Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu receives a Flame Enchantment Gem, which can imbue equipment with fire that harms both body and soul.
• Zhao Yulian explains that the first level of Frostsky Purgatory is crowded with Living Dead, and that reaching the coldest area leads to the second level. Deeper levels contain stronger prisoners, harsher cold, and increasingly valuable ruins and inheritances.
• She reveals that many Living Dead were once adventurers who came seeking opportunities but were consumed by purgatory. Her own greed led her to venture as far as the ninth level.
• Wu Yu and his companions receive a quest to kill Frostsky Prisoners. He sends Liu Zheng’s group to hunt together while he explores separately, with Zhao Yulian following him.
• Wu Yu effortlessly destroys prisoners with his Divine Sense, finding only mundane Cards. He then wipes out enemies across a huge area and tests the Evernight Lamp, whose light freezes and shatters them.
• After completing a hundred kills, Wu Yu concludes the first level’s enemies and rewards are too weak. He rejoins the group at the entrance to the second level.
• The party descends through a spatial passage into a cold desert. Wang Yan’s temperature-regulating body begins to fail, so he puts on armor. Zhao Yulian explains that prisoners here are stronger and have gained strange abilities from purgatory. A new quest, Frostsky Purgatory (IV), activates.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains confident and methodical, quickly mastering the first level and using it to test his abilities and equipment.
• Zhao Yulian serves as a knowledgeable guide, but her account of being driven by greed reveals regret and vulnerability. She treats Wu Yu with marked respect and curiosity.
• Liu Zheng and the others cooperate readily with Wu Yu’s plan and efficiently complete their own hunting objective.
• Wang Yan shows the limits of his cold resistance, relying on armor to continue.

Significant themes

• Greed and its consequences: The pursuit of power and opportunity can lead seekers to be swallowed by purgatory.
• Escalating danger and reward: Each deeper level holds stronger enemies and harsher conditions, but also more valuable discoveries.
• Power imbalance: Wu Yu’s overwhelming strength contrasts with the group’s need for teamwork, equipment, and caution.

Character interactions

• Zhao Yulian briefs the group and answers Liu Zheng’s questions about the prisoners.
• Wu Yu privately confirms his plan with Zhao Yulian, then sends the others to hunt while he explores alone.
• Zhao Yulian follows Wu Yu, witnesses his effortless victory, and guides him toward the next-level passage.
• The group reunites with Wu Yu, and Wang Yan’s struggle with the cold prompts Liu Zheng to approve his use of armor.

Key plot points and events

• After completing the previous quest, Wu Yu receives a hidden Dao Foundation quest: kill one Frost Sky Titan for a random Purple-grade pill.
• Zhao Yulian explains that the purgatory’s entry points lead to different environments. This time they arrive in a desert, where formidable, corrupted Heavenly God Warriors—called Living Dead—also roam.
• The group encounters Giant Scorpions and other lesser monsters, which they defeat with technological weapons. A Frost Sky Titan proves far tougher: it withstands their firepower, knocks Yu Tiezhu aside, and breaks Wang Yan’s armor.
• Liu Zheng kills the Titan with a powerful rifle built from Great Ruins materials and psionic technology. Recognizing that his companions are outmatched beyond the lower floors, Wu Yu leaves with Zhao Yulian rather than carry the group onward.
• The remaining climbers decide to hunt together and plan to use Fang Wujiu’s temporary blood-qi boosters. Liu Zheng shuts down Wang Yan’s suggestion that Wu Yu should escort them, without explaining his reasons.
• Wu Yu kills a Giant Tiger, completing another quest and receiving Winter’s Thorn, a Blue-grade Dao Foundation technique. He and Zhao Yulian then find a gate to the third floor, entering the Dark Forest. A new quest appears, requiring them to kill a Frost Sky Beast Slave.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains composed and self-directed. He helps the group reach a clear assessment of their limits, then pursues his own quest and Zhao Yulian’s objective.
• Zhao Yulian guides Wu Yu through the purgatory. She seeks Frostblade Grass on the ninth floor, hoping to use it to remove and transform the Frost Heaven Chill within her. Wu Yu’s speed impresses her, and his resolve reassures her.
• Liu Zheng shows practical leadership, using specialized equipment to defeat the Titan and organizing the group’s next steps. His refusal to ask Wu Yu for help suggests he has reasons for keeping the climbers independent.
• Wang Yan wants Wu Yu’s help but backs down when Liu Zheng rebukes him. Yu Tiezhu, Bai Xiaotian, Yellow Town, and Fang Wujiu accept the group’s limits and begin planning together.

Significant themes

• Progress and rising stakes: Quests grow more difficult as their rewards improve, and each floor demands greater strength.
• Self-reliance and teamwork: The climbers must cooperate within their abilities, while Wu Yu and Zhao Yulian follow a separate path.
• Power and responsibility: Wu Yu’s superior strength offers potential help, but the group’s decision to proceed without him raises questions about independence and leadership.
• Corruption and transformation: The purgatory’s corrupted beings contrast with Zhao Yulian’s hope of turning her own affliction into strength.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu descends through the lower floors of Frostsky Purgatory, easily killing increasingly numerous and powerful frost-heaven monsters. Though the rewards improve, the enemies remain Transcendent Realm, disappointing him.
• Completing the ninth-floor quest triggers a hidden quest: kill Frost-Heaven’s Son, a Dao Foundation-stage enemy, for a random red-grade Dao Foundation card.
• Wu Yu continues his deal with Zhao Yulian, who has brought him to the lowest floor to obtain sword grass. She explains that Frost-Heaven’s Son was once a prodigy who became a Heavenly Being unusually quickly, but vanished and is now an undead monster whose life may be linked to the entire purgatory.
• They cross the vast battlefield to its center, where Frost-Heaven’s Son’s sword qi has caused eerie sword grass to grow. Wu Yu recognizes that the monster’s sword intent far surpasses his own and attacks anyway.
• Frost-Heaven’s Son counters with a massive wave of sword qi, which Wu Yu breaks, making him excited to finally face a worthy opponent. He tells Zhao Yulian to stay back, then unleashes the immense Nine-Infant Profound Light Sword Qi. The chapter ends as he sends its hundred-meter blade crashing down.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains reward-driven and supremely confident, but his excitement at encountering a genuinely challenging foe reveals that he also craves a real fight. He shows some caution by asking about the monster before advancing.
• Zhao Yulian reveals the history behind her quest and the danger she faces. Despite her hope that Wu Yu can help, she urges him not to endanger himself for her sake, suggesting growing concern and gratitude.
• Their relationship is marked by a mismatch: Zhao Yulian sees Wu Yu as a self-sacrificing benefactor, while he is largely focused on the rewards and their bargain.
• Wu Yu’s warning that Zhao Yulian should stay back underscores the danger of the coming duel, though she initially mistakes his sword technique’s eerie appearance for part of the monster’s power.

