Chapter Summaries

Artifact Maniac refined the Heaven-Imprisoning Staff, which drew Rebirth Lightning, and revealed himself as a giant Golden Monkey while surviving the tribulation. After the storm destroyed much of Radiant Moon City and left him near death, the returning Gu Kings rushed to seize his staff.

• Wang Liang claimed his Flowing Cloud Sword had drawn Life-Extinguishing Lightning and mocked Artifact Maniac, but Artifact Maniac summoned White Tribulation Clouds that devoured Wang Liang’s red clouds.
• Artifact Maniac transformed into a giant Golden Monkey and fought off the Rebirth Lightning, while the judges and crowd fled as the bolts devastated Radiant Moon City.
• The Heaven-Imprisoning Staff withstood the final lightning strikes, and Artifact Maniac realized the tribulation had strengthened the staff and that he had refined a Divine Artifact.
• After the clouds cleared, the injured Artifact Maniac examined the staff as the Gu Kings eyed it greedily and swarmed toward him.

Artifact Maniac escaped the pursuing Gu Kings with the Heaven-Imprisoning Staff, while Wang An used the Artifact Refinement Tournament’s spirit-beast champion as a pretext to arrest the Artifact Sect’s Grand Elder and his disciple. Two months later, Long Xuan dealt with Little White’s transformation and gave Water Elder pills, continuing their uneasy cooperation over the Ninefold Heavy Water.

• Artifact Maniac wielded the Heaven-Imprisoning Staff to destroy Spirit Artifacts and kill Gu Kings, then fled while the surviving Gu Kings pursued him.
• Wang An declared the tournament invalid because its champion was a spirit beast and accused the Artifact Sect’s Grand Elder of colluding with an alien race.
• Wang An’s men forcibly escorted the Grand Elder and his young disciple away so he could use the accusation to target the Artifact Sect.
• Two months later, Long Xuan pulled the transformed Little White from the wine jar and stored his remaining Grand Thousand Wine in a Seven-Colored Calabash gourd.
• Water Elder asked Long Xuan for more Spirit-Enhancing Pills, and Long Xuan handed him a storage bag while planning to cooperate with him to obtain the Twofold Heavy Water.

After discovering that his master and senior sister had been executed, Artifact Maniac armed tens of thousands of spirit monkeys with Spirit Artifacts and led an invasion of Radiant Moon City. He broke the city's protective formation and fought Wang An as the monkey army overran the capital.

• Artifact Maniac returned to the ruined Artifact Sect, learned his master and senior sister had been executed, and built gravestones for them on Monkey Mountain.
• Remembering how his master had accepted him and demanded he never teach Artifact Refinement to spirit beasts, Artifact Maniac decided to break his oath and arm his clan.
• Artifact Maniac used his fur to create tens of thousands of monkeys, who forged Spirit Artifacts, and announced that they would attack Radiant Moon City.
• Half a month later, Artifact Maniac shattered Radiant Moon City's protective formation with the Heaven-Imprisoning Staff while one hundred thousand armed spirit monkeys stormed the city.
• The monkey army slaughtered the city's defenders and flooded the streets, and Wang An flew out to confront Artifact Maniac.
• Artifact Maniac attacked Wang An with the bloodied Heaven-Imprisoning Staff, and Wang An released his Natal Gu Insects to fight back.

Long Xuan and Water Elder traveled toward Wine City, passing through the ruined Radiant Moon Imperial City and finding evidence of strange events along the way. When Long Xuan stored a dead spirit monkey, its heavily armed Golden Monkey companion attacked him, and Long Xuan fought it using only his physical strength as Gu cultivators watched.

• Long Xuan and Water Elder left Thunder Marsh after reaching the Late Spiritual Sea Stage and set out for the Tea-Tasting Convention.
• They found Radiant Moon Imperial City destroyed and its population slaughtered, but Long Xuan chose not to investigate and continued toward Wine City.
• Long Xuan and Water Elder discovered a dead Monkey Mountain spirit monkey, and Long Xuan stored its corpse in his ring.
• A Golden Monkey attacked Long Xuan, who blocked its staff with Vajra Palm and then fought it without using Gu.
• Watching Gu cultivators recognized the Golden Monkey's Divine Beast Bloodline, while a young girl observed that Long Xuan was matching it through physical strength alone.

