Recaps

Gu Qingfeng found himself in the Golden Core Immortal Sect, where disciples grew branches and fruit-like Golden Cores from their bodies. After Golden Core Celestial Venerable brutally killed a senior sister for her crooked branch and weak core, he turned his attention to Gu Qingfeng.

• Golden Core Celestial Venerable preached to the disciples and pulled a Golden Core from a female disciple to eat.
• Gu Qingfeng realized he had been transported from his old life into the sect, and branches and Golden Cores began growing from his body.
• A senior sister laughed because a small Core Branch beneath her arm itched, and Golden Core Celestial Venerable ripped it out and ate its bitter fruit.
• Golden Core Celestial Venerable judged the senior sister's Golden Core too small and tore out her core branch along with her intestines, killing her.
• Golden Core Celestial Venerable approached Gu Qingfeng, seized the Core Branch on his belly, and demanded to know whether he was also an idle cultivator.

Gu Qingfeng survived Golden Core Celestial Venerable’s test by arguing that his later entry into the sect gave him promise, but he still faced death if he failed to advance by the fifteenth. After Zhang Yao ordered him to move a corpse, Gu Qingfeng returned to the empty Hall of Morality, where his Demon-Hunting Badge’s strange sensation led him to a small incense burner.

• Gu Qingfeng persuaded Golden Core Celestial Venerable to give him until the fifteenth to prove his cultivation could succeed.
• After Golden Core Celestial Venerable left, Gu Qingfeng plugged the bloody holes left by his Core Branches with cloth borrowed from a junior sister.
• Gu Qingfeng sensed something near the small Buddha statues, but Zhang Yao kicked him and ordered him and the junior sister to carry a corpse to the Furnace Workshop.
• Gu Qingfeng reflected that both successful cultivation and failure could lead to his death, leaving him only ten days before his next test.
• Gu Qingfeng returned to the empty Hall of Morality, traced the throbbing sensation to a palm-sized incense burner, and picked it up.

Gu Qingfeng discovered that the Chivalrous Spirit Incense Burner could contact distant heroes, and he reversed its dangerous price so it would make its user exceptionally calm. He lit it in his residence and finally activated it by summoning his desire to become a great hero, though the chapter ended before anyone answered.

• Gu Qingfeng found the Chivalrous Spirit Incense Burner and learned that it could connect its holder to other heroes, but its baleful aura could drive users mad.
• Gu Qingfeng reversed the burner’s price, changing its effect so that using it would make him exceptionally calm.
• Gu Qingfeng took incense from the practice rooms and returned to his residence to use the burner in secret.
• Gu Qingfeng lit the incense and spoke the required words, but nothing happened until he imagined himself punishing Golden Core Celestial Venerable and Zhang Yao.
• Gu Qingfeng tried again, and the incense smoke stretched into a straight line toward the roof as the burner activated.

Gu Qingfeng used the Chivalrous Spirit Incense Burner to contact other heroes and ask for rescue before his next test at the Golden Core Immortal Sect. With ten days left and no idea where the sect was, he returned to cultivation, where the Golden Core Immortal Formula brought back a familiar sensation.

• Gu Qingfeng discovered that the incense burner connected him to a group chat and asked the heroes to rescue him from the Golden Core Celestial Venerable.
• Lin Qingxia doubted she could defeat the formidable Celestial Venerable, while Peach-Eating Jade Sword agreed to help if Gu Qingfeng could give her the sect’s location.
• Gu Qingfeng realized he knew nothing about his location, hid the incense burner when someone returned, and went to investigate among his fellow disciples.
• Gu Qingfeng entered his training room and recited the Golden Core Immortal Formula while waiting for a chance to ask around.
• The formula made the words seem to writhe, and Gu Qingfeng’s Core Branch and Golden Core emerged from his body before a familiar throbbing sensation returned.

Gu Qingfeng learned that the Yi-Wood Golden Core Feeding Formula was draining his lifespan to turn him into food, but he could reverse its cost into Geng-Metal power. He stopped cultivating and went out to learn where the Golden Core Immortal Sect was, joining a peach-blossom-eyed junior sister beneath her human-skin umbrella.

• Gu Qingfeng discovered that the formula consumed his lifespan and that reversing its cost could let him cultivate a Geng-Metal Dao Fruit, but he decided to wait for the right moment.
• Gu Qingfeng cultivated through the night, ripening his Golden Core while losing sixty days of lifespan.
• Gu Qingfeng realized the sect's disciples were likely harvested once mature and feared that he and his fellow disciples were nearing that fate.
• Gu Qingfeng stopped cultivating, left the chamber to seek information about the sect's location, and met the peach-blossom-eyed junior sister in the rain.
• The junior sister invited Gu Qingfeng beneath her human-skin umbrella, giving him a chance to ask her questions.

