Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• The Fat Chef’s tiger wraiths attack Wu Yu, but Wu reveals he was never relying on Psionic Bombs: he had been pretending, and his real Talent is explosive firepower tied to the [Bi Fang Sigil].
• Wu repeatedly uses the Sigil’s flames to destroy wave after wave of tiger wraiths. The Fat Chef activates a Psionic Shield and tries to overwhelm Wu, but eventually flees when his forces fail.
• In the passage, the girl accompanying the Fat Chef begins glowing with golden Divine Bird markings. Her point-blank blast pierces the shield and kills him.
• Wu discovers that the girl and Liu Zheng were flesh puppets, able to imitate people’s appearances but not their true Talents or abilities. The blue-haired young man, by contrast, was real.
• Wu returns to the cavern, checks on the battered Yu Tiezhu, gives him cloth to cover himself, and reveals the Cards taken from the Golden Treasure Chest.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu reveals his strength and composure, defeating the Fat Chef without pursuing him directly. He reflects that killing a Tower Climber yielded no reward in this cooperative realm and resolves to stay alert in future competitive situations.
• The Fat Chef shifts from triumph to disbelief, anger, and regret as his plan collapses. He abandons his ambitions and attempts to escape, but the puppet girl’s power kills him.
• Yu Tiezhu remains good-natured and resilient despite his injuries, rising to greet Wu without complaint.
• Wu and Yu share a practical, understated moment: Wu checks on him and provides cloth, while Yu thanks him.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden identities: Wu’s feigned weakness mirrors the puppets’ false appearances.
• Power and overconfidence: The Fat Chef’s greed and belief in his own advantage lead to his downfall.
• Vigilance and survival: Wu’s reflections emphasize the need to distrust appearances and prepare for hostile encounters.
• Cooperation and reciprocity: Wu protects Yu and helps him recover, reinforcing their alliance.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu obtains four Cards from the treasure chest: two [Three-Treasure Vitality Pills], a [Mountain Lord Thunder Spirit Herb], and the gold-quality [Tiger-Soul Sword]. The sword’s black mist sometimes takes the shape of a roaring tiger.
• Yu Tiezhu says he found no unusual rooms or locked areas in the Dungeon. Wu Yu decides to head for the Evacuation Point with him, secretly keeping a [Bi Fang Sigil] attached to the injured man.
• At the cave entrance, Wu Yu notices the footprints have vanished and realizes Chen Lingling is nearby. She reveals that the person he killed earlier was only a flesh puppet.
• Chen Lingling asks Wu Yu to give her the [Bloodstained Rope], which she says is a quest item. Wu Yu agrees only on the condition that they split the quest rewards equally.
• She leads Wu Yu and Yu Tiezhu back into the Dungeon and opens a concealed passage in a cell. Beyond it is a huge hidden chamber filled with blood-red cocoons and dead flesh puppets. She points out an enormous cocoon containing the preserved corpse of an ancient Martial Artist.

Character developments

• Wu Yu acquires a powerful new weapon and remains cautious and calculating: he monitors Yu Tiezhu with the sigil, negotiates for half the quest rewards, and tries to test Chen Lingling’s abilities.
• Chen Lingling proves alive, elusive, and knowledgeable about both the quest and the Dungeon’s secrets. Her playful manner masks considerable power and awareness.
• Yu Tiezhu is relieved to be heading home, but remains frightened and dependent on Wu Yu.

Significant themes

• Trust and self-interest: Wu Yu offers cooperation but protects his own interests, while Chen Lingling bargains for the quest item.
• Hidden truths: The vanished footprints, the flesh-puppet deception, and the concealed chamber show that appearances in the Dungeon are unreliable.
• Power and vulnerability: Wu Yu is wary even around allies, while Chen Lingling’s ability to evade him suggests she may be more formidable than she appears.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu questions Yu Tiezhu about the Dungeon, then secretly keeps him under surveillance despite considering whether it is unfair.
• He confronts Chen Lingling about hiding nearby. She teases him, but keeps her distance and dodges his attempt to approach.
• Wu Yu and Chen Lingling negotiate a fifty-fifty share of the quest rewards; she then leads him and Yu Tiezhu to the hidden room.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lingling explains that the Fat Chef used the Mountain Lord Rite to lure the wounded Mountain Lord away, then hid in Lostway Cave to make flesh puppets from captured people.
• Wu Yu discovers an immortal corpse and triggers the hidden gold-quality quest “Divine Blood Immortality,” which calls for the Bloodstained Rope.
• When Wu Yu places the rope on the cocoon, the corpse’s remaining soul awakens. The ancient martial artist explains that he and his companions failed to kill the Mountain Lord, though their attack left it vulnerable.
• The martial artist reveals that he once obtained divine blood from a fallen Heavenly God. As his body finally decays, he gives the blood to the group. A red-quality card appears, containing a drop of divine blood.
• Wu Yu takes the card, divides the blood into two portions, and offers one to Chen Lingling. She hesitates but eventually takes the flask.
• The group discovers Liu Zheng trapped in another cocoon. Wu Yu orders him freed, explaining that he wants Liu alive because he may be useful—and suspects there are more than nine Tower Climbers.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows resourcefulness and calculated honesty: he presents a technically truthful but misleading account to the ancient martial artist, then secures and shares the divine blood. He also chooses to rescue Liu for strategic reasons.
• Chen Lingling pieces together the Fat Chef’s plan and recognizes the value of the quest and divine blood. Her caution and complicated reaction to Wu Yu’s offer suggest distrust, even as she accepts it.
• The ancient martial artist moves from a lingering spirit to final rest. His regrets over his failed ambition and the Mountain Lord’s strength end in a generous act: passing on the divine blood.
• Yu Tiezhu remains wary and largely silent, speaking up only when he recognizes Liu Zheng.
• Wu Yu and Chen Lingling disagree over the risks of freeing Liu; Wu Yu insists that Liu’s survival serves a purpose.