Long Xuan defeated a Golden Monkey with his bare hands, then fled with Water Elder when he sensed a Fourth-Tier Spirit Monkey approaching. After learning that Artifact Maniac’s destruction of Radiant Moon City had drawn Gu Kings from across the Western Region, Water Elder realized their upcoming trip to the River God Secret Realm could become far more dangerous.

• Long Xuan crushed the Golden Monkey with a palm strike and kick, forcing it to flee.
• Long Xuan sensed a Fourth-Tier Spirit Monkey racing toward them, so he and Water Elder escaped while the arriving beast slaughtered the remaining spectators.
• Long Xuan spotted Shui Juanyun hiding underground, and Shui Juanyun explained that Artifact Maniac had mastered Artifact Refinement and armed its clan with Spirit Artifacts.
• Shui Juanyun said that the Western Region’s powers had gathered many Gu Kings to hunt Artifact Maniac and seize its Heaven-Imprisoning Staff.
• Long Xuan wondered whether the spirit beast that had traded for Alloy Insect Armor had been Artifact Maniac and whether his Alloy had been used to make the Heaven-Imprisoning Staff.
• Water Elder feared that the many Gu Kings drawn to Radiant Moon City would enter the nearby River God Secret Realm during the upcoming conventions.

At the City Lord's Manor in Wine City, Shui Wuqing urged the Gu Kings to find a cunning way to kill Artifact Maniac before he could arm the spirit beasts with artifacts. Zhuge Yuan proposed luring Artifact Maniac into the River God Secret Realm with news of the Other Shore Flower, leaving his fate to his feelings for his dead master and senior sister.

• Jiu Kang and the other Gu Kings debated whether to wait for reinforcements or strike Artifact Maniac before he could forge more artifacts.
• Shui Wuqing warned that the Monkey King's clones could rapidly arm a huge spirit-beast army and called for a careful plan to kill Artifact Maniac.
• Jiu Kang asked Zhuge Yuan to devise a scheme, and Zhuge Yuan proposed revealing the Other Shore Flower while hiding that plucking it cost the picker their life.
• The Gu Kings approved Zhuge Yuan's plan, and he argued that Artifact Maniac would enter the trap even if he knew its price because he wanted to revive his master and senior sister.

Jiu Kang realized the Gu Kings could easily meet Wine City's entry rules and would crowd into the River God Secret Realm. Meanwhile, a Seven-Tailed Fox persuaded Artifact Maniac to craft a divine artifact by offering him a possible way to revive his master, but the whereabouts of the Other Shore Flower remained unknown.

• Jiu Kang explained that only those with high-quality tea or wine could enter the River God Secret Realm, but the Gu Kings readily offered to buy what they needed.
• Jiu Kang worried that the Gu Kings' participation would overwhelm the secret realm and reduce Wine City's factions' gains while increasing the danger to their geniuses.
• The Seven-Tailed Fox asked Artifact Maniac to revise the Rainbow Sword formula into a divine artifact suited to her kind, promising information about reviving his master in return.
• Artifact Maniac accepted the deal despite his vow not to craft for other spirit beasts, and resolved to die after completing the task.
• The Seven-Tailed Fox revealed that an illustrated guide described the Other Shore Flower as capable of resurrecting the dead, but she did not know where it grew.

At the Tea-Tasting Convention, Long Xuan set up a stall to trade his Tea-Frying Technique tea for valuable tea plants and seeds. He drew the attention of Cha Shan, who traded Immortal Tea seeds for ten cups of Long Xuan’s Iceheart Tea.

