Chapter Summaries

Zhou Feng kept the Qian Household guessing at the Tax Gu Division while waiting for the early Black Market to open. After blending into the crowds and concealing his identity with a Mask Gu, he entered the market, ready to act.

• Zhou Feng deflected the Qian Household faction's attempts to learn whether he would accept Qian Lu's invitation.
• Zhou Feng finished his duty and joined the crowd heading to Corridor Street Market when the early Black Market opened.
• Zhou Feng saw that the market was built from Corridor Gu and used Luminous Gu and Self-walking Gu to conceal and transport its visitors.
• Zhou Feng spotted a vendor selling Corpse Remnant Gu but refrained from approaching so he would leave no trace.
• Zhou Feng bartered for a Mask Gu, concealed his face and aura, and prepared to settle matters inside the Black Market.

Disguised as an ordinary cultivator, Zhou Feng searched the Black Market for a way to conceal his identity before raiding the Qian Household Treasury. He found a Demonic Blade Golden Cicada Gu Artifact that could change his fighting style, but learned that its deadly nature demanded constant feeding and control.

• Zhou Feng used the Mask Gu, Self-walking Gu, and Mimetic Gu Membrane to hide his identity while searching the Black Market for a Corpse Remnant Gu or a top-tier Concealment Gu.
• Zhou Feng assessed his strength and planned to exploit the turmoil on Nine Void Mountain to cover his raid on the Qian Household Treasury.
• Zhou Feng passed over rare Silver Scale Gu treasures and Gu Pills because his Sky Swallowing Gu made them unnecessary for his plans.
• Zhou Feng decided he needed a Gu Artifact to conceal the traces of his usual fighting style during the treasury raid.
• Zhou Feng examined the Demonic Blade Golden Cicada Gu and learned from the stallholder that it required constant flesh and vital essence or it would attack its wielder.

Zhou Feng rejected the conspicuous Demonic Blade Golden Cicada Gu and chose the stealthy Shadowless Sword Gu, but lacked anything suitable to trade for it. An explosion plunged the Black Market into chaos, giving him an unexpected opportunity to break the stalemate.

• Zhou Feng used his Appraisal Eye to identify the Shadowless Sword Gu and decided it better suited his plan to plunder the Qian Household Treasury.
• Zhou Feng realized the Black Market accepted only barter and considered trading the Heavenly Heart Gu Remnant Formula, but rejected the idea because it could expose him.
• Zhou Feng searched his storage again but found nothing valuable enough to trade for the Shadowless Sword Gu.
• An explosion shook the Corridor Gu marketplace, and a voice shouted, "Move!"
• Hidden cultivators began fighting and plundering across the Black Market, and Zhou Feng recognized the chaos as an opportunity.

Zhou Feng watched as Nine Void Mountain’s Black Market erupted into chaos, while its safeguards exposed the troublemakers and Ling Cang confronted three mysterious attackers. As the fight appeared to be a diversion, a new disturbance at the rear mountain began destabilizing the Black Market and stripping away its concealment.

• Zhou Feng suppressed his aura and stayed still as most cultivators obeyed the Black Market’s rules, while a handful of thieves attacked and were exposed by its safeguards.
• Ling Cang arrived and sent his Golden Dragon Gu against three black-robed figures, who dodged and stalled him without fighting back.
• Observers realized the attackers were using the market disturbance to draw away Nine Void Mountain’s forces while a hidden scheme unfolded elsewhere.
• Zhou Feng recognized that the distraction suited his own plan and watched for the attackers’ next move.
• A furious roar came from the rear mountain, and the Corridor Gu forming the Black Market began to rupture, causing concealment methods to fail.

The Black Market’s protections collapsed, exposing its hidden cultivators and leaving Elder Xuanji’s stall of ancient Gu artifacts vulnerable. As Nine Void Mountain’s crisis escalated and True Person Jiukong left seclusion, the crowd attacked the stall.

• The Gu-built marketplace began collapsing, its concealment techniques failed, and cultivators revealed their identities.
• Greedy cultivators surrounded Elder Xuanji’s treasure-laden stall but hesitated, suspecting he had set a trap.
• Zhou Feng withdrew into the shadows as a battle erupted at Nine Void Mountain’s rear mountain.
• The crowd realized multiple forces had trapped Nine Void Mountain in a larger scheme, and True Person Jiukong left seclusion to fight.
• With Nine Void Mountain’s top fighters occupied, the crowd rushed Elder Xuanji’s stall and ignited a chaotic battle.

Elder Xuanji trapped the Black Market crowd in his Nether Sea Domain and revealed himself as a Five-Rank Gu Cultivator, while Zhou Feng remained concealed and waited for a chance to take the Shadowless Sword Gu. As Xuanji gathered the treasures, he searched the captives for outsiders like himself, hoping to plunder their origins and cultivation.