Significant themes

• Ambition and reward: Wu Yu’s pursuit of better cards drives his descent, while the hidden quest offers a prize worthy of the danger.
• Power and limitation: Even a legendary former Heavenly Being has become trapped as an undead creature, and his bond to the purgatory may make him exceptionally hard to defeat.
• Courage versus recklessness: Zhao Yulian prioritizes survival; Wu Yu willingly charges into a fight because he wants to test himself.
• Misunderstanding and perspective: Zhao Yulian interprets Wu Yu’s actions as altruistic, while his actual motives are more practical—and enthusiastically combative.

Summary

• Wu Yu confronts the gaunt young man, a Heavenly Being turned into a monster by the Frost Heaven Chill. The creature survives Wu Yu’s perfected Nine-Infant Profound Light Sword Qi through sheer bodily toughness, then draws a decaying sword whose power destroys Wu Yu’s flying-sword attack.
• Wu Yu tests his newly gained foundation-establishment abilities. He counters the chill with the flame technique [Flameburst], then unleashes Destruction Heavenly Thunder. The thunder takes the form of a Vermilion Bird-like crimson thunderbird, and Wu Yu marvels at the power of a secret art derived from the [Five-Element Divine Light].
• After using the monster as a “whetstone” to practice, Wu Yu burns it to charcoal. But no white light appears, and the corpse is restored by a torrent of Frost Heaven Chill.
• A voice from the broken sword warns Wu Yu to flee. The speaker says the corpse has become part of the purgatory itself and cannot be permanently destroyed, even if Wu Yu kills it repeatedly.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu grows more confident using spirit realm power and experiments with several techniques, learning how much stronger they are than his former spirit power. His curiosity and confidence give way to caution when the monster revives.
• The gaunt young man is revealed as unnaturally durable and armed with a powerful decaying sword, but he fights largely as a mindless, relentless brute. His apparent defeat proves temporary.
• The mysterious voice emerges from the broken sword and directly warns Wu Yu, suggesting a connection between the sword, the monster, and Frostsky Purgatory.

Significant themes

• The contrast between modern cultivation’s spirit realm power and ancient martial arts.
• Experimentation and growth through combat.
• The limits of strength against a supernatural system that can restore its monsters and make them part of the environment.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu ignores the mysterious voice’s warning to flee and confronts the emaciated young man, whose power is tied to the whole Frostsky Purgatory.
• He weakens the young man with Withering and Lunar Yin Talismans, then severs the invisible incense-power sustaining him. The corpse collapses, but remains undestroyed, and the quest is not yet complete.
• Learning that the purgatory was created from the imprisoned Frost Heaven God, Wu Yu recognizes that his Night Watcher abilities can harm the deity. He uses the Evernight Lamp to burn away the corpse completely.
• The quest is completed, rewarding Wu Yu with the All Beings Great Hand Seal, All Beings Bone, and Frost Heaven Divine Sword. The mysterious voice is revealed to come from the nearby decaying sword.
• The purgatory then awakens: a vast eye and a gigantic, rotten hand threaten Wu Yu. He unleashes the Chaos Spirit Realm, destroying most of the hand, then carries Zhao Yulian toward the eighth floor.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows caution as well as confidence: he declines to destroy the entire realm recklessly, but adapts his strategy and exploits his Night Watcher identity to defeat the immortal corpse. His success increases his pride in his power.
• The mysterious young man shifts from warning Wu Yu to amazement at his abilities, recognizing him as a Night Watcher and speculating about what that means.
• Zhao Yulian remains apart from the fight, waiting anxiously; she is swept up in the escape when Wu Yu carries her away.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity over brute force: Wu Yu succeeds by identifying and severing the corpse’s source of power, then using a specialized weapon against its divine nature.
• Immortality and dependence: The corpse seems indestructible, but its existence depends on incense power and the structure of the purgatory.
• The past’s influence on the present: Ancient gods, Night Watchers, and old conflicts continue to shape events in the realm.
• Power carries danger: Defeating the corpse triggers a wider reaction from the purgatory, escalating the threat.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu questions and challenges the mysterious voice, while the voice repeatedly urges him to retreat and explains the corpse’s connection to the Frost Heaven God.
• After learning Wu Yu is a Night Watcher, the voice reacts with awe and questions how such a figure could exist again.
• As the realm attacks, the voice warns Wu Yu, who responds by unleashing the Chaos Spirit Realm and rescuing Zhao Yulian.