• A month after the conventions were announced, Long Xuan, Water Elder, and Shui Juanyun entered Wine City and used Shui Juanyun’s tea as their admission offering to the Tea-Tasting Convention.
• Shui Juanyun and Water Elder explained that contestants needed freshly brewed high-grade tea to qualify for the River God Secret Realm, then split up to trade tea.
• Long Xuan set up his own stall and used his Tea-Frying Technique to brew tea, attracting a crowd with its rich fragrance.
• Cha Shan, Wine City’s deputy city lord and a Tea Clan member, sampled Long Xuan’s Iceheart Tea and asked what he wanted in exchange.
• Long Xuan agreed to trade ten cups of Iceheart Tea for the seeds of Immortal Tea, an Earth-grade Spirit Medicine, and poured the cups for Cha Shan.

Long Xuan drew the Monkey King to his stall with Grand Thousand Wine and traded it for Ten-Thousand-Year Monkey Wine and rare Spirit Fruits. After completing the exchange, he fled the Wine-Tasting Convention with the wine to avoid attracting trouble.

• Cha Shan praised Long Xuan’s tea, drawing a crowd of traders to his stall across from the Wine-Tasting Convention.
• Jiu Kang recognized Grand Thousand Wine’s extraordinary quality, while Long Xuan used its aroma to lure the Monkey King toward his stall.
• The Monkey King offered Ten-Thousand-Year Monkey Wine for Grand Thousand Wine, and Long Xuan demanded Metal, Water, Earth, Wind, and Thunder Spirit Fruits to make up the difference.
• The Monkey King handed Long Xuan a storage bag of Spirit Fruits, and Long Xuan completed the trade.
• Long Xuan gathered the remaining wine, used a Hundred-Li Talisman to escape, and left the convention.

Long Xuan traded for Zhu Jiǔge’s Shadow Tea despite Shui Juanyun warning that she brought misfortune, then prepared to test brewing it and Enlightenment Tea with Heavenly Water. The chapter left him anticipating the results of his experiment.

• Long Xuan browsed the remaining stalls after collecting most of the convention’s famous teas and their seeds.
• Shui Juanyun warned Long Xuan that Zhu Jiǔge brought bad luck and recounted how her family and companions had died in accidents.
• Long Xuan stayed ten meters away and offered Iceheart Tea for Zhu Jiǔge’s Shadow Tea, but she refused to give away her clan’s Sacred Tree seeds.
• Long Xuan exchanged two pots of Iceheart Tea for two packets of Shadow Tea leaves, then left while Zhu Jiǔge drank the tea.
• Long Xuan had his clone fry and brew Shadow Tea and Enlightenment Tea, then used Onefold Heavy Water to brew a pot of each.

Long Xuan discovered a mysterious plant resembling a coffee tree among the tea competition prizes and hoped to win it so he could develop coffee and Coffee Gu. When Water Elder revealed that Iceheart Tea would not rank highly amid the convention’s famous teas, Long Xuan decided to enter with Shadow Tea brewed using Heavenly Water.

• Long Xuan watched the Tea Gu battles, then joined Water Elder and Shui Juanyun at the tea competition plaza, where he noticed an unknown, spiritually potent sapling among the prizes.
• Water Elder identified the sapling as an unclassified weed, but Long Xuan suspected it was a coffee tree and imagined creating coffee, Coffee Gu, and a new Gu Insect school.
• Water Elder explained that participants ranked higher at the tea competition could choose prizes first, giving Long Xuan a chance to claim the sapling if he won.
• Water Elder produced Long Xuan’s Iceheart Tea, which Shui Juanyun recognized, but Water Elder warned that it would likely fall outside the top ten at the fiercely competitive convention.
• Long Xuan decided he would need to present Shadow Tea brewed with Heavenly Water instead.

Cha Shan began the tea-fighting event and appointed his Tea King Gu as its sole judge. After the Gu rejected the first contestant’s green tea, the other participants realized they would need to offer their finest teas to qualify for the Tea Sacrifice Convention.

