Chapter Summaries

Li Chu discovered that the woman in Hua Qiluo’s body had exchanged souls with the real courtesan, who had become Wang Ayi, and learned that mysterious people arranged the exchange. Lord Canghai’s allies continued their plans in Divine Luo City, while their interest in Li Chu became clear.

• Li Chu, Shen Mu the Monk, and the Little Divine Doctor examined Hua Qiluo but found no sign of an Evil Spirit, and Hua Qiluo said she did not know Shen Ming.
• The Little Divine Doctor revealed that Hua Qiluo showed no signs of soul-loss illness, so Li Chu suspected that another person’s Divine Soul occupied her body.
• Li Chu borrowed Fairy Luo’s Rhino-Illumination Lamp, and Shen Ming wrote an IOU to pay for it.
• Li Chu and the others used the lamp to reveal that the soul inside Hua Qiluo’s body had a different shape from her physical form.
• The woman admitted that she and the real Hua Qiluo had willingly exchanged souls, and said the real Hua Qiluo had become Wang Ayi, a shopkeeper at Zhao Ge City’s Fengxiang Firm.
• Lord Canghai discussed the soul exchange with an ally and said the people in Divine Luo City would eventually die, while the ally remarked that Li Chu was unusually handsome.

Chen Xuannu lured Li Chu away from the Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple so Xuanxu could steal the Mystic Ice Slip, while Commander Dou trapped Li Chu in an array. Li Chu broke through the array in his fury and returned to find Xuanxu holding his house deed, confronting him over the theft.

• Commander Dou planned to retrieve the Mystic Ice Slip by having Chen Xuannu lure Li Chu away while Xuanxu broke into his bedroom.
• Chen Xuannu claimed an Evil Spirit was haunting her home, and Li Chu went with her while Xuanxu slipped into the Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple.
• Xuanxu broke through layers of locks and hidden compartments before finding the Mystic Ice Slip and a house deed.
• Commander Dou activated the Sea-Calming Dragon-Imprisoning Array around Chen Xuannu's courtyard, but Li Chu shattered it and flew back to the temple.
• Li Chu found Xuanxu holding the house deed and furiously demanded to know why he was stealing his things.

Shen Ming and Wang Ayi visited Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple to deliver wedding invitations, where Li Chu captured Xuanxu after he tried to escape with the Mystic Ice Slip. Facing Heaven Pavilion confirmed the slip’s significance, and Li Chu ended the chapter demanding compensation for the damage caused during the chase.

• Shen Ming brought Wang Ayi to Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple and awkwardly introduced Wang Longqi and Du Lanke as respectable friends before Li Chu appeared pursuing a silver-haired thief.
• Li Chu subdued Xuanxu, who revealed that he was a Constellation Guard from the northern Black Tortoise Prison Guard Bureau and had come to retrieve the Mystic Ice Slip.
• Li Chu took Xuanxu and the Mystic Ice Slip to Facing Heaven Pavilion, where Duan Geng began investigating the slip’s loss and Xuanxu’s identity.
• Xuan Dou arrived and accused Li Chu of stealing the Mystic Ice Slip, then learned that Li Chu had recovered it from a villain and apologized.
• Li Chu presented Xuan Dou with a detailed bill for the damage to Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple and insisted that government officials had to pay compensation too.

Commander Xuan Dou and the guards returned north with the Mystic Ice Slip, but Lord Canghai ambushed them and defeated Commander Xuan Dou. Xuan Nu fled with the slip, only to discover that Xuanniu was a mole working with Lord Canghai.

• Xuanniu asked to land so he could relieve himself, and Commander Xuan Dou brought the tortoise down in a deserted mountain stretch.
• Xuan Nu warned that enemies might target the guards for the Mystic Ice Slip, and Lord Canghai appeared in a violent gale.
• Commander Xuan Dou raised a defensive formation and fired a signal arrow, but Lord Canghai stepped through the formation and killed him with a touch.
• Commander Xuan Dou sent Xuan Nu and Xuanxu fleeing, with the Mystic Ice Slip hidden on Xuan Nu.
• Xuanniu intercepted Xuan Nu in the forest, knocked her unconscious, and revealed that he was the mole.

