Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Wu Yu falls into a dreamlike realm called the Dream Sea, where fragmented scenes reveal the dreams of people in the City of Five Defilements. The dreams range from wealth and power to simple rest or endless battle.
• The fairy Chang Xi explains that the realm and its visions are unreal, then leaves Wu Yu to act on his own.
• Wu Yu discovers he can enter people’s dreams. In an old farmer’s dream, his arrival wakes the farmer and causes the dream to dissolve.
• He then enters the dream of a battle-obsessed person. There, Killing Intent Boiling activates with startling strength: each kill boosts Wu Yu’s size and power.
• Wu Yu fights through crowds of rebels and then battles a giant beast. Though wounded, he kills it with an All Beings Great Hand Seal, and several Cards appear.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shifts from confusion to curiosity, then excitement as he discovers that his combat abilities work in dreams. He enjoys the battle but recognizes that his Foundation Establishment body may limit how far he can push the blessing.
• Chang Xi offers reassurance but little practical guidance, trusting Wu Yu to make his own way.
• The old farmer is frustrated at being disturbed, and his reaction ends his dream.
• The dreaming battle fanatic is not directly encountered, but the dream’s relentless violence draws Wu Yu into a fight that brings out his own aggression.

Significant themes

• Dreams and reality: The Dream Sea turns private desires into tangible, fragile worlds, yet even these unreal experiences can affect Wu Yu.
• Power and risk: The dream lets Wu Yu unleash a potent combat blessing, but his physical limitations remain.
• Desire and identity: The wildly varied dreams reveal how people’s ambitions and longings differ—from wealth and status to sleep, revenge, or battle.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu discovers that monsters killed inside people’s dreams drop Cards, though the rewards are mostly low-quality because the dream’s owner receives most of the contribution.
• Taking advantage of the abundant enemies, Wu Yu hunts across a vast battlefield, grows larger through the Heart and Spirit blessing, and uses his True Person abilities to kill more than a hundred Fierce Beasts.
• The dream’s blood-soaked owner repeatedly attacks Wu Yu. Though Wu Yu kills him dozens of times, the man revives instantly and keeps pursuing him, regardless of Wu Yu’s escape techniques. As Wu Yu avoids fighting him, the dream fades, forcing Wu Yu to leave.
• Wu Yu continues searching nightmares for monsters and eventually earns a Dao Foundation Gold Card: the Big Bird Cloak, which grants flight and can summon storms and a giant bird.
• He tests the cloak in dreams that contain no monsters. In one, he wrecks a tyrannical ruler’s palace with a storm; in another, he uses the summoned bird to attack an old man’s cruel, unfaithful wife and her lover.

Character developments

• Wu Yu proves resourceful and adaptable, turning dreams into a source of rewards even when he is not joining the real battle.
• His excitement at finding easy prey reveals his enjoyment of combat, but he remains pragmatic about receiving fewer Cards than the dream’s owner.
• The dream’s owner is consumed by battle-madness and appears effectively immortal within his dream.

Significant themes

• Dreams defy ordinary rules: The dream’s owner can revive endlessly and locate Wu Yu despite supernatural escape techniques.
• Rewards reflect contribution: Wu Yu can benefit from another person’s dream, but the system credits the dream’s creator with most of the spoils.
• Power and exploitation: The ruler’s and old man’s dreams depict abuse and humiliation, while Wu Yu responds by disrupting them with his newly acquired power.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu repeatedly confronts the dream’s owner, but attempts to negotiate or escape fail because the owner insists on fighting.
• In the later dreams, Wu Yu encounters figures behaving within their own dream scenarios and intervenes by testing the Big Bird Cloak’s destructive abilities.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu’s use of high-grade equipment destroys a dream so completely that, for the first time, no other dreams immediately fill the gap. He finds a glittering Dream Fragment, identified as a white-grade Dao Foundation material. Though its rating seems low, it gives him a peaceful feeling, and he stores it to ask Chang Xi about later.
• He resumes hunting through nightmares. He rescues an escort convoy from a female ghost and Fierce Beasts, then destroys a Water Monkey in another dream. Some dreams contain monsters so powerful that Wu Yu has to flee, including a Demon God wreaking havoc in what appears to be a schoolchild’s dream.
• Wu Yu discovers a dream resembling a modern city, divided into fifty compartments. Each contains a well-cared-for little girl, but an unseen voice repeatedly summons them into an endless passage.
• The first girl Wu Yu recognizes as Chen Lingling. She calls him “Uncle” but does not seem to remember him, warns him to leave, and runs away. The dream transforms into a mountain of blades and a sea of fire, where she is brutally killed.
• The dream continues rather than breaking. A succession of other girls appears; one recognizes Wu Yu and mocks him for being captured, but each girl ultimately suffers the same fate. The chapter ends with all of them dead.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains playful and irreverent, treating many nightmares as opportunities to fight monsters. The discovery of the Dream Fragment and the strange city dream, however, leave him puzzled and increasingly concerned.
• Chen Lingling appears in a disturbing, childlike form, suggesting a possible connection between her past and the dream’s prison-and-passage imagery. What the dream means—and whether it reflects real memories—remains unresolved.