Significant themes

• Ambition and mortality: The martial artist’s dream of reaching the heavenly path ends in failure, and he accepts that death cannot be undone.
• Hidden power and a wider world: Divine blood and the ancient history behind it suggest that the world’s true scale exceeds the apparent limits of the newcomer realm.
• Trust, deception, and strategy: Wu Yu’s carefully shaped story, the girl’s wariness, and the decision to keep Liu alive all show how relationships are shaped by competing interests.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu, Yu Tiezhu, and the girl rescue Inspector Liu Zheng from a cocoon in Lostway Cave. Wu Yu gives him Spirit Wine to revive him and buries the remains of the unnamed ancient martial artist.
• Liu Zheng recovers with a powerful injection and produces replacement gear from what Wu Yu recognizes as a spatial spirit-energy chip. He assumes the group rescued him after fighting their way into the cave.
• Wu Yu conceals what really happened, including the fate of the others, and falsely claims that the Mountain Lord was lured toward a nearby Evacuation Point. He uses the story to steer Liu Zheng away from the route he intends to take.
• The group reaches an Evacuation Point and waits through its ten-minute countdown. They are transported back to the Tower as the Newcomer Secret Realm ends.
• Back in the Tower, the survivors discover that their injuries are healing. Only six of the nine seats are occupied. Wu Yu opens his settlement panel and learns that his final rating is Legendary, with rewards awaiting selection.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains cautious and deceptive, managing what others learn while pursuing his own plans. His settlement confirms the extraordinary scale of his achievements.
• Yu Tiezhu trusts Wu Yu’s judgment, follows his advice, and helps rescue Liu Zheng.
• Liu Zheng regains his authority after recovering, but remains unaware that Wu Yu has misled him. His frustration over damaged data chips suggests he has lost valuable information.
• The girl cooperates with Wu Yu and the others, relieved to escape.
• The surviving Tower occupants show a mix of excitement and confusion at their return; Bai Xiaotian is especially surprised to see Liu Zheng.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and manipulation: Wu Yu carefully controls the group’s account of events and directs Liu Zheng without revealing his motives.
• Survival and uncertain safety: Even evacuation requires waiting under a countdown, leaving the group potentially vulnerable.
• Achievement and reward: The settlement system converts combat, hidden quests, and newcomer privileges into a final rating—culminating in Wu Yu’s Legendary result.
• Trust and authority: Liu Zheng’s restored confidence contrasts with the quiet influence Wu Yu exercises behind the scenes.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu advises Yu Tiezhu to disappear or seek official protection and warns him not to research the Tower online; Yu Tiezhu readily agrees.
• Wu Yu and Yu Tiezhu work together to recover Liu Zheng, while Wu Yu provides medical aid.
• Wu Yu and his companions maintain a coordinated story for Liu Zheng, who thanks them and takes charge of the journey.
• At the Tower, the returning survivors react to one another, while Wu Yu turns his attention to the settlement and its promised rewards.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu receives a legendary settlement rating, earning 100,000 Great Ruins Source Points and the chance to choose five of ten bonus rewards.
• He rejects the Mountain Lord transformation rite, points, and material rewards, deciding that mastering techniques and upgrading the Tiger Roar Soul-Refining Diagram are more valuable.
• His choices grant him instant mastery of four techniques—Tiger Roar Eight-Slash Saber, Heaven-and-Earth Toss, Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers, and Tiger Power Stance—and upgrade the Soul-Refining Diagram from gold to red quality.
• Each technique’s improvement comes with intense bodily enhancement. Wu Yu’s blood and qi surge, his body grows stronger, and he feels close to opening the transcendent gate, though he has not yet used his divine blood.
• On checking his Inventory, Wu Yu discovers that many ordinary objects and supplies from the Great Ruins have disappeared, while special cards and Exquisite Food remain. He concludes that only certain items can leave the realm.
• As the group waits to return, Liu Zheng asks the survivors to contact him and assist with an Inspection Bureau investigation, promising their safety and freedom from coercion.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows strategic judgment by prioritizing rare, difficult-to-acquire power upgrades over rewards whose value is uncertain or replaceable. His physical strength now approaches the threshold of transcendence.
• Yu Tiezhu has recovered his teeth and grown considerably taller and more muscular, though it remains unclear whether he has crossed the transcendent threshold.
• Liu Yu appears transformed by her reward: her hovering oil lamp shines gold, and her eyes and complexion take on an almost otherworldly quality.
• Bai Xiaotian is pleased with his reward, despite showing little outward change.
• Liu Zheng resumes his composed, authoritative manner and tries to organize the survivors’ cooperation.

Themes

• Strategic growth over immediate gain: Wu Yu values lasting skills and cultivation over currency, materials, or a direct transformation.
• Power gained through time and effort: The reward compresses decades or centuries of practice into moments, while still transforming Wu Yu’s body.
• Limits and rules of the Great Ruins: The disappearance of ordinary loot suggests that rewards and items obey restrictions when leaving the realm.
• Trust and hidden motives: Liu Zheng presents the Bureau’s request as voluntary and protective, but Wu Yu privately doubts his ability to read the others’ intentions.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu observes the other survivors’ changes and compares their gains with his own.
• Liu Zheng addresses the group formally, asking them to help with the investigation after their return.
• The survivors listen attentively, while Wu Yu outwardly agrees but privately regards Liu Zheng as inexperienced at dealing with schemers.

