Chapter Summaries

A hidden ninth-rank Angus School mage poisoned and cursed the Stormclaw Squad while battling Raymon and Harry with a shadow hydra. Gustavo discovered the assailant and used the ratman puppet to expose him, but the enemy escaped Raymon’s spear attack and the fight continued.

• The shadow hydra attacked Raymon as poison and curses weakened Gustavo’s companions, leaving Harry and Raymon largely able to fight.
• Gustavo pretended to be incapacitated while using Spider-Sense to locate a cloaked mage concealed near the battle.
• Gustavo controlled the ratman puppet to fire at the hidden mage, forcing him to reveal himself and summon a Blackfire Skull.
• Raymon hurled two empowered throwing spears at the assailant, who vanished with the help of a pendant and avoided the attack.
• The assailant struck Raymon from behind, but Raymon counterattacked and Harry joined him as they charged the mage from opposite sides.

Wight killed Raymon and Harry after the two made a desperate stand, then tracked Nelson’s group through the maze using his flesh-and-blood clones. He caught up with the weakened survivors and considered whom to kill first.

• Wight summoned a physical Shadow Hydra, and Raymon charged him with Harry despite realizing the fight was hopeless.
• Wight killed Raymon and Harry, though their counterattack weakened him.
• Wight sent blood-made snakes into the maze to map its passages and find the survivors.
• Nelson and the others waited for the unconscious Gustavo to wake, but Wight’s faceless scout found them first.
• Wight caught up with the defeated group, revealed his face, and asked whom he should kill first.

Wight killed Nelson and the other Storm Claw fighters before Gustavo revealed his strength and nearly killed him. Wight survived by using a Death-Substitution Magic Doll, which led Gustavo to recognize him as a black mage.

• Wight killed Nelson after rejecting his plea for mercy, then had a High-Rank Transcendent devoured by black snakes.
• The three remaining Storm Claw Transcendents and three puppets fought Wight, while Gustavo pretended to be unconscious and waited for an opening.
• After Wight's fight left him and the puppets weakened, Gustavo transformed into a twelve-meter beast and attacked with his talents and skills.
• Gustavo tore through Wight's Darkness's Protection and cut him apart, but Wight reassembled himself dozens of meters away using a Death-Substitution Magic Doll.
• Gustavo recognized the doll and Wight's abnormal casting speed as evidence that Wight was a black mage.

Wight realized Gustavo’s resistance to poison and curses suggested an exceptional bloodline and attacked to seize it. Gustavo endured Wight’s overwhelming spells, then used gravity and his defenses to charge into close range, leaving Wight shocked.

• Wight noticed Gustavo had barely been affected by the poison and curse and grew greedy for his bloodline.
• Wight unleashed a barrage of darkness and shadow spells, keeping Gustavo from closing the distance.
• Gustavo used the pressure of the battle to draw out his bloodline’s potential and sensed a chance to break through.
• Gustavo formed a 130-times gravity field to disrupt Wight’s spellcasting, then activated Primordial Qi Tyrant Body and charged through the spells toward him.

Gustavo fought Wight and his Eye of Distortion, which shattered Gustavo’s defenses and left him battling alone. With his energy nearly exhausted and his bloodline still short of breaking through, Gustavo decided to add more fuel to the fire.

• Gustavo, the Elia puppet, and the Lennar puppet attacked Wight, who summoned Shadow Hydra and fought them in the cramped passage.
• Gustavo’s bloodline grew more active as he fought Shadow Hydra, but Wight unleashed the Eye of Distortion and its storm of pale beams.
• Gustavo expanded his Thorn Armor and endured the barrage until Wight used the Eye’s power to distort and dismantle his defenses.
• The Eye of Distortion destroyed the Elia and Lennar puppets, leaving Gustavo to face Wight alone.
• Gustavo abandoned defense and traded attacks with Wight until his energy ran dry, but his bloodline still did not break through.
• Gustavo wondered whether his Luck was insufficient and decided to add more fuel to the fire.

Gustavo used Flame of Luck to raise his luck and break through to Tier Seven during his battle with Wight. Wight empowered the Shadow Hydra and Eye of Distortion with a blood sacrifice, while Gustavo gained three new Attribute Talents and prepared to face their increased power.

