Chapter Summaries

After escaping a collapsed mine, Gu Sheng, Er Gou, and Shi Lou returned to Stone Village and found it burning under an Azure Cloud Sect attack. They defeated the attackers after Elder Shi sacrificed himself, and Gu Sheng vowed to destroy the sect, though Fifth Master Zhang warned that the mission would be perilous.

• Gu Sheng used his small cauldron to protect Er Gou and Shi Lou from the collapsing mine, and the three escaped through an opening above them.
• They saw Stone Village burning and discovered Azure Cloud Sect cultivators and bandits holding the villagers captive, so they fought back.
• Er Gou and Shi Lou killed the bandits while Gu Sheng and the others battled the cultivators.
• A cultivator took Elder Shi hostage and demanded that Gu Sheng cripple his divine power, but Elder Shi deliberately leaned into the blade and died.
• Enraged, Gu Sheng, Er Gou, and Shi Lou killed the Azure Cloud Sect attackers, and Gu Sheng announced he would wipe out the sect.
• Fifth Master Zhang warned the three that the Azure Cloud Sect had hundreds of cultivators and powerful guardians, including a Grand Elder.

Gu Sheng, Er Gou, and Shi Lou entered Divine Wood Forest to find the Heart of the Divine Wood and gain the power to avenge Stone Village. After Gu Sheng used a mysterious black cauldron to kill a Black Scale Bear, the group found the Heart, which exploded when Gu Sheng touched it and blasted them into a stone wall.

• Gu Sheng set out for Divine Wood Forest with Er Gou and Shi Lou, determined to find the Heart of the Divine Wood and avenge Stone Village.
• The three fought a Black Scale Bear; after Er Gou and Shi Lou were injured and Gu Sheng was struck, Gu Sheng summoned a giant black cauldron and killed the beast.
• Gu Sheng and his companions collected the bear's hide, bones, and Black Scale Pearl, then searched the forest for several days.
• The group discovered the Heart of the Divine Wood, a pitch-black bead hanging from a towering tree, and Gu Sheng reached out to take it.
• The Heart erupted with light and purple lightning, drawing Gu Sheng, Er Gou, and Shi Lou toward it before exploding and hurling them into a stone wall.

After the Heart of the Divine Wood exploded, Gu Sheng found Shi Lou and Er Gou injured and faced a horde of demonic beasts. He used Profound Yellow Power to defeat the beasts and their ruler, the Tyrant Dragon, then began trying to refine the Heart of the Divine Wood.

• Gu Sheng found Er Gou alive with an apparent fractured leg, then discovered Shi Lou unconscious but breathing and used divine power to protect him.
• Demonic beasts attacked the injured group, and Gu Sheng fought them off after Profound Yellow Power surged from his Life Spring and healed him.
• The Tyrant Dragon emerged as ruler of the Divine Wood Forest, but Gu Sheng evaded its attacks and killed it with Profound Yellow - World Annihilation.
• Shi Lou and Er Gou praised Gu Sheng, who then approached the glowing Heart of the Divine Wood.
• Gu Sheng sat down and attempted to refine the Heart of the Divine Wood, but it resisted his Profound Yellow Power.

Gu Sheng refined the Heart of the Divine Wood just as Qing Feng and the Azure Cloud Sect disciples arrived to seize it. After fighting their formation and nearly exhausting his power, Gu Sheng drew on the Heart and the Divine Wood Forest to break through to the fourth level of the Other Shore Realm, then pursued the fleeing Qing Feng.

• Gu Sheng endured the Heart of the Divine Wood's resistance and successfully refined it, restoring his injuries and filling himself with life force.
• Qing Feng and the Azure Cloud Sect disciples confronted Gu Sheng and demanded that he hand over the Heart of the Divine Wood.
• Gu Sheng fought back with the Fire Spirit Dagger, killing one disciple and driving the others off, but Qing Feng trapped him in the Azure Cloud Formation.
• Gu Sheng unleashed his remaining Profound Yellow Power to break free and battled Qing Feng until both were badly weakened.
• Gu Sheng used the Heart of the Divine Wood to absorb energy from the Divine Wood Forest and advance to the fourth level of the Other Shore Realm.
• Qing Feng fled, and Gu Sheng appeared behind him, ready to finish the fight.

