Chapter Summaries

Snake Nineteen taught Wang Wu that pill refinement included the world-mending path and recited the Five Elements Pill Manual, but the effort left it gravely weakened. Wang Wu saved Snake Nineteen and was left to practice refining pills alone while resolving to avoid other Snake Guards.

• Snake Nineteen explained that great mending sought to create a healthy cycle among all things, while lesser mending focused on repairing oneself through pill refinement.
• Snake Nineteen revealed that the daily Spiritual Essence came from spilled dragon blood, and that the human Sky Mending Path opposed the snake race's effort to restore the Dragon Ascension Path.
• Snake Nineteen warned Wang Wu that snake spirits and Fox Spirits could tempt him through bloodline influence, and urged him to kill A Qing if they met again.
• Snake Nineteen taught Wang Wu the principles and grades of Five Aggregates Spirit Pills and recited the Five Elements Pill Manual over nearly twenty hours.
• Wang Wu failed to heal Snake Nineteen with spirit energy or vitality, then used the Companion Demonic Vine to save it after his blood poisoned it.
• Snake Nineteen transformed into a gigantic snake and fell asleep, leaving Wang Wu with a cauldron and ingredients to practice pill refinement.

Wang Wu refined several types of Spirit Pills from Snake Nineteen’s materials and rapidly improved his alchemy, while hiding his ability to make Fire Essence and Water Essence Spirit Pills. Snake Nineteen then revealed its failing Demon Cores and urged Wang Wu to study its cultivation through them.

• Wang Wu refined Ninth Rank Situational Vitality Pills, Refined Gold Body Tempering Pills, and White Earth Aversion Pills after only a few attempts.
• Wang Wu realized he could easily refine Fire Essence and Water Essence Spirit Pills using his Ice-Fire Dual Spirit Root, but concealed this knowledge from Snake Nineteen.
• Wang Wu practiced for half a month, producing large batches of Ninth and Eighth Rank pills while disguising his ability to refine higher ranks.
• Snake Nineteen awakened and spat out its two Demon Cores, revealing that its body was near death without them.
• Wang Wu identified the cores as a Fourth Rank Spiritual Communication Demon Core and a damaged Third Grade Tongming Demon Core, and Snake Nineteen asked him to study the latter by holding it in his mouth and circulating his qi and blood.

Wang Wu studied Snake Nineteen’s Tongming Demon Core and learned that a suspected traitorous Snake Guard was interfering with it. Snake Nineteen died after revealing its tormentor’s influence, and Wang Wu escaped with its remains and Demon Core, intending to send them home.

• Wang Wu examined Snake Nineteen’s Tongming Demon Core and discovered ways to improve his Five Demon Core System, but concluded he could not save Snake Nineteen.
• Wang Wu swallowed the Demon Core to use the Inheritance Soul Jade and learned that another Snake Guard nearby was suspected of betrayal and might be controlling Snake Nineteen.
• Snake Nineteen lunged at Wang Wu, but he pierced its heart and Demon Core; Snake Nineteen revealed its longing to return home and urged Wang Wu to run.
• Black qi took control of Snake Nineteen’s corpse and formed a serpent that recognized Wang Wu as Xiong Wu, but Wang Wu destroyed it with an Eighth Grade Fire Essence Spirit Pill.
• Wang Wu stored excess spiritual energy in the Spiritual Essence Gourd, fled using a Stealth Demon Core, and returned to collect Snake Nineteen’s bones so he could send them home.

After Snake Nineteen died, Wang Wu escaped the market and used its leaking Tongming Demon Core’s spiritual energy to strengthen himself and stabilize the core. With the crisis temporarily contained, he prepared to upgrade his three Seventh Rank Aperture-Opening Demon Cores so he could gain control of Snake Nineteen’s core and pursue the traitorous snake guard.

• Wang Wu waited outside the shattered secret chamber for the traitorous snake guard, but the inn’s attendants and Manager Hu arrived first.
• The crowd found Shopkeeper Bai dead with its body and valuables missing, accused the absent Bear Cub of murder and robbery, and searched the chamber.
• Wang Wu slipped away to the woods outside town, where Snake Nineteen’s Tongming Demon Core had accumulated more spiritual energy and Vitality Points.
• Wang Wu spent spiritual energy to raise his attributes, talents, and secret arts, repeatedly reducing the damaged Tongming Demon Core’s dangerous leakage.
• Wang Wu triggered the Companion Demonic Vine’s advancement and fed spiritual energy to the Inheritance Soul Jade, lowering the core’s leakage to a manageable level.
• Wang Wu concealed a root tendril and resolved to upgrade his three Seventh Rank Aperture-Opening Demon Cores to gain control of Snake Nineteen’s core.

