Chapter Summaries

Shaoshao presented the Marrow-Washing Pill, claiming it gave cultivators with fifth-grade aptitude or above a guaranteed breakthrough to the Marrow Cleansing Stage. The Medicine Clan and Alchemy Clan drove its price to one billion Spirit Stones before agreeing to split the five pills, leaving Long Xuan stunned by the auction’s outcome.

• Shaoshao announced the Marrow-Washing Pill’s guaranteed breakthrough rate and revealed that only five pills were available.
• Yao Jingtian and Dan Chenzi recognized the pill’s research value and ordered their clans to bid for it.
• Yao Jingtian and Dan Chenzi escalated the bids from millions to one billion Spirit Stones as their clans competed to keep the other from acquiring the pill.
• Long Xuan watched the price soar and resented Qian Jinjin for reselling his pills at an enormous profit.
• The Medicine Clan and Alchemy Clan agreed to pay five hundred million Spirit Stones each and split the pills, dividing the fifth pill between them.

The auction’s second item, Long Xuan’s Spirit-Recovery Wine, drew fierce bidding from Wine Clan cultivators who recognized its exceptional quality. Qian Duoduo withdrew after their joint bid reached twelve million Spirit Stones, leaving the Wine Clan poised to win the wine.

• The first auction item, Marrow-Washing Pills, sold for one billion Spirit Stones, and Long Xuan realized the price had risen because the Medicine Clan and Alchemy Clan were both present.
• Shao Shao introduced thirty barrels of Long Xuan’s Spirit-Recovery Wine, and Qian Duoduo disguised himself as a bidder and began bidding.
• Jiu Kang and three other Wine Clan cultivators declared their interest in the wine and drove the price up as they competed with Qian Duoduo.
• Jiu Kang proposed pooling the Wine Clan group’s money to split the barrels, and they bid twelve million Spirit Stones together.
• Qian Duoduo decided the price was too high and left the auction house.

Long Xuan bought rare Spirit Insects at the auction while Feng Si repeatedly drove up his bids, then set his sights on the Blacknight Longblade as a metamorphosis gift for Xiaoyue. He bid two hundred million Spirit Stones and invoked the Long Family’s name, leaving the other bidders to respond.

• Long Xuan outbid Feng Si for the endangered Three-Eyed Spider, and Long Ziyan warned him that Feng Si was maliciously raising the price.
• Long Xuan continued buying useful auction items, paying inflated prices as Feng Si cautiously interfered with his bids.
• Long Xuan collected more than a dozen endangered High-grade Spirit Insects and decided to research ways to breed them in his insect room.
• Shao Shao began auctioning the Blacknight Longblade, a Renowned Blade, at one hundred million Spirit Stones.
• Long Xuan showed Xiaoyue the blade, promised it for her first metamorphosis, and bid two hundred million Spirit Stones while asking the crowd to give the Long Family face.

Long Xuan used an Illusion Realm to make Feng Si believe he had bid six hundred million Spirit Stones for a Renowned Blade, while the auction house recorded Feng Si’s own five hundred and ten million bid. Feng Chengxiang recognized Long Xuan’s terrifying Illusion Technique and warned Feng Si that he could not afford the winning price.

• Long Xuan cast an Illusion Realm over most of the auction house as he and Feng Si competed for the Renowned Blade.
• Long Xuan appeared to raise the price to six hundred million Spirit Stones, and Feng Si stopped bidding, believing Long Xuan had won.
• Long Xuan withdrew the Illusion Realm and denied bidding above three hundred million, while Yao Jingtian and Shao Shao confirmed that Feng Si’s five hundred and ten million bid was the highest.
• The auction house sided with the prominent witnesses who had not been affected by the illusion, leaving Feng Si unable to prove Long Xuan had bid six hundred million.
• Feng Chengxiang explained that Long Xuan had ensnared the auction house in an Illusion Technique and warned Feng Si that he would have to pay five hundred and ten million Spirit Stones.
• Feng Si realized he could not afford the Renowned Blade and collapsed in despair.