Significant themes

• Dreams as both entertainment and evidence: Wu Yu can intervene in nightmares, but their shifting logic makes them impossible to fully control or interpret.
• The boundary between imagination and lived experience: The girls’ confinement and repeated deaths raise the possibility that a dream may be tied to real trauma.
• Power and its limits: Wu Yu easily defeats ordinary nightmare monsters, yet even he cannot make sense of the dream or prevent its recurring tragedy.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu jokingly rescues the escort dreamer, who thanks him and promises a reward; Wu Yu also dispatches monsters in other dreams with little ceremony.
• In Chen Lingling’s dream, she warns Wu Yu to escape, while another girl recognizes him and taunts him. He tries to question and help them, but the dream’s transformations prevent him from changing their fate.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After the little girls in Chen Lingling’s dream die, the dream changes: Lingling runs toward Wu Yu but is killed by a trap. The dream then freezes and shatters when she wakes.
• Wu Yu collects another [Dream Fragment], but soon a strange heavenly voice—“No self, no form!”—rings out as the dream world collapses. He returns safely to the inn.
• His dream excursion yields more than two hundred Cards, including many Transcendent- and Dao Foundation-grade Cards, as well as four gold Cards.
• Wu Yu asks the Twilight Witch about the Dream Fragments. She recalls that her father once obtained one from a Dream Sorcerer and learned that fragments can give crafted treasures dream-related properties.
• After hearing that the Three Great Sects have won, Wu Yu dismisses the prospect of revenge from his enemies and sorts his new Cards.
• Zhao Polu sends word that his clan has arrived. Wu Yu hurries to the Zhao Residence, where the returning ancestor is reunited with his descendants.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains practical and opportunistic: despite the unsettling dreams, he focuses on the Cards and recognizes that Dream Fragments may be useful for crafting an arcane treasure.
• The Twilight Witch helps explain the fragments by recalling her father’s experience. She and Wu Yu share an easy, familiar rapport, including a teasing moment when she guesses he had gone looking for Chang Xi.
• Zhao Polu is moved by his reunion with his clan, especially the elderly Xiao Yun, who remembers him as her grandfather. He credits Wu Yu, a Night Watcher, with making his return possible.
• The Zhao descendants react with awe and curiosity to Wu Yu’s Night Watcher identity. When one speculates about the Heavenly God, Zhao Polu sharply warns him not to discuss true names.
• Chang Xi is absent; Wu Yu senses through the Mountain-Sea Sigil that she has returned to the Moon Palace.

Significant themes

• Dreams as both danger and opportunity: The dream world is unpredictable and can collapse suddenly, yet Wu Yu turns its imagined monsters into a source of valuable Cards.
• Legacy and reunion: Zhao Polu’s return reconnects generations of his clan and brings an emotional recognition of family ties.
• Forbidden knowledge and hidden history: The Night Watcher lineage and the Heavenly God’s role are surrounded by uncertainty, while the warning about true names signals the danger of speaking openly about powerful beings.

Key events

• Zhao Polu rebukes the Zhao Clan elders for their disrespect toward Wu Yu. Their uneasy, sympathetic reactions suggest the clan is divided and Zhao Polu’s return may cause upheaval.
• Zhao Yulian hosts Wu Yu and offers him a place as a Zhao Clan retainer, with substantial cultivation resources. Wu Yu declines, unwilling to join any faction.
• Zhao Polu gives Wu Yu two valuable items: Endless Lamp Oil, refined from the immortal Lampfire God, and a Lost Armor Fragment from a warrior who fought in the Godslayer battle. He also promises the Zhao Clan will protect Wu Yu if he ever needs help.
• Back at the inn, Wu Yu fuels his Evernight Lamp with the new oil. Its light becomes at least twice as powerful, and his Night Watcher’s blood strengthens it further. The oil carries divine power, but Wu Yu cannot control that power.
• Wu Yu prepares to use the Master Artifact Refiner’s Favor Card and gathered materials—including the armor fragment and Dream Fragments—though the chapter ends before he begins.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains independent and pragmatic. He appreciates the treasures but rejects the Zhao Clan’s recruitment offer, aware that his unusual circumstances make long-term ties uncertain.
• Zhao Polu treats Wu Yu warmly and formally, repays his debt, and deliberately cultivates a lasting bond with him.
• Zhao Yulian tries to recruit Wu Yu on behalf of the clan. After his refusal, she falls silent and turns to cultivation, suggesting disappointment or resignation.
• The elders’ fear and deference toward Zhao Polu reveal tension within the Zhao Clan, while their reactions to Wu Yu mix awe with pity.

Significant themes

• Independence versus allegiance: Wu Yu refuses security and resources in exchange for loyalty to a clan.
• Power and its limits: The lamp’s divine energy greatly enhances its light, but Wu Yu can observe its power without wielding it.
• Uncertain time and legacy: Wu Yu’s travels may span decades or centuries, making promises and relationships fragile.
• Factional tension: Zhao Polu’s return exposes divisions that may reshape the clan.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu decides to use the Artifact Master’s Favor Card immediately, reasoning that waiting might leave him short of suitable materials.
• The Card transports him to a single-room setting beside an enormous Starship, where he meets a disheveled scientist who assumes he wants a ship-mounted weapon.
• Wu Yu clarifies that he wants personal equipment and gives the scientist his materials. The scientist is especially intrigued by Wu Yu’s Dream Fragments, recognizing them as valuable traces of subspace.
• The scientist explains that he plans to use the fragments to draw energy from subspace, a process likely to attract hostile beings. He tells Wu Yu to put on a suit of Space Combat Armor and help defend the ship.
• The armor proves crude and incomplete, lacking both substantial protection and an oxygen supply. Before Wu Yu can get answers, the ship is attacked: space distorts, eerie voices call out, and eyes begin growing across the ship’s surfaces.

