Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan explained that Gu Master cultivation was the cultivation of Dao, and that Dao marks determined how blessed lands affected Gu and Gu Immortals. Tai Bai Yun Sheng accepted Fang Yuan’s insight and left regarding him as a teacher rather than a junior brother.

• Fang Yuan told Tai Bai Yun Sheng that Gu Master cultivation was Dao cultivation, with Gu embodying fragments of heaven and earth’s laws.
• Fang Yuan explained how Dao marks shaped blessed lands and influenced their defenses, Gu, and invading Gu Immortals.
• Tai Bai Yun Sheng applied Fang Yuan’s explanation to his own Tai Bai Blessed Land and understood why public blessed lands were often weakly defended.
• Tai Bai Yun Sheng praised Fang Yuan’s insight, bowed to him, and said he would no longer call him Junior Brother.
• Fang Yuan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng talked further, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng departed after their earlier distance had disappeared.

Fang Yuan’s attempts to secure financing for his plans failed, so he focused on preparing for the blessed land’s tribulation. He lifted Soul-Shaking Mountain into Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s aperture, then used Time Luck on Eastern Tribe captives and survived the remnant-soul backlash.

• Fairy Lishan treated Soul-Shaking Mountain, and Fang Yuan proposed financing Immortal Gu refinement or expanding the Courageous Gall Gu trade, but she rejected both plans.
• Fang Yuan asked Lang Ya Earth Spirit to trade hairy man slaves or raising knowledge, but Lang Ya refused and offered the rank six All-Out Immortal Gu recipe in exchange for rare materials.
• Fang Yuan used his strengthened Myriad Me Great Hand Seal to lift Soul-Shaking Mountain, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng stored it in his immortal aperture.
• Fang Yuan activated Time Luck on Eastern Tribe captives, draining their lifespan to gain temporary luck and leaving them dead.
• The captives’ remnant souls attacked Fang Yuan, who destroyed them at great cost and used Courageous Gall Gu to restore his soul.

Fang Yuan considered how to measure the effects of Time Luck through the mortals whose luck was linked to his. Ye Fan and Han Li survived dangerous encounters through unexpected turns of fortune, while an All Beings Academy Gu refining competition continued toward its final stage.

• Fang Yuan realized that he could observe changes in his luck by checking Ye Fan, Han Li, and Hong Yi, whose luck was linked to his.
• Ye Fan lost track of Blue Face Gu in a storm, but captured and refined it after a mountain fire injured it; three more weakened wild Gu worms then flew toward him.
• Han Li fled a Rank 3 Gu Master who wanted his three Nodding Stones, but a collapsing pile of Stubborn Stones crushed the pursuer as he crawled after Han Li.
• At All Beings Academy, Cao Yu, Xie Lan, and Lu Wen reached the final stage of a Gu refining competition, and observers expected one of them to win the academy's quota.

Hong Yi unexpectedly refined a Red Face Gu after his desperate attempt failed and a sneeze put out the flames. Meanwhile, Fox Immortal Blessed Land suffered a Blood Toxin Begonia Earth Calamity, and Fang Yuan and the others worked to remove the poisonous blood and soil.

• Hong Yi tried to speed through the final step of refining Red Face Gu, but lost control of his flames and thought he had failed.
• Hong Yi sneezed into the flames and extinguished them, revealing a perfectly refined Red Face Gu and astonishing the observers, including his father.
• Fang Yuan reassured Little Fox Immortal that their preparations gave them an eighty percent chance of surviving the Earth Calamity.
• Blood Toxin Begonias bloomed and withered across Fox Immortal Blessed Land, spreading poisonous blood that killed many foxes and wolves and contaminated the soil.
• Fang Yuan spent a day and night using Wave Calming Immortal Gu to draw away the poisonous blood, then joined Tai Bai Yun Sheng and Hei Lou Lan in removing the poisoned soil.

After Fox Immortal Blessed Land survived its seventh earthly calamity, Fang Yuan reduced Air Sac Gu production, prompting Hei Lou Lan to recognize her dependence on others and resolve to build her own livelihood. Fang Yuan then restored Soul-Shaking Mountain and began rebuilding the dragonfish and bubble fish habitats, leaving the blessed land’s new lakes and cultivation grounds in place.

