Chapter Summaries

Chen Yan confronted Huang Shiquan after the notorious slave trader threatened the caged woman and girl, and prepared to draw his saber. Three tolls of Xiyue Valley’s Guest Welcoming Bell interrupted them as Hermit Xiyue flew out to welcome a distinguished visitor called Brother Yu.

• Huang Shiquan threatened that the two Qingji would not survive the night unless Chen Yan bought them.
• Onlookers told Chen Yan that Huang Shiquan was a notorious bandit cultivator and slave trader who abducted respectable people and preyed on travelers.
• Chen Yan decided he no longer feared anyone in Xiyue Valley and told Huang Shiquan he would grant his wish to die.
• As Chen Yan gripped the Dragon Sparrow Saber, Xiyue Valley’s Guest Welcoming Bell rang three times, halting the confrontation.
• Hermit Xiyue flew out and welcomed Brother Yu to Xiyue Valley.

Chen Yan struck Huang Shiquan in Xiyue Valley after the Daoist threatened him, cutting off both his arms and breaking his spine. Yu Dingguo had arrived on official business, and the chapter ended with Huang Shiquan recognizing Chen Yan’s Innate strength.

• Hermit Xiyue welcomed Yu Dingguo, whose arrival as the Flying Dragon Army’s deputy commander-in-chief alarmed the Rogue Cultivators in the market.
• Yu Dingguo said he had come on official business, and Hermit Xiyue invited him to his residence.
• Huang Shiquan threatened Chen Yan and turned away to leave the market.
• Chen Yan drew the Dragon Sparrow Saber and slashed through Huang Shiquan’s earthen-wall talisman defense.
• Chen Yan severed Huang Shiquan’s arms and broke his spine, leaving Huang Shiquan stunned by his Innate strength.

Chen Yan killed Huang Shiquan with a terrifying Human Skin Mask, prompting Hermit Xiyue to prepare to confront him. Yu Dingguo shocked the ghost market by kneeling and recognizing Chen Yan as his commander.

• Chen Yan severed Huang Shiquan’s arms and pinned him to the street while Hermit Xiyue and Yu Dingguo approached.
• Huang Shiquan taunted Chen Yan, believing the authorities would punish him, but Chen Yan stomped him and declared he would use him for an experiment.
• Chen Yan placed a Human Skin Mask on Huang Shiquan, and it devoured him until only an empty sheet of skin remained.
• Hermit Xiyue began to berate Chen Yan for defying him, but Yu Dingguo knelt and paid respects to Commander Chen.

Chen Yan revealed his identity as the Heavenly Supervision Department’s youngest Pacification Commissioner and spared Xiyue Valley on the condition that it punish its criminals and help suppress demons. After freeing Qing Yao and Qing Wen, he recruited them as message runners and set off for Xiangxi, warned that Xiang Prefecture’s officials could not be trusted.

• Yu Dingguo recognized Chen Yan as Commander Chen, and the Rogue Cultivators and Hermit Xiyue learned that he was the famed Cold-Faced Divine Blade wielding the Dragon Sparrow Divine Saber.
• Yu Dingguo explained that the Blood Moon had strengthened Demonic Creatures and Ghosts, and that he had come to recruit Xiyue Valley to help suppress them.
• Chen Yan spared Xiyue Valley but ordered its evildoers executed and Hermit Xiyue to serve under Yu Dingguo in protecting the region.
• Yu Dingguo warned Chen Yan that neither the Xiang Prefecture Heavenly Supervision Department nor its government could be trusted, then left to visit other forces.
• Chen Yan freed the human captives and Qing Yao and Qing Wen, then recruited the sisters to deliver messages for him for ten years.
• Chen Yan sent Qing Yao with a letter and his identity token to Xu Ji and the others, then mounted Black Tiger and rode west toward Xiangxi.

After arriving in Xiang Prefecture, Chen Yan found soldiers from Long Marsh terrorizing a mountain village and ordered his companions to kill them all. Facai, Black Tiger, and the Qing Ji Sisters charged into the village as Chen Yan stood beneath a stele inscribed with “Peace.”

• Long Marsh soldiers killed a villager’s husband and child and assaulted his wife.
• Chen Yan arrived with Black Tiger and Facai, rescued the wounded woman, and questioned one of the soldiers.
• After the soldier confessed that his group was requisitioning grain, Chen Yan mutilated him and ordered Black Tiger to eat him alive.
• Chen Yan summoned Facai, Black Tiger, and the Qing Ji Sisters and ordered them to leave no soldiers alive.
• Facai, Black Tiger, and the Qing Ji Sisters charged into the burning village while Chen Yan watched.

