Recaps

Hu Mang returned to Port Surumai and reunited with Sun Hu, then was taken to Liang Household Garden to meet Liang Yanqiu, Zheng Qingbo’s wife. After she revealed documents hidden behind a Bodhisattva statue, Hu Mang began reading them, leaving the purpose of their meeting unresolved.

• Hu Mang reunited with Sun Hu and was greeted by the men who worked with him at the port.
• Sun Hu told Hu Mang that Boss Zheng wanted to see him, then took him to Liang Household Garden.
• Hu Mang found Liang Household people guarding the estate and learned that Liang Yanqiu had arranged his visit; Sun Hu said he had always been on her side.
• Liang Yanqiu welcomed Hu Mang and led him through the estate, wearing a white hairpin that suggested her husband had died.
• Liang Yanqiu worshipped at the shrine, discussed the local custom of making deals before the Buddha with Hu Mang, and handed him documents she had hidden behind the statue.

Hu Mang learned from Liang Yanqiu that Zheng Qingbo had arranged for assassins to push him toward awakening his dormant Seven Absolutes Devil Meridians, while seeking to seize the Liang Household’s seat in the Autonomous Association. Hu Mang agreed to stay at the Liang Family Garden, and Zheng Qingbo’s men debated his return as a dangerous newcomer challenged his reputation.

• Hu Mang read Liang Yanqiu’s file on Zheng Qingbo’s crimes, rise to power, and plan to claim both a new Autonomous Association seat and the Liang Household’s seat.
• Liang Yanqiu told Hu Mang that Zheng Qingbo had repeatedly put him in mortal danger but secretly ensured he survived, leading Hu Mang to suspect Zheng Qingbo wanted to awaken his dormant Seven Absolutes Devil Meridians.
• Hu Mang agreed to stay at the Liang Family Garden for a few days while Liang Yanqiu investigated Zheng Qingbo’s other connections.
• At the Zheng Family Garden, mid-level cadres worried that Hu Mang had stayed with Liang Yanqiu, but Jiacha relayed Zheng Qingbo’s order not to interfere with Hu Mang’s choices.
• A towering new recruit mocked the cadres for fearing Hu Mang and offered to deal with him.

Hu Mang trained at the Liang Household and refused to mentor its descendants, then sought Liu Manqing’s help researching Ghost Dragon Veins. The chapter ended when Chen Xiaosan called from a strange, ash-covered realm beneath a blood-red sky, where a gate marked Fengdu stood in the distance.

• Hu Mang practiced boxing in the Liang Household’s training ground, using his Heavenly Devil Field to merge techniques and deepen his cultivation.
• Liang Jinchuan and Liang Shuyao brought five other Liang Household descendants to ask Hu Mang for cultivation guidance, but he dismissed them for arriving empty-handed.
• Hu Mang called Liu Manqing to discuss Lin Zhiying’s requests and the Dragon Blood Tide, then asked for the Underworld Bureau’s information and the Liu Household’s research on Private Dragons.
• Liu Manqing agreed to trade research on Ghost Dragon Veins for a list of rare beauty and health-preserving treasures, so Hu Mang asked Old Sha to help find them.
• Chen Xiaosan called Hu Mang in distress and urged him to turn on Divine Sense Communication, revealing a gloomy place with a blood-red celestial body and a gate bearing the name Fengdu.

Hu Mang discovered that Old Third had been assigned as a delivery worker in Fengdu and supplied him with a Ten-Thousand-Year Yin Pearl to help him form a high-quality Golden Core. After sending the supplies through the Ghost Dragon Vein, Hu Mang wondered whether it could locate Jiang Kuisha, while Elder Min confronted Zheng Qingbo about a test subject.

