Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu joins the battle and swiftly kills more than a dozen attackers using his weapons, spells, talismans, and equipment.
• He realizes the red-haired enemy leader has secretly fled. Before Wu Yu can finish off the remaining fighters, the Twilight Witch warns that the attackers’ Psionic Curtain has fallen and a zombie horde—including several Foundation Establishment Zombies—is approaching.
• Wu Yu escapes into the earth and takes off in his Portable Cabin, but a powerful half-human, half-bird zombie releases a black mist that incapacitates people and disrupts the battlefield. The zombie horde overwhelms and kills all the Tower Climbers.
• After escaping several long-range attacks by using the Void Formation, Wu Yu hides the cabin among ruins. He suspects the zombies are searching for something rather than hunting people.
• The zombies’ intelligent leaders reveal they are seeking the Corpse Mother, whose transformation has stalled. They wonder whether someone has taken control of it.
• Wu Yu tends to Luo Ke’er, using Yi Wood Divine Light to restore some of her vitality. She wakes and learns that her illness is cured, but her life force is still steadily draining.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu proves highly capable and vigilant in battle, but prioritizes escape once the zombie threat emerges. He spends heavily to evade the zombies’ spells and remains puzzled by their intelligence and goals.
• The red-haired leader is revealed as a self-preserving commander: despite acting aggressively, he abandons his followers and flees.
• Luo Ke’er wakes weak but grateful. Believing she may not survive, she tells Wu Yu to give up on her and offers to serve him as a slave and maid if she lives. Wu Yu refuses to abandon her and jokes to lift her spirits, though he privately expects to leave soon.
• The Twilight Witch remains an alert and useful ally, warning Wu Yu of the approaching horde.

Significant themes

• Survival and self-preservation: Wu Yu escapes rather than pursue victory, while the red-haired leader’s flight exposes the gap between bravado and loyalty.
• Unexpected intelligence and greater threats: The zombies behave strategically, communicate in human language, and pursue a specific objective, suggesting a larger mystery behind the outbreak.
• Care, gratitude, and unequal power: Wu Yu’s efforts to keep Luo Ke’er alive contrast with her willingness to become his servant in repayment, while his teasing helps ease her despair.
• Mystery and foreshadowing: The stalled transformation of the Corpse Mother and the possibility that someone controls it point toward a hidden force shaping events.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Luo Ke’er briefly improves after talking with Wu Yu, but her strange condition remains incurable for now, and she soon falls asleep again. Wu Yu believes she may have only a few days left and plans to return immediately after the next zombie tide.
• Wu Yu examines three Gold Cards taken from a Treasure Chest: the Dao Foundation-rank Void Kun Gate, which enables passage through the void; and two Transcendent techniques, Vajra Mountain-Shaking Force and Purpleblood Sky Thunder Art.
• The Void Kun Gate may offer teleportation, but Wu Yu cannot install it in his Portable Cabin. He suspects Luo Ke’er’s potential or connections might somehow help him obtain what he needs.
• Wu Yu considers learning the two techniques but saves them for later, hoping Tower settlement rewards may upgrade them. He is especially interested in the lightning art but decides patience could make it more powerful.
• As the second day ends, the Tower announces that a Ruins Evacuation Point has appeared and that the zombie tide’s decisive battle is near. The third evacuation point is active, while the fourth—Lei Ming Evacuation Point—is locked, with a countdown to the arrival of Five-Element Heavenly Thunder.
• The zombie tide has spread across nearly all the lower ground. Wu Yu waits near the Four Directions City evacuation point, where he sees Tower Climbers’ bodies impaled on poles. He realizes he must evacuate within twenty-four hours and worries about the approaching heavenly thunder.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains practical and cautious: he accepts that he cannot fully heal Luo Ke’er, prioritizes preparing for the coming danger, and delays using valuable Cards to maximize possible rewards.
• His concern for Luo Ke’er is evident in his continued treatment of her and his hope that she will recover or gain powerful support.
• The Twilight Witch teases Wu Yu about his thoughts; he responds with a glare and a playful threat, showing their familiar, teasing rapport.
• Seeing the impaled bodies sharpens Wu Yu’s suspicion and hostility toward whoever is behind the cruelty.

Significant themes

• Preparation and restraint: Wu Yu weighs immediate power against the possibility of stronger future rewards.
• Uncertainty and survival: The locked evacuation point and approaching calamity leave the characters with limited time and unclear options.
• Care amid danger: Wu Yu continues trying to help Luo Ke’er despite the limits of his abilities.
• Cruelty and distrust: The displayed corpses suggest the Tower’s human threats may be as dangerous as its monsters.

Key events

• Wu Yu continues treating Luo Ke’er by restoring her steadily with his newly acquired Yi Wood Divine Light. He experiments with its healing abilities, advancing his broader Sky-Soaring Five Pillars Divine Ability.
• He expects helping Luo Ke’er to trigger a quest reward—specifically a gold-quality Portable Cabin—but nothing happens. Luo Ke’er wakes briefly, still in pain and sensing an unknown caller, and urges Wu Yu not to risk himself for her.
• On the third day, Wu Yu prepares to travel toward another Treasure Chest, since nearby chests are scarce or already looted.
• Beneath the ruins of the Bone-Burial Market, the Corpse King has become a Calamity Corpse and commands advanced Pseudo-Human Zombies. He devours the brains of three captured Tower Climbers, including Zhou Dongdong, hoping to extract their memories, but the technique fails again.
• Hearing Lei Ming, the Corpse King orders his forces to break out of the underground Flesh Mountain and attack the surface. The enormous mass of corpses bursts open, releasing a vast Zombie horde led by the corrupted Lei Tianming.
• As Wu Yu’s Portable Cabin flies nearby, the ground erupts and the new horde clashes with the surface Zombies. A mysterious roar drives the surface hordes into a frenzy. Wu Yu senses danger and activates the Void Formation just before lightning strikes through the cabin’s position and hits the underground horde.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is resourceful and curious, using Luo Ke’er’s repeated recovery to test his healing ability. His concern for her is tempered by practical motives: he still wants the anticipated quest reward and worries about the danger ahead.
• Luo Ke’er remains gravely ill but grows more alert after Wu Yu heals her. Grateful and self-sacrificing, she tells him to abandon her rather than endanger himself; she also shows a quiet, blushing fondness for his kindness.
• The Corpse King grows more impatient and violent as his attempts to uncover the secrets of outsiders’ souls fail. He responds by launching an all-out attack on the surface.
• Zhou Dongdong, who fled the Market District alone, is captured and killed by the Corpse King.

