Chapter Summaries

Long Xuan and the Divine Dragon Ship arrived at the island, where Luo Hongchen revealed Long Xuan’s feat of killing a Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivator and Cai Shao warned his people not to provoke him. Long Xuan assessed the other major ships as competitors, while Leng Yan identified the Red Demon Pirate Group as a powerful and dangerous threat.

• Luo Hongchen warned Cai Shao and the others not to underestimate Long Xuan, recounting how he had killed Jun Zaitian and a Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivator.
• Cai Shao recognized the story, ordered his people to avoid Long Xuan, and the crew of the Divine Dragon Ship reacted with shock when they heard about his strength.
• Long Xuan asked everyone to keep a low profile, docked the Divine Dragon Ship, and led his crew ashore.
• Long Xuan identified the Qian Clan’s Money Ship, the Cai Clan Merchant Association’s Golden Treasure Ship, and the Red Demon Ship among his major competitors.
• Leng Yan explained that the Red Demon Pirate Group came from the Central Region and far surpassed the Black Dragon Pirate Group, then urged the crew to stay alert.

Long Xuan and his crew were confronted by the five-hundred-strong Black Dragon Pirate Group on the island, where they were waiting for Sky Island to emerge. To protect his outnumbered crew, Long Xuan offered two Sea-Gathering Pills for every pirate head, turning the spectators into the pirates’ attackers.

• Long Xuan spent half a month fishing up rare Gold Marrow Fish while waiting for Sky Island to emerge.
• Ye Qingluan warned Long Xuan that the Black Dragon Pirate Group had landed and was coming after them.
• Nie Qingcheng cautioned the crew that the pirates must have a plan, while Long Xuan worried that their fivefold numbers would cause his crew heavy losses.
• Scarface rejected Long Xuan’s offer of a one-on-one duel and ordered the Black Dragon Pirate Group to attack.
• Long Xuan promised two Sea-Gathering Pills for each pirate head, and his Integrity Gu confirmed the offer was true.
• The spectators charged the Black Dragon Pirate Group for the reward, overwhelming the pirates and turning the fight into a massacre.

Long Xuan turned the Black Dragon Pirate Group’s ambush into a rout by rallying island Gu Masters with promises of Sea-Gathering Pills. After the pirates were defeated, he returned to fishing and decided to stay close to the Golden Treasure Ship’s powerful faction during the Sky Island Ruins expedition.

• Long Xuan withdrew from his fight with Scarface and let the crowd surround him, while Luo Hongchen joined in to claim Scarface’s head for a reward.
• Scarface released five Unusual Gu, and two other Black Dragon Pirate Group cultivators revealed their own Unusual Gu, killing many Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu Masters.
• Long Xuan exposed the three infiltrators and offered thirty Sea-Gathering Pills for each Spiritual Sea Stage pirate’s head, drawing the crowd into the battle.
• The three pirates’ Gu Insects turned on them and fled, allowing the Gu Masters to kill them and fight over their heads and storage bags.
• The crowd killed all five hundred pirates and brought their heads to Long Xuan, who exchanged Message Transmission Talismans with the claimants.
• Long Xuan returned to fishing and resolved to stay near the Golden Treasure Ship’s faction during the Sky Island Ruins expedition for protection.

Black Dragon learned that his men had been defeated and resolved to pursue Long Xuan, while Long Xuan’s fleet reached the rising Sky Island and prepared to climb its eastern waterfall. The chapter ended with Nie Qingcheng confident she could steer the Divine Dragon Ship up the dangerous cascade.

• Black Dragon learned Scarface’s men had been wiped out by an island-wide attack and ordered a divination to locate Long Xuan, planning to act personally.
• The Gu Masters agreed on routes to enter Sky Island and appointed five alliance leaders to coordinate an attack on Divine Mechanism City; Long Xuan’s group was assigned to the east gate.
• Long Xuan’s fleet reached the sea trench, split into four groups, and waited for Sky Island to rise.
• Sky Island emerged from the depths and climbed into the clouds, leaving four immense waterfalls as the routes to reach it.
• Long Xuan asked Nie Qingcheng whether she could steer the Divine Dragon Ship up the eastern waterfall, and she confidently accepted the challenge.