Feng Si refused to pay his enormous auction bid, so the Qian Clan guards beat him, confiscated his possessions, and threw him naked into the street. Long Xuan and Long Ziyan expected him to leave Blackstone City, while Long Xuan privately resolved to kill him and revealed that he had never wanted the Renowned Blade.

• Feng Si failed to gather the Spirit Stones for his bid and angrily refused to pay, provoking the Qian Clan Merchant Association.
• Qian Duoduo led guards into Feng Si's private room, beat him, confiscated his belongings, and had him thrown naked into the street.
• Feng Si fled through the laughing crowd as the other Feng Clan geniuses distanced themselves from him.
• Long Xuan told Long Ziyan that he had only played a small trick on Feng Si, while privately planning to kill him after he left the city.
• The Qian Clan postponed the unsold Renowned Blade to the mid-session auction, and Long Xuan explained that he had never intended to buy it.

Long Xuan planned to evolve Blade Gu by having it fuse with Blade Intent and began researching the Ten Ultimates Saber Technique while waiting for Flame Clone to kill Feng Si. As the Gu King special auction began in Blackstone City, Long Xuan watched from the Long Family Estate and wondered whether Shi Haojun was carrying out a massacre in distant Black Moon City.

• Long Ziyan guessed that Long Xuan wanted Blade Gu to fuse with Blade Intent, and Long Xuan said he hoped she would eventually comprehend Sword Intent for it.
• Long Xuan sent Flame Clone to kill Feng Si outside the city and worked on the Ten Ultimates Saber Technique in his secret chamber.
• Flame Clone returned and reported that Feng Si had already been killed with a sword, leaving Long Xuan shocked and frustrated.
• Long Xuan watched the Gu King special auction from the highest spire of the Long Family Estate and saw Gu Kings fiercely bid on a Superior-grade Variant Gu.
• Long Xuan searched the auction house for Shi Haojun, failed to find him, and wondered whether he was attacking Black Moon City.

Yao Chen explained that the Marrow-Washing Pills revealed an alchemist whose techniques surpassed his own, while refusing to risk the Medicine Clan over the Living Wood. Old Long confronted Long Xuan about his relationship with Long Ziyan and warned him that her Nine-Yin Severing Physique gave her a shortened lifespan.

• The Medicine Clan elders studied the Marrow-Washing Pills as Yao Chen declined to pursue the Living Wood, saying it could draw the Lineage into a dangerous conflict.
• Yao Chen explained Fusion Degree and concluded that the pills’ ten-percent Fusion Degree showed their maker had extraordinary Alchemy techniques.
• The Medicine Clan head told Yao Chen that the Qian Clan Merchant Association could not identify the mysterious alchemist and would not reveal a seller’s information.
• Old Long appeared before Long Xuan and reproached him for becoming involved with Long Ziyan after she had sworn off romance.
• Old Long told Long Xuan that Long Ziyan had the Nine-Yin Severing Physique and a shortened lifespan, leaving Long Xuan surprised by the danger she faced.

Old Long entrusted Long Xuan with his incomplete Longevity Gu Recipe and recounted how his failed efforts to extend Red Jade’s life had ruined his fortune and left him with lasting regret. Meanwhile, Qian Jinjin confirmed that the Qian Clan would not pursue the Living Wood, leaving the auction uncontested by her clan.

• Old Long warned Long Xuan that Long Ziyan had a short lifespan and entrusted her to him after Long Xuan vowed to love her even as she grew old.
• Old Long gave Long Xuan his incomplete Longevity Gu Recipe and explained that he had created it to extend Red Jade’s life, as she had the same Nine-Yin Severing Physique as Ziyan.
• Old Long revealed that his failed research had cost him his fortune and cultivation prospects, and that his final fight with Red Jade had kept him from seeing her before she died.
• Long Xuan resolved to complete the Longevity Gu Recipe and fulfill Old Long’s lifelong wish.
• Qian Duoduo asked Qian Jinjin whether the Qian Clan would pursue the Living Wood, but she told him the clan elders had unanimously decided to avoid it to protect the clan’s reputation.

The Living Wood auction drew bids from the Alchemy Clan, the Cai Clan Merchant Association, and the Great Yin Dynasty, pushing the price to forty-one billion Spirit Stones. The Cai Clan Merchant Association withdrew over the risks of transporting the prize, while Luo Yu confidently claimed the Great Yin Dynasty could take it home safely.

