Chapter Summaries

Hu Mang joined the ghost ship’s Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and entered its hold to find a way to take control before its spreading corruption overwhelmed him. He reached the ship’s core and discovered a helm sealed inside a mass of Tribulation Qi.

• Hu Mang recognized the ghost ship as a naturally formed Ghost Dragon Vein beginning to create a Ghost Haunt, then joined the water ghosts carrying it.
• Lin Zhiying and the Flood Dragon Hunting Squad found Tribulation Oil and investigated the Turbid Dragon Vein brewing beneath the seabed.
• Hu Mang felt the Night Parade’s collective consciousness and the ship’s heartbeat erasing the water ghosts’ stray thoughts, while contamination spread across his security uniform.
• Hu Mang climbed into the ghost ship’s hold and used his Tribulation Eye to follow its dense veins of Tribulation Qi toward the core.
• Hu Mang found a ship’s helm wrapped in layers of Tribulation Qi and natural runes near the stern.

Hu Mang took control of the ghost ship by overpowering its consciousness, learning that the Dragon Blood Tide came from a Turbid Dragon facing death as an artificial Sea Dragon Vein formed. As he steered the ship out, Penglai Island ordered everyone to evacuate the Dragon Blood Tide, but most cultivators ignored the warning.

• Hu Mang touched the ghost ship's core and learned that the Turbid Dragon had stirred up the Dragon Blood Tide to resist the creation of a new Sea Dragon Vein.
• Hu Mang realized the Turbid Qi could erupt within a day or two and that his body was rapidly turning into a ghost.
• Hu Mang forcibly joined his consciousness with the ghost ship's, seized its helm, and transformed his security uniform into a captain's uniform with the Eye of the Ghost King.
• Hu Mang gained the ability to perceive the surrounding waters and direct the ghost ship and its water ghosts through the Dragon Blood Tide.
• On the morning of the third day, Penglai Island issued a Penglai Command ordering all cultivators to withdraw from the Dragon Blood Tide.
• Most cultivators ignored the warning, and only a dozen or so Golden Core cultivators gathered around Ao Tianhai.

Ao Tianhai and the Heavenly Gate forces prepared for the coming Turbid Qi eruption, while Old Zhu and Old Sha worried that their missing companion had died. At three in the afternoon, the Dragon Blood Tide erupted into a vast Asura battlefield.

• Ao Tianhai told the Golden Core cultivators that the enemy included one or two people about as strong as him, then flew toward the inner islands.
• Old Zhu told Old Sha that their missing companion had not returned, and Old Sha asked whether he had prepared death compensation.
• Military officers and experts aboard the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship planned to suppress the Turbid Dragon and keep the operation under navy control.
• At three in the afternoon, the Dragon Blood Tide’s waters darkened, its sea vents became erratic, and sea creatures fled the core region.
• Countless pillars of Turbid Qi burst from the seabed and transformed the Dragon Blood Tide into a vast Asura battlefield.

The Dragon Blood Tide unleashed Turbid Qi across the Thirty-Six Islands, threatening to destroy the region as Ao Tianhai transformed and joined with the Turbid Dragon. Lord Lin’s Flood Dragon Hunting Squads attacked the Dragon Vein with Thunder Crow Arrows that released Clear Qi, provoking the Turbid Dragon’s furious response.

• Turbid Qi erupted across the sea, killing fleeing cultivators and consuming ships as the Dragon Vein tore apart the seabed and drained Spiritual Qi from the islands.
• Ao Tianhai leaped into the Turbid Qi, transformed into a dragon-like form, reached Nascent Soul-level cultivation, and summoned an illusory black dragon.
• The Sea-Pacifying Divine Warships deployed ten Flood Dragon Hunting Squads, while Lin Zhiying remained with her reserve squad because she had returned late from searching for the demonic path.
• The warships fired Thunder Crow Arrows that released Clear Qi, which spread through and neutralized Turbid Qi to create a vast pale-blue zone over the sea.
• The Turbid Dragon roared in fury, its sound shaking the cultivators and making even Golden Core cultivators feel watched from beneath the sea.