Li Chu joined Madam Yang and Long Gang in searching for Guo Xiaobao, whose trail led them to Yusong Mountain Graves. With the trail blocked by a formation and the graves guarded, Li Chu proposed a way to make the hidden enemies invite them in.

• Li Chu returned to the branch temple and met Madam Yang, who introduced Long Gang as a tracker sent by Guo.
• Madam Yang asked Li Chu to help find Guo Xiaobao, and he agreed.
• Long Gang used Chonglong Jade to track Xiaobao's scent from his old sock, though he complained that the smell had nearly poisoned him.
• Long Gang led the group from Luo Goddess Pavilion past the abandoned Yin Clan residence to Yusong Mountain Graves, where the trail ended at a formation.
• Madam Yang wanted to search the graves, but Du Lanke warned that the site belonged to powerful clans and was guarded.
• Li Chu suggested using a method to make the people hiding beneath the graves invite them in.

Li Chu went to Yusong Mountain Graves to deal with what he believed were Lantern Monsters, but his sword strike revealed a vast cavern and a powerful Yin Dragon lurking beneath the mountain. His battle with the creature broke Jade Pine Mountain in half, leaving Duan Geng and the others stunned by the destruction.

• Li Chu asked Duan Geng to let him handle the Lantern Monsters haunting Yusong Mountain Graves, and Duan Geng agreed.
• Du Lanke drove off the graveyard guards with Talismans, leaving Li Chu, Du Lanke, Madam Yang, and Long Gang to investigate.
• Li Chu cleaved the ground with the Chunyang Sword, opening a deep hole that led into a huge cavern beneath the mountain.
• Li Chu sensed a powerful two-headed Yin Dragon in the cavern and attacked it with the Chunyang Sword.
• Li Chu’s strike broke Jade Pine Mountain in half, shocking Duan Geng, Elder Wei, Long Gang, and the others.

Li Chu told Duan Geng that the Yin Clan had hollowed out Yusong Mountain and explained that his sword strike had brought it down while killing a powerful monster. After learning that Commander Xuan Dou had died and the Mystic Ice Slip was lost, Li Chu vowed to eradicate the Demon Sect; meanwhile, the Yin brothers prepared to continue the Mysterious Yin Array as Lord Canghai planned to deal with him.

• Li Chu told Duan Geng that the Yin Clan had lived beneath Yusong Mountain and that he had destroyed the mountain while killing a powerful monster.
• Duan Geng reported that Commander Xuan Dou had died in an ambush, a Star Constellation guard had betrayed the bureau, another had been badly wounded, and the Mystic Ice Slip had been stolen.
• Li Chu said the Demon Sect members behind the Mysterious Yin Array were his enemies and claimed the Extreme Yang Boy was his master's son.
• The white-robed youth showed the Yin brothers a wanted notice accusing their clan of numerous crimes, and Yin the Third objected to the charge of ruining farmland.
• The white-robed youth said Lord Canghai had tested Li Chu with the Yin Dragon and had devised a plan to deal with him, while the Yin Clan continued preparing the Mysterious Yin Array.

Lord Canghai arranged for Sirius, a deadly archer, to assassinate Li by preventing him from drawing his sword. He equipped Sirius with a reforged Yi Star Bow and a one-of-a-kind Vermilion Bird Feather Arrow, then invited Li to meet him at South Mountain Elegant Pavilion.

• Lord Canghai told Sirius that Li threatened his plans and explained that Li's powerful but simple methods depended on striking with his sword.
• Sirius accepted the assignment, saying he could kill any human and had also beheaded a great power.
• A white-robed youth delivered Sirius the reforged Yi Star Bow, whose power impressed them both.
• The youth presented Sirius with the Vermilion Bird Feather Arrow, and Sirius pledged not to fail Lord Canghai.
• Lord Canghai sent Li a letter inviting him to South Mountain Elegant Pavilion at the second watch that night.

