Chapter Summaries

Ren Qing tested Jing Province’s rules by removing Hu Wen’s Five Viscera God and discovered that the region held newly created mortals with strange memories and a Gu-based power system. After finding a map in Tupo Village, he headed toward Xiangxiang, where Chen Changsheng had once found empty cities.

• Ren Qing removed the Five Viscera God from Hu Wen, freeing him from its influence and refining it into the Five Viscera God Gu.
• Ren Qing encountered three Hunters in the rainforest and altered their memories so they believed he was their acquaintance from the same village.
• Ren Qing inspected the Hunters and found that they were only eight months old, had identical lifespans, and carried a Fish Louse Gu.
• Ren Qing escorted the Hunters to Tupo Village, where he discovered an elderly Tong Sheng and a crude map marked with Xiangxiang.
• Ren Qing set off southeast toward Xiangxiang, while his own lifespan showed one hundred and eleven days remaining.

Ren Qing investigated the recreated Jing Province, possessing dying people and uncovering Worm Cultivators whose crude Gu techniques concealed unusually powerful souls. He concluded that the province’s hidden architect had been cultivating an ancient body-cultivation system tied to Wind God Boqiang, and that Ren Qing’s seizure of the immortal position had disrupted the plan; the Heavenly Dao Worm person was likely waiting in hiding.

• Ren Qing possessed thirteen people to gather clues, including an old beggar whose memories remained intact while Ren Qing’s thoughts guided him toward his hometown.
• Ren Qing entered a caravan and discovered that its chief escort, Zhang Qi, carried an Iron Centipede Gu and had a soul far stronger than his body suggested.
• In Sanxiang City, Ren Qing found its layout and even the marks on its gate identical to those of the ancient city preserved in his world in his stomach.
• Ren Qing surveyed Jing Province and found powerful souls among the cautious factions, despite their crude use of Gu insects.
• Ren Qing deduced that the hidden architect had intended to develop pathogen-based body cultivation through Wind God Boqiang’s immortal position, but Ren Qing’s seizure of it had derailed the plan.
• Ren Qing suspected the Insect Nest had brought human insects to Jing Province to steal its Art and that the Heavenly Dao Worm person was hiding nearby.

Ren Qing investigated the execution of an Insect Nest human insect and confirmed that ancient cultivators in Sanxiang City were trapped in bodies refined by the Taiyin Star Lord, with their Arts failing and their lifespans nearly exhausted. After discovering the Matriarch had deliberately fed them information, he moved to acquire a teahouse and continued observing the conflict between the factions.

• Soldiers executed a captured human insect at the market while Ren Qing watched from a teahouse.
• Ren Qing sent a waiter to summon Wu Shanzi, then left a message reading “One hundred and three days”; Wu Shanzi found no guest and hurried back to his inn.
• Ren Qing examined the human insect’s memories and learned that the Matriarch had leaked the Gu Refining technique and information about the ancient cultivators’ limited lifespans.
• Ren Qing concluded that the ancient cultivators’ souls belonged to former cultivators, their bodies had likely been refined by the Taiyin Star Lord, and the Matriarch’s plan had turned the factions against one another.
• Ren Qing asked Huang Gou’er to tell the proprietor that he wanted to buy the teahouse, and the proprietor immediately agreed.

Ren Qing investigated the Insect Nest’s influence in Jing Province and learned that it was spreading Gu Refining to lead ancient cultivators toward becoming inhuman. He summoned Li Yaoyang to develop a Gu that could control Heavenly Dao Worms, then sent a transformed copy of his Gu cultivation manual into the city.

• Ren Qing used the executed human insect’s memories to learn that the Insect Nest Matriarch was passing Gu Refining techniques to ancient cultivators through human insects.
• Nanchengzi used a crude artifact and blood sacrifice to capture the human insect’s soul, confirming Ren Qing’s suspicions about artifacts and the ancient cultivators’ desperate methods.
• Ren Qing summoned Li Yaoyang, explained the immortal position in Jing Province, and asked him to refine a Gu capable of controlling Heavenly Dao Worms.
• Ren Qing used his fungal souls to gather Gu Insect advancement requirements and compiled ten Gu techniques into a book called Gu True Person.
• Ren Qing transformed Gu True Person into a small lizard and sent it into the city, where it disappeared into the crowd.

