Chapter Summaries

Shi Hou rushed to catch Shi Hao and stop him from eating the black fiend lotus, while the Black Tiger pursued them. Shi Hou hurled Furball at Shi Hao, awakening the tiny monkey’s terrifying primordial power.

• Shi Hou collected dead Fierce Beasts with the Black Pot and knocked out a silver-robed youth who had robbed two unconscious cultivators.
• Following Furball’s directions, Shi Hou reached the black fiend lotus’s empty pit and realized Shi Hao had already taken the treasure.
• Shi Hou abandoned his concealment and raced through the mountains, feeding White Jade Giant Radishes to Kang as the Black Tiger chased them.
• Shi Hou spotted Shi Hao carrying the black fiend lotus and saw him raise it toward his mouth.
• Shi Hou hurled Furball toward Shi Hao, and Furball awakened its primal power, manifesting the phantom of a towering Primordial Giant Ape.

Shi Hou saved the Black Fiend Lotus from Shi Hao just as Furball transformed into a rampaging Primordial Zhu Yan and attacked them. Shi Hou fled with Shi Hao, only to crash toward a giant black tiger tracking the herb.

• Shi Hou snatched the Black Fiend Lotus from Shi Hao and tossed it into the Black Pot Space.
• Furball transformed into a towering Zhu Yan, roared about its lost treasure, and recognized Shi Hou as the one who had assaulted its nose with underpants.
• Shi Hou restrained Kang and fled with Shi Hao as Furball punched him, with the Black Pot diverting most of the blow.
• Shi Hou and Shi Hao plowed through the forest and encountered a giant black tiger that had tracked the Black Fiend Lotus.
• Shi Hou grinned as the black tiger blocked his path, with Furball still raging behind them.

Shi Hou and Shi Hao used Kang to paralyze a charging black tiger, which Furball battered into submission before collapsing from exhaustion. After Shi Hao caught Furball, Shi Hou cut off a piece of the tiger’s tail, and the two fled as it began to wake.

• Shi Hou gave the Black Pig to Shi Hao, who fired Kang’s icy beam into the black tiger and paralyzed it.
• Shi Hou hurled the black tiger into Furball’s path, and Furball repeatedly smashed it into the ground.
• Shi Hou and Shi Hao watched from a ridge as Furball’s golden giant-ape form faded and it fell from exhaustion.
• Shi Hao caught Furball, and Shi Hou and Shi Hao found the battered black tiger alive in the pit.
• Shi Hou cut off a striped section of the tiger’s tail, then he and Shi Hao fled when it began to stir.

Shi Hou and Shi Hao hid in a mountain cave, tended to their exhausted companions, and shared a chicken-and-mushroom stew while saving rare ingredients for their missing friends. Shi Hao discovered Shi Hou’s supposed Heaven Mending Pavilion Elder Token and concluded that Shi Hou’s cooking infused food with Dao resonance.

• Shi Hou placed Kang, Furball, and Black Pig in the Stone Pot to nourish them, then set aside rare ingredients so he and Shi Hao could share them with Dazhuang and the others after the assessment.
• Shi Hou cooked Purple-Feathered Black-Bone Chickens with mushrooms, and he and Shi Hao ate the stew.
• Shi Hou gave Shi Hao a Beastskin Bag taken from the Silver-Robed Youth, and Shi Hao found pills and Heaven Mending Stones inside.
• Shi Hao noticed Shi Hou’s crudely carved brick token, and Shi Hou claimed he had become the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Spirit Cuisine Elder after his cooking helped its Grand Elder break through.
• Shi Hao reasoned that Shi Hou’s food had helped people and Fierce Beasts break through cultivation barriers by infusing Dao resonance into the dishes, and Shi Hou told him to save future top-grade ingredients for his cooking.

Shi Hao and Shi Hou reunited with Dazhuang and the others after finding them facing a Silver-Robed Youth who demanded their heaven mending stones. Shi Hao knocked the youth unconscious, gave the stones to Dazhuang so the group could enter the Genius Camp, and Shi Hou decided to go with them while Shi Hao returned to take the examination again.