• Old Third told Hu Mang that his assessment had placed him in Fengdu as a delivery worker, and admitted he had spent half his Yin Virtue Qi cheating during the tests.
• Hu Mang showed Old Third the Ten-Thousand-Year Yin Pearl, which Old Third recognized as pure enough to support a high-quality Golden Core.
• Hu Mang assembled the pearl and other supplies, then approved their transfer through the Ghost Dragon Vein to Old Third in Fengdu.
• Hu Mang wondered whether the Ghost Dragon Vein could locate Jiang Kuisha and whether the Heavenly Gate was pursuing a larger plan.
• On Java Island, Jiacha led Zheng Qingbo to meet Elder Min, who said he had come because his test subject had appeared.

Hu Mang studied the Netherworld Record and learned about Underworld Bureau lore, ghost technology, and the dangers of industrial Spiritual Qi. Liang Xiaoqiu then brought him Master A Pei, a demonic-path weaponsmith, to discuss forging him a spear, and Hu Mang offered to cure the fire poison that had cost the old man his arm.

• Liu Manqing sent Hu Mang the Underworld Bureau’s Netherworld Record, which detailed ghosts, Underworld officials, Ghost Dragon Veins, and Bureau technology.
• Hu Mang read that most ancient Ghost Veins were swallowed by underground Turbid Qi, though some ghosts became unexplained anomalies.
• Hu Mang worried that industrial Spiritual Qi might fail to extend lifespans and that Heavenly Gate’s leaders could become Sinful Dragons.
• Liang Xiaoqiu brought the drunken Master A Pei to Hu Mang, explaining that she had guessed he needed a spear after seeing him practice.
• Hu Mang offered to remove Master A Pei’s fire poison, and the weaponsmith revealed that he had lost his arm forging a Fire Element Law Treasure and replaced it with a demonic Law Artifact prosthesis.

Hu Mang arranged for Master A Pei to forge a ghost spear and possibly Law Treasure-grade armor from materials he had recovered from the Dragon Blood Tide. Liang Yanqiu then asked him to help kill Zheng Qingbo, but Hu Mang refused to act without evidence and left her to continue investigating.

• Hu Mang explained to Liang Xiaoqiu that the Heavenly Gate avoided human modifications because they could damage the meridians needed for Core Formation, and learned that she had dual water and fire Spirit Roots.
• Hu Mang showed Master A Pei his forging materials, and the smith chose what he needed for a ghost spear and offered to attempt Law Treasure-grade armor with the rest.
• Hu Mang questioned whether he could trust Master A Pei with the valuable materials, but Liang Yanqiu vouched for the smith and sent Liang Xiaoqiu to see him out.
• Liang Yanqiu asked Hu Mang to kill Zheng Qingbo, claiming Zheng had dealt with a Heavenly Gate undercover operative and opposed the Heavenly Gate's proposed presence in Nanyang's maritime market.
• Hu Mang connected Zheng's opposition to his alleged human smuggling and cooperation with the demonic path, but demanded evidence before considering action and went to cultivate.

Hu Mang learned that a modified cultivator from the Zheng Family Garden had crippled Liang Jinchuan, but refused to take revenge on the Liang Household’s behalf. He began a breakthrough to master the True Intention of Subduing the White Tiger, and a fearsome tiger demon appeared in his vision.

• After combining Golden Nature Perfection, Inner Alchemy, and the True Meaning of Subduing Demons, Hu Mang developed the True Intention of Subduing the White Tiger and agreed to study Liang Xiaoqiu’s cultivation method.
• Liang Yanqiu and Hu Mang learned that a modified Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator from the Zheng Family Garden had crippled Liang Jinchuan while demanding to see the Heavenly Blood Python.
• Liang Jinchuan described the attacker’s Demonic Machine Hall modifications and Golden Core-level methods, while Hu Mang declined to lead the Liang Household’s retaliation.
• Liang Xiaoqiu told Hu Mang that people mocked him for not fighting back, but he said he had no obligation to risk his life for the Liang Household.
• Hu Mang sent Liang Xiaoqiu away and began using Daoist Inner Alchemy to subdue the essence Qi within his Dantian.
• As Hu Mang turned the essence Qi upward through his governing vessel, he envisioned a white-browed tiger demon emerging from a volcanic crater.