The Dragon-Slaying Department’s squads mastered enough of the Dragon Vein’s consciousness to begin severing it and forming an artificial Sea Dragon Vein. As Lin Zhiying watched from the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship, a demonic cultivator’s Ghost Dragon Vein emerged in a ghost ship and attacked; her squad received approval to launch a decapitation strike.

• Clear Qi Bombs exposed the enormous Turbid Dragon beneath the East Sea, whose pressure nearly overwhelmed the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship’s shield.
• Flood Dragon Hunting Squad 03 mastered 5.3 percent of the Dragon Vein’s consciousness, and two more squads helped push the total above 15 percent.
• The Dragon Blood Tide erupted again as Lin Zhiying noticed an ancient ghost ship rising from the sea and identified it as a Ghost Dragon Vein controlled by a dangerous demonic cultivator.
• The ghost ship’s Yin Qi transformed sea beasts into ghosts, and tens of thousands of water ghosts carried the vessel across the sea.
• The Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship released its Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and activated the Sea-Pacifying Forbidden Technique, slowing the ghost ship and destroying many ghostified creatures.
• Lin Zhiying requested deployment for Flood Dragon Hunting Squad 7 and received approval to execute a decapitation strike.

Hu Mang used the Ghost Dragon Vein and Profound Yin Devil Fire to resist the No. 7 Flood Dragon Hunting Squad’s coordinated attack and cripple the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. After the ghost ship and its apparitions vanished, Lin Zhiying and her squad were left facing unexplained footprints across the sea.

• Hu Mang recognized that the Heavenly Gate’s Sea-Pacifying Forbidden Technique and Demon-Suppressing Pagoda were suppressing his Night Parade of a Hundred Demons as a combined strike targeted him.
• Hu Mang used Profound Yin Devil Fire to unleash a vast wave of Yin Qi, and Lin Zhiying ordered the squad to activate their linked Law Treasures to withstand it.
• Hu Mang reappeared beneath the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and expanded his Profound Yin Fire Field through the devil fire, tearing a huge fissure through the pagoda.
• Lin Zhiying identified the ghost ship as the source of Hu Mang’s power and ordered the squad to attack it, while Hu Mang summoned two ghost flood dragons from its hold.
• The squad’s linked Slaughter Fist struck the ghost flood dragons, but Hu Mang’s ghost ship, its ghosts, and the sea beasts vanished, leaving the squad surrounded by footprints on the water.

Hu Mang transformed into a Half-Black Asura and launched a fierce assault on the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship, aiming to defeat its Nascent Soul array master and seize the vessel. The battle continued as the warship’s weapons repeatedly drove him back, but he charged again.

• Hu Mang absorbed the Yao Qi leaking from the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and transformed into a Half-Black Asura by combining yao blood, Ghost Qi, and Sha Qi.
• Lin Zhiying called for Clear Qi Bombs, but Hu Mang attacked first, blasting her and the Flood Dragon Hunting Squad into the sea.
• Hu Mang struck the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship’s array shield, denting it and forcing the vessel several zhang sideways.
• The warship launched its reserve Devil Suppression Tower, which struck Hu Mang and sent him skimming across the water toward his ghost ship.
• Hu Mang kicked off the ghost ship and charged the warship again, targeting its Nascent Soul array master as the warship answered with its weapons.

Hu Mang used the Dragon Blood Tide battle to test the limits of his Eye of the Tribulation Dragon and began connecting with heaven and earth through the Ghost Dragon Vein. When the newborn Sea Dragon Vein attacked the Turbid Dragon, Hu Mang seized the opening and rushed toward the sea beneath the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship.

• Hu Mang’s Black Sha Asura form neared its limits as he drew on the Ghost Dragon Vein and expanded his Unity of Heaven and Man across the sea and sky.
• A Clear Qi Bomb struck the expanding presence, disrupting Hu Mang’s connection to heaven and earth and injuring him.
• Lin Zhiying learned that the dragon interception was complete and that ten Spiritual Qi power stations would awaken a new Sea Dragon Vein to devour the old one.
• The newborn Sea Dragon Vein awakened and tore into the Turbid Dragon, filling the sky with blood rain as the two dragons fought.
• Hu Mang recognized the moment he had been waiting for and charged toward the sea where the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship had been stationed, while Lin Zhiying followed.