Wang Wu advanced one of his Aperture-Opening Demon Cores into a Sixth-grade Dominant Body Demon Core and gained the Overlord Body demon art. His advancement exposed him to the Shamen Village crowd, who arrested him over Shopkeeper Bai’s suspected murder and imprisoned him while awaiting the lords’ judgment.

• Wang Wu incorporated the Tongming Demon Core into his circulation and chose the Dominant Body path for his Seventh Rank Aperture-Opening Demon Core.
• Wang Wu advanced the core into a Sixth-grade Dominant Body Demon Core, gaining improved attributes and the Overlord Body demon art.
• Demon Race members and human cultivators detected Wang Wu, accused him of violating Shamen Village’s rules, and called for his arrest over Shopkeeper Bai’s belongings.
• The Tiger Demon announced that the four stewards would detain Wang Wu without searching or torturing him until the lords responded.
• The Tiger Demon, Wolf Demon, Chicken Demon, and Tree Demon used their respective abilities to bind and enclose Wang Wu in a prison.

Wang Wu let the demons and cultivators of Shamen Village mistake him for a helpless bear while he secretly strengthened himself and waited for Snake Nineteen’s betrayer. When the woman came to take his Snake Guard Mark, he repeatedly used Dominant Body to interrupt her until she collapsed.

• The Tiger Demon, Chicken Demon, Wolf Demon, and Tree Demon searched Wang Wu’s Storage Pouch, discussed Old Bai’s secrets, and decided he was likely framed.
• A fourth-rank Rat Demon, a Leopard Demon, and numerous other demons and Human cultivators looted Wang Wu and concluded he had nothing left to take.
• Wang Wu used the commotion to advance his remaining two Aperture-Opening Demon Cores into Dominant Body Demon Cores, raising his attributes and the art to level 3.
• A young woman confronted Wang Wu, revealed she wanted the Snake Guard Mark, and repeatedly tried to activate it.
• Wang Wu used level 3 Dominant Body to interrupt the woman’s twelve attempts, spending 12,000 Vitality Points and causing her to faint.

Wang Wu resisted a traitorous Snake Guard’s attempt to manipulate him and spent eight months incorporating Snake Nineteen’s Tongming Demon Core into his Five Demon Core System. As the threat of Lu Wuchen’s arrival loomed, Wang Wu began refining Seventh Rank Fire Essence Spirit Pills for his escape plan, while the traitorous Snake Guard and a tree demon closed in on his hiding place.

• A traitorous Snake Guard tried to bargain with Wang Wu, threatening to reveal his presence to Lu Wuchen, but Wang Wu resisted its emotional manipulation with Level 3 Tyrant Body.
• Wang Wu reasoned that the Snake Guard had little incentive to leave Shamen Village or summon Lu Wuchen, then continued refining the Tongming Demon Core.
• Eight months later, the Tongming Demon Core had become a logistical warehouse within Wang Wu’s Five Demon Core System, though it had not fused with him.
• Wang Wu calculated that he had about one month before the threat could arrive and began refining forty-nine Seventh Rank Fire Essence Spirit Pills as the key to his plan.
• Wang Wu’s Companion Demonic Vine shielded him while the traitorous Snake Guard and a tree demon discussed breaking through it and tracking him.
• Wang Wu interrupted the Snake Guard Mark with Level 3 Tyrant Body and refined a Seventh Rank Fire Essence Spirit Pill using both Crimson Flame and Ice Spirit Energy.

Wang Wu detonated forty-nine Seventh Rank Fire Essence Spirit Pills to destroy Shamen Village’s formations and escape into the desert, framing the traitorous Snake Guard. Three years later, he lived in a transformed Western Wilderness governed by the Western Pact, as he surveyed a newly established Human town.