Gu Sheng infiltrated the Azure Cloud Sect to free the prisoners in the Soul Refining Cave, but its powerful guardian exposed him and nearly killed him. The Profound Yellow Power restored Gu Sheng, and he crushed the guardian with a black cauldron.

• Gu Sheng killed Qing Feng and the other Azure Cloud Sect disciples, then looted their storage rings and took an Azure Cloud Token and a jade slip containing sect secrets.
• Gu Sheng gave Er Gou and Shi Lou spirit stones to cultivate in the Divine Wood Forest, then headed for the Azure Cloud Sect to avenge Stone Village.
• Gu Sheng infiltrated the sect and entered the Soul Refining Cave, where he found prisoners suffering in iron cages and promised to save them.
• The cave's guardian challenged Gu Sheng's identity and overpowered him, repeatedly attacking him until he lay motionless.
• The Profound Yellow Power erupted from Gu Sheng, healed his wounds, and empowered him to crush the guardian with a black cauldron.

Gu Sheng freed the prisoners in Soul Refining Cave and led them in an assault on the Azure Cloud Sect. After they broke through the mountain-protecting formation, True Man Lingxiao overwhelmed them, leaving the battle hanging in his favor.

• Gu Sheng used The Unbeginning Scripture to break the restriction sealing the prisoners in Soul Refining Cave and urged them to return with him to demand an explanation.
• The freed prisoners killed two Azure Cloud Sect disciples and charged toward the sect’s mountain gate, slaughtering their way through its defenders.
• Gu Sheng and the prisoners combined their power through the small black cauldron to shatter the mountain-protecting formation.
• True Man Lingxiao confronted the attackers, knocked aside Gu Sheng’s cauldron, and wounded the short, fat man when he shielded Gu Sheng.
• Gu Sheng and the others launched a coordinated attack, but True Man Lingxiao blocked their strikes as the outmatched group struggled to survive.

Gu Sheng turned the battle against True Man Lingxiao by striking from the void with the Fire Spirit Dagger, helping his allies rout the Azure Cloud Sect disciples. True Man Lingxiao’s attempted ambush failed, and he trapped Gu Sheng in the Azure Cloud Sword Formation, where Gu Sheng continued to evade the attacks.

• Gu Sheng asked his allies to hold True Man Lingxiao off, then hid in the void and stabbed him in the back with the Fire Spirit Dagger.
• Gu Sheng attacked True Man Lingxiao and the Azure Cloud Sect disciples from concealment, while his allies joined the assault and overwhelmed the sect’s forces.
• True Man Lingxiao offered Gu Sheng treasures and the position of Sect Master, but Gu Sheng refused because of the villagers of Stone Village and the victims of Soul Refining Cave.
• True Man Lingxiao pretended to surrender before launching a powerful golden attack, but Gu Sheng narrowly dodged it.
• True Man Lingxiao summoned more than a dozen elders to form the Azure Cloud Sword Formation around Gu Sheng, who evaded their attacks from within the formation.

Gu Sheng and his two allies fought their way through the Azure Cloud Sect’s elders and reached the forbidden ground, where an altar’s pearl drew him toward a black hole. As Gu Sheng lost consciousness, a mysterious voice identified itself as the Heavenly Demon.

• Gu Sheng broke a gap in the Azure Cloud Sword Formation and joined the skinny young man and the burly man against the elders.
• Gu Sheng wounded True Man Lingxiao, and the three fighters retreated toward the forbidden ground’s entrance.
• The burly man fell while protecting Gu Sheng and the skinny young man, then urged them to continue without him.
• The skinny young man stayed behind to hold off the elders, allowing Gu Sheng to enter the forbidden ground alone.
• Gu Sheng found a glowing pearl on an ancient altar, but its runes activated and pulled him toward a black hole.
• A voice told Gu Sheng, “I am the Heavenly Demon,” as it seized and tormented his consciousness.

Gu Sheng defeated the Heavenly Demon, rescued the surviving Soul Refining Cave captives, and brought them back to Stone Village, where they chose to settle. He planned to rebuild the village with sunken yin wood from Yin Shen Mountain, but the villagers feared the dangerous journey and urged him not to risk his life.

