Chapter Summaries

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan discussed Luo leaving the Land of Chaotic Gu with them, and Luo decided to pursue the Great Dao after entrusting the Qingmiao Tribe to Bai Fusheng. Fang Xiao discovered that the Sea-Shaking Ape loved tending spirit plants and could accelerate their growth, giving it a new role in his group.

• Luo Tianshan praised Fang Xiao's campaign against the Eight Great Tribes and demon cultivators, and Fang Xiao asked whether Luo had decided to leave the Land of Chaotic Gu.
• Luo Tianshan said he would leave after confirming that Bai Fusheng could look after the Qingmiao Tribe.
• Fang Xiao released the Sea-Shaking Ape and asked whether it had learned to brew Spirit Wine, but the ape admitted its attempts had failed.
• The Sea-Shaking Ape said it preferred planting trees and demonstrated that its blue light could hasten the growth of spirit medicines.
• Fang Xiao realized the Sea-Shaking Ape could tend his spirit plants and accelerate their maturation.

Fang Xiao waited for the Gu God Palace to open as cultivators gathered, then offered Yun Shu a risky chance to restore her failing life. Yun Shu agreed, and Fang Xiao asked about the natal Gu she had lost so he could attempt to replace it.

• Fang Xiao had the Sea-Shaking Ape study spirit plant cultivation inheritances while he waited with Luo Tianshan for the Gu God Palace to open.
• Tu Zhan and Li Zhaoxing arrived, kept their distance from Fang Xiao, and were followed by six members of the Chi Miao Tribe, including the dying Yun Shu.
• Fang Xiao asked why Yun Shu had come, and she explained that she wanted to see the world beyond the Barren Gu Continent before she died.
• Fang Xiao offered Yun Shu a risky method that might save her by replacing her lost natal Gu, and Yun Shu agreed to try it.
• Fang Xiao asked what kind of natal Gu Yun Shu had possessed and whether she still had one or could find a similar Gu insect.

Fang Xiao refined Yun Shu’s replacement cultivation foundation using her Crimson Cloud Flame Gu while Yan Yu retrieved lower-rank Gu insects. As the Gu God Palace began opening, Fang Xiao completed the artifact and revealed four entwined strands of crimson smoke-clouds.

• Fang Xiao asked Yan Yu to find lower-rank Crimson Cloud Flame Gus so Yun Shu could endure a gradual replacement for her lost natal Gu.
• Fang Xiao gave Yun Shu Essence Blood Wine to replenish her depleted essence and began refining her fourth-rank Crimson Cloud Flame Gu.
• Yan Yu returned with the lower-rank Gus after twelve days and received Spirit Milk Wine from Fang Xiao to restore his strength.
• Yun Shu’s condition improved as the Essence Blood Wine was raised to the fourth rank, and Yan Yu recovered using the Spirit Milk Wine.
• Three days later, the lake began rippling as the Gu God Palace prepared to open, and Fang Xiao completed his refinement.
• Fang Xiao opened the furnace and revealed four entwined strands of crimson smoke-clouds.

Fang Xiao successfully refined a substitute natal Gu for Yun Shu and explained how she could safely adapt to it. He and Luo Tianshan then entered the Gu God Palace, where they arrived in an unfamiliar world and spotted an enormous structure in the distance.

• Fang Xiao discovered that refining the four Crimson Cloud Flame Gu had unexpectedly created a new consciousness within the insect artifact.
• Fang Xiao recalled the fleeing insect artifact to his palm and confirmed to Yan Yunyi that the refinement had succeeded.
• Fang Xiao gave Yun Shu the substitute natal Gu and a scroll, warning her to adapt gradually and explaining how to advance its sealed stages.
• Fang Xiao reassured Yan Yu that the four Gu insects would not conflict because they shared a newly born consciousness.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan parted from the Chi Miao Tribe members, entered the lake's spatial gateway, and arrived inside the Gu God Palace.
• Fang Xiao saw an enormous structure standing in the unfamiliar land ahead.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan entered the Gu God Palace and traveled through its mapped upper levels toward the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm. Fang Xiao discovered that his sword intent could still probe nearby areas despite the palace’s restrictions, and the pair continued toward their destination with his interest shifting to the unexplored lower levels.

• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan reached the Gu God Palace, which Luo explained was a vast insect nest with an underground half.
• Luo Tianshan warned Fang Xiao that the palace suppressed Spiritual Sense, contained maze-like routes, and opened for only one year every three hundred years.
• Luo Tianshan explained that the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm was on the five hundred and seventy-fourth level, while the fifth-tier Spirit Vein was on the ninety-third.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan traveled through the upper levels for two days, passing the hundredth level without serious trouble.
• Fang Xiao used his sword intent to detect nearby places and collected a few spirit herbs, common Gu insects, and two fourth-tier Gu insect corpses.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan reached the hidden chamber containing the Guiyi Gu, and Luo recounted how his ancestor discovered it while fleeing a demon-beast attack. Fang Xiao recognized that the empty chamber concealed a cave within a cave, a Heavenly Outer Heaven.

