Chapter Summaries

After reaching proficiency in the Stone-Forging Art, Su Changsheng tested his strengthened body and began training his survival and combat skills in the Wilderness. He killed mutant beasts and a deceptive flower-like wraith beast, then continued exploring the relatively safe area at the foot of the Northern Mountains.

• Su Changsheng cultivated the Stone-Forging Art to proficiency, strengthening his body and gaining the ability to extract iron ore essence, though he postponed forging a weapon.
• Su Changsheng tested his increased speed in the Wilderness, deciding he could contend with fifth-level yao and might escape sixth-level yao.
• Su Changsheng entered the reclaimed Wilderness to improve his survival skills, combat experience, and composure.
• Su Changsheng blasted an attacking mutant bird apart with the Stone-Shattering Art and reflected that he should have used less force or his ice talent.
• Su Changsheng froze and shattered a flower-like wraith beast, recognized it by its contamination, and collected its remains.

As spring thawed the Black Mountain Range, Su Changsheng struggled to protect his supplies and joined the Fox Book Yao Alliance’s first gathering he could attend. He entered under the alias Great Eagle, leaving the other yao convinced that he was a powerful Lesser Venom Dragon.

• Spring rain melted the snow, and Su Changsheng moved his supplies to a drier cave while refreezing his rune materials against the damp.
• Su Changsheng reviewed his rapid realm progress, lamented his slow cultivation-method improvement, and prepared to attend the Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering.
• At the Yao Market entrance, the Eagle Yao challenged Su Changsheng for the password, then registered him as Great Eagle after Su Changsheng named Bai Ling and Fox Woman Little Four as his guides.
• The Eagle Yao and the other guards mistook Su Changsheng’s size and poisonous aura for signs of a Lesser Venom Dragon and warned each other not to provoke him.
• Su Changsheng entered the gathering cavern, where the assembled yao stared at his enormous body, and Bai Ling asked about his growth and alias.

At a Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering, Su Changsheng learned that the Black Tiger Yao’s increasingly violent Turtle Breath Art mutations were drawing practitioners toward him and alarming the alliance. As the yao considered hunting him, Bai Ling revealed that the Black Mountain Yao King had appeared.

• At the monthly gathering, Fox Woman Little Four and the spirit plant stallholder discussed the Black Tiger Yao’s accelerating mutation and the bond coupling phenomena surrounding him.
• Su Changsheng learned from Bai Ling that the Black Tiger Yao was a powerful Turtle Breath Art practitioner whose final transformation remained unknown.
• Bai Ling explained that the Yao Stronghold’s factions disagreed over whether to eliminate, protect, or observe the Black Tiger Yao, while the Tiger Chāng was occupied by the Wolf Pack’s attack.
• Fox Woman Little Four raised the possibility of hunting the Black Tiger Yao, prompting alarm among the gathered yao.
• Bai Ling shocked the gathering by announcing that the Black Mountain Yao King had appeared.

At a gathering of yao, Bai Ling reported that the Black Mountain Yao King had been seen deep in the Black Mountain Range, raising questions about who had returned to the stronghold. After a secret plan to expose a hidden threat, a Fourth Level half-wolf yao transformed into a human before Su Changsheng and the others.

• Bai Ling told the yao that surviving Tu Mountain Yao Stronghold elders claimed the Black Mountain Yao King had remained deep in the Black Mountain Range for years, despite his apparent return to the stronghold.
• Su Changsheng told the gathered yao the grim tale of Master Dongguo and the snake, warning them not to trust human scholars.
• Fox Woman Little Four revealed that the Startle the Tiger Plan was underway and kept Su Changsheng and about a dozen other Fourth Level Yao under watch overnight to test whether the hidden threat was among them.
• As dawn approached, a painful tiger roar and a cold yin aura swept through the stronghold, causing bloody handprint marks to appear on Bai Ling, Fox Woman Little Four, and others.
• A Fourth Level half-wolf yao succumbed to the aura, shed its wolf features, and transformed into a human.

Su Changsheng witnessed a Wolf Yao transform into a Human Yao and learned that the force called Man hid within forked-path Demon Arts. After the gathering, Bai Ling and Fox Woman Little Four privately told him they suspected he had a natural resistance to Man.

