Chapter Summaries

Hu Mang used the Ghost Makeup and the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier’s spear techniques to fight Madman Jiang, while learning from the soldier’s experience. He severed the Devil-Slaying Bladesman’s sword-wielding arm and won the battle before the Ghost Makeup had burned away halfway.

• Madman Jiang shattered his blade domain and used living blade lights to neutralize Hu Mang’s two Evil-Subduing Divine Thunder charges, then emerged with a half-blade.
• Hu Mang realized his fragment absorbed most of the thunder damage and put on the Ghost Makeup, taking on the appearance and killing intent of the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier.
• Hu Mang activated Heavenly Star Falls and fought Madman Jiang amid the thunderclouds, observing and copying the soldier’s spear techniques as the Ghost Makeup began to wear off.
• After another thirty breaths, Hu Mang used four heavenly eyes to distract Madman Jiang, then disguised a blood-red sword strike as a spear attack.
• Hu Mang’s Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art severed Madman Jiang’s sword-wielding arm, winning the fight while the Ghost Makeup remained only half-consumed.

Beneath the Demon-Subduing Well, Daoist Xuanyin and the remaining unorthodox monsters sacrificed their cultivation to escape as Hu Mang fought amid the upheaval. A Yang Spirit intervened, but an Innate Thunder Eye appeared and fled into the thunderclouds, drawing the Yang Spirit away in pursuit.

• Daoist Xuanyin and Old Ghost Rotten Bones agreed to sacrifice their Three Flowers and Five Qi and merge their souls into Xuanyin’s second disciple to escape the well.
• When the Devil-Subduing Seal weakened, Xuanyin and the other trapped monsters detonated their Three Flowers and Five Qi, blasting a pillar of destructive energy from the well.
• Hu Mang recognized Xuanyin among the battered bodies erupting from the well, then faced a Yang Spirit that attacked him with divine thunder.
• Hu Mang blocked the Yang Spirit’s thunder with his Shattered Thunder Great Spear and Qianyang True Fire, cracking the spear and burying himself in the earth.
• An Innate Thunder Eye opened in the well and sent a thunder-god-shaped lightning bolt into the clouds; the Yang Spirit changed into a young man in white and pursued it.

Hu Mang revived after the battle in the Hundred-Well Abyss, discovered that the Mysterious Yin Rebirth Technique and Yang Lightning had improved his cultivation, and found clues that Madman Jiang might still be alive. The fragment then transported Hu Mang back to his room, where he reunited with "Dad".

• Hu Mang revived when the life-preserving cat tail and Crimson Moon Fox hairs used his corpse to perform the Mysterious Yin Rebirth Technique, though the process stripped away his fur.
• Hu Mang recovered his Shattering Thunder Long Spear and Storage Bag, found the Mysterious Yin Old Daoist's sealed Storage Bag and a bone covered in tiny characters, and discovered that most of his blocked acupoints had cleared.
• Hu Mang's Heavenly Soldier Divine Office absorbed the broken blade from Madman Jiang's severed arm and revealed that it contained one half of the Devil-Slaying Bladesman, suggesting Jiang might not be dead.
• The white-light fragment transported Hu Mang back to his room, while Madman Jiang's body regenerated as shadows returned his sacrificed memories and he remembered being Jiang Kaiming of the Azure Maple Sect.
• Hu Mang dressed, checked that Spirit Pivot No. 1 still worked, and found "Dad" waiting in his mother's room; "Dad" greeted him, and Hu Mang asked whether he needed charging.

Hu Mang returned to his old neighborhood after recovering his cultivation and reassured his mother and Doctor Sun through Divine Sense Communication. Doctor Sun confirmed that Hu Mang’s Divine Sense had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, leaving Hu Mang to realize how much stronger it had become.

• Hu Mang stayed home with his mysterious “Dad,” went for a walk, and called his mother after she angrily demanded to know where he had been.
• Hu Mang told Mama Hu that his cultivation had recovered and explained away his missed calls as a week of hospital treatment.
• Mama Hu had Hu Mang use Divine Sense Communication and confirmed that his cultivation had returned.
• Hu Mang spoke with Mama Hu, warned her that he might miss calls during more treatment, and then called Doctor Sun.
• Doctor Sun sensed Hu Mang’s Divine Sense at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and asked how he had recovered so quickly.

