Chapter Summaries

Long Xuan inspected Silver Soil and reflected on his recent Gu transformations, pill-making, and completion of the Five-Element Palm’s final three techniques. At his shop, Master Wei invited him to join a group of Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators hunting a fourth-rank spirit beast, offering each participant a King-Breaking Pill.

• Long Xuan found sacks of Silver Soil in a storage bag and considered using it to formulate Supreme Spirit Soil and advance Earthworker.
• Long Xuan reviewed the year’s progress: Integrity Gu and Image-Recording Gu had transformed, Bingbing and Chicken Bro had advanced, and he had refined the Myriad Flower Pill to stabilize his cultivation.
• Long Xuan completed the Raging Tide Palm, Vajra Palm, and Tathagata Palm, believing their power could rival Heaven Tier spirit arts.
• Master Wei visited Long Xuan’s shop and invited him to join a team of Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators hunting a fourth-rank spirit beast for a King-Breaking Pill reward.
• Long Xuan doubted Master Wei’s offer and questioned how a group of Spiritual Sea Stage cultivators could defeat a beast as powerful as a Gu King.

Long Xuan accepted Master Wei’s invitation to hunt a fourth-order spirit beast after learning that a Great Dragonfish King might be nearby, while secretly planning to kill Master Wei first. Before the expedition, Long Xuan fed polonium to the Calamity Poison Gu and left it unconscious; he then joined the group, where Master Wei claimed his Formation Disk could weaken the beast by ninety percent.

• Master Wei invited Long Xuan to hunt a fourth-order spirit beast and offered help catching a Great Dragonfish King, whose scales Long Xuan needed for the Dragon Gu’s transformation.
• Long Xuan agreed to the hunt while deciding to use the trip to eliminate Master Wei, whom he believed intended to kill him.
• Long Xuan fed polonium to the Calamity Poison Gu, which was poisoned unconscious, then arranged to follow the expedition with his true body while his clone joined the group.
• Long Xuan met Master Wei, Yue Niang, the Five Ghosts of Mount Mei, and the other cultivators at the forest gathering point.
• Master Wei reassured the group that his Formation Disk could trap the fourth-order spirit beast and reduce its combat power by ninety percent.

Master Wei revealed that the group’s target was a Black Giant Salamander and promised a share of its valuable flesh and blood in exchange for helping trap it. Long Xuan discovered that Master Wei had tampered with his healing pill and was secretly controlling the others, leaving him wary of Master Wei’s broader ambitions.

• Master Wei disclosed that the group would hunt an early fourth-rank Black Giant Salamander, provoking anger from Fifth Mei and concern from Long Xuan.
• Master Wei offered each hunter a third-grade healing pill and a share of the beast’s materials, while Long Xuan noticed his pill carried a scent meant to draw spirit beasts to him.
• Long Xuan kept the tampered pill and decided to use its scent to his advantage, while the other hunters accepted the dangerous hunt for the promised wealth.
• Master Wei explained that his Dragon-Locking Cosmic Array could trap the salamander for about a year, giving the group time to take its flesh and blood and advance to Gu King.
• Long Xuan used his Eye of Heavenly Secrets to see insects lodged in the brains of everyone except himself and Master Wei, realizing that Master Wei could control them through his spirit pills.

Long Xuan volunteered to lure the Black Giant Salamander into Master Wei’s formation, while secretly planning to turn Master Wei’s scheme against him. After locating the beast and provoking it into pursuit, Long Xuan ran toward the formation, having changed back to his own appearance.

• Master Wei led the group to hunt a Great Dragonfish King before guiding them toward the Black Giant Salamander’s territory.
• Long Xuan volunteered to lure the Black Giant Salamander, despite the danger, and the group traveled to the island where it was hiding.
• Master Wei found the beast, set up the Great Dragon-Locking Heaven-and-Earth Formation, and asked Long Xuan to draw it toward the formation.
• Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to locate the Black Giant Salamander and attacked it with a compressed water blade, injuring its lower body.
• Long Xuan outran the enraged beast with Life-Extinguishing Lightning, then provoked it again and led it toward the formation.
• As he neared the formation, Long Xuan changed from Master Wei’s appearance back to his own.

