Chapter Summaries

Seventeen Food Masters gathered at a lava fissure to offer blood spheres made from countless people to the being known as the Earth Mother. After the offering, the fissure widened and black mist entered the Food Masters, slightly strengthening them.

• Qi Yu mocked Ao Lin for his defeat on the surface, and Ao Lin challenged him to fight.
• Shu Ming stopped their argument and told the assembled Food Masters to begin the offering.
• The seventeen Food Masters sent dark-red blood spheres, each made from millions of people, sinking into the lava.
• The ground shook as the fissure widened, and a deep roar came from beneath the lava.
• Black mist flowed from the fissure into the Food Masters, and their auras grew slightly stronger.

Shu Ming announced that Earth Mother would awaken in three years and begin the endgame, while Ao Lin vowed that the old being protecting the surface would die. On the surface, Hu Qi tested his perfected hypnosis in a café and left its staff and customers unable to remember him.

• Shu Ming declared that Earth Mother would awaken in three years and usher in the endgame, stirring the Food Masters into anticipation of attacking the surface.
• Ao Lin recalled his injuries from the surface and vowed that the being sustained by incense and worship would die when the time came.
• Hu Qi sat in a café and reviewed the new Tiger Intent trait and the Heart of Depravity trait he had gained by improving his martial arts and hypnosis.
• Hu Qi used subtle hypnotic suggestions on the café staff and customers, then tapped the table to make them briefly lose awareness.
• Hu Qi left the café, and Sicariitan and the other customers could not remember who had been sitting there.

Hu Qi advanced to the Mid-stage Qi Master and raised his Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Bloodline to 40% while Zhu Xi continued its campaign against Black Blood Species. The chapter ended with Han Yuan reacting with alarm to news that Herlinta had become a Qi Dao Grandmaster.

• Zhu Xi members hunted Black Blood Species across Donglin Province, reducing attacks while gaining combat experience and earning enough points for some to become Martial Dao Practitioners.
• Federation agents questioned people about the Seal Wolf Sect Master's death, while Hu Qi took Inherited Secret Martial Arts from lower-tier sects in other provinces.
• Hu Qi upgraded the Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Spirit Devouring Diagram, condensed a True Pill, and reached the Mid-stage Qi Master realm.
• Hu Qi strengthened the diagram again and raised his Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Bloodline to 40%.
• News spread that Herlinta had become a Qi Dao Grandmaster, and Han Yuan crushed an iron rod when he heard it.

Herlinta’s breakthrough to Qi Master brought the Snake Heart Sect gifts and new prominence, while Lu Xin’s attempt to secure justice for her grandfather failed. Hu Qi met with Fa Ji and Guo Yi and thanked them for coming, holding two rings bearing the symbol of a Federation councilor.

• Han Yuan brooded over Herlinta’s breakthrough, then resolved that he might reach Qi Master himself with time.
• Lu Xin learned that the Holy Rain Sect would not help avenge her grandfather or investigate the Snake Heart Sect, and Guan Xiong explained that the Seal Wolf Sect had lost its influence.
• Sects across the region sent congratulatory gifts to the Snake Heart Sect after Herlinta became a Qi Master, and Hu Qi accepted them without holding a banquet or meeting the visitors.
• A Heaven Crocodile Sect disciple complained about being turned away, but his First Senior Brother slapped him and warned him not to disrespect a Qi Master.
• Hu Qi received Fa Ji of the Golden Buddha Temple and Guo Yi of the Thunderclap Sect, thanked them, and handled two rings marked with a Federation councilor’s insignia.

Fa Ji invited Hu Qi to join a small expedition into the Underground World to find spiritual materials and precious medicines that could aid Qi Dao Grandmasters. Hu Qi wanted to go mainly to kill Black Blood Species for Modification Points, and Fa Ji explained that four people had agreed so far, with room for one or two more.

• Guo Yi asked Hu Qi to deliver another council credential to his senior brother, and Hu Qi agreed.
• Fa Ji asked whether Hu Qi had visited the Underground World and invited him to join an expedition there.
• Fa Ji explained that spiritual materials and precious medicines found underground could aid Secret Martial Artists, but the Black Blood Species made exploration dangerous.
• Hu Qi considered the invitation, intending to hunt Black Blood Species for Modification Points rather than seek medicines.
• Fa Ji said Guo Yi, himself, and one disciple each from the Sword Pavilion and Holy Rain Sect planned to go, possibly joined by one or two more.

