Recaps

Hu Mang reunited with Chen Sheng and confronted Old Evil Hu and the Beauty Python before meeting Zhen'ezi, a Ghost Immortal of the Thunder Sect. After testing Zhen'ezi with a lightning attack, Hu Mang heard the group’s plan to suppress the false Thunder God, and Zhen'ezi turned to him for his response.

• Hu Mang explained that the divine offices included the Yamas of the Ten Courts, then reunited with Chen Sheng, who had disguised himself in women's clothing to blend with the Yin Makeup.
• Hu Mang asserted his rank over Old Evil Hu and frightened the Beauty Python with his demonic eyes as the group proceeded to the fourth level.
• Chen Sheng recognized Zhen'ezi as a Ghost Immortal, and Hu Mang launched a thunderstorm at him to test his strength; Zhen'ezi remained unharmed.
• Zhen'ezi identified himself as a member of the Thunder Sect, and Rogue Person Yunxiu explained that at least five Thunder God incarnations threatened Demon-Subduing City.
• After Zhen'ezi displayed his sect token, Old Evil Hu and the Beauty Python agreed to help suppress the false god, and Zhen'ezi looked to Hu Mang, whose attitude remained unchanged.

Hu Mang told Zhen'ezi that he knew the location of the fifth Thunder God incarnation, Gong Lei, but refused to join the Thunder Sect's fight against the false gods. After Hu Mang and his companions withdrew, he explained that Zhen'ezi's sense of duty to reopen Demon-Subduing City had kept negotiations from turning violent.

• Hu Mang revealed his connection between Gong Lei, the Thunder God's Shrine, and He Chang, identifying Gong Lei as the likely fifth Thunder God incarnation.
• Zhen'ezi apologized for Mingting's attack and offered compensation, but Hu Mang rejected the apology and warned that he would kill Mingting if their strength ever matched.
• Hu Mang said he would not let appeals to righteousness force him into Zhen'ezi's plans, and invited the others to choose whether to stay or leave.
• Chen Sheng declined to fight, and Zhou Yu also refused because he had to protect Zhou Tong; Hu Mang led them away from Zhen'ezi and Rogue Person Yunxiu.
• Back on the third floor, Hu Mang explained that Zhen'ezi could not risk fighting because the Thunder Sect disciple was essential to reopening Demon-Subduing City.

Hu Mang and the others examined the treasures he had obtained, and Chen Sheng identified the Corpse Liberation Book as a guide to preparing for a rare form of immortal ascension. The group learned about the method’s risks and possibilities, while Hu Mang began studying the Azure Mysterious Realm’s written language with Zhou Tong.

• Hu Mang asked Zhou Yu whether the person on the other side could hear them, and Zhou Yu said he would know if anyone tried to interfere with the prison.
• Hu Mang showed Chen Sheng the Storage Bag, the rib, and the Corpse Liberation Book; Chen Sheng explained how to open the sealed bag and identified the rib as a demonic-path inheritance written in Shamanic Script.
• Chen Sheng recognized the booklet as an orthodox guide to becoming a Corpse Liberation Immortal, and Zhou Yu joined him to study it while Hu Mang asked Zhou Tong to teach him to read.
• Hu Mang quickly learned the Azure Mysterious Realm’s writing, while Chen Sheng and Zhou Yu studied the book and discussed the nature of Corpse Liberation.
• Hu Mang realized the book described a kind of consciousness-based ascension similar to uploading consciousness to a network, and Chen Sheng confirmed that the guide covered preparing the body for Corpse Liberation, though it lacked the core method.

Hu Mang used the Dragon Eye to investigate the Tribulation Eye and discovered a hidden fifth floor beneath the Demon-Subduing Prison, where an unknown figure held the source of the prison’s tribulations. The figure sent the Tribulation Eye into Hu Mang’s left eye, and activating the Dragon Eye afterward triggered an overwhelming sense of danger.

