restored his strength.
• The sacrifice gave Cheng Sheng the Hell Plague Fly summoning method, which he found recorded in the Black Book.
• At the Black Killing Boxing Gym, Songpa noticed a change in Cheng Sheng and told him to take a few days off while continuing to cultivate his secret art.
• Cheng Sheng decided to use his break to try summoning the Hell Plague Fly and investigate Zhou Wenye so he could remove the threat.

Ruan Wen investigated the rain-soaked scene where Acu and Aban were defeated and recognized the traces of Black Kill. Cheng Sheng began cultivating Hell Plague Flies in an abandoned field, then returned home and found his family gathered together.

• Ruan Wen reconstructed the battle from traces in the street and concluded that Acu and Aban had failed and would never return.
• Ruan Wen identified a red-streaked lump of sludge as evidence of Black Kill and hurled it into a lamppost with great force.
• Cheng Sheng filled a pit with fresh livestock entrails, scattered decomposition powder, and chanted to begin cultivating Hell Plague Flies.
• Cheng Sheng left signs around the fly cultivation site and planned to return to chant three times a day while the entrails rotted.
• Cheng Sheng returned home and found Wu Li, Cheng Shuisheng, and Cheng Yue there; Wu Li greeted him warmly while Cheng Shuisheng focused on his goldfish.

Cheng Sheng brought money home, easing tensions with his parents and prompting him to offer Cheng Yue a phone and his computer. He then planned how to deal with Zhou Wenye and cultivated flies until he found the result he wanted in the pit.

• Cheng Sheng gave Cheng Shuisheng and Wu Li ten thousand yuan, and Cheng Shuisheng accepted it and invited him to drink at lunch.
• Cheng Sheng offered to buy Cheng Yue a new phone and give her his computer, and Cheng Yue retreated to her room after rejecting the offer.
• At lunch, Wu Li mentioned that Cheng Shuisheng had used the Red Ba Gang to help finalize the travel agency merger, while Cheng Shuisheng urged Cheng Sheng to consider a more stable job.
• Cheng Sheng searched for information about Zhou Wenye, found no home address, and decided to cultivate the Hell Plague Fly before acting against him.
• Cheng Sheng cast the spell around the fly pit repeatedly and added fresh innards as the flies gathered and transformed.
• On the fourth day, Cheng Sheng searched through the pit and pulled out a soft object, exclaiming that he had succeeded.

Cheng Sheng completed the cultivation of three Hell Plague Flies and tested one on a Menhuo Ox, which rapidly swelled and exploded. He was left wondering whether the flies could kill even a professional fighter and whether the escaped swarm could spread.

• Cheng Sheng peeled three eggs to reveal Plague Fly larvae, then fed them his blood and used an incantation to make them obey him.
• Cheng Sheng bought a Menhuo Ox and summoned one newly hatched Hell Plague Fly from beneath the skin of his wrist.
• Cheng Sheng ordered the fly to bite the ox, which remained unaware as enormous pustules spread across its body.
• The Menhuo Ox exploded within seconds, and a swarm of flies rose into the air and vanished along with the Plague Fly.
• Cheng Sheng worried that the flies might spread, then considered whether they could kill a professional fighter just as quickly.

Cheng Sheng escaped a minibus after realizing the shabby woman beside him was a dangerous fighter, but she caught up with him and revealed herself as Ruan Wen of the Ruan clan. She questioned him about two subordinates who had disappeared after visiting him.

• Lunba offered Cheng Sheng extra money to wear a girl's sailor uniform in the ring, but Cheng Sheng angrily refused and left Mamba.
• Cheng Sheng thought about buying an elephant and completing the Five Sacrifices as he headed to the minibus stop.
• A shabby middle-aged woman sat beside Cheng Sheng on the nearly empty minibus, and he noticed her unusual breathing resembled a practiced school's method.
• Cheng Sheng stopped the minibus and got off, suspecting the woman was a Body Sha expert sent by Zhou Wenye.
• Ruan Wen appeared behind Cheng Sheng and confirmed his suspicions, then asked where her two missing subordinates were.

Cheng Sheng used a Hell Plague Fly to kill Ruan Wen, a Body Sha Realm fighter who had been interrogating him, and then prepared to dispose of her remains. While searching her wallet, he noticed the bank cards and began considering what he could do with them.