Significant themes

• Mercy versus self-interest: Wu Yu’s care for Luo Ke’er coexists with his practical hope of earning a reward.
• Escalating danger: The underground Zombie forces break into the open, turning the surface conflict into a large-scale battle.
• The limits of knowledge and control: The Corpse King’s soul-searching fails, while Wu Yu must react quickly to threats he can sense but not yet fully understand.

Plot points and events

• The Ground and Underground Zombie Hordes erupt into a massive battle across Four Directions City. The underground side appears weakened by an invisible contamination released when the “Flesh Mountain” exploded, while powerful Foundation Establishment Zombies emerge.
• Wu Yu recognizes Lei Tianming, the Bone-Burial Market Master, among the transformed zombies. Realizing the underground city is in worse shape than expected, he avoids returning and guides the Portable Cabin away from the fighting.
• The surface is equally dangerous: mutated zombies, Pseudo-Human Zombies, zombie birds, corrupted spirit qi, and lethal magical attacks threaten anyone caught outside. The cabin’s protective formation eventually breaks, but Twilight Witch deploys a Silent Barrier to conceal and shield it.
• Wu Yu decides to wait near the cabin rather than risk seeking treasure chests. He monitors Luo Ke’er and plans to return if danger approaches, especially with the Five-Element Heavenly Thunder due in seven or eight hours.
• While unconscious, Luo Ke’er dreams of a cultivator forming a core and hears references to the Disaster Core Method, a “Calamity Corpse,” and a corrupted Heavenly Dao. She realizes the cultivator resembles her, and memories return.
• Twilight Witch reports that Luo Ke’er’s vitality is rising and that the root of her illness seems to have disappeared. Wu Yu takes this as the long-awaited opportunity, though he sees no golden-core patriarch arriving.

Character developments

• Wu Yu stays cautious and pragmatic, prioritizing escape and protection over treasure-hunting. He remains focused on Luo Ke’er’s recovery and the approaching thunder trial.
• Luo Ke’er begins recovering as buried memories surface, hinting at a deeper connection to the Disaster Core Method and the events of her past.
• Twilight Witch supports Wu Yu by protecting the damaged cabin and detecting Luo Ke’er’s improvement.
• Lei Tianming’s transformation into a powerful zombie underscores how thoroughly the underground city has fallen.

Themes

• Survival amid catastrophe: Even experienced Tower Climbers face sudden death in a battlefield where the environment itself is deadly.
• Chaos as opportunity and risk: The zombies’ war may create openings for attackers, but powerful enemies make any advantage precarious.
• Hidden pasts and fate: Luo Ke’er’s recovered memories and dream suggest that her illness, identity, and cultivation are tied to a larger mystery.
• Patience and preparation: Wu Yu survives by retreating, reinforcing defenses, and waiting for the right moment.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu directs Twilight Witch to activate the Silent Barrier; she shields the cabin and later alerts him to Luo Ke’er’s recovery.
• Wu Yu watches over the unconscious Luo Ke’er, repeatedly weighing her condition against the danger outside.
• The chapter’s central conflict is between the two zombie hordes, while Wu Yu and his companions remain concealed nearby rather than joining the battle.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu prepares to leave with the Twilight Witch, relieved that Luo Ke’er’s recovery means he can keep his valuable Portable Cabin.
• The Twilight Witch notices that Ke’er’s vitality is rising beyond normal recovery. Wu Yu realizes she is undergoing an awakening.
• In a series of visions or recovered memories, Ke’er relives her past as Lei Ke’er: her clan pressured her to abandon her human body and become a Calamity Corpse, while her brother Lei Tianming was threatened as leverage. She also recalls the Thunderclap True Scripture, a mysterious paper figure, and a bloodied chamber containing the words, “On Thunderclap Day, I shall live another life.”
• Ke’er’s power surges until she passes the transcendent threshold and becomes too powerful for Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch to gauge. Concerned she might turn on him, Wu Yu quietly prepares a contingency.
• During the battle between the zombie hordes, Ke’er awakens fully. She explains that she has recovered memories and broken a seal, regaining her original power rather than gaining a new ability.
• With the Ground Zombie Horde defeated, Ke’er says she must leave to attend to unfinished business. Before departing, she tells Wu Yu about an advanced Wandering Merchant cabin hidden in Four Directions City—one that only a Wandering Merchant can claim.

