Chapter Summaries

Little Girl used Zhao Liangchen’s Fortune Bowl at Virtuous Cloud Temple, while the Yan Family led a massive assault in the Huaxu Secret Realm. When Chen Fuhuang’s body emerged and slaughtered the cultivators, a wooden puppet controlling it demanded the Immortal Phoenix Gall from the separated spirit, who revealed that he had given it to a little carp from Virtuous Cloud Temple.

• Little Girl made Zhao Liangchen give money with the Fortune Bowl and was struck by lightning when Old Du resisted its command, while Li Chu escaped punishment.
• Chu Xiangyu and Qi Kexiu separately told Li Chu that the Seven Families of Southern Heaven had agreed not to use him in the secret realm, and both blamed the Yan Family for leading the decision.
• Yan Linan gathered a large force to secure the Huaxu Wutong Tree, but the secret realm closed and Chen Fuhuang appeared on the Golden Phoenix.
• Chen Fuhuang crushed the cultivators with his pressure, killed many of them, and shattered Yan Linan’s legs.
• A Little Wooden Man revealed it controlled Chen Fuhuang’s body and demanded to know who had received the Immortal Phoenix Gall.
• The separated spirit said he had given the Immortal Phoenix Gall to a little carp from Virtuous Cloud Temple.

The Wood Man King told Yu Huasheng that the Immortal Phoenix Gall had gone to Little Koi, who lived with a Little Daoist Priest he could not see through. A hired demon-catching team tried to abduct Little Koi, but strange weather repeatedly ruined their attempts and left Demon-Subduing Master suffering from his own traps.

• The Wood Man King explained that he could control only sixty percent of the Fuhuang Demon Body and said a Little Daoist Priest had thwarted his earlier scheme against Lord Canghai.
• Yu Huasheng revealed that Lord Canghai had sought help from Yin Clan descendants to welcome back the Emperor Yin, who had sent the single character “Jing” through the Primordial Demon Heart Jade.
• Little Koi continued carrying the Immortal Phoenix Gall while walking to school, unaware that Demon-Subduing Master and his two disciples were preparing to capture her.
• Demon-Subduing Master’s Wind-Catching Shadow-Snaring Array failed when dark clouds gathered and merged the shadows, breaking his red-rope net.
• Demon-Subduing Master’s Three-Trigram Soul-Confusing Incense blew back into his face, and Jinbao struck him to wake him before Demon-Subduing Master kicked him away.

Demon-Subduing Master lured Little Koi out of school with meatballs containing a Puppet Pill, intending to capture her. Li Chu ate the last meatball and was caught in the ambush instead, while the conspirators mistook him for their target.

• Demon-Subduing Master and his disciples set up a meatball stall outside the school to lure Little Koi with a Puppet Pill.
• Zhaocai turned away several children and a woman before selling Little Koi ten meatballs in exchange for silver.
• Little Koi offered Li Chu a meatball, and he ate it before leaving the classroom.
• Li Chu sensed a weak force pulling him toward the hillside and followed it to investigate.
• Zhaocai and Jinbao dropped a Demon-Sealing Bag over Li Chu, and Demon-Subduing Master wrongly celebrated capturing the koi.

Li Chu let himself be mistaken for Little Koi so he could learn who was targeting her, but Demon-Subduing Master’s meeting with the mysterious client turned into a trap. The client revealed himself as the Wood Man King, and the chapter ended with everyone realizing the captive was not a fish.

• Jinbao mistook Li Chu for Little Koi and sucked him into the Demon-Sealing Bag, while Li Chu decided to go along with the mistake and investigate the client.
• Demon-Subduing Master and his disciples carried the bag west to a pavilion in Tiannan Province and met a child who claimed his master was away.
• The child led them into a sealed, empty tower, then revealed that he was the Wood Man King and trapped them inside.
• Demon-Subduing Master threatened to strangle the supposed koi unless the Wood Man King paid them and let them leave.
• Zhaocai and Jinbao announced that the captive was a fake fish, and the Wood Man King angrily demanded to know why Demon-Subduing Master had brought it and still expected payment.