Long Xuan lured the Black Giant Salamander to the formation, where it unexpectedly focused its attacks on Master Wei. The Gu Masters managed to obtain some of its flesh and blood, but after casualties mounted, they retreated while the enraged beast remained inside the formation.

• Long Xuan joined the formation and announced that the Black Giant Salamander was approaching, and Master Wei ordered everyone to prepare to take its flesh and blood.
• The Black Giant Salamander charged Master Wei, badly wounding him before the other Gu Masters intervened and blocked its next strike.
• The Black Giant Salamander broke through the group’s interception and chased Master Wei out of the formation, where the barrier protected him from another attack.
• The Black Giant Salamander attacked the besieging Gu Masters, and one Spirit Sea Peak Gu Master died beneath its claws.
• Elder Mei ordered a retreat after the group had taken a small amount of the beast’s flesh and blood, and the Gu Masters withdrew from the formation.

Ghost Seven ambushed Master Wei and the others, seized the Black Giant Salamander’s tail, and offered to spare whoever confessed to the darkest deed. Long Xuan saw through the trick and began probing the array for a way to release the salamander, while Master Wei and Yue Niang exposed their horrific secrets and Ghost Seven urged the confessions to continue.

• Ghost Seven and more than forty Ghost Gate cultivators surrounded the wounded group, taking the salamander’s severed tail after Ghost Seven revealed he had secretly monitored Master Wei through the Dragon-Locking Cosmic Array’s Formation Disk.
• Ghost Seven claimed he would let the person with the darkest deed leave, but Long Xuan recognized the loophole and began using the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to probe the array for a way to free the salamander.
• Master Wei confessed that he had put Parasitic Gu in pills he sold, allowing him to control many customers, including Yue Niang and the Mei family members.
• Yue Niang revealed that the women in her brothel were corpses controlled by Corpse-Control Worms, shocking and sickening the customers who had visited her establishment.
• Ghost Seven and the other Ghost Cultivators enjoyed the revelations, and Ghost Seven encouraged everyone to disclose even darker deeds.

Yue Niang exposed Master Wei’s crimes, but the Black Giant Salamander broke free and killed him. As the City of Sin cultivators fled, Long Xuan defeated a pursuing Ghost Cultivator with Life-Extinguishing Lightning and Vajra Palm, then continued on.

• Yue Niang revealed that Xiangxiang was a corpse and that Master Wei had sought a Black Giant Salamander to restore what he had lost.
• Long Xuan secretly broke the Dragon-Locking Cosmic Array, freeing the Black Giant Salamander, which killed Master Wei.
• Ghost Seven ordered his men to pursue the fleeing City of Sin cultivators while the rest fought the Black Giant Salamander.
• A Ghost Cultivator riding a hundred ghosts pursued Long Xuan, who used the Tribulation Gu’s Life-Extinguishing Lightning to destroy them.
• Long Xuan caught the Ghost Cultivator’s spiritual sword with Vajra Palm, then killed him with Tathagata Palm and took his storage pouch.

Long Xuan learned that Master Sun was recruiting Gu Masters for an expedition to find a Heavenly Flame, which he needed to cultivate the third layer of the Purgatory True Demon Art. After deciding to infiltrate the expedition, Long Xuan joined the recruitment disguised as a Spirit Sea Peak Gu Master, where Master Sun ordered him to punch a sleeping toad to test his strength.

• Long Xuan overheard that Master Sun was offering pills to recruit eighty Spiritual Sea Stage Gu Masters and eight Gu Kings for a dangerous search for a Heavenly Flame.
• Long Xuan decided to infiltrate Master Sun's team because he needed a Heavenly Flame, but resolved not to risk acting unless he was certain of success.
• Long Xuan checked on the Calamity Poison Gu and Dragon Gu, reviewed his recent gains, and considered using the Repair Gu to restore the Thousand-Soul Banner.
• Long Xuan read that the Thousand-Soul Banner could command ghosts and wondered whether he could use the Repair Gu to restore it into twenty-four banners.
• The next morning, Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to find Master Sun's recruitment and disguised himself as a Spirit Sea Peak Gu Master.
• Master Sun accepted Long Xuan for a strength test and told him to punch the belly of a large sleeping toad.

