Chapter Summaries

After breaking through, Huo Hai discovered that his Spirit Source had filled with liquid spiritual power, putting him well ahead in preparation for the Spirit Marshal realm. He opened the final box, learned the Lightning Attraction Art could let cultivators store up to three lightning-charged attacks, and set out through the Maze to find the keys.

• Huo Hai tempered and replenished his spiritual power, then found that tiny droplets had gathered into a pool of liquid spiritual power in his Spirit Source.
• After cultivating for more than half a day, Huo Hai filled his Spirit Source with liquid spiritual power and realized he had advanced toward the requirements for the Spirit Marshal realm.
• Huo Hai opened the last box and read that the Lightning Attraction Art attracted lightning, converted it to the user's attribute, and sealed up to three Lightning Balls inside the body.
• Huo Hai put the scroll away and headed into the Maze to search for keys, sending his Star Gu ahead to scout for traps.
• Huo Hai recalled how a Star Gu had triggered a barrage of Spirit-Breaking Arrows and became more cautious as he searched.

Huo Hai found a Flame Servitor guarding a sealed chest and used Little Cloud’s mist and the Frost Sword to defeat it. He survived the fight with an injured arm, but the sword’s icy power weakened as it destroyed the servitor.

• Huo Hai’s Star Gu found a moving guardian in a room containing a sealed chest, and he identified it as a flame-based Spirit Servitor.
• Huo Hai summoned Little Cloud to surround the Flame Servitor with cooling mist, weakening its flames while the formation replenished it.
• Huo Hai charged in with the Frost Sword and pierced the Flame Servitor, but it struck him and burned open his right arm.
• The Frost Sword remained inside the servitor and suppressed it until its form began to vanish.
• Huo Hai blasted apart the weakened Flame Servitor, then retrieved the Frost Sword and discovered that its icy power had diminished.

Huo Hai opened a treasure room in the Maze and took its cache of flame-attributed spirit jade, then fought two Demon Spirit Masters who tried to rob him. After killing them, he searched their bodies for loot to make up for the damage to his Frost Sword.

• Huo Hai discovered that the chest held several thousand pieces of flame-attributed spirit jade and stored the chest and jade in his Inner Space, causing the room's Spirit Formation to collapse.
• Two Demon Spirit Masters found Huo Hai and demanded that he surrender his possessions, then attacked him when he refused.
• Huo Hai endured their attacks with his protective soft armor and cut off one arm from each attacker with the Frost Sword.
• Huo Hai used the Star Gu and Blood-Shaking Thorn to break the wounded Demon Spirit Masters' shields, and the Star Gu killed them.
• Huo Hai searched the two Demon Spirit Masters' bodies, hoping to find something valuable to compensate for his damaged Frost Sword.

Huo Hai found a high-grade swordsmanship Battle Spirit Art and gathered supplies while exploring the Maze. He discovered a key to the next trial guarded by a powerful spirit snake servitor and defeated it with his Star Gu and Blood-Shaking Thorn.

• Huo Hai looted two Demon Spirit Masters and found the Profound Grade Upper-tier Spirit-Infused Swordsmanship, which he decided to learn.
• Huo Hai treated his injuries, replenished his water, and stored a drop of milky-white liquid that could satisfy his nutritional needs for three days.
• Huo Hai found a spirit snake servitor guarding the silvery-white key that would send its holder to the third trial.
• Huo Hai attacked the spirit snake with his Star Gu and Blood-Shaking Thorn, using it as a target to improve his technique.
• Huo Hai's attacks stripped away the snake's scales, allowing the Star Gu to eat through its neck until it fell still.

Huo Hai explored the maze after acquiring a key, but a Spirit Marshal Realm Demon Spirit Master named Mo Hen captured him and demanded it. Huo Hai surrendered the key to survive, while Mo Hen left him behind and said he would recommend him for demonic transformation if he escaped the ruins.