Character development

• Wu Yu is decisive about using the Card and willing to risk valuable Dream Fragments for equipment. He remains cautious, however, questioning the situation and inspecting the armor before entering an unpredictable fight.
• The scientist comes across as eccentric, irreverent, and more interested in experimentation than comfort or safety. The Dream Fragments quickly capture his attention, prompting him to attempt a dangerous subspace experiment.

Significant themes

• Unfamiliar worlds and misaligned expectations: Wu Yu expects an artifact forge but finds a scientist and a Starship, revealing how broadly the Tower defines its systems.
• Innovation and risk: The scientist’s experiment pushes into dangerous territory, while Wu Yu is drawn into its consequences with inadequate gear.
• The value of dreams and the unknown: Dream Fragments are revealed to have a connection to subspace and to attract hostile forces.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu and the scientist initially misunderstand one another: the scientist offers massive Starship weapons, while Wu Yu wants personal equipment.
• Once the scientist recognizes the Dream Fragments, his interest shifts from routine forging to experimentation. He presses Wu Yu into a defensive role, leaving Wu Yu to face the emerging threat in the armor he has provided.

Plot points and events

• While observing the scientist’s universe, Wu Yu witnesses a Subspace invasion. The scientist wipes out the incorporeal invaders with a powerful Mental Force Storm, then spends what seems like eight months refining an artifact while only minutes pass for Wu Yu.
• The scientist completes Wu Yu’s “personal armament”: a silver Subspace entity turned into symbiotic equipment. The implant can replace part of Wu Yu’s body, greatly increase his combat power, and protect him from Subspace storms—but using it may attract both the Interstellar Empire and Subspace Demons.
• Wu Yu accepts the dangerous, exceptionally high-quality item, though he is uneasy about fusing with an Otherworldly demon. The scientist abruptly leaves, and Wu Yu returns to the inn. Only twenty-three minutes have passed.
• Wu Yu stores the implant in his Inventory, hoping Settlement Rewards might transform it, and considers whether he can trade it to Bai Xiaotian.
• The next day, the Government Office has swiftly suppressed unrest caused by the Dream Martial Sect’s invasion. Wu Yu finds no new quests while searching the city.
• A second Cloud Island Evacuation Point appears, and a plague breaks out. Wu Yu feels weak, stops drawing talismans, and notes that the upcoming Earthfire Purgatory evacuation point and descent are less than a day away.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu admires the scientist’s Mental Force Storm but remains cautious about the symbiote because it conflicts with his “Essence, Qi, and Spirit” path. He accepts it anyway, judging that its risks may be manageable and its value too high to discard.
• The scientist is delighted by his creation and explains its benefits and dangers, but dodges Wu Yu’s concerns by suddenly departing.
• The Twilight Witch welcomes Wu Yu back and confirms that barely any time has passed.
• Wu Yu also considers Bai Xiaotian as a possible recipient, but sees no feasible trade.

Significant themes

• Power versus cost: The symbiote offers formidable protection and strength, but carries legal, supernatural, and bodily risks.
• Clashing paths of advancement: Wu Yu’s established cultivation approach conflicts with the scientist’s body-augmentation fusion.
• Uneven time and sudden upheaval: Vast stretches of activity occur within the scientist’s universe while little time passes for Wu Yu; meanwhile, new disasters quickly reshape the world outside.

• Plot and events: With the Tower threatening to send him into Earthfire Purgatory, Wu Yu decides he must leave within a day. He spends hours searching the Southern District for quests, but finds none—only a few low-grade treasure chests and a string of mundane disputes. Chief Constable Liu tells him that locals have reported Wu Yu to the authorities, but Wu Yu explains that his supposed misdeeds were interventions to stop cheating, violence, and a child’s near-drowning. Liu drops the complaints. Wu Yu then persuades him to check the Yamen’s records for an interesting case. A wanted notice reveals the hidden quest “Underground Mushroom King,” accepted by seven people before them; some of those Tower Climbers were badly injured and apparently left the city. The quest offers two choices: kill the Mushroom King for its core, or help it transform into a special Fierce Beast for a mysterious treasure.
• Character developments: Wu Yu remains focused on finding quests and advancing his rating, despite repeatedly mistaking ordinary trouble for supernatural cases. He is cautious about the danger of Earthfire Purgatory but becomes confident that the Mushroom King quest is manageable: its purple Dao Foundation tier suggests a challenge, not a threat on the level of the King of Ferocious Beasts. Chief Constable Liu is friendly and willing to help, though he balks at giving Wu Yu unrestricted access to confidential case files.
• Character interactions: Wu Yu’s earnest attempts to investigate local problems create a comic contrast with how residents interpret his actions: they accuse him of wrongdoing, while he sees himself as preventing harm. Liu first teases Wu Yu for his “public-spirited” efforts, then hears his explanations and withdraws the complaints. Their friendly rapport ultimately leads Liu to help uncover the wanted notice.
• Themes: The chapter mixes danger and urgency with comedy, as Wu Yu’s quest-seeking turns routine domestic scandals into absurd false leads. It also highlights the tension between public perception and good intentions, and between an outsider’s need for information and the authorities’ duty to guard confidential records.

Chapter Summary: “Into the Caverns!”