• Chen Sheng proposed relocating the group and using their divine offices and the female Heavenly General’s corpse to establish a false office that could resist the Thunder God.
• Hu Mang, Chen Sheng, and Zhou Yu chose the Tempering Treasury as the site for their manor, while Hu Mang planned to join them after fulfilling a request for monk Jingtu.
• Hu Mang used the Dragon Eye to trace the Tribulation Eye’s threads through the prison and discovered a fifth floor beneath the fourth.
• On the fifth floor, Hu Mang saw an unknown figure holding the Tribulation Eye and controlling the prison’s tribulation force.
• The figure flicked the Tribulation Eye into Hu Mang’s left eye, after which Hu Mang’s extraordinary vision failed and trying to activate the Dragon Eye brought a terrifying sense of danger.

Hu Mang tracked down the fake monk Wei Fotuo while Zhou Yu, Old Chen, and Chen Sheng cleared the Tempering Treasury of Devil Creatures. After discovering its lightning-fire furnace, Hu Mang warned Old Chen that the final battle in Demon-Subduing City might come soon and asked for his help.

• Hu Mang saw that gray-black threads of tribulation had wound around his fate after he glimpsed the mysterious figure on the fifth level.
• Hu Mang joined Jingtu and used their Buddhist connection to track down Wei Fotuo, whom Jingtu captured while Hu Mang took the monk's Storage Bag.
• Jingtu channeled Buddhist power from Wei Fotuo into Demon-Subduing City's lightning net after Hu Mang left.
• Zhou Yu, Old Chen, and Chen Sheng fought the Devil Creatures in the Tempering Treasury, and Hu Mang's spear and black clouds annihilated the remaining devils with golden lightning.
• Hu Mang and Old Chen found the lightning-fire furnace, which Hu Mang recognized as a lightning eye, and Hu Mang asked Old Chen for help with the approaching final battle.

Hu Mang showed Old Chen Sheng his plan to wire Demon-Subduing City's thunder network and briefly seize control of it, but Chen questioned whether Hu had the body and realm to wield that power. Hu revealed an unsettling, seemingly Primordial Spirit-level presence, leaving Old Chen frozen with fear.

• Old Chen Sheng explained that the great-school disciples would likely fight the Thunder God themselves because summoning their elders would be difficult and Zhen'ezi would not retreat.
• Hu Mang gave Chen Sheng his first-phase renovation plan, which proposed connecting the city's formation cores and thunder nodes to control Law Artifacts.
• Chen Sheng recognized the plan as a way to take temporary control of the city's thunder network and create Primordial Spirit-level power; Hu showed him the devices he had brought to build it.
• Chen Sheng warned that Hu still needed a Primordial Spirit-level body and realm to control that power, and questioned whether Hu could achieve either.
• Hu Mang said he was six-tenths confident in his body, then revealed cold, slit-pupiled eyes and asked how Chen knew he lacked a Primordial Spirit-level realm.

Hu Mang and Old Chen Sheng prepared a prison manor by combining the Prison-Subduing Officials’ powers with Hu Mang’s thunder office, while Zhen'ezi and Daoist Yun Shuo coordinated plans to confront the Thunder God. The chapter ended with Hu Mang considering a lightning puppet as a better formation core and learning that its size and spiritual nature made it difficult to transport.

• Hu Mang explained how he could use a new tribulation to overwrite an old one, and Old Chen Sheng agreed to help him prepare for the danger posed by the Thunder God.
• After Zhou Yu finished clearing the treasuries, Chen Sheng used the female general’s corpse and a ghost formation to awaken the demon-subduing power within it.
• Zhou Yu and Turbid Sha Old Man joined their Prison-Subduing Official powers to form a prison around the treasury, while Hu Mang activated his Heavenly Soldier Divine Office and merged its power with Zhou Yu’s.
• Zhen'ezi and Rogue Person Yun discussed the righteous disciples’ defensive stance, while Gourd Daoist urged them to confront the Thunder God; outside the city, Daoist Yun Shuo asked Bai Ningjie to unseal her sword as he prepared to assist Zhen'ezi.
• Hu Mang showed Old Chen Sheng the three-story Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub and asked whether it would make a better formation core than the heavenly general’s corpse, but Chen Sheng noted that it could not fit in a Storage Bag.