Li Chu met the Soul Gu Master, who offered him the Extreme Yang Boy after the Mysterious Yin Array ended and five hundred thousand taels of silver in exchange for leaving Divine Luo City. Li Chu refused to negotiate while innocent people were being harmed, and an arrow sent by Lord Canghai’s archer stopped just short of his brow, leaving the Soul Gu Master to call it a greeting gift.

• Li Chu arrived at South Mountain Elegant Pavilion after instructing Du Lanke to alert Facing Heaven Pavilion if he did not return within half an hour.
• The Soul Gu Master told Li Chu that Lord Canghai would return the Extreme Yang Boy after the Mysterious Yin Array and offered him five hundred thousand taels to leave Divine Luo City.
• Li Chu rejected the offer and refused to make peace while Lord Canghai’s side continued harming ordinary people.
• Sirius fired the Vermilion Bird Feather Arrow from a distant peak, and it crossed the Heluo Dynasty toward Li Chu.
• The arrow stopped one inch from Li Chu’s brow, and he plucked it down as the Soul Gu Master called it Lord Canghai’s greeting gift.

Li Chu killed the Soul Gu Master with one sword and kept the two-hundred-thousand-tael banknote he left behind, while Sirius fled after witnessing the fight. Back at Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple, Wang Longqi guessed how much Li Chu had found, and Wei Jiangli unexpectedly encountered Aunt Wan at the gate.

• The Soul Gu Master released thousands of soul gu to delay Li Chu, but Li Chu destroyed them and killed him with a single sword.
• Li Chu found the Soul Gu Master's two-hundred-thousand-tael banknote and realized he had gained a fortune.
• Sirius fled that night after seeing Li Chu kill the Soul Gu Master and the Vermilion Bird Feather Arrow refuse to strike him.
• The next morning, Wang Longqi coaxed Li Chu into agreeing to treat everyone, then guessed that Li Chu had found at least two hundred thousand taels.
• Wei Jiangli froze at the temple gate, retreated, and greeted Aunt Wan.

Su Wan came to Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple to retrieve Wei Jiangli, but she mistook Li Chu’s willingness to let her go as a trap. Su Wan left without Wei Jiangli, who stayed at the temple and planned to explain matters later.

• Su Wan confronted Li Chu and asked Wei Jiangli whether she had truly been kidnapped, and Li Chu confirmed that he had taken her by cruel means.
• Su Wan offered Li Chu fifty thousand taels to take Wei Jiangli home, but he refused the money and said she could leave freely.
• Du Lanke warned Li Chu that refusing any payment would make Su Wan suspicious, but Li Chu insisted he did not want to act like a real kidnapper.
• Su Wan questioned Wei Jiangli about poison or other hidden methods, then decided Li Chu’s permission to leave was a threat and went away to devise a plan.
• Wei Jiangli told Li Chu that Su Wan had been too suspicious to take her, and she chose to stay at the temple for now.

Su Wan asked the East Sea King, Ji Buying, to intervene against Virtuous Cloud Temple, and he sent the Dongliu Gang to seize Jiang Li. The gang’s raid stopped when Cui Ziyong recognized the drunkard Wang Longqi entering the temple, and he realized the temple sheltered a formidable expert.

• Su Wan told Ji Buying that Facing Heaven Pavilion had refused to help Youlan Pavilion and warned him that Jiang Li’s safety was at risk.
• Ji Buying ordered Cui Ziyong and the Dongliu Gang to resolve the dispute, while dismissing Su Wan’s concerns about the temple’s strength.
• Cui Ziyong gathered masked gang members outside Virtuous Cloud Temple and ordered them to drug its residents, tie up the women, and cripple the men.
• Cui Ziyong killed a subordinate who challenged the unequal treatment of the men and women.
• Wang Longqi arrived drunk at Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple, entered after being greeted by a Black-Faced Daoist, and left Cui Ziyong’s group too frightened to proceed.

