Chapter Summaries

Wang Wu spent eleven years and eighty mouthfuls of spirit liquid upgrading his three Dominant Body Demon Cores into Ruyi Demon Cores, earning the Great Wilderness Third accomplishment. After considering the Four Clowns’ advice, he decided to inscribe Passive Concealment on one blank core and leave Danger Sense off the others.

• Wang Wu used the Heart of the Earth to restrain his three fifth-rank Dominant Body Demon Cores while he slowly improved their quality with spirit liquid.
• After five years of cultivation and another five years of work, Wang Wu upgraded the three cores into Ruyi Demon Cores, then recovered from the dangerous upheaval in one year.
• The Four Clowns congratulated Wang Wu on cultivating five fifth-rank Ruyi Demon Cores and achieving the Great Wilderness Third accomplishment, which made him the third known person to do so.
• Wang Wu asked the Four Clowns how to inscribe his three blank Ruyi Demon Cores, and the Attribute Panel explained that Divine Sense aided combat more than danger prediction.
• Wang Wu concluded that Passive Concealment and Danger Sense mattered less at his current stage, and planned to inscribe Passive Concealment on one core while leaving the others blank.

Wang Wu raised his Hegemon Body Divine Ability to level 11 by spending 60% of his Bloodline Evolution, then bonded with and painstakingly nurtured a Companion Iron Essence to Seventh Rank. After nearly fifteen years underground, he returned to the surface and discovered escaped demons and human cultivators fighting among mortal armies.

• Wang Wu inscribed Hegemon Body onto two Ruyi Demon Cores and used blood and qi to overcome his bloodline limit, unlocking its level 11 form at great cost.
• The appraisals revealed that level 11 Hegemon Body lasted three seconds, resisted powerful interruption and immobilization arts, and consumed 100,000 vitality or blood and qi per use.
• Wang Wu spent twenty-four days coaxing the Companion Iron Essence from its box, then bonded with it and fed it for three years until it reached Seventh Rank.
• Wang Wu used up much of his spirit liquid and darksteel raising the Iron Essence, leaving only 255 mouthfuls of spirit liquid and forcing him to seek a way to earn spirit stones.
• Wang Wu dismantled his underground shelter and returned to the surface, where he found two mortal armies fighting with escaped Demon Race members and human cultivators among their ranks.

Wang Wu investigated a battlefield and discovered that escaped prisoners were being lured into a deadly trap by powerful demons disguised as soldiers. After fleeing underground, he cautiously began reading Liu Zongbai’s diary and found the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance’s collective diary practice suspicious.

• Wang Wu sent a crude External Incarnation toward a battlefield, where patrol demons captured it in a sack after explaining that escaped prisoners had to atone for their crimes.
• The patrol demons sensed Wang Wu watching and unleashed a Heavenly Sixth-grade sword formation that erased the battlefield, city, and surrounding mountains, revealing the entire scene had been an illusion.
• Wang Wu escaped underground, hid in his Darksteel Hut, and decided to study Liu Zongbai’s diary and a compendium of Daoist arts before venturing out again.
• After waiting seven or eight days, Wang Wu carefully deciphered Liu Zongbai’s diary and learned that Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance disciples were encouraged to record their daily thoughts and experiences.
• Wang Wu suspected the Alliance’s collective diary practice was a trap and refused to read the jade slips directly with his Divine Sense.

Wang Wu studied Liu Zongbai’s diary about a mission that turned him toward formation mastery, then used the Four Craftsmen’s analysis to infer how the outside world differed from the Great Desolation Sin Prison. The chapter ended with the group recommending that they keep gathering information.

• Liu Zongbai recorded taking an Earth-grade mission with a friend, discovering Nightshade Grass, and traveling to his hometown in the Gray Mist Zone.
• Liu Zongbai described the deacon disciples exploiting mortal women for resources and joining the hunt for a Sinister Demon.
• Liu Zongbai’s team found more than a hundred Sixth-grade Sinister Demons, survived the battle with formation support, and received only half a percent of the reward from his friend.
• Liu Zongbai decided to pursue formation mastery rather than become an all-round cultivator.
• Wang Wu asked the Four Craftsmen to analyze the diary, and they drew conclusions about the outside world’s eras, Immortal Alliances, cultivation specialization, mist zones, and widespread formations.