• Huo Hai learned that the key could not be stored, made him glow, and required about half a minute to teleport him out when crushed.
• After two fruitless days, Huo Hai found another room and sensed a powerful presence inside.
• Mo Hen used his power to drag Huo Hai into the room, and Huo Hai realized he could not resist the Spirit Marshal Realm Demon Spirit Master.
• Mo Hen invited Huo Hai to join the Demon Spirit Masters, but Huo Hai refused, citing his family and the Southern Cloud Kingdom.
• Mo Hen demanded Huo Hai's key, and Huo Hai handed it over rather than risk being killed.
• Mo Hen praised Huo Hai, promised to recommend him for transformation through a demon seed if he survived, and left.

Summary: “Shift in Mindset”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Huo Hai reflects bitterly on his lack of strength after Mo Hen leaves with the advantage. He realizes that possessing a key is meaningless if he cannot defend it, and resolves to find another key and leave the maze immediately.
• He changes routes and spends several days searching. The traps he encounters are harmless because his Star Gu detect and trigger them from a distance, but the rooms he finds have already been looted.
• Growing desperate, Huo Hai worries that most keys have already been taken by stronger Spirit Marshal Realm experts. Determined to survive and reunite with his family, he abandons his remaining morality and accepts that he may need to kill or steal in order to escape.
• The Star Gu eventually detect another person. Huo Hai carefully investigates instead of rushing in and identifies the figure as Huang Xing, a Mid Spirit General Realm expert from the Huang Family who possesses a key.
• Huang Xing initially appears friendly but reveals that he knows Huo Hai killed a Huang Family Spirit General. He intends to kill Huo Hai and take advantage of his weakened position, claiming that Huo Hai will have no use for the key.
• Huang Xing attacks with the Huang Family’s secret technique, Cloudburst Fist. Huo Hai counters with the Frost Sword, the Blood-Shaking Thorns, and his partially mastered Spirit-Attached Sword Art.
• Rather than meet Huang Xing’s full power directly, Huo Hai uses the clash to retreat and lets the Star Gu surround and overwhelm him. Huang Xing’s technique is poorly suited to fighting swarms of insects, leaving him unable to escape.
• Huang Xing first invokes the authority and laws of the Southern Cloud Kingdom, accusing Huo Hai of treason, then changes tactics and calls the attack a misunderstanding. Huo Hai distrusts him and retreats cautiously, refusing to release the Star Gu.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai: Becomes more pragmatic, ruthless, and survival-focused. His desperation causes him to discard conventional morality, though his motivation remains protecting himself and returning to his family. He also demonstrates improved combat judgment by scouting with the Star Gu, avoiding a direct clash, and exploiting his opponent’s weaknesses.
• Huang Xing: Reveals himself as hostile and vengeful despite his initial friendly appearance. When his attack fails and he becomes trapped, his confidence collapses into fear, legalistic intimidation, and finally false conciliatory language.
• Mo Hen: Though absent from the main events, his earlier departure continues to influence Huo Hai’s mindset by reminding him of his own weakness and lack of options.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus morality: Huo Hai concludes that desperate circumstances may force people to abandon morality and adopt ruthless methods.
• The importance of strength: Opportunities such as keys offer no true protection without the power to defend them.
• Cunning over brute force: Huo Hai wins the confrontation by using reconnaissance, tactical retreat, and the Star Gu rather than matching Huang Xing head-on.
• Hypocrisy and power: Huang Xing invokes law and national loyalty only after his attempted murder fails, exposing such ideals as tools used by the powerful when convenient.
• Determination and hope: Despite despair, Huo Hai refuses to surrender because he wants to survive and see his family again.

Character Interactions

• Huo Hai and Huang Xing begin with cautious conversation, each testing the other’s intentions.
• Huang Xing shifts from apparent friendliness to open hostility after mentioning Huo Hai’s conflict with the Huang Family.
• Their exchange escalates into a battle involving Cloudburst Fist, the Frost Sword, Blood-Shaking Thorns, and the Star Gu.
• After being trapped, Huang Xing alternates between threats, appeals to national law, and requests for peace. Huo Hai rejects all of these attempts and keeps his distance, recognizing that Huang Xing cannot be trusted.