• Elder Xuanji unleashed the Nether Sea, freezing the cultivators and suspending the stall's treasures above its dark waters.
• Elder Xuanji used the Nether Sea Gu and auxiliary Gu to seal the captives' Gu, cut off their power, and reveal his Five-Rank cultivation.
• Zhou Feng resisted the Nether Sea's sealing force with the Sky Swallowing Gu and waited for an opportunity to seize the Shadowless Sword Gu.
• Elder Xuanji swept the treasures into his possession and reflected on how he had escaped servitude to the Nangong Clan and infiltrated Nine Void Mountain.
• Elder Xuanji searched the trapped crowd for outsiders from Cloud Dream Marsh, hoping to plunder their origins and cultivation foundations.

Zhou Feng secretly resisted Elder Xuanji’s Nether Sea Domain, then ambushed him and stole the Shadowless Sword Gu. He escaped unidentified, leaving Elder Xuanji to realize his attacker was an outsider with only Three Revolutions cultivation.

• Elder Xuanji trapped the marketplace in the Nether Sea and collected treasures while Zhou Feng secretly used the Sky Swallowing Gu to resist its sealing power.
• Zhou Feng erupted from concealment and punched Elder Xuanji, shattering the Jellyfish Gu and Sea Thorn Gu defenses and injuring him.
• Zhou Feng seized the Shadowless Sword Gu and vanished into the Nether Sea before anyone could identify him.
• Elder Xuanji wondered how an outsider with Three Revolutions cultivation had broken through his defenses and escaped.

Zhou Feng escaped the Black Market with the Shadowless Sword Gu and quickly refined it while Nine Void Mountain descended into chaos. He reached the Qian Household Treasury, found it under siege, and watched from hiding as the attackers battered its defenses.

• Elder Xuanji realized Zhou Feng was an outsider whose strength and methods defied the world's cultivation system.
• Zhou Feng refined the Shadowless Sword Gu, suppressing its invading Sword Qi with his physique and the Sky Swallowing Gu.
• Zhou Feng raced through Nine Void Mountain as riots, fights, and killings spread across the sect's territory.
• Zhou Feng arrived at the Qian Household Treasury and found several factions besieging its still-intact barriers.
• Qian Liu taunted the attackers from the treasury walls while Zhou Feng concealed himself and saw an opportunity in the siege.

Zhou Feng used the chaos at the Qian Household treasury to obtain a Corpse Remnant Gu, cut open the treasury formation, and slip inside. He left the fighting behind and continued deeper into the treasury, looting its resources while avoiding the main battle.

• Zhou Feng saw that the siege was stalled and identified a lone cultivator, Li Xia, as his safest target for obtaining a Corpse Remnant Gu.
• Zhou Feng silently stabbed Li Xia with the Shadowless Sword Gu and used the Sky Swallowing Gu to take control of Li Xia's Gu insects.
• Concealed by the Corpse Remnant Gu, Zhou Feng cut a gap through the treasury formation with the Shadowless Sword Gu.
• As Qian Liu and the besieging cultivators reacted to the breach, Zhou Feng followed the crowd into the treasury without being noticed.
• Zhou Feng cut through the inner restrictions and guardian puppets, then swept storage racks of resources into his storage Gu pouch as he moved deeper inside.

Wei Ming reached the treasury’s innermost chamber seeking the Golden Money Gu Spiritual Molt, but a Gu Person puppet blocked his way. Zhou Feng collected the Silver Scale Gu Spiritual Molts he needed and prepared to leave the treasury.

• Wei Ming used his Heaven-Stealing Gu to open the innermost chamber, where a Gu Person puppet awakened and advanced on him.
• Wei Ming realized his deception Gu could not fool the mindless puppet and that he could not defeat it head-on.
• Zhou Feng used the Corpse Remnant Gu’s invisibility to reach the Gu insect Spiritual Molt storeroom while two cultivators attacked him.
• Zhou Feng killed the two ambushers with an invisible sword strike, frightening the other cultivators into giving him room.
• Zhou Feng gathered all the Silver Scale Gu Spiritual Molts from the shelves and decided to withdraw through the passage he had entered.

Zhou Feng realized the Qian Household had lured the invaders into a killing formation and hid while seeking a way out without exposing himself. Qian Jiu revealed that the treasury was a living refinement ground designed to use the trapped cultivators’ souls and thoughts to refine a Memory Gu, a key step toward creating the Wisdom Gu.