Wang Wu destroyed Liu Zongbai’s records and confirmed that they had enabled a group of spiritual energy thieves to track him. After reaching a river, he reconnected with old companions and learned that many were alive, while Five Poisons revealed an unexpected family connection.

• Wang Wu burned Liu Zongbai’s jade slips and dragon scale, then tested his concealment and found that the spiritual energy thieves could no longer track him.
• Wang Wu followed a sudden intuition to a river, where the Snake Guard Mark connected him to A Qing.
• A Qing told Wang Wu that she was the Snake Emperor’s granddaughter, and Five Poisons warned that the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance had sealed the border.
• The Snow Wolf General told Wang Wu that she and several former companions had escaped petrification and were alive, and she revealed that Snake Nineteen was alive as the Snake Emperor’s fourth daughter.
• Five Poisons explained that his father was Lu Wuchen and his mother was the Snake Emperor’s second daughter, making him Wang Wu’s granduncle.

Wang Wu learned that his escaped allies had survived under the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance, then spent ten years in the Gray Mist Zone searching for a way into the cultivator world. He entered a hidden gateway disguised as a fish and found himself ordered to cultivate for ten years or be eaten.

• Five Poisons, Yue Shan, and Snake Nineteen contacted Wang Wu through the Snake Guard Mark, explained their lives in the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance, and urged him to stay alive before the connection was destroyed.
• Wang Wu explored the ordinary human settlements along the river, concluded that the region was the Gray Mist Zone, and waited there for cultivators to arrive.
• After ten years, Wang Wu watched officials select two youths for a mysterious journey, but lost sight of them when they vanished near a mountain.
• Wang Wu noticed ten-year-old fish swimming upstream, transformed himself into a fish, and followed them through a hidden underwater gateway into an area with stronger spiritual energy.
• Yu Ermu, a naval commandant under the West River Great King, ordered the fish to cultivate for ten years to qualify as River Patrol Demons or be eaten.

Wang Wu entered the West River Navy Camp selection and discovered that its Dao arts drew power through a Spirit Network. After Yu Ermu chose him as a White Feather River Patrol Guard, the group reached a stretch of river guarded by monkeys and laden with Ninth-grade Spirit Fruits.

• Wang Wu followed Yu Ermu downstream through the Spirit Mist Zone as the fish selection eliminated those unable to keep pace.
• Yu Ermu rang a bell that awakened the fish’s intelligence, then gave Wang Wu and other promising fish White Feather flags.
• Yu Ermu taught the Wave Rider Dao art, and Wang Wu realized its mantra connected practitioners to a Spirit Network that supplied spiritual energy.
• Wang Wu practiced Wave Rider, leaping more than twenty zhang while keeping his progress among the top twenty.
• Yu Ermu named the flagged fish his White Feather River Patrol Guards and led them to cliffs where monkeys guarded Ninth-grade Spirit Fruits.
• Yu Ermu urged the guards to jump for the fruits.

Wang Wu used the Spiritual Fruit training to establish himself as an unusually capable but plausible big fish, then joined Yu Ermu’s White Feather Guards. Yu Ermu led the group to learn the Ride the Wind Dao Method, leaving Wang Wu to practice his next step toward a legitimate identity.

• Wang Wu drew the monkeys’ attention by evading their vine lassos, knocking Spiritual Fruits from the bridge, and rallying the big fish to collect them.
• Wang Wu distributed the fallen fruits among the fish and observed their growth so he could gauge how much talent to display.
• Wang Wu returned to the West River Navy Camp, where Yu Ermu said nothing about taking him to the West River Great King.
• After a night of cultivation, Wang Wu joined Yu Ermu’s White Feather Guards for more training, while Yu Ermu seemed preoccupied.
• Yu Ermu led the guards past the monkeys’ bridge and demonstrated the Ride the Wind Dao Method, instructing them to practice until they could fly a hundred zhang.

Wang Wu mastered the Ride the Wind Dao Method, deciphered its true incantation, and found insights that could greatly improve his Demon Wind Divine Ability. He then led the big carp through Yu Ermu’s second trial, helping all 112 cross a dangerous waterfall and leaving them safely beyond it with some Purple Diamond Grass.