Ren Qing used the Zhi Li Technique to shape He Si into Gu True Person and strengthen the human insects as a force in Jing Province. As Gu True Person began advancing through Gu Insects, Daoist Tianxu announced that he had found a way to become immortal, and Ren Qing prepared for the chaos to come.

• He Si returned to the Underground Cave with the Gu Technique Scripture, but Yan Zhen killed him and the other human insects before He Si struck back and killed Yan Zhen.
• The book entered He Si's Niwan Palace, erased his memories, and convinced him that he was Gu True Person, a reincarnated cultivator of the Gu Dao.
• Ren Qing influenced Gu True Person and arranged for escaped human insects to encounter him, while Gu True Person parasitized an Elephant Armor Gu and reached the Half-Corpse Realm.
• Daoist Tianxu transformed after studying the Heavenly Dao, declared that he had become immortal, and summoned Sanxiang City's temple masters and abbots to Sanlong Temple.
• Ren Qing prepared Forbidden Corpses and helped demons remove their Eerie Objects as Jing Province descended into chaos; his remaining lifespan was seventy-one days.

Ren Qing gathered ancient cultivators at Minghe Teahouse for Daoist Tianxu’s Ascension Assembly, hoping to draw out the hidden mastermind while staying concealed. As the assembly filled with dangerous figures, Blackwater Daoist arrived before Daoist Tianxu, whose approach left the teahouse under mounting pressure.

• Gu True Person rapidly advanced through Gu Refining, led more than a thousand human insects against Insect Nest outposts, and used Aphid Bull Gu to strengthen himself.
• Ren Qing chose not to interfere with Gu True Person, sensing that the Insect Nests were withdrawing and that Jingzhou was nearing its final countdown.
• Ren Qing prepared to observe the Ascension Assembly at Minghe Teahouse and use it to test the mastermind, relying on Ghost Shadows and the Information Flow to track any suspicious figure.
• Ancient cultivators gathered at Minghe Teahouse, including Abbot Liao Que, Wu Shanzi, Nanchengzi, and escort chiefs such as Zhang Qi.
• Blackwater Daoist arrived, took the central seat, and ordered Spring Return while revealing his unfamiliar Gu Arts and his disagreement with Daoist Tianxu.
• As the teahouse filled and fell silent, the approaching Daoist Tianxu brought an inexplicable pressure over the gathering.

Ren Qing discovered that Daoist Tianxu had become a Human Refining Gu that had taken control of his body and soul, while the ancient cultivators tried to learn from him. As their lifespans dwindled, Gu Refining spread through Jing Province, leaving civilians and cultivators alike hunting Gu Insects.

• Daoist Tianxu arrived at Minghe Teahouse, and his aura drove civilians and Dao Boys into a frenzy until the Heavenly Demon Tribulation shielded the teahouse.
• Daoist Tianxu emerged from his broken sedan chair as a mass of rotten flesh and preached that a possession Art could reshape the Heavenly Dao.
• The ancient cultivators attacked Daoist Tianxu, but he rapidly recovered and resisted their attempts to seize his soul.
• Ren Qing identified Daoist Tianxu as a Human Refining Gu that had taken control of its host, and he and Li Yaoyang examined the creature without killing it.
• The ancient cultivators hung Daoist Tianxu in Sanlong Temple, spread Gu Refining technique, and discovered that his flesh improved compatibility with Gu Insects.
• As Jing Province descended further into chaos, civilians began capturing Gu Insects, and Ren Qing's remaining lifespan fell to thirty-two days.

As Jing Province’s people rapidly aged and died, Ren Qing watched the province collapse into frantic Gu Insect transformations and tried to understand the approaching catastrophe. After the corpses vanished and the cities stood empty, the Insect Nest expanded while outside forces converged on Jing Province.

• Jing Province’s mortals and ancient cultivators rapidly lost their Lifespans, and many fused Gu Insects into their bodies in a desperate bid to survive.
• Ren Qing observed the madness in Sanxiang City, moved the failing Huang Gou'er into the stomach world, and learned that the Insect Nest had grown to tens of thousands of Heavenly Dao Worm people.
• As the final days passed, the Gu True Person’s Lifespan ran out; his body dissolved before Ren Qing could take it, and Ren Qing sent Huang Gou'er into the Yellow Springs to become a zombie.
• Ren Qing watched from an underground cave as Jing Province’s corpses slowly vanished, leaving its towns and cities empty.
• The Insect Nest expanded its tunnels toward the abandoned towns, some factions occupied the empty cities, and Heavenly Eerie Realm cultivators from outside Jing Province began arriving.