Key plot points and events

• As the Tower’s countdown ends, Wu Yu notices his Dungeon Key is now useless. Its description reveals that it belonged to the dungeon in the Village Chief’s home, making him suspect he missed a hidden quest.
• The Ancient Gate opens onto different places for each Tower Climber: Wu Yu sees his apartment hallway, while the others glimpse their own destinations. Liu Zheng, Liu Yu, Bai Xiaotian, and Yu Tiezhu leave first.
• Yu Tiezhu thanks Wu Yu for helping him and offers his contact details. The girl teases Wu Yu, promising to thank him if he can catch her in the real world; he responds with a joking threat.
• Wu Yu returns home with the box containing the External Heavenly Spiritual Root. The Tower disappears, and the time on his Communication Watch is nearly unchanged from when he entered, leading him to suspect the secret realm synchronizes time between itself and the real world.
• After resting, Wu Yu checks online activity. The news contains no obvious reports of the Tower, but videos of people displaying supernatural abilities suggest that unusual powers are becoming visible in society.
• He takes out his main rewards—the divine-blood flask, the Tiger Roar Soul-Refining Diagram, and the Mountain Lord Soul—and wonders which to use first.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains pragmatic and measured: he accepts that he cannot uncover every opportunity, recognizes the Tower’s extraordinary power, and considers the implications before acting. His improved physique and newfound resistance to cold show that his rewards have changed him physically.
• Yu Tiezhu shows gratitude and a sense of fairness, refusing to treat Wu Yu’s help and gifts as something he can simply take without repayment.
• Liu Yu hints that Wu Yu’s choice not to kill the girl reflects a weakness or “soft spot,” though Wu Yu gives no answer.
• The girl continues to act playful and provocative, concealing her intentions behind an innocent manner.

Significant themes

• Limits and opportunity: Wu Yu accepts that pursuing every hidden quest or reward is impossible; taking worthwhile chances is enough.
• Mystery and shifting reality: The Tower, its individualized exits, the obsolete key, and the apparent time synchronization blur the boundaries between the secret realm and the real world.
• A society adapting to the supernatural: Transcendent abilities are appearing in public, while the internet’s coverage remains incomplete and misinformation is possible.

Character interactions

• Yu Tiezhu offers Wu Yu a meal and later contact details in gratitude; Wu Yu declines the meal, and Yu Tiezhu respects his decision.
• Liu Yu teases Wu Yu about sparing the girl, while she in turn invites him to find her in the real world.
• Wu Yu and the others part ways as the Tower’s gate returns each person to a different location.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu uses the red-quality Tiger Roar Soul-Refining Diagram, spending the Mountain Lord Soul required to begin it.
• The Mountain Lord’s roar triggers a profound spiritual transformation. After contemplating the Tiger Roar Mountain Forest Painting, Wu Yu breaks through the transcendent gate and becomes a transcendent lifeform on the spirit-refinement path.
• His soul awakens into divine sense, letting him perceive minute details within ten meters and affect physical objects. He crushes nearby insects and levitates a glass and a sofa.
• Wu Yu discovers his unique divine ability: he can manifest the Mountain Lord from the painting as an enormous white tiger. It appears in his room, wrecks the furniture, and nearly roars before his anger makes it quiet down.

Character development

• Wu Yu advances suddenly beyond mortal limits, gaining a transformed soul and powers normally associated with Foundation Establishment cultivators, though he lacks their spiritual power.
• He is exhilarated by his new perception and abilities, then grows more composed as he tests their limits.
• His divine ability reveals an amusing bond with the Mountain Lord: despite its imposing appearance, the manifested tiger responds immediately to Wu Yu’s displeasure and behaves obediently.

Significant themes

• Transformation and self-knowledge: Wu Yu’s breakthrough feels like being born anew and allows him to perceive his “true self.”
• Mind shaping reality: His divine sense turns thought into physical influence, while the Mountain Lord becomes a mythical image made real.
• Power and control: Wu Yu gains extraordinary abilities but must regulate them—especially to avoid attracting attention or causing destruction.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu interacts primarily with the Mountain Lord, first through the soul-refinement ritual and later through their apparent mental connection.
• When summoned, the tiger’s instinct to roar clashes with Wu Yu’s wish to keep quiet; it immediately senses his anger and submits, ending the scene with Wu Yu stroking its forehead.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu admires the Big White Cat summoned by his divine ability, then shrinks it to ordinary-cat size. He reflects that cards can compress a century of experience into minutes, but mastery still takes time.
• After breaking through in spirit refinement, Wu Yu recognizes that his body has also become exceptionally powerful. He tests his strength and consumes the divine blood, which his mortal body cannot yet refine.
• Using the perfected Tiger Power Stance, he circulates and compresses his qi and blood until he reaches transcendence in essence refinement. At that moment, he refines the divine blood, transforming his body and ascending from transcendence toward the divine.
• His breakthrough produces a brief golden manifestation, but it fades because he has too little qi-and-blood power to sustain it. He now has the strength of a Martial Dao Transcendent, though he chooses not to seek public certification or reveal his abilities.
• His status panel confirms that he has reached the divine strength realm in essence refinement and the transformation realm in spirit refinement; qi refinement remains mortal. His techniques are all perfected, and his divine ability is Mountain Lord Summoning.
• Wu Yu jokes that his physique could make him a teacher, then remembers he is supposed to be a Cultivator. He dismisses the summoned Mountain Lord, leaves the room in disarray, and takes the External Heavenly Spiritual Root to his bedroom. At dawn, a call arrives from Lin Shouyuan of Star River Group.

