Chapter Summaries

Zhou Feng deduced three methods for cultivating Memory Gu and planned to spread them anonymously through the Black Market. He decided Ouyang Qian should leave Nine Void Mountain, then gave her the untested Voidlight Cultivation Method and warned her of its risks.

• Zhou Feng used the Intelligent Brain passive ability and seven incomplete volumes to deduce three Memory Gu cultivation methods, including his new Voidlight Cultivation Method based on binary data.
• Zhou Feng chose the Black Market as the safest place to distribute the methods anonymously and planned to act at night.
• Zhou Feng decided Ouyang Qian should leave Nine Void Mountain to escape the dangers surrounding him.
• Ouyang Qian agreed to leave without questioning Zhou Feng, and he transmitted the Voidlight Cultivation Method to her.
• Zhou Feng explained the method's benefits and risks, left the choice of whether to cultivate or spread it to Ouyang Qian, and walked away.

Zhou Feng went to the Black Market intending to spread his Memory Gu methods, but discovered that many factions had already released fragmentary formulas. He decided to establish an organization to collect and rank the methods, though doing so could expose him to rivals seeking to seize its gains.

• Zhou Feng considered how to attract cultivators to test and improve his three Memory Gu methods, but could not find a reliable way to make them popular.
• Zhou Feng completed his guard shift handover with Liu Jie, Li Dashi, and the others, then headed to the Black Market.
• Zhou Feng heard cultivators discussing the many incomplete Memory Gu formulas already circulating and realized other people were also using collective experimentation to pursue Wisdom Gu.
• Zhou Feng concluded that scattered methods and results would be difficult to gather, so he devised a plan to create an organization that would collect, screen, rank, and improve them.
• Zhou Feng planned to place his own methods among the organization's core templates, but recognized that founding it would be difficult and that rivals might try to take it over.

Zhou Feng founded the Tracebright Society to gather and improve Memory Gu refining methods while concealing his own research. After collecting and organizing Black Market materials, he devised a ranking and contribution system that would make members supply research to the organization, leaving him with the final review authority.

• Zhou Feng named his planned organization the Tracebright Society and decided to attract members by offering practical benefits.
• Zhou Feng spent large amounts of Gu Essence in the Black Market to buy Memory Gu and Wisdom Gu methods, fragments, and experiment records.
• Zhou Feng used the Intelligent Brain to filter and organize the materials into refining plans, improve promising methods, and rank them.
• Zhou Feng placed his secretly released method near the top of the rankings to encourage cultivators to test it without drawing too much attention.
• Zhou Feng established a system in which new members could claim one initial exchange, while further access required contribution points earned by submitting useful research.
• Zhou Feng retained final review authority, allowing him to collect members' discoveries and use them to improve his own methods.

Zhou Feng recruited Liu Jie and Li Dashi as the first members of the Tracebright Society, using his refined Gu Refining rankings to attract more cultivators. As the society grew and members contributed their findings, its rankings improved and Zhou Feng’s Voidlight Cultivation Method rapidly developed into a reliable top-tier method.

• Zhou Feng presented Liu Jie and Li Dashi with the Gu Refining rankings and explained the Tracebright Society’s rules and benefits.
• Liu Jie and Li Dashi agreed to join, and Liu Jie set out to recruit his Rogue Cultivator friends.
• Zhou Feng continually organized members’ trial records and improvement ideas, using the Intelligent Brain to update the rankings.
• As the rankings improved, more Rogue Cultivators joined and submitted Gu Refining methods, experience, and discoveries for contribution points.
• Zhou Feng used the growing body of data and the Intelligent Brain’s deductions to rapidly perfect his Voidlight Cultivation Method.

Zhou Feng perfected the Voidlight Cultivation Method, refined a stable, high-quality Memory Gu, and planned to accelerate research by adding Gu trading to the Tracebright Society. He left the chapter preparing to coordinate the Society's experiments toward transforming Memory Gu into Wisdom Gu.

• The Tracebright Society's experience and the Intelligent Brain's deductions helped Zhou Feng complete the Voidlight Cultivation Method.
• Zhou Feng gathered the materials, took leave from the Tax Gu Division, and refined his first Memory Gu without mishap.
• Zhou Feng inspected the translucent Gu and confirmed its stored memories were pure, stable, and easy to retrieve.
• Zhou Feng recognized that the Memory Gu's potential to nurture a Wisdom Gu still needed extensive testing.
• Zhou Feng decided to add a Gu insect trading function to the Tracebright Society so members could exchange and compare Memory Gu and advance their research together.