• Shi Hou woke, released Furball and Black Pig, and joined Shi Hao as they headed east after Kang sensed Dazhuang and the others.
• The boys found Dazhuang and his companions confronting a Silver-Robed Youth who demanded their heaven mending stones.
• Ermeng and Dazhuang attacked together while Qingfeng supported them with runes, but the youth revealed six heavenly caves and prepared to kill them.
• Shi Hao struck the Silver-Robed Youth twice from behind with a beast-bone club, knocking him out and leaving two symmetrical lumps on his head.
• Dazhuang and the others told Shi Hao about the destroyed examination formation and the new limit of three thousand entrants.
• Shi Hao gave Dazhuang more than a dozen heaven mending stones, then said he would retake the examination while Shi Hou went with Dazhuang's group.

Shi Hou secretly protected Dazhuang and the others through the Second Battlefield, then realized the Heaven Mending Pavilion had manipulated him into cooking for them by disguising lesser spirit fruits as priceless treasure medicine. As the examinees followed Elder Xiong Fei to view the Black Fiend Lotus, Shi Hou decided to retaliate against the Pavilion.

• Shi Hou secretly guarded Dazhuang and the other three in the Second Battlefield, helping them gather spirit medicines while keeping the best Fierce Beast ingredients for himself.
• Dazhuang and the others passed the examination with three Heaven Mending Stones each and received bamboo tokens for the Genius Camp.
• Shi Hou spotted Shi Hao among the examinees, while Xiao Tian recognized the Bear Child and Black-Skinned Chef as the ones who had robbed and humiliated him.
• Elder Xiong Fei announced that the Heaven Mending Pavilion's eight-hundred-year-old Black Fiend Lotus would become a treasure medicine in two hundred years, then led the examinees to see it.
• Shi Hou compared the Black Fiend Lotus with the Nine-Turn Blood Dragon Ginseng fruits in his Black Pot and concluded that the Pavilion Master and elders had staged their earlier grief to trick him into freeloading as their chef.
• Shi Hou fixed his gaze on Elder Xiong Fei and grinned as he resolved to get back at the Heaven Mending Pavilion.

Elder Xiong Fei led the new disciples to the Second Battlefield to show them the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s black fiend lotus, only to find the battlefield devastated, the lotus stolen, and the mountain-guarding tiger badly beaten. Elder Zhuo Yun ordered the area sealed and demanded that Ancestor Mu Yan be summoned.

• Elder Xiong Fei led more than three thousand new disciples toward the black mountain, boasting of the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s prized medicinal plant.
• The group found the forest destroyed and learned that a golden giant ape had smashed a black tiger across the battlefield; Dazhuang, Ermeng, Qingfeng, and Snot Boy suspected Furball, Skinny Monkey, and Little One were involved.
• Shi Hao quietly blamed Skinny Monkey for throwing Furball like a hidden weapon.
• Elder Xiong Fei found the black fiend lotus uprooted, while Elder Zhuo Yun realized Elder Shi had stolen it and exposed the Pavilion Master’s deception.
• The battered black tiger limped from the cave with a swollen face and a severed tail, prompting Xiao Tian to recognize the same injuries on himself.
• Elder Zhuo Yun ordered the Second Battlefield sealed, demanded that the two brats be found, and told Yu You to ask the Pavilion Master to summon Ancestor Mu Yan.

Shi Hou followed Xia Youyu to Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Main Peak and learned that he had uprooted the Black Fiend Lotus and damaged Big Black’s tail. He sneaked through the Pavilion Master’s Light Gate into a forbidden realm filled with rare treasures, where he and his companions realized they had struck it rich.