• Long Xuan focused on the auction as the Living Wood was presented as its final item, and Qian Jinjin opened bidding at ten billion Spirit Stones.
• The Alchemy Clan's patriarch bid eleven billion Spirit Stones, but the Cai Clan Merchant Association raised the price to fifteen billion, forcing him to withdraw.
• The Great Yin Dynasty bid twenty billion Spirit Stones, and Cai Xuan answered with a bid of forty billion.
• Luo Yu bid forty-one billion Spirit Stones, prompting Cai Xuan to stop bidding and warn that the Living Wood might not survive the journey back to the Great Yin Imperial City.
• Luo Yu dismissed Cai Xuan's warning and said he was confident the Great Yin Dynasty could safely take the Living Wood home.

Luo Yu secretly transferred the Living Wood to the Ninth Prince and planned to use a decoy and his own death to conceal its escape. Long Xuan discovered where the real Living Wood had been hidden and crept toward it as the Gu Kings followed Luo Yu out of the city.

• Luo Yu paid Qian Jinjin forty-one billion Spirit Stones for the Living Wood and took possession of it.
• Luo Yu used a Transfer Gu to send the Living Wood to the Ninth Prince, then ordered four deathsworn to serve as bait and die protecting a fake.
• Long Xuan noticed the Living Wood's progress symbol had vanished and inferred that the real tree had been transferred nearby.
• Long Xuan used the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to locate the Living Wood in a small house guarded by two Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators.
• Long Xuan decided to steal the Living Wood and crept toward the house while Luo Yu left the auction house and drew the Gu Kings after him.

Qian Jinjin gambled that the Great Yin Dynasty would invade the Western Land if the Living Wood was lost, while Luo Yu drew pursuing Gu Kings away from the city. Long Xuan discovered that imperial princes Luo Zheng and Luo Ye had stolen bark from the Living Wood, then trapped them in the Origin Realm.

• Qian Jinjin kept 40 billion Spirit Stones and ordered Qian Duoduo to monitor the Living Wood and prepare war supplies in case the Great Yin Dynasty invaded the Western Land.
• Luo Yu sped away from the city, prompting some Gu Kings to suspect his attendants might be carrying the Living Wood.
• A Gu King attacked one of Luo Yu's attendants, who revealed himself as a Gu King and fled; the other Gu Kings chased him, convinced he had the Living Wood.
• Luo Zheng broke off bark from the Living Wood and persuaded Luo Ye to swallow a piece before hiding the tree in an Insect-Rearing Pouch.
• Long Xuan watched the princes steal the bark, then used the Origin Realm with his five clones to trap them in an illusion.

Long Xuan stole the Living Wood from Luo Zheng’s pouch and escaped as Gu Kings converged on its location. The Gu Kings believed the treasure had been destroyed in a battle, while Luo Yu discovered that his plan had failed and blamed Luo Zheng and Luo Ye.

• Long Xuan sent the rabbit to take the Living Wood from Luo Zheng’s Insect-Rearing Pouch, then fled as Gu Kings rushed toward the area.
• At the southern battle, a Mid-Stage Gu King set the Living Wood chest ablaze and detonated it, apparently destroying the treasure.
• Jiu Kang and Cai Xuan learned that the Living Wood had been destroyed, and the Gu Kings dispersed without knowing Long Xuan had taken it.
• Luo Yu returned to the small house and questioned Luo Zheng and Luo Ye after finding Gu Kings searching nearby.
• Luo Yu found only a sleeping silver snake in Luo Zheng’s pouch and berated the two princes for losing the Living Wood and four hundred billion Spirit Stones.

Long Xuan stole the Living Wood from the princes and returned safely to the Long Family residence, while the Gu Kings pursued the fleeing princes through a secret tunnel. In his secret chamber, Long Xuan began researching a Longevity Gu that could increase the Thatch Gu’s innate lifespan and potentially let it teleport living creatures.

