Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou agreed to become Jin Wanliang’s underling so they could help each other survive in the Xieluosi River Holy Land. As the Golden Toad Dharma King crossed the Northern Border, Li Guang wounded him, but the toad escaped with an Essence Blood technique.

• Jin Wanliang warned Zhang Xuezhou that the Golden Toad Dharma King could leave him to starve or die, then offered to take him as an underling.
• Zhang Xuezhou called Jin Wanliang his big brother and agreed to face the journey to the Xieluosi River Holy Land together.
• Jin Wanliang described the Holy Land while Zhang Xuezhou waited in the Grotto-Heaven Secret Land and listened to their exchange with Li Guang and Cheng Bushi.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King argued that he had entered Han Dynasty territory only to escape the Hairy Head Sun Star Official and had taken livestock only for food.
• Li Guang shot at the Golden Toad Dharma King as he approached the Northern Border pass, but the Dharma King used an Essence Blood escape technique and vanished.
• Cheng Bushi questioned Li Guang’s missed shot, and Li Guang suggested it benefited the Great Han if Western Kunlun and the Northern Kuru Continent’s Demon Race fought each other.

Li Guang's destruction of the Sea-Calming Divine Pearl forced the Golden Toad Dharma King to rescue Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang from the collapsing Grotto-Heaven Secret Land. At Great Yin Mountain, the injured Dharma King summoned Lü Yaya for help, then killed and roasted it, frightening Jin Wanliang.

• The Golden Toad Dharma King pulled Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang out of the collapsing Grotto-Heaven Secret Land after Li Guang shattered his Sea-Calming Divine Pearl.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King carried Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang out of the poisonous mud released by the shattered secret realm.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King sent Jin Wanliang to summon a green-headed duck yao at Great Yin Mountain while relying on Zhang Xuezhou to help suppress his worsening injuries.
• Lü Yaya washed the mud off the Golden Toad Dharma King and Zhang Xuezhou, then gathered firewood on the Dharma King's orders.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King killed Lü Yaya with a tongue-nail arrow and roasted its corpse, leaving Jin Wanliang hungry and afraid.

Golden Toad Dharma King fed Zhang Xuezhou roasted mallard demon meat to help him recover, while he and Jin Wanliang ate to regain their strength. After Zhang Xuezhou woke, Jin Wanliang urged him to suppress Golden Toad Dharma King’s injuries so they could escape the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

• Golden Toad Dharma King fed Zhang Xuezhou mallard meat and explained how eating demon meat could restore strength, while Jin Wanliang ate a leg and felt his power return.
• Golden Toad Dharma King warned Jin Wanliang that the Xieluosi River Holy Land had no place for the weak and promised to recommend him for a top-tier demon art if he helped.
• Golden Toad Dharma King entered a dormant state to endure his injuries, and Jin Wanliang mistook his faint breathing for signs that he was dying.
• Zhang Xuezhou woke as the mallard meat helped dispel the poisonous gas and restore his strength.
• Jin Wanliang urged Zhang Xuezhou to suppress Golden Toad Dharma King's injuries, explaining that they needed the Old Ancestor to guide them out of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

Zhang Xuezhou, Jin Wanliang, and the wounded Golden Toad Dharma King traveled through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, whose shifting routes made escape difficult. They reached a frozen lake and began catching Flood Dragon Fish for food, leaving Jin Wanliang as bait.

• The Golden Toad Dharma King explained that the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains could only be crossed by following eighty-one changing mountain and river routes he had learned from the Ten Yin Holy Son.
• The group reached a lake that had frozen into the correct passage, and the Golden Toad Dharma King warned that Flood Dragon Fish beneath the ice would attack them.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King used Jin Wanliang, transformed into a toad and suspended from a branch, as bait while Zhang Xuezhou held the pole.
• The group caught Flood Dragon Fish, and the Golden Toad Dharma King explained that their livers could strengthen the body but might cause scales and a desire to live in water.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked about the strange hair growing beneath his arms after eating the green-headed duck, and the Golden Toad Dharma King said the effects would pass as he grew stronger.