Key plot points and events

• A violent quake shakes Frost Heaven Secret Realm after Wu Yu’s actions in Frostsky Purgatory. Wu Yu sends Liu Zheng and the others out, and they escape safely.
• Wu Yu returns carrying Zhao Yulian and a sword, along with more than a dozen stalks of Frost Heaven Swordgrass taken from the Ancient Battlefield.
• The Mysterious Youth in Wu Yu’s short sword advises him to give Zhao Yulian three stalks. They will help her transform her sword intent into a Frost Heaven sword-intent realm. He reveals that he is her ancestor.
• Liu Zheng’s group returns to the city. Wu Yu warns them to wait a day before reentering the realm and to avoid its ninth floor.
• Wu Yu studies Zhao Yulian’s Frost Heaven Sword Scripture, hoping to learn a stronger technique suited to his current cultivation.
• After purging the frost chill from her body, Zhao Yulian tells Wu Yu that the three stalks helped her form the sword-intent realm. A black-robed young man—her newly reborn ancestor—then appears and asks Wu Yu to speak privately.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains practical and direct, but his help enables Zhao Yulian’s breakthrough. He also considers expanding his own sword skills and is intrigued by the ancestor’s apparent resurrection.
• Zhao Yulian becomes deeply grateful to Wu Yu, crediting him with her transformation. She begins to offer him a personal expression of thanks, but stops when her ancestor appears.
• The Mysterious Youth shifts from cryptic adviser to revealed family ancestor, guiding Zhao Yulian’s advancement and emerging in a youthful, reborn form.
• Liu Zheng and his companions prioritize safety, retreating when warned. Bai Xiaotian admits that his Deep One power did little against the purgatory’s monsters.
• Wu Yu and Zhao Yulian share a light, teasing exchange about how he carried her out of danger; she later returns his kindness with sincere gratitude. Wu Yu and the reborn ancestor agree to talk privately.

Significant themes

• Rescue and reciprocity: Wu Yu’s intervention gives Zhao Yulian a chance to progress, prompting her gratitude and offer of repayment.
• Transformation and rebirth: Zhao Yulian turns a harmful chill into sword power, while the ancestor’s return raises questions about supernatural resurrection.
• Power, cultivation, and preparation: The sword grass and Frost Heaven Sword Scripture represent tools for surpassing current limits.
• Caution in the face of danger: The group’s retreat and Wu Yu’s warning emphasize that survival takes priority over continued exploration.

Key plot points and events

• During dinner, the mysterious young man identifies himself as Zhao Polu, the Zhao Clan ancestor celebrated for defeating a Demon God three centuries earlier.
• Zhao Polu recounts his rise as an Innate Deity: he could hear prayers as a child, became a Heavenly Being at three, and created a divine seat that protected Zhao lands by age ten.
• At eighty, he entered the Black Abyss and slew its Demon God, but was corrupted by the Abyss. Before he could recover, a Zhao Clan traitor joined with an Outer God to kill him. His divine body became a vast blessed land, which the Outer God turned into the Frost Heaven Secret Realm to harvest his essence.
• Zhao Polu corrects Wu Yu’s understanding of Long Aotian: his divine physique was acquired by absorbing the Secret Realm’s essence, not innate. The Long Family’s pursuit of Zhao Yulian is likely an attempt to exploit her True Martial Bloodline and gain that essence.
• Zhao Polu says the God of All Beings was not his attacker, but merely obtained his divine source. He also warns that the Five Gods of the City of Five Defilements have become “pure incense gods,” their divinity having suppressed or erased their humanity.
• After Zhao Yulian leaves, Zhao Polu thanks Wu Yu for rescuing him and offers to help him access the Zhao Clan’s Night Watcher inheritances. He then proposes that Wu Yu marry into the clan, jokingly—or perhaps seriously—suggesting he could one day lead it.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Polu emerges as a powerful but diminished survivor: despite his legendary past, he calls himself an “empty shell” and says the clan’s future depends on its descendants. He is candid about the Zhao Clan’s history and keen to recruit Wu Yu.
• Wu Yu listens closely, connects Zhao Polu’s story to Long Aotian’s, and learns that the threats facing Zhao Yulian stem from family ambition rather than mere personal desire. He is surprised and awkward when Zhao Polu turns the conversation toward marriage.
• Zhao Yulian is proud of her ancestor’s legacy, then becomes angry and worried upon learning of the Long Family’s motives and the danger posed by the Five Gods. She leaves when Zhao Polu asks for a private conversation with Wu Yu.
• Zhao Polu and Wu Yu share mutual respect: Wu Yu rescued him, while Zhao Polu recognizes Wu Yu’s strong foundation and offers mentorship and clan resources. Zhao Polu also teases him about his closeness to Yulian.

Significant themes

• Legacy and decline: A legendary ancestor returns to a fractured clan, but his former power cannot simply restore its fortunes.
• Power and exploitation: The Outer God, Long Family, and other observers treat the Secret Realm and Zhao Yulian’s bloodline as resources to seize.
• Humanity corrupted by worship: The Five Gods’ transformation into pure incense deities highlights the cost of divinity when belief overwhelms human nature.
• Alliance, inheritance, and marriage: Zhao Polu’s offer links personal relationships to clan survival, political advantage, and the transmission of power.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu refuses Zhao Polu’s proposal that he marry Zhao Yulian and join the Zhao Clan. Though he admits he isn’t devoted to one woman, he says he must leave and can’t commit to her.
• Back in his guest room, Wu Yu learns that the Strange God Martial Realm contains far more than ordinary martial arts. He discovers a hidden Dao Foundation quest, “Little Devils Are Hard to Deal With,” and chooses to challenge the Long Family rather than submit to them.
• Reviewing his rewards, Wu Yu finds a Golden Gorilla spirit-pet card but decides it is of limited use compared with his existing abilities. He prioritizes the quest rewards, especially the Red-grade Dao Foundation technique, Frost Heaven Divine Sword, alongside the All Beings Great Hand Seal and All Beings Bone.
• Wu Yu absorbs the sword technique and experiences a century of training in the Arctic Palace. He rapidly comprehends its fundamentals and develops an extraordinary level of Frost Heaven sword intent.
• His new sword intent causes Zhao Yulian’s sword to react violently, frightening her. Zhao Polu senses the power and is astonished by Wu Yu’s apparent talent.
• Zhao Polu reflects on the danger of Wu Yu’s Night Watcher lineage and secretly disappears into the moonlight, intending to conceal what he has learned as best he can.
• Wu Yu awakens feeling intensely cold, with his Waning Sun Sword Body suppressed by the powerful new sword intent.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains firm about leaving rather than entering a marriage or binding himself to the Zhao Clan. He is pragmatic about his loot and decisive in choosing the quest’s defiant option. His mastery of the Frost Heaven Divine Sword reveals startling comprehension.
• Zhao Polu accepts Wu Yu’s refusal without resentment, but becomes wary of his potential and the implications of his Night Watcher affiliation. Though he cannot openly risk himself for Wu Yu, he resolves to help discreetly.
• Zhao Yulian is not directly involved in the refusal, but her sword’s reaction to Wu Yu’s technique leaves her shaken.
• The sword-holding girl is alarmed by the blade’s sudden humming; Zhao Yulian suppresses it with her own icy sword qi.