Character developments

• Luo Ke’er transforms from an apparently vulnerable girl into a powerful, enigmatic figure burdened by memories of her former life. She remains grateful to Wu Yu, but her renewed purpose draws her away.
• Wu Yu is relieved by Ke’er’s recovery and delighted by the prospect of acquiring a superior cabin, though he masks his excitement. His fear of Ke’er’s immense, uncertain power also reveals his caution.
• The Twilight Witch acts as Wu Yu’s perceptive adviser, identifying Ke’er’s unusual vitality and helping prepare for possible danger.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch monitor Ke’er’s awakening and discuss whether she has gained a divine ability; Ke’er clarifies that she has instead recovered sealed memories and power.
• Wu Yu’s wary preparations contrast with Ke’er’s sincere thanks for his care. Once she reassures him, their exchange becomes warmer.
• Ke’er addresses Wu Yu as “Brother Wu” and offers information about the hidden cabin, giving him a potentially valuable lead as she prepares to leave.

Significant themes

• Rebirth and recovered identity: Ke’er’s awakening is tied to reclaiming a past self and breaking the seal on her original power.
• Immortality and the cost of power: Her memories expose a society that treats transformation into a Calamity Corpse as the sanctioned route to transcendence, even at the expense of human identity.
• Trust and uncertainty: Ke’er’s gratitude coexists with Wu Yu’s fear of her strength, reflecting the fragile trust between them.
• Opportunity amid danger: The zombie battle and Ke’er’s departure unfold alongside Wu Yu’s excitement over the possibility of claiming a rare cabin.

Key plot points and events

• Luo Ke’er reveals that a gold-quality Portable Cabin belonged to a powerful Wandering Merchant. The merchant’s attackers looted most of his legacy, but couldn’t take the cabin; Luo Ke’er had previously found its hiding place but couldn’t claim it herself.
• She marks the location on Wu Yu’s map, then abruptly vanishes in a flash of thunder. Wu Yu realizes his Five-Element Escape talent lets him perceive the traces of her Thunder Escape and sets off to retrieve the cabin.
• The scene shifts to Four Directions City, where Luo Ke’er—now revealed as Lei Ming True Person—defeats the Corpse King and devastates his zombie army with purple heavenly thunder. The Corpse King recognizes that she has merged her power with the city, but warns that she remains bound to it. He dies after revealing he was only an avatar.
• Luo Ke’er learns that Lei Tianming, her remaining relative, is dead. She mourns him, recalling that he had practiced the Calamity Corpse method and had protected her for a long time.
• She resolves to transform Four Directions City into a Land of Thunder, giving humans a chance to live there and Calamity Cultivators the possibility of regaining human bodies. She also hopes to explore the wider world with Wu Yu and visit the Sky-Traversing Merchant Guild.
• Wu Yu reaches the hidden chamber and finds the damaged cabin. After checking carefully for danger, he spots a Golden Treasure Chest—but his Divine Sense also detects a large invisible box nearby, suggesting an unknown presence or hidden object.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains cautious and resourceful, using several detection methods before approaching the treasure. His growing ability to perceive escape traces may help him understand Luo Ke’er’s power.
• Luo Ke’er is revealed as a formidable thunder cultivator, but her victory comes with a limitation: her power is tied to Four Directions City, and leaving could make her vulnerable. Her grief over Lei Tianming exposes her loneliness and deep need for companionship.
• Lei Tianming is remembered as Luo Ke’er’s protector, despite ultimately becoming a Calamity Corpse.
• The Corpse King recognizes the extent—and the limits—of Luo Ke’er’s power. The Big-Headed Zombie respectfully acknowledges her authority and follows her orders to defend the city.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Luo Ke’er’s immense strength protects the city but also confines her to it.
• Grief, release, and renewal: Lei Tianming’s death ends his unnatural existence, while Luo Ke’er turns her sorrow toward rebuilding the city.
• Companionship and hope: Despite her loneliness, Luo Ke’er finds comfort in her bond with Wu Yu and imagines a future beyond the city.
• Treasure and hidden danger: Wu Yu’s discovery promises a reward, but the invisible box hints that the chamber may not be as empty—or safe—as it appears.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu detects two Tower Climbers concealed inside a large stealth box. Using Dragon’s Roar to strengthen his Divine Sense, he sees through the concealment and knocks the box aside with Mage’s Hand.
• The pair retreat and loudly try to lure him toward them, but Wu Yu suspects they are decoys. Using Earth Escape and Five-Element Escape, he discovers the real couple hidden elsewhere, along with an array of concealed traps.
• Wu Yu attacks their hiding place with his Portable Cabin and Profound Radiance Sword Qi. His Blackfeather Flying Sword kills the man, while the Twilight Witch wounds the woman; the woman’s close-range laser attack misses when the Witch dissolves into light.
• The woman’s death triggers a detonator that sets off the surrounding traps. Wu Yu shelters in the cabin’s Void State until the explosions end.
• Afterward, he searches the attackers’ cabin and finds a mysterious central-control device. Remembering that only a Wandering Merchant could remove it, he uses his new Five-Element Escape Talent and senses five glowing nodes on the device.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows greater caution and tactical judgment, recognizing the bait and using his abilities to uncover the real ambush before committing. He also begins exploring what his new Talent can do.
• The Twilight Witch proves an effective and dependable partner, striking swiftly and evading the woman’s laser attack.
• The attackers are revealed as ruthless opportunists who prefer killing Tower Climbers for their Cards rather than fighting Zombies. Their confidence in a layered ambush ends in their deaths.

