Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke searched the Gold-Storing Academy’s scrolls for information about the Illusionless Gu Sect and the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm, then borrowed a compendium on insect formations. He traded his last two Gu General-grade Gu Insects to learn why the sects entered the secret realm and what Dragon Pearls were.

• Lin Ke used his Spirit Insects to open more scrolls, found no new information about removing Gu Insects, and chose to borrow the Compendium of Insect Formations.
• Lin Ke registered the scroll with the old man and traded him a Gu General-grade Gu Insect for information about the sects’ goals in the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm.
• The old man explained that the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect sought body-tempering grounds, while other sects pursued Dragon Tomb treasures and Dragon Pearls.
• Lin Ke traded his final Gu General-grade Gu Insect to learn that Dragon Pearls formed from dense spiritual energy in Dragon Clan lairs and could be refined into powerful Spirit Artifacts.
• The old man told Lin Ke to stop asking questions, saying the two Gu Insects would keep him from dealing with those creatures for two months.

Lin Ke opened dozens of informational scrolls at the Gold-Storing Academy, then returned to his quarters to prepare an escape route for the men and child he was sheltering. After scouting the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect, he realized that the mortals’ knowledge of the terrain might reveal a way out.

• Fu Tan brought two selected scrolls to the elder, while Lin Ke admitted he had taken only one scroll because he did not want to overreach.
• The elder sent Fu Tan and Lin Ke to reseal the scrolls they had opened, where Fu Tan discovered that Lin Ke had opened more than thirty and secretly exhausted himself trying to keep pace.
• Lin Ke returned to his quarters, distributed Amethyst Longhorn Beetles to the men, and promised to scout a safe escape route before they fled.
• Lin Ke summoned Feng Jinyan to guard the room, then disguised himself and slipped out to survey the sect from a rocky peak.
• Lin Ke mapped the strongholds and patrols, found that every route out was dangerous, and decided the mortals’ familiarity with the terrain might offer another way.

Lin Ke searched the villages near the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect and found a farmer whose wife had been taken by cultivators. After learning about a hidden passage the villagers used to escape, Lin Ke agreed to help rescue the farmer’s wife and headed toward the cultivators’ camp.

• Lin Ke searched deserted villages and discovered a farmer and his two daughters hiding in a house.
• The farmer attacked Lin Ke with a hoe, then accused cultivators of taking his wife and plundering the village.
• Lin Ke gave the farmer cultivation pills and asked him to reveal the villagers’ escape route, promising to rescue his wife.
• The farmer explained that the secret passage ran through tree roots and that cultivators had camped near its entrance.
• Lin Ke told the farmer to take him directly to the camp so they could demand his wife back.

Lin Ke secretly helped a farmer confront the Rogue Cultivators who had seized his family. The farmer killed their leader, and Lin Ke entered the tent as the other four cultivators fell to their knees.

• The farmer entered the Rogue Cultivators' tent and called for Lin Ke after they seized his wife.
• Lin Ke immobilized four cultivators while their Foundation Establishment leader waited for an attack outside.
• The farmer rescued his wife, crept behind the leader, and stabbed him with a Spirit Artifact dagger.
• The leader threatened the farmer's family, but the farmer stabbed him repeatedly until he died.
• Lin Ke entered the tent, and the four remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators dropped to their knees.

Lin Ke explored a secret passage beneath the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect and arranged for Zhang Tiezhu’s village to help conceal a group of escaping cultivators. After returning to his lodgings, he gave the men directions through the passage and ordered them to leave the sect within forty hours.

• Lin Ke followed Zhang Tiezhu and his family through a hidden entrance beneath a spirit tree into caves under the sect.
• Zhang Tiezhu led Lin Ke to the route toward Exalted Immortal Howling Ape’s residence, and Lin Ke told him to use three Foundation Establishment cultivators he had subdued.
• The village chief confronted Lin Ke, who cured the chief’s damp-cold poison and asked the villagers to coat approaching cultivators with mud that blocked spiritual probing.
• Lin Ke promised the village protection from the three Foundation Establishment cultivators and left through the caves, returning to his lodgings.
• Lin Ke told the waiting men to take pills, escape within forty hours through the pool cave, accept the villagers’ protective coating, and avoid harming them.

Lin Ke went to the Gold-Storing Academy with Nan Shang and learned more about the Illusionless Gu Sect’s rules and the elder’s likely interest in removing Gu Insects. He caught up with the elder at Howling Ape Old Ghost’s cave and discovered that the elder had come to learn a Gu Insect Removal Method.