• Fang Xiao told Luo Tianshan that Tu Zhan's battle intent lingered nearby, showing that Tu Zhan and his companion had also used intent within the Gu God Palace.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan continued climbing until they reached the five hundred and seventy-fourth level, where Luo said the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm was located.
• Luo Tianshan recounted how his ancestor, trapped between demon beasts, fled into an unfamiliar path and discovered the Guiyi Gu.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan followed the twisting path for more than two hours and reached a sealed, empty chamber.
• Fang Xiao examined the center of the chamber and recognized that it concealed a Heavenly Outer Heaven within the Gu God Palace.

Fang Xiao studied a spatial gateway inside the Gu God Palace cave-heaven and deduced that it concealed a separated space. After uncovering another hidden chamber within it, he found a Spirit Eye Spring.

• Fang Xiao rejected two explanations for the space beyond the gateway and concluded it used a method of separated space.
• Fang Xiao memorized the gateway's transformations before entering with Luo Tianshan.
• Fang Xiao examined the hidden space while Luo Tianshan searched unsuccessfully for anything unusual.
• Fang Xiao discovered a smaller hidden space and unraveled it by striking several spatial nodes with sword qi.
• The hidden space expanded to reveal a pool and a gushing Spirit Eye Spring.

Fang Xiao discovered the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm in a Spirit Eye Spring and planned to take it using his attribute-less mana and a suitable space in his Five Peaks True Form Diagram. He asked Luo Tianshan to improve his Middle Dantian Gu Refinement Method, and Luo requested copies of that method and Fang Xiao’s Gu implement refinement method in return.

• Fang Xiao uncovered a hidden Spirit Eye Spring, and Luo Tianshan identified the gray light within it as the immature Guiyi Gu Mother Worm.
• Luo Tianshan warned Fang Xiao that the mother worm needed an attribute-free environment, and Fang Xiao concluded he could safely capture it and house it in the Five Peaks True Form Diagram.
• Fang Xiao gave Luo Tianshan a Jade Slip containing his Middle Dantian Gu Refinement Method and asked him to help perfect it.
• Luo Tianshan was astonished by the method and agreed to help if Fang Xiao left copies of it and his Gu implement refinement method with the Luo Clan.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan completed their work in the Gu God Palace as Tu Zhan and Li Zhaoxing’s battle drew closer. Fang Xiao secured the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm and Spirit Eye Spring, while Luo Tianshan left two methods for the Luo Clan’s descendants, and they emerged amid worsening tremors.

• Fang Xiao traded Luo Tianshan a method for crafting insect artifacts in exchange for the cultivation and regeneration Secret Arts used on the Guiyi Gu Mother Worm.
• Violent tremors interrupted their work, and Luo Tianshan judged that a fierce battle was approaching; they suspected Tu Zhan and Li Zhaoxing were fighting nearby.
• Luo Tianshan finished refining the Gu-refining method and placed it with the insect-artifact method on a platform for future Luo Clan descendants.
• Fang Xiao captured the docile Guiyi Gu Mother Worm and placed it in the pure spiritual-qi space within the Five Peaks True Form Diagram.
• Fang Xiao moved the Spirit Eye Spring into the diagram’s space, gave the Sea-Shaking Ape instructions, and left with Luo Tianshan.
• After they emerged, the tremors grew stronger, and Luo Tianshan noted that the battle had reached their level.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan followed the trail of a battle and found Tu Zhan gravely wounded after he had killed Li Zhaoxing. When Tu Zhan attacked them in a blood-fueled frenzy, Fang Xiao destroyed his mental consciousness with the Thought Sword.

• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan followed the tremors and found blood, a severed arm, and traces of Tu Zhan and Li Zhaoxing.
• They descended through the levels and reached a passage strewn with remains, where Tu Zhan stood over Li Zhaoxing's corpse.
• Tu Zhan, badly injured and apparently out of his mind, crushed Li Zhaoxing's head and charged at Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan.
• Tu Zhan unleashed a Secret Art that drove his strength higher while blood poured from his wounds.
• Fang Xiao struck Tu Zhan with the Thought Sword, destroying his mental consciousness and leaving him as good as dead.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan discovered that a Soul Seizing Gu had taken control of Tu Zhan and learned that its mother insect might be near a Soul Cleansing Tree. They followed the blood trail to the 602nd level and entered a passage where the Gu and tree were likely hidden.