Character developments

• Wu Yu gains a powerful sense of confidence and security, feeling that he can finally influence his own fate rather than be carried along by society.
• He shows growing caution about using cards, deciding to use them only in safe places and to keep his extraordinary abilities secret.
• His humorous self-image remains intact: despite his cultivation plans and new martial prowess, he briefly imagines becoming an academy teacher.

Significant themes

• Power and agency: Strength gives Wu Yu a newfound ability to shape his future.
• Hidden cultivation and social pressure: He conceals his abilities in a world where the Mysterious Tower has not yet entered mainstream society.
• Transformation and transcendence: Refining divine blood at the moment of breakthrough turns a martial advance into a near-mythic bodily change.
• Humor and identity: Wu Yu’s realization that he is “a Cultivator” contrasts comically with his growing focus on martial strength.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu treats the Big White Cat affectionately, stroking and resizing it; the cat is powerful but remains timid around him, eventually purring beside him.
• He consults his status panel to understand his progress and the distinctions between essence, qi, and spirit refinement.
• The chapter ends by setting up a new interaction: Lin Shouyuan from Star River Group calls Wu Yu.

Chapter summary

• Wu Yu confirms his investment agreement. A representative for his investor, Lin Shouyuan, verifies that Wu Yu spent twenty million on an external metal-attribute spirit root and a Mobius T2 Life Headband from the Black Crow Merchant Guild. His next installment—an elite Qi Refining technique and one hundred spirit stones—will arrive at River City Advanced Academy within six hours. Wu Yu must reach the Qi Refining Stage within one hundred days and pass a spiritual-purity test; enhancement drugs and other foundation-damaging shortcuts are forbidden. He requests that the headband and spirit root be inspected.
• Wu Yu adjusts his appearance and heads to school. He uses the martial technique Tiger-Leopard Thunderclap to compress his enlarged muscles and bones, returning to a more ordinary physique. Outside, he exchanges greetings with a teenage neighbor, who envies his place at the advanced academy. Wu Yu then takes a comfortable, driverless hovercar through the city.
• He discovers a clue about his talisman ability. While examining his Inventory during the ride, Wu Yu notices that a Bi Fang Sigil on a pebble has faded after about a day and a half. He restores it by will and realizes the stone is a poor medium: the sigil will dissipate within roughly seventy-two hours. He decides to order talisman paper and try learning the craft of a Talisman Master.
• The journey ends with the city’s reveal. As the hovercar crosses a bridge, Wu Yu sees a brilliant expanse of light and shadow. The car welcomes him to the City of Ten Thousand Rivers.

Character developments and interactions

Wu Yu is confident about meeting the strict cultivation deadline, trusting his spirit root and resources while remaining cautious about cybernetic enhancements and their risks. He also shows practical control over his transformed body and curiosity about developing his talisman skills. His conversation with the investor’s representative establishes the agreement’s conditions; his brief exchange with the neighbor contrasts Wu Yu’s new opportunities with the teenager’s envy.

Significant themes

• Advancement versus risk: Powerful technology may accelerate cultivation but can cause mutation or madness.
• Discipline and foundation: Wu Yu must progress quickly without relying on prohibited shortcuts or damaging his cultivation.
• Experimentation and discovery: Careful observation of the fading sigil opens a possible path toward becoming a Talisman Master.
• A changing, stratified world: Advanced transport and urban spectacle sit alongside rundown streets and unequal opportunities.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu rides a hovercar through the futuristic City of Ten Thousand Rivers, admiring its advanced technology and stark contrast between the gleaming inner districts and the poorer Commoner District.
• He notices the dominance of Spirit Mountain Technology and wonders why Taoism seems absent from River City, where Buddhism has risen.
• The hovercar is caught near a violent Transcendent riot. The Inspection Bureau responds with armed guards as a powerful figure battles them using fire, lightning, and ice. The car’s shield protects Wu Yu, and it is rerouted around the fighting.
• Wu Yu arrives at River City Advanced Academy, an elite school that serves a vast population and is difficult to enter.
• Inside, he reunites with his former roommate Chen Feng. Chen asks about Wu Yu’s high-tier investment, then complains that his family spent five million on an earth spirit root and pushed him toward martial arts.
• They enter a cultivation room of the Spirit Cultivation Association, where students practice with spiritual energy and magical artifacts. A news clip reveals that rioters seized a new Spirit Mountain Technology drug.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is observant and composed: he studies the city’s social and technological landscape, steadies himself during the hovercar’s sudden stop, and shows that his Divine Sense can detect someone sneaking up behind him.
• Chen Feng is sociable and talkative, but envious of Wu Yu’s better investment. Despite his family’s support, he rejects their preference for martial arts and favors cultivation.
• The two interact casually as former roommates and fellow members of the Spirit Cultivation Association; Wu Yu teases Chen Feng about his poor attempt to sneak up on him.

Significant themes

• Technological advancement and social inequality: The city’s spectacular high-tech center contrasts sharply with the neglected Commoner District.
• Power, order, and unrest: The public Transcendent riot exposes the danger beneath the city’s polished appearance and the authorities’ role in containing it.
• Changing spiritual traditions: Wu Yu’s reflections on Taoism’s apparent decline and Buddhism’s rise suggest major religious shifts since the Great Cataclysm.
• Competition and opportunity: Access to spiritual roots and elite education depends on resources, highlighting unequal paths to advancement.