Cui Ziyong and Chen Hutou planned to raid Virtuous Cloud Temple after luring Wang Longqi away to Xie Shirong’s discussion gathering. The Dongliu Gang released its knockout powder, but Li Chu awakened and caught two intruders debating how to cripple him.

• Cui Ziyong reported that Wang Longqi was staying at Virtuous Cloud Temple, and Chen Hutou hesitated to provoke the powerful swordsman.
• Cui Ziyong proposed luring Wang Longqi away, and Chen Hutou agreed to lead the raid himself.
• Wang Longqi told Li Chu and Du Lanke that a beggar had given him a genuine ticket to Xie Shirong’s discussion gathering for one tael of silver.
• After learning Wang Longqi had left, Chen Hutou killed a subordinate for using a word that reminded him of infidelity, then led the gang to Virtuous Cloud Temple.
• Cui Ziyong’s men threw Dream Profound Seven-Flavor Powder into the temple and entered to attack its residents.
• Li Chu awoke, used the Mind’s Eye Art to spot the intruders, and watched two Dongliu Gang members enter his room and discuss how to cripple him.

Li Chu stopped the Dongliu Gang’s attack on the Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple and learned that the East Sea King had ordered them to bring Jiangli back. Though Li Chu and the East Sea King called their conflict a misunderstanding, Li Chu took the gang into custody, and the East Sea King was left unconscious after seeing an enormous moon approach.

• Li Chu woke as Dongliu Gang members entered the temple, killed one attacker with his Sword Control Technique, and froze another.
• Hu Tou ordered seven or eight warriors to attack Li Chu, but Li Chu defeated them with a single sword strike.
• Cui Ziyong accidentally revealed the East Sea King’s connection to Youlan Pavilion, and Li Chu subdued the gang and brought Cui Ziyong to the East Sea King Mansion.
• Li Chu explained his actions against Jiangli to the East Sea King, and they agreed that the matter was a misunderstanding.
• Li Chu refused to release the gang, saying he would take them to Facing Heaven Pavilion, and treated the East Sea King’s admission of responsibility as a confession.
• After Li Chu left with Cui Ziyong, the East Sea King saw a huge moon drawing near, became dizzy, and collapsed.

Li Chu delivered the Dongliu Gang to Facing Heaven Pavilion’s prison, while a secretive agent’s plot to frame him for the East Sea King’s murder continued under Lord Canghai’s orders. At a hotpot farewell gathering for Wei Jiangli, Wang Longqi joked about the East Sea King’s fate, unaware that his prediction might soon come true.

• Li Chu brought the Dongliu Gang to Facing Heaven Pavilion and left them in its prison, where Chen Hutou lashed out at a gang member who mocked the law.
• Lord Canghai questioned his agent about killing the East Sea King, then ordered the agent to keep watching Li Chu and report every move.
• Wang Longqi, Li Chu, Wei Jiangli, Du Lanke, and Fox Girl gathered for a hotpot farewell meal and discussed Xie Shirong’s beauty and Wei Jiangli’s return to Youlan Pavilion.
• Wang Longqi joked that he would flee if the East Sea King died, and the group continued laughing as Li Chu smiled at the gathering.

After the East Sea King was found dead, Facing Heaven Pavilion suspected Li Chu and asked him to come in for questioning. Li Chu agreed to go, but secured a promise that he would be released if the investigation was not resolved within twenty days; back at the temple, Wang Longqi secretly worried that the East Sea King's death might expose him.

• Duan Geng arrived at Virtuous Cloud Branch Temple with Elder Wei, Elder Jin, and Duan Lulong to question Li Chu about his visit to the East Sea King Mansion.
• Li Chu said he had gone to settle their dispute and denied knowing that the East Sea King had been found dead in his study.
• Duan Geng told Li Chu he was a suspect and asked him to come in for questioning; Li Chu negotiated a twenty-day limit, which Elder Wei accepted.
• Li Chu left with the Facing Heaven Pavilion officials, leaving Wei Jiangli, Fox Girl, Old Du, and Little Fatty Dragon worried at the temple.
• Wang Longqi mourned the East Sea King's death and privately wondered whether he should flee.

