Chapter Summaries

Daoist Sang relived his memories of Liu'er inside an illusion while Li Chu and his companions discovered a woman sealed in the Crystal Gourd. After she drove them from the grotto-heaven, they found themselves on Qiniu Mountain, which had vanished.

• Daoist Sang remembered his devotion to Liu'er and tried to break free of the illusion, but chose to stay with her when his attempts failed.
• The Crystal Gourd burst open, revealing a winged woman whose powerful words Li Chu could not understand.
• The woman focused only on Li Chu, then flew away, and Duan White Robe wondered whether she was even human.
• The Gourd Grotto-Heaven shook and expelled Li Chu, Duan White Robe, and Zhan Liuming along with the other visitors.
• Li Chu regained his original body and used Mind's Eye Art to discover they were still on Qiniu Mountain, but the mountain itself had disappeared.

Prince of Jiangnan was captured after Qin Shuangbai and Old Man Qin turned against him, and Li Chu helped expose and execute the false prince at Facing Heaven Pavilion. Li Chu returned to Ten Li Slope, where Wang Longqi arrived to say goodbye.

• Prince of Jiangnan asked Qin Shuangbai and Old Man Qin to help kill Li Chu, but they subdued him and handed him over.
• Prince of Jiangnan dreamed that he was an impostor and learned that his father had raised his twin brother Ji Baxiao as a decoy for a planned coup.
• The Mirage Dragon’s illusion ended, and Prince of Jiangnan awoke in Facing Heaven Pavilion, where Duan White Robe credited Li Chu and Bright Moon Township with helping execute the false prince.
• Li Chu returned to Ten Li Slope after Little Koi went back with Grandfather to attend to clan affairs.
• Wang Longqi came to Virtuous Cloud Temple and told Li Chu he had come to say goodbye.

Little Divine Doctor cured Liu Qinglian, and Wang Longqi invited her to consider performing at Divine Luo City's unusual winter Flower Capital Assembly. After Yu Qi'an received an urgent letter saying his son was in trouble, he revealed that his cultivation was suppressing an evil demon beneath the temple and asked Li Chu to investigate; he began explaining that the story started with a childhood friend named Guo.

• Little Divine Doctor announced that he had refined an antidote to the Creation Pill, and Liu Qinglian thanked Yu Qi'an and Li Chu for taking her in.
• Wang Longqi described how a mysterious woman made peonies bloom throughout Divine Luo City in winter, prompting the city's pleasure houses to arrange an unprecedented Flower Capital Assembly.
• Yu Qi'an told Li Chu that Wuchao Temple had once been a renowned lineage and cautioned him not to mistake his victory over Venerable Xuange for mastery of the Severing Decay Realm.
• Ten Thousand Miles Flying Sand delivered an urgent letter from Divine Luo City, and Yu Qi'an revealed that his son had encountered trouble.
• Yu Qi'an explained that his cultivation was suppressing an evil demon beneath the well, so he could not leave the temple and needed Li Chu to investigate the trouble in his place.
• Yu Qi'an began recounting his youthful travels with a close friend named Guo.

Li Chu and Xiao Bai arrived in Divine Luo City, where Li Chu stole the attention meant for Bai Lingchen before beginning his search for a house. He planned to open a Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple and ended the chapter eyeing a supposedly haunted property priced within his budget.

• Bai Lingchen entered Divine Luo City to a crowd that had gathered to welcome him, but onlookers turned their attention to Li Chu and Xiao Bai instead.
• Li Chu’s quiet walk through the crowd overshadowed Bai Lingchen’s planned flower petals, doves, and staged rescue, leaving Bai Lingchen bewildered and angry.
• Li Chu and Xiao Bai shook off the crowd and went to a real estate agency to find a property for a Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple.
• The shopkeeper showed Li Chu expensive or unsuitable properties, then warned him that a six-thousand-tael house Xiao Bai pointed out was haunted.
• Li Chu’s eyes lit up at the shopkeeper’s warning.

Li Chu and Fox Girl inspected a cheap residence in Divine Luo City that was haunted every night, intending to turn it into a branch temple. Li Chu destroyed the ghost that emerged from the well, then contacted Yu Qi'an, who warned him to stay careful and bring Guo Xiaobao home safely.