Tracebright Society’s internal Gu trading channel caused its membership and Zhou Feng’s profits to surge, while also attracting attention from powerful factions. As Zhou Feng waited for those factions to make their move, his superior Li Qiulan reviewed a dossier on his activities and marveled at his hidden abilities.

• Tracebright Society’s trading channel drew large numbers of Rogue Cultivators, and Zhou Feng gained steady profits from the organization’s methods and transactions.
• Zhou Feng faced a shortage of manpower and noticed that someone was secretly following him.
• Zhou Feng chose to keep Tracebright Society’s operations unchanged, expecting major factions to intervene and believing his expertise would keep him valuable.
• Li Qiulan reviewed dossiers detailing Zhou Feng’s work and Tracebright Society, then expressed surprise at his abilities.

Li Qiulan decided to recruit Zhou Feng to strengthen her faction amid the upheaval over the Wisdom Gu, then considered making him her live-in son-in-law to escape a political marriage. Zhou Feng anticipated her approach and went to her study, seeing the sect faction as a useful protector for his plans.

• Li Qiulan recognized Zhou Feng's value to her faction and ordered him summoned to her study.
• Li Qiulan weighed her limited resources against rival powers and the pressure from her Lineage to marry an Aristocratic Clan heir.
• Li Qiulan decided she could make Zhou Feng her live-in son-in-law, binding him to her while gaining a powerful ally.
• Zhou Feng received Li Qiulan's summons and considered the sect faction a potential shield for his work with the Tracebright Society.
• Zhou Feng concealed his aura, composed himself, and went to Li Qiulan's study.

Zhou Feng met with Li Qiulan, who questioned him about the Tracebright Society and recognized its value. She proposed a marriage alliance, and Zhou Feng understood her motives before answering that she was excellent.

• Zhou Feng entered Li Qiulan's study and confirmed that he had founded the Tracebright Society.
• Zhou Feng described the society's operations, profits, and membership, including its reach among nearly half of Nine Void Mountain's lower-level Gu Refining cultivators.
• Li Qiulan decided that a marriage alliance was the best way to bind Zhou Feng and the Tracebright Society to her interests.
• Li Qiulan asked Zhou Feng whether he was married and what he thought of her.
• Zhou Feng inferred why Li Qiulan wanted to marry him and replied that she was excellent.

Zhou Feng accepted Li Qiulan’s marriage alliance after she explained the dangers and sect assessment he would face, and he insisted they would be true husband and wife. Li Qiulan settled the agreement and told him to move into her residence for protection and to establish their marriage publicly.

• Li Qiulan warned Zhou Feng that her admirers might target him and that he would need to pass her master’s and sect’s assessment.
• Zhou Feng judged the alliance beneficial and said he could withstand both the hostility and the assessment.
• Zhou Feng asked whether they would be genuine husband and wife, and Li Qiulan affirmed that they would.
• Li Qiulan officially settled the marriage agreement and ordered Zhou Feng to move into her residence to protect him and publicly establish their union.

After Li Qiulan’s betrothal to Zhou Feng became known, Nine Void Mountain erupted in criticism over his humble background. While Zhou Feng ignored the uproar, Li Qiulan opened the sect’s resources to him and reorganized the Tracebright Society, freeing him to focus on cultivation and Gu research.

• News of Li Qiulan and Zhou Feng’s betrothal spread, prompting Aristocratic Clan suitors to investigate Zhou Feng and attack his background and past ties to Ouyang Qian.
• Li Qiulan’s Sect Faction questioned the marriage because Zhou Feng lacked the status and connections expected of a political alliance.
• Zhou Feng ignored the criticism and gained access to Li Qiulan’s sect archives, resources, and high-level Gu Dao information.
• Li Qiulan brought skilled administrators into the Tracebright Society and formalized its rules, procedures, and responsibilities.
• The reorganization relieved Zhou Feng of much of the Society’s daily work, allowing him to focus on the Voidlight Cultivation Method, the Wisdom Gu, and cultivation.

Zhou Feng began refining a perfected Memory Gu as his Fourth-Turn Natal Gu while Li Qiulan faced mounting pressure from Nine Void Mountain’s established powers over the Tracebright Society’s open access to Gu Dao resources. The chapter left Zhou Feng immersed in his secluded refinement and Li Qiulan caught in a political crisis.