Hu Mang brought the ghost ship into the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship’s position and revealed a Ghost Dragon Vein, drawing fire from the Heavenly Gate’s forces. As he tried to awaken the natural Ghost Dragon Vein and open a Yin-Yang Passage, he summoned a Thunder God phantom to strike it.

• Hu Mang forced the ghost ship into the waters with the least Dragon Vein interference, overturning yin and yang as the Ghost Dragon Vein emerged.
• The Sea-Pacifying Divine Warships prepared Divine Crow Arrows carrying Clear Qi Bombs, while Hu Mang merged more deeply with the Ghost Dragon Vein.
• Hu Mang raised nearly a hundred ghost-transformed deep-sea monsters to shield the ghost ship from the warships and their arrows.
• Hu Mang urged the Ghost Dragon Vein to open a Yin-Yang Passage, arguing that it needed to experience yang Qi to escape the Dragon Blood Tide.
• Hu Mang used Wisdom King Aizen and the Yugi Sutra to purge his Asura Sha Qi, then manifested the Thunder God and drove its thunder chisel toward the Ghost Dragon Vein.

Hu Mang awakened Yin-Yang Eyes through the Ghost Dragon Vein, discovered its Yin-Yang nodes, and opened a passage that carried his ghost ship away from the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship. After sleeping for three days, he woke in an unfamiliar place with no visible Spiritual Qi.

• Thunder God's phantom struck the Ghost Dragon Vein, and Hu Mang's Yin Eye transformed into Yin-Yang Eyes that let him see both worlds and the vein's two nodes.
• Hu Mang detected the hidden Illusion Devil Holy Son Mirage aboard the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship and exposed him as a Devil Path cultivator.
• Hu Mang activated the Ghost Dragon Vein's Yin-Yang nodes and opened a passage through which the ghost ship escaped.
• Hu Mang laughed on the deck, fell asleep, and was nuzzled by a ghost dragon phantom that spat out three objects.
• Hu Mang woke after three days and three nights, found himself in a blue place without Spiritual Qi, and wondered where he was.

Hu Mang examined the ghost ship’s rewards and discovered that its small saber was the Yellow Springs Water-Parting Saber, a Dragon Vein treasure capable of opening rivers in the Underworld. He also identified a black pearl as an extraordinarily ancient Yin pearl, then stored both treasures away while considering how to keep their value secret.

• Hu Mang realized the ghost ship had carried them far from the Thirty-Six Islands and decided to learn more about the Underworld and ask the Liu Household for advice on raising a Ghost Dragon Vein.
• A water ghost brought Hu Mang Jade Spring Famous Brew, whose Yin properties eased his exhaustion and strengthened his spirit and soul.
• Hu Mang recognized the small saber as the Yellow Springs Water-Parting Saber and learned that it could open a Yin river, potentially even the Yellow Springs, if supplied with enough Yin Qi.
• Hu Mang hid the saber in his Storage Bag because revealing it could draw the Underworld Bureau’s attention and entangle him in official duties.
• Hu Mang identified the black pearl as a thousand-year Yin pearl from the Yu Dynasty era, stored it in a high-grade medicine box, and decided not to let Old Third absorb it.

Hu Mang recovered from his injuries, returned to the Thirty-Six Islands of the Eastern Sea, and found the port damaged and crowded with traders dealing in Dragon Blood Tide salvage. He encountered Xiao Yu, who told him the others were on the island and clarified that Old Zhu was not dead.

• Hu Mang read the token as Yingzhou and learned the Ghost Dragon Vein had stolen it from a Turbid Dragon, though he did not discover Yingzhou’s location.
• Hu Mang assessed his injuries and decided to consult Old Xie about whether forming a Golden Core would conflict with condensing the Flower of Qi.
• Hu Mang returned to the Thirty-Six Islands, where the port remained devastated and a frenzy of salvage trading had taken hold.
• Hu Mang browsed the unusual goods for sale and bought a pile of strange items as gifts for his mother and dorm brothers.
• Hu Mang found Xiao Yu at a stall, and she said their group was on the island and that Old Zhu was not dead.