Hu Mang and Old Chen Sheng rerouted spiritual conduits to prepare Demon-Subduing City’s thunder network, but a new Thunder God summoned the city’s divine officials. At the shrine, He Chang rallied the gathered officials before an ominous Buddha interrupted his speech.

• Hu Mang and Old Chen Sheng inspected the thunder puppet and began rerouting spiritual conduits for Hu Mang’s plan.
• Old Chen Sheng advised Hu Mang to return after the new Thunder God summoned the surviving divine officials, but Hu Mang chose to visit two more demon-suppressing sites and test the Thunder God’s strength.
• Nearly thirty divine officials gathered at the largest Thunder God’s Shrine as its thunder patterns and bronze statues blazed with power.
• He Chang urged the gathered officials to recognize the strength and status their divine offices had given them.
• A Buddha interrupted He Chang, warning that few listeners might survive his scripture lecture.

Jingtu and Zhen'ezi confronted the Thunder Official at the Thunder God's Shrine while Daoist Yun Shuo used the Eight Trigrams diagram to weaken the shrine's divine power. Zhen'ezi shattered the new Thunder God statue, rescued Zhang Zhixian, and vanished with him as the shrine collapsed.

• Jingtu taunted He Chang and withstood the Thunder Official's darkness before Zhen'ezi advised him to abandon his attachment to the Devil Blood Kasaya.
• Zhen'ezi offered incense and bowed to the closed Thunder God's Shrine, causing its gates to open and revealing a new gilded avatar statue.
• Zhen'ezi's Ghost God light clashed with the statue's golden divine light as Daoist Yun Shuo shifted Demon-Subduing City from the Zhen position to the Gen position, disrupting the shrine's power.
• Zhen'ezi manifested before the statue and shattered it, revealing the missing Zhang Zhixian inside.
• Zhen'ezi seized Zhang Zhixian and vanished with him as the Thunder God's Shrine collapsed.

Hu Mang and Chen Sheng realized righteous cultivators had rescued Zhang Zhixian and changed Demon-Subduing City's terrain to suppress the Thunder God. After returning from the construction site, Hu Mang fought Jiang Kaiming and met Dao Ying of the Shadow Devil Sect, leaving the encounter poised for questions about the wounded devil cultivator.

• Hu Mang and Chen Sheng deduced that Zhen'ezi had rescued Zhang Zhixian from the Thunder God's divine statue while righteous cultivators reversed Demon-Subduing City's eight trigrams.
• Hu Mang kept his eyes closed to contain the power of the two Dragon Eyes, and he and Chen Sheng headed back to the Tempering Treasury.
• The Turbid Sha Old Man version of the Prison-Subduing Official blocked Hu Mang and Chen Sheng's path, and Hu Mang sent Chen Sheng away before ghostly attackers emerged.
• Hu Mang fought the Devil-Slaying Bladesman in the dark and recognized him as Jiang Kaiming, then warned him against attacking again.
• Hu Mang sensed a devil cultivator beneath Jiang Kaiming and asked his identity, and the cultivator emerged and introduced himself as Dao Ying of the Shadow Devil Sect.

Hu Mang rejected Dao Ying's offer to join the Shadow Devil Sect, then faced the chaos as the Devil Suppression Towers fell and a devil tribulation unleashed the Devil Creatures across Demon-Subduing City. As the battle raged around the Tempering Treasury, Hu Mang learned Zhou Yu's sister was safely refining Law Artifacts in the Black Tortoise Treasury and promised she would be protected.