Huo Hai defeated Huang Xing and took his Maze key, then discovered and seized a hidden object from Huang Xing’s corpse just before teleporting out of the Maze. In a vast plain beyond the Maze, he regretted leaving the body behind and blamed Mo Hen for the fear that was disturbing his state of mind.

• Huo Hai strengthened the Star Gu, and they broke Huang Xing’s shield so Huo Hai could paralyze him with Blood-Shaking Thorns before the Star Gu killed him.
• Huo Hai took Huang Xing’s Maze key and belongings, then waited for the key to teleport him out of the Maze.
• Huo Hai sensed an object on Huang Xing’s corpse that his perception could not detect and tore it free just before the teleportation began.
• Huo Hai appeared on a vast plain holding a scrap of cloth and realized he had left Huang Xing’s body behind without cleaning up.
• Huo Hai blamed Mo Hen for the shadow on his state of mind and vowed to kill him if they met again.

Huo Hai arrived on the enormous plain of the third trial, where an unknown opportunity could free everyone, and discovered that the ambient energy healed his wound but distressed his Star Gu. He also found the Fang Family’s Cloudflow Finger technique among Huang Xing’s belongings and set out to explore the plain while keeping watch for danger.

• The information left by the speck of light explained that the third trial was an enclosed plain, and everyone would be transported away once someone found its sole opportunity.
• Huo Hai checked himself after the speck’s explosion and found that warm energy in the air was rapidly healing his reopened arm wound.
• Huo Hai opened a tiny iron box taken from Huang Xing’s clothing and found a complete record of the Fang Family’s Cloudflow Finger technique.
• Huo Hai tested the technique’s first two levels, then put it away, deciding it would be more useful to Fang Biya than to him.
• Huo Hai sorted Huang Xing’s remaining possessions and set out to scout the plain with his Star Gu, which reacted with distress to the energy in the air.

Huo Hai searched the plain for the source of its unusual spiritual force and found rings of light that released it, though they showed no obvious effects. While preparing a wild ox for food, he discovered insects that fed on the force, and the chapter ended with the Star Gu craving those insects.

• Mo Hen found that the plain's force suppressed Demon Spirit Masters, so he searched for the inheritance while fearing Orthodox Spirit Masters would claim it.
• Huo Hai followed the Star Gu's discomfort to a glowing ring and discovered it released radiant, mutated spiritual power, but testing and digging revealed no clear opportunity.
• Huo Hai found another identical ring, while other entrants also discovered rings and found they caused no apparent change.
• Huo Hai killed a wild ox and studied a nearby nest of insects that consumed the unusual spiritual power and had strong self-recovery.
• Huo Hai began roasting the ox, then realized the Star Gu's intense appetite was directed at the insects.

Huo Hai discovered that the insects on the plain could purify the Star Gu’s demonic energy when combined with radiant spiritual power and a restorative shamanic formation. He kept the Star Gu feeding and recovering until only Little Star remained to be purified.

• Huo Hai let the Star Gu devour the plain’s insects, but several Star Gu soon collapsed in pain.
• Huo Hai carved a restorative shamanic formation into a rock, used spirit stones to power it, and had the Star Gu carry their suffering companions inside.
• The formation expelled black demonic energy from the Star Gu, and Huo Hai realized the insects and radiant spiritual power were helping purify them.
• Huo Hai ordered the Star Gu to evolve in batches and disgorge their stored spiritual power, then set up a formation to draw more insects from underground.
• The first Star Gu finished purification and replenished its spiritual power by eating spirit stones, while the rest followed in turn.
• Little Star remained the last to be purified because it had absorbed the most demonic energy.

Huo Hai prepared his Star Gu to evolve into the Spirit General realm by feeding them radiant insects and setting up an auxiliary formation to strengthen their bonds. He also began transforming his other insects, but the Bone-Eating Worm Matriarch could not evolve without bones from Spirit General experts or spirit beasts.

