Chapter Summaries

Su Mu used the money his aunt gave him to buy a Mountain Patrol Command Flag for Little Drill Wind and a subsidized Forced Escape Scroll. He then told his aunt he planned to hunt monsters outside the city, leaving her concerned about how soon he intended to venture out.

• Su Mu's aunt gave him her savings and warned him to get her approval for large purchases and to consolidate his soul power through meditation.
• Su Mu searched the professional marketplace and bought an F-rank Mountain Patrol Command Flag for twenty thousand.
• Su Mu bought a D-rank Forced Escape Scroll for five thousand after the national subsidy and chose the West City Gate Professional Service Hall for pickup.
• With no more dungeon attempts available that day, Su Mu decided to hunt wilderness monsters to gain momentum points for his soul skill.
• Su Mu told his aunt he had spent seventy thousand and wanted to practice outside the city, and she questioned whether he was rushing into danger.

Su Mu traveled to the West City Gate to prepare for a trip into the wilds, buying supplies and a Mountain Patrol Command Flag Card. After embedding and empowering the flag in his dungeon, he saw Little Drill Wind break through to S-rank.

• Su Mu left home after telling his aunt he needed to gain levels and combat experience before the college entrance exam.
• Su Mu reached the West City Gate and collected the Mountain Patrol Command Flag Card from the Professional Service Hall.
• Su Mu bought a digital terrain map and wilderness supplies, then rented a meditation room to restore his Soul Power.
• Su Mu embedded the flag in his dungeon and designated it as Little Drill Wind's command flag for patrolling Lion Camel Ridge.
• Su Mu empowered the flag with Soul Power, and Little Drill Wind's rank rose to S.

Su Mu sensed Soul Power with extraordinary ease, gaining 150 points before nearing his limit, then spent most of his reserve reshaping Little Drill Wind into the mountain patroller he remembered. Little Drill Wind stood at Lion Camel Ridge with a sharper, more experienced appearance, while Su Mu had less than twenty Soul Power left.

• Little Drill Wind's level-six stats and Mountain Patrol Command Flag strengthened his combat abilities and made his mountain-patroller identity more tangible.
• Su Mu meditated and repeatedly gained 50 Soul Power, raising his total to 180 points.
• Su Mu entered Lion Camel Ridge and used Soul Power to darken Little Drill Wind's skin and reshape his face and watchful eyes.
• Su Mu refined Little Drill Wind's build, limbs, stance, and waist, spending 190 Soul Power in total.
• Su Mu finished sculpting Little Drill Wind into a lean, alert mountain patroller and had less than twenty Soul Power remaining.

Su Mu discovered that his Soul Power recovered to its full limit in minutes, then used it to transform Little Drill Wind into a level 6 SSS card. With the demon’s improvements reaching the current stage’s ceiling, Su Mu set out for the wilderness to gather what he needed to develop Lion Camel Ridge and eventually bring forth Sun Wukong.

• Su Mu found that his daily Soul Power recovery equaled his maximum Soul Power and took only a minute or two.
• Su Mu reshaped Little Drill Wind’s scales, limbs, armor, and saber, raising him to SSS rank with a combat index of 174492.
• Su Mu concluded that Little Drill Wind could not improve further without leveling up, better base materials, or expanding Lion Camel Ridge.
• After seeing that it was midnight, Su Mu left the meditation room and headed into the wilderness.
• Su Mu remembered that the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven was his dungeon’s core and that Sun Wukong had yet to be born.

Su Mu chose the Land of Buried Bones as his first wilderness destination, hoping to gather skeletal materials for Lion Camel Ridge and create Lady White Bone. After accepting several collection tasks and a rare bounty for the Burial Corpse King’s core soul flame, he prepared to leave Rongcheng.

• Su Mu rested in the public hall until three in the morning, then checked the wilderness map and its level 20 zones.
• Su Mu selected the Land of Buried Bones because its skeletal monsters could provide materials for Lion Camel Ridge and Lady White Bone.
• Su Mu accepted several routine collection tasks for materials from the Land of Buried Bones.
• Su Mu accepted the million-coin task to obtain the Burial Corpse King’s core soul flame on nightmare difficulty.
• Su Mu collected his backpack and headed for the hall’s exit.