• A real estate clerk led Li Chu and Fox Girl to the supposedly haunted residence and explained that its nightly hauntings had defeated earlier exorcists and a cultivator.
• Li Chu and Fox Girl entered the spacious residence, and Li Chu waited in the courtyard for the ghost to appear.
• A female ghost climbed out of the well and tried to frighten Li Chu, but he killed her with the Chunyang Sword, damaging several blue bricks in the process.
• Fox Girl used incense and the Jade Furnace to connect with Yu Qi'an through the dharma mirror.
• Yu Qi'an told Li Chu to be careful, mentioned three brocade pouches for emergencies, and asked him to bring Guo Xiaobao safely back to Virtuous Cloud Temple.

Li Chu opened Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple but received no visitors, then caught a South City Temple disciple who had strengthened a well ghost to test the temple’s abilities. After Li Chu swiftly defeated the ghost, he asked the disciple whether he had more Yin-Gathering Pills.

• Daoist Du learned that Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple had opened nearby and sent a disciple to test its strength.
• Li Chu and the Fox Girl spent a day waiting in vain for pilgrims to visit the temple.
• A South City Temple disciple secretly threw a Yin-Gathering Pill into the well, making its ghost far stronger than usual.
• Li Chu killed the giant ghost with a casual swing of the Chunyang Sword.
• Li Chu tore off the disciple’s invisibility talisman, questioned him about the pill, and asked whether he had any more.

Du Lanke’s disciple reported that Li Chu had caught him spying and demanded Yin-Gathering Pills, while Li Chu tracked him back to South City Temple and killed a strengthened ghost. The next morning, a clinic apprentice asked Li Chu to investigate a ghost that had been stealing only people’s right arms.

• Du Lanke ordered his disciple to refine several gourds of Yin-Gathering Pills after learning the disciple had sworn to deliver them to Li Chu.
• Li Chu told Fox Girl that he had used the Mind’s Eye to follow the spy back to South City Temple and identify his origin.
• A Skin-Peeling Ghost emerged from the well, ate a Yin-Gathering Pill Li Chu offered, and was killed by his sword.
• A young assistant from South City Medical Clinic told Li Chu that a ghost had stolen the right arms of patients and a senior apprentice, and asked him for help.

Li Chu guarded Doctor Liu’s medical hall and confronted the Vengeful Spirit that had been stealing injured patients’ left arms. After the spirit attacked and was destroyed, Li Chu suspected Doctor Liu had concealed something and decided to question him.

• Fox Girl locked the Daoist Temple, and the medical hall assistant led her and Li Chu to Doctor Liu.
• Doctor Liu asked Li Chu to handle the Evil Spirit at his medical hall, while Li Chu wondered why Facing Heaven Pavilion had not been called.
• That night, Li Chu met the Vengeful Spirit, which demanded his left hand and said its own had been stolen.
• Li Chu gave the spirit a Yin-Gathering Pill, but when it tried to remember who had taken its hand, it became berserk and cried out, “Kun.”
• The Vengeful Spirit charged at Li Chu, who destroyed it with his Chunyang Sword.
• Fox Girl asked if they could return, but Li Chu stayed behind to question Doctor Liu about what he had hidden.

Li Chu learned that the Northern Abyss Sect had forced Doctor Liu to transplant a captive’s left hand, then consulted Yu Qi'an about the sect. That night, the Moon God Envoy killed Liu Yishou to conceal a separate transaction with Lord Canghai.

• Li Chu questioned Liu Yishou about the Vengeful Spirit, and Liu confessed that Northern Abyss Sect cultivators had forced him to transplant a captive’s left hand.
• Li Chu returned to the Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple and asked Yu Qi'an about the Northern Abyss Sect.
• Yu Qi'an explained that the sect worshipped a giant Kun and captured dragon descendants to feed it, then advised Li Chu not to get deeply involved.
• The Moon God Envoy visited Liu Yishou and learned that Liu had told Li Chu about the Northern Abyss Sect but had concealed his transaction with Lord Canghai.
• The Moon God Envoy killed Liu Yishou to prevent him from revealing more about the transaction.

Daoist Du and Daoist Wei plotted to drive Li Chu’s Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple out of the south of the city, while Li Chu accepted a case involving a missing woman and a jailed young master. At the prison, Li Chu recognized the young master as someone he had repeatedly encountered before.

• Daoist Du discussed Li Chu’s recent success with his disciple, and Daoist Wei proposed using a troublesome matter to force Li Chu out of the south of the city.
• Fox Girl found a young inn waiter seeking a cultivator to investigate the disappearance of a woman who had been seen with a wealthy young master.
• Li Chu agreed to investigate the case, as the young master had been jailed and was accused of the woman’s disappearance.
• The waiter brought Li Chu to the yamen prison, where Li Chu recognized the young master, who cried out and begged him for help.