Key plot points and events

• Chief Constable Liu explains the Government Office’s bounty: kill the leader of a large mushroom-monster group living three thousand meters underground and return its body for a reward. The Government Office is stretched thin, and earlier Tower Climbers were badly injured by the creature.
• Liu warns Wu Yu that the caverns grow increasingly dangerous and maze-like below a thousand meters. He senses something deeply unsettling in their depths and advises Wu to abandon the hunt if the target retreats farther underground.
• Wu studies the Government Office’s map, which reveals an extensive underground network. He notes that an evacuation point at eight hundred meters offers a possible escape route, then buys single-use supplies suited to the cavern environment.
• Wu enters the underground world through a dilapidated well. At three hundred meters, he destroys an earth-and-stone monster and collects the silver card it drops.
• As Wu descends toward a thousand meters, monsters become more numerous, and the supernatural darkness begins to erode the mind. His Spirit Eye helps him see but cannot block this influence, so he lights his Evernight Lamp.
• Meanwhile, five thousand meters below, the Long Family Ancestor—now inhabiting another body—recovers by eating cavern worms. He remains bitter about his family’s exposure and arrest. A mirror reveals Wu’s presence, and the Ancestor decides to capture him as the ninth Divine Body.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu takes a cautious, prepared approach: he listens to Liu’s warning, plans around the evacuation point, buys specialized supplies, and limits spell use to avoid attracting monsters. He accepts Liu’s counsel as well-intentioned and valuable.
• Chief Constable Liu acts as a helpful but guarded ally. He shares the bounty details, the best available map, and hard-earned warnings about the caverns, while remaining wary of the dangers associated with the God of Calamity.
• The Long Family Ancestor is weakened and resentful but still ambitious. He has abandoned thoughts of direct revenge against powerful authorities and instead seizes on Wu as a potential vessel for his plans.

Significant themes

• Caution and survival: Preparation, restraint, and a planned escape route may matter more than raw strength in an unfamiliar environment.
• The unknown beneath civilization: The caverns form a vast, poorly understood world whose dangers deepen with every level.
• Power and vulnerability: Even formidable figures such as Liu and the Long Family Ancestor face limits, while Wu’s strength makes him a target.
• Lingering consequences: The earlier cavern calamity continues to shape the present through its surviving tunnels, monsters, and unsettling influence.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu descends through the Underground World, where the cold, oppressive darkness can wear down people’s mental strength. His [Evernight Lamp] protects him from the chill, though its light weakens with depth.
• He easily defeats several kinds of underground monsters. A regenerating worm splits into multiple creatures when cut, but Wu Yu burns them all to ash with Bi Fang Sigils and Calamity Fire, collecting a blue Card.
• Sensing danger ahead, Wu Yu abandons his route and takes a detour.
• The Long Family Ancestor, hidden as black mud in a passage, waits to ambush Wu Yu. He trusts the [Taisui Mirror]’s prediction that Wu Yu will pass that way and believes his trap is inescapable.
• Wu Yu reaches a vast cavern roughly three thousand meters underground. He burns blood qi to strengthen his lamp’s light, then descends into a landscape of rivers, swamps, hills, and luminous plants.
• He discovers a Foundation Establishment monster resembling a lightning-charged rhinoceros. With help from Withered Chains, talismans, and his Frost Heaven Divine Sword, he kills it and obtains a purple-grade Dao Foundation Card and a blue Card.
• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch use the battle to draw nearby monsters in, then attack them together. Meanwhile, the Long Family Ancestor continues waiting, increasingly uncertain about why Wu Yu has not arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains cautious as well as confident: he readily defeats weaker monsters but trusts his intuition enough to change course when he senses a trap. In the cavern, he shifts from exploration to aggressive hunting, his killing intent rising as the fights accumulate.
• The Long Family Ancestor is convinced his plan will succeed, but his confidence begins to waver when Wu Yu fails to appear. He relies heavily on the [Taisui Mirror] and dismisses his growing unease.
• The Twilight Witch supports Wu Yu by muffling the battle’s sound with [Silent Barrier] and then fighting beside him with powerful magic. She reports that only a small group of monsters has been drawn in.

Significant themes

• Danger and intuition: The ancestor’s elaborate ambush is undermined by Wu Yu’s instinctive decision to take another route.
• Adaptation and preparation: Wu Yu uses different tools and tactics for distinct threats, from light and fire against regenerating worms to restraints and sword techniques against the lightning monster.
• Exploration and risk: The deeper world offers valuable rewards and striking scenery, but also weakens light and Divine Sense and houses powerful monsters.
• Confidence versus uncertainty: The ancestor’s faith in his prediction contrasts with Wu Yu’s caution and the uncertainty of what will happen next.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu defeats a pack of giant insect monsters, but their leader survives his Heavenly Thunder and tries a strange technique: its underlings burst into blood-red flowers that fly toward it. Wu Yu uses the Chaos Spirit Realm to pin the leader down, then kills it with the Frost Heaven Divine Sword before the flowers can reach him.
• The slain leader drops several Cards, including a gold-grade Blood Flower. Wu Yu tests the flower against his Blood-Red Divine Jade and finds that it takes root on the jade’s bone armor, though nothing else happens. He stores it for later.
• After continuing to fight monsters for five hours and running low on talismans, Wu Yu heads to the location marked by his Silver Token: a vast underground forest of bare black trees and colorful mushrooms.
• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch scout the forest cautiously. They find little evidence of a true mushroom civilization until they discover a ruined human camp where mushroom monsters patrol and gather around a central structure.
• Wu Yu’s examination reveals that the so-called Fungal Empire has only one truly intelligent member: the Mushroom King. The camp is preparing a throne for the coronation mentioned in the quest.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu becomes more wary of the underground monsters after seeing their leader use its followers in a dangerous, coordinated attack. He prefers to stop threats early rather than risk being caught off guard.
• The Twilight Witch supports Wu Yu and shares her scouting findings, confirming that most fungi act only on instinct. She remains obedient and deferential, even when Wu Yu teases her blank expression.
• Elsewhere, an ancestor waits in a passage for Wu Yu, wondering why he has not appeared but resolving to be patient.