Hu Qi joined Fa Ji and Guo Yi’s expedition to the Earth's Core, then reflected on the dangers of his growing ambition and examined his new councilor’s ring. Back at Anshan Academy, he practiced using mental force to control objects and noticed Song Jian among the approaching Core Class students.

• Hu Qi agreed to join Fa Ji and Guo Yi, who planned to meet again in half a month before heading to the Earth's Core.
• After the two left, Hu Qi realized he had considered killing them for their Inherited Secret Martial Arts and resolved to pursue mental cultivation and Spirit Refining rather than slow his growth.
• Hu Qi tested the Federation councilor’s ring and found that it accelerated True Essence Power circulation and gathered World's Vital Energy around its wearer.
• Fa Ji told Guo Yi that Herlinta was not as simple as she appeared, but did not explain what he had sensed.
• At Anshan Academy, Hu Qi practiced gathering mental force to lift and propel a leaf, then saw Song Jian among a group of students approaching for the expanded Core Class.

Hu Qi reflected on the changes of the past year as he gathered Exotic Beasts and plundered Inherited Secret Martial Arts to grow stronger. The rising density of the World's Vital Energy and the clearer skies in Anshan City alarmed him as he awaited his appointment with Guo Yi and Fa Ji.

• Song Jian entered the Snake Heart Sect's Core Class, while Hu Qi watched him from a distance and chose not to greet him.
• Hu Qi recalled how he had helped Song Jian with Snow Snake Paste and other rewards in exchange for Song Jian collecting Exotic Beasts.
• Hu Qi spent the next half month acquiring Exotic Beasts and Black Blood Species for Modification Points and stealing Inherited Secret Martial Arts from lower-tier schools.
• The day before meeting Guo Yi and Fa Ji, Hu Qi noticed that Anshan City's air had improved and the World's Vital Energy had grown denser.
• Hu Qi grew concerned that the abnormal increase in the World's Vital Energy signaled something sinister, since it had been depleted since the Secret Martial Civilization vanished.

Hu Qi reflected on the growing World's Vital Energy and the possibility that a Vital Energy Tide heralded civilization’s decline. He used the Seven Fiends Blade to enter an Inheritance Illusion Mirror, where a saber master demonstrated the Supreme Clarity Immortal Slaying Saber Technique.

• Hu Qi noticed that the World's Vital Energy was growing again and considered whether a Vital Energy Tide was approaching.
• Hu Qi checked his panel, saw his Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Bloodline had reached 46%, and assessed the improvements to his cultivation and saber art.
• Hu Qi decided to improve the Seven Fiends Blade before heading to the Earth's core and entered an Inheritance Illusion Mirror.
• A saber master declared he would offer one move and unleashed a slash that split the mountains, clouds, and sky.
• Hu Qi received the name Supreme Clarity Immortal Slaying Saber Technique.

After inheriting the Supreme Clarity Immortal Slaying Saber Technique, Hu Qi used Modification Points to store energy in it and tested its power over the sea. The next day, the story shifted to a cabin deep within the Hongling Mountain Range as its door opened.

• Hu Qi saw a tentacled figure beyond the heavens in the inheritance illusion and concluded the saber master had attacked it with his slash.
• Hu Qi learned that the Supreme Clarity Immortal Slaying Saber Technique was a lost inheritance and could increase its power through Energy Storage.
• Hu Qi spent all eleven Modification Points to give the technique 110 days of Energy Storage.
• Hu Qi tested the saber over the sea, splitting the water with a strike nearly twice as powerful as his ordinary full-strength attack.
• The next day, the scene moved to a remote cabin in the Hongling Mountain Range, where someone opened the door from within.

Cao Ping received Fa Ji and the other Qi Dao Grandmasters at Earth Core Passage No. 0079, where the group gathered before entering the Underground World. Hu Qi, posing as Herlinta, rejected Chang Zhu’s offer to spar, and Fa Ji briefed everyone on the expedition before leading them to the passage.

• Cao Ping verified Fa Ji’s Federation passage token and learned the group would wait for the remaining members before descending.
• Chang Zhu and Wu Yu arrived, followed by Hu Qi disguised as Herlinta, completing the group of visitors.
• Chang Zhu challenged Herlinta to a spar after the expedition, but Hu Qi refused and sensed hostility from her.
• Fa Ji explained the rules for the Underground World and showed the group a map of the Dense Forest Region.
• Cao Ping led Fa Ji and the others upstream to the frigid pool at Earth Core Passage No. 0079.