Li Chu was taken to the Iron Prison while Facing Heaven Pavilion investigated the East Sea King's murder, and Duan Geng argued that Li Chu was unlikely to be the killer. In the city prison, Cui Ziyong described how his testimony might deepen suspicion of Li Chu, then realized the East Sea King's death had left the Dongliu Gang without their powerful backer.

• Duan Geng escorted Li Chu to the Iron Prison, where Li Chu put on a heavily sealed Dharma Net Robe without apparent difficulty.
• Duan Geng told Duan Lulong that Li Chu's sense of justice and swordsmanship made him doubt Li Chu had killed the East Sea King.
• Duan Lulong said the investigation could not be neglected, while Elder Wei and Elder Jin agreed to guard the Iron Prison as Duan Lulong and Duan Geng investigated.
• Cui Ziyong returned to his cell and told Chen Hutou and the Dongliu Gang that Li Chu had been imprisoned as a suspect in the East Sea King's murder.
• Cui Ziyong suggested that imperial pressure might eventually lead Facing Heaven Pavilion to convict Li Chu, prompting the gang to cheer.
• Cui Ziyong reminded Chen Hutou that the East Sea King's death meant the Dongliu Gang had lost its outside backer, and the gang groaned in despair.

Yu Qi'an learned that Li Chu had been imprisoned for the East Sea King's death and proposed both a prison break and a search for the real culprit. In the Iron Prison, Li Chu discovered he could teleport through the cell bars just as a loud crash suggested someone was attacking the prison.

• Du Lanke told Yu Qi'an that Facing Heaven Pavilion had detained Li Chu after the East Sea King died, and Yu Qi'an outlined a plan to break him out and flee north.
• Yu Qi'an suggested using his third brocade pouch to find a Ma Yi Successor on Falling Sakura Island who could help identify the real culprit.
• Li Chu inspected the Iron Prison, found that its cells blocked spiritual qi, and discovered that his Orchid Butterfly Cloud-Striding Step let him pass through the bars.
• A powerful boom shook the prison, and the prisoners rushed to their bars, excited that someone might be breaking in.
• Li Chu looked toward the prisoners and saw an opportunity.

Mystic Eagle King and the White Elephant King attacked the Iron Prison while Bifang King broke inside to free Lion-Camel King. Li Chu stopped the escape by summoning the Chunyang Sword, and Lion-Camel King voluntarily locked himself back in his cell.

• Elder Wei and Elder Jin confronted Mystic Eagle King and the White Elephant King as they attacked the Iron Prison, while a third Demon King slipped inside.
• Bifang King used a bribed jailer to enter the prison, killed him, and defeated the Facing Heaven Pavilion disciples guarding the corridor.
• Bifang King freed Lion-Camel King, who celebrated escaping after a hundred years in prison.
• Li Chu confronted Bifang King and summoned the Chunyang Sword, which struck Bifang King and left a hole in the prison ceiling.
• Lion-Camel King returned to his cell, locked himself inside, and declared that he would not let anyone cage him again because he had done it himself.

Li Chu stopped a demon creature from breaking prisoners out of Iron Prison, while the Demon Kings’ attack was driven back by Facing Heaven Pavilion reinforcements. The rescuers arrived to find the prisoners still inside, and mistook Li Chu for a fellow disciple from another department.

• Elder Wei and Elder Jin fought the Mystic Eagle King and Treasure Elephant King outside Iron Prison as a flying sword pierced the prison roof.
• Li Chu asked the Lion-Camel King whether the Demon Kings’ calls were for him, but the Lion-Camel King refused to leave and angrily told them to stop shouting.
• The Treasure Elephant King fled when reinforcements approached, and Duan Lulong wounded the Mystic Eagle King before it escaped.
• Facing Heaven Pavilion disciples entered Iron Prison and found Li Chu standing among prisoners who had chosen to remain in their cells.
• A white-robed man asked Li Chu which department he belonged to, and Li Chu answered that he was from Room Six, A Block.