Key events

• Wu Yu and his friend Chen Feng joke about a recent robbery and Chen Feng’s romantic ambitions. Their banter establishes their easy familiarity and Wu Yu’s more cautious outlook.
• At the Higher Academy, students gather largely through clubs. Wu Yu and Chen Feng belong to the selective Spirit Cultivation Association; Wu Yu’s membership reflects his exceptional, top-tier investment from the Star River Group.
• The association’s vice president confirms that, now Wu Yu is eighteen, his investment has arrived. His academy “eternal life tuition” will be paid in spiritual power once he reaches Qi Refining.
• Wu Yu receives a delivery containing Star River Group resources and items he bought himself: a cultivation technique, spirit stones, a Space Chip, talisman supplies, an External Spirit Root, and a Headband.
• He inspects the spirit root and Headband with the delivery drone. It detects and removes a tracking mark, reassuring Wu Yu that the Black Crow Merchant Guild has not tampered with them.
• Back in the lecture hall, Wu Yu inserts the Spirit Root Chip and Technique Chip into the Headband and puts it on. Its nanoneedles pierce his temples, beginning a connection between his brain and a psionic field.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is resourceful and wary: despite receiving major corporate backing, he carefully checks his equipment and avoids reckless relationships because he fears the dangers of the cyber era. He also appears to be preparing for cultivation, though he dismisses Chen Feng’s questions as merely “playing around.”
• Chen Feng is wealthy and boastful, fantasizing about becoming a famous transcendent and winning over beautiful women. He teases Wu Yu and admires Vice President Li, while Wu Yu punctures his grand claims with dry humor.
• Vice President Li handles Wu Yu’s tuition arrangement professionally and warmly, recognizing his birthday and investment status.

Significant themes

• Technology fused with cultivation: Spirit roots, spiritual power, cultivation techniques, and talismans exist alongside drones, implants, storage chips, and corporate networks.
• Wealth and social hierarchy: Wu Yu’s elite investment grants him access to rare resources, but he still comes from an ordinary family and is careful with money.
• Survival and distrust: Organ theft, corporate tracking, and the need to inspect deliveries make caution essential.
• Youthful ambition versus prudence: Chen Feng dreams of status and romance; Wu Yu prioritizes preparation and staying alive.

Key plot points

• Wu Yu and Chen Feng use their Life Circlets to absorb cultivation knowledge. Wu Yu receives the top-tier Daoist technique “One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones,” whose intricate method requires 2,592 circulation paths for a Great Heavenly Circuit.
• The technique forms spiritual-power meridians and, eventually, an innate spirit sea. It permits a powerful manifestation that allows triple spellcasting at the same cost, but its complexity and strict foundation-building rules make it difficult to master.
• Wu Yu begins cultivating with a spirit stone. His Divine Sense lets him perceive and guide the primordial unity qi precisely, while his Martial Dao-transformed body withstands its demands. Together, these advantages dramatically accelerate his progress.
• He completes one Great Heavenly Circuit, draining his spirit stone and some of his blood essence. The technique permits only one such circuit per day, so Wu Yu stops despite wanting to continue.
• Wu Yu estimates that, with his unusual advantages, he could become a Qi-Refining Transcendent in as little as three days, rather than the roughly three months he might otherwise need.
• Chen Feng, who has been practicing for half a month, wakes frustrated by repeated mistakes in his own circulation. He asks how many Small Heavenly Circuits Wu Yu completed.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu discovers how much his existing Spirit-Refining and Martial Dao abilities benefit cultivation. He is exhilarated by the process and increasingly confident about his rapid progress, while recognizing that his top-tier technique still imposes limits.
• Chen Feng remains a contrast to Wu Yu: his cultivation is slow and frustrating, and he briefly regrets choosing a high-tier technique. Wu Yu teases him that the choice was likely his parents’ decision, and Chen Feng accepts the joke awkwardly.

Significant themes

• The value and burden of top-tier power: Exceptional techniques promise a superior foundation and remarkable abilities, but demand difficult study, scarce resources, and strict discipline.
• Unequal advantages in cultivation: Talent, physical strength, spiritual perception, techniques, and wealth all influence progress and the quality of spiritual power.
• Preparation meeting opportunity: Wu Yu’s prior investment in Spirit Refinement and the Martial Dao gives him an unexpected edge in cultivation.
• Patience and foundation-building: Even Wu Yu cannot safely bypass the technique’s daily limit; forcing progress could damage his future potential.