• Fang Xiao killed Tu Zhan and drew a strange polyhedron from his divine soul while Luo Tianshan watched.
• Luo Tianshan identified the object as a Soul Seizing Gu that could seize its host's consciousness when it encountered its mother insect.
• Luo Tianshan told Fang Xiao that the Soul Seizing Gu had a companion plant, the Soul Cleansing Tree, whose fruit could strengthen the divine soul.
• Fang Xiao agreed to search for the tree, and he and Luo Tianshan followed the bloodstains left by Tu Zhan and Li Zhaoxing.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan found the blood trail's last trace at a T-shaped intersection on the 602nd level and raced into the branch passage.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan fought their way through the Gu God Palace’s corridors, where swarms of Soul Seizing Gu awakened and attacked them. They reached another spatial gateway, and Fang Xiao sent his sword intent inside.

• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan followed the growing numbers of dormant Soul Seizing Gu through the passageways.
• Fang Xiao swept the low-order Gu into the Five Peaks True Form Diagram and refined them as they advanced.
• The God Seizing Gu Mother Worm awakened the swarm, but Fang Xiao’s Thought Sword and diagram destroyed the insects before their mind-seizing power could reach him.
• Fang Xiao summoned additional defenses and flew with Luo Tianshan through the attacking swarms.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan reached a spatial gateway filled with Gu insects, and Fang Xiao sent his sword intent into it.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan entered the Soul Seizing Gu nest, where Fang Xiao discovered the Gu were feeding on a Spirit God Realm Gu insect corpse. He destroyed the God Seizing Gu Mother Worm and exterminated the entire colony.

• Fang Xiao insisted on entering the spatial gateway first, while Luo Tianshan refused to remain behind and agreed to wait before following him in.
• Fang Xiao entered the sealed chamber using Body Integration with Sword and found more than ten Fourth Order Soul Seizing Gu guarding the gateway.
• Fang Xiao discovered a Spirit God Realm Gu insect’s remains, a Soul Cleansing Tree bearing thirty-six fruits, and the God Seizing Gu Mother Worm laying eggs.
• Fang Xiao attacked the mother worm with sword threads, destroyed the Fourth Order Soul Seizing Gu that came to defend it, and continued striking the mother worm until it stopped regenerating.
• Fang Xiao wiped out the remaining Soul Seizing Gu and destroyed their unhatched eggs.

Fang Xiao claimed the Soul Cleansing Tree and the Spirit God Realm Gu insect limbs, then traded Spirit Milk Wine with Luo Tianshan for a share of the Soul Cleansing Fruits. The pair headed for the lower levels, where Yan Tiandong was fleeing the pursuing Dragon Carp.

• Fang Xiao extracted the Soul Cleansing Tree and stored the two black limbs in the Five Peaks True Form Diagram, stabilizing it with more spiritual power.
• Fang Xiao offered to brew the Soul Cleansing Fruits into Spirit Wine in exchange for keeping the tree, and Luo Tianshan agreed to trade his share for Spirit Milk Wine.
• Fang Xiao gave Luo Tianshan a jade gourd of Spirit Milk Wine, while the Sea-Shaking Ape took the Soul Cleansing Tree into the diagram's internal space.
• Fang Xiao collected the mature Soul Cleansing Fruits, and he and Luo Tianshan set off toward the lower levels to find out whether Yan Tiandong had dealt with the Dragon Carp.
• Yan Tiandong fled through a sea of golden fire as the Dragon Carp pursued him, suppressing the flames and threatening to kill him.

Yan Tiandong fled the Dragon Carp through the Gu God Palace, racing toward the one hundred ninety-eighth underground level before its Leaping Heaven Gate could make it too powerful. Meanwhile, Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan waited at the fifth-tier Spirit Vein for Yan Yu and the others, and Yan Yu returned alone, saying he had left them by the teleportation array.

• Yan Tiandong assessed the Dragon Carp’s Leaping Heaven Gate ability and realized the passageways left him unable to evade its attacks.
• Yan Tiandong continued fleeing toward the one hundred ninety-eighth underground level, where he hoped to use the Gu God Palace to eliminate the Dragon Carp before it could reach half-step Deity Transformation.
• Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan waited at the fifth-tier Spirit Vein, with Fang Xiao refining the limbs of a Spirit God Realm existence through the Five Peaks True Form Diagram.
• After five days, Yan Yu returned alone and told Fang Xiao that he had left Yuan and the others by the teleportation array to avoid attracting the Dragon Carp.

Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan learned why Yan Yu wanted to wait for Yan Tiandong to attempt a breakthrough, while Yan Tiandong lured the Dragon Carp into a hidden space. The Dragon Carp pursued him into a sea of golden flames, where Yan Tiandong unleashed his Fifth Order Heavenly Capital Flame.

