Chapter Summaries

Gao Yunyi met Ma Yi, the shy younger sister of Ma Die, and learned that her mother had sent her to attend to him. He asked Ma Yi to take him around the Black Li Stockade, and she followed despite her unease.

• Ma Yi brought Gao Yunyi a meal and was captivated by him as he sat by the window.
• Gao Yunyi asked Ma Yi her name and learned she was Ma Die's younger sister; Ma Yi felt overshadowed by her sister.
• Ma Yi told Gao Yunyi that her mother had ordered her to care for him and satisfy his requests.
• Gao Yunyi asked Ma Yi to show him around the Black Li Stockade, and she reluctantly followed him outside.

Gao Yunyi toured Black Li Stockade with Ma Yi and discovered the hidden path to the Myriad Gu Pit, where Ma Yi had failed to obtain a Natal Gu. After the guards tried to stop them, Gao Yunyi knocked them down and entered the stockade’s secret cave with Ma Yi following.

• Ma Yi stopped the Black Miao tribespeople from attacking Gao Yunyi and guided him around Black Li Stockade.
• Black Miao women admired Gao Yunyi, while Ma Yi watched over him throughout the tour.
• Gao Yunyi noticed a hidden path, and Ma Yi reluctantly followed him toward the Myriad Gu Pit.
• At the cave entrance, the guard captain rebuked Ma Yi and revealed the contempt she faced because she had no Natal Gu.
• Gao Yunyi slapped the guard captain and the other guards into the ground, then walked into the Myriad Gu Pit with Ma Yi following.

Gao Yunyi led a terrified Ma Yi into the Myriad Gu Pit, where swarms of poisonous insects attacked them. Ma Yi protected him with Gu-repelling powder, but Gao Yunyi revealed that the insects feared him and continued deeper into the pit.

• Gao Yunyi entered the Myriad Gu Pit despite Ma Yi's warnings, and she followed with a fire starter.
• As the Gu insects swarmed toward them, Ma Yi relived last year's deadly attack and froze in fear.
• Ma Yi recovered her courage, scattered Gu-repelling powder around them, and stopped the swarm from approaching.
• Gao Yunyi stepped beyond the powder, and the insects fled from him instead of attacking.
• Gao Yunyi picked up a crimson centipede, crushed it, wiped his fingers on Ma Yi's clothes, and told her to keep going.

Gao Yunyi led Ma Yi through the second layer of the Myriad Gu Pit, killing a Myriad Plague Flea and pressing onward despite her warnings. When powerful Gu insects surrounded them near the third layer, he ordered them to leave.

• Gao Yunyi and Ma Yi entered the second layer, where Ma Yi feared the dangerous Gu insects and recalled how her mother and sister had earned their status by capturing powerful ones.
• A Myriad Plague Flea lunged at Ma Yi, but Gao Yunyi caught and crushed it before wiping its remains onto her clothes.
• Gao Yunyi led Ma Yi toward the third layer as the hidden Gu insects fell silent, then emerged when he approached the Gu King's domain.
• Ma Yi warned Gao Yunyi to turn back and tried to shield him from the high-level Gu insects, but he moved her aside.
• Gao Yunyi faced the encircling Gu insects and coldly commanded them to scram.

Gao Yunyi and Ma Yi entered the Myriad Gu Pit's third level, where Ma Yi explained the legends of the Beast God and the Gu King. As Ma Yi recognized the Gu King's shape in a mural, she saw Gao Yunyi had just stepped on a cicada that matched it.

• Gao Yunyi frightened the high-grade Gu insects on the second level into fleeing, leaving Ma Yi awed and afraid of him.
• Gao Yunyi and Ma Yi entered the third level and found a burial chamber covered in faded murals.
• Ma Yi explained that the Beast God guarded Miaojiang and that the Black, White, and Green Miao had inherited different abilities from him.
• Gao Yunyi decided to visit the Beast God Abyss and drive out the Beast God.
• Ma Yi said the murals showed that the Gu King was a cicada, then saw Gao Yunyi crush the cicada that had landed on his shoulder.

Gao Yunyi claimed the Gu King and left the Myriad Gu Pit with Ma Yi, whose mother and sister confronted them with an armed crowd. As the tribespeople prepared to seize them, the Gu King cried out.

