Chapter Summaries

Zhu Yu examined the materials and cost of cultivating the Second Stomach Sac, then learned how his Spiritual Power aura affected his body and surroundings. After spending the night cultivating and growing stronger, he headed to the Sutra Lecture Hall, while Tong Xuan resolved to repay him for her lessons once she reached Qi Refining.

• Zhu Yu analyzed the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique and learned that the Second Stomach Sac required costly materials, including a Mang Toad stomach sac.
• Zhu Yu decided to register at the Affairs Hall before choosing whether to cultivate the Second Stomach Sac, and he learned that concealing his aura would waste Divine Sense and bring no benefit.
• Zhu Yu let Little Black stay outside to avoid the effects of his aura, then cultivated through the night to strengthen his physique.
• Zhu Yu woke to find his physique had increased to 1.8 as the Blood-Qi Pills began to take effect, then left for the Sutra Lecture Hall.
• Tong Xuan hoped to reach Qi Refining so she could repay Zhu Yu for the lesson Spirit Stones.

Zhu Yu encountered Mu Ruo in the Starry Corridor and learned about the mind-clearing Divine Radiance produced by a Moon Sprite. After registering as an entry disciple at the Affairs Hall, Zhu Yu met Steward Heng, who asked whether he had a recommendation.

• Zhu Yu sensed the unusual spiritual qi in the Starry Corridor, and Mu Ruo explained that it was Divine Radiance formed from a second-order Moon Sprite’s life aura.
• Mu Ruo warned Zhu Yu not to remain in contact with the Divine Radiance too long, then gave him a jade token and directed him to Steward Liu for a quiet assignment.
• Zhu Yu suspected Mu Ruo had approached him because of his teaching ability, while Mu Ruo watched him leave and said such talent ought to join his association.
• Zhu Yu registered at the Affairs Hall by dripping essence blood into an Identity Jade Token, officially becoming an entry disciple of the Yin-Underworld Grotto.
• A servant led Zhu Yu to Steward Heng, who examined him and asked whether he had a recommendation.

Zhu Yu chose the Underworld Grounds as his spiritual ground and accepted a Corpse Field assignment, weighing its cultivation benefits against the risks of leaving before three years. He headed toward his new residence, where the dense baleful aura felt unexpectedly pleasant to him.

• Steward Heng explained the sect's five spiritual grounds and warned Zhu Yu that choosing one would shape his cultivation path.
• Zhu Yu ruled out the dangerous Demon-Slaying Guard and the production-focused options, then chose the Underworld Grounds.
• Steward Heng helped Zhu Yu select a vacant Corpse Field in the Grade D Zone beside a noisy Beast Pen.
• Steward Heng told Zhu Yu to cultivate for half a year before visiting an Insect Nest or Demon Cave, then provide the sect with fifteen Living Corpses each year.
• Zhu Yu left the Affairs Hall and traveled past the Spirit Fields and Beast Pens toward the Underworld Grounds, finding the baleful aura comfortable.

Zhu Yu settled into his new cultivation home and studied how to raise Living Corpses. He searched the Corpse Grotto for a large beast Corpse Seed and ended the chapter examining an aged, lame tiger.

• Zhu Yu inspected the Corpse Field and dilapidated wooden house, then decided to make the site his home for the next three years.
• Zhu Yu studied a jade slip on Corpse Seeds and decided to try cultivating a large beast corpse during the next six months.
• Zhu Yu traveled to the Corpse Grotto and asked the attendant to show him large beast Corpse Seeds and corpse-cultivation materials.
• Zhu Yu used his ability to assess several beast corpses, including a yellow ox, black horse, wild donkey, white deer, and white rhinoceros.
• Zhu Yu found an aged Variegated Tiger with a missing section of one hind leg and pressed his hand to its head to scan it.

Zhu Yu chose a damaged tiger Corpse Seed with an unawakened, unknown demonic beast bloodline and brought it back to his Corpse Field. After gathering the supplied materials, he began preparing its body for cultivation.

• Zhu Yu discovered the Variegated Tiger's hidden bloodline and decided to take the risky Corpse Seed despite its poor condition.
• Zhu Yu used his Corpse Field quota to register and claim the tiger Corpse Seed, then searched the Earth Cavern for another bloodline-bearing specimen without success.
• Zhu Yu had a gray-robed handyman carry the tiger Corpse Seed to his home and gave him Spirit Stones to buy furniture and kitchenware.
• Zhu Yu inspected the Refined Corpse Beast Oil, Orifice-Sealing Mud, and tools provided for repairing the Corpse Seed.
• Zhu Yu covered his nose and breath with spirit qi, exposed the tiger Corpse Seed's belly, and drove a broad-bladed knife into it to begin removing its rotten matter.

