Chapter Summaries

After killing Ao Lantian, Lin Fei and Black Iron plundered his manor and fled toward Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, where the Arcane Race’s kings would hesitate to pursue them. As they escaped with the manor’s captives, Black Iron suggested killing them to avoid the burden, leaving Lin Fei troubled by his companion’s disregard for other races.

• Ao Zongping and three other first-rank officials used the Mystic Light Technique to witness Ao Lantian’s death, then rode toward Blue Sky Manor to hunt down his killers.
• Lin Fei and Black Iron looted Ao Lantian’s estate, killed a holdout who threatened them, and took the captives aboard their Arcana airship.
• Lin Fei ordered Black Iron to fly east toward Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, hoping Diana Luwei’s territory would protect them from the Arcane Race’s pursuit.
• Lin Fei and Black Iron discussed the dangers of fleeing to the City of Sin, where Earth Spirit-level powerhouses held power, but Lin Fei asked whether they had another choice.
• Black Iron proposed killing the seventy-odd captives so they would not slow the fugitives, and Lin Fei fell silent, reflecting on Black Iron’s view of other races.

Lin Fei decided to release those below the Lower Spirit level before reaching Blood-Colored Bug Ridge and offered the rest a place in his army. As his followers set out for the City of Sin, Lin Fei aimed to reach the Earth Spirit realm and unify it, while four first-rank officials departed the ruins of Blue Sky Manor.

• Lin Fei announced that captives and guards below the Lower Spirit level could leave to avoid Blood-Colored Bug Ridge’s radiation, and stopped his subordinates from attacking the captives who cursed him.
• Gu Xiaoyu asked to follow Lin Fei, and he allowed anyone at Lower Spirit strength or above to join his command regardless of race or past.
• Lin Fei accepted the Starlight Race cultivator Starlight Forever Shines Across the Land and nicknamed him A Xing.
• Fifty-two cultivators chose to follow Lin Fei and Black Iron, including twelve captives, while others below ninth-level arcanist strength were barred from joining.
• Black Iron renewed his resolve to fight for Lin Fei, while Lin Fei set himself the goal of reaching the Earth Spirit realm and unifying the City of Sin.
• Four first-rank officials left the ruins of Blue Sky Manor with grim expressions.

Lin Fei brought his group to the edge of Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, released most of his captives, and led the fifty-two who stayed into the dangerous region. As the group began adjusting to its strange radiation, Gu Xiaoyu reported that her skin felt itchy and prickly.

• Ao Zongping, Ao Sanniang, Bao Sanniang, and the imposing middle-aged man argued over who would report Lin Fei's escape to the King of Southern Ridge, then agreed to go together.
• Lin Fei's arcane airship reached Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, where he saw mutated creatures and sensed radiation that blocked his divine sense.
• Lin Fei freed his captives, and most fled while fifty-two people chose to remain with him.
• Lin Fei stored the arcane airship in his spatial ring and led the group onto the dried blood-colored land.
• Lin Fei stopped the ninth-level arcanists from entering and asked how the radiation affected them, and Gu Xiaoyu described an itchy, stinging sensation.

Lin Fei led his group into Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, where deadly radiation forced the level-nine arcanists to turn back. Night fell before Lin Fei’s party could find shelter, and a ghostly spirit’s scream stirred the jungle into chaos.

• A level-nine arcanist suffered blistering injuries after entering Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, and Lin Fei healed him with a Holy Light Healing Spell.
• The level-nine arcanists left Lin Fei’s group with cultivation resources, while Zhou Ronghao and the others vowed to reach Lower Spirit and follow Lin Fei later.
• Lin Fei led the remaining forty-two people on a forced march, but they failed to find a safe camp before nightfall.
• As eerie sounds filled the darkness, Gu Xiaoyu clung to Lin Fei, and a floating white spirit appeared and screamed.
• The spirit’s scream stirred the Insect Race across the jungle, and Lin Fei ordered everyone to run.

Lin Fei led the group through a forest packed with mutated insects, using fire and wind to cut a path while warning the arcanists that lightning was ineffective. As a colossal, poisonous centipede erupted from underground, Lin Fei told Gu Xiaoyu to hold on as the group faced the new threat.

• Lin Fei and the arcanists illuminated the forest and found themselves surrounded by mutated insects and mutated souls.
• Gu Xiaoyu clung to Lin Fei as he burned a wolf spider, cut down attacking insects, and told her that lightning attacks would be ineffective.
• Lin Fei led the group through the swarm with walls of fire and wind, while flying insects approached overhead.
• A millstone-thick centipede nearly a hundred meters long burst from the earth, spreading corrosive mist and biological toxin that killed other insects.
• Lin Fei told Gu Xiaoyu to hold tight, and she wrapped herself around him as the group confronted the centipede.

