Recaps

Bai Yangyang discovered that Dragon Rabbit intended to use Fang Shu as bait, so she subdued it, extracted its blood and horns, and revealed her own rabbit-demon form. Red Snake lost the tracking signal and searched the Dead Sea, while Fang Shu eventually came ashore and headed inland.

• Bai Yangyang stopped Dragon Rabbit's ritual after realizing it planned to use Fang Shu to mislead the pursuers.
• Bai Yangyang restrained Dragon Rabbit, extracted its essence blood and horns, and revealed that she was a rabbit demon.
• Red Snake's compass signal vanished, so she searched the Dead Sea for several days before reporting Dragon Rabbit's suspected death to Floating Mountain.
• Floating Mountain issued orders to intercept the people believed to be crossing the border and sent more pursuers toward the Dead Sea.
• Fang Shu put away the gloomy wood, leaped ashore, and walked into the frontier.

Fang Shu escaped the snake demons by posing as a Ghost Dao immortal, then used dragon-blood essence to cultivate the Dragon Whale Body-Nourishing Art. Meanwhile, Floating Mountain captured Old Apothecary Sun, leaving only Fang Shu and Bai Yangyang free.

• Fang Shu hid underground from a searching snake immortal, then struck it with his Eighteen Bone Flying Pearls and claimed to belong to the Lü Mountain Witch-Ghost Way.
• The snake immortal let Fang Shu go, reported his appearance to the dragon ship, and the red snake immortal dismissed him as unrelated to the search for Fang Shu and Bai Yangyang.
• Fang Shu reached a mortal town, confirmed the dragon-blood essence was safe, and spent half a month cultivating until he mastered the first level of the Dragon Whale Body-Nourishing Art and began the second.
• At Floating Mountain, demons kept the tortured martial man surnamed Zhuang shackled in a secret chamber.
• Old Apothecary Sun returned to Floating Mountain to retrieve his belongings, but the demons captured and shackled him, leaving Fang Shu and Bai Yangyang as the only ones who had escaped.

Fang Shu completed the fifth Killing Intent and advanced his Dragon-Whale Body-Nurturing Method before settling into a mortal town, where years of ordinary life unexpectedly refined his cultivation. His quiet life ended when the Five Viscera Temple summoned him to return to the mountain gate within three months.

• Fang Shu emerged from a vat after three months of cultivation, having refined Death Baleful Qi as his fifth Killing Intent and mastered the first layer of the Dragon-Whale Body-Nurturing Method.
• Fang Shu cultivated the method for three days, entered its second layer, and raised his true qi to fifty-six toads' worth.
• Fang Shu removed his courtyard's gu insect formation, presented himself to the townspeople as a middle-aged traveling merchant, and began offering feng shui services.
• Fang Shu remained in town for five or six years, and his true qi grew purer as he immersed himself in the lives of ordinary mortals.
• Fang Shu received a blood-red summons from the Five Viscera Temple ordering him to return to the mountain gate within three months, and he wondered whether the summons was a blessing or a curse.

Fang Shu delayed returning to the Five Viscera Temple while he investigated the sect summons and the ancient hidden realm discovered on Mount Lu. He returned to the mountain and learned from the Old Mountain Lord that the realm was connected to an Inner Heaven and Earth.

• A man surnamed Wu crushed his Five Viscera Temple token, then helped others uncover an ancient Underground Palace in the Vast Sea Desert.
• Fang Shu left the mortal town where he had lived for five years, reflected on how the experience had strengthened his state of mind, and traveled through the Jade Kingdom gathering news.
• Fang Shu learned that the Five Sects of Mount Lu had ended their conflict after discovering an ancient hidden realm, and that other forces might be allowed to explore it.
• At Qian Family Market, Fang Shu exchanged words with a formidable bearded Rogue Cultivator who warned him to watch where he looked.
• Fang Shu returned to Mount Lu, checked that his second uncle and the Lone Pavilion Master were safe, and found the Monster Market ruined before visiting the Old Mountain Lord.
• The Old Mountain Lord welcomed Fang Shu and explained the hidden realm's origins, surprising him by mentioning an Inner Heaven and Earth.