• Huo Hai spent more than half his spirit stones purifying and replenishing the Star Gu, which reached the peak of the Spirit Adept realm and became ready to transform.
• Huo Hai ordered the Star Gu to devour the radiant insects around the shamanic formation, then led them to a hidden underground chamber.
• Huo Hai spent two days studying an Auxiliary Shamanic Formation before placing Little Star and the other Star Gu inside it to begin transforming.
• Huo Hai released the restrictions on his other insects, and Little Cloud, Little Gold, and Silver Pearl began preparing to transform.
• Little Butterfly drained the Tree Demon's strange fruit to gain mental power, then started making a cocoon for its transformation.
• Huo Hai discovered that the Bone-Eating Worm Matriarch needed bones from Spirit General experts or spirit beasts before it could transform.

Huo Hai’s Lightning Ball drew Mo Hen to the canyon while the Star Gu were metamorphosing, forcing Huo Hai to hide inside a hastily modified formation. After Mo Hen left, Huo Hai built a stronger Hidden Spirit Formation and began monitoring him, but Mo Hen stayed nearby.

• Huo Hai tested the Lightning Attraction Art, absorbed weak, attribute-less lightning, and released a Lightning Ball through the rift.
• Mo Hen followed the Lightning Ball’s trail toward the canyon, while Huo Hai realized his metamorphosing Star Gu could not scout or help him escape.
• Huo Hai hastily modified his existing formation into a Hidden Spirit Formation just as Mo Hen arrived, and Mo Hen searched the area without finding him.
• After Mo Hen left, Huo Hai built a more reliable Profound Grade Mid-tier Hidden Spirit Formation and erased the traces of the first one.
• Huo Hai scattered Earth-Attribute Earthworms to monitor Mo Hen and continued tending the Shamanic Formation while Mo Hen remained in the area.

Huo Hai watched the Star Gu complete their transformation into white, light-attribute spirit insects, and discovered that their change had also linked all five thousand of them to him through Little Star. He left the Star Gu hungry but under his control, ready to feed them and give them another task.

• Huo Hai sealed the transforming Star Gu inside an additional Isolation Spirit Formation while Mo Hen repeatedly searched the area.
• The Star Gu emerged from their cocoons as white, light-attribute insects, and their gathered power burned away the Shamanic Formation and vitrified the ground.
• Huo Hai found that the Star Gu could suppress their light and had reached the Spirit General Realm, though they could not cast light-attribute spells.
• Huo Hai realized the auxiliary insect refining formation had linked all five thousand Star Gu to him through Little Star, giving him clear contact with each one and removing the risk of rebellion or escape.
• Huo Hai sensed that the Star Gu were hungry after exhausting their spiritual energy and gave them spirit stones to eat.

Huo Hai sent his newly strengthened Star Gu to attack Mo Hen, whose demonic power and control over the air initially threatened to stop them. The Star Gu’s light attribute power countered Mo Hen’s demonic energy, leaving him surrounded and unable to escape.

• Huo Hai discovered that his Star Gu had consumed his million spirit stones and several pieces of spirit jade while replenishing their power.
• The Star Gu reported Mo Hen’s location to Huo Hai, who ordered them to attack and used their shared senses to track the fight.
• Mo Hen shielded himself and froze the surrounding air, slowing the Star Gu as their attacks rapidly drained his spiritual power.
• The Star Gu’s light attribute power dispersed Mo Hen’s demonic energy, and Huo Hai realized their light power countered it.
• Mo Hen used the last of his spiritual power and spirit jade to flee, but the Star Gu surrounded him, knocked him back, and continued draining his power.

Huo Hai watched the Star Gu destroy Mo Hen’s spirit source and demonic energy, then killed him and overcame the inner demon Mo Hen had left in his heart. After burying Mo Hen, Huo Hai discovered a Spatial Ring among his belongings and began inspecting its contents.

