Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu tracked the red-eyed man who had caused the explosion to a shipping container by the sea and subdued him with a mysterious power. The man revealed that his sect master was one of the Seven Souls and wanted Chu Tianshu to join forces with other practitioners of evil arts.

• Chu Tianshu changed his appearance and used his vision to find a trace leading from the explosion site toward the harbor.
• Chu Tianshu followed the trace through the stacked shipping containers and confronted the red-eyed man hiding inside one.
• Chu Tianshu told the red-eyed man to put down his weapons, and the man’s elbows snapped backward, making him surrender.
• Chu Tianshu asked why the man had shouted “Seven Stars and Seven Po Souls,” and the man confirmed his sect master was one of the Seven Souls.
• The red-eyed man explained that his sect master wanted evil-art practitioners to unite before those who had never cultivated evil arts joined forces against them.

Takagi and Sect Leader Yeming discussed a newly active group before Yeming received Chu Tianshu, who claimed to be an ancient cultivator from the Great Ming. Their meeting was interrupted by a powerful stranger who killed the Divine Bat Envoy and declared himself Liu Yan, founder of the Southern Han.

• Takagi told Sect Leader Yeming that Minister Han had asked whether his cult was behind the recent incident, and Yeming prepared to receive the person who had found the Divine Bat Envoy.
• Sect Leader Yeming welcomed Chu Tianshu, who introduced himself as Layman Tian, a contemporary of the Luo Sect’s founding patriarch, and revealed that he possessed his own incense-bearing child.
• Sect Leader Yeming restored the Divine Bat Envoy’s broken body, then sent him to stand guard outside while Chu Tianshu considered whether to attack Yeming and notify Chen Ying.
• A tall man in white crushed the Divine Bat Envoy’s neck, withstood Yeming’s sonic-wave and poisonous-blood attack, and confronted the sect leader.
• The man in white called himself Liu Yan and announced that he had come to form an alliance as the founding emperor of the Great Han.
• Chu Tianshu recognized Liu Yan as the founder of the Southern Han during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Chu Tianshu defeated two of Liu Yan’s Korean subordinates with a single Palm Thunder strike, and Liu Yan accepted him as an ally. As the group planned how to strengthen their faction, Chu Tianshu proposed bringing Busan’s evil sects under their command.

• Liu Yan ordered Park Ok-gang and his younger brother, the gray-suited man, to test Chu Tianshu’s strength.
• Park Ok-gang attacked with Treasure Vase Great Qigong, but Chu Tianshu countered with a steel-and-black-Qi Taiji strike that crippled both men’s cultivation.
• Liu Yan stopped the two men from being blasted apart, then praised their courage and accepted Chu Tianshu as an ally.
• Sect Leader Yeming introduced Chu Tianshu to Liu Yan as Layman Tian of the Great Ming dynasty and declared their group the strongest among the seven factions.
• Chu Tianshu suggested recruiting Busan’s evil sects and making them serve as allies.

Liu Yan, Sect Leader Yeming, and Chu Tianshu formed an alliance and discussed ways to locate and control Busan’s heretical sect leaders. While Yuan Zhonglü and Chen Ying waited for Chu Tianshu’s message, a live television broadcast revealed a mysterious man who claimed a centuries-old weapon was the Mandarin Duck Formation-Breaking Spear.

• Sect Leader Yeming told Liu Yan that his Incense Cauldron Attendant led a heretical sect, and Liu Yan confirmed his connection to the Purifying God Society’s divine maiden.
• Liu Yan proposed using Sect Leader Yeming’s followers’ echo abilities and his own dragon-blooded subordinates to track Busan’s heretical sect leaders.
• Chu Tianshu stopped Liu Yan and Sect Leader Yeming from turning against each other and persuaded them that their alliance should remain limited to three parties.
• Chu Tianshu secretly messaged Yuan Zhonglü that he was undercover, and she waited with Chen Ying at the hotel.
• During a live craft program, the host tried to lift an ancient weapon and injured his hand; a stranger caught it and identified it as the Mandarin Duck Formation-Breaking Spear.