• Xia Youyu hurried into the Main Peak hall and reported that the Black Fiend Lotus had been uprooted and part of Big Black’s tail cut off.
• The elders learned that Elder Shi had gone to the Second Battlefield, and the Pavilion Master set out to find Ancestor Mu Yan and track down the boy.
• Shi Hou overheard the elders’ conversation and followed the Pavilion Master to Heaven Mending Pavilion’s forbidden ground.
• Shi Hou slipped through the closing Light Gate into the forbidden realm instead of following the Pavilion Master farther.
• Shi Hou, Furball, and Black Pig saw the realm’s abundant spirit plants, fruit trees, and rare creatures, and Shi Hou declared they had struck it rich.

Shi Hou used residual poisonous breath from the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow to lure the eight elders away from the Forbidden Land’s treasures, then raided the weakened formations with Kang and Furball. As the elders discovered the trick and rushed back, Shi Hou reached for a dangerous red-gold fruit.

• Shi Hou found the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow’s poisonous breath frozen in the Black Pot Space and decided to use its Supreme-level aura to draw the elders away.
• Shi Hou released the poisonous breath in a rock fissure, prompting all eight elders to leave their peaks and contain it.
• Shi Hou returned to the Golden Thunder Fruit grove while Kang disrupted the formations and Furball harvested spirit medicines for the Black Pot.
• Shi Hou and his companions gathered treasures across the Forbidden Land, including Golden Thunder Fruits, mushrooms, lotus roots, bird eggs, and an ancient vine.
• The elders recognized the residual poisonous breath and realized a thief had lured them away, then turned back toward the Forbidden Land’s core.
• Shi Hou reached for the last red-gold fruit despite Kang and Furball’s alarm as an immense pressure spread from it.

Shi Hou stole the Scarlet Gold Fruit and escaped the forbidden grounds with Kang and Furball, leaving the guardians and Pavilion Master to discover the devastated Spirit Medicine Garden. Mu Yan blamed the Pavilion Master for provoking the theft and ordered him to find Shi Hou so the boy could cook another pot of stew and help Mu Yan recover his lost breakthrough opportunity.

• Shi Hou forced himself through the Scarlet Gold Fruit’s pressure, picked the fruit, and tossed it into Black Pot Space.
• Shi Hou and Kang broke through the forbidden grounds’ barrier, while Furball played dead as the guardians discovered their missing medicines.
• The Pavilion Master and Mu Yan arrived, and Mu Yan recognized the looting method from the earlier raid on Main Peak.
• Mu Yan accused the Pavilion Master of driving Shi Hou to steal by fobbing him off with a few lousy fruits.
• Mu Yan explained that the poisonous blast had ruined his chance to break through and ordered the Pavilion Master to bring Shi Hou back to cook stew.

Shi Hou entered the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Starlight Deathland and found its dying Sacrificial Spirit, an ancient Gourd Vine. After his leek juice failed to revive it at first, he drenched its roots until the vine finally twitched.

• Shi Hou crossed the desert’s vitality-draining formation without harm and reached the courtyard at its center.
• He found the ancient Gourd Vine, the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Sacrificial Spirit, withering beneath falling starlight and moonlight.
• Shi Hou remembered the Willow Deity in Stone Village and felt irritated that the pavilion’s elders had let the Old Vine decline.
• Shi Hou poured handful after handful of leek juice over the Gourd Vine’s roots.
• The Gourd Vine twitched faintly after Shi Hou drenched it with leek juice.

Shi Hou awakened the dying Gourd Vine with leek juice and learned that it was holding back a coming calamity to protect the Heaven Mending Pavilion. After revealing his Spirit Cuisine Pavilion token and taking out Furball and Black Pig, Shi Hou began preparing to cook, just as someone recognized him outside the courtyard.

• Shi Hou soaked the Gourd Vine's roots with leek juice, waking it and opening several pathways through its necrotic meridians.
• The Gourd Vine said its lifespan was nearly over and explained that it was enduring to keep the Heaven Mending Pavilion safe from Fierce Beasts and enemies.
• Shi Hou said he only wanted to borrow the quiet courtyard for cooking and showed the Gourd Vine his token as an elder of the Spirit Cuisine Pavilion.
• The Gourd Vine recognized the scents of rare medicines on Shi Hou and suspected he had entered the Forbidden Land.
• Shi Hou took Furball and Black Pig out of the Black Pot, and a childish voice outside the courtyard called him Skinny Monkey.