Long Xuan and the Divine Dragon Ship survived the perilous climb up the waterfall to Sky Island, where the crew prepared to gather spiritual herbs. Elsewhere, Qin Kai led the Red Demon Pirate Group onto the island.

• Nie Qingcheng steered the Divine Dragon Ship up the waterfall using its systems, while Cai Shao observed from the Golden Treasure Ship and followed with the other vessels.
• Di Xin blasted apart a ship falling toward the Divine Dragon Ship, and Long Xuan ordered the crew to overtake the crashing ships ahead.
• Long Xuan and the crew reached Sky Island, and he stored the Divine Dragon Ship in the Ocean Heart before the group split up to search for spiritual herbs.
• Qin Kai led nearly ten thousand members of the Red Demon Pirate Group off the Red Demon Ship and onto Sky Island.

Qin Kai planned to strand the visitors on Sky Island and extort their fortunes, while Long Xuan discovered signs that the island’s treasures had been deliberately cultivated to attract Gu Masters. Di Xin revealed that a deathless human soul inside a crystal coffin at the center of Divine Mechanism City kept the island cycling endlessly.

• Qin Kai ordered the chubby pirate to secretly push most ships into the sea near the end of the island’s cycle, then demand most of the stranded visitors’ fortunes for passage.
• The chubby pirate agreed to use his Heaven-Piercing Giant Toad and said he would sacrifice the supreme-grade Gu worm to conceal their involvement.
• Long Xuan saw that someone had destroyed a Spirit Fruit tree and many other spiritual herbs, and suspected Sky Island’s resources had been planted to lure Gu Masters.
• Di Xin told Long Xuan that a letter hidden with the Endless Jade described an aged human soul in a crystal coffin at the center of Divine Mechanism City.
• Di Xin explained that the soul would never die, causing Sky Island to cycle endlessly and its treasures to be replenished.

Di Xin explained that an immortal trapped in Divine Mechanism City used the Gambling God Gu to accumulate lifespan, aptitude, special physiques, and treasures by gambling with Sky Island entrants. Long Xuan decided he could avoid the dangerous gambling, but set out with Di Xin to find the Three-Legged Golden Toad he believed the immortal possessed.

• Long Xuan stopped and questioned Di Xin about the immortal's endless lifespan and why he had lured Gu cultivators onto Sky Island.
• Di Xin revealed that the immortal possessed the Gambling God Gu, which let him wager for others' attributes and life, and that he sought a vessel with four Divine-Grade Aptitudes.
• Di Xin explained that entrants could voluntarily gamble for the immortal's treasures, while he replenished Divine Mechanism City's rooms with loot taken from the many people killed on Sky Island.
• Di Xin said she had found a letter from an entrant whose memories had not been erased, which exposed the immortal's scheme and the secrets of Sky Island.
• Long Xuan concluded he was not a suitable possession vessel and could refuse to gamble, then decided to pursue the Three-Legged Golden Toad with Di Xin.

Long Xuan and Di Xin fought through a group of Gu cultivators, then joined the forces gathering outside Divine Mechanism City. As Cai Shao and Ninth Young Master weighed the cost of attacking the puppet-guarded city, the siege remained imminent and its likely losses became clear.

• Long Xuan and Di Xin killed the white-clad Gu cultivators who tried to block their path, but their bodies vanished before Long Xuan could claim anything from them.
• Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to locate rare spirit herbs, and the island's resources were stripped over the next three days.
• Long Xuan, Di Xin, and Leng Yan gathered with the forces outside Divine Mechanism City and learned about the powerful puppets guarding it.
• Ninth Young Master questioned whether an assault on the city could be profitable, while Cai Shao warned that defeating the silver and gold puppets would require many casualties.