Hu Mang concealed his unusual Divine Sense and missing blood markings from Doctor Sun, who invited him to the Demon Metropolis to study his apparent bloodline evolution. After ending the call, Hu Mang contacted Sun Hu, intending to reconnect with Zheng Qingbo’s underground network as a channel for selling resources from the Azure Mysterious Realm.

• Hu Mang claimed his Divine Sense recovery came from a cultivation breakthrough, and Doctor Sun asked him to get a physical examination.
• Doctor Sun explained that the Hidden Claw acupoint had been approved for research as an artificial acupoint and said he would remain in the Demon Metropolis.
• Hu Mang explained away his vanished blood markings as shedding caused by bloodline evolution, prompting Doctor Sun to invite him to the Demon Metropolis for research.
• Doctor Sun considered whether Hu Mang’s changes supported his old hypothesis about acquired acupoints evolving within human Essence Blood.
• Hu Mang returned Sun Hu’s call and learned that Zheng Qingbo had sent greetings after Hu Mang abruptly left the underground world.
• Hu Mang decided to reconnect with Zheng Qingbo’s network so he could sell resources from the Azure Mysterious Realm.

Hu Mang considered how to handle his lethal Law Artifacts and lightning crystals, then returned to the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower with the fragment. Meanwhile, Chen Xiaosan livestreamed his ghostly delivery rounds and tried to reach Hu Mang, who remained out of signal range.

• Hu Mang called former contacts and classmates, told his counselor that he had regained Foundation Establishment, and failed to reach Chen Xiaosan.
• Chen Xiaosan livestreamed himself delivering food around Great Prosperity City, encountering frightening ghosts and supernatural disturbances.
• At the Among the Clouds Porridge Shop, Chen Xiaosan flirted with Sister Zhao before discovering her human skin had fallen onto the takeout bag.
• Chen Xiaosan ended his livestream to call Hu Mang, but Hu Mang was out of service range.
• Hu Mang returned to the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower and went up to the eighth floor carrying the fragment.

Hu Mang found that the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower could recharge the fragment and considered asking a former classmate for help extracting power from Lightning Crystals. Meanwhile, Little Xu prepared to train at headquarters and revealed his one regret: he wanted to fight the Heavenly Blood Python before leaving.

• Hu Mang used the tower’s eighth level to recharge the fragment, then switched it off before the charge could teleport him away again.
• Hu Mang considered using a formation or cultivation machinery to draw power from a Lightning Crystal and thought of his former materials-science classmate.
• Hu Mang recalled how he and the Four Heavenly Kings had once blocked Pine Mountain Academy’s gates for seven days and nights.
• Hu Mang remembered that he still needed to get his physical examination report done.
• Little Xu’s colleagues congratulated him on his upcoming training at headquarters, where they expected him to form a core.
• Little Xu told Brother Zhang that he wanted to fight the Heavenly Blood Python before leaving.

Hu Mang learned he needed to take a written exam to obtain his Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, then caught up with Chen Xiaosan and resumed cultivating in the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower. After sleeping through the afternoon, he ordered replacement detectors and a household Foundation Establishment device, only to discover he had run out of money.

• Hu Mang had his lower Dantian examined, hid his records from Doctor Zhou, and learned he had to register for a Foundation Establishment qualification exam.
• Hu Mang registered for the exam and was told to attend the following day, though his recultivation meant he could not sit it with cultivators his age.
• Chen Xiaosan called Hu Mang from Great Prosperity City, where he was delivering takeout, and invited him to reconnect with their old group online.
• Hu Mang cultivated in the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower and found that Azure Mysterious Realm techniques were much harder to practice on Earth Star.
• Hu Mang ordered replacement detectors and a household Foundation Establishment device, then found that his balance was insufficient to buy food.

Hu Mang bought expensive testing artifacts despite having little accessible money, then learned that Father Hu had analyzed the cultivation manuals and could help him practice a divine ability. He rejoined his four friends online, told them he had recovered and would take the Foundation Establishment exam, and wondered which friend could lend him money.