Ren Qing seized Sanxiang City from the Insect Nest and revealed the Heavenly Court’s power to the factions gathering in Jingzhou. He dragonified Jailer Hall’s forces and prepared to meet the Gu True Person.

• The Insect Nest’s Daoist of the Firmament tried to claim Sanxiang City, but Ren Qing appeared in his dragon form, crushed the defenders, and absorbed the survivors and their leader into the Stomach World.
• Ren Qing announced the Heavenly Court and the Four Seas Dragon Kings, intimidating rival factions into accepting his control of the surrounding region.
• Ren Qing brought the Cocoon Vein, Sui Vein, and Demon Vein forces into Jingzhou and used Dragon’s Roar in the Scabbard to dragonify them.
• Ren Qing ordered the branches to garrison their assigned towns and transform the Dragon Blood Ecosystem without crossing their boundaries.
• Ren Qing told Han Li to accompany him to receive the Heavenly Court’s colleagues as the Gu True Person prepared to appear again.

Ren Qing displayed the Heavenly Court’s power, gained Feng Ye and the Wind-Void People as allies, and brought them toward Xiangxiang. As factions across Jingzhou reacted to the Heavenly Court’s emergence and the approaching Insect Nest Matriarch, Ren Qing remained uncertain what opportunity had drawn the Heavenly Eerie Realm beings together.

• Ren Qing unleashed the Ancestral Vein’s power while Han Li transformed into a formidable flood dragon, alarming the factions watching them.
• Ren Qing identified Feng Ye as a descendant of Boqiang and implied that he had visited the Heavenly Court, then persuaded Feng Ye to follow him back to Xiangxiang.
• Ren Qing led Feng Ye and the Wind-Void People toward Heshantown, intending to settle them near the Insect Nest’s territory.
• Lady White Bone and the Elephant Master discussed their forgotten memories of the Heavenly Court, while the Matriarch advanced and other Heavenly Eerie Realm beings revealed themselves.
• Ren Qing considered the factions’ preparations and wondered why the approaching opportunity had drawn so many Heavenly Eerie Realm beings despite offering him little benefit.

Ren Qing expanded the Dragon Blood Ecosystem in Xiangxiang and allied with Feng Ye and the Wind-Void People. When a Burning Cloud sent meteors across Jingzhou, the dead Worm Cultivators were reborn, leaving Ren Qing to contain the sudden influx in Sanxiang City.

• Ren Qing brought the Wind-Void People to Heshantown, strengthened its winds with formations, and gave them resources in exchange for their help.
• Ren Qing transformed Xiangxiang with dragon blood, causing its plants and animals to change and some dragon-blood trees to become Gu Insects.
• Ren Qing and Feng Ye explored the Lesser Heavenly Court, then agreed to seek the Blessed Earth Immortal while Feng Ye followed Ren Qing's lead.
• Wuzhi entered Jingzhou and claimed a town for the Buddhist sect, while the Blood Bat Matriarch and other factions yielded ground amid the Burning Cloud's arrival.
• The Burning Cloud released meteors that vanished on impact, and the dead Worm Cultivators across Jingzhou were reborn, including the Gu True Person.
• Ren Qing found Sanxiang City suddenly crowded with reborn people and used the Zhi Li Technique to put the Worm Cultivators in Xiangxiang to sleep.

Ren Qing discovered that Jingzhou’s Worm Cultivators were being reborn and remade by the Heavenly Eerie Realms, potentially pushing them toward contact with the Three Dao Ancestors. He contained the Worm Cultivators in Xiangxiang with Soul Splitting Disease and promised to impart the immortal Dao, while the other factions continued their experiments.

• Ren Qing found that only the strongest Worm Cultivators had been reborn, with memories intact but minds distorted, and observed the other factions transforming them through their Arts.
• Ren Qing inferred that repeated deaths and resurrections might push Worm Cultivators toward enlightenment and that the factions sought Ascension Methods for the Heavenly Eerie Realm.
• Ren Qing released Soul Splitting Disease into several hundred thousand Worm Cultivators in Xiangxiang and used World Like a Dream to create secondary personalities that absorbed their negative emotions.
• Ren Qing watched the reborn Gu True Person leave Xiangxiang to seek Gu Insects, while Han Li led cultivators into the fog that Ren Qing spread across the region.
• The Worm Cultivators awoke with their brutality suppressed, and Ren Qing told them he would soon impart the immortal Dao.