Significant themes

• Freedom versus obligation: Wu Yu rejects a marriage and clan affiliation that would conflict with his need to leave.
• Power and hidden potential: His rapid mastery suggests that exceptional comprehension can surpass what his apparent cultivation history would predict.
• Loyalty and political risk: Zhao Polu balances concern for Wu Yu against his duty to protect the Zhao Clan.
• The cost of power: The Frost Heaven sword intent is so potent that it suppresses Wu Yu’s existing sword body, hinting that his new strength may bring complications.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu’s newly acquired red-grade Dao Foundation technique, the Frost Heaven Divine Sword, overwhelms his Waning Sun Sword Body with its powerful Sword Intent. Its cultivation requirement is daunting: even reaching the next stages may demand enormous progress beyond the initial 100,000 points needed for perfection.
• The Sword Intent is so dominant that it destroys the energy in the Divine Sword Grass, making the herb unusable. Wu Yu discovers that the technique has created an icy mountain and broken sword inside his Spirit Realm, which may intensify its effects.
• He crushes a second Technique Card and learns the gold-grade All Beings Great Hand Seal. Its training vision follows a novice monk who breaks precepts, discovers a palm technique in a miscellaneous book, and reaches beginner level after years of practice. The technique strengthens Wu Yu’s body and creates a small temple with a Joyful Buddha statue in his Spirit Realm.
• The hand seal has two forms: the lethal Life-Deliverance Seal, which “ends” suffering by killing, and the mind-influencing Sentient Beings Seal, which makes victims abandon reason in pursuit of pleasure. Wu Yu is pleased with the technique but recognizes that he cannot yet unleash its full power.
• Wu Yu tries to use a Flame Enchantment Gem on his Blackfeather Flying Sword, but his Frost Heaven Sword Intent suppresses the flames. A warning that the gem could damage the lower-tier sword makes him abandon the attempt.
• After reviewing his gains from Frostsky Purgatory, Wu Yu sleeps and returns to the Lunar Immortal Palace. In the Jade Pool, his overpowering Sword Intent settles and his body feels balanced.
• He tells Chang Xi that he entered the Strange God Martial Realm, arriving forty-seven years in the future at the City of Five Defilements, where he encountered Zhao Yulian. Chang Xi suspects Zhao Polu concealed important information, pointing out that an innate divine body seems contradictory for a descendant of the Unique God.

Character developments

• Wu Yu gains two powerful Dao Foundation techniques and a stronger physique, but learns that his Sword Intent can also interfere with useful resources and equipment. He remains relaxed about his limited arsenal, treating the new physical strength as a foundation for later growth.
• Chang Xi shows interest in Wu Yu’s account and applies her insight to question Zhao Polu’s story, drawing attention to a potential contradiction surrounding Zhao Yulian.

Significant themes

• Power brings complications: Wu Yu’s exceptional Sword Intent strengthens him but suppresses the Sword Grass and enchantment gem.
• Suffering and salvation: The Great Hand Seal frames killing and hedonistic mental influence as ways to end suffering, exposing the unsettling ambiguity behind its supposed benevolence.
• Growth through cultivation: Even powerful techniques require time and further development before Wu Yu can use them fully.
• Hidden truths: Chang Xi’s observation suggests that Zhao Polu’s account may conceal a deeper mystery.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu reflects on the limitations of his techniques and equipment, then recounts his encounter with Zhao Yulian to Chang Xi.
• Chang Xi listens, identifies Zhao Polu’s possible omission, and challenges the apparent inconsistency between Zhao Yulian’s innate divine body and her descent from the Unique God.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu and Chang Xi discuss his newly formed Spirit Realm and his strength in the City of Five Defilements. He believes it gives him a major advantage over most Heavenly Beings, though Chang Xi warns that using it recklessly could endanger his still-fragile world.
• Chang Xi reflects on the Strange God Martial Realm, where the Silver God’s rule unites worship and silver, and wonders whether that system represents another form of singularity. Wu Yu is intrigued but recognizes that the Silver God and the Five Turbid God are far beyond his reach.
• Their teasing turns physical when Wu Yu jokes about protecting Chang Xi and vows to bully her once a day; she smacks him.
• After waking, Wu Yu mistakes Chang Xi for Huanghun and pulls her close, then slaps her before realizing who she is. Chang Xi retaliates, leaving him with a bruised, swollen face.
• Zhao Yulian hears Wu Yu’s scream and checks on him, offering medicine. Wu Yu claims the injury was a cultivation accident, and she invites him to breakfast.
• Wu Yu and Chang Xi go out into the city. Chang Xi explores the lively streets, which she has never seen before, while Wu Yu acts as her guide. Because she is invisible to others, passersby think Wu Yu is talking to himself.