Long Xuan passed Master Sun’s test and joined an expedition targeting the Yan Clan to obtain its Setting Sun Divine Flame. After learning that Yan Tiexin had recently devoured the flame, Master Sun’s hired Gu Kings agreed they could defeat him and seize it.

• Long Xuan punched the Stone Frog, injured it, and passed Master Sun’s assessment.
• Master Sun led eighty-nine selected Gu cultivators north aboard a Peak Gu King’s flying boat.
• Master Sun revealed that he intended to trade for the Yan Clan’s Heavenly Flame or take it by force.
• Master Sun identified the flame as the Setting Sun Divine Flame, which purified spiritual power, and explained that he wanted it to help him break through to Gu King.
• Long Xuan coveted the flame’s ability to purify spiritual power and considered having his Flame Clone devour it.
• Master Sun revealed that Yan Tiexin had recently devoured the flame and argued that four Gu Kings could kill him before he mastered its power.

A large force led by Master Sun arrived at Imperial Flame City to claim the Yan Family’s Setting Sun Divine Flame. Yan Tiexin refused to trade it, but Long Xuan revealed that the family head confronting them was a clone and warned Master Sun that the real Yan Tiexin was hiding within the clan.

• Eighty-one Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators and eight Gu Kings arrived in Imperial Flame City, prompting the Yan Family to issue a Level One Alert Order.
• Yan Tiexin learned that Master Sun led the force and feared they had come for the Setting Sun Divine Flame, so he sought aid from the other families and notified the Flame Court Empire’s law enforcers.
• Wind King and Thunder King entered the Yan Family’s meeting hall with Master Sun, who offered a three-hundred-year Longevity Elixir for the Heavenly Flame.
• Yan Tiexin refused the offer and revealed his Peak Gu King aura, leaving both sides on the verge of battle.
• Long Xuan secretly told Master Sun that Yan Tiexin was an Externalized Clone who intended to fake his death and sacrifice his clan to protect the Heavenly Flame.
• Master Sun asked where Yan Tiexin’s true body was, and Long Xuan advised searching the clan while concealing that he knew the body was underground.

Master Sun’s group attacked the Yan Family after discovering its hidden chambers, turning the trade negotiation into a battle and a looting spree. Yan Tiexin revealed his true body and tried to trade the Heavenly Flame to stop the fight, but Master Sun refused, leaving him surrounded and the Yan Clan under assault.

• Master Sun detected thirty secret chambers beneath the Yan Family and led his group away, then sent the Gu Kings to raid the chambers.
• Yan Tiexin ordered his clan to stop the raiders, and a bloody battle erupted as Master Sun’s allies looted the Yan Clan’s vaults.
• Thunder King found Yan Tiexin’s true body, who had reached Peak Gu King and wielded the Setting Sun Divine Flame.
• Master Sun sent Wang Yan and Liu Yiming to join Thunder King and Wind King, leaving Yan Tiexin outnumbered and badly injured.
• Yan Tiexin offered to trade the Heavenly Flame for Master Sun’s three-hundred-year Longevity Elixir, but Master Sun refused to stop the attack.

Yan Tiexin unleashed the Setting Sun Divine Flame and destroyed Imperial Flame City in a desperate attempt to kill his enemies. Long Xuan survived the blast and found the flame seed fragments, then sent the frightened Heaven-Swallowing World Toad to retrieve them.

• Yan Tiexin recklessly attacked with the heavenly flame, setting the Yan Family ablaze and causing heavy casualties on both sides.
• Long Xuan saw the flame seed inside Yan Tiexin cracking and fled as Yan Tiexin prepared to destroy the Setting Sun Divine Flame.
• The Setting Sun Divine Flame exploded, vaporizing Imperial Flame City and killing everyone there except Long Xuan, who survived with severe injuries.
• Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to find a weakened flame seed and a storage ring at the center of the crater.
• Long Xuan sent the terrified Heaven-Swallowing World Toad to swallow the flame seed because he could not approach it himself.

Long Xuan escaped the Heavenly Flame’s destruction with the Setting Sun Divine Flame’s seed and Master Sun’s storage ring. Inside the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad, he found pills and formulas that could fund his Blood Lotus Pill research and help him pursue the Thatch Gu’s second evolution, though the Longevity Elixir’s ingredients were rare.