Old Mountain Lord explained that Mount Lu’s secret realm was an ancient Inner Heaven and Earth, a dangerous remnant that could offer Fang Shu a chance to establish his foundation. After a long night of drinking, he sent Fang Shu to Little West Mountain to visit Silken Fur’s grave, and an unknown object flew into Fang Shu’s hand as he prepared to leave.

• Fang Shu asked Old Mountain Lord about Inner Heaven and Earth, and learned how ancient Daoists created them and why the method vanished.
• Old Mountain Lord explained that Mount Lu’s secret realm had appeared repeatedly over the ages, was no longer an immortal garden, and allowed only those below Foundation Establishment to enter.
• Fang Shu realized the secret realm might offer him a chance to establish his foundation and considered pursuing traveling foundation establishment with his Dragon-Whale Body-Nurturing Method.
• Old Mountain Lord told Fang Shu to visit Little West Mountain and sweep Silken Fur’s grave, leaving Fang Shu inwardly terrified but outwardly accepting the request.
• As Fang Shu prepared to leave Ganoderma Terrace, its surface cracked and an object flew into his hand.

Fang Shu discovered that Old Mountain Lord had given him the Water-Fire Rosy Cape, a treasure that could protect him from the foul qi beneath Little West Mountain, and decided to investigate before returning to the sect. After secretly entering the mountain through an underwater passage, he found its storehouses full of spiritual goods—and two pale, plump figures rolling about on the grain.

• Fang Shu examined the Water-Fire Rosy Cape and realized Old Mountain Lord likely suspected him of killing Tian Jinmao but had given him the treasure to aid his visit to Little West Mountain.
• Fang Shu resolved to investigate Little West Mountain before the Immortal Sect's recall deadline and disguised himself as a ghost-path cultivator.
• Fang Shu watched the plundered, understaffed Little West Mountain for several days, then used the Water-Fire Rosy Cape to enter through a hidden river passage.
• Fang Shu avoided the passage's dangerous current and fertilizer pit, then crept into the mountain unnoticed.
• Fang Shu found the spiritual storehouses stocked with grain and fruit, where two pale, plump figures were rolling on the grain.

Fang Shu killed two cultivators in Little West Mountain’s secret storeroom, seized its spiritual goods, and uncovered a shaft leading to the dragon vein. Protected by the Water-Fire Rosy Cape, he jumped into the shaft as foul qi and surging spiritual energy erupted around him.

• Fang Shu surrounded the two cultivators with Gu insects and attacked them with his Flying Pearls while they were distracted.
• The man surnamed Wang used the woman as a shield, then tried to deceive Fang Shu and attack him, but Fang Shu’s formation and ghosts overwhelmed him and killed him.
• Fang Shu searched the chamber, found the woman’s token identifying her as a disciple of the Five Viscera Temple, and took the pair’s belongings.
• Fang Shu filled his Storage Bags with superior spiritual goods worth about fifteen hundred taels of low-grade spirit stones.
• Fang Shu rearranged the rice and fruit bins to open a shaft, confirmed that the Water-Fire Rosy Cape protected him from the foul qi, and leaped into the dragon vein’s anal aperture.

Fang Shu explored the dragon vein beneath Little West Mountain and found it was nearly a lowest-grade earth vein, with a core containing strange treasures. After digging up two bones he believed were flood dragon bones, he ended the chapter with a valuable discovery that could strengthen his cultivation and magical implement.

• Fang Shu descended into the foul-qi-filled underground passage and found that Little West Mountain's earth vein was just short of the lowest grade.
• Fang Shu located the earth vein's core and discovered that its swamp-like substance dissipated whenever he tried to collect it.
• Fang Shu used his Flying Pearls and other implements to dig through the core, despite the foul qi corroding his tools.
• Fang Shu unearthed two nail-shaped objects that injured his soul when he touched one with his divine sense.
• Fang Shu recognized the objects as likely flood dragon bones and compared them with the materials used to make his Flood Dragon Spine Hundred-Gu Banner.

