Chapter Summaries

Shen Changchuan compressed and purified his mana by consuming vast quantities of treasures, then broke through to the fourth level of the Out-of-Body Realm. He learned that the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly might inhabit Golden Wind Valley or be found among the Spirit Tribe, but he left the search for another time.

• Shen Changchuan spent more than three thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones' worth of treasures refining his mana over two months.
• Roaming Dragon told Shen Changchuan that an elder had heard of the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly from a Spirit Tribe priest, and promised to search for it when the fighting settled.
• Shen Changchuan visited the injured Wu Tianhao, who described Golden Wind Valley's ore-filled terrain and dangerous golden winds, but had never heard of the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly.
• Shen Changchuan exhausted his remaining treasures and Spirit Stones, then broke through from the third to the fourth level of the Out-of-Body Realm.

After stabilizing his cultivation, Shen Changchuan learned that Wu Tianhao’s health had mysteriously deteriorated and suspected an insidious Gu worm. He began examining Wu Tianhao and released Little Gold to investigate, but the cause remained unknown.

• Shen Changchuan ended his seclusion three days after reaching the fourth level of the Out-of-Body Realm and hurried to Wu Tianhao’s courtyard.
• Wu Tianhao told Shen Changchuan that his health had steadily worsened since he returned injured from Golden Wind Valley, despite examinations by a Grand Elder and an alchemist.
• Wu Tianhao explained that he had delayed contacting Master Roaming Dragon because he feared distracting him from the ongoing battle at Soul-Severing Mountain.
• Shen Changchuan offered to examine Wu Tianhao, saying he suspected a secretive Gu worm and had studied Gu techniques.
• Shen Changchuan examined Wu Tianhao’s blood, then released Little Gold, which tasted the blood and hissed at him.

Shen Changchuan used Little Gold to draw the unknown Gu from Wu Tianhao and absorb the toxins it had left behind, saving his Senior Brother. After sensing the Gu’s controller nearby, Shen Changchuan struck toward a house with his One-Breath Seizing Hand.

• Shen Changchuan told Wu Tianhao he could not identify the Gu or prescribe a targeted treatment, but proposed using Little Gold to deal with it.
• Wu Tianhao swallowed Little Gold, which traveled through his body and forced a dark-red Gu out through the wound.
• Little Gold absorbed the toxins inside Wu Tianhao, whose complexion recovered as his aura remained weak.
• Shen Changchuan fed the expelled Gu to Little Gold and sensed a ripple of Gu arts linked to a nearby house.
• Shen Changchuan rushed into the sky and unleashed his One-Breath Seizing Hand toward the house.

Shen Changchuan chased a gaunt intruder from Wilderness City with Little Gold’s help, but the trail led to a lake where the enemy had prepared an ambush. The intruder trapped Shen Changchuan inside a restricted area and prepared to attack him.

• The gaunt figure escaped Shen Changchuan’s crushing palm strike using a Gu-assisted evasion technique.
• Shen Changchuan used Little Gold to track the fugitive beyond Wilderness City and considered how the intruder had slipped past the city’s alert formation.
• Shen Changchuan chose to retreat and seek reinforcements after sensing the enemy’s unknown strength and methods.
• The gaunt figure rose from the lake and restricted the space around Shen Changchuan, then threatened to teach him a lesson.

As Wilderness City went on alert after a spy attacked Wu Tianhao's disciple, Shen Changchuan tracked down and captured the enemy. The Shen Clan's Third Elder saw Shen Changchuan defeat a much stronger cultivator and worried that his past alliance with the First Madam had put him on the wrong side of another rising prodigy.

• Fellow Daoist Zheng told the Shen Clan's Third Elder that a spy had attacked Wu Tianhao's disciple and that Shen Changchuan had exposed the culprit.
• The Ancient Sword Sect's Grand Elder sealed Wilderness City and ordered its cultivators to hunt down the infiltrator.
• A huge disturbance erupted outside the city, drawing Fellow Daoist Zheng, the Shen Clan's Third Elder, and other cultivators to the scene.
• Shen Changchuan emerged from a massive crater holding a gaunt Out-of-Body Realm, Sixth Level cultivator he had captured.
• The Shen Clan's Third Elder was shocked that Shen Changchuan, only at the Fourth Level, had defeated the stronger enemy and regretted joining the First Madam's faction.

Shen Changchuan captured the demonic cultivator Shadow Ghost, who had ambushed him in Wilderness City, and learned from Wu Tianhao why the man was being sought. Wu Tianhao revealed that Shadow Ghost was suspected of possessing fragments of the Bright Universe Gu Scripture, which might help the righteous faction counter deadly Gu techniques at the front lines.