Chen Yan watched Taiping Village’s survivors kill the fleeing grain-collection soldiers, then witnessed a bereaved woman take her own life. After learning about Xiang Prefecture’s disasters and the villagers’ desperation, he revealed that he belonged to the Heavenly Supervision Department.

• Taiping Village’s survivors attacked and killed the fleeing archers while Chen Yan watched.
• A bereaved woman stabbed herself, and Chen Yan closed her family’s eyes and promised that the suffering would end.
• Village head Kang Changzhi told Chen Yan that demons, ghosts, disasters, and grain seizures had driven Xiang Prefecture’s people to desperation.
• The surviving villagers buried their dead and prayed to the Rebirth Cult’s Old Mother; Kang said they had joined three months earlier because they had lost hope in this life.
• When Kang asked his name and why he had come to Xiang Prefecture, Chen Yan answered, “Heavenly Supervision Department. Chen Yan.”

After revealing that he was from the Heavenly Supervision Department, Chen Yan discovered that the surviving Taiping Village villagers had damaged souls and suspected the Rebirth Cult was consuming its followers’ souls. The villagers restrained him, and Wu Yan appeared through Kang Changzhi, recognizing Chen Yan as a commander.

• Chen Yan identified himself as a member of the Heavenly Supervision Department, frightening Kang Changzhi and the surviving Taiping Village villagers.
• Chen Yan reflected on Xiang Prefecture’s corruption and the failures of the Martial Dynasty’s institutions, and began to consider the path he should take.
• When Kang Changzhi collapsed, Chen Yan used Spirit Sight and discovered that all twenty-one surviving villagers had incomplete souls.
• Chen Yan suspected that the Rebirth Cult recruited followers to feed their souls to the Merciful Old Mother after death.
• Kang Changzhi and the other villagers erupted into a frenzy, restrained Chen Yan, and revealed Wu Yan, who addressed him as Commander Chen.

Chen Yan rejected Wu Yan’s offer to join the Rebirth Cult and vowed to confront both the Mount Lao Daoist Sect and the cult. When Wu Yan tried to flee, Chen Yan struck him with the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique, but Wu Yan burned his own soul in a ritual to the Lifeless Old Mother.

• Wu Yan warned Chen Yan that the Mount Lao Daoist Sect controlled Xiang Prefecture and offered the Rebirth Cult’s million believers and protectors in exchange for making the people worship the Lifeless Old Mother.
• Chen Yan mocked Wu Yan for betraying humanity, rejected the offer, and vowed to deal with both the Mount Lao Daoist Sect and the Rebirth Cult.
• Chen Yan stopped Wu Yan from escaping the old man's body and unleashed the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique against his fleeing soul.
• Chen Yan struck Wu Yan with lightning and confronted his weakened soul, but Wu Yan invoked the Lifeless Old Mother and set his own soul ablaze until it vanished.

After killing Wu Yan, Chen Yan spared the villagers of Taiping Village and disguised himself as he continued toward Xiangxi Commandery, where the Mount Lao Daoist Sect’s reach seemed extensive. Meanwhile, the seven leaders of Mount Lao gathered to discuss their sect’s seven unorthodox paths.

• Chen Yan recognized Wu Yan’s fanaticism as further reason to destroy the Rebirth Cult and left the restored Taiping Village villagers unharmed.
• Unable to repair the fragments missing from the villagers’ souls, Chen Yan continued toward Xiangxi Commandery without riding Black Tiger.
• Chen Yan disguised himself as a middle-aged Daoist, turned Black Tiger into a black cat, and considered how widely the Mount Lao Daoist Sect had spread through Xiang Prefecture.
• The chapter introduced the seven leaders gathered at Mount Lao and explained that the sect consisted of the Ghost, Corpse, Gu, Demon, Witch, Beast Taming, and Prostitute paths.
• The chapter identified Situ Yun, whom Chen Yan had killed, as a famous inheritor of Ghost Dao.

The Seven Paths of Mount Lao gathered to decide how to deal with the newly appointed Pacification Commissioner, Chen Yan, who had entered Xiang Prefecture. They agreed to have Hu Meiniang try to win him over first and kill him if she failed.

• The chapter explained the powers and origins of the Corpse, Gu, Demon, Witch, Beast Taming, Ghost, and Prostitute Dao lineages within the Mount Lao Daoist Sect.
• The Seven Paths' leaders gathered after learning that Chen Yan had entered Xiang Prefecture and debated whether to kill him or recruit him.
• Situ Yin demanded Chen Yan's death, while Wu Changsong argued that Chen Yan's killing of the Ghost Dao successor did not implicate the other paths.
• Green Wolf Demon proposed using Chen Yan as a puppet or killing him, and Hu Meiniang offered to test whether he could be won over.
• The leaders agreed that Hu Meiniang would contact Chen Yan first and that the sect would kill him if she could not recruit him.