• Gao Yunyi picked up the small cicada, learned it was the Gu King, and accepted it as his pet.
• Ma Yi hid the evidence of her embarrassment before following Gao Yunyi out of the tomb chamber.
• The Gu King’s presence subdued the Gu insects in the Myriad Gu Pit, and Ma Yi followed Gao Yunyi safely through them.
• Ma Yi emerged from the pit and found her mother, elder sister, and armed Black Miao tribespeople waiting outside.
• Ma Yi’s mother prepared to have Gao Yunyi and Ma Yi seized, while Ma Die watched resentfully.
• The Gu King fluttered its wings and let out an ancient-sounding cry as the crowd readied itself to act.

Gao Yunyi brought the Gu King out of the Myriad Gu Pit, and its power over the Gu forced the Black Li Stockade to submit to him. The Great Miao Chief and Ma Die both knelt, leaving Gao Yunyi in control of the Black Miao.

• The Gu King's cry silenced the mountain and made the bonded Gu of the Black Miao tremble, revealing that Gao Yunyi had won its recognition.
• The Great Miao Chief realized that tradition made Gao Yunyi the rightful Great Miao Chief, while Ma Die urged the tribe to seize him and the Gu King.
• Countless Gu insects poured from the Myriad Gu Pit and gathered around Gao Yunyi, frightening the Black Miao into laying down their weapons and kneeling.
• The Great Miao Chief knelt before Gao Yunyi and surrendered her position, while Ma Die resisted until Gao Yunyi told her to come to his room that night.
• Ma Die lowered her whip and knelt, leaving every Miao person present submitted to Gao Yunyi.

Gao Yunyi learned that awakening and bringing out the Gu King had made him Black Miao’s Great Miao Chief and a possible future Miao King. As Ma Die entered his room and Ma Yi resolved to change herself, preparations began for the Three Miao council and the God-Sacrificing Ceremony.

• The Great Miao Chief offered herself to Gao Yunyi to atone for what happened at the Myriad Gu Pit, then explained that he was expected to attend the Three Miao council about choosing the Chief Sacrifice.
• Gao Yunyi learned that the Black Miao prophecy linked possession of the Gu King to becoming the Miao King, and that only the Miao King could change the rules barring entry to the Beast God Abyss outside the God-Sacrificing Ceremony.
• The Great Miao Chief said she would obey Gao Yunyi whether or not he pursued the throne, and he invited her to please him in exchange for granting her request.
• Ma Die entered the room, and Gao Yunyi welcomed her as the Great Miao Chief watched.
• Ma Yi stayed outside, envied her mother and sister, and decided to change herself before setting off toward the Myriad Gu Pit.

The three Miao Chiefs gathered to decide who would preside over the Beast God ceremony, while Long Qing believed his son Long Yan was destined to unite the tribes as Miao King. Long Qing declared that Long Yan would rule, then summoned him before the chiefs with the Mountain Lord at his side.

• The Great Miao Chiefs of the Green, Black, and White Miao gathered to discuss this year's Beast God ceremony.
• Ma Wa opposed the Green Miao presiding again and demanded that the Black Miao take its turn.
• Long Qing rejected Ma Wa's challenge and declared that the Green Miao would preside every year from then on.
• Long Qing announced that his son was the future Miao King, destined to unite the three tribes.
• Long Yan entered the gathering, followed by the enormous multicolored tiger known as the Mountain Lord.

Long Yan entered the council hall with the Mountain Lord, and Long Qing used the tiger’s presence to demand that the other Miao chiefs accept his son as Miao King. When the Mountain Lord approached Ma Wa, she called for her master, and the tiger fled in panic from a green-robed figure at the door.

• Long Qing welcomed Long Yan into the council hall and claimed his son was destined to become Miao King.
• Ma Wa objected to Long Qing’s demand, while Long Yan explained that a stranger from the Central Plains had brought the Mountain Lord down the mountain.
• The Mountain Lord sniffed at Ma Wa, and Long Qing threatened her with the tiger unless she accepted Long Yan as king.
• Ma Wa called for her master as the Mountain Lord turned away and ran toward the door.
• A green-robed figure blocked the Mountain Lord’s path and greeted it as an old acquaintance.

Gao Yunyi entered the Miao meeting hall, where the Mountain Lord and Ma Wa served him and Bai Sang recognized him as the awakened Beast God. Long Qing struggled to accept the revelation as Bai Sang demanded that he show respect.