Su Mu left the city for the first time and examined the damaged wall and hostile wilderness beyond it. He appraised a level-ten Goblin Skirmisher and prepared to summon Little Drill Wind as he began hunting outside the city.

• Su Mu registered at the city gate, where a soldier warned him to stay within fifty kilometers and avoid nests marked in blood red.
• Su Mu passed through the barrier and saw cracks, old repairs, and darkened ground along the towering city wall.
• Su Mu surveyed the hostile landscape and used Appraisal on a nearby level-ten Goblin Skirmisher.
• Su Mu observed that goblins patrolled the outskirts individually, making wild hunting safer but slower than fighting in a nest.
• Su Mu prepared to summon Little Drill Wind and recalled that his level-six rank allowed only one creature to be summoned at a time.

Su Mu summoned Little Drill Wind into reality and had him hunt level 10 goblin skirmishers while Su Mu followed the path through the wilds. Little Drill Wind made the fights effortless, and Su Mu reached level 7 as the hunt continued.

• Su Mu summoned Little Drill Wind and saw that the summoned form was weakened to rank A but still far stronger than a level 10 goblin skirmisher.
• Su Mu sent Little Drill Wind to attack, and Little Drill Wind killed the first goblin skirmisher in seconds, earning Su Mu experience and four Momentum Points.
• Little Drill Wind hunted more skirmishers independently while Su Mu followed the path and shared Little Drill Wind's senses through their Soul Link.
• Little Drill Wind killed goblin skirmishers as Su Mu received experience and occasional material drops.
• Su Mu's experience bar filled, and he advanced from level 6 to level 7.

Su Mu and Little Drill Wind gained levels while killing goblins in the wilderness, and Su Mu gathered enough momentum to use Years Like a Blade on the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven. The stone showed no visible change, but Su Mu calculated that steady monster farming could let him accelerate its age enough for Sun Wukong to be born within half a year.

• Su Mu and Little Drill Wind reached level seven after killing around forty goblins in less than twenty minutes.
• Su Mu filled his momentum reserve to one thousand and hid behind a rock to use Years Like a Blade.
• Su Mu spent the momentum to accelerate time for the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven, but its stats and appearance remained unchanged.
• Su Mu estimated that he would need at least three to four thousand uses to mature the stone and planned to farm monsters to reach that goal.

Su Mu let Little Drill Wind hunt monsters as they traveled deeper into the wasteland, spending momentum points to catalyze the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven and reaching level 9. By afternoon, they had traveled more than twenty kilometers toward the Land of Buried Bones, where undead monsters replaced most of the goblins.

• Little Drill Wind independently hunted goblins while Su Mu followed and gathered momentum points, using a thousand at a time to catalyze the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven eight times.
• Su Mu and Little Drill Wind reached level 8, and Su Mu collected goblin materials and three low-rank equipment cards.
• Su Mu traveled deeper through the wasteland, where stronger goblins appeared before skeletal creatures and Rotting Corpses became more common.
• By the seventh hour, Su Mu and Little Drill Wind had reached level 9, and Su Mu inspected Little Drill Wind's combat attributes through their soul link.
• Su Mu continued toward the Land of Buried Bones, considering the strength and future potential of Little Drill Wind's SSS-rank card.

Su Mu reached level 10 after grinding monsters, revealing Little Drill Wind’s exceptional strength and renewing his determination to claim the Burial Corpse King’s Core Soul Flame. As Su Mu headed toward the Land of Buried Bones, he heard people attacking someone nearby and recognized a Forced Battle Scroll opening ahead.

• Su Mu led Little Drill Wind away from the lair and hunted monsters until Su Mu reached level 10.
• Su Mu checked Little Drill Wind’s level 10 stats and saw that his combat index exceeded the usual range for an SSS-rank core card.
• Su Mu considered the powerful Journey to the West figures and decided to pursue the quest for the Burial Corpse King’s Core Soul Flame to earn money for a soul skill book and help his aunt.
• Su Mu and Little Drill Wind heard people fighting nearby, and Su Mu hurried toward the instance while Little Drill Wind moved away from the voices.
• Su Mu saw a gray-white vortex open ahead and identified it as a Forced Battle Scroll.