• Cha Shan explained that contestants would present tea for judging, with qualifying teas earning entry to the Tea Sacrifice event and the top-ranked contestants choosing from the displayed treasures first.
• Cha Shan revealed that his Tea King Gu would judge the teas, and the crowd accepted it as an impartial judge.
• Cha Shan started the competition, pleased that the event would let his Gu taste famous teas it had not yet collected.
• The first contestant presented his green tea, but the Tea King Gu spat it out and Cha Shan declared him eliminated.
• The crowd mocked the contestant, while other participants worried that the Tea King Gu’s demanding palate would force them to bring their finest teas.

Long Xuan presented Shadow Tea to the Tea King Gu, which declared it the finest tea it had ever tasted and awarded him first place. As the tea became the principal offering and later participants were eliminated by the Gu’s raised standards, Long Xuan received priority to choose a prize.

• Long Xuan stepped onto the stage second, hoping to have the Tea King Gu taste his tea before it grew full.
• The Tea King Gu eagerly drank thirty drops of Long Xuan’s Shadow Tea and declared it unmatched, giving it full marks.
• Shui Wuqing noticed the Onefold Heavy Water used to brew the tea, while Water Elder silently resolved to kill him during the upcoming River God Secret Realm journey.
• The organizers took Long Xuan’s Shadow Tea for the river offering, and the Tea King Gu rejected many later participants’ teas after its standards rose.
• Cha Shan announced Long Xuan had won first place and designated his tea the principal offering, then invited him to choose a prize.

Long Xuan chose the coffee tree at the treasure selection, while Water Elder warned him that Shui Wuqing had sensed the Heavenly Water. Elsewhere, Water Elder recruited Shui Juanyun and revealed his scheme to use the Heavenly Water against Long Xuan and Shui Wuqing, unaware that Long Xuan already distrusted Shui Juanyun.

• Long Xuan chose the coffee tree despite Cha Shan warning that it had little practical value.
• Water Elder told Long Xuan that Shui Wuqing had sensed the Heavenly Water and warned him to avoid further contact.
• Long Xuan worried that he and Water Elder might fight over Shui Wuqing's Twofold Heavy Water after killing him.
• Shui Wuque told Shui Juanyun that he had tampered with the Heavenly Water to kill Long Xuan or Shui Wuqing and asked him to help.
• Shui Juanyun agreed to follow Shui Wuque's plan, which involved gaining Long Xuan's trust and attacking when the opportunity arose.

Long Xuan secretly offered roasted Enlightenment Tea and distilled Grand Thousand Wine to improve the treasures in the River God Secret Realm. Cha Shan warned that the unusually high-quality offerings would make the trials more dangerous, but nobody withdrew.

• After the tea-fighting event ended, Cha Shan and Jiu Kang led the participants in pouring tea and wine into the river for the River Gods.
• Long Xuan secretly dropped sealed cups of roasted Enlightenment Tea and distilled Grand Thousand Wine into the river.
• Shui Wuqing asked whether the offerings were good enough to open the secret realm, and Cha Shan expressed confidence that they were.
• Jiu Kang warned that the high-quality offerings could make the secret realm's trials more difficult and deadly.
• Cha Shan warned everyone that many might die inside the secret realm, but no one withdrew.

Long Xuan entered the metal-attribute world of the River God Secret Realm, where he and the other cultivators found an unfamiliar expanse of mine mountains. With no clan records to explain the terrain, the group argued over how to proceed and finally agreed to advance together.

• Jiu Kang explained that the eight black holes led to worlds of different attributes, and Long Xuan chose the metal passage after watching which dangerous competitors entered each one.
• Shui Juanyun followed Long Xuan into the metal-attribute world, where they found a barren landscape filled with mine mountains.
• A female Gu cultivator warned the group that they had only half a month and should not waste time mining, while Jiu Qi and a Tea Clan cultivator admitted their clans had no information about the unfamiliar terrain.
• A fat Gu King proposed using weaker cultivators as scouts, but a bold Spiritual Sea Stage youth challenged him and pointed out that the secret realm had reduced the Gu Kings' cultivation.
• An elderly Gu King urged everyone to advance together, and the group agreed, while the fat Gu King threatened to kill the youth when danger separated him from the others.