Summary

After comparing their progress in Small Heavenly Circuits, Wu Yu and Chen Feng head to the academy cafeteria. Chen Feng is surprised that Wu Yu has completed only about a dozen circuits, but Wu explains that understanding his complicated technique has taken most of his time. Chen, meanwhile, expects to advance quickly with an external spirit root and steady family support.
Wu Yu eats his usual low-grade spirit cuisine without revealing that his transcendent body gains almost no benefit from it. Chen jokes about treating him to better food, then complains that cultivation requires so many resources compared with martial artists’ convenient injections. A burly peddler overhears and offers them Dreamlike Power, claiming one injection can replace years of practice. Chen rejects the offer as a likely fake and warns Wu against cheap, risky serums. Wu identifies the product as a banned, inferior version of Frenzied Dragon Serum, impressing Chen with his knowledge.
After lunch, Chen rushes off to pursue several girls, including Li, vice president of the Spirit Cultivation Association. Wu chooses not to visit that association and instead attends a martial arts lecture. The teacher explains how the five stages of martial cultivation lead to transcendence and demonstrates divine strength with a golden, arhat-like manifestation. He then turns the lesson into a rousing sales pitch for injections, declaring that the age of cultivation is over—and offers students a discount on a low-grade Vajra Serum.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains outwardly composed and modest, concealing both his transcendent body’s limited need for ordinary nourishment and his extensive knowledge of dangerous serums.
• Chen Feng is sociable and energetic, teasing Wu and voicing frustration with the demands of cultivation. He is also skeptical of dubious products and gives Wu practical safety advice.
• The peddler and martial arts teacher reveal how widely injection-based martial enhancement is marketed: the peddler pushes a banned serum, while the teacher blends instruction with a serum sales pitch.
• Wu and Chen’s friendly banter highlights their contrasting paths and circumstances: Chen relies on resources and conventional cultivation, while Wu quietly possesses unusual advantages.

Themes

The chapter contrasts traditional cultivation with modern, commercialized martial enhancement, presenting injections as faster and more accessible but potentially dangerous. It also emphasizes the gap between appearance and reality: Wu looks like an ordinary student, yet has already surpassed the benefits of standard spirit cuisine and understands risks that others overlook.

Key plot points and events

• At the Higher Academy, students eagerly buy and use a martial arts teacher’s Vajra Serum. Wu Yu doubts the serum’s provenance and the teacher’s exaggerated claims, but recognizes that students knowingly seek out unofficial access to resources.
• Wu Yu reflects on the changing balance between Martial Dao, Qi Refining, and cybernetic augmentation. Cultivation is increasingly out of step with mainstream society, while River City grows tense following the appearance of the Mysterious Tower.
• After studying at the library, Wu Yu leaves the suspended academy and walks through the neon-lit lower city, witnessing its sharp contrasts: nightlife, corporate workers, gangs, poverty, and violence.
• He visits Old Wu Clinic, an underground cybernetic repair shop run by his uncle, Wu Yang. Together they remove a virus from a client’s brain-computer system, replacing the man’s data chip in the process.
• Wu Yu tells Wu Yang that he obtained the cultivation materials they discussed and has begun practicing, with promising results. He also admits that he had the Star River Group inspect them and found a tracking mark. The group has released the second installment of its investment in him.

Character developments

• Wu Yu is observant and cautious: he questions dubious products, senses the growing danger in the city, and investigates the tracking mark on his materials. Despite living amid advanced cybernetics, he remains unmodified, following his uncle’s strict advice.
• Wu Yang (Old Wu) is a blunt, capable underground clinic operator who protects Wu Yu and has helped him establish himself in River City. His expertise spans both medical technology and the city’s underworld.
• The students are portrayed as savvy, eager consumers who accept the risks of unofficial products in exchange for access to useful resources.
• The tattooed clinic client is comic relief: he complains about paying for treatment but quickly backs down when Wu Yang threatens to take a natural organ instead.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu watches the academy’s martial arts teacher sell serum, privately questioning his claims.
• A burly short-haired man briefly mistakes Wu Yu for a teacher and feels instinctively uneasy around him.
• At the clinic, Wu Yu works smoothly alongside Wu Yang to treat the client. Their ease with one another suggests a close, trusting relationship.
• Wu Yu openly explains his dealings with the Black Crow Merchant Guild and Star River Group; Wu Yang recognizes that he had the materials checked and questions him about it.

Significant themes

• Traditional cultivation versus modern advancement: Qi Refining is difficult and slow, while martial arts and cybernetic augmentation offer more accessible routes to power.
• Progress and its costs: Cybernetics bring convenience and capability, but also risks such as viruses, surveillance, and dependence on replacement parts.
• A society nearing upheaval: The Mysterious Tower’s appearance casts a shadow over the city, raising the question of whether its climbers will become hunters or prey.
• Survival in a divided city: The academy’s relative order contrasts with the crowded, dangerous lower streets, where commerce, violence, and technology coexist.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu tells his uncle, Wu Yang, that he needs a top-tier cultivation technique and Hundred-Day Foundation Forging. Wu Yang checks his confidence, then helps him tidy the clinic.
• They share expensive spirit cuisine and wine to celebrate Wu Yu beginning Qi Refining. Wu Yang warns him to reduce injections and avoid accumulating cybernetic implants if he intends to cultivate.
• Wu Yang reveals that a boy in the Commoner District was killed after his spirit body was discovered and his organs stolen. He cautions Wu Yu against cybernetic enhancements, despite selling them himself.
• Wu Yu leaves the clinic and rides a hovercar through the neon-lit City of Ten Thousand Rivers. A radio bulletin reports on gang and corporate disputes, but nothing about the Mysterious Tower.
• Passing Spirit Mountain Technology’s headquarters, Wu Yu recalls his uncle’s warning to stay away from the company.
• In a secret laboratory at Spirit Mountain Technology, researchers unveil a human brain in a device designated “Brain in a Vat,” Type 622. The director learns that its former owner, Test Subject Eighteen, had the talent Hyperdimensional Replication—and asks whether it is connected to the Mysterious Tower.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows growing independence and confidence: he has begun Qi Refining, offers to cover future meals, and remains cautious about revealing the Mysterious Tower to his uncle. He also takes Wu Yang’s warnings seriously.
• Wu Yang is gruff but protective. Though he profits from selling cybernetic parts, he urges Wu Yu to avoid them because of the risks to cultivators and the danger posed by those who harvest spirit-body organs.
• Their easy teasing and shared meal reveal a close, familiar uncle–nephew relationship.
• The lab director is revealed as an obsessive, unsettling figure who consumes blood with spirit resonance and oversees secret experiments.