• Wang Wu practiced linking Wave Rider with Ride the Wind and used the Spirit Network to reverse-engineer the Dao Method’s true essence.
• By the end of the morning, Wang Wu could fly more than a hundred zhang and had formed plans to optimize his Demon Wind Divine Ability.
• Yu Ermu led Wang Wu and the big carp to a dangerous waterfall guarded by hundreds of taunting crabs carrying Purple Diamond Grass.
• Wang Wu smashed through a crab’s ice wall, struck the leading Big Crab, and used the opening to fly over the waterfall with Purple Diamond Grass in his mouth.
• The other big carp followed Wang Wu’s example and crossed the waterfall, and all 112 cleared the trial without injury.

Wang Wu trained with the carp for a Dragon Gate challenge while learning about the West River Great King’s ambitions and the rival Mount Master Muyang. When Big Crab unleashed dragon might to test the carp, Wang Wu pretended to falter, then tried again and maneuvered back into the air, keeping his real intentions hidden.

• Wang Wu fed the big carp Purple Diamond Grass, and their physical abilities surged as they trained for the upstream leap.
• Wang Wu overheard Yu Ermu, Big Monkey, and Big Crab discuss the West River Great King’s plan to cross the Dragon Gate for True Dragon Ancient Blood and the possible territories under Mount Master Muyang.
• Wang Wu spent the next few days practicing Wave Rider and Ride the Wind until the carp were ready to attempt the waterfall.
• As Wang Wu began his leap, Big Crab activated a bone mark that released dragon might, and Wang Wu pretended to be terrified and fell.
• Wang Wu tried again, feigned another struggle against the dragon might, and used the current and Wave Rider to soar upward once more.

Wang Wu overcame the Dragon Gate trial and accepted appointment as a Nine-Rank enfeoffed vassal, breaking with the West River Water Tribe. The Big Monkey brought him to his new fief at an unnamed spring on Bear Ridge, where a crowd of monkeys gathered around him with knives.

• Wang Wu faced dragon might nine times, leapt over the waterfall, and swallowed the Big Crab bone that released it.
• Yu Ermu tried to kill Wang Wu, but the Big Monkey deflected the fish spear and invoked Mount Master Muyang’s authority to protect him.
• Wang Wu accepted the gray seal, and Envoy Pei appointed him Nine-Rank enfeoffed vassal of the unnamed spring at Bear Ridge under the name Yu Ergou.
• The Big Monkey helped Wang Wu leave the West River Water Tribe and carried him west to his new fief.
• The Big Monkey released Wang Wu into the small spring, where a crowd of monkeys surrounded him as several old monkeys sharpened their knives.

Wang Wu began cultivating a demon core under Old Zhou’s guidance and established his fief at Bear Ridge’s spring eye. After discovering the vast spiritual network above the land, he left his next steps undecided.

• Big Monkey introduced Wang Wu to Old Zhou and persuaded him to teach Wang Wu how to cultivate a demon core.
• Old Zhou used golden needles to guide Wang Wu through his first blood-and-qi circulation, and Wang Wu completed twenty-four circulations by dusk.
• Over the next three days, Wang Wu shrank to one meter long and cultivated a ninth-rank demon core, gaining the ability to speak human language.
• Big Monkey and Old Zhou helped Jia Ding Monkey drive rain clouds across Bear Ridge, while Wang Wu observed the water-transport method.
• Wang Wu used his gray seal to establish a spring-eye watershed for his fief and sensed the vast spiritual network restrained above the ground.

Wang Wu connected to the Spirit Network, discovered its restrictive permissions and fees, and accepted a 5,000-point qi wage to produce water for Bear Ridge. He learned that Bear Ridge’s strained duties were part of a system that traded cultivators’ freedom to pursue demon cores and Spirit Pills for status and support, but the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance’s political struggle had left Bear Ridge struggling to meet its obligations.

• Wang Wu activated three Dao Methods through the Spirit Network, found that he lacked access to others, and worried that its surveillance had marked his rebellious thoughts as Qi Deviation.
• Big Monkey paid Wang Wu half a drop of spirit liquid worth about 5,000 points of qi and ordered him to record three Dao Methods and produce water for Bear Ridge.
• Big Monkey, Old Zhou Tou, and Jia Ding Monkey discussed Bear Ridge’s expenses, their duty to protect Zhou Zhuang Town’s 3,000 mortals, and their need for Wang Wu to supply water.
• The Four Clowns explained that the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance used fiefs like Bear Ridge to let cultivators pursue demon cores and Spirit Pills in exchange for supporting the system and fulfilling its conditions.
• The Four Clowns revealed that Bear Ridge had become a sacrifice amid the struggle between Mount Master Muyang and the West River Great King.