Character development and interactions

• Wu Yu is confident in his growing strength but also aware that his Spirit Realm is incomplete. His impulsiveness and playful teasing lead to awkward consequences.
• Chang Xi is perceptive and cautious, warning Wu Yu against reckless ambition. She is also curious and delighted by the mortal city, while remaining secretive about herself.
• Zhao Yulian shows concern and kindness when she sees Wu Yu injured, though she accepts his implausible explanation.
• Wu Yu and Chang Xi’s relationship is familiar and flirtatious, marked by teasing, mock threats, and physical retaliation. Wu Yu’s accidental advance briefly crosses a boundary, and Chang Xi makes her displeasure clear.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Wu Yu’s new abilities make him formidable, but careless use of them could have serious consequences.
• Ambition and danger: Wu Yu is tempted by powerful figures and potential gains; Chang Xi cautions him against seeking shortcuts.
• Intimacy and boundaries: Their playful closeness is affectionate, but the mistaken encounter shows that teasing can go too far.
• Different worlds: Chang Xi’s fascination with ordinary street life contrasts with Wu Yu’s familiarity, while her invisibility makes their outing appear comical to bystanders.

Key plot points and events

• The new day’s notices announce an Inner City Evacuation Point and Demon Wind, but more than an hour passes without the wind arriving. Wu Yu suspects the city’s sects, clans, and temples may be protecting it.
• Wu Yu and Chang Xi spend time browsing the city’s markets, which offer a vast range of martial arts supplies, medicines, poisons, and other goods.
• Chang Xi says she cannot stay and warns Wu Yu not to touch her when they meet again. Before vanishing, she points him east, telling him there is something he needs there.
• Wu Yu notices his own unusual emotional intensity and suspects the Mind God, one of the Five Turbid Gods, is influencing the emotions of people throughout the city. He infers Chang Xi noticed the effect and deliberately sent him toward something important.
• In an older shopping district, Wu Yu encounters Liu Yu, now dressed as a swordsman and wearing a robe marked with the Vajra Sect name. Liu Yu confirms the sect requires him to nourish powerful insects inside his clothes with blood qi.
• Liu Yu is surprised to learn Wu Yu does not know about the Hidden Shop nearby, suggesting their meeting may be more than coincidence.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains observant and cautious: he recognizes that his feelings are being unnaturally intensified, considers the Mind God’s possible influence, and investigates the area Chang Xi indicated.
• Chang Xi shows affection and irritation toward Wu Yu, sternly warning him about his behavior while still guiding him toward a useful discovery. She then disappears.
• Liu Yu has joined or begun training with the Vajra Sect and acquired its insect-based practice. He meets Wu Yu by chance—or so he initially thinks—and hints at a secret destination.

Significant themes

• Manipulation of emotion: Wu Yu’s self-awareness leads him to question whether his feelings are truly his own, reflecting the Mind God’s influence over the city.
• Power and cost: Liu Yu’s valuable insects require blood-qi nourishment, linking advancement to sacrifice and obligation.
• Chance, guidance, and hidden forces: Chang Xi’s direction and Liu Yu’s unexpected appearance suggest that important events may be shaped by powers beyond ordinary coincidence.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu recognizes the pawnshop as a Hidden Shop and joins Liu Yu, whose uncanny knack for finding opportunities has led him there.
• The shop is concealed in a separate space. Wu Yu uses newly grasped sword intent to freeze and kill the swarming shadow-born insects, alarming Liu Yu but sparing his prized ladybugs.
• A diminutive Earth God emerges, angry about the insects. Liu Yu calms him by paying ten taels of incense silver, and the god opens a gate into his hidden realm.
• The Earth God explains that he runs the shop after being defeated by the Five Turbid God. Wu Yu learns that Earth Gods across different regions have linked their blessed lands into a vast network for trading—an impressive, god-powered “Internet of Things.”
• In the market, Wu Yu senses several visitors who seem to be Heavenly Beings, though the danger he detects fades when his spirit-realm power surges. Liu Yu leaves to pursue his own objective, while Wu Yu browses an extraordinary range of goods, from weapons and pills to pets, divine artifacts, and a shrine capable of nurturing a symbiotic god.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu displays growing confidence and control: he identifies the hidden shop, recognizes its spatial nature, and tests his newly acquired sword intent. He is also struck by the scale and ingenuity of the gods’ trade network.
• Liu Yu reinforces his reputation as a resourceful intelligence-gatherer. He knows the shop’s customs, handles the Earth God diplomatically, and departs with an unexplained plan, hinting at his predictive talent.
• The Earth God shifts quickly from hostile to welcoming once paid. His defeat by the Five Turbid God explains why he has retreated into his blessed land and turned to commerce.
• Liu Yu and Wu Yu cooperate smoothly, while Liu Yu’s concern for his insects provides a brief comic contrast to Wu Yu’s display of power.

Significant themes

• Worlds contain hidden systems of power and commerce: the shop reveals a network connecting divine realms, expanding Wu Yu’s understanding of the setting.
• Power and practical dealings coexist: even a god expects payment for help, and tact matters as much as strength.
• Discovery and potential: Wu Yu’s growing abilities and the shop’s remarkable goods suggest new opportunities—and dangers—ahead.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu browses the Earth Gods’ Blessed Lands, a vast marketplace that trades goods from many realms—including cursed and otherwise dangerous items.
• He sees a red-grade Dao Foundation treasure, the Coexistence Idol, which lets its bearer share power with a god. Its price—100 million taels of incense silver or a Blessed Land—is far beyond what most buyers can pay.
• After an argument over the price, a furious Heavenly Being Martial Artist leaves without buying it. The Earth God then tries to sell the idol to Wu Yu, but he declines.
• The Earth God notices Wu Yu is tainted by Heart and Spirit. Wu Yu recalls Chang Xi’s warning and asks for protection against contamination. He rejects the million-tael Fivefold Unity Token as poor value and buys inexpensive Cleansing Dust instead.
• Wu Yu spends more of his money on resources suited to his Foundation Establishment cultivation, focusing on blood qi and mental power rather than Qi Refining materials.
• He overhears several Tower Climbers discussing the cost of an Equipment Reforging Card. Recognizing it as an item from the Hidden Shop, he buys one for 3,500 taels.
• Wu Yu spends nearly all his remaining funds, keeping only a small reserve.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows practical judgment: he avoids overpriced protection, chooses an affordable way to manage contamination, and buys resources appropriate to his cultivation stage. His keen Divine Sense lets him overhear the Tower Climbers despite their sound-blocking spell.
• The Earth God is aggressively sales-minded, first defending the Coexistence Idol’s steep price, then attempting to sell it to Wu Yu and recommending the far more expensive contamination remedy.
• The Heavenly Being Martial Artist challenges the idol’s price and explains why incense silver is scarce and risky to accumulate, but ultimately leaves rather than attacking.
• The Tower Climbers provide Wu Yu with a clue about the Equipment Reforging Card, prompting his purchase.