Hu Mang’s yao nature seized the chance to devour the Unraveled Rope Devil Meridian’s vital essence, disrupting his attempt to subdue the white tiger. He used a Thunder Net and the power of a divine tiger to suppress the yao fox, leaving a red-furred tiger in the white tiger’s place and completing the subjugation.

• Hu Mang’s Crimson Blood Fox Bloodline erupted while he was subduing the white tiger, and a yao tiger rampaged through his meridians.
• Hu Mang realized the yao tiger wanted to devour the Devil Meridian’s vital essence to strengthen his fox bloodline, but he refused to risk losing his Seven Absolutes Devil Meridians.
• Hu Mang recognized that the conflict between his yao and devil bloodlines would recur, and decided he could turn their struggle into an opportunity by harmonizing them.
• Liang Yanqiu’s silver bracelet grew hot, and people resting in the Liang Household Garden dreamed of a red divine tiger fighting a giant white tiger.
• Hu Mang wove a Thunder Net through his meridians and used his Thunder God Evolution to suppress the yao tiger.
• The yao tiger reverted to a four-tailed fox and vanished, while a red-furred tiger took the white tiger’s place and Hu Mang completed the subjugation.

Hu Mang helped Liang Xiaoqiu improve her cultivation before accompanying Liang Yanqiu to a vote at the Autonomous Association, where he encountered a gathering of powerful, heavily modified cultivators. The chapter ended as he assessed the dangerous crowd and the Demonic Machine Hall’s influence in Java.

• Liang Xiaoqiu told Hu Mang that Liang Yanqiu had used a hidden treasure to cripple the modified cultivator who had injured Liang Jinchuan and leave him at the Zheng Family Garden.
• Hu Mang examined Liang Xiaoqiu’s cultivation and adjusted three of her meridian paths, helping her advance from Foundation Establishment Early Stage to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• Liang Yanqiu told Liang Xiaoqiu to choose a treasure from the Lineage treasury and took Hu Mang to attend the Autonomous Association’s vote.
• Hu Mang and Liang Yanqiu traveled by sedan chair carried by Flood Dragon Pythons to the Autonomous Association’s island headquarters.
• Hu Mang sensed more than twenty Golden Cores at the headquarters and noticed that many attendants had undergone extensive Law Artifact modifications.

Hu Mang studied how Law Artifact prosthetics increased cultivators’ combat power at the cost of permanently limiting their cultivation, then refused Zheng Qingbo’s invitation to meet privately. He considered establishing his own power in Nanyang and received a call from the person who had hired him to investigate the demonic path’s Holy Son.

• Hu Mang examined a modified cultivator and sensed how his prosthetic Law Artifact linked to his meridians, enabling stronger and faster attacks while damaging his cultivation prospects.
• Hu Mang concluded that extensive modifications were costly and left most cultivators unable to advance beyond their current realm, though they greatly increased combat power.
• Jiacha approached Hu Mang and said Zheng Qingbo wanted to meet and clear things up, but Hu Mang insisted Zheng Qingbo come speak to him in public.
• After Jiacha left, Hu Mang decided he could build a Hu Household Garden of his own because neither Liang Yanqiu nor the Zheng Family Garden treated him as an equal.
• Spirit Pivot No. 1 rang, and Hu Mang saw that the caller was the person who had asked him to investigate the demonic path’s Holy Son.

After advising Lin Zhiying on investigating the Ghost Dragon Vein, Hu Mang learned that Elder Min had helped make him a Holy Son candidate and hoped to use him to restore the old cult masters. Hu Mang rejected the offer and suspected Zheng Qingbo had another power behind him, while Zheng Qingbo and Elder Min privately discussed Hu Mang's suitability.