• A blood-covered Human Yao emerged from a Wolf Yao, and Fox Woman Little Four and Bai Ling attacked it while Su Changsheng destroyed its escaping heart.
• The dying Human Yao spoke of Zhuyin Academy, traitors, and crossing the Gray Wall before disintegrating and leaving the Wolf Yao's remains behind.
• Bai Ling explained that Man infected practitioners of forked-path Demon Arts and could turn them into Human Yao, while Fox Woman Little Four described the dangers of the Turtle Breath Art and the Seventeen-Year Cicada.
• Bai Ling warned the gathered yao to report abnormalities and stop studying the Turtle Breath Art, while Su Changsheng avoided asking about the Black Tiger Yao.
• Bai Ling and Fox Woman Little Four took Su Changsheng aside and suggested that he had a natural resistance to Man because its contamination had barely affected him.

Su Changsheng learned that a growing human hidden within the divergent-path Turtle Breath Art threatened the Black Mountain Demon Stockade, and the Fox Book Yao Alliance gave him a rare snake spirit grass so he could advance to fifth level and shield them from its contamination. He accepted the plant but remained wary of the alliance's motives and the dangers surrounding his impending breakthrough.

• Bai Ling and the Spirit Plant Shop's stallholder explained that the Black Tiger Yao resisted the hidden human's contamination, while the human itself had been growing and evading the stockade's leaders.
• Bai Ling told Su Changsheng that the Fox Book Yao Alliance wanted him to reach fifth level and use his demon power to protect them from contamination.
• Su Changsheng accepted a potent snake spirit grass, which the stallholder said could strengthen his blood and qi, cleanse minor contamination, and help him break through.
• Fox Woman Little Four warned the Eagle Yao Little Chick not to follow Su Changsheng, while she wondered what Bai Ling and Lingxian were planning.
• Su Changsheng disguised himself, hid the snake spirit grass in his secret house on Snake Three Street, and reconsidered whether he should risk advancing to fifth level.

Su Changsheng used the Spirit Energy released by the Snake Spirit Grass to accelerate his cultivation while concealing his progress, then broke through to level five in his hidden cultivation. He left the story with his body growing beyond ten meters tall as he entered the fifth level.

• Su Changsheng found that cultivating near the Snake Spirit Grass more than doubled his Realm Experience conversion speed, but decided to time his breakthrough carefully to avoid attracting suspicion.
• Over the following month, exploration teams expanded their search of the Northern Mountains and investigated a supposed safe passage into the Black Mountain Range.
• Su Changsheng returned from the Lesser Yao Grounds and let Tushan Ya believe his Demon Power was about to advance from level two to level three, while keeping his true progress secret.
• Tushan Ya explained that she had declined to join the Frontier Reclamation Team after it redirected its efforts toward exploring the dangerous passage from the Tu Mountain Yao Stronghold.
• Su Changsheng absorbed the Snake Spirit Grass's Spirit Energy, reached level four 9999/10000, and began his breakthrough after preparing his safety measures.
• Su Changsheng broke through to level five, and his body grew to more than ten meters tall and over twenty meters long.

Su Changsheng assessed the gains from reaching the fifth level and began planning for greater strength and a possible escape route from the Black Mountain Demon Stockade. After receiving a thousand survival points, he considered using the nearly exhausted Snake Spirit Grass and looked ahead to the next Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering.

• Su Changsheng found that reaching the fifth level greatly increased his demon power, defenses, and physical attributes, while his growth remained limited without a third shedding.
• Su Changsheng reviewed his panel, calculated that reaching the sixth level would take substantial time, and considered moving to the Left Stronghold as a backup refuge.
• Su Changsheng saw that he had accumulated 2,700 survival points and noted that he had turned twelve and spent a year in this world.
• At midnight, Su Changsheng received 1,000 survival points, bringing his total to 3,700, and considered whether to consume the nearly drained Snake Spirit Grass.
• Su Changsheng decided to wait for guidance at the next Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering, which was expected to announce something important.