The Ninth Young Master forced Cai Shao to agree to lead an assault against a Puppet General, while Gu Tianyi revealed that the city assault would succeed despite heavy casualties. After leaving Cai Shao, the Ninth Young Master met Gu Tianyi and said he had followed his instructions to trap Cai Shao and had delivered the Sea-Calming Pill, completing their deal.

• The Ninth Young Master pushed Cai Shao into accepting a plan that assigned them and another powerful fighter to handle the three Puppet Generals.
• Gu Tianyi said past assaults on Divine Mechanism City had always succeeded, though more than half the attackers died, and refused to share further information.
• The Ninth Young Master swore with an Integrity Gu to support Cai Shao after defeating his Puppet General, but Cai Shao suspected he would evade the promise and went to seek Luo Hongchen's help.
• The Ninth Young Master sent a clone to find Long Xuan, then met Gu Tianyi and reported that Cai Shao had been trapped as instructed and that their Sea-Calming Pill transaction was complete.

Gu Tianyi revealed that he planned to take the Gu God Alms Bowl even at the cost of his life, then possess his younger brother’s body to escape the Sea-Calming Pill’s effects. Meanwhile, Long Xuan accepted the task of leading his crew against a Puppet General in the siege.

• Gu Tianyi told the Ninth Young Master he would use a Sea-Calming Pill to break through and seize the Gu God Alms Bowl, despite its fatal side effects.
• Gu Tianyi revealed he intended to possess his younger brother’s Heavenly Spirit Physique and claim his younger brother’s fiancée, and admitted he had killed his sister to refine Gu.
• Gu Tianyi asked the Ninth Young Master to kill his younger brother’s killer and eliminate anyone pursuing the stolen letter about the Gu God Alms Bowl; the Ninth Young Master took out an Integrity Gu after Gu Tianyi swore it was his last request.
• The Ninth Young Master’s avatar asked Long Xuan to take on a Puppet General during the siege, and Long Xuan agreed to lead his hundred men against the one on the far right.

Long Xuan prepared his forces for the assault on Divine Mechanism City while keeping Yang Zhan’s restored Spiritual Sea Stage cultivation secret. Under Cai Shao’s plan, the Gu cultivators wore down the city’s defenses from range, breached all four walls, and poured inside, where a much larger puppet army still awaited them.

• Yang Zhan told Long Xuan he had recovered his cultivation, but Long Xuan ordered him to conceal his strength and hold back for a greater crisis.
• Cai Shao and Ninth Young Master led twenty thousand Gu cultivators toward the eastern wall as the other alliances attacked the remaining sides.
• The Gu cultivators endured cannon fire, crossbow bolts, rocks, and firebombs from bird-shaped puppets, while Long Xuan destroyed the airborne puppets with a Blazing Flame Palm.
• Cai Shao advised the army to fight from range beneath the walls, targeting ranged puppets and defensive weapons instead of charging into the city.
• After the defenses weakened, the Gu cultivators climbed the walls and breached all four sides, but a much larger force of close-combat puppets remained inside Divine Mechanism City.

Long Xuan used Little White’s Slowing Domain to protect his group from a Puppet General’s arrows, then destroyed the immobilized puppet’s energy core with one punch. He was shocked to learn that Cai Shao and Ninth Young Master had already defeated the other Puppet Generals even faster, and became wary of their strength.

• Long Xuan had Little White slow the Puppet General’s arrows, allowing Leng Yan and the others to dodge them and approach safely.
• Di Xin trapped the Puppet General with her Dragon-Trapping Formation, but the group’s attacks could not pierce its Geng Metal Essence defenses.
• Long Xuan opened the first four gates of the Life-and-Death Gate and destroyed the Puppet General’s Top-Grade Spirit Stone with a Bursting Fist, disabling it.
• An explosion revealed that Ninth Young Master had destroyed another Puppet General, while Cai Shao had already defeated the third and entered the city.
• Long Xuan realized that the other two leaders had overcome Spirit Sea Peak Puppet Generals faster than he had and resolved to be cautious around them.