• Gu Sheng resisted the Heavenly Demon's attempt to control him, destroyed the black hole with the Fire Spirit Dagger, and escaped the collapsing forbidden ground with the bead.
• Gu Sheng learned that True Man Lingxiao and a dozen Azure Cloud Sect members had fled, then found the few surviving captives and gave them spirit stones to recover.
• Gu Sheng led the survivors to safety, and they asked to follow him; he invited them to return with him and Shi Lou and Er Gou to Stone Village.
• Gu Sheng brought the Soul Refining Cave survivors to Stone Village, where the villagers welcomed them and chose to rebuild their home rather than abandon it.
• Gu Sheng said he would seek sunken yin wood on Yin Shen Mountain to protect Stone Village, but the villagers warned him about the mountain's beasts and begged him to put his safety first.

Gu Sheng, Shi Lou, and Er Gou traveled to Yin Shen Mountain to find yinwood and Fire Red Flower, crossing a deadly, yin-saturated mountain under the sunlight. After Shi Lou discovered yinwood at the bottom of a black-water source, Gu Sheng entered the water to investigate and retrieve it, where unseen yin energy began testing him.

• Gu Sheng told Stone Village he planned to find yinwood and Fire Red Flower, promised to return within a month, and set out with Shi Lou and Er Gou despite Soul Refining Cave's offer to join them.
• The three rested before crossing the mountain, then climbed it beneath the sunlight and found countless bones below, which Gu Sheng explained had been left by deadly yin energy.
• Gu Sheng led Shi Lou and Er Gou into Yin Shen Mountain and used his small cauldron to shield them as they traveled toward the sound of water.
• Shi Lou entered the black water to investigate, but yin energy dragged him downward; Gu Sheng summoned him back with the small cauldron, and Shi Lou reported that yinwood covered the bottom.
• Gu Sheng left the small cauldron with Shi Lou and Er Gou, then plunged into the water with the Fire Spirit Dagger and descended toward the yinwood as yin energy tested him.

Gu Sheng fought and killed a water monster beneath the river, then found Fire Red Flowers and gathered darkwood with Shi Lou and Er Gou. With the supplies secured, the three prepared to leave Yin Shen Mountain and return to Stone Village.

• Gu Sheng fought through the water monster’s yin energy and tentacles, escaped its grasp, and stabbed it repeatedly until an explosion sounded.
• Gu Sheng surfaced and reunited with Shi Lou and Er Gou, then led them to a vast field of Fire Red Flowers so they could gather enough to save Stone Village.
• The three absorbed the flowers’ Spiritual Power, and Gu Sheng stopped Shi Lou from breaking through while they were still on Yin Shen Mountain.
• Gu Sheng returned to the river, confirmed the water monster’s yin energy had weakened, and carried bundles of darkwood ashore as Shi Lou and Er Gou cleared the timber.
• The three stored the darkwood, agreed that one Stone Village would be enough, and set off to return.

Gu Sheng returned to Stone Village with darkwood and Fire Red Flowers, then helped the villagers begin rebuilding and welcomed the people rescued from Soul Refining Cave as new members. When a group tried to steal the darkwood, Gu Sheng and the villagers fought them, and he identified their leader as a member of Purple Cloud Peak before Huang Shan began to interrogate him.

• Gu Sheng, Shi Lou, and Er Gou returned safely to Stone Village with the darkwood, and Gu Sheng led the villagers in planning its expansion.
• Gu Sheng included the people rescued from Soul Refining Cave in the village rebuild and gave everyone Fire Red Flowers to help heal their injuries.
• Gu Sheng spotted intruders moving toward the darkwood and went ahead to confront them while Shi Lou and Er Gou brought the villagers into battle.
• Gu Sheng and the villagers drove back the attackers, and Er Gou knocked their leader down while Gu Sheng secured the darkwood and took his token.
• Gu Sheng confirmed the token belonged to a member of Purple Cloud Peak and had Huang Shan prepare to torture the captured man for information.

After torturing a Purple Cloud Peak attacker, Gu Sheng learned that a goblin had spread word of Stone Village’s dark yinwood across the martial world. He organized the village’s defenses and reconstruction, then found Huang Shan and the others had fought several waves of attackers while guarding their assigned positions.

