Chapter Summaries

Wang Wu refused to sell his Mortal Qi and learned that the Hidden Origin Society planned to reclaim most of it, leaving Dragon Head City exposed to Gui Tai Zhen. He traded the Ape Duke's Skull for a promotion to Fifth-Rank steward, then accepted a dangerous recovery task that might be a trap.

• Wang Wu rented a night watchman's woodshed and received a private offer to exchange his Mortal Qi for a large reward, but refused.
• The unknown steward explained that the Hidden Origin Society was reclaiming Mortal Qi and that Dragon Head City would lose the Hidden Origin Bell's protection if too little remained in circulation.
• Wang Wu traded the Ape Duke's Skull for ten thousand strands of Mortal Qi, submitted them, and became a Fifth-Rank steward.
• Wang Wu found a task to recover a seized shipment worth 8,000 strands of Heaven and Earth Qi, despite warnings that several stewards had died pursuing it.
• Wang Wu accepted the task, deciding the tracking mark and the Hidden Origin Bell's protection made it worth the risk.

Wang Wu prepared for a Hidden Origin Society mission by upgrading his abilities and sending a Supreme Hair double ahead while he secretly watched the suspected thieves. He missed the goods exchange, but concluded there was an insider in the Society and began to wonder whether Five Poisons had anticipated his actions.

• Wang Wu upgraded his Self-Healing Talent to Level 21 and his Rage Talent to Level 11, then prepared Divine Sense, spiritual energy, and a Supreme Hair double for the mission.
• Wang Wu sent Supreme Hair Jun toward the tracking signal with the mission talisman while his concealed true body raced ahead to scout the suspected thieves.
• Wang Wu watched twelve immortal cultivators guarding the stolen goods, while Supreme Hair Jun abandoned the distant mission and returned to Dragon Head City.
• After waiting several days, Wang Wu saw the thieves trade the goods to a mysterious Gray Robe Person wearing a bear hide with layers of Passive Concealment, then scatter in multiple directions.
• Wang Wu decided the Hidden Origin Society had an insider but no Five Poisons agent specifically targeting him, then questioned whether Five Poisons had foreseen the situation in Dragon Head City.

Wang Wu pieced together a possible conspiracy linking the Sin Prison Legion, Five Poisons, and the Hidden Origin Society, then pursued the mysterious Gray Robe Person to a concealed construction site. He ended the chapter waiting outside its heavily trapped Stealth Formation for a chance to infiltrate it.

• Wang Wu suspected that the Hidden Origin Society's Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance branch was secretly reclaiming Mortal Qi and using Gui Tai Zhen as a scapegoat, while multiple factions manipulated events around Dragon Head City.
• Wang Wu decided that securing enough Mortal Qi would protect him and pursued the mysterious Gray Robe Person to recover the Hidden Origin Society's lost supplies.
• Wang Wu followed faint traces from the Gray Robe Person's Ancient Giant Bear fur robe for nearly two hundred thousand li into the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance.
• The Gray Robe Person revealed a mountain and half-built city concealed by a Stealth Formation, then vanished along with them.
• Wang Wu carefully crossed a deadly field of warning formations and traps, recognized the Stealth Formation's complex Five Aggregates Spirit Array core, and waited for it to open so he could slip inside.

Wang Wu infiltrated the Hidden Origin Society’s new construction site and learned that its mountain and city were being built as a foundation for the Hidden Origin Bell. He realized the branch was secretly relocating that foundation to support a scheme against the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance, leaving him and the Sin Prison Legion in grave danger.

• Wang Wu slipped through the Stealth Formation and explored the new city and mountain under construction.
• Wang Wu watched a purple-robed teacher explain the rare materials and formations being installed on the mountain’s iron pillars.
• Wang Wu studied alongside the teacher’s disciples as the teacher used Evil Wind Cloud Marrow to deploy fifty-four Three Realms Spirit Wind Formations.
• The teacher introduced Pale Embers and began demonstrating the Nine Heavens Tribulation Fire Formation for the remaining pillars.
• Wang Wu realized the mountain and city were the Hidden Origin Bell’s new foundation, secretly established by the branch in the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance.
• Wang Wu concluded that the scheme could doom him, the Sin Prison Legion, and the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance.

Wang Wu realized the conflict over the Hidden Origin Bell’s damaged foundation had turned him and Gui Tai Zhen into bait, then returned to flood-stricken Dragon Head City to locate the Bell’s support pillars. He contacted a mysterious Hidden Origin Society deacon and learned that the person was the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord, who asked him to meet because their situation was dire.