Zhu Yu prepared the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed for cultivation and used the True Sight Eye to discover what it needed to grow. He then analyzed the Corpse Control Art’s Dharma Veins and began Qi Refining meditation, where wood and earth spiritual energy disrupted his attempt to draw the Three-Ring Pattern.

• Zhu Yu cleared the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed’s decayed organs, treated its cavity with corpse oil, sealed its openings, and buried it in the Corpse Field.
• The True Sight Eye revealed that the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed needed abundant Corpse Qi, tiger blood mixed with two kinds of Spirit Medicine, and storage in a place rich in Divine Radiance.
• Zhu Yu decided to let the Corpse Seed awaken for a month and turned his attention to learning the Corpse Control Art.
• Zhu Yu used the True Sight Eye to analyze suitable Dharma Veins for the Corpse Control Art, then resumed analysis of Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating.
• During his first Qi Refining meditation, Zhu Yu found that wood and earth spiritual energy entered his Three-Ring Pattern and disrupted his drawing, while trying to block the energy consumed too much divine sense.

After reaching Qi Refining, Zhu Yu cultivated three Soul Particles in a day and decided to plant Corpse Taro in the idle Corpse Fields for income. He set out to buy seeds and learned the way to the Spirit Field Hall from Hong Xingwang.

• Zhu Yu found that condensing one Soul Particle now took nearly three hours, and saw that seventeen days remained before his Basic Visualization Diagram reached great mastery.
• After cultivating for the day, Zhu Yu sensed three new Soul Particles in his Divine Sea and noticed servants furnishing his wooden house.
• Zhu Yu checked the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed and decided to plant easy-to-grow Corpse Taro across the empty Corpse Fields.
• Zhu Yu instructed the gray-robed servant and headed for the Beast Pen, passing through a formation that changed the surrounding atmosphere.
• Zhu Yu met Hong Xingwang beside a Spirit Field, introduced himself as a newly promoted Underworld Grounds disciple, and asked for directions to the Spirit Field Hall.

Zhu Yu bought Explosive Flame Tiger blood, Blood Fang Rice, and Corpse Taro seedlings, then returned to his renovated home and prepared tiger blood for cultivating the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed. After three days without food, he cooked and eagerly ate Blood Fang Rice.

• Zhu Yu bought two hundred jin of ordinary blood from a first-rank mid-grade Explosive Flame Tiger for twenty Spirit Stones.
• Zhu Yu bought Blood Fang Rice, Corpse Taro seedlings, Tiger-Pattern Flowers, and Blood-Coagulating Grass, spending a large portion of his savings.
• Zhu Yu returned home and found that his house and courtyard had been cleaned and furnished.
• Zhu Yu mixed chopped Tiger-Pattern Flowers and Blood-Coagulating Grass into the demon tiger blood to prepare for cultivating the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed.
• Zhu Yu cooked Blood Fang Rice and enjoyed his first meal in three days.

After strengthening his physique with Blood Tooth Spirit Rice, Zhu Yu planted Corpse Taro seedlings and carried a hidden water vat to the Starry Wood Corridor. He left the corridor with Starry Wood Leaves and soil, uneasy about the powerful Moon Sprite said to lie beneath it.

• Zhu Yu ate three pounds of Blood Tooth Spirit Rice, and his physique rose to 3.5.
• Zhu Yu used Spiritual Power to plant Corpse Taro root seedlings across nearly three acres of Corpse Field and checked on the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed.
• Zhu Yu passed a Resentful Soul Pool, ignored Qi Yuanwu's plea for help with a rebellious ghostly creature, and hurried on.
• Zhu Yu buried a sealed water vat beneath a Starry Tree in the Starry Wood Corridor.
• Zhu Yu worried that a second-order Moon Sprite might be buried beneath the corridor, then gathered Starry Wood Leaves and soil before leaving.

Zhu Yu returned to his old stone house, where his presence frightened the newly admitted disciples and left Liu Qing free to reclaim the house. He then found Little Black alive, decided to settle it in the Corpse Field, and entered a street filled with quarrels.

• Zhu Yu wondered whether the Moon Sprite and the Starry Wood were connected, but set the question aside because he was only at Early Qi Refining.
• Zhu Yu approached his old stone house and frightened the new disciples with an icy aura when he came within twenty feet of them.
• After Zhu Yu left, Mu told Liu Qing that the strange beast guarding his stone house was gone, and Liu Qing found a piece of warm jade inside.
• Zhu Yu checked Little Black's status, saw that it had barely improved by eating insects, and decided to put it to work hunting pests in the Corpse Field.
• Zhu Yu reached Xiang Sui's street and heard people cursing and arguing nearby.

Zhu Yu defended Xiang Sui’s house from a group of angry disciples, then learned from Mu Ruo that he had missed a chance to enter the Sutra Lecture Hall and access the Dharma Repository. After returning to the Underworld Grounds, he found several people gathered near the Resentful Soul Pool and approached them.