Significant themes

• Cunning versus deception: Wu Yu survives by questioning appearances and anticipating the trap.
• Power and preparedness: Concealment, traps, cybernetics, and supernatural abilities all shape the battle.
• The dangers of greed: The couple’s practice of torturing and killing other climbers ultimately brings them into conflict with Wu Yu.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu and the couple engage in a tense deception contest: they try to lure him into their traps, while he tracks their real location.
• The Twilight Witch supports Wu Yu in combat, coordinating with his attack and avoiding retaliation.
• After the fight, Wu Yu and the Witch assess the couple’s abilities and the likely role of a high-level stealth Talent.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu activates a ruined cabin by placing five uncontaminated Five-Element Spirit Stones into its central device. A mechanical, kitten-shaped spirit appears and identifies him as a Wandering Merchant.
• The spirit explains that the cabin is beyond repair, but it can yield a rare core module for upgrading Wu Yu’s own cabin. Before its remaining energy runs out, Wu Yu asks it about the Sky-Traversing Merchant Guild and other matters.
• Following its instructions, Wu Yu claims the ruined cabin. It collapses into a golden Portable Cabin: Upgrade Module, which he feeds into his cabin’s furnace.
• The upgrade transforms his cabin into a Transcendent, Gold-quality magical artifact. It becomes several times larger, gains stronger protective and concealment arrays, and gains nine ports for modules.
• Wu Yu installs two devices he had collected: the Feather Device, which improves flight, and the Cloud Disk Device, which doubles the cabin’s interior space. The cabin’s exterior remains unchanged, while its interior becomes more than one hundred square meters.

Character developments

• Wu Yu’s curiosity and resourcefulness drive the chapter: he recognizes the five-element mechanism, questions the cabin spirit to gather information, and successfully applies its instructions.
• His excitement shifts from discovery to practical experimentation as he tests the upgraded cabin and its modules.
• The Twilight Witch remains an observant companion, expressing curiosity about the cabin’s spirit and future upgrades.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as a resource: Wu Yu uses a brief opportunity to question the cabin’s spirit before it runs out of power.
• Adaptation and advancement: A ruined artifact becomes the means to transform Wu Yu’s cabin into a more capable base.
• Cultivation technology: Immortal script, spirit-powered mechanisms, and modular upgrades blend magical-artifact traditions with engineered systems.
• Hidden potential: The cabin’s unchanged exterior conceals a greatly expanded interior.

Character interactions

• The cabin spirit formally recognizes Wu Yu as a Wandering Merchant and provides instructions and information, though its power is nearly exhausted.
• The Twilight Witch asks Wu Yu whether the upgraded cabin will have a spirit of its own; he admits he does not know.
• Wu Yu’s exchanges with the spirit are largely practical, while his brief conversation with the Twilight Witch highlights their easy, curious rapport.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu inspects the Portable Cabin’s upgraded facilities. Most are redundant with tools and abilities he already owns, but the Furnace remains useful, and the cabin’s upgraded protective formation can now withstand far more damage.
• He installs the higher-grade Void Kun Gate without difficulty. Activating its carving gives him many distant viewpoints, allowing him to observe cities, markets, wilderness, and other places across the vast Five-Element Cultivation Realm.
• The experience overwhelms him with a sharp headache, so he shuts the Gate down. He realizes it can enable long-distance contact and trade, then tests it by connecting with branches of the Sky-Traversing Merchant Guild.
• Wu Yu learns that communication consumes little Divine Sense, while transporting goods costs much more. Prolonged use also exposes users to Void Kun Pollution. He checks himself with the Bronze Tripod.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is practical and curious: he quickly dismisses cabin features that duplicate his existing capabilities, but eagerly explores the Gate’s unusual potential.
• The Twilight Witch worries when Wu Yu experiences pain, then helps him think through the Gate’s purpose and encourages him to try trading.
• Guild representatives mistake Wu Yu for a high-ranking Wandering Merchant, since the Gate is normally reserved for senior merchants and its users are assumed to be powerful Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Significant themes

• Awe at scale: The Gate reveals a seemingly boundless continent far larger than Wu Yu had imagined.
• Technology and redundancy: A device’s usefulness depends on the user’s needs; cabin facilities valuable to ordinary merchants may be unnecessary to a Tower Climber.
• Power with costs: The Gate offers extraordinary reach, but demands Divine Sense, charges heavily for transporting goods, and risks pollution.
• Uncertainty and discovery: Wu Yu has only begun to learn the Gate’s limits—and whether Void Kun is a real divine beast.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu detects a few stubborn traces of Void Kun pollution on his soul. He lets [Heaven’s Return] cleanse them while planning to use the [Void Kun Gate] to trade goods between worlds before returning to the Real World.
• Before he can finish sorting his supplies, the [Golden Treasure Chest] opens and produces a red-quality [Calamity Source], a gold [Giant Spirit God Pill], and a gold [Rainbow Garment Dance] artifact.
• The [Calamity Source] promises an immediate advance by one major realm, but would turn its user into a Calamity Corpse. Wu Yu rejects the idea of consuming it—until his [Bi Fang Sigil] responds with an intense desire for it.
• Taking precautions, Wu Yu has Twilight Witch ready to escape with his Soul Chip and house if anything goes wrong. He swallows the material, and the sigil consumes its dangerous essence before it can contaminate him.
• The [Bi Fang Sigil] upgrades, briefly overpowering Wu Yu’s [Lunar Yin] and [Withering] sigils. Its power doubles, and it appears poised to advance from a mark in his mind into his qi sea.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is practical and opportunistic: he recognizes a chance to profit from cross-world trading, but is wary of dangerous shortcuts and sensitive goods.
• His caution shows when he prepares an emergency escape plan before taking the Calamity Source.
• The Bi Fang Sigil reveals an unexpected appetite and capacity for growth. Its upgrade also exposes rivalry among Wu Yu’s three sigils, each manifesting its own power.
• Wu Yu gives Twilight Witch clear emergency instructions; she agrees and stands ready while he tests the sigil’s response.