Su Mu’s Little Drill Wind was caught by a Forced Battle Scroll and dragged into an A-rank dungeon themed around Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Su Mu refused to join the battle and fled, while Little Drill Wind faced a level-23 Many-Faced Man and its faceless allies.

• Su Mu realized that the nearby dungeon masters were using a Forced Battle Scroll and sent Little Drill Wind running while he headed toward the nest.
• The pursuers sensed Little Drill Wind and used another Forced Battle Scroll to pull him into their dungeon.
• Su Mu refused the option to join the fight, fearing the unknown strength of the enemy dungeon, and continued fleeing.
• Little Drill Wind landed in a strange gray-white world filled with layered membranes and faceless figures.
• A Many-Faced Man emerged, and Su Mu received its level-23 appraisal, including its combat index of 47,353 and the dungeon’s combat value of 142,154.

Su Mu realized Little Drill Wind’s full SSS-rank strength had returned inside the dungeon and dwarfed the Many-Faced Man. After its attacks failed, the opponent recognized Little Drill Wind was not a core card and began to suspect Su Mu was not truly level 10, just as Little Drill Wind moved.

• Su Mu compared Little Drill Wind’s combat index with the Many-Faced Man’s and judged that level suppression could not overcome the gap.
• Su Mu assessed that the Many-Faced Man’s skills used the idea of faces rather than the deeper horror of The Painted Skin.
• The Many-Faced Man attacked Little Drill Wind with a giant mist palm, but Little Drill Wind’s health did not change.
• The Many-Faced Man struck again with dozens of corrosive palms, and Little Drill Wind blocked every attack with his demonic aura.
• The Many-Faced Man appraised Little Drill Wind repeatedly, discovered his SSS rank, and realized he was not a core card.
• The Many-Faced Man suspected Su Mu was not really level 10, but Little Drill Wind moved before it could think further.

Little Drill Wind killed the Many-Faced Man in three slashes, and Su Mu used Forced Recall to retrieve him from the dungeon. Su Mu then reached the crowded entrance to the Land of Buried Bones, where dungeon teams gathered to recruit members.

• Little Drill Wind predicted the Many-Faced Man’s dodge and wounded him with a slash.
• Little Drill Wind destroyed the Many-Faced Man’s core node and killed him before Puppet Replacement could activate.
• Little Drill Wind collected the Many-Faced Man’s dropped cards, fragments, and skill book, then ran away from Su Mu.
• Su Mu activated Forced Recall when Little Drill Wind was nearly two kilometers away, retrieving him with weakened attributes.
• Su Mu ran to the Land of Buried Bones entrance and passed groups of dungeon masters recruiting for parties.

Su Mu entered the normal difficulty Land of Buried Bones alone despite being level ten and having an F-rank core card. Inside, he faced a first wave of dozens of level-fifteen skeleton soldiers as the horde began to move.

• Dungeon masters outside the nest noticed Su Mu’s low level and questioned whether he could survive the Land of Buried Bones alone.
• Su Mu selected normal difficulty and entered the nest, prompting onlookers to debate his chances and his special Journey to the West theme.
• Su Mu surveyed the graveyard-like dungeon and appraised the level-fifteen Buried Bones Skeleton Soldiers ahead.
• Su Mu estimated that the first wave contained seventy or eighty skeleton soldiers, and the horde began to move.

Su Mu watched Little Drill Wind annihilate a wave of skeletons at Lion Camel Ridge, earning far more Momentum Points than he had from grinding goblins. While Little Drill Wind continued fighting, Su Mu examined the killer’s dropped cards and found a disguise item that could help him develop humanoid creature cards.

• Little Drill Wind charged through the skeletons’ coordinated formation and destroyed all seventy or eighty enemies in under a minute.
• Su Mu calculated that the skeletons had yielded seven or eight hundred Momentum Points, enough for one use of Years Like a Blade.
• As Little Drill Wind fought the next wave, Su Mu examined the cards dropped by the person who had tried to kill him.
• Su Mu found ghost-type cards and a Yaksha Fork that could help fill out the Underworld portion of his Journey to the West world.
• Su Mu discovered Thousand-Faced Skin, a D-rank disguise card that let humanoid or humanlike creature cards switch between their original and a preset appearance.