Li Chu escaped the Demon-Sealing Bag and confronted the Wood Man King, whose attempt to attack and flee ended in a swift defeat. After destroying the hidden prison, Li Chu found a tortured man bound inside, who suddenly demanded to be hit.

• Li Chu emerged from the Demon-Sealing Bag, and Demon-Subduing Master released his neck when Li Chu politely asked him to.
• The Boy Puppet tried to distract Li Chu with an attack while its wooden body fled, but Li Chu's Red Dragon swallowed both and smashed through the pavilion wall.
• Li Chu discovered a hidden prison inside the pavilion and found a burly man chained to an iron frame.
• Black Qi surged through the imprisoned man, who raised his bloodred eyes and shouted at Li Chu to hit him.

Li Chu rescued Qin Zhenghu from the Wood Man King’s captivity and took the Demon-Subduing Master to Facing Heaven Pavilion for punishment. Back at Virtuous Cloud Temple, Qin Zhenghu reunited with Li Maoqing and thanked Li Chu, then revealed that Li Chu had killed the Wood Man King with a single strike.

• Li Chu had the Demon-Subduing Master and his disciples beat Qin Zhenghu until the demonic poison left his body, and Qin Zhenghu identified himself as the general the Wood Man King had tried to turn into a puppet.
• Li Chu freed the unconscious Qin Zhenghu and returned with him to Virtuous Cloud Temple, then took the Demon-Subduing Master to Facing Heaven Pavilion to face the law.
• Qin Zhenghu woke and tearfully reunited with his master, Li Maoqing, explaining that he had feared the State Preceptor would fall for the impostor who had replaced him.
• Qin Zhenghu thanked Li Chu for saving his life, and then quietly told Li Maoqing that Li Chu had killed the Wood Man King with one sword strike.

Qin Zhenghu sought help for the demonic poison that caused him to lose control, and the Little Divine Doctor diagnosed him with a demon seed that could only be treated by cultivating a Buddhist scripture. Qin Zhenghu decided he would seek admission to Yunfu Temple.

• Li Maoqing and Yu Qi'an discussed Qin Zhenghu’s demonic poison and worried that Yang Dingtian’s forces might take control of Tiannan Military Town before Qin Zhenghu returned.
• Li Maoqing sent a letter to Xuanhu Villa with Ten Thousand Miles Flying Sand to summon a doctor.
• Qin Zhenghu asked Du Lanke to tie him up so the temple residents could beat him when the demon poison made him lose control, but he broke free during an episode and charged toward the courtyard wall.
• Li Chu froze Qin Zhenghu before he could damage the wall, and Du Lanke beat him until the demonic qi subsided.
• The Little Divine Doctor examined Qin Zhenghu and diagnosed a demon seed, explaining that the Sutra of Demon Expulsion at Yunfu Temple might cure him if he formally joined the temple.
• Qin Zhenghu agreed to seek admission to Yunfu Temple and said he would be polite to its monks.

Li Chu, Du Lanke, and Qin Zhenghu traveled to Yunfu Temple so Qin Zhenghu could secretly learn the Sutra of Demon Expulsion. After they registered for the temple’s disciple selection, Monk Jianren recognized Li Chu and warned Martial Uncle Ronghe about the mysterious Daoist Priest he had seen at Ming-Water Valley.

• Li Chu accompanied Qin Zhenghu to One Flower Mountain, with Du Lanke joining them to help maintain Qin Zhenghu’s false identity.
• The three arrived at Yunfu Temple’s disciple registration and posed as brothers, claiming Qin Zhenghu was mute and explaining their different surnames with a fabricated custom.
• The monks registered Du Lanke, Qin Hu, and Li Chu and sent them to stay in the lay village until the selection began.
• Young Monk Jianren recognized Li Chu among the candidates and ran back to the temple in alarm.
• Jianren told Martial Uncle Ronghe that Li Chu was the Little Daoist Priest connected to Senior Brother Jianzhi’s death at Ming-Water Valley.

Jiang Rongyi told Zen Master Chongyi about his encounter with a powerful Ghost Immortal in Ming-Water Valley, while Zen Master Chongyi investigated a report about an unusually powerful Daoist joining Yunfu Temple’s disciple selection. During the selection, Li Chu’s reflection shattered the Heart-Reflecting Mirror, and Old Du claimed that extremely handsome people could not look in mirrors.