Yungu recovered the Mandarin Duck Formation-Breaking Spear and fled the live broadcast, then headed into the mountains to avoid being tracked. At a garbage dump, he encountered two allied enemies and prepared to fight them.

• Yungu left the broadcast after the host revealed it was live, taking his spear and vanishing through the streets of Busan.
• Yungu told Cui Douri that he had found the spear he had thrown off a cliff after becoming disillusioned with events in the army.
• Yungu chose not to return to Cui Douri, deciding to wander outside for a few days in case anyone was tracking him.
• Yungu entered the mountain woods and found a large garbage dump, where he sensed two enemies nearby.
• A woman told Yungu that she and her companion had allied long before the explosion at Shinsegae Mall, and Yungu readied his spear to face them.

Yungu fought Suluduo while the Lady of Han attacked Chen Ying with techniques from the Complete Compendium of Qiongqi Writings. The clash ended in a violent gust of garbage and debris that engulfed the battlefield as Suluduo charged into it beneath Yungu’s enormous halberd strike.

• Suluduo used rapid movement and relentless punches to deflect Yungu’s spear while Yungu countered with precise, forceful thrusts.
• The Lady of Han wrote golden spell characters that disrupted Yungu’s spear and helped Suluduo press the attack.
• Chen Ying recognized the Lady of Han as Qin Hui’s wife and struck at her with her sword, but the Lady of Han blocked the attack with an ink stroke.
• The Lady of Han launched a blood-and-ink bead at Chen Ying, who met it with an illusory ice-white elixir pellet.
• Yungu charged into a garbage dump and swept its debris into a powerful wind that engulfed the women’s fight.
• Suluduo charged into the strange wind, and Yungu’s enormous Gang Qi halberd rose from it and chopped down.

After learning that four of the Seven Souls were evil spirits, Chu Tianshu and his allies spent more than twenty days preparing to target Busan’s evil sects. When the sect leaders gathered at the villa, Chu Tianshu exposed Fu Cheng as a trap and unleashed a massacre, then turned his attack on Liu Yan as Sect Leader Yeming fled.

• Chen Ying and Yungu formed an alliance after fighting four Taboo figures, and Chen Ying secretly relayed that four of the Seven Souls were evil spirits.
• Chu Tianshu learned that most of the Seven Souls had appeared and continued coordinating with Sect Leader Yeming and Liu Yan while their subordinates investigated Busan’s evil sects.
• After more than twenty days, Sect Leader Yeming gathered over a hundred evil sect members at the villa to organize them under his and Liu Yan’s command.
• Chu Tianshu tested Fu Cheng with a precise saber strike that pierced his armor without cutting him, then revealed that the strike had planted Saber Intent inside him.
• Fu Cheng transformed and released black Saber Qi that killed more than half the gathered followers, while Sect Leader Yeming fled and Chu Tianshu’s topaz palm struck toward Liu Yan.

Chu Tianshu crippled Liu Yan with a Sun-Chasing palm, then countered Sect Leader Yeming’s sound-wave attack while revealing he was human and had come to exterminate evil. As Liu Yan tried to flee, Chen Ying and an unknown spear wielder intercepted him, while Chu Tianshu moved to confront Yeming.

• Chu Tianshu’s palm shattered Liu Yan’s white-dragon defense, crushed his right hand, and tore out his heart, which flew through the courtyard wall.
• Liu Yan seized Park Ok-gang’s heart and implanted it in his own chest, while his pain-filled howl shattered glass and burst open the wounds of the evil faction members.
• Chu Tianshu blocked Sect Leader Yeming’s lethal bat-like sound waves with a mantra-infused golden palm and told Liu Yan he was human, there to exterminate evil, and would kill him at most twice.
• Liu Yan ordered Yeming to retreat and tried to escape, but Chen Ying intercepted him with her horsetail whisk and an unknown fighter attacked with a formation-breaking spear.
• Liu Yan fought off Chen Ying and the spear wielder as Yeming watched, then Chu Tianshu’s golden hand exploded and a black shadow shot up to Yeming’s side.