Fang Shu decided to refine a flood-dragon bone into a Human-Yellow Nail using the foul qi of the Little West Mountain dragon vein. After losing one bone nail to the pit, he completed a perfected Six-Calamity dharma artifact and used it to retrieve the first nail blank.

• Fang Shu considered refining the flood dragon bone into his banner, but feared exposing his treasures to a Foundation Establishment refiner and instead chose to make a Human-Yellow Nail.
• Fang Shu used his five Killing Intents to establish control over a bone nail, then sent it into the dragon vein pit to absorb foul qi.
• The foul qi overwhelmed Fang Shu's protections and stripped away his markings, causing the first bone nail to sink into the mire.
• Fang Shu refined a second bone nail and used essence blood to temper the dragon vein's foul qi before lowering it into the pit.
• After seven more days and nights, Fang Shu completed a golden-yellow, perfected Six-Calamity Human-Yellow Nail.
• Fang Shu tested the artifact, found it moved freely through the foul qi, and used it to bring the first bone nail back from the pit.

Fang Shu refined a Nail-Head Arrow, uncovered the truth behind Little West Mountain, and escaped with a fortune after the dragon vein’s foul qi destroyed a safeguard tied to the Wang Family. The Wang Family patriarch suspected a powerful immortal was targeting his clan and sealed off Little West Mountain before returning to the temple.

• Fang Shu refined one bone nail, hid both Nail-Head Arrows in his arms, and soul-searched the captive man and woman.
• Fang Shu learned that the pair had robbed Little West Mountain and killed its other outer-sect disciples, then took their Storage Bags, bringing his gains to three thousand in value.
• Fang Shu released the pair’s souls, but the dragon vein’s foul qi destroyed them and obliterated a Foundation Establishment safeguard rune before it could mark him.
• Fang Shu inspected his belongings, discarded the Storage Bags and corpses, escaped through an underground river, and reached Toad Shoal safely.
• The Wang Family patriarch sensed his descendant’s death, killed the servants on Little West Mountain, and sealed the mountain before hurrying back toward the temple.

Fang Shu returned to Five Viscera Temple and learned how the war had devastated the sect and changed its standing disciples. After reaching Venom Hall, he discovered that Immortal Long Gu had undergone a shocking transformation.

• Fang Shu saw the crippled Steward Sun being humiliated by his servants and continued on without stopping.
• Fang Shu registered his return at Household Hall, read his accumulated letters, and sent word to his Second Uncle and family that he was safe.
• Fang Shu learned that the war had killed or maimed most outer disciples, left only five of his inner-disciple cohort intact, and earned returning disciples the label of deserters.
• Fang Shu took comfort that Fang Lu, Immortal Long Gu, the Gu Pit workers, and Solitary Gu Hall had survived, then hurried to Venom Hall.
• Fang Shu found Venom Hall grim and diminished, learned that Mangy Snake was gone, and finally saw Immortal Long Gu appear as a drained, withered old-woman-like figure.

Fang Shu reunited with Immortal Long Gu, who gave him a year to refine Astral Qi and retrieve spirit herbs from Mount Lu’s secret realm. She explained the ancient origins of his Killing Intent cultivation method, while privately reflecting that his insight into it surpassed her own expectations.

• Fang Shu bowed to Immortal Long Gu, who reproached him for his slow progress toward completing the Six Shas.
• Immortal Long Gu ordered Fang Shu to refine Astral Qi within a year and fetch spirit herbs from Mount Lu’s secret realm to restore her damaged foundation.
• Immortal Long Gu gave Fang Shu Killing Intent to complete his Six Shas and a token for the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber, which would open in a month.
• Fang Shu asked about the origins of his Killing Intent, and Immortal Long Gu explained that his method came from the ancient Seven Emotions and Six Desires Way.
• After Fang Shu left, Immortal Long Gu reflected on her own reasons for studying the method and admired his comprehension before a long, scaleless serpent emerged and watched him depart with worry.

Hao Junliang discovered that Long Gu intended to use Fang Shu as an ingredient, while Long Gu suppressed the Gu insects afflicting her by draining Hao Junliang's blood. Fang Shu visited Fang Lu, where he learned that Eldest Senior Sister had inflicted Long Gu's injury.