Wang Wu mastered the Earth Evasion Dao Method and dramatically improved his Demon Wind, then secretly gathered water from the West River despite the Great King's tariff-like restriction. After seeing the West River Great King's immense Spirit Network army, Wang Wu abandoned his plan to inspect the Dragon Gate and returned to laying low.

• Wang Wu repeatedly used Earth Evasion, spending Big Monkey's Spirit Energy as he recognized the Dao resonance within the method.
• Wang Wu transferred his golden seal to a carp made from his fur, then used the Ride the Wind Dao Method to boost his Demon Wind to Level 9.
• Wang Wu discovered the West River Great King's water tax and secretly collected ice in amounts that avoided triggering it, storing the supply near the spring eye.
• Wang Wu saw more than a million Spirit Network-connected demon soldiers patrolling the West River and worried about Snake Nineteen, Snow Wolf General, and the Great Desolation Sin Prison Legion.
• Wang Wu decided not to seek out the Dragon Gate and returned to his plan of lying low and fleecing immortals.

Wang Wu expanded the spring at Bear Ridge and later visited the dying True Man Mu to investigate whether his spirit stones were legitimate. True Man Mu revealed a dying First-Rank Great Illusion King Worm and urged Wang Wu to take it, leaving Wang Wu to realize the candle flame was the worm’s true body.

• Wang Wu secretly diverted water from the West River basin, enlarging Bear Ridge’s pond and stream while Big Monkey, Old Zhou Tou, and Jia Ding Monkey searched unsuccessfully for the source.
• Old Zhou Tou warned Big Monkey to prepare Bear Ridge for internal conflict and hinted at danger during the coming Minor Cold and Great Cold.
• When the others disappeared to cultivate, Wang Wu decided to test Liu Zongbai’s spirit stones and sought help from True Man Mu.
• Wang Wu used the Myriad Transformation Wishful Demon Leaf to gain access to True Man Mu, who revealed he was an Ancient Tree Clan member and a jailbreaker.
• True Man Mu gave Wang Wu a dying Great Illusion King Worm and said its stored information was precious, then appeared to die as the candle flame began to falter.
• The Four Clowns urged Wang Wu to take the worm, and Wang Wu realized the candle flame—not the shriveled root—was its true body.

Wang Wu broke through to the stage where his Primordial Spirit could leave his body, then used his expanded abilities to impersonate True Man Mu and claim the Spirit Network Golden Seal. After cultivating a Green Wood Spirit Pill, he learned that Great Cold and Minor Cold were an approaching Spirit Network disaster that could trigger intense wars.

• Wang Wu used the First-Rank Great Illusion King Worm to gain three strands of Divine Sense and let his Primordial Spirit leave his body.
• The Four Clowns warned Wang Wu that True Man Mu was dying and that he needed an Azure Wood Spirit Root to inherit its legacy and secure the Spirit Network Golden Seal.
• Wang Wu cultivated an Azure Wood Spirit Root and Ninth-Rank Green Wood Spirit Pill, then replaced True Man Mu and successfully verified the golden seal.
• Wang Wu created a hair-based substitute to impersonate True Man Mu and raised his Green Wood Spirit Pill to Seventh Rank before its growth began to conflict with his Ice Fire Spirit Pill.
• The Bear Family Database explained that Great Cold and Minor Cold came every three hundred years, made the Spirit Network disappear for ten to thirty years, and brought a world-freezing cold wave that drove factions into war beforehand.

Wang Wu learned more about the Spirit Network, the Dimensional Spirit Net, and the conflict between the Jade Cauldron and Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliances before choosing to focus on becoming strong enough to survive. After five years in seclusion, he emerged as True Man Mu and was urgently asked to save Bear Ridge’s withering Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden.