Significant themes

• Opportunity versus risk: valuable rewards can carry severe costs, and Wu Yu must judge when a gamble is worthwhile.
• Power with consequences: pollution and calamity are dangerous even without malice, while the Calamity Source’s advertised advancement comes at the price of becoming a monster.
• Adaptation and competition: Wu Yu’s sigils can evolve, but their growth involves an apparent struggle for dominance.
• Pragmatism and preparation: Wu Yu combines curiosity with safeguards rather than acting recklessly.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu’s [Bi Fang Sigil] evolves from a mental concept into a spirit-energy entity inside his [Innate Qi Sea]. Its base power doubles, and Wu Yu suspects it may eventually work without a talisman as its medium, though he cannot yet control it.
• With time short, he sorts through goods gathered from previous worlds, deciding to sell surplus materials, low- and mid-grade magical artifacts, pills, and other items.
• Using the [Void Kun Gate], he contacts branches of the [Sky-Traversing Merchant Guild] and compares prices. Because transporting goods consumes spirit stones and divine sense and causes losses, ordinary buy-low/sell-high trading is often impractical.
• Wu Yu learns that his [Calamity Cores] attract intense interest and rising bids, so he holds on to them rather than selling them.
• He sells selected goods—including artifacts, materials, talismans, and [Foundation Establishment Pills]—for a total of 1.3 million five-element spirit stones.
• He immediately spends the entire sum on high-grade Qi Refining resources, buying out the available stock of several items, including pills, spirit wood, and spirit-beast meat.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows growing confidence in his strengthened sigil but restrains his excitement to focus on practical priorities.
• He demonstrates an increasingly strategic approach to commerce: comparing regional prices, accounting for transport costs, and recognizing the unusual value of the Calamity Cores.
• His willingness to spend his full fortune on Qi Refining supplies hints that he has a specific cultivation plan, though he does not explain it.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu negotiates with multiple guild stewards through the Void Kun Gate. They offer prices and merchandise, and some marvel at his wealth and status as a wandering merchant.
• The Twilight Witch warns Wu Yu that the stewards’ bids for the Calamity Cores seem suspiciously low. He takes the warning seriously and keeps them.
• The stewards are bewildered by Wu Yu’s enormous purchases of Qi Refining resources—and his lack of interest in Foundation Establishment goods—but accept the trades without questioning him.

Significant themes

• Transformation and growth: The Bi Fang Sigil’s shift from concept to spirit-energy form reflects the potential to make the intangible real.
• Practical strategy over spectacle: Wu Yu sets aside his excitement and carefully manages both his goods and his time.
• Knowledge as leverage: Understanding regional markets and transport costs lets him trade effectively, while recognizing the Calamity Cores’ value prevents a bad deal.
• Uncertainty and hidden purpose: Wu Yu’s unusual shopping choices suggest plans that other characters—and the reader—do not yet know.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu spends “1.3 million” through the Void Kun Gate to trade for low-priced, high-quality resources from the polluted Five-Element Cultivation Realm. He selects pills suited to his Qi, essence, and spirit cultivation, judging them far more valuable in the Spirit Void Ancient Realm than their purchase price.
• The trade severely drains his divine sense and exposes him to void-kun pollution. He uses ancient spirit stones to power the gate and the Bronze Tripod to restore himself, eventually finishing the exchange but collapsing from exhaustion.
• After three hours of sleep and the tripod’s cleansing energy, Wu Yu awakens fully recovered, with the pollution purged. He decides against further exploration and heads toward the evacuation point.
• Near the evacuation zone, Wu Yu spots three augmented humans lying in wait to rob travelers. He kills them with his Bing Fire Divine Light, jokingly naming the technique “Laser Eyes.” He also uses Yi Wood Divine Light to silently kill other ambushers, then enters the formation area.
• With the return countdown underway, Wu Yu wonders why Lei Tianming, the Market Master, would come out to meet him—and begins thinking about “that girl.”

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows sharp commercial judgment, willingly accepting a punishing physical cost for a highly profitable trade. His confidence and ingenuity are also evident in how he adapts his divine abilities for combat.
• The Twilight Witch worries over Wu Yu during his collapse and later keeps watch as instructed. She questions his “Laser Eyes” name, while he responds with a joking cultural reference she does not understand.
• The kindhearted steward warns Wu Yu that the transaction will consume his funds and leave him debilitated. Wu Yu thanks him but proceeds anyway.
• The ambushers expect to prey on departing travelers, but Wu Yu catches them off guard and kills them before they can act.

Significant themes

• Profit and risk: Cross-world trade offers enormous gains, but the cost includes exhaustion, divine-sense damage, and dangerous pollution.
• Adaptation and resourcefulness: Wu Yu combines tools, recovery methods, and creative uses of his abilities to overcome both physical strain and threats.
• Moral contrast: The realm’s devastation harms cultivators but makes spirit herbs abundant; meanwhile, desperate or predatory people turn the evacuation into an opportunity for violence.