• Luo Zheng discovered the Living Wood was missing, and Luo Yu realized a Gu King had stolen it after finding a hole torn through the formation.
• Luo Yu led Luo Zheng and Luo Ye through a tunnel beneath the bed as Yan Pojun and other Gu Kings entered the room and pursued them.
• Long Xuan returned to his residence and ordered the Thatch Gu to plant the Living Wood, unaware that it stripped the bark while the Heavenly Dream Dragon Silkworm ate all the leaves.
• Long Xuan opened Old Long’s incomplete Longevity Gu formula and considered making a Longevity Gu for Gu Insects as well as humans.
• Long Xuan concluded that raising a Gu Insect’s grade required increasing its innate lifespan, so he decided to develop a separate Longevity Gu for the Thatch Gu to enable it to transport living creatures.

Long Xuan discovered that deadly Microbial Insect Strains had been planted in his bathwater and warned Long Yuanshan, who realized the threat could endanger the entire Long Family. Meanwhile, Yan Pojun ordered the Western Land clans to curb their conflicts after the search for Living Wood left two Great Yin Dynasty princes dead.

• Long Ziyan brought Long Xuan a flower-petal bath, but Long Xuan spotted invisible Microbial Insect Strains in the water with his Eye of Heavenly Secrets.
• Long Xuan hurried to Long Yuanshan and showed him the contaminated bathwater, warning that someone had planted Gu to harm him.
• Long Yuanshan tested the water and watched the tiny insects bite through his Spirit Armor, confirming they could threaten even powerful Gu Masters.
• Yan Pojun found no Living Wood in Luo Yu's shattered storage ring and learned that two Great Yin Dynasty princes had died in the Gu Kings' battle.
• Yan Pojun ordered the clans to set aside their grudges and warned them to guard against the Great Yin Dynasty exploiting internal conflicts.
• Long Yuanshan ordered the clan elders summoned, every clansman awakened, and the Long Family placed on Level One alert.

After the Long Family discovered that invisible insects had contaminated Blackstone City’s only water source, Long Yuan suspected that Shi Haojun had refined the forbidden Plague Demon Gu. He explained the Gu’s apocalyptic history and powers, leaving the clan facing a threat that could destroy the entire city.

• The Long Family sounded its emergency bell after discovering that invisible insects had infected the Black River and that residents who drank from it were infected.
• Long Yuanshan reported the contamination to Long Yuan, and the clan cut off the water supply and arranged treatment and replacement water.
• Long Yuan explained that invisible insects existed throughout the world and identified the Plague Demon Gu as the only Gu he knew that could control them.
• Long Yuan recounted how the Demon Heaven Cult’s Forbidden Gu had caused mass slaughter in the Age of Gods and led to the destruction of its ten Demon Venerables.
• Long Yuan described the Plague Demon Gu’s Mutation Domain, which could turn harmless microorganisms into lethal threats and make entire cities easy to slaughter.
• Long Yuan concluded that Shi Haojun had refined the Plague Demon Gu and was responsible for the Black River contamination.

Long Yuan warned the Long Family that Shi Haojun’s Variant Plague Demon Gu could destroy Blackstone City, and Long Wanli began preparing the city. Shi Haojun left Shi Rui to explore a dangerous tomb; after waking from a nightmare of her death, he stepped into a corpse-filled Black Moon City.

• Long Yuan explained that Shi Haojun had likely completed the Plague Demon Gu’s transformation and ordered Long Wanli to warn the city and secure clean water.
• Shi Rui urged Shi Haojun not to refine the terrifying Gu Recipe, and he agreed while naming their unborn daughter Shi Duo.
• Shi Haojun told Shi Rui he would explore the great tomb for its Heaven-grade Spirit Medicine, then left despite her worries.
• Two months later, Shi Haojun returned in a nightmare to find Shi Rui dead and the courtyard in mourning.
• Shi Haojun woke in a blood-soaked city and walked through streets filled with corpses toward the gate of Black Moon City.

Blackstone City's leaders prepared to confront Shi Haojun, the Plague Demon Gu's wielder, and Yao Chen proposed a way to counter its Mutation Domain. The Gu Kings approved his plan to poison the microorganisms in their bodies, while Long Xuan silently recognized its danger and let them proceed.