Long Xuan lured the Ninth Young Master and Cai Shao into fighting over a branch of Soul-Nourishing Wood. With the two factions occupied, he slipped deeper into Divine Mechanism City to seek the Golden Toad.

• Di Xin explained how the Ninth Young Master and Luo Hongchen had quickly defeated two Puppet Generals, then urged everyone to descend and loot the city's houses.
• Long Xuan saw the Ninth Young Master heading for the house containing the Golden Toad, so he disguised himself and devised a plan to draw him away.
• Long Xuan placed a branch of Soul-Nourishing Wood in a house and let its aura attract the Ninth Young Master and Cai Shao.
• The Ninth Young Master and Cai Shao reached the house at nearly the same time, rushed inside, and began fighting over the divine medicine.
• Long Xuan saw that the two factions were engaged in a melee and slipped deeper into Divine Mechanism City to pursue the Golden Toad.

Long Xuan seized the Golden Toad by turning the puppets against each other, then joined Di Xin as she fought Gu Tianyi, whose Gu King Gu had disabled their Gu Insects. Gu Tianyi swallowed a Sea-Calming Pill, and the battle continued with his aura rising.

• Long Xuan possessed nearby puppets with his Soul-Splittings and sent them into chaos, clearing a path to the house containing the Golden Toad.
• Long Xuan broke the house’s barrier with a punch after opening the first four gates of the Life-and-Death Gate, took the fossil, and headed toward Di Xin.
• Long Xuan shattered a room’s barrier for Leng Yan, who found three Youth-Preserving Fruits inside.
• Long Xuan reached Di Xin and found her battling Gu Tianyi, whose Gu King Gu had put all of Long Xuan’s Gu Insects to sleep.
• Long Xuan sent his clones to hold off Gu Tianyi’s five Gu Insects, relieving pressure on Di Xin.
• Gu Tianyi swallowed a Sea-Calming Pill, and his aura began to rise.

Long Xuan looted Divine Mechanism City while Di Xin escaped Gu Tianyi, who had taken a Sea-Calming Pill to reach the Spiritual Sea Stage. After the surviving cultivators gathered before the Inner City, Long Xuan learned that Yang Zhan had intervened to save Di Xin, whose mention of a vast number of supreme-grade Gu worms left him wary.

• Di Xin warned Long Xuan that Gu Tianyi had used a Sea-Calming Pill, and they fled in different directions as Gu Tianyi pursued her for the Gu God Alms Bowl.
• Long Xuan looted ordinary houses, but he could not break the reinforced barriers protecting the most valuable treasures, so he searched for Youth-Preserving Fruits instead.
• The cultivators wiped out the puppets and gathered before the Inner City, where its guarded walls and hidden treasures made them hesitate to attack.
• Ninth Young Master and Cai Shao discussed the unbreakable houses, the stolen Golden Toad, and the missing young man in green.
• Di Xin told Long Xuan that Yang Zhan had used Spiritual Sea Stage power to save her from Gu Tianyi, and she revealed that her strongest method involved a vast number of supreme-grade Gu worms.

Long Xuan and the surviving Gu cultivators breached Divine Mechanism City’s Inner City at a devastating cost, then gathered before its central palace to seek the city’s greatest treasures. While the others braced for another battle, Long Xuan believed the palace puppets would not attack.

• Zhu Yue invited the Gu cultivators to leave if they feared the Inner City assault, and Leng Yan, Miao Peipei, Wu Yaoyao, Ye Qingluan, Nie Qingcheng, and many of Long Xuan’s crew withdrew.
• Sixteen thousand Gu cultivators attacked the Inner City, with Long Xuan and Di Xin working together to defeat a Golden Puppet.
• After about half an hour of fighting, the survivors cleared the city and regrouped; only five thousand remained, and Long Xuan realized most of his Sea-Gathering Pill debtors had died.
• Shui Juanyun explained that Divine Mechanism City’s growing puppet numbers and weakening Gu cultivators had caused unprecedented losses.
• Qin Kai and Zhu Yue pointed to the central palace as the likely location of the greatest treasures and proposed entering together, but Long Xuan expected its puppets not to attack.