• Wang Wu pieced together how the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance and the Hidden Origin Society’s Vermilion Bird branch had cooperated, and decided to repair the Hidden Origin Bell’s foundation rather than pursue the stolen materials.
• Wang Wu left the northern formation after the teacher and his disciples completed fifty-four Nine Heavens Tribulation Fire Formations, establishing a foundation for the Bell on one hundred and eight Black Iron Sky Pillars.
• Wang Wu returned to Dragon Head City and found the surrounding region flooded, with the city isolated and Gui Tai Zhen pressuring the Hidden Origin Society.
• Wang Wu compared Dragon Head City with the northern base and inferred the locations of its one hundred and eight Black Iron Sky Pillars.
• Wang Wu rejoined his Supreme Hair Lord and contacted the mysterious person through the jade talisman, only to learn the earlier message had been sent to many deacons and that his identity was easy to guess.
• The mysterious person identified himself as the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord and asked Wang Wu to meet, saying their situation was dire.

Wang Wu met the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord but refused his demand to marry into the Vermilion Bird Royal Clan and produce ten bloodline seeds. After leaving, Wang Wu searched Dragon Head City’s Black Iron Sky Pillars for a way forward and found one damaged by numerous tiny cracks.

• Wang Wu entered a miniature pagoda and confirmed that the middle-aged man inside was the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord.
• Wang Wu asked to buy Yin Fire and Evil Wind on credit, then offered his allegiance, but the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord refused to accept him outside the Sin Prison Legion.
• The Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord offered ninth-grade Yin Fire and Evil Wind if Wang Wu married into the Vermilion Bird Royal Clan and left ten bloodline seeds; Wang Wu refused and was expelled.
• Wang Wu sent Supreme Hair away as a decoy and searched Dragon Head City for Black Iron Sky Pillars, inspecting five before finding a damaged one at a mortal iron forge.
• Wang Wu discovered dozens of tiny cracks inside the sixth Black Iron Sky Pillar that kept its Nine Heavens Tribulation Fire Formation from functioning properly.

Wang Wu repaired the damaged Black Iron Sky Pillars and rapidly rose to second-rank steward of the Hidden Origin Society. With more than one hundred and fifty thousand strands of Mortal Qi, he considered how to oppose the branch’s relocation plans and examined the top-secret warehouse for resources that might help him deal with Gui Tai Zhen.

• Wang Wu patched the internal cracks in the Black Iron Sky Pillars, restoring their formations and earning ten thousand strands of Mortal Qi and promotion to fourth-rank steward.
• Wang Wu inspected and repaired more pillars, earning nearly one hundred thousand strands of Mortal Qi and advancing to third-rank steward of the Vermilion Bird Immortal Alliance Branch.
• Wang Wu realized that the formations had remained intact because his level-18 Spiritual Essence let him repair the pillars without reforging them.
• Wang Wu repaired all one hundred and eight Black Iron Sky Pillars and was promoted to second-rank steward, gaining voting rights in his current branch and access to its top-secret warehouse.
• Wang Wu considered stopping the relocation plan by dealing with Gui Tai Zhen, then reviewed the warehouse list of supplies he could exchange for his Mortal Qi.

Wang Wu tried to raise his Yin Fire Resistance by buying Fifth-Rank Yin Fire, but learned that reaching the final points would take far more resources than expected. After his resistance reached 9,990, he discovered that it had begun to transform his Crimson Flame Spirit Energy.

• Wang Wu learned he could sell his half-mass of Seventh-Rank Pale Fire for eighty thousand strands of Mortal Qi and chose to spend his resources on Yin Fire instead.
• Wang Wu bought one-tenth of a mass of Fifth-Rank Yin Fire and a Pale Gourd, but gained only 10 points of Yin Fire Resistance and regretted paying extra for the small portion.
• Wang Wu sold his half-mass of Sixth-Rank Pale Fire for eighty thousand strands of Mortal Qi, then bought a complete mass of Fifth-Rank Yin Fire.
• Wang Wu used the full mass to raise his Yin Fire Resistance from 9,910 to 9,990, consuming seven years of lifespan before the fire went out.
• Wang Wu transformed a wisp of Crimson Flame Spirit Energy slightly toward Pale Fire and learned that it could be sold for only 0.001 strands of Mortal Qi.

Wang Wu discovered that transformed Crimson Flame Spirit Energy had improved in quality and learned that the Hidden Origin Society was considering relocating its Vermilion Bird branch. He met the true Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord, Madam Lu, and agreed to help draw Gui Tai Zhen away in exchange for Mortal Qi and a concession for the Hidden Origin Society.