• Zhou Feng noticed the Qian Household’s formation awakening outside the treasury and hid instead of forcing his way out.
• Wei Ming’s Fortune-and-Misfortune Gu warned him of certain death, so he abandoned the Golden Money Gu Spiritual Molt and fled toward the exit.
• Zhou Feng saw Wei Ming escaping as black wind and decided to follow him, hoping to use him as cover.
• Qian Liu questioned Qian Jiu about the trap, and Qian Jiu explained that the Golden Money Gu Spiritual Molt had been used as bait to draw enemies into the treasury.
• Qian Jiu revealed that the treasury and its encircling formation were a Living Refinement Ground meant to consume the invaders’ souls and thoughts to refine the Memory Gu.

Zhou Feng escaped the Qian Household’s Profound Coin Spirit Suppression Array with the unconscious Li Xia, while Wei Ming remained trapped. After Zhou Feng’s escape disrupted Qian Jiu’s control, Wei Ming burned his Heaven-Stealing Gu’s origin and broke out too, leaving Qian Jiu and Qian Liu stunned.

• The Qian Household activated the Profound Coin Spirit Suppression Array, crushing Wei Ming’s phantom decoys and suppressing him inside the treasure vault.
• Qian Jiu and Qian Liu recognized Wei Ming as a Heaven-Stealing Sect disciple and focused the formation on capturing him.
• Zhou Feng used his Forbidden Body to resist the formation, carried the unconscious Li Xia, and slipped out of its blind corner unnoticed.
• Qian Jiu sensed Zhou Feng’s escape and lost his composure as he tried to identify the person who had ignored the formation.
• Wei Ming seized the brief flaw in Qian Jiu’s control, burned his Heaven-Stealing Gu’s origin, and escaped the formation.
• Qian Liu stood stunned as Zhou Feng and Wei Ming escaped the Qian Household’s formation in succession.

Zhou Feng returned to the Black Market after escaping the Qian Household, then passed Nine Void Mountain’s screening without attracting suspicion. While blending into the crowd, he learned that True Person Jiukong had defeated the invading forces and that rumors claimed he had gained the Wisdom Gu’s power.

• Zhou Feng sent Li Xia’s corpse racing toward the desolate mountains as a decoy, then hurried back to the Black Market to establish an alibi.
• Zhou Feng found the Black Market sealed after the fighting, with captured cultivators imprisoned in Punishment Gu pillars.
• Ling Yuan ordered the crowd to undergo individual screening, and Zhou Feng passed inspection as an unremarkable clerk.
• Zhou Feng stayed near the crowd after screening and listened as cultivators described the unrest and its aftermath.
• Zhou Feng learned that True Person Jiukong had routed the invading experts and retreated into the back mountain, while rumors credited his strength to the Wisdom Gu.

After learning that the Qian Household’s apparent losses were likely part of a hidden scheme, Zhou Feng returned home and refined his Silver Scale Gu Spiritual Molts into a complete defensive Gu Skin. He ended the chapter with both the Shadowless Sword Gu and Silver Scale Gu Skin as concealed combat trump cards.

• Zhou Feng heard that Nine Void Mountain’s chaos had concealed factional purges and that the Qian Household had suffered unusually heavy losses.
• Zhou Feng realized the Qian Household had likely emptied its outer defenses deliberately and grew more wary of the forces’ hidden schemes.
• Zhou Feng passed the Black Market’s screening, returned safely to his residence, and reviewed the spoils he had gathered, including the Shadowless Sword Gu and Silver Scale Gu Spiritual Molts.
• Zhou Feng refined the Silver Scale Gu Spiritual Molts, forming a complete, nearly invisible layer of Silver Scale Gu Skin over his body.
• Zhou Feng tested the Gu Skin with a spiritual power blade and found that it absorbed most of the force without hindering his movement.
• Zhou Feng concealed his aura and Gu Skin, then closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

After Nine Void Mountain quickly restored order following the riots, Zhou Feng returned to the Tax Gu Division and learned how the Illusion Sect had breached the mountain’s defenses. Li Qiulan then ordered the clerks to patrol the districts and offered Public Treasury rewards, leaving Zhou Feng to weigh the dangerous opportunity.

• Zhou Feng stayed hidden until a Gu summoned him back to duty at the Tax Gu Division, where he found the staff purged and replaced after the riots.
• Liu Jie told Zhou Feng that the Illusion Sect had used its Dream Butterfly Gu to deceive a formation guard into opening Nine Void Mountain’s defenses.
• Li Qiulan silenced the clerks and warned them that infiltrators and criminals still lurked throughout the territory.
• Li Qiulan ordered all administrative staff to patrol the outer districts and main thoroughfares because the major Lineages and combat factions lacked personnel.
• Li Qiulan announced that patrols would earn contribution points redeemable for resources from the Public Treasury, while Zhou Feng quietly considered the risks and rewards.