• Gustavo ignited Flame of Luck, raising his luck to 42 and triggering a transformation in his physique, energy, and spirit.
• Wight realized Gustavo was a Tier Six transcendent with an Epic bloodline and crushed a blood-filled heart to activate Hand of Illusion and Reality.
• Wight infused the Shadow Hydra and Eye of Distortion with blood, strengthening both constructs and awakening rudimentary intelligence in the Shadow Hydra.
• The Shadow Hydra and Eye of Distortion attacked Gustavo with increased power, while the Eye of Distortion began cracking his Thorn Armor.
• Gustavo assessed his rising combat power and gained Fury of the Stars, Death Knell, and Tough Life after his three major attributes exceeded 61 points.

After becoming a High-Rank Transcendent Lifeform, Gustavo battled Wight until the Eye of Distortion collapsed, giving him an opening to attack. Wight escaped by exploding into black snakes, though Gustavo intercepted more than half of them.

• Gustavo's Attribute Talents and Rank Bonus greatly increased his power, toughness, and health after his breakthrough.
• Gustavo charged Wight, but the Eye of Distortion and Shadow Hydra kept him from reaching the black mage, and their battle remained at a stalemate.
• One of the Eye of Distortion's heads regained its consciousness, causing the other heads to burst apart and the Eye to collapse.
• Gustavo seized the opening and shattered Wight's hastily raised defensive spells with a strike from his bladed legs.
• Wight used Uninterrupted Shadow to turn into black snakes and flee, while Gustavo caught a little over half of them with Air-Stasis Corridor.

Gustavo discovered that the pale head belonged to an ally with the Infinite Serpent's bloodline and rescued it after defeating the black mage. While collecting spoils from the maze, he found a valuable space ring with an enormous storage space.

• Gustavo sensed the Infinite Serpent's bloodline in the unconscious head and learned that the Dragon-Hunting Spider clan and the Infinite Serpent were allied.
• Gustavo wrapped the head in silk, gathered the corpses and equipment for future puppets, and left the maze passage.
• Gustavo returned to the plaza, collected the spellbook from the statue, and spotted a black ring in its palm.
• Gustavo opened the unclaimed space ring, placed his mental imprint on it, and found that its storage space held twenty-seven thousand cubic meters.

Gustavo uncovered valuable magic crystals, rare Golden Maple Tree branches, Hongdusi’s spellbook, and other resources in the ruins before setting off through another passage. Outside the ruins, Arthur learned that Storm Claw’s leaders had likely died, left the group for Silver Light, and watched Storm Claw disband.

• Gustavo appraised the chests, finding ten thousand high-grade magic crystals, Golden Maple Tree branches, and Hongdusi’s spellbook of cultivation insights and spells.
• Gustavo identified the Book of Cloud and Sky as powerful Legendary equipment, marked it as his own, and stored it in the spatial ring.
• Gustavo searched the buildings around the square, collected more extraordinary resources, and left through a passage leading to another maze.
• Arthur led his people out of the Abyss of Black Mist when their Fire Sleep Potion was nearly exhausted and found that Leader Raymon, Deputy Leader Harry, and the others had not returned.
• Arthur announced that he was leaving Storm Claw to join Silver Light, and more than half of Storm Claw’s members followed him, ending the group.

After escaping Gustavo, the badly wounded Wight headed for the City of Freedom to recover, while Gustavo sold refined gold at the Victoria Tavern and paid for a top-grade estate to use for seclusion. Gustavo and the Fairy Puppet entered the estate, where they were greeted by trained slave maids.

• Wight, gravely injured and nearly out of essence, fled north toward the City of Freedom and vowed revenge on Gustavo.
• Gustavo and the Fairy Puppet brought refined gold to Marco at the Victoria Tavern, where Marco appraised it at 5.2342 million Ta Pounds.
• The Fairy Puppet deposited the money, ordered more materials, and booked a top-grade room so Gustavo could safely go into seclusion.
• Marco led Gustavo and the Fairy Puppet to a small estate and explained its amenities before leaving them with the key.
• Gustavo and the Fairy Puppet entered the estate and were welcomed by rows of slave maids trained to obey their masters.

Gustavo fused the Golden Maple Tree into his Gene Warehouse, advancing it to high grade and giving it the ability to adjust and fuse gene fragments. He then focused on restoring his ally, whose head survived but needed costly Blood Marrow, while Gustavo began eyeing its regenerative ability as a possible source of resources.