Gu Qingfeng learned that the Golden Core Immortal Sect’s disciples had been abducted and that a spy might be hiding among them in another person’s skin. After discovering that Yuan Feeding City lay in the deadly Returning Ruins, he realized he would have to find a chance to escape on his own.

• Peach Blossom-Eyed Junior Sister told Gu Qingfeng she had been abducted from Yuan Feeding City and warned him that someone wearing Senior Sister Zhang’s skin might be spying on the disciples.
• Gu Qingfeng and Peach Blossom-Eyed Junior Sister agreed to use a curled right little finger as a secret identity signal.
• Gu Qingfeng used the Chivalrous Spirit Incense Burner and told the other participants that he had learned of Yuan Feeding City.
• One Lu Mang and Three Lin Qingxia identified Yuan Feeding City as a city in the Returning Ruins and described the region’s dangers, including the fall of First Divine Sword Feng Kuang.
• Gu Qingfeng learned that reaching the Returning Ruins would take months and concluded that he had to plan his own escape before the disciples reached maturity.

Gu Qingfeng trained for the Golden Core Celestial Venerable’s assessment while realizing cultivation was rapidly consuming his remaining lifespan. Before the assessment, the master displayed four skinned corpses as a warning against fleeing, leaving Gu Qingfeng afraid of what awaited him the next day.

• Gu Qingfeng attended morning class with Junior Brother Zhao and practiced Golden Core Swordsmanship alongside his fellow disciples.
• Junior Brother Zhao praised Gu Qingfeng’s growing Core Branch and Golden Core, while Gu Qingfeng continued cultivating for the assessment scheduled for the fifteenth.
• Gu Qingfeng saw that his cultivation had reduced his lifespan to five years and thirteen days, and worried that the sect might kill its disciples during the assessment.
• On the fourteenth day of the seventh month, Gu Qingfeng and the disciples found four flayed corpses hanging from the Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue, including the skin of inner disciple Zhang Lei.
• Golden Core Celestial Venerable claimed the dead had tried to flee the sect and warned his disciples against disloyalty before dismissing them ahead of the assessment.

Gu Qingfeng feared Golden Core Celestial Venerable was preparing to harvest the disciples and used Reversal of Cost to transform his Yi-Wood cultivation into powerful Geng-Metal strength. He mastered drawing out his Core Branch as a sword and concealed its glow, leaving him with a path to escape and fight back.

• Golden Core Celestial Venerable praised the disciples and dismissed them, while Gu Qingfeng suspected the next examination would be a harvest.
• Gu Qingfeng decided he needed a companion who knew the escape routes and considered asking his cautious peach-blossom-eyed junior sister.
• Gu Qingfeng recited “Reversal of Cost” and gained sharp Geng-Metal Power that let him pierce his wooden bed with two fingers.
• Gu Qingfeng learned to conceal the golden radiance and practiced controlling his Core Branch.
• Gu Qingfeng pulled out his Core Branch and wielded it as a sword without harming his foundation, resolving to escape through battle when the chance came.

Gu Qingfeng learned that Golden Core Celestial Venerable had taken Junior Brother Zhao and other disciples away, and he planned to flee while the master was in seclusion. Before he could seek help from Qi Lingguang, Eldest Senior Sister Zhang Yao took them to a secret chamber and began suppressing them.

• Gu Qingfeng found Junior Brother Zhao missing and learned that Golden Core Celestial Venerable had summoned him away with more than ten other disciples.
• At morning lessons, Gu Qingfeng saw that Golden Core Celestial Venerable was absent and resolved to escape while the master was in seclusion.
• Gu Qingfeng practiced using his Geng-Metal Power and planned to find Qi Lingguang for help.
• Zhang Yao ordered Gu Qingfeng, Zhao San, Wang Wu, Shen Yun, and Qi Lingguang to stay behind and led them to a secret chamber in Garan Hall.
• Zhang Yao claimed she would assess the five disciples in her master's stead, then chanted a scripture that made their bodies stiffen.

Zhang Yao revealed that she was both the Golden Core Celestial Venerable’s wife and sometimes his daughter, then attacked the disciples and tried to eat Gu Qingfeng’s Golden Core. Gu Qingfeng’s core proved too hard for her teeth, and he seized her head as golden light burst from his body.