Zhang Xuezhou struggled with alarming sounds and new physical changes after eating Demon Beast organs, while his academic success drew attention at school. When rain rolled off his palm, Ren Anran and a refined-looking man suspected he had gained Mental Field Control and discussed the Zhang family’s connection to Sinkhole No. 2.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke from his dream distressed by the Demon Beast meat and Lü Yaya’s cries, but saw no black Qi and put away his tranquilizer pill.
• Mei Renteng told Zhang Xuezhou he had ranked first in politics and history and ninth overall, then asked him how to study; Zhang Xuezhou said his results felt effortless and joked about inherited study genes.
• Students speculated about Zhang Xuezhou’s sudden academic rise before returning their attention to the upcoming exam.
• Zhang Xuezhou discovered that Ren Anran’s Sunshine Psychologist Clinic had closed and become the Cherish a Lifetime Matchmaking Office.
• As icy rain fell, Zhang Xuezhou noticed that raindrops rolled off his palm and wondered whether the Flood Dragon Fish liver had given him an ability or worsened his symptoms.
• Ren Anran and a refined-looking man watched Zhang Xuezhou and considered whether he had gained Mental Field Control; the man told her to monitor Zhang Weimeng and Song Fengying, the only survivors near Sinkhole No. 2 alongside Zhang Manqian.

In the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang suffered strange bodily changes after eating too many Demon Beasts while traveling with the injured Golden Toad Dharma King. Back in his school-district apartment, Zhang Xuezhou’s new birdlike instincts took over, and he jumped from a balcony nearly ten meters above the ground.

• Jin Wanliang showed a fourth finger and poisonous sores, while Zhang Xuezhou developed scales, feathers, and black hairs as the Golden Toad Dharma King explained that their bodies were metamorphosing from eating Demon Beasts.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King said Zhang Xuezhou’s Law Power had surged to the upper grade of the Meridian Circulation Realm and told him to use the Supreme Purity True Technique to ease the pain.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King ordered Jin Wanliang to lure a wild crane demon, then ambushed and killed it so they could eat its meat.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s arm hairs began turning into feathers, and he noticed that flapping his arms made him feel lighter and faster.
• Back in his apartment, Zhang Xuezhou nearly stepped off the balcony before pulling himself back, but his arm moved unnaturally and he leaped from nearly ten meters up.

Zhang Xuezhou’s dreamlike journey into the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains continued after a real-life fall left him injured, and the Golden Toad Dharma King led him and Jin Wanliang to hunt the Swan Demon. They reached the Swan Demon’s post, where she refused the Golden Toad Dharma King’s summons and invoked her service to the Tiger Strength Demon King.

• Zhang Xuezhou fell from a third-floor window in reality, survived with serious injuries, and later woke in the snowy mountains beside Jin Wanliang and the Golden Toad Dharma King.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King urged the group to eat the Swan Demon, explaining that her bloodline might grant flying ability, though eating one had only given him powerful leaps.
• Jin Wanliang eagerly agreed to lure the Swan Demon, while Zhang Xuezhou hid his worry that the dream’s birdlike abilities were affecting his real-life thoughts.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King explained that the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains’ posts received Spiritual Qi blessings every ten days and were guarded by humans, demons, and Demon Beasts.
• Jin Wanliang reached the Swan Demon’s snowy peak, where she refused to meet the Golden Toad Dharma King and said she answered only to the Tiger Strength Demon King.

The Golden Toad Dharma King had Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang help poison and distract the swan demon so he could kill her and take her Five Lights Stone. After the group ate her meat, Zhang Xuezhou grew a complete pair of feathered wings, surprising the Golden Toad Dharma King.