Key plot points and events

• As the Tower’s return countdown ends, Wu Yu is transported out of the Five-Element Cultivation Realm.
• Luo Ke’er orders the Calamity Corpses to restore Four Directions City, rescue survivors, and rebuild it. She explains that her sacrifice transformed the city into a Land of Thunder, where the corpses can regain human forms without losing their cultivation. She also orders fully mutated Calamity Corpses eliminated.
• Steward Yan is exposed as the traitor who helped the man responsible for destroying Burial Bone Mountain. Luo Ke’er sees through his attempted excuses and has him taken away.
• Expecting to find Wu Yu, Luo Ke’er searches the ruined hut but initially finds it empty. Believing he has left without saying goodbye, she feels foolish for hoping otherwise.
• She then discovers Wu Yu’s note and the supplies he left: jade-cleansed food and water, plus three Calamity Cores. His message apologizes for delaying her awakening and promises to share wine if they meet again. Luo Ke’er’s anger fades; she carefully keeps the note.
• Back in the Tower, Wu Yu recovers fully. The group notices Zhou Dongdong is missing, and Yu Tiezhu suspects he may have left because his earlier team experience made him distrustful.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Ke’er shifts from commanding, decisive leadership to private disappointment when she thinks Wu Yu has gone without a farewell. His note reassures her, and she responds with affection masked by teasing.
• Wu Yu leaves practical gifts and a personal message rather than departing without thought, showing consideration despite his own detachment from the realm.
• Steward Yan admits betraying his home for a deal with a traitor and begs for forgiveness, but Luo Ke’er refuses to spare him.
• The Calamity Corpses respect and fear Luo Ke’er, thanking her for her sacrifice. Their private banter afterward reveals their curiosity about her connection to Wu Yu.
• Wu Yu’s returning companions gather in the Tower and begin worrying about Zhou Dongdong’s absence.

Significant themes

• Parting and attachment: Wu Yu sees himself as a visitor, while Luo Ke’er struggles with the prospect of being left alone.
• Sacrifice and consequences: Luo Ke’er’s power transforms the city and offers hope to its inhabitants, but comes at a personal cost.
• Trust and betrayal: Steward Yan’s treachery contrasts with Wu Yu’s thoughtful farewell.
• Hope and reunion: Luo Ke’er’s teasing response to the note suggests she is willing to believe they may meet again.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu reunites with the other Tower Climbers after their dangerous expedition in the Five-Element Cultivation Realm. They discuss their poor loot, the city being overrun, and the attacks from other climbers. Liu Zheng angrily blames Zhou Dongdong for abandoning the team and suspects he caused his former team’s deaths.
• The group recalls the hidden shop and its tempting Divine Ability Bone. Liu Yu says his talent warned him away from the trap, while the others regret missing the hidden quest.
• Wu Yu checks his settlement results. His accomplishments earn him a one-star Legend rating: he killed many Calamity Corpses, destroyed a Paradise Corpse Nest, completed the hidden quest Jade Belt Awakening, and changed the fates of Four Directions City and Lei Ke’er.
• His rewards are reduced by 5% because external aids contributed between 1% and 10%. Wu Yu reasons that early defensive preparations probably helped the group avoid a major crisis, making the reduction worthwhile.
• With a Legend rating, Wu Yu may choose six of twelve enhanced rewards. He notices that three options are Transcendent red-grade rewards and is delighted by their potential.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is satisfied with his rating and pragmatic about the reward penalty, recognizing that avoiding danger mattered more than maximizing his payout. He also appears to have secured loot others missed.
• Liu Zheng is furious at Zhou Dongdong’s reckless departure and suspects his account of his past is unreliable.
• Liu Yu is trusted by the group for his past help and his warning talent; he is also frustrated by their limited gains.
• Chen Lingling praises Wu Yu’s courage, while Wu Yu credits her information for helping him find loot.
• The group bonds through shared complaints and recollections, though their conversation also highlights differing fortunes and missed opportunities.

Significant themes

• Preparation and survival: Defensive planning may have prevented disaster, and survival can be more valuable than extra rewards.
• Trust and responsibility: Zhou Dongdong’s decision to leave the team prompts suspicion and blame.
• Risk, reward, and missed chances: The hidden quest and Divine Ability Bone tempt the group, but caution keeps them alive.
• Achievement and progression: Wu Yu’s high rating reflects how individual actions can alter both a settlement’s and another character’s fate.

Key plot points

• After earning a Legend rating, Wu Yu can choose six of twelve settlement rewards. He selects two upgraded techniques, the mysterious red-grade book My Little Story, 3.5 million Great Ruins Source Points, and ten tons of spirit beast meat from the Bloodfeather Chicken.
• He rejects several lower-value options, including techniques tied to the Five-Element Cultivation Realm. One technique’s connection to impostor calamity corpses makes him suspect that the realm’s history—and the story about the Heavenly Dao’s “virus”—may have been manipulated.
• The other Tower Climbers compare rewards. Most are pleased with their results, though Wu Yu’s haul is so large that he is almost numb to it.
• Wu Yu finds no new Talent Tree options for his existing identities, but discovers that his new identity, Runaway Wu, has an escape-focused Talent Tree. He spends heavily to upgrade its escape speed, aura concealment, and perception.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains cautious despite his exceptional rewards. He reflects on how rare a Legend rating is, credits his powerful talent, and deliberately guards against becoming overconfident.
• His new identity reinforces a pragmatic side: he sees escape as a valuable survival skill, not something to be ashamed of. The upgrades also give him sharper senses and an ability to detect nearby people’s emotions.
• Liu Zheng and the other climbers reveal varied fortunes: Yu Tiezhu and some others received substantial rewards, while others got less. Liu Zheng is comparatively unimpressed because of his access to resources.

Significant themes

• Luck, skill, and power: Settlement rewards are partly random, but Wu Yu recognizes that his remarkable ratings depend on both his strength and his unusual talent.
• Survival as strategy: The Runaway Wu tree treats speed, concealment, and perception as essential tools.
• Uncertain history and hidden truths: The calamity techniques suggest that the Five-Element Cultivation Realm may conceal a deeper, distorted past.
• Wealth and perspective: The same rewards that excite ordinary climbers barely register for Wu Yu, underscoring the difference in their circumstances.