• The chanting stiffened Qi Lingguang, Shen Yun, Wang Qian, and the others, while Gu Qingfeng pretended to be affected.
• Zhang Yao bit off nearly half of Shen Yun’s Golden Core, then revealed she was the Golden Core Celestial Venerable’s wife and sometimes his daughter.
• Zhang Yao slapped Qi Lingguang and threatened Gu Qingfeng, while Wang Qian encouraged her to punish him.
• Gu Qingfeng provoked Zhang Yao by questioning whether she could digest his Golden Core, and she tried to bite it off.
• Zhang Yao’s teeth cracked against Gu Qingfeng’s hard Golden Core, and he grabbed her head as golden light burst from his body.

Gu Qingfeng unleashed his concealed Geng-Metal Power and killed Zhang Yao, the third senior brother, and Wang Qian in the secret chamber. With Qi Lingguang and the others agreeing to follow him, Gu Qingfeng prepared to flee and ordered them to loot the bodies first.

• Gu Qingfeng impaled Zhang Yao with his detached Core Branch and used Geng-Metal Power to overcome her Yi-Wood strength.
• Gu Qingfeng defeated the third senior brother, cutting off his arm and slashing his neck before killing him.
• Qi Lingguang tried to stop Wang Qian from fleeing, while Gu Qingfeng shattered Zhang Yao's skull and killed her.
• Gu Qingfeng killed Wang Qian after he pleaded that the Golden Core Celestial Venerable was his uncle.
• Zhao San, Wang Wu, Shen Yun, and Qi Lingguang agreed to follow Gu Qingfeng, who ordered them to loot the bodies before fleeing.

After killing Zhang Yao, Gu Qingfeng led five targeted disciples toward an escape route through the Golden Core Immortal Sect. The group set out for the Furnace Workshop, still fearing the master in seclusion and the dangers ahead.

• Gu Qingfeng and the others agreed to flee after he killed Zhang Yao, whom they believed had planned to eat them.
• Gu Qingfeng searched Zhang Yao's corpse and found the Precious Moon Garment, an anomalous object that resisted ordinary blades and repelled insects.
• The group finished searching the corpses, and Gu Qingfeng told the others to keep their own spoils so they could hurry away.
• Shen Yun recalled directions to an exit from the Furnace Workshop, and Gu Qingfeng decided they should risk the route while the Golden Core Celestial Venerable remained in seclusion.
• Gu Qingfeng and the others left the secret chamber and secretly headed toward the Furnace Workshop, anxious about the master and the unknown dangers ahead.

Gu Qingfeng led the group through a hidden cavern exit beneath the Furnace Workshop, wielding his Core Branches as makeshift swords. As they followed Shen Yun’s escape route, a voice resembling the dead Lin Yu’s began calling to them, and they spotted her pale face hanging among the vines.

• Gu Qingfeng put on Zhang Yao’s Precious Moon Garment and led the group into the dark cave beside the Furnace Workshop.
• Gu Qingfeng drew out two golden Core Branches, but Qi Lingguang could not hold one because its Geng-Metal Power cut into her hand.
• The group followed Shen Yun’s route through the cavern, having turned right eight times toward the exit.
• Shen Yun heard someone calling her by name in a voice that resembled the dead Senior Sister Lin Yu’s, and the group soon heard it too.
• Wang Wu spotted Lin Yu’s pale face hanging among the vines overhead.

Gu Qingfeng and the disciples encountered creatures wearing the faces of their fellow disciples in the cavern, and he fought back to protect the group. After the Man-Dog attacked him while Qi Lingguang lay injured, Gu Qingfeng faced its next pounce with killing intent.

• Gu Qingfeng led the group onward after a pale face resembling Senior Sister Lin appeared and vanished.
• Wang Wu and Zhao San spotted a red-robed figure kneeling before a twisted tree at a fork in the tunnel.
• Qi Lingguang knocked a black shadow off course as it attacked Gu Qingfeng from above, and Gu Qingfeng smashed off its clawing arm before it escaped into the vines.
• The red-robed figure revealed Second Senior Brother Zhang Lei's face and attacked Qi Lingguang, but Gu Qingfeng drove it back by throwing his Core Branch.
• The Man-Dog dodged the thrown branch and pounced at Gu Qingfeng's unarmed left side as he prepared to counterattack.

Gu Qingfeng used Geng-Metal Power through his limbs to overwhelm Senior Sister Lin and Second Senior Brother in a brutal fight. As the cave’s trees came alive and dragged Qi Lingguang away, he charged after her.