• Gustavo secluded himself in the training grounds and spent ten days fusing the Golden Maple Tree branches into his Gene Warehouse.
• Gustavo's Gene Warehouse advanced to high grade, gaining a capacity of 1,000 units and the ability to make simple adjustments and fusions to gene fragments.
• Gustavo realized he had neglected his ally and checked that the ally's head was still alive.
• Gustavo asked Marco to bring life-force-rich resources and found that Blood Marrow restored the head most effectively.
• Gustavo ordered Marco to buy two million Ta Pounds' worth of Blood Marrow, then considered cutting off a piece of the regenerating head.

Gustavo helped Fujia Huanshe recover from his injuries with Blood Marrow, secretly eating pieces of Fujia’s regenerating flesh to obtain gene fragments. After Fujia woke, he thanked Gustavo, and the two exchanged names and discussed what to do next.

• Gustavo used Death Knell to put the recovering Fujia into a deeper slumber, then ate pieces of his flesh to plunder gene fragments.
• Fujia woke while Gustavo was eating another piece of flesh, but accepted his excuse and thanked him for saving his life.
• Gustavo claimed he did not expect repayment for the millions of Ta Pounds he had spent, and Fujia took him seriously.
• Fujia introduced himself, and Gustavo shared his long true name with his new ally.
• Gustavo taught Fujia his ruthless survival tactics, and Fujia listened closely.
• Gustavo asked Fujia what he planned to do next, considering whether he could bring him under his command.

Gustavo gave Fujia magic crystals and left the tavern disguised as a red spider, with the Fairy Puppet disguised as a demon. At Silver Light’s headquarters, the pair arrived as new members, and Arthur suspected he recognized them.

• Fujia told Gustavo he planned to keep traveling, and Gustavo gave him a chest of more than three thousand magic crystals.
• Gustavo modified the Fairy Puppet into a little demon and used the Shadow Cloak to disguise himself as a red spider.
• Gustavo and the puppet traveled west across the Jilong Highlands toward Demon Eye’s territory.
• Arthur attended a gathering at Silver Light’s headquarters after joining the group with Storm Claw’s remnants.
• Aomaha announced that two High-Rank Transcendent Individuals were joining Silver Light, and Gustavo and the demon puppet entered the hall.
• Arthur felt that the red spider and little demon looked familiar.

Gustavo, disguised as Keaton, joined the Silver Light and used Luck Deprivation until its fortune was nearly exhausted. Aomaha and Vermila sent Arthur and Gustavo to inspect the Daklama Mine to test whether Arthur was causing the faction’s misfortunes, while Gustavo believed Arthur had escaped an impending disaster.

• Gustavo entered the Silver Light with his red spider body and demon puppet, and Arthur briefly suspected the spider was connected to the dead Black Spider Squad before dismissing the thought.
• Gustavo introduced himself as Keaton and quickly befriended the Silver Light’s cadres.
• After ten days of strange failures and mishaps, Aomaha and Vermila suspected Arthur and decided to send him away to see whether the trouble stopped.
• Aomaha and Vermila ordered Arthur to inspect the Daklama Mine with Keaton, planning to kill him if the Silver Light’s misfortunes ceased.
• Arthur and Gustavo set out for the mine, while Gustavo realized his Luck Deprivation had nearly drained the Silver Light’s fortune and suspected Arthur had narrowly avoided the coming disaster.

Renfeng, a Gold Assassin from the Dark Council, slaughtered Silver Light’s leaders, leaving Arthur to return and take charge. Meanwhile, Wight told Frodo Luke about his defeat and Gustavo, and Frodo identified Gustavo as a Dragon-Hunting Spider.

• Renfeng bypassed Silver Light’s defenses, used a Mirage scroll to conceal his attack, and killed everyone in the compound.
• Arthur learned Silver Light had been wiped out and decided to return, believing he might simply be lucky; Gustavo agreed to go with him in disguise.
• Wight returned to Frodo Luke’s tower and recounted his encounter with Gustavo, Fujia, and the Serpent Ring Family.
• Frodo advised Wight to return to the City of Freedom, where local powers could protect him from outsiders.
• Frodo saw Wight’s image of Gustavo and recognized him as a Dragon-Hunting Spider.

Frodo decided to capture Gustavo, a juvenile Dragon-Hunting Spider, and set out with Wight for the Jilong Highlands. Meanwhile, the destruction of Silver Light drew the attention of Ashes and the Demon Eye, whose leaders identified the assassin but chose not to confront the Dark Council.

