Chapter Summaries

After Gu Cheng injured the enormous Flood Dragon Serpent, he and his companions fled the lakeshore and took shelter in a cave. There, Gu Cheng revealed that he had entered the water to retrieve the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit plant.

• Gu Cheng reached shore, where Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang pulled him out and Yingzi helped warm him by the fire.
• Gu Cheng identified the monster as a likely Flood Dragon Serpent and warned that they had to leave before it came ashore.
• Hu Bayi carried the exhausted Gu Cheng while Fatty Wang and Yingzi carried the supplies, and the four fled as the lake began churning again.
• The group reached Yingzi's father's former leopard den and made a fire in the cave after nightfall.
• When Fatty Wang asked why Gu Cheng had gone into the water, Gu Cheng showed him the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit plant.

Gu Cheng explained the legend of the Golden Cup Longevity Fruit and wondered if the fruits had come from Empress Dowager Xiao's tomb on Oxheart Mountain. He ended the chapter with all seven fruits still in his hand and the tomb newly worth exploring.

• Gu Cheng told Fatty Wang, Hu Bayi, and Yingzi the story of Empress Dowager Xiao seeking immortality and receiving Golden Cup Longevity Fruits from a mystic.
• Fatty Wang dismissed the story as nonsense, while Hu Bayi recounted rumors of conflict between Yelu Longxu and Empress Dowager Xiao.
• Gu Cheng revealed to himself that he had raised the legend to distract his companions from asking why he had gone into the water.
• Gu Cheng reasoned that the fruits and other burial goods might have washed out of Empress Dowager Xiao's tomb on Oxheart Mountain and drifted downriver.
• Gu Cheng checked the fruits and found that all seven were still in his hand.

After eating Golden Cup Longevity Fruits, Gu Cheng advanced the Fetal Breathing Method and recovered from his earlier illness, though the breakthrough left him covered in foul-smelling impurities. He told Hu Bayi, Yingzi, and Fatty Wang about his family technique, then refused Fatty Wang’s request to learn it.

• Gu Cheng used Little Divine Edge to cut down and eat a Golden Cup Longevity Fruit, then advanced the Fetal Breathing Method to the late stage of the second level.
• Gu Cheng ate another fruit and advanced the method to the middle stage of the third level as his breathing grew nearly imperceptible and his strength increased.
• The breakthrough made dark, greasy impurities seep from Gu Cheng’s pores, and Fatty Wang blamed Yingzi and her father for the smell.
• Gu Cheng admitted the odor came from his breakthrough and explained that the Fetal Breathing Method was a family health-preserving technique.
• Fatty Wang asked to learn the method, but Gu Cheng refused, saying he could not teach it to outsiders.

Gu Cheng and his companions fled into a cave when the Flood Dragon Serpent tracked them down. They squeezed through a narrow rock crack into a sealed space, escaping the serpent by a hair.

• Fatty Wang begged Gu Cheng to teach him the Fetal Breathing Method, but Gu Cheng said he would ask his father first.
• Hu Bayi and Yingzi sensed blood and danger outside the cave, and Gu Cheng recognized the Flood Dragon Serpent approaching.
• Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Yingzi ran deeper into the cave as the serpent pursued them.
• Yingzi led them to a narrow crack that opened into a small enclosed space, and Fatty Wang became stuck while trying to squeeze through.
• Hu Bayi widened the crack with Fatty Wang's axe, kicked Fatty through, and lunged inside just as the serpent snapped close behind him.

Gu Cheng escaped the sealed crevice with Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Yingzi after finding a passage through a cemented wall. They emerged into an underground fortification filled with crates marked in Japanese, and Gu Cheng suspected they had found the Kwantung Army Fortress.

• The Flood Dragon Serpent filled the crevice with a foul stench, and Gu Cheng threw a Molotov cocktail into its mouth to drive it back.
• Gu Cheng searched the walls with the Mountain-Splitting Axe as the Flood Dragon Serpent battered the crevice and began breaking it open.
• Gu Cheng smashed through a cemented section and a brick wall, revealing a passage with fresh air on the other side.
• Gu Cheng helped Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Yingzi climb through the opening, then escaped the crevice himself as the Flood Dragon Serpent watched.
• Hu Bayi identified their new surroundings as an underground fortification, where Gu Cheng found stacked crates labeled in Japanese.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Yingzi found a Japanese military base stocked with weapons and restored its power while searching for a way to face the Flood Dragon Serpent. They discovered a colonel’s office and learned the remote base had once housed a regiment of more than three thousand soldiers.

• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi found crates of Japanese submachine guns, and Hu Bayi realized the Japanese had likely abandoned the base during a hurried withdrawal.
• Fatty Wang recovered and wanted to attack the Flood Dragon Serpent, but Hu Bayi stopped him and led the group to search for the power room.
• Gu Cheng noticed no small handprints near the spot where Fatty Wang had tripped, leaving him uncertain what had caused the fall.
• Hu Bayi repaired the deteriorated machinery and restored power throughout the military base.
• Hu Bayi found the colonel’s office and explained that the base had once housed over three thousand Japanese soldiers.
• Hu Bayi warned Fatty Wang not to fire near the armory and said they would have to lure the Flood Dragon Serpent to them.

Gu Cheng and the others searched the Sakura People’s huge weapons depot and armed themselves before Yingzi spotted a child. Gu Cheng suspected the child was one of the ghosts from the Gas Chamber, leaving the group wary of what else might be in the base.

• Gu Cheng persuaded Hu Bayi to find more equipment first, and the group explored the enormous weapons depot.
• Gu Cheng found crates of Browning 1911A1 pistols and showed them to Hu Bayi, who identified the guns and hurried to collect some.
• The group gathered pistols, a Type 100 Submachine Gun, ammunition, and grenades.
• Yingzi screamed that a child had run past, and Gu Cheng suspected she had seen one of the children’s ghosts from the Gas Chamber.
• Gu Cheng warned the others that the base might contain something unholy, making Fatty Wang increasingly uneasy.

Gu Cheng prepared Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Yingzi to face the Flood Dragon Serpent after it broke into the passage. When bullets and grenades failed, Gu Cheng recognized that their magical weapons might hurt it and ordered the group to attack hand to hand.

• Hu Bayi questioned Gu Cheng's certainty about ghosts and spirits, but a crash announced that the Flood Dragon Serpent had broken in.
• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi set traps while Fatty Wang and Yingzi lured the serpent toward them.
• Fatty Wang fired at the serpent, but its thick hide stopped the bullets, and two grenades left it uninjured.
• Gu Cheng realized the Little Divine Edge had wounded the serpent before and that Fatty Wang's Mountain-Splitting Axe could pierce armor and suppress evil.
• Gu Cheng gave Hu Bayi the axe, told Yingzi to hide, and directed Fatty Wang to fire at the serpent's eyes while he prepared to attack its soft belly.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang fought the Flood Dragon Serpent, using the Little Divine Edge and Mountain-Splitting Axe to break through its defenses. Gu Cheng left the serpent with two grenades stuffed into a wound as the battle continued.

• Fatty Wang fired at the Flood Dragon Serpent’s eyes, slowing it while Gu Cheng rushed in and Hu Bayi followed.
• Gu Cheng slid beneath the serpent’s jaw and slashed it open with the Little Divine Edge.
• Hu Bayi split the serpent’s upper jaw with the Mountain-Splitting Axe, but the thrashing beast struck him and sent him flying.
• Fatty Wang fired into the serpent’s wounds, and the bullets lodged in its flesh.
• The enraged serpent lunged at Gu Cheng, who dodged and stabbed its body before stuffing two lit grenades into a fresh wound.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang pursued the wounded Flood Dragon Serpent through the passages, where it broke into the Jin General's Tomb. They found the serpent injured in the burial chamber, leaving them facing it again among the tomb's treasures.