Significant themes

• Hidden danger beneath apparent simplicity: Monsters that seem mindless may still possess lethal abilities or be directed by a more intelligent leader.
• Caution and preparation: Wu Yu scouts, sets traps, and avoids unnecessary risks, especially as his supplies dwindle.
• Mystery and foreshadowing: The Blood Flower’s reaction with the Blood-Red Divine Jade hints at a connection to the blood god’s power, while the Mushroom King’s coronation sets up the next stage of the quest.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu deploys a Dao Foundation mechanical puppet, powered by incense silver, to stage a diversion and draw out the mushroom camp’s defenders.
• The Mushroom King, who is secretly preparing a throne for a divine ritual, dismisses the attackers as manageable. He believes the Underground World’s earth power lets him recover from almost any injury.
• Wu Yu tunnels into the camp and ambushes the Mushroom King with Crimson Heavenly Thunder, then follows up with a relentless combination of weapons, talismans, spells, and sword attacks.
• The Mushroom King is repeatedly blasted apart but continually regenerates. As other mushrooms converge and reinforcements may return, Wu Yu prepares to escalate.
• The Mushroom King calls off his followers and asks to talk. Wu Yu learns that he is unusually intelligent and can speak human language. He claims he is human and insists he has never killed anyone.
• Wu Yu tells him the City of Five Defilements has placed a bounty on him. The Mushroom King becomes upset, insisting that the authorities are punishing him despite his supposed innocence.

Character developments

• Wu Yu is resourceful and cautious: he uses the puppet as a diversion, attacks with overwhelming force, and then shifts to negotiation when brute force proves ineffective.
• The Mushroom King is introduced as powerful chiefly through near-immortality, not direct combat strength. His vanity and ambition show in his fixation on the throne and its ritual purpose. His anger at being branded a criminal suggests he sees himself as kind and misunderstood.
• The Twilight Witch supports Wu Yu during the assault, contributing powerful arcane attacks.

Significant themes

• Strength versus endurance: Wu Yu can devastate the Mushroom King, but cannot overcome his seemingly endless regeneration.
• Appearance and identity: The Mushroom King looks like a monster, yet speaks intelligently and insists he is human.
• Power and authority: The bounty raises questions about whether official judgment reflects guilt or whether the Mushroom King has been treated unfairly.
• Ambition and ritual: The Mushroom King’s throne is tied to a divine ritual, hinting at a larger goal.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu commands the mechanical puppet to draw defenders away from the camp.
• The Mushroom King initially treats Wu Yu as another hostile human, but recognizes he is not using the weapons associated with earlier attackers.
• After their fight reaches a stalemate, the Mushroom King orders his followers to retreat and proposes talking. Wu Yu responds skeptically and uses the bounty to pressure him, prompting the King’s defensive protest.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu realizes the Mushroom King may not have killed anyone, matching the Government Office’s reports. He pauses his attack to hear the Mushroom King out.
• The Mushroom King claims he is a human whose body changed after acquiring a divine legacy and later dying in another ruin. He says the throne and ritual are meant to help him ascend to godhood, and insists he has avoided killing people.
• Wu Yu remains skeptical but chooses not to take him back, confirming the quest option that lets the Mushroom King live. The Mushroom King promises him a share of the treasures he has gathered.
• While the Mushroom King prepares the throne, Wu Yu keeps his distance from the dangerous, toxin-filled ritual array. The Twilight Witch returns to the [Yellow Cloud], apparently ready to act if needed.
• The Mushroom King sacrifices his mushroom followers’ vitality to activate the array and sits on the throne. Earth-vein power transforms him into a human-bodied, mushroom-like being.
• He quickly realizes the ritual was not a path to godhood but the “Beastman Method.” Devastated, he destroys the array, dismisses his followers, and accepts his new half-human, half-beast state.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shifts from hostility to cautious restraint. He doubts the Mushroom King’s grand claims but decides that the evidence does not justify taking him in.
• The Mushroom King moves from confident boasting to profound despair when his supposed ascension proves to be a deception. He ultimately submits to the outcome rather than taking his own life.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu questions the Mushroom King about his identity, his conflict with the [City of Five Defilements], and the throne. The Mushroom King responds with a partly candid, partly boastful explanation.
• The Mushroom King thanks Wu Yu and offers him treasure; Wu Yu allows him to continue the ritual without revealing his doubts.
• After the transformation, Wu Yu feigns ignorance and asks whether the Mushroom King has ascended, prompting the Mushroom King to explain what went wrong. Wu Yu then uses [Yi Wood Divine Light], but it has no effect.

Significant themes

• Deception and false hope: The Mushroom King’s promised godhood is revealed as a mistaken belief, and his years of effort end in a fate he never intended.
• Ambition and self-delusion: His confidence in the ritual collapses once its true result becomes clear.
• Transformation and uncertain identity: The Mushroom King is left between human and beast, raising questions about what he has become.
• Mercy amid suspicion: Wu Yu spares him despite doubting his story, choosing judgment based on the lack of evidence that he killed anyone.

