Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou watched the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon manifest as a giant black-feathered duck and fight the Tuer God inside his spiritual sea. The demon used Zhang Xuezhou’s Halt Warfare Formula to save them, leaving Zhang Xuezhou to realize that giving it a body may have made it a greater threat.

• Zhang Xuezhou saw that his Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation Technique had given the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon a duck-like form, which immediately attacked the Tuer God.
• The Tuer God tried to seize Divinity from the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, then used his giant axe to launch a blood-colored attack at Zhang Xuezhou and the demon.
• The Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon chanted “Cease Hostilities” and annihilated the Tuer God’s attacks, prompting Zhang Xuezhou to realize it had used his Halt Warfare Formula.
• Zhang Xuezhou reasoned that the demon could use his techniques because its manifested body had the apertures needed to activate them in the spiritual world.
• Zhang Xuezhou feared the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon would turn against him once its struggle with the Tuer God ended.

Tuer God tried to break the black-feathered duck’s Cease Hostilities defense while Zhang Xuezhou struggled with the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon inside him. Ren Anran’s Dragon Elephant Combat Technique disrupted the mental confrontation, and Ren Yisheng was forced back into the Soul Jade.

• Tuer God summoned his people’s blood to empower his great axe, but the black-feathered duck’s repeated Cease Hostilities chants erased his attacks.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon’s control over his abilities and despaired that his cultivation might only benefit his opponent.
• Ren Yisheng urged Ren Anran to use the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique on Zhang Xuezhou as the shrine’s occupants suffered and people fled outside.
• Ren Anran’s attack brought the sound of trampling elephants into the mental confrontation, and Ren Yisheng’s body collapsed into white smoke and returned to the Soul Jade.
• The Soul Jade fell into the statue’s palm.

Ren Anran’s Dragon Elephant Combat Technique drove the Tuer God from Zhang Xuezhou’s mental world and battered the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, though Zhang returned to reality with serious injuries. As the survivors escaped the shrine, Ren Yisheng confronted the Tuer God and subdued him with his mental power.

• Ren Anran’s giant elephants trampled the Tuer God until he shattered and departed, then repeatedly struck the black-feathered duck representing the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.
• Zhang Xuezhou woke in reality, collapsed after spitting blood, and reasoned that the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon had to keep him alive while he considered using the Tuer God’s stone axe as leverage.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Tuer Kalanduo to arrange X432 treatment, and Tuer Kelanduo agreed as the group escaped through the shrine’s secret passage, leaving eight elders behind.
• Ren Yisheng encountered the Tuer God in the statue’s palm and used his True Spirit Realm cultivation and Seventh Sequence mental power to overpower him.

After the Tuer God’s power weakened, Ren Anran regained control of her thoughts and realized Ren Yisheng was missing, while Tuer Kelanduo considered abandoning the Tuer God. Tuer Kelanduo entered the disrupted shrine and used her authority to halt the paladins’ response, leaving the elders’ fate unresolved.

• Ren Anran rejected Tuer Kalanduo’s influence, remembered that Ren Yisheng had flown away, and demanded that Tuer Kalanduo take her to retrieve her Soul Jade from the shrine.
• Tuer Kalanduo considered switching allegiance to Zhang Xuezhou’s god and secretly plotted to destroy the Tuer God by removing the Soul Jade and breaking the stone axe.
• Ren Anran and Tuer Kalanduo watched the shrine from a secret passage as paladins investigated the fallen Soul Jade and elders.
• Tuer Kelanduo entered the shrine, rebuked the paladins for moving the elders, and ordered them returned until the god’s punishment was finished.
• The paladins hesitated, then used their communicators to summon the comrades who had taken the elders for medical treatment.

Tuer Kelanduo decided to overthrow the Tuer God and enlist Ren Anran’s help, while Ren Anran broke the sacred stone axe and discovered Ren Yisheng had captured the being inside Xuezhou. The Tuer God remained trapped and weakened inside the Soul Jade as the chapter ended.

• Tuer Kelanduo explained that the clan would hunt them down unless they escaped or changed the existing order, and proposed replacing the Tuer God with a new one.
• Tuer Kelanduo knocked the stone axe down, and Ren Anran split it with a palm strike.
• Tuer Kelanduo grabbed the broken axe and fled through the shrine’s secret passage, with Tuer Kalanduo following her.
• Ren Anran stayed behind and called out to Ren Yisheng, who answered from the divine statue’s palm and said he had captured Hongku inside Xuezhou.
• The weakened Tuer God struggled against Ren Yisheng and realized the stone axe that housed his token had been broken.

