Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Anran accompanied Tuer Kalanduo to her mother Tuer Kelanduo's underground laboratory to learn about the strange insects and their mysterious white pellets. Zhang suspected the pellet was a Demon Core, but if so, it had likely lost its power.

• Ren Anran questioned Tuer Kalanduo's plan to hunt strange insects, while Tuer Kalanduo explained that her mother believed their white pellets might reveal a path to the Seventh Sequence.
• The Tuer Clan chieftain led the group through an underground passage to Tuer Kelanduo's laboratory.
• Tuer Kelanduo showed Zhang Xuezhou a white, bone-like pellet and explained that she believed it powered the strange insect's abilities.
• Tuer Kelanduo's analysis found only chitin and mineralized collagen fibers in the pellet, leaving its hidden properties unexplained.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled Zou Bugui's teachings about Demon Cores and suspected the pellet was one that had expired after being removed from its demon.

Zhang Xuezhou visited Tuer Kelanduo’s laboratory and discussed whether the strange insects’ cores could reveal a new path for genetic development. Ren Anran questioned whether the cores were merely ossified stones, so Zhang and Tuer agreed they needed another specimen to verify their theories.

• Zhang Xuezhou compared the Thousand Islands Alliance’s research facilities with those of the Scarlet Alliance State and found Tuer Kelanduo’s laboratory less advanced than Luo Burang’s.
• Tuer Kelanduo shared her research on the strange insects, suspecting that Soul Jade might have helped them evolve and produce their unusual strength.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that he wanted to study the insects’ cores because they might resemble demon cores and serve as a substitute catalyst for the Fortune Pill.
• Tuer Kelanduo proposed that studying the cores could reveal a new route to human abilities alongside genetic development and Sequence advancement.
• Ren Anran suggested the cores might simply be ossified stones, prompting Zhang Xuezhou and Tuer Kelanduo to agree that they needed another strange insect to test the idea.

Zhang Xuezhou trained with the Infinite Blade while Tuer Kalanduo prepared the Gebala Cave Corridor for their hunt of the strange insect. With the expedition’s safety measures in place, the group considered how Tuer Kalanduo might advance toward the seventh sequence, while Tuer Kelanduo decided to attend to serious business.

• Zhang Xuezhou practiced controlling the Infinite Blade and explained that it was powerful but required him to remain still while casting.
• Wang Haoran praised the weapon’s range, and Zhang Xuezhou suggested Zhang Manqian could carry him while he fought.
• Tuer Kalanduo returned with news that workers had built five walls and escape doors, with supplies staged along the Gebala Cave Corridor.
• Zhang Xuezhou praised Tuer Kalanduo’s preparations and told her that reaching the seventh sequence might be possible if she advanced to the sixth and obtained Ferocious Beast extracts.
• Tuer Kelanduo listened to the discussion and decided it was time to go out and attend to serious business.

Tuer Kalanduo led Zhang Xuezhou and the others into the Gebala Cave Corridor to investigate the aberrant insect, after arranging defenses and fourteen hundred mines outside. As Ren Anran scouted ahead with her Yang Corporeal Soul, Zhang Xuezhou spotted green hair in a cave crevice and rushed to carry her body back toward the barrier wall.

• Tuer Kalanduo mobilized holy warriors and priestesses, set up weapons and mines near the cave, and warned Zhang Xuezhou where the mines were buried.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the group passed through five barrier walls into the cave’s inner passages, where sulfur fumes and construction debris filled the route.
• Ren Anran sent her Yang Corporeal Soul ahead to scout while Zhang Xuezhou explained her ability and the Realm Technique to Tuer Kalanduo.
• Zhang Xuezhou spotted wriggling green hair in a cave crevice, lifted Ren Anran’s unresponsive body, and raced toward the barrier wall.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others barricaded themselves behind a partition wall after spotting a creature in the Gebala Cave Corridor, then waited for Ren Anran to return from scouting. Zhang Xuezhou’s Realm Technique killed a giant green grub, but its presence showed that more than one aberrant insect was in the cave.