• Fang Xiao asked whether the teleportation array was intact, and Yan Yu said they had to wait for Yan Tiandong to attempt a breakthrough into the Spirit God Realm.
• Yan Yu revealed that the Chi Miao Tribe's ancestor had left behind a Fifth Order method, and Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan discussed the ancestor's history and the danger associated with the Gu God Palace.
• Yan Tiandong reached the one hundred and ninety-eighth level as the Dragon Carp's Leaping Heaven Gate ability regained its power.
• Yan Tiandong escaped into a side passage and entered a hidden space, and the Dragon Carp followed him through its spatial gateway.
• Yan Tiandong revealed his Heavenly Capital Flame and hurled its purple-gold spirit flame at the charging Dragon Carp.

Yan Tiandong trapped Dragon Carp inside the hidden space and used the Heavenly Capital Flame to turn the sea of Heavenly Wave Flame against him. Dragon Carp’s escape route vanished, leaving him trapped and facing certain death by the flame.

• Dragon Carp tried to crush Yan Tiandong’s Heavenly Capital Spiritual Flame, but it burned through his hand and spread up his arm, forcing him to sever it.
• Dragon Carp began regrowing his arm as Yan Tiandong revealed that the Heavenly Capital Flame had spread through the surrounding sea of fire.
• Yan Tiandong used the flames as cover to reach the spatial exit and withdrew through it, letting the sea of fire engulf the passage.
• Dragon Carp charged toward the exit, but the portal had disappeared, and the flames consumed the defenses he had prepared.
• Yan Tiandong closed the spatial entrance, trapping Dragon Carp in the Chi Miao Tribe’s hidden contingency space to be refined by the Heavenly Capital Flame.

Yan Tiandong arrived on the ninety-third floor after dealing with the Dragon Carp and prepared to break through to the Spirit God Realm. Fang Xiao warned that the teleportation array might be faulty and asked to test it before Yan Tiandong risked his breakthrough.

• Yan Tiandong left the Dragon Carp behind and headed for the fifth-tier Spirit Vein to pursue the Spirit God Realm.
• Fang Xiao used the Soul Cleansing Tree to open a crack in the dead Gu insect’s limbs, allowing its vital essence to seep out.
• Yan Yu announced Yan Tiandong’s arrival, and Yan Tiandong thanked Fang Xiao for rebuilding Yun Shu’s foundation.
• Fang Xiao advised Yan Tiandong not to break through in the Gu God Palace, but Yan Tiandong insisted he needed the strength in case the teleportation array led somewhere dangerous.
• Fang Xiao proposed that the group test the teleportation array first, warning that hidden damage could prevent their escape before the palace’s one-year deadline.
• Luo Tianshan supported testing the array, leaving Yan Tiandong and Yan Yu troubled by the possibility that their plans could fail.

Dragon Carp escaped the Heavenly Capital Spiritual Flame by destroying his demon body, but his Demon Core was left gravely damaged and he was trapped on the 198th floor. At the fifth-tier Spirit Vein, Fang Xiao obtained Dragon Carp’s preserved Demon Core from Yan Tiandong and left after tossing him an unidentified item.

• Dragon Carp broke through to the Deity Transformation Stage, abandoned his demon body, and escaped the flames through a spatial vortex with only his damaged Demon Core.
• Dragon Carp despaired over being trapped and losing his chance to avenge his hatred, unaware that his breakthrough had quietly closed the Gu God Palace’s gates and begun a change within it.
• Yan Tiandong agreed with Fang Xiao’s proposal and sent Yan Yu to lead Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan, while he stayed behind to prepare.
• Fang Xiao asked Yan Tiandong for the Demon Core of the Dragon Carp that had died on the third tier, and Yan Tiandong handed it over without asking for a trade.
• Fang Xiao left through the spatial gateway, first tossing Yan Tiandong an unidentified item.

Fang Xiao absorbed the third-rank Dragon Carp Demon Core and traveled with Yan Yu and Luo Tianshan toward a hidden teleportation array deep in the Gu God Palace. Strange changes in the palace culminated in a Deity Transformation Stage presence pursuing the Chi Miao Tribe, leaving the three fleeing as a furious voice vowed they would not escape.

• Fang Xiao absorbed the third-rank Dragon Carp Demon Core and asked Yan Yu to reveal the teleportation array's location.
• Yan Yu explained that the array lay in a concealed interlayer between the three-hundred-and-fifty-ninth and three-hundred-and-sixtieth levels, which the Chi Miao Tribe had secretly discovered.
• As the three descended, Yan Yu noticed that the passage had turned an unusually deep red and sent Yan Tiandong a warning about the change.
• At the level where the Dragon Carp had been trapped, Yan Yu sensed danger and urged Fang Xiao and Luo Tianshan to retreat.
• A terrifying Deity Transformation Stage pressure descended, forcing the three to flee through the exit.
• After they escaped, an azure light surged through the passage and an unknown pursuer vowed that Yan Yu and the Chi Miao Tribe would not escape.