• Hu Mang advised Lin Zhiying to investigate the Turbid Dragon's corpse and its Yin-Yang nodes to locate and classify the Ghost Dragon Vein.
• Elder Min revealed that he had arranged for Hu Mang to be tested as a Sealed Holy Son and offered him a place in the Holy Son Cult, along with help forming a Golden Core and Nascent Soul.
• Elder Min explained that the cult intended to restore the consciousnesses of five old cult masters through Sea Dragon Veins and a refined Nascent Soul, but Hu Mang rejected the offer.
• After Elder Min left, Hu Mang suspected he was only Zheng Qingbo's partner and that another force stood behind Zheng Qingbo.
• Liang Yanqiu told Hu Mang that the Autonomous Association had rejected a Heavenly Gate presence but approved the Yu Household's entry into the new sea market on Zheng Qingbo's proposal.
• At the Zheng Family Garden, Zheng Qingbo asked Elder Min whether Hu Mang qualified as a Holy Son candidate, and Elder Min called him ordinary.

Hu Mang cultivated in the ruined mechanism courtyard of Demon-Subduing City, using Subduing the White Tiger to purify the violent lightning Spiritual Qi and refine the Flower of Qi. Zheng Qingbo ordered Jiacha to sell Elder Min and Hu Mang to the Demonic Machine Hall, while Hu Mang completed the Flower of Qi and left his next step unresolved.

• Zheng Qingbo told Jiacha to find buyers among the new demonic cults for Elder Min and to offer Hu Mang to the Demonic Machine Hall for research.
• Hu Mang left Liang Yanqiu's carriage, used lightning Qi to travel to the Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub, and began cultivating at the ruined mechanism courtyard's formation core.
• Hu Mang used Subduing the White Tiger to filter the violent lightning Spiritual Qi and draw purified Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into his body.
• Hu Mang guided his innate primordial essence into the Shanzhong acupoint and used Reversing the River Chariot to refine it.
• The Dragon-Suppressing Stake's dragon roar and Subduing the White Tiger's tiger howl purified the Qi further, and Hu Mang formed the Flower of Qi in his Crimson Palace.

After condensing the Flower of Qi, Hu Mang collected a ghost-slaying spear and faced an ambush by modified cultivators from the Demonic Machine Hall. Meanwhile, Liang Yanqiu prepared to lead the Liang Household against the Zheng Family Garden instead of rescuing him.

• Hu Mang examined his new Innate True Qi and concluded that his strength made him nearly unbeatable on Java Island.
• Hu Mang collected the finished spear from Master A Pei and learned it could suppress practitioners connected to Nanyang's Evil Dao.
• Modified cultivators from the Demonic Machine Hall surrounded Hu Mang, including a Golden Core opponent whose limbs he had once broken.
• Hu Mang said the attackers' incomplete energy circulation made them especially vulnerable to him.
• Liang Xiaoqiu told Liang Yanqiu that her people were ready to rescue Hu Mang, but Liang Yanqiu ordered them to attack the Zheng Family Garden and settle their scores with Zheng.

Liang Yanqiu’s attack on the Zheng Family Garden was blocked by forces allied with Zheng Qingbo, while Hu Mang discovered his spear could neutralize the Salty Smoke Worms. Zheng Qingbo’s apparent confidence faltered when the worms fell asleep.

• Master Chao and Java Island’s royal guard leader confronted Liang Yanqiu, whose forces were overwhelmed and divided by the defending gangs.
• Wu Luosuo found the Demonic Machine Hall’s implanted Law Artifacts had exploded, and Chen Yaxing explained that the Heavenly Blood Python had disabled them merely by approaching or looking at them.
• Hu Mang entered the Zheng Family Garden and used the Devil-Breaking Needle against a cloud of Salty Smoke Worms, but the flies recovered.
• Hu Mang swept the worms with his spear, leaving them unable to fly despite surviving the attack.
• Zheng Qingbo watched the battle and declared the Liang Household finished, but an old Nanyang man’s finger turned into a fly as the Salty Smoke Worms fell asleep.

Hu Mang confronted Zheng Qingbo after Zheng had mobilized Nanyang sorcerers and a Golden Core elder against the Liang Household. He killed the two foreign sorcerers and faced Zheng’s Human-Body Buddha, revealing that he understood both demonic arts and Buddhist Divine Abilities.