Key plot points

• The Mushroom King explains that he once hoped to regain his human form and become a deity, but the ruins’ guidance made him suspect he was being manipulated. He chooses instead to remain and protect the Underground World.
• He gives Wu Yu the valuable relics his mushrooms recovered from the old cavern calamity. In a burst of rage over having been used for thirty years, he destroys part of the camp—revealing a hidden Golden Treasure Chest inside a tent.
• Wu Yu suspects the key may belong to the Mushroom King, but decides not to attack him. The Mushroom King then asks Wu Yu to kill a spatially elusive Fierce Beast that has been harassing his mushrooms.
• Wu Yu recognizes that the beast’s connection to the Void Shadow God’s power makes it a likely chest-key holder. With the Twilight Witch’s help, he traps it by compressing space with the Chaos Spirit Realm and burns it to death with Calamity Fire.
• The beast drops several Cards, including the Golden Treasure Chest Key.

Character developments

• Mushroom King: Rejects the prospect of becoming human or divine rather than remain someone else’s pawn. His anger at the manipulation behind his past gives way to a difficult choice: he considers warning Wu Yu about a dangerous “old monster,” but fear holds him back.
• Wu Yu: Shows restraint by declining to attack the cooperative Mushroom King, while quickly connecting the hidden chest, the beast, and the likely key. He uses careful preparation rather than rushing into a fight.
• Twilight Witch: Helps plan and execute the trap, demonstrating her value as a reliable combat partner.

Character interactions

• The Mushroom King entrusts Wu Yu with the relics and asks for help protecting his people; Wu Yu agrees and gets the beast’s location.
• Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch work together to lure and contain the beast, combining spatial compression, detection, and firepower.
• The Mushroom King watches Wu Yu depart while wrestling with whether to reveal what he knows, revealing both his lingering fear and resentment.

Significant themes

• Free will versus manipulation: The Mushroom King refuses to follow a path he believes was laid out for him.
• Restraint and trust: Wu Yu chooses not to exploit the Mushroom King, and their cooperation benefits both.
• Preparation and ingenuity: Wu Yu overcomes a stealthy, spatially mobile enemy through reconnaissance and a carefully designed trap.

• Wu Yu receives several cards after defeating the space-and-shadow Fierce Beast: a Hollow-Shadow Bone, the Rift Devouring technique, a Treasure Chest Key, and a Mark of Vengeance. Though the technique is poorly suited to him, he stores the cards and plans to sell it—possibly to the Mushroom King.
• Back at the camp, Wu Yu opens a Golden Treasure Chest using the key. While it counts down, he reflects that completing the hidden quest and collecting valuable items may earn him a Myth rating. He remains wary because the Government Office has issued a wanted notice.
• The Long Family Ancestor discovers Wu Yu’s location through the Taisui Mirror. Mistaking Wu Yu’s presence in the Underground World for evidence of a powerful protective treasure, he grows greedy, abandons his traps, and heads underground to seize it.
• The Mushroom King behaves strangely, lapsing into a daze before seeming to awaken. The Twilight Witch notices the change and prepares defenses, while Wu Yu stays cautious but avoids provoking him.
• As the chest countdown nears its end, Wu Yu senses danger. The Twilight Witch detects movement in the earth and attacks the concealed intruder with a powerful earthquake spell, forcing the Long Family Ancestor into the open.
• The intruder and Mushroom King confront each other. The ancestor demands to know whether the Mushroom King will oppose him; the Mushroom King orders him to leave. The ancestor reacts furiously, and the Mushroom King rises, causing spores to mutate and spread into a vast Fungal Carpet that appears to engulf the Underground World.
  Character developments and interactions: Wu Yu remains ambitious but cautious, relying on the Twilight Witch’s vigilance. She acts decisively to protect him and correctly identifies the threat. The Mushroom King shifts from a dazed, uncertain figure to an apparent defender of Wu Yu, though his motives remain unclear. The Long Family Ancestor’s frustration turns into greed when he believes Wu Yu possesses a rare treasure.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes the uncertainty of rewards and fortune, the danger of misplaced assumptions, and the uneasy balance between trust and suspicion. It ends on a dramatic display of the Mushroom King’s power, with Wu Yu’s treasure chest still unopened.

Key plot points and events

• The Mushroom King reveals a powerful new ability: his Fungal Carpet spreads into a domain and transforms into a towering green Colossus. Its growth appears to result from the Deity Ritual Array.
• A mysterious Heavenly Being attacks with immense fire and frost, claiming to be a True God. Wu Yu doubts the claim, sensing no signs of genuine divine power, and suspects the being may be an avatar or using deception.
• Wu Yu remains wary of the Mushroom King and prepares protective cards and items, but the Mushroom King proves to be helping him. The fungal giant repeatedly regenerates and holds off the Heavenly Being while Wu Yu waits for his Golden Treasure Chest to open.
• The Long Family Ancestor, pressed by the battle and unwilling to lose Wu Yu or the treasure, invokes the [Lord of Taisui]’s blessing. The Black Taisui consumes one of his kidneys and is then planted in the earth.
• The Black Taisui drains the land and devours much of the Fungal Carpet, killing the Mushroom King’s giant form. The surviving fungal tissue retreats underground, leaving the King unable to help for a time.
• As the chest countdown nears zero, Black Taisui tendrils attack Wu Yu. The [Evernight Lamp], empowered by his blood qi, destroys them with its light.
• The mysterious Heavenly Being strikes from behind with a giant flaming palm, shattering the [Silent Barrier] and Wu Yu’s defenses. The Twilight Witch counters with a Dusk Torrent, which destroys the attack.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu balances gratitude with caution: he doesn’t fully trust the Mushroom King at first, but recognizes his help and does not blame him when he is defeated. His keen judgment also leads him to question the Heavenly Being’s claim of godhood.
• The Mushroom King shifts from a defensive, seemingly passive figure into a formidable combatant, transforming into a huge fungal giant to protect Wu Yu. Though defeated, some of his tissue escapes.
• The Long Family Ancestor shows desperation and ruthless resolve, accepting severe bodily and spiritual pain—and sacrificing a kidney—to deploy the Black Taisui.
• The Twilight Witch remains vigilant and protective, identifying the Mushroom King’s fate and shielding Wu Yu by breaking the enemy’s surprise attack.