• Wang Wu found that his transformed Crimson Flame Spirit Energy had gained a 1.25-fold increase in power, though extending the enhancement would disrupt the balance of his spirit pills.
• The Hidden Origin Society notified Wang Wu that Ninth-grade Elder Song Guangming had applied to relocate the branch, and Wang Wu contacted the Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord to negotiate for more Mortal Qi.
• Wang Wu met Madam Lu, who revealed that she was the true Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord and had rescued the prison-breakers from the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance.
• Madam Lu explained that Gui Tai Zhen was undermining her authority and asked Wang Wu to lure it away so the Hidden Origin Society would have less reason to relocate.
• Wang Wu accepted the mission and asked for the 150,000 wisps of Mortal Qi his predecessor had gathered, while Madam Lu promised the Hidden Origin Society a five-percent concession if he held Gui Tai Zhen back.

Wang Wu bought a damaged Golden Tome of Creation, accepted hundreds of Hidden Origin Society missions, and slaughtered water demons to provoke Gui Tai Zhen. After Song Guangming drew Gui Tai Zhen’s attention, Wang Wu attacked but failed to break through its Five-Colored Rosy Clouds and escaped with the Hidden Origin Bell’s help, leaving Gui Tai Zhen outside Dragon Head City.

• Wang Wu retrieved his hairs and Divine Sense, then bought a damaged Golden Tome of Creation from the Hidden Origin Society.
• Wang Wu accepted hundreds of accumulated missions and killed water demons outside Dragon Head City, completing 247 missions and earning 34,832 strands of Mortal Qi.
• Gui Tai Zhen attacked Wang Wu with its Five-Colored Rosy Clouds, but Wang Wu teleported back into the Hidden Origin Bell.
• Song Guangming confronted Gui Tai Zhen, and the Hidden Origin Bell intervened when Gui Tai Zhen nearly defeated him.
• Wang Wu teleported behind Gui Tai Zhen and unleashed his full attack, but its Five-Colored Rosy Clouds blocked the damage and shattered.
• Wang Wu escaped using the Hidden Origin Bell, which blocked Gui Tai Zhen’s fatal strike and charged him 10,000 strands of Mortal Qi.

Wang Wu weighed Song Guangming’s offer to cooperate and relocate the Hidden Origin Society branch against Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord’s warning that he was being made a scapegoat. He demanded two hundred thousand strands of Mortal Qi in exchange for agreeing to relocation and leaving Dragon Head City.

• Wang Wu appraised Gui Tai Zhen’s shattered Protective Immortal Talisman and stored it, then learned that the Hidden Origin Bell’s base had been damaged.
• Song Guangming asked Wang Wu to relocate the branch in exchange for help against Gui Tai Zhen, but Wang Wu refused to move it.
• Song Guangming attacked Gui Tai Zhen, prompting the Hidden Origin Bell to block another strike while Wang Wu prepared to ambush from behind.
• Gui Tai Zhen split into nine incarnations and formed a defensive formation, preventing Wang Wu from approaching for another attack.
• Song Guangming offered Wang Wu ten thousand slots and urged him to cooperate, while Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord warned that headquarters could blame Wang Wu for the conflict and advised him to flee.
• Wang Wu told Song Guangming he would agree to relocation and leave Dragon Head City if he received two hundred thousand strands of Mortal Qi.

Wang Wu used the damaged Golden Tome of Creation to raise his Spiritual Resonance to level 19 and repair the Hidden Origin Bell’s base, earning Mortal Qi and promotion to first-grade deacon. The Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord warned him that war was unavoidable and told him to spend his Mortal Qi and flee if the Hidden Origin Society issued a warrant.

• Song Guangming damaged the Hidden Origin Bell’s base while fighting Gui Tai Zhen, then reported Wang Wu to Hidden Origin Society headquarters and triggered an investigation.
• Wang Wu retrieved the Darksteel Hut, Supreme Hair, and Companion Iron Essence, then temporarily raised his Spiritual Resonance to level 19.
• Wang Wu used the Companion Iron Essence to repair all 108 Black Iron Sky Pillars, earning more than 210,000 strands of Mortal Qi.
• The Hidden Origin Bell promoted Wang Wu to first-grade deacon and granted him new authority, protection, discounts, and daily spiritual energy dividends.
• The Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord told Wang Wu that the war with the Jade Cauldron Immortal Alliance was unavoidable and advised him to spend his Mortal Qi and flee if the Hidden Origin Society hunted him.