Shi Hou used thirty-seven supreme-grade medicines to cook Dao Foundation Powerful Tonic Soup for Old Vine, whose dying stem showed a hint of green from the broth’s aroma. The soup’s powerful scent reached Ancestor Mu Yan, who rushed toward the Gobi demanding a share.

• Shi Hao arrived at the ruined courtyard and learned that Shi Hou and his companions had ransacked the Forbidden Land for medicine.
• Shi Hao recognized Old Vine as a Sacrificial Spirit and urged Shi Hou to make it soup.
• Shi Hou combined the Dao Embryo Fruit and thirty-seven rare medicines in the Black Pot to prepare Dao Foundation Powerful Tonic Soup.
• Shi Hou used rhythmic knife work and controlled flames to harmonize the medicines into a potent broth.
• The soup’s vitality made barren shoots grow and turned a small section of Old Vine’s stem green.
• Ancestor Mu Yan smelled the soup from the mountains and raced toward the Gobi to claim some.

Shi Hou’s emerald soup revived Old Vine and pleased Shi Hao, triggering an enormous blood qi return for Shi Hou. Ancestor Mu Yan arrived demanding to know whether any soup remained.

• Shi Hou finished cooking a thick emerald soup, but Shi Hao hesitated to taste it.
• Old Vine drank more than half the soup and revived, sprouting new leaves and a flower as greenery spread across the Gobi.
• Shi Hao drank the remaining soup, praised its taste, and began digesting its essence.
• The system returned 50,000,000 blood qi to Shi Hou, raising his total to 80,000,000 and flooding him with energy.
• Ancestor Mu Yan arrived and shouted at Shi Hou for not leaving him any soup.

Shi Hou’s medicinal-herb soup revived Old Vine, while Shi Hao’s breakthrough continued toward multiple heavenly caves. The Pavilion Master offered Shi Hou access to other forbidden grounds, and Shi Hou immediately asked whether they contained pureblood creatures for soup.

• Ancestor Mu Yan arrived and found Old Vine rejuvenated, the courtyard full of new growth, and the Black Pot still steaming.
• The lone peak's guardian discovered the vine’s new vitality, and Shi Hou said he had cooked the herbs.
• Ancestor Mu Yan tried to take the remaining broth, but Old Vine reprimanded him and confirmed he would not die anytime soon.
• Shi Hou ordered everyone out while Shi Hao advanced beyond his seventh heavenly cave, and Old Vine backed him with a display of pressure.
• The Pavilion Master offered Shi Hou future access to forbidden grounds, and Shi Hou asked whether another one held live pureblood creatures.

Shi Hao completed his eighth Heavenly Cave with Old Vine’s help, then agreed to study lightning arts under Ancestor Mu Yan. Old Vine withdrew to recover, while Kang, Furball, and Ancestor Mu Yan fought over the leftover soup, leaving Shi Hao to wonder if he had agreed to train with the right teacher.

• Shi Hao’s eighth Heavenly Cave began to collapse as the golden light in his chest drained the essence needed for his breakthrough.
• Old Vine poured a vast tide of Heaven and Earth Essence into Shi Hao, allowing his eighth Heavenly Cave to reform completely and revealing his true appearance.
• Ancestor Mu Yan invited Shi Hao to study lightning arts under him, and Shi Hao accepted.
• Old Vine announced he would slumber to stabilize his reborn source and forbade Shi Hou from coming near his true body with the black pot.
• Kang and Furball rushed to the Black Pot for the remaining soup, and Ancestor Mu Yan joined their brawl as Shi Hao questioned his choice of teacher.