Lin Fei used the no-flight rule and his spells to kill the mutated centipede and drive off the other insects. He checked his battered group afterward, whose injuries were treatable but whose depleted Arcana energy left them vulnerable in the jungle.

• Lin Fei blasted the mutated centipede with Evil-Breaking Holy Light, then used Weightlessness Spell to make it rise and Gravity Spell to crush it when the no-flight rule pulled it back down.
• The other mutated insects retreated after Lin Fei killed their leader and drove them away with Mind Storm.
• Gu Xiaoyu jumped off Lin Fei’s back and felt ashamed that he had given her a sense of security despite being her enemy.
• Lin Fei checked the group and found that everyone was alive, but their wounds, poison, and depleted Arcana energy left them at risk from another attack.

Lin Fei healed the group and led them through the dangerous forest toward a glowing mushroom settlement inhabited by several powerful races. The settlement’s God Race leader stopped the others from driving them away and asked Lin Fei what he could offer in exchange for shelter.

• Lin Fei used three healing spells to treat the group, while Black Iron wondered how Lin Fei had mastered so many kinds of magic.
• Black Iron said the ghosts had been killed, and Lin Fei ordered everyone to gather the monster corpses and leave before more creatures arrived.
• Lin Fei spotted a glowing mushroom forest where insect monsters would not venture, then led the group toward it despite Black Iron’s concerns.
• Lin Fei stopped everyone at the forest’s edge after detecting runic restrictions and technological land mines.
• Beings of the Crystal, Many-Eyed, Arcana, and God Races challenged the group; Lin Fei requested shelter for one night and promised a gift.
• The God Race leader silenced the others and asked Lin Fei what he could give in exchange for shelter.

Lin Fei tried to bargain for shelter in the mushroom forest, but the cultivators inside planned to lure night beasts toward his group and seize their belongings. With monsters charging and no safe way to retreat, Lin Fei destroyed the Arcana airship against the forest’s restrictions, dragging everyone into a deadly battle.

• Lin Fei offered an Upper Spirit-level mutated centipede corpse, then added the monster corpses his group had collected when a Crystal Clan cultivator demanded more.
• An arcanist in the pure land revealed that the cultivators planned to attract night beasts and take the survivors’ belongings, while Lin Fei warned he would destroy their shelter.
• The God Race expert ordered energy beams fired into the sky, drawing monsters from across the jungle toward Lin Fei’s group.
• Lin Fei summoned the Arcana airship and sent it crashing into the restrictions in a self-destructing assault.
• The explosion shattered the rune crystals and triggered the land mines, destroying the mushroom forest as Lin Fei and his companions shielded themselves from the debris.
• The enraged cultivators inside the pure land called for attacks against Lin Fei and his group.

Lin Fei and his companions were caught in a chaotic battle when night beasts and five enormous upper spirit beasts swarmed the area. As the group fought to survive, Lin Fei stunned Black Iron by using his staff in close combat and breaking one of the house centipede’s legs.

• Lin Fei ordered a retreat as night beasts and wronged souls flooded in, but the beasts split the group from the Pure Land cultivators and forced both sides into battle.
• The house centipede targeted Lin Fei, shattered his telekinetic barrier, and drove him to defend himself while the other leader-level beasts attacked upper spirit experts.
• Black Iron struggled against the longhorn beetle, while A Xing blasted waves of night beasts with his tentacles and Gu Xiaoyu killed an insect with a punch despite suffering acid burns.
• Lin Fei’s Arcana practitioners held a coordinated battle formation, shielding one another and striking with Holy Light Evil-Breaking Slash.
• Lin Fei used Wind-Riding Technique and Strength Technique, wielded his staff like a melee weapon, blocked the house centipede’s attacks, and broke one of its legs, leaving Black Iron stunned.

Lin Fei conserved his depleted arcane energy by fighting a mutant house centipede in close combat, while a God Race expert faced three Night Beast leaders. Lin Fei tore open the centipede’s back, and both battles continued.

• Lin Fei used refined staff techniques to overpower the mutant house centipede while conserving his arcane energy and mental power.
• The God Race expert was attacked by two Upper Spirit Night Beast leaders and another Night Beast, so he armed himself and fought back with his energy blade.
• Lin Fei smashed the centipede’s eyes, removed four pairs of its blade-legs, and knocked off one venomous fang.
• Lin Fei seized a fallen blade-leg, stabbed it into the centipede’s back, and ran across its dorsal plate, peeling the back open as the blade-leg heated until it burst into flames.