• Zheng Qingbo summoned two foreign sorcerers to attack the Liang Household’s Seal Ghosts and sent Elder Zheng to investigate.
• Hu Mang arrived at Zheng Qingbo’s residence and killed the two foreign sorcerers before they could use their curse arts.
• Hu Mang reminded Zheng Qingbo that he had learned from him to crush sorcerers completely, then challenged him over his tangled network of allies.
• Zheng Qingbo revealed his Human-Body Buddha and explained that he had offered it a demonic path art to gain power.
• Hu Mang recognized the offering as Elder Min’s blood demon transformation and said he had waited for the right moment because he knew both demonic arts and Buddhist Divine Abilities.

Hu Mang defeated Zheng Qingbo by stripping away the Human-Body Buddha’s protection, seizing his Dragon Vein power, and binding him with the Three Yin Life and Death Talisman. He saved Secretary Jiacha and discovered a kindly old woman from the Liang Household had also been acting; afterward, both families declared victory in their war, while Hu Mang considered himself the true beneficiary.

• Hu Mang absorbed the Human-Body Buddha’s strange Buddhist power and persuaded it to withdraw the blood-colored kasaya protecting Zheng Qingbo.
• Zheng Qingbo revealed a Nanyang Dragon Vein, but Hu Mang caught its dragon shadow with the Ghost Dragon Claw and drained it into a dragon-blood jade pendant.
• Hu Mang placed the Three Yin Life and Death Talisman on Zheng Qingbo, turning him into a vacant, obedient puppet.
• Hu Mang healed Secretary Jiacha with Wisdom King Aizen’s Buddhist power and the Human-Body Buddha’s blood light, while the other Chinese man died.
• Hu Mang noticed another presence and met an old woman carrying the Sulu Wrapped Coconut Bone String, the Liang Household’s true heirloom.
• The fighting ended with the Liang Household Garden and Zheng Family Garden both claiming victory, while Hu Mang concluded that he had profited.

Hu Mang took control of the Zheng Family Garden and reviewed Zheng Qingbo’s assets and political connections while weighing two dangerous unresolved threats. As Liang Yanqiu arrived and mistook the disguised Hu Mang for her former husband, the real Boss Zheng emerged from the hidden room.

• Jiacha showed Hu Mang the Zheng Family Garden’s documents, and Hu Mang reviewed Zheng Qingbo’s extensive assets and connections beyond Java.
• Hu Mang told Jiacha that Zheng Qingbo’s mistresses would be made to worship Buddha rather than eliminated.
• Jiacha warned Hu Mang that the Demonic Machine Hall demanded answers over its losses and that the uncivilized Yi of Mandala Islet might retaliate for their dead leader.
• Hu Mang said he would take charge of the Zheng Family Garden while considering how to deal with the Yi and their uncontrolled ghosts.
• Liang Yanqiu arrived at the study and accused the apparent Zheng Qingbo of being alive, but Hu Mang’s disguise convinced her he was her former husband.
• The real Boss Zheng came out of the hidden room and told Hu Mang to stop acting so familiar with Liang Yanqiu.

Hu Mang rejected Liang Yanqiu’s demand for a share of the Zheng Family Garden, while Old Madam Liang left him a bone knife and an incantation. The next day, Zheng Qingbo’s many children arrived at the garden, where Hu Mang prepared to watch for conspirators as ghost infants caused another disturbance.

• Liang Yanqiu proposed that the Liang and Hu families share the Zheng Family Garden’s assets and offered help with its troubles, but Hu Mang refused her terms.
• Old Madam Liang gave Hu Mang Foreign Granny’s Offal Knife and vanished; ghost infants then emerged, and Hu Mang knocked them away with the ghost spear.
• The next day, Zheng Qingbo’s children and their families gathered outside the Zheng Family Garden, and Jiacha told Hu Mang that Zheng had thirteen sons and eighteen daughters, with two more women expecting.
• Hu Mang ordered Zheng Qingbo’s women and children to worship Buddha to make his feigned injuries convincing, and told Jiacha to watch Zheng’s descendants for conspiracies.
• Screams and commotion broke out in the front courtyard as ghost infants attacked people, so Hu Mang sent Jiacha to organize the people and went to deal with the ghosts.