• Shen Changchuan accepted praise from the senior cultivators while privately wishing to avoid the attention his reputation attracted.
• Shen Changchuan spotted the Third Elder of the Shen Clan among the onlookers, and the elder grew anxious after realizing he had been noticed.
• Shen Changchuan and Wu Tianhao identified the captive as Shadow Ghost, a prominent demonic cultivator who had secretly entered Wilderness City to ambush Shen Changchuan.
• Wu Tianhao explained that Shadow Ghost was suspected of finding fragments of the Bright Universe Gu Scripture after the ruins of a Mystic Core Realm True Person were discovered thirty years earlier.
• Wu Tianhao said he had gone to Golden Wind Valley to investigate Shadow Ghost because the righteous cultivators needed ways to counter Gu techniques used against them at Soul-Severing Mountain.

After saving Wu Tianhao from Shadow Ghost, Shen Changchuan returned to his rented cave abode and assessed the strength he had gained by advancing to the fourth level of the Out of Body Realm. He then examined a fragment containing the Void-Escaping Gu method and recognized it as the second fragment of the Bright Universe Gu Scripture he had found.

• Wu Tianhao realized Shadow Ghost had secretly planted a Gu on him and felt grateful that Shen Changchuan had intervened to save his life.
• Two days later, Shen Changchuan returned to his temporary cave abode to avoid banquets and sort through his gains.
• Shen Changchuan concluded that his refined magic power and perfected spells let him contend with ordinary sixth-level Out of Body Realm cultivators.
• Shen Changchuan took out the page recording the Void-Escaping Gu and recognized it as the second Bright Universe Gu Scripture fragment he had encountered.

After learning that the Bright Universe Gu Scripture came from a Mystic Core Realm True Person, Shen Changchuan resolved to focus on refining the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu and advancing his cultivation. He set aside plans to refine the Void-Escaping Gu for now, then found valuable treasures and Spirit Stones among Shadow Ghost’s spoils.

• Shen Changchuan learned the Bright Universe Gu Scripture’s origin and grew confident that the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu was genuine.
• He reflected on the Mystic Core Realm and his master Roaming Dragon’s precarious position, then reminded himself to focus on achievable goals.
• Shen Changchuan planned to refine the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu, seek information about the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly, and investigate the Spirit Tribe.
• He decided to postpone refining the Void-Escaping Gu because its materials would be difficult to obtain and he could not seize Shadow Ghost’s natal Gu.
• Shen Changchuan sorted Shadow Ghost’s possessions and found precious treasures, many mid-grade Spirit Stones, and three Superior Spirit Stones.

Shen Changchuan used Shadow Ghost’s spoils and three Superior Spirit Stones to stabilize his cultivation at the fourth level of the Out-of-Body Realm. He left seclusion to handle a report about Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterflies and was surprised to find an acquaintance waiting at the City Lord Mansion.

• Shen Changchuan spent seven or eight days in seclusion, using Shadow Ghost’s spoils to stabilize his fourth-level cultivation.
• Shen Changchuan exhausted three Superior Spirit Stones and advanced close to the peak of the early fourth level of the Out-of-Body Realm.
• A message arrived that someone had come to submit the task Shen Changchuan had posted to collect Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterflies.
• The Ancient Sword Sect's Grand Elder greeted Shen Changchuan at the City Lord Mansion and marveled at his rapid cultivation progress.
• The Grand Elder led Shen Changchuan into a side hall, where Shen Changchuan recognized the cultivator who had come to submit the task.

Shen Changchuan reunited with Guo Cheng, who explained how he obtained the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu jade slip and learned that the Wu clan had acquired a Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly. Guo Cheng shared what he knew after finding Shen Changchuan’s mission in Wilderness City.

• Shen Changchuan recognized Guo Cheng, an old acquaintance who had advanced to the Ninth Level Peak of the Qi Induction Realm.
• Guo Cheng recounted how he killed a wounded Wu clan youth in the Southern Yue Kingdom and found the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu jade slip among his belongings.
• After learning the Wu clan had placed a bounty on the killer, Guo Cheng fled to the Tiannan Region, where Shen Changchuan later rescued him from Demonic Cultivators.
• Guo Cheng used Shen Changchuan’s reward and other resources to advance, then returned to the Southern Yue Kingdom to investigate the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu.
• Guo Cheng learned that the Wu clan had acquired a Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly half a year earlier and sought Shen Changchuan after finding his mission in Wilderness City.

Shen Changchuan learned that retrieving the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly from the distant Spirit Tribe stronghold would be extremely dangerous, so he decided to consult his master and strengthen himself first. After Gu Xuanqing asked for his help treating Gu-infected cultivators in Wilderness City, Shen Changchuan agreed and went to see them.