• Long Xuan sent the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad to swallow the Setting Sun Divine Flame’s seed and a nearby storage ring, then fled toward the City of Sin inside the toad.
• Flame Court Empire law enforcers found Imperial Flame City reduced to a crater and concluded that Yan Tiexin had destroyed it with a Heavenly Flame.
• The leading law enforcer ordered a hunt for the invaders and any survivors after his Gu Insect sensed a living person at the site.
• Long Xuan identified the storage ring’s owner as Master Sun and found King-Impact Pills he planned to sell to fund his Blood Lotus Pill research.
• Long Xuan found a Longevity Elixir and its pill formula, hoping its refining process would help him develop a stronger Longevity Gu for the Thatch Gu’s second evolution.
• Long Xuan read the Longevity Elixir formula and realized its rare ingredients would take time to gather.

Long Xuan returned to City of Sin disguised as Master Wei and used his two shops to gather materials while developing pills in seclusion. After completing a Thatch Gu Longevity Elixir recipe and struggling to find Blood Lotus for his Blood Lotus Pill, he learned that Cao Shuang had brought one to trade for the shop’s Icefire Twin Extremes Pill.

• Long Xuan returned to Master Wei's Alchemy Shop, left eighty King-Impact Pills for the apprentice to sell, and withdrew upstairs to avoid exposing himself.
• Long Xuan resumed running Master Wei's Alchemy Shop and Master Song's Insect Armor Shop while researching pill recipes and gathering ingredients.
• After half a year, Long Xuan completed a three-hundred-year Longevity Elixir recipe for Thatch Gu and found that his Blood Lotus Pill recipe lacked only its rare main ingredient.
• Long Xuan received the apprentice's message that a customer wanted the shop's Icefire Twin Extremes Pill and hurried downstairs.
• Cao Shuang introduced himself as a member of a tomb-raiding clan and offered a Blood Lotus his clan had found in an ancient tomb five hundred years earlier in exchange for the pill.

Long Xuan traded an Icefire Twin Extremes Pill for Cao Shuang’s Sixth-Grade Blood Lotus and learned about a massive Western Region Alchemy Competition offering Enlightenment Tea. After hearing that rival alliances would wager half their Clan Fortune on the competition, he realized the Gambling God might be behind the stakes and resolved to compete himself.

• Long Xuan exchanged his Icefire Twin Extremes Pill for Cao Shuang’s Sixth-Grade Blood Lotus, while Cao Shuang praised the pill’s quality and Wei’s alchemy.
• Cao Shuang told Long Xuan that the Ten Great Empires would hold a Western Region Alchemy Competition in Heavenly Phoenix City, with Enlightenment Tea among the prizes for the top thirty contestants.
• Cao Shuang explained that the Feng Clan Alliance and Long Family Alliance, along with two other empires, had wagered half their Clan Fortune on the competition.
• Long Xuan feared that losing Clan Fortune could harm his own luck and suspected the Gambling God was involved.
• Long Xuan decided he had to enter the competition and win first place rather than leave his fate to the Long Family alchemists.

Long Xuan learned that the Four Great Villains planned to use the Heavenly Phoenix Empire's Alchemy Competition to steal the Enlightenment Tea Tree, then upgraded his Thatch Gu and left the City of Sin. In Thunder Marsh, he refined the Blood Lotus Pill and prepared his Flame Clone to help him swallow Heavenly Flame.

• Cao Shuang left Long Xuan ten Message Transmission Talismans, and Long Xuan replaced the departed Blood Lotus with a Third-Grade Soul-Restoring Pill.
• The Jade-Faced Rakshasa ordered Long Xuan to enter the Alchemy Competition finals as part of the Four Great Villains' plan to steal the Enlightenment Tea Tree, and warned him to use a different identity.
• Long Xuan upgraded the Thatch Gu, closed both shops, and left the City of Sin for Thunder Marsh.
• Long Xuan considered taking the Heavenly Water hidden in Thunder Marsh but decided to postpone it, then began refining the Blood Lotus Pill.
• After seven days, Long Xuan completed five Blood Lotus Pills and gave one to his Flame Clone to begin preparing to swallow Heavenly Flame.