• Jiang Rongyi explained that he had fought an ancient Ghost Immortal in the Styx River, then made an agreement with it not to harm people or be disturbed.
• Zen Master Ronghe reported that Jianren had recognized a Daoist at the selection as someone who had entered the Styx River and returned unharmed, but Zen Master Chongyi urged caution and sent Ronghe to oversee the trials.
• Zen Master Ronghe introduced the Heart-Reflecting Mirror trial, which revealed candidates’ inner thoughts and exposed one man’s lustful and wicked intentions.
• Du Lanke and Qin Zhenghu tried to make Li Chu go first, and Li Chu calmly faced the mirror despite his doubts about the test.
• The Heart-Reflecting Mirror cracked and shattered as it began reflecting Li Chu, leaving Zen Master Ronghe bewildered.
• Du Lanke claimed that Li Chu had always shattered mirrors and invoked the legend of the Mirror-Shattering Beauty.

Li Chu passed Yunfu Temple’s replacement test when the Mind-Observing Beast adored him, while Jianren grew more suspicious of his identity. The chapter ended with Jianren peering into Li Chu’s courtyard and mistaking Qin Zhenghu’s beating at Old Du’s hands for a scene from hell.

• After the Heart-Reflecting Mirror shattered, Zen Master Ronghe tested the candidates with the Mind-Observing Beast, which clung affectionately to Li Chu but bit another man and got him expelled.
• Qin Zhenghu and Du Lanke passed the test, and Li Chu privately recalled that the mirror had shattered when he refused its attempt to probe his Divine Soul.
• The first selection ended with about a dozen candidates eliminated, and the remaining candidates returned to the lay village for the night.
• Qin Zhenghu thanked Li Chu for helping him pass, then went with Old Du to undergo a beating with a wooden club.
• Zen Master Ronghe dismissed Jianren’s suspicions about Li Chu, but Jianren set out to question him anyway.
• Jianren used a Buddhist divine ability to see into Li Chu’s courtyard and watched Old Du beat Qin Zhenghu while Li Chu calmly immobilized him, leaving Jianren wondering if he had found hell.

Jianren mistook Li Chu and his companions for demon worshippers, but Li Chu’s extraordinary Buddha light convinced Zen Master Ronghe that he was a Buddha Son. The chapter ended with Jianren secretly witnessing Li Chu summon a huge demon with a demonic bead.

• Jianren told Zen Master Ronghe that he had seen a terrifying man restrained and tortured, and Ronghe went with him to investigate.
• Ronghe found Li Chu, Du Lanke, and Qin Zhenghu eating mutton hotpot, warned them that overeating could affect the selection, and left without discovering anything suspicious.
• At the Buddha Light test, Du Lanke’s light rose nearly twenty feet, Qin Zhenghu’s reached a hundred feet, and Li Chu’s blazed to ten thousand fathoms as the Dharma Bell rang twice.
• Ronghe told Jianren that Li Chu was a Buddha Son and could not be connected to demons, but Jianren remained doubtful and followed him out of the mountain gate.
• Jianren watched Li Chu activate a pitch-black, demonic bead and summon a huge demon on a deserted hillside.

The City Lord of Immortal Slaughter and the Fuhuang Demon Body agreed to work together to break through Demon Land’s barrier and attack Yunfu Pure Land. Before the invasion could begin, Li Chu summoned the City Lord with the Spirit-Communicating Demon Pearl, leaving the assembled demons without their leader.

• The Fuhuang Demon Body admitted he had secretly pursued the Eye of the Primordial Demon, and he and the City Lord of Immortal Slaughter briefly clashed before agreeing to cooperate.
• The City Lord gave the Fuhuang Demon Body the Primordial Demon Arena and announced their plan to bring the City of Immortal Slaughter back to the Human Realm and spill blood at Yunfu Pure Land.
• The City Lord released his aura during the confrontation, allowing the Spirit-Communicating Demon Pearl to summon him to Li Chu.
• Li Chu summoned the City Lord to a hillside and drew the Chunyang Sword, intending to fight the powerful demon for experience.
• The City of Immortal Slaughter’s troops assembled for the attack, but the Fuhuang Demon Body found the City Lord missing, and the Medicine Demon explained that he was gone.