• Shen Changchuan considered the Spirit Tribe and Wu clan’s strength, the distance to their stronghold, and the limits of his Jade Talisman before deciding to seek his master’s advice and cultivate.
• Shen Changchuan thanked the Ancient Sword Sect's Great Elder for prioritizing his task, then offered to repay the favor.
• Gu Xuanqing explained that Gu worms were tormenting and killing cultivators from the Soul-Severing Mountain battlefield, and asked Shen Changchuan to help treat them and find a remedy.
• Shen Changchuan agreed to help the front-line cultivators, and Gu Xuanqing led him to the courtyard where the critically infected were receiving treatment.

After discovering that he could remove Gu worms without a targeted antidote, Shen Changchuan used Little Gold to treat infected cultivators in Wilderness City. He saved many, but some died or could not be treated, so he offered the remaining patients a desperate trial of penicillin.

• Shen Changchuan examined the infected cultivators and told Gu Xuanqing that he could drive out Gu worms, though the process could worsen patients’ vitality and Little Gold limited how many he could treat.
• Gu Xuanqing urged Shen Changchuan to do everything he could and promised Wilderness City’s support and a reward from the alliance.
• Over five days, Shen Changchuan used Little Gold to remove Gu worms from 393 cultivators while others gave them medicine and helped restore their vitality.
• Twenty-one cultivators died after their Gu worms were removed, and Little Gold could not drive out the suspected microbial Gu afflicting another sixty-eight.
• Shen Changchuan told the sixty-eight remaining patients, including Dragon Firmament Sect Outer Sect disciples, to try injecting alcohol-purified penicillin as a last resort.

After treating hundreds of Gu-infected cultivators, Shen Changchuan found Little Gold exhausted and possibly on the verge of a breakthrough. He devised a way to train other Gu Kings to drive out Gu and turned to improving the Beast Taming Technique so others could control them safely.

• Shen Changchuan rested for three days after spending five days directing Little Gold to drive Gu out of cultivators.
• Shen Changchuan found Little Gold curled up and exhausted, and suspected that devouring more than three hundred and ninety Gu had triggered a breakthrough; he built it a nest near the spirit spring.
• Shen Changchuan realized he could not remain in Wilderness City to treat every infected cultivator, especially while Little Gold was asleep.
• Shen Changchuan planned to raise Gu in large numbers and cultivate Gu Kings that other people could use to drive out Gu.
• Shen Changchuan recognized that others would need a way to control Gu Kings safely, so he began improving the Beast Taming Secret Technique.

Shen Changchuan made progress adapting the Beast Taming Secret Technique into a Gu Control Secret Technique while treating wounded cultivators and planning to breed Gu Kings. He left the microbial Gu outbreak aside after penicillin treatment saved only forty-three of sixty-eight infected cultivators, and continued refining his technique and preparing breeding facilities.

• Shen Changchuan used his accumulated spell understanding to assemble a workable framework for the Gu Control Secret Technique.
• He treated a dozen severely afflicted cultivators and tested the new technique, which could control and communicate with visible Gu insects.
• Shen Changchuan decided to focus on raising centipede Gu Kings and planned to have Senior Gu arrange breeding sheds before his grandfather and experienced cultivators from Dawan Village arrived.
• He reflected that penicillin had saved forty-three of the sixty-eight cultivators infected with microbial Gu insects, but he could offer no better treatment than suggesting physicians improve and purify it.
• Shen Changchuan asked Gu Xuanqing to send people to build houses for breeding Gu insects and searched the trading market for unusual Gu and Gu Dao Secret Techniques.

Shen Changchuan completed a practical version of the Gu Control Secret Technique and prepared to begin large-scale centipede breeding in Wilderness City. After his master Roaming Dragon returned, he praised Shen Changchuan’s achievements and offered to recommend him as a disciple within the Immortal Sect, leaving Shen Changchuan stunned.

• Shen Changchuan decided to stop improving his Gu Control Secret Technique, which worked mainly on centipede Gu.
• Gu Xuanqing completed enlarged breeding sheds, and Han Qinhu and the cultivators from Dawan Village arrived to help raise centipedes.
• Shen Changchuan hurried to the Dragon Firmament Sect's outpost after learning that Roaming Dragon had returned.
• Roaming Dragon praised Shen Changchuan's cultivation and his method for breaking the enemy's Gu technique.
• Roaming Dragon explained that the Immortal Sect had barred the Dragon Firmament Sect from the Immortal Sect Grand Competition for twenty years and offered to recommend Shen Changchuan to a friend as a disciple within the Immortal Sect.