Li Chu investigated the disappearance of Lan Zhi, who vanished during a date with Wang Longqi, and searched the Luo City River for evidence. After questioning a Water Ghost, he learned that descendants of the Yin Clan were responsible.

• Wang Longqi told Li Chu that Lan Zhi had vanished beside the Luo City River and asked him to find her.
• Li Chu searched the riverbank with his Mind's Eye but found no traces of a supernatural ability.
• Li Chu suspected someone had used water evasion and found a Water Ghost in the river.
• Li Chu cleaved open the river to pressure the Water Ghost into answering his questions.
• The Water Ghost said that descendants of the Yin Clan had taken Lan Zhi and controlled the ghosts in Divine Luo City.

Li Chu secured Wang Longqi’s release after presenting a ghost witness statement to Facing Heaven Pavilion, which agreed to investigate the Yin Clan. When Lan Zhi’s relatives and a huge crowd surrounded Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple, Yu Qi'an arrived and prepared to use one of Li Chu’s brocade pouches to resolve the crisis.

• Li Chu went to Facing Heaven Pavilion with evidence that a cultivator had framed Wang Longqi, and Duan Geng recognized him as Duan Zhang’s fellow from Gourd Grotto-Heaven.
• Duan Geng ordered Wang Longqi released and directed his men to investigate the Yin Clan, while warning Li Chu to keep the matter quiet.
• Li Chu brought Wang Longqi back to Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple, where Wang worried that Lan Zhi was still missing.
• Fox Girl warned that several hundred of Lan Zhi’s relatives and supporters were surrounding the temple, hurling refuse and bricks while demanding Wang Longqi and the Daoists be punished.
• Li Chu summoned Yu Qi'an, who suspected someone had incited the crowd and asked for the black-gold brocade pouch.

A mob besieged Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple over Lan Zhi’s disappearance, but Xie Jinhua arrived with Hong Sect forces and halted the violence. She agreed to help investigate and promised to visit Yu Qi'an after the matter was settled, leaving Yu Qi'an dreading their reunion.

• Li Chu sent Fox Girl to Divine Luo City with Yu Qi'an’s earring to seek help from Xie Jinhua, while he stayed to defend the temple.
• Daoists Du and Wei watched the mob attack the temple until thousands of Hong Sect members surrounded the crowd.
• Xie Jinhua entered the temple, reunited with Yu Qi'an, and learned that he had left Divine Luo City years earlier under another name.
• Xie Jinhua took Wang Longqi outside and persuaded Lan Zhi’s relatives to give the temple time to investigate, promising an apology if the family’s accusations proved false.
• Xie Jinhua said she would visit Yu Qi'an in Yuhang Town, and Yu Qi'an warned Li Chu that he might not survive the reunion.

Li Chu and Wang Longqi investigated the Yin Clan’s suspected property, Youlan Pavilion, by attending Wei Jiangli’s refined conversation event. As Wei Jiangli was about to appear, Li Chu sensed a powerful surge of yin qi.

• Li Chu reviewed the dossier on Yin Jiuyou and the Yin Clan, learning that the clan had withdrawn to its ancestral land and was still secretly searching for him.
• Li Chu told Wang Longqi that they would investigate Youlan Pavilion, the only property suspected of belonging to the Yin Clan.
• Li Chu and Wang Longqi entered Youlan Pavilion with a recommendation from Hong Sect Hall Master Lin and waited in the crowded hall for Wei Jiangli’s guest selection.
• Zhan Yunting arrived and reminded his attendants that they had come to complete a transaction with Dragon-Rearing Kingdom for thunder dragon essence blood.
• As Wei Jiangli was about to appear, Li Chu sensed a heavy surge of yin qi.

At Youlan Pavilion, Li Chu sensed a hidden surge of Yin Qi while watching Wei Jiangli perform, then was unexpectedly chosen as her guest after offering only one tael of silver. In private, Wei Jiangli revealed that someone had offered thirty thousand taels to have her choose another guest, leaving Li Chu astonished.

• Wei Jiangli appeared onstage, and Li Chu sensed a powerful hidden presence of Yin Qi somewhere in Youlan Pavilion.
• Wei Jiangli performed several instruments while Wang Longqi became infatuated with her, and the Yin Qi did not reappear when she left the stage.
• Li Chu offered one tael of silver as his gift, and Wei Jiangli chose him after interpreting it as an attempt to attract her attention.
• Li Chu met Wei Jiangli in a private room, where she told him someone had offered thirty thousand taels for her to choose another guest.

Li Chu saved Wei Jiangli from a sudden attack by a True Dragon’s claw, then stopped three masked assassins who tried to flee. One attacker escaped, while the Dragon-Rearing Clan’s strike drew the attention of powerful cultivators in Facing Heaven Pavilion.