Hu Mang used the Ghost Dragon Vein and a secret art taught by the Liang Household's old lady to suppress the Jiangtou ghosts in the Zheng Family Garden. He left the Salty Smoke Worms and other ghosts dormant beneath sheets of corpse dragon skin while the Zheng family fought over succession.

• Hu Mang examined the Human-Body Buddha and realized its power had accelerated his Buddhist cultivation toward Form Condensation, while considering ways to control it.
• Hu Mang saw that Zheng Qingbo had fainted as planned and went to deal with the Jiangtou ghosts in the rear courtyard.
• The Salty Smoke Worms swarmed Hu Mang after devouring the garden's livestock, but he reduced them to a carpet of corpses with his suppression implement.
• Hu Mang summoned the Ghost Dragon Vein and used Foreign Granny's Offal Knife to tear corpse dragon skin from the ground.
• Hu Mang covered the Salty Smoke Worms with the corpse dragon skin, putting them into a month-long dormancy, then suppressed other vicious ghosts beneath similar sheets.

After surviving the Liang family’s attack, Zheng Qingbo purged rivals and appointed ten bosses, including Hu Mang, to manage the Zheng Family Garden. Jiacha explained Hu Mang’s role and Zheng Qingbo’s defenses, while Hu Mang questioned why the boss relied on outside protectors and left the story poised on Jiacha’s answer.

• Zheng Qingbo returned looking healthy, punished his scheming sons and wives, and promoted ten trusted aides to bosses while he recovered.
• Jiacha told the bosses that Hu Mang had secretly fed them intelligence and helped stop the Liang family’s old matriarch from killing Zheng Qingbo’s forces.
• The bosses accepted Hu Mang’s appointment to command the Zheng Family Garden’s fighting force, and Jiacha said Zheng Qingbo’s injuries remained uncertain.
• Hu Mang’s ghost-ship power overwhelmed Jiacha with its presence, then Hu Mang listened as Jiacha reported on the bosses and three Golden Core cultivators who had offered to protect Zheng Qingbo.
• Hu Mang reasoned that Zheng Qingbo kept powerful allies abroad to reassure others without provoking local gangs, then asked Jiacha why he did not use his control over Zheng Qingbo on everyone else.

Hu Mang revealed how the Three Yin Life and Death Talisman kept Zheng Qingbo under his control, then took charge of the Zheng Family Garden and summoned its alley leaders. He left the leaders facing their new boss as he assessed the unfamiliar cultivators modified with technology he recognized.

• Zheng Qingbo realized his consciousness had returned but concealed his suspicions and pretended to sleep.
• Hu Mang appeared with Jiacha, killed Zheng Qingbo, and watched him revive as a puppet who obeyed Hu Mang’s command to sleep.
• Hu Mang explained to Jiacha how the talisman repeatedly sent Zheng Qingbo into suspended death when his self-awareness returned, and assigned Jiacha to manage him.
• Hu Mang privately acknowledged that the talisman had weaknesses but decided he could keep control and preserve the Zheng Family Garden.
• The next morning, Hu Mang summoned the seventeen alley leaders, recalled old grievances and acquaintances, and examined six unfamiliar modified cultivators.

Hu Mang established control over the Zheng Family Garden’s alley chiefs while preparing to address the Demonic Machine Hall and the Mandala Tribe. The chapter ended with the tribe’s new grand elder and its sorcerers gathered at deserted Port Surumai, facing the Zheng Family Garden’s cordon.