• Hu Mang questioned Dao Ying about the Shadow Devil Sect and refused to join, while a strange force briefly split the clouds above Demon-Subduing City.
• The Devil Suppression Towers collapsed, sending black devil light into the thunderclouds and driving Devil Creatures into a violent assault across the city.
• Hu Mang defended the Tempering Treasury as devil-subduing lightning struck reawakened corpses and the Demon-Subduing Prison dragged them away in chains.
• Prison-Subduing Official Zhou Yu emerged from the prison with a charred corpse as Hu Mang explained that the Thunder God had reversed the city's Devil Subjugation Restrictions.
• Hu Mang told Zhou Yu that his younger sister was secluded in the Black Tortoise Treasury refining Law Artifacts, and assured him that he and Old Chen would protect her.

Hu Mang and Zhou Yu confronted Gong Lei, who withdrew without attacking, and Hu Mang used the lightning-fire furnace to charge a fragment before returning to the Heavenly Gate. He collected the spiritual-electricity converters and a spirit crystal deconstructor, then was recognized by a girl in military uniform as he prepared to leave.

• Zhou Yu offered Hu Mang his Prison-Subduing Official office if matters reached a crisis, and Hu Mang agreed.
• Gong Lei appeared amid the devil tide, prompting Hu Mang and Zhou Yu to unleash their divine offices, but she soon vanished without fighting.
• Hu Mang charged a fragment in the lightning-fire furnace, unaware that the female general's skeleton had grabbed his spear.
• Hu Mang teleported to the Heavenly Gate, collected the converters and Old Fifth's spirit crystal deconstructor from Uncle Ma's warehouse, and prepared to travel back.
• A girl in military uniform recognized Hu Mang as he was about to leave.

Hu Mang evaded Little Xu after his Dragon Eye released tribulation power, then discovered the heavenly general’s remains had awakened and all four gates of Demon-Subduing City had opened. Old Chen concluded that the Thunder God might be preparing to flee the city, leaving the righteous-path forces to decide whether to pursue or risk letting him escape.

• Little Xu confronted Hu Mang about the Heavenly Blood Python, but Hu Mang denied knowing him and agreed to pass along Little Xu’s invitation to spar.
• Hu Mang’s Dragon Eye activated as Little Xu was leaving, overwhelming him with its presence before Hu Mang escaped through a Law Artifact.
• Hu Mang returned to find the heavenly general’s remains standing and holding Shattering Thunder, while Zhou Tong reported that all four gates of Demon-Subduing City had opened.
• Old Chen explained that the opened gates had undermined the city’s defenses, and Zhou Tong suggested that the Thunder God might be planning to leave.
• Old Chen agreed that the Thunder God could survive outside the city in the Thunder Commandery Domain, and said his cunning had put the righteous-path forces in a difficult position.

Hu Mang could not retrieve his spear from the lightning-fire furnace, and the Judgment of Righteousness and Devilry selected him for a dangerous trial. At the South City marketplace, he found himself surrounded by Thunder God officials, who summoned a pillar of lightning against him.

• Hu Mang and his companions failed to free his spear from the furnace, and Hu Mang realized the trouble was connected to the female heavenly general's corpse.
• Hu Mang's Heavenly Soldier Divine Office activated the Judgment of Righteousness and Devilry, and he decided to leave while Zhou Yu and the others stayed behind to keep the estate open.
• Hu Mang arrived at the South City marketplace, recognized it from the Demon-Subduing Bustling Market Painting, and confronted a Blessing-Prayer Decree holder who turned out to be a paper figure.
• He Chang appeared as a Thunder Official, and more than a dozen Thunder God subordinates emerged to surround Hu Mang.
• The Blessing-Prayer Decree holder revealed that he could summon thunder and struck Hu Mang with a massive pillar of lightning.

Hu Mang fought He Chang and the Thunder Ministry officials while the Life-and-Death Tribulation tightened around him. As the devil tide engulfed the battlefield, Hu Mang gained a devil-path Primordial Spirit and prepared to break the tribulation.