• Hu Mang worried that his accessible funds would not cover the equipment and engineering supplies he needed, since his overseas savings were out of reach and selling Spirit Stones risked attracting attention.
• Father Hu reported that most of the incomplete cultivation manuals were difficult or unsuitable for Earth Star, but offered to explain a version of the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal with a high cultivation success rate.
• Hu Mang gave Father Hu a thunder crystal despite Father Hu's agreement with Lady Hu not to accept payment for explaining cultivation methods.
• Chen Xiaosan summoned Hu Mang to the group chat, where the Four Heavenly Kings teased him and asked about his absence.
• Hu Mang shared his test report, explained that his surgery had succeeded and that he had reached Foundation Establishment again, and said he would take the exam the next day.
• The five friends played Heavenly Gate Journey to the West while privately checking on Hu Mang, who began wondering which of them had money.

Hu Mang asked his old friends for money to fund a renovation project, and Third Brother, Fourth Brother, and Boss Gu came through with help. While talking with Boss Gu, Hu Mang learned about his sword Compatibility and warned him that seeking dangerous battles overseas could bring a powerful coalition down on him.

• Hu Mang reassured Third Brother and Fourth Brother about his health, but both sent him Spirit Coins anyway.
• Hu Mang accepted Fourth Brother’s 10,000 Spirit Coins after learning he was staying with his mother-in-law, and Third Brother sent him 25,000.
• Hu Mang told Boss Gu he needed 400,000 to 500,000 Spirit Coins for a renovation project, and Boss Gu agreed to transfer the money.
• Boss Gu revealed that he had repeatedly withdrawn from Golden Core breakthroughs to pursue a National Standard Golden Core and had reached 82 percent Compatibility with an ordinary flying sword.
• Gu Yunshu asked whether overseas life-and-death battles could advance his swordsmanship, and Hu Mang warned that powerful enemies would unite against him and that safe places to form a Golden Core were scarce.
• Gu Yunshu abandoned the idea, while Hu Mang considered getting his Compatibility with Shattering Thunder tested again.

Hu Mang arranged with Fifth Brother to study his rare Lightning Crystal and obtain a Spirit Stone deconstructor, while the Heavenly Soldier Divine Office continued absorbing the Devil-Slaying Bladesman. He then went to take the Foundation Establishment certification exam and discovered he was lined up with young children.

• Hu Mang told Gu Yunshu he intended to attain Golden Core through his own efforts and did not want to stop at Golden Core.
• Hu Mang called Fifth Brother and revealed he had obtained a Lightning Crystal; Fifth Brother offered to bring him a spiritual crystal structuring device from the lab.
• Hu Mang sent Fifth Brother photos of the Lightning Crystal and ended the call before dawn, then sensed that the Divine Office was nearly finished absorbing the Devil-Slaying Bladesman.
• Hu Mang went to Second Talisman Vocational Higher Education Institute for his Foundation Establishment certification exam and found himself among a line of children.
• Hu Mang answered a boy's questions about historical emperors and offered to ask his mother to introduce him to Xie Xianyu.

Hu Mang met the precocious Duanmu Ming, who agreed to translate an ancient cultivation method in exchange for spicy strips. After Hu Mang cheated on a placement test with Duanmu Ming’s help, Duanmu Ming’s mother caught him eating junk food and beat him while Hu Mang slipped away.

• Duanmu Ming answered Hu Mang’s questions about cultivation and identified an ancient character as the word for “tribulation.”
• Hu Mang and Duanmu Ming exchanged contact information, and Duanmu Ming agreed to translate Hu Mang’s ancient cultivation method for ten packs of spicy strips.
• Hu Mang struggled with the placement test and bribed Duanmu Ming with more spicy strips to help him finish it.
• A proctor told Hu Mang that the test and Foundation Establishment certificate were formalities, despite catching him cheating.
• Hu Mang and Duanmu Ming ate spicy strips outside the school until Duanmu Ming’s mother arrived and beat him for eating junk food and talking to strangers.
• Hu Mang blamed his own failure to reach Foundation Establishment on spicy strips and walked away, leaving Duanmu Ming to face an even worse beating.

Hu Mang prepared to test a Buddhist cultivation method with his bargain father, who proposed using an electronic wooden fish app to cultivate through Divine Sense internet access. The app’s developers began the experiment with Hu Mang as their unwitting Foundation Establishment Late Stage test subject.