• The Star Gu entered Mo Hen’s body and used their light-attributed spiritual power to destroy his spirit veins and spirit source, leaving him crippled and purifying his demonic energy.
• Huo Hai revealed that he had raised the insects and trapped Mo Hen, then rejected Mo Hen’s offer to trade his belongings for his life and killed him with the Frost Sword.
• Mo Hen’s death dispelled Huo Hai’s inner demon, leaving him with a clearer mind, stronger resolve, improved control, and a weakened cultivation bottleneck.
• Huo Hai had the Star Gu take Mo Hen’s belongings, buried his corpse, and found a Spatial Ring among the items.
• Huo Hai infused the Spatial Ring with spiritual power and saw its contents.

Chapter Summary: “Secret Dealings”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After defeating Mo Hen, Huo Hai searches his belongings but finds little of value beyond a spatial ring and two Spirit Crystals. Mo Hen possessed no notable weapons or techniques because his fighting style relied mainly on his innate air-controlling ability.
• Having overcome his inner demon, Huo Hai leaves to search for the hidden opportunity within the area. He spends the following days:
  • Sending out the Star Gu to investigate the surroundings.
  • Practicing the Lightning Attraction Art and improving his Spirit-Infused Swordsmanship.
  • Training the increasingly intelligent Star Gu to follow commands and coordinate in battle.
• Ten days pass without Huo Hai finding the opportunity. He avoids two Orthodox Spirit Masters, remaining cautious because of his previous encounter with Huang Xing and the ongoing threat from Demon Spirit Masters.
• Huo Hai later discovers an Orthodox Spirit Master from the Bright Yang Kingdom secretly meeting with a Demon Spirit Master. Rather than fighting, the two discuss a conspiracy.
• The Bright Yang expert has apparently betrayed the Bright Yang Kingdom and is cooperating with the Demon Spirit Masters. In exchange for helping them destroy the Southern Nations, he expects the Bright Yang Kingdom to be handed over to his faction.
• The Demon Spirit Master reveals that the alliance is false: Demon Spirit Masters do not truly accept partners. The Orthodox traitors will either become Demon Spirit Masters or eventually be destroyed.
• Huo Hai realizes that the betrayal could endanger the Bright Yang Kingdom and, consequently, the Southern Cloud Kingdom. He initially considers killing the traitor but decides to spare him so he can use him to investigate the larger conspiracy.
• Huo Hai instead orders the Star Gu to attack the Demon Spirit Master. The Star Gu effortlessly pierce his spiritual energy shield, demonstrating their overwhelming advantage against Demonicized Spiritual Power, and capture him alive.

Character Developments

• Huo Hai: Becomes more disciplined and strategic. Rather than acting immediately on his anger, he recognizes the value of preserving the traitor as a lead. His concern for the stability of the Southern Cloud Kingdom also highlights his growing sense of responsibility toward his family and homeland.
• The Star Gu: Develop greater intelligence and begin understanding commands and remembering instructions. Huo Hai works to teach them coordinated tactics, significantly increasing their potential combat effectiveness.
• Bright Yang traitor: Revealed as ambitious and willing to betray his kingdom for political power. He believes the Demon Spirit Masters will reward him with control over the Bright Yang Kingdom.
• Demon Spirit Master: Shown to be manipulative, ruthless, and dismissive of genuine alliances. He intends to exploit the Bright Yang faction and eliminate them once they are no longer useful.

Significant Themes

• Betrayal and political ambition: The chapter exposes corruption within the Bright Yang Kingdom, showing how personal ambition can threaten an entire nation.
• False alliances: Cooperation between Orthodox and Demon Spirit Masters is based on deception and coercion rather than trust.
• Strategic restraint: Huo Hai learns that killing an enemy immediately is not always the best choice; preserving a dangerous person can provide valuable information.
• Growing power through cooperation: Huo Hai’s efforts to coordinate the Star Gu suggest that teamwork and intelligent control can be as important as individual strength.
• Protection and responsibility: Huo Hai’s determination to preserve the Southern Cloud Kingdom is motivated by his desire to keep his family safe.