Ren Anran returned from retrieving the Soul Jade as Tuer Kelanduo proposed replacing the Tur Tribe’s god with Zhang Xuezhou’s, hoping to avert a crisis and modernize the tribe. Ren Yisheng agreed to cooperate with Tuer Kelanduo in exchange for Soul Jade, then had Ren Anran use the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique to batter Hongku into submission.

• Ren Anran returned to the underground medical room after retrieving the Soul Jade and leaving the shrine’s elders and others unconscious.
• Tuer Kalanduo explained that the Tur Tribe could change gods by persuading Zhang Xuezhou’s god to accept them and share divine knowledge.
• Ren Anran realized Tuer Kelanduo had sent Zhang Xuezhou’s confidential information to the Tur Tribe, but saw that the plan might help them avoid killing the elders.
• Ren Yisheng agreed to cooperate with Tuer Kelanduo because she needed a god and he wanted more Soul Jade, though Hongku remained a problem.
• Ren Yisheng asked Ren Anran to use the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique to strike indiscriminately and force Hongku to submit.
• Ren Anran’s repeated attacks caused Ren Yisheng intense mental pain, while Hongku struggled more frantically.

Ren Yisheng forced Huang, the Tuer God, to explain how he came to inhabit the Soul Jade and revealed that a Divinity could let a mind become immortal. Ren Yisheng considered how to pursue that path, then prepared to help Tuer Kelanduo while keeping Huang subdued.

• Ren Yisheng beat Huang into submission and learned that Huang was also called the Tuer God.
• Huang explained that he had discovered a Divinity while trying to deliver divine punishment, and that a Divinity could anchor a mind and allow it to obtain new bodies indefinitely.
• Huang revealed that Yu had taught him about Divinities and was searching for one for him, though Huang did not know where Yu had gone.
• Ren Yisheng connected Divinities to the black core he had seen on Zhang Xuezhou and weighed seeking one against finding another way to strengthen his mind.
• Ren Yisheng warned Huang to stay in the Soul Jade, re-formed his body with the Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation Technique, and turned to help Tuer Kelanduo.

Zhang Xuezhou emerged from X432 treatment still injured and agreed to let Ren Yisheng pose as the Tuer God and assist Tuer Kelanduo. They entered the shrine, where Ren Yisheng began a miracle to secure Kelanduo’s authority and the clan’s support.

• Zhang Xuezhou asked Tuer Kelanduo to arrange another X432 session after the first treatment failed to fully heal him.
• Tuer Kelanduo asked Zhang Xuezhou to help replace the Tuer God, and Zhang realized she mistook Ren Yisheng for a deity.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to let Ren Yisheng demonstrate techniques and cooperate with the Tuer Clan.
• Tuer Kelanduo announced that the Tuer God had gained a divine body, and an elder who saw Ren Yisheng bowed and obeyed.
• Tuer Kelanduo led Ren Anran, Zhang Xuezhou, and Ren Yisheng to the crowded shrine and announced that the god would perform a miracle.
• Ren Yisheng entered the statue’s palm and began reciting the Heart Incantation in the Tuer language.

Ren Anran demonstrated the Supreme Purity True Technique as a healing Divine Technique before the Tuer Clan, while Tuer Kelanduo and the elders tested it by cutting themselves. When the sixth elder chopped off his hand, Huang was forced to help deal with the injury.

• Ren Yisheng explained the Supreme Purity True Technique, then returned to the Soul Jade, leaving Ren Anran to demonstrate it.
• Ren Anran healed a wound on her arm and told the gathered Tuer Clan that the Divine Technique could help make them invincible.
• Tuer Kelanduo asked Ren Anran to heal her and the elders, and the first elder confirmed that his wound had healed.
• The elders tested the technique on themselves, and the fifth elder’s severed fingers began reattaching with help from Zhang Xuezhou.
• The sixth elder chopped off his left hand, and Huang angrily intervened from within the Soul Jade to help resolve the injury.

After helping resolve the Tuer Clan's crisis, Zhang Xuezhou focused on obtaining repair technology for his injuries and finding a way to resist the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. He learned that a Divinity might be taken, but ended the chapter uncertain and still himself for now.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Tuer Kalanduo to look for X446 Repair Technology and revealed that his spiritual sea had been badly injured and he had lost the Halt Warfare Formula.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered his limited options and recited the Tomb Scripture, then instructed the others about what to do if he died.
• Ren Anran questioned how she could distinguish Zhang Xuezhou from the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, and Zhang Xuezhou joked that the demon would imitate a duck.
• Ren Yisheng advised Zhang Xuezhou to leave his body and settle in Soul Jade, but Zhang Xuezhou rejected the idea after considering Ren Yisheng's suffering.
• Zhang Xuezhou learned that the Tuer God believed Divinity could be taken and privately considered using that possibility against the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

As Zhang Xuezhou underwent treatment and worked to restore his abilities, Ren Anran found renewed resolve to strengthen herself after exchanging messages with Zhang Manqian. She began developing the fifth chapter of Mental Strengthening, and Tuer Kelanduo recognized in her the same extraordinary cultivation potential she had once seen in Ren Yisheng.