• Lin Ke finished absorbing the Spirit Stones from Howling Ape Old Ghost’s Storage Bag and planned to search the Gold-Storing Academy for information.
• Nan Shang accompanied Lin Ke and gave him a Mystic Vein Book, which revealed that inner sect disciples had to contribute a Gu Soldier-grade Gu Insect every five days for points and rankings.
• Lin Ke realized the Gold-Storing Academy’s elder might be seeking a way to remove the Gu Insect inside his body.
• At the academy, Lin Ke learned the elder had gone toward Howling Ape Old Ghost’s cave abode, so he hurried after him.
• Lin Ke caught up with the elder as he was leaving Howling Ape Old Ghost and learned that he had come to ask for a Gu Insect Removal Method.

Lin Ke agreed to help the white-browed elder research Gu Insects that died with their hosts, hoping to learn more about the Gu Poison affecting Zong Ya. He strengthened his insect formation while preparing for the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm, then discovered that the mortals he expected to help were missing from the secret passages.

• Lin Ke learned that Gu Insects could be removed by having the person who spread them take them back, and offered the white-browed elder corpse-dissection methods to research Gu Insects that died with their hosts.
• The white-browed elder accepted Lin Ke as an assistant and promised to send him relevant records.
• Lin Ke resolved to investigate the Gu Insects affecting Zong Ya, whose poisoner, True Person Yuan Yong, was already dead.
• Lin Ke tested different formation eyes and found that wind and snow boosted his insects' activity, while the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign added flame attacks to his formation.
• Lin Ke decided to breed more spirit insects, including defensive ones, and went to recruit mortals from the secret passages.
• Lin Ke found the passages apparently empty, sensed the mortals nearby through their Soul-Hunting Mosquitoes, and realized something had happened.

Lin Ke found an underground village illuminated by a mysterious sunlike object and reunited with Zhang Tiezhu, who had advanced to the eighth layer of qi refining. He took a voracious Golden Core Stage girl with him and arranged for the villagers to raise spirit insects, leaving them with a paid task and the mystery of the underground light still unresolved.

• Lin Ke uncovered a hidden passage beneath a cavern of glowing mushrooms and flew into the underground world below.
• Lin Ke reunited with Zhang Tiezhu, learned he had reached the eighth layer of qi refining, and heard that an escaped cultivator was consuming the village’s food.
• The village chief arrived with a little girl at the Golden Core Stage, and Zhang Tiezhu explained that her appetite was exhausting the village’s supplies.
• Lin Ke took the girl with him and reassured the village chief that he would find a reason to keep her by his side.
• Lin Ke offered to pay the villagers to raise ordinary spirit insects and asked Zhang Tiezhu and the village chief to hatch Amethyst Longhorn Beetles and Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns.

Lin Ke learned that the Dragon Pearl was Zhang Family Village’s heirloom and tested its ability to amplify spiritual attacks, but its power repelled his attempts to take it. The little girl offered to help him obtain it in exchange for meat pies.

• Lin Ke gave the villagers instructions for raising Spirit Insects and asked the village chief about the glowing pearl.
• The village chief explained that the pearl was a Flood Dragon’s Dragon Pearl, entrusted to Zhang Yuanyi, and that the clan depended on it for protection.
• Lin Ke gave the villagers an inextinguishable flame as a replacement fire source and said he would only take the pearl if it proved useful to him.
• Lin Ke failed to move the pearl with Spirit Insects and a giant hand, then used an arrow of spiritual energy to discover that the pearl greatly amplified attacks.
• The little girl told Lin Ke that brute force would not subdue the pearl and offered to help in exchange for meat pies.

Lin Ke and Lin Xuanyuan fought the Flood Dragon’s remnant soul after it emerged from the Dragon Pearl, while Xiao Zhi and the villagers pleaded for mercy. The Flood Dragon withdrew its attack and sent two streams of divine soul power toward the village chief and Lin Ke, but Zhang Tiezhu stepped in front of the chief and received one.

• Xiao Zhi demanded a hundred meat pies, paid Lin Ke, and reached for the Dragon Pearl as her unusual spirit qi poured out.
• The Dragon Pearl summoned the Flood Dragon’s remnant soul, whose dragon might overwhelmed Xiao Zhi and trapped Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke sent Xiao Zhi to safety, then joined Lin Xuanyuan in resisting the Flood Dragon with the Dragon Egg and an insect formation.
• The Flood Dragon tore through the formation, opened a spatial fissure, and dragged Lin Ke toward it with its suction.
• The Village Chief, Zhang Tiezhu, and the villagers begged the Flood Dragon to spare Lin Ke, and the Flood Dragon swept him against the cavern wall before sending out two streams of divine soul power.
• Zhang Tiezhu shielded the Village Chief and received one stream of power, prompting the chief to ask why he had done so.

Lin Xuanyuan hatched from his Dragon Egg as a small golden dragon and entered seclusion to refine its fragments. Lin Ke discovered that Zhang Tiezhu had reached Foundation Establishment, then learned from the little girl how to use the Flood Dragon's Dragon Pearl.