Significant themes

• Technology versus cultivation: Cybernetic enhancement offers power and convenience but may conflict with the cultivation path and bring serious risks.
• Exploitation and danger: A person’s spiritual abilities can make them a target for organ harvesting and corporate experimentation.
• Secrecy and surveillance: Wu Yu hides knowledge of the Mysterious Tower, wary that technology or supernatural abilities might expose what he knows.
• Corporate power and urban inequality: The dazzling city’s neon spectacle contrasts with the vulnerability of residents in the Commoner District.

Key plot points and events

• A corporate director reviews experiments on people suspected of having visited the mysterious Tower. Researchers have extracted “psionic organs” from them, discovering that talents vary in quality and can transform the body. One subject’s purple talent, [Hyperdimensional Replication], lets its user create objects and imitate abilities; the director tests it through a virtual helmet and orders the lab to develop it.
• The company has learned little about what happens inside the Tower: extracted memories and souls suggest that a visit feels like only an instant. The director also orders his staff to avoid provoking the Inspection Bureau, while authorizing an investigation into a girl selling rare medicines.
• Wu Yu returns at night to his poor residential district. A gang ambushes him for his Spatial Wristwatch. He calmly identifies their cybernetic equipment, then easily stops their leader’s punch, crushes his prosthetic arm, and begins dragging him toward the others.

Character developments

• The director is fascinated by the Tower and its powers, but remains cautious about political scrutiny and possible traps.
• The researcher reports the experiments and their findings, showing that the company’s investigation is systematic and ruthless.
• Wu Yu appears composed and confident, with detailed knowledge of cybernetic gear and the strength to overwhelm the gang without hesitation.

Character interactions

• The researcher briefs the director on the captured Tower Climbers and their talents; the director personally tests the extracted power and directs the company’s next steps.
• Wu Yu confronts the gang leader, who threatens him and attacks. Wu Yu turns the encounter around with ease, leaving the gang facing a frightening display of strength.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: The company treats suspected Tower Climbers as experimental subjects, extracting their organs and even eliminating their families.
• Mystery of the Tower: Its effects and inner workings remain beyond the company’s understanding.
• Inequality and decay: The contrast between the Rich District and Wu Yu’s neglected neighborhood highlights the setting’s social divide.
• Hidden strength and intimidation: Wu Yu’s quiet confidence sharply contrasts with the gang’s assumption that he is an easy target.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu confronts Jackal Gang thugs targeting his residential complex. He survives a gunshot to the eye without injury, revealing himself as a Transcendent Martial Artist.
• When the thugs flee, Wu Yu’s flying [Tiger-Soul Sword] cuts them down. He kills the remaining man after questioning him and learns the gang is collapsing: its leaders attacked a [Spirit Mountain Technology] freight truck, prompting an Inspection Bureau raid. The survivors were preparing to flee after one last robbery.
• Wu Yu suspects the gang’s attack may have involved corporate conflict, hacked brain chips, or the Mysterious Tower, but decides the matter is beyond him.
• He shows the aftermath to his uncle, Wu Yang, who says he will contact the Cleanup Squad and tells Wu Yu to go home.
• At home, Wu Yu surveys the damage caused by his earlier [Mountain Lord Summoning] experiment and examines three items from recent dealings and the secret realm: a nearly depleted [Diamond Badge], damaged [Fish-Scale Armor], and the powerful [Tiger-Soul Sword].

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu demonstrates confidence and restraint under pressure, but also a growing acceptance of killing: unlike his first time, he feels little hesitation afterward and does not use the [Bi Fang Sigil].
• He intimidates the gang, questions the survivors, and remains focused on extracting information. The woman tries to bargain and flatter him, but he kills her as well.
• Wu Yang initially complains about being interrupted while treating a patient, then calmly takes responsibility for dealing with the bodies, reflecting his familiarity with the district’s harsh realities.

Significant themes

• Power and fear: Wu Yu’s Transcendent abilities turn an apparently dangerous confrontation into a one-sided encounter.
• Corruption and corporate dominance: The Jackal Gang’s downfall illustrates how powerful companies can crush smaller groups, while the Commoner District’s residents are treated as insignificant.
• Moral hardening: Wu Yu’s calm response to killing suggests that his experiences are changing his emotional boundaries.
• Survival and adaptation: The gang’s desperate final robbery and Wu Yu’s assessment of his damaged equipment show characters adjusting to a violent, unstable world.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu tests the gold-quality Tiger-Soul Sword, controlling it effortlessly with his transcendent Divine Sense. Its black mist manifests as a roaring tiger and its attacks can damage the soul.
• Worried that powerful people or technology might take the sword from him, Wu Yu uses Mountain Lord Summoning to add a safeguard. His white Mountain Lord consumes the sword’s black-mist manifestation and merges with the blade, greatly increasing its power and making attempts to seize it dangerous.
• He checks whether a duplicate Tiger Roar Eight-Slash Saber Technique Card can improve the technique, but the card rejects him because he already possesses it.
• Wu Yu discovers and reads the white-quality book Moon Palace’s Little Story After the Rain, which depicts a version of him spying on an immortal maiden, being caught, and punished by exile to the mortal world. He is embarrassed but keeps the book in his Inventory.
• An unfamiliar caller contacts him. The virtual screen reveals Liu Zheng.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows growing caution: he recognizes that River City’s powerful factions pose risks beyond the gangsters he has already faced.
• He creatively combines his Divine Ability with the Tiger-Soul Sword, demonstrating both ingenuity and confidence in his growing power.
• The book’s contents unsettle and embarrass him, especially because the story presents him as the intruder and seems connected to his mysterious Sin Immortal identity.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even a formidable weapon may be vulnerable to others’ abilities, prompting Wu Yu to plan ahead.
• Experimentation and adaptation: Wu Yu strengthens the sword by combining distinct supernatural abilities.
• Mystery and identity: The book links Wu Yu to the Sin Immortal and Heavenly Lawbreaker, hinting at a past or fate he does not understand.
• Humor and embarrassment: His reaction to the book’s intimate, incriminating illustrations lightens the chapter.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu and the Mountain Lord communicate through their shared Divine Sense. The Mountain Lord responds to his unspoken intent, defeats the sword’s black-mist tiger, and merges with the blade.
• The chapter ends with Wu Yu answering a call from Liu Zheng, setting up their next interaction.