Su Mu continued grinding through the Land of Buried Bones, gained a level, and collected remains to build his future Underworld. The fifth wave brought a Skeleton Centurion whose command sent a force of skeletons toward Flower-Fruit Mountain.

• Su Mu decided not to investigate the hunted person and focused instead on leveling up and developing his cards.
• Little Drill Wind destroyed the third and fourth waves of skeletons, and Su Mu reached level 11.
• Su Mu realized he could anchor the skeleton remains in his Dungeon Space and use them to build Lion Camel Ridge or a future Underworld scene.
• A level 17 Skeleton Centurion appeared with the fifth wave and reorganized the skeleton horde.
• The centurion sent one group to engage Little Drill Wind while another group broke away and headed toward Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Su Mu discovered that monsters in wild nests could split their forces and target the unprotected Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven, while Little Drill Wind defeated the fifth wave and cleared the next four. In the tenth wave, a Burial Corpse King held Little Drill Wind back as more than two hundred skeletons surged toward Flower-Fruit Mountain.

• Su Mu realized the fifth wave’s skeletons had identified the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven as the core card and sent part of their force toward Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Little Drill Wind wiped out the skeletons and centurion on the main battlefield, then caught and destroyed the group attacking the core card.
• Su Mu resolved to bring out Sun Wukong and find another demon king to defend the core card; Little Drill Wind’s weakened state then expired.
• Little Drill Wind defeated the sixth through ninth waves while Su Mu gathered bone materials at the foot of Lion Camel Ridge.
• A level-seventeen Burial Corpse King appeared in the tenth wave and attacked Little Drill Wind while more than two hundred skeletons bypassed the battle and headed for Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Su Mu and Little Drill Wind defeated the Corpse King and cleared the Land of Buried Bones, earning Su Mu two levels and an E-rank skill card. After leaving, Su Mu ignored the crowd’s speculation and entered the dungeon’s hard mode.

• Little Drill Wind killed the Corpse King and cut through the skeleton soldiers attacking Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Su Mu collected the Corpse King's E-rank Skeleton Summoning skill card, then left the dungeon.
• Onlookers noticed Su Mu had risen from level ten to level twelve and speculated about how he had survived the dungeon.
• Su Mu decided normal dungeons no longer offered enough experience or rewards and entered the hard mode of the Land of Buried Bones.
• The burly, bearded man and a hooded young man decided to wait and see whether Su Mu would return from hard mode.

Su Mu and Little Drill Wind fought through the hard-difficulty Land of Buried Bones, gaining experience and Momentum Points as the waves grew tougher. After using Years Like a Blade on the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven, Su Mu raised the skill’s proficiency to Level 2 and increased its effects.

• Little Drill Wind swiftly wiped out the first nine waves of skeletons while Su Mu collected experience and materials.
• The tenth wave introduced elite skeleton soldiers and Skeleton Centurions, forcing Little Drill Wind to fight more carefully.
• After an hour of fighting, Su Mu and Little Drill Wind reached level thirteen, and Little Drill Wind cleared the later waves as the monsters grew stronger.
• Su Mu used Years Like a Blade nearly seven times during the later waves, accumulating Momentum Points.
• Su Mu spent a thousand Momentum Points to use Years Like a Blade on the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven, raising the skill to Level 2 and shortening its cooldown to eight minutes.

Su Mu and Little Drill Wind defeated the Burial Corpse King and cleared the hard dungeon’s fifteenth wave. Su Mu found a glowing card among the corpse king’s remains.

• Su Mu realized that Years Like a Blade’s proficiency had increased, doubling how quickly it aged nonliving objects.
• The Burial Corpse King appeared and split its elite skeletons into groups, sending one toward Flower-Fruit Mountain and its unprotected core card.
• Su Mu ordered Little Drill Wind to attack the Burial Corpse King, who fought back with bone claws, Bone Storm, and commands that sent skeletons on a suicidal charge.
• Little Drill Wind exploited the corpse king’s weak neck joint, destroyed its skull, and killed the skeletons threatening Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Su Mu confirmed that he had cleared the hard dungeon and found an eerie green card among the corpse king’s remains.