• The Mountain Lord rolled aside at Gao Yunyi’s command, while the White Miao Great Miao Chief recognized the Gu King on his shoulder.
• Ma Wa greeted Gao Yunyi as her master, and Long Yan knelt and moved his father out of Gao Yunyi’s way.
• Gao Yunyi took the seat of honor as the Mountain Lord served as his footrest and Ma Wa massaged him.
• Bai Sang revealed herself, knelt before Gao Yunyi, and declared that the White Miao would follow him as Lord Beast God.
• Long Qing challenged Bai Sang’s claim, and she warned him not to disrespect Lord Beast God.

Gao Yunyi was recognized by the Three Miao chiefs as the Beast God, and he asked them to lead him to the Beast God Abyss. Bai Sang agreed to escort him there in three days, despite the danger of the miasma and poisonous fog.

• Bai Sang declared Gao Yunyi the Beast God, citing the Gu King on his shoulder and the Mountain Lord at his feet.
• Long Qing rejected Bai Sang’s claim until Long Yan said he had met Gao Yunyi on Beast God Mountain and had ridden down with him on the Mountain Lord.
• Long Qing knelt before Gao Yunyi, and the Great Miao Chiefs of all Three Miao submitted to him.
• Gao Yunyi said he wanted to enter the Beast God Abyss, hoping the Miao could guide him to it.
• Bai Sang warned that the miasma and poisonous fog could only be safely crossed at the proper time, but Gao Yunyi said they could not harm him.
• Bai Sang agreed to return to Black Li Stockade in three days and escort Gao Yunyi to the Beast God Abyss.

Ma Yi emerged from the Myriad Gu Pit with a high-tier Love Gu, hoping to win more of Gao Yunyi’s affection. After learning that Gao Yunyi had become the Beast God, she tried to imitate her mother and elder sister to attract him, but he rejected her and she left in tears.

• Gao Yunyi returned to Black Li Stockade with the tamed Mountain Lord, and the clanspeople celebrated him as the Beast God.
• Ma Yi emerged from the Myriad Gu Pit with a Love Gu she had chosen to make Gao Yunyi love her.
• Ma Yi learned that Gao Yunyi had become the Beast God, then went home to change into a white nightgown.
• Ma Yi knelt before Gao Yunyi and said she could do what her mother and elder sister did, but he refused.
• Ma Yi asked whether her outfit looked nice, and Gao Yunyi gave her a perfunctory compliment before she left and cried outside the door.

Ma Yi gave Gao Yunyi ginseng soup while hiding her plan to use a Love Gu egg to make him love her. When she discovered that her Natal Gu had died, her hopes collapsed and she was left consumed by grief and hatred.

• Ma Yi brought Gao Yunyi ginseng soup, which he drank without suspicion, then hurried away after he questioned her sweating and pale appearance.
• Gao Yunyi asked Ma Wa and Ma Die whether they hated him, and their worshipful response displeased him, so he picked up a whip and approached them.
• Ma Yi returned to her room and revealed that she had exhausted her Essence Blood to make the Love Gu produce an egg for Gao Yunyi to swallow.
• Ma Yi found her Love Gu dead, spat blood over its corpse, and collapsed in despair as hatred filled her eyes.

The Miao people gathered at Black Li Stockade to welcome Gao Yunyi, whom they revered as the Beast God, and escort him to his divine domain. As Gao Yunyi departed with the chosen figures, Ma Yi watched from her darkened room, her hair having turned white overnight.

• The Miao people from all seventy-two stockades gathered outside Black Li Stockade and knelt in worship, treating it as Lord Beast God's sacred domain.
• Bai Sang and the White Miao Divine Attendant Corps arrived to welcome Gao Yunyi, and a tiger's roar from within the stockade warned the crowd not to look upon the Beast God's face.
• Gao Yunyi emerged riding a gigantic beast, and Bai Sang and the Divine Attendant Corps led the Miao people in welcoming him.
• Gao Yunyi told Bai Sang to proceed, while Ma Wa and her daughter watched the ceremony with overwhelming excitement.
• Ma Yi stayed behind in her sealed, dark room and watched her mother and elder sister attend Gao Yunyi; her hair had turned white overnight.

Gao Yunyi entered the Beast God Abyss and found its ruined divine temple and empty throne, where he tested the Gray Cicada’s power over time and space. The Gray Cicada’s cry distorted the world until everything collapsed into darkness.