Su Changsheng practiced the Stone-Shattering Art in the Northern Mountains and discovered how to turn it into a chain attack, rapidly advancing his skill. He then arrived at the Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering, where his Fifth Level power and enormous body stunned the assembled yao.

• Su Changsheng washed, reflected on his life as a yao, and headed to the Northern Mountains to train and adapt to his Fifth Level body.
• He practiced the Stone-Shattering Art and developed a variation that added two smaller explosions after its main blast.
• Su Changsheng refined the variation through the day, gaining 1,500 experience points and bringing the Stone-Shattering Art close to a breakthrough.
• He resolved to seek knowledge through the Fox Book Yao Alliance at its midnight gathering.
• Su Changsheng entered the crowded gathering, and the yao fell silent before murmuring that he might become a new leader among the Four Beams and Eight Pillars.

Su Changsheng attended a Fox Book Yao Alliance gathering where Bai Ling nominated him for a vacant leadership post, drawing objections from powerful yao. He challenged his critics to fight, leaving the nomination poised to be decided by force.

• Su Changsheng arrived at the gathering after advancing to the fifth level, and Bai Ling praised his strength and told him to act when the time came.
• Fox Woman Little Four reported that the alliance could not monitor the Black Tiger Yao and urged the yao to strengthen their forces.
• Black Widow questioned the gathering’s purpose, and Bai Ling silenced her and the other Pillar heads.
• Bai Ling nominated Su Changsheng, also called Great Eagle, to lead either the Heaven-Reaching Pillar or the Earth-Searching Pillar.
• Black Widow and White-Headed Eagle objected and proposed their own subordinates, so Su Changsheng challenged them or their candidates to fight and asked whether killing them would be an accident.

Su Changsheng defeated and killed two of Black Widow’s fifth-level subordinates, establishing his strength before the monsters deciding whether he could join the Four Beams and Eight Pillars. After Bǐ Nǚ confirmed he was a Resister of “it,” the alliance accepted him as the Earth-Searching Pillar, known as Eagle Immortal.

• Su Changsheng swiftly crushed Stone Demon with the Stone-Shattering Art and drove him into the ground.
• When Black Widow’s crocodile subordinate attacked, Su Changsheng killed Stone Demon, restrained the crocodile monster, and crushed him despite Black Widow’s pleas.
• Black Widow backed down, and White-Headed Eagle agreed that Su Changsheng could join the Four Beams and Eight Pillars, though he opposed giving him the Heaven-Reaching or Earth-Searching Pillar.
• Bǐ Nǚ examined Su Changsheng and declared that he had no contamination from “it” and was a Resister.
• Bǐ Nǚ designated Su Changsheng for the Earth-Searching Pillar, and the Fox Book Yao Alliance confirmed him as its new leader.

Su Changsheng joined the Fox Book Yao Alliance’s pillar heads as they tested whether his demon power could resist ‘its’ contamination. The test succeeded, but Bǐ Nǚ’s vision left her shaken by the revelation that ‘it’ looked like a male fox.

• Fox Woman Little Four settled the dispute between Su Changsheng and Black Widow and explained the alliance’s rules and expectations for the Earth-Probing Pillar.
• Bai Ling absorbed a trace of Su Changsheng’s demon-power aura, then let Bǐ Nǚ expose her to ‘it’ to test its resistance.
• As bloody handprints spread over Bai Ling, Su Changsheng’s Mirage Art made the unseen presence vanish before it reached her head.
• Bai Ling recovered and reported that Su Changsheng’s aura had achieved about sixty percent of the expected resistance for her.
• Bǐ Nǚ recovered from her vision and exclaimed that ‘it’ appeared to be a male fox.

Bǐ Nǚ glimpsed the uncanny’s true face as a male fox, prompting Su Changsheng to suspect the fox next door was behind the Wailing Ghosts and their contamination. After Cat Woman ambushed him over Crocodile Yao’s death and died recounting her painful life, she revived with green eyes and addressed Su Changsheng by name, accusing him of betraying them.