• Zhang Xuezhou entered the X446 treatment device and continued restoring his techniques while seeking to benefit from the Spiritual Qi in Soul Jade.
• Tuer Kelanduo's Divine Spirit Aura ability weakened after the Tuer God reclaimed part of it, leaving Ren Anran with more influence in their conversations.
• Ren Anran confided in Zhang Manqian about the troubles facing their families, and Zhang Manqian replied that she was focusing on her own duties and growth.
• Ren Anran regained her resolve to keep pace with Zhang Xuezhou and considered advancing her Mental Strengthening and Realm Techniques.
• Ren Anran traced movements on blank paper as her eyes began to glow blue, and Tuer Kelanduo recognized a resemblance to Ren Yisheng's cultivation.

After waking from the collapse of Dong Zhongshu’s residence, Zhang Xuezhou learned that he and Rong Tianding had been injured and treated for days. The cousins headed to the West Market for food, where Rong Tianding experienced a strange vision while reciting the Tomb Scripture.

• Zhang Xuezhou woke after twelve days beneath the collapsed Dong Residence and learned that Dong Zhongshu and Rong Tianding were recovering in separate rooms.
• A court medical official treated Zhang Xuezhou with golden needles, and Zhang used a healing technique to remove his splints and get out of bed.
• Zhang drank ginseng soup and porridge, then visited Rong Tianding and used the Supreme Purity True Technique to help him recover.
• The cousins left their temporary lodging and headed west toward a restaurant specializing in meat, with Rong Tianding walking on a stick.
• As Rong Tianding recited the Tomb Scripture, he felt his body strengthen and saw a dignified old woman and a young emperor before the vision faded when he stopped.

After Rong Tianding’s Tomb Scripture wish appeared to protect them from illness and disaster, Zhang Xuezhou decided to settle in Chang’an City and seek a way to improve his Fortune. But the cost and rules of city life left the cousins unsure how to support themselves.

• Rong Tianding told Zhang Xuezhou that reciting the Tomb Scripture had caused a strange incident, and Zhang Xuezhou suspected it had granted his wish for fewer illnesses and disasters.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered seeking help from the imperial court or finding another way to improve his Fortune, but decided to stay put and wait for better opportunities.
• After paying 122 banliang coins for their meal, Zhang Xuezhou explained that they could not simply sell Rong Tianding’s pig-blood paintings in Chang’an City without market registration and fees.
• Rong Tianding proposed returning to Hibiscus City for money, and Zhang Xuezhou agreed before insisting they should rely on themselves rather than their family.

Unable to find Dong Zhongshu or a place to live in Chang'an, Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding registered businesses and tried to earn money, but their first day at the market brought no customers. That night, Zhang Xuezhou saw martial practitioners and others heading toward the imperial palace.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding learned that they could not buy a home in Chang'an without court positions and sufficient money.
• Zhang Xuezhou registered to treat injuries and sell medicine, while Rong Tianding registered to sell talismans and related goods.
• The cousins set up a stall in the West Market, but they attracted no customers and earned nothing.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding bought a meal, returned to the sealed Dong Residence, and slept outside among scattered bamboo slips.
• Zhang Xuezhou stayed awake and saw people in martial attire running through the streets and others traveling on wind and waves toward the imperial palace.

Zhang Xuezhou witnessed Cheng Bushi and Li Guang fail to capture a mysterious intruder, then was forced by the injured old woman to hide her and swallow a supposed poison. As he carried her toward the Dong Residence, he discovered that the substance was not poisonous and had instead eased his hunger and strengthened him.

• Zhang Xuezhou watched Cheng Bushi and Li Guang pursue a woman who escaped using a willow-wood substitute.
• Cheng Bushi and Li Guang returned to the imperial city to protect the emperor instead of continuing the chase.
• Zhang Xuezhou examined the broken willow wood, but the Sleepy Bug refused to eat it.
• The injured old woman grabbed Zhang Xuezhou, threatened to kill him, and ordered him to hide her for three days.
• The old woman forced Zhang Xuezhou to swallow a bitter substance that she claimed was heart-piercing poison.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Poison Avoidance Art and found no poison; instead, he felt warmer, stronger, and less hungry.