Significant themes

• Commerce and exploitation: The Blessed Lands function as an inter-realm marketplace, but their sellers are willing to trade in dangerous goods and push exorbitantly priced items.
• Scarcity and divine power: Incense silver is valuable both as money and as an offering, making large fortunes dangerous to hold in a world ruled by gods.
• Practical survival: Wu Yu prioritizes affordable, useful purchases over powerful but poor-value treasures.
• Opportunity and resource management: His willingness to spend almost everything reflects both the value he sees in the card and the constant need to secure resources for future challenges.

Plot points and events

• After leaving the dilapidated hut, Wu Yu checks into an inn rather than returning to the Zhao Residence. He bathes with Cleansing Dust, which removes the strange emotional pressure and influence he had been experiencing.
• While soaking, he considers whether to use an Equipment Reforging Card now or save it for a possible settlement reward. He also worries that his progress in the City of Five Defilements may not be enough to earn a top rating.
• At a restaurant, Long Tian tells other young members of the Six Great Families about Wu Yu, whom he regards as a dangerous outsider. After learning Wu Yu is staying at an inn, Long Tian gathers three retainers to capture him, insisting they must use overwhelming force.
• The group discusses torturing Wu Yu and using his capture to intimidate Zhao Yulian. They believe divination has shown that he is only an innate martial artist.
• From his bath, Wu Yu’s divine sense reaches the restaurant and lets him overhear their entire plan. He recognizes that their assessment is technically accurate within their cultivation system—but overlooks that he is a Foundation Establishment Adept. Amused, he prepares to deal with them.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu regains his composure after cleansing himself, thinks strategically about his equipment and quest rating, and discovers the conspiracy through his divine sense. His amusement and confidence reveal how little the apparent numerical advantage worries him.
• Long Tian shifts from frustration over Zhao Yulian’s indifference to a calculated attempt to eliminate Wu Yu. Though wary of Wu Yu’s strength, he becomes confident after the divination and recruits powerful retainers.
• The family youths share Long Tian’s arrogance and hostility toward outsiders. Their conversation also exposes their resentment toward Zhao Yulian and their willingness to use cruelty to control her.
• Wu Yu and the conspirators interact indirectly: they plot openly, unaware that Wu Yu is listening from half a kilometer away.

Significant themes

• Misjudging strength: Wu Yu’s apparent rank conceals a much higher cultivation level, making the conspirators’ confidence dangerously misplaced.
• Privilege and cruelty: The elite youths treat violence and intimidation as ordinary tools for settling grudges.
• Power and perception: Divination gives the families useful information, but their limited framework leads them to underestimate Wu Yu.
• Composure amid danger: Wu Yu uses cleansing and calm reflection to recover before turning the threat into an opportunity.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu learns more about the City of Five Defilements: the Three Great Sects dominate from above, while the Six Great Families control and exploit ordinary people and local martial artists.
• Long Tian, emboldened after learning Wu Yu’s apparent strength, summons three Long Family worshippers to deal with him. The worshippers advise caution, citing recent attacks attributed to outsiders, and recommend crossbowmen, magical weapons, and additional household forces. Long Tian agrees to assemble a substantial group.
• Wu Yu arrives at the restaurant and casually catches a waiter’s falling tray, then continues eating while treating Long Tian’s preparations as little more than a joke.
• Two disguised “men” enter: in reality, they are women—a Heavenly Being and her Innate-level maid. Using a soundproof barrier, they discuss escaping the people upstairs and searching for the demonized Demon-Blood Mountain Lord.
• Wu Yu discovers their true identities and strength with his Divine Sense. He suspects their presence may lead to another quest.
• Long Tian and his party come downstairs but fail to notice Wu Yu. As they are about to leave, Wu Yu coughs and calls for wine to get their attention.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains relaxed and confident, seeing the Long Family’s planned retaliation as an easy opportunity rather than a danger. He also shows interest in the two women and their Mountain Lord search.
• Long Tian shifts from fear to aggression after arranging backup, but the worshippers’ warnings make him cautious enough to plan overwhelming numbers and weapons.
• The worshippers reveal their practical, wary approach to threats, especially outsiders with unusual abilities.
• The disguised young lady and her maid are revealed as fugitives or escapees with a specific mission. The young lady is extraordinarily powerful; the maid is a formidable martial artist but far weaker.
• Wu Yu’s interactions with the waiter are gentle and casual, contrasting with the violence and suspicion surrounding the Long Family’s plot.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: The city’s social order rests on the rule of the Great Sects and the Six Families’ exploitation of people below them.
• Appearance versus reality: Long Tian’s confidence masks fear, while the apparent male strangers are women in disguise; Wu Yu’s extraordinary perception exposes hidden identities and strength.
• Overconfidence versus caution: Long Tian seeks forceful revenge, while the worshippers recognize the danger posed by unpredictable outsiders.
• Opportunity in danger: Wu Yu treats conflict and mysterious newcomers as possible ways to complete quests or find new challenges.