• Lin Xuanyuan broke out of his Dragon Egg, transformed into a small golden dragon, and went into seclusion inside Lin Ke's Niwan Palace.
• Lin Ke examined Zhang Tiezhu and found that he had reached the middle stage of Foundation Establishment; he promised the Village Chief a Golden Wing Sect cultivation technique and gave him instructions for the Zhang people.
• The little girl handed Lin Ke the Flood Dragon Treasure Pearl, and Lin Ke returned with her to his room the next morning.
• Lin Ke bound the pearl with his essence blood, but it absorbed his spiritual energy instead of amplifying it.
• The little girl explained that a Flood Dragon Pearl amplified damage and spell arts, but needed to be replenished with spiritual energy after use; Lin Ke promised her two hundred meat pies in exchange.

Lin Ke questioned whether the little girl’s memory loss meant she was controlled by an Illusionless Gu Sect cultivator, then took her to buy food and began to relax when she seemed genuine. At the market, Fu Tan confronted him and revealed the Amethyst Longhorn Beetle Lin Ke had released, raising the possibility that Fu Tan had uncovered his informants.

• Lin Ke learned that the little girl could not remember her sect and suspected she might be controlled by an Illusionless Gu Sect cultivator.
• Lin Ke took the little girl to a market inside the sect, where she eagerly ate meat pies made from spirit sheep.
• Lin Ke bought a roast Spirit Chicken and felt reassured by the little girl’s natural behavior.
• Fu Tan appeared, greeted Lin Ke, and showed him the Amethyst Longhorn Beetle Lin Ke had released.

Lin Ke learned that Fu Tan had been secretly capturing Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect cultivators and planting Gu in them, while Fu Tan revealed that more escapees were hiding in Feng Jinyan’s room. Lin Ke arranged for those cultivators to escape toward a location of his choosing, intending to use Fu Tan’s ambush to kill him, and Fu Tan summoned Lin Ke that night to act.

• Fu Tan explained that he planted Gu in captured cultivators, let them escape, and then ambushed them when they sought a way out.
• Fu Tan told Lin Ke that another group was hiding in Feng Jinyan’s room and that the earlier group had escaped from Lin Ke’s room; he also gave Lin Ke the Amethyst Longhorn Beetle he had found.
• Lin Ke pretended to agree to work with Fu Tan while planning to lead him to a chosen location and kill him.
• Lin Ke arranged with Feng Jinyan to help the hidden cultivators escape, supplying them with Breath-Concealing Pills and Extreme Speed Talismans.
• Fu Tan sent Lin Ke a message that night, urging him to hurry to his residence because the group was making its move.

Lin Ke followed Fu Tan into the mountains and discovered that Fu Tan had arranged an ambush, so Lin Ke struck first and trapped him in a spirit-insect formation. Fu Tan called for Old Ghost to intervene as Lin Ke’s flames and insects overwhelmed him.

• Lin Ke sent the Dream-Eating Gecko ahead and followed Fu Tan into the mountains with the cultivators.
• Lin Ke sensed a Nascent Soul late-stage old man waiting near the Dream-Eating Gecko and suspected Fu Tan planned to ambush him.
• Fu Tan pointed out a forest clearing as an ambush site, and Lin Ke unleashed his spirit insects against him.
• Fu Tan attacked Lin Ke with a Double-Edged Sword, but Lin Ke’s insects destroyed it and trapped Fu Tan in the formation.
• Lin Ke’s Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns set the formation ablaze as Fu Tan accused Lin Ke of being a Golden Wing Sect traitor.
• Fu Tan shouted for Old Ghost to act and threatened that his master would retaliate if he died.

Lin Ke faced the Antlered Old Man, who killed Fu Tan and proposed they part ways before attacking Lin Ke with swift saber winds. Lin Ke’s insect formation collapsed after he was wounded, leaving him exposed as purple armor appeared to protect him.

• The Antlered Old Man used wind-powered leaves to attack Lin Ke and kill Fu Tan, then absorbed Fu Tan’s witch gu qi.
• The old man claimed they should avoid fighting and offered to immobilize himself, but Lin Ke agreed only to provoke his next move.
• The old man vanished in white smoke, then appeared above Lin Ke and attacked him with saber winds from multiple directions.
• Lin Ke’s defensive insect formation was pierced, and a wound caused it to collapse into disarray.
• As the old man sent more sword winds at Lin Ke, bright purple armor appeared before him.

After surviving the antlered old man's attack, Lin Ke returned to his lodgings and tried to learn how to use the Dragon Pearl through meditation. As he struggled to quiet his mind in the secret passage, Witch Gu Qi began surging toward his Nascent Soul.