• Zhang Xuezhou ran for the partition wall, and Zhang Manqian, Wang Haoran, and Tuer Kalanduo followed him inside.
• Tuer Kalanduo used her Divine Spirit Aura, while Zhang Manqian readied a flamethrower and the group waited for Ren Anran’s Yang Corporeal Soul to return.
• As rustling sounds drew closer, Zhang Xuezhou counted down the creature’s approach and warned the others not to fire unless they could kill it in one shot.
• Zhang Xuezhou opened the iron door a crack and brought his Realm Technique to bear on the creature, killing a giant green grub four meters away.
• The group realized the dead grub was not the white aberrant insect and that more than one aberrant insect was in the Gebala Cave Corridor.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others discovered that green-haired worms in Gebala Cave Corridor had eaten construction workers, and Zhang Xuezhou found a Demon Core in one of the worms. The group prepared to continue hunting the worms for more cores and ingredients for Fortune Pills.

• Zhang Xuezhou killed the green-haired worm with the Infinite Blade, and the group found construction workers' remains inside it.
• Ren Anran reported finding abandoned shoes, clothing scraps, and breathing masks while scouting the dark passages.
• The group tested the dead worm's toughness and other possible abilities while Zhang Xuezhou searched its remains.
• Zhang Xuezhou recovered a pale green Demon Core and confirmed that Law Power could stimulate it.
• Zhang Xuezhou preserved the core and reminded the group that hunting more worms could provide materials for Fortune Pills, raising their enthusiasm for the search.

After killing a giant green worm, Zhang Xuezhou and the others searched the cavern for more worms and clues to their strength. While scouting with his Yang Corporeal Soul, Zhang Xuezhou discovered at least ten more creatures watching him.

• Zhang Xuezhou removed the green worm’s demon core, and its corpse softened and lost its hardness.
• Ren Anran and the others discussed striking the worms’ fatal spots and pressed on to gather pill ingredients and complete the Fortune Pill set.
• The group found clothes, shoes, and breathing-mask fragments behind a rock, and Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian speculated about how the worms had hunted the builders.
• Huang said the worms had likely appeared within the past few decades, and Zhang Xuezhou and the others considered whether Spirit Jade had made them stronger.
• Zhang Xuezhou sent out his Yang Corporeal Soul to scout and saw two red lights and at least ten multicolored, spiny creatures staring toward him.

Zhang Xuezhou explored a strange insect nest in Yang Corporeal Soul form and discovered that a giant moth and its cocoons were thriving on a warm, sulfurous current containing Spiritual Qi. After Zhang Xuezhou left, the moth’s twelve offspring emerged and scattered, while the moth sensed danger and flew into the cave.

• Zhang Xuezhou found a giant moth guarding twelve cocoons in a nest littered with human remains and construction tools.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed a warm current containing Spiritual Qi and sulfurous heat, and suspected the nest was in a blessed land.
• Zhang Xuezhou left when his agreed time with Ren Anran arrived, and the giant moth watched him go.
• The giant moth imitated construction workers’ voices through its wingbeats while its twelve offspring emerged from their cocoons and fed on the current.
• The offspring hardened and crawled away after the giant moth hissed at them.
• The giant moth sensed something breaking, sounded an alarm, and flew out through the cave.

Zhang Xuezhou and his companions discovered a nest of giant strange insects and prepared to attack, but the creatures charged them in the darkness. They learned that Zhang Xuezhou’s intimidation could kill some insects while Ren Anran’s technique only confused them, and the encounter left Tuer Kalanduo trying to restrain the recovering swarm.

• Zhang Xuezhou warned the group about the insect nest, and they discussed the dangers of using fire or explosives in the cave.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed the insects approaching, so everyone hid behind rocks as the creatures charged through the darkness.
• Zhang Manqian threw a flare, briefly lighting the cave and revealing several giant, long-haired insects without the giant moth.
• Zhang Xuezhou killed one insect with intimidation, while Ren Anran confused another using the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique.
• Wang Haoran assessed the techniques needed to subdue the insects, and Zhang Xuezhou targeted another while some of the creatures began recovering and fleeing.
• Zhang Xuezhou called for Tuer Kalanduo, who rushed toward the insects to use her Divine Spirit Aura to soothe or restrain them.

After the group killed the giant moth’s underlings, Zhang Xuezhou led everyone into the winding passages as the moth attacked with deafening sounds and poisonous scales. Zhang Manqian’s flare ignited the scales into an explosion, and falling rocks left the group in grave danger.

• Tuer Kalanduo restrained four insects while Zhang Xuezhou killed another, and the group quickly wiped out the moth’s underlings.
• Zhang Xuezhou retrieved Demon Cores from the insect corpses until a piercing sound warned him that the giant moth was approaching.
• The group fled toward the narrow passages, and Zhang Xuezhou explained that a demon could mimic human speech after refining its tongue aperture.
• Zhang Manqian threw a flare that attracted the giant moth and burned its long tube, provoking it to shriek and scatter poisonous scales.
• The moth’s scales ignited from the flare and exploded, sending a shock wave through the cave that knocked rocks loose and toppled the boulder sheltering Zhang Xuezhou and Tuer Kalanduo.