Character interactions

• The climbers exchange and compare their rewards, teasing out how differently the settlement treated each person.
• Liu Zheng praises the group’s gains, while Yu Tiezhu and others share their excitement.
• Wu Yu mostly observes and keeps his suspicions about the realm’s history to himself.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu’s enhanced perception lets him assess the other team members’ cultivation, abilities, and concealed weaknesses:
  • Yu Tiezhu is straightforward and physically powerful.
  • Wang Yan and Liu Zheng cultivate all three paths, but have spread their effort thin; Liu Zheng’s body is especially unstable from excessive use of medicines.
  • Liu Yu is veiled by a mysterious mist and faint Buddhist chanting, and may have ties to Spirit Mountain Technology.
  • Bai Xiaotian is an adult despite claiming to be nine, and can mutate into a powerful, brutal flesh-and-blood giant.
  • Huang Zhen has several Psionic Prosthetics.
  • Wu Yu cannot sense Chen Lingling at all, prompting speculation that she may be unusually powerful.
• The team unlocks its next destination: the Secret Sea World, Thirty-Sixth Sea Area. A warning says its danger far exceeds the team’s current strength.
• Liu Zheng recalls that the world consists of endless seas, where people survive aboard arks. The group agrees to prepare carefully: Liu Zheng will arrange a boat, while Wu Yu offers talismans.
• Back in the Training Room, Wu Yu uses the Life Circlet and Skull of Immortality to advance his One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones technique. His heavenly spiritual root and Five-Element Escape talent substantially reduce the required resources. He begins the breakthrough to the eighth heaven of Qi Refining.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu’s new perception gives him a clearer read on allies, but also highlights how much remains hidden—especially about Liu Yu and Chen Lingling.
• Liu Zheng takes charge of the group’s preparations and volunteers to provide a boat; the team accepts his unusual ability to bring more items into the Tower.
• The team responds to the danger warning with practical cooperation rather than panic. Wu Yu contributes his knowledge and talismans, while the others discuss supplies and equipment.

Significant themes

• Preparation and teamwork: The group recognizes that the next world is beyond their current capabilities and plans accordingly.
• Talent versus resources: Wu Yu reflects that spending alone cannot force advancement; individual aptitude determines how much benefit resources provide.
• Hidden identities and unequal strengths: Wu Yu’s perception reveals concealed techniques and weaknesses, while some teammates remain mysterious.
• Risk and ambition: Despite the coming danger, Wu Yu commits valuable resources to strengthen himself.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu emerges from prolonged accelerated cultivation in the [Skull of Immortality], having reached the eighth heaven of the Qi Refining Realm and expanded his spirit-power capacity to 90,000 strands. His five-element spirit root and [Five-Element Escape] were the main factors behind his progress.
• He considers pushing directly to the ninth heaven, but although he has enough spirit stones and Great Ruins Source Points, he lacks the required spirit-power recovery items. He decides to wait for more resources.
• Preparing for the dangers of the next world, Wu Yu spends resources to advance in the [Martial Training Platform]. He reaches the seventh tier of the Divine Strength Realm, transforming his right arm into a psionic organ and forming a Three Purities Grotto-Heaven within it.
• He then advances in the [Enlightenment Chamber], reaching the seventh transformation of the Transformation Realm. His Dusk Soul-Refining Method improves, greatly increasing the range and strength of his divine sense.
• Other characters have also used the time-accelerating facilities to improve their cultivation, though their gains are more modest.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu acts pragmatically, spending his reserves to strengthen himself because survival in the coming world matters more than hoarding resources. His cultivation now spans three areas: Qi Refining, Divine Strength, and mental cultivation.
• His right arm’s transformation brings his physical combat ability closer to completion; only his legs remain to become psionic organs.
• Liu Yu and Liu Zheng approve of Wu Yu’s decision to use his resources. Their comments prompt wry reactions from the others, since Liu Zheng himself is known for siphoning resources from the Inspection Bureau.
• Yu Tiezhu and Yellow Town describe their own smaller improvements, highlighting the different amounts of resources each person had available.

Significant themes

• Preparation through self-improvement: Facing future danger, the characters treat cultivation as an investment in survival.
• Resources and limits: Wu Yu’s breakthroughs depend not only on wealth and talent but also on having the right kinds of recovery items.
• Accelerated growth and its costs: Time-manipulating facilities make rapid progress possible, but each advance consumes substantial resources and requires careful choices.

Key plot points and events

• The group prepares for the next Tower world, Secret Sea World, anticipating that its ocean environment will make ordinary Transcendent combat abilities less useful. Liu Zheng offers to build a high-tech boat and assigns everyone equipment to bring.
• After the others leave, Chen Lingling privately gives Wu Yu information about the world in exchange for one future favor, so long as the help is within his abilities.
• She warns that Secret Sea World is hostile to outsiders: bringing too many foreign objects brings curses, spending too long underwater can cause disorientation and mutation, and powerful sea monsters lurk below. Daylight is safer; at night, the group must keep lights on and never sleep in darkness.
• Wu Yu accepts the deal, conditional on the information being true. The Twilight Witch detects no ill intent in Chen Lingling, easing his suspicions.
• Back home, Wu Yu sleeps, then wakes refreshed and examines a red-quality reward book, Moon Palace’s Little Story After the Rain. Its pages begin filling with a first-person account about becoming a “Sin Immortal” and suffering a curse called Many Calamities.