• Gu Cheng's grenades tore open the Flood Dragon Serpent's belly, and it fled down a passage as Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang urged pursuit.
• Gu Cheng led Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang after the serpent while they argued over who should keep Gu Cheng's powerful axe.
• The Flood Dragon Serpent smashed through a wall and accidentally opened a way into what Gu Cheng recognized as the Jin General's Tomb.
• Gu Cheng brought diesel from the Power Room, and Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang used an ignited fuel can to light the tomb's side chamber and burial chamber.
• Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang spotted the badly injured Flood Dragon Serpent glaring at them from the burial chamber.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang killed the Flood Dragon Serpent after a swarm of giant bats attacked it, then found valuable antiques in a side chamber. Exhausted and out of food, Gu Cheng discovered the serpent’s meat was a spirit material that could nourish the body.

• Gu Cheng told Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang to hide as giant bats flew into the burial chamber and attacked the Flood Dragon Serpent.
• After the bats weakened the serpent, Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang shot the surviving bats and killed the serpent.
• The three men inspected the side chamber’s antiques, and Gu Cheng identified a Northern Song vase worth about 2.8 million.
• Gu Cheng returned to the burial chamber and considered eating the Flood Dragon Serpent because the group had run out of food and water.
• Gu Cheng used his ability to identify the Black Flood Dragon’s meat as a first-grade spirit material that could nourish the body.

Gu Cheng discovered that the dead Black Flood Dragon's body was packed with valuable spirit materials, including meat that could improve the body, a heart that extended lifespan, and a core that strengthened true essence. He and Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang realized they could not carry away the enormous carcass.

• Gu Cheng inspected the Black Flood Dragon and found that its blood, meat, hide, bones, heart, and core all had valuable properties.
• Gu Cheng explained to Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang that the Flood Dragon's parts were rare treasures rather than ordinary snake meat.
• Fatty Wang excitedly suggested abandoning the treasure hunt and selling the Flood Dragon's remains.
• Hu Bayi pointed out that the carcass weighed hundreds of tons, and Fatty Wang accepted that they could not haul it away.

After defeating the Black Flood Dragon, Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang realized Yingzi was missing and searched the base for her. A map led them to an unmarked third floor, where they entered a corridor that filled them with unease.

• Fatty Wang proposed finding a way to preserve the meat, and Gu Cheng suggested asking Yingzi, prompting the group to realize she was missing.
• Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang searched the passageways for Yingzi but found no trace of her.
• Gu Cheng speculated that the two ghost children might have lured Yingzi away, and the group decided to investigate that lead.
• Fatty Wang found a map of the base, and Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi worked out that it had three floors, with the third floor left unmarked.
• The three men armed themselves and opened the iron door to the third floor, where a freezing gust swept from the corridor.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang explored the corridor beyond the iron door and discovered a laboratory filled with preserved, deformed human bodies. They ended the chapter stunned by several lifelike specimens with extra limbs and even two heads.

• Gu Cheng and Fatty Wang spotted a pale child in green darting past the corridor, frightening Fatty.
• Gu Cheng led the group into the passage while Hu Bayi urged Fatty to keep moving.
• The three searched several ordinary offices before Fatty entered a laboratory.
• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi examined a dried corpse and found that it had four naturally grown arms.
• Fatty called them to a row of tall glass containers holding preserved, deformed people, including one with two heads.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang discovered that the third level was filled with laboratories where the Sakura People had subjected captured Dragon Country people to horrific experiments. After the entrance was locked from outside, they searched for the child and found a chamber that Hu Bayi recognized, prompting him to hurry everyone out.

• Hu Bayi told Fatty Wang that the monsters in the laboratory had once been human subjects of experiments.
• Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang searched the third level and found laboratories for toxicology, organ transplant, and biochemical experiments.
• Gu Cheng read the records and concluded that the Sakura People had built the remote base to conceal their experiments on captured Dragon Country people.
• A clang revealed that the entrance to the third level had shut and been locked from outside, so Gu Cheng suspected the child had trapped them.
• The three followed the child’s route and entered a foul-smelling circular chamber with a dark shaft in the ceiling.
• After seeing grease on Gu Cheng’s hand, Hu Bayi recognized the chamber’s purpose and urged the others to leave immediately.

Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang searched for Yingzi and found a sealed Sakura People chamber that opened on its own. Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi entered its light-swallowing darkness while Fatty Wang guarded the doorway, but they vanished from sight and sound.