• The Golden Toad Dharma King told Zhang Xuezhou they had to kill the swan demon and gave him refined toad venom to poison her water flask.
• Zhang Xuezhou used his invisibility artifact to poison the flask while Jin Wanliang drew the swan demon’s attention by trading insults with her.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King reached the cavern and killed the paralyzed swan demon with his tongue-stud arrow, taking her Five Lights Stone.
• Jin Wanliang and Zhang Xuezhou refused to take the Five Lights Stone because they did not want to provoke the Tiger Strength Demon King, so the Golden Toad Dharma King swallowed it.
• The group ate the swan demon’s meat, and Zhang Xuezhou grew a complete pair of feathered wings.

Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang reached the Demon Race's holy land with the wounded Golden Toad Dharma King, who learned that the Ten Yin Holy Son had died. The Golden Toad Dharma King entered the lake to face His Lordship, leaving Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang outside as they considered how to survive.

• Zhang Xuezhou found that eating the sky-piercing sparrow demon had not changed the feathers covering his arms, though he could fly by flapping them.
• Zhang Xuezhou, Jin Wanliang, and the Golden Toad Dharma King arrived at a lake surrounded by pastures, where Dragon King Ao Dong told the Golden Toad Dharma King that the Ten Yin Holy Son's life lamp had gone out.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King asked Zhang Xuezhou how to stay alive, and Zhang Xuezhou advised him to grieve and swear to avenge his master.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King promised to make Zhang Xuezhou his adopted son, then entered a passage beneath the lake to report to His Lordship.
• Jin Wanliang lamented that he would become the Golden Toad Dharma King's adopted grandson and have to call Zhang Xuezhou father, while Zhang Xuezhou accepted the arrangement for the sake of survival.

The Xieluosi River Holy Land issued a kill order against Huang Cang, Li Jiao, and Jin Chang, while ordering Zou Bugui captured and declaring war on the Han. Zhang Xuezhou worried about Li Jiao and his own precarious situation as the Golden Toad Dharma King returned after surviving a trial at the lake.

• The Holy Land’s furious voice ordered Huang Cang, Li Jiao, and Jin Chang killed, Zou Bugui captured, and forces sent against Loulan, Greater Yuezhi, and the Han.
• Jin Wanliang explained the powerful backing of Huang Cang, Li Jiao, and Jin Chang, while Zhang Xuezhou worried about Li Jiao and resolved to seek powerful protection.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled his real-world injuries, schizophrenia, and looming adult entrance exam, and hoped the school infirmary could help him recover enough to take it.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang waited at the Holy Land’s entrance because they could not safely proceed without the Golden Toad Dharma King.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King emerged from the lake, thanked the unseen authority for sparing his life, and promised to pursue the culprit until his death.

After taking Zhang Xuezhou as his adopted son, the Golden Toad Dharma King explained the Demon Power in his body and described the Northern Kuru Continent’s three great Holy Lands. Zhang Xuezhou fell asleep when his time ran out, leaving the Dharma King concerned about his mysterious condition but hopeful that the Yedie River Holy Land’s Dao Lord might help him.

• The Golden Toad Dharma King welcomed Zhang Xuezhou into the Snow Toad Palace and accepted him as his adopted son, granting him authority there.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King explained that more than thirty strands of Demon Power had entered Zhang Xuezhou’s human body and might eventually assimilate with it.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King told Jin Wanliang that the Xieluosi River and Nine Spirits Holy Lands belonged to the Demon Race, while the Yedie River Holy Land was led by a human master of curses.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King considered sending Zhang Xuezhou to cultivate at the Yedie River Holy Land, but Zhang Xuezhou abruptly fell asleep as his time ran out.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King worried that Zhang Xuezhou’s unexplained sleep could leave him vulnerable and hoped the Yedie River Dao Lord might remove the curse.