Song Guangming saw off Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord and reported to Jade Cauldron Immortal Venerable that the Hidden Origin Bell’s foundation had been destroyed. While Wang Wu exhausted his temporary Level 19 Spiritual Essence Insight to study the Protective Immortal Talisman, Hidden Origin Society investigators arrived and found that the Bell was intact and had likely been repaired by Lying Flat Lord.

• Song Guangming dismissed Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord’s warning, then teleported to the edge of the Hidden Origin Bell’s range and assured Jade Cauldron Immortal Venerable that the Bell’s foundation had been destroyed.
• Wang Wu used Level 19 Spiritual Essence Insight to decipher and record the Protective Immortal Talisman’s structure, sharing each section with the Four Clowns before his talent expired and left him mentally exhausted.
• An elderly man in gray, a young man in black, and a woman in white appeared in Dragon Head City to investigate the battle’s spiritual traces.
• The young man in black analyzed the traces and concluded that Song Guangming had acted within the rules, while Gui Tai Zhen had attacked aggressively and Lying Flat Lord had used the Hidden Origin Bell to block the Three Realms Turtle Immortal Seal.
• The woman in white examined the Hidden Origin Bell and found all 108 of its foundations functioning properly, concluding that someone—likely Lying Flat Lord—had repaired it.

The Hidden Origin Society investigation cleared Lying Flat Lord and removed Song Guangming from his post, while Black Emperor and Elder Hui each decided to take the bear as a disciple. After Wang Wu recovered, he received summonses from three third-grade elders, leaving him to face the Society’s attention.

• Elder Hui reviewed the branch records, cleared Lying Flat Lord of dereliction, and joined Frost Domain Immortal in criticizing Song Guangming’s management.
• Elder Hui and Black Emperor abstained on Song Guangming’s disposition, and the investigation concluded with Song Guangming ordered to return to headquarters and enter seclusion.
• Black Emperor told Song Guangming to leave without resentment, then privately admitted to Elder Hui that his disciple had committed serious misconduct.
• Black Emperor and Elder Hui each sought to make Lying Flat Lord their final disciple, but Elder Hui claimed precedence through a favor and his deductions with Divine Calculation.
• After three days, Wang Wu recovered and received messages clearing him of fault and summoning him to meet Mist Domain Immortal, Black Domain Immortal, and Frost Domain Immortal.

Wang Wu met Elder Hui and accepted his offer to become his final disciple, learning that Elder Hui had foreseen Wang Wu killing his Fifth Senior Brother in the future. Elder Hui explained that he had taken Wang Wu in to strengthen his faction and change that future, then ordered him to stay hidden and cultivate for eight hundred years.

• Wang Wu answered the summons and kowtowed to Elder Hui, who offered to accept him as a disciple; Wang Wu immediately agreed.
• The Lord of the Black Domain gave Wang Wu a cluster of Fifth Rank Yin Fire and advised him to cultivate through the heavenly tribulations before seeking the Dao of a Grand Unity True Immortal.
• Elder Hui revealed that his Twenty-Seventh Rank Divine Calculation had foreseen Wang Wu killing his Fifth Senior Brother three hundred years later, and that accepting Wang Wu could prevent their conflict.
• Elder Hui told Wang Wu he had taken him in to strengthen his faction and promised to help him attain the Dao of a Grand Unity True Immortal in return for serving it.
• Elder Hui explained the limits and protections surrounding Divine Calculation, then told Wang Wu to remain near the Hidden Origin Bell, keep a low profile, and cultivate until he reached the Earth Immortal Ninth Tier.

Elder Hui explained cultivation realms and the origins of the Twelve Immortal Alliances and Hidden Origin Society, then offered Wang Wu three treasures tied to missions. Wang Wu received temporary authority over the Dragon Head City branch and discovered it came with a flood of pending work.

• Elder Hui taught Wang Wu about the Earth Immortal, Grand Unity True Immortal, and Grand Unity Golden Immortal realms, and explained the Three Disasters and Nine Absolutes.
• Elder Hui described the Twelve Immortal Alliances as shifting factions and explained that the Hidden Origin Society had formed to protect cultivators and extend peace to ordinary beings.
• Elder Hui offered Wang Wu the Universe Pagoda, an immortal protective talisman, and a Creation Jade Scroll, but assigned each treasure to a separate Hidden Origin mission.
• Wang Wu read the missions, which required him to reunite with those he cared about or remain in secluded cultivation near Dragon Head City for set periods.
• Wang Wu received notice that a new Hidden Origin Society overseer would arrive in six months and was granted authority to manage the branch until then.
• Wang Wu was overwhelmed by the branch's backlog of pending affairs and suspected the new overseer was avoiding the work.