• Ruan Wen questioned Cheng Sheng about the two people killed by the Black Killing Style, and Cheng Sheng secretly poisoned her with a Hell Plague Fly.
• Ruan Wen realized Cheng Sheng was a curse master, but Cheng Sheng denied her assumptions and poked her with a branch as she died.
• Ruan Wen's body burst apart, releasing black flies, and Cheng Sheng reflected that the Hell Plague Fly could kill even a Body Sha Realm fighter in about twenty seconds.
• Cheng Sheng gathered Ruan Wen's remains to bury them and found her wallet, taking the cash and checking her ID card.
• Cheng Sheng noticed the bank cards he had set aside and began to consider an idea.

Cheng Sheng used a makeshift sacrifice to learn the PINs for Ruan Wen’s bank cards and gained more than three million Nan Currency. Meanwhile, Zhou Wenye learned that his father was seeking a Curse master and decided he wanted Ruan Wen dead.

• Cheng Sheng offered corpse fluid and fat chickens to the Abyss and received the PINs for Ruan Wen’s bank cards.
• Cheng Sheng tested the PINs, found more than three million Nan Currency across the cards, and planned to use the money for further sacrifices.
• Zhou Wenye struck a woman who criticized him, then ordered his men to take her to the family compound.
• Zhou Wenye asked about Ruan Wen and learned she had gone to handle the task he had assigned her.
• Zhou Wenye’s butler told him his father was in Panma trying to befriend a Curse master from Dongyue.
• Zhou Wenye imagined the Curse master’s arrival would expand his family’s business and decided he wanted Ruan Wen dead.

Cheng Sheng infiltrated Zhou Wenye’s villa and attacked him while he was alone in the bathroom. After abandoning his half-finished Dark Sacrifice ritual when people approached, Cheng Sheng killed Zhou Wenye and escaped through the air-conditioning vent, leaving the villa in chaos.

• Zhou Wenye fantasized about using his father’s prospective curse master to take revenge on the Black Killing Boxing Gym and humiliate Sulai.
• Cheng Sheng surprised Zhou Wenye in the bathroom with a knee strike that worsened his injuries, then bound him and cut his chest to draw blood for a Dark Sacrifice array.
• When servants and others searched for Zhou Wenye, Cheng Sheng wiped away the unfinished array and appeared to spare him.
• Cheng Sheng stabbed Zhou Wenye through the heart, then escaped through an air-conditioning vent as Zhou Wenye died.
• Five minutes later, two black sedans rushed out of the villa as the household erupted into chaos.

After killing Zhou Wenye, Cheng Sheng considered the threat posed by Zhou Hongtu and learned that Curse masters possessed supernatural powers far beyond ordinary fighters. He then visited the Black River Elephant Farm, where Nalong asked if he had come to buy an elephant.

• Cheng Sheng reflected on using Dark Sacrifice to find Zhou Wenye and regretted missing the chance to sacrifice him before killing him.
• Cheng Sheng decided he needed to plan carefully against Zhou Hongtu and wondered what Zhou Wenye had meant by a Curse master.
• Three days later, Cheng Sheng read that Zhou Hongtu had offered a thirty-million-Nantu-Currency reward for Zhou Wenye's killer.
• Cheng Sheng learned from Songpa that Curse masters wielded extraordinary powers and could fight terrifying creatures in the Black Tide.
• Cheng Sheng met Nalong at the Black River Elephant Farm, where Nalong asked whether he wanted to buy an elephant.

Cheng Sheng chose the dangerous elephant Sangni from Nalong’s farm and had her transported to an abandoned logging site he had rented for the five-sacrifice ritual. The chapter left Sangni at the secluded site with Cheng Sheng.

• Cheng Sheng declined Nalong’s offer to lend him a gentle elephant and asked to see one with a bad temper.
• Nalong showed Cheng Sheng Sangni, a huge, antisocial elephant who attacked handlers and had killed her own offspring.
• Nalong told Cheng Sheng he could take Sangni without a deposit, and Cheng Sheng chose her.
• Cheng Sheng arranged for workers to transport Sangni by truck to the abandoned logging site he had rented for the five-sacrifice ritual.

Cheng Sheng sacrificed Sangni, an aggressive elephant, and advanced directly from Nurturing Sha to the second level of the Black Killing Style secret art, Body Sha. He discovered that his Sha Light was unusually thick and wondered whether the sacrifice had also granted him a trait.