Significant themes

• Trust and uncertainty: Wu Yu must judge allies and enemies amid deception, hidden motives, and uncertain claims of divinity.
• The cost of power: The ancestor’s use of the Black Taisui exacts a horrifying personal sacrifice.
• Nature and supernatural forces: The Mushroom King’s regenerative fungal domain clashes with the Black Taisui’s consuming, land-draining power.
• Preparation and survival: Wu Yu’s caution, stored defenses, and use of the Evernight Lamp help him survive sudden reversals.

Key plot points and events

• The Long Family Ancestor attacks Wu Yu and the Twilight Witch, revealing that he has taken over a younger descendant’s body by “blessing” him. His immense power overwhelms the Witch’s spells and destroys her Dusk Staff.
• Wu Yu calls the Witch back before she can become fully demonized. She returns to him, and a treasure chest opens nearby, though Wu Yu quietly stows its contents.
• The Ancestor strikes Wu Yu, apparently killing him. Instead, Wu Yu transforms the battlefield: the Underground World becomes the Dusk Lands, and he emerges in Dusk Armor with the Dusk Scythe.
• In his Celestial God Aspect state, Wu Yu repeatedly kills the Ancestor, who resurrects each time. The fight escalates until Wu Yu grows into a towering giant and gains the upper hand.
• The Ancestor uses a blood-red mirror to resist the Dusk, then tries to escape with a space-warping Heavenly God Artifact. Wu Yu’s yellow clouds destroy it.
• Forced to flee, the Ancestor keeps boasting that he is immortal. As he runs, overlapping phantom images appear around him, suggesting another world is intruding on the battlefield.

Character developments

• Wu Yu reveals the extraordinary power of his Celestial God Aspect, sacrificing his emotions to wield it. He pursues the Ancestor relentlessly, showing little hesitation or mercy.
• The Twilight Witch is badly outmatched but obeys Wu Yu when he calls her back, avoiding a return to her dangerous demonized state.
• The Long Family Ancestor begins supremely confident in his immortality, but repeated deaths erode his composure. Jealousy of Wu Yu’s apparent divinity gives way to panic and flight.

Significant themes

• Immortality versus defeat: The Ancestor’s ability to resurrect does not prevent Wu Yu from repeatedly overpowering him.
• Power and transformation: Wu Yu’s godlike strength comes at an emotional cost, while the Witch’s power carries the risk of demonization.
• Arrogance and desperation: The Ancestor’s boasts and confidence collapse as his supposed invulnerability is challenged.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu intervenes to stop the Witch from losing herself, and she responds by retreating into him.
• The Ancestor taunts Wu Yu and dismisses the possibility of being killed; Wu Yu answers through action, repeatedly cutting him down.
• The Ancestor attempts to escape and distract Wu Yu with threats, but Wu Yu continues the pursuit.

Key events

• Wu Yu traps the Long Family Ancestor inside the [Chaos Spirit Realm], whose expanding landscape pins him down and blocks his escape artifacts. The ancestor cannot understand the power and initially assumes it must be an illusion, divine ability, or other special technique.
• Believing Wu Yu’s power will eventually run out, the ancestor boasts of his immortality and fixates on being called a god. Wu Yu does not try to outlast him: he uses several abilities to concentrate his blood qi into a single drop of essence blood and strikes the ancestor with it.
• The blood reveals Wu Yu as a Night Watcher. Its corruption steadily destroys the ancestor despite his Divine Body and resurrection claims. He dies in panic, insisting that the Silver God could not have allowed Night Watchers to survive.
• The ancestor leaves behind two cards: [All Beings Spine], a red-quality Golden Core material tied to the Innate God Zhao Polu, and the gold-quality Dao Foundation item “Book of Obsession,” which grants insight into one of the ancestor’s secret arts.
• The Spirit Realm begins to tremble after the fight. Wu Yu ends his fusion with [Yellow Cloud] and collapses, badly weakened and visibly corroded. The Twilight Witch supports him; he reassures her that the Tower can heal him.
• Wu Yu is astonished by the Golden Core-grade card. He suspects it is a reward connected to the ancestor’s role in dismembering Zhao Polu, rather than evidence that the ancestor himself had reached Golden Core. Meanwhile, the Spirit Realm has been nearly drained by suppressing such a powerful opponent.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu demonstrates patience and tactical resourcefulness: rather than simply attack, he immobilizes the ancestor and uses the one weapon that can defeat his claimed immortality. The victory comes at a serious physical and spiritual cost.
• The Long Family Ancestor shifts from arrogant confidence to terror as his escape methods fail and the Night Watcher’s corruption takes hold. His self-proclaimed godhood is revealed as a consuming obsession.
• The Twilight Witch worries that Wu Yu has sacrificed too much and offers her source essence. Wu Yu gently scolds her, reminding her that the Tower can restore him; she relaxes once she remembers.
• Wu Yu’s discovery of the cards turns the aftermath from simple victory into a potentially major gain, though he recognizes he cannot examine the prize fully until the Spirit Realm recovers.