• Wang Wu gathered forty-nine Seventh Rank Fire Essence Spirit Pills while the Companion Demonic Vine kept the tree demon occupied.
• Wang Wu detonated the pills, breached Shamen Village’s formations, and fled underground as quicksand engulfed the village and its inhabitants.
• Three years later, Wang Wu reached a Human town near Heavenly Dao Mountain and observed its farmers, cultivators, warriors, and Demon Cavalry Battalion.
• Wang Wu recalled that Lu Wuchen, True Person Yu Feng, and three demon kings had established the Western Pact and divided the Western Wilderness into demon kingdoms and jointly developed lands.

Wang Wu saw that the Western Wilderness had settled under Human rule, with the Mortal Blood Demon Race finding work and former allies living quietly. After he joined an escort convoy, rumors spread that the bandit Xiong Wu had attacked Tiger Tooth Mountain, leading Wang Wu to suspect Lu Wuchen was using the accusation to target unruly demons and decide he needed to stop posing as a mortal warrior.

• Wang Wu observed that the Western Wilderness had no prospect of another Demon Emperor emerging and saw that Bear Sixteen, Old Ox, and Little Mountain Pig had been given minor positions.
• Wang Wu negotiated an escort job to Tiger Tooth Mountain with Liu Fugui and joined a convoy transporting goods in formation mechanism carts.
• Liu Fugui's brother-in-law argued with him over the number of escorts and negotiated additional pay with the Bull Demon Niu Sande.
• At the town entrance, Wang Wu heard reports that the bandit Xiong Wu had destroyed Tiger Tooth Mountain's stronghold and attacked three merchant caravans.
• Wang Wu suspected Lu Wuchen was using the Xiong Wu story to purge unruly demon beasts and decided to find somewhere to hide while waiting out Lu Wuchen's schemes.

Wang Wu fled the slaughter staged to frame Xiong Wu and tried to return Snake Nineteen’s remains, but found the old site buried beneath formations and continued east through increasingly formidable Human cultivator defenses. At a colossal city under construction, he avoided detection as Lu Wuchen and Junior Brother Wujiu discussed a plan to use Snake Guard Marks to expose him near cultivation cities.

• Wang Wu escaped the town where the fake Xiong Wu slaughtered its inhabitants, then left Heavenly Dao Mountain’s territory.
• Wang Wu returned to the former West Mountain to bury Snake Nineteen, but found the place transformed and covered with formations, so he continued east.
• Wang Wu detoured around twelve permanent fortifications near Great Snow Mountain and a colossal city being built five thousand li away.
• Lu Wuchen and Junior Brother Wujiu discussed the two-headed snake, which had kept twelve strands of Xiong Wu’s fur and knew his aura.
• Junior Brother Wujiu planned to install formations in Human cultivator cities that would continuously activate Snake Guard Marks and reveal Xiong Wu if he approached.

Wang Wu settled into hiding in the Western Wilderness, disguised himself as a field mouse, and cultivated while his Companion Demonic Vine concealed and guarded him. The chapter ended when a little white fox spotted one of the vine’s sentries and led Human cultivators toward it.

• Lu Wuchen praised Wujiu’s formation and described how he planned to trap Xiong Wu, while Wujiu objected to Lu Wuchen’s slaughter of human mortals.
• Wang Wu realized the Snake Guard Mark in his bloodline could expose him, but decided to remain in the Western Wilderness and lie low while building his strength.
• Wang Wu chose an inconspicuous hill between the Great Snow Mountain and Heavenly Dao Mountain, shrank into a field mouse, and established the Companion Demonic Vine as his concealed cave abode and sentry network.
• Wang Wu spent several years cultivating his Ice-Fire Spirit Root, bringing its progress to 40/50 without drawing attention.
• A little white fox identified a sentry branch vine as belonging to a fourth-rank Devil Vine and alerted its Human cultivator master, prompting them to approach Wang Wu’s hiding place.

Wang Wu escaped two fifth-grade Human cultivators, uncovered their hidden surveillance, and killed them and the white fox that claimed it wanted to cooperate. He erased the battlefield’s traces and fled, aiming to put ten thousand miles between himself and the scene.

• Wang Wu sensed danger, fled in Demonic Wind, and discovered a hidden spirit beast recording the encounter before killing it.
• Wang Wu resisted the cultivators’ talismans and attacks, then pursued the white fox and struck it down with help from the Companion Demonic Vine.
• The Companion Demonic Vine poisoned and killed the white fox, while Wang Wu caught and killed Senior Brother Jiang and Junior Brother Geng.
• Wang Wu took the cultivators’ belongings, destroyed tracking items, ordered the Companion Demonic Vine to consume living things within thirty miles, and absorbed the remaining spirit energy.
• Wang Wu fled toward a destination ten thousand miles away.