• Hao Junliang begged Long Gu to spare Fang Shu, but Long Gu revealed that Fang Shu might become a medicinal ingredient like Hao Junliang.
• Gu insects erupted from Long Gu's seven apertures, and she drained Hao Junliang's blood to stabilize herself before sparing him.
• After leaving Venom Hall, Fang Shu suspected that something had changed Long Gu's mind and body during his years away.
• Fang Shu visited Fang Lu and met her white deer spirit pet, which had carried word of his return to her.
• Fang Lu told Fang Shu that Eldest Senior Sister had inflicted Long Gu's injury, leaving him stunned.

Fang Shu learned from Fang Lu that the Mount Lu Secret Realm had likely drawn Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals into the war, causing heavy losses and Long Gu’s grievous injuries. After Fang Shu returned to his cave dwelling, Er Daiyuan learned he was back on the mountain and prepared to go see him despite her family’s warnings.

• Fang Lu told Fang Shu that the Five Viscera Temple had lost several Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals, likely because the Mount Lu Secret Realm drew them into battle.
• Fang Lu revealed that Er Family’s ancestor had reached the eighth tribulation and that Er Daiyuan had become an inner sect disciple, while Fang Shu asked whether Long Gu’s eldest disciple had truly been a spy.
• Fang Lu explained that Long Gu’s eldest disciple had betrayed her during a clash with Yu Ji, though Fang Shu considered whether Long Gu might also have tried to harm her disciple.
• Fang Shu stayed with Fang Lu overnight, then returned to his cave dwelling after learning that Fang Lu had advanced to the sixth tribulation.
• The Er Family head instructed Er Daiyang to deliver a Household Hall letter to Er Daiyuan and warned her not to become involved with Fang Shu.
• Er Daiyuan read that Fang Shu had returned, burned the letter, and rose to leave, while Er Daiyang urged her to stay focused on cultivation and avoid him.

Er Daiyuan slapped Er Daiyang and sent her to deliver an Earth Origin Pill and an apology to Fang Shu. After learning the pills accelerated cultivation but obligated their recipients to enter a secret realm, Fang Shu accepted the pill but chose not to use it, while weighing whether to refine the Killing Intent from Immortal Long Gu.

• Er Daiyuan slapped Er Daiyang twice for invoking the ancestor, then gave her an Earth Origin Pill to deliver to Fang Shu with an apology.
• Er Daiyang visited her mother, who explained that Earth Origin Pills rapidly raised cultivation but weakened foundations and obligated recipients to enter a secret realm.
• Er Daiyang went to the Venom Hall and Household Hall to find Fang Shu and send him a message.
• Two days later, Fang Shu received the sealed pill, inspected it, and put it away because his true qi had already reached sixty-two toads.
• Fang Shu examined the black Killing Intent spreading from Immortal Long Gu's snake scale and considered whether to refine it as his sixth Killing Intent.

Fang Shu combined Immortal Long Gu’s snake-scale Killing Intent with Dragon Vein filth to create and condense a new Sha, removing the hidden danger while completing his six Shas and preparing for the sixth tribulation. He also discovered the Earth Origin Pill’s damage to spiritual roots, found a safer way to use it, and realized that his cultivation sequence matched the Seven Emotions and Six Desires pattern.

• Fang Shu recognized that Immortal Long Gu’s snake-scale Killing Intent could let her control him, then devised a method to cleanse its hidden danger through combined refinement.
• Fang Shu used the Human-Yellow Nail’s Dragon Vein filth to refine the snake-scale Killing Intent into a new Sha that obeyed him.
• Fang Shu condensed the new Sha, strengthening his True Qi and six viscera until he was ready for the sixth tribulation, though he chose to cultivate further first.
• Fang Shu tested the Earth Origin Pill with Gu insects and discovered that its potent medicinal effects could permanently damage spiritual roots if overused.
• Fang Shu wrote Er Daiyuan a coded warning about the pill, then fed it to Gu insects and drew out its medicinal power to reduce the harm to his spiritual roots.
• After completing his seclusion, Fang Shu realized that the order of his Shas matched the Seven Emotions and Six Desires pattern and had strengthened his divine sense and intuition.