Chu Tianshu battled Sect Leader Yeming, who used the Divine Bat Rebirth Great Art and claimed supremacy in palm techniques. Chu Tianshu overwhelmed him with the Samadhi Power Hand Seal and destroyed him completely.

• Chu Tianshu shattered Sect Leader Yeming's cape, but Sect Leader Yeming transformed into sound-wave bats and reformed outside the villa gates.
• Sect Leader Yeming swallowed the cinnabar poison between his brows and met Chu Tianshu's palm strike head-on.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed the Samadhi Power Hand Seal, forcing Sect Leader Yeming to retreat behind two cars and block the attack with a bloody shield.
• Chu Tianshu struck the ground, sending a palm force through the concrete that hit Sect Leader Yeming from behind.
• Chu Tianshu disrupted Sect Leader Yeming's defenses with three jabs, then turned him into bloody mist with a final palm strike.

Chu Tianshu, Chen Ying, and Yungu killed Liu Yan and examined his extraordinary corpse, then pursued the surviving Incense-Bearing Children and discussed the Seven Po Cave-Heaven's limits. Yungu left to find the president of the One-Character Spiritual Cultivation Society, while Chu Tianshu suggested he might eventually find a way to free them from the Grotto-Heaven's restrictions.

• Chu Tianshu joined Chen Ying and Yungu in killing Liu Yan, whose body kept beating after his soul was extinguished.
• Chen Ying retrieved the dragon-blood heart, but it did not respond to Liu Yan's corpse, and the three began studying his body.
• Chu Tianshu used Liu Yan's blood to locate his Incense-Bearing Child and sent Chen Ying after her.
• Yungu revealed that he had knocked out two Divine Bat Envoys, and Chu Tianshu mesmerized one to learn the president's location.
• Yungu offered to find the president, then discussed with Chu Tianshu the Seven Po Cave-Heaven and the possibility of visiting the Divine Land again.

Lady Wang and Suluduo prepared to locate the other Taboo experts through their talisman formation, but a silver-haired martial artist broke into their house and defeated them with his fists. He identified himself as Maheśvara, also called King Shouluo, and revealed that one of the five presences in the recent battle had been a Taboo martial artist born in the present world.

• Lady Wang explained that her talisman formation could locate incense-bearing children and help her and Suluduo confront the other Seven Souls experts.
• Lady Wang noticed a black dot approaching the setting sun, and an elderly silver-haired man entered through the window without shattering the glass.
• Suluduo attacked the intruder but was knocked back, and the old man criticized his boxing fundamentals.
• The old man forced Lady Wang to trade punches with him, sending her into a wall and demonstrating that his opponents instinctively fought him with boxing.
• The old man introduced himself as Maheśvara, Great Yuan's Imperial Preceptor, and ordered Lady Wang and Suluduo to work for him.
• King Shouluo revealed that one of the five presences from the battle had been a Taboo martial artist born in the present world.

King Shouluo explained how he had discovered Lady Wang and Suluduo, then prepared them to fight alongside fourteen ritually refined corpses against their enemies. He sent three inscribed soap bubbles toward Chu Tianshu’s villa, where Chu sensed them approaching.

• Lady Wang and Suluduo submitted to King Shouluo after he revealed that Prosecutor Che Jingxi's Lineage had exposed their activities.
• King Shouluo explained that fourteen Great Yuan spiritual masters had been buried in Goryeo and that he had ritually refined their corpses for the coming battle.
• King Shouluo asked Lady Wang and Suluduo to rehearse with the corpses, then used three soap bubbles as vessels for his Buddha's true meaning.
• King Shouluo wrote a meditating monk on each bubble and sent them flying toward the mountain, leaving an office worker shaken after seeing one pass.
• Chu Tianshu considered bringing Yungu and Chen Ying's bonded people to the villa, reviewed two evil spirits' traits, and sensed the three bubbles descending toward him.