• Huang Shan tortured the captured Purple Cloud Peak man until he revealed that a goblin near Bitter Mountain had spread the news about Gu Sheng’s dark yinwood, and Gu Sheng had Huang Shan kill him before Stone Village’s people slaughtered the remaining attackers.
• Gu Sheng used the dead invaders’ souls to sacrifice to the dark yinwood, ordered Shi Lou to clean up, and decided to hasten Stone Village’s reconstruction to protect it from the other sects.
• Before dawn, Gu Sheng mapped Stone Village and returned to find Huang Shan and Shi Lou arguing because they feared he had disappeared or been attacked; he explained where he had gone and apologized for leaving without a word.
• Gu Sheng assigned Huang Shan and the others to guard vulnerable locations, directed Third Elder and other villagers to lay dark yinwood foundations, and tasked Er Gou’s group with delivering timber only after each foundation was ready.
• When attackers struck Huang Shan’s position, Gu Sheng sent silver needles to help and kept the rest of the villagers focused on construction; after nightfall, he found corpses from several sects and gave Fire Red Flowers to the defenders to restore themselves.

Gu Sheng learned that Huang Shan had been kidnapped by Purple Cloud Peak and led a rescue party to their mountain. He demanded Huang Shan’s safe return, but Purple Cloud Peak’s First Elder insisted on trading him for the submerged wood, leaving the two sides on the brink of battle.

• Gu Sheng captured a Purple Cloud Peak scout, learned that three earlier groups had vanished, and sent the scout back with a warning and a pill.
• After Stone Village’s formation was completed and its people moved in, Gu Sheng discovered Huang Shan was missing and found blood and traces confirming Purple Cloud Peak had taken him alive.
• Gu Sheng gathered the people from Soul Refining Cave and led them toward Purple Cloud Peak, choosing to leave the Third Elder and his people behind to guard Stone Village.
• Gu Sheng and his companions stormed Purple Cloud Peak, fought their way inside, and confronted the First Elder at the outer gate.
• The First Elder demanded the submerged wood in exchange for Huang Shan, while Gu Sheng threatened to kill everyone at Purple Cloud Peak unless Huang Shan was brought out unharmed.

Gu Sheng led the assault on Purple Cloud Peak, killed the Third Elder, rescued Huang Shan, and wiped out the sect’s remaining fighters. After the group escaped and rested in a forest, Gu Sheng began drawing on the ground while quietly infusing the marks with divine power.

• Gu Sheng broke the First Elder’s attack with his cauldron and led his companions into battle to rescue Huang Shan.
• Gu Sheng fought the Third Elder, used his greed for Ebony Wood to kill him, and took the wood back.
• Gu Sheng and Shi Lou’s group broke through the defenders, freed Huang Shan, and Gu Sheng healed his injuries with a Fire Red Flower.
• Gu Sheng killed the remaining Purple Cloud Peak fighters, then led the group away without looting the sect.
• The group rested in a forest, where Gu Sheng began drawing on the ground and infusing his marks with divine power.

Gu Sheng and his companions uncovered the earth spirit’s hidden cave and launched an attack, but the spirit regenerated its tentacles and caused the cave to collapse. Gu Sheng emerged from the little cauldron’s spiritual world and found Huang Shan and Shi Lou alive, while Er Gou did not respond.

• Gu Sheng led everyone to Bitter Mountain, where they found the hidden cave entrance by using the small cauldron to break the Bewildering Formation and set a formation outside.
• Gu Sheng and his companions entered the cave and confronted the earth spirit, who admitted spreading news of the Dark Yin Wood and attacked them.
• Gu Sheng severed the earth spirit’s tentacles, discovered that a patch of earth let them regenerate, and had his companions block the soil with their divine power.
• The earth spirit enlarged himself and caused the cave to collapse; Gu Sheng escaped into the spiritual world through the little cauldron as the earth spirit fled.
• Gu Sheng recovered and returned to the rubble, where Huang Shan and Shi Lou answered his calls, but Er Gou remained silent.

Gu Sheng and his companions escaped the collapsed cave, rescued Er Gou, and returned to Stone Village with Huang Shan, who revealed the torture he endured at Purple Cloud Peak. After learning that a spirit pearl had appeared at South Mountain, Gu Sheng decided to leave with Shi Lou and Huang Shan to seek it and confront Purple Cloud Peak’s master.