• Long Yuan warned Blackstone City's leaders that Shi Haojun might slaughter entire cities to avenge the incident in Black Moon City, and Cai Xuan explained that the Heaven and Earth Edict compelled Gu Kings to join the campaign against him.
• Yan Pojun said Blackstone City could defeat Shi Haojun if they found a way to counter the Mutation Domain, and argued that the Plague Demon Gu was likely weakened because many of its required materials had gone extinct.
• Yao Chen proposed that the Gu Kings take a poison pill and then an antidote to kill the microorganisms in their bodies, which he believed would make them immune to the Mutation Domain.
• Long Xuan recognized that beneficial microorganisms were essential to human health but stayed silent as the Gu Kings approved Yao Chen's plan.
• Yao Chen warned the Gu Kings to use their spirit armor against airborne Spirit Insects and end the fight quickly, and Yan Pojun and the others confidently agreed.

Yan Pojun prepared Blackstone City for Shi Haojun by organizing the Gu Kings and sealing the city against plague, but the Mutation Domain descended before the battle began. Shi Haojun approached as the defenders withdrew from the walls to keep him from reading their thoughts.

• Yan Pojun proposed that the Gu Kings take poison pills, attack Shi Haojun together, and retreat to Blackstone City's protective formation if they lost; they signed a life-and-death agreement allowing him to burn them if needed to destroy plague-carrying microorganisms.
• Elderly Gu Kings reported that Shi Haojun had massacred a surrounding city, while a cultivator warned Yan Pojun that fifty thousand refugees had fled a plague outbreak in Black Tiger City.
• Yan Pojun sealed Blackstone City and ordered its gates shut and its protective formation activated, leaving refugees and returning residents outside.
• The Mutation Domain covered the city in red light, and people outside clawed at their skin in agony as the protective formation held the danger back.
• As a strange shriek announced Shi Haojun's approach, Yan Pojun and the Gu Kings left the walls to avoid having their thoughts overheard, and Long Xuan hurried down from a gate tower.

Shi Haojun attacked Blackstone City with a million Plague Corpses, forcing Yan Pojun and the Gu Kings to leave the city and fight. The battle turned against them as invisible Plague Demon Gu and powerful corpse kings tore apart their formation, while Shi Haojun confronted the city’s strongest fighters.

• Shi Haojun unleashed a million Plague Corpses against Blackstone City’s protective formation, and Yan Pojun ordered the Gu Kings to take poison pills, detoxify, and attack.
• Yan Pojun led more than a hundred Gu Kings out of the city, while Long Xuan recorded the battle from a safe distance.
• Invisible Plague Demon Gu broke through Gu Kings’ defenses, and Gu King-level Plague Corpses scattered the fighters and caused further casualties.
• Yan Pojun realized their plans had failed and led the Peak Gu Kings toward Shi Haojun while ordering the late-stage Gu Kings to hold back the three Peak Gu King Plague Corpses.
• Shi Haojun faced the assault with fourteen supreme-grade Gu worms, forcing the Blackstone City fighters to send more Gu Kings against him as the battle spiraled out of control.

Yan Pojun’s forces lost their battle against Shi Haojun, and the surviving Gu Kings fled through his deadly sea of fire into Blackstone City’s formation. With the city under threat and supplies limited, Yan Pojun ordered everyone to hold out until Gu Emperor City sent reinforcements.

• Yan Pojun unleashed Sunflame, burning the microorganisms in the air and sacrificing three of his nine Spirit Flames.
• Long Yuanshan warned Long Xuan that Blackstone City faced a grave crisis, but reassured him that its Spirit Vein-powered formation could hold for a month.
• Shi Haojun routed the allied Gu Kings, and Yan Pojun’s sea of fire killed more than a dozen as the survivors rushed into the City-Protecting Formation.
• Yan Pojun entered the formation last, learned that more than fifty of the over one hundred and fifty Gu Kings had died, and realized the city could not defeat Shi Haojun in another battle.
• Yan Pojun ordered Blackstone City to hold out for rescue from Gu Emperor City, imposed strict food and water rationing, and threatened execution for anyone who disobeyed.