Plot points and events

• Long Tian spots Wu Yu in a restaurant and urges his companions and three family worshippers to confront him, hoping to assert their authority.
• Two disguised women nearby—searching for traces of the Demon-Blood Mountain Lord—notice the group gathering. Worried their cover may be exposed, they prepare to fight.
• Worshipper Zheng tries to beguile Wu Yu into following him, but Wu Yu’s Foundation Establishment Divine Sense overwhelms him, leaving him near death. Worshipper Lu tries to flee, only to be dragged back and injured by Wu Yu’s invisible force.
• Worshipper Wang immediately surrenders and blames Long Tian. When Long Tian and the young scions try to escape, Wu Yu orders Wang to retrieve them; Wang brings them back with broken limbs.
• The restaurant empties in terror. Wu Yu, disappointed that his quest has not yet been completed, decides to confront the Long Family directly. He flies away with the captives using Rainbow Transformation.
• The disguised young woman recognizes Wu Yu as a likely High Celestial and wonders if he could help capture the Demonized Mountain Lord.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu displays overwhelming confidence and control. He ignores the worshippers’ influence technique, defeats them effortlessly, and turns their attempted intimidation into a public humiliation.
• Long Tian goes from boasting about Wu Yu to panicking and fleeing. His companions abandon him as soon as they see Wu Yu’s strength.
• Worshippers Zheng and Lu are swiftly incapacitated; Wang chooses submission and self-preservation, then carries out Wu Yu’s orders.
• The disguised young woman and her maid shift from preparing to attack the local group to assessing Wu Yu as a powerful potential ally.

Significant themes

• Power and status: The local families’ authority and the worshippers’ divine gifts prove insignificant beside Wu Yu’s cultivation.
• Arrogance and cowardice: Long Tian’s group is bold while they believe they hold the advantage, but quickly collapses when challenged.
• Misjudgment and shifting loyalties: The worshippers’ confidence turns into betrayal and servility once Wu Yu demonstrates his power.
• New possibilities: Wu Yu’s intervention may change the disguised women’s hunt for the Demonized Mountain Lord.

Chapter summary

Key plot points

• Family Head Long hosts a lavish banquet, then reveals his real purpose: forcing several minor factions to sell their mutated Taisui fields to the Long Family for only fifty percent above the ordinary market price.
• He dismisses the fields’ new consciousness and potential value, inventing dangers such as corruption or poison to frighten the owners into accepting. His Heavenly Being ancestor reinforces the coercion with overwhelming pressure.
• Before the deal can proceed further, the ancestor senses an attack. Wu Yu arrives in a blast of Rainbow Light, bringing Long Tian and other members of the Long Family with him.
• Wu Yu refuses to be mistaken for a Heavenly Being of the Zhao Clan. He tears apart the ancestor’s golden protective barrier and confronts Family Head Long directly.
• The ancestor transforms into a golden, fully unleashed Heavenly Being Martial Artist and attacks. Wu Yu evades with Rainbow Transformation and counters with Heavenly Thunder, repeatedly blasting the ancestor despite his formidable resilience.
• As the injured ancestor complains that Wu Yu lacks martial honor, Wu Yu notes the strength of the Martial Dao body and prepares to use a talisman enhanced by his Foundation Establishment–level Spirit Realm Power.

Character developments and interactions

• Family Head Long shows himself to be calculating and domineering: he uses the minor families as pawns, pressures them into surrendering valuable property, and quickly abandons Long Tian when the situation changes.
• Wu Yu is confident and pragmatic. Rather than meeting the Martial Artist’s attacks on their own terms, he combines speed, lightning, and cultivation techniques to overwhelm him.
• The Long Family ancestor begins as the family’s imposing protector but is caught off guard by Wu Yu’s unfamiliar powers. His toughness lets him survive multiple strikes, though his confidence gives way to anger and alarm.
• The minor-family representatives are trapped between Long’s coercion and the ancestor’s pressure. They agree to the sale reluctantly, revealing the power imbalance between the Long Family and smaller factions.
• The exchange between Wu Yu and the ancestor contrasts Wu Yu’s practical fighting style with the ancestor’s appeal to martial honor and formal weaponry.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: The Long Family uses its status and force to extract wealth from weaker factions.
• Adaptability over convention: Wu Yu’s unconventional combination of techniques proves more effective than a direct martial contest.
• The uncertain value of mutation: The mutated Taisui fields may be valuable, but Long deliberately casts their changes as dangerous to secure them cheaply.
• Strength and resilience: The ancestor’s survival highlights the Martial Dao’s physical durability, even as Wu Yu’s diverse abilities give him the advantage.

Plot and events

• After breaking through the Foundation Establishment Heavenly Gate and opening his spirit realm, Wu Yu’s spiritual power becomes the far more potent power of the Chaos Spirit Realm. His newly drawn Bi Fang Talisman displays extraordinary power, though its seals last only forty-eight hours.
• Wu Yu uses the talisman against the already wounded Long Family patriarch. Its Calamity Fire destroys the patriarch’s golden body and leaves him screaming, surprising Wu Yu with how effective his attack is.
• Before Wu Yu can follow up, a vast, broken Shaman Mask appears and unleashes a sword strike. Recognizing the threat as potentially divine, Wu Yu escapes and releases his Chaos Spirit Realm.
• Chief Constable Liu arrives and orders the confrontation stopped. The mask vanishes, and the disheveled man Long Yin carries the injured patriarch away. Liu then speaks with Wu Yu and Zhao Polu, who had helped summon the authorities.
• Wu Yu learns that Long Yin was among those who benefited from Zhao Polu’s past suffering and exploitation. Though Wu Yu considers that he might have killed Long Yin with his full power, he decides not to pursue him: the mission is already complete.
• The mission panel confirms completion of “Little Devils Are Hard to Deal With” and grants Wu Yu a blessing of heart and spirit, along with the temporary status Killing Intent Boiling.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu demonstrates increased strength and keeps a cool, cautious assessment of his abilities rather than becoming overconfident. His constant vigilance lets him notice the sudden attack and flee in time.
• Zhao Polu jokes that Wu Yu seemed to be asking for help, while Wu Yu admits he had arranged for a message to be sent—showing his practical habit of preparing for contingencies.
• Chief Constable Liu is powerful, composed, and on friendly terms with Zhao Polu. He intervenes to prevent the clash from endangering the Long Residence or forcing the Government Office into difficulty.
• Long Yin rescues the defeated patriarch at Liu’s request, while Zhao Polu’s account links the Long Family’s later schemes to the gains they took from his past mistreatment.