• Hu Mang defeated Hong Xiao Hu and the other augmented alley chiefs in sparring, earning the respect of both the old and new fighters.
• Hu Mang kept the Zheng Family Garden’s rival factions in check and explained why he had no interest in taking over the Liang Household Garden.
• Xue Hu warned Hu Mang that the Demonic Machine Hall planned to halt supplies and demand compensation, and Hu Mang decided to report the matter to Boss Zheng.
• Su Tiya explained that the Mandala Tribe’s promised vengeance likely concealed plans for blood Jiangtou and sacrifices, leaving Boss Zheng responsible for the trouble he had caused.
• The Mandala Tribe sent most of its blood-sacrifice sorcerers and ritual materials toward Port Surumai, where Su Tiya and the Zheng Family Garden’s forces formed a cordon against the new grand elder and his sorcerers.

Su Tiya and Moheita prepared to negotiate with the wild-tribe sorcerers, but Hu Mang used the Ghost Dragon Vein to sink their ship and drown everyone aboard. The Zheng Family Garden then sent Su Tiya, Moheita, and their sorcerers to eliminate the remaining wild tribesmen on Mandala Islet.

• Su Tiya told Moheita that the wild-tribe sorcerers would arrive soon and asked him to negotiate their departure in exchange for sacrifices supplied in private.
• A black ship carrying the wild-tribe sorcerers reached the port, led by an old sorcerer whose open belly contained an infant's head.
• Hu Mang unleashed the Ghost Dragon Vein, created a whirlpool beneath the ship, and dragged it to the seabed, drowning the sorcerers aboard.
• Zhou Shenzhi told Su Tiya and Moheita to join the expedition to eliminate the remaining wild tribesmen on Mandala Islet.
• Moheita agreed to mobilize his tribespeople, while Liang Yanqiu and Liang Xiaoqiu watched the ship sink from the port.

Zheng Qingbo met with Sun Youcai at the Demonic Machine Hall to discuss his sorcery injuries and ask for help lifting the Incantation. Sun Youcai consulted two fellow Sealed Holy Sons, who became more interested in Hu Mang’s Seven Absolutes Bloodline than in Zheng Qingbo’s story.

• After the Zheng Family Garden sank an Incantation ship, Zheng Qingbo and Hu Mang visited the Demonic Machine Hall headquarters, where Hu Mang sensed that Sun Youcai shared his Seven Absolutes Bloodline.
• Sun Youcai revealed that he had sent men after Hu Mang and asked Zheng Qingbo why he had brought Hu Mang into the Zheng Family Garden.
• Zheng Qingbo said Madam Liang had arranged for Hu Mang to work beside him and used an Incantation to help sink the ship; he asked Sun Youcai to compensate for the failed operation and seek a way to lift Zheng’s Incantation.
• After Zheng Qingbo left, Sun Youcai used a Law Artifact helmet to contact two other Sealed Holy Sons and told them about Hu Mang.
• The two Sealed Holy Sons speculated about how Hu Mang had unsealed his bloodline and whether he might be a Heavenly Gate spy, while Sun Youcai asked whether Zheng Qingbo had been truthful or was plotting something.

Hu Mang strengthened his ties with Sun Youcai while learning about the New Demonic Path’s Sealed Holy Sons, then returned to Demon-Subduing City to attempt core formation. He found that the city’s Thunder Net was still intact and realized he could use it.

• Sun Youcai and the Blood Sea Holy Son decided to draw Hu Mang into their circle by offering him a say in Law Artifact modifications and probing his connections.
• Hu Mang met Sun Youcai, learned about overseas Demonic Dao modifications and the Sealed Holy Sons’ rankings, and let Sun Youcai believe he might have ties to the Heavenly Gate authorities.
• Sun Youcai gave Hu Mang the emptied body of Old Man Min, hoping someone could recover fragments of his memories, and promised to work exclusively with him on Zheng Family Garden business.
• Hu Mang returned to the Mechanism Compound in Demon-Subduing City and tried to form a Golden Core, but his perfected Golden Nature made the process difficult.
• Hu Mang realized the city’s Thunder Net remained even though its Tribulation Eye and demon-subduing ground were gone.