• Hu Mang bought spiritual engineering supplies with loans from the four heavenly kings, borrowed Uncle Ma’s warehouse, and sent Duanmu photographs of the Cultivation Method in exchange for a hundred packs of spicy strips.
• At the Mysterious Materials Academy, Lu Chen dismissed his junior brothers and sisters so he could prepare to meet his second brother.
• Hu Mang’s bargain father explained the three trials of a monk of the form realm and proposed replacing traditional practices with an electronic wooden fish app, after persuading its developer to run a cultivation test.
• Hu Mang downloaded the app and agreed to try the method, while the electronic wooden fish developers watched for him to come online.
• Brother Sun and his team saw that Hu Mang, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator, had entered the test without knowing he was their experimental subject.

Hu Mang used the software’s Divine Sense Internet Access to enter a state of Pure Body and master the Lin Character Instruction, but the app’s accumulated wishes began to wear down his concentration. The software team’s frantic efforts to keep the servers running continued as the Devil Subjugation Bureau called to investigate possible illegal mining.

• Brother Sun and the programmers activated the online method for Hu Mang, sealing his body, speech, and mind as he entered the Spirit Network.
• Hu Mang endured the wooden fish’s blows, regained stability through the Yin-Suppressing Mark and moonlight, and understood the method’s Pure Body state.
• Hu Mang formed the Method Formula and mastered the Lin Character Instruction.
• The programmers uploaded Hu Mang’s cultivation data, bought registered accounts, and increased bandwidth to keep the project running.
• The app’s accumulated wish power attacked Hu Mang’s Pure Body, so he used the software’s user benefits to form a kasaya and mastered the Jie Character Instruction.
• Buddha’s light surged through the office, and Brother Sun demanded more bandwidth before learning the Devil Subjugation Bureau was investigating illegal mining.

Hu Mang completed precept keeping and accumulated blessings, awakened the Wisdom King Fire, and used it to refine the Electronic Wooden Fish app’s underlying grotto-heaven while opening his final Qi meridian. The app came back online with its cultivation data intact, as Lu Chen found the Lightning Crystal Hu Mang had left for him and a Buddhist virtual-cultivation feature drew a surge of downloads.

• Hu Mang awakened the Devil-Subduing Pattern and fused Wisdom King Fire with the Shattering Thunder Immortal Weapon to unleash Heavenly Star Falls.
• Hu Mang entered the app’s underlying grotto-heaven, consumed the Heavenly Soldier Divine Office, and burned away abandoned talisman code as he opened his Divine Fate Qi meridian.
• The Electronic Wooden Fish app finished updating, and Old Bai confirmed that all three streams of cultivation data had reached the backend.
• Lu Chen arrived at Hu Mang’s warehouse, found the Lightning Crystal in an iron box, and took it.
• Old Zhang and Little Xu failed to find Hu Mang at home while Father Hu quietly held two Lightning Crystals.
• Duanmu Ming’s father identified the translated notes as Shen Yan’s record of the Return to the Ruins Epoch, while downloads of the app rose because of its Lesser Bodhi feature.

Hu Mang returned to the Hundred-Well Abyss and discovered that Demon-Subduing City had become a Devil City, while his heightened senses revealed devils converging on him. Elsewhere, Xu Qing, Old Chen Sheng, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Tong escaped into the Sword-Nurturing Sha-Cleansing Pool, and Old Chen Sheng led them toward the city prison.

• Hu Mang returned to the Hundred-Well Abyss wearing five Thunder-Warding Robes and found the Demon-Subduing Wells damaged, their devil-subduing patterns gone, and their Devil Qi vanished.
• Hu Mang reflected on the Qi Vessels and abilities he had gained, then sensed devil shadows, ringing bells, and Bone Devil Seeds approaching through the rain.
• Devil-possessed heavenly soldiers attacked cultivators, corpse-filled clouds churned above the Evil-Expelling Altar, and empty coffins and corrupted swords revealed that devilry had spread throughout Demon-Subduing City.
• Xu Qing, Old Chen Sheng, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Tong surfaced in the Sword-Nurturing Sha-Cleansing Pool disguised in corpse clothes, while Old Chen explained that he had suppressed Zhou Yu's transformation into a Corpse Devil Seed.
• Old Chen Sheng insisted Hu Mang was alive because the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier office had not passed to anyone else, then proposed that they go to the prison to find Xu Qing's master.