Long Xuan and the other Gu cultivators entered the palace, where murals revealed the Gambling God and four ancient Gu Insects. They met the Gambling God’s soul in the central hall, where he offered treasures and other rewards to anyone who dared gamble against him.

• Qin Kai led the group deeper into the palace, and they found that its puppets remained dormant as they passed through.
• Long Xuan studied murals showing the Gambling God’s life and guessed that a final loss had trapped him in the palace.
• Di Xin identified the four ancient Gu Insects as the Gambling God Gu, Eating God Gu, Prostitution God Gu, and Drinking God Gu, and described their powers to Long Xuan.
• The group entered the central hall and saw a crystal coffin, three hundred treasures, and a silver altar.
• The Gambling God’s soul appeared and said visitors could win treasures or other rewards by gambling with him, while those who left would lose their memories of the inner city.
• The Gu cultivators hesitated to approach the altar or accept the Gambling God’s challenge.

Song Lao challenged the Gambling God to a dice game for his mind-reading ability, wagering everything he possessed after deciding he could not lose. The chapter ended as Song Lao called on his disciple to shake the dice while the watching Gu Masters considered wagering their own nonmaterial wealth.

• Song Lao challenged the Gambling God and chose dice, providing dice and a cup that he claimed could not be probed.
• Song Lao asked to wager for mind-reading ability, and the Gambling God said he would transfer it if Song Lao offered something of equal value.
• The Gambling God demanded Song Lao wager his soul, lifespan, aptitude, and life, explaining that material wealth could not buy the ability.
• Song Lao reasoned that his talent for identifying dice by sound would prevent him from losing, so he agreed to risk everything for one round.
• Song Lao summoned his disciple to shake the dice as the Gu Masters watched and began considering wagers of their own.

Long Xuan and Di Xin watched the Gambling God kill Song Lao after disrupting his dice-counting, then saw Qi Huan of the Chess Clan challenge the Gambling God to Go for the Destiny of Imperial Bearing. Di Xin predicted that the Gambling God would exploit another loophole, leaving Qi Huan’s wager unresolved.

• Di Xin and Long Xuan suspected the Gambling God would cheat during Song Lao’s dice wager, and the Gambling God startled Song Lao before he could hear the dice.
• Song Lao abandoned the wager and fled, so the Gambling God declared him defeated and killed him mysteriously before he could leave the palace.
• Qi Huan, a renowned Chess Clan master, challenged the Gambling God to Go, wagering everything he owned for the Destiny of Imperial Bearing.
• The Gambling God accepted and provided a clone to play Qi Huan, who took black and made the first move.
• Di Xin told Long Xuan that Qi Huan was likely to win unless the Gambling God cheated again, and warned that he might exploit a loophole in the rules.

Ninth Young Master challenged the Gambling God to a luck-based dice game, hoping to win groups of Golden Toads without risking his immense wealth. After losing seven rounds and watching treasures vanish from his storage ring, he swore to gamble one last time.

• Ninth Young Master accepted the Gambling God’s terms and proposed wagering on dice rolls, with no abilities allowed to influence the outcome.
• The Gambling God agreed, and Ninth Young Master’s attendant shook the dice cup; the Gambling God won the first round with seventeen points against Ninth Young Master’s fifteen.
• The Gambling God collected treasures worth the wager from Ninth Young Master’s storage ring, and Ninth Young Master continued playing.
• Ninth Young Master lost all seven rounds, while Long Xuan suspected the Gambling God could manipulate luck through his Gu.
• Ninth Young Master used Integrity Gu to check the Gambling God’s claim that he had relied only on luck, then resolved to play one final round.