Wang Wu took charge of Dragon Head City as key stewards resigned and hostile cultivators turned the surrounding Spiritual Essence storm into Demonic Qi. Unable to remove the threat, he reorganized the city's land and labor to feed its mortals and keep the branch functioning.

• Yue Mu Lin, Fan You Hao, and Liu Zheng Yi resigned with their stewards, and Wang Wu approved their departures despite warnings that the branch was losing staff and supplies.
• Wang Wu found that the battle's aftermath had formed a vast, unstable Spiritual Essence storm that was close to degenerating into Demonic Qi.
• The West River Great King and other cultivators used Spirit-Sealing Talismans to push the storm into a Demonic Qi mass that would circle Dragon Head City for hundreds of thousands of years.
• Wang Wu opened farmland and settlements, moved three small mountains, and assigned work to farmers, fishermen, hunters, gatherers, merchants, and laborers to address the mortal crisis.
• Wang Wu posted missions for the remaining stewards to manage the population and distributed his Mortal Qi so the people's needs could generate missions and rewards.

Wang Wu decided to upgrade the Hidden Origin Bell’s Sky Pillars to increase its power and secure his position as acting chief administrator. He began testing his self-devised Internal Forging Method, leaving the first pillar ready for an immensely complicated construction plan.

• Wang Wu chose to spend his own resources upgrading the Sky Pillars from Heavenly Eighth-Rank to Heavenly Seventh Grade, aiming to finish within six months.
• Wang Wu used the Companion Iron Essence to sever a Sky Pillar from the Nine Heavens Tribulation Fire Formation and drill through its core without breaking through the bottom.
• Wang Wu explained his Internal Forging Method to the Four Clowns and ordered them to calculate a design for evenly distributing heat and force inside the pillar.
• After half a month, the Four Clowns produced a plan requiring five vertical holes and 3.6 million horizontal holes across each cross-section.
• Wang Wu promised the Companion Iron Essence a wife to calm it after it reacted violently to the scale of the drilling work.

Wang Wu invented the Internal Forging Method and used it to upgrade twenty Sky Pillars, earning enough Hidden Origin Contribution Points to become a Ninth-grade Elder and the Second Chief Steward of the Dragon Head City Branch. The new chief steward was due to arrive in three days, while Wang Wu gained unusually strong protection and mobility from his growing compatibility with the Hidden Origin Bell.

• Wang Wu and the Four Clowns hollowed out a Black Iron Sky Pillar, then used Crimson Flame Spirit Energy and molten Mysterious Iron to raise its quality to Heavenly Seventh Grade without damaging its exterior.
• The Hidden Origin Bell connected with the upgraded Sky Pillar, rewarding Wang Wu with Mortal Qi and Hidden Origin Contribution Points and advising him to alternate between wind- and fire-formation pillars.
• Over nearly four months, Wang Wu spent his spirit energy, Refined Mysterious Iron, and the Companion Iron Essence's snacks to upgrade ten fire pillars and ten wind pillars.
• The Hidden Origin Society promoted Wang Wu to Ninth-grade Elder and core member, granting him a fifty percent discount, a Hidden Origin Token, and the post of Second Chief Steward of the Dragon Head City Branch.
• Wang Wu learned that the new chief steward would arrive in three days and that his compatibility with the Hidden Origin Bell let him move freely within a radius of one hundred and fifty thousand li under its protection.

Wang Wu used the Hidden Origin Bell to suppress the Demonic Qi outside Dragon Head City and gained control of the branch altar’s annual earnings. He spent the remaining funds on materials and supplies, then teleported to the Sin Prison Legion’s garrison.

• Wang Wu activated the Hidden Origin Bell to overcome a Demonic Qi storm that had been increased to 1.6 billion points by his hidden opponents.
• Wang Wu used his acting chief steward authority to subdue the Demonic Qi, turning it into Spiritual Energy and earning rewards for himself and the Dragon Head City branch altar.
• Wang Wu allocated the branch altar’s earnings, taking his dividend and setting aside the required contribution to Hidden Origin Society headquarters.
• Wang Wu spent 400 million points of Spiritual Energy on ten thousand pieces of level-nine Refined Mysterious Iron to upgrade the Hidden Origin Bell.
• Wang Wu spent the remaining funds on talismans and spirit herb seeds, then teleported to the Sin Prison Legion’s garrison arranged by Vermilion Bird Immortal Lord.