After fleeing far across the Western Wilderness, Wang Wu reached a vast human spirit herb plantation and discovered that its five-layer protective formation resembled one he had encountered before. He studied the formation’s energy flow and found a possible way inside, leaving his next move uncertain.

• Wang Wu spent huge amounts of Vitality Points fleeing east while reasoning about how the Human cultivators might discover his role in their companions’ deaths.
• Wang Wu sensed an unusually rich spirit herb fragrance and approached a large plantation to find a safe place to rest.
• Wang Wu recognized the plantation’s formation as similar to the one Lu Wuchen had used at Centipede Ridge and removed the Myriad Transformation Wishful Demon Leaf.
• A young man flew toward the valley on a gigantic sword, triggering all five layers of the plantation’s protective formation.
• Wang Wu observed the formations activating and shutting down, then found a potential route inside and began savoring their energy patterns.

Wang Wu repaired the ancient Five Aggregates Spirit Array and used it to hide from Liu Wujiu, who pursued him by torturing his Snake Guard to activate its tracking mark. Wang Wu vanished from Liu Wujiu’s senses as the cultivator gave up the chase and vowed to wait for his future rise.

• Wang Wu discovered that someone had damaged the harmony of the ancient Five Aggregates Spirit Array and entered it to repair its flaws.
• Wang Wu learned that Liu Wujiu was tracking him through the Snake Guard Mark, while the injured Snake Guard was being forced to activate it again.
• Wang Wu realized he could use the Spirit Array itself to refine a Five Aggregates Spirit Pill and resonated with its five essences.
• Wang Wu became one with the Five Aggregates Spirit Array, concealing the Spirit Medicine Manor and himself from Liu Wujiu even as he approached within thirty li.
• Liu Wujiu forced the Snake Guard to activate its mark again, causing one pair of its heads to explode, then abandoned the search and said he would wait for Xiong Wu to become strong enough to threaten him.

Wang Wu accidentally swallowed an Eighth Rank Five Aggregates Spirit Pill and used its power to reform his cultivation, balancing his innate bloodline with his acquired Ice-Fire Spirit Root. He survived the process, gained an Advanced Ice-Fire Spirit Root and many improvements, and left his cultivation poised to learn more Dao techniques.

• Wang Wu found that the Five Aggregates Spirit Array had concealed the manor from Liu Wujiu and suppressed his status notifications, then examined the unidentified Spirit Pill he had refined.
• Wang Wu accidentally swallowed the Five Aggregates Spirit Pill and activated his Ice-Fire Dual Spirit Root, triggering a powerful reaction that his Five Demon Core System initially suppressed.
• Wang Wu realized that the pill was reforming his acquired cultivation and chose to divide the process evenly between his innate bloodline and Ice-Fire Spirit Root.
• Wang Wu yielded half his Five Demon Core System's territory to the Spirit Root, suffering permanent losses to his lifespan, attributes, and Bloodline Secret Techniques as the pill established a buffer between the two powers.
• Wang Wu's innate bloodline and acquired cultivation began cooperating, and the status panel reported six new meridians, an Advanced Ice-Fire Spirit Root, improved abilities, and increased Bloodline Evolution.

After improving his Ice Fire Spirit Root and sorting through the spoils from his battle, Wang Wu concluded that human cultivation society had a powerful, organized supply system and resolved to keep practicing caution. He watched a group of cultivators perform a strange ritual around a dead tree stump, ending with a spell meant to bring plants back to life.

• Wang Wu assessed the gains and lasting stat losses from his reforms, noting that his Bloodline Evolution had risen and his Ice Fire Spirit Root cultivated faster.
• Wang Wu settled into the herb estate, searched for a lurking Tree Demon Gardener, and inventoried the valuable supplies taken from Junior Brother Geng and Senior Brother Jiang.
• Wang Wu reasoned that human cultivators relied on a stable, extensive supply system and decided he needed to continue following the Path of Cowardly Prudence.
• A white-haired old woman led a group of cultivators to a clearing and had them tend the soil around a dead tree stump.
• The old woman wrapped the stump in talisman-covered red cloth, planted a sapling on it, and activated the talismans with a spell to revive the grass and trees.