• Gao Yunyi left Black Li Stockade in a divine palanquin as Miao people welcomed him on the journey to the Beast God Abyss.
• Gao Yunyi rode the Mountain Lord into the poisonous miasma with the Gu King, while Ma Wa and her daughter watched him depart with a sense he might never return.
• Gao Yunyi crossed the miasma unharmed and entered the Beast God Abyss, where he found a sacrificial plaza and the ruins of an ancient temple.
• Gao Yunyi climbed to the temple summit and sat on the solitary divine throne.
• Gao Yunyi ordered the Gray Cicada to demonstrate its control over time and space, and its cry warped the surroundings before they collapsed into darkness.

Gao Yunyi rejected the visions of the Gray Cicada and crushed it, insisting that only the present mattered. A year later, Ma Yi arrived at the Beast God Ceremony with her mother’s and older sister’s severed heads, then revealed her pact with the Gu God and unleashed a strange power against him.

• Gao Yunyi recalled visions of Miaojiang’s past, decided he did not believe them, and crushed the Gray Cicada.
• Ma Yi, now white-haired, climbed the thousand steps to the Beast God Abyss carrying a box and told Gao Yunyi she had come for the ceremony.
• Ma Yi opened the box to show her mother’s and older sister’s severed heads, saying she had brought them so they could see Gao Yunyi again.
• Ma Yi said she had fed her body to the myriad Gu in the Myriad Gu Pit and gained the Gu God’s power in exchange for the promise that Gao Yunyi would be hers.
• When Gao Yunyi remained unmoved, Ma Yi became furious, rose with an uncanny presence, and triggered a roar from beneath the Beast God Abyss.

The Gu God emerged from beneath the Beast God Abyss and revealed its hatred for Gao Yunyi, whom it recognized from a failed experiment. Ma Yi realized she had been used to summon it and, after it attacked her, warned Gao Yunyi to run.

• The Gu God erupted from the earth as a gigantic mass of Gu insects, bones, flesh, and poisonous miasma, while Gao Yunyi remained calm and pressed the Mountain Lord back down.
• Gao Yunyi recognized the Gu God as resembling a Cthulhu-like Great Old One and suspected it was a failed experiment he had created and buried.
• The Gu God fixed its millions of eyes on Gao Yunyi, and Ma Yi realized it had targeted him from the beginning and had used her as a pawn.
• Ma Yi confronted the Gu God for breaking its promise not to harm Gao Yunyi, but its uncanny presence made her vomit blood and collapse.
• Ma Yi crawled toward Gao Yunyi, apologized for endangering him, and urged him to run, while he looked at her without warmth.

Gao Yunyi faced the Gu God after his Red Dust Tribulation mission was completed, while Ma Yi died beneath a swarm of Gu insects. He revealed his restored divine power and annihilated the Gu God with the light of the Azure Sun.

• Gao Yunyi realized that Ma Yi’s love and hatred had revealed his Red Dust Tribulation, and his mission showed as complete.
• The Gu God broke its seal, blamed Gao Yunyi for imprisoning it, and advanced on the divine throne to take revenge.
• The Gu God’s insects swarmed over Ma Yi, killing her as she looked at Gao Yunyi with regret and despair.
• Gao Yunyi raised a finger and gathered light that dissolved the poisonous mist and burned through the approaching Gu insects.
• Gao Yunyi unleashed a pillar of Azure Sun light that swallowed and completely annihilated the Gu God.

Bai Sang and Long Qing led the Miao people in defending Bai'er Stockade from monsters created by Parasitic Gu, which Bai Sang believed were tied to the Demon God. When an evil presence emerged from the direction of the Beast God Abyss, the monsters launched a fiercer assault, leaving the defenders to hold the line.

• The survivors of the Miao stockades gathered at Bai'er Stockade as monsters overran the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and Bai Sang rejected retreating through the poisonous forest to the Beast God Abyss.
• Bai Sang identified the monsters as victims of Parasitic Gu and suspected someone had infected Black Li Stockade to empower the Demon God.
• Long Qing and the Miao warriors fought to defend the stockade, while Long Yan warned that its gate was close to breaking.
• Long Qing led the Green Miao warriors to reinforce the gate and drive back the monsters.
• An evil presence swept out from the forest near the Beast God Abyss, provoking the monsters into a fiercer assault, and Bai Sang shouted that the Demon God had emerged.