• He Chang transformed into a Punishment Beast and attacked Hu Mang, who redirected his lightning and struck He Chang with a Dragon-Suppressing Stake kick.
• He Chang recovered while the Thunder Ministry officials joined the fight with chains, command flags, thunder drums, and weapons, forcing Hu Mang onto the defensive.
• Hu Mang’s Formation Character Instruction revealed the opponents’ coordinated strengths, while his Mysterious Yin Devil Moon let him find narrow ways to survive their attacks.
• Hu Mang sensed Gong Lei watching from the darkness and realized the battle was part of his Life-and-Death Tribulation.
• Hu Mang drew the devil tide toward the marketplace execution ground, weakening the Thunder Ministry officials’ divine might, then vanished into the devil fog.
• Hu Mang declared that the Devil Tribulation had granted him a devil-path Primordial Spirit and that he would break the tribulation.

Hu Mang comprehended the Realm of Three Yin and opened the Cauldron-Boiling Devil Meridian while completing the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal. His Buddhist attack suppressed Gong Lei and the paper-person agents, but he vanished afterward and hid in the Hundred-Well Abyss, having exhausted the tribulations that fueled his Primordial Spirit-level realm.

• Hu Mang chose to force himself to comprehend the remaining hand seals rather than launch a hasty attack, and his half-demon bloodline awakened under the strain.
• Hu Mang formed the Three Yin Flowers, comprehended the Realm of Three Yin, and opened the Cauldron-Boiling Devil Meridian, absorbing the congested Devil Qi.
• Hu Mang comprehended the Formation Character Instruction and completed the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal as the Thunder God's subordinates blasted apart the devil clouds.
• Hu Mang's colossal Buddha image drew in and suppressed the blue-green paper people, then struck Gong Lei with the Vajra Devil-Subduing Seal and wounded her hand.
• Hu Mang vanished as the Buddha image dissipated, and Daoist Yun Shuo recognized the attack as the Form Realm Great Hand Seal.
• Hu Mang hid in the Hundred-Well Abyss after his Primordial Spirit-level clash consumed all the tribulations he had gathered.

Hu Mang escaped Gong Lei’s death trap and used the Cauldron-Boiling Devil Meridian to absorb Supreme Yin Qi, rapidly strengthening his body while weighing the dangerous Rotten Bones Great Method. During cultivation, his consciousness drifted to an unfamiliar immortal mountain, where a white-robed fairy sensed him and mistook his Buddha light for that of a Buddhist.

• Hu Mang reviewed how killing the Blessing Invocation Officer had opened a path out of the trap while Gong Lei had posed its deadly threat.
• Hu Mang discovered that the Cauldron-Boiling Devil Meridian refined Supreme Yin Qi into exceptionally pure Profound Yin Devil Qi and let him cultivate the Profound Yin Body Refining Technique safely.
• Hu Mang rejected the Rotten Bones Great Method after learning that completing it would dissolve his body’s flesh and organs, leaving him a skeleton.
• As righteous disciples fought the Thunder God above, Hu Mang’s body and consciousness changed under the influence of the Three Yin Flowers.
• Hu Mang’s drifting consciousness reached an unfamiliar immortal mountain, where a white-robed fairy drew her sword and challenged him.
• Hu Mang used Buddha-Devil Transformation, and the fairy wondered if he was a Buddhist.

Hu Mang’s consciousness entered Bai Ningjie’s spiritual realm, where he learned about her and Daoist Yun Shuo’s plans and shared news from Demon-Subduing City. After declining to join their effort against Thunder God, he left them considering where his loyalties lay.

• Bai Ningjie and Daoist Yun Shuo questioned Hu Mang about the Great Hand Seal and the events in Demon-Subduing City, including Zhen'ezi’s rescue of Zhang Zhixian and clashes with Thunder God.
• Hu Mang warned that Thunder God might have found Zhen'ezi, making Bai Ningjie’s sword intent surge until Daoist Yun Shuo calmed her and protected Hu Mang’s consciousness.
• Hu Mang learned that Daoist Yun Shuo was thirty-three and Bai Ningjie was twenty-four, then privately guessed they were old cultivators leveling alternate lives.
• Hu Mang said Thunder God might flee and explained that he would fight her if necessary, though he doubted he could catch her if she escaped.
• Bai Ningjie offered to join forces against Thunder God in exchange for the resources of Demon-Subduing City, but Hu Mang declined and said the devil path recruited people too.
• When Daoist Yun Shuo asked whether he trusted the righteous path or the devil path, Hu Mang answered that he believed in science.