Ren Qing industrialized Gu cultivation in Xiangxiang, secretly building strength as rival factions tested its borders and Worm Cultivators endured bloody clashes. While Jingzhou’s conflict intensified, Ren Qing prepared to advance Heaven and Earth Growth into Dao Sheng Yi.

• Ren Qing assigned Han Li to manage Worm Cultivators and directed the cultivation of Gu insects that supplied one another with resources.
• Ren Qing bestowed different Gu Arts and resource locations on ancient cultivators, while temples and sects expanded and Gu insects became commonplace goods.
• After years of growth, rival factions probed Xiangxiang, and Wuzhi sent enormous Giant Monks into its territory; Xiangxiang eventually drove them back at heavy cost.
• Ren Qing ordered Feng Ye and Han Li not to intervene in the ensuing clashes and instead to gather the Worm Cultivators’ corpses for the Corpse Branch.
• Ren Qing focused on Heaven and Earth Growth, then returned to the Dragon Blood Sea and prepared to advance Dao Sheng Yi at a cost of 40,000 years of lifespan.

Ren Qing advanced to Dao Sheng Yi, forming an Immortal Body and gaining new powers from Zhenyuan Dizhu. He explored his abilities and discovered that the Heavenly Dao’s Divine Immortal official position could be shaped into rule-based positions.

• Ren Qing’s spine and bones dissolved during his breakthrough, forming an Immortal Seed that took root in his stomach and intestines.
• Ren Qing merged with Zhenyuan Dizhu as its manifestation was torn apart, completing his advancement to Dao Sheng Yi and gaining the Myriad Manifestations Return to One Immortal Body.
• Ren Qing tested Heaven and Earth Manifestation by projecting a mountain from the world within his stomach, then transformed into a towering Immortal Body.
• Ren Qing inspected the expanded official positions in the Heavenly Dao and assigned future uses to several of them.
• Ren Qing discovered that the Divine Immortal official position could hold traces of the Heavenly Dao, named a lightning-based position God of Thunder, and formed other positions by combining rules.

Ren Qing stabilized his newly advanced power, assigned Ghost Immortal positions, and recruited the imprisoned Daoist Mu She under strict restrictions. When he discovered Xiangxiang was being overrun by rival Worm Cultivators, he seized control of the defenders’ secondary personalities, turning the battle in their favor.

• Ren Qing gave the Fengdu Corpse Emperor the Great Emperor Fengdu Divine Immortal position and began distributing Ghost Immortal positions among his followers.
• Ren Qing offered Daoist Mu She a restricted Ghost Immortal position, and Mu She was forced to work as a ferryman in the underworld.
• Ren Qing found that the Insect Nest, Wuzhi, and other factions were attacking Xiangxiang while the Four Seas Dragon Kings and Feng Ye stood aside.
• Ren Qing used the Zhi Li Technique to let Xiangxiang’s Worm Cultivators’ secondary personalities take control, and the defenders launched a frenzied counterattack.

Ren Qing repelled the forces attacking Xiangxiang and confronted Chong Shuizi, a hidden Jingzhou cultivator who tried to seize control of him. After defeating Chong Shuizi, Ren Qing considered the path toward Turbid Immortality while the other factions watched Heaven Court with growing interest.

• Xiangxiang's Worm Cultivators overwhelmed the Elephant-headed Worm Cultivators, prompting Insect Nest, Wuzhi, and Elephant Master to recall their forces.
• Chong Shuizi secretly approached Xiangxiang, but Ren Qing's immense Dragon-Head form confronted him after a crash exposed his presence.
• Ren Qing recognized Chong Shuizi's unstable Heavy Water Method and reflected that pursuing extreme Heavenly Dao Transformation could lead to a Turbid Immortal Body, though not true Immortality without an Immortal position.
• Chong Shuizi tried to infiltrate Ren Qing through dust-like fragments, but Ren Qing transformed them into false dragons and attacked him with lightning.
• Ren Qing overwhelmed Chong Shuizi, who vanished beneath a burst of blinding light, while Lady White Bone sensed a terrifying deathly aura.
• Han Li repaired Xiangxiang's Dragon Blood Ecosystem as its Worm Cultivators worshiped Ren Qing; meanwhile, Gu True Person joined the retreating Insect Nest forces, and Ren Qing used Disease Seed to stir resistance among the Giant Worm Cultivators.