Character developments

• Wu Yu is cautious but pragmatic: he accepts Chen Lingling’s open-ended favor in return for valuable intelligence, while considering whether his company may know more about the world.
• Chen Lingling reveals that she has access to family and personal sources of Tower information. Her playful manner contrasts with her serious warning and her request for potentially lifesaving help.
• Liu Zheng takes charge of practical preparations, using his position and resources to coordinate equipment.
• The Twilight Witch reassures Wu Yu after checking Chen Lingling’s intentions.

Significant themes

• Preparation and adaptation: the group plans to rely on technology as well as personal strength in an unfamiliar environment.
• Knowledge as leverage: Chen Lingling trades information for a future favor.
• Hostile worlds and unintended consequences: Secret Sea World curses outsiders for carrying too many foreign objects and threatens visitors with environmental dangers.
• Trust and suspicion: Wu Yu weighs Chen Lingling’s credibility, while the Twilight Witch’s checks provide some reassurance.

Character interactions

• The group discusses equipment and logistics, with Liu Zheng coordinating supplies and others volunteering support.
• Chen Lingling privately negotiates with Wu Yu, stressing that she trusts him and needs help only in a life-threatening situation.
• Wu Yu consults the Twilight Witch about Chen Lingling’s motives; she reports no ill intent.
• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch then turn their attention to his newly upgraded book, which begins revealing an ominous account.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu opens My Little Story, a mysterious book whose pages generate themselves in powerful script. It records the events of his first five descents into the Great Ruins, presenting his different identities as characters.
• The book reveals how [Sin Immortal]’s talent, [Mountain-Sea Sigil], granted Wu Yu the Bi Fang, Lunar Yin, and Withering Sigils. Its curse, [Many Calamities], repeatedly drew dangerous beings and events toward him.
• [Night Watcher] forced contact with the True Martial God and earned Wu Yu the blessing [True Martial Arcane Treasury].
• [Forgotten God] repeatedly altered fate: it freed the Twilight Witch from the Dusk Lord’s corruption and changed her feelings toward Wu Yu; it also attempted to transform a ghost king and a female True Person into witches.
• Each recorded calamity was ultimately averted, increasing Wu Yu’s fate deviation.
• Wu Yu concludes that the book records past events rather than predicting the future. He expects the next Secret Sea World to be more dangerous and is glad he invested in a major upgrade.
• He recognizes that Lei Ke’er is connected to Lei True Person and anticipates that returning to the Five-Element Cultivation Realm could bring him great rewards.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu gains a clearer understanding of how his identities work: Sin Immortal provides formidable combat abilities but imposes hardship, while Forgotten God manipulates fate and creates witches.
• Their powers appear to oppose each other: Sin Immortal insists Wu Yu must suffer tribulations, while Forgotten God focuses on gaining more witches. Wu Yu imagines the two identities clashing again in a future world.
• Wu Yu also reviews the strengths of his other identities: Night Watcher enables divine communication, Heretic counters believers, Monster Hunter specializes in hunting, and Runaway Wu improves escape.
• His thoughts about Lei Ke’er are confidently self-serving: he assumes his small gift has deeply moved her and expects generous thanks.

Significant themes

• Power and its price: Wu Yu’s strongest abilities come paired with curses, danger, or suffering.
• Fate and its revision: Many Calamities draws trouble toward Wu Yu, while Forgotten God can rewrite outcomes and turn misfortune to advantage.
• Identity and self-understanding: The book’s character-like portrayal helps Wu Yu interpret his multiple identities and their competing motives.
• Risk and preparation: Recognizing that future worlds will be more perilous, Wu Yu values upgrading before facing them.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu reads another entry in “My Little Story” about Luo Ke’er, whose plans may have depended on waking at the right time. He can only speculate about the events behind Four Directions City and wonders what the recurring phrase “Fate deviation +1” means—and whether it is connected to his Sin Immortal or Forgotten God powers.
• The blonde Twilight Witch cannot see the writing in the book. When Wu Yu tries to tell her what it says, she cannot hear or learn the information, suggesting the book’s contents cannot be shared.
• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch spend time together. He later suspects the Forgotten God’s curse may have been affecting him without appearing in the book.
• Three days later, Wu Yu joins his parents and their visitors, Mr. Liu and his wife, for a brief greeting, then leaves to walk beside Dragon Blood Lake.
• He finds Resistance Army leaflets criticizing corporate monopolies and exploitation. As he reads, Zheng Ru arrives and warns him not to trust the Resistance Army’s claims.

Character developments

• Wu Yu grows more uneasy about the unexplained mechanics of My Little Story, especially the meaning of fate deviation and the reach of the Forgotten God’s curse. He remains curious but keeps the book’s most sensitive information secret.
• The Twilight Witch shows trust and affection toward Wu Yu. Her inability to perceive or receive the book’s contents reveals a mysterious restriction rather than simple ignorance.
• Zheng Ru appears as a forceful, authoritative figure, intervening as soon as she sees Wu Yu with Resistance Army material.

Significant themes

• Fate and hidden forces: The book hints that events can deviate from some unknown course, but offers no explanation.
• Forbidden or private knowledge: The book’s contents are inaccessible to the Twilight Witch, even when Wu Yu tries to share them.
• Power and political conflict: The Resistance Army’s anti-corporate propaganda reflects growing tensions between corporations, the government, and their opponents.
• Uncertainty about curses: Wu Yu questions whether the Forgotten God’s curse has been operating outside the book’s record.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu discusses the book with the Twilight Witch, who cannot see its text or receive its information.
• Wu Yu greets Mr. Liu and his wife during their visit to his parents, though he quickly leaves the conversation.
• At Dragon Blood Lake, Zheng Ru confronts Wu Yu over the Resistance Army leaflets and urges him to distrust their message.