• Hei Lou Lan negotiated with Fang Yuan to keep more stone nests refining Air Sac Gu, but he cited hairy man losses and urged her to invest in raising hairy men instead.
• Hei Lou Lan realized Fang Yuan could sustain the Courageous Gall Gu trade with his stockpile while she could not profit from the Air Sac Gu she had helped refine.
• Hei Lou Lan acknowledged her lack of an economic foundation, resolved to become independent, and stopped pressing Fang Yuan about production.
• Fang Yuan returned Soul-Shaking Mountain to Fox Immortal Blessed Land and dug out the old lakes and ponds to replace their contaminated soil.
• Fang Yuan used Dragon Scale Soil and Jade Whisker Soil to create Dragon Scale Lake for dragonfish and Jade Whisker Lake for bubble fish.
• Fang Yuan stocked Dragon Scale Lake with dragonfish, including a Primeval Dragon Fish, and planted Star Dust Grass above Jade Whisker Lake for starlight fireflies.

Fang Yuan transformed Fox Immortal Blessed Land to exploit the Blood Dao Marks gained from its seventh earth calamity, building habitats and food chains for new resources. After more than half a month of work, he left the blessed land reorganized and prepared for Blood Sickle Grass, Crimson Axe Flowers, and Blood Pattern Foxes to flourish.

• Fang Yuan dug Fire Charcoal Lake and placed his Netherfire Dragon Pythons there, then created hundreds and thousands of small lakes to let poisonous blood seep into the western soil.
• Fang Yuan considered how the new Blood Dao Marks had enabled Blood Sickle Grass, Crimson Axe Flowers, Blood Jade Crucian Carp, and other valuable life to thrive in Fox Immortal Blessed Land.
• Fang Yuan planned to raise Blood Pattern Foxes with Blood Pattern Rabbits as food and a small number of Poisonous Vine Wolves to keep the foxes vigorous.
• Fang Yuan spent more than half a month reshaping the blessed land, filling the east with lakes and fish and the west with blood lakes and breeding grounds.
• Fang Yuan moved the Giant Horned Sheep to the west so the Primeval Fin Wolf would not hunt it in the east.

Fang Yuan completed the development of Fox Immortal Blessed Land and left for the Central Continent Gu Refining Convention, while Immortal Master Tian He refused to seize Fang Zheng’s body and helped him awaken. Fang Zheng returned to Immortal Crane Sect as a Rank 5 elder, unaware that the sect was trying to regain his loyalty.

• Fang Yuan finished establishing his blessed land’s resources, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng left after helping with the work and lending him Immortal Essence Stones.
• Hei Lou Lan stayed to guard Fox Immortal Blessed Land while Fang Yuan departed for Central Continent.
• He Fengyang restored Gu Yue Fang Zheng’s soul after Immortal Master Tian He refused to seize his disciple’s body.
• Gu Yue Fang Zheng awoke in Immortal Crane Sect, remembered the attack on Fox Immortal Blessed Land, and fainted again in terror.
• Three days later, Immortal Crane Sect announced Fang Zheng’s awakening and appointed him a Rank 5 elder.
• Fang Zheng accepted the sect’s warm treatment and felt greater loyalty, while Immortal Master Tian He recognized that the sect was trying to win him back.

Fang Zheng learned about the Gu Refining Convention from Immortal Master Tian He and began training to qualify, while Fang Yuan arrived at Five Virtues Mountain disguised as a Rank 5 Gu Master. Fang Yuan intimidated Frosty Sky Pavilion’s procession and cleared a space around himself as the crowd approached Five Virtues Gate.

• Fang Zheng answered Shi Hong’s question about refining Earth Treasury Flower Gu with Immortal Master Tian He’s guidance, then realized Shi Hong had meant to embarrass him.
• Immortal Master Tian He explained that Shi Hong liked Yi Yue and that Elder Yan Tang hoped to ally with Fang Zheng by marrying her to him.
• Fang Zheng asked about the Gu Refining Convention, learned that entrants had to pass four basic refinement questions, and agreed to train under Immortal Master Tian He.
• Fang Yuan joined the crowd climbing Five Virtues Mountain toward Five Virtues Gate, where Gu Masters were gathering for the convention.
• An Han’s Frosty Sky Pavilion group shoved an elderly Gu Master aside, but they backed down when Fang Yuan revealed a Rank 5 aura.
• When the crowd gathered around Fang Yuan, he told everyone to “Scram,” and they withdrew, leaving him alone.