• Gu Qingfeng turned his left arm into a sword and wounded Second Senior Brother, then attacked him with his limbs and Core Branches until he was nearly dead.
• Senior Sister Lin attacked from behind, but Gu Qingfeng pierced her chest with his elbow and continued striking both Man-Dogs.
• Gu Qingfeng’s relentless assault left Senior Sister Lin and Second Senior Brother twitching and unable to threaten anyone.
• The trees in the cave came alive, and one wrapped around Qi Lingguang’s ankle and dragged her into the forest.
• Gu Qingfeng kicked Second Senior Brother away and charged into the trees after Qi Lingguang.

Gu Qingfeng fought through the moving monster trees with his Core Branches and Geng-Metal Power to rescue Qi Lingguang, Wang Wu, and the others. He found Zhao San and Shen Yun, then continued chasing the fleeing monster trees even after they abandoned their captives.

• Gu Qingfeng cut through the monster trees and caught up with Qi Lingguang, stopping only after he accidentally rode over her.
• Gu Qingfeng and Qi Lingguang followed the cries to rescue Wang Wu and cut a path through the trees.
• Gu Qingfeng hacked apart a tree-entwined woman whom Wang Wu mistook for Senior Sister Shen, but Qi Lingguang realized she was someone else.
• Gu Qingfeng followed Zhao San's voice through the cave while the monster trees scattered before him.
• Two monster trees abandoned Zhao San and Shen Yun, but Gu Qingfeng pursued them and threw a Core Branch at one.

Gu Qingfeng and the others fought their way through the strange forest as it closed in around them and the dead began to move. Gu Qingfeng raced ahead along the tunnel wall, clearing a path while the group followed.

• Gu Qingfeng cut down the bizarre trees with his Geng-Metal Power until Qi Lingguang and the others stopped him, and he realized the fighting had exhausted him.
• The group spotted dead Golden Core Immortal Sect disciples entangled in the roots, and Gu Qingfeng severed a corpse’s hand when it tried to drag Shen Yun into the thicket.
• Wang Wu noticed their escape route closing, so Gu Qingfeng led the group onward as the trees and corpses surged around them.
• Corpses hanging overhead gave the group directions, but other corpses attacked them and tore apart some of their guides.
• Gu Qingfeng leaped up to kill an attacking corpse, then raced along the tunnel wall and told the others to keep running.

Gu Qingfeng led Qi Lingguang and the others through a cave packed with writhing roots and corpses, smashing a path toward the exit. They escaped into daylight and found themselves in a vast grassland beneath dark clouds.

• Gu Qingfeng rejoined Qi Lingguang and the others as the cave filled with strange trees that attacked from hiding.
• The group turned into a passage choked with roots and grasping corpses, while Gu Qingfeng smashed a route forward with the Core Branches.
• Qi Lingguang spotted the exit, restoring the group’s hope and resolve.
• Gu Qingfeng led the exhausted group through the final wave of roots and corpses, and they fought together to reach the slope.
• Gu Qingfeng rushed out first and saw the open grassland, confirming that they had escaped the cave.

Gu Qingfeng and the others escaped the Golden Core Immortal Sect and fled downstream for two days to evade pursuit. As the group rested and ate in the wilderness, Gu Qingfeng recovered his Geng-Metal Power, and his companions began treating him as an immortal master rather than a fellow disciple.

• Gu Qingfeng and the others ran from the Golden Core Immortal Sect while the remaining senior guides urged them never to return.
• Gu Qingfeng vowed to come back, kill the Golden Core Celestial Venerable, and destroy the tree holding the trapped corpses.
• Gu Qingfeng led the group into the icy river, and they drifted downstream before building a raft and continuing their escape.
• After two days of travel, the group stopped at a scrubland campsite, where Zhao San and Wang Wu found rabbits and Qi Lingguang gathered firewood.
• Gu Qingfeng regulated his breath and restored his Geng-Metal Power while his companions waited to eat, awed by his golden radiance.
• Shen Yun offered Gu Qingfeng roasted rabbit and changed her address from Junior Brother Gu to Immortal Master Gu.

After escaping the Golden Core Immortal Sect, Gu Qingfeng and his fellow disciples shared a cheerful camp and discussed their plans, with Qi Lingguang inviting him to Yuan Feeding City. Gu Qingfeng fell asleep, but awoke swept through a strange flood among long-necked figures and a colossal shadow.