Wang Wu disguised himself as the dead Tree Demon Gardener to hide in Jade Mountain Manor and maintain its failing Five Aggregates Spirit Array. After the manor’s steward awakened him, he received permission to take human form and tend the manor’s spirit plants.

• Wang Wu reduced the Five Aggregates Spirit Array’s energy output during a ritual in which the manor’s servants sacrificed a fifth-grade spirit wolf demon to the dead Tree Demon Gardener.
• Wang Wu found the array’s Formation Stones nearing the end of their lifespan and decided to replace the dead gardener himself.
• Wang Wu absorbed Azure Wood Spirit Energy with his Myriad Transformation Wishful Demon Leaf, which recovered to sixty percent of its peak and let him transform into a tree stump.
• Wang Wu removed the dead Tree Demon Gardener, hid its body, and took its place in the soil with a green shoot growing from his head.
• The manor’s people discovered Wang Wu and the Old Woman used a talisman to summon him, granting him permission to take human form and move freely around Jade Mountain Manor.

Wang Wu was mistaken for the resurrected True Man Mu and tasked with managing Jade Mountain Manor’s spirit plants. After discovering that a poisoned spirit plant was being sabotaged with Five Poisons Spirit Energy, he swallowed the poison stone but found his new defenses prevented him from building poison resistance.

• Wang Wu transformed into a teenage boy, and the Old Woman branded him as True Man Mu and assigned him authority over Jade Mountain Manor’s spirit plants and protective formation.
• Wang Wu listened to the manor residents and learned that the Old Woman had borrowed heavily to buy a resurrection recipe without the manor master’s knowledge.
• Wang Wu examined the manor’s most precious spirit plant and used the Companion Demonic Vine to find a black stone poisoning its main root.
• Wang Wu dug underground, found the stone, recognized the Five Poisons Spirit Energy within it, and swallowed it when its poison formation detonated.
• Wang Wu’s Ice Fire Talisman, Heart of the Earth, and spirit energy neutralized the poison before it could cause lasting harm, leaving him unable to farm poison resistance.

Wang Wu used the Companion Demonic Vine to repair a poisoned spirit plant, earning Jade Mountain Manor's gratitude and a jade token. He then witnessed the manor's massive daily Spiritual Essence harvest and learned that its supply was largely claimed by others, though the old woman left him around one hundred thousand points of spirit energy to manage.

• Wang Wu had the Companion Demonic Vine examine and surgically repair a spirit plant damaged by Five Poisons Spirit Energy, using grafts taken from similar plants in the manor.
• The spirit plant recovered enough to bloom nine flowers, delighting the old woman; she gave Wang Wu a jade token and let him return to rest.
• At dawn, Jade Mountain Manor used enormous curtain walls and a cauldron to gather Spiritual Essence from a wide area.
• The manor sent most of the harvested Spiritual Essence away, then used the remainder for a cultivation session in which the children and residents received spirit mist according to their rank.
• After the session, the old woman assigned the day's work and left about one hundred thousand points of spirit energy above Wang Wu's wooden lump for him to manage.

Wang Wu studied the spirit mist and Jade Mountain Manor’s formation while working as True Man Mu, then used the Five Aggregates Spirit Array to kill an intruder he mistook for a Myriad Poisons Sect attacker. He realized the dead man might have been an insider and ordered the Companion Demonic Vine to recreate his appearance and cultivation aura.

• Wang Wu concluded that the little cauldron’s purified spirit mist could greatly improve cultivators’ spirit-root quality, though he doubted he could cultivate in it himself.
• Wang Wu worked as True Man Mu, discovered that Jade Mountain Manor’s spirit rain could not be diverted for his own use, and located 4,980 Formation Stones.
• Wang Wu left a wooden decoy in his Great Pit and headed underground to inspect a Formation Stone, guided by his subtle Danger Sense.
• Wang Wu sensed someone passing through the Five Aggregates Spirit Array and used its control authority to send the intruder to him and kill him.
• Wang Wu found that the dead fourth-grade Human cultivator carried no weapons or identifying gear and feared he might have killed an ally, so he told the Companion Demonic Vine to recreate the man’s appearance and aura.