Shi Hao was accepted into the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Genius Camp, while Shi Hou refused its cultivation legacy and chose to stay at the Spirit Cuisine Pavilion. As Shi Hou and Shi Hao went to retrieve Nine Flood Dragons, an unseen presence chilled Shi Hou and he swung the Black Pot into the darkness.

• Kang struck Ancestor Mu Yan with a beam that cleared his stagnant blood qi and renewed his chance to break through.
• Ancestor Mu Yan asked to borrow Kang, but Shi Hou refused and teased him about the cost of feeding the black pig.
• Ancestor Mu Yan assigned Shi Hao to the Genius Camp by day and Thunder Dao study by night, and Shi Hao agreed.
• Shi Hou dismissed the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s cultivation legacies and chose to stay at the Spirit Cuisine Pavilion.
• Shi Hou and Shi Hao left to fetch Nine Flood Dragons, but a chilling presence made Shi Hou turn and swing the Black Pot into the darkness.

Shi Hou and Shi Hao encountered Ghost Master in the forest and tried to trick him into choosing the other as his successor. Ghost Master decided to take them both, and the boys fled toward the outskirts of the Heaven Mending Pavilion with him close behind.

• Shi Hou's Black Pot passed through Ghost Master, who appeared face-to-face with him.
• Shi Hou pointed Ghost Master toward Shi Hao, while Shi Hao and Shi Hou each praised the other as the better successor.
• Ghost Master unleashed a fierce sword intent and then pointed at both boys, signaling that he wanted them both.
• Shi Hao and Shi Hou ran toward the outskirts of the Heaven Mending Pavilion, but Ghost Master stayed close behind them.
• Kang and Furball finished their stolen Spirit Fruit and followed the chase at their leisure.

Shi Hao and Shi Hou escaped Ghost Master by hammering at the Broken Sword lodged in his skull, but Shi Hao could not pull it free. After the ghost vanished, the boys and their companions summoned nine Gray-Scaled Flood Dragons to haul the Black Pot back to the Heaven Mending Pavilion.

• Shi Hao turned to face Ghost Master, who demanded that he return the sword stuck in his skull.
• Shi Hao used Shi Hou’s Black Pot to strike the Broken Sword more than a hundred times, but it remained lodged in Ghost Master’s head.
• Shi Hao promised to help remove the sword when he was stronger, and Ghost Master vanished along with the damage to the ground.
• Shi Hao and Shi Hou scolded Furball and Kang for standing by, then headed to the deep pool to collect their transport.
• Shi Hou fed the nine Gray-Scaled Flood Dragons white jade radishes, and they harnessed the enlarged Black Pot and carried the boys toward the Heaven Mending Pavilion.

Shi Hou and Shi Hao returned to the Heaven Mending Pavilion, where the Pavilion Master revealed that Shi Hao had to retrieve an Ancient Sword from the Hundred Broken Mountains. Shi Hou secured permission to accompany him and settled his nine flood dragons in the Pavilion’s Spirit Lake, where he ordered them to eat its aquatic creatures.

• Shi Hou made a dramatic entrance at the Heaven Mending Pavilion on a Black Pot pulled by nine gray flood dragons, but the disciples mistook him for a procurement worker and mocked his appearance.
• Shi Hao told the Pavilion Master that an old man with an Ancient Sword stuck in his head had chased them, and that he had promised to retrieve a sword for him once he grew stronger.
• The Pavilion Master explained that the sword Shi Hao needed was in the Hundred Broken Mountains, and warned that those chosen by the old man had never survived while bearing his karmic debt.
• Shi Hao agreed to go to the Hundred Broken Mountains, and Shi Hou insisted on accompanying him, persuading the Pavilion Master by threatening to ruin the Spirit Cuisine Pavilion’s tonic soup if he was unsettled.
• Shi Hou persuaded the Pavilion Master to let his nine flood dragons stay in the Spirit Lake, then ordered them to eat the lake’s spiritually powerful aquatic creatures.