• Lin Ke used Hua Wujiang's armor to survive the antlered old man's attack, and the two stopped fighting because each had leverage over the other.
• Lin Ke healed his injuries, brought the little girl out of Fu Tan's courtyard, and reflected on his lack of powerful defensive spells.
• The little girl told Lin Ke that using the Dragon Pearl required seated meditation and described the practice she had learned from her master.
• Lin Ke meditated on a wooden post in the pool beneath Zhang Family Village while the little girl, Zhang Tiezhu, and the Village Chief joined or watched him.
• Lin Ke's discomfort and heightened senses stirred distracting worries about the Illusionless Gu Sect, Zong Ya's Gu Poison, and the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm.
• Witch Gu Qi wrapped in the Spirit Power of Lin Ke's Cultivation Pills surged inside him as if trying to invade his Nascent Soul.

Lin Ke fought the witch gu poison attacking his Nascent Soul with thunder power while his spirit insects searched for a cure. The Dream-Eating Gecko relayed the Purple Mansion gu insect’s suggestion to use the Moisture-and-Egg Transformation Method, leaving Lin Ke to decide whether to trust it.

• Lin Ke used wind and thunder power to burn away the witch gu qi, but the remaining poison clamped around his Nascent Soul’s throat and threatened his life.
• The Dream-Eating Gecko and Lin Xuanyuan noticed Lin Ke’s condition and discovered the Purple Mansion gu insect might be connected to the poison.
• After the spirit insects subdued it, the Purple Mansion gu insect communicated that cultivators from the Illusionless Gu Sect had poisoned Lin Ke.
• The Purple Mansion gu insect suggested Lin Ke use the Moisture-and-Egg Transformation Method so it could absorb the witch gu qi, and the Dream-Eating Gecko passed the advice to him.

Lin Ke absorbed the Witch Gu Qi while cultivating, clearing the poison and breaking through to Nascent Soul-level mental power. He then tested the Flood Dragon's Dragon Pearl, whose rain caused plants and fruit in the village to grow anew.

• Lin Ke used the Moisture-and-Egg Transformation Method to draw in spiritual energy and absorb the Witch Gu Qi, healing his injuries as his mental power surged.
• The Purple Mansion Insect's uncontrolled vortex prompted Lin Ke to focus on breaking through his mental-power bottleneck, while the Dream-Eating Gecko and Lin Xuanyuan reacted to his progress.
• Lin Ke reached Nascent Soul-level mental power and found he could control the Flood Dragon's Dragon Pearl with ease.
• Lin Ke poured spiritual energy into the Dragon Pearl, producing Emerald Rainwater that fell across the grotto-heaven, though he initially noticed no effect.
• The villagers cried out as lotus leaves, fruit, and Glowshrooms reappeared after the rain, delighting the little girl.

Lin Ke discovered that the Grain Rain Dragon’s Dragon Pearl could accelerate Spirit Plant growth and planned to use its fruits to strengthen his Spirit Insects. After dissecting a dead cultivator, he learned that bone fragments had blocked spiritual energy from reaching her Gu Insect, causing it to starve to death.

• Lin Ke watched the Dragon Pearl’s spiritual rain grow lotus leaves and fruit, then learned from the little girl that it belonged to a Grain Rain Dragon of the Spring Dragon Clan.
• Lin Ke considered feeding spirit fruits to his Spirit Insects, and the Village Chief reported that the villagers had bred more than a dozen Amethyst Longhorn Beetles and over a hundred Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns.
• Lin Ke planned to hunt Spirit Beasts to provide food for insect breeding and went to examine a deceased female cultivator delivered by the white-browed old man’s disciple.
• Lin Ke dissected the female cultivator and found that a fatal injury to her neck had killed her, while bone fragments blocking her meridians had cut off spiritual energy to her Gu Insect and caused it to starve.

Lin Ke explained how the Gu Insects had died and discussed a possible cure for his senior sister, then asked the White-Browed Old Man about Dragon Pearls. The old man revealed the Illusionless Gu Sect's Flood Dragon had transformed during Great Heat and challenged Lin Ke about the Grain Rain Dragon's Dragon Pearl.

• Lin Ke concluded that blocked meridians and Poison Cores had caused the Gu Insects to starve, and planned to use that knowledge to save his senior sister.
• Lin Ke brought his findings to the White-Browed Old Man, who tested them on corpses, confirmed the explanation, and burned the bodies.
• Lin Ke asked about the Dragon Pearl in the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm, and the White-Browed Old Man told him that Nan Shang had been researching it at the Gold-Storing Academy.
• Lin Ke asked when the Illusionless Gu Sect's Flood Dragon had become a dragon, and the White-Browed Old Man said it happened during Great Heat and described its Scorching Burn Dragon Pearl.
• Lin Ke asked about the Grain Rain Dragon's Dragon Pearl, prompting the White-Browed Old Man to ask whether Lin Ke had obtained it.