Li Chu summoned and killed the City Lord of immortal slaughter with a devastating sword strike, then fled after gaining enough Experience Points to break through level eighty. The blast alarmed Jiang Rongyi, while Zen Master Ronghe and Little Monk Jianren later found no trace of Li Chu or the demon at the scene.

• The City Lord of immortal slaughter arrived through the Spirit-Communicating Demon Pearl and expected to counterattack, but Li Chu's sword strike overwhelmed and killed it.
• Li Chu gained a vast amount of Experience Points, broke through level eighty, and quickly left the scorched ground on One Flower Mountain.
• Jiang Rongyi sensed the powerful fluctuation, investigated the site, and returned to the Buddha hall suspecting that an expert with ill intentions had appeared nearby.
• Zen Master Chongyi and Jiang Rongyi discussed the unexplained power and decided to remain cautious without acting until they knew the visitor's purpose.
• Zen Master Ronghe questioned Little Monk Jianren about his claim that Li Chu had summoned monsters, then took him to the site, where they found no Li Chu, demon, or hillside.

With the City Lord missing, the Eight Demons agreed to let Wood Man King prove he could lead them by defeating Jiang Rongyi. Wood Man King lured Jiang Rongyi into the Primordial Demon Arena, where the two faced a lethal test of strength.

• The Eight Demons searched for the missing City Lord, and Wood Man King denied killing him before declaring that the Demon Land was trash.
• White Bone Demon agreed that the Eight Demons would follow Wood Man King if he killed Jiang Rongyi, and Wood Man King departed for Yunfu Temple.
• Jiang Rongyi sensed demonic qi above Yunfu Temple and told Zen Master Chongyi to gather the elders and activate the mountain-protecting grand array.
• A monk named Rong Cheng used a black wheel-disc to transport Jiang Rongyi into the Primordial Demon Arena, where Wood Man King announced that neither combatant could dodge and only one could leave alive.

In the Primordial Demon Arena, the Fuhuang Demon Body fought Jiang Rongyi and used its overwhelming strength to break through the monk’s defenses. Jiang Rongyi burned himself into a sarira and vanished, leaving the Fuhuang Demon Body convinced he had won and eager to challenge Tong Wudi.

• The Fuhuang Demon Body shattered Jiang Rongyi’s Golden Body Dharma Image with a single punch, injuring him.
• Jiang Rongyi opened Avici Hell and dragged the Fuhuang Demon Body into its abyss, but it punched its way back out.
• The Fuhuang Demon Body’s second punch broke through Jiang Rongyi’s golden palm and left him bleeding.
• Jiang Rongyi burned himself to ash, leaving behind a sarira, and disappeared from the arena.
• The Fuhuang Demon Body took the sarira, declared victory, and shouted, “Who else?!”

Zen Master Ronghe and Little Monk Jianren responded to the temple’s warning bell as demons gathered to invade Yunfu Temple. The Wood Man King led the strengthened Eight Demons into the Human Realm to seize Qin Zhenghu, but Li Chu appeared instead, leaving the demon lord suddenly alone.

• Zen Master Ronghe challenged Jianren’s claim that Li Chu had summoned a demon, then returned with him to Yunfu Temple when three bell tolls announced an approaching enemy.
• Abbot Zen Master Chongyi organized the monks to defend Yunfu Temple while Jiang Rongyi went to meet the demons.
• The Wood Man King returned to the City of Immortal Slaughter, claimed he had forced Jiang Rongyi into nirvana, and displayed Jiang Rongyi’s Sarira to win the Eight Demons’ loyalty.
• The Wood Man King empowered the Eight Demons and led them through a rift into the Human Realm, where he called for Qin Zhenghu.
• Li Chu emerged from the residence instead of Qin Zhenghu, and the Eight Demons fled back through the rift, leaving the Wood Man King to awkwardly explain that he had not called Li Chu.