• Bǐ Nǚ suffered a terrifying vision of a male fox, and the yao concluded it was an important incarnation of the uncanny.
• Su Changsheng suspected the male fox next door had created or controlled the Wailing Ghosts and decided to prepare an escape from Black Mountain Demon Stockade.
• Su Changsheng left the Peripheral Yao Market and defeated the attacker who had followed him, discovering she was Cat Woman holding Crocodile Yao’s tear.
• Cat Woman explained that Crocodile Yao had raised her after her parents abandoned her, then died while describing how miserable her life had been.
• Cat Woman suddenly revived with glowing green eyes and called Su Changsheng by name, asking why he had betrayed them.

Su Changsheng survived an uncanny encounter with the human inside Seventeen-Year Cicada, while Bai Ling and Little Four secretly tested whether he was contaminated or practiced the Forked Path Turtle Breath Art. Back at his safe house, he reconsidered his identities and the dangers surrounding him, then noticed that his status panel called him a “Player.”

• The uncanny entity in Cat Woman’s corpse called Su Changsheng a traitor, accused him of betraying its kind, and attacked until Bai Ling’s white light destroyed its presence.
• Bai Ling identified Cat Woman’s cultivation as Seventeen-Year Cicada, purified Su Changsheng, and warned him that the protection plan might have alerted both uncanny arts.
• After Su Changsheng left, Little Four questioned Bai Ling about the encounter, and they concluded he showed no signs of contamination by the human within Seventeen-Year Cicada or the Forked Path Turtle Breath Art.
• Su Changsheng returned to his Stone House and decided not to abandon his Half-Demon Green Snake identity until he understood the risks posed by Black Tiger Yao, Turtle Yao, and the uncanny power within the art.
• Su Changsheng examined his stats panel and noticed that its first field identified him as a Player.

Su Changsheng experimented with variations of the Stone-Shattering Art and Stone-Forging Art while cultivating in the Lesser Yao Grounds, then began examining the beast-hide scrolls Bai Ling had given him. The chapter left him confronting a strange collection of scroll titles and wondering what dangers or tests they contained.

• Su Changsheng avoided studying the suspicious Runes and Demon Art materials, cultivated in seclusion, and developed a Stone-Shattering Art variation that let him collect iron ore essence outside his body.
• Su Changsheng improved his Stone-Forging Art and Stone-Shattering Art but delayed using Survival Points to force the latter's breakthrough.
• Su Changsheng decided to study the Earth-Probing Pillar beast-hide scrolls, reasoning that refusing to read them could expose his Half-Demon Black Snake identity.
• Su Changsheng found scrolls titled “The Four Beams and Eight Pillars Plan,” “Fallen Great Yao,” and “On the Possibility of the Earth-Probing Pillar Practicing the 'Censure' Demon Art-Nine Fox King.”

Su Changsheng studied the Fox Book Yao Alliance’s scrolls and decided to learn Finger Condemnation despite suspecting it was a test for contamination. After mastering its introductory stage, he discovered vast numbers of Mutant insects near his home and left for the Peripheral Yao Market, wary of a possible threat.

• Su Changsheng read about the Fox Book Yao Alliance, its Nine Fox King founder, and the Four Beams and Eight Pillars, then identified Finger Condemnation as a final test of his purity.
• Su Changsheng weighed the risks of practicing the mental intimidation demon art and chose to learn it so he could keep his place in the Alliance and grow stronger.
• After three days of practice, Su Changsheng reached the introductory stage of Finger Condemnation and drove nearby demons and Mutant insects away with its intimidating demon wind.
• Su Changsheng spotted numerous Mutant insects and beasts near his stone house and worried that an insect plague or other danger might be developing.
• Su Changsheng secured his home with traps and a boulder, then secretly left the Lesser Yao Grounds to visit the Peripheral Yao Market.

Su Changsheng learned that a huge, poisonous Insect Swarm had devastated the reclamation force and wounded White Madam, leaving the Black Mountain Demon Stockade near collapse. As the swarm stopped only a dozen peaks away, the Fox Book Yao Alliance secretly ordered him to attend its gathering that night.