Hu Qi and the other Qi Dao Grandmasters entered the Underground World through a deep pool and arrived at a lake beneath a rain-filled sky. After the group split up, Hu Qi rejected Wu Yu’s offer to travel together and set off alone to investigate his conjecture.

• Cao Ping showed the group Passage 0079 in the cold pool, and Fa Ji, Guo Yi, Wu Yu, Chang Zhu, Lu Mei, and Hu Qi descended through it one by one.
• After more than an hour underwater, Hu Qi and the others emerged from a lake in the Underground World, where Fa Ji explained how passages connected the hidden realm to the surface.
• The group agreed to explore separately and reunite at the lake in half a month.
• Wu Yu invited Hu Qi to join him and Chang Zhu, but Hu Qi declined and recognized their offer as a likely attempt to provoke him.
• The Old Woman from the Black Spider Sect left on her own, and Hu Qi vanished alone to test his previous conjecture.

Hu Qi traveled through the Dense Forest Region, discovered that its Exotic Beasts could provide Modification Points, and reached Blackstone City. There, he overheard locals discussing an “Ascension” quota and watched the city from a restaurant as night fell.

• Chang Zhu and Wu Yu wondered why the woman they had provoked had stayed calm, then continued toward news of a valuable object.
• Hu Qi killed a giant gray rabbit and absorbed its life force with his blade, gaining Modification Points.
• Hu Qi considered bringing Exotic Beasts to the surface to breed, then flew toward a city after surveying the Dense Forest Region.
• Hu Qi arrived in Blackstone City and heard a man grieving that his mother had taken his family’s “Ascension” quota.
• Hu Qi sat unnoticed in a restaurant, listened to the men’s conversation, and looked down at the city street.

Hu Qi learned that Blackstone City’s Black Blood Species protected humans because they depended on them as a renewable source of blood food, and he discovered how firestones sustained life in the Underground World. He headed for the city center, where Black Stone was being served human-shaped meat by a chef who described it as a new way to prepare livestock.

• Hu Qi observed Black Blood Species and humans coexisting in the streets and learned that the Black Blood Species protected humans to preserve their food supply.
• Hu Qi watched a waiter replace a dim firestone and learned that fire springs replenished the stones, which provided light, heat, and support for crops.
• Hu Qi paid his bill and traveled toward the center of Blackstone City.
• Black Stone sat in his manor and listened as a chef explained how humans cooked meat shaped like a roasted person.

Hu Qi infiltrated Blackstone’s stronghold, killed two Lower-tier Black Blood Species, and subdued Blackstone without killing him so the Food Master of the Dense Forest Region would not sense his death. After extracting information from Blackstone, Hu Qi disguised himself as him and prepared to take his place.

• Blackstone praised the skinny man’s human-meat cooking and promised to convert him, but Hu Qi suddenly killed the man and struck Blackstone with a crimson saber.
• Hu Qi severed the two Lower-tier Black Blood Species and absorbed their life force, then found Blackstone alive despite losing his head.
• Hu Qi tortured Blackstone until he could hypnotize him into revealing his name and information about the Food Master of the Dense Forest Region.
• Hu Qi used Blackstone’s voice to send away the Black Blood Species who rushed to investigate the noise.
• Hu Qi learned that killing Blackstone would alert the Food Master, transformed Blackstone’s head into a brass bell, and took on Blackstone’s appearance.

Hu Qi ordered Feather Crow to post drawings of precious medicines and search for them and living Exotic Beasts, then invited the city lords of the Dense Forest Region to a blood banquet. Meanwhile, a hunter and his son A'gou entered a cave at night to retrieve a strange medicine they hoped to trade for wealth and exemption from “Ascending to Heaven.”

• Hu Qi drew useful spiritual materials and precious medicines from memory and ordered Feather Crow to post the drawings, gather the depicted items, and capture Exotic Beasts alive.
• Hu Qi told Feather Crow to invite the city lords of the Dense Forest Region to a blood banquet fourteen days later.
• Blood Lizard accepted Hu Qi’s invitation, and the other city lords who were available agreed to attend.
• A hunter and his son A'gou walked through the rainy forest at night toward a cave where the hunter had seen a strange medicine.
• The hunter told A'gou that trading the medicine could earn them a grand house and permanent exemption from “Ascending to Heaven.”

A'gou discovered a glowing tea tree in a cave guarded by a mysterious White God, then reported the encounter with his father to Hu Qi. Hu Qi set out to investigate the cave while Wu Yu and Chang Zhu waited on a cliff outside Blackstone City.