• Gu Qingfeng noticed the others' awe and distance fading as they laughed together around the campfire.
• Shen Yun, Zhao San, Wang Wu, and Qi Lingguang discussed returning home, and Qi Lingguang invited Gu Qingfeng to Yuan Feeding City.
• Gu Qingfeng accepted the invitation, and the others also urged him to visit their hometowns.
• Wang Wu and Zhao San took turns keeping watch while Gu Qingfeng and the others slept.
• Gu Qingfeng dreamed of returning to Earth before waking to find himself swept through dark floodwaters.
• Gu Qingfeng searched for his companions and saw long-necked figures in the water and an enormous black shadow behind them.

Gu Qingfeng was swept from a strange flood by a colossal ship fused with a rotting woman, then stranded in a desert far from his companions. As he searched for water and a way out, he found a rotting scale that seemed connected to the ship.

• Gu Qingfeng saw long-necked figures hauling a gigantic ship fused with a decaying woman, and their gaze made him feel he was transforming into one of them until his Golden Core shone.
• The woman opened her eyes and the ship accelerated, blasting Gu Qingfeng away in a violent torrent.
• Gu Qingfeng came to a stop on a desert dune, alone and separated from Qi Lingguang and the others.
• Protected from the heat by the Precious Moon Garment, Gu Qingfeng walked across the desert in search of water and a way out.
• Gu Qingfeng followed a familiar throbbing sensation and found a rotting scale glowing faintly red in the sand.

Gu Qingfeng discovered that reversing the cost of the Crimson Corruption Godscale let him absorb its Immortal-Divine Power and heal his fingers, but he remained stranded in a waterless desert. After walking for two days and two nights, he mistook a mirage for an oasis and was left without hope of finding water.

• Gu Qingfeng picked up the Crimson Corruption Godscale, and its corruption began rotting the fingers of his right hand.
• Gu Qingfeng reversed the scale's cost, absorbed some of its Immortal-Divine Power, and watched his cultivation strengthen as his fingers healed.
• Gu Qingfeng realized the scale still corrupted other people and considered using it as a hidden weapon.
• Gu Qingfeng walked through the desert for two days and two nights without finding water or signs of life.
• Gu Qingfeng saw what looked like an oasis, but it vanished as a mirage when he approached.

Gu Qingfeng encountered a merchant caravan while lost in the desert and negotiated a place traveling with them. As they journeyed toward a city, he studied their strange headless Iron Horses and wondered what human-shaped cargo they carried.

• Gu Qingfeng heard bells, found a caravan resting on a dune, and saw its headless Iron Horses being fed black liquid.
• A woman and two men questioned Gu Qingfeng, and he explained how he had become lost after crossing the Lunar Mother Sea.
• The caravan leader allowed Gu Qingfeng to follow the group after he traded a golden anklet for food and water.
• Gu Qingfeng traveled at the rear of the caravan and observed the Iron Horses, then noticed a heavily loaded carriage covered with cloth and wondered if it held people or corpses.

Gu Qingfeng crossed the desert with Liu Yu’s caravan and learned that they were headed for Red Tears City. After an Iron Horse caught fire and the caravan resumed traveling, a strange moon appeared, and the woman ordered everyone to strip and drain all their water.

• Gu Qingfeng kept pace with the caravan through the desert and reached the Poplar Forest, where he drank from a stream.
• After leaving the desert, Liu Yu’s caravan offered Gu Qingfeng grape wine and told him they were headed to Red Tears City.
• An Iron Horse suddenly erupted in flames, but the caravan members smothered the fire with dirt and continued onward.
• Under the moonlit grassland, the caravan halted when its members spotted the Yin Moon, and the woman ordered them to strip and drain all the water.

Gu Qingfeng witnessed the moon turn monstrous as Beauty Mosquitoes emerged and drained the caravan and nearby animals. He fought off the swarm and killed its blood-red leader, leaving the other mosquitoes fleeing and the caravan staring at him from inside the god statues.

• Gu Qingfeng saw the moon sprout writhing limbs, while the caravan members shriveled and crawled into hollow god statues for protection.
• Giant Beauty Mosquitoes rose from the ground and drained animals across the grassland as they flew toward the moon.
• Gu Qingfeng used Core Branch and Geng-Metal Power to repel the mosquitoes, but his golden light attracted more of them.
• A blood-red Beauty Mosquito charged at Gu Qingfeng, who stabbed it with Core Branch and launched the Crimson Corruption Godscale into its mouth.
• Gu Qingfeng severed the blood-red mosquito's hands as the scale rotted its flesh, killing it and scattering the swarm while the caravan watched.