Significant themes

• Power and cultivation: Wu Yu’s breakthrough dramatically changes the force of his talismans and combat abilities.
• Caution over pride: Even after easily defeating the patriarch, Wu Yu remains alert and measures his strength realistically.
• Greed and exploitation: Zhao Polu identifies the Long Family’s actions as rooted in benefits gained from his suffering.
• Restraint and mission priorities: Wu Yu suppresses his desire to retaliate once the mission is complete.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu receives the God of Heart and Spirit’s blessing: a month-long status called Killing Intent Boiling. Unlike the powerful blessing he once received from the True Martial God, this one produces no immediate, visible effect.
• Wu Yu chats with Zhao Polu and Chief Constable Liu, explaining how he retaliated after someone tested him. Both are surprised by his unusually direct, forceful approach.
• Missile strikes erupt across the city, injuring civilians and causing widespread panic. Chief Constable Liu identifies the attackers as “savages” and rushes to the scene; Heavenly Beings from multiple factions respond as well.
• Zhao Polu cautions Wu Yu against interfering. Wu Yu judges the city’s forces too formidable to challenge casually—and decides not to trust the other Tower Climbers.
• Instead, Wu Yu uses his Yi Wood Divine Light to heal injured people across several streets, even saving someone trapped beneath rubble.
• After escorting Zhao Polu home, Wu Yu heads toward the Frost Heaven Secret Realm. On the way, he sees Chief Constable Liu parading captured Tower Climbers through the streets in prison carts.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is disappointed by his unimpressive-seeming blessing, but remains observant and cautious. He shows compassion by treating the wounded, while refusing to risk himself for Tower Climbers he does not trust.
• Zhao Polu grows more comfortable with Wu Yu and treats him as a friend, but also serves as a voice of caution, reminding him that the city’s power should not be underestimated.
• Chief Constable Liu shows respect toward Zhao Polu because of his connection to Liu’s friend. When the city is attacked, he acts decisively; later, he displays the captured attackers publicly.
• Wu Yu learns about the local hierarchy of Heavenly Beings: their strength depends heavily on their divine foundation, and their power is tied to their patron gods.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: The city’s Heavenly Beings range widely in strength, and even powerful individuals must account for factions and political consequences.
• Caution and distrust: Wu Yu recognizes that shared status as Tower Climbers does not make people allies.
• Divine power and dependence: Martial advancement in this world is closely linked to gods, but a god’s blessing can vary greatly—and divine power may falter if its source falls.
• Compassion amid conflict: While others mobilize for battle and punishment, Wu Yu uses his abilities to protect ordinary civilians.

Plot and events

• Wu Yu observes a public procession of imprisoned Tower Climbers and learns that the locals despise both “savages” and anyone who associates with them. Some prisoners are actually foreigners, mistaken for savages because of their unusual hair and eyes.
• The captives appear drained and close to death. Wu Yu suspects the Government Office has extracted their lifespans, possibly through the [Five Turbid God], and wonders whether returning to the Tower would restore them.
• Chief Constable Liu explains that the prisoners looted a family’s storehouse, stole wealth, and tortured and killed women. They had powerful weapons, including technology capable of devastating a city, and repeatedly used escape techniques that made them difficult to kill.
• One prisoner, a blond foreigner, regenerates endlessly despite being trapped in a corrosive Water Prison. Liu says he killed the man while catching him committing rape, but the man’s unusual ability has kept him alive.
• Wu Yu shows interest in the prisoners’ confiscated equipment. Liu gives him the remaining wreckage for free, choosing to cultivate goodwill because he believes Wu Yu has powerful backing.
• The wreckage is delivered to the Zhao Residence. Wu Yu recognizes advanced armor resembling the Amethyst Armor used by Liu Zheng, alongside broken weapons, Psionic Bullets, and other devices.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains observant and pragmatic: he investigates the prisoners, understands why the locals condemn them, and takes an opportunity to acquire useful technology.
• Chief Constable Liu presents himself as vigilant and tough, but also politically shrewd. He warns against underestimating outsiders, then gives Wu Yu the wreckage to strengthen their relationship.
• The middle-aged constable is surprised by the prisoner’s regenerative power and is corrected by Liu for assuming the world’s abilities are ordinary.
• Wu Yu and Liu interact cordially: Liu shares information and offers the spoils, while Wu Yu thanks him and avoids pressing for a price.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and social division: The Silver Dynasty’s people look down on outsiders and those associated with them, though the chapter also distinguishes prejudice from the prisoners’ genuine crimes.
• The dangers of power without restraint: Tower Climbers’ access to extraordinary weapons and abilities can make them a threat to ordinary communities.
• Exploitation and moral responsibility: The prisoners’ abuse of natives contrasts with Wu Yu’s awareness that Tower Climbers often treat local people as disposable.
• Political calculation and social hierarchy: Liu’s generosity is less about money than about maintaining ties with someone he suspects has influential allies.
• Uncertain costs of supernatural power: The prisoners’ drained condition raises questions about whether damage to lifespan can be reversed through the Tower.