Chu Tianshu, Yungu, and Chen Ying examined three mysterious bubbles that contained monk-like figures and tested their techniques. Chu Tianshu destroyed the bubble whose monk embodied a worldview he despised, alerting the uniformed officials outside the villa.

• Yungu reported that he had killed Takagi and brought in a surviving associate to help gather evidence of their crimes.
• Yungu tested the first bubble with his spear, but its monk deflected all thirteen thrusts; Chen Ying declined to try.
• Chu Tianshu set three different attacks against the bubbles, and Yungu and Chen Ying studied the techniques that emerged.
• The monk in the second bubble revealed a powerful fist technique and a conception that treated everything except oneself as unreal and available for exploitation.
• Chu Tianshu felt disgusted by that conception and burst the second bubble, sending his presence across the villa grounds.
• A group of uniformed personnel outside the villa felt the force, and their leader called out to Mr. Takagi, saying they had come to investigate reported explosions.

After Chu Tianshu defeated the One-Character Spiritual Cultivation Society’s leaders, a Busan countermeasures squad arrived and Shen Yan recognized him as a famous suspected Taboo. Minister Han then consulted King Shouluo, who ordered him to gather information on Chu Tianshu and prepare for a future task.

• After reports of explosions reached the Environmental Countermeasures Office, Shen Yan led a squad to investigate the villa and found corpses in the courtyard.
• Chu Tianshu told Shen Yan that he and his friend had fought back against people conducting an evil ritual and trying to kill them.
• Shen Yan recognized Chu Tianshu and welcomed him, while privately feeling relieved that his squad would not be blamed for the incident.
• Chu Tianshu showed Shen Yan his United Nations authorization and directed the squad to investigate the One-Character Spiritual Cultivation Society and search Takagi’s home.
• Minister Han reported Chu Tianshu’s arrival to King Shouluo, who ordered him to gather information and avoid provoking Chu Tianshu before carrying out a future task.

Chu Tianshu continued cultivating at the villa while waiting for his hidden enemies to make a move, then accepted Minister Han’s invitation to meet at a temple on Mount Shenyue. As Chu Tianshu climbed toward the temple, Minister Han secretly slipped away, leaving the meeting—and the danger around it—unresolved.

• Chu Tianshu practiced guiding Qi and blood at the villa while Yungu and Chen Ying discussed the inactive talisman array and their three hidden opponents.
• Shen Yan told Chu Tianshu that Minister Han had invited him to meet at the temple atop Mount Shenyue, and Chu Tianshu agreed to go that day.
• Chu Tianshu exchanged messages with Yungu and the others, then rode with Shen Yan to Mount Shenyue.
• Minister Han prayed at the temple, watched for Chu Tianshu’s arrival, then used an excuse to leave his monks and bodyguards and ran toward the back of the mountain.
• Chu Tianshu arrived at the foot of Mount Shenyue and climbed the steps toward the closed temple, remarking that it was a fine place for cultivation.

King Shouluo and Suluduo ambushed Chu Tianshu at Kṣitigarbha Temple using hidden ancient monk corpses and a coordinated attack. Chu Tianshu escaped the trap and killed Suluduo, but the battle continued as King Shouluo attacked again.

• An old monk led Chu Tianshu, Shen Yan, and a secretary through the temple to view its ancient Kṣitigarbha statue.
• King Shouluo swooped down on Chu Tianshu as fourteen buried monk corpses struck from beneath the ground.
• Chu Tianshu sensed a subtle difference in the ground, disrupted the corpse formation, and leapt out of the pit.
• Suluduo rushed in and exchanged more than sixty punches with Chu Tianshu, who snapped Suluduo’s neck and sent his head flying.
• Lady Wang approached the artificial hill while Yungu and Chen Ying rushed toward the temple, and King Shouluo launched another attack at Chu Tianshu.