Fang Yuan passed the Gu Refining Convention’s entry questions with extraordinary speed, rejected Five Virtues Gate’s attempt to recruit him, and registered for the competition. At the first major round, he considered how to claim a top place after learning the Water Light Gu challenge and its already-filled standings.

• Fang Yuan refined the four entry Gu worms flawlessly and faster than the other contestants, impressing the Five Virtues Gate elder and spectators.
• A Five Virtues Gate elder tried to recruit Fang Yuan as an honorary elder, but Fang Yuan refused and challenged the elder’s anger with a cold retort.
• Fang Yuan registered under his own name at Wood Virtue Hall, keeping his sect affiliation and cultivation path confidential, then received a token.
• Fang Yuan entered Fire Virtue Hall and learned that contestants had to refine at least one hundred Water Light Gu within an incense stick’s burn to advance, while first place required 276.
• Fang Yuan judged that ordinary water refinement could earn him only third place, already claimed, and considered using fire refinement to pursue a higher result.

After winning first place in the Five Virtues Gate refinement competition, Fang Yuan used Intent Search on Mo Yao's False Will and learned the conditions for finding Hong Lian Demon Venerable's inheritance. He set the dangerous inheritance aside and returned to preparing for the next competition while trying to reconstruct Meeting as Before.

• Fang Yuan refined one hundred and seventy-seven Water Light Gu, claimed first place, and politely refused the Five Virtues Gate leader's recruitment offer.
• Fang Yuan returned to Fox Immortal Blessed Land, where Little Fox Immortal had gathered the mortal Gu he needed to confront Mo Yao's False Will.
• Fang Yuan used several killer moves to defeat Mo Yao's False Will, prevent her suicide, and force an exchange of memories through Intent Search.
• Fang Yuan learned that Hong Lian Demon Venerable's inheritance lay on a Stone Lotus Island in the River of Time and required Spring Autumn Cicada, but he lacked the methods to reach it reliably.
• Fang Yuan postponed seeking the inheritance, waited for the second competition round, and used Wisdom Halo to deduce a way to rebuild Meeting as Before with Immortal Gu he possessed.

Fang Yuan entered Frosty Sky Pavilion’s Gu Refining Convention round and refined ten Ghost Fire Gu despite a failure during the process. He claimed first place, leaving the sect’s spectators and An Han stunned.

• Fang Yuan entered Frosty Sky Pavilion, where the second convention round required contestants to refine ten Ghost Fire Gu simultaneously for a chance to win five rank 3 ice path Gu recipes.
• An Han and the spectators watched as Fang Yuan used burning ghost souls to refine the Gu, and the first-place reward and his speed made An Han feel threatened.
• One Ghost Fire Gu exploded during refinement, prompting the spectators to celebrate Fang Yuan’s apparent failure.
• Fang Yuan burned a pig soul, a sheep soul, and a human soul to make up for the lost Gu, then used Compound Investment to form another Ghost Fire Gu.
• Fang Yuan merged the two ghost-fire clusters, completed all ten Ghost Fire Gu, and was announced as the round’s first-place winner.

After Fang Yuan won the refinement contest, Zheng Shanchuan challenged him to a gambling contest, but Fang Yuan rejected the young Gu Master's proposed stakes as inadequate. An Han secretly encouraged the crowd to fund a higher-stakes contest, leaving the gamble poised to proceed.

• Fang Yuan left the arena after taking first place, and An Han entered to compete while shaken by his display of Refinement Dao skill.
• An old Gu Master judged that An Han had lost her composure, while his disciple Zheng Shanchuan resolved to win back a Green Jade Gu for his master.
• Zheng Shanchuan challenged Fang Yuan to gamble a Rank 5 Gu recipe against Fang Yuan's Green Jade Gu, but Fang Yuan refused because the wager was not worthwhile and refining Rank 5 Gu carried risks.
• The old master tried to end the challenge, but spectators began offering funds to increase the stakes.
• An Han quietly ordered someone in the crowd to lead the contributions, and others joined in to push the gambling contest forward.