Chen Yan cultivated with the damaged Thunder Department Commander's Great Seal, strengthening his Magic Power, physique, and lightning techniques as the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique reached Minor Mastery. He considered how to counter Mount Lao Daoist Sect's control over Xiang Prefecture and waited for intelligence from Yuantong and Wu Guhan before acting.

• Chen Yan circulated the Thunder Jade Scripture and used the Thunder Department Seal to temper his Magic Power and body.
• Chen Yan assessed his progress and saw that the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique had reached Minor Mastery after months of cultivation.
• Chen Yan decided not to spend his increased Merit on fortune bags because he lacked nothing he needed.
• Chen Yan left the treetop with Facai and Black Tiger and headed toward a deserted temple for the night.
• Chen Yan suspected Mount Lao Daoist Sect controlled both Xiang Prefecture and its Heavenly Supervision Department, so he avoided contacting its covert guards while awaiting reports from Yuantong and Wu Guhan.

Chen Yan, Facai, and Black Tiger entered an abandoned Taoist shrine and found more than a dozen ghosts hiding inside. The ghosts decided to drive Chen Yan away, but their attempt to frighten him ended with Chen Yan punching the drowned ghost.

• Chen Yan and his companions reached the mountaintop, where he noticed a village holding a wedding celebration but went to the ruined Taoist shrine instead.
• Chen Yan used Spirit Sight to spot the ghosts in the shrine, then entered and sat down as though he could not see them.
• The ghosts whispered about whether to drive Chen Yan away or capture him as a gift for Third Master's joyous day, and the battlefield ghost chose to scare him off.
• The ghosts shut the shrine doors, but Chen Yan calmly built a fire and only pretended to notice the commotion.
• The drowned ghost crept up to Chen Yan to cover his eyes, but Chen Yan turned and punched it in the face.

Chen Yan subdued eleven ghosts in a wilderness Daoist temple and learned that it was a Soul-Binding Ground that sheltered and trapped them. The ghosts revealed that they answered to Yin Wuchang, a five-hundred-year-old snake demon on Black Mountain, and Chen Yan asked what Black Mountain was.

• The ghosts failed to frighten Chen Yan, so Zhao Laoda ordered them to attack.
• Chen Yan used a willow branch to beat the ghosts into submission and made all eleven squat in a row.
• Zhao Laoda explained that he and the other ghosts had wandered into the Daoist temple after dying and could not leave.
• Chen Yan recognized the temple as a Soul-Binding Ground whose Daoist energy kept the ghosts from turning resentful and fighting each other.
• Zhao Laoda identified Third Master as Yin Wuchang, a five-hundred-year-old snake demon ranked third on Black Mountain, and Chen Yan asked what Black Mountain was.

Chen Yan learned that Black Mountain was ruled by a mysterious Eldest Master, a thousand-year tree spirit named Huai Ye, and a powerful snake demon called Third Master. After discovering that Third Master was holding a forced wedding in the village below, Chen Yan prepared to intervene, then hid when a wandering Daoist entered the ruined temple.

• Zhao Laoda told Chen Yan that Black Mountain's Third Master was a five-hundred-year-old snake demon and its Second Master, Huai Ye, was a thousand-year-old locust tree spirit.
• Zhao Laoda described the mysterious Eldest Master, who had subdued Huai Ye and Third Master and might be a Ghost King.
• The drowned ghost explained that Third Master forced villages to provide brides for his daily weddings and demanded living wedding gifts from nearby spirits and ghosts.
• Chen Yan confirmed that Third Master's wedding was taking place in the village below the mountain and reacted with cold anger.
• Chen Yan and the ghosts hid when a bearded wandering Daoist climbed over the temple wall, lit a fire, and used vines from the Three Pure Ones' statues as fuel.

Chen Yan met Zhang Tianzheng, a Plum Mountain Daoist from Mount Lao, in a mountain temple and learned that he had come to Changze Commandery to eliminate Black Mountain's Third Master, Yin Wuchang.

• Chen Yan watched Zhang Tianzheng clean his robe with a fire spell, then stepped out of the shadows and challenged him for entering the temple over its wall.
• Zhang Tianzheng apologized, introduced himself, and shared his strong liquor with Chen Yan, who gave the false name Lin Jiuying.
• Chen Yan examined Zhang Tianzheng's talisman sword and recognized a mountain emblem resembling the one on Mount Lao Tokens.
• Zhang Tianzheng explained that he belonged to the Plum Mountain Dao, a branch of Daoism distinct from the Mount Lao Daoist Sect.
• Zhang Tianzheng revealed that he had come to Changze Commandery to eliminate Black Mountain's Third Master, Yin Wuchang.