• Wei Jiangli questioned Li Chu about his cultivation, health, and interests, and Li Chu offered his ghost-exorcism services.
• A golden rift opened above Youlan Pavilion, and a True Dragon’s claw smashed the room where Li Chu and Wei Jiangli had been meeting.
• Li Chu used the Orchid Butterfly Cloud-Striding Step to get Wei Jiangli clear of the strike.
• Four masked men arrived, and Wei Jiangli realized they had paid her thirty thousand taels to lure Zhan Yunting into an assassination attempt.
• Li Chu immobilized the leader and two other attackers, but the fourth escaped from Youlan Pavilion.
• Wei Jiangli clung to Li Chu in fright, and he told her to let go of his waist.

A black-clad survivor fled to the Dragon-Rearing Kingdom’s Second Highness and revealed that Li Chu had foiled their ambush, prompting the prince to order an investigation and vow revenge. Duan Geng brought Wei Jiangli and the captured criminals to Facing Heaven Pavilion, where even Elder Wei could not undo Li Chu’s Immobilization Technique.

• The man in black escaped through the Luo River into a palace inside a flood dragon and reported the failed ambush to Second Highness.
• Second Highness explained his conflict with the Divine Firmament Sect and ordered the man in black to learn Li Chu’s origins within three days.
• Duan Geng arrived at Youlan Pavilion, took Wei Jiangli and the three immobilized criminals to Facing Heaven Pavilion, and heard Jiangli’s account.
• After a day and night, the criminals remained unable to move or speak, so Duan Geng called Elder Wei to release them.
• Elder Wei tried twice to undo Li Chu’s spell, failed, and admitted that he could not release the prisoners.

After rescuing Wei Jiangli, Li Chu questioned her about Youlan Pavilion and learned that Su Wan was one of its backers. As Daoist Du vowed to confront Virtuous Cloud Temple, Li Chu set out to investigate Doctor Liu’s unexplained death.

• Wei Jiangli visited Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple to thank Li Chu, who asked whether she had seen a resident cultivator at Youlan Pavilion and who backed the establishment.
• Wei Jiangli named Su Wan, a retired courtesan queen who founded Youlan Pavilion, and offered to help Li Chu investigate; he asked her to keep their conversation secret.
• Wang Longqi and Fox Girl joked about Wei Jiangli’s feelings for Li Chu after she left the temple.
• Daoist Du, upset by rumors linking Wei Jiangli and Li Chu, decided to drive Virtuous Cloud Temple out of the south of the city and declared he would meet them himself.
• Li Chu learned that Doctor Liu had died peacefully at his clinic and went to investigate because he suspected the death was not ordinary.

Madam Chen told Li Chu that Liu Yishou may have made a bargain with Lord Canghai to kill her abusive husband, and she suspected the same force had now killed Liu Yishou. Meanwhile, Daoist Du tricked a Dragon-Rearing Kingdom spy into believing Li Chu could attack only three times a day and was a lecher, and the spy reported those supposed weaknesses to the Second Prince.

• Madam Chen told Li Chu about her childhood affection for Liu Yishou, her abusive marriage, and her husband's mysterious death after Liu Yishou mentioned Lord Canghai.
• Madam Chen said Liu Yishou had recently warned her not to visit again, and she believed he had died the same way her husband had.
• Li Chu promised to uphold justice for Liu Yishou and left Madam Chen at the clinic as she waited where Liu Yishou used to greet her.
• A Dragon-Rearing Kingdom spy approached Daoist Du to learn about Li Chu, and Du falsely claimed Li Chu could use his cultivation only three times a day and lusted after other men's wives.
• The spy returned to the palace inside the flood dragon and told the Second Prince that Li Chu had limited power and a weakness for married women.

Du Lanke invited Li Chu to Wind Mountain to hunt Snow Maidens, secretly hoping to make the young priest struggle and retreat. When Du Lanke found no monsters on his own route, Li Chu reported that he was surrounded by them.

• Du Lanke visited Li Chu and invited him to help exterminate the Snow Maidens on Wind Mountain.
• Li Chu agreed, left a note for Fox Girl and Wang Longqi, and went to the mountain with Du Lanke.
• Du Lanke gave Li Chu a Ten-Mile Yin-Yang Shell and suggested they split up so the Snow Maidens would appear.
• As heavy snow fell, Du Lanke waited for a Snow Maiden but encountered none.
• Du Lanke contacted Li Chu, who said he seemed to be surrounded by Snow Maidens.