Zhang Xuezhou carried an injured, disguised woman to shelter in the ruined Dong Residence, then escaped with Rong Tianding. The woman recovered while clutching a stolen pill book and planned to refine an Essence Blood Pill before fleeing Chang'an.

• Zhang Xuezhou carried the injured woman over a wall and brought her to an empty side room in the Dong Residence.
• The woman threatened Zhang Xuezhou with a supposed seven-day poison and ordered him to stand guard while she healed.
• Zhang Xuezhou left the Dong Residence, woke Rong Tianding, and hurried with him toward the West Market.
• The woman realized Zhang Xuezhou had fled but stayed in the side room to recover and prepare to escape Chang'an at night.
• The woman celebrated stealing a pill book that she believed would let her refine an Essence Blood Pill and become invincible.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding struggled to attract customers with their injury-treatment stall in Chang'an’s West Market. When a young woman offered a tael of gold for treatment, Zhang Xuezhou set aside his reservations and used the Supreme Purity True Technique on her severe menstrual bleeding.

• Zhang Xuezhou reassured Rong Tianding that their lack of customers was normal, though he worried their dwindling savings would soon leave them without food.
• Rong Tianding spotted an armed young woman entering a pharmacy and persuaded her to visit Zhang Xuezhou’s stall.
• The woman challenged Zhang Xuezhou’s skill, then pointed to her abdomen and offered him a tael of gold if he cured her.
• Zhang Xuezhou accepted the job despite recognizing that her bleeding was a normal bodily function, and cast the Supreme Purity True Technique from a distance.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed that the woman’s bleeding was dangerously heavy and wondered how she had survived it.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding earned money treating a woman, then settled into a cheap inn while planning how to build their lives in Chang'an. The chapter left them alarmed when Rong Tianding sensed a great ghost near the imperial city.

• Zhang Xuezhou treated a woman's bleeding with his Immortal's Single Grab, and she paid him generously.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding returned the woman's unused medicine to the pharmacy and received a hundred and twenty banliang coins.
• Zhang Xuezhou took Rong Tianding to an affordable inn and explained that Xu Yuan's father, Xu Ji, possessed the cultivation technique Rong Tianding needed.
• Rong Tianding woke in terror and warned Zhang Xuezhou that a great ghost bearing corpse Qi was near the imperial city.

Zhang Xuezhou chased Rong Tianding through Chang'an after a mysterious call triggered a jiangshi-like transformation in him. When Rong Tianding agreed to cripple his cultivation, Zhang Xuezhou's attempt to use a small white flame instead set him ablaze, and the fire raced toward the distant sky.

• Rong Tianding became compelled to leave, grew fangs and black hair, and Zhang Xuezhou bound him with a strand of Nine Spirits Primal Sage's mane.
• Rong Tianding escaped through a window and hopped toward Chang'an's officials' district while Zhang Xuezhou chased him through the streets.
• Zhang Xuezhou tethered Rong Tianding to a stable post, broke his legs to stop him, and saw that his body had become covered in black hair.
• Rong Tianding agreed to have his cultivation crippled rather than remain transformed, but Zhang Xuezhou struggled to find a way to do it.
• Zhang Xuezhou summoned a small white flame, which ignited Rong Tianding's hair and spread rapidly toward the sky.

The new emperor convened his ministers to find a way to locate Shi Wudao, whose corpse arts had thrown Weiyang Palace into chaos. Zhao Wan, Wang Zang, and Dong Zhongshu were summoned to trace Shi Wudao through a corpse, but the attempt ended in an explosion while his voice mocked them.

• The new emperor rejected the cautious suggestion to wait for daylight and asked his ministers how to locate Shi Wudao, but Chancellor Wei Wan and Censor Zhi Buning advised holding Weiyang Palace.
• Dou Ying explained that a more aggressive approach would involve using a zombie to trace Shi Wudao, though the attempt could infect or kill the person involved.
• The Marquis of Wu'an recommended summoning Zhao Wan, Wang Zang, and Dong Zhongshu, and the new emperor granted them an audience.
• Li Guang and Cheng Bushi let the three scholars into Weiyang Palace, and Li Guang agreed to shoot Shi Wudao once they found his hiding place.
• Zhao Wan used a corpse contaminated with corpse Qi as a medium for his art, but the corpse swelled and exploded as Shi Wudao mocked the attempt.