Hu Mang cleared the demonic alley with Buddhist techniques, measured his Law Power at 8,000, and traveled to the Thunder God's Shrine. There, he encountered Gong Lei and vanished after resisting the darkness she unleashed.

• Hu Mang shattered the Bone Devil Seeds and swept away the demonic shadows with the Dou and Zhe Character Instructions and the Vajra Seal.
• Hu Mang measured his Law Power at 8,000, classified as Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, and headed for the Thunder God's Shrine on a Wind-Riding Spirit Shuttle.
• Hu Mang waited outside the shrine, then saw Gong Lei appear at a small window as the gates remained shut.
• Gong Lei's presence immobilized Hu Mang while darkness advanced, and the Heavenly Soldier Divine Office reacted violently.
• Hu Mang used his Chan forms and Shattering Thunder to unleash Wisdom King Fire, dispersing the darkness; he vanished, leaving his shuttle behind as Gong Lei smiled.

Hu Mang survived a powerful attack and suspected the Thunder God was reclaiming control of Demon-Subduing City’s lightning network, threatening his redevelopment plans. Elsewhere, an Evil-Subduing Registrar and two allied officials failed to destroy a Thunder God’s Shrine and considered seeking help from the Prison-Subduing Official.

• Hu Mang used his Divine Sense detector and found only Golden Core Late Stage fluctuations, but remained unsure whether one or two Thunder Gods were active in Demon-Subduing City.
• Hu Mang reviewed his map of three suspected locations, with the Hundred-Well Abyss crossed out, and set out to verify something with his great spear.
• A beauty python, the Gourd Daoist, and an Evil-Subduing Registrar attacked a dilapidated Thunder God's Shrine but failed to destroy it.
• The registrar explained that the Thunder God was gathering divine power and would devour the city’s divine order and officials unless they escaped.
• After the Gourd Daoist suggested recruiting the Prison-Subduing Official, the registrar hesitated over the dangers but finally agreed.

Hu Mang fought his way through the Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub while a lightning puppet staged a story about his battle for the market’s cultivators. After Hu Mang awakened his Heavenly Eye and destroyed the puppet and its bound ghost, he examined the Demon-Subduing Bustling Market Painting and praised the puppet’s final poem.

• A lightning puppet told the market’s cultivators that a fox demon disguised as a Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier was attacking the Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub, and it killed two patrons who hesitated to applaud.
• The puppet narrated Hu Mang’s battle as he broke through puppet soldiers, deflected lightning, and fought off the city-patrolling heavenly soldiers.
• The Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub bound Hu Mang with lightning, but his protective Buddhist light shielded him as he opened his demonic eye.
• Hu Mang’s Heavenly Eye awakened and revealed Demon-Subduing Divine Runes; when its eyelids closed, the city went dark, and he pierced the storytelling puppet with his spear.
• The puppet recited a final poem before its shell shattered and its bound lightning ghost dissolved into smoke.
• Hu Mang studied the Demon-Subduing Bustling Market Painting, recognized its grisly details, and said he would recite a poem when he died.

Hu Mang explored the Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub, using his awakened Divine Office to inspect the city and locate the hidden lightning eye. When he awakened a charred puppet, its occupant identified himself as Rogue Person Yunxiu, and Hu Mang immediately attacked him.

• Hu Mang watched the Divine Offices’ former controllers disappear from the Demon-Subduing Bustling Market Painting and used his Heavenly Eye to survey the spreading Devil Creatures across Demon-Subduing City.
• Hu Mang examined the damaged mechanisms in the Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub but could not trace the lightning threads using cultivation techniques.
• Hu Mang used a Divine Office incantation to search for the lightning eye and found a charred puppet hidden beneath debris in a woodshed.
• Hu Mang awakened the puppet, but the disturbance shattered the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon in his State of Mind before he restored his composure.
• The puppet introduced himself as Rogue Person Yunxiu, and Hu Mang struck him with his spear, prompting Yunxiu to beg him to stop.