Zhou Feng formed a temporary patrol squad with Liu Jie and the mysterious newcomer Li Dashi, then helped restore order across Nine Void Mountain while earning contributions. After seven days, the squad captured a hidden Illusion Sect disciple, drawing the attention of Li Qiulan and the Tax Gu Division’s higher-ups.

• Li Qiulan ordered the Tax Gu Division’s personnel to form temporary patrol teams, and Liu Jie joined Zhou Feng.
• Li Dashi volunteered to join them, and Zhou Feng sensed a strange, hidden power within him but accepted him into the squad.
• Li Qiulan assigned the trio to patrol the southern city’s market district and outer streets while watching for Illusion Sect cultivators seeking Wisdom Gu.
• Over seven days, Zhou Feng suppressed disturbances, Liu Jie gathered intelligence, and Li Dashi quietly supported the squad as they earned patrol contributions.
• On the seventh evening, Zhou Feng sensed a suspicious cultivator in the marketplace, and the squad captured a low-level Illusion Sect disciple.
• The capture attracted the attention of Li Qiulan and the Tax Gu Division’s higher-ups.

Li Qiulan summoned Zhou Feng and his squad after they captured an Illusion Sect spy, while political marriage pressures and Nine Void Mountain’s factional tensions weighed on her. Her natal Alert Gu stirred when she saw Zhou Feng, prompting her to secretly investigate him as she refocused on the Illusion Sect threat.

• Li Qiulan heard that Zhou Feng’s squad had captured an Illusion Sect disciple and summoned them to the Tax Gu Division’s central deliberation hall.
• Li Qiulan’s natal Alert Gu trembled when she looked at Zhou Feng, and she suspected he was concealing his strength.
• Liu Jie reported how the squad investigated suspicious individuals and how Zhou Feng identified and subdued the Illusion Sect disciple.
• Li Qiulan awarded Zhou Feng, Liu Jie, and Li Dashi one hundred Public Treasury Contribution Points each.
• Li Qiulan ordered her attendant to investigate Zhou Feng’s background, cultivation, and recent movements, then turned her attention back to the Illusion Sect’s infiltration.

Zhou Feng recognized that Nine Void Mountain had released superficial Wisdom Gu records to stabilize the factions and buy time, and he decided to spend his contribution points gathering those materials for his own deductions. At the public treasury, he requested the complete set of records, which cost exactly one hundred contribution points.

• Zhou Feng concluded that Nine Void Mountain had released peripheral Wisdom Gu information to drain contribution points and delay its rivals.
• Zhou Feng reached the heavily guarded public treasury and entered after presenting his clerk's token and proof of merit.
• Zhou Feng bypassed the counters for tangible resources and went to exchange for Wisdom Gu texts and secret records.
• The deacon listed seven volumes of publicly available materials and told Zhou Feng that the set cost one hundred contribution points and could not be returned.

Zhou Feng exchanged all his contribution points for the records on the Wisdom Gu, then narrowly passed Qian Liu, whose Natal Fortune Gu reacted to him. After returning to his residence and opening the records, Zhou Feng learned that the Memory Gu was a necessary foundation for cultivating the Wisdom Gu and could be refined through many different paths.

• Zhou Feng spent all one hundred contribution points to obtain the seven incomplete volumes on the Wisdom Gu, stored in a Devouring Gu bound to him.
• Zhou Feng encountered Qian Liu at the treasury exit and concealed his reaction while passing him.
• Qian Liu felt an inexplicable familiarity with Zhou Feng, and his Natal Fortune Gu trembled, prompting him to mark Zhou Feng as suspicious.
• Zhou Feng returned to his residence, checked that he had not been followed, and opened the Devouring Gu to read the volumes.
• Zhou Feng learned that the Wisdom Gu required vast stores of information and memories, carried by a Memory Gu.
• Zhou Feng discovered that Memory Gus could be refined through many different schools and methods, with no single fixed path.

After studying the dangers and scant records surrounding the Memory Gu and its role in refining the Wisdom Gu, Zhou Feng decided to make cultivators across Nine Void Mountain test the process for him. He devised three incomplete refinement plans to spread while staying hidden and watching for useful results.

• Zhou Feng discovered that the Memory Gu, Spirit-Pointing Gu, and Intelligence-Opening Gu were prerequisites for the Wisdom Gu, but the records provided almost no practical guidance.
• Zhou Feng rejected exploring the refinements alone and decided to exploit other cultivators’ experiments to gather mature methods.
• Zhou Feng planned to spread basic Memory Gu methods across Nine Void Mountain and use the resulting cultivation experiments as a testing ground.
• Zhou Feng considered the risk that a talented cultivator might perfect the methods and expose him, but trusted the major factions to contain any rising threat.
• Zhou Feng sealed the seven scrolls in the Devouring Gu and organized three flawed Memory Gu refinement plans based on different Dao Paths.