Fang Yuan recognized Zheng Shanchuan as the future founder of Mountain River Hall and spared him after seeing how their luck was connected. He offered Zheng a wager battle with Green Jade Gu as the prize and Zheng’s lifelong service as the stake, and Zheng accepted, choosing to test Fang Yuan at refining Careful Gu.

• Fang Yuan recalled Zheng Shanchuan’s future achievements and identified his master as Old Man Qi Shan, who was suffering from a deceptive poison.
• Fang Yuan used Luck Observing Immortal Gu to inspect their luck and decided not to kill Zheng Shanchuan, preserving the future founder of Mountain River Hall.
• Fang Yuan proposed that Zheng wager his freedom against Green Jade Gu, which could help treat Old Man Qi Shan’s poison.
• Fang Yuan let Zheng choose the entire challenge, while Old Man Qi Shan repeatedly warned his disciple not to accept.
• Zheng Shanchuan accepted the wager and chose Careful Gu, a Gu he had practiced refining for three years.

Fang Yuan and Zheng Shanchuan wagered on who could refine Careful Gu first, with Zheng Shanchuan using a Refinement Dao Killer Move to gain a major lead. Fang Yuan remained calm and continued refining the materials, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Zheng Shanchuan chose Careful Gu as the wager and proposed that the first to refine it would win, while Old Man Qi Shan offered his lineage's recipe.
• Fang Yuan studied the unfamiliar recipe as Zheng Shanchuan refined rapidly and displayed practiced techniques.
• Fang Yuan began refining, then accelerated with a succession of techniques that unsettled Zheng Shanchuan and impressed the spectators.
• Zheng Shanchuan activated the Refinement Dao Killer Move Turning Golden Bell, processing six portions of materials and creating the embryonic form of Careful Gu.
• Fang Yuan slowly refined the six materials one by one while Zheng Shanchuan continued steadily, apparently far ahead.

Fang Yuan defeated Zheng Shanchuan in the wager battle by making him believe the Green Jade Gu had been destroyed, then spared him and Old Man Qi Shan in exchange for an agreement to perform three tasks. Zheng Shanchuan withdrew from the Gu Refining Convention, later matured into a Refinement Dao Grandmaster, and founded Mountain River Hall; the three tasks remained for the future.

• Fang Yuan crushed a Gu worm to startle Zheng Shanchuan, causing Zheng to lose focus and fail at the final step of refining.
• Fang Yuan won the wager battle, and Old Man Qi Shan begged him to spare Zheng Shanchuan.
• Fang Yuan offered to spare them if they agreed to perform three tasks, then refined two linked Rank 4 blood path Gu worms using their blood to bind the agreement.
• Zheng Shanchuan discovered that the Gu worm Fang Yuan had supposedly crushed was actually the Green Jade Gu, and Fang Yuan left with the crowd stunned.
• Old Man Qi Shan and Zheng Shanchuan left the convention, and Zheng later withdrew from the competition, matured as a refiner, and founded Mountain River Hall.

Fang Yuan used Mo Yao's Will to learn refinement techniques and dominated the Gu Refining Convention while racing to improve the killer move Meeting as Before. After winning the sixth contest, he traveled to Western Desert, where a battle between the Xiao family and Sand Lurking Spiders unfolded before a vast, moving expanse of dunes.

• Fang Yuan searched Mo Yao's Will and gained refinement techniques, including a refinement dao killer move, as he prepared to pursue the Infallible Inheritance.
• Fang Yuan passed the third, fourth, and fifth contests in first place while spending Star Thought Gu to deduce an improved Meeting as Before.
• Fang Yuan created a weaker version of Meeting as Before using Strength Eating Gu to disguise his aura, at the cost of consuming his own Strength Dao Marks.
• Fang Yuan won the sixth contest, returned to Fox Immortal Blessed Land, and then traveled to Western Desert using Immortal Wanderer.
• Fang Yuan observed the Xiao family fighting more than thirty thousand Sand Lurking Spiders and noticed that the dunes behind them were moving.