The Eight Demons retreated from the Little Daoist Priest, while Li Chu confronted the Fuhuang Demon Body and was pulled into the Primordial Demon Arena. After the demon body shattered from its own punch and Li Chu destroyed the arena with a single sword strike, Zen Master Ronghe warned that a major crisis threatened the temple.

• The Eight Demons decided not to return to help the Wood Man King and instead resolved to preserve their strength while searching for the old City Lord.
• Li Chu drew his sword against the Fuhuang Demon Body, which used the Black Wheel to pull them both into the Primordial Demon Arena.
• The Fuhuang Demon Body struck Li Chu, but the punch's backlash cracked and shattered its body before Li Chu could attack.
• Li Chu swung his sword and destroyed the Wood Man King's wooden puppet, the Eye of the Primordial Demon, and the Primordial Demon Arena.
• Zen Master Ronghe found Li Chu outside the courtyard and warned him that the temple faced a grave crisis unlike any in hundreds of years.

Jiang Rongyi and Zen Master Chongyi wondered why the Wood Man King had not attacked Demon Suppression Cliff, while the Eight Demons worried about the missing Wood Man King and their absent City Lord. After Li Chu returned to Virtuous Cloud Temple, he learned that Wang Longqi had been abducted and that the Wood Man King demanded the Immortal Phoenix Gall at Miao Feng Mountain in exchange for his release.

• Jiang Rongyi and Zen Master Chongyi waited through the night for an attack on Demon Suppression Cliff, then wondered where the Wood Man King had gone.
• The Eight Demons discussed abandoning their plans to invade the Human Realm and feared that the missing City Lord would leave their city vulnerable to rivals.
• Li Chu, Qin Zhenghu, and Old Du left One Flower Mountain and returned to Virtuous Cloud Temple.
• A servant told Li Chu that Wang Longqi had been abducted and gave him a ransom letter demanding the Immortal Phoenix Gall at Miao Feng Mountain at midnight.
• Li Chu read the letter and learned that the Wood Man King had signed it.

Yu Qi'an explained the Immortal Phoenix Gall’s legendary value, but Li Chu traded it to the Wood Man King’s puppet to free Wang Longqi. After the Little Divine Doctor revealed that Wang Longqi had been poisoned with thirty-two toxins and was likely meant to die, Li Chu grew angry while the others debated his funeral banquet.

• Yu Qi'an described the Immortal Phoenix Gall as a heavenly treasure that might reveal the path to immortality, and the group agreed they had to rescue Wang Longqi.
• Li Chu found Wang Longqi bound on Miao Feng Mountain and traded the Immortal Phoenix Gall for his release after the captor threatened him with thirty-two poisons.
• The Little Divine Doctor examined Wang Longqi and explained that the toxins had no possible antidote and would kill him by morning.
• Yu Qi'an and Old Du discussed the Wang Family’s funeral banquet and condolence money, prompting Wang Longqi to beg them to save him.
• Li Chu angrily struck the table when he realized the Wood Man King had intended to kill Wang Longqi even after taking the treasure, then calmed when Old Du suggested skipping the banquet.

Wood Man King recounted how his ambition and schemes had led him from a carpentry genius to a fugitive, then obtained the Immortal Phoenix Gall and believed he could become immortal. The Follow-Along Talisman revealed that Li Chu had tracked him down, as a comet tore across the sky.

• Wood Man King remembered becoming a celebrated craftsman in Sword Casting City, then plotting to turn its leaders into puppets after the City Lord's daughter rejected him.
• After Wood Man King was captured, crippled, and blinded, he let a wooden man possess him and later joined the Crescent Moon Sect.
• Wood Man King obtained the Fuhuang Demon Body but failed to overcome Li Chu, so he kidnapped Wang Longqi to draw Li Chu away.
• A figure delivered the Immortal Phoenix Gall to Wood Man King, who decided to hide in the ice wastes and pursue immortality.
• Wood Man King found a Follow-Along Talisman hidden in the brocade pouch and saw a comet streak across the sky.
• At Virtuous Cloud Temple, Li Chu told Wang Longqi that he had already avenged him in advance.