Hu Mang learned how the Dragon Blood Tide’s survivors spent their earnings and considered how he might form a core, then reunited with Old Sha to collect the proceeds from his catch. Old Sha paid him twenty million Spirit Coins in unregistered cards, leaving Hu Mang with a substantial haul and new questions about the lighthouse keeper’s connections.

• Xiao Yu told Hu Mang that Xu Xiaoya spent her auction proceeds on Core Formation Insurance and Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise’s customized Core Formation service, while most of the crew quit after the Dragon Blood Tide.
• Hu Mang wondered whether the Azure Mysterious Realm’s Cultivation Methods could form a Heavenly Gate core and whether Old Xie could create a Core Formation method for him.
• Hu Mang called Old Zhu, who explained that he stayed aboard to repay Old Gan’s favor by training a new crew, and urged Hu Mang to collect his payment from Old Sha.
• Old Sha brought Hu Mang to his underground trading venue in an old lighthouse, where Hu Mang sensed that the tower was connected to Canglang Island’s grand formation.
• Old Sha gave Hu Mang four unregistered black cards containing five million Spirit Coins each, explaining that he had exchanged the money rather than transfer it to Hu Mang’s family.

Hu Mang arranged to sell high-quality Spirit Stones through Old Sha’s underground trading fair and prepared to use the proceeds to buy useful cultivation supplies. After settling in at the old lighthouse, he called home, discussed his mother’s house hunt, and asked to speak with Xie Xianyu about his rehabilitation and fishing.

• Old Sha told Hu Mang that Dragon Blood Tide goods were scarce and invited him to a Golden Core underground trading fair at the old lighthouse.
• Hu Mang offered Old Sha a batch of unusually pure Spirit Stones, and they agreed to trade half first for market credit and settle the rest after the fair.
• Old Sha tested the Spirit Stones, confirmed their value, and invited Hu Mang to stay at the lighthouse.
• Hu Mang checked the lighthouse for detection devices, went outside to call his mother, and learned she was taking Xie Xianyu through rehabilitation exercises, including fishing.
• Hu Mang asked his mother to call Xie Xianyu, who answered the phone and asked how he could help.

Hu Mang consulted Old Xie about combining the Flower of Essence, the Flower of Qi, and a Golden Core, and learned he should form the Flower of Qi before condensing a core. Old Xie proposed using Shen Haichan’s Inner Alchemy method to reconcile Buddhism and the devil path, but Hu Mang realized he still did not know how to cultivate the Flower of Qi safely.

• Old Xie explained that Hu Mang should refine the Flower of Qi before forming a Golden Core, allowing the core and Flower of Qi to strengthen each other.
• Old Xie warned that Buddhist and devil-path methods were incompatible and proposed a Heavenly Gate Inner Alchemy method to unite the three teachings.
• Old Xie revealed that his friend Shen Haichan had created the Inner Alchemy method, and Hu Mang recognized him as the Daoist whose grave he had dug up on Java Island.
• Hu Mang agreed to let Old Xie adapt Shen Haichan’s method into a core-formation method, then wondered whether Shen Haichan might be resurrected alongside Xie Xianyu.
• Hu Mang realized Old Xie had not explained how to condense the Flower of Qi and worried that continuing his overbearing Buddhist and devil-path cultivation could disrupt his balance.

Hu Mang attended Old Sha’s underground trading fair and sold a Nether Pearl for Sea Eye Spirit Liquid and Spirit Coins. After selling a second Nether Pearl, he drew eager interest from the other cultivators.

• Hu Mang studied Awakening to Reality: Elixir Chapters while trying to find a way to balance his Buddhist, Daoist, and demonic cultivation.
• Hu Mang joined four other attendees at Old Sha’s trading fair, where the cyber female cultivator arrived without concealing her identity.
• Hu Mang auctioned a Nether Pearl and traded it to a black-robed cultivator for Sea Eye Spirit Liquid and Spirit Coins.
• The attendees sold tide-patterned profound iron and other seabed treasures during the first round of auctions.
• Hu Mang offered a second Nether Pearl, prompting several attendees to show interest, and one cultivator asked to join the bidding.