Fang Shu discovered that refining the Six Balefuls had awakened a passive intuition for danger and opportunity, then connected the Eight Sufferings of Human Life to the Five Viscera Temple’s Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method. He suspected his cultivation path was unfolding too neatly to be coincidence and wondered what Master Long intended.

• Fang Shu realized that the Six Balefuls had sharpened his mind and given him a passive sense of fortune and misfortune, though he could not use it for deliberate divination.
• Fang Shu reviewed the six kinds of Killing Intent he had refined and recognized how they corresponded to the seven sufferings of human life.
• Fang Shu considered the booklet’s explanation of the eighth suffering, the blazing abundance of the five aggregates, as a reference to yin, yang, and the Five Elements.
• Fang Shu suspected that he should refine five kinds of Astral Qi aligned with the Five Elements through the Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method.
• Fang Shu wondered whether Master Long had deliberately guided him along this cultivation path.

Fang Shu settled his affairs at the Five Viscera Temple and climbed to the White Pool to use a Water-Fire Spirit Chamber. After learning the chambers were built inside the cast-off shell of an earth drake, he chose one near its waist and began cultivating in seclusion.

• Fang Shu visited Lu Renjia and Bao Fengtao, congratulated them on becoming Dao companions, and gave them a pair of gu bracelets.
• Fang Shu received notice that the temple's spirit chambers had opened and traveled to the White Pool atop Mount Lu.
• A white crane led Fang Shu and the other disciples through a restriction to the earth drake's enormous corpse, where it explained that they could cultivate there for half a year.
• Fang Shu entered the drake with a Jin Family disciple, who explained the spirit chambers' grades and the battle-merit privileges that determined access to the best ones.
• Fang Shu chose a Water-Fire Spirit Chamber near the earth drake's waist and began cultivating in seclusion.

The author reflected on aging, his doubts about the future of web novels, and the fire that still drove him to write. He ended by urging readers to carry their passion into the new year and admitted he still remembered the chapters he owed.

• Cuckoo explained that he posted a free chapter to take part in Qidian’s New Year event and hoped to gain traffic.
• Cuckoo recalled how a youthful determination to keep writing had helped him find his way into fiction.
• Cuckoo described growing doubts about the webnovel industry while insisting he still refused to give up writing.
• Cuckoo vowed to keep writing in 2026 and wished readers would carry their passion into the new year.
• Cuckoo noted that he still remembered the chapters he owed.

Fang Shu tempered his true qi in the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber and passed the sixth tribulation, becoming a Sixth-Tribulation Spirit Immortal. He then prepared to draw astral qi into his body and catch up with the other immortal disciples.

• Fang Shu entered the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber and acclimated himself to its dense spiritual qi and Yin-Yang pools.
• Fang Shu repeatedly tempered his true qi with the pools, strengthening his body and merging the Killing Intent in his qi.
• Fang Shu passed the sixth tribulation and proved his body could endure the chamber’s magma and spiritual water.
• Fang Shu resolved to draw astral qi into his body and become a Sixth-Tribulation Astral Immortal.

Fang Shu obtained the Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method and spent more than two months mastering it in a spirit chamber. He began refining all Five Emperors True Qi without error, with only the final step of absorbing and combining the astral energies remaining.

• Fang Shu resolved to attempt refining the Five Emperors True Qi in the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber despite his uncertain chances.
• Fang Shu asked the White Crane Immortal for the method after reaching the sixth tribulation, swore the required Dao-heart oath, and received the Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method.
• Fang Shu moved to another chamber in the earth flood dragon's tail and used dragon qi in the Dao Register to quickly begin analyzing the method.
• Fang Shu spent more than two months studying until he had fully mastered the method and started refining the five forms of true astral energy.
• Fang Shu successfully refined all five forms in his chamber, leaving him to absorb them into his body and condense them together.