Important Character Interactions

• Huo Hai secretly overhears the Bright Yang expert demanding that the Demon Spirit Master honor their agreement.
• The Demon Spirit Master argues that the Bright Yang faction has already benefited from the alliance and must continue serving the larger demonic plan.
• The Bright Yang expert doubts that the Demon Spirit Masters will truly allow Orthodox Spirit Masters to cultivate techniques opposing Demonic Energy.
• After the traitor leaves, the Demon Spirit Master openly admits that Demon Spirit Masters have no true partners and intend either to convert or destroy their collaborators.
• Huo Hai chooses not to reveal himself, sparing the traitor while sending the Star Gu to ambush and capture the Demon Spirit Master.

Huo Hai learned that the Feng Family was secretly allied with the Demon Spirit Masters and discovered that the rings of light were teleportation formations activated by light power. He prepared to pass through one with his Star Gu, hoping to leave the plain after more than a month in the ruins.

• Huo Hai tortured a Demon Spirit Master into revealing that Feng Leyun and the Feng Family had made a deal with the Demon Spirit Masters to seize the Bright Yang Kingdom.
• Huo Hai discovered the Feng Family had two Spirit Marshal experts, then killed the Demon Spirit Master and continued searching the plain.
• Huo Hai noticed that his Star Gu lost and regained its connection when it passed through a ring of light while releasing light power.
• Huo Hai tested the ring with a Star Gu and his own arm, learning that it led to another space when activated by light power.
• Huo Hai gathered his Star Gu, surrounded himself with their light power, and prepared to pass through the ring.

Huo Hai entered the ruins’ final chamber and learned from a stone tablet that the site had been built a thousand years ago to forge a light-attribute weapon capable of dispersing the Devil Master and purifying the Demon Pool. He found the weapon still forming and radiant spiritual power gathered nearby, but had not yet figured out how to carry them away.

• Huo Hai passed through the ring of light with all his Star Gu and found an altar, a strange white fire, and an inscribed stone tablet.
• Huo Hai deciphered the tablet and learned that twelve Earth Grade experts had sealed the Devil Master inside the Demon Pool rather than destroy the Southern Nations’ earth vein.
• Huo Hai discovered that the ruins had been built to forge a weapon from the seven Golden Sparrows, which could disperse the Devil Master and purify the Demon Pool.
• Huo Hai decided the Ink Lotus Domain’s descendants had no right to claim the treasures after neglecting the Southern Nations for a thousand years.
• Huo Hai recognized the Golden Sparrows melting in the altar’s mold and spotted a pool of liquid radiant spiritual power, then wondered how he could transport it all.

While waiting for his weapon to finish forging, Huo Hai experimented with the Lightning Attraction Art and learned that his lightning could fuse with an insect’s attribute, but low-level insects produced weak or unstable attacks. He focused on swordsmanship instead, and when the countdown reached one, the glowing flame began melting the mold into the altar and forming a spirit formation.

• Huo Hai studied the Lightning Attraction Art and realized his lightning might take on the attributes of his spirit insects.
• Huo Hai infused an earthworm with lightning, causing its earth-attribute power to form a lightning ball before it exploded with force.
• Huo Hai tested bone-eating worms and other insects, but their low level made the Lightning Attraction Art less effective than his direct attacks.
• Huo Hai set aside the art for now and practiced Spirit-Infused Swordsmanship, becoming more confident in close combat.
• When the stone tablet’s countdown reached one, the white flame intensified, melted the mold into the altar, and formed a spirit formation in its patterns.

Huo Hai completed the Earth Grade Demon-Subduing Sword and concealed it, then discovered and claimed more inheritances in the ruins. He left with the Light-Gathering Technique and Dawnlight Art memorized, while deciding not to damage the altar that was his way out.

• The altar finished forging the Demon-Subduing Sword, and Huo Hai recognized its spiritual awareness as a sign that it was an Earth Grade weapon.
• Huo Hai resolved to hide the sword until he was strong enough to protect it and stored it in his Inner Space.
• Huo Hai took the pool of light power into his Inner Space and memorized the Earth Grade lower-tier Light-Gathering Technique before destroying its inscription.
• Huo Hai smashed the stone stele and found a scroll containing the Earth Grade lower-tier Dawnlight Art, which he memorized and kept.
• Huo Hai considered dismantling the altar but left it intact because it was his only way out.