• Zhu Yu stopped Niu and the others from attacking Xiang Sui’s stone house, but left after noticing its overwhelming stench.
• Xiang Sui emerged from his house and vowed to reach Late Qi Refining soon, then went to clean his courtyard.
• Zhu Yu visited Liang Kuan’s empty residence, left a message, and returned to the Underworld Grounds with Little Black.
• Mu Ruo told Zhu Yu that he had missed a chance to become a lecturer in the Sutra Lecture Hall and gain access to the Dharma Repository.
• Zhu Yu traveled through the Starry Corridor and found several people gathered near the Resentful Soul Pool, so he went over to greet them.

Zhu Yu joined nearby disciples at a customary banquet after Qi Yuanwu was killed by the ghostly creatures he had raised. After paying ten Spirit Stones, Zhu Yu searched Qi Yuanwu’s home and entered the Resentful Soul Pool, where he noticed something unusual in the mud.

• Zhu Yu met Bai Meng and learned that the group was waiting to pay for a share of Qi Yuanwu’s belongings after his death.
• Bai Meng explained that Qi Yuanwu had raised Ghost-Faced Carp and tried to control ghostly creatures with low-grade Soul Control Talismans, which led to his death.
• Zhu Yu paid ten Spirit Stones to enter the Resentful Soul Pool area after law enforcement disciples emerged from the black mist.
• Zhu Yu searched Qi Yuanwu’s ruined wooden house with his Divine Sense and True Sight Eye but found no hidden belongings.
• The disciples stirred the pool and caught large Ghost-Faced Fish, and Zhu Yu spotted something unusual in the mud as he prepared to catch one.

Zhu Yu found a pouch that evaded Divine Sense, caught a Ghost-Faced Fish, and discovered its meat seemed to strengthen his soul. When he opened the pouch, an Inheritance Jade Slip transmitted information before breaking apart, leaving him with only crushed stones.

• Zhu Yu found and concealed a cloth pouch while law enforcement disciples searched the Resentful Soul Pool, then caught a Ghost-Faced Fish.
• Zhu Yu noticed two people secretly following him to his hill and waited until they left before inspecting the pouch.
• Zhu Yu cooked and ate the Ghost-Faced Fish, whose cool energy seemed to invigorate and strengthen his soul.
• Zhu Yu opened the pouch and found a jade slip shaped like a dragon-headed, fish-bodied beast.
• The jade beast transmitted information about a demon in the Abyssal Abyss, then shattered and vanished, leaving crushed stones in the pouch.

Zhu Yu studied the Demon-Rearing Record and learned that its water-based inheritance did not suit his yin-aligned innate fate, so he planned to trade it to the Sect later. After receiving the materials for the Corpse Control Art, he checked his Corpse Field and found the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed recovering its spirituality.

• Zhu Yu read the Demon-Rearing Record, learned its Visualization Diagram and techniques, and concluded that its inheritance did not match his innate fate.
• Zhu Yu decided to exchange the Demon-Rearing Record at the Dharma Repository once he reached Late Qi Refining, while studying its useful knowledge in the meantime.
• A middle-aged Senior Brother delivered the spiritual materials Zhu Yu needed to construct the Corpse Control Art.
• Zhu Yu inspected the materials, ate to recover his strength, and fed Little Black its cultivation food.
• Zhu Yu found Corpse Taro flourishing in the Corpse Field and saw that the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed had begun recovering its spirituality.
• Zhu Yu returned to his wooden house and decided to focus on cultivating the Corpse Control Art.

Zhu Yu prepared spiritual liquid and used it to construct the Corpse Control Art from six of his Dharma Veins. After the technique entered its nurturing stage, he woke from an exhausting sleep and assessed his cultivation progress.

• Zhu Yu mixed Spirit Spring water with Dream-Catching Butterfly wing powder, a Soul-Parasite Insect shed shell, and Corpse Beetle compound eyes to make the required spiritual liquid.
• Zhu Yu drank the liquid and endured intense pain as he guided its aura to Erode and alter six Dharma Veins.
• Zhu Yu cut out the Corpse Control Art Dharma Veins and watched them enter his Divine Sea, where Spiritual Power began nurturing them into a Dharma Seed.
• Zhu Yu collapsed into deep sleep, then woke after recovering his Divine Sense and learned that the Corpse Control Art would need half a month to finish nurturing.
• Zhu Yu calculated that he had seven Soul Particles left to merge and still needed 143 more to reach Middle Qi Refining.

Zhu Yu mastered the Basic Visualization Diagram, gaining the Gathering Spirit trait and greatly speeding up his Soul Particle cultivation. After Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan arrived to announce their breakthroughs, they discussed Zhu Yu’s Corpse Taro and whether to hold the Grand Lecture.