Significant themes

• The unknown as a source of fear: the ancestor’s confidence crumbles when he encounters a power he cannot classify.
• Immortality and its limits: the ancestor’s Divine Body and resurrection claims cannot protect him from the Night Watcher’s corrosive essence.
• Obsession and identity: the ancestor’s desperate insistence that he is a god exposes how deeply his self-image has consumed him.
• Power at a cost: Wu Yu wins through overwhelming force, but the battle nearly exhausts the Spirit Realm and leaves him severely injured.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu decides not to return through the Underground Evacuation Point after discovering a Red-grade Golden Core Card, hoping to pursue further rewards instead.
• Too injured to move comfortably, he uses his recovery treasure, pills, and injections to stabilize himself before examining the Long Family Ancestor’s loot.
• He reads the ancestor’s fragmented, disturbing “Book of Obsession,” which reveals the story behind his betrayal of Zhao Polu and his centuries of possession and transformation.
• The book disappears after Wu Yu finishes it, replaced by the Book of a Hundred Lifetimes, a Gold-quality Dao Foundation technique that promises rebirth across a hundred lifetimes. Wu Yu suspects it may have a hidden drawback and stores it without using it.
• He also identifies three rewards from the Golden Treasure Chest: pills that permanently increase Blood Qi and mental power, a technique that lets the user root their arms in the earth and absorb earth-vein power, and a Red-grade armor requiring the Colossal God’s permission.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows resourcefulness and restraint: despite severe pain and the temptation to retreat, he prioritizes valuable rewards, recovers methodically, and avoids testing an unfamiliar technique recklessly.
• The Long Family Ancestor emerges as a once-renowned prodigy whose envy of Zhao Polu curdled into betrayal, delusions of godhood, and extreme violence. Centuries of possessing descendants further eroded his humanity.
• Zhao Polu is revealed as both a celebrated, God-born figure and the object of the ancestor’s deep resentment; despite being betrayed and dismembered, he apparently sought to protect all sentient beings.

Significant themes

• Envy and resentment: The ancestor’s sense of being overshadowed by Zhao Polu drives his downfall.
• Power and corruption: Long life and divine power do not bring wisdom; they magnify the ancestor’s madness and cruelty.
• The cost of ambition: The ancestor’s attempt to claim godhood leads to betrayal, mass slaughter, and eventual defeat.
• Caution amid opportunity: Wu Yu recognizes the value of powerful rewards but remains wary of unknown costs.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu considers why Zhao Polu, despite knowing about the ancestor’s divine remains and having the means to act against him, never took them for himself.
• The ancestor’s memories portray his relationship with Zhao Polu as a friendship distorted by unequal acclaim: Zhao Polu received admiration and recognition, while the ancestor felt relegated to a supporting role.
• The ancestor’s jealousy makes him vulnerable to the Lord of Taisui, who turns him into one of the conspirators responsible for dismembering Zhao Polu.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu opens the Golden Treasure Chest and obtains valuable red equipment, golden-grade pills, and a technique. He decides to save the pills until he advances, since their power could overwhelm him, and rejects the arm-mutating technique as grotesque.
• His main reward is the Colossal God Armor, an immense suit weighing roughly fifty thousand jin. Too heavy for most cultivators to use, it nevertheless has exceptional defenses: the Twilight Witch’s powerful spell strikes it without leaving a mark. Wu Yu suspects it is tied to a heavenly god and can only be worn by someone acknowledged by the Colossal God.
• Wu Yu realizes the Mushroom King may have survived by retreating underground. He revives him with a mixture of rare spirit liquids.
• The Mushroom King explains that the Long Family Ancestor’s contaminant from the Lord of Taisui nearly killed him and threatened the surrounding earth veins. Wu Yu’s lamp and blood destroyed the contamination, allowing the Mushroom King to change his fate.
• The Mushroom King plans to rebuild his Underground World and settle there. He expects little interference from the Government Office, which is reluctant to send people into the dangerous caverns. Wu Yu resumes his journey home.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows caution and sound judgment: he postpones using dangerous pills, tests the armor before relying on it, and recognizes that he needs local help to understand unusual treasures.
• The Mushroom King survives near death and gains a fresh start. He remains guarded about his past dealings with the Long Family Ancestor but chooses not to pursue their conflict with Wu Yu.
• The Twilight Witch, now a Silver Moon Wizard, demonstrates how much her magic has strengthened by delivering a powerful strike against the armor.

Significant themes

• Power has limits and costs: even valuable pills and powerful armor can be dangerous or impractical without the right cultivation and physique.
• Survival and changed fate: the Mushroom King’s escape depends on Wu Yu’s intervention, and he sees his survival as a chance to begin again.
• Trust and mutual aid: Wu Yu and the Mushroom King cooperate despite incomplete knowledge of each other’s histories.
• Lingering supernatural danger: the Lord of Taisui’s contamination suggests that threats remain even after the Long Family Ancestor’s defeat.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu asks the Twilight Witch to test the armor, then compares its defense with his own True Essence Hand.
• He revives and questions the Mushroom King, but does not press him about his past connection to the Long Family Ancestor.
• Their exchange ends amicably: the Mushroom King withdraws to rebuild his domain while Wu Yu heads home.