• Hu Bayi identified the strange room as an incinerator and explained that its residue was cremated ashes and the grease was corpse oil.
• Gu Cheng, Hu Bayi, and Fatty Wang searched for Yingzi and found a rusted airtight door marked “No Entry.”
• Hu Bayi warned that the chamber might contain dangerous weapons, but Gu Cheng argued they should check in case Yingzi was inside.
• Gu Cheng uncovered a hexagonal fitting after the group realized the door’s wheel had been removed, and the airtight door suddenly opened by itself.
• Gu Cheng told Fatty Wang to guard the entrance, then entered the pitch-black chamber with Hu Bayi, where they disappeared from view and sound.

Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi discovered a chamber full of coffins, then found themselves attacked by living vines while searching for Yingzi. They decided to seek out the vines’ source, which Gu Cheng suspected was inside the largest coffin.

• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi found a chamber containing coffins from different dynasties and noticed the smell of decay and plants growing through the room.
• Hu Bayi began opening coffins to search for Yingzi while Gu Cheng kept watch.
• A vine emerged from the ground, wrapped around Gu Cheng, and dragged his leg into the earth as the other plants came alive and seized Hu Bayi.
• Gu Cheng cut Hu Bayi free, and Hu Bayi escaped the vines by climbing onto a coffin.
• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi agreed to find the vines’ roots, and Gu Cheng focused on the largest coffin at the far end of the chamber.

Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi reached the Soul-Nourishing Golden Coffin and discovered it was a magical artifact controlling the attacking vines. After opening it, Gu Cheng was seized and poisoned by an undead corpse, which rose from the coffin as the chapter ended.

• Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi crossed the unstable coffins and reached the bronze coffin's platform while vines attacked them.
• Gu Cheng identified the coffin as a low-grade magical artifact that gathered yin energy to nourish yin souls.
• Gu Cheng triggered the coffin's beast-head mechanism, causing an arrow to strike a vine and many attacking vines to dissolve.
• Gu Cheng set the mechanism correctly and opened the coffin after warning Hu Bayi about the poisonous mist.
• A clawed hand seized Gu Cheng's wrist, but Hu Bayi severed it with his axe.
• A blue-black figure shrouded in black mist rose from the coffin as Gu Cheng's left hand went numb.

Gu Cheng killed the White-Haired Jiangshi, but the darkness in the tomb persisted, revealing that two preserved children were behind the danger. The children rose and glared at Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi as their eerie laughter filled the chamber.

• Hu Bayi recognized the rising corpse as a White-Haired Jiangshi, but Gu Cheng leaped onto it and killed it with a dagger.
• The vines fell motionless after the White-Haired Jiangshi died, and Hu Bayi discovered two preserved children crouched in the coffin beside it.
• Hu Bayi explained how the children had been preserved with mercury and suggested giving them a proper burial.
• Gu Cheng noticed that the chamber remained dark and that Fatty and Yingzi were still missing, concluding the White-Haired Jiangshi had not caused the strange events.
• The children stood up and glared viciously at Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi, then laughed as Hu Bayi recoiled in fear.

Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi defeated the two Little Ghost Kings and the vine-controlled corpses with the Corpse-Suppressing Mirror, then found Yingzi alive in a coffin. They prepared to leave the chamber with the burial treasures.

• Gu Cheng explained that the two child ghosts had been sacrificed and trapped in the Soul-Nourishing Golden Coffin for over a thousand years, but they rejected his offer to let go of their hatred.
• The Little Ghost Kings sent vines and crawling corpses against Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi, and Gu Cheng realized the corpses in Sakura Soldiers' uniforms might explain why the soldiers never withdrew.
• Gu Cheng used the Corpse-Suppressing Mirror to immobilize the Little Ghost Kings, and Hu Bayi cut off their heads while Gu Cheng destroyed them with the Little Divine Edge.
• With the Little Ghost Kings dead, the vines and crawling corpses vanished, and Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi found Fatty guarding the chamber entrance.
• Gu Cheng revealed that the mirror was a Maoshan magical artifact, and he and Hu Bayi collected burial treasures from the coffin.
• A coffin lid flew open as Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi headed for the doorway, and Yingzi sat up and asked what they were doing there.