• Cheng Sheng brought the sedated Sangni to a sheet-metal shed, paid off the handlers, and prepared a ritual formation around the elephant.
• As Sangni’s sedative wore off, Cheng Sheng completed the formation, skipped torturing the elephant, and tranquilized him again.
• Cheng Sheng recited the incantations, and blackness enveloped Sangni before he sank into the ground as the fifth sacrifice.
• Cheng Sheng endured a violent transformation that developed his Spiny Skin and advanced him to Body Sha.
• Cheng Sheng found his Sha Light was about three inches thick and twisted a large log apart with his bare hands.
• Cheng Sheng realized he still did not know whether the sacrifice had granted him a trait.

After his fifth sacrifice, Cheng Sheng gained the powerful [Elephant Soul] trait but discovered that his transformation strained his heart and changed his appearance. He frightened two hikers in the rainforest and then worried about how to explain his sudden growth and muscular build.

• Cheng Sheng activated his new power, smashed several trees, and named the trait [Elephant Soul].
• Cheng Sheng realized the trait placed heavy strain on his body and heart, so he could not use it often or for long.
• Cheng Sheng heard hikers in the rainforest and approached them to investigate.
• A man told his companion a story about a murderer, then fled in terror after mistaking Cheng Sheng for the killer.
• Cheng Sheng noticed how much taller and more muscular he had become and hurried back to find a way to explain the changes.

Cheng Sheng bought luxury gifts as an offering for his intermediary demon, hoping she would restore his physique. After running into Sulai and her friend Jiamin at the mall, he returned to the lumberyard and completed the sacrifice, where the demon embraced him from the darkness.

• Cheng Sheng bought women's clothes and jewelry worth over 200,000 to offer to his intermediary demon.
• Sulai recognized Cheng Sheng by his scent at the mall, and he claimed the purchases were gifts for his mother and younger sister.
• Cheng Sheng gave gifts to Sulai and Jiamin, then hurried away after Jiamin teased Sulai about his interest in her.
• Jiamin praised Cheng Sheng to Sulai, who examined the bracelet he had given her and found it pretty.
• Cheng Sheng placed the shopping bags in a ritual array at the lumberyard and asked his intermediary demon to restore his physique.
• Purple flames consumed the offerings, and pale arms reached from the darkness to wrap tightly around Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng completed a sacrifice that refined his body and strengthened his [Elephant Soul], while suspecting he had incurred a debt to the demon. At the Black Killing Style dojo, he learned that Su Tai had been gravely injured fighting a curse master, and Sha Lie revealed that assassins had attacked them on the way back.

• Cheng Sheng emerged from the sacrifice with a lighter, denser body and found that [Elephant Soul] seemed stronger than before.
• Cheng Sheng found only ash in the magic array and suspected the demon had taken his favor as a loan, which he had no intention of repaying.
• Cheng Sheng joined Sulai, Songpa, Nalong, and the other Black Killing Style disciples as they waited in the rain for Su Tai to arrive.
• Cheng Sheng saw Sulai's gravely ill father enter the dojo and learned that the wanted curse master behind the Sucha Street tragedy had seriously injured him.
• Cheng Sheng considered using a swarm of Hell Plague Flies against a curse master, then heard Sha Lie say that two assassins using Hundred-Legged Style techniques had attacked Su Tai on the way back.

Cheng Sheng completed his initiation into the Black Killing Style, while Su Tai revealed the curse-poison injury he had suffered in Bangtun City and sent Sha Lie to trade a relic for soul root. Su Tai urged Sha Lie to seek becoming a Wengzan curse master, since fighters could not oppose curse masters.

• Nalong reacted angrily when he learned the Hundred Feet Sect had returned, and Sulai told Cheng Sheng about its old feud with the Black Killing Style.
• Su Tai examined Cheng Sheng, and Sha Lie tattooed the Black Killing Style’s crocodile totem on Cheng Sheng’s chest, completing his initiation.
• Su Tai drank a medicinal soup and expelled maggots from his festering shoulder wound as Sha Lie, Songpa, and Sulai watched.
• Su Tai explained that a curse master had slaughtered the fighters who went to Bangtun City and that he needed more soul root to heal fully.
• Su Tai gave Sha Lie the last relic from the Crocodile Shrine to trade for soul root and advised him to ask the Wengzan curse master to accept him as a disciple.