After waking from a fall that left him badly injured and unable to take the adult entrance exam, Zhang Xuezhou argued with his father about their bleak prospects. He secretly used the Supreme Purity True Technique on himself and found that his pain eased and movement began to return.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke in the hospital with fractures and bandages covering much of his body.
• Zhang Weimeng visited and tried to comfort Zhang Xuezhou about missing the adult entrance exam, but Zhang Xuezhou criticized his father for refusing to change careers.
• Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly tried to draw on his inner power while Zhang Weimeng rambled about the past.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Supreme Purity True Technique, channeling white light through his body and touching it to himself.
• Zhang Xuezhou felt his pain disappear, then regained sensation and slight movement in his left arm and legs.

Zhang Xuezhou unexpectedly recovered enough to leave the hospital and rushed to Yucai Middle School to take the adult exam. As he arrived, a livestreaming woman asked the school guard about him, unaware that rumors said he was hospitalized after falling from a building.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke at six in the morning and insisted on leaving the hospital to take his exam, surprising Zhu Huizhen with how quickly he had recovered.
• Zhu Huizhen found no record of expensive treatment, while Zhang Weimeng suspected the hospital had given Zhang Xuezhou unnecessary care; he completed the discharge procedures as Zhang Xuezhou ran ahead.
• Zhang Xuezhou hurried through the crowds at Yucai Middle School and entered the exam site, aided by a parent who mistook him for an injured father.
• A livestreaming woman asked the school guard about Zhang Xuezhou, and the guard recalled rumors that he had fallen from a building and was lying in the First Hospital.

Zhang Xuezhou finished the adult exam and met his mother, Song Fengying, livestreaming outside the school. Their conversation turned into a public wager on his results, while Song Fengying kept pursuing her livestreaming venture to fund treatment for her son’s schizophrenia.

• Zhang Xuezhou checked his exam answers, handed in his paper, and went to the school gate hoping to see Zhang Weimeng.
• Zhang Xuezhou spotted Song Fengying livestreaming and tried to avoid her so he would not expose her online persona.
• Song Fengying interviewed her bandaged son on camera, and Zhang Xuezhou reassured her that he would recover soon and still take the afternoon exam.
• Zhang Xuezhou predicted he would place in the province’s top hundred to qualify for Canglan Academy, prompting Song Fengying to solicit tips and bets.
• The viewer Not Short of Money promised a large tip if Zhang Xuezhou made the top hundred and asked to meet Song Fengying offline; after ending the stream, Song Fengying cursed about collecting the promised money and faced her son.

Song Fengying explained to Zhang Xuezhou that livestreaming was her attempt to reach a higher social class, where people had access to advanced medical care and longer lives. After Zhang Weimeng reported that Zhang Xuezhou had recovered unusually quickly from a fall but seemed mentally worse, he and Song Fengying reaffirmed their determination to rise in society.

• Song Fengying told Zhang Xuezhou that she began livestreaming after dreaming it could help ordinary people change their fortunes, and described how the upper class had access to life-extending technology.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned whether such advances were real, then accepted that his parents would keep pursuing their ambitions.
• After Zhang Xuezhou waited in vain for Zhang Weimeng and the chicken soup, he went to eat at the school cafeteria.
• Zhang Weimeng told Song Fengying that Zhang Xuezhou had fallen from the third floor, recovered from his fractures in two days, and seemed to have worsening mental illness.
• Song Fengying and Zhang Weimeng discussed concealing her ownership of Heartbeat Livestream and expressed confidence that their accumulated experience and unusually slow aging would eventually help them reach a higher social class.

Zhou Ping'an noticed Zhang Xuezhou’s remarkably rapid recovery during Xuanxuan’s livestream and began investigating him. After seeing himself on the news, Zhang Xuezhou prepared for another night in the dream world while managing the effects of Demon Power and his injuries.