Ren Qing confirmed that Jingzhou remained a layered world, where dead Worm Cultivators endured brutal lives in an inner realm and monks exploited their suffering to earn merit. He learned that suicide sent the Worm Cultivators into the outer realm as atoners, while the monks’ pursuit of the Pure Land pointed toward a deeper layer.

• Ren Qing extracted Chong Shuizi’s memories and realized his own leak had drawn factions to Jingzhou, then continued cultivating quietly while Worm Cultivators developed in Xiangxiang.
• Ren Qing granted nine Ghost Immortal positions to Jailer Hall elders and watched the Worm Cultivators’ lifespans expire, with their bodies and souls turning to ash.
• Ren Qing planted fungus souls in the Worm Cultivators and used their response to the full moon to confirm that Jingzhou still had layers.
• Ren Qing entered inner Sanxiang City through the fungus souls and saw that it contained Worm Cultivators who had died in the outer realm, living without their memories amid terrible hardship.
• Ren Qing watched Wu Shan and Kongchan manipulate Blackwater Daoist’s misery for merit, and concluded that Worm Cultivators who died by suicide became atoners while the monks sought a deeper Pure Land.

Ren Qing explored the Inner Layer World and found that Merit Monks controlled its towns, exploiting people for merit while ordinary cultivation seemed impossible. After testing an Art and realizing that even knowledge of his existence could pull him deeper into the world, he considered bringing the forces of Outer Layer Jingzhou there to confront the Merit Monks.

• Ren Qing investigated the Inner Layer World and discovered that Merit Monks controlled the towns and harvested merit by manipulating their people.
• Blackwater Daoist buried his wife and children, then began fishing again, while Ren Qing watched from the village and judged that the monks would continue using him for merit.
• Ren Qing tried to cultivate the Corpse Dog Method through a rabies-infected old dog, but the attempt failed and the dog recovered after he removed the disease strain.
• Ren Qing corrected the Rebirth Mantra during a memorial rite and gained the children's trust, then sent Ma Shan and the others to gather insects for him.
• Ren Qing sensed that allowing the children to learn of him had deepened his connection to the Inner Layer World and realized that awareness of his existence could pull him there.
• Ren Qing decided he needed to find a way to bring the various forces of Outer Layer Jingzhou into the Inner Layer World.

Ren Qing cultivated diseased insects in the Inner Layer World, refined Gu Insects, and investigated the growth caused by changing Immortal Seat Rules. Meanwhile, Blackwater Daoist lost his relatives to Wu Shan’s schemes and began carving a figure called the Heavenly Court · Four Seas Dragon Kings.

• Ren Qing released insects carrying rabies-like traits into the Inner Layer World, then returned months later and used the swarm to create a Corpse Dog Gu.
• Ren Qing seized the Corpse Dog Gu, discovered that it grew even without food, and built cave abodes to breed and study more Gu Insects.
• The Corpse Dog Gu advanced into a Subjugated Corpse Gu as Ren Qing continued investigating the changing rules near Jing Province’s core.
• Wu Shan’s hooligans murdered Blackwater Daoist’s three relatives while he was away transporting goods, leaving him devastated when he returned.
• Wu Shan claimed he had sent the killers to the Yamen, but Blackwater Daoist carved spirit tablets for his dead family and began whittling a dragon-headed figure beneath the words “Heavenly Court · Four Seas Dragon Kings.”

Ren Qing observed Blackwater Daoist rallying victims of the Merit Monks to spread the names of Heavenly Court’s Immortals and Gods throughout the Inner Layer World. As the Underworld’s zombie population grew, Ren Qing prepared to convince the factions that the Outer Layer World was a deception.

• Duke Xiao went undercover among the crowds at Sanxiang City’s Laba Festival and met Blackwater Daoist and other victims of the Merit Monks.
• Blackwater Daoist persuaded the group that Heavenly Court could overthrow Buddhism if they spread the names of its Immortals and Gods.
• Blackwater Daoist gave the group Mute Gu to help them secretly spread Heavenly Court’s names, assigning Ma Shan to Linshan City and Duke Xiao to Mount Dahhuang.
• Ren Qing watched the gathering and continued using Heavenly Court’s influence to prepare for bringing factions into the Inner Layer World.
• Unjustly killed civilians’ resentful souls became zombies in the Yellow Springs, and the Corpse Vein grew larger than the Demon Vein.
• Ren Qing planned to make the factions believe that the Outer Layer World was a deception arranged by the person behind the scenes.