• Gu Sheng used the formation to lead everyone out of the rubble, then joined the group in healing Er Gou until he awoke at dawn.
• Er Gou remembered fighting the earth spirit but not how they escaped, and Shi Lou explained what had happened.
• Gu Sheng brought the group back to Stone Village, where Huang Shan revealed that Purple Cloud Peak had tortured him and planned to use him to lure Gu Sheng out.
• Huang Shan found his home restored by the villagers and embraced Gu Sheng, grateful to have a home again.
• A bird delivered news that a spirit pearl had appeared at South Mountain, and Gu Sheng chose to seek it with Shi Lou and Huang Shan while the villagers stayed behind.
• Third Elder and the villagers gave Gu Sheng a chest of spirit stones before the group set out the next morning.

Gu Sheng led Stone Village toward South Mountain, avoiding poisoned herbs and hostile sects as they hurried to the Spirit Pearl competition. After Shi Lou revealed their identity to the Black Fiend Sect Master, Gu Sheng suspected the sect wanted the Ebony Wood they carried and took a remote route; by sunset, he was rushing to evade a stronger group ahead.

• Gu Sheng warned Huang Shan, Shi Lou, Er Gou, and the others that rival sects were probing them and poisoning roadside herbs, then continued traveling through the night.
• A large sect’s men tried to stop Gu Sheng’s group from passing, but the Black Fiend Sect Master intervened, let them through, and learned they were from Stone Village when Shi Lou announced it.
• Gu Sheng told Shi Lou that the Black Fiend Sect Master had concealed his killing intent and likely wanted their Ebony Wood, then led everyone onto a remote road instead of the shortest route.
• The group rested before dawn, and Gu Sheng spotted signs of a stronger sect ahead and ordered everyone to conceal their auras and avoid contact.
• Gu Sheng led the group onward without resting, increasing their pace as evening approached and the route ahead grew more dangerous.

Gu Sheng rejected Lan Yao’s offer of friendship unless they met three times, then led Stone Village toward South Mountain while the Black Fiend Sect master pursued them. After the Black Fiend Sect master ambushed Gu Sheng near their resting place, Gu Sheng rallied his recovered companions and began fighting back.

• Lan Yao thanked Gu Sheng for killing the people who had offended the Elf race, gave him a token, and asked to be his friend; Gu Sheng said they could discuss friendship after meeting three times.
• Gu Sheng told Huang Shan he would consider Lan Yao’s friendship if they met three times and Lan Yao remained friendly, then led the group onward toward South Mountain.
• The Black Fiend Sect master failed to find Gu Sheng on the road and decided to wait at a fork leading to South Mountain.
• Gu Sheng led Stone Village into a wood to recover their strength inside the small cauldron while he kept watch.
• The Black Fiend Sect master ambushed Gu Sheng, demanded the Yinwood, and threatened the group, but Gu Sheng woke his companions and enlarged the small cauldron around their enemies.
• Shi Lou and Er Gou charged the Black Fiend Sect master, but Shi Lou was knocked back; Gu Sheng steadied him and leaped forward to clash with the master.

Gu Sheng and the Stone Village group reached the foot of South Mountain after the Elf race helped him defeat the Black Fiend Sect and secure a valuable pill bottle. While they waited to enter the mountain, Gu Sheng planned how to avoid their many enemies, and the Black Fiend Sect leader began plotting against him again.

• Gu Sheng fought the Black Fiend Sect leader until Lan Yao arrived with the Elf race, turning the battle in Gu Sheng's favor.
• Lan Yao stopped Gu Sheng from killing the Black Fiend Sect leader, and Gu Sheng forced the leader to surrender a bottle of golden pills in exchange for his life.
• Gu Sheng shared half the pills with Lan Yao, then led Stone Village to the spirit stone and obtained entry passes to South Mountain.
• Gu Sheng rejected Huang Shan's suggestion to form an alliance and planned for Stone Village to stay hidden until entering the mountain the next day.
• Lan Yao declared that he considered Gu Sheng a friend, while the Black Fiend Sect leader agreed to target Gu Sheng after discovering he was separated from the Elf race.
• Shi Lou worried that trouble might arise overnight, and Er Gou scolded him for speaking ominously as the group rested.