Key plot points and events

• Inspection Bureau Captain Liu Zheng contacts Wu Yu to thank him for saving his life and to clear up an earlier misunderstanding. Wu Yu notices Liu’s likely promotion to deputy director, though Liu downplays his family connections.
• Liu offers Wu and Yu Tiezhu’s family housing in an Inspection Bureau compound. Wu declines, wary of the surveillance and loss of privacy, but thanks Liu for the warning to stay alert.
• Liu describes a wave of dangerous incidents—including gang violence, an explosion, robberies, and public dismemberments—apparently involving Tower Climbers. He urges Wu to acquire equipment.
• Wu reflects on how outside equipment might affect future Great Ruins settlement ratings. He suspects the Tower limits what can be brought inside, which could reduce the advantage of wealthy climbers and make his own supernatural abilities more important.
• After new furniture arrives, Wu experiments with talisman-making. Using spirit ink and Divine Sense, he draws a [Bi Fang Sigil] on talisman paper. It activates with a bird’s cry and brilliant light, producing a striking, ominous image. Comparing it with the sigils on a stone and another sheet, Wu sees that the vessels differ noticeably.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains courteous but cautious. He refuses the security of official housing because he values independence and privacy, and he actively assesses the risks of the Tower.
• Liu Zheng shows gratitude and concern for Wu, while also revealing his frustration and exhaustion as an overworked Tower Climber. His promotion appears nearly certain, aided by his father’s position despite his denial.
• Wu demonstrates growing skill and control with his Divine Sense, successfully creating an apparently potent talisman.

Significant themes

• Security versus freedom: Official protection comes with surveillance, which Wu is unwilling to accept.
• Power, privilege, and fairness: Wu considers whether expensive technology could give wealthy climbers an unfair edge, and whether Tower restrictions might limit that advantage.
• Caution and hidden danger: Liu’s warning, his apparent evasiveness, and the rise in violent incidents suggest that threats are escalating.
• Craft and supernatural power: Wu’s careful talisman experiment shows how knowledge and precision can turn spiritual energy into practical power.

Character interactions

• Liu and Wu exchange polite, face-saving remarks: Liu thanks Wu and offers help, while Wu tactfully acknowledges Liu’s likely promotion without pressing the issue.
• Liu offers housing and advice; Wu declines the housing but accepts the warning.
• Wu’s interaction with the talisman is a focused experiment: he compares different vessels and discovers that the paper talisman’s activated sigil is vividly different from the versions on the stone and the other sheet.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu compares the power and lifespan of [Bi Fang Sigils] drawn on different materials. Pebbles produce the weakest sigils, blades somewhat stronger ones, and human bodies the strongest. Larger sigils generally contain more power.
• He discovers that a talisman made using cultivation techniques transforms as he finishes drawing: it glows crimson and resembles the legendary Bi Fang. It is far more powerful than the other versions, reinforcing his desire to develop his spiritual power and make stronger talismans.
• The next day, Wu Yu cultivates at the Spirit Cultivation Association. His transcendent body and vital energy make qi refining unusually efficient; he expects to complete his breakthrough to the Qi Refining Stage within a day or two.
• His friend Chen Feng invites him to an open lecture by Professor Wang on the Spirit Realm and soul projection. The two discuss the dangers and attractions of the Spirit Realm, then attend the crowded lecture and sit beside a group of female students.

Character developments

• Wu Yu is analytical and experimentally minded, carefully comparing his talisman results. His excitement over explosive power also reveals his enduring desire to be thoroughly prepared for combat.
• His cultivation is advancing rapidly, and he recognizes how much his physical transcendence improves his progress.
• Chen Feng is curious about soul projection and dreams of fighting hackers in the Spirit Realm, though Wu Yu teases him for being more interested in its entertainment and “nightingales.” Chen’s usual confidence falters when he has to sit among female students.

Significant themes

• Experimentation and cultivation: Wu Yu learns by testing how materials and techniques affect spiritual power.
• Power and preparation: His enthusiasm for stronger talismans reflects a persistent fear of lacking firepower.
• Technology and the supernatural: The Spirit Network has become a dangerous, transcendent realm where souls, data, and spirit energy intersect.
• Different uses of power: The Spirit Realm offers opportunities for scholarship and combat, but also temptation and lawless behavior.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu and Chen Feng trade jokes and challenges: Wu Yu needles Chen about his interests, while Chen defends them as “academic exchange.”
• Chen invites Wu Yu to Professor Wang’s lecture, and Wu Yu leads him to seats after using his divine sense to spot available places.