Shen Changchuan wrestled with whether to leave the Dragon Firmament Sect for the Jade Clarity Immortal Sect, then chose to remain with Roaming Dragon. His master questioned whether he had fully considered giving up the greater resources and opportunities.

• Roaming Dragon told Shen Changchuan that the Dragon Firmament Sect had lost its chance to send him to the Jade Clarity Immortal Sect and proposed that he enter another master's tutelage.
• Shen Changchuan spent several days weighing the Immortal Sect's advantages against his ties to the Dragon Firmament Sect and asked Wu Tianhao about life there.
• Shen Changchuan asked Roaming Dragon whether reaching the Spirit Wandering Realm would let him enter the Immortal Sect as an inner disciple.
• Roaming Dragon confirmed Shen Changchuan could enter directly and receive the benefits of an inner disciple.
• Shen Changchuan told Roaming Dragon he would stay in the Dragon Firmament Sect, and Roaming Dragon asked whether he had truly considered the choice.

Shen Changchuan chose to remain in the Dragon Firmament Sect after weighing the risks and benefits of joining the Jade Clarity Immortal Sect. Roaming Dragon agreed to support his decision and left Wilderness City to obtain a Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly for him.

• Roaming Dragon warned Shen Changchuan that staying in the small Dragon Firmament Sect could limit his cultivation, but Shen Changchuan insisted he had carefully considered his choice.
• Shen Changchuan explained that his Progress Bar Panel, Roaming Dragon's guidance, and his plans for the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu made staying the better option for him.
• Roaming Dragon accepted Shen Changchuan's decision and resolved to cultivate him toward the Spirit Wandering Realm.
• Roaming Dragon told Shen Changchuan that the Spirit Tribe had Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterflies and offered to obtain one at the front lines.
• Shen Changchuan shared information he had gathered from Guo Cheng, and Roaming Dragon said it gave him a clear target.
• Roaming Dragon left Wilderness City that day and told Shen Changchuan to wait half a month for his return.

After three years of cultivating in Wilderness City, Shen Changchuan reached the peak of the sixth tier of the Out-of-Body Realm. He credited his rapid progress to refining the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu and his master's support.

• Wilderness City became quiet after the Tiannan Region Allied Forces moved their strongholds and headquarters to the Soul-Severing Mountain Range.
• Shen Changchuan absorbed spiritual energy until he broke through to the peak of the sixth tier of the Out-of-Body Realm.
• Shen Changchuan recalled that Roaming Dragon had raided the Spirit Tribe's Wu clan and brought back the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly.
• Shen Changchuan used the butterfly and other rare ingredients to refine the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu, then fused it into his Spine Dragon.
• The Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu greatly increased Shen Changchuan's ability to absorb and refine spiritual energy, accelerating his cultivation.

Over three years, Shen Changchuan reached the peak of the Sixth Level of the Out-of-Body Realm with the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu and abundant support from Roaming Dragon. Suspecting his master was preparing to attempt the Mystic Core Realm, Shen Changchuan ended his seclusion and focused on consolidating his cultivation before pursuing the Seventh Level.

• The Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu boosted Shen Changchuan’s cultivation speed more than threefold by refining spiritual energy into his own magical power.
• Roaming Dragon and other major powers supplied Shen Changchuan with abundant resources in recognition of his Gu Control Secret Technique and Gu King, which helped the allied forces win the battle at Soul-Severing Mountain.
• Shen Changchuan reflected that staying with Roaming Dragon had been a better choice than joining the Immortal Sect, where resources would have depended on sect missions and contributions.
• Shen Changchuan suspected Roaming Dragon was preparing to attempt the Mystic Core Realm and wanted to raise a disciple who could support the others if he failed or was gone.
• Shen Changchuan left his cave abode after three years of seclusion, intending to consolidate his cultivation before breaking through to the Seventh Level of the Out-of-Body Realm.

The Jade Clarity Immortal Sect’s leaders agreed to resume their unfinished war against the Heavenly Demon Sect after judging that Roaming Dragon had put the greater good first in Southern Yue. At the same time, White Bone Old Devil confronted the Nether Sect over its refusal to reinforce the demonic forces as they lost territory.

• Xuanfeng True Person and the Jade Clarity Immortal Sect’s elders discussed the war in Southern Yue and concluded that Roaming Dragon had not let the sect down.
• Xuanfeng True Person proposed ending the war left unfinished three hundred years earlier, and the elders agreed to resume the campaign against the Heavenly Demon Sect.
• At a blood-soaked altar in Southern Yue, a blood-robed figure examined a crystal that was still absorbing the essence of the sea of blood.
• Seven Absolutes Old Devil and White Bone Old Devil arrived, and White Bone Old Devil accused the Nether Sect of abandoning the demonic alliance after its losses at Soul-Severing Mountain.