• A'gou descended into a cave to find a precious herb and encountered the White God, who ordered him to leave and keep the place secret.
• A'gou returned to his father empty-handed and described the White God, so they covered the cave and hurried toward Blackstone City.
• Hu Qi received news of the strange medicine from A'gou's father and decided to visit the cave himself.
• Hu Qi flew out of Blackstone City with A'gou's father as Wu Yu and Chang Zhu stood on a cliff nearby with bundles of plant roots.

Chang Zhu and Wu Yu followed Hu Qi toward Blackstone City after noticing his unusual search for Exotic Beasts and precious herbs. Hu Qi found a three-thousand-year-old Spirit Nurturing Tea tree in a hidden cave, but the White God attacked him with vines when he tried to take it.

• Chang Zhu questioned why the Mid-tier Black Blood Species in Blackstone City was gathering Exotic Beasts and precious herbs, and Wu Yu suggested following him.
• Hu Qi brought a hunter to a concealed cave entrance, where the hunter pointed out the location beneath a pile of grass.
• Hu Qi entered the cave and discovered a three-meter Spirit Nurturing Tea tree, which he recognized as an exceptionally rare treasure.
• The barefoot woman in white appeared, identified the cave as the cultivation ground of the White God, and ordered Hu Qi to leave.
• The White God summoned thick vines that bound Hu Qi inside a contracting cocoon, but Hu Qi dismissed her methods as insufficient.

Hu Qi subdued the white snake guarding the Spirit Nurturing Tea Tree, took the tree, and left for Blackstone City. Wu Yu and Chang Zhu later found a fallen tea leaf and planned to seize the tree from Hu Qi when they departed the Underground World.

• Hu Qi exposed the white-clothed girl's illusion as a giant white snake, wounded it, and forced it to acknowledge him as its master.
• Hu Qi used Twisted Light to turn the white snake into a bracelet, then uprooted the Spirit Nurturing Tea Tree and shrank it down.
• Hu Qi discovered the tree had grown above a fire spring, then left the collapsed cave with the middle-aged man.
• Wu Yu and Chang Zhu entered the cave and recognized a fallen emerald leaf as Spirit Nurturing Tea.
• Wu Yu and Chang Zhu decided to take the Spirit Nurturing Tea Tree from Hu Qi when they left the Underground World, planning to rely on Fa Ji and the others if the Food Master intervened.

Hu Qi brewed Spirit Nurturing Tea, which calmed his mind and eased the instability caused by his rapid growth. Expecting Chang Zhu and Wu Yu to pursue the tea tree he had left as bait, he spent his accumulated Modification Points advancing his cultivation.

• Hu Qi dismissed his visitor and reflected on how the Underground World's human race had accepted Black Blood Species rule as normal.
• Hu Qi brewed Spirit Nurturing Tea and found that drinking it cleansed his mind and resolved his temperament's instability.
• Hu Qi tried using Twisted Light to enhance the tea tree but only made it larger, with no improvement to its effects.
• Hu Qi revealed that he had left a Spirit Nurturing Tea leaf to lure Chang Zhu and Wu Yu, who had shown ill intentions toward him.
• Hu Qi checked his Scarlet Panel, then spent 150 Modification Points to raise the Qi Meridian Chapter of the Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Spirit Devouring Diagram to level nine.

Hu Qi reached Essence and Qi Unification and sensed the gate to the Heavenly Heart Divine Treasure, but refused to force a breakthrough before meeting its conditions. He raised his Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Bloodline to 69% and learned from Xiao Bai how she gained intelligence and controlled illusions and the World's Vital Energy.

• Hu Qi entered Essence and Qi Unification, sensed the gate sealing the Heavenly Heart Divine Treasure, and resisted the urge to force it open.
• Hu Qi learned that Spirit Refining required perfected martial will to shatter the gate and saw that his secret martial art needed 75% Three-Eyed Yuan Snake Bloodline to advance.
• Hu Qi spent 230 Modification Points to raise his bloodline from 46% to 69%, causing his eyes to become snake-like and a swelling sensation to form at his brow.
• Hu Qi restrained his aura and changed the trembling snake-bone bracelet back into a small white snake.
• Hu Qi learned the snake's name was Yu Bai, renamed her Xiao Bai, and asked how she had learned to create illusions and control the World's Vital Energy.
• Xiao Bai told Hu Qi that she had gained full spiritual intelligence after eating a leaf from tea trees in a cave a hundred years earlier.