Long Xuan prepared a cave in Thunder Marsh for his Flame Clone to devour the crippled Setting Sun Divine Flame. The five clones joined forces to endure its scorching power, and the struggle settled into a prolonged stalemate.

• Long Xuan fortified a cave with lightning rods and the Five-Element Reversal Grand Formation Disk, then arranged the Divine Ice Flame and Cold Jade Bed as safeguards.
• The Flame Clone swallowed a Blood Lotus Pill and the Divine Ice Flame, then drew the Setting Sun Divine Flame seed into his mouth.
• The Setting Sun Divine Flame overwhelmed the Divine Ice Flame, but the Blood Lotus Pill’s scabs and the Cold Jade Bed kept the Flame Clone from burning to ash.
• The other clones took Blood Lotus Pills and joined the Flame Clone, dividing the Heavenly Flame’s power among all five.
• The five clones and the Setting Sun Divine Flame entered a stalemate as the cave began to melt, while Long Xuan watched from a distance.

Long Xuan successfully refined the Heavenly Flame through his clones and planned to travel to the Sword-Washing Pavilion to upgrade his Blade Gu before heading to the alchemy competition. Meanwhile, Little Apothecary entered an abandoned temple in search of a mysterious voice and accidentally released the seal on a terrifying being.

• Long Xuan saw his five clones finish refining the Heavenly Flame, then used its power to begin Heavenly Flame Body Tempering with them.
• Long Xuan decided to travel through the Flame Court Empire to the Sword-Washing Pavilion and upgrade his Blade Gu before continuing to the Heavenly Phoenix Empire.
• Little Apothecary followed the mysterious voice to an abandoned temple, where the voice fell silent after he entered.
• Little Apothecary looted the temple and dug up eighteen golden Buddha statues hidden beneath its floors.
• A voice told Little Apothecary that he and the speaker were two sides of the same person and that the statues had sealed the speaker; Little Apothecary realized he might have released a demon.

Little Apothecary’s evil side took over his body and became fascinated with creating a Mighty Gu from powerful transplanted organs. Four months later, Long Xuan discovered a Flame Floating Island that could nurture Spirit Flames, then reached a thoroughly looted town on his way to Sword-Washing Pavilion.

• The mysterious evil side explained that he and Little Apothecary could not devour each other, then forced his way into Little Apothecary’s body and searched his memories.
• The evil side admired Little Apothecary’s Cockroach Gu experiments and resolved to create a Mighty Gu by combining powerful organs, beginning with Sword Bones from Sword-Washing Pavilion.
• Long Xuan’s World Tree Seed opened into a Flame Floating Island, whose Spirit Flames grew stronger there and whose fiery terrain could support specialized spirit herbs.
• Long Xuan planned to collect fiery-land herb seeds and sell Spirit Flames at the Alchemy Competition trade fair, then traveled onward toward Sword-Washing Pavilion aboard the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad.
• Long Xuan entered a recently massacred town to search for valuables, but found that the murderer had already looted every treasure and even worthless possessions.

Long Xuan discovered that the Little Apothecary appeared to be harvesting rare organs and filling countless Spirit Seas with the spiritual power of his victims. After evading the terrifying man, Long Xuan disguised himself as a Fourth-Grade Alchemist and met Sword-Washing Pavilion enforcers, warning them not to pursue the killer.

• Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to find the killer, saw countless Spirit Seas within his body, and narrowly avoided being noticed by the man with Double Pupils, a Yin-Yang Eye, and a Heavenly Eye.
• Long Xuan recognized the killer as the Little Apothecary but suspected that he had been possessed, then inferred that he was collecting special organs to create a powerful monster.
• Long Xuan spotted Sword-Washing Pavilion cultivators approaching and disguised himself as an elderly Fourth-Grade Alchemist so he could enter the pavilion as an honored guest.
• The Sword-Washing Pavilion cultivators arrived to search for the Qilin Arm and discussed the killer's other stolen organs, including the Demon Emperor's Heart, the Earth-Listening Ear, and Double Pupils.
• Long Xuan approached the enforcers and warned them that pursuing the demonic cultivator would lead to their deaths, prompting several of them to reconsider the pursuit.