• Wang Wu questioned the Four Clowns about the Immortal Alliances, the Spirit Network, and the Dimensional Spirit Net, but received limited information about the alliances’ conflict and the dangers of reaching the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance.
• Wang Wu decided that he first needed to ensure he could fly before choosing whether to take flight, and the Four Clowns revealed True Man Mu’s final words about the alliances’ mysterious wager, the rules, and their weakness.
• Big Monkey and Old Zhou Tou welcomed True Man Mu back after five years of seclusion, while Jia Ding Monkey offered restrained congratulations.
• Big Monkey told Wang Wu that Bear Ridge’s trees and shrubs were dying and that the five-hundred-year-old Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden had withered, threatening Bear Ridge’s trade with True Man Wasp.
• Wang Wu used Wood Escape to reach the linden, examined its drooping branches and sparse flowers, and activated Level 15 Spiritual Essence as Big Monkey, Old Zhou Tou, and Jia Ding Monkey watched expectantly.

Wang Wu claimed the Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden was dying from formation interference and persuaded Big Monkey to transplant it to the hill in his fief. As the transplant began, Big Monkey used a seal to carve half of the nearby hills into a fief for Yu Ergou, setting up a dispute with Wang Wu.

• Wang Wu told Big Monkey and Old Zhou Tou that formation interference had stolen the Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden’s life energy and urged them to move it.
• Wang Wu rejected several possible transplant sites, steering Big Monkey toward the hill opposite his own fief.
• Jia Ding Monkey questioned Wang Wu’s diagnosis, but Wang Wu proposed the Five Aggregates Spirit Array as a remedy and Big Monkey agreed to the transplant.
• Big Monkey went to the pond, retrieved a gray Small Seal, and sent a talisman to claim land for Yu Ergou.
• The gray Small Seal carved half of the ten-li hilly region into Yu Ergou’s fief, prompting Big Monkey to gloat that Wang Wu’s plan would fail.

Wang Wu oversaw the Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden’s transplant and let Big Monkey and Old Zhou Tou arrange a lake around Yu Ergou’s spring. He then withdrew to a heavily fortified hut to begin a major cultivation breakthrough, using a Five Aggregates Spirit Pill to refine his Green Wood Spirit Pill.

• Wang Wu summoned the Qingyun Sect disciples, who joined Jia Ding Monkey’s spirit monkeys in moving the Purple-skinned Yellow Flower Linden and its surrounding mound into his territory.
• Big Monkey announced that Yu Ergou had become a Ninth Rank feudal retainer, and Old Zhou Tou proposed expanding the spring into a lake with a channel to Zhou Zhuang Town.
• Wang Wu moved his true body to an eastern hill, delegated his duties to a hair-created replacement, and began preparing to advance his pills and Demon Cores.
• Wang Wu built a thick Darksteel Hut inside the wooden hut and secluded himself, intending to raise the Green Wood Spirit Pill to Ruyi Fifth Rank.
• Wang Wu swallowed a Seventh Rank Five Aggregates Spirit Pill and used Azure Wood Spirit Energy to destroy and reform the Green Wood Spirit Pill, beginning its purification and tempering.

Wang Wu spent a year forcing his new Azure Wood Spirit Pill into harmony with his Ice Fire Spirit Pills, raising his bloodline and reaching First-grade Great Demon strength. After recovering from the cost of creating innate bloodline treasures, he reunited with Big Monkey and learned Mount Master Muyang had reconciled with the West River Great King and would marry his youngest daughter to him.

• Wang Wu cultivated a Fifth Rank Ruyi Azure Wood Spirit Pill and deliberately triggered a fierce internal conflict so his systems would rebuild and strengthen his bloodline.
• Wang Wu endured a year of injury and heavy resource consumption before his innate and acquired systems reached a ceasefire and began operating together again.
• Wang Wu's attributes and abilities rose sharply, his bloodline evolution reached 62.5%, and he gained the strength of a First-grade Great Demon.
• Wang Wu plucked twenty-five hairs that became innate bloodline magic treasures, then fell into three months of weakness and spent much of Liu Zongbai's inheritance replenishing himself.
• Wang Wu met Big Monkey, Old Zhou Tou, Jia Ding Monkey, and a young man, and Big Monkey paid him 1.28 million points of spiritual energy in overdue salary.
• Big Monkey told Wang Wu that Mount Master Muyang had reconciled with the West River Great King and planned to marry his youngest daughter to him next month.