• Zhu Yu spent ten days cultivating, condensed thirty Soul Particles, and observed Little Black growing while Corpse Taro flourished in his Corpse Field.
• Zhu Yu completed the Basic Visualization Diagram’s analysis and mastered it, gaining Gathering Spirit and reducing the time to condense a Soul Particle to half an hour.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan visited Zhu Yu and revealed that they had recently broken through to Late and Middle Qi Refining, respectively.
• Zhu Yu teased the visitors by implying that he was cultivating in the Underworld Grounds to refine corpse puppets, then welcomed them inside.
• Liang Kuan asked Zhu Yu to save him some Corpse Taro, and Zhu Yu agreed before asking Xiang Sui whether they would hold the Grand Lecture.

After mastering the Basic Meditation Diagram, Zhu Yu agreed to teach a Grand Lecture with Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan, while learning about The Society’s exploitative schemes and his companions’ powerful backing. After the three made plans to support one another, Zhu Yu noticed something near his Spirit Field and Beast Pen as they departed.

• Zhu Yu agreed to Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan’s plan to hold a Grand Lecture at the Disciple Market.
• Xiang Sui warned Zhu Yu that Mu Ruo belonged to The Society, which trapped recruits in menial work and exploitative contracts.
• Zhu Yu explained that Mu Ruo had approached him and given him a Mark, and Xiang Sui assured him that he and Liang Kuan would handle any trouble.
• Xiang Sui revealed that he had joined the Alchemy Pavilion and refined a Spirit Flame, while Liang Kuan had joined the Demon-Slaying Guard and refined an inherited Body Refining Dharma Seed.
• The three planned to teach the Grand Lecture in three days and discussed their cultivation, the coming disciple trial, and Zhu Yu’s future Living Corpse mounts.
• After Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan left, Zhu Yu noticed something as he looked toward his Spirit Field and Beast Pen.

Zhu Yu watched Little Black evolve into a First-Order Lower Grade Insect Beast and realized that the True Sight Eye could guide the growth of creatures and spiritual plants according to his needs. After nurturing a Wood Spirit Flower Seedling, he considered using the ability to shape Dharma Veins and customize the effects of Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating.

• Little Black shed its carapace, evolved into a First-Order Lower Grade Insect Beast, and awakened the Lightness talent spell.
• Zhu Yu examined Little Black’s cultivation requirements and realized the True Sight Eye could guide it toward becoming an Insect Cultivator.
• Zhu Yu planted a Wood Spirit Flower Spirit Seed, channeled Spiritual Power into it, and saw it sprout into a seedling that gathered wood-attributed spiritual energy.
• Zhu Yu used the True Sight Eye to analyze the Wood Spirit Flower’s needs and learned how to nourish it with powdered Spirit Stones, Spirit Soil, and earth-attributed Spirit Spring water.
• Zhu Yu considered adjusting Dharma Vein attributes to customize Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating’s storage and corrosive gastric-fluid abilities.

After setting aside the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating art, Zhu Yu rode Little Black to the Disciple Market to teach his first Grand Lecture. He began instructing a group of newly initiated disciples while Xiang Sui examined Little Black outside.

• Zhu Yu studied possible Dharma Vein Diagrams for Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating but postponed choosing one until he knew whether it would interfere with his supporting arts.
• After three days, Zhu Yu checked the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed and Corpse Taro, then rode the enlarged Little Black toward the Disciple Market.
• Zhu Yu arrived at the Market, met Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan, and went to the lecture venue they had rented.
• Zhu Yu greeted the assembled disciples and asked whether they had mastered the Basic Visualization Method.
• While Zhu Yu taught, Xiang Sui crouched outside and curiously studied Little Black.

Zhu Yu and his companions expanded their lessons to thirty disciples, earning more Spirit Stones while he invested in Little Black and the Wood Spirit Flower. After using up his Meditation Fluid, he asked Xiang Sui for more, and Xiang Sui revealed that he had made progress refining it.

• Zhu Yu, Xiang Sui, and Liang Kuan split the earnings from teaching twenty disciples, and Zhu Yu agreed to increase the class to thirty.
• Zhu Yu bought supplies at the Market, gathered plants in the Starry Corridor, and prepared food for Little Black.
• Zhu Yu replaced the Wood Spirit Flower's potting soil, calculated that he had five hundred and fifty-eight Low-grade Spirit Stones, and set a goal of buying a high-grade defensive artifact within half a year.
• Zhu Yu taught the expanded class of thirty without incident, and he, Xiang Sui, and Liang Kuan divided the earnings.
• Zhu Yu asked Xiang Sui to sell him more Meditation Fluid, and Xiang Sui revealed that he had made some progress refining it.