• Su Changsheng found the Peripheral Yao Market nearly deserted and learned that the Fox Book Yao Alliance's leaders had vanished amid a crisis in the stronghold.
• Big Toad and Stone Man told Su Changsheng that a vast swarm of mutant insects had overwhelmed the Frontier Reclamation Team, so he urged them to prepare a possible escape to the Left Stronghold and monitor developments.
• Su Changsheng heard that the reclamation force and many reinforcements had been wiped out, with at least ten high-level yao dead and Black Tiger Yao missing.
• News arrived that the swarm's terrifying hidden entity had wounded White Madam, forcing her to flee into the Black Mountain Range, while the damaged swarm halted a dozen peaks from the stronghold.
• The Fox Book Yao Alliance secretly notified Su Changsheng that its gathering would proceed at midnight and that he had to attend.

The Fox Book Yao Alliance debated whether to fortify the Black Mountain Demon Stockade or migrate away from the approaching Insect Swarm. Su Changsheng chose migration and began organizing a journey to the Left Stronghold, leaving the group to gather recruits, supplies, and knowledge.

• Bai Ling told Su Changsheng that White Madam had fled into the Black Mountain Range pursued by the Insect Swarm, while Zhou Hu King still held the Safe Passage.
• Fox Woman Little Four proposed uniting the alliance to control the stronghold’s Outer Layer, and Bai Ling presented a migration plan using the ruined Left Stronghold as a fallback.
• Bai Ling revealed the Nine Fox King’s account of the southern Wilderness and a marked stronghold, but Fox Woman Little Four warned that the journey was over ten thousand li and the information was decades old.
• Fox Woman Little Four, Black Widow, and Bǐ Nǚ chose to stay, while Su Changsheng chose to migrate with Bai Ling because he distrusted the stronghold’s dangers and hidden contamination.
• Su Changsheng told Bai Ling to recruit yao from the Lesser Yao Grounds and Half-Demon Grounds and prioritize gathering supplies, Rune knowledge, and Wilderness records.

With the Black Mountain Demon Stockade in chaos, Su Changsheng staged the death of his Half-Demon Green Snake identity and prepared to migrate with the Fox Book Yao Alliance. After reaching the Peripheral Yao Market, he asked Bai Ling for another Spirit Plant so he could advance to the Sixth Level before the migration.

• Su Changsheng saw the swarm’s chaos and the Fox Book Yao Alliance’s growing influence, then decided to abandon his Half-Demon Green Snake identity.
• Su Changsheng feigned fatal poisoning before Big Toad, Stone Man, and Black Child, who gave him Purification Talismans and agreed to arrange his supposed funeral.
• Su Changsheng gave Black Child supplies and urged Tushan Ya to migrate with the Fox Book Yao Alliance, then replaced himself with a poisoned half-demon snake corpse.
• Su Changsheng asked Bai Ling for another Spirit Plant to help him reach the Sixth Level, and Bai Ling agreed to arrange one through the alliance.
• Big Toad burned the false corpse as Su Changsheng watched in disguise, and Su Changsheng declared that he would live on as the Half-Demon Black Snake.

Su Changsheng consumed the snake spirit grass and snow velvet ginseng to break through to level six, transforming into a nearly twenty-five-meter yao. He left the Lesser Yao Grounds’ attackers dead or fleeing and ended the chapter close to the Advanced Level Realm.

• Su Changsheng purified the snow velvet ginseng, then ate the snake spirit grass petals and gained Realm Experience rapidly over seven days.
• Su Changsheng ate the snake-headed flower center, which unleashed immense blood qi through his Spinal Snake Bone; when his progress stalled, he consumed the snow velvet ginseng.
• Su Changsheng broke through the level-six barrier, and his yao body grew to nearly twenty-five meters as his Spinal Snake Bone evolved.
• Su Changsheng’s blood qi spread across the Lesser Yao Grounds, drawing in yao who hoped to attack him during his breakthrough.
• Su Changsheng destroyed his stone house, revealed his overwhelming level-six power, and killed dozens of yao, including two level-four yao.
• Su Changsheng absorbed the fallen yao’s blood qi and Demon Power, replenished himself, and stood as a level-six yao approaching the Advanced Level Realm.