• Zhou Ping'an spotted the heavily bandaged Zhang Xuezhou on Xuanxuan’s livestream and questioned how he could walk after such severe injuries.
• Zhou Ping'an learned Zhang Xuezhou studied psychology at Canglan Academy and called someone to look into his unusual recovery.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw himself on the Sudong City Daytime News and lamented how poor he looked while noting that his injuries and depleted Law Power still needed time to recover.
• Zhang Xuezhou installed a lock on his window to guard against jumping out while waking under Demon Power’s influence.
• Zhang Xuezhou reviewed his exam textbooks, then closed his eyes when the appointed time arrived and entered another world.

Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang prepared to visit the Ten Thousand Demons Stele after the Golden Toad Dharma King returned from an unsuccessful attempt to obtain medicine. The Golden Toad Dharma King led them to the Holy Son Palace, where the stele was located.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke in the Snow Toad Palace and met Cong Nalilai, a fish-headed demon who offered to provide water.
• Jin Wanliang explained that he was going to see the Ten Thousand Demons Stele and lamented that his lost treasured garment could not be replaced.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King returned angry after Demon King Luli refused to trade medicine and mocked him.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King offered to take Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang to the stele, saying Zhang could learn demon Techniques to refine his remaining Demon Power and improve his aerial leaps.
• Zhang Xuezhou followed the Golden Toad Dharma King up ninety-nine snow-covered steps to the jade palace marked Holy Son Palace.

The Golden Toad Dharma King brought Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang to the Ten Thousand Demons Stele in the abandoned Holy Son's Palace and explained how it passed down demon arts. Jin Wanliang received the Toad Art, and the chapter ended as Zhang Xuezhou touched the stele and was enveloped in dim black light.

• The Golden Toad Dharma King led Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Wanliang into the deserted palace and showed them the Ten Thousand Demons Stele.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King explained that the stele recommended demon arts through colored light and passed on demonstrations and memories of how to learn them.
• Jin Wanliang touched the stele and received green light, which the Golden Toad Dharma King identified as poison and healing arts.
• Jin Wanliang learned that he had received the Toad Art, the same art the Golden Toad Dharma King had learned, and felt relieved.
• Zhang Xuezhou touched the Ten Thousand Demons Stele, which enveloped him in dim black light.

Zhang Xuezhou learned the Drowsiness Technique from the Ten Thousand Demons Stele, and the Golden Toad Dharma King saw potential in his aptitude for curse arts. The Tiger Strength Demon King then arrived at the palace, accusing Tolkien of eating the Swan Demon he had been raising.

• Zhang Xuezhou touched the Ten Thousand Demons Stele and was enveloped in black light, which the Golden Toad Dharma King identified as a sign of a curse-art inheritance.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King stopped Jin Wanliang from pressing Zhang Xuezhou to reveal his new art, explaining that curse masters kept their methods and casting mediums secret.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that the Drowsiness Technique required a flying insect prepared for nearly a day and could put a person one cultivation realm below him to sleep for fifteen minutes.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King judged the Technique weak but felt hopeful because Zhang Xuezhou could cultivate curse arts at the Yedie River Holy Land.
• The Tiger Strength Demon King arrived outside the palace and accused Tolkien of eating the Swan Demon he had been raising as his wife.

The Tiger Strength Demon King confronted the Golden Toad Dharma King over the Swan Demon’s death and demanded revenge. The Golden Toad Dharma King named Kong Ning as his chosen target, then the Tiger Strength Demon King mistook Jin Wanliang for his lover and raised his saber to strike him.

• The Tiger Strength Demon King found the Swan Demon’s bones and learned that several other Demon Beasts had died along a route connected to the Golden Toad Dharma King’s return.
• The Tiger Strength Demon King demanded that the Golden Toad Dharma King let him kill one of his wives in revenge.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King named Kong Ning, but the Tiger Strength Demon King refused to attack her because she was too powerful.
• The Golden Toad Dharma King told Jin Wanliang and Zhang Xuezhou that he had chosen Kong Ning as a shield rather than risk pursuing another female demon.
• The Tiger Strength Demon King suspected that the Golden Toad Dharma King liked male demons because he kept Jin Wanliang in his palace, then raised his saber to test whether Jin was his lover.