Fang Yuan captured a Sand Swallowing Spider Queen and secured a monthly trade with the Xiao Family for Long Hate Spiders. Days later, he won the seventh consecutive round of the Central Continent Gu Refining Convention and left the crowd wondering how far he would advance.

• Fang Yuan intervened in the Xiao Family's fight against three Sand Swallowing Spider Queens and captured one with his Strength Dao Giant Hands.
• Fang Yuan introduced himself as a reclusive Western Desert immortal zombie and offered to supply the Xiao Family with Long Hate Spiders.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Hu Chi agreed on a price, completed their first transaction, and exchanged a node token for future monthly deliveries.
• The Xiao Family Grand Elder approved continued cooperation, ordered a slight investigation of Fang Yuan, and prioritized expanding the Ten Thousand Mile Silk Corridor.
• Fang Yuan took first place for the seventh consecutive time in the Gu Refining Convention, while Hong Yi watched from the crowd.

Fang Yuan reviewed the Central Continent Gu Refining Convention’s seventh-round results and assessed the formidable Refinement Dao rivals standing between him and the Unbeaten Inheritance. He decided he would need to use new methods to reach sixth place, as the eighth round was about to begin at Evil Exorcism Sect.

• Fang Yuan bought the seventh-round results from an Electric Speech Sect Gu Master and learned that over eight thousand competitors had passed, including more than eighty who had placed first in every round.
• Fang Yuan saw his own name ranked around thirtieth among the leading contestants and recognized several future Refinement Dao elites.
• Fang Yuan judged that his current ability would make the top ten difficult and that he needed at least sixth place to benefit from the Unbeaten Inheritance.
• Fang Yuan decided to use methods beyond his limited Blood Path refinement techniques so he could pursue sixth place without giving Immortal Crane Sect an excuse to attack Fox Immortal Blessed Land.
• Sixteen days later, tens of thousands of Gu Masters gathered at Evil Exorcism Sect to watch the eighth-round competition, with images planned for spectators outside the limited grounds.

Fang Zheng watched as Immortal Crane Sect’s Elder Yan Tang was set up to face the formidable Huogong Longtou, and worried that his own sect might treat him as a sacrificial pawn. Just as he wished for someone to defeat Huogong Longtou, Fang Yuan appeared in the arena, stunning the spectators.

• Fang Zheng and the Immortal Crane Sect group arrived at the competition grounds, where Myriad Dragon Dock’s members mocked them and boasted that Huogong Longtou would win.
• Fang Zheng learned that the match used a winner-takes-all format and that Immortal Crane Sect’s leaders had placed Elder Yan Tang against Huogong Longtou to test the latter’s abilities.
• Fang Zheng recalled his terrifying blood-pool nightmare and feared that Immortal Crane Sect might one day sacrifice him as well.
• Elder Yan Tang and more than a hundred other Gu Masters entered the arena as Huogong Longtou openly dismissed his competitors and Myriad Dragon Dock cheered him on.
• Fang Zheng silently hoped someone would defeat Huogong Longtou, and Fang Yuan appeared in the arena in black robes and a mask, causing an uproar.

Fang Yuan entered Huogong Longtou’s competition site, startling the spectators and revealing himself as a member of Immortal Crane Sect. His arrival triggered Fang Zheng’s old nightmare, while Fang Yuan openly challenged Huogong Longtou and demanded that he use his hidden technique.

• Fang Yuan entered the contest site despite the convention of staying within one’s territory, prompting speculation about his motives and his possible grudge against Huogong Longtou.
• Fang Zheng recognized his brother and was overwhelmed by fear as memories of his childhood nightmare resurfaced.
• Huogong Longtou identified Fang Yuan as belonging to Immortal Crane Sect, and the sect’s disciples celebrated while Fang Zheng angrily rejected being compared with his brother.
• Fang Yuan confirmed his identity and challenged Huogong Longtou, mocking his opponents and naming Mad God Blazing Flames as the technique he wanted to face.
• Huogong Longtou accepted the challenge, determined to defeat Fang Yuan and unaware that Fang Yuan’s apparent confidence concealed a threat.