Hu Mang emerged from the Grand Yin Pool with his Profound Yin Body Refining Technique mastered and saw immense tribulation clouds pressing over Demon-Subduing City. He rushed to the Tempering Treasury, where Turbid Sha Old Man had risen again and was breaking free of Zhou Yu’s prison barriers.

• Daoist Yun Shuo told Bai Ningjie that Hu Mang had warned them about a blade devil from the Shadow Devil Sect who stole the Devil-Slaying Bladesman’s shadow.
• Hu Mang broke out of the iceberg, gained a Profound Yin black robe and new hair, and flew toward the Tempering Treasury on a devil cloud.
• Hu Mang used his Dragon Eyes to see dense tribulation clouds sinking over Demon-Subduing City and noticed forces clashing above the Tempering Treasury.
• Old Chen called for Hu Mang to stop Zhou Yu and Turbid Sha Old Man, who had risen from the dead and was unleashing the Five Turbidities.
• Hu Mang drew in the nearby devil Qi, devil mist, and devil waves and sent them surging toward Turbid Sha Old Man.

Hu Mang defeated the reanimated Turbid Sha Old Man, absorbed Zhou Yu’s Prison-Subduing Official divine office, and used the Life-Preserving Cat Tail to revive him. He left Zhou Yu and Zhou Tong in Chen Sheng’s care and headed to the thunderfire furnace to investigate his own concerns.

• Hu Mang fought Turbid Sha Old Man’s reanimated corpse, while another figure bound it with Soul-Locking Chains and Old Chen called for its head to be spared.
• Hu Mang tore out Turbid Sha Old Man’s spine, stopping the corpse and dispersing the Qi of the Five Turbidities.
• Old Chen explained that Zhou Yu had bound himself so Zhou Tong could kill him and survive the Judgment of Righteousness and Devilry, but Turbid Sha Old Man’s corpse had forced Zhou Yu to fight instead.
• Hu Mang asked Zhou Yu if he feared death, then tore out his heart and absorbed the prison runes and divine office into his Heavenly Soldier Divine Office.
• Hu Mang restored Zhou Yu’s heart and used the Life-Preserving Cat Tail to revive him, causing Zhou Tong to faint.
• Hu Mang left Zhou Yu and Zhou Tong with Chen Sheng and went to the thunderfire furnace to seek answers.

Hu Mang witnessed the female heavenly general sacrifice her lifespan to evolve her spear techniques and tear open the lightning net, learning that she had once grievously wounded Gong Lei. As he continued inheriting her insights, divine officials gathered outside the Tempering Treasury, where Old Man Chen tried to protect Zhou Yu and Zhou Tong before someone confronted him.

• Hu Mang entered the furnace and used the Heavenly Soldier Divine Office to witness the female heavenly general's memories of studying the Ascension Platform and evolving her spear techniques.
• The female heavenly general fought Jade Firmament divine officials and burned through her lifespan while seeking a way past the city's lightning net without opening a divine mansion.
• She drove Shattering Thunder through the lightning net, creating an opening and grievously wounding Gong Lei, whom Hu Mang recognized as the net's earliest self-awareness.
• Hu Mang realized Gong Lei pursued whoever inherited the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier's Divine Office and reflected that he had gained the heavenly general's spear insights in return.
• Old Man Chen noticed divine officials gathering outside the Tempering Treasury and tried to drag Zhou Yu and Zhou Tong farther inside.
• Someone put a hand on Old Man Chen's shoulder and questioned why he had not run away.

Hu Mang fought his way through the remnants of the divine dynasty in the Tempering Treasury, revealing the power of the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier and the legacy he had inherited. When the heavens tried to strip his divine office, he instead ignited it with the Divine Kindling Method, leaving his power surging as he faced Gong Lei.