Chu Tianshu fought the Great Yuan State Preceptor in a cramped side hall while Yungu and Lady Wang confronted a formation of dark-gold monks outside. The State Preceptor revealed his resentment toward the Grotto-Heaven and its interference with his plans.

• The Great Yuan State Preceptor used Mahākāla’s power to attack Chu Tianshu, whose injury worsened as he defended himself and retreated into the side hall.
• Chu Tianshu countered the State Preceptor’s blows with his Weapon Soul and divine art, while the old monk watched and struggled to endure the speed of their exchange.
• Yungu swept a dozen dark-gold monks toward Lady Wang with his spear, but Lady Wang steadied them in midair and the monks reformed their attacking formation.
• Chen Ying sat atop the wall, formed a seal, and closed her eyes as Yungu prepared to fight the monks and Lady Wang.
• Chu Tianshu accused the Great Yuan State Preceptor of trying to force his thoughts into Chu Tianshu’s body and escape the Grotto-Heaven.
• The Great Yuan State Preceptor said the Grotto-Heaven had disrupted his plan to sleep until the Spirit Realm revived and had now tried to make him repair it.

King Shouluo explained that he wanted to seize Chu Tianshu’s body and mind to escape the Grotto-Heaven’s restraints. Chu Tianshu fought him with help from Chen Ying, and the chapter ended with Chu Tianshu’s Taiji strike tearing through King Shouluo and destroying his spirit.

• King Shouluo revealed that he intended to use the Great Phowa Empowerment to take Chu Tianshu’s foundation and leave Busan.
• Chu Tianshu invited King Shouluo to exchange cultivation techniques, but King Shouluo attacked by drawing power from the Kṣitigarbha Temple’s statues and murals.
• Chen Ying fired her Cold Pill Exits the Tower sword pellet, which destroyed King Shouluo’s phantom arrow but missed him.
• Chu Tianshu struck the murals and formed a golden Taiji diagram that absorbed King Shouluo’s attacks and used the temple’s gathered spiritual force.
• Chu Tianshu reversed the Taiji diagram and pierced King Shouluo’s torso, tearing apart his blood and spirit.

Chu Tianshu defeated Lady Wang and the ancient corpse monks at Kṣitigarbha Temple, then discovered Minister Han had fled the mountain. Using his new understanding of curses and primordial essence, Chu Tianshu attacked Han from afar, leaving him drained and shriveled.

• Golden-red waves spread from the mountaintop, stirring distracting thoughts in people across the temple and nearby streets before fading.
• Chu Tianshu destroyed three ancient corpse monks and killed Lady Wang, while Yungu finished off the remaining living-corpse monks.
• Chu Tianshu returned to his normal appearance, and Chen Ying explained that her sword pellet could be used again after she recovered and refined another sword.
• Chu Tianshu questioned the old monk about Minister Han, then sensed that Han had escaped down the mountain and planned to use the corpses to curse those connected to them.
• Minister Han fled toward Seoul, but Chu Tianshu used an incantation and needles to drain the water from Han's body, leaving him shriveled in an alley.

After waking from his coma, Shen Yan learned that Minister Han had been exposed as a traitor and that his own actions had earned him praise. Chu Tianshu spoke with Helai about preparations to deal with the Seven Po Cave-Heaven, and Helai asked him to start a livestream for General Yungu.

• Shen Yan woke in the hospital and learned that Chu Tianshu had defeated the evil spirits and superpowered people who tried to assassinate him.
• Shen Yan's team told him Minister Han had been confirmed as a principal offender, while Shen Yan was being praised for helping expose the conspiracy.
• Shen Yan learned that the old abbot was safe and that political figures were visiting Chu Tianshu to discuss recent events.
• Chu Tianshu spoke with Helai, who explained that Yanxia was preparing a plan to deal with the Grotto-Heaven in the secret realm in the northwest.
• Helai asked Chu Tianshu to test whether the secret realm's equipment could connect to his signal and to start a livestream so General Yungu could meet the operation's participants.