• Zhou Feng chose the Memory Gu as his Fourth-Turn Natal Gu, believing it could lay the foundation for nurturing a Wisdom Gu.
• Zhou Feng rejected his previous Memory Gu as inadequate and gathered top-grade materials to refine a flawless replacement.
• Zhou Feng isolated himself in a quiet chamber and began carefully refining his new Natal Memory Gu.
• The Tracebright Society spread Gu Refining knowledge and resources to its members, disrupting Nine Void Mountain’s traditional resource monopolies.
• Nine Void Mountain’s established powers demanded that Li Qiulan restrict membership, resource exchanges, and outside cultivators’ access to core Gu Dao knowledge.
• Li Qiulan faced growing public and private pressure while Zhou Feng continued his secluded refinement.

Li Qiulan rejected the factions’ demands to restrict the Tracebright Society, believing its open system was essential to developing Wisdom Gu. Meanwhile, Zhou Feng refined a perfect Memory Gu, broke through to Fourth-Turn, and joined the Gu with his Intelligent Brain to strengthen his path toward Wisdom Gu.

• Li Qiulan resisted pressure from sect elders and Aristocratic Clan stewards, concluding that restricting the Tracebright Society would destroy its system of shared experimentation.
• Li Qiulan recognized the Society’s collective research as the best path to reproducing Wisdom Gu and rejected every faction’s joint demands.
• Zhou Feng completed a flawless Memory Gu and designated it as his Natal Gu, breaking through from Third-Turn to Fourth-Turn.
• Zhou Feng transferred his accumulated memories into the Memory Gu and linked it with his Intelligent Brain to create a system for storing, organizing, and deducing information.
• Zhou Feng saw his Gu Dao deductions and path toward Wisdom Gu become clearer, reaffirming his decision to choose a Memory Gu as his Natal Gu.

After stabilizing his breakthrough to Fourth-Turn Gu Cultivator, Zhou Feng left seclusion and found Sun Jun and other clan prodigies blocking his way over his marriage to Li Qiulan. When they refused to let him pass, he knocked Sun Jun flying with one punch, leaving the others stunned.

• Zhou Feng emerged from seclusion after integrating his Natal Memory Gu with the Intelligent Brain and decided to visit the Tracebright Society.
• Sun Jun and several clan prodigies confronted Zhou Feng and demanded that he dissolve his marriage agreement with Li Qiulan.
• Zhou Feng refused to let Sun Jun decide whether he was worthy of Li Qiulan and tried to walk past the group.
• The prodigies blocked every route but avoided attacking him directly near Li Qiulan's residence.
• Zhou Feng activated the Gold Devouring Demonic Hand Gu and struck Sun Jun with one punch, breaking through his protective spiritual power and sending him flying.
• The other clan prodigies stared in disbelief at Zhou Feng's sudden show of strength.

Zhou Feng defeated Sun Jun at the gates of Li Qiulan’s mansion, first with a single punch and then again after Sun Jun unleashed the Blood Demon Gu. He calmly left for the Tracebright Society, while the gathered Aristocratic Clan prodigies watched in shock.

• Zhou Feng struck Sun Jun and sent him flying, stunning the Aristocratic Clan prodigies gathered at the mansion gates.
• Enraged and humiliated, Sun Jun summoned the Blood Demon Gu and attacked Zhou Feng with scarlet Blood Demons and a blood-control secret art.
• Zhou Feng’s Silver Scale Armor withstood Sun Jun’s attacks, and his stable blood and qi resisted the secret art.
• Zhou Feng charged through the blood mist and shattered Sun Jun’s scarlet shield with a punch, knocking him down and leaving his spiritual power in chaos.
• Zhou Feng calmly turned away from Sun Jun and walked through the crowd toward the Tracebright Society.

Zhou Feng used the Tracebright Society’s archives to piece together the four-Gu foundation needed to cultivate a Wisdom Gu, but discovered that he could not refine the rare Epiphany Gu from scratch. He found two completed Epiphany Gu in Nine Void Mountain’s vaults, yet their restricted access left him planning to use a few tricks to obtain one.

• Zhou Feng accessed the Tracebright Society’s accumulated Gu Dao materials and organized them with his Memory Gu and Passive Intelligent Brain.
• Zhou Feng deduced that a Wisdom Gu required the Memory Gu, Clearthought Gu, Epiphany Gu, and Origin-Seeking Gu to work together.
• Zhou Feng searched the archives for an Epiphany Gu refinement method but found only fragmentary records and concluded he could not make one himself.
• Zhou Feng found records of two complete Epiphany Gu in Nine Void Mountain’s core sect vaults.
• Zhou Feng learned that the Epiphany Gu were too restricted for even Li Qiulan to retrieve and decided to use a few tricks.