Fang Shu endured the brutal process of refining the five kinds of qi together in the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber, steadily increasing his chance of forming the supreme Five Emperors True Qi. Half a year later, he had become a Six Tribulations qi-refining immortal with extraordinarily high-quality qi.

• Fang Shu gathered five kinds of qi currents in the spirit chamber and began refining them together to form the Five Emperors True Qi.
• Fang Shu endured severe pain without using numbing pills, pierced his chest and abdomen to guide the qi, and refined it continuously for seven days and nights.
• The white crane immortal noticed the powerful qi gathering around the mountain and judged that many disciples might succeed, though Earth Origin Pills could hinder their chances of Foundation Establishment.
• After half a year, the disciples who had survived qi-refining continued cultivating on the peak, while Fang Shu's chamber grew quiet.
• Fang Shu sat in the chamber as a genuine Six Tribulations qi-refining immortal, his aura showing that he had refined qi of supreme quality.

Fang Shu refined Five Emperors True Qi in the Water-Fire Spirit Chamber and used a ritual to divine whether he should reveal his breakthrough or keep it hidden. He chose to conceal his strength and leave the temple’s Dao Seeds’ safety in the Mount Lu Secret Realm uncertain.

• Fang Shu completed his refinement of Five Emperors True Qi, increased his true qi to seventy Toads, and purged the remaining pill poison from his body.
• Fang Shu weighed revealing his Five Emperors True Qi to the temple against displaying only Five Elements True Qi to avoid drawing attention before entering the Mount Lu Secret Realm.
• Fang Shu performed a ritual that strengthened his ability to sense imminent fortune and misfortune, but his attempt to discern Immortal Long Gu’s attitude was blocked.
• Fang Shu sensed that concealing his strength was safe, while making a stunning name for himself carried unpredictable risks, and decided to follow his heart.
• Fang Shu worried that the temple’s Dao Seeds might not enter the Mount Lu Secret Realm safely.

After emerging from seclusion, Fang Shu reunited with fellow disciples and learned that the Five Viscera Temple had several Foundation Establishment candidates. An attack on the temple’s most prominent disciples triggered a purge of suspected collaborators, and Fang Shu ended the chapter in his cave abode preparing for the Mount Lu Secret Realm expedition.

• The White Crane Immortal led the disciples out of White Pool and praised Er Daiyuan and Jiang Linfeng for refining supreme-grade astral energy; Fang Shu quietly rejoined them and was recognized by both.
• Er Daiyuan secretly invited Fang Shu to meet in seven days, and he accepted before attending a banquet with Jin Duobao, where he learned about the temple’s other Foundation Establishment seeds.
• News arrived that Er Daiyuan, Jiang Linfeng, Zong Qingxue, and other prominent disciples had been attacked, and that a Foundation Establishment Earth Immortal had defected; Fang Shu left the banquet and stayed inside his cave abode.
• Senior Sister Fang Lu told Fang Shu that none of the attacked disciples had died, though his nominal senior sister had been gravely injured and had testified that Long Gu was innocent.
• Following the senior sister’s clues, the Five Viscera Temple purged collaborators and restricted other suspected cultivators, while Fang Shu sent letters and devoted himself to cultivation for the upcoming secret-realm expedition.

After months of preparation, Fang Shu learned that the Mount Lu Secret Realm was about to open and readied his artifacts for the expedition. With three quasi-Foundation Establishment magic artifacts refined, he waited for the secret realm to open.

• Fang Shu learned from Fang Lu that Withered Bone Abbey had lost one and a half of its four promising Foundation Establishment candidates to demons and ghosts.
• Fang Shu considered how the incidents at the immortal sects had damaged the Five Sects of Mount Lu’s reputation and left outsiders wary of joining the expedition.
• Fang Lu gave Fang Shu Foundation Establishment-grade immortal red lead, which he needed to finish refining his Nail-Head Arrow.
• Fang Shu refused to delay his preparations to accept Fang Lu’s teasing invitation, returned to his cave abode, and began preparing for the secret realm.
• After the opening date was confirmed, Fang Shu held his insect-filled banner and two refined bone nails, ready to enter the Mount Lu Secret Realm.