A dust-fueled blast buried Zhang Xuezhou’s group beneath rubble and left them exposed to the giant moth’s poisonous wing scales. They rescued Ren Anran and searched for Wang Haoran, who eventually returned alive from the darkness.

• Zhang Xuezhou shielded Tuer Kalanduo as the explosion threw Wang Haoran away and buried Zhang Manqian and Ren Anran beneath falling rocks.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Dust Avoidance Instruction and Stone Transformation Technique to clear himself and Tuer Kalanduo from the rubble, then dug for Zhang Manqian.
• Huang briefly took control of Zhang Manqian, sensed the danger the strange insects posed to the Tur People, and withdrew when his time ran out.
• Zhang Manqian emerged from the rubble, and the group dug out the unconscious Ren Anran and treated her injuries with the Supreme Purity True Technique.
• Tuer Kalanduo suffered itching and red marks from the moth’s poisonous wing scales while Zhang Xuezhou and the others searched for Wang Haoran.
• After nearly a quarter of an hour, Wang Haoran ran back from the darkness covered in blood and cursing.

Wang Haoran returned to the others after finding that explosives had blocked their escape route, and the group realized they were trapped between a giant moth and hostile members of the Tuer Clan. A cavern ahead then glowed red, and Zhang Xuezhou suspected the light came from the source of the nearby blessed land rather than an erupting volcano.

• Wang Haoran fled the giant moth, discovered that an explosion had collapsed the passage behind him, and ran back to Zhang Xuezhou and the others.
• Wang Haoran told the group about the giant moth, while Tuer Kalanduo concluded that explosives planted by members of the Tuer Religion had detonated prematurely.
• Ren Anran warned that their oxygen would last only ten-odd hours, and Zhang Xuezhou led the group toward the rubble blocking their route.
• The giant moth shouted from beyond the rubble as the group moved away, and another blast exposed a cavern glowing red like a furnace.
• Zhang Manqian feared the undersea volcano would erupt, but Zhang Xuezhou noticed the red light had a central source and suspected it was connected to the nearby blessed land.

Zhang Xuezhou investigated a scorching cavern in the Gebala Cave Corridor and discovered a red crystal embedded in a finger bone, which Huang believed belonged to Yu. Zhang Xuezhou used Feng Shui Site Surveying and Acupoint-Fixing techniques, causing the bone to crumble and the crystal’s glow to dim.

• Zhang Xuezhou descended into the cavern under the protection of the Fire-Averting Art and saw a red crystal lodged in a finger bone.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Huang about his physical body and Yu’s, and Huang identified the finger bone as likely belonging to Yu.
• Tuer Kalanduo mentioned records of a fiery meteor falling in the Gebala Cave Corridor over two hundred years earlier.
• Zhang Xuezhou used Feng Shui Site Surveying and Acupoint-Fixing techniques to investigate the cavern’s unusual site.
• The cavern shook, the finger bone turned to powder, and the red crystal’s light dimmed.

Zhang Xuezhou sealed the leaking earth Qi in the cave and recovered a red crystal that had cooled into a special metal. After Wang Haoran tested it and saw its explosive power, they realized it resembled the Gene Weapon wielded by a famed killer of a Seventh Sequence Holder.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the Acupoint-Fixing Technique to seal the blessed land, causing the heat to fade and ordinary groundwater to emerge.
• Zhang Xuezhou found that the red crystal had cooled and turned pale, then discovered that Tuer Kalanduo's poisoned skin had largely healed after the heat wave.
• Zhang Xuezhou leaped out of the cavern with the Cloud Soaring Technique, leaving Wang Haoran discouraged by the gap in their abilities.
• Wang Haoran examined the red metal and threw it at a rock formation, where its impact sparked flames and blasted a hole through the stone.
• Wang Haoran compared the metal's power to Nagesi's sword-type Gene Weapon, which had killed a Seventh Sequence Holder, and Zhang Xuezhou asked about the weapon's history.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others discovered that the special metal could counter powerful sequence holders, but its instability made it dangerous to use. As rising water forced them to flee the caves and dig through a collapsed barrier, the giant moth burrowed toward them from behind.