Long Xuan and the others entered the River God Secret Realm’s mines, where crushing gravity and an unexpected puppet attack turned the first trial into a massacre. With the survivors trapped and unable to damage the puppets, Long Xuan prepared to reveal his Gold-Eating Insects as their possible way out.

• Long Xuan chose a position at the edge of the crowd as the group entered the mining area and encountered powerful gravity that prevented flight.
• Black puppets emerged from the ground, and one killed a Gu King after his spirit blade failed to damage it.
• The puppets overwhelmed both Gu Kings and Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators, killing many and scattering the survivors.
• The puppets surrounded the Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators, while Shui Juanyun struggled against ice-attribute puppets despite his Water Transformation.
• Long Xuan realized that his Gold-Eating Insects might bite through the puppets and reached for the Insect-Rearing Pouch at his waist.

Long Xuan unleashed his Gold-Eating Insects to destroy the iron-shelled puppets and lead the trapped cultivators through the encirclement. He pressed on toward the Gravity Mountain at the mine range’s center, intending to claim it as another floating island, while only Shui Juanyun managed to keep following him.

• Long Xuan released his swarm of Gold-Eating Insects, which bit through the puppets’ iron shells and disabled them.
• The cultivators escaped through the gap in the puppet encirclement, and Long Xuan’s insect swarm cleared a path toward the mountain range’s center.
• Long Xuan recognized the central peak as a Gravity Mountain and planned to refine it into a treasure and add it to his Heaven-Swallowing World Toad.
• As the gravity intensified, most of the cultivators following Long Xuan fell behind, leaving only Shui Juanyun able to keep up.
• Shui Juanyun struggled to endure the pressure and wondered who Long Xuan was, astonished by his immense physical strength.

Long Xuan and Shui Juanyun reached Gravity Mountain, each claiming he could take the massive mountain and proposing to split its value. Long Xuan became certain Shui Juanyun meant to kill him, and prepared to collect the mountain before making his move.

• Shui Juanyun decided to hold back from attacking Long Xuan until he could reunite with Water Elder, while Long Xuan resolved to remove the suspicious Shui Juanyun when he found an opportunity.
• Long Xuan and Shui Juanyun reached Gravity Mountain, where Shui Juanyun revealed that his Water Clan technique, Sea Embracing a Hundred Rivers, could store the whole mountain.
• Shui Juanyun offered to store Gravity Mountain and split the proceeds with Long Xuan, but Long Xuan insisted on taking it himself and making the same promise.
• Shui Juanyun readily agreed, convincing Long Xuan that he expected to claim the mountain after Long Xuan's death.
• Long Xuan took the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad from his Insect-Rearing Pouch to collect Gravity Mountain.

Long Xuan used the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad to swallow Gravity Mountain, removing the range’s oppressive gravity, and hurried away with Shui Juanyun. In the Water Path, Jiu Kang and the survivors blamed the secret realm’s deadly changes on someone’s superior wine and tea and set out before the Blood Mosquitoes could return.

• Shui Juanyun watched the Heaven-Swallowing World Toad grow enormous and devour Gravity Mountain.
• The toad shrank back into Long Xuan’s Insect-Rearing Pouch, and Long Xuan warned Shui Juanyun that the vanished gravity would let Gu Kings escape the puppets and urged him to leave.
• Jiu Kang and the Water Path survivors regrouped after Blood Mosquitoes killed most of their companions.
• Cha Shan and He Jiong speculated that someone had secretly added superior wine and tea to the river, causing the secret realm’s trials to grow more dangerous.
• Jiu Kang recognized the wine as something he had encountered at a stall and warned that the Blood Mosquitoes might return after digesting their fill.
• The survivors hurried to leave the Water Path rather than risk another Blood Mosquito attack.