Hu Mang traded a Nether Pearl for an unregistered Golden Core customization service card, then offered the cyber female cultivator a Dragon Vein-infused coral reef. She brought him to a Divine Sense isolation chamber and began presenting unusual cultivation treasures, starting with a hairpin made from a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s brain.

• The cyber female cultivator offered Hu Mang an unregistered Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise Golden Core customization card for one Nether Pearl, and Old Sha verified the card and its contract.
• Hu Mang accepted the card, then presented Dragon Vein-infused coral reef; the cyber female cultivator eagerly agreed to buy it and asked whether he would use unusual cultivation items.
• After Hu Mang calmly dismissed her attempt to probe him with Divine Sense, the cyber female cultivator agreed to show him several items in a Divine Sense isolation chamber.
• The cyber female cultivator laid out a brainstem hairpin, a bronze mirror, and a beating flesh-and-blood Golden Core, then explained that the Neon Withered Brain Hairpin could drain memories and Divine Sense from nearby people.

Hu Mang examined several cyber-cultivation treasures, rejected their dangerous methods, and chose a Flesh and Blood Golden Core for study. After the trade fair, he used Sea Eye Spirit Liquid and Golden Nature Perfection to treat the severe hidden injuries in his arms.

• The cyber woman cultivator explained the risks of the Demonic Net hairpin, Shattered Code Mirror, and Flesh and Blood Golden Core, which consumed lifespan and required devouring living people.
• Hu Mang chose the Flesh and Blood Golden Core to study, and the woman gave him her business card identifying herself as Jiang Kuisha and offered to sell him better treasures later.
• Jiang Kuisha explained that she recognized Hu Mang as a Heavenly Gate cultivator because he treated her with contempt, unlike people overseas, who regarded her with fear and wariness.
• At the trade fair, Hu Mang bought two bottles of Sea Eye Spirit Liquid for twenty million in account credit.
• Back in his room, Hu Mang drank the spirit liquid and used Golden Nature Perfection to guide its medicinal power into his bruised arms, forcing out clotted blood and necrotic tissue.

Hu Mang received an invitation to an inner-island trading gathering but declined, then took his ghost ship through the Yin-Yang Passage to the Far Eastern Sea Area. After feeding the Ghost Dragon Vein a tuft of Turbid Dragon neck hair, he triggered a major transformation of the ship and its water ghosts.

• Hu Mang traded at Old Sha’s gatherings, gathered spiritual medicines and treasures, and received an invitation to the Penglai inner-island gathering, which he refused because his ship was arriving soon.
• Old Sha told Hu Mang that the demonic path was trying to rescue a holy son captured by the Heavenly Gate during the Dragon Blood Tide.
• Hu Mang summoned the ghost ship and steered it through the Yin-Yang Passage, briefly emerging near an inhabited island before moving on.
• Hu Mang traveled farther east into the Far Eastern Sea Area and gave the Ghost Dragon Vein a tuft of Turbid Dragon neck hair.
• The Ghost Dragon Vein’s Yin Qi surged, spreading through the ship as bone spikes grew from its sides and the water ghosts grew older and stronger.

Hu Mang tested dragon ambergris on the ghost Dragon Vein, but its scent coincided with a Seaquake that drained his power and reopened his injuries. After a mysterious young nun vanished from the waves, the story shifted to Lin Zhiying, who was studying a photograph of Hu Mang’s ghost ship at a Heavenly Gate outpost.

• Hu Mang burned dragon ambergris, and the ghost Dragon Vein eagerly absorbed its smoke as the ship rocked with its movements.
• The sea erupted into a Seaquake that drained Hu Mang’s Law Power, Spiritual Qi, and stored Devil Qi, leaving him injured and shocked.
• A barefoot young nun appeared on the waves, asked Hu Mang for directions to the Endless Sea, identified his devil’s heart, and vanished.
• At a Heavenly Gate outpost in the Thirty-Six Islands of the Eastern Sea, Lin Zhiying stared at a photograph showing Hu Mang’s ghost ship.