Zhang Tianzheng joined Chen Yan in planning to kill Yin Wuchang, and the temple ghosts revealed that they could seal the Daoist temple in ghost mist. Chen Yan and Zhang Tianzheng headed to Yin Wuchang’s wedding celebration to lure him into their trap.

• Zhang Tianzheng told Chen Yan he had come to Changze Commandery to avenge a friend and eliminate Yin Wuchang, and Chen Yan agreed to help.
• Zhang Tianzheng mistook Zhao Laoda and the other ghosts for hostile spirits, but Chen Yan explained their nature, and Zhang Tianzheng apologized.
• Zhao Laoda and the ghosts demonstrated that they could combine their strength with the Daoist temple to seal it in ghost mist and trap Yin Wuchang.
• Chen Yan decided to lure Yin Wuchang into the temple during his wedding celebration and quietly explained his plan to Zhang Tianzheng.
• Zhang Tianzheng packed his Hundred Treasures Box and followed Chen Yan down the mountain toward the village.

Chen Yan and Zhang Tianzheng arrived at Yongning Village and learned that its people were sacrificing villagers to appease the Black Mountain Snake Demon. After Chen Yan offered to help defeat the demon, he presented Zhang Tianzheng as a powerful Spiritual Mountain Dao Sect disciple.

• Chen Yan and Zhang Tianzheng found Yongning Village eerily deserted, with a bound bride waiting in a bridal sedan.
• Zhang Tianzheng tried to free the bride, but she refused to leave because she feared the demon would eat her parents and the villagers.
• The villagers surrounded Zhang Tianzheng, and the village head explained that the Black Mountain Snake Demon demanded a maiden and had killed or driven away the village’s young men.
• The village head said a monk had failed to return after trying to slay the demon and condemned the Heavenly Supervision Department for failing to help.
• Chen Yan offered to subdue the demon and introduced Zhang Tianzheng as a formidable disciple of the Spiritual Mountain Dao Sect.

Chen Yan and Zhang Tianzheng gained the villagers’ trust and prepared a trap for the snake demon, Yin Wuchang. Yin Wuchang arrived at Yongning Village and grabbed Zhang Tianzheng, who was disguised as the bound bride.

• Chen Yan calmed the distraught village chief with the Purification of Heart Mantra, and the chief accepted the Daoists’ help against the snake demon.
• Zhang Tianzheng sealed the ancestral hall to protect the villagers while Chen Yan and he prepared their plan at the village entrance.
• Zhang Tianzheng used Mount Mei’s Incarnation Departure Spell to transform into a bride, while Chen Yan disguised himself as an ordinary villager and hid in a banyan tree.
• Yin Wuchang arrived in a gust of black wind, spotted the bridal sedan, and pulled the bound Zhang Tianzheng into his arms.

Zhang Tianzheng disguised himself as a bride to lure Yin Wuchang to a ruined Daoist temple while Chen Yan followed, preparing to kill the powerful snake demon. As Yin Wuchang moved to lift Zhang Tianzheng onto the bed, Zhang began invoking the Meishan Spell.

• Zhang Tianzheng flirted with Yin Wuchang and persuaded him to take the bridal sedan to a Daoist temple on the mountain.
• Yin Wuchang released dense demonic energy that drained life from the forest, and Chen Yan judged that he had reached Refining Essence into Qi before racing toward the summit.
• Yin Wuchang transformed the ruined temple with an illusion of a wedding celebration and entered it with Zhang Tianzheng.
• Yin Wuchang prepared to throw Zhang Tianzheng onto the bed as Zhang secretly pinched three talismans and began chanting the Meishan Spell.

Zhang Tianzheng fought Yin Wuchang with Meishan talismans and a thunder-charged bird gun, but the snake demon survived and began regenerating his severed arm. Chen Yan arrived and struck Yin Wuchang with the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique, then summoned a massive flaming sword as the battle continued.

• Zhang Tianzheng blasted Yin Wuchang through the hall with a Three Grottoes Plum Mountain Talisman, but Yin Wuchang emerged unharmed beneath his torn clothes.
• Yin Wuchang attacked with a giant python of demonic energy, and Zhang Tianzheng used his talisman swords and phantom troops to hold it back.
• Zhang Tianzheng fired a thunderbolt from his bird gun, shredding one of Yin Wuchang's arms, but Yin Wuchang regenerated it with black Demonic Mist.
• Chen Yan descended and struck Yin Wuchang with the Five Thunder Spirit Sword Technique, while the exhausted Zhang Tianzheng collapsed.
• Chen Yan empowered Old Daoist Liu's Wind Thunder Evil-Slaying Sword and formed a huge flaming sword to strike Yin Wuchang.