• The group discussed the explosive special metal and concluded that using it safely would likely require a seventh sequence holder.
• Tuer Kalanduo noticed water spreading through the cavern, and Zhang Xuezhou urged everyone to hurry toward the exit.
• The group reached the collapsed barrier wall and worked together to dig a passage, with Zhang Xuezhou using a Technique to crumble the rubble.
• As they cleared nearly six meters of passage, a piercing sound and crashing water came from behind them, and Zhang Xuezhou realized the giant moth had burrowed through the rubble.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others tried to hide from the giant moth, but it smashed through the rubble and set off explosives as it fled. They followed the passage it cleared through the flooded cavern, while Tuer Kalanduo realized the hunt had failed and the crisis was beyond her control.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Anran used the Stone Transformation Technique to reinforce the cavern and told everyone to stay still and cover their ears as the giant moth approached.
• The giant moth broke through the rubble, and explosives planted to ambush Tuer Kalanduo detonated, startling it into moving away.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the others escaped through the passage the giant moth had cleared, with seawater surging behind them.
• Tuer Kalanduo worried that the giant moth could threaten human territory and admitted the failed hunt had left the situation beyond her control.
• The group hurried after the giant moth, then heard another explosion and a collapse from the partition wall area.

Tuer Lantu and the Tur defenders tried to stop a speaking, venom-spitting creature from escaping the Gebala Cave Corridor. After their attacks failed and the cave entrance collapsed, the creature emerged with enormous wings and took flight.

• Tuer Lantu rallied his guards and Grand Elder Tuer Yongduolu’s people to attack the creature in the cave, while the creature mimicked his words.
• The creature unleashed a piercing screech that deafened Tuer Lantu and incapacitated several guards.
• Tuer Lantu attacked with his Demonic Watch, but the weapon failed to pierce the creature and was torn away.
• Tuer Lantu ordered the defenders to throw thunder bombs and land mines into the cave, causing explosions that collapsed the entrance.
• The creature broke through the rubble, spread its ragged wings, and flew into the air.

Tuer Lantu and his forces were attacked by a giant flying Ferocious Beast, forcing him to flee into the cave for shelter from its poisonous powder. As he tried to survive, a torrent of muddy water surged through the cave, with battered figures fleeing ahead of it.

• Tuer Lantu ordered his guards to shoot the giant moth, but their bullets barely dented it.
• Tuer Lantu dove into the cave as the moth swept overhead and scattered poisonous powder that made people itch and rot.
• Two guards reached the cave, but the powder drove them to claw at themselves while Tuer Lantu focused on staying alive.
• Tuer Lantu regretted targeting Tuer Kalanduo and considered how to use heavy weapons against the Ferocious Beast.
• Tuer Lantu discovered that a flood of muddy water was surging through the cave and saw battered figures fleeing from deeper inside.

After Zhang Xuezhou’s Acupoint-Fixing Technique triggered a debris-filled flood in the Gebala Cave Corridor, he and his companions fought their way toward the exit. They escaped just before the torrent burst out, sweeping Tuer Lantu away.

• The cave filled with a violent surge of seawater and debris after Zhang Xuezhou fixed the acupoint, forcing the group to flee.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Wang Haoran warned the people blocking the exit and pushed through them as the flood roared closer.
• Wang Haoran threatened Tuer Lantu with a bomb, making him leave the cave entrance and pull the group outside.
• Tuer Lantu considered using the crisis to his advantage, then grabbed Zhang Xuezhou as they ran from the cave.
• The flood erupted from the Gebala Cave Corridor and swept Tuer Lantu away.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others escaped the giant moth and the seawater flood with help from Tuer Kalanduo’s tribe. They left Tuer Lantu fighting the moth after learning that he had planted explosives in the cave.

• The giant moth attacked with piercing cries as the seawater flood swept through the area, while Grand Elder Tuer Yongduolu survived and spotted Tuer Kalanduo.
• Tuer Yongduolu sent a holy warrior to collect Tuer Kalanduo and her companions in an off-road vehicle.
• Wang Haoran, Ren Anran, Zhang Xuezhou, Zhang Manqian, and Tuer Kalanduo climbed aboard, and the vehicle sped away from the falling rocks.
• Wang Haoran and Zhang Xuezhou watched Tuer Lantu grapple beneath the giant moth and discussed helping him once they reached safety.
• Grand Elder Tuer Yongduolu revealed that Tuer Lantu had planted explosives in the cave, so Wang Haoran and Zhang Xuezhou abandoned their plan to rescue him.