• Hu Mang activated the Yang Spear state and formed Innate Thunder Armor, then sent Old Chen to maintain the spirit-electricity converter and imprisoned two fallen foes underground.
• Hu Mang charged the encircling divine officials and defeated He Chang, the Thunder Patrol Soldier, the Lightning-Drawn Sentry, and the Drum-Beating Strongman.
• Hu Mang caught the Locking Thunder Official with Soul-Locking Chains and crushed his head with his bare hand, then killed many more officials until the survivors fled.
• Hu Mang left the Tempering Treasury while absorbing Tribulation Qi and Calamity Ash, as He Chang reported the defeat to Gong Lei.
• The heavens parted the clouds and shone on Hu Mang, but the attempt to strip his divine office instead triggered the Divine Kindling Method and made his power rise.
• Hu Mang recited the completed poem and pointed his spear toward Gong Lei as his burning divine light surged to rival the heavenly light.

Hu Mang burned the divine offices he had absorbed and fought Gong Lei, but his spear technique still kept him from dealing effective damage. As they clashed, Mingting arrived over Demon-Subduing City while Daoist Yun Shuo chose to hold back.

• Hu Mang instantly absorbed the divine offices of the slain officials, greatly increasing his power through Divine Office Burning.
• Gong Lei attacked Hu Mang with the Thunder Net, but he endured her strike and hit her with devil-subduing lightning.
• Hu Mang used the Seven Seals and charged Gong Lei, while Daoist Yun Shuo watched the battle and refused to draw his sword.
• Mingting descended toward Demon-Subduing City in his Yang Spirit avatar, and Daoist Yun Shuo decided to let him intervene.
• Hu Mang and Gong Lei sent each other flying again, and Hu Mang's spear technique began improving rapidly despite his inability to wound her effectively.

Hu Mang used the Eye of the Tribulation Dragon and a blank square seal to turn the Spiritual Qi flooding Demon-Subduing City into a means of challenging Gong Lei and claiming a divine office. As the clouds darkened over the city, the Thunder Official’s authority began leaving He Chang, revealing that Hu Mang aimed to become the Thunder God.

• Hu Mang fused his Three Devil-Subduing Forms and used four ocular techniques to search Gong Lei’s lightning net, glimpsing a coffin containing a woman whose face matched Gong Lei’s.
• Gong Lei exploited Hu Mang’s distraction and struck him, weakening the divine fire around him; Hu Mang then activated a remote-control Law Artifact in the Tempering Treasury.
• The artifact triggered pillars of Spiritual Qi from sites throughout Demon-Subduing City, and Hu Mang flew into the resulting clouds as Gong Lei pursued him.
• Hu Mang released the tribulation power stored in the Eye of the Tribulation Dragon to control the Spiritual Qi and began transforming a blank square seal into a thunder seal.
• Daoist Yun Shuo recognized that Hu Mang had achieved Unity of Heaven and Man without warning, while He Chang watched the Thunder Official’s authority disappear from him.

Hu Mang seized control of Demon-Subduing City's lightning network, destroyed Gong Lei, and struck down the Thunder God’s supposed true body, revealing that it was not what it seemed. As others rushed to confront him, a mysterious figure tried to leave but was intercepted by Bai Ningjie, whose devil sword exposed its genuine immortal body.

• Hu Mang transformed the lightning seal, rose to the position of Thunder God, and channeled the city's lightning into Shattering Thunder.
• Hu Mang took control of the lightning network and used its spear-like nodes to destroy Gong Lei.
• Hu Mang comprehended the Zhe-Character Instruction and Xing-Character Instruction, unified the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal, and shattered the figure in the lightning network's opening.
• Daoist Yun Shuo, Zhang Zhixian, Zhen'ezi, and Mingting reacted as they realized something was wrong, while a mysterious figure appeared and attempted to depart.
• Bai Ningjie struck the mysterious figure with Jade Lock Devil Heart, breaking its heavenly-secret defenses and revealing its genuine immortal body.