• Frodo recognized Gustavo as a Dragon-Hunting Spider and decided to use Wight's sensing ability to track and capture him.
• Frodo boosted Wight's perception, then took him toward the Jilong Highlands.
• A gnome reported to Wotu that a Legendary assassin had destroyed Ashes's Silver Light branch, and Wotu suspected Arthur was acting under someone's direction before flying to investigate.
• Jiaba and Tuoyida examined Silver Light's ruined headquarters and identified the killer as Renfeng, a Gold Assassin of the Dark Council.
• Jiaba acknowledged the Demon Eye could not challenge the Dark Council and ordered that thirty percent of Silver Light's assets go to its survivors while the rest was confiscated and auctioned.

Arthur and Gustavo divided the assets Demon Eye had granted them after Silver Light's destruction, then held a farewell gathering with its members. Meanwhile, Wotu and Foluoduo entered the Jilong Highlands to find the Dragon-Hunting Spider, but Wotu attacked Foluoduo after mistaking him for the force behind the attacks on Ashes.

• Tuoyida gave Arthur and Gustavo deeds to thirty percent of Silver Light's fixed assets as compensation, and they divided them between themselves.
• Arthur said he planned to sell his share and cultivate in peace, then invited Gustavo and Silver Light's middle-ranking members to a farewell gathering.
• Wotu secretly entered the Jilong Highlands, while Foluoduo arrived with Wight, whose Legendary equipment helped him sense the Dragon-Hunting Spider's location.
• Near Silver Light's headquarters, Foluoduo detected a Legendary presence, and Wotu sensed Foluoduo's domain and assumed he was behind the attacks on Ashes.
• Wotu charged at Foluoduo with his full strength, leaving Foluoduo stunned that he had been attacked without warning.

Frodo and Wotu fought in the Jilong Highlands until they discovered that both belonged to Ashes, though they served different Star Pillars. Frodo denied involvement in the destruction of Storm Claw and Silver Light, then identified a Dragon-Hunting Spider as the one responsible for Storm Claw’s destruction, which Wotu recognized as a Void Predator.

• Foluoduo protected Wight and then battled Wotu, their clash devastating nearby buildings and killing hundreds of people.
• Jiaba and three other Legendary beings from Demon Eye arrived and ordered Frodo and Wotu to come with them.
• Wotu accused the City of Freedom of destroying two Ashes branches, prompting Frodo to speak with him privately and reveal his Ashes elder’s badge.
• Wotu and Frodo realized they were both Ashes members serving different Star Pillars, with Frodo serving Soul Star Pillar and Wotu serving Feather Star Pillar.
• Frodo denied knowing Arthur or causing the destruction of Storm Claw and Silver Light, but showed Wotu an image of the Dragon-Hunting Spider that had destroyed Storm Claw.
• Wotu recognized the Dragon-Hunting Spider as a Void Predator and felt a tremor in his bloodline.

Wotu and Frodo tracked Arthur and Gustavo to the Silver Light's base, where Wight identified Gustavo as the red spider Frodo sought. As Wotu grabbed for Arthur, a Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow emerged from Arthur's chest.

• Wotu agreed to leave Arthur to Frodo, but Frodo followed him after Wight sensed the Dragon-Hunting Spider at the Silver Light's base.
• Arthur panicked at the Legendary auras while Gustavo remained calm and prepared to use Spider Mom's spatial mark.
• Frodo's Sanctuary revealed Gustavo's pure Life Essence and Epic bloodline, and Gustavo transferred his consciousness into his growing, black-armored true body.
• Gustavo told Arthur to get behind him, but Wotu's claw reached for Arthur before Gustavo could react.
• A cloud of black vapor rose from Arthur's chest and transformed into a Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow.

The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow seized Arthur and vanished, leaving Gustavo behind as Frodo and Wotu faced off over him. Gustavo challenged Frodo to test his strength, but Frodo overwhelmed him and sent him crashing into a crater.

• The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow appeared, reacted intensely to Gustavo, and carried Arthur away into space.
• Frodo suspected the Crow was only a remnant spirit, while Wotu warned him not to underestimate it and asked him to question Gustavo about Storm Claw and Silver Light.
• Frodo prepared to capture Gustavo for his bloodline, and Gustavo accepted the challenge, relying on Spider Mom's spatial mark to protect him.
• Gustavo unleashed his silver energy and attacked Frodo, but Frodo shattered his sphere of matter with a beam and struck him with a massive black claw.
• Gustavo fell into the ground and blasted out a huge crater after Frodo's attack.