Lin Fei fought through the night beasts, rescued Gu Xiaoyu from venomous bees, and carried her to help Black Iron. He struck the mutated longhorn beetle hard enough to crack its carapace, interrupting its attack.

• Lin Fei escaped the dying centipede and smashed a cockroach with his scepter, impressing A Xing as he tore through the night beasts.
• Lin Fei shielded Gu Xiaoyu from the venomous bees and reflected their needles back, killing the swarm.
• Lin Fei forced the needles out of Gu Xiaoyu, healed her, and ordered her onto his back.
• Lin Fei sprinted to Black Iron and struck the mutated longhorn beetle, staggering it and cracking its carapace.

Lin Fei and Black Iron defeated the mutated longhorn beetle, and Lin Fei killed it by breaking through its skull from inside while carrying Gu Xiaoyu. After the remaining monsters fled, Lin Fei noticed a God Race expert beheading the last Night Beast leader.

• Lin Fei and Black Iron attacked the mutated longhorn beetle together, and Lin Fei smashed off its left pincer.
• Lin Fei released his scepter to expose the beetle's eye, then struck its left eye and plunged inside its skull with Gu Xiaoyu.
• Lin Fei used Inch Power: Heaven-Splitting to burst through the beetle's skull and destroy its brain, killing it.
• Lin Fei ordered Black Iron to clear the battlefield as the monsters fled after their leaders were killed.
• Lin Fei grew wary when a God Race expert severed the head of the last Night Beast leader.

Lin Fei and Black Iron fought a powerful God Race expert whom Black Iron suspected was a Reserve Sanctuary Warrior. The battle left Black Iron badly wounded, and the God Race expert charged forward with a powerful attack.

• The God Race expert drove away the Night Beasts after killing several beast leaders, while Lin Fei and Black Iron assessed his strength and casualties.
• Black Iron identified the God Race expert as a possible Reserve Sanctuary Warrior, and Lin Fei prepared to use Gene Devouring to gain his powerful physique.
• The God Race expert attacked Lin Fei with Leaping Slash, carving a vast crater into the ground, and Lin Fei sent Gu Xiaoyu to A Xing before joining the fight with Black Iron.
• The God Race expert overwhelmed Black Iron at close range with Whirling Consecutive Slash, and Lin Fei kicked Black Iron clear of a strike that nearly severed his head.
• Lin Fei and Black Iron struck the God Race expert with Telekinetic Barrier, driving him backward, but he charged again with Charged Dashing Slash.

Lin Fei and Black Iron fought off the God Race expert, who fled after Lin Fei blocked his strongest strike and smashed his face. After capturing the wounded enemies left in the pure land, Lin Fei focused on the Many-Eyed Race Upper Spirit’s unusual eyes and decided his genes were worth devouring.

• Lin Fei blocked the God Race expert’s strike meant for Black Iron, but the expert’s follow-up severed Black Iron’s left arm.
• Lin Fei smashed the weakened God Race expert in the face, sending him flying, and healed Black Iron as the expert fled.
• Lin Fei revealed that the force of his defense had badly injured his own body and ordered his companions to capture the enemies remaining in the pure land.
• Black Iron led the group in capturing the wounded survivors, while Lin Fei forbade pursuit of those who had escaped.
• Lin Fei noticed the Many-Eyed Race Upper Spirit’s unusual eyes and decided the alien’s genes were worth devouring.

Lin Fei led his group to an unoccupied sanctuary and learned that the unconscious God Race expert was the renowned Reserve Sanctuary Warrior Alkes Monde. After securing the camp, Lin Fei killed the Many-Eyed Race prisoner and used the Arcane Core to devour his genes, leaving him unconscious as his eyes began to change.

• Lin Fei offered the prisoners a chance to live if they proved useful and submitted to him, and Black Iron and the others killed those who refused.
• Nine prisoners guided Lin Fei's group toward an unoccupied sanctuary, and they set out after gathering the battlefield's valuables.
• The prisoners identified the captured God Race expert as Alkes Monde, a Reserve Sanctuary Warrior who had fled after killing a Behemoth prince.
• Lin Fei's group reached a mushroom-forest camp, where Lin Fei arranged watches and had Black Iron block perception around the stone house holding the prisoner.
• Lin Fei killed the Many-Eyed Race Upper Spirit and activated the Arcane Core's devouring ability, then spent his plundered resources to supply the energy it demanded.
• Lin Fei's vision went dark, his eyes began to ache and itch, and he sank into a semi-conscious sleep.

A burst of seven-colored light drew powerful beasts and the forces of the City of Sin to Blood-Colored Bug Ridge while Black Iron's group stayed hidden. Gu Xiaoyu secretly tried to kill the unconscious Lin Fei with acupuncture, but he woke and defended her, then collapsed bleeding as Black Iron left.

• A seven-colored beam erupted from Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, drawing Earth Spirit Night Beasts, a God Race man, and the City of Sin's warships toward its source.
• Black Iron ordered everyone to hide, then found Lin Fei unconscious, with blood and tissue leaking from his eyes despite his Arcana energy still circulating.
• Gu Xiaoyu offered to use acupuncture to stimulate Lin Fei's bodily functions, and Black Iron allowed her to treat him under close watch.
• Gu Xiaoyu used a needle at Lin Fei's Wind Pool point and poured in her internal qi, intending to kill him.
• Lin Fei woke, grabbed Gu Xiaoyu, and stopped Black Iron from attacking her, saying she had saved him.
• After Black Iron left, blood spilled from Lin Fei's seven orifices.

Lin Fei woke from his muddled state as Gu Xiaoyu mistook his actions for an attempt to force himself on her. He refused her, leaving her in tears, while A Xing urged her to seek the young marquis’s favor for the sake of humanity.

• Gu Xiaoyu knelt before Lin Fei and begged him to kill her without harming the other human captives.
• Believing Lin Fei wanted her, Gu Xiaoyu undressed and embraced him, but Lin Fei managed to push her away and say, “No.”
• Gu Xiaoyu accused Lin Fei of false kindness and ran into the rain, crying.
• Black Iron and the others misread Gu Xiaoyu’s disheveled appearance and assumed she might become their mistress.
• A Xing comforted Gu Xiaoyu and urged her to win Lin Fei’s favor, citing how the Starlight Holy Maiden’s marriage had improved her people’s circumstances.

After the rain, Lin Fei recovered enough to discover that his fused Many-Eyed Race powers gave his eyes destructive, healing, and penetrating abilities. He secured contracts with his surviving captives, then ordered his group to strengthen themselves quickly as Alkes and the King of Southern Ridge remained threats.

• Gu Xiaoyu thanked Lin Fei for the previous night, while Lin Fei slept through her anxious thoughts.
• After waking, Lin Fei tested his new eye powers and found that his right eye could burn a living being’s primordial spirit, his left could heal injuries, and he could see through clothing.
• Lin Fei realized the Many-Eyed Race’s life factors had gathered in his Arcane Core, sparing his body from grotesque mutations.
• Lin Fei signed Arcana contracts with his surviving captives and shared a meal of roasted Night Beasts with the group.
• Black Iron reported the previous night’s upheaval deep in the forest, and Lin Fei told the group to grow stronger through hunting, gathering, and plundering before Alkes and the King of Southern Ridge made their moves.

After Lin Fei and Black Iron fled to Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, the four first-rank officials sought help from Xiao Xudong, who punished them and ordered them to capture the fugitives within three days. The officials set out for the ridge, while Xiao Shiyu sulked after her father refused to let her go.

• Ao Zongping and the other three first-rank officials reached the Nanling Prince's Residence and reported that Lin Fei and Black Iron had killed Ao Lantian and fled.
• Xiao Xudong rebuked the officials for their treatment of Feiyun Hou and ordered each of them to slap himself one hundred times.
• Xiao Xudong gave the officials three days to capture Lin Fei or face demotion, confiscation of their estates, and exile, then revealed that Lin Fei was in Blood-Colored Bug Ridge.
• Xiao Shiyu volunteered to pursue Lin Fei, but Xiao Xudong sent the four officials instead.
• The four officials assembled teams from their territories and departed for Blood-Colored Bug Ridge, while Xiao Shiyu turned away from Xiao Xudong in a sulk.

Lin Fei strengthened the mushroom sanctuary, organized the survivors’ defenses, and gave Black Iron three powerful Night Beast corpses to help him break through. After learning of an energy crystal vein that suppressed cultivation and spells, Lin Fei led the group toward it.

• Lin Fei and Black Iron set up layers of restrictions around the sanctuary while A Xing and captives from the God Race and Many-Eyed Race debated how to build technological defenses with limited resources.
• Lin Fei assigned Black Iron to distribute the remaining resources and gave him the corpses of three Upper Spirit Night Beast leaders so he could attempt a breakthrough to the Earth Spirit realm.
• Black Iron said he expected to need about half a month and had a fifty to sixty percent chance of breaking through, then entered seclusion with the corpses.
• Lin Fei asked his captives about other settlements, and an Arcane Race captive told him about an energy crystal vein that suppressed cultivation and spells but intensified radiation.
• Lin Fei led the group through the jungle toward the crystal vein, leaving Black Iron to guard the sanctuary and Alkes too weakened to cause trouble.